will@cvradio.com FILE PHOTO The recent outbreak of Strangles (Streptococcus equi) in Nevada and Colorado has created an opportunity for Dr. Barry Pittman, state veterinarian for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF), to remind Utah horse owners to be vigilant for signs of illness in their animals. Dont share your tack, your feed tubs, or your water containers, or trailers or pens and stalls that are used by horses of unknown health status, he advised. There are fatal conditions that could apply here, but that is rare. In most cases, its not a fatal disease for the animals, but its a good idea to consult your local veterinarian about any kind of treatment or supportive care if your horse begins to show any of the symptoms of Strangles. UDAF Communications Director Larry Lewis warned that Strangles is highly contagious and can be spread by direct contact with an infected horse that may be carrying the bacteria without showing clinical signs. He recommends that equestrians monitor their animals closely when returning from shows or rodeo events. Initial signs of the infection, Lewis said, include fever, trouble swallowing, noisy breathing and swollen lymph nodes. As the disease progresses, symptoms include thick nasal discharge due to the formation of abscesses in an infected horses head and neck region. During a recent trip to Israel, my 31-year old son, Naftali, spent an afternoon taking in the sights of Tel Aviv. Although he's a fluent Hebrew speaker, he was curious whether any of the merchants or passers-by knew Yiddish, too, and decided to check it out. Entering a shop that sold antique European teapots and china, Naftali noticed that the storekeeper appeared to be in his sixties, so he gave it a shot. "Excuse me, do you speak Yiddish?" he asked. The storekeeper grinned and said he did, adding that he was born in Poland and came to Israel as a young child. "It's been 30 years since someone has spoken to me in Yiddish," he said wistfully. Ten minutes later, Naftali dropped into a bookstore. Not only did the salesperson reply in Yiddish but even showed him several Yiddish books for sale. Back on the street, Naftali stopped another middle-aged man and asked him, in Yiddish, how to get to Tchernichovsky Street. The man walked him to the corner and gave him directions in grammatically perfect sentences, a rarity these days. Later, when my son got into a taxi, it happened again. This time, the reaction was different, though. The driver didn't smile enthusiastically, but simply replied in Yiddish with no emotion, as if hearing a 31-year old guy speaking Yiddish occurred on a daily basis. So why is this a big deal? For years, Israelis have been stereotyped as embarrassed by, or even hostile to the language of the so-called "timid" diaspora Jews, an image buttressed by the late Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion's well-known remark at a 1945 Knesset session, that the language "grated" in his ears. Naftali's informal experiment suggests that the image of Yiddish in Israel has changed considerably. This isn't about the Hasidim in insulated enclaves like Mea Shearim where Yiddish is an everyday tongue, but rather of secular and "mesorati" (traditional) Hebrew-speaking middle-aged Jews of Tel Aviv. My guess is that many of them are children of Holocaust survivors or were themselves born in a displaced persons camp after the war. Others may have made aliyah from Buenos Aires, Montreal or other cities that once had a large Yiddish-speaking population. Like the porcelain salesman who hadn't spoken Yiddish in 30 years, many of them probably haven't had an opportunity to use the language, particularly if their grandparents and other elderly relatives have passed on. In Jerusalem, Naftali discovered another unexpected group of Yiddish speakers, but of a very different kind. A friend had invited him to a shabbos dinner organized for formerly Hasidic families. During the meal, the parents chatted, joked and smoked cigarettes while their children, minus the payos, played ball and cavorted in Yiddish. One young couple told Naftali that although they were no longer religious, they continued to speak Yiddish to each other and to the kids because it felt more natural for them than speaking Hebrew. Considering that Naftali had, without much effort, discovered ten Yiddish speakers simply by addressing them in the language, there are likely quite a few other closet Yiddish speakers in the Jewish state. They may not know that there are Israeli organizations which conduct Yiddish classes and cultural events like Leyvik House,Yung Yidish and Beit Sholem Aleichem all of which provide opportunities to hear or chat in mame-loshn. Then again, maybe they do know, but cultural programs are simply not their cup of tea. Israeli Yiddish activists who want to engage this population might want to consider organizing a fun-filled Yiddish festival on a main street of Tel Aviv. Imagine a band playing Yiddish songs; food-tasting kiosks with Ashkenazi favorites like knishes and borscht; and young organizers greeting passers-by in Yiddish. From my own experience speaking to Israelis, most still believe that the only Yiddish speakers today are the Hasidim and the elderly. But as Naftali discovered on a whim, there are apparently a number of Israelis of various ages eager to express themselves in the language of their childhood if given the chance. All they need is someone to walk over and ask them, in Yiddish, how to get to Tchernichovsky Street. The next EnVision Bus Read more [...] CAMEROUN :: Conversation with Enoh Meyomesse :: CAMEROON This World Poetry Day, PEN International is also honoured to share our Conversation with Enoh Meyomesse. Just two years ago Enoh Meyomesse was one of the poets for whom on World Poetry Day we urged you to take action. Now he has been released and lives in Germany where he continues to write poetry, full of characteristic refrains and inspired by his political surroundings. It brings us great joy to share with you his reflections on creativity, imprisonment, and the power of poetry. When and why did you start writing poetry? I started writing poetry in 1971. One evening at home in Douala, Cameroon, when I was still in high school, my mother handed me Anthology of Black Poetry, a book from the family library. I discovered poetry through the writers of the literary movement of the Negritude, created by three poets: the Caribbean poet Aime Cesaire, the Senegalese poet Leopold Sedar Senghor, and the Guyanese poet Leon Gontran Damas. A poem in this book particularly marked me; I thank you God for having created me Black I am happy Of the shape of my head Made to carry the World, Satisfied Of the shape of my nose Which must smell all the wind of the World, Happy Of the shape of my legs Ready to run all the stages of the World. The poem was written in 1956 by the most famous poet of Cote dIvoire, Bernard Dadier. At the annual school festival in 1971, I read two poems from this book during a cultural evening in front of all my peers. At the end of my reading the room applauded for a long time. I was very moved. I can say that my attraction to poetry really started that evening. The day after, I had begun awkwardly to sketch poems in my turn. Since then, I have not stopped. You wrote some brilliant poetry whilst in prison. What did the process of writing those poems (and knowing that people were reading them) mean to you whilst you were inside? The prison was a wonderful place of inspiration for me. First, when you are there, you discover life differently. Everyone abandons you for fear of being arrested. All that remains are the very close friends and family that visit you. In prison, you are totally idle from morning to night. In order not to be bored, what can you do other than write if you like to do it? Fortunately, there was a library and a computer room in this prison. So I spent my days reading the few books I found in the library and writing on the sheets of paper brought to me by friends who visited me. When Id finished writing a poem, Id give it to a friend to get it out of the prison. One of these friends, Bergeline Domou, sent my poems to another friend in the United States, Patrice Nganang. And he translated them into English and made them circulate throughout the world. It is in this way that these poems have reached PEN. But I did not know that they were sent out of Cameroon. I was not aware of that. One day, Bergeline Domou visited me and brought me these poems already translated into English, printed and published in England. Frankly, when I discovered this book, I had tears in my eyes, so great was the emotion. What is the focus of your creative writing now, and has the experience of writing poetry changed for you now you are no longer in prison? Yes, I no longer write about prison; I moved on. Living in Germany, I found out about the suffering of the Germans during the war, and its inspired me to write many poems. What would be your message for World Poetry Day? Poetry is a formidable weapon hidden in the pen; it can deliver you, it can save you; it can change the people; it can open your eyes; it can open your ears; It can open your minds; it can make you discover that other people are also human beings worthy of consideration; it has the magic power to do this in just a few words Yesterday was the International Day of Happiness. Can you recommend a poem that explores happiness or joy? Yes, of course. This is one of mine. In the near future The gardens will bloom You will leave your home The clothes will become happy You will go to kiss the sun The corsages will replace the heavy sweaters of winter You will see it with your eyes The skirts will replace the thick Jeans It will be very beautiful And the sandals will replace the hot shoes of that time when the cold was biting biting biting biting biting cruelly the skin And the toes will proclaim their freedom after long months embalmed The cheerfulness will replace the gloom in the hearts Spring is coming You will go out of your house Because love and joy Will sing in the street | BY Ricki Green | OMD Australia has officially launched a new charity initiative called OMDonate, a committee which brings OMDs charity work across all its offices under the one banner. The creation of OMDonate will strengthen the ongoing commitment of OMD, its staff and senior leadership to make a real, measurable and positive long term impact on the wider community. Says Aimee Buchanan, CEO, OMD Australia: As an agency weve always spent time supporting charities, whether through assisting them our skills or raising funds for good causes from OMD staff. OMDonate will bring more focus to this area and deliver improved outcomes from our staff and the charities we work with. In partnership with industry foundation, UnLtld, the OMDonate Sydney team has announced the Pyjama Foundation as its principal charity partner. Through its network of Pyjama Angels, the Pyjama Foundation empowers children in foster care with learning, life skills and confidence to change the direction of their life. OMD Sydney worked with the Pyjama Foundation in 2016 for its National Pyjama Day. The agency was able to raise over $1.6m in media value with help from its industry partners. Says Bronwyn Sheehan, founder of the Pyjama Foundation: We were totally ecstatic when UnLtd introduced our organisation to OMD. OMD were incredibly passionate, enthusiastic and professional to engage with. What they achieved in a relativity short time frame was nothing short of outstanding. The contribution of 1.6 million dollars worth of promotions is something that we could have only dreamed about. We are now receiving regular donations via our website and have doubled the number of new volunteers coming our way. Thank you OMD, we look forward to continuing our partnership. | BY Lynchy | Publicis Communications has appointed Fabienne Balleux as General Manager (Singapore) of Luminous Experiential MSLGroup. Balleux (pictured) will be responsible for driving growth and expanding its presence in Singapore. She will work closely with the other agencies under Publicis Communications to provide more integrated and innovative offerings to clients. Balleux brings with her over 15 years of experience in event, out of home and experiential display management, the French native has worked in France in the last six years across a range of mass and luxury brands. I am looking to bring to Asia my knowledge and expertise and contribute to new amazing experiences, breaking the rules of traditional communication in a corporates marketing and communication department. Lou Dela Pena, CEO, Publicis Communications Singapore, said, We are excited to welcome Fabienne. Her entrepreneurial spirit and expertise in brand experience will be an invaluable asset as we continue to create innovative solutions for Publicis Communications clients. I am confident that with her leadership, she will continue and strengthen the legacy of Luminous in Asia. Luminous has always had a stellar reputation in designing engaging and unique brand experiences for clients in the region. I am delighted at this opportunity to further the growth of the company, and continue creating such luminous experiences alongside our sister agencies, shared Balleux. Probes, impeachment, what else? The steps a GOP Congress might pursue If the GOP ends up taking at least some control of Congress, expect to see investigations, conservative legislation and possibly, impeachment. The Tennessee Justice Center invites the public to nominate a Mother of the Year. Any mother, foster mother, or grandmother can be nominated. She can be your own mom, neighbor, friend, or other mother you know. Mothers from across Tennessee will be selected for recognition as a Mother of the Year, and will receive a framed certificate of recognition and appear on the Tennessee Justice Centers website and blog. "Do you know a mother who works hard, speaks up, and keeps asking until her children receive the health care they need? If so, It is easy to nominate her as 'Mother of the Year.' "If you are age three to nine, you can submit a picture that shows why your nominee is your health care hero. If you are over age 10, you can submit an essay (300 words or less) saying why your nominee is your special health care hero. If you are not able to submit a nomination for yourself, we will take nominations from others who can tell your story in a way that includes you," officials said. Submissions should also include a photo of the child and their nominee with the nominees name, the childs name, phone number, and address. "We apologize, but photos cannot be returned," officials said. Submissions should be mailed to Tennessee Justice Center, 211 7th Ave N. #100, Nashville, Tn. 37219. You can also email nominations to josgood@tnjustice.org and include a digital picture of the child and the nominee. Nominations must be received by April 7. Michele Johnson, executive director at the Tennessee Justice Center, a non-profit public interest law and advocacy firm based in Nashville said, Our annual Mother of the Year recognition acknowledges the struggles, sacrifices, and devotion of mothers across Tennessee. These women are inspiring examples of how Tennessee parents bravely persist and overcome obstacles to obtain care that their children need and should receive. This is the ninth year that we have invited Tennessee children, teens, and community members to nominate their mothers. Our office gets calls every day from mothers who inspire us with their dedication to their childrens future. We want to celebrate these mothers and other moms like them; they are real heroes. Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 7:01PM Samsungs Tizen-powered Gear S3 are getting a slew of new features thanks to new partnerships the company has entered into. The first one takes advantage of Samsungs relationship with Under Armour. This will bring the Under Armour Connected Fitness suite (which includes UA Record, MapMyRun, MyFitnessPal, and Endomondo) to the smartwatch and giving you some useful fitness- and health-related apps to use. Those who buy a new Gear S3 get 12 months complimentary access to the premium services included in the suite. There will even been exclusive features, such as being able to participate in challenges, for Gear devices. Samsungs relationship with Spotify brings offline playback access to the Gear S3. Also, the BMW Connected app will work for all compatible BMW vehicles. And Nest owners can use the Gear for Nest app to control the temperature at home. The Gear S3s own HERE WeGo app will also make it easier for you to see public transport options right from your wrist and youll even be able to send directions straight to your Galaxy smartphone. Source: Android Authority He told the court a police witness lived on the street Mr Manns intended to return to live if released on bail. He also said that while both the accused were in custody they had continued to associate with one another, and speak with other known gang members on the phone and in the Alexander Maconochie Centre. Central the the architecture of the scheme would be an online "identity exchange", a portal that would confirm to a government agency, Centrelink for example, that a user's identity had been verified and cleared to use their account but would not supply the photo or any other data used to make the confirmation. Local dignitaries, public officials, and community members, as well as residents and their families, celebrated a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the conversion of Morning Pointe of Clinton to an Alzheimers Center of Excellence. The campus will offer memory and related dementia care services, while Morning Pointe of Powell will continue to offer both assisted living and memory care. More than 100 people attended the celebration at the new memory care community, 960 S. Charles G. Seivers Blvd. in Clinton. Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank was among a host of special guests who gave remarks to commemorate the transition. Family member Steve Barlow, whose mother is a resident at The Lantern at Morning Pointe, shared heartfelt words about his positive experience. Morning Pointe has been great for us, said Mr. Barlow. Mother used Morning Pointe for respite care first, then later moved in full time. The staff, I cant say enough about them. Local officials also shared their sentiments about their own loved ones residing at the memory care community. I couldnt think of a time in the city of Clinton without Morning Pointe being here, said Larry Gann, Clinton City Council member, whose mother was once a resident. [It has] been a big part of my life and the citys life. This community is one of the most compassionate, caring, supportive, and volunteering communities I have ever been in and you should each feel fortunate for that, said Connie Martin, vice-president and chief support officer of Methodist Medical Center. I want to applaud Greg Vital, president of Morning Pointe, and the team that had the vision of transitioning to the type of building that [they] are transitioning to as there is no end to the need in our community. Our population is aging and there is a tremendous need for services like this, said Harold Edwards, member of the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce board of directors. We are extremely grateful to have Morning Pointe to serve the needs of our residents in Anderson County. Morning Pointe has served Anderson County for more than 15 years, and was named Best of Anderson County by The Clinton Courier News. After a half-million dollar renovation, the building offers a full spectrum of programs designed for seniors with various stages of memory conditions. "The Clinton Alzheimers Center of Excellence features 51 specially designed, secured apartments with personalized programming that focuses on individual interests, life experiences, and strengths. Nine of the apartments are located in The Lantern an intimate environment for individuals needing greater levels of assistance. Forty-two of the rooms are dedicated to The Lamplight program for residents in the early to moderate stages of cognitive decline," officials said. Key features of the new memory care community include: The Meaningful Day purposeful programming adds a personalized focus to improve quality of life; SimpleC Companion Touch Screen Memory Care Technology to promote improved engagement; Cuddle Therapy, specially crafted, lifelike dolls to bring a sense of calm and purpose to residents; On-site physical, occupational and speech therapies; Teepa Snow Activity Boxes; Intergenerational and Music Matters programming; Licensed clinical staff available 24 hours a day; and Individual care plans coordinated by licensed nurses and area healthcare providers "In light of Morning Pointes commitment to caregiver education and community service, the Morning Pointe center hosts a free Alzheimers support group the first Wednesday of every month, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.," officials said. Our goal is to continue providing personalized care options that support the unique day-to-day needs for seniors, caregivers, and families, said Marcy Pennington, executive director at Morning Pointe. We are proud to offer more innovative memory care programming in our goal to be the regions choice for quality senior care. "Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Morning Pointe Senior Living is the regions choice for assisted living and Alzheimers memory care with 27 locations across five southeastern states. The Chattanooga-based senior healthcare services company continues to expand, with three additional senior campuses scheduled to open in mid-2017," officials said. To learn more about The Lantern and Lamplight memory care programs at The Lantern at Morning Pointe Alzheimers Center of Excellence, Clinton, call 865-457-4005. It has taken some time to even process this first phase of grieving after Mamas passing and I still may be in that first phase but now, it is a lot better even if it is still raw. You see, each person will grieve differently and there is no one way to do it. No right way, no wrong way. No one can know what to expect. Do you know why? Because we who are planners would try to orchestrate how our own healing would go and when we think should be over it and, then we only have the head knowledge of our healing over heart knowledge. Heart knowledge is that aha of when you really understand something because you experience it and know it intimately. God has taught me this patience over the last decade, yet as a human being traveling this world, I still need reminding with those aha moments in which I take time to breathe. My first aha moment was this week. First, as I planned to heal myself quickly and accordingly, I bought a thick journal. I needed to be able to tell Mama my thoughts and feel as though I was with her. I knew it was just for me, but I needed that. So, I journaled eight pages of that night the night Mama passed. Mama was diagnosed with Dementia a few years ago but she knew who we all were and lived her last years happily and somewhat independently. What took her was the Leukemia she was diagnosed with a few months ago, coupled with congestive heart failure and other things. At first, I didnt believe the doctors when she was diagnosed with Leukemia. She seemed so strong and not ill at all. I felt if she could just get proper nutrition and try natural methods, that our prayers and encouragement would be enough. But I trusted my sisters who talked with Mamas doctors and they believed she would not be with us long. It was a roller coaster of emotions because some days Mama looked fine and she was happy and seemed healthy. Other days, she was miserable and it showed that she was in fact dying. Trying to prolong her life and keep here for us would be a selfish act, and we all agreed we would not do that. We saw drastic changes as Mamas illness progressed rapidly over the next two months. We knew she was dying and that was when I was able to mention it in a previous article. Traveling back and forth to Chattanooga was hard and when she was in a wheelchair needing constant care, we did not sleep much. My sisters and I took 24 hour shifts. Packing for what would be my last trip to see Mama, I knew to bring my black dress though it still seemed a guessing game because she still had good days. That week, I did not take shifts or stay with my son. I stayed at Mamas the whole time and didnt plan on leaving. The day before she passed, we knew it was very close within hours we thought. The Leukemia was aggressive and causing Mama quite a bit of pain in her joints. So morphine was added to ease her pain and make her most comfortable. Her grown grandchildren either came to see her or talked to her by phone and all of her daughters were with her. We sang songs around her hospital bed in her living room and we prayed over her. Mama was in and out and we got kisses and hand squeezing, but then Mama went to sleep. No, that is not me easing the pain of saying she died she really was just sleeping, but her body began to shut down. Her brain was first. I knew that she wasnt there anymore because I would hold her hand and she did not hold mine back. Yet, she was still breathing. Then the horrible part came. Her breathing became a gurgle and we all thought it would be any moment. The fluid in her lungs was literally drowning her and I saw it as suffering. For those of who have followed my Mama stories and felt as if you knew her, I dont want to hurt you, so I will go ahead and say, Mama did not suffer. But at the time, I didnt know that. The reason I am sharing such an intimate, personal thing is because God gave me a writers voice for those who experience some of the same things I have and need encouragement. What I saw with my eyes that night was horrifying. To think of my sweet Mama having a difficult time breathing was excruciating to watch. And at first, before even making the trip, I didnt think I wanted to even be with her when she died. I almost didnt go to Chattanooga. I wanted my last memory of her to be when she was having good days. But my heart urged me to go mainly to help my exhausted sisters, but once I was there, I knew it was for Mama. I do not regret it even during that painful night. Sure, it was hard for me but it was so good for Mama to have me there. We have always been a close family and it wouldnt have made sense if I wasnt there for Mamas homecoming. As a Christian, I knew Mama would be in a better place. I have used those words to comfort others who have lost a dear one, but this this was MY Mama. Those words I knew didnt seem to comfort me at the time. Knowing she would be with Jesus didnt stop my gut from having the stabbing emotional pain of those last few hours. My sisters and I pleaded out loud to God, Lord, please have Mercy on our Mama! We wanted Him to take her at that point. Why wouldnt God just take her? Why make her go through this? It was hurtful and we sobbed throughout the night. I stayed at her head either behind the head of her bed or next to her right side. I would get by her ear and whisper, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. I did that all night long periodically. I sang to her even though she was in a deep sleep. Nurses will tell people your loved one can still hear you, but at that point when she could not squeeze our hands and didnt seem to be there I dont think she could. I think she did for a little while in her sleep, but then I believe her brain shut down Gods protection from the pain, the sting of death. But I thought maybe she could hear me and I saw a tear. I thought it was a tear of emotion and so it bothered me greatly to think she was aware while her gurgled breathing was going on. Her very last breaths were soft and silent. We went through the motions of the funeral which is almost a blur, but it was not hard for me to see her in the casket like it was seeing my Daddy. One, because they did her mouth wrong which I was glad because I needed to be reminded in my foggy brain that she wasnt there and that was not her. My Mama was already with Jesus. And two, because my Dad passed when he was in his 50s and I was still pretty young I wasnt ready. He was taken from a heart attack and that was sudden. Now that I am in my 50s, I thought grieving over Mama would be easier because she had such a full life and was happy to the end. Its not. In fact, I think this is the hardest process I have gone through. But that is just it it IS a process. I cant plan how long I will grieve or when I will let myself grieve. It is a process and it just has to happen. And did you know that when you grieve over a parent you have belly cries? Its sort of like belly laughs where it comes from deep within your belly and you cannot control your facial expression, your breath or anything! It just comes and it comes when it wants to no planning, no controlling and no stifling. After belly crying for so many days, I thought I was through. The tears invasively come in an instant and without warning and without rhyme or reason. EVERYTHING reminds me of Mama. So at any time, I can be having a great day then BAM! Tears. But after I journaled about that horrific night in which I watched my Mama die, I thought I put it away. But it was still there. So the other day, I was leaving my chiropractors office and he came out after me saying, Jennifer, the Lord told me to stop you. He went on to explain that our bodies cannot heal when we hold onto stress and that grieving is stressful. He said we tend to busy ourselves to try and forget the pain, but that our bodies need us to take time. Time for deep breaths, time to meditate and time to relax. He saw my need. God used him to help me take time to breathe. That day, I went on to interview a pastor of the church my family attended while living in Murray during my childhood. I had wanted to talk about Mamas death with my pastor at the church my husband and I attend, but I have not been able to make the time. So, I asked Pastor Dye after I interviewed him, if we could switch chairs, because I needed his help. He obliged me and I dont think I would have had the confidence to do something for me toward healing, had Dr. Heskett not stopped me. I told Pastor Dye about that night and how I could not shake it from my mind. I asked questions I needed to ask, even if I knew the answer I needed it confirmed. This helped me so much. Pastor Dye told me I was perceiving that night as if it were MY body. My body was not dying, my body did not have leukemia or dementia and it was not ready for Glory. Mamas was. I didnt need to look at that night as if Mama were suffering, because there were spiritual and scientific reasons that she was not. First and foremost, God was with her the whole way not just coming for her in the end. Secondly, He DID show mercy. He was with her and He allowed the pain meds to comfort her (which we also knows slows down the body, so it is easy for the enemy to use this guilt and make you feel you were hurrying your loved ones death but that is not so). Mama had Dementia, Leukemia and CHF she was truly dying and prolonging her life by a few hours or weeks would not have made a difference except maybe cause her more pain. No, I am at peace knowing that we made her comfortable in her last hours. As far as the last six hours we heard her gurgled breathing Mama was already gone. No, not her spirit or her lifes breath but her mind, her awareness she was not experiencing what we were watching. Just as when you have surgery and are put to sleep. There are moments when you can hear the goings on around you but you cant wake up and there are moments when you do not hear or recall a thing. Mama was in such a deep sleep, I dont think she heard or was aware of the last six hours. Jesus had her mind shut down as the rest of her body was shutting down slowly. I remember that night as horrible as I perceived it that there was a strange beauty in it and I couldnt understand that feeling but it was there. Morbid beauty? How can those two words coincide? I am not talking about the beauty of knowing Mama was now with Jesus and so its all better now those were just the words I knew in my head. But to experience watching Mamas life passing from this earth, was strangely beautiful. That moment when she crossed over. People say they passed away away where? Do they know? Where was Mama that very moment? I recalled the scripture, to be absent from the body is to be with Christ I believed that, but I had not experienced that knowledge with my heart - just my head. Now that it was so very personal and I witnessed life leaving her body in that very moment, I heard my thoughts say, What you are seeing right now is not a life passing to death it is death passing to Life. Mamas body was ready for Glory. Her body was transitioning. It is a scientific process for the body to transition but also a spiritual one and that makes sense because God created everything and science is part of it all. So her earthly body may have been transitioning in death, but her spirit was transitioning to life. And that, was beautiful. After talking with the pastor and realizing Mama did not suffer, I see the whole night differently. It wasnt horrible. Mama didnt pass away she passed on. Onto a new life! Phase one of healing: No guilt, she did not suffer, and she IS with Jesus. Finding Mamas many bibles in the house afterward were full of her writings and showing how very faithful she was. Shhh listen I can almost hear the Lord saying Well done. jen@themurraymirror.com A new Chattanooga chapter of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee is holding an organizational meeting on Thursday, April 6, 6:30-8 p.m. at the Edney Building in downtown Chattanooga, 1100 Market Street. Marian Ott, president of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, will give a presentation on the League and its work. The public is invited, and snacks will be served. "League of Women Voters has seen a surge in the number of members in the last year. Membership in the League of Women Voters of the US is up by thousands, and the League of Women Voters of Tennessee has also seen an increase in member numbers. The League is open to any person who subscribes to its purpose and policies, and both men and women are welcome to become members," officials said. "In February of this year, the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, in partnership with the Chattanooga Womens Leadership Institute and the Womens Fund of Greater Chattanooga, offered a workshop on legislative advocacy skills in Chattanooga. More than sixty people attended, and the majority of them expressed interest in having a Chattanooga chapter of the League." According to Lisa Bilbrey Hyder, an Ooltewah resident helping to organize the group, Citizens informing themselves on issues and working to influence public policy is vital to democracy. Im excited about bringing the League of Women Voters to Chattanooga because its a grassroots organization that gets things done. Continuing a tradition launched following the celebration of its 150th anniversary in 2014, First Tennessee is once again promoting March of Service projects to benefit local nonprofits.The annual volunteer effort is a call to action for First Tennessee workers to invest in their communities. Each March the companys 4,300 employees pitch in to participate in service projects as departments or in small groups.And as First Tennessee prepares to celebrate its 153rd anniversary on March 25, the companyslegacy of commitment to the communities it serves is stronger than ever, officials said."During 2016, First Tennessees employees logged more than 23,000 hours of volunteer service at charitable and civic organizations, and participated in more than 4,700 unique volunteer events."The value of employee service exceeded $541,000.First Tennessee employees also served asboard members of more than 130 nonprofit organizations."In Chattanooga and across Tennessee, employees rolled up their sleeves last year to createstronger communities by painting, cleaning, repairing and sprucing up numerous nonprofitspaces. Over 70 local First Tennessee workers logged nearly 2,300 volunteer hours during 2016and generated a community impact of more than $50,000," officials said.Market President Jeff Jackson, said, We pride ourselves in supporting our local community andlocal businesses. Whether we are cleaning up our downtown, or sprucing up a nonprofits officewith new paint, we are more than happy to take part in a great initiative that gives back tononprofit companies that do so much for the Chattanooga area."Since 1864 First Tennessee has been committed to the customers and communities it serves byproviding financial services and solutions, and demonstrating that commitment throughcommunity investment. And while First Tennessee highlights its volunteer spirit every March, thecompanys community investment is ongoing," officials said.First Tennessee welcomes inquiries from nonprofits about volunteer project opportunities. Tosubmit a service project, contact Margarett Frisby at mlfrisby@firsttennessee.com. Nominations and applications are now being accepted for the Chattanooga and Hamilton County Medical Society and Medical Foundation of Chattanoogas 12th annual Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine. The program will be held June 5-8 and includes daily round table discussions with physicians and shadowing a different physician each day. This year, the program is open to rising high school seniors and recent high school graduates who may want to consider careers in medicine. The deadline to apply is April 14. The program is designed to: - Provide students the opportunity to learn more about life as a physician and inspire them to consider a career in medicine; - Educate students about options available to assist with the cost of medical education; - Provide students and local physicians with a community-based mentoring/teaching experience; and - Assist with efforts to increase the pipeline of health care providers in Southeastern Tennessee. Students must complete an application and submit two recommendations, which can be from a teacher, principal, guidance counselor, or other individual who is familiar with the students educational background and interests. Applications and complete information are available at www.chattmd.org Typically more than 100 students apply for the competitive program, and approximately 25 students are selected.This program is a great way to educate students on the realities of the field of medicine, said Mark Brzezienski, MD, past president of the Medical Society and Medical Foundation, and founder of the program. We aim to inspire these talented young people to pursue a career in the field. Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. MDA Ambassador Isaac Yother, his younger brother, Imri, and his mother, Susan got to have some fun Thursday morning when they gave the signal that started Chattanooga fire companies off on their fundraising drive today for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). Isaac has a form of muscular dystrophy and he told reporters that he truly appreciates what the firefighters are trying to do for them and many other children afflicted by these terrible muscle diseases. For the next three days, March 23-25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. , more than 370 firefighters will fan out across the city with boots in hand to collect donations for MDA. Last year the Chattanooga Fire Department finished second in the state by raising $80,507. This year's goal is to raise $100,000 for MDA. The funds raised support research to find urgently needed treatments and cures for muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases that severely limit strength and mobility. The funds also support the MDA Care Center at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, and t hey help send local kids to MDA summer camp at no cost to their families. The Chattanooga Fire Fighters Association, Local 820 is also a key sponsor of this fundraising drive. For video of Thursday's event, click here. Starting Thursday, look for Chattanooga firefighters at the following locations: Quint 1 4th St. & Mable St. Ladder 1 Main St. & Central Squad 1 Broad St. & Aquarium Way Quint 2 Market St. & Main St. Quint 3 Entrance of Walmart & Cummings Rd. Engine 4 Dodson Ave. & Wilcox Blvd. Engine 5 Main St. & Willow St. Quint 4 Bailey Ave. & Willow St. Quint 6 Bonny Oaks Dr. & Hwy 58 Quint 7 Lee Hwy & Relocation Way (Food City) Squad 7 Jenkins Rd. (intersection by Tiger Mart) Quint 8 Shallowford Rd. & Hamilton Place Blvd. Engine 9 Rossville Blvd. & Dodds Ave. Quint 10 Wilder St. & Dodson Ave. Engine 12 Frazier Ave. & Forrest Ave. Quint 13 Greenway View Dr. & Brainerd Rd. Squad 13 Igou Gap Rd. & Gunbarrel Rd. Quint 14 St. Elmo Ave. & 38th St. Engine 15 Moore Rd. & Shallowford Rd. Quint 16 Lupton Dr. & Hixson Pike Quint 17 Mountain Creek Rd. & Signal Mtn Blvd. Quint 19 North Point Rd. & Hixson Pike Squad 19 North Point Rd. & Hixson Pike Squad 20 Brown Ferry Rd. & Cummings Rd. Quint 21 E. Brainerd Rd. & Graysville Rd. (Walmart parking lot) Engine 22 Walmart Entrance and Exit behind Chik-Fil-A on Hwy 153 Local businesses and nonprofits are celebrating Tennessee Saves Week March 25-31 by making a pledge to take steps toward a more secure financial future. University of Tennessee Extension Agent June Puett is leading a campaign to encourage people of all ages and incomes to set financial goals during this time. More than 33,000 area people have taken take steps toward making sound financial decisions. says Ms. Puett. A goal of Tennessee Saves Week is to illustrate how easy and fun saving money can be. Ms. Puett shares some of these suggestions: Take the Tennessee Saves Pledge at www.tnsaveschatt.org. Choose to receive free emails or texts with motivational savings tips. Vote for a favorite Pigs on Parade piggy banks decorated by 29 businesses, nonprofit and educational organizations in order to promote financial literacy. The public can vote by visiting the Tennessee Saves Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TennesseeSavesChattanoogaChapter. Click on photos, see all, then albums. Click on the two categories: 2017 Business and 2017 Nonprofit. Vote by opening the individual photo(s) and like favorite(s). Vote by March 29 at 3 p.m. Visit the free Chattanooga Chamber Expo at the Convention Center on March 29 to learn to shop local and save. Stop by the Tennessee Saves booth #421 and vote for favorite piggy banks from 10-11:30 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Tennessee Saves is affiliated with the national America Saves campaign and University of Tennessee Extension. The purpose to promote and provide financial education for youth and adults. Community partners conduct year round social marketing and educational programs. Contact June Puett with University of Tennessee Extension at jpuett@utk.edu or 855-6113. Saves Week activities were made possible by a Consumer Federation of America. Activities are not limited to Tennessee residents. The Tennessee Valley Authority is seeking public comment on potential environmental impacts of building a facility to remove and recirculate water used in the coal ash management process at Gallatin Fossil Plant in Gallatin, Tennessee. TVA is proposing to build a dewatering facility for bottom ash at Gallatin as part of its commitment to convert from wet to dry storage of ash and other coal combustion residuals. The facility would include a system to recycle water, which is used to move ash, back into the powerhouse for continued use. The dry ash would then be stored onsite. This project would also foster TVAs compliance with current and future regulations, both state and federal, related to the management of coal combustion residuals. TVA is inviting the public to comment on a draft Environmental Assessment which considers the potential environmental impacts of several alternatives, including construction of the dewatering facility or taking no action. TVAs preferred alternative is to construct the dewatering facility, which enables a wet-to-dry bottom ash conversion at Gallatin. It is the only alternative that fully complies with Environmental Protection Agency limitations on wastewater, or effluent, finalized in 2015. TVA would implement its preferred alternative in phases, starting with the construction of the once-through dewatering facility in the first phase and then adding the recirculating system in a second phase. Comments on the draft EA must be received or postmarked no later than April 24, 2017. You can learn more about the alternatives and provide comments online at www.tva.com/nepa or by email to arfarless@tva.gov . Comments can be submitted in writing to Ashley Farless, Tennessee Valley Authority, 1101 Market St., BR 4A, Chattanooga, TN, 37402. All information received including name, address and phone number becomes part of the official public record. TVA's Gallatin Fossil Plant is located on 1,950 acres of land on the north bank of the Cumberland River in Sumner County, Tennessee. It has four coal-fired generating units with a combined summer net capacity of 976 megawatts, enough to supply power to more than 500,000 homes. If theres one question of which well never grow tired, its whats faster? especially when it comes to cars. Are cars faster than motorcycles? Trains? Jet aircraft? How about a team of huskies? The latter is what Seat set out to answer with this latest promo clip. Volkswagens Spanish brand headed up to Lapland, way up in the north of Finland, to line up the latest Leon Cupra against a dogsled team to see how their performance compared. The setting is Lake Pikku-Nissi, frozen over with a meter of ice. The competition is a sled pulled by six Alaskan and Siberian huskies, well trained for the purpose, lead by a guy who looks like his familys been doing this for generations, with his foot on a clawed metal bar that serves as a brake. Those dogs pull pretty hard, after all, off the line and through corners. Lining up against them is a 300-horsepower rocket sled in this case the ST wagon like the one that set the Nurburgring lap record, but now equipped with all-wheel drive as standard. Fitted with studded tires, its driven by Jordi Gene, a Spanish driver has won races with Seat in various touring-car series and won his class at Le Mans in 2001. (He comes from good stock, too, as his younger brother Marc won Le Mans outright with Peugeot in 2009 and has long served as a Scuderia Ferrari test driver.) Now this isnt an officially sanctioned race by any means. More of a publicity stunt, really. But its interesting to watch just the same, so check out the minute-long clip below. Photo Gallery Video In 2009, Goldman was working with Disney executive Brigham Taylor on a project called Blaze. By that time, Goldman had further developed his Zootopia project and pitched Taylor on his idea. Goldman gave Taylor copies of his character descriptions, illustrations, and treatment, and Taylor said he would approach the studios animation departments to review the project. According to Goldman, shortly thereafter, Disney put into development its own Zootopia project, but did not compensate Goldman for any of his work. To prove a copyright claim, a plaintiff must show ownership of the work claimed to be infringed upon, substantial similarity between the protected work and the infringing work, and that the defendant had access to the protected work. The guild registration could prove ownership, and the pitches to Hoberman and Taylor could prove access. Most copyright cases, though, hinge on whether works are substantially similar. Goldman claims that both the Goldman Zootopia and the Disney Zootopia address the themes of prejudice, self-definition, and whether individual goals can be obtained in a diverse society, using the metaphor of diverse species. According to the lawsuit, both works depict a setting characterized by anthropomorphic animals in a place referred to as Zootopia, with each species having their own neighborhood, with the animal characters going to work in the day and coming home at night, with social class based on the animals characteristics such as the nature of their species. Both works are set in human-like physical environments, rather than more naturalistic settings such as the jungle or forest, and feature clubs, schools, workplaces, and asylums. The complaint compares the various characters and alleges similarities in the designs and personalities. Goldman also argues that both plots involve a small, cute, furry female animal who is an outsider, and that conflicts among characters are similar, as are the sequence of events, the mood and pace, and of course the title. However, there are differences as well. For example, in Goldmans Zootopia, the anthropomorphic cartoon animal world is created by a human animator. Goldmans Zootopia does not have a rabbit as its main star; the lawsuit compares Judy in Disneys version to a squirrel in Goldmans version, but there is no indication of what role that squirrel plays in the story. And though Goldman says that he came up with Zootopia and describes it as a Zootopia franchise, the actual name of his film was Looney. In the complaint, Goldman alleges that Disney has a corporate practice of appropriating the intellectual property of others without authorization, and citing alleged copy by The Lion King of Osamu Tezukas classic Kimba the White Lion (the Kimba rights holders declined to pursue any claim); by Pixars Toy Story of Jim Hensons The Christmas Toy; by Pixars Monsters, Inc. of Stanley Mouses Wise GEye (Mouse sued Disney in 2002 claiming infringement); by Pixars Up of Yannick Banchereaus Above Then Beyond; by Pixars Inside Out of Frederic Mayers and Cedric Jeannes Cortex Academy, and, as covered by Cartoon Brew previously, by the Frozen trailer of Kelly Wilsons animated short film, The Snowman (Disney settled with Wilson). The complaint even quotes Zootopia director Byron Howard: Dont worry if you feel like youre copying something, because if it comes through you, its going to filter through you and youre going to bring your own unique perspective to it. In a statement, as reported by multiple outlets, Disney denied Goldmans patently false allegations. It is an unprincipled attempt to lay claim to a successful film he didnt create, and we will vigorously defend against it in court, a Disney spokesperson said. Goldman is seeking an accounting of all profits derived from Zootopia and unspecified damages, including punitive, as a result of what he calls Disneys wanton, deliberate, malicious, and willful misconduct. Hello everyone! My name is Aaron Blaise and Ive been an animator, character designer, and animation feature film director for the past 30 years. Im also an art educator and run a website called CreatureArtTeacher.com. Currently I am working on a new animated short film called Snow Bear. Its going to be about an eight-minute film. Its a hand drawn short about a lonely polar bear in the Arctic and how he makes a friend. I thought it might be fun to give the readers of Cartoon Brew a sneak peek at what I am working on with the short and also take this opportunity to share my process for character design with you. Im a big believer in having a workable and repeatable process so that you get consistent results. My approach is the same every time! It doesnt matter if its for a small short like this or a larger animated feature. Its also the same for a 2D or 3D film. Ive created a video that runs about 45 minutes long for you to watch my process. Here it is: I also wanted to elaborate on some of the points from the video in the article below. So, here are my 7 Steps to Great Character Design. 1. DO YOUR RESEARCH! Its absolutely crucial that you know as much about the real thing as you possibly can before you start designing. There are a lot of ways to do research. Personally, in the case of Snow Bear I am recording and watching animal documentaries by the truckload. I also utilize Google for information regarding polar bears, as well as images. Whenever possible I also try to get out into nature and see the animals, or other subject matter, in person. While making Brother Bear for Disney the story team and I took numerous trips up to Alaska to study wildlife, and native Inuit and Athabaskan culture. This sort of first hand experience is invaluable. On these trips, we will create hundreds of drawings and shoot thousands of photos. All of which will aid in our understanding of the world of the film and help us build a mental library that we can pull from. Once Im back in at my desk I typically print out hundreds of research images and sketches. I then pin them to boards all around the studio. These vision boards help to immerse me in the subject. Everywhere I look there is an image that tells me something about the real world and that all seeps back into development and design process. I will continually add to these boards as the vis-dev process unfolds. 2. Know Anatomy (The REAL Thing) Its crucial that you have an understanding of anatomy so that you understand the underlying form Only then you can begin to abstract it effectively. While at Disney we consistently went to figure drawing classes and went to the zoo to keep our real world knowledge of humans and animals sharp. Again, in the case of Snow Bear, I am learning everything I can about polar bear anatomy. Ive even ordered castings of real polar bear skeletons to really get a sense of the underlying structure. Once, you have a full understanding of the real thing and you can draw it from any angle or in any pose. You are now ready to start stylizing the character and finding your design. 3. Know The Universe Character designs must serve the overall look of the film! The design conceit or look of the film is something that is developed as a part of the pre-production process. If your designs and images dont look like they belong in the world of the film I can guarantee that they will be rejected by an art director every time. As I briefly mentioned in the video, for Aladdin the look of the film was roughly inspired by the great cartoonist and caricature artist, Al Hirschfeld. Therefore, the directors wanted a very smooth and flowing line for all the characters. While designing the character of Rajah I initially struggled with turning the stylized linework that was essential to the film into a believable tiger character. Then one day I was walking down the street in Orlando (I was working at the Florida studio at the time) and I saw the hood ornament on a Jaguar automobile. The flowing shape of the sculpture caught my eye. Immediately a light bulb went off in my head. I rushed back to my animation desk and having been freshly inspired by the hood ornament, I had my tiger character down on paper very quickly. It was that design that ended up in the final film. 4. Understand the Story (And How Your Character Fits) No matter how big or small the role of a character in film is, you should understand their place in the story and their motivations. Its not just a matter of knowing the plot. You have to know their motivations How does your character think? What are their needs? Are they happy? Are they sad? Why? All of this information will begin to inform the look of your character and will give your designs a sense of attitude and life. This is what will ultimately help your audience connect with the character and ultimately make for a better design, and hopefully a better film. 5. Start Drawing, Experimenting & Sketching (But, Dont Fall In Love) Now its time to have some fun and start drawing! Sketch poses and expressions. And above all have fun!! However, dont settle on a design too soon. And NEVER fall in love with your art. This is one of the most common mistakes that young or inexperienced artists struggle with. You have to be willing to throw out an image even if you really, really like it. If it doesnt serve the characters role in the story it has to go! Even a great artist may throw out hundreds of sketches before landing on one that works. I know that personally I have had tons of bad drawings for every good one. This is all OK and part of the process so dont get frustrated. During the sketching phase you are trying to find attitudes and expressions that your character might need to show in the film. Use all that research in your head to get your design to emote. Remember, as discussed above everything about your character has to serve the story. Keep things simple Dont add a bunch of unnecessary ornamentation just because you think it looks cool. 6. Draw Expressions, Create Model Sheets & Key Poses Hopefully youve now arrived on a pleasing design that serves the story, fits the look of the film, and conveys emotion. Now, its time to start putting your character in the world of the story. I like to draw more polished images of key scenes and moments from the story and see if my design is still working. These images, when they work well, are the first time that the film starts to really feel like its coming to life! The images all go up on the vision boards I mentioned earlier. I also create model sheets to make sure that myself and other animators are able to maintain consistency throughout the film. 7. Move Your Character! If you are an animator or you work with animators, the next step is to do motion tests of your design. Moving your character around on the screen before you go into full production is a crucial step to making sure that your design really works. Youll be amazed at what you learn when you see your character moving. If the design works and is believable then you are off to the races! But if there are issues and things arent quite working right, this is your chance to catch it before its too late. I highly recommend this step as it can teach a lot about the film you are making. Even when I have worked on computer animated films Ive been able to do 2D motion tests of our characters that have really helped the cgi animators get a sense of how the character moves and emotes. This is something that really helps me as a director and its also something that Disney still tends to do for their films as well. Wrap Up 2D animation test from unreleased film, The Legend of Tembo. Well thats it. Those are the 7 Steps that I go through every time on every project! Its a process that I strongly believe in and it will serve you well. I hope that youve found this useful and that it helps you with your art or gives you some insights into my experiences that you can draw upon. If you are interested in additional Character Design or Animation tutorials I have a complete line of courses on my web site CreatureArtTeacher.com there are many, many hours of in-depth content available. I also offer a variety of free tips and tricks on my Youtube channel. I hope that this helps you put some beauty out into the world! Enter promo code CartoonBrew and Save 25% OFF any order! About Aaron Blaise For 21 years Aaron worked with Disney helping to create some of the greatest animated films ever made. During that time he worked as an animator or supervising animator on The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, and more. In 2003 he was co-director of Brother Bear for which he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. After Brother Bear he helped to develop several projects but ultimately left Disney to pursue an opportunity back home in Florida. Aaron recently served as 2D animation supervisor and character designer for the The Bear and the Hare, an advertisement loved by millions around the world. He is currently also working on a new animated short film, once again involving bears called Snow Bear. Photo: Castanet File Photo The founder of an Okanagan environmental group says Kelowna's newly minted water plan would be the death of Mission Creek. Matt Hanson with the Okanagan Fisheries Foundation, says the plan to use Mission Creek as the city's primary source of drinking water would erode the delicate ecosystem within the Central Okanagan's largest flowing water source. "The greenway and the overall ecosystem is at threat, but obviously, the iconic kokanee salmon run would be the main thing at threat. We've spent years and years to get the fishery to recover, and recently spent millions of dollars into restoring Mission Creek," said Hanson. "To turn around and potentially look at allocating more water, and to now look at that as a main source of drinking water for Kelowna, when we already have a 130 kilometre, 900 foot reservoir at our doorstep." Hanson says Mission Creek once had a thriving kokanee run with hundreds of thousands of fish each year to as low as 5,000 when 11 kilometres of the creek was removed. He says the overall idea of the water plan, to provide clean drinking water to everyone in the city is a great initiative, but, Hanson says, at what cost? "We don't value that creek enough...we value the cost saving. "We're basically saying let's mitigate the cost of getting water out of Okanagan Lake by utilizing the environment to the detriment of the ecosystem, and of that watershed's contribution to our community." Hanson says the plan is about cost, not about science. "The cost is a saving to the city of $94 or $95 million, but the cost to Kelowna is probably the loss of Mission Creek," he says. "We are fast becoming a city that values cost over the environment, and that's troubling to us." The organization doesn't oppose the entire plan, says Hanson, just utilizing Mission Creek as a water source. He says the original 2012 plan of pumping water from Okanagan Lake and integrating the water districts was an environmentally sound, sensible, well conceived plan. He says that plan has been superseded based on cost. "The city gets an award for restoring Mission Creek, now they are suggesting we drain the life out of it." His organization has started a petition on change.org, opposing using Mission Creek as a city water source. An auto insurance dealer staged this extreme form of curling on a skating rink in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Teams pushed their vintage cars across the ice towards their opponents vehicles in hopes of knocking them out of the way. And to keep this dangerous activity as safe as possible and keep the cars light, windows and engines were removed. Group photo of some of the TASA Board Members in attendance on the steps of the Tennessee State Capitol. Left to right: Wallace Elliott - Upper East TN Region Representative, Andrew Reed - TASA Past President, Joyce Noles - TASA President, Keith Douglas - TASA Vice President, Stan Clark - Southeastern Region Representative TASA award presented to State Rep. Dan Howell State Rep. Kevin Brooks State Senator Mike Bell TASA Appreciation Award presented to senators and representatives Previous Next The annual EMS Day on the Hill took place on Capitol Hill in Nashville. The Tennessee Ambulance Service Association (TASA) attended, as they do every year, with EMS representatives from all over the state. The purpose for the annual visit is to meet with state senators and congressman to discuss and promote upcoming legislation that specifically affects Tennessee ambulance services. One very important item this year is the Tenncare: Ground Ambulance Service Provider Act. When this legislation passes, it has the potential to increase annual revenue substantially for EMS services. So far there has been no pushback, and everyone is on board. This year TASA wanted to show their appreciation to the senators and representatives for all of their hard work and support to the ambulance services in Tennessee. A very nice acrylic award was presented during each meeting displaying the TASA logo and a statement of thanks. "We are extremely blessed here in Bradley County to have such great leadership and representation in Nashville. TASA wanted to present a small token to show how much we appreciate everything that they do" Stan Clark. Stan Clark, the assistant director for Bradley County EMS, is the TASA Southeastern EMS representative. He met with Representatives Dan Howell, Kevin Brooks, and Senator Mike Bell. All three showed great support for the upcoming legislation. The 2017 EMS Day on the Hill was another huge success. Multiple meetings were attended by TASA board members and other EMS representatives including one with the Speaker of the House, Beth Harwell. The National EMS Day on the Hill is set for April 25th in Washington D.C. sponsored by N.A.E.M.T. (National Association of EMT's). EMS responders from across the country will converge on D.C. to lobby for EMS related legislation. The end is in sight to a year of construction on Highway 97 through Kelowna. But it's still a way off. A tour of the six-laning project from Highway 33 to Edwards Road on Wednesday revealed the majority of underground work is done. But motorists will have to grin and bear it for a while yet. "We have reached a 40 per cent completion on the project and ... we want to show the progress on the highway to give people in the Central Okanagan an appreciation as to what's going to happen between now and next winter of 2017 before completion," Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick. Media were taken by bus from the Jakens Street road extension, along Highway 97 to the realignment of Finns Road and to the Rutland Road realignment. A stop at the Sexsmith intersection was made to explain improvements that will take place in April. The final stop was the Lloyd Road extension. Lindsay Stringer, regional project manager with the Ministry of Transportation, said: " Kelowna is growing, and the traffic in the city is expanding ... this is part of the expansion work to accommodate that traffic. " Completion is expected in December, and Stringer says: "We are on track to meet the deadline. " Photo: Castanet File Photo The Kelowna Fire Department is looking to expand its growing dispatch network. Already providing fire dispatch service for regional districts in the Central Okanagan, Okanagan Similkameen and East Boundary, the fire department has bids in to provide the service to Central Kootenay (Creston) and Boundary Kootenay (Trail). Acting Fire Chief Lou Wilde says they will also look at responding to a request for proposals from the Vernon Fire Department if they ask for bids on their dispatch service. Last week, Vernon council asked its fire department to look into the cost of contracting out the service as a cost saving measure. When Kelowna originally won the Okanagan Similkameen contract in 2011, it was paid just over $1 million over five years. The regional district said at the same time it would save nearly $1.8 million over the life of the deal. "We currently have capacity within our existing structure and technology, where we can take on additional business," said Wilde. "And, it helps reduce the overall cost to the local taxpayers when we have existing capacity and can sell it off to someone else and provide the same service." Wilde says profits made by contracting with other regional districts in the region also go towards upgrades to the department's technology network. The idea to contract services out was initiated when former fire chief Jeff Carlisle came to Kelowna. "We were right at the point that we realized we either had to grow, or we're going to die," said Wilde. "We were able to have a good discussion with the union executive, and said we wanted to grow, instead of trying to figure out how to piece it out. It worked out well that we were able to get the South Okanagan and go from there." He says some of the smaller dispatch centres just aren't able to survive due to technology and service standard requirements. Photo: Contributed A Kelowna man who was working on a building that caught fire Wednesday has been identified as a husband and father of two boys. Braden Kapchinsky was working on townhouse complex under construction near Buckland and Marshall streets when a fire broke out about 7 a.m. Firefighters rescued Kapchinsy from the top storey of the building. "A male occupant was found in the top storey with burns and smoke inhalation," the Kelowna Fire Department said in a statement. "(The) patient was rescued through the third floor window by the ladder truck and fire crews. He was rushed to Kelowna General Hospital and then airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital, where he is currently being treated in the burn unit. A family friend set up a Go Fund Me page to relieve the burden on his family so they can join his side. According to the page, the accident has left him in a coma, with burns over half of his body. Both Worksafe BC and RCMP Forensic Identification Services are investigating the fire. Photo: Contributed Okanagan Spirits has done it again. The year of success continues the BCs local distillery after winning five gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the World Spirit awards on Wednesday. They also defended their gold medal award of their exclusive Laird of Fintry Single Malt Whisky. "Chris was literally weighed down in medals with the amazing sweep of eight awards! Talk about owning the podium" said CEO Tyler Dyck, who is currently at the awards at Asbach Distillery in Rudesheim am Rhein, Germany with distiller Christopher Burke. The Laird of Fintry Single Malt Whisky started making noise when it was sampled by the Duke of Cambridge Prince William during his visit to Kelowna. It currently holds the title of being the first Canadian Whisky to receive a gold medal at the World Spirit Awards. "As a craft distillery that specializes in producing 100% BC spirits, we are proud to keep proving our quality on a global scale and continue to showcase what B.C. and Canada is capable of in the world of craft distilling," said Dyck. Other notable winners included Taboo Absinthe, Aquavit, Blackcurrant Liqueur and Haskap Liqueur. Photo: file photo Heavy smoke and flames poured from a home on Sutherland Avenue overnight. Kelowna firefighters responded to a 911 call and found fire coming from the rear of the single-family home. In a press release issued just before 1:30 a.m., Platoon Capt. Kelly Stephens said fire was quickly extinguished, but not before causing considerable damage to the residence. No occupants were home at the time. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, and police and fire investigators are expected to return to the scene this morning. The fire department responded with three engines, rescue vehicle, safety officer and command unit, along with 16 fire personnel. RCMP, paramedics and Fortis utility crews were also on scene. Photo: The Canadian Press The parents of a nine-year-old boy who was shot in the head in their Phoenix home put off calling 911 as they cleaned up evidence in multiple rooms of the house, police said Wednesday, calling it a case that "shocks your conscience." Wendy Lavarnia told police that her two-year-old son found a gun left on a bed and accidentally shot his older brother Monday. Police cast doubt on her story as they launched a murder investigation involving the 28-year-old woman and her ex-convict husband, Kansas Lavarnia. Police grew suspicious of the mother's story when they found inconsistencies in her account and when the boy's father showed up at the home with a crudely bandaged gunshot wound on his upper arm. The wound looked to have been punctured multiple times, possibly with a screwdriver, to camouflage the injury, authorities said. Police declined to specify the mother's inconsistencies or say who they think shot the boy and his father. It's unclear whether the couple is represented by lawyers who can speak on their behalf. Authorities said the parents delayed medical care for their son to clean up evidence in the house. Police declined to say whether they believe the boy would be alive had authorities been alerted sooner. A probable-cause statement filed by police says the lack of visible blood and the extent of blood residue implied that a significant amount of time passed before authorities were called. The father was booked on suspicion of first-degree murder, child abuse and hindering prosecution, while Wendy Lavarnia was booked on suspicion of first-degree murder, court documents said. Prosecutors have not yet filed charges. UPDATE: Noon A North Cariboo Air aircraft travelling from Victoria was able to land safely at the Kelowna International Airport after having landing gear issues on Thursday. The aircraft finally touched down at 9:55 a.m. after circling the sky before attempting to land. The aircraft circled for about an hour and half to ensure they could get the landing gear down, said Phillip Elchitz, airport director. Airport officials were notified at 8:30 a.m. that the plane, which had seven people on board, was having problems. There was an indicator on the aircraft that indicates three green, which means all three landing gears are down. When an aircraft does not get those indications there is a potential issue with the landing gear, said Elchitz. The pilots were able to get the landing gear down while in the air. A five-alarm was issued for the airport and four trucks from Kelowna Fire Department, two ambulances, two RCMP vehicles and their own fire crew was all on scene. Out of an abundance of precaution we go on what's called standby, our airport response firefighting team gets into position as well as we call for back up from Kelowna Fire department, Lake Country, as well as Ellison, he said. Spectators in the airport cheered and clapped when the small plane landed. Elchitz said this is not a rare occasion but they want to make sure every precaution is met. with files from Alanna Kelly UPDATE: 10:10 a.m. A plane with seven people on board has landed safely after some tense moments. A North Cariboo Air aircraft, operating on behalf of Pacific Coastal Airlines, touched down safely at Kelowna airport at about 10 a.m. It was experiencing potential landing gear issues. with files from Alanna Kelly UPDATE: 9:50 a.m. According to officials at Kelowna International Airport, a North Cariboo Air aircraft, operating on behalf of Pacific Coastal Airlines, advised the air traffic control tower there were indications that there could be issues with the landing gear. Emergency crews are standing by. The flight originated from Victoria. Castanet has a reporter on scene. More details when they become available. ORIGINAL: 9:05 a.m. Emergency crews are rushing to the Kelowna International Airport. Details are unclear. There were tense moments at YLW earlier this month when a small plane reported potential landing gear issues. Send photos, video and news tips to [email protected] Photo: The Canadian Press Members of the House Freedom Caucus arrive at the White House Showdown day at hand, Republicans remained short of votes Thursday for their showcase health care overhaul, hoping for President Donald Trump to close the deal with balky conservatives at a White House meeting. Frenzied last-minute wheeling and dealing was underway at the Capitol, too, but if anything the number of dissidents seemed to be growing. Signaling that more work was needed, GOP leaders postponed a planned morning meeting of rank-and-file lawmakers, and House Speaker Paul Ryan delayed a scheduled news briefing. Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state became the latest to declare her opposition. Concessions being offered to the conservatives they want to limit requirements that health plans offer benefits including maternity and substance abuse care appeared to be scaring off moderate Republicans. The House Freedom Caucus, whose conservative members comprise the bulk of GOP opponents, met at midday with Trump. A Trump aide tweeted a picture of caucus members giving the president a standing ovation at the start of the session. But going in, the signals were mixed. The head of the group, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., warned it would be a "Herculean task" to resolve their differences quickly. Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., said, "Any package of insurance regs that the president offers us that bends the cost curve down, I'm a yes. It's that simple." The stakes could hardly be higher for a party that gained monopoly control of Washington's power centres in part on promises to get rid of President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement and replace it with something better. Now Republicans are staring at the possibility of failure at the moment of truth, an outcome that would be a crushing political defeat for Trump and Hill GOP leaders and would throw prospects for other legislative achievements into great uncertainty. The Republican legislation would halt Obama's tax penalties against people who don't buy coverage and cut the federal-state Medicaid program for low earners, which the Obama statute had expanded. It would provide tax credits to help people pay medical bills, though generally skimpier than Obama's statute provides. It also would allow insurers to charge older Americans more and repeal tax boosts the law imposed on high-income people and health industry companies. Photo: The Canadian Press Belgian authorities tightened security Thursday in the port city of Antwerp after a Frenchman drove his car at high speed through a busy shopping area, forcing pedestrians to jump out of the way. French President Francois Hollande compared the incident to the attack in London that that left three people dead Wednesday, saying the Frenchman was "trying to kill people or create a dramatic event." The federal prosecutor's office said the car was intercepted late Thursday morning at the port docks and police arrested a man, identified as 39-year-old Mohamed R. , who has been living in France. In the car, authorities found knives, a shotgun and a gas can with an unknown liquid. There were no immediate reports of injuries. An official at the prosecutor's office, who asked not to be identified because the investigation was still ongoing, said the suspect "was under the influence" but refused to elaborate whether it was drugs or alcohol. Authorities immediately raised security in the centre of Antwerp. At first sight, the incident appeared to have the hallmarks of several extremist attacks in Europe a vehicle in a busy area bent on mowing down pedestrians. Trucks were used last year in deadly attacks in Nice and Berlin, and an SUV was used Wednesday in London, where three people died in a rampage close to the British Parliament. The attacker was shot dead by police. The office said "because of these elements, and the events in London yesterday, the case is being taken on by the federal prosecutor's office," which usually deals with extremist attacks. Prime Minister Charles Michel said "we remain vigilant. Our security services have done excellent work." He also expressed sincere condolences to British Prime Minister Theresa May, saying the two nations are "working in close co-operation with our security and intelligence services." Photo: The Canadian Press Senior U.S. officials say the State Department will recommend approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, clearing the way for the White House to formally approve it. Two officials say Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon will issue the recommendation Friday. A 60-day deadline to complete a Trump administration review is set to expire next Monday. The pipeline requires a presidential permit. The officials say the White House would announce the permit's issuance after the State Department recommendation. The officials weren't authorized to comment publicly ahead of the announcement and requested anonymity. Shannon is making the recommendation because Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has recused himself from the matter. Tillerson is the former CEO of Exxon Mobil. The Obama administration had rejected the pipeline. Photo: Google Maps The provincial government has given School District 23 the green light to begin planning for a new middle school in Rutland. A new school for the area to replace the current Rutland Middle School is at the top of the district's capital redesign list. Board chairwoman Moyra Baxter says with 60 school districts in the province vying for the attention of the Ministry of Education, this is good news. "I'm pleased we are now on the list," she says. The announcement doesn't mean the project has been funded, only that the district has been given the go-ahead to prepare a more detailed design for the project, which would see Quigley Elementary School redesigned as a middle school. "It will involve having an architect team come in and really dig deep into all the needs to bring that school up to date and expand the space as required," says district secretary-treasurer Larry Paul. He says there is a lot of space on the property that will allow for expansion without compromising the current field at the school. The province also announced plans for a new middle school in Lake Country can move to the next step as well. "We have completed a project definition report on that one, and we have a very good idea of what we want to do there. "We've costed it out and are prepared to move forward. That one gets moved from the approval conveyor belt to the funding conveyor belt." When the funding will be approved by treasury is not yet clear, says Paul. He doesn't expect that announcement before the election writ is dropped in a few weeks. While the Lake Country project sits in the queue for funding, Paul does hope to hear good news regarding a third middle school project in the district. He says they are waiting for word on funding for a middle school at The Ponds in the Upper Mission. "From my understanding, it's currently in front of treasury, and our local MLAs are supporting our need and debating the requirements. Hopefully that will get some traction fairly soon." The province has also cut cheques for the district in the amount of $3.8 million for three separate projects. The province announced $1.5 million to fund plumbing line upgrades at George Elliott Secondary in Lake Country to extend the life of the school. Another $1.1 million will go towards the purchase of textbooks, lab equipment and art supplies, while a further $1.2 million is earmarked for replacement of nine school buses for the district. Photo: hellobc.com Campers will have more opportunity to connect with nature this summer, with the construction of 55 new campsites in the Thompson-Okanagan region. The sites will be ready for the 2017 camping season and will include: Eight new sites at Okanagan Lake South Provincial Park near Summerland Thirty sites at the Badger Lake Recreation Site near Heffley, north of Kamloops. Seventeen sites at the Scuitto Recreation Site near Kamloops The campsites are among the first phase of 1,900 new sites announced in November. Campsite expansion is occurring across the province, and the majority of new sites will be where demand is greatest in the Kootenays, Okanagan, Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island. Future BC Parks expansions will be concentrated in the flagship provincial parks, such as Fintry, on Okanagan Lake, and Manning Park in the Similkameen. Recreation site expansions will target high-demand areas. "It only takes one visit to the Okanagan to understand why it has the highest demand for campsites in B.C. These new campsites will help more people have a unique experience in one of the most beautiful places in the world," Premier Christy Clark said of the announcement. Funding was also announced that will employ 28 more full-time park rangers. Other new campsites across the province include: Photo: The Canadian Press Africa faces the world's largest humanitarian crisis since 1945, with more than 20 million people facing starvation, and any cut in funding to humanitarian agencies working in famine-affected areas will cause untold suffering, a spokesman for the World Food Program said in Johannesburg Thursday, responding to questions about U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to cut $10 billion in foreign aid. "Any cuts at this time are extremely significant, not just for us but for any U.N. agencies and any aid organization," said David Orr, WFP's Africa spokesman, at a media briefing in Johannesburg. "With the magnitude of needs at the moment is it vital that we continue with a high level of assistance." The current hunger crisis is in three African countries, South Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria, as well as nearby Yemen. The U.S. is WFP's largest donor and was one of the organization's founders. Last year it contributed more than $2 billion, representing about 24 per cent of WFP's total budget, Orr said. U.N. operations in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria will require more than $5.6 billion this year, he said. At least $4.4 billion is needed by the end of March to avert a catastrophe, he said, but so far the U.N. has only received $90 million. Photo: The Canadian Press The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Thursday for an attack by a man who plowed an SUV into pedestrians on one of London's famous bridges and then stabbed a police officer to death at Britain's Parliament. In a sombre but defiant statement, Britain's prime minister declared that "we are not afraid." In a sweeping speech before the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Theresa May said the man who killed three people Wednesday before being shot to death by police was born in Britain and once came under investigation for links to religious extremism. British officials named the attacker as Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old with criminal convictions who was living in the West Midlands, which includes the central city of Birmingham. Police raided properties in London and Birmingham, and made eight arrests. A Utah man visiting London with his wife for their 25th anniversary and a British woman who was a school administrator were killed by the SUV attack on Westminster Bridge and 29 others were hospitalized, seven critically. Others were injured and treated at the scene. May set an unyielding tone Thursday, saluting the heroism of police as well as the ordinary actions of everyone in the British capital who went about their lives in the aftermath. "As I speak, millions will be boarding trains and airplanes to travel to London, and to see for themselves the greatest city on Earth," she told the House of Commons. "It is in these actions - millions of acts of normality - that we find the best response to terrorism. A response that denies our enemies their victory, that refuses to let them win, that shows we will never give in." IS said Thursday through its Aamaq News Agency that the London attacker was a soldier of the Islamic State who "carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens" of countries fighting IS in Syria and Iraq. Police believe the London attacker acted alone and there is no reason to believe "imminent further attacks" are planned, May said, adding that he had been investigated before but police believed he was a peripheral figure at the time. Photo: Thinkstock.com UPDATE: 7:15 p.m. A man working in the forest on British Columbia's central coast was mauled by a grizzly bear Wednesday. Sgt. Scott Norris with the B.C. Conservation Officer Service says other crew members quickly came to the man's defence, but his injuries are significant. Norris says the man was part of a crew working in steep forest terrain near Draney Inlet, about 400 kilometres northwest of Vancouver. Officers with the service's specialized predator attack team were flown into the area on Thursday to assess any public-safety risk and to try to determine what happened. Norris says they don't know yet what set off the attack. The victim's condition hasn't been updated, but Norris says he was transferred to a larger hospital on the coast. Norris says March and April is the usual period for bears to emerge from their dens after a winter of hibernation. "Bears don't typically look at humans as prey items," he said. "They emerge hungry, obviously, any bear does ... but you don't want to jump to the conclusion that the bear's hungry and it attacked an individual." - With files from The Canadian Press ORIGINAL: 12 p.m. A Campbell River man is recovering from a bear mauling at a remote logging camp. The victim was attacked by a grizzly bear at the camp near Rivers Inlet at Draney Bay, on B.C.'s Central Coast. The cutblock assessor was mauled Wednesday and was airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital, where he underwent surgery. He is expected to survive. Conservation officers had not located the bear as of Thursday morning. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: CTV Two retired judges have determined there is enough evidence for allegations of misconduct against Victoria's suspended police chief to hold disciplinary hearings. British Columbia's police complaint commissioner appointed the former judges in 2015 to examine allegations against Frank Elsner of discreditable conduct, inappropriate use of department equipment and deceit. The hearings will examine allegations including inappropriate conduct with the spouse of a member under his command and sexual remarks, leering and unwanted physical contact toward female staff. But retired judge Carol Baird Ellan found there was not enough evidence to direct some allegations to a hearing, including a claim that Elsner asked a potential witness to destroy electronic evidence. None of the allegations has been proven and Elsner has filed a petition asking B.C. Supreme Court to stop the investigations as he says he's being targeted by a group that wants him ousted as chief. Dates have not been set for the hearings, which are held behind closed doors, but police complaint commissioner Stan Lowe says he will release a public report once the process is complete. Photo: The Canadian Press London police say a 75-year-old man injured in the attack on Westminster Bridge has died of his wounds. In a statement late Thursday, police said life support was withdrawn from the man and his family has been notified. The announcement brings to four the number of victims killed in the attack Wednesday in central London. The man identified as the driver of the car that rampaged across the bridge into pedestrians was also killed by police after he jumped out and stabbed a police officer to death. Meanwhile, several thousand people have gathered in London's Trafalgar Square for a candlelit vigil to honour the victims and their families and to show London's unity in the face of militant attacks. Dignitaries, police and clergy, including Buddhist monks in brown robes, gathered on the steps leading to the National Gallery. There was a strong sense of solidarity and camaraderie, with Muslims mingling with Jews and people stopping to thank the police for their work. After speeches and a minute's silence the crowd was so quiet that Big Ben could be heard chiming in the distance the home secretary, mayor and acting police commissioner lit the three oversize candles to applause from the crowd Sughra Ahmed, a Muslim woman who travelled from northwest England for the vigil, said she'd been reduced to tears on the square by a woman who went out of her way to embrace her. "Britain is one," she said. "An attack on one is an attack on us all." Photo: Contributed A private jet was flipped several times and sent into a 10,000-foot dive after getting caught in the jetwash of an Emirates Airbus A380. The small aircraft tumbled toward the Arabian Sea after getting caught in the wake turbulence of the superjumbo airliner on Jan. 7, though news of the event is just coming to light. Nine passengers plus crew were on board as the business jet flew from the Maldives to Berlin. The Bombardier Challenger 604 suffered irreparable damage in the uncontrolled descent after the Airbus flew just 1,000 feet above it, the Aviation Herald reported. The jetwash shut down both its engines and it plummeted in a freefall until the pilot was eventually able to regain control. The plane made an emergency landing in Muscat, Oman. One passenger was seriously injured, and several others were treated in hospital. The aircraft was operated by MHS Aviation of Munich. Germany's Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation is looking into the incident. The Airbus was en route from Dubai to Sydney. Akin to other terror attacks in the recent years, countries like France and Israel showed solidarity with London post the major terror attack outside the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday here. While the City Council in Birmingham, U.K. and the City Hall in Tel Aviv, Israel lit up, lights went out on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France as an expression of support to the victims of the Westminster attack hours after the lockdown post the incident came to an end. Five people, including a police officer, died and at least 40 people were injured in the attack.Assistant Deputy Commissioner Mark Rowley named the police officer that has died as Keith Palmer. Palmer, who was stabbed by a lone attacker attempting to enter the House of Commons, had succumbed to his injury. The suspect was also shot and killed, as reported by The Guardian. Rowley confirmed that, besides Palmer, three members of the public were also killed. He, however, declined to give any details of the attacker, but said he was thought to be inspired by international terrorism. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as "sick and depraved." --ANI Troubling Study Shows South & West Side Neighborhoods Face Alarming Disparities In Food, Health, Stress By Stephen Gossett in News on Mar 23, 2017 4:35PM Flickr / Photo: Sean Biehle A large-scale study of nine Chicago neighborhoods, conducted by the Sinai Urban Health Institute, examined a variety of health and social ills: food insecurity, domestic violence, post-traumatic stress disorder, smoking, arrests, obesity. Each neighborhood trailed below the national-average standard in most areas, researchers found. The data paint a stark and complex picture of health and wellness in many Chicago communities, varied by race, income and ethnicity, demonstrating the value in collecting hyperlocal information, said Dr. Sharon Homan, president of the Sinai Urban Health Institute," in a statement. To develop meaningful interventions to improve health, we must first understand the constellation of social factors that impact people and families within each community. The studywhich researchers said was the largest-scale face-to-face health survey ever completed in the citylooked at several neighborhoods predominantly of color on the South and West Sides, with other areasHermosa on the North, the west-of-Western portion of West Town, and the majority-white Norwood Park on the Northwest Sideincluded as a control. The other areas of study were Chicago Lawn, Gage Park, Humboldt Park, North Lawndale, South Lawndale, West Englewood. Among the other troubling findings: - Many residents on the Southwest and West Sides said their health was only fair or poor. In South Lawndale, 44 percent rated their health that low, which is almost quadruple the national average. - Vital healthcare needs are not regularly being met. In North Lawndale, for example, nearly a quarter of residents don't have their prescription needs met; and nearly 40 percent in Gage Park don't have the dental care they require. - In North Lawndale and West Englewood the majority of men have been arrested at some point in their lives. That figure is almost 50 percent in Chicago Lawn and Humboldt Park. - Twenty-seven percent of people in Humboldt Park experience current symptoms of PTSD. - Thirty-five percent of adults in West Englewood don't feel safe when going out alone. In Hermosa, the same figure is just 8 percent. There is nothing more basic and essential to human happiness than health and wellbeingconditions determined by both an individuals circumstance and behavior, said Terry Mazany, president and CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, which funded the survey, in a statement. The large disparities that exist between neighborhoods only miles apart should be troublingand, at the same time, offer opportunities for solutions. More than 1,900 people were surveyed in the nine neighborhoods for the study, according to researchers. If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,... Jason Van Dyke Charged With 16 New Counts In Laquan McDonald Shooting By Stephen Gossett in News on Mar 23, 2017 5:16PM Jason Van Dyke / Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke now faces 16 additional charges in the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald. Van Dyke, who still faces six counts of first-degree murder, was hit earlier this month by prosecutors with 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, according to reports. Van Dyke fired 16 times at the unarmed, 17-year-old McDonald in October, 2014. So, the 16 counts would seem to correspond with number of shots he fired. The indictment with the additional counts was reached by a grand jury last week, but it was only made known when mentioned by prosecutor Joseph McMahon at court hearing on Thursday morning, according to the Sun-Times. McDonald was shot 16 times on October, 20 2014; but video of the shooting wasn't released to the public until more than a year later, in November 2015, immediately prior to Van Dyke being charged. The video sparked a massive wave of public protest, demands for reform and a yearlong investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The bombshell results of that federal probe determined that the Chicago Police Department engaged in a pattern or practice of using forceincluding use of deadly forcethat violates the Constitution. Van Dyke is due back in court on April 20. Video: Take A Trip To Chicago's Long Lost Greatest Amusement Park By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 23, 2017 5:26PM I make jokes about how old I am, but even I don't remember the fabled land known as Riverview Amusement Park. Opened in 1904, Riverview was located at the intersection of Belmont and Western and was, at the time, the world's largest amusement park. I wasn't really aware it existed until I was leafing through an antique shop as a kid, and came across a poster-sized map of the Riverview grounds. Once I saw the address I was stunned to see it existed well within Chicago city limits at one point. In the video above, Tony Lossanoin all his VHS glorytakes you on a tour of the park's history, including a visit with Ed Fruh, who has been rebuilding the rides and attractions at Riverview as miniature models in his home. Don't worry, there's plenty of footage of the actual park as well. It's an amazing "return to Riverview" and makes us really pine for an experience we never had a chance to have. While Riverview closed in 1967, one piece of it still lives. You can still ride The Riverview Carousel, which was introduced to Six Flags over Georgia in 1972. [h/t Coudal] It took Tom Hiddleston nearly an hour to walk across a few meters of red carpet to get to a Beijing hall. Screaming fans scrambled for autographs and photos, and became more excited after hearing the star greet them in Mandarin. Kong: Skull Island, starring Tom Hiddleston and Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson, will hit Chinese mainland theaters on Friday. [Photo provided to China Daily] Hiddleston, who has a huge fan base in China thanks to his role as Loki, a villain from Marvel's Thor franchise, recently returned to China to promote his latest movie. This Friday, Kong: Skull Island will hit Chinese mainland theaters, two weeks after its US release on March 10. In the film, the British actor plays a former British Special Air Service tracker who escorts a team to an island with giant prehistoric animals. Hiddleston was in town with Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson, Samuel Jackson and Chinese mainland actress Jing Tian to promote the upcoming fantasy adventure directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, on March 16 and 17. In the latest movieunlike previous King Kong films, which would bring the iconic beast from the wild to New York cityall the monsters and the conflicts are restricted to the uncharted Skull Island. "Well, no Empire State Building (the iconic structure in the first 1933 movie King Kong directed by Merian Cooper). The Kong in this movie is about half the size of the building," says Hiddleston. Kong, standing more than 30 meters tall in the new remake, is the biggest the monster has been in the franchise's 84-year-long history. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam welcomed home two paintings by the Dutch master on Tuesday, more than 14 years after they were ripped off the museum's wall in a nighttime heist. Van Gogh Museum director Axel Rueger (left) stands next to the recovered View of the Sea at Scheveningen. [Photo / chinadaily.com.cn via agencies] "They're back," says museum director Axel Rueger. He calls their return one of the "most special days in the history of our museum". The paintings, the 1882 View of the Sea at Scheveningen, and 1884-85 work Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, were discovered last year by Italian police investigating suspected Italian mobsters for cocaine trafficking. It wasn't an easy find. The two paintings were wrapped in cotton sheets, stuffed in a box and hidden behind a wall in a toilet, says Gianluigi D'Alfonso of the Italian financial police, who was on hand at the museum to watch the ceremonial unveiling. They were found in a farmhouse near Naples as Italian police seized some 20 million euros ($21.59 million) worth of assets, including villas, apartments and even a small airplane. Investigators contend the assets are linked to two Camorra drug kingpins, Mario Cerrone and Raffaele Imperiale. "After years shrouded in darkness, they can now shine again," Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker said as an orange screen slid away to reveal the two paintings behind a glass wall. Italy's Interior Minister Angelino Alfano says last year the paintings were "considered among the artworks most searched for in the world, on the FBI's list of the Top 10 art crimes". They are now back on display at the museum before being taken to its conservation studio for repair, although they suffered remarkably little damage as thieves who had clambered up a ladder and smashed a window to get into the museum in 2002 ripped them out of their frames and fled. "It is not only a miracle that the works have been recovered, but it's even more miraculous almost that they are in relatively unharmed condition," Rueger says. The two small works are not typical of Van Gogh's later and better-known works, but are still vital pieces for the museum's collection, Rueger says. Rueger says the paintings are now back for good at a museum, which is home to dozens of works by Van Gogh, whose paintings fetch millions of dollars on the rare occasions they come up for auction. Flash Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called on China and Australia to continue to work together and jointly help counter global instability through steady development and cooperation in a signed article published Wednesday. "We have seen in practice how the trend of economic globalization has become closely interconnected with, even inseparable from, peace, development and cooperation," said the Chinese premier in the article titled "We want to work with you for progress and peace" carried by the Australian newspaper The Australian, ahead of his visit to the country. Li left Beijing on Wednesday morning for official visits to Australia and New Zealand, the first such by a Chinese premier to the two Oceanian countries in 11 years. "We stand ready to work with other countries to support economic globalization and free trade, improve the global governance system and facilitate progress of mankind," he said. "I am fully confident that China and Australia will continue to move forward in our own way while working with each other, and jointly help to counter global instability with the stability that is created through our steady development and cooperation," said the Chinese premier. Li also praised the progress made in the development of China-Australia relations. "Over the past 45 years of our diplomatic ties, rising above differences in national conditions and systems, China and Australia have gradually built up trust and properly managed disagreements in the spirit of equality and mutual respect. Bilateral relations and cooperation, as a result, have made substantial and steady progress," Li wrote. The Chinese premier stressed it as a shared desire of China, Australia and other countries in the Asia-Pacific to enjoy stability and order, development and prosperity, and continued regional integration. He called for joint efforts and cooperation between the countries to this end. "Under the current circumstances, China and Australia should follow the region's trend of peace, development and cooperation, join hands to take concrete actions and send positive signals to stabilize market expectations, convey confidence and contribute our share to the region and beyond," Li said. The estate of a woman fatally shot by a police officer during a disturbance in a Walmart in Lake Hallie last year is suing the village, the villages police department, the Northern Center for the Developmentally Disabled along with others. Melissa M. Abbott, 25, originally from Black River Falls, was killed on Monday, April 8, 2016. The officer who shot her, Officer Adam Meyers, and the director of the Northern Center, Jacqueline Neurohr, are also named as defendants in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Chippewa County Court. Other defendants are Walmart and two unspecified insurance companies. The lawsuit lists Tina Abbott of Black River Falls as the special administrator of Melissa Abbotts estate. The suit seeks unspecified damages, punitive damages, reasonable attorneys fees and interest. It also seeks that the village, the village police department and the Northern Wisconsin Center be required to provide necessary training, personnel, and resources to adequately protect the constitutional rights of citizens and patients of the Northern Wisconsin Center. The lawsuit says Melissa Abbotts injuries and death were proximately caused by the negligence of the Lake Hallie Police Department and/or its agents and employees, including and not limited to defendant Adam Meyers. It claims Meyers actions were excessive and unreasonable, without lawful justification or reason, and was designed to and did cause specific and serious physical harm, pain and suffering and death in violation of Melissa Abbotts rights. The lawsuit runs counter to May 12, 2016 findings by then-Chippewa County District Attorney Steve Gibbs, who now is a judge. Gibbs decided not to prosecute Meyers. The overwhelming evidence in this case supports a finding that Officer Adam Meyers acted in self-defense and that his belief that he reasonably believed his life was in danger, or that he was likely to suffer great bodily harm, when Ms. Abbott refused to follow orders and charged Officer Meyers with a hatchet, Gibbs wrote. Officer Meyers had the right to defend himself in such a way and with such force as he reasonably believed was necessary under the circumstances to save his life or protect himself from bodily harm. Police were called to Walmart when two chaperones from the Northern Center said a woman they had taken shopping had became disorderly. Lake Hallie Police Chief Cal Smokowicz said at the time that Melissa Abbott, a resident at the center, had armed herself with a hatchet in the sporting goods department at the store and struck items with it. He said Abbott refused to follow several verbal commands given by Meyers to drop the hatchet. Abbott was shot once in the leg and a second time in the right upper abdomen. Attorney Dean R. Rohde of the legal firm Bye, Goff and Rohde of River Falls is representing the estate of Melissa Abbott. New Poll: What Americans Really Think About Roe v. Wade SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio, March 23, 2017 / "Roe is a highly unusual decision because it has caused a massive amount of confusion in the 44 years since it was decided in 1973. It has taken no less than 36 cases for the Supreme Court to explain Roe," according to Denise Mackura, president of the Human Family Research Center. Contrary to what was claimed by Senator Feinstein at the Gorsuch nomination hearings, Roe has only been upheld in 3 of those cases. Last year alone, state legislators proposed 50 bills attempting to interpret the requirements of this troubling decision, "The American people know that Roe has poisoned our public discourse and politics. It is time to return the issue of abortion to the democratic process, said Mackura." The poll was conducted by the polling co. inc. Womantrend. Share Tweet Contact: Denise Mackura, The Human Family Research Center , 216-548-9108SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio, March 23, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- The Human Family Research Center, a nonprofit human rights organization, today released a national poll regarding the views of Americans on whether or not Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, should be reconsidered (see chart based on poll results here: earnedmedia.org/rvwchart.png ). The poll found that Americans are much more evenly divided on the issue than recent surveys, such as those conducted by PEW and Gallup, indicated. Those polls claim an almost 70% support rate among the public for Roe. The HFRC poll found that, when participants were made aware that an overruling would not lead to outlawing abortion outright, but would instead return the issue to the states, ( humanfamilyresearch.org/Post-Roe_Map2016.pdf ) fewer than half of poll participants supported Roe, while the number of those demanding change increased substantially. Unlike prior polls, the HFRC poll explained what Roe actually said before asking questions of participants, all registered voters. The result does make sense since other polls also show that a majority of Americans oppose many of the abortions Roe allows."Roe is a highly unusual decision because it has caused a massive amount of confusion in the 44 years since it was decided in 1973. It has taken no less than 36 cases for the Supreme Court to explain Roe," according to Denise Mackura, president of the Human Family Research Center. Contrary to what was claimed by Senator Feinstein at the Gorsuch nomination hearings, Roe has only been upheld in 3 of those cases. Last year alone, state legislators proposed 50 bills attempting to interpret the requirements of this troubling decision, "The American people know that Roe has poisoned our public discourse and politics. It is time to return the issue of abortion to the democratic process, said Mackura." The poll was conducted by the polling co. inc. Womantrend. Muslim Attacker in London Obeyed Sharia Law (references included in release for journalists) -- Law Enforcement Miss Clues Journalists may go to www.WWMD-TV.com to view segment 8, which explains Jihad, with extensive references for reporters Contact: Author and Producer of 'What Would Muhammad Do: Islamic Terrorism Explained', 904-826-9989 MEDIA ADVISORY, March 23, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- Law enforcement often miss the evidence: Muslim terrorists are reading "sacred" Islamic texts to get their inspiration, and justify their attacks. These texts include Sharia Law, Haddith, Sirah's, and the Quran. From Islamic Sharia Law: "Jihad is a communal obligationfor every able bodied man who has reached puberty... (Sharia Law, Reliance of the Traveler, o9.1- o9.4, Pg 600, 601) "If none of those concerned perform jihad, and it does not happen at all, then everyone who is aware that it is obligatory is guilty of sin, if there was a possibility of having performed it." (Sharia Law, Reliance of the Traveler, o9.1- o9.4, Pg 600) "I [Muhammad] have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of AllahIf they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from me..." (Sharia Law, Reliance of the Traveler, o9.1- o9.4, Pg 599) From the Haddith: "The person who participates in (Holy battles) in Allah's cause and nothing compels him to do so except belief in Allah and His Apostles, will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to Paradise (if he is killed in the battle as a martyr). Had I not found it difficult for my followers, then I would not remain behind any army unit going for Jihad and I would have loved to be martyred in Allah's cause and then made alive, and then martyred and then made alive, and then again martyred in His cause." Muhammad (Bukhari Book #2, Hadith #36; See also Bukhari Book #90, Hadith 332; Hadith 333) "One who died but did not fight in the way of Allah nor did he express any desire (or determination) for Jihad died the death of a hypocrite." (Sahih Muslim, Book #20, Hadith #4696 "If a person gets wounded in the way of Allah, he will come on the Day of Judgment with his wound in the same condition as it was when it was first inflicted; its colour being the colour of blood but its smell will be the smell of musk..." (Bukhari, Book $67, Hadith #441) From Quran: "Jihad (holy fighting in Allah's cause) is ordained for you (Muslims) though you dislike it, and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know." (Quran 2:216) (More quotes and references available for press at www.WWMD-TV.com) Share Tweet In a recent season of prayer, I realized that I had become quite overwhelmed by the challenges and disappointments I face. I wondered, Am I really helping those whom I am counseling and mentoring? I was remembering the many failures I have had in my ministry. I live daily with the question as to whether my attempt to get Christians in Sri Lanka to derive all their behavior from the Bible is a losing battle. I also struggle with my own weaknesses that hinder me from being an effective servant of God. I ask myself, Is it time for me to relax and enjoy a restful retirement? I realized I needed to get back to focusing on the most important things in life. So, I decided to switch from intercession to praise, and I went to the piano to sing some hymns. Injections of Truth About every two weeks or so, I spend my prayer time praising God through singing hymns. I took my favorite hymnbook and proceeded to sing at the piano. I randomly started off in a section of songs rejoicing in the security we have in Christ, and the Lord began to minister to me. I kept getting injections of biblical truth through these songs: Be still, my soul; the Lord is on your side; Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; Leave to your God to order and provide; In every change he faithful will remain. Be still, my soul; your best, your heavenly Friend Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. Katharina von Schlegel Like a river glorious is Gods perfect peace, Over all victorious, in its bright increase; Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day, Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way. Frances R. Havergal Peace, perfect peace In this dark world of sin? The blood of Jesus whispers peace within. Edward H. Bickersteth No one understands like Jesus; Hes a Friend beyond compare. Meet Him at the throne of mercy; He is waiting for You there. No one understands like Jesus When the days are dark and grim. No one is so near, so dear as Jesus; Cast Your every care on Him. John W. Peterson Fairest Lord Jesus! Ruler of all nature! O thou of God and man the Son! Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honour, Thou my souls glory, joy and crown! Jesus is wonderfulso wonderful that all our challenges, disappointments and weaknesses pale into insignificance. So wonderful that our hearts leap for joy over him. Always, yes always, the main fact that influences our attitude is Jesus. And he is the same yesterday, today and forever. No wonder singing is so important to Christianity. John Wesley said, Singing is as much the language of holy joy, as praying is of holy desire. We are on a journey that will culminate in the consummation of the wonderful salvation we experience here and now. We look forward with eager anticipation to the day we will see Jesus. But until then we remain joyful because the one we will see face to face one day is already overwhelmingly wonderful to us. My heart can sing when I pause to remember A heartache here is but a stepping stone Along a trail thats winding always upward, This troubled world is not my final home. But until then my heart will go on singing, Until then with joy Ill carry on, Until the day my eyes behold the city, Until the day God calls me home. Stuart Hamblen Is this escapism? Are we avoiding our problems by focusing on Jesus when we are disappointed, rather than focusing on the problem itself? No! We are preparing ourselves to face the problems with the right attitude. When the peace of Christ does not rule in our hearts (Colossians 3:15), we act in ungodly ways. We can panic, resulting in foolish reactions. We can compromise, resulting in disobedient reactions. We can get too discouraged, resulting in timid reactions. We can become bitter, resulting in ungracious and hurtful reactions. We can be without forgiveness, resulting in a block to experiencing Gods love. We can let problems overwhelm us, resulting in gloomy, joyless attitudes. But inspired by the vision of Christ, and empowered by his love in our hearts, we persevere in sacrificial service to find godly solutions to the problems we face. Revel With Me We are at peace while we do that because the most important thing in our lives is this: Jesus is wonderful. He is bigger than all the challenges we face. He is right there with us, helping us along and giving us his sufficient grace. So, may we remember to stop often from our feverish activity to savor the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation he has given us, with all its benefits. Wonderful grace of Jesus, Greater than all my sin; How shall my tongue describe it, Where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden, Setting my spirit free; For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus, Deeper than the mighty rolling sea; Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain, All-sufficient grace for even me! Broader than the scope of my transgressions, Greater far than all my sin and shame; Oh, magnify the precious Name of Jesus, Praise His Name! Haldor Lillenas Oh, that we would never move away from a life of childlike reveling in the love of Jesus. And by the way, the day after that overwhelming morning when God rescued me through song, I felt as if he suddenly impressed upon me an encouraging truth: My failures in ministry are partly responsible for whatever depth there may be in my ministry. Failure drives me to think, to theologize, to confess failure, to battle for the best ways to help people, to battle in earnest prayer and to battle for patience, and, most importantly, to depend on Gods grace. My failures have taught me so much more than the few successes I may have had along the way. This article originally appeared here. Rare earth oxides (red/orange) react with gaseous organic compounds from the ambient air to form carbonates and hydroxides (grey/white). Through this reaction, the surface develops water-repelling properties. Surfaces that have been coated with rare earth oxides develop water-repelling properties only after contact with air. Even at room temperature, chemical reactions begin with hydrocarbons in the air. In the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from the University of Basel, the Swiss Nanoscience Institute and the Paul Scherrer Institute report that it is these reactions that are responsible for the hydrophobic effect. Rare earths are metals found in rare earth minerals. They are used today in, among other things, automotive catalytic converters and batteries, in the production of screens and lamps, and as a contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging. Their broad range of applications means that there is a high demand for rare earths, and this demand is constantly increasing. Additional uses for rare earths were opened up after American researchers reported in 2013 that surfaces that have been coated with rare earth oxides become water-repellent. Scientists from the University of Basel, the Swiss Nanoscience Institute and the Paul Scherrer Institute have now worked with the company Glas Trosch to examine these hydrophobic properties more closely. Water-repellency develops only after chemical reactions The researchers coated glass pieces with rare earth oxides, nitrides and fluorides and analyzed how well they could be wetted with water. They could not detect any hydrophobic properties when the coating was freshly deposited. It was only chemical reactions with gaseous hydrocarbons found in the ambient air that increased the surfaces roughness and reduced wetting by water. The gaseous organic compounds from the ambient air are first adsorbed by the surface and then react with the oxides to form carbonates and hydroxides until the surface is completely covered with these compounds. This process takes place even at room temperature. We were surprised that the hydrophobic effect was caused by the surface aging, says Professor Ernst Meyer, from the Department of Physics at the University of Basel, commenting on the results of the project supported by the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI). These conclusions are very revealing from a scientific point of view because catalytic processes also frequently take place at room temperature, which makes it important to understand the surfaces physical properties. The examined materials are, however, unsuitable for the industrial production of water-repellent glass surfaces, because the glass requires a sophisticated storage process before it shows the desired hydrophobic characteristics. The Shedd Aquarium can be exciting because of the variety of sights and sounds it offers, but those same elements can prove stressful for visitors with autism or sensory processing disorders. The aquarium's Sensory Friendly app aims to make the experience more fun and comfortable for such people by helping them plan their visits and find quiet zones. The app, free on iOS and Android, lets users create a "visual schedule" to help autistic visitors know what to expect, and in what order. It has been downloaded more than 420 times since launching in late December, the aquarium said. Laurie Viets, of Chicago, said she uses the app to help two of her children: 8-year-old Canyon and 5-year-old Raven. She said when kids use technology at a museum, it's not necessarily because they're spoiled or bored. "It very well could be that they have a visual schedule or that they need it as a communication device, or they're just overstimulated," Viets said. (Amina Elahi / Blue Sky; video by Roger Tino Morales / Blue Sky) Four years ago, Google began sending engineers to historically black colleges such as Howard University for its "Google in Residence" program, an attempt to improve its recruiting from these campuses, prepare students for Google's peculiar hiring practices, and inject their computer science courses with more of the up-to-date skills that Silicon Valley needs. Now, it is trying the reverse, starting an on-campus outpost known as "Howard West" that brings students from Washington to Mountain View, California, for three months of computer science classes, one-on-one mentorships with black Google tech employees, and even the Googleplex's famous free food and shuttles. Faculty will come with them, spending an "externship" teaching and learning alongside Google engineers. Advertisement The new program, announced Thursday, is the search giant's latest effort to try to boost its stubbornly low numbers of black employees, which account for just 1 percent of its technology employees the same number as in 2014 and only 2 percent of its employees overall, according to the company's most recent diversity report. Besides its Google in Residence program, the company has expanded its recruiting to a broader range of schools, trains its workers on "implicit biases" and re-examines resumes to make sure recruiters don't overlook diverse talent. "We'd been focused on narrowing or, really, eliminating the digital divide," said Bonita Stewart, vice president of partnerships for Google, in an interview. "Now we're seeing there's an opportunity to look at the geographical divide. By having this immersive program, we will have the opportunity to focus on the hard technical skills, but more important are some of the softer skills, in terms of working and understanding the Valley culture." Advertisement As part of the new program, rising juniors and seniors will spend three months in classes at a dedicated space on Google's campus. Tuition will be paid for by Howard and private donors; funding will also cover their housing and a summer stipend. The program is likely to include events such as networking sessions with Howard alumni throughout the Valley, opportunities to shadow Google employees, and formal and informal conversations about their experiences. It launches this summer with 25 students from Howard University, but the aim is to expand it next year to other historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs. Howard University President Wayne Frederick said he hopes the program will help retain students in computer science programs who might not have the financial means to remain. "A large number of our students are Pell Grant-eligible, and support is a real concern," said Frederick in an interview. "This also helps address their ability to matriculate more quickly." The idea began after Frederick made some visits to Silicon Valley companies in 2014 and recognized the gulf between the two cultures. "Until you actually walk around and see it in action, I don't think you really get it," he said. A medical doctor, he recognized the value of more clinical experience earlier in medical students' education, something that could be applied to computer science majors, too. At an event, he met Stewart, a Howard alumna who herself had seen the opportunity for HBCUs to get an outpost at the Googleplex after her office in New York provided space for the Cornell Tech program and the nonprofit Black Girls Code. "We thought by moving it out west and creating this more immersive environment, we could perhaps accelerate our diversity effort in a new and interesting way," Stewart said. The new program could also help fix some concerns about the company's "Google in Residence" program. In a Bloomberg Businessweek cover story early last year, a former Google engineer cited the difficulty of luring Google employees to Howard's campus in Washington, which took them out of the regular promotion and evaluation cycles back on campus. The new program would allow engineers to remain local as they got involved in the program. It could also help expose students earlier to the culture shock that awaits some of them when they come to Silicon Valley. One black student said she was startled by how homogeneous the area was on a visit and noted the playground-style perks at tech campuses armed with ping-pong tables didn't interest her. "Slides are not really appealing," she told Bloomberg. "There are not a lot of people of color in the Valley and that, by itself, makes it kind of unwelcoming." Diversity experts briefed on general details about the program said that while the concept is intriguing, there are also important questions to consider about how to prepare students for the experience. "I don't know how many of the cultural nuances everybody has thought through," said Freada Kapor Klein, who co-chairs the Kapor Center for Social Impact and founded a summer math and science program for low-income, underrepresented high school students of color. "Students are coming from a predominantly people-of-color campus and being parachuted into a an overwhelmingly white, Asian and male environment." Others agreed that the program's success will lie in its details as well as in how well it translates to hires. Data shows there are proportionally more students of color graduating from computer science programs than are being hired by big firms, making the real problem not the pipeline, but a lack of hiring, said Ellie Tumbuan, a principal at Vaya Consulting, which assists clients with diversity issues in the Bay Area. "Everyone is understanding that it's more important to build long-term relationships," she said. "The real commitment comes with what are you actually going to do about hiring." Advertisement As of early last year, Bloomberg reported that just two computer science students from Howard had been hired by Google. A spokesperson would not provide updated numbers but said many students began as freshmen, so would not yet have had a chance to be hired. Hiring more talented black computer science experts is, of course, an outcome both Google and Howard want to see. Asks Frederick: "Can we get more students into this pipeline in a way that would help retain them and ultimately, five to seven years down the road, really impact what the hiring looks like across the industry?" He hopes so. J.D. Vance, a California venture capitalist who wrote best-selling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," said Wednesday he has joined Revolution, a D.C. investment firm co-founded by business leaders Steve Case, Ted Leonsis and Donn Davis. Vance plans to scout for promising technology companies as part of Revolution's "Rise of the Rest" campaign, an initiative to invest in promising technology companies outside of established urban tech hubs. He plans to split his time between D.C. and his home in Ohio, while also remaining engaged at Mithril Capital Management, a San Francisco venture capital fund co-founded by Peter Thiel, where he is a principal. "There are a lot of people who are feeling left behind by digitization and we need to address that," Case said when asked why he brought Vance on board. Vance "has a platform, a voice and a ton of credibility." Vance's memoir hit bookstores in the summer of 2016 when the world was just beginning to view Donald Trump as a serious political figure. Few predicted then that the election could be decided by disaffected Rust Belt voters in states such as Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Vance's book uses his childhood in a rural Ohio town as a flashpoint for the economic and social disconnectedness of America's heartland. He describes how he weathered a difficult upbringing in a now-decrepit steel town before escaping to college at Ohio State. He later graduated from Yale Law School, made a fortune in the biotechnology industry, and became a part of the highly exclusive Silicon Valley venture capital scene that holds tremendous weight in picking winners and losers in today's technology industries. He joins AOL founder Steve Case, who helped build an industry-defining technology company outside of Silicon Valley. Case established AOL in Virginia and helped it grow into one of the pioneering firms of the early Internet. He engineered what turned out to be an ill-fated merger with what was then Time Warner before eventually making his way into the investment world. Case and Vance say they are trying to remedy the gaping inequalities in the economic benefits flowing from emerging technology industries. Part of the problem is that technology investors who often provide critical fuel for tech companies in their early days have historically clustered in established urban hubs. As a result, the country's rural areas experience a certain "brain drain" as startup founders leave in search of funding. "I think there's a lot of energy and a ton of talent, but these regions don't have a lot of access to capital," Vance said Wednesday. Vance says his strategy will not focus on a single technology sector but will instead focus more geographically on untapped regions with promising assets. In his home state of Ohio, for example, Vance says he thinks Cincinnati shows promise as a hub for branding and marketing technology companies, by virtue of their proximity to consumer products giant Procter & Gamble. The problem Case and Vance want to address seems only to be getting worse. A recent Brookings report noted that 86 of the nation's largest 100 metropolitan areas have seen their share of the technology sector shrink since 2010, while San Francisco, San Jose and New York continue to increase their dominance. Case says he's seen some initial progress over the past year but admits they have a long road ahead. "Things are starting to happen, starting to percolate. ... We're just trying to throw some kerosene on it so it happens faster," Case said. Chicago Community Trust CEO Terry Mazany is scheduled to resign in September. The 102-year-old trust, which has $2.2 billion in assets, must seek a new leader in challenging times. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune 2011) For the first time in 13 years the venerable Chicago Community Trust will start looking for a new leader. Longtime CEO Terry Mazany recently announced plans to step down. Mazany leaves the nonprofit in strong financial shape and with an impressive record of local philanthropic fundraising and giving, key areas that grew and improved during his tenure. He is scheduled to resign in September. Advertisement Going forward, whoever succeeds Mazany a search will soon be underway also will face a daunting challenge: Quickly connecting the 102-year-old trust with the area's next generation of business leaders and nonprofit backers. It's a task that calls for winning over an emerging group of entrepreneurs, technology trailblazers, private investors and C-suite executives-in-waiting, some of whom may not know very much about the trust and its mission. Advertisement "We're at one of those moments, where that next generation of civic philanthropic leaders is in development right now," said Mazany during an interview, where he also joked that his staff says he has only one speed when it comes to running the trust and that's "full speed." Indeed, when you think about the Loop-based Chicago Community Trust, it can make your mind race a little. In simple terms, it receives contributions from wealthy estates, family foundations, corporate grants and other financial sources with an eye toward channeling those funds into smaller, neighborhood-based nonprofits or broader programming arenas, including educational, civic and cultural endeavors. The trust has $2.5 billion in assets. In 2016, it gave out more than $229 million in community grants to more than 11,000 nonprofits. During our talk, Mazany stressed that Chicago-area business is at the roots of the Chicago Community Trust, which was started by Albert Harris of Harris Trust & Savings Bank, and his father Norman Harris. "We were born of banks," he said. Over time, the trust expanded and built a reputation for being closely associated with the area's corporate and political elite, especially Chicago's City Hall. For example, in 2011 Mayor Richard M. Daley tapped Mazany to be interim CEO of the Chicago Public Schools a post he held for about six months while still doing his day job of managing the trust. Throughout his tenure, Mazany has worked to reshape and energize the civic trust's culture. Advertisement Prior to his arrival, the group was known in nonprofit circles as a great "catcher" of money, regularly accepting contributions from estates and endowments, but not being especially proactive at other types of fundraising. Once on board, Mazany built a new development team, hiring fundraising veteran Jamie Phillippe to lead the charge. They launched a campaign that between 2010 and 2015 claimed an impressive $1.6 billion. (In late 2016, Phillippe retired.) Moreover, in addition to buttressing local nonprofits and their plethora of grass-roots programs, the trust works closely with national foundations, including the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation, that are addressing some large and lingering local problems. The issues roster includes: affordable housing, access to health care, improving education, neighborhood economic development and building greater religious and ethnic tolerance. Undoubtedly, the trust is built to last. Still, an argument can be made that its new CEO also will confront a tough and complex time one that promises to revamp the more traditional relationships between local business and nonprofits. Still being felt is the permanent loss of independent, brand-name corporate donors such as First Chicago Bank or Amoco Oil which were merged away over the past decades. Advertisement Those stalwarts were replaced by huge out-of-state parent companies, with headquarters in other cities, which now have many other charities and causes to tend. Moreover, the area's remaining companies, especially if they are publicly traded, face increased pressure to tighten spending and boost shareholder value, constructing yet another barrier for donation-hungry charities and nonprofits. And then there's Springfield. The continuing lack of an Illinois budget and the accompanying fiscal drama between Republican Governor Rauner and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, notably House Speaker Michael Madigan, are hurting social services that count on state money. As a result, corporate and charitable donors are being pressed to contribute more to these cash-starved organizations. While all this is going on, new area business benefactors are coming into their own, forming a gaggle that's not cut from the old corporate cloth. Advertisement Spearheading this group are often wealthy private family foundations, some of which have profited from those local company mergers that earlier occurred. Also being tapped with greater regularity are private equity investors, hedge fund managers such as Citadel's Ken Griffin and an emerging assembly of technology or boutique business leaders who are opening shop in the city. Nonprofit experts tell me the attitude motivating this group's giving is different, and much more personal, than the more amorphous corporate largesse of bygone days. Typically, these backers have a deep personal connection to the causes they support. If they are approached to back a social cause, fight an illness or support an issue that's affecting them or their personal network, they are more apt to first give to that cause. They may also be less generous in their support of large donation pools like the Chicago Community Trust that nurture other nonprofits, experts say. In determining their funding decisions, these backers are pressing nonprofits for more in-depth metrics and data to support claims of success and accomplishment. Advertisement For the Chicago Community Trust's new CEO, linking with these emergent and more personally driven benefactors will be an important priority. I expect part of that exercise will be knocking back a perception the trust is a slow-moving, old-money behemoth. For his part, Mazany is ready to provide counsel to the trust's board of directors as it embarks on a CEO search. But he is mulling future plans and will not play a formal part in the selection process, noting that is the board's prime responsibility. Upon reflection, does the 60-year-old CEO have any second thoughts about going? "There's never a good time to leave," Mazany says. "But there's a right time." An earlier version of this column gave an incorrect figure for the Chicago Community Trust's assets. roreed@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @reedtribbiz The current site of Caterpillar headquarters is seen at 100 NE Adams St. in Peoria, on Jan. 31, 2017. The company announced it will move its headquarters to the Chicago area. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) In public appearances and talks, Caterpillar officials continue to mention the federal raid that took place at the company's headquarters this month, but they decline to discuss details. The raid, Caterpillar has stated, involved its use of a parts subsidiary based in Switzerland, among other things. Issues with that subsidiary, called Caterpillar SARL, have dogged the company for eight years, sparking a Senate investigation, shareholder lawsuits, and proposed taxes and penalties totaling $2 billion. The years of scrutiny came to a head March 2, when authorities from three agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service , raided Caterpillar's headquarters and two nearby facilities. Since the day of the raid, Caterpillar officials have stated repeatedly that they were surprised by the raid because the company, which manufactures heavy machinery, has been cooperating with authorities. Officials decline to comment further, citing the ongoing investigation. Advertisement Director of investor relations Amy Campbell started a Q&A session at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Industrials & EU Autos Conference on Wednesday with a statement about the ongoing federal investigation, noting she could not comment beyond the prepared statement. A week earlier, Campbell read a similar statement at the start of a remote talk she gave with a colleague at the J.P. Morgan Aviation, Transportation & Industrials Conference, again noting she could not comment further. Advertisement Take a look at some of the equipment Caterpillar produces. The company is planning on moving its headquarters from Peoria to the Chicago area. (Phil Geib/Chicago Tribune) When pressed during Wednesday's Q&A session on the scope of the investigation, Campbell noted that the search warrant was broader than just the IRS issues. "It included export filings, among other things," she said. "And like I said, we're still trying to gain an understanding of the complete picture of why the authorities came in the way they did." A sealed search warrant leaked to the media said it sought documents relating to its Swiss affiliate, exports and sales outside the U.S. Campbell isn't the only Caterpillar official discussing the raid. The week after the raid, CEO Jim Umpleby kicked off a news conference at the ConExpo-Con/Agg trade show in Las Vegas with a statement about the raid, according to a report from industry news site Aggregates Manager. Last week, Caterpillar announced that it tapped former U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr to serve as outside counsel and help the company review and address issues relating to its use of the Swiss affiliate and its tax-saving practices. Campbell also said during Wednesday's Q&A that Caterpillar plans to start moving personnel to its Chicago-area headquarters later this year, and that a team is searching for a location. The company announced in January that it plans to relocate its headquarters and 300 employees from Peoria to the Chicago area, though it hasn't yet named a site. "The goal is to really move the first flush of officers and their support teams in the late third quarter, early fourth quarter, and then we'll start to see employees kind of move, I'd say, over the next 18 months," Campbell said. amarotti@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @AllyMarotti A trio of Frontera frozen meals are among products from Conagra Brands that will be available this summer. (Conagra Brands) Coming this summer to a grocery store frozen aisle near you an assortment of Frontera-branded bowls and skillet meals emblazoned with Chef Rick Bayless' seal of approval. Consider it part of Conagra Brands' ongoing attempt to cater to today's consumers who are willing to pay more for higher quality products. Last year, Conagra maker of brands like Slim Jim and Chef Boyardee bought Frontera Foods, the Chicago-based packaged Mexican food company founded by Bayless, for about $109 million. Advertisement For Frontera, a leap into the frozen aisle has been planned for years. Excepting a brief foray into frozen pizza about a decade ago, the company's products have largely centered around chips, salsa and sauces. "We've been wanting to do frozen for the last eight years, but we didn't have the wherewithal to do it," Bayless said in an interview Thursday. Advertisement "It's way better than we ever could have done on our own," Bayless said. The Frontera skillet meals and single-serving bowls will come in flavors such as chicken fajita, barbacoa taco and veggie taco. In a separate interview Thursday, Conagra CEO Sean Connolly said that the Frontera brand eventually could be extended into other categories. "We've got national customers who are very excited about these products and you'll be able to find them in a wide variety of places," Connolly said. "Foodies around the country know Rick Bayless as the premier authority on gourmet Mexican cuisine." What's next for the Frontera brand? Bayless said there was ample opportunity to expand in the frozen aisle. He also hinted at seasoned nuts as one possibility for down the road. Beyond the Frontera meals, Conagra will also be launching Healthy Choice Power Bowls this summer, a premium, higher-priced extension of Healthy Choice frozen meals that will be made with antibiotic-free meat, whole grains and leafy vegetables, company executives said Thursday. Under Connolly's leadership Conagra has made sweeping changes in the past couple of years to become a leaner, more profitable company, including moving its headquarters to Chicago and spinning off its frozen potato business. The upcoming product launches come as Conagra also is trying to modernize some of its older brands, discontinuing other products and cutting costs across the company. Mergers and acquisitions also will continue to be key: Last week, Conagra announced it reached an agreement to acquire Boulder, Colo.-based Thanasi Foods, maker of Duke's meat snacks and Bigs seeds, for an undisclosed amount. "We know we can't cut our way to prosperity. We have to grow," Connolly told analysts Thursday on a quarterly earnings call. Advertisement This transformation remains a work in progress. On Thursday, Conagra reported sales for the quarter ending Feb. 26 declined 9.9 percent from about $2.2 billion to about $1.9 billion when compared with the same period a year ago. Connolly described the size of the sales decline as "misleading" when considering the company's recent divestiture of the JM Swank and Spicetec Flavors & Seasonings businesses, among other factors. We sat down with Rick Bayless, who just opened adjoining restaurants Cruz Blanca and Lena Brava in the West Loop, to ask him about the challenges of bringing Oaxacan tacos to Chicago, his love of sushi, and the cookbooks he likes to read. (Roger Morales / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) But the company beat analyst projections on profits. As Conagra has moved away from "deep discount promotions," while also cutting costs, it has exceeded its goals for growing profits, Connolly said. Gone are the days of the $1 Banquet frozen meal. As for the continued partnership between Frontera and Conagra, the respect appears to be mutual. In the beginning, Bayless said it felt like an arranged marriage. It took some getting to know each other. But now, backed by Conagra's resources, distribution and technology, the Frontera brand is poised to keep growing. "It's been slightly dreamy," Bayless said. gtrotter@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @GregTrotterTrib People relax along Chicago's Riverwalk downtown during unseasonable warmth on Feb. 21, 2017. A new report from the Urban Institute says Illinois is poised to outstrip other Midwestern Great Lakes states in population growth because of its younger, more diverse population. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) Despite recent Census figures that showed Chicago lost more residents last year than any other metro area in the nation, a new report from the Urban Institute projects better news for its future. After lagging far behind its Great Lakes neighbors in population growth since 2000 an anemic 3.4 percent, compared with 8.8 percent in rival Indiana Illinois should top 8 percent population growth between 2015 and 2030. Minnesota is the only one of the six Midwestern Great Lakes states expected to exceed that growth. Advertisement That's because Illinois and Chicago has a younger, more diverse population than many of its neighbors, so it can look forward to new births and new immigrants, said Erika Poethig, director of urban policy initiatives at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank and a co-author of the report. "The fundamentals of population growth in Illinois, especially metro Chicago, are strong," said her co-author, Rolf Pendall, co-director of the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Advertisement Still, some trends could undermine Illinois' long-term growth prospects, including a drop in immigration from Mexico resulting in fewer babies, and the flight of blacks as the state's economy struggles to rebound, he said. The state's population growth, and therefore its future workforce, depends on increasing the number of immigrants and drawing and retaining young people who wish to stay to build families, Poethig said. States and cities can make themselves more attractive as places to live with laws that support health and family or incentives for businesses that will provide good jobs with good family benefits, she said. The Urban Institute zeroed in on the Great Lakes region which includes Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota as a nexus of much of the social and economic pain that made President Donald Trump's appeals to the struggling working class resonate. The region, which is much more dependent on manufacturing jobs than the rest of the country, lost 1.6 million jobs in the sector between 2000 and 2010, a third of its manufacturing employment, according to the Urban Institute report. Michigan, home of automakers, was hit especially hard, losing 45 percent of its manufacturing jobs. Illinois lost 34 percent, a result of automation as well as employers moving elsewhere domestically and globally. The sector rebounded some during the recovery from the Great Recession, but the region still had 22 percent fewer manufacturing jobs in 2014 than in 2000, the report found. Illinois had the weakest recovery of manufacturing jobs, growing only 4 percent between 2009 and 2014. Michigan had the strongest manufacturing recovery, with growth of 23 percent. The greatest job gains in the region were in health care and social assistance, which added 850,000 jobs. Patrice and Chris Bedford of Chicago's Roscoe Village neighborhood plan to move away this summer, partly to offer a better life to their 6-week-old son, Theodore. Patrice, a teacher, doesn't like how stressed out kids are about getting into the right high school. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) Illinois, with a diverse economy, doesn't rely as heavily on manufacturing as its neighbors, and it gained jobs in other sectors. But the jobs it gained were either high-paying or low-paying, while middle-wage jobs steeply declined, according to the report.. "Patterns of inequality may be accelerating as a result," Poethig said. Advertisement Illinois has big demographic changes in store. Seniors will dominate population growth, with people over 65 years old comprising 22 percent of the state's population in 2040, compared with 14 percent in 2015. The white population is expected to drop to 53 percent of Illinois' total by 2040, down from 62 percent in 2015, and the black population is projected to shrink to 12 percent, down from 14 percent. The Hispanic population is predicted to grow to 24 percent, up from 17 percent, and the "other" category, which includes Asian-Americans, is expected to grow to 11 percent, up from 7 percent. While the Great Lakes region as a whole is about 20 years behind the rest of the nation in its ethnic composition, Illinois is an outlier of diversity. Children of immigrants account for a quarter of kids in Illinois, according to the report. Though Illinois is better positioned for a strong economy than many of its neighbors from a population perspective, a major concern for the long-term health of the state is its legacy of economic and racial segregation, Poethig said. The violence, poor schools, low-quality food options and highly segregated neighborhoods block many young people from economic opportunity. Pendall, Poethig's co-author on the Great Lakes report, said the big population declines last year in Chicago and Illinois which has lost more people than any other state for the third year in a row underscore the urgency of investing in people and neighborhoods. "Many young people want to stay here but if they feel unsupported, see little hope for a better economic future, and experience discrimination and hostility from people who aren't like them, they will be less likely to stay in the city and the state," he said. "And word gets around: When they're leaving, more questions will arise about whether it's a good idea to move to Illinois." Advertisement The Urban Institute and the Metropolitan Planning Council plan to release a report next week on the costs of economic and racial segregation in Chicago. aelejalderuiz@chicagotribune.com Twitter @alexiaer Mortgage rates retreated this week after a one-week spike following the Federal Reserve's decision to raise its benchmark rate. According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average fell to 4.23 percent with an average 0.5 point. (Points are fees paid to a lender equal to 1 percent of the loan amount.) It was 4.30 percent a week ago and 3.71 percent a year ago. The 15-year fixed-rate average dropped to 3.44 percent with an average 0.5 point. It was 3.50 percent a week ago and 2.96 percent a year ago. The five-year adjustable-rate average slid to 3.24 percent with an average 0.4 point. It was 3.28 percent a week ago and 2.89 percent a year ago. "This marks the greatest week-over-week decline for the 30-year mortgage rate in over two months, a stark contrast from last week's jump following the FOMC announcement," Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac chief economist, said in a statement. Financial markets had been betting on fiscal stimulus through tax cuts and infrastructure spending. Instead, President Donald Trump has been bogged down by the health care overhaul bill. Anxious investors worry that health care reform will tie up Congress and delay implementation of Trump's other policies. Because of these concerns, they have been moving from stocks to bonds, driving down yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury has plummeted 22 basis points a basis point is 0.01 percentage point since March 13. Mortgage rates tend to follow the movement of long-term bonds. When the yield on the 10-year Treasury falls typically so do home loan rates. The Carle Foundation Hospital is seen May 2, 2016, in Urbana. The hospital is at the center of a court battle over whether not-for-profit hospitals in Illinois should have to pay property taxes. (Robin Scholz / The News-Gazette) Illinois' not-for-profit hospitals can continue to skip paying property taxes, for now, after an Illinois Supreme Court decision Thursday that follows years of battles between hospitals and municipalities over those dollars. The state Supreme Court on Thursday vacated the ruling of a lower court, which had found that an Illinois law exempting not-for-profit hospitals from paying property taxes was unconstitutional. The justices said the lower court didn't have jurisdiction. However, the Supreme Court declined to weigh in on the question of whether the overall law is constitutional, saying doing so would be "premature." It sent the case back to a circuit court for reconsideration. Advertisement The Illinois Health and Hospital Association had hoped the Supreme Court would rule on the overall law's constitutionality, but General Counsel Mark Deaton said the group is still "delighted" the justices vacated the appellate court's ruling. Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing and an attorney for Carle Foundation Hospital talk about the importance of an Illinois Supreme Court case over hospital property tax exemptions. (Lisa Schencker / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) "Especially in this era of increasing financial stress on hospitals and increasing uncertainty about things like the Affordable Care Act, tax exemption is one way to ensure that all of the hospitals' financial resources are devoted to caring for their communities," Deaton said. "Paying property taxes diverts scarce resources to purposes other than health care for the community." Advertisement Not everyone agrees, of course. The taxing bodies that fought on the other side of the case, including the city of Urbana, have argued that cash-rich not-for-profit hospitals should have to contribute their fair share to their communities. If not-for-profit hospitals had to pay property taxes in Illinois, those sums would equal hundreds of millions of dollars. Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing said the term not-for-profit "has come to mean you can make huge profits but just not pay taxes." The case decided Thursday involved Urbana and the Carle Foundation Hospital there, among others. "Local governments are certainly under the gun with the state failing the way it is," Prussing said. "It puts more pressure on everyone to pay their fair share." Still, Prussing said she was pleased with the Supreme Court's decision to send the case back to a lower court for reconsideration. She said the lower court can now decide whether Carle Foundation Hospital should be considered tax exempt. If Carle had to pay property taxes, it would mean a lower tax rate for everyone else in Urbana, she said. Carle was named the 10th-most profitable hospital in the country when it came to patient care services in 2013, in a study published in the journal Health Affairs last year. Carle leaders have said they disagree with the study's methodology. In a statement, Carle Foundation Hospital said it respects the Supreme Court's decision though it would like to see "this important issue resolved." The hospital said it is reviewing potential next steps. Carle filed its original lawsuit after local taxing bodies started denying the hospital's tax exemptions, the hospital said. Carle first took legal action "to preserve its ability to meet the health care needs of the community on behalf of our patients in the region and those served by all not-for-profit hospitals in the state," the hospital said. About 156 of Illinois' more than 200 hospitals are not-for-profit, including many of the biggest names in the Chicago area, such as Advocate Health Care, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Rush University Medical Center . Currently, an Illinois not-for-profit hospital can be considered tax-exempt if the value of its charitable services is equal to or greater than its estimated tax liability. Advertisement Many across the state and country had been watching the Carle case closely. Municipalities in other parts of the country also have challenged their hospitals' tax-exempt statuses in recent years. Still, the debate may not be over in Illinois. Late last year, in a separate case, a state appellate court upheld a lower court's ruling that the law was constitutional. Deaton, with the hospital association, said he suspects that case also eventually will make its way to the state Supreme Court. At least one Illinois Supreme Court justice wondered aloud during oral arguments in the Carle case earlier this year if it would be better to wait for a case with fewer procedural issues to reach the Supreme Court before ruling on the issue. lschencker@chicagotribune.com Twitter @lschencker Musician Richard Marx and his former wife, Cynthia Rhodes, are relisting their nine-bedroom, 29,475-square-foot mansion on almost 5 acres on Lake Michigan in Lake Bluff for $13.99 million. (VHT.com) Rock star and songwriter Richard Marx and his former wife, Cynthia Rhodes, on Wednesday relisted their nine-bedroom, 29,475-square-foot Georgian-style mansion on almost 5 lakefront acres in Lake Bluff for $11.3 million. The couple's new list price is almost $700,000 less than their last asking price of $11.99 million, which they had sought before they took the U-shaped mansion off the market in October. Advertisement Marx, who is a Highland Park native, and Rhodes first listed the mansion for $18 million in 2014. After reducing its asking price to $16 million, they had the mansion on and off the market at $13.99 million and then $11.99 million until October. Now, Marx and Rhodes are seeking their lowest price yet for the mansion, which was built in 1931 and designed by noted architect David Adler. When they were still married, Marx and Rhodes paid $4.7 million in 1997 for the mansion. Advertisement The mansion has eight full baths, six half baths, 19 fireplaces, a finished basement, walnut parquet floors, a home theater and an attached, 8,000-square-foot recording studio. "I'm not someone who looks back. I'm grateful for the great times we had there, and I made great records there and had a great time raising kids there," Marx told Elite Street last year. "And it's a remarkable property. ... It has elegance but also feels very homey." Jean Anderson of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff is the listing agent. Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 16 (VHT Studios) Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 5 Billionaire Ken Griffin, Illinois richest man, paid $58.75 million in November for the top four floors in the Near North condominium building at 9 W. Walton St., known as No. 9 Walton. This photo shows a rendering of the lobby. (JDL Development / E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune (inset)) Looked at logically, "T2 Trainspotting" should not work as well as it does. In fact, it shouldn't work at all. But up there on the screen, where it matters, the dark magic remains intact and logic be damned. When it was released in 1996, the original "Trainspotting" seemed the very definition of a one-shot phenomenon. Exuberant and pitiless, profane yet eloquent, flush with the ability to create laughter out of unspeakable situations, this look at the dead-end lives of a quartet of Edinburgh junkies and thugs was a high point of contemporary British cinema and made stars of its actors especially Ewan McGregor as well as director Danny Boyle. Advertisement No one planned for a sequel. And making one a full 20 years after the fact sounds like a recipe for catastrophe. But it has largely turned out for the best. Boyle, screenwriter John Hodge and the original actors, all looking the worse for wear, have agreed to return, and they've made an age-appropriate story that joins a taste of the original's vitality with a meditation on masculinity, aging and the inevitable passage of time. MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR Advertisement That "T2" succeeds is a tribute to the way the first film, based on the novel by Irvine Welsh (who repeats a cameo as fence Mikey Forrester), created characters of such vitality that they remain in the actors' bones to this day. These include the feckless Spud (Ewen Bremner), still a hopeless heroin addict all these years later; the devious Sick Boy, now known as Simon (Jonny Lee Miller), who has traded heroin for a business where he mixes blackmail with cocaine; and the still-terrifying psychopath Begbie (Robert Carlyle), known for doing people, not drugs. And of course McGregor's ringleader Renton, who ended the first film by walking off with a criminal payoff that was supposed to be split four ways. Having this quartet return looking every bit of the 20 years that's passed has an emotional impact that no green-screen special effect can match. These characters have clearly lived some of the questions the film explores, from the inevitability of aging to the advisability of trying to hold onto the past, and there is no substitute for that. Because the characters are so strong, a powerhouse plot wasn't really necessary, and though "T2" (the title a playful nod to the Terminator films) has a final third that's a bit weak, it does not matter. Ewan McGregor and Jonny Lee Miller in "T2 Trainspotting" (TriStar ) What plot "T2" has begins with Renton returning home after 20 years of expatriate life in Amsterdam, aghast to see that the "Welcome to Edinburgh" greeters at the airport are Slovenians. Not surprisingly, none of his old friends are glad to see him. Quite the contrary. Spud is angry when Renton's presence disrupts carefully made suicide plans, and Simon is still furious about that stolen money. And Begbie, well Begbie doesn't need a reason to be furious, he just is. Yet Renton and Simon, despite the impulse to betrayal they can't quite squelch, are drawn to each other because of a shared past, no matter how painful, and the fact that this is the closest relationship either of them has had. So when Simon reveals a plan to open a spa/brothel in a lifeless pub left to him by an aunt, Renton decides to help, at least in part because he is attracted to the sardonic Bulgarian prostitute Veronika (an effective Anjela Nedyalkova) who Simon insists is his girlfriend. Advertisement Unconventional sequel though it is, "T2" does nod to certain moments of the previous film. There's a cameo for Renton's crush Diane (Kelly Macdonald), a reprise of songs like Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax," even a reconfiguration of Renton's celebrated "Choose Life" monologue. An equal-opportunity energizer, director Boyle adds zip to everything he touches, and his familiarity with the material and the characters makes it easier for him to bring even the unlikeliest moments to full life. In the world of sequels, that counts for a lot. "T2 Trainspotting" 3 stars MPAA rating: R (for drug use, language throughout, strong sexual content, graphic nudity and some violence) Running time: 1:58 RELATED STORIES: Advertisement 'Song to Song' review: Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling yawp into Terrence Malick's latest existential void 'Dig Two Graves' review: Southern Illinois-set supernatural thriller has lifeless plot 'Wilson' review: Woody Harrelson doesn't do justice to Daniel Clowes' graphic novel Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP) Patients with a sudden episode of back pain probably don't need a steroid injection, an expert said. (Getty Images) Chronic lower back pain affects millions of Americans. Many try steroid injections to ease their discomfort, but researchers now say this remedy provides only short-term relief. In their study, investigators from France focused on 135 patients with back pain seemingly caused by inflammation between the discs and bones (vertebrae) in the lower spine. Advertisement The researchers found that a single steroid injection eased pain for one month. After that, however, effectiveness waned. Virtually no difference was seen one year after treatment between patients who did or didn't get the injection. "Our results do not support the wide use of an injection of glucocorticoid in alleviating symptoms in the long term in this condition," said lead researcher Dr. Christelle Nguyen. Advertisement The findings are consistent with earlier studies, said Nguyen, an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Paris Descartes University. Nguyen said she and her colleagues had hoped that targeting local disc inflammation with an anti-inflammatory steroid would help alleviate long-term pain. To test their theory, they selected patients with chronic lower back pain and signs of disc inflammation on an MRI. On average, participants had suffered from back pain for six years. Half were assigned to a single steroid shot; the other half got no injection. Patients rated their pain severity before the injection and again one, three, six and 12 months after the treatment. One month after treatment, 55 percent of those who got the steroid injection experienced less lower back pain, compared with 33 percent of those who weren't treated. "However, the groups did not differ for the assessed outcomes 12 months after the injection," Nguyen said. For example, patients who did or didn't received a steroid injection ended up in similar circumstances, with the same incidence of disc inflammation, lower quality of life, more anxiety and depression and continued use of non-narcotic pain pills, she said. Overall, most patients found the steroid injections tolerable, and would agree to have a second one if necessary, Nguyen said. "We had no specific safety concerns and found no cases of infection, destruction or calcification of the disc 12 months after the injection," she added. Advertisement The results were published in March in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Dr. Byron Schneider, of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, noted there are many different causes of back pain. In this study, the patients suffered from chronic back pain, he pointed out. "Patients with chronic lower back [pain] probably have more than one cause of their pain, which may be why the good results they found at one month weren't there a year later," said Schneider, an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation. The study results don't mean steroid injections should be avoided altogether, he noted. Patients with a sudden episode of back pain so-called acute pain probably don't need a steroid injection, he said. "But if they're not getting better after a month or two the way we would expect them to, at that point it would be reasonable to discuss the pluses and minuses of a steroid injection," said Schneider, co-author of an accompanying journal editorial. Advertisement Chronic (long-term) back pain is a different situation, he said. Treating chronic back pain means treating the pain itself, but also using cognitive behavior therapy and "pain psychology" to help patients cope with pain, he said. "For chronic pain, physicians need to address the musculoskeletal reasons that cause the hurt, but also other reasons that patients may be experiencing pain," Schneider said. According to the editorial, psychological distress, fear of pain and even low educational levels can affect pain levels. RELATED STORIES: How the low-FODMAP diet helped me beat my bloat In middle age, your best running days may still be ahead of you How stomach pains and strep throat lead to a father's quadruple amputation Thinx ad on the Blue Line L train at the Monroe stop. Thinx ads on the L have people talking. The company makes "period underwear" that's worn instead of pads or tampons. (Keri Wiginton / Chicago Tribune) Ever since Thinx the company that makes absorbent underwear to be worn instead of pads or tampons during your period started advertising on the L, there's been a nervous whisper fluttering through Chicago. Facebook is filled with tales of curious children asking anatomy questions and photos of peeled fruit that make you do a double take. Advertisement "I just couldn't believe my eyes," a Brown Line-riding reader named Janet emailed me. "And believe me I'm no prude." I believe her. We're socialized to be alarmed and embarrassed by period talk. Toenail fungus ads raise fewer eyebrows. Advertisement Which is partly what Thinx is trying to change. Get people used to thinking about periods, they figure, and some of the stigma will go away. Eventually. I like the ads. Yes, they're evocative. Yes, they make people squirm. Yes, they show (or imply) body parts. And, yes, they mention menstruation. Eh. I don't think feminine care products be they tampons or absorbent undies should be any more embarrassing to talk about or purchase than toilet paper and Band-Aids. I dream of a day when women can walk up to their female co-workers and say, in a regular voice, "Do you have a tampon I can use?" instead of crouching in a cubicle and whispering the transaction like some sort of illicit drug deal. The ads are a start. Even more controversial than the ads? Thinx's founder and, up until this week, CEO. (She prefers the term She-E-O, which reminds me of an old Onion article about the search for Amelia Earhart "Famous aviatrix probably just shopping" that referred to Earhart as a "she-pilot.") Anyway, Miki Agrawal is accused of sexually harassing a former Thinx employee. New York Magazine has a detailed account of the allegations here if you're curious. Agrawal tells the magazine the accusations are "baseless," but she writes in a Medium post that she has stepped down as head of the company. Advertisement If Agrawal did and said the things she's accused of, it's a tragedy both because of what her employee endured and because of the damage that behavior does to a brand that's trying to help us evolve past some of our outdated, gender-based stigmas. The City of New York Commission on Human Rights is investigating the complaint, and the company appears to be moving forward with new leadership. While all of that plays out, Thinx is coming to Chicago this weekend to do some community building. Noon to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Thinx will set up shop at Wicker Park's Moon Voyage, 2010 W. Pierce Ave., where the first 50 people to arrive with sanitary pads and tampons to donate will receive a free pair of Thinx underwear. An ad on the Blue Line for Thinx, underwear that takes the place of tampons or pads. (Keri Wiginton / Chicago Tribune) The donations will go to Above & Beyond, a family recovery center in Chicago. People who bring donations after the free underwear is gone will get $10-off coupons. What to do, when you support what a brand stands for but feel uneasy about the leader who helped build it? It's a question we run into countless times in countless industries, and there are no easy answers. Advertisement On this one, I'm inclined to side with the girls and women who benefit from Above & Beyond's services. Bring the tampons and pads, I say. And if you're nowhere near Wicker Park, use the event as a reminder to donate supplies to a food pantry or women's shelter near you. As for the ads: We all get to set our own internal barometers for taste and comfort. But I like the idea of getting people used to a biological reality that half our population experiences on the regular. hstevens@chicagotribune.com Twitter @heidistevens13 RELATED STORIES: Finally, Target: Bikini bodies, minus the photo editing For St. Patrick's Day: Who's the modern version of Irish immigrants? Advertisement How to package feminism for teens? With humor, hope and Mindy Kaling The mother of the 15-year-old girl police say was sexually assaulted by as many as six attackers in an assault live-streamed on Facebook said of the footage: "This is just disturbing, and to think the kids think it is funny. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune) There was a forgettable formula Hollywood movie a few years ago titled "15 Minutes" that involved criminals who used brutal video to leave their mark on the world. I don't expect you to remember it. There was much killing and screaming and arson. And there was a cable TV news anchor who understood the world as pornographers must understand it. And there was Robert De Niro as a New York detective in love. Advertisement It's something you might watch on cable, if you've just had a lobotomy, or if you're eager to see a younger De Niro practice gentle words of love in Greek for the beautiful Melina Kanakaredes. But there is something else in "15 Minutes" that applies to what we see on a regular basis now. Advertisement There were two Russian killers who loved murder. And they enjoyed videotaping the horror and pain on the faces of their victims and that moment when the eyes went flat. The killers laughed, stupidly giggling when they realized such video would win them fame. In his review, the late, great Roger Ebert said the actors projected "the kind of flat, empty-headed, blank-faced evil that is so much scarier than evil by people who think about what they're doing." But now it's not a movie, is it? Now it's not forgettable. Now it's out there, all over America and the world, brutal and pornographic and streaming live onto our phones, as human beings use social media and Facebook to show the world the fear of their victims. And the thugs offer us a real live look at blank-faced, empty-headed evil. Chicago has seen its share of this. Like that 15-year-old girl who police say was sexually assaulted the other day by as many as six attackers who streamed it on Facebook Live, the girl struggling to get away. Advertisement The girl is now safe, but as I write this there have been no arrests and the mother of the girl tells reporters that her daughter has been the subject of online threats. And the neighborhood mocks her and harasses her family, she said. "This is just disturbing, and to think the kids think it is funny," the mother was quoted as saying. Local anti-violence activist Andrew Holmes helped provide the video to police. "You could see where she was fearful," the Associated Press quoted him as saying. "You could see the look of fear and where she is resisting, pushing back. It looked like ... she was in total shock." And of course the attackers were there, blank faces, indifferent, evil, matter-of-fact. "Other individuals were there standing around and talking and someone says, 'Cut the lights off,'" Holmes said, adding the lights intermittently came on and off during the attack. Advertisement Just over a couple months ago now, there was that other business, the so-called Facebook Live torture case, where a mentally disabled teenager was kidnapped and tortured. The attackers laughed as they bound him and slapped him and cut his head with a knife, and then laughed some more, and looked into the camera, joking, while shouting at their victim "F--- Donald Trump" and "F--- white people" as they kicked and punched him. They were stars. I watched some of it, and listened to the young man's terrified whimpering, and how the attackers laughed, amusing themselves. And I can't forget the victim's eyes, the terror in them. Years ago, even before that movie "15 Minutes" there was a desire for that kind of thing, too. There was a video cassette (remember those?) and one was called "Faces of Death" offering video of shootings and executions. The human appetite for watching pain and suffering is not new. It wasn't new then either. It stretches back to the gladiators in ancient Rome. Advertisement Now, though, it's all on video, and news sites scan Facebook, Facebook Live, Instagram, Periscope, Snapchat and Twitter for what they can use. There are young men in street gangs who taunt their rivals, and a car pulls up, and the guns go off; and junior high school fights, and the knockout game and more, wave after unending wave of pain and suffering, like the Facebook Live torture, like the gang rape of that girl. Even suicides can be found. The litany is truly epic. I'm not condemning technology here. Video is another way to tell a story and you don't need to own a newspaper or a movie studio to tell your story. Some people send out video of themselves throwing down gang signs and holding guns and hurting human beings. And others post photos of some delicious plate offered at up at a two-star Michelin restaurant. We send out evidence of our appetites and wait for applause. Lurid crime stories were once the stuff of pulp fiction, and newspapers would routinely run photos of the dead. Look through old news photos and you'll see them, sprawled on the tiled floor of some steakhouse. Advertisement And there were the chalkies those homicide-detective chalk outlines of the body on the ground the chalkie's limbs bent in odd, unnatural ways. And for newspaper readers, the dead were offered up as a kind of abstract art. Yet those were still photos, so the consumer was passive. But now, with live-streaming video, the consumer is not passive. It is all performance, isn't it? And the consumer is an active participant, some even commenting as it rolls, as those blank faces of empty-headed evil leave their mark on the world. There is a cost to everything. Listen to "The Chicago Way" podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin at wgnradio.com/category/wgn-plus/category/thechicagoway. Advertisement jskass@chicagotribune.com Twitter @John_Kass Two people were killed and three others wounded in shootings Friday night on the South and West sides, according to police. A 17-year-old boy was shot in the stomach and a 20-year-old man was shot in the head about 9 p.m. Friday in the 1900 block of West 48th Street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side, according police. Advertisement Someone got out of a car and shouted gang slogans before shooting at the pair with a handgun, police said. The shooter then got back in the car, which fled west on 48th Street and south on Damen Avenue. The older of the two died at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County. He was identified as Alexander Mendoza by the Cook County medical examiner's office; no home address for Mendoza was available. Advertisement Police said Mendoza is affiliated with a local gang and had an arrest history. Court records show he was arrested twice in 2011 for residential burglary and once for reckless conduct. He pleaded guilty to reckless conduct and was credit with time served and prosecutors dropped one of the burglary charges, according to records. The other burglary case was pending. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > The teen is in stable condition at Stroger, police said. About 10 minutes before that a few blocks away in Back of the Yards, an 18-year-old man was shot in the leg near 45th Street and Hermitage Avenue, police said. He's in good condition at the University of Illinois Hospital, police said. About 10 p.m, a 20-year-old man was shot in the arm on the 2800 block of West Madison Street in East Garfield Park on the West Side. He's in good condition at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to police. Earlier in the afternoon, Andre Myrick was shot on the 1400 block of North Keeler Avenue in Humboldt Park on the West Side and was pronounced dead about 5:50 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He lived on the 1800 block of South St. Louis Avenue. Two people approached Myrick and both shot at him, according to police. The two suspects then ran north up the block, got into a dark-colored van and fled south on Keeler Avenue, police said. pnickeas@tribune.com Twitter: @peternickeas A 23-year-old man was sentenced to 102 years in prison Wednesday after being convicted of a shooting that left one man dead and another wounded in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in 2012, authorities said. Israel Melendez, 23, was given the sentence Wednesday before Judge Alfredo Maldonado, according to Cook County state's attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. Melendez was convicted of murder and attempted murder. Advertisement Killed in the April 20, 2012 attack was 20-year-old Alexander Mendoza, who was shot in the head. A 17-year-old boy was wounded in the abdomen during the shooting in the 1900 block of West 48th Street about 9 p.m. that night, police said at the time. Someone got out of a car and shouted gang slogans before shooting at the pair with a handgun. The shooter then got back in the car, which fled west on 48th Street and south on Damen Avenue, police said. Advertisement Mendoza was pronounced dead at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County and the 17-year-old's condition had stabilized at the time. Just last week, Adel Yacoub extended the hours of his small West Side grocery store in the Lawndale neighborhood at the urging of customers who wanted more time to pick up bread, milk or diapers. He used to close the store at West 16th Street and South Keeler Avenue called Jaffra Food Mart around 6 p.m. So on Tuesday it was still open around 7:30 p.m. when two robbers wearing masks barged in with a gun. Yacoub, 51, was behind the counter with an employee. Panicked, neither one of them could open the cash register. Yacoub handed over $10 that was in his hand. One of the robbers fired several times, hitting Yacoub in the abdomen, and tried to open the register himself but also failed before fleeing. The single bullet that hit Yacoub missed his spine and major organs, according to his family. He didn't need surgery, he said. Doctors prescribed medication to help with back pain. Talking on the phone from his room at Mount Sinai Hospital on Wednesday evening, Yacoub said he'll take a few days off work to recover but he's not afraid to go back. "I didn't think it had to do with the hours. They were just thinking, 'Let's go rob this guy and get some money,' " Yacoub said. "It was nothing personal." He was expected to be released from the hospital later Wednesday night. Yacoub has operated a few grocery stores in the Chicago area and took over the Jaffra Food Mart about three years ago. He and his family live in west suburban Lyons but have been staying near the store as their home is renovated. After he was shot, Yacoub called his 17-year-old son, who shares the same name. Adel Yacoub Jr. was sleeping and rushed over. "When I walked in the door, he was on his knees and holding his stomach, and his shirt was just covered in blood," Yacoub Jr. said. "Right after I walked in the paramedics came in. They grabbed him and they laid him down, and he was bleeding like crazy." Yacoub Jr. said he saw four shell casings in the store and a bullet that seemed like it was dropped. He agreed that his dad is not the type of person to be scared off by the attack. Indeed, Yacoub said he does not plan to slash his hours after he returns to work. "A lot of people wanted to stop in (late), so why not? I'm there for the people," he said. "I make enough to pay my bills, I'm good. I don't have to make extra but people like me to stay open, so why not?" Struggling to find the exact phrase, Yacoub said the shop is named after an Arabic word that means young or active person. Several passersby at the scene on Tuesday said Yacoub is a kind man known to the neighborhood for his generosity. Valerie McDonald, 26, stood across the street from the store as police investigated the shooting, anxiously smoking a cigarette and hoping Yacoub was all right. When she doesn't have enough money, she said, Yacoub lets her pay him back when she can afford it. "I can literally call the man when the store is closed and say I need a loaf of bread and he'll sell it to me from his own home," McDonald said. "He's really, really nice." No arrests have been made. echerney@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @ElyssaCherney Patrice and Chris Bedford of Chicago's Roscoe Village neighborhood plan to move away this summer, partly to offer a better life to their 6-week-old son, Theodore. Patrice, a teacher, doesn't like how stressed out kids are about getting into the right high school. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) Patrice Bedford had never questioned raising her baby in Chicago. But on a springtime stroll during the first trimester of her pregnancy last year, a heightened sense of smell piqued by pungent neighborhood odors made her view the city differently. Advertisement The city's expensive, she said. Public schools face an unfolding financial crisis and the violence is "terrifying and frightening" to a parent-to-be. It didn't take long for Bedford, 28, to realize it was time to pack up and leave her Roscoe Village home. She, her husband and their son, now 6 weeks old, are preparing to move to Denver this summer. Advertisement "We've been to Colorado before and visited so many times, and just remembered how astonishingly clean and how fresh the air was and easy to breathe," said Bedford, who has lived in Chicago for five years. "I felt like I couldn't breathe anymore in the city." Of the country's 10 largest cities, the Chicago metropolitan statistical area was the only one to drop in population between 2015 and 2016. The region, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, includes the city and suburbs and extends into Wisconsin and Indiana. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 3 The Chicago metropolitan area as a whole lost 19,570 residents in 2016, registering the greatest loss of any metropolitan area in the country. It's the area's second consecutive year of population loss: In 2015, the region saw its first decline since at least 1990, losing 11,324 people. By most estimates, the Chicago area's population will continue to decline in the coming years. Over the past year, the Tribune surveyed dozens of former residents who've packed up in recent years and they cited a variety of reasons: high taxes, the state budget stalemate, crime, the unemployment rate and weather. Census data released Thursday suggests the root of the problem is in the city of Chicago and Cook County: The county in 2016 had the largest loss of any county nationwide, losing 21,324 residents. Experts say the pattern goes beyond just the Chicago region. For the third consecutive year, Illinois lost more residents than any other state in 2016, losing 37,508 people, according to U.S. census data released in December. Nearly all the cities that lost population in 2016 are located in the Midwest or northern parts of the country. Those cities, which are in smaller metropolitan areas, include St. Louis, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh. "There's this big regional thing going on. It's not about what's wrong with Chicago if anything, it's what's wrong with the Midwest or the Northeast," said Rob Paral, a Chicago-based demographer. Illinois was among eight states to lose residents, putting its population at 12,801,539 people, its lowest since about 2009. The state's population first began to drop in 2014, when the state lost 11,961 people. That number more than doubled in 2015, with a loss of 28,497 people, and further multiplied in 2016, according to census data. Advertisement The potential fallout is both political and financial. Federal and state government dollars are often distributed to local government agencies based on population, so a drop in population creates long-term budget concerns. And when communities pour millions into infrastructure and schools, they're basing their projections on future growth. If that growth doesn't happen, experts say, the remaining taxpayers are stuck covering the cost. "I don't even have a job yet or a place to live. But we know we aren't staying," Bedford said. She loves her current job as a teacher but feels her child's future is more important. The population plunge is mostly a result of a long-standing pattern of losing residents to other states. About 89,547 residents left for other states in 2016, a number that couldn't be offset by new residents and births, according to an analysis of the data released Thursday, which measured population growth between July 2015 and July 2016. The number of people leaving the Chicago region is the highest it's been since at least 1990. In Cook County, 66,244 people moved out in 2016, and 23,303 people left the rest of Chicago's collar counties, according to an analysis of the data by William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution. Some suburbs, like in Will, Kane and Kendall counties, saw growth spurts. Chris and Patrice Bedford hold their 6-week-old son, Theodore, at their home in Chicago's Roscoe Village neighborhood. The Bedfords plan to move out of Chicago around July. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) More than any other city, Chicago has depended on Mexican immigrants to balance the sluggish growth of its native-born population. During the 1990s, immigration accounted for most of Chicago's population growth. After 2007, when Mexican-born populations began to fall across all the nation's major metropolitan areas, most cities managed to make up for the loss with the growth of their native populations. Chicago couldn't. Advertisement Now, native Chicagoans are heading for the Sun Belt states those with the country's warmest climates, like Texas, Arizona and Florida. During the years after the economic recession of the mid-2000s, migration to those states paused but started up again because warmer states in the South and West have affordable housing and better job opportunities. While Chicago suffered the largest population loss of any metropolitan area, the greatest metropolitan population gains were in Texas and Arizona. The Dallas-Fort Worth- Arlington, Texas, metropolitan area gained more than 143,000 residents in 2016, and the Houston region gained about 125,000. The Phoenix area gained about 94,000 residents and the Atlanta region gained about 91,000 people. The greatest number of Illinois residents in recent years have gone to Texas, followed by Florida, Indiana, California and Arizona, according to 2013 Internal Revenue Service migration data. The exodus to warmer states is led by the Chicago region's black population, in search of stable incomes and safe neighborhoods. More than 9,000 black residents left Cook County between 2014 and 2015. "No group is leaving the county as much as they are," Paral said. "The loss of African-Americans is really a big factor." For some residents who've left, the weather wasn't as much of a driving factor as jobs and business opportunities. Illinois residents have flooded neighboring Midwestern states with healthier economies, moving into states like Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. Those who've left have said that if Illinois had a more prosperous economy, they would consider staying. Advertisement "Illinois should be one of the fastest growing states," said Eleni Demertzis, a spokeswoman for Gov. Bruce Rauner, in an emailed statement. "Instead, people are leaving. That is why Gov. Rauner is working so hard to pass a truly balanced budget in order to make changes that attract employers and create good jobs." Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Among those leaving are younger working-age adults, who make up some of the largest groups leaving the state, experts say. While it's common for young people to leave Illinois for jobs in different states, those numbers haven't been offset by young people moving into the Chicago region from other states. Some experts agree the region's second year of population loss signifies a downward trend. But others, like Paral, say it's too soon to tell. While the Chicago region lost about 19,000 people last year, the region gained that same amount not long ago, between 2012 and 2013. He prefers to call the pattern a "stretch of flat growth." "Sure, we would rather be an area that's growing (more rapidly)," he said. "When you grow, you have more consumers. When you grow, you have more producers. And therefore a more dynamic economy." meltagouri@chicagotribune.com gwong@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter@marwaeltagouri Twitter @gracewong630 A man who was shot in the Far South Side neighborhood of Rosemoor last week was pronounced dead Wednesday, authorities said. Cedric Adkins-Malone, 22, died at 5:04 p.m. Wednesday at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He died from a gunshot wound to the neck the office determined following an autopsy Thursday. Advertisement He had been shot Friday about 2:15 p.m. while he was working on a car in the 10200 block of South Calumet Avenue, Chicago police said at the time. Someone appeared from a gangway across the street and opened fire, shooting Adkins-Malone in the neck. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Advertisement Adkins-Malone lived in the same block where he was killed, according to the medical examiner's office. Lawmakers are proposing to legalize recreational marijuana in Illinois but say the legislation probably won't come up for a vote until next year. Sponsors on Wednesday introduced bills that would make it legal for adults 21 and older to possess, grow and buy limited amounts of marijuana. Advertisement The state would license and regulate businesses to grow, process and sell the plant, and it would establish safety regulations such as testing and labeling requirements, sponsors said. The measure would also allow residents to possess up to 28 grams of pot, or about an ounce, and to grow five plants. Advertisement The bills propose taxing marijuana at a rate of $50 per ounce wholesale, plus the state's standard 6.25 percent sales tax. Based on sales of recreational marijuana in Colorado, the Marijuana Policy Project, a national advocacy group, estimates sales in Illinois could generate about $350 million to $700 million per year. Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan reserved judgment, as they typically do with new bills. But the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police opposes legalization, saying marijuana poses a threat to public health and safety, and causes potential enforcement problems because it conflicts with the federal prohibition on marijuana. The co-sponsors, Sen. Heather Steans and Rep. Kelly Cassidy, both Democrats from Chicago's North Side, said they don't plan to call the bill for a vote this session but will hold hearings to get feedback and see whether some version of a legalization bill can get support next year. "If we bring this out in the open, we can generate revenue legally rather than for the black market," Steans said. Cassidy said marijuana prohibition creates far more problems than it prevents. "Regulating marijuana and removing the criminal element from marijuana production and sales will make our communities safer," she said. Eight states have allowed the sale of the drug, generally by referendum. But in Illinois, it's very difficult to get a binding vote on the statewide ballot, so it probably would take legislative action to change the law. If approved, the plan would make Illinois the first state in the Midwest to allow the general public, including out-of-state visitors, to buy marijuana, though it would remain illegal to transport it across state lines. The proposal also calls for dividing the tax revenue, with half going to the state's general fund and the rest to schools and drug abuse treatment and prevention. Advertisement Legal marijuana sales can generate windfall tax revenues, but the social and health costs are largely unknown, cautioned Rosalie Pacula, a senior economist at the Rand Corp., a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization. "The tax revenue comes right away," Pacula said. "The data on emergency room visits, car crashes, graduation rates and absenteeism takes a lot longer." As with any new industry, marijuana can be regulated, but there are many variables, such as what pesticides should be allowed, Pacula said, so there should be provisions for new laws to expire or be changed along the way. For more than a year, Illinois has had a pilot program allowing the sale of marijuana to patients with any of about 40 debilitating diseases, such as cancer or AIDS. But without a broad qualifying condition like chronic pain, as some other states have, the number of patients has been limited to about 17,000, with current retail sales of about $5 million a month. The proposed new law would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to sell recreational pot for one year before newly licensed businesses would be allowed to enter the market. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Last year, a new state law also decriminalized the possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana, punishing it instead with fines. Advertisement Police have not noticed any significant problems with either law, according to Oak Brook Police Chief James Kruger Jr., who is first vice president of the Illinois Chiefs of Police Association, which opposes legalization. But he said the medical marijuana law is limited, and a lot of municipalities had previously decriminalized cannabis, so the effects were muted. Kruger cited a rise in emergency room visits for medical marijuana ingestion among children in Colorado and studies showing the drug's harmful effects on developing brains. Advocates for legalization say kids are already getting marijuana illegally, but legalization would allow it to be more closely regulated. "I think this does a good job of being very reasonable," Illinois NORML Executive Director Dan Linn said. "It's a realistic approach." rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com Twitter @RobertMcCoppin Keith Cooper reacts after newly elected Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb granted him a pardon for a 1996 armed robbery that ended in a shooting. It is believed to be that state's first gubernatorial pardon based on actual innocence. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune) (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) ELKHART, Ind. A Chicago man who spent more than eight years in an Indiana prison for a wrongful conviction and was recently pardoned now wants his record expunged. Keith Cooper was pardoned in February by Gov. Eric Holcomb. His case gained national attention when then-Gov. Mike Pence declined to grant a pardon while waging a campaign for vice president in a contentious national election. Advertisement Cooper was convicted for a 1996 robbery in Elkhart, Indiana, during which a teenager was shot. He was released from prison in 2006 after a co-defendant's conviction was overturned. However, the felony conviction remained on his record. Attorney Elliot Slosar says the pardon gives Cooper the right to seek the erasure of his criminal record. Expungement of his case means his conviction would not show up on background checks for jobs and apartments. Steven Randy Rueckert, left, and Daniel Herbert, attorneys for Jason Van Dyke, confer with Van Dyke during court Aug. 11, 2017. Van Dyke was at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building in Chicago for a hearing on the shooting of Laquan McDonald. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) A new indictment unsealed Thursday in the murder case against Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke added 16 counts of aggravated battery one for each time the officer shot Laquan McDonald in 2014. In the indictment returned March 16 by a new grand jury, Van Dyke is still charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of official misconduct as well. Advertisement Joseph McMahon, the Kane County state's attorney who was appointed special prosecutor in the high-profile case, offered no explanation for the move other than denying in court that he sought the new indictment to correct what Van Dyke's attorney had labeled fatal errors in the initial charges. But if the new indictment wasn't designed to correct a potential flaw with the original charges, longtime criminal defense lawyer Steven Decker said the unusual move may have been made to give an out to jurors, but it is far from clear whether Van Dyke will opt for a jury trial. Advertisement "Jurors may be pained and uncomfortable to convict a police officer of murder under these circumstances," Decker said. "In a moment of leniency, they may decide to convict him of aggravated battery instead." Van Dyke, who has been suspended without pay since soon after he was first charged in November 2015, pleaded not guilty Thursday to the new indictment through his attorney. McMahon said he believed the issues raised by Van Dyke's motion to dismiss the original indictment "were now moot." Van Dyke's lawyer, Daniel Herbert, had alleged that prosecutors misled the original grand jury by instructing it to consider Van Dyke's actions only under the state's first-degree murder statute, not under a separate law that governs an officer's use of force. He also alleged that prosecutors improperly presented to the grand jury statements that other officers at McDonald's shooting were required to give by police disciplinary officials. Herbert said he planned to file a similar motion to dismiss involving the new indictment. The fallout over the dashboard-camera video of the white police officer shooting the black teen has caused the most severe crisis for Mayor Rahm Emanuel in his time in office and led to a blistering report by the U.S. Department of Justice that portrayed a broken Police Department in which officers commit misconduct and use excessive force with little fear of repercussions. The video showed Van Dyke opening fire within seconds of exiting his police SUV as McDonald walked away from police with a knife in his hand in the middle of 41st Street and Pulaski Road shortly before 10 p.m. Oct. 20, 2014. Advertisement McDonald emptied his service weapon, striking McDonald 16 times in the scalp, neck, both sides of his chest, back, both arms and his right hand and leg, according to the autopsy report. Hundreds of pages of Chicago police reports showed that Van Dyke and at least five other officers claimed that the McDonald moved or turned threateningly toward officers, even though video of the shooting showed McDonald walking away. This excerpt from video released to the public shows the most complete version of the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. It is edited for length by the Chicago Tribune. Warning: This video contains graphic images. (Chicago Tribune) Authorities said McDonald had PCP in his system at the time of his death. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is seeking to fire Van Dyke and four other officers whose accounts did not match the video. McMahon has asked that the Chicago Police Board, which will decide on the firings, hold off on hearings until after Van Dyke's criminal trial to minimize publicity that could affect the trial's jury selection. However, most Chicago police officers charged with misconduct have opted to put their fate in the hands of a judge, not a jury. Advertisement At Thursday's hearing, an attorney for the police board said the board has agreed to hold off on an evidentiary hearing in Van Dyke's case until Judge Vincent Gaughan, who is presiding over the officer's criminal trial, rules on the issue. Gaughan, who has routinely held lengthy off-the-record discussions with the attorneys in the case in his chambers at each status hearing, held to form Thursday, meeting privately with the attorneys without a court reporter present for about 45 minutes. The public discussion in his courtroom then lasted about 15 minutes. sschmadeke@chicagotribune.com Twitter @SteveSchmadeke This loaded 9mm Beretta PX4 firearm was discovered by TSA officers at Midway International Airport on March 20, 2017. (TSA) Transportation Security Administration agents at Midway Airport have discovered four firearms in a three-week period this month what TSA officials describe as an unusually high amount. The most recent firearm was discovered Wednesday at the airport's TSA checkpoint, where agents found a loaded 9 mm Springfield firearm inside a 41-year-old Phoenix man's luggage as it was screened, officials said. TSA officials alerted Chicago police and the man was arrested, the federal agency said in a news release. Advertisement Before Wednesday's arrest, TSA agents found firearms in carry-on luggage and bags on three other occasions this month March 8, 12 and 20. Three of the four firearms were loaded when detected by TSA officers. So far this year, six firearms were discovered by TSA agents as travelers were heading through the Southwest Side airport's security checkpoints. Officials at the TSA called this three-week spike at Midway unusual, noting that 16 firearms were discovered each year in both 2015 and 2016 at Midway. What prompted this month's spike isn't entirely clear. Advertisement "Some of the increase may be attributed to the overall increase in passenger volume," TSA spokesman Michael McCarthy said. Last year, U.S. airlines carried an all-time high number of passengers, about 823 million systemwide, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > At O'Hare International Airport, nine firearms have been detected at security checkpoints so far in 2017, according to the TSA. In 2016, there were 17 firearms in total detected at O'Hare. Firearms, firearm parts and ammunition are never permitted in carry-on bags, but they can be transported in checked bags if they are properly packed and declared to the airline, according to the TSA. Nationally, the number of firearms detected by TSA officials at the nation's airports has increased each year since 2010. Last year, the federal agency detected a record 3,391 firearms in carry-on bags at checkpoints, up from 2,653 in 2015. In addition to arrests and local penalties, TSA can impose civil penalties ranging from $1,500 to $7,000 for a single violation of a firearm brought to a security checkpoint. Chicago Tribune's Mary Wisniewski contributed. wlee@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @MidNoirCowboy Nortasha Stingley discusses her struggles with overcoming grief while dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder after losing her daughter to gun violence in 2013 on the South Side of Chicago. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) Nortasha Stingley doesn't remember a lot about the weeks after her 19-year-old daughter was shot and killed nearly four years ago. All she could do was cry. All she wanted to do was scream. After Stingley lost 40 pounds in a matter of weeks, her sister finally took her to see a doctor, and she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Advertisement "It's still a battle," said Stingley, 40. "I died and they just forgot to bury me. It's a struggle." Like Stingley, many African-American women in disadvantaged neighborhoods have PTSD, experts say. A recent Northwestern Medicine study that examined the South Side neighborhood of Oakland found that 29 percent of the 72 African-American study participants have the disorder and an additional 7 percent exhibited a large number of signs that are part of a PTSD diagnosis. Researchers said they believe that points to a need for more mental health services and screenings in poor neighborhoods. Advertisement Stingley, who lived in Park Manor at the time of her daughter's death, was not part of the research. Women who already had mild to severe depressive symptoms were chosen for the study, which was published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, a peer-reviewed publication, in December. PTSD is a potentially debilitating anxiety disorder that may develop after exposure to a shocking, scary or dangerous event, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Participants in the study all reported details about traumatic experiences, like witnessing a son being shot more than 10 times, domestic violence, car accidents or a father being killed at home. Exposure to violent crime is more likely to occur in disadvantaged communities, according to the study. Living in an environment of poverty and violence can worsen pre-existing depression or trigger the onset of a new depressive episode, researchers found. It also can lead to PTSD or subthreshold PTSD, meaning a number of symptoms characterizing PTSD are present. "People are struggling," said Inger Burnett-Zeigler, a clinical psychologist and one of the authors on the study. "People are struggling severely, and I think that sometimes the negative implications of mental illness are really underestimated." According to the 2015 U.S. census, the average income of the Oakland neighborhood was $47,202. The population is heavily dependent on Medicaid, with more than a third needing some kind of assistance. Other Chicago neighborhoods have worse numbers. Park Manor has an average income of $44,402. The city of Chicago has an average income of $74,003. Advertisement As violence surged in 2016, Chicago recorded the deadliest year in nearly two decades. According to Tribune data, the city saw 4,368 shootings and 787 people killed. In Oakland, 55 people were shot and three killed. In Park Manor, there were 193 shootings and 12 homicides. And violence is on a similar pace in 2017. Because the Tribune violence database defines shootings by addresses and not neighborhoods, the ZIP code that covers Oakland is linked to sections of other neighborhoods. But homicide entries are defined by specific neighborhoods. Dr. Michael Malone, who worked in Englewood for 11 years before spending the past four years in Bronzeville, said he has many patients who are dealing with trauma and struggling with PTSD. "Sometimes the PTSD is missed or a lot of times, it could be the patient not being forthcoming with past trauma or past physical abuse, and it's something that is definitely out there," said Malone, who is Stingley's doctor. "Unfortunately in the inner city where we are, that's something that needs to be addressed more, and the study was right on. As I'm reading through it, I'm thinking of different patients in my head that we've diagnosed." For Stingley, life dramatically changed when her 19-year-old daughter Marissa Boyd-Stingley was gunned down blocks from their home. "She was like, 'I love you so much Ma, don't nobody love you like I love you,'" Nortasha Stingley recalled her daughter saying before she left. Advertisement The teen was shot in the head while a passenger in a car stopped at 73rd Street and King Drive. After Stingley found out, she screamed at police to get away from her. "I had literally lost my mind. I snapped," Stingley said. "I was just gone. ... I just remember trying to figure out where she was at, and I just couldn't understand." Since then she has been through therapy, rounds of medications and treatments to combat PTSD. Her body has changed, and frequent doctors visits are now a regular part of her life. "She was just not herself, and you could tell," Malone said about her first visit after the shooting. "She took it incredibly hard, as any mother would, but she was a completely different person, so to speak, when we saw her that day and has been since that day to some degree, unfortunately." The study is not comprehensive, involving one neighborhood and a small sample size. More research is needed, but the findings are consistent with previous, narrower studies about the effect of disadvantaged neighborhoods on residents, Burnett-Zeigler said. Advertisement Making mental health available at primary care and community hospitals is the first step toward ensuring that people get screened and receive high-quality care, especially in a city where treatment options are shrinking, Burnett-Zeigler said. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Mental health resources on the community level are needed, but crime victim services also are crucial, said Susan Johnson, executive director of Chicago Survivors. They can help educate, support and counsel those who have been exposed to violence, whether directly or indirectly. No one gets used to seeing dead bodies or hearing gunfire, Johnson said, and those stressors have a "profound effect" on the ability to function. Malone said talking to patients immediately after they have been exposed to trauma helps the healing process, but often there aren't enough mental health providers in disadvantaged neighborhoods to do that. Stingley said educating people about PTSD and increasing mental health services would be a huge benefit. But most days, she just wants someone who will listen without judgment. "We have to figure out ways that we can get it out better and get help because it's like a cancer," Stingley said. "When you hold things in, cancer, what does it do? It eats you from the inside out." gwong@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @GraceWong630 Correction: Marissa Boyd-Stingley's name was not complete in an earlier version. This July 25, 2011, file photo, shows the Hill Correctional Center in Galesburg, Ill. Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to replace guards in state prison watchtowers with security cameras. The Republican's budget office estimates the cost savings at $4 million in the budget year that begins July 1 2017. (Steve Davis / AP) SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to replace guards in watchtowers with closed-circuit cameras at nearly two dozen lower-security Illinois prisons, an effort to cut expenses for a cash-strapped state that has gone two years without a budget. The administration is projecting $4 million in annual savings through reduced overtime pay and "more efficient management strategies," Rauner spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis told The Associated Press. Advertisement No security guards will be laid off, Corrections department spokeswoman Nicole Wilson said. Such a proposal has encountered mixed results in other states. Michigan and Pennsylvania prison officials said they abandoned round-the-clock tower staffing in the past decade without layoffs. Wisconsin eliminated 60 guard tower positions in 2015, transferring the officers working there to other posts. Advertisement The Republican governor's office didn't provide specifics on the change, which would affect the state's 23 minimum- and medium-security facilities. The four maximum-security prisons would retain full tower staffing. Of the 11,000 union workers employed by the corrections department, about 6,000 are security workers. Officials had discussed with the union the idea of using high-tech cameras to enhance security, but a union leader said he's wary of removing people from the lookout points. "There's a whole range of things that tower person can do," said Eddie Caumiant, regional director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. "They can see very clearly exactly what's going on in a situation in the yard, they can anticipate what will happen and they can see things that are out of range of the officers on the ground." A high-profile escape in 2014 from a prison in Ionia, Michigan, sparked a debate about whether replacing tower guards with cameras hampers safety. Convicted murderer Michael David Elliott was armed with a box cutter when he escaped the camera-secured prison, carjacked a woman and drove to Indiana before he was recaptured the next day. "His escape would have been seen by an officer in a gun tower 20 feet away, but the tower was unstaffed," said Anita Lloyd, spokeswoman for the Michigan Corrections Organization, the union representing state prison security staffers. But Michigan Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz said that tower had never been staffed at that time of day since the prison opened in 1987. Officers inside the prison who weren't keeping tabs on Elliot were to blame for his breakout, he said. Rauner, a private equity investor when he took office in 2015, campaigned on curbing union power in a solidly Democratic state and has clashed repeatedly with organized labor. He is locked in a legal and public-opinion battle with AFSCME, whose 38,000 members have authorized a strike, if necessary, for the first time in its 40-year history. The Republican governor and Democratic-controlled Legislature have clashed over how to reduce a multibillion-dollar deficit and $13 billion pile of overdue bills. Advertisement Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Michigan ended full-time tower staffing 12 years ago and saved $15 million, Gautz said. Pennsylvania did the same in 2011 with $5 million saved, prison spokeswoman Amy Worden said. In both states, the towers are available for staffing when wardens deem it necessary, such as while moving a large number of inmates. "When the towers are not in use, the officers are used inside the prison at other officer posts to help reduce overtime and to fill in wherever needed," Worden said. That is a key to successful integration of security cameras, said Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director of the prison watchdog John Howard Association of Illinois. "Cameras can catch what staff can't see and staff can catch what the cameras can't see," Vollen-Katz said. "In addition to increasing surveil inside the prison, you also want a person there for the response. Cameras can't intervene, they can't de-escalate." Wisconsin saved $5.7 million in two years by reducing overnight staffing at guard towers, Corrections spokesman Tristan Cook said. He said replacement security was added but declined to say whether cameras are part of it. U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Tovia Knight declined to comment on whether federal facilities use perimeter cameras, saying it could jeopardize security. Advertisement AP researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report. Phyllis Cavallone-Jurek, principal of St. Therese Chinese Catholic School in Chinatown, was awarded the Golden Apple Stanley C. Golder Leadership Award on March 23, 2017, for her work at the school. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) Phyllis Cavallone-Jurek nearly fell to the floor Thursday when a room full of howling children surprised her with the Golden Apple Stanley C. Golder Leadership Award at St. Therese Chinese Catholic School in Chinatown. The longtime principal is the first from a Catholic school to receive the award, which honors the performance and leadership of a principal or head of school from the Chicago area. Advertisement "I don't know how any moment can top this. I'm so happy and blessed," she said between sobs. About a dozen 8th-grade students performed a traditional Chinese dragon dance while others waved golden pom-poms and miniature flags to greet her. Advertisement The crowd gathered in St. Therese's cafeteria was as exuberant as the shrieking teenagers at a Beatles concert. Students cheered as Cavallone-Jurek took her seat onstage with Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, who opened the ceremony with a prayer. "In your 13 years as a principal of this school you have developed the school into a flourishing, academically excellent shining star in our archdiocese," Cupich said. "Today we're here to honor you and thank you for the wonderful leadership you provide." Cavallone-Jurek became principal of St. Therese in 2004 after working as a high school and college mathematics instructor. Under her leadership, the school recovered from near closure to become an award-winning institution. Enrollment has nearly doubled during her tenure to more than 300 students, compared with 160 students in 2004. According to faculty and staff, Cavallone-Jurek is involved in every aspect of the school, from shoveling snow to serving lunch and teaching classes herself. She was described as the "heart and soul" of the school. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "She really is a Catholic leader from the top of her head down to the bottom of her feet. She embodies Catholic identity," said Thomas Howard, director of religious education at the school. He said school administrators kept the ceremony under wraps and only notified the faculty and staff hours before the ceremony. Students were let in on the secret as they took their places in the cafeteria. "When you have a large staff, people get sick and people have things going on with their families and she's always there for us," Howard said. "And she gives us the professional resources so we can flourish in our ministries. But she really holds us to excellence." The students closed the award ceremony by yelling "congratulations" in English and then again in Mandarin. Even as they filed out of the room, Cavallone-Jurek remained in shock, clutching a bouquet of flowers and smiling from ear to ear. Advertisement "Everywhere I looked, I thought, 'oh my goodness,'" she said. "I'm so overwhelmed and so blessed. It's like an incredible rush." nmoreno@chicagotribune.com Twitter @nereidamorenos An AFSCME member displays her sticker on the day strike vote authorization began on Jan. 30, 2017. Members of Illinois' largest public sector union approved a potential strike amid their long running contract dispute with Gov. Bruce Rauner. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) Chicago aldermen waded into the fight between Gov. Bruce Rauner and the state's largest public employee union Thursday, trying to turn the screws on the governor to continue negotiating a contract. The City Council has no real power to nudge the Rauner administration and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union toward an agreement in the stalled talks that have been in court for months. And aldermen acknowledged the resolution calling the governor to continue negotiating amounts to an act of shouting from the sidelines. Advertisement "We are not blind to the fact we have no power to compel Gov. Rauner to act to do the right thing," said Southwest Side Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th. "But that doesn't mean that we as a city, as a collective, can't continue to fight against the winds that he tries to bring, the winds of disorder and chaos and forced crises that are impacting ... communities that are most vulnerable." AFSCME is a powerhouse at City Hall, boasting a deep political campaign budget and the ability to turn out members to vote and work for or against candidates. But South Side Ald. Howard Brookins Jr., 21st, said backing the resolution was about standing up to Rauner for people who would suffer from his proposed government cuts, not about currying favor with the union. Advertisement "I'm standing here because I believe this is right for our community and the most vulnerable people out there, which are the kids that workers at (the Department of Children and Family Services) protect every day," Brookins said. The Rauner administration said in a statement that its proposals "are nothing out of the ordinary." "We continue to invite AFSCME to put aside its unaffordable demands, remember the taxpayers who have to pay state employee salaries and benefits, and work with us to implement common-sense proposals," top Rauner attorney Dennis Murashko said. The Rauner-AFSCME fight has been winding its way through court. In a Friday filing to the state Supreme Court, the Rauner administration asked the court to allow him to impose his preferred contract terms in the stalled labor dispute. It warned that a prolonged legal battle could prevent the administration from setting up a new health insurance system for state employees a plan designed to reap savings for the state by passing a greater share of the costs of health insurance onto workers. Briefs in the union's court appeal of an Illinois Labor Relations Board ruling that found Rauner and the union to be at impasse in their contract talks aren't due until June, Rauner's attorneys said. That means the case is likely to drag beyond the state's May 1 deadline to open an enrollment period for state workers' health insurance. If the two sides are found to be at impasse, the governor could press forward with his preferred terms and put the union in the position of having to accept them or go on strike. Advertisement AFSCME announced in February that its members had voted overwhelmingly in favor of going on strike if necessary to resist Rauner's contract terms. The vote was intended to give the union greater leverage in its battle with Rauner. The City Council resolution passed the Committee on Workforce Development and Audit and will head to the full council next week. jebyrne@chicagotribune.com Twitter @_johnbyrne A Cook County judge on Thursday ruled against the "no budget, no pay" policy backed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza, finding that the comptroller can't delay lawmaker paychecks even in the midst of a historic state budget stalemate and Illinois' pile of more than $12.8 billion in unpaid bills. The ruling immediately became fodder for the ongoing political war in Springfield, with a top Rauner ally raising the idea of a "coordinated abuse of taxpayers" and a Democratic lawmaker saying his colleagues were no longer being held "hostage." Advertisement Last year, then-Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger, a Rauner appointee, put lawmaker paychecks in line with Illinois' other past-due bills in an effort to delay their salaries and make officials feel the pain of the budget stalemate. Mendoza continued the policy after defeating Munger in a November special election. A handful of Democratic lawmakers went to court, asking a judge to compel the comptroller to pay their salaries ahead of other past-due bills. They said state law requires lawmakers to be paid in 12 equal monthly installments. Advertisement Judge Rodolfo Garcia on Thursday ruled Mendoza needs to pay up and stop delaying lawmaker paychecks. Mendoza said she planned to comply with the order but also to ask her lawyers to appeal the judge's ruling. "As former Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka did in a 2013 legislator-pay case, I will release the back pay checks to all elected officials consistent with the judge's order," Mendoza said in a statement. "I have always argued that there is a sound policy reason, given the absence of a balanced state budget, to prioritize payments to the state's most vulnerable hospice care, child care, meals on wheels for seniors ahead of paychecks for elected officials," Mendoza said. "We will confer with the Attorney General and the consulting attorneys we retained from Holland and Knight, who advised us and the former Comptroller on this case, and ask them to appeal the judge's ruling." That Mendoza made mention of her outside attorneys is a nod to the political pressures surrounding the case. Munger, in her election campaign, made "no budget, no pay" a central slogan. Mendoza also embraced the populist message, indicating that she'd maintain the policy if elected. Democratic lawmakers, not wanting to sue one of their own, went to court days before Munger left office. The lawmakers hired attorneys Michael Kasper, a Democratic lawyer with long-standing ties to House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Richard Prendergast, who helped successfully sue former Gov. Pat Quinn after he froze legislative pay during a fight over pension legislation more than three years ago. That gave Rauner an opening to challenge Mendoza to hire her own lawyers for the case rather than rely on Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the speaker's daughter. So Mendoza kept the outside lawyers and made a point of mentioning them Thursday. Munger, whom Rauner has since hired as a deputy governor, struck back. She echoed a recent Rauner line of attack, accusing Mendoza of being part of a "coordinated abuse of taxpayers" and criticizing her for not asking a judge to put the order on hold pending an appeal. "Rather than immediately releasing all the back pay, the Comptroller should request independent counsel and ask for an immediate stay of the ruling pending her appeal," Munger said in a statement. "The fact the Comptroller didn't immediately request a stay is further proof that the Comptroller, Attorney General and Speaker Madigan are engaged in a coordinated abuse of taxpayers." Advertisement Last week, Judge Garcia heard arguments in the case and said lawmakers had left the comptroller no choice but to delay some payments. The absence of a full state budget, he said, has left the state accumulating more expenses than it has money to pay for. But the judge appeared persuaded Thursday by a different argument, concluding that the comptroller doesn't have the discretion to delay payments that have been written into the law. "There may be discretion by a comptroller as to certain expenditures, but as to expenditures that are compelled by Illinois law, that discretion doesn't exist," Garcia said Thursday as he explained the winning argument in court. The ruling came as lawmakers were issued their July paychecks, according to Mendoza's office. Spokesman Abdon Pallasch said that in response to the ruling, the comptroller on Thursday started processing paychecks to send out all of lawmakers' delayed money. Democratic Rep. Emanuel "Chris" Welch, of Hillside, one of the lawmakers who brought the lawsuit, said he was "glad the judge got it right. "It's unfortunate that we had to do this, but we have to stand up for the constitution and make sure that one branch of government can't hold the other branch of government hostage," Welch said. "I can't imagine what would happen if he would have ruled the other way. The precedent that would have set would be unbelievable." Advertisement kgeiger@chicagotribune.com mcgarcia@chicagotribune.com Twitter @kimgeiger Twitter @moniquegarcia Ardent Obamacare foe Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, who says the GOP is "on a rescue mission, speaks in August in Springfield. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune) WASHINGTON After House Republicans suffered a setback Thursday in their bid to overhaul health care, some GOP lawmakers from Illinois refused to commit to future revisions of the GOP plan and expressed skepticism about quick action moving forward. "We've seen a lot of versions, but I don't know what the final one is going to look like," said U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren of west suburban Plano. "And I'm not going to commit until I see what's going to be in there." Advertisement While saying Obamacare is in a "death spiral," Hultgren said it's important for House and Senate Republicans "get a replacement that works." He said he could not predict "whether that can happen today or tomorrow or over the weekend or next week" and added: "I really feel like it's unknown right now how this ends." Advertisement U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is from Channahon, near Joliet, also said he was taking stock. "I was a 'yes,' so now the bill is changing a little bit, so I will evaluate," he said. "I will re-evaluate everything." "Definitely when they get the votes, we'll jump and do it, but I think it's obvious we're probably a little short right now." Kinzinger was among ten lawmakers invited to the White House on Tuesday to discuss health care with President Donald Trump. "He was genuinely interested in listening to people. And I was impressed by his I don't want to call it deal-making because that's kind of cheap but his consensus-building and listening to people's concerns and figuring out how to fix them," Kinzinger said. Hultgren and Kinzinger made their comments before a Thursday evening strategy meeting of House Republicans. The Republican game plan had been to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on the seventh anniversary of it being signed into law by President Barack Obama. When that train went off the tracks, Illinois Democrats were reinvigorated in their opposition. "My constituents have made their voices heard loud & clear," U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago, who like all 11 Democratic House members from Illinois opposes the GOP overahaul, said in a tweet. U.S. Rep Cheri Bustos of East Moline issued a statement urging the president and GOP lawmakers to "take today's TrumpCare breakdown to heart." Advertisement "The fight isn't over, but today's delay in their long promised vote shows we are making real progress," said Bustos. Still in question is whether U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush will show up for a vote if one is taken on Friday. A visitation for Rush's wife is scheduled in Chicago for Friday evening and a spokesman for the Chicago Democrat could not be reached on his status. Amid a growing number of GOP defections before the vote was called off, U.S. Reps. Peter Roskam of Wheaton and Mike Bost of Murphysboro would not say publicly how they would vote. A spokesman for Rep. Darin LaHood of Peoria clarified the congressman's stance, saying because the bill still was being discussed and amended, he was unsure how LaHood would vote. "Up until this point, I believe he has been supportive of measures included within the bill," said the spokesman, J.D. Dalfonso. Hultgren, in an interview, said he continues to hear from constituents that their health care premiums and deductibles are going up while their choices are fewer. He said residents of McHenry, Lake and Kendall counties have only one option for insurance under the exchanges set up by the ACA. "It's a monopoly," said Hultgren, who wants to "root out some of the worst things (in the ACA) some of the taxes, some of the mandates" and give people more choices of picking a health care insurer so as to lower costs. Advertisement Kinzinger blamed Thursday's delay on his party's conservative Freedom Caucus, who he said continually "move the goal posts" and after winning concessions, seek more. "It's one thing to be the opposition party. It's really easy to vote no on everything," Kinzinger said. "But when you're in a leadership role, which the Republican Party is now, you have to get to yes. And in governing, you'll never have anything perfect." He said the Freedom Caucus members would have to learn that "or they'll be left with a promise that they made, to repeal and replace Obama care, unachieved." U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Downstate Taylorville has called the GOP's American Health Care Act "must pass legislation." Another backer, U.S. Rep. John Shimkus of Collinsville, spoke forcefully in support of the plan Thursday morning, saying "we're on a rescue mission." kskiba@tribpub.com Advertisement Twitter KatherineSkiba U.S. Reps.Peter Roskam,Adam Kinzinger andDarin LaHood are amongIllinois' seven House Republicans who are not expected to break ranks on the GOP bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. (Phil Velasquez, Heather Charles, J. Lawler Duggan / Chicago Tribune) WASHINGTON There were few signs Illinois' seven House Republicans will break ranks when their party's health care overhaul comes up for a historic vote Thursday, but some declined to tip their hands amid a frenzied, last-minute lobbying push on both sides of the debate. U.S. Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon, Darin LaHood of Peoria and Rodney Davis of Taylorville, support the GOP bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, aides said. Advertisement U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton "strongly supports" repealing and replacing Obamacare, but a spokesman indicated he remains on the fence over Thursday's vote. "We're following the developments closely, and he will make a determination ... once we see what the final bill looks like," spokesman David Pasch said. Advertisement Roskam is a strident critic of the ACA and has helped author some of the Republican measure's tax provisions. But he is one of 23 House Republicans representing a district won by Democrat Hillary Clinton last November, and he has been a prime target of pro-ACA groups. Passage of the health care bill would give momentum to President Donald Trump's plans for tax reform, an infrastructure buildup and assorted federal budget cuts and he has been cajoling lawmakers to get behind the bill. Roskam, tax policy chairman on the House Ways and Means Committee, backs the tax provisions in the measure, Pasch said. Those provisions would give big tax cuts to medical device makers, insurance companies and wealthy Americans. U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren of west suburban Plano had been undecided, and on Wednesday his office did not respond to questions about how he'll vote. However, an aide released a letter Hultgren sent Tuesday to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., complaining the new Medicaid funding formula in the bill would shortchange Illinois recipients. Hultgren said his district's 76,836 Medicaid recipients include nearly 40,000 children. Typically children comprise two-fifths of the Medicaid population but incur less than one-fifth of the program's costs, he said. The GOP bill as written "would stop funding health care for thousands of children, only to obtain minuscule cost savings and trigger loss of coverage for kids who lack the resources ... to get it elsewhere," Hultgren wrote. He told Ryan he looked forward to working with him on the "crucial next step of this reform process." Advertisement Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro will not reveal in advance how he'll vote, a spokesman said. An aide to GOP U.S. Rep. John Shimkus of Collinsville did not reply to questions about the vote. Nationally, Democrats are loudly unified in opposition. Some of Illinois' 11 House Democrats spoke Wednesday from the House floor, where members denounced "Trumpcare" and the "UnAmerican Health Care Act." U.S. Rep. Danny Davis of Chicago hearkened to the days before Medicaid when some poor people had to wait two or three days in a public hospital before they were treated. "Let's say no, no, no," Davis said. "Forward, ever. Backwards, never." U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston pointed to an early estimate that 24 million people by 2026 would lose insurance coverage under the measure. She also said the bill would transfer $600 billion in tax relief to wealthy Americans and corporations. "Don't walk the plank," she told Republicans, quoting a Republican senator who warned House members they could lose their majority if they back a bill that cannot pass the Senate. Speaking from the floor, U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos of East Moline said the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, which represents more than 200 hospitals and nearly 50 health systems in the state, opposes "Trumpcare" because it would take away coverage from "hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans." Advertisement U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush of Chicago could miss the vote because of funeral services for his wife, a spokeswoman said. The House has 237 Republicans, 193 Democrats and five vacancies. With a majority of votes needed for the bill to pass, if Rush skips the vote, the GOP needs all but 22 of its members to vote yes. If he shows up, Republicans need all but 21 votes. Former Vice President Joe Biden and other Democrats railed against the bill from the Capitol steps Wednesday at an event timed to the eve of the seventh anniversary of the ACA being signed into law. One speaker at the event was Greg Starnes, CEO of Fayette County Hospital in Vandalia, Ill., who echoed a concern of the state's Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner: Under the bill, Illinois stands to lose $40 billion in Medicaid funding over 10 years. If the bill passes Thursday, Starnes warned, "hundreds of rural hospitals face serious risk of downsizing or closing." kskiba@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @KatherineSkiba Philip Kalayil came to Chicago from India in the mid-1950s and became an early leader and organizer of the Indian-American community here. He helped start organizations for fellow countrymen to stay in touch with their culture and religion and later assisted in efforts to engage in local politics. Advertisement "He did a lot, he was almost the co-founder of all these (Indian-American) organizations," said Dr. Netta D'souza, who knew Kalayil in India and reconnected with him here. Kalayil and others started the Indian Catholic Association of America around 1960. "It was religious, cultural and helping new immigrant Catholics to get together," D'souza said. "There were less than 100 (Indian) people here then." Advertisement In 1980, Kalayil helped start the Indo-American Democratic Organization to empower people to register to vote and to make their opinions heard, according to co-founder Ranjit Ganguly. "Philip is the one who really guided us," Ganguly said. "He was politically astute." Kalayil, 86, died March 13 in Skokie Hospital of natural causes, according to his daughter Ann. He lived for many years in Chicago's West Rogers Park neighborhood. He was born in the small village of Keezhoor in the Indian state of Kerala. He turned 17 just after India gained its independence from Great Britain. He was a high school teacher of economics, married with two children, when he decided to come to the United States for more training. He had to convince his father his desire to come to Chicago was more than a lark. "His dad wanted him to stay home and work on the farm," his daughter said. "His father told him he'd have to pay him back." In 1956, he came by ship to New York, then to Chicago by bus, to study at Loyola University, where an uncle, a priest, was also studying. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 86 Dick Orkin, an award-winning radio advertising creator for close to a half-century who was perhaps best known for his syndicated Chickenman spoof, which aired on Chicago stations, died on Dec. 24 in California. He was 84. Read more. (Handout) In 1959, his wife, Annamma, who survives him, joined him in Chicago, leaving their children in India. In 1964, she and their daughter Ann, who was born in Chicago, returned to India. Kalayil followed in 1965 to teach and be the librarian at St. John's Medical College in Bangalore. He returned to Chicago with his family in 1967. "He concluded his future was in Chicago, not in India," his daughter said. He earlier got a master's degree in sociology from Loyola and soon finished work on a second master's in industrial relations. Advertisement He taught at a local business college briefly before going to work as a social worker for Catholic Charities in Chicago. In 1970, he went to work for the city of Chicago in its Department of Human Services. He was assistant director of emergency services with the department when he retired about 20 years ago. His 1961 master's thesis examined the experiences of racial discrimination by Indian students and its effects on their perceptions of America. That work spurred him to work to bridge gaps between Asian-American groups divided by ethnicity, religion, socio-economic levels and other factors. He also encouraged those diverse groups to get involved in local politics. Ganguly said a 1979 Indian Independence Day gathering he organized attracted 1,000 Indians living in the Chicago area and the attention of then-Mayor Jane Byrne. Byrne didn't attend the event but recognized the potential political strength of the group. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 100 Actress/singer Rose Marie is gleeful as director Carl Reiner, right, and Honorary Mayor of Hollywood Johnny Grant, present her with 2,184th star on the famed Hollywood Walk of Fame Oct. 3, 2001, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Marie died Dec. 28, 2017, at age 94. Read more. (Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press) With that encouragement, Ganguly, Kalayil and some others organized the Indo-American Democratic Organization in 1980. It's still going strong, Ganguly said, now with a new generation of leadership. Kalayil's leadership and bridge-building between diverse racial and ethnic groups was recognized by the Association for Asian American Studies, which honored him with its Heart of Asian America Community Award in 2008. Kalayil is also survived by sons Tom and Sales; sisters, Sister St. John Kalayil, Sister Dominic Savio Kalayil and Tresia; eight grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. Advertisement Another daughter, Lisa Pullukat, died in 2006. Services were held. Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter. Demonstrators hold up a banner during a protest of President Donald Trump's proposed travel ban and suspension of the country's refugee program, March 16, 2017, in New York City. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images) In the 1934 romantic movie "Death Takes a Holiday," Death assumes human form for three days, and the world turns chaotic. The same thing happens when the law goes on a vacation. Rules are unenforced or politicized. Citizens quickly lose faith in the legal system. Anarchy follows ensuring that there can be neither prosperity nor security. Advertisement The United States is descending into such as abyss, as politics now seem to govern whether existing laws are enforced. Sociologists in the 1980s found out that when even minor infractions were ignored such as the breaking of windows, or vendors walking into the street to hawk wares to motorists in a traffic jam misdemeanors then spiraled into felonies as lawbreakers become emboldened. Advertisement A federal law states that the president can by proclamation "suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate." Yet a federal judge ruled that president Trump cannot do what the law allows in temporarily suspending immigration from countries previously singled out by the Obama administration for their laxity in vetting their emigrants. In the logic of his 43-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson seemed to strike down the travel ban based on his own subjective opinion of a president's supposedly incorrect attitudes and past statements. Some 500 "sanctuary" cities and counties have decided for political reasons that federal immigration law does not fully apply within their jurisdictions. They have done so with impunity, believing that illegal immigration is a winning political issue given changing demography. In a way, they have already legally seceded from the Union and provided other cities with a model of how to ignore any federal law they do not like. The law states that foreign nationals cannot enter and permanently reside in the United States without going through a checkpoint and in most cases obtaining a legal visa or green card. But immigration law has been all but ignored. Or it was redefined as not committing additional crimes while otherwise violating immigration law. Then the law was effectively watered down further to allow entering and residing illegally if not committing "serious" crimes. Now, the adjective "serious" is being redefined as something that does not lead to too many deportations. The logical end is no immigration law at all and open borders. There is a federal law that forbids the IRS from unfairly targeting private groups or individuals on the basis of their politics. Lois Lerner, while serving as the IRS director, did just that but faced no legal consequences. Perhaps Lerner's exemption emboldened New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof to invite IRS employees via social media to unlawfully leak Donald Trump's tax returns. Later, someone leaked Trump's 2005 tax return to MSNBC. There are statutes that prevent federal intelligence and investigatory agencies from leaking classified documents. No matter. For the last six months well before FBI Director James Comey's testimony Monday the news media have trafficked in reports that Trump is under investigation by government agencies for allegedly colluding with the Russians. That information usually came from "unnamed sources" affiliated with the FBI, NSA or CIA. No one has been punished for such leaking. Advertisement The leakers apparently feel that prosecutors and the courts do not mind if someone's privacy is illegally violated, as long as it is the privacy of someone they all loathe, like Trump. The logic seems also to be that we need only follow the laws that we like and assume that law enforcement must make the necessary adjustments. At this late date, a return to legality and respect for the law might seem extremist or revolutionary. For the federal government to demand that cities follow federal law or face cutoffs in federal funds might cause rioting. Going after federal officials who leak classified documents to reporters would make those officials martyrs. And to warn high-ranking IRS officials that they could likely go to prison for targeting groups based on their political beliefs might earn a prosecutor an unexpected IRS audit. There is one common denominator in all these instances of attempted legal nullification: the liberal belief that laws should "progress" to reflect the supposedly superior political agenda of the left. Advertisement And if laws don't progress? Then they can be safely ignored. But when the law is what we say it is, or what we want it to be, there is no law. And when there is no law, there is not much left but something resembling Russia, Somalia or Venezuela. Tribune Content Agency Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. authorvdh@gmail.com Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, center, joined by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, second from left, and Chicago State University interim president Cecil B. Lucy, right, speaks at a news conference, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, at Chicago State University in Chicago. (Phil Velasquez / AP) After years of working to put myself through school, I graduated from Chicago State University with a degree in accounting. Like so many other CSU graduates at the time, that degree catapulted me into the professional world, where I would spend 35 years and become vice chair of a global professional services firm. In 1996, my career path took me away from Chicago. I spent a decade working outside the state before returning to Illinois in 2006. When I returned, I was struck by the dramatic decline of the services and reputation at my alma mater on the South Side. Once known for thriving schools of business, nursing, pharmacy and education, CSU had become a shell of its former self. Every conversation I'd hear involving the university reflected two emotions: disappointment and embarrassment. Advertisement Sadly, that still holds true today. CSU's four-year graduation rate now stands at 2 percent, its six-year rate is slightly better at 11 percent and the student population is shrinking in both the undergraduate and graduate schools. In fact, the university had fewer than 100 students in its freshman class this year, and it is at risk of not opening in the fall if it cannot improve its numbers. There is no other way to put it: CSU is in crisis. Advertisement Faced with that reality, the CSU board of trustees has an opportunity next week to bring on a nationally renowned school reformer who has indicated a willingness to work full time in the short term to make the changes necessary to get the university back on track. Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas has spent much of his professional career balancing budgets and turning around troubled schools. He joined CSU's board in January and he is prepared to step into service full time if the board asks him. When that possibility is discussed within CSU circles, critics have turned to two primary topics: race and politics. First, some have questioned whether it is appropriate for a Caucasian to take on a leadership role for a university where the majority of students are African-American. Second, they note that although Vallas is a Democrat, he was appointed to the board by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. This discussion should not be about race or politics it should be about leadership, accountability, and what is best for Chicago State and the students it serves. The fact is that Rauner is the first governor I've seen try to return CSU to educational prominence. He appointed five members of the eight-person board of trustees, dynamic professionals who are committed to the school's long-term viability. In January, Rauner launched a CSU Advisory Council consisting of prominent business and education leaders to support the board and bring additional resources to the school. And he ensured that CSU was one of three schools to receive additional funding from the Illinois Board of Higher Education despite the state's budget impasse. CSU needs new leadership immediately. Paul Vallas is the right leader to stabilize the university. He has the right crisis management skills, a stellar track record and a willingness to take on the school's many challenges, such as improvements with finances, student enrollment, retention and graduation rates. The strategy would allow Vallas to serve in an executive capacity to stop the bleeding at CSU and build a foundation for the university to thrive, as the school launches a nationwide search for a president. CSU is in crisis. It's time to put race, politics, personal agendas and trivial differences aside. Vallas will deliver the leadership CSU so desperately needs to start the rebuilding of a thriving academic institution on the South Side. Tony Anderson is a member of the Chicago State University Advisory Council. He served as vice chairman and Midwest managing partner of Ernst & Young. Advertisement Related articles: How Illinois pols enable failure at Chicago State Despite financial struggles, Chicago State has for years worked to open $60M second campus Chicago State spends money to lobby state which isn't giving out money Frank Clark, standing, president of the Chicago Board of Education, prior to a meeting at Chicago Public Schools headquarters in Chicago's Loop on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) A bill that creates an elected Chicago Board of Education has advanced out of an Illinois House committee. We don't usually predict how Illinois lawmakers may vote. But we expect landslide approval for that bill, should it be called by House Speaker Michael Madigan. Why? Because the Illinois House passed essentially the same bill last year by a vote of 110-4. Then the state Senate wisely said thanks, but no thanks. Advertisement A brief recap and a reminder about why we've opposed this proposal, even though many of our fellow Chicagoans support it: This bill would replace the current seven-member Chicago Public Schools board, appointed by the mayor, with a 21-member board. Voters would choose members from 20 newly created districts, and would elect a president at large. We understand the impetus behind this idea. Mayor Rahm Emanuel's hand-picked board, like Mayor Richard M. Daley's before it, has bungled the Chicago Public Schools budget and recklessly borrowed the district into penury. CPS is at the brink of insolvency. The board missed the corruption scandal surrounding former CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett. Its members often approve the mayor's agenda with little to no dissent. Elected school boards are common in Illinois and across the nation. Advertisement The bill also is part of a broader effort among Democrats to advance an actual agenda, not just throw roadblocks in the path of Gov. Bruce Rauner's. That Democratic agenda includes raising the minimum wage, closing corporate tax loopholes and pushing for a graduated income tax. Those issues are moving in the House while the Senate grapples with an evidently dead-for-now compromise on taxes and reform. So how could an elected school board democracy in action! do any worse than the mayor-appointed board? Many ways. Start with sheer heft. Gather 21 newbie board members around a table, many of them likely beholden to special interests (read: the Chicago Teachers Union or other deep-pocket contributors) for their seats, and ask them to find ways to rescue the foundering district without more borrowing or massive tax increases. Heck, get 21 people around any table and ask them to agree on what to order for lunch. A bloated board of education triple the size of the current one opens new vistas of governmental gridlock, incompetence and cronyism. Ask yourself: Would a 21-member elected board ever muster the courage to close dozens of schools, as CPS leaders did in 2013 and probably will have to do again as the number of students plummets? Would new board members elected with CTU help support tough bargaining on behalf of taxpayers when dueling begins over the next teachers contract? Last year, the bill's chief sponsor, state Rep. Robert Martwick Jr., D-Chicago, told us he was mindful of the CTU's potential clout in board elections. But he touted the 20 small districts to be drawn by the General Assembly as a way to encourage grass-roots organizing, "limit the influence of outside money" and guarantee minority representation. But can Springfield fairly draw districts to ensure that the board represents all Chicagoans? Imagine the possibilities for chicanery in map drawing by the same politicians who've rigged the boundaries of legislative and congressional districts. Advertisement We've mulled a possible alternative that has been floated: a so-called "hybrid" board that would include some appointed and some elected members. Under this idea, the mayor still appoints a majority of the members, but voters elect several others. The aim would be to create sharp-knuckled debate and increase transparency in board actions. We support those goals. But we doubt such a hybrid board would mollify the proponents of a fully elected board, especially if the mayor still controls the deciding vote. Illinois lawmakers handed control of the schools to Chicago mayors in 1995. Since then, the district has often earned accolades in pushing long-overdue reforms to better educate students. Emanuel can rightly boast of higher graduation rates and rising test scores. But he also has to answer for his board's bungling of CPS' finances. Which leads to the main reason we still back an appointed board: mayoral accountability. If you disapprove of board actions, if members are incompetent or corrupt, there's one person to blame: the mayor of Chicago. And there's a powerful way to change the board with one trip to the ballot box: Elect a new mayor with a different education agenda. If Emanuel seeks a third term in 2019, we won't be surprised if challengers cite the record of his CPS board as a reason to dump him. But an elected school board defeats that principle. When 21 people are in charge, no one person is accountable. Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook. Your editorial in favor of Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court omitted several critical facts concerning the "case of the frozen trucker." Al Maddin had to pull his semi-trailer onto the shoulder of I-88 west of Chicago during a period of sub-zero temperatures. The brakes on his trailer froze. He called his dispatcher who told him to wait for a repairman. The heater did not work in his truck and the temperature was at least 14 degrees below zero, but he waited. He dozed off and two hours later was awakened by a call from a worried cousin. At that point his feet and legs had no feeling and he was struggling to breathe. Advertisement Another call to the dispatcher gave him the same orders: Stay in the truck or drag your broken trailer down the interstate. Maddin felt his disabled trailer creeping along the interstate might endanger other motorists. He unhitched the broken trailer and drove the truck to the next gas station where he fueled up, warmed up and then returned to the trailer to complete his delivery. Advertisement For that decision TransAm Trucking fired him, and its dismissal blackballed him from ever driving another truck. Maddin filed a claim against the trucking company, which he wrote out in long-hand. He told me in my office he was shocked when the Department of Labor ruled in his favor, but then faced a gauntlet of lawyers and appeals. Maddin's position was ruled on by seven different administrative and court judges. All but one judge ruled against the trucking company. That one judge was Gorsuch. Judge Gorsuch complained, and you quoted him at length, that it was Congress' fault. He said the law was written to require this outcome. But the 10th Circuit majority noted that Judge Gorsuch cherry-picked one dictionary's definition to favor the company. Other dictionaries, and the law's purpose of protecting health and safety, favored Maddin. So the obvious question: Why should the fate of this trucker and this one case be taken so seriously? If you watched Judge Gorsuch's hearing, you saw a smart, experienced judge spend hours avoiding questions about his values. He is not the first nominee to do that. So we can only look at his record in deciding whether he should be given a lifetime appointment to the highest court of the land. I expect every judge to apply the law to the facts fairly. But it is naive to believe that this is a robotic exercise. Every judge brings values to the court and in close, hard cases those values can tip the balance on the meaning of the law or the facts before the court. Advertisement Al Maddin was more than just an unlucky truck driver. He was a hardworking American entitled to justice in our courts. Dick Durbin, U.S. senator, Washington A New Trier High School seminar on racial civil rights at the Winnetka campus roused opposition from parents and residents who say it lacked conservative voices. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) I went to the Wilmette Theatre on Wednesday evening to catch the premiere of "New Trier: Tip of the Spear," an insta-documentary on the controversy that broke out in advance of New Trier High School's Feb. 28 Seminar Day on Race. It wasn't because I wanted to revisit or relive the parochial debate about whether the high school in Winnetka had included enough political conservatives in its lineup of guest speakers. Advertisement But it was because filmmaker Paul Traynor, 46, a New Trier parent, said it was about more than that. He said his movie argues that the dust-up is a window into a vast yet stealthy effort by the right wing to take control of government at the community level, and that this effort is manifesting itself in the upcoming April 4 municipal elections. In fact the reason Traynor said he rushed to finish the 1 hour, 20 minute project was that he wanted to use it to raise voter awareness that, as the title suggests, small developments such as the candidacies of certain ostensibly independent candidates for such minor offices as New Trier Township trustee are at the leading edge of this national effort. Advertisement Sounds far-fetched, I know. There may be no duller or less influential elected position than a seat on the board of a township, an obscure government body that's frequently targeted for elimination. Who would ever even bother to campaign for such an office, much less see it as a springboard for a revolution? New Trier Township races have never before been contested, according to multiple sources. The local political caucus simply considers and then slates four volunteer candidates who traditionally run unopposed. But this time was different. On Jan. 22, well after the slating process, Danielle Mergner, chair of the New Trier Republican Organization, wrote to the caucus chair to ask that her three candidates, Bob Costello Kathy Myalls and Stacey Woehrle, be slated instead. Odd, since, in her losing campaign for the Illinois House in 2016, Myalls campaigned for the elimination of township government. The following day, the New Trier Coalition political action committee filed papers with the Illinois State Board of Elections. Stated purpose: "To elect free-market candidates," including Costello, Myalls and Woehrle and two others in other minor races. The chair of the PAC was Joan LaSonde, who ran unsuccessfully last year as the Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston. The caucus refused. So the three began running as "The New Trier Independents," with jolly yard signs featuring only their first names. This development was greeted with enthusiasm by North Cook News, one of the mock journalism sites run by statewide GOP operative and conservative radio host Dan Proft. So brazenly propagandistic has Proft's coverage of this race been that it doesn't even mention the four slated candidates on the ballot Kevin Boyd, Gail Schnitzer Eisenberg, Elliott Robbins and John Thomas. I reached out to "Kathy, Bob & Stacey" individually, as well as to Mergner and LaSonde, hoping to get their reaction to all the local chatter that they're not just humble citizens hoping to be responsible stewards of the tiny annual township budget, but tools of much larger organizations that want to shrink government, eliminate townships and advance the free-market religion. I got no response, but in the video of a March 18 League of Women Voters forum, the three candidates denied any connection to outside groups. Advertisement When I showed up with about 100 other prospective moviegoers to the Wilmette Theatre, I learned that Traynor had decided not to show his film after receiving a cease-and-desist letter a day earlier from a lawyer who represents several of the parents involved in the Seminar Day protests. The letter said the documentary violates the parents' "rights to publicity and privacy, casts them in a false light, and defames them," even though Traynor says the parents named in the letter get only glancing coverage and the courts have said documentarians have the right to tell their stories. The letter threatened "to pursue all legal remedies" if Traynor showed his movie as scheduled. "They could take my house," he said, speaking to the audience from the front of the theater. "I have to protect my family." He conceded that he'll be unable to screen "New Trier: Tip of the Spear" before Election Day. Instead he led an 80-minute Q-and-A for the largely friendly crowd, drawing lines and making inferences that sounded a little less far-fetched than before, considering the circumstances. "The most important issues of our time, domestically, are tied up in this story," he said. Advertisement A tall claim for a small election. But we'll see. ericzorn@gmail.com Twitter @EricZorn An advertising director of a global evangelical ministry has been put on leave after he was charged this month with traveling to an undisclosed location in Aurora to have sex with a minor, the publisher's human resources department confirmed Thursday. Olatokunbo Olawoye, 44, the director of advertising for Christianity Today, is one of four men from the Chicago area charged after an investigation conducted March 10 by Aurora police and Homeland Security investigators, resulting in charges filed the next day in Kane County Circuit Court. Advertisement Each man is charged with single counts of involuntary sexual servitude of a minor, a class X felony; traveling to meet a minor, a class 3 felony; and grooming, a class 4 felony. In his office Wednesday at Christianity Today's Carol Stream headquarters, Human Resources Director Richard Shields confirmed that Olawoye has been placed on administrative leave as a result of the charges. Shields declined to say whether the leave is paid or unpaid. As to whether the ministry is concerned about the allegations, Shields said the administrative leave "speaks for itself." Advertisement The men charged all answered an ad that police placed on an internet site known for promoting prostitution-related activities, said Aurora police spokesman Dan Ferrelli. During their communications with an undercover officer, the men allegedly made clear that they arrived at the location in Aurora with the intention of having sex with girls they knew to be underage, Ferrelli said. Olawoye's bail was set at $50,000, and he is out on a recognizance bond, according to court records. If convicted of the most serious offense, he would face a sentence of six to 30 years in prison, according to the state's attorney's office. Olawoye, of the 500 block of Declaration Lane in Aurora, is scheduled to appear in court April 5. A message left for his documented attorney, Michelle Olawoye, has not been returned. Christianity Today, established in 1956 by Billy Graham, includes seven print and several digital-only publications, along with web and mobile resources that reach more than 2.5 million people every month, according to its website. hleone@tribpub.com Twitter @hannahmleone The Aurora Public Library's downtown facility. For the second time in less than a year, the state Attorney General has said the Library Board has violated the Open Meetings Act. (Jon Langham / The Beacon-News) For the second time in less than a year, the Illinois attorney general's office has found that the Aurora Public Library board violated the Open Meetings Act. But in a letter written late last week, S. Piya Mukherjee, an assistant attorney general in the office's Public Access Bureau, said the public access counselor "has determined that resolution of this matter does not require issuance of a binding opinion" and that the letter sent "serves to close this matter." Advertisement The investigation by the public access counselor's office started last fall, with a complaint by Aurora resident David Pierce, who served as mayor from 1985 to 1997. Through the Freedom of Information Act, he asked to find out how many closed, or executive session, board meetings there had been dating back to January 2013. He asked to see minutes from any of those meetings. The library board responded that there were 31 closed meetings between Feb. 13, 2013, and Sept. 28, 2016. The board failed to keep minutes for any of those meetings despite being required by law to do so, and it also failed to keep recordings of the meetings, also required by law. Advertisement In a response made last fall to Pierce's complaint, library officials said they did not realize they were required to keep minutes of the closed meetings. They said they knew about keeping the recordings but had been using an old cassette tape recorder that malfunctioned. Library officials said they did not realize the recorder was defective until August 2016, when they went to find the recording for the May 25, 2016, meeting in regard to another investigation of a closed meeting started by another complaint by Pierce. When they discovered the recorder did not work, library officials purchased a new digital recorder on Aug. 12, 2016, and used it to record the Sept. 28 closed meeting. In his response last fall to the library board's answers, Pierce said he had "difficulty accepting" that the board could have a defective recorder and not discover it for three years. "I mean, three years?" Pierce told The Beacon-News this week. "Three years is pretty egregious." John Savage, Aurora Library Board president. (Steve Lord / The Beacon-News) John Savage, library board president, said the Open Meetings Act violations were a mistake, and the board was "proactive" about correcting them. "Without being directed to, we've taken the appropriate steps," he said. "We acknowledge our errors." Savage pointed out the board even announced the steps taken last December to little fanfare or attention. Besides getting the digital recorder, Savage said, the library board developed a new protocol to train employees and board members; hired an outside attorney to attend meetings, including closed meetings; and is making sure board members and staff go through the online training recommended by the attorney general's office. Advertisement Savage said he believes the attorney general's office has recognized the library's compliance in its letter. "This nonbinding ruling means there are no penalties," he said. But Pierce said this week the attorney general's office does not issue penalties. Any legal action taken in regard to Open Meetings Act violations would come from the local state's attorney's office. Earlier this week, Pierce said he would wait to see what the City Council does in regard to the violations. If the council does nothing, he said, "then maybe it ought to go to the next stage of investigation." Pierce said it is appropriate the City Council take action because the mayor appoints the library board members, with approval by the council. The council also has control over the library's revenue. But Mayor Robert O'Connor said after this week's Committee of the Whole meeting that he did not think "it's the city's position" to take any action. Advertisement "They are their own board," he said. "I don't see us taking any action. They've corrected the errors and are in compliance. It was a mistake." The attorney general's office last fall also told the library board it had violated the Open Meetings Act when it discussed, in closed session, budgetary matters that were outside the scope of what it is allowed to discuss in closed session. The complaint, also filed by Pierce, was about a May 25, 2016, meeting when the board went into closed session because it was discussing specific employees and the future of their jobs. But that discussion appeared to leak into general discussion of budgetary items that should have been talked about in open session, the attorney general's office said. The meeting was at a time when the library was discussing closing its East Side Express Center on Church Road, reducing hours at its West Side branch on Constitution Drive and laying off 11 full-time and 10 part-time employees. The moves were designed to save $800,000 to $1 million to cover an estimated budget deficit. Pierce has maintained that the library board never did discuss the moves in public session, which is why he filed to get the minutes from the closed sessions. He said just closing the door on the situation now "makes you wonder what else did they discuss in private, that no one knows about?" Advertisement "If there are no consequences, what stops anyone else from doing the same thing and using the same excuse," he said. Savage also said the board is "moving on," focusing on implementing its new three-year plan. slord@tribpub.com A retired forensic firearms analyst took his shots at police Thursday, saying their handling of Aurora murder suspect Christopher Whetstone could have compromised key evidence in the case. Taking the witness stand for the defense during the eighth day of testimony in Whetstone's murder trial, David Balash offered his comments after watching portions of squad car video which captured Whetstone's arrest following the Jan. 13, 2014, fatal shooting of Rachel Taylor on Charles Street in Aurora. Whetstone has denied charges he shot Taylor - his ex-girlfriend and mother of the couple's two children. Advertisement Jurors saw a total of four clips from the video that, at different points, showed a handcuffed Whetstone on the ground and, later, in the back seat of an Aurora police car. State police witnesses previously said Whetstone's hands tested positive for a form of gunshot residue between his thumbs and index fingers, but Balash countered by saying little was done to prevent transfer or contamination of the residue, which he called "delicate materials" far too small to be seen with the naked eye. "Personally, I don't recall ... a more gross mishandling of hands than I've seen in these videos," Balash told jurors during questioning by Assistant Public Defender Jaqueline Leder. Advertisement Balash cited, among other things, how Whetstone's hands were in contact with his clothing, the squad car's exterior and the car's cloth seat back - all of which could have either picked up the residue or compromised the condition of it before Aurora police did their testing within 90 minutes of the shooting. Balash later called into question the work of an Illinois State Police crime lab analyst who previously told jurors that three bullet casings recovered from the shooting scene were fired from the same gun. Balash suggested his review of the casings turned up no identifiers that would lead him to the same conclusion, and he said he would have done a more thorough look at other markings to determine possible similarities between the casings. Assistant State's Attorney Sal LoPiccolo used his cross-examination to poke holes in Balash's expertise, as well as his perspective on gunshot residue. Balash, who has been a firearms analyst for 44 years, acknowledged he is not currently affiliated with any crime labs and hasn't taken any proficiency tests since the late 1990s or early 2000s. He told LoPiccolo that no one reviewed or certified his report in the Whetstone case, while mentioning he could have arrived at different findings if he had used a comparative microscope while analyzing the casings. On the residue issue, Balash said it was possible Whetstone would have similar amounts of the material on his hands if he fired the gun with one and then held it in the other. Earlier, while questioned by Leder, Balash attempted to cast doubt on the Whetstone test results by saying it is more common for someone who is not law enforcement to fire a pistol using only one hand. Earlier Thursday, Judge John Barsanti ruled Whetstone's brother could not testify about his familiarity with Aurora gang violence as part of the defense theory that Taylor could have been killed in a drive-by shooting. Barsanti cited the fact that Whetstone's brother had no firsthand knowledge of the shooting because he wasn't home when it happened. Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News Barrington School District 220 and other members of a local joint review board met Tuesday to vote on a potential tax increment finance agreement in Hoffman Estates. (Todd Shields / Pioneer Press) Joining several other area taxing bodies, officials with Barrington School District 220 recently voted against a multi-million dollar tax incentive to a development project in Hoffman Estates largely because of concerns with overcrowding. District 220 officials have said school buildings near a proposed 185-acre development, which would add 1,035 residential units at the northwest corner of routes 59 and 72 in Hoffman Estates, would have to deal with overloaded classrooms. The project could add 285 students to the district, said Superintendent Brian Harris. Advertisement The tax-increment-financing district proposed for the project, which District 220 voted against in a meeting Tuesday, also would siphon off millions in property taxes to the district over the next 23 years, Harris said. "School boards are always concerned when a housing development is proposed," Harris said. "This one is a whole community." Advertisement District 220 joined six other area taxing bodies in voting against the proposed creation of the TIF district during a local joint review board meeting Tuesday. The TIF district would provide a development incentive and refund about $22 million in taxes over the next 23 years to project developer 5a7 LLC in Barrington. Since TIF agreements redirects property tax dollars from other area taxing bodies to encourage development of blighted areas, all taxing bodies affected by the proposal typically have a chance to review and vote on the proposed district. Along with District 220, officials with Algonquin-based Community Unit School District 300, the Barrington Area Library, Barrington Township, Barrington Hills Park District, Elgin Community College and Harper College twice voted against the proposal Tuesday. Officials with both District 220 and District 300 also argued during the meeting that the proposal doesn't meet all the legal requirements of a TIF district. During the meeting, officials with the Hoffman Estates Park District initially voted for the TIF district's eligibility and then abstained during a second vote on whether to accept a recommendation by the joint review board rejecting the creation of the new TIF district. The village of Hoffman Estates abstained on the eligibility vote and voted against the board's recommendation during the second vote. Dean Bostrom, executive director for the Hoffman Estates Park District, said the park district abstained because officials wanted more time to study a TIF report that was sent to the district recently, he said. Other residents in the area, including South Barrington Village President Paula McCombie and Barrington Hills Village President Martin McLaughlin, also said they opposed the proposed agreement. Advertisement "We object to the residential TIF and object to the tax burden of educating children in the development on the taxpayers of school districts 220 and 300," said Barrington Hills resident Kristina Anderson. Harris said the area targeted by the project developer does not meet the legal requirements of a TIF district that stipulate "blighted" or "vacant" parcels. A consultant's report released by District 300 during the meeting Tuesday also reinforced Harris' assertion, officials from both school districts said. Theodore Johnson, of TJ Design Strategies in Oak Brook, which developed the report for both District 220 and District 300, said that under TIF rules, the acreage slated for development shouldn't be classified as "vacant" because some parcels have been used for agriculture within the last five years. Even though a majority of area taxing bodies rejected the proposal, officials in Hoffman Estates still could override the joint review board's advisory vote, said Hoffman Estates Mayor William McLeod. Village board members will need a supermajority of five votes to overturn the joint review board's recommendation, he said. "You sell a TIF as a mechanism to increase value over time," McLeod said of the proposal. "Commercial and retail TIFs are much more valuable than residential, and they require way less services." Advertisement Anthony Iatarola, a managing member of the project developer, 5a7 LLC in Barrington, said he will continue talking to the area school districts about their concerns with the proposed TIF agreement. The developer has a 30-day period to discuss and reconcile the differences presented by joint review board members before the board meets again on the proposal at 1:30 p.m. April 18, Hoffman Estates officials said. Village officials also plan to host a public hearing on the agreement just before a village board meeting at 7 p.m. April 3 at 1900 Hassell Road, where Hoffman Estates board members tentatively are set to discuss annexing the property targeted for the development, McLeod said. tshields@pioneerlocal.com Twitter @tshields19 Pawnee Park road closed COLUMBUS -- The road between East Pawnee Park and West Pawnee Park adjacent to Ramada-Columbus will be closed until further notice beginning today. The Pawnee Park trail on the levee will also be closed. The closures are because of construction on the levee in Pawnee Park. Drivers and pedestrians are asked to use alternate routes and adhere to the street blockage restrictions. Spring diabetes event at CCH COLUMBUS -- Columbus Community Hospital will host its spring diabetes event at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the hospitals third-floor conference center. This event is free to the public, but RSVPs are required by Friday. The guest speaker will be Jill Colegrove, LMHP, LADC, presenting Identifying and Managing Depression and Stress While Living with a Chronic Disease. Attendees with also learn how to reduce their risk of diabetes with educational information on the Diabetes Prevention Program, from Columbus Community Hospital diabetes educator Alicia Mueller, BSN, RN. The event will begin with a light meal. For information or a reservation, call 402-562-4462. Osceola church site of concert OSCEOLA -- Emmy Award-winning composer and musician Rex Cadwallader will hold a benefit performance 7 p.m. Friday at St. Paul Lutheran Church. Cadwallader is an accomplished jazz performer, composer and educator who directed instrumental and vocal music at Osceola High School from 1968-72 and also taught at Seward High School. Proceeds from this performance will benefit the Osceola Community Action Group. Tickets are $10, available at Pinnacle Bank Osceola, Tooleys Osceola and Fields and Frills. If any tickets remain, they will be sold at the door for $12. Roundups set at Catholic schools COLUMBUS -- Columbus Catholic elementary schools will host their kindergarten roundups Friday. St. Anthony Elementary School will run sessions from 8:159:15 a.m. and 1011 a.m. in the Parish Center. Sessions at St. Bonaventure Elementary School will run from 910:30 a.m. and 1-2:30 p.m. in the kindergarten classrooms. St. Isidore Elementary School will host sessions from 9:3010:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. in the school library. Interested families may attend sessions at any of the Catholic elementary schools. Principals and teachers will be on hand to answer questions and give school tours. For additional information, contact the school offices at the following numbers: St. Anthony, 402-564-4767; St. Bonaventure, 402-564-7153; and St. Isidore, 402-564-2604. The hastily discarded revolver was lying somewhere in a stretch of forest preserve west of Park Ridge and police officers wanted it found before it could wind up in the wrong hands. After a small group of local volunteers from Park Ridge's Citizens Emergency Response Team had little luck locating the weapon, which police said was used in an accidental shooting hours earlier, leader John Bennett decided to call in reinforcements. Advertisement It worked. Within about 2.5 hours and thanks to about 40 sets of eyes on the ground the gun was recovered off Higgins Road, west of Dee Road, and safely in police custody, authorities said. Advertisement The efforts of the volunteers who responded to the Feb. 4 search call were recognized by Park Ridge Police Chief Frank Kaminski during the March 20 meeting of the City Council. Representatives of seven emergency service agencies from as far away as McHenry were on hand. "It was like finding a needle in a haystack," Kaminski said of the search for the gun, which police said was thrown from a car by a 21-year-old Chicago man who had accidentally shot his friend in the neck while they were driving through Park Ridge during the early morning hours of Feb. 3. The men initially told investigators the shooting happened during a robbery attempt, police said. "The last thing we wanted was for someone to pick [the gun] up and for something harmful to happen," the police chief added. Bennett, a Park Ridge resident who volunteers with the Illinois Search and Rescue Council in addition to his duties with Park Ridge CERT, said he reached out to the council in an effort to get additional trained searchers out to the forest preserve. ISARC partners with many localized search and rescue agencies and can recruit volunteers from them when needed, Bennett explained. "We're a statewide organization, and we've got teams all over the state," he said. "We do about five to 10 searches a month." Roughly 40 searchers responded to Park Ridge on the morning of Feb. 4, and by 11:30 a.m., the gun was found, Kaminski said. In addition to ISARC and Park Ridge CERT, the agencies that sent volunteers to the Park Ridge gun search included the Maine Township Office of Emergency Management, Elk Grove Search and Rescue, the Palatine Emergency Management Agency, the McHenry Emergency Management Agency and the Wauconda Emergency Management Agency. Such a large number of volunteers were called out in part because the exact location of the gun was unknown and because searches like this involve "covering every inch of the ground, moving very slowly," Kaminski said. Advertisement "In fact, where [the gun] was found was not close to where we expected it," he added. "The more people we had, the better coverage we could give to the areas." Once the gun was spotted, a police evidence technician was called to the scene to recover the weapon, Kaminski said. Most of the searches that ISARC coordinates are for missing people, Bennett said. "Last night I got called at 1:45 a.m. for a missing person search in Elburn," he said, adding that many searches involve suicidal individuals or the elderly dealing with dementia or Alzheimer's disease who wander away from home. "For me, it's one of the most worthwhile organizations I belong to," Bennett said of ISARC. "You want to do something that really makes a difference when someone has a loved one who is missing. We make a difference." Information about becoming a trained search and rescuer with ISARC can be found on the council's website at www.illinoissar.org. For information about joining Park Ridge CERT, interested volunteers should email parkridgecert@gmail.com. Advertisement jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @Jen_Tribune Nathan Pratl as Vanya, front left, Sydney Elizabeth Hale as Yelena, center, Samuel Lee as Astrov. right, and Elizabeth Ramos as Sonya, far right, as well as stage managers Leann Powel, background left, and Joshua Kime, background right, shown in "Vanya" rehearsal. (Mark Baer / Post-Tribune) When floodwaters closed the doors of Indiana University Northwest's Tamarack Hall in 2008, the campus community mourned the loss of the spacious and ornate "great theater" that drew patrons from all over Northwest Indiana. With Tamarack Hall's replacement , the new $45 million Arts & Sciences Building on the corner of Broadway and 35th Avenue nearly complete, IU Northwest is experiencing a renewed feeling of excitement, as the doors of the new 500-seat theater and its accompanying black box theater will open in late August. Advertisement According to Mark Baer, assistant professor of acting and directing, the return of a theatrical hub is an opportunity for the arts, and the everyday activities of the university to filter into the surrounding communities. It also provides campus artists a place to let their creativity flow. Meet the cast of 'Vanya,' coming to stage in April Advertisement The four-person cast of Theatre Northwest's spring production, "Vanya," took a break from rehearsal recently to talk about their passion. Sydney Hale, 20, who will portray Yelena in the upcoming show, is an alumna of Morton Senior High School. To Hale, theater goes deeper than that love of performance. She sees the performing arts as a powerful way to communicate. What draws her to theater is its power for social change. "When you see a good show, you think about it for days, sometimes weeks or even months afterwards," Hale said. "It sticks with you and affects you and your thought process. If you see a show about something political or that touches on a sensitive topic we don't normally talk about; theater talks about it, without apologizing." Nathan Pratl, 18, hails from Lake Central High School. Though he never so much as dabbled in theater in high school, "Vanya" will be his third production and he is now "100 percent sure" that performing arts is the major for him. "No matter how hard the assignment, I appreciate the entire experience because it helps me build character. It has changed me as a person," he said. Samuel Lee, 19, became interested in theater while a student at Chesterton High School. He is portraying Astrov in the upcoming show. "What draws me to theater is the outlet," he said. "My mind is always racing and I'm a shy person but when I get on stage, that is where I feel like myself and can be who I am." Liz Ramos, 24, a Lake Central High School alumna, originally pursued television acting but switched to theater. Advertisement "Acting is what I love and it doesn't matter if it is theater or television," she said. "I just want to act and I discovered that I like the adrenaline rush of theater. I like being here because it has brought me out of my shell." Ramos will portray Sonya in the upcoming production, her third for IU Northwest. Ramos' schedule illustrates how demanding a degree in theater can be. Courses in acting, directing and design, and a role in "Vanya," have her putting in an estimated 130 hours of rehearsal this semester. And that is on top of her other, non-theater courses and a 20-hour a week job. "It's a lot of hard work, but it's what I want to do. I love it, I wouldn't have it any other way," she said. Erika Rose is a media communications specialist at Indiana University Northwest. Lethette Howard remembered growing up in Chicago at a time kids could go out and play without parents worrying at home. Now, Howard said life in her hometown has changed. The violence has gotten so bad that families aren't safe, Howard said, and she has no plans to return. Advertisement "It's just not a good place for kids to grow up in," Howard said. Unfortunately, the letter Howard received Tuesday could force her from her home in East Chicago's West Calumet Housing Complex to the city she pledged her family wouldn't live. Advertisement "I just don't want to go to Chicago," Howard said. "I'm just trying to stay in Indiana so my kids can go to school." Howard and other West Calumet residents received notice Tuesday that they must vacate their homes in 10 days and given the addresses of where they'd be transferred. As of March 22, 67 families still live at West Calumet, according to numbers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Like Howard, many residents who want to stay in Indiana are set to be moved to available units in Chicago. For them, Chicago is not an option. "A lot of people are upset about this," Howard said. Resident Detria Turner, who moved from Chicago to East Chicago, said she has two kids who are still in school and her children are comfortable in their schools. Turner said she doesn't understand why she'd pull them out of school with two months left in the year. "We as adults, we know how to adapt," Turner said. "Kids don't." Turner said she's raised her kids to avoid drugs, gangs and trouble, so she doesn't want to go to Chicago. "I'm mad. I'm frustrated," Turner said. "Now, they're trying to send me back to Chicago." Advertisement "Don't just throw us anywhere," Turner said. "I'm not going back to Chicago." The Rev. Cheryl Rivera enourages East Chicago residents to take action to block the emergency relocation of people still living at the West Calumet Housing Complex. (Craig Lyons / Post-Tribune) At the end March, HUD gave its approval for the East Chicago Housing Authority to begin emergency relocation of the remaining families because of the high levels of lead and arsenic contamination at the complex, which is within the USS Lead Superfund site. Officials agreed that the housing authority lacks the ability to keep the complex secure as residents move out, according to HUD, and that an adequate number of housing units were available to move people out of West Calumet. The approval would give the East Chicago Housing Authority the ability to transfer West Calumet residents to other properties in East Chicago, Chicago and suburban Cook County, starting April 1, according to HUD officials. Coffey said the Shriver Center was told families being moved to Chicago were already planning to transfer to those housing authorities. "That's not what happened," Coffey said. Advertisement HUD said after March 31, the East Chicago Housing Authority will begin moving residents to their new units. Contractors will move people's belongings the week of April 3. The West Calumet Housing Complex will be vacated by the end of the first week in April. Emily Coffey, of the Shriver Center, said HUD and the East Chicago Housing Authority should give residents more time to find new housing and allow them to stay until the end of the school year. She said moving residents out now will be difficult for them. "It is not going to result in good outcomes for families," Coffey said. Advocates criticized the emergency relocations as it fails to consider the needs of the West Calumet residents, whether that's having kids in school for another two months, the potential loss of jobs and how the continuity of state services will be preserved. "It's going to be a nightmare for the families," Coffey said. Advertisement Howard has two kids in school and a job in East Chicago. If she has to move to Chicago, that means having to find a way to get back and forth to East Chicago, Howard said, and she doesn't have a car, like many other West Calumet residents. If she's forced to move to Chicago, Howard said she's not sure she'll be able to get her kids enrolled in a new school. "They're not thinking about anything like that," Howard said. HUD and the Shriver Center, which helped a group of residents file a complaint last year about the relocation process, reached an agreement in November to make it easier for the people in West Calumet to move in a more organized and safer way. HUD agreed to ensure all eligible residents of the West Calumet Housing Complex have access to relocation benefits, including housing vouchers, waiving any rent owed by residents from July 22 to March 31 or until their tenancy ends, and reimbursing rent paid for November 2016. Even since that agreement took effect, residents have searched for new housing, many of them not being able to find a unit that accepts vouchers. Advertisement "We have been look for places," said resident Akeeshea Daniels. She said he's had trouble securing a new place because of paperwork delays. "A lot of us have been doing the work," Daniels said. Howard said she's still looking for a place to move in Indiana and hopes to find something before the emergency transfer. "I just haven't given up," Howard said. "I just have to do what I have to do as a parent." Resident Tara Adams said she found a letter taped to her door telling her she'd be moved to a unit in Chicago. Adams said she has kids in school and is one class away from finishing her master's degree. "I don't want to go to downtown Chicago," Adams said. "I'm not putting my children in a situation where they can be harmed." Advertisement Adams said since day one, she's been out working to find a place to move and working with other residents at the complex. She said no one is going to force her to move somewhere she doesn't want to live. "It's time to rumble," Adams said. "We're not going." The Rev. Cheryl Rivera said people must pressure public officials to block the emergency relocation and tell them the community is not pleaded with the decisions of HUD and the East Chicago Housing Authority. "This is a real crisis that we have here," Rivera said. "And it's getting ready to be a real tragedy." Akeeshea Daniels discusses the fallout from an announcement during the summer of 2016 that lead and arsenic contamination were discovered in the soil of the West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago. She and her neighbors had to move. Dec. 8, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) clyons@post-trib.com Twitter @craigalyons Lake County's consolidated E-911 dispatch operation was at full staff briefly for the first time since the center opened in October 2015. Deputy Director Jack Allendorf told the Lake County Public Safety Communications Commission at its regular meeting Thursday that the consolidated public safety answering point currently employs 92 full-time dispatchers with 85 of those workers trained and usable on the floor. Four of the workers are training in the classroom, while the remainder are in various stages of on-the-floor training, he said. Advertisement "We were at 95 for a minute," Allendorf said. Several employees unexpectedly chose to leave for other better-paying opportunities, he said. He said as soon as the current group is out of classroom training, a new class of recruits will be tested and hired. Advertisement Commissioner Michael Repay, D-Hammond and chairman of the E-911 committee, said it would be helpful to know the reason employees are leaving to address any problems that may exist. Because employees sometimes do not participate in an exit interview, it might be necessary to create a paper form the employees can fill out when they leave the department. Allendorf said the amount of overtime the department's workers must perform has dropped significantly as staffing levels have gradually risen. Dispatchers on average are working about five hours of overtime per two-week pay period, he said. Currently there are about 50 part-time dispatchers on the payroll, he said. Allendorf said the department has worked to remove some of the part-timers from the system who were not working enough shifts each month to make it beneficial for the department and keep the individual's dispatching skills sharp. "If you don't use it, you lose it," Allendorf said. Larry Blanchard, consultant to the board of commissioners, said overtime in the department has dropped from $50,000 per pay period to $40,000 and he expects that number to continue to drop as full-time staffing levels become consistent. There were 27,762 calls placed to Lake County's dispatch center in February. Of those calls, 22,309 came from cellphones, 3,469 were landlines, and 1,981 were calls from voice over Internet protocol lines, according to the department's monthly report. There were 117 text messages to 911. Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. COLUMBUS If youve gone shopping, eaten at a restaurant or just opened your refrigerator today, chances are youve seen something FLEXcon helped produce. FLEXcon, located at 2021 E. 23rd St., makes pressure-sensitive materials used to create labels and decals for a multitude of purposes. Pressure-sensitive means that it will adhere or stick to something so it is sensitive to pressure, said Tom Jarecke, director of manufacturing at FLEXcon. A label or a decal, if you apply pressure to it, it will stick to a surface. That material is converted into labels and decals by our customers and then used for product identification, product advertising and some other multiple uses. FLEXcon, which began as a company in 1956, opened the Columbus plant in 1993 and built a second plant in 1998, giving the company approximately 400,000 square feet dedicated to manufacturing. The company, which generates more than $300 million in sales annually, also has manufacturing locations in Kentucky and Minnesota, as well as Scotland, with distribution worldwide. Including its corporate headquarters in Spencer, Massachusetts, FLEXcon employs more than 1,000 people, with 154 at the Columbus location. Were an international company, but most of our sales are domestic, Jarecke said. Jarecke said a name product FLEXcon helps create is the Budweiser and Bud Light labels. In the beverage industry, a lot of the labels that are out there are manufactured by us, Jarecke said. (We also do) the personal care items, so there are those types of labels that are out there. FLEXcon also has a hand in advertising, such as the wall advertisements seen in restaurants and fast-food places, and the labels on shelves at grocery stores. That advertising is not limited to walls and shelves, however; it can also be floor advertising. Like in Menards, if you walk in certain areas, you see that, Jarecke said. It has a lot of different uses. FLEXcon, which began as a garage-based business, has grown into the worldwide provider of pressure-sensitive film and adhesive products, along with a polymeric coater. It has also changed with the times with the increased demand for dyed, brushed, top-coated and embossed products in the 1960s; increase in sheet-form and roll-form labeling in the '70s; and the beginning of various print technologies in the '80s. In the 1990s, it helped introduce the no-label-look labels on glass bottles, beginning with Clearly Canadian. Those changes have continued today, and FLEXcon has certainly kept up with the times. Automation has helped us improve our efficiencies and allowed us to be more competitive, Jarecke said. As an industry were somewhat maturing the labels and decals, but that has opened up other opportunities, especially with technology, to pursue other markets, so the technology has helped us there. Jarecke said technology has supplied the company with better adhesives, films and liners, allowing FLEXcon to tackle more-difficult applications. Before where you only had to put a label around a container that was solid, now we have squeezable containers that you need to make sure that by doing that, the label doesnt fall off, he said. According to the FLEXcon website, the companys core performance adhesives fall into four main areas: solvent acrylic, silicone, intact skin contact and membrane switch assembly. The company has a list of standard films, including polyimide, urethane, polyester, foils, flouropolymer and metalized, but FLEXcon can mix and match any of those to fit any special needs its customers may have. It also has the ability to generate multi-layer constructions with different properties to fulfill needs. Safety is also an important component of FLEXcon. Jarecke said the company will be applying this summer for entry into OSHAs Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). The VPP assesses how well a company practices the programs four elements, which are: management leadership and employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard prevention and control, and safety and health training. Theres not many companies in Columbus that are actually in that program, Jarecke said. So were excited about that. Jarecke said FLEXcon is also an ISO 9001:2008 company. ISO 9001:2008 is a document that outlines requirements a business must maintain for certification. Were certified to that standard, which allows us to have consistent quality products because we have a system developed, Jarecke said. Next year, FLEXcon will celebrate its 25th anniversary in Columbus. Jarecke said the company is looking forward to marking that milestone, but specific plans haven't been outlined yet. One asset FLEXcon celebrates every day is its employees, especially their longevity with the company. Jarecke said the vast majority of the workers more than 90 percent have a decade or more of service to the company. Every year we have a 10-year luncheon, and so all the employees are invited to that luncheon, Jarecke said. We have to shut down the plant because we only have a few individuals at that point who dont qualify as being here for 10 years. That speaks a lot to our people working for us for a long time. We value their service to the company as well as their knowledge and experience that they bring to us day in and day out. In Northwest Indiana, Lake and Porter counties have found themselves on alternative tracks in recent years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Indiana grew by more than 140,000 people during the past six years, but data released Thursday from the U.S. Census Bureau found that trend isn't always mirrored in northwest Indiana. Advertisement For every person who moved into Porter County during the past six years, three left Lake County, according to the data. Of 92 Indiana counties, Lake had the sharpest decline in population during the past six years, losing more than 10,000 residents, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Advertisement Porter County ranked 13th in the state for gains during the past six years, with more than 3,000 residents. Rex Richards, president of the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce, cited Porter County's "outstanding" school districts. Affordable housing with good property values, nice parks and lots to do makes the area attractive, he said. "When you put it all together, Porter County is just a really great place for people to raise a family," Richards said. Porter County has had an average increase of more than 500 residents per year, while Lake County has had an average decline of more than 1,600 residents per year, according to census data. The information the Census Bureau released Thursday did not include numbers for individual communities, but Peter Novak, CEO of the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors, said that in Lake and Porter counties, homebuying patterns show people are generally moving out of the northwestern areas to go south and east. "I would say first and foremost, it just has to do with the availability of land," Novak said. In those areas, communities aren't as fully developed, meaning there's room to build and develop homes to meet families' needs, he said. While there is availability to develop in northern Lake County, it is more landlocked, he said. Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said to reduce suburban sprawl, "we have to increase the number of amenities that are available to the residents" and bring together people in building up communities and neighborhoods in cities. Advertisement Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said "it's no secret that people have been moving to Porter County and from north of Ridge Road to south," but it doesn't mean people still aren't moving into places such as Hammond. Cities such as Hammond are older, but there is work that can be done to "rebuild ourselves," he said. From a tourism standpoint, Northwest Indiana attracts visitors close to Chicago and the lakefront at a reasonable price, said Speros Batistatos, president and CEO of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We've got a lot going for us from a visitation point of view," he said. As there's a changing dependency on the manufacturing industry in the area, there has to be a plan to attract young families and millennials, who may have left for college or other opportunities, with jobs and attractions, Batistatos said. The Gary Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Lake, Porter, Newton and Jasper counties, lost 1 percent of its population during the past six years, a drop from 708,280 to 700,994 residents. Lake County's population decreased by 2 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, from 495,970 in 2010 to 485,846 in 2016. Advertisement Porter County grew by 2 percent during the past six years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, from 164,558 in 2010 to 167,791 in 2016. Freeman-Wilson and McDermott said they don't feel that the census numbers reflect the entire picture of the people who live in the area, but there is work to be done to keep people wanting to come to Northwest Indiana. rejacobs@post-trib.com clyons@post-trib.com Twitter @ruthyjacobs Steve Cooper (left) and Ron Smolen will peform with their bands at The Corral in Western Springs. (Ron Smolen / HANDOUT) Steve Cooper of La Grange Park retired in 2000 as a music teacher in Darien, but he still works every day of the week. That's because Cooper, who had played for 37 years with his band, the Steve Cooper Orchestra, at the Willowbrook Ballroom in Willow Springs, continues to pursue his passion as a big-band leader. Advertisement It's gotten a little harder to find regular gigs since the iconic ballroom was destroyed by a fire in October. Cooper was devastated by the news that the ballroom had burnt to the ground. "It was terrible," he said. "I couldn't believe it. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. I walked around with my head down for a week." Advertisement The demise of the ballroom was one more loss to the dwindling number of places where people in the Chicago area can jump and jive or swing and sway to the strains of a live orchestra. That's why Cooper and other bandleaders decided to take matters into their own hands. They have arranged to play weekly during April and May at The Corral in Western Springs. "All the Willowbrook ballroom bandleaders are going to be there," Cooper said. The Willowbrook Ballroom burnt down Oct. 28. (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown) Given the passion with which Cooper, 69, has pursued music throughout his life, it's not surprising that he would want to fill the gap left by the loss of the Willowbrook Ballroom, which he still mourns. "It was the last of the real ballrooms," he said. "It had a floating dance floor so it was easy on the dancers' feet. So many people had parties and weddings there." Big-band music was a fascination for Cooper even as a small child on the North Side of Chicago. "I would watch 'The Lawrence Welk Show' when I was 7 years old, and I always knew I wanted to do something with a dance band," he said. While others eschewed the Welk show as old-fashioned, Cooper found the bandleader's skills and showmanship enthralling. Advertisement "It wasn't corny, as everyone thinks it was," he said. "They played all the hits and it was very professionally done." Cooper took a piano lessons and learned to read music and play the clarinet. His instrument of choice became the trumpet, which he taught himself to play. After attending Lane Technical High School, Cooper and some friends formed a wedding band that played at the now defunct Como Inn in Chicago. "The owner liked us so much he made us the house band. We stayed there 17 years playing private parties," Cooper said. In the meantime, Cooper also earned a degree at Chicago Teacher's College, now Chicago State University. He taught music at Eisenhower Junior High School in Darien for 30 years. "I'd gone through so much learning to play the trumpet on my own, I figured I knew all the short cuts for the kids," he said. Advertisement Even while he was teaching, however, he never stopped landing other gigs. He played with the Stanley Paul Orchestra and performed on the "Oprah Winfrey Show." He said he also played at private parties attended celebrities such as Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore and Liza Minnelli. He estimates he's played at 4,000 weddings over the years. Another of the other bandleaders who will play at The Corral is Ron Smolen of the Ron Smolen Orchestra. He used to play monthly at The Willowbrook and praised Cooper's ability to connect with an audience. "Steve is a very good talent," Smolen said. "When it comes to performing for the public, he knows what to play." "He's a good trumpet player and an excellent arranger," Smolen added. Smolen plays the accordion and, like Cooper, was saddened by the loss the Willowbrook Ballroom. Advertisement People showed up throughout the day to pay respects and take photos of the burnt out Willowbrook Ballroom in October. (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown) "There aren't a lot of places that need a 10-piece orchestra," said Smolen, who lives in Chicago and still plays at weddings. "The music business isn't what it used to be," Cooper agreed. "People don't want big bands for their weddings anymore." Cooper, who is a big-band history buff and has collected troves of big band memorabilia over the years, has branched out another areas. He presents programs on the history of big bands at libraries and senior citizen centers. In about 12 years, he has done 300 shows that include video clips and inside stories about the big-band era, he said. He also performs for private dance clubs where avid dancers seize every opportunity to get onto the floor. "It's so great because unlike a wedding you're playing a great variety of music rumbas, tango, jitterbug, swing, waltzes and everybody gets up to dance," Cooper said. Sunday afternoon dances were a popular event at The Willowbrook Ballroom and frequently drew 200 to 300 people, Smolen said. Advertisement Both Cooper, who does his own arrangements and estimates he has written 20,000 pages of music, and Smolen, work hard at continuing to thrive. For Cooper, it is a calling that has kept him in its thrall since he first watched Lawrence Welk. "It's a full-time job. But I am doing my purpose in life and I'm enjoying it," he said. amannion@tribpub.com Twitter @triblocalam At The Corral Advertisement Big-band leaders who used to perform at the Willowbrook Ballroom will play Sunday afternoon dances at The Corral, on the Lyons Township High School South Campus, 4900 Willow Springs Road, Western Springs. The cost is $15 and the time is 2 to 4:30 p.m. April 2: Teddy Lee April 9: Steve Cooper April 23: Ron Smolen May 7: Steve Cooper May 14: Ron Smolen Advertisement May 21: Teddy Lee May 28: Jay Witcher Pueblo coroner identifies victims in weekend homicides Leo Julien Leonardo, 22, and Shannon Moreno, 51, were both killed in apparent shootings between Friday night and Sunday morning. COLUMBUS Over the years, honor flights have been a big deal for both war veterans and those who help organize the events. But the final flight, a journey for Vietnam War veterans from Nebraska scheduled for May 1, promises to be the biggest yet. The flights, started in 2008 by Patriotic Productions, a business formed by Bill and Evonne Williams in Omaha, have taken more than 2,600 veterans to Washington, D.C., for a day-long tour of the war monuments. A total of 503 went last summer, and the upcoming flight will have 650, pushing the final total from Nebraska to 3,253. (Last time) we took three planes, said Jeff Treu, a Marine veteran who has been on the flights both as a veteran and volunteer EMT for Patriotic Productions. This time were taking a fourth plane and were taking 650 Vietnam vets. When we took 503, thats the largest they had ever had visit the wall at one time. So were going to outdo our own record this time. To help support the final flight, a sloppy Joe supper fundraiser sponsored by the Columbus Masonic Lodge and American Legion is scheduled from 5-8 p.m. Saturday at the Legion, 2263 Third Ave. Various gift certificates and other donated items will be raffled, as well. We are asking businesses to support us, Treu said. Were trying to get a bunch of gift certificates and anything we can for raffle items. Our fundraisers have all been successful. Treu said of those confirmed to go on the trip, 29 are from Platte County, including approximately 15 from Columbus. A total of 10 flights have been completed so far, beginning with World War II, a group of flights that transported 1,483 vets of that war to D.C. A total of 617 Korean War veterans were taken, and 1,153 Vietnam vets will have gone following the final mission, tabbed the Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Flight. We cant call them honor flights anymore, Treu said. Some guy back east went to court and copyrighted the phrase Honor Flight, so now every time we use that, we have to pay him $500. The flights have not only been a way to honor those who served, but also have been beneficial for the veterans mentally, Treu said. We actually had a Vietnam vet get in touch with us after the last flight, Treu said. He said he hadnt had a decent nights sleep in 45 years. He still had some nightmares. He said the week after he got back from the flight he had slept every night nightmare-free. It was like healing to go with all those other veterans and be there for the day. So it has some therapeutic value to it. The whole experience turns into a very long day for the veterans. A dinner, which is provided the night before, gets over around 10 p.m. But the vets are awakened at 2 a.m. and they start boarding the planes at 4 a.m. for the 2 1/2-hour flight. After the planes land, buses take the vets to the Korean War Veterans Memorial, then they walk past the Lincoln Monument to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Back on the bus, the veterans are taken to a catered meal, followed by a short tour of downtown. The afternoon continues with trips to the National WWII Memorial and Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) before winding down the day at Arlington National Cemetery, where veterans get an up-close view of the changing of the guard ceremony. They cater to our veterans, Treu said. They let them come down with the wheelchairs, especially right down next to the Tomb of the Unknown (Soldier). We have front-row seats for it. Its a nice deal. Besides the number of vets and planes taken, Treu said another twist about this last flight will be the final destination. In the past, the flights have left and returned to Omaha, usually to a hero's welcome. This time, they will leave Omaha, but return to the airport in Lincoln. We wanted the Lincoln people to have an opportunity to provide a welcome home, Treu said. The flight we did in June when we got back, we had right at 5,000 people at the airport to greet them. Lincoln thinks they can outdo that, so were going to give them an opportunity to do that. Treu said the first plane will arrive in Lincoln at about 7:30 p.m. for those who want to be part of the welcoming party. In the past, the first arrival wasnt until around 11 p.m., but that was moved up so school children could possibly attend. Treu said the trips stay with the veterans for the rest of their lives. I saw yesterday where a guy that went on the Korean flight a Marine from Wayne had died, said Treu, who lives in Oakdale. In his obituary it said one of the highlights of his life was going on the Korean flight. It means so much to these guys. It also means a lot to Treu, who has gone on every flight as a volunteer or veteran. One trip stands out in his mind. On the fourth flight, my dad got to go as one of the World War II vets, Treu said. That was quite a deal. By Weining Hu The Shanghai Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) recently announced that alien employment services counters in Shanghai will stop accepting new Employment Permit applications at 5pm on March 24, 2017. From the following day, all employers in Shanghai will be required to apply for employment permits via the online management system for foreign workers in China (Management System). The new policy only applies to foreign employees who currently hold a Foreign Expert License or an Employment License, and therefore need to apply for an Employment Permit. Under the old visa and immigration policies, an Alien Expert License holder needs to apply for an Alien Expert Certificate in order to legally work in China, while an Alien Employment License holder is required to apply for an Alien Employment Permit. However, the above two types of foreign employees no longer need to apply for different work permits. This is because the Chinas State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs will unify those two work permits into a single Alien Employment Permit, which will become effective from April 1, 2017. The latest policy issued by the SAFEA was made to facilitate the above new unified work permit program. The SAFEA allows foreign employees in Shanghai who currently hold the Alien Employment License or the Alien Expert Certificate to apply for the new unified Alien Employment Permit online starting from March 25, a week ahead of the nationwide rollout. It is recommended that foreign employees notify their employers and submit the necessary documents to facilitate the application process. The following steps outline the process and the required documents for Alien Employment License or Alien Expert Certificate holders and their employers under the new visa policy. RELATED: Payroll and Human Resource Services Step 1: Apply online The first step in the application process is to be completed by the employer in China. An employer looking to hire a non-Chinese employee should submit an application with the relevant documents online on the Management System. If an employer has previously registered an account on the Management System, then it can skip Step 1 and Step 2, and directly apply for an Alien Employment Permit for its foreign employee. Step 2: Verification of the employers application After the application has been registered online, the employer should go to a local alien employment service counters to verify its registration information in person. If the employers application meets the requirements, its online account on the Management System will be rectified by the administrative organ. A list of the local employment services counters can be found on the website of Shanghai Employment Service & Administration. Step 3: Apply online for new unified Alien Employment Permit Upon receiving permission from the administrative organ, an employer can now log in to its account on the Management System and complete the application. For foreign employees, the following documentation is required: Work Permit for Aliens of the Peoples Republic of China application form with official company seals from the current employer and signature of the applicant; Proof of employment, including employment contract, Letters of Job Appointment, or Contracts of Labor Dispatch (All copies should be written in Chinese with company seals, applicants signature, and date); Certificates of highest level of education (supportive documentation includes certificates issued by industry specialists, proof of professional qualifications, etc.); Proof of related work experience or resume (needs official seals from current employer); Foreign Expert License or Alien Employment License with validity (should be uploaded under the attachment column of Others Materials); Proof of medical examination; A clear passport sized photo from the last six months; Passport or other travel document; and Documentation for accompanying family members, which include: family members passport or other travel document, photo, proof of medical examination (only for adults over 18 years old), and proof of family relationships with copies translated in Chinese. Step 4: Review and final decision After the employers application has been verified, the decision-making body will review the materials and make a decision to accept or decline the employers request to hire a foreign worker. It is unclear how long this process will take. If the applicant meets the conditions for the work permit, the agency will offer the applicant the Foreign Employment Permit within 10 working days after the announcement of their final decision. RELATED: Navigating Chinas New Improved Green Card Scheme for Foreigners Notably, type of applicant (holders of a Foreign Expert License or an Employment License), if approved after the final review, will be granted a B level Employment Permit. Starting from April 1, China will adopt the three-tiered system which classifies foreign workers as A, B, or C level candidates. The classification system takes into account candidates education, salary level, age, time spent working in China, and Chinese language skills. Applicants who receive more than 85 points are given the letter A, 60 to 85 points B, and less than 60 points C. If the applicant is qualified for an A level Employment Permit, the employer can upload related proof documentations under the column of Other Materials in support of the application. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email china@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. Dezan Shira & Associates Brochure Dezan Shira & Associates is a pan-Asia, multi-disciplinary professional services firm, providing legal, tax and operational advisory to international corporate investors. Operational throughout China, ASEAN and India, our mission is to guide foreign companies through Asias complex regulatory environment and assist them with all aspects of establishing, maintaining and growing their business operations in the region. This brochure provides an overview of the services and expertise Dezan Shira & Associates can provide. An Introduction to Doing Business in China 2017 Doing Business in China 2017 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in China. Compiled by the professionals at Dezan Shira & Associates in January 2017, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Chinese market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to keep up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes. New Considerations when Establishing a China WFOE in 2017 In this edition of China Briefing, we guide readers through a range of topics, from the reasons behind foreign investors preference for the WFOE as an investment model, to managing Chinas new regulations. We discuss how economic transformations have favored the WFOE, as well as the investment models utility, and detail key requirements that businesspeople need to examine before initiating the WFOE setup process. We then walk investors through the WFOE establishment process, and, finally, explain the new and idiosyncratic Actual Controlling Person regulation. LINCOLN -- Omaha Sen. John McCollister would like to know the number of offenders who are at or past their prison parole eligibility dates, and who have not received appropriate programming to help them re-enter Nebraska communities. That number has become an issue with prison crowding and the need to enable offenders to get needed classes. McCollister introduced a bill (LB562) that would require a monthly report that would provide the number and type of vacant behavioral health positions department-wide and for each prison. And it would give the number of inmates who have achieved community-custody status, but who are still not in a community-custody facility. The required report would be made available to the Legislature's Appropriations and Judiciary committees, Doug Koebernick, the inspector general for Corrections, and Ombudsman Marshall Lux. McCollister said programming plays an important role in inmate success not only when inmates leave prison, but also in their behavior while they are in a prison. Asking the department to provide data about inmates who are past their parole eligibility dates and have not received the appropriate programming would keep the issue in front of policymakers, McCollister said. Getting work detail and work release jobs is important for inmates who are nearing the end of their sentences, he said, in order to have a successful transition back into the community. While I understand we can already request this information from the department on a regular basis, I think requiring them to do this, in state statute, if even for only the next few years, is important," McCollister said. The bill had a hearing last week in front of the Judiciary Committee. Koebernick testified at the hearing, saying there's a need for transparency to make senators and the public aware of what's going on in the department. Until 2015, the department published a monthly data sheet, but then stopped for a while because of a staff shortage, he said. The department later switched to a quarterly report, which was much less extensive than previous reports, and put out irregularly. The monthly report would assist the Legislature and the public, Koebernick said. No one at the hearing opposed the bill. Department of Correctional Services Director Scott Frakes, in a letter to the committee, said the department collects the information the bill would require. He suggested that a quarterly report would provide the same benefit in measuring progress of the department as a monthly report would, at a reduced burden to the department. Frakes said he was committed to providing senators with the information they needed, to the best of the department's ability. The committee took no immediate action on the bill. Twenty-three peacekeepers returned to their original units in Zhejiang province on March 20, after completing a yearlong United Nations mission in Liberia. Du Hengda, who was selected for the mission in 2015, was one of them. When he applied for the UN work, his daughter was two-month-old. But he was determined to go and his wife supported him, too. The day he departed for Liberia happened to be the first birthday of his daughter. During his posting in the West African nation, he missed his daughter a lot. "I wanted to give a special memento to my daughter," said Du. While some of his companions kept a diary to record their mission, he chose to express his love for his little daughter in sketches. When he was not too busy with the mission, Du would draw something. When he saw little lizards crawling around at a task zone, he drew them on the paper and showed his work to his daughter. Similarly, when he saw a lot of fish in the Atlantic, he captured them in his sketch and presented it to his little girl. Whenever he missed her, he would draw a portrait of her and talk to the image just like he would speak to her in real. He drew so many images that by the end of the year his drawings were thick enough to become a whole album. Du named the album -- You call me daddy, I call this journal my baby. Although there is an eight-hour difference between Liberia and China, Du and his family still managed to hold video chats. His wife often told him stories about their daughter. Sometimes he spoke to her in her babbling voice. Du and his team returned to China in March. Before he resumed his duty as a border guard officer at a public security unit in Zhoushan, northeast of Zhejiang province, he was granted leave to visit home. Du boarded a flight bound for Yantai -- his hometown city in Shandong province where his family lives -- on March 21, with the album for his daughter in his bag. "She's too young to understand the meaning of those paintings, but I'm sure she will love them when she grows up," said he. Du's team was the fourth sent by China to join the peacekeeping mission in Liberia. All the Chinese peacekeepers were awarded the UN Peace Medal of Honor for their service, according to zjol.com.cn. The oil paintings of Pakistan's most accomplished artist Jimmy Engineer are displayed in a Pakistan-themed exhibition held in Beijing from March 22 to March 28, 2017. [Photo by Gong Jie / China.org.cn] An exhibition organized by the Embassy of Pakistan and China World Peace Foundation was held to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Pakistan's Independence and 66th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan on March 22, 2017 in Zhengyangmen Museum in Beijing. Pakistan is China's "all-weather" friend, and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is under construction. "It is a very important means to improve the mutual understanding between China and Pakistan. We should have more cultural exchanges in the future," said Sha Zukang, chairman of China Pakistan Friendship Association. He highlighted that more cultural exchanges should be held both in China and Pakistan. "The media plays an important role in international communication, and we are the bridge between China and Pakistan," said Wang Xiaohui, editor-in-chief of China.org.cn. According to Pakistan's Ambassador to China Masood Khalid, the exhibition titled "Art, Culture and Heritage of Pakistan" showcases the artworks of one of Pakistan's most accomplished artists -- Mr. Jimmy Engineer who has 3,000 paintings and more than 1,000 calligraphies to his name. More than 4,000 miniature artworks by artists from 23 countries and regions were unveiled for the public on March 22 in Dali, of southwest China's Yunnan Province, at the Imago Mundi Contemporary China exhibition, which will last until April 10. Yan Zhijie, initiator and chief artistic director of Imago Mundi Contemporary China, speaks at the opening ceremony of Imago Mundi Contemporary China in Dali, Yunnan Province on March 22, 2017. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn] Imago Mundi is founded and personally operated by Italian artist and fashion brand creator Luciano Benetton. His collection of over 20,000 palm-sized artworks on 10*12-centimeter canvases have been contributed by artists from more than 100 countries and regions. The artworks on display are paintings, miniature etchings, sculptures, engravings, and are categorized by artist nationality. The Dali exhibits account for one-fifth of Benetton's entire collection. Small as the canvas is, the limited size allows more artworks to be displayed in a limited space. The more artworks in display, the greater the variety each exhibition is capable of presenting, said Yan Zhijie, initiator and chief artistic director of Imago Mundi Contemporary China, a Sino-Italian joint project. "The miniature artworks aim to spread world culture in a limited space," Yan said at the exhibition's opening ceremony. He said that although some artworks in display may be as simple as a small rock, and the seemingly casual drawings on the palm-sized canvas "do not necessarily convey a profound meaning," yet they are how the artists are communicating with the world. "Artists are capable of communicating without voices since art is a true, magical way of communication," Yan said. While presenting the Chinese public with global miniature artworks, the Sino-Italian joint project is preparing China's own similar-genre collection. The recruitment of miniature artworks, launched in 2016, is open to Chinese artists from all 56 ethnic groups. The three-year project will collect 5,000 miniature artworks for an exhibition in 2019, when China celebrates its 70th National Day. In 2020, some works of Contemporary China will be included in Benetton's world tour. "We hold Imago Mundi in Dali in order to bring international art into China, and we plan Contemporary China to bring Chinese culture to the world," Yan said. His own world tour will be along the ancient Silk Road and end in Italy, the other end of the ancient route and the home country of Benetton. You are here: Home China's cabinet, the State Council, has recently issued a guideline on intensifying crackdown on counterfeiting and Intellectual Property Right (IPR) infringements. Fighting counterfeiting and IPR violations will help ensure implementation of China's IPR strategy, protect market order and improve the business environment, the guideline says. The document requires a better market supervision system and demands improvements to the law, regulations and standards with appropriate information technology utilized in supervision. The document mandates cooperation among regions and government agencies, along with international collaboration, to handle problems in production, circulation and sales. E-commerce platforms must strengthen scrutiny of business operators. "The Japanese Dream" is co-written by retired Chinese colonel Liu Mingfu and Japanese scholar Yoshikazu Kato. A retired Chinese colonel and a young Japanese scholar recently co-wrote a book named "The Japanese Dream," in which the two - despite standing at different ends of the spectrum - debate Japans aspirations going forward and its choice between China and the United States. Colonel Liu Mingfu and Yoshikazu Kato attended a book launch event in Beijing on Wednesday, held by Chinese think tank, Charhar Institute, where Kato is a researcher. The book, written in a question and answer format between the two, revolves around a central theme of Japans standing between China and the United States, as exemplified by the words on the dust jacket "how Japan chooses in the centennial game between China and United States." Col. Liu, often seen as a hard-line military officer, argues in the book that Japan is faced with a "strategic choice" right now, that is, it has to choose between its neighbor, the rapidly rising China, and its ally the United States. "In the 21st century, as China rises and the race between the Chinese dream and the American dream comes to the finals, Japans future is not only dependent on its relations with the United States but also its relations with China. It depends on the strategic choice between the great powers of China and the U.S." He further said on Wednesdays event that the world is now witnessing an "exit" trend started by the Brexit, and sooner the next step would be what he called the "Amerexit," namely, countries around the world will seek distance from American control and influence. He said that the Philippines has now divorced from the United States, the next one would be Japan. But Kato, who studied in China for several years, believed there wont be any fundamental changes to the alliance between Japan and the United State for the next ten to twenty years to come. He cited Chinas rise in recent years as one reason that policymakers in Japan are increasingly cautious about China. "Seeing Chinas rise, Japanese people, as a close neighbor, may have the most complicated state of mind," Kato writes in the book, adding that Japanese policy-makers fear Chinas rising prowess may pose a threat to Japan, which in ancient times was under Chinas tributary system. Liu, in response, reassured that Chinas rise would be a peaceful one. "After its great revival, China will build an unprecedented new type of regional and international relations, one that features non-alliance, non-conflict, peace, cooperation, equality and democracy." He added that unlike the ancient tributary system, the new East Asia system will be an open one in which countries in the region will be equal and follow the principles of equality and cooperation. Kato said the nature of Chinas rise needs to be watched going forward, but he acknowledged that Japan needs to enhance its cooperation with China. "Japan needs to prove by concrete actions that the Japan-U.S. alliance is in no conflict with enhancing the cooperation with China, otherwise it will be a dead end." He added that Japan can play a "coordinating or appeasing role" on issues like the South China Sea, North Koreas nuclear issue and Taiwan. "Going forward, Japan needs to learn to take advantage of powerful countries, especially the conflicts among powerful countries. Japan can benefit from it, and as well as reconcile the conflicts." he writes in the book. The book is written in Chinese and published by Peoples Oriental Publishing & Media Co. Ltd. 'Brexit' [By Zhai Haijun / China.org.cn] As Britain decided to press the Brexit button on March 29, two pieces of significant news were circulating. The first was an assessment that the impact of a "hard Brexit" on Germany would be extraordinarily severe, according to the president of Germany's DIHK Chambers of Industry and Commerce. Mr. Eric Schweitzer noted that Britain was Germany's third most important export partner and then pointed out that, "EU membership is based on the free movement of services, goods, capital and workers ... Britain now wants to benefit from the first three but do away with the free movement of workers and that's not possible, above all because there could then be copycats" highly detrimental to European unity. The second piece of news concerns a prospective military agreement between Germany and Britain, immediately post-Brexit, governed by a joint operational doctrine. This will include cooperation and joint training in areas like cyber security, offensive training and maritime patrol and defense of sea lanes. In 1957, after the Suez debacle, London faced a major turning point in international relations. Britain and France had invaded to prevent Egypt nationalizing the Suez Canal, but found themselves deserted by the U.S., and about to face the Soviet Union's wrath. Faced with the prospect of nuclear annihilation, and the choice of a diminished role in international relations, Britain and France drew two very different lessons from the disaster. Britain became reconciled to the idea that its global power status was over, structural forces like the economy and manpower no longer permitting it to be a superpower engaged actively in all the parts of the world and thus gradually forcing it to take a backseat to the United States. The ruling class in Britain was divided and wanted to continue with active engagement, but there was no popular support. France, on the other hand, sought to continue being an imperial power and, learning few lessons from Vietnam, became increasingly embroiled in Algeria. Both were disasters, and requiring rescue by the United States. The question is back in the spotlight again, however: Who will defend free trade globalization? How and where will new alignments emerge? And who will lead the protectionist camps? More importantly, the question facing the U.S. after Donald Trump's election is: What lessons has the United States drawn from various events at a time when the American public obviously wants retrenchment? Trump is certainly on course for a trade war. His withdrawal from the TPP and determination to renegotiate NAFTA, means the U.S. is abdicating its leadership role in trade. This is curious, because while Americans want a more balanced approach towards world politics, and intervention, they are quite supportive of the free market, and American consumers, especially Trump's own support base, will be the main sufferers in any trade war. The question therefore is: What is the future of the liberal global order? In recent days, there's been a collective urge in media that German Chancellor Angela Merkel now holds the key as the defender of the global order; in fact, she doesn't. To defend an international order, any order, a global leader needs to have the muscle to back up threats and have the manpower as well as money so that allies flock to the cause. Merkel lacks the muscle, as well as the popularity, while her position in the EU is as precarious as it gets. France, ideally, could assume taking the mantle of liberal global leadership, but it's unlikely due to a falling economy. The British Prime Minister is running around the globe to find economic allies, with Australia and India obvious targets for her message that free movement is a precursor to a free trade deal. It is important to remember, Britain is the premier economic and military power in Europe, and these are structural realities, which will remain regardless of Brexit. At a time, when European continent is stagnating with low economic growth, and facing a resurgence of far-right nationalism, the key consensus should be on maintaining stability, both military and economic. With the major powers including China and India supporting stability over fratricidal bargaining, EU officials in Brussels should keep in mind that partnership with London is the only way forward. Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Flash China and the United States reached consensus on developing ties in the spirit of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation during U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's Beijing trip, said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wednesday. "This spirit is the correct way for the two major powers to get along with each other," spokesperson Hua Chunying told a routine press briefing. She was responding to a question regarding Tillerson's reaffirmation of the principle. Tillerson's move has received criticism from some U.S. scholars and former government officials. Some media said that having Tillerson reiterate this principle was a diplomatic triumph for China. "This can not be taken as someone's triumph," Hua said. "The principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation has been a good experience for the stable growth of China-U.S. ties in recent years, and is worth continuing." "China is willing to enhance communication and understanding with the United States, cement trust, properly handle disputes, expand cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral levels and boost new progress of bilateral ties at a new starting point." Last weekend, Tillerson paid his first visit to China since taking office last month. He is the first cabinet-level official in the new administration of the United States to visit China. Flash The first batch of the much awaited African peacekeeping force with mandate to restore peace in South Sudan will arrive in the country soon, the United Nations peacekeeping chief revealed Tuesday. The Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping operations Herve Ladsous told journalists in Juba that the delayed deployment of the protection force was due to hiccups in getting clearance from the government. "We are sparing no effort to speed up (deployment of protection force). I think I can say that in the next few weeks you will see the first vanguard of the protection force being deployed here in Juba," Ladsous said. "The deployment of the regional protection force, we are working actively on it. We did lose time because there was a delay in getting clearances and authorization here (in South Sudan)," he added. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) issued Resolution 2304 in August last year, allowing deployment of more than 4,000 troops to beef up the existing 13,000 UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) force. South Sudan accepted the deployment of the protection force in November 2016 but later reneged in January this year following renewed clashes in the capital between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar who is in exile in South Africa. The fighting that left about 300 soldiers dead, also spread near to the UN Juba base in which thousands of internally displaced persons are seeking shelter resulting in the death of some three Chinese peacekeepers. It further spread to once peaceful Equatorial region with the UN warning of ethnic cleansing leading to genocide in the aftermath of heinous atrocities being visited on largely civilians in the remote town of Yei Southwest of the capital. "The situation in this country remains a source of many concerns an issue that the Secretary General since he came in the UN in January has put among his chief concerns," Ladsous said. He added the volatile situation remains under the close scrutiny of the UNSC which failed in it's attempts to impose arms embargo on South Sudan. The outgoing peacekeepers chief said they were very alarmed by the very serious humanitarian situation, and worrisome security issues of fighting that takes place in many parts of the country. "In this context it's clear that there can't be military solution but political solution," he said. Ladsous also revealed that President Kiir vowed after the two held meeting in Juba to support the protection force and protect aid workers that have increasingly suffered from restricted movements while reaching out to those faced with famine. In late February, the UN declared famine in some parts of the country with 100,000 people starving, and 1 million on the brink of starvation and a further 5.5 million in dire need of food assistance caused by more than three years of fighting since December 2013. "We have faced a number of impediments in terms of freedom of movement, getting clearances, very importantly the humanitarian actors have been severely impeded in their actions on the ground," he said. "I think South Sudan is one of the countries in the world where we have had humanitarian workers being prevented from doing their work, being killed or injured on their job," he added. Whether or not the Islamic State terrorist group was behind the bloodshed outside the British Parliament, the act of terror again underlines the pressing need for a response that goes beyond a case-by-case approach. Floral tributes are seen in Westminster the day after an attack, in London, Britain March 23, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] This is not the first attack of its kind on British soil. Nor in Europe. Less than a week ago, a lesser, abortive attack by a lone-wolf terrorist occurred in France, and several other attacks have taken place, or were foiled recently. Europe faces a clear and present danger. But terrorism is not just Europes problem. Nor can Europe fight it on its own. Ironically, as a number of countries have become suspicious of their past commitment to globalization, terrorist forces are demonstrating a tendency to go global. And the recent rise of homegrown terrorism in different countries that claim allegiance to the IS and other terrorist groups only makes the picture messier. For all their differences over standards and definitions, more and more governments have come to accept the reality that terrorism is a global vice that requires global responses. Which is why the international community has displayed increasing solidarity after terror attacks, as we have witnessed in the wake of the attack in London. It is heartening to see dozens of national leaders across the world vow solidarity in the face of the threat. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang were among the first to convey their condolences. As a recent victim of terrorism, both homegrown and imported, China has a keen awareness of the devastating potential of the evil and the importance of international cooperation to curtail it. It is especially consoling to hear the president of Turkey vowing solidarity, and its prime minister appealing for all countries to join forces in the fight against terrorism. The country has itself been the victim of terrorist attacks and is at the forefront of the European refugee crisis, as well as the global anti-terror campaign. Given it holds strategic importance in containing the spread of terrorism, European countries and Turkey need to mend relations so as to forge the closer collaboration necessary to tackle the refugee crisis and the threat of terrorism. In the meantime, divergences over the approach to the Syria crisis pose another significant obstacle impeding the worlds anti-terror campaign. There has been ample evidence that domestic strife in the war-torn country has rendered Syria both a safe haven and breeding ground of terror. No talk of solidarity will suffice to make a difference until countries can maneuver meaningful consensus on divisive topics as these. A group of bikers riding ofo bicycles pass by Chang'an Avenue, Beijing, on March 10, 2017. [Photo/China Daily] China's sharing economy will maintain a high 40 percent annual growth rate in the coming years, according to estimates in a report released by the State Information Center. The report, released by the center's sharing economy research branch, predicted the sharing economy's transaction volume will account for over 10 percent of the country's GDP by 2020, and that the ratio will continue to grow to roughly 20 percent by 2025. China's fast-growing sharing economy will likely generate five to ten business giants in different sectors over the next decade, according to the report. More individuals as well as more small and medium-sized enterprises will get involved in the sharing economy and benefit from it. The report said the new mode of operation brought about by the sharing economy will penetrate various fields, including products, services, capital, knowledge and skills, as well as production capacity. Among them, the sharing of manufacturing capability will be a crucial area amid China's industrial upgrading boom. "The first aspect is urbanization, which will boost demand for services as more people live in urban areas. The second aspect is an aging population, as elderly people could have more idle resources, skills and experience to share. The third aspect is the popularization of the sharing economy," said Yao Yudong, head of the People's Bank of China's Research Institute of Finance. The State Council issued guidelines that by 2025 the government should promote manufacturing resources and internet platform docking for SMEs. The guidelines encouraged the government to establish a sharing economy platform to further optimize and integrate market information and production capacity. At present, sharing within the manufacturing industry is still in its infancy, but is expected to witness explosive growth in the next few years, according to the report. By 2020, service providers in the sharing economy are projected to exceed 100 million, with up to 20 million participating full time. The development of the sharing economy will be an effective measure to neutralize the job squeeze effect resulting from slowing economic growth and technological advancement. Statistics from the report show that the transaction volume of China's sharing economy in 2016 reached 3.45 trillion yuan ($503 billion), up 103 percent on a year-on-year basis. During the past year, 600 million people were involved in China's sharing economy, surging by 100 million from 2015. Among them, the number of service providers reached 60 million, 10 million more than the previous year. Sharing economy platforms created 5.85 million jobs, up 850,000 on a year-on-year basis. "Despite the significant progress made in the sharing economy, the problems coming out should not be neglected," said Zhao Ying, a researcher at the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Zhao said excessive administrative intervention, such as restrictions on use of users' residences and the vehicle access period for car-sharing services, could affect the growth of the sharing economy. Some existing laws and regulations are no longer suitable for the new business model and therefore new rules should be enacted, he said. Zheng Yiran contributed to this story. More inclusive forms of globalization are vital as catalysts for growth in emerging economies amid a global economic downturn, Secretary-General of the Boao Forum for Asia, Zhou Wenzhong said on Wednesday. Zhou said the development of globalization had "entered a critical moment." He said: "All countries need to collaborate to explore inclusive and shared development, especially at a time when the world economy is sluggish." Zhou Wenzhong, secretary-general of the Boao Forum for Asia. [Photo provided to China Daily] Zhou made the remarks at a press conference on Wednesday, one day before the BFA Annual Conference starts in Boao on the island of Hainan. The event is scheduled to run from March 23-26, while the opening ceremony will take place on March 25. He said: "Globalization is not an abstract concept. The Belt and Road Initiative that President Xi Jinping proposed three years ago, is the country's way to make globalization work." Against this background, all countries need to find their proper positions and share the benefits of globalization fairly, he said. The four-day conference, themed "Globalization and Free Trade: The Asian Perspectives," is dedicated to championing a more inclusive globalization process through cooperation and dialogue. A total of 44 seminars and 17 annual sessionswith four modules covering globalization, growth, reform and the new economywill be held during the next four days. The event has attracted more than 1,700 delegates. The surge in protectionism in some Western countries is a challenge to the sustainable development of world trade, Chen Qihua, vice-president of US largest machinery manufacturer Caterpillar Inc, told China Daily in an interview. Chen said: "We have always been advocating globalization, free trade and investment in recent years." He added that his company is poised to fully mobilize its long-standing global dealership to facilitate Chinese partners on projects in economies along the Belt and Road Initiative. BFA, the nongovernmental and nonprofit international organization, was formally inaugurated on February 27, 2001 and is based in China. The goal of the BFA is to promote and deepen economic exchange, coordination, and cooperation among Asia countries, as well as between Asia and other parts of the world. Each year, the high-end platform convenes government officials, business leaders and academic circles of countries in Asia and other continents to discuss important issues in Asia. It has won firm support from Asian countries. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 A housing agent helps a client complete property transactions in Beijing. [Photo/China Daily] The newly released property purchasing policy in Beijing is likely to cause terminations on existing contracts and help cool down the capital's property market, according to industry insiders. Under the new policy, buyers who own a property in Beijing or have loan records in or outside the capital, will face an increased down payment if they want to move home or buy second properties in the city. "The regulation will have a more direct and obvious effect on the preowned property market," Ren Qixin, deputy general manager of Yahao Real Estate, was quoted by Beijing Daily as saying. "On Saturday, the second day after the policy took effect, only 224 preowned properties were sold, while during the previous five days, the number remained at about 1,000 every day," Ren said. He said under the new policy, buyers looking to trade their current houses for another one need to pay at least 80 percent of the down payment for property valued at more than 4.68 million yuan ($682,000), while most Beijing properties are valued at a higher price. "The average price of a Beijing property is 6 million yuan per unit, which means most houses are above 4.68 million," said Zhang Dawei, an analyst at Centaline Property. The policy raises the possibility that buyers could withdraw from contracts due to the financial pressure of meeting the down payment. "The deleveraging effect was obvious. Most preowned property buyers will have to pay 80 percent as down payment," said Ren. "It will cool down the preowned market, and slow down the sell-one-and-buy-another situation." Hu Jinghui, vice-president of real estate agency 5i5j, also expected a fall in market demand. "With reducing demand, we hope to see housing prices fall," Hu said. However, if buyers terminate previously agreed contracts, it will not count as a breach, said Zhang Nan, a lawyer from Zhong Yin Law Firm. Even after the contract is validated, if either of the party needs to terminate because of the policy, they should not be liable for the termination unless it is especially noted in the contract. "The seller will have to return the payment or deposit, and neither party should be fined for the termination," said Zhang. For Australian entrepreneur Kevin Zhang, the Belt and Road Initiative means huge potential for the expansion of his hotel business in China. Zhang is the CEO of Argyle Hotel Group, a leading Australian hotel management group founded in 2002. The company, which started operating in China 12 years ago, currently has 105 hotels with more than 22,710 guestrooms across the country. Kevin Zhang, CEO of Argyle Hotel Group. [Photo provided to China Daily] "We deem the Belt and Road Initiative a precious opportunity for the growth for our business, and we are focusing more on Northwest China, the starting point of the ancient Silk Road," he told China Daily. Zhang moved to Australia from his hometown in Central China's Hubei province in the 1990s for his studies. He is now a member of the 15-strong Trade, Tourism and Investment Policy Advisory Council of Australia. Premier Li Keqiang is scheduled to have a meeting with the council on Friday during his visit to Australia. The company will invest more in its development in the Xinjiang Uygur, Tibet and Ningxia Hui autonomous regions, as well as Gansu, Qinghai and Shaanxi provinces, he said. "The less-developed northwestern China is currently neglected by most hotel groups, but we think that the place has numerous stories and historical relics," he said, adding that the rising middle class is interested in culture and history-related tourism. Although there are many poverty-stricken places in Northwest China, the region will see rapid economic growth along with the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, he said. The initiative, put forward by President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims to revive the ancient trade routes with a focus on infrastructure. In mid-May, China will hold an international forum in Beijing for the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Dai Xuefeng, a researcher on tourism studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the Belt and Road Initiative will bring opportunities for tourism development in the cities along the routes. Many northwestern cities, including Xi'an, Zhangye and Dunhuang, are ancient cities along the Silk Road. Zhang said that his company will have more hotels in those cities. Zhang said he is confident about the hotel group's business in less-developed regions. The company currently has 37 hotels in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces. "In less-developed regions, the room rates of our hotels may be expensive compared with many local hotels, but customers are willing to pay the price to enjoy better services," he said. A couple in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, revamp and decorate their home for renting it out to tenants via home-sharing platforms. [Photo provided to China Daily] Experts urge stricter regulation, and call for standards, vetting of players BEIJINGChang Linglong has just returned from a trip to Shanghai that she describes as "a nightmare". The 160-square-meter apartment she booked on a short-term rental website turned out to be just 70 square meters. And instead of the "quiet, exquisite" house as described, she found it right on a busy street, and the noise kept her up all night. "The promised coffeemaker and hair dryer were also nowhere to be found," she recalled. And then, she asked: "Isn't it a kind of fraud?" Yang Li had an even worse time. Landing at midnight in the southern city of Shenzhen, she and her friend were more than surprised to find they had nowhere to stay. Their booking had been canceled without notice. "The owner said the website where we placed the order was temporarily unavailable, so it was rented out on another platform," Yang said. She called the four service hotlines listed on the website. Three were nonexistent, and the other gave no convincing explanation but merely confirmed that her booking was invalid. Sharing is increasingly popular in China, with young people the biggest fans. Looking for more flexible and cost-effective travel experiences, people love online home sharing. Airbnb opened in China in 2012 and more than 2 million Chinese have used the service overseas. Domestic competitors quickly opened their doors and now over 800,000 properties are up for rent on Tujia, Mayi and Xiaozhu. A February report by online consulting firm iResearch calculated a market turnover of 8.8 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) last year, and that is expected to grow by around 50 percent this year. Last year, Airbnb's total Chinese guests jumped 146 percent while listings in China more than doubled to about 80,000. Sensing a potential spike in future demand, it is doubling investment in China and tripling its local workforce, and even taking a new Chinese name, Aibiying, which means "welcome each other with love", Bloomberg reported. It plans to offer customers in Shanghai its fledgling Airbnb Trips servicea menu of options that can include concert tickets and restaurant reservations. It'll begin to market "experiences"a feature that lets people book local excursions, Brian Chesky, its CEO, told Bloomberg. To be sure, that is not the only kind of experiences travelers are seeking. A plethora of problems have emerged and it is not just the horror stories of dissatisfied travelers that are causing concern. Someone in East China's Zhejiang province lost 60,000 yuan worth of camera equipment, while a renter in Tianjin found his sofa and mattress ripped up by the tenant's two dogs. Neither got any compensation. An Jinming from the Beijing tourism commission said complaints about sharing were 20 percent higher than for traditional accommodation, perhaps due to a lack of unified standards and regulation. Short-term rentals mostly involve private homes. Landlords can list their homes simply by providing an ID card, ownership certificate or lease contract and a few pictures. Checking the authenticity of this material is not a high priority for the websites. A Mr. Hong "shares" two private houses in the tourist city of Lijiang in Southwest China's Yunnan province. "It is easy to list on these websites. The pictures I posted have been deliberately edited and sometimes 'beautiful' pictures I upload are 'stolen' from other listings," Hong admitted. With so many houses registered each day, the website owners claim it is impossible to check the quality of all the properties and owners. "We only check the information submitted by landlords. We set no requirements for tenants," staff at a short-term renting website told Xinhua. The picture is somewhat different overseas. Beijing resident Chen Yi, a firm advocate of online home sharing, said that on most foreign platforms both renters and tenants undergo complicated authentication processes before using the service. After any stay, they review each other and get credits accordingly. Any misbehavior such as mess and noise may lead to a deduction in credits and these credits are an important reference. "Scores are given based on these assessments. The more transparent the process, the more secure we feel," said Chen. According to Li Jinglong, head of the tourism department in Anhui University, China's credit system in the short-term rental market should be connected with banks, the police and third-party payments in the name of better regulation. Regulation of short-term rental services needs to include such areas as fire safety and the architectural quality of the building. "The supervision lags far behind development, especially since professional renters and small startups joined in," said Liang Shanying, an official at a tourism supervision department in central China. He added: "It is hard for us to get a clear picture of the total number of short-term properties or renters." There should be legislation as soon as possible and a multi-layer credit-rating system to help the development of the industry, said Liang. XINHUA-BLOOMBERG A young man sends a gold necklace to his girlfriend in Beijing. [Photo/VCG] A Shanghai-headquartered company, that makes most of its profits from helping "exterminate" extramarital affairs, to head off divorces in shaky marriages, is seeking a listing on the New Third Board. Shanghai Weiqing Network Technologies Co, an agency that said it provides marriage consultation and services to "exterminate" any third party in a peaceful way, made a listings filing to the National Equities Exchange and Quotations. Commonly known as the New Third Board, the exchange is popular among micro businesses up to medium-sized companies. "We are preparing for the listing," said Shu Xin, founder of Weiqing and its senior counselor. "We will receive feedback in April or May." Founded in November 2009, Weiqing expanded from a small studio to a service company with 297 full-time and part-time employees. The company said it is dedicated to resolving problems in marriages and resorts to a variety of methods to engage any third parties and convince them to back out of affairs. "Extramarital affairs account for 80 percent of our marriage counseling cases." As the top player in the sector, the company had invented 33 waysall abiding by laws and social moresto correct cheating behavior, with only four of them publicized, Shu said. Some of those known methods include helping the third party find a more suitable partner, disclosing the little-known secrets of their married lovers and involving their family and friends in the persuasion process. "Every employee, including the cleaners, are asked to sign a confidentiality agreement to protect most of our measures from being released. In addition, we are still coming up with new measures," Shu added. According to the company's website and filing statement, the marriage experts at Weiqing usually charge 1,000 yuan ($145) to 3,000 yuan per hour for marriage consultation. Their clients can be extravagant: the five customers spending the most at Weiqing between January and October last year shelled out a total of 3.6 million yuan, accounting for about 20 percent of the company's income during that period. The most generous client alone spent about 1.42 million yuan. Shu said he saw a bright future for his company, as until 2015 China's divorce rate had been on the rise for 13 consecutive years. The latest figures from the Ministry of Civil Affairs show that about 3.8 million couples filed for divorce in 2015 across the country. A report by the China Women's News in February said that extramarital affairs were the top reason in broken marriages, followed by domestic violence. Shu said the core value of Weiqing was to help people maintain a stable and happy marriage. To fulfill the goal, the company will expand its business to teach people how to be a good wife, husband, parent, daughter- in-law and son-in-law. Lu Qian and He Qi contributed to the story. SHIJIAZHUANG - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called for agricultural supply-side structural reform and improvements to the agricultural development system. In an instruction made public Wednesday to a meeting on agricultural production, Li urged local authorities to intensify work in the agricultural sector, strengthen development in rural areas and increase rural people's incomes. Spring is the key season for agricultural production, the premier said. Local governments should ensure the supply of production materials, improve irrigation projects, be prepared for drought and flood, and enhance weather forecasting, Li said. The country should also ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products and raise their market competitiveness, Li said. Vice Premier Wang Yang said at the meeting held in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province that China should provide better technical instruction and information to farmers. Local governments should accelerate the construction of functional zones for grain production, protected areas for major agricultural products and areas for growing endemic agricultural products, Wang said. The country should also explore new ways to let farmers share in the growth and earnings of the industrial and service sectors, Wang said. KUALA LUMPUR - China's e-commerce giant Alibaba group on Wednesday announced a plan to set up an e-commerce hub in Malaysia encompassing logistics, cloud-computing and e-financial service to boost trade and e-commerce in the region. The e-commerce hub will be part of the collaboration between Alibaba and the Malaysian government in the development of a Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) in Malaysia, in line with the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) promoted by Jack Ma, Alibaba's executive chairman. In launching the DFTZ with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Ma said its first overseas e-hub would be aimed at empowering small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as the younger generation. "This is the first hub specifically designed for small business and young people," he said. "And we are going to use new technology to empower small business and young people." "There will be a logistics hub, we got one-stop service, we have got big data. As long as you have a good product, you have a good idea, this facility is going to enable you," he said. For his part, Najib said Alibaba is the "perfect partner" for Malaysia to develop its digital economy. Among the cooperation announced on Wednesday, Alibaba's logistic platform Cainiao and its e-commerce website Lazada will lead the effort to develop a regional e-commerce and logistics hub near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The initial phase is currently expected to roll out before the end of 2017 by Alibaba, Cainiao, Lazada and Post Malaysia, leading to the planned formal launch by the end of 2019. Alibaba Cloud, its cloud computing arm, will build a cloud platform in Malaysia to foster the local SMEs, while Ant Financial inked an agreement with Malaysia's leading banks CIMB bank and Maybank to explore collaboration opportunities in e-payment and financing services in Malaysia, with an initial focus on inbound Chinese tourism and promoting trade by Malaysian SMEs. Daniel Zhang, chief executive of Alibaba Group, said Malaysia is chosen as Alibaba's regional logistics hub for its location as well as the fact that the two sides share the same vision. "Globalization is Alibaba's long term strategy and today is an important milestone," said Zhang. Neither Zhang nor Ma gave specific amount of investment that Alibaba plans to make in Malaysia, but Zhang said the group is committed to investing and developing the hub while drawing the long-term plan with the Malaysian side. Russia and China have achieved positive results through cooperation on infrastructure construction, and investors are anticipating more opportunities, according to the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Kirill Dmitriev said efforts by Russia and China to coordinate the Eurasian Economic Union with the Belt and Road Initiative will stimulate business development by minimizing risk and reducing red tape. Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. [Photo provided to China Daily] "If our leaders continue to inspire and promote this cooperation, governments and companies will follow suit," he said. "However, to achieve this we need specially designed vehicles, such as the Russia-China Investment Fund, the Russia-China Intergovernmental Investment Cooperation Commission and the Russia-China Business Advisory Committee, to convert the positive and proactive attitudes of our leaders into tangible mutual benefits for both economies." In 2011, the Russian government established the $10 billion Russian Direct Investment Fund to make equity investments in high-growth sectors. The fund, together with China Investment Corp, established the Russia-China Investment Fund in 2012, with each committing $2 billion. The fund has identified five key areas with the potential to generate returns: natural resources; infrastructure; agriculture; consumer goods; and the service sector. "We target the opportunities created by the rapid developments in economic cooperation, fast-growing trade and the rising purchasing power of the Russian and Chinese middle classes," Dmitriev said. "This approach allows the fund to generate attractive returns for investors." The fund's projects in China include investments in the ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, the Tutor Group and the Amur International Rail Bridge, which links Nizhneleninskoye in Russia and Tongjiang, Heilongjiang province, in China. Recently, the fund and Tus-Holdings agreed to establish the Russia-China Venture Fund to promote trade, economic investment and scientific and technological cooperation. "The fund's target size will be $100 million," Dmitriev said. "The Russian Direct Investment Fund and Tus-Holdings will be anchor investors, with the likely participation of other Russian and Chinese institutional investors." The Belt and Road Initiative is important for Russia because it may provide sources of additional growth: "Russia's strategic location between China and Europe means it is ideally situated to support this initiative and improve connectivity between East and West." The Russian Direct Investment Fund is looking for more Belt and Road investment opportunities, and has signed a partnership agreement with the Silk Road Fund, a Chinese government vehicle, to foster increased investment along the routes. Dmitriev said the rail bridge across the Amur River demonstrates how the Belt and Road Initiative can connect with the EEU. The bridge will benefit both countries because it creates a new export corridor and alleviates transport infrastructure constraints between new sectors being developed in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, he said. 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. A China Southern Airlines chef decorates a cake by piping the Chinese characters meaning "Boao" in Haikou, Hainan province, on March 22, 2017. [Photo/VCG] China Southern Airlines have launched the "2017 Boao special meals" for its first class passengers on its Haikou to Beijing and Sanya to Beijing flights. The annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia will be held in Boao, Hainan province, from Thursday to Sunday. The special meals highlighting the characteristics of Hainan's local cuisine, include Hainan's Wenchang chicken, lemongrass chicken leg, blueberry and raspberry shortcake, and seafood. BEIJING - The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) announced Thursday its board of governors had approved 13 applications to join the bank. This is the first time the bank has welcomed new prospective members since its inception in 2015 and brings the bank's total membership to 70. The approved applicants are five regional prospective members -- Afghanistan, Armenia, Fiji, Hong Kong of China and Timor Leste -- and eight non-regional: Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia, Hungary, Ireland, Peru, the Republic of Sudan and Venezuela. "The interest in joining AIIB from around the world affirms the progress we have made in establishing the bank as an international institution," said Jin Liqun, AIIB president. "I am very proud that AIIB now has members from almost every continent, and we anticipate further applications this year," he said. The 13 prospective members will officially join the bank once they complete the required domestic processes and deposit their first capital. The shares allocated to them come from an existing pool of unallocated shares. "These prospective members are at different stages of economic development, a testimony to the inclusiveness of the bank, and contribute to inclusive global development," said Chen Xulong, a researcher with China Institute of International Studies. The new members indicate the strong endorsement by the international community for the bank and its internal governance, said Yao Zhizhong, deputy director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). The view was echoed by Chen, who believes the mission, governance and efficacy of the AIIB in the initial stage have won worldwide recognition. Headquartered in Beijing, AIIB's mission is to improve economic and social development in Asia by investing in high quality, financially viable and environmentally friendly infrastructure projects. Globalization has suffered setbacks in Europe and the United States. The world badly needs new driving forces for globalization and regional integration, said Wei Ling, director of Institute of Asian Studies at China Foreign Affairs University. "The AIIB can not only improve connectivity, but can speed up regional integration," Wei added. The AIIB will focus on three major tasks this year: sustainable infrastructure, cross-country connectivity and mobilization of private capital. However, Zhang cautioned that the bank must give due attention to the sustainability and profitability of its projects while meeting the infrastructure needs of developing countries. The bank has already approved loans for projects in a list of countries including Oman and Azerbaijan. BEIJING A record 1.2 million Chinese tourists visited Australia in 2016, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which helped drive up Australia's visitor expenditure figures. The International Visitor Survey (IVS), published on March 15 by Tourism Research Australia, showed foreign tourists spent a record A$39.1 billion ($29.6 billion) throughout the year ending December 2016, a 7-percent rise on the previous year, with Chinese visitors accounting for almost a quarter of that figure. In a statement accompanying the IVS, Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said tourism was beginning to become one of Australian economy's most important assets, considering the rise of the middle class in Asian nations such as China. "Spending by international visitors to Australia has now grown by more than 35 percent in the last three years -- supporting Australian jobs and the broader Australian economy," said Ciobo. The rapid increase in the number of Chinese visitors to Australia has had a huge positive impact on local retailers. According to the Deloitte Access Economics Retail Forecasts report, tourist retail spending from Chinese visitors accounts for $1.05 billion. Deloitte Access Economics partner David Rumbens, lead author of the report, told Xinhua that the number is set to increase by four times in the next decade. "Chinese tourism is a significant contributor to the sector," Rumbens said. With the China-Australia Year of Tourism well underway in 2017, Australia is making great efforts to get itself prepared, ranging from adding some 1,000 new hotel rooms to market to huge investments in aviation projects, including new aircraft orders. Australia recently expanded its 10-year visitor visa to Chinese citizens, while respective authorities signed an "open skies agreement," removing aircraft capacity restrictions on the seemingly lucrative China-Australia routes in anticipation of increased demands. Canada will join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), making it the first Northern American country to join the organization. Canada is one of 13 applicants approved by the AIIB's Board of Governors, bringing the bank's total approved membership to 70. This is the first time AIIB has welcomed new members to the bank since its inception in 2015. The approved applicants include five regional members - Afghanistan, Armenia, Fiji, Hong Kong, and Timor Leste. There are also eight members from beyond the region, including Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia, Hungary, Ireland, Peru, Sudan and Venezuela. "The interest in joining AIIB from around the world affirms the rapid progress we have made to establish the bank as an international institution," AIIB president Jin Liqun said. "I am very proud that AIIB now has members from almost every continent, and we anticipate further applications being considered by our Board of Governors later this year." At its launch in January 2015, there were 57 signatories to AIIB's Articles of Agreement. The bank expects to welcome more prospective members throughout the year. Canada's joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank makes it the first country in the Americas to join the organization, the AIIB announced on Thursday. AIIB's Board of Governors adopted resolutions on Thursday approving bank membership for 13 applicants, bringing its total approved membership to 70. The 13 countries and regions will officially become members once they have completed any necessary domestic processes and deposited the first installment of capital with the bank. This is the first time the AIIB has welcomed new prospective members to the bank since its launch in January 2016. "The AIIB is a multilateral financial institution founded to bring countries together to address the daunting infrastructure needs across Asia," said Laurel Ostfield, head of communication and development at AIIB, so Canada's joining shows its "desire to be part of development with the world". The approved applicants are regional prospective members Afghanistan, Armenia, Fiji, Hong Kong and East Timor, as well as non regional prospective members Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia, Hungary, Ireland, Peru, Sudan and Venezuela, she said. AIIB President Jin Liqun said, "The interest in joining the AIIB from around the world affirms the rapid progress we have made to establish the bank as an international institution. "I am very proud that the AIIB now has members from almost every continent, and we anticipate further applications being considered by our Board of Governors later this year." Canada's joining illustrates worldwide recognition of China's efforts to improve economic and social development in Asia by investing in high quality, financially viable and environmentally friendly infrastructure projects, said Tu Xinquan, a professor of foreign trade at the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. Because Canada is "a very active participant in international economic governance, and also a member that supports globalization and international economic cooperation", its participation "will definitely help boost the global economy", said Tu. In light of the global economic slowdown, the infrastructure investment, especially in developing countries, offers tremendous development potential, he added. "It also requires a vast amount of capital, and the participation of member countries will play a very positive role in worldwide economic recovery," Tu said. Ostfield, the AIIB's communication and development head, said that about a dozen more nations are waiting for membership approval. The door is still open to the United States and Japan, but the bank hasn't received a request from either country, she said. The United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and other US allies such as Australia and South Korea are members. According to the organization, total voting power must equal 100 percent, so existing members will see a small downward adjustment in their voting power when new members join. China currently holds about 27.8 percent of votes in the bank, the AIIB's website shows. At its launch in January 2016, there were 57 signatories to the AIIB's Articles of Agreement. The bank expects towel come more members this year. Shan Xiangshuang, president of China Science & Merchants Investment Management Group, delivers a speech at the launch of the new incubator program in Beijing on March 21, 2017. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Beijing-based SuperG Capital announced plans to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the incubator industry, launching a new program to accelerate the development of its incubator business to boost the "mass entrepreneurship and innovation" strategy. The agency was set up by China Science & Merchants Investment Management Group in 2014, focusing on investment of startup and innovative projects. SuperG will link up with incubators nationwide and work with investment agencies to initiate the establishment of 100 startup funds to incubate high-quality projects in major Chinese cities, said Ren Lidian, the company's general manager, at the launch in Beijing on Tuesday. All startup projects in the incubator pool, including those from Japan, the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom, will be assessed by AI robots and a value list of these projects will be released, Ren added. The startup funds will make targeted investments in projects within the pool, Ren said. With the implementation of the "mass entrepreneurship and innovation" strategy, incubators spring up all over the country, said Shan Xiangshuang, president of China Science & Merchants Investment Management Group. However, a shortage of capital, projects and management are impeding the development of the industry, Shan added. China Science & Merchants Investment Management Group was one of the first to provide all kinds of resources to support the development of startups and innovation, said Shan. According to a study by iiMeida Data in 2016, most incubator operators in China were optimistic about the development of the industry and the number of incubators in China is expected to reach 5,000 by 2020. Actress Li Bingbing poses with a Tibetan antelope. [Photo/Official Weibo account of Our Street Style] Famous Chinese actress Li Bingbing has appeared with wild animals in a series of fashion photos to highlight the need to protect their habitats. Li appears to sidle up to a leopard and pat a Tibetan antelope in the fashion shoot inspired by this year's World Environment Day theme of Go Wild for Life. Visitors to the ChinaRussia Expo in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, check goods from Russia in June last year. The province has close trade ties with Russia, which it borders on. WANG JIANWEI / XINHUA Coordination of Belt and Road, Eurasian Economic Union boosts development outlook for both.Ren Qi reports from Vladivostok Editor's note: This is the first installment of China Daily's special series on the Belt and Road Initiative. At the Europlastic factory in Vladivostok, the largest city in the Russian Far East, local workers use Italian-built machinery to make plastic bottle caps out of raw materials imported from China. It is a dynamic that largely reflects the current international business scene in Russia. The name "Europlastic" highlights an ambition cherished by many Russian enterprises: to thrive in the European market. Yet the company has almost no business in Europe, with overall trade having plummeted since the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia in the wake of the 2014 Ukraine crisis. At the same time, the fact that the manufacturing plant uses only raw materials from China highlights the need for Chinese imports in Russia's light industry sector. The situation has created an opportunity for China to foster greater economic cooperation with its large neighbor, especially through the Belt and Road Initiative. The strategy, which revolves around the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aims to improve connectivity through trade and infrastructure projects. In May, President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, signed a joint declaration to coordinate development of the Chinese initiative and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, a bloc established in 2015 that comprises Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. During the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, Putin told Chinese media that the Belt and Road was an interesting strategy that had come at a good time, and all five EEU members had agreed to cooperate under the framework of the Silk Road Economic Belt. The positive signals from Moscow took some experts by surprise, since the projects were originally seen as potential competitors. To support the initiative, China established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, pledging $100 billion, and the $40 billion Silk Road Fund to provide low-interest, long-term loans for development projects. "Regional connectivity is the main objective," Kamel Mellahi, a professor of strategic management at Warwick Business School in the United Kingdom, said of the Belt and Road Initiative. "There's little doubt it's a win-win project for all the countries involved." Russia agrees. Now, more government officials and entrepreneurs are eager to participate in the Chinese strategy. Potential Europlastic, which has seven factories across Russia making polymers, plastics and chemicals products, invested 250 million roubles ($4.3 million) in the Vladivostok plant. Eugene Belokurov, the plant's general manager, said the facility has yet to turn a profit, but he believes that with technological support and financial investment from Chinese enterprises there is great potential. Such expectations are common among Russian companies that have started businesses in the country's less-developed eastern areas so much so that exploring cooperation with China has become a major task for local officials. Alexander Galushka, minister for development of the Russian Far East, said his country will play a vital role in coordinating development of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Belt and Road Initiative. Investment projects in the Russian Far East have attracted $16.9 billion, according to the ministry's data. China accounts for 14.7 percent, with the money going toward cement plants, an oil refinery and road construction, as well as $1.2 million for a rivet-manufacturing base in Khabarovsk, about 800 kilometers north of Vladivostok. The opportunities created by closer ties between the Belt and Road Initiative and the EEU should also interest European countries, he said, but the ongoing sanctions against Russia mean it will be hard for them to share the benefits. Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said Russian efforts to improve the infrastructure along the Eurasian corridor would help Europe, not hurt it. "The EU's relationship with Russia will not change. Members have made it clear that sanctions will remain," he said. "It's sad: there is a natural fit between Europe and Russia. For example, Europe has huge overcapacity in milk and Russia has a huge shortage of milk, but we cannot trade." Wu Fei, a Russian studies researcher at the Center for China and Globalization, a think tank, said even though the European economy will be affected by the United Kingdom leaving the EU, the bloc could still have a strong influence on cooperation between the EEU and the Belt and Road Initiatve. The two initiatives are complementary, he said: the biggest issue for the Chinese strategy is that there are not many investment projects along the Silk Road Economic Belt that can generate quick returns. However, there are plenty of opportunities in EEU countries. Experts believe Moscow is also hoping the coordination will lead to further cooperation agreements, such as a pan-Eurasian partnership with European nations. Chris Cheung, director of the EU SME Center, a think tank in Beijing, said China will be a key element if such a relationship is to be realized. Despite China's economic slowdown, the EU's interest in the Chinese market is still growing, not least because of central government policies aimed at stimulating domestic consumption to fuel growth, he said. China's industrial supply chain is also being transformed, Cheung added, meaning new technologies will be required to support advanced processes, whether that is machinery or internet software, creating opportunities for innovative European businesses. As an example of that, Wu cited investment projects in Yekaterinburg, such as a business park currently under construction, that deliberately targeted Chinese enterprises. "If the Belt and Road Initiative and the EEU can establish dialogue mechanisms, as well as combine the manufacturing and consumption of several countries in an integrated strategic alliance, with China, Russia and Europe all involved, a real pan-Eurasian partnership could happen," he said. Beijing has said it would like to see China-US ties "achieve greater development on a new starting point", in response to a recent positive remark by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the relations. In his first official visit to Beijing last weekend, Tillerson said the US-China relationship has been a very positive relationship built on the spirit of "nonconflict, nonconfrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation". Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday that the spirit of the remark echoes the recipe for development of China-US ties in recent years, and such thinking "deserves being handed down and developed by both sides". During Tillerson's visit, the two sides reached a clear consensus on developing the ties based on such a spirit, Hua said at a daily news briefing. Some observers noted that such a stance affirmed by Tillerson has long been the core feature of China's position about developing a new model for major country relations. "This is not about who triumphed, but is the right way of how China and the US, as two major countries, get along with each other," Hua said. Beijing is ready to further promote mutual understanding and trust, properly tackle differences and expand the two nations' cooperation in bilateral, regional and global contexts, Hua added. Acting US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tillerson was "aware of his word choice" when he twice used language that was identical to that of Chinese leaders about the US-China relationship. "I think the message he is sending or he tried to send in his visit to Beijing, writ large, was that we want a cooperative, productive, forward-looking relationship with China," he told a news briefing on Monday. Tao Wenzhao, a senior researcher of US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that President Xi Jinping elaborated on the spirit in his meeting with then US president Barack Obama in 2013 in California. "I believe that with all the positive signals given out during Tillerson's visit, the uncertainties haunting the China-US relationship will be significantly reduced," Tao said. The death of an autistic teenager at a care center has triggered nationwide debate and a top-level administrative move to conduct tighter checks on such service providers. The Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Tuesday it has issued an urgent circular ordering nationwide inspections of care services provided by the government or outsourced to the private sector. Civil affairs authorities at all levels should check the qualifications, facilities, services and safety management of all care services entrusted by the government, the document said. It also called for the immediate termination of services that do not pass inspection, as well as proper arrangements for those receiving care from such services. Those violating laws and regulations will be held accountable and subject to strict punishment. The move came amid heated discussion of the death of Lei Wenfeng, a 15-year-old who got lost and stayed more than a month in the Lianxi care agency in Shaoguan, Guangdong province, before he died in December. Local authorities have not disclosed the cause of death, but they said the case was being investigated. The person in charge of the center has been detained for further investigation, according to China Central Television. Twenty people died in the center, which cares for people of all ages, during a 49-day period in January and February, Beijing News reported. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Civil Affairs said the local government is looking into the exact number of deaths at the Lianxi center as well as the causes and will publish the investigation report "without delay". Yue Jinglun, a public affairs professor at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong, said the government should reconsider what kinds of public services should be outsourced. "Not every penny spent by the government should be efficiency-driven," he said. "The shelter service and similar services, for many underdogs, are essentially the last resort. Some social responsibilities are better assumed by the government." Yue added that if the government deemed a certain service fit to be outsourced to a third party, it should figure out ways to follow up on the project - such as sending regular or random inspection teams, keeping track of the money spent and setting up pragmatic standards that can be evaluated - to make sure the entrusted organizations are doing their job properly. "When it involves life, freedom and security, fairness trumps efficiency," Yue said. "It takes professionals with good hearts to fulfill such missions. Not every NGO qualifies." Dou Yixin, founder of the Quiet Whisperers' Community, a Beijing-based NGO dedicated to helping children with autism, said parents could do more to prevent such tragedies. "A simple location tracking device will help a lot. At least you will know where your child is. It costs little," he said. "I've repeated this suggestion time and again to many parents, but their first response would be, 'Oh, my child will feel uncomfortable wearing it' or 'The tracker must be radioactive'. "I saw more than 100 cases of lost autistic children in my friends' circle in just a year, yet the parents just don't realize how much a simple change can help." Dou said that in 2011, his center received nine children with autism from a foster care agency in Shanxi province. At that time, he used his own money to run the center and provided everything for free. When the children arrived, he said, "they were starved to basically a bag of bones. ... They needed my free professional skills to take care of the kids. After half a year, they gained much weight and became more relaxed and happy." Long Island Medium (Theresa Caputo) works for Satan Shes charming, shes whacky, and shes got funny hair and crazy fingernails- shes also working for the devil. Sound harsh? Good. ... Fr.Longenecker vs Michael Voris Quote: "If the faith is in imminent peril, prelates ought to be accused by their subjects, even in public."-St. Thomas Aquinas ... Catholic Controversy over "Son of God" movie It is seldom that I disagree with Michael Voris from Church Militant TV , but today I do. It seems some of the more traditional leanin... Banning Children from Gay Pride Parades ** WARNING : Adult homosexual content GRAPHIC GAY PRIDE PARADE PHOTOS ** Should children be banned from gay pride parades? Ye... Saint Peter taught me to love Pope Francis Anyone who has been following my blog [along with family and friends] know that I have had serious issues with Pope Francis since Holy We... What's up with Life Teen Catholic Youth Ministry? So I'm on Twitter when I see Ryan Fitz retweet a Creaky tweet about Catholic Life Teen Youth Ministry that caught my eye. Someth... Lonely: I pray for someone I came across two stories on Twitter recently about lonely people. The first was about an elderly woman who sat alone in her house for ye... Archdiocese of New Orleans has a gay problem There is something seriously wrong with the Archdiocese of New Orleans . Namely, they speak with a forked tongue. How can any Cath... Fr James Martin says the Virgin Mary opposed Jesus Christ because Jesus was crazy Father James Martin strikes again, taking another shot at the Holy Mother of God on his Facebook page . Martin says... get this.... Beijing has again urged restraint and suggested that nations involved to give serious consideration to its proposal of "dual suspensions" after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's seemingly failed missile launch on Wednesday. Describing the Korean Peninsula's tensions as pushed to the brink, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying in a daily news conference in Beijing called for all parties involved to avoid taking actions that are provocative, risky or that may cause miscalculation. Media reports quoted military sources of the Republic of Korea and the United States as saying they detected what appeared to be the explosion of a missile soon after its launch in the DPRK on Wednesday. The failed launch came amid the ongoing large-scale joint military exercises between the ROK and the US. Calling for all parties to do more to ease tensions, Hua said China's approaches of "dual suspensions" and "dual tracks" are "correct, objective, fair and reasonable" plans to find a way out of the dilemma. The "dual-suspension" approach calls for the DPRK to halt its nuclear and missile programs and the US and ROK to halt their joint military exercises at the same time. The "dual-track" approach calls for the parties to work on denuclearizing the peninsula and establishing a peace mechanism. "It is better for the doer to undo what he has done," Hua said, pointing out that the crux of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue lies in the contradictions between the DPRK and the US and ROK, as well as in the "deep-rooted hostility and mistrust" between them. Any unilateral actions taken for the sole purpose of pursuing one's own absolute security or ensuring one's own interests will only further complicate the issue, Hua said. "We must address both the symptoms and the root cause and find a solution that takes care of all parties' reasonable security concerns," she said, adding that China's approaches are "worth being highly valued and carefully considered by all parties under current circumstances". Premier suggests China, Australia explore new areas to aid growth Premier Li Keqiang said he is confident that China and Australia will work together and jointly help to counter global instability through steady development and cooperation in a signed newspaper article on Wednesday. "We have seen in practice how the trend of economic globalization has become closely interconnected with, even inseparable from, peace, development and cooperation," he said in the article, titled "We want to work with you for progress and peace" and published in The Australian. Li arrived in Australia's capital, Canberra, on Wednesday night, kicking off official visits to Australia and New Zealand, the first trip by a Chinese premier to the two Oceanian countries in 11 years. Li said China and Australia have gradually built up trust and have properly managed disagreements in the spirit of equality and mutual respect over the past 45 years, rising above differences in national conditions and systems. The premier suggested there is more cooperation to be explored in new areas such as industrial capacity and third-party markets, energy and mining technologies, infrastructure and agriculture and animal husbandry, which will bring more benefits to residents of the two nations and help boost world economic growth. "I am fully confident that China and Australia will continue to move forward in our own way while working with each other, and jointly help to counter global instability with the stability that is created through our steady development and cooperation," he wrote. "China and Australia should follow the region's trend of peace, development and cooperation, join hands to take concrete actions and send positive signals to stabilize market expectations, convey confidence and contribute our share to the region and beyond," he added. This year marks the China-Australia Year of Tourism. The premier said he hopes both sides will take this as an opportunity to further facilitate travel between the two nations. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in a statement on his official website ahead of Li's trip that he welcomed the visit, which "will highlight Australia's strong economic relationship with China and mutual commitment to encouraging trade and investment in our region". "Both our economies are in the midst of important transitions, creating new opportunities for collaboration in services, innovation and investment. Premier Li and I will announce the next stage of ChAFTA's evolution to respond to these emerging opportunities," he said. Su Hao, a professor of Asia-Pacific studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said China and Australia share broad common interests in multilateral regional economic mechanisms such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. "This is especially important to boost regional economic integration to tackle moves toward protectionism," he said. "Maritime security, such as search and rescue operations and fighting piracy, is another area where the two countries can work together," Su said. A senior Communist Party of China leader called on Wednesday for media integration and creating favorable public opinion for the upcoming Party congress. Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks during an inspection tour of People's Daily. Liu urged the newspaper's staff members to make more new media products and extend their influence to the internet. He also stressed that new media should shoulder social responsibility and guide online public opinion. He also had online conversations with readers on the People's Daily website, and said he hoped the website would help address social issues. Liu later held a seminar with officials in charge of major state media, where he said media integration was a major industry trend and more effort was needed to foster it. "Media integration needs to abide by the CPC's ideology and the Marxist idea of the press," Liu said. "Content is the key to the development of media integration, and more new media workers must be trained." Liu said the most important issue for the Chinese media this year was preparing for the 19th National Congress of the CPC. He called for strengthening political responsibility, enhancing representation of mainstream public opinion, and providing opinion for the stability of the economy and society. Abolishing drug price markups will see outpatient fees fall by about 5 percent Patients in Beijing will soon be spending less money on drugs due to a comprehensive medical care reform covering all public hospitals in the capital. All medical institutions involved in the reform will abolish price markups, usually at a rate of 15 percent, on the drugs they sell to patients, starting on April 8, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning announced on Wednesday. The reform covers more than 3,600 medical institutions in Beijing, including all public hospitals, such as those funded by the government, public institutions, State-owned enterprises and the People's Liberation Army, as well as some private medical institutions, Fang Laiying, chief of the commission, said at a news conference. In addition, all medical institutions will purchase drugs from pharmaceutical manufacturers through open and competitive public bidding, so drug prices will be further reduced, Fang said. With these measures, the price of drugs sold at these hospitals is expected to be reduced by about 20 percent, said Li Sufang, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform. Abolishing drug price markups, which has been a key source of income for public hospitals, has been a major, but thorny, task of China's ongoing healthcare reform that is aimed at a universal coverage of basic healthcare services. The practice has been adopted by most public hospitals in China since the 1950s to make up for a deficiency in healthcare funding from the government, authorities said. All public hospitals in China will abolish price markups by the end of this year, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China's top health authority, said earlier this month. Drug price markups result in serious problems such as "encouraging medical institutions to use more drugs and more expensive drugs, which results in a rapid rise of medical costs and increased burdens for both the government's medical insurance fund and patients", Fang said. Beijing started to pilot abolishing drug price markups in five public hospitals in 2012, he said. Income from drug sales accounted for about 33 percent of the total income for those hospitals last year, compared with 43 percent in 2012, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission for Health and Family Planning. To make up for revenue losses in drug sales, hospitals involved in the reform will increase the prices of some of the services they provide, such as surgery and nursing as well as traditional Chinese techniques such as acupuncture, Fang said. Meanwhile, fees for checkups that involve the use of expensive machinery will be reduced, he said. It is estimated that the cost of treatment per outpatient will be reduced by about 5 percent, while there will be an increase in price of 2.5 percent for inpatient treatment, said Li from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform. Zhu Hengpeng, a researcher in healthcare reform at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said abolishing drug price markups is vital for healthcare reform. "However, more support policies are needed, such as encouraging competition in the medical industry, and reforming the current payment system for medical insurance for public hospitals to ensure better cost control." The sole rail investment and operation company in Chengdu reported on Wednesday that the city's subway system has used electric cables from a company that provided substandard products to the Xi'an metro system. Three metro lines in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, including one already in operation, were found to have used the electric cables, according to Chengdu Rail Transit. The two major contractors of Chengdu's metro system, China Railway Group Ltd and Power Construction Corporation of China, apologized to the public in a statement released on Wednesday for using the potentially dangerous cables and vowed to replace them all to reassure the public. The substandard low-voltage cables found in Xi'an are reportedly susceptible to catching fire and the toxic gas released in case of a fire is lethal. The provider of the cables was Shaanxi Aokai Cable Co, whose cables had been used on Line 3 of the metro system in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, which transports an average of more than 340,000 people daily. The Xi'an government announced at a news conference on Monday that all five samples of the cables provided by Aokai from subway Line 3 were substandard. Eight people at the private company, established in late 2012,had been detained thereafter. Local police also shut down the company's production sites, sealed its account books and took other cable products for further testing. In another development, Hefei Urban Rail Transit Co, the subway operator in Hefei, capital of Anhui province, announced that it would launch an investigation into cables used in its rail transport projects, according to Xinhua. Aokai reportedly sourced electric cables to the company in the second half of 2015, but a third-party's quality testing showed the cables met standards at that time. Hefei Urban Rail Transit Co company said it is likely to publicize the results of its investigation on March 28. WUHAN - Late at night, an exhausted mother gets up once again to attend to her screaming baby. She rocks, feeds and sings him to sleep before sneaking away, but she knows it will not be long before she has to return. Liu Dan is familiar with this scenario. During the day, she works at a broadcasting station in Hangzhou city, and has only slept three or four hours each night since her son was born. A well-known supplement in China advertises that it can help people "sleep like a baby", but Liu scoffs at the tagline. "I'm sure the designer of the advertisement slogan 'sleep like a baby' is not a parent. The words should be changed to 'sleep like a baby's father'." "Getting a child to sleep can be one of the most difficult tasks of parenting. I'm on the brink of collapse," the sleep-deprived mother said. Liu's sleep struggles are shared by many frustrated moms. An industry white paper on Chinese infant sleep released in December showed that more than 75 percent of parents experience being woken up frequently at night by their babies, especially those aged 6 months to 1 year. Why are they not sleeping well? It could be hunger, teething, noise or illness. But only 6 percent of parents know the reason for their babies' nocturnal fussing, the paper said. Older generations in China traditionally attributed infant sleep trouble to a calcium deficiency or considered it part of normal infant behavior. Frustrated and exhausted, Liu turned to a baby sleep consultant for an answer. After paying 298 yuan ($43) for an online lecture, she got her baby to sleep throughout the night for the first time after two weeks. Hush little baby The online lecture was provided by Chen Yuwen, former General Electric project manager and now a baby sleep consultant. As the first such consultant certified by the International Maternity and Parenting Institute on the Chinese mainland, Chen has dealt with tens of thousands of sleep-deprived moms at their wits' end. In the last month alone, Chen has sold nearly 1,400 online lectures to Chinese parents struggling to get their little ones to bed. Through the lectures, she teaches parents how to improve a baby's sleep environment, tips for soothing little ones, and other useful tricks. Another consultant training agency plans to offer a 30-member class in Shanghai to would-be baby whisperers. The weeklong training course costs 19,800 yuan per person, but applicants have already outnumbered openings. "Applicants come from various professions, including housewives, designers, flight attendants, nurses and editors. All of them see big profits in this career," said Wang Shiyunyue, the agency's head. Wang said clients' favorite product is a 21-day sleep training package that includes consultations, home visits, 24-hour support and a sleep plan that is completely customized for babies. It costs 5,000 yuan. The emergence of baby sleep consultants can be explained by the pressure professional couples feel and the potential market for maternal and infant-related services in China. According to a document released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, 18.46 million babies were born in Chinese hospitals last year, the highest number since 2000 and 1.31 million more than 2015. Chen decided to go full-time as a consultant in 2013 when the country allowed couples to have a second child if either parent was an only child. Failing to stop her own baby's frequent night waking, she read books and posted online about her own experiences and what she had learned. "I received thousands of questions and was surprised that so many moms have been troubled by the same problem," said Chen. Divided opinion "Many parents are willing to pay for milk powder and baby diapers, but refuse to pay for knowledge. I'm ready for the challenges of being a sleep consultant," said Lin Xiaonuan, a former journalist. Earlier in her consultant career, she answered the phone to hear a woman at the other end in tears, and she recalled crying herself. "I don't want to experience that frustration again. I feel good helping these moms fix their problems," said Lin. Zhang Silai, a pediatrician, agreed that fixing the problem is very important. Hormonal changes after birth, plus sleep deprivation, can increase postpartum depression in new mothers. However, critics say that it is cruel and risky to train babies to sleep. One mom said most of these sleep training techniques are just variations of the old "cry-it-out" method. "My heart would break (letting the baby cry). It runs the risk of the baby losing trust. I'd rather not sleep," she added. Others question the lack of clarity around qualifications and registration for consultants, as the industry is not regulated. "Sleep guidance is different from sleep training. It is not a cry-it-out method. We need to understand the baby's needs, observe signs of sleep and help establish regular daily routines and good sleeping habits," said Chen. (China Daily 03/23/2017 page5) A yacht sails through mangrove swamps in a natural reserve area in Qinzhou, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in May.Huang Xiaobang / Xinhua The vast majority of China's marine water met high quality standards last year, according to an annual report by the State Oceanic Administration. The Bulletin of China Marine Environment Status, released on Wednesday, said 95 percent of marine water met the highest standard in the country's four-tier system. The figure is 1 percentage point higher year-on-year. In the four categories,Level 1 marine water must conform to the standard that is suitable for ocean fishery, natural conservations on the sea and conservations for end angered marine life. Level 4, the lowest level, refers to water suitable for use in port areas and ocean development areas. Among China's total of about 3 million square kilometers of marine water, the area below Level 4,meaning unable to meet the lowest standards, fell by 9,310 sq km in the spring and 2,600 sq km in the summer last year, the two seasons when marine activities most frequently take place. The result shows significant improvements, as the area of such heavily polluted waters only dropped 540 sq km and 1,120sq km respectively, in last year's report, which was compared with 2014. However, the report warned that some offshore areas face severe pollution. Among 44 bay areas each with an area of above 100 square kilometers, 17 have water quality below Level 4 year-round. Sun Shuxian, deputy director of the administration, said a "bay chief" mechanism will help tackle pollution, with a top official in each region being held responsible for the environment where the bay is located. Water quality near sewage draining exits in offshore areas saw no significant improvement. Last year, the quality of 78 percent of the water near sewage draining exits was at or below Level 4, according to the report. The report added that the sea level increased by 38millimeters last year. Wang Hua, head of the administration's Marine Forecast and Disaster Relief Department, said the sea level fluctuation largely resulted from the El Nino and La Nina phenomena. He added that the average annual increase in sea level in China from 1980 to 2016 was 3.2mm, higher than the global average. Parents gather outside Puyang No 3 Experimental Primary School in Henan province on Wednesday after two students were killed in a stampede in the school.Xinhua A stampede at a primary school in Henan province's Puyang county resulted in the deaths of two students, while more than 20 others were injured in the incident on Wednesday morning. One student died on the way to hospital and the other died after medical treatment failed, according to a local official. Five others were badly wounded, with all the injured receiving treatment at a nearby hospital, the official said. The principal of the No 3 Experimental Primary School in Puyang was removed on Wednesday afternoon, the official said. The local government said a large number of students gathering in a bathroom in a short period was the cause of the incident, but earlier reports had said the stampede was caused by the bathroom collapsing. A teacher from the school said the incident happened at about 8:30 am when students rushed to the toilet during a 10-minute break while preparing for their monthly examinations, according to a report by Beijing News. Following the accident, the exam was canceled, the teacher was quoted as saying. Wang Lin, a mother in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, said: "This tragedy highlights a lack of safety awareness. It is the school's responsibility to provide a safe environment." An investigation into the incident is ongoing. Controversial parts of a textbook for primary school students, including a story about Thomas Edison saving his mother, will be removed from a new edition for the autumn semester, according to its publishers. A Chinese-language textbook for Grade 2 students includes a story that Edison's mother needed surgery for appendicitis, but light in the operating room was too dim, so the inventor - only 7 years old at the time - came up with the idea of placing mirrors near an oil lamp to better illuminate the room. Some teachers complained that the text is incorrect, as the world's first appendectomy is widely believed to have been carried out in 1886, while Edison would have been 7 in 1854. Zhang Min, the principal of Hangzhou Foreign Language Experimental School, said he was "astonished to see the text" and called for a revision. The Edison story is not an isolated case. Another piece in the same book tells the story of a young George Washington, the first president of the United States, cutting down a cherry tree, despite archaeological evidence showing there were no cherry trees near the house Washington lived in as a child. People's Education Press, which publishes a series of school textbooks, told China News Service on Wednesday that these sections had been removed for a new edition that will be used in classrooms from September. Wang Xuming, director of the Language and Culture Press, another major publisher, said some basic criteria - for example, respecting the truth of history and accuracy - should be followed when selecting content for textbooks. "In the meantime, I think students could be encouraged to challenge the content of textbooks," he said. People's Education Press said earlier in an online statement that the Edison story first appeared in Chinese publications in the 1980s and was chosen as a text for primary school textbooks in 2002. "People at that time already questioned it. We inquired with some experts, but their views were divided," the statement said. "Due to the recent controversy, we are asking more experts for suggestions." The publisher also said the Ministry of Education paid great attention to school textbooks and had organized a group of prominent experts to compile new Chinese-language textbooks since 2012. The current textbooks will gradually be replaced, it said, adding, "We will be more attentive and will invite experts to help double-check the content to prevent mistakes." zhaoxinying@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily 03/23/2017 page4) Pedestrians walk along Yangmeizhuxie street in the Dashilan subdistrict, which recently received a face-lift as part of a plan to renovate the older parts of Beijing.Wang Zhuangfei / China Daily Unlike the typical bustling, crowded hutong found elsewhere in Beijing, the streets of the Dashilan subdistrict are quieter and more laid back. Xiao Yuchen, a 25-year-old illustrator from Taiwan, was drawn to the area for its unique atmosphere. She chose Yangmeizhuxie street to set up her design studio, because "there are no tourist crowds or bustling commercial activity". "Art and design studios neighbor old siheyuan courtyard houses, which makes it comfortable to work and live here," she said. Yangmeizhuxie street is less than 500 meters long and recently received a face-lift as part of a plan to renovate the older parts of the city. More than 710 of the 1,711 families that lived there were moved out of the street, making space for cultural innovation companies, whose studios must fit in with the surrounding architecture. "Dashilan is promoting cultural innovation to attract more artists and help revitalize the area," said Jia Rong, director of the update plan. Wang Xiuren was born on Yangmeizhuxie street, where her ancestors have lived for 400 years. Her family used to run a drugstore, before it was bought by a traditional Chinese medicine company. The 72-year-old was one of the street's residents who chose not to leave Dashilan, opting instead to stay and run the two-story bookshop that she opened in 2004. "The business was not so good before, but I was not willing to leave this hutong," she said. As renovations began on the street outside, Wang decided to redesign her shop as well. On the ground floor, she opened a cafe, while on the second floor, she built a museum displaying items related to her family's old drugstore. "We can be creative while preserving our cultural tradition," she said. Yangmeizhuxie street's renovation plan is part of Beijing's moves to clear the capital of nonessential businesses and upgrade through cultural innovation. The central government has ordered Beijing, Tianjin and neighboring Hebei province to pursue coordinated development. According to a guideline released in April 2015, the political, cultural, international communication and technical innovation sectors will be prioritized, while others will be moved out of the capital. Page Content The regulatory framework around smart specialisation strategies (RIS3) needs to be reformed to increase synergies between the European Structural and Investment Funds and regional innovation and development policies, as well as to encourage interregional cooperation and the creation of value chains across European regions, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) argues in an opinion adopted today. The assembly of Europe's local and regional representatives recommends better coordination in the design, drafting, implementation, monitoring and follow-up of smart specialisation strategies, involving all relevant stakeholders at national, regional and local level. To increase synergies between regional innovation and development policies and financial instruments, the management of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) should be simplified and made more flexible to allow efficient application of funds to smart specialisation. Rapporteur Mikel Irujo Amezaga (ES/EA), Head of Navarra Delegation in Brussels, said: "I consider that RIS3 should not be restricted to matters of research, innovation and business development but should focus on more aspects of the economy. With our experience in Navarra, I would like to recommend the reform of the current regulatory framework, before the end of the 20142020 period, giving new impetus both to synergies between the ESIF and programmes and to interregional cooperation." The opinion suggests allocating more resources to Interreg Europe which provides a suitable framework for RIS3-related networking. Pilot projects for interregional cooperation could also be supported with appropriate ad hoc financing instruments combining grants and loans and public and private funding. "Creating critical mass at territorial level is essential if the EU and its industries are to be competitive on a global scale. Cities and regions are appropriate location for forging the necessary links between EU policies, industry, research centres, higher education institutions and citizens, but the regional strategies need to be more interconnected. This way we can enable the creation of value chains throughout the EU and prevent duplication in investment", rapporteur Irujo added. Markku Markkula , President of the European Committee of the Regions, stressed the importance of smart specialisation as an instrument for economic transformation and the renewal of Europe: ''Every region and city in Europe needs to have more strategic partnerships so they can make the most of the latest knowledge and technology. A lot of work has already been done to improve the take-up and implementation of smart specialisation strategies. However, we need to get more out of RIS3 by orchestrating existing projects and processes better. Co-creation should become a guiding principle for EU financing instruments and project evaluations. This will require a more entrepreneurial mind-set and smarter tools to support bottom-up movements." Ramon Luis Valcarcel Siso , Vice-President of the European Parliament and rapporteur of a , Vice-President of the European Parliament and rapporteur of a report on RIS3 adopted in April 2016, said at the plenary session: "We have to continue supporting RIS3 strategies to boost growth and jobs in Europe and to help cities and regions to tackle unemployment and build a stronger Union. In this regard, the CoR opinion is very important to continue monitoring the RIS3 process with the perspective of regional and local authorities." More information which will feed into a new communication on smart specialisation in May. This will be followed by a Smart Regions conference in Helsinki on 12 June. Smart specialisation provides a path for innovation-driven differentiation and economic transformation, building on local assets and comparative strengths. Having a research and innovation strategy for smart specialisation (RIS3) is a prerequisite to receiving funding from the European Regional Development Fund. The European Commission has launched a public consultation which will feed into a new communication on smart specialisation in May. This will be followed by a Smart Regions conference in Helsinki on 12 June. Contact: Lauri Ouvinen Tel. +32 22822063 lauri.ouvinen@cor.europa.eu Lauri OuvinenTel. Odor assessors use their sensitive noses to sniff out environmental violations Two odor assessors work in the laboratory at Chongqing Jiangbei Environment Monitoring Station.Provided To China Daily In the odor laboratory at Chongqing Jiangbei Environment Monitoring Station, a panel of six assessors prepare to evaluate gas samples based on their smell alone. For the next four to five hours, they cannot talk to each other and must individually assess each sample by the intensity of its odor, its duration and offensiveness. All they are allowed to drink is water and once the results of their assessments have been tallied, the outcomes will have legal validity and be used in environmental law enforcement. Odor assessment is one of the newer professions to emanate from China's burgeoning environmental-protection industry, as the world's second-largest economy looks to tackle its pollution problems. Despite technological advances, machines remain limited in their ability to detect and analyze odors - especially at low concentrations - so the human nose still has a part to play. It is estimated that more than 10,000 people work as odor assessors worldwide, and in Chongqing, there are nearly 100 of them based at various environment monitoring stations. The southwestern municipality, a traditional industrial hub, was one of the first Chinese cities to employ such professionals. Fu Ping, a 31-year-old chemistry major, started in the job six years ago. There are 11 assessors at her station, eight of whom are women. "We have to take a written test and a sniff test before we get our license," she said. "Most of the assessors are female because women who don't smoke or drink generally have a better sense of smell." Only nonsmoking teetotalers ages 18 to 45 can become odor assessors and their licenses have to be renewed every three years. The sniff test they have to complete involves identifying five different odors: flowers, cooked rice, fruit, sweat and feces. "It is not that difficult and anyone with a healthy nose can do it with proper training," Fu said. When working in the lab, the assessors cannot wear perfume or scented makeup and they need to avoid strongly flavored foods, such as those containing onion and garlic. They also, occasionally, need to possess a strong stomach. "One day I smelt too much ammonia (a gas with a strong, pungent odor) and I couldn't eat my lunch at all," Fu said. Mostly, the odor assessors test samples from factories, hospitals and sewage plants, but sometimes, the station also receives odor reports from the public. "When that happens, we first identify the source of the odor, take samples and evaluate them in the lab," said Men Qi, 30, another assessor at the Jiangbei station. She said the number of reports has fallen in recent years, thanks to a series of environmental protection policies and strong law enforcement. "The air quality is getting better and our job is getting easier now," she added. By Tian Xuefei in Harbin and Zheng Jinran in Beijing | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-03-23 10:04 An agricultural expert has called for stricter controls on the harvesting of wild rhododendrons after an online sales boom caused a large number to be cut down in Heilongjiang province. More than 190 stores on Taobao, the country's biggest online shopping platform, sell rhododendron branches, priced from 10 ($1.45) to 30 yuan each. They are advertised as flowering for up to four weeks if put in water and have even been claimed to have air-purifying qualities. According to a newspaper in the Daxinganling prefecture of Heilongjiang, where many of the plants originate, one Taobao shop sold more than 190,000 rhododendron branches in a single month earlier this year. But the rush to harvest the wild plants has caused scenes of devastation. Footage that has been circulated on social media shows a road in the area carpeted with discarded cuttings from the plants, with many being pulled up by the roots. "The booming business in these flowers must have triggered a mass cutting, which has devastated the province's stock," said Zhu Ning, a professor at Northeast Forestry University, in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang. "There should be strict controls to stop all this cutting and selling before it's too late." Zhu said wild rhododendrons grow at a rate of about 10 centimeters per year and cannot recover quickly from being chopped down en masse. Series of Haiyi underwater gliders are on display at a workshop in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province, on Dec 17, 2016. [Photo/VCG] A domestically developed underwater glider set a new world record by reaching a depth of 6,329 meters, breaking the previous record of 6,003 meters held by a US vessel, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The underwater glider named Haiyi, which means sea wings in Chinese, went underwater aboard the deep-sea submersible mother ship Tansuo-1 during a mission in the Mariana Trench early this month. Although oceans cover about 71 percent of the Earth, many parts, especially deep-sea areas, are still unexplored. By reaching 6,000 meters, Haiyi allows Chinese scientists to explore 97 percent of the maritime space. Haiyi, developed by the Shenyang Institute of Automation under CAS, is used in monitoring vast areas of the deep-sea environment, such as sea water temperature, salinity, turbidity, chlorophyll and oxygen content. During the recent mission, Haiyi, dived down 12 times and travelled about 130 kilometers, collecting high-resolution data for scientific research. The underwater glider, which carries lots of detectors, has a simple cylindrical body, with two small wings making it look like a small plane, and a long tail an antenna to send signals. Different from other underwater robots, the glider does not have a propeller but uses different method to move in water. In its body, there is an oil bag that works like fish bladder, and a moveable battery. The glider also has a special "coat" made of light carbon fiber material to protect it from the huge pressure in deep sea. When it glides down to 6,000 meters, the pressure could reach 60 MPa, which is similar to holding 60 ton weight on your palm. In Oct 2014, Haiyi swam 1,022.5 kilometers nonstop in 30 days during a test, setting a record in China for the longest time and distance covered by an underwater glider. BEIJING -- China will launch a new meteorological satellite in the second half of this year, which will be capable of detecting auroras, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced Thursday. The satellite, the country's fourth Fengyun-III meteorological satellite, is expected to improve weather disaster forecasting ability as well as environmental monitoring. Compared with its previous three Fengyun-IIIs, the new one will be more reliable, stable and accurate, as it will be equipped with several new remote sensors, according to CASC scientist Zhu Wei. The new satellite will carry sensors to detect changes in auroras and the ionosphere, and a microwave imager to provide constant all-weather monitoring of global weather indicators, Zhu said. China plans to launch another four Fengyun-IIIs in the future, helping shorten the interval between world weather forecast updates from six hours to four hours and double the frequency of updates for weather disaster monitoring. Fengyun satellites are a series of remote-sensing meteorological satellites developed by China. Fengyun-I and Fengyun-III are polar orbiting weather satellites, while Fengyun-II and Fengyun-IV operate in geostationary orbit. Previously, China has successfully launched 15 weather satellites. Sorbus cibagouensis sp. nov. (A) wild plant, (B) flower, (C) type specimen. Photographed by Zhao Mingxu. [Photo/ onlinelibrary.wiley.com ] Chinese scientists have found a new plant species belonging to the genus Sorbus in Zayu county, Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region, and their findings have been published by the Nordic Journal of Botany. Researchers Yin Zhijian and Zhao Mingxu, from China Forest Exploration & Design Institute in Kunming, joined in a comprehensive exploration team to study the Cibagou National Nature Reserve in Zayu in 2013 to find the new species. The genus Sorbus now has more than 250 species, widely spreading throughout the temperate regions of Asia, Europe and North America. China has 67 species and 43 of them are endemic, according to Flora of China. Many species of the genus could be used as ornamental plants with beautiful flowers and the pomes. The Cibagou reserve covers an area of about 101,400 square kilometers and spans an elevation of 1,500 to 6,167 meters above the sea level. Few researchers had collected specimens in the reserve before the exploration. Scientists collected the specimens of the new species in the mixed broadleaf-conifer forest about 2,600 meters to 2,950 meters above the sea level in the reserve. The new species is related to Sorbus monbeigii (Cardot) Balakr, a species found in northwestern part of Yunnan province, but it has five styles, one more than the former, and small stipules and more leaves. The new species has been named as Sorbus cibagouensis, which is related to where it was found, and it is the first plant species to be named after Cibagou reserve, which attempts to bring scientists' attention to the reserve. In fact, the new plant is the second new species found in Zayu. In 2013, Professor Sun Guozheng found a new frog species named as Amolops chayuensis in Zayu. Scientists in the comprehensive exploration in 2013 also found other 194 plant species for the first time in Zayu, 31 of which were for the first time recorded in Tibet. All outlets of one of Shanghai's most popular French bakeries, Farine, were closed on Thursday amid accusations it had been using expired flour and had sanitary issues. Farine's factory, which opened at the beginning of March on the outskirts of the city to meet surging demand, also suspended operations. "We received a tipoff on Monday from a person who provided their real name," said Wu Jun, a market administration supervisor in the city's Minhang district. "We found the expired flour and sealed the storage unit that same day." In total, 578 bags of expired flour that had been imported from France were found in Farine's factory, according to the administration. Inspectors said they believed it had been used to make baked goods. Xin Xiangrong, who described himself as the lead Chinese partner in the chain, denied selling products that were expired or subpar. He told China Daily that all four Farine branches had been closed voluntarily for an internal investigation to take place. A Weibo user who claims to have worked for the chain for four months took to the social media platform earlier this week to expose a number of alleged infractions. His post was accompanied by footage that he said had been filmed in the bakery's kitchen while he worked there. Farine was opened in 2012 by French restaurateur Franck Pecol. Aside from the bakery chain, Pecol also runs an ice cream stand, cafe and a bistro in Shanghai. A promotional campaign designed to encourage more Chinese business travelers to visit Thailand was launched in Shanghai on Wednesday. The "Thailand Connect: Your vibrant journey to business success" campaign will focus on promoting diverse destinations, business opportunities and the Thai people, according to Nooch Homrossukhon, director of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau's meetings and incentives department. Subsidy schemes will be offered to large events that feature more than 2,000 international delegates or that stay in at least two destinations for four nights or more, she said. Large groups in core industries, such as telecommunications, automobile and information technology will be the main focus in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou of Guangdong province, and the emerging IT and finance hub of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. China has been the main source of business for Thailand's expanding events industry since 2013, according to the bureau. The country received more than 1.2 million business event visitors between October 2015 and September 2016, according to the latest figures. President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, highlighted on Thursday the importance of ruling party exchanges amid the two sides' efforts to deepen comprehensive and strategic cooperation. Both leaders sent congratulatory letters to the sixth meeting of the China-Russia ruling party dialogue mechanism and the fifth China-Russia political party forum held in the Russian city of Kazan. In his letter, Xi said he and Putin have reached an important consensus that the two countries should uphold the spirit of strategic cooperation and everlasting friendship and firmly deepen the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination. Xi noted that the Communist Party of China and the United Russia party have maintained frequent close exchanges, which has made positive contributions to strengthening both parties' development, boosting bilateral strategic mutual trust, pushing forward pragmatic cooperation between the two countries and safeguarding global peace. After development of nearly 10 years, the China-Russia ruling party dialogue mechanism and the China-Russia political party forum have become important platforms for the frequent exchanges between the two parties, Xi said, adding that the meeting and the forum will push forward practical cooperation between the two countries. Putin said in his letter that the Russia-China relationship has reached an unprecedented high level, which he called a good example for cooperation between great powers. The joint efforts made by Moscow and Beijing in addressing major regional and global issues have become a key factor to safeguard world peace and stability, he said. The ruling party exchanges are key parts of the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership of coordination, Putin said, adding that the two parties have maintained fruitful exchanges in the areas of legislation and party establishment. A rising number of Chinese are looking overseas to realize their dream of having a second child. Shan Juan reports. Since China implemented the universal second-child policy at the beginning of last year, more than half of the 90 million newly eligible couples include women age 35 or older, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. Geng Linlin, deputy director of the clinical center at the commission's scientific research institute, said many of these women are past prime fertility so they find it difficult to have a second baby. Fertility declines as women age, according to Geng, who added that nearly 90 percent of women age 45 and older are unable to conceive or carry a pregnancy to full term. Moreover, women age 35 and older stand a greater risk of miscarriage. Other factors, such as environmental pollution, the widespread use of chemicals and exposure to electromagnetic radiation, can also affect people's ability to reproduce. The World Health Organization estimates that 15 to 20 percent of the global population is infertile, which translates to about 15 million couples in China. "Declining human fertility has become a social problem," said Wang Lina, a veteran fertility specialist at the Peking University Third Hospital in Beijing. She pointed to altruistic surrogacywhere the surrogate mother receives no financial rewardas a new option, particularly for women who are unable to become pregnant because of physical limitations but still long to have a second child. At present, the only regulation governing surrogacy was issued by the commission, the nation's top health authority, in 2001. It prohibits medical facilities and professionals from performing any form of surrogacy. Since then, the government has repeatedly launched raids on underground clinics across the country, but the "womb business" has never ceased completely. However, largely as a result of the government ban, a rising number of well-to-do Chinese have begun to seek surrogacy services in countries where the procedure is legal and is performed under the correct conditions. Kong: Skull Island, starring Tom Hiddleston and Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson, will hit Chinese mainland theaters on Friday. [Photo provided to China Daily] It took Tom Hiddleston nearly an hour to walk across a few meters of red carpet to get to a Beijing hall. Screaming fans scrambled for autographs and photos, and became more excited after hearing the star greet them in Mandarin. Hiddleston, who has a huge fan base in China thanks to his role as Loki, a villain from Marvel's Thor franchise, recently returned to China to promote his latest movie. This Friday, Kong: Skull Island will hit Chinese mainland theaters, two weeks after its US release on March 10. In the film, the British actor plays a former British Special Air Service tracker who escorts a team to an island with giant prehistoric animals. Hiddleston was in town with Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson, Samuel Jackson and Chinese mainland actress Jing Tian to promote the upcoming fantasy adventure directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, on March 16 and 17. In the latest movieunlike previous King Kong films, which would bring the iconic beast from the wild to New York cityall the monsters and the conflicts are restricted to the uncharted Skull Island. "Well, no Empire State Building (the iconic structure in the first 1933 movie King Kong directed by Merian Cooper). The Kong in this movie is about half the size of the building," says Hiddleston. Kong, standing more than 30 meters tall in the new remake, is the biggest the monster has been in the franchise's 84-year-long history. Zhang Yi, conductor of the NCPA orchestra. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily] The National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra will make its first foray into the Arab world by staging two concerts at the Abu Dhabi Festival on Friday and Saturday. It will present Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2 with pianist Zhang Haochen and Dvorak Symphony No 9 in E Minor under conductor Zhang Yi's baton on Friday. The orchestra will also perform Bach's Chaconne in D Minor, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suite and The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto with violinist Lyu Siqing. "The pieces we'll perform are well-known and classic," says Zhang Yi, who's one of China's most influential young conductors. "The NCPA orchestra is still young. Some of the most talented young Chinese musicians perform in the orchestra, and they'll display the high level of classical music in China." The NCPA orchestra was founded in 2010three years after the iconic namesake venue's opening. It performs regularly for the center's operatic productions and has worked with world-renowned maestros such as Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta and Christoph Eschenbach. It performed with the Mariinsky Orchestra at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall under the baton of conductor Valery Gergiev in Moscow in 2015. The NCPA orchestra will launch its second North American tour this year. It performed in seven US and Canadian cities under conductor Lyu Jia in 2014. Zhang Yi notes that The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concertoa masterpiece by Chinese composers He Zhanhao and Chen Gangis on the program list at the Abu Dhabi Festival committee's request. "The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto is the most famous Chinese violin concerto," says Zhang Yi. "It's not just a significant piece in China but also played by musicians from around the world." Celebrated violinist Lyu Siqing says: "I've toured with the NCPA orchestra many times. As far as I can recall, we performed The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto every time. I've never performed in the Middle East and, along with the NCPA orchestra, I'm very excited to play for new audiences in Abu Dhabi." He has performed in dozens of countries with celebrated musicians. The annual Abu Dhabi Festival has invited top artists and troupes from around the globe to promote cultural communication since its 2004 founding. Highlights of this year include performances by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, and US jazz musician Wynton Marsalis. A three-week long festival was announced Wednesday in Liverpool to celebrate the release 50 years ago of the iconic album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The record, by the Beatles, has been hailed as the world's first art rock, with its album cover one of the most recognizable cover ever produced. Music industry experts have described Sgt Pepper's as one of the world's most influential albums of all time, also regarded as the best ever rock and roll album. Fans of the Beatles from across the world are expected to gather in Liverpool for the festival which runs from May 25 until June 16, with events taking place across the city. Former Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney, has given his thumbs up to the festival. The festival, Sgt Pepper at 50: Heading for Home, will use each track on the iconic album as the creative springboard for 13 brand new events. It will include world premiere commissions, with a mixture of large and intimate events covering art, dance, music, poetry and theater. A spokeswoman for Liverpool City Council said: "There will be performances, installations, live spectacle and moments of surprise across the city, as the spotlight will fall on Liverpool to celebrate a record which broke the mould and changed music forever." Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson, said: "Sgt. Pepper pushed creative boundaries and we want to do exactly the same -- this is a festival which brings high-end art in to the mainstream and gives it a Liverpool twist which is thought-provoking, sometimes cheeky and always entertaining." Conceptually driven by artistic directors Sean Doran and Liam Browne, the festival will see the involvement of international names such as GroupeF (the organisation behind several Olympic and Paralympic closing ceremonies), Mark Morris Dance Group (one of the world's leading dance companies), Judy Chicago (iconic American feminist artist), John Cage (one of the American greats of experimental music), Jeremy Deller (Turner Prize winning conceptual artist), author Frank Cottrell-Boyce, DJ Spooky (American composer) as well some of the very best Indian musicians in the world such as Grammy award winner Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. One mass participation city-wide event will celebrate the song, When I'm Sixty-Four. It will see 64 choirs, of all ages, all performing the song at the same time at different location across Liverpool. The album was released on June 1, 1967 and spent more than six months at the top of the music charts in Britain, and spent 15 weeks as the number one album in the US. It won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, the first rock album to receive this honor. Related: Rare color photos of The Beatles to go up for sale Few know the Beatles as well as Mark Lewisohn Van Gogh Museum director Axel Rueger (left) stands next to the recovered View of the Sea at Scheveningen. [Photo/Agencies] The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam welcomed home two paintings by the Dutch master on Tuesday, more than 14 years after they were ripped off the museum's wall in a nighttime heist. "They're back," says museum director Axel Rueger. He calls their return one of the "most special days in the history of our museum". The paintings, the 1882 View of the Sea at Scheveningen, and 1884-85 work Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, were discovered last year by Italian police investigating suspected Italian mobsters for cocaine trafficking. It wasn't an easy find. The two paintings were wrapped in cotton sheets, stuffed in a box and hidden behind a wall in a toilet, says Gianluigi D'Alfonso of the Italian financial police, who was on hand at the museum to watch the ceremonial unveiling. They were found in a farmhouse near Naples as Italian police seized some 20 million euros ($21.59 million) worth of assets, including villas, apartments and even a small airplane. Investigators contend the assets are linked to two Camorra drug kingpins, Mario Cerrone and Raffaele Imperiale. "After years shrouded in darkness, they can now shine again," Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker said as an orange screen slid away to reveal the two paintings behind a glass wall. Italy's Interior Minister Angelino Alfano says last year the paintings were "considered among the artworks most searched for in the world, on the FBI's list of the Top 10 art crimes". They are now back on display at the museum before being taken to its conservation studio for repair, although they suffered remarkably little damage as thieves who had clambered up a ladder and smashed a window to get into the museum in 2002 ripped them out of their frames and fled. "It is not only a miracle that the works have been recovered, but it's even more miraculous almost that they are in relatively unharmed condition," Rueger says. The two small works are not typical of Van Gogh's later and better-known works, but are still vital pieces for the museum's collection, Rueger says. Rueger says the paintings are now back for good at a museum, which is home to dozens of works by Van Gogh, whose paintings fetch millions of dollars on the rare occasions they come up for auction. ASSOCIATED PRESS Food safety administration staffs inspect a restaurant in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, on Nov 10, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua] The Ministry of Public Security says that last year it cracked down on 12,000 food-related crimes and 8,500 crimes related to pharmaceutical drugs and smashed a number of unlicensed workshops and sales networks. The ministry said it will further intensify its crackdown and work with relevant departments to hold legally accountable those responsible for crimes related to food and pharmaceutical drugs, and it will push for the improvement of judicial interpretations so that the law can better play its role as a deterrent. The safety of food and pharmaceutical drugs has long been a concern because of the number of exposes of unsafe or counterfeit food and medicines in recent years. These have sparked ever-growing calls for the authorities to deal a sterner blow to such activities. The ministry's push to make the production of fake food and medicines a crime covered by the Criminal Law undoubtedly conforms to public expectations for those responsible for putting their health at risk to receive harsher penalties. China has put in place a relatively developed legal system to combat food and drugs counterfeiting, but both the amendment to Criminal Law and the new Food Safety Law fail to stipulate specific penalties for those producing adulterated and counterfeit products. Such a legal vacuum has left space for producers of counterfeit food and pharmaceuticals to dodge their deserved criminal responsibilities. Thus, it is necessary for the authorities to add targeted clauses to the country's laws. Stricter laws and penalties are not the only recipe for eradicating fake foods and pharmaceutical drugs, but they will deter some from getting involved. Given that the manufacturing of fake and shoddy foods and pharmaceutical drugs has escalated to be a major threat to public health, lowering the threshold for their definition as a crime is thus of practical significance. The latest move by the Ministry of Public Security not only goes some way to meeting public expectations but also manifests the government's firmer determination to protect people from harmful food and pharmaceutcal products. The death of 15-year-old Lei Wenfeng at a care center for vagrants in Xinfeng, South China's Guangdong province, in December, which was only recently reported by the media, has uncovered serious problems at the government-funded institution. The boy, who had autism, got lost after leaving home in August. He was alive and well when aid workers sent him to the care center in October. Yet just over a month later he was dead from typhoid fever. Worse, it has been revealed his death was only the tip of an iceberg. According to media reports, a local undertaker received 20 bodies from the center over 49 days from January to February. It turns out the Xinfeng center, which opened in 2010 and housed more than 700 vagrants before its closure on March 2, should never have been allowed to operate as it failed to meet the standards required of such institutions. An initial investigation has highlighted poor management, if not deliberate neglect, at the center, pointing to the inadequate food and firefighting equipment, grisly hygiene conditions, and absence of measures and facilities to protect against infectious diseases, the cause of many of the deaths at the facility. Yet the center reportedly made profits of more than 2 million yuan ($290,000) a year. It is not hard to infer that State funds might have been diverted into private pockets at the expense of the welfare of inmates. The fact that some government officials and their relatives were found to be involved in its operation may explain why local authorities turned a blind eye to what happened at the center. Vagrants are an especially vulnerable group on the lowest rung of the social ladder. Many of them are found to be in a poor physical and mental condition, making the task of taking care of them especially daunting. This requires cross-agency collaboration between the civil affairs, public health and public security authorities, which remains scarce, if not nonexistent, in many places in the country. That was partly to blame for the death of Lei, for although his parents had reported he was missing to the police and he was registered at the care center, the police and the care center did not inform each other. That the Ministry of Civil Affairs launched nationwide inspections of similar institutions on Wednesday is a positive move, as the tragedy has prompted the government to give more attention to this vulnerable group and overhaul the current outdated system for assisting vagrants. People gather to protest the land swap contract between the military and Lotte Group in Seoul, South Korea, Feb 27, 2017. [Photo/VCG] The United States and the Republic of Korea began their annual military exercises, codenamed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, on the Korea Peninsula earlier this month. Simultaneously, the US has resorted to war rhetoric, fueling concerns over the already volatile situation on the peninsula. While the Key Resolve is a computer-simulated exercise and will last two weeks, Foal Eagle will continue until April with thousands of US and ROK troops taking part in it, and the scale of the drills is unprecedented. In a related development, during his first visit to Seoul last week, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Donald Trump administration will take "a different approach" to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear issue, stressing that "all options are on table", including military action, though he added that that was not the desired option. Tillerson's remarks mark a major departure from the decades-old US policy on the DPRK, which has been a combination of containment and on-and-off engagement. The US has used economic sanctions and political pressure in the past in response to the DPRK's nuclear and missile tests. And once the US decides to not tolerate the DPRK's provocations, the Korea Peninsula will be one step closer to war. This scenario will benefit none of the stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region, as its consequences will be unbearable to all. As a close neighbor of the DPRK, China has repeatedly urged the other stakeholders to exercise utmost restraint and refrain from making any more reckless moves. Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently put forward a new proposal to break the impasse on the peninsula. He urged the DPRK to suspend its nuclear and missile programs, while asking the US and the ROK to halt their large-scale military exercises. But, so far, China's suggestion has not elicited any positive response. Obviously, Washington and Seoul are stuck in a vicious circleof responding to an arms threat with a counter-threat. The decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in the ROK is the result of this mindset, and gives the DPRK an excuse to continue pursuing its nuclear and missile programs. The decision to deploy THAAD has also become a sticking point in Beijing-Seoul relations, as China sees it as a tool to spy on the Chinese territory. And a deterioration in Beijing-Seoul ties serves the interests of neither country and may cast a shadow on East Asia cooperation as well. China is the ROK's largest trading partner, the largest destination for its overseas investment and its largest source of overseas students. Also, the ROK is one of China's most important partners in investment and trade and people-to-people exchanges. Beijing-Seoul ties are passing through a difficult phase as a result of the ROK agreeing with the US to deploy THAAD disregarding China's genuine concerns and interests. Many in China also believe THAAD is part of the "pivot" to Asia policy of the previous US administration, which still serves Washington's purpose of hedging against Beijing. In recent years, the US has strengthened its military alliances in the Asia-Pacific apparently to contain China's rise. And there is little doubt that the US' military alliances with the ROK and Japan have assumed greater importance for implementing its regional strategy. By deploying the anti-missile system in China's neighborhood, the US can complete the missing link in its global missile defense system as well as contribute to its strategic maneuvering in the Asia-Pacific. What the US allies don't realize is that, after becoming the US' partners in its strategic games, they will have to face the backlash of countries like China and Russia in the region. Seoul's icy relations with Beijing are a case in point. The onus is on Washington and Seoul to change the situation; they should have faith in negotiation, as it is the only way the DPRK can be made to see the necessity and importance of peace. Using war rhetoric and taking provocative actions will lead us nowhere. The author is a senior writer with China Daily. wanghui@chinadaily.com.cn Graphic T-shirt designs should not be used as a shield for racism, and the "open platform principle" an excuse to evade corporate responsibility. But spreadshirt.com CEO Philip Rooke doesn't seem to believe in such universal norms. The Leipzig-based German company he manages allows customers to design and sell T-shirts even with catchphrases like "Save a dog, eat a Chinese" and "Save a shark, eat a Chinese". These T-shirts, designed by two of spreadshirt.com's customers who could be identified only as Quentin1984 and Monigote, went on sale nearly a month ago and they are still selling despite the strong protests of Chinese people and the Chinese embassy in Berlin on March 10. In a statement issued on the same day, Rooke said: "We do not judge or censor designs based on their phrasing, social, or political leanings. This open platform principle will mean that, in a few cases, some people may find a design controversial while others do not ... I apologize to anyone who takes any offense" from the designs. Given the company's stance, it is not surprising that its website also sells T-shirts designed by others that many would find offensive and racist. What if one of the company's customers designed and sold T-shirts with pro-Nazi or pro-terrorism catchphrases? Adolf Hitler believed till the last minute of his life the cause for which he had wreaked havoc on the world was just. So did Osama bin Laden. Does Rooke also describe their beliefs as just "controversies"? Do the actions of the man who drove a heavy-duty truck into a crowd of Christmas shoppers in Berlin on Dec 19, killing 12 people, and the group of terrorists that gunned down 132 people in Paris in November 2015 also fit into Rooke's standard of "controversy"? If the answer is "yes", German authorities have enough reason to immediately launch a probe into the company and prevent it from spreading more racist, religious and cultural hatred. Going by Rooke's criterion, even the racial discrimination black people in South Africa and the United States suffered could be just a "controversy", because some whites believe that people of different complexions should be treated differently. People do have the freedom to express their ideas through designs. Yet there is no reason why the protection of animals' rights should come at the cost of vilifying nearly one-fifth of the world's population. E-commerce companies such as spreadshirt.com are bound by the same legal duties, and social and moral norms, as other enterprises. And the "open platform principle" cannot by any means be an excuse for spreading hatred against a group of people, whether big or small. That many Chinese have collected piles of data to show the consumptions of dog meat and shark fin have dropped remarkably in China is not the point of the argument, because the crux of the matter here is not food but business ethics. If the Chinese embassy's protest falls on deaf ears, filing a lawsuit against the company would be the most rational choice. The fact that it may take a court, not common or collective sense, to tell the difference between racism and "controversy", has already tarnished Germany's image among many Chinese people. According to German statistics authorities, the trade volume between Germany and China reached about 170 billion ($183 billion) last year, and China overtook the United States and France to become Germany's largest trade partner. Given these facts, the German government cannot afford to overlook the T-shirt incident; instead, it must take immediate action against the company and address Chinese people's feelings. The author is a writer with China Daily. liyang@chinadaily.com.cn A Chinese worker processes steel at a factory in Qingdao city, East China's Shandong province, July 1, 2016. [Photo/IC] President Xi Jinping has always given importance to the revival of Northeast China. He has delivered a series of speeches on how to revitalize the region, and at this year's annual sessions of China's top legislature and top political advisory body, he emphasized the importance of boosting the real economy in the traditional industrial base. Recent years have seen the central government paying greater attention to the revival of the old industrial base and implementing a new strategy in 2003 to revitalize Northeast China. The central government issued the 13th Five-Year Plan of Northeast China Revitalization, too, in 2016, and vowed to revive the real economy and cultivate new economic engines in the region. The authorities must also ensure the manufacturing sector is at the core of the strategy to revitalize the real economy in Northeast China. Although manufacturing in the region has made some progress during the past more than one decade, it still lags behind the manufacturing sectors of the eastern and southeastern coastal areas. And accelerating the economy's upgrading and transformation is key to the further development of Northeast China's manufacturing sector. The implementation of Made in China 2025 and Internet Plus offers a golden opportunity for Northeast China to revive its manufacturing sector. How to effectively use the region's industrial base and mature industrial human resources to expedite the development of intelligent manufacturing and emerging industries, as well as elevate the region's manufacturing sector to the medium and high end of the industrial and value chains, is a big challenge for the region's enterprises. For the transformation and upgrading of the region's manufacturing sector, we have to improve the internal development base. First, Northeast China's enterprises should improve their technological innovation capacity. Since innovation is key to upgrading, enterprises have to constantly develop new products through innovation to meet consumers' demands. The competitive edge of enterprises should be based on technology and quality rather than low cost, for which they have to earmark more funds for research and development, improve their innovation-incentive mechanisms, create new innovative platforms and integrate their innovative resources. Second, the internal structural adjustment of Northeast China's manufacturing enterprises should be intensified. Compared with enterprises in the eastern coastal region, those in Northeast China face a bigger overcapacity problem. So the region's enterprises should expedite the process of reducing overcapacity, improve the capacity utilization rate, help develop strategic emerging industries, and promote the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing sector. Third, managers of enterprises in the northeastern region should encourage the craftsmanship spirit for their long-term development. In addition, employees should also be allowed to give full play to their creativity and grow together with their enterprises. Moreover, the government should create a good systematic environment for Northeast China's manufacturing transformation and upgrading. Revitalizing Northeast China's manufacturing sector requires the central government to provide funds, support large-scale projects, and build an investment-friendly environment for all parties. The government has to further streamline the administration and delegate more powers to lower-level governments and promote mixed-ownership reform for the revival of Northeast China, because that will reduce government intervention in enterprises' normal production and operation activities, and allow the market to play a greater role in the economy. Besides, mixed ownership reform can revitalize State-owned enterprises in Northeast China, promote private investment and private businesses. The government also should further cut taxation and fees (and there is enough room for it to do so) in order to reduce the burden on enterprises. Also, it should either withdraw or regulate the arbitrary charges imposed on enterprises in Northeast China. All these will help reduce the burden on enterprises, create more room for their self-development and attract investment for the manufacturing sector. The author is a researcher at Chinese Enterprise Confederation. Police tapes off Parliament Square after reports of loud bangs, in London, Britain, March 22, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] Just three days before 27 European Union leaders gather in Rome on Saturday to celebrate the EU's 60th birthday, a "terrorist incident" described by London police happened near the British Parliament Buildings on Wednesday afternoon. The incident, which happened to take place at the one year anniversary of the Brussels airport attack, highlighted the shadow cast over Europe because of terrorism threats. No wonder the EU has divided on many problems such as migration. The incident also happened at a time when the United Kingdom is preparing to start the process of formally exiting the EU. The atmosphere of Rome summit will be somber and restrained, as the UK will start official Brexit negotiations between the UK and the EU on March 29. The UK's decision to leave the EU was a shock but now the 27 member states have to focus on how to rekindle public support for the integration process that has helped bring peace and prosperity to Europe for more than half a century. There are many problems facing the EU, including populism, migration pressures and slow economic growth. But the defeat of populist Geert Wilders in the Dutch elections last week could mark a reversal of the populist tide in the EU. Next month, France goes to the polls, and far-right leader Marine Le Pen trails centrist leader Emmanuel Macron in the run-up to the first round. This suggests Le Pen's chances of winning the first round are diminishing, and she may not win the second round either. In Germany, where elections will be held in September, the left- and right-wing populists are unlikely to challenge the dominance of the centrist Christian Democratic Union and Social Democratic Party. The number of migrants in the EU is also down while economic growth is slowly picking up. The International Monetary Fund forecasts EU growth at 1.2 percent in 2017, which may not be great compared to China but suggests the bloc is moving in the right direction, and importantly unemployment is falling. Although the EU will not be ready to take any major steps forward until after all the elections this year, it is clear that the bloc will maintain its multi-speed approach. The EU also has to cope with a US administration that is turning its back on globalization. United States President Donald Trump's "America First" policy has serious consequences for the global economy. Despite strong pressure from the EU (and China), US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin refused to endorse the standard language in favor of free trade at the G20 finance ministers meeting in Germany last week. Trump attacked Germany's trade surplus when he met German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently and called for a new bilateral trade deal. Merkel had to remind him that it was the EU that negotiated trade deals, not the individual member states. It remains to be seen how Trump approaches his possible meeting with President Xi Jinping next month given the amount of "China bashing" during the election campaign. The EU will thus remain a champion of globalization and seek allies such as China to reject protectionism. In addition, the EU will continue to support regional integration in other parts of the world from ASEAN in Southeast Asia to Mercosur in South America to the Economic Community of West African States in Africa. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom agreed one week ago in the Philippines to restart negotiations for an EU-ASEAN trade deal while talks are continuing this week on an EU-Mercosur deal. And trade deals with India, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand have either been signed or are in the pipeline. The EU is also sharing its expertise in integration with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other regional organizations. Given the differences among the ASEAN members, there is no possibility of it just copying what the EU has done. But it can learn how the EU managed to move from a customs union to a single market and cherry pick ideas for its own ASEAN Economic Community. As a mature 60-year old, the EU can look back with quiet confidence on its achievements, promoting peace and prosperity throughout the continent based on democracy and a common set of laws. It is the main pillar of globalization and it can still offer much useful advice to regional groupings. The birthday boy deserves a toast despite challenges. The author is director of the EU-Asia Centre in Brussels. Representatives from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Confucius Institute of the University of Michigan pose for a group photo during the SCM delegation's visit to UM from March 5 to 11. [Photo provided to study-shanghai.org] A group of teachers and students from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (SCM) visited the University of Michigan (UM) in the US for several days of academic and musical discussions from March 5 to 11. Representatives from the two schools found harmony on a range of issues, while sharing their ideas on best practice regarding student assessment, enrollment and school management. The two sides' discussions of music were equally productive, with talks ranging from traditional Chinese musical styles and instruments to the development of modern art in China. Professors from SCM share in-depth ideas on music with their US counterparts during their visit to the University of Michigan from March 5 to 11. [Photo provided to study-shanghai.org] A lecture given by professor Zhao Weiping on the revitalization of popular music styles in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) aroused great interest among his US counterparts, while the leader of the Chinese delegation, professor Yang Yandi, gave an overview of the development of China's piano music over the past century and expressed his concern about the fusion and collision between Chinese and Western styles. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement at Downing street in London, Britain, March 22, 2017 following the attack in Westminster. [Photo/Agencies] LONDON - Theresa May's thoughts are with those killed and injured in an attack close to parliament and the British prime minister is being kept updated with developments, her office said on Wednesday. Four people were killed and at least 20 injured after a car ploughed into pedestrians and an attacker stabbed a policeman, in what police called a terrorist incident. "The thoughts of the PM and the government are with those killed and injured in this appalling incident, and with their families," her office said in a statement. "The PM is being kept updated and will shortly chair COBR," the statement said, referring to a meeting of the government's emergency security committee to be held later on Wednesday. Reuters Queen Mathilde of Belgium (L) and King Philippe of Belgium (R) attend the inauguration of a steel memorial at the heart of the European Union institutions based in Brussels as the country marks the first anniversary of the twin Brussels attacks by Islamic extremists on March 22, 2017. Belgium marks the first anniversary of the Islamic State bombings in Brussels, one at the airport and the other in the metro, in which 32 people were killed and more than 320 wounded. Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes (R-CA) questions FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers during a hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, March 20, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] WASHINGTON Private communications of Donald Trump and his presidential transition team may have been scooped up by American intelligence officials monitoring other targets and improperly distributed throughout spy agencies, the chairman of the House intelligence committee said Wednesday an extraordinary public airing of often-secret information that brought swift protests from Democrats. Republican Rep. Devin Nunes' comments led the committee's ranking Democrat, Adam Schiff, to renew his party's calls for an independent probe of Trump campaign links to Russia in addition to the GOP-led panel's investigation. Schiff also said he had seen "more than circumstantial evidence" that Trump associates colluded with Russia. In back-to-back news conferences at the Capitol and then the White House where he had privately briefed the president Nunes said he was concerned by officials' handling of the communications in the waning days of the Obama administration. He said the surveillance was conducted legally and did not appear to be related to the current FBI investigation into Trump associates' contacts with Russia or with any criminal warrants. And the revelations, he said, did nothing to change his assessment that Trump's explosive allegations about wiretaps at Trump Tower were false. Still, the White House immediately seized on his statements in what appeared to be a coordinated public display. Moments after Nunes spoke on Capitol Hill, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer read his statements from the White House briefing room podium. The California congressman quickly headed up Pennsylvania Avenue to personally brief the president and to address reporters outside the West Wing. Nunes' decision to brief the president was particularly unusual, given Trump almost certainly has access to the information from his intelligence agencies. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said Nunes' disclosure could be a "weapon of mass distraction" in light of allegations of coordination between Russians and the Trump campaign during the 2016 campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton. "This could be a lot of theatrics," said Speier, also a member of the House intelligence committee. "This is a bizarre situation," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said in an interview on MSNBC. "I'm calling for a select committee because I think this back-and-forth shows that Congress no longer has the credibility handle this alone."Outside the White House, Nunes said, "What I've read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team."Trump said he felt "somewhat" vindicated by the Republican's revelations. "I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found," he said. Flowers are laid at the scene after an attack on Westminster Bridge in London, Britain, March 22, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] President Xi Jinping sent condolences on Thursday to Britain's Queen Elizabeth following the terror attack in London. In the message to the queen, the president strongly condemned the attack, and offered his profound condolences and sincere sympathy to families and loved ones of the victims and the injured. Xi said terrorism is the common enemy of the international community and China is firmly opposed to terrorism of any form. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with the United Kingdom and the international community, and will strive to safeguard the security of both countries and the world at large, he said. An armed police officer stands on Whitehall the morning after an attack by a man driving a car and weilding a knife left five people dead and dozens injured, in London, Britain, March 23, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] LONDON - British police have arrested seven people in the investigation into an attacker who killed three people and injured about 40 before being shot to death by police, Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer said on Thursday. Mark Rowley said the latest figures were that there were four dead including the attacker and 29 people being treated in hospital, seven of whom were in a critical condition. Police had said late on Wednesday that the death toll was five. Rowley said police had searched addresses in London, Birmingham and other parts of the country in their investigation. "It is still our belief ... that this attacker acted alone and was inspired by international terrorism. At this stage we have no specific information about further threats to the public," Rowley said. He said there was a mix of nationalities among the dead but gave no details. The victims were a policeman who was stabbed and two members of the public, a woman in her mid-40s and a man in his mid-50s. The fourth dead was the assailant. Police believe they know the identity of the attacker but have not named him. The attack on Wednesday started when the assailant sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, ramming pedestrians along the way. He then ran towards parliament and stabbed the policeman before he was shot. Three French high-school students aged 15 or 16, who were on a school trip to London with fellow students from Brittany, were among the injured. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was expected to arrive in London to visit them at hospital, French media reported. Westminster Bridge remained cordoned off with a strong police presence. The nearby Westminster underground train station, normally a busy hub in the morning rush hour, was not accessible from street level as it was within the cordon. Parliament was due to convene later in what Prime Minister Theresa May said late on Wednesday was a sign that the attack would not disrupt British democracy or normal life in the capital. Reuters LONDON -- A Chinese national has been injured in Wednesday's terrorist attack outside the parliament compound in London, the Chinese Embassy confirmed Thursday. The latest information on the embassy's website warns Chinese nationals in Britain to avoid going to crowded places and going out alone at night. Five people were killed and around 40 injured in Wednesday's London terrorist attack which British Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as "sick and depraved." Seven of the injured remained in critical condition, according to London police authorities. In the latest development, seven people were arrested following the raids. But police declined to say whether the raids were connected to the Westminster attack. Police officers salute during a minute's silence outside New Scotland Yard the morning after an attack by a man driving a car and weilding a knife left five people dead and dozens injured, in London, Britain, March 23, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] Chinas president condemns London attack and says terrorism is a common enemy President Xi Jinping sent his condolences on Thursday to Queen Elizabeth II following Wednesdays terror attack in London that left four people dead, including the assailant. In his message, the president strongly condemned the attack, which targeted Britons and foreign nationals alike, and offered his profound condolences and sincere sympathy to the families and loved ones of those who were killed or injured. Xi said terrorism was the common enemy of the international community, and noted that China was firmly opposed to it, in all its forms. British police named the attacker as KahlidMasood, 52, who was originally from the southeast of England but who had been living in Birmingham. They said he had a string of criminal convictions that started in 1983 and continued to 2003, ranging from criminal damage to assault, but that he did not have convictions related to terrorism. British Prime Minister Theresa May said Masood, who was born in Britain, had been investigated for his extremism by British security services but was regarded as a peripheral figure who showed no signs of wanting to carry out attacks. May, who was rushed to safety from the House of Commons as the attack unfolded, had earlier told Parliament that the incident on Wednesday was an attack on free people everywhere, and she thanked friends around the world whohad stood with the UK. British police made eight arrests on Thursday in connection with the attack, during raids on six locations in London and Britains second-biggest city, Birmingham. Masood was fatally shot after he drove his car at pedestrians and then stabbed a police officer to death as he tried to enter Parliament. The Islamic State group said on Thursday the attack was carried out by one of its soldiers, although there was no indication it knew Masoods identity. The IS-linked Aamaq news agency said on Thursday the attacker carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of the coalition, referring to the group of countries fighting IS. Meanwhile, Premier Li Keqiang, who is on a trip to Australia, said on Thursday he had sent his condolences to Prime Minister May, expressing a strong condemnation of the attack. Michael Fallon, the UK defense minister, told the BBC the attacker was believed to have been an Islamist extremist, but the investigation was continuing. He said Parliament and all aspects of life in London were continuing as normal on Thursday. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives in the Australian capital of Canberra Wednesday night for an official visit. [Photo/Xinhua] Premier suggests China, Australia explore new areas to aid growth Premier Li Keqiang said he is confident that China and Australia will work together and jointly help to counter global instability through steady development and cooperation in a signed newspaper article on Wednesday. "We have seen in practice how the trend of economic globalization has become closely interconnected with, even inseparable from, peace, development and cooperation," he said in the article, titled "We want to work with you for progress and peace" and published in The Australian. Li arrived in Australia's capital, Canberra, on Wednesday night, kicking off official visits to Australia and New Zealand, the first trip by a Chinese premier to the two Oceanian countries in 11 years. Li said China and Australia have gradually built up trust and have properly managed disagreements in the spirit of equality and mutual respect over the past 45 years, rising above differences in national conditions and systems. The premier suggested there is more cooperation to be explored in new areas such as industrial capacity and third-party markets, energy and mining technologies, infrastructure and agriculture and animal husbandry, which will bring more benefits to residents of the two nations and help boost world economic growth. "I am fully confident that China and Australia will continue to move forward in our own way while working with each other, and jointly help to counter global instability with the stability that is created through our steady development and cooperation," he wrote. "China and Australia should follow the region's trend of peace, development and cooperation, join hands to take concrete actions and send positive signals to stabilize market expectations, convey confidence and contribute our share to the region and beyond," he added. This year marks the China-Australia Year of Tourism. The premier said he hopes both sides will take this as an opportunity to further facilitate travel between the two nations. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in a statement on his official website ahead of Li's trip that he welcomed the visit, which "will highlight Australia's strong economic relationship with China and mutual commitment to encouraging trade and investment in our region". "Both our economies are in the midst of important transitions, creating new opportunities for collaboration in services, innovation and investment. Premier Li and I will announce the next stage of ChAFTA's evolution to respond to these emerging opportunities," he said. Su Hao, a professor of Asia-Pacific studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said China and Australia share broad common interests in multilateral regional economic mechanisms such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. "This is especially important to boost regional economic integration to tackle moves toward protectionism," he said. "Maritime security, such as search and rescue operations and fighting piracy, is another area where the two countries can work together," Su said. mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Australia's Governor-General Peter Cosgrove on Thursday in Canberra. [Photo/Xinhua] China and Australia agreed to boost cooperation and exchanges in various fields while jointly opposing rising protectionism, Premier Li Keqiang said when meeting with Australia's Governor-General Peter Cosgrove on Thursday in Canberra. Without peace and stability comes no welfare for the people, and China is willing to work with Australia in safeguarding regional stability and world peace while jointly opposing protectionism and building an open global economy, Li said. Cosgrove said recent years have seen frequent high-level exchanges between the two countries, with expanded dialogues and fruitful achievements in local and people-to-people exchanges. He said Australia would like to see and will benefit from a consistently and fast-growing Chinese economy. Australia is willing to expand exchanges and cooperation in all fields and at all levels to move forward bilateral relations, the Governor-General added. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks to President of the Upper House of the Australian Parliament Stephen Parry and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tony Smith, as part of his visit to Australia, which started on Wednesday night. [Photo/Xinhua] China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Australian legislative bodies to boost understanding and mutual trust, which will shore up bilateral relations and cooperation, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday. The Premier was speaking to President of the Upper House of the Australian Parliament Stephen Parry and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tony Smith, as part of his visit to Australia, which started on Wednesday night. The Australian Parliament is composed of the Upper House and the House of Representatives. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, and China is willing to strengthen governmental, local and grassroots exchanges with Australia and expand cooperation in economy, trade and people-to-people aspects, Li said. Exchanges between the two countries' legislative bodies are a crucial way to boost mutual trust, he added. Parry and Smith said the Upper House and the House of Representatives have attached great importance to relations and cooperation with China's legislative bodies. Parliament is willing to play a positive role in boosting bilateral relations, cooperation and friendship between both peoples by furthering contacts and exchanges with Chinese counterparts, they agreed. Premier Li Keqiang meets with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Thursday. Li said China will work with Australia to further boost bilateral trade. [Photo/Xinhua] China and Australia will work together to safeguard the current global trade system while China further opens up to the rest of the world, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday. China will take action to send a positive signal of promoting trade liberalization and investment, Li said. This will provide a continuous driving force for and raise expectations for the stability of the global economy, the premier said while meeting with his Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, in Parliament House in Canberra. Li said the world's second-largest economy will work with Australia to make greater achievements in bilateral trade. China will also work with countries including Australia to safeguard regional and global peace and stability in a complicated and changing world, where rising protectionism poses a variety of global challenges, he added. Li is the first Chinese premier to visit Australia in 11 years, and this year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. His eight-day trip to Australia and New Zealand, which began on Wednesday, is regarded as another reassuring gesture by Chinese leaders in the wake of worries across the world prompted by US President Donald Trump's "America First" approach. Turnbull said Australia is willing to boost mutual trust to maintain stable and consistent cooperation with China in a world that is facing unprecedented geopolitical and technological changes. Promoting global free trade is beneficial for all nations to achieve employment targets and economic growth, the Australian prime minister said. He added that his country will work with China to defend free trade and open markets, which will bring more benefits to both peoples. The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement has boosted bilateral trade since it took effect in December 2015. According to the General Administration of Customs, trade between China and Australia hit $107 billion last year, making China the biggest trading partner for Australia for the eighth consecutive year. China had a deficit of about $50 billion with the Oceanian country last year. Li, in a speech at Parliament House that was broad-cast live on Australian television, said, "We believe that to resolve trade imbalance, we need to continue to expand trade." On Thursday afternoon, Li met with other Australian leaders, including Governor-General Peter Cosgrove, Upper House of Parliament President Stephen Parry, Speaker of the House of Representatives Tony Smith and opposition leader Bill Shorten. (Photo : Getty Images. ) China on Wednesday clarified that it is not build a environmental monitoring station on Scarborough Shoal, denying a claim made by the the mayor of Sansha City during a interview to local newspaper. Advertisement China on Wednesday said that it is not building an environmental monitoring station on Scarborough Shoal in contrary to an article published last week in a local Chinese news paper, which drew sharp criticisms from Philippine leaders across the board including President Rodrigo Duterte. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "According to the relevant bodies in China, the reports you mention that touch upon building environmental monitoring stations on Scarborough Shoal are mistaken, these things are not true," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, told reporters during a regular news briefing. Hua stressed that China's position on Scarborough Shoal is "consistent and clear," adding that Chinese leadership gives great deal of importance to bilateral relationship with Philippines. The fiasco over Scarborough Shoal started after Xiao Jie, the mayor of Sansha City, disclosed in an interview to Hainan Daily news paper that China will soon start constructing an environmental monitoring station on the Scarborough Shoal. The revelation immediately set off widespread criticism in Philippines, which along with Taiwan jointly stakes claim over the disputed Shoal. President Duterte openly confessed to local reporters last week that Philippine is too weak to stop China from pursuing construction activities in the disputed South China Sea region. But Duterte promised that he will evoke last year's historic international arbitration court's ruling with China at the right time. The Filipino's outspoken president claimed that he has already spoken about this to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jingping during his last year's historic visit to China. Duterte's comment was apparently in response to Philippine's Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who slammed the reports over China's latest construction activities in Scarborough Shoal. Carpio expressed fear that Beijing may misuse the monitoring station for military purposes to strengthen its hold on South China Sea region. He cited the examples of radar stations in Subi Reef, Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross Reef that allegedly houses missile batteries. China snatched Scarborough Shoal completely from Manila's control in April 2012 following a long military stand-off. Since then Beijing has imposed a ban on the entry of Filipino fishermen in Scarborough Shoal. However, the ban was eased last year immediately after Duterte's visit to China. Advertisement Tagschina, Scarborough Shoal, South China Sea Dispute, China and Philippines, Philippines (Photo : JMSDF) JS Kaga underway. Advertisement The massive helicopter carrier JS Kaga (DDH-184), the second of only two ships in the Izumo-class of helicopter destroyers, was commissioned into the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) on March 22, almost two years after its sister ship, the JS Izumo (DDH-183), joined the fleet. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Some 500 persons, including ranking members of the Japanese government, the JMSDF and the Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF), attended the commissioning ceremony at the Japan Marine United shipyard in the port city of Yokohama (Japan's second largest city) near Tokyo. At the commissioning, Vice Minister of Defense Takayuki Kobayashi said Japan was deeply concerned about China's construction of islands and military bases in the South China Sea, which is claimed by multiple Asian nations. China, however, claims to own 90 percent of this body of water despite the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague on July 12, 2016 declaring the Chinese claim illegal and baseless in international law. China has refused to abide by and accept the court's decision. "China is attempting to make changes in the South China Sea with bases, and through acts that exert pressure is altering the status quo, raising security concerns among the international community," said Kobayashi. The addition of the Kaga -- the namesake of one of the four aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy that attacked Pearl Harbor -- brings to four the number of helicopter destroyers in service with the JMSDF. The other helicopter destroyers (also called helicopter carriers in other navies) are the JS Izumo and the two warships of the Hyuga-class: JS Hyuga (DDH-181) commissioned in 2009 and the JS Ise (DDH-182) commissioned in 2011. With a full displacement of 27,000 long tons, the Kaga is outfitted primarily for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and carries specialized helicopters for this purpose. Kaga operates a complement of seven Mitsubishi-built SH-60 ASW helicopters and seven AgustaWestland MCM-101 Mine CounterMeasure (MCM) helicopters. The Kaga's huge size and the expanse of her flight deck, however, means she can easily be modified to operate vertical take-off and landing and short vertical and take-off and landing aircraft. Among these aircraft are Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter and the Bell-Boeing V-22 Ospreys. Both these warplanes are in service with the JSDF. The Izumo and Kaga can deploy up to 28 aircraft (mostly helicopters) or 14 larger fixed wing aircraft. Both warships are also equipped to carry 400 troops and their equipment. Advertisement TagsJS Kaga (DDH-184), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, JMSDF, Japan Self-Defense Force, Vice Minister of Defense Takayuki Kobayashi, International Court of Arbitration, JS Izumo, JS Hyuga, JS Ise (Photo : US Army) U.S. Army Advanced Combat Helmet Generation II. Advertisement Production will soon begin for the U.S. Army's Advanced Combat Helmet Generation II (ACH GEN II), an upgraded version that is arguably the best combat helmet in the world. A five-year contract to manufacture the new lightweight helmets was recently awarded to Revision Military, a company based in Vermont that develops and delivers purpose-built protective soldier equipment for military use worldwide. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The $98 million contract will see Revision Military manufacture 293,870 ACH GEN II helmets for the U.S. Army. Revision said the ACH GEN II helmets will be up to 24 percent lighter than the current Advanced Combat Helmet or ACH fielded in 2003. The ACH GEN II helmets will weigh 2.2 kg less than the original ACH while offering the same ballistic protection. It will be made from ballistic fiber such as Kevlar and Twaron. Revision said the ACH GEN II contract it received represents the first large-scale, significant advance in ACH technology in 15 years. Revision last produced ACH helmets for the U.S. Army in 2012. It delivered 180,000 helmets under this last contract. Since then, however, Revision has invested millions of dollars in new manufacturing equipment and processes, research into the characterization and optimization of advanced ballistic materials, and in the building of a world-class team of scientists and engineers. Revision's Newport, Vermont facility (where the ACH GEN II helmets will be manufactured) has expanded by 16,000 sq. ft., and the number of employees that work at this facility has more than doubled. The ACH Gen II solicitation by the army required a minimum 15 percent weight reduction compared to the current ACH helmet. Revision's solution offers up to 24 percent weight reduction over the legacy ACH design while maintaining superior ballistic protection. "With this solicitation, PEO Soldier challenged the helmet industry, raising the technology bar substantially. Revision answered in a big way, dedicating significant resources to set a new standard for lightweight helmet design and performance," said CEO Jonathan Blanshay. PEO Soldier or Program Executive Office Soldier is the army unit responsible for equipping the army with the finest equipment and protection available as quickly as possible. Revision has delivered 1.1 million helmets to the U.S. military, with an additional 300,000 helmets internationally. It claims it's the most experienced and most knowledgeable Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) manufacturer in the industry. Advertisement TagsU.S. Army, Advanced Combat Helmet Generation II, ACH GEN II, Helmet, Revision Military (Photo : Getty Images. ) China on Wednesday dashed out a warning to U.S. B1 Bomber pilot after it spotted the fighter jet flying over the disputed East China Sea region. Advertisement China on Wednesday took a critical note of a U.S. B1 Bomber flying over the disputed East China Sea region, according to American news Channel Fox News. Although Beijing is yet to officially react to the report, but is expected to be miffed by what appears to be a show of strength by the U.S. in the disputed maritime territory. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement According to Fox news, the U.S. dispatched B-1 fighter jet in response to North Korea's latest missile test, which reportedly failed. Fox news further claims that Two B-1 fighter jets were supposed to embark on the mission, but only one too off as the other fighter jet faced some maintenance issues. The Chinese army resorted to emergency radio frequency called "guard" to send a warning message to U.S. aircrew. But the report claims that the U.S. air pilot ignored the warning and completed his flight routine without any hassles. Meanwhile, several reports suggest that the U.S. military has confirmed the presence of B1 Bomber near the East China Sea. There are also reports that this may have been a part of the annual military drill, dubbed as the Foal Eagle, jointly carried out by the U.S. and South Korea. Barely a month ago, China had dispatched three warships to the East China Sea in what appeared to be Beijing's show of strength against Japan and the U.S. The three Chinese warships passed through the Senkaku islands, one of the several disputed islands in the contagious maritime territory. The timing of China's show of strength almost coincided with U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis visit to Japan. During the visit, Mattis lashed out at Beijing for its growing assertiveness over the disputed maritime territory. The East China Sea marks a bitter territorial dispute between China and Japan, which continues to mar bilateral relationship between the two Asian giants. Japan also shares tensed relationship with China over South China Sea. Advertisement TagsEast China Sea, china, Beijing, U.S. and China Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (2L) chats with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (2R) during a meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. Advertisement China and Egypt on Monday signed a grant worth $71 million to establish an Egyptian satellite and training center for the Suez Canal Economic Zone Authority. China was represented by its ambassador to Cairo, Song Aiguo, and Egypt by its Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr. The agreement was inked in Cairo. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Of the $71 million grant provided, $64 million will be allocated to feasibility studies for the second phase of the second Egyptian satellite for Remote Sensing (Egypt SATII). The remaining $7 million will be used to build a vocational training center at the Suez Canal Economic Zone. The two grants are China's latest provision for Egypt in the last five years, totaling to $267 million. "China is considered among the leading countries in the field of space technology and remote sensing," Nasr said, further emphasizing the importance of benefitting from China's experience in space technology and remote sensing fields. All common agreements between the two countries function as an activation to the cooperation deals signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Egypt in January 2016, Nasr said, according to Egyptian Streets. Both leaders signed a number of cooperation deals worth around $15 billion, including the construction of Egypt's new administrative capital and the development of an industrial and commercial hub at the Suez Canal. China is also participating in Egypt's power generation projects. China and Egypt have been establishing closer ties over the past years as part of Beijing's One Belt One Road initiative to secure China's maritime access to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal, according to SpaceWatch. China apparently is Egypt's economic lifeline after it faced economic trouble in the aftermath of a political turmoil that occurred in 2011. Advertisement Tagschina, Egypt, suez canal, One Belt and One Road initiative, Egypt SATII, Egypt satellite (Photo : Getty Images. ) According to report, China Southern Airlines is currently negotiating a stake sale of worth $200 million to American Airlines. Advertisement The state-owned China Southern Airlines is currently pursuing a sale with the American Airlines (AA), with talks reportedly having reached to the advanced stage. If the talks are successful, it would bring together two of the biggest airlines in the world. China Southern Airlines is holding discussion to sell a stake worth $200 million to the American Airlines, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. The sale would reportedly take place through a private placement and after the sale procedure is completed, AA would nominate an observer without voting rights on the board of China Southern. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Meanwhile, trading of China Southern's shares has been halted at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ahead of the sales talk. The Chinese carrier in a statement cited "the release of an announcement in relation to a possible major strategic cooperation" as the reason for halting the trading of its shares at the Hong Kong Exchange. A stake in the China Southern would help AA, which is already the world's largest carrier, to get formidable footprint in China's fast growing Aviation market. According to International Air Transport Association, China is on its way to become the world's biggest aviation market in terms of the passenger numbers. The state-owned Chinese carrier is one of the key players in the domestic as well as international aviation markets. The carrier is the world's sixth-largest airline in terms of passenger carried and is also Asia's largest airline in fleet size. It connects to 350 destinations spread across 50 countries, but is mainly focused on North America, the Caribbean, South America, and Europe markets. Southern China's decision to go for stake sale represents the Chinese government's decision to diversify its ownership pattern in its state-owned enterprises. According to reports, government has asked public sector units in power, energy, defence and aviation to broaden their ownership pattern in the current financial year. Advertisement TagsAmerican Airlines, China Southern Airlines, china, Chinese Aviation Market A pastor in Uganda has joined forces with law enforcement and politicians to put a stop to the brutal and barbaric practice of child sacrifice. In Uganda, ancient superstition still holds sway over many people. Witch doctors say that the spirits are pleased with the blood of children, so even well-to-do businessmen are kidnapping and killing children in order to attain supposed good fortune. "Witch doctors believe that when you kidnap a child you get wealth, you get protection, said Pastor Peter Sewakiryanga who was hunting down a witch doctor accused of kidnapping and killing children. Sewakiryanga runs Kyampisi Childcare Ministries which is working to put an end to child sacrifice in Uganda. He described the horrific practice to CBN News: "When they get the child, most times they cut the neck, they take the blood out, they take the tissue, they cut the genitals or any other body organs that they wish that the spirits want." Sewakiryanga says that the brutal crimes happen nearly every month. One little boy, Clive, was recently found mutilated in a toilet pit. Other children survive the ordeal, but bear massive scars as a testament to this gruesome practice. "The connection is that these witch doctors come and tell people who want to get rich that in order to get rich you need to sacrifice human blood," explained Mike Chibita, Ugandas top law enforcement official. Pastor Sewakiryanga and his ministry is not only working to stop child sacrifice, they are also working to provide support for children who survive. "We want to see that the life of a child who has survived is supported, that they are socially able to stand and heal from the injuries, and that they can have a life after that," he said. Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com Publication date: March 23, 2017 Responding to a months long controversy, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), and its president Russell Moore, issued a statement on Monday -- the former affirming its support of the president, and the latter apologizing for the role he played in creating any division within the denomination. Moores comments during the previous presidential election season criticizing Trump and questioning some of his supporters were met with backlash, as more than 100 churches threatened to withdraw funding from the denomination. Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas was one of the most noted of those, as it decided to withhold $1 million that it planned to give to the denomination. Moore clarified in his portion of the statement, titled Seeking Unity in the Southern Baptist Convention, that his comments during the election were not meant to condemn members of the SBC who support Trump or are serving in his advisory board. I was asked often during the election season about evangelicalism as it related to moral issues and character, and in so doing I spoke, often quite sharply, about those Christians who said or implied that such concerns dont matter or shouldnt be talked about, stated Moore. I was not, in so doing, intending to talk about Southern Baptists and others and there were many who were open about all of these issues but believed in supporting candidates, however flawed, who would appoint good people and carry out good policies. To be clear, I was also not meaning to suggest it was sinful for Southern Baptists or others to advise candidates or to serve on advisory boards in order to bear some influence there. What I was attempting to talk about were those most often prosperity gospel teachers who were willing to define the gospel in ways that I believe untrue to the plan of salvation, or to dismiss the moral concerns other Christians had, he added. However, Moore apologized for failing to distinguish between people who shouldnt have been in the same category with those who put politics over the gospel and for using words, particularly in social media, that were at times overly broad or unnecessarily harsh. Moore also emphasized that the gospel wins over everything in the end, and encouraged unity in the denomination. When I look across our denomination, we have too much at stake, and too much for which to be grateful, to be divided, he said. I pray the gospel would win in our denomination, in our churches, and in my own heart. The same gospel that reconciles us to God is the same gospel that allows us to be reconciled to one another. The executive committee of the ERLC expressed support for Moore, and said that Moore has sought to be attentive and responsive to those who have brought concerns to him. The committee added that it believes Moore has spoken with clarity and conviction on ethical matters such as religious liberty and racial reconciliation, and that he has endeavored clearly and graciously to articulate the Christian gospel and its implications. As an Executive Committee, we believe that Dr. Moore has taken appropriate measures to address this situation, the committee said. We realize that divisions do not heal overnight, and as needs arise our Board will be happy to address them. But in terms of leadership and support, Dr. Moore is the man to whom it has been entrusted to lead this entity speaking prophetically both to our culture and to our Convention. He will continue doing so with the confidence of our support. Shortly following the issuance of the statement, Jack Graham said on Twitter that Moores statement was gracious and unifying. The wife walked into my office alone. She informed me that her husband would be arriving separately. When he finally came, they talked to me, but not to one another. After some small talk, I finally asked them, How are you doing? They only shared as much as their shame would allow, but opened up enough to convey that their marriage was deeply broken. They had arrived in my office because they felt helpless and hopeless. They had come to a point where divorce seemed inevitable. For many years, these types of encounters caused me to panic. But for some reason, with this couple, I felt a sense of confidence and peace. I told them that I believed there is hope for their relationship, even though I could only articulate a part of the reason at that moment. But I had seen other couples who had come into my office, desperate and injured. Months and years after those initial encounters, those marriages somehow recover. I sensed that this particular couple would follow that same path. After that meeting, I thought about the common signs of couples who recover from near disaster and how they are different those who continue to the brink and disappear into brokenness. 1. They began with blessing All marriages begin with a honeymoon period. After this often comes a time of conflict and doubt. Husbands and wives who begin their marriages with the full support of friends, church and family seem to handle this difficult period better. When couples have doubts about whether they married the right person, they need to rely on the witnesses, blessings and counsel of those who know and love them. The couple can be reminded that they did not make a mistake and lean on the blessing of those who love them for assurance. 2. They are engaged in a spiritual community The second sign is that they are regularly engaged with a spiritual community. Just as preventative care is crucial for your long-term health, a spiritual community is the best preventative medicine for marriage. A spiritual community is more than well-meaning family and friends, who, if they are not gospel-minded, can encourage couples into demands, discord and divorce. A spiritual community is more than a group of friends who happen to be Christians but do not meet regularly. Rather, a spiritual community occurs when a couple regularly meets with fellow believers who understand the power of Christ in the sinners life. A spiritual community will urge a couple toward repentance and forgiveness over immediate personal happiness (Hebrews 10:24-25). I love it when a spiritual small group has become so close that their meetings can often serve as group therapy. Its not a surprise that a study by Harvard researchers prove that couples who attend religious services are 30-50% less likely to get a divorce. I imagine the success rate in marriage is significantly higher than those who are engaged in spiritual community. 3. They submit to spiritual authority Another sign that a couple will survive is that they come to spiritual authority for guidance. A couple can go to a therapist for advice, which they can choose to follow or ignore. For a Christian couple, their pastor plays a different role than a therapist or an attorney, who might focus on only one side of the argument or can't change stubborn minds. When a Christian couple go to their pastor, they are communicating a willingness to submit to spiritual authority, and ultimately Gods authority. The very act of seeking spiritual counsel shows a willingness to submit and change. 4. They have been immersed in the gospel The most important sign is that the couple is immersed in the Word of God and the gospel. The world is broken and marriages are broken. During difficult moments, many couples have doubt about the future of their marriages. Their emotions, scars, family and friends will often whisper in their ears that they have no hope, they deserve better and they need to make a change. But the Christian who sits under gospel teaching is urged to have humility and not blame others. The gospel teaches them that the answer lies not in their own goodness or the change in their spouse, but in the power and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Almost every couple I know struggles. Many become helpless and hopeless. If a couple has started without blessing, are isolated from spiritual community, are resistant of spiritual authority and are immersed in worldly thinking, I conclude that they will ultimately do what is right in their own eyes. But no matter how deep the scars or traumatizing the conflict, when a couple has started with blessing, is connected to spiritual community, is open to spiritual authority and is immersed in gospel teaching, I have hope. When I look out on Sunday mornings, I see the couple who walked into my office separately. I see them along with many other couples who have recovered from near disaster. Their marriages are far from perfect. Yet, I see Christ working in them. I see hope. Pastor Steve Chang is the Lead Pastor of Living Hope Community Church and a board member of Crossroads Campus Ministries. This article has been republished with permission from the SOLA Network website. SOLA exists to influence the emerging generation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The deadliest incident faced by the persecuted church last Christmas wasnt radical Islamists. It was alcohol. Liquor mixed with aftershave killed about 50 people at Christmas parties in a Pakistani village, and sickened about 100 more. In Pakistan, as in many Muslim-majority nations where Shariah law forbids drinking, alcohol is closely identified with Christianity. The nations primary alcohol producer, for example, riffs on the Bible in advertisements. Founded in 1860 by the British, Murree Brewerys slogan, Eat, drink, and be Murree, echoes the repeated biblical idiom for short-term pleasures. Perhaps as surprising as the existence of a Pakistani brewery is the fact that 12 Muslims were among the victims of the fatal Christmas parties. But in 2007, thenMurree CEO Minnoo Bhandara told The Telegraph that 99 percent of his customers are Muslims. And in the Middle East, alcohol sales increased 72 percent from 2001 to 2011, according to market research. Still, in most Muslim countries only Christians may buy or consume alcohol. But not all do. Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, estimates that about half of Pakistani Christian men drink. Roman Catholics are slightly more inclined; Protestants less so. But the women of both branches of Christianity, he says, are fully opposed. Chowdhry, an evangelical, believes alcohol is licit for the Christian; but in deference to his wife, he does not drink. Common arguments in Pakistan will feel familiar to Americans: Alcohol will lead you to sin; it alters your consciousness before God; and the wine of the Bible was weaker than todays. But the main issue for Chowdhry is poverty. Prohibition is coupled ... 1 You have reached the end of this Article Preview You have reached the end of this Article Preview To continue reading, subscribe now. Subscribers have full digital access. Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here. Since the beginning of the year, more than 800 congregations in 30 American cities have joined the New Sanctuary Movement (NSM). An interfaith effort organized by Christian activist Alexia Salvatierra, NSM religious institutions have pledged to open their doors to undocumented immigrants worried that authorities may arrest them or separate their families. (Read CTs interview with Salvatierra.) At this point, most of the churches that have joined the New Sanctuary Movement are progressive congregations. New Season Christian Worship Center in Sacramento is one of the few evangelical congregations thats announced something similar, what Time Magazine recently called a safe haven program. The program is specifically focused on meeting the urgent needs of undocumented immigrants, those fleeing domestic violence, or those affected by gang fights. So far, New Season has set up more than two dozen beds for congregants looking to escape immigration raids and hosted more than half a dozen families. A safe haven is a place where we can offer a place of rest from turmoil from those things which are troubling people, said Charlie Rivera, who pastors New Seasons Spanish language ministry and leads the safe haven program. We offer a sense of hope and spiritual help. The churchs program is not meant to oppose or thwart the government, said Rivera. Were not here to break any law or do anything illegal, he said. Our main goal is to assist people who are in need. Rivera joined Morgan and Mark to discuss why he doesnt believe his church is harboring criminals, why New Season has seen a surge of Hispanic attendees, and how Christians can ... 1 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. home US Cleveland pastor cancels 'gang summit' aimed at reducing violence in Chicago A Cleveland pastor has canceled a meeting with "street leaders" that intended to find ways to reduce gun violence in Chicago. On Monday, Rev. Darrell Scott, CEO of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump, announced the postponement of what has been dubbed as a "gang summit." He said that the meeting that was supposed to take place at the O'Hare Marriott on Tuesday afternoon had to be canceled because some of the people he invited could not attend, Chicago Tribune reported. The Coalition later announced that the summit was being rescheduled. A news release for the summit indicated that Scott would be working with employment, housing and education experts in an attempt to negotiate "an immediate ceasefire" in Chicago. However, Scott said that the news release overstated his goals for the summit, and he added that he does not intend to negotiate a cease-fire with gang members. "I don't know where that came from. I think they went a little bit overboard. What is this, Israel and Palestine?" said Scott. The announcement for the summit came after Scott told President Donald Trump at a Black History Month event at the White House that "top gang thugs" in Chicago wanted to meet with him about "lowering their body count" because of his support for the president. "That's a great idea because Chicago is totally out of control," Trump responded. The president had been critical of the gun violence in the city, and he had stirred much speculation when he tweeted that he will "send in the Feds" if city officials cannot address the problem. Scott said that he was contacted by Torrence Cooks, a Chicago anti-violence activist and a former gang member who reached out to the pastor about his idea for a Washington D.C. field trip for 90 black youths. In an interview on Monday, Scott noted that Cooks had planned to meet with 15 to 20 people from different parts of the city. The planned summit drew skepticism from other Chicago activists who said that Scott's gang comments suggested that he does not understand that the once-organized gangs had splintered into small, leaderless factions. "Someone from outside Chicago shouldn't be giving people around here false hopes," said Corey Brooks, a pastor at Chicago's New Beginnings Church. Scott said that several developers who have jobs to offer were invited to the summit. He also claimed that a representative from Illinois, Gov. Bruce Rauner, would attend, but the governor's office did not respond to questions about the meeting. The pastor went on to say that he would wait to see how the meeting goes before deciding whether to ask the president about providing federal aid for the city. "I don't know. We'll see what happens at this meeting," said Scott. "If I see there's something there worth communicating to the White House, I will," he added. home US ERLC executive committee affirms Russell Moore's leadership following speculations of his firing The executive committee of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) has voiced its support for the leadership of Russell Moore, amid speculation that he might be fired from his post as the president of the organization. In a statement published on the ERLC website on Monday, the executive committee said Moore will continue to serve as the leader of the commission "with the confidence" of its support. The committee noted that Moore had engaged in numerous private conversations with many of his critics over the last few months. The members of the committee expressed their belief that the ERLC president had been attentive and responsive to the concerns that were raised by his critics. "We realize that divisions do not heal overnight, and as needs arise our Board will be happy to address them," the committee stated. "But in terms of leadership and support, Dr. Moore is the man to whom it has been entrusted to lead this entityaspeaking prophetically both to our culture and to our Convention. He will continue doing so with the confidence of our support," it continued. Moore also issued an apology for tensions that emerged within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) due in part to his criticisms of Donald Trump's candidacy and supporters during the presidential campaign. The ERLC president admitted that he had made "contextless or unhelpful posts on social media" and said that he failed to "distinguish between people who shouldn't have been in the same category with those who put politics over the gospel." He also noted that he had used words that were "overly broad or unnecessarily harsh." Moore's apology came after several reports emerged about approximately 100 churches escrowing funds to the SBC's Cooperative Program due in part to their displeasure with Moore's statements during the election. The 40,000-member Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, was one of the congregations to escrow funds amounting to about $1 million to the program in protest of Moore's "disrespectfulness" to Trump's evangelical supporters. Its pastor, Jack Graham, said in a tweet on Monday that Moore's statement was "gracious" and "unifying." The SBC's Executive Committee has recently launched a study to find solutions to the issue of churches either escrowing or discontinuing Cooperative Program funds. Those who are overseeing the study are expected to release their findings in September. home US HeartCry founder Paul Washer expected to be released from hospital following heart attack HeartCry Missionary Society founder Paul Washer is expected to be released from the hospital this weekend after undergoing an emergency surgery due to a massive heart attack. Washer's life-threatening emergency was brought to the public's attention around 11 p.m. EST on Monday night by Jhonattan MadueAo, who explained that the pastor suffered the heart attack about 30 minutes before he posted a statement about it on Facebook. A tweet from the G3 Conference, where Washer is a featured speaker scheduled for January 2018, indicated that the 55-year-old missionary suffered the heart attack at his Virginia home. In a series of social media posts on Tuesday night, Washer's team explained that there was not much news about his condition, although they stated that the pastor was "resting" and recovering slowly. Another post revealed that there has been an improvement in his condition following the emergency surgery. "I suspect he'll be out in the next couple of days. I was just with him a few minutes ago," Kevin Hite, operations director at HeartCry, told The Christian Post on Wednesday. Hite said that no doctor expected Washer to have a heart attack based on his health. While preaching at the 2017 G3 Conference in January, Washer revealed that he was debilitated by an unspecified illness. However, Hite said that he could not speculate whether Washer's illness in January was related to the heart attack. "I don't know that it necessarily was. He had a heart attack. There was some blockage in an artery. It may or may not [have] but there is no way to say that was indicative or somehow a precursor [to a heart attack]," Hite said. "He has a number of particularly chronic pain issues and that is no secret, but he's had some totally unrelated issues of late. The heart attack was a complete surprise," he added. Some of Washer's supporters have tried to establish fund raising campaigns to help with his recovery, but his team said that they were not raising any money for the pastor. Hite explained that there had been cases when people tried to use Washer's name to make money for themselves, although the pastor had never solicited funds for HeartCry or for himself. He noted that HeartCry is supported by people who were moved to give through Washer's "public preaching ministry." Washer is best known for his infamous sermon known as "Shocking Youth Message," which was preached to around 5,000 youth at a 2002 youth evangelism conference in Montgomery, Alabama. In the sermon, he preached that American Christianity is mostly wrong and most of them, even those who profess to know Christ, could end up in hell. The pastor called on the youths at the event to examine themselves to determine whether they are genuinely born-again. The 2002 sermon has since garnered nearly two million views on YouTube. home World London terror attacker was British-born, had previously been investigated over extremism concerns The attacker who killed three people near the British parliament before being shot dead was British-born and was once investigated by MI5 intelligence agents over concerns about violent extremism, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued by its Amaq news agency. But it gave no name or other details and it was not clear whether the attacker was directly connected to the group. Police arrested eight people at six locations in London and Birmingham in the investigation into Wednesday's lone-wolf attack that May said was inspired by a warped Islamist ideology. About 40 people were injured and 29 remain in hospital, seven in critical condition, after the incident which resembled Islamic State-inspired attacks in France and Germany where vehicles were driven into crowds. The assailant sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, ploughing into pedestrians along the way, then ran through the gates of the nearby parliament building and fatally stabbed an unarmed policeman before being shot dead. tmsnrt.rs/2napbkD "What I can confirm is that the man was British-born and that some years ago he was once investigated by MI5 in relation to concerns about violent extremism," May said in a statement to parliament. "He was a peripheral figure...He was not part of the current intelligence picture. There was no prior intelligence of his intent or of the plot," she said, adding that his identity would be revealed when the investigation allowed. The mayhem in London took came on the first anniversary of attacks that killed 32 people in Brussels. Twelve people were killed in Berlin in December when a truck ploughed into a Christmas market and 84 died in July in a similar attack on Nice waterfront for which Islamic State claimed responsibility. Islamic State, which is being driven from large areas of Iraq and Syria by local forces supported by a U.S.-led military coalition, said it was responsible for the London attack. "The perpetrator of the attacks...is an Islamic State soldier and he carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition," a statement on its Amaq agency said. Westminster Bridge and the area just around parliament were still cordoned off on Thursday morning and a line of forensic investigators in light blue overalls were on their hands and knees, examining the scene where the attacker was shot. The dead were two members of the public, the stabbed policeman and the attacker. "My thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's awful violence," Queen Elizabeth said in a message. Britain's plan to trigger the formal process of exiting the EU on March 29 will not be delayed due to the attack, May's spokesman said. "TOOK OUT HIS RAGE" It was the worst such attack in Britain since 2005, when 52 people were killed by Islamist suicide bombers on London's public transport system. Police had given the death toll as five but revised it down to four on Thursday. The casualties included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Chinese, one American and two Greeks, May said. "We meet here, in the oldest of all parliaments, because we know that democracy and the values it entails will always prevail," she said. "A terrorist came to the place where people of all nationalities and cultures gather what it means to be free and he took out his rage indiscriminately against innocent men, women and children," said May. A minute's silence was held in parliament and in front of police headquarters at New Scotland Yard at 0933 GMT, in honor of the victims -- 933 was the shoulder number on the uniform of Keith Palmer, the policeman who was stabbed to death. May was in parliament on Wednesday, a short distance away from the spot where the attacker was shot. She was swiftly whisked away as the chaos erupted, according to lawmaker Andrew Bridgen, who was nearby at the time. A government minister was widely praised for trying to resuscitate Palmer, walking away from the scene with blood on his hands and face. A crowdfunding page hastily set up to raise money for Palmer's family attracted close to 20,000 pounds ($25,000)within three hours. Some have been shocked that the attacker was able to cause such mayhem in the heart of the capital equipped with nothing more sophisticated than a hired car and a knife. "The police and agencies that we rely on for our security have forestalled a large number of these attacks in recent years, over a dozen last year," said defense minister Michael Fallon. "This kind of attack, this lone-wolf attack, using things from daily life, a vehicle, a knife, are much more difficult to forestall," he told the BBC. SOLIDARITY Three French high-school students aged 15 or 16, who were on a school trip to London with fellow students from Brittany, were among the injured. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who traveled to London to bring a message of solidarity, met some of the other students who were on the school trip and their families at a hotel near the hospital where the injured were being treated. He told reporters the lives of the three youngsters were not in danger. Ayrault later attended the session in parliament where May spoke. France has been hit by repeated deadly Islamist attacks over the past two years. A vigil was planned in London's Trafalgar Square at 6 P.M. Anti-immigration groups were quick to make links between immigration and the attack, though it was subsequently revealed the attacker was British-born. Leave.EU, a group that has campaigned for immigration to be severely restrained as part of Britain's exit from the European Union, accused mainstream politicians of facilitating acts of terror by failing to secure borders. In France, far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen also drew a link, saying that events in London highlighted the importance of protecting national borders and stepping up security measures. home US Oklahoma House advances bill prohibiting abortions of unborn babies with birth defects The Oklahoma state House has approved a bill that seeks to ban abortions of unborn babies with birth defects or Down Syndrome. House Bill 1549, authored by Rep. George Faught (R-Muskogee), was passed by the House on World Down Syndrome Day last Tuesday by a vote of 67a17. Under the legislation, discriminatory abortions based on the unborn baby's genetic abnormalities would be prohibited, and physicians who violate the measure would be held liable, according to Life News. "Life is a gift from God," Faught told KFOR News, "Today, I am thankful that the members of the House of Representatives chose to protect that gift," he added. The bill failed to pass out of the Public Health Committee last month after some legislators expressed concern that it would be challenged in court. However, some committee members changed their position and voted to advance the bill to the state House. Rep. Mark Lawson, a freshman Republican, initially voted against the measure, but he later became a co-author and helped change some of its wording. The bill is now headed to the state Senate for consideration. House members who opposed the bill accused Faught of attempting to make personal decisions for all the women in Oklahoma. "At what point did you decide that that's within your ability to decide for all women in Oklahoma?" said Rep. Regina Goodwin (D-Tulsa). Rep. Emily Virgin (D-Norman) said that the bill is using Down Syndrome as part of the efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade. "[T]his bill fails to recognize that every pregnancy is different and these decisions are agonizing and personal ones for families," Virgin wrote on social media, according to Red Dirt Report. When Faught was asked why his bill carries no exceptions for cases of rape or incest, he said: "Well, it's an act of sin. We live in a sinful world. Men and women do horrible things, but God can bring beauty out of ashes." The Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice issued a public statement, saying the bill would be "deeply damaging" to reproductive health care and doctorapatient relationships. The advocacy group Trust Women Foundation also denounced the measure, arguing that women should be the ones to make decisions if abortion is "the best outcome" for their pregnancies. In 2013, North Dakota became the first state to ban abortions based on the diagnosis of disabilities of the unborn baby. Indiana approved a similar legislation last year, but it was blocked by a judge. Several states have laws that ban abortions based solely on the gender of the unborn baby. home US Student-led prayers at Texas school board meetings are constitutional, appeals court rules A federal appeals court has unanimously ruled on Monday that a Texas school district can open its board meetings with student-led prayers. The three-judge panel with the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the prayers conducted by students during board meetings of the Birdville Independent School District do not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The court stated that the prayers are similar to those presented in a legislative body, and it pointed to the nation's history and longstanding practice of presenting prayer at public events. "[D]ating from the early nineteenth century, at least eight states had some history of opening prayers at school-board meetings," Judge Jerry Smith wrote on behalf of the panel, according to Christian News Network. "And [Supreme Court rulings] show that there was a well-established practice of opening meetings of deliberative bodies with invocations. Such practices date from the First Congress, which suggests that 'the Framers considered legislative prayer a benign acknowledgment of religion's role in society,'" the judge added. The judge also cited the U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 decision which allowed the town of Greece in upstate New York to start board meetings with prayer. The court further noted that most people who attend the meetings are adults who are free to enter or leave at any time. The ruling also reversed a lower court decision that denied the school board members of "qualified immunity" and dismissed the case against them. The case against the school district was filed by the American Humanist Association (AHA) in 2015 on behalf of Isaiah Smith, a 2014 Birdville High School graduate who believed that the district was wrongfully endorsing Christianity through the student-led prayers. Smith, who was suspended in 2013 for ripping pages of the Bible during class, said that the prayers made him feel like an outsider at the meetings. "Plaintiff Smith considers the school board's prayers to be divisive and exclusionary, leaving him to conclude that he is unwelcome at school board meetings and a political outsider in his own community," the lawsuit stated. In August, U.S. District Judge John McBryde ruled in favor of the plaintiff, but the school district appealed. McBryde's ruling was overturned by the appellate court on Monday. AHA lawyer Monica Miller said that they are considering their options, which include asking the appeals court to review the case. home World Ugandan court drops kidnapping charges against evangelist who sheltered converts A court in Uganda has dropped the charges of kidnapping and "human sacrifice" against an evangelist who had provided refuge to Muslims who converted to Christianity. Hassan Muwanguzi, a lay leader with the Church of Uganda, was arrested on Feb. 26 after he was accused of kidnapping the 21-year-old daughter of a Muslim villager. The complainant, Nghangha Mubakali, also accused Muwanguzi of making a human sacrifice of his daughter, according to Morning Star News. The evangelist said that the daughter, Namusisi Budadu Biryeri, took refuge with him after her father beat her up for putting her faith in Christ in 2015. On March 13, a court in Tirinyi, Kibuku District dismissed the charges after the complainant and his attorney failed to appear at the hearings twice. Neither Mubakali nor his lawyer was present at the hearing on March 10, and they failed to appear in court again on March 13 when the charges were read against Muwanguzi. The evangelist's attorney then requested for the dismissal of the case since there was no public witness. "The magistrate heard the request of my lawyer, and he said, 'The case has been dismissed,'" Muwanguzi narrated. "Immediately we left the courtroom, and as we got out we saw more than 15 Muslims, some dressed in Islamic attire, enter the court gate. We knew that they had come for hearing of the case," he added. The evangelist said that his lawyer advised him to file a defamation case against his accusers so that he could be compensated, but he declined and said that he would forgive them. Muwanguzi, a former Islamic teacher who has suffered life-threatening attacks from radical Muslims, said that he is grateful for the prayers and for the support of another pastor in Kibuku district at a time when his fears threatened to overcome him. "Though I am still fearful from not knowing what the Muslims are now planning, the fears are now reduced," he said. Just hours after he was released on bail on March 3, Muslims in eastern Uganda's Kachomo village, Budaka District went to a meeting, in which an Islamic teacher told them that Muwanguzi should be killed. Muwanguzi, a father of six, has long housed converts from Islam despite threats from hard-line Muslims. He said he was grateful to the church members who prayed for him, but he is asking for more prayers because he is still fearful of being persecuted for continuously taking care of many converts from Islam. "I need protection and support for these new converts. I know nothing will separate me from the love of Christ and in serving Him," he said. Conservative vicar calls on bishop to 'repent' over thanksgiving for gay couples A Conservative Anglican vicar is calling on his bishop to repent for saying the Church's view on sexuality was 'morally unacceptable'. Rev Steven Hanna, of St Elisabeth, Becontree, said his church 'could not in good conscience' attend an upcoming conference organised by Bishop Steven Cottrell after he called for thanksgiving prayers for gay couples. In a presidential address Bishop of Chelmsford Stephen Cottrell said the Church of England was seen as 'immoral' for its refusal to welcome gay marriage and said it should reach an 'agree to disagree' compromise over gay marriage as it had done over women's ordination. 'It would be particularly foolish for us to ignore the missiological damage that is done when that which is held to be morally normative and desirable by much of society and by what seems to be a significant number of Anglican Christian people in this country, is deemed morally unacceptable by the Church. As I have said before, I am not sure the church has ever before had to face the challenge of being seen as immoral by the culture in which it is set,' he said in an address to Chelmsford's local diocesan synod. But Hanna said his bishop had 'not said clearly what we believe he should have said' and called on him and other bishops to repent. 'We disagree that it is damaging to mission to proclaim biblical and traditional views on marriage and faithful sexual relations only within the boundaries of traditional marriage,' he said in a statement on Monday. 'We believe to proclaim this is consistent with Christ's gospel. We believe it is faithful to being Christ's disciples and faithful to His mission and not damaging to it, even if many do not like that message. Not to proclaim this, we believe, is unfaithful. 'We call all our bishops to public repentance - both for what they have said publicly and for what they needed to say clearly but haven't publicly said.' It comes amid growing friction within the CofE as it wrestles over the next steps on sexuality. A report that held a predominantly conservative line on gay marriage was rejected by the ruling general synod in February. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York responded to the unprecedented defeat by calling for a 'radical new Christian inclusion' for gay couples in the Church. But conservative factions have hinted they could switch their loyalties, and more importantly their financial support, away from the CofE as they perceive a liberal shift. GAFCON, a traditionalist grouping of mainly African primates, has called for a 'new vision' for the Anglican Communion. 'Despite its enduring historical symbolism, Canterbury can no longer be the defining centre, but through the Gafcon movement a growing number of faithful Anglicans are now recovering their true identity in the gospel itself as the Bible is restored to its rightful place at the heart of the Communion.' Don't blame Islam, don't blame religion: It's people that make the world violent Last night the world reacted to the traumatic news of the terror attack in Westminster, London, in which five died and many more were seriously injured. Many, facing the overwhelming news of terror, turned to prayer, using hashtags such as #PrayforLondon to show their solidarity with the hurting. In times of pain, chaos and tragedy, we always look for something to hold on to or someone to blame. Broadcaster Julia Hartley Brewer opted for the latter, when she thoughtfully tweeted: 'Can everyone stop all this #PrayforLondon nonsense. It's these bloody stupid beliefs that help create this violence in the first place.' Can everyone stop all this #PrayforLondon nonsense. It's these bloody stupid beliefs that help create this violence in the first place. Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) March 22, 2017 Hartley Brewer received a volley of pushbacks, with many calling the tweet crass, insensitive and ignorant. Nonetheless, her sentiment is one many will sympathise with. 'Religion causes violence.' It's a broken record but a popular one, straight from the playbook of New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and his crusade against the 'God delusion'. Often it's a charge levelled directly at Islam, because of radical jihadists like ISIS touting the name of Allah in their reign of terror. Others, like Hartley Brewer, extend the critique to all religion even humble, desperate prayer. She later tweeted: 'The solution isn't prayers. It's down to real people on a real planet not an imaginary God.' Religion isn't just useless, they say, it's stupid and dangerous. Both these dispositions are absurd. Of course religion has been a cause of violence in the world, but then it's also been a source of great good. Religion is human, and humans are complex. We're capable of profound love, and cruel prejudice. We can be warmongers, and peacemakers. The history of religion simply bears this out. The Church has been responsible for immense injustice, while at other times it has profoundly embodied the way of love, mercy and justice. The fallacy of blaming religion for humankind's vice is one explained by comedian Frankie Boyle in a recent appearance on the BBC's Room 101. Critiquing 'celebrity atheists' Boyle, an atheist himself said: 'We all need something to get through, so why stand in judgement of what other people need? 'Okay, some violence is cause by religion, some violence is caused by lager, some violence is caused by people cheating at pool. The moment you go "I'm blaming that on God", that's like you don't get any mayonnaise on your chicken zinger, and you blame it on Colonel Sanders.' The Christian crusades slaughtered thousands in the name of God. The 20th century atheist regimes of Stalin and Pol Pot claimed millions. Religion or irreligion can be used to justify anything it's humans that are to blame. Some at this stage concede that point, but then insist: 'Yes, but Islam is inherently violent. Read the Quran.' I see this sometimes on Facebook, when following news of recent violence by radical Islam, someone starts quoting Islam's holy text as proof that all Muslims are dangerous, that the whole religion is evil. I'm no Islamic scholar, but I am grateful to live in a country that bears witness to millions of peace-loving Muslims, doing good and loving others. I'm trusting they read the Quran, and interpret it in such a way that doesn't motivate them to slaughter their neighbours. Their text may be violent like the Bible can be but they aren't. This matters because religion doesn't simply consist in a forensic, literal analysis of certain ancient verses. It can't be labelled as inherently 'violent' or 'peaceful' on that basis. Religion evolves, is interpreted and lives through the ongoing practice of its believers. For better or for worse, it is what people make it. It can be toxic, it can be beautiful. As a Christian I'm moved and inspired by Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. The Bible is full of violent conquest, and yet its story culminates in a God who lays down his life in self-sacrifice. His is the image I seek to follow. He also taught love and charity not just to our neighbours, but our enemies. In a society where terror threatens not simply our security, but our way of life, that ethic of charity to all is more essential than ever. The vision of love and hospitality seen broadly in the human responses to yesterday's attack, are rooted in a religious conviction that implores us to look beyond ourselves. We need that. Prayer too, despite what Hartley-Brewer says, is still profound. Tears of joy or pain, for example are not particularly 'useful' but often they are what keep us alive - they give us hope, and point us to things yet unseen. People are to blame for the world's violence. All of us are more complicit in corruption than we'd like to think. So can we resist the urge to blame Muslims, atheists or the religious? If we're so inclined, we should #PrayforLondon, and pray for all that need it. To do so is to transcend the all too human game of hate and blame, and instead in our time of crisis seek the face of God. You can follow @JosephHartropp on Twitter Far right 'will not succeed' in dividing us after Westminster terror: Christian Labour MP Attempts to divide the UK after Wednesday's terrorist attack 'will not succeed', a senior Labour MP and chair of Christians on the Left has said. Jonathan Reynolds, shadow economic secretary to the Treasury, told Christian Today that far-right politicians 'will simply bring people together' if they try and use the violence to stoke fear. He stressed a message of 'love and of unity' and said already people were trying to use the attack to further their own political ends. 'They will fail. They will simply bring people together. It simply brings people closer together,' he said. 'They will not succeed because they can't ever let them succeed.' Reynolds was caught up in the attack on Parliament with his two-year-old son but was unharmed. Thanks for messages. Not able to speak to anyone at present but we're doing okay here. Thoughts and prayers with those most affected pic.twitter.com/4PTYwF4ADL Jonathan Reynolds MP (@jreynoldsMP) March 22, 2017 About to head home. Special thanks to the amazing staff at the Commons nursery. Hold those you love close tonight pic.twitter.com/pPlKl8jljW Jonathan Reynolds MP (@jreynoldsMP) March 22, 2017 Speaking to Christian Today he went on to call on Christians to lead in uniting those scared after the biggest terrorist attack in the UK in more than a decade. He said Christians must stress the 'message of love and of compassion, of Jesus' today. 'I think Christians have a particular understanding of what it is to have a message of love and tolerance and bringing communities together. 'In many parts of the world where there has been conflicts it is Christians and Christian beliefs and Christian communities that are instrumental in bridging that divide and bringing people together.. 'We have a message of reassurance,' he told Christian Today. 'It is about modelling your own behaviour. That is what Christians bring more than anything else. 'It is a message of love and compassion, the message of Jesus, that is what they have got to stress today.' Reynolds was speaking as UKIP head Paul Nuttall told Christian Today the government should look into Saudi funding of mosques in response to the terror attack. 'God's not through with you' Rex Tillerson took the job as Secretary of State because his wife told him to Donald Trump's inexperienced Secretary of State took the job because his wife told him that God had not finished with him yet. Rex Tillerson, former chief executive of ExxonMobil, was appointed without having had military or government experience and without having previously met Donald Trump. From Texas, he is a committed Christian and belongs to a Congregationalist church. He and his wife Renda St Clair have four children and several grandchildren and he had been looking forward to spending more time with them during his retirement. But God and President Trump had other ideas. 'I didn't want this job. I didn't seek this job,' he said in an interview with Erin McPike for Independent Journal Review. 'My wife told me I'm supposed to do this.' Trump had sought him out after he became President-elect but before his inauguration to discuss international affairs. Trump was impressed by his achievements as CEO of ExxonMobil, the world's biggest oil and gas company. 'When he asked me at the end of that conversation to be Secretary of State, I was stunned,' said Tillerson. When he told his wife, she shook her finger in his face and said, 'I told you God's not through with you.' He added, 'I was supposed to retire in March, this month. I was going to go to the ranch to be with my grandkids.' Tillerson, who is 65 today, also made clear he has no regrets about taking the job. 'I serve at the pleasure of the President. My wife convinced me. She was right. I'm supposed to do this.' One of his first jobs in the post is to work with Defence Secretary James Mattis on a strategy to defeat Islamic State. 'We can't get to deconflicting the rest of the region with ISIS in the way.' He has also indicated that he intends to streamline the State Department to make it more efficient. McPike was the only journalist allowed access to him on the plane from Seoul to Beijing, where he gave her the first interview he has given to any journalist since taking office. Daniel Dresner commented in The Washington Post that the 'scary part' was not that Tillerson's wife talked him into taking the job, but that he had never met Trump before. He also writes: 'The other scary part is Tillerson's narrow vision of what the State Department is supposed to do.' Dresner urges him to open up a bit more. 'Reassuring allies requires some public signaling. Credible commitments require even more public signaling.' He says a person presumably does not become the chief executive of ExxonMobil without having some brains and the ability to learn from mistakes. 'After all it only took a few days for Tillerson to realise that skipping the NATO foreign ministers meetingwas probably not the brightest idea. The learning curve is still there. 'Until he moves along it further, however, Tillerson's instinct to not speak to the press seems like a sound one. Because he's really, really bad at it.' Newly restored tomb of Christ may be on the brink of 'catastrophic' collapse In just a few weeks Christians across the world will celebrate the resurrection of Christ, and the miracle of the empty tomb. However, the holy site venerated as Christ's tomb is standing on rocky ground, and may be on the brink of collapse. The team working on restoring the foundations of Christ's tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre say the structure is at 'very real risk' of collapse, according to National Geographic. A group from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), has been working on restoring the holy site. 'When it fails, the failure will not be a slow process, but catastrophic,' said Antonia Moropoulou, NTUA's chief scientific supervisor. The 19th century structure traditionally believed to contain Christ's tomb is called the Aedicule (meaning 'little house'). Contained within Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the tomb has been venerated by Christians since the 4th century and millions visit it every year. The Aedicule is now believed to be built on a dubious foundation, composed of crumbled remains of previous structures. The site's perilous integrity may be in part due to its rich history, having faced repeated destruction and restoration since its beginning with Emperor Constantine. Using radar, robotic cameras and other technology scientists have undergone a thorough assessment of the Aedicule's foundations. In some areas foundational mortar has crumbled after long-term exposure to moisture through underground drainage channels. The dome of the rotunda surrounding the Aedicule is at risk too, some of its foundational pillars rest on more than four feet of rubble. Control of the site belongs to the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Patriarchates of Jerusalem and the Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land, who in March 2016 signed an agreement to restore the shrine and its tomb. The subsequent restoration, which was celebrated yesterday, cost 3.5 million euros. The NTUA now proposes an extensive 10-month, six-million-euro project to address the ancient site's newly discovered structural vulnerabilities. Any new plans would need to be agreed by the three Christian groups who share the site. Pope Francis says he is 'deeply saddened' by Westminster attack, expresses 'prayerful solidarity' with victims Pope Francis has sent a message to Britain saying that he is 'deeply saddened' by the attack in Westminster yesterday and has expressed 'prayerful solidarity with all those affected by the tragedy'. His comments came in a message from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, to Mgr Matteo De Mori, charge d'affaires at the apostolic nunciature in London, according to the Catholic Herald. The message was then passed on to Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster. It read: 'Deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and of the injuries caused by the attack in central London, His Holiness Pope Francis expresses his prayerful solidarity with all those affected by this tragedy. 'Commending those who have died to the loving mercy of Almighty God, His Holiness invokes divine strength and peace upon their grieving families, and he assures the nation of his prayers at this time.' In his own note to Cardinal Nichols, Mori added: 'I avail of this opportunity to assure you of my own deep sympathy and prayers at this difficult time.' Cardinal Nichols has called for prayer, compassionate solidarity and calm in the wake of yesterday's attack. The Cardinal noted that one of the victims, Aysha Frade, a 43-year-old who worked at a nearby sixth form college, had children who attended St Mary of the Angels primary school in Bayswater, west London. Aysha Frade is believed to be a British woman with family in Galicia, Spain. Yesterday afternoon she was reportedly on her way to pick up her children from the school when the attacker struck on Westminster Bridge. Four people in total were killed in the attack outside the Houses of Parliament. Cardinal Nichols, who is the president of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said: 'Yesterday's attacks in Westminster have shocked us all. The kind of violence we have seen all too often in other places has again brought horror and killing to this city. 'I know you will lead people in prayer, especially for those who have lost their lives and those who have lost one they love. Pray for Aysha Frade, killed by the car on Westminster Bridge. Her two children attend St Mary of the Angels Primary School. Pray for them and for their father. And please remember the young French students who have been injured. 'We remember too all who have been injured, and those who care for them. 'We pray in particular as well for Keith Palmer, the police officer who died, and for his family, thanking God that so many show such brave dedication to keeping our society safe. 'Let our voice be one of prayer, of compassionate solidarity, and of calm. All who believe in God, Creator and Father of every person, will echo this voice, for faith in God is not a problem to be solved, but a strength and a foundation on which depend.' Princeton Seminary reverses decision to give award to complementarian theologian Tim Keller The prestigious Princeton Theological Seminary in the US has reversed its decision to honour conservative evangelical theologian Tim Keller with an award, following mounting criticism. Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, was set to receive the $10,000 2017 Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Witness on April 6, when he will deliver a lecture on church planting. But in an email to faculty and students yesterday, the president of the Protestant seminary, Craig Barnes, said that while he remains committed to 'the critical inquiry and theological diversity of our community', giving Keller the award may 'imply an endorsement' of Keller's views against the ordination of women and LGBTQ people. Barnes added that the seminary would not award the Kuyper Prize named after a famous Dutch neo-Calvinist theologian to anyone this year. Despite the row, Keller has agreed to deliver the annual Kuyper Lecture on April 6 as planned. 'We are a community that does not silence voices in the church,' Barnes wrote. 'In this spirit we are a school that can welcome a church leader to address one of its centres about his subject, even if we strongly disagree with his theology on ordination to ministry.' It was Keller's espousal of the controversial 'complementarian' theology that teaches women should submit to their husbands that led to a backlash against the seminary. Carol Howard Merritt wrote for the Christian Century: 'I know that people are angry that Tim Keller doesn't believe in women in the pastorate. But, my friends, this goes much, much deeper than women not being able to be ordained as Pastors, Elders, and Deacons. Complementarianism means married women have no choice over their lives at all.' She said she was 'shaking with grief' as she wrote and that she would be 'mourning' when Keller receives his award: 'I will lament for my sisters who have been maligned and abused. So much of my ministry has been dedicated to aiding the victims of these poisonous beliefs. In these difficult days, when our president says that women's genitalia is up for grabs by any man with power and influence, I hoped that my denomination would stand up for women, loud and clear. Instead we are honoring and celebrating a man who has championed toxic theology for decades.' Another writer, Traci Smith, said in her blog: 'An institution designed to train men and women for ministry shouldn't be awarding fancy prizes to someone who believes half the student body (or is it more than half?) has no business leading churches.' Barnes had responded to Smith's blog, saying the seminary stands in 'prophetic opposition' to the Presbyterian Church in America over its policy on ordaining women. 'What sort of reception Keller will receive at the lecture next month is the next question,' the Religion News Service pointed out. But Smith called Barnes's decision 'the right move'. She wrote on her blog: 'Yes to academic freedom. Yes to listening to others whose opinions are different from our own (no matter how distasteful they may be). No to giving large fancy prizes that can be confused with endorsement. Some may not be satisfied with this response. I think it's a great compromise.' WATCH: Little girl goes viral when she steals the Pope's hat It was the perfect crime. A viral video has shown the moment a little girl stole Pope Francis' hat. Estella Westrick, a three-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia, was greeting the pontiff in St Peter's square in the Vatican. Pope Francis leaned toward Westrick to give her a kiss, at which point she snuck her arm around his head and whisked away his skullcap, also known as a zuchetto. The surrounding crowd immediately burst out in laughter, including Pope Francis. The moment was shared on social media and has quickly gone viral. Took my Goddaughter to meet the pope. She stole his hat! pic.twitter.com/SdSorop3uN Mountain Butorac (@MountainButorac) March 22, 2017 Estella was taken to meet the Pope following his Wednesday audience by her godfather Mountain Butorac, a Catholic tour organiser. 'Right before she went up she was a little nervous,' Butorac told CNN. 'Then she stole his hat. It was hilarious. Everyone was laughing, including the Pope.' Butorac posted on Facebook and Twitter: 'Took my Goddaughter to meet the pope! She stole his hat!' His tweet has since received 34,000 likes and 15,000 retweets. He later posted in a selfie with his goddaughter: 'We had a fun day.' We had a fun day. pic.twitter.com/AOWxhr8DG0 Mountain Butorac (@MountainButorac) March 22, 2017 Estella is currently visiting Rome with her parents. Butorac joked: 'It's her first full day in Rome. Who knows what she will get up to tomorrow.' 'Brutal and senseless' Westminster terror attack: seven held, faith leaders to meet with police Seven arrests have been made after a 'brutul and senseless' terrorist attack in Westminster left five dead and 40 injured. Police have named the attacker as Khalid Masood, 52, and said they believed he was inspired by 'international and Islamist' terrorism. Faith leaders from across different religions will meet with police later on Thursday. Hundreds of detectives worked throughout the night on an ongoing counter-terrorism investigation with searches at six different addresses. A police officer, Keith Palmer, died from multiple stab wounds after a lone wolf attacker forced his way into the parliamentary estate before being shot dead. Aysha Fade, a 'highly regarded and loved' Spanish teacher aged 43, has been named as another victim. Her two children attend St Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary School in Westminster and Cardinal Nichols, head of the UK Catholic Church, said: 'Pray for them and for their father.' A man in his 50s also died after being mown down by a 4x4 vehicle which sped across Westminster Bridge, mounting the pavement and hitting several people before ploughing into the gates of the Palace of Westminster. A man then jumped out the car with a large knife and stabbed a policeman before being shot. Police raided properties in Birmingham overnight with the car being hired from a rental company near the city. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, described the attack as 'brutal and senseless' in a tweet yesterday. Praying tonight for those grieving loved ones - and those injured and traumatised - after the brutal and senseless attack in #Westminster. Justin Welby (@JustinWelby) March 22, 2017 Acting Deputy Commissioner and head of counter terrorism Mark Rowley said in a statement: 'The inquiries in Birmingham, London and other parts of the country are continuing. 'It is still our belief which continues to be borne out by our investigation that this attacker acted alone and was inspired by international terrorism. 'To be explicit, at this stage we have no specific information about further threats to the public.' Parliament will sit as normal and the Prime Minister is expected to make a statement at 11.30. A minute's silence will be held at 09.33 with flags flying at half mast around Westminster. Defence secretary Michael Fallon said 'it is no accident' the attack targeted Parliament, the heart of the UK's democracy. Tributes poured in for PC Keith Palmer, who died from his stab wounds, for 'defending democracy'. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Israeli police on Thursday arrested a 19-year-old Israeli Jewish man as the primary suspect in a string of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers and other institutions in the U.S., marking a potential breakthrough in a case that stoked fears across the United States, including in Houston. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld described the suspect as a hacker, but said his motives were still unclear. Israeli media identified him as an American-Israeli dual citizen and said he had been found unfit for compulsory service in the Israeli military. "He's the guy who was behind the JCC threats," Rosenfeld said, referring to the dozens of anonymous threats phoned in to Jewish community centers in the U.S. over the past two months. In a statement Thursday, the JCC Association of North America's CEO Doron Krakow praised the breakthrough, saying the organization was "gratified by the progress in this investigation," but also noting concerns. "We are troubled to learn that the individual suspected of making these threats against Jewish Community Centers, which play a central role in the Jewish community, as well as serve as inclusive and welcoming places for all is reportedly Jewish," Krakow said. After a menacing phone call on Feb. 20, parents drove to the southwest Houston center to pick up their preschoolers the morning of the threat. Staff and students were evacuated from the building as police and bomb-sniffing dogs swept the center. They found nothing suspicious. A second threat, this one by email, came March 12. Executive Vice President Joel Dinkin said at the time that police once again found nothing suspicious. "You can't prepare for it," he said at the time. "You can only continue to review your protocols and respond accordingly." On Thursday afternoon, Dinkin echoed the umbrella organization's statement, adding that he did not have information about what types of threats (email vs. phone) or specific sites police think the Israeli-American suspect threatened. "We're grateful to the law enforcement agencies that were able to apprehend a suspect and the progress that's been made by the investigation," Dinkin said. "We're troubled to learn that the individual suspected is Jewish. JCCs are seen as an inclusive and welcoming place, so certainly this is disturbing." The Anti-Defamation League says there have been more than 120 bomb threats nationwide against U.S. Jewish community centers and day schools since Jan. 9. Those threats led to evacuations of the buildings, upset Jewish communities and raised fears of rising anti-Semitism. The threats were accompanied by acts of vandalism on several Jewish cemeteries. The threats led to criticism of the White House for not speaking out fast enough. Last month, the White House denounced the threats and rejected "anti-Semitic and hateful threats in the strongest terms." Rosenfeld, the Israeli police spokesman, said the suspect allegedly placed dozens of threatening phone calls to public venues, synagogues and community buildings in the U.S., New Zealand and Australia. He also placed a threat to Delta Airlines, causing a flight in February 2015 to make an emergency landing. Rosenfeld said the man, from the south of Israel, used advanced technologies to mask the origin of his calls and communications to synagogues, community buildings and public venues. He said police searched his house Thursday morning and discovered antennas and satellite equipment. "He didn't use regular phone lines. He used different computer systems so he couldn't be backtracked," Rosenfeld said. After an intensive investigation in cooperation with FBI representatives who arrived in Israel, as well as other police organizations from various countries, technology was used to track down the suspect who had made the threats around the world, Rosenfeld said. Meanwhile, Krakow offered hope that the arrest would bring an end to months of fear-spreading hoaxes. "Throughout this long running period of concern and disruption that we are hopeful has come to an end, JCCs have had the opportunity to review and assess our security protocols and procedures, and we are confident that JCCs are safer today than ever before," he said. In Washington, the FBI confirmed the arrest but had no other comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Melissa Phillip/Staff The Houston Symphony announced today that it will be extending its contract with current music director Andres Orozco-Estrada for another three seasons. Orozco-Estrada, who is in his third year leading the symphony, now has a contract that extends through the 2021-22 season. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate After years of renovation, one of Houston's favorite quirky homes is edging closer to completion in the Riverside Terrace area. The four-story, eight bedroom home (with a separate apartment) at 2309 Wichita in the Third Ward has become a cult hit over the past few years since its previous owner Charles Fondow passed away. It's been called creepy, spooky, because of its kooky, 'Munsters'-like exterior. FROM FEBRUARY 2014: Mysterious Houston mansion for sale The home sold in early 2014 and real estate developer Nick Ugarov, has spent the past two years finishing the work that Fondow had planned for it, and even adding to it where he could. It took him a year to even decide exactly what he wanted to do with the Third Ward property. On Wednesday Chron.com came to visit for the first time since June 2016 and discovered its almost finished inside and out. Ugarov's own contracting company, Centerpoint Remodeling, is handling the renovation. Ugarov said that he and the ownership group behind the property want it either to become a boutique hotel or commercial meeting space. Each bedroom has a full, tiled bathroom with a shower installed. FROM MAY 2014: Spooky looking Houston mansion has found a buyer Renovation costs are running close to a $1 million, according to Ugarov. The home was originally built in 1935 and served stints as an orphanage and even a daycare. According to the HAR site's sale report available online, the 4,900-square-foot property sold for $251,000 in April 2014. Fondow himself told an outlet in 2001 that he invested some $300,000 in it along the way. When Chron.com visited on Wednesday the tile guy was there putting some finishing touches on pieces around the property. Electricians still need to come and install a few things, too. Bids are currently coming to revamp a small pool out back. Why did it take so long for the work on the home to be finished? Ugarov ran into the same issues that Fondow did: contractors giving out-of-this-world estimates and obscene charges, mainly. FROM JUNE 2015: One of the spookiest-looking houses in Houston getting a makeover "That's why it took so long. For instance we had six people painting the exterior of the house for six weeks. Caulking, making preparations. The drywall and interior took about the same time," Ugarov said. It's not that the workers were slow, there was just too much to do. Now as the end is near he's finally breathing easier. The neighbors will probably be happy when the renovation is over too. Some of the things that made the home "spooky" to some are now largely gone: the patchy dead grass, the darkened windows, the brown paint, the scattered plywood. However, the quirky turrets and fencing remain. FROM OCTOBER 2015: Houston's spookiest home gets a beautiful update, but still a work in progress Ugarov said the real MVP on the project has been carpenter Tony Segobia for helping him interpret what Fondow was trying to do in the 1980s and 1990s on the house. Fondow originally purchased the two-story brick home with $35,000. He was a dedicated DIY handyman spooked by Hurricane Alicia in 1983, who began fortifying his home beyond what most contractors would recommend. "This house is the love of my life," Fondow told the Houston Press in 2001. "I don't know how to live in a house that's finished." He died in 2011 at the age of 64 and the house went into real estate limbo. Houston blog Swamplot posted photos of what the house looked like when Fondow still lived there and hosted parties for his friends. Since 2015 Ugarov has added five new air conditioning units, an elevator, a commercial-grade water heater, paved the front yard for extra parking, and added 18 cameras inside and out for extra security. Ugarov has tried to stay as close as possible to Fondow's strange vision of what the home should look like. FROM JUNE 2016: Catching up with Houston's favorite spooky home renovation project Ugarov has fallen deeper in love with the home since he bought the house in 2014. Not a week goes by that someone doesn't stop by and ask Ugarov for a tour of the home. For now his insurance won't let just anyone inside for selfies. Ugarov has also dubbed the house Houston Towers, with a logo he designed himself, incorporating the four towers on the property. "We want to move away from the mysteriousness and the spookiness. It's a Houston landmark," Ugarov said. He's hopeful that its next incarnation will see it enjoyed by many people. He's long ruled out living there with his family. "It would be foolish to keep this house from other people. It deserved to be seen by as many people as possible to keep in line with Charlie's vision of the place," Ugarov said. "For him it wouldn't be fair to keep it from being seen by the public." "He put his heart and soul into this place," Ugarov said of Fondow. Ugarov certainly has too. Click through the slideshow above to see the house transform over the past three years.... Sheriff's deputies are searching for a missing northwest Harris County man who disappeared over the weekend. Muhammad Rizwan Ahmed, 31, was last seen Sunday in the 10700 block of Allens Landing Drive. He was driving a blue Honda Accord with Texas plates JGW6566, Harris County Sheriff's deputies said. Ahmed is 6-foot 2 and weighs about 128 pounds. He has brown hair and eyes. Ahmed was last seen wearing a green sweater and khaki pants, deputies said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. sheriff's office A former Houston Independent School District employee is accused of sexually assaulting a student at the school where he had worked. The former HISD employee, Mauricio Mendoza, 37, was charged Wednesday with aggravated sexual assault of a child, according to Harris County court records. District officials said he allegedly engaged in "inappropriate conduct" with a student while he was working at Hartman Middle School, 7111 Westover. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The purpose of the University of Houston's 20th annual Table Talk luncheon is simple, to engage some 600 patrons in thought-provoking discussion in celebration of the program's 25th anniversary. And seating for the University of Houston's 20th annual Table Talk luncheon is done alphabetically. Though, according to one event organizer, this arrangement albeit diplomatic - has been a controversial move in past years. Reportedly, some of the Bayou City's most notable names prefer to be seated prominently near the luncheons' chairs, or front podium. Lynn Wyatt, however, was so gracious about her table placement, the insider said. The well-known doyenne, one of 60 conversationalists on hostess duty for Wednesday's milestone bash, was in good company; the Chronicle's own Andrea White also manned a rear table in the back of Hilton Americas-Houston's ballroom downtown. Professor Elizabeth Gregory, UH's Director of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program, assembled an impressive roster of table hosts including Farida Abjani, Nancy Almodovar, Ellen Cohen, Julie Baker Finck, Winell Herron, Nicole Longnecker, Martha Montalvo and Kelly Zuniga. "Each person can run the conversation as they like, it's not a lecture," Gregory explained over the phone, post-luncheon. "The event is about diversity, breaking glass ceilings and being innovative in different ways. Those stories aren't always shared, and that's really the point of this event." In that regard, Linda Flores Olson, executive director of the Houston Hispanic Forum, caught fellow lunch-goers off guard with her remarks. As table 36's appointed conversationalist, the native Houstonian spoke of her own parents' move from Mexico to Texas more than 50 years ago. They worked multiple jobs, she said, so that Olson and her siblings could attend private schools. "I knew and valued the importance of my private school education," she continued, explaining that she was accused of wanting to be perceived as Caucasian by children from her neighborhood. "Because I didn't want to be poor." Though presumably well-intended, Olson's comments about private schools felt out-of-touch given UH's "Cougar Promise" incentive, which guarantees free tuition and mandatory fees to new in-state freshmen with family incomes at or below $45,000. Eric Gerber, UH's executive director of communication, said that the program has been in place since May 2008. The original income threshold was originally $30,000, but will likely reach $50,000 soon. Olson also spoke of the risk her father took in moving to the United States where, "he could pass for white if he didn't speak, and could use the 'white' water fountain; but if he spoke, he'd have to use the 'colored' fountain." On such a progressive and uplifting occasion, her statements seemed insensitive as both the event and UH's diversity and inclusion statement "... value the academic, social, and broader community benefits that arise from a diverse campus and are committed to equity, inclusion, and accountability." Wrong place, wrong time. But all's well that ends well. Gregory reported that the shindig chaired by Herron, Sippi Khurana, Terry Morales, Misti Pace-Krahl, and Angela Shippy surpassed its fundraising goal of $250,000 benefiting the Friends of Women's Studies. One lucky attendee from each table also received a shopping bag-sized tote filled with swag from presenting sponsor H-E-B. "There are more CEOs named 'John' than there are female CEOs," FWS President Leah Barton said. "Life is a gender studies course and our students come prepared." Montgomery County Jail A San Antonio man on Wednesday was sentenced to life in prison following his conviction for an October 2015 armed robbery in New Caney, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said. A jury spent about seven minutes deliberating before they found James Dwayne Crowley, 49, guilty in the hold-up of the Flying J truck stop. He held employees at gunpoint while demanding they open the safe. He also fired off a round that ricocheted and struck one of the employees, authorities said. It's difficult to understand what Danny Boyle is saying. Part of this is because we're talking on cellphones in cars - his moving en route to an airport, mine illegally parked in residential Houston. The background crackle of digital networks provides a patina of dull noise. Then there's Boyle's British brogue. It's a beautiful sound, words bumping into one another, others elongating with a strange fluidity marked by staccato pops of emphatic gestures of enunciation. But to the casual ear, there are areas of misunderstanding during this swift dialogue about aging, nostalgia and our place in life. Without some reflective processing, it's a conversation marked by moments of confusion. In other words, it's kind of like watching Boyle's beloved 1996 film "Trainspotting" without the aid of subtitles to translate the characters' sticky Scottish accents. Which is fitting, I suppose, as the reason for this phone call is the director's long-gestating sequel to "Trainspotting." The film, which opens Friday, reunites the director from Manchester, England, with the story of four Scottish lads addicted to heroin and the crimes of youth. They're now grown men - at least in body - and mostly sober, but struggling with a new dilemma: the consequence of aging as it relates to the price of the past. That framework is a topic anyone from the "Trainspotting" era can relate to. The film, and before it the novel by Irvine Welsh, implored a generation on the verge of being tapped into the internet to choose life, a cry to get off our sofas and engage with the world around us - results be damned. Yet, 20 years after hearing that, life has swept past us like one of those rushing trains that didn't really play a large part in the film. Whether by choice or not, life has taken its toll on us, and this new film feels like a forced perspective of nostalgia and reflection. "The past is part of us all, especially with men, we cannot relive it without acknowledging the lessons of it or the reality of it," Boyle says. This, I can understand. Tapping the zeitgeist If you're honest about it, 1996 was a strange time to be an adolescent. The ghost of Kurt Cobain was still haunting us, his screams from the grave echoing an effective argument against the id-soaked stains of the '80s. But the burn of the so-called "alternative" revolution he ignited had left a legion of kids and young adults branded by a contradictory sense of conformed independence. There was more confusion. That summer, a bomb disrupted the sense of peace at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In September, someone tried to kill Bjork with a failed mail bomb - which, at the time, felt like trouncing on cultural royalty. That was also the month rapper Tupac Shakur was killed, which oddly was a jolt of life to hip-hop and Machiavellian conspiracy theories. Oh, and there was the internet, bubbling up into all our lives with its welcoming chat rooms and pages upon pages of alien abduction reports. The future was forming, faster than some people could handle. And in the search for relief, some of us fell into the calming balm of a frenetic film about Scottish heroin addicts in the '80s. "Trainspotting" felt like a mainline to the zeitgeist of the moment. The tale of a group of adolescent, male junkies trying to find purpose and pleasure in a crumbling world that didn't reflect their interests and needs was a reflecting pool of frustration and desire. Watching Renton (Ewan McGregor) crawl into "the worst toilet in Scotland" was more than a metaphor for life's "crappy" rites of passage. It felt like communion. And though the story was sent through the prism of opiate addiction, the lads' chase for their next fix felt like the continuing run toward purpose. Or enlightenment. Or anything else we were fixated on in a world still numbed by sitcoms with contrived laugh tracks. It felt like a portrait of freedom. As the years have passed, "Trainspotting" has been discussed as a stylistic champion with great use of dialect, composition and music. As a sympathetic, yet realistic, view of drug abuse. And as a true view of Scotland's working-class folk. But when Boyle hears people reflect on the film and what it meant to them, the drugs and that infamous toilet aren't top of mind. It's the bond between the movie's young men. "I mean, they talked about them in the circumstances of the scenes, I'm not denying that, the toilet and all that. But they remember the characters' names, and that's not because we freeze-framed their names early in the film. Because you rarely remember a character's name in a film. You remember the actor who played them," Boyle says. "But these people would rattle off the characters' names the characters meant something to them." Indeed. I have friends who still talk about the "Trainspotting" lads as avatars or examples of their own friendships. "I don't know why, but I have my theories," Boyle says. "They're all extreme characters, of course. I mean, we've all had friends and there's always someone who is in a fight. That's the Begbie. And Spud is the chaotic one. And I think they see their friends and remember them like that." He's right. Which is why it's sometimes difficult to watch the aged versions of them in "T2 Trainspotting." The new film, based off of Welsh's novel "Porno," is set 20 years after "Trainspotting." It's a continual reminder of the evaporation of youth. Seeing the body of Spud (Ewen Bremner) contort and bend is a jab at our degrading joints. Watching Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) color his hair is a subtle nod to our overt insecurities about getting old. And the juxtaposition of Renton's weathered, wrinkled face next to his elastic and youthful visage of 1996 plays like those surreal moments of realization found in the mirror. This isn't an accident. "It's the reason for doing (the film) otherwise, why would you look at them 20 years later? Other than to see what does the past mean to them now? What's left? What's become of them? It's a big part of the deal," Boyle says. "So you have to look at yourself as well, as part of that." Aging with us For those of us who came through the '90s with "Trainspotting" as a benchmark experience, this sequel will be a journey into the self. But, imagine how that passage of time and perspective must be for the man who made these movies. Remember, "Trainspotting" was Boyle's first major success, vaulting him toward a resume that now boasts an Oscar-winning film ("Slumdog Millionaire"), a genre flick that redefined the modern zombie movement ("28 Days Later") and a movie built around the inevitability of James Franco cutting his arm off ("127 Hours"). He's become a top-flight Hollywood director since those final edits to "Trainspotting." As expected, his own journey into the past wasn't an easy trek. Which is part of the reason why it took two decades to get a follow up made. Some of the quick twitch looks at "T2 Trainspotting" will reference the one-time rift between Boyle and McGregor as the reason for the film's delay. But the truth might be closer to Boyle not being ready for it. "We tried to do (the movie) 10 years ago, and I know why we didn't do it. It was a superficial reason, which is that we didn't think (the script) was good enough, which it wasn't," Boyle says. "But the real reason is, I think, is that John Hodge, the screenwriter, and I, we weren't ready to be honest enough to do it. "When we sat down a couple years ago in Edinburgh, with the last chance, because the 20th anniversary was looming on the horizon, it became much more personal. Just because we wanted to, not because we thought we had to." The new film is filled with personal nuances built from Boyle's life experiences through the past two decades. "I missed my mother's death. And at the beginning, there's this good scene with Renton, and his mother had passed away and he didn't make it back for the funeral and there's her shadow on the wall," Boyle says. "And, also, then, the film is littered with children who apparently have no father." It's a universal motif, as is the reason for Boyle's use of it - the guilt of spending more time with his work than his children. "It's saturated with these images of fathers and sons, particularly," Boyle says. Which is one reason why "T2 Trainspotting" might be as penetrating as its predecessor was to fans of the original film: It tells us the story of ourselves, in the moment. It's not quite an easy view, but it's fulfilling. Sitcom star turned filmmaker Rob Reiner will attend the 50th WorldFest, Houston's independent international film festival. Reiner's new "LBJ" will be the festival's opening night film on April 21, and he will also receive the Remi Career Achievement Award. Reiner's 19th film, "LBJ" features Woody Harrelson playing Lyndon B. Johnson as he assumes the presidency following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Richard Jenkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bill Pullman also star in the historical drama. Detectives are asking the public's assistance to track down the killer of a 21-year-old north Harris County man. The body of Reginald Thomas, Jr., 21, was discovered Aug. 10, 2016 in an apartment complex in the 19000 block of Kenswick Drive. Harris County Precinct 4 deputy constables went to the apartment after Thomas' family members became concerned that he had not been heard from. Sheriff's detectives said it appeared Thomas had been shot to death. There were no signs of forced entry into the apartment. Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. When Tatum Hoof pulled up to meet her boyfriend Davon Lee at a Georgia Chick-fil-A, she was expecting a quick bite to eat, but she walked away with chicken and a prom date. The two met had through the store's drive-thru window weeks earlier where Hoof would order the same eight-piece chicken nuggets and each week Lee was there to deliver her food. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Lone Star College System's 2014 bond projects continue to develop as construction progresses at the system's northwest Houston campuses. The $485 million bond helps prepare the district to meet growth throughout the system. At Lone Star College-CyFair, the Center for Academic and Student Engagement (also called the Instruction and Student Life Building) ceiling grid installation and interior painting is in progress. The facility will have permanent power soon, too. The project is expected to be complete in April. Seelpa Keshvala heads Lone Star College-CyFair. She feels the college is well on top of its needs, improvements to information technology programs being one of the more glaring needs addressed. "We feel as a system we're creating programs across the entire area that are most beneficial to prospective students," she said, adding that bond projects meet anticipated growth through 2021. At the school's Cypress Center Workforce Expansion, construction of underground utilities, piers and slab on grade are complete after demolition wrapped up last month. Construction of building structure is underway for the project, which the district said is on track to be complete this June. The Westway Park Technology Center (also called the Information Technology and Visual Communications Satellite Center) is a 130,000 square feet that will support the school's Visual Communications department and various computer information technology programs. Construction is expected to be complete this fall, it will open at 5060 Westway Park Boulevard next Spring. Keshvala is particularly excited because of its proximity to the energy corridor and nearby technology companies. "We want to make sure we're aligning our programs to meet workforce needs, we really have a pulse on the programs that we're offering," she said. "The center is unlike anything else we have in system." Initially the school will only utilize 50,000 square feet (the first and second of three floors), leaving the remainder for future growth. Keshvala hopes students will be drawn by the college's efforts to keep up with other educational amenities like flexible learning spaces like a learning theater and other open-space and collaborative learning arrangements. This new center is expected to be complete next spring when it will open for classes. As LSC-University Park's science and innovation building exterior nears completion, most of the interior walls, floors and ceilings are complete. Built-in cabinets and lab benches are being installed too. The project is expected to be complete this May. At LSC-Tomball, construction bids for the South Entrance Drive will be up for discussion next month. "The contract and vendor will go before the Lone Star College Board at the meeting on April," according to Jennifer Richardson, LSC-Tomball College Relations director of communications. "Work would begin following board approval," she said. Keshvala is confident about the system's overall growth. As projects continue to develop from the last bond, she said she doesn't anticipate another referendum for awhile. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Recognition and praise continue to follow Markuise Thomas and Cameron White as the East Montgomery County community finds new ways to honor the 12-year-old boys for saving the life of a drowning girl on Feb. 16 in Roman Forest. Most recently, they were honored during the EMC Republican Women's meeting Tuesday, March 14, at the Bull Sallas Park Friendship Center in New Caney. Thomas was unable to attend, but President Elizabeth Rhoden Harrell presented White with a Good Citizenship certificate and gift cards from community residents. White's father is a Houston police officer and Thomas is a relatively new resident to the area, but Roman Forest Police Chief Stephen Carlisle said Thomas had made a good impression on the citizens even before the water rescue. "When he first moved here, he started knocking on peoples' doors asking if there's anything they needed him to do," Carlisle said. "He's a hard worker and a good kid." The two boys were near the beachy banks of Peach Creek, just northwest of the Roman Forest pavilion, Feb. 16 when they noticed a little girl playing on the opposite side of the creek. Melodie Maddox, a 4-year-old girl with autism, had made her way over a flimsy section of her backyard fence, wandered up to the creek and started playing on a tree limb extending over the water. The boys were headed home when Thomas paused to glance back at the creek. "Something told Markuise to turn around and look," Carlisle said. "He sees the limb break, her fall into the creek, and she went under. "He didn't pause; he didn't film - nothing. He just jumped in the water and went across to get her." White also headed back down to the creek as Thomas brought Melodie safely to shore. "They're trying to figure out what to do," Carlisle said. "So, Cameron goes up to the park to call for help and he follows. They ran into somebody at the park and they called me." Law enforcement from Roman Forest and Woodbranch arrived on the scene. Because of the heroic actions of Thomas and White that day, Melodie was returned to her family safe and sound. She is doing well, according to her mother Melissa Maddox. "I am, and will be forever thankful for the boys who were so heroic and brave to jump right on in and protect her," Maddox said. "I hope God abundantly blesses them for the rest of their lives for saving my sweet baby girl." The boys' heroism has received praise and recognition from the New Caney Independent School District, several news outlets, social media, community members - and this trend is not expected to stop there. Carlisle plans to present Thomas with his certificate and gift cards on behalf of the EMC Republican Women during the next Roman Forest City Council in April. They will also both be recognized during the next Roman Forest Police Awards Ceremony in January 2018. A tech worker at a Houston middle school accused of impregnating a 13-year-old student appeared in court Thursday on charges of child molestation. Mauricio Orlando Mendoza, 37, an information technology worker, faces the possibility of life in prison after being charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. INAPPROPRIATE RELATIONSHIP: Middle school worker arrested after allegations Mendoza was arrested Wednesday after the girl's mother found illicit text messages between her daughter and Mendoza in December and reported them to administrators at Hartman Middle School. Prosecutors said they believe Mendoza and the girl had sex in his office and the school library. After the outcry, the girl was tested for pregnancy, which came out positive, prosecutors said. BLACKMAIL: Teacher accused of paying hush money to former student after sex "The defendant is believed to be the father of the unborn child," said Assistant Harris County District Attorney Patrick Stayton. Mendoza, who appeared in court in grey slacks and a grey dress shirt, is free on $50,000 bail. He did not speak in court. Prosecutors said he is a legal immigrant from El Salvador and has been in the U.S. with his wife and children for about five years. PRISON TIME: Teacher impregnated by student sentenced to 10 years After hearing the allegations, state District Judge Hazel Jones held Mendoza until his family can deliver his passport to the court while the case is pending. His wife is expected to bring the passport to court Thursday. -- brian.rogers@chron.com twitter.com/brianjrogers This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The final two suspects in a seven-man bank robbery in Pasadena have been convicted by a federal jury for their roles in the crime. Raynard Gray, 33, and Sonny Pervis, 27, were convicted in an attempted robbery of the bank on July 26, 2014, and the armed robbery of the bank on July 28, 2014, acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez announced Thursday, March 23. Five other men have already pleaded guilty in the Pasadena case. That case was part of a larger string of Houston-area robberies, in which more than 20 people were charged in 2015. You can see more of the suspects who have since been convicted in the gallery above. The seven men met and planned the robbery of the Pasadena credit union, said Martinez' public affairs officer, Angela Dodge. The jury heard Gray was the leader of this robbery crew and acted as a lookout during the robberies, while Pervis was one of the men who entered the credit union and brandished and discharged a firearm. TERRIFYING: Sugar Land armed robbery caught on camera The seven men met and planned the robbery of the Pasadena credit union, said Martinez' public affairs officer, Angela Dodge. The jury heard Gray was the leader of this robbery crew and acted as a lookout during the robberies, while Pervis was one of the men who entered the credit union and brandished and discharged a firearm. They arrived at the bank first on Saturday, July 26, 2014, with the intention of committing the robbery. An employee saw them approach the locked lobby doors and then they left the premises, Dodge said. They returned two days later to complete the robbery, getting away with cash. Two suspects, Pervis and Howard Glaze, 24, shot at a witness who had followed the suspects to get vehicle information for the police. The men led police on a high-speed chase from Pasadena to north Houston, where they abandoned their vehicle and fled on foot. FOUND IN PARKING SPACE: Katy parents charged with abandoning infant The suspects also left cash, bank straps and their own clothing in the abandoned vehicle, which belonged to Pervis. The defense did not dispute that the robberies occurred, but contended that Pervis and Gray were not involved, Dodge said. Each man faces up to 25 years for the robbery and attempted robbery. They also face 5 years in prison for using a firearm in the attempted robbery and 25 years in prison for using a firearm in the actual robbery. All sentences must be served consecutively, Dodge said. The four other co-defendants in the Pasadena case are Chris Braziel, 29, Keith McGee,26, Kwhun Johnson, 24, and Leroy Richardson, 36, all of Houston. The FBI and police departments in Pasadena and Houston conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard Hanes and Heather Winter are prosecuting the case. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Wednesday evening an Alief Hastings High School student fighting cancer was able to meet music icon Beyonce through FaceTime. Ebony Banks' battle against stage 4 cancer has kept her out of the classroom for most of the year, and in an effort to make her dreams come true, her friends started the hashtag #EBOBMEETSBEYONCE on social media. LIKE BEYONCE: Woman is flooded with haters online because she looks like Beyonce The Beyhive got the word to Queen Bey herself and she dialed up the high school senior's iPhone for a FaceTime call. A portion of the call was shared out on Twitter Wednesday. A slew of "I love yous" were shared as well as best wishes from Beyonce to Banks. Earlier in March, the high school senior was able to graduate early during her stay in MD Anderson Hospital. "You don't really know what can happen with cancer. You don't know if it's going to go away or come back. (It's) a scary thought," a friend of Banks, Karina Gutierrez, told KTRK-TV. Click through the gallery above to see photos of Banks and Beyonce's FaceTime and continue clicking to see the top photos of Beyonce through the years. PREGANACY ANNOUNCE: People everywhere are trying the #BeyonceChallenge This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Northwest Harris County families and other community members will have soon be able to enjoy nature at the new Precinct 4 park, Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve. The two-phase, $3.4 million project which spans 80 acres and features the 40-acre Marshall Lake with a 1.7 mile paved trail that circles the water, will be celebrated in a grand opening on Saturday, April 1 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will provide community members the opportunity for visitors to explore the lake by canoe or from Precinct 4's pontoon boat, fish from the banks, and experience nature presentations. "The park is also an important birding destination and will feature activities from Precinct 4's Trails and Parks program. I'm also excited by the partnerships that have formed while developing the greenway system," Commissioner R. Jack Cagle said. "Our goal is to connect as many parks and locations as possible, not just Precinct 4 parks. We connect communities, local municipal utility district parks, and even other precincts. Cypress Park is a wonderful park in Precinct 3 that you can visit along the greenway." The park is located along Texas 249 and the property serves as an anchor park for the Cypress Creek Greenway. Park officials say the 40-mile linear trail will stretch from west of U.S. 290 eastward to the Spring Creek Greenway at Jesse H. Jones Park & Nature Center. The reserve also provides restrooms and showers. Park officials believe the park will be an ideal camping site for scouts and other community groups. "This location is adjacent to Cypress Creek and will be a key anchor park within the Cypress Creek Greenway. It is adjacent to a newly developed area including The Vintage, St. Luke's Hospital, new single family homes such as Vintage Lakes, condominiums, new apartments, senior living centers, and hotels," said Jim Robertson, chairman of the Cypress Creek Greenway Project. "The location sits in the center of a larger, established residential community centered near Cypress Creek and Highway 249. The Kickerillo Mischer Preserve is just across Highway 249 from the HP/Lone Star University Park/Centre at Cypress Creek/Chasewood Technology Park shared campus. Thousands of area residents will have easy access to the new park via the developing Cypress Creek Greenway trail system." Additionally, Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve serves as a natural floodplain buffer. Serving as a buffer means that during storm events the preserve act like giant sponges by slowing floodwaters, capturing sediment, and absorbing run-off. Originally, in 2009, Kickerillo Companies and Mischer Investments first donated the land to Precinct 4, but construction of staff offices deep in the floodplain made cost prohibitive. Eventually, Prestonwood Forest Utility District agreed to lease its former fire station building, located directly adjacent to the property. Precinct 4 park programming and educational offerings in collaboration with Bayou Land Conservancy will be provided by a director and onsite caretakers. "That agreement with PFUD saved taxpayers about $2 million," Dennis Johnston said in an official statement, Precinct 4 parks administrator. The project includes road improvements, hike-and-bike trails, construction of parking lots, utility infrastructure, trail connections to the parking lot, renovation of the old firehouse, fencing, and a bridge across Cypress Creek. Prestonwood Forest Utility District also donated 25 percent of the $212,832 cost of the new bridge. The commissioner and park officials greatly appreciate the grassroots efforts of the Friends of Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve. Beginning in the early 2000s, the organization worked with then-owner, Hewlett-Packard, to preserve the land for hikers, bikers, and community members who enjoy nature. "The park was originally a recreational area used by Hewlett-Packard employees with pre-existing dirt nature trails and a large lake" Commissioner Cagle said. "When Hewlett-Packard announced they were selling the land; residents didn't want to lose a valuable piece of acreage along Cypress Creek. They worked out a deal that benefitted everyone." According to Harris County Precinct 4, Hewlett- Packard stipulated that the wooded preserve be set aside for use as a passive recreational park when the company sold 462 acres to developer Vincent Kickerillo in 2005. Harris County Commissioners Court accepted conveyance of the 80-acre property in 2009 from Vincent Kickerillo and Walt Mischer's V&W Partners. Harris County Precinct 4 officials also confirm that V&W brought together representatives from Precinct 4, the Friends of the Kickerillo- Mischer Preserve, and local landscape architect, Clark Condon Associates, to create a master plan for the park. The strategy won a Best of the Best Award from the Houston-Galveston Area Council. Future amenities for the park include fishing piers, a picnic pavilion, outdoor classroom, and an amphitheater. "I'm proud of all the partnerships that made this preserve possible," Commissioner Cagle said. "Residents started advocating for the preserve 12 years ago, and now we can finally deliver." Former Congressman Steve Stockman left behind a long trail of unanswered questions when he left office after representing Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013-2015.He was arrested last week and charged with two counts of conspiracy based on allegations he conspired with his staff to misuse illegal campaign contributions and diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable donations from major foundations, federal court records show. Stockman has blamed a "deep state" conspiracy for his current prosecution. But here's a look back at other questions raised about Stockman's activities while he was still in Congress. Stockman failed to file financial disclosures required of federal congressional candidates in 2012. When he belatedly disclose $350,000 in income in 2013, he refused to answer questions about the source of that money. He also didn't disclose 10 different business names he'd registered in Texas, the British Virgin Islands and elsewhere. Stockman's filings don't explain his income Experts urged Stockman to amend the disclosures. In October 2013, Stockman fired two congressional staffers who admitted to giving him illegal campaign contributions that were hidden under the names of their parents. Those contributions are now part of the ongoing federal criminal probe against Stockman. Stockman later returned the $15,000. The firings, though, were only part of the questions raised about Stockman's campaign finances. In February 2014, an Office of Congressional Ethics Report recommended further investigation of the circumstances behind the illegal contributions staff gave Stockman. Stockman did not cooperate with the OCE . In July 2014, the Houston Chronicle reported that there were questions about who had really funded a congressional junket to Baku, Azerbaijan. Stockman was one of 10 Congressmen and 35 staffers who accepted the all-expense paid trip that supposedly was funded by the Houston-based Turqouise Council and other non-profits. The Office of Congressional Ethics investigated and concluded in 2015 that at least $750,000 in expenses funneled through those non-profits had been paid by the Azeri government or its national oil company. It's illegal for a foreign government to pay directly for congressional travel, but the OCE concluded lawmakers had been mislead by the non-profit leaders about conference funding. Stockman and others did not cooperate with the probe. Some congressmen, however, returned rugs and other gifts they got on the trip. Stockman left office in the eye of a political storm. At the time he ended his term in December 2014, Stockman and three staff members had been subpoenaed by a Washington DC-based grand jury conducting a criminal probe. He was also the subject of a House Ethics Committee Investigation, though that committee lost jurisdiction when he left office. Over the years, Stockman established at least 10 different business names that were active when he joined Congress. In April 2015, a Houston Chronicle reporter reviewing non-profit tax records disclosed on a website called Citizen Audit learned one non-profit, Life Without Limits,had received $140,000 in donations from Baltimore-based foundations. Life Without Limits was a Las Vegas charity linked to Stockman through a Harris County business name record Stockman filed in 2012 . The donations, however, were not reported as income in a tax document filed by that Vegas non-profit. Stockman mum about ties to Las Vegas charity. Stockman is now accused of colluding with staff to divert donations given by three different foundations to Life Without Limits and another non-profit as part of the allegations pending against him in Houston federal court, according to information contained in the criminal complaint against Stockman and in a plea deal made by a former staffer. On March 16, more than two years after leaving office, Stockman was arrested in Houston as he attempted to board a flight to the Middle East. He was charged with two counts of conspiracy based on allegations that he'd diverted $350,000 in foundation donations given to the Life Without Limits charity and had conspired with staffers to receive illegal campaign contributions. One of Stockman's former congressional staffers, Thomas Dodd, pleaded guilty on March 20 to two counts of conspiracy related to illegal campaign contributions and the diversion of donations from two different charitable foundations. The deadline to sign up for this free community event that is open to all is Nov. 16. Kennebunk Post "We need to invest in our kids," said resident Brenda Robinson. "That's how we keep graffiti out of Waterhouse Center and mischief out of the downtown on Saturday night." An Irving man has set a new record for the largest hybrid striped bass caught with a fly rod in Texas. Yue Jiang Li caught the 9.83 pound, 25-inch-long fish earlier this month while fishing just below Ray Roberts Lake north of Denton, reports the Denton Record-Chronicle. The catch breaks the previous state record of a 8.99 pound hybrid stripped bass caught in 2005. A Dallas-area woman is facing murder charges after allegedly shooting and killing her husband. Shazetta Jackson-Pickett, 41, from Glenn Heights, Texas, reportedly went to 37-year-old Chester Pickett's job to discuss ongoing marital issues at 11:45 a.m. Friday. When she arrived she found him with another woman and began arguing about his infidelity. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Larry Thomas smelled smoke about 4 a.m. Thursday. It was coming through the vents of his first-floor bedroom in the southwest Houston boarding home he manages. He woke his son, Derek, for help and grabbed a fire extinguisher. Neither could spot the flames. So Thomas called 911 and alerted the other 27 residents in the seven-bedroom home. They were all safe outside by the time firefighters arrived. "They were very lucky," one firefighter said. The fire at the home in the 12700 block of Corona Lane was the second in a week at a rooming house offering affordable housing to low-income residents. On March 16, two residents died trying to escape the maze-like interior in an unregulated south Houston rooming house. The Corona house had a similar convoluted interior, with hard-to-find bedrooms carved into the renovated attic space, officials said. At the Corona house, however, the Houston Fire Marshal's office inspected the home in December 2015, a move that fire officials said "removed hazards that could have been fatal at this early morning fire." Among the corrective actions required by inspectors were ensuring the bedroom windows could open, adding smoke detectors in the stairwells and signs at the exit doors, and installing deadbolts that allow easy escape. The Houston Arson Bureau said the fire was accidental, but did not cite a specific cause. The fire department credited the fire inspections and the cooperation of the home's owner with the safe evacuation of the residents. Thomas said he has run the boarding home since March 2014, catering mostly to people who are physically disabled or mentally ill with limited income. Rent is only $525 a month, including meals, Thomas said. The facility was registered as a boarding home with the city but the registration had expired March 15, said Lara Cottingham, deputy assistant director of the city's Administration & Regulatory Affairs Department. The registration was in the process of being renewed at the time of the fire, Cottingham said. Under Houston ordinance, a boarding home must register with the city if it provides multifamily housing with services such as meals and assistance with medication. More than 130 registered boarding homes are scattered across Houston, according to city records. Many of them are far from comfortable. Susan Davila spent months searching for a place for her 21-year-old son, Stewart, to live before she found the house on Corona, in a quiet neighborhood of single-family homes. Others were filthy, she said. Residents were neglected. Finally, this house was clean. Meals were nutritious. And the caretaker was engaged. Stewart moved into the house in January. "This is the only place he's lived where he's been well-fed and happy," Davila said. The house typically sleeps about 20, but 29 residents were living there at the time of the fire. At least eight short-term occupants were sleeping on air mattresses in the dining room and two living rooms. One said he had been sleeping on an air mattress for about a month. The fire gutted the back end, rendering the home unlivable. Chunks of wooden flooring and concrete fell from the burned-out ceilings, and water had soaked the house's walls and carpets. The fire on Corona came just a week after a fatal blaze at an unregulated rooming house about 20 miles away in the 4500 block of Griggs Road. Called Briscoe's Place, the 7,000-square-foot facility was not permitted to operate as a boarding house; it had a certificate of occupancy from 2007 to operate as a banquet hall. As of Thursday afternoon, the Houston Fire Department had not determined what sparked either blaze. On Corona, residents gathered in the garage, smoking cigarettes as they sifted through boxes of their possessions. Hardly anything was salvageable. Thomas and the Red Cross called nearby boarding houses to see if they could take in anyone. "I can't think straight right now," one woman said, as she walked through the house's hallway. "I know," Thomas replied. Thomas went into what used to be his bedroom. The fire had burned a hole in the ceiling. His medications were spilled across the soot-encrusted carpet. As he looked around, one of the home's owners called. "I'm standing in my room," Thomas said. "And it is just completely gone." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Houstonians heading out to RodeoHouston on Friday night might be contending with some wet weather. The Houston area is due for a bout of nasty storms as the weekend begins, according to the National Weather Service. The weather agency said that current data is pointing to severe weather potential after noon on Friday. HOUWX: Stay aware of Houston weather at this link at all times The severe weather threat will be heaviest northwest of Houston, from Brenham to Cleveland, according the National Weather Service. The region should expect rain, high winds with the possibility of a tornado and or hail. Flooding shouldn't be an issue though. College Station and Columbus will likely get hit in the early afternoon before the weather arrives in Houston after 3 p.m. in time for rush hour. NEVER THE SAME: Memes capture the craziness that is Texas weather The coastal area could also see some rain later as the sun goes down. Rain chances slide down to 20 percent on early Saturday morning as the area looks to dry out just in time for your weekend crawfish boil or other outdoor plans. WASHINGTON The last ditch effort to pass the Republicans' Obamacare replacement bill included two Texas lawmakers in a "Women in Healthcare" panel at the White House Wednesday. State Sens. Dawn Buckingham (R-Lakeway) and Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), both physicians, met with President Donald Trump to rally support for the embattled legislation, which faces a close vote in the U.S. House on Thursday. "We're excited. We think it's going to have a positive effect on the state of Texas," Buckingham said in an interview after the White House meeting. "We think we'll have flexibility to move forward and provide patient-centered health care that haven't had for a long time." Their trip came a week after another Texas physician, Republican National Committeeman Robin Armstrong, took part in another White House panel billed as the "victims" of Obamacare. Buckingham, an ophthalmologist, and Campbell, an emergency room physician and retired ophthalmologist, also met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to help press the case for the House Republican health care bill. A Chronicle survey of Texas Republicans in the U.S. House found more than a half-dozen conservatives who were still undecided Tuesday, as pressure groups on both sides have been lobbying overtime. Leaders of the House Freedom Caucus, who argue that the GOP bill doesn't go far enough to repeal Obamacare, said they have enough votes to block passage. House leaders said they believe there are sufficient Republican votes to pass the bill, even without any Democratic votes. Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, meanwhile, told Texas reporters that the upcoming House vote could be the GOP's "only opportunity to keep the promise we made to repeal and replace Obamacare." "I don't think we' going to pass this way again anytime soon," Cornyn added. In a letter to Trump, Buckingham outlined her arguments for repealing the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, which she said has added layers of regulation and bureaucracy to her health care practice. Buckingham, who supported Trump for president, also wrote that she and other Texas officials are "advocating for a block grant from the federal government to administer our state's healthcare system." Mark Mulligan/Staff AUSTIN -- Attorney General's Ken Paxton's legal team plans to argue in state criminal court next week that the judge should toss criminal charges against the attorney general, pointing to issues with the grand jury that the court has placed under seal, sources say. Paxton's legal team and the state's special prosecutors will return to Collin County Wednesday for a hearing to discuss the new motion, which was filed this month. Proceedings pertaining to the grand jury are expected to be closed to the public, according to the courts. AUSTIN -- On a 7-3 vote, the Senate Education Committee approved a plan to allow parents to use state tax dollars to fund their child's private school tuition Thursday. More than 100 witnesses signed up to testify on the controversial bill earlier this week that would create education savings accounts and tax credit scholarships to pay for their students to transfer out of public schools. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. WASHINGTON The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights announced today that it and its sister organization, The Leadership Conference Education Fund, had selected civil rights litigator and advocate Vanita Gupta to assume the leadership of both organizations. The chairs of the two organizations boards made the announcement after a joint board meeting to ratify the consensus recommendation of a 16-member joint board search committee. Gupta will hold the titles of president and CEO of both organizations and officially assume the roles on June 1, 2017. She most recently served in President Obamas administration as the head of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. She will succeed Wade Henderson, who has served as president and CEO since June 1996. Henderson, one of the pre-eminent civil and human rights leaders of the last 40 years, announced in November 2015 his intention to step down after the selection of a successor. When Wade announced his decision, we set out to find an exceptional individual, someone with a passion for advocacy, a record of achievement, a strategic vision, and the skills to lead our organizations, our dynamic coalition and this nation to a more just and inclusive future, said Judith Lichtman, chair of the Leadership Conference board. Vanita is that individual. William Robinson, chair of The Leadership Conference Education Fund board, said Gupta, 42, represents the next generation of civil rights leaders. As the first woman and first child of immigrants to serve as the leader of this organization, Vanita Guptas selection marks a turning point in civil rights history, Robinson said. The civil and human rights coalition is in very good hands. Obama appointed Gupta as principal deputy assistant attorney general and head of the U.S. Department of Justices Civil Rights Division in October 2014, where she served until January. As the nations chief civil rights prosecutor during one of the divisions highest profile and most productive eras, Gupta oversaw a wide range of criminal and civil enforcement efforts to ensure equal justice and protect equal opportunity for all. Gupta focused the division on advancing constitutional policing and criminal justice reform; prosecuting hate crimes and human trafficking; promoting disability rights and protecting the rights of LGBTQ individuals; and ensuring voting rights for all. She prioritized combatting discrimination in education, housing, employment, lending, and religious exercise. During her tenure, she oversaw federal investigations of the Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore, and Chicago police departments; the lawsuit against North Carolinas discriminatory H.B. 2; and the successful appeals of the Texas and North Carolina voter ID cases. At a time when our nations ideals and progress are being threatened in such fundamental ways, The Leadership Conference is a vital nerve center of the broad swath of civil and human rights organizations that are fighting for justice, fairness, and equality around the country, Gupta said. Civil and human rights work has never been easy, and these unprecedented times demand a clarity of vision, strategy, and solidarity that the Leadership Conference coalition is uniquely positioned to champion. I am honored and humbled to take on this essential work to guarantee that justice and equality apply to every individual as we struggle to be a more perfect union and remain a beacon for hope in the world. Wade Henderson will go down as one of the all-time great civil and human rights leaders. A true visionary and a brilliant leader, Wade has fundamentally transformed both The Leadership Conference and The Education Fund into the indispensable organizations they are today. It is my privilege to follow in his footsteps and build on his legacy in these challenging times. The two organizations conducted a comprehensive search for Hendersons replacement with the help of nationally renowned executive search firm BoardWalk Consulting. Ultimately, Gupta stood out for her long-standing commitment to civil and human rights, her significant legal and advocacy accomplishments and her broad base of bipartisan support. Henderson, who plans to remain active in the struggle for civil and human rights, including in his role as the Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., Professor of Public Interest Law at the David A. Clarke School of Law, University of the District of Columbia, said Gupta would bring energy, fresh ideas and strong leadership to the organizations. When I announced my decision to step down as head of The Leadership Conference, I noted that the day-to-day work of civil rights advocacy is critically important, but on its own, is not enough, Henderson said. Leaders also have the responsibility to cultivate, encourage and make paths for the next generation to lead and to thrive. That time has come for me, and I could not be more pleased to pass the baton of leadership to Vanita, a talented litigator, strategic visionary and tireless advocate who is deeply committed to building a country as good as its ideals, the mission of The Leadership Conference. A high-resolution headshot of Vanita Gupta is available here, and of Wade Henderson is available here. Selected Quotes Hon. Eric Holder, former U.S. Attorney General Throughout her career, Vanita has pushed our nation to live up to its promise of equal justice for all. Her fearless advocacy for the rights of all Americans, while at the helm of the Civil Rights Division, proves that she will be able to lead the important coalition of the Leadership Conference member organizations. Vanitas ability to bridge divides and build coalitions to drive progress will enable her to build on Wade Hendersons incredible legacy. Hon. Sally Yates, former U.S. Deputy Attorney General From criminal justice reform to voting rights to disability rights to LGBTQ equality, Vanita has the experience and tenacity to continue The Leadership Conferences tradition of advancing and defending our most precious rights. Her optimism and clear-eyed pragmatism will ensure that The Leadership Conference continues its strong tradition of building bridges and protecting the interests of all communities. Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU Vanita Gupta is one of the ACLUs star alumsfollowing in the steps of individuals like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Aryeh Neier. She started here as a line litigatortaking on seemingly intractable issues like immigration detention and criminal justice. She swiftly rose through the ranks and became our deputy legal director, and then mapped out the ACLUs groundbreaking work to fight mass incarceration. In doing so, she marshaled the ACLUs litigation and advocacy firepower and reached out across partisan lines to push criminal justice reform. Shes a once-in-a-generation leader who is perfectly poised to lead The Leadership Conference through one of the most challenging civil rights and civil liberties crisis of our time. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League In these incredibly challenging times, the board of The Leadership Conference wisely has chosen a leader who is respected across the political spectrum and who has worked to forge consensus to advance civil and human rights. In a time where we have seen a surge of hate crimes and rising levels of intolerance, Vanitas extensive experience in advocating for minorities will ensure that The Leadership Conference will continue to play a pivotal role as a voice for all Americans. Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign Vanita Gupta is a tenacious fighter for justice who has spent her life advocating for the most vulnerable members of our society. She led the Civil Rights Division during some of its most high-profile work to protect and advance the rights of LGBTQ individuals. She was unrelenting and strategic in confronting the ongoing threat to the LBGTQ community across the country, including the landmark litigation against North Carolinas discriminatory HB2 and guidance on schools Title IX obligations for transgender students. I look forward to having her as a partner and a leader in the civil rights movement as the next president and CEO of The Leadership Conference. Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Vanita Gupta is an extraordinary choice and we at the NAACP LDF are especially proud given her long and impressive tenure at LDF. Her tireless work on behalf of 38 defendants wrongfully convicted in a drug sting in Tulia, Texas, and a $6 million settlement is legendary. As a colleague at the ACLU, and later as the leader of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, Vanita has shown that she is at the forefront of bold, imaginative and uncompromising civil rights leadership. She is a fearless advocate who is precisely the kind of leader our coalition needs to meet this challenging moment. Gara LaMarche, president of the Democracy Alliance Ive known Wade Henderson since our early days in the ACLU in the 1980s and watched his emergence as a national civil rights icon. In filling Wades shoes, we could not have chosen better than Vanita Gupta, perhaps the leading civil rights advocate of her generation, from her groundbreaking litigation as a young lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, to overseeing the ACLUs work for criminal justice reform, to serving as the nations chief civil rights officer at the most consequential time since the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. In each role, Vanita has proven a powerful advocate, skilled litigator, and coalition builder able to forge unusual alliances. I am confident she will build on Wades legacy to strengthen The Leadership Conference to play a pivotal role in the challenging years ahead. Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League The selection of Vanita Gupta to become the next president and CEO of The Leadership Conference is an inspired choice for the times in which we live. Vanita will be the first female leader of this venerable institution and the first child of immigrants to serve as president. That perspective combined with her long career advocating for voting rights, challenging economic inequality, and fighting for those caught in the criminal justice system, overwhelmingly black and brown, will ensure The Leadership Conference remains at the center of the civil and human rights struggles moving forward. Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of MALDEF Succeeding a twenty-year president of The Leadership Conference is a daunting assignment; it requires someone of stature, experience, and great integrity. The Leadership Conference has selected someone meeting those requirements who also brings a breadth of involvement in multiple civil rights issues affecting so many of the communities that together have ensured our nations tremendous success. That is precisely what is required as we enter an era of unprecedented threat to civil rights. Lee Saunders, president of the AFSCME Vanita Gupta is an exceptional choice for The Leadership Conference in this time of major challenge. She has time and again demonstrated her commitment to equal protection under the law with emphasis on voting rights, education reform and workers rights. Vanita has long understood that workers rights are civil and human rights and the labor community is excited to work with her as the new leader of this essential coalition. Vanita Gupta Vanita Gupta is an experienced leader and litigator who has devoted her entire career to civil rights work. Most recently, from October 15, 2014, to January 20, 2017, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and head of the U.S. Department of Justices Civil Rights Division. Appointed by President Barack Obama as the chief civil rights prosecutor for the United States, Gupta oversaw a wide range of criminal and civil enforcement efforts to ensure equal justice and protect equal opportunity for all during one of the most consequential periods for the division. Under Guptas leadership, the division did critical work in a number of areas, including advancing constitutional policing and criminal justice reform; prosecuting hate crimes and human trafficking; promoting disability rights; protecting the rights of LGBTQ individuals; ensuring voting rights for all; and combating discrimination in education, housing, employment, lending, and religious exercise. She regularly engaged with a broad range of stakeholders in the course of this work. Selected high profile matters during her tenure included the investigations of the Ferguson, Baltimore, and Chicago police departments; the appeals of the Texas and North Carolina voter ID cases; the challenge to North Carolinas HB2 law and other transgender rights litigation; enforcement of education, land use, hate crimes, and other statutes to combat Islamophobia and other forms of religious discrimination; the issuance of statements of interest on bail and indigent defense reform, and letters to state and local court judges and administrators on the unlawful imposition of fines and fees in criminal justice system; and the Administrations report on solitary confinement. Prior to joining the Justice Department, Gupta served as Deputy Legal Director and the Director of the Center for Justice at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She joined the ACLU in 2006 as a staff attorney, where she subsequently secured a landmark settlement on behalf of immigrant children from around the world detained in a privately-run prison in Texas that ultimately led to the end of family detention at the facility. In addition to managing a robust litigation docket at the ACLU, Gupta created and led the organizations Smart Justice Campaign aimed at ending mass incarceration while keeping communities safe. She worked with law enforcement agencies, corrections officials, advocates, stakeholders, and elected officials across the political spectrum to build collaborative support for pretrial, drug, and sentencing policies that make our federal, state, and local criminal justice systems more effective and more just. Gupta began her legal career as an attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, where she successfully led the effort to overturn the wrongful drug convictions of 38 individuals in Tulia, Texas, who were ultimately pardoned by Governor Rick Perry. She then helped negotiate a $6 million settlement on behalf of her clients. She also consulted with European civil society organizations working to advance the rights of the Roma. Gupta graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received her law degree from New York University School of Law, where later she taught a civil rights clinic for several years. She is married to Chinh Q. Le and they have two young sons. About the Organizations Known for decades as the lobbying arm of the civil rights movement, The Leadership Conference has coordinated the advocacy on behalf of every major civil rights law since it was founded in 1950 by Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, A. Philip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and Arnold Aronson of the organization now known as the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. The Education Fund, founded in 1969 as the research and public education arm of the coalition, builds public and political will for policies and laws that promote and protect the civil and human rights of all. Both organizations have grown to complement their policy expertise with a strong field and communications capacity to conduct public education campaigns that leverage a range of diverse voices to empower and mobilize advocates around the country to advance progressive change at the local, state and federal level. Henderson joined The Leadership Conferencethen known as the Leadership Conference on Civil Rightsin 1996 after serving as Washington Bureau chief of the NAACP and associate director of the ACLU. Under his leadership, the coalition has grown from 180 to more than 200 member organizationsincluding its first Muslim and Sikh civil rights groupsand from a staff of 7 to 50adding development, field, and communications departments, as well as the Americans for Financial Reform project. The Leadership Conferencewhich formally added Human Rights to its name in 2010has greatly expanded the capacity of domestic U.S. civil and human rights organizations to engage on international human rights concerns and championed the U.S. ratification of international civil and human rights treaties. It regularly participates in or leads delegations to the United Nations to review American progress on human rights treaty obligations and to key international conferences on discrimination like the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europes conferences on anti-Semitism in 2004 and 2014, among many others. On May 17, Henderson will be presented with the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award, the civil and human rights coalitions highest honor. The award will be presented during The Leadership Conferences annual dinner at the Washington Hilton. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference, visit www.civilrights.org. The Leadership Conference Education Fund builds public will for federal policies that promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. The Education Funds campaigns empower and mobilize advocates around the country to push for progressive change in the United States. It was founded in 1969 as the education and research arm of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. For more information on The Leadership Conference Education Fund, www.leadershipconferenceedfund.org. ## REPORTING ON PATIENT SAFETY STORIES, particularly those involving medical devices, is tough. The road to publication or getting on-air is littered with obstaclesfrom federal and state regulators as well as device makersand often constrained by the newsroom itself. Nonetheless, as the 21st Century Cures Act (which loosens regulations over medical device makers and makes it easier to market them based on lower standards) takes effect, the job of warning the public of potentially harmful consequences still falls to the media. A recent effort by WJLA, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., underscores why such journalism remains crucial. The storya lengthy expose about textured breast implants that are implicated in a rare type of lymphomais a fine piece of consumer health journalism that should give women in the Washington area a lot to think about before choosing such implants. Questions about the safety of breast implants have been raised before, and Kimberly Suiters reporting shows that concerns persist. Her story, Suiters told me, grew out of another that aired a few months earlier. In that first story, Suiters reported that women with breast implants seemed to have higher suicide rates than women who did not have them. One plastic surgeon told Suiters about an apparent connection between a certain type of textured implant and lymphoma. The surgeona former board member at Allergan, which manufactures implantsmentioned his concerns over the possible link to the manufacturer. He also shared those concerns with Suiters, which prompted her to dig deeper. One local physician, who said women like the textured implants for their more natural look, argued on camera, Its still an extremely rare situation. You dont want to yell fire in a theater when theres no fire. Last year, the World Health Organization classified the lymphoma as a new type: breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL). Recently, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network developed the first international standard for BIA-ALCLs diagnosis. A French regulatory agency warned of a clearly established link between implants and cancer. However, Suiters reported in January that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was not prepared to say that the textured breast implantscause lymphoma. She noted that, in 2011 and in 2016, the FDA warned the public of a possible association between implants and BIA-ALCL. This week, the FDA adjusted its stance. The agency released a statement saying that it had strengthened [its] understanding of this condition, and agreed with the World Health Organization that the rare lymphoma can develop following breast implants, and occurs more frequently following implantation with textured (rather than smooth) surfaces. Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project Suiters story included 40-year-old Raylene Hollrah, a breast cancer survivor who received the breast implants during reconstructive surgery and learned last year that she had BIA-ALCL. Hollrah, who has created a foundation to push for mandatory warnings for women who have implants or are considering them, told Suiters she did not recall her surgeon mentioning the small risk of cancer. I did everything to keep cancer away, she told Suiters. Yet I put a device in my body that caused cancer. The theme of risk disclosure runs through Suiters recent WJLA piece, and may be its most important contribution to the public understanding. How often are women told about the risks of developing BIA-ALCL after they receive breast implants? For that matter, how often are patients told about the risks of any medical devices put into their bodies? And where can they look for information? To help answer those questions, Suiters consulted Dr. Mark Clemens, a member of the plastic surgery faculty at the MD Anderson Cancer Center and one of the worlds experts on ALCL. Clemens research, noted Suiters, revealed that patients never think to ask about ALCL, and only one one-quarter of surgeons always discuss the risk of the disease with patients during initial consultation. Suiters also asked several plastic surgeons about disclosing risks of developing BIA-ALCL. Of the plastic surgeons she spoke to, manyexpressed deep concerns about unnecessarily scaring women and limiting their options. One local physician, who said women like the textured implants for their more natural look, argued on camera, Its still an extremely rare situation. You dont want to yell fire in a theater when theres no fire. How rare is the disease? The station submitted a FOIA request to the FDA and received documents representing 441 cases, more than one-third unconfirmed and at least 12 deaths. In its recent statement, the FDA said it had received 359 medical device reports about BIA-ALCL, including nine deaths. Suiter notes that data discrepancies arise because of the way that device problems are reportedfor instance, one record noted a patient device incompatibility but not a patients death. Suiters compared the lifetime risks of developing ALCL in the U.S. (one in 30,000) with Australia (one in 1,000); a former FDA analyst told her that the statistical difference proves the disease is underreported. Dr. Sanket Dhruva, a Yale Clinical Scholar whose research has included device regulation, also questioned those numbers. It would be surprising if there were a 30-fold higher risk in Australia, he told me. It means we may be missing some reports. Whats needed, Dhruva says, are studies that follow women who receive implants for five years to see what happens. Those studies take time and moneyboth of which are in short supply in Washington, where the focus is on cutting the budget and lowering regulation. Still, Dhruva says, we need more accurate data, and women considering the implants must be fully informed of their risks. This is not a minor transient risk, he says. This is cancer. WJLA has a long history of good consumer watchdog journalism. In the current regulatory climate, the kind of reporting that Suiters and the station delivered is needed more than ever. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Trudy Lieberman is a longtime contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review. She is the lead writer for CJR's Covering the Health Care Fight. She also blogs for Health News Review and the Center for Health Journalism. Follow her on Twitter @Trudy_Lieberman. The Washington Post this month published a story by Eli Hager, a staff writer for the nonprofit investigative outfit The Marshall Project. Hagers reporting showed how some states and counties place a hefty financial burden on the low-income families of juvenile offenders by charging them for their childrens incarceration. Though Hager surveyed all 50 states for instances of such practices, his piece concentrated on Philadelphiathe most colorful example of the phenomenon, Hager sayswhere local advocacy had prompted city officials to consider changing the practice. Within a days time, Hagers story yielded the sort of impact that some journalists wait years for: Philadelphia abolished the billing practice. One week later, the Marshall Project published another, tangentially-linked pay-to-stay collaboration, this time with the LA Times. The story combined painstaking detail and a broad narrative to detail how even those individuals convicted of some of the worst crimes in California are able to upgrade their prison digs by paying a fee. What started out as an antidote to overcrowding, according to the story, has evolved into a two-tiered system that allows people convicted of serious crimes to buy their way into safer and more comfortable jail stays. There are these stories people have done, like Look at these luxury jails, says Alysia Santo, a Marshall Project staffer and the lead reporter on the piece. But it wasnt investigative in a sense. Thats what made our story different, the amount of investigation that we did. The Marshall Projects pay-to-stay efforts are the most recent reminder of the clout that collaborative reporting can carry. The LA Times and The Washington Post have the reporting heft and large readerships typical of legacy news outlets, which can amplify the work of laser-focused nonprofits like the Marshall Project, which exclusively covers criminal justice matters. Theyre a tight band, a digital start-up with a single mission, and were a large general-interest news organization that covers it all, says Ann Gerhart, a senior editor-at-large at The Washington Post who edited Hagers story. Its been a very complementary relationship. She credits the partnership for helping The Washington Post bring far more investigative and enterprise reporting on criminal justice to our readers. Marshall Project reporter Hager and his editors had a straightforward relationship with The Washington Post to produce and edit the eventual front page story. While the Marshall Project itself did most of the shaping and heavy editing, Hager (the lone byline on the story) says he sent it off to The Washington Post for further fact-checking and took questions from copy editors before the story ran on the front page. Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project A few days before the story ran, there was potential for a competitive clash between the collaboration and the Philadelphia news media, which covered the same issue ahead of a pending City Council discussion on the topic. (The Philadelphia Inquirers coverage included a story about how the city went after parents money for incarceration bills in October.) Instead, Marshall Project editors shrugged it off. Your heart sinks a little bit because you want people to think youve discovered the wheel, Marshall Project Editor in Chief Bill Keller says. But in fact most people in the country dont see the Philadelphia press, and what Eli had done was more ambitious. There was never any question of whether we would drop the piece. If the story is one that we want to pursue, and one that will be better as part of a collaboration, we owe it to our readers to do it. Hager says he learned last year that advocates in Philadelphia were pushing the issue privately with the mayors office and, as long as it was kept under wraps, the city would consider abolishing the practice. But when advocates with the Sheller Center at Temple University, in partnership with the Youth Sentencing and Reentry Project, felt the mayors office was dragging the issue out, a movement to abolish the billing practice began to move more publicly, says Hager. That push was strengthened by The Washington Posts coverage, which provided what Hager terms a moment of kind of national embarrassment, and Philadelphia officials rescinded its policy. The LA Times partnership was trickier to pursue. The Times had rejected Marshall Project pitches in the past. (The first couple times we talked to the LA Times, they were not that interested, says Keller.) Andif you want to think of it in competitive termsthe Marshall Project was approaching the Times with an investigative story in the papers backyard, with a lot of digging already done. But things played out differently: Keller says he asked the Times for a reporter to help advance the work his outfit had already done, and the Times put forward Victoria Kim, who worked with Marshall Project reporters Anna Flagg and Alysia Santo, a CJR alum. It was a real partnership, Keller says. Thats what was necessary for them to buy into that. Theyre going to be more receptive in the future. Times deputy managing editor Scott Kraft, one of the editors who worked on the stories, says that his paper prefers full partnershipswhere the newspapers reporters, editors and photographers contribute substantially to the final product. The arrangement with the Marshall Project made the decision to join forces pretty easy, Kraft says in an email. If the story is one that we want to pursue, and one that will be better as part of a collaboration, we owe it to our readers to do it. Santo, the Marshall Project reporter, says the LA Times story never would have come together without Kim. The two journalists, with the Marshall Projects Anna Flagg, painstakingly pushed officials to obtain records, in some cases getting lawyers involved. The trio then cleaned and scrubbed the data that made the story possible, and Flagg detailed their methodology in a companion piece for the Times. Kims physical presence in Los Angeles also proved to be a vital part of the collaborations success. The Marshall Project is based in New York; having one reporter in Los Angeles enabled the team to push records issues in person, says Santo. The courts were saying We lost it, we dont know where it is, says Santo. I dont think they were lying. It can take being that annoying to get what you need sometimes. Pushing forward a story that had been hiding in plain sight took both an outside and an inside perspective; the Marshall Project was able to look at details from the proverbial 30,000 feet after the nitty gritty digging was done. Santo, a CJR alum, says the response to her teams story was heartening. And while the future of pay-to-stay remains unclear, her story raised several fundamental questions that persist alongside such practices. Why are people willing to pay upwards of $70,000 to avoid those facilities that our society created to mete out punishment? she asks. Santo adds that she plans to continue to dig into the two-tiered justice system. We [as a society] must have accepted it, Santo says. Because it exists at almost every level. Keller says there are no current plans on the horizon for other regional partnerships for pay-to-stay stories. However, there are certainly other partnerships ahead; today, The New York Times published Death on a Prison Bus, a story about safety concerns tied to extradition companies, co-authored by Hager and Santo. When asked about the potential for competition (rather than cooperation) between newsrooms like those at the Marshall Project and the LA Times, Kraft, the Timess deputy managing editor, says, Im not sure I accept the premise. He brings up the Panama Papers as just one example of so-called competitors working together to create a better story and a better project. Sometimes we compete, sometimes we collaborate. For us, its all about how to get the best story. That said, some newsrooms may feel more territorial than others. Even though the Panama Papers marked a historic instance of collaboration, some of the biggest US news outlets were absent from the telling. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists deputy director Marina Walker, part of the team which produced and organized Panama Paper stories, told The New York Times about the difficulty of such partnerships. We do not always pick the biggest media organizations to work with, she said. We pick those that will be collaborative. Journalists can find ways to ignore scoops from rivals, or wrap them anonymously into other coverage (or take to Twitter to diss them). Keller, the former top editor at The New York Times, knows what its like to be at the institutional behemoth. Now, he says, We seek to write what the big guys are missing or misunderstanding. If The New York Times or another paper does a big project on a criminal justice-related issue, the Marshall Project can aggregate the link for its newsletter, and its reporters dont have to tackle the subject, Keller says. And, as Hager put it, just because The Washington Post has a huge stable of reporters doesnt mean that every story has to be a competitive one. Theres an awful lot of stories, he says, and an awful lot of problems in the criminal justice system. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Jeremy Borden is an independent journalist based in Chicago. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Borden. Almost three years after the Sewol ferry disaster that killed 304 people and led to calls for then-President Park Geun-hyes resignation, South Korean authorities have raised the sunken ship to the surface. The head of the salvage committee, Lee Cheol-jo, told a televised briefing Thursday that some 450 workers, including more than 50 divers, were involved in lifting the 8,000-ton ferry from its resting place 44 meters (144 feet) below the surface, and that he expected the operation to be finished by late afternoon or early evening. The countrys worst maritime disaster occurred on April 16, 2014, when the five-deck ferry carrying almost 500 passengers mostly high school students capsized after turning sharply. A subsequent investigation found that the ship was carrying twice its legal load and that the ferry operator had falsified documents. The priorities once the ship was recovered, said Lee Suk-tae, who led the Sewol Special Investigation Commission, were investigating the exact cause of the sinking and collecting the bodies of those who havent been found yet. The tragedy has continued to haunt the country, with many Koreans asking whether the countrys rapid economic growth had come at the cost of regulations and safety, while the salvage operation could intensify public anger over the cozy relationship between governments and business operators. Impeachment Fallout Lee Suk-Tae said the subsequent corruption scandal that engulfed Parks presidency had helped take a step closer to uncovering the truth by raising awareness on the Sewol accident once again, but in reality there hasnt been much regulatory or political changes since the incident, he said. The ferry disaster is an issue in the May 9 presidential race to replace Park, who was forced from office on March 10 after South Koreas constitutional court upheld parliaments vote to impeach her. Leading candidate Moon Jae-in visited the site of the ferry disaster on the day of Parks impeachment, saying it was only when the ship sank that people started to question what this country is all about, Moon said. A key charge against Park was that she had neglected her duties by not adequately overseeing the ferry rescue operations. While that was rejected in court, questions over Parks movements in the hours following the sinking continue to dog the former president and her conservative party. A makeshift memorial to the ferry victims continues to be on display at Seouls main thoroughfare, where hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered every Saturday to call for Parks ouster. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Thailands military government is cracking down on traffic carnage, invoking special executive powers accorded by an interim constitution to force automobile drivers and all their passengers to wear seatbelts. The move by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha comes ahead of next months celebration of the traditional Songkran New Years holiday, which sees much of the countrys urban population travel to their rural home villages for revelry, often fueled by alcohol. A total of 442 people died in road accidents during last years weeklong holiday, dubbed the Seven Days of Death. Thailand is estimated by a United Nations agency to have the second highest rate of traffic fatalities in the world. Seatbelts are already required for drivers and front seat passengers. Prayuth has been criticized for frequent use of the constitutions Article 44, which is supposed to be used to address situations endangering public order. Use of Article 44 bypasses the interim legislature that was established after the army overthrew an elected government in 2014. I understand the intention, that they want to address traffic safety, said Dr. Gothom Arya, a professor and social activist. I dont agree with the use of Article 44. If they want to introduce new laws, they can talk to the National Legislative Assembly, who are always happy to cooperate from what weve seen. Is this issue really so urgent and necessary? I dont see it. The assembly generally does whatever the ruling junta wants, often with some mild debate but not necessarily quickly. The new seatbelt measure, which took effect Tuesday, enforces compliance by declaring that car owners who dont pay fines for failing to have their passengers use seatbelts will not be able to register their vehicles for a year. Another decree, also published Tuesday, tightens up regulations on vehicles used for public transport, such as commuter vans. One new rule allows the authorities to revoke a vehicles registration or suspend a professional drivers license for up to six months if he or she is found guilty of offenses such as overcharging passengers, carrying too many passengers, or drug-related crimes. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Georgia lawmakers have reached a compromise on a bill that would require doctors to log into a pill-tracking database before prescribing painkillers and other high-risk drugs. The goal is to curtail the overprescribing of opioids. But critics say loopholes written into the proposal would create a false sense of accomplishment while leaving patients exposed to harm. Physician groups counter that the exceptions are necessary to reduce the burden on already strained doctors. Lets be clear: checking the prescription drug monitoring database isnt about reducing access to needed pain medicine, its about making prescriptions safer, said former CDC Director Tom Frieden. The Senate will discuss and likely vote on the proposal Wednesday. The bill only requires doctors to check the database before prescribing opioids, it does not include any restrictions on the actual prescriptions that the physician chooses to write. Doctors can delegate the ability to check the database to a physician assistant so that they can spend more time on patient care. This is not about limiting the number of pills a person can get. Thats up to the doctor, said Gary Mendell, the CEO of the non-profit Shatterproof, which lobbies state governments to tighten prescribing standards for addictive drugs. The only thing were asking is that he or an assistant checks the database so that the doctor has the necessary information of what to prescribe safely. Mendell added that the database also would help doctors to know if their patient might be on a benzodiazepine for mental health issues. The combination of that drug and opioids can be deadly. The bill would exempt outpatient surgery, allowing doctors to prescribe up to a ten-day supply of opioids without referencing the database. Frieden said that such an exception makes no sense at all and noted a report released last week that found a significant increase in the risk of addiction after five days of use. The authors recommended that doctors try to limit prescriptions to less than three days. Another exception would allow doctors to write three-day prescriptions, for instance in an emergency room, without referencing the database. Neither Frieden nor Mendell had a problem with that but they want the bill to specify that those would be one-time prescriptions with no refills allowed. Physician advocacy groups such as the Medical Association of Georgia said the exemptions are fair. It is burdensome to require a check on all the patients when the doctors have a relationship and know if their patients are at risk for addiction, said Donald J. Palmisano Jr., the executive director and CEO of the Medical Association of Georgia. He said his group would rather wait until the system is working well rather than asking doctors to take additional time to run their patient through the database. Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, was the author of the original bill with fewer exceptions but made concessions after realizing that the lobbying efforts were against her. Both Frieden and Mendell supported that bill. The political reality is that were likely to have a watered-down version that passes, she said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission issued its first recall of recreational marijuana after samples of a type of pot were found to contain a level of pesticide residue above the state limit. The Blue Magoo marijuana was sold at Buds 4 U in Mapleton, a community 45 miles west of Eugene, The Capital Press reported. The commission, which oversees retail sales of recreational pot, said people who bought the drug should return it to the retailer or throw it out. The retailer notified the agency immediately after spotting the failed pesticide reading in the states cannabis tracking system, commission spokesman Mark Pettinger said. The shop sold the brand to 31 customers March 8-10. Pettinger said a wholesaler shipped the pot to the Mapleton store before the test results were entered in the tracking system. The retailer was great, he said. They get the gold star. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission said the samples failed a test for pyrethin levels. They are a mixture of six chemicals that are toxic to insects, according to the National Pesticide Information Center based at Oregon State University. Pyrethins are found in some chrysanthemum flowers and can be used on organic products in some cases. With the legalization of recreational marijuana, growers are facing a new regulatory structure. Because the federal government still considers the drug illegal, states had to establish their own rules for pesticides and pot. Oregon tests for 59 active ingredients. The testing was done by GreenHaus Analytical Labs, which is certified by the state to test cannabis for potency, water content and pesticide residue. The rest of grower Emerald Wave Estates 9-pound batch of Blue Magoo marijuana flower cant be sold until additional testing is complet Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. AKRON, Ohio - An Akron man who pleaded guilty to killing a man during a 2015 drug deal has been sentenced to prison. A judge handed Darien Mingo, 23, a sentence of 10 years in prison in connection with the fatal shooting of 47-year-old Erick Hunt Sr., the Summit County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release. Mingo pleaded guilty in February to one charge of involuntary manslaughter. Hunt and a friend met Mingo on Dec. 19, 2015 in order to buy crack-cocaine. The trio began arguing, and Mingo shot Hunt four times, court records state. Hunt ran and collapsed in the street, police said at the time of the shooting. He was taken to Cleveland Clinic Akron General hospital, where he died. Mingo turned himself into investigators following the shooting. He told officers that Hunt had tried to rob him and that he shot Hunt in self-defense, according to court records. If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section. Electric Pressure Cooker 4.jpeg One of Akron's 2015 winners, the Electric Pressure Cooker Presents Bigger than a Breadbox won a $75,000 match grant to provide a platform for area artists to take a quarterly vaudeville show of local talent to different Akron neighborhoods. The project is a nod to Akron's vaudeville roots. (Shane Wynn) AKRON, Ohio - Artsy Akronites and those with creative ideas should get them ready. The Knight Arts Challenge Akron opens for submissions Wednesday, March 29, offering $1 million for great ideas that help engage and enrich the city through arts and culture. A project of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Knight Arts Challenge has awarded nearly $2 million in matching grants to 46 ideas for Akron. Knight's goal is to incorporate art into everyday life to ensure residents have access to high-quality cultural experiences. "This challenge has been proven to elevate local arts organizations and working artists, but it also helps to uncover the new, unexpected voices of Akron's arts scene," said Knight Akron Program Director Kyle Kutuchief in a news release. "I'm excited to see what this year's applicants have in store for our entire community." For extra help this year, applicants can register online for informational community conversations during the week of April 3 in which past winners and Knight staff offer insights and take questions. In addition, Knight's Arts Program Officer Adam Ganuza will meet one-on-one with applicants to give feedback on their ideas. Informational community conversations: 8:30 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 4 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 5 noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, April 6 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 6 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 7 Office hours for Program Officer Adam Ganuza, which last 15 minutes and are by online appointment only: noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 4 noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 5 How to apply To apply, individuals or groups should write 150 words to fill out the initial application, which will be available here from March 29 through April 28. The challenge has three rules: * ideas must be about the arts * projects must take place in or benefit Akron * grant recipients must find money to match Knight funding When the Knight Foundation launched the arts challenge, now in its third year, it pledged to invest $6 million over three years. It pledged $3 million to support five key cultural Akron institutions that provide programming daily, to help the groups better engage audiences. It pledged another $3 million to fund the best arts ideas by individuals and groups to offer everyone a shot at making their ideas a reality. Knight has deep roots in Akron, going back to 1903, when Knight Newspapers purchased flagship paper, the Akron Beacon Journal. Since 2014, the foundation has invested more than $10 million through numerous grants in Akron to help make it a more vibrant place to live, work and visit. Beachwood police vehicle.jpg Beachwood police are investigating the theft of $1,400 from a woman's unlocked car. (File photo) Theft from auto, Richmond Road: On the afternoon of March 16, a local business owner reported that $1,400 was stolen out of her unlocked car while it was parked in the lot of Ahuja Medical Center, 3999 Richmond Road. The theft occurred that day between 9:15 a.m. and 4:25 p.m. Grand theft, Park East Drive: On March 16, it was reported that a rented car had been stolen from the lot of DoubleTree Hotel, 3663 Park East Drive. Aggravated menacing, Richmond Road: At 11:20 a.m. March 17, a student at Beachwood High School reported that an ex-boyfriend made threats upon her life. Hit-skip, Park East Drive: On the afternoon of March 17, a Euclid woman, 25, told police that as she walked five days earlier in the lot of Embassy Suites, 3775 Park East Drive, she was struck by a car that did not stop. The woman took herself to the hospital. Police are investigating. Theft, Cedar Road: At 2:25 p.m. March 18, police arrested a South Euclid girl, 16, for stealing merchandise worth $109 from Sephora at Beachwood Place mall, 26300 Cedar Road. Theft, Cedar Road: At 2:45 p.m. March 18, police arrested a South Euclid woman, 42, who stole merchandise worth $942 from Nordstrom at Beachwood Place. The woman was charged with theft and trespassing. The woman had been warned to stay away from the mall due to a prior shoplifting incident. Property damage, Brentwood Road: At 1:15 p.m. March 19, two boys were playing catch with an apple and accidentally broke a home's window. OVI, Green Road: At 4:45 a.m. March 19, police stopped at a stoplight a car that had been seen weaving. Before an officer approached the car, the driver attempted to switch seating positions with her female passenger. The attempted ruse was not effective, however, as the driver, 26, of Willoughby Hills, was cited for OVI, open container and driving with a suspended license. The passenger, an Akron woman, 36, was cited for obstructing official business. OVI, George Zeiger Drive: At 1 a.m. March 20, police stopped a car that was seen weaving. The driver, a Beachwood woman, 50, was found to be drunk. The woman was charged with OVI and failure to reasonably control her car. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page. Screen Shot 2017-03-23 at 12.10.53 PM.png A woman is accused of cutting her husband's head with a knife while his friend is accused of assaulting a police officer. (File photo) BROOK PARK, Ohio -- A Brook Park woman cut her husband's head with a knife during a domestic violence incident, police said. Kristina Dearth, 38, is charged with felonious assault in the Saturday incident on Pickway Drive near Mercer Drive, according to court records. The case has been bound over to the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. Dearth's husband needed five stitches to close a four-inch cut to his head, Patrolman Trenton Brown said. One of the husband's friends is also facing charges that accuse him of disrupting the crime scene and spitting in an officer's face, police said. Bryant White, 35, of Maple Heights is charged with harassment by an inmate in the incident. His case has also been bound over to common pleas court, records show. Dearth and her husband provided different accounts of the events that led to his injury, according to the police report. Dearth told police she had the knife because she was scared of how he was acting when he came home intoxicated, Brown said. She took a knife to her son's room and went to sleep, Brown indicated. Dearth said she accidentally cut her husband when he woke her up just after 2 a.m. after falling on her leg, the report says. The husband has previous convictions for domestic violence, disorderly conduct by intoxication, sexual imposition, and endangering children, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and Berea Municipal Court records show. The husband told police he'd been asleep when Dearth came in and cut him, the report says. The husband also told police that Dearth said he was lucky she hadn't cut his throat, the report says. The husband called police to report the incident. Officers arrived and woke up White, who was asleep on a couch. White said he hadn't seen anything and began walking through blood on the living room floor, the report says. Officers arrested White when he refused to stop walking through the living room. White punched and kicked the windows of a police cruiser after he was arrested, the report says. White also spit in an officer's face when the officer went into the cruiser to restrain him, the report says. If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section. East Cleveland Three Eugene Johson (left) is suing the city of East Cleveland and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office for the 20 years he spent in prison for a case that prosecutors later dropped. (John Harper/cleveland.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- An East Cleveland man who spent two decades in prison for a murder conviction that was later overturned has filed a lawsuit against the detectives and prosecutors who handled his case. Eugene Johnson, Laurese Glover and Derrick Wheatt maintained their innocence after being convicted in the 1995 killing of Clifton Hudson. Two decades later, they were freed and granted new trials based on new evidence and a judge's finding that a former Cuyahoga County prosecutor "maliciously inserted himself into a criminal proceeding." The criminal charges were dismissed in August. Johnson, 39, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the detectives and prosecutors involved in the case. Glover and Wheatt filed their own lawsuit last month. Johnson's lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Cleveland, is substantially similar to the one filed by Glover and Wheatt. It says East Cleveland detectives manipulated a witness into testifying that the trio killed Hudson. The lawsuit also says that former Cuyahoga County prosecutors Carmen Marino and Deborah Naiman instructed the East Cleveland Police Department in 1998 to withhold records related to Hudson's death from the defendants, who by that point had been convicted. The prosecutors instead told the department to send copies of the records to the prosecutor's office. The records were not released until 2013, when attorneys for the three incarcerated men again requested them. Johnson is asking for an unnamed amount in damages. Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo in 2015 ordered a new trial after lawyers working for the Ohio Innocence Project found evidence was suppressed at the original trial. The new evidence threw into question the state's theory. The 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals upheld Russo's decision to overturn the convictions. Prosecutors then reached an agreement with the men's lawyers to ask Russo to dismiss the original charges without prejudice, meaning the case against them can be re-filed should prosecutors decide they have probable cause. Prosecutors have said they have no intention of re-filing. The men previously requested that the case be dismissed "with prejudice," meaning prosecutors cannot pursue new charges. The defendants dropped their request for the "with prejudice" status earlier this month. Brett Murner, Johnson's attorney, said they dropped the request because of jurisdictional issues, but that the dispute can possibly be resolved in the federal lawsuit. The prosecutor's office responded to Glover and Wheatt's lawsuit Thursday, generally denying the allegations. The city of East Cleveland has asked a judge to dismiss Glover and Wheatt's lawsuit. If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section. Mandel Jewish Community Center The Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood is one of many jewish community centers that have received threats in recent months. (cleveland.com file photo) JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli police on Thursday arrested a 19-year-old Israeli Jewish man as the primary suspect in a string of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers and other institutions in the U.S., marking a potential breakthrough in the case after an international manhunt with the FBI. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld described the suspect as a hacker, but said his motives were still unclear. Police banned publication of his name, but said he was an American-Israeli dual citizen and that he would remain in custody until at least March 30. "He's the guy who was behind the JCC threats," Rosenfeld said, referring to the dozens of anonymous threats phoned in to Jewish community centers in the U.S. over the past two months. Israeli media said the man had been found unfit for compulsory military service. The Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood was among the Jewish establishments that received threats. It was not immediately clear if authorities believed the suspect was behind the threats to any Jewish community centers in Ohio. Israel's Channel 10 TV showed footage of the suspect appearing in court in the central Israeli city of Rishon Letzion. He wore tan pants and a blue sweater that he used to cover his face as he walked past reporters. The channel said the young man had lived in the U.S. for a period of time and had been home-schooled. It showed images of a large antenna outside his house and said his father was also arrested. In Washington, the FBI confirmed the arrest of the main suspect. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the arrest was the result of a large investigation into hate crimes against the Jewish community. He said the Justice Department "will not tolerate the targeting of any community in the country on the basis of their religious beliefs." He called work by the FBI and Israeli police "outstanding." The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish-American group that battles anti-Semitism, says there have been more than 150 bomb threats against Jewish community centers and day schools in 37 states and two Canadian provinces since Jan. 9. Those threats led to evacuations of the buildings and raised fears of rising anti-Semitism. The threats were accompanied by acts of vandalism on several Jewish cemeteries. President Donald Trump's administration was criticized for not speaking out fast enough. Last month, the White House denounced the threats and rejected "anti-Semitic and hateful threats in the strongest terms." Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the ADL, expressed relief over the arrest and thanked the FBI and U.S. authorities for making the investigation a priority. "Even though it appears that the main culprit behind the majority of these attacks has allegedly been identified, anti-Semitism in the U.S. remains a very serious concern," he said, noting there have been no arrests in other anti-Semitic incidents. "JCCs and other institutions should not relax security measures or become less vigilant," he said. Jordan Shenker, the head of one of the targeted community centers, said he was relieved to hear of the arrest, and was hopeful that the suspect had acted alone. "Certainly if that is confirmed, there will be a far greater sense of relief and comfort on behalf of all of our members," said Shenker, head of the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, New Jersey, a New York suburb. U.S. authorities have also arrested a former journalist from St. Louis for allegedly threatening Jewish organizations. Juan Thompson has been indicted in New York on one count of cyberstalking. But Israeli police described the local man as the primary suspect in the wave of threats. Israeli police said the suspect made dozens of calls claiming to have placed bombs in public places and private companies, causing panic and "significant economic damage," and disrupting public order, including by the hurried evacuations of a number of public venues around the world. The man is also suspected of placing threatening phone calls to Australia, New Zealand and also within Israel. Rosenfeld said the man called Delta Airlines in February 2015 and made a false threat about explosives aboard a flight from JFK airport in New York. The threat allegedly led to an emergency landing. Yaniv Azani, an official in the Israeli police's cyber unit, said the suspect had used sophisticated means to cover his tracks. "He used several different means to camouflage the various layers of communication mechanisms he used to carry out these calls," he told reporters. Rosenfeld said the man, from the south of Israel, used advanced technologies to mask the origin of his calls and communications to synagogues, community buildings and public venues. He said police searched his house Thursday morning and discovered antennas and satellite equipment. Israeli cybersecurity expert Nimrod Vax said the phone calls required a certain level of sophistication, but were "not too difficult" for an experienced hacker. "It's not something anyone from the street could do. But it doesn't take any expensive, or resources that are hard to get, to build this kind of an attack or diversion," he said. He said tracking down the suspect was far more challenging, requiring authorities to go through "billions, if not trillions" of records, including phone records, routing logs and IP connections. "This takes a processing of a lot of data, so it requires a lot of resources," said Vax, a co-founder of Israeli-U.S. cybersecurity company BigID. Recently during the Oscar ceremonies there was a lot of talk of tolerance and inclusion. With past discrimination, I recently found a beautiful, talented African-American actress who has been nominated twice for Best Actress and won once. Her name is Charlize Theron. Does this surprise people? She was born in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa. She became a U.S. citizen in 1999. How is she NOT considered of African origin? Think about it. Is being African-American only reserved for people of dark skin? Just look at an atlas of the continent. It is very diverse. Where is tolerance and inclusion for non-blacks, including the whites and Arabs from Africa? Or is this only for the select? If a Caucasian wanted some pride and empowerment we would be called racist. Do we really need more dividing in this magnificent country of ours? The day I dread is if someone hyphenates their nationality/ethnicity, when will you hyphenate your loyalty? Mickey Pastor, Cleveland Ta Naejah McCloud Ta Naejah McCloud, 5, was beat to death by her mother and her mother's girlfriend, police said. (Courtesy Siera Giles) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The mother accused of beating her 5-year-old daughter to death was under investigation by Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services for the last month, officials said. County social workers visited Tequila Crump and her daughter Ta Naejah McCloud eight times in the five weeks leading up to girl's death on Tuesday, according to Cuyahoga County spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan. "We were in the home eight times in five weeks-- and yet this little girl still died," Madigan said. "It's heartbreaking." Crump, 27, and her girlfriend of several months, Ursula Owens, 36, are charged with felonious assault in connection with Ta Naejah's death. Additional charges could be filed as a result of the girl's death. Police said the couple beat the girl. The beating resulted in brain injuries and seizures. An ambulance took her to University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, where she died. Social workers opened an investigation in early February after abuse and neglect accusations were made against Crump, Madigan said. She said she was unable to say how the call came in and exactly what allegations were made. A social worker went to the home within 24 hours, Madigan said. The social worker met with Crump five more times in February and twice in March, including when they set up a case plan on March 13, Madigan said. Social workers were still following up with Crump when Ta Naejah died. The case plan included making sure Ta Naejah had access to medical care and offering parenting courses to Crump, Madigan said. They also inspected the home to make sure the girl lived in a safe environment and had enough food, Madigan said. Madigan said since Crump complied with the case plan, they had no reason to try and go through courts to get the child placed in foster care, which is a last ditch effort when the parents don't comply with social workers. Madigan also said the agency received an abuse and neglect complaint against Crump in October. Social workers visited the home two times but they were not able to substantiate the allegations. Crump has no local criminal history and there were no police reports regarding any allegations of abuse prior to Friday's incident in Cleveland. Crump's aunt, Gwendolyn Harris, said her niece moved from Virginia to Ohio with Owens in May. Ta Naejah went to live with her about a month later, Harris said. Both Ta Neajah and Crump lived with Harris from the time the girl was born, Harris said. She said Crump was diagnosed as a child with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She said after Crump stopped returning her phone calls after she moved to Cleveland. Harris described Ta Nejah as a happy kid when she lived with her. "She was cute," Harris said. "She loved to play all day." To comment on this story, please visit our crime and court's comments page. Cleveland police car.png A 17-year-old boy was shot to death in Cleveland. (cleveland.com file photo) CLEVELAND, Ohio-- A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed Monday afternoon while walking in the city's Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, police said. Adrian Clark died Tuesday after being shot in the head about 2:50 p.m. on Colgate Avenue near West 65th Street, police said. Clark died after someone drove him to MetroHealth, police said. Police were alerted to the shooting after the boy was dropped off at the hospital. A 17-year-old boy was arrested in connection with the slaying, but police have not said if that boy is facing criminal charges. A juvenile court spokeswoman said no charges have been formally filed in the case as of Thursday morning. If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Thursday's crime and courts comments page. LORAIN, Ohio - A 19-year-old man was shot and killed Wednesday evening at a Lorain house, police said. The victim was shot about 7:45 p.m. on the 400 block of West 22nd Street, situated just south of West 21st Street and east of Oakdale Avenue, Lorain police said in a news release. The man has not been publicly identified, pending family notifications. No details about the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting were immediately released Wednesday night. Lorain investigators have identified the suspected shooter as Matthew Allen Mason, 18, of Sandusky, the release says. A murder warrant has been issued for Mason's arrest. Although Mason's last known address is in Sandusky, authorities believe that he has been living in Lorain, police said. He should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information on Mason's whereabouts should contact Lorain police at 440-204-2100. If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section. gun shop 1.JPG A Mentor gun shop was the target of a smash-and-grab attempt early Thursday morning. (Cliff Pinckard, cleveland.com) The front of Finest Firearms on Mentor Avenue in Mentor was heavily damaged in the smash-and-grab attempt early Thursday morning. MENTOR, Ohio -- A gun shop was heavily damaged early Thursday morning in an attempted smash-and-grab. Police at the scene released few details, but a vehicle crashed into the front of the Finest Firearms at about 3 a.m. The vehicle caused extensive damage to the front of the store, located at 8605 Mentor Ave. It's unclear if the burglars were able to steal any weapons. A person cleaning up inside the store Thursday morning declined to comment. Police pursued a suspected vehicle west toward Cleveland but it eluded officers. On March 13, an unsuccessful smash-and-grab was attempted at another Mentor gun store, Point Blank Range & Gun Shop on Heisley Road, also during the early-morning hours. To comment on this story, go to cleveland.com's comments page. WAINWRIGHT, Ohio -- Investigators say a family kept the decomposing body of a Vietnam veteran in their home so they could continue to collect his Social Security benefits, reports say. The body tentatively has been identified as Robert "Bob" Harris, 71, and he likely had been dead for months, the Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office tells the Associated Press. Brian D. Sorohan, 49, and Stacy L. Sorohan 45, are charged with charged with gross abuse of a corpse, theft of a credit card, and failure to report knowledge of a death, according to the Times Reporter. Their daughter, Brianna D. Sorohan, 18, is charged with gross abuse of a corpse. Deputies went to the home and discovered the body Tuesday after being told that Harris, who lived with the family, had not been seen recently. Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell tells the Times Reporter the body was nearly to the point of skeletal remains. Investigators reportedly have video footage of video footage of one of the suspects making withdrawals at ATMs with Harris' Social Security benefits card. Brian and Stacy Sorohan are being held in jail on a $20,000 bond. Their daughter was released on her own recognizance. Neighbors described an unpleasant scene to the Times Reporter of the Sorohans' home, saying Harris rarely bathed and that the home was full of human and animal waste. "They had to walk by (Harris) every day, multiple times a day," next-door neighbor Jill France tells the Times Reporter. "I can't understand that." To comment on this story, please visit Wednesday's crime and courts comments page. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio Republicans have declined for years to take up legislation protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ohioans from employment and housing discrimination. Rep. Nickie Antonio hopes this time is different. The Lakewood Democrat, Ohio's first openly gay legislator, on Thursday reintroduced a bill banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, housing or public accommodations. "This idea of fair and inclusion is not new -- it's not new to our country and it's not new to Ohio," Antonio said at a Thursday news conference. Antonio is encouraged that the General Assembly didn't pass any anti-LGBT bills last session and paused action on the Ohio Pastor Protection Act, which opponents said would codify discrimination. Antonio said that's a sign Republicans are willing to talk about the issue. At least one does. Gov. John Kasich said Thursday he wants to learn more about the legislation. Kasich says Kasich, approached by reporters outside the Statehouse, said he doesn't want anyone to be subject to discrimination. But he said he Isn't sure it's a problem in Ohio. "I don't want anybody to be discriminated against because they happen to be gay. I don't favor discrimination in any way," Kasich said. "I haven't heard much about this but if it's happening we have to deal with it," Kasich said. Antonio responds LGBT advocates said Thursday they hear often from Ohioans who have faced discrimination in the workplace. Antonio said it's hard to quantify LGBT discrimination because individuals can't currently file complaints with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. In states that have enacted similar laws, Antonio said, the number of complaints is small and the greater impact is on businesses that decide to locate or expand there. "While of course any act of discrimination is problematic and everyone should have the right to due process, this bill is needed to send a signal to businesses and individuals and their families that Ohio is a place where you are welcomed and protected," Antonio said in an interview. Most Ohioans think it's already illegal to fire or deny housing to someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, according to a 2013 Public Religion Research Institute poll. Nearly 70 percent of Ohio voters, including majorities in both political parties and every major religious group, support workplace nondiscrimination laws for gay and lesbian people. Chances of passage Antonio's bill has no Republican co-sponsors, a sign it faces an uphill battle at the GOP-controlled Statehouse. House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger has said religious freedom, as has been proposed in the Pastor Protection Act, and nondiscrimination are not mutually exclusive and concerns about both could be addressed in the same legislation. An attempt to appease both sides failed to gain traction last year. Antonio said her bill keeps existing protections for clergy and religious organizations. For example, a religious school could still fire a teacher for violating its philosophy or moral code. Sixteen Ohio cities have anti-discrimination ordinances on the books. Bob Evans, MetroHealth and dozens of other Ohio companies in the "Ohio Competes" coalition support a state anti-discrimination law. "Every time we introduce the bill the world around us changes just a little bit more," Antonio said. Scott Olson | Getty Images Eddie Lampert, the press-shy CEO, chairman and largest shareholder of Sears Holdings , may be all that's standing between the beleaguered department store chain and bankruptcy. The conventional wisdom is that Lampert will suffer massive losses if Sears perishes, since he has pumped hundreds of millions from his personal fortune into the company. And while there's no question he has a lot at stake, a closer look suggests that the billionaire investor has shielded some of his investment from annihilation in the event of Sears' demise. Through a series of transactions over the last several years, Lampert has extracted significant value from Sears and may secure additional assets if the company goes belly up, according to public filings and interviews. More from USA Today: Sears and Kmart might not have enough money to stock their shelves Carl's Jr./Hardees CEO Andy Puzder, Trump's pick for Labor, retires What's killing Sears and Kmart? Sears, which operates both the Sears and Kmart chains, is teetering, having failed to reinvent itself under Lampert's leadership in the digital age. After a recent $900 million sale of its Craftsman brand, store closures and other cost cuts, Sears warned late Tuesday that there's "substantial doubt" that it will survive. Lampert owns about 48% of Sears stock, according to the company's annual report, including holdings through his hedge fund, ESL Investments. Besides his stock, Lampert holds about $381 million in unsecured notes issued to Sears. Those holdings could be obliterated in bankruptcy. watch now USA TODAY estimates that the value of Lampert's Sears stock has declined by roughly $519 million since the end of 2014. That estimate was derived by calculating the value of his Sear's holdings at the end of each year since 2010, using Sears closing stock price for the year and the number of shares Lampert owned at the time, culled from S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Using that methodology, the highest year-end value of Lampert's Sears holdings was $760.3 million. But Lampert won't lose it all. "If they go bankrupt, he remains in control of the company because, though he loses his equity stake, he's their principal creditor," former Sears Canada CEO and Columbia Business School Professor Mark Cohen said an interview. But Lampert has cordoned "off an enormous amount of assets through the loans he's made, which have essentially protected him from what is eventually (going to) occur." He has spun off divisions, provided secured financing in exchange for real estate collateral and transferring valuable properties to an investment trust, all while retaining ownership stakes in those assets. watch now Here's how Lampert has retained assets even as Sears has shriveled: Lands' End: Sears spun off retailer Lands' End in 2014, but Lampert's hedge fund owns 59% of the company. That stake was worth nearly $360 million as of Wednesday morning. Real estate: Sears sold 235 store properties and its interest in another 31 properties to a newly formed real estate investment trust (REIT) called Seritage Growth Properties for $2.7 billion in 2015. The deal gave Seritage control of some of Sears' best properties in a sale-leaseback transaction. Lampert's ESL owns 43.5% of the limited partnership units of Seritage and 7.9% of the REIT's voting power. The move was similar to transactions favored by investors in legacy retailers whose real estate is considered more valuable than their actual business. The problem is that "then you end up signing leases" and saddling the company with lease liabilities, said Neil Stern, senior partner at retail consulting firm McMillanDoolittle. Sears agreed to pay Seritage $134 million in annual base rent for the first year, with 2% annually increases beginning in the second year. Real estate collateral: Entities affiliated with Lampert's hedge fund extended $500 million in credit to Sears in January, secured by at least 46 Sears properties and possibly more. That means that in the event of bankruptcy, the lender may be awarded the property rights, giving Lampert control of those store sites. watch now Prime Minister Narendra Modi's controversial decision to install a rabble-rouser as leader of India's most populous state may signal a new direction in his policy platform and potentially sow seeds of religious tension. Following an impressive victory in recent state elections, Modi's ruling faction the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh chief minister on Sunday. A 44-year old priest, Adityanath is a well-known figure of Hindutva, a right-wing ideology that champions Hindu nationalism. In the past, he's made numerous remarks perceived as hateful towards minority religions in the Hindu-majority nation. He's asked Indian Muslims to leave the country, recently praised President Donald Trump's travel ban on certain Muslim-majority countries, and suggested that minorities were to blame for communal riots. Last year, he claimed Mother Teresa was part of a conspiracy to Christianize India. A youth group that he founded, Hindu Yuva Vahini, has also been linked to violent incidents. Adityanath's promotion in Uttar Pradesh, dubbed the political heart of India, signals a dramatic change in Modi's political outlook, strategists said. "There is no denying the signal this pick (of chief minister) sends: with a huge mandate, the BJP has decided to lead with the face of religious nationalism not the forward-looking, twenty-first century face of the New India in their most important state," said Alyssa Ayres, senior South Asia fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, in a recent note. While the BJP itself is a Hindu nationalist party, populism and economic development has dominated Modi's first three years in office. Up until now, the prime minister has largely concentrated on manufacturing, sanitation and infrastructure initiatives, such as 'Make in India' and the nation-wide construction of toilets. But Adityanath's rise to power could mean Modi has chosen to focus his governance on religion instead as he looks to cement his leadership before the 2019 general election. "Adityanath's selection may seem surprising because his support for Hindutva appears to contradict Modi's campaign rhetoric of prioritizing economic development above Hindu-first policies," said Eurasia analysts in a note. But for the BJP, Adityanath represents a subservient leader who will continue Modi's anti-corruption drive, shore up support within the Hindu base, and strong-arm the civil service to execute Modi's agenda, the note continued. About 17,000 AT&T workers in California and Nevada went on strike on Wednesday, alleging that the company violated contract terms by forcing employees to do work outside their areas of expertise. The employees, who work in the company's phone, landline and cable services businesses, have been working without a contract for almost a year. Last year, the workers, who are represented by the Communications Workers of America, voted to authorize a strike. AT&T had 268,000 employees as of Jan. 31, according to a filing. The company said it was prepared to continue serving customers. "A walkout is not in anybody's best interest, and its unfortunate that the union chose to do that," AT&T said in a statement. "Were engaged in discussion with the union to get these employees back to work as soon as possible." Li is expected to discuss bilateral economic, trade and investment during his five-day stay, with particular focus on China's 'One Belt One Road.' Recently renamed to 'Belt and Road' (B&R), the ambitious program aims to establish a modern-day 'Silk Road' between Asia, Europe, and Africa. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is expected to keep his relationship with the U.S. in close focus as China's Li Keqiang becomes the first Premier in eleven years to visit Down Under. Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull looks at China's Premier Li Keqiang on March 23, 2017. Australia urged China on March 23 to press ahead with economic reforms as Li began a trade-focused visit amid growing fears of a U.S. slide towards protectionism. Beijing has invited Canberra to align the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility a A$5 billion ($3.82 billion) government program with B&R. Chinese President Xi Jinping first floated the idea last year and Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated it last month. But no formal agreement will be signed during Li's visit, Australian government officials told media outlets ahead of Li's arrival on Wednesday. Investing in the name of B&R makes it easier for mainland entities to pursue overseas deals. As the world's second-largest economy cracks down on outbound investments in an attempt to halt capital outflows, Beijing will only encourage transactions in approved sectors, such as B&R. From an economic point of view, China's invitation makes sense seeing as northern Australia is in desperate need of capital, but geopolitics plays a key role in Canberra's reluctance, explained Jane Golley, associate director of research institute Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University. The U.S., one of Canberra's oldest allies, may be sensitive to growing Chinese influence in northern Australia as it maintains a military presence there since 2012, U.S. Marines have been deployed to Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory, for joint exercises, training and exchanges with the Australian Defense Force. Last year, Washington expressed concern that the leasing of Darwin Port by Shandong-based Landbridge Group could result in Chinese intelligence collection on U.S. and Australian troops. Washington may not be pleased if Canberra accepted China's invitation, and following President Trump's recent scolding of Turnbull, the PM may not wish to further strain ties with the world's largest economy, Golley told CNBC. Thanks to Trump's 'America First' agenda, Australia and other U.S. allies in Asia-Pacific have been faced with the prospect of greater Chinese engagement to make up for a reduced American presence in the region. But Turnbull's administration appears reluctant to turn its back on Washington, with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop recently asking the U.S. to play a greater role "as the indispensable strategic power in the Indo-Pacific." Thomas Donohue, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Pete Marovich | Bloomberg | Getty Images The battle over Obamacare is causing a rift not only on Capitol Hill, but within the business community as well. Two influential lobbying groups are throwing their weight behind the American Health Care Act, the House Republican bill that would repeal and replace Obamacare. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week sent an urgent letter to lawmakers pushing for passage. The chamber represents some of the nation's biggest companies and warned that it plans to track the vote and let its members know who opposed it. Small businesses have also been vocal supporters. The National Federation of Independent Business called passing the legislation a "necessary first step." The NFIB has led the charge against President Barack Obama's health-care law, fighting the government all the way to the Supreme Court over its expansion of Medicaid and the provision requiring all Americans to carry insurance or pay a penalty. The court upheld the law. But since President Donald Trump's election, NFIB said, the prospect of repealing Obamacare has sent small businesses optimism skyrocketing. "The American Health Care Act would repeal the most punishing elements of Obamacare, including the massive tax increases and mandates that have increased costs, limited choices, and smothered job creation," the group said in a statement. Businesses in opposition Jittery investors shouldn't overreact to the uncertainty surrounding the Republican health-care bill, but it is time to get defensive, market expert Chad Morganlander told CNBC on Thursday. Stocks closed lower on Thursday after the vote on the legislation was delayed. "The reality is that we've had this tremendous move within the overall financial markets and we would at this point in time potentially shift to more defensive companies. We believe that valuations at this point don't really make all that much sense," the portfolio manager at Washington Crossing Advisors said in an interview with "Closing Bell." Investors hopeful about President Donald Trump's promises of tax reform, deregulation and fiscal spending have helped push the market higher since the election. However, Trump's first order of business is repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Republicans are now working on mustering enough support for their health-care bill, which was originally expected to go to a vote on the House floor Thursday night. However, while policy and the expectations and uncertainty surrounding it is certainly a driving force behind the market, it isn't the only one, Gabriela Santos said. Equities are also being fueled by earnings and economic growth and they still look solid, the global market strategist at JPMorgan Funds told "Closing Bell." "Where we want to be positioned going forward for the rest of this year, really, are in the cyclical sectors that are positioned to benefit from growth and that has not changed," she said. While Santos doesn't necessarily think that the economy can break away from 2 percent growth, she thinks it is enough to sustain mid-single-digit earnings growth, especially for cyclical companies. Disclaimer Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell: ConAgra Brands The food producer beat estimates by four cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 48 cents per share. Revenue was essentially in line with estimates. ConAgra also said it expected to deliver full-year profit at or slightly above the high end of its expected range, although its sales will fall at or slightly below the low end, impacted by a soft retail environment. Accenture The consulting firm reported quarterly profit of $1.33 per share, beating estimates by three cents a share. Revenue also topped forecasts, as the company saw an increase in demand for its digital and cloud services. Scholastic The publishing company lost an adjusted 36 cents per share for its latest quarter, wider than the 25-cents-a-share loss predicted by analysts. Revenue also missed estimates, in part due to decreased club sales, but the company said it is making progress in effectively controlling costs. Teva Pharmaceutical The drug company said various media reports that it would cut up to 6,000 jobs are incorrect, although the company did say it is freezing recruitment and not replacing certain employees after they leave. PPG Industries The paint maker is not ruling out making a hostile bid for Dutch rival paint maker Akzo Nobel, according to a Bloomberg report, after two prior bids were rejected. Whole Foods UBS began coverage of the organic grocer's stock with a "sell" rating, saying the days of double-digit sales and earnings growth are over and that the share price does not properly reflect that reality. FireEye Goldman upgraded the cybersecurity products maker to "buy" from "sell," with recurring revenue growing faster than expected. Goldman also points to optimism surrounding Helix, the company's advanced analytics platform. Dollar Tree Credit Suisse upgraded the discount retailer's stock to "neutral" from "underperform," saying the risk/reward profile is now balanced despite the firm's ongoing concerns about its integration of Family Dollar. At the same time, Credit Suisse downgraded rival Dollar General to "underperform" from "neutral," saying cost pressures will weigh on earnings for some time. Kroger , Supervalu RBC upgraded both supermarket operators to "outperform" from "sector perform," citing improved macro conditions for both and potential real estate value for Supervalu. PVH PVH reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.23 per share, four cents a share above estimates. Revenue was also slightly above forecasts. The apparel maker which counts Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger among its brands also gave better-than-expected guidance for the full year. Five Below Five Below matched estimates with quarterly profit of 90 cents per share, while the discount retailer saw revenue miss Street forecasts. Its comparable sales increase of one percent did exceed consensus forecasts, and the company also said it is on track to see profit and revenue growth by 20 percent annually through 2020. Wells Fargo The bank will debut its cardless ATM machines on Monday, becoming the first U.S. bank to implement cardless ATMs across its entire network. Sears Sears suppliers are reducing shipments and asking for better payment terms, according to a Reuters report. That follows the retailer's statement in its annual report that it had doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern. Hartford Financial The firm settled a $15 billion dispute with mutual fund provider American Funds. Hartford had wanted to replace dozens of funds available to variable-annuity customers with its own funds. American maintained that the new funds would not have offered the same potential. Hartford said it still believed in the merits of its plan, but has withdrawn the request for approval from federal regulators. BlackRock The asset manager now owns nearly 5.2 percent of Japanese game maker Nintendo, according to a regulatory filing. MSCI The index provider is seeking input on whether to add China shares to its Emerging Markets index. It has declined to do so for several years because of concerns over various regulations governing the Chinese market. Cintas Cintas reported quarterly profit of $1.08 per share, one cent a share above estimates. The uniform provider's revenue was in line with Street forecasts. The company also made optimistic comments about its outlook based on the just-completed acquisition of G&K Services, which had been a rival provider of uniforms. Herman Miller Herman Miller beat estimates by seven cents a share, with quarterly profit of 39 cents per share. The furniture maker's revenue came in below Street projections. The company said it is in the early stages of implementing a cost reduction plan that it hopes will save $25 million to $35 million over the next three fiscal years. Engineers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland have developed an innovative way of using the sun to power a "synthetic skin" used on prosthetic limbs. In a news release on Wednesday, the university said that the research could help to produce advanced prosthetic limbs "capable of returning the sense of touch to amputees." The team at Glasgow had previously developed an "electronic skin" made from graphene to cover prosthetic hands, the university added. They had now developed a method which uses graphene's physical properties to harness the sun's energy and power the skin. The university described graphene as a highly flexible form of graphite that is only a single atom thick but stronger than steel. In addition, it is both transparent and electrically conductive. This "optical transparency" makes it capable of gathering energy from the sun in order to produce power. Ravinder Dahiya, together with colleagues from his Bendable Electronics and Sensing Technologies group, had now added power generating photovoltaic cells to their electronic skin. Photovoltaic cells directly convert the light of the sun into electricity. "Human skin is an incredibly complex system capable of detecting pressure, temperature and texture through an array of neural sensors which carry signals from the skin to the brain," Dahiya, from the university's School of Engineering, said. "My colleagues and I have already made significant steps in creating prosthetic prototypes which integrate synthetic skin and are capable of making very sensitive pressure measurements," Dahiya added. "Those measurements mean the prosthetic hand is capable of performing challenging tasks like properly gripping soft materials, which other prosthetics can struggle with." Glasgow said that the new skin needs only 20 nanowatts of power per square centimeter, an amount "easily met even by the poorest-quality photovoltaic cells currently available on the market." "The other next step for us is to further develop the power-generation technology which underpins this research and use it to power the motors which drive the prosthetic hand itself," Dahiya said. "This could allow the creation of an entirely energy-autonomous prosthetic limb." The team's paper was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Europeans would not be able to walk safely on the streets if they kept up their current attitude towards Turkey, his latest salvo in a row over campaigning by Turkish politicians in Europe. Turkey has been embroiled in a dispute with Germany and the Netherlands over campaign appearances by Turkish officials seeking to drum up support for an April 16 referendum that could boost Erdogan's powers. Ankara has accused its European allies of using "Nazi methods" by banning Turkish ministers from addressing rallies in Europe over security concerns. The comments have led to a sharp deterioration in ties with the European Union, which Turkey still aspires to join. "Turkey is not a country you can pull and push around, not a country whose citizens you can drag on the ground," Erdogan said at an event for Turkish journalists in Ankara, in comments broadcast live on national television. "If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets. Europe will be damaged by this. We, as Turkey, call on Europe to respect human rights and democracy," he said. Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier used his first speech as president on Wednesday to warn Erdogan that he risked destroying everything his country had achieved in recent years, and that he risked damaging diplomatic ties. The European Central Bank warned on Thursday that banks need to boost their profitability and business models amid the risks that the sector faces. The high level of non-performing loans across the euro area and geopolitical uncertainty, including the British departure from the European Union are "major risks" to the banking sector, the ECB said in its annual report on supervisory activities. "(Banks) have become much more resilient over the past few years; their capital buffers have increased significantly," Daniele Nouy, chair of the Supervisory Board at the ECB, said in the report, adding however, they still face risks and challenges. "Besides having to work out how they can raise profits in a challenging environment, how they can dispose of legacy assets and how they should deal with cybercrime and other IT risks, they currently face a number of other questions. Will competition from non-banks intensify? Where is the euro area economy headed? How will Brexit affect banks in the euro area? How will other geopolitical issues play out?," she added. ECB officials are closely following how the most exposed banks to Brexit are monitoring the risks. Until now they have not identified significant funding or operational risks, but the political uncertainty could harm investments, the central bank said in the report. To support British-based banks that are planning to move to the euro area due to the Brexit decision, the ECB is considering ways to ease regulation to allow that move to be faster. The central bank could temporarily lift its requirement to pre-approve the risk models of U.K. banks that decide to move to the euro area, if these models had already been approved by British authorities, an ECB official said Wednesday. This would allow British-based banks to move their operations quicker in case they opt to reduce their staff in the U.K. during the Brexit process. More than 8,500 crimes, ranging from murder to low-level offenses like disorderly conduct, were reported to police in Cumberland County in 2016, according to Pennsylvania State Police. Each of those incidents involved at least one suspected perpetrator, and in most cases, a victim whose life was interrupted by crime. For the victim or a suspect, the criminal justice system can be confusing and confounding with outcomes that can have lasting consequences. We are the first contact that people have with the criminal justice system, speaking from the victims side of things, Hampden Township Police Chief Steven Junkin said. It is the role of police to build a case and investigate crime, Junkin said. In the broadest sense of the term, our role is to provide justice for those who have been wronged, Junkin said. We are the vehicle for doing that. The police are consequence, Junkin said. When you call us, if you are the person whos done wrong, were consequence. Were coming for you. Victim approach He said that can mean asking uncomfortable questions that can cause victims to feel like they are being revictimized. Junkin said in his policing career the mentality has shifted from a "just-the-facts" approach in responding to a crime to a more victim-centered approach that includes helping to link victims with social services. This may be your 4,000th rape that you are investigating, but its her first, Junkin said. We need to try to approach each of these as if this is the first time that these people are going through this, whether it be a smashed mailbox, a theft, an assault or worse. Junkin said a big part of the role of police when responding to a crime is educating the victim on potential outcomes. Everybody wants their day in court. Everybody wants to feel justice, Junkin said. Unfortunately, many times, depending on the crime its not likely they are going to see a result they want. Of the more than 8,000 crimes known to police in Cumberland County in 2015, roughly half resulted in an arrest, according to state police. Clearance rates, the rate in which police are able in general to identify a suspect and make an arrest, vary depending on the crime type. Less than 20 percent of burglaries and roughly 34 percent of thefts reported to police in 2015 were listed as cleared, according to state police. On the flip side, more than 80 percent of assaults reported to police in 2015 were cleared, according to state police. Junkin said one of main bits of information victims should provide to police is whether the crime was immediately reported. A lot of people would be shocked at the number of crimes that are delayed-reporting, he said. Delayed-reporting, while its not fatal, does open a host of questions. Delayed impact Junkin said delayed-reporting can lead to physical evidence deteriorating and can provide an opportunity for the defense to question why there was a delay. Junkin emphasized the need for victims and witnesses to be open with police even when information may be uncomfortable to share. The asking of invasive questions does not mean we do not believe the person, he said. We have a duty to vet all information. If you are a victim and you have information, even if it is embarrassing or may be damaging as far as your credibility, we have to know that, because thats eventually going to come out. Depending on the seriousness or complexity of a case, investigations will be handed over to detectives. Once a suspect has been identified, that person is likely brought in and questioned by police. People dont see this, but there is strategy police officers have about how do we interview this person, Junkin said. What do we want to say to them? What dont we want to say to them? What are the things we have to hold back to make sure when they reveal it its connected? Suspects have rights in these situations, with the two more well-known being the right to remain silent and the right to counsel. Those rights are typically known as Miranda rights, named after the 1966 Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona. Defense attorney David Erhard, of Steve Rice Law in Carlisle, said that while suspects have the right to remain silent and to seek counsel, police are not required to advise them of those rights unless the suspect is in custody and being interrogated. Erhard described the role of a defense attorney as protecting clients by challenging accusations and minimizing harm, which often leads to negotiated plea deals. Erhard said the right to remain silent means a suspects silence cannot be held against them during a trial. However, Erhard said suspects should vocally, but politely, assert their right to remain silent. The best thing to do is zip it and seek an attorney, Erhard said. The judge The entitlement to counsel is also not as clear cut as it may seem from television and movies, Erhard said. Suspects are only entitled to counsel at critical stages of a case, which do not include arrests or interrogations, he said. Once police have built a strong enough case, charges are filed against the suspect. Approval from the district attorneys office is required for most charges to be filed in Cumberland County. That is not the case in many of the surrounding counties. Once charges are filed, the suspect is typically brought in front of a magisterial district judge for a preliminary arraignment. At the preliminary arraignment the judge explains to the suspect what he or she is being charged with and then assigns bail. The purpose of bail is to guarantee the defendant appears as directed for all of his or her court proceedings and provide some protection to the safety of society. Judges have wide discretion in setting the type and amount of bail. Roughly 700 people were held in Cumberland County Prison as part of cases beginning in 2015 because of an inability to post bail, according to an analysis of court records conducted by The Sentinel. Bail ends up being a mechanism for locking up a potential bad guy, Erhard said. British police are searching for clues about whether the suspected terrorist who carried out the deadly London attack near Parliament had help, a former Department of Homeland Security official said Thursday. Law enforcement has searched six addresses and made eight arrests in raids as part of an investigation into Wednesday's attack, which killed three people dead and injured 40, including one American, London's Metropolitan Police has announced. The attacker also was killed. "What British authorities are trying to do right now is ascertain whether he had any support mechanism," Jack Thomas Tomarchio, a former deputy under secretary for intelligence and analysis operations, said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "That's why you see these ... other people arrested." Tomarchio, a senior fellow in FPRI's Center for the Study of Terrorism, said British police will try to use some forensics: Look at the attacker's cellphone and laptop if they have it, just to harvest information. "Often you find that in cases like this, there is often a support mechanism, and a terrorist doesn't usually act totally as a lone wolf," he said. Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley said the attacker, who plowed a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge and then fatally stabbed a police officer before being shot, acted alone and was "inspired by international terrorism." Rowley revised the death toll from five to four the attacker, the police officer and two civilians. He said seven of 29 people who required hospitalization were in critical condition. Prime Minister Theresa May said the man responsible for Wednesday's attack was a "peripheral figure" known to the MI5 British spy agency. May added that there was no prior evidence of the plot or the perpetrator's intent. CNBC's Karen Gilchrist and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Shares of discount retailer Five Below rose more than 12 percent Thursday, after the company reported earnings that topped Wall Street expectations. The stock closed slightly above $42 per share, nearing highs not seen since last December. The chain of stores, which sells products under $5, reported fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday of 90 cents, topping a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate by a penny. Quarterly sales also beat estimates, coming in at $388.1 million compared to a $387.6 million Reuters consensus. Comparable sales a metric closely watched by Wall Street for retail stocks rose 1 percent for the quarter ended Jan. 28, Five Below said, matching FastSet estimates. "We are excited to be opening approximately 100 new stores this year and to bring our unique and differentiated concept to California," Chief Executive Joel Anderson said in a statement on Wednesday, offering some guidance on this year. The Philadelphia-based discount retailer says it expects total sales made in 2017 to fall within $1.21 billion to $1.23 billion, well above Reuters' full-year revenue forecast of $999.8 million. Five Below also anticipates a low-single-digit increase in comparable sales in 2017. With Thursday's gains, the stock is now up more than 5 percent for the year and is up around 2 percent over the past 12 months. Republican leaders need to flip "another 30 to 40 votes" in the House to get the Obamacare replacement bill passed, said the head of the GOP conservative group whose opposition to the bill led lawmakers to postpone a Thursday vote. Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows, R-NC, also said that members of his strongly conservative group want evidence that "this bill reduces premiums significantly enough" before they are willing to back the plan. "At this point, some of the provisions here do not lower health-care costs enough ... for my constituents," Meadows said. "We've got to make sure it lowers health costs." "I'm still a 'no' at this time," Meadows told a throng of reporters on Capitol Hill after House leaders postponed Thursday's scheduled vote. "I am desperately trying to get to yes." "And I can say, with all the Freedom Caucus, they are trying to get to yes." But Meadows also said "I believe progress is being made," and credited President Donald Trump with talking to caucus members about potential changes to the bill. "The president's engagement is unparalleled," Meadows said. "The president has made some very good-faith gestures." Still, Meadows would not discuss the "specifics" of negotiation with the president. The House of Representatives had planned on voting Thursday on the American Health Care Act. But GOP leaders postponed that vote after it became clear that not enough of the 237-member caucus agreed with the plan to provide the 215 votes it would need to pass, and send it to the Senate for further consideration. Trump and Republican congressional leaders have repeatedly met with House conservatives and amended the bill in an effort to sway them to support the bill. Those changes included speeding up the revocation of Obamacare taxes, and permitting tighter restrictions of Medicaid eligibility. But a number of conservatives have continued to object to the plan because they believe it does not do enough to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and replace it with legislation that will decrease federal involvement in health care. GOP leaders face a difficult problem in their dealing with the conservative wing of their party. For every concession they give that wing, they risk alienating moderate members of the party, who are already worried about projections that show millions of people losing health coverage in coming years as a result of the bill becoming law. Andy Slavitt, who oversaw Obamacare for the Obama administration until January, said Thursday that he wasn't surprised that the House postponed the vote. "They don't have the votes to pass a bill that spikes premiums, cuts coverage, raise deductibles and guts benefits?" snarkily asked Slavitt, who had been acting administrator for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. "I'm disappointed that they even has as many votes as they apparently do," Slavitt said. House Freedom Caucus member Ted Yoho told CNBC on Thursday he will vote against the GOP's Obamacare replacement without more concessions to get rid of "a growing entitlement." The Florida Republican said he prefers a "clean repeal" of former President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, but he acknowledges it's a negotiation. "We're getting closer," Yoho said on "Squawk Box." "I have the utmost confidence in [Freedom Caucus] leadership that we will come out with a bill that the president will sign [and] that the American people will thank us for." The House vote is crucial for the Trump agenda. President Donald Trump has said the repeal and replacement of Obamacare must happen before action can be taken on his other plans, including a major tax reduction. Trump is expected to meet Thursday with the House Freedom Caucus to try to get the conservative group on board, as GOP leaders offered a tweak of their health-care plan Wednesday night to include getting rid of the set of minimum benefits required of insurers. From the official POTUS account, Trump on Thursday morning tweeted a call to action to Americans in favor of the bill supported by the White House and House Speaker Paul Ryan. You were given many lies with #Obamacare! Go with our plan! Call your Rep & let them know you're behind #AHCA But Yoho said, "If we don't [really] repeal this, we're going to be left with a skeleton of the Affordable Care Act." He claimed the Republican House bill does not go far enough to obliterate Obamacare. "I want to make sure we get rid of a growing entitlement." The government already provides health care for veterans through Veterans Affairs, seniors via Medicare, and the poor with Medicaid he said. "They're unsustainable." Leaving the Obamacare "skeleton" in place would send a message the government should have a say in the type of health insurance and coverage Americans must have, Yoho argued. "That's an assault on our individual freedoms," the third-term congressman said. "It's a Constitutional principle that we need to stand and uphold." Yoho said the goal of the Freedom Caucus is to provide Americans with access to care at reasonable prices by allowing "the free market thrive." Google may not be able to guarantee advertisements won't appear next to offensive content, but it is working on a solution that "can get pretty close," according to Alphabet 's executive chairman Eric Schmidt talking to FOX Business on Thursday. Google has faced fallout on Wall Street this week as advertisers put pronounced pressure on the company's policies. Google is one of the top platforms for digital advertisers, accounting for about 40 percent of all online ad budgets, and 13 percent of display ad budgets, according to eMarketer. Google's YouTube video site ran ads for major brands next to neo-Nazi and jihadist videos, according to The Times of London. Companies like AT&T and Johnson & Johnson have since suspended some digital advertising, and some analysts said the outcry could be Schmidt was asked whether he can ensure that the algorithm doesn't make the same mistake again. "We can't guarantee it, but we can get pretty close," he said. Google has increased the time it takes to manually review ad matching and violations of Google's terms of service, Schmidt said. Hopefully, Google can build products that can move extreme content down in the rankings in a way that's better than what social media does, Schmidt said. "We're very good at detecting what's the most relevant and what's the least relevant. It should be possible for computers to detect malicious, misleading and incorrect information and essentially have you not see it. We're not arguing for censorship, we're arguing just take it off the page, put it somewhere else...make it harder to find," Schmidt said, adding: "I think we're going to be ok." Schmidt also appeared on "CBS This Morning," where he discussed the new presidential administration. He said that it was "literally crazy" to not allow talented people to come to America, just because they are foreign. "It is insane to allow people to stay in other countries who want to come to our country to create companies, and to create new jobs, create wealth, and power our economy," Schmidt said. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services during the Obama administration, told CNBC on Thursday she's basically against everything in the Republican plan to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which is also known as Obamacare. But in a "Squawk on the Street" interview, ahead of the scheduled evening House vote on the GOP health-care bill, Sebelius did single out one provision as a positive. "The stability fund that is basically the risk pool that they [Republicans] refused to fund in the Affordable Care Act I think it's a good idea," she admitted. "Stabilizing a very young market makes a lot of sense and encourages more companies to play in the market." The "stability fund" Sebelius refers to is the proposed 10-year, $100 billion Patient and State Stability Fund contained in the House GOP's American Health Care Act. The House vote is seen as a major test for President Donald Trump's agenda because he's said the Obamacare replacement needs to happen before other priorities such as tax cuts for individuals and corporations. Trump met Thursday with the House Freedom Caucus to try to get the conservative group to drop its opposition. GOP leaders offered a tweak of their plan Wednesday night to include getting rid of the set of minimum benefits required of insurers. Sebelius said Obamacare certainly needs some improvements, but should not be thrown out completely. If able to make changes to the Affordable Care Act, she said she would try to lower drug costs and out-of-pocket expenses for consumers. "There's [also] too big a cliff between those who get some subsidies have the government pay a portion of their plan and those who don't," she added. The current Health and Human Services secretary, Tom Price, strongly defended GOP health-care bill Wednesday night on CNN. "We believe strongly, strongly, that the plan we put together is so much better than the one that's there now." The former congressman from Georgia and orthopedic surgeon has been a longtime crusader against Obamacare. Even the most successful people have to start somewhere. For Jodi Senese, executive vice president and CMO at Outfront Media, that meant taking an internship at an ad agency that paid $12,000 a year. She turned her internship into a full-time gig and has been climbing the ranks in the out-of-home advertising industry for the past 36 years. If you want to turn any internship into a full-time position, "treat it like a really long interview," the executive tells CNBC. "Don't just address an internship as a temporary thing, a transient opportunity that's part of your path to a career somewhere else. Really treat it like an amazing opportunity and delve in. "Get to understand the business, bring as much value to the organization as possible, and become a valuable member of the team," she says. For the past half century, federal law has banned employers from discriminating against people based on their age. But since the early 1990s, corporate lawyers and conservative judges have sought to shrink what counts as discrimination, making it substantially harder to prove age bias. Now, a case possibly headed for the Supreme Court could reduce the law's reach still further. The case involves an Atlanta man named Richard Villarreal, who applied online for a sales manager job with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in 2007 and heard nothing. When he applied in subsequent years, he had no better luck. What Villarreal, who was 49 at the time of his first application, didn't know was that Reynolds had retained a subcontractor to review the applications, supplying guidelines that led reviewers to discard his resume and those of almost 20,000 other older applicants. Of the roughly 1,000 sales managers the tobacco company hired between 2007 and 2010, when Villarreal was applying, fewer than a score were over the age of 40. After a whistleblower emerged in 2010, Villarreal sued. The significance of the case is two-fold. It highlights the hurdles for job seekers as hiring has increasingly moved online, where it's easier for companies to reject whole classes of applicants and harder for people to keep track of their bids for work. And it illustrates how age discrimination protections have been progressively narrowed. The tobacco company's defense challenges decades of precedent for how the law has been interpreted and enforced. Reynolds has advanced two theories to argue that the 50-year-old Age Discrimination in Employment Act shouldn't apply to Villarreal: that the Georgia salesman didn't "diligently" pursue why he'd received no response to his application, even though there was little to spur such pursuit before the whistleblower surfaced; and that a close reading of the law suggests that in cases of indirect bias it doesn't protect job applicants like Villarreal, only employees. The tobacco company's arguments were accepted by the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, which tossed out Villarreal's lawsuit, and last fall by a majority of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the district court's ruling. The Supreme Court will decide soon whether to hear the case. If Reynolds prevails, employers will have powerful new ways to shield themselves from charges of age bias. "If this case stands, it will make it harder for individuals later in their work lives to prove they faced discrimination. It will mean less protection for older workers under the key federal law designed to protect against age bias," said Sandra Sperino, an employment discrimination specialist and law professor at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. Bryan D. Hatchell, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds' parent company, Reynolds American Inc., declined to comment on ongoing litigation. The ADEA's anti-discrimination language originally matched that of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which covers race, gender, color, religion and national origin. And for their first 25 years, courts mostly ruled that the provisions of one applied to the other. Even so, it always has been harder to prove discrimination based on age, in part because the ADEA's authors recognized that in some instances, it's fair to take age into account in ways that wouldn't be tolerated for race, gender or other categories. It's also difficult to know how much age factors into employment decisions. While studies have repeatedly shown employers engage in age discrimination, little is known about its pervasiveness or mechanisms, especially in hiring, which generally is a private matter with few federal or state laws governing employer conduct. Work by Teresa Ghilarducci and colleagues at The New School for Social Research shows that 2.7 million people, or 10 percent of the 27 million Americans ages 55 through 64 and still in the labor force, are unemployed, partially employed or in a netherworld between employment and retirement. A study by Urban Institute economist Richard Johnson and others, which followed workers who were in their early to mid50s at the beginning of the 1990s, found that almost 8 million, or 25 percent, had been laid off at least once by the mid-2000s. Many ended up working at lesser jobs or being out of work for long periods. Analysts say the studies likely understate the impact of bias. "Discrimination has ripple effects and can become self-reinforcing," said Ghilarducci, director of the Retirement Equity Lab at The New School. "People who think they're going to be rejected from a job often beat the discriminator to the punch by not applying or leaving the labor force altogether." The Villarreal case is the latest in a string of lawsuits over the past 2 1/2 decades in which employers have challenged the scope of the ADEA and won sympathetic decisions from courts. Some see it as part of a larger pattern. "In recent decades, the courts have chipped away at the nation's age-discrimination laws," said Sen. Robert Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Special Committee on Aging. The Supreme Court and lower courts have ruled that employers have wide latitude to cite what the ADEA calls "reasonable factors other than age" things such as pay levels or health costs to justify treating older workers differently without paying a legal price. In 2009, the Supreme Court decided that a 54-year-old financial manager who claimed to have been wrongly demoted had to prove that age wasn't just a motivating factor in the employer's decision the standard for other forms of discrimination but essentially the only factor. That's a bar that plaintiffs' lawyers and many legal scholars say is nearly impossible to clear. Besides the Villarreal case, the issue of whether the ADEA covers job applicants is being disputed in two other lawsuits, with mixed results so far. In Chicago, a federal district judge ruled that a 59-year-old unemployed lawyer who was rejected for a "senior counsel" position at a medical device manufacturer couldn't sue because the law doesn't apply to applicants. The ruling has been appealed to the 7th Circuit. In San Francisco, accounting giant PricewaterhouseCooper LLP used the same argument in asking that a federal district judge dismiss the suit of a 53-year-old rejected for an "experienced associate" position. Last month, the judge ruled against the company, citing an earlier case that concluded, "The ADEA is remedial and humanitarian legislation and should be interpreted liberally." The firm has yet to file an appeal. Some business groups take issue with the idea that recent court rulings are unfairly narrowing the law. The decisions, they say, simply aim to lock in a distinction that congressional authors of the nation's anti-discrimination laws always intended that while it's necessary for laws to regulate application and hiring when it comes to race and gender to avoid perpetuating past discrimination, it's unnecessary in the case of age because there's no long-running bad behavior that needs undoing. "Age discrimination does not consign individuals to a lifetime of disadvantage," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote in a brief supporting Reynolds. Villarreal had little reason to think that age would be an issue when he first applied for the Reynolds job. He was living on a cul-de-sac in an Atlanta suburb, supporting a wife and teenage daughter by working at Coca-Cola, the region's iconic employer. According to court papers, he figured his eight years in sales would make him a prime candidate for the Reynolds position, which was described on the website CareerBuilder.com as involving lots of travel to work with retailers and "one-to-one" interaction with consumers. What Villarreal could not see either on CareerBuilder or on the Reynolds corporate site to which he was switched to apply was what was going on beyond his computer screen. And there's almost no chance that he would have learned about it had it not been for a whistleblower, who contacted a labor law firm across the country almost three years after Villarreal first applied. The whistleblower's name does not appear in any court or administrative documents. At the start of the case, Reynolds denied allegations that were based on the whistleblower's material. But it chose not to build its defense on attacking the whistleblower. Instead, the company has trained all its legal firepower on challenging Villarreal's right to sue in order to get the case dismissed. What the whistleblower's material shows is that in the years Villarreal was applying, two Reynolds subcontractors in succession Kelly Services Inc. and Pinstripe Inc. sorted job applications according to the tobacco company's "resume review guidelines," many of which seemed to have little to do with traveling salesmanship, but a lot to do with age. One version of the Reynolds guidelines said, under the heading of "What to Look For On A Resume," that a job candidate should be a "recent college grad" who was involved "in many activities (sports, fraternities/sororities, clubs etc.)." Under a separate "Targeted Candidate" heading, it added: "2-3 years out of college." Meanwhile, under the heading "Stay Away From" were applicants "in sales for 8-10 years." A second version of the guidelines filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which had to give its approval before Villarreal could sue, was more direct. Under the "Targeted" heading, it said "candidates ages 35 and under." Under "Stay Away From," it said "candidates 35 and over." In a court document filed early in the case, Reynolds denied that it ever instructed its applicant sorters to stay away from anyone because of age. The guidelines had a big effect, according to statistics provided by the whistleblower and included in court records. In 2007 and 2008, when Kelly was the subcontractor, it received more than 19,000 applications for territory sales manager positions, of which 9,100, or 48 percent, were from candidates like Villarreal with eight or more years of sales experience. Kelly referred about 1,400, or 15 percent, of these to Reynolds for further consideration. In 2009 and 2010, when Pinstripe had the job, almost half the applicants were experienced candidates; it referred less than 8 percent of those. Of the 1,024 sales managers who Reynolds hired between 2007 and mid-2010, only 19 were over 40. "It's hard to imagine what stronger evidence of age discrimination someone would want besides a company directive to use criteria that disadvantages older people in hiring for a job where age doesn't appear to be relevant, and the numbers that show the subsequent hiring was skewed against older workers," James Finberg, a partner with the San Francisco law firm of Altshuler Berzon that received the whistleblower's material and represents Villarreal, said in an interview. The first things that Reynolds wanted and what it got from the Atlanta federal district and circuit courts were rulings that said that, whatever the evidence about company hiring practices, Villarreal had not "diligently" pursued why he'd never received a response to his application by calling to ask or taking some other action, and so he couldn't sue and the evidence was irrelevant. The legal requirement that people who sue must diligently pursue their rights in the case of the ADEA, they generally must file a charge within 180 days of when they think they've been discriminated against is designed to protect against frivolous lawsuits and limit employers' legal exposure. But because discrimination tends to be hidden, courts usually provide flexibility. Indeed, the Atlanta circuit court ruled in one case that people don't have to file charges or take any other steps when they have "no reason to believe" discrimination has occurred, and in another that people aren't obligate to file "until the facts that would support a cause of action are apparent." The reason such exceptions to the diligence rule are needed, according to the court: "Secret preferences and even more subtle means of illegal discrimination, because of their very nature, are unlikely to be readily apparent to the individual discriminated against," and so can take a long time to come to light. This kind of legal flexibility has been put to the test in recent years as the U.S. hiring market has migrated from newspaper classified ad sections and company human-resources offices onto the internet. As envisioned by internet pioneers such as Robert McGovern, who founded CareerBuilder in the mid-1990s, the new online system would "create liquidity in the job market" by quickly matching the abilities of applicants with the needs of recruiters and would improve fairness by directing attention to individual accomplishments rather than their race, gender, age or other characteristics. But as McGovern acknowledged in a recent interview, "one of the downsides of my online jobs invention is the incredible increase in applicant volume." That volume prompted many companies to hire subcontractors or use computer algorithms to handle applications. As a result, many applicants were left in the dark. A 2013 CareerBuilder survey of 4,000 workers found that 75 percent never heard back from employers. A 2015 survey of nearly 2,000 hiring executives found that most respond to less than half of applicants. "Current job application and hiring processes are increasingly opaque and anonymous, making it ever more impractical to expect job applicants to investigate employer motives for rejecting them," Daniel B. Kohrman and colleagues with the AARP Foundation, part of the seniors advocacy group, wrote in a supporting brief in the Villarreal case. As Villareal's lawyers prepared to sue Reynolds for discrimination, they believed these changes in the job market explained why their client hadn't called about his application and didn't take any legal action until he learned about the whistleblower in 2010. They thought their case met the Atlanta circuit court's standards for when it would grant flexibility from the diligence requirement. But first U.S. District Judge Richard W. Story and later six of 11 members of the full circuit court ruled that Villarreal was owed no flexibility because he'd failed the diligence test. The circuit court ruling, written by Judge William Pryor, said the Georgia salesman "did nothing for more than two years between his initial application" and being told about the whistleblower. "We have no difficulty concluding, as a matter of law, that a plaintiff who does nothing for two years is not diligent," Pryor wrote. The ruling prompted a ferocious dissent by Judge Beverly Martin, speaking for the five remaining circuit court members. "The majority now tells us," Martin wrote, "that secret discrimination won't be punished unless the victim tried to expose the discrimination himself, even if he had no reason to suspect anyone was discriminating against him." If the 11th Circuit majority had left matters at this point, Villarreal's suit likely would have attracted little attention. But the court took a big additional step when it adopted the company's arguments that, in this type of case, the law doesn't even apply to job applicants. Debate over the scope of the law is rooted in the difference between blatant, intentional discrimination such as rejecting someone for a job or a promotion explicitly because of their age and a pattern of biased outcomes, whatever the intention. Blatant discrimination was widespread at the time of the law's passage. A 1965 report by then-Labor Secretary Willard Wirtz, who played a key role in drafting the law, found that over half of all employers set explicit age limits. Half of all job openings in a given year were closed to applicants over 55. A quarter of them were closed to those over 45. But from the outset, the authors of the ADEA recognized there were other kinds of discrimination besides intentional acts of prejudice. Many appeared on their surface to have little to do with age but disproportionally hurt those later in their work lives and could have been predicted to have this effect. So lawmakers added a provision for such indirect bias, outlawing employer policies and practices that had a "disparate impact" on older people. To be sure, lawmakers included some exceptions that allowed employers to treat older workers' lives differently than others. But it's striking how skeptical the ADEA authors were of even the most obvious justification for different treatment, physical condition. "So far as the allegedly key issue of physical capability is concerned," Wirtz wrote in an influential report to Congress, "a comprehensive review of available medical and psychological evidences reveals no support for the broad age lines which have been drawn on the basis of claimed physical requirement." Villarreal's lawyers were convinced that their case fit the age law's definition of disparate impact, what with Reynolds' resume review guidelines and the numbers showing their strikingly negative effect on older people. They were ready for the tobacco company to challenge their evidence of disparate impact. Instead, Reynolds made a more sweeping argument; it asserted that the disparate impact provision doesn't apply to job applicants such as Villarreal at all. In his brief, Eric Dreiband, the tobacco company's lead lawyer, a partner with the New York-based law firm of Jones Day and a former general counsel with the EEOC, said the law's "text and structure" clearly shows the provision refers only to employees and their status, not to applicants. Dreiband, who declined to comment for this story, argued, among other things, that if the provision were read more broadly it could prohibit hiring programs for internships and entry positions aimed at young people and "impose massive litigation costs on employers." Though it's indisputable that the ADEA's language on disparate impact makes no mention of job applicants, lawmakers debating the measure before its passage spoke openly and often about the need to boost older Americans in the workforce. "In simple terms, this bill prohibits discrimination in hiring and firing," said Ralph Yarborough, a U.S. senator from Texas who was the measure's chief sponsor. Given this, it's tough to understand drawing a line between employees and applicants, according to Michael Selmi, a law professor at George Washington University. "What sense does it make to have a law designed to ensure a reasonably age-diverse workforce if you say that its provisions don't reach the people who'd help make up that workforce older workers applying for jobs?" he asked. The ruling appears to be at odds with a longstanding Supreme Court doctrine that, when legal language is unclear, courts should defer to the federal agency in charge of administering a law. While the Atlanta court was deeply divided about the legal language in this case, the administering agency, the EEOC, has consistently said that all of the provisions of ADEA apply to both applicants and employees. "To get to this result," Circuit Judge Martin wrote in her dissent, "the majority rejects the interpretation that the governing agencies have used since 1968 and misreads the Supreme Court." Efforts are underway to strengthen the ADEA. For example, Casey, the Pennsylvania senator, recently co-sponsored a bipartisan bill that aims to restore the parallel in legal standards for proving discrimination in the case of age with those for race, gender and other forms of discrimination. But until the courts or Congress clarify the law's reach, "hundreds of thousands of older workers," according to Villarreal's plea for the Supreme Court to hear his case, will face the new online hiring market with growing doubts about their protection from bias. Do you have access to information about age discrimination that should be public? Email peter.gosselin@propublica.org, or here's how to send tips and documents to ProPublica securely. Ivanka Trump at a luncheon she was hosting to mark International Women's Day in the State Dining Room at the White House March 8, 2017 in Washington, DC. Getty Images Ivanka Trump's power behind the scenes in the White House is about to become official unofficially. Trump is getting her own office in the West Wing, a security clearance, and a government-issued phone, according to Politico. She won't be paid a salary or be sworn in. The role is described as "unofficial," but it sounds official in all but name. Her appointment is pure nepotism: There is nothing on her resume that suggests Ivanka Trump is qualified, by any traditional definition of the term, to advise the president of the United States. But for President Donald Trump she has two qualities that likely outweigh any others she's a Trump, and she's going to be loyal to him. Ivanka Trump, who is 35 and has a bachelor's degree in business, is best known for running a relatively small apparel line branded with her name, for appearing on The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice alongside her father, and for writing a memoir/career advice book, The Trump Card. More from Vox: Why would Democrats ever let Neil Gorsuch be confirmed? What we know about evidence of coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign Why the white middle class is dying faster, explained in 6 charts By all accounts, she was a capable lieutenant to her father at the Trump Organization, where she oversaw global expansion and the development of the president's hotel in Washington, DC's Old Post Office building. Still, this is not the type of resume most White House jobs are built on. She'll have access to well-guarded information about national security, and, according to Politico, her portfolio of issues won't be confined to the family policy she spent most of her campaign trail time discussing. Ivanka Trump's role, her lawyer told Politico, is to be her father's "eyes and ears" in the White House. In an administration that spent its first two months riven by very public leaks and infighting, Trump has apparently decided, as he did in his business career, that his own children are the only people he can really trust. Nepotism is illegal but the Trump administration has decided it doesn't apply to the White House Giving Ivanka Trump a West Wing office might be nepotism. But it's not illegal nepotism. The Justice Department ruled that federal anti-nepotism laws don't apply to the president's choice of White House advisers. The day Trump was inaugurated, the Justice Department determined that it would be legal for him to appoint Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and Ivanka Trump's husband. "A President wanting a relative's advice on governmental matters therefore has a choice: to seek that advice on an unofficial, ad hoc basis without conferring the status and imposing the responsibilities that accompany formal White House positions," the Justice Department's Daniel Koffsky, a deputy assistant attorney general, wrote, "or to appoint his relative to the White House under title 3 and subject him to substantial restrictions against conflicts of interest." In other words: Trump is going to get advice from his relatives anyway, so he might as well get it in a role that puts some ethical restrictions around what they can do. Congress passed a federal anti-nepotism law in the 1960s. Before that, the only unusual thing about an appointment like Trump's would be that she was the president's daughter not the president's brother or the president's son. John F. Kennedy made his brother Robert attorney general and put his brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, in charge of the Peace Corps. Dwight D. Eisenhower's son worked in the White House as an assistant staff secretary. Franklin D. Roosevelt's son James served as secretary of the president, an important coordinating job akin to the modern position of chief of staff. (In an episode with additional resonance for Trump watchers, James Roosevelt was also accused of profiting personally from his father's presidency and had to publish his tax returns to prove he had not.) Then in 1967, a federal anti-nepotism law reforming the Post Office prohibited executive branch officials from appointing their relatives to jobs in the agencies they oversee. Legal experts disagree on whether the law applies to the president and to jobs in the White House. But some presidents have decided to play it safe: When President Bill Clinton tapped Hillary Clinton to oversee his health care overhaul, he put her in charge of a task forcerather than giving her an official White House job. Today, Kushner and Ivanka Trump have already disclosed information about their finances and divested from some stocks as part of Kushner's White House role, according to Politico. Still, Ivanka still owns her apparel and jewelry company, and she won't legally be bound by federal regulations on conflicts of interest if she isn't a White House employee. It's not clear why the Justice Department's logic for why Trump should appoint Kushner rather than consulting him informally doesn't also apply to his daughter. Is Ivanka Trump's new job a win for the "Democrats" in the White House? Since the campaign, Ivanka Trump has assiduously cultivated an image as the voice of moderation, even liberalism, whispering in her father's ear. It reached its pinnacle when she told the Republican National Convention that her father believed in affordable child care and equal pay for equal work issues that a Republican president had never put at the center of his campaign. That influence had limits: Trump has not made child care the center of his legislative agenda. Still, for the observers and pundits who constantly scan for a "pivot," a sign that Trump is moving away from his most extreme positions and rhetoric, there will be a temptation to interpret Ivanka Trump's West Wing office as the latest sign of moderation. Kushner, as well as fellow New Yorkers Gary Cohn and Dina Powell, former Goldman Sachs executives, are seen as the moderate voices in the Trump administration; according to the Washington Post's Philip Rucker and Robert Costa, their rivals have taken to calling them "the Democrats." The narrative of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner nudging the president to the center can be overblown. But Kushner, Trump, and their allies have leaked to reporters a counterfactual history of how much more extreme Trump's decisions would have been if they weren't there to put on the brakes. According to media reports, Kushner and Trump pushed for an executive order on climate to be less critical of the Paris climate deal. Another report has them successfully derailing another executive order that would have made it easier for businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people. Ivanka Trump, according to reports, persuaded her father to embrace the less bellicose tone he employed in his speech to a joint session of Congress, rather than the bleak imagery from his inaugural address. She attended a play about welcoming immigrants with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The image of Kushner and Ivanka Trump as the (relatively) progressive adults in the room is so enduring that for the first few weeks of Trump's presidency, political observers even held them responsible for the presidents' tweets. A slew of speculative articles suggested the president tended to send his most zany tweets on Friday nights and Saturdays because Trump and Kushner, who are Orthodox Jews, were observing Shabbat and weren't there to stop him. Rabbis, including the rabbi who oversaw Ivanka Trump's conversion to Judaism, finally debunked this interpretation: Nothing is stopping Kushner and his wife from talking about the president's tweets, even during the religious observance, they told Politico. More broadly, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner might be winning occasional battles. But if their goal is to shape President Trump's administration into one that actively fights climate change and protects the rights of LGBTQ people, they're losing the war. The Trump administration is trying to eliminate the federal government's ability to oppose climate change through its budget. It abolished protections for transgender students in K-12 schools. If Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner truly felt these were morally monstrous decisions, they could resign. Instead, they've been able to have their cake and eat it too: participating in the administration that set these policy moves in motion, while making themselves the stars of a narrative about the people who tried to stand up to them. The right way to think about this move isn't ideological it's that Trump only trusts his family Former U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, left, speaks to members of the media as House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) looks on after an event on health care at the House East Front of the Capitol March 22, 2017 in Washington, DC. Former vice president Joe Biden on Wednesday said the Republican bill to replace the Affordable Care Act is a "tax bill" that would transfer close to $1 trillion, now spent on health care benefits, to wealthy people who "don't need it." Hoping to preserve President Obama's signature health care law, Biden appeared at a rally on the U.S. Capitol steps with fellow Democrats and beneficiaries of the 2010 law, one day before the House is expected to vote on repeal-and-replace legislation that Democrats have dubbed "Trumpcare." Eliminating the law known as Obamacare, Biden said, will only benefit drug companies, insurance companies and medical device companies and provide insignificant tax breaks for the very wealthy. More from USA Today: Wisconsin police officer, 3 others dead in shooting spree London terror suspect born in Britain; ISIS claims responsibility U-shaped NYC skyscraper would be 'longest in the world "This is going to mean an additional 57,000 bucks a year in tax breaks for people making one million dollars a year," Biden said. "I believe if you lined up all the millionaires in America and said, 'Do you think this is fair?' I think they'd say, 'No.' " Biden's appearance on Capitol Hill his first since President Trump's inauguration is part of Democrats' "all hands on deck" battle plan to fight legislation they're portraying as a gift to corporate America and the wealthy. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a letter Tuesday night, urged her colleagues to "use all available time" to speak out against the Republican bill on the House floor and during Wednesday's meeting of the Rules Committee, which is the last step before the bill comes to a vote on the floor. "Today we are gathered to say how proud we are of what was accomplished and contrast it with what is being proposed," Pelosi said during the rally. "Less care for more money. Pay more, get less. Premiums and out-of-pocket costs will go up. Coverage will be reduced." It's unclear whether House Republicans will have the votes needed to pass the bill, given the expectation that all Democrats will oppose it and that conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus say it doesn't go far enough in repealing Obamacare. Democratic leaders have encouraged members to offer no amendments, since Republicans aren't likely to allow any significant changes to the bill. By not offering amendments, Democrats hope to reduce the amount of time Republicans have to convince their colleagues to support for the bill and deny them the opportunity to call the bill bipartisan if they were to adopt a non-controversial Democratic measure. The rally outside the Capitol came one day shy of seven years after Biden marked the signing of the Affordable Care Act by declaring it a "big f---ing deal" in a whispered remark to President Obama that was picked up by a hot microphone. "I want to tell Gov. Brown, 'Be careful what he whispers to me,'" Biden said of California Gov. Jerry Brown, who stood behind Biden. "Thank God my mother wasn't around when that comment was picked up years ago." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, recalling Biden's 2010 remark, said it would be a "BFD" if Democrats could beat "Trumpcare" and prevent it from passing. Given Biden's appearance, Schumer said he looked up how "Trumpcare" would impact Vice President Pence's home state of Indiana. Since passage of Obamacare, the uninsured rate in Indiana has dropped by 35% with 339,000 Hoosiers gaining coverage, he said. "What are you gonna say to them, Vice President Pence?" Schumer said. "Under Trumpcare, this progress would evaporate and devastate Hoosiers. So one has to wonder, if Vice President Pence isn't looking out for his own state, who is he looking out for? We know who. The very wealthy in America." Biden said that, to him, the Affordable Care Act was about giving people peace of mind that they wouldn't lose everything if they faced a health crisis. The administration knew that improvements would be needed, just as when Social Security first passed Congress. But the entire law doesn't need to be dismantled, he said. "The improvements are doable," he said. "They're within our wheelhouse." Highlighting the opioid epidemic, Biden said the Affordable Care Act allows 1.4 million people who are addicted to get mental health care and drug treatment they need to regain control of their lives. "Elimination of this the costs are enormous," he said. "The cost of law enforcement, the cost to the community. There are so many, so many hidden costs that will be resurrected here if this was repealed." Dickinson College officials updated community leaders on their latest campus construction and renovation plans at a community breakfast Wednesday morning. The most immediate, visible project will be a new residence hall along West High Street. Officials broke ground on the project last month, and the construction is slated to begin next month, according to Scott Nobel, director of projects. The first new dormitory to be built on campus since 1972, the building will be the first LEED Platinum building on campus. Renovations will also be made to Kisner-Woodward and McKinney halls. Both will feature changes common to renovation efforts such as replacing windows and mechanical units as well as making upgrades to bathrooms. But, Nobel said, the college tries to upgrade programming along with the infrastructure. As a result, the renovations will also include adding kitchens and student lounges to allow for more social interaction. The college will also undertake renovations to 10 houses in the 500 block of West Louther Street that house 40 students. The renovations will include roofs, siding, kitchens, bathrooms, HVAC systems and interior finishes, and are expected to be finished by next January. Off-campus student accommodations will also be under review. Bronte Burleigh-Jones, vice president for finance and administration, said the maintenance standards for college properties will be applicable to all its off-campus housing partnerships as well. If you are tied to housing at Dickinson, expectations are the same no matter where you are, she said. In light of the building and renovation efforts, Burleigh-Jones said the college expects to divest from certain leases and possibly sell some properties. That multi-year divestment strategy will be closely connected to the renovations schedule. Information Dickinson College officials plan to keep the neighboring community informed and involved throughout the renovation and construction projects. Neighbors have been part of conversations concerning parking around the college, which holds to a philosophy that parking lots should be on the periphery to promote a walkable campus, said Ken Shultes, associate vice president for sustainability and facilities planning. Dickinson is working with students, faculty and staff to encourage them to register their vehicles in light of the fact that some have chosen to park along public streets rather than register their cars to use campus parking lots. First-year students are already prohibited from bringing cars on campus, and the college is also discussing restrictions for sophomores. Neighbors were also consulted during the design process for the new residence hall. As a result of that input, the southern facade of the building was changed to offer the neighbors more privacy. Burleigh-Jones expects a similar interaction between the college and the community as plans for renovations to the Holland Union Building and Allison Hall are developed. We will be in design at least a year to 18 months, Burleigh-Jones said. Allison update Dickinson College acquired the former Allison United Methodist Church building on Mooreland Avenue in 2013 after the congregation joined with Grace United Methodist and First United Methodist churches to create Carlisle United Methodist Church. The structure opens possibilities for great new opportunities for that side of campus, Shultes said. Designs for Allison Hall will be created in unison with the designs for the HUB. We really think there is a very strong programmatic synergy between these spaces, he said. Conceptual drawings from earlier design studies, which may or may not be included in the final designs, showed the dining hall at the HUB expanded and remodeled to allow for an exterior view and natural lighting. The drawings also showed the social hall transformed into a campus living room, Shultes said. Since it was once a church, Allison Hall presents some challenges in moving through the building itself, but earlier conceptual drawings showed a cafe and a remodeled Great Hall with improved lighting, sound and new seating. We think there really is potential to turn this into a great performing atmosphere, Shultes said. The college is also working with Carlisle Borough to mitigate a chronic flooding problem at Louther and Cherry streets that can back up into the quad during heavy storms. The project, which is funded through a $143,000 grant from the Department of Environmental Protection, is currently in design and scheduled for completion in 2018. Its really a great example of how the college and the borough work together to get to a better place, Shultes said. In the United States, the ban affects planes coming from airports in Egypt, Turkey, Kuwait City, Qatar, Morocco Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The cabin baggage ban on laptops and tablets on some direct flights to both the U.S. and U.K. has been questioned over its fire safety by one airline analyst. John Strickland, an aviation expert, and director at JLS Consulting, said Thursday that there was a real danger to loading a plane's hold with lithium battery items. "If these batteries are damaged they could have this thermal runaway fire and that itself is a security challenge of a different kind that the airlines would have to wrestle with," he said. Last year the UN aviation agency blocked cargo shipments of lithium-ion batteries, used in many such electronic devices, from being carried in the cargo holds on passenger planes. Strickland added the fact that the European Union has not followed suit, raised questions over the ban's efficacy. "Why are we not getting a follow through in Europe? Because there are other itineraries that customers can follow. "And if they still wish to achieve a terrorist aim they can do it," he said. Strickland claimed some airlines are already advertising that on their flights people do not have to pack away their electronic items. He said business travelers from the Gulf to the United States will likely live with the ban, but those travelling via Asia may look for other routes and airlines will be sensitive to that. "I wouldn't overplay that right now, but it is something airlines will be watching on their bookings, minute-by-minute, and hour-by-hour." Governments need to defeat extremist group ISIS and welcome refugees fleeing war zones in order to beat terrorism, Virgin owner Richard Branson told CNBC on Thursday. The billionaire's comments come after an attack in London in which a man drove a car into people over Westminster Bridge near the Houses of Parliament before stabbing and killing a police officer with a knife. The attacker was shot dead by police. Four people, including the attacker, died as a result. London's police force said that the attack appears to be "inspired by international terrorism", but officials have not confirmed if this is linked to Islamic extremist group ISIS, which controls some territories in Iraq and Syria. Still, Branson said that defeating the group was key to ending international terrorism. "One has to be realistic and I think the important thing that we've got to do is to beat ISIS, make sure they don't control any territory in the world and I think that's the most important thing we can do," Branson told CNBC in a TV interview. "Then we've got to start winning over the minds and souls of people around the world." The entrepreneur also urged governments to be more open to accepting refugees from war-torn countries, something that has proved controversial in Europe and the U.S. "By being much more open and by treating people with decency, people from all walks of life, looking after people having to flee countries, that's the kind of example I think Britain should give and other countries should give and that I suspect is the best security weapon that we can put out," Branson said. After a high-stakes back and forth between the top Democrat and Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Sen. John McCain says partisan bickering has cost Congress its credibility to investigate alleged Russian interference in last year's election. "I have not seen anything like it," McCain said Thursday on TODAY about the infighting. "It is very disturbing." McCain, R-Ariz., said it's up to House leadership to decide whether to change how the investigation is being conducted, and on Wednesday called for a congressional select committee or independent commission to take charge. Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have so far resisted such a move. More from NBC News: Four reasons the health care bill might pass and 7 reasons it might not Republican Health Care Vote: Everything You Need to Know London Terrorist Attack: Why Most U.K. Police Don't Carry Guns "No longer does the Congress have credibility to handle this alone, and I don't say that lightly," McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told MSNBC's Greta Van Susteren on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Devin Nunes, the Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, announced that he had new evidence showing communications of President Donald Trump's transition officials may have been incidentally collected by U.S. intelligence surveillance. Trump said he felt somewhat vindicated by the news, after spending weeks on defense about his unsubstantiated claim that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped him. McCain said Nunes' revelation of new evidence hasn't changed his mind about whether the Obama administration ordered any surveillance. "I think the president can obviously express his views and emotions, but nothing has changed since the director of the FBI said there was no evidence that Trump Tower had been 'wiretapped,'" McCain told TODAY. Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday were furious after learning that Nunes, a former Trump transition official himself, briefed Trump on the matter first before them. "It's simply not possible to do a credible investigation if you take information that's pertinent to the scope of what you're investigating and bring it to the White House instead of bring it to your own committee," Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC's Chuck Todd, adding that there was "more than circumstantial" evidence of collusion between Trump associates and Russia. Surveying the entire Nunes-Schiff exchange, McCain called it "bizarre" and criticized both lawmakers. "This just shows a tremendous chasm between the two senior members of the House Intelligence Committee," the veteran senator told Van Susteren. "There is no substantiation for what Chairman Nunes said, nor is there substantiation for what Congressman Schiff said," he added. McCain said we know "for sure" that Russia interfered in the election, but also said, "They did not achieve in affecting the outcome." Asked about Trump's claim of vindication, McCain responded, "I have long ago given up on trying to interpret the remarks of the president of the United States." The outcome of a vote on U.S. health-care reform scheduled for Thursday evening is likely to be largely influenced by another vote which is more than a year-and-a-half away, Brian Klaas, a professor at the London School of Economics has told CNBC. The 2018 midterm elections will "loom large" as the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to vote on the Obamacare replacement bill, Klaas told CNBC Thursday, as undecided Republicans will have to be accountable to their constituents for where they fall on the controversial vote. "This is potentially a poisoned pill. If they don't pass it, Trump looks incompetent. If they do pass it, they're going to have to answer to their constituents in 2018," said Klaas. The American Health Care Act (AHCA), backed by President Donald Trump, seeks to reduce federal health-care spending by $337 billion within the next decade, which he claims is crucial in enabling his pro-growth reform agenda. However, it also threatens to leave 24 million people without health insurance over the same period. "The main argument for this bill seems to be if we pass it we can move onto tax reform. But that's not what health care's about: Health care is about providing health care to people," he said. "People who are getting a tax break in this bill are wealthy, and people who are losing health insurance in this bill are poor and disabled That's going to be very hard to spin in poor districts, which many Republicans represent, in the 2018 mid-terms," he added. The House of Representatives is currently divided on the vote. The Republican Party requires 215 votes for passage but NBC analysis Wednesday suggested that it could miss this by six votes. However, concessions made late Wednesday evening, which reduce the set of minimum benefits health insurers are required to provide customers, are thought to have won favor from the House's conservative Freedom Caucus, bringing the vote closer. The president reached out on Twitter early Thursday in a bid to gain additional backing for his agenda, asking supporters to call their representatives and urge them to vote in favor of the reforms. Markets have been moving cautiously Thursday after suffering their first wobble under a Trump presidency on Tuesday, evidencing concerns that he may fail to follow through with his planned reforms. watch now While a vote to repeal Obamacare would fulfill one of President Donald Trump's top campaign pledges, it could undermine another one: creating American jobs. Research from Goldman Sachs this week found that roughly 500,000 jobs have been created in the health-care sector since 2012, as more Americans signed up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The analysis suggests health-care reforms that result in lower insured rates, such as the GOP's proposed American Health Care Act is expected to do, could have wide-ranging implications for job growth in the industry. "The upshot from our analysis is that a substantial decline in health insurance coverage would likely be associated with a drag on health-care employment and health-care consumption, reversing some of the increase that occurred following the onset of [Obamacare] subsidies," Goldman economists Daan Struyven and Alec Phillips wrote in a note. Employment in the health-care and social assistance sectors accelerated more in states that saw the largest coverage expansions. Daan Struyven and Alec Phillips economists, Goldman Sachs Nationwide, health insurance coverage has increased by 5.4 percent since 2012, according to the analysis. By looking at coverage rates across states, Goldman estimated that every percentage point increase of Americans with health insurance resulted in a 0.6 percent increase in health-care employment and consumption. The research found job growth accelerated in states with the biggest increases in coverage, such as California and Nevada. "Employment in the health-care and social assistance sectors accelerated more in states that saw the largest coverage expansions," the economists said. A separate study published last week by the Oregon Health Authority and Department of Consumer and Business Services found roughly 23,000 health-care jobs have been created in Oregon since the Affordable Care Act was implemented. The report warned those jobs are at risk under the Republican repeal-and-replace proposal. "Reductions in coverage and funding of this magnitude will ripple throughout Oregon's economy, especially in rural communities where health-care accounts for a disproportionate number of well-paying jobs," the study said. 'It wasn't a job-killing act' Ani Turner is co-director of the Center for Sustainable Health Spending at the Altarum Institute, a nonprofit research firm that issues monthly reports on health-care jobs. She said more Americans are seeking health-care services as they've become insured under the Affordable Care Act, which in turn creates greater demand for jobs in the health-care sector. "I think the evidence is clear that it wasn't a job-killing act," Turner said. "We believe that it did add jobs, certainly in health care." Turner said health-care firms have added revenue as more Americans seek care, another factor leading to job growth in the industry. She pointed to an acceleration in the rate of health-care job growth starting in 2014, the year when most states started implementing expanded coverage under Obamacare. "This acceleration, the bump up in hiring, I don't know why it wouldn't dissipate if all of these folks lost insurance and the payment that goes along with it," Turner said. watch now watch now When they meet in Kuwait Sunday, a handful of OPEC and other oil producers are expected to put a happy face on their production agreement, and they should point to the potential for extending the deal in May. That should help support oil prices, after the recent 10 percent plunge since investors began to doubt the deal earlier this month. The international benchmark Brent crude temporarily fell below the psychological $50 level this week. Representatives of the five monitoring countries this weekend are expected to review where producers stand on compliance with the six-month agreement to remove 1.8 million barrels a day from the market. As president of OPEC, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih is expected to attend, along with representatives from the five members of the monitoring committee Kuwait, Algeria, Venezuela, and non-OPEC nations Russia and Oman. "Without the production cut agreement, I think you could basically target the low-to-mid $30s. I'm of the mind they extend it," said Gene McGillian, manager market research at Tradition Energy. "The Saudis need the revenues from higher oil prices. They know that prices at $30 to $35 is trouble for them." watch now The December deal between the cartel and major producers, like Russia, helped stabilize prices in the $50s for weeks. As the agreement took hold in early January, Brent traded to a high of just over $58 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate crude was at about $55 per barrel. Confidence in the agreement drove a throng of buyers into the market, resulting in a record amount of investors in U.S. crude futures betting oil prices would go higher. But by early March, U.S. producers, lured by steadier prices, continued to increase their own production, bringing it within a half million barrels a day of its previous high. That glut weighed on sentiment, and doubts about the producer agreement arose when the Saudi energy minister reiterated that the kingdom would not shoulder the brunt of the cuts if other producers did not meet their commitments. Al-Falih's remarks were made at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, and at the same meeting, Iraq's oil minister revealed that his country was moving toward 5 million barrels of production by mid-year, representing an increase. Despite the fact, Saudi Arabia, Russia and the other producers made an effort to show a unified front at the CERAWeek meeting, oil continued to weaken. "The Saudis certainly sent a very strong message that they were not going to do this alone, and they were not going to be the swing producer and make room for other exporters. It was kind of a reiteration of what has been the Saudi position. They'll play a stabilizing role but they'll not play a swing-producing role," said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of IHS Markit, sponsor of the CERAWeek conference earlier this month. Do they really want to flirt with the $30s? Is that something that's going to enhance their ability to lead in one of these petrostates? Helima Croft global head of commodity strategy, RBC As for this weekend's meeting, "I expect them to come out with a reaffirmation and point to the high degree of compliance," Yergin said. Analysts say in OPEC's favor is the fact that the compliance by OPEC members and others now appears to be much better than expected. The cartel is not exhibiting some of the blatant overproduction of the past. "In sharp contrast to previous agreements, the degree of compliance now is very high, and that may not be so well recognized in the market. It was obviously what drove up the price" earlier in the year, said Yergin. "The shift in sentiment was quite stark, and it was to do with confidence, not the agreement, and the focus on inventories. It was also due to the new bullishness in U.S. shale." Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC, agreed that compliance appears to be strong, after concerns about countries like Iraq, and even Russia not being fully engaged yet. According to Reuters, Saudi Arabia intends to keep supply in line with its quota at about 10 million barrels a day, regardless of what happens with production. "It's not like there are egregious cheaters in the first place," said Croft. "The breakdown of who is doing what is a bit fuzzy, but some are doing more. Some are doing less." She said if there was a spoiler in the group, it could end up being Iraq. "I think Iraq will be a subject of discussions, and whether there's any flexibility for Iraq. Can you really hold them to 210,000 barrels (cut)?" Croft said. But she expects at the end of the day, the compliance monitoring group will be supportive of the deal and there will be an extension at OPEC's May meeting. Kuwait has already indicated it wants an extension. "We went from having these very heated debates over whether OPEC would cheat and could they hold it together, to: 'Look what OPEC's done so far. It looks pretty good,'" she said. watch now As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares for a vote on the GOPs health care bill, two local congressmen have already voiced their votes. In a reversal from Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, said he will now support the legislation after President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan gave support to his tax credit bill addressing illegal immigrants and access to health care. Barletta had said Monday he would vote no on the bill. The president gave his full support to legislation I will introduce to deny health care tax credits to illegal immigrants, and the speaker promised to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote, Barletta said in a statement. Because my concerns were met, I will vote for the bill with the understanding that my bill will receive full consideration on the House floor next month. Barlettas bill would require applicants for health care tax credits to provide valid Social Security numbers. Barletta represents the western portion of Cumberland County, as well as a strip of counties north to his home in Hazleton. Also a Republican, U.S. Rep. Scott Perry confirmed at a town hall meeting this past Saturday that he would vote no on the health care bill. Im not happy with this bill, Perry said during the town hall, reported by the Associated Press. Ive already expressed to my leadership that Im a no on it because, in my opinion, the issue really at hand for access to care ... is the cost of health care. It is unaffordable for almost all of us and the bill that I see does not drive the cost of health care down. Perry is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, which is a group of the most conservative House Republicans, and the AP reported that several members in addition to Perry are also in opposition to the bill. A spokeswoman for the group reported on Twitter Wednesday that there are more than 25 no votes against the bill. According to the AP, several of Pennsylvanias 13 House Republicans are opposed to the bill, while some arent yet saying how they will vote Thursday. All five Democratic House members oppose it. Gov. Tom Wolf urged House representatives to defeat the bill, releasing a letter saying the bill would drive up rates for older insurance customers and shift costs to states and hospitals to treat people who cant afford insurance. Billionaire Richard Branson called for a second referendum "based on real facts" on whether the U.K. should leave the European Union (EU) on Thursday, saying the first vote was done on a "complete false premise". In an interview with CNBC, the Virgin owner said that Brexit is "one of the saddest things" to happen to Britain and to Europe. "If a hard Brexit happens it would be pretty devastating and it would be the biggest sort of shot in the foot that the British people have ever done to themselves (I) hope that sense will prevail and that when all the facts are known and are on the table, I would hope that a second referendum could take place based on real facts and not on the facts that people were given," Branson told CNBC. "I just pray and hope that when all the facts are there Then the British people can have the decision to decide because it was a complete false premise that a referendum was brought on in the first place." King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia's king, gestures as he arrives for the Saudi Arabia-Japan Business Forum for Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, March 14, 2017. Akio Kon | Bloomberg | Getty Images The New York Stock Exchange has emerged as the front-runner for the global IPO of Saudi Aramco widely predicted to be the biggest initial public offering in history. But political, regulatory and legal challenges may discourage Riyadh from pursuing a U.S. listing, despite the commercial merits. On the surface, the Trump administration appears to have reset relations with Saudi Arabia after the Kingdom announced a $200 billion investment program during deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to Washington earlier this month. Riyadh called the meeting a "historical turning point" in U.S.-Saudi relations, and while that bodes well for stronger commercial ties in general, political perceptions, stringent U.S. disclosure rules and 2016 legislation allowing 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia may stand in the way. The New York Stock Exchange declined to comment when contacted by CNBC about the planned the Saudi Aramco IPO. watch now A NYSE listing would be "too legally and politically risky," said Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar Energy and a former Shell executive, adding that the most likely outcome for a global Aramco listing would involve London, Saudi Arabia's Tadawul stock market and possibly an Asian exchange. "They (Aramco) seem to be creating a beauty parade and talking to everyone," said Fereidun Fesharaki, founder and chairman, of Facts Global Energy. "New York is absolutely out due to regulatory restrictions. It is not a maybe, it is definite." An international stock market listing means opening up its books to regulators and ultimately to greater investor scrutiny. That would be a first for any Saudi state-owned behemoth, none of which are accustomed to sharing information about financial accounts and oil reserves. Some doubt Riyadh would be prepared to meet such transparency demands, despite plans to float only 5 percent of Aramco. "The Aramco IPO is a great PR stunt," said Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington-based think tank focused on energy security. "How can one establish a valuation for a company that has thus far kept its reserve data a state secret? Tearing a 5 percent piece of the company and throwing it into the market while the other 95 percent is a black box will not fly with prudent investors." watch now Aramco has appointed international auditors to independently assess its massive oil reserves, in a process that's expected to be completed by the end of the year. The result of that audit and whether it undershoots or overshoots the official Saudi figure of over 261 billion barrels will have a direct impact on the all-important valuation and could influence the choice of where the listing takes place. Firms that list in New York are also required to go through a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission audit. On balance, a key issue for Saudi Aramco's New York considerations "is having to reconcile to its extensive reporting and disclosure requirements," said one former investment banker. Additionally, the continued political and diplomatic fallout from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks stands to complicate the picture further. Saudi Arabia has denied longstanding suspicions that elements linked to Riyadh backed the hijackers who attacked the U.S. in 2001. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. The U.S. Congress on September 28 overrode President Barack Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA, which made it possible for victims' families to sue the government of Saudi Arabia. watch now Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer will oppose Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch and lead a filibuster against President Donald Trump's pick, he announced Thursday. If Democrats push to hold up the nomination, Republicans will effectively need 60 votes to confirm the 49-year-old conservative appeals judge, who parried Democratic attacks in Senate confirmation hearings this week. The minority leader from New York contended that Trump should simply pull the nomination if Gorsuch cannot reach 60 votes, rather than change the rules. "After careful deliberation, I have concluded that I cannot support Judge Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court ... he will have to earn 60 votes for confirmation. My vote will be 'no,' and I urge my colleagues to do the same," Schumer said on the Senate floor. Republicans, who hold 52 seats in the chamber, would need eight Democrats to join them to clear a procedural hurdle and confirm Gorsuch. The threat of a filibuster sets up a possible debate over whether to take the "nuclear option," or change the rules to only require a simple majority. Schumer's opposition is hardly surprising considering the bitter partisan rhetoric surrounding the court seat, which was vacated when conservative Antonin Scalia died last year. Democrats cried foul when Republicans did not hold a hearing on Merrick Garland, a judge President Barack Obama nominated for the high court during his last year in office. Democratic Sen. Bob Casey also said Thursday he will not vote for Gorsuch. He faces re-election next year in Pennsylvania, a state Trump won last year. Schumer contended that Gorsuch did not show he could be independent from Trump, who "has shown almost no restraint from executive overreach." He made a claim that many Democrats leveled in hearings this week that Gorsuch favors "the powerful over the weak." Casey made similar charges against the appeals judge, claiming he would "further stack the deck against workers and families." It is not currently clear if Republicans will be able to reach the 60-vote threshold. Democrats Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, among others, have already said they will oppose Gorsuch, according to The Associated Press. In hearings this week, Gorsuch aimed to assuage concerns about his independence or fairness to marginalized groups. He said he "offered no promises" on how he would rule to Trump or anyone else, and argued that he has applied the law equally to all people. George Soros, billionaire and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Images When his government lost a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights last week over its detention and expulsion of two migrants from Bangladesh, Hungary's rightwing prime minister blamed the usual suspect: a billionaire in New York. "It is a collusion of human traffickers, Brussels bureaucrats and the organisations that work in Hungary financed by foreign money," Viktor Orban told public radio on Friday. "Let's call a spade a spade: George Soros finances them." Across former Communist states of east and central Europe, leaders with a hardline bent have turned their wrath in recent months against Soros, a Hungarian-American financier who funds liberal charities and non-governmental organisations worldwide through his Open Society Foundations (OSF). The campaign against Soros in countries formerly dominated by Moscow appears to follow a template set by Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose own crackdown on foreign-funded charities drove Soros's foundation out of Russia two years ago. And now, with President Donald Trump in the White House, anti-Soros campaigners in Eastern Europe say they have also drawn inspiration from the United States, particularly from rightwing U.S. media like the website Breitbart, which has long vilified Soros as a liberal hate figure. watch now Breitbart's former chairman Steve Bannon now serves as a senior White House adviser to Trump. "Our inspiration comes from the United States, from the American conservative organisations, media and congressmen with the same views, especially the new administration of President Trump," said Cvetlin Cilimanov, the editor of the main state news agency in Macedonia, who co-founded a group called Operation Stop Soros in January. "They crush you" Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic north of Greece, has been embroiled in a political crisis that began two years ago with street demonstrations and forced nationalist prime minister Nikola Gruevski to resign last year after a decade in power. Gruevski, who still controls the biggest bloc in parliament and is expected to return to power, blames Soros for his downfall. "Soros turns Macedonian NGOs into a modern army," he told local magazine Republika in January. "They crush you. They make you a criminal, a thief, traitor, idiot, a monster, whatever they want. Then you have to go to elections." "He doesn't only do that in Macedonia but in a great number of countries." In Romania, ruling Social Democrat party leader Liviu Dragnea told a TV interviewer in January that Soros and "the foundations and structures that he has funded since 1990 have financed evil in Romania". Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban Getty Images Soros has also been attacked by members of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party and politicians elsewhere in the region. His charity says it is undaunted and has no intention of quitting his native Eastern Europe. "You cannot export democracy, you can only import it and build it locally," Chris Stone, who runs Soros's charitable enterprises from New York as president of the OSF, told Reuters, explaining the need to keep a presence on the ground. "We see our work (in Eastern Europe) continuing for decades. That work will ebb and flow." The OSF said Soros was not available to comment. The man who broke the bank Soros, born in Hungary to a Jewish family that survived the Nazi occupation with fake documents, emigrated to Britain after World War Two and then to the United States. As a financier, he is best known for "breaking the Bank of England" with a huge bet against the British pound that forced London to abandon a fixed trading range with other European currencies in 1992, earning Soros more than $1 billion. The Open Society Foundations website says he has given away more than $12 billion as a philanthropist, with activities in more than 100 countries in a vast array of policy areas linked to democracy, free speech, human rights and the rule of law. The OSF mostly gives its money in the form of a large number of small grants to other charities, organisations or individuals for specific projects. watch now That means hundreds of groups worldwide have accepted its money over the years, allowing conspiracy theorists and other foes to paint Soros as the centre of a vast web. In countries like Hungary, so many human rights groups have sought OSF grants at some point that politicians can use the association with Soros to attack whole swathes of civil society. "Fake NGOs of the Soros empire are sustained to suppress national governments in favour of global capital and the world of political correctness," Szilard Nemeth, a deputy leader of Orban's ruling Fidesz party, said in January. "These organisations must be repressed by all means and I think they must be culled altogether. I think there is an international opportunity to do that now." "Pretty human rights nonsense" Veterans of the dissident movements of Eastern Europe's Communist-era, when dictatorships repressed all organisations outside state control, say the tactics are familiar. "The fact that NGOs are called the enemy of the government shows these are no longer democracies," said Maria Vasarhelyi, an opposition figure in Hungary whose father Miklos, a prominent Communist-era dissident, ran Soros's foundation in the 1990s. Bojan Maricik, head of Macedonia's Centre for European Strategies - Eurothink, a pro-EU think tank which has received Soros grants, said prosecutors, tax inspectors and police in Macedonia had launched investigations into the funding of charities since an anti-Soros speech by Gruevski in December. A "de-Sorosization purge" aims to bar civil society groups from participating in public life by delegitmising them, Maricik said. "There is no dialogue in a context where the government marks you as an enemy of the state," he said. watch now The crackdown is particularly acute in Soros's native Hungary, where Orban has consolidated his grip on the media and judiciary, and regularly accuses liberals of trying to destroy Europe by flooding the continent with migrants. A new law proposed by Orban would require groups that receive foreign funding to register, a measure that critics say is drawn straight out of the Putin playbook. Opposition to immigration has been the core of Orban's political message since 2015, when more than a million migrants and refugees entered the EU through the Balkans. Hungary was initially their main entry point into the bloc's border-free zone, although nearly all proceeded on to Germany and other countries further north. Orban built a fence to keep them out. Meanwhile, Soros prioritised support for charities that help migrants and asylum seekers. At the height of the flow in 2015, his OSF put out a statement saying: "The Hungarian crisis demonstrates the dangers radical populist regimes pose not only to the hundreds of thousands of refugees, but also to the values of Europe and to the humanity of the local populations." The Balkan immigration route has since largely been shut, following an agreement secured by the EU for Turkey to take migrants back. But Orban's message still hammers home the need to keep out migrants, and he portrays rights groups as part of a plot to abolish nation states and flood Europe with foreigners. Hungary's Helsinki Committee, a rights group founded in 1989 that has accepted Soros funding, helped defeat the government in court in Strasbourg. It argued that two Bangladeshi migrants had been unlawfully detained at a makeshift transit zone on the Hungarian-Serbian border and expelled with no regard to their future safety, in violation of their rights. Orban has proposed new rules governing asylum due to take effect in coming days that his opponents say ignore the principles of the Strasbourg ruling. watch now Chinese tech giant Tencent may have slightly missed expectations on its fourth-quarter earnings, released after market close on Wednesday, but it remains a top buy in the internet space, several analysts told CNBC. Tencent, which is known for the highly popular social messenger app WeChat, saw net profit jump 47 percent on-year to 10.53 billion yuan ($1.52 billion) in the three months to December, but fell fractionally short of a Thomson Reuters poll estimate of 11.75 billion yuan. Getty Images Jessie Guo, head of internet research at Jefferies, told CNBC that Tencent's WeChat payment offering, along with cloud services, will enjoy high levels of growth in the next 12 to 18 months, followed by the mobile gaming and digital businesses. Payments have become a key driver Tencent said it surpassed 600 million mobile payment monthly active user accounts (MAU) and average daily payment transactions in December. "I think the key highlight on the result is actually the development in the payments (business), in terms of user base transactions, frequency and the processing capacity," Alex Yao, head of internet and new media at JPMorgan, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Thursday. Yao predicted about two-thirds of mobile WeChat users make use of the payment services monthly, and he expected further room for growth due to the expanding number of people using digital and mobile payments. "We believe payment is the most important infrastructure to the broader internet finance activities," Yao said about China. "I am a long-term supporter of the company (because) internet finance will become the next big thing for the entire sector, and Tencent is well-positioned to capture the growth opportunity." He expects Tencent, and rival Alibaba , which has the massive Alipay service run by Ant Financial, to become the biggest winners in the internet finance space over the next decade. watch now Mobile gaming expected to post strong growth Tencent offers a wide range of PC-based and mobile games, which are either developed in-house or in partnership with other developers. In the December quarter, online games revenues grew by 16 percent annually to 18.47 billion yuan thanks to Tencent's player-vs-player and role-playing smartphone games, including a key title 'Honors of Kings.' The company's mobile game portfolio as of March had 110 launched titles, with several more in the pipeline, according to a recent note from Jefferies. It said in February, six Tencent-developed titles ranked among the top 10 mobile games in China, sorted by monthly active devices. John Choi, head of Hong Kong and China Internet research at Daiwa Capital Markets, told CNBC he is positive on the company's mobile gaming business because of the robust performance of the 'Honors of Kings' and a strong pipeline for 2017. In a separate note to clients, Choi said he expected Tencent's mobile game revenue to grow 42 percent annually in 2017, up from a previous estimate of 30 percent. Guo, however, told CNBC that there could be several downsides affecting Tencent's gaming business, including a quicker-than-expected slowdown in PC games, delays in new mobile game launch and regulatory policy risks such as the government putting tighter restrictions on online games played by children and teens. watch now Social media platforms still growing rapidly Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore speaking at Advertising Week Europe in London, March 23, 2017 Shutterstock | Advertising Week Europe President Donald Trump may yet decide not to pull the U.S. out of the Paris agreement, the international accord to reduce the impact of climate change, according to Al Gore, the former U.S. Vice President. "First of all, I think there is still a realistic chance that President Trump will decide not to pull the United States out of the Paris agreement. That decision has not been made," Gore said, speaking at the Advertising Week Europe conference in London on Thursday. "But there is an active debate in his inner circle. I have some visibility to that debate, I don't know what's going to happen, but I think there's still a chance that he will not pull out of the Paris agreement," he added. President Trump has previously called climate change a hoax, with Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, earlier this month telling CNBC's Squawk Box that he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming. White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney last week said the Trump administration is reducing spending on climate change because it is "a waste of your money." Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in Tacloban City in the Philippines during filming of An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power Paramount Pictures Gore today credited state initiatives for moving quickly on renewable energy. "The state of California. The state of New York. Quite a few other state governments now have the bit in their teeth and they are moving much faster than the former President Obama's Clean Power Plan would have had moved anyway. "There is a growing list of cities in the U.S. that have decided to go to 100 percent renewable energy. Another one just achieved renewable energy, two weeks ago, in Georgetown Texas, a fair sized city in Texas," he said. watch now One aspect of the practice of elder law encompasses assisting individuals with administering estates of their loved ones. Many people are unfamiliar with the probate process, the terminology and the deadlines involved in properly administering an estate. This article will provide some basic knowledge about the probate process and inheritance taxes in Pennsylvania. 1. What is a Last Will and Testament? A Last Will and Testament (a/k/a Will) is a legal document that governs how an individuals probate property is distributed when they pass away. The document usually names an individual as personal representative. Depending on your circumstances, you may also nominate a guardian for minor children or dependent persons in your Will. In order for a Will to be valid in Pennsylvania, the individual must have legal capacity to execute the document. 2. What is a decedent? A decedent is another name for an individual who has passed away. 3. What is a personal representative? A personal representative is what we commonly refer to as an executor/executrix. This individual is the person appointed to administer an estate. In cases where the decedent died without a Will, a qualified individual may be appointed personal representative. The personal representative has the legal authority to act on behalf of the estate and is responsible for managing assets, paying debts of the decedent and administrative expenses, filing applicable tax returns, and distributing assets to beneficiaries. 4. What is probate? Merriam-Webster defines the term as the judicial determination of the validity of a will. In Pennsylvania, this involves having the personal representative bring the decedents Will to the Register of Wills in the county where the decedent lived. The Register of Wills then authenticates the document and files it on record. If the decedent died without a Will, probate is the process of having a qualified individual appointed as personal representative of the decedents estate. This usually involves providing a death certificate and proving your relationship with the decedent. The Register of Wills also administers an oath to the individual seeking appointment as personal representative and officially appoints such individual. The Register of Wills then issues a Short Certificate to the personal representative. A Short Certificate is a document that the individual may use to prove their appointment, and allows communication with organizations where the decedent held assets. The personal representative must also pay any applicable probate fees. Probate fees depend upon the size of the estate. 5. What is probate property? Probate property is any property that is in the decedents name alone that does not contain a beneficiary designation or have a living beneficiary. One of the purposes of a Will is to identify the individuals who should receive a particular asset of the decedent. If the asset names a valid beneficiary, there would be no need to refer to the decedents Will. Married couples often have assets titled jointly between them. If all assets are titled jointly with a spouse, an individual may not possess any probate property and probate of a Will may be unnecessary. Single individuals may also avoid probate by arranging ownership of their assets so that all assets are either jointly owned with another individual or contain a valid beneficiary designation. 6. What property is subject to Pennsylvania inheritance tax? All real property and all tangible personal property of a Pennsylvania decedent that is located within the Commonwealth at the time of death is subject to Pennsylvania inheritance tax. Tangible personal property includes, but is not limited to, cash, automobiles, furniture, antiques and jewelry. All intangible personal property of a decedent, such as stocks, bonds, bank accounts and closely held business interests, is taxable regardless of where it is located at the time of the decedents death. Property subject to state inheritance tax is not limited to probate property. Inheritance tax is also imposed on a variety of non-probate assets, such as assets jointly owned with another individual who is someone other than a surviving spouse, held in trust or those payable to a named beneficiary (e.g., IRA). In the case of a nonresident, all real property and tangible personal property located in the Commonwealth at the time of the decedents death is subject to inheritance tax. Intangible personal property of the nonresident is not taxable. The state does not assess inheritance tax on property owned jointly between husband and wife, so this property is not required to be reported on a state inheritance tax return. 7. When is the deadline for filing a Pennsylvania inheritance tax return? The deadline for filing an inheritance tax return in Pennsylvania is nine months from the date of the decedents death. An extension of time to file the return can be granted if it is requested before the nine month period expires. However, interest will accrue on any unpaid tax after the nine month period elapses. Failure to file an inheritance tax return within the nine month period without requesting an extension may also subject the inheritance tax return to penalties in addition to the interest. The state Department of Revenue does offer a discount of 5 percent of the tax due when the payment is made within three months of the date of death. 8. Who is responsible to pay inheritance tax? When a decedent dies with a Will, the terms of the Will govern who pays any applicable inheritance tax. A Will often contains a tax clause stating that all taxes are to be paid by the estate, regardless of whether the property is probate property or non-probate property. If there are sufficient assets to pay inheritance taxes, they will be paid from the estate assets. However, if the Will is silent on the issue or a decedent dies without a Will, the recipient of the non-probate asset may be responsible for paying inheritance tax. 9. How long does the probate process take? While each estate is different, the typical probate process takes anywhere from 12 to 18 months to complete. The reason for the length of time is the filing deadline, and creditors may make a claim against the decedents estate for up to one year following the decedents death. The personal representative cannot wind up the estate and make distributions to beneficiaries until the inheritance tax return has been approved and all creditor issues have been resolved. Incorrectly distributing assets before either of these events may subject the personal representative to personal liability for any outstanding inheritance taxes or creditor judgments. As you can see, the probate process and payment of inheritance taxes can be very intricate. For more in depth explanation and the opportunity to speak with an experienced elder law attorney, please join Keystone Elder Law at our free seminar titled, Be Wise About Probate & Inheritances Taxes scheduled for March 28 at 7 p.m. in Mechanicsburg. For more details and to reserve your place, please call 717-697-3223. Learn more about the articles author, and other community education opportunities, at www.keystoneelderlaw.com. Check out the book, Long Term Care Guide: Essential Tools for Solving the Elder Care Puzzle, at the Whistlestop Bookshop or Amazon, and see Keystones free directory of services for older adults at www.mypeaceguide.com. Keystone Elder Law has offices in Mechanicsburg and Carlisle. Call 717-697-3223 for a free telephone consultation. President Donald Trump "would not accept the premise" that his unsubstantiated or misleading claims could risk hurting his credibility, according to a Time Interview published Thursday. "Hey, look. I can't be doing so badly, because I'm president and you're not," he told the magazine in an article titled, "Can President Trump Handle the Truth?" The president spoke to Time in a 20-minute interview about the many explosive statements he has made without evidence. Trump appeared to believe he has been vindicated on many accounts, even if evidence to back his assertions has never really surfaced. He called himself an "instinctual person." Here are some of Trump's other assertions from the interview: Trump stuck by his unsubstantiated accusation that the Obama administration wiretapped him ahead of the 2016 election, even after FBI Director James Comey said he and the Department of Justice had "no information" to support it. He cited House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes' unusual Wednesday announcement that U.S. intelligence officials "incidentally collected" information about Trump transition team members during "normal" surveillance of foreign targets. Even though Nunes went out of his way to say Trump Tower was never wiretapped, as the president alleged, Trump said the congressman's statement "means I'm right." Trump alleged on Twitter in November that "millions of people voted illegally," but no evidence has yet surfaced to back that claim. He told Time he meant that people "mostly register wrong." The White House has pointed to outdated voter rolls in which people are registered in more than one state, but that is not illegal unless those voters actually cast more than one ballot. Read the full Time interview here. President Donald Trump's choice to become U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary was pressed Thursday at his Senate confirmation hearing about his support of the administration's planned 21 percent cut to the agency's fiscal 2018 discretionary spending. "As a member of the administration, I view this budget similar to what as governor [I experienced with cuts]," former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue told the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. "I didn't like it but we managed to it." Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., the committee's ranking member, told Perdue she was "deeply concerned about the budget put forward by the administration and signals in terms of lack of understanding about agriculture." Perdue said he had "no input" in the White House's 2018 budget blueprint as it relates to agriculture but expressed support for some programs targeted with cuts without getting into too many specifics. The former governor's testimony was briefly interrupted by someone screaming. A spokesperson for the committee said this individual left voluntarily after the outburst. No other details were available. Stabenow went through a series of USDA programs targeted for cuts to gauge Perdue's views, ranging from agriculture and research functions of the agency to support of organic farming and rural programs. "If I'm confirmed, I am going to work for agriculture producers and consumers to let this administration and any of the people that are making those decisions in that budget area know what is important to America," he said. "I hope in the context of a balanced or a budget that meets the objectives that we can get agricultural share there. These are important programs; I recognize that." Perdue said he faced a declining state budget from 2003 to 2011 when he was governor so he was used to doing "more with less" and indicated part of the strategy involves doing things "with efficiency and effectiveness." He added, "I look forward to engaging this USDA federal workforce in and inspiring them that we can do more. Obviously it takes some money in many of these areas, and I promise you I will be a strong and tenacious advocate for that." Elsewhere, Perdue was asked if he would provide more support for struggling dairy farmers in the 2018 farm bill, which is under discussion by both houses. Some Senate committee members suggested that the dairy industry was overlooked for assistance in the previous farm bill. "I am absolutely committed to look for a way that can give immediate and temporary relief even prior to the '18 farm bill," said Perdue, who was raised on a dairy farm. "We've also got to be mindful obviously of budget periods as well. So it has to be within the parameters to meet the budget as well." Perdue indicated he also would consider short- and long-term support perhaps for the cotton program. Some have criticized the last farm bill for having inadequate agriculture risk protection for cotton farmers. USDA has been running with an acting deputy secretary in charge. The department is made up of nearly 30 agencies and offices and has about 100,000 employees at more than 4,500 locations across the country and overseas. U.S. prosecutors are building potential cases that would accuse North Korea of directing the theft of $81 million from Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last year, and that would charge alleged Chinese middlemen, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation believes that North Korea is responsible for the heist, an official briefed on the probe told Reuters. Richard Ledgett, deputy director of the U.S. National Security Agency, publicly suggested on Tuesday that North Korea may be linked to the incident, while private firms have long pointed the finger at the reclusive state. The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that prosecutors believe Chinese middlemen helped North Korea orchestrate the theft from Bangladesh's central bank, which was among the biggest bank robberies in modern times. The current cases being pursued may not include charges against North Korean officials, but would likely implicate the country, the newspaper reported, with the United States accusing a foreign government of orchestrating the heist. A U.S. Department of Justice spokesman declined to comment. FBI offices in Los Angeles and New York have been leading an international investigation into the February 2016 incident, in which hackers breached Bangladesh Bank's systems and used the SWIFT messaging network to request nearly $1 billion from its account at the New York Fed. The branch of the U.S. central bank rejected most of the requests but filled some of them, resulting in $81 million disappearing into casinos and other entities in the Philippines. A top police investigator in Dhaka told Reuters in December that some Bangladesh Bank officials deliberately exposed its computer systems, enabling the hackers to get in. The incident exposed bungling and miscommunication between central banks, and left the Fed, Bangladesh, SWIFT, and the Philippine lender that initially received the funds trading blame for months. SWIFT or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication that serves as the backbone of global finance has since revealed that its messaging system has been targeted in a "meaningful" number of other attacks last year using a similar approach as in the Bangladesh incident. Last week, SWIFT said it planned to cut off the remaining North Korean banks still connected to its system as concerns about the country's nuclear program and missile tests grow. The Journal reported that federal investigators are focusing on Chinese individuals or businesses who allegedly helped North Korea orchestrate the heist, and that the U.S. Treasury is considering sanctions against these alleged middlemen. The New York Fed and SWIFT declined to comment. A woman wears Snapchat's Spectacles on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during the company's initial public offering in New York, March 2, 2017. Snap is more like Twitter than Facebook , according to exclusive analysis of credit scores from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Just ahead of its high-profile initial public offering a few weeks ago, the Snapchat parent has an implied credit score of b, the same as Twitter had ahead of its IPO, the S&P analysis showed. In contrast, Facebook had a credit score of bbb+ ahead of its IPO. Compared with Facebook, "Snap is much earlier in their growth cycle and profitability, and that's very much impacting the credit model on the firm," Jim Elder, director in the risk services business at S&P Global Market Intelligence, told CNBC. Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence CreditModel, March 2017. S&P generates the credit scores using its CreditModel tool, which simulates the credit ratings that S&P Global Ratings uses to determine how likely a company can default on its debt. For Snap, S&P calculated the company has a nearly 1 in 20 chance of default, hence the b score. A major reason for the low score is Snap's negative 45.02 percent return on capital, S&P said. That contrasts with Facebook's pre-IPO return on capital of positive 27.7 percent. Twitter went from a return on capital of negative 15 percent ahead of its IPO to negative 4 percent most recently. Its credit score is bb-. The model doesn't factor changes in stock prices. So the fact Snap shares are down 25 percent from their recent peak or up nearly 12 percent this week doesn't affect S&P's model. The key for Snap to improve its credit score, then, is improving a key element that shareholders are looking for profitability. Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Snap. SYRACUSE, N.Y. Syracuse University has named Vernon Jordan, Jr. as its graduation speaker for the ceremony on May 14 in the Carrier Dome. The university will also award Jordan a civil-rights activist, business executive, and attorney an honorary degree during its 163rd commencement exercises. Jordan in 1992 served as chairman of the presidential transition team for William Jefferson Clinton. He has also held several presidential appointments, including the presidents advisory committee for the Points of Light Initiative Foundation and the advisory council on Social Security. Vernon Jordan has been a leading American civil rights leader and public policy advisor for more than 50 years, Syracuse Chancellor Kent Syverud said in a university news release. Our graduates will benefit from hearing Mr. Jordans insights and perspective on the global society they are about to enter. His vast experience and success in government and business, combined with his commitment to a civil and just society, will inspire our students as they set off to chart their own course in the world. Jordan is a senior managing director of Lazard Freres & Co. LLC (NYSE: LAZ), a Hamilton, Bermudabased financial advisory and asset-management firm. Jordan works in the companys New York City office. Prior to joining Lazard, Jordan was senior executive partner with the Washington, D.C. based law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where he remains senior counsel. Jordan practiced general, corporate, legislative and international law during his time with the firm. Im grateful to Syracuse University for this honor. It has been 60 years since I graduated from college, and Im eager to share with the Class of 2017 and the Syracuse community my thoughts on, and the need for, our shared fight for justice, Jordan said in the schools news release. As a young attorney practicing in Arkansas and Georgia, Jordan was at the forefront of the civil-rights movement in the 1960s, Syracuse University said. He served as Georgia field director for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and director of the Voter Education Project of the Southern Regional Council. He later was president and CEO of the National Urban League and executive director of the United Negro College Fund. Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com Photo credit: Syracuse University website YORK A former Pennsylvania man accused of planning to "go to war" with state troopers has been found guilty on all charges. Jurors on Thursday found 57-year-old Howard "Tim" Cofflin Jr., of Dundalk, Maryland, guilty of attempted murder, terrorism and other charges. Prosecutors say Cofflin was upset by a protective order and threatened to cut off his ex-girlfriend's head with an ax, then kill state troopers in York County and county judges. Cofflin's defense attorney in the case contacted police to warn them Cofflin had body armor and was building a rifle. Troopers say he built bombs from propane tanks, searched "how to kill a state trooper" on his phone, and studied the habits of troopers stationed near his former home in Loganville. His lawyer argued Cofflin's actions were a cry for help. Sentencing is set for April 26. It has been a long busy week at the Capitol with session lasting late into the night. We have passed a lot of legislation. Some great legislation and others that I am not in agreement with. My bill, HB87 passed out of the House on Tuesday. HB87 Revises the definition of counties exempt from certain requirements of the county special road and bridge tax. This bill is specific to St. Francois County and will help the county be able to spend their special bridge tax money more efficiently. Thus, this bill will save the county up to $400 thousand a year. Currently, HB87 is headed to the Senate. It is my hope that my bill will make its way out of the Senate and onto the governors desk. Four bills caught my attention this week. HCB3 eliminates the circuit breaker tax credit for renters and transfers the savings into the Missouri Senior Services Protection Fund. HCB 3 provides the state with $55 million for healthcare. This fund will be used to pay for senior services such as in home health and nursing home care. The focus will be on our most vulnerable citizens in the state and is merely a transfer of funds to continue defending those in need. HB270 also caught my attention this week. HB270 raises the marriage age in Missouri from 15 to 17. We hope that this bill will reduce human trafficking. Currently, Missouris low marriage age allows human traffickers to bring people to the state for marriage. HB270 would fix this problem and send message that Missouri is addressing the issue of human trafficking. HB634 has been a hot topic bill this week. HB634 will allow Charter Schools to open in any district that has one building underperform on its annual performance report for any two out of three year period. The Charter Schools have no accountability standard for student performance but we were able to get some accountability added. In this bill they are given five years. After that if they underperform for any two out of three year period they lose their charter and are shut down. Those provisions make the bill better than it was going to be but I am not convinced it is suitable for kids in areas where schools are already successful. However, In St. Louis and Kansas City where entire school districts are failing kids I support the formation of charter schools. Those kids need another choice. The problem we have is many of the charter schools are in those areas were also an abject failure. House members showed their support for the thousands of Missourians with developmental disabilities who develop professional skills in the states sheltered workshops through HCR 28. Sheltered Workshops provide a controlled work environment and a program designed toward enabling individuals with disabilities to progress toward normal living. Currently, more than 6,300 Missourians with developmental disabilities are employed by Missouris 92 sheltered workshops, with another 1,100 waiting to work. Unlike many states, Missouri does not use federal dollars to fund the workshops. Instead, the workshops generate as much as 70 to 80 percent of their funding from contract services, and then receive additional funds from their county and the state. Despite this, the federal government has impacted the way workshops operate in Missouri. Supporters of workshops say the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which went into effect in 2016, is adding bureaucratic layering that slows the process of finding work for those who have disabilities. They refer to it as an unfunded mandate that is placing an undue burden on the workshops. The House approved a resolution to reaffirm Missouris support of the sheltered workshops in the state. The sponsor hopes it will help send a message to federal legislators that will cause them to take a second look at the unintended consequences of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. This week I met with many people from my district. Wednesday was Disability Advocacy Day and I was able to meet with Roger and Bill representing the LIFE Center in Farmington. Visited also with Liz Galt from Farmington also a champion for Disability Groups. As shown below, I met with Jamie Lipe, Dan Combs, and Don Thompson of the Missouri Bankers Association. As always, thank you for visiting and sharing your questions, comments, and concerns with me. Please contact me at: 201 West Capitol Avenue, Room 115-H, Jefferson City, MO 65101 or by email: mike.henderson@house.mo.gov. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. U.S.-England among World Cup matches to screen at The Blue Note Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, The Blue Note will be an oversize sports bar. Common Cause and the Georgia NAACP filed notice of appeal today with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in response to a lower court dismissal of their complaint against Georgia Secretary of State Kemp for violating section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) regarding how voters are purged from the registration rolls. The law regarding voter registration is very clear, and no one not even Secretary Kemp is above it, said Sara Henderson for Common Cause Georgia. We must do everything we can to ensure eligible voters are properly registered to vote, and that those registrations are maintained according to the law. No one deserves to show up on election day only to learn that he or she has been unfairly and illegally removed from the process. Our system of governance requires that all eligible voters have their voices heard, and accounted for. The state of Georgias law allows the purging of eligible voters for not voting a direct violation of the NVRA and the fifty-year-old Voting Rights Act. Common Cause Georgia and the Georgia NAACP, through the law firm of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, first notified the Georgia Secretary of States office, on November 12, 2015, of their intention to file a lawsuit unless the state began complying with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) regarding how it maintains its voter registration lists. The NVRA requires individuals to notify a states chief elections official before filing suit. When Kemp failed to fix the problem, the groups sued. This past Friday, March 17, 2017, Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr., of the Northern District of Georgia, granted defendant Kemps motion to dismiss the complaint. The judge acknowledged in his ruling that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals last year found that defendant Ohio Secretary of State Husteds practices, in a comparable case, violated the NVRA. Secretary Kemp has and continues to violate federal law regarding Georgians voter registration rights, said Allegra Chapman, Common Cause Director of Voting and Elections. We gave him an opportunity to fix it first. He failed to take that step. Were disappointed that the lower court didnt recognize the states practices for what they were violations of the law but we wont rest until the rights of all Georgians to be registered and freely cast their ballots are vindicated in court. Georgia state law is at odds with the federal laws requirements regarding how and when to purge individuals names from voter registration lists. The NVRA specifically prohibits states from initiating voter registration purges against individuals for having failed to vote; however, Georgias law initiates such purging programs precisely after identifying individuals who have failed to vote for the previous three years. Such targeting is prohibited. Due to the states practice, as of June 2015, over hundreds of thousands of Georgians have been placed on an inactive list due to voting inactivity and await being removed permanently unless they either respond to a notice or appear to vote within the following two election cycles. Instead of limiting our democracy, our elections officials should be looking for ways to ensure the voter registration process and the act of voting is free, fair, and accessible to all citizens, said Georgia NAACP President Francys Johnson. Secretary of State Kemp is limiting the rights of Georgians, but we believe the appellate court will uphold the rule of law. Democracy is on the line here, and we have every intention of protecting it. To read the notice of appeal, click here. Fire is a mesmerizing thing. It dances and crackles and warms, but it can also be unbelievably frightening. Imagine a wild, out-of-control blaze coming at you, your home and your family and being helpless to stop it. Heartbreaking stories are coming from our neighbors to the west. Farmers and ranchers in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado have been devastated by early March wildfires that swept through their farms. The land will come back; grass is already peeking through the ashes. But, some lost their homes, livestock, livelihood and loved ones. The media was filled with stories of loss and courage, but the images it showed didnt scratch the surface of the physical and emotional reality these people are facing. There is, however, also hope. Across Missouri and the Midwest, farmers and ranchers came together quickly. Within a couple of days, convoys had been organized to bring relief to those who had lost everything to the wildfires, to help feed the livestock they have left and to bring hope that they will come through these devastating blazes. As an example, a group of Missouri Farm Bureau young farmers and ranchers (YF&R) worked together to bring 14 loads of hay to Knowles, Okla. They turned around a couple of days later to deliver five loads to Kansas. Farmers and ranchers have a sense of how quickly things can change, and they know it could be them just as easily at Mother Natures whim. For some of the young farmers from Cedar County who made the trip to Oklahoma, it was a tornadic experience they remember and the clean up afterward that took months. As a result, they decided to help directly and immediately. No middlemen. No red tape. After a phone call to the Beaver County, Okla., YF&R committee chair, plans were set in motion. Today, I had wanted to write about National Ag Day, which takes place March 21, 2017. The event is 44 years old. Organized by the Agriculture Council of America, composed of leaders in the agriculture, food and fiber communities, National Ag Day celebrates agriculture's role in modern society and the farmers and ranchers who bring us the food, fiber and fuel we use to live our lives. I was going to write about their many accomplishments, their carbon footprint reduction, the use of cutting-edge technology, less land, less water, better yields. I would have included numbers like the $88.4 billion economic impact Missouri agriculture has on our economy, or the 378,232 people who owe their jobs to agriculture. But at the end of the day, the accomplishments and the economic contributions are eclipsed by the integrity, character and heart inside the farmers I am honored to know. They are amazing people who choose to love the land and their neighbors. They are the epitome of paying it forward. Reuters Images Copyright This site includes material whose copyright is held by Reuters. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters logo are registered trademarks, and trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies. For additional information on Reuters photographic services, please visit the website at http://pictures.reuters.com. Error 500 Oopsour servers taking a break while we frantically figure out what went wrong. We apologize for ruining your day. If you keep running into this error, please let us know. The North County Missouri National Education Association (MNEA) will be hosting their annual trivia night on Saturday at the North County High School Commons. North County MNEA Chapter President Jeff Grapperhaus said they are hosting the trivia night to raise funds for scholarships for graduating seniors and it will also benefit the districts Backpack Program. Last year, through this trivia night, we were able to award $1,000 in scholarships and make a donation to the districts backpack program, said Grapperhaus. The Backpack Program provides food for students so they have meals on the weekends. He added the students may not be getting meals otherwise. Pre-registration is not required, but anyone can email Grapperhaus and he will have their name written down. If they dont want to pre-register, they can just show up at the door the night of the event. The doors open at 6 p.m. and trivia starts at 7 p.m. The cost is $10 per person and teams can have eight to 10 players. Grapperhaus said if someone walks in and would like to play, they will find a team to put them on. We will have mulligans and you can buy five of them per team at a $1 a piece, said Grapperhaus. We will also have auction and raffle items available for purchase. In addition to donations made by our members. We have received many donations from local businesses such as gift cards and free services. If anyone has any questions they can contact Jeff Grapperhaus at jgrapperhaus@ncsd.k12.mo.us or they can call the high school at 573-431-3300 ext. 5 and leave a message and he will call back. I have written previously about the gap between Labours rhetoric and the delivery of Labour councils when it comes to Syrian refugees. David Cameron announced, in September 2015, the Syrian Vulnerable Peoples Resettlement Scheme. The target was to provide sanctuary for 20,000 over the course of this Parliament. The places would be provided by local government with funding from central government. Labour MPs then queued up in Parliament and the media to denounce the scheme for not going far enough. The figure of 20,000 was said to be far too low. However, last year I noted that many Labour councils had yet to take a single person under this scheme. The latest figures show this is still the case. Haringey Council is still on nil. Has the local Labour MP David Lammy uttered a word of criticism? In Parliament he complained to Cameron that the scheme limited his help for Syrians to 4,000 a year. Haringey Councils limit is nil a year. Harriet Harman spoke about how keen local authorities were to help. Not her Labour-run local authority of Southwark: which is still on nil. Tom Watson, the Labour Deputy Leader, will support online petitions calling on us to take more refugees. When will he speak out against the failure of Sandwell, his local Labour council to do so? What about Kate Osamor, the Shadow International Development Secretary? She is very willing to call on the Government to do more. Yet when it comes to criticising her local council of Enfield she is silent. Thus far Enfield has not welcomed a single person under the Syrian Vulnerable Peoples Resettlement Scheme. Other Labour councils in London yet to take anyone under this scheme include the follow ones in London Barking and Dagenham, Brent, Croydon, Ealing, Greenwich, Harrow, Hounslow, Merton and Tower Hamlets. Others have taken a derisory number for instance my one of Hammersmith and Fulham has only taken three, despite constant virtue signalling on the subject. In fairness, others have done better Islington is on 25, Camden on 71. Among Conservative councils we have Barnet on 37 and Richmond upon Thames on 12. Perhaps even worse given his extravagant moralising is the hypocrisy of the Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron. His local Lib Dem Council of South Lakeland is on nil. Sutton is another Lib Dem Council with the same score the area includes the constituency of Tom Brake, the Lib Dems foreign affairs spokesman. Yet around the country there are other councils that are rising to the challenge. The total admitted to the UK by December was 5,454. That covers a year and a quarter so it is broadly on target for the 20,000 figure. But if Labour and Lib Dems MPs would like us to do more (as I would) then the answer is for local authorities to agree to take more. Has a single Labour MP yet faced up to this inconvenient truth? Garvan Walshe is a former National and International Security Policy Adviser to the Conservative Party. He now runs Brexit Analytics. The death earlier this week of Martin McGuinness, IRA terrorist turned deputy First Minister of Her Majestys devolved administration at Stormont, closed the cycle opened in 1886 when Joseph Chamberlain took the Liberal Unionists out Gladstones party, furious at the concessions it made to Irish nationalism in political form. McGuinness died unpunished, and without expressing remorse for the killings, maimings and the disappearances the IRA carried out. If we remember that his organisation never stooped to suicide bombing, we forget that it would kidnap mens families, and force the men to drive trucks full of explosives into an army base. At least Al Qaeda had the decency to recruit volunteers for its martyrdom operations. McGuinness turned political defeat into personal victory, presiding, however improbably, with Ian Paisley over a power-sharing administration in Northern Ireland that froze out the moderate Ulster Unionists and SDLP. That this might have been necessary to bring peace to the province doesnt prevent us from observing that he got away with it. As I write, other terrorists have attacked the same Parliament in which Sinn Fein refused to take their seats, and in which the INLA murdered the MP Airey Neave in 1979. We dont know who they are. The speculation, inevitably, is that they are, in some loose or less loose way, affiliated to ISIL. The police responded efficiently and and bravely. At least one officer lost his life so that the the politicians who compose our representative institution and the thousands of staff who support their work can serve the public. In the days to come we will naturally turn to examine the terrorists motivations and ideology; their psychological profiles and history of radicalisation. This is to be understood and indeed welcomed. Terrorism has a long history, and if we think terrorists come out of nowhere thats only because we havent been looking in the right places. That terrorists fuse the criminals self-justification and the radicals romantic call to action is hardly psychologically exceptional. But every terrorist lone individuals like Thomas Mair as much as self-styled military commanders like Martin McGuinness enters a plea of diminished responsibility. They pretend to be driven to commit their murders by the action of others. If their victims are, by normal standards, deemed to be noncombatants: civilian police officers, children unfortunate enough to be near a bomb as it explodes, a Member of Parliament in her constituency; the terrorist first shifts the blame. I, they assert, am just the instrument. Whereas you, the state, are at fault for creating an injustice so serious that only by killing the innocent can I bring it to your attention. You, the terrorist insists, are the only one with agency; I, the terrorist, have none. The terrorists find enthusiastic support from the Blowbackists, who insist an attack is never the responsibility of the attacker, but blowback from the system that created the conditions that caused (note the passive voice) the terrorist to act. Adherents of this idea are like expert witnesses giving evidence in support of the terrorists diminished responsibility. Often because they have some sympathy for the terrorists aims, they deliberately conflate, or at least are negligent in confusing, the terrorists own self-exculpation with the truth. Blowbackism appeared even in the week after 9/11, and will in due course find its voice in response to yesterdays assault. McGuinnesss own life shows the power that plea of diminished responsibility can wield. Of course, the authorities against which terrorists fight are in a position to create conditions propitious for the growth of terrorism; to the extent that those conditions are wrong, they deserve the blame for them. What they dont deserve is to be held responsible for the atrocities that men and women possessed of free will decide to commit against ordinary members of the public. McGuinness died escaping his share of responsibility for the IRAs campaign of murder. If indeed he was as important in persuading the Provisionals to abandon violence as Tony Blair says, that effective political leadership stands to his credit. But it never came with an acknowledgement of the crimes that put him in that position. McGuinness may have been a criminal who sent straight, but he never served his time. The gravitational pull that Westminster has on London mirrors that which the capital itself has on the rest of the country. Britains political and media elites are concentrated there. So if a man runs amok with a car and a knife, some of them will see it happen and, security at Parliament being as it must be, many of them will be affected. This sites own Andrew Gimson was one witness, preparing a report for this site from Prime Ministers Questions as the incident happened. It will be reported as an assault on the heart of our liberal democracy. So it undoubtedly was, and it is right to mourn the loss of Constable Keith Palmer, praise the courage of Tobias Ellwood and honour those killed yesterday on Westminster Bridge. But it is necessary to add that the incident will win more coverage and commentary than it would have done had the same number of people been killed and injured in a similar attack in another city or in provincial Britain. The main reason for this is not metropolitan bias mostly, anyway. It is that the cameras and tweeters would not have been present in such numbers elsewhere. It would almost certainly have taken the police longer to get to the scene: yesterday, they were not only on the scene but, in a sense, were the scene apparently, a special target for murder. The impact of the incident will therefore be less in much of the rest of the country than it will be in the capital. Most people will be horrified by what happened, grasp the killers intention, and stand in solidarity with the parliamentary government that he presumably hated. But to love our symbols is not necessarily the same thing as to love our system, and it is necessary to add that a minority will be indifferent to yesterdays horror, and that a smaller one still will mutter, Ellwoods heroics notwithstanding, that our politicians had it coming to them. And just as it is easy to project the natural agitation of MPs, Parliamentary staff and lobby journalists yesterday, or the twitchiness of some London commuters this morning, onto people in other cities or places who are unlikely to feel it, so it is possible to be panicked into thinking that everyone, everywhere is at risk. This simply isnt true. The identity and motivation of the murderer have yet to be confirmed, but the way in which he acted, using first a car and a knife as a weapon, bear all the hallmarks of Islamist terror. There are echoes of last Decembers lorry-driven assault on a Berlin Christmas market. The security services and others vigorously debate whether such attacks are more likely to come from lone wolves, urged to strike by groups such as ISIS, or whether the animals in question will be part of a wider pack. It looks as though it will not take long to find out in this case. Certainly, there is a real risk of a mass attack, especially in London, by terrorists with bombs and guns. One could happen while this article is being written or at any time. Our intelligence agencies and the police have done brilliantly over the past ten years or so, succeeding in preventing a big-scale incident where others abroad have failed. Sooner or later, other terrorists are likely to get through. But it is worth remembering that yesterdays incident was the first successful one on a public target in Britain since the Glasgow Airport assault ten years ago, and the first to take civilian lives since 7/7 in 2005. And, mercifully, the killer does not seem to have had a gun with him, or to have been primed with a device. Paris and Brussels have seen co-ordinated attacks by gangs of gun and bomb-wielding terrorists. To date, London and the rest of Britain have been spared that. On occasions like yesterdays, it is in the nature of TV, with its live pictures and shaken bystanders, to project a sense of panic. Twitter may instead be largely made of words, but has the same smack about it. Todays newspaper front pages, by contrast, are rather more sober. They clear space for accounts of what happened, as indeed they should, but that, in these circumstances, is precisely the point: they stick, by and large, to reporting the news, rather than demanding new security measures or emergency legislation. This is evidence that we have learned a lot since 7/7 about Islamist extremism including the indispensable lesson that it is driven not by whatever foreign policy we may have at the time, but because its proponents hate our way of life, Muslims who disagree with them, and indeed everything outside their fanatical zealotry. In the wake of yesterdays killing, Ministers must take another good long hard look at our anti-terror laws and practices. But they should do so regularly in any event as a matter of course continuing to reject, as they sensibly do, Blair-era type attempts to catch headlines and propose policies with which they can be, as he once put it, personally associated, such as locking suspects up for 90 days without charge. And MPs should not and cannot be hidden away from the people they represent. They stand for election knowing the risks to them and their families, or should do. Some are attacked and survive, like Stephen Timms. One has been assaulted and murdered Jo Cox. It is tough on their parliamentary staff and others who work on the Westminster estate or elsewhere, but thats in the nature of public service. Big Ben cannot be cocooned behind barbed wire. There was comfort as well as horror present yesterday: the schoolchildren from Somerset who sang songs to lift spirits, David Lidingtons dignified statement, the staff who carried on quietly working away and, above all, Ellwoods attempt to save the dying Palmers life. Is it out of place to note that the Foreign Office Minister is now unsackable, or to suggest a promotion when the next reshuffle comes? Perhaps. But we do so none the less. It would be cheering were the death of Palmer, and the other policemen who died yesterday, plus the heroics of Ellwood, to spark a public reappraisal of our politicians and police. However, it wont happen for good reasons and bad. Most people will not be swayed from their usual course. Come to think of it, maybe thats for the best. Yes, we should mourn and learn. But we must also keep calm, carry on and not lose our sense of proportion. The latest instalment of the annual Open Compute Project (OCP) Summit, which was held March 8-9 in Silicon Valley, brought new open source designs for next-generation data centres. It is six years since Facebook launched OCP and it has grown into quite an institution. Membership in the group has doubled over the past year to 195 companies and it is clear that OCP is having an impact in adjacent sectors such as enterprise storage and telecom infrastructure gear. The OCP was never intended to be a traditional standards organisation, serving more as a public forum in which Facebook, Microsoft and potentially other big buyers of data centre equipment can share their engineering designs with the industry. The hyper-scale cloud market, which also includes Amazon Web Services, Google, Alibaba and potentially others such as IBM and Tencent, are where the growth is at. IDC, in its Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker, estimates total spending on IT infrastructure products (server, enterprise storage and Ethernet switches) for deployment in cloud environments will increase by 18% in 2017 to reach $44.2 billion. Of this, IDC estimates that 61% of spending will be by public cloud data centres, while off-premises private cloud environments constitute 15% of spending. It is clear from previous disclosures that all Facebook data centres have adopted the OCP architecture, including its primary facilities in Prineville (Oregon), Forest City (North Carolina), Altoona (Iowa) and Lulea (Sweden). Meanwhile, the newest Facebook data centres, under construction in Fort Worth (Texas) and Clonee, Ireland are pushing OCP boundaries even further in terms of energy efficiency. Facebook's ambitions famously extend to connecting all people on the planet and it has already passed the billion monthly user milestone for both its mobile and web platforms. The latest metrics indicate that Facebook is delivering 100 million hours of video content every day to its users; 95+ million photos and videos are shared on Instagram on a daily basis; and 400 million people now use Messenger for voice and video chat on a routine basis. At this year's OCP Summit, Facebook is rolling out refreshed designs for all of its 'vanity-free' servers, each optimised for a particular workload type, and Facebook engineers can choose to run their applications on any of the supported server types. Highlights of the new designs include: Bryce Canyon, a very high-density storage server for photos and videos that features a 20% higher hard disk drive density and a 4x increase in compute capability over its predecessor, Honey Badger. Yosemite v2, a compute server that features 'hot' service, meaning servers do not need to be powered down when the sled is pulled out of the chassis in order for components to be serviced. Tioga Pass, a compute server with dual-socket motherboards and more IO bandwidth (i.e. more bandwidth to flash, network cards and GPUs) than its predecessor, Leopard, enabling larger memory configurations and faster compute time. Big Basin, a server designed for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, optimised for image processing and training neural networks. Compared to its predecessor, Big Basin can train machine learning models that are 30% larger due to greater arithmetical throughput and by implementing more memory (12 to 16 Gbytes). Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game. [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe] We know from experience that formal leaders influence the behavior of those in their chain of command. CEOs, lead scientists, general managers, and so on. But there's a difference between power and status some leaders may have status and no power, while others just the opposite. Those who have power and no status may still exercise control over others, as history attests. Without the formal power, status can help us be heard. Enrico Fermi was an Italian physicist at a time when physics wasn't held in high esteem in Italy. The 1938 Nobel Prize winner earned his leadership status through work. His consistent displays of competence, his support of peer scientists across Europe, his sharp intelligence and passion for physics, and some sheer luck, catapulted him from fairly humble origins to the world's stage. Fermi was versed in both theory and an experimental physics publishing the results of his thinking, learning new languages to access and join the European scientific community, and supporting the discipline at home got him noticed. He demonstrated time and time over how he was able to estimate the stages in a process, often getting so close to the actual results to inspire wonder in fellow physicists. If Fermi said something, it was golden. Because of this and his natural calm and measured temperament, colleagues called him The Pope. His story in The Pope of Physics by Gino Segre' and Bettina Hoerlin is a spellbinding tale. All the communities and research labs Fermi touched with his work flourished. He was a patient teacher and an aggressive learner and his influence is still felt today. We earn status by proving our worth. Competence weighs very heavily in favor of influence. Dr. Everett Rogers, a sociologist and statistician, started his work on understanding influence by trying to convince Iowa farmers to use new and improved strains of corn. In Influencer, Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler tell his story: As Dr. Rogers talked with local farmers about the terrific new seeds he was recommending, he quickly learned that his education and connection to the university didn't impress them. He wasn't exactly one of them. Farmers dressed differently; their hands were rough from physical labor; they read different magazines and watched different TV programs. Other than speaking the English language, they scarcely had a thing in common with Rogers. Rogers discovered that this difference would not work to his advantage. The reason was that he literally had not done what they had done he hadn't plowed a field, or worn his snakes boots as we used to say in the ag days. The idea Rogers proposed fell on deaf ears because it was him to propose it. Maybe if he could get another farmer to talk about the benefits of the new strain of corn... they would listen. So he set out to find a farmer he could convince to try it. He found his man. He didn't look much like the other farmers, his attire, brand of car, and attitude were different. He was interested in innovation. But when this fellow tried the new strains of corn and did very well with it, his neighbors did not get motivated to try it. It turned out that the farmers disliked the fellow who was unlike them for similar reasons they didn't like Rogers. The incident motivated Rogers to refocus his career on understanding what happens to innovations as they move through social systems. He wanted to know why some ideas are adopted and others aren't. He also wanted to uncover why certain individuals are far more influential in encouraging people to embrace an innovation than others. [...] Rogers was shocked to discover that the merit of an idea did not predict its adoption rate. What predicted whether an innovation was widely accepted or not was whether a specific group of people embraced it. His insight was we need to stay away from the people others call innovators. Instead, we should look to identify the early adopters, those people regard as opinion leaders. They're about 13.5% of the population, smarter than average, and open to new ideas: But they are different from innovators in one critical aspect: they are socially connected and respected. And here's the real influence key. The rest of the population over 85% will not adopt new practices until opinion leaders do. To find opinion leaders if we're Enrico Fermi, we need to identify the associations, publications, and research groups other scientists look to as credible sources. When Fermi decided to publish also in German, he attracted the attention of renown physics opinion leaders in Germany and Netherlands. Building trust with opinion leaders in any community is a critical stepping stone in getting people to adopt an idea. The authors of Influencer suggest a simple method to identify these people in organizations asking people to list the employees who they believe are the most respected and connected. Those who make multiple lists are the opinion leaders. Words are also very powerful. When we say leaders, we typically mean a person who leads. It's not a title, and not one we should give lightly. We want to use a more appropriate word to talk about someone who doesn't guide or conduct with commanding authority earned through competence. Maybe that term is simply person with power, leaving the results for history to judge. Adoption of ideas is voluntary, takes root, and spreads through trusted relationships. The St. Francois County Ambulance District has two opposed races for directors of Subdistricts 1 and 4. There is one seat open in each race and it is a three-year term. Candidates running in Subdistrict 1 are Sonja B. Hampton and Tim Morgan; and candidates in Subdistrict 4 are Larry Cruse and Stan Souden. Subdistrict 1 Sonja B. Hampton Sonja B. Hampton, 69, is married to Dale Hampton and they have two children together: a son, Dale V. Hampton, who is a critical care paramedic and a daughter, Stephanie Pfaff, who is a flight nurse with Air Evac. Hampton pursued her Associate Degree in Nursing at Mineral Area College and received a Master of Science Nursing at University of Missouri, Family Nurse Practitioner. She began her career at Mineral Area Regional Medical Center as a RN, later assuming management of the Emergency Department. Hampton later became the first nurse practitioner to assume an active role in management of patient care. With Dr. Richard Winder, she developed a fast track care model to ease ER load of less acute patients. As a team they developed several educational outreach programs. She later worked at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau and Parkland Health Center with Emergency Consultants and Team Health. Hampton currently works with Midwest Health Group. She has taught EMT, Nursing, and Radiology programs at Mineral Area College. Hampton said she decided to run for the board because she has a passion for emergency care and the people of St. Francois County, many of whom she has served over the years. She has worked closely with the men and women who provide care and feel strongly they deserve support. Hampton said she supports strong ties with area fire departments and police agencies. Hampton feels she is dedicated to fiscal responsibility and transparency in the actions of the board with respect for the concerns of the staff and citizens. She said the administration has a duty to provide prompt, professional response in a timely manner to the needs of the people of the county. Tim Morgan Tim Morgan, 44, of Farmington, is married to Mick Morgan and they have four children: Kerstey Clauser, Micah Ferrell, James T. Morgan Jr. and Robbie Welker. They also have seven grandchildren. Morgan is a UniTec/North County graduate and received vocational certificate in automotive technology. He has been in the automotive service business for 25 years and currently works Auffenberg Chevrolet. Morgan is a service manager and has been there for 19 years. He has never held an elected office in the past, but has served on the United Way board and the SEMO Family Violence Council Board for years. Morgan decided to run because to him it is all about giving back to the community and trying to help make it better. He just enjoys giving back to the community and hopes to continue to give back in ways he knows he can. Subdistrict 4 Stan Souden Stan Souden has been married for over 30 years to Pam and they have two children: a daughter, Niki, and a son, Phillip. They also have two grandchildren, Parker, 11 and Kai, 6. Souden is a retired fire captain/paramedic and from January 1981 to January 1991 he was employed as a paramedic with St. Francois County Ambulance. In January of 1991, he took a position with Pattonville Fire District in St. Louis County, ultimately retiring as a captain/paramedic after serving 25 years with Pattonville. Most of his life has been spent in public service in the fire and EMS field and he believes his experience would be a great advantage to the citizens of St. Francois County. Souden graduated from Fredericktown High School in 1978 and began working at Mineral Area Osteopathic Hospital (MARMC) in January of 1980, after spending a year in college and a year working in construction. He is a licensed paramedic through the state of Missouri and also holds an Associate's Degree in Fire Science through Columbia Southern University. Souden said as a paramedic with St. Francois County, he also held the rank of supervisor. While he was a captain/paramedic with Pattonville, Souden was responsible for purchasing and budgets. He believes this experience will be very beneficial as a board member with St. Francois County Ambulance District. Souden said for more than 30 years of his career he has been heavily involved as a Missouri state EMS instructor, Advanced Cardiac Life Support instructor, CPR instructor and a Missouri state certified fire instructor. He feels education is a very high priority for him. Souden said ultimately, the citizens of St. Francois County will benefit from that education also. Larry Cruse Larry Cruse, 62, is married to Colleen Cruse and they have two daughters, Erika Cruse and Erin Embry. He also has three grandchildren. Cruse is originally from Fredericktown but has resided in Farmington since 1977. Cruse has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from Southeast Missouri State University and also a Masters Degree in Social Work from Saint Louis University. Cruse has worked for 28 years at Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center and retired from there in 2006. The last 15 years there he was the director of the Supported Community Living Program. His unit placed and followed 600 mentally ill patients in residential settings throughout the 31-county catchment area the hospital serves. Cruse said they also monitored all of the outpatient mental health clinics in the region for the Missouri Department of Mental Health. He also worked part-time as a dialysis social worker from 1987 until 2006. He is presently employed as a full-time dialysis social worker working with patients who have End Stage Renal Disease and he covers clinics in Farmington and Potosi. Cruse has served on the St. Francois County Ambulance District Board for the past three years and is currently the chairman of the board. Cruse has worked his entire life in mental and medical health. Cruse said he has seen firsthand in his professional and personal life the valuable and life-saving services provided by the administrative staff, paramedics, EMTs, and first responders. He feels the past three years on the board has been a major learning curve for him and he now feels better equipped to continue to serve in this capacity. He said the citizens of St. Francois County deserve the best ambulance services possible from ambulance personnel. Cruse said he is very proud of what these fine people do every day and if he would have the privilege of being re-elected, he will do his best toward this goal. 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 The media will do anything to get us to click on their headlines. "Baffling!" they cry. "Insane!" they bleat. "Not Photoshopped!" they madly proclaim. One tried-and-true strategy is appealing to our strange thirst for irony. Did you know that the inventor of the Segway died by driving his Segway off a cliff ? That's news, son! The media loves that stuff. And they'll go to great lengths to get it ... 5 A Stress Ball Factory Worker Stresses Out And Goes Postal In 2013, recently fired factory worker Darren Baldwin went nuts, punched his manager in the face, and threatened several other colleagues with not one, but two knives he'd been carrying around. Dude's got backup knives! That's not just crazy; that's prepared crazy. The kicker? He worked in a stress ball factory. News outlets promptly began reporting on the case, reaping that sweet ironic gold. NBC Brian Williams would later need a lot of stress balls for other dishonest reporting reasons. But actually ... As far as we can tell, there's no such thing as a "stress ball factory." Sure, those things are made somewhere, but if every individual object within your personal line of sight right now were made in its own specific factory, then there wouldn't be an inch of the planet left for us to live on. In this case, the building that Baldwin worked in was SPS, an 82,000-square-foot factory that manufactures a hundred different items -- from stress balls to mouse pads, keyrings, coasters, notebooks, stationery, drinkware, and Rubik's cubes. And yet tragically, the headline wasn't "Mad genius in Rubik's Cube factory plans ahead, brings TWO knives!" Channel programs News Accenture Investing $900M To Retrain 200,000 Employees In Next-Generation Technology Michael Novinson Share this Accenture is spending $900 million to retrain all 200,000 of its technology-focused employees in emerging IT such as cloud, artificial intelligence and robotics. The Dublin, Ireland-based company, No. 2 on the 2016 CRN Solution Provider 500, has educated more than 70,000 workers on new architectures, intelligent platforms and automation over the past year, according to Chairman and CEO Pierre Nanterme. Accenture wants to have its remaining 130,000 technology employees trained on new IT within the next two years, Nanterme said. The large-scale transformation of our business is requiring a very significant investment in our people to ensure they have the most relevant skills to serve our clients both today in the future, Nanterme told Wall Street analysts Thursday during the companys earnings call. [RELATED: Accenture Buys European ServiceNow Player To Stretch Capabilities Beyond IT Service Management] Accenture has digitized all of its training and education initiatives to maximize cost efficiency, Nanterme said. This training initiative underpins Accentures all-out assault on digital, cloud and security services, which accounted for 45 percent or $8 billion of the companys revenue between September and February. Providing top-notch training has also enhanced Accentures ability to attract the best talent in the industry, Nanterme said. Accenture recently broke the 400,000-employee mark, although roughly half of those workers arent part of the companys technology business. Accentures sales for the quarter ended Feb. 28 climbed to $8.32 billion, up 4.7 percent from $7.95 billion last year. That fell short of Seeking Alphas revenue projections of $8.34 billion. Net income fell to $876.7 million, or $1.33 per diluted share, down 36.9 percent from $1.39 billion, or $2.08 per diluted share, the year prior. That edged out Seeking Alphas earnings projection of $1.30 per share. Accentures stock price fell $4.60, or 3.64 percent, in trading Thursday to $121.86 per share. Earnings were announced before the market opened. Accenture is also angling to increase the talent of its workforce through mergers and acquisitions. Nanterme said the company has spent $800 million on 16 acquisitions over the past six months, and plans to spend some $1.5 billion on deals by the Aug. 30 end of Accentures fiscal year. Through acquisition, we are recruiting very deep skills, Nanterme said. We believe its going to take too long to grow organically. The 11 acquisitions in Accentures most recent quarter focused on next-generation digital, cloud and security capabilities, vendors such as Microsoft and vertical-specific skills, Nanterme said. Some of the verticals targeted for investment by Accenture include retail, utilities, aviation and asset management, he said. All told, Nanterme said Accenture has adopted a two-pronged talent strategy focused both on making the skill set of existing employees more relevant for the future and acquiring top-notch, high-quality talent from the outside market. We have kind of a perfect blend, Nanterme said. Accentures consulting sales grew to $4.41 billion, up 3 percent from $4.29 billion last year. Outsourcing sales, meanwhile, climbed to $3.91 billion, up 7 percent from $3.65 billion last year. From an industry standpoint, sales for Accentures products group grew to $2.26 billion, up 14 percent from $1.99 billion last year due to strong momentum across all geographies and industries. Financial services revenue improved to $1.77 billion, up 5 percent from $1.68 billion the year prior due to strength in the banking and capital markets segments, particularly outside North America. Communications, media and technology sales inched ahead to $1.62 billion, up 1 percent from $1.61 billion last year as strength around software and electronics offset continued woes for Accentures European communications and media team. Health and public service revenue climbed to $1.51 billion, up 2 percent from $1.48 billion the year prior due to strong results from Europe and growth markets. Resources revenue, meanwhile, fell to $1.14 billion, down 2 percent from $1.17 billion the year prior as continued weakness in the chemicals and natural resources segments, particularly in North America, more than offset strength in the utilities segment. From a geographic perspective, Accentures North American sales jumped to $3.96 billion, up 4 percent from $3.79 billion last year, driven by a stellar performance in the U.S. and a strong market position and pipeline. Accentures European sales, meanwhile, improved to $2.83 billion, up 2 percent from $2.78 billion the year prior thanks to double-digit growth in the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland. And in growth markets, Accentures sales soared to $1.53 billion, up 12 percent from $1.37 billion the year prior due to double-digit growth in Japan, and strength in China and Australia. For the coming quarter, Accenture expects revenue in the range of $8.65 billion to $8.9 billion, as compared with the Zacks estimate of $8.79 billion. And for Accentures 2017 fiscal year, which ends Aug. 30, the company expects non-GAAP earnings per share in the range of $5.70 to $5.87, adjusted upward from last quarters projection of $5.64 to $5.87 per share. Cloud News Cloud Troubles: 17 Hour Office 365 OneDrive Outage And Outlook.com Interruption Shines The Spotlight On Need For Business Continuity Joseph Tsidulko Share this A 17-hour intermittent Microsoft Office 365 outage that prevented some customers from accessing their OneDrive accounts, coupled with two hours of Outlook.com login problems, is driving home the need for cloud-focused business continuity services, according to solution providers. Tony Pompliano, CEO of Raleigh, N.C.-based managed cloud provider ANEXIO, a Microsoft Azure partner and Office 365 reseller, said the outage has customers once again grappling with the trade-offs between high uptime and cost. "There are always ways to ensure nearly no downtime," Pompliano said. With an application suite like Office 365, which involves architecting redundancy by maintaining licensed software and synced storage running on-premises, it can get very expensive, he said. [Related: The 10 Biggest Cloud Outages of 2016] Pompliano said he didn't see any customers experience problems Tuesday, though some called because they heard reports of the outage and wanted to verify the health of their systems. Clients often start with the mantra of requiring five nines of reliability allowing networks and applications five minutes of downtime a year, including maintenance. "When they realize how expensive it is, they begin to say, how much would it cost for 'three nines' or 'two nines,'" Pompliano told CRN, "and every business has to find the balance for themselves." Like any other services interruption, be it power or cable, users get frustrated because they don't know the extent of the problem or time by which it will be resolved. But providers typically can't answer those questions in the midst of an outage as their trying to diagnose the cause and find a fix, he said. Microsoft has yet to release a post-mortem of the failure. A spokesperson told CRN: Some people may have experienced difficulties logging in to some services. All services have been fully restored. The OneDrive intermittent failure came just six days after "storage availability" issues plagued Microsoft's Azure public cloud for eight hours and 10 minutes. In that case, Microsoft said its engineering team identified a "storage cluster that lost power and became unavailable" as the preliminary cause of the storage issues which affected the Eastern U.S. Several Office 365 resellers told CRN they didn't see any of their customers affected by the outage. Those impacted used Microsoft Managed Service Accounts to sign-in to their cloud services a less common authentication method for enterprise customers, those partners told CRN. The outage appears to have only impacted services that relied on MSA accounts, previously called "LiveID" identities by Microsoft, said Reed Wiedower, chief technology officer at New Signature, a Microsoft partner based in Washington, D.C. MSAs, installed on individual, on-premises computers, are a contrast to "OrgIDs" that leverage Azure Active Directory for authentication, providing more flexible sign-on mechanisms. Most Office 365, Dynamics 365, Azure and EMS customers use Azure AD, and those customers didn't see problems, Wiedower told CRN. "Our enterprise customers dont rely upon MSA accounts and thus werent impacted yesterday, and increasingly are using AzureAD for authentication instead of a hybrid model," he said. Enterprises are trending away from authentication protocols that depend on on-premises components, like MSAs, because they create single points of failure that could prevent access to cloud services, he said. Eric Martorano, senior vice president of worldwide sales for Intermedia, a Mountain View, Calif. cloud services provider, No. 189 on the CRN SP500, said Intermedia is seeing an uptick in demand for its email continuity solution in the wake of the Office 365 outage. "As we know email has become a critical and integral part of how businesses communicate and organizations are increasingly reliant on it to function," Martorano said. "Essentially if email fails, the impact on productivity can be instant and devastating. While 99.9 percent uptime may be adequate for some, businesses that rely heavily on email or users that use email constantly as part of their normal workflow need maximum availability, and this provides a significant opportunity for the partner community." Intermedia's Email Continuity for Office 365 is designed to eliminate downtime in the event of an outage of a customers primary Office 365 Exchange Online service. A top executive for one of Microsoft's top cloud solution providers, who did not want to be identified, said the outage provides a compelling opportunity for partners to provide high-value Office 365 cloud architecture and business continuity services. "This is an opportunity for the channel to help customers design configure optimize and support Office 365," the executive said. "It points once again to the need for partners to provide more consulting services around authentication and redundancy for Office 365." The OneDrive intermittent failures started on Tuesday, 12:15 p.m. EDT and lasted until Wednesday 4:50 a.m. EDT, nearly 17 hours, according to the Microsoft Office 365 Service Health dashboard. OneDrive is Microsoft's online cloud storage service that is integrated with Office365. The One Drive services allows users to access Word, Powerpoint and Excel documents in the cloud. Under the title "Couldn't Sign into OneDrive," Microsoft said that some customers, "after signing into One Drive" were "unable to access their content. As the issue was intermittent in nature, users may have been able to reload the page or make another attempt successfully." Microsoft Outlook.com email, meanwhile, was inaccessible for some customers from 12:15 p.m. EST on March 21 to 2:30 p.m. EST., more than two hours. Under the title "Can't Sign Into Outlook.com," Microsoft said on its Office365 Service Health Dashboard that users "may have been intermittently unable to sign into the service." Steve Burke contributed to this report. Networking News Newly-Minted NetApp Partner CenturyLink To Extend Managed Storage Reselling Opportunities To Partners Gina Narcisi Share this By joining NetApp's partner program, CenturyLink is expanding its original partnership with the vendor, combining CenturyLink's global network and hosting business with NetApp's hardware and licensing storage solutions. While the access to the NetApp offerings will not be immediately available through the channel, CenturyLink told CRN that it's working to extend that deal to its partners, who will be able to resell CenturyLink's and NetApp's managed storage solutions. [Related: CenturyLink Intros Mobile Management System, Key Component Of A New Channel Push ] "Were at a point where business leaders know they need to store and transport data, and the alliance between NetApp and CenturyLink brings together two companies that specialize in these solutions," Terence Gleeson, vice president of strategic partner alliances for CenturyLink, told CRN. "The expanded relationship will offer our partners a way to deepen relationships with customers and build trust by meeting their customers growing demands for bandwidth and data storage." The combination of CenturyLink's managed services and network with NetApp's storage services and hardware will give partners and end customers a more complete managed storage solution, CenturyLink said. CenturyLink plans to take these solutions to large enterprise, SMB, and government and education customers. The opportunity around cloud storage is "enormous," and NetApp is at the center of that conversation, according to Andrew Pryfogle, senior vice president of cloud transformation for Petaluma, Calif.-based Intelisys, one of CenturyLink's largest partners. "It makes total sense that CenturyLink would do this deal with NetApp. Customers are demanding complete solutions and our partners are looking for the right blend of hardware and services to solve problems," he said. Intelisys will be waiting on compensation details on the CenturyLink/NetApp managed storage solution for its entire partner community, Pryfogle added. "Both agents and VARs stand to win with a bundle like this," he said. In the past, Monroe, La.-based CenturyLink has worked with NetApp for managed storage within CenturyLink's colocation and hosting environments. The two companies have many joint channel partners, as well as customers that are using NetApp hardware within CenturyLink's cloud environments. In 2016, 77 percent of NetApp's revenue was generated from the channel. IT distributor Avnet, also a large CenturyLink partner, contributed 19 percent of NetApp's indirect channel revenues last year, according to NetApp's annual report. CenturyLink first announced at its Alliance Ascend partner conference last month that it would offer data center products through its Channel Alliance partner program from some of its strategic partners, including NetApp and Cisco. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (Proverbs 4:23) Guard your heart. It seems to be a popular phrase among the Christian community, although mentioned only once in the book of Proverbs. Then, as a twist, we are told to harden not our hearts in the book of Hebrews. What does this even mean? What is actually expected of us? To what extent must we guard our hearts? I admit, it can be easiest to harden our hearts. Over time, we train ourselves to numb the feelings of vulnerability or weakness. In a world that has felt hurt and fears it, we would rather convince our peers that we are strong and unbreakable. In fact, its even encouraged to behave this way. Yet what does the Lord ask of us? How does He wish us to guard our hearts? How does he expect us to be both prudent and vulnerable? What Does it Mean? Guarding your heart, as cliche as it sounds, simply means remaining faithful to what is asked of us as Christians. Our lives look different than those around us who are nonreligious or not practicing Christians. We have specific guidelines and convictions to follow. Societys expectations are far different than Gods expectations and its important to remain mindful of these societal differences. Now this is not to say that we are conscious of our actions, and then avoid or ignore the call to obedience. Its an intentional yes to Gods will for our lives. Its an intentional no to sin and worldly desires that come from it. Its putting our relationship with the Lord first above all other preoccupations. What is Expected of Us? In our daily lives, it can be easy to want to fit in with those around us: what to wear, what to say, how to behave, how to love, how to treat others. Yet, if we are honest with ourselves, are we following the Lords will through our words and actions? Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8-9: My friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely and honorable. Put into practice what you learned and received from me, both from my words and actions. Then the God who gives us peace will be with you. As a New Years resolution, I decided to follow more closely what the Bible asked of me, taking those extra steps to live an intentional Christian lifestyle. Pauls message to the Philippians gave me pause. What lies do I believe about myself or the world around me, and how is that affecting my relationship with God? What sins or bad habits in my life are weighing me down from a higher moral conduct? What behaviors or habits do I know to be right, and yet avoid or ignore? Am I selfishly trying to find physical or emotional fulfillment through my relationships? By ignoring, avoiding, or neglecting what God asks of me, I am leaving my heart open and vulnerable to hurt, disappointment, and sin. More often than not, we are guarding our hearts from our own demons and downfalls. The hurt comes from the sin and shame we harbor inside, not always from those around us. At the beginning of February, I gave up social media for 30 days. Unfortunately, I had grown angry and bitter from what I was seeing in the news and on my news feed. Although it was hard to read, and I was clearly suffering from it, I became addicted to reading all the negative content. Instead of finding time for prayer, I was spending my time scrolling. I filled my heart with lies that everyone was against me, and no one supported my convictions. I allowed myself to stay angry and judgmental, rather than loving those that share different opinions. I knew I should stop scrolling and participating in the conversation, but I did not stop the behavior. I selfishly put my social media time above God and those I care about. In these moments, I was no longer guarding my heart. I was leaving myself victim to compromising behavior. Then through my vulnerability and array of emotion, I did just what Paul asked me not to do: I hardened my heart. I became just another average, jaded member of society when I was called to be so much more (1 Corinthians 6:19). Putting it into Practice Paul tells us in Romans 10:17, Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Jesus. As we intentionally begin guarding our hearts, we must remember the motives behind our actions. If we truly love our Lord as we say we do, we must obey Him. He has asked that keep our heart open to the Lords will, while guarding it from all other things that do not come from Him. As we continue to study the Bible, praying for the Lords healing grace, and remaining intentional to the instructions found in the Gospels and Pauls letters, obedience becomes easier. Yet, at the same time, do not sit complacent and accepting of mediocrity. The path to a holy or righteous life is uncomfortable and asks a lot of us, but we can do anything with the strength of Jesus Christ (Philippians 4:13). Reflect on your habits and behaviors. Have you allowed your heart to sit vulnerable to unhealthy desire, hurt, or sin? Are you holding a grudge or fixating on a certain behavior, knowing it is not right and still not shaking it? Are you putting your desires and plans above that of the Lords? Have you hardened your heart, growing numb to deep emotions? More often than not, we are guarding our hearts from our own demons and downfalls. Allow the Lord to move your heart. Trust that He wont lead you astray. Mindy Fitterling is a recent college graduate from St. Louis, Missouri. She now works in IT Security for a Healthcare company in Nashville, TN. When she is not fighting cyber crime by day, she is snuggling with her puppy and writing for young women on her personal blog, Women For Higher (womenforhigher.com). Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com Publication date: March 23, 2017 We can't seem to find the page you are looking for. You may have typed the address incorrectly or you may have used an outdated link. BRIDGEPORT State Senator Marilyn Moore, D-Bridgeport, and Bridgeport U.S. Postmaster Gary Thompson will join other community leaders at an event on Friday, March 24, that will celebrate the legacy of Margaret E. Morton, the first African American woman elected to serve in the state legislature. Moores Women in History event will also unveil locally the Dorothy Irene Height commemorative postage stamp. Height (1912-2010) was a champion of African American women. She was the president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. BRIDGEPORT The Police Commissioners Association of Connecticut will honor two Bridgeport police officers at its annual ceremony. Recipients of this years Meritorious Service Award will include officers Mark Blackwell & Marion Campo. This award recognizes members of law enforcement that have gone above and beyond the call in the performance of their job. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD Art in Public Places will return this summer with a familiar theme. Forty white, fiberglass statues shaped like cubes, spheres and pyramids landed in Stamford this week, blank canvases ready to be transformed into colorful odes to the City That Works. Artists from Connecticut, and a few from New York, have submitted 200 statue design proposals in hopes of getting sponsored by a local business or supporter of the arts. The Stamford Downtown Special Services District (DSSD) will narrow the proposals to 65 and 40 finalists will receive sponsorships. About $175,000 needs to be raised to complete and display the 40 statues. After the display period ends in the fall, the sculptures will be auctioned off and proceeds will go to the Avon Theater. Without the Avon, our downtown is nothing, said Sandy Goldstein, president of the DSSD. Bringing back a tradition The fiberglass statues return after last year was dedicated to abstract sculptures, shipped from throughout the country for their three-month stay downtown. Remnants of this old favorite are still scattered around the city, in front of the businesses and homes of residents who snatched up their favorite customized statues in the post-display auctions. After CowParade Stamford in the summer of 2000, the DSSD even assembled a commemorative book featuring that years bovine beauties. Goldstein said the DSSD changes the theme each year, usually featuring the popular customizable fiberglass statues every other summer. In its 22nd year, the Art in Public Places exhibit has featured various themes from Seward Johnsons lifelike sculptures of people to fiberglass cows and dinosaurs. This years shapes theme was born from weeks of brainstorming late last year with the DSSD arts committee. I think someone mentioned spheres, and I said, well, what about more shapes? And that was that, Goldstein said. This broad theme has opened the door to many unique ideas, Goldstein said as she flipped through the design book. She stopped at some of her favorites: a cube made of classic board games, a pyramid that features downtown vistas and a sphere appearing like a chocolate truffle. The life-size sculptures, still untouched by hammer, nail or paintbrush, are stored in an empty Broad Street business, where several of the artists will work on their creations until they are installed on June 1. We have been doing this for 22 years, because nothing creates a sense of place better than public art, Goldstein said. nnaughton@stamfordadvocate.com; @noranaughton Thanks to Boucher In addition to the article she wrote in the Thursday edition of the Connecticut Post, I would just like to commend State Senator Toni Boucher for her tireless work on behalf of the residents of this state. /Bridgeport PD BRIDGEPORT David Henshaw is in police custody after an arrest warrant was issued for his involvement in an accident from June 2016. Henshaw, of Edgemoore Road, was driving a 2006 Chrysler 300c on Fairview Avenue near Main Street, when he hit a 1999 Honda Civic driven by Peter Soto. Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. What to do in Pennsylvania if you made an error on your mail-in ballot Some students struggle to choose a major because they believe it could determine their entire future. About 80 percent of students change their major at least once, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Many change it at least three times over the course of their time in college. To avoid students changing majors constantly, we offer workshops and academic advising, said Stephanie Johnson, an academic advisor at the University of Memphis. Advisors want students to decide by the end of sophomore year, so they can graduate on time, Johnson said. She loves helping students who may be a little behind achieve a timely graduation. We like to think we can help students graduate in four years, Johnson said. We help students select a major from things they are interested in. Seeing those who think they couldnt finish graduate is exciting. Jessica Flanigan and Justin Dodson, both academic counselors at the U of M, hosted a Discover Your Major workshop for registered students who may be second-guessing their college path. They discussed ways to help one decide on what they wanted to do at the workshop and administered a questionnaire where students could choose their interest and see what major best suits them. Choose a major youre good at, Flanigan said. In addition, students should familiarize themselves with courses and requirements for their major and what skills are needed. About 20 to 50 percent of students do not declare a major when they start college, and 75 percent of students change their major at least one time before graduating, according to data from the College Board. Students having issues deciding on a major can visit the Academic Counseling Center on the second floor of Wilder Tower. Students at the workshop were encouraged to go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website to look up current career trends. Three-year-old Josie Mathes takes doses of cannabis oil every day in order to combat the seizures she gets from her condition called Infantile Spasms. When she first started on the medicine, she was experiencing 500 to 1,000 seizures per day. Now she is down to about 30 "on a good day." Courtesy of Stacie Mathes Three-year-old Josie Mathes takes doses of cannabis oil every day in order to combat the seizures she gets from her condition called Infantile Spasms. When she first started on the medicine, she was experiencing 500 to 1,000 seizures per day. Now she is down to about 30 "on a good day." Three-year-old Josie Mathes from Greene County, Tennessee, wakes up every morning with the normal morning routine of most toddlers a but along with something extra. Josie receives three doses of medical cannabis oil daily to decrease her seizures. She began having seizures at two months and then was diagnosed a month later with a medical condition called Infantile Spasms, a magnified form of childhood epilepsy. Her development then began to be delayed, not only because of the condition, but also the seven total seizure medications she was prescribed, none of which were working at all. Josieas mother Stacie worried, as any mother would, about the wellbeing of her then less than 1-year-old daughter. aHer little body was already addicted to the medications she was on,a Stacie said. aShe had withdrawals, agitation, her appetite decreased.a With Josieas condition simply worsening because of the medications, Stacie desperately sought another form of numbing her daughteras pain. She saw an article on Facebook about Tennesseeas 2014 medical CBD bill; however, she did not immediately make the connection about how it could help Josie. aNot long after, I reached out to an old friend after remembering an article in our local paper about them moving to Colorado to treat their daughter with cannabis,a 32-year-old Stacie said. aFrom then on that was all we researched and studied.a Stacie and her husband Logan, a police officer, decided this was what would help Josie the most. aWhen doctors give you no hope and a prognosis of a few years, you will seek a treatment that is safe and natural a cannabis is that,a Stacie said. The family wanted to relocate to Colorado immediately to get the oil for their daughter, but it wasnat that simple. aIn October 2014, we traveled to Colorado to obtain to her medical card,a Stacie said. aWe were then put on a waiting list, which was one more reason we couldn't move as quickly. In January 2015, before her first birthday, we flew to Colorado to get it.a Tennesseeas bill allowing medical CBD oil let the Matheses bring the oil back home rather than move to Colorado, unlike if it was a THC product. aCBD (cannabidiol) works as a neuroprotectant amongst other things and has no psychoactive feeling or ahigh,a Stacie said. aTHC (tetrahydrocannabinol) offers great benefits, even if given to a child, small amounts are very sufficient and can treat many illnesses.a Stacie said she often heard uninformed questions from people who were not fully educated on the topic. aNo child smokes it; no parent blows smoke in the child's face,a Stacie said. aIt's given orally in an oil form a a very unbelievably small amount in comparison to all other previous medications, and she doesn't mind taking it at all.a Stacie said it did not take effect immediately. Josie was on four medications when they first got the CBD oil and had to been weaned off those, which took 11 months. But Stacie noticed that as she gave her daughter less and less prescription seizure medications, and very slowly started the cannabis oil, Josieas seizures went down drastically, and ashe started to have life about her.a A aShe smiled and giggled for the first time in her life,a Stacie said. aShe cried a it's like she never had emotions. Josie laid as though she was a baby doll in a catatonic state. We actually began meeting her for the first time.a Josieas seizures have decreased from 500 to 1,000 per day when they first began trying the oil to now about 30 a day. Her condition has become more controllable thanks to the cannabis oil, but Stacie and her family are not done pushing for the reform of medical marijuana laws in Tennessee. aBecause of her seizure type, THC would greatly benefit her, as well as other cannabinoids,a Stacie said. aCurrent Tennessee law only allows for CBD up to .9 percent. We are advocating again this year for a full medical cannabis bill that will allow for multiple conditions with the possibility of in-state cultivation.a Stacie and her family have been working with a few Tennessee congressmen, namely Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby), to introduce a bill for medical cannabis in state legislature. Courtesy of Stacie Mathes Tennessee legislator Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, holds Josie Mathes. Faison is one of the Tennessee legislators working with the Mathes family to make it easier for children like Mathes to receive the medicine needed. Faisonas bill would allow Tennessee residents to obtain medical marijuana cards from their doctor if they are diagnosed with a qualifying condition. They would then go to a dispensary in Tennessee to obtain a marijuana product made in Tennessee. aI see the good in that plant,a Faison, who met Josie when she was just an infant, said. aThere are some very sick people and little kids in Tennessee who this would help.a The bill failed to be approved through the Tennessee Senate, and Faison took it off committee. a(People who disagree with the bill) donat believe it a they just think it is a snake hole and will bring a bunch of potheads into the state,a Faison said. aThey also donat like that the federal government is still against it.a There will now be a task force for the bill to meet a few times over the summer to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the bill, Faison said. But Faison and the Mathes family will be pushing relentlessly for it up until the next election season. Arkansas passed a bill allowing medical cannabis last election season, and surveys show that the red state of Tennessee is warming up to the idea. Tennesseans for Conservative Action surveyed 600 state-wide Republican voters, and 52 percent said they would support medical cannabis.A The obituaries of Morse creator Colin Dexter suggest that he and the late John Thaw, who played TV's famous Oxford detective, were friends. But a Dexter chum, Private Eye co-founder Richard Ingrams, says this might not always have been the case. Dexter was a regular at the magazine's Soho lunches and, says Ingrams, once pointed at a fellow guest, House Of Cards actor Ian Richardson, and remarked: 'He would make a better Morse. Thaw isn't right.' It is to be hoped after 33 episodes and eight series he realised that he was wrong. Thaw was perfect as Morse. Colin Dexter once remarked how Ian Richardson would make a better Morse than John Thaw Why is the Queen's message to Martin McGuinness's widow, Bernadette, deemed private? 'Perhaps to prevent any embarrassment to the Queen, given McGuinness's reputation,' says my source. 'Her message congratulating Donald Trump on his controversial election success was also private, although the palace later acknowledged that it had been sent.' Taunted by Jeremy Corbyn over education funding, the Prime Minister pointed out that the Labour leader's own son was sent to a grammar school an ultra-sensitive subject for the much criticised Corbyn. His second wife Claudia Bracchitta's decision to send their son, Benjamin, to a grammar school helped end their marriage, she has said. Corbyn subsequently married wife number three, Laura Alvarez, in 2013. The Labour leader's own son was sent to a grammar school an ultra-sensitive subject for the much criticised Corbyn Theresa May's decision to welcome French presidential contender Emmanuel Macron to No10 last month annoyed his chief rival, the National Front's Marine Le Pen. She told Nigel Farage in an LBC interview that Mrs May's judgment was 'not very good'. But if Madame Le Pen wins, won't she rate a state visit to the UK? Yes, but not in the same week as Donald Trump, it is to be hoped. The BBC promotes its Farming Today interview with Princess Anne, pointing out in a newsworthy way that she's at odds with Prince Charles over GM crops by asserting that she's 'a working farmer' at 730-acre Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire. What, with 500-plus royal engagements annually? If they say so! The BBC says Princess Anne is 'a working farmer' at 730-acre Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire Keen-to-shock author Kathy Lette, 58, offers lifestyle advice to Twitter followers: 'Remember that the best things in life are free dancing, flirting, singing, laughing, talking, walking and orgasms.' No doubt her husband of 27 years, ultra-serious human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC, 70, agrees wholeheartedly!? Tory MP Nigel Evans reassured friends on Facebook during the Westminster emergency: 'We are currently on lockdown but safe.' A friend responds: 'Is the bar open?' When staff in the bar of frequently bombed Europa Hotel in Belfast announced that the IRA had planted a device timed to explode in five minutes, a regular customer, the Press Association's now retired Chris Moncrieff, informed his companions: 'Time for another half, I think.' Irony of bitter ironies. Barely had MPs finished paying sickeningly fulsome tribute to that egregious terrorist Martin McGuinness and wasnt the reverential coverage in much of yesterdays media truly gut-wrenching? than terrorisms horrific reality spilt blood on their own doorstep. Men, women and children mown down indiscriminately on Westminster Bridge a policeman stabbed to death while protecting MPs and the public panic-stricken tourists and office workers hurried to safety, as emergency services sealed off the streets the families of the dead and the catastrophically injured left to suffer and grieve for the rest of their lives. The ideological cause may have been different from that of McGuinness, the Butcher of Bogside. But the intention was apparently the same to achieve a political end by striking at the heart of our democracy through the random mass murder of innocents. MPs had 'barely finished paying sickeningly fulsome tributes' to former IRA commander Martin McGuinness, pictured, when terrorism struck at the heart of London A police officer was stabbed to death by a knifeman after he killed three more people when mowing down crowds on Westminster Bridge in a 4x4 Indeed, with the capital on high terrorism alert for months, the only wonder is that an attack like this didnt come sooner. For this, huge credit is due to GCHQ and the security services, which are said to have foiled 13 plots in under four years, while running 500 investigations into extremist groups at any one moment. But as we all knew in our heart of hearts, it could be only a matter of time before a terrorist cell or a lone fanatic would once again slip through the net. Consider the long series of atrocities since 9/11 London 7/7, Paris, Brussels, Nice, Berlin and now Westminster. This is the reality we all have to live with in modern Europe, since the animosities fed by misguided foreign wars for which Messrs Tony Blair and George Bush bear much of the responsibility spilled over the borders of our continent. Should yesterdays attack turn out to be connected to Muslim extremism, let us not deceive ourselves that the threat will end if Donald Trump succeeds in his aim of vanquishing Islamic State in the Middle East. Who knows how many IS-trained terrorists are among the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have fled to Europe from war zones more than a million to Germany alone? The ideological cause may have been different from that of McGuinness, pictured in 1983, but the 'aim was the same' Meanwhile in Britain, young people continue to be radicalised by hate preachers and incendiary material spread with impunity by the internet giants. Yes, our foremost thoughts must be with the Westminster victims and their families, who will never forget this dreadful day. But this is also a time for deep reflection on the implications of such atrocities for the way we regard civil liberties. For many years, this paper stood up for the privacy of individuals against surveillance by the state, expressing grave reservations about such measures as the snoopers charter. But the truth is that in this fast-changing world, it seems increasingly perverse to deny the authorities power to eavesdrop on our electronic communications for the purpose of protecting the public. After all, dont firms such as Google snoop on our every purchase or choice of website, for no higher motive than commercial gain? Indeed, the security services need every weapon we can give them to keep up the guard against bloodthirsty maniacs intent on destroying our way of life. Meanwhile, with Westminster Bridge stained with innocent blood, how can the Left go on lethally idolising those such as US traitor Edward Snowden, who put countless lives at risk by alerting terrorists to the authorities monitoring methods? As we prepare for the nauseating spectacle of Mr Blair, Bill Clinton and the rest paying homage at the Bogside Butchers funeral, yesterday was a savage reminder of the indiscriminate evil of terrorism. We forgive and forget that at our peril. A conservative Cornell student who was called a 'coward' by Ann Coulter on Twitter is speaking out about the pundit's attack. Olivia Corn, 19, is used to facing backlash for her political views. As the president of her alma mater's College Republicans chapter, she says she has received death threats and witnessed people saying they wanted to throw acid in her face. One of the most public attacks against her, however, came from her fellow conservative Ann Coulter. The pundit called out Corn on Twitter Sunday, bashing the student for being quoted in an article saying it was hard finding people who were willing to hear her opinions. Speaking out: Cornell student Olivia Corn (left), 19, has reacted to being called a 'coward' by conservative pundit Ann Coulter (right) on Sunday 'Confusing': The student didn't fully understand what had happened at first, then thought it was 'amusing' that Coulter had taken time out of her day to slam a 19-year-old 'College Republicans at Cornell have always been useless weanies,' Coulter told her 1.44 million followers. 'This girl sounds as cowardly as Charles Murray.' That last sentence was a reference to a conservative political scientist who has been accused of racism for his work linking intelligence and ethnicity. Coulter's jab came with a screengrab of a New York Times story in which Corn told the newspaper it was 'very difficult' to find people willing to hear her conservative views, and recounted being attacked and shoved to the ground after the election. 'I didnt even support Donald Trump, thats the worst part,' Corn told the Times. The student woke up on Sunday morning with about 70 text messages from friends telling her to check Coulter's Twitter timeline, as she told Cosmopolitan. 'I was really confused. I had no idea what happened. And then when I looked on it, and I saw my name there, I was obviously incredibly confused,' she said. 'But I also found it very funny that she took the time out of her day to insult a 19-year-old.' After the initial confusion passed, Corn realized Coulter's tweet was also 'upsetting', because it appeared to dismiss all the attacks the student says she has faced as a result of her conservative views. Backlash: Corn (pictured) says she often faces attacks for her conservative views, and that some have threatened to throw acid in her face or 'kill that b***h' 'I have to admit, I was annoyed. The fact that she was basically discrediting everything I've been through,' she told Cosmopolitan. 'I mean, I have had death threats on this campus. I was assaulted. I have people yelling in my face on a daily basis. ... The stuff that I face on Cornell's campus is actually pretty serious and quite severe. And for her to just kind of throw that away was very upsetting.' Corn, who says some people have said they wanted to throw acid in her face or 'kill that b***h', said she suffered notable backlash after saying she would pick Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. The student changed her mind just a month later and became part of the 'never Trump' movement. Her organization supported libertarian candidate Gary Johnson instead. But she says she still faced attacks after Election Night, when someone called her a 'racist b***h'. The DailyMail.com has reached out to Cornell University for comment. Corn, who is now trying to get elected Arts And Sciences Representative at Cornell, didn't mince her words when asked about Trump's presidency so far. 'I mean, there are some things he's done that I greatly dislike. I'm not a fan of his Cabinet. I think the biggest issue with his presidency that I've had so far is that he needs to get off Twitter,' she said. 'He's making this country look ridiculous and setting a really bad precedent for what a president should do and act like. He doesn't act like a president and he's continuing to divide the country. I think this [Ann Coulter] tweet really exemplifies how divided the country has become.' As a little girl, I could imagine nothing more exciting than rummaging through my mothers dressing table. The colourful make-up, the glittering jewellery, the vials of exotic perfumes were like a doorway into Narnia: a glimpse of what it was like to be a woman. Most of all, I loved to dab her scent on my neck. It made me feel sophisticated, grown up. Here, Josephine Fairley gives her round-up of the prettiest perfumes, starting with this one. Guerlain Bee Bottle: POA at Harrods. The design has barely changed since Pierre-Francois Pascal Guerlain presented a bottle to Frances Empress Eugenie for her 1853 wedding to Napoleon III. It can be filled with your choice of Guerlain scent Elegantes London: 2,350. The crystal flacon is reminiscent of the swirling skirts of an haute couture ballgown I adored the glass fragrance bottles: the crystal dove on top of Nina Ricci LAir du Temps, designed after World War II to symbolise peace; square-shouldered Chanel No.5; Femme de Rochas womanly curves. Each was a token of love from my father, who travelled far and wide as a journalist, and never failed to bring back a guilt-assuaging bottle from Duty Free for her, and later, for me, too. I have no doubt those early encounters set the stage for my work as a scent expert I founded the Perfume Society. For me, a great perfume is a multi-faceted assault on the senses, and the way a fragrance is presented is as important as its smell. Each bottle on my own dressing table brings back memories. Theres YSL Rive Gauche, groundbreaking at its 1971 launch for being the first scent in a metal can its bold blue, black and silver stripes, echoing the feminist spirit of the day. Gucci Bamboo Limited Edition: 68 for 50ml. Lovers of floriental Gucci Bamboo will be desperate for this special design Lyn Harris Perfumer H: From 265. Michael Ruhs smoky bottles for Miller Harris founder Lyn Harriss new venture contain crisply simple colognes to rich, swirling orientals Then Guerlains delicate Shalimar, its slim, fluted body and crimped blue stopper barely changed since its unveiling in 1921. Most precious is Schiaparellis Shocking its bottle based on Mae Wests curvaceous torso. My husband (then boyfriend) bought it for me in Paris. I not only wore the perfume on my wedding day, it inspired me to have a wedding dress made in shocking pink, which was first used in couture by Elsa Schiaparelli. New scent bottles lack these lovely details. Instead, there is a growing trend for chic minimalism that mimics current trends in interiors and fashion. Top perfume houses, from Calvin Klein to Aesop and The Library of Fragrance, are producing chic apothecary-style bottles more suited to a chemists shop than boudoir. Their simplicity came into fashion as an antidote to the blingtastic celebrity and designer perfumes. Marc Jacobs Daisy Kiss and Daisy Dream Kiss: 55 each for 50ml. As Daisy celebrates its tenth birthday, these are the latest coveted limited edition bottles Miu Miu LEau Bleue: 68 for 50ml. A blue-faceted bottle with a yellow stopper of Art Deco-style elegance Very plain bottles have become a mark of refinement. But if youre a closet maximalist, like me, youll be happy to know designers have grown tired of all this restraint, and there is a renaissance of glamorous packaging. Take the 75,000 bottle of Dior JAdore LOr, a facsimile of which is on show at Harrods Salon de Parfums. Its Baccarat crystal is adorned with a gold and blackened silver ribbon encrusted with 40 diamonds. There are diamond-encrusted bottles at British brand Clive Christian, bejewelled at Guerlain, and hefty decanter-shaped ones at niche perfumer Kilian. At Fortnum & Mason, husband and wife team Thomas and Dagmar Smit have launched Elegantes London, with perfumes by Julien Rasquinet. The swirling crystal bottles can even be used as candlesticks after youve dabbed the last drop. And at 2,350 a bottle, youd definitely want it to have a second life. But you dont have to have deep pockets to have a beautiful display on your dressing table. Beautiful, but affordable, bottles have a distinguished history, dating back to 1907. Before then, perfume was a luxury, sold in hugely expensive crystal bottles. LOccitane Terre de Lumiere: 58 for 50ml. LOccitane sets out to capture Provences golden hour, just before sunset Moschino Pink Fresh Couture: 35 for 30ml. Designer Jeremy Scotts first bottle design for Moschino was a teddy bear, and theres no end to the whimsy in sight All that changed when perfumer Francois Coty teamed up with jeweller Rene Lalique. Coty had a strikingly modern business philosophy: Give a woman the best product you can make, present it in a perfect flacon with beautiful simplicity and impeccable taste, ask her to pay a reasonable price, and that will be the birth of a business such as the world has never seen. Lalique made affordable, yet elegant, glass bottles for Coty, and together they brought fragrance to the masses. Lalique still sells exquisite bottles. They come at an everyday price equivalent to most designer scents, and in luxury limited editions from 1,000. As for this seasons most glamorous new launch, Id be snapping up Annick Goutal Tenue de Soiree with a pom-pom charm at the neck. Through the ages, scent bottles have captured the spirit of the times. Sometimes glitzy, at others clean-lined. But always, for me, and countless other women, a shimmering invitation to feel a little more glamorous and confident. perfumesociety.org Rare is the person who hasn't opened their wardrobe at least once and thought: 'I've got nothing to wear'. Could a 'personal uniform' be the answer? Sigrid McCarthy, 28, from Melbourne, wears the same 20 garments on rotation every day - her 'uniform'. Sigrid McCarthy (pictured), 28, from Melbourne, wears the same 20 garments on rotation every day - her 'uniform' Pretty much all of these garments are black and her staples include a turtleneck jumper, black tailored trousers, a skirt and black boots (pictured) Pretty much all of these garments are black and her staples include a turtleneck jumper, black tailored trousers, a skirt and black boots. HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN UNIFORM * Assess how functional your wardrobe is and what are the specific items you always return to. * Take a look at the fabrics, colours and styles you like and try to shop for them. * Avoid impulse buying. * Only buy things that are of better quality and you know will last. * Make sure you wear every item you buy and rotate accordingly. * Don't be too extreme; only create a uniform approach you can stick to. Advertisement 'Having a personal uniform simplifies my day-to-day routine,' Ms McCarthy told Daily Mail Australia. 'It saves time and minimises stress. When looking at my wardrobe, I'm rarely struck with the thought: "I have nothing to wear", or "I forgot I had that". 'I also feel more confident when I'm wearing my uniform; it is a reflection of my personal taste.' Ms McCarthy added that the cost-per-wear of each piece in her collection is also good. 'I've stopped impulse buying and only invest in things that last,' she said. 'It's hard to put an exact figure on how much I've saved exactly, but it would be thousands of dollars over the few years I've adopted this approach.' She added: 'Given the significant environmental and social impact of the garment industry, I'm conscious of the effect my consumption habits have on the world. 'Opting for a personal uniform helps me avoid waste - both financial and unused clothes going to landfill.' 'Having a personal uniform simplifies my day-to-day routine,' Ms McCarthy told Daily Mail Australia; 'It saves time and minimises stress' As well as encouraging her to feel more 'confident' in her uniform, Ms McCarthy said the approach has saved her thousands of dollars - she no longer impulse shops According to Ms McCarthy, while some people do call her approach to dressing 'militant and boring', she finds it fun: 'I do get judged for wearing the same garments often, but I would love to see women (I believe men are less inclined to notice/worry) caring less about repeating outfits. 'What's important is how you feel when you wear your clothes. I feel strong, capable and comfortable in my uniform.' According to Ms McCarthy, while some people do call her approach to dressing 'militant and boring', she finds it fun 'What's important is how you feel when you wear your clothes. I feel strong, capable and comfortable in my uniform,' she said The 28-year-old from Melbourne isn't the first to embrace the concept of a uniform. Celebrities such as Victoria Beckham wear similar items each day, and countless fashion editors swear by a rotation of black, white and grey separates. Ms McCarthy said it's easier than you think to create your own specially-curated uniform. 'All you need to do is assess how functional your wardrobe currently is and whether there are select items you always go to. 'Think about the styles, shapes, colours and fabrics you like most, and think about these again when looking to buy new things. 'My approach to dressing isn't for everybody; there is no one size fits all approach. 'But, like many women I used to have loads of clothes in my wardrobe but struggle to find a cohesive outfit. These days, I never struggle.' Sigrid McCarthy is the founding editor of online magazine, Intent Journal. Advertisement A young girl from Victoria with a crippling illness which limits her movement has been able to achieve her dream of being a ballet dancer, thanks to Make A Wish. Jessica Kennedy, seven, was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at 18 months old and is permanently in a wheelchair. But last month, she experienced freedom from the confines of her chair and was able to dance like a real ballerina, alongside two dancers from the Australian Ballet Company in Melbourne. Jessica Kennedy was gifted a visit to dance with two ballerinas from the Australian Ballet Company by Make-A-Wish Australia Ahead of her debut with the dancers, Nicola Curry and Valerie Tereshchenko, Make-A-Wish arranged another surprise for the bubbly girl. 'In anticipation for Jessica's Make-A-Wish wish, we invited her to watch Sugar Plum Fairy, which she and older brother Angus both loved,' said Olivia, the volunteer behind Jessica's wish. 'We also sent Jessica a tutu, leotard, slippers and tiara to get her excited all in her favourite pink and black colour scheme of course!' When the big day came around, Jessica was picked up with her family in a bright pink stretch hummer and escorted to The Australian Ballet in Melbourne. The ballerinas took time out from their schedules to teach Jessica some of the moves to the Princess Aurora ballet Jessica, whose 'biggest dream ever' was to be a ballerina was ecstatic to be at the Melbourne dance studio While the seven-year-old is normally in a wheelchair, she was transferred on to a tricycle so she could follow along with ease The young girl arrived in her wheelchair, but was moved on to a tricycle and taught some of the dance moves from the Princess Aurora ballet as a pianist played in the background. Acting every part the ballet star, she also scooted around the space and collected roses from the group that had accompanied her. At the end of her recital, Jessica was greeted with even more surprises before being escorted away for a behind the scenes tour. WHAT IS MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY? More than 20,000 Australians are affected by neuromuscular diseases. Approximately 5,000 have some form of muscular dystrophy. The debilitating muscle destroying disorders can affect anyone - from young children to mature adults, male or female. Their common symptom is the progressive and irreversible wasting of muscle, leading to decreased mobility and often a shortened life expectancy. Many children affected by muscular dystrophy will not reach their 20s. To date, there is no known cure. Source: Muscular Dystrophy Australia Advertisement 'We organised a special ballerina cake for Jessica on her wish because it was her seventh birthday,' explained Olivia. 'The pianist played Happy Birthday while her two new favourite ballerinas and our little group sang to Jessica it was a moment she'll look back on with joy for years to come. 'It was amazing to be a part of Jessica's wish our wishes truly are transformational.' Her parents and brother Angus were in attendance, along with some volunteers from Make-A-Wish As the pianist played, Jessica scooted around the dancefloor and received roses from the small group in attendance She's a star! It came after the Victorian schoolgirl was taken to see Sugar Plum Fairy and gifted a dancing outfit For her mother Angela, it was uplifting to see her daughter dance. 'She's lost the ability to walk or even lay straight so now she's permanently in a wheelchair, but all she wants to do is dance,' she tearfully told Channel 9 on the day. When Jessica arrived at school the next day, her friends rushed up to her screaming her name, giving the girl one more taste of fame. Afterwards, Jessica was given a detailed tour of the dance studio by the two ballerinas... but not before more surprises! As it was Jessica's seventh birthday, the group had also organised a ballet-themed cake for her to celebrate with Dancing queen! Jessica's mother Angela said the memory of the day would be a source of strength for the girl in the future Speaking to Make-A-Wish after her daughter's dreams came true, Angela said the memory of the day would help Jessica through some tough times to come. 'Years down the track Jess will be able to say, 'remember that day when I was a ballerina?' and it will give her so much strength,' she told them. 'To be a ballerina is Jess' biggest dream ever, she still can't believe that her wish came true. It was the best day of our lives we can't thank you enough.' Twisted Sister said: Deceived! How were you deceived? You all rode the camel to the beach and back and accepted the ride. People in Detroit want free water and you apparently want free camel rides. : ) Click to expand... We were at an "all-included" resort hotel. We didn't pay extra for anything, including a really cool smoking room. Then these bandits offer us a ride, no fee mentioned, and thenThat's how we were deceived and it wasn't going to work on me, and didn't. Love is certainly in the air for two of Grace Kelly's granddaughters. Charlotte Casiraghi, 30, daughter of Princess Caroline of Hanover, is reported to have sparked up a relationship with film producer Dimitri Rassam. Pictures of the royal and her new beau Dimitri - who is the son of one of Princess Caroline's acquaintances, French actress and model Carole Bouquet - strolling through Paris together were recently published in Spanish tabloid Hola. Young love! Charlotte Casiraghi (left) is reported to have started a relationship with Paris- and Los Angeles-based film producer Dimitri Rassam (right) Dressed to the nines: The 30-year-old was not accompanied by her new beau when she attended this year's Rose Ball in Monaco on Sunday, however A sign? Coincidentally, Charlotte did wear the same dress design to the event that her mother, Princess Caroline (center) wore at a 2000 event hosted by Dimitri's mother Carole Bouquet According to the magazine, the duo enjoyed some time together in the French capital - which is where Dimitri spends half of his time, while also traveling to Los Angeles frequently for work - earlier this month, before heading off to spend some time at Charlotte's new country residence in Barbizon, which is just an hour away from Paris. Charlotte is said to have snapped up the property not long after she split from her ex-flame, Italian filmmaker Lamberto Sanfelice, at the end of 2016. And while the couple has yet to publicly comment on their rumored romance, People reports some beady-eyed fashion fans suggest that Charlotte may have made a nod towards her new boyfriend in her choice of outfit for Sunday night's Rose Ball in Monaco. The brunette opted to wear a vintage black velvet and lace dress design that was also worn by her mother back in 2000 when she attended an event hosted by Dimitri's mother Carole. Happy as can be: The royal was seen grinning happily while walking alongside her childhood friend, actress Juliette Maillot There's something in the water! News of Charlotte's relationship comes just a few months after her cousin Jazmin Grimaldi stepped out with her new boyfriend Ian Mellencamp (pictured) And it's not just family history that the rumored couple has in common; both Charlotte and Dimitri have children from previous relationships. While Charlotte has a three-year-old son, Raphael, with her former partner Gad Elmaleh, Dimitri has a six-year-old daughter from his marriage to Russian supermodel Masha Novoselova, whom he married in July 2010. Despite landing herself a new beau, however, Charlotte chose to attend the star-studded Rose Ball, which took place on Sunday evening, by herself, arriving at the event alongside mother Caroline, brother Pierre, and his wife Beatrice Borromeo. She was also seen grinning happily at the event while sharing a joke with childhood friend and actress Juliette Maillot. Family ties: Charlotte's brother Pierre looked loved-up at the Rose Ball, which he attended with his wife Beatrice Borromeo, just three weeks after she gave birth to their son The news of Charlotte's relationship comes just a few months after her cousin, Jazmin Grimaldi, stepped out for the first time with her new flame, model and musician Ian Mellencamp. Jazmin, who is the daughter of Prince Albert II of Monaco, is thought to have been dating Ian since the end of the last year; the pair have been pictured at several events together, in the past few months, including the 2016 Angel Ball in New York City in November. The California-based royal was then seen packing on the PDA with her boyfriend in West Hollywood just a few weeks ago, looking relaxed and carefree as she strolled through the streets of LA with Ian. Karen hopes the style will stay around and evolve into something 'wilder' Her clients loved the look and started wanting it themselves Owner Karen Lewis first trialed rainbow roots on her co-worker before clients Not many of us trust our hairdressers with a creative licence to just go wild on our precious tresses. But at Blondies of Melbourne it's possible to walk out with your roots dyed the colour of the rainbow. Salon owner Karen Lewis credits her clientele as the 'best in Melbourne' and spoke to FEMAIL about how rainbow roots may be here to stay. 'We have a pretty radical clientele who are always excited to try something new and push the limits,' she said. Scroll down for video Bianca, a client at Blondies Melbourne, shows off her new playful look with rainbow roots Peek-a-boo! Aylin's colourful hair roots peeks through the brunette 'These days it's more about choosing the wackiest colours and techniques for our clients as they have already tried everything.' 'I never imagined anyone would let us colour their whole head fluro yellow with neon rainbow ends.' According to Karen, the trend started in England at Bleach London salon and traveled to America before winding up in Australia just recently. 'Australia is just catching up. I think its a trend that hasn't quite taken off in Australia yet!' she said. Model Bianca's hair transformation journey from ash blonde to rainbow cool From brunette to bright! Model Aylin's hair journey shows off the vibrant colours One client chose an olive green colour for their hair choice, while another wanted a homage to Bowie by painting a Ziggy Stardust bolt on a shaved head. 'Whenever I see a new hair trend, even if I initially don't love the idea, always want to test it out finding ways to tweak it until I love it. Inspiration is everywhere,' Karen said. The trend kicked off in Karen's salon after trialing it on her co-worker. 'I initially coloured my co-workers hair with rainbow roots and was quite shocked how many customers loved her hair. She's my in-salon human mannequin head where I test new colours, products and techniques,' she said. It's also not just for the young and brave either, as many older women are adopting quirky hair styles. Aylin's brunette hair had to be bleached before the vibrant colours were added The colours are more vibrant in the roots but also fade into the rest of the hair over time Red and yellow and pink and green! Rainbow roots may be here to stay 'We have so many professional, eccentric mature ladies who love to let their hair be our canvas and absolutely rock it,' Karen said. 'We have ladies who put navy blue over their natural salt and pepper hair which turns the salt a bright blue against the dark pepper. We have ladies in their 50's chopping micro fringes and colouring them pastel colours.' Karen recommends visiting a salon that specialises in fashion colours and using professional products prescribed by your hairdresser to wash your hair. Cold water also prevents colours from bleeding and prolongs the vibrancy. Karen hopes the trend will stick around but guess there'll probably be something new coming. 'I'm sure it will evolve into something even wilder soon, as all hair trends seem to - and we will be ready to test the next trend!' A new app has been developed which connects sex workers, male and female, to users. Rendevu was founded by Reuben Coppa, from Sydney, in a bid to create a safe space for sex workers in NSW, and an Uber-style umbrella organisation under which to operate. FEMAIL spoke to Mr Coppa about Rendevu, and Mila Jovi, who runs a Sydney-based escort agency that uses the app. According to Ms Jovi, who has worked in the industry for 30 years, the app is a 'game changer' for safety within the sex industry. A new app has been developed which connects sex workers, male and female, to users (pictured) - Rendevu was founded in a bid to create a safe space for sex workers in NSW Rendevu was founded by Reuben Coppa (pictured) from Sydney; he speaks to FEMAIL about his idea to create an Uber-like umbrella organisation for sex workers For Mr Coppa, inspiration for the app came about late one night when he realised the difficulties within the sex industry: 'Clients and service providers can't connect at any time, and this doesn't happen in any other industry,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'Moving into the sex industry was a completely new move for me, but it's been eye-opening insofar as what we've noticed.' According to Mr Coppa, while there are plenty of clients who are looking for sex through Rendevu, there are also plenty of people who are increasingly focusing on a more emotional connection: 'Lots of people aren't after the more involved stuff - they want breakfast dates, a cuddle or a companionship appointment,' he said. 'Clients and service providers can't connect at any time, and this doesn't happen in any other industry,' Mr Coppa said of the sex industry - he said it's been eye-opening what he's learned Sydney-based escort agency manager, Mila Jovi (pictured), who uses the app, said that people are looking for sex less and more emotional connections According to Ms Jovi, the 'stigma' that comes with working in the sex industry is getting less and less taboo (stock image) Sydney-based escort agency manager, Mila Jovi, agrees with this point. 'Lots of the men and women on the app are looking for a connection they don't get at home,' she told FEMAIL. 'For some clients, even a brush on the cheek or a touch on the hand feels important. Sex is a very, very small part of the actual booking.' 'Lots of the men and women on the app are looking for a connection they don't get at home,' she told FEMAIL (pictured) - breakfast dates and companionship appointments are popular Ms Jovi said that she finds Rendevu a huge help because 'it takes the nasty surprise out of who is coming to visit you (stock image) Ms Jovi said that she finds Rendevu a help because 'it takes the nasty surprise out of who is coming to visit you. 'It's super safe, because everyone is vetted and customers have to put their credit card details into the app before they receive their booking. 'I had one case before Rendevu where one of my girls turned up and the client didn't have enough cash to pay. This eliminates all of that and makes safety not as big of a concern as it has been.' The Sydney-based founder added the app is also beneficial, insofar as it helps to promote a message: 'The stigma of being an escort is diminishing, it used to be so taboo to talk about it,' she said. Mr Coppa concluded: 'People never think about online security from the point of view of a sex industry worker. 'But they arguably need it more than any other professional. You can access Rendevu at RD.VU in your mobile browser. Hairdresser and swimwear owner Rhiannon Abrahams, a first time mum-to-be, is almost in her third trimester. But despite the regular bump shots and progress photos she's been updating her 189k Instagram followers with, she's been holding something back. According to the caption on Mrs Abrahams most recent photo the 26-year-old, who went viral for documenting her rhinoplasty surgery on Snapchat two years ago, she said she doesn't 'love' being pregnant. Rhiannon Abrahams, 26, admits that she felt it was 'wrong' not to love being pregnant but once she opened up to other mums she realised it's a normal reaction The hairdressing mum-to-be is pictured here at 14, 16 and 22 weeks along. She regularly posts bump shots to her Instagram following of 189,000 The photo shows the social media influencer at 26 weeks along and begins with: 'Honestly I don't 'love' being pregnant, all I want to say is "oh I love it it's so beautiful!" But it just doesn't feel that way (please don't get me wrong, I feel so grateful and blessed I can get pregnant) and I want nothing more than to love it, but I just don't. 'I don't like the changes, the hormones, the pain, not feeling as independent etc... 'I was afraid to say that to people because it seemed wrong and I'm a little afraid to be saying it on here as well, but when I started being honest with some other mums, they opened up and it made me feel a lot better and normal. It isn't all glowing skin around here... 'I almost felt like a bad mum already. If you are feeling this way you are not alone,' she said Mrs Abrahams, who recently celebrated a one year wedding anniversary with her husband, has been struggling with some of the side effects of being pregnant 'I almost felt like a bad mum already. If you are feeling this way, you are not alone, it's just not spoken about as much and all I'm doing now is sharing with you honestly about how I feel so hopefully I can make some other mums feel normal too. 'I'm jealous of women who love it. The only thing I love is the feeling of this baby, every time I feel a kick or movement it feels 100 percent worth it all and makes me so happy,' she finished. Mrs Abrahams, who recently celebrated a one year wedding anniversary with her husband, has been struggling with some of the side effects of being pregnant. The stunning mum-to-be has been asking her followers for advice on everything from what maternity clothes they would suggest to purchasing a pram Getting real online: 'Don't be fooled by the "glowing" far away pregnancy shots,' she wrote on Instagram 'Don't be fooled by the "glowing" far away pregnancy shots.' 'My veins are pumping and on full show. Everywhere. I shave and the next day it's all spiky again. My skin has gone from pimples, lumps and bumps everywhere to dry patches. 'I sneeze and wet myself a little and haven't even had bubs yet. I could go on forever. 'We put up photos of ourselves when we feel good but as an "influencer" I wanted to share some pregnancy up close shots too. 'I'm feeling so lucky to not be sick or exhausted anymore though. What a relief,' she wrote on Instagram 'I'm feeling so lucky to not be sick or exhausted anymore though. What a relief,' she wrote on Instagram. The 26-year-old traveled to Thailand in 2015 to get a nose job but she was very open with fans about how long she's wanted to have the procedure done. She spent weeks in Bangkok healing after the surgery and shared videos on Snapchat to update her friends and family on the progress. Her now-husband was by her side during the majority of the trip. An average of one woman a week is killed at the hands of her partner in Australia, and domestic violence victims are urging the government to do more. Kay Schubach, a domestic abuse survivor and ambassador for Domestic Violence NSW, has joined a campaign launched by Take 5 magazine, which calls for 'violent abusers at high risk of reoffending' to be fitted with a tracking device. An online petition explains the victim would then carry a device with them, which would be used to receive a call from a monitoring centre if their abuser came within a pre-set distance. Kay Schubach, an ambassador for Domestic Violence NSW, has called for a national rollout of GPS tracking for abusers In 2008, Spain gave judges the power to order men to wear tracking devices to ensure they comply with restraining orders, reported GPS Daily. For women like Kay Schubach, a monitoring device would have been life changing. Ms Schubach twice applied for an Apprehended Violence Order against her abusive ex Simon Monteiro, who was then known as Simon Lowe, and twice dropped it, fearing his retribution. 'The first time I got an AVO against him, I came home to find him in our apartment - and he knew exactly what I'd done,' she told Take Five. 'He calmly wrote my parents' address on a piece of paper. 'It sent a chill down my spine. I'd never told him where my parents live.' The technology, which has been previously introduced in Spain, ensures abusers do not breach contact orders with their victims (stock image) When Ms Schubach met Simon, she found him 'charming and funny'. It was not until the pair moved in together that she discovered 'a cutting side to his personality'. 'He often pushed me around, and one night in the car, he cracked,' she explained. '"You're always staring at other men" he roared. He wrapped his fist in his jacket so he wouldn't leave a mark and then punched the side of my head.' Though friends told her to get out of the relationship, she found trying to escape just left her more vulnerable. Another time, she had come home with police officers to pack up her belongings and leave, but later found out he had been nearby waiting for her to be alone. Ms Schubach explained how she had been intimidated into dropping an AVO when her ex found her (stock image) 'I found out later that Simon was circling the block, like a shark circling his prey, waiting for police to leave before he could attack me,' she said. For women in similar situations, a tracker, which is also programmed to contact authorities when the abuser breaches a restraining order, could change the story completely. Ms Schubach is a huge advocate for the trackers, and says: 'I fully support GPS anklets for offenders who have an AVO out on them, or as part of parole.' 'Far too many women have died at the hands of their abusers. Enough is enough.' Read more: The campaign is featured in Take 5 magazine Though the technology has been rolled out around the world, Australia is yet to implement it. According to the petition, New South Wales is taking steps towards bringing it in. 'The NSW government is currently leading the way on GPS tracking with a system being trialled which has the option to alert victims, as well as police, when an abuser breaches a pre-set radius,' it says. In June last year, the State Government pledged $2.9million to the GPS program for high-risk offenders over four years. Last month in Queensland, opposition leader Tim Nicholls proposed introducing the technology throughout the state. You can sign the petition here National domestic violence helpline: 1800 737 732 or 1800RESPECT. In an emergency call triple-zero. Bobbie Rutland had already decided she was going to get her tubes tied when she got the surprise of her life. The mother-of-four was pregnant - this time with triplets. 'I laughed at first, and then I cried,' the 31-year-old told Daily Mail Australia about the day she received the news. 'And then I laughed some more, and then I cried some more.' Bobbie Rutland (pictured with Emma and Cooper) had already decided she was going to get her tubes tied when she got the surprise of her life - she was pregnant with triplets 'I laughed at first, and then I cried,' the 31-year-old told Daily Mail Australia about the day she received the news,' she said (pictured: Bobbie - who is unable to use most forms of contraception - had been so sick during the first 12 weeks of her pregnancy that her husband, Shane Sutherland, joked that she might be having twins. The Western Australia mum had been nervous when she first found out she was pregnant again, but also excited that her youngest would have a sibling so close in age. But when she and Shane heard those three distinct heartbeats, the couple couldn't help but also feel a little scared of their growing family. And the triplets made sure that their arrival into the world would be just as surprising as the news of their existence. The Western Australia mum had been nervous when she first found out she was pregnant again (pictured), but also excited her youngest would have a sibling so close in age But when she and Shane heard those three distinct heartbeats, the couple couldn't help but also feel a little scared of their growing family (pictured with Emma and Charlie) Bobbie was ordered to take bed rest in the hospital for two weeks after she began having contractions at the 28-week mark. Just a day after she was finally able to go back home and rest, the contractions began again. By 8pm that Tuesday night Bobbie and Shane knew she was in labour and so rushed to the nearest hospital, in Armadale. Jeanine Vlyminck, the same midwife who had delivered Bobbie's one-year-old son, requested that the couple be transferred to a specialist hospital. By 9pm on March 7 all three triplets had been welcomed into the world, 10 weeks before they were due (pictured: Emma and Charlie) But she immediately realised there wasn't enough time and called for an emergency caesarean. Twenty minutes after she went into labour, Bobbie was giving birth. By 9pm on March 7 all three triplets had been welcomed into the world, 10 weeks before they were due. There was one boy, Cooper, weighing 1.4 kilos, and daughters Emma and Charlie, weighing 1.2 kilos and 1.3 kilos respectively. Bobbie said all three babies are now doing 'fantastic'. 'They're all above their birth weight and just came out of their incubators yesterday and are in the little cots,' she said. 'They're doing absolutely fabulous.' Bobbie said all three babies are now doing 'fantastic'; she added that 'having seven of them is going to be an experience!' The babies will stay in hospital until they gain enough weight to go home and join their their 11-year-old sister and brothers aged nine, eight and one. Bobbie said her children can't wait to see the triplets, who they have not yet been able to meet as Cooper, Emma and Charlie are still in the NICU. But the mum-of-seven is 'excited' for the big family to come together. 'I'm scared, obviously, bringing three babies home instead of one, but I'm excited.' 'Just being able to spend time with all of the kids, obviously having seven of them is going to be an experience!,' she added. Although she is going to have her hands very, very full, Bobbie has made sure to book an appointment to get her tubes tied once and for all. 'I do not intend on having any more children,' she said. 'Seven children is more than enough!' The family are raising money for their family of nine on GoFundMe. You can donate here. The Countess of Wessex brought a touch of glamour to an army headquarters today as she toured a new accommodation block. Sophie 52, met with soldiers at the Army Headquarters in Andover where she was shown around servicemen and women's bedrooms and visited the Officers' Mess. While her hosts for the day were clad in their camouflage uniforms, the royal, who is married to Prince Edward, oped for head-to-toe pink and towering court heels. Scroll down for video The Countess of Wessex arrives at Army HQ, Andover, where she opened and toured a new accommodation block and visited the Officers' Mess The Queen's daughter-in-law wore an oversized pale pink jacket with on-trend flared sleeves, which she teamed with a berry-coloured pencil skirt, topping off her ultra-feminine look with a large sparkling brooch. She seemed particularly taken with ex-Army explosive search dog Milly who she met in the leopard print-covered dorm of Major Joanna Gillies of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. The royal also shared a giggle with Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, Nigel Atkinson as the pair admired a picture in the dorm entitled Dogs' Mess. Sophie meets Major Joanna Gillies (right) of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps and her Ex Army Explosive search Dog Milly in their accommodation, decked out in leopard print bedding A touch of glamour: While her hosts for the day were clad in their camouflage uniforms, the royal oped for head-to-toe pink, pointed court heels, a clutch bag and a sparkling brooch The Countess of Wessex meets Lieutenant General Nicholas Pope, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, at Army HQ, Andover, who showed her around the venue Puppy love: Sophie seemed particularly taken with ex-Army explosive search dog Milly who she met in the dorm of Major Joanna Gillies of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps Sophie unveils a plaque to open the Oudenarde Officer's Mess accommodation at Army HQ. She teamed her ultra-girly look with pointed stiletto courts and a beige clutch bag Sophie and The Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, Nigel Atkinson admire a picture entitled 'Dogs' Mess' on the wall inside the accommodation of Major Joanna Gillies at Army HQ The royal shares a giggle as she chats to personnel inside the Officers' Mess, where she unveiled a plaque to commemorate its opening on Thursday Sophie, carrying a large beige clutch, unveiled a plaque to open the vOfficer's Mess accommodation at the Hampshire HQ. Sophie, who is mother to James, Viscount Severn, nine, and Lady Louise Windsor, 13 wasn't the only royal out and about today following Wednesday's terror attacks in London. The Duchess helped to launch a mental health in London, while the Queen cancelled an engagement at New Scotland Yard amid security fears. They already have their hands full with their 11-month-old son, Prince Alexander, but Sofia and Carl Philip are ready to embrace parenthood all over again. The couple announced that Sofia, 32, is already pregnant with their second child, due in September 2017. In an official statement on the Swedish Royal Court's website, the couple said: 'We are happy to announce that we are expecting a child, a sibling to Prince Alexander. 'We are looking forward to welcoming a new little member to our family.' Scroll down for video Princess Sofia of Sweden, 32, and her husband Carl Philip, 37, are expecting sibling for their son Prince Alexander The statement also confirmed that Sofia would continue with her scheduled engagements as planned throughout the spring and summer of 2017. Their happy news comes just 11 months after the birth of the couple's first child Prince Alexander who arrived in April 2016. He was born weighing at 7lbs 9oz. and measuring 19.3 inches long at Danderyds Hospital in Stockholm. Hours after the birth, Carl Philip held a press conference at the hospital to announce the new arrival. Proud expectant parents! The couple, pictured together last Friday, are looking forward to welcoming their second child The happy family is set to welcome a new member in September this year 'When asked if he had cried during the birth, the prince replied, according to People magazine: 'Yes, actually. Of course. Couldn't stop. 'For me and my wife, this is obviously a great day with a lot of emotion. Words cannot describe.' Former glamour model Sofia Hellqvist married the prince last June. The elegant brunette is known for her infectious gap-toothed smile and easygoing ways. They dated for five years before walking down the aisle and now live together in the upmarket Djurgarden district of Stockholm. The proud parents with their son Alexander. Sofia is set to continue with her scheduled engagements throughout the spring and summer They married in the royal palace's chapel, with the bride wearing a lace wedding dress created by local designer Ida Sjostedt. But thanks to Princess Sofia's reality TV and glamour modelling past, Carl Philip's choice of wife initially proved controversial. The now Duchess of Varmland's first shoot aged 20 saw her posing topless in a pair of camouflage print bikini bottoms and clutching a snake to preserve her modesty. The stunning couple beam with happiness on their wedding day in June 2015 Unsurprisingly, when news of Carl Philip's new relationship emerged in 2010, the Swedish Royal Family were initially put 'on the defensive' as sources revealed at the time. Since then, however, Sofia has gone out of her way to tone down her image. Meanwhile Carl Philip has hit the headlines for antics of his own - not least his infamous 'wild summer' of 2012, during which he hit the Swedish party scene wearing an alien mask, and hitchhiked to a motoring competition after losing his Gucci wallet, going on to crash his car in the first race. Being a member of the Spanish royal family, she is used to turning heads wherever she goes. Queen Letizia certainly stood out as she attended the Portuguese League Against Cancer conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Porto, Portugal today. The royal arrived wearing a striking crimson coat, which she later removed to reveal a red floral patterned dress by Carolina Herrera. She teamed the outfit with nude heels by Lodi, but added an extra splash of colour by carrying an Uterque quilted handbag in clashing pink. Queen Letizia of Spain, above, arrives at 7th European Conference "Tobacco or Health" in Porto Her knee-length fitted dress showed off the royal's slim physique to full effect and featured a keyhole detail at the neckline. Her outerwear, which matched the red carpet she walked on, complimented her dress and made her stand out in between the men in their dark suits. The Queen kept her jewellery to a minimum with a pair of silver earrings and had her hair swept back in a sophisticated up-do for the event in Portugal. The purpose of today conference is to encourage people to embrace healthier lifestyles through stricter tobacco control policies. The Spanish royal wrapped up warm in a knee-length wool coat and stood out from the crowds in the bright scarlet colour HM The Queen Letizia of Spain looked animated as she made a speech at the event today With her hands placed firmly on the podium in front of her, the Queen made sure to keep her eyes on the crowd in front of her The royal was there to talk about the event's aims to mobilise people to improve health through tobacco control policies both in Europe and worldwide The seventh European Conference Tobacco or Health (ECTOH) website states that 'as the burden of tobacco in Europe and in the world is still enormous, it is of utmost importance that tobacco control remains our top priority. 'The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is the main guidance for tobacco control officers all over the world. 'But years after its approval and ratification there is still room for improvement and new boundaries must be settled! The Queen kept her jewellery to a minimum with a pair of silver earrings and had her hair swept back in a sophisticated up-do for the event in Portugal Wearing a pretty floral dress, Letizia spoke to the room and made sure to get her points across clearly Queen Letizia of Spain speaks with the Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo De Sousa Spain's Queen Letizia (R) chats with Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (L) as they leave the 7th ECToH Conference on Tobacco or Health 'What we need, besides broad implementation of comprehensive tobacco control policies and smoking cessation programs throughout Europe, is solidarity for health. This is a change for all of us.' The conference today saw policy makers, scientists, health educators, advisory officers and health professionals - as well as the Spanish royal - involved in tobacco control. Queen Letizia made a speech in the opening session this morning and made time to greet the rest of the guests in attendance. The Queen and Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa appeared to be happy to be seated next to one another at the event As the pair made their way through the crowds, they stopped to shake hands with some of the attendees Spain's Queen Letizia (C), Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (L) and president of the Portuguese League Against Cancer, Vitor Veloso (R) The mother-of-two looked pleased to be meeting the guests and took her time to speak to some of them Queen Letizia waves as she leaves the 7th ECToH Conference on Tobacco or Health The 44-year-old royal has had a busy week after she spent Tuesday at another official engagement. She attended a meeting for Royal Board on Disability in the Spanish capital and met with board members and Health Minister, Dolors Montserrat. Queen Letizia is part of the council of the Royal Board for Disability and has long worked to improve the life of those with physical and mental problems. The Spanish royal was wearing a knee-length fitted white dress for the occasion which showed off her slim physique The floral dress featured a keyhole design and had black piping across the front and down the sleeves She complimented the outfit with a chain linked pink cross-body bag and wore a pair of high court shoes The Queen made sure she soaked up the cold Spring-like weather in a floral-printed dress Letizia kept herself wrapped up in a thick wool scarlet coat which matched the red carpet she walked on The Queen was looked after at the event and stayed close to Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Smiling, the Queen stuck out her hand to greet those waiting for her to arrive at the conference The conference today saw policy makers, scientists, health educators, advisory officers and health professionals - as well as the Spanish royal - involved in tobacco control Women have shared their most annoying experiences of 'mansplaining' - including being told how to pronounce their own name and how to use a tampon. The Twitter conversation started after journalist Tracy Clayton revealed that a Lyft driver had attempted to mansplain the concept of an airport terminal to her. When she invited others to share their 'most infuriating' examples of the phenomenon of men giving patronizing information to women she was inundated with thousands of responses. Patronized: Thousands of women shared their most infuriating experiences of 'mansplaining' online after US journalist Tracy Clayton wrote about it on Twitter, pictured Mansplained: One woman, pictured, claimed that a man told her how to 'correctly insert a tampon' Condescending: Another US journalist, pictured, said a man tried to explain her own article to her Over 4,000 people replied to her tweet- including a strong male contingent who complained about the concept of mansplaining. Charleyy Hodson, a British gaming journalist, said: 'How to correctly insert a tampon. No, this person was not a doctor.' Another woman, from Puerto Rico, said she was patronized by a man inside her own shop. Inundated: When Clayton invited others to join in the conversation over 4,000 people shared their experiences of being patronized by men Sexism: One woman, pictured, was patronized by a man in her own shop Furious: Another woman, pictured, from California, said a man tried to mansplain young girls' behavior in order to defend pedophilia 'The difference between a screw and a nail in my own hardware store,' wrote @a_cristina1318. Vox reporter Aja Romano said: 'I once had a friend mansplain to my roommate how to correctly pronounce her own name bc [sic] he thought she was doing it wrong.' Another woman, from California, said a man tried to mansplain young girls' behavior in order to defend pedophilia. Under attack: This Canadian journalist said a man criticized her for her for allegedly misusing the word 'indie' Rude: Aja Romano, whose tweet is pictured, was outraged when her friend tried to correct her roommate's pronunciation of her own name Hot topic: Over 4,000 people replied to her tweet- including a strong male contingent who complained about the concept of mansplaining 'Explained to me the sexual deviancy, motivations and curiosities of young girls in an attempt to justify/excuse pedophilia,' wrote @TeniNdidi. Canadian journalist Anna Fitzpatrick said: 'In college my friends and I ran an indie mag out of our editor's apartment and a guy said I was using the word "indie" wrong.' Olivia Nuzzi, a journalist for New York magazine, said a man once tried to explain one of her own articles to her. Toefoot said: Clara, I think you miss the point. This situation was preventable but current policy aloud it to happen. Sure we have crime but why import and promote more? The parents of this young lady along with other family members are left to pick up the pieces and many times will not be successful. Click to expand... This is so interesting. Rapes every day--a culture of rape. College campuses and date rape. Military rapes. Children assaulted. Sex trafficking. 1 in 6 women will be raped this year.....and WHEN does the RW bring it up--talk about it---throw it on the table??? When it's an illegal doing the dirty deed....that's when.It is you and your amigos who have missed the point. It is every parent, in every situation who's left to pick up the pieces.I'm happy to have this discussion or debate or whatever, but stop the stereotyping. According to you and the White House, there are 11 million people in this country who are pariahs, criminals who menace American neighborhoods, take American jobs, sap American resources and exploit American generosity. They are rapists and murderers and lazy good for nothings.Here's a statistic, although I'm sure you aren't interested in facts/data: 60% of the 'unauthorized' population has been in this country for 10 years or more. 2.7% have been convicted of a felony.Should we compare that to American born inmates? 90+% are young men. Most are black and poor. Many are drug dealers, car thieves and yes rapists. So if you want to talk, let's discuss the whole incarceration problem, not just your political football, kicking around undocumented immigrants. Parenthood can be messy business - but that doesn't mean it can't also be tons of fun. It's both of these realities that a Texas family were able to combine into one fun photo shoot, when some issues with the weather inspired a bit of muddy mischief. Jon and Brittany Barton of Waxahachie recently hired photographer Elaine Baca of Lane B Photography to photograph their soon-to-be-expanding family in an outdoor maternity shoot. Fun in the mud: Jon and Brittany Barton of Waxahachie, Texas, jumped in the mud with their two sons for a heartwarming maternity shoot Getting bigger: Brittany was 38 weeks pregnant at the time of the shoot with a little brother for sons Declan, four, and Noah, two But when it came to the day of the event, Jon, Brittany and their two children, four-year-old Declan and two-year-old Noah, found themselves in a bit of a mess. Speaking to Huffington Post, photographer Elaine explained that the family had been trying to schedule the shoot for some time, and had been forced to cancel a couple appointments. The weather seemed to not be letting up, but the couple were insistent that the photos be taken outside. Getting to it: The family had been forced to reschedule the shoot a number of times because of the bad weather The plan: Despite the weather setbacks, the couple insisted that the shoot be done outdoors Eureka! Elaine Baca of Lane B Photography came up with the idea for the family to embrace the weather with a mud fight Joining in: Upon hearing the idea, the family enthusiastically agreed 'Brittany was quickly approaching the end of her pregnancy - so we knew he might come any day,' she said. That's when Elaine had an idea. Why not use the bad weather to their advantage? 'They have a huge backyard which backs up to a field and I knew it had lots of muddy puddles, so I asked her what she thought about playing in the rain and ending with a mud fight,' said Elaine. Not holding back: The family hurled clumps of mud right at each other during the shoot Just a touch: Brittany gave birth to her and Jon's third son, named Matthew, just three days after they did the shoot Happy days: The resulting images show the pure and genuine fun being had by the family Cleaning up: At the end of the shoot, dad busted out the hose and gave the boys a shower The family wholeheartedly agreed, and the result is a series of photos packed with genuine family fun. They hurled clumps of mud at each other, smeared it on one another's clothes and even took out the hose at the end. 'Declan was worried about getting his white shirt muddy so it took some convincing before he started having fun,' said Elaine. 'The boys still talk about how much fun they had.' Just nine days after the shoot happened, Brittany welcomed her third son, named Matthew. This is the week when children have been busy making their Mothers Day cards folding, sticking, colouring, sprinkling glitter, and shaping careful letters which say a heartfelt: Thank you Mum, or I love you Mum. Or maybe the message is: Im sorry for being naughty, and theyll draw a smiley face. Perhaps Dad or Gran will take them to buy a proper card or even a harmless jokey one to make Mum smile. (This year, Mum, we decided not to bring you breakfast in bed to keep your kitchen nice and clean!) The ritual of card-sending matters and there are greetings cards for all tastes. But unfortunately, theres a depressing growth in cards designed for people with no taste at all. People who would rather use a foul expletive than express anything resembling a true feeling. There's been a depressing growth of 'edgy' cards designed for people with no taste at all I cant be alone in thinking this tendency cuts to the heart of what our valued, ancient traditions are about. Mothering Sunday is not a modern commercial construct. Its origins are old and rooted in religion the fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday, was when people would return to visit their mother church in their birthplace, or the cathedral. It is a day steeped in family duty: domestic servants got time off to see their mothers. Yes, it is sacred, if you like. Yet that precious idea seems to be repugnant in a world where card manufacturers compete to come up with the vilest products. And it seems there are people who actually want to buy them. But which people? Who would want to send a card to Mum which says: Im sorry Im the reason you have to cross your legs each time you sneeze? Or, in the same nasty vein, but cruder: Mum I am so sorry that you now p*** yourself every time you sneeze. Is that really supposed to be funny? The idea seems to be that card manufacturers compete to come up with the vilest moments And what about this uplifting sentiment: Mum there are millions of vaginas in the world, but Im so happy I fell out of yours. Or the determinedly anti-sentimental: Happy Mothers Day and all that b******s? There are others in which even the most appealing sentiment that of gratitude is debased by the intrusion of crude violence: Thanks Mum for being my Mum. If I had a different Mum I would so punch her in the face and come to find you. I have only one word: why? Sometimes it feels as if every decent, sincere human emotion must be twisted into something tawdry. Why cant you tell your mother how much you value her without adding a random obscenity, such as: You are the best f*****g Mum ever? I can imagine some young man feeling pleased with himself for sending this, but would his mother truly be proud to display it on her mantelpiece? Would she really think the crudeness cool? In some cards the most appealing sentiment is debased by the intrusion of crude violence If you dare question whats tasteless and tacky or edgy like those fashionable but foul-mouthed comedians who are given so much airtime some people accuse you of lacking a sense of humour, or of being narrow-minded. You dont have to buy them, they say, as if thats a reason for these products to exist in the first place. As for the card manufacturers, they insist there is a huge demand for profanity. Sometimes, I admit, a swear word or two can be amusing. Earlier this year, my husband spotted a card which we sent to my best friend, to mock her refusal to fly anything other than business or first class. The card showed an elegant, Fifties-type model, with the caption: Do I look like I fly f*****g economy? The nudge in the ribs is essential to British comedy but the trend for obscene cards defines all that's worst in our society It made her long-suffering husband choke on his muesli, and she laughed her socks off too. Theres nothing wrong with a bit of amiable rudery every now and again, especially when your sense of humour is shared. I love old seaside postcards with double entendres, and have some originals framed. The nudge in the ribs is essential to the British comedy tradition: think the knowing innocence of Morecambe and Wise, which never relied on four-letter words. But the trend for obscene cards defines all thats worst in our society, cheapening cherished emotions. So hurrah for those who speak out. This year, a popular High Street stationery chain was forced to withdraw sleazy Valentines Day cards from its top shelf (theres a thought Paperchase having a top shelf). When I tell you We go together like my penis and your vagina was one of the least offensive of these, youll get the idea. This year one popular High Street stationery chain was forced to withdraw sleazy Valentine's Day cards from its top shelf For some people, romance is not just dead, but stamped into the dirt. Last week, card retailer Scribbler announced it was introducing a PG sticker warning that it stocks cards of an adult nature. I guess its progress. We may not have to buy these cards, but we dont have to put up with them either. We should let retailers know our feelings. And my advice to somebody who thinks his/her mother would appreciate a card with a repulsive message is to get out the paper and felt-tips and make your own, like children do. It might make you think twice about what your Mum really means to you. Mothers are giving up breastfeeding because they are too embarrassed, dont want to be tied down and fear babies arent getting enough milk. Figures from more than 152,000 British women show that less than half 45 per cent still give their babies breast milk at two months. The NHS recommends that babies are exclusively breastfed for the first six months and after that given a combination of breast milk and food for about a year. But latest statistics from the Governments quarterly survey show only 30 per cent of babies aged six to eight weeks were given solely breast milk. Mothers are giving up breastfeeding because they are too embarrassed, dont want to be tied down and fear babies arent getting enough milk. Stock image Another 15 per cent of the 152,169 women who completed the questionnaire said they were partially breastfeeding at that stage and giving babies some formula milk. Britain has the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. A Lancet study in January showed only 0.5 per cent of UK babies are still given breast milk after a year compared with 23 per cent in Germany, 56 per cent in Brazil and 99 per cent in Senegal, West Africa. To try to establish the reasons for this, Public Health England carried out a separate survey on 500 new mothers. Nearly two thirds 63 per cent said they would be worried about breastfeeding in front of strangers while 44 per cent were wary of doing so with friends. Fifty-four per cent said they were concerned their babies were getting too little or too much milk, while 51 per cent claimed breastfeeding would tie them down and prevent them doing what they want when it came to work, family or friends. And 71 per said breastfeeding would prevent them drinking alcohol. Women are advised to have no more than one or two drinks whilst breastfeeding as the alcohol can get into their milk. Figures from more than 152,000 British women show that less than half 45 per cent still give their babies breast milk at two months. Stock image The survey did not establish whether mothers gave up breastfeeding for these reasons. But it does shed light on why UK breastfeeding rates are low despite the clear health benefits for mother and baby. Jacque Gerrard, Royal College of Midwives director for England, said: Getting infant feeding right will help give newborn babies the best possible start in life. Women need all the support they can get, particularly first time mothers. It is important that midwives and maternity support workers continue to promote breastfeeding. Any initiative that goes towards helping mothers start and sustain breastfeeding for longer is positive, as we know the health benefits from being breastfed last a lifetime. Public Health England chief nurse Viv Bennett said: Breastfeeding, while natural, is something that all mums and their babies learn by doing. We can all help women feel comfortable. Breast milk contains antibodies passed on from the mother that boost a babys immune system and help it fight infections and viruses. There is also evidence that breastfed babies have higher IQs and are less at risk of obesity formula milk is higher in fat. Breastfeeding is beneficial for the mother and enables her to bond with the newborn. It also enables her to lose weight, as nursing mothers burn up to 500 calories a day extra. The spending habits of overweight shoppers is influenced by images of thin people. That's the finding of new research which claims even subtle visual references can trigger retail splurges and cause consumer debt. It reinforces the long-standing argument that marketeers actively manipulate customers by targeting their insecurities, especially health-related ones. Retail therapy: Experts in the US conducted tests on shoppers with a higher BMI Index reading The data, published in the Journal of Consumer Research on Thursday, was compiled from two studies by Colorado State University and the University of Kentucky. In the first, consumers were shown an object with a thin, human-like shape. Those participants were more likely to buy a higher-priced bottle of Fiji water than a lower-priced, generic-brand bottle. Insecurities: Thin images made fat people feel less capable of their abilities, including managing their spending impulses GENDER HEALTH GAP Liver cancer rates are projected to rise by 38% in the UK between 2014 and 2035. This will increase to 15 cases per 100,000 people. Currently, 1 in 105 men will be diagnosed with the disease during their lifetime, while the rate is 1 in 195 for women. Overall, men are 16 per cent more likely to get cancer than women. They are also 40 per cent more likely to die from it. SOURCE: CANCER RESEARCH UK Advertisement In the second, high-BMI consumers were more willing to take on credit card debt after seeing a thin shape because they felt less capable of their abilities, including managing their spending impulses. 'Marketers have long used slender models, forms, and designs to promote economic and social benefits,' say the study's authors, Marisabel Romero and Adam Craig. 'However, their design decisions might lead overweight consumers, who lack identification with idealised standards, to make more indulgent spending decisions. 'We demonstrate that seeing a thin (vs. wide) human-like shape leads high-body-mass-index consumers to make more indulgent spending decisions. 'Our studies confirm that body shapes are powerful cues that can influence consumer spending preferences,' the authors conclude.' If you're feeling unhappy you should probably book yourself into a spiritual retreat. Filled with meditation, the trendy getaway designed to reset someone's daily life can improve your mood within a week, new research suggests. Scientists claim the peaceful practice increases levels of feel-good chemicals to the brain, allowing many to feel spiritual. After taking brain scans of a handful of participants, US researchers found they had higher amounts of dopamine and serotonin. Filled with meditation, a spiritual retreat can improve your mood in a week, research suggests The former is responsible for mediating cognition, emotion and movement. While serotonin is involved in regulation and mood. Thomas Jefferson University researchers recruited 14 Christians to attend an Ignatian retreat based solely around spiritual exercise. These forms of getaways are based on the exercises developed by St Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. After going to morning mass, they spent most of their day in silent contemplation, according to the study in the journal Religion, Brain & Behavior. Alongside their reflection time and prayers they had the chance to attend a daily meeting with a spiritual director for extra guidance. The researchers asked the participants to complete a range of surveys about their mental state after the week-long retreat. Scientists claim that the peaceful practice increases levels of feel-good chemicals to the brain, allowing many to feel spiritual MINDFULNESS REALLY DOES REDUCE STRESS Mindfulness really does help to reduce stress levels, US scientists found earlier this year. The philosophy holds that the worries of everyday life can be eased by paying attention to the present. Researchers found this mindset, along with some light stretching, lowered stress levels far more than typical stress management techniques. An eight-week course of mindfulness was found to lower levels of stress hormones which can lead to high blood pressure. Advertisement Not only were there emotional benefits, but they found significant improvements in their perceived physical health, tension and fatigue. Study author Andrew Newberg said: 'Our study showed significant changes in dopamine and serotonin transporters after the seven-day retreat. 'It helps us understand why these practices result in powerful, positive emotional experiences.' But the researchers are unsure if there is a certain aspect of a spiritual retreat that helps to boost wellbeing. Dr Newberg added: 'In some ways, our study raises more questions than it answers. Hopefully, future studies can answer these questions.' They're some of the youngest victims of America's opioid epidemic - and they're only toddlers. Studies have found that fatalities in the number of children, younger than age five, from the deadly drug have steadily climbed over the last 10 years. Scientists say the curious kids find the drugs in their mother's purse or on the floor and accidentally ingest them. In 2000, 14 children in the US under age five died after ingesting opioids. By 2015, that number climbed climbed to 51, according to the CDC. Each family who loses a toddler to opioids confronts a death that probably could have been prevented. Here are a few of those stories: MYSTERY SURROUNDS METHADONE DEATH OF BIRTHDAY GIRL Cataleya Wimberly had just celebrated her first birthday surrounded by pink balloons, a cake, and family and friends. Three weeks later, the toddler from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was dead. Cataleya Wimberly (pictured on her first birthday) died three weeks after her birthday party after accidentally ingesting methadone at a relative's house In February 2016, her mother, Helen Jackson, was styling her older daughter's hair when she got a phone call from Cataleya's father, with whom she shared custody. He sobbed on the phone as he explained how he found their daughter unresponsive that morning. 'I screamed so hard and so loud,' Helen said. 'The screams that came out of me took all my strength, all my wind. It was just terrible.' As police investigated the death, they looked into whether Cataleya was smothered by her father and his girlfriend or if she was poisoned by carbon monoxide. Toxicology tests eventually revealed methadone - an opioid used to treat pain - in her system. Helen said her daughter, while in the care of her father, was at a relative's house when she swallowed the drug that took her life. Police are still investigating how the one-year-old got a hold of it. While friends and family say they admire Helen's strength, she says she feels fragile and weak in reality. 'I don't know when I'm going to fall apart,' she said. 'I don't know when I'm going to explode. It's all still in there.' MOTHER'S ILLEGAL PRESCRIPTION WAS FATAL FOR DAUGHTER Back in February 2014, two-year-old Londyn Robinson Sack was found dead after ingesting an opioid known as Suboxone that was packaged in the form of a dissolving strip. Two-year-old Londyn Robinson Sack, of Terryville, Connecticut, died after getting hold of an opioid, known as Suboxone, that was illegally obtained by her mother The drug, used to treat opioid dependence, was obtained illegally by her mother, Rebekah Robinson. Robinson apparently knew her daughter had ingested the opioid but did not call for medical help, according to prosecutors. It was an older sibling who called 911 to say her little sister was not breathing. Robinson, of Terryville, Connecticut, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and risk of injury to a child. She entered a plea in which she did not accept or deny responsibility for the charges, but agreed to accept punishment. In June 2016, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 10 years of probation. Londyn's grandmother, Shauna Etheredge, said the toddler was a little girl full of life who was protective of her little brother, Liam, and loved to make people laugh. 'She would put underwear on her head and act goofy and silly,' Shauna said. 'She loved to explore.' Shauna said one of her lasting memories of her grandchild was a visit to the local park. 'The last time I saw her, she was running around and trying to catch up with the birds,' she said. METHADONE LEFT LYING AROUND IN A CUP CAUSED DEATH OF 'LIL REG' Little Reginald Harris Jr was described by his family as wise beyond his years despite being just two years old. 'If he was talking to his mom, you would think he was five or six years old,' said his great-uncle Calvin Harris, of Portland, Oregon. 'If you would talk to him, you would engage in a full conversation. It was hilarious for his age.' Reginald died in October 2016 after accidentally swallowing methadone. A warning from Portland police shortly followed saying the case was a reminder to keep all prescription drugs away from children. Reginald Harris Jr, two, from Portland, Oregon, was at his uncle's house when he ingested methadone left lying around in a cup Blame fell on Reginald's uncle, Willie Harris Jr, who currently sits behind bars - accused of leaving methadone in a cup accessible to his nephew. He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter. The tot, whose family affectionately called him 'Lil' Reg', was remembered as a precocious kid who would say 'crazy things'. His grandmother, Pamela Harris said she wants to remember how her grandson lived, such as his joy when the family made plans to visit his favorite hangout, a Chuck E Cheese restaurant with a kid-friendly menu and games. She said his death was almost too much to bear. 'Now I've got a grandson that's not here and a son that's being charged,' Pamela said. 'I couldn't breathe. It was like I was being smothered.' A SEPARATION by Katie Kitamura (Clerkenwell 12.99) A SEPARATION by Katie Kitamura (Clerkenwell 12.99) The narrator of this third novel by critically acclaimed Katie Kitamura is a young woman recently separated from her philandering husband Christopher. So far they have not yet made their parting public, choosing not to tell anyone until matters are finalised. She has moved in with another man and begun a new life when she hears from Isabella, Christophers mother who doesnt know of their estrangement that he has gone missing in a remote area of Greeces Peloponnese. She agrees to go and look for him and flies into a mystery. Her author husband left his hotel on a short trip to carry out research for a book he is writing. He intended to return and his room remains intact with his belongings, including his laptop, still there. Probing his final days, our heroine discovers Christopher had at least two sexual flings during his brief stay and, as this taut, finely written and disturbing story climaxes, she begins to realise that in spite of their years together, she really didnt know this man very well at all. LARCHFIELD by Polly Clark (riverrun 14.99) LARCHFIELD by Polly Clark (riverrun 14.99) In 1930, hard-up, 23-year-old, about-to-be published poet W. H. Auden took up a post as teacher at Larchfield, a decaying boys prep school in Helensburgh, a Scottish seaside town. Prize-winning poet Polly Clark lived there for a time, and felt isolated and miserable, especially after having a baby. The two things come together here in twin narratives. There is Audens two-year teaching stint, exiled from cultural and intellectual life as he tries often hilariously to have some beneficial effect upon his wretched pupils. This is interwoven with the struggles of present-day poet and incomer to Helensburgh, Dora, who has post-natal depression a condition not helped by her husband going off to work, leaving her alone, except for the couple upstairs who devote themselves to God and to driving her mad. Both threads are absorbing, and this is a book one doesnt want to put down. It falters only when past and present stories merge and Dora starts hanging out with Auden, presumably a delusion, but unconvincing and unnecessary. THE LONGEST NIGHT by Otto de Kat (MacLehose Press 14.99) THE LONGEST NIGHT by Otto de Kat (MacLehose Press 14.99) The night in question here is the last on Earth for Emma, a 96-year-old Dutch woman, who is awaiting a farewell visit from her son and the team who will assist her voluntary euthanasia. As the hours pass slowly, Emmas mind drifts back and forth through her life, revisiting the time she lived in Nazi Germany with her first husband Carl, an opponent of Hitlers regime. She also remembers her suspenseful escape back to Holland and life in German-occupied Rotterdam, surviving World War II through friendship and a new love in a supportive community. Reviewing the ups and downs of her long existence, she remembers not only the hardships of war, but also happy times with her two husbands and her children, and especially the influence of her diplomat father. This brief novel by Otto de Kat (pen name of Dutch publisher, poet, novelist and critic Jan Geurt Gaarlandt) is a masterpiece of literary craft and concision; sparse, beautiful and hugely affecting. THE UPSTARTS by Brad Stone (Bantam Press 20) VALLEY OF THE GODS by Alexandra Wolfe Simon & Schuster 12.99) On the day of Barack Obamas inauguration in January 2009, two unknown entrepreneurs were in Washington DC to watch history being made: the swearing-in of Americas first black president. What they didnt know was that they too would become history-makers. Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia had just founded an obscure website called Airbedandbreakfast.com, which enabled users to stay often on airbeds, hence the name in the homes of strangers. Geek charm: Dating is different in Silicon Valley The company would evolve from that simple notion, which they dreamt up as a way of making a few bucks from their own San Francisco apartment, into Airbnb, an online hospitality service currently valued at more than $30 billion. But that week it was still little more than an idea and, with every hotel room in the U.S. capital snapped up, the two men, both in their 20s, used their own website to find cheap accommodation on someones floor. Also at the inauguration were another two entrepreneurs, Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick, who were both in their early 30s and already high-achievers, although no one suspected they were about to change the face of global transportation. Camp, a Canadian with a restlessly busy mind, was trying to entice his friend Kalanick with his latest vision for a business: he wanted to enable anyone with a smartphone to summon a car at the touch of a button. Their experience that bitterly cold day, as they looked in vain for a taxi to get to an inauguration party, helped to convince Kalanick of the need for what would become Uber. Now, Uber is valued at $68 bn. It continues to overcome legal challenges, not to mention irate taxi drivers, and has become one of the worlds largest car services. Yet it owns hardly any cars. Similarly, Airbnb can be described as the biggest hotel company on the planet, without owning any actual hotel rooms. THE UPSTARTS by Brad Stone (Bantam Press 20) Eight years ago, the four men who wrought this peculiarly 21st century phenomenon were anonymous faces in the Washington DC crowd. Now they are multi-billionaires, and feted by presidents. In 2014, when Uber needed someone to run media strategy, the company had the clout to hire the very person who had managed Obamas triumphant 2008 campaign, David Plouffe The Uber story is particularly fascinating, and in a way it began with James Bond. In 2008, while watching a DVD of his favourite Bond film, Casino Royale, Camp sat up a little straighter during a scene where Daniel Craig, as Bond, was driving through the Bahamas, on the trail of the villain, Le Chiffre. During the pursuit, Bond glanced down at his mobile phone, checking on a moving icon of his own car on a map. That image stuck in Camps mind; what if he could adapt it for people trying to get round cities? He was already determined to challenge the way metropolitan taxi firms operated, and had made himself notorious among San Franciscos yellow-cab companies by habitually calling all of them and taking the first car that arrived. Uber grew out of his own frustration with waiting times, but to those prosaic origins he added a dash of James Bond. So now, when people summon Ubers, what they see on their phones as the vehicle approaches was inspired by one of Qs gadgets for 007. Of course, brilliant ideas are not enough in Silicon Valley, the 1,500 square miles of California that is home to so many hi-tech industries and internet start-ups. They also need funding. VALLEY OF THE GODS by Alexandra Wolfe Simon & Schuster 12.99) Stone chronicles some jaw-dropping tales of investors who gambled on Uber and Airbnb and made fortunes, and those who havent stopped kicking themselves for declining the opportunity. Ron Conway, the so-called godfather of Silicon Valley, who acquired fabulous wealth by backing the holy trinity of Google, Facebook and Twitter, reckoned that Uber would conk out in the face of too much opposition. He said no, and advised his friends to do likewise. Conversely, when the venture capitalists at a company called Sequoia recognised the potential of Airbnb, they backed their hunch to the tune of $585,000. The value of their stake, in December 2016, was $4.5bn. But there is another side to Silicon Valley, and that is explored by Alexandra Wolfe, a Wall Street Journal reporter (and the daughter of celebrated novelist Tom Wolfe), in VALLEY OF THE GODS . She follows the stories of three young entrepreneurs desperate to become the next Brian Chesky or Travis Kalanick, in the case of one young man by asteroid mining travelling into space to extract valuable minerals from asteroids. As yet, it doesnt look like too bright an idea, but maybe its day will come. Wolfe also documents the curious lifestyle of Silicon Valley, where extreme wealth isnt outwardly detectable and the richest person in the room is often wearing flip-flops and a hoodie. 131 The number of billionaires in Silicon Valley Advertisement The funniest manifestation of this is Cougar Night. Every Thursday evening, women in their 40s, sometimes older, gather at the Rosewood Sand Hill hotel, just a stones throw from Stanford University, in the hope of finding themselves a fresh-faced billionaire. Or maybe not fresh-faced; maybe spotty. Because on Cougar Nights, all the usual predatory practices are overturned. As Wolfe writes, back home, wherever they come from, these scrawny, bespectacled nerds would be unlikely to score a mate. Here at Cougar Night, women were crawling on just this type of specimen. Thats Silicon Valley, where nothing is as it seems, and everyone is trying to guess who is who, and what will happen next . . . but nobody quite knows. Rita Shahi died from a stroke on March 6 Sushant Shahi is waiting for his mother. He knows she isn't alive, but wants to say a final goodbye. A Danish citizen of Indian origin, Rita Shahi had left the cosy hills of Dehradun in Uttarakhand years ago to settle in the Scandinavian country. However, she wished to be cremated according to Hindu rituals. 'My mother suffered a massive stroke on March 6,' said Sushant. 'It took around 10 days to complete the formalities and the medical examinations in Denmark itself before we could get her home.' While Rita's body was put on a flight, Sushant and his wife boarded a different aircraft to fly to India. We were shocked to learn at Delhi airport that her coffin had not arrived,' Sushant said. 'We were told that the coffin was detained at the Istanbul airport, where it had to be loaded on to the flight bound for Delhi. I was told that Istanbul airport authorities had claimed that they were not able to read Danish and that new documents, translated in English, must be provided before they could release the body to be flown to Delhi.' Her body was detained at Turkey's Istanbul airport as officials there could not read the paperwork, and demanded that it was translated into English Rita's husband Surya Bikram Shahi, a noted social activist from the Gorkha community in Dehradun, is still waiting to see her for the last time Minister of State for external affairs General VK Singh asked this newspaper on Wednesday to assure the family that he would make sure that the Indian embassy takes care of the issue. 'I want to tell the bereaved family that all help possible will be coming to them from the Indian embassy. No problems should come their way from now on,' Singh told Mail Today when apprised of the matter. Rita obtained Danish citizenship after she found employment in the country's medical sector. Sushant was with his mother, studied there and also found employment in the Nordic nation. External Affairs Minister General VK Singh has now stepped in and has promised that the Indian Embassy will do 'all it can' to help the grieving family 'She used to come and visit me from time to time. She was here last December and had left only on the 26th after attending a rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She was a big fan of the PM,' recalled a grieving Surya Bikram Shahi. 'She had all the right to live an independent life and I had always been with her.' The family, and Gorkha welfare organisation The Gorkha Foundation, said they had appealed to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, the Prime Minister, his office, and the Home Ministry, but said they had received no assistance. 'We have tweeted to Sushma ji, written mails to the PMO and the Home Ministry, but no help has been forthcoming,' said Sagan Moktan, chairman of the Gorkha welfare body. 'This is to bring to your notice that the dead body of Smt Rita Shahi, W/O Shri Surya Bikram Shahi, an eminent social worker is stranded in the airport of Istanbul for the last 10 days,' said the letter addressed to the Indian authorities mentioned above. 'She expired on the 5th of March 2017 in Denmark and from there the body was sent the aggrieved family is waiting for the body to arrive and that the departed soul could be cremated with all respect and the last rites 'Being a Hindu the performance of the last rite is very important for the well being of the departed soul. Therefore we request you and your august office to kindly intervene and help us in bringing the body back so that the family can perform the last rites and bid farewell to the departed soul.' A gang rape survivor who now campaigns against online sexual abuse content has forced the Supreme Court to direct the world's biggest tech firms to hold detailed talks on Indian soil. The apex court on Wednesday called on top officials from Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Yahoo - most of them foreign-based - to come to India and hold a detailed 15-day meeting with the Information and Technology Ministry. The mandate is clear: Indians will not get to see videos of sexual assault and child pornography. Sunitha Krishnan, 44, took her petition to the apex court after she claimed police failed to make any arrests based on her evidence of rape videos online This is by far the biggest victory for the petitioner, 44-year-old Sunitha Krishnan, a gang-rape survivor turned saviour for thousands of victims across the country. The top court in 2015 ordered a CBI probe based on a letter written by her to former Chief Justice HL Dattu, complaining of rape videos being circulated on social media. Sunitha had also given a pen drive and sought action against the culprits. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook have all been called to India for talks over 15 days The apex court ordered that the meeting among members of technology firms and the government take place between April 5 and 20. The subsequent report is to be submitted to the bench of justice Madan B Lokur and justice Uday U Lalit by April 21. 'Please do not ask us to extend the deadline as they might (foreign visitors) find the summer severe,' said justice Lalit. After falling prey to sexual abuse when she was 15, Sunitha launched organisation Prajwala which has helped thousands of other rape victims in India Having herself fallen prey to sexual assault when she was 15, Sunitha launched Prajwala, an institution that has rescued and assisted more than 10,000 girls trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and found them shelter. The achievement got her recognition in the form of Padma Shri in 2016. Sunitha began the #ShameTheRapistCampaign when she uploaded an edited version of a gang-rape video on YouTube in February. The apex court ordered that the meeting among members of technology firms and the government take place between April 5 and 20 It was one of nine such videos that were being circulated as MMS clips and she asked viewers to help identify the alleged rapists. Observers say more and more perpetrators are recording their crimes on mobile phones to use as a blackmailing tool and to dissuade victims from going to the cops. Sunitha was forced to move the apex court with the help of her friend and activist, Supreme Court lawyer Aparna Bhat, as police did not make any arrests, though the men in the videos were clearly visible. The CBI made the first breakthrough on March 24, 2015, by arresting Bhubaneswar-based builder Subrat Sahu on charges of raping a woman and filming the act. As per the top court's order on Wednesday, Ajay Kumar, the additional secretary in the IT Ministry has been made the chairman of the crucial committee and he will liaise with all the social media and internet giants. 'The committee will assist and advise the court on the feasibility of ensuring that videos of rapes, gang-rapes and child pornography are not available to the general public. They just cannot be in public domain, it is very clear,' the bench said in the order. Addressing the growing domestic and international demand for the French fighter aircraft, Dassault and the French Defense Procurement Agency (DGA) will soon begin a six-year development phase of the next-generation Rafale F4. The French Minister of Defense, Mr. Jean-Yves Le Drian, authorized the start of development of the next generation variant of the Rafale. The aircraft will introduce new capacities empowered by the modern missile and engine technologies. The new variant will follow the Rafale F3-R currently in development and scheduled to complete the qualification testing next year. Dassault now produces Rafales to fulfill French orders for 180 aircraft, along with sales of 78 more aircraft for Egypt and India. The French Air Force could order additional 45 as it phases out older Mirage 2000 aircraft. The first fully equipped F4 aircraft are expected to enter service in 2025, though certain functions will be available in 2023. It will be part of the fifth production tranche (2019-2025), delivering on French and export orders. Since France plans to maintain the Rafale with its air and naval air forces at least through 2040, the French Ministry of Defense invests in the continuous modernization and upgrading of the aircraft. 1 billion were allocated for the development of the current variant F3-R, which will integrate the Meteor, MBDAs new extended-range air/air missile. Relying on a new AESA radar fitted to the aircraft the Meteor will be able to engage aerial targets from ranges exceeding 100 km. In the air/ground domain, the F3-R variant will be cleared to carry the new target designation pod PDL-NG from Thales. Other upgrades include the installation of an upgraded Link 16 terminal, improved Mod 5 compatible IFF and buddy refueling pods for the French Navys Rafale N. Given its role replacing Mirage 2000 variants currently in service, Rafale F4 will likely include weapon integration modifications to include new variants of air/air Mica, Scalp and the nuclear cruise missile ASMP-A (currently deployed exclusively on Mirage 2000N). However, due to the relatively short span of the program, it is likely to focus mainly on capabilities based on software and limited hardware upgrades. Further, into the future, the program could introduce significant airframe changes, as part of the Rafales mid-life modifications. These upgrades could include cockpit redesign or introduction of low-observability modifications to better position this 4.5 generation fighter against modern and future fighters. The F4 standard will incorporate operational experience feedback and enable continuous improvement of the RAFALE to be maintained. It will reinforce the national skills and technological capabilities essential for preparing the development of the next generation of combat aircraft, stated Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation. I am also delighted that the Defense Ministry underlines the need to continue with the acquisition of the Rafale, beyond the 4th tranche currently in production, in order primarily to meet the needs of the French Air Force, Trappier added. The Rafale entered service with the French Navy in 2004 and with the French Air Force in 2006. With more than 30,000 flight hours in operations, it has proven its worth in combat in Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq, and Syria. Beyond France (180 aircraft ordered) the Rafale was ordered by Egypt (24), Qatar (24) and India (32). A placid town in Uttar Pradesh famed throughout the Islamic world for its 150-year-old Darul Uloom has woken up to a surprise sight. Deoband's streets, ornamented with temples and mosques, have been overnight bedecked with large billboards calling the town Deovrind, or the grouping of Hindu gods. For a century-and-a-half, Deoband and Darul Uloom, India's best-known Islamic seminary, have remained synonymous. BJP MLA Brijesh Singh renamed Deoband as Deovrind in posters thanking voters 'The day of Thursday, 15th Muharram, A.H. 1283 (May 30, 1866), was that blessed and auspicious day in the Islamic history of India when the foundation stone for the renaissance of Islamic sciences was laid in the land of Deoband,' notes Darul Uloom on its website. 'Seeing the simple and ordinary manner in which it had been started, it was difficult to visualise and decide that a madrasa beginning so humbly, with utter lack of equipment, was destined to become the centre, within a couple of years, of the Islamic sciences in Asia,' it says. But within a week of the BJP's rise to power in Uttar Pradesh, a rare debate has gripped the historical town, where Hindus and Muslims have peaceably coexisted since the country's independence. The 145-year-old Darululoom Deoband situated in the sleepy town of Deoband in Uttar Pradesh Posters hailing the victory of Brijesh Singh as Deoband's new MLA from the saffron party embody his campaign to rename his borough Deovrind, his first effort after winning the polls. Singh has even vowed to moot a formal proposal for replacing Deoband with Deovrind in the first session of the new assembly. 'The issue is not about Deoband or Deovrind,' he said, surrounded by supporters chanting Vande Mataram. 'Development has always been the main focus of our campaign. But when I was campaigning, the people demanded that Deoband be called Deovrind,' he said. Singh insisted he was only voicing 'public demands.' The campus is acknowledged as the spiritual home for conservative Deobandi school of Islam and their methodology is followed by religious schools in Asia, Middle East, Britain and the United States Darul Uloom teaches Deobandism, named after Deoband. Practitioners of the Deobandi form of Islam in India have embraced the country's secular Constitution as opposed to their counterparts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, who advocate fundamentalism. The centre in Deoband is known worldwide for its secular and democratic traditions. But Singh's campaign for renaming the town appears to have split it vertically over its nomenclature. Advocates of Deovrind say the proposed title is appropriate for a town associated with the Hindu faith. Deoband is also home to the famous shrine of Bala Sundari Peeth. 'Deoband is not known for Darul Uloom,' claimed Vikas Tyagi, a local resident. 'Darul Uloom is just 150-years-old. Deoband is known for Bala Sundari. It was originally called Deovrind.' But critics disagree. 'The BJP has swept to power with a landslide on the plank of development. Was it a mandate for as small thing as changing some name?' asked Saibul Islam, another resident. 'Development of Deoband should be a priority,' argued Saraswat. 'Let it be first designated as a district. Only then will we support the BJP's proposal for a name change,' he said. 'Tell me of one advantage from changing the name. Is it a national issue? Will it help build roads and improve school education? If it does, there's no issue in changing the name. But is there any real gain?' wondered Abuzar. Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain has written to all heads of department at government hospitals in the Capital asking them 'not to refer trauma cases to Safdarjung Hospital anymore'. The minister directed the doctors to refer only rarest of cases which require tertiary care at top hospitals. Treatment for trauma cases is also available at state government hospitals, he said. Satyendra Jain has written to all heads of department at government hospitals in the Capital The action has been taken by the minister after Mail Today reported that, on an average day, 50 trauma, MLC and dog bite cases in government hospitals in the city are referred to Safdarjung Hospital. A copy of circular is with the Mail Today, in which health minister has said: 'Patients of Delhi government hospitals are being referred to Safdarjung Hospital for which the treatment is available at other hospitals too.' 'When the treatment already exists in our hospitals and dispensaries, there is no reason to refer such cases to Safdarjung Hospital. It is therefore, to refer those cases for which the treatment is not available at Delhi government hospitals/ dispensaries,' noted the circular. An average of 50 trauma, MLC and dog bite cases referred to Safdarjung Hospital per day All accident, poisoning, unnatural deaths, homicide, suicide, are to be considered as medico legal cases. Whenever they are reported to any hospital, whether private or government, it is the responsibility of the hospital to provide immediate treatment and inform the local police station regarding any foul play. 'However, this protocol is not being followed by most of the Delhi government hospitals,' informed sources. Sources also said: 'Delhi government hospitals such as DDU, Sanjay Gandhi, Ambedkar, Madan Mohan Malviya etc are referring at least 15 medico legal cases to Safarjung Hospital'. Dr AK Rai, medical superintendent at Safdarjung, told Mail Today: 'Even AIIMS refers patients to Safdarjung Hospital after primary treatment. Our hospital is already overburdened with our own indoor patients.' The doctors strike virus in Maharashtra is set to hit the Capital on Thursday as some 40,000 doctors in the city stage a walk out, shutting down the medical services at about 40 hospitals all together. As many as 2,000 surgeries are likely to be postponed at government hospitals. The doctors are planning to stand in solidarity with a resident doctor, who was brutally beaten up by the relatives of a deceased patient at Mumbai's Sion Hospital. Doctors at facilities including Safdarjung are set to stage a walk out on Thursday Over 4,000 resident doctors across Maharashtra have gone on mass leave, agitating against dangerous working conditions. Top government hospitals such as AIIMS, RML, Safdarjung are among all Delhi government hospitals, which will be shut down on Thursday. The Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) has also expressed their support to the doctors in Maharashtra. The association, which is an umbrella body of all resident doctors in Delhi, has decided to go on mass leave if any action is taken against the doctors in Maharashtra. Doctors at the AIIMS facility on Wednesday wore helmets in solidarity with their counterparts in Maharashtra, who are also striking over safety in the workplace Dr Pankaj Solanki, President, FORDA, told Mail Today: 'About 40,000 resident doctors of at least 40 hospitals have decided to go on mass leave on Thursday between 9am to 4pm. Only emergency duty schedule of resident doctors will be followed during this time. 'We have taken this step in view of increasing number of assaults on doctors and showing solidarity towards our colleagues from Maharashtra. 'And we condemn the action taken by government of Maharashtra against doctors.' As many as 2,000 surgeries are likely to be postponed at government hospitals A senior doctor, from a government hospital, requesting anonymity informed Mail Today: 'About 1,500 to 2,000 operations planned for tomorrow (Thursday) would be postponed. We don't want to go on mass leave which will affect patients but we are helpless. Now, if capital would be burning, definitely government will wake up. 'The incident at Maharashtra is so grim that instead of providing security to resident doctors at their workplace, Maharashtra government is threatening them. 'Our fellow doctors are beaten up and government is reluctant to take any action. What we want is just a safe environment at our workplace,' Dr Vijay Gurjar, President, Resident doctors' Association of AIIMS told Mail Today. Doctors show solidarity with Maharashtra strikers with helmets Around 1,200 resident doctors of AIIMS turned up on duty at the emergency department on Wednesday wearing helmets in support to their striking counterparts in Maharashtra. Dr Vijay Gurjar, President, Resident doctors' Association of AIIMS told Mail Today: 'We don't want to get our eyes, limbs to be hit and broken severely by patient's attendants. 'We are wearing helmet to safeguard ourselves from the brutally of patients and to show authorities who have turned blind to create a safe workplace environment for us.' 'We work 24/7 round the clock and save lives of people but nobody has sympathy for us. Every next day there is a new story of a doctor gets beaten up,' Gurjar said. A patient named Ram Prasad, who was seeking orthopedic treatment at AIIMS told Mail Today: 'I was surprised to a see a doctor wearing a helmet over his head. At first, I got scared but doctors at AIIMS made be comfortable and provided proper medical aid to me.' On Wednesday, the Maharashtra government ordered the striking doctors to report to duty by this evening or lose six months' salary. Bombay High Court chief justice Manjula Chellur had on Tuesday said: 'If you (doctors) do not want to work, then resign. You are not factory workers that you will resort to such protests. Shame on you. How can doctors behave in such a manner?' A 23-year-old jilted lover allegedly threw acid on his girlfriend after the she ignored him. According to the police, the incident took place in southeast Delhi's Sangam Vihar locality on Wednesday morning. The 20-year-old victim was allegedly talking on her phone outside home, when the accused, identified as Ravi Kumar, forced her to drink the acid. The victim suffered 40 per cent burn injuries in the attack (photo for representation only) He was suspicious that she was talking to some other boy, the police said. The victim retaliated by pushing him aside and tried to escape. However, Kumar managed to throw the acid at her leaving burn injuries on her face, lip, neck and shoulders. This was the first acid attack in 2017. The victim was later admitted in AIIMS trauma center with 40 per cent burn injuries. According to the police, the girl had been avoiding Kumar for the past couple of days and that is said to have been the motive behind attack. The incident took place at 10.30am and Kumar later went to the police station and told cops that he threw diluted acid (which is used to clean toilet) on the girl, said a senior police officer. 'We have registered an FIR against Ravi under an attempt to murder and other relevant IPC sections,' said additional DCP (South) Romil Banniya. Sunita, the mother of the victim, told Mail Today: 'My daughter was in love with Ravi and we had fixed their marriage last month. 'I got to know that Ravi was a drug addict and consumed liquor everyday. Therefore, we had decided to step back. Ravi was forcing her to marry him and even slapped her couple of days ago.' In a world where divisive politics rules the news, imagine people following discrete religions, speaking different languages and having varied ethnicities united by the adhesive power of food. On March 21 night, 2,000 chefs across 150 nations in five continents served a French dinner at their restaurants in a one-of-a-kind celebration of a country that is synonymous with gastronomy and haute cuisine. India, in fact, was No. 3 on the crowded world list of Gout France, or Good France, which is the name of the initiative being steered by the French Foreign Ministry with the legendary Michelin multi-starred chef Alain Ducasse since 2015. On the Gout France night, chefs such as Priyam Chatterjee (pictured) wear French national colours As many as 66 Indian restaurants, including 14 in Delhi-NCR, participated in Gout France this year. 'The common point of this event,' in the words of Ducasse, 'is generosity, sharing and the love of what is beautiful and tastes good.' It draws its inspiration, incidentally, from the doyen French chefs, Auguste Escoffier, who launched the Diners d'Epicure (Epicurean Dinners) initiative - the same menu, the same day, in several world cities and aimed at as many diners as possible - in 1912. All this information set me thinking. French cuisine may be the world's gold standard for good food, but Indian gastronomy today is ranked right after French, Japanese, Italian and Chinese, although the Spaniards may like to consider themselves to be ahead of us. Yet culinary tourism is not even listed as one of the 20 objectives set by the Ministry of Tourism for itself. It is time for us to turn the tide, take inspiration from a global event of the scale of Gout France and get the world talking only about Indian cuisine for just one day. Dishes such as Coquilles Saint-Jacques were served on the celebratory night Given the global footprint of Indian cuisine, and the appetite of the Narendra Modi government for mega events, it is not a Herculean mission. Imagine, what a grand statement it will be for India's ultimate soft power. It will also open doors for people-to-people exchanges, which increasingly are seen as an important accessory to public diplomacy. As the Ambassador of France in India, Alexandre Ziegler, put it so expressively: 'Partnerships between nations are not forged only by diplomats signing MoUs.' Ziegler, who's from Sauternes, home to the world's finest dessert wines in Bordeaux, and who owes his Germanic name to his Swiss great-grandfather, kept repeating that French cuisine is not only haute cuisine. 'People tend to believe French cuisine is very expensive and quite complicated, but gastronomy can also be a daily life experience,' Ziegler said. The magnificent spread of Indian cuisine, and its many regional avatars, needs to be shared with the world - and what better way to do it than to have a different celebrated chef from India cook at each of our embassies around the world on one day. That is just what the 35-year-old Akrame Benallal, chef-owner of the Michelin-starred Restaurant Akrame in Paris, did during dinner at the French Ambassador's residence on March 21. A day before the dinner (March 20), he spent the afternoon with the chefs from the partner restaurants - again, contributing to a better understanding of French cuisine. Gout France may be a one-night affair, but it underlines one salient feature of the emerging world civilisation - food brings people closer in a discordant universe. Smart new destination for high tea The other day I was struck by the complaint from a well-travelled young woman about how it's impossible to get leaf tea at even posh hotels around our country, which also happens to be the second-largest tea producing nation in the world. I find it hard to digest the irony of being a citizen of a top tea-producing nation and yet being served 'dip tea' (from tea bags) in establishments that take pride in calling themselves 'luxury hotels'. From irony, it becomes a farce, when the very same hotels take immense pride in showing off their collection of single-origin coffees from exotic locations. At Roasted, Aerocity, you are served your favourite leaf tea inside a gleaming gold-tinted stainless steel container For many years, the Emperor Lounge at the Taj Mahal Hotel has been the only place in Delhi-NCR to get a decent cup of tea served in fancy dispensers. It is therefore with great anticipation that I welcome Roasted at Roseate House, New Delhi Aerocity. The 56th outlet of Singapore's luxury retailer, TWG Tea, which has acquired a formidable collection of more than 800 single- estate teas from around the world, Roasted breathes life into a space tucked away in one corner of the hotel's lobby. The selection at Roasted consists of nine leaf teas and an equal number of tea bag offerings. For accompaniments, Roasted could have stopped at scones (freshly baked), clotted cream and jam, or madeleines (French shellshaped butter cakes), or financiers (French almond cakes), but they also have finger sandwiches where the chefs have let loose their imagination with unusual toppings such as pulled duck, juniper berry and apricot jam; coronation chicken (cooked in Madras curry) with Californian grapes and chopped celery. Delhi could do with more of such places. America is in love with dosa waffles America has developed a taste for dosa waffles After wallowing in second-class status for long, Indian cuisine appears to have made serious inroads into the American table. A lot of the excitement about it has to do with Srijith Gopinath of the Taj Campton Place Hotel, San Francisco, retaining his second Michelin star for the second successive year, and Indian Accent opening to a warm reception in New York City, coinciding with Floyd Cardozs Paowalla and Suvir Sarans return to the Big Apples forever-bustling restaurant scene with Tapestry. In an article headlined Indian Cuisine Catches Fire, Nations Restaurant News, the US restaurant industrys daily read, the writer, Brett Thorn, mentions the success of Payal Sahas The Kati Roll Company, also in New York City, where fillings include tamarind shrimp and duck vindaloo. The growing following of Biju Thomass dosa waffles, which has propelled the fast expansion of Bijus Little Curry Shop in Denver and Boulder, Colorado, was also given a mention. Interestingly, mainstream American restaurants are adapting Indian ways. At Nix, a trendy vegetarian restaurant in New York City, Chef John Fraser has two tandoors in the kitchen - and hes not the first, for Douglas Katz has been cooking with tandoors at Fire Food & Drink since 2001. Greg Braxtroms Olmsted in New York City has gobhi pakora, duck chakna served with naan. And Sweetgreen, a 65-outlet fast casual chain based out of Los Angeles, was so successful with its Curry Cauliflower Salad that it has added a Curry Chickpea Warm Bowl for the winter along with a carrot turmeric drink. Poor patients in western India were unable to access care for a fourth day as doctors at state hospitals extended a strike protesting the growing number of assaults by patients' families on healthcare professionals. The withdrawal of key staff is adding pressure to India's already overburdened public healthcare system. The high court in Mumbai on Thursday ordered doctors in Maharashtra state to resume work immediately and asked the government to ensure their security, as pregnant women and kidney dialysis patients were turned away from hospitals and surgeries postponed. Indian resident doctors from different hospitals hold placards during a strike as they stand in front of The King Edward Memorial Hospital in Mumbai Hundreds of doctors went on strike in New Delhi as well, many wearing helmets to call attention to the violent attacks. The Indian Medical Association (IMA), a lobbying group, supported the strike after dozens of attacks on doctors in recent years, some resulting in serious injuries, said IMA vice president R.V. Asokan. 'We are only asking for security in the workplace, which every worker is entitled to. Doctors are already working under tremendous stress,' he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Over 4,000 resident doctors in the government hospitals of the state have been staying away from work since Monday to protest against the recent attacks by relatives of patients on their colleagues India is emerging as a medical tourism destination with modern, well-equipped hospitals offering quality care at competitive rates compared to western countries, but the country's poor depend on poorly funded state hospitals. India spends less than 2 percent of its annual gross domestic product on healthcare, a fifth of the global average. Attacks on doctors in recent years have been triggered by frustrations with the public healthcare system, analysts say. People waiting outside after 4,000 resident doctors go on strike in India State hospitals are generally overcrowded and understaffed, with filthy, outdated facilities. The government in its National Health Policy released last week called for restructuring the public healthcare system and increasing health spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2025, which is half of what the World Health Organisation recommends. In addition, doctors are calling for more security personnel and strict enforcement of the Doctors' Protection Act, which provides up to three years' imprisonment for violence against doctors. Twitter reacts... Woman loses leg as crippling strike continues Priyanka Sharma Patient Chandru Devi, 60, had leg amputated Hospitals in the national Capital were still deserted on Thursday with usually manic corridors silent and waiting rooms empty. Doctors in Delhi are continuing with their strike against an assault on a colleague in Mumbai. AIIMS doctors continued with their protest by wearing helmets at work for the second day. However, when the camera panned towards patients on the same day, pictures were horrible. Patient Chandru Devi, 60, hasn't wanted to see or talk to anyone since Thursday, after her left leg was amputated. She was involved in an accident but her efforts to get help from three city hospitals, was in vain. When her condition further deteriorated, senior doctors from Lok Nayak hospital had to amputate her leg. 'Had she (Chandru) been provided the initial treatment at Delhi government's Ambedkar Hospital on her first visit, she might not have been amputated,' Chandru's grandson, Deepak regretted. He informed that the agitating doctors referred her to Deen Dayal Hospital, which in turn sent her to Lok Nayak. Hospitals in the national Capital were still deserted on Thursday with usually manic corridors silent and waiting rooms empty 'She was bleeding and not a single doctor did the first aid. We were helpless,' narrated Deepak. 'A senior doctor at Lok Nayak Hospital operated on her only after her condition got critical. But sadly she lost her leg as it was too late for the surgery and infection had spread widely by then,' he said. Chandru Devi is the only one to suffer. Gaurav Kumar, Ram Krishn were among the ones who were running from pillar to post. The harrowing picture was same at all 41 city hospitals - that includes RML, Safradjung, Lady Hardinge, Ambedkar, DDU - where doctors were not at work. Doctors at the AIIMS facility on Wednesday wore helmets in solidarity with their counterparts in Maharashtra, who are also striking over safety in the workplace Dr Pankaj Solanki, President, FORDA, told Mail Today, 'About 40,000 resident doctors of at least 41 hospitals are on mass leave from 9am to 4pm. Only emergency services are undisturbed.' Dr Rakesh Kumar Gupta, president of Delhi Medical Association told said, 'Indoor patients and emergency services at hospitals will not be affected. 'Assault on doctors are increasing everyday and government should take necessary measures our safety.' It may be noted that the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which has around 2.7 lakh members across the country, has extended support to the strike, while the doctors associated with (DMA) have called for an Out Patient Department (OPD) bandh on Friday. However, unfazed by the Maharashtra government's warning of suspension and cutting their pay, around 4,000 resident doctors abstained from work for the fourth day on Thursday, demanding enhanced security. The Bombay High Court stepped in to end the stir and directed the resident doctors to resume work immediately even as chief minister Devendra mooted a panel to resolve security issues in state-run hospitals. Keyboard warriors assemble: The BJP has used social media to help win elections across the country The BJP has so far been the best at utilising social media to win elections across country - and it has no plans to slow down on the run-up to the Capital's civic polls. The party has set up a mammoth IT cell with a grand team comprising 80,000 members, who are operating from 272 wards and three IT chambers under the guidance of 280 social media wizards. The IT cell is located inside the BJP state office on Pandit Panth Marg. The chamber accommodates 15 senior-level cyber warriors who have been monitoring and leading social media campaigns in Delhi for over eight months now. A map bearing the delimitation of municipal wards in Delhi in 2017 graces the wall next to the door. Volunteers between the ages of 22 and 40 emphasise on the party's mass-contact game plan. 'We will reach every voter through social media. For a person without Whatsapp, we have a booth level worker and for a tech-savy Delhiite, we are on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter,' said a volunteer. Indian voters wait in a queue for their turn to vote at a polling station (file pic) The team, operating in Delhi's 14 districts, is constantly active on 8,000 WhatsApp groups where the graphics of party's achievement in last 10 years are being spread. The crew's strategy - largely to push forth the pro-development tone - has a three-fold formula. Prime focus will remain on reminding Delhi residents of the work done by BJP leaders across the nation. The second will be to highlight the development work done by BJP government for Delhi. The third will be to push PM Modi's latest digital initiative and 'New India' mantra to target the aspirational Delhiite. The volunteers will also target the failure of Delhi government in their social media campaigning aggressively. Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari (left) is leading the team The BJP's decision to field all fresh faces for the civic polls and invite applications has also added to their work. Going the extra mile, the party workers will present the voters with the candidate's profile, just like a resume. The party received nearly 5,000 applications till last week, but the figure shot up to 33,675 within six days of announcement on fielding fresh faces, party's spokesperson Tajinder Bagga told Mail Today. 'People want to know about candidates in detail. We will popularise every candidate's agenda for their ward in a profile on Facebook and their mail.' A high level meeting on defence trade and weapons technology between India and the US has been postponed after a delay by the Donald Trump administration in appointing the co-head for Indo-American panel. However, to keep the momentum going on for high-level technology between the two countries, India is sending a delegation under a Lt Gen-rank officer to further discuss military technological cooperation in America early next month. 'After the ouster of the Obama administration in January, the Americans have not yet appointed the replacement for under secretary Frank Kendell (equivalent to a secretary level officer in India) who has been discussing the defence trade and technology initiative with his counterpart here which has resulted in delays in holding a full-scale meeting of the panel,' sources in Defence ministry told Mail Today. A high level meeting on defence trade and weapons technology between India and the US has been postponed after a delay by the Donald Trump administration in appointing the co-head for Indo-American panel Indian secretary (Defence Production) Ashok Kumar Gupta heads the DTTI panel and has different teams from the three services and the DRDO to negotiate and discuss the proposals for high technology military items with the US counterparts. Sources said the DTTI initiative has progressed well in the past under the Obama administration as the two sides have formed nine joint working groups on different-sectors of defence technology and trade for areas such as high-tech military helicopters and armoured vehicles. More recently, the US proposed joint development and production of futuristic military helicopters as well as infantry combat vehicles in the programme. Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley In the high level meeting between the two sides, these projects were planned to be discussed as the Indian side has shown interest in the US offer for participation in its 'future vertical-lift (FVL) aircraft' programme. The US has also suggested that the future infantry combat vehicle (FICV) project can be a trilateral venture with the inclusion of Israel. India is also going ahead with a Rs 60,000- crore FICV project. India has also not shown interest in lightweight projects like the development of mini drones like the RAVEN which could be produced and manufactured by Indian companies easily. 'We are only interested in high-tech programmes as if they fructify, we will have to take clearance from the Defence Acquisition Council for their production in India along with a certificate that the product was not available with anybody else in the world and we have to do the tie-up,' the sources said. With India being designated as the most favoured nation and the two countries also signing the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMoA) last year, the defence ties between the two countries have been on an upswing in the last decade. US has also become the number one supplier of defence ware to India with New Delhi importing equipment worth over USD 15 billion in the last decade including transport planes such as the C-17 Globemaster and C-130J Super Hercules for the Air Force. The Navy has also chosen the American P-8I anti-submarine warfare planes for long range surveillance of its vast maritime zone while the Army is soon expected to induct M- 777 light howitzers also from there in the near future for mountain warfare. Dutch paints and chemical giant Akzo Nobel has rejected an offer from US rival PPG Cheap money, peak equity prices and a strong dollar mean there has never been a more opportune time for corporate America to swoop on European rivals. Just weeks after Kraft Heinz was shown the door by Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever, the Dutch paints and chemical giant Akzo Nobel is under siege from US rival PPG with an offer that values the group at 19.4billion. The rejection from the Akzo Nobel board has been suitably robust with politicians lining up in support of a national champion. Predictably, some cash-hungry investors such as Elliott are clamouring for a deal. Britain has real skin in this game. Akzo Nobel was conqueror of one of the most famous names in British manufacturing when it bought ICI in August 2007 for 8billion. The deal partly marked an historic coming together in that one of the constituent companies of ICI was Nobel Explosives. Akzo has remained a big investor in the UK, having committed 105million to a new Dulux paint factory in Northumbria. And it recently committed to invest in a new research and development facility here. The Dutch giant is defying some investors who are demanding it engages with the US predator. It has cited important concerns including risks for shareholders and other stakeholders, potential loss of jobs and the prospect of lengthy anti-trust challenges. It has also cited a 'significant culture gap'. Its campaign to stay independent is receiving significant political support including that of economics minister Henk Kamp, who has ruled that the deal is not in the interests of the country. Four provincial governments also oppose the transaction. The ferocity of the opposition from Dutch authorities is in sharp contrast to the way in which the UK was only too happy to sell its birthright, as it did when Softbank came calling for ARM last summer. Holland, like Britain, prides itself on the openness of its economy. But, unlike the UK, it seems to recognise there are some deals which simply should not be done. Goldman retreat In the nine months since the EU referendum Goldman Sachs repeatedly dismissed reports suggesting it would move large numbers of jobs to the Continent in preparation for Brexit. Now we know the truth. The bank's London-based chief executive Richard Gnodde said that it is making contingency plans and will move 'hundreds of people' to the Continent. This may be fewer than has been previously suggested but would still be a loss to the City, where Goldman employs around 6,000 people. Goldman portrays itself as a good corporate citizen in the UK but its record is far from perfect. Last year it found itself on the wrong side of a Parliamentary inquiry into Sir Philip Green's sale of BHS and, subsequently, joint CEO Mike Sherwood announced he would be standing down. The Goldman habit of paying its employees fat bonuses has produced a healthy income stream for the Exchequer. But recent UK financial reports show that despite earning 3.9billion in Britain in 2014 and 2015 it has paid just 229.2million in corporation tax, or 6p in the pound. Goldman has a curious view of corporate citizenship. It contributed to the 'Remain' campaign when it perhaps should have remained neutral. Earlier this week, at a Bank of England-hosted event on banking standards, there were two alumni on the panel, the governor Mark Carney and the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bill Dudley. Goldman, as of last week, had not signed up to the Banking Standards Board, which is seeking to establish better behaviour in the financial system. It was always the case that small expert teams of bankers might have to move to Europe as a precaution against Brussels cutting up rough over Brexit. But it has always been the case even if some kind of passport deal proved beyond negotiators that the UK would be able to claim that Britain has regulatory equivalence to the EU. The worry must be that others will follow. Gnodde jumped too soon and does the Square Mile a huge disservice. Sears sinks Oneof the most venerated names in American retail, the 131-year-old blouses-to-lawnmower group Sears, looks to be heading for bankruptcy. Its shares have shed 90 per cent of their value over the last five years, revenue has plunged 40 per cent and it has made no profits since 2010. Balance sheet liabilities have soared to 11billion, including a 1.6billion pension bill. Sound familiar? Deal: The European Commission is expected to veto the German takeover of the LSE A German takeover of the London Stock Exchange will be rejected within days, sources claim. The European Commission is expected to announce its opinion on the 21billion tie-up between LSE and Frankfurt-based Deutsche Boerse this week. It is expected to veto a deal after LSE refused to sell its Italian bond trading arm to satisfy monopoly concerns. The deal would have seen the 216-year-old City institution pass into foreign hands, with Deutsche shareholders given a controlling stake and a German appointed as the company's chief executive. SYSTEMS WARNING A simpler system is needed for keeping finance firms safe from cyber attacks, senior Tory MP Andrew Tyrie has warned. He said there were too many different Government organisations responsible for regulating IT security at banks and insurers. CHIEF QUITS Barclays' credit card business boss Amer Sajed has quit and is thought to be keen to work for the US Democrats. He retires in July and a replacement has yet to be announced. HOTELS BOOST Travelodge plans to open 15 UK hotels this year, creating 300 jobs, in areas such as Bath, Inverness and York, taking the number of Travelodges to over 570. PHARMA FAILURE Swiss drugmaker Novartis suffered a blow after a heart treatment drug failed a late-stage trial because it did not cut cardiovascular deaths or reduce the worsening of heart failure. NUCLEAR STRIKE Workers at the Atomic Weapons Establishment are staging the first of a series of new strikes today in a long-running dispute over pensions. Members of Unite at sites in Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire are due to take seven days of action. RIO RECRUIT The former finance boss of Shell, Simon Henry, will join Rio Tinto on April 1, rather than July 1. The 55-year-old is being replaced at Shell by Jessica Uhl. COPPER CLAIM Alecto Minerals says efforts to mine copper in Botswana are progressing well. Shares are suspended but the company plans to re-admit on AIM in May. ULTRA PAY Ultra Electronics boss Rakesh Sharma was paid 1.9million last year, slightly down on the previous year's 1.2million. Profit at the London-based company, which makes hi-tech equipment for the US and UK armies, rose 9.3 per cent. EXTRA WORK Nuclear regulation staff have worked extra hours to meet an end-of-March deadline for checking reactor designs. The Office for Nuclear Regulation said the work of reactor designer Westinghouse put considerable pressure on its resources but it expects to be able to finish in time. The reactors are for a nuclear power station in Moorside, Cumbria. STEEL PRODUCTION Steel production for the 67 World Steel Association counties was 126.6m tonnes in February, up slightly from the same month a year ago. The future of thousands of British jobs has been thrown into doubt after an American chemicals giant launched a 19bn bid for the manufacturer of Polyfilla and Dulux. US chemicals giant PPG, which makes decorative paints and coatings, has made a second offer for Dutch paint producer Akzo Nobel owner of former UK industrial powerhouse ICI valuing it at 19.4bn. It comes three weeks after its initial 18.1bn bid for the firm. But Akzo rejected the bid claiming it significantly undervalued its business. However, it is now facing mounting pressure from shareholders to reconsider throwing the future of 3,300 UK jobs into doubt once again. Activist hedge fund Elliott Advisors, which has a 3 per cent stake in Akzo and is one of its top five investors, said it was 'concerned' the firm had failed to engage with PPG's bid a 39.7 per cent premium on its closing price before the saga began. It said: 'It is only through engagement that Akzo Nobel can determine if PPG is prepared to bid at a level that provides adequate consideration to shareholders.' Another top 20 shareholder, Columbia Threadneedle, echoed Elliot's sentiments while Dutch shareholder VEB called for the company to reconsider the deal. Shareholder comments have prompted suggestions there may still be room for a takeover. The talks have sparked fresh fears for the British Akzo workers who risk losing their jobs should the takeover go ahead. Akzo acquired the paints and coatings division of ICI, the former UK industrial chemicals firm, for 8billion in 2008. The firm employs more than 3,300 people in the UK in the north-east, Glasgow, Suffolk, the Midlands and at its Slough headquarters. The firm's UK plants produce more than 866million worth of goods a year, manufacturing ICI legacy brands such as Dulux paints, Cuprinol wood preserver and Polycell, the wood and wall filler. Akzo rejected PPG's first bid earlier this month and said PPG's second bid, worth 19.4billion, failed to reflect its current and future value. Ton Buchner, chief executive, said of the first bid: 'That proposal came in the midst of the Dutch elections and came with a high level of insensitivity to what is going on the ground. 'It created a tremendous uproar in the Netherlands and the countries around it, and this is one of the things that shows you there is a cultural difference in the way people operate.' Raise: Centrica boss Iain Conn, 54, was paid 4.1m last year The leader of British Gas-owned Centrica picked up a 1m pay rise last year, in a move condemned as 'ridiculous'. Boss Iain Conn, 54, was paid 4.1million last year compared to 3million a year earlier as Centrica refused to hike dividends. It comes days after Prime Minister Theresa May said the energy market was 'not working as it should' for the poorest. Emma Hughes, of the energy campaign group Switched On, said: 'It's a ridiculous pay rise given that one in ten households are in fuel poverty. ' Mark Todd, of comparison site energyhelpline, said: 'You could argue that, rather than giving Iain Conn a big pay rise, maybe they should give their customers a price cut.' Conn was paid a 1.4million recruitment award agreed in 2015 and his basic salary of 925,000 was unchanged. The company said he had shown 'firm, imaginative and decisive leadership'. Centrica's profits rose 4 per cent to 1.5billion last year, but it decided not to resume a progressive dividend policy. Shareholders' full-year dividend is 12p. Ever wondered if the food you get from your local Chinese takeaway is truly authentic? It may be possible that your favourite Chinese dish might not even originate from China. According to a survey conducted by Hungry House, half of the popular Chinese dishes ordered in the UK do not exist in Asian countries, or at least, they are an Anglicised version of Asian food. Jeremy Pang, founder and head of chef at School of Wok in London said that many dishes from Chinese takeaways in the UK have been adapted to westerners' palates. MailOnline has gathered a list of 10 Chinese dishes thought to be from China that haven't been heard of in China. Crab Rangoons Crab Rangoons are more of an American-Chinese invention that are favoured in the US These consist of stuffed crab puffs filled with cream cheese then dipped in sweet and sour, plum or duck sauce. It is usually served as an appetizer in most US restaurants. Rangoon is the former name of Yangon, the capital city of Myanmar leading some people to believe that the dish is influenced by British-controlled Burma. However the most common theory behind crab rangoon is that it was first found on the menu of a Polynesian restaurant Trader Vic's, the same restaurant which invented the famous cocktail Mai Tai. MailOnline spoke with Hong Kong residents about the dish with many confused as to what it was. One responder said: 'never seen this but it looks like curry puffs or maybe shrimp cake to me!' Chicken/ Pork balls with sauce Chicken balls can be eat alone or with fried rice, but either of that are close to Chinese cuisine These fried balls usually contain chicken or pork inside and are then dipped in a variety of sauces including sweet and sour, plum or curry. Chicken balls are not seen in restaurants in Asian countries. Rebecca Lo, a British born Chinese told MailOnline that the dish may have been adapted for British 'fish and chips' which was the only takeaway food back in the early 19th century. The meal is also suggested to be a cheap remake of chicken nuggets by some Hong Kong teenagers. General Tso's Chicken General Tso's chicken is believed to have been created for an American Naval Admiral in 1955 The deep-friend chicken dish comes in a sour soy sauce that is believed to be associated with Tsung-tang Tso, a Chinese statesman and military leader in the late 1800s. The New York Times has claimed that the very first General Tso's Chicken was invented by Changkuei Peng, a Taiwanese chef who created the dish in 1955 for US Naval Admiral Arthur W. Radford during a visit. The dish follows a Hunanese cuisine that is heavy, sour and salty. In 2014, American film director Ian Cheney filmed a documentary 'The Search for General Tso' to uncover the origin of the dish. Fortune Cookies Fortune cookies are commonly found in western Chinese restaurants as after-meal desserts Fortune Cookies are popular in western Chinese restaurants and contain a line of vague prophecy. Despite their popularity, restaurants in China and Hong Kong certainly don't serve fortune cookies as sweets after finishing their meal. Fortune Cookies brand Silk Road said the cookies were made during the American Gold Rush period and explained it as a remake of the revolutionary tactics during the Ming Dynasty where people wrote information on a piece of paper and stuffed it in a lotus paste mooncake. Chop Suey Chinese takeaways created Chop Suey to make the best profit of the leftover food of the day Chop Suey consists of bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, mushrooms and cabbage with a choice of chicken, prawns or beef. The name is taken from the Cantonese phrase for 'leftover with a bit of everything'. Lawrence Lee, spokesman of the London Chinatown Chinese Association said the dish is made with a mix of 'leftover' vegetables with thickened starch powder. It is also considered to be an old Chinese dish that was popular in the 70s and 80s. It allowed shop owners to make profit from leftover food. The dish has confused some Hong Kong people that they think it is a really saucy Ho-fun. Egg Rolls Egg rolls in Asian countries has a different interpretation than the ones found in western countries The egg roll is a bigger version of the spring roll. The roll has a thick wrapper that's made with wheat and egg and stuffed with meat and vegetables. Egg rolls in Asian countries are snacks that are purely made of egg and sugar. However this version pictured is popular in American Chinese restaurants. There are claims that in the 1800s, the first Chinese settlers in America adapted the concept of the snack version and invented a new recipe for egg rolls. Prawn Crackers Chinese people consider prawn crackers more of an Indonesian snacks than an appetiser Deep fried crackers are made from starch and prawn flavourings. Contrary to popular belief, the origin of prawn crackers is actually Indonesia. Prawn crackers are common snacks in Southeast Asian countries where people usually eat them on their own. However it is also common to find prawn crackers served with other dishes in a Chinese restaurant or an appetiser in a Chinese takeaway. Jo Lau, whose family has been running a Chinese takeaway in east Sussex, said: 'British people often put rice on top of prawn crackers and dip in sweet chilli sauce, which I found weird as Asian people usually eat it alone as a snack only. Beef Broccoli Chinese people cannot find gai-lan in western countries and therefore use broccoli instead and created this dish Stir-fried beef with broccoli in brown sauce Broccoli is a popular vegetable in western countries and cannot be considered a Chinese vegetable. But Chinese takeaway restaurants often use broccoli as an alternative to Chinese broccoli or kale. Sweet and Sour Pork Sweet and sour: Chinese takeaway dishes tend to be heavy in sauce to suit western tastes The pork dish is made from ketchup, sugar, pineapple juice and soy sauce. Sweet and Sour dishes did not originate from China but were more likely created from a Cantonese dish and then adapted for westerners' taste buds. Lawrence Lee, spokesman of the London Chinatown Chinese Association recalled his experience working in a Chinese takeaway that the dish tended to be covered with the orange sauce with more distinguished flavours. He believes that westerners' eating habits are more favoured to sauces. 'Westerners like to have saucy dishes such as beef stew and pie with gravy. In order to suit their tastes, sweet and sour dishes has to improvised and usually seen flooded with sauces,' Lee said. Sesame Prawn Toast Most of the Chinese dishes has 'evolved' due to the limited ingredients they can source in western countries Prawn toast consists of deep fried triangle toasts coated with shrimp paste and sesame on top. It is often seen on the menu as a Dim Sum dish but sesame toast has never been seen served as Dim Sum in Cantonese cuisine. It is thought that it could have been created to reduce food waste. Advertisement Twin Peaks fanatics have descended on a tiny New York town trying to solve the century-old murder of a young woman whose death inspired the cult TV classic. Sand Lake residents are now gearing up for a surge in tourism as the long-awaited new series, including original cast members, including Kyle MacLachlan as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper. The townsfolk of Sand Lake are getting used to tripping over Twin Peaks fans poking around in the local woods and pouring over old documents in the town hall. Sand Lake historian Bob Moore's phone has been ringing off the hook with amateur detectives offering their take on who killed 20-year-old Hazel Drew in July 1908. Twin Peaks creators David Lynch and Mark Frost set the surreal 1990s show in Washington State near the Canadian border. But writer-director Frost found his inspiration 2,500 miles away in the pretty hamlet where he spent his childhood summers. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO 20-year-old Hazel Drew (left) was murdered in 1908 in Sand lake, sparking the cult TV classic Twin Peaks which Sheryl Lee (right) starred in as the fictional version of Drew - Laura Palmer Hazel Drew is buried in Brookside Cemetery in Poestenkill, NY. There are still many theories about her death. 'No one was ever arrested,' history teacher Ron Hughes told DailyMail.com. 'But there were so many suspects and so many unanswered questions' Drew's gravestone can be seen here. Twin Peaks fans are now poking around in the local woods and pouring over old documents in the town hall to see if they can uncover clues about the woman's suspicious death Documents and photos are currently on display in Sand Lake, showing what the town was like during the time of Hazel Drew's murder The series now considered to be one of the greatest TV dramas ever made opens with the discovery of Laura Palmer's naked body in a river. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, played by Kyle MacLachlan, slowly uncovers her double life aided by an eccentric cast of locals and his own spooky dreams. Dark hints of the occult run throughout the 30 episodes and Frost confessed he took some of those ideas from his grandmother's stories about the ghost of a young woman haunting the woods surrounding their home in Taborton, near Sand Lake. That was enough to set government consultant Mark Givens, who runs a Twin Peaks podcast, on the investigation trail. 'I thought I'd do a show on it,' he tells DailyMail.com. 'But what I found was huge. 'Mark Frost had mentioned the name Hazel and that the murder was 20 miles from Albany. I started Googling and looking at maps of the area before finally finding her full name. That was the Rosetta Stone moment.' Along with TV curator David Bushman, who wrote the every-thing-you-ever-wanted-to-know book 'Twin Peaks FAQ,' Givens has been spending his spare time sifting through suspects in the hope of solving the crime. They are now planning a book on the murder. Drew - a blond bombshell with a 'well-formed figure' - was last seen picking raspberries by the side of Taborton Road at 7pm on July 7, 1908. Her badly decomposed body was found in Teal Pond four days later. Police honed in on a dozen suspects, including a 'dim-witted' farm boy, a drunken charcoal peddler, a dentist who had proposed to Drew despite being married and a professor who employed her. Then there was Drew's 'suicidal and melancholy' uncle William Taylor - who sounds like a character straight out of Twin Peaks - who lived near the pond and helped pull her body from the water. Locals who had no obvious connection to Drew also came under suspicion, notably the 'half-witted' son of a Sand Lake widow who was believed to torture farm animals. A 'florid-faced' stranger spotted near the pond and a man with a 'dark-complexion' seen with a girl who looked like Drew on a trolley bus were also suspected. Drew's skull had been smashed in and a piece of ribbon was wrapped around her neck. But that didn't stop people speculating that she'd been mowed down by a reckless 'automobilist' in a newly-invented 'touring car.' It was briefly suggested that the driver had panicked and tried to make the accident look like murder. Drew's death was the newspaper sensation of the day. Journalists arrived from all over the US to report on the twists and turns of the 'Teal Pond mystery.' Like Twin Peaks' Palmer - a seemingly perfect young woman who was secretly a cocaine-abusing prostitute - gossips suggested that Drew wasn't all that she seemed. Twin Peaks fanatics have descended on a tiny New York town trying to solve the century-old murder of the young woman whose death inspired the cult TV classic. Sand Lake residents are also gearing up for a surge in tourism as the long-awaited new series begins in May Drew's death was the newspaper sensation of the day. Journalists arrived from all over the US to report on the twists and turns of the 'Teal Pond mystery.' Like Twin Peaks' Palmer (right) - a seemingly perfect young woman who was secretly a cocaine-abusing prostitute - gossips suggested that Drew (left) wasn't all that she seemed FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, played by Kyle MacLachlan (pictured left with fellow co-star Michael Ontkean), slowly uncovers her double life aided by an eccentric cast of locals and his own spooky dreams. MacLachlan stars in the reboot Twin Peaks creators David Lynch (left) and Mark Frost (right) set the surreal 1990s show in Washington State near the Canadian border. But writer-director Frost found his inspiration 2,500 miles away in the pretty hamlet where he spent his childhood summers Drew had 'no known sweetheart' but there was speculation about a group of older men she allegedly had relationships with and gossip about orgies at a camp site in the woods. And Drew's mother Julia believed a man from nearby Troy - said to have hypnotic powers - had exerted a 'mysterious influence' over her. Drew had been employed by Professor Edward Cary as a servant-turned-governess to his children. But she abruptly left the job on the morning before she disappeared without giving a reason. She checked a suitcase packed with clothes into storage at Troy railroad station though no one ever found out why and was seen catching a train to Albany. Her final 24 hours remain a mystery. Today Sand Lake is a quiet residential area with just a handful of local businesses. But in 1908 it was known as the 'Coney Island of the North' with a funfair, a dozen big hotels and numerous summer campgrounds packed with tourists. Forensic science barely existed - the process of fingerprinting criminals in New York had begun just three years earlier - and the murder investigation looked slip-shod compared to modern standards. Suspects were named and shamed willy nilly, others were never even traced. Drew's aunt Minnie Taylor, the last family member to see her alive, refused to cooperate with the police and told her niece's friends to do the same. Givens and Bushman, who plan to call their book 'Who Killed Hazel Drew? The Murder Mystery That Inspired Twin Peaks,' have yet to narrow down a chief suspect. 'It's a tricky one,' says 42-year-old Givens, who lives in Washington DC. 'We are still in the research stage. It's not like reading a history book. The stories start with assumptions, then theories that are then disproved. 'There were probably two dozen suspects in all it changed on a daily basis. 'There are lovers and secrets - all very Twin Peaks. There are uncanny coincidences between the real murder and Laura Palmer's.' Bushman, a former TV writer who now works for the Paley Media Center in New York, contacted Givens initially after listening to his Deer Meadow Radio Podcast and then joined him on a research weekend in Sand Lake. Today Sand Lake is a quiet residential area with just a handful of local businesses. But in 1908 it was known as the 'Coney Island of the North' with a funfair, a dozen big hotels and numerous summer campgrounds packed with tourists Many of the photos show a dusty town dotted with prominent homes, including this white clapboard building with locals sitting outside on the porch Others, like this photo stamped with the words 'property of town of Sand Lake,' depict individuals with somber looking clothes in front of a house and neighboring church This old photo shows a horse and cart representing C.A. Nash Grocery Store in Sand Lake Shots also show a large family or group of people in formal clothes sitting outside a ivy-draped store Automobiles were a very new invention at the time, and some people speculated that Drew had been mowed down by a reckless 'automobilist' in a newly-invented 'touring car' 'I'm a huge fan of Twin Peaks. I have seen probably seen the show 20 times,' he says. 'When I heard Mark Frost talk about a murder, I started researching it too. 'Will we solve the murder? We will probably come up with our best guess but we're not there yet.' History teacher Ron Hughes is also writing a book about Drew's murder and believes he has narrowed the suspect list down to just two - her melancholy uncle William and the 'dim-witted' farm boy Frank Smith. 'No one was ever arrested,' he tells DailyMail.com. 'But there were so many suspects and so many unanswered questions. 'Hazel was drop dead gorgeous, beautiful. It was said that even the pretty girls would stop to check her out. 'She was very classy, polite and fashionable. The autopsy report said she had a well-formed figure. A newspaper article quoted one of her friends saying she had a very large bust. 'Hazel worked as a governess or servant - depending on which newspaper you read - for Professor Edward Cary and his wife. They loved Hazel, couldn't speak highly enough of her. 'But she came back from a weekend away with her cousins and abruptly quit after Mrs Cary asked her to do the laundry. 'Her cousins said Hazel had been in a good mood at the weekend, she hadn't met anyone else and she hadn't been upset. 'The police quizzed Professor Cary and then there was a married dentist, Edwin Knauff, who had apparently proposed to Hazel. The police looked very closely at him. 'Hazel checked a suitcase into storage but no one ever found out why. There was a newspaper clipping in the case, a notice that said Edward LaVoie had departed for Chattanooga, Tennessee. Teal's Pond (pictured here with a fresh coat of ice) in Sand Lake is where Hazel Drew's body was originally found Rumors also swirled that a scream was heard by someone in this home in 1908 on the night of Drew's death Dark hints of the occult run throughout the 30 episodes of the show and Frost confessed he took some of the ideas about Drew's death from his grandmother's stories about the ghost of a young woman haunting the woods surrounding their home in Taborton (pictured), near Sand Lake 'The police - and the newspaper reporters - thought that could be a clue, that maybe she was going away with him. 'I found out a lot about LaVoie but, like the police, I couldn't connect him, although later in life he got into trouble in a stock manipulation scheme.' Hughes, who grew up near Sand Lake and now teaches high school history in the Catskill Mountains, started researching the murder after reading about the case in a Troy newspaper on the 100th anniversary in 2008. But after sifting through newspaper clippings he quickly came to the conclusion that the media and the district attorney were spreading a fair amount of disinformation. 'The district attorney was under tremendous pressure to solve the murder, so I think he tried to throw the press off his back by suggesting Hazel could have been hit by a car. 'He knew that wasn't the case, her body did not show the effects of being hit by a car and her clothes weren't ripped. 'Reporters came from all over America and some were very tabloid-ish. There was speculation about Hazel's involvement with four older businessmen, including the man who owned the funeral home where her body was taken. 'Towards the end of the investigation when the reporters were bored they went to a summer camp where it was rumored that men in cars - a fairly unusual occurrence in 1908 - would take women they had picked up for orgies. 'At the inquest, the owner of the camp vehemently denied it.' Hughes, 53, was surprised at how quickly Drew's murder dropped off the newspaper front pages and the police investigation faded. 'From start to finish it was just a month,' he says. 'The police said it was on-going but no one was ever arrested.' Like Hughes, Sand Lake historian Moore thinks 17-year-old farmhand Frank Smith, described in some reports as 'loutish' and in others as 'dim-witted,' Drew's uncle William and aunt Minnie knew more than they let on. 'The uncle was recently widowed and had attempted suicide,' he says. 'He lived very close to Teal Pond and helped pull her body out. Bob Moore, a 67-year-old retired school teacher, first delved into the Drew archives when he took over as the town's official historian three years ago 'Hazel was close to his sister Minnie and they spent a lot of time together, possibly even double dated, although Hazel was 20 and Minnie 33. 'Minnie refused to co-operate with the police and refused to reveal the names of Hazel's friends and associates, claiming she did not want to drag innocent people into the affair. 'The farm boy fancied Hazel and was amongst the last to see her alive. There are many things that don't add up.' Moore, a 67-year-old retired school teacher, first delved into the Drew archives when he took over as the town's official historian three years ago. 'There were pages and pages of 1908 newspaper cuttings,' he told DailyMail.com 'I thought I'd maybe write a story about it but I kept putting it on one side. Then Ron Hughes contacted me, he was very familiar with the case and we talked at length. 'Then David Bushman and Mark Givens got in touch, so I took them on a little tour of the area. Mark Frost's family lived on the hill in Taborton, near Sand Lake, and he heard stories from his grandmother about the Drew murder. 'I went to Taborton and got chatting to a man - it was Mark's brother Scott, who wrote some of Twin Peaks, and still has a house in the area. However, Ron Hughes (pictured), was surprised at how quickly Drew's murder dropped off the newspaper front pages and the police investigation actually faded before the show took off 'Then a guy called John Walsh came to see me. It turned out I had taught him social studies at school. He helped Mark Frost with some of the local history. I wrote a short story for the local paper and now I am getting phone calls from all sorts of people offering clues. 'Who knows if it will ever be solved? There's no one left from 1908 so it is all hearsay or hypothetic. But people are really psyched up. 'Locals remember stories their grandparents told them, talk in the taverns and all sorts of theories. 'One theory has four local businessman who were supposedly involved with Hazel and she got pregnant, so they did her in. One of them owned the funeral home and he did the autopsy. 'Then there is a little occult. One of the doctors used to tend to animals that were sick. He would insist on working alone and it was believed he practiced the dark arts. 'There were some pretty wild things apparently going on up Taborton Mountain. Women were seen running around half-naked in 1908. One newspaper report had a woman 'clad only in a rubber overcoat.' 'According to the newspapers, Hazel had no known sweetheart. Her family said she'd had "very little to do with men" after having her heart broken two years earlier by a fiancee who ran off with one of her friends. Apparently she preferred to keep the company of women. 'The automobilist theory has the driver of a new touring car knocking her down. But people today say it is unlikely as that mountain road is hard for modern cars, let alone back then. 'I didn't really watch Twin Peaks when it came out but I am catching up now on Netflix and the similarities between the fictional Twin Peaks and Sand Lake are stunning. 'Sand Lake was also a mill town, there was the big, family-owned Crepes Hotel, just like the one in Twin Peaks and very similar scenery. We have our own twin peaks in the distant Catskill Mountains. 'Suddenly there's a lot of interest in Sand Lake and the murder. A local silk screen business is planning to print up 'Who Killed Hazel Drew' t-shirts. And there's talk of holding a Twin Peaks convention here.' Enigmatic Frost, 63, has occasionally dropped hints about the real stories behind Twin Peaks but his most telling observations were in an essay he wrote in a Sand Lake newsletter about his maternal grandmother. One of Mark Frost's homes is this stately property in Taborton Hamlet near Sand Lake. Frost, whose family home on Big Bowman Pond in Taborton has since been sold, used other real-life stories from the area in Twin Peaks And now the new series of the show is clearly making a comeback. Pictured, Actor Kyle Maclachlan introduces the band Real Estate at the Clive Bar last week, where Showtime hosted a 'Twin Peaks' event at SXSW The limited series will consist of 18 episodes, premiering on Showtime on May 21 on Showtime 'The inspiration for the television series Twin Peaks sprang from a nightmarish little bedtime story my grandmother Betty Calhoun planted in my ear as a young boy,' he wrote. 'Betty, whose interest in the facts was, at best, glancing, framed this tale more along the lines of a cautionary ghost story: don't go out in the woods at night, etc. 'Poor Hazel's body was found on the banks of the pond. Mystery ensued. Uncertainty about the perpetrator lingered, and may still. 'Some weeks later, a calf, stuck in the mud and bleating for help under a dim half moon, was mistaken for the spirit of the lost girl by a couple of local drunks, who fled the scene in terror. 'Some twenty years later, half-remembered details of this sad tale swam through my sub-conscious during the creation of a similarly doomed character named Laura Palmer.' Frost, whose family home on Big Bowman Pond in Taborton has since been sold, used other real-life stories from the area in Twin Peaks and called the town's medical center, where much of the action is set, the Calhoun Memorial Hospital - after his grandparents. His grandfather Douglas Calhoun was a doctor and, in another twist, Frost cast his own actor father Warren Frost as kindly physician Will Hayward and turned him into a star. Frost, whose younger brother Scott wrote two episodes of Twin Peaks and the accompanying book, 'The Autobiography of Special Agent Dale Cooper,' jokingly called it 'reverse nepotism.' Warren was 60 and had just retired from teaching theater in Minnesota when he was cast as Doc Hayward. He followed that up with an instantly recognizable role as the father of George Costanza's fiance on Seinfeld. He's also in the long-awaited new series of Twin Peaks, which starts on Showtime in May, but his appearance will be bitter sweet for Frost and his family. Warren died in February aged 91. A jury has been discharged on the first day of the trial of a Sydney high school teacher accused of sex offences against three students. Cameron White, 39, has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a person aged between 14 and 16 years. Cameron White leaves the Downing Centre Court, in Sydney. He is facing 25 sexual assault charges against three 15 year old female students The former teacher, 39, was supposed to be on trial this week but the jury was discharged He was also charged with multiple counts of sexual intercourse with a person under care and one count of aggravated acts of indecency against a person aged under 16. His trial was scheduled to begin in the NSW District Court on Wednesday but the jury was discharged for legal reasons part-way through crown prosecutor Michael Barr's opening address. A new jury is expected to be empanelled on Thursday. Mom arrested: Abbie Maldonado, 30, was arrested on Monday and charged with felony child neglect for allegedly leaving her loaded pistol in her car with her 3-year-old outside a school A Florida mother has been charged with child neglect after police say her 3-year-old son grabbed a loaded handgun while alone in her car and fired a shot in the parking lot of a school. According to Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson, 30-year-old Abbie Maldonado and the toddler went to Good Shepherd Academy on Howland Boulevard on Monday to pick up an older sibling. A press release from the sheriff's office stated that Maldonado got out to walk around and left the younger boy unsecured in the back of her Chevrolet, with the rear passenger door propped open so she could keep an eye on him. Davidson said the boy grabbed the .380-caliber Glock pistol that was in the door pocket and pulled the trigger. The shot shattered a window and lodged in the door frame. No one was injured. When interviewed by officials, later, Maldonado said she was strolling around the parking lot with other parents when she heard a loud bang, but didnt immediately realize it was a gunshot. Scroll down for video Shot fired: Officials say the toddler grabbed the Glock from the door pocket and pulled the trigger, causing a window in the Chevy to shatter (pictured) The bullet lodged in the door frame (pictured). The mom didn't realize what happened until she returned to the car and heard the sound of broken glass crunching beneath her feet She went to her car to check on the 3-year-old and then walked around the parking lot some more. Maldonado then returned to the Chevy and took the toddler into the school to go to the bathroom, still not realizing anything was amiss, the news release said. When the 30-year-old woman returned to her vehicle a third time, that is when she heard the sound of glass crackling and realized the front drivers side window was shattered. Maldonado then went to the front of the church to see if anyone had seen someone by her vehicle. When she returned to the car again, she noticed that her loaded gun wasnt in the drivers side door pocket where she had left it. It was now on the front seat. After checking her son for injuries, Maldonado went inside the school to report the incident. The Volusia County Sheriffs Office then got a 911 call reporting the shooting. Nobodys hurt, but we had a parent that has a concealed weapon permit and a child got a hold of it and pulled the trigger, the caller said. The incident occurred when Maldonado and the toddler went to Good Shepherd Academy on Howland Boulevard in Deltona to pick up an older sibling Deputies arrived on the scene at 3.45pm and arrested Maldonado on a felony charge of child neglect. Maldonado told investigators she had received her concealed weapons permit last month and said that she normally keeps the gun locked in the trunk. The woman's boyfriend later arrived at the school to pick up the children. The Department of Children and Families told the station WFTV it was notified of the incident and has launched an investigation. Sears, a back-to-school shopping destination for generations of kids and the place newlyweds went to choose appliances, has said that after years of losing money that there is 'substantial doubt' it will be able to keep its doors open. It's a dramatic acknowledgment from the chain that owns Sears and Kmart stores, which has long held fast to its stance that a turnaround is possible, even as many of its shoppers have moved on to Wal-Mart, Target or Amazon. Sears has survived of late mainly with millions in loans funneled through the hedge fund of Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert, but with sales fading it is burning through cash. Scroll down for video Sears, once the monolith of American retail, says that there is 'substantial doubt' that it will be able to keep its doors open. Company shares tumbled more than 13 percent Wednesday Sears Holdings Corp. said late Tuesday it lost more than $2billion last year, and its historical operating results indicated doubt about the future of the company that started in the 1880s as a mail-order catalog business. At a largely empty Sears store in St. Paul, Minnesota, where the available parking far outstripped the number of cars in the lot, 85-year-old Jack Walsh and his 82-year-old wife, Mary Ann, said they have shopped at Sears their entire lives, buying items from curtains and window treatments to tires and tools. 'I bought my tools from Sears and I've still got them,' Jack Walsh said. The company known for DieHard batteries and Kenmore appliances has been selling assets, most recently its Craftsman tool brand. But it says pension agreements may prevent the sale of more businesses, potentially leading to a shortfall in funding. 'It's a sad story. This is the place that created the first direct to consumer retail, the first modern department store. It stood like the Colossus over the American retail landscape,' said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consulting firm. 'But it's been underinvested and bled dry.' Jack Walsh, 85, and his 82-year-old wife, Mary Ann, visit with a reporter at a Sears store in St. Paul, Minnesota. They said they have shopped at Sears their entire lives, buying items from curtains and window treatments to tires and tools Company shares, which hit an all-time low last month, tumbled more than 13 per cent Wednesday. Sears tried to soothe investors' fears, saying in a post on its site that it remains focused on 'executing our transformation plan' and that news reports miss the full disclosure that it's highlighting actions to reduce risks. It also said that the comments made in the filing were in line with 'regulatory standards'. Lampert combined Sears and Kmart in 2005, about two years after he helped bring Kmart out of bankruptcy. He pledged to return Sears to greatness, leveraging its best-known brands and its vast holdings of land, and more recently planned to entice customers with its loyalty program. The company, which employs 140,000 people, announced in January said it would close 108 additional Kmart and 42 more Sears locations, and unveiled yet another restructuring plan in February aimed at cutting costs and reconfiguring debts to give itself more breathing room. But it has to get more people through the doors or shopping online for what it's selling. Sears, like many department stores, has been thwarted by a new consumer that has ripped up the decades-old playbook that the industry has relied upon. A plethora of new online players have also revolutionized the market. Sears has upped its presence online, but is having a hard time disguising its age. Its stores are in need of a major refresh as rivals like Wal-Mart and Target invest heavily to revitalize stores. Sales at established Sears and Kmart locations dropped 10.3 per cent in the final quarter of 2016. Industry analysts have placed the staggering sums of money that Sears is losing beside the limited number of assets it has left to sell, and believe the storied retailer may have reached the point of no return. Sears signage is shown on its department store in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood The company has lost $10.4billion since 2011, the last year that it made a profit. Excluding charges that can be listed as one-time events, the loss is $4.57billion, says Ken Perkins, who heads the research firm Retail Metrics LLC, but how the losses are stacked no longer seem to matter. 'They're past the tipping point,' Perkins said. 'This is a symbolic acknowledgement of the end of Sears of what we know it to be.' For Sears to survive, Perkins believes it would need to do so as a company running maybe 200 stores. It now operates 1,430, a figure that has been vastly reduced in recent years. As for Kmart, Perkins does not see much of a future. For decades, Sears was king of the American shopping landscape. Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s storied catalog featured items from bicycles to sewing machines to houses, and could generate excitement throughout a household when it arrived. The company began opening retail locations in 1925 and expanded swiftly in suburban malls from the 1950s to 1970s. 'When I first got married at 19 or 20, we bought our first set of kettles from Sears,' said Darla Klemmensen, who was shopping at the St. Paul store on Wednesday. 'We still have some of those.' Sears has upped its presence online, but is having a hard time disguising its age. A Sears store is pictured in Pennsylvania Klemmensen says Sears has been part of her life since she was a child watching her grandmother order stockings and garters, and she remembers flipping through Sears catalogs as thick as her forearm, full of appliances, clothing and kitchen wares. But the onset of discounters like Wal-Mart created challenges for Sears that have only grown. Sears faced even more competition from online sellers and appliance retailers like Lowe's and Home Depot. Its stores became its albatross, many of them looking shabby and outdated. The company, based northwest of Chicago in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, lost $607million in the most recent quarter and revenue fell. 'They've been delusional about their ability to turn around the business,' said Perkins. Johnson, though, believes one avenue for Sears could be returning to its roots as a direct-to-consumer company, only using the internet versus the old catalog. He believes the Sears name still stands for something for the 40-plus customer. 'It has a lot of good memories,' he said. 'It stands for being dependable and reliable.' A Pennsylvania ice cream maker is courting Harry Potter fans with a new flavor based on Hogwarts' favorite drink, 'butterbeer'. Yuengling's Ice Cream announced the flavor on Monday in a press release. The company said that J.K. Rowling once described butterbeer as tasting 'a little bit like less sickly butterscotch'. With that in mind, Yuengling's said the new butterbeer variety 'will be made from half buttercream ice cream, half butterscotch ice cream, and twisted with a butterscotch swirl'. Yuengling's Ice Cream has announced it now has a Harry Potter-themed butterbeer ice cream flavor (left). A butterbeer nonalcoholic beverage is pictured right at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood Yuengling's says it 'will be made from half buttercream ice cream, half butterscotch ice cream, and twisted with a butterscotch swirl'. Pictured are Harry Potter actors Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe Yuengling's said: 'The result is magical decadence that will transport you to another place and time.' President David Yuengling said in a statement: 'We are always looking for ways to inspire our fans and spark creativity. 'Whether it's our flavor names and descriptions or the recipes themselves were in the business of having fun. 'We hope we made J.K. Rowling proud with this flavor.' He told the Huffington Post: 'My kids were big Harry Potter fans and we wanted to do something unique.' A butterbeer cart is pictured at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood Yuengling says pints are available, and that quarts will be available soon. Butterbeer may be a good fit for Yuengling's. The ice cream company began as an offshoot of the well-known Pennsylvania brewery during the prohibition years, and is now a separate company. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios sells a non-alcoholic butterbeer beverage in cold liquid and frozen slushy options. The Orange County Register reported in 2016 that a hot butterbeer sold at the Orlando, Florida, Universal Studios location is a 'no caffeine butterscotch-laced latte'. An Idaho man who experts say was coerced into a false murder confession was freed Wednesday after spending half of his life behind bars. A judge released Christopher Tapp after vacating his rape conviction and resentencing him to time served for the 1996 killing of Angie Dodd. Tapp was convicted after a jury heard what experts would later say were false confessions given under extreme duress. He was convicted despite not being a match for DNA found at the crime scene. Scroll down for videos Christopher Tapp smiles during his post conviction relief hearing at the Bonneville Courthouse in Idaho Falls, Idaho on Wednesday After years of work by Tapp's attorney John Thomas, advocates, and even the victim's mom, Carol Dodge, Tapp was released The release came after years of work by Tapp's attorney, public defender John Thomas, and advocates, including Judges for Justice, the Idaho Innocence Project and even the victim's mother, Carol Dodge, who once said she was convinced of Tapp's guilt - until she watched all of his confession videos. Tapp was released after a plea deal with prosecutors, though the terms were not released. Tapp gave up his right to pursue post-conviction proceedings. His attorney said this way he was let out of prison immediately, even though he was not exonerated, he felt it was the best thing to do, reported The Post Register. Otherwise, he would have had to wait ten years for a parole hearing. Angie Dodge was 18 and living in an Idaho Falls apartment on June 13, 1996, when she was sexually assaulted and killed at her home. Christopher Tapp, right, and Jeremy Sargis, who was also originally linked to the crime but whose charges were dropped, embrace during Tapp's post conviction relief hearing at the Bonneville Courthouse in Idaho Falls, Idaho Tapp was a 20-year-old high school dropout at the time. He was interrogated for hours and subjected to multiple lie detector tests by police before confessing, but DNA evidence taken from the scene didn't match Tapp or any of other suspects in the case. The release doesn't exonerate Tapp - his murder conviction still stands under the plea agreement that transformed his 30-years-to-life sentence to time served. But the agreement allowed Tapp to leave the courtroom as a free man after spending 20 years in prison. He otherwise wouldn't have been able to seek parole until 2027. 'Chris Tapp is innocent,' his attorney, Thomas, told the Post Register newspaper Tuesday. Still, Thomas said, the plea deal was the right decision because it came with the certainty of freedom. Christopher Tapp, right, and public defender John Thomas smile during Tapp's post conviction relief hearing at the Bonneville Courthouse in Idaho Falls In court Wednesday, Carol Dodge said she was overwhelmed and felt great sadness that Tapp had lost 20 years of his life to prison. She said she hoped people would continue to seek justice for her daughter by finding the real killer. The Idaho Falls Police Department announced Wednesday that it has a sketch of a suspect in the case. However, police did not release it or immediately return calls from The Associated Press inquiring how it was obtained. Most of the recent developments in the case have focused on DNA found at the scene. Christopher Tapp hugs his mother Vera Tapp, left, and Carol Dodge, the mother of murder victim Angie Dodge, after being freed during his post conviction relief hearing at the Bonneville Courthouse in Idaho Falls - Dodge told NBC-Dateline that she believed Tapp was guilty until she spent hours watching all of Tapp's interrogation tapes. Angie Dodd, above, was 18 when she was found dead, raped and her throat slit Dodge's body was found by co-workers who went to check on her. She had been raped and stabbed. Investigators were able to obtain DNA samples from hair, skin cells and body fluids at the scene. The initial investigation spanned several months, and by the start of 1997, detectives began to suspect that Benjamin Hobbs and Tapp may have been involved. Hobbs was arrested in Ely, Nevada, in connection with a rape and accused of using a knife during the crime. Tapp, who was friends with Hobbs, was arrested in January and questioned about Hobbs' suspected involvement in Dodge's killing. Over the next few weeks, Tapp was interrogated nine times and subjected to seven polygraph tests. Tapp, in an undated photo above, served 20 years in prison for a crime he and his supporters say he didn't commit At various times, police officers suggested he could face the death penalty, told him that he was failing the lie detector tests, suggested he may have repressed memories of the killing and offered him immunity if he implicated Hobbs and another suspect. He eventually confessed to being involved in the death. But none of the DNA found at the crime scene matched Tapp, Hobbs or the other suspect. It all belonged to the same unknown man, according to the analysis. Prosecutors, seemingly unaware of the nature of some of the police contact with Tapp, accused him of lying and rescinded his plea deal. Tapp was convicted after his recorded confession was played for the jury. Over the years, advocacy groups for the wrongfully convicted began fighting for Tapp's exoneration. His attorney tried to get the conviction overturned, but was stymied by Idaho's strict one-year statute of limitations for some post-conviction proceedings and a limited court record. Christopher Tapp celebrates after his post conviction relief hearing at the Bonneville Courthouse in Idaho Falls Former FBI agent Gregg McCrary later reviewed the videotaped interrogations and polygraphs at the request of Judges for Justice. 'While the investigators should be commended for engaging in the best practice of recording virtually all of their contact with Mr. Tapp, they also became ensnared in a host of cognitive biases,' McCrary wrote to Bonneville County Prosecuting Attorney Bruce Pickett in 2014. A polygraph expert recruited by the group, Boise State University professor Dr. Charles Honts, said the polygraphs were used 'as a psychological rubber hose in an effort to coerce a confession.' Under the plea deal, Tapp can't continue legal efforts to get his conviction overturned and must pay into Idaho's victim compensation fund. The city of Jefferson has spent $38,000 in legal fees dealing with an annexation, a subsequent appeal and lawsuit, said City Recorder Sarah Cook. The costs are expected to grow, but the city budgeted just $20,000 for legal expenses this fiscal year, she said. Well be looking at contingency funds to cover those expenditures, she added. Jeffersons contingency currently stands at $84,000, or roughly 8.6 percent of the citys $975,000 general fund. Stewart Taylor, city of Albany finance director, said Oregon law doesnt require a contingency amount for municipalities. However, the Government Finance Officers Association recommends reserves of no less than two months of regular general fund operating revenues or expenditures. The city could fall short of that, Cook acknowledged. On March 16, the Marion County Circuit Court awarded attorneys fees and costs of $10,000 to the city, which won a case that sought to force Jefferson to process a referendum petition and put the annexation before voters. The case has been appealed and the award could be, as well, Cook said. She wasn't sure from whom the city would collect the award. I dont know if its from the political action committee or the named chief petitioners, Cook said. The chief petitioners listed are a trio of newly elected councilors, Bob Burns, Brad Cheney and Stan Neal. They were part of the Select Reform Committee for Jefferson, which filed the lawsuit, but have since resigned, Neal said. I am disconnected and play no role in their decisions and have no financial obligations past, present or future, he said. He added that, according to the Secretary of States Office, the new councilors couldnt get their names off the Marion County case because they were the original co-petitioners on the referendum. Cook said they could drop the lawsuit to remove their names and make the group file a new case. Neal responded that the current committee would have to withdraw the case. The Hamby annexation was approved by the Jefferson City Council in August, but then-members expressed frustration with the recently passed Senate Bill 1573, saying that the state law superseded the city charter and eliminated the ability of voters to determine annexations. The 15-acre property could result in an additional 60 homes in Jefferson. Several people criticized the council, saying that it should have fought for residents right to vote. The right to petition and vote is a very important constitutional right that should not be taken away, Neal said. The councils decision spurred a quartet of candidates to challenge incumbents. Mayor Cyndie Hightower and Burns, Cheney and Neal, who all live near the annexation property, were elected in November. Until December, the four also were part of a group called Jeffersonians for Jefferson that filed an Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals case regarding the annexation. That has been remanded back to the city, which needs more evidence to justify the decision. Hightower was named the Select Reform Committee for Jeffersons treasurer on court records. There would have been costs regarding the annexation no matter what, but with no lawsuit or appeal, Cook thought it would be less than $5,000. Burns said that Cook was at fault for the extra expenses, because she didnt process the request to put the annexation on a ballot. Cook responded that the citys counsel told her not to process the referendum, as it would put the city at risk of being sued. If he thinks another city recorder is going to come in here and make a different decision, thats concerning. Because a good city recorder will follow the law. Given the outcome of multiple cases, we made the right decision, Cook said. In February, for example, a Benton County Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of the new state law in a lawsuit filed by the city of Corvallis that was joined by the city of Philomath and the League of Oregon Cities. Neal said that he believed that if Jefferson followed Corvallis and Philomath to challenge the new state law, the LOC would have handled nearly all of the court bill. I feel bad about the amount thats been spent. I believe both sides in the issue were making decisions that they thought were best, he added. Last week, Cook submitted a resignation letter as she will become the city of Millersburgs next city recorder. She cited a toxic atmosphere created by the new City Council as a factor in her resignation. Burns said her letter had cheap shots and wasnt professional. She and I have had our differences. Theres a new sheriff in town, he added. Hightower and Cheney could not be reached for comment. An abusive bikie will be released from jail in just four months after breaking his wife's ribs and bruising more than 50 per cent of her body. Anna Barber fears her husband of nine years, Melbourne Comanchero bikie Daniel Barber, will try and kill her when he finishes a light prison sentence for bashing her. 'When he comes out, I swear on my life, he's going to come and find me and try and kill me,' she told Nine News. Scroll down for video Comanchero bikie Daniel Barber was given a six-month sentence for bashing his wife Anna Barber said her ribs were broken and she had bruises to more than 50 per cent of her body (pictured) Barber set upon his wife on January 31 and wrongly accused her of cheating. He faced 11 charges, including recklessly causing injury - which could have seen him jailed for five years. But he was sentenced on Wednesday to just six months behind bars, and will be released in four months. Mrs Barber has criticised the light sentence. She fears her husband will find her when he is released from prison in June 'What do I get? Having to change my life, having to move everything, all my family and friends living in fear for when he's released,' she told Nine News 'What do I get? Having to change my life, having to move everything, all my family and friends living in fear for when he's released,' she told Nine News. 'He finds me [and] the judge can have my blood on their hands.' Barber was on bail at the time of the assault and has prior convictions, Nine News reports. His wife suffered almost a decade of the abuse. Contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) for support, or dial triple zero (000) if you are in an emergency. A second teenage boy has been ordered to stand trial for the attempted murder of a 14-year-old girl who was shot in the head after his friend was annoyed she kept messaging him on Snapchat. A judge ruled there was probable cause the 16-year-old boy helped plan the attack against Deserae Turner, of Smithfield, Utah, even though his friend is the one suspected of pulling the trigger in February. After the hearing on Wednesday, Deserae's father Matt Turner spoke publicly for the first time since the attack, saying: 'She has undergone a tough surgery and continues to fight for the ability to complete daily tasks many of us take for granted.' Deserae Turner(pictured) met two 16-year-old boys she considered her friends near a secluded canal, and was shot in the back of the head, police said Deserae's father Matt Turner said on Wednesday: 'She has undergone a tough surgery and continues to fight for the ability to complete daily tasks many of us take for granted' Deserae, who was found on February 17 in a dry canal behind a high school, began intensive inpatient rehabilitation therapies on Wednesday, her father said. Authorities testified during evidentiary hearings this week that the two 16-year-old boys concocted the plan to 'get rid' of her while playing video games. 'I just didn't want anything to do with Snapchatting her anymore,' one of the 16-year-old boys said, according to a statement he gave to police that was read aloud in juvenile court Tuesday. 'Well, you've got a 6-inch blade, why don't you do it yourself,' his friend replied. The first boy said he thought it was just a 'crude joke' - but the two kept plotting for weeks and settled on a plan that called for him to slit Deserae's throat, the statement said. The alleged shooter first lured Deserae to the canal with the intention of killing her with a knife, but could not go through with the plan, according to Cache County Sheriff Deputy Brian Groves. He arranged another meeting days later on February 16, when he shot her in the back of the head using a gun he grabbed from underneath his brother's mattress, police said. The boys then broke her cellphone and iPod, stole $55 they found in her backpack, and left her for dead police said. 'That's how this cruel, unsuspecting and terrible act occurred,' said Cache County Attorney James Swink on Wednesday. A second teenage boy has been ordered to stand trial for plotting to attack a 14-year-old girl who was shot in the head after his friend was annoyed she kept messaging him on Snapchat The boys concocted the plan to 'get rid' of her while playing video games, and initially planned to slit her throat with a knife, the court heard An attorney for the teen suspected of planning the attack argued that his client was not involved. Defense attorney Shannon Demler said the prosecution's case against the teen is built only on statements from the other suspect, who he called a 'a murderer' and 'a liar.' But prosecutors showed a video of Deserae in the hospital, during which she recalled seeing both suspects in the canal before she was shot. When Deserae began speaking about three weeks after she ended up in the hospital, one of the first things she asked was whether her friend - the one accused of planning the attack - had found his ring, Groves said. He pretended he lost it in the mud as a way to keep her in the secluded area before his friend pulled the trigger, Swink said Wednesday. Deserae recalled seeing both suspects in the canal before she was shot The alleged shooter also said he would not have had the courage to shoot Deserae had his friend not been there, according to Cache County Sheriff's Deputy Brian. Investigators said they identified both teens after learning of text messages Deserae sent to a friend saying, 'I'm getting picked on.' The two boys, who Deserae considered her friends, have been charged with attempted aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and obstruction of justice in the attack on Deserae. The boys have not been named because they are juveniles. Prosecutors said they will seek to have them charged as adults and hearings have been scheduled for May for a judge to make a decision. Footage captures the moment a mother leaves her three-year-old daughter alone in the car for over 30 minutes before it's towed away with the child still inside. Mother-of-five Madlin Ahmad told police she had parked on Sydney Road in Coburg, Victoria to use the toilet, but CCTV captures her going to eat in a restaurant with her other children - leaving the toddler behind. Ms Ahmed was sentenced to a good behaviour bond without conviction after pleading guilty at Broadmeadows Magistrates court on Wednesday, 9 News reports. After parking her Toyota Prado on the Sydney Road clearway, Madlin Ahmed can be seen in the footage placing blankets and clothes over the windows of the car as her other children get out. Footage captures the moment a mother leaves her three-year-old daughter alone in the car for over 30 minutes before it's towed away with the child still inside After parking her Toyota Prado on the Sydney Road clearway, Ms Ahmed can be seen in the footage placing blankets and clothes over the windows of the car as her other children get out. They family then walked away to eat at Fahita's, a Lebanese and Mexican fusion restaurant, where Ms Ahmed had no clear view of her car. The young girl was left in the back seat for 36 minutes before a tow truck came and took the car the car away. On the day Ms Ahmed left her daughter in the car, temperatures reached a maximum of 19.6 degrees, but Senior Sergeant Jason Dolman said temperatures inside the car can be up to 20 to 30 degrees hotter. Ms Ahmad's lawyer told the court the mother was 'aware that was an error of judgement,' 9 News reports. 'She will never forget the shock and fear she felt in those moments.' The mother-of-five told police she had parked to use the toilet, but CCTV captures her going to eat in this restaurant with her other children An organised crime gang has stolen 130 handguns from a Perth gun store after cutting through a concrete wall and avoiding laser-beam security. At least three people were involved in the 'well organised burglary' where revolvers and semi-automatic pistols were stolen from Barry & Son Firearms in Beckenham. WA Police said the burglary is a 'massive concern' and that the guns are likely to be used in criminal activity. The moment organised crime gang members broke into a Perth firearms store and stole 130 handguns Police released CCTV footage of a current model Holden HSV GTS Commodore pulling up at the rear of the of the gun shop 'The only reason you would possess an illicit handgun is if you want to threaten, injure or kill somebody,' Detective Senior Sergeant Darren Hart said. 'The guns are used for nothing good. It is only a matter of time before something disastrous happens 'Presumably they are already in the wrong hands, but you couldn't rule out that they would find their way to organised criminals.' Police released CCTV footage of a current model Holden HSV GTS Commodore pulling up at the rear of the of the gun shop. Thieves used tin snips to cut through wire fencing and break into the building. Once inside the thieves used a saw to cut through the strongroom's concrete wall and avoided security laser beams, The West Australian reported. At least three people were involved in the 'well organised burglary' where revolvers and semi-automatic pistols were stolen from Barry & Son Firearms in Beckenham Each stolen gun is worth about $5000 on the black market, taking the total value of the stolen firearms to $650,000 No ammunition was stolen, however the guns are capable of firing straight out of the box, police said Police have not dismissed the possibility that it was an inside job. Each stolen gun is worth about $5000 on the black market, Det-Sen. Sgt Darren Hart said. The total black market value of the stolen firearms is $650,000. No ammunition was stolen, however the guns are capable of firing straight out of the box, police said. Police have urged anyone who knows someone in possession of a large amount of handguns or who has seen the Holden Commodore to come forward. Doctors and nurses ran from hospital corridors and out to victims today as they responded to the London terror attacks. Several medics were spotted running through the streets to tend to those caught up in the terrifying attack in Westminster. The quick response, from medical staff at nearby St Thomas Hospital, was praised by other NHS workers who said they were proud to work for the service. A medic is seen near Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, looking as though the day's harrowing events have taken a deep toll on him In one poignant image, a man wearing a stethoscope appears to be deeply affected as he walks through the horrific scene, with his hand in his hair. In another, women rally together and pile blankets onto a trolley to take down to the victims, as they prepare to admit them into St Thomas Hospital. Five people have died, including the attacker and one police officer, after the London terror attacks on Wednesday afternoon. Nurses from St Thomas' hospital load blankets outside the hospital to take to victims of the London terror attacks The officer, who was stabbed by the unnamed assailant as he tried to enter Parliament, was named as husband and father PC Keith Palmer. His colleagues tried in vain to save his life, and were joined by hero MP Tobias Ellwood who attempted to resuscitate the officer, who was stabbed to death. The attack was launched at about 2.30pm this afternoon, when a driver launched a Hyundai 4x4 into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, before crashing into the gates of Parliament. At least 10 people were thought to have been injured initially, but that number has risen. Parliament was on lockdown for several hours and the Prime Minister was bundled out of the House to be taken to a place of safety. Patients were taken to St Thomas Hospital, where armed police are now stationed. Doctors and nurses were praised for their speedy response as they ran out from their corridors to go to the aid of the victims Colleagues of the doctors and nurses who rushed to the scene praised their friends on Twitter for their bravery. Rahee Mapara said she was unbelievably proud to hear of the doctors running from the hospital, while Jess Dingle said she could not praise them enough. The latest information the hospital shared was via Twitter on Wednesday evening. The trust posted: 'Two patients are being treated at St Thomas Hospital following todays security incident in Westminster one man and one woman. 'Both patients have been admitted to St Thomas and both are in a stable condition. There will be no further statements overnight.' A woman has died after reportedly falling from the roof above a shopping centre in Sydney's south. Emergency services were called to Westfield Miranda just after 8.10am on Thursday after shocked witnesses found the woman's body and desperately tried to revive her. The death is the third at a Westfield shopping centre in just three months, with a missing man found in a stairwell at Bondi Junction and a man murdered with a sword in the car park of the centre in Doncaster, Melbourne's east. A woman has died after reportedly falling from the roof above Westfield Miranda (pictured) in Sydney's south The woman died at the scene and police said the death is not being treated as suspicious. Photos show up to five police vehicles and two ambulances lined up outside the shopping centre. She is believed to have fallen outside the Westfield onto Kingsway near Service NSW. Streets outside Westfield Miranda have been closed, including Kiora Road and Urunga Parade, while police investigate. After the death, Westfield Miranda wrote to Facebook that Services NSW was 'temporarily closed'. Streets outside Westfield Miranda have been closed, including Kiora Road and Urunga Parade, while police investigate After the death, Westfield Miranda wrote to Facebook that Services NSW was 'temporarily closed' On January 27, police swarmed levels three and four of Bondi Junction's Westfield after the body of Bernard Gore, 71, was found by a maintenance worker in the stairwell. Mr Gore had been missing for three weeks after setting out on foot from Woollahra to meet his wife and daughter at the shopping centre on January 6. Then on February 3, tradesman David Dick, 36, had his throat slashed by a man with a sword at Westfield Doncaster in Melbourne's east. He was attacked as he stepped out of a carpark lift at the shopping centre about 6am. Police are still hunting for Mr Dick's brother Jonathon, who is wanted for questioning over the brutal attack. On January 27, police swarmed levels three and four of Bondi Junction's Westfield after the body of Bernard Gore, 71, was found by a maintenance worker Mr Gore had been missing for three weeks after setting out on foot from Woollahra to meet his wife and daughter at the shopping centre on January 6 Animal rights activists have slammed Taronga Zoo for elephant captivity following the death of its beloved African matriarch Cuddles, claiming the zoo would have been 'hell' for an animal who was meant to roam free. A spokesperson for PETA told Daily Mail Australia the female elephant spent 40 long years at the zoo being 'used as a cash cow' and she was now 'at peace' after spending so long in captivity. Cuddles died on Wednesday after zoo staff made the heartbreaking decision to put down Australia's last remaining African elephant due to her digestive health issues. Cuddles the elephant arrived in Australia in 1977 and died on Wednesday after a long 40-year stint at the Dubbo zoo PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has fought for the release of elephants in the circus and in zoos across Australia The 46-year-old elephant spent 40 years of her life at Taronga Western Plains Zoo, and after her death PETA has said it welcomes the zoo's decision to no longer house African elephants. 'After years of being used as a cash cow, Cuddles is finally at peace,' PETA's Associate Director of Campaigns Ashley Fruno said. 'Taronga Western Plains Zoo's decision to no longer exhibit African elephants is a welcome one, but PETA urges the zookeepers to show as much compassion to Asian elephants.' 'Zoos around the world have closed their elephant exhibits or announced plans to phase them out, citing their own inability to meet the significant needs of these animals,' Ms Fruno added. 'It's time for Taronga Western Plains Zoo to do the same.' Of the elephant's death, PETA said: ''After years of being used as a cash cow, Cuddles is finally at peace' PETA said: 'Taronga Western Plains Zoo's decision to no longer exhibit African elephants is a welcome one, but PETA urges the zookeepers to show as much compassion to Asian elephants' Ms Fruno told Daily Mail Australia Taronga Zoo's small captivity area is 'hell' for elephants like Cuddles who were born to roam free in the wild. 'Artificial environments such as Taronga Western Plains Zoo can never compare to the lush jungles, forests, grasslands, and rivers that animals call home,' Ms Fruno said. 'Wild elephant herds can roam up to 50 kilometres per day, whereas the total area of Taronga is just three square kilometres.' 'The key to saving animals such as elephants lies in saving their habitat, not breeding and storing them in unnatural environments. Even under the best of circumstances at the best of zoos, captivity is hell for animals who are meant to roam free.' Taronga Western Plains Zoo responded to PETA's claims and said Cuddles' - like other animals - was treated with great care during her time at the Zoo. 'Older elephants are susceptible to many aged related illnesses,' a Taronga spokesperson said. 'The Zoos keepers and veterinary team had a special aged care program in place for Cuddles, which continues for the Zoos elderly Asian Elephants Burma and Gigi, to ensure on-going quality of life in their twilight years.' Cuddles spent the majority of her life in Taronga's 3km area - which PETA claims is far too small Cuddles arrived from the UK to Taronga Western Plains Zoo with two other elephants Yum Yum and Cheri Staff at Taronga Zoo said they were 'struggling' to come to terms with the loss of Cuddles, and claim her presence at the zoo was a symbol of fighting the threat against poaching and habitat loss in Africa 'She will be greatly missed and her passing represents the end of an era for African Elephants in Australia. Cuddles will be buried in Zoo grounds,' Taronga staff said in a statement. 'Cuddles was an exceptional ambassador for African Elephants. She told the story of the threats that African Elephants face in the wild due to poaching and habitat loss.' The much-loved elephant moved to Australia from the UK in 1977 alongside fellow female companions Yum Yum and Cheri. Cheri died in 2007 and Yum Yum also passed away in 2010 - both due to similar gut-related problems - leaving Cuddles as the last remaining African elephant in the country. Australian Airport security should racially profile and target Middle Eastern men specifically, Israeli army veteran Avi Yemini claims. Mr Yemini, a Jewish conservative living in Melbourne, said he was shocked after Sydney Airport security did not stop him for an explosives test on Monday - but instead stopped a white Australian man aged in his 60s. He said it was the result of 'political correctness gone mad'. 'It's so silly stopping someone like him and not stopping someone like me. I am of terrorist age, Middle Eastern appearance, and (Osama) bin Laden looks like my uncle,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday. Mr Yemini (pictured) said he was shocked Sydney Airport security did not stop him and instead stopped a white Australian man behind him 'I have a military background, I am exactly what fits the profile, yet I wasn't stopped. 'In what world does that actually make sense?' Mr Yemini, a gym owner specialising in counter-terrorism style training, said Sydney Airport's decision to let him through without screening him for explosives left him feeling unsafe. 'I'd feel better knowing that they were racially profiling instead of being politically correct,' he said. 'Political correctness doesn't make anyone safer.' Mr Yemini told Daily Mail Australia it was time the country stopped aligning itself to the politically correct agenda. 'I am a proud Australian-Israeli Jew and a proud Zionist. Islamic terror will never win,' Mr Yemini wrote alongside this photo 'Sydney Airport security just let my Middle-Eastern-looking persons through, no questions asked,' Mr Yemini wrote on his Facebook page on Monday 'We're at a fork in the road, we can either go down the politically correct road where we care more about people's feelings, or we can decide to care about safety first and feelings second,' he said. The Victorian man said he was happy to sacrifice his own comfort in favour of national security. 'I'm happy to be checked anytime I fit a racial profile, whether it's security at an airport or walking down the street,' he said. 'If you have nothing to hide, you should have no problem with it.' Mr Yemini, a Jewish conservative, said airport security and security in general should target the Middle Eastern community Mr Yemini said security should specifically target the Middle Eastern community. 'If you don't have the capacity to stop everyone, randomise it between Middle Eastern people who fit that racial profile,' he said. Mr Yemini conceded he went against the grain, and his argument was uncommon coming from someone of Middle Eastern appearance. 'It's not what you usually hear someone who looks like me complaining about,' he said. Mr Yemini said he was willing to sacrifice his comfort and be checked by security more often in favour of national security Mr Yemini told Daily Mail Australia the discussion was more relevant than ever following a suspected Islamist terrorist attack on London's Westminster Bridge on Wednesday Mr Yemini told Daily Mail Australia the discussion was more relevant than ever following a suspected Islamist terrorist attack on London's Westminster Bridge on Wednesday. 'Waking up to the news of London, I'm getting a bit tired of it all,' he said. 'Australia is very quick to refer to it as a lone-wolf attack, and will not say the words Islamic terrorist. 'How is security able to implement racial profiling and do its job properly when even after the fact, our government can't even label it what it is.' John F. Kennedy referred to Adolf Hitler as having 'the stuff of which legends are made' in a diary entry written shortly after visiting Germany in 1945. Kennedy, then a fresh-faced 28-year-old, traveled to Hitler's bomb-ravaged Bavarian Berghof residence and Eagle's Nest mountain retreat during a tour of Germany while serving as a war correspondent for Hearst newspapers. And now excerpts from the diary, which were revealed by People Magazine, have shed light on just how the man who would become president thought about the Nazi leader. 'You can easily understand how that within a few years Hitler will emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived,' Kennedy wrote. John F. Kennedy referred to Adolf Hitler as having 'the stuff of which legends are made' in a diary entry written shortly after visiting Germany in 1945. JFK is pictured in 1940 Pictured is the diary in which JFK wrote about Hitler after his visit to Germany in 1945 'He had boundless ambition for his country which rendered him a menace to the peace of the world, but he had a mystery about him in the way he lived and in the manner of his death that will live and grow after him. 'He had in him the stuff of which legends are made.' The controversial passages have now been revealed after the diary's owner, Deirdre Henderson, arranged to have it auctioned off through RR Auction in Boston. Henderson, who served as JFK's research assistant when he was a Massachusetts senator, was given the book by her former boss because he wanted her to understand just how he thought about the world and international relations. Kennedy (left, wearing his U.S. Navy uniform in 1940, and right, boarding a flight to Paris in 1939) wrote about Hitler after touring Germany as a war correspondent for a newspaper In one of his diary entries, he describes a Berlin that lay in ruins in the summer of 1945, after Nazi Germany was defeated by the Allies in the Second World War On January 27, 1946, before JFK declared he would be making his first run for Congress in Massachusetts, he wrote that he would be 'murdered' in the polls. Several people in Boston at the time did not think much of his political aspirations On this page he discusses what qualities make up a good politicians. He wrote: 'The best politician is the man who does not think too much of the political consequences of his every act' In planning for his first run for office, Kennedy also jotted down notes on FDR and Truman (above). He told himself to remember 'Roosevelt's principle to keep politicians + policies apart' The first page of his diary includes his impressions of the Second World War and the future of the United States. He talked about comrades he had lost on the battlefield alongside the 'thousands and millions who died with them' Speaking to the auction house, Henderson explained why she believes the dated diary to be of such importance - some seven decades after it was penned. She also defended JFK, explaining how he complimentary words about Hitler did not equate to support for the horrific crimes he carried out. 'When JFK said that Hitler 'had in him the stuff of which legends are made,' he was speaking to the mystery surrounding him, not the evil he demonstrated to the world,' Henderson wrote for RR Auction. 'Nowhere in this diary, or in any of his writings, is there any indication of sympathy for Nazi crimes or cause. 'Remember this diary shows - everything about JFK shows that he was someone who was educated at an early age - He began reading [Churchill's memoirs of World War I] when he was about 12. He was interested in history from an early age.' Kennedy, then a fresh-faced 28-year-old, traveled to Hitler's bomb-ravaged Bavarian Berghof residence (pictured) The future president also made the trip to Hitler's 'Eagle's Nest' (pictured) in the mountains in 1945 'He had in him the stuff of which legends are made,' JFK wrote of Hitler, who is pictured in the 1930s The former researcher continued: 'Hitler was driven by ambition and he was a very dangerous person. And these young men had fought him in the war well, JFK was [serving in the U.S. Navy] in the South Pacific but he understood Hitler. 'And it's the mystery surrounding Hitler why did he do what he did? I don't think anyone will ever know. 'But JFK was analyzing it and saying Hitler was a legend - and Hitler is a legend. But he's not a good legend. 'You can't translate that as meaning he had admiration for him.' The original manuscript is intended to be auctioned off on April 26. A leading Republican politician in Hawaii has quit to join the Democrats, saying she cannot support President Donald Trump. State Rep. Beth Fukumoto, who says she was pressured to give up her leadership post at the statehouse after criticizing Trump, resigned from the GOP on Wednesday. She tendered her resignation because she says GOP members refuse to oppose racism and sexism. Fukumoto says she is hoping to become a Democrat but does not know whether the Democratic Party will accept her. Scroll down for video Hawaii Rep. Beth Fukumoto resigned from the GOP on Wednesday because she says its members refuse to oppose racism and sexism Fukumoto, one of Hawaii's few elected Republicans, was asked to resign her post as House Minority Leader in February after criticizing Trump in a speech at the Women's March in Honolulu. She sought feedback from her constituents about leaving the Republicans and says three-quarters of the letters she received supported the move. The 33-year-old was first elected in 2012 and is the youngest person to serve as the House Minority Leader. Fukumoto, who represents the community in which she grew up, is also the youngest person to serve as the House Minority Floor Leader and the Director of Research for the House Minority. In 2013 she was was awarded the James Madison Fellowship by the Millennial Action Project for her demonstrated success in transcending partisan lines - despite facing opposition from Republican colleagues. She was named by the Washington Post as one of the Top 40 under 40 Rising Political Stars, and recently, she was awarded the Aspen-Rodel Fellowship for demonstrating an outstanding ability to work responsibly across partisan divisions. 'When I joined the Republican Party eight years ago, I did so with a group of people my age who were full of hope, ideas and energy,' Fukumoto said in a news release. 'We saw an opportunity to take a political party that was broken, in a political system that seemed rigged, and even the playing field. To us, Democrats represented the status quo.' She went on to say that after serving in the Legislature, she discovered that there were Democrats also trying to bring about change, who she tried to co-operate with, but Republican partisanship 'insisted I stop working with Democrats even when it clearly benefited the community.' Rep. Beth Fukumoto says she was pressured to give up her leadership post at the statehouse after criticizing President Trump She continued: 'The issues that I've had with the Republican Party are well-documented and to reiterate them now would be adding fuel to a fire that doesn't need to keep burning. 'It's enough to say that my friends and I were wrong to think that a failing party could be changed just because we had the will to change it. 'In the process of trying to make a party that spoke about issues that our communities cared about in a way that Hawaii's voters wanted to listen to, my friends and I uncovered louder and more powerful voices that fought divergence, difference and diversity at every step. This election, those voices won.' The Hawaii Republican Party has branded Fukumoto's defection a betrayal, saying she should have resigned instead of switching parties, and allowed another Republican to fill the seat. Chairman Fritz Rohlfing said in a statement: 'Rep. Fukumoto's decision to abandon the Hawaii Republican Party is unfortunate,' 'I am extremely proud of how our Party welcomes and fosters voices from every background and I look forward to electing more Republicans in Hawaii as we move forward.' Several Hawaii Democrats have already come out to support Fukumoto, but Hawaii Democratic Party leader Tim Vandeveer said some are wary of a Republican joining their ranks. Linn Countys financial support of the RAIN (Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network) is especially important to rural communities, Commissioner Roger Nyquist said Tuesday after listening to an update from network officials. Although Albany and Lebanon are seeing an economic upturn, our rural areas, such as Sweet Home, Brownsville, and the North Canyon communities of Lyons and Mehama, have been left way behind, Nyquist said. RAIN offers an outreach into those areas, Nyquist said. In December 2015, Linn County invested $34,000 from its economic development fund into the four-county Linn, Benton, Lane and Lincoln RAIN program. Nyquist, a longtime business owner, said he and his peers have often talked about the challenges facing young entrepreneurs due to burdensome government regulations. We dont know how young persons will ever get a chance to go into business for themselves, Nyquist said. I grew up in a small business family and we always believed that owning your own business was the American dream. Now, we have a government that wants to take rich peoples money and pass it down to others. The demonization of business by todays society is very harmful. RAINs goals are to help local entrepreneurs, many of whom are working out of their homes or garages, build their businesses into operations that create local jobs. RAINs goals are: Working with the right people. Connecting them with helpful programs. Creating a strong network of support for them. Helping connect them with venture capital. According to Marc Manley, RAIN's executive director, since the organization was founded in 2013, it has generated more than $9.7 million in revenue, raised nearly $25 million in capital and assisted 602 companies that created 295 jobs and engaged 173 mentors. In 2016, RAIN had six Albany-based events attended by 132 people. Caroline Cummings, RAIN's venture catalyst, said a survey of those who took advantage of RAIN programs showed that 40 percent of the Albany-based businesses created products or services that are sold primarily in Oregon and 13 percent are focused on sales outside of the state. Some 64 percent are incorporated businesses and 57 percent are currently selling products. Another 43 percent are in the development sage and 7 percent are in the idea/conceptual stage. Their top three business challenges are access to money, marketing and mentors. In all, 79 percent of those surveyed said they would like to be added to a waiting list if RAIN were to create a co-working space in Albany, where they could launch or scale up a business. The Albany-area business owners are predominantly white, 82 percent, although 18 percent are Hispanic. Cummings said 60 percent are male, while 40 percent are female. She said the number of female owners was higher than average. The majority of businesses, 67 percent, are based in Albany, 25 percent in Corvallis and 8 percent in Lebanon. Cummings said outreach is a key goal of RAIN and local coffee times are set in Lebanon and Sweet Home: Lebanon: 5:30 p.m., April 4, Conversion Brewing, 833 S. Main St. Sweet Home: 8 a.m., April 20, Sugar Vibes, 1302 Long St. Other events of interest: A Mentor Mixer will start at 5:30 p.m. May 2 in the Flinn Block meeting hall, 222 W. First Ave. in Albany. The annual Willamette Angels Conference) will be from noon to 8 p.m. May 11 at the Whiteside Theater, 361 SW Madison Ave. in Corvallis. To learn more about RAIN, visit www.oregonrain.org. A Florida family of five were all killed when their car drifted into the back of a disabled tractor trailer on the shoulder of a highway. Police say Nathan E. Russell, 37, was driving a white rental Chrysler 200 on Interstate 75 near Gainesville early Sunday morning. He was killed along with his wife, Lynda, 35, and their three children, La'Nyah N. Russell, 15, and twins Natayah and Nathan Jr., both 10. Authorities said 'driver fatigue' may have played a role in the horrific crash. A family of five was killed when their rental car drifted out of lane and into the back of a disabled semi in Florida. Killed were (top left clockwise) Lynda Russell, Nathan Russell, Nataya, 10, La'Nyah, 15, and Nathan Jr., 10 The family was driving back from Georgia and the father, who was driving, may have become fatigued before the crash, said police Nathan Jr. originally survived the crash but succumbed to his injuries 12 hours later, according to 11 Alive. Only Natayah was wearing a seatbelt, said police. The family was driving back from Georgia, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help with funeral costs. 'To lose one person is unbearable imagine losing five all at once,' said the administrator, Caroline Petitdor, who set up the fund on behalf of a family member. 'I'm trying to grasp how to deal with losing a cousin and a friend in the same day at the same time,' wrote cousin Nicole Narae on Facebook. 'Our hearts are broken. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. Sleep in peace... So unreal to me right now.' 'Our hearts are broken' said a family member on Facebook, who called the Russell family deaths 'unreal' Authorities said the accident was possibly due to driver fatigue. 'What we believe is that it was possibly driver fatigue. That's what the thinking is right now,' FHP Lt. Patrick Riordan told The Gainesville Sun. 'A lot of people are taking road trips now with spring breaks. Maybe that's what they were doing.' The driver of the disabled tractor trailer was not injured. Tigerair Australia has announced cut-price flights to the tropical Whitsundays for as little as $49. The special offer from Brisbane to the stunning breach resort are on sale from midday on Thursday (11am Brisbane time) to midnight. However, travellers who want a slice of paradise will need to get in quick as there are only 500 seats available on the four times a week service. The airline will also increase return services from Sydney, to six weekly return services, offering an additional 55,000 visitor seats into Whitsunday Coast Airport each year. Tigerair Australia has announced cut-price flights to the tropical Whitsundays for as little as $49. Pictured: Whitehaven Beach The special offer from Brisbane to the stunning breach resort are on sale from midday on Thursday to midnight (pictured: Catseye Beach on Hamilton Island) The tropical resort lies between the northeast coast of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef Located between the northeast coast of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef, the one-way sale offers 7 kilogram baggage. Tigerair Australia spokeswoman Vanessa Regan said the new flights are sure to be warmly embraced by travellers looking to chase some sun and visit one of state's many attractions, including Hamilton Island. 'Queensland is an integral part of our network with over 50 per cent of all Tigerair domestic services touching the Sunshine State,' Ms Regan said. 'The new services between Brisbane and the Whitsunday Coast add to this, delivering almost 80,000 additional visitor seats through both airports annually and providing a further welcome boost for Queensland tourism and the economy.' Travellers who want a slice of paradise will need to get in quick as there are only 500 seats available on the four times a week service (pictured: Whitehaven Beach) Whitsunday Regional Council Mayor Andrew Willcox said the discounted additional flights will certainly boost revenue for the island (pictured: Hamilton Island Yacht Club) Tigerair Australia has announced cut-price flights to the tropical Whitsundays for just $49 Whitsunday Regional Council Mayor Andrew Willcox said the discounted additional flights will certainly boost revenue for the island. 'It is certainly happy days in the Whitsundays so far in 2017 and the new direct morning return service from Brisbane is a massive vote of confidence in our region by Tigerair,' he said. 'As owners of Whitsunday Coast Airport this council has worked closely with Tigerair to secure the new flights, which will also provide better connectivity for overseas visitors. 'Basically more choice and availability of flights makes it easier for international tourists to visit our region.' From June 1, Tigerair will also operate the only low cost services between Brisbane and Perth, with a standard schedule of four weekly return services, increasing up to six times weekly in peak periods such as school holidays. Fares between Brisbane and Whitsundays will be regularly available from $79. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Tigerair for comment. A little girl was left traumatised after seeing her father being stabbed by a heavily tattooed bikie, a court has heard. The girl was seven at the time her father was stabbed in the chest and arms by Comancheros gang member Raymond Jones in Blakeview, north Adelaide, The Advertiser reported. 'Daddy, he has got a knife', the terrified girl screamed from the back seat of a car as her father sat in the driver's seat on February 25, 2015. Scroll down for video Raymond Jones (pictured) was found guilty in his absence in the District Court of South Australia in October 2016 of stabbing a man Jones (pictured) stabbed a man in the arms and chest in Blakeview, north of Adelaide, in February 2015 The trauma the girl has suffered in the aftermath of the frenzied attack was revealed in a victim impact statement read by prosecutor Carmen Matteo on Wednesday during sentencing submissions for Jones in the District Court of South Australia. 'To watch her change so dramatically has been heartbreaking,' the victim impact statement said. The statement added the girl has night terrors and that whenever she sees a tattooed person, she screams. Jones was found guilty of the charge of aggravated causing harm with intent to cause harm in October last year in his absence after he did not turn up to the last day of his District Court of South Australia trial. A court heard that after a young girl saw her father being stabbed by Jones (pictured) she now screams everytime she sees a tattooed person He went on the run for almost two months before being captured by police. The court also heard Jones had cut ties with the Comancheros but that was questioned by Judge Geraldine Davison, 7 News reported. Jones (pictured) went on the run for almost two months after skipping the final day of his District Court of South Australia trial Jones (pictured at left) will face court again next month for further sentencing submissions 'Why should I accept that he's no longer associated with the Comancheros?' she asked. Jones will face court again next month for further sentencing submissions. He will also face court next week for allegedly ramming a police car. Advertisement A ferry that capsized and sank off the coast of South Korea three years ago, killing hundreds of schoolchildren, has finally been raised from the sea floor. More than 300 people - most of them children on a school trip - died after the Sewol ferry overturned and sank on April 16, 2014. A catalogue of errors contributed to the disaster, including the ship being overloaded and the crew being too inexperienced. Even though the vessel took around three hours to sink, those on board were never ordered to evacuate while the crew escaped to safety. The 6,800-ton ferry was finally heaved to the surface of the water on Thursday as dozens of still-grieving families watched from a nearby barge. The Sewol ferry that capsized and sank off the coast of South Korea three years ago, killing hundreds of schoolchildren, has finally been raised from the sea floor More than 300 people - most of them schoolchildren on a trip - died after the Sewol ferry overturned and sank on April 16, 2014. Two barges are seen heaving it from the seabed Ship wreck: The sunken ferry Sewol is raised during its salvage operations at the sea off Jindo, South Korea The 6,800-ton ferry was finally heaved to the surface of the water on Thursday as dozens of still-grieving families watched from a nearby barge A total of 304 people died in the horror sinking but nine bodies are yet to be recovered. It is hoped that the final victims will finally be found as the ship is salvaged. The ship is pictured as it is lifted out of the ocean The Sewol capsized in April 2014 and sank, claiming 304 lives - most of them schoolchildren who were on a trip A total of 304 people died in the horror sinking. After hours of tests and preparations, workers on two barges began the salvaging operation on Wednesday night, rolling up 66 cables connected to a frame of metal beams divers spent months putting beneath the ferry, which had been lying on its left side in about 40 metres of water. By Thursday morning, the right side of Sewol rose above the surface - allowing workers to climb on it and further fasten the ferry to the barges, according to the South Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. Salvage crews will load the ferry onto a semi-submersible, heavy-lift vessel that will carry it to a mainland port. The loading process, including emptying the ferry of water and fuel, is expected to take days. The bodies of 295 passengers were recovered after the sinking, but nine are still missing. A family member of a missing passenger onboard sunken ferry Sewol cries as the ship is lifted from the ocean floor Distraught relatives, some of whom who are watching from a fishing boat just outside the operation area, are hoping that those remains will be found inside the ferry Relatives of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster look at the Chinese salvaging vessels as it prepare to lift the wreck of the ferry Other bereaved family members have been maintaining a vigil at a camp on a hilltop on Donggeochado, the nearest island to the site, less than a mile away The disaster triggered an outpouring of national grief and soul searching about long-ignored public safety and regulatory failures in South Korea Distraught relatives, some of whom who are watching from a fishing boat just outside the operation area, are hoping those remains will be found inside the ferry. Once the ferry reaches a port nearly 90 kilometres away in the city of Mokpo, in about two weeks, workers will begin clearing the mud and debris and search for the remains of the missing victims. 'I am a mother who just really misses her daughter. Please pray for us so we can go home with Eun-Hwa,' Lee Keum-Hui, one of a handful of relatives who have been living in makeshift homes at Paengmok - the closest port to the wreck - since the accident, said. 'We will be grateful if you pray with us so that the last remaining victims can return to their families,' she said, breaking down. Other bereaved family members have been maintaining a vigil at a camp on a hilltop on Donggeochado, the nearest island to the site, less than a mile away. Yellow ribbons - a symbol for the victims of the deadly disaster - hang on nearby trees, their colour faded by the course of time. In a tense atmosphere, one victim's father nervously watched through binoculars - trying to get a glimpse of the operation. 'We will not clear the camp even when the Sewol is raised,' he said. 'You never know what you will find beneath the sunken ferry.' Some 50 bereaved family members were watching the proceedings out at sea, he added. A family member of a victim of the Sewol sinking stands at the altar at Jindo, where pictures of the dead are displayed The sunken ferry Sewol is raised during its salvage operations on the sea off Jindo, South Korea The vast vessel has been partially lifted out of the water but the full salvage operation will take days, if not weeks After hours of tests and preparations, workers on two barges began the salvaging operation on Wednesday night One of the barges being used to lift the ferry off the seabed is pictured at the site of the wreck on Wednesday night An investigation committee will also be formed to search for clues that could further explain the cause of the sinking, which has been blamed on overloaded cargo, improper storage and other negligence. The ferry's captain survived and is serving a life sentence after a court found him guilty of committing homicide through 'willful negligence' because he fled the ship without issuing an evacuation order. The disaster triggered an outpouring of national grief and soul searching about long-ignored public safety and regulatory failures in South Korea. The public outrage over what was seen as a botched rescue job by the government contributed to the recent ousting of Park Geun-hye as president. Park was forced to defend herself against accusations that she was out of contact for several hours on the day of the sinking. The allegations were included in an impeachment bill lawmakers passed against Park in December, amid broader accusations of corruption. A car driven at high speed into a dozen pedestrians. The knife-wielding terrorist driving it determined to go out in a blaze of glory while killing a police officer. And all this horror symbolically carried out within a stones throw of the Houses of Parliament. Of course, we do not yet know who carried out this attack. But it has all the hallmarks of the many terrorist assaults that have come to plague continental Europe in particular with sickening regularity, all carried out in the name of Islamic State. A knifeman, pictured on a stretcher, killed a policeman with a knife and also mowed down dozens of pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing three and injuring 40 The leaders of the Islamic 'caliphate' will be 'rubbing their hands in glee' at the attack, writes John R Bradley More than once, the oh-so-simple tactic of driving a vehicle into civilians at speed has proved ruthlessly effective. The carnage on Westminster Bridge is highly likely to have been a calculated attempt by jihadis to prove to their followers in this country that they can strike successfully in Britain, too wherever and whenever they choose. And make no mistake: Their ideological leaders in the Islamic caliphate will be rubbing their hands in glee, whether or not they had a direct hand in the blood-soaked chaos on Londons streets. From their perspective, this was a spectacularly successful attack, and not least because it was executed inside what is supposedly the most secure and protected square mile of any capital city on earth. Now, amid the grief and anger, we must face up to a worst-case scenario: Namely, that this could turn out to be merely the opening salvo in a wave of copycat terror assaults throughout the country by home-grown jihadis. After all, those earlier Islamist attacks in Europe most spectacularly in Germanys Christmas market, at Brussels airport and in Nice have become as frequent as they have been consistently barbaric. They have left hundreds dead and injured, and France in a permanent state of emergency. As a result, the political and social status quo which had prevailed in Western Europe since the end of the Second World War is being shaken to the core. A woman lies severely injured at a postcard stall opposite Big Ben this afternoon following the horrific terror attack Around 40 people were injured when the 4x4 mounted the pavement and smashed into pedestrians today So the experience of Europe warns us against giving in to any suggestion of complacency when it comes to facing down the threat of jihadist terror in our own midst. It also suggests that we should look at this threat in a much broader context that just home-grown Islamic radicalism, or more precisely how such home-grown terror feeds off the global agenda of the Islamic State. The slaughter in Europe is being carried out, we should not forget, by footsoldiers of IS, sent on their bloodthirsty missions from the terror groups self-declared caliphate, which straddles war-torn northern Iraq and Syria. The suicidal ringleaders of attacks on the Continent arrived in Europe by exploiting, with utter cynicism, the chaos created by the migrant crisis, then teamed up with home-grown jihadis in France and Belgium all drawn together by a steely determination to wreak havoc and sow panic in the name of the caliphate. The assumption among our political leaders and intelligence services must be that the stomach-wrenching outrage in London was also at least inspired by if not carried out directly on the orders of those who have pledged their allegiance to the IS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. If true, that means Islamic States global jihad has just arrived, with almost unimaginable horror, in the very heart of our democracy posing a brazen challenge to the freedoms and values of the British way of life. Perhaps most troublingly in terms of what lies ahead, this attack comes in the wake of a call by a close aide and the possible successor of the IS leader for just these kinds of lone wolf atrocities in the US and Europe. Three people on the bridge were killed while several were seriously injured, pictured, including three police officers Usually rammed with cars ambling along the road, nose-to-bumper, this road in central London is closed to traffic and police offers appearing to be making their way home after a busy shift walk across the empty street They are, he declared in an audio recording late last year, dearer to us than the biggest action by us in Iraq and Syria. If one of you hoped to reach the Islamic State, we wish we were in your place to punish the crusaders day and night, he added. Did the attacker yesterday, frustrated at his inability to travel to the caliphate itself, heed that call to strike at home? And was his intention not only to kill and maim, but to inspire other radicalised Muslims to follow his example? There is no denying that there are many other potential jihadis in this country who are also burning with hatred for our Western values, and are equally determined to do the rest of us harm. Indeed, the Government has confirmed that dozens of terrorist attacks here have been thwarted over the past few years, most of them orchestrated by Islamist radicals. Moreover, hundreds of Muslim Britons travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight for the caliphate, and while dozens have returned, official figures show that only one in eight of the latter have been convicted. The fact that the days of the caliphate are numbered as a coalition of forces slowly crush Islamic State in battle may turn out to be a curse in disguise. For even as the dream of global jihadist expansion and conquest goes up in smoke, a new strategy will emerge: To keep alive the apocalyptic dream by inspiring attacks throughout the Western world, like that which brought such fear and bloodshed to the nations capital yesterday. The Queen Mary is so corroded that it's at urgent risk of flooding or collapse, and the price tag for fixing up the 1930s ocean liner could near $300 million, according to a survey done by experts. It would likely take five years to rehab the ship, a tourist destination docked permanently in Long Beach Harbor south of Los Angeles, according to documents obtained by the Long Beach Press-Telegram. During its heyday, the Queen Mary carried Hollywood celebrities, such as Bob Hope and Elizabeth Taylor, royalty, such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and dignitaries, such as Winston Churchill. It also spent several years ferrying 765,000 Allied troops during World War II, when it was nicknamed the 'Gray Ghost.' This photo shows the retired Cunard ocean liner Queen Mary, at its permanent mooring in the harbor at Long Beach, California But now, naval architects and marine engineers who compiled the survey warn that the vessel is probably 'approaching the point of no return.' The hull is severely rusted and certain areas, including the engine room, could be prone to flooding, according to the newspaper report published last week. And because the bilge system is inoperable, large amounts of water can't be pumped out and could cause the ship to sink to the lagoon floor. In addition, the pillar supports for a raised floor in an exhibition space are corroded throughout and could face 'immediate collapse' under the weight of just a few people, the survey said. A survey has found the ship is so corroded that it's at urgent risk of flooding, and the price tag for fixing up the 1930s ocean liner could near $300 million Roughly 75 percent of the repairs were deemed 'urgent.' The Queen Mary made Long Beach its permanent home in 1967. Now a floating hotel with shops, restaurants and event spaces, the ship attracts some 1.3 million visitors annually. City officials said the findings are being discussed with the ship's current leaseholder, Urban Commons, and both sides are committed to preserving the historic asset and making sure it can safely remain open to the public. In November, Long Beach approved $23 million to address the ship's most urgent repairs, and Urban Commons is working to secure additional funding. 'We have a timeline in which the engineers believe they can complete those immediate projects,' said John Keisler, economic and property development director. 'These are major challenges we can only address over time; it can't all be done at once.' The condition has become so dire that politicians in Scotland, where the Queen Mary was built, have called for an international fundraising campaign to restore the former Cunard liner. They've urged Prime Minister Theresa May to put pressure on the US government to step in and save their architectural treasure, according to The Scotsman. Britain's biggest building society has launched a mortgage that lets parents raise cash to help their children on to the property ladder and slash their own home loan bills. Nationwides new deal is aimed at homeowners who do not have tens of thousands of pounds in savings. Parents who sign up to the deal are allowed to borrow extra money from their mortgage to give to a child or grandchild to buy a house. Nationwide building society has launched a scheme that will enable homeowners lacking in cash to borrow more money from their mortgage to give their children a leg up on the property ladder The customer then gets a discount of up to 0.2 percentage points off their own home loan rate. Experts welcomed the deal last night as a boost to first-time buyers struggling to get on the property ladder. Rachel Springall, a spokeswoman for financial website Moneyfacts, said: At a time when house prices continue to rise, borrowers pay out on rent and their savings dont reach very far, any kind of assistance to help struggling first-time buyers get on to the property ladder will be a bonus. Many first-time buyers are locked out of the housing market by rapidly rising house prices, which are rising more than three times faster than wages. Official figures show house prices rose by 6.2 per cent to more than 218,000 in the 12 months to January the 57th consecutive annual increase. By contrast, wages grew by just 1.7 per cent over the same period, according to the Office for National Statistics. Its led to nearly six in ten first-time buyers turning to the Bank of Mum and Dad for help, research has found. On average parents contribute 17,600 to their childs first home, according to the insurer Legal & General. Parents who sign up to the deal are allowed to borrow extra money from their mortgage to give to a child or grandchild to buy a house and also get a discount of up to 0.2 percentage points off their own home loan rate Nationwides Family Deposit Mortgage allows new and existing customers to borrow up to 80 per cent of the value of their property. Existing customers releasing money to give to a family member get a 0.2 percentage points discount on their mortgages while new customers get a discount of 0.09 percentage points. As part of the deal the family member receiving the money for a deposit must also take out a mortgage with Nationwide. Currently, Nationwide has mortgages starting at 1.15 per cent. That means customers who release extra cash could pay as little as 0.95 per cent. While experts said the was a worth considering, they also warned borrowers against taking on too much debt. As part of the deal the family member receiving the money for a deposit must also take out a mortgage with Nationwide, ensuring a continual customer base David Hollingworth, of mortgage broker London & Country, said: Thousands of first-time buyers are still having to rely on the Bank of Mum and Dad to get onto the housing ladder. But while most parents would probably help out their children when it comes to buying a home, youve got to make sure you can afford to take on the extra debt or you could get into serious trouble. Next month the government will launch its flagship savings scheme to help people saving for a home. The so-called Lifetime Isa gives under-40s looking to buy their first home a 25 per cent top-up on anything they save up to 4,000 a year. The cash can also be used to save for retirement, with savers having access to their money penalty-free from the age of 60. However, Money Mail revealed last month that no bank or building society would be ready to offer the deal when the scheme launches next month. Police were facing serious questions last night over how the knife-wielding terrorist was able to enter the Parliamentary estate. There were unverified claims that no armed officers had been on duty at the main Carriage Gates, facing Parliament Square, which the Prime Minister uses to enter the House of Commons. They are also used by other MPs, staff and visitors. At least four staff are usually stationed at the gates, two outside and two inside. Police were facing serious questions last night over how the knife-wielding terrorist was able to enter the Parliamentary estate Parliament Square, usually populated by thousands of visitors and people who work in the corridors of power, was today abandoned after police put the area on lockdown The entrance is also blocked by metal barricades and barriers. Although armed guards routinely patrol the grounds, they are not stationed permanently at a fixed position at the main gate. It is understood the officers work a fluid patrol pattern so potential terrorists do not know where they are located. Labour MP Mary Creagh urged the authorities to step up security following the atrocity. The one weak spot on our estate is those Carriage Gates, she said. We have four police officers there. Two on the gate going in, two on the gate going out. We see them every day, were friends with lots of them. I think we will need to look at security at the Palace in the wake of this incident but this is a plan for another day. Its a terrible, terrible day for Parliament. Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of UK forces and a security expert, said: He shouldnt have been able to get in and this shows there must have been a lapse in security with big consequences. People will have questions to answer. It is such a high profile target and they should consider there is permanent coverage of armed police at the main gates. DONALD TRUMP JR ACCUSED OF 'CRASS' TWEET TO SADIQ KHAN Donald Trumps son was accused of insensitivity after he attacked London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Twitter Donald Trumps son was accused of insensitivity after he attacked London Mayor Sadiq Khan for claiming the terror threat was part and parcel of living in a big city. Donald Trump Jr linked his tweet to a report of the mayors remarks last September with the comment: Youve got to be kidding me?! Mr Trumps remark came within hours of yesterdays attack in London and was unaccompanied by any expression of sympathy or condemnation. One Twitter user said: As a Londoner, I would like to politely request you desist from such crass tweets at a time like this. President Trump yesterday phoned Theresa May to offer her the full co-operation and support of the United States. Donald Trump Jr linked his tweet to a report of the mayors remarks last September with the comment: Youve got to be kidding me?! Advertisement This should not have happened. Theres been an element of complacency because the security services have been so effective. Lessons have to be learnt. A House of Commons spokesman said last night: The security of Parliament is our highest priority, and therefore we cannot comment on the details of this ongoing incident. ATTACK THAT POINTS THE FINGER STRAIGHT AT ISLAMIC STATE Islamic State was last night top of the list of groups thought to be behind the Westminster attack. As security experts said the brutality of the crime pointed towards the terrorists, IS supporters posted gloating messages online. On private messaging app Telegram, one user shared pictures of the attackers route. Another post features a mocked-up image of the Elizabeth Tower on fire with the message: Soon. Our battle upon your land. Not started yet. Be upon you. Only waiting. According to Ahmet Yayla, senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Violent Extremism, the messages were shared on a credible IS channel. Last night security experts said the attack had the hallmarks of IS. A source added: It would be a fair assessment because of the methodology used driving vehicles into people in a horrible random attack in a crowded place. Just before Christmas, IS released a manual which instructed jihadis to plough a lorry into an outdoor market and inflict a bloodbath. The terror groups Rumiyah magazine said using a vehicle was the most successful in harvesting large numbers of non-believers. It said the tactic was superbly demonstrated in Nice when 86 people were massacred by a lorry on Bastille Day last July. Then in December, a lorry plouged through a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 and injuring nearly 50. Advertisement The Parliamentary Security Department is responsible for security for both Houses and works alongside the Metropolitan Police Service, which provides armed and unarmed policing. Civilian security officers on the site were, until last year, employed by the Met but are now Parliamentary employees. They often have the job of letting cars in and out of the gate, it is understood. The Prime Minister last night chaired a 45-minute meeting of the Cobra emergency committee to plot the immediate response to the attack. Theresa May brought together Government ministers, police officers, security agencies and London Mayor Sadiq Khan. The session in Whitehall was addressed by Acting Met Deputy Commissioner Mark Rowley, Britains most senior anti-terror police officer. Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who had been on a visit to Pakistan to discuss counter-terror, cut short her trip and was returning home last night. Mr Rowley said: The people of London will see extra police officers both armed and unarmed out on our streets. We can call on the support of the military should we need to at a future point. It is understood that security is being stepped up at rail terminals. Senior figures have repeatedly warned the UK remains a major target. The official threat level is severe meaning an attack is highly likely. It was revealed this month that 13 potential attacks have been thwarted in Britain since the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013, while counter-terrorism units are running more than 500 live investigations. Experts have warned of the threat posed by extremists carrying out unsophisticated but deadly attacks using knives or vehicles as weapons. A recent study found the proportion of plots in the UK involving knives has soared from 4 per cent to 44 per cent. Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones, a former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, said: It is the kind of terrorist incident thats very hard to deal with because, as we now know, this is the kind of incident that can be mounted without necessarily leaving any kind of trail which the police and security services and intelligence services can actually pick up to prevent it. A 42-year-old Australian woman has died on board an international flight. Passengers remained in their seats for 90 minutes after the plane arrived at Sydney Airport on Thursday morning from Los Angeles. Members at the airport responded to a request for assistance after the death of the passenger, an Australian Federal Police spokeswoman said. The incident was on a Delta flight from Los Angeles, with passengers having to remain on the tarmac for an hour-and-a-half after the plane landed at 6.50am. Passengers were forced to remain in their seats for 90 minutes after the plane arrived at Sydney Airport on Thursday morning from Los Angeles (file image) Radio station 2GB claimed the person was a suspected drug mule but New South Wales Police said the report was untrue. 'The woman's death is not being treated as suspicious,' a NSW Police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia. The matter has been handed over to NSW Police. Officers have established a crime scene on board the plane and a report will be prepared for the information of the coroner. For confidential support, call the lifeline 24-hour service on 13 11 14. Brussels last night made an extraordinary threat to disrupt flights to Europe and hold British goods at the border if the UK refuses to pay a 50billion Brexit divorce bill. The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the UK would pay a heavy price if it tried to walk away from the EU without paying for its 'responsibilities'. In a mocking speech, he quoted Winston Churchill, saying: 'The price of greatness is responsibility.' Government lawyers have told Theresa May that the UK has no duty to pay a penny towards the EU's ongoing costs after leaving. A report by a House of Lords committee this week reached the same conclusion. Brussels last night made an extraordinary threat to disrupt flights to Europe and hold British goods at the border if the UK refuses to pay a 50bn Brexit divorce bill. Government lawyers told Theresa May the UK has no duty to pay a penny towards the EU's ongoing costs after leaving Ministers privately accept they could end up making some form of payment in return for continued access to services we wish to remain a member of. But Theresa May has ruled out paying 'large sums' to Brussels. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said the Government will not pay the EU's demands, and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has branded the demand from Brussels as 'absurd'. Dr Fox is among several ministers who have warned Mrs May privately that Tory MPs will not accept a bill of more than 3billion. But Mr Barnier yesterday threatened to play hardball even hinting that the rights of 1.2million British expats in Europe and 3.2million EU citizens in this country could not be guaranteed unless a deal is agreed. Mrs May has repeatedly said 'no deal is better than a bad deal', but Mr Barnier yesterday threatened to cause maximum chaos for the UK if a deal is not struck. He said failure to agree a deal would mean: The reintroduction of Customs controls, leading to queues of lorries at Dover; 'Severe' air traffic disruption; Supply problems for British industry; 'Total uncertainty' for EU nationals in the UK and British citizens in the EU. Mr Barnier declined to quote an exact figure, but Brussels sources indicated the divorce demand would be in the region of 50billion. He insisted the payment would not be a 'punishment' of the UK for leaving the EU, claiming simply that 'we must settle the accounts'. He said the UK will have outstanding liabilities arising from various EU programmes which it helps to finance, agreed to as a member, and benefits from, including the European social fund, the regional development fund, the Juncker investment plan and the Horizon 2020 research programme. Tory MP John Redwood said it would be illegal for ministers to make continuing payments to Brussels after leaving the EU and that the UK did not owe 'a single penny'. But Mr Barnier said: 'Each country must honour its commitments to each other. From the Mail, March 10 'When a country leaves the union, there is no punishment. There is no price to pay to leave. But we must settle the accounts. 'We will not ask the British to pay a single euro for something they have not agreed to as a member. 'In the same way, the 27 will also honour their commitments concerning the United Kingdom, its citizens, companies and regions. This is the mutually responsible way to act. If I may quote one of the greatest men of European history, Winston Churchill: 'The price of greatness is responsibility.' That is true for Britain and for us.' Mr Barnier also said EU nationals in the UK and British ex-pats on the continent will have to wait 'several months' before their post-Brexit settlement rights can be guaranteed. Mirroring Mrs May's language, he said removing the uncertainty for both groups would be a priority in the exit negotiations. But he warned: 'The issues at play are complex, whether they are residency rights, access to the labour market, pension or social security rights, or access to education. 'We will not leave any detail untouched, and we are already working with all member states on this. It will take time, several months certainly. We must do serious legal work on this with the United Kingdom.' SWEET HOME City council members will have an opportunity to review and comment on proposed plans for the renovation of the former U.S. Forest Service building into a new City Hall at their March 28 meeting. The council approved the purchase of the building at 3225 Highway 20 for $750,000 in July. The council paid cash, having compiled a building fund over several budget years, according to Finance Director Pat Gray. The 13,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1985 and housed the Sweet Home Ranger District until 2006. At one point the building had been for sale for $1.5 million. Its assessed value at the Linn County Assessors Office was $757,000. It was estimated that constructing a new building from the ground up could cost more than $3 million. The council hopes to complete the City Hall project, including the cost of the property, for less than $1.5 million. The property also includes enough space for development of a community park, which is a long-term city council goal for that area of the city. City Manager Ray Towry said Monday morning that staff from Scott Edwards Architecture of Portland spent a day observing the work flow at the current two-story City Hall. They used that data to develop the floor plan for the single-story Forest Service building that has been empty for more than a decade. It makes sense to keep the front of the building on the north side as the main entrance for the general public, Towry said. We are also going to have two service windows as people first walk in. One will be for utility billing and the other for the Planning and Building department. Towry said much of the center of the building will be open so that staff can communicate freely. It will provide a better flow of information, Towry said. They will also be within easy reach of each other, including department heads. Towry said there are a few load-bearing walls in the structure and the plan was developed to leave those in place to reduce costs. The plan includes two large conference rooms at the front of the building that can be used by staff and the general public. We plan to install technology in each of the rooms so that staff can access information from there without having to go to their offices, Towry said. Towry said the facility is designed for ease of use by the public. If someone has a question or needs assistance, our staff will come to them and have rooms to meet with them without the person having to wander through the building to get to someones office, Towry said. The City Council chambers will be on the east side of the building and will include partitions to divide it into three separate spaces if needed. Staff will park behind the building and enter through an entrance on the west side. A large space running the length of the buildings east side will be left open for future development, Towry said. We may want to rent that space out some day or have office space for a partnership arrangement, Towry said. Office spaces will be established for the finance department, planning and building and city manager and assistant, Towry said. Towry said once the plan is approved by the council, cost estimates will be developed. The city has about $266,000 set aside and plans to use income from the sale of the former water plant at 1730 9th Ave., to supplement renovation costs. The property became surplus in 2009 when the city constructed a new water plant. Since then it has been used primarily for storage. The water plant property includes 1.82 acres and overlooks the South Santiam River. It includes a former office and thee ancillary shop and storage buildings. The property is zoned low density residential, but Towry said it has potential to be rezoned high density residential, which would provide the purchaser with several building options, including the development of townhouses. The property is appraised at $250,000. The current City Hall was constructed in 1954 and has several maintenance issues, including rotting walls, floors that are settling, a leaky roof, peeling plaster, mold and a finicky elevator. The basement area had been the city jail until the flood of 1996 filled it with several feet of water, creating unsafe working conditions. A modular building was set up behind City Hall and used until a new public safety building was constructed. Since then, the modular has been used as the City Council chambers and until recently for municipal court, which has now moved into the public safety building. Sweet Home City Council meetings start at 6:30 p.m. and are held in the annex modular building behind City Hall. Ketan Aggarwal, 30, proved he was anything but stupid by hitting the library books to learn law and single-handedly beat the multi-million pound company's legal team An autistic gym-goer branded 'stupid' by staff in a Virgin Active club spin class has successfully sued them for disability discrimination - representing himself in court. Ketan Aggarwal, 30, proved he was anything but stupid by hitting the library books to learn law and single-handedly beat the multi-million pound company's legal team. He was in a spin class when he agreed with a fellow cyclist the music was too slow - prompting the instructor to apparently yell 'don't tell me how to do my job'. When the class ended the instructor 'shouted' at him again - twice calling him 'stupid' down the microphone in front of 30 people, legal documents alleged. Mr Aggarwal complained, but when Virgin Active refused to punish the worker he took them to court. The administrator borrowed books from the library, scoured online articles on discrimination, and consulted previous cases to prepare for his court room battle. Representing himself against Virgin Active's lawyer, he single-handedly argued he had been the victim of disability harassment. Virgin Active was ordered to pay him costs and compensation, apologise and to look into training staff on equality. Mr Aggarwal, from Southall, London, said: 'He called me stupid twice. 'Calling someone with a mental disability 'stupid' is similar to mocking a guy in a wheelchair. When the class ended the instructor 'shouted' at him again - twice calling him 'stupid' down the microphone in front of 30 people, legal documents alleged 'If I was that stupid I wouldn't have been able to successfully pursue the claim against a solicitor of a billion pound company. It was two years coming and it was hard work. 'I'm not a legal professional and I had to do a huge amount of paperwork. 'I had to live in the library, picking up law from the books, and getting templates for submitting paperwork from the internet. 'It was worth it though. It wasn't about the money, it was about the principal.' Mr Aggarwal said he was diagnosed with autism as an adult and has always been 'socially awkward' and 'more into numbers', and panics during confrontations. He admits it used to make him anxious and angry, but he has taught himself to walk away from conflict. The keep fit fan was at a class at Virgin Active Stockley Park, where he has a membership, when the incident occurred in May 2015. He said a female classmate mentioned the music was 'unmotiviating' and Mr Aggarwal agreed - apparently prompting fury from the instructor. 'He started shouting across the room and told me my 'opinion was bollocks' in the middle of the class,' he said. 'I stayed quiet but it made me feel horrible. 'He singled me out even though I only agreed with someone else. I believe this is because of my autism.' Mr Aggarwal said he was diagnosed with autism as an adult and has always been 'socially awkward' and 'more into numbers', and panics during confrontations The confrontation continued when the class finished, and according to the 'particular of claims' document, the instructor began shouting again. The claimant's legal document added: 'The claimant asked the instructor to stop and was called 'stupid' down the microphone in front of approximately 30 people twice'. 'Claimant believes this is disability related harassment as [the instructor] was aware of the previous incident [where Mr Aggarwal told staff he had autism]..' Mr Aggarwal made a complaint but six weeks later was told no action was being taken against the worker, so he submitted a legal claim. Once Virgin Active received his legal paperwork they apparently dismissed the instructor and offered Mr Aggarwal 94 compensation - which he rejected. He offered to settle out of court for 1,000 after a judge in the case warned if Mr Aggarwal won, it would 'open other gyms to legal actions' in a preliminary hearing, he claims. Virgin Active turned down the offer, and it went to The County Court at Uxbridge last month. But the court agreed with Mr Aggarwal and ordered Virgin Active pay him 1,200, plus costs of 190, as well as giving him a written apology. The judgment added: 'It is ordered that the defendant do consider amending its equality training to staff and consultants and do consider amending its joining application form so non-physical conditions are included.' Mr Aggarwal added: 'It felt amazing to win. 'When someone discriminates someone with a mental disability, they don't think they are going to pick up law, submit a legal claim and then successfully argue it in a court of law.' A Virgin Active spokesperson said: 'We believe in offering a welcoming, inclusive and friendly environment for our members. 'We are very sorry that on this occasion we failed to do that, and are committed to reviewing our ongoing training to ensure the experience for all members is of the highest quality.' A Texas Trump supporter who allegedly tweeted a flashing gif at an epileptic Newsweek journalist has been indicted on a 'deadly weapon' charge. John Rayne Rivello, 29, of Salisbury, Maryland, has been indicted on an aggravated assault charge enhanced as a hate crime for sending the image to journalist Kurt Eichenwald in December. The tweet, allegedly sent by Rivello in response to Eichenwald's criticism of then-president-elect Donald Trump, read 'You deserve a seizure for your posts.' Indicted: John Rayne Rivello (left), 29, has been indicted for the aggravated assault of Kurt Eichenwald (right). He allegedly triggered an epileptic seizure in Eichenwald using a tweet 'Dangerous': Authorities said this gif, which flashed quickly and caused Eichenwald's seizure, was sent by Rivello, who objected to the openly epileptic journalist's criticism of Donald Trump Rivello used 'a Tweet and a Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) and an Electronic Device and Hands, during the commission of the assault,' the indictment read, according to CBS News. Those constituted a 'deadly weapon' aimed at the openly epileptic journalist, the jury decided. It also said that Rivello targeted Eichenwald, who writes critical opinion pieces on Trump for Newsweek, because he was a person of 'Jewish faith or descent.' The account used to send the offending tweet was titled '@jew_goldstein' and named '(((Ari Goldstein)))'. Alt-right web users place three parentheses around the names of people they believe are Jewish. The tweet was sent after an interview on Fox News when Eichenwald was grilled over a tweet he posted last September claiming Donald Trump suffered a nervous breakdown in 1990 and was institutionalized. Eichenwald deleted the tweet soon after but was criticised over its lack of supporting evidence. According to an unsealed criminal complaint highlighted by Heat Street, Eichenwald suffered an eight-minute-long full bodily seizure and loss of consciousness after seeing the flashing image. His wife was able to put him in a safe position on the floor before calling police, the document said. She also tweeted using his account: 'This is his wife, you caused a seizure. I have your information and have called the police to report the assault.' 'Assault': Eichenwald's wife replied to the account - '@jew_goldstein' - that sent the tweet, threatening police. Prosecutors say Rivello was also motivated by antisemitism The effects of the seizure also continued to 'impair his bodily functions and mental faculty' for months afterward, the report said. Rivello, who was arrested on Friday, is a military veteran with PTSD, his lawyers said. They also said he had apologized to Eichenwald. His arrest came after a months-long investigation that began when the Dallas Police Department sent a warrant to Twitter demanding Rivello's account information. They sent cops his email address, the IP address that created the account and the phone number associated with the account, among other details, according to the unsealed report. Warrant: Police used warrants to access Rivello's Twitter, AT&T and Apple iCloud information. His iCloud contained this photo as well as the offending gif and other evidence, cops said They also opened up Rivello's private direct messages (DMs) to the police, allegedly revealing that he had plotted the attack with others. Those messages were: 'I hope this sends him into a seizure,' 'Spammed this at [victim] let's see if he dies,' and 'I know he has epilepsy,' the report said. Also in the information Twitter sent over was the ID of the phone used to send the tweet, and its carrier: AT&T. Cops contacted AT&T and discovered that while the tweet was sent from a disposable temporary phone, the company had metadata about Rivello that included his Apple iPhone's serial number. CAN A GIF CAUSE AN EPILEPTIC SEIZURE? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1.8 percent of American adults (about 4.3 million) have epilepsy, a brain disorder that causes seizures. A much smaller percentage of that group has experienced seizures triggered by lights or patterns. Called photic or pattern-sensitive seizures, these occur when people with epilepsy see a series of images or video that fall into a certain range of color, pattern and frequency. Patients with epilepsy have reported having seizures from watching a wide range of things, the team found, from a spinning potters wheel to TV commercials that feature strobe-like lights. But they warned that photo-sensitivity and its relation to epilepsy is not very well understood. This is due in part to the fact that its not exactly ethical to gather patients with epilepsy and expose them to images that could trigger a seizureespecially since seizures can be deadly. But the mechanisms by which seizures occur in humans are not yet fully understood. Right now, scientists think that one of multiple areas of the cerebral cortex the part of the brain that transmits visual information to the rest of the brain can be stimulated by flashing or striped patterns, triggering abnormal, wave-like electrical activity inside the neurons of the cortex. Source: Smithsonion.com Advertisement They then got another warrant to search his iCloud account, which the report says contained not only a photo of Rivello holding up his driver's license, but also the very image sent to Eichenwald. The documents also claimed that Rivello's iCloud account contained screenshots of a list of epilepsy triggers from epilepsy.com and articles from dallasobserver.com about Eichenwald's attempts to find his alleged tormentor. Perhaps most chillingly, the account contained a mocked-up Wikipedia obituary for Eichenwald listing his death as December 16, 2016, the documents said. None of the companies - including Apple, which famously went to court to protect the iPhone used by the San Bernardino hackers - fought the warrants, Heat Street said. In the aftermath of the event, Eichenwald tweeted that 'more than 40' people had also sent him potentially epilepsy-causing strobing gifs. He said he had sent their details to the FBI, and warned others not to follow suit. Stefano Seri, a professor of neurophysiology at the UK's Aston University in the UK told the BBC that it isn't easy to make an epilepsy-causing tweet. 'Abrupt changes in light intensity, or luminance, can trigger seizures,' he said. 'The most sensitive range is about 15-25 flashes per second. 'The picture would need to occupy most of the visual field. It would take some very sick people to do this, but technically, it is possible. 'Modern LED screens are not as provocative as older ones. It takes a very carefully designed stimulus to induce a seizure.' Rivello's case will be heard in Texas, where Eichenwald is based. Families are being advised to pick up a cauliflower this week in a bid to prevent thousands being dumped. An early bumper crop flush of caulis has left farmers struggling to find buyers for the home grown winter veg. Tesco has stepped in with an offer to buy an extra 220,000 surplus cauliflowers and is slashing the price from 1 to 79p to make them affordable. An early bumper crop flush of caulis has left farmers struggling to find buyers for the home grown winter veg However, unless families across the country make room for a cauliflower in their fridge and on the dinner table, huge numbers will be ploughed into the ground. The traditional veg is hugely versatile and the options go way beyond simply boiling it up or making a cauliflower cheese. Some retailers have created cauliflower rice as a low card alternative to the real thing, others have provided thick slices as a vegetarian alternative to beefburgers. The veg can also be dressed with curry and other spices to bring new tastes and textures to the evening meal. Earlier this month, it was reported that a farm in Kent was being forced to dump 60,000 worth of the cauliflowers because it could not find a buyer. Some 40 acres of cauliflowers grown at a farm in Broadstairs, Kent, was set to go to waste while at the same time some retailers were selling imported crops from Spain. David Daniels, category buying manager at Tesco, said: Customers will see more British cauliflowers in Tesco, at a bonus price, as we help our suppliers reduce farm food waste. We've been talking to our cauliflower suppliers for weeks about how the mild winter may affect their crops. Unseasonably good growing conditions have accelerated the growth of cauliflowers and so the crop has matured early. We use advanced forecasting and ordering systems, but at certain times of the year our farmers see bumper crops. Farmers, call these moments 'crop flushes'. The result is that they'll have too much produce. We don't want to see this extra produce go to waste, so we'll take it all. Weekly, we sell over 400,000 cauliflowers but this month we will take a further 220,000 from our producers who have seen a peak, following a mild winter. Our farmers benefit from us taking their increased yield. We also want our customers to benefit, so we're dropping the price to 79p, down from a pound. Were passionate about working in partnership with our suppliers so that no edible food goes to waste. In the last year, weve been able to take bumper crops and offer customers great deals on strawberries, cherries and lettuce. This is another example of working with our farmers to give customers the best food at the best prices. Joe Hudy shot to fame in 2012 when he dazzled President Barack Obama with his science skills in the White House. Hudy, then 14, showed off his hand-designed and built 'Extreme Marshmallow Cannon' in the State Dining Room, and even convinced the President to fire a marshmallow across the famed room. In the years that followed, Hudy love of science continued to grow and develop. He traveled the world, becoming a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) advocate and teaching children about the wonders of invention and imagination. But recently, the once precocious eighth grader who wowed the most powerful man in the world, has fallen on hard times. Joe Hudy (pictured), who shot to fame after showing off his marshmallow cannon with President Obama in 2012, is now battling mental illness Hudy's family revealed the now-20-year-old was recently diagnosed with Schizophrenia. It came after he became more and more paranoid in recent years, according to his parents. 'He started taking about the Chinese Government following him,' Victor Hudy, Joe's father, told Fox10. 'He started getting a lot of paranoia and psychosis.' Hudy (left, when he was with the President at the age of 14, and right) was recently diagnosed with Schizophrenia after a episode in Hong Kong that saw him hospitalized for two weeks Joe's sister, Elizabeth, explained how her brother remained in the Hong Kong facility for two weeks, before he was flown home to the US and sent to a treatment center in Ohio. Joe is pictured with the President in 2012 His mother, Julie, then revealed her son had an episode while he was living and working in Hong Kong that saw him end up in a psychiatric ward. 'He kept on saying his apartment was bugged,' she told Fox10. 'It was something I never dreamed of hearing.' Joe's sister explained how her brother remained in the Hong Kong facility for two weeks, before he was flown home to the US and sent to a treatment center in Ohio. The family rushed to be by his side, but still his condition worsened. 'My parents spent the month of February by his side as they lived in a hotel. This has been going on since early January and his condition progressed rapidly,' Elizabeth Hudy wrote. She then said her brother has been moved again, this time to a specialist center in Tennessee. But with the help, comes a hefty price-tag. When Joe was flown back to the US from Hong Kong he was taken to the Lindner Center of Hope (pictured) in Ohio The 20-year-old science expert is now being treated at Pasadena Villa (pictured) in Tennessee Elizabeth detailed the cost of Joe's previous treatment at the Lindner Center for Hope in Ohio, and the current bill he is running up at Pasadena Villa. 'The Lindner Center for Hope costs $19,500 for just ten days. Pasadena Villa, where Joey is now, will cost over $25,000 a month and Joey will likely have to stay for a minimum of three months,' she wrote. 'After this time we still don't know how long it will take for the medications to be effective or what will be the next steps.' The caring sister then launched into an emotional plea for support to help her brother get back on the right track. 'Anyone who knows my mother and father knows that they are some of the most generous and caring people you will ever meet. They fill the lives of others with so much love and support and they deserve the same, especially in such a difficult time,' she wrote. Barack Obama reacts as 14-year-old Joey Hudy fires a marshmallow from his cannon in the White House on February 7, 2012 'As their daughter, I only hope to be able to give as much support in return as I have always received from them. 'I am aware of the finacial toll this has had on my family and I am hoping that you can help lessen the burden of this unforeseen financial hardship.' Elizabeth created a GoFundMe account, and hopes to raise $50,000. At 8pm on Wednesday, $17,716 had been raised. She also stated any leftover money will be donated to families who find themselves in a similar situation. The proportion of women working into their 70s has doubled in the last four years, according to official figures. Meagre pensions, rising life expectancy, and laws banning employers from retiring staff at 65 are thought to have helped drive the trend. Analysis of an Office for National Statistics report shows the proportion of women retiring after turning 70 has increased form 5.6 per cent in 2012 to 11.3 per cent last year. The proportion of women working into their 70s has doubled in the last four years, according to official figures The proportion of men retiring after they turn 70 has jumped from 10 per cent in 2012 to 15.5 per cent in 2016. The ONS does not have any figures on how many women and men this equates to. But the trend is likely to be welcomed by the government which is encouraging people to work for longer and trying to persuade employers to take on older staff. Experts have warned that many people are also being forced to work for longer because they have an inadequate pension. Employers have cut pension benefits for staff and most have shut down generous final salary pensions. Despite reforms to the state pension affecting those who retired after April 6, 2016 many women do not qualify for the full 155.65 a week. This is because they have gaps in their national insurance records after taking career breaks to look after children or for other reasons. The rising state pension age has also forced many people to work for longer. The state pension age for women started rising gradually from age 60-65 in 2010 to bring it in line with men's. The state pension age for women started rising gradually from age 60-65 in 2010 to bring it in line with men's The ONS has said this is one of the key reasons why the employment rate for women has hit 70 per cent for the first time on record. Between October 2018 and October 2020, both men and women's state pension age will increase to 66. And between 2026 and 2028, it will rise again to 67. Further rises will be linked to life expectancy. Experts have also warned that millions of workers are not saving enough into a personal pension to top up what they can expect to receive from their company scheme and from the state. Nathan Long, senior pension analyst at FTSE 100 investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown; 'This jump in those leaving work over 70 may simply be through individual choice; workers should be encouraged to work as late in life as they are able and feel is desirable. However it is also a reflection of the increasing strain on the pension system. The best days of well-funded early retirement are behind us. The risk to employers is of a workforce trapped in jobs they don't want to do, which will inevitably impact on productivity.' Drug dealer Florentino Gonzales, 48, regularly smuggled cocaine in a special compartment in his 140,000 Bentley Organised crime gangs are customising cars and lorries on an industrial scale to smuggle millions of pounds worth of drugs into Britain, police have revealed. Scotland Yard has revealed that garages like factories have been set up around Europe to install secret compartments in vehicles to hide wads of cash and class A drugs. The warning comes as a trafficker is facing jail for smuggling 30 kilos of cocaine with a street value of 3.6 million to London in a custom-made secret cache in the roof of his Bentley Flying Spur. Drug dealer Florentino Gonzales, 48, regularly smuggled cocaine in a special compartment in his 140,000 Bentley which he drove from Belgium to Britain through the Eurotunnel. The Belgian was arrested after being seen using an underground car park of luxury apartments in Southwark meeting London based dealers and exchanging the smuggled drugs for cash. He drove from his home in Brussels to London via the Eurotunnel in September last year unaware that he was under surveillance by police. Officers from the NCA and the Mets Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) watched as he gave packages to two men before travelling to the four-star Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf. Police found 30 kilos of cocaine with a street value of 3.6 million to London in a custom-made secret cache in the roof of his Bentley Flying Spur After police swooped on the pair and arrested Gonzales at the hotel, a specialist Border Force search team discovered the hidden compartment in the Bentleys roof and found seven packages of cash worth a total of 250,000. An examination of Eurotunnel records found that Gonzales Bentley had travelled to the UK 13 times in 2016. Investigators believe that the car was used to smuggle cocaine into the UK on each occasion and could have held up to 60 kilos of the drug at a time. Security agent Gonzales was found guilty by Blackfriars Crown Court this week of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Two other men, Edwin Abazi, 31, of Hillingdon, West London, and Bajram Elezi, 34, of Epsom, Surrey, were also found guilty after the five-week trial. The drugs were seized by police in a secret compartment in his car Yesterday a senior Met detective said police and Customs officials were discovering increasingly complex hiding places for drugs inside cars. Detective Chief Inspector Spencer Barnett of the OCP revealed that officers were finding drugs in cars false footwells, dashboards or panels. He said: Were seeing complex concealments where vehicles are altered to hide drugs. It is an industry in itself to build these into vehicles. A lot of knowledge and expertise is required to alter vehicles without damaging them. You have organised crime groups specifically designing and building concealments. These are more and more sophisticated, so in a routine stop they are unlikely to be detected. He told the London Evening Standard: We are learning all the time and trade information with the Border Force about how they work. Detectives say most drugs are smuggled in via ports on lorries and cars, though some are landed by small aircraft at rural airfields or smuggled in on cruise ships. Andy Tickner, from the Organised Crime Partnership, said: Gonzales and his associates were professional drug traffickers who played a crucial role in supplying a network of London-based dealers with cocaine. The specially constructed concealment in his Bentley had the potential to hold up to 60kg of cocaine at one time and was also used to transport criminal cash out of the UK. By disrupting this network we have prevented a significant quantity of class A drugs reaching the streets of London, the sale of which would have gone on to fund further criminality. Gonzales and five other associates are due to be sentenced on April 7. Children are burning bins and 'getting high off the fumes' in the latest drug craze which could be more dangerous than sniffing glue or petrol. According to a waste management company, kids are setting plastic wheelie bins alight and then getting high on the fumes. The experts say there are certain fumes created in the bin by the dyes which users can 'get wasted' from. Kids are apparently setting fire to wheelie bins and getting high off the fumes created when the dyes in the plastic burn. Image posed by model Officials at the firm say they have had reports from around Britain of youths burning wheelie bins to sniff the smoke. Mark Hall, from waste firm businesswaste.co.uk, said cases were up 100 per cent in the last few months. He said: 'We've seen reports from Wolverhampton, Hull, Glasgow and Swindon over recent weeks, and they're all the same. 'Idiots stealing wheeled bins from outside homes and businesses, taking them to waste ground or parks, and torching them for whatever kicks they can derive. 'While some of them could just be arson, others include quotes from police officers who acknowledge that they're doing it for weird drug-related kicks.' The company has received 'hundreds' of reports from clients who discovered ruined bins. He said 'There was a craze about ten years ago and it died out. 'All of a sudden we are getting reports again. We have got a huge amount of them being burnt at the moment. 'It is growing - there is 100 per cent more than there was last month.' An example of a melted wheelie bin which experts believe may have been burnt by kids trying to get high on the burning plastic fumes The trend surfaced a decade ago in South Yorkshire but appeared to have made a revival, he said. In 2007 South Yorkshire Police issued a warning to leave bins alone after 40 bins went up in smoke in the space of four months. The risk of aerosol cans being contained in the rubbish, which could explode if they came into contact with fire, is high, particularly on business premises. Anti-solvent abuse charities said inhaling the bin fumes could be more dangerous than sniffing glue or petrol. Mr Hall said many people were not reporting the bin fires to police, making it hard to provide statistics on the crimes. He said: 'Just one aerosol might cause a potentially fatal explosion. 'And bins stolen from business premises could contain just about anything that can cause fatal injury to the unwary. 'Our people are sick of having to scrape melted plastic from pavements and parks, and our clients hate the inconvenience of having their bins stolen.' The trend first surfaced about 10 years ago, and was a particular problem in south Yorkshire, but died out. It appears to have reared its head again Stephen Ream, a spokesman for solvent abuse charity Re-Solv, said: 'It would be very dangerous, it sounds like it would make you sick before you got high. 'The fumes it would give off would be toxic.' In 2007 it was reported that in Scotland it is known for people to burn bus shelters to get the same effect. The craze was behind more than fifty bin fires in Barnsley, Yorkshire. PC Jonathan Reed, of South Yorkshire Police, said in 2007 that officers were looking at ways to lock up the bins. He said: 'It is the drug of choice, setting fire to the bins and inhaling the fumes. 'The health and safety implications are terrible. It is only a matter of time before someone harms themselves.' Wheelie bins are made from high density polyethylene - composed of double-bonded carbon and hydrogen molecules. Burning an empty one releases carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. These deadly gases starve the brain of oxygen, giving a headache-heavy short high. Advertisement The British-born jihadi who killed four and injured 29 in Westminster was last night revealed to be a middle-aged criminal career who MI5 had investigated in the past and had a previous conviction for stabbing a man in the nose. English teacher Khalid Masood, 52, a 'lone wolf' attacker, who was living in the Birmingham area, had a series of convictions for assault and other crimes. Scotland Yard revealed how Masood was known by a number of aliases and MailOnline can reveal he was born Adrian Elms to a single mother in Kent before his religious conversion. Masood has used the names Khalid Choudry and Adrian Ajao among others. He grew up in a 300,000 house in the seaside town of Rye, East Sussex and had a long criminal history. His first conviction was for criminal damage in November 1983, when he was just 19. His last was for an attack in 2003, where he stabbed a 22-year-old man in the face, leaving him slumped in the driveway of a nursing home in Eastbourne. The victim was left needing cosmetic surgery after the vicious attack. Masood is understood to have spent time in Lewes jail in East Sussex, Wayland prison in Norfolk and Ford open prison in West Sussex, The Times reported. He was sentenced to two years for wounding in 2000 and sent back to jail in 2003 for the attack in Eastbourne. Scroll down for video The man police believe to be responsible for the terrorist attack in Westminster has been identified as Khalid Masood, 52. It also emerged today the attacker was known to MI5 after an investigation many years ago, but was considered 'peripheral' Masood had never been convicted of terror offences, although Theresa May revealed this morning that he had been on MI5's radar a number of years ago. Police insist there was no intelligence suggesting he was about to unleash a terror attack. Masood was a married father-of-three, and a religious convert who was into bodybuilding, according to Sky News. He had falsely given his profession as a teacher. The night before launching the attack he had stayed at a budget hotel in Brighton. A Scotland Yard spokesman said this afternoon: 'Masood was also known by a number of aliases. He was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack. 'However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. 'His first conviction was in November 1983 for criminal damage and his last conviction was in December 2003 for possession of a knife. He has not been convicted for any terrorism offences.' Masood stabbed PC Keith Palmer to death with two knives outside parliament after killing mother-of-two Aysha Frade and US tourist Kurt Cochran as he ploughed along a crowded pavement on Westminster Bridge. A 75-year-old man who was injured in the attack died tonight. ISIS claimed responsibility for its first attack on British soil and said the crazed knifeman was its 'soldier'. Terror group ISIS today claimed they inspired the attack which killed three and injured 29 others in Westminster yesterday Mother-of-two Aysha Frade (left), Metropolitan policeman Keith Palmer (centre) and US tourist Kurt Cochran (right) have been named as victims of the attack Searches continue at a number of addresses in Birmingham where police are trying to gather as much information as possible on Masood and any potential associates One of the other properties raided was a flat in this building in the Winson Green area of Birmingham. Neighbour Iwona Romek said: 'I am very surprised, I cannot believe it.' Masood is believed to have moved around a number of address in recent years, including these houses in east London (left) and Winson Green, Birmingham (right) Theresa May revealed MI5 knew of the attacker but considered him a 'peripheral' figure who was 'not part of the current intelligence picture' Elsewhere today, hundreds of police swooped in dramatic raids across the nation making eight arrests. Last night police were searching a flat close to the Olympic village, in East London, where a woman named locally as Rohey Hydara lived. She had lived with Masood in at least two separate addresses but it was unclear what their relationship was. Giving details of the attacker's background in Parliament today, Prime Minister Theresa May said: 'The man was British-born and - some years ago - he was once investigated in relation to concerns about violent extremism. He was a peripheral figure. 'The case is historic - he was not part of the current intelligence picture. There was no prior intelligence of his intent - or of the plot. Intensive investigations continue.' Masood, 52, was born on Christmas Day 1964 in Kent as Adrian Elms, to his unmarried mother, Janet Elms. A little under two years later she married Phillip Ajao in Crawley, West Sussex. Twenty years later they moved to Tunbridge Wells where they set up home with his stepfather and two half-brothers, Alex and Paul. Paul Ajao, 50, lives in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and runs a number of florists and fabrics companies. He denied knowing Masood, while MailOnline has so far been unable to get in contact with Alex. His mother now lives in rural west Wales with her husband, where she runs an online business selling hand-made bags and cushions. By now using the surname Ajao, Masood met a woman and they had a child in 1992 before settling in the village of Northiam, near Hastings, East Sussex. What happens over the next decade is unclear, but in 2003, he was accused of stabbing a man in the face. Masood was running a television aerial installation business at the time, The following year, he appeared in Medway, in Kent, where he married a local Muslim woman. Six years later, he was living in Luton, which is known for its links to extremism. Masood then moved to Birmingham, although he was also registered as living in a terraced house in West Ham last year. A photo taken after a raid in Birmingham appears to show one of the three suspects arrested at a flat above a takeaway sitting in the back of a police van A neighbour, who asked not to be named, told the Press Association: 'This guy is a local guy. I've been living in the area for 20 years. 'I don't know him personally but I believe he belongs to a mosque on Leyton High Road. 'I've seen his face many times. I saw him on the news at around 7pm last night and thought 'this is the guy I know from the mosque.' 'He had a beard and big eyes.' Worshippers at the Al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton were surprised to learn of Masood's alleged links with the mosque. One, Abdul Abdul, told the Telegraph: 'We condemn this attack. A true Muslim would never do this. He's not one of us, he's not a representative of us'. Armed police stormed a flat on Hagley Road, Birmingham last night as part of six raids across the country following the Westminster attack. The address is close to where the Hyundai used as a weapon in the attack was rented Police have been searching a three-storey townhouse in the Winson Green area of Birmingham and neighbours said Masood lived there for around seven months until December last year. Neighbour Iwona Romek, 45, said: 'When I saw the pictures on TV and in the papers of the man who carried out the attack, I recognised him as the man who used to live next door. 'I would see him quite often, but it would just be a 'hello' and a 'how are you'. He had a young child, who I'd think was about five or six years old. 'There was a woman living there with him, an Asian woman. He seemed to be quite nice, he would be taking care of his garden and the weeds. 'He moved out in December. One day he was gone, there were delivery vans outside all of a sudden. Last night I just heard banging of the door and police shouting 'open the door, open the door'. They were saying 'it's on the second floor.' 'I heard the helicopters flying above too. Men were going in the forensics outfits, it was very strange... I just thought it was a normal family.' A team of heavily armed police in riot gear arrived in unmarked cars last night and stormed the flat in the east of the city By the time of the attack, Masood was living with friends in a flat above a restaurant in the city's Hagley Road, which was raided on Wednesday night. Aged in their 20s, they are believed to be among those arrested during the series of raids. Stunned residents described seeing more than a dozen black-clad officers equipped with machine guns smashing their way into the Birmingham flat, believed to be a rental, at about 11pm on Wednesday. One witness who works in a shop near the second-floor Birmingham flat said: 'The man from London lived here.' He added: 'They came and arrested three men.' Another resident said he recalled two men living there. He heard one man in the flat speaking on the phone in what he described as an 'Arabic or Pakistani accent', saying he had heard it 'for the last two or three nights'. One resident said: 'There were definitely two men and one woman and they were fairly young. There are horrible conditions up there and there have been problems with that row of flats before.' Hagley Road was sealed off by officers for several hours as the raid was carried out. The road is in the well-heeled district of Edgbaston - a cricket-loving corner of Britain's second largest city that is unused to the sight of armed police blocking off streets. Stuart Bailey, who lives four doors down from one of the flats raided, said: 'There were a load of armed police in the street. They were all dressed in black and armed with what looked like MP5s (submachine guns) and one of them had six ammunition magazines strapped to his leg.' Lucas Camoes, a 23-year-old warehouse worker, said: 'It's a very calm area. There are loads of university students here so it's very surprising this happened right here. 'I don't feel safe at all. A bit paranoid.' A neighbour says he believes Masood, who carried out the attack in London yesterday, lived in the flat above the takeaway Landlord Farhad Makanvand said he didn't know who had been staying at the flats above his curry house as it was rented out by a separate letting agents. Mr Makanvand, who also owns the next door curry house Shiraz, said: 'I wasn't at the scene last night, I don't live there. 'I bought the property six years ago for over 300,000. It is contracted to the letting agents so I have no idea who lives there or how many people.' A spokesperson for Initial Property, who let the flats on behalf of the landlord, said: 'Initial Property are not making any comment at the moment.' Car rental firm Enterprise confirmed the Hyundai 4x4 used in the attack was rented in Spring Hill, Birmingham, less than a mile from the house being searched. In a statement, the car hire company said one of its employees had identified the vehicle after seeing the licence plate in an image online and the firm had immediately contacted the authorities. The firm said in a statement: 'We are co-operating fully with the authorities and will provide any assistance that we can to the investigation. 'Our thoughts are very much with the victims of this terrible tragedy.' A police van remained outside a flat above a takeaway this morning as police revealed five other properties had been raided ARRESTS MADE BY THE MET OVERNIGHT A 39-year-old woman was arrested at an address in east London. A 21-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man were arrested at an address in Birmingham. A 26-year-old woman and three men aged 28, 27 and 26 years old were arrested at a separate address in Birmingham. All were arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Further, a 58-year-old man was arrested on Thursday morning at a separate address in Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Searches were also carried out in Carmathanshire, Wales, and Brighton, Sussex. Advertisement Armed police arrested eight people in total following raids on six properties in London and Birmingham as they attempt to find any associates Masood may have had. They included a woman in east London; a man and a woman arrested in Birmingham; and a woman and three men arrested at a separate location in Birmingham. In addition, a man was arrested on Thursday morning at a third address in Birmingham. All were arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Their ages range from 21 to 58. Searches were also carried out in Carmathanshire, Wales, and Brighton, Sussex. Earlier today, Middle East terror group ISIS claimed responsibility for the terror attack. In a statement, they said: 'The attacker yesterday in front of the British Parliament in London was a soldier of the Islamic State executing the operation in response to calls to target citizens of coalition nations.' ISIS is currently being squeezed in its stronghold of Syria and has previously urged jihadists around the world to attack people in their own countries rather than travel to join them. Experts believe Masood did not receive direct orders or help from ISIS but may have been inspired to carry out the attack by material online. Masood is also thought to have lived in London and there was a police presence outside Lucia Heights block of flats, in East London (close to the London Stadium) tonight Police are believed to be raiding the East London property in connection with yesterday's terror attack in Westminster Worshippers at the Al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton were surprised to learn of Masood's alleged links with the mosque A police forensics team combed the scene of the attack today as they mount a huge investigation into what happened Officers on their hands and knees carried out a search across Parliament Square as properties were raided in Birmingham Police teams carried out fingertip searches of the area this morning to gather potential evidence in the investigation The Hyundai Tucson used to run down pedestrians during the attack was hired from this outlet in Birmingham's Spring Hill These pictures are understood to show the inside of a Birmingham flat which was raided by police before it was let out Neighbours said lots of people moved in and out of the building and the area and were uncertain over who lived there The flat is one of six properties raided around the country, with armed officers storming the flat before detectives moved in Dozens of officers, some with weapons, were seen swooping an address near to the Bearwood area of the city last night What's happening in the investigation? :: Anti-terror officers arrested eight people, and several addresses were raided overnight in London and Birmingham :: Detectives are continuing to search a number of addresses linked to the investigation, including one in Carmarthenshire, three in Birmingham and one in east London :: Searches at addresses in Brighton and south east London have concluded :: Investigators are working on the basis that the attacker acted alone :: Car firm Enterprise confirmed the Hyundai used in the attack was one of its vehicles :: Islamic State claimed the killer was one of its 'soldiers' :: A review of security arrangements at Westminster has been launched Advertisement The attack had echoes of the atrocities in Nice and Berlin when trucks ploughed into crowds of people, killing 86 people in the French Riviera city last July and 12 at a market in the German capital just days before Christmas. He was not on an MI5 list of 3,000 people thought to be capable of mounting an attack, The Guardian reported. The details of Masood's background will raise questions over what security officials knew about the assailant and what decisions were taken when he first appeared on the radar. Shashank Joshi, senior research fellow at security think tank the Royal United Services Institute, said: 'We have always known that it is exceptionally hard to understand who will become a terrorist. 'Masood is unusual in that only a minority become radicalised over the age of 30. 'His criminal record is unsurprising, as some studies shows that a significant proportion of jihadists have had prior convictions.' Speaking to the BBC, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: 'All I can tell you is what the police have said so far, which is that he was someone known to them but that he was on the periphery of the intelligence agencies. 'I think we'll hear more from them in due course but we have to remember that this man was known to them partially because he had been in jail but not for terrorist offences.' Scotland Yard, rather than West Midlands Police, is behind the raid, but the force has not spoken due to 'operational reasons' A police officer is seen at the scene on Hagley Road in Birmingham. Police are on high alert after the terror attack in London on Wednesday which claimed the lives of three victims Three people and the attacker died in London on Wednesday afternoon after a man driving a Hyundai 4x4 crashed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before hurtling towards the gates of Parliament Police officers enter the property on Hagley Road in Birmingham. Witnesses in the area said three people had been detained The road, which has a number of takeaways and restaurants, is said to have been closed at 11pm and reopened by 2am West Midlands Police gave a short statement which read: 'There is an ongoing police operation, no further details are being given at this stage' Speaking this morning, Mark Rowley, the Met's senior anti-terror officer, said: 'Hundreds of detectives have been working through the night and during that time I can confirm we have searched six addresses - and made seven arrests. 'The inquiries in Birmingham, London and other parts of the country continue. It is still our belief - which continues to be borne out by our investigation - that this attacker acted alone yesterday and was inspired by international terrorism. 'To be explicit - at this stage, we have no specific information about further threats to the public. 'Clearly our investigation is ongoing - developing all the time - and is focused on his motivation, his preparation and associates. 'The large and complicated crime scene remains in place and our work there continues - I would like to thank everyone for their support and patience as we finish this work.' The scene in Whitehall this morning, where a number of streets are closed off while investigators examine the scene Forensics experts have been scouring Westminster Bridge for clues following the horrific events of yesterday Victims: What we know about the four dead and 29 injured Four people - excluding the attacker - were murdered. 29 are injured. Seven critically. Theresa May revealed today that among the injured there were 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Chinese, one Irish, one Italian and two Greeks. The foreign victims are likely to all have been tourists. This is what we know: Husband and father Pc Keith Palmer, 48, was stabbed to death by terrorist at gates of Parliament Aysha Frade, 43, was on her way to meet her two children, aged eight and 11, when she was killed on Westminster Bridge Kurt Cochran, 54, from Utah was knocked off bridge and died A 75-year-old man died tonight Three French school children are in a critical condition last night. The students are believed to be 15 or 16 and attend the private Lycee Saint-Joseph in Brittany. The attacker also targeted 13 students from Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lancashire. The university said four were hurt. One had head injuries, another wrist injuries, while two were walking wounded. A Romanian couple on holiday are also thought to be among the injured. Andrei Burnaz , an engineer in his mid-20s, and Andreea Cristea , his girlfriend, 29, were caught up in the attack. Five Korean tourists were also reported to be among the injured, one seriously. A Portuguese man was also hurt in the rampaged Italian woman was hit by the bumper of the car and had to have an operation to her left leg Chinese tourist was also hospitalised after being hit by the speeding vehicle and had bone fracture near the shoulder and numerous bruises Advertisement Pc Keith Palmer, a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad, was killed as he tried to stop Masood at around 2.30pm on Wednesday. The other confirmed victims are American tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, Aysha Frade, 43, a Spanish teacher who had been on a school run, and a 75-year-old man who has not yet been named. Masood, who was armed with two knives, injured around 40 people as he mowed down pedestrians with a car on Westminster Bridge before crashing at the railings in front of Parliament. Bursting through the gate to the Palace of Westminster, he stabbed Pc Palmer before being shot dead by armed officers. Theresa May visited some of the 29 victims, seven of whom are in a critical condition, in hospital today. The Prime Minister had earlier led tributes to PC Palmer, a 48-year-old father. In the House of Commons today she saluted the heroism of police as well as the bravery of ordinary people in the British capital who simply went about their lives in the aftermath of the attack. She said: 'As I speak, millions will be boarding trains and airplanes to travel to London, and to see for themselves the greatest city on Earth. 'It is in these actions - millions of acts of normality - that we find the best response to terrorism. A response that denies our enemies their victory, that refuses to let them win, that shows we will never give in.' This evening, multi-faith leaders, residents, tourists, police and politicians gathered at the candlelit vigil in London's Trafalgar Square, which was led by mayor Sadiq Khan. Crowds were told the 'evil and twisted acts of terrorism will be defeated.' In a statement yesterday Pc Palmer's family said he was a 'wonderful dad and husband, a loving son, brother and uncle' who would be 'deeply missed'. They said the avid Charlton FC supporter was 'dedicated to his job and proud to be a police officer, brave and courageous'. Paying tribute to Pc Palmer, who had served the police for 15 years, Mr Rowley said: 'In Westminster we saw tragic events unfold, and our thoughts are with those who lost loved ones, those who were injured and all those affected by this attack. 'One of those who died today was a police officer, Pc Keith Palmer, a member of our parliamentary and diplomatic protection command. Keith, aged 48, had 15 years' service and was a husband and father. 'He was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift, and he had every right to expect that would happen.' Donald Trump was among world leaders to offer their support. Shortly after 1.30am UK time, the US president tweeted: 'Spoke to UK Prime Minister Theresa May today to offer condolences on the terrorist attack in London. She is strong and doing very well.' The attack came exactly a year after the Brussels airport atrocity and a day after restrictions were announced on air travel from six countries because of the terror threat. Multi-faith leaders, residents, tourists, police and politicians gathered at the candlelit vigil in London's Trafalgar Square, which was led by mayor Sadiq Khan Should ALL officers be armed? Questions over security at landmarks after unarmed officer is killed and it emerges the attacker was shot by a minister's guard The attack in Westminster has raised questions over whether all police protecting landmark buildings should be armed. Pc Keith Palmer, who was stabbed and died outside the Houses of Parliament, did not have a weapon and it was other armed officers who shot and killed the attacker. The policeman who shot the attacker on the parliamentary estate is believed to have been a close protection officer for Defence Secretary Michael Fallon rather than a member of the gate team. Mr Fallon's ministerial car was parked in New Palace Yard as a vote was taking place in the Commons at the time. It has also been reported that the gate was open because Acting Police Commissioner Craig Mackey was leaving the Houses of Parliament. Luckily, Mr Mackey was not injured and is now being treated as a witness. The Hyundai, said the have been rented in Birmingham, crashed in at least 40 pedestrians before crashing into Parliament After stabbing and killing unarmed PC Keith Palmer in Parliament grounds, he was shot by an armed officer and later died It is understood the attacker was shot by a bodyguard of Defence Secretary Michael Fallon rather than Parliament police Former Met firearms officer Roger Gay said Britain may need to move away from the idea of 'traditional' unarmed policeman in important locations. He told Sky News today: 'In my opinion, I would have all of them in that location, I think, should be armed. What you have there, and I hate to use the term, is perhaps a sacrificial pawn. 'But one wonders if he had a sidearm, would he have been able to react that quickly and, if he had been carrying a carbine then he would be less of the traditional policeman. Perhaps we should let go of that and ratchet it up one notch.' Speaking on Radio 4 this morning, Defence Secretary Mr Fallon confirmed Parliament's security would now be reviewed. He said of the attacker: 'They did not get into Parliament. They only got as far as the gate. They did not breach the security of the House of Commons and he gave his life to protect the security of our democracy. 'Parliament cannot be hermetically sealed. People are coming and going all the time. 'There was a division going on at the time, people arriving through the gates either by car or foot, to vote. This is something that will now be reviewed by the House authorities.' Armed police in Westminster today. The death of unarmed officer has raised questions all police in such locations should have guns Former Met firearms officer Roger Gay (left) suggested all police around Parliament should be armed. Security expert Raffaello Pantucci (right) said low tech lone wolf attacks are extremely difficult to prevent Security experts have pointed out that 'low-tech' lone wolf attacks are extremely difficult to prevent. Raffaello Pantucci, Director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute, said: 'It's always been the case that going out and getting a car or a knife is far easier than building a device like a bomb. 'Incidents such as Lee Rigby are examples of this. Other terrorists could be inspired by this and it's becoming the acceptable way of doing things. It's certainly something that could be copied.' He added: 'If you haven't told anyone what you are doing, police are going to find it harder to stop you. 'But what is worrying is a trend of lone wolves who carry out the attacks alone, but gain ideas or weapons from other terrorists before they do so.' Just days ago a suspected terrorist was shot dead at Orly airport in Paris after trying to grab a gun from a security official. Forensic officers search the road on their knees next to Westminster Abbey this morning as investigations continue Police officers paying their respects to fallen colleague Keith Palmer at the National Police Memorial today Mr Pantucci said: 'Obviously we are on high alert, but we have been on high alert for some time. What has been happening with banning laptops on planes makes that clear.' Reflecting on the reaction of the police, Mr Pantucci said: 'From what we have seen it appears the police shut down the operation very quickly. 'It could be that more bollards are placed outside Parliament to prevent this sort of thing happening again, but is is difficult to know when to stop putting bollards in.' Theresa Villiers, the former Northern Ireland secretary, suggested the issue of whether police who patrol areas 'known to be of interest to terrorists' should carry a weapon for personal protection should now be examined. Ms Villiers said: 'As we reflect on what happened, is it time to consider whether the police who guard sensitive sites known to be of interest to terrorists like Parliament or like airports should routinely carry personal protection weapons, even when those officers are not part of the units formally tasked with armed response?' Rex Airlines' run of bad luck has continued with a flight bound for Sydney forced to return to Dubbo after the crew shut down an engine due to a high-temperature reading. The Regional Express Saab 340 - carrying 23 passengers - made a safe emergency landing in the regional New South Wales town after 10am on Thursday. Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson told AAP the right-hand engine issue was 'totally unrelated' to the plane's propeller assembly. The Regional Express Saab 340 - carrying 23 passengers - made a safe emergency landing in Dubbo after 10am on Thursday Mr Gibson said during Thursday's flight the crew 'had an indication of high engine temperature on the right-hand engine so it was shut down and they returned to Dubbo'. A Rex flight bound for Griffith was also forced to return to Sydney Airport on Tuesday afternoon after it recorded cabin pressure problems. A Rex aircraft engine was also shut down on Friday after a propeller fell off a regional flight from Albury to Sydney. The aircraft was forced to return to regional New South Wales town Dubbo on Thursday due to high temperature Regional Express has a fleet of 55 Saab 340 aircraft, and operates about 1500 weekly flights to 58 destinations across Australia The passenger plane was carrying 16 passengers and three crew. No one was injured. The crew of the Saab 340 said the propeller assembly had 'dislodged', Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson told AAP, while photographs of the plane on the ground show the right propeller had fallen off entirely. The Rex aircraft made the emergency landing about 12.05pm on Friday after it lost the propeller at about 6,000 feet. Another Rex aircraft (pictured) engine was shut down on Friday after a propeller fell off a regional flight from Albury to Sydney The crew of the Saab 340 said the propeller assembly had 'dislodged' (pictured) mid-flight on Friday Rex's chief operating officer Neville Howell on Monday praised the crew for showing 'enormous composure and discipline under extraordinary circumstances'. 'Both passengers and crew reported that the flight thereafter was smooth and the landing was normal in spite of bad weather at Sydney with winds exceeding 35 knots.' The propeller was found in bush land between Albury and Sydney on Tuesday, after which a crime scene was established. The crew of the Saab 340 said the propeller assembly had 'dislodged', Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson (pictured) told AAP Rex Airlines grounded five planes earlier in the week as part of an investigation into how the propeller came to fall off. 'Rex has decided, by abundance of caution, to immediately remove from service and quarantine all propeller gear boxes and shafts of the same series as that of the incident for further inspection and testing if warranted,' Rex said in a statement on Monday. Rex's chief operating officer, Neville Howell, said a propeller falling off was an extremely rare event. 'The only other recorded similar event was in 1991 when US carrier Comair's aircraft also landed safely after a separation of its propeller,' he said. Regional Express has a fleet of 55 Saab 340 aircraft, and operates about 1500 weekly flights to 58 destinations across Australia. The propeller was found in bushland between Albury and Sydney on Tuesday, after which a crime scene was established The UK's all-consuming affair with the vast array of coffee shops open for business in every High Street in the land shows no sign of running out of steam, according to a new report yesterday. For the latest research commissioned on behalf of UK Coffee Week has found that Brits' love of lattes and cappuccinos is actually on the increase with 3.4 new coffee shops opening daily across the nation. This growth sees the coffee shop industry pouring a staggering 8.9 billion into the UK economy, an increase of 12% since 2016. At this current rate, estimates put the number of coffee shops overtaking pubs by 2030 as Brits continue to swap lager for lattes. There are now around 23,000 coffee shops across the UK, a combination of non-specialists, independents, and major chains such as Starbucks, Costa and Caffe Nero. 1,222 stores opened in the last year alone. There are now around 23,000 coffee shops across the UK, a combination of non-specialists, independents, and major chains such as Starbucks, Costa and Caffe Nero But it's not just physical outlets that are thriving, sales in independent and branded chains continue to grow. The big three chains contribute 19% of the total coffee shop sales with market leader Costa recording a sales growth of 8% and Starbucks and Caffe Nero's sales growing by 9% and 7% respectively. With Brits drinking 2.3 billion cups of coffee per year in coffee shops - up 4% from 2.2 billion in 2016 - it is clear to see why coffee continues to be a major player in the UK food and drink world. The data also shows 39% of Brits stated their coffee consumption has increased over the past 12 months, and a further 48% of coffee lovers kept their consumption the same in 2016, keeping the UK's 150,000 baristas busier than ever. UK Coffee Week was founded in 2011 and engages coffee shops across the country to raise money for Project Waterfall, a charity that works to deliver clean drinking water and sanitation to coffee growing communities across the globe. Since inception, the charity has raised over 600,000, changing over 23,000 lives in coffee growing communities. The big three chains contribute 19% of the total coffee shop sales with market leader Costa recording a sales growth of 8% and Starbucks and Caffe Nero's sales growing by 9% and 7% respectively Jeffrey Young, founder of UK Coffee Week, told Retail Times: "The UK has embraced coffee culture in a phenomenal way that has seen the industry grow and thrive to the size it is today - and it's continuing. Through the combination of coffee shop growth and the premiumisation of at-home, the UK's coffee offer is one of the best in the world. "UK Coffee Week is about celebrating the UK coffee industry that is so important to the nation both financially and culturally, but it's also about recognising and supporting the provenance of our caffeine fix. The humble coffee bean is the second most traded product worldwide and millions of people in countries from Guatemala to Ethiopia, to India and Indonesia rely on it for their livelihoods, so it's important that we give something back. It's about Great Coffee and Good Will." The stats were taken from the UK Coffee Report, created by UK Coffee Week, which starts at London Coffee Festival (6-9 April, Truman Brewery) then runs from 10-17 April nationwide. A Child sex offence is recorded by the police every ten minutes, an investigation has revealed. A record 55,507 suspected sex crimes against under-18s were reported in Britain in 2015-16, a rise of nearly 20 per cent. Adults contacted officers with allegations that youngsters had been raped, sexually assaulted and exploited with their lives shattered, according to a leading childrens charity. The figures indicate that police are recording offences at an average rate of 152 a day or more than six an hour. The research found that 13,565 offences were recorded against children aged ten and under, while 2,799 victims were aged under four. A Child sex offence is recorded by the police every ten minutes, an investigation by the NSPCC has revealed. Stock image The extent of the abuse has been exposed by the NSPCC, which submitted Freedom of Information requests to every police force. But the charity warned that this could be the tip of the iceberg. It said: More children may not have come forward because they are frightened, embarrassed, or do not realise that they have been abused. The NSPCC said the huge increase up from 47,055 the previous year was partly because victims were more willing to report sex crimes, including historical ones, and police were more likely to take complaints seriously in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal. But it also said online grooming was becoming a major problem, with depraved predators being able to contact children over the internet. The NSPCC revealed this month that the number of paedophiles who meet children after luring them online had more than tripled, with 1,122 abusers being reported to the police in the year to September 2016. Its chief executive Peter Wanless said the steep rise in reported offences lays bare just how extensive this appalling crime against children has become, claiming multiple victims every hour, some of whom are yet to say their first word. He added: Sexual abuse can shatter a childs life and leave them feeling ashamed, depressed or even suicidal. Now, more than ever, victims need help as soon as possible to help them recover. The findings were revealed days after the Government announced that a new offence of sexual communication with a child would take effect next month. Section 67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 has been on the statute book for two years but has not yet come into force. The Government had faced criticism over the delay in implementing the measure. Adult groomers will face up to two years in prison, with those convicted automatically placed on the sex offenders register. The offence covers both online and offline communication, including through social media, email and letters. n Four men and a woman were convicted yesterday of child sexual exploitation offences including rape and child prostitution. Christopher Whiteley, 23, his brothers Matthew, 25, and Shane, 30, Amanda Spencer, 26, and Taleb Bapir, 39, and were found guilty of charges relating to five victims aged 12 to 15 in Sheffield between 2005 and 2012. Spencer and the Whiteley brothers plied the vulnerable young girls with drink, drugs and gifts before forcing them to have sex with men, including Bapir, Sheffield Crown Court heard. They will be sentenced next month. Advertisement Melbourne mosque owners have outbid buyers for a neighbouring property so they can expand the religious centre. A four-bedroom weatherboard house in Fawkner, Melbourne sold for $745,000 on the weekend. Fawkner Mosque forked out a premium to snap up the adjoining Elizabeth Street site. It fetched $145,000 more than the reserve price of just over $600,000. A four-bedroom weatherboard house (pictured) in Fawkner, Melbourne sold for $745,000 on the weekend Melbourne Mosque owners have outbid buyers for a neighbouring property in Fawkner (Fawkner Mosque pictured) Melbourne Mosque owners have outbid buyers for a neighbouring property so they can expand the religious centre (Fawkner Mosque pictured) Frank Valentic from Advantage Property Consulting told realestate.com.au the buyers 'would have paid whatever they had to pay' to secure the property. Mr Valentic said it had a special attraction for the buyers because of 'the possibility of added parking and amenities and opportunity for expansion in the future.' Barry Plant Coburg agent Chris Kavanagh said five people were bidding for the site. 'I believe that, at least in the short term, they (the buyers) will have someone from the community occupy the property, potentially for overseas visitors, something of that nature,' he said. The previous owners were pleased with the high selling price Mr Kavanagh said. The Elizabeth street house fetched $145,000 more than the reserve price of just over $600,000 The property fetched $145,000 more than the reserve price of just over $600,000 Barry Plant Coburg agent Chris Kavanagh said five people were bidding for the house A homeless woman, 55, has been charged after allegedly stabbing a man in the stomach during an argument at a busy Melbourne intersection. The 29-year-old man was treated by paramedics after the stabbing at 4.15pm on Wednesday and rushed to Royal Melbourne Hospital in serious but stable condition. A blood-soaked white sneaker was seen lying on the pavement at the scene and police recovered the knife used in the attack. Homeless woman, 55, allegedly stabbed a man (pictured sitting) in the stomach during an argument at a busy Melbourne intersection The 29-year-old man (pictured centre) was treated by paramedics after the stabbing at 4.15pm on Wednesday and rushed to Royal Melbourne Hospital in serious but stable condition A blood-soaked white sneaker was seen lying on the pavement at the scene The woman, 55, was still at the scene on Elizabeth Street in central Melbourne near Collins Street, outside an Officeworks store, and immediately arrested. She appeared in court on Wednesday night during an out-of-hours session, 9 News reported. The 55-year-old was charged with recklessly causing injury, intentionally causing injury and other assault charges. She will face the Melbourne Magistrates Court again on Thursday. Police are now working to determine the relationship between the pair. The foldable knife allegedly used in the attack The scene on Elizabeth Street in the CBD near Collins Street, outside an Officeworks store The bitter dispute over President Trumps claims he was wire-tapped by the Obama administration and counter-accusations that his aides colluded with Russia during the election took another twist on Wednesday night. A CNN report said the FBI believes President Donald Trump's associates were in communication with suspected Russian operatives possibly to coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton during the election campaign. The cable news network quotes anonymous US government officials as saying that the bureau has information that suggests links between Trump's campaign and the Russian government, though the sources stress that the evidence unearthed so far is 'not conclusive.' The fact that the claims are being made on CNN is only likely to intensify the president's conflict with the network he has called 'fake news' and lead to further accusations that it is acting as the opposition to Trump. And they come against the background of a bitter and now nakedly partisan dispute on the House Intelligence Committee over interactions with Russia which boiled over on Wednesday afternoon into an ugly public dispute between the Republican chair and the Democratic ranking member. One source is cited by CNN as saying that this information is what FBI Director James Comey was referring to in his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Monday. Comey told lawmakers on Monday that the FBI had come across 'a credible allegation of wrongdoing or reasonable basis to believe an American may be acting as an agent of a foreign power.' The bureau is now sifting through phone records, travel documents, and human intelligence material in an effort to conclusively determine if laws were broken by individuals with links to Trump's campaign. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on Wednesday that there is 'more than circumstantial' evidence of links between the Trump campaign and Russia - a statement backed up by anonymous US officials who told CNN that new information suggests possible collusion The White House has denied any wrongdoing by the campaign. 'People connected to the campaign were in contact and it appeared they were giving the thumbs up to release information when it was ready,' CNN quoted one source as saying. But other officials threw cold water on the circumstantial evidence, saying that it was premature to make inferences from the information gathered. US intelligence agencies believe that the Russian government was behind the hacking and release of emails belonging to senior Democratic Party officials, including the senior echelons of Clinton's campaign. There is consensus among US intelligence officials that the aim of the hacks was to aid Trump's candidacy. Thus far, four individuals involved in Trump's campaign - former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, foreign policy adviser Carter Page, national security adviser Michael Flynn, and confidante Roger Stone - have been investigated by the FBI for alleged ties to Russia. All of them deny any wrongdoing. The latest revelations by CNN appear to bolster statements made earlier on Wednesday by the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Rep. Adam Schiff told MSNBC's MTP Daily that the evidence currently in the hands of intelligence officials are 'more than circumstantial' and 'very much worthy of investigation,' though he said he could not get into specific. Schiff blasted his GOP counterpart, asking whether the panel's Russia probe can function after chairman Rep. Devin Nunes briefed Trump on new snooping developments. Schiff, a California Democrat who works closely with Nunes, called the Republicans' debrief of Trump at the White House Wednesday 'deeply troubling,' and demanded the creation of an independent Russia probe. Schiff was blindsided when Nunes went to tell Trump that intelligence intercepts picked up Trump transition members as well as Trump himself seeming to substantiate the president's claims this month. 'The chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he is going to at as a surrogate of the White House because he cannot do both,' Schiff fumed at a Capitol Hill press conference. 'This is deeply troubling along many levels. The most significant level is it really impedes our ability to do this investigation the way we should,' he added. He declined to get into specifics about the documents Nunes saw because he said Nunes hadn't shared them with him or with Republican members of the committee yet. 'We have no idea where these documents came from, whether they even show what they purport to show,' he said. He raised the possibility that Nunes brought up the information as a way to help Trump back up his Twitter claim of 19 days ago that President Obama had his phones 'tapped' at Trump Tower something the head of the FBI and Nunes himself has said didn't happen. His admonishment was a departure from the normally collegial panel, where the leaders are known as 'chairman' and 'vice chairman' and share the nation's top secrets. Earlier on Wednesday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. David Nunes (R-Cal) told President Trump that there was 'incidental' surveillance of Trump aides unrelated to Russia Nunes would not say how Trump transition officials were caught up in the surveillance - and whether any of them work at the White House 'But even if they do, on the basis of what the chairman said, the underlying fact is still the same: There's no evidence to support the president's contention that he was wiretapped by his predecessor,' said Schiff. 'So I'm not sure what the point of this extraordinary process is. And I have to hope that this is not part of a broader campaign by the White House aimed to deflect from the [FBI] director's testimony earlier this week.' Schiff suggested that the House Intelligence could be a casualty of Trump's tweets bringing up an angry clash with the British government over alleged spy cooperation that the British say didn't happen. HAPPIER TIMES? Chairman Devin Nunes of California (R) and Ranking Member Adam Schiff listen to testimony during hearings on Russia's involvement in the 2016 Presidential Election and alleged hacking allegations during a House Intelligence Committee hearing Monday 'If the incident today is an indication that, after making the baseless claim, the president then aggravated the damage by implicating the British in a potential plot to have the British surveil him on behalf of President Obama, and now is attempting to interfere in the congressional investigation again, with the effort of trying to provide some substance to a claim without substance then the damage the wrecking ball of this allegation has just claimed another victim, that being our own committee,' he said. 'I only learned about this the way that all of you did, when the chairman briefed the press in advance of briefing his own committee members,' said Schiff. The president told White House reporters that he feels 'somewhat' vindicated after hearing what Nunes had to say this afternoon. The congressman came to the White House this afternoon to give Trump an in-person briefing Schiff also blasted Nunes in a blistering written statement. ''If accurate, this information should have been shared with members of the committee, but it has not been,' Schiff said. 'The Chairman also shared this information with the White House before providing it to the committee, another profound irregularity, given that the matter is currently under investigation. I have expressed my grave concerns with the Chairman that a credible investigation cannot be conducted this way.' Nunes defended himself from the charges he might have acted improperly in an appearance on CNN about an hour before Schiff spoke. He said the information 'concerned me enough to have to notify the president because it was him and his transition team that were involved in this,' he said. 'It's not fair for him not to know what's in these reports,' added Nunes. 'President-elect Trump and his team were put into intelligence reports,' Nunes told the network. He mentioned 'dozens' of intercepts. 'Clearly there was surveillance that was conducted.' But he didn't back off his earlier statement that Trump was not subjected to wiretapping at Trump Tower. Schiff's frustration followed Republican committee chairman Devin Nunes' decision to brief the House speaker; the CIA, NSA and FBI chiefs; the White House; and the Washington press corps about a cache of intelligence reports in his possession without sharing them with fellow committee members. Nunes told reporters on Capitol Hill that the US Intelligence Community collected 'incidental' information about President Donald Trump and his transition team during the three months following the 2016 election. He said the information collected was 'legally collected' pursuant to a warrant issued by a FISA judge in a federal court, and concerned 'foreign' surveillance. But that 'did not involve Russia or any discussions with Russians,' and there's no reason to believe anyone in Trump's circle was the target of an investigation. The president told journalists that he feels 'somewhat' vindicated after hearing what Nunes had to say. Trump has been fighting Democrats' charges that he lied on March 4 when he claimed Barack Obama 'wire tapped' him last year. 'I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found. I somewhat do,' he said shortly after a meeting with Nunes. Nunes told NBC he wasn't currently able to show the information to Schiff because he and the committee don't have the documents in their possession. He said he was waiting for an intelligence official to send over the reports, which he said he was shown by a 'source.' Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Nunes' statements 'would appear to have revealed classified intelligence.' Schiff refused to make the same charged when asked whether Nunes had revealed classified information. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has urged Australians to use the hashtag 'pray for a Muslim ban' in the wake of London's Westminster terror attack. In a video posted to her Facebook page on Thursday, the Queensland senator took aim at London's first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, for comments he made in September about terror attacks bring 'part and parcel of living in a big city'. 'People are feeling sorry for people over there and I've seen the hashtag #prayforlondon,' she said from Parliament House in Canberra. 'Well look, I have my own hashtag and you won't need to be praying for this place or that place, because it's #pray4amuslimban. Scroll down for video One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has urged Australians to use the hashtag 'pray for a Muslim ban' on social media in the wake of London's Westminster terror attack 'Well look, I have my own hashtag and you won't need to be praying for this place or that place, because it's #pray4amuslimban,' Ms Hanson said from Parliament House in Canberra 'That is how you solve the problem... put a ban on it'. Ms Hanson called Mr Khan's comments 'amazing' and said she never wants to hear anything similar said in Australia. Mr Khan's comments were not referencing Wednesday's attack and were made during an interview in September in response to the bombs that were detonated in New York City and Jersey. 'It's amazing that the Muslim mayor over there has come out and said 'oh well terrorist attacks are part and parcel of a big city''.' she said. 'Well they don't have to be, they never have been in the past and that's something I never want to hear or see in Australia from any mayor in any city'. Ms Hanson (pictured in Senate on Thursday) said Mr Khan's comments were 'amazing' and said she never wants to hear anything similar said in Australia In a video posted to her Facebook page on Thursday, the Queensland senator took aim at London's first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan The video was made in response to Wednesday's attack where a man ploughed his Hyundai SUV into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge. Pictured, emergency services at the scene In a video posted to her Facebook page on Thursday, the Queensland senator took aim at London's first Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan (pictured) for comments he made in September Ms Hanson's criticism mirrors that of Donald Trump Jr who re-tweeted the six-month-old article with Mr Khan's comments on Thursday. 'You have to be kidding me?!' the son of the US President tweeted with the article. The senator noted that she was broadcasting the video from Parliament House in Canberra where she was 'protected'. 'It's alright from here in Parliament House, they've done $16 million security,' she said. 'We're protected. what about you? Do you feel protected?' The video was made in response to Wednesday's attack where a man ploughed his Hyundai SUV into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge. Three people were killed on the bridge before the driver stabbed and killed an unarmed police officer. The driver was later shot dead by officers outside the House of Parliament. Ms Hanson's criticism mirrors that of the son of the United States President, Donald Trump Jr Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia's High Commissioner in London had not identified any Australians among the killed or injured following the atrocity. Pictured, emergency services at the scene An attacker brought carnage to central London on Wednesday afternoon, mowing down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and hacking at police with knives in the grounds of the Houses of Parliament Many Australian politicians expressed solidarity with London after the horrific attack, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who offered his 'heartfelt sympathies'. 'Australia's heartfelt sympathy and resolute solidarity is with the people of the United Kingdom who we stand with today as we always have in freedom's cause,' he said. Opposition leader Bill Shorten tweeted: 'This shocking crime, designed to weaken the U.K., will only make her stronger. All Australians stand with Britain today.' The leader of the Katter's Australian Party, Bob Katter, used the opportunity to repeat his call for a visa ban on people from the countries between Greece and India and North Africa. 'Whist certainly not all people from the Middle East are like this, it is unfortunately true and real that all of these attacks are coming from people from these areas who have extreme ideologies,' he said in a media release. 'There should be no visa issued to anyone from these areas unless of course they are persecuted minorities the Sikhs, Jews and Christians'. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson tweeted: 'Our deepest sympathies are with the people of London & the victims of this evil terrorist attack,' before releasing the video on Thursday The best friend of murdered Jill Meagher has opened up about her struggle to contain her rage at the justice system that set her killer free. Ms Meagher was 29 when she went missing in the early hours after a night out with friends in Melbourne's Brunswick in September 2012. Days later, her body was found in a shallow grave in Gisborne South and serial sex offender Adrian Ernest Bayley was arrested for her rape and murder. The crime stunned the community and sparked protests over how Bayley was allowed out of prison despite his extensive criminal history. Jill Meagher (right) was raped and murdered in 2012. Five years on, her best friend Aoife Lyons (left) is struggling to cope with her loss and rage The attention has since died down but five years on, Aoife Lyons is still struggling to cope with the rage she feels at the Australian justice system which she believes failed her friend and Bayley's other victims. Ms Lyons, 34, no longer lives in Melbourne and has relocated to a small town in New South Wales in a bid to salvage her sanity, she said. 'I had to, for my own sanity,' she told whimn.com. Describing her friend's murder as 'obliterative,' she spoke of how she turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism. Ms Meagher (pictured) was 29 when she went missing in the early hours after a night out with friends in Melbourne's Brunswick in September 2012 Ms Lyons (left) said she left Melbourne and turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism 'You try not to let rage have too much of an impact on your life, but it's exhausting to block out the screaming voice in your brain. 'I drank copious amounts of wine every night, frequently getting blackout drunk.' But she says she tries to separate her treasured memories of her friend from the way her life ended. Ms Meagher was 'unafraid,' she said and she tries to allow the fearlessness rather than the rage guide her in life. Bayley was sentenced to 35 years in prison for Ms Meagher's murder in June 2013. But he was charged with further offenses when other victims, including sex workers, came forward. Mourners are pictured at Fawkner Memorial Park for Jill Meagher's funeral in October 2012 Adrian Ernest Bailey (left and right, being taken to prison 2013) was sentenced to 35 years for her rape and murder He was sentenced to another 18 years after being convicted of sexual offences against 12 people by early 2015. And legal reform came due to Ms Meagher's death with tighter parole laws in Victoria meaning if a crime is committed while someone is on parole, they are immediately sent back to prison and handed a further sentence and fine. Ms Lyons believes that the decision to free Bayley was because his previous victims were sex workers. She called it 'pathetic' that change only came about in reaction to a horrific crime or rather the public outcry afterwards. 'It's too little, too late,' she added. Families had a shock when they found a monster snake nearly 9ft long slithering towards their homes. A man walking his dog spotted the giant boa constrictor sliding across a field near a housing estate in Banbury, Oxfordshire. Measuring more than eight-and-a-half feet, the snake had a body almost as thick as a man's thigh. A gigantic boa constrictor snake native to South America was spotted by a dog walker in Oxfordshire slithering towards a housing estate RSPCA officers arrived and caught it, loading it into a van to be driven away, although it remains a mystery how it got into the field. Melanie Fisher, a deputy chief inspector for the animal charity, said: 'It's hard to know for sure how this snake came to be in the field but the caller definitely got a bit of a surprise. 'It's not every day you stumble upon an 8ft 6in long snake while out walking the dog. It may have escaped from a vivarium or could have been abandoned. 'It's a female and sadly she's not micro-chipped so we do not know where she has come from. 'She is still in our care and is now doing really well despite the cold weather.' Snakes are not able to produce their own body heat, so being outdoors in the UK in cold weather can be a serious threat. Boa constrictors and pythons have bodies which cannot function normally outside of their optimum temperature range. Melanie Fisher, a deputy chief inspector for the animal charity, said: 'It's hard to know for sure how this snake came to be in the field but the caller definitely got a bit of a surprise. Ms Fisher said the RSPCA was seeing a growing number of exotic animals, including snakes, being dumped. The increase is thought to be down to a rise in people biting off more than they can chew when they think they will own a snake or other jungle creature. The charity currently has dozens of boas in its care looking for new but experienced homes, and urged prospective buyers to do their research before getting one. Israeli archaeologists have found hundreds of glass bottles at the site of a First World War British army barracks. The remains of the drinking session were found during excavations for a new road near the central city of Ramle, where soldiers under the command of Field Marshal Edmund Allenby were garrisoned in 1917. The camp, based around a tall building, was occupied for about nine months from November 1917 during a pause in the campaign against the Turkish army in Palestine. The remains of the drinking session were found during excavations for a new road at Ramle, near Tel Aviv, where soldiers under the command of Field Marshal Edmund Allenby were garrisoned in 1917 The camp was occupied for about nine months from November 1917 during a pause in the campaign against the Turkish army in Palestine Excavation director Ron Toueg said: 'About 70 percent of the waste that was discarded in the refuse pit were liquor bottles' Workers uncovered a waste pit filled with cutlery, broken plates and the giant haul of empty glass bottles, including Gordon's gin and John Dewar's whisky. Excavation director Ron Toueg said: 'About 70 percent of the waste that was discarded in the refuse pit were liquor bottles. 'It seems that the soldiers took advantage of the respite given them to release the tension by frequently drinking alcohol.' Mr Toueg said the find gave a unique insight into the everyday lives of the soldiers while they were away from the battlefield. He said: 'The discovery of this site and the finds in it provide us with an opportunity for a glimpse of the unwritten part of history, and reconstruct for the first time the everyday life and leisure of the soldiers.' The soldiers were part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, captured the land around Ramle in November 1917 and went into Jerusalem the next month. Researcher Brigitte Ouahnouna said it was the first such find uncovered in Israel. She added: 'It is a fascinating testimony of the everyday life of the British military camp a century ago.' Mr Toueg said the find gave a unique insight into the everyday lives of the soldiers while they were away from the battlefield The military veteran and alleged white supremacist accused of stabbing a black man to death in New York after traveling to the city for that exact purpose was an intelligence expert during his time in the armed forces. James Harris Jackson, 28, was due to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court for an arraignment hearing on Wednesday night, however by 9:45pm he had still not fronted court. He is accused of murdering 66-year-old black homeless man Timothy Caughman on Monday night in Hell's Kitchen. Caughman stumbled into a police station after being stabbed multiple times in the back and chest, but died at the hospital. Scroll down for video James Harris Jackson (pictured), 28, is accused of stabbing a black man to death in New York after traveling to the city for that very purpose He is accused of killing homeless man Timothy Caughman, a 66-year-old described as living in a 'transitional home' for people with HIV/AIDS Jackson is allegedly a member of an unspecified, documented hate group in Maryland and is also an army veteran who served in Afghanistan. He traveled from Baltimore to New York for the express purpose of murdering black people, it has been claimed. A US Army spokesperson confirmed to DailyMail.com that James Harris Jackson served in the Army from March 2009 until August 2012. He was a military intelligent analyst and in February 2011 reached the rank of specialist. According to the Armys official website, this role is integral to providing Army personnel with information about enemy forces and potential battle areas. He was assigned to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri from March to June 2009 then Fort Huachuca in Arizona from four months. From late 2009 until 2012, he was stationed in Baumholder, Germany. During that time he was deployed to Afghanistan from December 2010 until November 2011. The alleged white supremacist accused of stabbing to death a black man in Manhattan left an NYPD precinct on Wednesday afternoon, dressed in a white hazmat suit and staring straight ahead Earlier on Wednesday Jackson left an NYPD precinct about 3pm, dressed in a hazmat suit and staring straight ahead. James Harris Jackson, 28, has been identified as a military veteran who served in Afghanistan He said nothing as he left the midtown precinct at 3pm, flanked by officers. It was also revealed the former soldier had a decorated career in the military. He was awarded the Joint Service Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with 2 Campaign Stars, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon and the NATO Medal. Jackson was arrested after police released surveillance footage of him in the moments after the alleged stabbing. He was seen in the video running through the street afterwards in a bid to find him. Later, Jackson presented himself to officers at the Times Square substation after midnight Tuesday, telling them: 'You need to arrest me. I have the knife in my coat.' In several older Facebook photos, Jackson can be seen posing in uniform with his mother and father The veteran (pictured here with his father) is allegedly a member of a documented hate group in Maryland and came to Manhattan eager to kill and was upset about black men dating white women Jackson was pictured in surveillance footage police released on Monday; he handed himself in to police in Times Square after midnight Tuesday Police found two knives - one of which was the 26-inch black sword reportedly used to kill Caughman - in the man's coat at the station, where he was kept for questioning. The New York Daily News cited police sources who said Jackson came to Manhattan eager to kill and had 'rage against black men who get romantically involved with white women.' NYPD said Jackson revealed to them that he chose New York City specifically because of its reputation as 'the media capital of the world' and that he 'wanted to make a statement.' 'Its been well over 10 years that he has been harboring his hate towards blacks,' NYPD Assistant Chief William Aubrey said, according to the Daily News. The Daily News also reported that the victim was living in 'transitional housing' in the area for people with HIV/AIDS, and had 11 past arrests for charges including marijuana, assault, resisting arrest and menacing. Police found two knives - one of which was the 26-inch black sword reportedly used to kill Caughman - in the man's coat at the station, where he was kept for questioning Surveillance footage captured the young man walking along the street after the stabbing took place The New York Post reported that Caughman (pictured with actor Michael K Williams) refused to tell police about the incident before he died in hospital A wheelchair-bound Adele fan has been left devastated after buying two tickets to the British popstar's concert that are not accessible by ramp. Maiz Marshall-Amai purchased tickets to Adele's Thursday show in Auckland, on New Zealand's North Island, at Christmas from online ticketing agent Viagogo. She purchased the tickets for herself and her friend, Letitia Butler. Ms Marshall-Amai paid $1,252.45 for two tickets in Section B close to the stage and 'made sure that the seats she selected were wheelchair accessible', Ms Butler said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. Scroll down for video Letitia Butler (at right) and her friend Maiz Marshall-Amai had been looking forward to attending Adele's concert at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland on Thursday night A screen grab of the ticket purchase confirmation posted to Facebook by Ms Butler But in the Facebook post, Ms Butler added: 'We have the tickets now and we are suddenly in Row P seat 3 for which is definitely not wheelchair accessible.' Ms Butler said the pair, who were 'the world's biggest Adele fans', were desperate to attend the concert. 'We don't know what to do! Adele is amazing! ... I want to go with Maiz. Who can help us. We just want to see Adele together. [sic]' Ms Butler later posted a song about the issue to the tune of Adele's hit, Hello. 'We wanted to go to the concert tonight and we don't know how it's going to work,' she told Daily Mail Australia. New Zealand woman Letita Butler described her and her friend Maiz Marshall-Amai as the 'world's biggest Adele fans'. Adele is pictured performing in Melbourne earlier this month 'You just feel helpless because you can't actually do anything.' Ms Butler said since she posted about the ticketing bungle on Facebook, the pair were offered VIP tickets by a stranger but they were for Adele's Sunday concert. The New Zealand woman said as she lived five hours out of Auckland and had planned around the Thursday concert, she was unable to attend. She said she emailed Viagogo with her concerns six times. Daily Mail Australia contacted Viagogo for comment. Blogs we like Big Dogs Digby Charles Pierce/Esquire Eschaton [Atrios] Daily Kos TBogg Hatewatch emptywheel TalkLeft Sadly, No! Shakesville Crooked Timber Alas A Blog Talking Points Memo [Joshua Micah Marshall] AmericaBlog Homies Jesus' General archy Emphasis Added Lawyers, Guns and Money Horses Ass OlyBlog Peace Tree Farm Preemptive Karma On the Road to 2008 BlatherWatch WashBlog McCrainium Hominid Views Blog Reload Red State Rebels 43rd State Blues Blue Oregon IdaBlue F-Words Radical Noesis Seattlest Benzene 4 Corrente Interesting Times [Chris Andersen] veiled4allah Evergreen Politics Upper Left OlyScoop EFFin' Unsound The (liberal)Girl Next Door World in Conflict A Chicken Is Not Pillage 4&20 blackbirds Left in the West Chuck Currie Majority Rules Washington Outsiders Randy Stapilus Bike Hugger Northwest Progressive Institute Pacific Northwest Portal Orca links Cetacean Action-Alert Orca Network Center for Whale Research Orcinus Orca Collective Orca Recovery Campaign The Whale Museum Orca Live OrcaLab Center for Biological Diversity Free Lolita Cascadia Research Save Our Wild Salmon Resources I Use The Southern Poverty Law Center Political Research Associates Center for New Community Media Matters Densho Media Transparency Roger Griffin [publications] PNAC.info The Militia Watchdog Justice Research and Statistics Association Human Rights Watch / Hate Watch Drug Policy Alliance ACLU/Washington Commonweal Institute ConWebWatch Failure Is Impossible Miserable Failure Orcinus' RSS feed is available via dneiwert.xml. Yoel Oberlander pleaded guilty Wednesday to assault with intent to commit stalking, federal prosecutors in New Jersey say A registered sex offender has admitted that he improperly touched a woman aboard a flight from Israel to the U.S. last year. Yoel Oberlander pleaded guilty Wednesday to assault with intent to commit stalking, federal prosecutors in New Jersey say. The 36-year-old New York man faces up to 10 years in prison when he's sentenced June 28. Prosecutors say the groping occurred aboard an El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Newark Liberty airport in May 2016. The victim was sitting next to Oberlander, who admitted 'that he touched her in the area of her chest, upper thigh, and hand without her consent, and that he did so with the intent to harass and intimidate her,' federal prosecutors said in a Wednesday news release. A criminal complaint from last year said that Oberlander was sitting in the window seat during the flight, with the victim in the middle seat and the victim's mother in the aisle seat. The document said: 'Several hours into the Flight, after dinner was served and the cabin lights were dimmed, Defendant Oberlander placed his hand on the Victim's left thigh. 'The victim changed positions, after which Defendant removed his hand from the Victim's thigh. 'Shortly thereafter, Defendant Oberlander again placed his hand on the Victim's thigh. 'Again, the Victim shifted her position in her seat, causing defendant Oberlander to remove his hand.' Prosecutors say the groping occurred aboard an El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Newark Liberty airport in May 2016 (stock) According to the complaint, later during the trip 'the Victim, whose eyes were closed and was attempting to sleep, felt Oberlander's hand on her left breast, over her shirt. 'Not wanting to alert Defendant Oberlander that she was awake, Victim 1 shifted her position in the her seat closer to her mother, after which Defendant Oberlander removed his hand from her breast.' The complaint said that later 'Defendant Oberlander began rubbing the victim's hand, at which point victim, put her hands in her sweatshirt pockets. 'Defendant Oberlander then moved his hand and again placed it on the victim's left breast, over her clothing.' The complaint said the woman 'turned completely away from Defendant Oberlander and crossed her arms and covered herself with a blanket'. The document that when her mother woke up, the victim asked her to swap seats. The victim reported what happened to the flight crew before the plane landed, according to the complaint. Authorities have said that Oberlander was convicted in 2002 in New York of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl. An Australian man, who is alleged to be a member of the Bandidos motorbike gang in Thailand, has been arrested on charges of extortion and threatening violence in the north of the country. Derek Paul Gibson, from Western Australia, and Dutch man, Adrianus van Gool were arrested in a Chiang Mai department store car park late last week, after police were told by another Australian man they were threatening to kill his family over unpaid debt-recovery fees. The Australian informant, known only as Sandler in Thai media reports, alleges he met Gibson and van Gool at coffee shop late last year. Derek Paul Gibson and Dutch man, Adrianus van Gool were arrested in Chiang Mai department store car park late last week, after claims they were threatening to kill another man's family over unpaid debt-recovery fees (stock image) During the meeting he complained his business partner had defrauded him out of a substantial amount of money invested in a failed restaurant. Sandler allegedy told police he didn't order Gibson or van Gool to recover the debt but rather to warn the former business partner to repay the outstanding funds. A month later, Gibson and van Gool allegedly called on Sandler to pay 1.7 million baht ($A63,000) for attempting to recover the lost funds. It is alleged the two men threatened to kill Sandler and his family if he didn't pay. Sandler promised Gibson and van Gool an initial payment of 300,000 baht before reporting the two men to Thai police. Local Police Commander Lieutenant Pornsap Praserdsak said following a series of other complaints an investigation into extortion and threats against foreign tourists in northern Thailand is underway. Both Gibson and van Gool deny the charges and links to local gangs, saying their main interest is their bikes (Stock image of a Bandidos logo) Both Gibson and van Gool deny the charges and links to local gangs, saying their main interest is their bikes. Police sources allegedly link the men to the Bandidos motorbike gang as well as German outlaw motorcycle club, Gremium, which is reported to have a chapter in the Thai beach resort of Pattaya. Police investigators said there are several Australian-based motorbike gangs in Thailand, with links to drug trafficking and other criminal operations. The Secret Service wanted an additional $60million in funding for the next fiscal year in order to cover the expenses associated with protecting the Trump family but was turned down, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. Half of the sum was earmarked toward security for President Donald Trumps family as well as his private residence at Trump Tower in New York, while the other half would go towards travel costs accrued by Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and other visiting heads of state. The new information was gleaned from internal Secret Service documents that were reviewed by the Post. The request for new funds was necessitated by the previously unforeseen logistical and financial challenges that come with protecting members of the jet-setting Trump clan. Secret Service agents are seen in the above May 20, 2016, file photo standing guard near the White House in Washington. The agency reportedly sought an additional $60million for its 2018 fiscal budget, but was turned down The request for new funds was necessitated by the previously unforeseen logistical and financial challenges that come with protecting members of the jet-setting Trump clan. President Donald Trump is seen right with son Barron and First Lady Melania Trump The expenses are also incurred as a result of the presidents frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump is seen second from right at Mar-a-Lago with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (center), his wife, Melania, and Patriots owner Bob Kraft (left) The Secret Service is also tasked with securing the three-floor penthouse in the middle of Manhattan, where First Lady Melania Trump and her young son, Barron, live. The Secret Service must set up operating rooms in close proximity to the Trump residence, and that will cost a substantial sum due to the exorbitant price of renting apartments in New York. A former Secret Service employee who worked for President George W. Bush said the agency 'doesn't have the luxury of' renting cheaper spaces for its men and women in New Jersey. In order to properly protect the president and his family at Trump Tower, 'you have to be there [in Manhattan].' Secret Service agents must also follow the presidents eldest sons, Donald Jr (second from right) and Eric (second from left), who often go abroad to advance the interests of the Trump Organization. They are seen above with business associates in Dubai in February 'They have to secure Trump Tower because Melania is there,' said Jeffrey Robinson, who co-wrote a book about the life of a Secret Service agent. 'They protect the first family. They have to protect the grandchildren. This is going to be an expensive operation.' The New York Police Department reportedly spent upwards of $24million for securing the area around Trump Tower during the Trump transition, which operated out of the Fifth Avenue apartment. The expenses are also incurred as a result of the presidents frequent, almost-weekly trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Secret Service agents must also follow the presidents eldest sons, Donald Jr and Eric, who are often taking international business trips in order to advance the interests of their company, the Trump Organization. Neither the Secret Service nor the government agency which oversees it, the Department of Homeland Security, agreed to provide a cost breakdown. It was reported this week that up to 100 Secret Service agents would be traveling in tow with Trumps children and grandchildren during their Spring Break ski vacation in Aspen. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are seen above in a ski gondola in Aspen When the Secret Service submitted the request to the White House Office of Management and Budget, it was rejected. The OMB denied that it rejected the agencys requests for extra funds to protect Trump Tower, calling the claim outright untrue and that OMB supported its funding. As a result, the agency will most likely have to make cuts elsewhere and divert resources toward its ever-growing list of security responsibilities. In addition to protecting the president, his family, and his aides, the Secret Service also investigates cybercrimes, counterfeit money operations, and cases involving missing and exploited minors. While Trump has been president for a little over eight weeks, he has flown to Florida five times on weekends which critics say is ironic since Trump often criticized his predecessor, Barack Obama, for taking vacations at taxpayer expense. Half of the sum requested by the Secret Service would have been earmarked toward security for Trumps family as well as his private residence at Trump Tower in New York. Counter-terrorism officers are seen above at the entrance to Trump Tower in Manhattan on Monday It was reported this week that up to 100 Secret Service agents would be traveling in tow with Trumps children and grandchildren during their Spring Break ski vacation in Aspen. The Trump clan delegation includes six adults daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, as well as the presidents two oldest sons and their wives plus eight children. The cost of the trip is unclear, but it will likely be even more than the reported $3million bill that President Trump racks up every weekend he heads down to Palm Beach. And it will likely all be covered by taxpayer money. The latest out-of-town excursion for members of the Trump clan is shaping up to be another costly trip for taxpayers, as recent hotel bills for security coinciding with their travels is already in the hundreds of thousands. Some of the children's tax-funded trips include: $53,155 during a business trip to Vancouver in late February by Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump; $16,738 during a trip to Dubai in mid-February by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump; and $97,830 during an early January trip to Uruguay by Eric Trump, NBC News reported. An Australian was ran over by the terrorist in London as he mowed down dozens of people on Westminster Bridge, it has been confirmed. The woman's foot was ran over during the attack in central London and is recovering in hospital, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told the ABC. The woman, who has not been named, is originally from Germany but is a permanent resident in South Australia. Prime Minister Malcolm Tunrbull and Attorney General George Brandis both confirmed that a South Australian had been injured in Wednesday's atrocity. An Australian was ran over by the terrorist in London as he mowed down dozens of people on Westminster Bridge. Pictured, the terrorist's crashed car The woman had her foot ran over during the attack in central London and is recovering in hospital. Pictured, investigators at the scene on Westminster Bridge Armed police are pictured on patrol at Parliament House in Canberra, which is on high alert The government had earlier stated that no Australians had been caught up in the attack, which left five people dead, including the terrorist. A total of 40 people were injured when the attacker drove a rented Hyundai down the pavement on Westminster Bridge, plowing into pedestrians and causing one woman to jump into the River Thames. After fatally injuring three on the bridge, the attacker - who is yet to be named - crashed the car and ran towards the Houses of Parliament, where he stabbed police officer Keith Palmer. Mr Palmer, a married father, died at the scene. One of his brave colleagues shot the terrorist, who later died in hospital. Canberra was placed on high alert after the London attack, with armed police officers wielding semi-automatic weapons guarding Parliament House. Heavily-armed officers were deployed early Thursday morning following the atrocity outside Britain's Westminster, with several guards seen outside federal buildings in the Australian capital. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull vowed to 'defeat and destroy' terrorists seeking to kill Australians after five people died in the horrific London attack Officers with guns were guarding Parliament on Thursday morning following the horrific events in London Extra officers were drafted in overnight following the atrocity outside Britain's Parliament, with the government taking extra precautions The beefed up security was in place as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull vowed to 'defeat and destroy' terrorists seeking to kill Australians. Mr Turnbull said the government would not allow terrorism or fear to affect the Australian way of life and said: 'We will never, ever let the terrorists win.' 'We will defeat and destroy them on the battlefield, we will defeat and defy them at home,' the prime minister said. 'We will never change the way we live. We will never let them divide us. We will never let them intimidate us or challenge or democratic way of life or the freedoms for which generations of Australians have serve said and died to keep - served and died to keep secure.' Mr Turnbull added that there would be extra security in Canberra in response to the attack in London. 'The AFP commissioner has confirmed there will be an increase in police present in parliament house here in Canberra today,' he said. 'We are very alert to the vulnerabilities of places of mass gathering and the risk of lone attackers, like the perpetrators, the terrorist in London.' Canberra was placed on high alert this morning following the attack in Westminster on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Turnbull said Carmage after the horrific terror attack near London's Houses of Parliament that has left at least five people dead. Pictured, emergency services at the scene Paramedics are seen treating the suspected attacker, who later died in hospital Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia's High Commissioner in London had not identified any Australians among the killed or injured following the atrocity. Pictured, emergency services at the scene Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Australian government was doing everything in its power to keep the country safe but warned that lone wolf terrorist attacks 'can occur anywhere at any time'. She added that Australian extremists fighting for ISIS in Syria and Iraq may return as the barbaric group are defeated in the Middle East. 'They may well seek to come back to our part of the world. That's why we are monitoring them, tracking them, exchanging intelligence real-time, information to ensure we can keep people as safe as possible,' Ms Bishop told 9 News. British MP Tobias Ellwood (centre) treated a stabbed police officer outside Parliament in London People ... may seek to come back to southeast Asia, Australia, we will do everything we can to track them and prosecute them if we have evidence to prove they are guilty of terrorism offences.' Ms Bishop extended the Australian government's deepest sympathy to the people of the UK after speaking to her counterpart Boris Johnson. The minister insisted the government is doing all it can to ensure Australia is safe from such an attack. 'But as we have seen in the United Kingdom today, these events can occur,' she said. Mr Turnbull earlier tweeted, saying that Australia's heartfelt sympathies were with the victims of the attack. 'Australia stands in resolute solidarity with the people of Britain in war against terrorism,' he tweeted. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pledged support to Britain after the attack. 'This shocking crime, designed to weaken the UK, will only make her stronger. All Australians stand with Britain today,' he tweeted early on Thursday. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said no Australians were caught up in the attack in London An attacker brought carnage to central London on Wednesday afternoon, mowing down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and hacking at police with knives in the grounds of the Houses of Parliament At least 20 people were hit when a 4x4 drove along the pavement on the crowded bridge, knocking down and seriously injuring pedestrians before crashing into a fence below Big Ben There was carnage in central London on Wednesday afternoon when an attacked mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and hacked at police with knives in the grounds of the Houses of Parliament. At least 20 people were hit when a 4x4 drove along the pavement on the crowded bridge, knocking down and seriously injuring pedestrians before crashing into a fence below Big Ben. The killer, described by witnesses as 'middle-aged and Asian', then managed to break into the grounds of the Parliament where he fatally stabbed a police officer with two knives. The policeman died at the scene. The attacker, who was shot by armed officers, died after he was taken to hospital. It is believed one attacker was involved and he killed three people, including the policeman, and left at least 20 pedestrians and three other police officers seriously injured. Prime Minister Theresa May was bundled into her car by a plain-clothes police officer and driven quickly from the scene as the attack unfolded. London's Metropolitan Police said the attack, which comes a year to the day after the terrorist atrocities in Brussels, is being treated 'as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise'. The notorious Bandidos bikie gang is beefing up their ranks by discreetly recruiting young Middle Eastern radicals at halal food outlets. Sources say the club, whose former sergeant-at-arms was convicted murderer Lionel Patea, is targeting 'feeder gangs' at Muslim eateries in Queensland's Gold Coast. 'They go to the eateries that have halal the Bandidos are definitely going in a Middle Eastern direction,' an anonymous bikie source told Gold Coast Bulletin. Criminologist Dr Terry Goldsworthy told Daily Mail Australia police should take more preventative action against the new wave of bikies honing in on Islam. Bikie sources say the Bandidos bikie gang (pictured: a patched member) is discretely boosting their membership by recruiting from 'feeder clubs' The former senior detective has launched an investigation into the alarming rate the gangs have been luring new members since the harsh 2013 anti-bikie laws. 'We're hearing a lot about the recruitment drives, about these feeder clubs boosting their membership. But it's not transferring into criminal charges,' Dr Goldsworthy told Daily Mail Australia. His investigation showed there have only been six charges of recruitment over the past two-and-a-half-years. 'There's an offence for recruitment. You can face up to five years in prison. I'm not sure why we aren't seeing more charges.' He said the demographic of Australian gangs - including Apex in Melbourne and Middle Eastern Gangs in Western Sydney - is flowing towards an ethnic focus. 'Police should be taking more preventative crime action against the targeting of Islam by these criminal groups,' he said. Bikie sources say the club is targeting young Muslim radicals at hala eateries (stock image) Bandidos former former sergeant-at-arms Lionel Patea (left) bludgeoned his ex-partner Tara Brown (pictured) to death with a fire hydrant cover in 2015 Patea said he converted to Islam to 'rehabilitate' himself behind bars after the brutal murder Former high-ranking Bandido Lionel Patea, who bludgeoned his ex-partner Tara Brown to death with a fire hydrant cover in 2015, claimed he converted to Islam to 'rehabilitate' himself behind bars. Police identified the link between Middle Eastern gangs and Gold Coast bikie clubs after harsh anti-bikie laws were introduced in October 2013. Bikie clubs were suspected of using 'feeder clubs' such as Ummah United to find new members, driving authorities to investigate a number of mosques. Police have raised concerns about rising numbers of inmates undergoing jailhouse conversions to Islam gain the protection of Muslim extremist groups behind bars. Police have released an image of the main suspect in the death of a young woman who was found tied up and stabbed inside her apartment after she had been missing for two days. Corrina Mehiel, 34, had last been seen at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC on Sunday, before her body was found in her apartment about 4pm on Tuesday. On Wednesday night a photograph of the main person of interest was released by DC Police. The suspect is a man who was seen walking into a gas station wearing grey pants, a black long-sleeve top, sunglasses and a black beanie. Scroll down for video Corrina Mehiel, 34, found tied up and stabbed to death inside her apartment in Washington DC Police released this image on Wednesday night of the leading person of interest in the incident Mehiel had not been seen for two days before police made the horrible discovery on Tuesday afternoon Earlier in the day, police provided details about the grisly death and disappearance during a press conference on Wednesday. Acting Police Chief Peter Newsham told reporters investigators did not know if the 34-year-old had been at the gallery, which is owned and operated by George Washington University, alone or with someone, NBC Washington reports. Newsham also revealed Mehiel's car, a blue 2004 Toyota Prius, is missing, and released an image of the vehicle. The car has Kentucky license plate with the number 722RMY. Mehiel was found dead in her apartment (pictured) more than two days after she had last been seen Mehiel, 34, had last been seen at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC on Sunday, before her body was found in her apartment about 4pm on Tuesday Police said they do not have any information about a potential suspect, and a $25,000 reward is being offered for anyone who can help track down whoever is responsible for the killing. Mehiel was an artist who has had her work displayed across the US and internationally. She had been working as a visiting professor at George Washington prior to her death, according to NBC Washington. George Washington University's Corcoran School of the Arts and Design released a statement about the death on Wednesday night. Police released this image of Mehiel's car, which they said has been missing since the weekend 'It is with a heavy heart that I write to you regarding a tragic loss to our community,' the statement read. 'Corrina worked closely with the William Wilson Corcoran Visiting Professor Mel Chin as a project assistant. 'Her strong commitment to the Fundredcampaign is what led her to work with Mel and while in DC, she proved to be a galvanizing force bringing more attention to lead poisoning. 'Corrina was a vibrant and talented individual who will be dearly missed.' McDonald's lovers will be able to enjoy their favorite sauces in the comfort of their own homes once they hit the shelves of grocery stores in Canada. The fast-food giant announced on Tuesday that the Big Mac, Filet-O-Fish and McChicken sauces would be available for purchase at local stores this spring. 'Get ready Canada! Launching on grocery shelves this spring. #BigMacSauce,' the company wrote on Twitter. McDonald's announced on Tuesday that the Big Mac, Filet-O-Fish and McChicken sauces (pictured) would be available for purchase at local stores in the spring McDonald's said in a press release that customers will be able to purchase the sauces 'from coast-to-coast'. It's unclear which grocery stores will carry the three sauces, but McDonald's said more details would be coming soon. Food blogger, Diana Chan, first broke the news on her blog, saying McDonald's is working with Kraft Heinz to make the condiments. Chan wrote that she was at the Grocery and Specialty Food West Convention when she 'stumbled upon this new product'. Several social media users have welcomed the news with open arms, calling it the 'best' decision and demanding to know when and where they can purchase their favorite sauces. Last month, McDonald's Canada officially launced their all day breakfast menu at restaurants across the country. Several social media users have welcomed the news with open arms, calling it the 'best' decision and demanding to know when and where they can purchase their favorite sauces And in January McDonald's gave away 10,000 bottles of Big Mac sauce in restaurants across the US. The bottles were given away to celebrate the introduction of the Mac Jr and the Grand Mac, two different-sized variations of the classic sandwich. But the company hasn't said whether or not the US will be the next country on the list to get these favorites in local grocery stores. Authorities in North Dakota are investigating a fire on Wednesday that destroyed a church that was recently purchased by a white supremacist. The building that was once known as Zion Lutheran Church in Nome, North Dakota, was destroyed at approximately 4:25pm, according to KXMB-TV. Nome lies about 70 miles southwest of Fargo. The deed to the building indicates that partial ownership belonged to Craig Cobb. Cobb has a history of buying up property with the aim of turning entire areas into enclaves of white supremacists. Authorities in North Dakota are investigating a fire on Wednesday that destroyed a church that was recently purchased by a white supremacist The deed to the building indicates that partial ownership belonged to Craig Cobb (above). Cobb has a history of buying up property with the aim of turning entire areas into enclaves of white supremacists According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Cobb is 'an itinerant' neo-Nazi who has been a member of a number of racist organizations over decades. In 2014, Cobb was sentenced to four years of probation for terrorizing residents of Leith, North Dakoa, where he tried unsuccessfully to establish an all-white enclave. He moved to Leith more than four years ago, bought a house and 12 other lots, and encouraged other white supremacists to join him to create a voting majority in the community of about two dozen residents. In November 2013, he was arrested on seven felony terrorizing counts for scaring residents while patrolling Leith with a gun. Cobb said that he brandished a gun in Leith in response to violence and harassment directed toward him. The building that was once known as Zion Lutheran Church in Nome, North Dakota, was destroyed at approximately 4:25pm Because of the strong winds, it took little time for the flames to completely engulf the structure, according to a witness He no longer owns any property in Leith, and in February 2014 he pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor menacing counts and one felony terrorizing charge. The original charges against Cobb carried a maximum punishment of 30 years in prison. Local residents are not happy about Cobb's arrival in the town, according to The Bismarck Tribune. 'Everyone has some form of prejudice, but this guy is way off the edge and he fell off,' said Jerome Jankowski, who lives very close to the church. Jankowski said he looked out his kitchen window at 3pm and saw the church ablaze. Because of the strong winds, it took little time for the flames to completely engulf the structure. 'It's kind of sad that it goes, because it's kind of a landmark in this town,' he said. North Dakota officials said they were investigating the fire and had no details as of late Wednesday. The White House is still struggling to close a deal with GOP lawmakers that will secure its promise to 'repeal and replace' Obamacare in Thursday's vote.. Wednesday evening saw House Speaker Paul Ryan in a meeting with moderate Republicans, hoping to sway them onto the White House's side. Meanwhile, Donald Trump called individual members of the Freedom Caucus - the group that opposes his plans for being 'Obamacare Lite' - to try to work out a deal. But as Thursday morning approached, neither seemed to have achieved any obvious success. Ryan's meeting ended with most participants - himself included - leaving by side exits. None of those who left through the main exit spoke to media. And members of the Freedom Caucus who spoke to Trump are now 'sounding more optimistic than ever,' CNN reported. Scroll down for video Donald Trump (pictured Wednesday morning) is struggling to close the deal with rebellious GOP lawmakers to ensure that his Obamacare replacement bill goes through on Thursday Trump can have 21 Republicans vote against his bill and still have it pass, if no Democrats cross the aisle to join him. But 24 GOP lawmakers have said they will not back his reforms, saying they are not happy with the new deal. Whip counts earlier on Wednesday suggested that as many as 31 lawmakers were bucking their party's demands. That spells disaster for Trump's big vote tomorrow. Members of Trump's administration - including Vice President Mike Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price - are lobbying lawmakers. Some naysayers received phone calls lasting 30-45-minutes. Ryan has been texting others. Whips Steve Scalise and Patrick McHenry are targeting individual members of the Freedom Caucus, hoping to break them off from the larger mass. Paul Ryan is involved in trying to sway Republican lawmakers towards voting for the bill, but many oppose, saying it doesn't sufficiently destroy enough of Obamacare And Trump - who had been largely uninterested in, or ignorant of, the details of his Obamacare replacement - is now energized by the prospect of making new deals. In some cases, his intervention appears to have worked. Rep. Lou Barletta, a Republican, said Wednesday he would vote for the bill after Trump agreed to support his legislation to deny health credits to illegal immigrants. Congressman Richard Hudson, a Republican in favor of Trump's bill, said that GOP Rep. Steve King agreed to vote once Trump said he would personally push the Senate to change the essential health benefits at some point in the future. 'They shook hands,' Hudson said. 'We are voting tomorrow, no matter what, but I feel like we'll have the votes.' That opinion is not shared by the Freedom Caucus chair, who told reporters that as of Wednesday afternoon his caucus had more than 25 'no' votes. If true, that is enough to scuttle Trump's plans. The group declined to name members who are refusing to back the president. Jim Jordan (pictured on Morning Joe on Wednesday), leader of the 'Freedom Caucus' voting block, says that his group has enough 'no' votes to stop Trump's bill on Thursday Press Secretary Sean Spicer warned in his daily briefing Wednesday that the GOP would not have another chance to repeal and replace the existing health law. 'There is no Plan B. There is Plan A and Plan A,' he proclaimed, later saying: 'This is the only train leaving the station.' The House's chief voter counter, Steve Scalise, was spotted at the White House as Trump played let's make a deal with 18 lawmakers. And yet, by close of business the bill appeared no closer to passing tomorrow, based on current whip counts. CBS News had 28 lawmakers in the no column. The Wall Street Journal had a list of 31. President Donald Trump said this morning that he was 'working hard' to get the votes his party needs to repeal and replace Obamacare by tomorrow. Congressman McHenry told a group of reporters who happened upon him while they were waiting for the president that he and other Republican legislators were on the premises to work through a 'myriad' of concerns with the White House. McHenry said he was 'bringing them to the closer,' a nickname Republicans on the Hill have given Trump. The president this morning said that he was 'working hard' to get the votes his party needs. He has been speaking directly to lawmakers, and is energized by the deal-making, an aide said Rep. Jim Jordan, the founder of the ultra conservative House caucus that could sink the bill, said Wednesday morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe program that GOP leadership does not have the votes it needs to pass the legislation on Thursday as things currently stand. 'Unless there's real change, fundamental change, I do not see how they get to the 216 number they need to pass it tomorrow night,' he said. Jordan and other members of the House's Freedom Caucus are planning to oppose the budget bill because it does not sufficiently gut Obamacare. It does not lower premiums, either, they say. The White House and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill are promising that those measures will come in the third 'prong' of their three-part plan to repeal and replace the existing health law. But Rand Paul said Wednesday in an MSNBC interview, also during Morning Joe, that those legislative actions are 'never gonna happen.' The Kentucky senator and licensed medical professional has been one of the most vocal critics of the House health bill, working with conservatives in the lower chamber to help thwart it so a new plan that gets to the heart of what Republicans really want can be developed. On MSNBC, Paul said he considered the talks the White House and legislators are currently having the 'pre-negotiation phase.' He predicted that House Speaker Paul Ryan will have to pull the current bill before tomorrow's vote because it cannot pass. 'Then the real negotiation begins. That's what we're ready for,' he said. Asked Wednesday if he would keep trying to get a health care reform bill passed if the one fails that's on the table, Trump quietly told reporters, 'We'll see what happens.' Trump's press secretary, Sean Spicer, said that the party had 'no Plan B' if the Republican Party failed to push through the new bill His press secretary refused to consider a scenario in which additional maneuvering would be necessary. 'We're going to get it done. That's it - plain and simple,' he told reporters during his afternoon briefing. Pressed to outline potential next steps, Spicer was resolute in his position. 'Were going to repeal and replace it tomorrow, move it through the Senate, and the President will sign the bill,' he said. 'We continue to see the enthusiasm and momentum coming to our direction. So Im not looking, as I mentioned, were not looking at a Plan B. We have Plan A, its going to pass, and were going to go from there.' Should the legislation make it from the House to the Senate, Paul and three other conservatives in the upper chamber - Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton - have said they will not vote for it, rendering it dead on arrival. Republicans can afford even fewer no votes in the upper chamber - two, if Vice President Mike Pence acts as a tiebreaker. The president went to the Capitol Tuesday morning to make an in-person push for the House bill. He told congressional lawmakers from his party during the closed-door meeting that their jobs are on the line. 'Many of you came in on the pledge to repeal and replace Obamacare. I honestly think many of you will lose your seats in 2018 if you don't get this done,' he bluntly told them at the GOP-only gathering, Politico reported. He was even more direct with Rep. Mark Meadows, head of the Freedom Caucus. 'I'm gonna come after you, but I know I won't have to, because I know you'll vote 'yes,' ' Trump told Meadows, according to the Washington Post. 'Honestly, a loss is not acceptable, folks.' Senator Rand Paul predicted this morning that House Speaker Paul Ryan will have to pull the current bill before tomorrow's vote because it cannot pass Trump's spokesman claimed later that the president was 'having fun' when he made the remarks. 'He continued to express hope that congressman Meadows, who is head of the Freedom Caucus, would continue to see the efforts that have been to make this better.' Some lawmakers said afterward it seemed Trump was joking, while others complained that Meadows got slapped around. The North Carolina congressman said he was still a 'no' after the challenge. 'I've had no indication that any of my Freedom Caucus colleagues have switched their votes,' he told the Washington Post. Meadows also said, 'I didn't take anything he said as threatening anybody's political future.' Spicer insisted in his daily briefing that Trump was not, in fact, issuing a threat. He said Trump merely hit on 'a political reality.' Trump told House Freedom Caucus head Mark Meadows he would 'come after him' in the next election if he voted against the health care bill. The White House said later that Trump was joking and Meadows said he didn't take it as a threat 'I think if you go out and promise the American people something and your voters something, especially on a scale like this....to go and make a promise and a pledge of this magnitude and not to follow it through, I'm sure that voters would be upset.' The president trip to the Capitol came hours after GOP leaders revealed changes to the legislation in advance of a vote this week. He told them it wasn't just the nation's health care system that was on the line, but also their own employment. 'I'm asking for your vote on Thursday,' Trump said, according to Politico. Later Trump told lawmakers attending the National Republican Congressional Committee's annual fundraiser, 'There are the conservative solutions we campaign on and these are the conservative solutions the American people asked us as, a group, to deliver.' 'I think we're going to have some great surprises. I hope that it's going to all work out.' Wednesday morning Trump indicated that the health care bill remained his top focus. 'Big day for healthcare. Working hard!' he said in his first tweet of the day. Appearing on MSNBC earlier in the morning, Jordan signaled to GOP leaders and the White House that the conversation doesn't have to be over yet. 'We're still willing to talk. We want to do what we told the American people we would do. We want to work with them, but you have to do something's that consistent with what we told the American people what we promised them we would accomplish,' the Ohio representative said. Paul said later in the program, shortly before the president tweeted: 'I read the Art of the Deal, and the deal's not done until the deal is done.' His disapproval of the bill is also centered on the 'spiraling upward premiums.' Paul wants a proposal that would allow individuals to buy insurance through large associations like AARP included in the Obamacare replacement plan. 'All of the things i just mentioned, I don't believe Paul Ryan or[HHS Secretary] Tom Price or Donald Trump disagree with me on,' he said. 'They are not putting them in the bill, this is their bucket three, which is never gonna happen.' The administration is refusing to include premium-lowering measures in the reconciliation bill because they say that it would be a violation of the process. Reconciliation, which lowers the threshold for passage, can only be used on budget bills, per the rules of the Senate. Paul said the GOP is sticking with the 'arcane' rules because they are 'afraid' of the Senate parliamentarian. The chair gets to decide what's reconcilable, he said. So put the formal president of the Senate, the vice president, in the chair and let him decide. That plan would work, Paul told MSNBC. 'Only if we have the guts to do it. I don't know if we have the guts to do it,' he said. 'If they want this done, the vice president should come to the Senate,' he said. A South Australian man who strangled his partner and left her body in a car where their two sons were sleeping has been found guilty of the woman's murder. A jury returned the unanimous verdict against Toby Awatere, 36, on Wednesday night after deliberating for 11 hours. During the Supreme Court trial, the prosecution alleged Awatere killed Jackline Ohide, 27, at their home in Hackham West, south of Adelaide, in March 2015. The court heard Awatere put his partner's body into the vehicle along with their sleeping sons, aged one and four, before running away, ABC reports. Toby Awatere (right) has been found guilty of murder after he strangled his partner Jackline Ohide (left) and left her body in a car where their two sons were sleeping When the children woke up, they beeped the car's horn until a neighbour came to help. Awatere pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but denied murder. The state's law requires proof that a person formed an intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm in order to be convicted of murder. Awatere's lawyer argued that his mental state was impaired by his insomnia and therefore he did not have that intent. But prosecutor Carmen Matteo told the jury that Awatere did plan to kill his partner. Awatere pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but denied murder. His lawyer argued his mental state was impaired by his insomnia 'As much as he loved his partner, in that moment, putting her on the bed and choking her, the prosecution says Toby Awatere was still capable of forming the intention to kill her,' she said during the opening remarks. 'He was capable of putting his little boys in the car with their mother and he was capable of running off.' After the verdict was returned, Ms Ohide's sister Sunday Ohide said she was relieved that justice was served but added that she was upset by the defence that was used. 'I feel that we got justice,' she said outside court, ABC reports. She paid tribute to her sibling, calling her a gentle soul who 'just loved being a mum and being with her two boys.' Awatere has been remanded in custody for sentencing submissions on May 3. A white Army veteran accused of randomly killing a black man on the streets of New York by stabbing him with an 18-inch sword was charged Thursday with murder as a hate crime. 'His intent was to kill as many black men here in New York as he could,' prosecutor Joan Illuzzi said as James Harris Jackson, 28, was arraigned in the slaying of 66-year-old Timothy Caughman. 'The defendant was motivated purely by hatred.' Illuzzi said Jackson was angered in particular by black men who date white women. James Harris Jackson, 28, appeared in New York City court on Thursday to face charges in the stabbing death of 66-year-old Timothy Caughman Jackson reportedly told cops that he was a white supremacist and planned to stage a murder spree through New York City. Pictured in court on Thursday Prosecutors aid Jackson was angered in particular by black men who date white women. Pictured in court on Thursday According to the criminal complaint, Jackson considered his murder of Caughman 'as practice prior to going to Times Square to kill additional black men'. Authorities said Jackson traveled from his home in Baltimore last week, picking New York because he hoped to 'make a statement' in the media capital of the world. He encountered Caughman, who was collecting bottles from trash cans, and stabbed him in his chest and back, authorities said. 'What are you doing?' Caughman reportedly asked his attacker after the stabbing. The Medical Examiner's office released that Caughman suffered perforations to the spleen, bowels, pancreas, diaphragm and lung. Jackson turned himself in at a Times Square police station early Wednesday, a day after the wounded Caughman staggered into a police precinct. The sword was found in a trash can. Caughman (pictured) was collecting cans in Midtown Manhattan on Monday when he was stabbed to death by Jackson 'What are you doing?' Caughman reportedly asked his attacker after the stabbing. Above, surveillance footage of Jackson fleeing the scene Police found two knives - one of which was the black sword reportedly used to kill Caughman - in the man's coat at the station, where he was kept for questioning Illuzzi said the charges could be upgraded because the killing was an act 'most likely of terrorism.' Jackson's lawyer suggested that his client might be suffering from mental illness. 'What we're going to do is take a few minutes, let the dust settle and figure out what the facts are,' defense attorney Sam Talkin said outside court. 'If the facts are anything near what the allegations are, then we're going to address the obvious psychological issues that are present in this case. ' Jackson told police he had harbored hatred toward black men for at least 10 years, authorities said. He also said that he was a member of a white supremacist group in his home state and recorded racist statements on his laptop, which police seized. The judge ordered Jackson held without bail pending another hearing next Monday. Jackson was in the Army from 2009 to 2012 and worked as an intelligence analyst, the Army said. He was deployed in Afghanistan in 2010-11 The veteran (pictured here with his father) is allegedly a member of a documented hate group in Maryland and came to Manhattan eager to kill and was upset about black men dating white women Jackson was in the Army from 2009 to 2012 and worked as an intelligence analyst, the Army said. Deployed in Afghanistan in 2010-11, he earned several medals and attained the rank of specialist. The circumstances of his discharge were not immediately clear; the Army withholds such details, citing privacy laws. According to Caughman's Twitter page, he was an autograph collector and a music and movie lover who tweeted about John Lennon and Chuck Berry. Since his arrest, one of Jackson's former building manager's has spoken out to the New York Daily News, describing him as a 'deadbeat' creep who refused to pay rent. 'He was absolutely antisocial. Misfit would be the word. Shaking hands with him, he was a dead fish,' Dagan said. Jackson was ordered held without bail during his hearing on Thursday. He's pictured above being escorted out of a police precinct on Wednesday Dagan pointed to one incident around Christmas 2014, when a tenant hosted a party in the building. During the party, Dagan says Jackson wandered around the building naked until he ran upstairs and locked himself in his apartment. Dagan says Jackson stopped paying rent for seven months and then abruptly moved out while he was on vacation. When news of his arrest broke this week, Dagan immediately recognized Jackson. 'I said, "Holy s***, I know that guy. I met that guy,"' Dagan said. 'I actually called one of the guys who used to do general maintenance around the building. He's an older black man who's just a good person. He occasionally went to James' apartment to fix stuff. He said, "Oh God, he could have killed me!"' The mother of a 15-year-old girl who was gang-raped in an attack that was live streamed on Facebook said kids have been joking about the incident and harassing her family. Stacey Elkins said on Wednesday that her daughter has received online threats since the 'disgusting' Facebook Live video. 'This is just disturbing and to think the kids think it is funny,' Elkins told the Associated Press. Elkins was reunited with her daughter Tuesday, two days after the girl went missing and a day after police learned of the attack. She said her daughter is staying with a relative and is scared to come home. Stacey Elkins (pictured), the mother of a 15-year-old girl who was gang-raped in an attack that was live streamed on Facebook said neighborhood kids have been joking about the incident and harassing her family 'This is just disturbing and to think the kids think it is funny,' Elkins said. She was reunited with her daughter (above) Tuesday, two days after the girl went missing and a day after police learned of the attack Since the attack people have threatened on Facebook that 'they are going to get her' daughter and that neighborhood children have been laughing about the incident and ringing the family's doorbell looking for the girl. Elkins said she's shocked by people's actions, especially of those 40 people who watched but didn't call the police, according to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) said the teenager was found on Tuesday and they are now searching for the five or six men or boys suspected of sexually assaulting her. Elkins, alerted police to the incident on Monday after showing them screen grabs taken from the video. Guglielmi said the girl knows at least one of her attackers and that investigators are 'making good progress' identifying those involved. 'CPD is aware of the social media communication and visits to the family's home and detectives have filed case reports and opened parallel investigations in reference,' Guglielmi said in a statement. 'Police Supt. Eddie Johnson also contacted the victim's mother early Wednesday afternoon to check on the well-being of the young girl and her family.' Guglielmi said no suspects have been named. Elkins said her daughter went out to a store in Chicago's Lawndale neighborhood on Sunday afternoon but failed to return home. Elkins (right) said she's shocked by people's actions, especially of those 40 people who watched the live stream but didn't call the police, according to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi The Chicago Police Department (CPD) said the teenager (above) was found on Tuesday and they are now searching for the five or six men or boys suspected of sexually assaulting her. No suspects have been named in the case Police Supt Eddie Johnson (pictured) contacted the victim's mother early Wednesday afternoon to check on the well-being of the young girl and her family She later learned her daughter was the subject of the 'disgusting' Facebook Live video after family members and friends contacted her. Elkins told CBS the footage showed the girl in various stages of undress with a group of males. She said her daughter looked scared and the men or boys were being abusive toward her. 'I saw her face and the look on her face was just pure fear,' she said. The footage was removed from Facebook after police contacted the social media website. Detectives are now trying to track down the owner of the Facebook page and the others in the video. The girl is being interviewed by detectives who are treating the case as a sexual assault. Her mother said she had gone missing once before but she was found later that day in a nearby park. Facebook spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, declined to comment on the girl's case, specifically, but she did tell the AP that the company takes its 'responsibility to keep people safe on Facebook very seriously'. 'Crimes like this are hideous and we do not allow that kind of content on Facebook,' she said. In January, the CPD investigated a second attack that was live streamed on Facebook involving four people who were arrested and charged with a hate crime for the torture of a disabled man who they held prisoner for days before he escaped. Chinese military officials have accused US bombers of flying too close to the country and operating in its airspace during a mission off South Korea. Pilots of the US Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber were forced to respond to Chinese air traffic controllers during a flight about 70 nautical miles southwest of South Korea's Jeju Island. American officials told CNN the pilots told the Chinese controllers they were conducting 'routine operations in international airspace and did not deviate from their flight path'. Chinese military officials have accused a US B-1B Lancer bomber of flying too close to the country and operating in its airspace during a mission off South Korea This map shows where the bomber was flying when Chinese officials contacted the American pilots during the stand off The network revealed the tense moment was the result of the bombers had actually entered the Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone - a controversial area of sky over the East China Sea. The airspace also covers islands claimed by Japan, and it is not officially recognized by the US. 'Pacific Air Forces ... did not recognize the Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone when it was announced in November of 2013, and does not recognize it today,' US Pacific Air Forces spokesman Major Phil Ventura told CNN. This map shows how the different airspaces in the area in question are divided up by the different countries in the region The US B-1B Lancer bomber was seen flying in formation with Japan Air Self Defense Force F-15s on March 21 'The ADIZ has not changed our operations.' Chinese authorities demand airplanes flying over or through the airspace must first notify officials. US Air Force sources said B-1 bomber was carrying out training operations with Japanese and South Korean jets in recent days. On March 21, the American bomber was seen flying in formation with Japan Air Self Defense Force F-15s. Advertisement The husband of a Spanish mother murdered by terrorist Khalid Masood in London yesterday picked their daughters up from school, unaware his wife was dying, a heartbroken parent has revealed. John Frade arrived at the school shortly after the Westminster Bridge atrocity, which claimed the life of wife Aysha Frade, 43. She was on her way to pick up her daughters, aged eight and 11, when she was struck by a Hyundai 4x4 driven by Masood, who ploughed into people walking across the bridge before crashing into railings close to Big Ben. A caller to LBC today, a fellow parent at Mrs Frade's children's school, said: 'The school is in bits at the moment. I saw her husband yesterday. 'He came into the school to get his daughter because he knew his wife had been involved in an incident. 'It's very difficult...she was just a great person.' The man, who identified himself only as James, fought back tears as he recounted of Mrs Frade: 'All she ever did was say nice things about our kids. 'To my wife: your kids are so beautiful, they're really lovely kids. It's just a terrible thing that's happened.' Mr Frade says his life has 'completely fallen apart', his family said today. Pictured: Mother-of-two Aysha Frade who was tragically killed during the attack on Westminster on Wednesday when she went to pick up her children (pictured) Aysha Frade was killed as she walked across Westminster Bridge while on her way to pick up her children Mrs Frade was on her way to pick up her daughters, aged eight and 11, when she was struck by a Hyundai 4x4 driven by Khalid Masood Today his cousin, also called John, said: 'I can't even put it into words how he's [my cousin] feeling. His life's completely fallen apart because of what's happened. They've got young kids'. He told the Standard: 'When I heard I was just absolutely shocked. I'm still just feeling terrible, it's a terrible thing to happen and you just don't expect it to happen so close to home in this way'. British-born terrorist Masood, who was known to MI5, drove a Hyundai 4x4 at pedestrians on Westminster Bridge sending them flying like skittles before hurtling towards the gates of Parliament and smashing into its outer wall. After sprinting through a gate he then stabbed to death Metropolitan policeman Keith Palmer, 48, before being shot by armed officers. He later died in hospital. American Kurt Cochran, was the terrorist's third victim - he was believed to have been knocked off Westminster Bridge on to a concrete underpass below. Tragedy: Mrs Frade, 43, who came from Britain but whose family was from Spain, with her Portuguese husband John (left). Metropolitan policeman Keith Palmer, 48, (right) was stabbed to death outside the palaces of Westminster Crime scene: A forensics tent on Westminster Bridge today marks where Mrs Frade is believed to have died yesterday Third victim: Kurt Cochran (left) was touring Europe with his wife Melissa, who broke her leg, she is thought to have been knocked from Westminster Bridge (right) and lay with terrible injuries next to the Thames Survivor: Lancashire university student Travis Frain (pictured being taken to hospital) suffered a cracked rib and injuries to his hand. Three other students from the university were hurt Pictured: Paramedics treat the knifeman who left four people dead and 40 injured after ploughing into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing Pc Palmer outside the Houses of Parliament A 75-year-old man has also died tonight as a result of injuries sustained yesterday's terror attack. Numerous tourists and students from Britain, France and Korea are among the injured with 29 in hospital on top of the 'walking wounded'. Seven are critically ill with 'catastrophic injuries' - potentially including two other police officers. Three children were hurt from St Joseph's School in the seaside town of Concarneau, Brittany, which lost a former pupil in the Paris Bataclan attack in 2015. Their parents have flown into London to visit them at St Thomas' Hospital. Theresa May revealed today that among the injured there were 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Chinese, one Irish, one Italian and two Greeks. The foreign victims are likely to all have been tourists. Victims: What we know about the three dead and 29 injured Three people - excluding the attacker - were murdered. 29 are injured. Seven critically. Theresa May revealed today that among the injured there were 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Chinese, one Irish, one Italian and two Greeks. The foreign victims are likely to all have been tourists. This is what we know: Husband and father Pc Keith Palmer,48, was stabbed to death by terrorist at gates of Parliament Aysha Frade, 43, was on her way to meet her two children, aged eight and 11, when she was killed on Westminster Bridge Kurt Cochran, 54, from Utah was knocked off bridge and died Three French school children are in a critical condition last night. The students are believed to be 15 or 16 and attend the private Lycee Saint-Joseph in Brittany. The attacker also targeted 13 students from Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lancashire. The university said four were hurt. One had head injuries, another wrist injuries, while two were walking wounded. A Romanian couple on holiday are also thought to be among the injured. Andrei Burnaz , an engineer in his mid-20s, and Andreea Cristea , his girlfriend, 29, were caught up in the attack. Five Korean tourists were also reported to be among the injured, one seriously. One woman had jumped into the Thames to escape. A Portuguese man was also hurt in the rampage Irish victim is not seriously injured Italian woman was hit by the bumper of the car and had to have an operation to her left leg Chinese tourist was also hospitalised after being hit by the speeding vehicle and had bone fracture near the shoulder and numerous bruises A Polish man suffered minor injuries and was released from hospital on Thursday, the country's embassy said Advertisement The Queen has said her 'thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathy' are with all those who have been affected by Wednesday's 'awful violence'. Mrs Frade worked at a college near the scene of the terrorist massacre, DLD College London. She was born in Britain and had a Portuguese husband called John Frade. Rachel Borland, the college's principal, said staff were 'deeply shocked and saddened' at news of Mrs Frade's death. 'All our thoughts and our deepest sympathies are with her family,' she added. 'We will be offering every support we can to them as they try to come to terms with their devastating loss. 'Aysha worked as a member of our administration team at the college. She was highly regarded and loved by our students and by her colleagues. She will be deeply missed by all of us.' Her family is well known in Betanzos, where older sisters Silvia and Michelle run the Notting Hill English language academy. According to Mr Hermida: 'The sisters suspended classes at the academy yesterday afternoon when they received the news and they left for London, we believe with their mother. 'Aysha spent her summers here and had many friends here since her childhood, so we are all very affected. 'You never think things like this will happen to you and it's horrible luck when it happens at all, but when it happens close then it hurts that much more. 'It's an immense tragedy and an enormous pain - there is a big sadness in Betanzos. 'We have condemned the terrorist attack and promised our support to the family.' Her family hail from Betanzos near the Galician city of La Coruna and are now said to be travelling to London. Andres Hermida, a local councillor in Betanzos, said today after learning the news: 'Betanzos has suffered a terrible blow because of the scourge of terrorism. 'Our most sincere condolences to the family of Aysha, a woman originally form Betanzos murdered in London.' A friend in Betanzos said: 'She loved coming here and spending time with friends and relatives.' Vigi Sawdon, a former neighbour of Mrs Frade in Notting Hill where the Frade family used to live, said: 'If you can imagine one of the most upstanding members of society, that was her. 'She was just a wonderful mother and a lovely person.' Ms Sawdon described her as 'one of the most charming' people, and said her children were 'adorable', adding: 'It's just so terribly sad.' She said she knew they had moved and that they were 'very happy'. Another neighbour, Patricia Scotland, said she had lived beside the family for years and was sad when they moved, having known Mrs Frade's husband John since he was a little boy. She said: 'I was in floods of tears. I said 'John, why, why are you moving?''.' Ms Scotland said her daughter rang her this morning with the news that Mrs Frade had been killed. She said: 'I just jumped out my bed and just paced up and down my house thinking 'What am I hearing here? What am I hearing?' And I'm just in total, total shock.' The hero policeman who was stabbed to death by the Westminster terrorist has been named as a father-of-two who had previously served his country as a soldier and once save a colleague's life in a car crash. Pc Keith Palmer, 48, a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad who worked for the Met for 15 years, was murdered as he tried to stop the attacker at around 2.30pm on Wednesday. His maniac killer, an unnamed Asian man in his forties, had used a Hyundai 4x4 as a weapon to mow down at least 40 people on Westminster Bridge and Parliament Square before charging towards PC Palmer brandishing two knives. The bravery of the murdered policeman was hailed by colleagues, friends and the many MPs whom he was charged with protecting who said he had 'run towards danger' to save the lives of others. Fundraisers have raised thousands of pounds for the police officer who was killed in the Westminster attack. A Go Fund Me page, set up at midnight on Wednesday, has raised more than 2,000 to help the loved ones of Pc Keith Palmer. The page description reads: 'An officer fell in the line of duty today. The weeks ahead are going to be taxing for his family and colleagues who survive him. 'Please help to support his family in any way you can. All funds raised will be donated to Keith's next of kin.' A string of comments from those who knew Pc Palmer were posted, with one writing: 'So proud to have worked with such a great guy, R.I.P Keith.' Several Just Giving pages have also been set up, one of which has raised more than 4,000. Much loved: Aysha Frade, 43, was killed as she walked across Westminster Bridge as she was picking up her children (pictured with them and husband John) Hurt: Andrei Burnaz (left), an engineer in his mid-20s, and Andreea Cristea, his girlfriend, 29, (pictured) were hurt during a romantic break to London. Miss Cristea could be the woman thrown into the Thames and survived, according to reports Silence: Metropolitan Police Acting Commissioner Craig Mackey (far right), who witnessed the attack, led a minute's silence with Britain's top terror officer Mark Rowley (second right) and incoming commissioner Cressida Dick (centre) One former colleague who said she had her life saved by Pc Palmer when she worked as a police officer paid tribute to the 'absolutely lovely man'. Giving her name only as Nina, from Orpington, south-east London, she told radio station LBC: 'He actually did save my life in a car accident on duty, I was a police officer. Four London hospitals treated the 29 injured Victims of the Westminster terror attack are being treated in hospitals across the capital. King's College Hospital has confirmed its A&E department took in eight patients - six men and two women. Two of these patients are in a critical condition, while six are stable. At St Thomas' Hospital, two patients - a man and a woman - remain in a stable condition. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust declared a major incident at St Mary's Hospital on Wednesday afternoon at 3.55pm. It has yet to release a statement on whether it is currently treating any victims. The Royal London Hospital said it admitted one patient but a spokeswoman said no further detail could be given on whether that patient died, is being treated or has been discharged. A spokeswoman for the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust declined to say whether any victims had been admitted there or are being treated. The London Ambulance Service said 68 paramedics and crews responded to the attack, together with staff working in control rooms. Paramedics from the service treated 12 patients for serious injuries, who were all taken to hospital. Eight more patients were treated for less serious injuries at the scene. Mark Rowley, the Met's senior anti-terror officer, has said seven patients overall remain in a critical condition in London hospitals. Advertisement 'I was a police officer at the time, in 2007. I had a car accident on duty, I was the passenger. I was the passenger and he was one of the police officers who actually saved my life. 'I owe him everything. He was a wonderful dad, and wonderful husband to his wife and everything.' Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was murdered by terrorists in Bali in 2002, was among those who tried in vain to save the stabbed policeman's life. He left the scene looking bereft, with the officer's blood on his face. 'Heartbroken' former colleague, Conservative MP James Cleverly, paid tribute to the 'lovely man' he had known for a quarter of a century. He wrote of the 48-year-old father and husband: 'I've known Keith for 25 years. We served together in the Royal Artillery before he became a copper. 'A lovely man, a friend. I'm heartbroken. My thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of Pc Keith Palmer. A brave man.' Scotland Yard's top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley said of his colleague: 'He was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift - and he had every right to expect that would happen.' A minute's silence was held outside New Scotland Yard today in front of its eternal flame remembering all officers killed in the line of duty. One was held simultaneously in the House of Commons, where MPs were locked inside during the attack yesterday afternoon. The Met Police Federation have said their Chairman Ken Marsh has been to hospital to visit the three other officers who were injured during the attack. He has said they are in a stable condition. The officers had been crossing Westminster Bridge on the way back from a function. Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Craig Mackey was among them and he is understood to have narrowly escaped serious injury himself. A young child was among the casualties on Westminster bridge after a car mounted the pavement and ploughed into pedestrians, according to an eye-witness. Shell-shocked student Sebastian Ramos, 18, described seeing victims on the pavement covered in blood as he cycled across the bridge moments after the attack. Mr Ramos, who had only been in Britain for two weeks on an exchange programme, said: 'I was riding my bike over the bridge and saw many people on the ground. 'I live on the south side of the bridge and I went past about 30 seconds after the car went past. 'People were screaming, lots of people were injured. There was blood everywhere, people had blood on their faces. It was just madness, really crazy. 'Doctors and nurses from the hospital ran out to help people. I saw a little child injured in its mothers arms'. Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to the UK calling yesterday's deadly terror attack 'insidious and cynical'. Calls were made from the Kremlin for the world to come together to bring down terrorism, and Putin said: 'It is evident that countering the terrorist threat requires real unification of efforts among all members of the international community.' He joined a swathe of world leaders uniting in support of London including the former US leader Barack Obama, who said no act of terror could shake the British people's resilience. This was the scene in the immediate aftermath of the attack, after the attacker entered the grounds of Parliament. He is pictured at the top of the picture - PC Palmer is lying in the middle of the image Fight for life: Tory minister Tobias Ellwood gives mouth to mouth to PC Palmer after he was fatally wounded by the terrorist This was the scene as the attacker was taken away to hospital following the attack. He killed four people Two knives lay on the cobbles in front of Parliament after the attacker was shot by armed police protecting the building MP James Cleverly said he had known PC Palmer for 25 years after previously serving in the Royal Artillery with him, describing him as a 'lovely man and friend' Student lucky to be alive can't remember being hit by the 4x4 University student Travis Frain who has been named as one of those injured in the Westminster terror attack The mother of a teenager left with serious injuries from the London terror attack has admitted her son is 'extremely lucky' to be alive. University student Travis Frain is set to undergo surgery tonight after being deliberately run down by a 4x4 on Westminster Bridge yesterday. The 19-year-old suffered fractures to his leg and left arm, as well as a cracked rib, two broken fingers and deep lacerations to his foot as he walked along the pavement. Mum Angela Frain, 45 said: 'Travis said that all he could remember was walking along the bridge and the next thing he knew he was hit. 'He's a bit up and down and very shaken up by what's happened. He's due to go into surgery tonight and will be there for a few days. 'But I know he's extremely lucky and it could've been a lot worse. 'He's on a lot of drugs at the moment and so doesn't want to speak about what happened just now.' Advertisement Three people and the attacker died in London on Wednesday afternoon after a man driving a Hyundai 4x4 crashed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before hurting towards the gates of Parliament. A woman who was pulled alive from the Thames after jumping off Westminster Bridge to escape the attacker was among the dozens of victims in yesterday's atrocity. French children on a school trip to London and a young Conservative activist visiting Westminster were also injured by the Hyundai driven by the suspected terrorist. Victims were wheeled away on stretchers while others were treated at the scene. One injured man was pictured with a bandage wrapped around his bloodied head. Three of the French pupils were in a critical condition last night. One was catapulted into the air and ended up on the roof of the car. The teenagers have been named in local media as Victor, Yann and Thomas. The mother of one of the students told Brittany website Le Telegramme she initially believed he was dead for around an hour following news of the attack. After being informed he had been injured the woman and her husband, neither of whom are named, were rushed to London to see their son, the site reported. The teenager, named only as Thomas, is suffering from fractures in his legs and a head injury, his mother said. She added she had to explain to him what had happened, telling him about 'the crazy car on the bridge'. The French students were among a group of around 10 teachers and pupils from the school on a trip to London. A spokesman from the school said: 'There were four classes on a trip to London. They travelled at the start of the week and were due to return at the end of the week.' He confirmed that those injured were in St Thomas's Hospital, on the south side of Westminster Bridge. One student, identified by Le Telegramme as Kilian, sent a text message to his mother stating: 'We saw the car strike a group. After 20 seconds it hit us.' He said his group had been moved on to a boat as a safety measure. Members of the group were later interviewed by investigators. People on social media were quick to pay tribute to PC Palmer tonight, praising his bravery and service to the public Others called the officer - who is a father and husband - a 'fallen hero' and vowed London was 'not afraid' of terrorism London Mayor Sadiq Khan said PC Palmer was killed 'protecting our city and our democracy from those who want to destroy our way of life' Armed police arrest eight in raids at six addresses across Britain including flat in Birmingham Armed police officers have raided a flat on Hagley Road in Birmingham Armed police stormed a flat above a takeaway in Birmingham last night and arrested three suspects in a raid linked to the Westminster terror attack. Dozens of officers ran into the address on Hagley Road, which a neighbour believes could be home of the Westminster attacker. Other sources have claimed the 4x4 vehicle used yesterday could have been rented from the same road. Scotland Yard said that it was 'not prepared to discuss' the operation coordinated with West Midlands Police. But a witness who works nearby said: 'The man from London lived here.' Hundreds of detectives have been working through the night Six addresses wee raided and officers made eight arrests. The inquiries in Birmingham, London and other parts of the country continue. Advertisement Le Telegramme reports that the school has already been hard hit by terrorism. A former student was among those killed in the Bataclan massacre in which ISIS fanatics slaughtered scores of music lovers during attacks on Paris on November 13, 2015. Fellow pupils told of how they were 'seconds' from death after the driver sped towards them. One boy, named only as Johan, told France's Ouest France paper: 'The car hit three boys, we all had the reflexes to move back. 'Then the man got out of the car and started to run towards Parliament. We heard the two gun shots. Then I saw people on the ground, I think they had been stabbed.' All three French teenagers were in the 'exact line that the car took', said a source at St Joseph's high school. 'Two of them are in a particularly bad way, and are being treated at St Thomas's hospital in London. Members of their families, including parents, are now with them,' added the source. The French government put on a military plane on Wednesday night, which flew them from Brittany to London. Isabell Calveze, whose son Kilian was in the St Joseph's party of around 90, said she soon established that he was unharmed physically, but in a very bad way psychologically. Ms Calveze said: 'My son saw everything, I knew quickly that he was fine, but he saw his comrades hit by the car and I imagine that psychologically it must be a shock, and that he won't be well after this. 'My son wrote to me that within twenty seconds he could have been hurt by the vehicle too. 'But the pupils were taken care of very quickly and very well, they were greeted on a boat on the Thames and the British authorities debriefed them.' Ms Calveze said that her daughter in France first told her about the terrorist incident. 'It was my daughter who alerted me, I did not have time to be afraid, I looked at the news channels and I got in touch with my son.' Parents and other relatives of the children were today gathering around St Joseph's, along with other concerned locals. In total, five South Koreans in their 50s and 60s were injured when they were caught up in a stampede of people trying to escape the attack. A tour agency official has confirmed that the South Korean tourist, a 67-year-old with the surname Park, was seriously injured. Four of them have received treatment for broken bones while a 67-year-old needed an operation for a head injury. The attacker also targeted 13 students from Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lancashire. The university said four were hurt. One had head injuries, another wrist injuries, while two were walking wounded. French school with three injured students suffers second terror tragedy in two years Victims: French policemen stand guard in front of the Saint Joseph school in Concarneau, Brittany, after three students were among those hurt in the deadly car ramming attack The French school left devastated by the Westminster Bridge attack had already lost a former pupil in the Bataclan terrorist massacre in Paris, it emerged today. Three boys from St Joseph's, in the seaside town of Concarneau, Brittany, suffered serious injuries when a car ploughed into them in London on Wednesday afternoon. Named locally as Victor, Yann and Thomas, they were aged between 15 and 16, and travelling in a party of around 90. Today Andre Fidelin, the Mayor of Concarneau, said it was the second time in as many years that the school had been hit by terrorism Today Andre Fidelin, the Mayor of Concarneau, said it was the second time in as many years that the school had been hit by terrorism. In November 2015, former St Joseph's pupil Estelle Rouat, 25, was in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris when it was turned into a bloodbath by Islamic State suicide bombers. Estelle, who was working as an English teacher, was murdered alongside 88 others as she attended a concert by the American band Eagles of Death Metal. Estelle had a particular love of Britain, having first gone on a trip to Penzance, Cornwall, which is Concarneau's twin town, when she was at St Joseph's. She had worked in Colchester, Essex, before moving to Paris, where she was hit by gunfire. Her boyfriend, Remi, was seriously injured alongside her. Mr Fidelin, the mayor, said: 'It's terrible, because a psychosis is likely to set in at the school because it has already been affected by terrorism. 'Our emotion is intense. Concarneau is again touched by terror and horror, and we can not imagine the anguish and anxiety of the parents. 'The attacks can happen anytime, anywhere, and they can touch our loved ones and all of those who are dear to us.' Mr Fidelin said: 'A psychological unit has been set up for anybody who needs it. The hardest thing will be to manage things when victims return.' Around 35 of the 90 plus party from St Joseph's were on Westminster Bridge when the attack happened. They were in the age range 15 to 16. Johan, one of the survivors, told French media in London: 'There was a barrier between us but it gave way and the car went on to hit the students' The trip to London is an annual one at St Joseph's. Enzo, a pupil who travelled in 2016 said: 'We went to London) last year at the same time. We were very lucky this touches us deeply. It causes extreme pain for everyone'. Advertisement This was the series of events where a knife attacker drove into pedestrians before he was shot by police A woman was either knocked, jumped or fell in the River Thames during the attack but was rescued by boat crews A patient believed to be the woman who plunged into the River Thames during the horrific terror attack is pictured here being treated in Westminster A woman leans down on Westminster Bridge to help another woman who was injured in this afternoon's attack in London There were disturbing scenes on Westminster Bridge where at least 40 pedestrians were hurt after being knocked down by the car Another woman was severely injured at a postcard stall opposite Big Ben following the horrific terror attack This was the scene on Embankment last night after the man either fell or was knocked from the bridge during the attack Pieces of a car's undercarriage lay scattered on the pavement of Westminster Bridge as the public went to the aid of victims Westminster bridge was strewn with injured people who were treated on the road or carried to St Thomas' Hospital A pedestrian lies stricken on Westminster Bridge after reports a car knocked down people near the Houses Parliament An injured victim walks from the scene on Westminster Bridge where around 40 people were reported knocked down Queen: My thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathy are with the victims The Queen has said her 'thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathy' are with all those who have been affected by Wednesday's 'awful violence'. In a message sent to Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, Craig Mackey, the monarch also expressed her thanks and admiration to the Met and others who work to protect others. The monarch was at Buckingham Palace as the attack took place and a few hours later had her weekly meeting with the Prime Minister, where it is likely she was updated in person about the incident. She said in her message: 'Following the shocking events in Westminster, Prince Philip and I are sorry that we will not be able to open the New Scotland Yard building as planned today, for very understandable reasons. 'I look forward to visiting at a later date. 'My thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's awful violence. 'I know I speak for everyone in expressing my enduring thanks and admiration for the members of the Metropolitan Police Service and all who work so selflessly to help and protect others.' Advertisement Victims suffered what doctors called 'catastrophic injuries' after the crazed attacker mounted the pavement and ploughed into pedestrians as he sped toward Big Ben at around 2.40pm. Amid the carnage, some leapt off the bridge to escape, and one woman was later pulled alive from the Thames. Another woman ended up beneath the wheels of a double decker bus. Among the injured were university students and a party of French schoolchildren. Three people were killed on the bridge as the Hyundai left a terrible trail of bloodied twisted bodies. Rob Lyon, 34, from Rugby in Warwickshire, said: 'I heard the clang of metal on the pavement. I saw a man flung into the air from the impact, and a woman was under a bus. She didn't look like she had much chance.' The car then smashed into security railings outside Parliament. Jayne Wilkinson said: 'We were taking photos of Big Ben and we saw all the people running toward us, and then there was an Asian guy in about his 40s carrying a knife about seven or eight inches long.' In a devastating breach of security, the knifeman was able to storm into the parliamentary grounds. Rick Longley said: 'A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman.' Pat McCormack, 21, from Tyne and Wear, said: 'I saw him stabbing the officer in the back of the head and the back of the neck. He was running away but then he collapsed.' The second officer chased the fanatic, who was heading for a visitor cafe, and shot him three or four times. Scotland Yard's top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley said: 'This was a day we've planned for but hoped would never happen. 'Sadly it is now a reality.' Paying tribute to Mr Palmer, who had been an officer for 15 years, he said: 'He was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift.' He added: 'We think we know who the attacker is. We are working through associates.' Asked about the motivation of the attack, Mr Rowley said: 'Islamic-related terrorism is our assumption.' 'WE WILL NEVER GIVE IN': THERESA MAY VOWS UK WILL 'GO ON' AFTER LONDON TERROR ATTACK Prime Minister Theresa May vowed Britain would 'never give in to terror' today following the 'sick and depraved' London terror attack in which three people and a knifeman were killed. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, she said: 'I have just chaired a meeting of the Government's emergency committee, COBRA, following the sick and depraved terrorist attack on the streets of our Capital this afternoon. 'The full details of exactly what happened are still emerging. But, having been updated by police and security officials, I can confirm that this appalling incident began when a single attacker drove his vehicle into pedestrians walking across Westminster Bridge, killing three people and injuring many more, including three police officers. 'This attacker, who was armed with a knife, then ran towards Parliament where he was confronted by the police officers who keep us and our democratic institutions safe. 'Tragically, one officer was killed. The terrorist was also shot dead. In a sombre public statement today, Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain will never surrender to the forces of hate and evil and praised the emergency services 'The United Kingdom's threat level has been set at severe for some time and this will not change. Acting Deputy Commissioner Rowley will give a further operational update later this evening. 'Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who have been affected to the victims themselves, and their family and friends who waved their loved ones off, but will not now be welcoming them home. 'For those of us who were in Parliament at the time of this attack, these events provide a particular reminder of the exceptional bravery of our police and security services who risk their lives to keep us safe. 'Once again today, these exceptional men and women ran towards the danger even as they encouraged others to move the other way. 'On behalf of the whole country, I want to pay tribute to them and to all our emergency services for the work they have been doing to reassure the public and bring security back to the streets of our Capital City. 'That they have lost one of their own in today's attack only makes their calmness and professionalism under pressure all the more remarkable. 'The location of this attack was no accident. The terrorists chose to strike at the heart of our Capital City, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech. 'These streets of Westminster home to the world's oldest Parliament are engrained with a spirit of freedom that echoes in some of the furthest corners of the globe. And the values our Parliament represents democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of law command the admiration and respect of free people everywhere. Theresa May's armour-plated car is driven from the scene after she was taken from Parliament by a plain clothes police officer 'That is why it is a target for those who reject those values. 'But let me make it clear today, as I have had cause to do before: any attempt to defeat those values through violence and terror is doomed to failure. 'Tomorrow morning, Parliament will meet as normal. We will come together as normal. 'And Londoners - and others from around the world who have come here to visit this great City - will get up and go about their day as normal. 'They will board their trains, they will leave their hotels, they will walk these streets, they will live their lives. 'And we will all move forward together. Never giving in to terror. And never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart.' Advertisement A huge investigation has begun to try to find out what happened, with hundreds of Scotland Yard officers scouring the bridge Theresa May, who was ushered away after the attack, later chaired a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee Forensic officers used cameras to collate evidence after several people were injured on Westminster Bridge (pictured) A Met armed policeman stands in the Central Lobby of Parliament near to Former Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble as MPs gather during the lockdown, which was lifted last night A Scotland Yard superintendent addresses the crowd who had gathered in Westminster Abbey after being evacuated from Parliament An armed policeman is seen inside the Central Lobby in Parliament as they continue to patrol the area following the attack Students who were visiting Parliament were held in a safe room as the incident unfolded outside the building Staff gathered in Westminster Hall during a lockdown after members of the public were told to avoid the area MPs were seen gathered in Central Lobby during a lockdown in Parliament yesterday as terror took over Westminster THE 'PATH OF DESTRUCTION' FROM WESTMINSTER BRIDGE TO THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT This is the path of terror left in London on Wednesday when pedestrians on Westminster Bridge were mowed down on the pavement before a police officer in the Houses of Parliament was stabbed. The horror began at the south London end of Westminster bridge when a driver in a Hyundai 4X4 mounted the pavement at around 2.30pm, mowing down the first pedestrians. He continued along the pavement, ploughing through at least a dozen victims in total, before coming to a stop at the Houses of Parliament where he crashed his Hyundai 4X4 into railings. Either he or another attacker then burst through Old Palace Yard at the Houses of Parliament where a police officer was stabbed. That assailant was shot by armed police at the scene and taken to hospital, where he later died. Advertisement MP who lost a brother in the Bali terrorist attack gave mouth to mouth to policeman as he lay stricken on the floor of Westminster Tory MP Tobias Ellwood battled to save the life of a policeman stabbed outside Parliament today. The Bournemouth East MP gave mouth-to-mouth to the officer and put pressure on his wounds to stop the blood flow after he was stabbed by an assailant just inside the gates of the Parliamentary estate. He was then pictured with blood on his face after the emergency services arrived and took over medical assistance. Witnesses said Mr Ellwood rushed to help the officer after he collapsed to the ground following the stabbing He was later pictured with bloodied hands talking to police following his heroic actions The Bournemouth East MP was later pictured with blood on his face as he stepped back to allow the emergency services to take over His brother Jonathan, pictured, was killed in the Bali bombings in 2002. The history teacher was in Bali ahead of a conference when explosives were detonated outside nightclubs in a popular tourist area Two large knives were seen at the scene, which was overrun with police and paramedics following the attack Mr Ellwood, centre, lost his brother Jonathan in the 2002 Bali bombings by an Islamic militant group. He is pictured here with mother Caroline, right, at a 10 year memorial service in 2012 Westminster police bundled Theresa May into a car and rushed her away from Parliament as terror attack unfolded Prime Minister Theresa May was rushed out of Parliament as it came under terrorist attack by a man wielding two seven-inch knives after murdering police and pedestrians. Mrs May, who was in the voting lobby by the Commons, was seen being bundled into the back seat of her silver Jaguar surrounded by armed guards at around 2.45pm. The uninjured Prime Minister, who had recently finished PMQs, was driven out of the Palace of Westminster at high speed and taken safely to Downing Street. MPs were locked inside the Commons as armed police went through Parliament 'floor by floor' and 'room by room' looking for any other assailants. Prime Minister Theresa May, pictured, was rushed out of Parliament as it came under terrorist attack yesterday MailOnline political editor James Tapsfield described hearing the 'bang' of the car smashing into the fence after its Westminster Bridge rampage and then the gunfire that followed when the terrorist was shot dead below his office. He said: 'We were in the MailOnline office overlooking New Palace Yard when the attack started. 'The first sign we had that something was wrong was a loud bang. It sounded like a bomb, but I now realise it must have been the car smashing into the perimeter fence around parliament. 'Some people ran in through the gates, past the police. I didn't see the policeman being stabbed, but then spotted the man in black. He made it a few yards inside the grounds before being challenged by two men with guns and then shots - I think three of them - rang out. 'Police and staff poured on to the scene very quickly and started trying to resuscitate the attacker. 'They took the attacker away in an ambulance, but the other person - we think was the officer - was covered with a sheet.' Mrs May (pictured leaving No 10 for PMQs) is safe and uninjured. A Number 10 spokesman said: 'The thoughts of the Prime Minister and the Government are with those killed and injured in this appalling incident, and with their families' A Number 10 spokesman said Mrs May was being kept updated about the investigation. 'The thoughts of the Prime Minister and the Government are with those killed and injured in this appalling incident, and with their families,' said the spokesman. 'The Prime Minister is being kept updated and will shortly chair COBR.' David Cameron tweeted: 'My thoughts with the families of those injured & killed. Those seeking to attack our democracy with these barbarous methods will never win.' North Korea has mocked Donald Trump by saying that he is too much like Barack Obama. Kim Jong Un's regime slammed the US President, claiming he is adopting his predecessor's policies. The communist country, which regularly vilified Obama in the strongest terms, had been slow to do the same with the Trump administration. But Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's recent trip to Asia, where he discussed tougher sanctions, appears to have prompted the secretive state to make its views known. North Korea has mocked Donald Trump by saying that he is too much like Barack Obama. The hermit kingdom's state media slammed the president, claiming he is adopting is predecessor's policies. Obama and Trump are seen at the inauguration on January 20 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves at parade participants at the Kim Il Sung Square in capital Pyongyang The latest comments come just days after officials in the hermit kingdom said their military it is not frightened by US threats of possible pre-preemptive action to halt its nuclear capability and that the country is fully ready to go to war. Just before Tillerson arrived in Tokyo, the North launched several ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan While he was still in China, North Korea conducted a test of what it called a 'revolutionary' new type of engine for its rockets. In North Korea's first official comments since Tillerson's visit to the region, a Foreign Ministry spokesman seized on the former oil executive's blunt assessment that Obama's strategy needs to be replaced and US efforts to get North Korea to denuclearize over the past 20 years have been a failure. The spokesman then slammed Trump for their similar policy plans, particularly regarding tougher economic sanctions. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's recent trip to Asia appears to have prompted the secretive state to make its views known. Tillerson (right) is seen standing next to Chineses President Xi Jinping (left) during his visit to China earlier this week Tillerson admitted the failure of the US efforts to denuclearize the DPRK for 20 years and end of Obama's policy of 'strategic patience' during his recent tour,' the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in the dispatch on Monday, quoting the unnamed Foreign Ministry official. 'Now Tillerson is repeating what Obama touted ... until he left the White House.' North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK, has been continuing with its ongoing nuclear testing program. On Wednesday, it appears to have conducted more missile tests from the eastern port city of Wonsan, although these reportedly failed. Trump does not have a clear policy on North Korea yet. Tillerson stressed repeatedly that a comprehensive policy review is underway and that the purpose of his trip to Asia was to hear out the North's neighbors, although it is not clear exactly how successful his dialogue was. South Korea currently only has an interim government, since President Park Geun-hye was forced out of office amid a scandal. China, North Korea's economic lifeline, has a longstanding dialogue-based agenda that Washington is already familiar with but has not previously engaged with. However, Tillerson did raise some eyebrows with his tough-sounding warnings. A North Korean soldier, right, tries to take a photograph through a window while US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits the U.N. Command Military Armistice Commission meeting room at the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War While in Seoul, he said 'everything was on the table,' including military intervention, or even a pre-emptive strike if tougher sanctions or other diplomatic measures fail to achieve Washington's goals. But some policy experts in the US did not attach much gravitas to his warnings. 'If you look at Tillerson's full statements, they were much more of a continuation of current policy than has been portrayed in the press, with an emphasis on expanding sanctions,' said David Wright, co-director and senior scientist of the Global Security Program for the Union of Concerned Scientists. 'You can try to squeeze North Korea with more sanctions and maybe slow its program, but it's hard to see how to stop it from moving ahead without diplomacy.' Tillerson's remarks are in line with longstanding US policy, including Obama's, but were stated more threateningly. In this file image made from video released by KRT on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, North Korea launches four missiles in an undisclosed location North Korea President Bill Clinton, for example, is known to have seriously considered a pre-emptive strike over the nuclear issue in 1994. Even so, tone is important in diplomacy and Tillerson does seem to have reassured some in Seoul and Tokyo that the United States hasn't forgotten them. Pyongyang, however, seems to have hit the familiar bravado button. 'The nuclear force of the DPRK is the treasured sword of justice and the most reliable war deterrence to defend the socialist motherland and the life of its people,' the official reportedly said. 'If the businessmen-turned-US authorities thought that they would frighten the DPRK, they would soon know that their method would not work.' A violent bikie brawl has broken out at a maximum security prison in Melbourne. The incident occurred on Tuesday morning at Port Phillip Prison's gymnasium. Two prisoners were rushed to hospital and two police officers were injured during the altercation, the Herald Sun reported. A violent bikie brawl broke out at the maximum security Port Phillip Prison (pictured) on Tuesday morning 'Two inmates have been taken to hospital following a stabbing at Port Phillip Prison this morning,' a Victoria Police spokesperson said. 'Up to seven inmates were involved in an altercation in the gymnasium at 9.15am. 'The two men were taken to hospital for treatment of minor injuries.' Up to eight inmates, including members of the Comanchero and Bandido motorcycle gangs, were involved in the violence, the publication reported. It is believed two officers were treated for capsicum spray. Police are investigating the incident. The Labor party's Anthony Albanese looked to have missed out in a game of musical chairs as he sat perched on the floor through question time in today's federal parliament. It didn't stop the Grayndler representative from appearing gleeful as he chatted from his low seated position to fellow house members with his smart phone and glasses in hand. Wedged in between Macquarie's Susan Templeman and Moreton's elective Graham Perrett Mr Albanese, the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure reacted to questions through the afternoon session. The Labor party's Anthony Albanese sat perched on the floor through question time at parliament today As the members met today details emerged that a South Australian woman is among the injured in the London terrorist attack, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told MPs. 'We will never stop fighting for our hard-won freedoms and standing resolutely side by side with free nations that fight for freedom too by our side,' he said. Labor leader Bill Shorten adeed: 'There is nothing routine about terrorism. It is a crime wholly foreign to our values, way of life, to our human values. All Australians unequivocally condemn this act of murder.' @PaulineHansonOZ tweeted: 'One Nation has the only policy that protects you from the growing threat of Islamic terror. #Pray4MuslimBan' The Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Tourism and Transport didn't look bothered by his lack of seat The news came as Justice Minister Michael Keenan revealed that every federal police officer patrolling Parliament House now wears a stab-proof vest. Today's session also ensured that the government will take its $50 billion plan for company tax cuts to the Senate in full, Treasurer Scott Morrison vowed. 'I support this heart and soul,' he said amid speculation the government will split its legislation to ensure the first tranche of cuts - for companies with an annual turnover up to $10 million - clears parliament by the end of next week. James Corden gave an emotional speech at the start of the Late Late Show on Wednesday night in recognition of the terror attack on London. Corden, who is from the London borough of Hilingdon, began his show by saying how, 'watching the news today, I felt a really long, long way from home. 'And it's funny when something like that happens in your hometown, you don't have a feeling of being glad that you're so far away,' he continued. 'What you feel is that you wish you could be there with loved ones to stand alongside them.' Scroll down for video Tribute: James Corden gave a heartfelt tribute to London on Wednesday night, in response to the terror attack on the Houses of Parliament in the center of the city earlier in the day Video courtesy The Late Late Show with James Corden 'While we're filming this, it's still unknown what the motives [of the attackers] were,' Corden said at the start of his introduction. 'What we do know at this point is that people have lost their lives and many, many more have been injured. 'And I know a lot of people in England watch this show. There's a lot of people from Britain who work on this show, and of course, our thoughts go out to everyone who's been affected by this.' He concluded: 'London is a diverse and proud and brilliant city, and one thing is for sure: If this act of terrorism was supposed to divide the people of London, I know for a fact that all something like this does is bring them closer together as one. 'Tonight we send our heartfelt thoughts to everybody in Britain. Stay safe everybody, please.' Terror: Five people were killed - including a police officer and the attacker - and 20 people injured, 12 seriously, after the assailant drove a car through crowds on a sidewalk The attack began at around 2.30pm in the heart of London on Westminster Bridge, which crosses from the south side of the Thames River over to the Houses of Parliament - the seat of British government - on the north. The attacker, driving a Hyundai 4x4, mounted the sidewalk on the south end of the bridge and plowed into pedestrians. He then continued up the bridge, striking more civilians, before crashing into the railings of the Houses of Parliament. The assailant then burst through security and stabbed a police officer to death before being fatally shot three times by armed police. As well as the assailant and police officer, three civilians died on the scene, 12 suffered serious injuries and a further eight suffered lesser injuries. Injured victims included a group of French schoolchildren aged 15-16 and three police officers returning from a commendation ceremony. The attacker has not yet been identified by police, but is believed to have been inspired by international terrorism. There was speculation that there might have been more than one attacker, but police are currently operating on the basis that he acted alone. Police divers and sniffer dogs have failed to locate a missing Queensland man who was last seen more than two weeks ago. Samuel Thompson, 22, was captured on CCTV cameras leaving his apartment complex in Albion, north-east of Brisbane on March 7, with his orange Ford Mustang exiting the car park. With his vehicle spotted near the North Pine River in Queensland's south-east, police divers searched the area, trawling sections of the river upstream but were unable to find anything. Police sniffer dogs were also involved in the search, scouring for Mr Thompson's belongings nearby bushland in the Murrumba Downs area on Thursday. Scroll down for video Police divers searched the North Pine River in in Murrumba Downs on Thursday searching for missing 22-year-old man, Samuel Thompson Mr Thompson has not been seen since Tuesday morning and his friends and family have been unable to reach him through social media or on his mobile phone Sniffer dogs were also used in the investigation, searching nearby bushland for any trace of Mr Johnson's whereabouts More than 50 police officers have been investigating the uncharacteristic disappearance of the young man but authorities fear that he may be held captive or dead. The unsuccessful search through the North Pine River comes only a day after the family of the missing 22-year-old, made a tearful plea to the media, begging the public for any information on his whereabouts. Holding back tears Mr Thompson's father said: 'Sam... If you can hear this, please call us or one of your friends,' the Brisbane Times reports. Footage released of Mr Johnson the day he went missing, shows him leaving his apartment alone, and his distinctive Ford Mustang leaving the car park at around 9.30am. The vehicle was then spotted in the Deep Water Bend Reserve Car Park on Tuesday at 1pm before it was found abandoned and unlocked in Wooyung in northern NSW, at around 7.30pm. He was last seen clearly be seen exiting his Albion apartment on Tuesday morning CCTV cameras captures his final sighting, making his way to his car wearing sunglasses and a hat He drives off in his Ford Mustang before it is found abandoned and unlocked near Byron Bay Police are also interested in speaking to the driver of white Chrysler 300, that was captured driving closely behind Mr Thompson's Mustang at the time of his disappearance. Police are urging the driver of the Chrysler or anyone who may have seen the car in Bald Hills on Tuesday March 7 to contact them immediately. 'The circumstances of Sam's disappearance are quite concerning in that he's just vanished off the face of the earth,' Detective Tim Trezise said on Monday. Mr Thompson's dog was also found unattended at his home in Albion, a Brisbane suburb on Thursday. It had been abandoned in the apartment for two days - something that added to investigators' 'suspicion,' the police spokesperson said. This white Chrysler was spotted closely following Mr Thompson's Mustang the day he went missing Mr Thompson's father Bruce held back tears as he spoke to the media on Wednesday The location of Mr Thompson's Ford Mustand as well as other spots around Brisbane, are being considered as possible search areas, police said. He is described as Caucasian, 180cm tall, with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with any information about Mr Thompson's movements or that of his car are urged to come forward to the police. His dog was found abandoned in the apartment for two days - something that added to investigators' 'suspicion' A father has been charged over the cold case murder of a toddler who was abducted from a toilet block 47 years ago - a crime that happened when he was just 16. The accused killer, 63, was photographed as police escorted him into a police car from Sydney airport after being extradited from Frankston, in Melbourne. He was taken to Wollongong and formally charged with murder on Thursday night, and will face court for the horrific crimes on Friday morning. His name and identity has been suppressed because he was a juvenile at the time. British toddler Cheryl Grimmer was just three years old when she vanished from outside a surf club at Fairy Meadow Beach in Wollongong, south of Sydney, on January 12, 1970. Police believe the toddler, whose family emigrated to Australia in the 1960s, died within one hour of being taken. Scroll down for video A father (pictured being escorted by police) has been chargedover the cold case murder of a toddler who was abducted from a toilet block in 1970 The 63-year-old man, who now has a grown family, was just 16 years old when Cheryl Grimmer, 3, was abducted. He was charged with her murder on Thursday night in Wollongong, NSW Cheryl Grimmer (pictured) was just three years old when she vanished from outside a surf club at Fairy Meadow Beach in Wollongong, south of Sydney, on January 12, 1970 A ransom note for $10,000 was sent to Cheryl's parents three days after her abduction but no one showed up to collect the money. On Thursday, Detective Inspector Crime Manager Brad Ainswoth said the details surrounding Cheryl's abduction were 'horrific'. Det Insp Ainsworth told reporters it would be 'fantastic' if they could recover Cheryl's remains, but said it is unlikely as the area was now 'residential housing'. 'I'm not going to get into the specifics of the actual detail of the offences but I can say that they're quite horrific and they'll be unfolding in court,' he said. The Detective Inspector said it was believed Cheryl was taken from the front of the surf club, not the back as originally thought, and her death occurred within an hour or so after that. The accused killer was extradited from Melbourne to Sydney on Thursday afternoon (pictured at Sydney airport). He will face court charged with murder on Friday morning Police believe Cheryl (pictured with her father, John) died within one hour of being taken Cheryl disappeared from outside this beach shower block (pictured) near Wollongong on January 12, 1970, and despite a massive search no sign of her was ever found The man, who also has a British heritage, is believed to have an adult family, according to The Daily Telegraph. He was charged with the murder on Thursday and will front Wollongong Local Court on Friday. Cheryl's parents, who emigrated from the UK in the 1960s, died not knowing what happened to their beloved daughter. The family were living in a hostel near the beach at the time of the abduction. Her three brothers Ricki, Stephen and Paul previously called on the killer to hand himself in. The 63-year-old allegedly spoke about the crime 18 months after it happened while a teenager at Mount Penang Training School - a home for troubled teenage boys. The accused murderer, who is of British heritage, spoke about the girl's abduction to detectives investigating the case at the time but was not charged. On Thursday, Detective Inspector Crime Manager Brad Ainswoth said the details surrounding Cheryl's death were 'horrific' The arrested man allegedly spoke about the crime 18 months after it happened while a teenager at Mount Penang Training School (pictured) - a home for troubled teenage boys Mr Ainsworth told reporters it would be 'fantastic' if they could recover Cheryl's remains, but said it is unlikely as the area was now 'residential housing'. On Thursday, Det Insp Ainsworth said he was not there to 'criticise any investigation carried out back then', saying there were 'many' persons of interest at the time. Officers arrested him in the Melbourne suburb of Frankston on Wednesday at 1pm, before extraditing him to NSW and detaining him at Wollongong Police Station. Shockingly, he lives minutes away from one of Cheryl's older brothers in Melbourne. Australian police revealed in December they believed the youngster was allegedly kidnapped by a teenage boy - who would now be in his early 60s. He was allegedly seen running towards bushland from the area where Cheryl vanished. He was described by police as Caucasian, aged between 16 and 17, about 152cm tall with a medium build, brown hair, blue eyes and fair complexion. Their renewed interest followed a re-enactment of the Grimmer family's day at the beach in December, in a bid to convince the killer to turn themselves in. 'It's time to come clean and absolve yourself and tell us what happened on that day and, more importantly, for the family. If not for yourself, do it for them,' Detective Sergeant Damian Loone said. This ransom note for $10,000 was sent to Cheryl's parents after three days but no one showed up to collect the money where police dressed as council workers lay in wait A fresh bouquetof flowers placed outside the shower block at Fairy Meadow Beach where Cheryl Grimmer went missing Police staged a re-enactment of the Grimmer family's day at the beach in December last year, in a bid to convince the killer to turn themselves in Cheryl's brother Stephen Grimmer, 52, revealed in December last year that his parents Carole and John died without ever knowing the truth. Carole died three years ago, and on her deathbed made the brothers promise to find out what happened the day her daughter went missing during a family trip. Ricki Grimmer told a press conference during a re-enactment of the disappearance at Fairy Meadow Beach, where Cheryl was last seen: ' Heartache decisions I made on the day were wrong. I shouldn't have left. What do you say? What do you do? It's affected me all my life'. 'Everyone says it wasn't my fault but come and stand where I'm standing, see what it feels like. 'Just let us know where she is, give us something so we can mourn. It's cost me and my family everything.' The family, which emigrated from the UK just a year before Cheryl's abduction, was living in a hostel near the beach at the time of the incident. Her three brothers Ricki, Stephen and Paul have called on the killer to hand himself in. Ricki Grimmer, centre, pictured with his brothers, Stephen, second left, and paul, right, along with Detective Inspector Brad Ainsworth, left, said he still blames himself despite being only eight at the time of his sister's disappearance in January 1970 Cheryl was at the beach with her mother Carol and brothers Ricki, eight, Stephen, six, and Paul, five, when the four children were sent to the showers at about 1.30pm. A few minutes later Ricki ran to his mother and said Cheryl wouldn't come out of the shower block, but by the time they got there she was gone and never seen again. 'She was gone in just a minute or two. It's something I still live with every day,' Ricki, 54, said last week. There were a myriad of conflicting reports of who took her and subsequent sighting and theories, none of which panned out. Some said a man in an orange swimsuit lifted a girl to drink at a fountain before running off with her, while another witness saw her being driven off in a white car. A coronial inquest in 2011, after a reinvestigation of the case three years earlier, found Cheryl was presumed dead after being kidnapped. I am a retired newspaperman. I am 69 and live in Poca, WV, with my wife of 45 years, Lou Ann. We grew up in Cleveland. Three kids. Grandfather. More on who I am is here. Report all errors to DonSurber@GMail.com Callous burglars have raided the home of Frank Lampard's parents in a bid to steal his late mother's jewels. They targeted the east London home of former West Ham and England defender Frank Senior, 68, and his wife Pat, who died in 2008. The thieves ransacked the property, destroying furniture and pulling cupboards from the walls as they searched - but they made off empty handed as all of Mrs Lampard's jewellery went to her daughters following her death. The callous burglars targeted the East London home of former West Ham and England defender Frank Senior, 68, and his wife Pat, who died in 2008. (She is pictured with her son) They are believed to have entered the property after wedging a window open. No one was in the house at the time. Mr Lampard Snr told The Sun: 'They made a right mess. They were obviously looking for money or jewellery but there wasn't anything there. 'There was some junk jewellery lying about but they didn't take it. They knew what they wanted.' His son, a former Chelsea midfielder, 38, once described himself as 'a mummy's boy' and would point at the sky whenever he scored a goal following his mother's death. A family friend added: 'The family are just relieved that nothing belonging to Pat was taken. The thieves seemed to be searching for something specific because they made such a mess doing so.' Advertisement Defiant Londoners have rushed to show the world that #LondonisOpen in the wake of the horrific terror attack on Westminster. Locals have refused to be cowed by the terrifying scenes that unfolded in the heart of the capital yesterday, gathering to take pictures and lay floral tributes on Westminster Bridge almost as soon as the Metropolitan Police lifted its cordon. On social media people have drawn comparisons to the Blitz spirit of the Second World War, by posting memes of inspirational messages with pictures of bombed out war-time London. While stations on the Underground network have used notice boards to offer messages of support, willing people to remain strong in times of adversity. Politicians and the police have also urged the public not to let the attack, which claimed the lives of three innocent people and injured at least 29, create a culture of 'fear' in the city - with the hashtags #LondonisOpen and #WeAreNotAfraid trending on Twitter. Addressing MPs in the House of Commons today, Prime Minister Theresa May said: 'We are not afraid and our resolve will never waiver in the face of terrorism.' Scroll down for video Pictured: A couple makes a heart sign with their hands after the cordon was lifted on Westminster Bridge, the day after a terrorist attack rocked London Business as usual: One woman wearning a wedding dress posed for a bridal photo on the South Bank opposite Big Ben All smiles: The defiant woman captured the spirit of keeping calm and carrying on as she flashed a beaming smile Pictured: Floral tributes are laid at the scene of yesterday's carnage in Westminster, that left three innocent people dead Defiant Londoners have vowed not to let the terror attack beat them with the #WeAreNotAfraid hashtag trending on social media (right). Left, the Quote of the Day board at Tower Hill Station asks people to be strong in the face of adversity A tweeter posts a picture of a woman drinking a cup of tea while sitting on the rubble of a house in London, during the Second World War - as people take a defiant stance in light of yesterday's terror attack Tweeters have posted inspirational messages as people taking a defiant stance in the wake of the Westminster terrorist attack London was rocked yesterday afternoon after jihadist Khalid Masood crashed a Hyundai 4x4 into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before hurtling towards the gates of Parliament. Pc Keith Palmer, a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad, was killed as he tried to stop Masood, 52, at around 2.30pm on Wednesday, while three members of the public were also fatally injured. The terrorist, who was armed with two knives, injured crowds of people as he mowed down pedestrians with a car on Westminster Bridge before crashing at the railings in front of Parliament. Bursting through the gate to the Palace of Westminster, he stabbed Pc Palmer before being shot dead by armed officers. Eight people have been arrested and six addresses raided in London, Birmingham and elsewhere in connection with the Westminster terror attack, Mark Rowley, the Met's senior anti-terror officer, has revealed. In her speech to the Commons this morning Mrs May lauded the courageous actions of fallen officer Pc Palmer and revealed Masood had previously been investigated by MI5. Tweeters have posted old photos of Londoners during wartime as well as patriotic pictures, as people urge each other to stay strong after yesterday's attack London's Tube stations have offered words of supporter to travellers on the Thought of the Day message boards. Left, a message at Oval station and right, Tottenham Court Road Pictured: People go about their business outside Charring Cross Station this morning as a defiant mood spreads around the capital just 24 hours after the nation was rocked by the scenes in Westminster Pictured: Commuters make their way into work at Charring Cross Station in central London this morning Pictured: Travellers head in and out of Embankment Tube station as it reopens for business as usual after yesterday's terror attack She said: 'Pc Palmer had devoted his life to the service of his country. He had been a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command for 15 years, and a soldier in the Royal Artillery before that. 'He was a husband and a father, killed doing a job he loved. 'He was every inch a hero. And his actions will never be forgotten. 'I know the whole House will join me in sending our deepest condolences to his family - and to the families and friends of all those who have been killed or injured in yesterday's awful attacks. In an effort to rally around in the face of adversity, many people have been posting pictures and messages of condolence in wake of the attack. The capital's Underground stations have used their 'Thought of the Day' boards to offer support, with Tower Hill station writing: 'The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of them all. #Londonisopen #Westminster #WeAreNotAfraid' While staff at Oval station wrote: 'You have to be at your strongest when you're feeling at your weakest. Our condolences, our city, our diversity, our strength. #IAmLondon #WeAreNotAfraid. Pictured: People head back to their offices as the authorities tell people it is safe to act as normal, less than 24 hours after yesterday's attack People leave disembark trains from Kent and head out to work as commuters are undeterred by the frightening scenes in Westminster yesterday Pictured: Undeterred by yesterday's horrific carnage people make their way into work on the Underground this morning Londoners have been urged to continue as normal less than 24 hours after the attack on Westminster rocked the capital Pictured: Police officers stand on patrol at Charring Cross station this morning, as the Met vows to put more officers on the streets in light of yesterday's attack Pictured: An armed police officer stands on guard on deserted streets in Whitehall this morning as the Met continues to investigate around Westminster Charlotte Eames posted: 'The UK survived 2 world wars and the IRA. The UK will not bow down to terrorists #WeAreNotAfraid' While a tweeter called Rachel shared: '#londonisopen Today London will carry on...I WILL be taking my children into the city on Saturday #WeAreNotAfraid' Ross wrote: 'I am so proud of this country and people getting on with their days after such a terrible day yesterday #PrayForLondon #wearenotafraid' While Francesca De Florio posted a picture of the Thames with the Houses of Parliament in the background and said: '#London's quiet dignity this morning makes me so Proud #WeAreNotAfraid.' Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the capital would not be intimidated by terrorism. He said: 'London has seen this before and is taking it on the chin.' Mr Fallon confirmed Parliament's security would now be reviewed. But paying tribute to Pc Palmer, he said: 'They did not get into Parliament. They only got as far as the gate. They did not breach the security of the House of Commons and he gave his life to protect the security of our democracy. 'Parliament cannot be hermetically sealed. People are coming and going all the time. Pictured: Paramedics treat the knifeman who left three people dead and 29 injured after ploughing into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer outside the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday afternoon (ringed, his knife) Pictured: Members of the public rush to help a man run down after the vehicle mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge during Wednesday's attack This was the series of events where a knife attacker drove into pedestrians before he was shot by police 'There was a division going on at the time, people arriving through the gates either by car or foot, to vote. 'This is something that will now be reviewed by the House authorities.' Mr Fallon said the 'assumption' was the attack was related to 'Islamic terrorism in some form' but deferred to police for the detail. Acting Deputy Met Police Commissioner Rowley urged London not to let terrorism create a culture of 'fear'. The police chief explained that a 'large and complicated crime scene' remains in place around Westminster, but thanked the public for their patience. He said: 'As people are out and about on the streets of the Capital this morning they will see more police officers on duty - armed and unarmed - and a mix of British Transport Police and the City of London. 'We have cancelled some leave and increased some duty hours and are working to make sure that we can out in force to reassure the public. Acting Deputy Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said London should not let terrorists create a culture of 'fear' in the city London Mayor Sadiq Khan has invited Londoners to attend a candlelight vigil in Trafalgar Square this evening to remember the victims of yesterday's attack 'We must not allow terrorists to create discord, distrust and fear. 'The police stand with all communities - later today a meeting of faith leaders will be held here at New Scotland Yard. 'Whilst our work to investigate and understand what happened yesterday continues with vigour - we must also reflect. 'I want to thank the public for their support and all their good wishes - I know it is appreciated by all those men and women who are out there today protecting us.' London Mayor Sadiq Khan has invited people to join him for a candlelight vigil in Trafalgar Square at 6pm this evening to remember those lost in the attack. On Mr Khan's website it said: 'The Mayor invites all Londoners and everyone visiting our city - to come together in solidarity to remember those who have lost their lives, to express sympathy with their families and loved ones and to show the world that we are more committed than ever to the values that we hold dear that we remain united and open. 'London is the greatest city in the world. We will never be cowed by terrorism. We stand together, in the face of those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life. We always have, and we always will.' A man who accidentally killed his girlfriend on a jet ski while on holiday in Thailand has been given a suspended jail sentence. Tom Keating, 22, from Victoria, pleaded guilty in pleaded guilty at Phuket Provincial Court and the judge delivered her verdict over the death of Emily Collie, 20, on Thursday, reported the Herald Sun. He was handed a one-year sentence, suspended for two years, for Ms Collie's death. Tom Keating (behind) has pleaded guilty to negligence causing death after his jetski collided with his girlfriend Emily Collie (front) while on holiday in Phuket, Thailand Ms Collie (pictured) was on holiday with Keating when the pair rented jet skis at Kata Beach. Keating told the court the sun bouncing off the water blinded him just before the pair's jetskis collided. Ms Keating was pulled unconscious from the water but died on the beach Ms Collie died in February at Kata Beach in Phuket after the jetski she was riding collided with another jet ski being ridden by Keating. Keating told the court he was blinded by the sun bouncing off the water just before the collision. The judge said: 'The defendant has been helping the family of the deceased ... he paid for their aeroplane ticket and hotel and for her body to be sent back to Australia and her funeral.' 'But he was unable to attend the funeral because he could not leave the country. Keating (pictured in an ambulance after the incident) was charged with negligence causing death and fined 5,000 baht (AU$188) The judge delivered her verdict in Thai and said Keating would pay for Ms Collie's family to fly back to Australia and also for her boy to be transported home. Pictured is the scene on Kata Beach after Ms Collie was brought to shore 'The girl's parents understand that this happened accidentally.' Keating was charged with criminal negligence that led to the death of Ms Collie and received a suspended sentence, as well as being fined 5,000 baht (AU$188). He is expected to return to Australia in the coming days. Keating was accompanied by family members, his lawyer and the Australian Consul-General for Phuket Craig Ferguson, while in court, reported The New Daily. Advertisement There were tears in the Commons today for hero PC Keith Palmer from the MP who gave him mouth-to-mouth after he was stabbed and another politician who served with him in the Army. Tobias Ellwood's blood-stained face as he performed CPR on the knifed policeman became a defining image of yesterday's horrifying terror attack. Today Mr Ellwood was in tears as he listened to a Commons debate about PC Palmers ultimate sacrifice and was too emotional to speak about his attempts to keep him alive. Tory MP James Cleverly also broke down as he described serving with the married father-of-two in the Royal Artillery regiment and asked for his friend to be awarded a posthumous George Medal for valour. The Braintree MP's voiced cracked as he rose in the Commons to remember a man he first met 25 years ago as 'Gunner Keith Palmer' in the military. He said: 'He was a strong, professional public servant and it was a delight to meet him again only a few months after being elected.' Theresa May began the tributes in Parliament and said: 'He was every inch a hero and his actions will never be forgotten' as it was revealed the public has already raised 50,000 for his wife and children. Hero: Pc Keith Palmer, 48, left, was given CPR by MP Tobias Ellwood, right, who was in tears as he listened to a Commons debate today Fight for life: Tory minister Tobias Ellwood gives mouth to mouth to PC Palmer after he was fatally wounded by the terrorist Friend: Tory MP James Cleverly broke down as he described serving with him in the Royal Artillery regiment and asked for his friend to be awarded a posthumous George Medal for valour - Mrs May agreed and said he was 'every inch the hero' Help: Tobias Ellwood stood silently in the Commons and was too emotional to speak about PC Palmer's murder Much loved; A police officer places flowers and a photo of Pc Keith Palmer on Whitehall near the closed-off Houses of Parliament in London Flowers outside the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London with the message: 'We are not afraid. Our hearts are with you' Responding to Mr Cleverly, Mrs May said: 'I thank him for the obvious, not just compassion, but passion with which he has spoken about an individual he knew, and he bears witness to the tremendous public service that Keith Palmer had given this country in so many ways. Victims: What we know about the four dead and 29 injured Four people - excluding the attacker - were murdered. 29 are injured. Seven critically. Theresa May revealed today that among the injured there were 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Chinese, one Irish, one Italian and two Greeks. The foreign victims are likely to all have been tourists. This is what we know: Husband and father Pc Keith Palmer,48, was stabbed to death by terrorist at gates of Parliament Aysha Frade, 43, was on her way to meet her two children, aged eight and 11, when she was killed on Westminster Bridge Kurt Cochran, 54, from Utah was knocked off bridge and died Three French school children are in a critical condition last night. The students are believed to be 15 or 16 and attend the private Lycee Saint-Joseph in Brittany. The attacker also targeted 13 students from Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lancashire. The university said four were hurt. One had head injuries, another wrist injuries, while two were walking wounded. A Romanian couple on holiday are also thought to be among the injured. Andrei Burnaz , an engineer in his mid-20s, and Andreea Cristea , his girlfriend, 29, were caught up in the attack. Five Korean tourists were also reported to be among the injured, one seriously. One woman had jumped into the Thames to escape. A Portuguese man was also hurt in the rampage Irish victim is not seriously injured Italian woman was hit by the bumper of the car and had to have an operation to her left leg Chinese tourist was also hospitalised after being hit by the speeding vehicle and had bone fracture near the shoulder and numerous bruises A Polish man suffered minor injuries and was released from hospital on Thursday, the country's embassy said Advertisement 'Having served in our armed forces and then come here to this place and paid the ultimate sacrifice here at the heart of our democracy, I can assure (Mr Cleverly) that the issue that he's raised is of course one that will be considered in due course.' Father-of-two PC Palmer who had previously served his country as a soldier and once saved a colleague's life in a car crash. Pc Keith Palmer, 48, a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad for the past 15 years, was murdered as he tried to stop the attacker at around 2.30pm on Wednesday. He also served as a soldier with the Royal Artillery regiment. Mr May said: 'PC Palmer had devoted his life to the service of his country. He was a husband and a father, killed doing a job he loved. 'I know the whole House will join me in sending our deepest condolences to his family and to the families and friends of all those who have been killed or injured in yesterday's awful attacks'. His maniac killer, an unnamed British-born man in his forties, had used a Hyundai 4x4 as a weapon to mow down at least 40 people on Westminster Bridge and Parliament Square before charging towards PC Palmer brandishing two knives. The bravery of the murdered policeman was hailed by colleagues, friends and the many MPs whom he was charged with protecting who said he had 'run towards danger' to save the lives of others. One former colleague who said she had her life saved by Pc Palmer when she worked as a police officer paid tribute to the 'absolutely lovely man'. Giving her name only as Nina, from Orpington, south-east London, she told radio station LBC: 'He actually did save my life in a car accident on duty, I was a police officer. 'I was a police officer at the time, in 2007. I had a car accident on duty, I was the passenger. I was the passenger and he was one of the police officers who actually saved my life. 'I owe him everything. He was a wonderful dad, and wonderful husband to his wife and everything.' Reflecting on the officer's attitude to his work, she said: 'He didn't just do his job to go and get paid. He actually cared about the people. 'He really did, he was a lovely man, absolutely lovely man, and everyone's going to really miss him.' PC Palmer was a Charlton Athletic fan and season ticket holder. Today the club laid a red and white scarf on PC Palmer's seat at The Valley in Charlton, south east London in a moving a tribute. Metropolitan Police Acting Commissioner Craig Mackey revealed today that he witnessed the attack. He said 'I personally was a witness to yesterdays events, including part of the tragic attack on Pc Palmer. As with all police officers, I therefore had a duty to secure my evidence and due statements yesterday evening, which I did before resuming my role leading our response to this incident.' This was the scene in the immediate aftermath of the attack, after the attacker entered the grounds of Parliament. He is pictured at the top of the picture - PC Palmer is lying in the middle of the image Police officer Keith Palmer was killed by a knifeman before the attacker was shot by other officers outside Parliament. Emergency services desperately tried to save him, pictured, but he succumbed to his wounds The terrorist, pictured on a stretcher, is also dead, along with three pedestrians killed when the attacker drove a 4x4 across Westminster Bridge, ploughing down and seriously injuring at least 20. He had two knives (ringed) This was the scene as the attacker was taken away to hospital following the attack. He killed four people Two knives lay on the cobbles in front of Parliament after the attacker was shot by armed police protecting the building Silence: Metropolitan Police Acting Commissioner Craig Mackey (far right), who witnessed the attack, led a minute's silence with Britain's top terror officer Mark Rowley (second right) and incoming commissioner Cressida Dick (centre) Never forgotten: A member of the public leaves roses outside New Scotland Yard this morning in memory of Pc Palmer Passion: PC Palmer was a Charlton Athletic fan and season ticket holder. Today the club laid a red and white scarf on PC Palmer's seat at The Valley in Charlton, south east London in a moving a tribute MP James Cleverly said he had known PC Palmer for 25 years after previously serving in the Royal Artillery with him, describing him as a 'lovely man and friend' Officer who gunned down terrorist was Defence Secretary's own security guard Michael Fallon with his armed guards today - it emerged that one of them did shoot the terrorist The policeman who shot the attacker on the parliamentary estate yesterday is believed to have been a close protection officer for Defence Secretary Michael Fallon. Mr Fallons ministerial car was parked in New Palace Yard as a vote was taking place in the Commons at the time. Witnesses said the two plainclothes officers who challenged the attacker after he stabbed Pc Keith Palmer came from the area where the vehicle was parked. They shouted at the man before shooting him when he failed to stop. The attacker later died from his injuries despite efforts to resuscitate him. The news that the killer was not stopped by a regular member of the security team at parliament will raise fresh question about the arrangements. Advertisement Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was murdered by terrorists in Bali in 2002, was among those who tried in vain to save the stabbed policeman's life. He left the scene looking bereft, with the officer's blood on his face. 'Heartbroken' former colleague, Conservative MP James Cleverly, paid tribute to the 'lovely man' he had known for a quarter of a century. He wrote of the 48-year-old father and husband: 'I've known Keith for 25 years. We served together in the Royal Artillery before he became a copper. 'A lovely man, a friend. I'm heartbroken. My thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of Pc Keith Palmer. A brave man.' Scotland Yard's top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley said of his colleague: 'He was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift - and he had every right to expect that would happen.' A minute's silence was held outside New Scotland Yard today in front of its eternal flame remembering all officers killed in the line of duty. One was held simultaneously in the House of Commons, where MPs were locked inside during the attack yesterday afternoon. A fund for PC Palmer's family has already raised 50,000. Many took to social media to pay tribute to the sacrifice. Greater Manchester Police chief constable Ian Hopkins added: '#RIP PC Keith Palmer, brutally murdered today carrying out his duty helping to protect Parliament and the freedom of our Country.' The Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents officers from the force, said: 'PC Keith Palmer. Our brave Met police colleague who today made the ultimate sacrifice #LestWeForget' A chorus of thanks also came from politicians on all sides of the House. Home Affairs Select Committee chairwoman Yvette Cooper, who was in the Palace of Westminster when the terrorist burst through the gates, said: 'Thank you Pc Keith Palmer - to your bravery many others owe their lives and safety' Labour MP Barry Gardiner was also caught up in the lockdown and posted a picture of armed police moving through Parliament. He tweeted: 'Going to bed alive, safe and well thanks to Pc Keith Palmer. God bless him, his family and all those killed or injured. Terror will not win.' Geoffrey Cox, Conservative MP, wrote: 'Deeply sad that a brave Pc, Keith Palmer, died in the service of his country, doing his duty today. We should be proud to know such men.' MP Chi Onwurah tweeted: 'As I left Parliament a police officer apologised for keeping us waiting. Cannot overstate courage & grace of those who protect us Thank you.' Pictured: Mrs Frade, 43, who came from Britain but whose family was from Spain, with her Portugese husband John People on social media were quick to pay tribute to PC Palmer tonight, praising his bravery and service to the public Others called the officer - who is a father and husband - a 'fallen hero' and vowed London was 'not afraid' of terrorism London Mayor Sadiq Khan said PC Palmer was killed 'protecting our city and our democracy from those who want to destroy our way of life' Pc Palmer should get posthumous bravery award, say colleagues Following his act of bravery, public figures and fellow police officers called for PC Palmer to be awarded a posthumous George Medal. The decoration has been awarded to several British police officers for acts of gallantry in the line of duty, including David Hugh Pengelly. The Metropolitan police sergeant protected firefighters during the Broadwater Farm riot in 1985, during which Mr Pengelly's comrade PC Keith Blakelock was infamously murdered. PC Dave Stubbs, chairman of the Constables Branch Board of the Staffordshire Police Federation, was among those to pay tribute to former soldier PC Palmer on social media and call for similar honours to be issued. He said: 'Brave officer killed stopping terrorist named as PC Keith Palmer, a father and husband who went work to serve community and never returned home. 'PC Keith Palmer deserves [the] George Medal for his actions stopping a terrorist which sadly led to him losing his life.' Labour MP Chris Bryant, who was among those locked inside the Palace of Westminster, also called for PC Palmer to be recognised with the medal. Posting to his official Twitter account, the member for the Rhondda Valley added: 'All of us owe an enormous debt of gratitude to a man we all knew well.' Meanwhile, social media users said PC Palmer deserved to be awarded the George Cross, the second highest award of the UK honours system after the Victoria Cross. Advertisement Today one of the people killed in the London terrorist attack has been named as Aysha Frade, who was mown down by the Hyundai as she walked to pick up her two children. The 43-year-old mum-of-two's family hailed from Betanzos near the Galician city of La Coruna but she lived in London. Four people and the attacker died in London on Wednesday afternoon after a man driving a Hyundai 4x4 crashed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before hurting towards the gates of Parliament. A woman who was pulled alive from the Thames after jumping off Westminster Bridge to escape the attacker was among the dozens of victims in yesterday's atrocity. French children on a school trip to London and a young Conservative activist visiting Westminster were also injured by the Hyundai driven by the suspected terrorist. Victims were wheeled away on stretchers while others were treated at the scene. One injured man was pictured with a bandage wrapped around his bloodied head. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said Mrs May spent 40 minutes this afternoon on a private hospital visit. She met both victims of the attack and staff caring for them. No 10 refused to reveal which hospital the Prime Minister visited or who took part in the visit. Three of the French pupils were in a critical condition last night. One was catapulted into the air and ended up on the roof of the car. The students are believed to be 15 or 16 and attend the private Lycee Saint-Joseph in Brittany. Fellow pupils told of how they were 'seconds' from death after the driver sped towards them. One boy, named only as Johan, told France's Ouest France paper: 'The car hit three boys, we all had the reflexes to move back. 'Then the man got out of the car and started to run towards Parliament. We heard the two gun shots. Then I saw people on the ground, I think they had been stabbed.' The attacker also targeted 13 students from Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lancashire. The university said four were hurt. One had head injuries, another wrist injuries, while two were walking wounded. Travis Frain, 19, from Darwen, Lancashire, the Chairman of Conservative Future's West Lancashire branch, suffered a cracked rib and injuries to his hand. His mother said he was in hospital but was in 'good spirits' and in a stable condition. Mr Frain has previously volunteered for Conservative Darwen and Rossendale MP Jake Berry. This was the series of events where a knife attacker drove into pedestrians before he was shot by police A woman was either knocked, jumped or fell in the River Thames during the attack but was rescued by boat crews A patient believed to be the woman who plunged into the River Thames during the horrific terror attack is pictured here being treated in Westminster A woman leans down on Westminster Bridge to help another woman who was injured in this afternoon's attack in London There were disturbing scenes on Westminster Bridge where at least 40 pedestrians were hurt after being knocked down by the car Another woman was severely injured at a postcard stall opposite Big Ben following the horrific terror attack A man is thought to have jumped or been knocked from Westminster Bridge and lay with terrible injuries next to the Thames This was the scene on Embankment last night after the man either fell or was knocked from the bridge during the attack Owen Lambert, 18, from Morecambe, who was one of the university students and suffered a head wound, said the car used in the attack 'came out of nowhere'. Armed police arrest seven in raids at six addresses across Britain including flat in Birmingham Armed police officers have raided a flat on Hagley Road in Birmingham Armed police stormed a flat above a takeaway in Birmingham last night and arrested three suspects in a raid linked to the Westminster terror attack. Dozens of officers ran into the address on Hagley Road, which a neighbour believes could be home of the Westminster attacker. Other sources have claimed the 4x4 vehicle used yesterday could have been rented from the same road. Scotland Yard said that it was 'not prepared to discuss' the operation coordinated with West Midlands Police. But a witness who works nearby said: 'The man from London lived here.' Hundreds of detectives have been working through the night Six addresses wee raided and officers made seven arrests. The inquiries in Birmingham, London and other parts of the country continue. Advertisement A Romanian couple on holiday are also thought to be among the injured. Andrei, an engineer in his mid-20s, and Andreea, his girlfriend, were caught up in the attack. Retired surveyor Patrick Tracey, 64, said he believed Andreea had been severely injured while Andrei had suffered an injury to his leg after being hit by the car. A message on the Romanian Embassy's Facebook said two of the country's citizens had been injured and taken to local hospitals. Five Korean tourists were also reported to be among the injured, one seriously. One witness, bus driver Michael Adamou, 25, said he believed at least one woman had jumped into the Thames to escape. 'The first thing I saw was the two people laying lifeless on the floor,' he said. 'I heard one guy come running behind me shouting his wife had jumped into the river to avoid getting knocked down.' Terror struck at the heart of democracy yesterday in the UK's worst atrocity since the London attacks of 2005. In a savage assault on Parliament, a suspected Islamic State extremist mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing three and injuring at least 40 more. The maniac then slammed his 4x4 vehicle into barriers outside Parliament before charging into its main courtyard brandishing two knives. An unarmed constable who tried to stop him was cut down without pity and died from stab wounds. He was named last night as Keith Palmer, a 48-year-old married father. The senseless rampage, which was witnessed by hundreds of horrified tourists, was brought to a halt by a volley of shots from another officer. The attacker died in hospital bringing the death toll to five. As Theresa May condemned the 'sick and depraved' atrocity: Police launched a massive manhunt for accomplices; An urgent review of security of Parliament was under way; There were claims that no armed officers were in the courtyard; Parliament vowed to sit as usual today; Channel 4 News and Wikipedia wrongly identified the attacker. Speaking outside No 10 last night, the Prime Minister her voice shaking said: 'For those of us who were in Parliament at the time of this attack, these events provide a particular reminder of the exceptional bravery of our police and security services who risk their lives to keep us safe. 'Once again today, these exceptional men and women ran towards the danger even as they encouraged others to move the other way.' Pieces of a car's undercarriage lay scattered on the pavement of Westminster Bridge as the public went to the aid of victims Westminster bridge was strewn with injured people who were treated on the road or carried to St Thomas' Hospital A pedestrian lies stricken on Westminster Bridge after reports a car knocked down people near the Houses Parliament An injured victim walks from the scene on Westminster Bridge where around 40 people were reported knocked down How the terror attack unfolded 2.40pm: An attacker mows down several pedestrians as he drives a Hyundai i40 across Westminster Bridge before crashing it into railings then running through the gates of the Palace of Westminster and stabbing a police officer 2.41pm: Metropolitan Police and London Ambulance Service are called to a major incident 3.35pm: Police say the attack is being treated 'as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise' 4.10pm: Junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital says one woman has died and a number of others have been hurt - including some with 'catastrophic' injuries 4.45pm: Paramedics confirm they have treated at least ten patients on Westminster Bridge 4.49pm: Police Commander BJ Harrington says there were 'a number of casualties' in the attack 'including police officers'. 4.51pm: Downing Street spokesman says Prime Minister Theresa May will chair a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee later 5.40pm: Sources reveal the police officer stabbed at Parliament has died 6.01pm: Police say four people were killed in the attack, including the police officer and a man believed to be the attacker 6.56pm: Home Secretary Amber Rudd says the Government's top priority following the attack is 'the security of its people' Advertisement Victims suffered what doctors called 'catastrophic injuries' after the crazed attacker mounted the pavement and ploughed into pedestrians as he sped toward Big Ben at around 2.40pm. Amid the carnage, some leapt off the bridge to escape, and one woman was later pulled alive from the Thames. Another woman ended up beneath the wheels of a double decker bus. Among the injured were university students and a party of French schoolchildren. Three people were killed on the bridge as the Hyundai left a terrible trail of bloodied twisted bodies. Rob Lyon, 34, from Rugby in Warwickshire, said: 'I heard the clang of metal on the pavement. I saw a man flung into the air from the impact, and a woman was under a bus. She didn't look like she had much chance.' The car then smashed into security railings outside Parliament. Jayne Wilkinson said: 'We were taking photos of Big Ben and we saw all the people running toward us, and then there was an Asian guy in about his 40s carrying a knife about seven or eight inches long.' In a devastating breach of security, the knifeman was able to storm into the parliamentary grounds. Rick Longley said: 'A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman.' Pat McCormack, 21, from Tyne and Wear, said: 'I saw him stabbing the officer in the back of the head and the back of the neck. He was running away but then he collapsed.' The second officer chased the fanatic, who was heading for a visitor cafe, and shot him three or four times. Scotland Yard's top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley said: 'This was a day we've planned for but hoped would never happen. 'Sadly it is now a reality.' Paying tribute to Mr Palmer, who had been an officer for 15 years, he said: 'He was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift.' He added: 'We think we know who the attacker is. We are working through associates.' Asked about the motivation of the attack, Mr Rowley said: 'Islamic-related terrorism is our assumption.' 'WE WILL NEVER GIVE IN': THERESA MAY VOWS UK WILL 'GO ON' AFTER LONDON TERROR ATTACK Prime Minister Theresa May vowed Britain would 'never give in to terror' today following the 'sick and depraved' London terror attack in which three people and a knifeman were killed. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, she said: 'I have just chaired a meeting of the Government's emergency committee, COBRA, following the sick and depraved terrorist attack on the streets of our Capital this afternoon. 'The full details of exactly what happened are still emerging. But, having been updated by police and security officials, I can confirm that this appalling incident began when a single attacker drove his vehicle into pedestrians walking across Westminster Bridge, killing two people and injuring many more, including three police officers. 'This attacker, who was armed with a knife, then ran towards Parliament where he was confronted by the police officers who keep us and our democratic institutions safe. 'Tragically, one officer was killed. The terrorist was also shot dead. In a sombre public statement today, Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain will never surrender to the forces of hate and evil and praised the emergency services 'The United Kingdom's threat level has been set at severe for some time and this will not change. Acting Deputy Commissioner Rowley will give a further operational update later this evening. 'Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who have been affected to the victims themselves, and their family and friends who waved their loved ones off, but will not now be welcoming them home. 'For those of us who were in Parliament at the time of this attack, these events provide a particular reminder of the exceptional bravery of our police and security services who risk their lives to keep us safe. 'Once again today, these exceptional men and women ran towards the danger even as they encouraged others to move the other way. 'On behalf of the whole country, I want to pay tribute to them and to all our emergency services for the work they have been doing to reassure the public and bring security back to the streets of our Capital City. 'That they have lost one of their own in today's attack only makes their calmness and professionalism under pressure all the more remarkable. 'The location of this attack was no accident. The terrorists chose to strike at the heart of our Capital City, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech. 'These streets of Westminster home to the world's oldest Parliament are engrained with a spirit of freedom that echoes in some of the furthest corners of the globe. And the values our Parliament represents democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of law command the admiration and respect of free people everywhere. Theresa May's armour-plated car is driven from the scene after she was taken from Parliament by a plain clothes police officer 'That is why it is a target for those who reject those values. 'But let me make it clear today, as I have had cause to do before: any attempt to defeat those values through violence and terror is doomed to failure. 'Tomorrow morning, Parliament will meet as normal. We will come together as normal. 'And Londoners - and others from around the world who have come here to visit this great City - will get up and go about their day as normal. 'They will board their trains, they will leave their hotels, they will walk these streets, they will live their lives. 'And we will all move forward together. Never giving in to terror. And never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart.' Advertisement A huge investigation has begun to try to find out what happened, with hundreds of Scotland Yard officers scouring the bridge Theresa May, who was ushered away after the attack, later chaired a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee Forensic officers used cameras to collate evidence after several people were injured on Westminster Bridge (pictured) A Met armed policeman stands in the Central Lobby of Parliament near to Former Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble as MPs gather during the lockdown, which was lifted last night A Scotland Yard superintendent addresses the crowd who had gathered in Westminster Abbey after being evacuated from Parliament An armed policeman is seen inside the Central Lobby in Parliament as they continue to patrol the area following the attack Students who were visiting Parliament were held in a safe room as the incident unfolded outside the building Staff gathered in Westminster Hall during a lockdown after members of the public were told to avoid the area MPs were seen gathered in Central Lobby during a lockdown in Parliament yesterday as terror took over Westminster THE 'PATH OF DESTRUCTION' FROM WESTMINSTER BRIDGE TO THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT This is the path of terror left in London on Wednesday when pedestrians on Westminster Bridge were mowed down on the pavement before a police officer in the Houses of Parliament was stabbed. The horror began at the south London end of Westminster bridge when a driver in a Hyundai 4X4 mounted the pavement at around 2.30pm, mowing down the first pedestrians. He continued along the pavement, ploughing through at least a dozen victims in total, before coming to a stop at the Houses of Parliament where he crashed his Hyundai 4X4 into railings. Either he or another attacker then burst through Old Palace Yard at the Houses of Parliament where a police officer was stabbed. That assailant was shot by armed police at the scene and taken to hospital, where he later died. Advertisement MP who lost a brother in the Bali terrorist attack gave mouth to mouth to policeman as he lay stricken on the floor of Westminster Tory MP Tobias Ellwood battled to save the life of a policeman stabbed outside Parliament today. The Bournemouth East MP gave mouth-to-mouth to the officer and put pressure on his wounds to stop the blood flow after he was stabbed by an assailant just inside the gates of the Parliamentary estate. He was then pictured with blood on his face after the emergency services arrived and took over medical assistance. Witnesses said Mr Ellwood rushed to help the officer after he collapsed to the ground following the stabbing He was later pictured with bloodied hands talking to police following his heroic actions The Bournemouth East MP was later pictured with blood on his face as he stepped back to allow the emergency services to take over His brother Jonathan, pictured, was killed in the Bali bombings in 2002. The history teacher was in Bali ahead of a conference when explosives were detonated outside nightclubs in a popular tourist area Two large knives were seen at the scene, which was overrun with police and paramedics following the attack Mr Ellwood, centre, lost his brother Jonathan in the 2002 Bali bombings by an Islamic militant group. He is pictured here with mother Caroline, right, at a 10 year memorial service in 2012 Westminster police bundled Theresa May into a car and rushed her away from Parliament as terror attack unfolded Prime Minister Theresa May was rushed out of Parliament as it came under terrorist attack by a man wielding two seven-inch knives after murdering police and pedestrians. Mrs May, who was in the voting lobby by the Commons, was seen being bundled into the back seat of her silver Jaguar surrounded by armed guards at around 2.45pm. The uninjured Prime Minister, who had recently finished PMQs, was driven out of the Palace of Westminster at high speed and taken safely to Downing Street. MPs were locked inside the Commons as armed police went through Parliament 'floor by floor' and 'room by room' looking for any other assailants. Prime Minister Theresa May, pictured, was rushed out of Parliament as it came under terrorist attack yesterday MailOnline political editor James Tapsfield described hearing the 'bang' of the car smashing into the fence after its Westminster Bridge rampage and then the gunfire that followed when the terrorist was shot dead below his office. He said: 'We were in the MailOnline office overlooking New Palace Yard when the attack started. 'The first sign we had that something was wrong was a loud bang. It sounded like a bomb, but I now realise it must have been the car smashing into the perimeter fence around parliament. 'Some people ran in through the gates, past the police. I didn't see the policeman being stabbed, but then spotted the man in black. He made it a few yards inside the grounds before being challenged by two men with guns and then shots - I think three of them - rang out. 'Police and staff poured on to the scene very quickly and started trying to resuscitate the attacker. 'They took the attacker away in an ambulance, but the other person - we think was the officer - was covered with a sheet.' Mrs May (pictured leaving No 10 for PMQs) is safe and uninjured. A Number 10 spokesman said: 'The thoughts of the Prime Minister and the Government are with those killed and injured in this appalling incident, and with their families' A Number 10 spokesman said Mrs May was being kept updated about the investigation. 'The thoughts of the Prime Minister and the Government are with those killed and injured in this appalling incident, and with their families,' said the spokesman. 'The Prime Minister is being kept updated and will shortly chair COBR.' David Cameron tweeted: 'My thoughts with the families of those injured & killed. Those seeking to attack our democracy with these barbarous methods will never win.' Sicilian fisherman have started shooting dolphins with spear guns and rifles, claiming that the protected species it eating too many fish and destroying their nets. The Italian fishermen have launched a two-day strike over the 'greedy' striped and bottlenose dolphins, claiming they're ruining their livelihood around the Aeolian Islands. Filicudi Wildlife Conservation estimated that there are approximately 100 dolphins in the region. Fishermen say revenues from sales have dropped by 70 per cent in some areas. Giovanni Basciano, the vice-president of a local fishing cooperative that represents 119 fishing boats, said the fishermen are calling for a state of natural disaster declaration and are seeking compensation from the government. Sicilian fisherman have launched a two-day strike over the 'greedy' dolphins, claiming the animals are following boats, raiding nets and eating their catch around the Aeolian Islands (file photo of dolphins swimming through the Mediterranean) 'Every night, there is a war for survival,' he told Repubblica Palermo. 'We must clarify, we don't have anything against dolphins, but a we must find a solution: It's either fishermen or them [dolphins].' The fishermen say that the dolphins have learned to follow their boats and raid their nets of fish. As the dolphins eat up the fish in the area, fishermen are going to extreme measures to get rid of the mammals. 'The majority of fishermen don't wish to harm the dolphins but it is not by chance that there are increasing numbers of animals washing up on the beaches having been shot with spear guns,' he said. Another fisherman, Ignazio Spataro, said that his catch has decreased. 'I used to bring home 5kg of fish. This morning I came back with five bream and a cod. The dolphins are intelligent they follow the boats,' he said. The battle between fishermen and dolphins is particularly fierce in the Aeolian Islands (pictured), an archipelago of volcanic islands in the bay between Sicily and Italy's mainland As the dolphins eat up the fish in the area, fishermen are going to extreme measures to get rid of the mammals by shooting them with spear guns and rifles The battle between fishermen and dolphins is particularly fierce in the Aeolian Islands, an archipelago of volcanic islands in the bay between Sicily and Italy's mainland. But a spokeswoman from Filicudi Wildlife Conservation said that the number of dolphins is not any larger than it was 15 years ago. 'Fishermen think the number is increasing, but that's not the case,' Monica Blasi, a biologist working at the organisation, told IBTimes. 'The problem is that fish has decreased in the sea and cetaceans swim closer to boats to eat,' she added. One solution to keep dolphins away from boats is to provide devices with 'pinger' devices, that will emit a frequency that will repel dolphins but not fish. The device will be trialed on some boats in May. Trish Neis-Beer, a woman from Adelaide, was run over by a terrorist in London as he mowed down dozens of people on Westminster Bridge A South Australian mother run over by a terrorist in London as he mowed down dozens of people on Westminster Bridge was visiting her daughter while on holidays. Trish Neis-Beer, who was born in Germany but is an Australian resident and works in Adelaide, had her foot run over during the lone wolf rampage in central London. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop confirmed Ms Neis-Beer was recovering in hospital and receiving consular assistance after Wednesday's atrocity. Less than a month ago Ms Neis-Beer announced she would be taking time off work and temporarily closing her online shop - an online vintage fashion and craft store named Retro and Roses. 'My shop will be closed until the 10th May! The travel bug has beckoned and I am travelling around England and Europe to visit my daughter and family. Please view my sold items to get a feel for the items in my store,' she wrote online. The Australian mother was visiting her daughter while on holidays when her foot was run over by the terrorist Ms Neis-Beer is undergoing surgery for serious injuries to her foot sustained in the attack. She had planned to travel Spain with her daughter (pictured together above) A total of 40 people were injured when the attacker drove a rented Hyundai down the pavement on Westminster Bridge, plowing into pedestrians. Pictured, the terrorist's crashed car The woman had her foot ran over during the attack in central London and is recovering in hospital. Pictured, investigators at the scene on Westminster Bridge Armed police are pictured on patrol at Parliament House in Canberra, which is on high alert Trish Neis-Beer, a woman from Adelaide, was run over by a terrorist in London as he mowed down dozens of people on Westminster Bridge 'All I know is that she's safe, alive and being well looked after by the government,' Mrs Neis-Beer's mother Evelyn Neis-Conrad told 7 News. Ms Neis-Beer, who also works in an organic cafe, is undergoing surgery for serious injuries to her foot sustained in the attack. According to 7 News, she had planned to travel Spain with her daughter. The government had earlier stated that no Australians had been caught up in the attack, which left four people dead, including the terrorist. A total of 40 people were injured when the attacker drove a rented Hyundai down the pavement on Westminster Bridge, plowing into pedestrians and causing one woman to jump into the River Thames. After fatally injuring three on the bridge, the attacker - who is yet to be named - crashed the car and ran towards the Houses of Parliament, where he stabbed police officer Keith Palmer. Mr Palmer, a married father, died at the scene. One of his brave colleagues shot the terrorist, who later died in hospital. Canberra was placed on high alert after the London attack, with armed police officers wielding semi-automatic weapons guarding Parliament House. Heavily-armed officers were deployed early Thursday morning following the atrocity outside Britain's Westminster, with several guards seen outside federal buildings in the Australian capital. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull vowed to 'defeat and destroy' terrorists seeking to kill Australians after five people died in the horrific London attack Officers with guns were guarding Parliament on Thursday morning following the horrific events in London Extra officers were drafted in overnight following the atrocity outside Britain's Parliament, with the government taking extra precautions The beefed up security was in place as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull vowed to 'defeat and destroy' terrorists seeking to kill Australians. Mr Turnbull said the government would not allow terrorism or fear to affect the Australian way of life and said: 'We will never, ever let the terrorists win.' 'We will defeat and destroy them on the battlefield, we will defeat and defy them at home,' the prime minister said. 'We will never change the way we live. We will never let them divide us. We will never let them intimidate us or challenge or democratic way of life or the freedoms for which generations of Australians have serve said and died to keep - served and died to keep secure.' Mr Turnbull added that there would be extra security in Canberra in response to the attack in London. 'The AFP commissioner has confirmed there will be an increase in police present in parliament house here in Canberra today,' he said. 'We are very alert to the vulnerabilities of places of mass gathering and the risk of lone attackers, like the perpetrators, the terrorist in London.' Canberra was placed on high alert this morning following the attack in Westminster on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Turnbull said Carmage after the horrific terror attack near London's Houses of Parliament that has left at least five people dead. Pictured, emergency services at the scene Paramedics are seen treating the suspected attacker, who later died in hospital Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia's High Commissioner in London had not identified any Australians among the killed or injured following the atrocity. Pictured, emergency services at the scene Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Australian government was doing everything in its power to keep the country safe but warned that lone wolf terrorist attacks 'can occur anywhere at any time'. She added that Australian extremists fighting for ISIS in Syria and Iraq may return as the barbaric group are defeated in the Middle East. 'They may well seek to come back to our part of the world. That's why we are monitoring them, tracking them, exchanging intelligence real-time, information to ensure we can keep people as safe as possible,' Ms Bishop told 9 News. British MP Tobias Ellwood (centre) treated a stabbed police officer outside Parliament in London People ... may seek to come back to southeast Asia, Australia, we will do everything we can to track them and prosecute them if we have evidence to prove they are guilty of terrorism offences.' Ms Bishop extended the Australian government's deepest sympathy to the people of the UK after speaking to her counterpart Boris Johnson. The minister insisted the government is doing all it can to ensure Australia is safe from such an attack. 'But as we have seen in the United Kingdom today, these events can occur,' she said. Mr Turnbull earlier tweeted, saying that Australia's heartfelt sympathies were with the victims of the attack. 'Australia stands in resolute solidarity with the people of Britain in war against terrorism,' he tweeted. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pledged support to Britain after the attack. 'This shocking crime, designed to weaken the UK, will only make her stronger. All Australians stand with Britain today,' he tweeted early on Thursday. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said no Australians were caught up in the attack in London An attacker brought carnage to central London on Wednesday afternoon, mowing down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and hacking at police with knives in the grounds of the Houses of Parliament At least 20 people were hit when a 4x4 drove along the pavement on the crowded bridge, knocking down and seriously injuring pedestrians before crashing into a fence below Big Ben There was carnage in central London on Wednesday afternoon when an attacked mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and hacked at police with knives in the grounds of the Houses of Parliament. At least 20 people were hit when a 4x4 drove along the pavement on the crowded bridge, knocking down and seriously injuring pedestrians before crashing into a fence below Big Ben. The killer, described by witnesses as 'middle-aged and Asian', then managed to break into the grounds of the Parliament where he fatally stabbed a police officer with two knives. The policeman died at the scene. The attacker, who was shot by armed officers, died after he was taken to hospital. It is believed one attacker was involved and he killed three people, including the policeman, and left at least 20 pedestrians and three other police officers seriously injured. Prime Minister Theresa May was bundled into her car by a plain-clothes police officer and driven quickly from the scene as the attack unfolded. London's Metropolitan Police said the attack, which comes a year to the day after the terrorist atrocities in Brussels, is being treated 'as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise'. A couple have been arrested after they allegedly drove off and left their eight-week-old son on the parking lot floor while he was still strapped to his car seat. Sarah Shibley, 33, and Gary Collins, 39, from Katy, Texas, have charged with endangering a child after they allegedly drove off and left the baby. A man found the baby boy and handed him over to Dee Griffin-Stevens, a mother-of -three who cared for him until Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) officers arrived. The baby boy's mother, Sarah Shibley (pictured, left) and her partner Gary Collins (right) appeared in court yesterday charged with child endangerment Ms Griffin-Stevens told ABC News affiliate KTRK: 'I was crying because I couldn't believe it was happening. I'm holding him and I'm thinking:"Where's your mom?''' The little boy has been described as a 'happy, healthy, chunky baby who looks as if he has been cared for' She said the little boy, who is thought to have been alone for 45 minutes, did not even have a bottle or a blanket. The couple appeared in court yesterday and a prosecutor said Shibley told the police they had left the child by mistake, having failed to put the car seat in the car. The prosecutor said: 'Mrs Shibley advised us she walked out of work with the child in her hand and placed him on the ground. 'She says she thought Mr. Collins grabbed the child and put him in the vehicle. Apparently, nobody did.' The boy, who has not been named, is being cared for by Texas CPS until he can be returned to relatives. A Texas CPS spokesman said he was a 'happy, healthy, chunky baby who looks as if he has been cared for'. Los Angeles has blocked airport police and firefighters from co-operating with federal immigration agents. The latest directive is the city's most aggressive bid yet to oppose President Trump's tough crackdown and protect illegal immigrants from immigration officials. Mayor Eric Garcetti declared it was 'un-American' to 'demonize' their neighbors simply because they are foreign, as the city beefed up its 'sanctuary city' status. Los Angeles has blocked airport police and firefighters from co-operating with federal immigration agents in its latest bid to oppose President Trump's tough crackdown The Los Angeles Police Department already prohibits police from asking for the legal status of a suspect even if they have probable cause. 'In Los Angeles, we don't separate people from their families because it's inhumane,' Eric Garcetti said on Tuesday. 'In Los Angeles, we don't demonize our hardworking neighbors just because they speak another language or come from another country. That's un-American.' His words come after a wave of similar measures by cities and states to rebuff Trump's administration's immigration measures. New York recently unveiled a set of rules for how schools must react if immigration officers turn up, the Observer reported. New protocol instructs schools to keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents out of the building unless they have a valid and urgent warrant for a pupil. They must also get detailed information and paperwork about why they are there and promptly call attorneys from the city Department of Education. The Los Angeles Police Department already prohibits police from asking for the legal status of a suspect even if they have probable cause Mayor Eric Garcetti (pictured) declared it was 'un-American' to 'demonize' their neighbors simply because they are foreign as the city beefed up its 'sanctuary city' status The rules are intended to reassure immigrant New Yorkers anxious over his enforcement agenda. Mayor Bill de Blasio said they put the 'precautions in place' because the President's actions towards immigrants have created 'an atmosphere of particular fear and a sense that anything could happen'. It is believed there are around 300 jurisdictions that don't co-operate with ICE to turn over illegal immigrants, Fox News reported. President Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds from these 'sanctuary cities' - which provide haven to non-violent undocumented immigrants. President Trump's tough immigration crackdown has left the nation divided, with some branding it 'inhumane' while others are embracing them. It is believed there are around 300 jurisdictions that don't co-operate with ICE to turn over illegal immigrants, Fox News reported Lawmakers in Florida, Texas, Virginia, Kansas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Wisconsin have introduced bills to penalize sanctuary cities. Mississippi became the first state to approve the bill on Tuesday, as the governor vowed to sign it. In California, several sheriffs are opposing proposed legislation that would prohibit police or jails from even talking to ICE. Some sheriffs who oversee jails see the move as a breach of federal laws, Fox news reported. LA Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who oversees the nation's largest jail, said: 'We look to be able to strike that balance between public safety and trust. 'We do a better job because we work together than we otherwise would; counter-terrorism is a great example.' He is one of the few politicians opposing the bill because it would prohibit jail staff from identifying violent criminal aliens for deportation. 'We can allow ICE access to those individuals. That's a system that by and large works very well for us at this point and one of the main reasons I look at Senate Bill 54 as something that is unnecessary.' McDonnell also told the Los Angeles Times that the legislation would hurt immigrants not help them. New York is similarly opposed to Trump's policies and most recently unveiled a set of rules for how schools must react if immigration officers turn up, the Observer reported. He said if immigration officials cannot pick up illegal immigrants from jails, then they will be forced to look for them in communities. 'They are going to have no choice but to go into the communities and arrest not only the individual they are seeking but also people who are with that person, or other people in the area who are undocumented,' McDonnell said. 'That is something none of us want. President Trump undertook one of his biggest campaign promises during his first week in office when he signed an executive order that vastly overhauled current immigration law. Under the new policies, deportation restrictions were stripped to the bare minimum, meaning that up to 8million people could be considered priorities for deportation, according to a study done by the Los Angeles Times. These new policies have opened the doors for roundups and detentions of illegal immigrants on a scaled that has not been seen in roughly 10 years. The Times' calculations were based on interviews with experts who studied the order, as well as two internal documents that signal how seriously immigration officials are taking Trump's directive. These expansive deportations could have significant consequences on the United States population. Lawmakers in Florida, Texas, Virginia, Kansas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Wisconsin have introduced bills to penalize sanctuary cities Families could be separated, businesses catering to immigrant customers could be shuttered, and crops could be left to rot, unpicked, due to labor shortages in industries that rely on an immigrant workforce such as agriculture, reported the Times. New policies and instructions will significantly expand President Obama's focus on deporting only recent arrivals, repeat violators and people with criminal violations. Only about 1.4million people were considered priorities for removal under the past administration. 'They really are going to round up everybody they can get their hands on,' according to David Leopold, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Trump's orders tell immigration officials to deport all immigrants convicted of crimes, and also all those that have not been charged but are believed to have committed crimes. That number applies to the 6million people who are believed to entered the United States without passing an official border crossing, according to the Times. It comes as several city officials and sheriffs around the U.S. lashed out Tuesday at a White House report aiming to shame them over what the Trump administration sees as lax immigration policies, saying it includes wrong or misleading information about recent arrests of immigrants or their jail policies. The pushback was not just from liberal local governments that are at odds with President Donald Trump over immigration crackdowns and his promise to deport 'bad dudes' living in the United States illegally. In Texas, the elected Republican sheriff of conservative Williamson County said his jail didn't refuse four recent immigration detainer requests as claimed. The list was prompted by an executive order signed by Trump in January that called on the government to document which local jurisdictions aren't cooperating with federal efforts to find and deport immigrants in the country illegally. The first list was released Monday, citing 206 examples of immigrants who were said to have been released from custody by local jails despite requests from federal agents. The requests, often called 'detainers,' have taken on a greater role in the immigration debate under Trump, who strenuously opposes local policies that grant leniency to people in the country illegally. Many 'sanctuary cities' choose to not honor the requests when immigrants complete their sentences and are released from jail. A married science teacher who grinned from ear to ear in her mugshot after she was arrested on suspicion of having sex with a 17-year-old student was 'smiling because she knows she is innocent', her lawyer has claimed. Sarah Fowlkes, 27, has been suspended from her job at Lockhart High School in Texas and faces up to 20 years behind bars for the alleged illicit relationship. Her attorney, Jason Nassour, yesterday insisted she was beaming in her booking photo because she is innocent. 'This isn't a guilty person sitting there like they just got caught,' Nassour told KXAS. 'When everything's fleshed out, it won't be as it appears.' Fowlkes, who has worked as a biology teacher at the school since October 2014, was booked into Caldwell County Jail on Monday, hours after celebrating her birthday with her husband. No shame: Sarah Fowlkes (seen here in her mugshots) grinned into the camera after being arrested on suspicion of having sex with a student Lockhart police had obtained an arrest warrant for Fowlkes who turned herself in. Nassour added that Fowlkes 'was arrested on the statement of a 17-year-old kid with no corroborating evidence.' The Houston Chronicle reported that a school administrator contacted the police about an inappropriate relationship between a student and a teacher on March 10. Police say they found evidence of messages exchanged between her and the student. 'Their contact was of a sexual nature,' said police. Police Chief Ernest Pedraza charged Fowlkes, with engaging in 'sexual contact with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of' the alleged victim, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Video courtesy of CBS Austin Fowlkes, who is married, celebrated her 27th birthday the day before she was arrested Together: Fowlkes is seen here with her husband of three years (left) and (right) and posing for a selfie in her car Having an improper relationship between an educator and a student is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Detectives in Lockhart, which is about 30 miles from Austin, interviewed a 17-year-old student who admitted to having sexual contact with Fowlkes. Lockhart Independent School District duly suspended Fowlkes - who has been married since 2013 - pending an appearance before the State Board for Educator Certification. The biology teacher faces up to 20-years behind bars if convicted School superintendent Susan Bohn said: 'Lockhart parents entrust their children to us every day, and it is something we do not take lightly. 'Student safety is the district's most important priority. As soon as we learned of the report, we acted swiftly to involve law enforcement and CPS to conduct a thorough investigation. The district does not and will not tolerate any improper communication or contact between a teacher and child.' Local news reported that on her profile page on the school's website - which has since been deleted - Fowlkes wrote: 'I have very high expectations of myself as a teacher as well as of my students and I hope that this will be a formula for achievement. 'I want this to be an enjoyable year for all of my students but also a productive, challenging and encouraging year with success for everyone.' Police in Lockhart said that this is the first time they have investigated a teacher for having an inappropriate relatinship with a student. 'Seventeen years old is obviously older but at the same time it doesn't make anything right,' said Detective Jesse Bell to KXAN. 'If the kid is in school, parents trust the school to take care of their kids so it's definitely not right that a teacher in a position of power over a student be able to take advantage of a student.' Left-wing columnists and Muslim political activists have joined forces to call for Pauline Hanson to be censored in the wake of the London terrorist attacks. The One Nation leader posted a Facebook video on Thursday renewing her call for a ban on Muslim migration to Australia. 'People are feeling sorry for people over there and I've seen the hashtag #prayforlondon,' she said from Parliament House in Canberra. 'Well look, I have my own hashtag and you won't need to be praying for this place or that place, because it's #pray4amuslimban.' Pauline Hanson called for the hashtag: 'Pray 4 Muslim Ban' on her Facebook page Feminist writer Clementine Ford tweeted '#Pray4PaulineHansonToF***Off' Feminists are apparently meant to stand up for other women, except when it's Pauline Hanson While some Muslim activists have condemned the atrocity by a lone terrorist, which has so far left four people dead, columnist Clementine Ford preferred to mock Senator Pauline. '#Pray4PaulineHansonToF***Off,' she tweeted. Islamist psychologist Hanan Dover, who is campaigning to ban Somali-born Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali from touring Australia, called for Senator Hanson to be censored even though she's an elected member of parliament. '#PrayForPaulineBan,' she said in a written message on her Facebook page. This is the same woman who has represented terror suspects and made anti-gay speeches. Muslim psychologist Hanan Dover has suggested Pauline Hanson should be banned Former Labor staff Paul Syvret turned columnist said Pauline Hanson was fuelling extremism Paul Syvret, who hails from Queensland, accused his state's senator of encouraging terror Former Labor staffer Paul Syvret, who now works as a left-wing News Corp columnist in Brisbane, accused Senator Hanson of encouraging terrorism with her renewed call to ban Muslim migration. 'Pauline Hanson is acting as a recruiting agent for extremists with that inflammatory bulls***,' he said. His statement was retweeted by Islamophobia Register Australia founder Mariam Veiszadeh, who makes regular appearances on ABC News 24. The hijab-wearing lawyer, who is married to New South Wales Liberal Premier Gladys Berejiklian's media director Ehssan Veiszadeh, was more measured in her criticism of Senator Hanson. '#PrayForLogic,' she said. Mariam Veiszadeh (left) who is married to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian's media director Ehssan Veiszadeh was more restrained in her criticism of Pauline Hanson Clementine Ford (left) with Islamophobia Register Australia founder Mariam Veiszadeh Four people were killed on Wednesday as an unnamed terrorist of south Asian appearance drove a Hyundai Tucson SUV at pedestrians across the Westminister Bridge, outside Parliament. Aysha Frade, 43, was on her way to meet her two daughters, aged eight and 11, when she appears to have been hit by her killer's car and then thrown under a bus. After crashing his car, he sprinted through a gate before stabbing to death Metropolitan policeman Keith Palmer, 48. A man in his fifties was the terrorist's third victim - he was believed to have been knocked off Westminster Bridge on to a concrete underpass below. ProgressivePunch is an imperfect tool for evaluating how candidates perform, but it can be-- if not used as a blunt instrument-- a useful tool in putting together a comprehensive picture. And it's certainly better than any of the other systems I know of that evaluate and score congressional votes. We've mentioned several times that some of the Class of 2016 freshmen have turned out as dreadful as we expected them to. The worst of the lot are routinely voting with the Republicans on crucial issue after crucial issue-- Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL), Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ), Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ), Tom Suozzi (NY), Jacky Rosen (NV), Lou Correa (Blue Dog-CA), Charlie Crist (FL)... But it's also worth looking at who is out-performing and already showing leadership potential. There are half a dozen freshmen who went right to the top of the class: Pramila Jayapal (WA)- 100 Jamie Raskin (MD)- 90.91 Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE)- 90.91 Ro Khanna (CA)- 90.91 Adriano Espaillat (NY)- 90.91 Nanette Barragan (CA)- 90.0 And it takes more than just a good voting record, of course. We've been following closely how Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna have distinguished themselves, leading on new trail-blazing agenda items well beyond what Democrats can expect from their own leadership. This week, in the midst of all the tumult over Putin-Gate and Trump's treasonous role in connivance with the Russians, Jamie Raskin approached the problem of foreign interference in American elections from another perspective. Common Cause brought it to my attention: After foreign entities manipulated our 2016 elections, we must protect ourselves against foreign sources of money that can further erode the integrity of our elections, said Aaron Scherb, Common Causes director of legislative affairs. With more than $650 million in secret political money, some of which was likely from foreign sources, during the last three federal elections, foreign governments and entities potentially hostile to U.S. interests can continue to infiltrate our elections. Common Cause commends Representative Raskin for introducing the Get Foreign Money Out of U.S. Elections Act so we can restore faith and confidence in our election processes. Raskin introduced H.R. 1615 , the purpose of which is to close the foreign money loophole for corporate spending. Since the bulk of this foreign corporate cash goes right to Republicans, none of them have signed on to Raskin's bill. 26 Democrats did however, including Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ruben Kihuen (D-NV) and Beto O'Rourke (D-TX). Adelson should be in prison You may be thinking that current law already bars individual foreign nationals from personally contributing to federal campaigns and you'd be right. But foreign political spending can still take place via American-registered corporations that are foreign subsidiaries, foreign-owned, or foreign-controlled and influenced, all thanks to the Citizens United ruling. Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam, for example launders immense amounts of foreign money to the Republicans this way. Last year alone, they funneled $10 million to Paul Ryan's Congressional Leadership Fund, $20 million to Future45, a SuperPAC that helped Trump, $7.5 million to McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund, over a million to help McCain's reelection and hundreds of thousands more to right-wing candidates everywhere in the country, as well as to state Republican parties in Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Arkansas, California, Nevada, Wisconsin and New Jersey. And that just two assholes of many-- too many. Raskin, a constitutional law professor. explained what he's trying to accomplish with the bill: When the Supreme Court invented corporate free speech rights in Citizens United, it created a massive foreign money loophole in our countrys campaign finance system. The problem is that domestically registered corporations can be taken-over, bought-up, controlled, or influenced by foreign corporations and foreign nationals, and this means foreign powers have an easy and perfectly lawful way to funnel foreign money into American elections. Foreign interests have already spent many millions of dollars on U.S. political campaigns, and we just witnessed unprecedented foreign efforts to undermine our democracy during the 2016 election cycle. We must protect the integrity of American democracy and close this dangerous foreign money loophole. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work with me to build a wall of separation between foreign money and democratic elections. Ryan and McCarthy sent the bill over to the House Committee on House Administration, where a useless chairman, Gregg Harper of Mississippi will bottle it up. Zoe Lofgren, a committee member, has already signed on as a co-sponsor but if any of these Republicans represents your district, please consider e-mailing him or her and letting them know how you feel about foreign money in U.S. elections: A council is bringing a High Court case to stop travellers from developing an illegal site dubbed 'Dale Farm II'. Residents fear a new site is being built on green belt land at Hovefields in Wickford, about two miles from Dale Farm, after lorries delivered more than 600 tonnes of building materials and tarmac this month. Dale Farm in Crays Hill, near Basildon, Essex, was Europe's largest illegal travellers' site and its clearance in 2011 cost about 7 million. This is the scene from overhead at at the five-acre Hovefields site in Wickford, Essex, only two miles from the original Dale Farm at Crays Hill Dale Farm in Crays Hill, near Basildon, Essex, was Europe's largest illegal travellers' site and its clearance in 2011 cost about 7 million. Protesters set fire to tyres, wood and caravans and this woman faced bailiffs who cleared the site Basildon Council is taking legal action after a High Court injunction banning any development was allegedly breached. The hearing is listed to take place on April 5. The injunction, obtained in October 2016, stops any further caravans being brought onto the land at Silva Lodge Kennels, in Hovefields Avenue, but this injunction has allegedly been breached. The council has served enforcement notices for the planning breaches but the owners lodged appeals. The notices requiring removal of the unpermitted works are suspended until the appeals are determined at a Planning Inspectorate inquiry set to start on September 5. Basildon Council leader councillor Phil Turner said: 'By taking this case to court, Basildon Council is demonstrating that it is determined to properly enforce planning law. 'We shall also vigorously defend our position at the planning inquiry.' Basildon Council is still reeling from the pitched battle it funded to remove the travellers from Dale Farm, at Crays Hill (pictured in this map, in relation to the site at Hovefields) Neighbours claim they have witnessed trucks loaded with building materials making deliveries to the Hovefields site in Basildon which was cleared in 2005 (pictured) Residents fear the Hovefields Avenue site could be even bigger than Dale Farm (pictured today), which was cleared in 2011 Jill Walsh, of Hovefields Residents' Association, said the site was large enough to accommodate 50 families. Asked whether it could be a second Dale Farm, she replied: 'It will be bigger, that's our concern.' Almost two-thirds of the five-acre field has been covered in asphalt. Said: 'I thought to myself is that really gunshots? Is this really what's happening' An Australian politician has described how she was only 'steps' away from the terror attacks on Westminster Bridge in London on Wednesday. South Australian MP Susan Close was in the capital on state business at the time, and was walking to a meeting near the UK parliament. Ms Close told 9 News Adelaide she heard three gunshots and then saw the convoy of ambulances. South Australian MP Susan Close (pictured) was on her way to a meeting in London on Wednesday, when the terror attacks took place on Westminster Bridge, just metres away An unnamed terrorist, believed to be aged in his 40s, drove a car across Westminster Bridge, careering along the footpath and hitting numerous pedestrians, before smashing into a wall outside the gates to the UK Parliament 'Someone who was walking in the other direction to us said to us as we were walking down 'I think something bad is happening on the other side of that traffic,' she said. 'It's not a noise I'm familiar with, I thought to myself is that really gunshots, is this really what's happening?' The unnamed terrorist, an Asian man believed to be in his forties, drove a Hyundai 4x4 at pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before hurtling towards the gates of Parliament and smashing into its outer wall. After sprinting through a gate he then stabbed to death Metropolitan policeman Keith Palmer, 48, before being shot by armed officers. He later died in hospital. The man then sprinted through the parliament gates and stabbed Metropolitan policeman Keith Palmer, 48, before he was shot by armed officers. He later died in hospital Ms Close told the Adelaide Advertiser that she was about '15 steps away' from the attack, but didn't witness anything that took place. She said she was concerned about the number of ambulances that arrived on the scene. 'It was the middle of the night in Adelaide of course but I felt as I was walking along that this was probably something pretty big and I at least needed to let my family know - if they happened to wake up and see the news - that I was fine.' Ms Close (pictured) said she had never heard gunshots before and couldn't believe it was happening. She said she called her family in Adelaide to let them know she was there, but was safe and unhurt Ms Close's meeting was cancelled but the remainder of her trip has been unaffected. She said she planned to finish up her business in London and then return home to her family. 'I don't think you can afford to live your life worrying that something like this might happen,' she said. Ms Close is the Minister for Education and Child Development and the Minister for Higher Education in South Australia. In a statement Premier Jay Weatherill urged South Australians to 'stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of London'. Hilarious footage has caught the moment a man is spammed with hundreds of angry messages on his phone by his angry girlfriend. The footage was taken in New Taipei City in Taiwan after the man had left his girlfriend downstairs on the first floor of a shop while he attended to some business. The footage has been viewed over 300,000 times on social media. Too many: The girlfriend reportedly used a Japanese messaging app to spam her boyfriend According to the man who runs a shop, he left his girlfriend on the first floor of the store while he attended to business on the bottom floor of the premises. As soon as he disappeared, the girlfriend started spamming his phone with angry messages. The man chose to ignore his girlfriend as she continued to send the messages It's thought that she used a special messaging application originating from Japan to send the hundreds of messages. Instead of rectifying the situation, the man chose to stay where he was, showing his employees the messages. During the entire video the messages continue to come. According to reports, they continued for some two minutes. His employees can be heard laughing in the background and the messages continue to arrive. An Islamic television channel shocked viewers with half an hour of hardcore pornography in the middle of the day after falling for A Senegalese Islamic channel shocked viewers with half an hour of hardcore pornography in the middle of the day, in what the TV station on Wednesday attributed to a 'criminal act' and a 'satanic trick designed to undermine a channel'. Privately run Touba TV generally broadcasts religious programs, including prayer sessions, sermons from prominent imams and in-depth theological discussions. Privately run Touba TV shocked viewers with 20 minutes of hardcore pornography in the middle of the day, in what the Senegalese Islamic TV station on Wednesday attributed to a 'criminal act' But viewers were horrified on Monday afternoon when its regular transmissions of the program Taxiru Juma were interrupted with a hardcore porn movie from 1.10pm to 1.30pm. THe program Taxiru Juma were interrupted with a hardcore porn movie from 1.10pm to 1.30pm (file photo) The West African country's media watchdog, CNRA, has demanded an explanation. 'We have asked Touba TV how this unacceptable mistake could happen for almost 30 minutes,' an official told Reuters. In a statement, Touba TV denounced what it called 'a criminal act by people with a hidden agenda' and said the formal complaint will make it possible to identify the 'authors who have an unknown agenda'. The statement said: 'As a religious channel, the management of Touba TV and all our audience members are outraged and unreservedly condemn this criminal act which seems to be sabotage and a satanic trick designed to undermine a channel which is known to stand for Islamic values and teachings.' It gave no further details on the criminals or how they got access to its broadcasting unit. Djibril Nado, the director of the channel, told RFI that the network was 'disturbed' by the images. 'It's a sabotage because these are images that come from outside,' Nado said. 'We talk about a satanic approach because there are always hands behind it.' Touba TV has since filed a legal complaint in hopes of finding the people behind the broadcast. A father of one has revealed spooky footage appearing to show a ghostly figure walking past an empty corridor in an abandoned air base - renowned for being haunted. Steve Wesson, 44, visited Manby Hall in Lincolnshire in January with UK Ghost Hunts to film a new documentary and couldn't believe his luck when he discovered the footage. They had been recording all evening but it was only later that night when Mr Wesson reviewed the footage did he spot the shadowy figure wandering in the background which he claims couldn't be any of his team and there was no one else in the building. Scary: Steve Wesson, 44, has revealed spooky footage which he thinks shows a ghostly figure walking past an empty corridor (circled) in Manby an abandoned air force base - renowned for being haunted by an RAF pilot Is that a ghost? The shadowy figure (pictured) was only spotted by the ghost hunting team later that night when they reviewed the footage Mr Wesson said the ghostly shadow (pictured) could not have been any of his team and there was no one else in the building Steve Wesson, pictured, said: 'I didn't hear any footsteps in the corridor neither did the rest of the team or the security guard.' Mr Wesson believes he must have seen the shape in the corner of his eye as he followed the suspected phantom into a stairwell, which footage shows was eerily empty. Mr Wesson, from Kimberley, in Nottingham said: 'The security guard went in the left room with two of the team members and I was following filming with a camera. 'I didn't hear any footsteps in the corridor neither did the rest of the team or the security guard. 'I must have seen something out the corner of my eye for me to go in there but I didn't really notice it at the time and didn't take any other notice and rejoined the guys, as you can see there are shadows on the back wall cast from our torch light but no shadows cast from the figure. 'As you can see in the footage, the figure seems to be carrying a torch or bright ball but if this was someone wondering around within the building we would have seen their light and knew they were there. 'After seeing the footage we went back to where it was taken to have a proper look at the room and corridors to find a reasonable explanation for what we caught. 'It is a former RAF base then it was an old people's home and now it is closed and only security have access to the building. However there are many ghost stories about the hall. 'It was definitely not one of us four and there was definitely no one else in the building.' Creepy: An abandoned doll and debris and furniture is all that remains in one of the many empty and abandoned rooms at Manby air base in Lincolnshire No one home: Steve Wasson said: 'Rumours in the area are that Manby is haunted. I know we all presume that ghosts are a 'mist' or 'shadows' but what if the footage is of an apparition?' No one in sight: The hallways, corridors and entrance ways have been vacated for decades but were recently explored by Steve Wesson and his ghost-hunting team who were investigating claims the abandoned base could be haunted It has been said that Manby is haunted by a Second World War pilot who is sometimes seen wearing a long coat. It was a key area for the RAF during WWII and the hall was once used as an RAF base as well as an old people's home before closing down. Mr Wesson said: 'Rumours in the area are that Manby is haunted. I know we all presume that ghosts are a 'mist' or 'shadows' but what if the footage is of an apparition? 'All I can say is that there was four of us in total in this building and all four of us were accounted for. 'Whatever this was, a human or a ghost, none of us noticed the figure as we turned into a room and no one heard any noise from footsteps on the rubble that is left over these corridors.' The team were filming an intro to a new ghost hunting series for YouTube and Amazon when the figure was caught on camera. Mr Wesson said: 'There is 24 hours' worth of footage and for something to just walk in and for us to not acknowledge it was there at the time is very weird. 'It's really strange that a very large figure can pass in front of all of us silently and without being noticed within 15 feet of us. 'It's really cool because we know where we all were in the building. It's pretty freaky.' Freaky: Steve Wasson and his team reviewed the videos they had taken on their trip and noticed an inexplicable shadow in the corner of the room (circled in yellow). He said it could not have possibly been any of his team Former Saint-Joseph student Estelle Rouat (pictured), 25, was killed in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris The French school left devastated by the Westminster Bridge attack had already lost a former pupil in the Bataclan terrorist massacre in Paris, it emerged today. Three boys from St Joseph's, in the seaside town of Concarneau, Brittany, suffered serious injuries when a car ploughed into them in London on Wednesday afternoon. Named locally as Victor, Yann and Thomas, they were aged between 15 and 16, and travelling in a party of around 90. Today Andre Fidelin, the Mayor of Concarneau, said it was the second time in as many years that the school had been hit by terrorism. In November 2015, former St Joseph's pupil Estelle Rouat, 25, was in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris when it was turned into a bloodbath by ISIS suicide bombers. Estelle, who was working as an English teacher, was murdered alongside 88 others as she attended a concert by the American band Eagles of Death Metal. Estelle had a particular love of Britain, having first gone on a trip to Penzance, Cornwall, which is Concarneau's twin town, when she was at St Joseph's. She had worked in Colchester, Essex, before moving to Paris, where she was hit by gunfire. Her boyfriend, Remi, was seriously injured alongside her. Mr Fidelin, the mayor, said: 'It's terrible, because a psychosis is likely to set in at the school because it has already been affected by terrorism. 'Our emotion is intense. Concarneau is again touched by terror and horror, and we can not imagine the anguish and anxiety of the parents. The French school left devastated by the Westminster Bridge attack had already lost a former pupil in the Bataclan terrorist massacre in Paris, it emerged today The town's mayor Andre Fidelin (left) and his deputy talks to the press outside the Saint Joseph secondary school last night 'The attacks can happen anytime, anywhere, and they can touch our loved ones and all of those who are dear to us.' Mr Fidelin said: 'A psychological unit has been set up for anybody who needs it. The hardest thing will be to manage things when victims return.' Around 35 of the 90 plus party from St Joseph's were on Westminster Bridge when the attack happened. They were in the age range 15 to 16. Johan, one of the survivors, told French media in London: 'There was a barrier between us but it gave way and the car went on to hit the students' The trip to London is an annual one at St Joseph's. Enzo, a pupil who travelled in 2016 said: 'We went to London) last year at the same time. We were very lucky this touches us deeply. It causes extreme pain for everyone'. Theresa May vowed defiance to terrorism today in the wake of the murderous attack on Westminster, insisting: 'We are not afraid.' The Prime Minister sent out the uncompromising message as MPs gathered in the House of Commons to condemn the atrocity and pay tribute to the victims. Branding the episode 'sickening' and an effort to 'silence our democracy', Mrs May said that the best response was 'normality'. 'What happened on the streets of Westminster yesterday afternoon sickened us all,' Mrs May said. Theresa May vowed to show terrorists that 'we are not afraid' as she addressed the Commons The Prime Minister paid tribute to the 'heroic' police officers who prevented the attacker gaining access to parliament 'An act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today we meet as normal, as generations have done before us and as future generations will continue to do, to deliver a simple message - we are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism. 'Those values, free speech, liberty, human rights and the rule of law are embodied here in this place but they are shared by free people around the world.' Mrs May revealed that the attacker - whose identity is known but not yet public - was British born and had been previously investigated by MI5. However, she stressed he had been a 'peripheral' figure in an historic probe, and was not part of the 'current intelligence picture'. She told the House that the man was thought to have been acting alone, but inspired by international extremism. Mrs May also dismissed the idea that the assault had succeeded, hailing the sacrifice of policeman Keith Palmer, who died stopping the man gaining access to the parliamentary estate. 'The police heroically did their job,' she said. The premier singled out Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, who desperately tried to save Pc Palmer in the minutes after he suffered horrific knife wounds. As a clearly emotional Mr Ellwood watched from the government benches, she said: 'Yesterday we saw the worst of humanity but we will remember the best. 'We will remember the extraordinary efforts to save the life of PC Keith Palmer, including those by my Right Honourable Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), and we will remember the exceptional bravery of our police, security and emergency services who once again ran towards the danger even as they encouraged others to move the other way.' Earlier, a packed House of Commons paused along with the rest of the country to honour those who lost their lives - including Pc Palmer. The 48-year-old, a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad who worked for the Met for 15 years, was murdered as he tried to stop the attacker. Speaker John Bercow branded the murderous assault on parliament an 'outrage' and praised the policeman for giving his life to protect democracy. MPs bowed their heads in a packed chamber as they paid tribute to victims of the attack The chamber will continue with business as usual today in a sign of defiance to terrorists Pc Palmer's maniac killer, an unnamed Asian man in his forties, had used a Hyundai 4x4 as a weapon to mow down at least 40 people on Westminster Bridge and Parliament Square before charging towards PC Palmer brandishing two knives. The bravery of the murdered policeman was hailed by colleagues, friends and the many MPs whom he was charged with protecting who said he had 'run towards danger' to save the lives of others. The tribute came as a defiant London went back to work less than 24 hours after the terror attack on Westminster that left five dead and 29 injured. Hero: Pc Keith Palmer, 48, a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad who worked for the Met for 15 years, was murdered as he tried to stop the attacker at around 2.30pm on Wednesday. MPs, who bowed their heads as they stood in silence in the chamber today, have vowed to continue with business as usual today. Undeterred by the horrific assault on Parliament, the capital's commuters were seen packing onto the Underground and boarding their usual trains this morning. Londoners have been urged not to let terrorists create a culture of 'fear' in the city with the hashtag #wearenotafraid now trending on social media. Defence secretary Michael Fallon said the city would not be beaten by terrorism and would take yesterday's chilling attack 'on the chin'. The Metropolitan Police said they were 'absolutely certain' that Parliament could work as usual while declaring that it was 'business as normal' in the capital. Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was murdered by terrorists in Bali in 2002, was among those who tried in vain to save the stabbed policeman's life. He left the scene looking bereft, with the officer's blood on his face. In an emotional intervention, Tory MP James Cleverley said he wanted to pay a special tribute to Pc Palmer. He said he first met him as Gunner Palmer 25 years ago when they were both serving in the 100 Regiment, Royal Artillery. Fighting back tears, the Braintree MP said: 'He was a strong, professional public servant. And it was a delight to meet him here again only a few months after being elected. TORY MP FIGHTS BACK TEARS AS HE PRAISES MURDERED FRIEND Tory MP James Cleverley fought back tears as he paid an emotional tribute to his friend Keith Palmer. The backbencher said he first knew the heroic Pc as Gunner Palmer 25 years ago, when they were both serving in the 100 Regiment, Royal Artillery. The Braintree MP said: 'He was a strong, professional public servant. And it was a delight to meet him here again only a few months after being elected. 'Would my RHF the PM in recognition of the work he did and the other police officers and public servants here in the House do, to consider recognising his gallantry and sacrifice formally with a posthumous recognition.' The PM, who appeared close to tears herself, praised the 'passion' with which he had paid his tribute. 'Having served in our armed forces and then come here to this place and paid the ultimate sacrifice here at our heart of democracy I can assure my honourable friend that the issue he has raised will be considered in due course.' Advertisement 'Would my RHF the PM in recognition of the work he did and the other police officers and public servants here in the House do, to consider recognising his gallantry and sacrifice formally with a posthumous recognition.' The PM, who appeared close to tears herself, praised the 'passion' with which he had paid his tribute. 'Having served in our armed forces and then come here to this place and paid the ultimate sacrifice here at our heart of democracy I can assure my honourable friend that the issue he has raised will be considered in due course.' Scotland Yard's top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley said of his colleague: 'He was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift - and he had every right to expect that would happen.' Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said 'London is going to work this morning' and would not be cowed by terrorism. He said: 'London has seen this before and is taking it on the chin.' Mr Fallon confirmed Parliament's security would now be reviewed. But paying tribute to PC Palmer, he said: 'They did not get into Parliament. They only got as far as the gate. They did not breach the security of the House of Commons and he gave his life to protect the security of our democracy. 'Parliament cannot be hermetically sealed. People are coming and going all the time. 'There was a division going on at the time, people arriving through the gates either by car or foot, to vote. 'This is something that will now be reviewed by the House authorities.' Mr Fallon said the 'assumption' was the attack was related to 'Islamic terrorism in some form' but deferred to police for the detail. Senior Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said he expected security would be tightened at Parliament following the attack. He told MailOnline: 'Clearly in the wake of the tragic attack suffered yesterday, something we have all expected for some time, our professional police and security service ,who performed so well, will cooly and calmly analyse their response to the attack and security will be tightened once again. Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage pointed the finger of blame for the Westminster attack at political support for multiculturalism, claiming it has created a 'fifth column' of terror supporters within Western societies. Speaking on US TV network Fox News, the MEP said: 'The problem with multiculturalism is that it leads to divided communities. It's quite different to multi-racialism. That's fine, that can work very happily and extremely well. But we've finished up with very divided communities.' This was the scene in the immediate aftermath of the attack, after the attacker entered the grounds of Parliament. He is pictured at the top of the picture - PC Palmer is lying in the middle of the image Fight for life: Tory minister Tobias Ellwood gives mouth to mouth to PC Palmer after he was fatally wounded by the terrorist Mr Ellwood watched from the government benches today as the PM praised his efforts to save Pc Palmer 'However, there is always a balance to be made in an open democracy between public access to Parliament and security concerns . We must not let the terrorist win.' Former counter-terrorism watchdog Lord Carlile said the incident raised questions about the gates and the roads around Westminster. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called for Parliament Square to be pedestrianised. Lord Carlile went on: 'I am sure that there will be an examination of (a) the roads around Westminster, including the possible risks caused by the new and wide cycle lane used by the perpetrator; (b) the carriage gates to Parliament; and (c) whether all Parliamentary police officers should be armed.' Speaker John Bercow led observance of the silence in the wake of the deadly incident Advertisement Moving house can be murder - but not for one buyer who has bagged a bargain by snapping up Taggarts old home. Fans of the detective series will be familiar with the iconic property in Glasgows Southside, which recently sold for an undisclosed sum. The five bedroom detached house, which was on the market for 430,000, was home to TV detective Jim Taggart for years. Taggart, created by Glenn Chandler, ran from 1983 until 2010 and in the series Jim, played by Mark McManus, shared the humble abode with his wife Jean. However, in reality the home is far larger than the one that appeared in the gritty crime drama. The spacious property in Percy Drive, Giffnock, features a vibrant blue living room with green tartan carpets, a nautical themed bathroom and several lounge spaces. The famous house was on the market with Scottish House Move estate agents in Glasgow. Fans Taggart will be familiar with this iconic property (pictured) in Glasgows southside, which recently sold for an undisclosed sum The spacious property in Percy Drive, Giffnock, features a vibrant blue living room (pictured) with green tartan carpets The famous house was on the market with Scottish House Move estate agents in Glasgow. The nautical themed bathroom is pictured Despite looking small from the outside the home is extremely spacious and features several lounge spaces (pictured left and right) The property has five bedrooms (left) and was on the market for 430,000. The detached house was home to TV detective Jim Taggart, played by Mark McManus (right), for years In the series Jim Targgart, played by Mark McManus, shared the humble abode with his wife Jean. Pictured: The garden space Bleak pictures have offered a glimpse inside the desolate remains of an elementary school that has been abandoned for more than thirty years. The haunting images show what is left of the red-brick building as ceilings have caved in and rubble is strewn across the classroom floors. Other eerie pictures show a range of children characters hand-drawn around the school's walls leading to the auditorium. The striking photographs were taken in Zebulon elementary school in Zebulon, Pike County, Georgia by an urban explorer who goes by the name of Abandoned Southeast. 'This is a small town six-room Elementary school dating back to the 1920s,' he said. 'There is an ongoing effort by the Town of Zebulon to save this old school. They are working to raise the funding necessary to preserve the building for future generations. 'However, due to decades of neglect and suffering tornado damage in 2011, time is running out on saving this historic structure.' Zebulon elementary school opened on September 13, 1926 and closed thirty-five years later in June, 1961. The deserted school building was discovered by the photographer, who took the eerie images with the permission of the town council. The Neoclassical building was later sold to local development authority, Zebulon Downtown Development Authority, for a mere $1. The school was then used as a storage and maintenance space for the local county until 2009, but the run-down school building has otherwise not been used in thirty years. As a grueling U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch finishes on Thursday, the spotlight turns to whether he will gain the support of vulnerable Democratic senators who are up for re-election in 2018. At least six Democrats are considering cutting a deal that will take the pressure off, even though their leader Chuck Schumer forcefully called on Thursday for a filibuster and 'no' votes across the board. The percolating plan, reported by Politico, would involve handing Republicans enough Senate Democratic votes to get Gorsuch past the 60-vote threshold required to trigger an up-or-down confirmation vote. The payoff for their surrender would be pledges from a handful of Republicans that they won't change Senate rules during the next Supreme Court confirmation fight in a way that would replace the 60-vote standard with a simply majority rule. Scroll down for video Judge Neil Gorsuch could have an easier path to the Supreme Court than anyone expects, if Senate Democrats throw in the towel in exchange for a handful of Republicans pledging to keep their options open next time around President Donald Trump could have two, three or more picks left during his time in the White House, making Democrats nervous about the high court's long-term ideological balance Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that he plans to vote 'no,' signaling a filibuster. But even without his help, any eight members of his caucus could join Republicans and put a quick end to the struggle. A deal like this also wouldn't require the assent of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell or other leaders of the Republicans' slim 52-48 majority: Any three in the GOP could stand their ground and stop McConnell from invoking the so-called 'nuclear option' in the future. If Democrats hand Republicans a quick victory on Gorsuch, that play would be unnecessary this time around. But if they line up in lockstep behind Schumer, a pitched battle may unfold leading McConnell to invoke that nuclear option to get Gorsuch across the finish line. That could change the way every Supreme Court confirmation proceeds in the future. As of late Wednesday, it was unclear what Democrats will do. It's possible enough of them in Republican-dominated or red-leaning could flip on their own, fearing backlash from voters. Rank-and-file members of the Senate could strike a deal without the participation of either Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (left) or Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (right) Schumer staked his claim to a 'no' vote on Thursday, but he's a long way from blocking Gorsuch Conservative activists have identified 10 possible 'yes' votes for Gorsuch among Democrats seeking re-election next year in states that President Donald Trump won in the 2016 election. They include West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Florida's Bill Nelson, both undecided on Gorsuch, their spokesmen told Reuters. Another, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, opposes the nomination, a spokesman said. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania said he would announce his intentions on Thursday morning. Another vote potentially up for grabs is that of Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Gorsuch's home state of Colorado. He is not up for re-election next year and his state voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. He introduced Gorsuch to the Judiciary Committee on Monday, but did not commit to supporting the nomination, saying he was keeping an 'open mind.' The Trump administration may be counting on political pressure being sufficient to give Republicans the 60 votes they need making Senate Republicans' promises about how to handle his future Supreme Court nominations unnecessary. A seat on the Supreme Court was left vacant after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia (left) in 2016; he's shown in an undated photo during a fishing trip with Gorsuch If Gorsuch is confirmed, he would restore a 5-4 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, a key goal of Republicans. Republican-appointed Justice Antonin Scalia passed away in February 2016, leaving the court in 4-4 limbo. Democrats are more worried about Trump's next pick, which could swing the court to a 6-3 margin. In three days of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gorsuch, a federal appeals court judge, remained calm under sharp questioning from Democrats, paving the way for the panel to vote on the nomination on April 3. The hearing concludes Thursday with testimony from outside witnesses. McConnell has said he wants the full Senate to have a final vote on the nomination before the chamber recesses on April 7. I've heard a lot of good stuff about Rob Quist from friends in Montana, where he's the Democratic candidate to replace the state's sole member of the House, Ryan Zinke, recently confirmed by a rubber stamp Senate as the Trump Regime Interior Secretary. His opponent is far, far right extremist Greg Gianforte, who was recently defeated when he ran for Montana governor. Although Trump won Montana that day by nearly 100,000 votes-- 274,120 (56.5%) to 174,521 (36.0%), Gianforte was defeated by the same voters, 250,846 (50.2%) to 232,080 (46.4%). Over 40,000 Trump voters just couldn't bring themselves to cast their ballots for Gianforte. (The ballot initiative to expand medical marijuana passed that day with more votes than either Trump or Gianforte-- 284,531 (57.6%). I sure hope Montana voters will reject him again in the May 25 special election. That raises two questions: can a Democrat even win in a red state like Montana? And why hasn't Blue America endorsed Rob Quist? Montana is a pretty red state, but the voters elected Democratic governors the last 4 times they had the opportunity to and keep electing Democratic U.S. senators as well. So, yes, Rob can certainly win. So why no endorsement? I'd vote for him if I lived in Montana but Blue America has a pretty intense vetting process and Rob wasn't interested in an out-of-state liberal PAC getting involved with his race. That's understandable. And that's that. Kind of. We'd like to urge everyone to listen to the 20 minute interview up top to get a feel for Quist-- and the campaign song he wrote and sings below. Quist said he supported Sen. Bernie Sanders bid to become the Democratic Partys presidential nominee and was disappointed to see his loss to Hillary Clinton, saying that it had a depressing effect on young people. The Democratic National Committee sent him to the sidelines in favor of Hillary Clinton. They tried to control it from top down, he said, noting that Republicans, through the tea party, had a grassroots network that helped them win elections. We know that the pendulum swings both ways and the reason Im sitting here today is that I decided I wanted to be part of the movement that starts us back on the track to unity and respect for each other. Weve lost that here in America, he said. He's seems good on every issue, even really tough ones for Montana Democrats-- pro-Choice, against religious intolerance towards Muslims, in favor of strengthening Social Security and Medicare, and this is what he said about the gun debate: "You register your car to drive, why not register guns. I know thats a touchy subject for a lot of people, but I think we definitely have the right to bear arms and as I say Ive been on many hunts myself where Ive brought home an elk that fed our family and thats an important thing for Montanans." This is what Our Revolution said when the organization endorsed Quist: Rob Quist won the Democratic nomination to fill the Montana Congressional seat left open by Ryan Zinkes nomination for Secretary of the Interior. Quist is native of rural Montana, an award winning musician, and an avowed supporter of Bernie Sanders political revolution-- it was outspoken locals like him who helped Sanders win 51 percent of the vote in Montana. While Quists Montana values of hard work, family, and community inform his robust political platform. Quist is committed to standing up for ranchers and farmers who currently receive the lowest prices for their grain and stock, union workers who continue to fight for the middle class, teachers who continue to be underpaid, Native Peoples who deserve self-determination and sovereign land, small business owners who need streamlined tax codes, and the many Montanans who rely on Social Security and Medicare. Quist has also demonstrated a clear commitment to justice for women, the LGBTQ+ community, and the environment. Our Revolution, alongside Senator Jon Tester and former Governor Schweitzer, is honored to support him for Montanas At-Large Congressional Seat. Gianforte supports Paul Ryan's TrumpCare bill and Quist opposes it. If it's signed into law 96,317 Montanans will lose their health insurance. Ryan must be panic-stricken because his SuperPAC has already poured $700,000 into ads attacking Quist, who told Montanans after the CBO report came out delineating how catastrophic TrumpCare will be, especially in largely rural Montana that the report "confirms that the D.C. Republicans plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act will take away health insurance from hard-working Montanans, to give tax breaks to millionaires like Greg Gianforte. Montanans deserve better." Gianforte, who wasted $5 million of his own money on the failed gubernatorial campaign, is expected to spend heavily on this race as well, but is trying to keep it secret. When questioned, all he would say is that he was faced with an awful lot of out-of-state, special interest money in that Governors race. I dont think thats what Montanans want." Gianforte and right-wing groups supporting him spent many times what Bullock spent and so far the only big out-of-state money sloshing around Montana is from Paul Ryan's SuperPAC. A friend of mine in Bozeman told me that everyone in the state knows Gianforte is "some crook from New Jersey who lies almost as much as Trump... The Republicans here made a big mistake selling him their nomination. They should be ashamed. Lonely Indian men are so desperate to find girlfriends they are resorting to calling random phone numbers in the hope of striking up a relationship with a potential future wife. The 'phone Romeos' have become a scourge in India and neighbouring Bangladesh. Julia Qermezi Huang, an anthologist at the London School of Economics, said: 'It's a new thing. It's covert, it's risky, it's experimenting with that outside world which they don't have much access to.' Around 680 million Indians have mobile phones now and many of them are single men who have difficulty finding girlfriends FILE PHOTO Police in the city of Lucknow have set up a special call centre to handle complaints from victims. The New York Times reported that when 24-year-old Premsagar Tiwari was arrested by police he was found in possession of eight SIM cards and contacted more than 500 women a day. Police constable Satyavir Sachan said of Tiwari - whose name ironically translates as Sea of Love in Hindi: 'The way he was built it didn't seem he could talk to girls.' Tiwari, a skinny and highly strung young man, told the police: 'I have nobody. The person you love will be somewhere, there, standing last in line. You have to reach them somehow. And when you find that someone, you stop looking.' One gang in Uttar Pradesh state has even started selling women's phone numbers, charging more for ladies who are considered 'beautiful' The Hindustan Times reported one gang in Uttar Pradesh state had even started selling women's phone numbers to single men, with differing prices depending on their looks. The numbers of girls considered 'beautiful' were sold for 500 rupees (6.11) each while the details of an 'ordinary looking girl' would fetch just 50 rupees (61p). The chat-up lines used by the men vary from the prosaic 'Can I recharge your mobile?' to the poetic 'I am talking to you, madam, but my body is shaking' and the extremely creepy 'I want to do the illegal things with you'. Sometimes they call and say "I love you". Sometimes they call and say "I want to talk to Sonia" and I would say "I am not Sonia" and they would say "OK, can I talk to you?" Geetika Chakravarty India has seen a mobile phone revolution in recent years with around 680 million Indians now owning phones. The call centre in Lucknow receives around 700 calls a day. One victim was Geetika Chakravarty, a 24-year-old make-up artist whose phone number fell into the wrong hands after she posted it on the Facebook page of a beauty salon. She received so many calls from strangers that she had to block 200 separate numbers. She said: 'I do not know what their mindset is. Sometimes they call and say "I love you". Sometimes they call and say "I want to talk to Sonia" and I would say "I am not Sonia" and they would say "OK, can I talk to you?"' Junior doctor: Colleen Anderson, 25, ran to help the London terror victims and was the first to reveal one of them had died The junior doctor who ran to help the London terror victims and was the first to reveal one of them had died said today she 'couldn't be more proud of the NHS'. Colleen Anderson, 25, fought back tears yesterday as she told reporters outside St Thomas' Hospital next to Westminster Bridge that a woman victim had died. The doctor revealed her shock over the attack on the steps of the hospital and said she had treated a police officer in his 30s with a head injury who was taken to the nearby King's College Hospital. And shortly after midnight, Miss Anderson told her friends on Facebook: 'I wish I could reply to everyone who has sent such lovely messages to me. 'The events of today were devastating to many, and my thoughts are with all those who have suffered. I was there doing anything that I could, just like everyone else there. Days like these bring people together. No act is too small.' She added: 'I've said it before and I will say it again. I couldn't be more proud to be a part of the NHS.' Yesterday the doctor, who works for Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and is believed to be from County Durham, said some victims had 'catastrophic' injuries. Interview: Miss Anderson fought back tears yesterday as she told reporters outside St Thomas' Hospital next to Westminster Bridge that a woman victim had died She said: 'One definite fatality. The man I was attending to had a definite tib fib lower displaced fracture, query a right sided shoulder displacement. 'Probably internal rib injuries. A big head injury, a big massive laceration to his head, that was probably the primary injury actually. He's just gone off to King's. 'I've walked past about nine injuries, but some weren't so insignificant. Somebody was unconscious who did regain consciousness and was OK. 'I was just in shock to be honest, I wasn't really expecting that this afternoon. I was on the ward and our doctors' office is just there, and my SHO (senior house officer) came running past me and I was like 'what's wrong' and he told me what happened. 'And then I went out and looked and all of us in the office were like "we need to do something". So we all just went out and helped, got blankets and physios were with me. I wasn't expecting that this afternoon. Miss Anderson told her friends on Facebook: 'I've said it before and I will say it again. I couldn't be more proud to be a part of the NHS' The doctor, who works for Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and is believed to be from County Durham, said some victims had 'catastrophic' injuries 'We train for these events, like emergency, your basic life support if you have to do that, how to triage people, who needs attention first.' She said one fatality, who was a woman pedestrian found under the wheel of a bus, was confirmed at the scene. Today, seven people were arrested in raids as MPs went back work, determined to return to business as usual in the wake of the terror attack on Parliament. A minute's silence was held nationwide this morning to commemorate the four innocent people killed in yesterday's assault on Westminster. Aysha Frade was the first member of the public to be identified as a victim, with her principal at DLD College London describing her as 'highly regarded and loved'. Police offices at the scene on Westminster Bridge in front of St Thomas' Hospital yesterday Medics wheel a stretcher off Westminster Bridge and into St Thomas' Hospital yesterday Nurses from St Thomas' Hospital load blankets outside the site next to Westminster Bridge She died along with PC Keith Palmer and a man in his mid 50s after a knife-wielding attacker ploughed a car through pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, before storming the Parliamentary estate. He was shot dead by police. Mark Rowley, the Met's senior anti-terror officer, said six addresses were raided overnight in London, Birmingham and elsewhere. Some 29 people were treated in hospital and seven remained in a critical condition on Thursday following the attack, he added. Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, said: 'I would like to thank all staff who were involved in the response to the terrible event yesterday. 'The trust's major incident procedures have worked well, and there has been an excellent response from both clinical and non-clinical staff. My thoughts are with all affected by this appalling tragedy.' An earthquake has struck New Zealand with a magnitude of 4.8, just north of Wellington on Thursday. Striking 10 kilometers south-west of Paraparaumu at a depth of 54 kilometers, the quake has been issued as 'moderate' by geological hazard monitoring site, GeoNet. More than 11,000 people are reported to have felt the quake, as it struck at 6.51pm AEST with some residents, saying that their dogs were eerily barking before it hit. A 4.8 earthquake has struck New Zealand, just north of Wellington on Thursday 'It was very loud, and went on for a long rumble. Dogs barked and howled in the neighbourhood before it hit,' Picton resident Guy Wallace told Stuff NZ, feeling the earthquake across the Cook Strait. Locals have remarked that the sudden tremor gave them quite the scare. 'I thought what the hell is that? It gave me a helluva shock - it was certainly a good one,' said Upper Hutt resident Andrew. Adding that he: 'heard the whole house move.' The mayor of Wellington, Justin Lester, took to Twitter to express his reaction after the earthquake. 'Surely that was more than a 4.4! Hope everyone is okay', he tweeted. Others also used the social media site to describe their experiences of living through the quake with one saying: 'this quake had a loud rumble, felt like a truck was outside the house'. Mayor of Wellington, Justin Lester, asserted his confidence that the quake higher than his predicted magnitude FBI bosses have been grilled over a secret facial recognition program that allows agents to access photos of tens of millions of Americans. The agency came under fire for its unrestricted access to ID photos in 18 states to help identify potential suspects - including innocent people who have never been charged with a crime. Privacy advocates suggested the technology fosters racial bias and compared the system to 'Nazi Germany', at a congressional hearing yesterday. FBI bosses has been grilled over a secret facial recognition program that allows agents to access photos of tens of millions of Americans, at a Congress hearing on Wednesday The system allows agents to access and algorithmically match the photos of tens of millions of Americans. More than 400million pictures of Americans' faces are kept in local, state and federal law enforcement facial recognition systems, the Government Accountability Office reported last year. Experts estimated that about half of all American's faces are archived in those photos. 'I have zero confidence in the FBI and the [Justice Department], frankly, to keep this in check,' said Democratic congressman Stephen Lynch of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Regulation. 'This is really Nazi Germany here, what we're talking about. And I see little difference in the way people are being tracked under this, just getting one wide net and getting information on all American citizens.' Members also mentioned research which suggested that face recognition systems have a higher rate of false positives for African-Americans. They grilled the FBI for 'choosing to ignore' the evidence over the accuracy of face-matching systems. The agency came under fire for its unrestricted access to ID photos in 18 states to help identify potential suspects - including innocent people who have never been charged with a crime 'According to these reports, if you're black, you're more likely to be subjected to this technology, and the technology is more likely to be wrong,' said the committee's ranking Democrat, Elijah Cummings of Maryland. 'That's a hell of a combination. 'Rather than conducting testing that would show whether or not concerns have merit, the FBI chooses to ignore growing evidence that the technology has a disproportionate impact on African Americans.' Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz asked whether the FBI was storing photos of innocent people from other sources, like social media. HOW DOES FACIAL RECOGNITION WORK? Facial recognition identifies people by analysing the shape of a persons face. Each face has approximately 80 unique nodal points which distinguishes one from another. A digital video camera measures the distance between various points on the human face, such as the width of the nose, depth of the eye sockets, distance between the eyes and shape of the jawline. These points are measured using a numerical code which is then stored in a large database. This means when someone has their photo taken they can be identified. Experts believe that facial recognition technology will soon overtake fingerprint technology as the most effective way of identifying people. Advertisement FBI spokesman Kimberly Del Greco denied that they were, stating: 'The only information the FBI has and have collected in our database are criminal mugshot photos.' 'We do not have any other photos in our repository,' she concluded. Chaffetz refuted her claims, replying: 'That's not true.' 16 states have granted the FBI free access to driver's license photos for its Next Generation Identification and Facial Analysis, Comparison, and Evaluation (FACE) photo-searching systems. Two additional states - Arizona and Maryland - have been added to that list, bringing the total to 18 states, according to a report by researchers at Georgetown Law. Even if the FBI doesn't control some of the photo databases directly, it can still easily access them, the hearing concurred. Attorney Jennifer Lynch added that FBI databases do in fact include the faces of innocent people. FBI documents reveal that roughly 16 per cent of its NGI database is made up non-criminals, she claimed, referring to the Georgetown research. Republican congressman John Duncan said: 'I think we're reaching a very sad point, a very dangerous point, when we're doing away with the reasonable expectation of privacy about anything.' Lawmakers were also wary of the potential misuse of face recognition systems and the ability to track people in real time by combining them with CCTV cameras. 'What scares me is the FBI and the [Justice Department] trying to proactively collect everyone's face,' Chaffetz said. Panellists cited the government's ability to find political protesters simply by weighing up surveillance footage with photos collected in a database. For example, Baltimore police used social media photos to identify people who took part in protests after the death of Freddie Gray in 2015. An aspiring Islamic State fighter and father is accused of slaughtering his wife in front of their three children, gouging out her eye and flushing it down the toilet. The Melbourne man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took his young children with him in the car to dump their mother's mutilated body in grassland. He then took them to a bakery to eat pastries. At the accused killer's committal hearing on Thursday, a magistrates' court heard the children are now in the care of child protection services and are highly disturbed. The aspiring Islamic State fighter and father is accused of slaughtering his wife A Department of Health and Human Services officer gave evidence that when one of the children was given a doll to play with in a sandpit at school and noticed it was missing a limb, he commented "that's what had happened to his mother". Police documents tendered to the court allege the extremist father regularly abused his wife and children, and had a keen interest in fighting for the so-called Islamic State in Syria. The documents say the wife objected to her husband's jihadist sympathies and that conflict over this may have led to her death. The body of the mother, aged in her 20s, was found by a jogger in Melbourne's north last year. It was so badly disfigured and tightly bound in cling wrap, a quilt and tape police could not tell what gender she was. Forensic analysis revealed two severed fingers, a missing right eye and deep cuts all over. The woman remained unidentified for weeks. Police visited the family's home in early July for a "welfare check" and finding the three children badly injured, arrested the father. He has been charged with murdering his wife and causing injury to the children. A policeman who attended the home testified that the father had a "thousand-yard stare" and did not want to let him inside. "He appeared jittery," Sergeant James Marsden said. Police found the house almost devoid of furniture, apart from a few urine-soaked mattresses, crates and a heater. The children had injuries including bad bruising. Police obtained statements from family members saying the accused killer wanted to go to Syria to fight for IS The husband exerted extreme control over his wife, physically, financially and socially, the documents state. One had burnt feet, which witnesses told police was the result of the accused submerging her feet in very hot water. Police obtained statements from family members saying the accused killer wanted to go to Syria to fight for IS and that he had once sliced his wife's hand with a knife because she objected. The husband exerted extreme control over his wife, physically, financially and socially, the documents state. She was not allowed outdoors without him, was forced to wear a full-length burka, was isolated from her family and friends, and suffered regular beatings at his hands. He did not allow his children to go to school and just wanted them to study the Koran, the documents say. Police allege the children mentioned the "Anti-Christ" several times in interviews. "Muslim tradition holds that the Anti-Christ has one eye, and often that the right eye is missing, or is blind in the right eye," the document says. "This may bear connection with the accused removing the right eye of the deceased." The committal hearing is due to continue on Friday. Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged 5 to 25). National domestic violence helpline: 1800 737 732 or 1800RESPECT. In an emergency, call triple zero. Jenny Jones, 65, said she is being targeted by parking wardens in Hertfordshire A businesswoman claims 'sexist and ageist' parking wardens are targeting her while allowing workmen to leave their vans wherever they choose. Jenny Jones said she is unable to load goods at her shop after her parking space was taken away to allow the construction of a new Premier Inn hotel on the same street in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. The 65-year-old furniture restorer claims builders have been given 'free rein' to park on pavements and double yellow lines. Ms Jones, a grandmother and mother-of-three, is in remission from breast cancer and suffers from lymphoedema. She claims she is routinely punished for overstaying in a time restricted space 100 yards from her door despite the council 'knowing she is left in agony' transporting her furniture that far. Ms Jones, who was unsuccessful in appealing her latest parking ticket in February, said: 'The enforcement officers are ageist and sexist. 'They have no problem giving an old lady like me a ticket for staying 10 minutes too long but the young lads who work on the site get away with everything. 'I'm an independent trader whose business depends on loading and unloading heavy goods in and out. I shouldn't even be doing it after my illness but it's just me so I have to.' The 65-year-old, who is undergoing cancer treatment, claims 'young fit men' are allowed to park where they please She added: 'Since they started building the hotel, my parking space has gone. Now the closest space I have is 100 yards away and you can only stay for an hour. I can't carry heavy furniture 100 yards. 'They know it's painful for me and yet I still get tickets. It sickens me. It seems that it's one rule for little old me, and another for the contractors. 'Young, male builders and tradesmen, who presumably have not recently had breast cancer, park on double yellow lines and are ignored by wardens. 'The other week a fencing company - again all young, fit, men - were told that they could park on our access road, which has double yellow lines. 'They were told by a warden they were fine being there and safe from a ticket "because they were going about their business."' She claims one worker told her to 'f*** off' after she complained about vehicles blocking the access road to her shop. Work vehicles parked on the road near Ms Jones' shop in Hertfordshire Premier Inn said it would be contacting Ms Jones to discuss the possibility of how its onsite team may be able to help with unloading her deliveries in the future A spokesman for Premier Inn said: 'The planning permission provides the detail on the access available on the site, and neighbouring business owners were given due notice. 'The site manager is in regular dialogue with Ms Jones and all neighbours to ensure minimum inconvenience is caused to the local community during the construction, and as a result of these conversations we have addressed any concerns raised as quickly as possible, and taken action immediately. 'We will be contacting Ms Jones to discuss the possibility of how our on-site team may be able to help with unloading her deliveries in the future.' North Hertfordshire District Council said it opposes all forms of discrimination, and said parking wardens were trained to punish any contravening vehicle. This video shows the dramatic moment a woman was rescued from the Thames following the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack. Romanian tourist Andreea Cristea, 29, was visiting London with her fiance for his birthday when she was ploughed into by a jihadist driving a 4x4 on the bridge. It is not known whether she fell or jumped but initial reports suggested she leapt into the water to escape the terrorist. Miraculously, the Romanian architect was plucked to safety by a passing cruise ship. She was taken to hospital and underwent surgery last night to remove a clot. Although she showed signs of slight improvement, she remains in a critical condition under observation owing to problems with her lungs. Andreea Cristea, 29, was rescued alive following the atrocity, which saw three people killed on the bridge before the driver murdered a police officer in a knife attack Pictured: A man believed to be working for City Cruises helps in the rescue effort after Andreea Cristea plunged into the River Thames Pictured: An object is hooked from the water during the rescue efforts on the Thames British-born Khalid Masood, 52, killed three and injured at least 29 after mowing down pedestrians on the bridge before stabbing Met Police officer Pc Keith Palmer outside the Palaces of Westminster, yesterday afternoon. Miss Cristea and her fiance had reportedly just visited Westminster Abbey and the London Eye before they were injured in the attack. Footage of the incident captured her falling into the river. The staff, on a City Cruises pleasure boat, could not get her out of the water but a nearby fire service boat came to her rescue. A witness told the Sun: 'They tried to fish her out with a pole but she was not responding. Then a rescue boat came and took her out.' The captain stopped the boat and held her out of the water to stop her being carried away by the current before emergency services took over, the spokesman said. Paramedics treated Miss Cristea at a pier and she was taken to hospital. She had surgery overnight which was described as 'successful' but remains in a critical condition. Her fiance, engineer Andrei Burnaz, who celebrates his birthday tomorrow, suffered a knee injury but has been discharged from hospital. She had been due to marry Mr Burnaz this spring and they had come for a holiday from their home in the Romanian city of Constanta. Pictured: City Cruises staff and a fire service rescue crew work together to hook an object out of the water during the operation Pictured: A fire services boat is launched to help a City Cruises crew rescue Miss Cristea's body from the River Thames City Cruises has confirmed a crew assisted fire services in the rescue operation yesterday. Kyle Haughton, managing director at the firm, said: 'City Cruises' Millennium Diamond was in the area of the incident at the time and worked alongside London's emergency services to support in the rescue efforts of a woman in the water. 'Once alerted by people on the bridge, the ship's Captain reacted fast on spotting her, he halted the boat in order to hold her out of the water and stop her from being carried any further by the current. 'The emergency services were called immediately and arrived within minutes to take over the rescue operation. Engineer Andrei Burnaz was in London with Miss Cristea to celebrate his birthday tomorrow. 'On behalf of City Cruises, our thoughts are with the families of the victims of this incident.' One witness, bus driver Michael Adamou, 25, said he believed at least one woman had jumped into the Thames to escape. 'The first thing I saw was the two people laying lifeless on the floor,' he said. 'I heard one guy come running behind me shouting his wife had jumped into the river to avoid getting knocked down.' The Port of London Authority said yesterday that a female member of the public was recovered from the river, injured but alive. The couple were due to meet a friend, retired surveyor Patrick Tracey, 64, from Derby, at the London Eye. Mr Tracey said: 'I realised that my friends were over at Westminster Abbey coming to meet me and I got a telephone call from him. 'But I couldn't hear anything because of the din... That was when he said he had lost Andreea. I don't know how seriously hurt she is. He was injured on his leg. I imagine it's the vehicle.' Paul Ciocoiu, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Romania, told Digi 24 TV: 'According to information we have, she would be the pedestrian hit by a car and thrown into the Thames and then recovered. Ministry contacted the family. 'We do not know when the family arrived in Britain. If the family require consular assistance, of course, the ministry provides help punctually.' Dan Mihalache, the Romanian ambassador, said: 'Right now, the state of the two Romanians injured is as follows: the woman is in a critical state because she has multiple injuries and a problem with the functioning of the lungs. 'She underwent a pretty complex surgery. Fortunately, she survived well this procedure and was moved to another hospital. Her state is still critical, but we hope she will overcome it.' He said Mr Burnaz 'has a foot fracture, but he is in a state of psychological shock.' Scotland Yard said eight people have now been arrested as part of the investigation into the Westminster terror attack, which left at least five people dead. Advertisement Former US president Bill Clinton has made an impassioned plea for peace at the funeral of ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness. Thousands of people thronged the streets of Londonderry's Bogside as the veteran Sinn Fein figure's funeral took place in St Columba's Church. Mr McGuinness died on Tuesday from a rare heart condition aged 66. Mr Clinton and ex-Democratic Unionist Stormont first ministers Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster were among those attending Thursday's requiem mass. Looking down on a coffin draped in an Irish tricolour, the former US president, who was central to the Good Friday Agreement negotiations, implored today's leaders to continue to build peace in Northern Ireland. Former US President Bill Clinton touches the coffin during the funeral of Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness at St Columba's Church Long Tower, after giving his speech (right) The coffin of Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness is carried down Westland Street into the Bogside ahead of his funeral A piper played as his coffin was carried onto the street where a tricolour flag was placed on top by members of Sinn Fein. The crowd broke into applause as family members slowly carried the coffin along the street Mr McGuinness's beloved Bogside neighbourhood came to a standstill as his coffin was walked to St Columba's Church, led by a lone piper 'He persevered and he prevailed. He risked the wrath of his comrades and the rejection of his adversaries,' Mr Clinton said. 'He made honourable compromises and was strong enough to keep them and came to be trusted because his word was good. 'And he never stopped being who he was. A good husband, a good father, a follower of the faith of his father and mother and a passionate believer in a free, secure, self-governing Ireland. 'The only thing that happened was that he shrank the definition of 'us' and expanded the definition of 'them'.' Mr Clinton added: 'Our friend earned this vast crowd today. Even more, he earned the right to ask us to honour his legacy by our living. To finish the work that is there to be done.' Mr Clinton spoke briefly with the McGuinness family after his passionate eulogy and touched the coffin as he walked by. Mr McGuinness's beloved Bogside neighbourhood came to a standstill as his coffin was walked to St Columba's Church, led by a lone piper. The coffin of former IRA commander and Sinn Fein deputy leader Martin McGuinness is carried toward St Columba's Church in Londonderry, Northern Ireland Former US President Bill Clinton (centre) and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (left) arriving for the funeral this afternoon Family and friends at the funeral of Martin McGuinness takes place at St Columba's Church Long Tower, in Londonderry Irish President Michael D Higgins and his predecessor, Mary McAleese, also attended the funeral, as did Taoiseach Enda Kenny and former taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Former SNP leader Alex Salmond and ex-Downing Street press secretary Alastair Campbell were also spotted. Irish President Michael D Higgins and his predecessor, Mary McAleese, is also at the Requiem Mass for the Sinn Fein veteran, as is Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Thousands lined the streets in remembrance of the controversial character as his coffin made its way to the church. One banner in the crowd read: 'Martin McGuinness. Irish martyr. He did not go to war. War came to him. Blessed be the peace-maker'. A piper played as his coffin was carried onto the street where a tricolour flag was placed on top by members of Sinn Fein. The crowd broke into applause as family members slowly carried the coffin along the street. Mr McGuinness's beloved Bogside neighbourhood came to a standstill this afternoon as the procession made its way to the Long Tower church. The crowd broke into applause as family members slowly carried the coffin along the street From left: Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein Southern leader Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland Leader, Michelle O'Neill carry the coffin of the late Martin McGuinness A piper continued to play as the coffin was carried down the hill, through the former first minister's beloved city. The funeral procession stopped and the coffin was then handed over to be carried by members of Sinn Fein leadership, including Gerry Adams and Michelle O'Neill. The Sinn Fein leader said that while he could be 'tenacious', Mr McGuinness was 'imbued' with an openness, respectfulness, and humanity that he had inherited from his mother, who was from Inishowen in County Donegal. He said that his his Bernie was 'in many ways the epicentre of his life, and all that grounded him and made him the activist and the freedom fighter and the peacemaker that he was'. Bernie carried the coffin as it made its way along part of the route the civil rights march took on Bloody Sunday in 1972. The procession then made its way past the iconic Free Derry Wall mural. There was a round of applause inside the church as Mrs Foster took her seat. The symbolism of the leader of unionism attending a former IRA man's funeral is highly significant - even more so in Mrs Foster's case, as her father survived an IRA murder bid during the Troubles and she herself was on a school bus caught up in an IRA bombing as a child. Crowds outside the church applauded when Mr Clinton arrived. Bishop Donal McKeown, Bishop of Derry, opened the service by welcoming dignitaries, public figures and politicians from Ireland, Britain and the US. He then turned to the McGuinness family and said: 'For you this is not the funeral of a public figure. 'This is a funeral of a husband, father and a grandfather and our first thoughts are inevitably with you.' Fr Canny revealed having many conversations with Mr McGuinness in which the Sinn Fein veteran said he knew only too well how many people struggled with his IRA past. 'Republicans were not blameless, and many people right across the community find it difficult to forgive and impossible to forget,' he said. 'By any standards, Martin McGuinness was a remarkable man and his life was a remarkable journey. The values he had, the principles he championed are still very much alive. 'On that journey many years ago, Martin realised that the time for peace had come and he pursued the peace process with relentless energy for the rest of his days, until illness finally struck him down. 'In the course of that journey he encountered many obstacles but he remained resolute. In conversation he often repeated that there was no other way, we had to continually work for the building of peace and a better future for all. 'Despite many setbacks he never became disheartened.' Bishop McKeown noted the applause inside St Columba's when some politicians had arrived ahead of Mr McGuinness's remains, including for Mrs Foster. And he thanked those who had been involved in securing the Good Friday Agreement who travelled for the mass, including from within Northern Ireland and the Republic and Britain and the US. 'It's a tribute to those who didn't just talk the talk but walked the walk of implementing the Good Friday Agreement that all three of those strands are so well represented here,' he told mourners. Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill, center, Mary Lou McDonald, left, and Gerry Adams attend the funeral of the former IRA commander and Sinn Fein deputy leader McGuinness was once chief of staff of the IRA but later became Sinn Fein's chief negotiator in the talks that led to the Good Friday agreement bringing peace to Northern Ireland. Pictured is his coffin being carried into the church Alex Salmond arriving for the funeral of Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness Former SNP leader Alex Salmond and ex-Downing Street press secretary Alastair Campbell (pictured) were pictured in attendance Final interview: A frail Martin McGuinness revealed he 'didn't care' how history judged him in his final interview in January and maintained he was 'proud' of his life in the IRA Thousands of mourners arrived for the funeral of Martin McGuinness as the ex-IRA commander turned Stormont deputy first minister is laid to rest in his native Londonderry One banner in the crowd read: 'Martin McGuinness. Irish martyr. He did not go to war. War came to him. Blessed be the peace-maker' (From the left) Ireland Funds John Fitzpatrick, SDLP MP Mark Durkan and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood arriving for the funeral of Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness Alastair Campbell (far right), former Director of Communications at Downing Street, attends Martin McGuinness's funeral, at St Columba's Church in Londonderry The politician died from a rare heart condition on Tuesday aged 66. It is set to be an extraordinary day of mourning in Derry. Hours before Mr McGuinness's funeral, the same church will witness the funeral of popular Derry City FC captain Ryan McBride, 27, who was found dead in his bed on Sunday. Mr McGuinness's death came in the midst of a political crisis at Stormont, with talks ongoing to form a new powersharing executive following the acrimonious collapse of the last administration. Politicians from both sides of the region's community divide are attending his funeral. The coffin of Martin McGuinness is surrounded by mourners during his funeral in Londonderry, Northern Ireland People gather along the road in the Bogside area of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, ahead of the funeral of Sinn Fein's late leader Martin McGuinness Taoiseach Enda Kenny (centre) arriving for the funeral of Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams hugs a mourner outside Martin McGuinness' house as they arrive for his funeral Chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) John Delaney (left) and Northern Ireland secretary James Brokenshire (right) John Hume and wife Pat arriving for the funeral of Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness Irish President Michael D Higgins (centre) arriving for the funeral at St Columba's Church Long Tower, in Londonderry Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt will join DUP leaders past and present Mr Robinson and Mrs Foster. Their attendance will be seen as symbolically significant given Mr McGuinness's IRA past. Though thousands of supporters have lauded the legacy of Mr McGuinness, his death has drawn a very different response from many victims of the IRA, with some bereaved relatives not prepared to forgive him for his paramilitary involvement. Yesterday political leaders at Westminster and Belfast commended his contribution to the peace process. Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament she could never condone the ex-IRA commander's violent past but she credited his 'indispensable' role in moving the Republican movement away from armed conflict. Members of the public sign a Book of Condolence for the late Martin McGuinness at The Mansion House on Dawson Street, Dublin Friends: Bill Clinton will be in Londonderry for the Mr McGuinness' funeral (pictured together in 2010) Tony Blair walks inside 10 Downing Street with Sinn Fein Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness in 2005. Mr Blair will not attend the funeral New relationship: In a historic moment McGuinness shakes hands with the Queen during a visit to Belfast in 2012 - over 30 years after the IRA murdered her cousin Lord Mountbatten in 1979 - yesterday Her Majesty sent her condolences Tributes: Sinn Fein leader Michelle O'Neill signs the book of condolence for Martin McGuinness at Stormont At a special session of the Stormont Assembly, Mr McGuinness's Sinn Fein successor, Michelle O'Neill, paid an emotional tribute, while Mrs Foster acknowledged that Northern Ireland would 'never see his like again'. Mrs O'Neill told the Assembly her heart was broken yet bursting with pride. 'The legacy that Martin wished was for a better future based on equality and measured by the joy and laughter of all of our children,' she said. 'So, on behalf of Sinn Fein I rededicate our party to completing his life's work and to living through his legacy.' Mrs Foster said Mr McGuinness's legacy was 'complex and challenging'. Final journey: Pallbearers including Gerry Adams (back), former hunger striker and IRA volunteer Raymond McCartney (centre) and new Sinn Fein Leader Michelle O'Neill (front) carry McGuinness' Irish-flag covered coffin through the streets of Londonderry yesterday 'Things have fundamentally changed since I was growing up in the '70s and '80s and changed immeasurably for the better, and Martin McGuinness did play a role which I will always condemn in the '70s and '80s, but I also have to acknowledge the role that he played over this last decade and more in government in Northern Ireland,' she said. Mr McGuinness completed an extraordinary political journey from an IRA leader in Derry to sharing power and a remarkable friendship with his erstwhile foe, DUP leader Dr Ian Paisley. He also struck up a warm relationship with the Queen, whom he praised for her contribution to peace. She is to send a personal message to Mr McGuinness's family. Mr McGuinness's last major act as a politician was to pull down the powersharing executive at Stormont when he resigned as deputy first minister in January in protest at the DUP's handling of a green energy scandal. Respect: Many held candles, left, and looked tearful, right, as they paid their respects to the former IRA chief, who died on Monday night due to a rare genetic condition Family: McGuinness is survived by his wife Bernie (together centre) and four children, including sons Fiachra (left) and Emmett (right) pictured in Dublin in 2011 This is the upsetting moment a rescued lioness taunted by tourists jumps towards them - but falls down into a deep trench. The film shows the lioness, named Elsa after being saved from the circus, being goaded by passing tourists as she is sitting in her enclosure in Bioparque Estrella zoo in Mexico. The animal then suddenly leaps off the cliff towards the visitors but she dangerously plunges into the moat, to the delight of cheering onlookers. No danger: Zoo spokesman Arturo Moar said there had never been any danger to the public as the lion can only jump up to 16 feet, whereas the trench is 23 feet wide Tourists screamed at first but quickly realise Elsa's leap is not far enough and as she falls midair, they break out into cheers and whoops. Zoo spokesman Arturo Moar said there had never been any danger to the public as the lion can only jump up to 16 feet, whereas the trench is 23 feet wide. Park keepers said the lioness was attended by vets after falling into the deep trench but they found she was not injured. Zoo bosses said the lioness, named Elsa, had recently been rescued from a circus. The American Association of Zoos and Aquariums recommended in its publication Zoo Guidelines for Keeping Large Felids in Captivity that 7.6 metres 25 feet should be the minimum width for a big cats moat. Elsas jump on the video was from a sitting start, with no run-up, and some believe the upper limit for a lions horizontal jump to be 36 feet. Advertisement Hollywood actress Greta Garbo spent decades living in her high-end and exclusive New York City apartment. Now for the first time in 64 years, the film legend's seven-room Manhattan residence is up for sale for nearly $6 million. Garbo, one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 1920s and 30s, lived in the co-op overlooking East River from 1954 until she died in 1990 aged 84. Scroll down for video Hollywood actress Greta Garbo's former New York City apartment is up for sale for the first time in 64 years for nearly $6 million The film legend's seven-room apartment in Manhattan at East 52nd Street overlooks the East River Swedish-born Garbo was one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 1920s and 30s The apartment is being sold by the family of Gray Reisfield, Garbo's niece and sole heir to the actress's estate. Reisfield and her husband lived in the apartment from about 1992 to 2013 before relocating to San Francisco. The Swedish-born star's apartment has been listed for $5.95 million with Halstead brokers William A. Kerr, Brian Lewis and William Kerr. The agents say the sprawling three bedroom, three bath apartment is mostly how Garbo left it. It features a private elevator lobby, an L-shaped living room and a separate library/den area. Garbo lived in the co-op from 1954 until she died in 1990 aged 84. The apartment boasts three bedrooms and three baths The sprawling apartment has been preserved mostly how Garbo had it before she died in 1990 The apartment is being sold by the family of Gray Reisfield, Garbo's niece and sole heir to the actress's estate The 1927 building is situated in a quiet cul-de-sac facing the East River, which was the perfect place for the elusive movie star to take refuge from media and fans The Swedish-born star's apartment has been listed for $5.95 million with Halstead The co-op is located on the fifth floor of the 14-story Campanile building on East 52nd Street. Its monthly maintenance comes in at nearly $9,100. The 1927 building is situated in a quiet cul-de-sac facing the East River, which was the perfect place for the elusive movie star to take refuge from media and fans. Garbo was renowned for her aversion to publicity. She refused invitations to parties and receptions when she first arrived in Hollywood in 1925 and would not even attend her own film premieres. She also stopped giving interviews early on in her career. Garbo, pictured left in 1954 and right in 1984, was renowned for her aversion to publicity The co-op is located on the fifth floor of the 14-story Campanile building on East 52nd Street The apartment has three bedrooms with sprawling views over Manhattan's East River The Hill when Whip counts change. The most worthless ones-- aside from Steve Scalise's-- come from the clueless Beltway media clods. I laughed when I saw Lou Barletta (R-PA) start turning up on lists of NO votes. There's no one in the House more easily bought-off by a thug like Trump than Barletta. So I wasn't quite as breathlessly in shock as the little children atwhen Barletta took his bribe and switched his vote Mark Meadows, head of the Freedom Caucus, said a few days ago his own whip count shows 40 NO votes in the House. That's the highest I've seen and I wouldn't count on that big a fuck you to Ryan, who has been busy showing Republicans he knows how to get even with expensive TV ads and cheap rob calls in their own districts. As late as yesterday-- after arm-twisting and some pretty massive bribe promises that netted Trump-- besides Barletta-- John Faso (R-NY), John Katko (R-NY), Tom Reed (R-NY), Martha McSally (R-AZ), paper tiger Steve King (R-IA), Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Meadows said he had firm NOs from 25 Freedom Caucus members alone. They only need 22 to kill TrumpCare so that it never even goes to the Senate at all. Last night many of our Senate contacts were telling us they expected Ryan to have a heart to heart with Scalise, realize he doesn't have the votes, and postpone today's do-or-die attempt. Yesterday Trump set Mike Pence, Kellyanne Conway and #PresidentBannon loose on a dozen or so Freedom Caucus members he lured over to the White House. A staffer for one member told me that after the meeting, his boss was more sure than every he would be a NO vote. Several members complained that there is no talk about substantive poilicy-- just politics, crude bribes and usually subtle threats. One firm NO vote is Thomas Massey, a Libertarian-leaning independent thinker from Kentucky. He says he knows over 35 Republicans against it and he feels they can force Ryan to raise the white flag and repeal ObamaCare without replacing it. "This is worse than Obamacare," he told the media, "and were going to own it. Were going to own it lock, stock and barrel." He tweeted jokingly that he had changed his vote late yesterday, sending out this as a tweet: Ryan and Trump, though, aren't the only ones holding cash under Republicans' noses to get them to vote on TrumpCare. The Kochs want to see it defeated and CNN reported late yesterday that the Koch network is creating a new multimillion dollar fund for Republican candidates in the 2018 reelection races-- but only for the ones who vote against TrumpCare today. The Koch-aligned networks oppose the bill because they think it does not do enough to scale back former President Barack Obama's health care policies. "We want to make certain that lawmakers understand the policy consequences of voting for a law that keeps Obamacare intact," Americans for Prosperity president Tim Phillips said. "We have a history of following up and holding politicians accountable, but we will also be there to support and thank the champions who stand strong and keep their promise." Ted Lieu addressed a statement directly to the California Republicans in Congress: "Todays revelation by Governor Jerry Brown of a $6 billion a year tax bill for California under President Trumps health care plan is astounding. I triple-dog-dare moderate House Republicans from California to vote for TrumpCare." What he's talking about is that any Republican who votes for TrumpCare is voting to deny their own constituents federal support for health insurance for a simple reason: in California state law mandates abortion coverage in health insurance, while Ryan specifically wrote TrumpCare to deny tax credits for any policy that does that. The consequences would be calamitous for the state's insurance markets and probably signal-- if (and it's a BIG if) the DCCC could find good candidates-- the end of the careers of at least half a dozen California Republicans, namely Steve Knight, David Valadao, Darrell Issa-- regardless of which was he flip-flops today-- Jeff Denham, Mimi Walters, Dana Rohrabacher, Ed Royce maybe even Paul Cook, Ken Calvert and Tom McClintock. The losses of health care under these circumstances go way beyond what was implied by the CBO because they didn't take the abortion inclusion statute into consideration. If the DCCC is smart they'll nudge their losing import/invention from last cycle, Brian Caforio, aside and get behind local progressive Katie Hill in CA-25 and retire Steve Knight, the right-wing Republican incumbent. Last night, Hill reiterated that she's far from being a fan of TrumpCare while Knight runs around like a chicken without a head trying too decide which position on TrumpCare hurts him more, backing it or opposing it. Katie Hill: Representative Knight has been non-committal regarding how he will vote on Ryan's repeal bill. At this point, we have no idea if he will vote in favor of a bill that will result in more than 60,000 of his own constituents losing health coverage, and ultimately decimate the entire insurance market here in California. However, given the tremendous pressure he and other Republican members of congress are receiving from GOP leadership and President Trump, it is likely that he will end up voting yes tomorrow. Health care is a basic human right. If I am elected to congress, I will fight each day to ensure that every single person is able to receive health care that they can afford. It's common sense-- if our people aren't healthy, our society isn't healthy. If anyone gets sick or dies because they can't afford insurance or the care they need, then we are failing as a country and as a community. I won't rest until we know that that won't happen anymore. Congressman Knight, it's time to put people over party. I know I will. UPDATE: What Ryan Did To TrumpCare Overnight-- Aromatherapy Is Nice, But Who Will Cover Chemotherapy? NY Times this morning. Looks like the GOP Establishment still doesn't have enough votes to pass this Frankenstein's monster of a bill and that it will be postponed 4 or 5 days while they threaten and bribe more Republican members. The changes they made to the bill last night actually turned off even more members! Margot Singer-Katz covered the sausage-making for thethis morning. President Donald Trump sat down with Time magazine for a combative back-and-forth over his credibility, where he taunted his detractors by pointing out one single fact. 'Hey look, in the mean time, I guess, I can't be doing so badly, because I'm president, and you're not. You know,' Trump told Time's Washington bureau chief Michael Scherer. 'Say hello to everybody OK?' This remark, which Trump seemed to direct at all his critics in the media, came after the president and Scherer volleyed over Trump's still-disputed wire-tapping claim and other statements the president has made, in which the facts can't quite back him up. Scroll down for video President Donald Trump sat down with Time magazine yesterday at the White House and talked about whether his statements are hurting his credibility Time's cover asks, 'Is truth dead?' and Trump started out the interview by ticking off a number of statements he's made where he's turned out to be 'right.' 'Sweden,' Trump said. 'I made the statement, everyone goes crazy. The next day they have a massive riot, and death, and problems.' President Trump's interview appears in the new issue of Time, which asks, 'Is truth dead?' Trump also contended that he was spot on about Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin, noting Weiner had 'all of Hillary's email on his thing.' The FBI's late announcement that the bureau was again looking through Clinton's emails came from correspondence found on the disgraced congressman's computer, as part of another case. 'NATO, obsolete, because it doesn't cover terrorism,' Trump continued. 'They fixed that, and I said that the allies must pay. Nobody knew that they werent paying. I did. I figured it.' The president said he was also correct about Brexit, Brussels eluding to the March 2016 terror attack in the Belgian capital and the election being 'rigged' against Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders. 'But theres other things you said that havent panned out,' Scherer pointed out, most notably the wire-tapping claims the president first made in a tweet. Scherer and Trump sat down yesterday around the same time as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes' White House press conference, so neither the journalist nor the president knew exactly the contents of what Nunes said. But Trump pointed out that he hadn't meant 'wiretapping' literally when he tweeted his allegation against former President Obama, despite the fact that he included the word 'phone' in one of those original tweets. 'Now remember this. When I said wiretapping, it was in quotes. Because a wiretapping is, you know today it is different than wiretapping. It is just a good description. But wiretapping was in quotes. What I'm talking about is surveillance,' the president noted. Scherer then asked Trump if he felt FBI Director James Comey's testimony on Monday affected the president's credibility on the matter. Comey told members of Congress that he had 'no information' to back Trump's wiretapping claim. 'No, I have, look. I have articles saying it happened,' Trump continued. He pointed to a story in the New York Times, which in print was headlined 'Wiretapped data used in inquiry of Trump aides.' The New York Times pushed back on Trump using this tidbit as an explanation in a fact-check piece that came out last week. 'The Times article Mr. Trump referred to did use the word "wiretap" but it did not assert that Mr. Obama had ordered surveillance of Mr. Trump, nor did it even mention Mr. Obama,' the Times' article read. 'Rather, the story referred to intercepted information collected overseas.' During the sit-down with Time, Trump pointed to Nunes' press conference. At the White House yesterday, Nunes warned that some members of the president's transition team, including possibly the president himself, may have had their conversations 'incidentally collected.' Nunes' statements, however, did nothing to give credence to Trump's wiretapping claims. 'One of my ideas here is that throughout the campaign and now as president, you have used disputed statements, this is one of them that is disputed, the claim that three million undocumented people voted in the election,' Scherer brought up. Trump had suggested he would have won the popular vote, which he lost to Democrat Hillary Clinton, had three million or so people not voted 'illegally.' 'Well I think I will be proved right about that too,' Trump replied. Scherer pointed to Trump saying that Muslims in New York had celebrated on 9/11. 'Well if you look at the reporter, he wrote the story in the Washington Post,' Trump said. Scherer wondered if the fact that these stories are disputed, actually made them better message vehicles, because Trump's supporters would get excited about them. At that, Trump moved back to the topic of voter fraud, suggesting that most of these people simply registered wrong. But there was no evidence to suggest 3 million people voted illegally, Scherer pointed out. 'Well see after the committee. I have people say it was more than that. We will see after we have,' Trump said, calling it a 'serious problem.' Scherer then asked the president if there was anything wrong with making 'predictions,' without having factual evidence to back it up. 'Im a very instinctual person, but my instinct turns out to be right,' Trump said, going into how he thought he would win the election, but other people including ABC News' George Stephanopoulos laughed and doubted. He tied that in with Brexit too. 'I said, no Brexit is going to happen, and everybody laughed, and Brexit happened. Many many things. They turn out to be right,' Trump said. 'And now today, Devin Nunes, just had a news conference,' the president stated. Scherer pointed out that 'incidental collection,' which was what Nunes was concerned about, would not mean wiretapping of Trump, but of someone else. The journalist also pointed to Nunes' statement, which said he still had no evidence to back Trump's wiretapping claim. 'Well, he just got this information. This was new information. That was just got,' Trump replied. 'Members, of, lets see, were under surveillance during the Obama Administration following Novembers election. Wow. This just came out. So, ah, just came out,' Trump continued, reading a Politico story about the presser. The Time magazine journalist tried to get Trump to explain why the president has said other things that weren't true, including a conspiracy theory candidate Trump pedaled, suggesting Sen. Ted Cruz's father had something to do with President John F. Kennedy's assassination. 'Well that was in a newspaper,' Trump said. 'No, no, I like Ted Cruz, hes a friend of mine. But that was in the newspaper ... A Ted Cruz article referred to a newspaper story with, had a picture of Ted Cruz, his father, and Lee Harvey Oswald, having breakfast.' The newspaper Trump was referring to was the National Enquirer. 'Why do you say that I have to apologize?' Trump asked. Scherer pointed to the Wall Street Journal op-ed, which smacked the president for his 'falsehoods,' suggesting his comments were eroding public trust. 'I thought it was, I thought it was a disgrace that they could write that,' Trump said. The Time reporter outlined a similar situation in which the president had to articulate to the American people that some serious national security event has happened. During his latest interview with Time, President Trump asked if he had the record for appearing on the magazine's cover. President Nixon still holds the record Trump suggested it was silly to think that he wouldn't be believed. 'The country believes me. Hey. I went to Kentucky two nights ago, we had 25,000 people in a massive basketball arena. There wasnt a seat, they had to send away people,' the president explained. 'I went to Tennessee four nights ago. We had a packed house, they had to send away thousands of people.' 'The countrys not buying it, it is fake media. And the Wall Street Journal is a part of it,' the president added. When Scherer then suggested that Trump must not be concerned about his credibility, the president again launched into a laundry list of areas where he believed he was right. On the point of Sweden, which Trump again brought up, Scherer pointed out that the president very specifically pointed to an incident that happened on a Friday night. Now when Trump speaks of Sweden, he brings up a riot that happened several days later. 'No I am saying I was right. I am talking about Sweden. Im talking about what Sweden has done to themselves is very sad, that is what I am talking about,' Trump contended. He then brought up how he was an 'instinctual person' before bopping the media on the head. 'And the New York and CNN and all of them, they did these polls, which were extremely bad and they turned out to be totally wrong, and my polls showed I was going to win,' Trump said. 'And then Time magazine, which treats me horribly, but obviously I sell, I assume this is going to be a cover too, have I set the record?' he asked Scherer. 'I guess, right? Covers, nobodys had more covers.' Scherer said President Nixon still had Trump beat, but pointed out that Nixon was in office longer. 'OK good. Im sure Ill win,' Trump said. The Time journalist then backtracked to Comey's testimony, noting how the FBI director and the Department of Justice had no evidence to support the president's wire-tapping claim, nor did they have evidence that British spies were involved, which was a claim made by Fox News personality Judge Andrew Napolitano that the president parroted as well. Trump, again, tried to use the New York Times headline as cover, but then pivoted and pointed a finger at 'the leakers' who released Gen. Michael Flynn's name. 'But the real story here is, who released General Flynns name? Who released, who released my conversations with Australia, and who released my conversation with Mexico?' Trump said, pointing to early instances of leaking during his administration. 'To me, Michael, thats the story, these leakers, they are disgusting,' Trump said. Trying to take the conversation full circle, Scherer pointed out that Trump may have a credibility problem if the intelligence community comes out and identifies the leaker, but Trump has previously discredited the intelligence community. 'Im not sayingno, Im not blaming,' Trump replied. 'First of all, I put Mike Pompeo in. I put Senator Dan Coats in. These are great people.' 'I think they are great people and they are going to, I have a lot of confidence in them. So hopefully things will straighten out,' he continued. 'But I inherited a mess, I inherited a mess in so many ways. I inherited a mess in the Middle East, and a mess with North Korea, I inherited a mess with jobs ... And I inherited a mess on trade.' 'I mean we have many, you can go up and down the ladder,' he said. Trump then boasted about the fact that he was president and concluded the interview. In the wake of a horrific terror attack in central London that left four dead and almost 40 injured, experts have warned that ISIS jihadists could attack Sydney next. In a savage assault on London's Parliament, a suspected Islamic State extremist mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before being shot by officers. Heavily-armed officers were deployed to guard federal buildings in Australia's capital city in response, with fears similar lone wolf attackers might target Canberra. 'We're making sure that all contingencies are prepared for, but the fact of the matter is some of these things just cannot be preempted,' Counter Terrorism minister David Elliott told 7 News. In the wake of a horrific terrorist attack in London, experts have warned that ISIS jihadists could attack Sydney next Heavily-armed officers were deployed to guard federal buildings in Australia's capital city in response after Canberra was placed on high alert A total of 40 people were injured when the attacker drove a rented Hyundai (pictured after it crashed) down the pavement on Westminster Bridge, plowing into pedestrians According to reports by 7 and 9 News, 'within months' every front level police officer will be issued a M4 Carbine assault rifle to combat the rising terror threat. Nick O'Brien, a count terrorism professor from Charles Sturt University, told 9 News that Australia's 'opponents don't like the fact we live in a democracy'. 'All parliaments are a target,' he said. Other security experts pointed out the high incidence of vehicle-ramming terrorist attacks in recent times, suggesting heightened gutters and bollards in the CBD's. Gavin Queit, director of a specialist security company based in Melbourne, said bollards were a good way to minimise the likelihood and danger of a vehicle attack. His company GK Solutions was recently hired to install protective bollards outside a new police station in the heart of Melbourne. Armed police are pictured on patrol at Parliament House in Canberra, which is on high alert Gavin Queit, director of a specialist security company based in Melbourne, said bollards were a good way to minimise the likelihood and danger of a vehicle attack Carmage after the horrific terror attack near London's Houses of Parliament that has left at least five people dead. Pictured, emergency services at the scene 'If you think about a major intersection in Melbourne at lunchtime, people crossing any of the major intersections and cars are waiting opposite and you can't impede those cars,' Mr Quieit admitted to the Sydney Morning Herald. Neil Fergus from Intelligent Risks told 9 News that terrorist attacks like the latest one in London had the possibility of inspiring other like-minded people. 'There are other parties out there, some of whom are mentally deranged, some of whom are inspired by jihadism, some of whom are a combination of both, who might think that this is something that they might think with give their meaningless lives something,' he said. An Islamic State propaganda magazine published online late last year implored deranged terrorists to perform horrific attacks on their own. 'Kill them on the streets of Brunswick, Broadmeadows, Bankstown, and Bondi. Kill them at the MCG, the SCG, the Opera House, and even in their backyards,' the article read. 'Stab them, shoot them, poison them, and run them down with your vehicles. 'Kill them wherever you find them until the hollowness of their arrogance is filled with terror and they find themselves on their knees with their backs broken under the weight of regret for having waged a war against the believers, and by Allah's will, and then through your sacrifices, this (community of Muslims) will be victorious.' An Islamic State propaganda magazine published online late last year implored deranged terrorists to perform horrific attacks on their own. Pictured, investigators at the scene on Westminster Bridge after London terror attack After arresting a Sydney teenager over a suspected terror plot last year, NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn spoke of the risks of youth radicalisation. 'What is concerning is that we are still seeing people who want to do an attack in our country. We are still seeing people planning and preparing for such attacks and unfortunately that group of people are getting younger and younger and, as we all know, youth are vulnerable particularly around the radicalisation,' she said. 'The really important thing is that we can't do this alone, police cannot do this alone.' 'We all have to work together, whether it's family, schools or other community groups, we all have to work together because we can't be in everyone's bedroom, we can't be in everyone's lounge room.' France's far-Right candidate for next month's Presidential elections, Marine Le Pen, seized on yesterday's London attack as further proof that tighter border controls were needed in Europe. Her comments flew in the face of British Prime Minister Theresa May's announcement in Parliament that the man who ran down and killed three people before stabbing to death a policeman was actually born in Britain. The National Front leader, who is leading the polls in the race to become the next President of France, told a TV station: 'The problem we have nowadays is this form of low-cost terrorism. We must control our borders.' Security is a major campaign issue ahead of next month's elections in France, in which Le Pen is expected to reach the second round on a nationalist, anti-immigration platform. Le Pen (left) appeared to be seeking to make political capital out of yesterday's attack when it is unclear how border controls would have saved the life of Aysha Frade (right), one of three people mown down by the British-born attacker's car It is not clear how controlling borders would have prevented yesterday's horrific attack in Westminster. The lone wolf attacker, who has not been identified, also injured 29 people when he drove a Hyundai 4x4 vehicle into pedestrians walking across Westminster Bridge. The injured included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, two Greeks, and one each from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the United States. France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who was in London today to meet British ministers and the injured schoolchildren's families, said knee-jerk measures were not the answer. 'We won't put up a wall that would stop life from continuing,' he said. France is a member of the open-border Schengen agreement that operates among several European countries. A police officers lays a wreath at the National Police Memorial in London to PC Keith Palmer, who was stabbed to death while guarding the British Parliament yesterday French anti-terrorist police have opened an inquiry into the incident - an automatic move that was due to the involvement of French victims. ISIS have claimed responsibility for the London attack but Mrs May said the assailant had been known to MI5 but considered a 'peripheral' figure. The attack has dominated French news coverage and served as a poignant reminder of militant attacks on French soil that have killed more 230 people since the start of 2015. Meanwhile it has emerged that a man using a car with French registration plates tried to drive a car into a crowd of people in the centre of the Belgian city of Antwerp today. Marine Le Pen (pictured left, with former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who led the campaign for Brexit) has promised to hold a referendum in France on continued membership of the EU Le Pen, who has the backing of about a quarter of the electorate and is running neck-and-neck in opinion polls with independent Emmanuel Macron, said countries needed to co-operate more with each other on sharing intelligence. She advocated closing down mosques with links to extremism and revoking the French nationality of those with more than one passport who were guilty of committing attacks. The deadliest attacks in France over the past two years have been claimed by ISIS. In one of those attacks, a Tunisian-born ISIS supporter killed 86 people in the southern city of Nice when he drove his lorry along a seafront promenade. British investigators say the London assault was an act of terrorism that Prime Minister May said had been sparked by a warped Islamist ideology. Nigel Farage, the former UKIP leader who is friends with Le Pen, said today British people wanted answers from politicians about what they planned to do to stop such attacks. Farage told Fox News in America the attack bolstered US president Donald Trump's case for tougher vetting of migrants, claiming countries which opened their door to immigration from the Middle East were 'inviting in terrorism'. Again his remarks seemed at odds with Mrs May's statement that yesterday's was born in Britain and was not an immigrant. It was a murderous attack on the heart of Westminster that has sent shock waves around the world. British-born Khalid Masood, 52, drove a Hyundai 4x4 at pedestrians sending them flying like skittles before hurtling towards the gates of Parliament and smashing into its outer wall. Spanish teacher Aysha Frade and American tourist Kurt Cochran were killed before the attacker knifed Metropolitan policeman Keith Palmer, 48, to death. Some 40 others were injured, including a number of foreign tourists before the terrorist was shot dead. This morning, the world's media reflected the gravity of the attack by running front pages stories. Here's how newspapers and websites reacted to the tragedy: The website of German tabloid Bild focused on Spanish teacher Aysha Frade, 43, who was killed in the atrocity while on a school run. The headline, along with a picture of the mother-of-two, read: 'She died on the Death Bridge. Mother was about to pick up her children from school' Spanish newspaper El Pais described how Parliament had shut down after the attack along with a picture of police desperately telling people to leave the scene French daily Le Monde focused on how the attack hit at the heart of government. Its website this morning was using a picture of police at the scene and the headline: 'In London, an attack touches a symbol of British democracy' In Italy, the website of the Corriere Della Sera featured pictures of the dramatic aftermath of the attack as police swooped on the attacker as well as images of two victims, Ayesha Freda (bottom right) and police officer Keith Palmer (top right) The French broadsheet Figaro ran a headline saying 'Terrorism: London struck to the heart' along with a shocking picture of a victim being treated at the scene Belgian newspaper De Morgen summed up the chaotic scenes in the aftermath of the attack with this image of bystanders helping a stricken victim The left-wing Italian newspaper Il Manifesto carried a picture of ambulances on Westminster Bridge along with the words 'In the heart of London' on its front page on Thursday morning The website of Spanish newspaper El Pais carred a picture of a police officer outside the Parliament building and focused on the overnight raids in Birmingham. The headline said: 'Seven arrested in a raid in Birmingham after the London attack' The Times of India;s headline this morning said 'Terror hits London, locks down British Parliament' while an inset focused on how the attack happened a year after the suicide bomb atrocity in Brussels In Israel, The Jerusalem Post wrote: 'Terrorism hits London: Three dead, 20 wounded'. The paper used a picture used by many other media organisations of a victim lying injured on the bridge Reference News in China said simply: 'Attack outside British Parliament building' Newspapers in the US, including The New York Times (left) and The Wall Street Journal (right) also carried front page stories on the attack Around 200 members of staff from a bus company in eastern China were surprised to receive their salary in stacks of one yuan (12p) coins. Staff at Baoying Car Transport General Company have been outraged after only some of the staff received their salary in coins while others were paid in the usual way. They had given out approximately 200,000 yuan (23,226) in one yuan coins on March 17, reports Jiangsu China. Baoying transport company wrapped one-yuan coins in a roll of 100 and gave out as salary People working at the administrative department and repairing workers received the coins as part of or their entire salary of the month A member of staff told reporters that 'it's not fair that the others got their pay transferred to their bank account while some of us are getting stacks of coins.' Mr Long, a bus driver, working at Baoying said: 'there are about 200 people receiving their pay in small change - some got 300 yuan (35), 1000 yuan (116) and even 2000 yuan (232).' Gu Fengyun, head of the Trade Union, explained that the company has about 500,000 yuan (58k) in coins after the Chinese New Year holiday. The company found it difficult to take the change to the bank as it would have involved an 'exceeding amount of manpower and equipment' from the company and bank. Because of this, the company decided to offload the coins to staff members. Gu explained it took too much manpower and equipment to deposit the coins in bank 'The coins are mostly given to workers at the administrative department and repairs department. For bus drivers, we transferred their wages to their bank account directly,' explained Gu. However, this scheme has left a lot of affected workers wondering how to spend the coins. Images show the rolls containing 100 coins worth 100 yuan (12). The company is now reaching out to small shops and individuals to offer them notes in exchange for coins. Pasty crimper Aysha Begum, 27, posed as a porn star to swindle 35,000 out of a lonely pensioner, a court heard. She met her victim on a Facebook page for introducing young women to wealthy older men A pasty crimper posed as a porn star to swindle 35,000 out of a lonely pensioner, a court heard. Aysha Begum, 27, met her victim on a Facebook page dedicated to introducing young ladies to wealthy older men. She pretended to be a Bangladeshi exotic dancer and sent divorcee Geoffrey Hoyland a series of steamy photos of a mystery woman, claiming to be her. But in fact Begum was a married pasty crimper who worked in a factory in the Cornish village of St Dennis. Truro Crown Court heard Begum never met her victim in the year-long scam, but offered to marry him if he could stump up cash for a wedding. She allegedly asked Mr Hoyland, 69, to send money and gifts including 20,000, which she claimed would help convince her mother that he was financially stable. She also asked for more money for a car. As well as giving her the cash, he showered her with presents including a gold necklace, an iPhone, a white sofa, a strapless basque, a g-string and stockings. Begum denies spending more than 35,000 which she gained from criminal conduct between December 2014 and December 2015. She allegedly used part of the cash to pay off her mortgage, the court heard. Truro Crown Court was told that Begum's husband Jynal Khan has already pleaded guilty to fraud and was being dealt with in a separate court case The jury was told that Mr Hoyland was a retired divorcee from Banbury, Oxfordshire, who lives alone with his two pet cats. Prosecutor Paul Grumbar said: He joined a Facebook page that was introducing ladies who were interested in relationships with older men. Mr Hoyland was, you may think, in many ways naive. He added: A part of the lure... is that she rather shyly informed him she was an exotic model who was involved in making sexual videos. Mr Hoyland believed they were forming a genuine relationship and she was going to see him. The court heard Begums husband Jynal Khan was in on the scam. He had admitted fraud and is being dealt with in a separate hearing. Mr Grumbar said: This case is about the allegation that this lady and her husband worked together and committed what it called a dating scam to extract money from a man, in this case, a Mr Hoyland. He added: The Crown is saying that it is all very well her husband saying he was the man responsible for the fraud, but she must have known about it and very large sums of money going into her bank account. The jury was discharged yesterday. The court heard she was found not guilty of fraud after the prosecution offered no evidence. Begum pretended to be an exotic dancer and sent divorcee Geoffrey Hoyland a series of steamy photos of a mystery woman, claiming to be her (file photo) A decision on pursuing a charge on the second allegation, about knowing the money came from criminal conduct, will be made today. Dating fraud, known as catfishing, is a growing problem in the UK. Often the victims are lonely, older men who fall for the charms of false profiles of attractive younger women. Earlier this month, police revealed they are hunting a glamorous fraudster who tricked a man into handing over 250,000. She used Match.com to flirt with her victim before convincing him to hand over the huge sum of money. Detectives believe she could be part of an organised criminal gang targeting isolated single men in Britain. Islamic State thugs have burned three women to death after they refused to slaughter their neighbours who fled conflict. The terrorists reportedly ordered the victims to kill citizens who had tried to escape the Iraqi city of Mosul, for which they were sentenced to death by ISIS' lawmakers. The three women declined, and as punishment, they were burned alive. A still image taken from a video released by Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency, said to be in Palmyra, on December 11, 2016, purports to show Islamic State fighters in front of silos on fire It is not clear what happened to the civilians who fled war-torn Mosul and were ordered to be executed, according Iraqi News. The barbaric militants have regularly burned people who do not adhere to their twisted views, but rarely get civilians to carry out their work. As they desperately attempt to hold on to the few strongholds they have left in the Middle East, ISIS appear to be taking more extreme measures to exaggerate their standing. Just last month, there were two reports of the terror group burning their victims alive. One was a Jordanian pilot who was slaughtered inside a cage and another was a schoolboy who was killed alongside his father. A local coming out of his house which was just hit by ISIS mortar fire in Mosul, Iraq An estimated 400,000 Iraqis are trapped in the ISIS-controlled Old City of west Mosul amid food shortages and growing panic under shelling, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Thursday. Many civilians fear fleeing because of Islamic State snipers, but some 157,000 have reached a transit centre since the Iraqi government offensive on west Mosul began a month ago, it said. Bruno Geddo, UNHCR representative in Iraq, speaking from the transit centre outside Mosul, told a Geneva news briefing: 'The worst is yet to come, if I can put it this way. 'Because 400,000 people trapped in the Old City in that situation of panic and penury may inevitably lead to the cork popping somewhere, sometime, presenting us with a fresh outflow of large-scale proportions.' Taliban fighters captured the strategic southern district of Sangin on Thursday in another setback for Afghan forces in Helmand province. The capture of Sangin, where US and British forces suffered heavy casualties until it was handed over to Afghan personnel, marks the culmination of the Taliban's year-long offensive to seize the opium-rich district and underscores their growing strength. Most of Helmand is already estimated to be under Taliban control, with the capital Lashkar Gah - one of the last government-held enclaves - also at the risk of falling to the Taliban's repeated ferocious assaults ahead of the annual spring offensive. Troops from Badger Squadron, 2RTR, pictured at a militia camp overlooking Peace Street, a new road being built to Sangin in Helmand Province, Afghanistan Since 2001, 456 British troops were killed in Afghanistan. Of those, around 114 died in the city of Sangin. Helmand governor's spokesman Omar Zwak said: 'Our forces have retreated from government offices, including the police headquarters and the governor's office in Sangin, but we are preparing to take it back.' Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also said that insurgents had overrun the district centre. Senior Labour MP Paul Flynn said the loss of Sangin underlined the need for an inquiry into the ill-fated Afghan war. He told MailOnline: Up to the point we decided to go into Helmand, we had lost a dozen of our soldiers in combat. Labour MP Paul Flynn talking in London After we went into Helmand, the total went up to 450. We were there in the hope not a shot would be fired. We have yet to engage with the fact that going in there was the worst mistake since the charge of the light brigade it was a mistake of historic proportions. We lost 450 of our troops there. The result is the situation is very much the same. Quite rightly, the loved ones can ask why did we do it? For years Helmand was the centrepiece of the Western military intervention in Afghanistan, only for it to slip deeper into instability. The Taliban effectively control or contest 10 of the 14 districts in Helmand, the deadliest province for British and US troops over the past decade and blighted by a huge opium harvest that helps fund the insurgency. The Pentagon has said it would deploy some 300 US Marines this spring to Helmand, where American forces engaged in heated combat until they pulled out in 2014. The Marines will head to the poppy-growing province this spring to assist a NATO-led mission to train Afghan forces, in the latest sign that foreign forces are increasingly being drawn back into the worsening conflict. Separately on Thursday, a policeman linked to the Taliban killed nine of his colleagues as they were sleeping in the northern Kunduz province, local police chief Aziz Kamawal said. So-called insider attacks - when Afghan soldiers and police turn their guns on their colleagues or on international troops - have been a major problem during the more than 15-year-long war. Last week, three US soldiers were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire in Helmand, in the first known insider attack on international forces this year. Real estate broker Lynne Roberts, 68, allegedly left her boyfrien, 67, lying face-down in his own 'feces, urine and vomit' for more than a week before calling the police A real estate broker allegedly left her 67-year-old boyfriend lying face-down in his own 'feces, urine and vomit' for more than a week before calling the police. Lynne Roberts, 68, is accused of letting Peter Locker develop fetid open sores on his face, chest, elbow, and knee after he 'fell over from vertigo' and 'couldn't get back up'. The New York-based former food writer only rang 911 after eight days when she decided her helpless partner of 25 years was acting less 'hostile' towards her. Medics found Mr Locker sprawled on the floor with kidney failure, blood poisoning and raw skin around his festering sores due to lack of blood flow, according to shocking court papers. The Douglas Elliman agent left Mr Locker covered with flesh so decayed that 'you could see his chest bones', Assistant District Attorney Danielle Turcotte alleged. Roberts claimed Locker had 'called out' for her and she gave him 'water and kisses' while he was lying there. She said that Mr Locker told her not to help him up, and she worried that he would 'yell' at her if she tried, according to the criminal complaint. 'I tried to get him up but he told me no, that he will do it,' she told police. 'He did call out for me and I gave him water and kisses when he did. I was afraid that if I kept trying to help him, he was going to yell at me. I am afraid of him because he's verbally aggressive with me.' The former restaurant reviewer eventually made the 911 call from their Upper East Side apartment on March 15. The New York-based former food writer only rang 911 after eight days when she decided her helpless partner of 25 years was acting less 'hostile' towards her (pictured, their Upper East Side apartment) Roberts was charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of an incompetent or disabled person - which carries up to seven years in prison. On Wednesday, Mr Locker looked 'frail and filthy' while hooked up to an intravenous drip and a heart monitor at New York Hospital, the New York Post reported. Prosecutors said Mr Locker, who was rushed to New York Presbyterian Hospital, could die from his condition. Attorney Turcotte said that the 'best case scenario' was that he could be treated to 'live a little longer, but he will not be able to leave the ICU.' A source at the pair's apartment building described Roberts and Locker as 'a strange couple' who 'never came out during the day,' according to the New York Post. Roberts is accused of letting Peter Locker develop fetid open sores on his face, chest, elbow, and knee after he 'fell over from vertigo' and 'couldn't get back up (pictured, New York Presbyterian Hospital where Locker was rushed to by medics) Roberts has sold three dozen apartments, including a $3.2 million deal on the Upper West Side, according to her professional bio. She had previously worked as a marketing manager for Evian and Louis Roederer champagne and co-authored two cookbooks. Roberts, who was described as having 'personal warmth and good humor', earned two Masters of Art degrees at Colombia University and worked as an art dealer in her early career. At her arraignment on March 16, Roberts' lawyer Adam Felsenstein claimed she had suffered a 'very nasty fall herself'. 'He's actually been the caregiver to her up until he took a fall in their apartment. 'She offered her assistance and he refused it for a period of time. During that period of time, she continued to bring him food and tend to his needs,' he alleged. He claimed that she rang the police after 'the relationship softened some. Judge David Frey granted her release without bail at Manhattan Criminal Court, but gave her with a 'stay away' order of protection. She is due back in court on May 3. Two teenage sisters fleeing Guatemala claim a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer sexually assaulted them in Texas after they illegally crossed the border. The girls, aged 19 and 17, said they waved down the officer in July 2016 and asked for help when they became lost after crossing the border on foot from Mexico. They claim the officer took them into a closet in the Presidio intake office in Texas and forced them to strip off their clothes before he sexually assaulted them. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California filed lawsuits on Tuesday against the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of the sisters. Two Guatemalan sisters, aged 19 and 17, (above) claim a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer sexually assaulted them in Texas after they illegally crossed the border in July 2016 The suit seeks $1.5 million in damages for the girls, as well as information on whether the unknown agent who allegedly assaulted them has been charged or disciplined. The girls, who didn't want to be identified in fear of retaliation, are now living in Fresno, California with their mother. The elder sister said the allegedly sexual assaults occurred in a closet on the night of July 11 last year. Once inside the small room, the girl claims the officer asked her to remove her clothes to make sure she wasn't carrying anything illegal. But she claims he lifted her bra and started caressing her breasts. 'He then demanded I remove my pants and tights. I tried to calm him down and reassured him I had nothing to hide, but he started to forcefully pull down my underwear,' she said. 'He touched me inappropriately, running his hand over my vagina. I was so scared and confused - I couldn't understand why he was doing this. It clearly wasn't necessary for security purposes.' The girls, aged 19 and 17, said they waved down the officer (not pictured) in July 2016 and asked for help when they became lost after crossing the border on foot from Mexico She said the officer then took her 17-year-old sister into the same room minutes later. The younger sister says she was put through a similar ordeal. 'My sister emerged the same way as I had: crying and terrified. My sister is just a kid - I never thought he would do to her what he did to me... We thought we had left a world of violence and oppression,' the elder sister said. The sisters claim the officer attempted to calm them down by giving them chocolates and potato chips. They reported the abuse shortly after it occurred to another officer in the office where they were being held. An investigation was launched by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General. The sisters were interviewed twice and asked to draw a depiction of the closet. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California filed lawsuits on Tuesday against the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of the sisters (file photo) ACLU attorneys said federal authorities have not pursued criminal charges against the officer, nor is it clear whether the officer has faced any disciplinary actions for his assaults on the sisters. Customs and Border Patrol officials declined to comment given the pending litigation. The girls were eventually released from detention and went to live with their mother who has been in the U.S. for 12 years. The siblings have undergone counselling following the alleged sexual assault, according to the legal claims. 'The shame and hurt we felt in that room are indescribable. The thought of an immigration enforcement officer touching my most intimate body parts without my consent breaks me,' the elder sister said. 'I have suffered every day from this experience that it has been extremely hard to sleep at night. There have even been some days when I feel like I shouldn't be alive.' ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Westminster attack which left four dead and dozens injured. The terror group said a 'soldier of the Islamic State' carried out the atrocity in which British-born Khalid Masood ploughed a car through crowds near Parliament yesterday afternoon. A statement by the ISIS news agency Amaq said: 'The perpetrator of the attacks yesterday in front of the British parliament in London is an Islamic State soldier and he carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition.' But it gave no name or other details and it was not clear whether the attacker was directly connected to the group. The carnage was unleashed on the same day Brussels was marking the anniversary of a wave of ISIS suicide bombings that killed 32 people. ISIS has today claimed responsibility for the Westminster attack which left four dead and dozens injured The terror group said a 'soldier of the Islamic State' carried out the atrocity in which a British-born man ploughed his car through crowds near Parliament yesterday afternoon ISIS has frequently called on its supporters to carry out attacks against citizens of the U.S.-led coalition - of which Britain is a member - that has been targeting the group since 2014 (file picture) In a statement in the Commons today, Prime Minister Theresa May said the suspect was a British citizen who was known to the police and security services and had been investigated some years ago over violent extremism. Mrs May said he was a 'peripheral' figure and 'was not part of the current intelligence picture'. She also told MPs there was 'no prior intelligence' of his intent. Details of his background will raise questions over what security officials knew about the assailant and what decisions were taken when he first appeared on the radar. Mrs May's statement came after armed police arrested eight people and raided six properties in London and Birmingham, where three people were detained in a flat thought to have been lived in by the killer. Police officers in forensics suits search the grass on Parliament Square gardens outside the Houses of Parliament in central London today as ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack Security services staff collect debris left following the March 22 terror attack on Westminster Bridge ISIS has frequently called on its supporters to carry out attacks against citizens of the U.S.-led coalition - of which Britain is a member - that has been targeting the group since 2014. The extremists have lost territory in their so-called caliphate across Iraq and Syria this year after offensives by local forces backed by a U.S.-led military coalition. It is not the first time extremists have used vehicles to deliver mass casualty attacks. In December, a jihadist hijacked a truck before ramming it into a crowd of revellers, killing 12 at Berlin's Christmas market. Months earlier, on July 14, a national holiday in France, a man rammed a truck into a crowd in the Mediterranean resort of Nice, killing 86 people and wounding more than 400. He was shot dead by police before ISIS claimed responsibility. Last year, a chilling ISIS instruction manual was published encouraging lone fanatics to usee trucks as weapons at large-scale events. The guide, which give insight on how to inflict the greatest destruction, was included in the latest edition of the ISIS magazine Rumiyah. HOW ISIS EXTREMISTS HAVE BROUGHT TERROR TO EUROPE The London terror attack is the latest in a deadly series of strikes linked to radical Islamists against European targets in the last two years. FRANCE France has been hit the hardest, with 238 deaths since early 2015. The first attack comes on January 7, 2015 when two brothers who claim allegiance to Al-Qaeda gun down 12 people in an attack against the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris. The next day, a man linked to ISIS shoots dead a policewoman in a Paris suburb. He takes hostages in a Jewish supermarket near Paris the following day, killing four people. All three gunmen are killed by police. In April 2015, a woman is killed by a radical Islamist, in June a deliver firm boss is killed and then decapitated, and in August a man opens fire in the Thalys train between Amsterdam and Paris before he is overwhelmed by passengers. Two people are wounded. On November 13, 2015 France suffered its worst ever terror attack, when suicide bombers struck several targets in Paris, killing 130 people and wounding 350. These were the scenes outside the Bataclan theatre where 90 were slaughtered On July 14, a French national holiday, a man rammed a truck into a crowd in the Mediterranean resort of Nice, killing 86 people and wounding more than 400. ISIS claimed responsibility In July, two jihadists slit the throat of priest Jacques Hamel in his church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy. The ISIS attackers were shot dead On November 13, 2015 France suffers its worst ever terror attack, when suicide bombers strike several targets in Paris, killing 130 people and wounding 350. The sites include the Bataclan concert hall, bars and restaurants, and the Stade de France stadium just north of the capital. ISIS claims responsibility. In June 2016, a policeman and his companion are killed at their home west of Paris by a man who swears allegiance to ISIS. On July 14, the national holiday, a man rams a truck into a crowd in the Mediterranean resort of Nice, killing 86 people and wounding more than 400. He is shot dead by police. ISIS claims responsibility. Twelve days later, two jihadists slit a priest's throat in his church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy. They too are shot dead. ISIS claims that attack as well. BELGIUM On March 22, 2016, a year to the day before the London attack, suicide attacks claimed by ISIS kill 32 people and wound more than 340 at Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station, near the European Union headquarters. On August 6, a machete-wielding man attacks two policewomen in Charleroi, southern Belgium, slicing the face of one before being shot dead by a third officer. ISIS claims responsibility. On March 22, 2016, a year to the day before the London attack, suicide attacks claimed by ISIS kill 32 people and wound more than 340 at Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station GERMANY On December 19, 2016, a man hijacks a truck, kills its Polish driver, and slams into a crowd of people at a packed Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48. The attacker is shot dead by Italian police in Milan four days later, and the rampage is claimed by ISIS. Six months earlier, the group claims two attacks in less than a week, the first on July 18 when a 17-year-old asylum-seeker believed to have been Afghan or Pakistani attacks passengers on a Bavarian train with an axe, injuring five people. He is shot dead by police. On July 24, a Syrian refugee blows himself up near a music festival in the same region, killing himself and wounding 15 others. On December 19, 2016, an ISIS fanatic hijacked a truck, killed its Polish driver, and slammed into a crowd of people at a packed Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48 DENMARK On February 14-15, 2015, a gunman opens fire on a cultural centre in Copenhagen as it is hosting a forum about Islam and free speech attended by a Swedish cartoonist who has penned a controversial caricature of the Prophet Mohammed. A filmmaker is killed. Hours later a man is shot dead outside the city's main synagogue. Police later kill a man in a shootout, who had pledged allegiance to ISIS. Advertisement The terror group said an average truck would not arouse suspicion and could inflict more damage than a regular military fighter. Rumiyah stated that heavy, large, load-bearing trucks would be ideal - and to avoid small cars and large SUVs. The article included a photo of a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York with the caption: 'An excellent target', as well as listing political rallies, outdoor markets and festivals. Last night ISIS supporters appeared to be celebrating the attack in messages shared on an unofficial 'ISIS Telegram Channel'. According to Ahmet Yayla, a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE), the messages were being shared on a 'credible' ISIS channel. He shared screengrabs on his Twitter account, showing content of groups where messages included 'blessed London attack'. One user shared pictures of the route the attacker took across Westminster Bridge and into the gates of Parliament, while another shared this website's headline of 'Terror at Westminster'. In other apparent messages from supporters, a picture shows a mocked-up image of the Elizabeth Tower on fire. The message with the smoke billowing out reads: 'Soon. Our battle upon your land. Shocking mocked-up picture of the Queen Elizabeth clock tower on fire were shared with a stark 'warning' that there will be a battle on 'your land' The channel users have been sharing maps showing the route of the terror attack as well as the headlines from this website Terror expert Ahmet Yayla explained these channels are not official, but they are credible 'Not started yet. Be upon you. Only waiting.' Rita Katz, director of SITE Intelligence Group, said the lack of media campaign from ISIS could show there was no coordination with ISIS if it was linked with the terror group. Similar pro-ISIS 'channels' shared blow by blow updates after the attacks in Nice, Paris and Orlando. ISIS claim on an event can be 24 hours afterwards, and usually not until the attacker is confirmed dead, according to terror experts. Other ISIS chat rooms show mocked up images of fighters super imposed over the Houses of Parliament, according to a paper by the ICSVE. The paper reveals ISIS supporters have been urged and shown how, to carry out attacks with vehicles. This morning, a minute's silence was held nationwide at 9.33am, including in the Palace of Westminster and at New Scotland Yard, to commemorate the four innocent people who were killed. The timing of the silence was chosen in honour of Pc Palmer's shoulder number - 933. Aysha Frade was the first member of the public to be identified as a victim, with her principal at DLD College London describing her as 'highly regarded and loved'. Forty other people were injured in the attack, with 29 treated in hospital, where seven remained in a critical condition on Thursday. The casualties included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, two Greeks, and one each from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the United States. Three police officers were also hurt, two of them seriously. Fresh questions have been raised about parliamentary security after it emerged the terrorist who marauded on to the estate was shot by a minister's close protection officer. The attacker is understood to have been prevented from getting further on his rampage by one of Defence Secretary Michael Fallon's personal guards. The news that the killer was not stopped by a regular member of the detail at parliament will fuel concerns about the arrangements. It has also emerged that the Commons authorities were aware the Carriage Gates entrance was a 'weak' spot before the deadly episode. Two plain clothes officers were seen by witnesses confronting the knife-wielding man after he stabbed Pc Keith Palmer by the gates. Witnesses saw them approach the attacker from the direction of Mr Fallon's car, which was parked nearer the parliamentary building. The minister himself is thought to have been voting inside at the time. This was the scene in the immediate aftermath of the attack, after the attacker entered the grounds of Parliament. He is pictured at the top of the picture - PC Palmer is lying in the middle of the image Police are facing questions over how the knife-wielding terrorist was able to enter the Parliamentary estate Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is believed to have been voting in parliament at the time of the attack, with his official car parked outside the building in New Palace Yard. He is pictured in Westminster today with security guards who are not thought to have been involved No armed police are thought to have been on duty at the gates, which open on to Parliament Square. Pc Palmer, who died from his injuries, was unarmed. The entrance, which is also blockaded with metal barriers, is used by ministers, MPs, staff and visitors. At least four staff are usually stationed at the gates, two outside and two inside. A senior Commons source confirmed that Mr Fallon's protection officers were the ones who shot the attacker. But they stressed that there had been other armed officers from the regular parliamentary detail present. Gun-wielding guards routinely patrol the estate but are not routinely stationed at the entrance. It is understood the officers work a fluid patrol pattern so potential terrorists do not know where they are located. The source confirmed that the authorities were aware of concerns among MPs about the gates being a 'weak point'. They are believed to have been open at the time of the attack because a parliamentary division was taking place and ministers come in by car to vote. Acting Met Commissioner Craig Mackey is also thought to have been about to leave, and witnessed much of the attack. The source indicated that some security issues arising from the incident would need to be dealt with 'urgently'. Longer term, the senior source said pedestrianising Parliament Square was 'on the table' and could help bolster security. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has pledged to push the project through. Plans were drawn up a decade ago, but they were dropped by Boris Johnson when he became London Mayor in 2008. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said Mrs May spent 40 minutes this afternoon on a private hospital visit. She met both victims of the attack and staff caring for them. No 10 refused to reveal which hospital the Prime Minister visited or who took part in the visit. Theresa May vowed to show terrorists that 'we are not afraid' as she addressed the House of Commons today in the wake of the attack MPs bowed their heads in a packed chamber as they observed a minute's silence in tribute to the victims The area around parliament was still locked down today as the investigation continued into the murderous attack Labour MP Mary Creagh urged the authorities to step up security following the atrocity. The one weak spot on our estate is those Carriage Gates, she said. We have four police officers there. Two on the gate going in, two on the gate going out. We see them every day, were friends with lots of them. I think we will need to look at security at the Palace in the wake of this incident but this is a plan for another day. Its a terrible, terrible day for Parliament. Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of UK forces and a security expert, said: He shouldnt have been able to get in and this shows there must have been a lapse in security with big consequences. People will have questions to answer. It is such a high profile target and they should consider there is permanent coverage of armed police at the main gates. Parliament Square, usually populated by thousands of visitors and people who work in the corridors of power, was today abandoned after police put the area on lockdown This should not have happened. Theres been an element of complacency because the security services have been so effective. Lessons have to be learnt. A House of Commons spokesman said: The security of Parliament is our highest priority, and therefore we cannot comment on the details of this ongoing incident. The Parliamentary Security Department is responsible for security for both Houses and works alongside the Metropolitan Police Service, which provides armed and unarmed policing. TORY MP FIGHTS BACK TEARS AS HE PRAISES MURDERED FRIEND Tory MP James Cleverley fought back tears as he paid an emotional tribute to his friend Keith Palmer. The backbencher said he first knew the heroic Pc as Gunner Palmer 25 years ago, when they were both serving in the 100 Regiment, Royal Artillery. The Braintree MP said: 'He was a strong, professional public servant. And it was a delight to meet him here again only a few months after being elected. 'Would my RHF the PM in recognition of the work he did and the other police officers and public servants here in the House do, to consider recognising his gallantry and sacrifice formally with a posthumous recognition.' The PM, who appeared close to tears herself, praised the 'passion' with which he had paid his tribute. 'Having served in our armed forces and then come here to this place and paid the ultimate sacrifice here at our heart of democracy I can assure my honourable friend that the issue he has raised will be considered in due course.' Advertisement Civilian security officers on the site were, until last year, employed by the Met but are now Parliamentary employees. They often have the job of letting cars in and out of the gate, it is understood. The Prime Minister last night chaired a 45-minute meeting of the Cobra emergency committee to plot the immediate response to the attack. Theresa May brought together Government ministers, police officers, security agencies and London Mayor Sadiq Khan. The session in Whitehall was addressed by Acting Met Deputy Commissioner Mark Rowley, Britains most senior anti-terror police officer. Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who had been on a visit to Pakistan to discuss counter-terror, cut short her trip and was returning home last night. Mr Rowley said: The people of London will see extra police officers both armed and unarmed out on our streets. We can call on the support of the military should we need to at a future point. It is understood that security is being stepped up at rail terminals. Senior figures have repeatedly warned the UK remains a major target. The official threat level is severe meaning an attack is highly likely. It was revealed this month that 13 potential attacks have been thwarted in Britain since the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013, while counter-terrorism units are running more than 500 live investigations. Experts have warned of the threat posed by extremists carrying out unsophisticated but deadly attacks using knives or vehicles as weapons. A recent study found the proportion of plots in the UK involving knives has soared from 4 per cent to 44 per cent. Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones, a former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, said: It is the kind of terrorist incident thats very hard to deal with because, as we now know, this is the kind of incident that can be mounted without necessarily leaving any kind of trail which the police and security services and intelligence services can actually pick up to prevent it. Theresa May vowed defiance to terrorism today in the wake of the murderous attack on Westminster, insisting: 'We are not afraid.' The Prime Minister sent out the uncompromising message as MPs gathered in the House of Commons to condemn the atrocity and pay tribute to the victims. Branding the episode 'sickening' and an effort to 'silence our democracy', Mrs May said that the best response was 'normality'. 'What happened on the streets of Westminster yesterday afternoon sickened us all,' Mrs May said. The family of an FBI agent who disappeared in Iran a decade ago are suing the Middle Eastern country in an attempt to get him back. US investigators believe that Robert Levinson is still being held in Iran, which would make him the longest held US civilian by a foreign government. Iran has denied knowing his whereabouts and has denied that its government had anything to do with his disappearance. US investigators believe that Robert Levinson is still being held in Iran, a decade after he first went missing Not forgotten: Christine Levinson and her children, Dan and Samantha Levinson, talk to reporters in New York in this January 2016 image His wife and children have now filed a suit with the US District Court in Washington, D.C., in a bid to get him back home, CNN reports. The complaint states that the family is suing under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act 'for injuries suffered by each of them as a result of Iran's unlawful acts of hostage taking, torture and other torts.' 'Three weeks after his disappearance an Iranian government news outlet, Press TV, announced that he had been taken into custody by Iranian security authorities but was expected to be released shortly,' the complaint alleges. 'Despite this report, Robert Levinson was not released and the Iranian government began falsely denying any knowledge of his capture or whereabouts.' Condition: Christine Levinson is seen with her head covered during the 2007 trip while at the Swedish Embassy in Tehran, presumably as a sign of respect to the Iranian government Spouse: Levinson's family, including his wife Christine (left) arrive in Iran in 2007. They have now launched a legal battle in a bid to get him back The family's complaint further alleges that the Iranian government had faked a kidnapping, to try to trick Levinson's family into believing he had been taken hostage by terrorists. The family received several emails containing a proof-of-life video and photos, showing Levinson in a disheveled state. 'The threatening messages, along with... video and photographs... were enormously disturbing to the Levinson family,' their complaint says. 'They were intended to and did create significant emotional trauma in the entire family.' Kidnapped: An FBI poster shows a composite image of Levinson, right, of how he would look after five years in captivity, and an image, center, taken from the video released by his kidnappers, and a picture before he was kidnapped, left Missing: It's been 10 years since former FBI agent Robert Levinson disappeared while in Iran on an unauthorized CIA mission and his family is still waiting for answers It also alleges that the family is aware that 'Iran routinely uses physical and psychological torture in the questioning of its prisoners. 'Given this pattern, Robert Levinson's circumstances and his appearance and actions in the hostage-related videos and photographs... it is reasonable to believe that Iran has used various forms of physical and psychological torture on Levinson', the complaint says. Levinson, who turned 69 this month, disappeared from Iran's Kish Island on March 9, 2007, a consumer-paradise resort popular with tourists. For years, U.S. officials would only say that Levinson, a meticulous FBI investigator credited with busting Russian and Italian mobsters, was working for a private firm on his trip. In December 2013, the AP revealed Levinson in fact had been on a mission for CIA analysts who had no authority to run spy operations. Levinson's family had received a $2.5million annuity from the CIA in order to stop a lawsuit revealing details of his work, while the agency forced out three veteran analysts and disciplined seven others. Heartbreak: Robert Levinson's sister, Judi Levinson cries during a rally for her brother in March 2016 Since his disappearance, the only photos and video of Levinson emerged in 2010 and 2011. He appeared gaunt and bearded with long hair, and was wearing an orange jumpsuit similar to those worn by detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. The video, with a Pashtun wedding song popular in Afghanistan playing in the background, showed Levinson complaining of poor health. Levinson's family believes his diabetes and high blood pressure could be under control with his weight loss. 'I'm not as worried about his health,' his son, Dan Levinson, said. 'I understand people thinking it being over 10 years and fearing the worst, but we don't believe that.' Where is he? Supporters gather during a rally for Robert Levinson in March 2016 Christine Levinson speaks with the media during a press conference at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran in 2007 The FBI now offers a $5million reward for information leading to Levinson's safe recovery and return. Rumors have circulated for years, with one account claiming he was locked up in a Tehran prison run by Iran's paramilitary Revolution Guard and U.S. officials suggesting he may not be in Iran at all. Dawud Salahuddin, an American fugitive living in Iran who is wanted for the assassination of a former Iranian diplomat in Maryland in 1980, is the last known person to have seen Levinson before his disappearance. Levinson's family said they've written letters to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and moderate President Hassan Rouhani with no response. Earlier this month, on the tenth anniversary of his disappearance, Levinson's family released a statement criticizing Iran for his alleged detention, and the US authorities for failing to do more to repatriate him. 'For 10 years the government of Iran has been allowed to dodge and weave every time it was asked to come clean about what happened to Bob and send him home,' the statement, released March 9, reads. 'Where is the outrage of this treatment of an American citizen? For 10 years, over and over and over again, two US Presidents abandoned him, a lifelong public servant.' The Queen has said her 'thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathy' are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's 'awful violence'. In a message sent to Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, Craig Mackey, the monarch also expressed her thanks and admiration to the Met and others who work to protect people. The monarch was at Buckingham Palace as the attack took place and a few hours later had her weekly meeting with the Prime Minister, where it is likely she was updated in person about the incident. The Queen (left) meets the Ambassador from the Kingdom of Thailand, Pisanu Suvanajata (centre), and his wife Thipayasuda Suvanajata (right) at Buckingham Palace yesterday Mr Suvanajata presented her with Letters of Credence during yesterday's private audience She said in her message: 'Following the shocking events in Westminster, Prince Philip and I are sorry that we will not be able to open the New Scotland Yard building as planned today, for very understandable reasons. I look forward to visiting at a later date. 'My thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's awful violence. 'I know I speak for everyone in expressing my enduring thanks and admiration for the members of the Metropolitan Police Service and all who work so selflessly to help and protect others.' Meanwhile the Duchess of Cambridge, speaking at an event in London, has sent her 'thoughts and prayers' to all those 'sadly affected by yesterday's terrible attack'. The royal standard at full mast above Buckingham Palace in London today, the day after a terrorist attack that left at least five people dead and a further 29 injured The Duchess of Cambridge visits the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London today. She has sent 'thoughts and prayers' to all those affected by yesterday's attack The Queen was due to open the Metropolitan Police's new headquarters, New Scotland Yard, today but late last night a Buckingham Palace spokesman said that in light of events the engagement had been postponed. Security stepped up Security around the Queen and the rest of the Royal Family was dramatically stepped up following yesterday's terror attack. Shortly after the incident the gates to Buckingham Palace, which are normally left half open to accommodate the flow of traffic in and out of the grounds, were closed. Armed guards were also visibly on patrol at the palace, which is less than a mile from Westminster. The monarch was in residence at the time of the attack, carrying out meetings and audiences. Her presence at the palace is always signalled by the flying of the Royal Standard. Advertisement Mr Mackey was due to meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh when they arrived at the new building, which is close to scene of the terror attack. Three members of the public, Aysha Frade, a man in his mid-50s, an a 75-year-old man, were killed when the attacker drove a car across Westminster Bridge, mowing down pedestrians. Armed with a knife, he then stormed into the Parliamentary estate, fatally stabbing 48-year-old PC Keith Palmer before being shot dead by an armed officer. Buckingham Palace would not comment about its security arrangements in light of the terrorist incident. But it was clear that, with the Queen in residence, some precautions had been taken on yesterday as the gates, patrolled by armed police, were closed. A grieving father and avid Trump-supporter feels betrayed by the President and his proposed healthcare bill. Kraig Moss earned the nickname 'the Trump Troubadour' after he spent 2016 traveling around the country to belt out songs in support of the candidate at rallies. The musician also sang about his late son, Rob, who died of a heroin overdose in 2014, reported the Washington Post. Kraig Moss (pictured January 28, 2016 at a Trump rally in Iowa) earned the nickname 'the Trump Troubador' after he spent 2016 traveling around the country to belt out songs in support of the candidate at rallies Rob Moss died on January 6, 2014 after overdosing on fentanyl - a synthetic painkiller up to 100 times stronger than morphine Over the course of 2016, Moss traveled to 45 rallies. He stopped making his mortgage payments and sold the equipment for his construction business just to stay on the campaign trail. Moss was inspired by the future president's promise to help young people suffering from addiction after the death of his son. He thought that Trump would be the candidate most capable of bringing an end to the nation's heroin epidemic. However, after reading the Republican's proposed replacement, he said he feels betrayed by the president. Trump spoke to Moss personally at an Iowa rally in January of 2016, saying through a microphone: 'The biggest thing we can do in honor of your son... we have to be able to stop it. I know what you went through. And he's a great father. I can see it. And your son is proud of you.' Over the course of 2016, Moss (pictured at a 2016 Iowa rally) traveled to 45 rallies. He stopped making his mortgage payments and sold the equipment for his construction business just to stay on the campaign trail Moss (pictured at a Wisconsin rally) was inspired by the future president's promise to help young people suffering from addiction after the death of his son. He thought that Trump would be the candidate most capable of bringing an end to the nation's heroin epidemic Two weeks ago, Moss caught a glimpse of the President's proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act, which will be voted on in the House Thursday night. The bill proposes eliminating a requirement that Medicaid cover basic mental-health and addiction services in states that expanded it. The mandate covered nearly 1.3 million people, and Moss told the Washington Post: 'I felt betrayed. I felt let down.' The Troubadour put all of his weight behind the future-president's promise, sacrificing his business and livelihood to bring out voters and sing Trump's praises. Pictured at a February 19, 2016, rally in South Carolina, Moss, who was once a gallant Trump supporter, said he has stopped singing about the President after reading the Republican proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act He has since stopped singing songs about Trump, and wonders if any of his sacrifices were worth it, telling the Post that this proposed bill 'disgusted' him. 'You hear that echo,' he said in a phone interview from Upstate New York, 'That's because there's no furniture in this house. It's completely gutted.' 'The one platform that I was just so genuinely involved in with my heart was the one thing that he just turned right around, he's turning his back on all of us,' he told the Post. Moss said that he hoped the replacement would include a boost in resources for addiction treatment centers, but instead it proposes eliminating a requirement that Medicaid cover basic mental-health and addiction services in states that expanded it Kraig Moss found his son, Rob, lying unconscious in his bed with his arms resting across his chest. He later found the needle that he had used, and the emergency response team was not able to resuscitate him Moss said that he hoped the President's replacement would include a boost in resources for addiction treatment centers, lower deductibles and lower overall health care costs. GOP'S PROPOSED REPLACEMENT OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT The proposed health care bill would roll back Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. It would affect most those states bearing the brunt of the opiate crisis, such as Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. The 'replacement' is spearheaded by House Speaker Paul D Ryan (Wis) and backed by President Trump. Republicans believe that the change would give flexibility in coverage decisions, and that they would continue to provide addiction and mental-health coverage to Medicaid recipients if needed. However, advocates have said that the overhaul could crush addiction services, particularly to the poorest patients. 33,000 people died of opiate overdoses in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Advertisement He said that if Trump wanted to, he could easily provide the necessary funding to supply emergency responders in every small town in America with naloxone kits to reserve possible heroin overdoses. Moss's son died on January 6, 2014, and he told the Post that 'if the emergency squad that came down to save my son had that dose, my son would've been alive today'. On that day, Moss said he got home and called out Rob's name, but didn't hear anything. When he went looking, he found his son lying unconscious in his bed with his arms resting across his chest. He did not find the needle until later. The emergency response team that arrived was unable resuscitate him, and an autopsy confirmed that he died from an overdose of fentanyl - a synthetic painkiller up to 100 times stronger than morphine. The President told Moss 'I know what you went through,' and in a speech before congress on February 28 said: 'We will stop the drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth, and we will expand treatment for those who have become so badly addicted.' Now, the grieving father said he wishes he could ask the president if he's even read the bill. Moss explained that he initially supported many of Trump's other promises as well, such as his pledge to build a border wall with Mexico, but has lately been upset by the stories of families torn apart by deportations. He told the Post that he's been getting criticism for publicly voicing his disappointment in the President, but knows there must be others feeling a similar sense of regret. 'It's a little guy like me that put Trump in the office,' he said, noting that it's the 'little guys' who can ask for a new health care proposal as well. Paul Grebenc, 35, was due to fly as first officer on a United Airlines flight from Glasgow Airport to Newark An airline pilot has admitted preparing to fly a passenger jet while more than twice the legal alcohol limit. Paul Grebenc, 35, was due to fly as first officer on a United Airlines flight from Glasgow Airport to Newark, New Jersey, on August 27 last year when concerns were raised about his fitness to fly. A blood test carried out later that day found he had 42 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, more than twice the legal limit of 20mcg. Grebenc, a former US Air Force pilot who is still a reservist, pleaded guilty to the offence when he appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court today. Sheriff Pender said: 'I have to balance the various factors in this case. 'I realise you have had several major difficulties in your personal life and this has had an impact on your consumption of alcohol. 'There are strong mitigating factors but you were more than twice the limit, and it raises questions about whether you would have been able to carry out your job properly. 'While you have not been a commercial pilot for very long, you have vast skill as a US Air Force pilot and you must be aware of the dangers of flying under the influence of alcohol. 'You also deliberately flouted your employer's guidelines and ignored what they regard as a safe eight-hour gap between drinking alcohol and being on duty.' Grebenc pleaded guilty to performing 'an activity ancillary to an aviation function' at stand 28 at Glasgow Airport while more than twice over the legal limit on August 27 last year. The court heard that on the morning of August 27, Grebenc and his United Airlines colleagues were brought to Glasgow Airport from the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow, where they had spent the night, having flown from the US to Scotland the previous day. They were due to fly a Boeing 757 to Newark with take-off scheduled for 9am. As they passed through the staff search area, security staff smelled alcohol on the breath of the other First Officer, Carlos Licona, and raised the alarm. Grebenc, a former US Air Force pilot who is still a reservist, pleaded guilty to the offence when he appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court today Police were contacted and went to the departure gate, where Licona and Grebenc, also a US Air Force reservist, were removed from the flight. Fiscal Depute Scot Dignan said: 'Police did not go on board the aircraft as they wanted to be discreet and not alarm passengers. 'Grebenc was asked to disembark with Licona as police also had suspicions regarding him. 'He was taken to a quieter spot. At about 9.30am he was asked to provide a specimen of breath for analysis which proved positive and he was taken in a marked police vehicle to Govan police station.' Later that day, he provided a blood sample for analysis, which showed he was more than twice the legal limit. Licona was sentenced to ten months in prison earlier this month after he admitted boarding a flight while under the influence of alcohol. The plane took off later that day with a new crew and 141 passengers on board. David McKie, defending Grebenc, said his client was extremely remorseful. He said: 'He has asked me to express his remorse and apologises to the court and passengers for his irresponsibility and what was a significant misjudgment on his part. 'He takes full responsibility for his actions.' Grebenc is a native of Fort Worth, Colorado, living in Columbus, Mississippi Mr McKie told that court Grebenc is a former US Air Force pilot who flew an aircraft delivering fuel, including to war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and carried out mid-air fuel transfers. Alongside his commercial work with United Airlines, he still serves as a reservist with the US Air Force and has been involved in training young pilots. His wife is also a pilot with the US Air Force and the couple, who live on an air base in Mississippi, have two children aged two and four. Mr McKie told the court his client was under pressure at the time of the incident as there had been a recent family argument while two weeks previously doctors had found a shadow on his son's lung which they feared might be cancerous, and the family had to wait until September to find out the prognosis. He explained his client has been placed on the HIMS (Human Intervention Motivation Study) programme by his employers in conjunction with the federal aviation authority. The programme is geared towards rehabilitation. The lawyer said the case would have 'catastrophic consequences' for his client and could see him being dishonourably discharged from the US AIr Force and losing his pilot's licence. A United Airlines spokesman said: 'We hold all of our employees to the highest standards. This pilot was immediately removed from service and his flying duties in August 2016.' Grebenc is a native of Fort Worth, Colorado, living in Columbus, Mississippi. His LinkedIn page says that he is an 'Instructor Pilot with 8+ years of service, United States Air Force and United States Air Force Reserve. 'Five years international fixed wing flying experience. Four years experience instructing primary flying skills in the Joint Primary Pilot Training Environment.' In total, he says, he has logged '3,200+ hours of Accident and Incident-free flying in high-performance fixed-wing aircraft.' He has been working at United since April 2015. Prior to that he had been a US Air Force T-6 instructor pilot for around five-and-a-half years, four-and-a-half of that as a reservist. Before that, he was a KC-135 Instructor Pilot in the US Air Force for three years and eight months. One of this Facebook photographs shows him wearing the patch of the 43rd Flying Training Squadron. A Columbus Air Force Base photograph lists his rank as captain. Another photo on his page shows the patch of the 22d Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, which has been deployed in combat in the War on Terror. Section 93 of the Railway and Transport Safety Act states: 'A person commits an offence if he performs an aviation function at a time when the proportion of alcohol in his breath, blood or urine exceeds the prescribed limit, or he carries out an activity which is ancillary to an aviation function at a time when the proportion of alcohol in his breath, blood or urine exceeds the prescribed limit.' For pilots, the limit of alcohol in the case of breath is nine micrograms of alcohol in 100 milliliters, according to the Act. A wage labourer, his wife and two young children in India had their flesh burned off when a jilted lover poured acid all over them while they were sleeping. Mangi Lal, his wife Tulsi and two children - eight-year-old daughter Reena and four-year-old son Manoj - were attacked in their home in the desert state of Rajasthan after the couple's older daughter's boyfriend poured acid on them as revenge for his girlfriend walking out on him. The couple's daughter had left her live-in partner Prakash Damor's house on August 24, 2016, unannounced, and under the suspicion that Reena was hiding her older sister, he decided to take revenge. The only people home were Lal, Tulsi, Reena and Manoj - their two other daughters were sleeping at a neighbor's house. As the family slept, Damor entered the home and poured acid all over the four family members. Mangi Lal (left), his wife, Tulsi, their daughter Reena (right), 8, and son Manoj, 4, suffered severe acid burns in Rajasthan, India, in August of last year Tulsi (pictured above) and her daughter, Reena, suffered burn injuries on their faces and hands At first, Lal thought it was the heat wave of the summer touching their skin but soon the patriarch heard his youngest child crying frantically, his wife shrieked in horror and saw his daughter almost collapsed in pain. Lal suddenly noticed a stream of acid flowing down his faces and hands and screamed for help. Finally, a panicked family member heard their cries and drove them to a nearby hospital on his motorbike, where doctors referred them to a government-run hospital in Bansawara, some 20 kilometers from their nondescript village. Tulsi and her daughter suffered burn injuries on their faces and hands and Manoj sustained burns to his head, leaving him with a bald patch forever. But it was Mangi who faced the worse injuries - the acid burned his right eye, making him lose his vision on the on eye. Lal said of the horrific incident: 'We were sleeping in our hut. It was around 1am in the night that a person entered into our hut and threw acid on us. 'We do not have a door and it was dark outside. The attacker took the advantage of it and escaped from the scene. Four-year-old Manoj sustained burns to his head in the attack, leaving him with a bald patch forever 'I cannot explain how bad it was, how bad the pain was. Some how we managed to reach the nearest hospital but doctors referred us to a bigger hospital saying the burn injuries were grave and needed specialised treatment.' The family received treatment for two weeks at the Bansawara District Hospital, where Tulsi and Manoj showed improvements and were later discharged. Reena had to visit advanced burn specialists and plastic surgeons in bigger cities. Lal, who made three pounds a day working in fields, said taking his daughter for treatment was costly. Tulsi added: 'Reena received the treatment for 15 days and recovered. However her face, hands and chest still bore the injury marks.' 'I had exhausted whatever little money I had in travelling from the village to the hospital. Though, I was getting free medicines and food from the hospital but my brother, who was with me as a care taker was not getting free food. I couldn't afford to pay for his meals daily, so I had to discontinue the treatment and return back.' The accident not only left the family with physical scars but hit them hard emotionally. While Damor was arrested and sent to jail after a local Sarpanch (village head) filed a complaint in the local police station, the family belonging to a close-knitted tribal community was shunned by the villagers. Their other daughter's then-partner, Prakash Damor, had sneaked into the family's home and poured acid on them as revenge for his lover leaving him Their daughter still faces humiliation on a daily basis by her classmates in the school. 'Whenever villagers see us, they change their direction and move to the other way,' Tulsi said. 'Our daughter, who is in class 2nd in a government-run school faces humiliation from teachers and students. We are despised by everyone. 'I wish we could have plastic surgeries to fix our faces. I want my daughter to have that at least so she is not laughed off at.' To add to their woes, Mangi's disability has left him with no ability to work on the fields and make an earn for his family. He now is hoping for monetary help from the government to start his own business, an idea given to him by a local bank employee. Yogendra Singh, 25, had seen the family while on a visit to the loan borrowers in the village. Moved by the ordeal of the family, the young man shared the idea of a shop with Lal. He said: 'I came to know about the family after two months of the attack. It was painful when I met them. Only animals can act like this. I feel if a loan is sanctioned to him, he will be able to start a grocery store and make enough earning to run his family. Their condition is extremely bad at the moment.' And Mangi is hopeful that if the government helps, he can start his life afresh. She blew fans away with her outstanding live performance but now it's up to Etihad Stadium officials to pick up the pieces following Adele's explosive shows and restore the field to its former lush-green glory. The Herald Sun reports that ground staff have replaced one third of the playing surface after the stadium had only six days to replace the grass surface following last weekend's Adele concerts. Officials at the stadium however are 'cautiously optimistic' the turf will be game ready ahead of the 40,000 strong crowd for AFL's Melbourne-St Kilda match. Adele amazed fans in Melbourne on Saturday night playing to 75,000 people at Etihad Stadium Etihad Stadium spokesman Bill Lane was certain the stadium would be ready and safe to play on. 'The job is nearly done. The proof of the pudding will be in the playing on Saturday but we are happy with how it has gone,' he said. 'It is around one third of Etihad, it is blending in well and aesthetically it will look OK. Replacing turf is part and parcel of our business.' Etihad Stadium spokesman Bill Lane was certain the stadium would be ready and safe to play on Adele's sold-out Australian tour attracted thousands of fans. And the superstar caused traffic chaos in Melbourne on Saturday night as 75,000 people left Etihad Stadium. Many fans took to social media to document their slow journey home, describing it as a 'mission'. Scroll down for video The guests flooded the stadium's exits after Adele's last song, posting photos of the crowd walking shoulder-to-shoulder. Twitter user @AleksDevic shared a photo fans outside the stadium doors, writing: 'Getting home after the Adele concert in Melbourne is a mission.' Another person tweeted a picture of a similar scene, writing in the caption: 'The post #Adele crowd.' 'Getting home after the Adele concert in Melbourne is a mission': Fans flooded the stadium's exits after Adele's last song, posting photos of the crowd walking shoulder-to-shoulder Imagine the traffic! Another person tweeted a picture of a similar scene, writing in the caption: 'The post #Adele crowd.' Meanwhile, Etihad Stadium took to Twitter to thank Adele for her record-breaking performance. Despite Justin Bieber performing at the venue earlier this month, they confirmed the Rolling In The Deep star had hit a milestone. 'It's the biggest crowd EVER at an Etihad Stadium event! Thank you,' read the post. Later, the venue's Twitter page was updated: 'Adele has toppled Robbie Williams off the top of the list, and a few sporting crowds too.' 'It's the biggest crowd EVER at an Etihad Stadium event!': Meanwhile Etihad Stadium took to Twitter to thank Adele for a record-breaking performance 'Adele has toppled Robbie Williams off the top of the list': The stadium confirmed Adele's performance drew bigger crowds than any other performer or sports event Etihad Stadium also tweeted their car park spots were 'sold out', despite fans being urged by Public Transport Victoria to take public transport. The Victoria Police also tweeted: 'Ain't nobody got time for that CBD traffic.' Early reports by the Herald Sun suggested overcrowding at tram stops at Bourke St Mall and congestion at Southern Cross railway station as concertgoers arrived early. The publication claimed while Yarra Trams scheduled extra services for the event, the trams were already at capacity when they arrived at the packed Bourke St stop. Stopping traffic: Early reports by the Herald Sun suggested overcrowding at tram stops at Bourke St Mall and congestion at Southern Cross railway station as concertgoers arrived early to the stadium to settle into their seats Adele has created traffic chaos during her previous Australian tour dates, forcing her to start 45 minutes late in Sydney earlier this month. The mother-of-one performed hits from her critically-acclaimed album 25, as well as old favourites in her 18-song set list. Adele will perform her last Australian concert in Melbourne on Sunday, before jetting to Auckland, New Zealand next week. A Queensland diving company has been fined $160,000 over the death of a British tourist in the Whitsundays in 2015. Bethany Farrell, 23, was in Australia on a gap year from the UK when she went diving at Blue Pearl Bay off Hayman Island on February 17, reported the Brisbane Times. She was found unresponsive on the sea floor, unable to be revived and died at the scene. A Queensland diving company has been fined $160,000 over the death of British tourist Bethany Farrell, 23, (pictured) in the Whitsundays in 2015. Ms Farrell was six days into a year-long gap year On Friday, DL20 Trading Pty Ltd, which traded as Wings Diving Adventures, pleaded guilty to breaching its duties under the Safety in Recreational Water Activities Act in the Proserpine Magistrates Court. Despite being fined, no conviction was recorded against the company. A spokesperson from the Office of Industrial Relations said Workplace Health and Safety had done a comprehensive investigation into the incident before charging Wings Diving Adventures. The spokesperson said Wings had an 'unblemished history', had apologised for the incident and had since ceased all scuba operations. Ms Farrell (pictured) was diving at Blue Pearl Bay off Hayman Island on February 17, 2015 when it was reported she became separated from the group. She was found unresponsive on the ocean floor, was unable to be revived and died at the scene On Friday, DL20 Trading Pty Ltd, which traded as Wings Diving Adventures, pleaded guilty to breaching its duties under the Safety in Recreational Water Activities Act, Pictured is Blue Pearl Bay off Hayman Island He said: ' Members of the family who had travelled to Australia for the hearing, were somewhat disappointed with the 'no conviction' ruling, but content with the fine imposed.' The OIR spokesperson also said the magistrate took into account DL20's early guilty plea, its cooperation with the investigation and that it had no previous convictions. Ms Farrell, an English graduate, was on an introductory dive trip with a friend when she panicked and drowned after becoming separated from her instructor, Chelmsford Coroner's Court heard in October 2016. Her father, Patrick Farrell, 48, called for the company to be prosecuted after she died six days into what was due to be a 12-month gap year. An Office of Industrial Relations spokesperson said Wings had an 'unblemished history', had apologised for the incident and had since ceased all scuba operations After the inquest, he said: 'Ultimately, Bethany went on a paid-for organised trip and was completely let down. 'The whole point of an introductory dive is its an introductory dive. 'Legal proceedings are going ahead.' Caroline Beasley-Murray, the senior coroner for Essex, recorded a narrative verdict. She told the court: 'The deceased drowned whilst on an introductory dive in Blue Pearl Bay, Hayman Island. 'There were various failings in the way in which the diving activities were carried out.' She added: 'Blue Pearl Bay sounds such an attractive place, doesnt it? And whilst there, this sad tragedy would happen.' Ms Farrell (not pictured) was found 11 metres down on the seabed in Blue Pearl Bay in the Whitsundays. It was her first time diving and she was only six days into her 12 months gap year in Australia Queensland's health and safety investigators found 'failings' by the company included not allowing people to practice with their buoyancy devices or testing the competency of the first-time divers, the court heard. Miss Farrells mother Caron wept on hearing the conclusion as did many of the graduates friends. Her father and brother Jake, 22, remained stoic. Miss Farrell, who graduated from an English Literature and Media course at the University of Southampton, arrived in Queensland on February 11 last year. Six days later - on February 17 - she embarked on the dive with her friend, another novice and their instructor Fiona McTavish, the court heard. Scathing reviews had been posted to TripAdvisor slamming the Wings Diving Adventures charter boat operators and claiming they deleted photographs of Ms Farrell Australian police officer Constable Syrrell Howard wrote in a statement read to the court that Miss Farrell separated from her dive group, possibly after they became 'intwined' with a second team. He said: 'It is suspected the deceased became panicked and, as a result, became detached from her dive group.' She was seen briefly surfacing before she 'descended ultimately to her death', he said. The OIR spokeserson told Prosperine Magistrates Court in Queensland last Friday that members of Ms Farrell's family who travelled to Australia for the hearing, were somewhat disappointed with the 'no conviction' ruling, but content with the fine imposed The Office of Industrial Relations, Queenslands equivalent of the Health and Safety Executive, said the diving firm risked the health and safety of Miss Farrell and her two co-divers. Its report said the trio should have had their basic swimming competency tested and been allowed to practice how to maintain a 'positive buoyancy' before they went diving at around 4.30pm that day. A post-mortem examination recorded Cambridge-born Miss Farrells cause of death as drowning. An Israeli policeman has been suspended after a video emerged on social media showing him assaulting a Palestinian truck driver in an alleged row over parking. The policeman was filmed on a dash camera shouting at the driver, in Wadi Jozi, an Arab area in occupied East Jerusalem, before headbutting and kicking him. People can be seen apparently trying to reason with the policeman, in the widely shared clip, before he turns on them. Suspended: A police officer (pictured in black on the left in both photographs) has been placed on leave after a truck driver was beaten up in east Jerusalem The policeman was filmed on a dash camera shouting at the truck driver before headbutting and kicking him The Israeli police force said the officer was being investigated and had been placed on forced leave. The video was recorded by a Palestinian resident and has been shared hundreds of times on social media. A Palestinian witness filmed the incident, which took place in a parking lot near the interior ministry and handed a copy to a journalist with Israeli public radio, the station reported. The witness said the policeman had accused the driver of having damaged his car with the truck. The police force swiftly condemned the attack and said in a statement that the policeman was immediately suspended and 'summoned for a talk on his future in the police'. Israeli politician and public security minister Gilad Erdan condemned the incident, calling it 'very serious and shameful' and damaging to the whole police force. The video was recorded by a Palestinian resident on their dash camera and has been shared hundreds of times on social media People can be seen apparently trying to reason with the policeman in the widely shared clip before he turns on them A US-Israeli teenager has been arrested for making a string of hoax bomb threats against Jewish Community Centers in the US. The home-schooled 19-year-old was arrested in Israel on Thursday where he has been living for 'many years', according to police. He holds both US and Israeli citizenship, police sources told Reuters, and he is wanted for threatening Jewish community centers over the last three months. His lawyer said a medical problem prevented him from knowing right from wrong and that he had earlier been deemed unfit for the country's military. Scroll down for video A 19-year-old US-Israeli teenage covered his face in court in Rishon Lezion, Israel, on Thursday where he was accused of making hoax bomb threats to Jewish Community Centers across the US over the last three months Police say he also made threats against Jewish institutions in New Zealand and Australia and that he used 'advanced' technology to hide the origins of his calls. They also say he is responsible for a threat against a Delta Airlines flight 468 in 2015. Israeli Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said it was not yet clear what the teenager's motive for the calls was. He was arrested after a joint operation by the FBI and Israeli forces. At a court near Tel Aviv on Thursday, the teenager's attorney said he had behavioral problems which prevent him from knowing the difference between right and wrong. 'My client suffers from a very serious medical problem, a problem that may affect his behavior, his ability to understand right and wrong,' said attorney Galit Bash. Local media reported that she had told them he had a benign growth in his head. Dozens of Jewish community centers, synagogues and schools have received bomb threats over the last three months. On February 27, worried communities in 12 different states received threats. The teenager made 'advanced' efforts to mask his identity by concealing where he was calling from when he made the threats, police said. He is pictured above on Thursday being marched in to court in Israel The threats, all of which appeared to be hoaxes, were received in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia. For some centers, it was the second or third time this year that they had been targeted. The teenager is also accused of phoning in a hoax bomb threat against a Delta Airlines flight in 2015. The plane was evacuated at JFK airport in New York after officials received a call that there was a bomb on board. It was bound for Tel Aviv. Senator John McCain says he is 'not aware' of any evidence implicating Donald Trump's presidential campaign in Russian collusion. The charge should be investigated by a select committee, though, he told NBC's 'Today' show. McCain said a panel should be convened with the sole goal of uncovering the truth about Russian inference in the US election after the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, and his Republican counterpart, Devin Nunes, went to war on Wednesday. Nunes teed Schiff off when he held a solo news conference outside the White House to talk about classified reports he had received on foreign spying and the 'incidental' collection of information on Trump and his transition team. 'I have not seen anything like it, and it's very disturbing,' McCain said Thursday of Nunes' actions. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Senator John McCain says he is 'not aware' of any evidence implicating Donald Trump's presidential campaign in Russian collusion, but he thinks a special committee should investigate the allegation and Russian interference in the election Schiff was left in the dark as Nunes briefed the Speaker of the House, press on Capitol Hill, Trump at the White House and the White House press corps on the information that he had not shared with the rest of the intelligence committee. The California Democrat, who has worked closely with Nunes in the past, called the Republican's debrief of Trump at the White House Wednesday 'deeply troubling' and demanded the creation of an independent Russia probe. Then, a bombshell. Speaking to 'MTP Daily' on MSNBC about claims that President Donald Trump's White House campaign had links with Russia, Schiff said: 'I don't want to go into specifics, but I will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of investigation.' 'There is more than circumstantial evidence now,' he said. McCain, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Thursday that he'd 'seen no substantiation' of Schiff's claim. 'But that's the reason why we need a select committee to clear this whole issue up,' the long-serving senator said. Commenting on the events Wednesday evening on MSNBC's 'For the Record', McCain told host Greta Van Susteran, 'This just shows a tremendous chasm between the two senior members of the House Intelligence Committee.' 'What we need is a select committee. We know that the Russians interfered with our election. And they did not achieve in affecting the outcome, but we know that for sure,' McCain said. 'We know that there are cyber attacks going on all the time. There are leaks going on all the time. And so what we need to address this whole issue of what the Russians did, how they did it, the impact and what we do about it, I now believe belongs in the hands of a select committee.' Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif., left) and Devin Nunes (R-Calif., right) the top Democrat and Republican on the House Intelligence Committee went to war on Wednesday after Nunes gave a solo briefing to the president on spying The House and Senate Intelligence committees are investigating Russian election interference and allegations of Trump campaign contacts with Moscow. Schiff was blindsided when Nunes went to tell Trump that intelligence intercepts picked up Trump transition members as well as Trump himself. 'The chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he is going to at as a surrogate of the White House because he cannot do both,' Schiff fumed at a Capitol Hill press conference. 'This is deeply troubling along many levels. The most significant level is it really impedes our ability to do this investigation the way we should,' he added. Schiff declined to get into specifics about the documents Nunes saw because he said Nunes hadn't shared them with him or with Republican members of the committee yet. 'We have no idea where these documents came from, whether they even show what they purport to show,' he said. He then raised the possibility that Nunes brought up the information as a way to help Trump back up his Twitter claim of 19 days ago that President Obama had his phones 'tapped' at Trump Tower something the head of the FBI and Nunes himself have said did not happen. 'Even if they do, on the basis of what the chairman said, the underlying fact is still the same: There's no evidence to support the president's contention that he was wiretapped by his predecessor,' Schiff said. 'So I'm not sure what the point of this extraordinary process is. And I have to hope that this is not part of a broader campaign by the White House aimed to deflect from the [FBI] director's testimony earlier this week.' The president told White House reporters that he feels 'somewhat' vindicated after hearing what Nunes had to say Wednesday afternoon. The congressman came to the White House to give Trump an in-person briefing and talked to the press before he left His admonishment was a departure from the normally collegial panel, where the leaders are known as 'chairman' and 'vice chairman' and share the nation's top secrets. 'The intelligence committees and armed services committees always work in a bipartisan fashion, and I'm sorry to see what's happened over there,' McCain said of the brouhaha on Thursday. The president told journalists Wednesday after meeting with Nunes that he feels 'somewhat' vindicated after hearing what the GOP congressman had to say. Trump has been fighting Democrats' charges that he lied on March 4 when he claimed Barack Obama 'wire tapped' him last year. 'I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found. I somewhat do,' he said shortly after a meeting with Nunes. McCain said Thursday morning that 'the president, obviously, can express his views and emotions, but nothing has changed since the director of the FBI said that there was no evidence that Trump Towers had been wiretapped." ' 'That has not been refuted. That had not been refuted by anyone,' he said. 'This new story, as you mentioned, apparently has to do with post-election things that happened. But I don't see where the director of the FBI's testimony has changed the facts in the slightest way.' 'What I have read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team because I think some of it seems to be inappropriate,' Nunes said in front of the White House after his sit-down with Trump Nunes proclaimed on Wednesday that the U.S. Intelligence Community collected 'incidental' information about Trump' and his transition team during the three months following the 2016 election. He told reporters on Capitol Hill that the information collected was 'legally collected' pursuant to a warrant issued by a FISA judge in a federal court, and concerned 'foreign' surveillance - before he went to the White House to tell the president. Standing in front of the White House, the Republican lawmaker said, 'This is information that was brought to me that I thought the president needed to know about incidental collection where the president himself and others in the Trump transition team were clearly put into intelligence reports that ended up at this White House and across a whole bunch of other agencies, and I thought it was important for the president to know.' 'What I have read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team because I think some of it seems to be inappropriate,' Nunes said after his sit-down with Trump. HAPPIER TIMES? Chairman Devin Nunes of California (R) and Ranking Member Adam Schiff listen to testimony during hearings on Russia's involvement in the 2016 Presidential Election and alleged hacking allegations during a House Intelligence Committee hearing Monday The statement was in response to a question about the nature of the surveillance. Nunes said it had 'nothing to do' with Russia or the FBI's Russian investigation, prompting an inquiry as to whether he thought it was politically motivated. He did not answer in the affirmative, yet he did not bat the suggestion down. He later said he wasn't able to show the information to Schiff because he and the committee don't have the documents in their possession. Nunes said he was waiting for an intelligence official to send over the reports, which he said he was shown by a 'source.' Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Nunes' statements 'would appear to have revealed classified intelligence.' Schiff refused to make the same charged when asked whether Nunes had revealed classified information. Maverick federal MP Bob Katter has renewed his call for a Middle Eastern and North African migration ban following the London terrorist attacks. The grandson of a Lebanese migrant wants to stop people between Greece and India from moving to Australia and has backed One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's call to ban Muslim migration. But he proposes to make exceptions for persecuted Jews, Sikhs and Christians from Muslim-majority nations. 'It's that Islamic terrorism of the Middle East and North Africa and as far as I'm concerned any right they ever have to come to this country has been lost,' Mr Katter told Sky News on Thursday night. Scroll down for video Maverick federal MP Bob Katter wants to ban migration from the Middle East and North Africa The politician from far north Queensland has backed One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's call to ban Muslim migration, following the killing of four people in London by a lone wolf terrorist who drove towards pedestrians on the Westminster Bridge. Earlier on Thursday, Mr Katter chastised the coalition and Labor for seeking to emulate German Chancellor Anglela Merkel's policy of allowing mass migration from Muslim-majority nations like Syria. 'I say to the majors ALP and LNP all the attacks and red-herrings and the brutalising yet again on Hanson will not change the reality that you are 'Merkel-ising' Australia and that our citizens will continue to be murdered to advance your party political ambitions,' he said. Senator Hanson posted a video message on Facebook on Thursday holding up a piece of paper with the hashtag: 'Pray4Muslim Ban'. This drew condemnation from left-wing feminists and Muslim activists. Bob Katter backs One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's (pictured) call to ban Muslim migration In his Sky News interview, Mr Katter said an 'incident' was occurring in Australia every three to six weeks, but he didn't specify where. He also accused the major parties of bringing in Muslims from the Middle East at the expense of more deserving minorities. 'So you're going to say you're bringing the persecutors in but not the persecuted?,' he said. His proposed ban on migration from the Middle East and North Africa would grant exemptions for minorities such as the Sikhs, Jews and Christians who are persecuted by Islamists. 'Whilst certainly not all people from the Middle East are like this, it is unfortunately true and real that all of these attacks are coming from people from these areas who have extreme ideologies,' Mr Katter said. Bob Katter said the major parties were seeking to emulate Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel's policy of mass Muslim migration Bob Katter and Pauline Hanson have used the terrorist attack outside the Palace of Westminster (pictured) to argue for a ban on Muslim migration The killing and maiming of pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge has sparked debate about the merits of Muslim migration Earlier this month, the Katter's Australian Party leader was howled down in parliament as he called on the Turnbull government to emulate U.S. president Donald Trump's temporary ban on travellers from some Muslim-majority nations in Africa and the Middle East. This followed the arrest of an Australian-born electrician , in the southern New South Wales town of Young. Haisem Zahab, 42, was charged with an alleged terror plot to develop 'high-tech missiles and laser warning devices' for ISIS. On Thursday, Mr Katter said some Muslim nations were free of terrorist attacks, citing Albania in southern Europe which banned religion under communist rule. A French -Tunisian has been arrested after trying to drive a car loaded with liquid gas, assault rifles and knives into a crowd of shoppers in Antwerp in an attempted terror attack. Belgian police, who confirmed the bomb squad had been sent to the area, said the car was being driven at high speed and that pedestrians had to jump out of the way to avoid being injured. Authorities found knives, a shotgun and a gas can with an unknown liquid in the car prompting officers who usually deal with extremist attacks to take over the case. It comes just hours after three people were killed in London by a terrorist who mowed down pedestrians and cyclists outside the House of Commons before stabbing a policeman to death. A police car blocks access to the Meir, Antwerp's main pedestrian street, after a man was arrested after he tried to drive into a crowd of shoppers at high speed on the street, on March 23, 2017 Authorities found a rifle and bladed weapons in the car after the 39-year-old man tried to flee and was detained in the northern city (pictured) Police pictured at the Sint-Michielskaai in Antwerp, the location of a possible thwarted terrorist attack in Antwerp The Belgian bomb squad were called to the car after the man was arrested in Antwerp The suspected attacker is said to have tried to mow down pedestrians on Meir (pictured) The suspect was said to be travelling in a car registered in France and that it was a red Citroen Two armed officers stand guard as the car is seen to by other officers from the bomb squad Belgian police said they would be beefing up security in the city of Antwerp (pictured) bomb disposal robot is seen removing items from a car which had entered the main pedestrian shopping street in the city at high speed Police officers patrol on the Meir, the main shopping street, after police arrested man on suspicion of driving at a crowd in Antwerp, Belgium A man wearing camouflage has been arrested after trying to drive a car with French plates into a crowd on a busy shopping street in Antwerp The car thought to have been driven through the crowds in Antwerp is taken away (circled) Policemen patrol on the Meir, Antwerp's main pedestrian street, after a man was arrested after he tried to drive into a crowd of shoppers at high speed Belgian police arrested a man named as Mohamed R, 39, on Thursday after he tried to drive into a crowd at high-speed in a shopping area in the port city of Antwerp at around 11am. The suspect, who has not been confirmed as a Muslim but is named after the religion's prophet and is said to be of North African descent, was wearing camouflage when he was arrested. Belgian security forces found a rifle as well as bladed weapons in the car driven by the Frenchman who tried to ram a crowd in the main pedestrianised street in the port city, described by the French President Francois Hollande as an 'attempted terrorist attack'. The federal prosecutor's office also said bomb disposal units were sent to the scene to examine the vehicle. 'Different arms were found in the boot - bladed weapons, a riot gun (rifle) and a container of liquid that is still unidentified,' the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement. 'The suspect is Mohamed R, born on May 8, 1977, of French nationality and a resident of France,' the statement said. The driver sped off after Belgian soldiers, who have been deployed around the country to assist the counter-terrorism fight, tried to stop the car. 'A short while later, a rapid intervention force from Antwerp police was able to stop the car,' the statement said. Two armed police officers walk down the street in Antwerp where the French-Tunisian was arrested A shopper clings onto her bag as she walks in front of two armed officers on the Meir Pedestrians walk down the Meir in Antwerp where a suspected attacker is said to have tried to drive down Police pictured at the Sint-Michielskaai in Antwerp, the location of a possible thwarted terrorist attack in Antwerp Sint-Michielskaai in Antwerp, the location of a possible thwarted terrorist attack in Antwerp It was not immediately clear if the car contained any explosives. The car was driven down the Meir street in Antwerp - the city's busiest pedestrianised streets. Shoppers had to dive out of the way of the speeding car to avoid serious injury. Belgian soldiers then forced the driver to stop, but he fled by running a red light as he made his way towards the Scheldt river. Less than a mile later, he was stopped by police officers and arrested. The gas liquid was found in a canister, and as a result the case was handed over to the federal prosecutor's office, which usually deals with terrorism cases in Belgium. Different arms were found in the boot - bladed weapons, a riot gun (rifle) and a container of liquid that is still unidentified Belgian federal prosecutor's office The office said: 'Because of these elements, and the events in London yesterday, the case is being taken on by the federal prosecutor's office.' Prime Minister Charles Michel said 'we remain vigilant. Our security services have done excellent work.' The events happened a day after the nation held remembrance services for the Brussels airport and subway attacks, which killed 32 people on March 22, 2016. He added the driver was later arrested and additional police and military personnel had been deployed to the centre of Antwerp, but did not give any further details. The suspect was said to be travelling in a car registered in France and that it was a red Citroen. He tried and failed to knock people down in the busy shopping area and fled the scene towards the city's port where he was arrested, according to Le Soir. The man, who is said to be of North African origin, was detained on St Michielskaai in Antwerp which is less than a mile away from the Meir, according to VTM. A forensics expert stands next to a car which had entered the main pedestrian shopping street in the city at high speed RISE OF THE VEHICLE TERRORISTS Today's suspected terror attack in Antwerp is the latest in a string of similar incidents across the world where extremists have used vehicles as weapons. Yesterday, three people were killed in a massacre outside the House of Commons in London when an ISIS-inspired attacker mowed down pedestrians and stabbed a policeman. He was shot dead by armed officers. On Bastille Day in the summer of last year, 86 people were killed when a truck was driven through crowds enjoying fireworks in Nice. Four months later, a copycat ISIS-inspired massacre took place in Germany when a terrorist drove a truck through a Christmas market in Berlin. Twelve people were killed in the attack on December 19. This year, a Palestinian lorry driver mowed down and then reversed over Israeli soldiers. The attack occurred on January 8 and killed four people. At least one person is feared dead in the Westminster Bridge incident, which comes on the anniversary of another deadly act of terrorism in the name of Islamic State in Brussels which killed 32. ISIS' propaganda magazine has regularly called on lone wolf attackers to use lorries and vehicles as deadly weapons. In response to the terror threat, France is in the process of building an 8ft bulletproof wall around the Eiffel Tower aimed at protecting the iconic landmark from potential jihadists. TERROR IN WESTMINSTER People stand near a crashed car and a injured person lying on the ground, right, on Bridge Street near the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, March 22, 2017 Yesterday, on the first anniversary of an ISIS-inspired terror attack in Brussels that killed 32 people, there was terror on the streets of London. Two people died when an Islamist extremist drove a Hyundai 4x4 along the pavement and bus lane on Westminster Bridge, mowing down pedestrians and cyclists. Twenty-nine people were injured. After crashing the car into railings outside the House of Commons, the attacker ran to towards the iconic building and stabbed a policeman to death. He was shot dead by armed officers. BASTILLE DAY The battered front of the truck used by Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel to kill 86 people who were celebrating Bastille Day On the evening of July 14, 2016, a 19-tonne cargo truck was driven into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenage des Anglais in Nice. ISIS fanatic Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was behind the wheel and after exchanging gunfire with police, the Tunisian migrant was shot dead. Thousands had gathered on the seafront to watch the fireworks that night. Eighty-six of them died and 434 were injured. BERLIN CHRISTMAS MARKET A tow truck operates at the scene where a truck ploughed through a crowd at a Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz square near the fashionable Kurfuerstendamm avenue in the west of Berlin, Germany Anis Amri stole a cargo truck and killed 12 people when he drove through a Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin. Among the dozen people killed in the ISIS-inspired terror attack on December 19, 2016, was the original driver of the truck Lukasz Urban who was found dead with a gunshot wound in the passenger street. Amri was a Tunisian who had failed to gain asylum status in the country. He was killed in Milan four days later after an international manhunt. JERUSALEM SOLDIERS ATTACK Israeli soldiers work at the scene where police said a Palestinian named as Fadi Qunbar, 28, rammed his truck into a group of four Israeli soldiers on a popular promenade in Jerusalem January 8, 2017 On January 8 this year, a Palestinian rammed a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers visiting a popular tourist spot in Jerusalem, killing four and wounding 15 people, in a shocking copycat of the Berlin and Nice terror massacres. Shocking video from the scene shows the driver reversing back over the soldiers, trapping ten under his wheels, during the sickening attack on Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleged the attacker 'supported' the Islamic State group, though he provided no details on what led to the finding. He said there 'definitely could be a connection' between Sunday's attack, which killed four Israeli soldiers, and recent attacks in France and Germany. OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY A car which police say was used by an attacker to plow into a group of students is seen outside Watts Hall on Ohio State University's campus in Columbus, Ohio A Somali refugee injured 13 people when he rammed his car into a group of people outside Ohio State University in Columbus. Abdul Razak Ali Artan was shot dead by the first responding OSU police officer and ISIS claimed through its Amaq News Agency that he had acted on behalf of the terror group. After mowing down people in the car, he jumped out of his vehicle and attempted to stab more people. ATTACK ON CANADIAN PARLIAMENT Armed RCMP officers approach Centre Block on Parliament Hilll following a shooting incident in Ottawa, Canada on October 22, 2014 Today's terror attack on Parliament bears striking similarities to the assault on Canada's Parliament in October 2014. That incident also combined the use of a vehicle as a weapon with an attack on police - and was stopped from becoming much worse by the quick reactions of the security forces. In the earlier attack, a gunman later identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau shot a sentry dead at a war memorial near the Parliament building in Ottawa. He then leaped into a car and drove towards Parliament, still wielding his hunting rifle, before hijacking another vehicle and heading for the main building in the complex. Zehaf-Bibeau - a 32-year-old jihadist - made it inside Parliament, shooting a policeman in the foot, before he was himself shot by the Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers and then killed by another officer. Advertisement French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that a French national appeared to have been involved in a suspected, attempted attack in the Belgium city of Antwerp. He called the incident 'an attempted terrorist attack', according to CNN. 'It seemed to involve a French national, with possibly a certain number of weapons in his boot - it's up to the judges to make a statement on that - who was looking to kill or at the very least create a dramatic incident,' Hollande told reporters. 'Therefore we must continue to be on high alert and mobilise all our forces,' he added. Yesterday, on the first anniversary of an ISIS-inspired terror attack in Brussels that killed 32 people, there was terror on the streets of London. Two people died when an Islamist extremist drove a Hyundai 4x4 along the pavement and bus lane on Westminster Bridge, mowing down pedestrians and cyclists. Twenty-nine people were injured. After crashing the car into railings outside the House of Commons, the attacker ran to towards the iconic building and stabbed a policeman to death. He was shot dead by armed officers. Thomas Sleigh, 45, pictured, was convicted of sexual assault after 'poking an airline steward in the groin' An airline passenger who poked a Ryanair steward's crotch, in a row over his family drinking duty free beer on the flight, has escaped a jail sentence. Married father-of-three Thomas Sleigh, 45, from Stockport, was ordered to hand over the alcohol his daughter was drinking in her seat on the flight from Murcia to Manchester. The incident occurred on September 7 last year shortly before the flight was about to land after a four-hour journey. When the steward confronted took the alcohol off him, Sleigh grabbed his crotch and flicked it up. The steward who had been carrying in flight magazines along the central aisle of the aircraft recoiled and said: 'Don't ever touch me in that area ever again' only for the passenger to retort: 'Are you gay?' Sleigh, who was travelling home with his 45-year old wife Michaela and their daughter, 24, tried to apologise but was arrested when the plane landed. His lawyer Shane O'Neill told JPs in Manchester: 'This is an unusual incident but one that only lasted a few seconds and was most certainly not planned. As soon as whatever happened had happened he apologised for what had gone on. He has a family and one of his son's is gay himself and that is why he feels he has let his son down. 'As a result of this incident there has been a lot of fall out. He works as a cleaner for ambulances and had been made a supervisor because of the work he does. But he has been suspended from work pending a hearing and he has faced abuse from people in his area. 'This is not someone who is some kind of predator, he has become a dedicated member of the community over the last three years.' The steward who cannot be named told an earlier hearing: 'I was on duty on board a flight from Murcia to Manchester at 2.30pm and the plane was due to leave at approximately 6.15pm. 'At about 5.45 I was collecting the in-flight magazines and at some point became aware of a family drinking alcohol that wasn't bought on board the flight sitting in seat 14F. Manchester Magistrates' Court heard Sleigh and wife Michaela had been drinking alcohol on a flight from Murcia to Manchester when the steward tried to 'confiscate the drinks' 'After I confiscated the alcohol I was stopped in the aisle with the flight magazines in my hands. The defendant who was sat in 14D grabbed my crotch and flicked it in an upward motion. 'The whole situation lasted about 30 to 50 seconds and he said to me: 'Are you gay?' I didn't answer his question. 'I stepped back in shock and I said: 'don't ever touch me in that area ever again.' The lady in 14F then said to me: 'he's only joking, he's only joking.' So I said do you think it's a joke to touch me in that area? 'I left the area to get over what had happened and there was another crew member who I briefly told the situation to whilst I was calming down. The court heard Sleigh, pictured, asked the steward 'if he was gay' when he complained about him touching his groin 'I went back down the cabin aisle and spoke to another passenger who said they had seen what happened. I also spoke to other crew members and the captain and the police met the aircraft on its arrival into Manchester. You don't just go touching someone in that area.' Another passenger John Casson told the hearing: 'There was a bit of a debate between the passengers and the steward. The steward asked for the alcohol to be confiscated at which point it was handed to the steward. 'The defendant then touched the steward in the crotch area in an uplifting motion with his left hand. The steward was clearly surprised and he said: 'You can't touch me there.' The steward then turned and walked back towards the pilot end of the plane at which point the passenger said to him: 'Are you gay?' Sleigh, pictured left and right with his wife Michaela, denied the offence and claimed any contact with the steward was an accident 'He then swore at him using a hang gesture. Later the steward walked back down the plane to carry out his duties and the defendant stopped him to apologise for what had happened.' Sleigh had denied any wrongdoing and told the hearing: ' I had drunk three small cans of Heineken before boarding the flight. Me and my wife were having an argument and the flight attendant was speaking to my daughter and snatched a can out of her hands. 'My wife elbowed me in my right arm which pushed my hand off the arm rest and accidentally hit him in the groin. I said sorry straight away. My own son is gay there is no way I would have called him gay. I didn't make any threats towards the man.' His wife Michaela Sleigh said: 'Me and Thomas had been rowing and I elbowed him with the intention of getting him to shut up. 'As a result it caused him to move his left arm towards the steward's leg. My husband did try to apologise but the steward was having none of it.' The father-of-three, pictured, claimed he tried to apologise and said 'his own son was gay' so he would not have 'used it as an insult' against the steward The incident took place on board a Ryan Air flight from Murcia to Manchester and Sleigh was arrested upon landing at Manchester Aiport (file picture) He denied sexual assault but was convicted after a trial earlier this month and faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail. Today, Sleigh was ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work as part of a 12 month community order and was also ordered to pay the steward 300 compensation after revealing he had subjected to verbal abuse over the incident and had suspended from his job cleaning ambulances. He will have to sign the Sex Offender register for five years. A Utah couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary on a dream tour of Europe are among the victims of the London terror attack. Kurt Cochran, 54, died after being thrown over Westminster Bridge onto a walkway beneath it when ISIS terrorist Khalid Masood mowed him down in his Hyundai 4x4. His 46-year-old wife Melissa was also struck. She lay frozen on the bridge among postcards from a toppled tourism stand with blood pouring from her head while strangers consoled her. Mrs Cochran was taken to hospital in the UK where she is being treated for a broken leg and rib. They were the first people hit when Masood, who later died in hospital after being shot by police, embarked on his murderous path across the bridge where at least ten more innocent pedestrians were hit. Chilling photos of the couple at the bridge swept the world as news of the attack spread. Scroll down for video Kurt and Melissa Cochran from West Bountiful, Utah, were among those who were run over by a terrorist in a 4x4 on Westminster Bridge on Wednesday. Mr Cochran died while his wife remains in hospital Mr Cochran hurled over the parapet and landed on the concrete walkway under the bridge Strangers consoled Mrs Cochran as she lay on the bridge next to a toppled postcard stand before an ambulance arrived The 46-year-old mother desperately cluthced on to a stranger who held her bleeding head as she lay among scattered postcards while they waited for an ambulance. The chilling image swept the world yesterday before the pair were identified A mother who was on her way to collect her children from school was also killed before the terrorist came to a stop at the Houses of Parliament, crashing his car into railings. A 75-year-old man died from his injuries today. A policeman standing guard in New Palace Yard was stabbed and died at the scene. Distraught family confirmed Mr and Mrs Cochran's involvement in the atrocity on Thursday, telling how they 'ached' for the couple's children. London was their final stop after a tour of other European destinations. They had already visited Holland, Germany, Ireland and Scotland and were in the English capital to spend time with Mrs Cochran's parents who work there as missionaries for the Church of the Latter Day Saints. They were due to return home to the US on Thursday. 'Our family is heartbroken to learn of the death of our son-in-law, Kurt W. Cochran, who was a victim of Wednesday's terrorist attack in London. 'Kurt was a good man and a loving husband to our daughter and sister Melissa. 'They were in Europe to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and were scheduled to return to the United States on Thursday,' Mrs Cochran's parents said in a statement. Other relatives reeled from the news on social media. 'This pain is so heart wrenching and raw it has rocked our family and all that knew him to its core. We will miss Kurt beyond words. We love you Kurt. RIP,' said one. The pair were on the south London end of the bridge, opposite the Houses of Parliament, when they were hit. Mr Cochran was either pushed over the edge or jumped on to the walkway beneath it Mr Cochran's family confirmed that he had succumb to his injuries on Facebook on Thursday. The pair have run a recording studio from their Utah home for the last 10 years They were in London as part of a tour of Europe when they were struck on Wednesday afternoon President Trump paid tribute to the man as a 'great American' on Thursday morning Mrs Cochran's family is fundraising on her behalf while she reels from the tragedy She is currently in a London hospital recovering from a broken leg and a broken rib Mr Cochran's sister-in-law paid tribute to him as a 'hero' while his brother-in-law said: 'Our hearts ache for her and their children in losing their loving companion and father. Please continue to pray for our family.' They are now fundraising on her behalf. President Donald Trump eulogized Mr Cochran as a 'great American.' The pair excitedly shared photographs from their travels including this one, posted by Mr Cochran days before his death 'My prayers and condolences are with his family and friends,' he said in a tweet on Thursday morning. Mr Cochran is among three innocent victims who died in the attacks. The other two include a mother who was on her way to collect her children from school and a policeman who was stabbed by the terrorist outside the Houses of Parliament. Aysha Frade, 43, was on her way to collect her daughters aged eight and 11 when she was hit and thrown under a bus. Policeman Keith Palmer was stabbed by the terrorist in New Palace Yard outside the Houses of Parliament. A fundraising page launched for his family has reached nearly 130,000 ($160,000). British Prime Minister Theresa May said of the 48-year-old father: 'He was every inch a hero. And his actions will never be forgotten.' ISIS claimed responsibility for the atrocities on Thursday. Masood drove his 4x4 from the south end of Westminster Bridge President Trump said he had shared a phone call with Prime Minister Theresa May to express his condolences on Wednesday night. Aysha Frade was also killed on the bridge. She was on her way to collect her daughters from school. PC Keith Palmer died after being stabbed by the terrorist at the Houses of Parliament ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks which also saw a policeman stabbed to death outside the Houses of Parliament ExxonMobil has been ordered to hand over the emails that show Rex Tillerson allegedly talking about climate change under the pseudonym Wayne Tracker ExxonMobil has been ordered to hand over emails that allegedly show Rex Tillerson talking about climate change under a pseudonym. The US Secretary of State and oil company's former CEO, whose middle name is Wayne, was accused of discussing environmental issues and other 'important matters' under the name 'Wayne Tracker'. Now the oil company has been told to provide those emails to a New York prosecutor probing whether the firm lied to the public and investors about the threat of global warming. Tillerman sent emails from at least 2008 through 2015 to discuss climate change, according to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The ruling requires ExxonMobil to turn over some documents by March 31. It comes 16 months after the office first issued a subpoena in the investigation. The firm must also hand over affidavits and other documents that about what the firm and its lawyers knew about the threat of climate change and when. The subpoena also seeks to recover documents that may have been destroyed by the company. There are believed to be hundreds of thousands of documents covered by the subpoena that Exxon has not yet provided. An Exxon spokesman told CNN that the company has already provided more than 400,000 documents - containing 2.6million pages - to investigators. Tillerson used the previously secret account for 'secure and expedited communications between select senior company officials and the former chairman for a broad range of business-related topics,' Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers told Bloomberg News. He began the practice after his main account got too many messages, he said. The existence in the account may have been flagged by a small batch of documents that got handed over inadvertently. The Secretary of State and oil company's former CEO, whose middle name is Wayne, was accused of discussing environmental issues and other 'important matters' under the alter-ego 'Wayne Tracker' 'Despite the company's incidental production of approximately 60 documents bearing the "Wayne Tracker" email address, neither Exxon nor its counsel have ever disclosed that this separate email account was a vehicle for Mr Tillerson's relevant communications at Exxon,' Senior Enforcement Counsel John Oleske wrote in the letter, CNN Money reported. Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said in a statement: 'The email address, Wayne.Tracker@exxonmobil.com, is part of the company's email system and was put in place for secure and expedited communications between select senior company officials and the former chairman for a broad range of business-related topics.' New York and Massachusetts are probing whether Exxon misled investors for years about its knowledge of whether its activities contributed to climate change. The New York Times reported in 2015 that Schneiderman had begun probing whether the company shielded investors from what its own scientists had determined about the risks posed by climate change. The internal conclusions came as the company funded outside research that was skeptical about climate change. 'If they had nothing to hide, then why the secret email account?" Jamie Henn, spokesman for the environmental group 350.org, told Bloomberg. According to the letter to Judge Barry Ostrager, 'We write to notify the Court that Exxon Mobil Corporation (Exxon) has failed to comply in good faith with the subpoena issued by the New York State Office of the Attorney General (OAG), and this Courts previous orders, in connection with OAGs investigation into Exxons potential violations of New York consumer, business, and investor-fraud laws.' 'Exxon has continuously delayed and obstructed the production of documents from its top executives and board members,1 which are crucial to OAGs investigation into Exxons touted risk- management practices regarding climate change. We respectfully request that the Court now schedule a conference to ensure Exxons compliance with OAGs subpoena,' according to the letter. 'Documents relating to these email addresses should have been preserved from the outset, and should have been searched and produced prior to January 31, 2017, as part of the promised collection of management documents,' according to the letter. A woman has slammed Centrelink for cutting off her terminally ill brother's fortnightly allowance because they believe the cancer-stricken man 'who has just months to live should be looking for a job'. Sunny Spiteri who is well known for her blog 'The Curvy Gamer' lashed out at the government agency and her 21-year-old brother, Rhys Pagalday's, employment service provider after the man's income was frozen. Ms Spiteri claims her brother's disability allowance was blocked after ongoing harassment from an employment provider in Sydney. 'I would like my brothers disability payments restored as a matter of urgency and action taken against the employee who has been harassing my family,' Ms Spiteri wrote. Rhys Pagalday has terminal cancer - his disability pension has been cut off because he didn't attend employment meetings despite having 'months to live' Her brother Rhys was first 'diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer called Ewing's Sarcoma' when he was completing his HSC. Three years later the family have had to come to terms with treatment not working that their younger brother and son will die. 'Rhys only has months left to live. His doctors can now only medicate his extreme pain as the cancerous tumours spread even further through his body, robbing him of any quality of life,' she said. This stress has been compounded by the blow to the young man's income and the alleged harassment the family received at the hands of the employment provider. 'At times when she (the employment provider) knew Rhys was in hospital receiving chemotherapy she was calling up to three times a day to get my brother to attend her office for an interview. 'I don't think any government agency would ask a sick teenager to leave their chemotherapy bed to attend an interview for a job. 'During their discussions my mother has calmly and politely explained that it is not possible for Rhys to work or attend the employment office as he is often bed ridden and constantly on a very high dosage of morphine.' His sister Sunny Spiteri has written an open letter highlighting the alleged harassment her brother received by the employment agency before his allowance was cut The woman who was in charge of Rhys' employment often upset the family. 'She has continually shown a great deal of contempt and rudeness towards my family. 'Keith Cox, the head of nursing at the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse, was so upset by her treatment of Rhys that he personally wrote to her and faxed a medical certificate explaining that Rhys cannot work whilst he undergoes chemotherapy. 'She was not satisfied and two days later cut Rhys's disability payments stating she was 'not interested in excuses' and that she hears them all the time. 'She said that if Rhys does not attend her office in person that she will cut all benefits permanently.' Rhys' mother Caroline had to go to Centrelink the first time the benefits were cut to attempt to fix the problem for her son who was too sick to leave the hospital. 'The staff member my mother dealt with at Centrelink called the employment service worker and asked her to lift the restrictions. 'The employment worker was rude and unprofessional to the staff member. She told her to warn my mother that Rhys will have to get a job eventually and that she will stop payments as soon as she can. 'The employment worker was rude and unprofessional to the staff member. She told her to warn my mother that Rhys will have to get a job eventually and that she will stop payments as soon as she can,' the letter read 'The staff member was understandably horrified at the woman's bullying behaviour. Her intimidation tactics are not the professional and compassionate standards I expect from someone who deals with vulnerable people and families,' the angry letter read. When Sunny's mother refused to attend an interview this week Rhys' beneifits were cancelled. 'At this point in Rhys' life, any time he is admitted to hospital the staff must prepare us for the worst. We do not leave his side. I find it disgusting that any human being would expect a mother to leave her dying son to attend an interview solely because the government thinks a dying boy should get a job.' The heart-breaking letter has been shared more than 500 times with more than 600 people showing their support for the family on a post shared by Ms Spiteri on Facebook. Daily Mail Australia have approached the family for comment. Injured: University student Travis Frain, 19, of Lancashire, will tonight undergo surgery The mother of a teenager left with serious injuries from the London terror attack admitted today that her son was 'extremely lucky' to be alive. University student Travis Frain, 19, of Darwen, Lancashire, will tonight undergo surgery after being deliberately run down by a 4x4 on Westminster Bridge. He suffered fractures to his leg and left arm, as well as a cracked rib, two broken fingers and deep lacerations to his foot as he walked along the pavement. His mother Angela Frain made contact with him shortly after the attack, with her son saying he had no time to react to the vehicle hurtling in his direction. The 45-year-old said: 'Travis said that all he could remember was walking along the bridge and the next thing he knew he was hit. 'He's a bit up and down and very shaken up by what's happened. He's due to go into surgery tonight and will be there for a few days. Taken away: Mr Frain suffered fractures to his leg and left arm, as well as a cracked rib, two broken fingers and deep lacerations to his foot as he walked along the pavement 'But I know he's extremely lucky and it could've been a lot worse. He's on a lot of drugs at the moment and so doesn't want to speak about what happened just now.' The teenager wrote on Facebook: 'I'm not too bad, though things are obviously still in the air this early. 'After X-rays on over 20 different parts of the body, a couple of MRIs, an ultrasound and a CT scan, both my ribs and hip bones are fine. 'However, I have fractured the top part of my left hand, and most of the fingers. 'I've also fractured my leg, around the knee, and as a result, I will need physio over the coming months to be able to walk at the extent I used to.' The Prime Ministers official spokesman said Mrs May spent 40 minutes this afternoon on a private hospital visit. She met both victims of the attack and staff caring for them. No 10 refused to reveal which hospital the Prime Minister visited or who took part in the visit. HOSPITAL: TWO REMAIN IN A CRITICAL CONDITION TONIGHT Paramedics at the scene of yesterday's terror attack close to the Houses of Parliament Two survivors of the Westminster terror attack have been discharged today, hospital bosses revealed. Yesterday six men and two women were rushed to King's College Hospital after a Hyundai ploughed into scores of pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. Two members of the public were killed and up 40 people were injured and rushed to hospitals across the capital. This evening two victims are fighting for their lives and four are in a stable condition at King's College Hospital. The hospital refused to reveal the genders of those discharged or still in a critical condition. A spokesperson for King's College Hospital said: 'We can confirm that two of the patients we were treating following yesterday's incident in Westminster have now been discharged. 'We are still treating two patients who are in a critical condition and four who are stable.' Advertisement Meanwhile it is believed a man from Farringdon was one of the pedestrians hit by the car. He is said to have been a driver in Swindon and is in a coma in hospital. Mr Frain is expected to remain in hospital for treatment into the weekend, with his mother due to head down to London see him this afternoon. The first year history and politics student from Edge Hill University had travelled down to London for a day trip as part of his course when the attacker struck. Mr Frain is expected to remain in hospital for treatment for the next few days, with his mother due to head down to London see him this afternoon After a visit to Parliament, the students were given an hour to look around the area, with Travis and several coursemates heading across Westminster Bridge. Ms Frain said: 'He'd literally just left Parliament when the car mounted the curb and hit him. All he can remember is the car hitting him. University student Mr Frain is currently working with police investigators and anti-terror units to establish what happened 'Thankfully, I don't think anyone else he was with was seriously injured.' The school teacher also confirmed that her son is currently working with police investigators and anti-terror units to establish what happened. Mr Frain is the chairman of Conservative Futures West Lancashire branch and has previously volunteered for Darwen and Rossendale MP Tory Jake Berry. He was described by a sixth form pupil at his former college, Darwen Aldridge Community Academy, as 'our favourite Ginger'. Jasper Harris added that Mr Frain was 'Darwen's favourite student'. Another of his friends, known only as 'Katie', from Whalley, tweeted: 'Wishing my close friend Travis Frain a super speedy recovery from the awful events today at Westminster. #GetWellTrav #PrayForLondon.' Another social media user called 'Emma' said: 'The world is a horrible and messed up place. Travis Frain, hope you and everyone involved are okay.' Another student injured was Owen Lambert, 18, from Morecambe, who needed stitches to a head wound. Today he said: 'Battered and bruised but doing fine. Massive thanks to Metropolitan Police and the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for helping me through this ordeal. 'An even bigger thanks to all my family and friends for supporting me every step of the way.' Edge Hill vice chancellor Dr John Cater said: 'They had just actually finished their session, were leaving the Parliament building and in the Westminster Bridge area where we understand.They were involved in the incident. Hurt: Andrei Burnaz (left), an engineer in his mid-20s, and Andreea Cristea (right), his girlfriend, 29, were injured in the attack during their romantic break to London 'We understand that two students have been taken to hospital but as walking wounded - one with a head wound and one with a wrist injury. 'There are two other students who have minor injuries who are with police and acting as witnesses. The good news is that the other nine students are now back in a hostel receiving support.' Victims: What we know about the four dead and 29 injured Three people - excluding the attacker - were murdered. 29 are injured. Seven critically. Theresa May revealed today that among the injured there were 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Chinese, one Irish, one Italian and two Greeks. The foreign victims are likely to all have been tourists. This is what we know: Husband and father Pc Keith Palmer,48, was stabbed to death by terrorist at gates of Parliament Aysha Frade, 43, was on her way to meet her two children, aged eight and 11, when she was killed on Westminster Bridge Kurt Cochran, 54, from Utah was knocked off bridge and died A 75-year-old man died on Thursday night as a result of his injuries Three French school children are in a critical condition last night. The students are believed to be 15 or 16 and attend the private Lycee Saint-Joseph in Brittany. The attacker also targeted 13 students from Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lancashire. The university said four were hurt. One had head injuries, another wrist injuries, while two were walking wounded. A Romanian couple on holiday are also thought to be among the injured. Andrei Burnaz , an engineer in his mid-20s, and Andreea Cristea , his girlfriend, 29, were caught up in the attack. Five Korean tourists were also reported to be among the injured, one seriously. One woman had jumped into the Thames to escape. A Portuguese man was also hurt in the rampage Irish victim is not seriously injured Italian woman was hit by the bumper of the car and had to have an operation to her left leg Chinese tourist was also hospitalised after being hit by the speeding vehicle and had bone fracture near the shoulder and numerous bruises A Polish man suffered minor injuries and was released from hospital on Thursday, the country's embassy said Advertisement He added: 'The details are invariably hazy I guess. Our assumption is that they were either knocked over by other people or struck by the vehicle. 'Obviously all of them will be somewhat traumatised by what they have seen as well.' The terror attack on Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament left at least four people dead, including PC Keith Palmer, and a further 29 injured. Numerous tourists and students from Britain, France and Korea were among the injured with 29 in hospital on top of the 'walking wounded'. Seven are critically ill with 'catastrophic injuries' - potentially including two other police officers. Three children were hurt from St Joseph's School in the Brittany town of Concarneau, which lost a former pupil in the Paris Bataclan attack in 2015. Their parents have flown into London to visit them at St Thomas' Hospital. Theresa May revealed today that among the injured there were 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Chinese, one Irish, one Italian and two Greeks. The foreign victims are likely to all have been tourists. A woman who was pulled alive from the Thames after jumping off Westminster Bridge to escape the attacker was among the victims in yesterday's atrocity. Romanian architect Andreea Cristea, 29, was visiting London with her future husband, engineer Andrei Burnaz, to celebrate his birthday tomorrow. Victims were wheeled away on stretchers while others were treated at the scene. One injured man was pictured with a bandage wrapped around his bloodied head. Three of the French pupils were in a critical condition last night. One was catapulted into the air and ended up on the roof of the car. The teenagers have been named in local media as Victor, Yann and Thomas. The mother of one of the students told Brittany website Le Telegramme she initially believed he was dead for around an hour following news of the attack. After being informed he had been injured the woman and her husband, neither of whom are named, were rushed to London to see their son, the website reported. The teenager, named only as Thomas, is suffering from fractures in his legs and a head injury, his mother said. An injured victim walks from Westminster Bridge yesterday after people were knocked down A pedestrian lies stricken on Westminster Bridge after a car knocked down people yesterday She added she had to explain to him what had happened, telling him about 'the crazy car on the bridge'. The French students were among a group of around ten teachers and pupils from the school on a trip to London. A school spokesman said: 'There were four classes on a trip to London. They travelled at the start of the week and were due to return at the end of the week.' One student, identified by Le Telegramme as Kilian, sent a text message to his mother stating: 'We saw the car strike a group. After 20 seconds it hit us.' He said his group had been moved on to a boat as a safety measure. Members of the group were later interviewed by investigators. Fellow pupils told of how they were 'seconds' from death after the driver sped towards them. One boy, named only as Johan, told France's Ouest France paper: 'The car hit three boys, we all had the reflexes to move back. Pieces of a car's undercarriage lay scattered on the pavement of Westminster Bridge 'Then the man got out of the car and started to run towards Parliament. We heard the two gun shots. Then I saw people on the ground, I think they had been stabbed.' All three French teenagers were in the 'exact line that the car took', said a source at St Joseph's high school. 'Two of them are in a particularly bad way, and are being treated at St Thomas's hospital in London. Members of their families, including parents, are now with them,' added the source. The French government put their families on a military plane last night, which flew them from Brittany to London. Classmates of the French students injured in yesterday's attack arrived home this evening Students from the Saint-Joseph School in Concarneau and their teachers arrived by bus today in Tregunc western France, a day after three of their number were hurt in the London attack Their classmates today returned home, landing in Pluguffan in the west of France. Isabell Calveze, whose son Kilian was in the St Joseph's party of around 90, said she soon established that he was unharmed physically, but in a very bad way psychologically. Ms Calveze said: 'My son saw everything, I knew quickly that he was fine, but he saw his comrades hit by the car and I imagine that psychologically it must be a shock, and that he won't be well after this. A woman leans down on Westminster Bridge to help another woman who was injured Fight for life: Tory minister Tobias Ellwood gives mouth to mouth to the police officer who died 'My son wrote to me that within twenty seconds he could have been hurt by the vehicle too. 'But the pupils were taken care of very quickly and very well, they were greeted on a boat on the Thames and the British authorities debriefed them.' Ms Calveze said that her daughter in France first told her about the terrorist incident. 'It was my daughter who alerted me, I did not have time to be afraid, I looked at the news channels and I got in touch with my son.' Parents and other relatives of the children were today gathering around St Joseph's, along with other concerned locals. In total, five South Koreans in their 50s and 60s were injured when they were caught up in a stampede of people trying to escape the attack. A tour agency official has confirmed that the South Korean tourist, a 67-year-old with the surname Park, was seriously injured. Four of them have received treatment for broken bones while a 67-year-old needed an operation for a head injury. A knife-wielding terrorist only managed to get on to the parliamentary estate because the gates were open for ministers to vote - and the Commons authorities knew it was a security weak spot. The ISIS-linked jihadi stabbed PC Keith Palmer on the driveway of Parliament after mowing down at least 29 people and killing four in a sickening attack on Westminster Bridge. Concerns have been raised about how the extremist managed to get into the grounds of one of Britain's most important buildings and why the policeman killed was unarmed. No armed police are thought to have been on duty at the gates, which open on to Parliament Square. The Westminster terrorist got in through Parliament's gates, which are often open during Commons votes. Acting Met Commissioner Craig Mackey was also about to leave The entrance, which is also blockaded with metal barriers, is often left open during votes so ministers can drive in and out quickly. Once the division bell goes they only have eight minutes until the vote ends. Acting Police Commissioner Craig Mackey was also reportedly about to leave the estate, and witnessed much of the bloodshed. A senior Commons source told MailOnline that the authorities were aware of previous concerns among MPs about the gates being a 'weak point'. The source indicated that some security issues arising from the incident would need to be dealt with 'urgently'. Longer term, the senior source said pedestrianising Parliament Square was 'on the table' and could help bolster security. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has pledged to push the project through. Mr Mackey said he had given evidence to the investigation about what he saw. 'I personally was a witness to part of yesterday's events, including part of the tragic attack on Pc Palmer,' Mr Mackey said. 'As with all police officers, I therefore had a duty to secure my evidence and produce statements yesterday evening, which I did before resuming my role leading our response to this incident.' It also emerged that the policeman who shot the attacker on the parliamentary estate was a guard for Defence Secretary Michael Fallon rather one of the armed officers on the regular Commons detail. The attack has raised questions over whether more officers at Parliament should be armed The attacker is wheeled away after he was shot by an armed officer at the scene. He later died Two plain clothes officers were seen by witnesses confronting the knife-wielding man after he stabbed Pc Keith Palmer by the gates. Witnesses saw them approach the attacker from the direction of Mr Fallon's car, which was parked nearer the parliamentary building. The minister himself is thought to have been voting inside at the time. Trucks were seen transporting concrete blocks into Westminster today, apparently to be used as barriers. Labour MP Mary Creagh urged the authorities to step up security following the atrocity. 'The one weak spot on our estate is those Carriage Gates,' she said. 'We have four police officers there. Two on the gate going in, two on the gate going out. We see them every day, we're friends with lots of them. 'I think we will need to look at security at the Palace in the wake of this incident but this is a plan for another day. It's a terrible, terrible day for Parliament.' Former Met firearms officer Roger Gay said Britain may need to move away from the idea of 'traditional' unarmed policeman in important locations. He told Sky News today: 'In my opinion, I would have all of them in that location, I think, should be armed. What you have there, and I hate to use the term, is perhaps a sacrificial pawn. 'But one wonders if he had a sidearm, would he have been able to react that quickly and, if he had been carrying a carbine then he would be less of the traditional policeman. Perhaps we should let go of that and ratchet it up one notch.' It is understood the attacker was shot by a bodyguard of Defence Secretary Michael Fallon rather than Parliament police Armed police in Westminster today. The death of unarmed officer has raised questions all police in such locations should have guns Additional concrete blocks, which could be deployed as barricades, were brought to Parliament Square today in the aftermath of the attack Theresa Villiers, the former Northern Ireland secretary, also raised the issue of whether police who patrol areas 'known to be of interest to terrorists' should carry a weapon. Ms Villiers said: 'As we reflect on what happened, is it time to consider whether the police who guard sensitive sites known to be of interest to terrorists like Parliament or like airports should routinely carry personal protection weapons, even when those officers are not part of the units formally tasked with armed response?' Speaking on Radio 4 this morning, Defence Secretary Mr Fallon confirmed Parliament's security would now be reviewed. He said of the attacker: 'They did not get into Parliament. They only got as far as the gate. They did not breach the security of the House of Commons and he gave his life to protect the security of our democracy. 'Parliament cannot be hermetically sealed. People are coming and going all the time. 'There was a division going on at the time, people arriving through the gates either by car or foot, to vote. This is something that will now be reviewed by the House authorities.' Police teams carried out fingertip searches of the area this morning to gather potential evidence in the investigation Forensics experts have been scouring Westminster Bridge for clues following the horrific events of yesterday Former Met firearms officer Roger Gay (left) suggested all police around Parliament should be armed. Security expert Raffaello Pantucci (right) said low tech lone wolf attacks are extremely difficult to prevent Former terror laws watchdog Lord Carlile said it is 'looking like an attack by a person or persons radicalised in the UK'. He told the Press Association: 'We shall have to examine what was known about the perpetrator and his associates. 'All communities in the UK have the duty to condemn what occurred.' The former Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation said the attack indicates that the threat is 'genuinely severe' and 'can be carried out with the most basic of instruments and techniques'. He added: 'We must ensure the best opportunities to interdict and detect potential terrorists.' Lord Carlile said the priorities for the security services and police at this stage will be to 'detect the crimes connected with yesterday's events' and to 'learn lessons from what has occurred'. On the question of whether the incident raises any questions about security at Westminster, he said it was too early to say. The peer went on: 'I am sure that there will be an examination of (a) the roads around Westminster, including the possible risks caused by the new and wide cycle lane used by the perpetrator; (b) the carriage gates to Parliament; and (c) whether all Parliamentary police officers should be armed.' Mother-of-two Aysha Frade (left) and Metropolitan policeman Keith Palmer (right) have been named as victims of the attack Security experts have pointed out that 'low-tech' lone wolf attacks are extremely difficult to prevent. Raffaello Pantucci, Director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute, said: 'It's always been the case that going out and getting a car or a knife is far easier than building a device like a bomb. 'Incidents such as Lee Rigby are examples of this. Other terrorists could be inspired by this and it's becoming the acceptable way of doing things. It's certainly something that could be copied.' He added: 'If you haven't told anyone what you are doing, police are going to find it harder to stop you. 'But what is worrying is a trend of lone wolves who carry out the attacks alone, but gain ideas or weapons from other terrorists before they do so.' Just days ago a suspected terrorist was shot dead at Orly airport in Paris after trying to grab a gun from a security official. Mr Pantucci said: 'Obviously we are on high alert, but we have been on high alert for some time. What has been happening with banning laptops on planes makes that clear.' Reflecting on the reaction of the police, Mr Pantucci said: 'From what we have seen it appears the police shut down the operation very quickly. 'It could be that more bollards are placed outside Parliament to prevent this sort of thing happening again, but is is difficult to know when to stop putting bollards in.' Harry Mosley, 25, (pictured outside court) admitted two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud A conman lived a life of luxury while defrauding elderly and vulnerable investors out of more than 430,000 in a wine investment scam. Harry Mosley took hundreds of thousands of pounds from hard working investors before spending the money on luxury cars and holidays. The 25-year-old from Sevenoaks in Kent finally admitted two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation on the seventh day of his trial at Maidstone Crown Court. Judge Charles Macdonald QC directed the jury to return guilty verdicts on Wednesday when he finally admitted to his crimes. The case is still ongoing with Mosley's co-defendants, alleged to be his cold-calling team. Bradley Deadman, 23, and Lewis Hearson, 22, both from Tonbridge in Kent, deny four charges of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation. Maidstone Crown Court has heard Mosley cold-called customers on behalf of his company Optimum Fine Wine and cheated them out of portfolios or large amounts of cash. They had been promised profit in return for buying, swapping or selling wine through the company. But the clients, many of whom were elderly, received little or no money from sales of their own wine collections, and wine they bought or swapped never materialised, said prosecutor Dale Sullivan. Instead, director Mosley 'cut and run' and spent the money on high living. Mosley, Lewis Hearson (left) and Bradley Deadman (right) were all said to have used false names when dealing with clients He splashed about 100,000 at bars, restaurants and hotels and bought luxury goods and designer clothes. Mr Sullivan said Mosley also gambled just over 57,300 on spread betting, took a holiday in Dubai and gave his girlfriend 23,320. He paid himself 112,000 and sold a luxury Bentley car. Some customers lost entire wine portfolios after they were sold on by the company to wholesalers. One, aged 84, handed over 205,460 for wine to be purchased and then held in warehouse storage at London City Bond, but none was bought and no money was refunded. Mosley cold-called customers on behalf of his company Optimum Fine Wine and cheated them out of portfolios or large amounts of cash Brian Snipe, 83, was another of the customers who has since died. The court heard in June 2013 he was sent a brochure and agreed to sell his portfolio of wine held at the London City Bond to Optimum Fine Wine for 33,987. Mr Snipe also agreed to purchase wine from them for 19,740. However, the prosecutor said no wine was ever received by Mr Snipe, nor a payment for the difference between what he sold and bought. Another who agreed to swap his collection with others through the company transferred more than 56,000 in wine, but only two cases were delivered to his account and he lost just over 49,000. Fifteen customers were duped by the company between September 2012 and May 2014, losing a total of 436,792. Two of Mosley's victims died before the start of his trial. Optimum Fine Wine was set up in September 2012 by Mosley helped by a 61,000 loan from his parents Jane and Alan Mosley. This is the selfie that helped a New York private gumshoe with a most remarkable eye for detail track down a glamorous Russian woman fleeing a gruesome murder charge in her home country. Viktoria Nasyrova, 41, was ordered held without bail on Tuesday in New York on fresh charges that she swiped and pawned a male victim's rings, a necklace and a money clip worth more than $50,000 under the alias 'Rachel Bergman,' plus another man's Rolex, according to court filings. Her arrest came after over two years on the run - brought down by her love of Facebook and the relentless efforts of a private detective, who now reveals to DailyMail.com how he tracked down the suspected killer. After being contacted by the daughter of Nasyrova's alleged victim, private detective Herman Weisberg scrutinized a Facebook page associated with the fugitive for any information that would pin down the fugitive's location in Sheepshead Bay, the Russian immigrant enclave in Brooklyn where she was believed to be hiding out. 'I have insomnia, so I stared at each picture sitting there with my laptop in the middle of the night,' Weisberg told DailyMail.com on Thursday. 'You're looking for any little detail the person didn't intend to include in the picture.' The eagle-eyed detective spotted one photo with several clues: the exposed corner of a car passenger seat and the dashboard reflected in Nasyrova's mirrored Ray-Bans. Can you spot the clues? This is the Facebook selfie that led to Viktoria Nasyrova's apprehension. A private detective used it to track down the Russian fugitive in Brooklyn The private detective noticed the stitching on the car seat (enlarged left), and incredibly was able to trace the make and model from the stitching pattern - a Chrysler 300 (pictured right). He then had a surveillance team search the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood for the vehicle, and found it The reflection in Nasyrova's mirrored Ray-Bans also shows the distinctive dashboard console of the Chrysler 300 Nasyrova is pictured next to a white Chrysler 300 in surveillance photos shot by Weisberg's team. The private detective searched Sheepshead bay for Chrysler 300, and found a white 2015 model year like this one. A stakeout led the detective to her apartment, and he alerted cops Nasyrova's latest charges are connected to an alleged scheme to drug and rob 'dates' she met online, say police sources, though the fugitive claimed to investigators that some of the expensive items were gifts from men she'd dated, and others she'd pawned on behalf of her 'undocumented' roommate. The woman is wanted in Russia in the brutal 2014 slaying of a woman, 54, whose remains were found burned and buried two miles from her home in Krasnodar. Weisberg pored over Nasyrova's secret Facebook profile and identified the car she was driving from the seat stitching She fled to America and began a new life as masseuse with 'experience in upscale spas and beauty salons,' according to an ad for 'quality massage at home' she posted shortly after arriving in New York. But when the horrified daughter of her alleged murder victim learned that the wanted Russian beauty was living somewhere not far from her in Brooklyn, she turned to Weisberg, a managing director for the Sage Intelligence Group, to track Nasyrova down. 'A Good Samaritan who knew the daughter of the murdered Russian woman got in touch with me and told me the story,' Weisberg said. 'She offered to pay whatever cost for me to track her down and bring her to justice.' The intrepid detective discovered that Nasyrova was still regularly using Facebook under a different name, and found her secret profile. After spotting the car seat stitching, Weisberg started glancing through the windows whenever he passed a parked car, until he thought he'd narrowed down the make and model. Further internet research revealed the car in the selfie to be a Chrysler 300. It only took a few hours of driving around Sheepshead Bay to find a white 2015 Chrysler 300, and a registration check tied the vehicle to a man believed to be Nasyrova's sometimes boyfriend. The white Chrysler 300 was found to be registered to Nasyrova's on-again, off-again boyfriend, pictured alone left and right purchasing a 50-inch TV with Nasyrova Nasyrova fled to America and began a new life as masseuse with 'experience in upscale spas and beauty salons,' according to an ad for 'quality massage at home' she posted shortly after arriving in New York Another surveillance shot shows Nasyrova after a private detective tracked the woman down in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn Nasyrova's Brooklyn apartment block is shown. Weisberg was able to track her down after identifying her car by the seat stitching in a Facebook photo 'I had a general idea of where she was confortable, which was Sheepshead Bay,' said Weisberg. Though the background in this photo is obscured, Nasyrova's mirrored Ray-Bans seem to reflect the window from her Brooklyn apartment Weisberg's surveillance team staked out the car, and soon spotted a woman who was POSSIBLY Nasyrova. There was just one problem, said Weisberg: 'She's about twice as large as she appears in those pictures' from Facebook. Ultimately, it was the high-end shoes, sunglasses, and fur coats that Weisberg recognized from Facebook that allowed him to positively ID Nasyrova and call her address in to the NYPD detectives who had an open warrant for her arrest. 'Her love of fashion definitely helped us,' said Weisberg. 'If this case was done in the summertime we would have had a much tougher time.' 'Whats incredible is that Nasyrova wasn't living like she was on the lam we pictured her out shopping for a 50-inch widescreen TV,' said Weisberg. 'We think she was empowered by her previous arrest for shoplifting, which didnt pick up the fact she wanted by Interpol for this murder.' Nasyrova was arrested in New York in May of 2016 for stealing two furs worth $532 from a Century 21, but wasn't flagged as an international fugitive at the time. 'It would have made her feel like she had slipped the net,' said Weisberg. 'Not now.' Nasyrova was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice seeking her arrest, but cops in New York were able to bust the fugitive on unrelated charges, as Russia has no extradition treaty with US Murder victim: Alla Alekseenko, 54, disappeared on October 5, 2014 in Krasnodar, Russia. This missing person notice was put out after Alekseenko disappeared. The woman's badly burned remains were found months later in a remote wooded area. Murder victim Alla Alekseenko (right) is seen with her daughter Nadezda Ford. Ford was horrified to learn that the suspect in the murder, Viktoria Nasyrova, had fled Russia and was living within miles of her in Brooklyn after the 2014 crime Russian traffic camera footage obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com appears to show murder victim Alla Alekseenko lying unnaturally in the seat of Nasyrova's car on the day she disappeared in 2014 Nasyrova had been on the run since a woman went missing in Russia in 2014. The murder victim's daughter, Nadezda Ford, said she got a text message purporting to be from her missing mother shortly her mother's disappearance, saying 'Sweetie, dont worry about me, Ill notify you about where I am soon enough.' But the message came after traffic camera footage appeared to show her mother dead in Nasyrova's passenger seat on the day she disappeared, October 5, 2014. Alla Alekseenko's body was only found months later, badly burned and reduced to a skull and a few bones identifiable only through dental records. Investigators found $17,000 in cash and jewelry missing from the dead woman's home. The wanted woman is said to have eluded Russian investigators after having sex with a local police officer. By November of 2014, Nasyrova had slipped out of Russia. Desperate investigators put out an Interpol Red Notice seeking her arrest. By November of 2014, Nasyrova was living in Brooklyn - just miles from her alleged murder vitim's daughter. Desperate investigators had put out an Interpol Red Notice seeking her arrest Nasyrova was arrested on Monday at the Brooklyn home she shared with her boyfriend, on suspicion of drugging and robbing three men she met on dating sites Nasyrova slipped off the hook when she was arrested in May of 2016 for the theft of two furs, but cops apparently didn't fingerprint her and realize she had an Interpol Red Notice On top of the Russia murder, Nasyrova was also wanted by the NYPD on suspicion of drugging and robbing at least three men she met via a New York dating website. NYPD Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce said: 'She's a con artist who meets people online through a dating site and then drugs them at some point, and takes their property from them and flees'. She was arrested by the NYPD Warrant Squad on an open warrant for the alleged seduction robberies after Weisberg alerted investigators to her location, since Russia doesn't have an extradition treaty with the U.S. 'She embarked on a life of crime here, and we don't have the whole story yet. We only have bits and pieces', Boyce added. Police say they have another possible case fitting the drugging and theft pattern in Queens, with the victim in that case an older woman. Anyone who has had contact with Viktoria Nasyrova, aka 'Rachel Bergman', is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS. A former bikie boss has fled Australia fearing his visa would be revoked and he would be sent to a detention centre - and it is unlikely he will ever be allowed back. Italian-born Vince Focarelli flew from Adelaide to Melbourne before getting on an international flight bound for Italy on Thursday night. The former Comancheros leader, who became a devout Muslim risked having his visa cancelled because of his 'criminal activity' but left the country before his adjudication process was to begin, the Advertiser reported. Scroll down for video Former bikie boss Vince Focarelli has fled Australia rather than risk being held in a detention centre, boarding a flight to Italy Focarelli had until April 3 to submit why he should be allowed to remain in the country to the Immigration Department but fled before a hearing could be heard, making his return unlikely Focarelli was issued a notice by the Immigration Department, intending to cancel his visa on character grounds, in February. He was given until April 3 to submit to the department why he should be allowed to remain in the country, but Focarelli fled before his submission could be made making the chances for his return, slim. 'They have the law, the legislation to abide by but if I stick around and wait for them, chances are I'll be held in a detention centre,' Focarelli told 9 News. 'I and everyone else both know that the underworld and the criminal element of my life back then is finished. 'I have nothing to sort out and there is nothing to sort out with me.' Focarelli, who survived six assassination attempts at the hands of gangland rivals, has repeatedly stated his criminal past wast behind him, announcing he had embraced Islam and become a Muslim last year. Focarelli spent several years as a bikie member and survived six attempts on his life Focarelli and his wife closed their Adelaide halal restaurant La'Fig Cucina on Sunday Focarelli held a farewell party before he fled to Italy on Sunday - the same day he shut his inner-city halal restaurant La'Fig Cucina, which is now on the market. He told 9 News that he was hopeful his visa situation would be fixed as he spent time in his native Italy. 'Once I settle down, wherever it may be, my wife and her daughter will come along,' Focarelli said. 'My lawyers are still working around the clock,' the former bikie said. Yet the Federal Government has cancelled more than 1000 foreign nationals under 'character grounds' - including 138 members of bikie gangs, under Section 501 of the Migration Act, the Advertiser reports. If Focareeli is deemed to have been 'invovled in criminal conduct', Immigration Minister Peter Dutton will have the the power to revoke his Australian visa. A romantic Norwegian guy has gone out on a limb to get back in touch with a young woman he met in Bondi on Thursday. The man was taken by the woman who met while crossing Old South Head Road in the popular beach side suburb of Sydney. But he seemingly missed an opportunity to get the woman's number in person so posted a hand written note on the traffic pole next to the road where they met. A 'Norwegian guy' has made a sign after meeting a Brazilian girl on a busy street corner in Bondi on Thursday 'Seeking Brazilian girl with ankle tattoo, met here on Thursday 23rd, message me,' the man wrote (file image) 'Seeking Brazilian girl with ankle tattoo, met here on Thursday 23rd, message me,' the man wrote. He scrawled down his mobile number before signing off with 'Norwegian guy'. Just hours after the note was fixed to the pole - with fluro yellow tape so it couldn't be missed someone had posted it online. 'We all know that Brazilians are the best but what is this,' the post on a Bondi group read. The romantic gesture received reactions online from more than 500 people in less than five hours. Comments ranged from supportive to comical. 'The difference between whether this is romantic or stalking lies with how good looking the bloke is,' Ron Berg said. The man was taken by the woman who met while crossing Old South Head Road in the popular beach side suburb of Bondi (file image of Bondi beach) 'I hope she has watched Vikings for some background research,' David Nolan added. 'That must be a pretty cool ankle tattoo if he's that desperate to see it again,' Jase Sun said. While others wished the man well. 'That is fantastic.. hope he gets lots of Brazilians with ankle tattoos messaging him.' Daily Mail Australia have contacted the mystery Norwegian man for comment. The White House issued a blunt warning to House Republicans Thursday night, telling them to vote on an Obamacare replacement on Friday or risk squandering their only chance to get rid of the law they have voted more than 50 times to repeal. The White House dispatched chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, chief counselor Kellyanne Conway and budget director Mick Mulvaney to meet with Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP members of Congress Thursday evening. Mulvaney delivered a blunt warning to the GOP conference: Vote on the American Health Care Act or Trump will leave them twisting, Obamacare will remain the law of the land, and they'll be stuck with the blame. CHECK IF YOUR PARKING BRAKE'S STILL ON: House leaders yanked President Trump's top agenda item, an Obamacare repeal and replacement, off the floor schedule for Thursday after a White House meeting and concessions to conservatives failed to deliver support with dozens of conservatives still opposed ENFORCERS: White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus walked to a meeting of the House Republican caucus at the Capitol ART OF THE TWEET: Trump urged his fellow Republicans to '#PassTheBill' on Twitter after his senior staff delivered a sterner message in person ALTERNATIVE VOTE: Conway scurries away from a meeting at the Capitol on Thursday night with House Republicans The warning from the opposite end of Pennsylvania Avenue jibed with a statement from White House press secretary Sean Spicer earlier this week that there would be no 'Plan B.' Spicer said hours later on the Fox News Channel that Trump is 'going to get' the vote he wants. 'At the end of the day, this is the only train leaving the station that's going to be repealing Obamacare and giving us an alternative to replace it,' he told 'O'Reilly Factor' fill-in host Eric Bolling. 'This is the train that's leaving the station. This is the choice that we've been waiting for. This is the pledge that people made to the American people.' Minutes after Spicer signed off, the president tweeted: 'Disastrous #Obamacare has led to higher costs & fewer options. It will only continue to get worse! We must #RepealANDReplace. #PassTheBill.' 'Burn the ships,' a House Republican lawmaker told House majority whip Steve Scalise after Mulvaney delivered his message. 'Only way to do it,' Scalise replied, referencing the brutal contest of Mexico by conquistador Hernan Cortes. Abandoning further repeal efforts would put Trump in the position of leaving in place a health system he has described as a 'disaster' in mid-collapse after making dozens of campaign vows to tear it apart. CONFIDENT: Asked on Fox News about Trump's demand for a vote, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that 'he's going to get it' THROWING DOWN THE GAUNTLET: 'At the end of the day, this is the only train leaving the station that's going to be repealing Obamacare and giving us an alternative to replace it,' Spicer told host Eric Bolling 'I think this is it,' Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told DailyMail.com. 'I mean there comes the time that you take the tide or you don't, and this is it ... I think our guys are ready,' and we're going to get it done,' he said. 'Were going to vote and well see,' Bannon told reporters after the GOP conference meeting. 'Let's vote.' House Republicans also have been promising a repeal for years, voting repeatedly on futile measures that met President Barack Obama's veto pen. The president has told friends he regretted taking Speaker Paul Ryan's advice to make health care the first big legislative push, the New York Times reported. To placate conservative Freedom Caucus members, the leadership accepted a demand that the bill that comes to the floor eliminate a list of 'essential benefits' that insurance companies must cover. The change appeared to win over or at least entice some members. 'I'm saying that the amendment has had a major impact on me,' Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) said, before changing his language to 'profoundly significant.' 'I'm working on it,' Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) said. Not everyone believed Trump could deliver on his threat. 'My experience has been the big issues don't go away, and this is an awfully big issue,' said Sanford. Asked if the bill failed it would leave no other opportunity, Rep. Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.) said, 'I don't think that at all.' He has said he would oppose the bill, but that 'everyone should vote their conscience.' The challenge for GOP leaders is that changes made to bring in holdout conservatives had the potential to alienate more moderate members. 'I a no. It's a two letter word. N-o,' said Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.). MEDIA WATCH: Reporters gathered outside Paul Ryan's office at the US Capitol are seen checking their phones as they wait for updates FEELING THE STRAIN: Mick Mulvaney leave a meeting of the House Republican caucus at the U.S. Capitol March 23, 2017 Asked if he was for it, Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) responded, 'We'll have to see.' A provision to soften the blow for moderates would provide $15 billion for a 'stability fund' to cover mental health, substance abuse, and child and maternal care. An Obamacare's tax on high income earners of 0.9 per cent would stay in place for another six years to fund it. House Speaker Paul Ryan was meeting with Appropriations Committee members late into the evening Thursday amid the push to shore up the vote. But a crucial vote was postponed on Thursday because conservative members of Congress members of the House Freedom Caucus refused to make a deal with Trump. The embarrassing setback had the potential to deal a blow to President Trump's overall legislative agenda. Mulvaney issued the stern warning to Republicans as they met in the basement of the Capitol. 'The president has said he wants a vote tomorrow, up or down,' said Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.). 'If for any reason it is down, we are just going to move forward with additional parts of his agenda.' 'Its not just this bill thats the issue. The issue is whether Trump can be a successful president,' California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told DailyMail.com. The House Rules Committee is set to meet early Friday, setting up a morning vote on a procedure and an afternoon vote on the Obamacare repeal and replacement. GRIDLOCK: Parked cars surround the U.S. Capitol as the lights burn into the evening on the House of Representives side of the building HIGH-STAKES: Budget chief Mick Mulvaney (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (R) walked to a meeting with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Mulvaney told the House to vote Friday or President Trump is prepared to leave Obamacare in place The voting had been due to start at 4:00 p.m. Thursday but was pushed back to an unknown time as the Freedom Caucus of conservative Republicans failed to be won over by last-minute changes offered by the White House. But it wasn't immediately clear that they even had a deal to pitch to the Republican conference at a Thursday night meeting. New Mexico GOP Rep. Steve Pearce, who sat in on the meeting, said the message from the White House was 'Well stand back you all go back and work it out. In other words theyre not in legislation, they just say work it out.' Asked about Bannon's role, he told DailyMail.com: 'It didnt play. It wasnt an issue up or down. He was a listener.' After a separate two-hour meeting one lawmaker described as 'rigorous' Thursday afternoon, the conservative Freedom Caucus members emerged with no clear agreement on a bill that could somehow unify conservative and more moderate Republicans. 'With no policy changes Im a no,' said North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, who heads the conservative faction, speaking in the afternoon, as the final deal was coming together. 'At this point we are trying to get another 30 to 40 votes that are currently in the no category to yes,' he said. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO FEEL THE POWER: President Donald Trump sits in the drivers' seat of a Mack Truck as he welcomes truckers and CEOs to the White House for a listening session on health care I CALL SHOTGUN: President Trump met with truckers just as the health care deal was falling apart TAKE A HARD RIGHT FOLLOWED BY A U-TURN: President Donald Trump climbs out of a Mack Truck as he welcomes truckers and CEOs to the White House for a listening session on health care 'We believe that some of the text and some of the things were being asked to consider at this point are not in enough of a form to make a good informed decision,' he added. He said of the latest version of the legislation: 'Does it actually lower premiums for the people that we serve?' The conservative faction is basically telling Trump that his current plan is too close to Obamacare and that they will vote it down unless or until he changes it to make it less liberal. The House GOP conference met Thursday night to hash out the issue, with a possible vote on Friday and some lawmakers even predicting President Trump's top priority gets kicked over to next week. Rohrabacher, the California lawmaker who supports the bill, said beforehand: 'People that are against it know this. If Trump pulls it off, hes going to be seen as someone who they really have to respect his agenda requests. If he doesnt pull it off, they also know this: that he will be severely hurt in his efforts to do these other things that we want him to do.' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his colleagues that a vote might not even be held in the House before Monday. The confusion left the White House looking badly exposed. At precisely the time the vote was being canceled, Trump was boasting he could get the vote passed on Thursday. Speaking as he met truckers - having posed in the cab of a big rig outside the White House - Trump claimed a vote was going ahead. Leading the rebellion: Mark Meadows, chairman of the Freedom Caucus, had voiced confidence in a deal which would lead to a Thursday vote but then reversed himself Closed door talks: Members of the House Freedom Caucus met in private session to hammer out the fate of the healthcare bill with the immediate effect of postponing the vote Not in the bag: Paul Ryan had no choice but to call off the vote on Thursday afternoon as his conservative wing declined to get behind the bill 'Today the House is voting to repeal and replace the disaster known as Obamacare. We'll see what happens,' he said. He added: 'We're going to have a long talk, and I'm not gonna make it too long because I have to get votes. 'I don't want to spend too much time with you, and then lose, and then lose by one vote. Then I'm going to blame the truckers,' he said to laughs. 'But we're going to talk for a little while and then I'm going to go back to business.' DID HE KNOW THE VOTE WAS OFF? The President claimed he was working for votes on Thursday as he met truckers - even though the GOP had already canceled the vote. 'Today the House is voting to repeal and replace the disaster known as Obamacare. We'll see what happens,' he said. 'We're going to have a long talk, and I'm not gonna make it too long because I have to get votes.' Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said after the meeting that the House calls votes, not the White House. 'As soon as we knew, he knew,' she said. Advertisement His spokesman Sean Spicer had also claimed there was no reason to think the vote would be canceled. 'Nothing leads me to believe that's the case,' Spicer declared at his daily briefing - only to be proven wrong less than two hours later. 'I think the president has been magnificent in the way that he has brought all the different groups, all the different factions,' said Idaho GOP Rep. Raul Labrador. 'I think hes actually negotiating in good faith,' he added. He wasn't so kind to House GOP leaders. 'Two or three weeks ago our leadership said we need to work with the moderates because we know that the conservatives are just going to fall in line. Well I guess they learned too late that thats not the way to negotiate. So maybe they will learn something from what happened today,' he griped. With the vote fast approaching, the president has been working the phones and putting his vaunted deal-making skills to the test in face-to-face meetings with skeptical House members. Spicer had told reporters on Thursday afternoon that Trump was changing mind after mind - 'There are members that had not been with us that are expressing their willingness to want to be part of this.' 'We walked out with more members in support of the American Health Care Act today than we started the day with, and I continue to see that number climb hour by hour. And I anticipate that we will get there,' he stated. Later he made a bold prediction about the bill that would come back to haunt him. 'It's going to pass. So that's it,' he stated in a rebuttal to a reporter asking him about 'plan B'. The president's spokesman had projected confidence, even while Trump's flurried schedule indicated Republicans did not have the votes they needed to pass the Obamacare replacement bill. Trump made a final play this morning to win over conservative lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus. He unexpectedly sat down with another group of conservatives known at the 'Tuesday group' early in the evening. Trump went over changes to the legislation with the Freedom Caucus, Spicer said. 'I think there are some members who in the meeting stood up and said, "I'm with you now",' the spokesman claimed. 'And I think member by member, thats how theyre going to vote. I think weve continued to see that number rise.' He would not say who had changed their vote and why. His statement appeared to be disproven shortly after. The president's spokesman projected - apparently misguided - confidence while Trump's flurried schedule indicated Republicans do not have the votes they need to pass the Obamacare replacement bill Adding to the chaos was the Congressional Budget Office. The non-partisan agency released a score for the latest version of the health bill, showing substantially less deficit reduction and still millions who would become uninsured. The bill would reduce the deficit by $150 billion over 10 years, the Hill reported, significantly below the $337 billion in the original bill. Like an earlier version, it would result in 24 million more people being uninsured in 2026. Premiums would rise by between 15 and 20 percent, eventually dropping by 10 percent, according to the CBO. In spite of the White House's claims, GOP lawmakers were off telling reporters they didn't think the vote would come today. 'It will fail...I don't think there can be a vote tonight because they don't have the votes,' GOP Rep. Justin Amash said on Capitol Hill. According to The Hill, Congressman Phil Roe told reporters after a meeting with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, 'It didn't look like today was going to be when we're going to vote.' GOP leaders were short as many as 40 votes at dinnertime Thursday as they prepared to meet with the entire 237-member caucus. Republicans can only afford to lose 21 of them and have the bill pass. They need 216 votes instead of the regular 218 because of several vacant seats in the House. CNN reported Thursday that the White House offered to remove 'essential health benefits' that insurers are required to offer from the bill to earn conservative support. 'We are very hopeful we can get this done,' Congressman Mark Meadows, chair of the Freedom Caucus, had said of a deal on Wednesday night. 'I think we have a vote tomorrow and itll be voted up or down,' he said. 'Some of the provisions in here do not lower health care costs enough, certainly for my constituents,' he added. 'Im desperately trying to get to yes. I think the president knows that. I told him that personally,' said Meadows. The move on essential benefits may appease conservatives, but it could cost the GOP votes from moderates, and legislators in the Senate down the line. Maternity leave is defined as an essential benefit, as is newborn care and pediatric care. Hospitalization and emergency care, mental health and substance abuse services are also counted as essential services. Part of the reason that Obamacare has 'spiked out of control' Spicer said is because insurers are required to provide so many services to every patient, including some they may not need. 'For a lot of these guys it really comes down to premium increases. Theyre very concerned about what theyre seeing their constituents face,' Spicer said at his Thursday briefing. The White House official said the president, his chief of staff, the vice president, the health and human services secretary, the Office of Management and Budget director and the White House legislative affairs team are working continuing with legislators on measures to drive down costs. Many lawmakers were tongue-tied when trying to explain their positions. 'Where am I on the bill? Right now Im in the [House] Rayburn building on the second floor. I really cant comment,' quipped Texas Rep. Joe Barton. 'They offered one very substantive change in my mind. The inclusion of the essential health benefit,' he told DailyMail.com. But he refused to get pinned down by reporters. 'I cant comment on that. I cant right at this moment. I just spent two hours in this meeting. Were all blood brothers, you know.' Trump has been struggling to bring on board GOP lawmakers who can secure the party's promise to 'repeal and replace' Obamacare in the Thursday vote. Paul Ryan is involved in trying to sway Republican lawmakers towards voting for the bill, but many oppose, saying it doesn't sufficiently destroy enough of Obamacare The president called individual members of the Freedom Caucus, which has panned the plan as 'Obamacare Lite,' to scout votes. He was on the phone with lawmakers late into Wednesday evening, his spokesman said, churning out calls past 11 pm. Some naysayers received phone calls from administration officials lasting 30-45-minutes. Ryan has been texting others. He held a meeting with moderate Republicans on Wednesday hoping to sway them to his side. It ended with most participants - himself included - leaving through side exits. None of those who left through the front door spoke to media,CNN reported. Whips Steve Scalise and Patrick McHenry were targeting individual members of the Freedom Caucus, hoping to break them off from the larger mass. Trump - who had been largely uninterested in, or ignorant of, the details of his Obamacare replacement, one lawmaker told CNN - is now energized by the prospect of making new deals. In some cases, his intervention appears to have worked. Rep. Lou Barletta, a Republican, said Wednesday he would vote for the bill after Trump agreed to support his legislation to deny health credits to illegal immigrants. Congressman Richard Hudson, a Republican in favor of Trump's bill, said that GOP Rep. Steve King agreed to vote once Trump said he would personally push the Senate to change the essential health benefits at some point in the future. 'They shook hands,' Hudson said. 'We are voting tomorrow, no matter what, but I feel like we'll have the votes.' The president Wednesday morning that he was 'working hard' to get the votes his party needs. He has been speaking directly to lawmakers, and is energized by the deal-making, an aide said Press Secretary Sean Spicer warned in his daily briefing Wednesday that the GOP would not have another chance to repeal and replace the existing health law. 'There is no Plan B. There is Plan A and Plan A,' he proclaimed, later saying: 'This is the only train leaving the station.' The train was still parked at the station on Thursday as go time approached. Congressman McHenry told a group of reporters who happened upon him while they were waiting for the president on Wednesday that he and other Republican legislators were on the premises to work through a 'myriad' of concerns about the bill with the White House. McHenry said he was 'bringing them to the closer,'the nickname Republicans on the Hill have given Trump. The White House and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill are promising conservatives their wish list in the third 'prong' of their three-part plan to repeal and replace the existing health law. But Rand Paul said Wednesday in an MSNBC interview, also during Morning Joe, that those legislative actions are 'never gonna happen.' The Kentucky senator and licensed medical professional has been one of the most vocal critics of the House health bill, working with conservatives in the lower chamber to help thwart it so a new plan that gets to the heart of what Republicans really want can be developed. On MSNBC, Paul said he considered the talks the White House and legislators are currently having the 'pre-negotiation phase.' Trump's press secretary, Sean Spicer, said that the party had 'no Plan B' if the Republican Party failed to push through the new bill He predicted that House Speaker Paul Ryan will have to pull the current bill before the Thursday vote because it cannot pass. 'Then the real negotiation begins. That's what we're ready for,' he said. Paul said later in the program, 'I read the Art of the Deal, and the deal's not done until the deal is done.' Asked Wednesday if he would keep trying to get a health care reform bill passed if the one fails that's on the table, Trump quietly told reporters, 'We'll see what happens.' His press secretary refused to consider a scenario in which additional maneuvering would be necessary. 'We're going to get it done. That's it - plain and simple,' he told reporters during his afternoon briefing. Pressed to outline potential next steps, Spicer was resolute in his position. 'Were going to repeal and replace it tomorrow, move it through the Senate, and the President will sign the bill,' he said. 'We continue to see the enthusiasm and momentum coming to our direction. So Im not looking, as I mentioned, were not looking at a Plan B. We have Plan A, its going to pass, and were going to go from there.' Rugby league great Wally Lewis has caused outrage after making a crude joke about a sex act during a segment on the Footy Show with Jillaroos star Allana Ferguson. The former Origin star was paired with the female league player during the show's Joking Off segment - a piece where each contestant tries to make the other laugh. 'I'm going to do the next one with no teeth,' Ferguson joked as she prepared to read out a humorous phrase written on a card. 'It always feels better that way,' Lewis shot back smugly as the crowd recoiled in shock. Rugby league great Wally Lewis has caused outrage after making a crude joke about a sex act during a segment on the Footy Show with Jillaroos star Allana Ferguson 'It feels better that way,' Lewis joked when Ferguson said she would read 'without teeth' The camera panned to the audience, who feigned offence before applauding loudly, and then landed on host Erin Molan's horrified face. Sitting beside her in stitches were fellow co-hosts Beau Ryan and Darryl Brohman. Ferguson shook her head in disbelief before continuing on with the segment. Offended viewers were quick to head to social media to dump criticism on Lewis. 'What a disgrace Wally Lewis @NRLFootyShow your show is at an all time low, #womeninleague clearly have respect of former players #pathetic,' wrote Emma. 'Haven't watched the footy show in ages and don't intend to but from what Wally Lewis said no wonder why the show has gone so far downhill,' added JR. 'Been >1.5 years since I last watched AFL #footyshow .. Think my next break might be a little longer,' wrote Paul. Host Erin Molan appeared horrified after Lewis delivered the contentious one-liner Co-hosts Beau Ryan and Darryl Brohman could hardly contain their amusement Others were less critical of Lewis' off-handed joke and were quick to defend the league immortal online. '(The Footy Show is) so hard to watch. Thanks for some relief Wally,' wrote one man. 'Man that was too funny #footyshow #longlivetheking,' added another supporter. 'HAHAH King Wally Lewis always has the best one liners,' wrote Randy. A passenger jet has been grounded after a bird slammed into in mid-air causing damage to the nose of the plane. The Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London via Newark suffered a bird strike, forcing the airline to cancel its return journey from Heathrow. The bird slammed into the plane and dented the nose and the radar antenna. The Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London via Newark suffered a bird hit, forcing the airline to cancel its onward journey from Heathrow. The bird dented the plane's nose The plane landed at 10.39am yesterday but the airline was forced to cancel the next leg of the return flight to Ahmedabad in Gujarat while repairs were carried out. Following the incident a picture emerged of the damage to the front of the plane. Of the 230 passengers on board flying to Newark, 50 were put on another flight. Aviation expert Adrian Gjertsen told MailOnline that such incidents are fairly common. He said: 'They are a sufficiently common occurence known as bird strikes. 'When they hit the nose it can shatter the nose dome and birds can even damage the edge of the wings if they hit the wrong spot. 'A worst case scenario would be a large bird, like a Canada Goose, slamming into the engines - that can cause serious damage.' He added that most airports have departments with bird scaring devices because such incidents are most likely to take place at an airport. Mom on trial: A trial has begun in the case Rachel Kinsella, 36, who is charged with first-degree assault and child endangerment for allegedly poisoning her epileptic son A trial has begun in the case of a mother from suburban St Louis accused of repeatedly and deliberately poisoning her 9-year-old special-needs son. Opening arguments were presented on Tuesday in the trial of 36-year-old Rachel Kinsella, who is charged with first-degree assault and child endangerment. Prosecutor Shiela Whirley told jurors Kinsella put her son, Patrick, at 'death's door' by poisoning him for nearly a year. The boy survived. Investigators allege that Kinsella intentionally made her epileptic son sick by secretly giving him prescription medications he did not need at a home the two shared in Marlborough from March 2014 until the following January, when the state took Patrick away from her. Patrick has been living with his grandparents from the time of his mothers arrest in November 2015. Kinsella's defense attorney countered that the mere presence of medication in the boy's blood does not prove his client poisoned him, reported the St Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis County police investigator Kenneth Skala wrote in a probable-cause statement that the investigation started after doctors at St. Louis' Children's Hospital determined that the boy's symptoms were related to medications he should not have received. The investigation was launched in 2015 after doctors at St. Louis' Children's Hospital determined that the boy's symptoms were related to medications he should not have received Skala alleged that detectives found Kinsella, the child's only caretaker, 'surreptitiously' was having her son treated at two hospitals, getting anti-seizure medications at both. Kinsella was having her son treated by doctors both in St. Louis and at Children's Mercy of Kansas Cit and neither knew about the other. WHAT IS MUNCHAUSEN BY PROXY? Munchausen by proxy is a psychiatric disorder, which makes a parent purposely hurt their child to get attention for themselves. Signs of Munchausen by proxy can include: A child who often is hospitalized frequently with unexplained illness and then their condition improves when the parent is not with them 24/7 Other symptoms that do not equate the child's test results Symptoms that deteriorate at home but get better when the child is in hospital Siblings who also died under unexplained circumstances A parent who is a nurse or who has operated in the health care field Advertisement Kinsella told police she 'accidentally' gave her son the wrong medication on 'an occasion,' although medical experts say the type and amount of drugs found in the boy's system showed intentional poisoning, Skala wrote. In her opening remarks on Tuesday, Assistant Prosecutor Sheila Whirley said Kinsellas son Patrick spent nearly six months in the hospital and had more than 0 blood plasma transfusions and a half-dozen surgeries. He went from the brink of death to a healthy child, Whirley told jurors, reported the Post-Dispatch. Thats what he is today. The prosecutor noted that although Patrick still has epilepsy, he has not had a seizure since he was removed from Kinsellas home. The court also heard testimony from Dr Jamie Kondis who treated Patrick in St Louis Children's Hospital in January 2015. She described the child's state as 'almost comatose and said he was suffering from seizures, hallucinations and loss of coordination. Lab tests revealed that the boy had a cocktail of three different drugs that were not prescribed to him at the hospital. Kondis said Patrick's condition 'was most consistent with abuse.' Her version of events: Kinsella told police she 'accidentally' gave her ailing son the wrong medication on 'an occasion' Kinsella's attorney Gregory Smith said that his client did not poison her son and was doing her best to care for the child, who was born premature and was suffering from an array of health complications, including epilepsy, encephalitis, an autoimmune disease affecting his brain and a seizure disorder. Authorities have speculated that this could be a case of Munchausen by proxy, a psychological condition in which a mother makes her child sick in order to draw attention to herself. The prosecutor introduced another possible theory in her opening statement, suggesting that Kinsella may have been motivated by greed. Whirley said Patrick inherited $275,000 when his father died in 2012 and that money was being managed by the boy's aunt. By making the 9-year-old sick, the prosecutor argued, Kinsella was in position to siphon funds from the inheritance under the pretense that she needed to pay for his medical expenses. Were Patrick to pass away, Whirley said, his mother would be his likely heir. Kinsella's defense team has denied these allegations and the woman has staunchly maintained her innocence. An unrepentant Ravindra Gaikwad (pictured) admitted: 'I hit him 25 times with a slipper' An Indian MP has admitted hitting a flight attendant 25 times with his slipper during a row after he was given a seat in economy class. Ravindra Gaikwad, 56, who represents the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party, claimed the Air India employee insulted him on a flight from Pune to New Delhi. An unrepentant Mr Gaikwad, who refused to get off the plane for an hour after it landed, told the ANI news agency: 'I hit him 25 times with a slipper.' Gaikwad, who sits in India's lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, said he had a business class ticket but was put in an economy seat. After first complaining to an air hostess Gaikwad got into a heated argument with the senior flight attendant. Gaikwad said: 'He said "I will complain to (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi", so I hit him. Should I have to listen to this abuse?' Politicians from other political parties condemned Gaikwad's actions while a spokesman for Air India said they were investigating the incident. Gaikwad was elected in 2014 to represent Osmanabad in Maharashtra state in western India. Last year an Indian MP was arrested for alleging slapping an airline official at an airport in Andhra Pradesh after he and his family were prevented from boarding their flight because the gate had closed. An Alabama woman and her eight-year-old daughter were killed just 30 minutes apart in separate car accidents on the same highway. Julia Yates Patterson, 39, was killed in a head-on collision on Alabama Highway 117 in Valley Head on Tuesday. The mother was driving her Ford Explorer near her home at approximately 3pm when it collided with an oncoming vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene, while two people in the other vehicle were injured and taken to hospital. Julia Yates Patterson, 39, died in a head-on collision on an Alabama highway on Tuesday. Just 30 minutes later, her eight-year-old daughter Elizabeth was killed crossing a road About 30 minutes later, her daughter Elizabeth Patterson was crossing the highway a few miles down when she was hit by a car. The little girl had just returned home from school and had no idea her mother had been killed. Elizabeth, who was a student at Moon Lake School in Mentone, died instantly. She had just celebrated her eighth birthday at the weekend. Her father Kevin Patterson took to Facebook to mourn his little girl and her mother who he is believed to have recently separated from. Elizabeth had just returned home from school and had no idea her mother had been killed when she was fatally struck by a car crossing this section of the highway Elizabeth had just celebrated her eighth birthday at the weekend 'I can't believe this is real... I really don't know how to feel. Anybody who know me, knows how much I loved Elizabeth, she turned 8 years old on Saturday... And with all our issues, I was still deeply in love with Julie,' he wrote. 'Now all I can think about is what might have been for us and the most intelligent, thoughtful and loving little girl I have ever known... Tell me this is just a bad dream, please God!' Friends of the dad set up an online fundraising page to help cover funeral expense. Authorities are still investigating both crashes. A furious mother claims her 12-year-old daughter was shown graphic videos of Taliban executions in class. Laura Ingham was horrified when daughter Abigail Horne, 12, said her teacher had shown the footage of public floggings, a prisoner being shot in the head and a headless corpse during an English lesson. The students at Beckfoot Oakbank School in Keighley, Yorkshire, were shown a documentary about Pakistani female education campaigner Malala Yousafzai without warning of the graphic content. Laura Ingham said she was horrified when daughter Abigail Horne (pictured together) said her teacher forced her class to watch footage of public floggings, a prisoner being shot in the head and a headless corpse, during an English lesson Students at Beckfoot Oakbank School (pictured) in Keighley, Yorkshire were shown the documentary by a supply teacher When some of the students complained about the scenes in the 32-minute video, Ms Ingham claims the supply teacher told them to look at the wall or write a letter explaining why they did not want to watch. Nail technician Ms Ingham said: 'I felt sick to my stomach when she told me what they'd watched. 'I wanted to see what she watched. Part of me thought she'd exaggerated it, but she really wasn't, it was sickening. 'Everyone was playing hell in the class. She said that students in her class asked the teacher to turn it off but he told them to look at the wall or sit and write a letter saying why they didn't want to watch it. 'Abigail mentioned it to her grandma when she stayed over after school that night. 'I think she was worried about having English the following day and having to watch that awful video of people being whipped and shot.' Abigail Horne (pictured ) is a student at Beckfoot Oakbank School and said she was shown the graphic footage in an English class Beckfoot Oakbank's deputy head teacher Sarah Phillips said the incident was investigated and the member of staff involved no longer worked at the school. 'Although the topic is relevant and important for young people to be aware of, we regret that the students viewed such images,' she said. 'We take our responsibility to safeguard our students very seriously and have updated a number of procedures within the school to ensure that such a situation is not repeated.' Ms Ingham, 31, said she is still concerned about the content of the video shown to the class on March 9. She added: 'I understand that people have to learn about other cultures but I wouldn't have Abigail, who is quite a sheltered child for a 12-year-old, watching anything like that with me, never mind at school. 'She has spoken about it quite a lot. We are quite open, I wanted to know that she was OK.' The students at Beckfoot Oakbank School in Keighley, Yorkshire, were shown a documentary about Pakistani female education campaigner Malala Yousafzai (pictured) The supply teacher no longer works at Beckfoot Oakbank but Ms Ingham (pictured with her daughter) is concerned he will show the footage at other schools Although the supply teacher is no longer working at Beckfoot Oakbank, Ms Ingham said she is concerned he will show the footage at other schools. 'I wanted to make other parents to know - not all kids will go home and tell their parents,' she said. 'You want to protect your children.' The distressing footage shows a blindfolded prisoner being shot in the head at point-blank range, public floggings and a headless corpse lying on the floor. A Canadian school has come under fire for running a 'Women Studies' course, which teaches female pupils 'polite conversation' and 'dinner party etiquette'. The optional course at Eleanor Hall School in Clyde, Alberta, has been heavily criticized, with critics branding it 'unbelievably sexist' and 'profoundly offensive and disrespectful'. The course, which is based on a similar 'Girl Power' course offered at a nearby school, is designed to help female pupils 'navigate adolescence' with 'self-esteem intact'. An updated version of the syllabus had removed some of the most controversial references Subjects covered in the classes, which are being offered for the first time this year, include 'nail application skills' and 'how to enhance your style by using tips and tricks designed for your face and body shape'. A copy of the syllabus posted online by Pembina Hills Public Schools read: 'There is a field trip to visit the food and cosmetology classrooms at a local high school, where students 'will plan recipes, table settings, dinner music and review dinner party etiquette and polite conversation. 'The girls will spend the afternoon learning about nail care and application'. Twenty-five girls from grades six through to nine are enrolled in the course, which also includes lessons in the basics of web design, reproductive health, the role of women in history, and a look at how beauty is seen by the media and different cultures around the world. Critics branded the course 'unbelievably sexist' and 'profoundly offensive and disrespectful' The school district has faced a fierce backlash after sharing the syllabus online The school district has faced a fierce backlash after sharing the syllabus, with one critic branding the course a 'sort of neo-1950s etiquette class'. Commenting on Facebook, Meg Fenway said: 'This is a joke right? You're getting a leg up on April Fool's right? 'This is profoundly offensive and disrespectful... There is nothing wrong with women being interested in those things but to boil down those classes under the banner of women's studies is disgusting. You should honestly be ashamed.' And Siobhan Bryn wrote: 'This is unbelievably sexist. Women's studies is not fashion and putting on a lunch. 'Was this designed in the 50's? Can you get someone who knows about women's studies to design this course please, it is a huge disservice to your students.' While Megan Arndt added: 'It's a real life lesson in time travel.' School officials have said they will review the course. An updated version of the syllabus has since been posted online, taking out references to 'polite conversation' and 'dinner party etiquette'. The optional course at Eleanor Hall School in Clyde, Alberta, has been heavily criticized Acting superintendent David Garbutt at the Pembina Hills School Division said that the school had not intended to stereotype female pupils. 'I know the way it come across it looks like we're supporting stereotyping girls, but what I'm trying to get out after the fact is that's not what we're about. We do not have that intent,' he said. 'We want to do the best by our kids. We want them to have a positive image and build self-esteem we want them to analyse things critically.' However, he admitted that 'maybe (the teachers) didn't hit the mark' when planning the field trip, and said future trips may also include visits to the welding, mechanics or construction labs. 'I think it needs some attention and some tweaking. The people who are offering constructive criticism - we're certainly listening', he added. A 41-year-old Texas mother is facing murder charges after she shot her husband dead at his job during a confrontation about his alleged infidelity. Shazetta Jackson-Pickett from Glenn Heights, drove to her husband Chester Pickett's job on the 3800 block of West Ledbetter Drive in the Dallas suburb of Red Bird, armed with a gun on Friday morning. The woman had planned to meet with Pickett to discuss their 'ongoing' marital problems, an affidavit states. Shazetta Jackson-Pickett (left) 41, fatally shot her husband Chester Pickett (right), 37, after accusing him of cheating during a dispute on Friday Upon her arrival, Jackson-Pickett found another woman had been visiting the 37-year-old which sparked an argument about her spouse's infidelity, Dallas News reported. The woman remained in her car and pulled out a gun threatening to kill herself, but then turned the weapon on her husband after she heard him talking on the phone about her, documents state. Jackson-Pickett shut her eyes and fired at her husband before exiting the vehicle to see what she had done. Jackson-Pickett, pictured with her family, threatened to kill herself before turning the gun on her husband. A GoFundMe page created by her daughter, alleges the mother was a victim of domestic abuse Pickett (left) had been married to Shazetta for 20 years. The woman confessed to the shooting to detectives After the shooting she left the scene and called two family members and admitted to shooting Pickett. According to court documents, the woman said she wanted to kill herself. Jackson-Pickett turned herself in after officers persuaded her and she confessed to detectives, the news station reported. Pickett's funeral will take place at Bethel Temple Pentecostal Church in Dallas on Friday. A GoFundMe account created by Shazetta Jackson-Pickett's daughter alleges the mother had been a long-term victim of domestic abuse and called the shooting an accident. The couple had been married for 20 years. Thrill-seeking mountain-bikers went for a hair-raising ride in an abandoned mine shaft - just to avoid the rain. The French bikers can be seen hurtling through the tunnel at alarming speed in a clip shared online. And why did they attempt such a dangerous feat? Well, one of the bikers, Kilian Bron, explained it was a clever way to avoid the miserable weather. When persuading his friend to join him for a ride in Colorado Provencal, a national park in France, he told him not to worry about the forecast rain. Equipped with helmet-lights and a GoPro the bikers set off to capture some amazing biking footage. The French bikers can be seen hurtling through the tunnel at alarming speed Equipped with helmet-lights and a GoPro the bikers set off to capture some amazing biking footage One of the bikers, Maxime Peythieu, said: 'It is not common to spend half a day in an old mine, still less with a bike so it was rather fun. He added that even with their powerful lights they were in 'the most intense I have ever seen!' Kilian shared the clip on his Facebook page. One of the bikers, Maxime Peythieu, said: 'It is not common to spend half a day in an old mine, still less with a bike so it was rather fun' The residents of London are not impressed with Donald Trump Jr.'s criticism of their mayor in the wake of the terror attack that shook the city on Wednesday, and have taken to Twitter to slam President Trump's son. 'You use a terrorist attack on our city to attack London's Mayor for your own political gain. You're a disgrace,' wrote British Labour MP Wes Streeting. Mayor Sadiq Khan was also asked to respond to Don Jr's comments on Thursday morning during an interview with CNN, and said: 'I'm not going to respond to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr. I've been doing far more important things over the past 24 hours.' Four people were killed and 40 more injured on Wednesday when lone-wolf attacker Khalid Masood drove his car through crowds on Westminster Bridge before crashing into the parliament building and fatally stabbing an unarmed officer. Masood was then shot dead. Scroll down for video Smug as a bug: London residents are attacking Donald Trump Jr. (above with brother Eric at the White House in january) for his criticism of their mayor on Wednesday just two hours after a terror attack 'You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan,' write Don Jr. on Wednesday 'You use a terrorist attack on our city to attack London's Mayor for your own political gain. You're a disgrace,' wrote British Labour MP Wes Streeting 'Did you even read the article before goading London's Mayor during a live incident?' asked Channel 4 News correspondent Ciaran Jenkins It was just two hours after the attack when Don Jr. tweeted a link to an interview that Mayor Khan gave in September in which he said the threat of terrorism was 'part and parcel' of living in any major city. 'It is a reality I'm afraid that London, New York, other major cities around the world have got to be prepared for these sorts of things,' he told the Evening Standard. 'That means being vigilant, having a police force that is in touch with communities, it means the security services being ready, but also it means exchanging ideas and best practice.' Don Jr. left out a crucial part of that statement however when he wrote: 'You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan.' Author Aaron Gillies was among those to criticize him for how he presented the interview, writing: 'Learn to read the article not just the headline you tangerine goblin spawn.' Channel 4 News correspondent Ciaran Jenkins made a similar comment on Twitter, asking: 'Did you even read the article before goading London's Mayor during a live incident?' Jenkins then added: 'Headline is based on very first sentence, which if you'd bothered to read it could apply to any major city in the world. Key word: "threat."' Another London resident composed a brief letter to Don Jr. on Twitter, writing: 'Dear @DonaldJTrumpJr, Before you start, don't you DARE use our tragedy to justify your racism. Yours, A proud Londoner.' There were also a number of Americans who lashed out at Don Jr on Wedensday/ In a since deleted tweet, 'The Ellen Show' producer Andy Lassner wrote: 'You did it @DonaldJTrumpJr! You're as big a d*** as your dad!' And Veep star Timothy Simmons said: 'My dude i am compulsively checking twitter b/c I want to know the very *second* your entire world comes crashing down.' Donald Jr was quickly criticized for his comments, which many said were inappropriate and ill timed Lone-wolf attacker Khalid Masood killed four and injured 40 on Wednesday before being shot dead outside the parliament building in the heart of London Mayor Sadiq actually made his comments about the threat terror in big cities in response to the bombing this past September in Manhattan that injured 31 people. Don Jr. meanwhile made his comments about Mayor Sadiq at the same time that a hate crime in New York City cost one black man his life. The president's son has yet to make any statement or comment however about the fatal stabbing of the man by a white Supremacist that occurred less than a mile away from Trump Tower. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued by its Amaq news agency, but it gave no name or details and it was not clear whether Masood was directly connected to the jihadist group. Police arrested eight people at six locations in London and Birmingham in the investigation into the lone-wolf attack that Prime Minister Theresa May said was inspired by a warped Islamist ideology. About 40 people were injured of whom 29 remain in hospital, with seven in critical condition. The incident on Wednesday resembled Islamic State-inspired attacks in France and Germany where vehicles were driven into crowds. He sped across Westminster Bridge in a car while ploughing into pedestrians before running through the gates of the nearby parliament building and fatally stabbing an unarmed policeman. Massod, who it has been revealed was British-born, was then shot dead. Bankruptcy lawyers for the shuttered Gawker website are reportedly in talks with Peter Thiel on a 'potential settlement' related to the Hulk Hogan lawsuit he funded. The website was forced to file bankruptcy in June, after a jury awarded $140million to Hulk Hogan over his sex tape that Gawker published. Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of Paypal, later revealed that he had funded the lawsuit out of a decade-old grudge against the site for outing him as gay. Sources tell the New York Post that Gawker's lawyers recently had talks with Thiel's representatives to settle the score once and for all. Bankruptcy lawyers for Gawker are reportedly trying to work on a deal that would protect founder Nick Denton (left) from being the target of future lawsuits funded by Peter Thiel (right) They say that the deal would protect Gawker's founder, Nick Denton, from future lawsuits funded by Thiel. Denton downplayed the report to the Post, saying there's only 'a few loose ends' that he's trying to wrap up. 'As far as Im concerned, my decade-long involvement with Peter Thiel is over. Other journalists can pick up that particular chalice,' Denton said. Thiel did not comment. Gawker's bankruptcy is still pending because of an IRS audit. The IRS says that the company owes $2.5million in federal income tax liabilities, which Gawker's lawyers are contesting. Thiel secretly funded Hulk Hogan's (pictured) lawsuit against the company last year. Hogan initially won $140million from the site, but later settled for $31million when Gawker appealed The bankruptcy will be kept open for another three months while the IRS finishes its investigation. The Hogan case stemmed from a 2006 sex tape that Gawker posted on their site. The jury sided with Hogan, saying that the website violated his privacy by publishing it and they awarded him $140million. Gawker immediately filed an appeal when the decision was handed down in March 2016. In November, Hogan decided to settle with the company for $31million, since his chances of receiving the whole $140million - even if he won the appeal - were low thanks to Gawker's bankruptcy. After the lawsuit, Denton sold Gawker's sister sites Deadspin and Jezebel for $135million, but closed the flagship site. He is expected to walk away from the legal battle with $16million. The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee apologized to Democratic panel members on Thursday for not briefing them before showing the White House information about surveillance of President Donald Trump's team. Rep. Devin Nunes surprised and angered committee Democrats and some of his fellow Republicans on Wednesday with a surprise announcement that some private communications by Trump and members of his team were swept up by U.S. intelligence as they monitored foreign targets. 'There was a lot going on yesterday, and it was a judgment call on my part,' Nunes told reporters on Capitol Hill. 'Sometimes you make the right decision. Sometimes you make the wrong one,' he added. 'But you've got to stick by what you the decisions you make.' Thursday's bombshell revelation gave Trump new ammunition against detractors who say he was lying on March 4 when he accused former president Barack Obama's administration of 'wiretapping' him. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes has apologized to committee Democrats for informing President Donald Trump about the U.S. Intelligence Community's collection of communications involving members of the president's transition team Rep. Adam Schiff on Wednesday called the GOP panel chairman Devin Nunes' debrief of Trump at the White House Wednesday 'deeply troubling' and got an apology out of him the next day The president told White House reporters that he feels 'somewhat' vindicated after hearing what Nunes had to say during an in-person briefing An Intelligence Committee aide said Thursday that that Nunes had apologized to Democrats 'for not sharing information about the documents he saw with the minority before going public' and that 'he pledged to work with them on this issue.' Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier, a committee member, told CNN that Nunes had apologized 'in a generic way.' Democrats, including ranking committee member Adam Schiff, said Thursday that Nunes' actions raised questions about the panel's ability to credibly investigate potential ties between Trump associates and Russia. Schiff had called the Nunes' Wednesday debriefing at the White House 'deeply troubling,' and demanded the creation of an independent Russia probe. He also claimed, in apparent retaliation, that there is 'more than circumstantial evidence' to strengthen claims that Trump's presidential campaign had links with Russia. 'I don't want to go into specifics,' Schiff told MSNBC, 'but I will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of investigation.' The intelligence committee is investigating Russian election interference and allegations of Trump campaign contacts with Moscow. Schiff said he was 'blindsided' when Nunes went to tell Trump that intelligence intercepts picked up Trump transition members as well as Trump himself seeming to substantiate the president's claims. 'The chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he is going to at as a surrogate of the White House because he cannot do both,' Schiff fumed during a Capitol Hill press conference. 'This is deeply troubling along many levels. The most significant level is it really impedes our ability to do this investigation the way we should,' he added. The House Intelligence Committee's ranking member, Rep. Adam Schiff (right), told Whoopi Goldberg (left) and the panelists on The View that he was 'mystified' by Devin Nunes' actions 'We have no idea where these documents came from, whether they even show what they purport to show,' Schiff added. During an appearance on The View later Thursday morning, Schiff pointed out that neither Democrats nor Republicans had yet to cast their eyes on the documents, which then ranking member said could have been 'received perhaps in the dead of night.' 'We can't have our chair acting as a surrogate for the administration. He has to either have the surrogate role or the chairman role, but he can't do both,' Schiff huffed to Whoopi Goldberg and others, telling the women on the daytime talk show that he was 'mystified' by Nunes' actions. Schiff also wouldn't say whether the chairman apologized to the committee. 'You know we did have a private discussion in the committee among all the members, I don't really want to go into the private discussions,' he told the panelists on The View. His admonishment was a departure from the panel's normal collegiality, where the leaders are known as 'chairman' and 'vice chairman' and share the nation's top secrets. 'What I have read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team because I think some of it seems to be inappropriate,' Nunes said Wednesday, long before his committee Democrats knew what he had discovered 'But even if they do, on the basis of what the chairman said, the underlying fact is still the same: There's no evidence to support the president's contention that he was wiretapped by his predecessor,' said Schiff. 'So I'm not sure what the point of this extraordinary process is. And I have to hope that this is not part of a broader campaign by the White House aimed to deflect from the [FBI] director's testimony earlier this week.' Schiff suggested that the House Intelligence could be a casualty of Trump's tweets bringing up an angry clash with the British government over alleged spy cooperation that the British say didn't happen. 'If the incident today is an indication that, after making the baseless claim, the president then aggravated the damage by implicating the British in a potential plot to have the British surveil him on behalf of President Obama, and now is attempting to interfere in the congressional investigation again, with the effort of trying to provide some substance to a claim without substance then the damage the wrecking ball of this allegation has just claimed another victim, that being our own committee,' he said. 'I only learned about this the way that all of you did, when the chairman briefed the press in advance of briefing his own committee members,' said Schiff. On Thursday House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called Nunes a 'stooge for the President of the United States.' Pelosi suggested that the White House itself put Wednesday's events in motion. Nunes told reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. Intelligence Community collected 'incidental' information about Trump and his transition team during the three months following the 2016 election. He said the information collected was 'legally collected' pursuant to a warrant issued by a FISA judge in a federal court, and concerned 'foreign' surveillance. But that 'did not involve Russia or any discussions with Russians,' and there's no reason to believe anyone in Trump's circle was the target of an investigation. The president told journalists that he feels 'somewhat' vindicated after hearing what Nunes had to say. 'I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found. I somewhat do,' he said shortly after a meeting with Nunes. A building firm boss has been convicted of killing a lawyer who was crushed to death by falling window frames left propped up on the pavement. Window installer Kelvin Adsett, 63, was found responsible for the manslaughter of Amanda Telfer, 44, who died on her way to work. The media lawyer was passing the building site in Hanover Square in central London when a gust of wind blew over three 13ft by 13ft wooden structures weighing more than 655kg. Kelvin Adsett, 63, (left) was found responsible for the manslaughter of Amanda Telfer, 44, (right) who died on her way to work Police officers at the scene of the tragedy, where Miss Telfer died in August 2012 Members of the public had noticed the frames swaying in the wind but their concern was not shared by those involved in the project to refurbish the building. Miss Telfer who worked for Keystone Law, near Oxford Street, was pronounced dead at the scene. Adsett was the sole employee of I S Europe and personally supervised the delivery of the window frames. He was today found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter and failing to take responsibility for health and safety after an eight week trial. His company I S Europe was also convicted of health and safety breaches. Project manager Damian Lakin-Hall, 48, was acquitted of manslaughter, but found guilty of failing to take responsibility for health and safety after the incident on August 30, 2012. Judge Peter Rook QC said he will sentence Adsett, Lakin-Hall and I S Europe on May 5. The court heard the delivery of the windows should have been delayed until they were ready to be installed or stored properly rather than being left overnight on the public pavement leaning against the building. Damian Lakin-Hall (pictured outside court) was acquitted of manslaughter, but found guilty of breaching a general duty at work Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson told the Old Bailey: 'There was a clear and serious risk posed by these window frames given their weight and size. 'Indeed it was obvious to anyone they carried a clear and serious risk of death. There were a series of obvious and straightforward steps that could have been taken to avoid that risk.' 'No efforts had been made to secure them, nor had any barrier been placed around them to protect members of the public using that busy thoroughfare. 'Members of the public who did pass then noticed they moved in the wind and were concerned they might fall. 'That concern was not shared by those who were actually responsible for making sure they did not fall.' It was Adsett who made the decision the frames should be propped against the building until they could be fitted. 'He was also directly responsible for failing to take any steps to secure the frames and exclude the public from the area,' said Mr Atkinson. He said that when he realised the frames were going to be delivered early, he tried to contact the transport manager of the manufacturing company to get the delivery delayed but was unable to get hold of him. Adsett and his colleagues were caught on CCTV having a discussion about where to place the windows. But according to Adsett, it wasn't the first time frames had been stored there - a previous delivery had been left in the same place a week before hand without mishap. Ann and Barry Telfer, Miss Telfer's parents, pictured arriving at the Old Bailey. They described her as a 'bright, beautiful woman' and said they would never recover from her loss Removing the frames from the site while the work on the window aperture was completed would have cost 400, jurors heard. In a victim impact statement given to the court, Miss Telfer's parents Barry and Ann Telfer said they had been with their daughter just an hour before her death, when she had been planning a trip to France to see her brother. The couple said: 'We don't want retribution for our loss of Amanda, though we will never recover from it. We want accountability established, responsibility acknowledged. Claire Gordon, 35, was cleared of manslaughter (left) while she and the senior project manager responsible for overseeing health and safety Steve Rogers, 62, (right) were both acquitted of failing to take responsibility for health and safety 'Her death was avoidable. She was killed by two half-ton window frames which had been left standing at the side of a busy public pavement unsecured, unbalanced and unattended with no safety barriers round them. 'The risk to passers-by is obvious. Yet the risk was ignored and our daughter, a bright, beautiful woman with so much to live for, so much she wanted to do with her life, was killed.' Adsett, from Slough in Berkshire, was convicted of manslaughter and breaching a general duty at work. Miss Telfer (pictured) who worked for Keystone Law, near Oxford Street, was pronounced dead at the scene Lakin-Hall, from Cobham in Surrey was acquitted of manslaughter, but found guilty of breaching a general duty at work. Claire Gordon, 35, was cleared of manslaughter while she and the senior project manager responsible for overseeing health and safety Steve Rogers, 62, were both acquitted of failing to take responsibility for health and safety. IS Europe Ltd, from Slough, was convicted of breaching general duty of care to an employee and breaching general duty of care to a non-employee. Westgreen Construction Ltd, from Richmond, Surrey, and Leeds-based Drawn Metal Ltd, were acquitted of the same charges. Speaking after the case, Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Chalmers said: 'The individuals and company who were convicted in this tragic case had a laissez-faire attitude to health and safety and did not take their obligations seriously.' He added: 'Her death was completely avoidable and it is satisfying for all involved in this case - and especially Amanda's family - that the jury have convicted these people and companies today.' Speaking after the verdict, Mr and Mrs Telfer said they would always miss their daughter. 'Amanda was a bright lovely professional woman living her life to the full and making plans for the future,' the couple said. 'Her future was taken from her when she was crushed to death by half ton window frames which took two seconds to fall on her. The frames had been left standing, almost vertically, at the side of a public pavement, unsecured to anything, unattended and with no safety barriers around them. 'If construction companies and the people who work for them are not held to account for such high levels of negligence and incompetence then none of us is safe walking the streets next to construction sites. The Health and Safety training being given is totally inadequate, if risk of death to passers-by is ignored.' Infamous 'Cash Me Ousside' viral sensation Danielle Bregoli could be in trouble again, and this time her mom may take the fall. Bregoli and friends caused chaos outside a Lake Worth, Florida bar on February 26. Kimberly Peterson, 27, who is suing Bregoli's mother, alleges that the group were outside the Downtown Pizza restaurant and started getting rowdy. Bregoli was in tow with at least two friends when a video shows that customers at the bar started started saying her iconic 'Cash Me Ousside' phrase. Kimberly Peterson, 27, alleges that the group 'assaulted and repeatedly battered and punched' her, causing serious injuries to her body and face, and apparently caused a food fight at the scene Peterson, realizing that they were getting heated up, suggested the 13-year-old go home with a parent. Bregoli then allegedly 'assaulted and repeatedly battered and punched' the woman, causing serious injuries to her body and face, and apparently caused a food fight at the scene. Peterson's attorney Gary Lesser says Bregoli's mother, Barbara Ann, could be the one who takes the fall for her daughter's continuous poor behavior. They are requesting damages in excess of $15,000, reported the Palm Beach Post. Danielle Bregoli first gained notoriety after she appeared on Dr Phil McGraw's studio and coined the catchphrase: 'cash me ousside, how bout dah?' 'It's hard being a parent today, we all know this, but we still have to be parents, not buddies, and certainly not business partners,' Lesser said in a statement. A video from the same night shows that many fights broke out before Danielle and her friends left. At first, Danielle and her friend enjoyed attention from bar-goers, and she even offered selfies for $10 a piece, TMZ reported. However, after some back and forth with a bar-patron, she and her friends appear to attack the person. Police visited the duo's Boynton Beach, Florida, home more than 50 times in the past year The teen rose to fame after an fiery performance on Dr Phil where she propositioned the audience to a fight by telling them to 'cash me ousside.' Officers have also come to the house she shares with her feisty mother Barbara Ann for lewd and lascivious behavior, general disturbances, fraud and obscene calls. Police were called to the 13-year-old's home in Boynton Beach 51 times last year for a range of offenses including stolen cars, verbal threats and domestic tiffs. Bregoli most recently caught the public's attention again when a video was posted online that showed Bregoli and her mother struggling in footage captured by a friend with their cell phone. The constantly sparring pair are seen entangled in each other's bodies while they hit each other in the face. It's not immediately clear when the video was taken, but it appeared to center around Barbara Ann demanding that Danielle give her her phone back. Danielle was also caught up in a tussle on board a Spirit Airlines plane before it took off from LAX last month. Her father, Ira Peskowitz, told the Palm Beach Post that he's requested for a judge to increase his custodial rights so he can attempt to keep his daughter out of the limelight and get her into therapy. 'She's crying for help,' he said. 'She's doing these things for attention, and she's not getting attention from the right people.' A rotund Canadian dermatologist who argued his huge belly meant he could not possibly have rubbed his erect penis against female patients has failed to convince a disciplinary panel. An Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons disciplinary committee on Tuesday found Dr Rodion Andrew Kunynetz, of Barrie, guilty of professional misconduct after he was accused of pressing his genitals against the legs of two women during examinations. Kunynetz claimed that it was impossible for his manhood to have come into contact with the patients' legs owing to the fact that he has a large fat roll that partially or entirely covers his genitals. 'Fat roll' defense: Dr Rodion Andrew Kunynetz, a dermatologist from Ontario, Canada, has been found guilty of professional misconduct after failing to convince a disciplinary committee that he could not have touched his patients with his penis because of his belly An Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons panel has ruled that Kunynetzs conduct towards the patients was disgraceful, dishonorable or unprofessional In a 47-page decision, the five-person disciplinary panel concluded that while there was no definitive proof that the dermatologists penis touched the patients, it was determined there was contact with Kunynetzs paunch, which was not accompanied by a warning, apology or excuse, reported GlobalNews.ca. The committee characterized Kunynetzs conduct towards the patients as disgraceful, dishonorable or unprofessional. The physician was also found guilty of sexually abusing another woman by putting his hands inside her bra and fondling her breasts, undressing two patients 'without adequate warning or explanation' and violating a condition placed on him by the college in which he agreed not to see any female patients without a chaperone present. Prior to reaching its decision, the medical panel had two urology experts inject Kunynetz with a chemical compound to induce an erection in an effort to establish whether or not he was physically capable of pressing his penis against a patient's leg. An expert for the defense has concluded that, having examined the corpulent dermatologist both in a flaccid and aroused state, it would have been impossible for him to have made contact with the women. Another urologist, however, has reached the opposite conclusion after conducting a series of experiments in which the doctor acted as a stand-in for the patients and had Kunynetz press up against him at three different table heights. Kunynetz claimed it was impossible for his manhood to have come into contact with the patients' legs owing to the fact that he has a fat roll that partially or entirely covers his genitals Graphic testimony: A patient testified the she could feel Dr Kunynetz getting an erection during her appointment and felt it was 'disgusting and degrading' Dr Gerald Brock, who was retained by the medical college, testified that he could feel Kunynetzs genitals in each scenario. In the end, the committee found that the impossibility of contact between the doctors penis and a patient's skin (through clothing) was not established. The ruling went on to state that the evidence demonstrated there was contact between the patients and that part of Dr. Kunynetzs lower abdomen at the level of his pelvis, and that the patients were distressed by this. The Toronto Star reported that one patient testified before the panel that she could feel Dr Kunynetz getting an erection during her appointment and felt it was 'disgusting and degrading.' Another patient recounted how she allegedly felt Kunynetz 'gyrating' his hips against her thigh as she sat on the examination table. A third patient was quoted as telling the panel of her alleged experience with the dermatologist: Im a woman of almost 70 years; I know what a penis is and what it feels like. I have no doubt at all that it was a penis. Kunynetz has been suspended from practicing medicine since 2015, when he was hit with 11 criminal counts of sexual assault and one count of gross incident. He has denied all the allegations of sexual misconduct against him. He has 30 days to appeal the committees ruling, according to Barrie Today. A flat in the heart of the Olympic Village belonging to a woman who had previously lived with London terror attacker Khalid Masood was raided by officers tonight. Police were searching the flat - which housed teams from Benin, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Mali and Sudan during the 2012 Games - where a woman named locally as Rohey Hydara lived. She had lived with Masood in at least three separate addresses but it was unclear what their relationship was. Officers could be seen rifling through rooms on the first floor flat, although curtains in most of the windows were drawn. Residents of the nine-storey block near to the Eurostar Stratford International Station said police had been in the building all day. Masood is also thought to have lived in London and there was a police presence outside Lucia Heights block of flats, in East London (close to the London Stadium) tonight Police are believed to be raiding the East London property in connection with yesterday's terror attack in Westminster In East London, officers raided a flat in a block of flats in the heart of the Olympic Village Masood was registered to two addresses in Luton in 2010 and 2011 and was recorded as living in Forest Gate, east London, last year. Hydara was registered as having lived at those three places. A neighbour said three children lived in the home in Forest Gate with their mother, aged between eight and 15. He said they moved out in the last two years to the Olympic Village. The man, who did not want to give his name, said: 'There was a family who lived here and then they moved out. 'They were there about five, six years. I only saw the kids and the mother. 'We saw the family there, we saw the ladies there but I never saw a man living there. I think he was clean shaven when I did see him last year. 'He was darker, seemed a bit plump. But he was cleanly shaven. I occasionally saw him, I just assumed he was working all day.' Searches continue at a number of addresses in Birmingham where police are trying to gather as much information as possible on Masood and any potential associates A neighbour, who asked not to be named, told the Press Association: 'This guy is a local guy. I've been living in the area for 20 years. 'I don't know him personally but I believe he belongs to a mosque on Leyton High Road. 'I've seen his face many times. I saw him on the news at around 7pm last night and thought 'this is the guy I know from the mosque.' 'He had a beard and big eyes.' Worshippers at the Al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton were surprised to learn of Masood's alleged links with the mosque. One, Abdul Abdul, told the Telegraph: 'We condemn this attack. A true Muslim would never do this. He's not one of us, he's not a representative of us'. A police van remained outside a flat above a takeaway, in Hagley Road, in Birmingham, this morning as police revealed five other properties had been raided However by the time of the attack, Masood and was living in a dingy bedsit above a shop in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham with several other men. Aged in their 20s, they are believed to be among those arrested during a series of raids in London, Sussex, Birmingham and Wales yesterday. In total eight people were arrested, including three women, following the raids. All were arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Their ages range from 21 to 58. Masood, 52, who was born as Adrian Elms in Kent, is believed to have most recently lived in the West Midlands. Police have been searching a three-storey townhouse in the Winson Green area of Birmingham and neighbours said Masood lived there for around seven months until December last year. Iwona Romek, speaking in Winson Green, Birmingham said she could not believe it when she realised the man who had lived near her was the same person responsible for the attack. She said: 'I am very surprised, I cannot believe it. Because when I saw him, I couldn't even see that he could do something like this. 'Now I'm scared that someone like that was living close to me.' She added: 'I see pictures of him lying injured and from that picture I can see it's him. 'And my partner as well he has seen the picture, he is at work, and when I showed it him he said 'oh my God' it's him.' Ms Romek said she had seen him with a child, aged between five and six years old, and a partner but that they had moved away around two to three months ago. One of the other properties raided was a flat in this building in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, where neighbours claimed Masood lived with a woman and a young child It is thought he then moved to the flat above a restaurant in the city's Hagley Road, which was raided on Wednesday night. Stunned residents described seeing more than a dozen black-clad officers equipped with machine guns smashing their way into the Birmingham flat, believed to be a rental, at about 11pm on Wednesday. One witness who works in a shop near the second-floor Birmingham flat said: 'The man from London lived here.' He added: 'They came and arrested three men.' Another resident said he recalled two men living there. He heard one man in the flat speaking on the phone in what he described as an 'Arabic or Pakistani accent', saying he had heard it 'for the last two or three nights'. A photo from the area appears to show one of the three suspects arrested at the scene sitting in the back of a police van, in Hagley Road, in Birmingham Armed police stormed a flat on Hagley Road, Birmingham last night as part of six raids across the country following the Westminster attack. The address is closed to where the Hyundai used as a weapon in the attack was rented A team of heavily armed police in riot gear arrived in unmarked cars last night and stormed the flat in the east of the city A neighbour says he believes the man who carried out the attack in London yesterday lives in the flat above the takeaway The flat in Hagley Road is one of six properties raided around the country, with armed officers storming the flat before detectives moved in Dozens of officers, some with weapons, were seen swooping an address near to the Bearwood area of the city last night A police officer is seen at the scene on Hagley Road in Birmingham. Police are on high alert after the terror attack in London on Wednesday which claimed the lives of three victims The road, which has a number of takeaways and restaurants, is said to have been closed at 11pm and reopened by 2am Police officers enter the property on Hagley Road in Birmingham. Witnesses in the area said three people had been detained Stuart Bailey, who lives four doors down, was going for a drink with his friend when an armed officer shouted for him to 'go left'. The 25-year-old added: 'There were a load of armed police in the street and on the pavement and I could see three or four in front of me. 'They were all dressed in black and armed with what looked like MP5s (submachine guns) and one of them had six ammunition magazines strapped to his leg. 'I wasn't allowed back in my property for an hour.' A shopkeeper said police had told customers and staff to stay inside the store while the operation continued. These pictures are understood to show the inside of the flat which was raided by police before it was let out Hagley Road was sealed off by officers for several hours as the raid was carried out. The road is in the well-heeled district of Edgbaston - a cricket-loving corner of Britain's second largest city that is unused to the sight of armed police blocking off streets. Lucas Camoes, a 23-year-old warehouse worker, said: 'It's a very calm area. There are loads of university students here so it's very surprising this happened right here. 'I don't feel safe at all. A bit paranoid.' Car rental firm Enterprise confirmed the Hyundai 4x4 used in the attack was rented in Spring Hill, Birmingham, less than a mile from the house being searched. In a statement, the car hire company said one of its employees had identified the vehicle after seeing the licence plate in an image online and the firm had immediately contacted the authorities. The firm said in a statement: 'We are co-operating fully with the authorities and will provide any assistance that we can to the investigation. 'Our thoughts are very much with the victims of this terrible tragedy.' Neighbours said lots of people moved in and out of the building and the area and were uncertain over who lived there ARRESTS MADE BY THE MET OVERNIGHT A 39-year-old woman was arrested at an address in east London. A 21-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man were arrested at an address in Birmingham. A 26-year-old woman and three men aged 28, 27 and 26 years old were arrested at a separate address in Birmingham. All were arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Further, a 58-year-old man was arrested on Thursday morning at a separate address in Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Searches were also carried out in Carmathanshire, Wales, and Brighton, Sussex. Advertisement Masood was not currently being investigated by authorities and there was 'no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack', Scotland Yard said. He was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences dating back to 1983 - but none for terrorism offences. Speaking this morning, Mark Rowley, the Met's senior anti-terror officer, said: 'Hundreds of detectives have been working through the night and during that time I can confirm we have searched six addresses - and made seven arrests. 'The inquiries in Birmingham, London and other parts of the country continue. It is still our belief - which continues to be borne out by our investigation - that this attacker acted alone yesterday and was inspired by international terrorism. 'To be explicit - at this stage, we have no specific information about further threats to the public. 'Clearly our investigation is ongoing - developing all the time - and is focused on his motivation, his preparation and associates. 'The large and complicated crime scene remains in place and our work there continues - I would like to thank everyone for their support and patience as we finish this work.' Searches were also carried out in Carmathanshire, Wales, and Brighton, Sussex. Four people and the attacker died in London after terrorist Khalid Masood, driving a Hyundai 4x4, crashed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before hurtling towards the gates of Parliament. Masood also died after being shot by armed police. Forty people were injured in the attack, with 29 treated in hospital, where seven remain in a critical condition. The casualties included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, two Greeks, and one each from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the United States. Three police officers were also hurt, two of them seriously. A man killed his twin daughters, wounded his estranged wife and shot himself in the head one day after she asked for a divorce, police said. Randall Coffland, 48, of St. Charles, Illinois, had previously made comments about killing the 16-year-old girls, according to a new police report obtained by the Daily Herald. But Anjum didn't think he would follow through with it, until she arrived at his home on March 10 and learned he had shot both Tiffany and Brittany Coffland dead. Randall then shot Anjum in the leg, said he wanted her to survive so 'she could live with this the rest of her life', and called 911 moments before he killed himself in the bathtub. Scroll down for audio and video Randall Coffland, 48, visited his wife, Anjum Coffland (right) at her home on March 9. He said he wanted to get back together, but she asked for a divorce, police said The next day, Coffland, 48 (left), shot dead his 16-year-old twin daughters, Tiffany (center) and Brittany (right) When Anjum (right) arrived at his home, Coffland (left) shot her in the legs before killing himself. The grisly scene took place in his St. Charles, Illinois, apartment Anjum and Randall Coffland were married but living separately in St Charles, according to police. Their daughters shared an apartment with their father. Randall visited Anjum at her home on March 9, and the two shared some wine. He revealed that he wanted to get back together, but she asked for a divorce instead, police said. The following morning, Randall texted Anjum saying he was going to kill himself, according to the police report. He called her later in the afternoon, said he had 'secrets' and refused to elaborate, asking that Anjum come over so he could show her, the police said. When she arrived at his apartment, she found her husband holding a gun, prompting her to yell and ask where and why he obtained the firearm, police said. When she asked about the girls, who had returned home St. Charles East High School, he said they were already dead, according to the police. He then shot her in the leg before she ran off and locked herself in a bedroom. Randall called 911 and told the dispatcher: 'I just shot and killed my two kids and I shot my wife, and Im going to kill myself now' Meanwhile, Randall called 911 and told the dispatcher: 'I just shot and killed my two kids and I shot my wife, and Im going to kill myself now.' In an audio recording of the call released on Sunday, the father-of-two recited his address to the dispatcher before reiterating his intent to commit suicide. 'I'm going to kill myself now too. My two girls are dead, and Im killing myself,' he said. The dispatcher asked the caller to stay with him, but there was no response from the other end of the line. Coffland shouted in the background, apparently at his wife, 'I want you to live and suffer like I did.' Moments later, a wounded and distressed Anjum Coffland placed a frantic call to police begging them to come. 'Oh my god, my husband shot my kids!' she screams. 'My daughters are dead!' Tragic: Brittany (left) and Tiffany (right) Coffland, were both juniors at St Charles East High School. They would have turned 17 on Tuesday Randall told Anjum he wanted her to survive so 'she could live with this [for] the rest of her life' Police found Randall face down in his bathtub, which was filled with water. His phone was on the edge of the tub, and a magazine was left on bathroom counter. The twins, who were killed just before their 17th birthdays, were each found with a gunshot wound to the head. One was found dead on the couch of the living room, while the other was in bed, watching a video on her laptop, the police report said. Anjum suffered gunshot wounds to both her legs and was taken to Delnor Community Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition. A search of the crime scene yielded two firearms, included a 9mm handgun that was found near Randall Coffland's body. Police say the man had a valid gun permit. Authorities say the twins, their father and mother were the only people inside the residence at the time. Police say Anjum and Randall were married but living at separate addresses. (scene above) After news broke of the tragic shooting in the community, a memorial was created outside of the condo, as mourners left candles, flowers and signs to remember the twins who were high school juniors. 'It's kind of unnerving to realize that someone you were so close with, and could see in a day, and could be gone in a matter of hours,' Ally Siebrasse, a friend of the twins, told WGN-TV. A memorial adorned with crosses, flowers and candles sits outside the double murder-suicide scene Saturday in St. Charles, Illinois This is the moment a female customer flew into a rage in McDonald's and grabbed a worker by the collar. The angry woman can be heard shouting and swearing at a shocked employee. The clip, shared on Snapchat, shows the furious woman lunge at the male worker and grab the top of his shirt. The young woman, wearing a short black dress, then shakes the man violently, moving around the shop. A female employee then rushes to his aid and tries to break the pair up. The angry woman grabs the McDonald's employee by the collar, shouting and swearing at him The short clip, with the caption 'Mad', has been shared widely on Twitter since first appearing on Snapchat. It left people wondering why she was so angry and suggesting maybe she was short-changed on her chicken nuggets. One joker said: 'When you only count 19 nuggets in your 20 nugget meal.' McDonald's could not confirm which UK store the incident took place in and did not comment. The children of late Conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly are at war over their inheritance and have been fighting since their mother threw her weight behind Donald Trump at the 2016 Republican primaries. Schlafly's daughter Ann Schlafly Cori reignited the war with court papers filed this week which accuse her brother John of sabotaging her inheritance by influencing his mother to tweak her will before she died. She claims the will was amended to include a clause which states that any legal disputes are paid for out of her share of the money. Her brother John dismissed the lawsuit as 'frivolous' and told The St-Louis Dispatch that it was intended to grab headlines. Andrew Schlafly, their other brother, said Anne had already wasted $1 million by filing court claims. The amount of money they are squabbling over is unknown. Phyllis Schlafly died in September last year aged 92. Scroll down for video Phyllis Schlafly's children are warring over her estate. Her sons (including John, pictured left with her before her September death) are on one side and her daughter Anne (right) is on the other The feud between her children, of whom there are six, hold their roots in her relationship with Ed Martin. He describes himself as Phyllis's 'hand picked successor' to run the Eagle Forum, a pro-family conservative movement she founded in Alton, Illinois, in 1972. Martin, a staunch Trump fan, was brought in to the fold by the forum's aging leader and some members accused him of swaying her against Ted Cruz, Trump's opponent in the primaries. Her sons sided with her and Martin and Anne went against them, blaming Martin for the rift. 'I had no conflict with my brothers before the advent of Ed Martin,' she said in an interview with the Dispatch earlier this year. Schlafly confidently supported Trump throughout his presidential campaign. She spoke at rallies and in interviews heralding him as the savior of a grass roots movement who could 'lead us to victory again'. She did not live to see him win. Schlafly threw her weight behind President Trump and used her final months of life to speak at his rallies and in interviews where she hailed him as the savior of the grass roots movement Schlafley brought in Ed Martin, a staunch Republican, to carry on the Eagle Forum after her death. He is seen above with her son John. Anne Schlafly blames him for the family feud Schlafly (left at Republican National Convention in July) died in September aged 92. She was an icon for the far right and boasted a long career in political activism which included her key role in overturning the Equal Rights Amendment of 1972 (right) President Trump thanked her at his Inaugural Eve dinner on January 20, singling her out for special mention in a speech of praise for his supporters. Since her death, Martin has set up conservative charities and political action committees (PACs) in her name. Anne has fought to have him banned from using her mother's legacy to raise money for each and last year sued the non-profit he set up demanding that it stop. Phyllis Schlafly played a key role blocking he Equal Rights Amendment of 1972. She founded the Eagle Forum in the same year. The amendment would have have outlawed gender or sex based discrimination but Schlafly was a fierce opponent of it. She believed men ought to have been held responsible for providing for their families and that if the amendment, which equalized working rights, had been adopted across the country, they would no longer be held to it. Schlafly was married to St Louis attorney John Fred Schlafly until his death in 1993. After months of teasing, Alaska Airlines has bad news for loyal customers of Virgin America - their airline's name is being dumped. Alaska says it will retire the Virgin brand, probably in 2019. Virgin America joins Northwest, US Airways, Continental and many others on the scrap heap of airline brands. Alaska Airlines announced on Thursday plans to scrap the Virgin America brand in 2019. Last year, the company bought Virgin for $2.6billion. Above, Alaska and Virgin planes on the tarmac in Seattle, Washington in April 2016 Virgin America was founded by billionaire Richard Branson in 2007, and while it became popular for its mood lighting and staff of attractive flight attendants, it suffered during the recession and only started making money in 2014. After Alaska Air Group bought Virgin America last year for $2.6billion, its CEO held out hope of keeping the name alive. But running an airline within an airline adds complexity and costs, so many in the business aren't surprised by Alaska's decision. Virgin America was founded by billionaire Richard Branson (pictured) in 2007, but struggled to make money through the recession Added on top of that was the fact that Alaska Air Group continues to pay a licensing fee to use the Virgin America brand. While they may be scrapping the Virgin name, Alaska executives have promised to integrate many of the popular Virgin features into their new-and-improved airline. 'The vibe that Virgin created on board is fantastic, and we want to bring it to Alaska,' said Sangita Woerner, Alaska Airlines vice president of marketing, according to the Los Angeles Times. Among some of the changes are a newly-designed cabin and new uniforms. However, fans of Virgin were quick to share their displeasure at the announcement on Thursday. Fans of the hip airline were quick to voice their displeasure at the announcement on Thursday 'Terrible news, Virgin America is folding!' one user wrote. 'Was the only enjoyable airline left. No faith Alaska Airlines will be half as cool.' There is still some hope for fans though, since Branson hinted in the past that he would start the brand again if Alaska scrapped the airline. 'I hope the Virgin America brand never goes away,' Branson told Dallas radio station WFAA at an event in October. 'If Alaska decides to drop the brand - because we didnt actually want the sale to happen - well start again and Virgin America will very much back here. By taking in Virgin, Alaska will become the nation's fifth-largest airline behind American, Delta, United and Southwest. The fact that both airlines have their hubs on the West Coast will make it a powerhouse in the region, to be rivaled by only Southwest. Also on Thursday, Alaska announced plans to redesign their cabins Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone went full bore after House Intelligence Committee Democrats in a letter where blasted a Russia probe as a 'kangaroo court' and vowed to 'spank them like children.' Stone's name surfaced in Monday's blockbuster Intelligence panel hearing, when top Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff of California ticked through the 'dirty trickster's' communications, claiming he had predicted the publication of Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta's personal emails when he tweeted: 'Trust me, it will soon be Podestas time in the barrel.' Stone fired back in a blistering 'personal note' that he sent to a list of media contacts. 'The House Intelligence Committee hearing yesterday was a Kangaroo Court with Rep. Adam Schiff and his fellow Democrats engaging in demagoguery, red-baiting, fear mongering half truths and innuendo,' Stone wrote, before turning his attention to FBI Director James Comey. Roger Stone, a longtime political adviser and friend to President Donald Trump, fired at Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee in a blistering letter. He spoke before signing copies of his book "The Making of the President 2016" at the Boca Raton Marriott this week 'The FBI director didn't help anything by refusing to say whether i was under investigation or not leaving the clear implication hanging in the air. Fortunately Mr. Comey has no credibility left,' Stone wrote. He added: 'But now Rep. Adam Schiff, having slimed me in public session seems to be backing away from a confrontation. I demand the right to face my accusers. I will deconstruct their lies and spank them like children.' Stone said neither President Trum nor himself 'have anything to fear from a full and fair investigation of these bogus charges of Russian collusion' something he has previously denied. Comey said publicly at the hearing that the FBI was probing Trump associates' possible links to Russia. Schiff said on Thursday that the case of alleged collusion by Trump associates and Russia was 'more than circumstantial,' without going further about classified information. Roger J. Stone Jr., an advisor for President Donald J. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, arrives to the Marriott in Boca Raton, Fla., to speak to members of the conservative group America First Stone wrote of Intelligence top Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff: 'Schiff looks like a p****to me. Quick to hide behind his Congressional immunity' Schiff issued his own letter torching top panel Republican Devin Nunes after Nunes shared information with Trump that he said showed improper 'unmasking' of Trump and transition officials. Schiff fumed that Nunes didn't share the information with committee members first. 'I am anxious to rebut allegations that I had any improper or nefarious contact with any agent of the Russia State based on facts, not misleading and salacious headlines,' Stone wrote. 'Claims of Russian influence or collusion in the Trump Campaign by the Intelligence Community are backed up by ZERO evidence.' Stone claimed, without showing evidence, that panel Democrats were being 'blackmailed by the Agency' - the CIA - 'into pushing this false Russian narrative will be identified so their constituents can learn their predilections .' 'I'm ready to testify,' Stone stated. 'Schiff looks like a p****to me. Quick to hide behind his Congressional immunity.' Any inference that my innocuous, fully disclosed Twitter exchange and tweets with a hacker known as Guccifer 2.0, who may or may not be a Russian Asset, constitutes "collusion" is disproved by the content, the facts and the timeline of events. Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff pushed FBI Director James Comey to tell lawmakers Monday what he knows about Stone's contact with the Russians and how the friend of Donald Trump knew that Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman had been hacked. Comey dodged Stone believes that Trump - pictured arriving Tuesday on Capitol Hill - was under surveillance during both George W. Bush's and Barack Obama's presidencies Stone mocked other panel Democrats as well, calling Rep Eric Swallwell a 'pretty-boy' and a 'first term mannequin.' It's a lie. If pretty-boy Rep. Eric Swallwell repeats it makes this first term mannequin a liar,' he said. During the hearing, Schiff ran through a series of Trump associates' contacts with Russia, reserving some of his toughest comments for Stone. 'On August 8th, Roger Stone, a longtime Trump political advisor and self-proclaimed political dirty trickster, boasts in a speech that he has communicated with Assange, and that more documents would be coming, including an October surprise,' Schiff said. 'In the middle of August, he also communicates with the Russian cutout Guccifer 2.0, and authors a Breitbart piece denying Guccifers links to Russian intelligence. Then, later in August, Stone does something truly remarkable, when he predicts that John Podestas personal emails will soon be published. Trust me, it will soon be Podestas time in the barrel. #Crooked Hillary,' Schif concluded. The he read through more Stone statements during the days that preceded the release of thousands of Podesta emails, which exposed embarrassing information about Team Clinton. 'In the weeks that follow, Stone shows a remarkable prescience: I have total confidence that @wikileaks and my hero Julian Assange will educate the American people soon. #Lockherup. Payload coming, he predicts, and two days later, it does. Wikileaks releases its first batch of Podesta emails. The release of John Podestas emails would then continue on a daily basis up to election day,' Schiff said. Stone said he had released his 'entire public and private' Twitter exhcange with Guccifer 2.0, calling it 'banal' and 'inocuous,' noting it came a month after Wikileaks released the documents. 'Thus collusion would be impossible unless one owned a time machine,' he said. 'Nor do I conceded that Guccifer 2.0 is a Russian asset just because the boys at Langley say he is,' he said, turning his fire on the CIA. 'Quite clearly my telephone conversations with president candidate Trump was bugged and recorded. My e-mails and phone conversations with my wife, children, grand children, business associates, friends, and hundreds of reporters had been monitored and recorded yet no real meaningful evidence of collusion with the Russian state had been found,' Stone wrote. At the end of his letter, he provided a link to a DailyMail.com exclusive where he backed up the claim, vociferously denied by the British, that British GCHQ intelligence spied on Trump Tower at President Obama's request. 'My own sources high up in the Tory government, who are quite powerful, assured me that there was surveillance by the Brits,' he stated. 'Of course they deny it. That's their job to deny it,' he said. 'I predicted this three days ago,' he wrote. 'No, the Russians did not tell me.' He concluded the sign-off, 'Cordially.' The letter has multiple spelling mistakes. A Stone assistant sent a follow up email Thursday promising a corrected version. This email also had typos. 'An uncorrected proof of "A personal note from Roger Stone was sent out last night". While this unedited versions had some typographical errors all links were correct. A corrected version will b e sent today,' the note said. Tommy Vladim Alvarado-Ventura, 31, is accused of sexually assaulting his girlfriend's two-year-old daughter and brutally stabbing two women in a vicious crime spree in Hempstead, New York An El Salvadorian man who has been deported from the U.S. four times is accused of sexually assaulting his girlfriend's two-year-old daughter and brutally stabbing two women in a vicious New York crime spree. Tommy Vladim Alvarado-Ventura allegedly beat and sexually assaulted the toddler at the home he shares with his girlfriend in Hempstead, New York in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The 31-year-old, who is a member of the violent El Salvadorian gang MS-13, is also accused of stabbing a woman at a bar and brutally attacking his girlfriend in the hours that followed. Police said Alvarado-Ventura was home with his girlfriend's daughter and her four-year-old son while she was at work on Tuesday night. The children were being watched by another tenant who lives in a separate part of the home. Authorities say he beat and sexually assaulted the girl, but it is not clear what time the attack took place. The child's injuries were so severe she had to undergo surgery, ABC reports. Police described Alvarado-Ventura's violent five-hour crime spree as the 'most heinous criminal act' they had seen. Alvarado-Ventura left the home at about 12.30am and went to a nearby bar where he got into an argument with a young woman over some marijuana. He allegedly followed her to a parking lot when she left the bar at about 2.20am where he punched and stabbed the woman multiple times. She suffered a punctured lung and was hospitalized. Alvarado-Ventura went home before police could arrive. He then got into an argument with his girlfriend when she returned from work between 3.15am and 4.15am, according to police. His girlfriend confronted him after noticing that her daughter had been severely injured. The fight escalated and he allegedly punched and stabbed her repeatedly. Police said the woman managed to flee to the other tenant's room with her children where they were able to call 911. The mother and girl were both hospitalized. When officers arrived, they found Alvarado-Ventura sleeping in the home. He was charged with predatory sexual assault of a child, second-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault, second-degree assault, third-degree possession of a weapon and third-degree assault. Police said Alvarado-Ventura was first deported in September 2006 and more recently in December 2011. It was not known when he returned to the United States. Authorities would not discuss why he was deported but at least one was in relation to prior assault and drug possession convictions. He pleaded not guilty to the crime-spree when he faced court on Thursday. He is being held without bail. He faces life in prison. Advertisement Pictured sitting in a row with big smiles, these are the Indonesian policewomen charged with deciding how many lashes women should be given as punishment. Public canings regularly take place in Banda Aceh, in the country's Aceh province, for offences ranging from adultery to homosexuality to selling alcohol. It is one of the few places in Indonesia where a strict version of Sharia law is enforced. Members of the sharia police women known as Wilayatul Hisbah pose for a photograph in Banda Aceh, Indonesia A woman holds her head as she is escorted away after being whipped by an executor following an accusation of having sex outside of marriage An Indonesian woman cowers at the feet of an enforcer whose job is to administer lashings for breaking a strict set of rules Members of the sharia police women known as Wilayatul Hisbah stop teenage girls who are wearing tights, which is against the prevailing sharia law Police women speak to a young couple after they were caught sitting too close to each other in a park The vast majority of the country's 255 million people - 90 per cent of whom describe themselves as Muslim - do not follow the strict rules. A group called Wilayatul Hisbah, an Islamic police force, is responsible for catching offenders. Images taken today show an acehnese woman being caned by an executor known as an 'algojo' because she had spent time with a man who is not her husband. Members of the police group known as Wilayatul Hisbah pray during morning assembly before they go out on patrol in the conservative state in Indonesia Women are required to dress modestly and Shariah police officers patrol the streets and conduct raids to hunt for immoral activities An acehnese woman gets a caning in public from an executor known as 'algojo' for spending time with a man who is not her husband Women are required to dress modestly and Shariah police officers patrol the streets and conduct raids to hunt for immoral activities. The province began implementing Sharia law after being granted autonomy in 2001 an attempt by the government in Jakarta to quell a long-running separatist insurgency. Islamic laws have been strengthened since Aceh struck a peace deal with Jakarta in 2005. An executor known as 'algojo' prepares for a public caning for violations against Sharia law in Banda Aceh, Indonesia A woman is escorted to the public spot where she will be given a caning for spending time with a man who is not her husband Large groups gather to watch a lashing in public of a woman who spent time with a man who wasn't her husband Some of the masked men in the pictures are paid professional executioners, and all adhere to an intimidating dress code of a black robe with a gold trim, beige or light-coloured eye mask and white gloves. Previously, the enforcers have been seen to wear a pink trim to their black robes, but their footwear appears to be their own choice. They have been seen to wear black boots, running shoes and in the most recent lashings which occurred on Monday, one enforcer was spotted wearing what looked like hotel-issue white slippers. Punishments were handed out to women and men having sex outside of marriage for which they received 25 lashings. One man was caned for gambling and both men and women were lashed for spending time with somebody who is not their husband or wife. The punishments are not consistent with previous cases, with women caned 100 time for having sex outside of marriage just 10 days ago. A self-proclaimed millionaire slashed a 10million masterpiece with a drill bit after moaning about people taking photos of paintings, a court heard. Keith Gregory, 63, made a 100cm by 65cm x-shaped scratch to Thomas Gainsborough's The Morning Walk last Saturday, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard. A wing of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London, containing classic British paintings was evacuated for two hours after Gregory allegedly attacked the 232-year-old painting at around 2:15pm before being restrained by staff and bystanders. Malachy Packenham, prosecuting, said: 'The allegation is that he went into the National Gallery on Saturday, went into a room called Room 34 in the east wing of the gallery. Self-proclaimed millionaire Keith Gregory (above), 63, made a 100cm by 65cm x-shaped scratch to Thomas Gainsborough's The Morning Walk with a drill bit at the National Gallery last Saturday, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard 'The canvas that Thomas Gainsborough used all those years ago was quite a robust canvas and it did not tear,' said Malachy Packenham, prosecuting. Above, the damaged artwork 'The wing houses a number of classic British painting by the likes of Gainsborough and Turner.' Mr Packenham said that Gregory 'made utterances about people taking pictures of the painting' before saying 'everyone is taking pictures of me. 'He got up, went to the painting known colloquially as The Morning Walk by Thomas Gainsborough and took out a drill bit and went to slash the painting. 'He was partly successful. He slashed in what witnesses described as an x-scratch in the lower right-hand side extending about 100cm by 65cm. 'Luckily, the canvas that Thomas Gainsborough used all those years ago was quite a robust canvas and it did not tear. 'There was damage, however, caused to the painting. There is some debate about the price. A similar Gainsborough, although one not as prominent, sold for 6.5million. It is an extremely valuable painting. 'The circumstances are pretty unique, you could argue like the painting itself. It is a substantial work of art of international interest.' He said Gregory 'effectively absconded' from psychiatric care in Northampton, last November and has been at large since. The painting featured in 2012 James Bond film Skyfall (above), where it can be seen over actor Daniel Craig's shoulder in a scene that shows a clandestine meeting between Bond and weapon expert Q, played by Ben Wishaw 'On his own admission, he has travelled the length and breadth of the country.' Gregory, appearing in a grey sweatshirt tucked into purple jogging bottoms, refused legal representation when he appeared in court today and said: 'I don't wish my lawyer to speak for me.' He added: 'I think the crown court should deal with it.' The charge was not formally put to Gregory for a plea. On Monday, Gregory said he had requested his own solicitor and had more than 1million in his account to pay for one. The portrait, officially titled Mr and Mrs William Hallett, depicts a 21-year-old engaged couple enjoying a walk in the countryside and is considered one of Gainsborough's great masterpieces He then said: 'My father was a very important freemason by the name of Jimmy Gregory.' 'I asked for a private [solicitor]. I asked for a rabbi as well. 'There's plenty of money in my account. [I have] 1,050,000. I just bought another house outside London for 485,000. I paid cash on all these.' The portrait, officially titled Mr and Mrs William Hallett, depicts a 21-year-old engaged couple enjoying a walk in the countryside and is considered one of Gainsborough's great masterpieces. The work, painted in 1785, has been owned by the National Gallery for more than 60 years, having been bought for 30,000 in 1954. It also featured in 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, where the painting can be seen over actor Daniel Craig's shoulder in a scene that shows a clandestine meeting between Bond and weapon expert Q, played by Ben Wishaw. In 2011, Gainsborough's Portrait of Miss Read, Later Mrs William Villebois sold for 6.5million at Christie's in London, the highest price paid for a work by the famous British artist. The hearing continues. Advertisement London was plunged into eerie silence tonight as thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square for a candlelit vigil to remember yesterday's terror attack victims. In a moving tribute to the policeman and three members of the public slain by 'lone wolf' terrorist Khalid Masood, locals and tourists stood shoulder to shoulder and held up their flames which flickered in the cold evening breeze. It was a rare moment of quiet reflection for the thousands of busy Londoners who came straight to the square from work. One captured the mood with the words: 'So many people but so peaceful.' Scroll down for video We are not afraid: Thousands of busy Londoners, many wearing suits and carrying briefcases, came straight from work for a poignant moment of quiet reflection. They stood shoulder to shoulder, defiant in the face of terror Placing their flames: Two women light candles at the vigil in Trafalgar square and then place them in a bed of sand with others Poignant: Senior politicians including London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Home Secretary Amber Rudd attended the vigil as acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner Craig Mackey (right) spoke of yesterday's events Sea of people: Thousands of people of all faiths and none turned up to pay their respects in London's iconic Trafalgar Square Mr Khan said: 'Those evil and twisted individuals who tried to destroy our shared way of life will never succeed and we condemn them' Lapping: As the River Thames flowed under Westminster Bridge, candles burned on top of the railings opposite Big Ben Peace: A baby with a Union Jack on her face holds a bunch of flowers at a vigil in Trafalgar Square as her mother carries her Beautiful: The candles lit up the square as people placed them in beds of sand on top of the paving stones of the iconic venue Keeping the flames alight: One man shrouded in a Union Jack took it upon himself to light the candles that went out Stunning: The glowing candles flickered in the cold wind as Londoners placed them on beds of sand alongside cards and flags Bold: One Muslim woman held up a sign reading 'not in my name' in a bid to distance her religion from yesterday's act of terror Tears: One woman wearing a hijab cried as she paid her respects to those who had died as another woman comforted her Moving: A card showing the Union Jack with London written across it was placed in a bed of sand next to several candles Reflecting: One young Londoner who was wrapped up warm stared into a candle as the flame flickered in the cold breeze Eyes down: Some mourners couldn't take their eyes of the beautiful display of candles as others took photos to remember Touching: Londoners brought candles of all sizes along with model houses, cards, flags and flowers to lay on the stones Touching: A letter with a prayer was left on the floor with a ring of candles surrounding it on the paving stones Lighting the way: Mourners placed candles on top of the wall running the length of the bridge - all the way up to Big Ben Jews, Christians, Muslims, atheists, pensioners and babies all came together to observe a minute's silence for the three victims of the Westminster attack - PC Palmer, Spanish teacher Aysha Frade and US tourist Kurt Cochran. They held up Union Jacks, planted their candles in beds of sand and left poignant cards and prayers on the ground. As she laid a bunch of daffodils in the square, retiree Wendy Scott summarised the show of defiance with the words: 'We will carry on.' The vigil was organised by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who invited people to come together to pay their respects from 6pm. Joined by senior politicians including Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Mr Khan told the packed venue: 'Those evil and twisted individuals who tried to destroy our shared way of life will never succeed and we condemn them. 'The victims were people who came from all corners of our world. This a time to express our gratitude to the heroism of our police officers and emergency services who ran towards danger to help, and at the same time they encouraged others to run for safety. 'London is a great city, full of amazing people from all backgrounds. When Londoners face adversity we always pull together. We stand up for our values and show the world we are the greatest city in the world.' Amber Rudd paid tribute to 'courageous and brave' police officer Keith Palmer, stabbed to death by the Westminster attacker, saying: 'He was courageous, he was brave, and he was doing his duty. Packed: The steps of the square were packed with tourists and locals alike as people came together to remember the victims Paying their respects: Londoners of all faiths and none packed the square for a minute's silence to remember the victims Home Secretary Amber Rudd paid tribute to 'courageous and brave' police officer Keith Palmer, stabbed to death by the Westminster attacker, saying: 'He was courageous, he was brave, and he was doing his duty The Home Secretary added: 'I want us to say thank you to them all for the great sacrifice and risks they take to keep us safe.' Heartfelt: People placed candles in the sand in Trafalgar square. They wore Union Jacks and hats with London written on them Solidarity: London Mayor Sadiq Khan has invited locals and tourists alike to come together to pay their respects from 6pm Moving: People light candles at a vigil in Trafalgar Square as they lay flowers and Union Jacks on the historic paving stones Filling up: One of the designated beds of sand where mourners laid candles was almost full to the brim with flickering flames I love London: One local wearing a beanie hat wrote London underneath a love heart on each of her cheeks at the vigil Safety first: Police toting automatic guns were in Trafalgar Square to assure than public that they were safe as they paid respects On hand: Several unarmed police officers were also at the vigil. These two were seen bowing their heads during the minute's silence Positive message: One young mourner held a candle in one hand and sign in the other reading: 'Keep calm and love London' Stern faces: Trafalgar square was awash with sad faces as people came together to mourn and pay their respects with a minute's silence 'And he was not alone in doing that. I know that all officers of the Met are like that and in my experience, so are all policemen. 'I want us to say thank you to them all for the great sacrifice and risks they take to keep us safe.' Drawing applause from the crowd, she said of the attack: 'They will not win, we are all connected and we showed that today by coming together, by going to work, by getting about our normal business, because the terrorists will not defeat us, we will defeat them. We are strong in our values and proud of our country.' Inviting Londoners to the vigil, Mr Khan's website read: 'The Mayor invites all Londoners and everyone visiting our city - to come together in solidarity to remember those who have lost their lives, to express sympathy with their families and loved ones and to show the world that we are more committed than ever to the values that we hold dear that we remain united and open. 'London is the greatest city in the world. We will never be cowed by terrorism. We stand together, in the face of those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life. We always have, and we always will.' Throughout the day people have been chalking defiant messages in the iconic square, using the hashtag 'We are not afraid'. Mourners from all nationalities and backgrounds were seen at a vigil for the victims of Wednesday's attack at Trafalgar Square Police presence: Officers join the crowds at a vigil for the victims of Wednesday's attack, at Trafalgar Square in London Berlin: The Brandenburg Gate is illuminated with the colours of the British flag to show solidarity with the victims of the recent attack in London Sunderland: A moving tribute at Penshaw Monument near Sunderland this evening to those killed in Westminster attack yesterday Newcastle: A moving tribute over the River Tyne this evening to those killed in the Westminster attack yesterday Locals have refused to be cowed by the terrifying scenes that unfolded in the heart of the capital yesterday, gathering to take pictures and lay floral tributes on Westminster Bridge almost as soon as the Metropolitan Police lifted its cordon. On social media people have drawn comparisons to the Blitz spirit of the Second World War, by posting memes of inspirational messages with pictures of bombed out war-time London. While stations on the Underground network have used notice boards to offer messages of support, willing people to remain strong in times of adversity. Politicians and the police have also urged the public not to let the attack, which claimed the lives of three innocent people and injured at least 29, create a culture of 'fear' in the city - with the hashtags #LondonisOpen and #WeAreNotAfraid trending on Twitter. Addressing MPs in the House of Commons today, Prime Minister Theresa May said: 'We are not afraid and our resolve will never waiver in the face of terrorism.' Respects: Londoners gathered in Trafalgar Square tonight to pay their respects after the horrific terror attack yesterday Art: One paving stone showed the British flag flying half mast with the hashtag 'Not Afraid' in pink chalk directly underneath 'We are not afraid': Throughout the day people have been chalking defiant messages on the paving stones of the iconic square A couple makes a heart sign with their hands after the cordon was lifted on Westminster Bridge, the day after a terrorist attack rocked London Pictured: Floral tributes are laid at the scene of yesterday's carnage in Westminster, that left three innocent people dead Defiant Londoners have vowed not to let the terror attack beat them with the #WeAreNotAfraid hashtag trending on social media (right). Left, the Quote of the Day board at Tower Hill Station asks people to be strong in the face of adversity A tweeter posts a picture of a woman drinking a cup of tea while sitting on the rubble of a house in London, during the Second World War - as people take a defiant stance in light of yesterday's terror attack Tweeters have posted inspirational messages as people taking a defiant stance in the wake of the Westminster terrorist attack London was rocked yesterday afternoon after jihadist Khalid Masood crashed a Hyundai 4x4 into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before hurtling towards the gates of Parliament. Pc Keith Palmer, a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad, was killed as he tried to stop Masood, 52, at around 2.30pm on Wednesday, while three members of the public were also fatally injured. The terrorist, who was armed with two knives, injured crowds of people as he mowed down pedestrians with a car on Westminster Bridge before crashing at the railings in front of Parliament. Bursting through the gate to the Palace of Westminster, he stabbed Pc Palmer before being shot dead by armed officers. Eight people have been arrested and six addresses raided in London, Birmingham and elsewhere in connection with the Westminster terror attack, Mark Rowley, the Met's senior anti-terror officer, has revealed. In her speech to the Commons this morning Mrs May lauded the courageous actions of fallen officer Pc Palmer and revealed Masood had previously been investigated by MI5. Tweeters have posted old photos of Londoners during wartime as well as patriotic pictures, as people urge each other to stay strong after yesterday's attack London's Tube stations have offered words of supporter to travellers on the Thought of the Day message boards. Left, a message at Oval station and right, Tottenham Court Road Pictured: People go about their business outside Charring Cross Station this morning as a defiant mood spreads around the capital just 24 hours after the nation was rocked by the scenes in Westminster Pictured: Commuters make their way into work at Charring Cross Station in central London this morning Pictured: Travellers head in and out of Embankment Tube station as it reopens for business as usual after yesterday's terror attack She said: 'Pc Palmer had devoted his life to the service of his country. He had been a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command for 15 years, and a soldier in the Royal Artillery before that. 'He was a husband and a father, killed doing a job he loved. 'He was every inch a hero. And his actions will never be forgotten. 'I know the whole House will join me in sending our deepest condolences to his family - and to the families and friends of all those who have been killed or injured in yesterday's awful attacks. In an effort to rally around in the face of adversity, many people have been posting pictures and messages of condolence in wake of the attack. The capital's Underground stations have used their 'Thought of the Day' boards to offer support, with Tower Hill station writing: 'The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of them all. #Londonisopen #Westminster #WeAreNotAfraid' While staff at Oval station wrote: 'You have to be at your strongest when you're feeling at your weakest. Our condolences, our city, our diversity, our strength. #IAmLondon #WeAreNotAfraid. Pictured: People head back to their offices as the authorities tell people it is safe to act as normal, less than 24 hours after yesterday's attack People leave disembark trains from Kent and head out to work as commuters are undeterred by the frightening scenes in Westminster yesterday Pictured: Undeterred by yesterday's horrific carnage people make their way into work on the Underground this morning Londoners have been urged to continue as normal less than 24 hours after the attack on Westminster rocked the capital Pictured: Police officers stand on patrol at Charring Cross station this morning, as the Met vows to put more officers on the streets in light of yesterday's attack Pictured: An armed police officer stands on guard on deserted streets in Whitehall this morning as the Met continues to investigate around Westminster Charlotte Eames posted: 'The UK survived 2 world wars and the IRA. The UK will not bow down to terrorists #WeAreNotAfraid' While a tweeter called Rachel shared: '#londonisopen Today London will carry on...I WILL be taking my children into the city on Saturday #WeAreNotAfraid' Ross wrote: 'I am so proud of this country and people getting on with their days after such a terrible day yesterday #PrayForLondon #wearenotafraid' While Francesca De Florio posted a picture of the Thames with the Houses of Parliament in the background and said: '#London's quiet dignity this morning makes me so Proud #WeAreNotAfraid.' Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the capital would not be intimidated by terrorism. He said: 'London has seen this before and is taking it on the chin.' Mr Fallon confirmed Parliament's security would now be reviewed. But paying tribute to Pc Palmer, he said: 'They did not get into Parliament. They only got as far as the gate. They did not breach the security of the House of Commons and he gave his life to protect the security of our democracy. 'Parliament cannot be hermetically sealed. People are coming and going all the time. Pictured: Paramedics treat the knifeman who left three people dead and 29 injured after ploughing into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer outside the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday afternoon (ringed, his knife) Pictured: Members of the public rush to help a man run down after the vehicle mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge during Wednesday's attack This was the series of events where a knife attacker drove into pedestrians before he was shot by police 'There was a division going on at the time, people arriving through the gates either by car or foot, to vote. 'This is something that will now be reviewed by the House authorities.' Mr Fallon said the 'assumption' was the attack was related to 'Islamic terrorism in some form' but deferred to police for the detail. Acting Deputy Met Police Commissioner Rowley urged London not to let terrorism create a culture of 'fear'. The police chief explained that a 'large and complicated crime scene' remains in place around Westminster, but thanked the public for their patience. He said: 'As people are out and about on the streets of the Capital this morning they will see more police officers on duty - armed and unarmed - and a mix of British Transport Police and the City of London. 'We have cancelled some leave and increased some duty hours and are working to make sure that we can out in force to reassure the public. 'We must not allow terrorists to create discord, distrust and fear. 'The police stand with all communities - later today a meeting of faith leaders will be held here at New Scotland Yard. 'Whilst our work to investigate and understand what happened yesterday continues with vigour - we must also reflect. 'I want to thank the public for their support and all their good wishes - I know it is appreciated by all those men and women who are out there today protecting us.' Acting Deputy Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said London should not let terrorists create a culture of 'fear' in the city Shoppers have been left confused after coming across a London zebra crossing, where the stripes go the wrong way. The puzzling pedestrian crossing on Eltham High Street, south east London, is part of a 6.6 million regeneration plan. But instead of the road markings running parallel to the pavement, they go across the road. The puzzling pedestrian crossing on Eltham High Street, south east London, is part of a 6.6 million regeneration plan One line even turns back on itself, to form the letter 'E'. The transformation of the area's main shopping area started in February 2016 as part of a Greenwich council scheme primarily funded by Transport for London. Margaret Sparrow, 74, from Sidcup, Kent said: 'What is it? Is it a zebra crossing which has been put in the wrong way? I'm totally confused. 'I've never seen anything like it! It's ridiculous.' Instead of running parallel with the pavement, the lines run down the road, with one even bending back on itself to form the letter 'E'. The regeneration of the area started in February 2016 The crossing was painted overnight on the high street. Know your crossings Zebra: White parallel markings on the road with yellow flashing beacons Pelican: A light operated crossing. Pedestrians press a button and wait for the green man Toucan: A light operated crossing for both pedestrians and cyclists Advertisement SeNine magazine covering the town saw dozens of readers comment on the crossing. Vicky Clayton-Whelan, from Eltham, said: 'Greenwich council, TFL etc you should all be ashamed & very embarrassed!!! More tax payers money wasted.' Sue Boner added: 'Stupid doesn't even part cover it!, The saying peanuts and monkeys comes to mind!' SeNine editor John Webb said: 'It's great. We hope it brings in tourists like the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the wonky spire in Chesterfield. 'It does have what resembles an E for Eltham in it so it's not that bad.' A spokesperson for the Royal Borough of Greenwich said: 'This is not a mistake and has formed part of the proposals which were widely consulted upon from the outset. This is a signalised pedestrian crossing, not a zebra crossing. The intention of the design is to extend the pedestrian area of Passey Place and connect the northern side of the High Street to the south. It ensures that the road is pedestrian-friendly rather than simply a corridor for motorists'. Alexis Williams, 20 (pictured), was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly recording two residents at the nursing home where she worked having sex in August A nursing home worker was arrested this week for allegedly recording two residents having sex for a Snapchat video. Alexis Williams, 20, was charged with video voyeurism for the incident which reportedly happened back in August at the Bristol Court Assisted Living Facility in St. Petersburg, Florida. Investigators say the medical assistant recorded an 81-year-old woman and a 59-year-old man having sex at the home and then shared the video on Snapchat. The two residents were reportedly unaware that Williams was filming. A tipster who saw the video then informed the facility, who promptly fired Williams. It took police several months to build a case against Williams, likely because Snapchat videos self-delete after they are viewed. Williams was immediately fired after the allegations came to light this summer. Above, the nursing home where she worked However, police say they worked to get records from the social media company, though they wouldn't say whether that meant the actual video. They also said they have surveillance footage to back up their case and even a confession from Williams. Williams certainly didn't look like she was giving into the charges without a fight as she was released from jail on Wednesday. 'I asked them, "Where's their proof?" and I won't say nothing else until they give me proof,' Williams said, according to Bay News 9. She faces one charge of video voyeurism and one count of video voyeurism dissemination. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch said Wednesday that the writers of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution were 'racists' and 'sexists.' The post-Civil War amendment guaranteed citizenship rights to freed black former slaves who were born on American soil. It also forbade states from denying any person 'life, liberty or property, without due process of law' and said a state can't 'deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.' Senate Democrats have seized on Gorsuch's image as an 'originalist' interpreter of the Constitution, fretting that because the Fourteenth Amendment doesn't explicitly mention African-Americans and women, he might rule on the high court that its protections don't apply to them. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch (left) told Sen. Dianne Feinstein (right) on Wednesday that the drafters of the Fourteenth Amendment were 'racists' and 'sexists,' but said that wouldn't affect how he interprets it on the high court Gorsuch told Sen. Dianne Feinstein that its writers in 1866, two years before states ratified it, were racists and sexists, but that doesn't matter to him. He would focus as a judge, he said, only on how the Supreme Court has already ruled on the Amendment's use of the word 'persons' which, taken literally, includes human beings of all races, both genders, and any sexual orientation. 'No one is looking to return us to horse-and-buggy days. We're trying to interpret the law faithfully, taking principles that are enduring and a Constitution that was meant to last ages and apply it and interpret it to todays problems,' Gorsuch said. Feinstein had said that the Fourteenth Amendment's male authors had no idea they would be protecting women's right to legal abortions or the marriage rights of gays and lesbians. The Fourteenth Amendment, passed in 1866 and ratified two years later, guaranteed citizenship rights to former slaves who were born on American soil, and pledged 'equal protection of the laws' to all 'persons' Gorsuch would have none of it, even as he cast stones at Ohio Republican Rep. John Bingham and Michigan Republican Sen. Jacob Howard the two lawmakers credited with writing the language that has been cited in more Supreme Court cases than anything else in the Constitution. Bingham wrote the Equal Protection Clause; Howard penned the section extending citizenship rights to native-born people and those who are 'naturalized.' Both measures were intended to mainstream former slaves into the U.S. during the Reconstruction era. 'When it comes to equal protection of the laws, for example, it matters not a whit that some of the drafters of the Fourteenth Amendment were racists, because they were or sexists, because they were the law they drafted promises equal protection of the law to all persons,' Gorsuch said Wednesday. 'A good judge starts with precedent and doesn't reinvent the wheel. So to the extent there are decisions on these topics and there are a good judge respects precedent.' A pregnant Lyft driver went into labor on the job, but carried on picking up customers before she finally drove herself to the hospital to give birth. Mary Joy Clarence Cabarle, 24, was nine months pregnant when she started experiencing contractions while she was driving for Lyft in Chicago, Illinois, last July. But she brushed it off as a 'false alarm' and accepted another ride request before she headed to the hospital, where doctors confirmed she was in labor. Mary Joy Clarence Cabarle was nine months pregnant when she started experiencing contractions while she was driving for Lyft in Chicago, Illinois, last July She accepted another ride request on her way to the hospital, where doctors confirmed she was in labor. Pictured, her baby in a Lyft onesie Cabarle, who is listed as a community associate at Lyft on her LinkedIn profile, mentored new drivers on July 21st before she decided to put in a few hours of driving. Cabarle started experiencing contractions a few rides in, but pressed on, thinking she was still a week away from her due date. But the situation grew more dire, and she was on her way to the hospital when a ride request popped up, which she promptly accepted. 'Luckily, the ride was a short one,' according to the Lyft blog post. She dropped the passenger off and headed straight to the hospital, where doctors confirmed she was in labor. Cabarle gave birth just hours later at 7.23am on July 22, and the Lyft blog post included a picture of baby Maven Mia in a company-branded onesie. Her daughter Maven Mia (pictured with Cabarle) was born the next morning Lyft was criticized for those who suggested Cabarle (pictured with Lyft rating and pink mustache logo) might have been forced to extreme measures to make ends meet The incredible story raised a few eyebrows, given that it was publicized on the Lyft's blog with an appeal urging others to submit their 'exciting' experiences using the app. Critics were quick to point out that Lyft does not offer its drivers paid maternity leave or health insurance, although it remains unclear if Cabarle is considered an employee with benefits. Bryan Menegus at Gizmodo wrote: 'I cant pretend to know Marys economic situation. 'Maybe shes an heiress who happens to love the freedom of chauffeuring strangers from a place to place on her own schedule. 'But that Lyft, for some reason, thought this would reflect kindly on them is perhaps the most horrifying part.' A Texas couple have been arrested for allegedly leaving their two young children alone in their vehicle in the middle of the night while they shopped at a Walmart. Verenice Moran, 18, and Yonatan Vasquez, 23, were booked into a jail on Monday on charges of child endangerment and abandoning stemming from an incident that took place outside the Baytown Walmart at around 12.30am. Police were called to the store on Garth Road after getting a report of children sitting alone in a red Ford pickup truck. Parenting fail: Verenice Moran (left), 18, and Yonatan Vasquez (right), 23, were arrested in Texas and charged with child endangerment for allegedly leaving their two young sons alone in their pickup truck for at least 40 minutes Responding officers found a 1-year-old boy and a 3-month-old boy in their car seats in the vehicle with the engine and windshield wipers still running. Police then went to the Walmarts management asking to help them track down the parents, reported the station CW39. When Moran and Vasquez finally exited the store laden with groceries about 20 minutes into the search, they were detained and questioned. The young parents explained that one of their children was sick and they did not want to take them inside the store. They also claimed they had been gone for no more than 15-20 minutes, but police say they were able to determine that the children were left unsupervised in the parking lot closer to 40 minutes, reported Click 2 Houston. Shopping trip gone awry: The couple's one-year-old son and his three-month-old were discovered by police sitting in their car seats in the parking lot of Both the infant and toddler were later released into the custody of relatives while their parents headed off to jail. Moran and Vasquez made their first court appearance on Wednesday to answer to the charges against them, according to KTRK. The teenage mother-of-two was released from Baytown Jail after posting $2,000 bond. Vasquez remained behind bars on $37,000 bond. The pair are scheduled to go back before the judge in May. Santa Monica firefighters managed to resuscitate a small dog that was found trapped in a burning apartment. The dog miraculously survived despite enduring the brutal effects of the fire after breathing in smoke for at least 20 minutes. California firefighters saved the day when they performed the kiss-of-life with a special pet-CPR machine that involved placing an oxygen mask, designed for dogs, over its snout. The fire happened at around 4pm on Tuesday at a one-story apartment building near Santa Monica High School. Santa Monica firefighters responding to an apartment fire yesterday saved a dog that had been overcome by heat and smoke, as the worried owner, Crystal Lamirande, 35, looks on Firefighters searching the interior for victims discovered an unresponsive dog that was overcome by heat and smoke The dog was quickly pulled from the structure not breathing and without a pulse. The concern of its owner, Crystal Lamirande, was clear for all to see, left Video courtesy of Billy Fernando The fire spread rapidly from a kitchen through to a storage room. When firefighters entered the building, they discovered the unconscious dog that had been overcome by the heat and smoke and managed to pull it out of the building. Despite not breathing nor having a pulse, rescuers did not give up and they battled to save the dog's life. They were closely watched by the pet's concerned owner, 35-year-old Crystal Lamirande. Lamirande says she frantically tried to save her dog, a 10-year-old Bichon Frise/Shih Tzu named Nalu, but after running into the burning building was forced back because the smoke was too thick. Firefighters performed 'CPR' and provided oxygen through a 'Pet Oxygen Masks', a standard piece of equipment that all Santa Monica Fire Department units carry Andrew Klein from Santa Monica Fire Department went in for the rescue and gave the pet CPR to bring the dog back to life Lamirande says she frantically tried to save her dog, a 10-year-old Bichon Frise/Shih Tzu named Nalu, but she says the smoke was too thick After 20 minutes of first aid, the dog began to breathe on its own and was able to walk. Neighbors took the dog to a local animal hospital. The pooch then spent the next 24 hours in an oxygen chamber and is said to be doing well. 'This brave firemen (sic) named Andrew Klein from Santa Monica Fire Department went in for the rescue and gave the pet a CPR and took care of her back to life,' photographer Billy Fernando wrote as he captured the unfolding drama. 'Faith in humanity restored.' It took 23 firefighters to finally get the blaze under control. No people were injured in the fire. California firefighters spent 20 minutes performing mouth-to-snout resuscitation Santa Monica fire crews carry pet CPR devices with them which helped to save the dog's life After 20 minutes, the dog began breathing on its own and regained consciousness, even regaining the ability to walk around. Firefighter Andrew Klein performed CPR on the dog A judge on Wednesday set an August trial date for a West Virginia man accused of brutally raping and murdering his girlfriends 10-month-old daughter. Jackson County Circuit Clerk Bruce DeWees said Benjamin Taylor, 32, will go to trial on August 8 in the October 2016 slaying of Emmaleigh Elizabeth Barringer that rocked Jackson County. The infant was discovered by her mother, Amanda Leigh Adkins, lying naked and bleeding on the floor of the familys basement on the morning of October 3, 2016. Scroll down for video Headed for trial: A judge on Wednesday set an August trial date for Benjamin Taylor (left), 32, who is accused of raping and murdering 10-month-old Emmaleigh Barringer (right) Grisly scene: The baby girl was found beaten and blooded inside the basement of this home in Ripley, West Virgnia, (above) in October 2016 Emmaleigh suffered extensive bleeding indicating a brutal sexual assault, according to a criminal complaint. She also showed signs of having been shaken and struck in the face. The little girl was declared brain dead at the hospital two days later. Taylor, Adkins then-boyfriend, told deputies after his arrest that he took the baby to the basement but blacked out and didn't know how the injuries occurred. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of death of a child by child abuse, one count of first-degree sexual assault and one count of sexual abuse by a guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust to a child. If convicted, Taylor could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Savagery: The little girl (pictured in her hospital bed) was declared brain dead two days after the October 3 attack On the same day the clerk settled on Taylors trial date, the West Virginia Senate unanimously passed a bill known as Emmaleigh's law that would increase the sentence for those convicted of child abuse cases causing death from the current 10 to 40 years up to 20 to 80 years, reported West Virginia MetroNews. The bill now goes to the House for consideration. In the wake of Emmaleigh's death, a petition was started on the website We The People calling for the hanging death of Benjamin Taylor in the event of his conviction, even though West Virginia abolished the death penalty more than 50 years ago. The petition had drawn more than 50,000 signatures before being shut down by the White House. Silver lining: West Virgnia Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill known as Emmaleigh's law, inspired by the infant (left), which would increase sentence for those convicted of child abuse cases causing death to 15 years to life Police in West Virginia said when they were summoned to Amanda Adkins' home at 8 Meadowlark Lane in Ripley, they found Taylor trying to 'wipe something' off his groin area, which was later determined to be the baby's blood, according to WSAZ. Blankets and clothes covered with blood were near where police said Taylor had been with the baby in the basement. Adkins, a mother-of-four who had recently relocated to West Virginia from Maryland, was holding the baby and had blood on her. She told cops she'd found the baby naked on the basement floor. Three other children were in the house at the time, according to police. Boyfriend: Amanda Adkins, Emmaleigh's mother, had moved to West Virginia and begun dating Taylor (pictured together) a short time before her baby's killing Taylor (left) told deputies after his arrest that he took the baby (right) to the basement but blacked out and didn't know how the injuries occurred Angelic: Emmaleigh, pictured in this family portrait with her mother and three older brothers and sister, suffered extensive bleeding indicating a brutal sexual assault Police said Taylor originally told them he did not know how the baby was injured, but later said he 'blacked out' while doing laundry with Emmaleigh. Taylor was not the girl's father. Relatives said he had begun dating Adkins a short time before the baby's killing. Emmaleigh was later taken off life support and died in the intensive care unit of Charleston Area Medical Center. Video shows the rescue of a manatee that had been injured by fishing boats after becoming lost near a port. The manatee had been seen swimming near the port city of Veracruz in the south-east Mexico. It had only been surviving by eating algae off boats and had suffered 22 injuries all over its fins and both sides of its body in collisions with vessels. The clip shows the huge mammal being rolled into a tarpaulin and hauled by around 20 rescuers into an open-backed van. The manatee, which was discovered to be a female, was then driven to the Aquarium of Veracruz. The plan is for her to recuperate before she is released into her natural habitat in the sea at Alvarado, Veracruz. Aquarium manager Ricardo Aguilar Duran said that as manatees are a protected species in Mexico, environmental authorities had to be called to assist in the rescue. The animal was spotted near the port of Veracruz in south east Mexico The huge mammal had suffered 22 different injuries and had been forced to survive off algae He said that the manatee was 3.08 metres (10 ft 1 in) long and in good health apart from her injuries caused by the boats. There are three species of manatee, all of which are listed as vulnerable to extinction by the World Conservation Union. Some say the plump sea mammals are the origin of the mermaid myth, when sailors saw them on rocks from afar and mistook them for women with fishes tails. The creature was taken to the Veracruz Aquarium for recuperation by rescuers A 50-year-old teacher who has been on the run with a 15-year-old student for more than a week may have been spotted in Texas. Tad Cummins and Elizabeth Thomas disappeared from Columbia, Tennessee, on March 13. Police say Cummins is armed with two handguns and that the girl, who changed her social media bio to 'wife' before they disappeared, is in grave danger. Amber alerts were issued in Tennessee and neighboring Alabama when the pair vanished but the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said they could be anywhere in the country. On Thursday, police in Corpus Christi, Texas, received a call from a member of the public claiming to have seen them. Scroll down for video Elizabeth Thomas and Tad Cummins were reported to have been seen in a Texas town on Thursday, 10 days after they vanished from Tennessee on March 13 Police recently released this photograph of the pair in Cummins' classroom in January The town is only 164 miles from the Mexican border and is more than 1,000 miles from where they were last seen in Tennessee. This image of Elizabeth was taken on March 13, the day she vanished. She appears to be carrying clothes A member of the public claimed to have seen the pair on US Highway 181 in the tiny town of North Beach. Police had not yet been able to track them down on Thursday afternoon and would not confirm whether they feared they were making a run for the border. A spokesman from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations told DailyMail.com it was not the first tip they had received and that so far, all leads had proved fruitless. Earlier this week it was revealed that Cummins was under investigation by police in Tennessee for his relationship with the girl when he vanished with her. They believe he used his position as her science teacher to groom her for sex and brainwash her in to abandoning her family of 12 to be with him. Another student at the school where he taught and which Elizabeth attended reported seeing them kissing on the lips in his classroom on January 23. The dark brow hair dye teacher Tad Cummins was seen buying (right) and Elizabeth in a family photograph (left) Elizabeth changed her Instagram biography before she vanished to describe herself as a 'wife'. She also added a ring emoji to the description Tennesee's Bureau of Investigation released a photograph of them in Cummins' classroom in the same month on Wednesday. The other student told school officials and police but Elizabeth's family was not notified until a week later and Cummins, who told the student he had a 'father daughter relationship' with her, was allowed to carry on teaching. He was eventually suspended on February 6 after the pair were found together again by the school principal. Local police in Tennessee were investigating them, they said, but did not have sufficient evidence to make an arrest. They said that even if they had put him behind bars on suspicion of inappropriate behavior, he would have made bail and been free to run away immediately afterwards. Thomas told her family she was spending the day with a friend when she did not come home on March 13. Cummins' embattled wife Jill made an emotional plea for his return last week, telling him: 'Tad, this is not you.' Elizabeth's father Anthony (right) said the teacher 'stole' his daughter from him Tennessee investigators say Elizabeth is in imminent danger. They believe Cummins is armed with two handguns Cummins was seen filling up his silver Nissan Rogue with gas on the day the pair disappeared One of her 10 siblings later confessed that she warned them to call police if she did not return home that night. The teenager appeared preoccupied with love in the days before her disappearance. Her Instagram page is filled with romantic drawings and quotes and she made several references to a 'mission' that was almost 'complete'. Cummins was seen buying women's hair dye the day before they vanished at a Walmart in Tennessee. He took out a $4,500 loan before vanishing too. He describes himself as a 'Jesus freak', father and grandfather. His conflicted wife issued an emotional appeal for him to return with the girl as the hunt for them entered its first week. 'Tad, this is not you,' she said. Elizabeth's family held vigils in their hometown in the hope she may reappear. Her father said Cummins 'stole' his daughter from him. On Wednesday, he revealed how Cummins 'convinced' his daughter he was a former CIA agent with 'all kinds of money'. The pair are believed to be driving silver Nissan Rogue which he was filmed filling up with gas the day before they disappeared. Anyone with information of their whereabouts is urged to call 1-800-TBI-FIND. Police are asking anyone who sees a silver Nissan Rogue with a license plate of TN 976-ZPT to call 911 immediately. A beloved driver's ed teacher has been unceremoniously sacked after privately urging a student to give up his sit-down protest of the Pledge of Allegiance. Vince Ziebarth, who taught driving at Eisenhower High School in the south suburbs of Chicago, was fired on March 16 after being told he made 'inappropriate comments' to sophomore Shemar Cooper. 'I told him I stand to honor the sacrifice and bravery of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. It doesn't mean America is perfect, or that we agree with everything going on,' Ziebarth told the Chicago Tribune, adding that the private conversation came after Shemar asked 'Mr. Z' when he'd take him out driving again. 'I told him he can make a choice to sit, but as long as you choose to sit, you will not sit in my vehicle. I did not tell him what to do,' Ziebarth said. Students have the choice of signing up with seven other driver's ed teachers. Vince Ziebarth, who taught driving at Eisenhower High School in the south suburbs of Chicago, was fired on March 16 after he urged a student to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Sophomore Shemar Cooper (standing) has been protesting the Pledge of Allegiance by refusing to stand since the beginning of the school year last fall Ziebarth's grandfather was a Marine in World War II, and his uncle served in Vietnam. 'I thought it was best for everyone. I didn't want my feelings to seep into my instruction unintentionally,' he said of asking Shemar to drive with other instructors as long as he continued the anti-Pledge protest. Another teacher at the school was disciplined in September, when Shemar began his protest, after the boy and his mom claimed that teacher had grabbed his arm to get him to stand. Zeibarth's offense, claims Shemar's mom Kelley Porter Turner, came a few weeks ago when the boy's friends were driving with Zeibarth and he asked when he could go driving with the popular teacher. Turner claims the teacher told Shemar, 'You know what you have to do if you want to come with me.' 'That's bullying,' she said. 'He violated my son's First Amendment rights.' 'Mr. Z is an amazing teacher, brought life into the students' life, whenever they had a bad day he was always there!', wrote student Jessica Belseth Turner said she emailed an administrator to complain, who called her two days later to say that Zeibarth had been fired. The mom then began contacting news outlets to publicize the teacher's firing. Students launched a petition to bring the fired teacher back upon hearing he'd been sacked. 'Mr. Z is an amazing teacher, brought life into the students' life, whenever they had a bad day he was always there!', wrote student Jessica Belseth. 'He taught us how to be one of a kind, and never settle for anything less!' 'Gun shots and explosions' have been reported in Westminster after a suspect package was found less than a mile from where the London terror attack unfolded. Witnesses reported the explosion at 8.30pm tonight and police confirmed that they had found a package close to Downing Street. A Met Police spokesman claimed that no explosion has taken place on Birdcage Walk, near where mourners have gathered for a vigil in Trafalgar Square. The force later revealed that an unattended bag had sparked the alert. Witnesses reported the suspect package had been found in Westminster tonight The discarded bag was found close to Horse Guards Road, next to St James' Park, police confirmed A Metropolitan Police spokesman told MailOnline that officers had been called after a suspect package was found in Birdcage Walk, close to Buckingham Palace. The road runs from the landmark, down past the Palace of Westminster, and turns into the A302, which goes over Westminster Bridge. Four people were killed when the attacker mowed down pedestrians and cyclists on the bridge then stabbed an officer by the gates of the Houses of Parliament. Two civilians injured on the bridge died, as well as the policeman and Masmood, who was shot by another officer moments after stabbing his colleague. Paul Abernethy wrote on Twitter: 'Down in Westminster, just heard what sounded like an explosion. Not sure what happened though. Police said they were dealing w/ new incident.' Sky News producer Pia Talbot claimed that police told them they had carried out a controlled explosion within earshot of their crew. A police spokesman said: 'Officers were called at 7.40pm, he stated. He said: In this case we are dealing with a suspect package. The spokesman said police would not be releasing further information. A man who launched an X-rated Marines Facebook group containing nude pictures of female troops claims he created the explicit page to catch perpetrators, but has admitted to not reporting any users. Tim Luckey, 43, told the New York Post on Wednesday that he created a group called Marines United 3.0, a few weeks ago after reports of a widespread nude photo scandal among the US Marine Corps emerged. The Minnesota man said his intentions were to report people sharing the naked pictures, by creating a 'troll' page that gained about 200 members. 'I didnt know how these other pages were able to share nude photos,' he told the Post. 'I saw that and said, "Lets give it a shot." Internet troll: Tim Luckey, 43, from Medford, Minnesota, claims he created a Facebook group sharing nude photos of female Marines in a bid to catch perpetrators Luckey, who has no ties to the US Marine Corps was put on a 24-hour ban after violating Facebook's nudity policy. He created a 'trolling profile' but reported none of the participating users The x-rated photos had been previously circulated in a Marines group with 30,000 members which is now under investigation Luckey began to share the naked pictures which were previously circulated among users from the original group which contained 30,000 members, and has since been under investigation. The man, who has no ties to the Marines and failed to complete basic training in the Army, said he shut down his alleged sting operation after Facebook alerted him of violating the site's nudity policy. He had told the news site that he was 'totally against any kind of sexual assault against men or women, it gets my blood boiling.' Screen grabs of the x-rated group shows Luckey attempted to get another moderator to take over after Facebook put him on a 24-hour ban. 'I am the admin of this page and this is my trolling profile...Anyway, Facebook has put me on a 24-hour break for one of my photos...I need more moderators, anyone up for it??? 'I'll be back tomorrow, but until then, here is something to remember me by,' he said in a post including multiple nude photos of female Marines. Luckey (pictured alongside a woman who appears to be a friend) identified as an employee of the Wounded Warrior Project on Facebook, but the organization said he is not part of their staff. He also joined the army in 2002, but did not complete basic training Luckey encouraged other users of sharing other photos in the group. He admitted his participation in the group was 'two-faced' Other screen shots of the group showed Luckey uploaded a picture of a topless woman behind an American flag saying, 'God Bless America.' The 43-year-old acknowledged not reporting any of the participating users, but said he does not regret creating the page, the New York Post said. 'I guess its kind of two-faced, but I dont know these people,' he said before adding that he never invited anyone to the group and that it was not a 'secret for a reason.' When asked questioned about his failed plan, Luckey said he had nothing to hide, as he cannot be charged under the Military Code of Justice. Members of the now-shut group were reportedly active-duty members who identified as lance corporals or Army crewmen. According to Luckey's Facebook account, he 'works' at the Wounded Warrior Project, but the organization said the man was not a staff member, according to the Post. Luckey said he meant to put on his profile that he was one of the 'alumni' of the service group. He also included working as an Army crewman who operated tanks, but later admitted that he joined the army in 2002, but never completed basic training. Dailymail.com has reached out to Luckey for comment. He has deleted his Facebook page as of Thursday afternoon. The US Defense Department is currently investigating allegations against members of the Marine Corps who were involved in sharing nude photos of their fellow female counterparts in a private Marines group. At least 20 victims have come forward complaining that their private racy photos were being shared in the Facebook group. The page has been taken down, but officials say the photos may have simply migrated to another private site. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller told lawmakers last Tuesday that he believes approximately 500 of the 30,000 listed members of Marines United have viewed the photographs. Advertisement Reaching from the heavens like a giant hand and bathed in the golden glow of sunset, it was a sight to send the imaginations of cloud lovers soaring. The spectacular altocumulus, a form of cloud more typically seen in rounded clumps, was photographed by the Manchester Astronomical Society and posted online by the Met Office. 'The weather saying "Hello" for Cloud Week,' the caption read. Speaking about altocumulus clouds Emma Salter, meteorologist at the Met Office, said: 'It's a harmless, fair-weather cloud that's often associated with beautiful sunsets. Celestial body? A spectacular altocumulus in the shape of a hand (albeit with six fingers) was photographed by the Manchester Astronomical Society and posted online by the Met Office 'That's why this one's got the lovely orangey-yellow glow. It can take all kinds of weird and wonderful shapes. 'They have just enough of an effect from the terrain on the ground to form into interesting shapes.' They are also a lenticular cloud, according to the Cloud Association Society, which is a lens or spaceship-shaped cloud formed by eddies of wind near mountains or weather fronts. And as if a heavenly hand wasn't enough, the same kind of cloud was also pictured taking the shape of a pair of giant legs 'walking' over Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Give us this day our daily tread: The same kind of cloud was also pictured taking the shape of a pair of giant legs 'walking' over Harrogate, North Yorkshire The sightings came as World Meteorological Day was marked yesterday with the listing of 11 new varieties of clouds in the international Cloud Atlas. The Met Office and World Meteorological Organization said it made the decision to add the likes of volutus - a 'long, typically low, horizontal, detached, tube-shaped cloud mass' - after exhaustive research. There are now 15 official cloud species making Wednesday's move the first significant change to cloud classification since the Seventies. A 75-year-old man has died tonight as a result of injuries sustained yesterday's terror attack in London. He becomes the fourth victim of terrorist Khalid Masood, who was shot dead outside the Houses of Parliament. The killer drove a 4x4 into crowds on Westminster Bridge before crashing into railings close to Big Ben. Masood, 52, then attacked and killed police officer PC Keith Palmer. Police have not released any information about the identity or nationality of the latest victim, who died at King's College Hospital tonight after his life support was withdrawn. News of the man's death came as thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square at a vigil remembering those who died. Officers had earlier today confirmed the deaths of mother-of-two Aysha Frade, 43, who was on her way to pick her children up from school, and American tourist Kurt Cochran, 54. Candles tonight burned on Westminster Bridge following yesterday's attack, which claimed the lives of three members of the public and a police officer. Killed: Mother-of-two Aysha Frade was killed by terrorist Khalid Masood, who drove a 4x4 into crowds on Westminster Bridge yesterday afternoon American tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, (pictured left) died after Masood drove onto the pavement on Westminster Bridge, and PC Keith Palmer (right) was stabbed to death outside the Houses of Parliament Mr Cochran's wife, Melissa, was seriously injured. Three French students, aged 15 and 16, and a 67-year-old South Korean tourist also suffered serious injuries. Theresa May revealed earlier today - before the latest death was announced - that among the injured there were 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Chinese, one Irish, one Italian and two Greeks. The foreign victims are likely to all have been tourists. A woman who was pulled alive from the Thames after jumping off Westminster Bridge to escape the attacker was among the victims in yesterday's atrocity. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack. Romanian architect Andreea Cristea, 29, was visiting London with her future husband, engineer Andrei Burnaz, to celebrate his birthday tomorrow. A third member of the public, a 75-year-old man, has died tonight, police have confirmed Thousands of people tonight gathered at a vigil in memory of those who died Terrorist Khalid Masood died after being shot by police outside the Houses of Parliament yesterday afternoon Earlier this evening King's College Hospital had revealed that two victims were fighting for their lives. People injured in yesterday's attack have been taken to hospitals across London. King's College NHS tweeted: 'We regret to report that one of the patients we treated following the #WestminsterAttack who was in a critical condition has sadly died.' The hospital took in eight patients. Four are stable, while two were today discharged. Today Prime Minister Theresa May paid a private visit to those injured in yesterday's terror attacks and staff whop treated them at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. She stopped to thank staff for their efforts and spent time speaking to the patients. A spokeswoman for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital confirmed the PM made the visit this afternoon. Thousands joined the vigil in the heart of London this evening to pay tribute to those killed in yesterday's terror attack The latest victim died at King's College Hospital, where medics earlier today said two people were fighting for their lives She said: 'The prime minister paid a private visit to staff and patients today, I can confirm. 'She took the time to speak to the staff at the hospital and took the time to praise their hard work and continued efforts to treat the patients following the yesterday's incident.' A statement from police this evening said: 'Detectives investigating the terrorist attack in Westminster on Wednesday, 22 March can confirm that a 75-year-old man died tonight, Thursday, 23 March. 'The man had been receiving medical treatment in hospital following the attack and life support was withdrawn this evening. 'Next of kin have been informed and are receiving support from specially trained family liaison officers.' Three members of the public were killed by terrorist Khalid Masood, who crashed a car into railings outside Big Ben before stabbing PC Keith Palmer yesterday afternoon The terrorist drove into pedestrians along Westminster Bridge at 2.40pm yesterday before crashing into railings close to Big Ben and bursting through security before being shot Details about the identity of the victim will not be released by the Metropolitan Police tonight, a spokesman told MailOnline. The news of his death came as thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square for a candlelit vigil to remember yesterday's terror attack victims. In a moving tribute to the policeman and three members of the public slain by the 'lone wolf' terrorist, locals and tourists stood shoulder to shoulder and held up their flames which flickered in the cold evening breeze. Thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square this evening for a vigil in memory of the innocent victims of terrorist Khalid Masood Candles were lit in Trafalgar Square in tribute to those who died in the London terror attack Masood had never been convicted of terror offences, although Theresa May revealed this morning that he had been on MI5's radar a number of years ago. Police insist there was no intelligence suggesting he was about to unleash a terror attack. Masood was a married father-of-three, former English teacher and a religious convert who was into bodybuilding, according to Sky News. A Scotland Yard spokesman said this afternoon: 'Masood was also known by a number of aliases. He was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack. 'However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. 'His first conviction was in November 1983 for criminal damage and his last conviction was in December 2003 for possession of a knife. He has not been convicted for any terrorism offences.' Three people and a police dog were killed in a shooting late Wednesday night at a residence in Louisiana. Crowley Police officer Tate Thibodeaux, was shot in his left thigh while responding with his K-9, Roscoe, to reports of gunfire at a home in the 400 block of Josey Street around 10.30pm, according to State Police Trooper Brooks David. Thibodeaux was released from the hospital on Thursday, but tragically his K-9 partner was killed in the line of duty. Crowley Police officer Tate Thibodeaux (pictured), was shot in his left thigh while responding with his K-9, Roscoe (right), to reports of gunfire at a home in the 400 block of Josey Street around 10.30pm Wednesday. Thibodeaux was released from hospital but Roscoe was killed Crowley Police Chief Jimmy Broussard says officers shot and killed a man at the home after he shot the dog and wounded the officer The suspect also shot and killed a woman at the home before police responded Crowley Police Chief Jimmy Broussard says officers shot and killed a man at the home after the gunman shot the dog and wounded the officer. The chief says the suspect also shot and killed a woman at the same home before police responded. Investigators also believe the gunman killed another woman at a home in a different Crowley neighborhood, according to KATC. It's believed the man went to the Avenue G home and drove the first victim's car to the Josey Street home. When police went to question the second woman about her vehicle, they found her dead in the Avenue G home, Broussard said. Investigators also believe the man killed another woman at a home in a different Crowley neighborhood. Pictured is the Josey Street area where the man was shot by police Police said they believe the man went to the Avenue G home (pictured) first and drove the first victim's car to the Josey Street home. There were two children in the home with her body, both unharmed There were two children in the home with her body, both unharmed. 'Our detectives are speaking with Crowley Police Department officers that arrived on scene. They're going to speak with the witnesses that were around the area or might have seen something,' David told KLFY. 'It's going to take a while to get this case together, so we'll see where it leads us.' he added. Police believe the gunman knew both women. 'We can't say with certainty, but we do believe (both women) were killed by the same suspect,' the chief told the Associated Press. No identities have been released of the three people killed in the incident. Charles Herford, the chief of the Normangee Police Department, was arrested and briefly booked into the Leon County Jail in Texas on Thursday morning A police chief who led officers on a dramatic two-hour chase has been caught and arrested following a standoff at his Texas home. Charles Herford, the chief of the Normangee Police Department, was arrested and briefly booked into the Leon County Jail in Texas on Thursday morning. He was charged with deadly conduct and evading in a motor vehicle, before being released on a $8,500 bond, KBTX reports. The dramatic incident was sparked by a 911 call made by Herford's wife from their home shortly before 2am. Police could hear the woman crying during her call, before it abruptly cut off. When the dispatcher called back moments later, Herford's wife answered the phone just moments before what the operator believed to be a gunshot was heard. Officers raced to the scene, and en route to the home they spotted Herford driving through the small Texas town in his police vehicle. Herford (pictured) led officers on a chase before he was caught and arrested following a standoff at his Texas home The chief was able to give the chasing officers the slip, and he evaded them for more than three hours as they scoured the town. Then, about 5:30am, local police received a tip claiming Herford had headed home. When they made their way to the property for a second time, Texas Rangers found the chief inside. But he refused to come out of his house, and negotiators spoke to him for about 90 minutes using his police radio. The dramatic incident was sparked by a 911 call made by Herford's (pictured) wife from their home shortly before 2am. The police chief was then seen in town, and he evaded police for five hours About 7am, he surrendered and was taken away. DPS Trooper Jimmy Morgan told KBTX Herford's children were in the home with their mother when the first 911 call was placed, but the house was empty when the chief returned later in the morning. Morgan added no one was hurt during the incident. An investigation is ongoing and is being led by Texas Rangers. A 14-year-old girl who livestreamed her suicide on Facebook after failing to win the affections of her allegedly abusive mother was prescribed an anti-depressant that heightens the risk of suicide, according to the Miami Herald. Two years prior to her death this past January, Naika Venant was determined by doctors to be suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. She was then prescribed a medication for ADHD and Zoloft, an anti-depressant that cannot legally be prescribed to children due to an increased risk of suicide. Zoloft is among a group of anti-depressants that the federal government requires be labelled with a 'black box' warning the most severe warning label because of the dangerous side effects for children. Two years prior to her death this past January, Naika Venant (above), 14, was determined by doctors to be suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder A 20-page report released by the Florida Department of Children & Families found that Naika suffered years of sexual abuse, was beaten and rejected by her mother, Gina Alexis (right with Naika in this undated photo) and bounced between more than 14 foster homes In the 18 months prior to her death, Naika was prescribed a medication for ADHD and Zoloft (above), an anti-depressant that cannot legally be prescribed to children due to an increased risk of suicide Only children who are diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorders can legally be prescribed Zoloft, according to the Herald. State officials told the Herald that Naika's constant relocation to different foster homes placed her in situations where adult guardians were unable to consistently monitor her for any danger signs while she was on psychiatric medication. Naika's case echoes that of Gabriel Myers, a seven-year-old boy who also hung himself in 2009 after he was placed into the foster system and had also been prescribed psychiatric medication. A spokesperson for Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant that markets Zoloft, told the Herald that the black box warning includes a note to caregivers to monitor patients for suicidal thoughts or unusual changes in behavior. On January 22, Naika hanged herself in the shower at her foster home in Miami while her foster parents were asleep - live streaming the whole incident on Facebook. Naika was living with a foster family at the time of her death and was found hanged from the door frame in the bathroom by Miami-Dade police. In the weeks following her death, more information came to light about Naika's difficult childhood. Naika's relationship with her mother, Gina Alexis (above), played a significant role in her death, according to a 20-page report issued by Florida authorities after the suicide A 20-page report released by the Florida Department of Children & Families found that Naika suffered years of sexual abuse, was beaten and rejected by her mother and bounced between more than 14 foster homes. The report released late Monday concluded that while state welfare authorities could have done a better job, Naika's relationship with her mother Gina Alexis played a significant role in her death. 'Despite everything that had occurred between Naika and her mother, Naika longed to be home,' said the report, written by members of a Critical Incident Rapid Response Team that was deployed by agency Secretary Mike Carroll after the child's death in January. 'Naika often told her therapist that she greatly missed her mother and really wanted to go back home.' The report said Alexis criticized her daughter as she watched the two-hour long Facebook Live video, calling her a 'custody jit' and and that she was a 'crying wolf...seeking attention'. One of the messages left said: '#ADHD games played u sad little DCF custody jit that's why u where u at for this dumb s--t n more u keep crying wolf u dead u will get buried life goes on after a jit that doesn't listen to there parents trying to be grown seeking boys and girls attention instead of her books.' But Alexis' lawyer has denied the state's contention that his client was abusive toward her daughter, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The lawyer also denies that she was online and watched as her daughter threatened to kill herself. The report detailed the alleged abuse. When Naika was 4, the agency was called to her mother's home after the girl was left unattended by a male babysitter, with no food or running water. Alexis enrolled the girl in day care and moved to another home. The next year, the report said, Naika went to the emergency room with an undisclosed chronic health condition. When Naika was 4, the agency was called to her mother's home after the girl was left unattended by a male babysitter, with no food or running water The child welfare agency was contacted when Alexis 'called Naika a liar and a faker.' In 2009, the report says Alexis beat Naika with a belt after the girl was sexually aggressive with another child. She was removed from her mother's home. Caseworkers sought to learn where the 6-year-old girl had learned about sex. She told therapists she slept in the room with her mother's boyfriends and watched 'sex movies.' The next year, after she was returned to her mother, DCF received a report that the girl was sexually abused while in foster care. The other child vehemently denied it, saying Naika was the aggressive one. According to the report, Naika ran away in 2014, telling investigators she was afraid her mother would beat her. Alexis refused to take Naika back, threatening to beat the then 11-year-old child if she was left there. Two months later, a Miami judge - over the objection of caseworkers and a court-ordered lay guardian - returned Naika to her mother. In April 2016, Alexis returned Naika to the state, saying she'd had it with her 'behavior.' Last November professionals recommended that Naika live in a 'specialized therapeutic foster home.' But no bed was available. In the report, the DCF team faulted the mental health professionals who worked with Naika for treating the symptoms of her trauma and abuse 'rather than addressing the trauma itself' and for failing to address the toxicity of the girl's relationship with her mother. Concerns about the lack of security at the gates to Parliament were raised by MPs just two weeks before they were breached by the knife-wielding killer, the Mail can reveal. They warned that the main wrought-iron Carriage Gates were often open, leaving just waist-high barriers described as being as flimsy as Meccano that could easily be jumped. An urgent security review was under way last night as officials faced questions about why the entry to one of Britains main terror targets was guarded by unarmed officers. An urgent security review is under way as officials face questions on why these Carriage Gates are so often open and unguarded A security assessment presented to a committee of MPs last month identified the Carriage Gates, used by the Prime Minister and ministers arriving by car, as a weak point. Sir Paul Beresford, chairman of the Commons administration committee, said the issue was raised again at a meeting around a fortnight ago. He added: The gates are flimsy and made of Meccano. The feeling of committee members was that it ought to be looked into to put an appropriate gate there. Police officers conduct a fingertip search at Carriage Gate near to the Houses of Parliament. The gates where Masood tried to enter are often left open Labours former home secretary Alan Johnson also yesterday suggested that arrangements must now be reviewed. He told Radio 4s World At One: There was a vote at the time. When votes are on, the gates are open so ministers can drive in from their different departments in Whitehall. We might have to think about that. It almost beggars belief Kevin Hurley, former Met Police commander Theresa Villiers, the former Northern Ireland secretary, asked MPs in the Commons: Is it time to consider whether the police who guard sensitive sites known to be of interest to terrorists like Parliament or airports should routinely carry weapons, even when those officers are not part of the units tasked with armed response? Former Met Police commander Kevin Hurley was among those who criticised apparent deficiencies in security. It almost beggars belief that a uniformed constable at the front gate of Parliament should be performing his duties when not even armed with a pistol, he said. When a suicide attacker starts, you have to stop him instantly. We have seen what a relatively unfit terrorist can do with a knife and car. Imagine if three fit young terrorists armed with AK47s had attacked Parliament. There would have been a very large number of casualties. British police officers stand on duty as forensics officers work outside the Carriage Gates on the evening of March 22 When will we wake up and take the terror threat seriously? Theresa May, responding after delivering a statement to MPs on the attacks, said the level of security has been enhanced significantly over her 20 years as an MP. She said it was an operational matter for the police whether officers were routinely armed, adding: They are the best able to judge the circumstances in which it is best for individuals to have arms. But we have seen a significant increase in armed-response vehicles, the number of counter-terrorism specialists, firearms officers. It is a sad reflection of the threat we face that it has been necessary to do that. Asked why a policeman on the front line at one of Britains most prominent terrorist targets was unarmed, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said: Obviously the security arrangements of the Commons will now be reviewed. Parliament cant be hermetically sealed. People come in and out all the time. We have visitors, quite rightly, we are the home of democracy. Our constituents see us. A Parliamentary spokesman said: 'Security of Members, staff and the visiting public is our highest priority. For Parliament to fulfil its democratic function, it is crucial that it remains open and accessible to the public. 'While we cannot comment on the specifics of our security, we work closely with the police, security services and others to ensure that our security measures are effective and meet whatever level of security risk Parliament faces. These measures are always, and will continue to be, under constant review. 'As is good practice following any significant incident, the Houses in conjunction with the police and other bodies will also be carrying out a review of security around this specific incident. 'As this is the subject of an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further at this time.' Did lapses leave him free to kill? By Larisa Brown for the Daily Mail How did the attacker get in to the parliamentary estate? There are two main gates into the parliamentary estate, known as the Carriage Gates, which are frequently opened to allow cars to pass in and out. At the time of the attack the 15ft-high iron gates were open. There is also a much lower barrier described as Meccano which the attacker was able to jump over. He then ran several yards into the grounds at New Palace Yard. Who uses the Carriage Gates and why were they open? They are mainly used by ministers and MPs in their cars, while visitors use turnstiles at the side of the gate to exit on foot. The iron double gates were open for ministers to vote as is commonly done to let them come and go quickly. British officers on duty at the Carriage Gates, which were the subject of security concerns a fortnight ago Why were there no armed guards at the main gates? A total of five officers are always posted at the main Carriage Gates, including two outside, two inside, and one dealing with pedestrians at turnstiles. These officers are usually unarmed. There are then armed guards routinely patrolling the grounds. They are not at a fixed position like at the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office with the idea being that if they keep moving, terrorists cannot predict where they will be. Do the officers on duty have enough protection? The unarmed officers do wear stab vests, but it is not clear what else they have on their person. The stabbing of the policeman on Wednesday will raise questions about whether they were given adequate protection for such an attack. Where were the armed police? Witnesses saw them run towards the initial noise, at the corner of New Palace Yard near Westminster Bridge. It is thought they were about 40 yards away when the attacker entered the grounds. Why was the Defence Secretarys bodyguard the one who helped? By coincidence, the plain-clothed close protection officer was understood to be in Sir Michael Fallons car in New Palace Yard. He saw the attacker run through the gate. Witnesses saw the officer run towards him before pulling a gun from his suit and shooting him. He was the first armed officer on the scene because he was just yards away. The Defence Secretary was voting in Parliament at the time. Did back-up arrive quickly? Heavily armed police from across the estate were on the scene in seconds. Police radios were heard saying: Shots fired and police officer down and possible stabbing. Back-up from the Metropolitan Police based around the corner on Embankment arrived minutes later. An ambulance was there in six minutes. If the police had been unable to handle the attack, the SAS would have flown in by helicopter within minutes. Is there enough security at the entrance to the estate? MPs raised concerns about the lack of security at the gates just two weeks ago. Members warned the iron gates were often left open, leaving just waist-high barriers that can easily be jumped. Yesterday there were also concerns that officers at the gates were unarmed. The Defence Secretary said current security arrangements will be reviewed. The probe will also examine the suggestion of arming police at the gates but he said it was neither possible nor desirable to seal off Parliament from the public. Hate preacher Trevor Brooks (above) was falsely identified by Channel 4 and Wikipedia as the maniac who murdered three people in a savage assault on Parliament Channel 4 and Wikipedia were in the dock last night after both blundered spectacularly by naming the wrong man as the Westminster attacker. Notorious hate preacher Trevor Brooks was falsely identified by the broadcaster and the online encyclopaedia as the maniac who murdered three people in a savage assault on Parliament. Both mistakenly claimed Brooks, who also calls himself Abu Izzadeen, was the extremist shot dead by police after the atrocity. But they came unstuck after it emerged the 41-year-old Islamist firebrand was serving a prison sentence for terrorism offences so could not have caused the carnage. The radical clerics brother contacted Channel 4 News, which had trumpeted its exclusive with a fanfare, and told them Brooks remained behind bars. While highly embarrassing for the broadcasters flagship programme, naming Brooks as the killer was especially humiliating for Wikipedia, whose pages can be written and edited by anyone in the world. Despite being renowned as a byword for inaccuracy, the website last month sparked outrage by banning the Daily Mail as a source in all but exceptional circumstances for allegedly being generally unreliable. Claims that Brooks was the Westminster terrorist appeared on his Wikipedia page at 6.14pm on Wednesday four hours after the attack. Scroll down for video Claims that Brooks was the Westminster terrorist appeared on his Wikipedia page at 6.14pm on Wednesday four hours after the attack An unnamed editor wrote: On 22/03/2017 he committed an act of terrorism in Westminster, London. He was killed by an armed officer after hitting multiple people with his car and stabbing a police officer. By 7.25pm, a contributor known as Seasider91 said Brooks had been named by the Metropolitan Police as the suspected attacker in a fatal stabbing which was completely untrue. Channel 4 News then identified Brooks, from Hackney, east London, as the attacker in the lead item on its 7pm bulletin. Journalist Simon Israel said he had been told by a source that it was the hate preacher. It is not suggested in any way that Israel, the stations senior home affairs correspondent, used Wikipedia as a source. The Independent newspaper picked up the story, and it travelled to media organisations around the world, including the New York Post and ABC News in the US. At 7.08pm, BBC media editor Amol Rajan tweeted: Unconfirmed but Channel 4 News reporting attacker was none other than Trevor Brooks. Awaiting confirmation. Other news organisations declined to follow the story until they had received verification. As it became clear the story was false, Channel 4 News was forced into a U-turn. Anchor Jon Snow had to interrupt the broadcast to issue a correction, and a repeat of the programme was pulled from Channel 4+1. Channel 4 said: We apologise to our viewers for this error. Watchdog Ofcom said it had received a complaint. A Fox News contributor, terrorism expert Walid Phares, also came under fire for claiming the attack had shut down London. Social media users immediately criticised him and posted photos of clear roads and public transport working as normal. Just a day on, tourists return On Wednesday, it was a scene of devastation, with bodies strewn across the pavement. By yesterday, tourists returned to Westminster Bridge, even posing for pictures where victims had died just 24 hours earlier. One couple grinned for the camera in front of Parliament. By yesterday, tourists returned to Westminster Bridge, even posing for pictures where victims had died just 24 hours earlier A day earlier Melissa Cochran wife of Kurt Cochran, who was killed was pictured lying at the spot among scattered postcards, bleeding from her head While it was a sign of the speed with which London resumed its normal routine, the photo may raise questions over whether they should have waited a few days out of repect for the victims. A day earlier Melissa Cochran wife of Kurt Cochran, who was killed was pictured lying at the spot among scattered postcards, bleeding from her head. In the aftermath of the attack a man caused fury by taking a selfie in front of ambulances. Resolve: Theresa May yesterday as she went to address the House of Commons Theresa May entered a full Commons Chamber shortly before 10.30am. The House had already been sitting an hour, to schedule. We were nearing the end of Women and Equalities Questions. You dont get many of them in a crazed Islamists Caliphate. As the Prime Minister walked to her seat, there were none of the normal huzzahs heard from her side. Nor would they have been sought. This was not an occasion for party, but for national politics. Jeremy Corbyn would honour that, too, in his own, well-judged speech. Mrs May was clad in a black suit set off by a white top and glinting necklace. Monochrome days: stark but strong. An act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, she began. Today we meet as normal as generations have done before us and as future generations will continue to do - to deliver a simple message: we are not afraid. Our resolve will never waver. Democracy may not have been silenced but the House was hushed, extraordinarily so. You could have heard a butterfly flap her wings. Im not sure I have heard our Commons quieter, or heard a prime minister speak with such commanding measure. She weighted this speech superbly, resisting melodrama yet opening enough emotional throttle to signify the occasion. Upstairs: the French ambassadress, accompanied by Frances foreign minister. The latter stood to acknowledge words of solidarity from the floor. When Mr Corbyn mentioned the Brittany school children who were caught up in the to-do, he looked up at the French dignitaries. Good moment. Prime Minister Theresa May addresses a hushed House of Commons to speak about the terror attack on Westminster on Wednesday At the far end of the House, also standing, but only because he was too modest to push himself centre-stage, was Tobias Ellwood (Con, Bournemouth E). Foreign Office minister Ellwood tried to resuscitate PC Keith Palmer on Wednesday. Repeatedly yesterday, MPs mentioned Mr Ellwoods inspiring decency. Each time he dropped his gaze, not wishing to draw attention to himself. What a terrific, mild-mannered, Boys-Own man of action, right down to his chiselled jaw. Mr Ellwood is a great advertisement for the merits of understatement, as well as regular press-ups. Mrs May found a tone neither bellicose nor hackneyed. Alongside her salutes to Wednesdays dead, and an update on arrests, the Prime Minister spoke of the millions of acts of normality that deny our enemies their victory. If London is indeed the greatest city on Earth, as Mrs May said, sending a tingle down my spine, it is for its undemonstrative, day-to-day nonchalance. Mustnt grumble. No rest for the wicked. Simon Hoare (Con, N Dorset) told the House of some Tube station sign which allegedly told the terrorists, sorry chums, London intended to drink tea and jolly well carry on. James Cleverly, above, had known the officer who was killed for decades, and found it hard to restrain emotion when he paid tribute in the Commons Yet even behind the sturdiest facade, sentiment can churn. So it proved with James Cleverly (Con, Braintree), a great bear of a lad, ex-military, solid as hard-tack biscuits. He told the House that 25 years ago he knew PC Palmer then Gunner Palmer at headquarters battery, 100 Regiment Royal Artillery. Mr Cleverly sought, not entirely successfully, to master his sorrow. Army comrades may rib him in days to come yet I bet they will also be glad he showed such pride in the colours. All that needs to be said is said soon on such occasions. Someone could whisper that to Speaker Bercow, who let the session run beyond a judicious span. But notable contributions included that of Dominic Grieve (Con, Beaconsfield), chairman of the Intelligence and Security committee, who said it was little short of a miracle that we have escaped so lightly from terrorist attacks in recent months. Ed Miliband (Lab, Doncaster N) thanked Mrs May she has spoken for the country. Labour veteran David Winnick (Walsall N) said that in all his years he had never had a constituent ask for the Government to pursue a policy of appeasement. There being no George Galloway in this Commons, we heard no voice of the mutinous souk. Advertisement Scientists in Germany are flipping the switch on what's being described as 'the world's largest artificial sun'. The giant honeycomb-like structure, known as the 'Synlight' experiment uses 149 large spotlights normally found in cinemas to simulate sunlight. The group hope it will help shed light on new ways of making climate-friendly fuel. Engineer Volkmar Dohmen stands in front of xenon short-arc lamps in the DLR German national aeronautics and space research center in Juelich, western Germany. The lights are part of an artificial sun that will be used for research purposes WHAT THE ARTIFICIAL SUN WILL BE USED FOR One area of the team's research will focus on how to efficiently produce hydrogen, a first step toward making artificial fuel for airplanes. Hydrogen is considered a promising future source of fuel because it does give off carbon emissions and so does not contribute to global warming. But hydrogen in its pure form does not exist naturally, and so must be split from water using huge amounts of energy. It is hoped that sunlight could provide a cheap source for this energy in future. Advertisement They will focus the huge array of xenon short-arc lamps on a single 20-by-20 centimetre (8x8 inch) spot. In doing so, scientists from the German Aerospace Centre, or DLR, will be able to produce the equivalent of 10,000 times the amount of solar radiation that would normally shine on the same sized surface. 'If you went in the room when it was switched on, you'd burn directly,' Professor Bernard Hoffschmidt, a research director at the DLR, where the experiment is housed in a protective radiation chamber, told the Guardian. The experiment uses as much electricity in four hours as a four-person household would in a year. The furnace-like conditions that this energy creates will reach temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Celsius (5,432 Fahrenheit). Sunlight is normally in short supply in Germany this time of year, and the German government is one of the world's biggest investors in renewable energy. The scientists, based in Juelich, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) west of Cologne, will start experimenting with this dazzling array on Thursday. One area of the team's research will focus on how to efficiently produce hydrogen, a first step toward making artificial fuel for airplanes. Engineer Volkmar Dohmen stands in front of the artificial sun's xenon short-arc lamps The team will focus the huge array of lamps on a single 20-by-20 centimetre (8x8 inch) spot (pictured) to direct the large volumes of energy into the smallest point as possible Using the artificial sun on a small spot allows the German researchers to produce the equivalent of 10,000 times the amount of solar radiation that would normally shine on the same sized surface They will try to find ways of tapping the enormous amount of energy that reaches Earth in the form of light from the sun. One area of the team's research will focus on how to efficiently produce hydrogen, a first step toward making artificial fuel for airplanes. 'We'd need billions of tonnes of hydrogen if we wanted to drive aeroplanes and cars on CO2-free fuel,' said Professor Hoffschmidt. A view of a Xenon tube seen inside one of the artificial sun's arc lamps. Over 149 of these lamps make up the experiment, which uses as much electricity in four hours as a four-person household would in a year DLR project manager, Kai Wieghardt, stands in front of the experimental setup and Xenon arc lamps. The small board he is holding is the target for the large wall of lamps, and will be used to concentrate vast amounts of energy. This energy will be used to create pure hydrogen fuel - an efficient green alternative to modern carbon-based fuels The research team will use the artificial sun try to find ways of tapping the enormous amount of energy that reaches Earth in the form of sunlight. One area of the team's research will focus on how to efficiently produce hydrogen, a first step toward making artificial fuel for airplanes 'Climate change is speeding up so we need to speed up innovation.' Hydrogen is considered a promising future source of fuel because it does give off carbon emissions and so does not contribute to global warming. But hydrogen in its pure form does not exist naturally, and so must be split from water using huge amounts of energy. The process pulls water's strong chemical bonds apart to give oxygen and hydrogen. It is hoped that sunlight could provide a cheap source for this energy in future. The large machine's extraction fan, pictured from behind here, helps to remove the immense heat produced by the artificial sun. The project's research director director Professor Bernard Hoffschmidt said: 'If you went in the room when it was switched on, you'd burn directly' Xenon arc lamps shine light after a trial run. But hydrogen in its pure form does not exist naturally, and so must be split from water using huge amounts of energy. It is hoped that sunlight could provide a cheap source for this energy in future The full scale of the world's largest artificial sun is seen in this image, with DLR engineer Volkmar Dohmen standing in front for scale. Sunlight is normally in short supply in Germany this time of year, and the German government is one of the world's biggest investors in renewable energy The furnace-like conditions that this energy creates inside the German laboratory will reach temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Celsius (5,432 Fahrenheit). All of this heat will be focussed on the small pad seen above The artificial sun's Project manager, Kai Wieghardt, in front of the wall of cinema spotlights In a bid to stop ISIS from launching 'suicide drones', the US Army is working on a secret project called the Mobile Force Protection Programme. Overseen by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the programme aims to find ways to detect killer drones that do not rely on radio frequencies. The head of the project says that plans could be put in place as early as May this year. Scroll down for video In a bid to stop ISIS from launching killer drones, the US Army is working on a secret project called the Mobile Force Protection Programme (artist's impression of potential system) PREVENTING ENEMY DRONES The main focus of the programme is going beyond electronic jamming, to stop unmanned drones of up to 200 pounds (90 kilograms). While most drones rely on radio frequencies for remote controlling, these suicide drones would be programmed to carry out a specific mission, making them very difficult to detect. The US military is more broadly looking at a range of ways to combat enemy drones. Amongst the services suggested are shotguns, sniper rifles, mini-rockets, water cannons and even lasers. Advertisement The Pentagon is concerned about the danger of an aerial raid of autonomous suicide bombers drones laden with explosives that could crash into US troops in the combat zone. While most drones rely on radio frequencies for remote controlling, these suicide drones would be programmed to carry out a specific mission, making them very difficult to detect. A new programme to combat these drones, called the Mobile Force Protection Programme, has been launched by DARPA, who anticipates awarding contracts within weeks for the first phase of testing and research. Speaking to the Washington Post, J.C. Lede, who leads the programme, said: 'Right now, the best way of detecting that there is an unmanned airplane is by listening for that radio signal. 'Once they stop emitting that radio signal, they're going to get a lot harder to find.' The main focus of the programme is going beyond electronic jamming, to stop unmanned drones of up to 200 pounds (90 kilograms). Firms picked to proceed into testing are predicted to get around $3 million (2.4 million) in funding. Mr Lede's team is focused on defending a moving convoy, which is more complex than defending a stationary target. While most drones rely on radio frequencies for remote controlling, these suicide drones would be programmed to carry out a specific mission, making them very difficult to detect (stock image) PROHIBITED METHODS The DARPA project has specified that any methods used must not cause any harm to US troops or civilians. This means that options such as high-powered directed-energy weapons, high-caliber weapons with 'uncontrolled projectile trajectories,' and live animals have all been prohibited. Advertisement Mr Lede said: 'If you are going to attack a high-value convoy, I think they would be willing to commit the hardware to it. 'At most, it's a few thousand dollars worth of hardware for a UAV.' The US military is more broadly looking at a range of ways to combat enemy drones. Amongst the services suggested are shotguns, sniper rifles, mini-rockets, water cannons and even lasers. Speaking to the Washington Post about unmanned aircrafts, Marine Lt. Col. Dave Sousa from the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, said: 'When you're more than a couple hundred metres out, you can't tell what that thing is carrying. 'You can't tell if it has a GoPro camera...you don't know what it is. So you've got to detect, track and ID, and then there's how you're going to deal with that threat.' The DARPA project has specified that any methods used must not cause any harm to US troops or civilians. The US military is more broadly looking at a range of ways to combat enemy drones. Amongst the services suggested are shotguns, sniper rifles, mini-rockets, water cannons and even lasers (pictured) This means that options such as high-powered directed-energy weapons, high-caliber weapons with 'uncontrolled projectile trajectories,' and live animals have all been prohibited. Mr Lede said Phase 1 of the project, which will take about a year, could begin as soon as May. The second phase will take around 18 months to complete, and will involve the top two competitors from Phase 1. Finally, Phase 3 will take around 21 months, and will focus specifically on countering a large raid of unmanned drones. In a move that is bound to raise eyebrows, Microsoft has launched a a specially modified version of Windows 10 for use by the Chinese government. The customised operating system is expected to have beefed up security, to counter reported threats from the American security services. Its exact features, however, remain unclear. But some may be concerned whether the software giant has been put under pressure to include more draconian tools for use by the notoriously strict Chinese regime. Scroll down for video A new Windows 10 has been designed which will allow the Redmond company to sell their latest operating system to the Chinese market, after a blanket ban was imposed over US spying fears (stock image) WINDOWS 10 CHINESE STATE EDITION Microsoft began working with state-owned China Electronics Technology Group in 2015, according to reports in China Daily. A joint venture called C&M Information Technologies began operating in September 2016 The customised operating system is expected to have beefed up security, to counter reported threats from the American security services. Advertisement The new Windows 10 OS is designed to allow the company to start selling their latest operating system to the Chinese market. The government banned Windows 8 and all subsequent versions from state owned computers in 2014. This came after Edward Snowden's claims that the Redmond firm worked with the NSA and FBI to help provide them access to Microsoft users' data. The new software was developed in partnership with the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group (CETC), which some will see as a sign of direct oversight by the Chinese government. China is a big spender in the IT sector, so being able to re-enter that market will clearly be advantageous to Microsoft. But it is not yet apparent what changes have been made to government-friendly operating system. And many will be worried about what concessions have been made to allow the deal to go forward - particularly given the Chinese government's records on human rights and censorship. Alain Crozier is CEO of Microsoft Greater China. Speaking to China Daily, he said: 'We have already developed the first version of the Windows 10 government secure system. 'It has been tested by three large enterprise customers. The modified OS is expected to have beefed up security but some are concerned that Microsoft may have come under pressure to include more draconian tools for use by the Chinese government (stock image) 'We have worked extensively to make it secure and controllable. We are now ready to serve the market.' Microsoft began working with CETC in 2015, according to reports in China Daily. A joint venture called C&M Information Technologies began operating in September 2016 Xiang Ligang is an IT expert and the CEO of telecom industry website cctime.com The new software was developed in partnership with the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group, which some will see as a sign of direct oversight by the Chinese government (stock image) He told China Daily: 'China's commercial PC market (computers used by corporates rather than individual consumers) is expected to revive growth this year. 'Once the tailor-made system is adopted by government agencies, private enterprises are highly likely to follow suit.' Closer to home, Microsoft has suffered a series of outages in recent weeks, causing havoc for thousands of users. Most recently, there were widespread problems reported for users trying to access the Outlook email client on Tuesday, along with those trying to access Skype and other Office 365 services. This was the second outage for the firm in as many weeks. In his 60-year reign as King of Great Britain and Ireland, King George III suffered from recurrent episodes of both physical and mental illness. Researchers have programmed a computer to 'read' the famous King's letters, analaysing the characteristics of his writing. The results suggest that King George III suffered from 'acute mania' - a term used to describe an excitable, hyperactive condition. In his 60 year reign as King of Great Britain and Ireland, King George III suffered from recurrent episodes of both physical and mental illness. Pictured is Nigel Hawthorne as King George III in the 1994 film The Madness of King George STUDYING KING GEORGE III'S LETTERS Researchers from St George's University, London, programmed a computer to 'read' hundreds of King George III's letters, to understand his mental state. King George wrote very differently when unwell, compared to when he was healthy. In the manic periods he used less rich vocabulary and fewer adverbs. He repeated words less often and there was a lower degree of redundancy, or wordiness. Advertisement Researchers from St George's University, London, programmed a computer to 'read' hundreds of King George III's letters, to understand his mental state. While previous studies have suggested that George suffered from mental illness, until now, it was unknown whether the illness was due to a physical disease or mental health problem. Other theories for his condition include that he had an inherited blood disorder called porphyria, which is known to cause confusion and hallucinations. In a control condition, the computer found no difference between the language used in circumstances that could also have influenced the King's mental state, such as the different seasons, or periods when the country was at war or in peacetime. This suggests that the differences the computer did identify were specific to mental illness - probably an 'acute mania.' Professor Peter Garrard, who led the study, told MailOnline: 'As we used a machine learning approach, the differences that we demonstrated were based on patterns, whose presence would have been "visible" to the computer programme but not to the naked eye. 'The computer found features such as sentence complexity, repetitiveness and succinctness [to decide] whether a letter dated to a manic or from a healthy period.' In the manic periods, the King used less rich vocabulary and fewer adverbs. He repeated words less often and there was a lower degree of redundancy, or wordiness. Pictured is one of the letters studied The computer analysed several of King George III's letters. Pictured is a much shorter letter he wrote in 1789 shortly after his manic phase ACUTE MANIA In acute mania, judgement can be significantly impaired and overactivity and irritablity highly problematic. The individual is at risk of behaviour which they may significantly regret later on, such as spending or sexual indiscretions that they would never normally consider. In some people, there may even be uncharacteristic and unpredictable violent behaviour. Some individuals with mania will have psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions which may put them or others at risk. Advertisement In today's modern psychiatric terminology this might form part of a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Professor Garrard said: 'King George wrote very differently when unwell, compared to when he was healthy. 'In the manic periods we could see that he used less rich vocabulary and fewer adverbs. 'He repeated words less often and there was a lower degree of redundancy, or wordiness.' The researchers have previously shown how language changes can give clues to the behaviour of other well-known figures. For example, one of their previous studies looked how language used by novelist Iris Murdoch changed with the onset of dementia. The researchers now hope to apply the same technique to understand the patterns of language production in contemporary politicians such as Donald Trump Professor Garrard said: 'It would be fascinating to look at how modern patients write during the manic phase of bipolar disorder, as this could create a definite link to King George and possibly other historical cases of the illness. 'The technique could then be applied to the analysis other historical figures' language in periods of health and illness, as well as patterns of language production in contemporary politicians such as the new US President Donald Trump.' With a brown exterior and juicy pink inside, this burger looks like it is anything but plant-based. But the Impossible Burger is 100 per cent meat free, despite the fact that it 'bleeds' like a beef patty. Impossible Foods, the firm behind the burger, has announced that is is moving into a huge new factory that will soon be capable of producing one million pounds of the burgers every month. Scroll down for video With a brown exterior and juicy pink inside, this burger looks like it is anything but plant-based. But the Impossible Burger is 100 per cent meat free, despite the fact that it 'bleeds' like a beef patty THE IMPOSSIBLE BURGER The Impossible Burger is made of wheat protein, coconut oil and potatoes. It also contains heme, which has been described as 'plant blood.' The iron-rich compound is abundant in real meat, but can also be grown from soya. The company claims that the heme makes the company's burgers 'smell, sizzle, bleed, and taste gloriously meaty'. Advertisement Impossible Foods is backed by several big names, including Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, and an arm of Google. The main ingredients in its vegetarian burger are wheat protein, coconut oil and potatoes. But the key magic addition is heme, which has been described as 'plant blood'. The iron-rich compound is abundant in real meat, but can also be grown from soya. The company claims that the heme makes the company's burgers 'smell, sizzle, bleed, and taste gloriously meaty'. Impossible Foods held a ceremony this week, in which it announced its move into a huge factory in East Oakland, California. The factory is 67,000 square feet, and the firm expects to churn out over one million meat-free burgers there every month, starting this summer. According to Crunchbase, Impossible Foods has already raised over $182 million (145 million). Last year, the firm started selling the Impossible Burger in three US restaurants, but the expansion to the factory will see the burgers being sold throughout the US and maybe even further afield in the future. The main ingredients in the Impossible Burger are wheat protein, coconut oil and potatoes. But the key magic addition is heme, which has been described as 'plant blood' Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, Pat Brown, CEO of Impossible Foods, said: 'In our long-term plan, we will be ubiquitous. 'Anywhere that consumers go to buy meat, we intend to be there, competing side by side.' The rise of the meat free burgers was recently revealed by The Grocer magazine, which suggested families would be more likely to buy these than products made from meat grown in the laboratory. Three years ago, food scientist Hanni Rutzler held a London press conference to reveal and eat - the world's first ever lab grown hamburger. The iron-rich heme is abundant in real meat, but can also be grown from soya. The company claims that the heme makes the company's burgers 'smell, sizzle, bleed, and taste gloriously meaty' Research found only 16 per cent of people said they would be happy to try this sort of cultured meat, and half refused even to consider it. Some 56 per cent were concerned about the use of chemicals in making lab-grown meat, 48 per cent felt cultured meat wasn't 'natural' and 29 per cent suspected it would not taste good. Head of consumer and retail research at Harris, Lucia Juliano, said: 'We are quite simply opposed to the idea of cultured meat without knowing much about it.' But she told the Grocer that public attitudes are shifting, saying: 'Even in the past two years I've seen the public conversation take a more positive direction. Advertisement A futuristic supersonic passenger airliner has got the funding it needs to take off on a test flight this year. Boom Supersonic said it received $33million (26million) in funding and is ready to build its XB-1 jet prototype. Backed by Virgin tycoon Richard Branson, the 'Baby Boom' jet could usher in a new era of affordable supersonic travel. Claimed to be the 'world's fastest civil aircraft ever made', the XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator is due to take off on its first test flight later this year and could take passengers from London to New York in 3.5 hours, its maker claims. The company said the jet, which will cost more than $200 million (160 million) to build, may carry passengers by the early 2020s. A futuristic supersonic passenger airliner has got the funding it needs to take off on a test flight later this year. Boom Supersonic said it received $33million (26million) in funding and was ready to build its XB-1 jet prototype XB-1 SUPERSONIC DEMONSTRATOR SPECS - Crew: Two (pilot + optional flight test engineer or passenger) - Length: 68 feet (20m) - Wingspan: 17 feet (5.2m) - Maximum Takeoff Weight: 13,500 lb (6,120kg) - Powerplant: 3X General Electric J85-21, non-afterburning; proprietary variable-geometry intake and exhaust - Aerodynamics: Chine, refined delta wing with swept trailing edge - Cruise: Mach 2.2 (1,451mph, 2,335 km/h) - Nose Temperature: 307F (345F on ISA+20 day) - Range: > 1,000 nautical miles (1852km) Advertisement The subsonic flight test will be conducted near Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California in partnership with Virgin Galactic's The Spaceship Company. The prototype was unveiled in November at Centennial Airport in Denver. The XB-1 is a technically representative -scale version of the future Boom Airliner. 'I have long been passionate about aerospace innovation and the development of high-speed commercial flights,' said Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group. 'As an innovator in space, Virgin Galactic's decision to work with Boom was an easy one.' The airline tycoon has confirmed that Virgin has options to buy 10 of the recently revealed supersonic Boom jets, which will be capable of flying at 1,451mph (2,335 km/h) - about 100mph (160km/h) faster than Concorde - and reaching New York from London in three and a half hours. 'Sixty years after the dawn of the jet age, we're still flying at 1960s speeds,' said Blake Scholl, a former Amazon executive and CEO and founder of Boom. 'Concorde's designers didn't have the technology for affordable supersonic travel, but now we do. 'Today, we're proud to unveil our first aircraft as we look forward to its first flight.' The XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator is due to take off on its first test flight in late 2017 and could take passengers from London to New York in 3.5 hours. The jet is designed to carry two crew members The subscale XB-1 'Baby Boom' jet (pictured top) is set to pave the way for the larger Boom Passenger Airliner (pictured bottom) BOOM PASSENGER AIRLINER SPECS - Crew: Two - Length: 170 feet (52m) - Wingspan: 60 feet (18m) - Passengers: 45 standard (up to 55 in high density) - Flight attendants: Up to 4 - Lavatories: 2 - Powerplane: 3X non-afterburning medium bypass turbofan; proprietary variable geometry intake and exhaust - Aerodynamics: Chine, refined delta wing with swept trailing edge Long Range - Cruise: Mach 2.2 (1,451mph, 2,335 km/h) - Nose Temperature: 307F (345F on ISA+20 day) Maximum Design Route: 4,500 nautical miles without refuel (8300km) Advertisement The XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator features engines developed by General Electric, avionics from Honeywell and a carbon fibre shell from Tencate, with composite structures fabricated by Blue Force. The Boom jet was created by top aviation experts with collective experience working at NASA, SpaceX and Boeing. Learning from the Concorde, they combined advanced aerodynamics, efficient engine technology and new composite materials to produce a 'safe and affordable' supersonic aircraft 2.6 times faster than current jetliners. The prototype has been subjected to more than 1,000 simulated wind tunnel tests and features a tapered carbon fibre fuselage, and efficient turbofan jet engines. Unlike Concorde, the Boom design requires no afterburner, which should significantly improve fuel efficiency. In March, Virgin told MailOnline Travel: 'Richard has long expressed interest in developing high speed flight and building high-speed flight R&D through Virgin Galactic and our manufacturing organisation, The Spaceship Company. 'We can confirm that The Spaceship Company will provide engineering, design and manufacturing services, flight tests and operations and that we have an option on the first 10 airframes. It is still early days and just the start of what you'll hear about our shared ambitions and efforts.' Scholl said: 'We're thrilled to be working with Virgin. It's hard to imagine a better partner for bringing supersonics to market.' When created Boom will have 45 seats - with a ticket costing $5,000 (4,020). Speaking to Bloomberg earlier this year, Scholl said: 'The idea is for a plane that goes faster than any other passenger plane built before, but for the same price as business class.' According to the simulations, Boom's design is quieter and 30 per cent more efficient than the Concorde. It will be split into two single-seat rows, so everybody has a window and an aisle. To reduce weight, the seats are of the standard domestic first-class variety, so no lay-down beds. To cut flight time, Boom's plane will cruise at 60,000 feet, where passengers will be able to see the curvature of the earth, while going 2.6 times faster than other passenger planes. Scholl said about 500 routes fit the craft's market, including a five-hour trip from San Francisco to Tokyo and a six-hour flight from Los Angeles to Sydney. The firm hopes London to New York could be one of its most popular routes, with a 3.6 hour saving on a normal flight A concept image shows what the interior of the Boom passenger jet could look like. Test flights of the first subscale prototypes begin in late 2017 A concept drawing shows what the interior of the futuristic passenger jet could look like - all passengers would have a seat that sits both on the window and the aisle Created by aerospace company Boom, the jet nicknamed 'Baby Boom' could pave the way for the larger Boom passenger jet (pictured) and usher in a new era of affordable supersonic travel A mock-up of the craft at Heathrow - its founders hope it will use existing airports once tests are complete 'Boom was founded on the philosophy that we need to overcome the challenges to supersonic passenger flight, not surrender to them,' the firm says. The firm hopes London to New York could be one of its most popular routes, with a 3.6 hour saving on a normal flight. The firm even has record breaking US Astronaut Scott Kelly as an adviser. It added: 'We're making a supersonic aircraft affordable for business travel. Our ultimate goal is routine supersonic flight for everyone.' Scholl said about 500 routes fit the craft's market, including a five-hour trip from San Francisco to Tokyo and a six-hour flight from Los Angeles to Sydney The first test flights will occur at Centennial Airport in Denver, with supersonic testing near Edwards Air Force Base in California 'Today, international travel means jet-lag and days of lost productivity and family time. But imagine leaving New York in the morning, making afternoon meetings in London, and being home to tuck your kids into bed. 'Unlike Concorde, flying Boom is affordable - the same price as business class,' said Boom. THE ICON THAT FLEW PASSENGERS FROM LONDON TO NEW YORK IN 3.5 HOURS Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger jet that was operated until 2003. It had a maximum speed over twice the speed of sound at Mach 2.04 (1,354 mph or 2,180 k per hour at cruise altitude) and could seat 92 to 128 passengers. It was first flown in 1969, but needed further tests to establish it as viable as a commercial aircraft. Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued flying for the next 27 years. The aircraft is regarded by many as an aviation icon and an engineering marvel, but it was also criticized for being uneconomical, lacking a credible market, and consuming more fuel to carry fewer passengers than a Boeing 747 Twenty aircraft were built including six prototypes and development aircraft It is one of only two supersonic transports to have been operated commercially. The other is the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, which ran for a much shorter period of time before it was grounded and retired due to safety and budget issues. Concorde was jointly developed and manufactured by Aerospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) under an Anglo-French treaty. Concorde's name, meaning harmony or union, reflects the cooperation on the project between the United Kingdom and France. In the UK, any or all of the type are known simply as 'Concorde', without an article. Twenty aircraft were built including six prototypes and development aircraft. Air France (AF) and British Airways (BA) each received seven aircraft. The research and development failed to make a profit and the two airlines bought the aircraft at a huge discount. Among other destinations, Concorde flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to New York-JFK, Washington Dulles and Barbados. It flew these routes in less than half the time of other airliners. Over time, the aircraft became profitable when it found a customer base willing to pay for flights on what was for most of its career the fastest commercial airliner in the world. The aircraft is regarded by many as an aviation icon and an engineering marvel, but it was also criticized for being uneconomical, lacking a credible market, and consuming more fuel to carry fewer passengers than a Boeing 747. Concorde was retired in 2003 due to a general downturn in the commercial aviation industry after the type's only crash in 2000, the September 11 attacks in 2001, and a decision by Airbus, the successor to Aerospatiale and BAC, to discontinue maintenance support. Advertisement Apple could be making iPhones in India within the next two months, according to a report. Taiwanese manufacturer Wistron will start making iPhone 6 and 6S models in tech hub Bangalore in the next four to six weeks, according to the report. The decision will increase the company's chances of getting a hold on a burgeoning market as sales lag behind those of their rival Samsung. Scroll down for video Taiwanese manufacturer Wistron Corp will start making iPhone 6 and 6S models in tech hub Bangalore in the next four to six weeks according to a report by Wall Street Journal (stock) SLOW SALES Apple has only a two per cent share of the Indian market, well behind rival Samsung on 23 percent, according to research firm Canalys. By pricing itself exclusively at the luxury end, Apple has distinguished its brand from Samsung which has both low-cost and high-end phones. Last year Apple had 48 percent of the premium sector in which phones sell for $450 and above. Advertisement In order to keep production costs to a minimum Apple has been in talks with the Indian government about potential tax concessions, according to Wall Street Journal. Despite seeking tax concessions, chief executive Tim Cook said earlier this month it would 'invest significantly' in the country of 1.25 billion people. 'We have an understanding with Apple and we expect them to start manufacturing in Karnataka by the end of April,' state minister of information technology and biotechnology Priyank Kharge told AFP. He said the new operation would likely assemble iPhones for the domestic market. Apple has only a two percent share of the Indian market, well behind rival Samsung on 23 per cent, according to research firm Canalys. By pricing itself exclusively at the luxury end, Apple has distinguished its brand from Samsung which has both low-cost and high-end phones. Last year Apple had 48 percent of the premium sector in which phones sell for $450 and above. It applied to open Apple Stores in India last year, but was reportedly rebuffed because of a diktat that states foreign retailers must source 30 percent of their products locally. New Delhi has since relaxed the rules, giving companies up to eight years to meet the sourcing requirements, as part of a push to attract foreign investment and create jobs. It is not clear whether the Karnataka plans would help it clear that hurdle but experts said manufacturing locally would reduce the company's costs and enable it to lower prices. 'They're eager to be here because they've identified India as a strategic focus market,' said Jaideep Mehta of research firm IDC. 'They had a fantastic 2016 in India and shipped more two million devices to India, and now they're looking to ultimately manufacture here as that gives them more flexibility to respond to market changes.' Apple currently sells through third-party retailers in India, which accounts for only around one percent of global iPhone sales. Experts say India's giant population and low number of smartphone owners relative to its size mean it is a huge potential market. Last year Cook visited India on a charm offensive and was pictured using Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gold iPhone to launch the premier's new app. It is one of the biggest companies in the world, but it seems that Apple might have some answering to do when it comes to its taxes. The firm is under investigation following reports it has paid no tax for at least a decade in New Zealand. Instead, Apple appears to have paid about 21 million ($26 million) in taxes to Australia since 2007. Scroll down for video Apple is under investigation following reports it paid no tax for at least a decade in New Zealand (stock image) WHY ISN'T APPLE PAYING TAX? Apple's New Zealand parent company is registered in Australia. The firm says that two countries have an agreement where tax is only paid in Australia. But some tax experts are questioning the unsual arrangement, given that Australia's corporate tax rate is 30 per cent higher than New Zealand's. Advertisement The issue was brought to attention by the New Zealand Herald newspaper. Apple's New Zealand parent company is registered in Australia, and the firm says that two countries have an agreement where tax is only paid in Australia. The firm said: 'Apple is the largest taxpayer in the world and we appreciate and respect the role taxes play as necessary and important in our society. 'We follow the law and pay tax on everything we earn, wherever we operate. 'Apple aims to be a force for good and we're proud of the contributions we've made in New Zealand over the past decade.' But some tax experts are questioning the unusual arrangement, given that Australia's corporate tax rate is 30 per cent higher than New Zealand's. Speaking to the New Zealand Hearld, James Shaw, co-leader of the New Zealand Green Party, said: 'It is absolutely extraordinary that they are able to get away with paying zero tax in this country. 'It looks like their tax department is even more innovative than their product designers.' Last year, Apple was named the biggest corporate tax avoider in the US after booking $218 billion (175 billion) of profit offshore last year. Pictured is Tim Cook, CEO of Apple This isn't the first time that Apple has been under scrutiny for its tax practices. Last year, Apple was named the biggest corporate tax avoider in the US after booking $218 billion (175 billion) of profit offshore. The firm was able to save $65.08 billion (51.1 billion) that it should have paid in tax thanks to its convoluted arrangements. It is unclear how the New Zealand Herald plans to continue its investigation. MailOnline has contacted Apple for comment. Over 200 years after steamships first began crossing the ocean, wind power is finding its way back into seafaring. Global shipping firm Maersk is planning to fit spinning 'rotor sails' to one of its oil tankers as a way of reducing its fuel costs and carbon emissions. The company behind the technology, Finnish firm Norsepower, says this is the first retrofit installation of a wind-powered energy system on a tanker. A Maersk P-Class Illustration with two 30x5 Norsepower Rotor Sails. Global shipping firm Maersk is planning to fit spinning 'rotor sails' to one of its oil tankers as a way of reducing its fuel costs and carbon emissions WHAT IS A ROTOR SAIL? The rotor sail was invented by German engineer Anton Flettner. It is effectively a large, spinning metal cylinder that uses something called the Magnus effect to harness wind power and propel a ship. When wind passes the spinning rotor sail, the air flow accelerates on one side and decelerates on the opposite side. This creates a thrust force that is perpendicular to the wind flow direction. Although it takes energy in the form of electricity to spin the sail, the thrust it produces means the engines can be significantly throttled back, so it reduces overall fuel use and emissions. Advertisement Yet the idea of using these spinning cylinders on ships to generate thrust and drive them forward was first trialled in 1924 and shortly after disregarded. So why do Norsepower and Maersk (and the UK government, which is providing most of the 3.5m of funding), think this time the technology will be more of a success? The rotor sail was invented by German engineer Anton Flettner. It is effectively a large, spinning metal cylinder that uses something called the Magnus effect to harness wind power and propel a ship. When wind passes the spinning rotor sail, the air flow accelerates on one side and decelerates on the opposite side. This creates a thrust force that is perpendicular to the wind flow direction. Although it takes energy in the form of electricity to spin the sail, the thrust it produces means the engines can be significantly throttled back, so it reduces overall fuel use and emissions. The first Flettner rotor-powered ship. The rotor sail was invented by German engineer Anton Flettner. Flettner built two rotor vessels, one of which managed to sail across the Atlantic to New York in 1926 Flettner built two rotor vessels, one of which managed to sail across the Atlantic to New York in 1926. But this modern attempt to harness the wind for ocean travel failed to compete with diesel power. Rotor sails were too heavy and the costs too high for them to yield the expected fuel savings and become successful with shipping operators. But technology improvements and the rise of environmental regulations have led to renewed interest in rotor sails. Wind power firm Enercon launched a new rotor ship in 2008, while in 2014 Norsepower added its first rotor sail to a cargo ship owned by sustainable shipping firm Bore. Promising lightweight and relatively cheap materials and designs, combined with higher oil prices and the need to reduce emissions, mean rotor sails could now take off. The 240 metre-long Maersk tanker will be retrofitted with two modernised versions of the Flettner rotor that are 30 metres tall and five metres in diameter. In favourable wind conditions, each sail can produce the equivalent of 3MW of power using only 50kW of electricity. Norsepower expect to reduce average fuel consumption on typical global shipping routes by 7% to 10%, equivalent to about 1,000 tonnes of fuel a year. The rotor sail project will be the first installation of wind-powered energy technology on this type of tanker. This will provide insights into fuel savings and operational experience and help to reduce their environmental impact. The German wind-turbine manufacturer Enercon launched and christened a new rotor ship, E-Ship 1 (pictured) on August 2, 2008. The ship is being used to transport turbines and other equipment to locations around the world. The maiden delivery of turbines for Castledockrell Windfarm arrived in Dublin Port on 11th Aug 2010 Each rotor sail is made using the latest intelligent lightweight composite sandwich materials, and offers a simple yet robust hi-tech solution, although they could still cost more than 1.5m ($1.8m) to install. That is the equivalent of around 5.5% of the cost of a typical used ship of that size, but a significantly lower percentage for a new tanker. The rotor sails that Maersk will be testing might be its most promising technology yet, but it has also been exploring other efficiency measures. Shipping is entering a brave new era with accelerating advances in big data, artificial intelligence, smart ships, robotics and automation. Pictured is the E-Ship 1, manufactured by the German wind-turbine manufacturer Enercon. Flettner rotors are mounted at the back Shipping is entering a brave new era with accelerating advances in big data, artificial intelligence, smart ships, robotics and automation. Maersk is testing drones to deliver ship supplies instead of traditional barges, special paints on its hulls that would cut down on algae and other microorganisms that increase drag, solar-powered sails, kites that tow a vessel, batteries, and biofuels. What will force more shipping firms to adopt these kind of measures are the new pollution rules that will come into effect at the end of the decade. In 1926, a larger ship with three rotors, the Barbara (pictured), was built by the shipyard A.G. Weser in Bremen, Germany From 2020, shipping companies will be required to reduce the sulphur content of their fuel, which could come at a significant cost. This potentially makes investment in technologies such as rotor sails much more worthwhile. Wind propulsion for commercial vessels appears to be gaining mainstream industry support and perhaps, in the not too distant future, might even become commonplace. Police agencies across the US are warning iPhone users of a potentially dangerous viral social media prank. Pranksters are tricking people into saying 'Hey Siri, 108', which prompts the digital assistant to contact emergency services the number is India's equivalent of 911. The prank is said to be spreading through Facebook and Twitter 'like wildfire' and although it may seem harmless, it could tie up emergency lines and delay legitimate 911 calls. Scroll down for video Police agencies across the US are warning iPhone users of a viral social media prank. Pranksters are urging people to say 'Hey Siri, 108', which prompts the digital assistant to contact emergency services the number is India's equivalent of 911 SIRI 108 PRANK Pranksters are sharing a trick on Facebook and Twitter, urging people to say 'Hey Siri, 108'. Because 108 is India's equivalent to 911, the digital assistant calls an emergency call center. Apple set it up this way so users can easily contact emergency services no matter where they are in the world. After hearing '108', Siri starts a five second countdown, which gives users the chance to cancel the call before it goes through. However, pranksters who are sharing the trick tell other users to 'close their eyes and wait 5 seconds' before looking at their phone. Advertisement After hearing '108', Siri starts a five second countdown, which gives users the chance to cancel the call before it goes through. However, pranksters who are sharing the trick tell other users to 'close their eyes and wait 5 seconds' before looking at their phone. And it seems to be spreading all over Facebook and Twitter. 'I'm seeing a lot of posts from people telling iPhone users to tell Siri '108',' sergeant Page with the Lonoke Police Department in Arkansas shared on the Facebook page. 'What that will do is in 5 seconds, call 911'. 'Don't fall for it as it ties up emergency lines however, it is designed specifically as a panic code.' Although '108' is India's emergency service number, Apple made it that way so people can call emergency services no matter where they are in the world, according to CNET. 'All you have to do in the event of an emergency is to tell Siri '108',' sergeant Page continued in the Facebook post. 'Emergency services will be contacted quickly! Just wanted to pass this along'. Each year an estimated 240 million 911 calls are made in the US, a majority of them from mobile devices, and prank calling '108,' the Marshall Police Department in Wisconsin shared in a recent Facebook post. However, pranksters who are sharing the trick tell other users to 'close their eyes and wait 5 seconds' before looking at their phone The trick is said to be spreading through Facebook and Twitter 'like wildfire' and although it may seem harmless, it could potentially tie up emergency lines and delay legitimate 911 calls 'Sorry. The result is a joke, but it's not very fun,' continues the post. 'This prank is problematic because it uses resources that are vital for others trying to receive help in real emergency situations. 'Roughly 240 million calls are made to 911 in the United States each year and placing prank calls can be considered a crime.' Many users are sharing the prank on Twitter (pictured) and Faceook. After hearing '108', Siri starts a five second countdown, which gives users the chance to cancel the call before it goes through Some pranksters are going above and beyond to get others to go through with the trick. Although '108' is India's emergency service number, Apple made it that way so people can call emergency services no matter where they are in the world The users sharing the prank on social media may view trick as harmless, a similar even resulted in the death of a six-month-old boy. On March 15th, a baby sitter watching the baby attempted to reach 911 to summon medical help when the infant took a fall from a day bed and was unconscious. The caregiver said she called 911 three times on her T-Mobile phone and was placed on hold each time. Each year an estimated 240 million 911 calls are made in the US, a majority of them from mobile devices, and prank calling '108'. What these pranksters do not know that it is a criminal offence to prank call emergency service phone lines TEEN ATTACKS 911 IN ARIZONA Meetkumar Desai, 18, told police he created a 'non-harmful' bug meant to be a funny prank that would also put some more cash in his own bank. Desai, who describes himself as a visual designer and front-end developer, was searching for glitches in Apple's iOS system as part of its bug bounty program. The program, launched in September, offers cash rewards that range from $25,000 to $200,000 to those who find vulnerabilities in the company's software, such as being able to access iCloud account data, and then privately report them to Apple. Desai told investigators an online friend have given him a bug they thought he might be able to tweak. The teenager manipulated the bug, adding 'pop-ups, commands that would open email and activate the telephone dialing feature on iOS cell phones', according to Ars Technica. He then decided to have the dialing feature call emergency services, creating a java script code that would automatically dial 911 when people clicked on a link. Desai claimed he had made two versions of the link, saying he had no plans to push out the 911 link because he knew it was illegal and would cause people to 'freak out'. TheHackSpot also encouraged people to click on the link, which police said was opened nearly 1,900 times from the YouTube channel. Surprise Police Department, which is in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, received more than 100 calls within minutes after Desai's link was posted. The nearby Peoria Police Department and Maricopa County Sheriff's Office were also suddenly flooded with calls. What made the link even more harmful was that Desai had allegedly set it up so that the program would call 911 on a loop, repeatedly dialing the number after someone hung up. Advertisement In between calls, the first of which was made at 5:55 PM, the caretaker had performed CPR on the infant in an attempt to revive him. The last time the baby sitter called, at 6:11 PM, she was kept waiting for 31 minutes; the city's goal is to have all 911 calls answered within 10 seconds. The City of Dallas later said in a statement that the 911 call center was jammed with calls on Saturday because of an ongoing issue with T-Mobile. Since the baby sitter did not have a car to take Brandon to the hospital, his mother sped home and rushed him to Methodist Hospital for Surgery in Addison. The six-month-old was later transferred to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Plano, where he died without regaining consciousness an hour later. Scientists have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing. The drug could help damaged DNA to miraculously repair and even protect Nasa astronauts on Mars by protecting them from solar radiation. A team of researchers developed the drug after discovering a key signalling process in DNA repair and cell ageing. Scroll down for video Scientists have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing. A team of researchers developed the drug after discovering a key signalling process in DNA repair and cell ageing THE ANTI-AGEING DRUG TRIALS The experiments in mice, from a team at the University of New South Wales, suggest a treatment is possible for DNA damage from ageing and radiation. It is so promising it has attracted the attention of Nasa scientists in their quest to reach Mars. While our cells can naturally repair DNA damage - such as damage caused by the sun - this ability declines with age. The scientists identified that the call signalling molecule NAD+, which is naturally present in every cell in the body, has a key role in protein interactions that control DNA repair. Treating mice with an NAD+ 'booster' called NMN improved their cells' ability to repair DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age. Human trials of NMN therapy will begin within six months. Advertisement During trials on mice, the team found that the drug directly repaired DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age. 'The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice after just one week of treatment,' said lead author Professor David Sinclair. Human trials of the pill will begin within six months. 'This is the closest we are to a safe and effective anti-ageing drug that's perhaps only three to five years away from being on the market if the trials go well,' said Professor Sinclair. The work has drawn the attention of Nasa, which is considering the challenge of keeping its astronauts healthy during a four-year mission to Mars. Even on short missions, astronauts experience accelerated ageing from cosmic radiation, suffering from muscle weakness, memory loss and other symptoms when they return. On a trip to Mars, the situation would be far worse: Five per cent of the astronauts' cells would die and their chances of cancer would approach 100 per cent. Professor Sinclair and his colleague Dr Lindsay Wu were winners in NASA's iTech competition in December last year. 'We came in with a solution for a biological problem and it won the competition out of 300 entries,' Dr Wu said. Cosmic radiation is not only an issue for astronauts. We're all exposed to it aboard aircraft, with a London-Singapore-Melbourne flight roughly equivalent in radiation to a chest x-ray. Professor David Sinclair (front centre) and his research team. During trials on mice, the group found that their anti-ageing pill directly repaired DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or ageing. Human trials will begin within six months In theory, the anti-ageing pill could mitigate any effects of DNA damage for frequent flyers. The other group that could benefit from this work is survivors of childhood cancers. Dr Wu says 96 per cent of childhood cancer survivors suffer a chronic illness by age 45, including cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and cancers unrelated to the original cancer. 'All of this adds up to the fact they have accelerated ageing, which is devastating,' he said. 'It would be great to do something about that, and we believe we can with this molecule.' The experiments in mice, from a team at the University of New South Wales, suggest a treatment for these issues is possible through a new drug. While our cells can naturally repair DNA damage - such as damage caused by the sun - this ability declines with age. The scientists identified that the call signalling molecule NAD+, which is naturally present in every cell in the body, has a key role in protein interactions that control DNA repair. Treating mice with an NAD+ 'booster' called NMN improved their cells' ability to repair DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or ageing For the past four years, Professor Sinclair and Dr Wu have been working on making NMN into a drug substance with their companies MetroBiotech NSW and MetroBiotech International. The human trials will begin this year at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston. If you could tell people from the early 20th century about some of today's gadgets and gizmos, they'd think you were mad. And the very same can be said the other way round, judging by some of these bizarre vintage inventions. During the 1920s, women were sold some truly horrifying full face masks, with only holes cut out for their eyes, nostrils and mouths, to protect them from the sun while swimming - this being at a time when tans weren't desirable. In Britain, a Kent-based company called FW Mills designed a gas-resistant stroller for babies in 1938 when Britain was facing the threat of World War II. And in New York City during the 1930s, mothers would leave their babies in cages suspended from the outside walls of high-rise buildings to give them a daily dose of 'fresh air'. Here, MailOnline Travel takes you on a journey back in time with stop-offs all around the world to admire (and recoil) at some of the barmiest inventions ever made. This somewhat alarming swimming mask was devised to protect women's faces from the sun in the 1920s During the 1930s, New York mothers would leave their babies in cages suspended from the walls of high-rise buildings to give them a daily dose of fresh air In 1938, a Kent-based company called FW Mills designed this gas-resistant pram for babies when Britain was facing the threat of war with Germany This fetching headgear from the 1970s was designed so that women could do their hair and make-up before showering - although why is another matter In 1922 when the US was under prohibition law, 'Moonshiners' who brewed illegal alcohol wore shoes with cow hoof-shaped attachments to avoid their footsteps being followed by police This portable TV prototype was developed in 1967 by an artist and inventor called Walter Pichler, who wished to make a statement about isolation 'Freezing' freckles off with carbon dioxide was popular in the 1930s. While it was applied, patients eyes were covered with airtight plugs, their nostrils filled in for protection and they had to breathe through a tube To get the tightly curled style of the day, pre-war women would spend hours having each section of hair individually set with the help of contraptions made of dozens of heating tongs In the 1940s, the Freckleproof Cape (left) offered protection from the sun and had built-in sunglasses. Pictured (right) is the 1920s treadmill These Hamblin glasses were invented in 1936 and were designed to make it easier for people to read in bed. The words from the page were beamed to the reader's eyes using mirrors so the reader could lie on their back and not have to strain their neck These Canadian cone masks were designed to protect women's make-up from snow, rain and blizzards A one-wheeled bike, or monowheel, designed in 1931 by a Swiss engineer called Mr Gerdes This strange contraption was crafted to simultaneously shine the top of a bald held and brush the remaining hair around the side Hugo Gernsback's 1925 invention, The Isolator, was an American contraption designed to eliminate all outside noise and isolate the user in a peaceful working environment. It came complete with an oxygen mask so the wearer wouldn't suffocate Don't feel like getting out of bed, but do fancy a tinker on the piano? In 1935, this contraption was your solution These headsets were a World War II German invention designed to enhance the noise and flash of enemy guns so they were easier to pinpoint She previously insisted that she wouldn't be joining the Real Housewives Of Sydney cast. But it appears Real Housewives Of Melbourne star Christa Billich has done a complete 180. The Daily Telegraph confirms that the colourful socialite will be joining the Sydney cast in an upcoming episode on Sunday. Change of heart? Socialite and 'Swinger' Christa Billich is confirmed to appear on Real Housewives Of Sydney after insisting she would NEVER go on the show The blonde socialite will no doubt share some very interesting stories about her life. She once revealed her husband, renown artist Charles Billich, spent their wedding night with the couple's wedding photographer rather than her when they tied the knot 31 years ago. Christa will make a cameo appearance, thanks to her close friendship to permanent cast member, Matty Samei. Pampered pooches: During the episode, Christa will be seen visiting the gallery she shares with her husband Charles with her three travelling Chihuahua companions, who she feeds caviar to out of a Versace bowl Interesting: Christa once revealed her husband, renown artist Charles Billich, spent their wedding night with the couple's wedding photographer rather than her when they tied the knot 31 years ago During the episode, Christa will be seen visiting the gallery she shares with her husband Charles with her three travelling Chihuahua companions. According to the publication, the pampered pooches eat caviar out of Versace bowls, travel around in a ridiculous doggy pram and have their own designated dog nanny. Christa and her world-renowned artist beau have famously spent almost their entire relationship sleeping with other people. Besties: Christa is good pals with Real Housewives Of Melbourne star Gamble Breaux Socialite Christa famously revealed her husband Charles spent their wedding night with the couple's wedding photographer when they married three decades ago. The Austrian-born blonde told New Idea in an interview last year that she was 'upset at the time', but got over it quickly and the next three decades have been 'mostly happy'. 'Charles promised he would be loyal but he would never be faithful, and he's kept that promise,' she said, admitting that the philandering cuts both ways. They are so open with each other about the arrangement that Christa is even good friends with some of the 83-year-old's ex-girlfriends - who say she is lucky to have him. The couple also revealed Charles had even had several extra-marital engagements, and that the key to the relationship working was to keep each other in the loop. Bizarre: Back in 2015, Christa threw a bizarre $20,000 wedding for one of her pet pooches and friend's cat When you're living life like an open book with no secrets, you're closer to each other,' the famous sculptor and nude painter said. But the unconventional duo admitted their life isn't for everyone and their are plenty of drawbacks, such as that their marriage could never have survived having children. It also forced them to be independent and self-reliant, because their partner would never be as 'nurturing' as a conventional relationship. Flamboyant: Christa and her husband Charles are seen here during one of their many extravagant trips oversees They also travel extensively, with houses in Sydney, Los Angeles and Monaco and Charles flying around the world to sell his art to everyone from presidents to Hugh Hefner. Their schedules meant they once didn't even see each other for a year. 'You have to be a pretty strong person to live like this and not depend on your partner,' Christa said. 'We travel a lot, he will be in Italy and I will be in other parts of the world missing him - by a country or two!' She's known for slaying the runway and big screens, but keeping her private life to herself. Now Jessica Gomes has spoken about her boyfriend Xavier Samuel in a tell all interview with Who Magazine. The Perth-born model and actress is now based in LA where she lives with her actor boyfriend after they were spotted kissing there last year to confirm their relationship. Scroll down for video Jessica Gomes met her actor boyfriend Xavier Samuel at her 32nd birthday party in LA Jessica has been extremely busy after she walked the runway at the David Jones's Autumn/Winter launch, as well as publicising two Hollywood films she is starring in this year and also launching her own skincare line called Equal Beauty. But while talking with the publication, Jessica said she had some time off from her busy schedule to go on a romantic outback escape with Xavier, 33. She said: 'We spent time in nature.' 'We swam in dams and would go for bush walks... We just relaxed.' When talking about juggling her career and relationship, Jessica said: 'Balancing my time is something I really focus on.' 'I think it's really lovely that we are in the same industry as well, so we understand the environment': Jessica is starring in two Hollywood films this year Recently Jessica launched her own skincare line called Equal Beauty Jessica, 32, met her Melbourne-born boyfriend at her birthday party in LA last September. She said that Xavier plays a big role in her life, which is why it's so important to manage her time. She said: 'We are so supportive of each other.' 'I think it's really lovely that we are in the same industry as well, so we understand the environment.' Due to their busy lifestyles, Jessica said that when her schedule overlaps with Xavier's, the pair love to travel together. 'He's really proud of what I created, and so am I': Xavier offered marketing tips for Jessica's skincare line Xavier supports Jessica's extensive career and has even given her marketing tips for Equal Beauty. 'He analysed the boxes and picked up a few mistakes!' she said. 'But he's really proud of what I created, and so am I.' For inspiration, Jessica looks up to other fierce Aussie women making it big in Hollywood, especially Teresa Palmer. She said: 'I read her blog about becoming a mother and go "I can't wait to become a mother and go through all those things too".' Jessica and Xavier spent time off having an outback adventure and going buswalking before restarting their busy lives He became a fan favourite on controversial dating series, Married At First Sight. But from snaps discovered online this week, Jesse Konstantinoff has had quite the wild past. 'We've all made mistakes,' the 31-year-old told OK! magazine, referring to photos taken on a boys' night out, that saw the fruit and veg seller flashing his derriere. 'We've all made mistakes': MAFS star Jesse Konstantinoff, 31, opened up to OK! magazine about the infamous boys' night that saw him flash his derriere 'Obviously we were having a few drinks, which is what happens on boys' nights, Jesse told the publication. 'A few words were said, but they were never meant to be disrespectful. 'What happened on boy's night should have stayed on boys' night,' the reality star added. Baring nearly all: Photos published in OK! magazine on Thursday, saw Jesse giving the camera a generous look at his posterior. The above image is in no way related to the party snaps Photos published in OK! magazine on Thursday, saw Jesse giving the camera a generous look at his frame. Having pulled down his jeans, the personality revealed his derriere and sported a playful expression. The revealing images are in stark contrast to his persona on Married At First Sight. South Australian-based Jesse is partial to a tailored suit. On the hunt: Jesse recently revealed to OK! magazine that despite being dumped by 'TV wife' Michelle Marsh, 31, on Tuesday night's episode, he hasn't given up on love The discovery of Jesse's shenanigans comes shortly after Jesse was dumped by his 'TV wife' Michelle Marsh, 31, on Tuesday night's 'vow renewal' episode. However he did reveal to OK! magazine that he hasn't given up on love, and is already back in the dating game. '[I] may have had a couple of dates,' Jesse admitted. 'I'd do The Bachelor if I could, but I've heard I'm not tall enough. You'd have to be six foot apparently, so I don't see that happening,' he continued. No longer: The reality star was brutally 'friend-zoned' by Michelle [pictured] despite pleading with the blonde twin to give their relationship one last shot The reality star was brutally 'friend-zoned' by Michelle despite pleading with the blonde twin to give their relationship one last shot. And having had time to reflect on his failed 'marriage', Jesse concluded that his TV partner was 'too perfect' for him. 'Sometimes someone who is so perfect for you in every way doesn't work. You are just constantly questioning why they are so good,' he said. Ready to mingle: After telling OK! magazine that he 'may have had a couple of dates', Jesse said he wasn't ruling anything out on his search for love - even going back on TV Best pals: Jesse and Michelle have remained friends She's known to run with the best in the business. And this was certainly evident for Roxy Jacenko, pictured emerging from a hair salon in Sydney's exclusive suburb of Double Bay on Wednesday. The 36-year-old debuted shorter locks, at the hands of Kendall and Kylie Jenner's hairstylist, Jonathan Colombini. If it's good enough for the Jenners! Roxy Jacenko, 36, debuted shorter locks after visiting celebrity hairstylist, Jonathan Colombini, in Sydney's Double Bay on Wednesday Roxy was primped to perfection as she emerged from salon, La Boutique. The mother-of-two highlighted her slim frame in black designer garb, by Maison Margiela and Celine, with a pair of two-toned Gianvito Rossi heels elongating her frame. Showing off her penchant for style, Roxy shielded her eyes behind Celine glasses, and accessorised further with delicate jewellery. Looking good, Roxy! The PR queen debuted her new do, hair extensions cut into a 'lob' or 'long bob', with her tresses styled in a centre part and in relaxed waves The PR queen debuted her new look, hair extensions cut into a 'lob' or 'long bob', with her tresses styled in a centre part and in relaxed waves. Keeping her makeup look minimal, Roxy enhanced her facial features with a flawless complexion, defined brows, and a coating of pink colour over her plump pout. The Sydney notable took to Instagram shortly after the visit, flaunting her newly-applied hair extensions with a selfie as she sat in her car. Showing off the results: The Sydney notable took to Instagram shortly after the visit, flaunting her newly-applied hair extensions with a selfie as she sat in her car Keeping up with Kendall! Roxy was inspired by 'it' model and celebrity offspring, Kendall Jenner, 21, (pictured) 'Channelling my inner @kendalljenner with the man himself in town from L.A @jonathan_colombini hair ext: @hairtalkaustralia,' Roxy captioned the selfie. The author also documented the experience by posing for a variety of mirror selfies, while seated in the leather salon chair. In one snap, Roxy's hair was cut short in an 'undercut lob' before extensions were reapplied to frame her face. Connected: The author also documented the experience by posing for a variety of mirror selfies, while seated in the leather salon chair Tending to her tresses: Roxy's signature blonde locks appeared lighter and fresher, as celebrity hairstylist Jonathan Colombini cut, blow dried and styled her tresses in her multiple uploads on social media Roxy is known for her flawless appearance. The business woman has been working on her fitness with personal trainer to the stars Dan Adair. Over the past few months, Roxy has shed 10kg and counting, taking to Instagram to share snaps of her progress. Putting in the hard yards: The business woman has been working on her fitness with personal trainer to the stars Dan Adair She may have worn high-heeled Ugg boots competing in Miss Universe Australia in 2010, but the Sydney stunner's style has definitely evolved over the years. And there was no denying Jesinta Franklin's (nee Campbell) superstar presence as she arrived at the Moet & Chandon MCIII Launch at Sydney Opera House on Tuesday. The model debuted a bold rock chic look in a strapless velvet black gown with daring thigh-high boots. My, how you've changed! Jesinta Campbell has come a long way since being crowned Miss Universe Australia in 2010 as she reveals new rock glam look on red carpet on Tuesday in Sydney In a look back at Jesinta's style transformation, Daily Mail Australia looks back at the brunette beauty's journey from pageant princess to one of the nation's most looked to women. Jesinta, now 25, was crowned Miss Universe Australia at the age of 18 sporting a fresh-faced girl-next-door appeal. The former FHM men's mag model would often style her long locks in voluminous blow-waves while wearing tight figure-flaunting dresses. Speaking about her beauty and fashion styling, Jesinta revealed to The Daily Telegraph last year: 'I think I regret every hair choice, make up choice and fashion choice I made in 2010 as Miss Universe Australia.' Look at her now: Jesinta, now 25, was crowned Miss Universe Australia at the age of 18 sporting a fresh-faced girl-next-door appeal 'I think I regret every hair choice, make up choice and fashion choice I made in 2010 as Miss Universe Australia': Jesinta's style has changed significantly since sporting high-heeled Ugg boots during her pageant days However, she quickly made the transition from beach blonde bikini girl to stylish fashionista over the years that followed. On the runway, she's become known for channeling old-school Hollywood glamour and flashing the flesh in fashion-forward outfits. The TV presenter - who underwent a boob job in her teens boosting her 12A to Bs - became a regular guest on Channel Nine's debate panels. The model from the Gold Coast takes her television career very seriously, carefully choosing designer outfits with the help of her stylist sister, Aleysha Campbell. What a difference a few years make: Jesinta is super chic as she attends the Logie Awards in 2015, left. On the right she is seen in Hollywood before making her way to the Miss Universe contest in Las Vegas in 2006 Changing looks: The model has become known as a style chameleon, moving away from her tight figure-hugging ensembles to more daring fashion-forward outfits and old-school Hollywood glamour frocks Peek-a-boob! The TV presenter - who underwent a boob job in her teens boosting her 12A to Bs - flaunts her assets in elegant eveningwear She made her catwalk debut for David Jones in 2015, highlighting her enviable frame in a monochrome bikini and heels. Her beauty regimen has changed since walking the catwalk in her pageant days, often sporting slicker and lighter waves instead of larger curls. However, Jesinta's choice of showing more skin hasn't always resulted in rave reviews from fashion critics. Bikini babe: She made her catwalk debut for David Jones in 2015, and has since highlighted her enviable frame and taut stomach in numerous swimwear looks with heels on the catwalk 'Fashion is freedom': In 2016, critics slammed the brand ambassador for her dramatic green Camilla and Marc design that didn't leave much to the imagination, responding that it was empowering for women In 2016, the brand ambassador stepped out at the 58th TV Week Logies Awards in a dramatic Camilla and Marc design that didn't leave much to the imagination. The ensemble consisted of a green leotard bodysuit with a netted sleeves overlay showing off her lithe physique. At the time, Jesinta hit back at at her critics by posting an empowering message to all women, saying 'fashion is freedom'. Her post came after she called TV and radio personality Kate Langbroek 'nasty' after the 50-year-old shared an image of Jesinta's dress, saying: 'This cannot be for real. #desperate (for pants).' Elegant! The wife of AFL star Lance Buddy Franklin always dazzles beside her husband in floor-length gowns that hug at her svelte frame Bridal beauty! Jesinta wore a custom-made princess-style Vera Wang wedding gown during her top-secret ceremony held at Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains last November The wife of AFL star Lance Buddy Franklin dazzled in a princess-style gown on her wedding day back in November. Wearing a custom-made wedding dress, which was created by world famous designer Vera Wang, Jesinta looked every bit the beautiful bride. Jesinta wore the elegant dress when she married AFL star Buddy at a top-secret ceremony held at Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains. After the wedding, sources told Daily Mail Australia that the model changed into an Ana Luisa gown for the reception. Stunning! After the wedding, sources told Daily Mail Australia that the model changed into an Ana Luisa gown for the reception And hot off the heels of another runway appearance at Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival this month, Jesinta debuted a striking new hairdo on Tuesday. The model debuted a stunning set of bangs while the fashionable strapless gown showed off her toned figure and tan. Jesinta wore the ensemble with a pair of daring thigh-high sock boots, similar to a pair worn on the runway last week. A vision in velvet! Jesinta wore a fashionable strapless gown that showed off her toned figure and tan, while pairing the frock with daring thigh-high sock boots, similar to a pair worn on the runway last week Chris Brown is making a guest appearance on ABC's popular sitcom Black-ish. The recording artist will play a popular rapper named Rich Youngsta who is employed by Anthony Anderson's Dre for a new advertising campaign, EW.com reported Wednesday. The 27-year old R&B star, whose music is somewhat overshadowed by his troubled personal life, will feature in the next episode of the comedy to air on March 29. TV gig: Chris Brown, pictured in October, will play a rapper Rich Youngsta in a guest starring role on Black-ish in the March 29 episode Hit comedy: The ABC sitcom stars Anthony Anderson as an ad man who, with wife Tracee Ellis Ross, is raising his kids in an affluent white neighborhood The sitcom stars Anderson as an ad man raising his family in a white upper-middle class neighborhood and the issues that raises regarding his own cultural identity. The storyline for the episode titled Richard Youngsta shows the actor's character getting excited about working with the rapper. He then is taken to task by wife Bow, played by Tracee Ellis Ross, over his use of negative stereotypes in the campaign, EW.com says. Brown's episode revolves around Anderson's character Dre who chooses the rapper as the face of his new ad campaign and is challenged by wife Bow (Ross) over negative steroetyping Brown is the latest celebrity to make a guest appearance on Black-ish. Tyra Banks, Rashida Jones and Lorraine Toussaint have all had cameos on the show. Last month, Brown's ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran was granted a restraining order against him after alleging he had threatened to kill her. Back in 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault of his then-girlfriend Rihanna. He also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault after a 2014 altercation with a man in Washington, D.C. Patti Newton has opened up about rumours plaguing herself and husband Bert in recent weeks regarding their marriage, his recent hospitalization and his gambling. Speaking to Kyle and Jackie O on Thursday morning, the 72-year-old brushed off recent reports that Bert's gambling was out of control. 'When was it illegal to go to a TAB? He's going to be 79 in July. Good on him. He can have a flutter, if he can afford it,' she said. Nothing to see here: Patti Newton has opened up about rumours plaguing herself and husband Bert in recent weeks In 1993, the former Good Morning Australia host's gambling problem almost forced himself and Patti into bankruptcy, a scandal that made front page news at the time. 'Family spokesperson' Peter Ford told KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O Show that Bert still gambles on a weekly basis, but denied there's any truth to rumours he and his wife Patti have split because of his habit. 'He gambles a little bit,' Peter admitted. 'What happens is Patti gives him some play money every week - about 100 bucks - and he goes down (to the TAB) and what he chooses to do with that is his business.' Just a flutter: 'When was it illegal to go to a TAB? He's going to be 79 in July. Good on him. He can have a flutter, if he can afford it,' she said Patti also laughed off various tall tales, including that she had a secret love child, however she did admit that Bert may have one out there. 'What a life I'm leading! The best one was 'Patti's Love Child'. I'm 72! That would be a miracle wouldn't it. It might be one of Bert's that we know don't about,' she said. Kyle Sandilands pressed her on the issue, asking if the TV host may in fact have illegitimate children. Recovering: Patti went on to explain Bert had been ill with pneumonia but was now back home and resting 'Honestly, I have waited at the door when there's a knock, I hope this isn't it,' she admitted. 'I would just slam the door! No I wouldn't really.' Patti went on to explain Bert had been ill with pneumonia but was now back home and resting. 'The real story is Bert has been in hospital. He's home and he's resting,' she said. Okay at home: Patti also insisted all was well in the pair's 43-year marriage, telling the radio hosts, 'We're fine...he's a good man' Patti also insisted all was well in the pair's 43-year marriage, telling the radio hosts, 'We're fine...he's a good man'. The Australian TV legend recently emerged following a 5-day hospital stay after falling 'extremely ill' with Pneumonia. The 78-year-old was spotted refueling his car at a 7-Eleven in Melbourne on Tuesday and seemed to be in good spirits. Wednesday night's episode of The Only Way Is Essex charted the aftermath of when Amber T 'sushed' Chloe M in their spat about former flames James and Dan. But all that drama seemed petty alongside Gemma's baby plight, which has left her 'feeling empty' for a long time. The 36-year-old was seen visiting a fertility clinic, with Chloe S and Bobby for emotional support. Scroll down for video 'I would trade my Range Rover and Cartier for a boyfriend and a baby': Gemma Collins breaks down in tears during her visit to a fertility clinic to freeze her eggs on TOWIE While they waited outside in the waiting room, Gemma was seen unloading her troubles onto the consultant. 'I'm living in this sheer panic morning, noon and night,' she said. 'Firstly because I'm worried I'm already going through the menopause; secondly "why haven't I found the love of my life?"; and thirdly I'm asking "why me?" 'So I think if I can freeze my eggs Ive got a better chance later on.' Gemma broke down in tears at this point, reaching for a tissue, apologising for becoming emotional. Feeling empty: Gemma broke down in tears at this point, reaching for a tissue, apologising for becoming emotional Feeling tearful: Gemma was seen unloading her troubles onto the consultant Feeling better: Outside in the waiting area, Gemma told Chloe S and Bobby that she was feeling better about the whole thing, but that she had asked if she could have a freezer built in her home, so she could store the eggs there The consultant informed her that 36 - the age she currently is - is typically the oldest they recommend someone go through the freezing procedure. Outside in the waiting area, Gemma told Chloe S and Bobby that she was feeling better about the whole thing, but that she had asked if she could have a freezer built in her home, so she could store the eggs there. 'They said no, which is fair enough, but I'm concerned about mixing them up,' she said. She also admitted she needed to be healthier in the next month, before her next period - which is when the procedure would take place. 'Less brandy, less living it up, less time at my favourite Italian,' she listed. Changes: Gemma also admitted she needed to be healthier in the next month, before her next period - which is when the procedure would take place 'You cant shush people': Courtney scolded Amber T as she popped round for a glass of white Debrief: Courtney texted Amber T, inviting her round to discuss last weekend's 'shushing' incident She then added: 'I have everything I could ever want but the two things I really want I can't get. 'I would happily trade in my Range Rover and my Cartier watch for a boyfriend and a baby, and no one would say that in Essex!' What happens next is yet to be revealed, as the rest of Wednesday's instalment saw the dramatics continue between the various Chloes and Ambers on the series. Talk surrounding the previous episode's awkward breakfast seems to be the hot topic of the Essex residents, with Courtney and Chloe M analysing Amber T. 'Why would I want to be like her?' Chloe M asked. 'She cheated on her boyfriend, why would I want to be like you Amber Turner, you're such a role model!' Toilet trouble: Megan used the opportunity to explain the situation behind her conscious decision to not flush the toilet when she has urinated Self involved: Amber T soon began talking about herself, and was assured by her pal Megan that she hadn't done anything wrong at the breakfast 'Amber is so far up Megans a**e its embarrassing,' she added. Simultaneously, Megan and Amber T were indeed together, getting their nails done. Megan used the opportunity to explain the situation behind her conscious decision to not flush the toilet when she has urinated - the cause of a recent row between her and boyfriend Pete, which the whole of the county has soon heard about. 'It's because I was taught not to flush in the middle of the night when I went to the toilet because it would wake mummy and daddy,' Megan reasoned. Of her relationship with the tattooed hunk, Megan said 'we speak about things and it ends up getting into a big row' with a slight glint of sadness in her eye. Amber T soon began talking about herself, and was assured by her pal Megan that she hadn't done anything wrong at the breakfast. Face like thunder: Amber T was informed that she suffers from stroppy resting facial expressions, which did nothing to lighten her already embittered mood Bathroom humour: The boys arranged a triple date which immediately started with a toilet joke about Megan, which set her off seething from the get go Fuming: As the boys disappeared off for a drink at the bar, Megan added - 'I feel like Petes got a real problem with me and its starting to really f**king p**s me off!' 'Me and Dan are enjoying each others company,' she explained, to which Megan assured her: 'Chloe has no right to get irate at you!' At this point, Courtney texted Amber T, inviting her round to discuss last weekend's 'shushing' incident, in which Amber T told Chloe M to be quiet. 'You cant shush people,' Courtney scolded Amber T as she popped round for a glass of white. 'Shes talking shit Im gonna shush her!' Amber T declared, saying that if Chloe M texted her she would maybe read it in a month's time. The boys arranged a triple date which immediately started with a toilet joke about Megan, which set her off seething from the get go. Here come the girls: Dan's ex-girlfriend Kate and pal Georgia waited for Chloe L to reveal her apparently shocking secret Quietly to Pete, she said: 'I think youve got more underlying issues than I do. F**king idiot!' As the boys disappeared off for a drink at the bar, Megan added: 'I feel like Petes got a real problem with me and its starting to really f**king p**s me off!' Elsewhere, Chloe S admitted that she would like to get back to the way things were with Gatsby and admitted she should not have hooked up with him in the first place. The episode ended with a revelation from Chloe L to Dan's ex-girlfriend Kate that she once kissed him. But the build up seemed to be a little unnecessary as Kate didn't really seem to care. Chloe L burst in to tears over the situation but Kate simply hugged her and reassured her it didn't matter. The drama continues in The Only Way Is Essex on Sunday at 10pm on ITVBe. Ruby Rose has revealed the real reason behind her breakup from model Harley Gusman, whom she dated for just over two months last year. While paying tribute to her best friend Courtney Africa McLellan on her birthday, the 30-year-old actress admitted she called time on the romance because her ex put her pal's life in danger. 'I broke up with a girl purely because she endangered Courtney's life being reckless on a jet ski,' the Orange Is The New Black star shared on Instagram. Scroll down for video Why they split: Ruby Rose has revealed the reason she broke up with ex-girlfriend Harley Gusman, whom she dated briefly last year It appears the brunette beauty is referring to an incident that occurred while she was holidaying in Ibiza in August last year. Photos from the idyllic getaway show the actress appearing strained as she spoke to her ex-girlfriend Harley, who was riding a jet ski with Courtney in the back seat. Showing off her chiselled abs in a white-and-blue bikini, Ruby was seen standing on a luxury boat as she chatted to the others down in the water below. Protective: The actress revealed on Instagram that she split from Harley because the model 'endangered' her best friend Courtney's life whilst on a jet ski Tension: It appears Ruby was referring to an incident that happened in Ibiza in August, where she can be seen speaking in a strained manner to Harley while on a jet ski Ruby and Harley were first spotted together last June as they stepped out at Katsuya in Hollywood. At the time, a source told People: 'It just didn't work out. They weren't on the same page.' Meanwhile, Ruby gushed about her best friend Courtney in the lengthy birthday post shared on Thursday. 'It just didn't work out': Ruby and Harley split after just two months together in August, with a source revealing they 'weren't on the same page' Besties: Meanwhile, Ruby gushed about her pal Courtney while paying tribute to her on her birthday Calling the blonde her 'ride or die,' Ruby admitted they've 'only ever fought about which one of us would "dibs" a girl first'. And it appears Courtney's protectiveness over the xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage star almost caused a 'physical altercation' with her current girlfriend Jessica Origliasso. 'She once almost had a physical altercation with @jessicaveronica at the quietest most low key Lisa Mitchell gig because ... well, Lots of heartbreak..alcohol and we were all just 21 trying to figure s**t out...' the former DJ wrote. It's been dubbed the concrete jungle. And on Wednesday, Nicky Hilton stepped out in New York City in a pretty wild look. The heiress, 33, was bundled up in an animal print coat and ripped jeans as she ran some errands solo. Wild thing! Nicky Hilton was bundled up in an animal print coat and ripped jeans as she ran some errands solo in New York on Wednesday The socialite had her blonde tresses scraped up into a high ponytail and wore a large pair of sunglasses. And adding a major pop of color was her cross body ruby red purse. Just as eye-catching as her flashy handbag were her soft black flats, which were made all the more obvious thanks to the giant bow on the toe. Stylish sunglasses propped on, the former reality star looked cool and collected as she enjoyed a quiet walk through the city. Hair today: The socialite had her blonde tresses scraped up into a high ponytail and wore a large pair of sunglasse Meanwhile, the reality star paid tribute to the city of London after an attacker mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. 'I (heart emoticon) you London', she tweeted. Nicky is a new mom after welcoming her first child, daughter Lily Grace Victoria Rothschild, with her husband James Rothschild over the summer. All in a day's work! Stylish sunglasses propped on, the former reality star looked cool and collected as she enjoyed a quiet walk through the city Sending her thoughts: Meanwhile, the reality star paid tribute to London after an attacker mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge Since giving birth, Nicky has totally immersed herself in motherhood. Nicky and financier husband got engaged in August 2014 while vacationing in Lake Como, Italy and tied the knot at Kensington Palace in London in July 2015. Banking scion James is the heir to a European banking firm and some reports say that the Rothschilds are worth more than $700 trillion. The couple are raising Lily in New York City. Karl Stefanovic was spotted picking up groceries at his local Woolworths in Sydney on Wednesday, joined by his mother Jenny. Before the shopping trip, Mrs Stefanovic was also seen buying a cushion and other homewares from department store David Jones. It comes after the Today host, 42, debuted his romance with model Jasmine Yarbrough, 33, following his marriage split last year. Shopping trip: Karl Stefanovic (left) was spotted picking up groceries at his local Woolworths in Sydney on Wednesday, joined by his mother Jenny (right) During the shopping trip, the mother-and-son duo were seen carrying toilet paper and soft drink, among several other items. Wearing a casual white T-shirt and his favourite Birkenstocks, the TV personality was possibly stocking up on items for a bachelor pad. In September, it was reported Karl had moved out of the marital home he shared with Cassandra Thorburn following their separation. Household items: Before the shopping trip, Mrs Stefanovic was also seen buying a cushion and other homewares from department store David Jones Running errands: After a quick trip home, Jenny joined her son to go shopping at Woolworths Earlier this week, The Daily Telegraph reported that Karl and girlfriend Jasmine had enjoyed a romantic getaway in Brisbane. It was claimed the father-of-three met Jasmine's family there over the weekend, before flying back to Sydney on Sunday. The couple, who met in December, were pictured arriving at Sydney Airport and being greeted by Richard Wilkins and his son Christian. Stocking up! During the shopping trip, the mother-and-son duo were seen carrying toilet paper and soft drink, among several other items Taking it easy: Wearing a casual white T-shirt and his favourite Birkenstocks, the TV personality was possibly stocking up on items for a bachelor pad Perhaps in an effort to avoid photographers, Jasmine and Karl left separately as she departed with Richard and Christian. Meanwhile, Karl was spotted outside the terminal, waiting to catch a taxi on his own. The Brisbane trip follows a New Idea report that Karl is considering leaving the Today show and moving to the US, where Jasmine lives. Going solo! In September, it was reported Karl had moved out of the marital home he shared with wife-of-21-years Cassandra Thorburn following their separation Holiday? Earlier this week, The Daily Telegraph reported that Karl and girlfriend Jasmine had enjoyed a romantic getaway in Brisbane Meeting the parents? It was claimed the father-of-three met Jasmine's family over the weekend, before flying back to Sydney on Sunday A source allegedly told the publication: 'Karl met with lawyers to explore options around leaving the breakfast show and becoming Nine's US bureau chief so he can be close to his girlfriend. 'He knows he would take a pay cut, but would love to relocate to the US in a similar role,' the Channel Nine insider continued. 'He's 100 per cent committed to the relationship and sees a future with Jasmine. And after 21 years of marriage, he's not interested in taking things slow.' Relocating? New Idea has also reported Karl is considering leaving the Today show and moving to the US, where Jasmine lives. Pictured: Jenny Stefanovic Keira Maguire managed not be distracted from her workout at Sydney's Rushcutters Bay on Wednesday despite the attractive shirtless trainer who was hovering over her. The 30-year-old arranged herself in a series of very limber poses as she worked her body with her muscular trainer, Jono Castano Acero, looking on. The tall, dark and handsome gent concentrated on the task at hand as Keira, wearing tight active wear, held her leg to her chest as she lay in the grass. Hot day's workout: Keira Maguire managed not be distracted from her workout at Rushcutters Bay on Wednesday despite the very attractive shirtless trainer who was hovering over her The former Bachelor contestant also did some handstands, teasing a giggle from her trainer as she appeared to struggle to get up on her hands. Keira looked fit and toned, donning a pair of olive green tights that clung to every curve in a somewhat revealing manner. The beauty's pert derriere was flattered in the skin-tight fabric and her muscular legs were on impressive display. Wearing a small black one-shouldered workout top, Keira also showed off her lean arms and flat tummy. Hot and sweaty: The 30-year-old arranged herself in a series of very limber poses as she worked her body with her muscular trainer, Jono Castano Acero, looking on Laughs: The former Bachelor contestant also did some handstands, teasing a giggle from her trainer as she appeared to struggle to get up on her hands Stretching: The beauty's pert derriere was flattered in the skin-tight fabric and her muscular legs were on impressive display Looking good: Keira looked fit and toned, donning a pair of olive green tights that clung to every curve in a somewhat revealing manner Working on her body: Jono shared an Instagram video of the pair's workout last week, explaining that the blonde was trying to get back in shape She's fit! Keria did a series of intense stretches on a mat that was placed in the grass Upside down: Keira's face looked a little red as she exerted herself with determination Jono shared an Instagram video of the pair's workout last week, explaining that the blonde was trying to get back in shape. After her stint in the South African jungle I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Jono explains that Keira wanted to work on her posterior. 'Taking @keiramaguire through a booty workout from her 4 week absence in the jungle,' he captioned the video. Good looking: Wearing a small black one-shouldered workout top, Keira also showed off her lean arms and flat tummy No ifs or buts: After her stint in the South African jungle I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Jono explains that Keria wanted to work on her posterior Trainer talk: 'Taking @keiramaguire through a booty workout from her 4 week absence in the jungle,' Jono captioned the video Jono didn't spare his charge, encouraging Keira as she worked with bright orange resistance bands to build muscle. The trainer was encouraging, and wanted the beauty to lift the bands much higher than she was. Keira looked very determined and had a sheen of sweat on her body as the workout progressed. Sweat it out: Keira worked with bright orange resistance bands to build muscle Go harder! Jono wanted the beauty to lift the bands much higher than she was Stumble? Keira appeared to trip at one point during the workout Twist it out: The reality star appeared to struggle as she turned on her heel Jono may be enjoyable to look at but Single gal Keira won't be getting lucky with her hot PT however as he's taken. The hunk is engaged to stunning blogger Amy Maree Comber who he describes as his 'childhood love'. No dice: Jono may be enjoyable to look at but Single gal Keira won't be getting lucky with her hot PT however as he's taken Despite the drama she caused in the jungle, Keira was seen enjoying a night out with Tegan Martin and Lisa Curry were pictured out and about earlier this week. The threesome enjoyed a fun night of dinner, drinks and plenty of laughs at a lavish Sydney restaurant. Matt Damon has told how a 14-year-old Zambian girl reminded him of himself and Ben Affleck as teenagers as he talked during a World Water Day event in New York City on Wednesday. The 46-year-old actor during the event with Stella Artois at The Oculus at World Trade Center recalled his first water collection in a 'very rural' Zambian village, according to an article by Page Six. 'I love this story because I remember this girl. This was over 10 years ago, but she was 14 years old and we walked about a mile together and as I was kind of grilling her through this interpreter, I asked if she was going to stay in this village. Matt Damon has told how a 14-year-old Zambian girl reminded him of himself and Ben Affleck as teenagers as he talked during a World Water Day event in New York City on Wednesday 'And she said ''No, no, no. Im going to the big city. Im going to be a nurse in the big city of Lusaka''.' Damon added: 'She had this twinkle in her eye and it just reminded me of Ben Affleck and I saying when we were 14, ''We're going to go to the big city of New York, and we're going to be actors and we're going to make it''.' The Oscar-winner noted the girl would not have had the opportunity to move to Lusaka if a water well had not been drilled near her home. 'She would be out scavenging for water. She wouldn't be coming home from school,' he said. Childhood friends: Matt and Ben Affleck are shown in 1999 in New York City The 46-year-old actor is pictured during the event with Stella Artois at The Oculus at World Trade Center Damon and Affleck, 44, won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the 1997 drama Good Will Hunting. The childhood friends have since starred in dozens of high-profile films and Affleck gained another Oscar when his 2012 political thriller Argo that he directed and starred in won Best Picture. Damon is a co-founder of Water.org along with Gary White who has been a longtime advocate of providing safe drinking water in developing countries. Hit movie: Ben and Matt are shown in a still from the 1997 drama Good Will Hunting that won them the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay Together again: The Good Will Hunting stars reunited 20 years later at the Oscars last month in Hollywood Safe water: Water.org co-founders Gary White and Matt joined Stella Artois in unveiling The Water Clouds public art installation at The Oculus at the World Trade Center Stella Artois as part of World Water Day was selling a $13 limited edition chalice that will help provide access to clean water for five years for one person in the developing world. National Geographic and Stella Artois also teamed up for a new documentary Our Dream Of Water that will premiere Wednesday on the cable channel. The documentary by director Crystal Moselle highlights the global water crisis by focusing on women in Haiti, Peru and Kenya who struggle daily to find clean water. She never fails to pull out all the stops for a photo opportunity. And Love Island star Olivia Buckland was most definitely turning up the glamour at the Sixty6 Magazine Issue 2 launch party, held at London's Paper nightclub on Wednesday night. The 23-year-old blonde beauty sizzled in a bodycon jumpsuit, the red material clinging to her every curve. Scroll down for video Red hot: Love Island star Olivia Buckland turned up the glamour at the Sixty6 Magazine Issue 2 launch party, held at London's Paper nightclub on Wednesday night Olivia worked her angles, ensuring her slender figure and peachy posterior were on full display. The reality TV personality showed off her ample cleavage in the plunging attire, going braless in the slinky one-piece. Olivia wore her platinum blonde locks scraped back into a high bun, highlighting her features with a liberal amount of make-up. Centre of attention: Olivia worked her angles, ensuring her slender figure and peachy posterior were on full display Striking: Olivia wore her platinum blonde locks scraped back into a high bun, highlighting her features with a liberal amount of make-up Don't mind me! Her date for the evening was fiance Alex Bowen, who let his lady take centre stage at the event Oh my! The stunning star looked phenomenal in her slinky red jumpsuit Slinky: The stunning duo proved their love is as sturdy romance Hot stuff: The couple looked sensational for their day out Her date for the evening was fiance Alex Bowen, who let his lady take centre stage at the event. Alex and Olivia met 10 months ago on the 2016 series of Love Island, and swiftly became engaged in December during a romantic trip to New York City. Recently speaking to new! magazine about whether she'd invite the Love Island girls to her hen do, Olivia said: 'Yeah, I've spoken to a few of them. Dressed to impress: The reality TV personality showed off her ample cleavage in the plunging attire, going braless in the slinky one-piece Designer touch: The starlet completed her attire with a nude YSL clutch bag Posing up a storm: She ensured her cleavage was on full display as she went braless under the garment 'I still speak to Cara quite a lot, so she's definitely going to be there. Yes. [She might be a bridesmaid]. We're still really close.' Olivia then admitted that she and Alex do have plans for children - but are keen to spend time alone as a couple before adding to their brood. She said to MailOnline: 'We have said we want kids eventually. We just want to enjoy our time together, we have a lot to do, experiences to have, holidays to take. 'It will be nice but maybe not in the next seven years. I'm still a baby anyway. I would never let my kids watch Love Island! There's not as much controversy in sex on TV as there used to be. But I won't be showing my kids Love Island. Maybe keep it secret from them for quite a while.' Touch of bling: The star pulled her look together with a large pair of cross embellished hoops In high spirits: Olivia appeared to be in her element as she emerged from the venue He's often seen zipping around London in his silver vintage Mercedes-Benz SL380 convertible. But actor Jude Law's latest vehicular outing around the capital came to screeching halt on Wednesday afternoon. Taking the car for a spin along central London's Drury Lane, Jude was involved in a minor car incident with a taxi. Scroll down for video Mercedes Bent! Jude Law looks fraught as he crashes his beloved vintage convertible into a cab whilst driving through London The Closer star seemingly drove into the back of the cab outside a cafe/bar, resulting in the rear bumper of the taxi to come loose, and the bonnet of Jude's Merc to crunch upwards. Although relatively minor, Jude was seen out on the sidewalk, making a phone call, looking irritated by the fender bender. No-one seemed to be hurt, but the beloved vintage ride will likely set Jude back a few pounds, given the classic car's worth. The cabbie joined Jude on the pavement to swap details, and Jude had his phone ready for some evidence photos. Fender bender: Taking the car for a spin along central London's Drury Lane, Jude was involved in a minor car incident with a taxi The actor was spotted at the weekend jogging close to his London home, struggling to make it up a steep hill. The 44-year-old proved that he still needed to exert himself to maintain his silver screen physique as he worked up a sweat pounding the pavements on his work out. The father-of-five grimaced slightly as he headed up the incline, listening to music as he did so. Following Wednesday's car incident, perhaps he'll be back to jogging afterall. It's crunch time: No-one seemed to be hurt, but the beloved vintage ride will likely set Jude back a few pounds, given the classic car's worth Jude is in hot demand as an actor after starring as Pope Pius XIII in the TV series The Young Pope and he is preparing to shoot the second series. Fans will also be able to see the star in Guy Ritchie's new film King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword which is set to be released in May. Jude will appear as Vortigern alongside Charlie Hunnam as King Arthur. Hailey Baldwin and Cameron Dallas posed for a stunning Carolina Herrera photo shoot together just weeks ago. And rumors began to swirl shortly after that the 20-year-old model and the Vine star have been dating since. So it's no wonder the blonde beauty went low-key in sweatshirt and FRAME jeans as she grabbed lunch from Urth Caffe in Los Angeles on Wednesday with the 22-year-old internet sensation. Scroll down for video Hot spot: Hailey Baldwin, 20, was spotted with Vine star Cameron Dallas, 22, at Urth Caffe in Los Angeles on Wednesday amid rumors the pair are dating Hailey skipped the cosmetics for her afternoon outing, featuring her natural beauty and flawless complexion. The daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin donned a cozy blue and white top with bright red Coca-Cola logo across the front. A pair of light wash distressed denims encased the genetically-gifted stunner's slender pins. She wore her golden blonde tresses down in relaxed waves and parted to one side which highlighted her exquisite facial features. Laid-back look: The leggy model went low-key as she skipped the cosmetics and stepped out in a sweatshirt and jeans The statuesque beauty rounded out her laid-back look with large gold hoop earrings, white and green Adidas sneakers and a simple diamond ring. Vine star Cameron, 22, wore a green and orange Miami Hurricanes jersey with black jeans and Old Skool Vans sneakers. Meanwhile, Hailey can be seen flaunting her toned torso and lean limbs on the April cover of Remix magazine. Effortlessly chic: The blonde beauty opted for comfort in a Coca-Cola sweatshirt which she teamed with distressed jeans She donned barely there emerald green, black and crimson satin shorts with a cropped khaki jacket. A bold red lip added an extra pop of color to her cover girl look and her luscious locks were styled in bouncy curls and pulled into a chic updo. She posed in several stunning black and white images for the magazine shot by Cameron McCool. Hailey is currently an IMG model, with active campaigns for fashion lines such as H&M, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. She's known for her fit form and killer strut down the runway. And Bella Hadid looked to be taking a break from her glamorous lifestyle as she dressed down in a casual white t-shirt and loose boyfriend-style jeans. The 20-year-old model casually puffed on a cigarette as she enjoyed lunch with her brother Anwar and a few friends at Jon & Vinny's in New York City on Wednesday. Bella Hadid, 20, looked to be taking a break from her glamorous lifestyle as she dressed down in a casual white t-shirt and loose boyfriend-style jeans while puffing on a cigarette Keeping it simple: The 20-year-old model looked picturesque in white as she enjoyed lunch with her brother Anwar and a few friends at Jon & Vinny's in New York City on Wednesday Bella paired her casual all-white look with black Nike running shoes and a light cream purse that she wore across her body. The white pants were accented with a bright red leather strap over the zipper right above her crotch. The gorgeous brunette paired her outfit with small oval sunglasses and a cheeky smile as she ran across the street. The younger of the Hadid sisters wore her dark brown hair half up with a large black clip keeping it away from her face. Happy and free! The gorgeous brunette paired her outfit with small oval sunglasses and a cheeky smile as she ran across the street Stylish: Anwar wore a grey sweater with holes throughout and paired it with a pair of burgundy plaid pants Anwar wore a grey sweater with holes throughout and paired it with a pair of burgundy plaid pants. He wore round glasses and kept his hair casual and unstyled for the quick lunch out. The youngest Hadid sibling opted for chunky black boots to complete his outfit on the warm day in the city. Interesting style: The youngest Hadid sibling opted for chunky black boots to complete his outfit on the warm day in the city It was back to business for the in demand model and her brother who just returned home from a picturesque getaway in Jamaica. The Dior spokesmodel hopped on a private jet to Jamaica for a spur-of-the-moment holiday, with a gaggle of gal pals. 'I need you out in Jamaica relaaaxxin,' she captioned her new bikini photo, adding two emojis of smiling faces with hearts in the place of eyes. Improptu trip: It was back to business for the in demand model and her brother who just returned home from a picturesque getaway in Jamaica Barely there! After taking in some sunshine, Bella slipped into a nude one-piece bikini with a Brazilian-cut bottom and strappy back After taking in some sunshine, Bella slipped into a nude one-piece bikini with a Brazilian-cut bottom and strappy back. She and her girlfriends hopped into a river and spent a pleasurable afternoon splashing around in the water. The raven-haired beauty looked genuinely happy to be on vacation, as she captioned a photo: 'BEST DAY!!! happy place' with several heart emoticons. She wrote under photo of herself grinning: 'Jst really happy to be here.' Death Row Records founder Suge Knight has been hospitalized in Los Angeles for 'life threatening' blood clots. The rap mogul, 50, was taken to the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center from a LA jail where he is behind bars awaiting trial for murder. The news was confirmed to the NY Daily News Wednesday by Knight's fiancee Toi-Lin Kelly. Taken ill: Suge Knight, pictured at his arraignment in a Compton courtroom on a murder charge in February 2015, has been hospitalized in LA with 'life-threatening blood clots' 'I am worried because Suge is supposed to receive the proper medical care everyone in custody is entitled to, she told the newspaper. 'Doctors have said Suges blood clots are life threatening.' Knight has been in jail since his arrest for mowing down two men in a burger stand parking lot in Compton in 2015, killing businessman and friend Terry Carter and injuring Cle 'Bone' Sloan. The two men had been working as security on the location set for the NWA movie Straight Outta Compton and had got into a dispute with Knight earlier in the day. Prosecutors have charged Knight with murder and attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty and claims he accidentally struck Carter as he fled the scene in fear for his life suspecting an armed ambush. Worried: Knight's fiancee Toi-Lin Kelly, pictured June 2016 with one of Knight's defense attorneys, told NY Daily News Wednesday she's concerned for the well-being of the rap mogul Larger than life figure: Knight, 50, achieved notoriety as the founder of death Row Records. He's pictured in 1996 with Damon Dash, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur and MC Hammer Knight's health while behind bars, where he's being held on $10 million bail, has been up and down. He has been taken to hospital multiple times and underwent an emergency appendectomy in March 2016. Kelly reiterated Knight's longstanding complaint that his health is being compromised by being in jail. 'It has been two years of in and out of the hospital, dealing with the same blood clots,' Kelly told the NY Daily News. 'I am not confident they care about his well-being, if at all.' Emma Roberts showed off her sartorial style as she graced the red carpet on Wednesday to promote her film The Blackcoat's Daughter in New York City. The 26-year-old Scream Queens actress looked ethereal in the sheer shoulder baring purple dress. The scalloped design gave a fairy-like feel to her look as the purple contrasted beautifully with her porcelain skin tone. Scroll down for video Floating beauty: Emma Roberts showed off her sartorial style as she graced the red carpet on Wednesday to promote her film The Blackcoat's Daughter in New York City She accessorized with strappy black sandals and a little black clutch. Her rich brunette tresses were styled in pretty waves as she went for a center parting, letting the rest of it cascade down her shoulders. Her make-up was demure but classy, as she opted to wear some powder and blusher to compliment her ivory skin tone. Stunner: The 26-year-old Scream Queens actress looked ethereal in the sheer shoulder baring purple dress She wore a natural rouge lippy and some thick eye liner to complete her look. The Nerve actress decided to wear a little jewelry for the evening's festivities, a pair of dangle pearl earrings. She posed up a storm on the red carpet to promote her movie The Blackcoat's Daughter. The film follows the story of two girls who must battle a mysterious evil force when they get left behind at their boarding school over winter break. Flawless: The scalloped design gave a fairy-like feel to her look as the purple contrasted beautifully with her porcelain skin tone Gorgeous: Her rich brunette tresses were styled in pretty waves as she went for a center parting, letting the rest of it cascade down her shoulders This isn't the only exciting film Roberts is part of at the moment. Her highly anticipated drama Billionaire Boys Club is due to be released later this year. The talented males in this film include Eddie the Eagle's Taron Egerton, The Fault in Our Stars' Ansel Elgort and Kevin Spacey. Billie Lourd from Scream Queens and British model and actress Suki Waterhouse is also in the movie. Lovely: Her make-up was demure but classy, as she opted to wear some powder and blusher to compliment her ivory skin tone It's set to return for season three this summer. And John Cho, 44, is heading to Difficult People for a multi-episode arc to play Billy Eichner's character's first real boyfriend. Cho will play Todd, an advertising executive who's a similarly terrible person as Billy (played by Eichner) and his best friend Julie (Julie Klausner). Interesting plotline: John Cho, 44, is heading to Difficult People for a multi-episode arc to play Billy Eichner's character's first real boyfriend Difficult People is about two struggling comedians living in New York City, who are basically hated by everyone but each other. They watch as their peers settle down and find peace in their careers, but they can't seem to get their lives together. Julie is a blogger by day and Billy works as a waiter, but at night they both perform at local comedy clubs. Trying to fit in? Difficult People is about two struggling comedians living in New York City, who are basically hated by everyone but each other New developments: Much of the third season follows Billy trying to figure out how to be in a relationship as his only real friend up until that point has been Julie In season three, Billy finally seems to settle down with Todd and the two connect after neither of the back down from a prank war, according to Deadline. Much of the third season follows Billy trying to figure out how to be in a relationship as his only real friend up until that point has been Julie. Difficult People also stars Andrea Martin, James Urbaniak, Cole Escola, Gabourey Sidibe and Derrick Baskin. Rough life: Julie is a blogger by day and Billy works as a waiter, but at night they both perform at local comedy clubs Cho gained international fame playing Sulu in Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond. He is also one half of the popular Harold and Kumar. He began his career after graduating from Berkeley, when he moved to Los Angeles and worked with the Asian American theatre company East West Players. He appeared in Edward Sakamoto's The Taste of Kona Coffee in 1996, and Euijoon Kim's My Tired Broke Ass Pontificating Slapstick Funk in 2000. Awesome role: Cho gained international fame playing Sulu in Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond Working his way up: He began his career after graduating from Berkeley, when he moved to Los Angeles and worked with the Asian American theatre company East West Players Next up was a small role as in the 1999 comedy American Pie. Cho reprised the role in three sequels: American Pie 2, American Wedding, and in the latest installment American Reunion in which he has a much larger role. The character initially had no name but he was given the name 'John' in the third film, named after Cho himself. Difficult People is produced by Amy Poehler and Dave Becky. The 10-episode third season of Difficult People will premiere on Hulu this summer. Christina Milian was almost unrecognizable as she made an appearance at the Power Rangers premiere on Wednesday night. And while her blonde wig was the talking point when she arrived on the red carpet, the attention soon turned to her very daring dress. The 35-year-old songstress put on a busty display in a rust orange gown with cut-outs on the back - but soon struggled to contain her ample assets as she moved down the runway. Scroll down for video Whoops! Christina Milian narrowly avoided a wardrobe malfunction by readjusting her very daring dress at the last minute on the red carpet of the Power Rangers film in LA on Wednesday night She narrowly avoided a wardrobe malfunction by readjusting her dress at the last minute. The mother-of-one teamed the frock with a gold body chain, nude heels and pearlized clutch. Just days ago the Dip It Low hitmaker was sunning herself in Tampa, Florida rocking her natural raven locks. Elizabeth Banks, who stars in the Dean Israelite-directed action flick, had some serious '80s vibes as she arrived in a sparkling blue jumpsuit with shoulder pads. Blondes have more fun! Christina also debuted a new blonde look at the premiere Trying something new! The 35-year-old star looked very different in the blonde wig with chocolate brown lipstick Standing out! The 35-year-old songstress put on a busty display in a rust orange gown with cut-outs on the back Neutrals: Christina's look was complete with a pearlized clutch and nude heels Knockout: She showed off her enviable curves in the figure hugging dress A black diamante-encrusted belt cinched in her waist and plunging neckline offered a classy glimpse of her decolletage. Banks, 43, plays the role of evil alien witch Rita Repulsa. Becky G, 20, who plays the first ever gay superhero in the flick, made quite an entrance in a yellow ballgown worthy of the Oscars red carpet. Taking the plunge! Elizabeth Banks channeled retro vibes in a sparkly blue jumpsuit with black bow Giving it some attitude: The 43-year-old star made the shoulder pads look great Oscar-worthy: Becky G - who plays the first ever gay superhero - stunned in a yellow gown Gorgeous: She stood in front of her Power Rangers helmet in her stunning canary yellow dress The 2017 Power Rangers storyline follows a group of high school outcasts who stumble upon an old alien ship where they acquire superpowers. The Rangers discover that an old enemy of the previous generation has returned to exact vengeance, forcing the superheroes to band together to save the world. Haim Saban is the creator and producer of the Power Rangers franchise, which premiered in America in 1993 under the title Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The beloved kid's show is still on television to this day - it's in its 24th season domestically - and airs on Nickelodeon. Greeting fans: RJ Cyler was pictured signing autographs outside the venue Mighty Morphin! Cast L-R: Dacre Montgomery, Elizabeth Banks, Becky G, RJ Cyler, Naomi Scott, Ludi Lin and Bill Hader Sheer style! Naomi Scott and Sophie Simmons showed off black looks with lace detailing The series is one of the longest-running and most-watched children's action series in TV history. The upcoming 2017 Lionsgate reboot has had a major makeover. Most prominently, a diverse cast that includes a queer Latina and a black superhero that is on the 'autism spectrum.' Power Rangers hits theaters Friday March 24. Keeping it simple: Molly Sims looked fantastic in a Mestiza New York dress with strappy heels Shining in emerald: Skai Jackson looked gorgeous in a John Paul Ataker blouse and pants whilst she accessorised with a pink kate spade new york clutch bag Lacy look! Betsy Brandt looked lovely in a lace jumpsuit while Emma Kenney opted for a white two-piece Little bit of flesh: Emma flashed her tum in the edgy two-piece Lingerie inspired: Model Kara Del Toro went for a slinky sexy red look A beauty from all angles: The model stunned in her sexy satin dress Mixing it up: Hunger Games actress Willow Shields teamed a velour mini dress with biker jacket while Dania Ramirez sported a fun denim number All white! Vida showed off her buxom figure in her plunging one-piece Edgy thing: Willow rocked a leather jacket and cute velvet dress on the carpet Sexy in black: Actor Greer Grammer looked cute in knee high boots and a little black dress Cool kid: Ludi Lin looked dapper in his suit as he posed by his Power Rangers helmet Dapper: Bill Hader looked suave in a navy blue suit Friendly with the fans: Bill made sure to take some selfies with the fans Goofing around: Nick Simmons and Shannon Tweed were seen messing around on the carpet The Australian actress turned 37 earlier this month. And Rebel Wilson appeared to be nostalgic this week, as she took to Instagram to share an adorable picture from her youth. In the 'Throwback Thursday' post, the comedian was seen as a child patting what appeared to be her family dog. Scroll down for video 'Found this little beauty': Rebel Wilson appeared to be nostalgic this week, as she took to Instagram to share an adorable picture from her youth The photograph saw Rebel in a pink dress as she looked pleased to be playing with the Beagle pup. The Bridesmaid star styled her hair into a plait, while she put one hand under the dog's chin and the other hand patting its tail. She captioned the picture: 'TBT: Mum's been going through the photo albums and found this little beauty.' 'Mum's been going through the photo albums': The Aussie actress turned 37 earlier this month The flashback comes after Rebel participated in a bizarre birthday stunt featuring attack dogs. To celebrate her special day, the actress was excited to be mauled by stunt dogs on the set of Pitch Perfect 3. She took to social media to document the experience, writing: 'My most hardcore stunt yet. I'm going to be attacked by dogs.' 'My most hardcore stunt yet': Rebel celebrated her birthday by being attacked by dogs on set of Pitch Perfect 3 Willing to perform her own stunts, she was seen getting dressed in a large suit with sleeves to protect her from the dog's sharp teeth. In the video, she flailed her arms and shook her legs as she let out a scream while defending herself from two German shepherds. Exaggerating her actions for the rolling cameras, she yelled: 'Guys, a little help, seriously!' 'Guys, a little help, seriously!' In the video she flailed her arms and shook her legs as she let out a scream for help while defending herself from two German shepherds 'Weighs like 80 pounds': She later showed the process of getting dressed in her protective suit She later showed the process of getting dressed in her protective suit that she claimed 'weighs like 80 pounds.' Rebel has previously performed her own stunts, with a video emerging from the Pitch Perfect 3 set of Rebel kicking a stuntman in the groin. Pitch Perfect 3 is expected to be released in December 2017 Coming soon: Pitch Perfect 3 is expected to be released in December 2017 Adriana Lima is always one to turn heads. And the Vicotira Secret model was at it again on Wednesday as she arrived at Ocean Drive Magazine's celebration at Komodo. The evening's event was to celebrate the magazine's March issue with Adriana as the cover star. Knockout: Adriana Lima is always one to turn heads. And the Vicotira Secret model was at it again on Wednesday as she arrived at Ocean Drive Magazine's celebration at Komodo The buxom raven haired beauty showed off her glowing and flawless complexion in a dazzling gold fringed dress from Misha Collection. The swanky number made sure to expose the models lithe and long legs as she added a pair of dainty heels to her already tall 5 10 frame. The flirty mini dress showed off the models impeccable physique. Star of the show: The evening's event was to celebrate the magazine's March issue with Adriana as the cover star Her ever-flowing ebony tresses were swept back into a ponytail as she let it cascade down her back. Adriana showed off her perfectly applied make-up as she added some foundation and bronzer to her smooth skin. She went for a dark smokey eye make-up, which accentuated her bright blue eyes. The model added some dainty gold hoop earrings to complete her classy but sexy look. Cheeky: The buxom raven haired beauty showed off her glowing and flawless complexion in a dazzling gold fringed dress from Misha Collection Gorgeous: Her ever-flowing ebony tresses were swept back into a ponytail as she let it cascade down her back Adriana made sure to pose next to her cover, in which she's wearing a very plunging buttoned down gold shirt and black shorts. The teasing photo shows the model unbuttoning her shirt as she smoulders for the camera. Her dark black tresses are styled poker straight and in a center parting to give a dramatic feel to the photo. The talented beauty made sure to sign the magazine cover as she posed on the red carpet. She's the straight-talking mother-of-two on the Real Housewives of Sydney. And on Thursday, Lisa Oldfield had no qualms in quizzing fellow reality star Athena X Levendi, 40, on the male anatomy. 'Can you eat a d**k and still be vegan?' the 41-year-old asked during a live Facebook chat. Scroll down for video 'Can you eat a d**k and still be vegan?' RHOS' Lisa Oldfield (right), 41, quizzed fellow reality star Athena X Levendi (left), 40, on male anatomy, as she streamed live on Facebook on Thursday Lisa was streaming live on the social media site, alongside Athena, from the David Jones food hall in Sydney. While sipping on Bollinger champagne and indulging in fresh seafood, talk centred on the male anatomy. As a notification popped up that one of Lisa's friends had tuned in to watch, the brunette felt particularly nostalgic. Antics: Lisa was streaming live on the social media site, alongside Athena, from the David Jones food hall in Sydney They're not shy: While sipping on Bollinger champagne and indulging in fresh seafood, talk centred on the male anatomy 'I used to draw d***s in Lucy's school books. Massive d***s. Like Jonah [Takalua] from Summer Heights High,' referring to the fictional television star, played by Chris Lilley. Athena chimed in playfully: 'The only contact she had with d***s when she was little.' 'Exactly,' Lisa agreed. Clearly thinking of Athena, who is a vegan, Lisa asked: 'Can you eat a d**k and still be vegan?' 'I don't know,' Athena replied, before adding with a laugh: 'I'm vegan and I eat everything.' Nostalgic: 'I used to draw d***s in Lucy's school books. Massive d***s. Like Jonah [Takalua] from Summer Heights High,' Lisa shared, referring to the fictional television star, played by Chris Lilley Questioning: Clearly thinking of Athena, who is a vegan, Lisa asked: 'Can you eat a d**k and still be vegan?' Captured: A drawing of a penis with the text 'For Free' was held up for Lisa's viewers to see Lisa's blunt question comes a week after her husband David Oldfield, a former One Nation politician, revealed the couple haven't had sex in over a year. 'The 18th of January 2016 at about 7pm,' the 58-year-old told The Daily Telegraph. 'We have in the past year made plans to do it, and then one thing leads to another and something goes wrong and it doesn't happen,' David explained. Intimate details: Lisa's blunt question comes a week after her husband David Oldfield [pictured], 58, a former One Nation politician, revealed the couple haven't had sex in over a year Interestingly, he also made sure to inform the interviewer that the date he provided was the last time the couple had slept with each other, and not necessarily the last time they'd slept with anyone. Justifying the hiatus, David offered: 'We're not 20 years old and like rabbits,' before also citing the stresses of raising kids Bert, 4 and Harry, 6. According to the personality, the last time he even slept in the same bed with Lisa was 18-months ago. However, David did make sure to maintain his dignity by imploring the publication that when they do find time to make love 'it's pretty wild.' It was a happy birthday for Reese Witherspoon. The Big Little Lies star turned 41 on Wednesday and celebrated in a big way at the Bel Air hotel in Beverly Hills. The lovely blonde looked summery and chic in a pink and blue flowery dress with a coordinating white jacket over top. Southern Belle! Reese Witherspoon turned 41 on Wednesday and celebrated in a big way at the Bel Air hotel in Beverly Hills in a pink flowery dress and matching pink shoes She matched her dress to her light pink stilettos and made sure to coordinate her bag as well in a perfectly pink and put together ensemble. The birthday girl looked relaxed and beautiful with her light blonde hair parted to the side and styled straight around her shoulders. She wore matching pink lipstick and had pink sunglasses on her face to protect her eyes from the glare of the sun and finish off her birthday look. As a true Southern Belle, she made sure to complete her look with jewelry, opting for dangling gold earring for a subtle look. Pretty! The birthday girl looked relaxed and beautiful with her light blonde hair parted to the side and styled straight around her shoulders Coordinated: She matched her dress to her light pink stilettos and made sure to coordinate her bag as well in a perfectly pink and put together ensemble Reese looked happy to be turning 41 as she smiled widely while entering the ritzy hotel to kick off celebrations. She was joined by friend Molly Sims who was also spotted going into the hotel to join her actress-friend on her big day. Molly opted for a flowing flowery navy blue dress with pink and white accents. Happy birthday! Reese looked happy to be turning 41 as she smiled widely while entering the ritzy hotel to kick off celebrations. Friends unite: She was joined by friend Molly Sims who was also spotted going into the hotel to join her actress-friend on her big day Celebrating! Molly opted for a flowing flowery navy blue dress with pink and white accents She kept the look casual with a beige vest and matching beige ankle boots. The stunning blonde completed her look with a pair of aviator sunglasses as she walk the short distance to the hotel. Earlier in the day, the actress took to Instagram to thank her friends, family and fans for the birthday love, and made sure to include her clothing and home decor brand in the caption, as well. Birthday girl: Reese Witherspoon took to Instagram to thank her loved ones for the well-wishes on her 41st birthday Happy girl! Reese posted a photo of the beautiful cake she received during her party With a huge smile on her face, the sunny star popped out of a doorway holding on to balloons in varying shades of pink. The blonde beauty wore the Reese Limited Edition Birthday Dress, which featured an A-line silhouette, a white lace top half with navy blue lace trim and light blue floral design over a white background for the skirt. To dress like Reese, one would have to shell out $325 for the spring-inspired dress. Mini me: Under a cute shot of Reese receiving a flower bouquet with sparklers attached in the middle, her daughter Ava wrote: 'happy birthday to one of my best friends' Witherspoon captioned the photo: 'Feeling so much birthday love today! Thank you!!! I am one lucky gal (Even @draperjames made me my own dress!)' The Oscar winner's mini-me daughter Ava also hopped on the 'Gram to send her mother her well-wishes. Under a cute shot of Reese receiving a flower bouquet with sparklers attached in the middle, the 17-year-old wrote: 'happy birthday to one of my best friends.' 'Happy birthday to my Reese Dawg!' Also wishing the Legally Blonde star a happy birthday was actress Mindy Kaling Also wishing the Legally Blonde star a happy birthday was actress Mindy Kaling. Under a photo of Reese smiling wide - decorated with cupcakes, hearts, and slices of cake - the funny gal wrote: 'Happy birthday to my Reese Dawg!' And Witherspoon's good friend, co-star and co-producer Nicole Kidman took to Facebook to post a gorgeous photo of the pair, writing: 'Happy birthday to one of the sweetest, funniest most generous girls I know. Love you Reese...you are a light.' She ended it with a kiss and a star emoji, and signed off as 'Nic.' No love lost: Despite reports that the two were on the outs, Nicole Kidman wished her good friend and business partner a happy birthday on Facebook Birthday wishes: Fellow blonde beauty Naomi Watts also took time to post a photo and wish her 'fantastic' friend a happy birthday It was recently reported that Reese was 'furious' with Nicole because of her failure to promote the HBO series in the run-up to its debut in February, claiming that Nicole used too much of her airtime to discuss her latest Hollywood hit, Lion. A representative close to both actresses told Daily Mail Australia that the story is 'completely incorrect'. They said: 'Everyone is thrilled to the back teeth with Big Little Lies. They're (Reese and Nicole) great friends, they love each other and they love the way each other works.' And by the looks of the heartfelt birthday wish - there is no love lost between the two gorgeous blondes. Jake Gyllenhaal didn't have to look far for inspiration for his new film Life. Taking on the role of doctor David Jordan, the American actor's thoughts immediately drifted to his grandfather Samuel Achs. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Jake revealed the surgeon passed away three years ago and played a big part in his latest role. Scroll down for video Close to home: Jake Gyllenhaal didn't have to look far for inspiration for his new film Life He said: 'I thought of him often while I was making this movie. Though it's not a full homage, there's a piece of him in there. As brilliant as he was, I don't ever know if he considered my profession a true one. But I know that he is proud of me regardless.' The 36-year-old stars beside Ryan Reynolds and Rebecca Ferguson in the sci-fi thriller, which charts the adventures of a team of scientists aboard the International Space Station. Family and friends persuaded Jake to take the role and he reflected that he would have been a 'fool' to pass up the film. Family ties: Taking on the role of doctor David Jordan, the American actor's thoughts immediately drifted to his grandfather Samuel Achs Emotional: Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Jake revealed the surgeon passed away three years ago and played a big part in his latest role While admitting the film is a 'tense' watch, Jake revealed that he has never laughed so much on the set of a movie. The admission is a big statement given the Los Angeles native has starred in blockbusters Source Code, End Of Watch, Brokeback Mountain and The Day After Tomorrow. The Oscar winner has carved out a reputation as one of Hollywood's finest actors, but he told the publication that starring in films is not his true love. Co-stars: The 36-year-old stars beside Ryan Reynolds (L) and Rebecca Ferguson in the sci-fi thriller, which charts the adventures of a team of scientists Laugh a minute: While admitting the film is a 'tense' watch, Jake revealed that he has never laughed so much on the set of a movie Instead, the Southpaw star delved into his childhood memories - which include famous sibling Maggie Gyllenhaal - to pinpoint his biggest passion. He said: 'I grew up singing; I grew up with my mother taking my sister and I to musical theatre. So it's a world I love. 'I just happened to get lucky making movies and never had an opportunity, or maybe the confidence, to step out and do what I really love the most.' My Kitchen Rules stars Court and Duncan Hall-Eastey have announced they are expecting their first child together. And MKR rival Tully Vella has openly congratulated the happy couple. In an interview with Who Magazine on Thursday, the reality star said: 'They will make the most fabulous parents.' Scroll down for video 'They will make the most fabulous parents': Pregnant MKR star Tully Vella congratulates Court and Duncan on their baby news in an interview with Who Magazine this week Having only known the pair since filming began a few months ago, Tully was overjoyed by the announcement. 'I'm just really thrilled for them,' she said. Speaking of the married hipsters' impending bub, she added: 'The kid is going to be styled very nicely, have a great sense of humour and a beautiful brain, and also be well-fed and well-nourished.' 'We are really excited': My Kitchen Rules stars Court and Duncan Hall-Eastey confirmed on Thursday they are expecting their first child together Court texted Tully the exciting news, as she knew Tully was also pregnant at the same time. With both amateur chefs expecting, Tully said it was going to be fun to have their children around the same age growing up. While on the competition, she has bonded with Court over the pregnancy: 'It's nice to have someone else in the same boat, we were able to have a laugh and cuddle about it, which was really nice.' 'We were able to have a laugh and cuddle about it': Tully, who is also pregnant, has said it's been nice having someone else to share the experience with and says it will be fun to have their children around the same age growing up TV cooks Court and Duncan, who married in June 2015, officially confirmed the news to WHO Magazine this week. The story behind the couple's baby joy began in mid-December, before My Kitchen Rules was broadcast. The Melbourne boutique owner bought a pregnancy test after a customer at her shop remarked on her 'glow'. Baby glow! The Melbourne boutique owner bought a pregnancy test after a customer at her shop remarked on her 'glow' Court later confirmed the news with a doctor. The baby is due in August. The publication reports that Court and Duncan first met in 2012 when she worked at the bar he was managing, but the romance followed years later. But despite the rocky start, the couple eventually got engaged at the Meredith Music Festival in Victoria. Their wedding day was a typically hipster affair, taking place at the 'industrial chic' machine room at the Euroa Butter Factory. Happy couple! The pair, dubbed 'married hipsters' on My Kitchen Rules, wed in June 2015 It's official! Court later confirmed the news with a doctor. The baby is due in August Comedian Jay Mohr, in his split with actress Nikki Cox, asked a Los Angeles family court earlier this month to have professional monitors supervise visits with the actress and their five-year-old son, Meredith Daniel Cox Mohr, citing what he claims are her ongoing mental health and drug issues. The 46-year-old New Jersey native said in court docs, according to People: 'Based upon the the increasing hostility in our home, Nikkis ongoing refusal to attend her mental health issues her abuse of drugs, and her failure to respect boundaries, I had no choice but to obtain alternate housing for me and our son.' Mohr said he and Cox, 38, had been living under the same roof for three months since his divorce filing in December, but he had to get another place due to a ' living situation' that 'has become extremely confusing and untenable,' leaving their boy 'suffering' as a result. Out of options? Jay Mohr, seen here in Las Vegas in December, asked a Los Angeles family court to monitor estranged wife Nikki Cox's visits with their son Meredith in their divorce, citing ongoing mental health and drug issues. He is seeking sole custody of the boy Serious claims: The Gary Unmarried star filed for divorce from Nikki Cox (pictured in 2009) for the second time in December and has now applied for sole custody, alleging she has a drug problem and it is causing their five-year-old son to regress and putting his safety at risk 'While I acknowledge that I still love Nikki,' Mohr said, 'I also acknowledge that we can no longer be married to each other, and I cannot continue to raise our son in a toxic environment.' He said in the court docs, People reported, that Cox does not spend enough time with the boy, adding, 'There were times when Nikki would go 2 full days without seeing Meredith even though we were all in the same house.' He noted that the boy's 'behavior is deteriorating both at school and with his therapists.' Upset: Mohr, seen here last year at an LA comedy gig, told the court his home situation with Cox 'has become extremely confusing and untenable' amid their ongoing divorce The Gary Unmarried star, filed for divorce for the second time December 13, and has now applied for sole custody of their son. The magazine reported that Mohr said Cox has left ovens on while the child slept in their home, and left doors unlocked. The Ghost Whisper star said in the court documents, previously reported by TMZ, that Nikki's drug issues are causing their five-year-old son to regress. Baby news? The 38-year-old also told her estranged husband that she was pregnant in January, the website reports, but Jay (seen here 2006) dismissed the claim as he is azoospermic - which means his semen contains no sperm rendering him infertile TMZ reports that Nikki allegedly gave the boy 'a double dose of flu medicine that caused the boy to vomit in his sleep'. Mohr said Cox doesn't set boundaries,' and that their child is allowed to watch television and eat candy till 2 a.m., the outlet reported. This is not the first time the comedian has accused his ex of having drug issues. The first time he filed for divorce in July, he wanted full custody of their child, as he claimed the Cox suffers from depression and that her self-medication has led to a 'serious' drug problem that impacts her ability to function as a parent. Moving forward: Mohr, seen with the tot in 2012, said he has gotten a separate place for he and the boy to stay amid the turbulent family situation In his latest filing, Mohr told the court his wife has tried to take her life twice. The 38-year-old also told her estranged husband that she was pregnant in January, the website reports, but Jay dismissed the claim as he is azoospermic - which means his semen contains no sperm rendering him infertile. This is the latest development in the rocky relationship which saw Jay file for divorce in July - then withdraw the request declaring was 'madly in love' with the Las Vegas star - before re-filing in December. Mohr has cited irreconcilable differences as the reason he wants to end their 10-year union. He said they have a prenuptial agreement that explains how their money and assets should be divided. Jay also shares a fourteen-year-old son Jackson with his ex-wife Nicole Chamberlain. They split in 2004. Mohr and Cox tied the knot in 2009 after meeting when Jay was a guest star on Las Vegas. Josh Brolin and wife Kathryn Boyd were the headliners at a benefit gala raising money for fallen California firefighters and their families on Wednesday. The actor, 49, and his former personal assistant wed last September. The Scicario star, who's been married twice before, wore dark jeans with an open-neck white shirt and black jacket for the evening event in Los Angeles. Supporting a good cause: Josh Brolin and new wife Kathryn Boyd headlined the California Fires Foundation annual gala Wednesday night in Los Angeles His blonde bride opted for a silky black full-length dress that clung to her lithe frame. She added a black leather jacket and a pair of nude sandals. Boyd carried a large black purse with glitzy strap at the California Fires Foundation annual gala. No fuss: The actor, 49, opted to show off his rugged good looks in a casual ensemble of dark denims, white shirt and a black suit jacket pretty blonde: His former personal assistant turned third wife chose a slinky black gown with a black leather jacket and nude sandals for the fundraising event Brolin has two children, son Trevor, 28, and daughter Eden, 22, with first wife Alice Adair. He was also briefly engaged to Minnie Driver in 2001. He tied the knot for a second time in 2004 with actress Diane Lane. The pair divorced in 2013. The son of actor James Brolin has been busy, completing four films due for release this year. He is currently filming Avengers: Infinity War. She's got over a million Instagram followers and is a face to watch in modelling. And Australian personality Steph Smith turned heads on Thursday, when she wowed in a plunging and incredibly daring jumpsuit. The blonde beauty but on a busty display in her lace outfit and joined The Bachelor's Snezana Markoski at a ladies luncheon at the Grand Prix in Melbourne. Scroll down for video Busty in blush! Australian model Steph Smith turned heads on Thursday, when she wowed in a plunging and incredibly daring jumpsuit Steph showed off a golden tan at the event, with her outfit hugging her curves. The jumpsuit was tie up under the bust and featured flared legs. Steph teamed the look with nude heels and pink chandelier earrings, with her long longs slicked back off her face and behind her shoulders. White on the money: The blonde beauty but on a busty display in her lace outfit and joined The Bachelor's Snezana Markoski (pictured) at a ladies luncheon at the Grand Prix in Melbourne Snezana meanwhile, also turned heads in a flowing black and white maxi dress. The Mercedes ambassador flaunted her curves in her outfit, which featured a high neck and fishtail skirt, with cut out sleeves. Snezana - who rose to fame on The Bachelor Australia and is engaged to Sam Wood - recently said she has no plans to give up bread ahead of her European wedding. The brunette shared a shot of herself to Instagram in a figure-hugging dress with a humorous caption. Diet staple: Snezana - who rose to fame on The Bachelor Australia and is engaged to Sam Wood - recently said she has no plans to give up bread ahead of her European wedding 'When someone says you shouldn't eat bread,' she captions the photo. 'Uhh...How about no! #hairflip #byefelicia,' Snezana wrote. The mother of one has been working on her dream wedding dress, sharing videos of herself at the Pallas Couture studio. She and fiance Sam became engaged in December 2015. She's the Aussie beauty known for her beach babe good looks. And Shanina Shaik isn't shy about flaunting her skin, sharing a topless selfie with her Instagram fans on Thursday. The 26-year-old model posted the photo showing off her new henna art after she had arrived in Bali. Scroll down for video Tatt's nice! Shanina Shaik poses topless and shows off new henna tattoo while soaking up the sun in Bali The former Victoria's Secret model showed off her stunning natural beauty in the social media snap, wearing no makeup. Shanina wore her dark locks back from her face in an elegant top bun, resting a hand covered in henna art by one cheek. Her only accessory was a half moon choker necklace, with the leggy model posing topless before a tropical beach. 'Finally made it to Bali': The Melbourne-born beauty captioned the photo by explaining to her 879,000 Instagram followers where she was The Melbourne-born beauty captioned the photo by explaining to her 879,000 Instagram followers where she was, however, did not specify if she was there for business or pleasure. Shanina wrote: 'Finally made it to Bali if I could only tell you about the journey I took to here can't wait to show you this place !!' The model's trip to the Indonesian island comes after she celebrated fellow model Taylor Hill's 21st birthday in Las Vegas over the weekend. Needed a rest? The model's trip to the Indonesian island comes after she celebrated fellow model Taylor Hill's 21st birthday in Las Vegas over the weekend You beauty! The Australian model first rose to fame in the Girlfriend modelling competition and reality TV series Make Me A Supermodel Shanina showed off her stunning model physique in a series of Instagram posts, going braless in a skimpy black sequin dress. The Australian model first rose to fame in the Girlfriend modelling competition and reality TV series Make Me A Supermodel. She is engaged to DJ Ruckus, with the music man proposing in January last year after seven months of dating. She's branded herself a 'pocket rocket' after whipping herself into tip-top shape with the help of her personal trainer boyfriend. And Louise Thompson left her Instagram followers green with envy on Wednesday as she posted yet another bikini-clad snap of her sun-soaked trip to Dubai. Making the most of her romantic getaway with her beefcake boyfriend, Ryan Libbey, the Made In Chelsea star, 26, flaunted her tanned frame in a tiny turquoise two-piece. Scroll down for video Fun in the sun: Louise Thompson left her Instagram followers green with envy on Wednesday as she posted yet another bikini-clad snap of her sun-soaked trip to Dubai With a new bikini for every day of the trip, the pint-sized beauty posed up a storm in yet another barely-there swimsuit. The turquoise top cut into a deep-V across her sun-kissed chest, giving an eyeful of her washboard abs were on full display. Louise's matching string bikini bottoms cut high at her hips, perfectly accentuating her tanned and toned pins. Keen to show off his equally impressive physique, her personal trainer beau shared yet another flesh-flashing snap - with the couple wearing matching black swimsuits. Loved up: Keen to show off his equally impressive physique, Louise's personal trainer beau Ryan Libbey shared yet another flesh-flashing snap of the couple Sexy stuff: The Made In Chelsea star, 26, looked phenomenal as she slipped down to yet another barely-there bikini while playing a spot of volleyball with the personal trainer Earlier in the day, Louise looked phenomenal as she slipped down to yet another barely-there bikini while playing a spot of volleyball with the personal trainer. The reality babe has been dating her co-star since last year after he began training her and the duo have been practically inseparable ever since. In true Louise fashion, she was once again seen in a sexy new number, comprising of a glimmering black two-piece. Her taut abs were the main element of the snap as she played volleyball - although her ball skills were not the main look as she showed off her perky cleavage also. She added a cheeky caption reading: 'final volleyball sesh. Apparently my hand eye coordination is on point (and obliques) @ryan.libbey. Skimpy Swim'. Smug: The reality star later posted another snap alongside the caption 'No filter, pure health + happiness' Rain rain, go away! Louise looked phenomenal as she slipped down to yet another barely-there bikini while playing a spot of volleyball with the personal trainer Made in bed! Instead of posing for smug holiday snaps on Instagram, the couple moved to Snapchat , where Louise posted some seriously raunchy snaps of them in bed Just one day before, the reality stars took their intimate social media campaign to the next level. Instead of posing for smug holiday snaps on Instagram, the couple moved to Snapchat, where Louise posted some seriously raunchy snaps of them in bed. In their latest images, the pair are snuggled up in bed - but seem to have forgotten their pyjamas. While her beefed-up beau is shirtless as ever, Louise, 26, daringly goes topless, only maintaining her dignity by covering her breasts with her arm. Not satisfied with her already racy display, she provocatively pulls out her tongue at the camera. She's also maintained her onslaught of Instagram snaps from her latest holiday in Dubai. Night night! While her beefed-up beau is shirtless as ever, Louise daringly goes topless, only maintaining her dignity by covering her breasts with her arm Making a splash: She's also maintained her onslaught of Instagram snaps from her latest holiday in Dubai with a picture of her in a skimpy pink bikini Finding Nemo: She also shared a snap of her getting ready for a night out, flaunting some serious cleavage in a low cut dress The brunette posted a new bikini picture showing her in a skimpy pink two piece. She also shared a snap of her getting ready for a night out, flaunting some serious cleavage in a low cut dress. However, while Louise is keen for fans to think her life is perfect, Ryan is less convincing. He informed followers that his diminutive girlfriend had passed wind while they were taking a sizzling snap from their Dubai break. Louise looked phenomenal in the snap in which she wore a sexy keyhole bikini, while her beefcake beau gazed down at her - perhaps in shock, or even disgust, given his alarming revelation in the caption. Gassy? Ryan Libbey let slip that they are far from perfect after he informed followers that his diminutive girlfriend had passed wind while they were taking a sizzling snap from their Dubai break Rocking her second bikini of the day, Louise slipped into the khaki number which boasted a high neckline with a cleavage-baring keyhole to best flaunt her perky assets. Gazing up at Ryan, who flashed his phenomenal physique - the result of his livelihood as a personal trainer in the gym - looked down at his stunning girlfriend. While looking almost akin to a Barbie and Ken doll, the duo looked picture perfect, although Ryan dispelled the myth of a flaw-free couple. He penned a caption on the image reading: 'She looks like a 10/10 but she just farted' in a move which will no doubt shock and tickle his 52,200 followers. Breezy: The 26-year-old Made In Chelsea star looked phenomenal in the snap in which she wore a sexy keyhole bikini, while her beefcake beau gazed down at her - perhaps in shock, or even disgust, given his alarming revelation in the caption 'Whooping it up': Earlier in the day, she struck a playful pose in a monochrome string bikini by Calzedonia with her toned arms raised and her hands entwined in her natural chocolate tresses in a snap titled 'As my dad would say "whooping it up" in Dubai Earlier in the day, she struck a playful pose in a monochrome string bikini with her toned arms raised and her hands entwined in her natural chocolate tresses in a snap titled 'As my dad would say "whooping it up" in Dubai. The confident beauty's taut tummy and enviable pins were fully on display with the clear azure waters and white sand of the United Arab Emirates clearly visible in the background. Showing an exceptional eye for detail in her beach attire, the ebony and ivory theme continued down to her on-trend sliders. Changing the pace for the second social media snap, a beaming Louise is seen enjoying a leisurely Dubai breakfast, with iced coffee and croissants. The good life: The petite beauty looked none the worse for wear despite the seven hour flight and chilled out with an iced coffee and croissants Hiding her eyes behind charcoal aviators, the glowing star looked effortlessly chic in an eggshell blue coat with a lightweight vest top. Giving her outfit the Chelsea edge was a jade snakeskin bag. Not to be outdone in the pose-off, her strapping beau Ryan Libbey channelled his inner David Gandy for a moody shot on the beach, and revealed an unusual nickname for his petite love. He said: 'Touched down in Dubai with my chipmunk @louise.thompson' Keeping his look beach fresh, he donned dark Ray-Bans, teamed with a white polo shirt, black shorts and navy boat shoes. Giving her a run for her money? Louise's muscular beau Ryan Libbey also had a go at striking a modelesque pose on the beach with skyscrapers perfectly framing the shot Louise has been enjoying being back in the city for the first time since she jetted out to Dubai with her Made In Chelsea co-stars back in 2012 to celebrate her 22nd birthday. She has already put on a very racy display as she posed in a plunging swimsuit on Friday. Louise showed off her taut abs and toned pins in the black halterneck jumpsuit in an Instagram snap to her 969,000 followers. Racy: Made In Chelsea star Louise Thompson posed in a plunging swimsuit while on holiday in Dubai on Friday But she appeared to make a dig at her former MIC co-stars, captioning the picture: 'Beach + skyscrapers. I can't get over this place. 'It's been 5 years since I was last in Dubai (filming with Made in Chelsea) but I wanted to revisit with a fresh perspective and better company. 'Plus I'm seeking refuge to recover from the removal of 4 x wisdom teeth! and the ensuing chipmunk face.' Blooming lovely: The 26-year-old flashed her abs as she posed in a lacy floral bustier as she posed for a selfie last week This time around, Louise put on a typically stylish display, accessorising the daring one-piece with a stylish green tote, black pom-pom loafers and a pair of large shades. The reality star, who is now dating personal trainer Ryan Libbey, had shared another sexy Instagram snap last week, in which she looked incredible in a pretty push-up rose bustier. Displaying her rock-hard abs and wearing her hair in tousled waves, she posed with a can of fake tan, a couple of months after her brother Sam poked fun at her constant posts. Another day, another bikini: She recently took the opportunity to show off her svelte figure - this time in a bikini adorned with dollar bills while on holiday in Sri Lanka Louise captioned the image with the words: 'Been keeping my holiday tan topped up with my new favourite @utanandtone Turbo Tan. 'This tan is great because it's free of nasty chemicals and parabens which is important to me. The colour is really dark yet natural.' Her followers quickly bombarded Louise with compliments and fashion requests. Beachy: Louise ran her fingers through her wet hair in yet another swimsuit snapshot One wrote: '@louise.thompson the best thing in this photo is that bra top and the way your curvy bits fill it. Brava! x'. Another fashion-forward fan added: 'Woah I want the bra and bod!' She has honed her already petite figure into a flawless muscle machine over the past year. Meanwhile, her artfully posed slew of bikini snaps in recent weeks has prompted her brother Sam to tease her mercilessly via Instagram, even revealing how she achieves the perfect 'selfie'. The cheeky Made In Chelsea star even posted a snap showing the lengths his sister and her beau Ryan Libbey will go to share the snaps. Sam used an Instagram Story to show how a professional photography and lighting team appeared to be involved in setting up some of his sister's snapshots. It featured one image from beside a pool with two figures, who appear to be the couple, sat in front of a professional camera. Louise enjoyed an idyllic trip to Sri Lanka in January, where she has spent much of the holiday stripping off to show off the figure Ryan has helped her hone. Secret's out! Hilariously, her co-star brother Sam recently decided to out the lengths the couple will go to in order to share their self-promoting, body-baring snaps - with the results including a professional photographer and lighting team Still going! Louise shared a series of artistically posed images on the romantic break for two The genetically-blessed pair shared images on their respective social media accounts with Ryan teasing Louise for stealing screen time. He added a caption on the shot reading : 'Trying to get some camera time on my own before the misses takes over, again!... She caught me red handed though...' The ripped couple have posed in a number of images - often with both in front of the camera leading to questions over who was snapping. This is the second time Sam has laid into the couple on this holiday alone, as he recently enlisted the help of his co-star girlfriend Tiffany Watson to replicate his sibling's picture, in which Ryan scooped her up with one hand. Louise, who has undergone a massive body transformation of late after hooking up with her personal trainer beau, litters her social media accounts with sponsored posts, often publicising fashion brands. Life's a beach! Louise posted another snap on Instagram recently of the couple enjoying 'tans, tummy feeding and top knots' on their Sri Lankan break Top joker: Yet Sam, who frequently mocks his sister on social media, took to his Instagram story to share an image from beside a pool with two figures who appear to be the couple sat in front of a professional camera Ouch! This is the second time Sam has laid into the couple on this holiday alone, as he enlisted the help of his co-star girlfriend Tiffany Watson to replicate his sibling's picture, in which Ryan scooped her up with one hand While the brunette beauty wins thousands of likes on the posts, hilarious Sam opted to swoop on his sister's penchant for promotion by mimicking her snaps near-exactly - much to her chagrin. The funnyman recruited Tiffany to help him rib Louise's self-satisfied snap, which she posted on Monday from her New Year Maldives getaway. Louise posed in a powerful shot in which Ryan made a seemingly effortless move to launch the brunette reality star into the air with just one hand, while the caption read: 'We're gonna crush 2017'. Eek! The couple were seen stumbling around on the grass as Sam tried and failed to lift her into the air - with great difficulty Agh! Slimline Tiffany seemed outraged that she could not be erected with ease, as she gasped: 'Can you really not lift me?' before they eventually managed a feeble imitation of her the original snap Hilarious Sam, who recently enjoyed a romantic break in Morocco, shared a video which opened with the image of Louise and Ryan before transcending into a slip with Tiffany. The couple were seen stumbling around on the grass as Sam tried and failed to lift her into the air - with great difficulty. Slimline Tiffany seemed outraged that she could not be hoisted with ease, as she gasped: 'Can you really not lift me?' before they eventually managed a feeble imitation of her the original snap. Don't hurt yourself: It looked as though Sam was at risk of dropping his girlfriend Who wore it best? Sam raided his sister Louise's wardrobe for a third time as he continues to mock her Instagram poses At the start of the year, Sam raided his sister wardrobe for a third time as mocked her Instagram poses by teaming a slinky lace minidress with an eye-catching statement necklace for the amusing snap. Remaining straight-faced for the comical picture, Sam was unable to match Louise's impressive plump pout. He leaned against the same fireplace from his sister's snap, with an abstract art piece hanging above his left shoulder. The cheeky chappy wrote beside the image: 'Just being strong and independent in our misspap loungewear... for discount use Louise's code: I'm a k**b' Taking the mickey: Sam took the mickey out of his sister Louise, as he uploaded a picture of himself wearing the same feminine sequined frock Recycled: Louise shared a stunning shot clad in a lace grey dress last week, but little brother Sam couldn't resist mimicking the shot He previously slipped into some festive sequins to imitate the brunette beauty, 26. Doing a convincing impression of his big sister, Sam even flicked his head back with vigor to create the same flirty pose as Louise. Captioning the picture in the tiny white minidress, Sam wrote: 'Me and @louise.thompson slaying in sequins.' In a nod to Louise's penchant for fashion promotions, he name-dropped the brand, adding: 'Rocking our #motelrocks And you guys thought last week was a one off! Louise.....YOU'RE A BELLPIECE' The public takedown began earlier this month when Sam playfully attacked Louise's 'barrage' of Instagram posts by posting a shot of his own. Moving on: Louise didn't let being mocked deter her from sharing more snaps, taking to the photo-sharing site just hours later to post another shot of herself, this time clad in her lingerie Somehow getting hold of one of his sibling's ensembles, he expertly mirrored a snap she'd uploaded the week before, complete with the same accessories and sultry pout. He quipped: 'After the past months barrage of @louise.thompson instagrams...I think it's time I took some serious p**s! 'So here we go! Gliding into 2017 wearing our Lacey #axparis dresses.' Adding insult to injury, Sam's post garnered a whopping 36,700 likes, whilst Louise's original post only received 15,800. Before seeing the huge amount of likes he had amassed, Louise commented: 'OMG, you freak !!! If you get more likes than me @samthompsonuk.' Fuming: Louise jokingly labelled Sam a 'freak' after seeing the post Luckily, Louise later saw the funny side, commenting on his post: 'I guess you're going to get endorsed by ladies frocks now?' And whilst she may have been joking, fans seemed to suggest this could be the case, with one quipping: 'I saw Louise's post and loved the dress. Now I love it even more.' Other fans then hunted down Louise's original post, merely to tease that Sam had 'worn it better'. But she didn't let it deter her, taking to the photo-sharing site just hours later to post another shot of herself, this time clad in her lingerie. She is the poster girl of American soap opera, having this year celebrated 30 years on The Bold And The Beautiful. And while Katherine Lang, 55, may appear calm and collected in fr, the actress has revealed a different reality behind-the-scenes. Appearing on a special edition of Family Feud this week, the blonde thespian told host Grant Denyer: 'The most I've had was 90 pages [of dialogue] in one day.' Scroll down for video. 'I had 90 pages of dialogue in one day': Bold And The Beautiful veteran Katherine Lang, 55, revealed the less-than-glamorous reality of starring on The Bold And The Beautiful Grant responded: 'We have done a little bit of maths, and since you have been on the show since the start -and we're celebrating 30 years this year.' 'You've had to memorise over 300,000 pages of dialogue,' he mused. Shocked, Katherine patted herself on the back as the audience cheered. No easy feat! Grant responded: 'We have done a little bit of maths, and since you have been on the show since the start -and we're celebrating 30 years this year' 'How do you not go blank?' asked Grant. 'Well, sometimes you do. Sometimes you do,' Katherine sighed. Katherine, who plays the role of Brooke Logan on the long-running CBS show, recently spoke to E! about how thankful she is to have enjoyed such a long career as an actress. 'This is fabulous': Katherine, who plays the role of Brooke Logan on the long-running CBS show, recently spoke to E! about how thankful she is to have enjoyed such a long career as an actress 'I think the first 10 years seem to be the longest and then time just flew by. It's just amazing.' 'I'm so looking forward to being here another many, many years. I don't want to put a number on it, but yeah, this is fabulous,' she said. She also revealed that filming love scenes has become easier over the years, telling the publication: 'You're more comfortable'. She always manages to look effortlessly glamorous. And Denise Van Outen was a vision of beauty on Tuesday as she debuted a sleek ice blonde bob as she headed to the ITV studios to appear on Lorraine. Cutting a chic figure, the 42-year-old actress ensured all eyes would be on her. Scroll down for video Blonde bombshell! Denise Van Outen was a vision of beauty on Tuesday as she debuted a sleek ice blonde bob as she headed to the ITV studios to appear on Lorraine Sheathing her fabulous figure, Denise donned a high-necked victoriana-style dress adorned with polka dots and ruffled detailing. Cinching in at her slender waist, the garment flared out to knee length, offering a look at her tanned and toned pins - which were elongated by a pair of buckled leopard print heels. Ensuring her stylish new hairdo - cut in a 30s style graduated bob to highlight her cheekbones - would remain the focal point, she opted for a neutral make-up palette. Blondes have more fun! Gone were Denise's cascading golden locks in favour a cool ice blonde bob that framed her flawless features and flattered her tanned complexion Stunning: Denise shared a snap of her new locks on Instagram captioned 'New hair! Thanks @alfieoneill_ & @pauledmonds217 for making me go for this style. Love the cut & colour' Ahead of the Towergate Care Awards, Denise appeared on the show and discussed her own experience of helping to care. The former EastEnders star tragically lost her friend Nicki Waterman in August 2016 from a brain tumour following a cancer battle. Discussing the 300km bike ride in India she went on in her honour, Denise said: 'We were every close and I miss her dearly and I wanted to do something in her memory. 'It was so emotional, it was lovely. She was a sunny, happy person and even with everything that happened she would be the first to put a positive spin on everything.' Gorgeous in green: Sheathing her fabulous figure, Denise donned a high-necked victoriana-style dress adorned with polka dots and ruffled detailing Leggy lady! Cinching in at her slender waist, the garment flared out to knee length, offering a look at her tanned and toned pins - which were elongated by a pair of leopard print heels Natural beauty: Ensuring her stylish new hairdo would remain the focal point, she opted for a neutral make-up palette to accentuate her pretty features Denise has been busy of late with her work as the voiceover on The Only Way Is Essex. But despite being heavily-involved with the ITVBe programme since its 2010 inception, she recently told MailOnline that she is not allowed to appear on the show itself. 'They won't let me. I'm not even joking. I'm always saying "Please let me be a barmaid in Sugar Hut." They just won't let me,' she admitted. 'They did say to me - the day that it's their final show, I think I'll get to be in it somewhere. They'll have to let me do a cameo.' With a history of drug use and surreal comedy, Noel Fielding was the most controversial new addition to the new Great British Bake Off line-up. But Prue Leith has defended the choice of the 43-year-old comedian as presenter of the family show, saying she hopes 'he doesn't lose that wild side'. The 77-year-old baker revealed her two children are big fans of the comic who made his name on Channel Four cult comedy series The Mighty Boosh. Defence: Prue Leith says she hopes Noel Fielding will maintain his 'wild side' when he begins to present the Great British Bake Off on Channel Four 'I've only heard of him because my children just adored him,' she told The Sun. 'They don't watch Bake Off but they do watch him. 'My daughter said rather rudely, "Well now he's in it I might watch it." I was like "What about me?" And while Noel's past career stints have been tailored to a rather more niche audience than Bake Off's broader base, the South African-born restaurateur thinks Noel might adapt his brand of humour to the family show. 'If you go to church, you don't behave the same way you do at a party in the middle of the night,' said Prue. 'So he might change a bit. But I hope he doesn't lose that wild side.' Noel and Sandi Toksvig will take over presenting duties from BBC duo Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins while Prue fills Mary Berry shoes, joining Paul Hollywood to judge the baking. New appointment: Noel Fielding's presenting role on The Great British Bake Off has left some fans scratching their heads This comes despite X-rated lyrics to Noel Fielding's song with Kasabian's Serge Pizzorno - leaving bosses at Love Productions fearful of losing the series' familial viewership. The joker's expletive song Live For The Night [Cocaine City] - from his band Loose Tapestries' album NHS - is filled with heavy-duty references to drugs and sex, proving to be a far cry from the cookie-cutter Channel 4 baking show. Noel's controversial song features the following lyrics: 'Do you think you can send down a couple of jungle c**ks and one of those skinny white Thai c**ks?' The Never Mind The Buzzcocks star also repeated the shocking phrase: 'From flaccid to erections', before comparing male ejaculation to paintings of American artist Jackson Pollock. 'Hi Gloria, could you send in both cleaning teams please? The neon dance floor looks like a Jackson Pollock. Thank you, soon as possible. Literally paddling in semen down here,' a voice-over concluded the profanity fuelled single. Sticking up for him: This comes after his controversial appointment as GBBO host, alongside Sandi Toksvig, was defended by chef Paul Hollywood as 'a big thing for the country' However, his Kasabian rocker bandmate Serge ensured to show Noel his support and told Nick Grimshaw on Radio 1 on Friday that the pair had discussed the move. He cited surrealist artist Salvador Dali as the reason behind Noel's justification to cross over into mainstream TV. Apparently the quirky star deliberated with the Kasabian frontman before agreeing to replace beloved duo Mel and Sue alongside the QI lead. Serge, 36, who just released a new single, explained: 'We figured, Salvador Dali did a chocolate advert, so that sort of makes it all right.' The renowned surrealist artist starred in a chocolate advert for Lanvin in 1968 to make money in addition to his earnings from selling artworks. Stepping back: Mary Berry decided not to make the jump to Channel Four but remain with the BBC The rock star said he believes his friend will be 'absolutely fantastic' in the series, but was sad not to be able to go out and celebrate the news on Friday night. He said the pair decided not to head out partying because of the anger displayed by some fans over the Channel 4 and Love Productions execs' choices for Mel and Sue's replacements. However, GBBO's chef Paul Hollywood, who has been part of the successful show since 2010, branded Noel's appointment 'perfect and exciting'. Expletive: Noel's controversial song features the following lyrics: 'Do you think you can send down a couple of jungle c**ks and one of those skinny white Thai c**ks?' 'Absolutely fantastic!' His Kasabian rocker friend Serge, 36, showed Noel his support and told Nick Grimshaw on Radio 1 on Friday that the pair had discussed the move He said: 'I'm really excited. Obviously it's a big thing for the country, the Bake Off, and when I heard the names read out, I was really excited.' 'I think the whole dynamics of it, when I sat down and thought about it, because I'm a big fan of Noel, and Sandi actually. 'I did know about Prue but I didnt know about the others at all but its perfect, I'm really, really excited. At the end of the day, most people were in the dark, it's kept very quiet for obvious reasons.' He's a fan! On Monday, GBBO's chef Paul Hollywood, who has been part of the successful show since 2010, branded Noel's appointment 'perfect and exciting' Paul also expanded on his joy at the hiring of Prue: 'Obviously shes got this huge professional background and I've got nothing but respect for her, I'm really looking forward to it. 'We've met and had a chat, there's something there, she reminds me of my mother-in-law in a fantastic way, and I think we'll get on great.' In September when the Channel 4 move was announced, he stated: 'Since I was a kid, baking has been part of my life. The seven series inside the tent have created some great memories. Chatting away: In September when the Channel 4 move was announced, he stated: 'Since I was a kid, baking has been part of my life. The seven series inside the tent have created some great memories' 'Best of all, I have felt so pleased to experience other people getting the baking bug, just as I did when my dad helped me make my first loaf. 'The Great British Bake Off has brought baking to the nation and we've seen people from all walks of life and backgrounds, experience the highs and lows of competition, and more importantly helping each other. 'It's been a huge part of my life in the past few years and I just couldn't turn my back on all that - the bakers themselves, the bakes, the team that makes it, and of course the tent, the bunting, and who could forget the squirrels. 'So I am delighted that I will be continuing as a judge when Bake Off moves to Channel 4. I want to thank the BBC and Mel and Sue for making my time in the tent great fun and really rewarding.' She jetted to Dubai this week to surprise boyfriend Hugo Taylor on his work trip. And Millie Mackintosh wasted no time hitting the beach as she slipped into a skimpy white bikini for an Instagram snap on Thursday. Showing off her phenomenal figure, the 27-year-old reality starlet leapt for joy as she soaked up the sunshine on her holiday. Scroll down for video Jumping for joy: Millie Mackintosh wasted no time hitting the beach on her fifth trip of the year as she slipped into a skimpy white bikini for an Instagram snap on Thursday Exhibiting her toned stomach, the Made In Chelsea star donned a cream Bahimi bikini top with a black trim that she teamed with matching bottoms. Wearing her caramel coloured locks loose and tousled, she added to the glamour with a pair of oversized sunglasses. She captioned the snap: 'Sun, sea and a giant sail the perfect backdrop for a little beach photo shoot in my @bahimibeachwear bikini'. Surprise! Millie Mackintosh flew to Dubai on Tuesday to surprise her boyfriend Hugo Taylor on his business trip Millie is undoubtedly a pro at beach photo shoots, having already jetted off on five holidays in the first three months of 2017. In January she kicked off the year with a trip to South Africa, before heading to Paris in both February and March. March has been a particularly fruitful time for the starlet, jetting not just to the French capital but Los Angeles and now Dubai. It appears she is now on track to rival her record of taking a whopping 18 trips abroad in 2016. Delighted: The stunner took her boyfriend's breath away by joining him in the sun while he showcased his newest Taylor Morris eyewear collection as part of the #TaylorMorrisTravels series Millie had good reason for jetting to the United Arab Emirates this month, however, as she was surprising her boyfriend Hugo whilst he worked on his sunglasses brand Taylor Morris. Giggling in an Instagram Stories video, the model uploaded the moment she caught her businessman boyfriend off-guard at the Jumeirah Al Naseem hotel and completely took his breath away. Enticingly, Millie was dressed in just a silk robe when she waited patiently on his balcony, overlooking the famous landmark Burj al Arab. She later stretched out on a bed of rose petals and towel swans proving that her visit would make for a particularly romantic stay. Hugo is currently in Dubai showcasing his newest Taylor Morris collection as part of the #TaylorMorrisTravels series, which recently took him to Beachcomber's luxury Trou Aux Biches resort in Mauritius. 'Missing my sunshine': Millie let fans know that she was missing her boyfriend at the weekend by sharing a throwback snap from one of their glorious 2016 getaways At the weekend, Millie complained about missing her former reality TV beau, with whom she rekindled the flame in May 2016. Missing the sun and her man, Millie shared a cute flashback snap of a luxurious getaway with Hugo, from last year. Clearly impatient about their reunion, she captioned the snap: 'Counting down the days! Missing my sunshine @hugotaylorlondon.' Waiting patiently: Millie waited on her boyfriend's balcony in a silk robe and filmed the surprise for Instagram Stories Surprise! He was staying in a luxury suite right next to the Burj al Arab and couldn't quite believe when she arrived to see him Little did he know, that reunion was closer than originally planned for his return to the UK. Pictured was just one of 18 trips across five continents that the globe-trotter had taken in 2016 - the year that also saw the demise of her marriage to Professor Green. Millie already seems to have take kicked off 2017 the way she intends to go on, visiting more luxury spots in three months than most would dream of in 12. Millie and Hugo rang in New Year in South Africa, before her fashion business took her on to Paris and Los Angeles in the last couple of months. Boyfriend Hugo, 30, touched down in Dubai on Saturday, before attending the British Polo Day in Abu Dhabi. Loved up: The couple had enjoyed a romantic night out in Paris earlier this month, while Millie was in the French capital for Paris Fashion Week Cute couple: Millie was seen in a sexy swimsuit as she posted for a sweet picture with Hugo while on a romantic break in South Africa Pucker up! They looked more in love than ever as they packed on the PDA in another snap Millie and Hugo previously dated back in 2011 when they met on E4 reality show, Made In Chelsea. But the union was not to last and ended rather dramatically when Millie discovered Hugo had cheated on her with her friend, Rosie Fortescue. At the time, Millie claimed she would always love Hugo, saying in an interview: 'I loved him - those feelings dont disappear but I just always have to remind myself why were not together. Getting her tan on: Millie went on 18 holidays in 2016, sharing endless snaps of herself in various exotic locations 'I do think that, for the rest of my life, every time I see him, Ill get that feeling in my stomach. I dont think I could ever not get that butterfly feeling.' Millie and Pro Green announced their split in February after just over four years together. Their two-and-a-half-year marriage was dissolved in just 30 seconds in May. In a statement at the time, they said: 'It is a mutual decision, we still care deeply about each other and would like it to be known that it is on amicable terms and we wish each other well.' They're the television audiences known for telling it like it is. And the women of Gogglebox didn't mince words when it came to describing Orlando Bloom's penis, with Anastasia proclaiming it 'f**king huge!' The sizable topic arose while the reality TV stars were watching Orlando guest star in an episode of Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast. 'It's f**king huge!' Gogglebox's Faye and Anastasia LOSE IT over size of Orlando Bloom's package during inneudo-laden cooking segment Audiences were watching the actor cook up some lamb shanks with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver when conversation started on what he was famous for. After briefly discussing his role as golden-haired elf Legolas, talk turned to Orlando's headline making paddle boarding date with Katy Perry last year. In August, the 40-year-old actor was photographed stark naked while enjoying some fresh air and exercise with his then-girlfriend. Looking into Orlando: Anastasia and Faye wasted no time investigating the actor further, googling photos of the nude actor Can't believe her eyes: Faye snatched the phone off her friend and gasped: 'Oh my god' Anastasia and Faye wasted no time investigating the actor further, googling photos of the nude actor. 'Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God, Faye!' Anastasia exclaimed as she looked at the images. 'It's a whopper, it's a f**king whopper,' she added, saying a prayer and crossing herself. 'It's f**king huge!' Uncomfortable: 'Why the broom?' Younger daughter Millie asked, to which her dad replied awkwardly: 'Don't worry about it' Faye snatched the phone off her friend and gasped: 'Oh my god.' The girls weren't the only ones aware of Orlando's naked photos, with dad Matt Dalton quipping to his family: 'His name should be Orlando The Broom.' 'Why the broom?' Younger daughter Millie asked, to which her dad replied awkwardly: 'Don't worry about it.' Made headlines: In August, the 40-year-old actor was photographed stark naked while enjoying some fresh air and exercise with his then-girlfriend Katy Perry The single Silbery women were also getting hot under the collar as Jamie instructed Orlando to 'get your hands around the meat and just rub it all over' while cooking the lamb. 'Always put it in gently, and flop it away from you,' Jame continued, as the shank was placed in a fry pan. 'Lots of phallic references in this show,' Kerry Silbery remarked. The catalyst for the breakdown of their marriage was hinted at in a statement revealing he was 'tired' of living in her shadow. Now Scarlett Johansson appears to have taken a swipe at her estranged husband Romain Dauriac during a UK TV interview. The Avengers actress, 32, was a guest on Lorraine on Thursday to discuss her new sci-fi film, Ghost In The Shell. Scroll down for video Turning tide: Scarlett Johansson appears to have taken a swipe at her estranged husband Romain Dauriac during a UK TV interview Seemingly referencing her ex's jibe that he was sick of following her to film sets with their daughter, Rose, Scarlett insisted that it was important for her child to see her as an 'independent woman' at work. She explained: 'I am so proud to do and I love to do and to be able to show my daughter that and have her come to the workplace and show her Im an independent woman making it happen is very important for me.' The quip comes after a statement released by Dauriac's lawyers revealed he had been blindsided by the divorce, and added: 'Mr. Dauriac is tired of having to run his life and his child's life based on Ms. Johansson's shooting schedule.' Scarlett went on to discuss equality between the sexes in film - and took another shot at America's new president Donald Trump. Speaking about the global marches on the day of his inaugration, she said: 'Its important to know the womens march was not against Trump it was basically a march for women to highlight that we are a very strong force to be reckoned with. 'I think people in general can sometimes forget that their rights are not given, you have to fight for and continue to protect for the rights to your body and equal fair pay and they are important to highlight. Jibe: Seemingly referencing her ex's jibe that he was sick of following her to film sets with their daughter, Rose, Scarlett insisted that it was important for her child to see her as an 'independent woman' at work The gender bias does exist. We need to stand together to highlight that imbalance. As a woman, as a feminist, as a mother it was important for me to be there.' The interview is one of the first since her ex implored her to withdraw her divorce filing for the sake of their toddler daughter. Johansson filed for divorce from Romain Dauriac in a New York City court earlier this month, saying the marriage was 'irretrievably broken.' Blindsided by the move, the frenchman said in a statement that he wants to keep the divorce out of the courts and go back to the negotiating table. 'It is indeed unfortunate, especially for our daughter, that Scarlett filed in Court and made our personal differences so public,' he said. 'I would implore her to withdraw her action promptly and go back, as uncomfortable as it might be, to the negotiating table. We are the parents of a lovely daughter whom we will continue to co-parent for many years and share her joys and sorrows as only a parent can.' Dauriac's lawyer, Hal Mayerson, claims the former couple were in the middle of private talks when Johansson suddenly made the move to file. 'We were shocked that they filed these proceedings in court,' he said. 'We had been negotiating information relevant to their child Rose and also economic issues, so we were stunned when they did this. Weve told [Johansson and her lawyers] that we would go to any means to try to avoid this.' 'We were shocked': Dauriac's lawyer Hal Mayerson said in a statement that the duo were working things out, including a custody agreement regarding their daughter Rose, two, when the actress suddenly filed for divorce earlier this month The move follows a January announcement that the couple split last summer after less than two years of marriage. Dauriac sees the move as a 'pre-emptive strike' in a battle over custody of the couple's daughter, his lawyer said. Johansson is asking for joint custody of their daughter, Rose, but also wants the child to live with her. Mayerson said on Wednesday that he and Dauriac were taken aback by the request because he has been the 'primary parent' for the two-year-old while Johansson has been involved with her career. Dauriac plans to petition the court to take the child to live with him in his native France, Mayerson said, adding that Johansson will have 'access to her daughter any time she wants to come to Paris.' Officially over: The actress filed for divorce from Romain (pictured 2015) in a New York City court at the beginning of March, saying the marriage was 'irretrievably broken' and asked for joint custody of daughter Rose Dauriac has no intention of cutting Johansson off from her daughter, his lawyer told People. 'Ms. Johansson has two apartments in Paris. She can come any time she wants to see [Rose] and have the child with her,' Mayerson said. 'If shes traveling, we expect there would be a schedule that would be roughly equal between them.' 'Mr. Dauriac is tired of having to run his life and his child's life based on Ms. Johansson's shooting schedule,' Mayerson said. 'Ms. Johansson has two apartments in Paris. She can come any time she wants to see [Rose] and have the child with her,' Mayerson said Johansson responded in a statement, saying she is a 'devoted mother and private person' who knows her daughter will one day be old enough to read the news about herself. 'I would only like to say that I will never, ever be commenting on the dissolution of my marriage. Out of respect for my desires as a parent and out of respect for all working moms, it is with kindness that I ask other parties involved and the media to do the same,' she said. Johansson has spent a lot of time this year in New Zealand filming Ghost In The Shell. The star flew Rose to be with her some of time but the arraignment was causing tension between the former couple recently a source told Page Six. 'She would take the child on these trips like when she was shooting in New Zealand,' a source close to the case said. But then Johansson wanted to switch to a shorter schedule under which she would have Rose for three days and then Dauriac would take her for two days. 'The kid was bouncing back and forth. It can't work because [Johansson] travels so much,' the source said. Aside from Ghost In The Shell - out March 31 - the star also has comedy Rough Night in theaters June 11. The R rated comedy sees Johansson's charcater and her bridesmaids - Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, Zoe Kravitz and Kate McKinnon - accidently kill a stripper on her bachelortette weekend. Dedicated to her craft: Johansson has spent a lot of time this year in New Zealand filming Ghost In The Shell Girls' night out: Aside from Ghost In The Shell, the actress also has comedy Rough Night in theaters June 11. It also stars (L-R) Zoe Kravitz, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer and Kate McKinnon The actress is set to due in Atlanta any day now for the 11-month-long shoot for Avengers: Infinity War. Filming has begun on the Marvel movie last month and it will see the star reprise her Black Widow role. Currently there is also an untitled follow-up film due out in 2019. Black Widow is back: The actress is set to due in Atlanta any day now for the 11-month-long shoot for Avengers: Infinity War. The divorce filing notes that the couple signed a prenuptial agreement in September 2014, but Mayerson said the pact does not address custody or financial issues regarding their daughter. Dauriac is a former journalist who now works as a curator of art shows in New York, Mayerson said. This was Johansson's second marriage. She was previously married to actor Ryan Reynolds from 2008 to 2011. She recently revealed that she was still searching for her Mr Right. But Jessica Cunningham appeared to have found herself a potential suitor at the Sixty6 magazine party in London on Wednesday. Not afraid to pack on the PDA, the CBB star, 29, swooped in for a passionate smooch on the dance floor with her new man. Scroll down for video On the prowl: Jessica Cunningham appeared to have found herself a potential suitor at the Sixty6 magazine party in London on Wednesday The mother-of-three couldn't pull herself away from her date - who bore a resemblance to her former flame Courtney Wood. And it was clear to see why he couldn't take his eyes off her, as Jessica looked sensational on the outing. Flashing her tanned and toned abs, The Apprentice star donned a flesh coloured strapless crop top. Locking lips: Not afraid to pack on the PDA, the CBB star, 29, swooped in for a passionate smooch on the dance floor with her new man Pucker up: The mother-of-three couldn't pull herself away from her date - who bore a resemblance to her former flame Courtney Wood Former flames: Jessica previously dated The Apprentice co-star Jessica She teamed the garment with black ruched leggings that clung to her lean pins, whilst she boosted her frame with a pair of gold barely there heels. Complementing her ensemble with her accessories, she carried a large gold clutch bag and accessorised with a chunky watch and bracelet. She finished off the look by styling her raven coloured locks in a sleek centre parting that framed her flawless features. Cosy: Jessica nuzzled herself into her date's neck as they got cosy on the outing Jessica's passionate display with her suitor came after she told MailOnline that she was still searching for her perfect man. She explained: I'll be steering clear of the majority of people on TV. The thing is for me I go more for personality. If they're good looking great but for me, I like men who make me laugh and instantly grab me and I can have an intellectual conversation with. 'If I can have that with someone from TOWIE or Geordie Shore then fantastic but if I can't then y'know...someone else. Two's company: The pair put on a very passionate display on the night with the suitor holding onto Jessica as they snuggled up close to each other Looking good: it was clear to see why he couldn't take his eyes off her, as Jessica looked sensational on the outing She added: The only thing I want from a man is someone I can be happy with and who makes me giggle. That's what love is about isn't it? Being in love is about being able to laugh, giggle and be yourself and I've not found that yet but I know I will find it when the time is right. While Jessica is yet to settle down, she's happy to date until she finds her Mr. Right - and ensures she has plenty of fun in the process. 'I'm young, I'm single and my main commitments are my children and my business,' she explained. 'Dating people, I mean why not? I think as a single mum I need adult company. Chest a glimpse: Flashing her tanned and toned abs, The Apprentice star donned a flesh coloured strapless crop top as she posed up a storm outside the bash 'I enjoy speaking to people and meeting people and I don't think you should be judged or criticized for having fun and exploring everything, there's nothing wrong with that. I love going dating. When I go on a first date I like to create an awkward silence just to see how they deal with that.' 'I am now single. I'm dating a few people now and again but for me, I'm very open and very straight, when I'm single I'm single if I'm with somebody I'm 100% committed and I love being in love but the right person hasn't come along for me to have that with them.' His mother Madonna will be forever the Material Girl. But Rocco Ritchie's girlfriend Kim Turnbull certainly isn't far off in the material stakes. The teenage couple, both 17, wrapped up against the London cold as they stepped out together this week. Scroll down for video That's a wrap: Rocco Ritchie's girlfriend Kim Turnbull certainly isn't far off in the Material Girl stakes as she wrapped up against the cold in London this week Kim wore a huge hood over her head alongside a brown fur coat as they pair ambled down the street with a male pal. Rocco looked as streetwise as usual in a casual jacket as he chatted to his friend. While Rocco remains to live with his director father Guy, his superstar mum has her hands full with the latest additions to their family. Madonna adopted twin girls from Malawi in February. Fur the weather: Kim wore a huge hood over her head alongside a brown fur coat as they pair ambled down the street with a male pal Trio: Rocco looked as streetwise as usual in a casual jacket as he chatted to his friend The 58-year-old was every inch the proud mother as she showed off her children in a video she shared with her 8.9 million Instagram followers last week. In the adorable clip, the twins - reportedly named Stella and Esther - can be seen chanting 'mambo mambo coffee coffee' and at points dissolving into fits of giggles. The mother-of-six's caption implied that 'Mambo' may be the twins' nickname for their mother. The Papa Don't Preach superstar wrote on the social media site: 'How Mambo is gonna get through Friday!' In the video, the twins don matching outfits of cream long-sleeved sweaters with glitzy sequin embroidered designs. Musical: While Rocco remains to live with his director father Guy, his superstar mum has her hands full with the latest additions to their family Matching: The twins, reportedly named Stella and Esther, sported matching cream long-sleeved tops which featured sequin embroidered designs Photogenic babes: The beautiful girls looked at ease in front of the camera happily singing before dissolving into fits of giggles Aside from her music-loving toddlers, the Like A Prayer artist is also the biological mother of Lourdes, 20, whom she shares with former boyfriend Carlos Leon, 44, Rocco Ritchie, 16, whose father is filmmaker Guy Ritchie, 48, and her two other adopted children Mercy and David, both 11, also from Malawi, whom Madonna took in in 2009. Mercy and David visit Malawi at least once a year, so no doubt the twins will start to join their annual excursions. The Hung Up crooner took to Instagram to announce the two new additions to her family in early February. Mother-of-six: The Like A Prayer artist is the biological mother of Lourdes, 20, whom she shares with former boyfriend Carlos Leon, 44, and Rocco Ritchie, 16, whose father is filmmaker Guy Ritchie, 48. She is also mother to Mercy and David, both 11, whom Madonna adopted in Malawi in 2009 and of course her twins - reportedly named Esther and Stella Madonna's girl: Lourdes, 20, is Madonna's eldest child. The pair are pictured here at the Alexander Wang New York Fashion Week show Strike a pose: Madonna goofed around with her third child David Banda at the 2014 Grammys She wrote: 'I can officially confirm I have completed the process of adopting twin sisters from Malawi and am overjoyed that they are now part of our family. 'I am deeply grateful to all those in Malawi who helped make this possible, and I ask the media please to respect our privacy during this transitional time. 'Thank you also to my friends, family and my very large team for all your support and Love!' His convoluted love life has been causing huge stirs. And Dan Edgar appears set to throw yet another spanner in the works as he was spotted on Wednesday night leaving the Sixty6 Magazine launch party in London alongside a stunning mystery brunette. The 26-year-old TOWIE star's departure appeared to strike a chord with show newbie Amber Turner, who cheated on her boyfriend of seven years, Jamie Reed with Dan - as she took to Instagram to share a bikini-clad snap shortly after images emerged. Scroll down for video A handsome pair: Dan Edgar appears set to throw yet another spanner in the works as he was spotted on Wednesday night leaving the Sixty6 Magazine launch party in London alongside a stunning mystery brunette Dan hit headlines earlier this month when it was rumoured that he had hooked up with the blonde beauty during the cast trip to Tenerife - claims they both vehemently denied. Yet on their return to the glamorous home county, speculation hit fever pitch after which she openly admitted that she had in fact cheated on her then-boyfriend Jamie and spent a night with Dan, but hugely regretted doing so. Speaking to Megan McKenna and Georgia Kousoulou the reality star, 23, appeared remorseful as she said: 'Hes a nice boy, yeah hes good looking. Im single now. 'The night I did stay at Dans I should have admitted it, because I wasnt happy in our relationship but I do regret the way I handled things, I do regret that.' Hit back! The 26-year-old TOWIE star's departure appeared to strike a chord with show newbie Amber Turner, who cheated on her boyfriend of seven years, Jamie Reed with Dan - as she took to Instagram to share a bikini-clad snap shortly after images emerged Out, out: Amber may be rethinking her choice when she discovers Dan's mystery companion on Wednesday night, with whom he looked delighted to join on the town Total honesty: The images will no doubt irritate the stunner after she left her boyfriend for the hunk Amber may be rethinking her choice when she discovers Dan's mystery companion on Wednesday night, with whom he looked delighted to join on the town. The handsome star was casual in a grey bomber jacket with a crew-neck T-shirt while his stunning guest looked wholly more glammed up. Stepping out of the club, the brunette beauty wore a sensational black mini-dress with a wraparound body from under she flashed her underwear accidentally. She wore her silky tresses in cascading lengths falling over her shoulders while her make-up was flawlessly applied to best enhance her pretty features. Hello there! Atop his departure from the club with the stunner, Dan was also seen chatting to fellow reality star Bianca Gascoigne who he greeted fondly - no doubt knowing each other from the reality circuit Essex gang: He was also spotted chatting to Love Island star and fellow Essex native Olivia Buckland The stunner held a crocodile skin in the crook of her arm although kept the rest of her accessories minimal to let her body do the talking. Atop his departure from the club with the stunner, Dan was also seen chatting to fellow reality star Bianca Gascoigne who he greeted fondly - no doubt knowing each other from the reality circuit. Just hours after the images emerged, Amber, perhaps transparently, took to Instagram to show off her incredible body in a throwback bikini snap. While Dan was hitting the town, Amber was enjoying a low-key cinema date with her co-star Megan McKenna, undoubtedly unaware of Dan's goings on. Dan previously dated co-star Kate Wright, who is now rumoured to be dating Rio Ferdinand, although she has cast aspersions over him and Amber as he insists the star 'denies till he dies'. Holly Willoughby broke down as she interviewed one of the men who tried to save the life of Westminster terror attack victim Keith Palmer. Former Staff Sgt Tony Davis appeared on This Morning on Thursday to discuss the horrifying scene of where the Metropolitan police officer was stabbed by a maniac attacker outside of the Houses of Parliament. Alongside hero MP Tobias Ellwood, Davis used his combat training to perform CPR on the 48-year-old officer and admitted he 'fought desperately' to save the married father. Holly Willoughby broke down as she interviewed one of the men who tried to save the life of Westminster terror attack victim Keith Palmer Listening to the boxing coach speaking about trying to stem the bloodflow from multiple wounds, Holly fought back tears while her voice crackled with emotion as she commended the former soldier on his bravery. Davis - who was visiting the Houses of Parliament for a press conference - insisted he was just doing what he had been trained to do, adding: 'Im not brave, Im not a hero 'All of a sudden I saw a large chap brandishing two knives and started attacking a policeman it was natural instinct that kicked in. I leaped over the fence and obviously that guy needed assistance. 'Everything happened so quick, natural instinct was to get over there and give some assistance. I know the basics [of CPR] and can put someone at ease. 'Initially when he fell to the ground, I put him in the recovery position, checked his pulse, he had a weak pulse, he had an initial head wound and another in his arm and another near his rib cage, that I believe was the fatal one. I put my raincoat underneath and tried to stem the blood as much as I could. 'Maybe tomorrow itll sink in a bit. I stayed at the scene... everyone just came together. A great show of solidarity.' Former Staff Sgt Tony Davis appeared on This Morning on Thursday to discuss the horrifying scene of where the Metropolitan police officer was stabbed by a maniac attacker outside of the Houses of Parliament Listening to the boxing coach speaking about trying to stem the bloodflow from multiple wounds, Holly fought back tears The presenter's voice crackled with emotion as she commended the former soldier on his bravery Holly looked emotional as she asked Davis about being caught up in the terror Thursday's show of the ITV series focused on the horror that hit central London on Wednesday. A man - who was reportedly known to police due to his links to extremism - mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before storming Parliament with knives. A Spanish mother-of-two and a man in his fifties were the terrorist's second and third victims after being hit by his car on the bridge. Numerous tourists and students from Britain, France and Korea are among the injured with 29 in hospital on top of the 'walking wounded'. Seven are critically ill with 'catastrophic injuries' - potentially including two other police officers. Palmer's former colleague, Nina Whitehead, also appeared on the show, and paid tribute to the loving dad who had saved her life during the years working together. Davis used his combat training to perform CPR on the officer and admitted he 'fought desperately' to save the married father Davis insisted he was just doing what he had been trained to do, adding: 'Im not brave, Im not a hero' as he talked about his 'natural instinct' kicked in Thursday's show of the ITV series focused on the horror that hit central London on Wednesday Davis tried to save the policer officer alongside hero MP Tobias Ellwood, who broke down while listening to a statement on the attack in the Commons on Thursday Left emotional from Phillip's words and the series of harrowing eyewitness accounts, viewers flocked to social media to discuss their feelings on the latest terror assault on the UK capital She explained to Holly: 'I was the passenger and he was one of the police officers who actually saved my life. 'I owe him everything. He was a wonderful dad, and wonderful husband to his wife and everything.' At the beginning of the programme, Phil paid tribute to those who had lost their lives. He said: 'It was a scene of tragedy, but among the harrowing images are heroes. 'PC Keith Palmer, who lost his life while trying to protect our democracy. The doctors and nurses who ran towards the carnage to help. 'They are the Britain we love, the country we know the spirit that one man tried to destroy.' Left emotional from Phillip's words and the series of harrowing eyewitness accounts, viewers flocked to social media to discuss their feelings on the latest terror assault on the UK capital. One wrote: 'This Morning has only been on five minutes and I'm already crying. So sad.' While others praised the presenters for putting Londoners at ease with positive advice on the likelihood of another imminent attack. A fan tweeted: 'Holly and Phillip have completely put me at ease with the London attack. Great job.' He's the fireman turned reality star known for his steamy on-screen romance with former Bachelorette Georgia Love. And while he may not have won Georgia's heart, Cameron Cranley did enjoy a flirtatious exchange with the Melbourne news reporter this Thursday. After sharing a photo of himself modelling a leather jacket, musical enthusiast Georgia commented: 'Stop posting this to try to make people buy it for you! I see through you Danny Zuko!' Scroll down for video 'I see through you Danny Zuko!' The Bachelorette's Cameron Cranley enjoyed a flirtatious exchange with his ex Georgia Love by quoting lines from Grease this Thursday She completed the post with winking and crying emojis. 'Back up Sandy', Cameron responded, quoting a line from the iconic musical film Grease. 'You can't just walk out of a drive in!' Georgia quipped back. Just friends: The Bachelorette runner-up recently cleared up romance reports surrounding him and Georgia, telling Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday that they're just friends It has only been a matter of days since Cameron cleared up romance rumours between the two, telling Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday that they're just friends. Despite reports claiming he and former Bachelorette Georgia looked cosy at the premiere of Beauty and The Beast on March 9, the 26-year-old said it was all innocent and that her boyfriend Lee Elliot knew all about it before hand. 'I would never do anything to upset him or come between Lee and Georgia, so I asked him first if it would be OK,' Perth-born said. Dinner date: A source who saw them at the Sydney State Theatre said that Cameron and Georgia appeared two cosy together, and seen laughing and smiling from ear to ear He added that they're just good friends saying 'that is all we are and ever will be.' Georgia and Cameron were spotted by eagle-eyed fans leaving the State Theatre in Sydney together earlier this month. The Bachelorette runner-up added that his friend was back in Melbourne working at the time while he was in Sydney for a Magnum ice-cream event. Former flames: Cameron shared a steamy on-screen romance with former Bachelorette Georgia last year He said: 'I still consider Lee to be one of my closest friends and would never go behind his back like that.' A source recently told New Idea that upon first seeing Cameron and Georgia, 29, together at the premiere, they assumed Lee, 35, was not too far. 'But when I looked around, it was just the two of them and they were very close to each other,' the insider said. Premiere night: Georgia Love attended the premiere alone, according to Cameron Lee was back in Melbourne working The source added: 'It's understandable if they just bumped into each other in the cinema, but when I saw them leave together, laughing and smiling from ear to ear it made me think there was more to it - but also does Lee know?' Since leaving the show, the trio have been spotted hanging out at various events. Georgia and Lee reportedly had a blazing row, with the Bachelorette storming out mid dinner at Sydney's Da Orazio recently. Flying solo? The source added, 'It's understandable if they just bumped into each other in the cinema, but when I saw them leave together, laughing and smiling from ear to ear it made me think there was more to it' In a previous interview with Daily Mail Australia, Cameron said the two made an amazing and beautiful couple. 'But when I'm not with them I couldn't tell you, I can't really comment [on whether they have broken up],' he said. The men have proven to have a great friendship with one another, even sharing pictures of their outings on Instagram. Still good mates: Cameron explained that he doesn't find his friendship with Lee awkward, despite having dated the same girl Cameron explained that he doesn't find his friendship with Lee awkward, despite having dated the same girl. 'For me it's literally hanging out with one of my best mates and his girl who I happen to know quite well,' he explained. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Georgia Love for comment. She left Jesse Konstantinoff heartbroken when she brutally broke off their relationship on Married At First Sight's finale. And now it appears Michelle Marsh may have already moved on with last season's bad boy Jono Pittman, after the two were reportedly spotted out together on Monday. According to The Daily Telegraph the pair stepped out on a double date with the 31-year-old's twin sister Sharon and her beau Nick Furphy at Melbourne's Southbank. New relationship? Michelle Marsh may have already moved on with the show's former bad boy Jono Pittman, after the two were spotted out together Monday Melbourne woman Ashley Roberts spoke to the publication, stating the reality stars looked cosy and comfortable around one another. 'They were on Southbank for drinks, and walking outside Crown. I think that he (Jono) is friends with Nick, Michelles twins partner,' she said. 'They were really flirty and all over each other ... It definitely looked like a double date.' Twinning: The sighting was reportedly a double date between Michelle and Jono, and Sharon and Nick Split: Michelle broke things off with Jesse Konstantinoff, with fans slamming her for leading him on throughout the series Jono, who was labelled a villain on the show's second season, refused to comment on the date report telling The Daily Telegraph: 'I don't really like being in the spotlight much.' The tradie once infamously whispered: 'she's not what I ordered' as his beaming TV 'wife' Clare walked down the aisle. After the couple could not resolve their differences, the controversial groom moved out and quickly picked things up with an ex-love. Clare spoke to Daily Mail Australia on Friday about the shocking romance report surrounding Jono and Michelle. 'If Michelle and Jono are newly together that's great and I hope they find happiness in one another,' she said. 'I genuinely wish nothing but happiness for Jono. We were not a good match, however he certainly deserves to find love.' Publicity stunt? Jono's ex Clare has spoken out to say that the move may be a publicity stunt, but she wishes nothing but the best for the couple Looking for love? Jono was labelled one of the bad boys of the show's second season, after he clashed with his TV wife Clare Verrall She was quick to point out that all may not be as it seems, with the possibility the sighting was nothing more than a stunt. 'I highly doubt this is true though since three different friends sent me texts and videos of him hitting on any girl with a pulse at the St Hotel last Sunday,' Clare said. 'Sounds like a publicity stunt.' Every happiness: Clare extended her best wishes to the couple, saying she 'genuinely wishes nothing but happiness for Jono' It comes just days after Michelle was spotted with one of this season's other villains Andrew 'Jonesy' Jones. The 31-year-old blonde was pictured hanging out with series Andrew, 38, revealing her slender frame in a skimpy bikini. The snap was shared to the firefighter's Instagram Monday and showed him shirtless on a statue in the Swan River in Perth, as Michelle watched on. Daily mail Australia has reached out to Jono and Michelle for comment. Her husband Joe is serving out a three-year prison sentence at Fort Dix Correctional Institution in New Jersey. But that isn't stopping Teresa Giudice from showing her fans that she is one hot mama. After sharing an image of her stunning bikini body on Wednesday, the mother-of-four posted a pretty picture the next day where she was draped in a white goddess gown. Getting it white: Teresa Giudice showed off her body in this pretty dress on Thursday while on vacation in Florida Her husband: Joe has been serving time in prison from fraud charges. Pictured March 2016 Her very brief caption read: '...Currently.' The Real Housewives Of New Jersey star, 44, was lounging in a living room while on vacation in Florida. The table-flipper captioned her bikini photo, 'Loving the sun.' The hashtags for yoga, vitamin D and namaste were added. Check her out! The TV standout looked sensational in this exotic bikini on Wednesday Teresa started doing yoga every day when she was incarcerated in 2015 at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut from fraud charges. The star has talked about the positive effects of doing Sun Salutes and Downward Facing Dog poses. And the payoff has been great for her as she has kept her weight down and now has abs as well as sculpted arms. Gone too soon: Giudice's mother Antonia passed away at age 66 earlier this month. Also seen here is her father and her brother This posting comes after her RHONJ alum Kim DePaola was linked to a double homicide. Two men were found burned to death inside her Audi. The investigation is ongoing. The reality star has been mourning the death of her mother, who passed away in early March at the age of 66. Teresa has been paying tribute to her mother by sharing various heartfelt family photos over social media. Three of her four kids: The beauty has Gia, Milania, Audriana and Gabriella. Pictured May One of the photos was of Teresa celebrating her Sweet 16 alongside her mother and her godmother Domenica. 'My Surprise Sweet 16 that is my godmother Domenica and my beautiful Mother (heart emoticon). Thank you Godmother for sending me this photo love you,' she wrote in the snap. On Tuesday, she shared a video from her mother's funeral, which showed mourners letting go of dozens of white balloons. Her big day: One of the photos was of Teresa celebrating her Sweet 16 alongside her mother and her godmother Domenica Teresa was at her beloved mother's side when she passed away in hospital on Friday. On Saturday evening Teresa Giudice took to Instagram for the first time to pay a heartfelt tribute to her mother and thank her fans for all their messages of support. Sharing a collage of six shots of herself with her mom, the star captioned it: 'Thank you for the love and support during this extremely difficult time. Sweet memories: Giudice shared a photo of her parents, declaring her mother a lover of the beach and summer 'My mother was a very cherished part of our family and she'll be deeply missed. Each and every one of your messages of love & support are so appreciated. 'Give her eternal rest O Lord and may your light shine on her forever.' And the inconsolable reality star was back on Instagram early on Sunday morning to add a family portrait with her parents sitting in the middle. 'I miss my mommy so much,' Teresa wrote, simply. A source told Us Weekly on Saturday: 'This is a very hard time for Teresa. She was very close with her mother.' Antonia passed away of natural causes, according to E! News. Antonia - who made several appearances on the hit Bravo show - was an Italian immigrant who raised Teresa and her brother Joey in New Jersey. The Real Housewives franchise is known for its cattiness and bitter fights. And its seems perhaps things have gone a little too far on the Real Housewives of Sydney, with The Daily Telegraph reporting on Friday that Krissy Marsh 'fled' to China after clashing with Lisa Oldfield recently. The publication reports that the pair are set to have an epic showdown on Monday's episode, with Lisa 'shaming' her about her love life, and calling her a 's**t.' Scroll down for video Gone away? The Daily Telegraph reporting that Krissy Marsh (pictured) has 'fled' to China after clashing with Lisa Oldfield According to the publication, outspoken Lisa called Krissy a 'f**king embarrassment' and 'wh**e' and said: 'You're always talking about the big c***s you've sucked.' The feud reportedly takes place at a Sydney gallery where Athena Levendi is debuting her artwork. Krissy said Lisa's words were uncalled for. True? The publication reports that the pair are set to have an epic showdown on Monday's show, with Lisa (pictured) 'shaming' her about her love life, and calling her a 's**t' 'In this day and age, it is terrible that a woman can speak to another woman like that,' saying 'it was below the belt.' Lisa reportedly stood by her words, telling the publication: 'I had a go at her in the most base level.' Krissy meanwhile said the comments were like water off a duck's back to her, saying: 'It is embarrassing for her not for me.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted both Krissy and Lisa for comment in relation to this article. Away: Krissy has posted from China on her Instagram account but has said she was 'working' overseas (seen) Krissy has posted from China on her Instagram account but has said she was 'working' overseas. Meanwhile on Thursday, she also shared a story to her profile, showing a truck in a driveway and hinted that she was back in Sydney. 'No rest for the wicked straight off a flight and collecting goods from storage,' Krissy captioned the snap, with the truck being from Australian company Grace removals. Lisa - who is former politician David Oldfield's wife - also appeared to have a dig at Krissy on Instagram on Thursday. Home? Meanwhile on Thursday, she also shared a story to her profile, showing a truck in a driveway and hinted that she was back in Sydney Sharing a shot of Pauline Hanson with a caption that said she wanted to be on the RHOS season two, Lisa wrote: Please let this be a thing ! @paulinehansonoz is smarter than @realkrissymarsh and better looking than @iamvictoriarees ! #nomorescrubs.' During a Facebook live chat on Thursday, Lisa quizzed Athena on male anatomy. 'Can you eat a d**k and still be vegan?' the 41-year-old asked. 'I don't know,' Athena replied, before adding with a laugh: 'I'm vegan and I eat everything.' Having a go? Lisa - who is former politician David Oldfield's wife - also appeared to have a dig at Krissy on Instagram on Thursday As a notification popped up that one of Lisa's friends had tuned in to watch, the brunette felt particularly nostalgic. 'I used to draw d***s in Lucy's school books. Massive d***s. Like Jonah [Takalua] from Summer Heights High,' referring to the fictional television star, played by Chris Lilley. Athena chimed in playfully: 'The only contact she had with d***s when she was little.' 'Exactly,' Lisa agreed. She's the bubbly blonde who made a name for herself as the teenage witch who had a talking black cat. But these days, Melissa Joan Hart spends her time primarily as a mother to three sons and the actress was pictured sightseeing with her family in Australia this week, ahead of appearances at Oz Comic-Con. On Wednesday, the 40-year-old actress went makeup-free, while sporting a casual sundress during a day out in Sydney. Sabrina The Mother Of Three! Melissa Joan Hart goes casual in sundress while sightseeing with family ahead of her appearance at Oz Comic-Con (pictured right in 1999) The Sabrina The Teenage Witch star opted for comfort for her day out, wearing a pair of black runners with her patterned frock. Melissa also wore her blonde locks back from her face in a ponytail, accessorising with her wedding rings and an anklet. Since her arrival in Sydney on Tuesday, the actress has documented her tour of the city on Instagram alongside her musician husband Mark Wilkerson, 40, and their sons Mason, 11, Braydon, nine, and four-year-old Tucker. Going casual: The Sabrina The Teenage Witch star chose comfort for her day out, wearing a pair of black runners with her patterned frock Fine dining! The family headed out to dinner at the exclusive Bennelong Restaurant on Thursday night, housed within the Sydney Opera House. The family busied themselves at the aquarium and Bondi Beach on Wednesday before heading out to dinner at the exclusive Bennelong Restaurant on Thursday night, housed within the Sydney Opera House. During the 1990s, Melissa was one of the biggest names in television, first starring in teen sitcom Clarissa Explains It All at the age of 14. But her biggest role came in 1996 at age 19, when Sabrina The Teenage Witch began airing and went onto run for seven seasons. Iconic: Melissa's biggest role came in 1996 at age 19, when Sabrina The Teenage Witch began airing and went onto run for seven seasons A classic now! The show last year celebrated its 20th anniversary since it first premiered The show last year celebrated its 20th anniversary since it first premiered, with Melissa musing about its legacy in an interview earlier this year with Today Extra. The actress said that despite the show's enduring popularity she wasn't keen on seeing it rebooted like other classics. 'As far as Sabrina, no,' Melissa said. 'Looking back is so wonderful and I love all those shows so dearly that I dont want to spoil them by trying to do them and not doing it right.' Shes poised for wider exposure thanks to her forthcoming role in a redefined, feature length version of cult nineties drama Baywatch. But eagle eyed fans will recognise actress Alexandra Daddario thanks to an altogether different type of exposure in a racy TV cameo from 2014. The 31-year old, whos impressive CV already includes appearances in The Sopranos, Law & Order, New Girl and blockbuster San Andreas, stripped off while filming a sex scene for popular HBO series True Detective. Scroll down for video Racy: Shes poised for wider exposure thanks to her forthcoming role in Baywatch, but eagle eyed fans will recognise actress Alexandra Daddario thanks to an altogether different type of exposure in a racy TV cameo from 2014 Alexandra played peripheral character Lisa Tragnetti over four episodes, during which she enjoyed a steamy frisson with Woody Harrelsons lead, homicide investigator Martin "Marty" Hart. Inviting him into her home, Tragnetti is soon locked in a passionate embrace with the police officer before seductively reading him his rights while peeling off her skimpy top. You have the right to remain silent, she whispers, handcuffing his wrists to the bed posts. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. 'You have the right to an attorney; if you cant afford an attorney, the state will provide one. Do you understand your rights? Hot and heavy: Alexandra played peripheral character Lisa Tragnetti over four episodes, during which she enjoyed a steamy frisson with Woody Harrelsons lead, homicide investigator Martin "Marty" Hart Here we go: The 31-year old, whos impressive CV already includes appearances in The Sopranos, Law & Order, New Girl and blockbuster San Andreas, stripped of while filming a sex scene for popular HBO series True Detective Intimate: Inviting him into her home, Tragnetti is soon locked in a passionate embrace with the police officer You definitely have a career in law enforcement, says an approving Hart, raising his eyes to the cuffs. I thought I was gonna put those on you. After making her screen debut at the age of 16, Alexandra has enjoyed a busy career in TV and film, most notably the Percy Jackson franchise. But her latest role as Summer Quinn in Baywatch is sure to win the actress greater recognition. You're mine: You have the right to remain silent, she whispers, handcuffing his wrists to the bed posts. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law' I'm the boss: You have the right to an attorney; if you cant afford an attorney, the state will provide one. Do you understand your rights? she tells him after stripping off Impressed: You definitely have a career in law enforcement, says an approving Hart, his eyes fixed on her exposed breasts. I thought I was gonna put those on you' Alexandra will feature alongside Zac Efron and Dwayne Johnson in the forthcoming film, a big-screen revival of the hugely popular series. The show was originally cancelled after the first season, but returned for syndication in 1991 when it became extremely popular and was watched for a full decade, bringing Pamela Anderson to prominence with it. Baywatch will launch in the United States on May 26 and across the United Kingdom from May 29. Popular: After making her screen debut at the age of 16, Alexandra has enjoyed a busy career in TV and film They have both starred in Orange Is The New Black since the very first season. And both Jackie Cruz and Danielle Brooks looked more than glad to break from prison and ditch the beige jumpsuit. Jackie, 30, absolutely scintillated in a sheer cutout bathing suit as she has shared several pictures on Instagram while enjoying her vacation in Tulum, Mexico. Scroll down for video Dynamic duo: Orange Is The New Black stars Jackie Cruz (left) and Danielle Brooks (right) have taken to Instagram to document their individual vacations Meanwhile 27-year-old Danielle also took to the picture-sharing social network to post photos of herself in a patterned bikini while in the Bahamas. No doubt the two stars are enjoying some downtime before the premiere of the fifth season of their Netflix series. Jackie showed off her fantastic figure in a black one-piece featuring a completely see through sheer detailing on the side. Wow factor: Jackie, 30, absolutely scintillated in a sheer cutout bathing suit as she has shared several pictures on Instagram while enjoying her vacation in Tulum, Mexico Revealing: She also shared a photo of herself laying in bed completely naked with a white sheet strategically placed over her backside Sun-kissed: She rocked plenty of revealing swimwear Making a splash: Jackie was joined by boyfriend Fernando Garcia Chill mode: She shared this cute picture of herself drinking a Modelo Relaxed: She also shared this photo of herself dipping her feet into a jacuzzi Serene: The couple also seemed to go sailing Stunners: She posed at a bar next to gal pal Marlene Robledo Gorgeous: Jackie showed off her toned tummy in a white off-the-should crop top She shared a selfie from the inside of her gorgeous suite before hitting the beach in the Caribbean coast city in Mexico. In her majestic beach snap, Jackie could be seen showing off her pert derriere as the camera is pointed at her backside while she stares off into the ocean. The stunner has posted several snaps from her holiday including dipping her feet in a Jacuzzi and swimming in a lagoon along with boyfriend Fernando Garcia. She also shared a photo of herself laying in bed completely naked with a white sheet strategically placed over her backside. Wow factor: Meanwhile 27-year-old Danielle was in the Bahamas as she flaunted her curvaceous figure in clinging swimwear Squad: She hung out with gal pal Jasmine Cephas Jones Fancy seeing you here! The I Dream Too Much star even got to meet rapper Ja Rule as she and her friend flanked him in a cute photo Danielle on the otherhand seemed to be enjoying her own vacation in the Carribean. She flaunted her curvaceous figure in several photos where she rocked swimwear as she hung out with gal pal Jasmine Cephas Jones. The I Dream Too Much star even got to meet rapper Ja Rule as she and her friend flanked him in a cute photo. Orange Is The New Black will premiere it's fifth season on Netflix on June 9. It has also been renewed for seasons six and seven. On-the-go: Jackie and Fernando seemed to have a blast together as they were spotted picking up some items in town during the holiday in Tulum Even on her days off this model cannot help but strike a pose. Kendall Jenner turned a fast food run into a photo shoot for a tough talking Instagram post. Sitting in her convertible with burger in-hand, the 21-year-old scowled as she was driven through a Los Angeles' drive thru' on Wednesday. She means it: Kendall Jenner turned a fast food run into a photo shoot for a tough talking Instagram post on Thursday Posting the snap the following day, the star said: 'Better talk nice.' In the picture, Kendall wore a bright yellow T-shirt with a Levis jean jacket and added a pair of slightly yellow lensed sunglasses - perfect for glaring. The star was out and about with pals Hailey Baldwin and Justine Skye and no doubt one of them severed as the photographer. Whomever one did, may want to think of a future behind the lens as the snap could have easily been in a magazine. Cool kids: Kendall wore a bright yellow T-shirt in the snap and she had early stepped out in same tee with flared denim pants Tough time: Last Thursday, $200,000 worth of jewelry was stolen from Kendall's home after she had a small party at her place (pictured is a detective leaving her home) Why Kendall is issuing demands for people to talk nice is not clear, but she certainly has good reason to feel a little grumpy at the moment. Last Thursday, $200,000 worth of jewelry was stolen from Kendall's home after she had a small party at her place. The theft comes as the family finally talked in depth on their show Keeping Up With The Kardashians about Kim Kardashian being robbed at gun point in Paris last year. In the emotional episode on Sunday, the family spoke of their terror for Kim, while Kim tearfully revealed she thought she would be raped and murdered during the ordeal. She lost her mother earlier this month. And on Wednesday, Teresa Giudice honored Antonia Gorga with a seaside ceremony while on vacation in Florida for her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga's birthday. The Real Housewives of New Jersey star, 44, released a large floral wreath into the ocean after partaking in some beach yoga with her castmates while filming for season eight of the Bravo reality show. Soul-cleansing: Teresa Giudice honored Antonia Gorga with a seaside ceremony while on vacation in Florida for her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga's birthday Helpful: Teresa waded into the ocean, hopping on top of the surfboard with the help of a man Saying goodbye: The Real Housewives of New Jersey star, 44, released a large floral wreath into the ocean in honor of her late mother Following a yoga session, RHONJ newcomer Margaret Josephs appeared with a large white rose wreath and presented it to Teresa. The group of ladies sat around the wreath on the sand, undoubtedly speaking of the late Antonia - who died at just 66 years of age - as Teresa and Melissa appeared to break out in tears. Teresa read from a piece of paper while Melissa covered her face in pain. Sharing the pain: Teresa read from a piece of paper while Melissa covered her face in pain Solace: Following the yoga session, Josephs appeared with a large white rose wreath and presented it to Teresa Keeping cool: Giudice then composed herself while still sitting in the sand as the Bravo crew surrounded her and her friends Giudice then composed herself while still sitting in the sand as the Bravo crew surrounded her and her friends. The mother-of-four then carried the wreath to a surfboard and waded into the ocean, hopping on top with the help of a dark-haired man. She got to have a private moment on the surfboard as she released the flowers, finding comfort in the ocean as she bid her mother farewell with a smile. Tribute: The mother-of-four then carried the wreath to a surfboard and waded into the ocean, hopping on top with the help of a dark-haired man Giudice has been posting quotes in remembrance of her mother on Instagram. In what may have been foreshadowing of her emotional, oceanic ceremony, she recently shared a bible quote that read: 'When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. Isaiah 43:2' Though the getaway to Boca Raton was primarily for her sister-in-law's big day, taking in some vitamin D, yoga sessions, and enjoying good company was likely a great remedy for Teresa's aching heart. Supportive: The group of ladies sat around the wreath on the sand, undoubtedly speaking of the late Antonia as Teresa and Melissa appeared to break out in tears Loving daughter: Teresa released the white wreath into the ocean Teresa wore tight yoga pants with a floral design over an army pattern paired with a black tank top. She threw her hair up into a low-maintenance ponytail and hid her face with a pair of dark oversized shades. Keeping cool: She threw her hair up into a low-maintenance ponytail and hid her face with a pair of dark oversized shades Hashed it out: Staub's appearance confirms that the former enemies have buried the hatchet and she will appear on the next season Starting off light: Teresa partook in some yoga with her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga, 38 The reality star stretched out on the beach with Melissa - who turned 38 on the trip - and taught Josephs and former star Danielle Staub some moves. Giudice has previously spoken about the positive effects of doing Sun Salutes and Downward Facing Dog. The Italian beauty's love of yoga began when she was incarcerated in 2015. Welcome! Newcomer Margaret Josephs was included on the girls' trip Turning to faith: In what may have been foreshadowing of her emotional, oceanic ceremony, she recently shared a bible quote that read,'When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. Isaiah 43:2 Saying goodbye: She got to have a private moment on the surfboard as she released the flowers, finding comfort in the ocean as she bid her mother farewell with a smile Sad: Teresa lost her mother Antonia Gorga, who died of natural causes at age 66 Her husband Joe is currently serving out his three-year prison sentence at Fort Dix Correctional Institution in New Jersey, and therefore could not be there physically to console his wife. Teresa had been by her beloved mother's side as she passed away of natural causes on March 3. The air date for season eight of the Bravo franchise has not yet been announced, but it appears that the ladies have just recently began filming. Staub's appearance confirms that the former enemies have buried the hatchet and she will appear on the next season. Netflix is gearing up for the third season of its hit original series The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The streaming service has just released four new shots from the latest batch of episodes from the multiple Emmy Award nominated show. In addition to the new photos, Netflix has also announced that Laura Dern and Maya Rudolph will make guest appearances in the next installment of the Tina Fey produced comedy. Jon Hamm will return for his role as Richard Wayne Gary Wayne. Quirky: Ellie Kemper in a colorful outfit as Kimmy Schmidt in this new promotional photo from The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, released by Netflix on Thursday The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt centers around a girl (Ellie Kemper) finding freedom in New York City after being part abducted and placed in an Indiana apocalypse bunker with three other girls for 15 years. At the end of season two, it's revealed that Kimmy has been unknowingly married to Richard Wayne Gary Wayne, the reverend who abducted her in her youth. In the new season three snap, Kimmy looks optimistic in a very colorful outfit, including a paid coat over a hooded denim jacket on top of a magenta sweater. She pairs the look with multi-colored floral pants and yellow boots. Live from New York: Titus Andromedon (played by Tituss Burgess) auditions for an 'exciting new role' in season three A teaser trailer released in February shows Kimmy's roommate Titus Andromedon (played by Tituss Burgess) re-creating Beyonce's Hold Up and Sorry music videos. It has been revealed that Tituss auditions for an 'exciting new role' when the show returns on May 19. Titus' audition for Broadway musical Hamilton became fan-favorite moment from season two. The boss: Jane Krakowski returns as Jacqueline Voorhees, who Kimmy serves as nanny to her son. Jane Krakowski is also back as Jacqueline Voorhees, the mother of the boy Kimmy acts as nanny for. In the newly-released photo, Jane is seen in a low-cut black shirt and a white skirt with a high slit. The look was complete with laced up cage heels and brightly painted red nails. It looks like Teen Mom 2s Javi Marroquin has found love elsewhere. The 24-year-old reality TV star has moved on from his ex-wife, Kailyn Lowry, with a new woman, Madison Channing Walls. Madison, who is on Real World: Skeletons, has been posting several pictures on social media with her new man. New love: Teen Mom 2s Javi Marroquin has moved on from his ex-wife, Kailyn Lowry, with a new woman, Madison Channing Walls She also spoke to E! about their budding relationship: 'Javi and I are definitely together,' she told them. 'We are definitely boyfriend and girlfriend,' the reality TV star continued. She couldn't help but to continue to gush over her new beau: 'I love that he is a gentleman. And I like his core values and that he has morals and just what he stands for.' Her beau: Madison, who is on Real World: Skeletons, has been posting several pictures of her and hew new man Marroquin revealed that the duo had their first date in Philadelphia: 'We enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and then later I had my friends come out to meet her and we all went out and danced and drank and just had a really good time,' he told E! Despite being besotted with his new girlfriend, he said he's taking it slow with her: 'I haven't introduced [Madison] to [my son] Lincoln yet,' he said. 'I learned from my past mistakes where I introduced him way too early on in a relationship, so now I know better.' Moving on: Marroquin revealed that the duo had their first date in Philadelphia: 'We enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and then later I had my friends come out to meet her and we all went out and danced and drank and just had a really good time,' he told E! Madison, who is mom to 13-month-old daughter Harper with ex and former Real World: Skeletons costar Tony Raines, said that she direct-messaged Marroquin on Instagram. Apparently some fans had suggested that the two seemed to have a lot in common. Marroquin is also a single parent, as he shares three-year-old son Lincoln with Lowry. The pair ended their marriage in May 2016 after nearly four years. The family: Marroquin is also a single parent, as he shares three-year-old son Lincoln with Lowry. The pair ended their marriage in May 2016 after nearly four years They finalized their divorce in December. However it seems the pair are still on great terms: 'I'm happy for Kail. I wish her nothing but the best and health and wellness and all of that stuff, you know? 'I'm here for her. We actually are in a good place, and I just want health for her and the baby.' No bad blood here: However it seems the pair are still on great terms: 'I'm happy for Kail. I wish her nothing but the best and health and wellness and all of that stuff, you know?' Lowry is pregnant and expecting her third child with a partner who has yet to be revealed. However, it looks like we might be finding out who the mystery man is soon enough. A fan asked Lowry on Twitter: 'Do you think youll write a 3rd book that talks about the feelings you experienced to decide to have one more 'tiny human?'' The mother-of-two responded: 'I have already signed a contract for it!' The Twitter tiff between British TV presenter Cat Deeley and her waiter at LA eatery Tom George appears to have just got personal. In a sensational claim, Jospeh Vasko-Bezenek has accused the 40-year-old So You Think You Can Dance host of 'using her power to take down' his family. Speaking to Inside Edition, he said: 'This isnt fair. Shes using her power to take down my family. She grabbed the bill and she said she shouldnt have to pay for any of this [food].' Scroll down for video 'Shes using her power to take down my family!' Waiter who served Cat Deeley 'inedible' food at LA restaurant accuses presenter of sabotaging his private life with her vehement tweets Frightened for his life? Despite a direct Twitter exchange with the waiter-cum-aspiring actor/director in which Deeley insisted it wasn't a personal tirade against him, Vasko-Bezenek has now stoked the fire further by claiming the former SM:TV Live presenter is trying to sabotage his family Despite a direct Twitter exchange with the waiter-cum-aspiring actor/director in which Deeley insisted it wasn't a personal tirade against him, Vasko-Bezenek has now stoked the fire further by claiming the former SM:TV Live presenter is trying to sabotage his life. After launching into a multi-tweet rant online following her experience at the restaurant on Sunday, Vasko-Bezenek hit back, saying: 'Cat, as your server at Tom George I am hurt by your response to free food. I gave you respect, and I served you with love.' She replied: 'And as I respectfully told you, the catalogue of errors were not your fault. However the mistakes were repeatedly not correctly rectified.' This back-handed explanation prompted the young waiter to record a video and post it online, likening her angry and impulsive Twitter rants to those that Donald Trump does, and accusing her of 'acting like she's in grade school'. Not happy: The LA restaurant Cat Deeley, above, branded 'terrible' has hit back by claiming she 'did not like anything' and that her tweets shaming it were 'inappropriate' Tom George hit back by claiming the star simply 'did not like the food' - and insisted that her response was 'inappropriate'. On its Facebook page, the restaurant claimed it tried to 'ease her pain' by giving her free food, but said that even halving her bill did not work. The mother-of-one was so irate with the establishment, which has also has outlets in Budapest, Hungary, that she shared a slew of tweets alongside a screen grab of its listing and a picture from outside of the venue. She wrote: 'The worst featuring! Worst food! As for the manager?????? Moron!!!!!' Fury: TV presenter Deeley, right with her husband Patrick Kielty, 40, warned her fans to stay away from Italian restaurant Tom George after her 'disgusting' experience Defence: The restaurant wrote on its Facebook page that 'she didn't like the food' and that her tweets were 'inappropriate' Before adding: 'The most disgusting restaurant, terribly run, by a manager who can only be described as an amateur. Avoid at all costs. #tomgeorge.' The restaurant then waded into the row by writing on Facebook: 'We are listening to any feedback because we need to provide the best service what we could do. 'In this case we couldn't do anything. She didn't like the food so we comped all of the food items, then she tweeted a lot of inappropriate tweet although we tried to ease her "pain". 'But she's still very welcome in our restaurant again if she gives us any chance to prove her, the lot of good reviews are for a reason.' Shortly after this, Vasko-Bezenek revealed she did not tip him, even though the celeb's issue did not appear to be with his service. Hitting back: The waiter who served her attempted to defend himself online, revealing she didn't leave a tip despite the issue not being with his service and over half of their food bill being comped Disappointed: The Birmingham native unleashed a swirl of tweets about her disappointment with the eatery 'Just to be clear. Our order arrived at the table incorrectly FIVE times! Then one of my guests dishes was inedible. There was zero service.' MailOnline have contacted Cat Deeley's reps for comment. Aside from her online rant, she is currently in the midst of filming So You Think You Can Dance in L.A. for the show's 14th season auditions. Scorned: J Vasko-Bezenek, above, the waiter who served Deeley defended himself on Twitter and revealed that she did not tip him Ungrateful? In reply to Deeley's tweet which included a snap of the bill, Vasko-Bezenek wrote: 'Cat, as your server at TomGeorge I am hurt by your response to free food' New reports in the wake of Mel B's divorce filing from Stephen Belafonte suggest the Spice Girl will keep most of her 48m ($59million) fortune, thanks to a pre-nup. It's alleged that the 'hard-nosed business woman' made a wise and 'well-timed' choice to divorce the producer one month before their 10th anniversary in order to cut his spousal support short. The couple's Hollywood Hills West home has simultaneously gone up on the market, for 7.1 ($8.9million), and Mel was seen making a swift departure from LA on Thursday. Scroll down for video Keeping her cash? Mel B is reportedly set to retain most of her 48million fortune in the divorce proceedings, amid claims the former Spice Girl made film producer Stephen sign a prenup when they wed in 2007 Solicitor Harold Walker told The Sun Online that Stephen's cut may only come to 5m ($6.2million) while Mel - whose lucrative career has ranged from global pop icon to prime-time TV judge - will retain the rest. 'Mel is a canny Yorkshire lass,' a source revealed. 'And she was advised to protect her assets and estate before the wedding. 'This wasnt an act of preparing for the marriage to fail but was an act of a hard-nosed business woman who knew the pitfalls that can lie ahead in any relationship.' Leaving the drama behind: Mel was seen leaving Los Angeles on Thursday with her three children (from left) Phoenix, Angel and Madison To bolster the claims, divorce lawyer Goldie Schon told The Mirror on Friday that a divorce lasting less than 10 years would warrant half of the spousal support that he would no be granted thereafter. The papers reportedly state that they were married for 'nine years and 11 months'. Mother-of-three Mel - who raises daughters Phoenix, 18, Angel, nine, and Madison, five - boasts a plethora of number ones hits across the world and has enjoyed high profile TV gigs in the UK, America and Australia. Stephen's small figure could be argued if it can be proved that he has lost out on film producing work in order to support his wife over the course of their marriage. A source told The Sun Online : 'Mel is a canny Yorkshire lass and was advised to protect her assets and estate before the wedding' Pre-nup: It has been alleged that Stephen could be awarded around 5million if it can be proved that he has lost out on film producing work in order to support his wife over the course of their marriage MailOnline has contacted Mel's representatives for comment. At the heart of the money dispute is their huge four bedroom and 5.5 bathroom family home. According to LA Times, the luxury pad has been brought onto the market by Ann Dashiell of Douglas Elliman. The couple are said to make over 3.2m ($4million) profit on the 1928 house, after buying it for 3.4m ($4.34 million) in 2014. To minimise the impact of the proceedings on their children, Mel and Stephen reportedly took their three girls to a family therapy session on Wednesday. Sources told TMZ that Mel and Stephen drove separately to see psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy in Beverly Hills. The website also reports that the family's first therapy session was something of a 'breakthrough' as getting the couple together for counselling would have been 'out of the question' previously. The counselling session comes after Mel filed for divorce from Stephen in the wake of her father's death from cancer earlier this month. This is Mel's second divorce, having split with Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar in 2000. They have a daughter together, Phoenix Chi Gulzar, aged 18. Mel also has a child, Angel, nine, with movie star Eddie Murphy while Madison Belafonte was born on September 1 2011. Family bond: Mel and Stephen reportedly took their three children to a family therapy session on Wednesday in the wake of her divorce filing The 41-year-old star had long known her marriage was 'toxic' and the loss of her dad was the push she needed to formally end it, friends have claimed. She was photographed in public for the first time since filing her petition, citing 'irreconcilable differences,' as she ran errands in Beverly Hills on Tuesday. Sources claimed to the Daily Mirror that a series of 'blazing rows over her fortune' were behind her decision to call time on the 10-year marriage. An insider claimed to the newspaper: 'Money was at the centre of many rows but Martins passing provided a moment of complete clarity for Mel. 'For the first time in a decade, she decided to put blood before water.' 'It is no secret her family didnt like him and now she has reconnected with them, Mel is sorting out her life,' the insider added. The marriage had been dogged by allegations of infidelity and domestic violence. What went wrong? No further reason has been given for the split. Just six weeks ago, Mel posted a gushing Instagram showing her kissing her husband's cheek - and paid tribute to the strength of their union, despite a string of controversies Heartbreak: Mel had posted this touching photo along with a tribute to her dad to announce Martin Brown's passing from cancer two weeks ago. His death gave her 'a moment of clarity' And according to the Mirror's report Tuesday, the two had spent 'half their marriage in therapy.' Mel listed 'joint custody' in her divorce filing, opting to share responsibility of the couple's five-year-old daughter Madison. The star is being represented by top family law attorney Susan Wiesner in the divorce. Wiesner's previous clients have included included Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora in his divorce from actress Heather Locklear, musician Ben Harper in his divorce from Jurassic Park actress Laura Dern, Lara Embry in her divorce from Glee star Jane Lynch and actor Jon Cryer in his divorce with ex-wife, British actress Sarah Trigger. Just six weeks ago, Mel posted a gushing Instagram showing her kissing her husband's cheek - and paid tribute to the strength of their union, despite a string of controversies. She wrote: 'My baby boo @stephenthinks11 we have been through everything that would normally tear couples apart and we have come out on the other side stronger, you loved me before I even new how to really love myself, you are my world honey (sic). Candice Swanepoel was spotted out in the East Village of Manhattan on Thursday in a boho chic ensemble. The 28-year-old Victoria's Secret model had pulled herself into a pair of dark jeans that looked painted onto her chiseled legs. She'd popped on a black hat with a drooping brim, as well as a jacket with black and red geometric patterns spreading across a sand-colored field. City girl! Candice Swanepoel was spotted out and about in the East Village of Manhattan on Thursday in a boho chic ensemble The camel-colored turtlenecked sweater she chose for her day out draped about her svelte torso, and a light brown belt cinched about her enviably trim waistline. Mahogany leather boots completed the outfit, and she accessorized with black-rimmed sunglasses from Sunday Somewhere, letting her blonde hair fly free. Candice has been married to Brazilian-born model Hermann Nicoli since 2005, having met him in Paris when she was all of 17 years old. Showing what she's got: The 28-year-old Victoria's Secret model had pulled herself into a pair of dark jeans that looked painted onto her chiseled legs They've now got a one-year-old son called Anaca, whom Candice was spotted nursing during a Vogue Brazil photo-shoot in Rio De Janeiro earlier this month. She'd slid on a black cocktail dress with massive white fabric roses at each shoulder and a small slit at the hem, which itself was cut off around mid-thigh. Candice has reflected on breastfeeding in the lengthy caption of a close-up Instagram photo she posted in December of herself nursing Anaca. 'Many women today are shamed for breastfeeding in public, or even kicked out of public places for feeding their children,' she wrote Accessorizing: She'd popped on a black hat with a drooping brim, as well as a jacket with black and red geometric patterns spreading across a sand-colored field 'I have been made to feel the need to cover up and somewhat shy to feed my baby in public places but strangely feel nothing for the topless editorials I've done in the name of art..?' the model pointed out. 'The world has been desensitized to the sexualization of the breast and to violence on tv...why should it be different when it comes to breastfeeding?' Noting: 'Breastfeeding is not sexual it's natural-,' she insisted: 'Those who feel it is wrong to feed your child in public need to get educated on the benefits breastfeeding has on mother and child and intern on society as a whole.' Multitasking: She and her husband Hermann Nicoli have a one-year-old son called Anaca, whom she was spotted nursing during a Vogue Brazil photo-shoot in Rio De Janeiro this month A top Hollywood executive has alleged the famed star felt persecuted because of his religion. Tom Cruise felt unable to practice Scientology openly and was worried about the world's perception of his faith, he drives around in bulletproof cars, a report has said. Former Paramount vice-chairman, John Goldwyn, told Page Six on Wednesday of how the 54-year-old actor 'rabidly' came to the deference of his religion during the studio boss' divorce. Felt persecuted: Tom Cruise (pictured October) felt unable to practice Scientology openly and was worried about the world's perception of his faith, he drives around in bulletproof cars, a report has said The revelation surfaced after a yet-to-be released book, Leading Lady, which profiles former Paramount Pictures CEO Sherry Lansing, recalled how the executive had to intervene following a clash between the Jack Reacher star and Goldwyn in 2003. Author Stephen Galloway writes in the book: 'Only once did Cruise's beliefs affect his professional relationships: during a confrontation with Goldwyn.' Goldwyn was in the middle of divorcing his Scientologist wife Colleen Camp and had mentioned the religion in legal papers as they fought over the custody of their daughter. Camp handed over the pages to Tom and other Scientology leaders, Page Six reports, and in the papers Goldwyn suggested that Scientology was 'being applied to alienate the affection' of his child. Defended his beliefs: Former Paramount vice-chairman, John Goldwyn (pictured with husband Jeff Klein) on Wednesday said how the 54-year-old actor 'rabidly' came to the deference of his religion during the studio boss' divorce Brought to light: The revelation surfaced after a yet-to-be released book, Leading Lady, which profiles former Paramount CEO Sherry Lansing (pictured here last month) recalled how the executive had to intervene following clash between Jack Reacher star and Goldwyn in 2003 Speaking to Page Six, Goldwyn candidly said: 'Tom got very upset because he thought I was launching a campaign against Scientology, and he felt I was persecuting him for his religion. Battle: Goldwyn was in the middle of divorcing his Scientologist wife Colleen Camp (pictured 1994) and had mentioned the religion in legal papers as they fought over the custody of their daughter 'Tom was rabid about it and said, ''It's because of people like you that I have to ride in a bulletproof car and why I cannot practice my faith openly.''' It is then that Lansing stepped in: 'Sherry was amazing as an executive and a friend. 'She stepped in and saved the situation by saying, ''I've known John for years, and he isn't a bigot. This is about his daughter.'' 'Tom immediately calmed down.' After Goldwyn spoke to the actor about his religion, Tom not only calmed down - he reportedly ensured a Hollywood ending. After asking Goldwyn about what settlement he was will to reach with his wife, The Mission Impossible star asked for 24 hours, the Hollywood exec said. 'Within 24 hours we were done. Tom Cruise was responsible for bringing my divorce to a close. It is a great Hollywood story,' Goldwyn told Page Six. The exec producer of scripted programming for Discovery said he and Tom remain friends and he is also now on great terms with his ex-wife. During his divorce Goldwyn came out as gay and has since found love again with Sunset Tower Hotel owner Jeff Klein. Upset: The exec said, ''Tom was rabid about it and said, ''It's because of people like you that I have to ride in a bulletproof car and why I cannot practice my faith openly''' She's struggled with body image in the past. But Selena Gomez looked the epitome of sophisticated confidence as she shot scenes for a PSA at a school in Los Angeles on Thursday. The 24-year-old star opted for a green and red jacket with roses emblazoned throughout, which she paired with high-rise tight skinny jeans and a basic white tank top. As pretty as a rose: Selena Gomez looked the epitome of sophisticated confidence in a rose patterned jacket as she shot scenes for a PSA in Los Angeles on Thursday The jeans came down to her ankles, which allowed her to show off her strappy black sky-high stiletto sandals. Selena kept her face clean and clear with very little makeup to highlight her naturally gorgeous complexion. ` The Can't Keep My Hands To Myself songstress finished off her natural look with a light layer of pale lipstick. She wore her shoulder-length bob in loose beach waves and parted down the center around her face. Natural beauty! Selena kept her face clean and clear with very little makeup to highlight her naturally gorgeous complexion Flower power! The 24-year-old star opted for a green and red jacket with roses emblazoned throughout, which she paired with high-rise tight skinny jeans and a basic white tank top Selena was headed to do a special visit to an LA school, where she was due to give a talk. While the school knew Coachs CEO was coming to do a talk, the students were taken by surprise when celebrity ambassador Selena arrived. The trip was organised by the charity Step up which is supported by the Coach foundation. Charity work: Selena was headed to do a special visit to an LA school, where she was due to give a talk Excited: While the school knew Coachs CEO was coming to do a talk, the students were taken by surprise when celebrity ambassador Selena arrived Giving back: The trip was organised by the charity Step up which is supported by the Coach foundation Selena looked confident as she walked on set, but the former Disney star has suffered from body confidence issues in the past. In a new interview, the 24-year-old star reveals that attacks from trolls force her to delete her Instagram app 'at least once a week' from her phone. 'You fixate on the [negative] ones,' she told The New York Times. 'Theyre not like, "Youre ugly." Its like they want to cut to your soul. Imagine all the insecurities that you already feel about yourself and having someone write a paragraph pointing out every little thing - even if its just physical.' Looking good: Selena looked confident as she walked on set, but the former Disney star has suffered from body confidence issues in the past The star landed her big break on the Disney Channel's Wizards Of Waverly Place as a teen and, years on from the show, feels she's struggled to secure more gritty and mature film roles. Earlier in the day, Selena's makeup artist Hugh Vanngo posted Selena's hilarious reaction to a joke about her love for Canadian men, referring to Justin Bieber and The Weend, who are both Canadian. The pair were giving a shoutout to Canada in the video, when Vanngo quipped: 'You know Selena loves Canadians.' Selena replied: 'All right, all right,' before quickly shutting off the video. The hilarious moment went down on Vanngo's Instagram story on Wednesday. Fun and games: Earlier in the day, Selena's makeup artist Hugh Vanngo posted Selena's hilarious reaction to a joke about her love for Canadian men The brunette's comments about Internet trolls are not the first time she's discussed her problems with social media, revealing an 'addiction' to Instagram. The star explained her infatuation with the photo-sharing website caused her to feel 'like s**t' - even though she has 114 million followers. 'I was an addict, and it felt like I was seeing things I didn't want to see, like it was putting things in my head that I didn't want to care about. 'I always end up feeling like s**t when I look at Instagram. Which is why I'm kind of under the radar, ghosting it a bit.' The pair were giving a shoutout to Canada in the video, when Vanngo quipped: 'You know Selena loves Canadians.' . . . "If I declare martial law, I will finish all the problems, not just drugs," Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seen March 13, 2017, told reporters in a pre-dawn briefing after returning from neighbouring Thailand, which is under military rule Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned Thursday he may impose martial law and suspend elections for tens of thousands of local posts, fuelling concerns about democracy under his rule. Duterte said he was considering both measures as part of his controversial campaign to eradicate illegal drugs in society, and that martial law would solve a range of other security threats. "If I declare martial law, I will finish all the problems, not just drugs," Duterte told reporters in a pre-dawn briefing after returning from neighbouring Thailand, which is under military rule. Duterte said that, as part of martial law, he may create military courts to hear cases against terrorists. "I will allow the military to try you and put you to death by hanging," he said, referring to Islamic militants in the south of the country. Since easily winning presidential elections last year and taking office nine months ago, Duterte has given conflicting statements on whether he intended to impose military rule. The issue is highly sensitive in the Philippines, which is still trying to build a strong democracy three decades after a famous "People Power" revolution ended Ferdinand Marcos's dictatorship. Duterte has previously warned he would be prepared to defy constitutional safeguards and restrictions on martial law, although he and his aides have later sought to downplay those threats. On Thursday he gave an emphatic case for martial law, saying it would stop the Philippines from "exploding". "I will be harsh," Duterte said as he described his approach to military rule. - 'Narco-politics' - Duterte also said he was planning to appoint leaders of more than 42,000 districts, known as barangays, across the nation instead of having them elected in polls that were scheduled for October. "We are looking for a way to just appoint the barangay captains," Duterte said, adding this was necessary because 40 percent of them were involved in drug trafficking. "Narco-politics has entered the mainstream of Philippine politics." The elections, which by law should be held every three years, are important to the Philippines' democracy because the barangays are the smallest government unit responsible for a wide range of local services. Barangay officials also help to monitor communities for illegal drugs and draw up the lists of traffickers or addicts. Police use those lists for raids that frequently lead to suspects being killed. Duterte won the presidential elections after promising during the campaign to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of criminals. Police have reported killing nearly 2,600 people in his drug war while rights groups say thousands more have been killed in a state-sanctioned campaign of mass murder. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have warned Duterte may be guilty of a crime against humanity. Local opponents have said they are planning to file a case against Duterte with the International Criminal Court, and a lawmaker last week filed an impeachment complaint against him in Congress. - 'Mind-conditioning' - Duterte is extremely popular with many Filipinos fed up with crime and he has a commanding majority in Congress, meaning the impeachment case is unlikely to prosper. One of his fiercest critics, Senator Antonio Trillanes, said Duterte's latest comments on martial law plus the barangay elections were part of a campaign to get the public used to the idea of military rule. "It's some form of trial balloon and at the same time mind-conditioning. He will keep on pushing the boundaries until he feels he is able to get it (martial law) through," Trillanes told AFP. Duterte's critics have said he is undermining democracy on a wide range of other fronts, including sidelining the justice system in the drug war. But Duterte, 71, has repeatedly said he does not want to hold on to power and that he respects democracy. The constitution, written after the fall of Marcos, limits presidents to a single term of six years. Amnesty International says civilians are paying the price for US and British arms transfers to Saudi Arabia to use in its war in Yemen Amnesty International on Thursday condemned the United States and Britain for transferring arms to Saudi Arabia to use in its war in Yemen. The rights group said the two countries had together sent more than five billion dollars (4.6 billion euros) worth of arms to Riyadh since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015. That was more than 10 times their humanitarian aid to Yemen during the same period, it said. The London-based watchdog described the alleged arms transfers as a "shameful contradiction" of aid efforts by the United States and Britain. "These governments have continued to authorise such arms transfers at the same time as providing aid to alleviate the very crisis they have helped to create," said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty's deputy director of research for the Middle East and North Africa. "Yemeni civilians continue to pay the price of these brazenly hypocritical arms supplies." In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies launched an air campaign to support Yemen's president against Shiite Huthi rebels who had seized control of northern Yemen and the capital Sanaa. More than 7,700 civilians have since been killed and a further 40,000 wounded, according to the United Nations. Seven million Yemenis now face starvation, it says. The United States has become increasingly involved in the conflict since Donald Trump took office in January. The Pentagon says it has carried out 40 air raids this month against Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The Saudi-led Arab coalition has come under repeated criticism over civilian casualties in Yemen. Earlier this month, Amnesty accused the Saudi-led coalition of using banned cluster munitions in raids on residential areas. Amnesty said the bombs, made in Brazil, had been used in multiple attacks since October 2015, most recently last month in the Huthi-controlled northern Saada region. In December the coalition admitted it had made "limited use" of British-made cluster bombs. It maintains it does not deliberately target civilians. In 2002, the death of John Gotti, head of the Gambino crime family known for his lavish taste and brutality, appeared to mark the end of the mafia era on the US east coast The namesake grandson of New York mobster John Gotti was arrested Wednesday and charged with violent crimes, including a bank holdup, acting US Attorney Bridget Rohde said. John Gotti, 23, allegedly took part in a holdup in April 2012 of the Maspeth Federal Savings and Loan Association, in the New York borough of Queens, according to Rohde and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. While Gotti waited outside the bank with another accomplice, the third member of the team demanded the teller hand over the money in a note stating "I have a bomb," but was given only $5,491, the officials said in a Justice Department statement. Two days earlier, Gotti, with two accomplices, allegedly had set fire to a vehicle at the request of Vincent Asaro, a well-known member of the Bonanno organized crime family retaliating against a driver who had cut him off in traffic. Gotti was arraigned Wednesday before a federal judge in Brooklyn on the charges, notably for arson and theft. The judge ordered his detention. Six other people were indicted and arrested in the mafia crackdown. Among them was Asaro, 82, who was acquitted in 2015 for his alleged participation in the notorious Lufthansa robbery in 1978 at Kennedy Airport. The crackdown, led by the acting US attorney general Rohde and the FBI, showed that members of the big New York mafia clans continue to use their traditional methods of intimidation and violence to make money. "The defendants are charged with committing an assortment of violent crimes -- arson to exact punishment for a perceived slight and robberies to unjustly enrich themselves. This Office and its partners will continue to vigilantly pursue such organized violence and stop it in its tracks," Rohde said. In 2002, the death of John Gotti, head of the Gambino crime family known for his lavish taste and brutality, appeared to mark the end of the mafia era on the US east coast. But in early August 2016, about 40 members of mafia crime families were indicted on charges that included racketeering and illegal gambling. No date for their trial has been scheduled yet. Workers check the hull of the Sewol ferry between two the barges that hauled it to the surface, nearly three years after it sank with the loss over 304 lives South Koreas sunken Sewol ferry emerged from the waters Thursday, nearly three years after it went down with the loss of more than 300 lives and dealt a crushing blow to now-ousted president Park Geun-Hye. Television pictures showed one side of the 145-metre-long vessel, its white structure rusted and filthy, above the waves between two giant salvage barges. The complex operation -- one of the largest raisings of an entire ship ever attempted -- comes as the third anniversary approaches of one of the country's worst-ever maritime disasters. Almost all the dead were schoolchildren and it is thought that nine bodies still unaccounted for may be trapped inside the sunken ship. Raising the ferry intact has been a key demand of the families of the victims. Several relatives watched the much-anticipated operation unfolding from a boat near the site. "To see the Sewol again, I can't describe how I'm feeling right now," said Huh Hong-Hwan, whose 16-year-old daughter was killed in the accident. Her body has not been found. Huh and his wife have for years maintained a bitter, defiant vigil in Jindo along with a handful of other relatives of missing victims. "It took so long," Huh said. Another parent, Lee Keun-Hui, tearfully called for public support and prayers to help move the ship onshore intact and a full inquiry into the sinking "so a tragedy like this would never ever happen again". "It breaks my heart to see the ship coming up," she said. "My daughter has been trapped in such a dirty, dark place for all these years." Other bereaved family members have kept watch at a camp on a hilltop on Donggeochado -- the nearest island to the site, just 1.5 kilometres (a mile) away. About 450 workers are involved in the painstaking efforts to lift the ship, which has a displacement of 6,825 tonnes but is now estimated to weigh between 8,000-8,500 tonnes including the silt piled up inside. Dozens of salvage operators walked over the hull after it came to the surface, television pictures showed. By late evening, the top of the wreck was 10 metres above the waterline, Seoul's maritime ministry said in a briefing. The salvage operators were cutting off the ramp of the Sewol which was open and hampering the operation, the ministry said, ending the government's goal of lifting the wreck in one piece. Once it is raised to 13 metres, the ferry will be moved onto a semi-submersible ship, which will carry it to the port of Mokpo. The complex operation to bring the Sewol to the surface is one of the largest raisings of an entire ship ever attempted "We believe that it will take about 12 to 13 days to lift the ship and move it to Mokpo," said Lee Cheol-Jo, the ministry official in charge of the operation. The vessel was lying more than 40 metres (130 feet) below the waves off southwestern South Korea and the operation, originally scheduled for last year, had been pushed back several times because of adverse weather. - Protest site - The Sewol sinking left the country deeply traumatised, and a steady stream of citizens made their way Thursday to a memorial altar on Jindo to pay their respects to the ferry victims, bowing and placing white chrysanthemums before a wall of photos of the young victims. "It's very sad," said Kim Joong-Pyo, his voice cracking with emotion."I hope they find all the children." The disaster was a crippling blow to the now-ousted leader Park Geun-Hye, whose dismissal over a corruption scandal was confirmed by Seoul's top court only two weeks ago. She stayed at her residence for the first few critical hours after the disaster while officials were frantically sending updates and asking for guidance. Relatives watched the final stages of the complex operation to bring the 6,825-tonne vessel to the surface. Nine bodies have still not been found. She has never specified what she was doing for the seven hours, sparking wild rumours including a tryst and cosmetic surgery. A permanent Sewol protest site targeting her was subsequently set up in the centre of Seoul, with effigies of the head of state on display alongside pictures of the dead schoolchildren. Investigations into the disaster, in which 304 people died, concluded it was largely man-made -- the cumulative result of an illegal redesign, an overloaded cargo bay, inexperienced crew and a questionable relationship between the ship operators and state regulators. Even though the vessel took around three hours to sink, many of those on board never heard any evacuation order, while the crew were among the first to escape to safety. Captain Lee Jun-Seok was sentenced to life in prison for "murder through wilful negligence" and 14 other crew members were given terms ranging from two to 12 years. Tribesman from the Popular Resistance Committees, supporting forces loyal to Yemen's Saudi-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, in the city of Taez Deadly fighting, a rise in jihadism, the threat of famine -- two years after Saudi Arabia intervened against Iran-backed rebels, Yemen is more unstable than ever. The chaos has also seen fighting erupt in vital Red Sea shipping lanes, and Riyadh's ally the United States stepping up its involvement. The war has become "a quagmire", Peter Salisbury, a research fellow at London's Chatham House, said ahead of the March 26 anniversary of the intervention of the Saudi-led coalition. Yemen itself has fractured to the point where its future "as a functioning unitary state" is hard to imagine, he said. Financed and equipped by the coalition, various factions are aligned with Yemen's internationally recognised government against the Huthi rebels and their allies. But analysts warn of tensions among the anti-rebel forces that will likely lead to internal conflict even if the civil war ends, which is unlikely any time soon. "The entire country continues to fall apart at the seams" while Yemen's elites look out for their own interests, said Adam Baron, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Conflict in Yemen Along with a severe humanitarian crisis, government institutions and overall security have collapsed, leaving ordinary Yemenis the greatest victims, Baron said. "And unfortunately there's no sign that there is a light at the end of the tunnel." The United Nations warned this month that Yemen represents "the largest humanitarian crisis in the world." The conflict has killed nearly 7,700 people, more than half of them civilians, and wounded more 42,500 others, while it has displaced three million people. Seven ceasefires alongside peace efforts by the UN and former US secretary of state John Kerry failed to stop the fighting. The Yemen focus of new US President Donald Trump has so far been on a major escalation of attacks against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Trump's administration may also see Yemen as a chance to show its resolve against Iran, wrote Joost Hiltermann and April Longley Alley of the International Crisis Group. Yemenis protest against a Saudi-led coalition which supports various factions aligned with Yemen's internationally recognised government against Huthi rebels Both Washington and Riyadh accuse Tehran of stoking regional unrest, including by arming the Huthis, although Hiltermann and Alley say there has been "very little hard evidence" of such support. To send a message to Tehran, Washington may seek to increase backing for the Saudi-led coalition but that could prove to be a serious mistake, the two analysts wrote in the journal Foreign Policy last month. "If Trump rushes headfirst into the Yemeni war, there is a very real risk that the conflict will spiral out of control," they said. Washington already supplies the coalition with weapons, aerial refuelling and intelligence. The US military in October suspected Iran played a role in firing missiles towards its warships in the Red Sea, forcing the US Navy to strike back against rebel radar sites. Trump's administration has accused Shiite-dominated Iran of being the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism, a view closely aligned with that of Riyadh's Sunni rulers. - 'A domino effect' - Supporters of Yemen's Shiite Huthi rebels rally in Sanaa With Iranian influence to Saudi Arabia's north in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Gulf monarchies are acting in self-defence against "strategic Iranian planning to surround the Arabian Peninsula," said Mustafa Alani, a senior adviser to the Gulf Research Centre. "It's a war of necessity," he said. Rebel missiles are still fired into Saudi Arabia, and short-range rockets are killing people on the kingdom's southern border despite two years of air strikes. Rights groups have repeatedly criticised the coalition bombing campaign in Yemen for causing civilian casualties. Not only have Saudi actions turned a large proportion of Yemenis against the kingdom, perceptions of Saudi military capability "have been considerably diminished," Salisbury says. But Yemenis, led by Emirati soldiers, have made progress along the Red Sea coast with the aim of seizing the main rebel-controlled port of Hodeida, Alani said. This would in turn threaten the rebel hold on Taez city and the capital Sanaa. "We're expecting a domino effect," with Sanaa under pressure in about six months if progress continues, he said. The aim is not necessarily a military victory but to make the rebels realise they might lose, forcing them back to negotiations where they will make concessions. Other analysts are sceptical of this strategy. "These sort of actions... haven't really done much to hurt the Huthis" but add to civilian suffering, Baron said. Some analysts say the Saudi defence minister, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, must be seen to win in Yemen to protect his leadership future. But Alani said Prince Mohammed has taken a lower profile on Yemen over the past year. "It's become a state war, not a personal war." Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, on the other hand, remains prominent even though analysts dismiss him as unpopular and ineffective. "He's not able to understand that he's not the right man to lead this sort of crisis," Alani said But with Hadi's "legitimacy" enshrined in a UN Security Council resolution, it would be difficult for the coalition to abandon him "without undermining the entire rationale for entering the war," Baron said. Two Malaysian seamen, held for eight months by Muslim extremists, are transported by the Philippine military after they were found in a boat adrift off the southern Philippines following their release Two ailing Malaysian seamen held hostage by Filipino Muslim militants for eight months were found Thursday aboard a boat adrift off the southern Philippines, the local military said. Tayudin Anjut, 45, and Abdurahim bin Sumas, 62, were abandoned by the Abu Sayyaf gunmen before dawn near their coastal forest hideout on the remote island of Pata, a military statement said. "The... kidnap victims are weak and in a sickly state," regional military commander Major-General Carlito Galvez said in the statement. They were receiving treatment at a military hospital in the area for ailments that Galvez did not specify. He said a Philippine Navy patrol boat found the pair, eight months after they were abducted along with three other crewmen of a tugboat that was boarded by gunmen near the sea border between the two countries. Their recovery followed a Philippine military operation against the kidnappers on a nearby island early last month that left eight gunmen dead, Galvez said. The Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the worst terror attacks in Philippine history, have been kidnapping people for ransom for decades. In recent months they have taken to seizing sailors from vessels plying the waters between the southern Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Maritime security officials have warned that the region is in danger of a "Somalia-type" situation unless action is taken. The International Maritime Bureau said in January the number of maritime kidnappings hit a 10-year high in 2016, with waters off the southern Philippines becoming increasingly dangerous. The Abu Sayyaf, established with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network in the 1990s, are believed to still be holding 23 foreigners and six Filipinos, military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla told AFP. They include Malaysian, Indonesian and Vietnamese captives as well as a Dutch bird watcher abducted in 2012, he added. Last month the group, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State movement, beheaded an elderly German yachtsman abducted last year after failing to extort ransom for him. Salvage experts are working around the clock to lift the sunken Sewol ferry off the coast of South Korea, in a complex operation expected to cost around $90 million South Korea's sunken Sewol ferry emerged from the waters on Thursday, nearly three years after it sank with the loss of more than 300 lives in one of the country's worst maritime disasters. The painstaking job of lifting the 6,825-tonne ship lying on its side 44 metres (145 feet) below the surface has been described as a battle between man and nature. The sea off the southwestern island of Jindo is known for its strong currents, which have been blamed for dozens of accidents and the deaths of two divers involved in the search and rescue on the Sewol. Unfavourable conditions also played a role in a series of delays in the salvage operations, with an original deadline of July 2016 pushed back until now. - 'Lifting beams' - The process began last year with divers installing a total of 33 "lifting beams" underneath the wreck -- often by digging through the seabed below the ferry. The lifting beams were then linked on both ends by 66 steel cables to two giant barges floating on either side of the vessel, which since Wednesday have pulled up the cables in tandem. The process is slow, not just because of the weight of the ship -- estimated to have gone up to 8,500 tonnes with the silt piled up inside -- but due to constant monitoring and adjustments needed to keep it level. - Semi-submersible - Once the top of the wreck is 13 metres above the waves, a semi-submersible waiting nearby will be positioned underneath to raise it the rest of the way, before the water and fuel are drained out of the ship. Then the submersible will sail to Mokpo -- a major port about 87 kilometres (54 miles) away. - Search for victims - The recovery of the hull is the prelude to the long, arduous job of searching the giant ferry for the bodies of nine victims still unaccounted for. Because of their possible presence in the ferry, raising it intact -- rather than cutting it into pieces -- has been a key demand of the victims' families. Much of the interior of the ship -- which would be 22 metres wide if upright -- have corroded after years in the water, adding to the difficulties. - $90 million - More than 400 people were working around the clock on the operation. Seoul expects to spend a total of 102 billion won ($90 million) on the overall salvage. The six-year conflict has killed more than 320,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 UN-backed Syria peace talks resumed in Geneva on Thursday, with little hope of a breakthrough and the emboldened regime seen as unlikely to make concessions. UN deputy special envoy Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy met separately with government negotiators and the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) at hotels in the Swiss city. "We have started today preliminary talks," Ramzy told reporters after his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's representatives. "We hope we will be starting substantive discussions tomorrow." Ramzy's boss, UN mediator Staffan de Mistura, was wrapping up a diplomatic tour of the key powers shaping the conflict, which included trips to Moscow, Riyadh and Ankara. De Mistura is due back in Geneva on Thursday evening to take charge of the negotiations which have yielded little in four previous rounds. A stalemate persists over most of the toughest issues, notably Assad's fate, with the opposition insisting he quit power and the government declaring the president's future off limits for discussion. HNC delegation chief Nasr al-Hariri told reporters after meeting Ramzy that his camp was in Geneva to "guarantee the departure of Bashar al-Assad and his clique". The UN is aiming for a political deal to end a six-year conflict that has killed more than 320,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with protests against Assad's regime. On the agenda for this round is governance -- a political transition, the constitution and elections -- as well as counter-terrorism at the request of Damascus. De Mistura tried to strike an optimistic note when the previous round ended last month, insisting that "everything is ready" for the talks to move forward while reiterating his view that there is no military solution to Syria's devastating civil war. - 'Waste of time'? - But analysts disagree with the UN envoy, putting the chances of compromise at an all-time low, due in part the regime's increasingly strong position on the ground. UN deputy Syria envoy Ramzi Ezzedine Ramzi is hoping "substantive discussions" will begin on Friday "My assessment is that there will not be a formal political settlement at all," Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at Carnegie Middle East Center, told AFP. "Regime advances make this almost a certainty," he added. Since Russia's military intervention in support of Assad in 2015, the regime has gained the upper hand, retaking the former rebel bastion of Aleppo late last year. For Syria specialist Thomas Pierret, as "the regime continues to gain ground ... there's no reason for it to make the slightest concession." But HNC spokesman Salem al-Meslet told journalists late Wednesday that he hoped this round would "see real talks, not only a waste of time." - Fresh fighting - An already-fragile ceasefire has deteriorated further in recent days after rebels and allied jihadists launched two surprise offensives on government positions in Damascus and central Hama province. Assad's air force has responded with raids on rebel targets. The pro-government Al Watan newspaper quoted an unnamed government negotiator as saying that the Damascus and Hama violence "make it clear and without any doubt that these groups and the countries who operate them want to... undermine any chance of finding a solution." Hariri described the escalation of violence around Damascus as "self-defence." So far, there is no plan for the government and rebels to meet face-to-face. De Mistura has said he wants to unify the HNC with two smaller opposition camps -- known as the Moscow and Cairo platforms -- before presenting the government with a single rebel delegation. Ramzy was scheduled to meet the Moscow and Cairo groups later Thursday, but uniting them with the HNC could be tough due to disagreements over core issues, including Assad's future. "We still insist on direct negotiations", Meslet told reporters. Military stand guard at Maximiliano Sagastume school on March 17, 2017 The clatter of bullets piercing the school's roof sent pupils running for safety. Four of them and their teacher were wounded. The February 27 attack on the Maximiliano Sagastume school in a northern district of Tegucigalpa was just one violent episode in a turf war between heavily armed gangs in Honduras. Such occurrences are so common, they are subsumed quickly into the country's news cycle and barely register outside its borders. For the pupils, it meant no classes for eight days as police set up a perimeter to protect them from the local criminal outfit, part of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, or MS-13. Such protection is also afforded to other schools and colleges in the capital, stretching police and army forces that seem unable to counter the reach of the feared gangs. A shoot-out in February between members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the "Combo que no se Deja" gangs left one teacher and four students injured at the school in Sagastume MS-13 and its chief rival, Barrio 18, and other smaller outfits assert control over different neighborhoods, preventing residents from freely moving between them and frequently clashing in exchanges of gunfire. The phenomenon is the same across the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America comprising Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala -- a region plagued by poverty and vicious violence where gangs dealing in drugs and weapons have supplanted the rule of law. - Mutilated girls - A spokesman for a combined national security force in Honduras known as Fusina, Lieutenant Colonel Mario Rivera, told AFP that hundreds of personnel were involved in securing schools in Tegucigalpa and in other Honduran towns. A teacher at one school with 300 pupils said on condition he not be identified that some of the students were gang members, and their threats against classmates or teachers often meant that police protection had to be brought in. Thousands of members of various gangs control neighborhoods in the main cities of Honduras, where they frequently exchange fire in turf wars for territory in the drug and weapons trades In the case of Maximiliano Sagastume school, although the four pupils and the female teacher were slightly wounded and the police perimeter was set up, many parents subsequently transferred their children to other schools. The families' sense of panic was heightened because 14-year-old twin girls were abducted after the shooting and their mutilated bodies were found days later. "Here people sleep with one eye open," said one policeman standing guard. He was part of a deployment posted near the school. Police patrols on motorbikes and squad cars frequently nosed around the neighborhood, called Sagastume I. "If we need to, we can call in reinforcements," the officer said, indicating the radio attached to his leather belt. - 'Like a war zone' - The school, located on a hillside, also features metal bars and a three-meter (10-foot) high wall topped with barbed wire. To the north of it, separated by a stony hill with no houses, is El Picachito, a district claimed by the Combo gang. Just south of the school is an area lorded over by MS-13. The school and the surrounding concrete homes sit in a sort of no-man's land often fought over by the two gangs. "We're in the middle of the firefights. At night, it's like a war zone," said Napoleon Zuniga, a 70-year-old owner of a small shop in Sagastume I. "Over there the Combos shoot, and then down there it's the MS," he said. Maximiliano Sagastume school and the surrounding concrete homes sit in a sort of no-man's land often fought over by two armed gangs in Honduras A police officer said the February 27 shooting appeared to come from Combo gang members "to cause fear among residents and the opposing gang." He added: "All they want to do is take control of the zone to be able to sell drugs and extort the businesses." Nationwide in Honduras, police estimate MS-13 and Barrio 18 together have about 25,000 active members. But there are no hard figures. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, for instance, puts the combined number at 12,000. Nevertheless, the effect of the gangs on the homicide rate is clear. Honduras's rate of murders is nearly 10 times the global average, according to the World Health Organization. ZTE has pleaded guilty to conspiring to unlawfully export, obstruction of justice and making a false statement Chinese telecom giant ZTE has pleaded guilty in a US court to violating US export controls by selling goods to Iran and North Korea over several years. The move is the final step in the case's resolution which the US government announced March 7 in which it slapped $1.2 billion in fines on the company, the largest criminal penalty in US history in an export control case, although there have been larger fines involving financial firms. ZTE pleaded guilty to conspiring to unlawfully export, obstruction of justice and making a false statement, the US Justice Department said Wednesday. The company will immediately pay $892 million, while another $300 million in penalties are suspended for seven years. From January 2010 to March 2016, the company shipped $32 million in US cellular network equipment to Iran, and made 283 shipments of cell phones to North Korea, with the full knowledge of the highest levels of company management, officials said. ZTE used third-party companies to hide the export of US components to the sanctioned countries, and then hid the information by "sanitizing databases" with information on the sales; deleting of emails of those employees involved in the scrubbing of records; and requiring employees with information about the illegal exports to sign non-disclosure agreements. The five-year US government investigation into ZTE's actions violating restrictions on exports to sanctioned countries was first revealed in March 2016. Export privileges for ZTE -- China's largest publicly traded telecom company, and the fourth largest in the world -- are subject to denial for seven years if any aspect of this deal is not met. CARSON CITY Nevada Arts Council Executive Director Susan Boskoff will be honored with the Nevada Arts & Humanities Award for Public Service during the 2017 Nevada Humanities Awards Ceremony on March 30 at the Governors Mansion in Carson City. Boskoff leaves the agency on March 31 after 24 years at the helm of the Nevada Arts Council, a division of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. During her tenure, Boskoff increased the agencys capacity to support Nevadas cultural workforce, and expand access to and public participation in the arts and arts education for residents of all ages and abilities across the state. Under Boskoffs leadership, a majority of the Arts Councils core programs were launched, including Poetry Out Loud, Nevada Touring Initiative, Nevada Circuit Riders, Office Exhibition Series, Nevada Heritage Award, and an annual conference, presently called Arts @ the Heart. She established the Las Vegas office, illuminated the impact of the arts in educational and economic policy development, redesigned the grants program, and initiated biannual Arts Town Meetings to explore the state of the arts in Nevadas metropolitan centers and rural towns. I am deeply honored to receive this recognition and award, Boskoff said. I share it with an arts industry that contributes significantly to the quality of place and experience for all Nevadans. Also being honored are UNR teachers Cheryll Glotfelty and Gailmarie Pahmeier; Patrick Gaffney, an arts and culture administrator and journalist based in Las Vegas; Marilyn Melton, a lifelong community advocate in Reno; photographer Linda Dufurrena of Denio and writer and philanthropist Steven Nightingale of Reno. France has troops stationed in Chad under Operation Barkhane, which was launched in 2014 to try flush out Al-Qaeda-linked extremists from the region A French civilian has been abducted in the central African nation of Chad, French authorities said on Thursday. The kidnapping took place near the eastern city of Abeche, a military source told reporters in Paris, saying "all means have been mobilised" to secure their release. The French foreign ministry confirmed the abduction, without giving details. Several French and other Western nationals have been kidnapped by jihadist groups in west and central Africa in recent years. The only known French hostage currently being held anywhere in the world is Sophie Petronin, head of a NGO who was abducted by armed men in the northern Malian town of Gao late last year. No group has claimed responsibility for her disappearance. The last such case in Chad -- a former French colony -- dates back to 2009, when a Frenchman working for the Red Cross was abducted by a group from the the war-torn Darfur province in neighbouring Sudan. He was freed after 89 days. France has troops stationed in Chad under Operation Barkhane, which was launched in 2014 to try flush out Al-Qaeda-linked extremists from the region. A year earlier, French forces intervened in Mali to help local forces win back control of the country's north from Al-Qaeda-linked extremists. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte reaffirms earlier pronouncements he would not go to war with China over the disputed claims of the South China Sea Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he was open to sharingBeijing in flashpoint South China Sea waters over which Manila has been given exclusive rights by an international tribunal. Beijing claims most of the sea, including waters close to the Philippine coast, despite the claim being declared as without basis last year by a United Nations-backed tribunal. However, Duterte said the Philippines could not exploit the natural resources on its own. "Even if I wanted to extract everything we do not have the capital. Even the (oil) rig and everything we can't afford it," Duterte told lawyers in Manila. "I would consider sharing it." Duterte's predecessor Benigno Aquino had challenged China's claim to control most of the South China Sea, despite counter-claims by several other nations. The Aquino government in 2013 filed suit at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague. The tribunal ruled in favour of Manila last year. However Duterte, who had taken office days before the tribunal ruling, has since reversed Aquino's policy and is seeking billions of dollars of investment and grants from Beijing. Duterte on Thursday repeated earlier pronouncements he would not go to war with China over the disputed claims. He said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed in Beijing last year that they would look to boost faltering trade ties that had been impacted by the sea row. He said he also told Xi Manila would put off a discussion with Beijing on the Hague-based tribunal's ruling. However, Duterte said the two countries would have to address the issue the moment China began to extract minerals in waters over which Manila has exclusive rights to exploit under the tribunal's ruling. When questioned about a litany of controversial statements President Donald Trump told Time magazine he foresaw things that later were revealed to be true US President Donald Trump has defended making unsubstantiated claims about wiretapping and election fraud that have damaged his credibility, saying in a new interview he "predicted a lot of things." When questioned about a litany of controversial statements -- from unrest in Sweden, to Brexit, to dues owed by NATO states -- Trump told Time magazine he foresaw things that later were revealed to be true. "I predicted a lot of things, Some things that came to you a little bit later," he said. "Sweden. I make the statement, everyone goes crazy. The next day they have a massive riot, and death, and problems." Trump astonished Sweden last month by appearing to refer to a non-existent terror incident in the country, which he argued was paying a high price for its generous asylum policy. Two days after his comments a riot broke out in a high-immigration Stockholm suburb, leading Trump supporters to argue he had been vindicated. Some cars were set on fire, and police hit with stones, but there were no reports of serious injuries, let alone deaths. Trump also claimed his remarks concerning the NATO alliance and the British vote to leave the European Union had been prescient. "NATO, obsolete, because it doesn't cover terrorism. They fixed that, and I said that the allies must pay. Nobody knew that they weren't paying. I did. I figured it." "Brexit, I was totally right about that." Pressed on his unsubstantiated and widely-challenged claims that three million illegal votes were cast in the election, or that Barack Obama had tapped his phones, Trump insisted that his credibility was not dented. "I guess, I can't be doing so badly, because I'm president, and you're not. You know." Neil Gorsuch testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to be an associate justice of the US Supreme Court The top US Senate Democrat on Thursday pledged a fierce partisan battle over Donald Trump's nominee to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, saying he was unconvinced the judge would be an "independent check" on the president. The Republican-controlled upper chamber of Congress is scheduled to vote in early April on the nomination of judge Neil Gorsuch -- who emerged from his fourth and last day of confirmation hearings in the Senate on Thursday having successfully deflected Democratic attempts to draw blood. Nevertheless, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will use a filibuster -- a parliamentary stalling procedure -- to prevent Republicans from bringing Gorsuch's nomination to a final vote. "After careful deliberation, I have concluded that I cannot support judge Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court," he said on the Senate floor. "My vote will be no, and I urge my colleagues to do the same." - Unscathed by hearings - The Republicans need 60 votes to end debate on the Gorsuch nomination in the 100-seat Senate before a final vote on his nomination. Since Republicans have 52 seats, Gorsuch will need the support of at least eight Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will use a filibuster to prevent Republicans from bringing Neil Gorsuch's nomination to a final vote His conservative backers have spent millions on campaigns to exert pressure on 10 Democratic senators facing re-election next year in states Trump won in the presidential election last November. A backer of the death penalty along with other issues broadly popular among conservatives, the 49-year-old Gorsuch has been praised by supporters as an independent mind with an unquestioned regard for the letter of the law. Universally acclaimed for his high credentials, he emerged from 20 hours of questioning largely unscathed by remaining silent or evasive about his personal convictions and avoiding politically fraught issues by invoking justices' need to remain independent. Still, Schumer said Gorsuch "was unable to sufficiently convince me that he'd be an independent check" on Trump. The judge is "not a neutral legal mind but someone with a deep-seated conservative ideology," he said. If Gorsuch is confirmed, he would tip the US high court's balance toward conservatives, at a time when progressives are anxious over hot-button issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and the right to bear arms. With Supreme Court justices serving lifetime appointments, Gorsuch could potentially sit on the court for three decades or even longer. - Furious Democrats - Some Republicans in the Senate have threatened to employ a so-called "nuclear option" of changing the Senate's rules to lower the threshold for approving Supreme Court nominees to a simple majority. Trump has urged the Republicans to resort to that strategy if necessary. But the delicate issue opens the future possibility that Democrats in control of the Senate at some point would also be able to confirm a Supreme Court nominee with a simple majority vote. Democrats are still furious with Senate Republicans' refusal last year to even grant a meeting -- much less hearings or a vote -- to Merrick Garland, then-president Barack Obama's nominee to fill the seat, left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016. The White House complained about Schumer's comment on Gorsuch. "We find Senator Schumer's announcement truly disappointing because it breaks with the tradition of how the Senate has handled Supreme Court confirmation votes in modern times and represents the type of partisanship that Americans have grown tired of," Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said. North Korea is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead The US military has observed activity in North Korea that suggests Pyongyang may be gearing up for another nuclear test, a US official said Thursday. "At the sites where we watch tests, we see a level of activity that's similar to what they've done before other tests," the defense official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Fox News reported earlier on Thursday that North Korea is in the final stages of readying for another nuclear test, possibly within the coming days. North Korea may have dug new tunnels around the Punggye-ri test site in the northeast of the country, Fox said, citing a US official. It also reported that the US Air Force has deployed a special surveillance plane used to take air samples after nuclear tests. The Air Force declined to comment on the report. North Korea is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and staged two nuclear tests and multiple missile launches last year. Hit by a string of United Nations sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006, Pyongyang has insisted it will continue. North Korea attempted another missile test that failed on Wednesday, according to the United States and South Korea. Last year, the 2015-16 El Nino helped kill off two-thirds of shallow-water corals in the northern part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, and an unprecedented second year of bleaching is underway now A spike in water temperature lasting only days bleached all the coral in a South China Sea atoll, and killed 40 percent of the tiny organisms within weeks, researchers reported Thursday. The six degree Celsius (10.8 degrees Fahrenheit) surge at Dongsha Atoll in June 2015 was produced by a perfect storm of factors: the time of year, a record El Nino, and a rare lull in local winds and waves. Open ocean water temperature in the region was 2 C (3.6 F) above normal. The dramatic die-off shows what can happen to shallow-water reefs when global warming is amplified by short-term weather, the scientists warned. "The concern is that with a 2 C warming of the oceans, these weather anomalies will happen more often," said Anne Cohen, a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, and co-author of a study published in the journal Scientific Reports. "It could be every couple of years, even every year -- and completely knock out the reefs," Cohen told AFP. Bleached coral is susceptible to disease, and needs time to recover -- one or more decades, depending on the species. So far, Earth's surface atmosphere has warmed up by 1 C (1.8 F) compared late-19th century levels, with ocean temperatures climbing more slowly. Already today, coral reefs around the world are declining or dying off at an alarming pace. Last year, the 2015-16 El Nino helped kill off two-thirds of shallow-water corals in the northern part of Australia's 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) long Great Barrier Reef. An unprecedented second year of bleaching is underway now. - Like a hot tub - El Ninos are natural climate cycles in the Pacific Ocean, every few years, that produce drier air and warmer ocean water at the surface in equatorial Asia. After completing a routine survey of coral extent at the Dongsha Atoll in 2015, the scientists went to recover instruments from the water. "That's when we saw that all the coral had turned white," said Cohen. Under normal conditions, the reef is regularly flushed with cool water from the open ocean, she explained. But with no wind or waves, "the water just sat there in the Sun -- it was like a hot tub." Returning several weeks later, the scientists removed samples from the reefs to see whether the atoll's corals had endured, and survived, bleaching in the past. The cores revealed three previous bouts going back to 1983 -- but none affecting more than 50 percent of the corals. Coral reefs are incubators and habitat for thousands of marine species, and vital to the livelihoods of half-a-billion people around the world. When ocean water warms, the tiny, reef-building creatures expel algae living in their tissue and turn white. The 196-nation Paris climate pact calls for holding global warming to "well below" 2 C. On current trends, Earth's surface is on track to heat up by about 4 C (7.2 F). DALLAS (AP) - A Maryland man has been indicted in Texas on a hate-crime charge after a Twitter message induced a seizure in a Newsweek reporter. A Dallas County grand jury on Tuesday indicted John Rayne Rivello of Salisbury, Maryland, on an aggravated assault charge enhanced as a hate crime. The 29-year-old already faces a federal interstate domestic violence charge. Rivello is accused of sending a strobing image to reporter Kurt Eichenwald's Twitter account with the intention of causing a seizure. Eichenwald, who lives in the Dallas area, has epilepsy. Included with the image was the message: "You deserve a seizure for your posts." The image was apparently sent in response to Eichenwald's outspoken criticism of then-President-elect Donald Trump. In a statement Tuesday, Rivello's attorneys said he is a military veteran with post-traumatic stress who apologized to Eichenwald and is seeking counseling. WASHINGTON (AP) - With Russia-tinged investigations swirling around his administration, President Donald Trump has yet to fulfill a campaign pledge of closer cooperation with Moscow. A planned trip by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Russia could test if detente proves anything more than talk. In a move alarming U.S. allies, Tillerson plans to skip a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Belgium next month, according to U.S. officials. The top American diplomat almost always attends such gatherings, and Tillerson will follow up his absence in Brussels by traveling to Russia's capital shortly afterward. The juxtaposition of the trips - one taken and one avoided - has reinforced concerns about America's commitment to NATO, which Trump has repeatedly fueled by dressing down allies as deadbeats who aren't paying enough for their own defense and who take U.S. help for granted. FILE - In this March 13, 2017 file photo, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is seen in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington. President Donald Trump has yet to make good on his pledge to pursue closer cooperation and friendlier ties to Russia, but a planned trip to Russia by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may test whether the detente will be more than just talk. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) Trump will take part in a meeting of NATO heads of state in Brussels on May 25, the White House announced Tuesday. Spokesman Sean Spicer said the president looks forward to discussing "issues critical to the alliance, especially allied responsibility-sharing and NATO's role in the fight against terrorism." As far as the U.S-Russia relationship, Trump has yet to make any major steps as president to bring the two nations closer together. As a candidate, Trump opened the door to potentially rolling back the sanctions imposed on Russia after its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014, a move Democrats and Republicans in Congress oppose. But as president, Trump has tamped down such suggestions as long as Russia fails to live up to its various commitments to end the fighting in Ukraine. His administration also has resisted Russia's calls to join forces against the Islamic State group in Syria, where the former Cold War foes have long backed opposing sides in a civil war. The Pentagon is continuing only what it calls U.S.-Russian "deconfliction" contacts, designed to ensure their forces don't accidentally collide on Syria's crowded battlefield and contested skies. But Trump's biggest roadblock to a new Russia approach may be the political realities at home. In a remarkable public disclosure Monday, FBI Director James Comey said the bureau is investigating whether Trump campaign associates coordinated with Russian officials as Moscow sought to sway the U.S. presidential election. Several congressional committees are also investigating, ensuring the allegations of Russian meddling - and questions about Trump campaign collusion - stay in the spotlight for months to come. Trump has denied any collaboration between his campaign and Russia. As a candidate, he spoke frequently of his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and said improving relations with the traditional U.S. adversary would be positive. He argued that Russia shared America's goal of defeating IS extremists. That's about as far as the new relationship has gone. "Tillerson will need to publicly outline what he hopes to accomplish when he visits Moscow and what is the basis for U.S. policy toward Russia," said Heather Conley at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The prospect of Washington and Moscow teaming up, given Russia's recent actions in Ukraine, has sent chills through much of Europe. Candidate Trump exacerbated concerns by calling NATO "obsolete" and suggested the U.S. might not defend allies if they aren't paying enough for collective defense. As president, Trump has insisted the U.S. is fully committed to NATO. Few are convinced. Western diplomats and some U.S. lawmakers expressed alarm Tuesday with Tillerson's decision to skip the upcoming NATO meeting and travel shortly afterward to Russia. Some Europeans see the decision as a U-turn from Vice President Mike Pence's pledges about safeguarding the alliance in Munich last month. While other NATO countries send their foreign ministers - who include an ex-prime minister, top parliamentarians and several former defense chiefs - to Brussels, the U.S. will dispatch Tom Shannon, a career diplomat serving as the State Department's No. 3 official. (The No. 2 slot of deputy secretary is among dozens of unfilled posts.) "We'll take care of the representation. This is something to be worked out, no problem," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters Tuesday. The State Department wouldn't provide details Tuesday about the purpose of Tillerson's trip to Russia or whom he would meet there. Spokesman Mark Toner said Tillerson's schedule would not allow him to attend the NATO meeting, saying the U.S. proposed alternative dates. He didn't elaborate, but Trump is expected to host Chinese President Xi Jinping for a highly anticipated meeting around the same time. In any case, Tillerson is meeting with almost every NATO country's foreign minister in Washington this week, officials said. Yet that gathering is focused on fighting the Islamic State, not on NATO's key concern: Russia. Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2-ranked House Democrat, said Tillerson was sending a "dangerous signal to our allies and adversaries." "Vladimir Putin's Russia has not done anything to merit such engagement," Hoyer said. ___ AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee and Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report. ___ Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP NEW YORK (AP) - "Fox & Friends" has emerged as the morning television show of choice for President Donald Trump and his fans, although that may have backfired for Fox News Channel this week. Like many cable news shows in the Trump era, "Fox & Friends" has seen ratings jump, and not just in the White House. Its average February audience of 1.72 million viewers was 49 percent over last year's, the Nielsen company said. The show usually has more viewers than MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and CNN's "New Day" combined. President Trump's Twitter feed provides ample evidence of his devotion, too. FILE - In this Feb. 29, 2016 file photo, co-hosts Steve Doocy, from left, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade appear on the morning show "Fox & Friends" in New York. "Fox & Friends" has emerged as the morning television show of choice for President Donald Trump and his fans. Its average February 2017 audience of 1.72 million viewers was 49 percent over last year's, the Nielsen company said. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) Like "Morning Joe," the political talk show whose love-hate relationship with Trump is clearly set on hate right now, "Fox & Friends" makes no secret of its opinions. Yet the episode with Fox senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano illustrated how news and opinion aren't always a smooth mix. Napolitano used "Fox & Friends" as a venue for his discredited report that British authorities helped former President Barack Obama spy on Trump. The White House cited the report to buttress its view that Trump's predecessor was surreptitiously watching him, but after Britain dismissed it as "nonsense" and Fox said it could provide no evidence to back it up, Napolitano has been taken off the air indefinitely. "Fox & Friends" was a frequent punching bag for Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" and one media critic, Erik Wemple of The Washington Post, called it "easily the worst in all of televised news" following the Napolitano episode. Watching it, though, the show appears to capture a sense of discontent and patriotism that appeals to many Trump voters, certainly in a way that mainstream journalists, to a large degree, have been unable to grasp. Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, said he suspects many people "enjoy watching it for the thrill of outrage." One day last week, the show had segments on "PC police" who were doing away with the designation of homecoming king and queen at a college, a man whose fiancee was killed by a drunken driver who was living in the country illegally, a congressman who received bureaucratic resistance when he tried to hang a portrait of Trump in a veterans' hospital, and "chaos" on college campuses when conservatives are invited to speak. Alex French, a 32-year-old working in sales in Charlotte, North Carolina, said he appreciated the show's reporting on veterans and its interest in news away from the nation's coasts. "They do a good job of trying to reach out to people in the small towns," he said. Trump, who has declared ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC "the enemy of the American people," told the three "Fox & Friends" hosts that "you have treated me very fairly" during an interview on Feb. 28. He did a weekly call-in to the show from 2011 until he announced his candidacy, but still gave frequent interviews as a candidate. "Maybe without those call-ins, someone else is sitting here," he said. Since he's been president, 12 of Trump's tweets reference something that appeared on "Fox & Friends" moments earlier - far more than any other program, according to a compilation by CNN's "Reliable Sources." After "Fox & Friends" had a segment with Nick Adams, author of "Green Card Warrior," on March 3, Trump tweeted within 25 minutes that the book was a "must read." On Feb. 25, Herman Cain cited statistics comparing changes in the national debt in the first months of Trump and Obama's presidencies; within a half-hour, Trump tweeted that "the media has not reported" the same statistics. Fox's Brian Kilmeade said that Russia "ran right over" Obama for eight years on March 7, and 10 minutes later Trump tweeted the same thing. "Every minute of the show you can tell they are fully conscious of the fact that they know the president of the United States is one of their fans and is getting a lot of information from them," Syracuse's Thompson said. Glenn Thrush, a reporter for The New York Times, tweeted recently that he was starting to watch "Fox & Friends" ''so I can get an early sense of White House policy messaging for the day. Not kidding!" How the knowledge that the president is watching affects people putting together the show is unclear. Fox declined to make any of the show's producers, or hosts Kilmeade, Steve Doocy or Ainsley Earhardt available for interviews. The morning after FBI Director James Comey told a congressional committee that the bureau was looking into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, "Fox & Friends" mentioned that development in passing. But it also belittled Comey with a rapid-fire clip package showing 20 instances in his testimony where he declined to answer a question. Kilmeade said the "lack of curiosity" about leaks to reporters "really bothered me." Doocy previewed that day's Senate confirmation hearing of Trump Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, saying Democrats don't have a prayer of blocking him, "but that doesn't mean they won't try." Earhardt interviewed the author of a book who said that the media's panic about Trump exposed the bias of many journalists. "We expect journalists to be fair," Earhardt said. "That's their duty. "Our duty," she added, quickly correcting herself. ___ This story corrects that Trump's weekly call-in ended with his candidacy, although he still gave frequent interviews with the show while running; corrects to Trump from Obama in 14th paragraph. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics, The Associated Press has learned. The work appears to contradict assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort that he never worked for Russian interests. Manafort proposed in confidential strategy plans as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse. FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2014 file-pool photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Russian metals magnate Oleg Deripaska while visiting the RusVinyl plant in Kstovo, in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly worked for Deripaska, a Russian billionaire, to advance the interests of Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service, File) Manafort pitched the plans to Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009, according to one person familiar with the work. "We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success," Manafort wrote in the 2005 memo to Deripaska. The effort, Manafort wrote, "will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government." Manafort's plans were laid out in documents obtained by the AP that included strategy memoranda and records showing international wire transfers for millions of dollars. How much work Manafort performed under the contract was unclear. The disclosure comes as Trump campaign advisers are the subject of an FBI investigation and two congressional inquiries. Investigators are reviewing whether the Trump campaign and its associates coordinated with Moscow to meddle in the 2016 campaign. Manafort has dismissed the investigations as politically motivated and misguided, and said he never worked for Russian interests. The documents obtained by AP show Manafort's ties to Russia were closer than previously revealed. In a statement to the AP, Manafort confirmed that he worked for Deripaska in various countries but said the work was being unfairly cast as "inappropriate or nefarious" as part of a "smear campaign." "I worked with Oleg Deripaska almost a decade ago representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments," Manafort said. "My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russia's political interests." When asked Wednesday about Manafort's work for Deripaska, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, "We do not feel it's appropriate to comment on someone who is not an employee at the White House." Press Secretary Sean Spicer, asked on Monday about possible campaign contacts with Russia, said Manafort "played a very limited role" in the Trump campaign albeit during the critical run-up period to the Republican National Convention. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, a frequent Trump critic, said of the disclosures about payments to Manafort: If true, "that's basically taking money to stop the spread of democracy, and that would be very disturbing to me." Democrats on congressional intelligence committees raised more questions. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said that "any financial connections between Russia and Trump associates need to be thoroughly investigated." And Rep. Adam Schiff of California, top Democrat on the House panel, tweeted, "Manafort worked w/ oligarch to advance Putin's interests and was Trump campaign chair when Russia released stolen docs. Another coincidence?" Rep. Eric Swalwell of California said on MSNBC that Manafort should appear before the committee, and he raised the specter of a subpoena should Manafort not appear on his own. Deripaska became one of Russia's wealthiest men under Putin, buying assets abroad in ways widely perceived to benefit the Kremlin's interests. U.S. diplomatic notes from 2006 described Deripaska as "among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis" and "a more-or-less permanent fixture on Putin's trips abroad." In response to questions about Manafort's consulting firm, a spokesman for Deripaska in 2008 - at least three years after they began working together - said Deripaska had never hired the firm. Another Deripaska spokesman in Moscow last week declined to answer AP's questions. Manafort worked as Trump's unpaid campaign chairman last year from March until August when Trump asked Manafort to resign after the AP revealed that Manafort had orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation until 2014 on behalf of Ukraine's ruling pro-Russian political party. But Manafort told a colleague this year he continues to speak with Trump by telephone. Manafort's former business partner in Eastern Europe, Rick Gates, has been seen inside the White House, helped plan Trump's inauguration and now runs a nonprofit to back the White House's agenda. Gates, whose name does not appear in the documents, told the AP that he joined Manafort's firm in 2006 and was aware Manafort had a relationship with Deripaska, but he was not aware of the work described in the memos. Gates said he stopped working for Manafort's firm in March 2016 when he joined Trump's presidential campaign. ___ Associated Press writers Jack Gillum, Eric Tucker, Julie Pace, Ted Bridis, Stephen Braun and Julie Bykowicz contributed to this report in Washington; Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed from Moscow and Kiev, Ukraine; and Jake Pearson contributed from New York. ___ Submit reporting tips to The Associated Press: https://www.ap.org/tips FILE - In this July 17, 2016, file photo, Paul Manafort talks to reporters on the floor of the Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics, The Associated Press has learned. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File) In this photo taken July 21, 2016, then-Trump Campaign manager Paul Manafort stands between the then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump during a walk through at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Manafort, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics, The Associated Press has learned. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) CARSON CITY Calling Spring Creeks water woes a death-spiral, local legislators and Spring Creek residents took their concerns to the state Assembly Wednesday, asking lawmakers for relief from excessive rate increases. Assembly Bill 109, if passed, would require the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada to conduct a general consumer session in certain counties serviced by certain public utilities that furnish water. It would also require the Consumers Advocate of the Bureau of Consumer Protection to intervene in certain proceedings concerning public utilities that furnish water. Spring Creek Association has sought discussion with Great Basin Water Company, formerly Utilities Inc., over rate hikes during the past several years. A meeting between residents and the water companys representatives was cancelled in November. Spring Creek Association President Jessie Bahr announced Wednesday that a meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. April 19 at the Spring Creek High School gym. According to the Legislative Counsels Digest, the bill requires the Commission to also conduct a general consumer session in the county with the fifth largest population in the State (currently Elko County). Assemblyman John Ellison was concerned that heavily populated Clark and Washoe counties received standing in PUC meetings where the meetings are usually held. Sen. Pete Goicoechea agreed with Ellison, saying that Spring Creeks consumer base is not getting the representation. The rates are going to go up to where the consumer base cant afford the cost, said Goicoechea which also affects the maintenance of lawns. The yards are dying, added Goicoechea. Representing the Association, lobbyist Peter Krueger told lawmakers in the Assembly Committee of Commerce and Labor that passage of the bill hopes to bring transparency to the process. Assemblyman Skip Daly, D-Sparks, questioned how the bills passage could solve Spring Creeks troubles. A for-profit water (company) following all of the rules, Daly said. Im not really sure how this solves the problem. Consumer advocate Eric Witkosky, speaking from Las Vegas, testified in support of the bill, calling the additional cost to hold a meeting manageable. Supporters of the bill included Bahr and residents Greg Brorby and Stephanie Licht, who spoke before the Legislature via teleconference from Great Basin College. Bahr told the legislators that the rates have increased 250 percent compared with other water companies. Brorby explained his support for the second half of the bill which requires the Bureau of Consumer Protection to advocate for homeowners and small business owners who have no voice. Its very critical, in my opinion, Brorby said. Water committee member and property owner David Curtis confirmed to legislators that the water bill for his rentals has increased dramatically. In 2015, the bill was $435 per month, said Curtis. However, Curtis did not feel the bill went far enough in rectifying the issues between Spring Creek and Great Basin Water Company. It only reflects some of the initial goals, said Curtis. Spring Creek Association At-Large Director Mike McFarlane testified that in the past eight years on the board, water has been a central issue. This is a first step to see if we can get relief, McFarlane said. The death-spiral is not an exaggeration, he added, citing devalued property and lack of greenery in Spring Creek. In closing comments, Goicoechea appealed on behalf of Spring Creek residents. Those people really need help. WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans joined Democrats on Wednesday in pressuring the Trump administration to surrender records of former national security adviser Michael Flynn's payments and contacts with foreign officials during the past three years. In a sign of deepening interest among congressional investigators, leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee asked for materials on Flynn's communications and payments from Russian, Turkish and other foreign sources since Flynn retired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in August 2014. The request came as a Flynn spokesman said the retired general filled out all of his security clearance paperwork, but did not sign a mandatory ethics pledge during his time as national security adviser. FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2017 file photo, then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn arrives in the East Room of the White House in Washington. A House committee wants the White House and Trump administration officials to detail all the payments and contacts that Flynn had with foreign government representatives spanning the past three years. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Also sought by the committee chairman, GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, and the top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, is any available material on Flynn's security clearance, which would have been required to allow him access to highly classified government documents and information. The two congressmen made the requests in letters to White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, FBI Director James Comey, Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats. President Donald Trump fired Flynn last month for misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other top administration officials about Flynn's postelection conversations with Russia's ambassador to the United States. The committee's move is significant because of the bipartisan front and the effort to gain broad information about Flynn's foreign-related work and communications for an extended period before Trump appointed him in January. Chaffetz and Cummings cooperated on a February inquiry that led to revelations last week that Flynn had been paid more than $33,000 by Russia's government-backed television network. Cummings said the goal is to learn whether Flynn "was untruthful on his security clearance forms, his vetting materials, and in other documents - conduct that could carry a criminal penalty - and we want to know what the White House knew when they hired him as national security adviser." The committee also wants to determine whether Flynn violated the constitutional prohibition against foreign payments to former military officials who could be called back into service. The FBI has interviewed Flynn about his Russia contacts as part of its inquiry into meetings, phone calls and electronic contacts last year between Trump campaign aides and Russian officials and others representing Russian interests. The House request comes a week after the committee released documents showing Flynn accepted more than $33,750 from the Russian government-backed RT network for a trip to Moscow in 2015, before he joined the Trump campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies have described that network a propaganda arm of the Russian government. Cummings and Chaffetz cited Flynn's payments from RT in their letters as they sought information about the retired Army lieutenant general's responses to security clearance questions, as well as "any other security clearance applications, certifications, or requests for periodic reinvestigation." The letters also ask for any "investigative and adjudicative" files concerning Flynn's clearance. The lawmakers want to see "documents referring or relating to Lt. Gen. Flynn's contact with foreign nationals," including any direct or indirect contacts between Flynn "and foreign government officials, representatives, affiliates, or agents." Price Floyd, a spokesman for Flynn, said Flynn met the disclosure requirement for national security adviser. "Everything that was supposed to be included was included," Floyd said. He said Flynn last came up for a security clearance review in January 2016, and disclosed his trip to Russia to attend an RT event. Flynn also took a polygraph - required of someone with his level of security clearance - and passed, Floyd said. Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 28 prohibiting political appointees from lobbying the government in any way for five years after serving in his administration. That same order instituted a lifetime ban on outgoing officials representing foreign governments. Floyd said Flynn "didn't have the opportunity to sign" the ethics pledge, "but he is going to abide by the pledge." Floyd said Flynn has not engaged in any lobbying work since leaving the White House that would have violated the pledge. White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said Wednesday that "all applicable employees have signed the ethics pledge." She did not answer questions about why Flynn had not. The White House did not immediately respond to a request to review those documents. The Daily Beast first reported on Flynn's failure to sign the pledge. In addition to his RT contacts, Flynn filed paperwork this month with the Justice Department as a foreign agent whose lobbying work between August and November last year may have aided the government of Turkey. Flynn's consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, registered as a lobbyist last year for Inovo BV, a Dutch-based company owned by a Turkish businessman. After Flynn's lawyers consulted Trump's legal team during the transition and after Flynn's appointment, he and his firm re-filed as foreign agents, a distinction that requires much more detailed documentation with the Justice Department. The owner of Inovo BV, Ekim Alptekin, told The Associated Press that Flynn and his firm did so due to pressure from Justice Department officials. The committee letters also ask for Flynn's "receipt of funds from any foreign source," as well as documentation of any efforts by Flynn to seek government approval for payments from foreign sources. The committee also asked the agencies for new documents relating to Flynn's work for Leading Authorities Inc., which handles Flynn's speaking requests. Last week, the committee posted material from the firm, including copies of checks Flynn received from RT and two other Russian companies, as well as emails between Leading Authorities, RT officials, and Flynn and his adult son, Michael Flynn Jr., who accompanied his father on the Moscow trip. ___ Associated Press writer Julie Bykowicz contributed to this report. ___ Submit reporting tips to The Associated Press: https://www.ap.org/tips WASHINGTON (AP) - Here are findings from The Associated Press' reporting on U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort's work for a Russian oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. ___ WHAT DID THE AP FIND? Manafort secretly worked for Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska in 2005 and proposed an ambitious plan to promote the interests of "the Putin Government" and undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics. The plan was to mirror lobbying and political consulting work that Manafort was already conducting in Ukraine at the time. "We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success," Manafort wrote in the 2005 memo to Deripaska. The effort, Manafort wrote, "will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government." After Manafort proposed the work, he signed a $10 million contract with Deripaska beginning in 2006. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009. How much work Manafort performed under the contract is unclear. Deripaska became one of Russia's wealthiest men under Putin, buying assets abroad in ways widely perceived to benefit Kremlin interests. U.S. diplomatic cables from 2006 described Deripaska as "among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis" and "a more-or-less permanent fixture on Putin's trips abroad." ___ WHAT SUPPORTS THE FINDINGS? The AP's reporting was based on interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and confidential business records it obtained that included strategy memoranda and records showing international wire transfers for millions of dollars. ___ WHAT MANAFORT SAYS In statements to the AP, Manafort confirmed he worked for Deripaska in various countries but said the work was being unfairly cast as "inappropriate or nefarious" as part of a "smear campaign." He said he had not sought to hide the work. "My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russia's political interests," he wrote, pledging to defend the propriety of his work. "I look forward to meeting with those conducting serious investigations of these issues to discuss the actual facts," he wrote. ___ WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS When asked Wednesday about Manafort's work for Deripaska, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer stressed that Manafort's work for Deripaska long-preceded his stint as Trump's campaign chairman. "The report is entirely focused on actions that Paul took a decade ago," Spicer said. He said the AP's story did not demonstrate that Manafort had done anything improper, but that "the president was not aware of Paul's clients from the last decade." Spicer also objected to the attention Manafort is receiving, citing alleged links between the family of Hillary Clinton and Russian interests. "The Clintons have much more extensive ties," he said. ___ WHAT THE DEMOCRATS SAY Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees said the new revelations will feature in the congressional investigations. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said on MSNBC on Wednesday that Manafort should appear before the committee, and he raised the specter of a subpoena should Manafort not appear on his own. "The dots continue to connect around Paul Manafort and his ties to Russia. And we are seeing that it's not just the deep personal/political financial ties that Donald Trump and his team has with Russia," Swalwell said. "We want to now know, did these ties extend to helping Russia during the interference campaign?" Another member of the intelligence committee, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said the disclosure "undermines the groundless assertions that the administration has been making that there are no ties between President Trump and Russia. This is not a drip, drip, drip" situation, she said. "This is now dam-breaking with water flushing out with all kinds of entanglements." Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who serves on the Senate intelligence committee, said, "Any financial connections between Russia and Trump associates need to be thoroughly investigated." ___ WHAT REPUBLICANS SAY Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a frequent Trump critic, called the disclosures about payments to Manafort from the Russian billionaire "very disturbing if true." "That's basically taking money to stop the spread of democracy, and that would be very disturbing to me," he said Wednesday on Capitol Hill. SYDNEY (AP) - Australian police have made an arrest in the mysterious disappearance of a toddler from a beach nearly 50 years ago, charging a man with the 3-year-old girl's slaying in a case that has baffled officials for decades. A 63-year-old man who was once considered a person of interest in the 1970 disappearance of Cheryl Grimmer was arrested on Wednesday, New South Wales police Detective Inspector Brad Ainsworth told reporters. "I'm not going to get into the specifics of the actual detail of the offenses, but I can say that they're quite horrific and they'll be unfolding in court," Ainsworth said. The man, whose name was not released, was 16 when Cheryl vanished from a beach in the New South Wales city of Wollongong. The toddler, who had spent the morning at the beach with her mother and three brothers, went into a changing area with her siblings while their mother packed up their belongings. Cheryl was never seen again, and her body was never found. Police believe Cheryl was taken from the front of the changing area and died within an hour of her abduction, Ainsworth said. The man accused in her disappearance was interviewed after the toddler disappeared, but was never charged. Police reopened the case last year, and on Wednesday, interviewed the man again. He was arrested the same day and will be charged on Thursday with murder and abduction, police said. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - South Africa wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock is in doubt for the third test against New Zealand and may miss the entire Indian Premier League because of a finger injury. Uncapped keeper Heinrich Klaasen is on standby to replace de Kock if he fails a fitness test on Friday, a day ahead of the test at Hamilton's Seddon Park. De Kock had an X-ray in Hamilton on Wednesday which showed his finger was not broken but that he suffered ligament damage when the injury occurred during the second test in Wellington. South Africa won that match by eight wickets to lead the three-match series 1-0. Proteas manager and team doctor Mohammed Moosajee said "we'll make a late call whether, with the protective strapping the physio is trying to arrange, he can bat." But Moosajee said de Kock might need four to six weeks to recover from the injury and it was unlikely he would be able to take up his contract with the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. "There is every likelihood he will pull out," Moosajee said. "Every time he catches the ball, stress goes on that area. He is going to need a period of recovery." Moosajee said de Kock might also be in doubt for the Champions Trophy which starts in England in June. Meanwhile, New Zealand swing bowler Tim Southee has been ruled out of the third test with a hamstring injury. Southee also suffered the injury during the Wellington test. Scans revealed a grade one tear to his left hamstring. ASIA: SKOREA-FERRY SALVAGE - A 6,800-ton South Korean ferry emerged from the water on Thursday, nearly three years after it capsized and sank into violent seas off the country's southwestern coast, an emotional moment for the country that continues to search for closure to one of its deadliest disasters ever. By Kim Tong-hyung. SENT: 800 words, photos. With SKOREA-FERRY SALVAGE THE LATEST and SKOREA-FERRY SALVAGE TIMELINE. AUSTRALIA-COLD CASE - Australian police have made an arrest in the mysterious disappearance of a toddler from a beach nearly 50 years ago, charging a man with the 3-year-old girl's slaying in a case that has baffled officials for decades. SENT: 250 words. JAPAN-SUICIDE DROP - Fewer Japanese are taking their own lives, a positive sign in a country with one of the world's highest suicide rates. By Ken Moritsugu and Mari Yamaguchi. SENT: 500 words, photos. JAPAN-SCHOOL SCANDAL-ABE - The head of an ultra-nationalistic Japanese school operator at the center of a land and political scandal has testified in parliament that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen ($9,000) through his wife for an elementary school where she once was honorary principal. SENT: 130 words. NKOREA-TRUMP VS OBAMA - North Korea has a criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump he probably wasn't expecting: He's too much like Barack Obama. By Eric Talmadge. SENT: 650 words, photos. INDONESIA-CEMENT PROTEST-PHOTO GALLERY - About 50 farmers and activists opposed to a cement factory in Indonesia's Central Java province have encased their feet in concrete during a dayslong protest in Jakarta, the capital. SENT: 200 word, photos. CAMBODIA-SLAIN ACTIVIST - A Cambodian court has sentenced a man to life in prison for killing a prominent government critic. SENT: 200 words. INDONESIA-CORAL DESTRUCTION - Indonesia says nearly 19,000 square meters of coral reef was damaged by a foreign cruise ship that ran aground in the pristine waters of Raja Ampat in West Papua province earlier this month. SENT: 320 words. BUSINESS AND FINANCE AUSTRALIA-CHINA - China's premier has warned against protectionism, saying his country planned to close its $50 billion a year deficit with Australia by expanding the trading the relationship rather than retreating from it. By Rod McGuirk. SENT: 450 words, photos. SKOREA-SHIPBUILDER - South Korea announced Thursday a fresh capital injection for Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., seeking to prevent the world's second-largest shipbuilder from defaulting on its debts. By Youkyung Lee. SENT: 350 words. FINANCIAL MARKETS - Shares were modestly higher Thursday in Asia after Wall Street steadied overnight. Investors are awaiting a vote in the U.S. Congress on health care legislation that is seen as a bellwether for the capacity of the administration of President Donald Trump to deliver on campaign promises for tax and regulatory reform. By Elaine Kurtenbach. SENT: 370 words, photos. ___ HOW TO REACH US: The editor in charge at the AP Asia-Pacific Desk in Bangkok is Scott McDonald. Questions and story requests are welcome. The news desk can be reached at (66) 2632-6911 or by email at asia@ap.org. The Asia Photo Desk can be reached at (81-3) 6215-8941. Between 1600 GMT and 0000 GMT, please refer queries to the North America Desk in New York at (1) 212-621-1650. Expanded AP content can be obtained from http://www.apexchange.com. For access to AP Exchange and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport@ap.org or call (1) 877-836-9477. TOKYO (AP) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen ($9,000) through his wife for a school run by ultranationalist educators, the group's leader told Parliament on Thursday, while also suggesting a land-buying scandal involving the school had "political influence" behind it. First lady Akie Abe had been honorary principal of the elementary school for several months until resigning two weeks after the scandal erupted in early February. In his sworn testimony in Parliament, Yasunori Kagoike, head of the Moritomo Gakuen group, said Akie Abe handed him the cash in an envelope on behalf of her husband during her September 2015 visit to Kagoike's kindergarten in Osaka. Yasunori Kagoike, head of an ultra-nationalistic Japanese school operator, gestures as he testifies before an upper house panel at the parliament in Tokyo, Thursday, March 23, 2017. Kagoike, at the center of a land and political scandal, testified in parliament that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen ($9,000) through his wife for an elementary school where she once was honorary principal. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) Abe has denied such a donation took place, but it would have been legal under Japanese law because Osaka is not Abe's own electoral constituency, which is in Yamaguchi in southern Japan. Still, Abe and his wife's ties to Kagoike have raised questions due to his extreme views on history and derogatory expressions about Chinese and Koreans, and the land-buying scandal involving the school has eroded Abe's support in opinion polls. Kagoike's school is known for a curriculum that is seen as resembling that of pre-World War II militaristic Japan. And Kagoike is affiliated with the powerful political lobby Nippon Kaigi, which is believed to be behind Abe's comeback in 2012 and has become influential in pushing Abe's ultra-conservative platform. Abe had spoken fondly about Kagoike's education policies but has distanced himself from the man, criticizing him for being too persistent. Kagoike said he is revealing the truth about Abe, who he thought was supportive before brushing him off once the scandal emerged. He said both Abes have kept close ties to him and Akie has exchanged dozens of text messages with his wife despite the scandal. Abe has denied any influence in the sale last year of state property to Kagoike at 134 million yen ($1.2 million), one-seventh of its appraised price. But Kagoike told parliament he believed there was "political influence" over his land purchase and a plan to open an elementary school. "I believe there was political influence one way or the other at every occasion and place (during approval process)," Kagoike said, without elaborating. The school project advanced rapidly through the licensing process but has fallen apart, Kagoike said, and he is seen as the bad guy, as if he had been framed. He urged lawmakers to question Akie, her assistant and finance ministry bureaucrats to clarify their responsibility in the land purchase. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Thursday reiterated his and Abe's denial over the alleged donation or any other political influence over Moritomo Gakuen's licensing for its elementary school, where construction is almost complete. ___ Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi Find her work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mari-yamaguchi Yasunori Kagoike, head of an ultra-nationalistic Japanese school operator, testifies before an upper house panel at the parliament in Tokyo, Thursday, March 23, 2017. Kagoike, at the center of a land and political scandal, testified in parliament that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen ($9,000) through his wife for an elementary school where she once was honorary principal. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) Yasunori Kagoike, center, head of an ultra-nationalistic Japanese school operator, walks in to testify before an upper house panel at the parliament in Tokyo, Thursday, March 23, 2017. Kagoike, at the center of a land and political scandal, testified in parliament that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen ($9,000) through his wife for an elementary school where she once was honorary principal. Abe has denied the donation or any influence in the scandal stemming from a questionable 2016 state property sale to Kagoike. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) Yasunori Kagoike, head of an ultra-nationalistic Japanese school operator, testifies before an upper house panel at the parliament in Tokyo, Thursday, March 23, 2017. Kagoike, at the center of a land and political scandal, testified in parliament that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen ($9,000) through his wife for an elementary school where she once was honorary principal. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) Yasunori Kagoike, head of an ultra-nationalistic Japanese school operator, signs the written oath prior to testify before an upper house panel at the parliament in Tokyo, Thursday, March 23, 2017. Kagoike, at the center of a land and political scandal, testified in parliament that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen ($9,000) through his wife for an elementary school where she once was honorary principal. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) WASHINGTON (AP) - The deepening U.S. military involvement against Islamic State militants in northern Syria indicates the Pentagon will likely send even more troops in coming weeks. Their mission won't be to fight on the front lines but to bolster Syrian Arab and Kurdish forces in a coming battle for the key city of Raqqa. On Wednesday, the Pentagon disclosed that Marine pilots airlifted scores of Syrian partner forces to the front lines, kicking off an offensive designed to capture a strategic crossroad along the Euphrates River. It was the first such U.S. assistance to the Arab and Kurdish fighters comprising the Syrian Democratic Forces. In a support role, the U.S. also fired artillery and flew Apache attack helicopters for the first time in Syria. U.S. officials reported no major developments on the ground Thursday. Resistance from Islamic State fighters appeared less fierce than anticipated, said one official, who wasn't authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing operation and demanded anonymity. The U.S.-backed forces said in a statement they had already secured some territory. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, center, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, arrive to attend the Meeting of the Ministers of the Global Coalition on the Defeat of ISIS, Wednesday, March 22, 2017, at the State Department in Washington. Top officials from the 68-nation coalition fighting the Islamic State group are looking to increase pressure on the group as U.S.-backed forces move closer to retaking Mosul. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) "It has become a military base to launch our operations on the west bank of the river until eventually liberating all the countryside of Raqqa," the statement said. Raqqa is the Syrian city that IS has called the capital of its self-declared caliphate. Tabqa lies 45 kilometers, or about 28 miles, west of the city. The U.S. troops haven't engaged in ground combat. But the new offensive suggests the Trump administration is taking an increasingly aggressive approach as it plans an assault on Raqqa. But the moves on Tabqa Dam, as well as the town by the same name and a nearby airfield, also highlight an unresolved U.S. dispute with Turkey over which Syrian forces should participate in the operation to recapture Raqqa. Turkey, a longstanding U.S. ally in NATO, strongly opposes the Kurdish role because Ankara considers the main Kurdish fighting force, known as YPG, a terrorist organization. Washington, however, sees the YPG as an effective battlefield partner. As recently as this week, U.S. officials said some Kurds would inevitably be part of the Raqqa offensive, although the Pentagon was still holding out hope of reaching an accommodation with the Turks. Col. Joseph Scrocca, a spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition that is fighting IS in Syria and Iraq, told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday that the Tabqa operation was large and likely would last for weeks. He would not say how many U.S.-allied fighters are involved. By design, the operation coincides with a potentially climactic battle for Mosul, the main Islamic State group stronghold in Iraq. Together, the battles reflect a U.S. strategy of presenting IS with multiple challenges simultaneously. Although Mosul and Raqqa are easily the two most important IS holdings, their recapture by U.S.-backed local forces is not expected to mark the complete collapse of IS as an international threat. After taking office, President Donald Trump instructed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to coordinate a new counter-IS strategy. As a presidential candidate, Trump had promised to quickly defeat the group, saying at one point during the campaign that he had a secret plan. At a Senate hearing Wednesday, Mattis said the strategy was still in "skeleton" form. "We're fleshing it out," he declared, saying it would include economic, diplomatic, military and covert efforts. Mattis and other officials have strongly suggested the plan will preserve the central feature of the Obama administration's approach: Advising and enabling local forces to fight rather than doing it for them. But as IS loses strength and territory in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. is likely to bolster its support and send some additional troops. Officials have said the new deployment of U.S. forces would probably be small, however. The U.S. currently has about 1,000 troops in Syria. It has at least 7,000 in Iraq. BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian government forces are besieging the last Islamic State stronghold in the northern province of Aleppo, weeks after launching an offensive to retake the entire province, state media and an opposition monitoring group reported Thursday. The push on Deir Hafer comes as U.S. aircraft ferried Syrian Kurdish fighters and allies behind IS lines to spearhead a major ground assault on the strategic IS-held town of Tabqa in Raqqa province, which borders Aleppo. That airlift marked a deepening U.S. involvement in Syria's conflict ahead of a looming battle for the extremist group's de facto capital, the city of Raqqa. This frame grab from video provided by the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media, shows Syrian troops taking up positions during fighting with insurgents, in an eastern neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, March. 22, 2017. Syrian troop are engaged in fighting with insurgents who have tried to breach government lines in eastern neighborhoods of the capital this week. The operation is spearheaded by the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee. (Syrian Central Military Media, via AP) The airlift was part of what Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon described as a large, high-priority offensive to secure the area around Tabqa and the associated Tabqa Dam. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement Thursday that its fighters, along with military advisers form the U.S.-led coalition, landed Tuesday night in the near Tabqa with their equipment and vehicles, and have already secured a wide area. "It has become a military base to launch our operations on the west bank of the river until eventually liberating all the countryside of Raqqa," the statement said. Tabqa lies 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Raqqa. The Islamic State group controls the town as well as the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates River which supplies electric power to the area and a military airfield nearby. The SDF statement said the aim of the operation is to capture the town, its dam and the power stations. It called on all civilians to stay away from IS positions and young men to join the anti-IS force. The Syrian Central Military Media says Syrian troops launched the Deir Hafer siege late Wednesday after capturing nearby areas. The opposition's Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Syrian troops have now cut the road linking Deir Hafer with Raqqa province. The Observatory also reported intense clashes in the central province of Hama, where insurgent groups spearheaded by al-Qaida's branch in Syria launched a wide offensive capturing dozens of villages and towns over the past two days. The al-Qaida-led Levant Liberation Committee said its fighters captured three more villages Thursday morning. The charity group Save the Children said the Hama fighting has displaced 10,000 people. In Geneva, the top deputy for the U.N. Syria envoy shuttled between hotels to meet with representatives from the government and opposition groups ahead of the formal start of a fifth round of U.N.-mediated peace talks. The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, issued a statement Thursday noting that all parties have arrived for the talks in Geneva. His deputy, Ramzy Ramzy, kicked off the day meeting with the government delegation. He is also expected to meet with opposition delegates for informal consultations. De Mistura will formally start the talks Friday after returning from discussions with regional and international stakeholders in the Syrian conflict. The Geneva talks are expected to tackle the issues of governance, a new constitution, elections and terrorism. This frame grab from video provided on Wednesday March 22, 2017, by Ibaa news agency, the communications arm of the al Qaeda-linked, Levant liberation committee, outlet that is consistent with independent AP reporting, shows black smoke rising after a suicide bomber from the militant group of Levant Liberation Committee, blowup himself at a Syrian government forces position, in Souran Town, northern Hama, Syria. Insurgents advanced on government-held towns and positions north of the central city of Hama. An al-Qaida-linked group spearheaded the assault, launched Tuesday, by detonating a car bomb in the nearby town of Souran. (Ibaa News Agency, via AP) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - In a story March 23 about a former judge sentenced to prison, The Associated Press reported erroneously the details of a woman's Social Security benefits for a woman. The judge had approved the woman's Social Security benefits, but he did not approve her request for a retroactive lump sum payment. A corrected version of the story is below: Former Social Security judge sentenced to prison in sex case A former Alabama judge is going to federal prison after pleading guilty to crimes that include having sex with a woman whose case was in his court BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - A former Alabama judge is going to federal prison after pleading guilty to crimes that include having sex with a woman whose case was in his court. A judge sentenced 74-year-old Paul Conger Jr. of Akron to a year and a day in prison for obstructing justice, accepting a gratuity for an official act and stealing government property. Conger is a former Tuscaloosa County judge who was hearing cases as an administrative law judge for the Social Security Administration. He pleaded guilty in October to having sex at the Tuscaloosa courthouse with a woman who sought Social Security benefits. He also admitted trying to cover it up. Prosecutors say the woman was seeking a lump sum of $10,000 in retroactive benefits. Conger must report to prison in July and pay a $4,000 fine. WASHINGTON (AP) - Authorities say police in Washington, D.C., shot and critically wounded an armed man who confronted them. Acting Police Chief Peter Newsham said at a news conference Wednesday night that officers responding to a call about a shooting that evening confronted the man with a gun in an apartment building. He says there was a struggle and an officer fired shots. The department said in a news release Thursday afternoon that the man, 32-year-old Michael Leach, is in critical condition at a local hospital. Police say he has been charged with assault on a police officer and other offenses. Detectives say a gun was recovered at the scene, and the officers' body camera footage is being reviewed. Police did not release the races of either the officer or wounded man. This is in reference to last months flood of the Humboldt River, and the gross damage to some residents homes and businesses of the town of Elko. We believe that that river would NOT have flooded some of these homes in February, had preventative measures been put into place. Yes the river did rise, but little or no maintenance was done on the river drainage system to prevent this flooding in a high precipitation year, such as: 1. Cleaning the trash and plant growth from the culverts that drain water to and from the river byway. 2. Re-applying the backflow caps, which were removed years ago for some unknown reason, to prevent to prevent the storm drains from being inundated by high water. 3. Sandbagging the low area of the river walkway that were lowered below flood stages at 12th Street. (Rebuilding this area back up to the same height as the rest of the walkway would hopefully prevent this problem in the future.) 4. Dredging the river corridor yearly to keep the silted in dirt, sand, and rocks etc. from settling into the river bed, as noted for continued maintenance for the Project Lifesaver paperwork. 5. Upgrade the city drainage system to accommodate flooding in the area. (Maybe high velocity pumps to send water out faster.) Since the February flood, the city has done a couple of the items listed above. With the water rising there was NO over flooding of the storm drains and NO water in the streets and homes. We were told the culvert caps have been removed for years and put into storage. We had to wait for a flood before they were placed back on the culverts. While attending the City Council meetings, we noticed that citizens were asking questions, requesting help, and asking about the disaster plan in place for the flood disaster. There were no answers for these questions; apparently there was no disaster plan. The council sits above the citizens like the King and his court. We pay taxes on our property, which in turn are salaries for our city LEADERS. No actions or leading was done that I could see. Our leaders failed to lead us in our time of need. They did give us a report on the water tributaries and river water levels as per the National Weather Service. If they were in communication with the weather service, why were the precautionary measures not taken before the flood stages? They also gave us a time line of what they did during the disaster time. We citizens feel that they just filled in the blanks of this time line. For instance they had called the Red Cross and informed them of our disaster. Hum, we personally phoned the Red Cross 800 number in the phone book. They contacted our local Red Cross rep and she phoned us. We met her in the street and Darcy told us that this was the first contact she had for the disaster. Who called Red Cross? They told us that they have been in contact with FEMA. Maybe the FEMA for the City repairs, but not FEMA for the citizens. All the counts for the flood victims have had to come through the State Department of Public Safety. The representative for the State of Nevada is Kelli Anderson in Carson City. She has turned in her counts to FEMA for the Presidents signature, but has had no reply yet. After a phone conversation with her, she has reiterated that she has had no contact with the city Mayor or Council regarding this issue. Kelli Anderson is the person who will be implementing the assistance when it is approved. PARIS (AP) - French far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is headed to Moscow for meetings with lawmakers less than a month before the election. Officials from her National Front party said she is traveling Friday, on the heels of a trip this week by Le Pen to Chad as she bolsters her international credentials for the two-round vote on April 23 and May 7. The head of the Russian Duma's international affairs committee, Leonid Slutsky, was quoted by the Tass news agency as saying Le Pen will hold meetings on the "international agenda such as the war on terrorism." Far-right presidential candidate for the presidential election Marine Le Pen smiles prior to a television debate at French TV station TF1 in Aubervilliers, outside Paris, France, Monday, March 20, 2017. The five leading candidates for France's presidential election are holding their first debate Monday, with centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen leading polls and jobs and security among voters' top concerns. (Patrick Kovarik/Pool Photo via AP) Le Pen received a loan from a Russian bank in 2014 and her support for Moscow has been controversial because of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine and Syria. NEW YORK (AP) - The trial between bankrupt brokerage MF Global, run by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, and its former accounting firm, PwC, came to an unceremonious end on Thursday, with both parties saying they have reached a settlement. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. MF Global had been suing PwC for as much as $3 billion. "The case was settled to the mutual satisfaction of the parties," said PwC spokesman Andrew Wilson. MF Global sued PwC, also known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, alleging that negligence by the firm's accountants led to confusion about the current financial health of MF Global at a time of global market turmoil. That confusion eventually led MF Global to file for bankruptcy in late 2011. PwC alleged that MF Global's business decisions, including its purchase of European government bonds, were the reason why MF Global failed - not because PwC did not account for those assets as MF Global says they should have. The trial, in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, was supposed to last five weeks. The settlement came before PwC's lawyers were even able to call witnesses to its defense. At the center of the trial were $6.3 billion in assets tied to European government bonds that MF Global purchased from Italy, Spain, Belgium, Ireland and Portugal. Another issue is how PwC accounted for $72 million in what's known as tax-deferred assets that further caused uncertainty about MF Global's financial health. Those two issues caused MF Global to be downgraded by the credit rating agencies like Moody's and counterparties to eventually cut off business from the firm. Corzine testified earlier this month, saying that the European bonds that MF Global invested in were relatively low-risk and the firm expected to get its money back. All of the bonds were from countries with investment-grade ratings, and at the time, the European Central Bank created a $500 billion facility to help eurozone countries meet their obligations. "We believed the bonds would be paid in their own right," Corzine said. The thesis later proved to be correct, as all the bonds that MF Global purchased were paid back in full - but some months after MF Global filed for bankruptcy. The trial caught the public's attention not only because it involved Corzine, but also because the trial started shortly after the Oscars, where a mistake by PwC's accountants led to "La La Land" being announced as Best Picture, when it was really "Moonlight." PARIS (AP) - The French foreign ministry says a French national has been kidnapped in Chad. The ministry said in a statement Thursday that French authorities are in contact with the Chadian authorities "to secure the release of our compatriot." The statement didn't give any more details. Thousands of soldiers have been taking part in a French military operation in the African Sahel region, the so-called Barkhane operation, which aims to fight jihadi armed groups throughout the Sahel region. The headquarters and the air forces for the operation are based in N'Djamena, the Chadian capital. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky's new law requiring doctors to conduct an ultrasound exam before an abortion, and then try to show fetal images to the pregnant women, came under withering attack Thursday in federal court. An American Civil Liberties Union attorney referred to the 2-month-old law championed by Republican lawmakers as a "gross deviation" from medical ethics, bidding to block its enforcement. One abortion provider said it hasn't changed the minds of any of her patients but caused some of them to cry. Steve Pitt, an attorney representing Kentucky's Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said the law reflects the state's legitimate interests to protect the well-being of pregnant women and their fetuses. He said the information could sway some women to opt against terminating their pregnancies. "Saving one life is enough if that's what it does," said Pitt, chief attorney for Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin. U.S. District Judge David J. Hale heard more than six hours of arguments and testimony on the ACLU's request to temporarily block the law. Passed by Kentucky's GOP-led Legislature in January, the law took effect after the Republican governor signed it. Hale did not immediately rule on the ACLU's request and said he would accept more written arguments from both sides in the first federal court challenge of the law. The ACLU is seeking the temporary restraining order while it pushes its lawsuit asking that the law be struck down. The law requires abortion providers to perform an ultrasound exam before an abortion and to display and describe ultrasound images to pregnant women, though women can avert their eyes. The procedure also seeks to detect the fetal heartbeat, but women can ask that the volume of the heartbeat be reduced or turned off. Besides Kentucky, three other states have laws requiring pre-abortion ultrasounds and a doctor then showing the women the image and describing it, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Another 10 states require doctors to perform an ultrasound before an abortion, and in nine of those states, pregnant women must be offered the option to view the image, it said. The ACLU claims the Kentucky law violates First Amendment rights. It sued on behalf of the state's lone remaining abortion provider. The law requires abortion providers to describe what the ultrasound shows, including the location of the fetus in the uterus and the presence of internal organs. ACLU attorney Alexa Kolbi-Molinas said the law seeks to force information on women while they're on an examination table, half naked, and undergoing a mandated ultrasound. The ACLU called Dr. Tanya Franklin, who provides abortions in Louisville, as one of three witnesses. She said some patients try to cover their eyes when she attempts to describe their fetus and show the images. "Some of them are crying, some of them are sobbing, some of them are defeated and desperate," she said. Pitt said any concern for the unborn was "missing in action" from the ACLU's arguments and their witnesses. He said there was "nothing ideological" in the law's requirements, saying it seeks to ensure women are fully informed before undergoing an abortion. The lack of complete information risks inflicting emotional harm on women long after they have abortions, he said. Kentucky law already requires counseling 24 hours in advance of an abortion. Pitt said it takes only a few extra minutes for abortion doctors to attempt to show and explain the images, adding that's not "much of a burden" in the interests of protecting the woman and fetus. Currently, any doctors or medical imaging technicians violating the law would be fined up to $100,000 for a first offense and up to $250,000 for subsequent offenses. Any physician violation would be reported to the state's medical licensure board for possible disciplinary action. For years, abortion bills died when Kentucky's Legislature was politically divided and Democrats ran the House, where such measures were stopped. Republicans already commanding the Senate took full control of the Legislature after last year's election, seizing the House for the first time in nearly a century. Republicans now have big majorities in both chambers. VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis is making five more child saints: two Portuguese shepherd children who said the Virgin Mary appeared to them in Fatima 100 years ago and three Mexican adolescents who were killed for their faith in the 16th century. Francis signed the canonization decrees Thursday. In the case of the Mexicans, Francis declared the three Child Martyrs of Tlaxcala worthy of sainthood without having a miracle attributed to their intercession, once again sidestepping the typical saint-making process. The boys, Cristobal, Antonio and Juan, were converted to Catholicism by missionaries in the early 1500s. Pope Francis is silhouetted during an audience with Cameroon's President Paul Biya, at the Vatican, Thursday, March 23, 2017. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP ) Francis followed the rules in approving a miracle for Francisco and Jacinta Marto, the Fatima siblings, just two months before he is to travel to the Fatima shrine to mark the centennial anniversary of their apparitions. CROWLEY, La. (AP) - Authorities say three people and a police dog are dead and a police officer is wounded after a shooting in south Louisiana. State Police Trooper Brooks David says a Crowley Police Department officer was shot late Wednesday night while responding to reports of shots fired at a residence. Crowley Police Chief Jimmy Broussard says police shot and killed a man at the home after he shot the dog and wounded the officer. The chief says the suspect also shot and killed a woman at the home before police responded. Broussard says investigators believe the man also killed another woman at a home in a different Crowley neighborhood. The chief says the wounded officer was released from a hospital Thursday after being treated for a gunshot wound to his left thigh. GUILFORD, N.Y. (AP) - An upstate New York boy who police say was killed by his parents was mentally and physically disabled and was adopted by the couple years ago. Chenango (shuh-NANG'-goh) County Sheriff Ernest Cutting Jr. says 16-year-old Jeffrey Franklin had developmental disabilities and had to use a wheelchair. He says the teen was adopted by Ernest and Heather Franklin around 2010. Fire crews found the teen's body inside the couple's burning home in rural Guildford on March 1. Police charged the couple this week with second-degree murder. An autopsy showed the teen was dead before the fire started. The cause of death hasn't been released. The sheriff says the Franklins set the fire to cover up the slaying. The Franklins have pleaded not guilty, and have been jailed without bail. SOLANA BEACH, Calif. (AP) - Once a week, union leaders representing U.S. Border Patrol agents host a radio show from a sleepy office park near San Diego, where studio walls are covered with an 8-by-12-foot American flag and portraits of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. For about an hour, the agents mix discussions about border security with shoptalk and freewheeling news commentary in a show that airs by podcast and on a radio station in Tucson, Arizona. The show has a somewhat unlikely lead sponsor: the hard-right Breitbart News site, which isn't known as a fan of labor unions. The hosts open a revealing window into how union leaders hope to reshape enforcement on 6,000 miles of border with Mexico and Canada. In this Feb. 21, 2017 image, Shawn Moran, a National Border Patrol Council vice president, speaks on air as part of "The Green Line," a weekly radio show by the U.S. Border Patrol agents' union that is sponsored by the conservative Breitbart News, in Solana Beach, Calif. The union was an early, outspoken supporter of Donald Trump's presidential bid, a gamble that is paying off with influence in the White House. Less than a week after Trump took office, a Border Patrol chief was forced out and replaced by a union favorite to lead the agency as it launches a major hiring spree. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) The show, called "The Green Line" for the color of Border Patrol uniforms, is aimed at agents, Congress and the news media. It's part of a 4-year-old effort to raise the union's profile, a strategy that included outspoken support for Trump's presidential bid. That move paid off in November. Within a week of Trump taking office, the Border Patrol chief was forced out and replaced by a union favorite to lead the agency as it undertakes a major hiring spree. The union, headed by a former member of Trump's transition team, has endeared itself to the president, whose top strategist, Steve Bannon, led Breitbart News before joining the White House. The conservative site features the union's views in its border stories, while acknowledging the sponsorship. The show's hosts alternate between workplace gripes like radios that don't work in remote areas and topics in the news. They have called the Black Lives Matter activists "domestic terrorists" and Mexico "a corrupt country." One recent morning, they scorned an airline worker who maligned the Border Patrol when a co-host checked in for a flight, lawmakers who want to declare California a sanctuary state and unidentified pockets of the agency that have resisted Trump's directives to expand immigration enforcement. The discussion turned to a Supreme Court hearing involving a Mexican teen slain by an agent who fired across the border. The question was whether the agent could be sued. Are agents "going to be second-guessing themselves when the rocks are flying, when the cinderblocks are flying?" asked co-host Shawn Moran, a vice president of the National Border Patrol Council. "Are they going to hesitate and say, 'You know what? This guy could end up suing me.' Forget the fact that he could end up killing the agent." The union's ascendancy comes as Trump prepares to add 5,000 Border Patrol agents, hire more immigration judges and deportation officers and build a wall along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. Last week, the administration called for companies to build wall prototypes in San Diego, not far from "The Green Line" studio. "The Green Line" arranged Breitbart's support through Brandon Darby, a onetime left-wing activist turned FBI informer who helped convict two people accused of a bomb plot during the 2008 Republican National Convention. Darby attracted the notice of founder Andrew Bretibart, who recruited him to join the upstart news site. As managing director of Breitbart Texas, Darby published leaked photos inside overcrowded child-detention facilities in 2014, drawing attention to a surge of Central Americans crossing the border. Darby and Bannon - who led Breitbart after its founder died in 2012 - created "Cartel Chronicles," a bilingual feature about organized crime that includes articles from dangerous parts of Mexico written under pseudonyms. Breitbart editors call its sponsorship a show of support for front-line agents. "'The Green Line' is something I'm very proud of because it's these guys and gals having a voice," Darby said, referring to the Border Patrol agents. The union's rhetoric troubles groups whose complaints of a trigger-happy culture gained traction in Barack Obama's administration. The union criticized independent reviews that faulted practices on use of force and employee discipline and bristled at an employee award for avoiding deadly force when confronting armed suspects. "They want to be unfettered," said Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a human-rights advocacy group. "Most law enforcement agents do, but they're especially vocal about it. They have forcefully resisted efforts to reform." Union President Brandon Judd calls the criticisms overblown and said the Border Patrol's record stacks up well against other agencies considering border agents' high arrest counts. Customs and Border Protection says employees fired guns 27 times last year. That number has declined each year since 58 in 2012. The union clashed with a former FBI official who was picked in June to be the first outsider to lead the Border Patrol since its creation in 1924. Mark Morgan, who handled use-of-force issues as head of internal affairs for the Border Patrol's parent agency in 2014, was replaced by a career agent, Ronald Vitiello, the union's initial choice. Judd said there's no need for a wall from California to Texas and that natural barriers such as the Rio Grande in Texas often suffice, a message that he said appeared to register with Trump when the men met after the election. A top union priority is ending "catch and release," a term that Trump and others use for freeing people while they await a court date, which can take years. Union leaders have faced some internal blowback over a 2014 law that slashed overtime pay. When challenged by the president of the Detroit local on "The Green Line," Moran said the pay legislation could have been worse. Judd, who has led the union since 2013, points to the high percentage of agents who join as a measure of the organization's internal support. Its latest filing with the Labor Department shows 12,622 dues-paying members in 2015 out of roughly 15,000 eligible, or more than 80 percent. "We've increased our profile to where we're able to get our message out," Judd said. FILE - This Oct. 7, 2016 file photo Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump meets with members of the National Border Patrol Council at Trump Tower in New York. The union was an early supporter of Donald Trump's presidential bid, a gamble that is paying off with influence in the White House. Less than a week after Trump took office, a Border Patrol chief was forced out and replaced by a union favorite to lead the agency as it embarks on a major hiring spree. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File) In this Feb. 21, 2017 image, Shawn Moran, a National Border Patrol Council vice president, speaks on air as part of "The Green Line," a weekly radio show by the U.S. Border Patrol agents' union that is sponsored by the conservative Breitbart News, in Solana Beach, Calif. The union was an early, outspoken supporter of Donald Trump's presidential bid, a gamble that is paying off with influence in the White House. Less than a week after Trump took office, a Border Patrol chief was forced out and replaced by a union favorite to lead the agency as it launches a major hiring spree. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) MEXICO CITY (AP) - A Mexican reporter was gunned down in the northern state of Chihuahua on Thursday, becoming the third journalist to be killed this month in one of the most dangerous countries for media workers. The national newspaper La Jornada said Miroslava Breach, its correspondent in the state capital, also called Chihuahua, was shot eight times outside her garage in the morning and died while being taken to the hospital. La Jornada said Breach, 54, was accompanied in the car by one of her three children at the time of the attack. Forensic workers work on the scene where journalist Miroslava Breach was shot and killed outside her home in Chihuahua, Mexico, Thursday, March 23, 2017. Breach was gunned down in the northern state of Chihuahua on Thursday, becoming the third journalist to be killed this month in one of the most dangerous countries for media workers. (El Diario de Chihuahua via AP) "Presumably there was at least one attacker who approached on foot when the La Jornada correspondent was taking her son to school and fired a .38-caliber (gun)," it said. "Eight shells were found lying in the street." The boy was reportedly not harmed. According to La Jornada, Breach had worked for the paper for more than 15 years and also for other newspapers in the cities of Chihuahua and Juarez. It reported that a rolled-up cardboard message was left at the scene saying "for being a tattletale." In a statement, the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office confirmed the killing and said it was investigating. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Breach had covered crime, politics and other issues. "She was a highly respected reporter," tweeted Jan-Albert Hootsen, the group's Mexico representative. According to the CPJ, 38 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992 for motives confirmed as directly related to their work. Another 50 have been slain under circumstances that have yet to be clarified. On March 19, columnist Ricardo Monlui was shot twice as he left a restaurant with his wife and son in Yanga, near the city of Cordoba in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz. And on March 2, Cecilio Pineda Birto, a freelancer and the founder of La Voz de Tierra Caliente, was slain at a car wash in Ciudad Altamirano, Guerrero state. Carlos Lauria, Americas director at the CPJ, said he has no evidence linking the three killings this month. But he called Breach's case "very alarming" and part of a pattern of journalists being murdered with impunity in the country. "The situation really remains dire for Mexico, for the Mexican press," Lauria said. "It goes and comes in waves, but the reality is that especially for reporters working outside Mexico City, the levels of violence are unprecedented." Killings of journalists who work for national outlets like La Jornada, one of Mexico's main daily newspapers, are relatively uncommon. More often the victims are reporters for smaller, local media. Organized crime groups have a strong presence in Chihuahua state, which borders Texas and New Mexico. Earlier this week at least seven people were killed a series of shootouts between drug gangs in the state. At least two other journalists have been killed in or near Chihuahua city, most recently radio reporter Jesus Adrian Rodriguez Samaniego on Dec. 10, 2016. Mexico has also seen its overall homicide rates on the rise recently. ___ Follow Peter Orsi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Police have arrested two more people after finding the body of an elderly New York man in a suitcase on an Arkansas farm. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (http://bit.ly/2nGOxcs ) reports 34-year-old Leeann Naomi Sager and 25-year-old Aaron Rulison were arrested Tuesday in New York. Both are charged with concealment of a human corpse. Authorities say Sager was a caregiver to 89-year-old Robert Brooks. Investigators believe the World War II veteran died of natural causes at his home in upstate New York about a month before his body was found on March 5. Authorities are still investigating why his body was taken to Arkansas. Two other caregivers, Michael Stivers and Virginia Colvin, were arrested earlier this month. They're being held in Arkansas on $100,000 bond on charges of abusing a corpse. ___ Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com CARSON CITY Two days after a flurry of bills met the first major deadline of the session, Republican Assembly Minority Leader Paul Anderson released a statement that was highly critical of Democratic lawmakers. More than 190 bills were introduced in a one-day rush Monday, covering subjects including education, healthcare, immigration, marijuana, elections, transportation and environmental protection as well as the topics of historical preservation, expansion of lobbyist gift bans, and the criminalization of bestiality, which is not specifically prohibited by Nevada law. Andersons statement was titled Thank God the Assembly Majority is here to save Nevadans from themselves: Over the last few days, we have seen derisory legislation introduced dictating to Nevadans how to shop, vote, print, make copies, and even bizarrely trying to tell the United States Congress what type of Supreme Court Justices to confirm. I get that my friends across the aisle won in 2016, but instead of working together to better our schools, create an environment that produces high quality, high paying jobs, and provide safe streets for our children to grow up, theyve committed themselves to gutting education funding, tying the hands of law enforcement, and dictating to business owners what kind of shopping bags they can provide customers. Despite this, our caucus stands by our pro-business, pro-taxpayer priorities, and we will continue to fight on their behalf, Anderson concluded. The statement came as tensions began to rise between Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature, and just one day after Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed the largely Democrat-backed motor-voter law. No response was made by the Democratic caucus. Each party has developed a blueprint for Nevada, defining the goals they have for the session. The blueprint of the Democratic caucus stresses the need for increased funding for education, energy efficiency, helping local businesses, public recreation and affordable healthcare. The Battle Born Priorities released by the Republican caucus include education, economic prosperity, governmental accountability, healthcare and public safety. Tom Brady's stolen Super Bowl jerseys are back with the New England Patriots. The jerseys worn by Brady during this year's Super Bowl and the 2015 Super Bowl were returned to Gillette Stadium Thursday, the FBI announced. Brady's 2017 jersey went missing from the Patriots' locker room after the team's win over the Atlanta Falcons on February 5, touching off an investigation stretching from Boston to the Mexican border. This photo shows Tom Brady's Super Bowl 51 jersey after it was recovered by authorities in Mexico City Harold H Shaw, left, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division and Colonel Richard D McKeon, right, of the Massachusetts State Police, hold the recovered Super Bowl jerseys, beside team owner Robert Kraft, center, on Thursday in the NFL football team's trophy room at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts Mexican authorities searched the property of Mexican media executive Martin Mauricio Ortega, where they found the jersey, along with a Brady jersey that disappeared after the 2015 Super Bowl. A Denver Broncos helmet also was found. Ortega has not been charged in the case and has not commented. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment on the investigation. In a statement Thursday, Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he looks forward to giving the jerseys to Brady when he returns to New England. Kraft thanked the FBI, Mexican authorities and other law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation. 'It is another example of the importance of teamwork and what can be accomplished when everyone works together,' Kraft said. The FBI released a photo of the jerseys being held by Harold Shaw, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, and Colonel Richard McKeon of the Massachusetts State Place. Kraft is standing between the two jerseys and behind the Patriots' five Super Bowl trophies. 'We know how much this means to the Patriots and football fans everywhere, and we are honored to be able to bring these jerseys back to Foxboro,' Shaw said. Brady's jersey (pictured) went missing from the locker room after the game, and immediately set off an investigation that stretched from Boston to the border Colleagues of Ortega said he went to this year's Super Bowl in Houston as a working journalist but spent the week collecting selfies and autographs from football players. Ortega quit his job as director of the tabloid La Prensa earlier on March 14, two days after Brady's jerseys were found. Police estimate the value of Brady's Super Bowl 51 jersey is worth as much as $500,000. Video footage released Monday from cameras stationed outside the New England Patriots locker room at Houston's NRG Stadium allegedly captured Ortega stealing the jersey out of a black bag in Brady's locker. Fox Sports obtained footage showing Ortega as he walked into the locker room behind Bill Belichick at 10.04pm with a bag on his shoulder and appearing as if he were a member of the team. Ortega did not exit the locker room until 14 minutes later at 10.18pm, at which point he could be seen with a shirt under his arm. Working with US investigators, Mexican authorities obtained a search warrant and recovered the jersey March 12, along with another Brady jersey (pictured) that disappeared after the 2015 Super Bowl Mexican media executive Martin Mauricio Ortega (above) is suspected of stealing Brady's jersey. Ortega went to the Super Bowl posing as a working journalist This photo shows Ortega wandering the locker room where he entered after the game A befuddled Brady was filmed moments after the Patriots' Super Bowl 2017 win telling owner Bob Kraft that he could not find his uniform (pictured) Diario La Prensa released a lengthy statement on Monday admonishing the executive and apologizing to their readers and the people of Mexico. La Prensa said that they were not even aware the executive was using his position to gain access to events like the Super Bowl. Ortega's former employer also stated that they may pursue legal action. A befuddled Brady was filmed moments after the Patriots record-breaking win telling owner Bob Kraft that he could not find his uniform, saying in a video posted by Around the NFL writer Dan Hanzus: 'Somebody stole my game jersey.' Kraft, who was in a jovial mood and passing out celebratory cigars to the team at the time, responded to Brady by saying: 'Well, you better look online.' The owner and longtime pal of President Trump later told Maria Bartiromo while appearing on her Fox Business Network show 'Mornings with Maria' that stealing Brady's jersey was akin to 'taking a great Chagall or Picasso.' GENEVA (AP) - The Swiss foreign minister has told his Turkish counterpart that authorities in the Alpine country will investigate any illegal intelligence activities in Switzerland ahead of a pivotal referendum in Turkey that could grant sweeping new powers to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter's office summarized his comments in a meeting in Bern with Turkey's Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday. Cavusoglu's efforts to address Turkish expatriates in Europe have stirred controversy in places like the Netherlands, where authorities barred him from attending a campaign event there, and Germany. Swiss Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter, left, welcomes Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, right, Thursday, 23 March 2017, in Bern, Switzerland. Cavusoglu's visit to Switzerland follows a weeks-long dispute between Turkey and several other European nations over campaigning by Turkish politicians. Cavusoglu will also meet representatives of the Turkish community in Switzerland at the Turkish embassy in Bern. (Anthony Anex/Pool via AP) Burkhalter's office said in a statement that he recognized the "difficult situation" Turkey faces after a failed coup d'etat in July, but that a state of emergency declared by Ankara "does not exempt Turkey from its international human rights obligations." Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, left, and Swiss Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter, right, talk, Thursday, march 23, 2017 in Bern, Switzerland. Cavusoglu's visit to Switzerland follows a weeks-long dispute between Turkey and several other European nations over campaigning by Turkish politicians. Cavusoglu will also meet representatives of the Turkish community in Switzerland at the Turkish embassy in Bern. (Anthony Anex/Pool via AP) Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, left, and Swiss Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter, right, talk, Thursday, march 23, 2017 in Bern, Switzerland. Cavusoglu's visit to Switzerland follows a weeks-long dispute between Turkey and several other European nations over campaigning by Turkish politicians. Cavusoglu will also meet representatives of the Turkish community in Switzerland at the Turkish embassy in Bern. (Anthony Anex/Pool via AP) JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Nissan Motor Co. has declined to talk to union supporters about conditions at its Mississippi assembly plant after a March 4 pro-union rally headlined by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. A March 14 letter from Nissan executive Scott Becker to the United Auto Workers union declines to address demands presented after a March 4 pro-union rally. Among other things, the union had demanded that Nissan discuss a neutrality agreement with the UAW covering an employee vote on union representation. Becker described claims that Nissan is improperly intimidating pro-union workers as "categorically false." "It would be inappropriate to have discussions with your union regarding employees at Nissan's manufacturing plant in Canton, Miss., without your union first having obtained the support of a majority of employees at that plant," Becker wrote in a letter to UAW President Dennis Williams. The union provided a copy of the letter to The Associated Press. It's the latest rebuff by Nissan in the UAW's years-long campaign to organize workers at the 6,400-employee complex. Nissan's management opposes unionization in Canton, although Becker wrote that "Nissan fully respects the rights of employees to unionize or not to unionize, as they choose." The UAW has long struggled to unionize foreign-owned auto plants across the South. It has lost two votes at Nissan's plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, and no vote has ever been held in Canton. In Mississippi, the UAW has tried to build support for unionization by linking it to civil rights for African Americans. It has also tried to pressure the Japanese automaker through the French government's ownership stake in Nissan's business partner, the Renault Group. Sanders, a Vermont independent, as well as NAACP President Cornell William Brooks spoke at the rally. Brooks told the AP in a phone interview that he's disappointed that Nissan responded only to the UAW and not to other speakers. "If it's good enough for the company to create products around the world with unions at their side, why is this not the case for Mississippi and why can't we talk about it?" Brooks said, noting Nissan's only nonunionized plants are in Mississippi and Tennessee. "It's perplexing as a matter of logic and it's insulting as a matter of respect." The Rev. Isiac Jackson, who chairs the Mississippi Alliance for Fairness at Nissan, said he's willing to abide by a vote's outcome, as long as it happens on more favorable terms. "Let them vote a union in or vote a union out and the union moves on and I shut up," Jackson said. But many Nissan employees say they don't want a union, and the company says it's the UAW that's unfairly pressuring the company. "Nissan respects and values the Canton workforce, and our history reflects that we recognize the employees' rights to decide for themselves whether or not to have third-party representation," spokeswoman Parul Bajaj said. ___ Follow Jeff Amy at: http://twitter.com/jeffamy . Read his work at https://www.apnews.com/search/JeffAmy . UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres accused South Sudan's government on Thursday of refusing to express "any meaningful concern" about the plight of 100,000 people suffering from famine, 7.5 million in need of humanitarian aid and thousands more fleeing fighting. The U.N. chief delivered a sharp rebuke to the country's president, Salva Kiir, saying that most often the international community hears denials - "a refusal by the leadership to even acknowledge the crisis or to fulfil its responsibilities to end it." Guterres told the Security Council that Kiir's intention to hold a national dialogue "is not convincing" in the absence of consultation with opponents, the "systematic curtailment of basic political freedoms, and restrictions on humanitarian access." South Sudan's deputy ambassador Joseph Moum Malok said the government "takes issue with the accusation" that it is responsible for the famine in two counties and said other parts of the country are affected by drought. He said the government "will spare no efforts to help address the situation and calls upon the international community to help address this urgent matter." There were high hopes that South Sudan would have peace and stability after its independence from neighboring Sudan in 2011. But the country plunged into ethnic violence in December 2013 when forces loyal to Kiir, a Dinka, started battling those loyal to Riek Machar, his former vice president who is a Nuer. A peace deal signed in August 2015 has not stopped the fighting and the three-year civil war has devastated the country, killed tens of thousands, and contributed to a recently declared famine in two counties. The United Nations has a 12,000-strong peacekeeping mission in South Sudan and the Security Council last year approved an additional 4,000 peacekeepers from the region to help protect civilians after a series of reported gang-rapes and other assaults when fighting erupted in Juba last July. Guterres said the U.N. continues to work for the deployment of the regional force and restoration of the peace process, but he stressed that "no such force, and no amount of diplomacy, can substitute for the lack of political will among those who govern the country." "There is a strong consensus that South Sudanese leaders need to do more to demonstrate their commitment to the well-being of the country's people, who are among the poorest in the world," the secretary-general said. Guterres said greater pressure is needed if there is any hope of the leaders changing their approach, which means "first and foremost that the region and the Security Council must speak with one voice. At the moment, the council and the region remain divided over two key ways to step up pressure - an arms embargo and slapping sanctions on additional people blocking peace. U.S. deputy ambassador Michele Sison said the U.N. doesn't need any more warnings "about the prospect for further mass atrocities," calling the ongoing violence and atrocities "beyond acceptable." She reiterated the Obama administration's support for an arms embargo and sanctions against additional individuals including those blocking U.N. peacekeeping or humanitarian missions and expanding the conflict. Guterres urged leaders from countries in the regional group IGAD who will be meeting in Nairobi in two days and council members to support three objectives: achieving an immediate cessation of hostilities, restoring the peace process which means consulting and ensuring representation of the opposition, and ensuring unrestricted humanitarian access. The top monitor of South Sudan's peace deal, former Botswana President Festus Mogae, echoed Guterres' call for a unified approach that also includes the African Union and the international community, saying the security, economic and humanitarian situation in the country "has steadily deteriorated to an unacceptable level." "Across the board, there is a heightened sense of alarm over the fact that the situation is slipping out of control," Mogae told the council. "We must now stand together to do something about it." South Sudan's Malok warned that an arms embargo and additional sanctions "would further aggravate the situation and would hit hard the vulnerable groups, as the previous experiences had proved." TALLAHASEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran has called on the governor to suspend a prosecutor for pledging to not seek the death penalty in any case while she is in office. Corcoran said Thursday that Orlando State Attorney Aramis Ayala was "violating the constitution" because she is not even considering the death penalty. Capital punishment is authorized under the Florida Constitution. Corcoran added that if Florida lawmakers had the power to impeach Ayala, they would already be doing so. Gov. Rick Scott removed Ayala from a high-profile police murder case last week after she announced her decision against the death penalty. Ayala argues Scott has overstepped his bounds and filed a motion in response, asking a judge to let her present her argument in court. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - University of California President Janet Napolitano is crossing the border next week to send a "strong and loud" message to Mexico - which she clearly hopes will resonate in Washington - that America should not isolate its neighbor. The 3-day trip starting next Wednesday is meant to reassure Mexico that UC campuses remain committed to academic and research collaboration despite the Trump administration's plan to build a border wall and decrease federal research funding, said UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein. The trip comes at a "very propitious time to strengthen ties," Klein said in a telephone interview Thursday. "And to send a very strong and loud message - to our counterparts in higher education, to the Mexican government, to the private sector in Mexico, to researchers, scholars and the Mexican people - that we believe it is wrong to isolate and antagonize this important neighbor." FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017 file photo, University of California President Janet Napolitano attends a University of California Board of Regents meeting, in San Francisco. Napolitano is crossing the border next week to send a "strong and loud" message to Mexico, which she clearly hopes will resonate in Washington, that it is wrong to isolate America's neighbor. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) Strengthening cross-border ties doesn't typically fall to university presidents. But Napolitano is well-versed in the world of politics and U.S.-Mexico relations, as former governor of Arizona and former U.S. Homeland Security chief. Like many university presidents, Napolitano has been outspoken since President Donald Trump's election on protecting students who entered the country illegally, saying the UC will not assist government agencies trying to enforce federal immigration laws. Napolitano launched the UC-Mexico Initiative in January 2014, shortly after taking up her job at the University of California, to coordinate research, academic programs and student exchanges between Mexico and the UC's 10 campuses. It focuses on five areas of common concern: arts and culture, education, energy, environment and academic mobility. "Regardless of what is happening federally, the University of California remains open to academic partnerships with Mexico," Napolitano told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, adding that research won't stop even if federal funding does, "We will be searching for other sources of funding." Klein said the UC has provided $3 million dollars to the initiative and researchers have raised an additional $12 million, primarily from the National Science Foundation, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, the largest university in Mexico known as UNAM, and Tec de Monterrey, a private university that has numerous joint research projects with UC schools. During her trip, Napolitano is scheduled to meet with U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson to reaffirm UC's commitment to strengthening collaboration with Mexican institutions, according to her itinerary. She will also speak to the US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, visit with students in Mexico and business leaders. A social media uproar over a painting depicting lynching victim Emmett Till has led to protests and a viral hoax looking to have the artwork removed. The painting, entitled Open Casket by Dana Schutz, is currently on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and is causing quite the stir among the art community. The work depicts the disfigured corpse of 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was murdered on August 28, 1955. His death, and the photograph of his badly beaten body has become synonymous with the Civil Rights Movement. Sparking fury: Open Casket by Dana Schutz, a work on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, has become the subject of controversy Standing up: Black artist Parker Bright recently staged a week-long protest of the painting Schutz's painting of the young victim was recently the subject of a week-long protest by black artist Parker Bright, who spent several days standing in front of it at the Whitney. He documented his stand in a Facebook Live video that saw him approach the artwork and reveal his T-shirt to read 'lynch mobs' with a cross through it. He also discussed his views with those around him on camera, explaining that he didn't believe that Schutz, who is white, could speak to the pain of black people. 'Schutz doesn't have the privilege to speak for the black people as a whole or for Emmett Till's family,' he said in the video. Under fire: Bright claimed that artist Schutz (right) doesn't have the privilege to speak for the black people as a whole or for Emmett Till's family' Famous face: Emmett Till was murdered on August 28, 1955, aged 14, and has since become a Civil Rights icon The painting has since inspired a number of other think pieces, as well as an open letter by artist and writer Hannah Black - which has since been removed - that was co-signed by 47 other artists asking for the painting's removal. Many blasted Schutz for 'profiting' off of the pain of African Americans. However, Schutz has since responded to the backlash, explaining that the work 'was never and is not for sale'. She added that the painting is 'not a rendering of the photograph but is more an engagement with the loss.' In the statement to NBCBLK, she added that she not only understood the outrage but, in fact, welcomed it. Doing the trick: In response to the criticism, Dana said that she understood the backlash and said she doesn't object 'to people questioning the work or even my right to make it' 'Till's photograph was a sacred image of the Civil Rights movement and I am a white woman. I did not take making this painting lightly,' she said. 'I don't object to people questioning the work or even my right to make it. There has to be an open discussion.' She claimed that the painting was inspired by the violence against black men committed by law enforcement over the summer in 2016, saying that Emmett's story is relevant to the times. Despite the controversy, the curators of the Whitney Biennial have expressed their intention to leave the painting where it as, as well as defended their decision to feature it, calling it an 'unsettling image that speaks to the long-standing violence that has been inflicted upon African Americans.' HOUSTON (AP) - A Houston middle school staff member is facing charges after he was accused of impregnating a 13-year-old student. Mauricio Orlando Mendoza was an information technology worker at the school until the accusations surfaced in December. Prosecutors allege that he and the girl had sex on school grounds on multiple occasions. After the girl's parents found out about the alleged misconduct, the teen learned she was pregnant. The 37-year-old married father was arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was released on $50,000 bond. His attorney did not return a message seeking comment. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump, the author of the best-selling book, "The Art of the Deal," is about to see his deal-making abilities ratified in a legislative showdown on the House floor - or dramatically rebuffed. Trump, in a message relayed by White House officials, demanded that House Republican leaders vote Friday on a GOP-backed health care bill embraced by the president, placing the legislation on the brink of failure and jeopardizing his vow to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health care law. By gambling on passing the major health care bill without the votes in hand, the former casino owner is staking the trajectory of his presidency on a roll of the dice, betting Republicans will go along rather than stand in the way of the long-sought repeal of Obamacare. White House officials told lawmakers they would leave the health care law in place if the vote fails. Sporting an "I Love Trucks" button, President Donald Trump speaks meets with truckers and industry CEOs regarding healthcare, Thursday, March 23, 2017, in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Trump's ultimatum came after House Republicans delayed a planned vote on the bill, a sign of possible defeat. In the weeks leading up to Thursday, Trump did his best to arm-twist resistant conservatives and moderates opposed to the legislation. He revived his campaign rallies to remind the voters, and their representatives, of the GOP's promises. He invited Republican lawmakers to the White House, having his advisers join them for bowling and pizza nights and cajoling them over the phone. Famous for his lack of sleep, the president called lawmakers late into the night Wednesday in search of votes. On Thursday, the president met with the hard-line House Freedom Caucus and the moderate Tuesday Group at the White House - but the lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill without a deal. Seeking a conclusion, Trump's budget director Mick Mulvaney told lawmakers it was time to vote and to move on. Earlier in the day, Trump dismissed the deadlock as pure "politics." But, even allies noted, politics is his new business and he may still have a learning curve. "I think he's probably discovering that the relationships on the Hill and the various groups are more challenging to negotiate than you would have thought and there's more history than he would have thought," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump supporter. "There are a lot of people who don't trust each other." Gingrich suggested that if the House was unable to win passage in the coming days, "then they have to take a deep breath and take a little longer." To be certain, all aspiring presidents campaign on their ability to get things done, and many newly elected presidents later discover it's harder than it looks. Still, the stakes for the president are high. Trump has referred to this health care legislation as the linchpin to an ambitious legislative agenda to overhaul the tax system and rebuild roads and bridges. A legislative defeat on health care only two months into his presidency would put into doubt his ability to win passage for those priorities and contradict the "Promises Made, Promises Kept" signs that have dotted his recent rallies. It would also leave in disarray a young presidency already marked by a court challenges to a signature immigration policy, internal White House disputes, leaks, ethics questions and an FBI investigation into whether his campaign associates coordinated with the Russians leading up to the election. Those aren't Trump's only troubles. He is negotiating with some lawmakers who have little incentive to cut a deal with an embattled president. Several of the lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus outperformed Trump in their deeply conservative districts, leaving them scant reason to worry about retribution in the next election. Conservative organizations like FreedomWorks, Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, Heritage Action and Tea Party Patriots oppose the plan - frequently calling it "Obamacare lite" - even after the facetime with Trump. That gives conservatives the backup to go against the president even in congressional districts that Trump won overwhelmingly. The White House has made concessions to conservatives, offering to amend the bill to axe key Obamacare provisions that guarantee insurance coverage of maternity care, mental health services, regular checkups and other essential health services. In a sign of the tug-of-war that the bill has created within the party, the concessions pushed some moderates away. The future of the provisions remained fluid. For a president who frequently holds grudges, Trump has yet to openly threaten dissenters with potential primary challenges. And only on Thursday did he use his massive Twitter feed to urge the public to pressure their members of Congress to back the plan. The White House refused to entertain the possibility of failure. Even as Republican lawmakers prepared to cancel a Thursday vote on the legislation, Trump maintained that the bill still had a chance to pass the House. He told a meeting with trucking executives and drivers, "It's going to be a very close vote." It wasn't the first time Trump has appeared somewhat distanced from the health care debate. He has, at times, skated over the details of the policy, promising a "terrific" health plan but veering away the particulars. In a meeting with governors last month, the president appeared to express surprise about the system's complexity. "I have to tell you, it's an unbelievably complex subject," Trump said. "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated." __ Associated Press Writer Ken Thomas has covered the White House and national politics for The Associated Press since 2011. __ Follow Ken Thomas at https://twitter.com/kthomasdc Squatters in southern Mexico were 'milking' crocodiles for their blood, according to authorities who rescued 14 of the animals and found 20 others dead. Residents who set up camp at a coastal nature reserve known as la Encrucijada in Chiapas believed the crocodile blood could cure cancer, diabetes, AIDS and other diseases. Many of the dead crocodiles had their heads or tail hacked away, and the 14 that were still alive were released back into the wild. Squatters in southern Mexico were 'milking' crocodiles for their blood. Twenty were found dead, and the remaining 14 were rescued and released into the wild (file photo) Crocodiles are considered a protected species in Mexico, and it remains unclear whether the squatters will be apprehended for hunting the reptiles. Some scientists have long questioned why alligators and crocodiles seem resistant to bacterial infection. 'They inflict wounds on each other from which they frequently recover without complications from infection despite the fact that the environments in which they live are less than sterile,' Barney Bishopof George Mason University told the New Scientist in 2015. While there's been talk of using fragments of proteins called peptides in crocodile blood to create antibiotics, nothing has come of the studies. 'There is really no clinical utility because I can't isolate them from alligators and inject them into your veins because your body would recognize that it was not human,' Doctor Mark Merchant said. At least one crocodile farm in Thailand offers people who can prove they have cancer capsules of dried crocodile blood, according to Vice. But Merchant, who has studied immune systems of crocodiles for more than a decade, said: 'I'm not sure that this practice really provides health benefits. It might, but I find that most practices like this are built into religious and cultural activities, and do not have a scientific basis.' Loans available for Washoe flood victims RENO (AP) The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering low-interest federal disaster loans to businesses and residents affected by severe storms and flooding in Washoe County. Gov. Brian Sandoval and state Emergency Management Chief Caleb Cage issued a statement Thursday urging flood victims to take advantage of the assistance Businesses can borrow up to $2 million for any combination of property damage or economic injury resulting from last months flooding. Homeowners can borrow up to $200,000 to repair or replace their primary residence. Homeowners and renters also can get a loan for up to $40,000 to replace personal property. Interested applicants should call the Small Business Administration at 800-659-2955, or apply on line at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela Bill would let cops pull over seat belt offenders CARSON CITY (AP) Nevada lawmakers are considering joining 34 other states in allowing police officers to pull over cars if anyone inside is not wearing a seat belt. State senators on a transportation panel heard from safety researchers and family advocates in support of Senate Bill 288 at a Thursday hearing. Nevada law currently mandates all passengers wear seat belts in moving cars. But officers are only allowed to ticket people for not wearing belts if theyre pulled over for some other reason. University of Nevada, Las Vegas researcher Laura Gryder says states that make seat belt violations a primary offense subsequently see their use increase. Opponents dont believe that. They say some people simply dont want to be told to wear seat belts and will never change. Public defenders say they worry the measure could increase racial profiling. Kids could be required to start school at age 5 LAS VEGAS (AP) Children in Nevada could be required to start school by age 5 under a bill proposed by a state lawmaker. The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that North Las Vegas Democratic Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz introduced the bill Wednesday. It would make school attendance mandatory at a younger age and require districts to establish pre-kindergarten programs. Diaz says studies have shown that such programs can boost the performance of less privileged students. The Department of Education projects that the changes would cost $176 million for fiscal year 2017-18. The governors proposed budget does not include that funding. Representatives from Nevadas two largest school districts spoke in favor of the bill. Nevada Families for Freedom criticized using taxpayer money to institutionalize little children. The Education Committee has not yet taken action on the bill. Mother sues Vegas hospital after daughters death LAS VEGAS (AP) A woman has filed a lawsuit against a Las Vegas hospital alleging her daughters death was the result of unfair treatment at the facility. Amy Vilela tells KLAS-TV that her daughter didnt get the appropriate screening at the emergency room of Centennial Hills Hospital because she couldnt provide proof of health insurance. The 22-year-old Shalynne Ramos died of a pulmonary embolism in 2015. Vilela says Ramos underwent an X-ray exam and got a leg brace after she sought treatment at the ER for knee pain on June 3, 2015. Three weeks later, she traveled to Missouri, where she had to be rushed to a hospital. She died two days later. Centennial Hills attorney tells the station Ramos was assessed by appropriate medical personnel, screened and evaluated before being discharged. Former US President Bill Clinton and ex-Northern Ireland first minister Peter Robinson are set to join mourners at the funeral of Martin McGuinness in his native Londonderry. Irish president Michael D Higgins and his predecessor Mary McAleese will also attend requiem mass for the ex-IRA commander turned Stormont deputy first minister, as will Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Martin McGuinness believed in a shared future for Northern Ireland and he was steadfast & courageous in its pursuit. https://t.co/rykG5AxPjw Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) March 21, 2017 Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire will represent the UK government at Thursdays service in the heart of Mr McGuinnesss beloved Bogside neighbourhood in Derry. While former Democratic Unionist leader Mr Robinson is expected at the funeral, by 6.30pm on Wednesday the party had not officially confirmed whether his successor Arlene Foster would attend. Thousands are expected to bring parts of Derry to a standstill as people say farewell to one of its most famous sons. As preparations for the huge funeral intensified through Wednesday, political leaders in Westminster and Belfast commended Mr McGuinnesss contribution to the peace process. The Prime Minister's statement on the death of Martin McGuinness: https://t.co/8TNbOUPjiZ UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) March 21, 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament she could never condone the ex-IRA commanders violent past but she credited his indispensable role in moving the Republican movement away from violence. At a special session of the Stormont Assembly, Mr McGuinnesss Sinn Fein successor Michelle ONeill paid emotional tribute, while Mrs Foster acknowledged that Northern Ireland would never see his like again. In Derry, well-wishers queued outside the McGuinness family home in the Bogside neighbourhood to pay their respects. Mrs ONeill told the Assembly: The legacy that Martin wished was for a better future based on equality and measured by the joy and laughter of all of our children. So on behalf of Sinn Fein I rededicate our party to completing his lifes work and to living through his legacy. Mrs Foster said Mr McGuinnesss legacy was complex and challenging. She said his death was hugely difficult for victims of the IRA but said to many nationalists and republicans he was a leader, friend or mentor. The former first minister added: It is precisely because of his past, because of his involvement with the IRA in the 70s and 80s because of his influence within those circles that he was able to play the role he played in bringing the republican movement towards using peaceful and democratic means and, because of all of that, I doubt we will ever see his like again. Martin McGuinness played a huge role in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland. He was a great family man and my thoughts are with them Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) March 21, 2017 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told the Commons: Martin played an immeasurable role in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland, and its that peace we all want to endure. Mr McGuinness, 66, who died from a rare heart condition, completed an extraordinary political journey from an IRA leader in Derry to sharing power and a remarkable friendship with his erstwhile foe, DUP leader Dr Ian Paisley. He also struck up a warm relationship with the Queen, whom he praised for her contribution to peace. She is to send a personal message to Mr McGuinnesss family. A woman signs a book of condolence for Martin McGuinness at the Mansion House in Dublin Mr McGuinnesss last major act as a politician was to pull down the powersharing executive at Stormont when he resigned as deputy first minister in January in protest at the DUPs handling of a green energy scandal. With Stormont still without a powersharing executive or new Speaker in the wake of the subsequent snap election, traditional protocols were overridden to enable MLAs to assemble to mark his death. Afterwards they lined up to sign a book of condolences in the Great Hall of Parliament Buildings. Theresa May has been forced to defend the controversial shake-up of school funding in England after a respected economic think tank warned it would create significant winners and losers. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused the Prime Minister of focusing on the vanity project of a new generation of grammars rather than ensuring existing schools have the funding they need. At Prime Ministers Questions, Mrs May acknowledged there would be a number of views about the proposals for a new national funding formula (NFF) but insisted its not a vanity project to want every child in this country to have a good school place. Children in a classroom (Dave Thompson/PA) The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the Governments proposed plan to change the way money is distributed is broadly sensible, but warned some schools could face protracted cuts as a result of the shift from 152 different local authority formulae to a single national method of allocating funding. Education Secretary Justine Greening and the Prime Minister have already been warned by Tory backbenchers in areas set to lose out that the plans will not make it through the Commons in their current form. As she clashed with Mr Corbyn in the Commons, Mrs May said: The national funding formula is a consultation and obviously there will be a number of views. The consultation closes on Wednesday and the Department for Education will respond in due course. On the eve before the consultation ends on the Schools National Funding Formula, in Barnet addressing parents. Schools here set to lose 25m rob kelsall (@rob_kelsall) March 21, 2017 She said the NFF addresses a long-standing concern that funding arrangements are unfair. Mr Corbyn claimed a squeeze on the overall schools budget, which has been protected in real terms but faces increased costs and a rising number of pupils, could see class sizes increase and subject choices diminish. He highlighted the 320 million allocated in the Budget for new free schools, including divisive grammars, and told Mrs May she was betraying a generation of young people by cutting the funding for every child. Children will have fewer teachers, larger classes, fewer subjects to choose from and all the Prime Minister can do is focus on her grammar school vanity project that can only ever benefit a few children, he said. My letter to Headteachers in Mid Sussex on the National Funding Formula Consultation. pic.twitter.com/C64jLnaWgy Nicholas Soames (@NSoames) March 21, 2017 Mrs May said the Governments record had seen protected school funding, more teachers in our schools, more teachers with first-class degrees in our schools, more children in good or outstanding schools. She also launched a personal attack on Mr Corbyn and his senior allies, pointing out that he sent his child to a grammar school and attended one himself, while shadow home secretary Diane Abbott and shadow attorney general Baroness Chakrabarti had chosen private education for their children. Typical Labour: take advantage and pull up the ladder behind you, she said. The IFS analysis said the proposals are the most ambitious reform to the school funding system for more than 25 years and would ensure similar schools in different parts of the country receive a similar level of funding per pupil. But it warned: Implementing this reform at a time when there is already considerable pressure on school budgets will inevitably be difficult. The analysis also found that the formula diverts funding away from schools with the most deprived student population and towards those with average levels of deprivation. As part of the plan, the Government has promised protections until 2019-20 to ensure no school can lose more than 3% funding per-pupil in cash terms and no school can gain more than 5.6%. Tony Blairs former spin doctor Alastair Campbell has been appointed editor-at-large of the New European newspaper. Mr Campbell will help shape editorial policy at the weekly title, which is aimed at the 48% of Britons who voted to stay in the European Union. He vowed to use the platform to target the Brextremist lie machine and Theresa Mays plans for withdrawal from the bloc. Alastair Campbell (Jonathan Brady/PA) Mr Campbell, who was a senior journalist before becoming the former prime ministers communications chief, has contributed to the newspaper since its launch after the EU referendum result last year. He said: The New European has been one of the few good things to emerge from the EU referendum. I have done my bit to help the paper get off the ground, and now I intend to do a lot more to show that the Brextremist lie machine can be defeated, and the real national interest pursued, as opposed to the disastrous hard Brexit route Mrs May has chosen. He added that he believed the UK can, must and will change its mind about the decision taken last year. Mr Campbells new job follows the controversial announcement that former chancellor George Osborne will edit the London Evening Standard. New European editor Matt Kelly said: Unlike some other recent high-profile editorial appointments, Alastair also happens to be a genuine and proven journalistic talent, which has got to be an advantage. The Westminster terrorist was previously known to security services and had been investigated by MI5 over violent extremism. Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs that the British-born attacker was a peripheral figure who was not part of the current intelligence picture. It came as Islamic State claimed that the perpetrator was one of its soldiers, while police activity in connection with the investigation has been reported in a number of areas around the country. The Prime Minister addressed MPs as they gathered at the usual time inside the Palace of Westminster, which a day earlier had come under attack from the knife-wielding terrorist. An hour after MPs had stood for a minutes silence in honour of the innocent people killed in the attack, Mrs May delivered a statement with details of the atrocity. Members of the House of Parliament observe a minutes silence to pay respect to the victims of yesterday's terror attack in Westminster Describing the terrorist, Mrs May said: What I can confirm is that the man was British-born and that some years ago he was once investigated by MI5 in relation to concerns about violent extremism. He was a peripheral figure. We have now made a total of eight arrests as part of the ongoing Counter Terrorism operation #WestminsterAttack Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 23, 2017 The case is historic. He was not part of the current intelligence picture. There was no prior intelligence of his intent or of the plot. In a defiant message to a packed House of Commons, Mrs May said: We will never waver in the face of terrorism. Paying tribute to Pc Keith Palmer, who died after being stabbed, she said: He was every inch a hero and his actions will never be forgotten. Pc Keith Palmer The identities of the terrorists victims on Westminster Bridge have emerged one a US tourist from Utah celebrating his wedding anniversary, the other a highly regarded and loved member of college staff. Kurt Cochran and his wife, Melissa on the last day of a trip celebrating their 25th anniversary were visiting her parents, who are serving as Mormon missionaries in London. Aysha Frade, who worked in administration at independent sixth-form school DLD College London, in Westminster, is understood to have been 43 and married with two daughters. A massive inquiry has been launched by intelligence agencies and the police as they attempt to piece together the killers movements in the lead-up to the attack. The address in Hagley Road was raided on Wednesday night (Richard Vernalls/PA) Anti-terror police have arrested eight people in the wake of the attack, and several addresses were raided overnight in London and Birmingham. At the scene of one of the police raids, a flat in Hagley Road, Birmingham, one witness told the Press Association: The man from London lived here. Surrey Police would not comment on whether there was police activity in their county as part of the probe into the Westminster attack, instead directing queries about the matter to the Metropolitan Police. A Scotland Yard spokesman said the force would not discuss locations for operational reasons. Investigators believe the attacker acted alone, and Mrs May said there was no reason to believe further attacks on the public were planned. Meanwhile, Islamic State made its first public pronouncement since the atrocity. A statement released through the groups Aamaq news agency said the attacker was a soldier of the Islamic State. #ISIS' 'Amaq published its report on #Londonattack in both Arabic and English pic.twitter.com/q6q7zlZb99 SITE Intelligence Group (@siteintelgroup) March 23, 2017 Commentators pointed out that the terror group has a record of opportunistically claiming attacks and said it was significant that the statement did not appear to claim it had directed the strike. A minutes silence was held nationwide at 9.33am, including in the Palace of Westminster and at New Scotland Yard, to commemorate the three innocent people who were killed. Minutes silence to honour the lives lost in the #WestminsterAttack https://t.co/zdnYoHgQFZ Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 23, 2017 The timing of the silence was chosen in honour of Pc Palmers shoulder number 933. Forty other people were injured in the attack, with 29 treated in hospital, where seven remained in a critical condition on Thursday. The casualties included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, two Greeks, and one each from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the United States. Three police officers were also hurt, two of them seriously. Westminster Bridge reopened on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the attack. Pc Keith Palmer was a wonderful dad and husband, a loving son, brother and uncle who will be deeply missed, his family said. The 48-year-old married father, who was killed in the Westminster terror attack, was dedicated to his job and proud to be a police officer, brave and courageous. PC Keith Palmer In a statement, his family added that he was a long-time supporter of Charlton FC, and a friend to everyone who knew him. They said: He will be deeply missed. We love him so much. His friends and family are shocked and devastated by his loss and ask that they are left to grieve alone in peace. It is with great sadness that the club has learned of the tragic death of loyal fan, PC Keith Palmer --> https://t.co/4YED5bCx7j #cafc pic.twitter.com/TQbKSrGFET Charlton Athletic FC (@CAFCofficial) March 23, 2017 Pc Palmer was stabbed to death in the attack on Wednesday while on duty at the Houses of Parliament. He joined the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in April 2016, having previously worked in the Territorial Support Group (TSG). Pc James Aitkenhead, who worked alongside Keith in the TSG, praised his former colleague as a genuinely nice person for whom nobody had a bad word to say. When I heard what had happened I knew it would be him because thats just the sort of guy he was, to step straight in when others might step back. He said Pc Palmer had a great work ethic and was always so positive, always staying late after everyone else and getting in early. My thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of PC Keith Palmer. A brave man. James Cleverly (@JamesCleverly) March 22, 2017 Inspector Mark Turner, from the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, who most recently worked with Pc Palmer, said: He really was a solid reliable member of the team he came in and just got the job done, quietly and efficiently. He was a fantastic member of staff and will be sorely missed. Speaking in Parliament the day after the incident, his former colleague, Conservative MP James Cleverly, paid a tearful tribute to the man he met 25 years ago as part of Battery 100 Regiment, Royal Artillery. Fellow supporters, colleagues and politicians also paid tribute. Our flag flies at half-mast to mark the death of PC Keith Palmer and the other victims of yesterday's attack #Westminster pic.twitter.com/dN8IoVFFD1 Greater Manchester Police (@gmpolice) March 23, 2017 PC Keith Palmer. Our brave Met #Police colleague who today made the ultimate sacrifice #LestWeForget pic.twitter.com/i5L4dQSNuC Metropolitan Police Federation (@MPFed) March 22, 2017 As I go to sleep tonight it is with profound thanks to PC Keith Palmer & all our security officers. And profound sorrow for all the victims pic.twitter.com/OwgeQYrRNT Barry Gardiner (@BarryGardiner) March 23, 2017 A massive police operation is under way after a terror attack in Westminster, in the heart of London. What we know so far about the Westminster attack: Masood, 52, had a string of criminal convictions including possession of a knife, but he was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack. The attacker was investigated by MI5 some years ago over concerns of violent extremism. How the national newspapers reported the terrorist attack (PA) Those arrested include a 39-year-old woman held at an address in east London the night after the attack on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. A 26-year-old woman and three men aged 28, 27 and 26 were arrested at a separate address in Birmingham the night after the attack on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. (Lauren Hurley/PA) Two people were arrested overnight on Thursday/Friday in the West Midlands and the North West. Mr Cochran, 54, from Utah, was the man killed in the incident on the bridge. At least 50 people of 12 different nationalities were injured, including 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, two Greeks, and one each from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the United States. A police river boat on the River Thames at the Houses of Parliament Three police officers were also hurt, two of whom remained in hospital in Friday with significant injuries. Approximately 3,500 witnesses including 1,000 from Westminster Bridge and 2,500 from within the Parliamentary estate, have contacted police. Attacker Masood, armed with two large knives, jumped out of the car after smashing it into the railings encircling the Palace of Westminster, fatally stabbing Pc Palmer as he entered the grounds. Islamic State has claimed the attacker was one of its soldiers. Prime Minister Theresa May chaired a meeting of the Governments emergency Cobra committee on Wednesday night, later branding the attack sick and depraved. Fernando Alonso believes McLaren will need a miracle to stand any chance of avoiding an embarrassing start to the new Formula One season. The British team have arrived in Melbourne in crisis after a poor pre-season in which they encountered a number of reliability issues with their Honda engine. McLaren completed fewer laps than any other team during eight days of testing, and they were off the pace, too, with their sluggish Honda engine significantly slower than its competitors. Indeed there is every chance that double world champion Alonso, who has won 32 grands prix, and his new team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne hired following Jenson Buttons retirement will be fighting at the back of the field this weekend. Mirror checks and seat tweaks. Fernando makes a few final adjustments adjustments to his #MCL32 ahead of the weekend. #AusGP pic.twitter.com/8qeAaJ2cFM McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 23, 2017 Im sure the team worked very hard in the last couple of weeks to improve the situation and arrive a little bit more ready to compete here, Alonso said. But in Formula One there are no miracles in two weeks, so I expect a difficult weekend. McLaren are entering the third period of their 10-year deal with Japanese car manufacturer Honda but their dire winter of testing has raised significant questions over the partnerships long-term future. Alonso, 35, voiced his criticism of Honda earlier this month in Barcelona and, again on Thursday, stressed the need for improvement sooner rather than later. Im not writing off anything, Alonso, who is out of contract with McLaren at the end of the year, said. We are not here to wait for four races, six races, eight races to improve. Fernando Alonso We need to improve for tomorrow. If tomorrow is not going okay then we need to improve for Saturday. And if on Saturday we dont qualify in a good position we need to improve for Sunday. This is Formula One. Its not a charity match where we can have fun here and there. We have to compete. We have to beat our opponents and we need to be the best. This is what Formula One is about. Alonso is widely considered to be one of the finest drivers of his generation, but his career has stalled after he left Ferrari to rejoin McLaren in 2015. Indeed the Spaniard has a best-place finish of only fifth to show from the last two years and has not been on the podium in nearly 50 races. Michael van Gerwen set a new record of 44 televised matches unbeaten in Manchester on Thursday night then promptly saw his proud new record brought to an end. Van Gerwen shot back to the top of the Premier League Darts table and eclipsed the previous record held jointly with Phil Taylor when he beat James Wade 7-4 in his first match of the night. STATS | MVG's unbeaten run comes to an end at the hands of Raymond van Barneveld. Here are the numbers.#LoveTheDarts pic.twitter.com/6MOe0EOfpY PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) March 23, 2017 But the world champion then fell to a 7-5 defeat in a high-quality clash with fellow Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld as he played his game in hand on the rest of the field. Michael van Gerwen BARNEY WINS! Michael van Gerwen's 44-game unbeaten run comes to an end. What a performance from the Dutch maestro. #LoveTheDarts pic.twitter.com/djL0uyHoqi PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) March 23, 2017 Reigning champion Van Gerwen at least ended the night back on top of the table after previous leader Peter Wright was beaten 7-5 by Phil Taylor, despite a gallant fightback from 6-3 down. Kim Huybrechts and Jelle Klaasen were confirmed for relegation after they were respectively beaten 7-2 by Gary Anderson and 7-5 by Adrian Lewis. By Teis Jensen COPENHAGEN, March 22 (Reuters) - Shipping and oil company A. P. Moller-Maersk on Wednesday reached an agreement with the Danish state that means it will pay less tax on its North Sea oil and gas activities through 2025. The deal, which has been under negotiation for months, makes it viable to redevelop the Tyra field through which 90 percent of Denmark's gas production is processed, and it is seen as crucial for the Danish company that is seeking to spin off its energy assets via a listing or merger. Maersk and its partners in the Danish Underground Consortium (DUC) -- Shell, Chevron and state-owned Nordsofonden -- with whom it owns Tyra, will decide on the redevelopment of the field by the end of the year, Maersk said. "We will now issue tenders and progress engineering work towards detailed plans in preparation of a final investment decision by end 2017," Maersk Oil's Chief Operating Officer, Martin Rune Pedersen said in a statement. "Pending a final investment decision, production from Tyra is now expected to shut in December 2019 and restart in March 2022," Maersk Oil said. The deal means the tax allowance on oil and gas production will be increased gradually over the next six years to 6.5 percent from 5 percent now, the finance ministry said. The tax allowance will be withdrawn if the oil price rises to above $75 per barrel, the ministry said. Tyra's platforms have sunk 5 metres since production began 30 years ago but Maersk has earlier said it would not be viable to redevelop it given the conditions offered by Denmark. The deal will support investments of more than 10 billion Danish crowns ($1.5 billion) in oil and gas production in the North Sea, and could increase tax revenues by 26 billion crowns through 2042, the finance ministry said. ($1 = 6.8880 Danish crowns) (Additional reporting by Erik Matzen and Nikolaj Skydsgaard, editing by David Evans) By Laila Kearney NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - New York police ramped up security at British sites across the city on Wednesday after an assailant fatally stabbed a policeman outside Britain's parliament and was then shot and killed by police. Heavily armed officers and explosives-detecting dogs were deployed to locations including the British Consulate and the British Mission to the United Nations in Manhattan, senior New York Police Department officials told a news conference. "You'll see a larger presence of the dogs at these locations, as well as (officers) armed with the long guns," said James Waters, the police department's counterterrorism chief. Police Commissioner James O'Neill said that while authorities were concerned about copycat attacks, there was no specific threat to New York City on Wednesday. Outside the British Consulate, officers stood guard wearing helmets and tactical vests and carrying semi-automatic rifles. Several police cars were parked nearby, their lights flashing. Police long-gun teams were also deployed to New York's City Hall and Grand Central Station, the department said. Four people died and at least 20 were injured in London after a car plowed into pedestrians and an attacker stabbed a policeman close to parliament in what police called a "marauding terrorist attack." New York police previously boosted security at prominent sites around the city after large-scale attacks in Paris, Brussels and San Bernardino, California, out of an abundance of caution. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it would lend support to Britain's investigation of the attack but that the U.S. security posture was unchanged. "We are in close contact with our British counterparts to monitor the tragic events and to support the ongoing investigation," the department said in a statement. (Reporting by Laila Kearney; Additional reporting by Timothy Ahmann in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Peter Cooney) N'DJAMENA, March 22 (Reuters) - French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen pledged on Wednesday to break with her country's decades-old relationship with Africa known as "Francafrique" and abolish the CFA franc currency policy that binds Paris and its former colonies. Francafrique describes an informal web of relationships Paris has maintained with its former African colonies and its support, sometimes in the form of military backing, for politicians who favour French business interests. Le Pen, one of the frontrunners in the presidential election, spoke at the end of a two-day visit to Chad where she sought to outline her policies regarding the continent, which has long held an important place in French foreign policy. "It was only in coming here and explaining that I am able to get around the lies of my political adversaries who don't want Africa to hear me," the National Front (FN) party candidate said at a news conference in the capital N'Djamena. "I've come to condemn the policy of Francafrique that they've carried out. I have come to say I will break with this policy," she said. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy and incumbent Francois Hollande also vowed to end the Francafrique policy, but both kept France deeply involved in African politics and security matters. Le Pen, a nationalist and vocal critic of the European Union, has spoken of her desire for France to abandon the euro currency. In N'Djamena, she also called for an end to the CFA franc, a currency used in 14 west and central African nations, which is tied to the euro at a fixed exchange rate - with the peg guaranteed by the French Treasury. "I understand the complaints of African states which consider as a matter of principle that they must have their own currency and that the CFA franc is a hindrance to their economic development. I completely agree with this vision," she said. In building the FN into a viable mainstream party, Le Pen has worked to shake off the baggage of its historical anti-semitism and deflect current accusations of racism and Islamophobia. And while she sought to highlight that French citizens of African origin have the same rights and duties as any other citizens, she maintained the hard line on immigration that has solidified her support among many voters. "Because France is sovereign, because it has its laws, because everyone who enters a country must respect these laws, foreigners living illegally in France will be sent home and French borders will be restored," she said. (Reporting by Madjiasra Nako; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Hugh Lawson) By J.D. Capelouto LONDON, March 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Amputees with prosthetic limbs may soon have much a better sense of touch, temperature and texture, thanks to the energy-saving power of the sun, British researchers said on Thursday. While prosthetics are usually fully powered using batteries, a new prototype from University of Glasgow researchers opens up the possibility for so-called "solar-powered skin", which would include better sense capabilities than current technology. "If an entity is going out in a sunny day, then they won't need any battery" to activate their senses, said Ravinder Dahiya, a research fellow at the university and a leader of the study. "They can feel, without worrying about battery." The technology involves installing a thin layer of pure carbon around a prosthetic arm, hand or leg. This allows light to pass through it and be easily used as solar energy, the researchers said in a research paper. The sun can provide up to 15 times more energy than is usually needed to power a prosthetic limb, Dahiya said. This extra - and renewable - energy can be used to power sensors that increase sense and feeling in a limb, so much so that the prosthetic can feel pressure, temperature and texture like natural skin, the paper said. "The skin is sensitive to touch and pressure, so when you touch the skin there you will know what point you are contacting and how much force you are applying," Dahiya said, describing the prototype. The scientists are the first to develop a model for solar-powered prosthetic skin, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The technology could also increase the functionality of robots, allowing them to have a better understanding of what they touch and interact with, according to Dahiya. If robots had limbs that are sensitive to touch and pressure they would be less likely to make errors or injure humans, he said. The researchers hope to further develop the prototype in the next two years, Dahiya said. Eventually, he hopes to power the limbs motors with the renewable energy as well - rather than just the skin. "Because we are saving a lot of energy, our vision is that ... if we store this energy in some way we will be able to also power the motors with the energy," he said. "The prosthetic will be fully energy autonomous." (Reporting by J.D. Capelouto; Editing by Alex Whiting. (Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate))) By Daniel Ramos LA PAZ, March 22 (Reuters) - Dozens of German companies attended meetings in Bolivia this week to discuss building a coast-to-coast railway through Brazil, Bolivia and Peru that could speed up the export of corn and soybeans to Asia, German and Bolivian officials said on Wednesday. The massive, $10 billion project would involve building a 3,700-kilometer (2,299-miles) rail line across the continent, linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, through mountains and jungles. "This is the project of the century," said Germany's State Secretary of German Transport, Building and Urban Development Rainer Bomba. Representatives from Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia as well as Germany and Switzerland are still studying the feasibility of the train route, which would drastically shorten shipping routes from Brazil's coast to Asian markets for key commodities. The discussions, on Tuesday and Wednesday, come after a similar, Chinese-led project build a trans-South America railway ran into roadblocks late last year due to cost and environmental concerns. Bolivian and German officials did not name the companies that attended the meetings, but Bomba said: "The presence of 40 German companies here demonstrates that Germany is not only in the planning phase, but also in the realization phase." Bolivia's Public Works Minister Milton Claros told Reuters Bolivia and Germany had signed agreements for technical assistance and financing for the project. The ministry said the project would connect the Brazilian port of Santos to the Peruvian port of Ilo and had a preliminary cost estimate of $10 billion. Brazil is expected to export 28 million tonnes of corn and 61 million tonnes of soybeans in the 2016/17 crop year according to the USDA. It is the world's largest soybean exporter and second-largest corn exporter. China and Peru agreed in 2015 to study a 3,000-mile-long railway through the Andes, but Peru balked when China estimated its cost at $60 billion. Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski later said the rail should go through Bolivia. Land-locked Bolivia has long pined for a corridor to the Pacific, blasting Chile for taking its coastline in a war in the late 19th century and maintaining its Navy on Lake Titicaca. Brazil had also questioned the Chinese project and would likely back the Bolivian route, a member of the Brazilian delegation said. "We identified problems in the reports made by the Chinese group. We communicated the points of disagreement to Chinese authorities and we are seeing how we can continue the studies," said Joao Carlos Parkinson, coordinator of economic affairs at Brazil's Foreign Ministry, who attended the meetings. Brazil's Ambassador to Bolivia Raymundo Santos said talks would continue. "Our delegation confirmed Brazil's interest in participating," he said. "The political side has been resolved, but now the technical work has to move forward." (Writing by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Luc Cohen and Sandra Maler) By Joyce Lee SEOUL, March 23 (Reuters) - South Korean state banks are preparing a fresh $2.6 billion bailout for floundering Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd, which has built up huge losses from offshore projects and risks missing debt repayments. Daewoo, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries are South Korea's top shipbuilders - a massive economic force and a source of national pride. But they slipped into the red in 2015 amid a commodities downturn and bleak trade volumes, prompting cost cuts and asset sales. Of the three, Daewoo's situation is the most difficult. Without the infusion of funds, Daewoo is not expected to be able to redeem 940 billion won ($840.49 million) in corporate bonds maturing this year - starting with 440 billion won due in April, the country's financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said on Thursday. Bondholders and other creditors, however, will have to agree to painful debt-for-equity swaps for the 2.9 trillion won bailout to go through. In case of disagreement, Daewoo could enter a form of court receivership under an alternate plan. "A liquidity crunch is expected in April, and without additional measures Daewoo Shipbuilding will not be able to meet its obligations and bankruptcy cannot be avoided," the FSC said. Already bailed out in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s and supported again in 2015, Daewoo's financials have deteriorated rapidly since then due to delays and trouble building complex offshore facilities. It reported a record net loss of 3.3 trillion won in 2015. Additional delays in the payment for a drillship ordered by Angola's Sonangol EP, and fewer-than-expected orders in 2016, have reduced Daewoo's liquidity to critical levels, the FSC said. Sonangol could not be immediately reached for a comment. In the event of a bankruptcy, about 50,000 people would be expected to lose their jobs and about 1,300 sub-contractors could go under. Daewoo's creditor banks would be liable for massive refund guarantees of pre-paid construction fees and would have to set aside bad-loan provisions of up to 14 trillion won, the FSC said. The South Korean economy could take a 48.4 trillion won hit if Daewoo goes bankrupt this year, it added. South Korea's central bank said the bailout plan was "inevitable" when considering the economic consequences of letting the company go under. "We will be looking at this from here on out, but whether the creditors will agree to change the debt and what Daewoo does to save itself will be very important," Governor Lee Ju-yeol told journalists. KOREAN HAIRCUTS The FSC's plan to keep Daewoo afloat requires corporate bondholders, which hold about 1.5 trillion won of Daewoo debt, to agree to a 50 percent debt-to-equity swap and a three-year repayment grace period on the remaining. Daewoo's two largest state creditors, Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Export-Import Bank of Korea, will accept a 100 percent debt-to-equity swap of 1.6 trillion won in unsecured loans. This is separate from the 2.9 trillion won the two will inject into Daewoo if all stakeholders agree to the plan. A Daewoo creditors' meeting will be called around April 14, KDB said. But non-state-owned creditor banks, which hold about 700 billion in unsecured loans, must agree to an 80 percent debt-to-equity swap and a 5-year grace period on the remaining. Trading in Daewoo shares is currently halted. After Daewoo overcomes this liquidity crunch, it will be put up for sale, KDB Chairman Lee Dong-geol told reporters. "Going forward, we will work with Daewoo so it can focus on its strengths in fuel-efficient ships, liquefied natural gas vessels and naval vessels," Lee said. The FSC outlined a Plan B, in case Daewoo stakeholders cannot agree, under which the firm will enter a form of court receivership, giving a Seoul court power to organise its debt restructuring while allowing creditor banks to infuse funds into Daewoo as needed. In this scenario, Daewoo will talk with key shipowners to prevent them from cancelling orders, FSC added. Daewoo's financial woes come at a time when the global shipping industry is stuck in its worst slump on record amid low freight rates and overcapacity. While orders could pick up given a recent recovery in the dry bulk market, Japanese and Chinese ship yards will be more competitive for this kind of business, said Ralph Leszczynski, head of research at ship broker Banchero Costa in Singapore. "A recovery in the tanker and containership sectors, not to even mention offshore, are unfortunately further away. Therefore, Korean yards will probably continue to face losses still for at least a few more years, and will most likely have to rationalise capacity," Leszczynski added. ($1 = 1,118.4000 won) (Reporting by Joyce Lee, additional reporting by Keith Wallis in SINGAPORE; Editing by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Himani Sarkar) SOFIA, March 23 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. -- Bulgaria's security services have expelled a Turkish Muslim imam for inciting anti-Bulgarian sentiment in northeastern Bulgaria where many ethnic Turks live, sources familiar with the issue said. Bulgaria has put 4 Turkish citizens on its blacklist on the same grounds in the past week, after accusing Turkey of meddling in its general polls this Sunday. (Sega, Standart, Monitor, Trud, 24 Chasa) -- European Council President Donald Tusk will visit Bulgaria in early April, Bulgarian presidency said. Enhanced border controls on the Bulgarian-Turkish border aimed at preventing a possible increase in migrant inflows will be on the agenda. (Capital Daily, Duma, Trud) -- Farmers protested in front of the Agriculture Ministry over delayed payments of subsidies and its decision to stop accepting new bids for EU financing for organic farming for the period 2014-2020. (Sega, Telegraph) ZURICH, March 23 (Reuters) - Turkey's foreign minister travels to Switzerland on Thursday to meet his Swiss counterpart, who has tried to keep the neutral country out of a weeks-long dispute between Ankara and several other European nations over campaigning by Turkish politicians. Turkey has been embroiled in a dispute with Germany, the Netherlands and Austria over campaign appearances by Turkish officials seeking to drum up support for an April 16 referendum that could boost President Tayyip Erdogan's powers. The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed the meeting between Turkey's Mevlut Cavusoglu and Switzerland's Didier Burkhalter in Bern but gave no other details. The SDA news agency said Cavusoglu would also meet compatriots at the Turkish embassy in Bern. Embassy officials were not immediately available for comment. Zurich officials earlier this month asked the Swiss federal government to stop Cavusoglu from speaking at an event in the country's financial capital, citing security concerns. Bern refused, saying there was no extraordinary threat level that would justify curbs on freedom of speech. The speech was eventually cancelled for lack of a venue. Swiss government statistics show around 68,000 Turkish citizens live in Switzerland, a nation of 8.3 million whose population is a quarter foreign. The Turkish embassy's website refers to around 130,000 Turkish citizens. (Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Gareth Jones) OSLO, March 23 (Reuters) - Norway's decision to grant asylum to a group of Turkish military officers is an administrative not a political one, a Norwegian foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday, a day after Ankara summoned Norway's ambassador over the issue. "We've informed the Turkish ambassador in Oslo that asylum applications are decided by Norwegian immigration officials, based on Norwegian law," Guri Solberg said in a statement. The Norwegian ambassador to Ankara would convey the same message to Turkey's foreign ministry on Thursday, she added. Turkey's foreign ministry summoned the envoy on Wednesday to express its concerns about Oslo's decision to grant asylum to the four Turks suspected of links to the religious network accused by Ankara of orchestrating last July's coup attempt. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Gwladys Fouche and Catherine Evans) CAIRO, March 23 (Reuters) - Egypt has halted Brazilian meat imports until they are confirmed to be safe for consumption, an Egyptian government spokesman told Reuters on Thursday. The announcement follows an investigation by Brazil into their meatpacking industry. Brazilian police have accused more than 100 people, mostly health inspectors, of taking bribes for allowing the sale of rancid products, falsifying export documents or failing to inspect meatpacking plants. But Egypts agriculture ministry spokesperson, Hamid Abdel Dayim, stopped short of announcing an outright ban on the imports. "We have not stopped imports, only delayed them until the situation is clearer. We are following up on the situation with the companies and butchers that we deal with," he told Reuters. In recent days Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland China, the European Union, South Korea and Chile have announced partial or all-out bans on Brazilian meat imports. On Friday, Brazil's police named BRF SA and JBS SA, along with dozens of smaller rivals, in a two-year probe into how meatpackers allegedly paid off inspectors to overlook practices including processing rotten meat, shipping exports with traces of salmonella and simply not carrying out inspections of plants. The companies have denied any wrongdoing and authorities have said that no cases of death or illness have been linked to the tainted meat investigation. (Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Dominic Evans and Vin Shahrestani) By Joseph Nasr BERLIN, March 23 (Reuters) - Germany has launched a two-pronged attack on U.S. President Donald Trump's charge that its current account surplus is too high -- don't blame us for being good at what we do, and our ageing population is going to eat it all up anyway. The finance ministry said in its monthly report on Thursday that as Germany's society ages fast, its swelling senior population will be more inclined to spend at home rather than save abroad, boosting consumption and shrinking the surplus. "In a society where ageing is growing, savings -- including capital invested abroad -- will fall as pensioners use that to finance their consumption in Germany," it said. "This will probably reduce the current account surplus and could even turn it into a deficit." At the same time, it said that the surplus -- which irks the International Monetary Fund and many in Europe as well -- was the result, frankly, of Germany being better than others at business. It said it was down to the competitiveness of the German economy over which the government had no influence. "The current account in Germany is not controlled by the state," the ministry said. The new U.S. administration has accused Germany of exploiting a weak euro to gain a trade advantage and has called for bilateral discussions to reduce the $65 billion U.S. trade deficit with Germany. Many Europeans, meanwhile, reckon Germany's surplus epitomises the imbalances of the euro zone, in which productive Germany drives ahead of less competitive, primarily southern countries in the bloc. Graphed over the past 20 years, the U.S.-German gap indeed looks like the open jaw of an alligator. http://bit.ly/2mXdIUv But Germany's main new pitch is that the jaw will snap shut when demographics kick in. OLD AND WEALTHY Economists say there is some truth -- at least in theory -- to Germany's claim that demographics will put negative pressure on the current account surplus. Some 21 percent of Germany's 82-million population is aged 65 or more, a figure projected to rise to 27 percent by 2030. But more active measures like boosting government and corporate spending would give more credibility to German efforts to counter the criticism of its disproportionately strong exports sector. "All in all, it is a valid argument but falls short explaining the entire story. More investments, both by the private and public sector would make the story much more convincing," said ING-Diba economist Carsten Brzeski. He added: "Not only for the U.S. administration but also for the German economy, which would be the main beneficiary from such a policy change." Brzeski said that Japan, whose population is older than Germany's, still has a high current account surplus. This doesn't bode well for German arguments that demographics will depress the surplus. The finance ministry said that in addition to demographics, increased private consumption and an eventual normalisation of the European Central Bank's expansionary monetary policy were also likely to narrow the surplus. But economists say the government could spend more on education and digital infrastructure, which would in turn prod German companies sitting on billions of euros in savings to invest in factory modernisations and new machineries. "Raising public spending is one measure to encourage companies to raise investments. We are on the right path but more needs to be done to get companies to invest," said Simon Junker of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). The finance ministry said the current account, which stood at 8.3 percent of output in 2016, would fall to 8 percent by 2018. It stood at 8.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2015. In 2016, the German trade surplus hit a fresh record at 252.2 billion euros ($272 billion), according to the Federal Statistics Office. The wider current account surplus, which measures the flow of goods, services and investments into and out of a country, rose to an all-time high of 261.4 billion euros, Bundesbank data showed. ($1 = 0.9270 euros) (Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber and Daniel Felleiter; Editing and graphic by Jeremy Gaunt) By Angel Krasimirov ELIN PELIN, Bulgaria, March 23 (Reuters) - Syrian refugee Fatema Batayhi says she has not left her home for five weeks, not since a hostile crowd confronted her on the main square of this sleepy town in a valley east of Bulgaria's capital, Sofia. Batayhi, her husband and their youngest son fled the barrel bombs and street fighting of Syria's Aleppo four years ago, eventually joining their eldest son in setting up home eight months ago in the first European Union country they could reach - Bulgaria, via Turkey. However, they had not reckoned with the town's mayor, who refused to issue them with residence papers, or on a growing mood of nationalist intolerance that has dragged Bulgarian politics towards the hard right and may help determine the make-up of the next government after an election on Sunday. The crowd in Elin Pelin, a town of some 7,000 people named after an early 20th century Bulgarian writer, hurled insults and objects at Batayhi, a Muslim. "I got scared, very scared," the 50-year-old said over strong Arabic coffee, Syrian cheese and fruits. "I haven't been out since then and I keep the door locked." Her husband, Fahim Jaber, said nationalists had threatened to forcibly convert the family to Christianity. "We're Muslims, but our home in Aleppo was close to the church and I have never seen such division and aggression between Muslims and Christians," he said. The wave of mainly Muslim refugees and migrants reaching Europe's borders over the past two years has contributed to a rise in right-wing nationalism across the continent, particularly in the countries of ex-communist Eastern Europe, which mostly have little experience of large-scale immigration. Bulgaria stands out in the region for its significant Muslim minority, some 12 percent among 7.2 million mainly Orthodox Christians - a legacy of almost 500 years of Ottoman Turkish rule that ended in the late 19th century. The resistance to the Muslim Ottomans is a core element of Bulgarian national identity, and some nationalists have cast the mainly Muslim migrants arriving via Turkey as a fresh threat to the nation's security and Orthodox Christian faith, despite the fact that most want to move on to wealthier western Europe. The growing climate of intolerance is now feeding support for the likes of the United Patriots, an alliance of anti-migrant nationalist parties polling third with more than 11 percent of the vote ahead of Sunday's poll. A strong showing could turn United Patriots into kingmaker in post-election coalition talks, and has seen Bulgaria's two biggest parties - the centre-right GERB and the Socialists - harden their own already tough rhetoric on migrants. It remains uncertain which of the two main parties the United Patriots would favour joining in government given the alliance's own internal divisions. "Its fashionable to sound like a nationalist today," said political analyst Parvan Simeonov. "WE'RE NOT FASCISTS" According to a survey published in February, 77 percent of Bulgarians see migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa as a threat to national security. Earlier this month, an Italian Catholic priest in northern Bulgaria announced he was leaving the country after his decision to provide shelter for a Syrian family triggered a backlash from local people. Few of those travelling across the Balkan peninsula have any intention of actually staying in the largely poor region. Fahim and Fatema, however, wanted to remain after their eldest son had managed to start a life for himself in Bulgaria in 2013. They joined him in June 2016 after three years in Turkey and were granted refugee status. The refusal of the mayor, Ivaylo Simeonov, to issue the family with residence papers, which Fahim said had cost him several job opportunities, was condemned by rights groups, but drew no response from the government. Simeonov is a member of the VMRO party, part of the United Patriots alliance. Krassimir Kanev, the head of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, said the mayors behaviour and the inaction of the authorities were "extremely disturbing" and unlawful. "It is the result of the continuing incitement of hatred, discrimination and violence against migrants legally residing on the territory of Bulgaria," he said. Simeonov said he acted in accordance "with the will of the people". "We're not fascists," he told Reuters. "We want peace for the town and its citizens." "Europe did not allow us to distinguish between humanitarian refugees and economic migrants, and people are now afraid that many others, who are not as quiet as the Jaber family, will arrive." Fahim said he had asked the United Nations Refugee Agency to return him and his family to Syria but that the agency had refused on security grounds. Fatema said they should never have left Turkey. "I regret that we ever came here," she said. (Editing by Matt Robinson and Gareth Jones) By Yuval Ben-David TEL AVIV, March 23 (Reuters) - Two months after stepping down as Barack Obama's ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro sees some good in the initial peace efforts by the new administration of Donald Trump, even as he voices his grievances against it. "So far the approach on the Israeli-Palestinian issue has been more cautious and more responsible than almost anything else," Shapiro told Reuters. "I cant quite explain why on this one issue theyre closer to the norm than theyve been on other issues." Shapiro has gained a following of thousands on his new personal Twitter account, sharing insights gleaned from nearly six years in the Tel Aviv embassy and face-to-face contacts with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and correcting misconceptions he perceives on social media about Obama's diplomacy. In the interview, he said Trump has surprised him by calling for a slowdown in Israeli settlement construction on occupied land Palestinians seek for a state. The former envoy praised the Republican president's chief negotiator Jason Greenblatt for meeting a cross-section of Israelis and Palestinians during a visit last week that has led to U.S.-Israeli discussions on limiting settlement building. Still, Shapiro cautioned, Trump's government is inconsistent and unpredictable. "Im not sure how comfortable the Israelis should be with an administration thats hard to read, thats far from fully staffed, that has a very undeveloped policymaking apparatus and has very divergent voices within it," he said. On other diplomatic fronts, Shapiro said, the Trump administration has been cozying up dangerously to Russia, backtracking from free trade agreements and international organisations and calling into question Washington's NATO obligations. When news broke earlier this week that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson planned to skip a NATO meeting, Shapiro pointed on Twitter to a failure to fill staff vacancies. "Thats OK, hell just send his Dep ... I mean, thats OK, hell send the Underse ... I mean, thats OK, hell send an Assistan ... Oh, never mind," he wrote. Now an adviser at a hedge fund and a distinguished visiting fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, Shapiro took the unorthodox course of staying in Israel after leaving his diplomatic post so that a daughter could finish high school exams. The decision to delay his family's return, Shapiro said in an interview with Reuters, also allows him to avoid what he described as the "bleak" mood in Washington following Donald Trump's election as president. Shapiro has avoided wading into Israel's domestic politics on Twitter, saying that as a guest in the country, it would be unseemly to do so. Looking back on the failures of the Obama administration's Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, he suggested that former Secretary of State John Kerry may have been too idealistic in pursuing talks that collapsed in 2014. "We might have adjusted our approach had we taken a very realistic assessment whether we had the leadership dynamics to achieve a breakthrough in negotiations," said Shapiro. The United States, he said, had been aware after efforts during Obama's first term, of the deep personal mistrust between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "And so its a fair question about whether it was realistic at the beginning of the second term that with a concerted effort we could achieve an appreciably different result," Shapiro said. (Editing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Tom Heneghan) STOCKHOLM, March 23 (Reuters) - The anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats have overtaken the centre-right Moderates and are the second most popular party in the Nordic country, polls showed this week. Growing worries about immigration in Sweden, which received a record 160,000 refugees in 2015, have boosted support for the Sweden Democrats, echoing the rise of populist parties across Europe. The party got 19.2 percent support in a poll published on Thursday by Novus for Swedish Television, up from 18.5 percent a month ago. That compares with the 13 percent they polled in the general election in 2014. In a second poll in daily Dagens Nyheter they got 18 percent, up from 17 percent. Both polls showed that the party was in second place for the first time behind the Social Democrats, who form the minority government with the Green Party. "If we become the second largest (second most popular) party, or even the biggest party, it will of course be harder for the other parties to leave us out in the cold," party secretary Richard Jomshof, told Swedish Television. The Sweden Democrats have re-drawn Sweden's political map, making it impossible for either the centre-left or the centre-right to form a majority government without them. All the mainstream parties had refused to have any contact with them, but faced with the prospect of political deadlock, centre-right Moderate party leader Anna Kinberg Batra said recently she was prepared to work with the Sweden Democrats. Support for the Moderates, the biggest party in the centre-right Alliance has slumped since Batra broke ranks. The Moderate Party - the biggest in the opposition Alliance bloc - saw their support drop to 18.0 percent in the Novus poll and down to 17.0 percent in the Ipsos survey. As late as January, the Moderates were polling around 22-23 percent. Batra's move has widened divisions in the four-party centre-right Alliance with the Centre and Liberal parties ruling out cooperation with the Sweden Democrats. However, the government has little to celebrate. Support for the Social Democrats, the biggest party in the coalition, was around 27 percent, down from 31 percent in 2014's election. The Green Party is polling close to the 4 percent threshold for seats in parliament. (Reporting by Johan Sennero; Editing by Toby Davis) ROME, March 23 (Reuters) - Italy announced on Thursday it would not follow the U.S. and Britain in banning travellers using laptops or tablets on certain flights, saying there was not enough evidence to support heightened security measures. The United States and Britain on Tuesday imposed restrictions on carry-on electronic devices on planes coming from certain airports in the Middle East and North Africa in response to unspecified security threats. Italy's civil aviation authority ENAC held a meeting of security experts on Thursday to discuss the latest information it had received over the threat posed by such devices. "No evidence has emerged to make it necessary for a further increase in the security measures that are already in force," ENAC said in a statement, adding it would continue to monitor the situation. (Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Toby Davis) HELSINKI, March 23 (Reuters) - Finland's media watchdog accused the prime minister on Thursday of putting pressure on state broadcaster YLE by sending it a series of angry emails and texts over a story about the awarding of a state engineering contract. The Council for Mass Media also scolded YLE for caving into Juha Sipila's pressure by making changes to an online story after receiving his complaints. The case has caused a particular stir in the Nordic country, ranked as the global leader in press freedom by media rights group Reporters Without Borders. Sipila acknowledged on Thursday that his messages had been a "mistake". YLE's editor in chief, Atte Jaaskelainen, called the watchdog's criticism of the broadcaster "harsh" and said his conscience was clear. The prime minister sent his complaints after YLE reported in November that Katera Steel, an engineering company owned by Sipila's relatives, received a half-million-euro order from a state-owned nickel mine, around the same time that the mine received a cash injection from the state. Sipila, who was cleared of any conflict of interest by Finland's parliamentary watchdog in February, complained that he had not been given enough time to comment on the story before publication. "The amount and the tone of the prime minister's messages can be considered exceptional, and can be interpreted as an attempt to pressure (YLE)", the watchdog said in a statement. YLE then changed the structure of the online story, edited the text and removed a graphic, actions that effectively "surrendered its editorial decision making to an outside party," the watchdog added. "I already apologised for sending the emails in November, it was a mistake, but I still think I had the right to be heard" Sipila told reporters at the parliament. YLE's Jaaskelainen described the watchdog's rebuke as "a harsh decision," in an interview on YLE television news. "I will not resign. I have made a decision based on my values, to promote responsible journalism. Even now that we received the councils notice, my conscience is clear," Jaaskelainen added. The council, a self-regulating body made up of publishers and journalists, comments on good journalistic practices but has no legal powers. The state-owned nickel mine involved in the story, Terrafame, said the order had been placed ahead of the government's financing decision and it would have been awarded even without extra funds. (Reporting by Tuomas Forsell; Editing by Jussi Rosendahl and Andrew Heavens) By John Miller ZURICH, March 23 (Reuters) - The Swiss foreign minister told his Turkish counterpart on Thursday that his country would "rigorously investigate" any illegal spying by Ankara on expatriate Turks before an April 16 referendum on expanding Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's powers. At a meeting with Turkish minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Switzerland's Didier Burkhalter underscored Swiss concerns that Turkey may have been using its intelligence network to monitor the activities of Turkish citizens in Switzerland in the run-up to the vote, according to a Swiss foreign ministry statement. "Freedom of expression is a universal value recognised by Switzerland, which hopes that this freedom will also hold true for Turkish citizens whether they cast their votes in Switzerland or in their own country," said Burkhalter. The statement said Switzerland would "rigorously investigate illegal intelligence activities". Efforts to reach the Turkish embassy late Thursday were unsuccessful. For weeks, Burkhalter has been trying to keep his neutral country from becoming too deeply entangled in a bitter dispute between Ankara and other European nations over campaigning by Turkish politicians to drum up support for Erdogan among Turks living abroad. Erdogan has accused Germany and the Netherlands of behaving like Nazis for halting some rallies by Turkish ministers, comments that both countries have called unacceptable. While the Swiss government has been pressured by cities including Zurich to block visits by Turkish officials, Bern has refused on the grounds there was nothing to justify curbs on freedom of speech. Cavusoglu had been scheduled to come to Switzerland for an event earlier this month, but that was cancelled for lack of a venue. During Thursday's visit, Burkhalter also told Cavusoglu that he was aware of Turkey's "difficult situation" following last summer's attempted coup, the Swiss statement said. Still, Burkhalter remained concerned about mass dismissals and arrests of people Ankara has linked to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan accuses of masterminding the failed July 15 power grab. "The declaration of a state of emergency does not exempt Turkey from its international human rights obligations," the statement said, adding Burkhalter "stressed the importance of freedom of expression and the freedom to speak out for democracy." Swiss government statistics show 68,000 Turkish citizens live in Switzerland. The Turkish embassy's website refers to 130,000 Turkish citizens. (Additional reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) How GMOA exploits Doctors are educated from Grade 1 to MBBS Final exam with taxpayers money Private hospitals increased from 66 in 1990 to 125 in 2011 and they keep growing Government medical doctors who worked part-time in private hospitals almost indispensable Private hospitals, now service 27% of hospital services Private hospitals need permanent medical doctors to serve them medical mafia can only be challenged by the people Recent media reports say the GMOA has decided to keep away from private practice and channelling for 02 weeks from 30 March. Available numbers in past years show the month of April as a lean month for both private and public healthcare. Probably the habit of seeking medical treatment even for the common cold is overtaken by the festive mood, especially in the first two weeks up to Sinhala and Hindu New Year. The GMOA has thus chosen that lean period for their protest while proving they were desperate now. Not surprisingly, they dont say they would stop private practice altogether on principle. That they would never say. In fact their slogan of free education with no private sector medical faculties is to continue monopolising the lucrative private medical sector and not strengthen Free health in any way. Sri Lankas proud achievement in life quality was gained through national health programmes carried within free health. What we have gained on the mortality rate, life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, live births, eradication of Malaria, Poliomyelitis, etc. were on the strength of the network of trained field staff. Public Health Inspectors, Medical Officers of Health, Family Health Officers (previously known as mid wives) and also Apothecaries (RMPs) who were posted to outpatient dispensaries in rural areas played vital roles in making life healthy and above average. National free education played a catalytic role. This very effective healthcare system with emphasis on preventive community health evolved after the State Council was established under colonial rule and was strengthened and expanded post independence, during the first decade. In these early post independent period, government medical doctors were accepted as noble practitioners, with private practice (PP) being more a personal pasttime than another income source. In mid 60s with more government doctors taking to PP, then government banned PP to ensure government hospitals remained the main curative health service provider. Private medical practitioners were no doubt there outside the government service, a few in mostly urban areas, where the middle class preferred to have a family doctor. The open market economy after 1977 once again allowed PP. Free market economy cultivated new choices and needs within a growing middle class. It led not only to private clinics that mushroomed in city kerbs, but also in remote villages too. There was no effective regulatory mechanism to keep a tab on PP and channel practice that emerged. Growth and expansion of private medical practice during the next decade did not mean, government medical professionals left the service for private employment. Instead, they spent more time in private practice and channel service to earn more and more for a fast and fastidious life. This also changed attitudes and priorities of the medical profession. As observed in the working paper An inquiry into the regulation of pharmaceuticals and medical practice in Sri Lanka co-authored by Nimal Attanayake and Laxman Siyambalagoda, .the opening up of the economy along with the rapid expansion of private practise resulted in a new behaviour pattern among medical practitioners. Initially, a hidden effort seems to have existed amongst professional bodies to safeguard their members from allegations. (HEFP working paper 05-03, LSHTM, 2003 / page 16) That cannot be contested and it is no more a hidden effort. It is worth asking the SLMC, how many complaints on medical negligence and unethical practices they receive annually and how many were found guilty. There cannot be any in this set up, with investigators, witnesses defending the accused and the accused, all being medical professionals who safeguard their members from allegations. Another quote from page 10 says, .the extensive competition emerging in the medical market, particularly due to the escalation of private practice, gradually changed the attitudes as well as behaviour of public medical doctors who were engaged in private practice. The medical profession is now moving sharply towards a pure profit oriented venture by neglecting its ethical considerations. (emphasis added) Who are these public medical doctors, after all? Pubic medical doctors are all government employees. Employed by the Health Department, they are paid and maintained by taxpayers money. Their salaries, their allowances from DAT to telephone to travel, scrounged from successive governments holding patients lives to ransom, their 120 hour personally calculated overtime, their duty free vehicle permits, their childrens education with exclusive rights to very popular, privileged government schools are all borne by the Citizens of this country who contribute 80% indirect and 20% direct taxes. Before that, these doctors are educated from Grade 1 to the MBBS Final examination with taxpayers money, the GMOA says is free education. Thus people have paid for 13 years of their formal education and 05 years of medical college education and thereafter they are also paid and sustained with undue privileges and perks from peoples money as government doctors. Do they have any moral right to charge these very people for medical care after all what the people have done for them? Medical doctors should be morally, economically and duty bound to first serve the people free and safeguard free health. Yet that is no more their calling and not their preference either. Increased involvement of government medical doctors in the private medical service turned the early channel and private practice into a huge private medical industry in just 20 years. Private hospitals increased from 66 in 1990 to 125 in 2011 and they keep growing and spreading. They now have modern laboratories equipped with state of the art facilities and they train their own nurses. But they are yet unable to turn out medical professionals of their own due to government restrictions pressured by GMOA. In 2011, according to numbers given by the Private Health Sector Review 2012 (revised in August 2015), only 424 medical doctors were employed full time in private hospitals while 4,845 worked part-time. These part-time medical doctors no doubt are all government medical doctors. That same year there had been 266,000 admissions the private hospitals wouldnt have ever coped with their 424 doctors. That makes government medical doctors who worked part-time in private hospitals almost indispensable. For that sole reason, The biggest risk faced by the private hospitals is the shortage of trained medical practitioners. Most specialist consultants are with the public sector. says Fitch Ratingsof September, 2015. These private hospitals, now service 27% of hospital services. They are very much concentrated in and around Colombo, with expansions to Gampaha, Kandy and Matara according to Fitch Ratings. Of all available private hospital beds, Western Province accounted for 65% and also 88% of all private sector revenue says, Private Health Sector Review 2012. This is how SAITM becomes a threat to the GMOA. Private hospitals need permanent medical doctors to serve them and there is potential for growth if they can employ full time doctors. If SAITM is allowed to produce medical doctors it would then become a precedent with other major players also establishing their own medical colleges. That would then provide the private medical health sector with medical professionals available full time.That would make government medical doctors qualifying fromState universities unimportant inthe private medical sector. For that sole reason GMOA would not allow the private sector to produce medical doctors. That depends on government policy.The GMOA for over 02 decades has forcibly entrenched itself in the health administration in influencing government policy. Now it is no easy task for any Health Minister to decide independently of the GMOA. It is this unholy strength within the administration and not so much the strength of its membership that still holds the health ministry from taking a straight, clean decision on SAITM. This stranglehold on health administration has also allowed government medical doctors to hang around in hospitals in and around Colombo and its periphery where private business is most lucrative. This is an anomaly highlighted by Fitch Ratings. It says, Furthermore, physician distribution is highly skewed towards the Colombo district, while 73% of the population is faced with a physician density much below the national average.. It is for all these reasons the GMOA wants a hold in medical administration and Free Education given total monopoly in producing medical doctors. They dont want to leave government service as that denies them the strong hand they now have in policy making. They dont want the government to change policy to accommodate private medical faculties as that would provide private hospitals with permanent medical professionals. If private hospitals can have their lot of medical doctors, government doctors become nonentities in the lucrative private health sector.They would therefore go to any length in keeping their hold on policy making and selfishly denying permission for private medical colleges. This medical mafia can only be challenged by the people. People have a right to do so and tell them public policy is whats best for the people. A call to ensure public interest on it is quite easy. People fund their education. People pay their salaries. People have a right to supervise their service. It is therefore time now to organise Peoples District Supervisory Committees with the RTI Act in hand, to keep check on daily attendance of medical doctors, their availability in hospitals and other related issues. It is time now to organise a referendum in government hospitals to ask patients if they want their doctor to do PP and channelling. It is peoples intervention that could stop medical professionals turning butchers of Free Health under cover of free education. AIA teams up with David Beckham to help people live longer, healthier, better lives AIA Group Limited (AIA or the Company; stock code: 1299), the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group, announced today the signing of a multi-year agreement with David Beckham, under which he will become the Companys Global Ambassador. In this newly created role Mr Beckham will support AIA in its goal of helping people in the Asia-Pacific region live longer, healthier, better lives. Mark Tucker, AIAs Group Chief Executive &President, said, We are delighted to welcome David as AIAs Global Ambassador. David is an incredibly successful global sporting icon, a committed family man and is hugely respected for his long standing community and charity work; most notably as a UNICEF Good will Ambassador over the past 12 years. Ng Keng Hooi, AIAs Group Chief Executive & President Designate, said, David is a natural fit with AIA as we pursue our Purpose to play a leadership role in the social and economic development of the communities we serve and in doing so, helping millions of people across the Asia-Pacific region to live longer, healthier, better lives. David Beckham, said, Joining the AIA family was an easy decision for me. I am a passionate believer in the value of wellness and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and I share AIAs commitment to encourage people to take charge of their health. Throughout my career in elite sport, and in my role as a parent, I have always tried to be the best I can be by training hard and setting a positive example to those around me. I am looking forward to working closely with AIA and supporting the Companys efforts to improve the quality of peoples lives across the Asia-Pacific region. As Global Ambassador Mr. Beckham will be present at a number of AIAs most important community and business activities to personify and demonstrate the benefits and the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.These will include events for our customers, agents, partners and employees. The new role has been created following the launch of AIA Vitality, Asias first and only comprehensive science-backed wellness platform. It provides members with the knowledge, tools and motivation to help them make achievable steps to meet health goals and bring about long-term positive behavioural change regarding dedication to maintaining a healthier lifestyle. AIA Vitality members are encouraged and incentivised to actively engage in health and wellness initiatives and activities by offering them enhanced benefits, including premium discounts, on their insurance policies and other exciting and valuable rewards from a wide variety of third party providers. Learn more about AIA Vitality at http://www.aia.com/en/about-aia/aia-vitality.html Sathi Jayawardene - Marketing & PR Manager, Daniel Topolanek Head of Business Development, Rushabh Sheth - Managing Director In a move of revolutionary genius, Sri Lankas fastest growing online career platform, everjobs.lk, announced the launchof the first-ever Paperless Job Fair in the country. The company made the announcement during a press conference held at the Hotel Kingsbury in Colombo on the 21st of March. The Paperless Job Fair, the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, offers jobseekers a new and innovative way of applying for jobs. Rather than enduring the hassle of having to personally hand over their CV to the respective company, professionalscan apply directly with their online profile via everjobs.lk. The entire process takes less than one minute and enables companies to manage all applications online and interview applicants on the spot. Those on the look out for jobs will be required to scan company specific QR codes during the fair in order to apply. The fair will take place on the 6th and 7th of May at the BMICH with over 25 exhibitors present. With over 1 million unique visitors in 2016 and more than 200,000 applications, everjobs.lk has become one of the leading job platforms in Sri Lanka just after two years of operations in the country. Since everjobs launched in the market, more than 500 companies have selected the job portal as their preferred recruitment advisor. APACIG, a joint venture of company builder Rocket Internet and Ooredoo, is the backing force of everjobs.lk. "We are really proud to announce the launch of the first ever Paperless Job Fair in Sri Lanka. It gives us tremendous encouragement to see that Sri Lanka is becoming mobile and internet-first as a country and job seekers are becoming a part of the economy through us. We look forward to taking it to the next level through the Paperless Job Fair in May", stated Rushabh Sheth, the Managing Director of everjobs.lk. Rushabh Sheth - Managing Director Daniel Topolanek - Head of Business Development Sathi Jayawardene - Marketing & PR Manager Gotabaya denies existence of any hit squads during his tenure as the Defence Secretary Mano Ganesan speaking at a function in Colombo told that he had a list of 551 persons who had been abducted Secret units independent of the army command structure He seems to think that the people, especially the journalists have totally forgotten the relationship between him and the media One has to collate and compare the claims made by both the topmost officers The debate during the last lap of the war between the Army Commander, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka and the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa during the same period over the death squads allegedly used against many including journalists seems to be a mere coincidence with the ongoing United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions. However, the demonstration in the North over the disappearances of people at a time when the UNHRC was at sessions in Geneva is not accidental. Tamil organizations here as well as abroad and the interested parties such as the Britains Channel 4 usually launch their demonstrations and issuing of new documentary films in a manner that they would coincide with the UNHRC sessions, especially the March sessions, in order to draw the attention of the leaders of the worlds human rights body and the countries interested in the matter. Joining the debate between the two war veterans who spearheaded the successful military campaign against the dreaded LTTE, Mano Ganesan, the Minster of National Coexistence, Dialogue and Official Languages while speaking at a function at Kathiresan Street in Colombo revealed that he had a list of 551 persons who had been abducted during the tenure of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the Defence Secretary. The newspapers had quoted Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesman and Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthirana saying that Gotabaya Rajapaksa could not absolve himself from the responsibility for the disappearance of people during his service period. Newspapers had also quoted Deputy Minister Sujeeva Senasinghe accusing the Rajapaksas of the same. Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka had told the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) that there had been a special unit under the former military intelligence chief Kapila Hendavitharana to attack the media during the time when Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickramatunga was killed. He had stated that the special unit took orders from the Defence Secretary. He had also stated that he was unaware about the security situation in the Colombo Division because that was a subject assigned to Major General Ajith Perera. According to Fonseka the special unit that attacked the journalists and other dissidents was outside of his authority and was controlled by Rajapaksa through Hendaviharana. While denying the existence of a special unit for targeting journalists as stated by the former army commander, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had responded that it was Fonseka who should answer for excesses committed by the troops that were under his orders and questioned what actions the latter took if he knew that there were hit squads. It must be noted that the former Army Commander said about the existence of an army hit squad at a time when so many army personnel had been arrested over attacks on journalists and another former army officer had allegedly committed suicide after claiming responsibility for the murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga. So far a number of army personnel, almost all of them attached to the army intelligence unit, had been apprehended by the CID for the killing of Wickramatunga, disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda and attacks on senior journalist Keith Noyarh and Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon who worked earlier as the Editor of Divaina as well. Gotabaya denies the existence of any hit squads during his tenure as the Defence Secretary. But nobody can deny the occurrence of the incidents mentioned above as well as the attack on senior journalist and activist Poddala Jayantha during the Rajapaksa rule. Sirasa studio in Pannipitiya was burnt and Siyatha office was also attacked then. Udayan newspaper office in Jaffna came under attack several times. So many Tamil journalists were killed during this period. Many journalists left the country due to the threats to their lives during the same period. These were not fiction, but facts. One may argue that just because these incidents took place during President Mahinda Rajapaksas tenure in which Gotabaya was so powerful that he was second only to the President, they cannot be held responsible for them. Yes, for an arguments sake it is true. But the question remains as to why the then government failed to bring the culprits of at least one of these cases to book, whereas almost all arrests were made in respect of these incidents just months after the regime change in January 2015. Keith was assaulted as far back as 2008, Lasantha was killed in 2009, but nobody was arrested until the regime change. Sri Lankan police are not so weak or lack capacity. The best case in point was the arrest of the mastermind of the attack on the Joint Operations Command (JOC) in Colombo on June 21, 1991 from a hideout in Talawakelle just within 24 hours using a clue of a chassis number of the lorry that had gone to the hands of several people before it was taken over by the LTTE. One from the Rajapaksa camp might again argue that it is the police that investigate into such incidents and arrest people and the government cannot be held responsible for their actions. But the people from the same camp accuse the current government leaders for arresting war heroes for these incidents and patriotic politicians for voicing against the government. The argument - it is the police who arrest people not the government - should be applicable to both situations. Therefore, the then government and the Defence Secretary cannot wash their hands off completely by refusing at least to take the moral responsibility for these attacks against journalists. On the other hand, Fonseka might be correct when he said that there had been secret units independent of the army command structure. But his claim that he, the army commander who was at war with an enemy who had spread his tentacles even into the heart of Colombo was unaware of the security situation in the Capital city is interesting. He seems to think that the people, especially the journalists have totally forgotten the relationship between him and the media during the last lap of the war. There had been several demonstrations in Colombo during the Rajapaksa regime by the journalists against the attacks on their colleagues during which slogans were shouted against the army commander as well. Responding to these slogans Gotabaya warned the journalists for accusing his commander. Fonseka even called some journalists traitors. However, Fonsekas claim that there had been hit squads must be taken seriously and if proven true he must be commended for disclosing it. However, one has to collate and compare the claims made by both the topmost officers of the defence establishment during the war to get a clear picture of the situation that threatened the journalists during the last regime. ECONOMYNEXT: Proparco, the private sector arm of Agence Francaise de Development (AFD), Frances development agency, is looking for investment opportunities in Sri Lankan companies as it expands investments in equities, an official said. Proparco is focusing investments in sectors like renewable energy, energy efficiency and agri-business value chain, keeping the best environmental and social practices in mind, said Proparco Senior Investment Officer Yatin Kundra. The organisation wants to promote inclusive growth and invests in development finance and microfinance institutions that have potential to contribute to employment generation, he told a forum. The companies we invest in, we like them to optimise impact on gender equality and social equality, Kundra said. Proparco offer loans and equity investments with the mix weighted towards the former now, with 88 percent being loans and 11 percent equity. In the future we want to expand equity investments to 20 percent, Kundra told the forum held by the Sri Lanka France Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. If youre looking for growth capital, speak to me. Proparco loans are usually from US $ 10 million to US $ 100 million. But the ticket size can go down to even US $ 5 million if the project is right and can make an impact on the ground, Kundra said. In India we have made investments of US $ 2 million. Most loans are for five to 20 years with five years being standard for agri-business and up to 20 years for infrastructure. We offer dollar, euro and local currency loans with swap options, Kundra said. Long-term swaps are not easily available in Sri Lanka. The swaps tend to be a bit expensive but your exchange rate risk is taken care of. Equity investments by Proparco are usually US $ 3-10 million and can be straight investments, convertible preference shares or debentures. We are very passive investors, Kundra said. We dont take over a 20 percent stake in a company. We rather have one director on the board. Proparco also looks for a clear exit strategy when it invests either through an initial public offer or buy back by promoters with a time horizon for exit of five to eight years. Were very patient investors and not in a hurry to exit, Kundra said. We want to grow with the company and we want to help promoters to grow their business. The history of filmmaking is rife with ill-fated projects. But there is little doubt that one of the most famous examples is Terry Gilliams attempt at filming his own version of Cervantes timeless novel Don Quixote. Terry Gilliam portrayed in his book Gilliamesque. In a 2016 interview with EL PAIS on the occasion of the Spanish-language release of his autobiography, Gilliamesque, Gilliam stated: Making my version of Don Quixote is a medical obligation. It is a brain tumor that I have to extirpate no matter what. For decades, one of the co-founders of the comedy classic Monty Pythons Flying Circus has been nurturing a script that he keeps rewriting on and off. Filming for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote even began in 2000, in northern Spains Bardenas Reales desert, normally an arid place until heavy flooding suddenly turned it into a landscape of mud. Don Quixote is highly dangerous for any adapter, because you end up becoming the character Terry Gilliam, film director As if that were not enough, filming was further affected by the deafening roar of NATO fighter jets performing exercises at a nearby shooting range. And to top it all off, the actor in the leading role, Jean Rochefort, suffered a slipped disc that ruled out any scenes on horseback. Shooting ended six days after it had begun. The full horror of that doomed endeavor was captured in the 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha. Since then, Gilliam has come more or less close to getting the project back on its feet. Amazon produced another attempt, but it was halted when the lead actor, John Hurt, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In April of last year, Portuguese producer Paolo Branco, who got behind a new attempt at shooting Gilliams project, told EL PAIS: A lot of people are awaiting this extraordinary and absolutely modern version of what Don Quixote represents, and I love the idea that we are filming it during the 400th anniversary of Cervantes death. Terry Gilliam and Jean Rochefort during the 2000 shoot. The project was even formally presented at Cannes, where Adam Driver and Michael Palin were announced as the new lead actors. Gilliam had found the locations he wanted in Spain and Portugal. The budget was now 16 million, down from 21 million in 2000. But by the fall, Branco had walked out on the project in what Gilliam called the Portuguese episode. Yet Adam Driver insisted that the project was still on track. Slowly, new names were added to the cast: Oscar Jaenada, Rossy de Palma, Olga Kurylenko and Stellan Skarsgard. Soon after Christmas, this reporter ran into Gilliam at a supermarket in Madrid, where the director was working on pre-production. A drawing of Don Quixote by Terry Gilliam for EL PAIS. Filming finally began two weeks ago, with the Spanish production company Tornasol now behind the project. The script has been altered over the years: the character of Toby (originally played by Johnny Depp, then Ewan McGregor, then Jack OConnell and now Adam Driver) used to be a young idealistic filmmaker who wanted to make his own Don Quixote movie in a Spanish village. In the latest version of the story, Toby has become an arrogant advertising executive who goes to Spain to shoot a commercial. A Gypsy man shows up with a copy of the film he made during his student days. Toby returns to the village where he shot the movie, and reunites with the old man who once played Don Quixote (originally Jean Rochefort, then Robert Duvall, then Michael Palin, and now Jonathan Pryce). But the latter has gone mad, believing he is the real Don Quixote, and he gets Toby mixed up with Sancho Panza, Don Quixotes faithful sidekick. For different reasons, both men eventually set out on a journey to find the beautiful Dulcinea. The shoot is taking place in Toledo, in Navarre the castle of Olite is one of the most important locations and on the island of Lanzarote. Like Gilliam told EL PAIS in June of last year: Don Quixote is highly dangerous for any adapter, because you end up becoming the character. And you live in a world that is not your world. To the maker of The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, making The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has become an obsession. He says that movies can have the same effect on people as the chivalry novels had on Don Quixote. He should know. English version by Susana Urra. Deutscher Reise Verband (DRV), also known as German Travel Association, may hold its annual general meeting (AGM) in Sri Lanka with the participation of over 800 of its members, a media statement from Sri Lankas Tourism Ministry said. Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga was quoted as saying in the statement that Sri Lanka Tourism with the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) and Sri Lanka Convention Bureau would provide all required facilities to make the event successful. DRV has said that a group of its members will visit Sri Lanka to see the venues and other logistic facilities required for its venue. DRV is a leading tourism association consisting of tour operators, travel agents as well as associated members such as airlines and railways linked to the tourism industry. DRV represents approximately 85 percent of the total revenue of the German travel and agency tour operators market. According to Sri Lanka Tourism, hosting such an event in Sri Lanka would be an ideal opportunity to gain new contacts within the German tourism industry. The initial discussions towards this had started when Sri Lanka Tourism made representation to DRV during the recently concluded ITB, requesting it to hold its AGM in Sri Lanka in 2018. Sri Lanka hosted the French Travel Agents Congress or SNAV in November 2016, where over 350 French travel agents visited Sri Lanka. Today, the United Nations celebrates the International Tuberculosis Day under the theme Unite to end TB: Leave no one behind. This is a World Health Organisations (WHO) End TB Strategy, which calls for a 90 percent reduction in tuberculosis (TB) deaths and an 80 percent reduction in the TB incidence rate by 2030. The focus this year is to address issues relating to stigma, discrimination, marginalization and access to care. TB is one of the major public health threats, with 10.4 million people contracting the disease globally in 2015, of which 1.8 million died. Most of these cases were reported from India which accounted for a 34 percent increase from 2013. Despite medical advances to cure TB, formidable challenges continue to prevail. These include fragile health systems, the co-epidemics with HIV, diabetes, tobacco use and perhaps most importantly, human resource and financial constraints. According to the Global Tuberculosis Report, low and middle-income countries rely on international donors for 90 percent of financing on national programmes. These countries incurred a deficit of US $ 2 billion of the US $ 8.3 billion required in 2016. The report further predicts that this annual gap will widen to US $ 6 billion in 2020, if funding does not increase. Apart from this, Multi Drug Resistance Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is also a contributory challenge. Overall, measures and research to combat the problem of TB remain underfunded. This article aims to outline the burden of TB in Sri Lanka and highlights the institutional challenges in TB control limiting access to care and proposes recommendations to overcome these discussed challenges in accordance with this years focus mentioned above. Burden of TB in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka is considered a low-burden TB country although in the recent past the reported TB cases have been on the rise. Given that the disease is airborne and easily transmitted through an infected person, poverty, poor living conditions and increased use of tobacco expedites the occurrence and transmission. The recent influx of migrants from China and India is considered contributory factor towards the increased incidents of the disease. According to the latest data published by the National Programme for Tuberculosis Control and Chest Diseases (NPTCCD) and as depicted in Figure 1, it is evident that the incidence of the rate of TB in 2013 was 44.1 per 100,000 population compared to 42.5 per 100,000 population in 2006. Despite external funding received by the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and heightened awareness campaigns to promote knowledge and improve access to medication among vulnerable populations by the Ceylon National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, the incidence of the disease continues to escalate. The government has also taken measures to increase the price of cigarettes by 90 percent in addition to the legal obligation of an 80 percent pictorial warning on the package and a recent proposition to ban the selling of individual cigarettes with the intend of reducing the risk factors associated with contracting TB and other non-communicable diseases. Regardless of these efforts, inefficiencies in the design and implementation of TB prevention and control strategies continue to prevail. Treatment outcomes According to the National Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Control 2015-2020, Sri Lanka has successfully maintained a high treatment rate for TB with the highest rate of 87.1 percent in 2011 coupled with a significant decrease in failure to follow up from 13.8 percent in 2000 to 3.5 percent in 2010. However, the report further highlights that as of recently, there has been a notable increase in those failing to continue treatment from 3.7 percent in 2011 to 4.6 percent in 2012 and 4.8 percent in 2013. These statistics are noteworthy and a serious cause for concern since they are severe lapses in the control of TB care. Substandard in-patient treatment facilities at district hospitals and deficiencies in trained human resources for TB care are factors inhibiting the control of the disease. Challenges Given that the incidence of the disease is relatively low in Sri Lanka, the extent of discrimination and stigma associated with the disease is comparatively less compared to India, China and other South Asian countries. A slowdown in the reported TB cases in 2012, as depicted in Figure 1, was not due to a sharp decrease in the total TB cases but rather due to programmatic errors at primary and regional hospitals. Centralized treatment at the district chest clinics, limited use of private providers of Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) and an absence of a centralized system of registering patients and initiating treatment at this clinic inhibits access to care. Due to these inefficiencies at peripheral hospitals, TB most often remains undetected in some patients or detected at a later stage of the disease where the medication fails to respond to the bacteria. Others discontinue the medication prescribed and opt for traditional methods of healing due to the transportation costs and other associated personal costs involved in travelling to these clinics/hospitals. All these factors curtail access to TB care. Way forward Since Sri Lanka is not a high-burden TB country as its neighbour, India, ending the disease is not a mammoth task. This requires a multidimensional approach where political will and commitment play a central role. Given that TB stems from diverse factors, collaboration and coordination among several government agencies, civil society and private sector is essential to effectively control the disease. Initiating mobile clinics to alleviate the barriers involved in access to care and introducing a family health worker to monitor the progress of TB patients will help ease the issues relating to lost follow up and access to care. In addition, given that Sri Lanka has implemented several national policy programmes and secured funding through the GFATM, these funds could be effectively utilized by enhancing the present institutional arrangements to control the spread of the disease. However, in reality the extent to which these stakeholders work in unity to control the spread of this disease and alleviate bottlenecks to improve access to care to end TB remains to be seen. (Yolanthika Ellepola is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS). To view this article online and to share your comments, visit the IPS Blog Talking Econsomics - http://www.ips.lk/talkingeconomics/) Going public was once the ultimate goal of any forward-looking company. But now appears it is no longer the case as emerging private equity funds are effectively filling that need with less pain for the promoters, who otherwise have to undergo much hassle in raising funds for future growth. According to Stax Inc., a local unit of a global corporate strategy consultancy, private equity funds are becoming a significant threat to Sri Lankas capital market. Private equity, I think is going to be a significant threat to the stock exchange, said Stax Inc. Director Dr. Kumudu Gunasekara. He has met at least four new global private equity funds in recent times and was looking to set up new funds in Sri Lanka. Stax Inc. actively serves private equity firms while extending a host of other consultancy and advisory services to corporates across multiple sectors. Sri Lanka also has several home-grown private equity funds such as NDB Capital, Jupiter Capital, Ironwood Capital and Capital Alliance. A capital market promotion campaign is currently underway in Australia and New Zealand to woo foreign investors and diaspora community in the hope they could blow some life into the sluggish Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The CSE has been continuously shedding value since the change in government in 2015 due to lack of investor confidence and a clear policy direction. We need to ask ourselves why companies want to go for initial public offerings (IPOs), whats the benefit of going for IPOs, Gunasekara asked. Private equity funds provide funding for companies for a three to five-year time horizon and drive them for rapid growth, leading to higher valuations before they exit. After a hiatus, Sri Lanka in March saw BPPL Holdings Limited raising Rs.368 million through an IPO. Meanwhile, RIL Property Limited, a developer and manager of Grade A commercial office space, has announced its Rs.480 million IPO, which will open for subscription on April 4. However, some capital market experts believe that private equity firms threatening the IPO market is an overstatement. They say a private placement is generally a precursor to a company seeking a listing. The Sri Lanka Navy has arrested Sixteen Indian fishermen had been arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy for violating maritime border and illegal poaching off the Analaithivu Island and Talaimannar, Navy Spokesperson Lieutenant Commander Chaminda Walakuluge said today. He said two vessels were also taken into custody. Eight fishermen and a steel vessel were taken into custody in the North West off the Analaithivu Island, he said. Another wooden vessel with eight Indian fishermen was also taken into custody off the coast of Talaimannar last night, he said. He added that arrested fishermen would be handed over to the Kankasanthurai and Talaimannar Fisheries Directorate for further investigations. While speaking to the Assistant Director of the Department of Fisheries Lal de Silva said there were 139 Indian vessels in Sri Lankan custody and the vessels were confiscated with the fishing gear. He said that the fishermen would be produced before the Jaffna Magistrate today. Previously 10 fishermen were arrested and there are now 26 Indian fishermen in custody now, he said. (Chaturanga Pradeep) The stench that wafted across world politics last Friday was unbearable. It originated from a place where there was once an old slaughterhouse. The place now houses the 39-storey United Nations building, one of the most photographed world monuments. The building overlooking the East River has an architectural aura, but, by no means, is its glassy exterior symbolic of the sordid state of affairs inside, with matters peace and justice often undermined by powerful nations. Last Friday was one such day. Underscoring the impotency of the United Nations, its new Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, shattered the hope for peace in West Asia when he ordered the removal of a report critical of Israel from a UN website, just two days after the document was released. By timidly displaying his inability to stand up for justice and stand by Rima Khalef, who, as the head of the UNs Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), commissioned the report, Guterres seems to have compromised his socialism with which he wooed the people of Portugal to become prime minister in 1995. While Khalef resigned in disgust, the wounded Palestinians, the victims of Israels apartheid system, cried: Et tu Guterres. The secretary generals surrender is so disheartening that it pushes peace activists to long for the old abattoir at Turtle Bay, for the blood of the slaughtered cattle would have smelt like jasmine, in comparison to the smell of putrid power politics of the UN system. It is now becoming clear that the new UN Secretary General succumbed to pressure from the United States and withdrew the report, although the reports authors, Richard Falk and Virginia Tilley, widely respected for their global justice activism, insisted that this was only a research paper that did not reflect the views of ESCWA or the UN. Palestines UN envoy Riyad Mansour told reporters on Wednesday that bullying tactics and intimidation led to UN withdrawal of the report that accused Israel of practising apartheid. A UN spokesman, however, said the organisation did not have a problem with the content of the report but rather with Khalefs failure to follow procedure prior to publication. The secretary-general cannot accept that an under secretary-general or any other senior UN official that reports to him would authorise the publication under the UN name, under the UN logo, without consulting the competent departments and even himself, he said. Whatever the explanation for the removal of the report, Guterres appears as gutless as his predecessor. The present controversy reminds us of the Richard Goldstein report on Israels 2008 Gaza war. It was commissioned by the then Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The report accused both Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas of war crimes. In indiscriminate Israeli attacks, some 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, perished -- half of the victims being children. Later Goldstein withdrew his report solely on the basis of Israels claim that it had no policy of targeting civilians. Independent analysts ascribe the death of the report to US and Israeli pressure on Goldstein. In another UN retreat under pressure, Ban last year withdrew Saudi Arabia from a list of nations that had committed war crimes against children, after the oil-rich kingdom warned it would stop its funds for UN programmes. Such pressure and bullying tactics were also evident in recent US statements defending Israel. Americas UN ambassador Nikki Haley dismissed the ESCWA report as anti-Israel propaganda and said, The United States stands with our ally Israel and will continue to oppose biased and anti-Israel actions across the UN system and around the world. On Monday, a week after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson indicated that the US might withdraw from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, Haley slammed the council for its anti-Israel agenda. She told the Council: The so-called Agenda Item 7 discredits the standing of the only UN body specifically designed to address the state of global human rights by allowing nations to distract from their own abuses back home by churning out anti-Israel propaganda. As a result, the United States will not participate in discussions under Agenda Item 7 at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, other than to vote against the outrageous, one-sided, anti-Israel resolutions that so diminish what the Human Rights Council should be, and we encourage other Council members who purport to be defenders of human rights to do the same. If Haley, in her zealous frenzy, is determined to protect and reward Israels atrocities and cannot accept the ESCWA report, then she should at least read Jimmy Carters 2006 best seller Palestine: Peace not Apartheid. Carter, like all US presidents since 1948, was no enemy of Israel. Defending his book, Carter said Israels policy in the West Bank represented instances of apartheid worse than what was in South Africa. When Israel does occupy this territory deep within the West Bank, and connects the 200-or-so settlements with each other, with a road, and then prohibits the Palestinians from using that road, or in many cases even crossing the road, this perpetrates even worse instances of apartness, or apartheid, than we witnessed even in South Africa, Carter said. Falk and Tilley in their ESCWA report explain more than what Carter saw. They recommended the international community to intensify the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanction) campaign against Israel until it abandons its apartheid policy that dehumanises the Palestinians. It is to the UN system that the Palestinian people turn to realise their dream of freedom. But the world body has been, in effect, an accomplice in the crime against the Palestinians. It started with Resolution 181 which partitioned Palestine in 1947 in what was seen as a travesty of justice, giving the 30 percent Jewish population, mostly European immigrants, 55 percent of the land and the Palestinians who formed the 70 percent of the population 45 percent. Since then, the UN has been virtually offering its facilities for the United States and Israel to continue their might-is-right policies. The existence of agencies such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to help the displaced Palestinians will not absolve the UN of its complicity. Guterres should have resisted the US pressure, for it is better to serve the world body as a true soldier of peace for one term rather than serving two terms as an agent of injustice. Authorities should pay special attention when investigating the incident where students from Mahanama College had forcibly entered Yashodara Balika Vidyalaya during a big-match parade, Jathika Hela Urumya (JHU) Chief Patron Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thera said yesterday. While condemning the incident the Thera also said he was disappointed with the way the Police acted during the incident. These kinds of incidents cannot be considered trivial. These students had intimidated staff members and assaulted an employee of the school. I was criticized when I suggested that the big matches should be banned, the Thera said. The Thera said education without discipline was useless. (Kalathma Jayawardhane) Dolphin and whale watching have taken the Sri Lankan tourism industry to newer heights. But unfortunately these species are no longer safe at sea. A video of people gathering dead dolphins in Trincomalee went viral last week and this created much tension on social media. When investigated it was found that 12 dolphins were killed by nine fishermen who were arrested by the Trincomalee Crime Prevention Unit. Keeping this in mind, Life Online contacted several environmentalists and marine experts to find out how such killings of dolphins would reflect badly on their population as well as on the tourism industry. Highly unlikely that these dolphins were killed due to nets: Howard Martenstyn Speaking to Life Online, renowned marine mammal researcher Howard Martenstyn said that it is highly unlikely that these dolphins would have died due to the nets. Especially in the case of spinner dolphins they only come up to about 50-70m depth of water. But what is most likely is that I have seen fishermen using laila nets at the port of Trincomalee. They have to encircle the animal or use dynamite in order to kill it. We need a separate judicial system to address environmental issues: Dr. Terney Pradeep Kumara Dr. Terney Pradeep Kumara, General Manager of the Marine Environment Protection Authority said that usually the fishermen are aware of dolphin frequented areas and they know how to use the nets. Dolphins are a marine resource that boosts tourism and killing dolphins is a crime. When using beach seine nets, also known as ma dala in Sinhalese terms, what they usually do is they keep one end at the shore, lay it across the area and keeps grabbing. Dolphins usually get entangled to another type of net known as purse seine nets or laila nets which are illegal. But some fishermen are very careful and I have seen them trying to save the animals sometimes by jumping off their boats and trying to remove the nets. These mammals are an air-breathing species and from what I saw in the video it is clearly visible that these fishermen purposely kill the animals. The villagers too have surrounded the scene and even they were giving a hand for the fishermen to kill the animals. This is absolutely ridiculous because such practices should never happen in any part of the world. Speaking further, Dr. Terney said that dolphins are a human-friendly species and they cost more when alive than when dead. One of the major drawbacks I see is that there is no proper judicial system to address environmental issues. Usually the judges and the legal personnel involved do not have any idea about the environment. Therefore an experienced panel should be appointed to investigate and give decisions to those found guilty of killing animals or destroying natural resources. Also the public needs to be aware of what happens around them and the media should play an active role in trying to spread awareness on environmental issues. Common Bottlenose Dolphin (image courtesy www.kids.nationalgeographic.com) Killing dolphins is a punishable crime: Sajeewa Chamikara In his comments to Life Online, top environmentalist Sajeewa Chamikara said that according to the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance the dolphin is a highly protected species. Therefore killing a protected species is a punishable crime. Anybody found guilty of violating what is mentioned under Section 30 of the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance could be arrested without a warrant. This includes killing, torturing, selling or auctioning of dolphins. The fine would be between Rs. 50,000 and one lakh and the suspects will have to serve two years in jail. Usually these mammals are found in herds and if they get entangled in nets and several dolphins in the will be caught. Sometimes these mammals even reach the shore to find food. Most of these fishermen are unaware of how they should be using nets and the law should be strictly enforced on those found guilty of killing these mammals. Incidents of dolphin deaths in Sri Lanka The recent incident was not the first instance when dolphins became victims of seine nets. 2016 : Two fishermen in Mirissa were arrested for killing dolphins. From back in the 1980s harpooning dolphins have been a common practice in Mirissa. 2013 : 50 dolphins were killed in the island of Baththalangunduwa in Kalpitiya and 15 persons were arrested By : KAMANTHI WICKRAMASINGHE The 5th International Symposium on advances in civil and environmental engineering practices for sustainable development (ACEPS-2017) is the annual international symposium organized by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DCEE) of Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna. This years event was successfully held in 16th Marchat the Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Galle. This international symposium was jointly organized by University of Ruhuna, Saitama University, Japan and Toyama Prefectural University,Japan. ACEPS scientific committee consists with several senior professors from Japan, Korea, Thailand, Australia, United Kingdom and United States. Symposium Co-Chair, Dr. Sudhira De Silva said that the main objective of this international symposium was to provide a platform to present original research work in the field of civil and environmental engineering conducted in local universities and our collaborative foreign partners. He further added that more than 200 international and local experts in the field of civil and environmental engineering participated this International Symposium. Dr. Tushara Chaminda, Symposium Secretary said that ACEPS-2017 mainly focused on civil engineering practices for sustainable development, ecological engineering of water bodies, infrastructure planning and development, and environmental engineering and the symposium will create a venue to discuss advanced sustainable engineering practices that are adopted in developing the country. The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ruhuna, Snr. Prof. Gamini Senanayake, participated as the chief guest of the inaugural ceremony of the ACEPS-2017. Prof. C. Vishvanathan from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, Prof. Armi Susandi from Bandung Institute of Technology, Indoonesia, and Dr. Takeshi Maki from Saitama University, Japan delivered Keynote Speeches of the ACEPS-2017.This year, the symposium was sponsored by Siam City Cement (Lanka) Ltd, Ceylon Steel Cooperation Ltd, Sierra Construction Ltdand Bhoomi-Tech (Pvt) Ltd. Russia and Sri Lanka are in discussions over a contract on the delivery of Gepard 3.9-class frigates to Colombo, the deputy director of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) told Sputnik. An export version of Gepard-class Project 1166.1 frigates, Gepard 3.9 may be used in wartime to resist the engagement of enemy aircraft, ships and submarines; conduct escort missions; carry out of patrol duties; and provide fire support to landing missions and mine-laying. "The contract is currently at the stage of discussion," Mikhail Petukhov said at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition LIMA-2017 where he leads the Russian delegation. Russia delivered two Gepard 3.9s to Vietnam in 2011, with two other guard vessels under construction in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan. Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Harsha De Silva a short while ago told the 34th session of the UNHRC that Sri Lanka will be co-sponsoring a Resolution with the United States and the other main co-sponsors of previous resolution (30/1) on the country for a two-year extension of the timeline for fulfilment of commitments made in Resolution 30/1. He said Sri Lanka thank the UNHR Council, the UN, and bilateral partners for their support to strengthen reconciliation in Sri Lanka, and for this extension of the timeline. The resolution was co-sponsored by Sri Lanka with United States and the other main co-sponsors UK, Macedonia and Montenegro. A controversial campaign organized by Spains ultraconservative Catholic group Hazte Oir (Make Yourself Heard) has now been taken to the streets of New York where it is testing the tolerance of what is arguably the most liberal city in the United States. Photo published by CitizenGO on Twitter. More information El autobus contra los transexuales de Hazte Oir desafia la tolerancia de Nueva York Here we are, Chelsea Clinton, said campaign organizers after the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton tweeted: Please dont bring these buses to the U.S. (or anywhere). The original message spelled out on a bright orange bus in Madrid in early March read: Boys have penises. Girls have vulvas. Dont let them fool you. If you were born a man, youre a man. If youre a woman, you will continue to be one. Hazte Oir is portraying its campaign as a freedom of speech issue. But it has been widely viewed as a response to an earlier awareness drive by a support group for transgender children. This group had run advertisements in bus shelters and metro stations in northern Spain with the slogan There are girls with penises and boys with vulvas. An anonymous New York donor funded that campaign. The Hazte Oir bus was immediately impounded by authorities in Madrid. The group returned with a motor home and a slightly altered message: Do boys have penises? Do girls have vulvas? after a Madrid judge said that the bus would not be allowed on the citys streets as long as it continued to bear the original wording, which might constitute hate speech. Later still, another bus was commissioned to tour other Spanish cities. In Pamplona, on March 21, protesters hurled stones and eggs at the passing vehicle. One of the demonstrators was reportedly injured as she attempted to stop the bus. The motorhome that replaced the impounded bus in Madrid. Carlos Rosillo On Wednesday of this week, a similar vehicle was seen on a street leading to the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan. The bright orange bus also passed in front of Trump Tower, through Times Square, Columbus Circle and near the Rockefeller Center. But the English-language message also omits the words penis and vulva. Its biology. Boys are boys...and always will be. Girls are girls...and always will be. You cant change sex. Respect all. Sign now to defend Freedom of Speech, reads the text on the side of the bus. The initiative is backed by CitizenGO, the larger group that Hazte Oir belongs to, as well as by the International Organization for the Family and the National Organization for Marriage, which is known in the US for its anti-LGBT campaigns. Its president, Brian Brown, has said that gender cannot be changed based on emotions and feelings. But the message has already encountered opposition by local groups, which are calling it the Hate Bus. Free speech is a constitutional right, but language has consequences that must be considered Jessica Stern, OutRight Action Free speech is a constitutional right, but language has consequences that must be considered. Trans-youth already have an extremely high risk for violence, discrimination, and suicide. Broadcasting a message that erases and denies the reality that transgender and intersex children and youth exist is irresponsible, factually misleading, disrespectful, and dangerous. This vehicle is part of the reason trans youth are driven to suicide, said Jessica Stern of OutRight Action International, a human rights group, on its website. Now Hazte Oir, which is headed by Spaniard Ignacio Arsuaga, wants to take the bus to Boston, Philadelphia and Washington DC. English version by Susana Urra. Sri Lanka is shocked by the terrorist attack at the British Parliament yesterday, resulting in death and injury, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said. This attack at the heart of London, at Westminster, which is home to the oldest Parliament in the world that has nurtured many of the parliamentary traditions cherished by legislatures across the world including ours, deserves our utmost condemnation. The Government and the people of Sri Lanka stand firmly in support and solidarity with the Government and people of the United Kingdom and extend their heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those injured in the attack. Sri Lanka condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterates the need for collective action by the international community to combat this scourge. The Inter-University Bhikkhu Federation (IUBF) yesterday marched in protest from Colombo Fort to the University Grants Commission (UGC) in Ward Place, demanding the government halt the privatization of education. Pix by Kushan Pathiraja Watawala Tea, the market leader in the tea category, was awarded the Most Popular Hot Beverage Brand of the Year, at the SLIM-Nielsen Peoples Awards, held recently for the 11th consecutive year. The hot beverages category includes tea, milk and malted food drinks. The event, held at Waters Edge Battaramulla, saw Watawala Tea outshining other leading brands in the segment to win the coveted award. Expressing his delight Group Managing Director of Sunshine Holdings, the parent company of Watawala Tea Ceylon, Vish Govindasamy said, I would like to congratulate the entire team at Watawala Tea on this remarkable achievement. The Peoples Awards is a reflection of choices and emotions of Sri Lankan consumers and our win is testament to the reach and acceptance of the brand Watawala as a household name for a beverage that is consumed several times a day and which has truly touched the hearts of Sri Lankans. We are thankful to our beloved customers for recognizing Watawala Tea as a significant companion of their daily lives and letting us occupy a space in their lives. Affirmation of the brands leadership came from the survey itself. Conducted for the 11th year in Sri Lanka by the Nielsen Company Sri Lanka, the market research covered all spectrums of households to understand and establish what their most favourite brand of hot beverage. It is such a great honour to receive this award and we will continue to invest in the brand towards the brand and providing value to the consumer building pursuit to value and excellence, said General Manager - Marketing at Watawala Tea Ceylon, Farman Nizar. Both independent market research tracking surveys from Lanka Market Research Bureau (LMRB) and Nielsen Sri Lanka declared Watawala Tea as the market leader in the tea category in the year 2016. However, this latest triumph at the Peoples Awards further strengthens our unrivalled leadership and we are thrilled, he added. First of all let us express our heartfelt condolences to the victims of the recent terrorist attack in London, those who were injured, the families of those who died and all the citizens of the United Kingdom. We add the last because any act of terrorism in any part of any country, impact each and every citizen. It is not a happy thing to live your days under the shadow of terrorism. It is not a happy thing to be wary all the time. It is not a happy thing to worry if youll see your loved ones ever again once youve said goodbye to them in the morning as they left for school or work. British Prime Minister Theresa May has correctly described the attack as sick and depraved. She has been firm in her response: let me make it clear today, as I have had cause to do before: any attempt to defeat those values (democracy, human rights and rule of law) through violence and terror is doomed to failure. Brave words. Necessary words for a nation that is only seeing sporadic acts of terrorism on its soil. So far. History however has shown that such things, when not nipped in the bud, can grow enormous and that much blood has to flow before they are finally defeated. May believes that the terrorists targeted the British Parliament because the aforementioned values command the admiration and respect of free people everywhere. The good Prime Minister seems a bit naive on this. Terrorism is not necessarily about attacking symbols of values that are not subscribed to. Still, she has stated clearly that she is determined to defeat the architects of that attack. It is not exactly a reiteration of the Zero Tolerance of Terrorism policy that did the rounds after 9/11, but the writing is no less clear. If the attacks become more frequent and widespread, and we fervently hope they will not, then word and tone will no doubt change. We say this, because we know. What happened in London was for many years something close to our daily bread. Unpalatable but nevertheless forced down the collective throat of our citizenry. Prime Minister May may or may not know, but from the get-go of this countrys tryst with terrorism and even until the last days in May 2009, the recommendation regularly rolled out was a simple word: negotiate. It was tried. It was a monumental failure. With each round of negotiations the problem became worse. Finally, Sri Lanka decided on a course of action that went against what was said to be conventional wisdom. Thanks to that effort, the world has a splendid example of how terrorism could be defeated. Perhaps it shocked the world so much or rather surprised the advocates of negotiations that it is hard for them to believe. Worse, it may have bruised their respective egos. Perhaps a lot of the invective directed at the one country that successfully defeated a terrorist outfit can be attributed to this. May is in a better position. Britain is not Sri Lanka. Britain has got away with a lot of horrible things. And we are not talking only about the times of the empire. Britain doesnt have to say excuse me. Britain does not have to fear admonishment from Washington or in Geneva. What Britain might lose in all this is the right to be self-righteous in various human rights forums. For all the rhetoric about cherished values, if May called for all the manuals used by the British military on the treatment of prisoners, she might be embarrassed. Rest assured, the unwritten will be put into practice if the heat becomes less amenable to dismissal through a crisp post-attack statement. We will not tell Theresa May to negotiate with the terrorists. We will not say there must be some underlying reasons for the rise of terrorism and therefore you have to address those issues. We know that terrorism can be divided into two categories, corrigible and incorrigible, but that these semantics arent worth a penny when it comes to national security. We urge Britain, instead, to acquire as soon as possible the intelligence that was resisted and was vilified for decades here in Sri Lanka. And the next time Britain plays classroom monitor (no, we didnt say bully) in various forums where Sri Lanka is discussed, we will not say your time will come. That time has come and we recognize it as a tragedy and we stand firmly with the citizens of Britain as they fight the scourge of terrorism. We have a simple message: do not be naive for it can cost you dearly. Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said today MP Wimal Weerawansa should prove in court that he had not misused a single state vehicle instead of going on a hunger strike. Responding to an allegation made by the joint opposition that there was political revenge behind Mr. Weerawansa's arrest,Mr. Rajapakshe told parliament that there was no political matters behind this and added that it was only the implementation of law against him. "He was not arrested by the President, Prime Minister or the Law and Order Minister. He was arrested by the police. We have established the independent police commission and made the police service independent. We have no power to order the police. The Joint opposition cannot accuse us of taking political revenge. There was no one behind this. Only the Law is behind it," he said. He said it was a fundamental right of anyone to go on a hunger strike and added that Mr. Weerawansa also had that right to do so. "He can continue his hunger strike genuinely. He may have some purpose to achieve. So he can continue it until he achieves it," he said( Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera) In a world where divisive politics rules the news, imagine people following discrete religions, speaking different languages and having varied skin tones united by the adhesive power of food. On the night of March 21, 2,000 chefs across 150 nations in five continents served a French dinner at their restaurants in a one-of-its-kind celebration of a country that is synonymous with gastronomy and haute cuisine. India, in fact, was number 3 on the crowded world list of Gout France, or Good France, which is the name of the initiative being steered by the French foreign ministry with the legendary Michelin multistarred chef Alain Ducasse since 2015. As many as 66 Indian restaurants, including 14 in Delhi-NCR, participated in Gout France this year. The common point of this event, in the words of Ducasse, is generosity, sharing and the love of what is beautiful and tastes good. It draws its inspiration, incidentally, from the doyen French chefs, Auguste Escoffier, who launched the Diners dEpicure (Epicurean Dinners) initiative the same menu, the same day, in several world cities and aimed at as many diners as possible in 1912. On the Gout France night, chefs such as Priyam Chatterjee (above) wear French national colours. All this information set me thinking. French cuisine may be the worlds gold standard for good food, but Indian gastronomy today is ranked right after French, Japanese, Italian and Chinese, although the Spaniards may like to consider themselves to be ahead of us. Yet culinary tourism is not even listed as one of the 20 objectives set by the ministry of tourism for itself. It is time for us to turn the tide, take inspiration from a global event of the scale of Gout France and get the world talking only about Indian cuisine for just one day. Given the global footprint of Indian cuisine, and the appetite of the Narendra Modi government for mega events, it is not a Herculean mission. Imagine, what a grand statement it will be for Indias ultimate soft power. It will also open doors for people-to-people exchanges, which increasingly are seen as an important accessory to public diplomacy. As the Ambassador of France in India, Alexandre Ziegler, put it so expressively: Partnerships between nations are not forged only by diplomats signing MoUs. Ziegler, whos from Sauternes, home to the worlds finest dessert wines in Bordeaux, and who owes his Germanic name to his Swiss great-grandfather, kept repeating that French cuisine is not only haute cuisine. People tend to believe French cuisine is very expensive and quite complicated, but gastronomy can also be a daily life experience, Ziegler said. The magnificent spread of Indian cuisine, and its many regional avatars, needs to be shared with the world and what better way to do it than to have a different celebrated chef from India cook at each of our embassies around the world on one day. That is just what the 35-year-old Akrame Benallal, chef-owner of the Michelin-starred Restaurant Akrame in Paris, did during dinner at the French Ambassadors residence on March 21. A day before the dinner (March 20), he spent the afternoon with the chefs from the partner restaurants again, contributing to a better understanding of French cuisine. Gout France may be a one-night affair, but it underlines one salient feature of the emerging world civilisation food brings people closer in a discordant universe. Undocumented Mexican migrants arrested at the border. More information Los exiliados de Trump The recent memorandums on homeland security and border affairs released by the US government are a cause for concern. Although we dont know yet how they will be applied, or what the level of commitment or opposition will be in each state of the Union, we should be on our guard especially on the issue of expedited removals, which violate due process, bypassing immigration courts and giving executing officers the powers of judge and jury. The possibility that other nationalities may be within the range of deportations to Mexico is also worrying and inadmissible. Equally, demands made on local authorities to persecute immigrants are generating a constitutional controversy and causing trouble for these agencies, while eroding trust in the police, which in turn poses a risk to the safety of the communities. Deportation is nothing new. Obama sent back between three million (according to Homeland Security) and 3.8 million people (according to the National Migration Institute of Mexico). Whats new is the tone, the visibility and the threatening, xenophobic speeches being delivered by Trump. Although the number of deportees has not changed, a few individual cases such as those of Guadalupe Ortiz, Daniel Medina and Jeanette Vizguerra are causing panic. The resistance will have to play out chiefly within the US judiciary, where is possible to progress more, or to regress less Deportation is a countrys official sanction against an individual. It entails sending the detainee back to his or her country of origin, and preventing them from returning for a specific period of time for having violated immigration laws. Although undocumented Mexicans may turn to Mexicos 50 consulates in the US for help, they are afraid to do so. Besides, they are often ignorant of the steps to take in the event of arrest, or of the consequences of choosing a voluntary way out of the US. They do not know their rights. That is why it is essential to enlist civil society and the media in an effort to disseminate information about their rights and available alternatives. There are several motives for deportation. There are people who have committed serious crimes and who are in prison, but others are removed for using fake ID, for driving under the influence and for other administrative offenses. Out of 500,000 people who were deported in the last two years, only 27,000 had committed a serious crime. Despite the enormous increase in deportations beginning in 2007, and an alleged drop in Mexican migrant flows, the total Mexican population with or without papers reached a historic high in 2016: nearly 13 million people. This should relativize the theory of zero net migration. The main thing for Mexico to do is to take the battle to the courts. The Mexican government, the private sector and anyone wishing to contribute to the Mexican communitys desire to remain in the US should provide legal advice and even pay bail money if necessary. Each case must be analyzed in the light of possible migratory assets that can be used in the defense: granting citizenship to those who meet requirements, giving US-born children Mexican citizenship as well, and for those whose lawyers suggest there is not much to be done, a repatriation plan that includes their families and personal assets. Deportation is nothing new. Obama sent back between three million and 3.8 million people For those who return after all, it is necessary to implement comprehensive policies that will allow them to rejoin Mexican society. They will need psychological assistance to deal with the change and a possible family breakup, they will need help getting educational degrees recognized and skills certified, and they will require a platform that links up job supply with demand. And adequate transition programs for children needing to learn the Spanish language will be required to prevent all-too-frequent episodes of bullying at school. An integral, firm negotiation will be required. While deportations of Central Americans has decreased in recent years, deportations to Mexico have increased since 2014. Unaccompanied minors from Central America have posed serious challenges for Mexico and for bilateral cooperation on security issues. However, there are resources, counterweights and options available to Mexico and its people in the US. The courts, the saturation of the immigration system, the Central American flows, allies in the US, the media, the 50 Mexican consulates these are all fundamental elements of the resistance a resistance that will have to play out chiefly within the US judiciary, where is possible to progress more, or to regress less. Jorge G. Castaneda, a former Mexican foreign affairs secretary, teaches Political Science and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University. Eunice Rendon was director of Instituto de Mexicanos en el Exterior (Institute for Mexicans Abroad). English version by Susana Urra. Deutsche Telekom AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated telecommunication services. The company operates through five segments: Germany, United States, Europe, Systems Solutions, and Group Development. It offers fixed-network services, including voice and data communication services based on fixed-network and broadband technology; and sells terminal equipment and other hardware products, as well as services to resellers. The company also provides mobile voice and data services to consumers and business customers; sells mobile devices and other hardware products; and sells mobile services to resellers and to companies that purchases and markets network services to third parties, such as mobile virtual network operators. In addition, it offers internet services; internet-based TV products and services; and information and communication technology systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions with an infrastructure of data centers and networks under the T-Systems brand, as well as call center services. The company has 242 million mobile customers and 22 million broadband customers, as well as 27 million fixed-network lines. Deutsche Telekom AG has a collaboration with VMware, Inc. on cloud-based open and intelligent virtual RAN platform to bring agility to radio access networks for existing LTE and future 5G networks; and partnership with Microsoft to deliver high-performance cloud computing experiences. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Bonn, Germany. GameStop Corp. is a specialty retailer founded in 1999 and headquartered in Grapevine, Texas. The company was originally known as GSC Holdings Corp. but later changed its name following its IPO. Originally a brand of then dominant Babbages, Gamestop altered the way video games were distributed and it is now the world's largest retailer of video games and video game accessories. The company went public in 2004 and operated 4,573 stores at the start of 2022. Brands under the company umbrella include Gamestop, EB Games, and Micromania as well as 50 pop-culture-themed Zing Pop locations. Gamestop Corp. provides video games and entertainment products through its global network of e-commerce properties and stores. The company sells new and pre-owned gaming platforms and accessories like controllers, headsets, memory cards, and gaming software as well as in-game products like digital currency, downloadable content, and games. The company also sells new and used memorabilia and collectibles. Genres include TV, movie, comic book, and game characters as well as many other items from pop culture. GameStop Corp. also operates Game Informer, a magazine and website dedicated to the gaming industry including reviews, updates, and new developments in technologies. Game enthusiasts enjoy two primary benefits of using Gamestop. The first is access to the full range of games and gaming accessories. The second is the ability to sell or trade their old equipment and games for fair prices. All old equipment is refurbished to a like-new state before resale. In 2021 Gamestop announced it was entering the world of cryptocurrency. The company revealed plans to build an NFT (non-fungible token) platform for listing, selling, and holding digital or digitized artwork and collectibles. The beta version launched in 2022 and has so far seen great success with an average daily volume exceeding $1 million. The NFT marketplace also featured Web3.0 games in which characters and in-game items are held forever on the blockchain. As of September 2022, the most successful retailer on the NFT marketplace was Gamestop Presents, a collaboration of cover art from Game Informer Magazine. Sales at the time were just under 168 ETH or about $221,500.00. GameStop began a slide in 2016 following a series of bad investments that included a foray into the world of mobile phones. The slide came to an end in late 2021 when shareholders using the Reddit thread Wallstreet Bets orchestrated a short-squeeze and brought on the age of meme stocks. The following companies are subsidiares of International Flavors & Fragrances: 1456111 Ontario Limited, A. Boake Roberts And Company (Holding) Limited, ASA Ventures Inc., Agtech Products Inc., Alpris Ltd., Amco SP Z.O.O, ApS Syntetic, Aroma S.A., Aromatics Holdings Limited, Aromco Ltd., Aromor, Arvin Company, Asian Investments Inc., Atelier du Parfumeur IFF Grasse SAS, BKF Vision Ltd, BSA India Food Ingr. P. Ltd., Belden Company, Branch office of DuPont Protein Technologies International Sales LLC, Bremil Industria e Comercio de Ingredientes Alimenticos Ltda. , Bremil S/A Industria De Produtos Alimenticos , Bush Boake Allen (New Zealand) Limited, Bush Boake Allen (Pension Trustees) Limited, Bush Boake Allen Australia Pty Ltd, Bush Boake Allen Benelux B.V., Bush Boake Allen Chile S.A., Bush Boake Allen Controladora S.A. de C.V., Bush Boake Allen Enterprises Limited, Bush Boake Allen Holdings (U.K.) Limited, Bush Boake Allen Inc., Bush Boake Allen Inc., Bush Boake Allen Limited, Bush Boake Allen Zimbabwe (Private) Limited, Bush Boake Allen do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, Chemical Process Materials and Equipment S.A., CitraSource Holdings L.L.C., Columbia PhytoTechnology LLC, Columbia Phytotechnology LLC, Cometra ApS, Crestmont Investment Co., Cultor Oy, DDP Specialty Products Germany GmbH & Co. KG, DDP Specialty Products Poland Sp. z.o.o., DSP Germany N&B Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Daivd Michael Netherlands B.V., Dandy Lions Limited, Danisco (China) Co. Ltd., Danisco (China) Holding Co. Ltd., Danisco (India) Private Limited, Danisco (Zhangjiagang) Textural Ingredients Co. Ltd., Danisco Argentina S.A., Danisco Australia Pty Limited, Danisco Austria GmbH, Danisco B.V., Danisco Biosciences (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Danisco Brasil Ltda., Danisco Canada Inc., Danisco Chile S.A., Danisco Colombia Ltda., Danisco Cultor (Switzerland) AG, Danisco Cultor Sweden AB, Danisco Cultor Trading Ltda., Danisco Czech Republic a.s., Danisco Deutschland GmbH, Danisco Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Danisco Egypt Trading LLC, Danisco Flexible Brasil Ltda, Danisco France SAS, Danisco Guatemala S.A., Danisco Holding USA Inc., Danisco Holdings (UK) Ltd., Danisco Holland B.V., Danisco Ingredients Belgium N.V., Danisco Italia S.p.A., Danisco Japan Limited, Danisco Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Danisco Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Danisco Mexico S.A. de C.V., Danisco New Zealand Limited, Danisco Nutrition & Bioscience Greece Ltd., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Korea Ltd., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Malaysia SDN. BHD., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Taiwan Limited, Danisco Nutrition and Biosciences India Private Ltd, Danisco Peru S.A.C., Danisco Poland Sp. z.o.o, Danisco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Danisco South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Danisco Sweeteners Oy, Danisco Switzerland AG, Danisco UK Ltd., Danisco US Inc., Danisco USA Inc., Danisco Ukraine LLC, Danisco Zaandam BV, David Michael & Company (Canada) 1986 Ltd., David Michael Europe S.A.S., Du Pont de Nemours Nigeria Limited, DuPont (Shanghai) Enterprise Co. Ltd., DuPont Acquisition LLC, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, DuPont Denmark Holding ApS, DuPont Electronics Holding LLC, DuPont LA Holding 1 BV, DuPont Lanka (Private) Limited, DuPont Nutrition (Thailand) Ltd, DuPont Nutrition Biosciences ApS, DuPont Nutrition Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, DuPont Nutrition Food Ingredients (Beijing) Co. Ltd., DuPont Nutrition Ingredientes BRASIL LTDA, DuPont Nutrition International, DuPont Nutrition Ireland, DuPont Nutrition Italy SRL (f/k/a FMC Chemical Italy SrL), DuPont Nutrition Manufacturing UK Limited, DuPont Nutrition Mexicana S.A de C.V., DuPont Nutrition Mexico S.A de C.V., DuPont Nutrition Norge AS, DuPont Nutrition Philippines Inc., DuPont Nutrition USA Inc, DuPont Nutrition and Biosciences Iberica S.L., DuPont Protein Technologies International Sales LLC, DuPont S&C Holding LLC, DuPont Shineway Luohe Food Company Limited , DuPont Shineway Luohe Protein Company Limited , DuPont US Holding LLC, DuPont de Nemours Kenya Limited, ERELEM, ETOL SK s.r.o., ETOL-RUS Ltd., Eden Essentials Inc., Envoltec Industria de Embalagens Ltda. , Enzymotec Australia PTY LTD, Enzymotec Singapore Pte. Ltd., Enzymotec USA Inc., Etol Aroma Ve Baharat Gida Urunleri San.Ve Tic.a.s., Etol JVE d.o.o., Etol Proizvodnja Arom D.O.O, Etol Skopje DRUSTVO ZA TRGOVIJA ETOL UVOZ-IZVOZ DOOEL, FYMSA Real Estate LLC (23), FYMSA del Caribe S.R.L , Fangchen International Trading Ltd. (6), Finnfeeds Finland Oy, Finnfeeds Oy, Finnsugar Bioproducts Inc., Flavor Systems International Inc., Flavors and Essences UK Limited, FoodBlenders Limited, Foreign Trade Representative of Danisco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Fragrance Resources, Fragrance Resources (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fragrance Resources Asia Pacific Ltd., Frutarom (Asia Pacific) Limited, Frutarom (Marketing) S.R.L., Frutarom (UK) Holdings Limited, Frutarom (UK) Ltd., Frutarom - Etol (UK) Limited, Frutarom Belgium N.V., Frutarom Chile S.A., Frutarom Czech Republic S.r.o, Frutarom Do Brazil Industria E Comercio Ltda., Frutarom Etol RO SRL, Frutarom Etol Ukraine LLC., Frutarom F&F Trading (Shanghai) Co., Frutarom Finance EUR AG, Frutarom Flavors (Kushan) Co Ltd., Frutarom Flavors Mexico S.A. de C.V., Frutarom Flavours (India) Private Limited (14), Frutarom France S.A.R.L, Frutarom Germany GmbH, Frutarom Gida Urunleri Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Frutarom Global Ltd., Frutarom GmbH, Frutarom Industries Ld, Frutarom Industries Ltd., Frutarom Italy S.r.l, Frutarom Kenya Limited, Frutarom Ltd., Frutarom Netherlands B.V., Frutarom Nigeria Limited, Frutarom Nordic A/S Flachsmann Scandinavia A/S Aksel Holm-Essensfabrik A / S, Frutarom Norway A.S, Frutarom Peru S.A. (Montana Food activity), Frutarom Production GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Austria GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Germany GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Switzerland AG, Frutarom Savory Solutions Ukraine, Frutarom Switzerland Finance CHF AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance GBP AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance MXN AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance USD AG, Frutarom Switzerland Ltd., Frutarom Trade & Marketing (1990) Ltd., Frutarom UK Investments Limited, Frutarom USA Holding Inc., Frutarom USA Inc., Frutarom do Brasil GRU Industria e Comercio Ltda., Genencor (China) Bio-Products Co. Ltd., Genencor International B.V., Genencor International BVBA, Genencor International Holding BV, Genencor International Indiana Inc., Genencor International Oy, Genencor International Wisconsin Inc., Genencor Mauritius Ltd., Genentech Ventures Inc., Grow Company Inc., Hagelin Flv (UK) Ltd., Hexachem Sociedad Anonima, IB EMEA Holding 2 B.V., IFF (BVI) Limited, IFF (Korea) Inc., IFF Aroma Esans Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, IFF Augusta Holdings LLC, IFF Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, IFF Benicarlo S.L., IFF Bio-Technology (Nanjing) Co. Ltd., IFF Capital Services, IFF Chemical Holdings Inc., IFF Delaware Holdings LLC, IFF Essencias e Fragrancias Ltda., IFF Flavors & Fragrances (Hangzhou) Trading Co. Ltd., IFF Fragrance GmbH, IFF Hungary Global Kft, IFF International Inc., IFF Latin American Holdings (Espana) S.L., IFF Mexico Manufactura S.A. de C.V., IFF Murcia Natural Ingredients S.L., IFF Sabores y Fragancias de Chile Ltda., IFF Turkey Aroma Ve Esans Urunleri Satis Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, IFF West Africa Limited, IFF Worldwide LLC, Ingrediants dooel Skopje, Institut Europeen de Biologie Cellulaire, International Aroma Group, International Flavors & Fragrances (Canada) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Caribe) Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances (China) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Greater Asia) Pte. Ltd, International Flavors & Fragrances (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Hong Kong) Limited, International Flavors & Fragrances (Japan) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., International Flavors & Fragrances (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Mexico) S. de R.L. de C.V., International Flavors & Fragrances (Middle East) FZ-LLC, International Flavors & Fragrances (Myanmar) Limited, International Flavors & Fragrances (Nederland) Holding B.V., International Flavors & Fragrances (Philippines) Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances (Poland) Sp. z o.o., International Flavors & Fragrances (Vietnam) Limited Liability Company, International Flavors & Fragrances (ZhangJiagang) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Zimbabwe) (Private) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances Ardenne S.a r.l., International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding I SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding II SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding III SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances Holdings LLC, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Chile) Limitada, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Espana) S.A., International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Hungary) Kft, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Nederland) B.V., International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Norden) AB, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Rus), International Flavors & Fragrances IFF (Deutschland) GmbH, International Flavors & Fragrances IFF (France) SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances Irish Acquisition Company Limited, International Flavors and Fragrances Colombia S.A.S., International Flavors and Fragrances I.F.F. (Israel) Ltd., International Flavors and Fragrances IFF (South Africa), International Flavors and Fragrances Ingredients Ltd, International Flavors e Fragrances IFF (Italia) S.r.l., International Flavours & Fragrances (Australia) Pty Ltd, International Flavours & Fragrances (CIL) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (GB) Holdings Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Mauritius) Ltd, International Flavours & Fragrances (NZ) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Pension Trustees) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Thailand) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances I.F.F. (Great Britain) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances India Private Limited (13), International Frutarom Corporation, Inventive Food Technology (ZQ) Ltd., Inventive Technology Ltd., Irish Flavours and Fragrances Limited, K-Vision Consulting and Investments Ltd, Kelp Industries Pty. Ltd, Leagel GmbH (11), Leagel S.r.l. (19), Les Ingredients Alimentaires BSA Inc., Les Laboratories Bio ForeXtra Inc., Lucas Meyer Cosmetics, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics Australia Pty Ltd, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics Canada Inc., Lucas Meyer Cosmetics S.A.S., M.P. Equity Holdings Ltd, MISR Company for Aromatic products, Manseg S.A., Mark Services Holdings Inc., N&B Chemicals Germany GmbH, N&B EMEA Holding B.V., N&B Germany Verwaltungs-GmbH, N&B International Holding B.V., N&B NL BV - Saudi Branch, N&B Real Estate Verwaltungs-GmbH, N&B Services BV, N&B Switzerland UAE Branch, N&H EMEA Holding 1 BV, N&H EMEA Holding 2 BV, N&H EMEA Holding B.V., N&H International Holding 1 B.V., N&H International Holding 3 BV, N&H Switzerland Holding Sarl, Nardi Armoas Ltda., Neptune Merger Sub I Inc., Neptune Merger Sub II LLC, New Asia Holdco B.V., Nutra-Lease Ltd. (16), Nutrition & Bioscience (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Nutrition & Bioscience (Switzerland) GmbH, Nutrition & Bioscience (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nutrition & Bioscience Pakistan (Private) Ltd, Nutrition & Biosciences (Finland) Oy, Nutrition & Biosciences (France) SAS, Nutrition & Biosciences (Sweden) AB, Nutrition & Biosciences (UK) Ltd, Nutrition & Biosciences Argentina S.A.U., Nutrition & Biosciences Australia Pty Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences Brasil Ingredientes Ltda., Nutrition & Biosciences Canada Company, Nutrition & Biosciences Chile SpA, Nutrition & Biosciences Colombia S.A.S, Nutrition & Biosciences Hong Kong Limited, Nutrition & Biosciences Hungary Limited Liability Company, Nutrition & Biosciences Inc., Nutrition & Biosciences Italy S.r.l., Nutrition & Biosciences Japan K.K., Nutrition & Biosciences Korea Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Nutrition & Biosciences Netherlands B.V., Nutrition & Biosciences New Zealand Limited, Nutrition & Biosciences Singapore Pte. Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences USA 1 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences USA 2 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences USA 3 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences Vietnam Company Limited, Nutrition Biosciences USA 4 Inc, Nutrition and Biosciences South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Nutrition and Biosciences Spain S.L., OOO WIBERG Rus, P.T. Essence Indonesia, PARMA FA, PIASA USA (24), PM Taiwan Inc., PT Blue Cube Indonesia, PTI Astana LLC, PTI CA LLC, PTI Center LLC, PTI Group of Companies LLC (GK PTI), PTI-BEL TUE, PTI-MOL LLC, PTI-NN LLC, PTI-Ukraine LLC, Platinum Absolut LLC, Pointer Specialty Chemicals LLC, Protein Technologies Do Brasil Ltda., Protein Technologies International Asia Pacific LLC, Protein Technologies International Development LLC, Protein Technologies International Europe LLC, Proveedores de Ingenieria Alimentaria S.A. de C.V. ("PIASA") (17), Prowin International Ltd., Pucheng Yongfang Fragrance Technology Co. Ltd. , Redbrook (UK) Limited, Redbrook Blentech Limited, Redbrook Ingredient Services Limited, Rene Laurent SAS, Representaciones FYMSA S.A. de C.V (FYMSA) (18), Rohm and Haas Wood Treatment LLC, SP EMEA Holding 8 BV, SP Holding IB Inc., SP Nutrition and Health (Singapore) Inc., Sabormax Industria de Alimentos e Representacao Ltda., Savoury Flavours (Holding) Limited, Savoury Flavours Ltd., Solae (UK) Limited, Solae Argentina S.A., Solae Australia Pty Limited, Solae Belgium N.V., Solae Company India Private Limited, Solae Denmark ApS, Solae Deutschland GmbH (f/k/a CSY Agri-Processing (Deutschland) GmbH), Solae Do Brasil Industria E Comercio De Alimentos Ltda., Solae Europe S.A., Solae Holdings LLC, Solae Investimentos LTDA, Solae LLC (SMLLC of Solae Holdings), Solae Overseas B.V., Solae Trading (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Solae de Mexico S.A. de C.V. (formerly PTI Mexico), Solae do Brasil Holdings Ltda., Sonarome Private Limited (15), Southern Cross Botanicals Pty Ltd, Specialty Products Balkans d.o.o., Specialty Products FZE, Specialty Products N&H Inc, Specialty Products US LLC, Speximo AB, TNI Investments NV, Tastepoint Flavors (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Tastepoint Inc., Tastepoint OOO, Tastepoint Polska Sp.z o.o, Tastepoint SA (Pty) Ltd., Tastepoint Tovarna arom in etericnih olj d.o.o., Taura Natural Ingredients (Australia) Pty Limited, Taura Natural Ingredients (North America) Inc., Taura Natural Ingredients Holdings Pty Limited, Taura Natural Ingredients Ltd., Taura Natural Ingredients NV, Tekhnomol Soya Products LLC, The Additive Advantage LLC, The Additive Advantage LLC, The Foote & Jenks Corporation, The Mighty Company Limited (21), Thorungaverksmidjan HF (12), UFC America Inc., Unique Flavors Proprietary Limited, Unique Food Solutions Proprietary Limited, Unique Ingredients Limited, VAYA PHARMA HONKG LTD, VITIVA proizvodnja in storitve d.d., Vantodio Holdings Limited, Vaya Pharma Inc., Vaya Pharma Pte Ltd. (20), Venezuela Protein Technologies Internationla -PTI C.A., W.W. Holdings Inc., WIBERG Italia S.r.l., Wiberg Baharat San.Tic.A.S, Wiberg Canada Inc., Wiberg Corporation of California, Wiberg Corporation., Yderns 1 ApS, ZAO Danisco, extrakt chemie Dr. Bruno Stellmach GmbH, iDrug Delivery Inc.(Delaware) (22), nternational Flavors & Fragrances S.R.L., van Ameringen-Haebler Inc., and world wide WIBERG GmbH. Read More WSP Global Inc. operates as a professional services consulting firm in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, and internationally. It advises, plans, designs, and manages projects for rail transit, aviation, highways, bridges, tunnels, water, maritime, and urban infrastructure for public and private clients, construction contractors, and other partners. The company also provides engineering and consultancy services, such as decarbonisation strategies, digital building design, structural and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services; and long-term operational management support services, including first feasibility studies; and advisory services, such as technical, financial, and environmental issues, as well as engineering design and energy simulations. In addition, it works with and advises businesses and governments in various areas of environmental consultancy, including environmental, social, and governance matters. Further, the company provides engineering and environmental services to companies operating in upstream exploration and production, midstream transportation and storage, and downstream refining and distribution; and a range of consulting and engineering services, such as strategic studies, concept design, and productivity analysis to the food and beverages, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, automotive, and chemicals industries. Additionally, it offers strategic advisory services comprising planning and advisory, management, and technology and sustainability services. The company was formerly known as GENIVAR Inc. and changed its name to WSP Global Inc. in January 2014. WSP Global Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. COLLECTIVE MADNESS Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people." Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders Google Ad PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT Google Ad The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh EPDE condemns Armenian Governments' refusal to invite international citizen election observers The European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) condemns the refusal of the Armenian authorities to invite its international citizen observers to monitor the parliamentary election scheduled on 2 April 2017. Together with its Armenian member organisations Transparency International Anticorruption Center, Yerevan and the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor, EPDE strongly protest against the arbitral decision of the Armenian government. The reason for the refusal is the allegedly high number of already accredited observers and, therefore, the lack of need for additional international observers. Both the refusal and its justification contradict the obligation of Armenia as a member of the OSCE to invite international observers from other OSCE countries, in particular the agreements set up by the 1990 CSCE/OSCE Copenhagen Document, later reafirmed in the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Document and in the Decision No. 19/06 (Paragraph 10) of the OSCE Ministerial Council Document Strengthening the Effectiveness of the OSCE" signed in Brussels in 2006. This gives cause for serious concerns that the Armenian government might not consider the presence of international observers as an important contribution to enhancing the electoral process. The EPDE calls upon the international community, particularly the OSCE-Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE-ODIHR), the EU-Commission and the Council of Europe to consider this arbitral denial of accreditation for international citizen election observers during relevant meetings and negotiations with the Armenian authorities in the future. Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT Google Ad The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh A Piedmont Virginia Community College student was recently named as one of Americas top 20 community college students, and the top community college student in the state. Grayson Katzenbach, of Waynesboro, was one of 20 students from 1,800 nominations from more than 1,000 community colleges to be selected by the All-USA Community College Academic Team for the award. To be selected, students must meet a variety of criteria and demonstrate intellectual rigor, academic achievement, leadership and civic growth, according to a news release. The program also recognizes students who extend their community college educations to better themselves, their schools and their surrounding communities. On top of this national recognition, Katzenbach has been named this years Coca-Cola New Century Scholar for the state of Virginia, a designation she earned by receiving the highest All-USA Community College Academic Team application score in the state. The 19-year-old is a liberal arts major who was homeschooled and first began attending PVCC in fall 2014 as part of the colleges dual-enrollment program for high school students. She began attending PVCC full time in fall 2015. She is also the president of the PVCC chapter of Virginia21, a nonpartisan political organization that encourages student engagement. Katzenbach is on course to graduate in May, and she plans to transfer to the University of Virginia. I am still in awe and am incredibly humbled by this award, Katzenbach said in a news release. This is my freshman year of college, and here I am being recognized as the highest ranking community college student in the state, which is mind blowing to me. I cannot encapsulate how thankful I am for my incredible support network and to PVCC for gifting me the tools to excel. Katzenbach is the eighth PVCC student to be recognized as the New Century Scholar since the award was created in 2001, according to the release. U.S. Congressmen support aid to Armenia and Artsakh WASHINGTON, D.C. - Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member and Armenian Caucus Vice Chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) provided testimony in support of aid to Armenia and Artsakh as the Administration released the budget blueprint for Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18), the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) reported. Rep. Schiff told the Assembly that "I remain deeply troubled by the ongoing cease-fire violations, including attacks against civilians, and the strong evidence of human rights abuses on the part of Azeri troops. I will continue to work with my colleagues to advance key priorities to ensure peace and stability in the region. I also look forward to strengthening and expanding the Armenian Caucus." In his testimony, Rep. Schiff discussed prioritization for Armenia and the people of Artsakh for the FY18 budget before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. "I was deeply disturbed by the escalation of violence in the last year and the major military assault by Azerbaijani forces against the people of Artsakh...In light of the escalating violence and aggression, I urge the Subcommittee to support implementation of the Royce-Engel peace proposals, prioritizing the placement of independent monitors and equipment to determine the source of attacks along the line of contact; suspend U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan until its government ceases its attacks against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, and agrees to the peaceful resolution of regional conflicts; [and] continue and expand on the humanitarian assistance provided to Artsakh's civilians, including the continuation of de-mining programs as well as support for development, assistance to people living with disabilities, and water supply systems," Rep. Schiff said. Rep. Schiff urged the Appropriations Committee to support economic and military assistance, which enables Armenia's membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace and participation in peacekeeping operations. In addition, he requested specific language in FY18 to recognize "Armenia's efforts to serve as a regional safe haven for Christians and other at-risk populations fleeing violence in the Middle East, and supporting these efforts through aid and international organizations." Congressman Pallone submitted his testimony and similarly pointed out that Armenia is an important safe haven for refugees and a strategic American ally, adding that "U.S. aid has also provided critical support for U.S.-led peacekeeping deployments and NATO interoperability in the region." Rep. Pallone requested $40 million in economic aid and $11 million in military aid for Armenia, including funds for the Foreign Military Financing program and the International Military Education and Training program. He also recommended suspending military aid for Azerbaijan until its government ceases its attacks against Armenia and Artsakh and agrees to the peaceful resolution of regional conflicts. "Taking these steps will continue to build on the U.S.-Armenia strategic relationship and showcase its importance. I urge this committee to invest in peace, show our commitment as a nation toward stable and pro-democracy nations, and help support Armeniaas continued growth and development," Rep. Pallone concluded. "We commend Congressmen Adam Schiff and Frank Pallone for their testimony before the House Appropriations Committee outlining key policy goals with respect to Armenia and Artsakh," stated Armenian Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. "As Congressman Schiff stated, 'the U.S.-Armenia relationship is founded upon a shared commitment to freedom and democratic values,' with which we strongly agree. We also concur with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) that the U.S. 'has a vital role to play in advancing democracy, protecting the innocent, and offering diplomatic solutions to crisis, unrest, violence and economic challenges.' As the appropriations process continues, the Armenian Assembly of America looks forward to advancing our shared goals." Also, the Armenian Caucus circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter to urge fellow Members of Congress to sign a letter in support of strengthening American diplomacy and reinforcing ties with Armenia. The letter stated: "It is critical, in light of recent events, that we provide assistance to support our allies and stand up for our nation's core democratic principles. Our requests this year for the FY18 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs appropriation bill hold particular importance given the urgent challenges facing the nations of the Caucasus and Eurasia. American leadership can and must play a vital role in promoting freedom in this strategic region. It is for this reason that we request continued U.S. assistance for Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh, and at-risk minorities in the Middle East, as well as for other foreign aid-related priorities." The actions of the Members coincided with the release of the Administration's budget blueprint, which envisioned a 28 percent reduction for funding for the Department of State and USAID and as a preliminary document, did not detail assistance to the South Caucasus region. Many Members of Congress commented on the Administration's budget noting the importance of maintaining robust funding for U.S. diplomacy and humanitarian assistance. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), who headlined the Assembly's recent Gala, indicated that "I am very concerned that deep cuts to our diplomacy will hurt efforts to combat terrorism, distribute critical humanitarian aid, and promote opportunities for American workers. Especially when the U.S. is fighting ISIS and millions are at risk of starvation around the world," Chairman Royce said. "We need a strong reform budget that will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of foreign assistance. And we can achieve this without undermining vital U.S. economic and national security interests." Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization. CULPEPER After just one hearing in federal court, a religious discrimination complaint against Culpeper County is headed for settlement. Following an initial hearing Wednesday in Charlottesville, both sides requested to mediate the suit, which alleges that the Culpeper Board of Supervisors bowed to anti-Muslim public pressure last April when it turned down the Islamic Center of Culpepers utility permit request, a process approved many other times in the past. During Wednesdays one-hour hearing, Judge Norman K. Moon repeatedly pressed the county on why it had deviated from routine procedure in the matter before later referring the case to mediation with United States Magistrate Judge Joel Hoppe. The Justice Department filed the suit against the county in December, and the American Civil Liberties Union joined the complaint in February. Religious freedom expert Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia law professor, recommended in December that the county settle the case. He stood by that recommendation Thursday, saying a trial would generate substantial attorneys fees for both sides and that Culpeper would ultimately foot the entire legal bill. Its much better for both sides to settle this case, Laycock said. The mosque gets to move forward, the county saves a lot of money, and it does not get a published judicial opinion branding it as a discriminator. The confidential settlement conference with Hoppe is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. April 6 in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg. Earlier this month, the Islamic Center of Culpeper filed its own civil lawsuit against Culpeper County, and it recently filed a motion to consolidate its similar action with the federal governments case. The settlement order issued Wednesday by Moon referred that motion to Hoppe. Historical fiction often takes liberties with important moments in time, but what it lacks in accuracy it makes up in effectiveness by spotlighting the human experience. On Thursday, the 2017 Virginia Festival of the Book Luncheon welcomed Christina Baker Kline to talk about her process of researching historical fiction and how fictionalized writing often can fill in the holes around a snapshot in time. Kline, the author of the bestselling Orphan Train, a historical fiction about the thousands of orphaned children carried from East Coast cities to the farmlands of the Midwest in the 1800s and early 1900s, spoke about her newest historical fiction, A Piece of the World. Based on Andrew Wyeths painting Christinas World, Kline researched the life of the paintings subject, Christina Olson, and wrote the womans fictional memoir. Introducing her to a packed ballroom at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel, author John Grisham, an Albemarle County resident, praised her ability to turn heavy historical moments into works of fiction that draw out the human energy behind them. She found a way to satisfy the critics, as well as a broad commercial audience, said Grisham. Must be nice. Introducing herself to the audience, Kline spoke about her time at the University of Virginia in the early 1990s, where she received a Master of Fine Arts degree for fiction writing. Before that, she grew up in Cambridge, England, and in various cities in the American South, as well as Maine where she originally came into contact with the famous house portrayed in Wyeths painting. Im going to tell you why Im the only person in the world who could have written this book, Kline said to the hushed audience. Christinas World, painted in 1948, depicts a woman in a soft pink dress lying on the ground in a field of grass, looking up at a grey house on the horizon. The woman in the painting is Christina Olson, a woman who lived her entire life in the house in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine, in the early part of the 20th century. Having visited the Olson home as a child, Kline felt a connection to the painting and to Olson, and said she felt drawn to write a novel about the womans life. I just had all of these resonances with the painting, Kline said. While researching Olson and Wyeths lives, Kline met dozens of people related to Olson and learned as much as she could about the womans real life. Kline traveled to the Olson house, now a museum, for a tour, where she learned more about the unique relationship between Wyeth and his muse. Wyeth met Olson in 1939 and the two shared an exclusive connection. Olson, who suffered from a degenerative disease that affected her mobility, never allowed herself to become confined to a wheelchair and insisted on moving herself around. Kline said Wyeth was drawn to her stubbornness and strength, and he wanted to capture that in his paintings. Both embraced austerity but craved beauty, Kline said. There was a strange connection between them. I think she found the autonomy she craved when she became an artists muse, she said. In the painting, she is the embodiment of human strength, and I believe she is immortal. Youth of Virginia Speak Out and the Virginia State Police are encouraging high and middle schools across the state to participate in a safety campaign for youth and teens to encourage safe driving behaviors and passenger safety. The campaign, called Arrive Alive, focuses on the increased risk these age groups face during the spring and summer months and during prom and graduation season. The campaign is set to kick off on March 20 and runs through May 5. Middle schools will focus their campaign efforts on how to be a safe passenger, pedestrian, and cyclist. High schools will focus on preventing such risky driving and passenger behaviors as driving distracted, speeding, driving with too many passengers, not wearing a seat belt, drowsy driving, underage drinking and driving, and joy riding or cruising. Schools interested in participating in this exciting campaign, should contact Casey Taylor, program development coordinator at 540/375-3596 or visit yovaso.org. Registering is quick and simple, and will provide schools with free resources to promote safe driving, passenger safety, and traffic safety. The materials for middle schools will include: posters, tip cards, pledge banners, pencils, and sunglasses to promote passenger, pedestrian, and bike safety. High schools that register will receive: tip cards, prom/floral Arrive Alive cards, What to do After a Crash cards, posters, pledge banners, Text Later Live Longer Stickers, and sunglasses to promote safe driving and celebrating responsibly. Arrive Alive is sponsored by Youth of Virginia Speak Out About Traffic Safety and the Virginia State Police, and is funded by a grant from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles Highway Safety Office. Other partners include Allstate, State Farm, the Mid-Atlantic Foundation for Safety and Education, a nonprofit charitable organization affiliated with AAA Mid-Atlantic, and WFXR Television. YOVASO is Virginias Peer-to-Peer Education and Prevention Program for Teen Driver Safety and is a program of the Virginia State Police. Membership in YOVASO is free and open to all Virginia high schools and middle schools. Schools do not have to be a member of YOVASO to participate in the Arrive Alive campaign. New Delhi: Bharti Airtel will acquire Tikonas 4G business including the broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum in five telecom circles for around Rs 1,600 crore. After this acquisition Airtel will be the second player other than Jio to have pan-India presence in 2300 Mhz band which has second largest ecosystem of 4G devices. Due to severe competition the telecom sector in India is seeing a wave of consolidation. Earlier this week Vodafone and Idea had announced that they are merging their operations to create India's biggest mobile operator. Last month Airtel had also agreed to acquire Norwegian operator Telenors Indian arm. Tikona currently has 20 MHz spectrum in the 2300 MHz band in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and HP circles. Airtel plans to roll-out high speed 4G services on the newly acquired spectrum in the five circles immediately after the closure of the transaction. Post-acquisition, the combined spectrum holding of Airtel in these five circles will be within the spectrum caps prescribed by the government. The proposed acquisition will enable Airtel to fill BWA spectrum gaps in the 2300 MHz band in Rajasthan, UP (East) and UP (West), securing a pan India footprint in the band. The deal will significantly bolster Airtels spectrum position in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, taking its overall BWA spectrum holding to 30 MHz each in these circles. Post completion of the deal, Airtel will have 30 MHz in the 2300 MHz band in 13 circles giving it tremendous advantage to handle the surging data demand. Airtels continued focus on strengthening its 4G capabilities across multiple spectrum bands will be complemented with the BWA spectrum acquisition from Tikona. We believe that combining our capacities in TD-LTE and FD-LTE will further bolster our network, and help us provide high-speed wireless broadband, said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel. After the Vodafone-Idea deal, this is another step towards consolidation in the telecom sector. The telecom sector is under pressure and the future expansion and growth will depend on the quantum of spectrum held and the quality of services offered, said Rishi Tejpal, principal research Analyst, Gartner. New Delhi: Use of energy efficient LED bulbs has led to reduction of power bills by Rs 20,000 crore, the Lok Sabha was informed today. Power Minister Piyush Goyal also said the per piece cost of these bulbs has gone down from over Rs 300 to Rs 38. He said in the first wind power auction conducted by SECI, the non-windy states will get wind power from wind resource rich states. The state utilities of Bihar, Delhi and Dadra and Nagar Haveli have expressed interest in purchasing wind power, he said. The final price reached after e-reverse auction held in February was Rs 3.46 per unit. "Such low tariffs will encourage the consumers to switch over to cleaner sources of energy," the minister said in his written reply. The film, which also stars Diljit Dosanjh and Suraj Sharma in the lead roles, releases on March 24. Mumbai: Anushka Sharma has been promoting her upcoming second production, Phillauri, all guns blazing, and thanks to a tremendously successful social media campaign, the film has generated ample buzz. Given that the storyline of the film Phillauri revolves around the friendly spirit Shashi, the marketing strategy was built on playing with the characteristic traits of the spirit she was invisible and she was omnipresent. The campaign #ShashiWasHere saw Shashi (Anushka Sharma) respond to the posts commenting about generic posts and current trends and viral memes. The actress also collaborated with eminent Bollywood personalities like Kapil Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan to create hilarious videos that instantly went viral. The team has also used the 3D Projection technology in cinemas to make Shashi interact with cine-goers across the country. This is the first time ever that 3D Hologram projection is being used to promote a film in India. Anushka also interacted with fans on a video call while remaining invisible. Anushka made calls to fans every week to talk to them about Phillauri as Shashi, through a dedicated WhatsApp number. The film, which also stars Diljit Dosanjh and Suraj Sharma in the lead roles, releases on March 24. Mumbai: The Jodhpur Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court on Thursday adjourned the hearing in the blackbuck poaching case involving actor Salman Khan and others till April 1. Earlier this month, woman activist and lawyer Abha Singh had lashed out at Salman, saying the actor should file a counter if he is truly innocent. She said that Salman has made a joke of the judiciary repeatedly, adding that he should be tried for perjury and wasting the time of the court. Singh also stated that it was now for the judiciary to get the truth out, as the police and the defence have connived in not conducting the case in a true manner. During the shooting of Sooraj Barjatya's movie, 'Hum Saath Saath Hain' in 1999, Salman allegedly went on a shooting expedition along with actors Saif Ali Khan, Neelam, Sonali Bendre and Tabu, killing two blackbucks in Kankani village. Following protests by the local Bishnoi community, a case was later filed against Salman and the other actors. This is not the first time that the director has voiced out his opinion on Twitter. (Photo: Deccan Chronicle/PTI) New Delhi: Slamming the Centre's decision to appoint Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath as the new Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, filmmaker Shirish Kunder, husband of choreographer Farah Khan, has called Yogi Adityanath a 'goon'. In the now-deleted tweets, Kunder wrote, "Hoping a goon will stop rioting once he's allowed to rule is like expecting a rapist to stop raping once he's allowed to rape." He did not stop here, the next tweet read, "Going by the logic of making a goon as CM so that he behaves, Dawood can be CBI director. And Mallya - RBI Governor." This is not the first time that the director has voiced out his opinion on Twitter. Earlier in 2016, he reacted on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat' as he wrote, "If you block their nose, they will breathe from the mouth. Doesn't mean they are enjoying it." Mumbai: After the massive success of Ek Tha Tiger that had released in 2012, Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif are coming back together again in the sequel of the film Tiger Zinda Hai. Salman Khan and Katrina Kaifs first look from the film was recently released, which left the fans feeling extremely excited for the film. Now, Katrina has shared yet another picture from the shoot. However, Salmans nowhere to be seen in the new picture. The actress took to her official Facebook account and shared a selfie with filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar. The team is currently in Austria where they are shooting the action sequences. The films director, Ali Abbas Zafar even shared a short video on Twitter. "Action begins @TigerZindaHai," he wrote on Twitter. The cast and crew landed in Austria few days back and pictures of Salman with fans and one shared by Katrina of herself on Facebook were a visual delight. Tiger Zinda Hai is slated for release during Christmas this year. She will make you laugh, she will make you think, she accepts her flaws and she makes a point with ease. Thats what sets Twinkle Khanna a class apart from other celebrities. Despite being superstar Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadias daughter, Twinkle has no compunctions about admitting that acting is not her cup of tea. And with her books as Mrs. Funnybones being the new rage among young bibliophiles, she seems to have more than made a comeback into the limelight. I think if you are honest about yourself only then you will grow otherwise, how will you evolve? If you are going to be blind to your own flaws then there is no point I think its the most sensible thing and I believe logic and sense is what moves my world, she says. I always had more interest in the literary, and the world of design and thats what I have always loved to do as a child as well. Trying my hand at acting was because I came from a particular background, so I was offered movies ever since I was 13 and lot of people told me this is the time you should try. However, I wasnt passionate about it. Twinkle, who is now an author, entrepreneur, brand ambassador and producer, is also one of the most active members of the Twitter community and is known for her classy retorts to trolls. Though seemingly imperturbable, Twinkle admits that if she respects her critic, their feedback will definitely leave an impression. Criticism will hit me if it is from somebody whose opinion or work I respect, or if there is something valid in that criticism. In those cases, I look at it carefully. I examine it to see if there is any truth in what they are saying. As for trolls, who cant even spell my name properly and say whatever they want I really dont care, shrugs the 42-year-old. Twinkles candid nature is not just bound to the social media. Indeed, she is known for not being someone to mince her words. Ask her about how difficult it gets to be so real as a celebrity constantly in the limelight and she says, I think it just about your nature. For me, this is how I have always been. It may not have paid off in the beginning when people would judge me for speaking my mind, but I guess finally, after decades, its paid off. Now, people see me for who I am and accept me that way. That in itself is a great thing because I dont have to pretend to be like anyone else. The producer has a number of new projects lined up for her in the upcoming year. Not only is she producing the much-talked-about Padman, she has also turned brand ambassador for LOreal Professional, which she admits to having used for years. Ask her about her projects and she says, I am a very practical person by and large, and as a producer, efficiency is very important. I have a wonderful director R Balki who comes all prepared so I dont have to worry about too many things. As for LOreal, I think it was just a natural progression for me. Nayanthara, who is riding high in Ktown with her female-centric movies, is ready for her first release of 2017 the horror thriller Dora, which revolves around a car, and her character Pavalakodi. The film is directed by Doss Ramaswamy, a former assistant to director Sargunam (who is also the producer of Dora). The makers of the film were in for a shock though, when the movie was given an A certificate by the Censor Board recently. When contacted, a peeved Doss said, Since I didnt want Dora to be another cliched horror flick, I kept those elements to the minimal level and the ghost is just a fantasy component in the script. The CBFC has given an A certificate, as they felt that the violence in the film was strong despite the fact that theres hardly any bloodshed or gory scenes in the movie. A source says that the director even agreed to accept few cuts in the film, and tried justifying that the film deserved a U or U/A certification. However, the Board refused to budge. The source adds that Doss feels the movie deserves a family audience, which it is being deprived of now. Since the movie is releasing simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu on March 31, the team is not in a position to send it to the revising committee for a change in certification. Tony Babus tryst with sound began at a very young age. A child who was crazy about movies, his attention often focussed on the sounds in them. He would experiment with sounds using various software on his computer. Seeing this, his father asked him to take up this as his path. That was the first twist in Tonys life. He began searching for a course in sound designing and eventually joined the Neo Film institute in Kochi. The next twist in his life was awaiting him there. There, he met a few like-minded people that reinforced his cinema dreams. The movie C/o Saira Banu was one such dream. Tony has worked as the sound designer in that movie. Sony (director) and I are from the same institution. We have done a short film Moonamidam before. Saira Banu has actually started from there, says Tony. It is not his first project in Malayalam. He had done a few projects of Dr Biju and a festival movie directed by Geo Baby. In fact, he kicked off his journey in Mumbai, where he worked in movies from different languages such as Hindi, Marathi and Telugu. I reached Mumbai in 2010. My teachers friend has a studio in Mumbai. They were looking for a technician and I came for the position, he recalls. It opened a new avenue before Tony. He is happy that he could be a part of many big projects during his tenure. I have been working in Mumbai for the past six years. I am a freelancer and have been fortunate enough to be part of movies like Tanu weds Manu (two parts), Sarabjit, Bhagi, Sanam Teri Kasam, Bajirao Mastani and Mohenjadaro, he says. We have to design different sounds according to the mood of the movie. We should be aware of various factors such as the time period of the movie to produce the apt sound. I mostly have done sync sound movies, he says. Tonys Mumbai experience has only helped him down south. I have tried to execute what I have learnt from there although it was a tad challenging. For instance, in the movie, there is a scene where the lead character is driving a jeep for driving test. That model of the jeep is used in our place only. I could simply have taken the matching sound from the archives. But, I went to the Veli ground in Fort Kochi to record the sound so that there will be a natural feeling on screen. Sound mixing engineer Sinoy Joseph and dubbing supervisor Manoj Venugopal were always there to help me, explains Tony, who has done 58 movies so far. Most of them were in other languages. Now, he wants to do more Malayalam movies. There are already two vaccines on the market against rotavirus, but they require refrigeration and can be costly. unlike the new one. (Photo: Pixabay) Miami: A new vaccine that is cheap to make and does not require refrigeration has shown promise in preventing rotavirus, a contagious and fatal disease that disproportionately strikes children in Africa, researchers have said. A trial in Niger found that the new vaccine was almost 67 per cent effective in preventing gastroenteritis caused by rotavirus, which is the most common cause of severe diarrheal disease in the world.More than 500,000 children die each year from dehydration and complications of rotavirus, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Health Organization. There are already two vaccines on the market against rotavirus, but they require refrigeration and can be costly."This trial brings a vaccine which is adapted to African settings to those who need it most," said Sheila Isanaka, assistant professor of nutrition at Harvard University and co-author of the study in the New England Journal of Medicine. "When the vaccine becomes widely available in Africa, it will help protect millions of the most vulnerable children."The vaccine, called BRV-PV, is manufactured by Serum Institute of India.The randomized, controlled trial involved 3,508 healthy infants who received three doses of the vaccine or placebo at 6, 10, and 14 weeks of age. About a month after the final dose, far fewer children who had been vaccinated showed signs of diarrhea, vomiting and stomach distress from rotavirus."At 28 days after the third dose of vaccine or placebo, severe rotavirus gastroenteritis had been reported in 31 infants in the vaccine group and in 87 in the placebo group," said the study. The new vaccine's efficacy of 67 percent was higher than the RotaTeq vaccine, which was 39.3 percent effective according to a previous trial.A similar trial in South Africa and Malawi found the efficacy of the Rotarix vaccine was 61.2 percent, according to background information in the article.The BRV-PV vaccine has been licensed in India. It is awaiting prequalification by the World Health Organization before it can be purchased by the United Nations and government agencies. Although 27 children in the vaccine part of the study died, along with 22 in the placebo group, researchers said their deaths were unrelated to the vaccine. The "most common causes of death were infections and infestations (in 37 infants) and metabolism and nutrition disorders," said the study. No serious adverse events were found to be linked to the vaccine. "After the successful clinical trial of this new vaccine, we hope that it can be made available as soon as possible to children in Niger and across Africa," Isanaka said. When human bones break down at a quicker pace than what they can be re-formed, bone thinning may occur. (Representational Image) London: South Asian women may be more susceptible to osteoporosis and fractures in later life as they experience breakdown of bone tissues at a quicker rate, a first-of-its-kind study has found. Researchers from the University of Surrey in the UK examined the breakdown of bone tissue by osteoclast cells (bone resportion) in over 370 pre and post-menopausal and white Caucasian women in the UK. Bone resorption is a natural process which enables the transfer of calcium from bone tissue into the bloodstream and is required to allow bone to adapt itself to challenges and repair damage. However, if excessive, and not balanced by equivalent bone formation, this can be detrimental to bone health overtime. Monitoring the women over a 12-month period, researchers measured levels of 'urinary N terminal telopeptide', a by-product of bone resorption found in urine, to assess how much bone was being broken down. They discovered that pre-menopausal South Asian women had higher levels of this by-product in their urine than their white Caucasian counterparts, indicating elevated levels of bone resorption than would be expected for their age. Typically high levels of this by-product are only found in post-menopausal women, researchers said. This indicates that osteoclast cells in pre-menopausal South Asian women might be breaking down bones at a quicker rate than they are being reformed, making these women more susceptible to osteoporosis and fractures in later life. "When human bones break down at a quicker pace than what they can be re-formed, bone thinning may occur which can negatively impact upon a person's quality of life," said Andrea Darling from the University of Surrey. "What we have found is that pre-menopausal South Asian women have the same level of bone resorption as a woman who has been through the menopause," Darling said. "We need to investigate further whether these women simply have higher levels of both bone resorption and bone formation or if there is something more worrying occurring in their skeletal system, in terms of higher than expected bone resorption, increasing their susceptibility to bone diseases and fractures," she said. Researchers also examined Vitamin D levels of the participants and its impact on bone resorption. Vitamin D plays a key role in the human body, including helping the body to absorb calcium and phosphorus from food which is vital for bone health. Researchers discovered that women whose Vitamin D levels fluctuated (ie had very high levels in summer but very low levels in winter) had higher levels of bone resorption than those whose levels remained consistent throughout the year. It was found that such a fluctuation in Vitamin D levels was more prevalent among white Caucasian women, which can be attributed to lifestyle choices (eg summer sunbathing). KOCHI: Even as instances of tuberculosis is declining across the state, Kochi city has not been part of that favourable statistic. TB is declining at a rate of 15 per cent in Kerala, but in Kochi it is just 5 per cent over the last six years. Unfortunately, it is the elderly who are prone to this disease. Considering this fact, the Indian Medical Association is launching an intensive campaign titled 'End TB Consortium' in association with government hospitals. The campaign to be taken up by the private-government consortium will be launched on World TB Day on Friday. As per data, the total number of TB cases in Kochi in 2016 was 548, while the number was 572 cases in 2010. "The number of TB cases among the aged, starting from the age of 50, is on the rise. The main reason for this is the increased prevalence of diabetes among them. While the prevalence of diabetes in rural areas is 18 per cent, it is 25 per cent in Kochi. Apart from this, the other historical reasons like poverty, overcrowded habitats like slums and coastal areas are also cited for the high rate of the disease. The disease rate is high among migrants and urban poor areas in west Kochi," said Dr Rakesh P.S., epidemiologist and convener of 'End TB Consortium'. The disease is showing a declining trend among youngsters in the city. The major objectives of the initiative are to ensure standard TB care for all patients diagnosed and treatment in private sector apart from ensuring all public health services to patients through private hospitals. A retired British man has walked more than 2,500km for collecting money that could benefit street children in India. Patrick Baddeley began his journey from Kanyakumari and crossed Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha to reach Kolkata by the end of February, 2017 for a Kokata-based charity called Future Hope. Baddeley was able to surpass his initial target and ended up raising 11,757 British pounds (more than Rs 9.5 lakh) from 124 donors. His generous endeavour was named K-walk which he dedicated to the memory of his late daughter Katie. He documented his incredible journey on a Facebook page named JustGiving that he had set up for his noble cause. CCTV grabs of the pervert in Maharanis college peeping into windows and trying on womens undergarments. Bengaluru: While the High Grounds police are questioning Abu Taleem, a cross-dresser who was arrested for sneaking into Maharani's College Hostel and stealing women's underwear, his brother told Deccan Chronicle that Abu's acts were no different at home in Bihar. His brother Salman (name changed) said that Abu's wife had on many occasions caught him wearing her underwear and flaunting himself before the mirror. Though she objected, Abu refused to change. This led to frequent fights between Abu and his wife. Later, he also started beating her up, he said. Salman, who sells race books at the Bangalore Turf Club, said he did not know Abu was jumping over the wall to get into Maharani's College Hostel, as he stays in a different place. Salman said Abu started behaving abnormally two years into his marriage. He has two children, who are six and four years old. I never imagined that he would take his abnormal behaviour to such extreme levels, Salman said. Back in Bihar, Abu used to walk out of the house in the night, roam the streets and return later in the night. No one knew where he went and what he did. But we never heard any complaints of his peeping into someone else's house or walking around wearing women's clothes," he said. The assailant was nabbed with the help of a local who set his two pet street dogs upon him on witnessing the incident unfold. Chennai: A man stabbed his former colleague to exact vengeance after he was reportedly sacked from the company following a quarrel with her. The woman was heading to work when the attack took place on Jagathambal street, West Mambalam on Wednesday morning The assailant was nabbed with the help of a local who set his two pet street dogs upon him on witnessing the incident unfold. Suchismitha (31), who is from West Bengal, has been working for the past 3 years in the R&D wing of truck manufacturer Ashok Leyland. She suffered injuries in her stomach and is being treated in a private hospital. Preliminary investigations revealed that the assailant, Ragunath (24), was employed on a sub-contract with the company. The resident of Perungudi who is a native of Sivakasi and graduate in mechanical engineering from Coimbatore, had had previous enmity with Suchismitha. Ragunath had run into Suchismitha while boarding the company bus last July and had reportedly touched her fingers. While he maintained it was a mere accident, Suchismitha escalated the quarrel by approaching her father who is a senior executive in the same firm in a branch up north. Her father took up the issue with the Chennai division, which in turn approached its sub-contractor who terminated Ragunaths services last July end, said a senior police official who is privy to the investigation. A jobless Ragunath left for his native place after the incident. He came back to the city a couple of months ago and joined his friends in Perungudi. He was aware of her bus pickup routine and he managed to hack her in his maiden attempt at such a crime. He had lain in wait on his bike since 6 am and he intercepted her around 6.30 am when she was walking towards where she would be picked up. An argument ensued and he pulled out a paper cutter in a flash and stabbed her repeatedly in her stomach, the official said. If not for the dogs, I wouldnt have been able to nab him. He was pointing the knife at me and I ushered my Puppy which went after him along with my other pet. He tripped and we nabbed him, said Ram, an autorickshaw driver. We are aware of the unfortunate incident earlier this morning. Thankfully, she is out of danger due to timely medical care and attention by fellow colleagues. Prima facie, it appears to be a case of personal vendetta. We are extending all cooperation to the investigation authorities. Safety of all our employees is of prime importance and we will ensure all care and attention is taken to avoid such incidents in future. This is an unfortunate happening. The attacker was a not an employee of Ashok Leyland. He was a sub contract employee, read a statement from Ashok Leyland. Bengaluru: The High Grounds police on Wednesday arrested the man who had entered the Maharani Womens College Hostel wearing womens undergarments and stealing them from the laundry section. The 37-year-old Abu Taleem is from Kishanganj district in Bihar. He worked as a stable hand at the Bangalore Turf Club and stayed in a shed on the Turf Club premises, from where he was picked up by the police on Wednesday. The police said that they identified Taleem from the footage recorded in the hostel CCTV camera. We suspected that the accused could be an employee of the Turf Club as he entered the hostel by jumping over the wall from the club side. We rounded up around 50 people. The hostel security guard and warden, who had seen him, picked out the culprit from among the suspects, the police said. Suspect Abu Taleem is seen wearing womens underwear in a CCTV grab from the premises of the Maharani Womens College Hostel in Bengaluru via Web They also recovered two pairs of undergarments from his shed. During the interrogation, Abu reportedly told the police that he was fascinated by women's clothes and had developed an intimacy with transgenders. He also told the police that he snuck into the hostel regularly over the last five years. "We are trying to find proof of his earlier entry," the police said. During the interrogation, Abu initially refused to take the blame, saying he was afflicted with sleepwalking and was not aware of his own activities in that state. He might be suffering from some mental illness. We will look into it, the police said. Police ignored complaint earlier The complaint of a man loitering around half-naked on the hostel premises was filed by hostel warden Sumitra Devi in September 2016, but the police did not take it up seriously. The police said that they were busy enforcing law and order at that time as the Cauvery water sharing issue had erupted. The case got momentum only after members of the House Committee on Preventing Sexual Assault against Women and Children, headed by MLC V.S. Ugrappa, visited the hostel and went through the CCTV footage that showed the man walking around the hostel campus in women's underwear. Hyderabad: Telangana government has reiterated its request to the Centre for enhancement of number of Legislative Assembly seats in the State from 119 to 153. Telangana Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma has written a letter to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, to this effect. "As the new State of Telangana came into existence on June 2, 2014, and in order to strengthen the Democratic Institutions and to provide Social Justice to the people of Telangana, the Government of India may initiate action to place the matter before the Election Commission of India for increase of seats in Legislative Assembly of Telangana State from 119 to 153 as envisaged in the Andhra Pradesh Re-Organisation Act, 2014 as expeditiously as possible," the letter said. In support of his request, the Chief Secretary quoted relevant provision under section 26 of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, regarding delimitation of constituencies. It has been provided in the section 26(1) that subject to the provisions contained in Article 170 of the Constitution and without prejudice to section 15 of this Act, the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the successor States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana shall be increased from 175 and 119 to 225 and 153, respectively, he said. Delimitation of the constituencies may be determined by the Election Commission, the chief secretary added. Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday went into crackdown mode after Chief minister Yogi Adityanath sought an action plan for closure of slaughter houses and a "blanket ban" on cow smuggling, as illegal abattoirs and meat shops across the state faced the heat. "The priority of the state government is to close the illegal slaughter houses in the state, and at the same time put a blanket ban on all the mechanised slaughter houses," Chief Secretary, UP, Rahul Bhatnagar said. Senior officials across the state's 75 districts were directed to inspect the slaughter houses. "If any illegal slaughter house is found operating, then it must be closed immediately, and penal actions must be initiated against the guilty," Bhatnagar said adding that the Urban Development Department had already issued an order in this regard. As per the order, District Magistrates have been directed to form 10-member committees under their chairmanship to ensure that illegal slaughter houses are closed. Superintendent of police, regional officer of UP Pollution Control Board and chief veterinary officer of the districts would also be a part of the teams. During the inspection of abattoirs, their proximity to residential areas and religious places should be kept in mind and steps taken to ensure that illegal slaughter houses are not at all allowed to operate on road sides, the officials have been told. The police has been asked to provide adequate protection. Earlier in the day, Adityanath directed police officials to prepare an action plan for closure of slaughter houses as the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) swung into action and sealed nine meat shops in the state capital. Adityanath also ordered a "blanket ban" on smuggling of cows and said "zero tolerance" would be exercised in this regard, official sources said. The BJP manifesto had said that all the illegal slaughter houses would be closed and there would be a blanket ban on all the mechanised slaughter houses. Amidst the official crackdown, a separate incident in Hathras area triggered panic as three shops selling meat and fish were set afire by unidentified persons. Police have registered a case in the matter. Apart from being a part of his party's manifesto, the crackdown also does not seem to be at variance with Adityanath's personal convictions. It emerged that Adityanath has turned to his personal website to seek public opinion on curbing cow slaughter. In their complaint, the girl's parents said Rajendra, who hails from Odisha, lived in the same colony in a shed and was acquainted with her. (Photo: Representational Image) Bengaluru: A watchman has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a six-year-old schoolgirl in HAL area here, a police official said. "We have arrested a watchman, employed at a building in which the girl and her family stayed, for the March 20 incident," HAL Inspector Sadiq Pasha said. He said the man, Rajendra, was arrested the next day. He has been booked under Sections 4 (penetrative sexual assault), 6 (Rigorous Imprisonment not less than 10 years) and 8 (minimum sentence is three years which may extend to five years with fine) of POCSO and Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the IPC, Pasha said. In their complaint, the girl's parents said Rajendra, who hails from Odisha, lived in the same colony in a shed and was acquainted with her. They said that at around 3 pm on March 20, he lured the girl to his shed by offering her snacks and sexually assaulted her. Pasha said the girl rushed home and narrated what had happened. As the news spread, people caught hold of Rajendra, beat him up and then handed him over to police, he said. The girl has undergone medical treatment, he added. New Delhi: The BJP does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or religion, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, strongly refuting allegations that certain communities were facing discrimination in Uttar Pradesh. The statement came after Congress member Ranjeet Ranjan expressed concern in Lok Sabha over incidents involving 'anti-Romeo' squads and alleged discrimination against people of certain communities in the state. The UP government has set up such squads in the police to keep a tab on eve-teasing incidents in the state. Touching upon the issue during Zero Hour, Ranjan wondered whether it was wrong to fall in love. She also asked whether it was wrong to have a boy friend or a girl friend. Taking a swipe at the 'anti-Romeo' squads, she wanted to know whether the government would be telling boys and girls on how to sit in parks. In response, Singh, who has also served as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, said "the BJP does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or religion." Stating that it is only a few days since BJP government has come to power in Uttar Pradesh, he said if there is any specific incident, the government would look into it. After registering a landslide victory in the polls, BJP government headed by Yogi Adityanath took charge on March 19. Singh also said the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has said the focus would be on "sab ka saath, sab ka vikas". New Delhi: Condemning the physical assault of the Air India staff who was beaten up by Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Thursday said no political party will encourage such an act. "It is a question of human behaviour. Any citizen hitting an Air Line staffer doesn't make any sense. If there is anything, it can always be taken up. No citizen will behave like this. No political party will encourage physical assault. It should never have happened. Any physical assault should always be condemned," Raju told ANI. Gaikwad earlier in the day admitted that he hit an Air India staffer with slipper followed by a business class sitting issue. "Yes, I had hit the staff. Do you expect me to hear their abuses quietly? What should have I done? He first misbehaved with me," Gaikwad told ANI. He further said that he had filed a complaint regarding the sitting arrangement but nobody was there to answer the problem, adding that he had take such an action. "I will complain about this misbehaviour in the Parliament. They can complaint whoever they want to I will give my answer," he said. Meanwhile, Air India staffer, Sukumar, who was hit by Gaikwad said that the MP broke his glasses, used bad words and humiliated him in front of the entire crew. "When I told him what he (Gaikwad) is asking isn't possible, he became abusive and started using foul language. God save our country if this is the culture and behaviour of our MPs," the Air India staffer said. Earlier in the day, in a grim reminder of the VVIP culture, Gaikwad hit an Air India staff with his slipper over business class sitting issue. Gaikwad was travelling from Pune to New Delhi when the scuffle broke out over the sitting arrangement. The MP claimed that his ticket was for business class but Air India provided him economy class. An Air India spokesperson said a team has been constituted to probe the entire incident. Jaipur: An 18-year-old college student allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling of her hostel room in Jaipur, police said on Thursday. A student of BA first year in Maharani college, Komal Prajapat was living in the college hostel. After appearing for an exam on Wednesday, she committed suicide Wednesday night, SHO Ashok Nagar police station Balaram said. The matter came to light this morning after room's door remained closed for longer than usual. The hostel staff broke the doors open and found her hanging. The body was shifted to SMS hospital for postmortem. "She was a resident of a village near Dudu in the district and her family members have arrived here. Reasons behind the suicide are not clear and the matter is being investigated," the police officer added. Chennai: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Thursday lost a no-confidence motion against Tamil Nadu Speaker P Dhanapal in the state Assembly, by a voice vote. While 97 MLAs voted for the motion, 122 voted against it. The DMK had earlier declared that it would move a no-confidence motion against Dhanpal for ejecting the partys MLAs from the Assembly during the contentious trust vote of Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy last month. Palanisamy, picked by AIADMK general secretary Sasikala to be CM, won the vote 122-11 after DMK MLAs were marched out and the Congress staged a walkout. The DMK had moved the Madras High Court against the floor test on February 20. DMK Working President MK Stalin had claimed that his shirt had been torn in the Assembly and that his party workers were attacked. The drama unfolded after DMK MLAs protested the absence of a secret ballot for the motion of confidence. Meanwhile, both the O Panneerselvam camp and the Sasikala camp in the AIADMK moved the Election Commission asking to be allotted the right to use the party symbol of Two Leaves. However, the EC on Wednesday froze the symbol until the RK Nagar bypoll was over, a decision Panneerselvam called disappointing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting with BJP MPs from UP. (Photo: ANI Twitter) New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a meeting with the Members of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh and directed them not to interfere in affairs of the politically crucial state. Addressing the MPs from Uttar Pradesh, where firebrand Hindutva icon Yogi Adityanath has been appointed Chief Minister, the Prime Minister also asked them to work in tandem with the state ministers. The Prime Minister asserted that all stand equal in the eyes of the government. Modi added that the MPs should respect the mandate of the people and work for development of the state. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for his part asked the BJP MPs to work collectively to fulfill the promises made by the government. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah was also present at the meeting. Mumbai: Some resident doctors decided to call off their strike on Wednesday evening after the Maharashtra government gave them an assurance of increased security, better crowd management system at public hospitals and health insurance among other things. Members of the Maharashtra association of resident doctors (MARD) met medical education minister Girish Mahajan at the Vidhan Bhavan to resolve the issue. Around 4,500 resident doctors across the state had gone on mass leave in the backdrop of the recent spate of attacks on doctors by relatives of patients. However, even as some resident doctors decided to resume duty, a majority of them have decided to continue with the strike, said sources. The doctors had struck work from Monday. Mr Mahajan had warned the striking doctors that the government would stop their salaries for the next six months after which the MARD agreed to discuss the issue. The doctors have withdrawn their strike and will resume the duty from 8 pm. We have agreed to some of their demands like increase security, have crowd management system. emergency alarms, install more CCTV cameras etc, said Mr Mahajan. He added that to reduce unnecessary crowding near patients, all government hospitals have been instructed to keep only one entry door instead of multiple entries. Like private hospitals, the government hospitals will also issue passes to patients relatives to restrict the entry. We will soon have the system to manage crowds," Mr Mahajan explained. The government is also willing to pay Rs 33 crore for deployment of 1100 security guards at the 16 medical colleges. We will be having 700 security guards in the next 15 days from Maharashtra Security Board. They are already trained with good fitness level and can handle emergency situation. We were also told by the doctors to install an alarm system for emergency situation, which we agreed. We will install more CCTV cameras in hospitals. Every hospitals will have security committees to take review of the situation. The committee would include hospital dean, social activists, residents doctors etc, he said. The medical education department is also considering to have training sessions for doctors on how to communicate with the patients. "In an emergency situation, doctors need to communicate sensitively with the relatives of patients. The Centre has guidelines on providing training to the doctors on this line. We will soon start the training," Mr Mahajan said. Resident doctors along with senior doctors take out a protest rally at the KEM hospital demanding security after an intern was assaulted by patient's relatives, in Mumbai. (Photo: PTI) Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said if a doctor is attacked on duty, he will be given medical aid borne by the government. The Chief Minister directed to provide security to sensitive hospitals with armed policeman and work for a long-term plan like monitored CCTV network. Fadnavis proposed setting up of an apex council with the government representatives and doctors and its interaction every three months to solve the issues time to time. The representatives of MARD met Fadnavis to discuss their issues. Ministers Girish Mahajan, Dr Deepak Sawant, DGP Satish were also Mathur present. Meanwhile, the Medical Teachers Association gave ultimatum of 48 hours, and said that they want their demands to be met otherwise they would go on mass resignation. Fadnavis earlier in the day requested the resident doctors to withdraw their strike immediately and ensured them security. "We will take strong legal action against those who attack doctors and will ensure security to the doctors," he said. Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court has ordered the doctors on strike to resume their duties and give some time to the government for providing them proper security. The court also ordered the state government to provide security at all government hospitals so that the doctors can work without fear. More than a thousand doctors in Maharashtra have been protesting since Monday, demanding better security at hospitals with the increase in incidents of attacks by patients' relatives. New Delhi: There is no report of any Indian casualty so far in the terror attack near the UK Parliament, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday night. India has condemned the attack in London in which 5 people were killed and more than 40 injured. London's Metropolitan Police said a man mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed a police officer with a knife outside the British Parliament before being shot dead. "I am in constant touch with Indian High Commission in London. There is no Indian casualty reported so far. #LondonAttack @HCI_London (sic)," she wrote on Twitter. "Indian High Commission is there to help all Indian nationals in London. Please note the Telephone nos: 020 8629 5950 & 020 7632 3035 (sic)," Swaraj wrote. The minister advised people to avoid going to Parliament Square. "All are advised strongly to avoid Parliament Square and check Met Police website for further details on the attack. Stay safe! (sic)," she tweeted. "India strongly condemns Westminster terrorist incident & condoles loss of life. No place in democracies & civilised societies for terrorism (sic)," Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, Gopal Baglay tweeted. New Delhi: The only issue of dispute between India and Pakistan as far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned is the illegal occupation of PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan by Pakistan, the government on Thursday said. Union Minister Jitendra Singh reiterated Indias demand that Pakistan should vacate illegal occupation of these areas. Singhs sharp remarks came in response to Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit favouring resolution of Kashmir dispute as per the aspirations of Kashmiris. Basit was speaking at an event at the High Commission at New Delhi on Thursday to mark Pakistans national day. Talking to reporters outside Parliament, Singh said Today if there is any issue between India and Pakistan on J&K, it is only the illegal occupation by Pakistan, whether it is Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) or Gilgit-Baltistan. He also added, How it can be freed from Pakistans occupation and made a part of the Indian republicthat is the only issue now. Singh said Indias position has been clear for many years now and in 1994, a resolution (on the issue) was also passed in Parliament which all political parties had supported. Basit had said the aspirations of people can be suppressed but not quelled and I hope the struggle of the Kashmiris will prove successful. Kashmir has remained a longstanding unresolved issue between the two countries causing acrimony on both sides. Mumbai: The Bombay high court recently held that the Right to Education (RTE) is not applicable to minority institutions. Making a detailed analysis of the two legislations, the HC held that the rights of minority educational institutions were safeguarded by the constitution. The court superseded the right to education act and said that a minority minstitution could not be forced to admit a student. The order could impact adversely upon students and parents as most education institutes in Mumbai have either religious or linguistic minority status. The HC, however, held the state responsible for the admission of the student and directed it to admit the student in a school near her house. The order was issued while hearing a petition wherein a girl was denied readmission to a minority school after remaining absent for seven months. A division bench of chief justice Dr Manjula Chellur and Justice M S Sonak was hearing a writ petition filed by Dr Vikas Motewar challenging the refusal of Lokhandwala Foundation School at Kandivali from re-admitting his daughter to the school after she remained absent for seven months. The petition sought directions to the state to ensure that the school re-admitted his daughter by enforcing the clauses of the RTE Act that stipulated that once admitted, a student could not be failed or removed till the students elementary education was completed. According to the petition, Dr Motewars daughter was admitted to the school in nursery and was studying there till class V when due to familial problems he moved to Nanded for seven months during which his daughter did not attend school as a result of which she was removed. Though, after approaching the education officer his daughter was allowed to appear for the exam she was denied promotion to class VI. The school held that she could be re-admitted to class V and not VI. The petition alleged that the school did not heed re-admission orders of the education officer or that of the District Child Protection officer and the state did not enforce the clauses of RTE Act, hence he approached the court. The school said that it was not bound by the clauses of the RTE as they were a minority institution. After hearing both sides and referring to previous orders in similar cases, the HC said that minority institutions had the freedom to establish and administer the school and the state could only ensure that they maintained standards. The state could not interfere in the administration and hence could not force the school to re-admit the student. The HC while holding that fundamental right of the school could not be subsome said that under directive principles the state was obliged to admit the student in a neighbourhood school. The HC rejected the reliefs sought by the petitioner Dr Motewar. Coimbatore: A court in Coimbatore on Thursday granted police the custody of three persons arrested in connection with the murder of a Dravida Viduthalai Kazhakam worker, Farooq, till Friday. The Fifth Judicial Magistrate Court sent Asrath, Shamsuddin and Saddam Hussain to police custody till 5 pm on Thursday. While Shamsuddin and Saddam Hussain had surrendered before the court on March 20, Asrath had turned in on March 17. The trio was sent to judicial custody for 15 days and lodged in the Central jail here. The police had yesterday filed a petition in the Judicial Magistrate Court seeking their custody for three days for interrogation, which was opposed by the counsel of the accused. Farooq, an atheist, was found murdered on the night of March 16, with deep cuts on neck and abdomen. He was allegedly murdered for his anti-religious, anti-God posts on social media over the last few months. New Delhi: A Congress member in Rajya Sabha on Thursday alleged that the family members of Rohith Vemula, who had committed suicide in the Hyderabad University, were being ill-treated. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, PL Punia said the Justice Roopanwal Commission set up to look into the suicide has not said anything on the terms of reference given to it. Instead, the panel has said Vemula was not a dalit, but OBC, and he had committed suicide due to personal despair, the Congress member said. He further said Vemula's family was being ill-treated and has been given notice to cancel the caste certificate. Punia demanded that the mental harassment of the family should be stopped. The suicide of Vemula had triggered a political furore across the country, particularly in several universities. Vemula, a student at the University of Hyderabad, had committed suicide on January 17, 2016, accusing the administration of caste-based discrimination. Days before that, Vemula had been suspended from the university along with five other students for allegedly assaulting a leader of the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. In his Zero Hour mention, DP Tripathi (NCP) expressed concern over India's low ranking at the United Nation's World Happiness Report. Even Pakistan has been ranked higher than India in the Happiness index. "It is a matter of shame for the government of the day," he said. Taking a jibe on the ruling BJP's 'achhe din' slogan, Tripathi said India's ranking was lower because of the "atmosphere of fear" created in the country and all those who differ being described as "anti-nationals". He also said that senior BJP leaders had advocated the closure of JNU. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien remarked that "happiness is relative". India ranked a lowly 122 on a list of the world's happiest countries, dropping four slots from 2016 and coming behind China, Pakistan and Nepal. The World Happiness Report is a measure of happiness published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Thursday condemned party MP Ravindra Gaikwad's act of beating an Air India employee with his slipper and said that it would find out as to what made him lose his temper. "Whatever happened was unfortunate. We will speak to Gaikwad and try to find out what went wrong. The matter will be taken up by our party chief Uddhav Thackeray. We want to find out what made him lose his temper and what instigated him to do such an act," Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande told ANI. Kayande further stated that the Shiv Sena does not advocate such behavior, adding these kinds of acts should be condemned. "Gaikwad has agreed that he has done it. However, the Shiv Sena does not advocate such behavior. Such acts should be condemned and one should not take law into their own hands," said Kayande. Earlier in the day, Gaikwad admitted that he hit an Air India staffer with his slipper allegedly because he was denied a business class seat. Gaikwad, who was travelling from Pune to New Delhi, said that he had filed a complaint regarding the sitting arrangement but nobody was there to answer the problem. Hyderabad: Stating that the TRS was indebted to voters who gave 100 seats to the party in the GHMC elections in 2016, Municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao on Wednesday said that the party will fulfil all its election promises and make Hyderabad a global city. TRS didnt have a single corporator in GHMC till 2015. But in 2016, citizens voted for the TRS and gave us 100 seats, a historic first. People, irrespective of caste, creed or religion reposed immense faith in us. We are indebted to them and will ensure all our election promises to make Hyderabad a global city are fulfilled by the end of our term, Mr Rao told the Legislative Assembly. He said the government has focussed on improving infrastructure, roads, cleanliness and sanitation. Mr Rao said the process to demolish illegal buildings on nalas will be continued and corruption in building approvals has been checked with the introduction of online approval system. He said GHMC got highest ever Rs 1,000 crore in Budget this year, while it was less than Rs 175 crore in previous governments. The minister said that all urban local bodies, including the GHMC, will be made open defaecation-free by June 2 this year. However, the BJP staged a walkout, alleging that the TRS failed to fulfil any of its GHMC poll promises. There are 12,000 illegal structures on nalas and it requires Rs 6,200 crore to remove them. Thats why we want to take up demolition in phases. Similarly, there are 17,891 illegal structures on nalas across the state, of which, 3,150 have been demolished so far. There are 5,400 dilapidated buildings of which 1,400 were demolished, Mr Rao said. He added the government will take up beautification on heritage structures in the city by giving rebates on property tax and other incentives. We will open an escrow account. The property tax and other incentives amount will be credited into the account and the funds will be used for maintenance and beautification of heritage structures, Mr Rao said. He said SRDP programme will be expedited and skyways will be built as soon as the case in NGT is resolved. We have readied plans to build three skyways along Amberpet-Uppal-Ghatkesar stretch, JBS-Shamirpet, Patny-Suchitra Circle stretch to decongest roads and ensure smooth flow of traffic. We have sought Centres assistance. Even if Centre does not come forward, we will take up these projects, Mr Rao remarked. He said the municipal department got Rs 5,000 crore in Budget and another Rs 5,000 crore would be mobilised through loans, which will be entirely used for city roads. Lucknow: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday directed Uttar Pradesh government officials to stop chewing pan, pan masala etc when in office, after seeing betel-juice stained walls during his first visit to the secretariat annexe building here. According to sources, the CM visited all the floors of the annexe building and met officials posted there. Mr Adityanath also asked the the staff to make the atmosphere in the building healthy and clean by avoiding the use plastic. Meanwhile, anti-Romeo squads were reportedly back in action across the state. These squads were high on the BJPs election manifesto. Squads formed by the police were sweeping Lucknow in a bid to ensure the safety of college-going girls and check eve-teasing. Since Tuesday, police teams have been on the prowl near colleges, malls, parks and other public places. Reports from the state said three men were arrested in Lucknow Tuesday. In Meerut, some youths were picked up outside girls schools and colleges and questioned. There were also reports that policemen were ordering sit-ups after picking up a boy sitting with a group of girls in Jhansi. Cops said parents have been informed. State health minister Siddharth Nath Singh said orders had been issued not to harass any innocent and another official attached to the government told the press on Wednesday that those sitting with friends will not be harassed. But since Tuesday night, reports from UP say over 900 people have been questioned by the squads. The anti-Romeo squads were formed to check harassment of women but allegations of moral policing remain. Bengaluru: The BJP moved a privilege motion against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday for claiming it had not released funds for anganwadi workers during its stint in power in the state. Moving the privilege motion, opposition leader, Jagadish Shettar accused the Chief Ministe of blatantly lying in the House during the discussion on anganwadi workers, who were agitating for a pay hike. "Although he repeatedly claimed that the BJP government did not give any funds for anganwadi workers, it had revised their salaries in the years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-2012. One time it gave them a hike of Rs. 500 and at another of Rs. 200," Mr. Shettar said, accusing the Chief Minister of trying to tarnish the image of the BJP. While reserving his ruling , Speaker K.B. Koliwad, recalled that the CM had corrected himself later by saying the BJP government had released funds for the anganwadi workers. Health and Family Welfare Minister K. Ramesh Kumar said while the opposition had every right to move a privilege motion to nail the government, in the present case Mr Siddaramaiah had admitted to making an error and not tried to deliberately harm the image of the BJP. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra too argued that the privilege motion did not hold water as the CM had rectified his error and provided the correct figures on the salary hikes given to anganwadi workers during BJP rule in the state. Ananth, Kharge spar over Anganwadi stir The Union government and the Congress on Thursday sparred over protests by Anganwadi workers in Karnataka, with Union Minister Ananth Kumar saying the Congress govt was not doing enough for them. The issue was raised by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge in the Lok Sabha who urged the Centre to increase the honorarium for them. Warning that there would be a larger agitation if the issues are not addressed, Mr Kharge said the Centre has reduced the allocation towards anganwadi workers which has increased the burden on the state. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar,said the state was not giving what should be given to the workers. Agreeing with this, Justice Brijesh Kumar cut short the time sought by the states and also fixed the time schedule. (Representational image) Hyderabad: Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II has decided to expedite hearings on allocations between TS and AP, and on Thursday fixed May 4 and 5 as the dates for commencement of hearing on the matter. When the matter came up for hearing on Thursday in Delhi, the governments of both TS and AP again sought four weeks to file their statements on their claim of the water share. However refusing to give four weeks, KWDT-II chairman Justice Brijesh Kumar allowed them time till April 13 to file the statements of claims and counters to the statements by April 2 and commencement of hearing on May 4 and 5. In a related development, the Union water resources ministry representative made a submission to the Tribunal chairman requesting expedition of the hearings and verdict as the issue continues to drag on, despite the Tribunal being constituted over two years ago. It was submitted to the Tribunal that originally, both the states were to submit their statements in January itself, but both sought time till March and on Thursday sought another one-month extension. This kind of prolonging litigation will only hamper the expeditious disposal of the matter unnecessarily, the water resources ministry representative said, and appealed to Justice Brijesh Kumar not to allow the time that was sought by the two states. Agreeing with this, Justice Brijesh Kumar cut short the time sought by the states and also fixed the time schedule. Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has helped a 21-year old woman from Karnataka get an education loan of Rs 1.5 lakh to complete her MBA course. Bibi Sara, who resides in Mandya, had been granted the loan under the central government's "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" scheme. She had written a letter to Mr Modi, seeking financial help. Praising Prime Minister's efforts, Sara said she was sure Mr Modi would respond to her letter and provide financial help. "I did not expect the Prime Minister would respond in ten days. Inspite of being a central leader, Mr Modi is attached to all sections of the society and comes to the rescue of people in need," she said. "He has not brought these schemes into existence for name sake. He sees to it that those are implemented. Taking all these things into account, I was sure that the Prime Minister would respond to my letter," Sara added. Sara wrote to Prime Minister after the Central Bank of India had denied her education loan. "For the past five years I was having an account with the Central Bank. Initially the bank officials promised me to give the loan. "I had also submitted relevant documents including the pan card, but after four months, my loan application was rejected," she said. Meanwhile, the PMO has directed the Chief Secretary to inquire into why the bank denied the loan. The branch manager of the bank clarified that they were instructed not to sanction any additional loans because of the loan recovery season. He said though parents are holding agitations demanding regulation of fee and had submitted numerous representations to the government over the issue, but there has been no response. (Representational image) Hyderabad: The state government on Thursday said a fee regulatory mechanism for private schools in the state would soon be put in place. The issue of indiscriminate fee hike by private schools figured in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, with Opposition members taking the government to task for failing to put in place a fee regulatory mechanism even after nearly three years in power. BJP MLA K. Laxman said private schools had totally commercialised education in the state making it unaffordable for the poor and middle classes. He said though parents are holding agitations demanding regulation of fee and had submitted numerous representations to the government over the issue, but there has been no response. Except for giving assurances that it will regulate fees in private schools, no concrete step has been taken by the government so far. This is creating doubts among parents that private schools are even dictating terms to the government and obstructing it from regulating fee, Dr Laxman said. However, Deputy CM Kadiam Srihari, who holds the education portfolio, said that the government was in the process of bringing fee regulatory mechanism. Earlier, attempts were made by previous governments to regulate fees. But they encountered legal troubles and GOs were stuck down by courts. We dont want a repeat, hence we are taking extra precautions to see that the new fee regulatory mechanism stands legal scrutiny, he said. The government has constituted a panel to suggest measures for effective regulation, which will submit its report soon. However, Opposition members said this would serve no purpose in the new academic year in June since the schools have already increased fees and were collecting revised fees from parents and demanded the government to expedite the process. New Delhi: After the Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad hit a staffer of the Air India with his slipper, Delhi Airport Manager, Harinder Singh on Thursday told ANI that the staffer of the national carrier is agitated and hence they have blacklisted the former. Earlier in the day, Gaikwad, wrote a letter to Civil Aviation Minsiter Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, while listing out the problems faced by him in the flight. Gaikwad in his letter said that he was misled by the Air India and stated that he was given business class ticket, but later he came to know that there was no business class section in the flight. "If there was no business class in the flight then why Air India is booking flight for it. I complaint about this in Delhi Airport, but the management started misbehaving with me and said that we have seen number of MPs like you and even threatened to complain to the Prime Minister," stated the letter sent by Gaikwad. Gaikwad said that he even complained about the facility provided in the flight and added that it was not well maintained as there was no TV, towel or tissue paper. While raising question on the timing of the flight, Gaikwad said these are reasons for the loss being witnessed by the national carrier at this time when all the other private flights are earning quite well. Listing his problems, the Shiv Sena MP asked the Aviation Minister and the Speaker to probe the matter and to find the reason behind these issues highlighted by him. Meanwhile, Air India registered two FIRs against Gaikwad for hitting an Air India staffer with his slipper over sitting issue and for forcibly holding the flight and delaying it for 40 minutes. A Deputy General Manager (DGM) of Air India has submitted the inquiry report corroborating the incident and is examining creation of no fly list of unruly passengers, said Air India spokesperson. Earlier in the day, an adamant Gaikwad bragged about hitting an Air India staffer followed by a business class sitting issue. "Yes, I had hit the staff. Do you expect me to hear their abuses quietly? What should have I done? He first misbehaved with me," Gaikwad told ANI. The Air India staffer, who was hit by Gaikwad, said that the MP hit him and used bad words and humiliated him in front of the entire crew. "When I told him what he (Gaikwad) is asking isn't possible, he became abusive and started using foul language. God save our country if this is the culture and behaviour of our MPs," the Air India staffer said. Gaikwad was travelling from Pune to New Delhi when the scuffle broke out over the sitting arrangement. The MP claimed that his ticket was for business class but Air India provided him economy class. The girl BB Sara, who is an MBA student, said that Modi has always worked as a helping hand when any one is in need. (Photo: ANI/Twitter) Mandya: Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing her education loan so that she could complete her studies, the Muslim girl from Karnataka on Thursday said the former is connected with the masses and added that he has not launched the schemes just for namesake but implemented them in true sense. The girl BB Sara, who is an MBA student, said that Modi has always worked as a helping hand when any one is in need. "Despite being a national leader, he is attached with the population. Whatever schemes he has initiated, he has implemented them. He has not launched them just for name sake purpose," Sara told ANI. The girl's father echoing similar sentiments lauded the Prime Minister for his apt response. "It's quite unbelievable that out of 125 crores population, he took notice of Sara's letter and helped her," he told ANI. The girl had earlier written a letter to Prime Minister Modi seeking education loan so that she could complete her studies. She got a response from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) within 10 days of her request. The 21-year-old had approached Central Bank of India for an education loan to continue her studies. However, her repeated request to the bank authorities had fallen on deaf ears. The girl then decided to write a letter to Prime Minister Modi in which she gave reference of the 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' initiative and requested for help. Amritsar: For hapless parents of Nanak Singh, who was just seven when he inadvertently crossed over to Pakistan in 1984 from his border village, the longing for a glimpse of their son has become a never-ending wait. That day in 1984, Nanak was playing with his father in the agriculture fields of Channa Bedi border village from where Pakistan was within a stone's throw distance. "While playing in the field he stepped into Pakistan and forgot the directions. He got lost in agriculture fields," said Rattan Singh, the father, tears rolling down his cheeks. There was no border security barbed fence in 1984, so it was easy to stray over to Pakistan, says Keshav Kohli, who runs the NGO, Independent Student Federation. "Nanak was handed over to the Pakistan Police by some Pak national. Then he was thrown into the prison and he never came out," says the father. He said, for the first few years, the family had lost all hope knowing not where their child had disappeared. They were not even aware their son had crossed over to Pakistan until a police official in 2002, from the Ramdas Police Station where a missing report was filed, informed them about his detention in Pakistan. Nanak's parents are economically not very sound and also not educated therefore they did not take legal course to bring their son back. Says Pyari, the distraught mother, "For the last three decades, I have been visiting the village Gurdwara and praying to waheguru (the almighty) to bring back my innocent kid who would over 37 years old now." "It is tough for a mother to live without her son even for a minute but in my case it has been three decades," she says. Kohli of the NGO Independent Student Federation says he contacted the External Affairs Ministry seeking its intervene and bringing back Nanak through diplomatic channels. "The Pakistan government bothered neither about his innocence nor his tender age at the time of his detention. And even the Indian government has not taken any aggressive measure for the repatriation of Nanak," Kohli says. Pyari says she has a glimmer of hope that Nanak might come out of Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat Jail. But she says she might not be able to recognise him if he shows up at threshold of her door one day. "His name figured on the list of prisoners as Kakar Singh, but we were searching for Nanak. The Border Security Force later sent the Pakistani authorities a letter seeking his release, but that didn't help," Kohli said. He said the matter was brought to the notice of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj when they met her around seven months back in Delhi. He said the Minister assured them of all possible help. Nanak's parents would meet Swaraj next month again and seek her help in getting him back, Kohli said. BJP national president Amit Shah welcomes former Karnataka CM S.M. Krishna who joined the saffron party in New Delhi on Wednesday. Bengaluru: Congress veteran and former Union minister S M Krishna on Wednesday joined BJP and said he was "humbled" to join a party which has leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has taken the country to great heights. The 84-year-old leader had quit the Congress after nearly 50 years in January after expressing his unhappiness for being sidelined. His joining the BJP is also seen as a big boost to the party, which is now looking to spread its footprint ahead of the assembly elections in Karnataka next year. BJP sources reiterated that Krishna has not demanded any post and his joining the BJP is unconditional After taking the primary membership of the party, Mr Krishna, a former CM, said, "I am humbled today that I am joining the party which was led by great leaders. I see great India emerging under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ably supported by the party president Amit Shah." Praising both Modi and Shah, Krishna said that these two leaders "have taken the country to great heights and this is not an exaggeration". He said he always enjoyed cordial relations with BJP leaders since the time when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM. Welcoming Krishna, Shah said his joining the party is a message to all honest politicians that they should strengthen the hands of PM Modi. Terming Krishna's decision to join the BJP as a "timely one", Shah said, "Krishna is joining the party after witnessing change in the country since Modi became Prime Minister. Since then the party's acceptability across the country has gone up." Shah said his presence will increase the party's strength not only in Karnataka but across the country. Krishna, who belongs to the Vokkaliga community that accounts for 15 per cent of Karnataka's nearly 5 crore population, is considered an influential leader.The community dominates nearly 40 per cent of the seats in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly. The party will also give him due respect keeping in mind his seniority, the BJP president added. While quitting the Congress, Krishna, former External Affairs Minister, said the party is in confusion whether it needed mass leaders or not, in a clear indication of him being upset with the party. Krishna has also served as Maharashtra governor. He returned to state politics after stepping down as External Affairs Minister in 2012. Former Deputy CM R. Ashok who played a key role in roping in the former CM into the party said "The entry of Krishna will strengthen our base in old Mysuru region since we lack a senior Vokkaliga leader in the party. Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit hoists the country's flag during the Pakistan Day celebrations at Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. (Photo: AP) New Delhi: India on Thursday advised Pakistan to address the challenge of terrorism emanating from Islamabad, which has adversely affected peace and stability in the entire neighbourhood. MEA official spokesperson Gopal Baglay said India has seen media reports about Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit's remarks on Thursday regarding the state of Jammu and Kashmir, adding that Islamabad is not in keeping with diplomatic niceties and are tantamount to interference in New Delhi's internal affairs. "Pakistan would be well-advised to effectively address the challenge of terrorism emanating from that country, which has adversely affected peace and stability in the entire neighbourhood as well as Pakistan's relations with other countries," he added. Basit, on the occasion of Pakistan Day celebrations here expressed Islamabad's desire to have good relations with India as well as to address the Kashmir issue. "Pakistan has always tried to maintain good relations with its neighbors. We also want good relations with India," he said. He added, "We hope that we will be able to solve our differences and issues especially the Kashmir issue." Bengaluru: Health and Family Welfare Minister, K R Ramesh Kumar appealed to legislators on Wednesday not to write letters asking for transfer of doctors and other staff of government hospitals in the state. Replying to Opposition leader, K.S. Eshwarappa in the Legislative Council, he said doctors and other medical staff usually seek transfers to safeguard their own interests and used their political connections to achieve this objective. Urging the legislators to stop playing into their hands, the health minister hoped that they would pass a resolution against making such recommendations for doctor transfers in future. The minister also announced that a decision had been taken to improve infrastructure in government hospitals to bring them on par with the facilities provided in private hospitals. As part of this initiative, all taluk hospitals would get dialysis centres within three months. The management of these centres would be outsourced and the subsidy cost of treatment would be reimbursed to the companies concerned by the government. Revealing that all taluk hospitals would also get Intensive Care Units (ICUs) within three months, Mr Ramesh Kumar said although legislators had been requested to provide Rs 15 lakh from their development funds and Members of Parliament, Rs 5 lakh from their funds for these units, there had been no response from them. The minister added that free diagnostic centres would come up within a month in all government hospitals and as many as 215 generic medical shops set up across the state to provide the poor medicines at a price they could afford. He revealed that steps were being taken to improve all PHCs and taluk and district hospitals in the state. New Delhi: Veteran politician SM Krishna, who on Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has clearly blamed Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for his exit from the grand old party, stating that one should be serious if one has to re-build the party from grass root level to the paramount level. "I have been watching from past two and a half years that the leader of the Congress, excluding Sonia Gandhi the party is least concerned about the party. There is no seriousness at all. If one has to re-build the party from grass root level to the paramount level, one should be serious." Krishna said. "But I did not find neither commitment nor that capacity to sweat it out," he added. Citing example of the recent elections in the Uttar Pradesh, Krishna stated that unfortunately the grand old party is leading towards a 'Congress Mukt Bharat'. "In the Uttar Pradesh elections, the smaller parties which were given 30 seats, won at least nine seats. On the other hand, here a national party who ruled for so many years took 100 seats from the other party and in return gave six or seven seats," he added. Hailing Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her leadership quality, Krishna said, "She used to address so many public meetings and how she used to act with workers. She used to identify workers by names. Here at the present time there is no concern at all." Krishna joined the BJP on Wednesday, almost a year before the assembly elections in Karnataka. The 84-year-old joined the BJP in the presence of party president Amit Shah and union ministers Ananth Kumar and D.V. Sadananda Gowda. Kollam: Youth Congress state vice-president C.R. Mahesh has announced his resignation from the party on Wednesday. He also said that he was leaving politics and will seek some job for a living. Mr Mahesh had criticised Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi the other day and asked him to resign in a Facebook post. I dont intend to continue stinking in a rotten party. The party members are solely responsible for the poll debacle faced by the Congress. I am leaving politics. For the time being, I do not intend to join other parties. I will seek a job for my living, he said. Youth Congress national secretary R. Ravindradass in a statement in New Delhi informed that Mahesh has heen suspended with immediate effect. The suspension is due to disciplinary action and there is no reply for the displeasure note issued, said Ravindradass, in-charge of Kerala and Lakshadweep. Mr Mahesh had in his Facebook post opined that Mr Gandhi should quit if he is not interested in leading the party. Terming Congress leader A.K. Antony as Mauni Baba, Mr Mahesh had also lashed out against the group fights in state politics, he had said. Mr Mahesh had contested in the last years Assembly elections from Karunagappally where he put up a tough fight in the LDF surge that swept the district. He was defeated by R. Ramachandran of the CPI by a small margin of just 1,759 votes. Bengaluru: Welcoming former chief minister S.M. krishna into the party, state BJP chief B.S. YeddyurappA on Wednesday reiterated that his presence would greatly benefit it in the state. "I heartily welcome Mr Krishna. His joining the party will strengthen it in the state," he told reporters here. Asked if Mr Krishna would campaign for BJP candidates in the Nanjangud and Gundlupet constituencies for the two bypolls, he said no decision had been taken on this yet. "Even if he doesn't campaign, he will address press conferences and seek votes for the candidates," he added. Denying Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's claim that the Union government had reduced grants for anganwadi workers, he charged that the state government used up Central funds for purposes other than what they were intended for. He also demanded an apology from the Chief Minister for trying "to demoralise BJP workers by misusing the administrative machinery and getting the police to lathicharge them" in Gundlupet. Later, addressing a public rally in Gundlupet, he claimed the Congress was trying to use money and muscle power to win the bypoll. "People should be careful about Congress leaders entering villages at night and distributing money for votes ," he said. "It is my responsibility to waive off your loans. I will write it in blood that I will not breach your trust (if elected to power in the state)," he told the gathered farmers. Meanwhile, the nominations of two independent candidates were rejected in Nanjangud constituency following scrutiny of all nominations filed for the two bypolls, on Wednesday. Lucknow: Keeping the key Home ministry with himself to improve the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday allocated portfolios to his ministerial colleagues. He also kept the Mining department, which was in news for allegedly being mired in corruption during the previous Samajwadi party regime, an issue which the BJP had raised vociferously during the election campaign. It was then headed by the tainted Gayatri Prajapati, who is presently in jail. Adityanath, who was reported to have discussed the allocation of ministries with the BJPs central leadership in Delhi on Tuesday, has kept over three dozen departments with himself which might be distributed later. The crucial Finance ministry has been allocated to Rajesh Agarwal, a six-time MLA and former deputy speaker of UP Assembly. Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya has been given the Public Works Department (PWD), Food Processing, Entertai-nment Tax and Public Enterprises Department. The other Deputy CM, Dinesh Sharma was given Higher and Secondary Education, Science and Technology, Electronics and IT departments. Sidhharth Nath Singh has been assigned the charge of the Medical and Health while Surya Pratap Shahi got Agriculture, Agriculture Education and Agriculture Research. Another senior minister Suresh Khanna will look after Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development. Young face Shrikant Sharma will handle the Power department, while Swami Prasad Maurya has been entrusted with Labour portfolio. The lone Muslim face in the council of ministers, Mohsin Raza been made the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Electronics, IT, Muslim Waqf and Haj. Among the ministries that the CM has kept are the Information, Housing and Urban planning, Food and Civil Supplies, Personnel Institutional Finance and Estate. Thiruvananthapuram: Youth Congress leaders in the state are upset with vice-president C.R. Maheshs resignation. Though he was a nominee of Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, he showed more allegiance towards K.C. Venugopal MP now. They warned that the senior leaders did not give them space to express their voice and they have lost all hope in the KPCC leadership. KPCC general secretary P. C. Vishnunath was one of the first leaders to lash out against Mahesh, 38. Mahesh, a graduate in politics was upset when Mr Vishnunath alleged that he is leaning towards the RSS. On Wednesday, former chief minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala voiced their strong displeasure which prompted Mr Mahesh to step down from the post. It was then alleged that local Congress leaders there connived against Mr Mahesh for getting a seat to contest. Despite the AICC observer and secretary in charge of the state Dipak Babaria holding talks with the warring leaders in Karunagapally then for Mr Maheshs victory, he was still defeated. It is unfortunate that a leader like Mr Mahesh has to step down and we are losing all hope against this party, a Youth Congress leader told this newspaper. Recently, Mr Mahesh had cosied towards KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran and had the support of several YC leaders. But they warned that when the BJP is making great strides in Kerala, a strong youth brigade is required at the grass root level to stall them. Vinod Krishna, KPCC executive committee member lashed out against Mr Mahesh in his Facebook post. You (Mahesh) should not have shamed the party publicly. It would have been good if you had not resorted to insult publicly. Or else history will never pardon you, he said. Hyderabad: TS TD working president and MLA A. Revanth Reddy was on Thursday stopped from entering the Assembly premises by marshals at the entrance leading to a huge row. The incident took place when Mr Reddy wanted to call on Speaker S. Madhusudhana Chary and pursue the TD demand of action against the party and other MLAs who defected to the TRS. When Mr Reddy tried to enter the Assembly premises, he was stopped by marshals who said he couldnt do so since he was suspended from the House for the entire session. An angry Mr Reddy demanded to see the official order in this regard, but the marshals said they received oral instructions. I have every right to enter the Assembly premises and meet the Speaker except entering the main Assembly hall. There is no restriction on suspended MLAs to move about on the premises, he said. BJP MLA G. Kishan Reddy who was passing by backed Mr Reddy. Mr Reddy said that the TD would move a contempt plea next week against the Speaker for flouting High Court direction to take action within 90 days against the defector MLAs. I wanted to meet the Speaker to know the action taken on the High Court direction. But marshals stopped me for no reason. TD had 15 MLAs and one by one TRS weaned them away which comes under the Anti Defection Act. We complained against Teegala Krishna Reddy to E. Dayakar Rao, he explained. It is believed that this shift in stand has got much to do with the intervention of Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu who is now at the helm of the efforts to bring an amendment to the AP Reorganisaton Act. Hyderabad: Of late, BJP leaders of the partys units in both TS and AP have softened their resistance to the increase in the number of Assembly seats in both the states. It is believed that this shift in stand has got much to do with the intervention of Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu who is now at the helm of the efforts to bring an amendment to the AP Reorganisaton Act. When G. Kishan Reddy was the president of BJPs TS unit, he led a delegation to both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party national president Amit Shah and requested them not to bring any amendment to the Act to enable increase of Assembly seats as this may not bring the desirable results in favour of BJP. Mr Reddy had claimed that such a move would be more helpful to TRS chief and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao as he could accommodate MLAs who defected to the TRS from Opposition parties. TS BJP leaders also issued public statements often, opposing such a move. With the Centre now seemingly inclined to bring an amendment to Section 26 of the AP Reorganisation Act to implement the provision for increasing the number of Assembly Seats in TS from the existing 119 to 153 and in AP from the existing 175 to 225 notwithstanding what Article 170 of the Constitution says, the resistance to this move appears to be gradually fading by the BJPs state units, particularly by TS BJP. Mr Venkaiah Naidu has even told the media that an amendment would be brought before Parliament, probably by next session of the House. When contacted, TS BJP president K. Laxman told this correspondent, We have never made any written submission to our national party president opposing increase of seats. However, we have orally communicated our wish; the move will help ruling parties take advantage of the situation by accommodating defector MLAs. It is for the Centre to bring an Amendment, we will review the situation as and when necessary. Rajahmundry Urban BJP MLA Akula Satyanarayana said We are not going alone in elections in AP, we have an alliance with the TD and the Chief Minister is seeking implementation of the Reorganisation Act in respect of increase in Assembly seats. As such we cannot oppose the move. It is a fact that when the AP delegation met Amit Shah, he wanted to know how the party would benefit from the move. Anyway, more than us, our TS unit leaders are worried about the political benefits for TRS and Majlis due to the increase of seats. According to a TS BJP senior leader, increase of Assembly seats will be advantageous to the MIM as it will increase its strength but for the BJP it is feared there will be no corresponding increase. Among Muslims in their mid-forties and beyond, the BJPs stunning victory in Uttar Pradesh evoked a sense of deja vu. Those younger will have little or no memories of December 6, 1992 when thousands of cheering kar sevaks tore down the 16th century Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, used as hate symbol since the mid-1980s. Since 1984, when the movement for the liberation of the Ram Janmabhoomi was launched, the disputed structure was projected as a motif for perceived humiliation heaped on Hindus by Muslims. Its demolition was mass revenge, not a surreptitious act like in December 1949 when the idols were installed in the stealth of the cold night. The agitation was directed against the government and Muslims, accusing the former of not enabling Hindus to redeem their honour and the latter for imagining they were still the rulers. The arguments were faulty on both counts, but a calibrated agitation ensured it gaining ground. The demolition of the shrine by volunteers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad was under full public glare and witnessed by top leaders of the BJP. The events in the temple town caused multiple riots across the country in which thousands of people were killed. Communal riots were nothing new in India, what made the difference was that these events marked a transition in the way most people looked at inter-community relations, how Muslims must behave and what can be the limits of their expectations. The demolition, events thereafter and the governments response to these legitimised majoritarian elation. Thereafter, it was no longer politically incorrect to claim Muslims were a pampered lot. Post-demolition, even Muslims not driven by religious sentiments became aware of what it meant to be a Muslim in India. It was almost like being conscious all the time that they were the other. The same sentiment prevailed among Sikhs in the 1980s when the turban on their heads had become a wrong flag to unfurl. A large number of Hindus too were disturbed by the emergence of majoritarianism as a credible idea but barring activists, no one felt personally threatened. The demolition marked the time when India gave up the fight against social schisms on the basis of religious identity. Unquestionably, the BJPs landslide win in Uttar Pradesh heralds a moment when the social isolation and electoral irrelevance of Muslims is at its peak. The victory has spiked Hindu jubilation as well as Muslim anxiety. The BJP leaders may claim that sections of Muslims, specially women, voted for them, but the cadre believes no such argument. For them, this triumph is a conquest achieved mainly due to Hindu consolidation. The main promises of the BJP campaign were lapped up by people but they linked these with a common sentiment: dislike, bordering on hatred, for Muslims. The reasons behind this mood being dominant were many, but the biggest was the BJPs success with its pitch that Muslims were an appeased lot. If one breaks down the campaign-turning speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he argued that if Muslim graveyards were permitted in villages then Hindu cremation grounds too should be allowed, if there is electricity during Ramzan, it must also be provided during Diwali and likewise for Id and Holi. His clincher: there must be no discrimination, a statement which implicitly argues that preferential treatment was provided to Muslims. Akhilesh Yadav provided evidence to the contrary, but it was no use. Mr Modi succeeded in elevating his credibility with the masses and untruths or partial truths appear nothing but gospel. The sense of unease post-demolition Muslim has increased manifold in the past 25 years and the BJPs victory is just a facet of this. The problem for Muslims is not whether the BJP government will discriminate against them or not, and whether the Prime Ministers sabka saath, sabka vikas will actually be non-discriminatory as the BJP claims. The real trouble is with the implicit the rise in falsity-based sense in society that Muslims pose a threat because of unchecked demographic expansion, disproportionately growing economic affluence and increasing participation in anti-national activities. Within hours of the swearing-in of a new government in Uttar Pradesh led by Adityanath Yogi, the municipal authorities in many districts launched a crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses and meat shops. In the past few days, there have been conflicting reports of vigilante groups burning meat shops. There is nothing wrong in taking action against businesses that do not have required clearances and licences, but these must be by the State and not by mobs. Moreover, a sense of discrimination will prevail if only those businesses are targeted in which Muslims are engaged. The demolition of the Babri Masjid was a major cause for rise in home-grown terror. Continuing discrimination by the State coupled with use of Muslims as captive votebanks has further widened the social schism between communities. The Indian State has accepted from the time the UPA was in power that self-radicalisation is a major worry and every terrorist act is not triggered by international jihadi forces or from across the border. The current political and social reality leaves little scope for redressing grievances. Both people and the State will jump to conclusions that deepen social animosity towards the community. The elite among Muslims will find ways to survive, either by passively accepting their plight or by striking patron-client relationships with the regime. The educated may take the lead in the emergence of a new leadership. But with little inclination to remove community-specific backwardness as indicated in the Sachar Committee report, there is fear that the rational voice may get drowned. The Muslim response to the BJP victory is muted so far but the partys supporters must not gloat over their dismay. The BJP has to keep in mind that this victory is not an end in itself. The bigger question is where does the party go from here? The British authorities are treating the criminal events near Parliament in London on Wednesday as a terrorist incident, but havent called it terrorism yet. The official ambiguity continued a day later, but the facts at hand are such that no other inference suggests itself. If in the French Riviera last year, a terrorist ploughed a truck into people in a crowded place, in London a vehicle went aiming for pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, a stones throw from Parliament and a major tourist attraction. Evidently, the police noted the open attack on innocent civilians, some of whom were foreign tourists, was done on the first anniversary of the terrorist attack in Belgium. The police has steadfastly refused to name those involved. We also dont know yet if the man who drove the car on Westminster Bridge and the one who knifed a policeman to death and was then shot dead by the police are the same person. The known facts so far are that four people are dead and 29 injured, seven critically. The fatalities could mount. Perhaps its because counter-terrorism measures in the West have become tight and efficient, terrorists are just trying to do everyday things which wouldnt arouse suspicion with the motive of giving effect to their desperate need to resort to propaganda by deed. While the identities of the terrorists or their accomplices havent yet been made public, a top London newspaper has revealed the name of a British man who converted to Islam several years ago. Whether he was self-radicalised or was part of a cell isnt known yet, though the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Wednesdays attack, which it said was carried out by its soldier. Overnight police arrests were made in West Midlands area, that has a high concentration of people of Pakistani origin. Its too early of course to speak of a Pakistani link, though nothing can be ruled out as a large number of terrorist incidents across the world in recent years had a Pakistani connection. One thing is clear. While Western powers dont think twice about showing their muscle, declaring sanctions and no-fly zones, they have done all too little to push for a successful conclusion to framing a global protocol on curbing terrorism at the UN. The United States is the big culprit here. In vain, India has pleaded for greater global cooperation so that terror networks and finance links are disrupted. Meanwhile, the way the British have gone about dealing with Wednesdays events without a fuss should serve as a lesson to Indias politicians, police and media. There has been no finger-pointing, publicity-grabbing, credit-seeking or dramatising of the story. Can we learn something from this? Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP and former Union minister, downplays the drubbing the party received in the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls and argues that Rahul Gandhi has an alternative style of working. In an interview with B.H. Kasinath, Mr Tharoor laughs off the call to be nominated as the UPAs prime ministerial contender in 2019. Excerpts: Am I interviewing the UPAs prime ministerial candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections? A resident from your constituency (Thiruvananthapuram) has petitioned online for this. (Smiles) First of all, Indian politics doesnt work that way. When you give a petition, in a country of 1.2 billion people, any politician will say that the petition represents a minority view. Since I am the one referred to, I am neither encouraging nor supporting this. Its appropriate I ask them to withdraw the petition. Would it sound as if you are not ambitious? Who isnt ambitious? In politics, your best need not necessarily come from the top position; you have an opportunity to make a difference. For me, I want to do things that contribute to the betterment of the nation and the people. In my own way, I try to do things through my work as a politician and also through my writings and speeches. Whenever young people come up to me saying they felt ignited by my writings or what they have read or heard about me, I also feel that I have served the purpose because I am trying to galvanise a broader conscience. The Opposition is in disarray. Has Rahul Gandhi lost his charm? Do you think its time for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to step in? Ever since he entered politics, Mr Gandhi has won 23 Assembly elections for the party, but people only focus on the defeats. We have not won polls in Uttar Pradesh for over 20 years. Nobody seriously thought we had a chance of winning anything more than coming fourth this time even if we had contested on our own. Is it fair to blame one individual? Second, Mr Gandhi represents an alternative style of leadership. So on the one hand, you have Mr Modi, the man on the white horse with a drawn sword, who has answers to all the questions and who is going to solve all problems. On the other hand, there is Mr Gandhi who can say: I dont have all the answers I dont even know answers to all the questions, but I will listen to you with patience and sensitivity. I dont know Priyanka Gandhi well enough to speak on her. So far she has not stepped into the national arena. If she decides that she needs a larger role, then people would welcome her with her family background and personal qualities. Its for her to decide. Lets leave it to her. The Congress popularity is on the wane. Even Mumbai's Priya Dutt has said Congress destroys Congress. What should be the way ahead? The way forward is to re-energise the party. We have two years left. There have to be serious decisions. It is widely expected that there will be change at the top. Along with that there must be organisational change even at the grassroots level. Fresh faces must come in. This is not to discourage seniors who have served so ably, but they have been around for 20 or more years. People are in the mood to see something new in the political arena. We have young people, energetic people, people of ability... give them responsibility and let them go and have a crack. There are half a dozen states, including Telangana and Kerala where the Congress has a real chance of coming back to power and winning many Lok Sabha seats. The BJP is working towards a Congress-mukt Bharat. Do you think the Congress has enough political energy to take on an aggressive BJP? If the BJP believes in democracy, is it healthy to have a Congress-mukt Bharat? Why not have a healthy Opposition? In a democracy, the Opposition is a guarantee to a governments accountability. I am not prepared to give up hope for the Congress in 2019. I am certainly available to the party; am running around the country speaking to audiences, universities, professional groups. Sometimes the springboard is my book. Through writing, I also have an opportunity to address several questions. In India, theres a crying need for a liberal political voice. The Congress is the closest to being a liberal. Yes, its more of a social democratic party than a liberal one. On social issues, it is liberal; on economic reforms, it has been the party of liberalisation. Demonetisation had been highly criticised. Yet, Mr Modi succeeded in selling it as a step against the rich while it was the poor that suffered the most. What is attracting people to him? If I were to pick two or three qualities, one is his oratory. He is the finest of speakers and that has a compelling effect. Second, he comes across as a man who takes decisive action. People suffered from demonetisation, but they say he DID something. A curious kind of logic! A third perception that is unique to India is that people see him as a leader who does not have a wife and children and, therefore, they feel he is there only to serve the country. This is the Indian way of looking at things, as if leading a family life is a disqualification for a politician! You once said: Which Indian worthy of his name would not be humbled to be tapped by his PM for a national cause? And then you retracted... you have taken too many U-turns on Mr Modi. I am fair-minded. Merely because I am an Opposition MP does not mean I should not praise the Prime Minister. When Mr Modi says something that sounds right, I acknowledge it. When he says something wrong, I criticise it. Like the day I signed up for Swachch Bharat, I had written a piece... my position is the same. Cleaning up India is a national objective. I dont see this as a political objective. When the PM reaches out and says lets do this together, it seems to me that it is entirely appropriate for us to do it. When it comes to political convictions, I dont agree with many of the things Mr Modi stands for. I am a proud Hindu, but am not a Hindutvawadi. I prefer the Nehruvian vision of India in which everyone has an equal stake. I would certainly reject the notion that I have taken U-turns. My policies have been consistent. I have been a strong critic of demonetisation. Even if the electorate has forgiven the PM on this, I havent. What do you think of the global standing of India after Mr Modi took over? Mr Modi has brought in a lot of energy and dynamism personally to Indias projection on the world stage. But even an effective salesman cannot sell an empty package. He needs to show genuine progress and change in India to have a genuine benefit. Right now, perhaps its the visibility that has gone up. For it to actually translate into more investment into India, into more political support for India, into membership in the UN Security Council or in nuclear suppliers group, there has to be genuine evidence that what the Mr Modi says in his speeches is real and seen in practice in India. Its too early to say. I dont think there has been any difference in the ease of doing business, for example. Your book Inglorious Empire... sounds similar to Quentin Tarantinos Inglorious Basterds... (Laughs) I think thats why publishers chose that title. In India, the title of the book is Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India... but the British title reminds them of the film title, maybe. You appear to be fighting a lonely battle for reparations from the United Kingdom for British atrocities during the Raj. Do you think Britain would agree to reparations? I dont ask for reparations in the monetary sense. My demand is for atonement. I am seeking an apology. It would cleanse the original sin from the conscience of both the countries. Recently, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau apologised for the Komagata Maru incident even though Canadians did not directly kill anyone. A shipload of Indian refugees (mostly Sikhs) was pushed away, and these people then came to a grizzly end either on the high seas or at the hands of the British when they returned. Even then, the Canadians apologised for it, a hundred years later. So, why cant the British apologise to India for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre? You have introduced the anti-discrimination bill in the Lok Sabha... what will be its fate and impact? The anti-discrimination bill protects people from all walks of life from being discriminated against. But the problem with many of these private members bills is that the best we can hope for is that they would stimulate a discussion in public space. It becomes a lottery as to which bill will be taken up for discussion and voted upon. The advantage of a private members bill is to keep the content alive in the minds of the people. Has Indias present foreign policy changed, specially in its engagements with the US and also with our immediate and hostile neighbours? Our foreign policy, by and large, shows continuity. I have jokingly said that what some people call as the Modi doctrine is actually the Manmohan doctrine. They both have the same vision. Where I see a change is in the emphasis. Mr Modi has seen more ups and downs in his attitude towards Pakistan. It is like a childs yo-yo. One day, Mr Modi is calling on Nawaz Sharif and gifting saris to his mother and the other day hes shelling across the Pakistan border. The third day, he is ignoring Mr Sharif in Kathmandu and then he is travelling to Lahore. With the exception of that, globally our orientation is not dependent on the party in power. I would argue that in a country like India, our political differences stop at the waters edge. National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) and Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam Siren Gjerme Eriksen (Source: VNA) The NA Chairwoman suggested increasing experience sharing and technology transfer in fields of Norways strength and Vietnams demand. Vietnam hopes Norway will open its market for Vietnams traditional exports such as agro-forestry-fisheries, apparel and footwear, Ngan said, adding that two-way trade reached USD308.2 million in 2016. Norway currently ranks 44th out of 116 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 34 valid projects worth more than USD92 million. She thanked Norway for providing Vietnam with important official development assistance, especially in environment, education, gender equality, health care, bomb and mine clearance, contributing to helping the country fulfill the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ahead of schedule. The top legislator requested that Norway continue ODA provision for Vietnam, particularly in aquaculture, rural economic development and environment protection. Eriksen, for her part, expressed her delight at the growing ties between the two countries, especially since the Vietnam visit by Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg in 2015. About the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), she emphasised that Norway, in its role as coordinator of EFTA negotiations, will work for the early conclusion of negotiations on the deal and its signing. She expressed her belief that the FTA will open up new opportunities for the business communities of both Vietnam and the EFTA. The diplomat informed the host that a delegation of Norwegian firms will travel to Vietnam to seek cooperation opportunities in sea-based economic fields this May. Host and guest also shared the assessment that the two countries legislatures have enhanced their cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral frameworks. They agreed that the two parliaments should increase the exchange of visits by high-ranking officials and members of specialised committees to share experience and information./. On March 14, the British Parliament passed the bill that gave Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May the authority to notify the EU of the UKs intention to leave. She proposes to do so by March 29. At that point a new chapter in the unreal story of the UKs departure from the European Union will open. The tale begins on June 23, with the narrow victory of the Leave campaign in the referendum, a mere 51.9 per cent. As the result was declared it became clear that those campaigning to leave, the Brexiters, had not expected to win. And despite their campaign slogans that all would be well, it also became clear that the Brexiters had no clue what would happen next. Those in the Remain camp believed that even though they had lost, their views would be respected and the UK would keep a close relationship with Europe. How wrong they were. In victory, magnanimity: a sentiment which has apparently been completely forgotten by Brexiters. Any suggestion that their mandate is slim is met with abuse and aggression: how dare the Remoaners the puerile Brexiter term for Remain supporters question the will of the people? What the Brexiters forget is that Remain voters are also the people; and anyway the notion of a people is dubious. The UK is for the moment a union of four nations. And of those nations, Scotland voted overwhelmingly to Remain, Northern Ireland did so by a healthy majority, as did the Welsh in Wales. The Brexiters have also shown themselves quite prepared to ride roughshod over legality. Shortly after the referendum the Brexiters claimed they did not need Parliaments consent to withdraw the UK from the EU, notwithstanding that the referendum was only advisory. Ms Gina Miller began legal proceedings, claiming that parliamentary consent was necessary for the start of the withdrawal process. She has been subjected to death threats and to vilification in Brexiter newspapers. The irony of a British citizen, seeking to uphold British law, in a British court, so that the British Parliament may exercise its rightful function, being abused in this way was clearly lost on them. Rightly the Supreme Court upheld Ms Millers claim, but not before the Brexiter press in terms redolent of Nazi Germany accused the judges of being enemies of the people. What all this snarling and sneering points to is that the Brexiters cannot admit to themselves their referendum campaign was mendacious, their mandate is slim and their plans perilous. But while political discourse has been coarsened, social discourse has been poisoned. Brexiter rhetoric seems to have given licence to the nastiest elements in British society. Since the referendum there has been a sharp uptick in incidents of racial abuse and racially motivated assaults. Polish schoolchildren have been called vermin; Polish cultural centres have been sprayed with vile graffiti; there have been even been fatal stabbings. There has been an increase in abuse and attacks on non-European immigrants too. Meanwhile, the debate on the UKs future relationship with the EU has shifted from the pragmatic to the dogmatic. During the referendum campaign moderate Brexiters suggested that even if the UK left the EU it would remain in the European single market and the European customs union. After the result Remainers hoped that though the UK would no longer have a say in the operation of those arrangements, so vital to national prosperity, at least the UK would remain part of them. The elevation to the premiership of Ms May, a Remainer though not a vocal one, gave comfort. Ms May has, however, proven to be a disappointment at best, and a disaster at worst. She has placed party unity above the national interest and abandoned common sense and decency. Under pressure from extreme Brexiters in her party who want a hard Brexit a complete break with the EU she has refused to guarantee the rights of EU citizens resident in the UK, denied that Parliament should vote on the final deal and abandoned the aim of remaining within the single market. This last retreat is said to be necessary because single market membership requires the UK to accept the free movement of people within Europe. She appears to have accepted the Brexiters spurious claim that free movement is what the people wanted, above all, to end. There is absolutely no basis for this. Generally those areas of the country with high levels of immigration voted to remain, most prominently London. The fact that the economy depends heavily on immigration from the EU has also been conveniently forgotten. Rather than seek to persuade the EU to grant a trade deal with modified freedom of movement, Ms May has resorted to bluster and threats: no deal is better than a bad deal; the UK will become a tax haven and siphon off investment from Europe; the UK will do trade deals with the US and the Commonwealth and cut out the EU. The continental Europeans do not believe Ms May and have good reason not to. Her attempt during November to secure a trade deal with India was a signal failure. Her visit in January to President Donald Trump was not a success. Then, the day after the withdrawal bill was passed, David Davis, the Cabinet minister in charge of withdrawal, admitted there is no plan for coping with the consequences of leaving the EU without a deal. Ms Mays rhetoric therefore, rather than making the continentals quake in their shoes, has annoyed them. It has also made her look ridiculous. Into this mix Ms Nicola Sturgeon, head of the Scottish government, has thrown a demand for an independence referendum on the ground that the Scots never voted for a hard Brexit. The demand is entirely justified, though that has not stopped Ms May from refusing it; a refusal that plays directly into Ms Sturgeons hands. When Ms May sends her notification letter next week reports suggest that the EU will demand she recognise the UK cannot renege on financial commitments it signed up to whilst a member. An amount of some 60 billion euros is mentioned. Whatever it is, a figure will have to be agreed and the account settled. How the hard Brexiters Ms May seems to wish to placate will react to the EUs demand we do not know; with screams and tantrums probably. So, lacking imagination, courage and charm, Ms May is about to embark on negotiations without a proper plan, where goodwill is almost totally dissipated, and the end result of which could be national ruination, exclusion from Europe and a breakup of the United Kingdom. Lets hope that reality dawns soon. A new dinosaur evolutionary tree, published in the journal Nature, proposes two new base groups, in which bird-hipped dinos like the Triceratops pictured here in 2008, and reptile-hipped lizards are now mixed (Photo: AFP) For 130 years, dinosaurs have been classified as either bird- or reptile-hipped the first and all-important split in the trunk of an intricate family tree. On Wednesday, a "revolutionary" study threatened to upend what has long been taken as gospel by preschoolers and palaeontologists alike that a dinosaur's evolutionary history can be determined by the shape of its pelvis. "Our study overturns 130 years of dogma," said study co-author Paul Barrett of London's Natural History Museum. "Our analysis suggests that animals like T. rex were actually more closely related to Stegosaurus" dinos once thought to be firmly on either side of the hip divide. A new dinosaur evolutionary tree, published in the journal Nature, proposes two new base groups, in which bird- and reptile-hipped lizards are now mixed. It also suggests that dinosaurs arose around 247 million years ago some 10 million years earlier than thought and in the northern hemisphere rather than the south. Barrett and a team examined a large sample of features of very early dinosaurs to learn more about the original, common ancestor and its first offshoots. The first dinosaur, they concluded, was likely a small omnivore that walked on its hind legs and had grasping hands. These aspects have been the subject of much scientific debate. But the most controversial finding concerns what happened next. Dinosaurs split into two main groups, but quite unlike those assumed until now, said the team. Birds find a home Since the Victorian era, dinosaurs have been split into two categories: The bird-hipped (Ornithischia) and reptile-hipped (Saurischia). The Saurischia group was sub-divided into bipedal carnivores called theropods, which included the likes of Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptor, and the massive, long-necked sauropods such as Brontosaurus. But under the new classification, bird-hipped dinos such as the three-horned Triceratops and armoured Stegosaurus no longer comprise one of the two basal categories. Instead, they are sub-divided into a completely new category, called Ornithoscelida, along with theropods which were removed from under the reptile-hipped Saurischia. "We have... pulled Theropods out, but the old Saurischia limps on," as one of the two foundational categories, the study's lead author Matthew Baron from the University of Cambridge told AFP. The new Ornithoscelida category, he proposed, can be described as "bird-limbed". Its members share common hind-limb as well as skull features. "We propose that the dinosaur family tree actually looks very different from the version that has been accepted by scientists for the last 130 years," said Baron. For the first time, the ancestors of modern birds, reptile-hipped theropods, are grouped with bird-hipped dinosaurs into a single category. If the conclusions are correct, said Baron's colleague David Norman, "All the major textbooks covering the topic of the evolution of the vertebrates will need to be re-written." In a comment on the study, also published by Nature, Kevin Padian of the University of California described its conclusions as "revolutionary". "It will be interesting to see how palaeontologists receive this original and provocative reassessment of dinosaur origins and relationships," he wrote. Baron said he looked forward to the debate. "We expect people in our field to test and retest our hypothesis and seek out new specimens and new data that may prove or disprove what we are proposing," he said by email. "This is by no means the last word on the subject." Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Microsoft was hit with a 561 million euro ($606.44 million)penalty in 2013 for breaking an antitrust promise to regulators, underlining how serious the Commission views procedural breaches. EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said on Wednesday she was reviewing Facebook's response to charges the US social network provided misleading information during its bid for messaging service WhatsApp which may result in a hefty fine for the company. The European Commission in December last year said Facebook's statements during the regulator's scrutiny of the $22 billion deal in 2014 were incorrect when it said that it was unable reliably to match the two companies' user accounts. However, this was technically possible at that time, the EU Competition commissioner said, giving Facebook until Jan. 31 to defend itself. "We have now got the reply from Facebook and we are now analysing it," Vestager told lawmakers during a European Parliament hearing. The company faces a fine of as much as 1 percent of its global turnover, or about $179 million based on 2015 revenues. Microsoft was hit with a 561 million euro ($606.44 million)penalty in 2013 for breaking an antitrust promise to regulators, underlining how serious the Commission views procedural breaches. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. An important building block of the collaboration is a new IoT Gateway Huawei is working on. It is built on Tridiums Niagara Framework and collects and analyzes data from buildings to provide detection, deduction, determination and decision-making capabilities to customers. Tridium is an independent business of Honeywell. At CeBIT 2017, the world's largest ICT exhibition, Huawei announced that it is collaborating with Honeywell to bring to market smart building offerings that take advantage of the latest Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to help make buildings more sustainable, secure and energy efficient. Through the collaboration, the two companies will jointly pursue large-scale smart city projects globally to help city administrators build intelligent urban infrastructures that enable them to control costs while making their cities desirable and livable for their residents. For example, Huawei and Honeywell recently worked together on the Longgang Smart City project in the district of Shenzhen, China. Honeywell provided traditional building automation systems for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), security and fire infrastructure, as well as the connected building solutions to integrate all sub-systems for a building management dashboard, alarm management, work order management for efficient facility management, quick response and preventive maintenance. Huawei provided ICT infrastructures including data centers, security protection and monitoring, IoT gateways and cloud services. An important building block of the collaboration is a new IoT Gateway Huawei is working on. It is built on Tridiums Niagara Framework and collects and analyzes data from buildings to provide detection, deduction, determination and decision-making capabilities to customers. Tridium is an independent business of Honeywell. The solution will greatly improve building intelligence by providing functions such as access control, intrusion monitoring, and disaster detection in the security and safety field. The Gateway offers energy saving features, with functions like cooling and heating control, natural resource usage, and electric appliance management. It also provides illumination, transportation, and communication control for efficiency and convenience, while also providing customers with an innovative solution for more sustainable, secure and energy efficient connected buildings. Developed by Huawei, the Gateway marks the successful implementation of the Huawei Edge-Computing-IoT (EC-IoT) Solution for the building industry. The solution combines Huaweis IoT gateway (AR502 Series) and Agile Controller, Tridiums Niagara Framework (IoT middleware platform), together with various sensors, control devices, and a building management system from other partners. It enables uniform interconnection and interworking between various sensors and control devices, manages tens of millions of IoT terminals on the cloud, and supports the distributed deployment and scalability of the building management system. Huawei has collaborated with Honeywell for several years to jointly explore cooperation in the fields of smart cities, connected buildings, smart energy and industrial IoT. The two companies have agreed to jointly explore business opportunities in China and other high growth regions, including the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Honeywell is a partner in Huaweis Enterprise Solution Partner Program, which provides participating companies access to Huaweis open API, global expert support, and lab resources in support of the companies strategies to help customers deploy technologies to provide more connected, safe and cleaner buildings, homes and cities. Kevin Hu, President of Huawei Switch & Enterprise Gateway Product Line, said: "Being Fortune 500 enterprises with strong R&D and innovation capabilities, Huawei and Honeywell are both committed to creating products and solutions that address our customer needs and allow them to take full advantage of the benefits associated with digital transformation. The Huawei Smart Building Solution will deliver higher quality services to global customers, bring more energy efficient and smarter buildings." David Zhang, Vice President for Engineering and Technology Greater China and Asia Pacific, Honeywell Home and Building Technologies business, said: "Honeywell has been collaborating with Huawei for several years to address the connected buildings market globally. Huaweis new IoT Gateway offering is the result of collaborative innovation in the building automation field. I believe this mutually beneficial cooperation between our companies will benefit building owners by offering them rapid integration capabilities of building automation technologies." The Huawei EC-IoT gateway provides a variety of IoT interfaces, adapts to various building access scenarios, and unifies access and management for sub-systems such as illumination, safety, power distribution and measuring, HVAC, and electric appliance control. With open technology, the gateway can have Niagara software easily installed and can adapt to over 1,000 types of industry protocols. The gateway supports various forms of intelligence controls, in addition to distributed and scalable deployment modes. With edge computing capabilities, it delivers value-added services including data aggregation, security and privacy protection, real-time service response, and edge intelligence analysis. The Agile Controller centrally manages tens of millions of IoT terminals on the cloud, and achieves collaboration of resources including terminals, connections, computing, and applications. Huawei has industry-leading technologies and solutions in the communications field, while Honeywells building automation technologies can be found in more than 10 million buildings globally. Integrating Huawei's technological strengths with those of Honeywell and leveraging powerful channel and ecosystem advantages, the solution will be rolled out in key markets including China, Southeast Asia, South Pacific, and Western Europe across a range of commercial buildings, as well as education, enterprise and industrial campuses. To this day, Huawei EC-IoT Solution has been successfully applied to multiple vertical industries on a large scale like the smart electricity, lighting, elevator and building industries, providing convenient services to billions of people around the globe. Huawei is committed to investing and innovating in the IoT field, to ultimately advance the digital transformation of enterprises and industries. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Each phone undergoes two sandblasting treatments with various sizes of metal sand to bring out a bright, classy luster. To finish each device, an anti-fingerprint layer is applied to keep the device looking as pristine as the day you first take the phone out of the box. OnePlus has announced that it is making its latest all-black version of the OnePlus 3T available to more users with the limited release of the OnePlus 3T Midnight Black. OnePlus is teaming up with Hypebeast for a unique online pop-up sales event from 4 PM GMT on March 24, where the first 250 units of the limited-edition OnePlus 3T Midnight Black will be available while supplies last. Fans in North America and Europe will be able to purchase the Midnight Black version on OnePlus.net for a limited time at a later date. The OnePlus 3T Midnight Black features space-grade aluminum with three carefully applied dark coatings 14 microns thick and maintains the natural look and feel of metal. Each phone undergoes two sandblasting treatments with various sizes of metal sand to bring out a bright, classy luster. To finish each device, an anti-fingerprint layer is applied to keep the device looking as pristine as the day you first take the phone out of the box. The OnePlus 3T Midnight Black version will come with 128 GB of storage and 6 GB of RAM and will retail for USD 479 / EUR 479 / GBP 439 while supplies last. And in India, the limited edition OnePlus 3T Midnight Black will be sold through three channels: Amazon.in, oneplusstore.in and OnePlus Experience Store in Bangalore at Rs 34,999. The pre-order on Amazon.in will start at 23rd March. The OnePlus 3T Midnight Black version will be available starting at 2:00 p.m. on March 31st both on Amazon.in and oneplusstore.in. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Guzman has pleaded not guilty to a 17-count indictment filed by US authorities. (Photo: AP) New York: Jailed Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is healthy and even learning English, US prosecutors argued, dismissing allegations from defence lawyers that the terms of his confinement are too harsh. The 59-year-old, accused of running one of the world's biggest drug empires and who escaped from prison twice in Mexico, has been held in solitary in New York since being extradited on January 19. In a letter sent to Judge Brian Cogan on March 13, Guzman's court-appointed lawyers said the isolation he is subjected to at a federal prison in New York is harming his physical and mental health. They said Guzman has trouble breathing and suffers from a sore throat and headaches, and had been experiencing auditory hallucinations -- he complains of hearing music in his cell even when his radio is turned off. In a previous letter in February, the lawyers said Guzman is kept alone in a small windowless cell and leaves only for an hour of solitary exercise in another cell with a treadmill and stationary bicycle Monday to Friday. His meals are passed through a slot in the door, the light is always on and Guzman never goes outside, it said. But in a 40-page response released on Tuesday, Brooklyn prosecutors said Guzman's tough terms of imprisonment must continue. "While the defendant complains about his prison conditions, one of his own Mexican attorneys, Silvia Delgado, told the press that the defendant's treatment in the United States has been far better than it was in Mexico, to the point that the defendant's health is improving," the prosecutors' statement said. And as for the charge that Guzman was starting to hear things, a prison psychologist determined he was just hearing the radio of a prison staffer, it added. They also denied that Guzman is totally isolated, saying 30 people are authorized to visit him and on average he has 21 hours per week of meetings with lawyers and paralegals. And during evening meetings "the paralegals appear to be teaching the defendant English, as well as reading to the defendant in Spanish." Mexican news reports have said Guzman is practically illiterate, having failed even to complete elementary school. Guzman has pleaded not guilty to a 17-count indictment filed by US authorities. The first count alone, of leading the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, could mean life in prison if he is convicted. No trial date has been set. Guilford: Authorities have charged a New York couple with killing their teenage son and setting their rural upstate home on fire to cover up the crime. The Chenango (shuh-NANG'-goh) County Sheriff's Office says 35-year-old Ernest Franklin II and 33-year-old Heather Franklin were arraigned Wednesday and charged with second-degree murder, arson and tampering with physical evidence. Not-guilty pleas were entered on their behalf. The couple is being held without bail. Officials say a fire was reported around 1:15 a.m. March 1 at the family's home, 55 miles (88 kilometers) southeast of Syracuse. The couple's son, 16-year-old Jeffrey Franklin, was found dead inside. Sheriff Ernest Cutting says an autopsy determined the fire didn't cause the teen's death and he was dead before the fire started. Police haven't said how the boy was killed. Farmers in the village of Kendeng have battled against plans for the factory for years. (Photo: AP) Jakarta: About 50 farmers and activists opposed to a cement factory in Indonesia's Central Java province have encased their feet in concrete during a days long protest in Jakarta, the capital. Farmers in the village of Kendeng have battled against plans for the factory for years, saying it could taint their water. The factory is now more or less complete and the owner, state-owned Cement Indonesia, has said it will create jobs and boost the local economy. The ongoing protest was overshadowed this week by the death of one of the women involved. A legal aid foundation supporting the protesters said Patmi, 48, died of a heart attack early Tuesday. Muhamad Isnur, a lawyer at the foundation, said the death of Patmi, who went by one name, "won't stop us. On the contrary, it will magnify our movement." Anis Maftuhin, who said he represents the majority of Kendeng people who support the factory, defended it as a better alternative to mining the Karst mountains in the area. He said Cement Indonesia has built a water retention basin and helped secure clean water supplies. But Isnur said the mining was only traditional and small scale and the factory could jeopardize the water supply far beyond the mountain villages. Tokyo: North Korea has a criticism of US President Donald Trump he probably wasn't expecting: He's too much like Barack Obama. North Korea's state media, which regularly vilified Obama in the strongest terms, had been slow to do the same with the Trump administration, possibly so that officials in Pyongyang could figure out what direction Trump will likely take and what new policies he may pursue. But his top diplomat's recent trip to Asia, which featured some pretty tough talk, appears to have loosened their lips. In North Korea's first official comments since new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's swing through the region, a Foreign Ministry spokesman seized on the former oil executive's blunt assessment that Obama's strategy needs to be replaced and U.S. efforts to get North Korea to denuclearize over the past 20 years have been a failure. The spokesman then slammed Trump for adopting the same policies, particularly regarding tougher economic sanctions, nevertheless. "Tillerson admitted the failure of the U.S. efforts to denuclearize the DPRK for 20 years and end of Obama's policy of 'strategic patience' during his recent tour," the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in the dispatch that ran late Monday, quoting the unnamed Foreign Ministry official. "Now Tillerson is repeating what Obama touted ... until he left the White House." North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK, hasn't exactly been sitting quietly by as Trump gets settled in. Just before Tillerson arrived in Tokyo, the North launched several ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan. While he was still in China, it conducted a test of what it called a "revolutionary" new type of engine for its rockets. On Wednesday, it appears to have conducted more missile tests from the eastern port city of Wonsan, though they reportedly failed. To be fair, Trump doesn't really have a North Korea policy yet. Tillerson stressed repeatedly that a comprehensive policy review is underway and that the purpose of his trip to Asia was to hear out the North's neighbors. How much he was able to do that is questionable. South Korea has only an interim government these days, since its president was just forced out of office because of a scandal. China, North Korea's economic lifeline, has a longstanding dialogue-based agenda that Washington is already familiar with but has never shown much interest in. On the other hand, Tillerson did raise some eyebrows with a few tough-sounding warnings. While in Seoul, he said "everything was on the table," including military intervention or even a pre-emptive strike if tougher sanctions or other diplomatic measures fail to achieve Washington's goals. Some policy experts in the U.S. say that is really more smoke than fire. "If you look at Tillerson's full statements, they were much more of a continuation of current policy than has been portrayed in the press, with an emphasis on expanding sanctions," said David Wright, co-director and senior scientist of the Global Security Program for the Union of Concerned Scientists. "You can try to squeeze North Korea with more sanctions and maybe slow its program, but it's hard to see how to stop it from moving ahead without diplomacy." Tillerson's remarks are completely in line with longstanding U.S. policy, including Obama's, but just stated more threateningly. President Bill Clinton, for example, is known to have seriously considered a pre-emptive strike over the nuclear issue in 1994. Even so, tone is important in diplomacy and Tillerson does seem to have reassured some in Seoul and Tokyo that the United States hasn't forgotten them. Pyongyang, however, seems to have hit the familiar bravado button. "The nuclear force of the DPRK is the treasured sword of justice and the most reliable war deterrence to defend the socialist motherland and the life of its people," the official reportedly said. "If the businessmen-turned-U.S. authorities thought that they would frighten the DPRK, they would soon know that their method would not work."230023 GMT Mar 17 Dutton said there would have been 'significant consequences in our own country' if the govt had followed the oppositions advice by bringing all the refugees to Australia quickly. (Photo: Facebook) Sydney: Australia rejected 500 Syrian refugees on security grounds during more than a year of vetting while accepting 12,000 eligible for resettlement from Middle Eastern camps, an official said on Thursday. Immigration and Border Protection minister Peter Dutton said the deadly rampage near Britains Parliament on Wednesday, in which a man used a knife and car as weapons to kill four people, showed Australia was right to be cautious on who it accepted. The tragic events in London and elsewhere demonstrate the governments approach was prudent and there are people that wed excluded on national security grounds and people that we do have concerns about that we have not brought to our country and we never will, Dutton told reporters. The government announced in September 2015 that 12,000 refugees from the war in Syria and Iraq would be resettled as quickly as possible. All 12,000 have now been issued visas and more than 10,000 have already been brought to Australia, the government said on Wednesday. Dutton said there would have been significant consequences in our own country if the government had followed the oppositions advice by bringing all the refugees to Australia quickly. Duttons office did not immediately respond on Thursday to a request for comment on a newspaper report that as many 900 of the accepted refugees are members of Syrias Christian minority. Five people died in London, including the assailant, and another 40 were injured. The attackers identity has not been revealed, but Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley has said Islamist terrorism was suspected. An arts programme to open the Lao Culture Days in Vietnam (Photo: VNA) The message reads that over the last 62 years, under the LPRPs clear-sighted leadership, the Lao people have overcome countless difficulties and challenges to gain glorious victories in national liberation, protection, and development. After 30 years carrying out the reform policy initiated and led by the LPRP, Laos has attained enormous achievements in all spheres, improving the Lao peoples life and the countrys prestige and stature in the international arena. The achievements are greatly significant to Laos cause of national development and defence, and have also helped to solidify the traditional friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos while contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world, the message says. Extending warm congratulation to the LPRP and the Lao people on their accomplishments, the CPV affirms that Vietnam strongly supports Laoss reform efforts and believes that under the LPRPs leadership, the Lao people will continue to harvest even greater attainments, successfully carry out the Resolution of the LPRPs 10th National Congress, and build a socialist Laos of peace, independence, democracy, unity, and prosperity. On this occasion, Hoang Binh Quan, Party Central Committee member and head of the CPV Central Committees Commission for External Relations, extended congratulations to Sounthone Xayachack Party Central Committee member and head of the LPRP Central Committees External Relations Commission. A delegation of the CPV commission also visited the Lao Embassy in Vietnam to convey greetings./. Mayor Sadiq Khan called for Londoners to attend a candlelit vigil at Trafalgar Square on Thursday evening in solidarity with the victims and their families. (Photo: AP) London: Britain's Parliament observed a minute of silence on Thursday to remember a police officer and two civilians killed a day earlier in an attack at the heart of London, while authorities raided homes in central England to search for evidence. Eight people were arrested in raids, including some in the city of Birmingham. Police searched for clues as to why a man driving an SUV plowed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing two and injuring more than 30 others, before he fatally stabbed a police officer on Parliament's grounds. Police shot and killed the attacker, whose identity they have not yet disclosed. Parliament was locked down after the attack, and the return to business was seen as an important act of defiance. The silence began at 9:33 am, to honour the shoulder number of the murdered officer, Keith Palmer. "Those who carry out such wicked and depraved acts as we saw yesterday can never triumph in our country and we must ensure it is not violence, hatred or division but decency and tolerance that prevails in our country," Trade Secretary Liam Fox said. The other lawmakers responded: "Hear, hear!" Mayor Sadiq Khan called for Londoners to attend a candlelit vigil at Trafalgar Square on Thursday evening in solidarity with the victims and their families and to show that London remains united. London went on. Parliament Square, Westminster Bridge and several surrounding streets remain cordoned off by police. Scores of unarmed officers in bright yellow jackets were staffing the perimeter tape, guiding confused civil servants trying to get to work. In Parliament's New Palace Yard, a blue police tent was erected over the spot where the stabbing and shooting occurred, and two forensic officers worked at a trestle table nearby. Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley said that he believed the attacker acted alone and was "inspired by international terrorism." The attacker has been identified and was known to British security, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about ongoing security operations. He declined to name the man and to give any other details about his identity, nationality or hometown. Rowley revised the death toll from five to four, including the attacker, the police officer and two civilians. He said that 29 people required hospitalization and seven of them were in critical condition. He also said that authorities were still working out the number of "walking wounded." Police had previously given the total number of injured as around 40. One of those killed was Aysha Frade, a British national whose mother is Spanish, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had "catastrophic" injuries. Three police officers, several French teenagers on a school trip, two Romanian tourists and five South Korean visitors were among the injured. Before Rowley's news conference, British media reported that armed police carried out a raid on a property in Birmingham. The Press Association on Thursday quoted an unnamed witness saying that the operation was linked to the attack. The witness said that police raided an apartment and arrested three men. Police in the West Midlands, where Birmingham is located, directed inquiries about the operation to London's Metropolitan Police. The threat level for international terrorism in the U.K. was already listed at severe, meaning an attack was "highly likely." Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC that authorities assume the attack was linked to "Islamic terrorism in some form." Investigators worked around the clock. "They have been working right through the night, looking into his background, how he got hold of the vehicle, where the vehicle has been in the last day or two, and who may or may not have helped him," he said. Speaking outside 10 Downing St. after chairing a meeting of government's emergency committee, COBRA, Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday that level wouldn't change. She said attempts to defeat British values of democracy and freedom through terrorism would fail. Londoners and visitors "will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart," May said. President Donald Trump was among world leaders offering condolences. London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames. The man tried to drive into a crowd at high-speed in a shopping area in the port city of Antwerp. (Photo: Representational/AP) Brussels: Belgian police arrested a man on Thursday after he tried to drive into a crowd at high-speed in a shopping area in the port city of Antwerp, a police chief said. The man was of north African origin and used a car with French registration plates, Antwerp police chief Serge Muyters said. The incident came a day after an attack on the British parliament killed three people plus the attacker, as well as after the first anniversary of the Brussels attacks in which 32 people died. "A vehicle with French plates has tried to drive at high speed into the Meir (shopping street). A man in camouflage was taken away," Muyters told a news conference. "The pedestrians had to jump aside," he said. "My gratitude on behalf of all Antwerp to the soldiers who have intervened, the police services and the special intervention force," Antwerp mayor Bart de Wever tweeted. Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, left, stands amongst the emergency services at the scene outside the Palace of Westminster, London. (Photo: AP) London: British police conducted major raids and arrested eight people in connection with the attack outside Parliament that left four dead, including the man who mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and fatally stabbed an officer, a senior police official said Thursday. British police said that the attacker was identified as Khalid Masood, 52. Metropolitan Police counter terrorism chief Mark Rowley said that he believed the attacker acted alone and was "inspired by international terrorism." Police searched six addresses, including some in the central city of Birmingham, and arrested eight people in connection with Wednesday's attack by a knife-wielding man, Rowley said. Rowley refused to give details about the attacker, who first struck pedestrians with an SUV on Westminster Bridge and then fatally stabbed a police officer on Parliament's grounds. Police then killed the man. The attacker has been identified and was known to British security, according to a British security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about ongoing security operations. He declined to name the man and to give any other details about his identity, nationality or hometown. Rowley revised the death toll from five to four, including the attacker, the police officer and two civilians. He said that 29 people required hospitalization and seven of them were in critical condition. He also said that authorities were still working out the number of "walking wounded." Police had previously given the total number of injured as around 40. Rowley said investigations were continuing around Parliament, but he expected that lawmakers would be able to go ahead with plans to reconvene in a show of solidarity. Parliament Square, Westminster Bridge and several surrounding streets remain cordoned off by police and scores of unarmed officers in bright yellow jackets were staffing the perimeter tape, guiding confused civil servants trying to get to work. In Parliament's New Palace Yard, a blue police tent was erected over the spot where the stabbing and shooting occurred, and two forensic officers worked at a trestle table nearby. The House of Commons was due to resume sitting on schedule at 9:30 a.m. (5:30 a.m. EDT), and a minute's silence will be held in Westminster for the victims of the attack. Mayor Sadiq Khan called for Londoners to attend a candlelit vigil at Trafalgar Square on Thursday evening in solidarity with the victims and their families and to show that London remains united. Before Rowley's news conference, British media reported that armed police carried out a raid on a property in Birmingham. The Press Association on Thursday quoted an unnamed witness saying that the operation was linked to the attack. The witness said that police raided an apartment and arrested three men. Police in the West Midlands, where Birmingham is located, directed inquiries about the operation to London's Metropolitan Police. The attacker drove an SUV into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing the vehicle into the gates of Parliament on Wednesday. He scaled the fences and later fatally stabbed a policeman before being gunned down by officers. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the rampage as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack." Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down after the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament, just yards from entrances to the building itself and in the shadow of the iconic Big Ben clock tower. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had "catastrophic" injuries. Three police officers, several French teenagers on a school trip, two Romanian tourists and five South Korean visitors were among the injured. The threat level for international terrorism in the UK was already listed at severe, meaning an attack was "highly likely." Speaking outside 10 Downing St. after chairing a meeting of government's emergency committee, COBRA, May said Wednesday that level wouldn't change. She said attempts to defeat British values of democracy and freedom through terrorism would fail. Londoners and visitors "will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart," May said. President Donald Trump was among world leaders offering condolences. London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames. London: The man who mowed down pedestrians on a London bridge and fatally stabbed a police officer on Parliament's grounds was born in Britain and was known to intelligence services, the prime minister said Thursday. Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday termed the terror strike in the heart of London as "sick and depraved" attack on democratic values, which was "doomed to failure", after four people were killed and several injured. After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting at Downing Street, the British PM confirmed that the attack was carried out by a single attacker who drove his vehicle into pedestrians walking across Westminster Bridge, killing two people and injuring many more, including three police officers. "This attacker, who was armed with a knife, then ran towards Parliament where he was confronted by the police officers who keep us and our democratic institutions safe. Tragically, one officer was killed. The terrorist was also shot dead," she said. May also paid tributes to the exceptional men and women of the police force who responded to the attack. We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart, she said. Metropolitan Police counter terrorism chief Mark Rowley said that the death toll stands at five, including the attacker, a police officer guarding Parliament and three civilians. He said that 29 people required hospitalization and seven of them are in critical condition. The knife-man behind the attack in the heart of London was shot dead by armed Scotland Yard officers. The Metropolitan Police named the police officer killed as 48-year-old Keith Palmer and also confirmed that the attacker was known to the police. I can also now confirm three members of the public also lost their lives in this attack. And I confirmed earlier, the suspected attacker was shot dead by an armed officer therefore meaning we now have five people in total who have died, said Mark Rowley, national lead for Counter Terrorism Policing and the Acting Deputy Commissioner. I will not comment at this stage on the identity of the attacker, but our working assumption that he was inspired by international terrorism, Rowley said. Also, at this stage, but it may change we believe approximately 40 people were injured, some with serious injuries, including three police officers, two of whom are in a serious condition, he said. Scotland Yard had earlier called on the public to remain vigilant and said a review of policing strategy across the city was underway, with additional police officers being deployed across London. The Indian High Commission in London has set up a special Public Response Unit for any Indians caught up in the terror attack. The incident unfolded on Wednesday afternoon as a man tried to gain entry into the British Parliament via the main entrance and stabbed a police officer. Plainclothes armed officers shouted warnings at him before shooting a number of rounds. He was later seen being covered by blankets, presumed dead. UK Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the stabbed police officer but said he died at the scene. In an incident just minutes earlier, a speeding grey Hyundai i40 mowed down several pedestrians on Westminster Bridge nearby before ramming into the iron railings of the side of the House of Commons building. The driver of this vehicle then ran out of the vehicle to try and enter the Parliament building, where he attacked the police officer and was eventually shot dead. Dozens of injured people were rushed to hospital from the scene and one woman was confirmed dead by doctors at St Thomas Hospital near Parliament hours later. We are working closely with other members of the emergency services at the scene, with our priority being to ensure patients receive the medical help they need as quickly as possible, London Ambulance said in a statement. French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said French school pupils are among the injured and offered solidarity with our British friends, and full support for the wounded students and their families. Commons Leader David Lidington, who suspended the Parliament session as this unfolded outside, told MPs the alleged assailant was shot by armed police. It seems that a police officer has been stabbed, that the alleged assailant was shot by armed police. An air ambulance is currently attending the scene to remove the casualties, Lidington said. There are also reports of further violent incidents in the vicinity of the Palace of Westminster but I hope colleagues on all sides will appreciate that itd be wrong of me to go into further details until we have confirmation from the police and from the House security authorities about what is going on, he added. Witnesses said the attacker was shot by police as he approached a second officer clutching his knife during the incident. May, who had just completed her weekly Prime Ministers Questions, was seen being ushered into a car as gunfire rang out at Parliament during the incident. Downing Street said the PM was safe as an emergency services helicopter was seen landing in Parliament Square, which has been cordoned off and closed to traffic. The Prime Minister was brought back to Number 10 from Parliament. She is currently monitoring the situation, a Downing Street spokesperson said. May chaired a meeting of the governments emergency Cobra committee at Downing Street. MPs and peers were in lockdown inside the Parliament building for an extended period before being walked down across the road to Westminster Abbey. Workers and members of public in buildings in surrounding areas were also held up behind the cordoned off area. A number of schoolchildren were also held back until the police cordon was lifted. Tourists on the famous London Eye attraction were among those trapped in the pods as part of the lockdown. There was chaos in the area as people were seen running and being pushed back by Scotland Yard officers. In a statement, Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: Reports suggest the ongoing incident in Westminster this afternoon is extremely serious. Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrific attack, (their) families and friends. The police and security staff have taken swift action to ensure the safety of the public, MPs and staff, and we are grateful to them. London mayor Sadiq Khan said his thoughts were with those affected and expressed his gratitude to the citys police and emergency services who work so hard to keep us safe and show tremendous bravery in exceptionally difficult circumstances. A man mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and drove the Hyundai through a crowd of people. (Photo: AP) London: The car that plowed through a crowd of people on the pavement of the Westminster Bridge is said to have been hired from an Enterprise outlet in Birmingham. The new finding is opposed to an earlier report that the car was hired from Solihull. According to a report in The Independent, the attacker drove the Hyundai into a crowd and then stabbed PC Keith Palmer, who succumbed to his injuries. He was then shot dead by armed officers near the grounds outside the Houses of Parliament. An Enterprise Holdings spokesperson confirmed that the car used during the attack belonged to them. "An employee identified the vehicle after seeing the licence plate in an image online. We ran another check to verify, and immediately contacted the authorities, the spokesperson said. The company agreed to fully co-operate with the authorities and did not divulge any more details. Caught in the middle of the ban are thousands of travellers growing increasingly frustrated with what they see as an absurd measure. (Photo: AP) Dubai: Travellers across the Middle East expressed frustration on Wednesday at a ban on large electronic devices for flights to the United States and Britain that has sparked confusion and speculation. From Saturday, passengers on flights to the United States and Britain from major hubs in Turkey and the Arab world will have to check in any device larger than a smartphone, including laptops and tablets. The United States and Britain have cited intelligence indicating passenger jets could be targeted via explosives planted in electronic devices. Caught in the middle of the ban are thousands of travellers growing increasingly frustrated with what they see as an absurd measure. "Is there anything else I should know before flying back home? Navy blue boxers not allowed? Should I shave?" asked an American expat living in Abu Dhabi with a direct flight to the United States next week. As the March 25 enforcement deadline looms, passengers are growing increasingly wary of restrictions on living in and travelling from the Middle East. "They took my laptop and my camera," said Mustafa, who did not give his second name, as he boarded a plane out of Dubai to the United States. The US ban affects nine airlines from eight countries: Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The British ban, meanwhile, targets flights out of Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Lebanon. Canada and France have also said they are looking into similar regulations. 'Why?' At the Tunis airport, a passenger flying to Canada via London said he was confused by the new measure. "I mind because I need my laptop or my iPad. It's a personal thing. Why do I have to put them in hold?" said Riadh, 33, adding he now feared they would be damaged or stolen. Many were quick to flag a lack of logic behind justifications of the ban. "Every criminal in the Middle East: 'Oh no! We can't take the direct flight to the US! I hate connecting flights! *Cancels criminal plans*," Egyptian analyst Mohamed El Dahshan wrote on Twitter. Ankara has said it plans on requesting that the US repeal the measure. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticised the ban as a unilateral, temporary move better replaced by "permanent" measures. The British ban has sparked concern in tourism-dependant Tunisia, which is trying to recover from 2015 jihadist attacks that killed holidaymakers. "It will have a negative impact on tourism," said Mohamed Ali Toumi, the head of a Tunisian travel agents federation. American officials have publicly cited security concerns. "From what we know, the ban is linked to intelligence on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula gathered by the US military," said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. 'Time is money' The US has conducted intense air raids on AQAP targets across Yemen since January. The Pentagon has confirmed 40 strikes this month. The US Department of Homeland Security has also cited an explosion on a flight out of Somalia in February last year, in which the suspected bomber was killed. The attack was claimed by the Shabaab insurgent group. But experts do not rule out other motives behind the ban, including business lost to increasingly popular Gulf carriers Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways. US airlines do not have direct flights from the airports affected by its new restrictions. "American airlines are going to benefit simply because airlines make their business from the business travellers, so on these long flights that are in excess of eight or 12 hours, time is money -- but there are definitely more pressing considerations linked to security," said aviation analyst Kyle Bailey, president of the US-based consultancy KL Bailey Associates. The UK ban will affect British Airways and easyJet, as well as airlines from targeted countries. Critics have also raised lithium batteries -- which are covered by strict regulations on domestic flights in the United States -- as a point of concern. "There is some concern around the lithium batteries in the cargo compartment, which could be highly explosive if they overheat," Bailey said. But "from what we hear, the terrorism risk outweighs the risk of fire at this point." Jeff Sessions said 'today's arrest in Israel is the culmination of a large-scale investigation spanning multiple continents for hate crimes against Jewish communities across our country'. (Photo: AP) Jerusalem: Israel, on Thursday, arrested a Jewish teenager accused of making dozens of anti-Semitic bomb threats in the United States and elsewhere, and one to a major airline, following a wide-ranging investigation involving the FBI. The arrest comes after a wave of bomb threats to American Jewish institutions since the start of the year spread concern and political backlash in the United States. The suspect was "a resident of the south (of Israel) from the Jewish community," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. An Israeli court on Thursday remanded him in custody until March 30. A source familiar with details of the case said he held dual US-Israeli citizenship. Authorities did not immediately identify the suspect but said he was 19. "The investigation began in several countries at the same time, in which dozens of threatening calls were received at public places, events, synagogues and community buildings that caused panic and disrupted events and activities in various organisations," an Israeli police statement said. It said that the investigation was undertaken in cooperation with the FBI "as well as other police organisations from various countries". Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said he was believed to be behind a range of threats against Jewish community centres and other buildings linked to Jewish communities in the United States in recent months. It was not clear precisely how many threats he was accused of making. He is also suspected of being behind similar threats in New Zealand and Australia. In addition, Rosenfeld said he is suspected of a bomb threat to Delta Airlines in February 2015 which led to an emergency landing. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement that "today's arrest in Israel is the culmination of a large-scale investigation spanning multiple continents for hate crimes against Jewish communities across our country". "The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the civil rights of all Americans, and we will not tolerate the targeting of any community in this country on the basis of their religious beliefs." Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said in a statement that "we hope that this investigation will help shed light on some of the recent threats against Jewish institutions, which have caused great concern both among Jewish communities and the Israeli government." More than 100 bomb threats to Jewish institutions in the United States have accompanied fears over whether hate crimes and anti-Semitic acts have been on the rise in the country. Some have said that the rise of Donald Trump as US president has encouraged the extreme right and emboldened hate groups. But the arrest of a Jewish teenager over at least a portion of the threats is likely to greatly complicate the debate over the issue. His arrest is not the first linked to the threats in the United States. On March 3, the FBI arrested a former journalist, Juan Thompson, 31, suspected of making a handful of the bomb threats to Jewish community centres and institutions around the United States. Islamabad: Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Thursday said that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir must be resolved according to the aspirations of Kashmiris. Speaking at an event on Pakistan Day in Islamabad, Basit added, Struggle for freedom of Kashmiri people will one day succeed by the grace of God. However, he clarified that Pakistan wanted to have a good relationship with India and resolve all issues. Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain said in his address that Islamabad is ready for dialogue with India over the Kashmir issue. "We are ready for dialogue with India and want to resolve the issue of incomplete agenda of the division of the subcontinent, in accordance with the UN resolutions on Kashmir," the Dawn quoted the President as saying at the celebration ceremony marked by military parade in the capital. During the address, Hussain added that Pakistan's traditional atomic power is to ensure regional peace and stability. He also hailed the role of Pakistani security forces in combating terrorism and said after operation Zarb-i-Azb, Raddul Fassad will continue till the elimination of the remaining terrorists. The day marks the historic event of 1940, when the Lahore Resolution was passed demanding a separate homeland for Muslims of the subcontinent. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Mohammad Zakaullah and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also witnessed the parade. Islamabad: Raking up the Kashmir issue as an"unfinished agenda" of partition, Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain today accused India of "jeopardising" regional peace through "consistent" ceasefire violations. Speaking at the annual Republic Day military parade attended for the first time by troops from China and Saudi Arabia, Hussain said: "Pakistan is ready for dialogue with India and wants resolution of the Kashmir dispute, which is the unfinished agenda of the partition." "We want peace and friendship with the whole world specially the neighbours. But India's irresponsible attitude and consistent violations of Line of Control and Working Boundary have jeopardised peace of the region," he said at the annual parade during which Pakistan's indigenously-developed missiles and air-defence systems were showcased. Hussain said Pakistan's defence was impregnable and its nuclear capabilities were meant to ensure global and regional peace, adding the country was strong emerging economy in the region. The parade was for the first time attended by Chinese and Saudi troops, apart from military band 'Meher' from Turkey. Pakistan showcased its military capabilities during the parade with F-16s, JF-17 thunders, Mirage, AWACs, P3-C Orion and F-7 presenting salute to Hussain, the event's chief guest. Apart from Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, federal ministers, politicians, diplomats, chairman joint chiefs of staff committee and services chiefs attended the parade. Regiments of the Pakistan's three forces, Rangers, Police, and Commandos marched during the military parade. Special security arrangements were put in place to avert any untoward incident. Mobile telephone services were suspended and roads leading to the venue were heavily guarded. The Republic Day marks the adoption of the historic Lahore Resolution in 1940 that spurred efforts to create a separate homeland for Muslims of South Asia. Beijing: Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is a part of China and Indias unfriendly move to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the town will negatively impact bilateral ties as it involves sensitive issues related to the border dispute, a prominent Tibetan scholar said on Thursday. Tawang is a part of Tibet and Tibet is a part of China. So Tawang is a part of China. There is not much problem here, Lian Xiangmin, Director of contemporary research of the Beijing-based China Tibetology Research Centre, told the media in Beijing reiterating Chinas claim over Tawang. In a rare interaction with the foreign media, he said the Dalai Lamas planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as part of south Tibet, is an unfriendly move on the part of India. Elaborating Chinas claim over Tawang, Lian said the Tawang Buddhist Monastery is part of the three main Buddhist temples of Tibet where monks of Tawang studied Buddhist sutras. Referring to the Dalai Lamas planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh, he said in recent years the Indian government supported or made arrangements for the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang region. It seems to us that it is not so friendly, he said. During his previous visit to Tawang, the Dalai Lama said Tawang part of India. This is against the facts. It is not true. It undermines the friendly relations between China and India, he said. I hope to see friendly relations between India and China. We dont want to see such a thing happening time and again. This time around the Indian government once again allowed the Dalai Lama to go to Tawang. This will only hurt the friendly relations between the two countries, he said. The Tibetan leader is expected to visit Tawang early next month. We all know that between India and China there is the boundary question. What we should do is not to touch the sensitive areas but such a visit by the Dalai Lama will touch the sensitive issue. This will undoubtedly negatively affect friendly relations. We do hope history and facts are respected by both the parties, Lian said. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today paid a surprise visit to the Hazratganj Police Station here to check general preparedness and said the rule of law will be established in the state. Yogi, who has kept the Home portfolio with himself, took a round of the premises this morning, catching policemen and officials by surprise. "I have come here to inspect as to how the rule of law is enforced in the state and gauge the morale of the police, and see what effective action can be taken in this regard," the chief minister told news persons. "The rule of law will be established in the state and government will not hesitate in taking whatever steps are required for peoples' welfare," he said. Yogi also enquired about the working of the police force from the officials present there and inspected the crime branch and cyber cell of the state police. Cautioning that this was not his last inspection but only a beginning, he exuded confidence that an improvement will be seen at all levels. Without mincing words, the chief minister had yesterday directed officials to maintain punctuality and hygiene. During his visit to the annexe building, where the chief minister's office is located, he was annoyed to see stains of paan and paan masala all over and directed the staff not to chew tobacco or consume masala while on duty. A Parliamentary panel has decided to summon Reserve Bank Governor Urjit Patel again to explain how much of the junked currency has been deposited in banks post note ban and the progress made in remonetisation. The meeting of the Standing Committees on Finance, headed by former cabinet minister M Veerappa Moily, has been tentatively scheduled for April 20, sources privy to the development said. Besides Patel, Economic Affairs Secretary Sashikanta Das and Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal are also being asked to appear before the Committee. The panel, which had last met on the issue of "Demonetisation of Indian Currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000" on January 18, is ascertaining the availability of the RBI and finance ministry officials on April 20. This possibly may be the last oral evidence meeting of the committee before it finalises its report, sources said, adding that another meeting may have to be called if Patel does not appear on April 20. The panel wants to know from the RBI Governor as well as the finance ministry officials the number of junked currency that was deposited in bank accounts post November 8, 2016 decision to demonetise higher denomination notes. Also, it wants a brief on the process of remonetisation and by when is the entire progress of replacing the junked notes, which constituted 86 per cent of the total currency in circulation, will be replaced. At the last meeting, Patel had not disclosed the number of banned notes that had been deposited in banks and had only stated that 9.2 lakh crore of new currency notes had been introduced. A total of Rs 15.44 lakh crore, representing about 86 per cent of all currency, was declared void on November 8 last year. Sources said MPs may also like to question RBI and finance ministry officials on the rules being changed virtually on a daily basis on deposit of the junked currency. At the last meeting, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had saved Patel from some tough questioning by his fellow party MPs. He asked the embattled RBI Governor not to respond to a query by Digvijaya Singh on why banking restrictions were not being lifted as this would result in a run on banks. The 31-member Standing Committee on Finance also comprises of Nishikant Dubey and Kirit Somaiya of BJP, Naresh Agarwal of SP, Dinesh Trivedi of TMC and Satish Chandra Misra of BSP. RBI in a written note to the panel had stated that on November 7, 2016 the government "advised" it to scrap 500 and 1,000-rupee notes; a day later, the RBI Board cleared the move. Hours after that, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a televised address in which he made the shock announcement. Dismissing the role of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy as negotiator for the Ram temple issue, the main parties to the case today demanded setting up a panel of Supreme Court judges to initiate the talks in the vexed matter. The Supreme Court had on Tuesday suggested an out-of-court settlement of the lingering Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya, observing that issues of "religion and sentiments" can be best resolved through talks. Swamy was asked by the apex court to consult the parties and inform it about their decision on amicable resolution of the matter on March 31. Mahant Ram Das, chief priest of Nirmohi Akhara and the main claimant to the title over the disputed land, reacted sharply over Swamy's appointment as the "mediator" in the case. "Negotiation talks must be done under the Constitutional framework and no political interference should be allowed. Swami is a political man. The Supreme Court must constitute a panel of retired judges or serving judges to initiate the talks with parties concerned. We do not want any political interference," he told PTI. Swami Chakrapani, president of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, also questioned the involvement of Swamy in the matter. "The Supreme Court must form a panel of judges to negotiate. No politicians should to allowed to interfere in this sensitive issue. The negotiation should have only one agenda that no party should feel defeated," he said. Khaliq Ahmad Khan from Maulana Mahfuzurrahma said, "Swamy is an interested party in the case. How can talks be held with someone, who is himself party to the case?" "The negotiations can be done with a person who is 'neutral' and has knowledge of the case and the legal framework. It would be better if the Supreme Court constitute a panel of retired or serving judges to initiate the talks. The negotiation process held in the past must also be reviewed," he added. Meanwhile, VHP leader Triloki Nath Pandey from Ram Lalla' (nascent Lord Ram), refused to comment on the role of Swamy in the negotiation. "We are ready to talk on this issue, but we will not allow any Masjid (mosque) to be built near the Ram Mandir. If Muslims are giving up their claim over the disputed land, they are welcome for talks," he said. Iqbal Ansari, son of Hasim Ansari (deceased main litigant in the case) and now a party to the case in place of his father, said, "We believe in the authority of the Supreme Court. Involvement of politicians like Subramanian Swamy will take the talks in negative direction." The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court had in 2010 ruled for a three-way division of the disputed 2.77 acre plot where the Babri Masjid stood before its demolition. The three-judge bench, by a 2:1 majority, had said the land be partitioned equally among three parties, Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and 'Ram Lalla' (nascent Lord Ram). The Congress today said internal efforts are on in the party to reorganise and strengthen it and former Union Minister S M Krishna could have waited for the results to come out in Karnataka elections later this year as in Punjab. Congress spokesperson Rajeev Gowda also accused the BJP of poaching its leaders with clean image ahead of Karnataka polls to provide a camouflage for their real antecedents. He, however, said people of the state will not be fooled and the BJP will meet a sorry outcome in the upcoming elections. "If he had waited for little more time, he would have experienced that there is lot of internal effort that is going on for reorganising the party, revitalising the party. "Karnataka would have been wonderful example of how we are going to not just reorganise and strengthen the party but also deliver results which will change the momentum just like Punjab had delivered a vote of confidence in Congress party across country," he said Gowda said Karnataka and other states coming up for polls will deliver the same vote of confidence and "Krishna should have been a little more patient, he would have seen the impact of these changes and we could have used his advice and experience as well". He said he has been following Krishna's political career and the Congress party had given him everything except three positions of President, Vice President and Prime Minister. "May be there is a possibility that these are positions on offer. There are some elections coming up. We do not know, only he and the BJP leadership know what induced him to take this particular decision," he said. "In Karnataka, the BJP is desperately looking for fig leaf; who are their leaders? Their leaders are jailbirds and people who have a tremendously horrible reputation in front of the people of Karnataka - Shri Yeddyuruppa has been to jail, Shri Janardan Reddy has come out of jail and who else? "The BJP before these elections has no face of its own. So they are reaching out to clean Congress people with the hope that it will provide them some kind of a camouflage for their real antecedents and their true track record. But people of Karnataka will not be fooled and the BJP will meet sorry outcome in the upcoming elections," he said. Krishna, a former Union External Affairs Minister during UPA, joined the BJP yesterday in the presence of BJP chief Amit Shah and hit out at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi saying politics is serious business and not a "hit-and-run job". The 84-year-old former external affairs minister also alleged that there is a disconnect between the Congress leadership and the rank and file of the party and that there is no leader in the party who could match Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To a question on the constitution of National Commission for Backward Classes, Gowda said "this has just come up and so we will discuss and study the details internally and then make a formal response". "We need to understand the contours of what this constitutional body entails," he said. On the issue of seeking any legal remedy in the matter of undermining the constitutional regulatory institutions, Gowda said the party will examine but essentially this is something that not just the party but many activist groups are taking up. In a glass-sided call centre, police constables clickety-click on computer keyboards, on the trail of a particularly Indian sort of criminal. The phone Romeo, as he is known in Lucknow, calls numbers at random until he hears a womans voice, in the hope of striking up a romantic attachment. Among them are overeager suitors (Can I recharge your mobile?), tremulous supplicants (I am talking to you, madam, but my body is shaking) and the occasional heavy breather (I want to do the illegal things with you). Intentionally dialling wrong numbers is a labour-intensive way to find a girlfriend. But it is increasingly common in a range of countries Morocco, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh and India are examples where traditional gender segregation has collided head-on with a wave of cheap new technology. India is justly proud of its mobile-phone revolution. Call tariffs are among the worlds cheapest, and competition has sent the price of broadband plummeting. An estimated 680 million Indians use cellphones now, with three million new ones coming online every month. Indias leaders promote mobile platforms as a sign of social progress, a better way to distribute subsidies and obtain information about health care and agricultural conditions. An unintended consequence is that social barriers between men and women are collapsing. Reports of phone stalking have increased exponentially, leading to growing complaints of harassment. But an unknown number of such calls are successful, resulting in what an American anthropologist has labelled wrong-number relationships. Its a new thing, said Julia Huang, a fellow in the anthropology department of the London School of Economics, who has written a scholarly paper on the practice among young women in Bangladesh. Its covert, its risky, its experimenting with that outside world which they dont have much access to. At the police call centre in Lucknow, roughly 700 calls come in every day, mostly from women complaining of persistent calls from strange men. The Hindustan Times recently reported that phone recharging outlets were selling the numbers of young women to interested men, charging Rs 500 for a beautiful girl and Rs 50 for an ordinary one. Recently, a complaint came from Geetika Chakravarty, 24, a makeup artist who grew up travelling the world with her father, a diplomat. After she returned to India from Canada last year, she posted her phone number in the contact section of a salons Facebook page and received so many calls from unknown men that she blocked 200 separate numbers. I do not know what their mind-set is, she said. Sometimes they call and say, I love you. Sometimes they call and say, I want to talk to Sonia, and I would say, I am not Sonia, and they would say, OK, can I talk to you? But the most persistent among them was from a man who would call three or four times a day, urging her to meet him somewhere. When she blocked his number, he would call from another. She began to worry that he would track her down in person. He sounded like a creepy guy to me, Chakravarty said. When the police traced the number, the person they found at the end of it was Premsagar Tiwari, whose given name in Hindi translates as Sea of Love. Tiwari, 24, turned out to be a high-strung, pencil-necked man who grew up in two small rooms in the corner of the down-at-heel government school where his father worked as a night watchman. Outside his window, young women came and went in their crisp school uniforms. But the night watchmans son could not approach them. The way he was built, said Satyavir Sachan, the constable assigned to the case, it didnt seem he could talk to girls. Poring through Tiwaris call records, Sachan found that he was using eight SIM cards, some registered under false names, to contact more than 500 women. The activity occupied, by police estimates, two to three hours a day. Summoned to the police station, Tiwari confessed readily and with clasped hands he beseeched the police not to imprison him. His phone calls, he explained in an interview, should better be understood as part of his search for a soul mate. One person is enough to fulfil you, Tiwari said. I have nobody. The person you love will be somewhere, there, standing last in line. You have to reach them somehow. And when you find that someone, you stop looking. He said he had heard many stories of men and women meeting over social media and going on to marry. I may be a failed man, he said, but I am very passionate. The police were not impressed, and held him in custody for 15 days. Telephone courtships An inverse story was unfolding in Bengaluru where Umakanti Padhan, a moon-faced 16-year-old garment factory worker, tried to call her sister-in-law. She misdialled and found herself accidentally conversing with Bulu, a railway worker eight years her senior. She hung up, alarmed. At home, beginning at puberty, she had been prohibited from speaking with any adult man, including her brothers and cousins. Ten minutes later, Bulu called back and told her that he liked the sound of her voice. When I hear your voice, it feels like someone of my own, he said. I feel like talking to you all the time. So she agreed. Every night, she slipped out to the roof of her workers hostel, where she shares a room with 11 other young women, and spoke to Bulu about mundane things: how their shifts went and what they had eaten that day. Hes told me everything that ever happened to him from the time he was a kid, she said. I dont know whether it is good or bad, but I trust him. I know he will not betray me. Huang, the anthropologist, said the women she met in Bangladesh were often happy to engage in telephone courtships with anonymous strangers, and some maintained five or six at once. Phone contact, they told her, was safer because it presupposed physical distance. Also, it forced the men on the other end of the line to listen to them for long stretches. Its one of those boundary-expanding experiences that allow you to think about opportunities that were not previously available, she said. Young women, she said, described these relationships with kind of a fearful excitement. For the young men, she said, dialling random numbers is like playing the lottery and seeing what comes up. Often, she said, they approach it almost as a competitive sport, vying to see who is more skilled at keeping a woman on the phone for a long time. As for Padhan and her boyfriend, 11 months have passed and they still have not met in person. Her roommates roll their eyes at her naivete. But when their shifts are finished, they, too, retire to stairwells and corners of the rooftop for the covert nightly call. From there, it is possible to look across the rooftops of other boarding houses and see figures hunched over their cellphones, in all directions, a wide-angle shot of young India in pursuit of love. A National Investigation Agency special court on Thursday granted conditional bail to former RSS activists Swami Aseemanand and co-accused Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case. The bail order comes a week after Assemanand was acquitted of all charges in the Ajmer dargah blast case. Aseemanand was also a co-accused in the Samjhauta blast case. According to Aseemanands legal counsel, he can now walk out free from the Chanchalguda jail as he was acquitted in the Ajmer blast case and had obtained bail in the Samjhauta case. The accused will be released after furnishing two sureties and Rs 50,000 each as security. The court directed them not to leave Hyderabad without its permission. The bombing occurred on May 18, 2007, inside the Mecca Masjid located in the walled city of Hyderabad, in which nine people died and several others were injured. According to NIA, the blast was caused by a cellphone-triggered pipe bomb, kept under a marble bench near the wuzukhana a spot where ablutions are performed. The priests of Sufi shrine Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer have denounced the Jaipur court verdict in the 2007 dargah bomb blast case. The National Investigation Agency special court in Jaipur on Wednesday sentenced two right-wing activists to life imprisonment for the Ajmer dargah blast, which killed three people and injured 17. In disagreement with the court decision, Sarwar Chisty, khadim and gaddinashin of the Ajmer dargah, who had filed the FIR in the case, sought to appeal in the high court, seeking death penalty for the duo. Even after the court took 10 years to deliver the judgement, it has only sentenced them to life imprisonment. We were expecting death penalty for them. Around 17 were injured and three died in the incident, Chisty told DH. Chisty also said that it is the first such incident in which RSS members have been convicted in a terror attack and, hence, it is condemnable. The 2007 bomb blast still impacts the holy city of Ajmer. Security has been beefed up and strict measures are in place. One of the khadims told DH: Before the 2007 bomb blast, hundreds of devotees would sleep inside the shrine as it was kept open the whole night. After the blast, the dargah gates are shut at 10 pm and no one is allowed to stay inside. As a part of the security measures, metal detectors, X-ray machines and CCTV cameras have been installed at the dargah premises. The Rajasthan Police has also deputed additional battalions, including women constables, for ensuring security at the dargah. The court had held Hindu right-wing activists Sunil Joshi and Devendra Gupta guilty of planning the blast, and Bhavesh Bhai Patel of planting the explosive. The Uttar Pradesh governments crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses has drastically reduced the supply of buffalo meat in the market. This has threatened the very existence of many non-vegetarian eateries, including the iconic Tunday Kababi, that tickle the taste buds of those fond of Awadhi delicacies. Tunday Kababi, which specialises in buffalo meat dishes like kababs and biryani and is hugely popular with non-vegetarians, had to shut down for the first time in its over 100-year existence. We had to shut down our Chowk branch on Wednesday, owing to a shortage of buffalo meat. The abattoir that used to provide buffalo meat was sealed by the authorities, said a worker about its branch in the walled city. He said the shortage has forced them to switch to chicken and mutton kababs. I am not sure if our customers will like that, he said. Other shops which specialise in Awadhi non-vegetarian delicacies like nahari kulche, galawati kabab and biryani also face similar problems. Many shops selling such items were closed on Wednesday. City eateries that serve buffalo meat dishes are now trying to get the raw meat from other parts of the state. Lucknow does not have any slaughterhouses with a valid licence... the administration has decided not to renew the licence of shops selling buffalo meat, said a local official here on Thursday. According to sources, more than half of the meat consumed in the city is buffalo meat. The government should come out with a plan to allow slaughterhouses. They should issue fresh licences after ensuring compliance with the rules, said a biryani shop owner in the old citys Akbari Gate area. Around 50 illegal slaughterhouses have been sealed in different parts of the state since Yogi Adityanath took over the reins of the state on Sunday. Hundreds of shops selling meat, too, were closed. The crackdown evoked protests from a section of people in Kanpur and Meerut towns. Samajwadi Party MLA from Kanpur Irfan Solanki said he would raise the matter in the Assembly. The decision to ban abattoirs will render thousands of people unemployed, he said. Tunday Kababi, which specialises in dishes like kababs and biryani and is hugely popular with non-vegetarians, had to shut down for the first time in its over 100-year existence. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday paid a surprise visit to a police station in the state capital. The chief minister wanted to make a first-hand assessment of the working of the police personnel and facilities available there for the complainants. Accompanied by state police chief Javeed Ahmed, Adityanath arrived at the Hazratganj police station and scrutinised the records, besides inspecting the arrangements. The chief minister directed the police officials to ensure registration of complaints and quick action on the same. He said law and order was his governments top priority and no laxity would be tolerated on this front. Adityanath also directed senior officials to provide housing facilities to women officers, besides arrangement of separate toilets for them inside the stations. Such surprise inspections will continue, he said. Minister cleans office Angry over the lack of cleanliness in his office, newly appointed Environment Minister Upendra Tiwari took upon himself to clean the premises. According to reports, Tiwari, an MLA from the Phephna in Ballia district, cleaned the floor of his office here on Thursday. The matter came to light when pictures showing the minister sweeping the office floor went viral on social media. Adityanath had his ministers take a swachchata pledge at his first meeting with them a few days ago. Stop pulling strings, PM warns UP MPs Backing Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked MPs from the state not to use their influence to get work done from the state government, DHNS reports from New Delhi. At a breakfast meeting, the prime minister specifically asked the MPs not to put pressure on the administration to get transfers and preferred postings of police personnel close to them. Though the chief minister has launched a crackdown on slaughterhouses, one of the BJPs poll promises, Modi reached out to the minorities by reiterating that the state government would truly work towards sabka sath, sabka vikas, even if it meant developing constituencies won by the opposition. States should not seek a Central bailout for farmers loans, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday. In a statement, the finance minister sought to nip in the bud demands made by various political parties for a pan-India farm loan waiver following Prime Minister Narendra Modis electoral promise that the BJP would waive off farmers debts in Uttar Pradesh if voted to power. This was interpreted by many that the Centre was financing farm loan waiver. States will have to look for resources if they want to go ahead in this direction (loan waiver). A situation will not emerge where the Centre will help one state and leave out the other, Jaitley said, replying to the debate on the Finance Bill in the Rajya Sabha. Legislators from various states raised the issue of agrarian crisis in Parliament and demanded a loan waiver by the Centre across the country. Capt meets Modi Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh met the prime minister and sought a special package for the debt-ridden farmers of Punjab. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis too met Jaitley last week and suggested a formula to waive off farmers debts in his state with central help. Jaitley, however, made it clear in the Upper House that the Centre will continue with its schemes such as interest subsidy to farmers in the states as it has done in the past. However, there would be no debt waiver financing by the Centre for state farmers. A recent State Bank of India (SBI) report revealed that the UP government will need Rs 27,500 crore to waive off farm loans. SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya too had recently flagged the negative effects of a loan waiver on the credit repayment culture among farmers. In 2008, the UPA government at the Centre had financed Rs 60,000 crore debt waiver package for small and marginal farmers following which Indias fiscal deficit went up to an all time high. Jaitley also sought suggestions from parties to improve electoral funding further, but rejected a suggestion for making PAN and Aadhaar mandatory for cash donations. Rs 5k crore for 10 disaster-hit states The Centre has approved Rs 5,020.64 crore for rehabilitation work in 10 states hit by various natural disasters like floods, cloudburst, hailstorms, landslides, cyclones and drought, DHNS reports from New Delhi. A meeting of the high level committee chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh approved the central assistance, including Rs 171.69 crore for Karnataka for crop losses due to excess rains in some districts. The committee approved assistance to Tamil Nadu (Rs 2014.45 crore), Bihar (Rs 822.96 crore), Andhra Pradesh (Rs 584.21 crore), Rajasthan (Rs 370.27 crore), Telangana (Rs 314.22 crore) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 303.05 crore). It also cleared Rs 269.40 crore for Assam, Rs 152.28 crore for Himachal Pradesh and Rs 19.11 crore for Manipur. Karnataka had sought Rs 362 crore to help farmers who lost their crops to excess rains in Bidar, Kalaburagi and Yadgir. The Indian Navy is set to send its men and women officers on two round the globe trips, one by air and the other by sea. Not to leave the mountains behind, a third Navy team has begun its expedition to summit Mt Everest. The blue water force is eyeing a new record with the two around the world trips. The first one will come around June-July. Commander Abhilash Tomy will fly solo around the world in 90 days in a microlight in a trip dubbed as Vayu Parikrama. This would be the second around-the-world for the naval aviator, who in 2012 successfully did a non-stop circumnavigation under sail. He took 151 days to complete the trip. In August, a six-member all women crew of the Indian Navy will start a voyage on the ocean sail boat INS Tarini. They will set sail for eight months before returning to the western coast of India, creating a world record. The girls would take about eight months, depending on the wind speed. The new sail boat was inducted last month. The team of six women officers led by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi did a Goa-to-Cape Town trip in December and would undertake another trip to Mauritius in May-June as the practice drill for Sagar Parikrama-3, the third ocean circumnavigation trip from the navy. DH News Service The absence of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his family, including that of his two minister-sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav, from the Bihar Diwas celebrations has snowballed into a major controversy. The absence of Lalu and sons from the government function at Motihari on Thursday as part of the Champaran Satyagrah centenary celebrations added grist to the rumour that the ties between the ruling alliance partners JD (U) and RJD have soured. While Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav refused to comment on his absence, RJD leaders asked the Nitish regime why the invitation card, meant for Bihar Diwas, had names of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Education Minister Ashok Choudhary also Bihar Congress chief but not that of the deputy chief minister. The Education Department, the nodal agency for organising the programme, should explain why Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadavs name was not there on the invitation card. The Bihar government is a coalition regime where the RJD is the largest party. No attempt should, therefore, be made to belittle our leaders, said RJD legislator Bhai Birendra. Lalus elder son Tej Pratap, who was in Patna but did not attend the function, was more blunt. I was at my residence. We celebrated Bihar Diwas at home, he said. DH News Service Home Minister G Parameshwara on Thursday said the government is contemplating enacting legislation to prevent misuse of social media and punish those indulging in such activities. Misuse of social media is a major problem. The government is working towards enacting legislation to prevent misuse of social media. The police need to have access to information to keep track of anti-social elements. For instance, nobody can currently access encrypted messages on WhatsApp. So there are chances of it being misused, he said in his reply to BJPs Tara Anuradha in the Legislative Council. Earlier, Tara complained that mischief makers are widely using social media platforms to defame others. Parameshwara said a Social Media Monitoring and Technical Cell has been set up in all major cities in the state. It will be opened at all district headquarters in the coming days. Besides, the police personnel are being trained in handling such cases, he added. Dont curtail media Former minister R Ashoka on Thursday denounced efforts to restrict the role of the media, especially the news channels. Speaking on the sidelines of a function here, the BJP leader said he did not attend the Assembly session on Wednesday, but from whatever he could gather from the media, he said an effort was made to curtail its liberty. Media is perceived as the fourth pillar of democracy and hence, such restrictions are not a healthy sign, the BJP leader said. Pakistans High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, on Thursday stated that New Delhi could only suppress, but not quell the Kashmiri peoples struggle for freedom. Basits remark triggered a sharp response from New Delhi. Gopal Baglay, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said that the remark of the High Commissioner of Pakistan in India was not in keeping with diplomatic niceties. Speaking at an event at the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi on the occasion of the National Day of his country, Basit said that Islamabad was pursuing a policy to promote peace, especially in Asia. We (Pakistan) have tried to have better ties with all our neighbours. These ties must be based on equal footing and loyalty and our efforts have been in that direction, said the High Commissioner of Pakistan. As far as the (issue of) Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, it should be resolved as per the aspirations of Kashmiris. We hope that we will resolve the issue, but as per the aspirations of Kashmiris, said Basit, who has been Pakistans envoy to India since early 2014 and is likely to return to Islamabad soon. Basit is likely to be replaced by Sohail Mahmood, who is at present Pakistans envoy to Turkey. Time has witnessed that whenever people raised voices and struggled for freedom, it could be suppressed, but not quelled, Basit said. DH News Service The four-day strike at Freedom Park by anganwadi workers and helpers from all over the state, seeking a hike in their honorarium, came to an end on Thursday. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a meeting with the leaders of the protesters at his residence in the evening and assured them that the government is committed to meet their demands. The code of conduct is in place in view of Legislative Assembly byelections and a written agreement cannot be given. As we said before, we will have a meeting on April 10 instead of on April 19 to discuss the matter of increasing the pay, he said. The women, leading the protest, were satisfied with the chief ministers promise and decided to call off the strike for now. President of Karnataka State Anganwadi Workers Association Varalakshmi said, The government has promised us that our demands will be met. Trusting its words, we are temporarily calling off the strike. The workers condemned the chief ministers remark on Wednesday in which he said that they were continuing the protest because they were getting free food and shelter. The Election Commissions (EC) decision to freeze the two-leaf symbol of the AIADMK has brought cheer to the O Paneerselvam faction in its battle against the Sasikala camp, which is disappointed by the development. Armed with the EC decision, the Paneerselvam faction has decided to go all out to defeat Sasikalas nephew T T V Dinakaran who is contesting the byelection to R K Nagar Assembly seat to formalise his political debut. The freezing of the two-leaf symbol, which is the most recognisable symbol for the voters, will force the Sasikala faction to be on the backfoot as it will have to seek votes in the name of new symbol hat. Already, Dinakaran who filed his nomination papers for the bypoll on Thursday, has started wearing a hat, saying the election symbol represents the headgear worn by late M G Ramachandran, founder of the AIADMK, in his numerous roles in films. The bypoll for the seat, which was necessitated by the death of Jayalalithaa, was seen as an opportunity by Dinakaran to firm up his position after the showdown between the two factions of the ruling AIADMK. Dinakaran was appointed as AIADMK deputy chief and treasurer by Sasikala before she went to jail to serve her term in the infamous disproportionate assets case. Not letting go the opportunity to prove it commanded more support among AIADMK cadres and voters, the Paneerselvam faction has fielded veteran AIADMK leader and presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan against Dinakaran. Though this faction too will not be able to use the two-leaf symbol and must campaign with the new symbol electricity pole, Paneerselvam is counting on the stature of Madhusudhanan for an edge. Dinakaran did not hide his disappointment when he said he did not expect the official AIADMK symbol would be frozen. The Centre has approved a proposal for setting up of a new commission for backward classes as a constitutional body. A bill to set up the National Commission for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (NCSBC) through a constitutional amendment was passed by the Cabinet at its meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday. The NCSBC, proposed to be set as a statutory body by insertion of Article 338B in the Constitution, will replace the existing National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). The amendment bill has also provided for inclusion of a new Clause (26 C) under Article 366 to define the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes. Finer details on the proposed amendments, however, were not immediately available. The government is expected to introduce the bill in Parliament shortly. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) have been established as statutory bodies under Article 338 and Article 338 A of the Constitution. The NCBC, set up in 1993 by an Act after a Supreme Court verdict, does not enjoy a constitutional status, though there have been demands for it to enable the panel hear the grievances of other backward classes (OBCs) like the NCSC and NCST does. The move comes at a time when the Jat community, primarily from Haryana, are building pressure on the Centre for their inclusion in the list of the OBCs. The leaders of the Jat community recently gave a call for holding a massive agitation here to press for their long-pending demand. They, however, postponed their agitation after top leaders were persuaded by the government with an assurance that some steps would be taken to address their demand. Besides, several other communities, including the Gorkhas from Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Uttarakhand, have also been raising demands for their inclusion in the OBCs list. The Patel community in Gujarat last year held a massive movement across the state, demanding OBC quota. Though the final details of the bill were not immediately available, the NCSBC was learnt to be a statutory body looking into demands for inclusion of community into the OBC list. It will also hear complaints pertaining to the infringements of the rights of the backward community. DH News Service The NCSBC, proposed to be set as a statutory body by insertion of Article 338B in the Constitution, will replace the existing National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). Home Minister G Parameshwara on Thursday said sale of narcotic drugs is rampant near professional colleges across the state. Replying to Lahar Singh of the BJP in the Council, he said the police have found that petty shops in the vicinity of many of these colleges indulge in drug peddling. The police have launched a special drive to curb the drug menace and 65 Indian nationals and 23 foreign nationals have been arrested in the past two and a half months in this regard, he added. There is fear that the drug menace is becoming rampant. We will not allow Bengaluru to go the Punjab way. Udta Punjab (a popular movie that highlighted the drug problem in Punjab) will not happen here. The government has taken it very seriously. All station house officers have been directed to visit colleges in their jurisdiction and educate students on the issue, besides taking strict action against peddlers, he said. The minister said most of those indulging in drug trafficking are overstaying foreign nationals. As many as 1,023 foreign nationals are overstaying in Karnataka. The state government has informed the Ministry of External Affairs in this regard. Around 59 of them have been deported, he added. A Nigerian national who died under mysterious circumstances recently in Bengaluru, was suspected to be have been involved in drug trafficking. He was overstaying. He died in a road accident recently, he said. Though the government has informed the Nigerian high commission about his death, nobody has claimed the body. Appropriate steps will be taken to dispose of the body after obtaining court permission, he said. Earlier, Lahar Singh accused the government of being a mute spectator to the growing drug menace. An average of 12 cases of young children falling prey to the menace are reported at the National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (Nimhans), Bengaluru. The problem has prompted many schools in Bengaluru to advise parents to keep a watch on their children, he added. BJPs Capt Ganesh Karnik suggested that the police should catch those involved in drug trafficking. Mere arrest of some peddlers will not solve the problem. The entire network has to be smashed. The peddlers are selling drugs online. Ramachandra Gowda of the same party said counterintelligence measures should be taken to root out the problem. The Legislative Council on Thursday referred to the House Privileges Committee a notice from a Congress member alleging breach of privilege by a Kannada television news channel. Congress MLC V S Ugrappa, while making his preliminary submission on the issue, accused BTV of insulting the House and the government by making adverse comments on the discussion held in the Council about arbitrariness of the visual media, on Wednesday. The channel charged the government with instigating the legislators to attack the media for reporting against it, he added. When the members (legislators) were drawing the attention of the House on how the media was going awry and defaming elected representatives, the channel reported saying that the media is under attack. The anchor spoke in such a way as to challenge the House. This is an insult to the House, he charged. Ugrappa demanded that Council Chairman D H Shankarmurthy summon the owner, the anchor and the reporter of the channel, to the House. A section of the media is behaving as if it is supreme. It is deterrent to democracy. It is turning into a clash between the media and the legislature, he said. He insisted that the issue should be referred to a joint select committee. A Shiv Sena MP on Thursday hit an Air India manager with sandals, tore his shirt and broke his glasses, demanding to travel business class on an all-economy flight. MP Ravindra Gaikwad admitted he hit 60-year-old duty manager Shivkumar, but claimed the airline employee had used foul language and misbehaved with him. According to a senior Air India official, The MP turned violent, broke the duty managers spectacles, tore his shirt, hit him with slippers 16-17 times, and tried to throw him out of an aircraft at the Delhi airport. The official added that the airline was mulling the creation of a no-fly list of unruly passengers similar to other carriers. The airline filed two police complaints one for assaulting their employee and another for delaying the flight for 40 minutes. Yes, I had hit the staff. Do you expect me to hear their abuses quietly? He asked who is this MP and said he would complain to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi. So, I slapped him. I hit him 25 times with my sandal. I am a Shiv Sena member, not of the BJP, to entertain abuses hurled at me. I will not apologise, Gaikwad said. A shocked Shivkumar said, Yes, he misbehaved with me, broke my glasses. I never expected this. God save our country if this is the culture and behaviour of our MPs, he was quoted as saying. It all started when the Pune-Delhi AI-852 flight landed here at 9.35 am. The same flight was to proceed to Goa at 10.55 am. The MP, who had an open business class ticket, did not alight even after all the passengers disembarked. According to Air India, AI-852 is an all-economy flight and there is no business-class configuration. The MP wanted to travel on this flight only and his personal assistant was in touch with the airlines airport manager in Pune since Wednesday regarding Gaikwads travel to Delhi. The MPs assistant was informed that it was an all-economy flight. Since the MP wanted to travel on this flight, he was allotted the seat in the first row itself since there is no business class on this flight, the airline said in a statement. The MP refused to come out of the aircraft for almost an hour after it landed. The duty manager then requested Gaikwad to get off the plane since 115 passengers were waiting to board the flight to Goa. Gaikwad accepted that he has done it. The Shiv Sena does not advocate such behaviour. He is a popular MP. We want to find out what made him lose his temper, what instigated him should be probed. Manisha Kayande, Sena leader Party chief Uddhav Thackeray summons Gaikwad to Mumbai, seeks explanation St John's National Academy of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, tendered an unconditional apology to the Karnataka High Court on Thursday for displaying a notice on the academy's website. Dr George A D'Souza, dean of the academy, informed the court that the notice will be removed from the website. The notice had said that It is approaching the High Court to have St Johns PG admissions 2017-18 declared valid on several legal grounds. St Johns is confident of getting a favourable verdict from the High Court validating its PG admissions for 2017-18. The notice was in response to the letter from the Directorate of Medical Education which had informed the academy that its procedure and grounds for admission for PG was considered invalid. A division bench comprising Justice Jayant Patel and Justice N K Sudhindra Rao in its order said that it found the notice on the website objectionable. The bench, while hearing a petition filed by Dr Rachana Kishore Ubrangala, an MBBS graduate from Mangaluru, had granted stay on the admission process for the postgraduate medical courses at St Johns National Academy of Health Sciences. The bench also stayed the collection of fees from candidates named in the provisional list for admission to the PG medical course (if the fee is yet to be collected) and directed St Johns to keep one seat of MD (Paediatrics) vacant. The petitioner had contended that though she had secured high marks in NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test), she was not considered for the provisional list. Other students with lower ranks were considered for admission at the academy, she contended. Own selection process The petitioner said that St Johns Academy, instead of adhering to the Supreme Court-approved selection criterion based on the NEET ranking as fixed by the Medical Council of India, has prescribed its own selection process. The academy has included practical test scores and interview in addition to the NEET ranking. The bench, in its previous order, had said, It prima facie appears that the MCI regulations provide for NEET ranking, and such criteria will be diluted if any other marks are considered, like practical test, interview etc. Traffic was disrupted once again in the city as a protest rally taken out from Town Hall to Freedom Park and a political meet held at the Palace Grounds flew in the face of the polices alternative arrangements. For the JD(S) meet at Gate 2 of the Palace Grounds, the traffic police had drawn a detailed plan by marking 14 routes for different vehicles arriving at the venue. By 9 am, however, the increase in traffic was visible with vehicles from all directions choking Mehkri Circle, Hebbal flyover, Palace Road and the surrounding areas. Dinesh Nayak, a techie, said it took him more than 40 minutes to travel from Taj West End hotel on Race Course Road to National Gallery of Modern Art on Palace Road a distance of around two kilometres. Getting stuck in traffic in this summer is the last thing that commuters want. We are forced to undergo the same torture every time there is such an event at Palace Grounds, he said. Those at the receiving end of the traffic jam took to Twitter and Facebook to vent their anger. Yogi Beerappan tweeted, Dear @blrcitytraffic if u cant handle traffic then please dont give permission to political parties to conduct rallies in Bengaluru city (sic). A protest rally taken out by 2,000-odd SC/ST employees of the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd from Town Hall to Freedom Park caused bumper-to-bumper traffic on Sheshadri Road and Nrupathunga Road. Just the previous day, the protest by anganwadi workers had affected traffic on the two arterial roads. B N Anant Kumar, a commuter, said he got off a BMTC bus near Freedom Park and walked for around two kilometres till General Post Office where he could a book a cab. We cant depend on public transport during crises like this. Unfortunately, it seems to happen every day, forcing people to spend on cabs, he said. Traffic expert M N Sreehari said the only solution was avoiding big rallies in the city centre and traffic hubs. We cant say protests should be banned. But we can definitely restrict political rallies and allot them space outside the city. We should ask politicians to address the demands of people before they stage protests, he said. Asked if police had chalked out a solution to address the traffic problem, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R Hithendra said such plans wouldnt work. We dont give permission for protests and rallies. We just manage the crisis. There is a new protest every other day and there is a new crisis, he added. A woman waiting for a cab outside 1MG Lido Mall, off MG Road, central Bengaluru, was robbed by three men on a motorcycle on Wednesday night. She narrated the incident in a Facebook post. She said she and her friend were waiting for cab outside the mall after dinner at a restaurant. Three men on a motorcycle none of them was wearing a helmet rode up and one of them snatched her handbag that contained cash, an expensive mobile phone and some documents. The men pushed and shoved her. Had her friend not held her, she would have fallen flat on her face. I realised that my top was torn and a cab driver tried to chase the trio but in vain. The cab driver took us to Halasuru police station where an FIR was registered. Before the trio could snatch my bag, they had attempted the same on another person who was standing near Oberoi Hotel (sic), she said in the post. A senior police officer said they had received a written complaint and were checking the CCTV footage to hunt the culprits down. On Sunday night, a woman was molested and her friend assaulted by a group of men in Chikkajala. The same night, two youths were arrested for molesting an IIMB student at Panathur, Marathahalli. Two muggers from Surathkal near Mangaluru hoped to strike it rich in Bengaluru but ended up in jail for stealing a service pistol from an MLAs gunman who fell unconscious after long hours of duty in Yelahanka New Town. The Northeast division police arrested the duo identified as Dhanush Thimmappagowda alias Dhanu (20) and Vijay Subash alias Anjaneya (21) and recovered the service pistol and 16 mobile phones from them. The incident occurred on February 24 in MS Palya when Narasimhamurthy, a constable attached to the City Armed Reserve (CAR) deputed as a gunman to Devanahalli JD(S) MLA Pilla Munishamappa, had just finished his duty. He was in plain clothes, but armed, and the muggers mistook him for a private bodyguard who was sleeping, the police said. It was a Friday loaded with too many political developments (the MLA had resigned on February 23 but withdrew the resignation later), and the gunman who was tired after long hours of duty, fell unconscious near MS Palya said City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood.It was then that the duo stole the 9 mm service pistol from him and fled, Sood added. Narasimhamurthy lodged a complaint at the Yelahanka New Town police station. He could not remember exactly when, where and how his weapon went missing. Initially, we thought he was reporting the theft out of fear because at that time, two other stolen service weapons were recovered from the house of a CAR constable Purushottam, who stole them from his two colleagues. But we still had to go ahead with the investigations, said a senior police officer. A team that was constituted to collect details of suspicious activities in Mangaluru stumbled upon a case where two youths were trying to sell a 9 mm prohibited bore police weapon to criminals. They immediately arrested the two and recovered the service pistol from them. The duo confessed to their crime, an officer said adding, Only after that could we believe Narasimhamurthy's claims. The duo were brought to Bengaluru, produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody. They used to commit thefts and robberies threatening lone victims with lethal weapons in Udupi, Surathkal and Mangaluru after which they decided to strike in Bengaluru. This is the first time the two struck in Bengaluru and we have nabbed them. No offence was committed with the stolen police weapon and our men involved in the investigation will get cash prize of Rs 25,000, added Sood. With summer vacations round the corner, airlines are rolling out attractive offers on both domestic and international flights. A number of airlines like AirAsia, Malindo Air and IndiGo are offering discounts on domestic and international flights from Bengaluru and other cities. While Malindo Air is offering tickets starting at Rs 9,000 for a round trip to Indonesia, the Malaysian low-cost airline Air Asia is offering 50% off on Bengaluru-Kuala Lumpur tickets. A staffer from outbound tour operator Thomas Cook India told DH, The demand for flights to Singapore and Indonesia particularly has increased owing to cheap fares and attractive tour packages offered by a few international travel agents. The fares are slashed by more than 25%. Europe, Bali and Andaman Islands are the other places that are preferred by city tourists this summer. For citizens travelling within India, Indigo has announced fares starting at Rs 899 and Vistara is offering domestic fares at Rs 999 all-inclusive on select routes. Tour operators and air ticketing agents said that with reduced prices, people who were previously opting for buses are now preferring air. Branch manager, Trinity Air Travels and Tours, Wilson Tom said the trend of tourists from south touring north India in summer has declined. He added, "Air tickets are affordable and huge deals are available now on booking sites as well." Vikram Balu, an IT professional from Rajajinagar said he will tour Kuala Lumpur in the first week of April with his family. "We managed to book tickets online at around Rs 9,000 each (one-way by AirAsia) which is quite reasonable," he said. In Karnataka, Mysuru and Kodagu are most preferred destinations according to tour operators and air ticketing agents. Across the North, places like Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir and Mussorie are in demand. Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) officials said they receive peak bookings from April till May particularly to places like Ooty, Madikeri and Kodaikanal. The Sarjapur police arrested a drunk man who set fire to three lorries near the APMC yard on Wednesday night. The arrested, Imtiaz, a painter at an automobile garage in Sarjapur, set fire to the lorries owned by Rajashekar Reddy, who supplied food materials to anganwadis in Bengaluru Rural district. On Wednesday night, Imtiaz asked his friend for money. The friend turned him away. Imtiaz then went to another friends house, who was working for Reddy, but couldnt find him too. Meanwhile, Imtiaz found the lorries parked nearby and set them afire. The lorries, loaded with food material, immediately caught fire. The drivers, who had gone for dinner, alerted the police and the fire service, who doused the fire. When kids his age were learning to stand, Sanish was battling for life. The child had to undergo 38 sessions of dialysis before he was eligible for a kidney transplant. However, the nightmare did not end there for the child. At the age of one, Sanish was detected with medullary cystic disease of the kidney. It all started with high fever and problem in urinating. At the age of 12, he underwent kidney transplant, with his mother donating her kidney. This was in 2002. The first two years went well for him, but his problems recurred in 2012. I started vomiting blood and the doctors told me I had a problem in my liver too, which was affecting the transplanted kidney, recollected Sanish at a media briefing in the city on Thursday. By September 2015, his transplanted kidney began failing, forcing him to go back to dialysis. The doctors suggested that he go for a second transplant for both kidney and liver, said Sanish. Dr Sumana Kolar Ramachandra, chief of liver transplant, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Yeshwantpur, said, When Sanish came to us, he had upper GI bleeding with low platelet and two episodes of Hepatic encephalopathy. Tests found that his liver was damaged and he had to undergo a transplant. We registered him for a combined liver and kidney transplant. Doctors at Columbia Asia organised a combined talk with Sanish and his family to educate them about the procedure of kidney and liver transplant. This session helped answer all questions Sanish and his family had before undergoing such an important surgery for dual transplant. The operation was a success. Staff members from Columbia Asia Hospital also donated blood and platelets that were required for the transplant surgery. He was more prone to infections as he was already on immunosuppression for so many years. For the first few days, Sanish had post-operative infections, but medical attention and his will power made him come out of the trauma, said Dr Sumana. Sanishs transplant was complex as he was suffering from both liver and kidney failure, and it took 11 hours for our team of 30 doctors and nurses to complete the surgery. DH News Service The authorities of Maharanis College of Arts have said that they were willing to submit a copy of the complaint to Prof Dr Ramalingappa T Beguru, but he did not collect it. Ramachandrappa, a former associate professor of Kannada of the college against whom there were charges of sexual harassment, had claimed on Wednesday that he had not been given a copy of the complaint. Denying the charges, college principal Shantha Kumari said that he went on leave soon after the incident was reported due to which he could not be handed over the complaint copy. He was organising an event at the college. We informed him about an allegation of this sort. He went on casual leave after that, she said. The principal, however, refused to comment on charges that he was being targeted because of professional jealousy. Manjushri N, CEO, Bengaluru Urban Zilla Panchayat who has to look into the matter, is yet to visit the college. It may be recalled that there were complaints by five other students that six lecturers of the college had sexually harassed them. DH News Service Increased air and water contamination has led to a steep rise in the number of children falling ill in the Varthur lake area, according to a study. Doctors practising in the vicinity of the lake say the summer heat is adding to their patients' misery. The lake is often frothing from effluents released into it. Over the past year, Dr Ramesh Krishnaiah of Ramagondanahalli has found more patients coming to him with gastro enteritis and diarrhoea than before. The diseases are caused by contaminated food and water. Many farmers use water from the lake to cultivate fruits and vegetables. About 120 families living around Gunjurpalya are involved in dairying. They collect growth from the Varthur and Bellandur lakes and feed the cattle. The lakes are contaminated with heavy metals like lead, zinc and mercury, which get into the milk, said M A Khan, principal of KK High School. With Class 8 students of his school, he conducted a study on the impact of lake foaming on children. Five high schools (government and private), seven primary and middle schools and 25 nurseries and play homes are located near the lake. It is common to find children suffering from vomiting, enteric fever and typhoid, especially when the temperature rises, Khan said. Dr Ravi Kumar R, another physician and resident of Ramagondanahalli, used to get about 20 patients a day earlier. The number has now gone up to about 60. The increase has been drastic over the past year, and more so in the last six months. People, especially children, are suffering from psoriasis. Cases of viral infection and fever are also high because of the mosquitos breeding here, he said. DH News Service The manager and cleaner of a hotel were electrocuted while cleaning the water sump at the establishment near Domlur, east Bengaluru, on Thursday evening. Vishwanath (39), the manager at Srinidhi Hotel, and Guru (26), a cleaner, got into the sump to clean it around 6 pm. They lost consciousness soon after. Other employees of the hotel rushed to their rescue and lifted out them of the sump. They were taken to Manipal Hospital where doctors said their condition was critical. They failed to respond to the treatment and died around 10 pm. Police said electrocution was likely the cause of death. They suffered electric shock as the motor was switched on while they were cleaning the sump. It is an old sump with wires dangling inside. Police said they would question other members of the hotel staff and examine the spot. The hotel owner will be booked for causing death due to negligence, police said. The victims had been working in the hotel for the past two years. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors banned medical and non-medical marijuana facilities within the unincorporated areas of the county in a 3-2 vote on March 15. Supervisor Kristin Gaspar proposed the ban in January in the interest of public safety in an uncertain environment. We have ever-growing demands on law enforcement, we have ever-growing demands on our budget. In my personal view, San Diego really cant afford the unintended consequences on the horizon related to recreational marijuana, Gaspar said. We cant afford at this time to intensify the situation, and we have an obligation to keep our communities safe and fiscally sound. Supervisors Greg Cox and Ron Roberts voted against the ban. Recently adopted state laws permit jurisdictions to impose bans and the countys amendments dont preclude the private use of medical and non-medical marijuana, as allowed by California law. The proposed zoning changes will cause three existing medical marijuana collective facilities and two other vested facilities to become nonconforming and would need to cease operations within five years. The board also voted 4-1 to extend the moratorium on the establishment of medical marijuana collective facilities with Roberts voting no. I feel very strongly that we ought to be establishing medical marijuana facilities in keeping with the state initiative, Roberts said. The ban is an attempt to have an excuse not to have anything, Im not going to vote for that. Roberts and Cox favored the reasonable compromise proposed by the planning commission. The planning commission did not recommend the ban and instead recommended limiting dispensaries to five existing operating facilities, banning new additional dispensaries and to consider future ordinances in 2018 when state regulations are in place regarding cannabis farming in agricultural zones. In January, the city of San Diego legalized recreational pot dispensaries and opened up the possibility to allow farms, manufacturing facilities and testing labs. There are 15 dispensaries throughout the city; the closest location in North County is on Roselle Street in Sorrento Valley. The city of Del Mar has an existing prohibition in place for both medical- and non-medical marijuana- related businesses, and the city of Solana Beach also has a ban in place for medical marijuana cultivation delivery and dispensaries. At the over three-hour hearing March 15, the supervisors heard from 49 speakers, the majority opposed to the ban, including medical marijuana patients, business owners and farmers. Those in favor asked the board to seek a compromise that preserved access. Borrego Springs resident Jake Fredericks said as the country is in the middle of a prescription drug overdose epidemic, medical marijuana is an alternative that helps people fighting debilitating disease, pain and chronic disorders. Regulation is the appropriate response to deal with the safety concerns of the community, the will of the voters and the patients needs, Borrego Springs resident Jake Fredericks said. Some in favor of the ban, including several parents and Judi Strang, the executive director of the San Dieguito Alliance for Drug Free Youth, spoke about their current fight against the normalization of pot use among kids. The speakers were not against using marijuana medicinally but against the commercialization of marijuana. Chris Brown, who represented the Ramona Community Planning Group and small businesses affected by the ban, said while youth marijuana use and abuse is troubling and concerning to us all, it is not the result of medical marijuana dispensaries. In voting against the ban, Supervisor Cox said that his biggest fear is that the county could see an initiative placed on the ballot to deal with medicinal and non-medicinal marijuana facilities that could take away county control and possibly result in even more proliferation of facilities. He said such an initiative would be posed to see strong support as 57 percent of county residents supported Prop 64. We will have basically abdicated our ability as a board to regulate the use of medical marijuana, Cox warned. It will be the logical consequence of this board taking action imposing this ban. Chair Dianne Jacob said people only need to look to Colorado to realize that the legalization of marijuana has been a disaster and hasnt produced the amount of revenue that it was believed to have generated. She said Colorado has seen an increase in marijuana-related traffic accidents, an increase in marijuana-related emergency room admissions, an increase in youth use and the black market has also surged as the number of drug cartels has increased. If voters in California truly knew what law enforcement knows and the Colorado experience, they would not have voted for Prop 64, Jacob said. I firmly believe that marijuana use is detrimental to the health of kids and further actions to legalize marijuana would subject them to the many detrimental health effects that marijuana is associated with, Jacob said. A ban is in the best interest of public safety and the best interest of the people and the kids in our communities. Since Gaspars proposal for the ban in January, she said she has been subject to a level of non-civil discourse including communication that she should be shot, that she is an unfit mother and that she wants to send cancer patients to jail. Gaspar said she is sympathetic to the impactful patient stories she has heard and has plenty of exposure to the issue from patients at her physical therapy practice who have benefited from medical marijuana use. Gaspar said it isnt the boards job to debate whether medical marijuana is helping patients she believes that it is but it is more about looking at the fiscal impact and the negative impacts on youth. She said with the hundreds of medical marijuana patients she has interacted with, no one has brought up a lack of access. The controversial question of whether short-term vacation rentals such as those offered on AirBnB and other websites are allowed in Del Mars residential neighborhoods is set to get a full airing before the City Council on April 17. At issue is whether Del Mars land-use rules, including its zoning ordinances and community plan, allow property owners to rent their homes for daily or weekly use to visitors. On one side are those who earn income from the rentals, and on the other side are residents who contend that vacationers cause problems such as noise, litter and parking shortages. The council decided at its meeting on Monday, March 21, to set the hearing in April in response to a pair of appeals from residents, resulting from a Planning Commission hearing on Feb. 14. At that earlier meeting, the commission decided, on a 3-2 vote, that it did not have enough information to interpret city laws regarding whether short-term rentals are allowed in residential zones. The council had requested the interpretation in January. At the Monday, March 21 council meeting, residents who filed the two appeals - both requesting a council ruling on the short-term rental issue - spoke, along with eight members of the public. The speakers were reminded that the council would not be deciding on the legality of short-term rentals, but only whether to grant the appeals and set the public hearing. Under the citys rules, council members were not allowed to discuss the issue, but only vote on whether to grant the appeals. Three council members - Dwight Worden, Sherryl Parks and Ellie Haviland - raised their hands to signal their approval, although only two votes were needed. The decision sets the stage for what is sure to be a contentious hearing on April 17. One factor that the council will have to wrangle with is that city codes dont specifically permit or prohibit short-term rentals. This discrepancy has allowed proponents on both sides of the issue to contend that city rules support their cause. At Mondays meeting, Ralph DeMarco, who signed an appeal along with more than 20 other people, argued that city regulations have for decades allowed transient or short-term vacation rentals. There is no evidence that zoning codes have ever prohibited STRs (short-term rentals) in the citys residential zones. There are no restrictions in the (Municipal) Code on length of time of a rental nor on the definition of a dwelling unit and there has never been any action taken by the city to enforce, stop or prevent STRs, said the written appeal filed by DeMarco and his group. It is clear by the plain language of the Code that STRs are permitted, said the appeal. On the other side of the issue were two residents, Robin Crabtree and Ed Yuskiewicz, representing a group called Save Our Neighborhood Del Mar, which also appealed the Planning Commissions decision. Our intention in this appeal is preserving and restoring the special character of our residential neighborhoods, as the Community Plan and Municipal Code were intentionally written to protect, from the commercial uses that are adversely affecting our neighborhoods due to short-term rental businesses, Crabtree told the council. We urge you to acknowledge the Planning Commission failed to properly render an interpretation as requested and to grant the appeal and set this matter for de novo (new) hearing, she said. Nine members of the public also addressed the council and although they differed on the issue of short-term rentals, they all urged the council to grant the appeals and hold a new hearing. Carol Ozaki said the issue will affect the finances of many Del Mar residents such as herself, and asked the council to set a public hearing. It really is a huge financial impact for all of us, she said, and the hearing offers, a chance to have our voices heard. David Doyle said many cities around the world, from Barcelona to New York, are grappling with similar issues regarding short-term rentals. Every one of them is facing this exact same problem. It has to be dealt with if were going to have residential areas in our community, he said. Among cities dealing with the issue is San Diego. Earlier this week, San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott issued an opinion that short-term rentals are prohibited within city limits, and next week, a City Council committee is scheduled to discuss the topic. The drought is over, at least in the Santa Fe Irrigation District (SFID). At its meeting on Thursday, March 16, the districts board voted unanimously to lift all restrictions on water use by its customers, essentially declaring that for the agency, which serves some 20,000 customers in Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch, the drought that has plagued California for the past five years is a thing of the past. The decision comes during one of the wettest California winters in years, as many parts of the state have switched from worrying about a lack of water to concern over flooding. Were pretty excited to bring this before you today, SFID General Manager Michael Bardin told the board, as he explained his recommendation to rescind the Level 1 drought response, which called on district customers to voluntarily cut back on water use to achieve a district-wide water savings of 10 percent. The decision removes the last of a series of both mandatory and voluntary conservation measures imposed in 2015, in the wake of a declaration of emergency by Gov. Jerry Brown which required state residents to cut their water use by a collective 25 percent. SFID responded by imposing strict rules on its customers, backed by fines and penalties, such as allowing outdoor watering only at certain days and times. The district also imposed allocations, a form of water rationing, on its customers for the first time in its history of more than 90 years. Last summer, as local water shortages eased, the district moved from mandatory to voluntary conservation goals, and Thursdays action removes the last of the voluntary restrictions. The district has certified to the state that it has adequate water supplies to meet its customers needs for the next three years. In January, the San Diego County Water Authority, a wholesale water agency, declared an end to the drought in the region. Other neighboring water agencies have done the same or are considering such action, said a district staff report. Members of SFIDs board expressed satisfaction with the development, noting that the district still encourages conservation. People realize they can reduce their water cost by being more efficient, said director David Petree. But he said the district must be careful not to cry wolf by calling for unwarranted water-use cutbacks. (Customers) respond better if we back off, he said. But director Marlene King said she found it troubling that the district is lifting all voluntary conservation measures without putting out a strong statement in favor of ongoing water conservation. What is this saying to our customers about the districts values? Part of it is saying were not selling enough water, King said. Directors agreed that the district does want to continue to urge its customers to use water wisely, and such language was included in a news release about the boards decision to move out of the Level 1 drought response. The district also thanked its customers for cutting back on water use by 26 percent over the past two years, when compared with the baseline year of 2013. In spite of voluminous precipitation this winter, state water regulators extended emergency water use rules in February for 270 days, over the objections of local water officials from around California. Those state rules include making sure that outdoor sprinklers dont cause runoff, that people washing cars must use a hose with a shutoff nozzle, and that restaurants will only serve water on request. In a presentation to the SFID board on Thursday, County Water Authority Deputy General Manager Sandy Kerl noted the irony that, at the same time emergency drought restrictions remain in place for all 58 California counties, 50 counties are under flood emergencies. As of March 9, Northern Californias mountain snowpack was at 179 percent of average. Locally, the region has already received more than 10 inches of rain, the average for the entire season, but with two months of the rainy season remaining. Wet conditions brought the Lake Hodges reservoir on the verge of spilling over in early March for the first time in years. Bardin told the board that local water officials reacted by moving water from Lake Hodges to other reservoirs, thus creating room for more water to fill the lake in case of additional rains. Bardin said the maneuver was a first for the region since pipelines were attached to Lake Hodges as part of an emergency water storage project. Pulling that off is operational gymnastics, said Bardin, but the lake now has room to collect more water. SFID owns a share of the water in the lake along with other local water districts, including the city of San Diego. Local water is cheaper than imported water and saves the district money, savings that it can pass on to its customers. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has relaxed the rules for moving cash foreign currency by individuals crossing the customs border of Ukraine, the central bank has reported on its website. The NBU expanded the list of document that could be presented by residents for customs declaration of cash foreign currency in equivalent of over EUR 10,000. "Now for confirming the origin of cash foreign currency one can present not only documents confirming withdrawal of cash from an account in a bank (financial institutions), but also the receipt confirming the currency exchange transaction with cash. Ukrainian diplomats who return to Ukraine after a long business trip are permitted to bring cash foreign currency in the amount exceeded EUR 10,000 with a certificate from the diplomatic institution. The term of the documents required for customs declaration of cash foreign currency is expanded from 30 to 90 calendar days. The decision is outlined in NBU board resolution No. 24 amending the rules on the transfer of cash and banking metals across the customs border of Ukraine dated March 22, 2017. The decision took effect on March 23. Ukraine's government intends to ban imports of steam coal from Russia, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalyk told Reform.Energy online. "A draft resolution is currently in the pipeline. A decision will follow," he said when answering a question about plans to ban anthracite coal imports from Russia. The draft resolution is planned to be considered at the next but one government meeting, the minister said. The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council on March 15, 2017, decided to suspend freight transportation across the contact line in the Anti-Terrorist Operation zone in Donbas. On the same day, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the Donetsk and Luhansk regions had started shipping Ukrainian coal to Russia. The Mojo on the Mojave HARRIET MAY covers the rise of Kanye West questioning his influence on the fashion industry and the perspective of young designers. Feverish adoration, mass worship and unfaltering dedication in the face of disparate evidence; attitudes towards the fashion industry can verge on religious fervour, but to which religion are we committing? Read more after the jump: Catholicism, a system built on idolatry, could fit an industry that elected Pope Wintour to spread the word of her Bible to a million subscribers each month. Scientologys penchant for the nonsensical, its indoctrination of celebrities and allowal of only the wealthiest and most sociopathic followers to rise to the top could find a home amongst the fashion elite, though any doctrine which chastises promiscuity and homosexuality as perversions has no place. The chaste teachings of Buddha would bring to an end an industry founded on peoples desire to improve themselves through material possessions, and even a Muslim mid-Ramadan would be astounded by this industrys dedication to fasting. With sparse opportunities for enlightenment, has the fashion industry lost its faith? Here we are, the obedient ecclesiastical congregation to the unseen puppet-master Gods of production. In the saturated fashion world, where sociopaths step on sycophants to get ahead, blessing of your talent from above is never a guarantee youll avoid crucifixion. Some angels fall to earth but arent longed for this world. Meadham Kirchhoff, a brand so venerated it kept international Vogue editors glued to their seats on the often-ditchable final day of London Fashion Week, confirmed their closure in September last year amid rumours of insurmountable debt. Meadham Kirchhoff never compromised their vision to achieve the mainstream, often-faddy success of other brands. They never had their Tiger Sweatshirt (Kenzo), their Gorilla T-Shirt (Christopher Kane), or their Reworked Jeans (Vetements) and despite a Topshop collaboration, their reach did not extend to many of the most devout high street disciples. When Meadham Kirchhoff failed to meet the rent on their east London studio the landlord locked the door on both their ability to produce and their entire archive. A decade of work was reportedly lost, until hundreds of people began accepting Facebook invitations for a Meadham Kirchhoff Sample /Archive Sale Up to 90% off from a mysterious agency supposedly trying to recoup the money the brand owed. Yet Meadham Kirchhoffs congregation still had faith. They implored attendees to boycott the sale and arguments broke out across the Facebook page. A GoFundMe campaign was set up to donate fifty pieces to various museums. Heartbreaking destruction of talent is not the product of an industry built around art, love or creation; it is about money. Founders Edward Meadham and Ben Kirchhoffs eulogy, an archive of hymns to unrestrained brutal beauty, melodies woven into cloth, remains unsung to their flock. Their purity of expression and commitment to portraying their vision without compromise overlooking critics/buyers/money in the end condemned them. Money is an earth-dweller, but beauty belongs to a higher plane and perhaps it is fading from this industry. Beauty is expensive and cannot be mass-produced. So why, when brands are buckling through lack of attention, lack of money, lack of ego, is Anna Wintour sitting FROW at Kanye Wests Yeezy shows? One of the most game-changing and prolific showmen of all time a man who calls himself Yeezus and released the song I Am a God turns fashion designer and American Vogues Editor-in-Chief is sitting up front. This is the type of designer the conglomerates are chasing. Adidas and Conde Nast hook Kanye West (with his $142m net worth and 26.4m Twitter followers) up to their money drip, whilst applauded young designers fight for the one-in-a-million lifeline of a British Fashion Council or Vogue Fashion Fund grant, and dethroned messiahs Christian Lacroix, Nicole Farhi, Isaac Mizrahi drown quietly out of sight. Its not innovation our exalted conglomerates are after, its influence. No one, other than those Reddit contributors hiding behind their Masc-books, seems willing to admit the extent of stolen references in Kanyes Yeezy collections. Websites sprung up overnight after the Kanye x Adidas debut (Yeezy Season 1); pages and pages of side-by-side comparisons of the collection and the designers Kanye had alluded to. These designers Helmut Lang, Commes des Garcons, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto (who collaborated with Adidas long before Kanye swapped ho-ing for sewing) are unapologetic points of referral for Kanye in both aesthetic and career trajectory. Each, heralded in their birth as an unprecedented avant-garde, has a back catalogue now considered staple pieces in the wardrobes of knowledgeable buyers of classic high fashion around the world. His predecessors careers, whether or not you see him as heir, are Kanyes Sermon on the Mount; a vision of all that could be if only people would take him seriously. Kanyes acceptance of prophets who have lit the way before him recognises only the greats. He has rapped that hes Spending everything on Alexander Wang, Wang being Wintours second favourite child. He fan-girls over Rick Owens and Martin Margiela, name-checking both in his music and various interviews. Margiela has committed to media-celibacy in a way Kanye never could. Never acknowledging the press, Margiela prays in silence and in turn becomes worshiped whilst Kanye Tweets his sermon and gains ridicule. Perhaps our capacity for inspiration is saturated, after all a miracle performed every day is no longer a miracle. Our bible Vogue isnt selling like it used to and shops are overflowing with rival religious manifestos. Brashness is the tribe of individuality on Instagram, every picture screams Im wearing neon PVC bondage gear, Ive got the biggest platforms, weirdest piercing and Ive thought of a trend that died with good reason in the noughties to bring back before you. The only place we could go after flaunting each decades leftovers as vintage was to irony. When Anna Wintour described one of Kanyes collections of torn, hole-covered clothing as migrant chic everyone who wasnt nodding along had their head in their hands. It seems our morals have long since left the catwalk, but lets at least hope they migrated chicly. No one could seriously hail the rebirth of the ruching and ripping, bagginess and butterflies, of noughties clothing, so current industry favourite Vetements are doing it for us satirically. And at 185 for a t-shirt its an expensive joke. Are we all Insta-damned? Among us dwell a few blessed celestial beings, the Kardashians, Jenners and Hadids of this world. It seems the fewer degrees of separation to Yeezus and his angels, the higher we are elevated. Their names have become insignias, the use of which manipulate designers, magazines, social media and in turn us. The industry serves the conglomerate-employed buyers who are fed not by instinct or beauty, but by tight bottom lines and strict commandments from higher up to sell more more more. Kanyes reign of cool over the proletariat seems to be unwavering no matter the message he preaches. Glance around Zara on your lunch break and youll notice everyone has just returned from Kamp-dashian, a military reform camp for the previously uncool. Their mandatory uniform is a bomber jacket, white tee, frayed hem trousers and Stan Smiths; simple and easy to mass produce, everyones fallen off the same conveyor belt. The only hope for us, the followers and enablers of this poisoned system, is repentance. Follow your own commandments. Go to the sample sales before the designer collapses, you might only get a 20% discount but youll get to see 100% more of them in years to come. Donate to Kickstarter funds for young start-ups. It doesnt have to be just from the kindness of your heart, look for the best incentives and youll find discounts, free tees, invites to launches. Dig out the early-2000s clothes at the back of your wardrobe and flaunt the trends you thought had died at sixteen with your virginity. Wear the originals of those sarcastically trashy (but seriously expensive) designers celebs are flaunting on the red carpet, the looks Insta-kids are spending all their sponsored-post cash on, and that you last saw on Londoners at gigs fifteen years ago. Borrow your mums high waist jeans, your dads huge Levis denim jacket, and a sheer lace bodysuit from your local Oxfam. Your punishment for not affording this seasons Balmain bodysuit is that yours has stains in the crotch and someone perhaps died in it. Your reward? A saving of 1,389, the feeling of donating a few quid to charity shop over conglomerate, and the satisfaction of being a decade more in trend than some of the wealthiest celebs (with some of the wealthiest stylists) in the world. In the absence of faith this may not keep you warm at night, but neither does a lace bodysuit. Illustrations by Rialda Dizdarevic for DSCENE Words by HARRIET MAY Originally published in DSCENE Magazine Issue 06 Is Sunil Grover Quitting The Kapil Sharma Show? Here's What The Comedian Has To Say! Thailand may adopt a unified licensing regime for its telecoms and broadcasting sectors. The move is currently under consideration by the countrys regulator, NBTC (National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission), with commissioner Prawit Leesatapornwongsa claiming that the increasing overlap between the sectors required a new strategy. The Bangkok Post quoted Prawit as saying: Having separate, inflexible laws doesnt match with the era of technological convergence. He illustrated this point by noting that telecoms operators that offer IPTV services need separate ISP licences from both the NBTCs telecoms and broadcasting committees, saying: this licensing practice causes operators to pay double licensing fees, with these costs passed on to consumers. Prawit added that a draft bill that would update the separate licensing regimes was scheduled to take effect in May, but noted that the regulator would need to lay out a clear path towards spectrum auctions or risk deterring investors in Thailands digital infrastructure. NBU asks law enforcers to provide clients with access to Russian state bank subsidiaries, allow banks to leave Ukrainian market in a civilized way The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has asked law enforcement agencies to respond to the continued blocking of work of Ukrainian banks with Russian state capital, carried out by "aggressively-minded groups of people," as this reduces confidence in the Ukrainian banking system and jeopardizes its stability, NBU Deputy Head Yekateryna Rozhkova has said. "The National Bank draws the attention of law enforcers to the need to protect more than 1.7 billion Ukrainian depositors who entrusted more than UAH 21 billion to the banking system and now have no access to these funds and the ability to freely use them," she said at a briefing in Kyiv. According to her, manifestations of vandalism towards banking institutions today discredit confidence in the banking system in the eyes of clients, threaten financial stability and affect Ukraine's image in the international arena. "As the state that is now building democracy, we must ensure the possibility of leaving the Ukrainian market in a civilized way for Ukrainian banks with state-owned Russian capital," the banker said. IMF to announce new date of meeting on Ukraine in near future The International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to announce a new date of an Executive Board meeting on the completion of the third revision of the EFF program for Ukraine in the near future, IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice has said. "The IMF Executive Board meeting on Ukraine has been postponed to allow the staff time to assess the implications of various recent developments for the program. We expect to announce a new date soon," he said during a traditional briefing in Washington. He did not specify what events were being discussed. "As I have said I don't have a lot for you beyond what I have said. I don't have details of the developments of our staff," he said, asked whether there is a link between the postponement of the meeting date and the trade blockade of certain regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Rising outdoor temperatures are associated with an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes, according to a new study from the Netherlands. Scientists from Maastricht University Medical Centre have suggested a one degree centigrade rise in environmental temperature could result in 100,000 new incidences of type 2 diabetes in the US each year. They hypothesise this is because of brown fat, which generates heat in response to cold and burning fat in the process. As environmental temperature rises less brown fat is needed to be burned to keep warm, leading to weight gain and insulin resistance. This emphasizes the importance of future research into the effects of environmental temperature on glucose metabolism and the onset of diabetes, especially in view of the global rise in temperatures, said Lisanne L Blauw, a PhD student at Leiden University Medical Center. Blauw and colleagues recommend lowering thermostats to between 15 C and 17 C for a few hours every day to lessen the risk of weight gain. They say that because so much time is spent indoors, our bodies do not naturally burn calories to keep warm. Being colder increases the rate at which calories are burned. Professor Ashley Grossman of Oxford University, who was not involved in the study, added that opening your bedroom window at night could be a straightforward method of lowering the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. There is some rather encouraging evidence that cooling the body, even by a few degrees, may improve or reduce diabetes, he said. Living in a cool environment may be useful to increase insulin sensitivity and ward off diabetes. Together with work indicating that adequate sleep can also help avoid obesity and diabetes, maybe we should all aim have a good nights sleep in a cool bedroom with the windows open to the night breeze. However, Dr Louise Brown from University College London is sceptical about the significance of these findings. She said: Overall, the uncovering of this association is interesting but I do not feel that is of great help in our fight against the increasing global incidence of diabetes, unless they are suggesting that we all move to colder climates. If they have stumbled across a useful pointer that leads to appropriate metabolic research on the role of brown fat in the development of diabetes then great, but their claims are too strong at this stage. The findings of the Dutch study have been published online in the BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care. Ukraine and Poland are working on the defense cooperation plans under the European Narew short range air defense program, the PolUkr portal has reported, referring to the Polish agency Altair. According to the report, during the negotiations held in March 2017 Ukroboronprom State Concern proposed to the Ministry of National Defense of Poland to cooperate under the Narew short range air defense program being implemented by Poland's PGZ jointly with the European defense consortium MBDA. Ukraine's project has the draft name R-27 ADS (Air Defense System). It envisages the joint creation of the air defense system using Ukrainian R-27 missiles made by Artem (Kyiv). The publication recalled that in 2016, Poland signed a contract with the Ukrainian company to deliver R-27R1 missiles for Polish MiG-29 fighter aircraft. According to Altair, some elements of the system, including airborne radar, missile radar, mobile firing positions, missile tracking and control systems, and command and communication systems will be made in Poland. According to preliminary information, tests of R-27 ADS with participation of Polish military servicemen are scheduled for 2018. As reported, in summer 2016, the consortium formed by Ukraine's Spectechnoexport and Poland's WB Electronics won a tender to supply R-27P1 medium-range air-to-air missiles for MiG-21 fighter jets of the Polish Air Force. In December 2016, Ukroboronprom and Poland's WB Electronics S.A. signed a cooperation agreement on creation of new samples of antiaircraft and surface-to-air missile weapons. A study looking at how the immune system responds to implanted devices such as continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) could help improve future technologies for people with type 1 diabetes. It is one of the first studies to have looked at how the immune system can affect the function of implantable devices. At the moment, CGMs and infusion sets for insulin pumps must be changed regularly. This is because the immune response causes scar tissue where the devices are inserted, and eventually prevents the devices from calculating blood glucose levels or delivering insulin. Another technology of the future being trailed at the moment is islet cell encapsulatio, which involves implanting a capsule of living islet cells under the skin. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Boston Childrens Hospital wanted to understand more about why the body rejects implantable devices. In a bid to find a solution, they focused on how the body reacts to the materials commonly used in implantable devices. In studying rodents, the research team found that certain materials such as ceramic, polymer and hydrogel, affected the immune responses significantly. Specifically, the materials increased the immune response from a protein called colony stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF1R). Subsequent experiments showed that targeting CSF1R reduced the need for immunosuppression following implantation of the materials. Senior author Daniel Anderson, an associate professor in MITs department of chemical engineering, said these findings could potentially help scientists to find a way to control the immune response following implantation. This gives us a better understanding of the biology behind fibrosis and potentially a way to modulate that response to prevent the formation of scar tissue around implants, Anderson said. The study, which was funded by the type 1 research charity JDRF and the Helmsley Charitable Trust, has been published in the journal Nature Materials. Dr Aaron Kowalskin, JDRFs chief mission officer, said: For people with type 1 diabetes, these advances could help improve insulin pump infusion sets, continuous glucose monitors and encapsulation therapies. By understanding how to target and prevent unnecessary immune responses to the materials used in medical devices, we can provide therapies that work more effectively and with fewer negative side effects. Google's real-time location feature lets users share their real-time location with select contacts Google has introduced a real-time location sharing feature on Google Maps Android and iOS apps. As the name would suggest, it lets users share their real-time location with others. The recipients would then be able to view the location on Android, iPhone, mobile web, and desktops. Sanket Gupta, Product Manager, Google Maps, stated, Location sharing on Google Maps is rolling worldwide over the coming week, and youll be able to quickly let your friends and family know where you are and when youll get where youre going. The answer to where are you? is only a tap away. To use the feature, users need to open the side menu, or tap the blue dot, which represents where the user is. They will then get an option to Share Location and then select they contacts they wish to share their location with. Users will also be able to choose how long they wish to share their location for. An icon above the compass will let the user know that they are currently sharing their location. Earlier this year, Google added a new feature, which allowed users to hail an Uber from within the app itself. Before this, the app would only show estimated prices for the trip, but the request process had to be completed via the Uber app. Earlier this month, Google Maps expanded its Transit feature to seven more cities in India. The newly added cities included Chandigarh, Lucknow, Vadodara, Indore, Mysore, Surat and Coimbatore. The next version of Android, reported to be called Android O, will soon be in our hands. However, developers already have their mitts all over the developer preview and there are some nifty new features to talk about. Google has focused on battery, but theres a lot more that its doing. Heres what were excited about so far. Battery Battery size on smartphones have been getting bigger, but improvements to battery life arent really worth writing home about. Google introduced its Doze mode with Marshmallow and improved it last time, in an effort to manage idle battery drop on Android phones. It seems the company is tuning background processes on Android once again, to manage what apps do in the background. LDAC Support Google has partnered with Sony to bring native support for its hi-res audio codec on Android O. The companys LDAC codec is now integrated on Android, meaning hardware with support for such hi-res audio will be able to take advantage of it. So, if youre using headphones like the Sony MDR-1000X, youll be able to use its hi-res audio capabilities. Notifications Channels This feature is somewhat confusing, but seems interesting. According to Google, notifications will now be in app-defined categories for notification content. Were not quite sure what this feature will be, but it seems like what you see on Gmail. Its possible that mails on your Promotions tab will be grouped together, while those from Forums appear together, and so on. Snooze Notifications You will also be able to snooze a notification, a feature that many business users will appreciate. This means you can now schedule a notification to appear later. For example, if you receive an important work email at midnight, you can snooze it to appear again in the morning, when youre actually at your workplace. Picture-In-Picture As smartphone screens get bigger, this particular feature could be quite important. PiP may allow you to place the Netflix video window on one corner of your screen, while you respond to an important text or email. The same may be possible with Facebooks live videos as well. The feature should especially be useful on tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3. Wide gamut colour This is another background feature that many may find unimportant. However, were hoping it means Android will now support 24bit panels. That, ideally means much better colours on your smartphone screens. Currently, phones have 8 or 16 bit panels, but perhaps Samsung, LG and others are looking to use a better grade of display. Keyboard Shortcuts Android hasnt done well on tablets so far, but Google isnt quite giving up at the moment. Android O will support keyboard shortcuts, something that laptop users looking for such tablets may enjoy. So, a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 will now be easier to use, at least on paper. Will OEMs actually bring this to its devices? The big question, though, is how proactive OEMs will be in bringing the new operating system to its devices. Android Nougat is almost a year old now and we barely see any devices running the OS right now. Companies like Xiaomi, Oppo and many others have launched devices in the past week or so, running Android Marshmallow, which is quite disappointing. Lets hope Android O makes this easier too. The first developer preview for Android O is out and it brings with it a bunch of audio enhancements to improve your wireless listening experience Android O, tipped to be called Android Oreo, has made its first appearance in the form of a developer preview. The first preview build of the upcoming Android operating system brings with it a whole host of improvements in battery life and notifications, along with feature additions such as picture-in-picture mode, adaptive icons, XML font support, and many more little tweaks. In addition to all this, Android O is also set to improve the wireless audio experience for those who use Bluetooth headphones and speakers. We hear these enhancements are a result of Googles partnership with Sony Mobile and Qualcomm. A spokesperson from Google told The Verge that Android O includes more than 30 feature enhancements and 250 bug fixes provided by Sony Mobile. The Japanese multinational has contributed an advanced LDAC codec for Android Os Bluetooth support. The LDAC codec has the ability to facilitate transfers of up to 990 kbps of data, thereby making for a much better audio experience on Bluetooth devices. The rights to the LDAC technology are owned by Sony Mobile. Unlike traditional codecs like SBC, LDAC operates without any down-conversion of Hi-res audio. Sony claims it provides 3X data transmission compared to current SBC technology. Smartphones like the Sony Xperia XZ, Xperia XZ Premium already carry LDAC support. Sony also has a range of headphones including the MDR-Z1R and the MDR-1000X, that support this Hi-res audio codec. The catch with Android O adding support for the LDAC codec is that smartphone makers as well as Bluetooth headset manufacturers will have to license the tech from Sony, in order to make their devices compatible with the new feature. As far as Qualcomms contribution to Android Os wireless audio enhancements is concerned, the new build will add support for Qualcomms aptX and aptX-HD protocols. AptX HD enables 24-bit music quality over a Bluetooth wireless connection. It is also known to enhance audio performance, even when applied to standard resolution content. Alphabet 's biggest division Google promised a big push against its controversial advertising policies on Thursday, as big-spending firms on both sides of the Atlantic continued to pull their marketing from the web giants platform. A Google spokesperson told media on Thursday that the firm had started an extensive review of its advertising policies. They said it would raise the bar in its policies as well, to safeguard our advertisers brands. The spokesperson added that Google had made a public commitment to implement changes, that would give brands more control over where on the internet their advertising appeared. A storm of controversy first erupted in the UK earlier in the week, when The Times reported instances where UK taxpayer-funded advertising campaigns were run ahead of and next to videos promoting hatred or provoking offence. The list of brands that pulled some or all of their advertising from Google in the wake of those revelations included Aviva, the BBC, Channel 4, Hertz, ITV, LOreal, Lloyds Bank, Marks & Spencer, McDonalds, O2, RBS, Toyota, Tesco, and Volkswagen, as well as the UK Government. On Thursday, Bloomberg reported American telecoms giants Verizon and AT&T had now pulled their non-search advertising in the US, while consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson had stopped all advertising globally on YouTube. No casualties have been tentatively reported as a result of a fire and explosions of ammunition at the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's artillery depots near the town of Balaklia in the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said. "Preliminary reports indicate that there are no fatalities among servicemen and the civilian population," Poltorak said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday. It has also been preliminarily concluded that the fire and the subsequent ammunition explosions at the depots could have been caused by an act of sabotage, he said. "One of the theories suggests that it was an act of sabotage, including the dropping of an explosive device from a drone," Poltorak said. The fire is still covering about one-third of the depot's area, he said. UK police have named the man responsible for the terrorist attack in Westminster on Wednesday as British-born Khalid Masood. Masood, aged 52, was born in Kent and detectives believe he was most recently living in the West Midlands. He was also known by a number of aliases, police said. "Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack," the Met said in a statement. "However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. His first conviction was in November 1983 for criminal damage and his last conviction was in December 2003 for possession of a knife." "He has not been convicted for any terrorism offences." Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Theresa May said Masood, who was shot dead by armed police inside the Palace of Westminster, had been known to MI5, the domestic security service, but had been a "peripheral figure". Eight people have been arrested and six addresses raided in connection with the attack. May added that the injured included 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Chinese, one Irish, one Italian, one American and two Greeks. "It is still believed this attacker acted alone and police have no reason to believe there are imminent further attacks on the public," she said in a statement to the House of Commons. "What I can confirm is the man was British born and that some years ago he was once investigated by MI5 in relation to concerns about violent extremism. He was a peripheral figure. The case is historic. He is not part of the current intelligence picture. There was no prior intelligence of his intent or the plot." "Our working assumption is that the attacker was inspired by Islamist ideology." Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said earlier raids had taken place in London, Birmingham and elsewhere in the country. Speaking outside Scotland Yard, Rowley said 29 people injured in the attack have been treated in hospital and seven were still in a critical condition. The dead victims from the bridge were named as as Aysha Frade, 43, a teacher and mother of two and US tourist Kurt Cochran, from Utah, visiting the capital with his wife Melissa, who is in hospital with serious injuries. A statement from the family said the couple had been celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and were due to return to the US on Thursday. Police searched six addresses in Birmingham, London and other parts of the country. They believe this attacker acted alone and inspired by international terrorism, Rowley said. "It is still our belief, and this is borne out by our investigations, that this attacker acted alone and was inspired by international terrorism," he said. The attack started on Westminster Bridge when the Masood mounted the pavement and rammed into pedestrians on before crashing into the outer fence near the landmark Big Ben clock tower and running through the main gates into the houses of parliament. He then stabbed a police officer after being challenged before he was shot dead. The policeman, who later died of his injuries, was named as 48-year-old Keith Palmer. Masood rented the car from hire firm Enterprise in the Birmingham area. A spokesperson for Enterprise Holdings said: We can confirm that the car used in the tragic attack in London yesterday afternoon was one of ours." "An employee identified the vehicle after seeing the licence plate in an image online. We ran another check to verify, and immediately contacted the authorities." Westminster Bridge had been re-opened to traffic, Transport for London said, as were Victoria Embankment and Northumberland Avenue westbound from Upper Thames Street . The Mall and Constitution Hill were are also now open. US tech giant Apple is facing further scrutiny surrounding its tax practices after reports that it has not paid any tax in New Zealand for the last decade. Apple was ordered to pay the Irish state up to 13bn in previously unpaid taxes, after ruling that the US company benefitted from a favourable tax rate between 2003 and 2014. The European Commissions Margrethe Vestager led the investigation into Apples tax behaviour in Ireland, but both the company and the state have launched an appeal against the decision with EU authorities. The New Zealand publication alleges that Apple has posted sales of $4.2bn since 2007 on its products in the country, but Tim Cooks company denied that the practice is illegal. "Apple is the largest taxpayer in the world and we appreciate and respect the role taxes play as necessary and important in our society," the company said in a statement. "We follow the law and pay tax on everything we earn, wherever we operate. Apple aims to be a force for good and we're proud of the contributions we've made in New Zealand over the past decade." Australia's tax rate is some 30% higher than that of New Zealand's, leading tax experts to question the reasoning behind Apple's shifting of its tax obligations. New Zealand Green Party co-leader James Shaw criticised Apple's behaviour, telling the NZ Herald it was "absolutely extraordinary that they are able to get away with paying zero tax in this country." US coffee shop chain Starbucks pledged to create almost a quarter of a million jobs worldwide by 2021 during its annual shareholders meeting. Of the 240,000 jobs Starbucks plans to add, 68,000 of those will be based in the US, while it will also attempt to grow its business in several other countries, particularly China. The Seattle-headquartered corporate is currently opening stores in the Asian country at a rate of one every day. 12,000 new stores are set to open globally in the next four years in order to support the job growth. During the shareholders meeting, chief executive officer Howard Schultz, who is expected to stand down in April and be replaced by chief operating officer Kevin Johnson, pointed towards the companys recent record of hiring military veterans and Opportunity Youth participants as a sign that it is committed to continuing job creation. He reiterated the company's intent to open 12,000 new stores globally and 3,400 new stores in the US by the 2021 fiscal year. In an interview with CNN earlier this week, both Schultz and Johnson called on US President Donald Trump to clarify his trade policies in order for businesses to adapt accordingly. "Certainly, as an American brand, sometimes politics in the United States can carry over," Johnson said. "But we're going to stay focused on the things we can control and the things that we do well." "I think that Starbucks has demonstrated over 40 plus years our unique ability to navigate successfully through lots of cyclical changes in the economy and political administrations," Schultz added. "I'm very confident that we will be able to do that." European stocks were higher on Thursday as investors' concerns about US president Donald Trumps economic plans drew attention to the relatively better valuations on offer on the Continent. By the close of trading, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.85% or 3.17 points at 377.20, Germanys DAX jumped 1.14% to 12,039.68 and Frances CAC-40 was 0.76% firmer at 5,032.76. Banks were among the best performers, with the Stoxx 600 sector gauge gaining 0.67% to 177.65 following news of a much larger than expected take up by banks at the European Central banks last large-scale long-term liquidity auction and receding worries around the upcoming French elections, on 23 April. In currency markets, the euro was drifting lower by 0.12% versus the US dollar to 1.0784 and down 0.43% against the pound at 0.8609. Meanwhile, Brent crude oil futures were off 0.2% to $50.57. Investors were eyeing the judgement of Donald Trumps healthcare bill in the House of Representatives as a litmus test of the WHite House's ability to push key legislation through Congress, including tax cuts later in the year. "Our US economists place a low probability on the bill being blocked and instead their base case remains for it being passed. This is primarily based on their view that since much of the Trump agenda rests on the ability of the Republicans to pass healthcare reform, its failure would seriously dent the partys political capital and imperil other legislative actions," said Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank. On the data front, Eurozone banks took up 233.5bn in the final targeted longer-term refinancing operation auction in the first quarter following the 62.2bn the previous quarter, and above the 110bn consensus forecast. Precautionary bidding ahead of the French elections may have played a hand in the strong uptake from lenders, Unicredit Research pointed out, despite the recent easing of political concerns. Macquarie also sounded an optimistic note on France, telling clients: "Why do we have an overweight view of European and French banks in view of the above? In short because we dont expect any of these scenarios to materialise. We expect the French election to play out in similar fashion to the Dutch. On this basis, we think French banks are cheap [...]." Linked to the above, there was some 'market-chatter' to be seen regarding the recent rise in polls of the anti-establishment 5 Star movement in Italy. The GfK German consumer sentiment index fell to 9.8 for April from 10.0 in March, below the consensus forecast for it to remain unchanged. But economic expectations, a measure that has been found to correlate best with spending, recovered from a significant drop the previous month. In corporate news, Ted Baker fell 6.34% despite the company reporting an increase in full-year revenue and profit. Online gambling company GVC Holdings rose 5.37% after it reported a surge in full-year earnings and said it will pay a second special dividend for 2016. Gemalto fell 3.82% after the Dutch security firm cut its guidance on Wednesday. Accenture was down 3.98% after the Dublin-headquartered professional services company beat profit quarterly expectations. London stocks were set for a slightly firmer open on Thursday following a steady session in the US, although worries about Donald Trumps economic agenda remained. The FTSE 100 was expected to open 13 points higher at 7,337. CMC Markets Michael Hewson said: While European markets slipped back sharply yesterday, US stocks managed to stabilise after their big falls on Tuesday. This stabilisation is likely to see a slightly more positive open for Europe today however the catalysts that prompted Tuesdays slide remain a concern for investors. Concerns remain about the ability of the new US administration to deliver on its promises on tax and banking reform, as well as infrastructure spending in the time expected given the current disagreements surrounding health care reform. If Trump is unable to deliver on his health care promises, where the majority of Republicans are broadly in agreement it will inevitably beg the question as to how he can deliver on anything else, which means a defeat in todays House vote could trigger further investor nervousness, about deliverables. On the data front, UK retail sales are at 0930 GMT, while the CBI distributive trades survey is at 1100 GMT. In the US, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is due to give a speech in Washington at 1245 GMT, while Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari is scheduled to make a speech at 1800 GMT. In corporate news, clothes retailer Next reported underlying pre-tax profits fell 3.8% to 790.2m last year and warned 2017 will be "another tough year" due to a shift away from spending on clothing and a squeeze on UK wages. Furthermore, management admitted their focus on following fashion trends had seen them neglect their "heartland product" and so sales are expected to fall in the first half of the year before measures to resurrect the product range lead to an expected recovery from the autumn season. Medical technology firm ConvaTec has launched its skin protectant incontinence wipes in the US. Sensi-Care wipes, which helps prevent incontinence-associated dermatitis, will allows the company to enter a $500m wipes market in the US and adds to its skin portfolio which includes Aloe Vesta cleansers and moisturisers. LondonMetric Property unveiled a 97m placing on Thursday to fund the acquisition of last mile assets. It also revealed a series of deals; the exchange of contracts with Michelin to build a new 137,000 sq ft distribution centre at its site in Stoke and another with Eddie Stobart to build a single new 180,000 sq ft distribution unit at its logistics centre in Dagenham. Property, residential, construction and services company Kier Group posted its results for the six months to 31 December, with revenue falling 1% to 2bn. The company said the results were in line with expectations, as profit from operations improved 4% to 56.5m, with the board saying there remained a strong pipeline of growth opportunities. Profit before tax was 12% higher at 46.3m, and the board declared an interim dividend per share of 22.5p - up 5% on a year prior. Property, residential, construction and services company Kier Group posted its results for the six months to 31 December on Thursday, with revenue falling 1% to 2bn on an underlying basis. The FTSE 250 firm said the results were in line with expectations, as profit from operations improved 4% to 56.5m, with the board saying there remained a strong pipeline of growth opportunities. Profit before tax was 12% higher at 46.3m, and the board declared an interim dividend per share of 22.5p - up 5% on a year prior. Its operating margin was 2.8%, improving from 2.7% in the six months to the end of 2015, and basic earnings per share were up 11% to 38.9p. Net debt was 179m, widening 3% from 174m. On a statutory basis, group revenue was up 1% to 2bn, profit from operations improved 149% to 47m, profit before tax was up 712% at 34.9m, and basic earnings per share were 405% higher at 39.9p. Today's results reflect the ongoing financial and operational discipline employed across the group and the strength of our flexible, integrated business model, said chief executive Haydn Mursell. The group has a balanced portfolio of businesses and market leading positions in regional building, infrastructure and housing. Our continued focus on simplifying the portfolio and working with clients in a collaborative way is delivering further growth opportunities. Mursell said Kiers clients recognised that approach as a key differentiator when working with the company. He also claimed the group's breadth provided some resilience against economic uncertainty, and the board was continuing to shape Kier to focus on its core competencies. We are encouraged by the pipeline in the property and residential businesses and our healthy order books of approximately 9bn in the construction and services businesses. We remain on course to deliver our expectations for the full year and we are well positioned to achieve our Vision 2020 goals. East of England joint venture established with Cross Keys At the same time, Kier announced that it established a joint venture with CKH Developments, a housing association and care services provider which principally operates in the east of England, on Wednesday. The company said it would transfer part of its land bank and a number of its residential developments in the east of England, valued at up to 97m, into the joint venture with Cross Keys, contributing up to 4m of equity into the venture. Kier will receive a cash payment of up to 64m for the assets and the joint venture will be funded by a non-recourse revolving credit facility from HSBC Bank. There will be a 90:10 split of economic ownership and each party will have 50:50 voting rights. Initial completion of the transaction was expected to take place by 31 March, with subsequent completions expected to take place prior to 30 June upon the transfer of further sites. The JV was expected to be cash generative from completion of the transaction, Kiers board said. The transaction would release funds to Kier for reinvestment in other parts of its business in line with its 15% return on capital employed hurdle, and it expected the transaction to be earnings accretive in 2019. Kier said itself and and Cross Keys had a long-standing relationship in the eastern region, operating in complementary sectors of the housing market. It would provide its development, land-buying, construction and sales expertise to the venture, and Cross Keys would provide access to key strategic relationships for the benefit of the venture. The joint venture represents a strategic milestone for Kier Residential, commented Haydn Mursell. This transaction enables us to accelerate our strategy to recycle the capital employed in the Kier private land bank to drive the future growth of the group and improve our overall ROCE. In addition, the joint venture plays a role in addressing the UK Government's housing strategy by creating a vehicle which can focus on delivering new homes in the east of England, a geography both parties know well. Phil White stepping down as chairman, Philip Cox to be appointed Kier Group also announced that Phil White had advised the board of directors that he would retire as chairman and step down from the board with effect from the conclusion of the annual general meeting on 17 November. He will be succeeded by Philip Cox CBE, who is currently chairman of Drax Group and Global Power Generation. Kier confirmed Cox will retire as the chairman of GPG by 10 September. He will join the board as a non-executive director and chairman designate on 1 July, and will assume the role of chairman immediately following the AGM. He will be a member of the nomination and remuneration committees with effect from his appointment as a non-executive director. Phil White was appointed to the board of Kier in July 2006 and has served as chairman since January 2008. I am delighted that Philip has agreed to accept the role of chairman designate, as his extensive track record demonstrates that he has the range of skills and experience for the role, commented Phil White. I would like to welcome Philip to the board and I am looking forward to working with him over the coming months to ensure a smooth handover of duties. Philip Cox, commenting on his appointment, said he was honoured to be joining the board of Kier. There are clear opportunities for Kier in each of its market sectors and I am excited about the prospect of working with the management team to grow the business in line with its Vision 2020 strategy. In contrast to the travails of others in the rag trade, Ted Baker reported strong growth in sales and profits last year and, apart from remaining watchful for the impact of "external factors", seemed confident about its expansion path. Founder and chief executive Ray Kelvin hailed another year of progress in the expansion of Ted Baker as "a global lifestyle brand" as revenue increased 16.4% to 531m, driven by a 15.0% rise in retail sales and wholesale revenues up 20.9%. "We have continued to trade well and develop despite a backdrop of on-going external challenges across our global markets. This success reflects the strength and appeal of the brand as well as the outstanding quality of our collections," Kelvin said. Looking forward he said the Spring/Summer collections "have been well received and we have a clear strategy for continued growth across both established and newer markets". But in the outlook statement, there was an admission that trading across its markets continued to be "impacted by on-going external factors", which saw increased levels of promotional activity and a fall in international tourism in North America, while the trading environment continued to be "challenging" in Asia. Nevertheless Ted's strategy for continued expansion remained in place, underpinned by a "controlled distribution across channels as well as the design, quality and attention to detail that are at the core of everything we do". For the year to 28 January, as the store estate was increased with average square footage gain of 8.5% that helped drive retail sales in UK and Europe up 10.7% to 279.5m, with North American up 28.3% to 103.4m, more than half of which was due to currency effects, while e-commerce sales picked up 35.1% to 72.3m. Profit before tax and exceptional items of 65.8m climbed 12.1%, with reported PBT up 4.4% to 61.3m. Adjusted basic earnings per share, which excludes exceptional items, increased by 13.3% to 114.0p and basic earnings per share increased by 5.1% to 105.7p. A proposed final dividend of 38.8p will see the total dividend lifted 12.1% to of 53.6p. Further store openings and concessions are planned in the UK and Europe, along with continued investment in e-commerce. For North America there are plans to open stores in Los Angeles and Houston, and a Miami relocation, plus new concessions in Canada, while in Asia the focus is on "building brand awareness, where we are still in the relatively early stages of investment", with plans for a further store in Shanghai and new concessions in Japan and South Korea. The wholesale businesses is expected to see "high single-digit" sales growth in constant currency in the coming period. TED shares fell 4.5% to 2,713p in the first hour of trading on Thursday. Broker Canaccord Genuity said the gross margin was better than it expected but a 40 basis point decline in the EBIT margin to 12.6% was due to operating costs being higher than expected, with headwinds from 4m of dual-running costs for the European warehouse as well as 2m of North American pre-opening costs. They noted that there were "no numbers, as usual" in the outlook statement, but picked up on the allusion to continuing impact of "on-going external factors". "We think the company will maintain earnings growth within its target range of 12-15% - FY18E is unlikely to be a super-normal year as things stand." Analyst Nicholas Hyett at Hargreaves Lansdown said while the cost of the new European distribution warehouse led to a slight miss versus expectations, the strategy of licensing out underdeveloped markets "mean that others are bearing much of the capital expense of its rapid expansion, while its distinctive patterned products are continuing to perform well in the department store setting another relatively low cost route to market." "Strength in the US is particularly notable, having been the graveyard of many British retailers. Ted is performing well there and only has a fraction of the concessions/stores it holds in Europe, suggesting growth could continue for years to come. The group isnt immune to wider economic headwinds, but so far its weathering them well. Belgian police arrested Frenchman on Thursday after he tried to drive into a crowd at high-speed in a shopping area in Antwerp at around 11am, local police said. The arrest comes less than 24 hours after a man killed two people in the London's Westminster parliamentary district by driving his car on to the footpath before getting out and stabbing a policeman to death. The attacker was shot dead. The suspect, a Frenchman of north African origin, was taken away, Antwerp police chief Serge Muyters said. Prosecutors said Belgian security forces found a rifle as well as bladed weapons in the car. "Different arms were found in the boot -- bladed weapons, a riot gun (rifle) and a container of liquid that is still unidentified," the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement. "The suspect is Mohamed R., born on May 8, 1977, of French nationality and a resident of France," the statement added. Muyters said the car was spotted at around 11:00 local time (10:00 GMT). "The vehicle was driving at high speed on De Meir. Our army colleagues spotted it and tried to bring the vehicle to a halt," he said. "But the driver broke free and drove through the red light towards the port quays." He said the police were contacted and immediately sent a rapid response team, intercepting the vehicle and driver. He added the driver was later arrested and additional police and military personnel had been deployed to the centre of Antwerp, but did not give any further details. Belgium has been on high alert since March 22 last year when suicide bombers attacked Brussel's Zaventem airport and Maalbeek metro station that left 32 people dead and more than 320 wounded. The European Union has summoned Turkey's ambassador to explain what appeared to be threatening remarks by its president Recep Tayyip Erdogan towards European citizens. Erdogan said Europeans would not be able to walk the streets safely if tensions continued between the EU and Turkey. His remarks come after he called the German and Dutch governments nazis and facists for refusing to allow Turkish ministers to address rallies for expatriates designed to bolster support for Erdogan's plans to increase his powers. A spokeswoman for Federica Mogherini, EU foreign policy chief, said Turkeys ambassador had actually asked the Turkish permanent delegate to a meeting. The spokeswoman said "we would like to receive an explanation regarding the comment by President Erdogan concerning the safety of the Europeans on the streets in the world". Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey was not a country you can pull and push around, not a country whose citizens you can drag on the ground. If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets. Europe will be damaged by this. We, as Turkey, call on Europe to respect human rights and democracy, he said. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. The Ukrainian Military Prosecutor's Office has launched a criminal investigation on negligence charges following the explosions at military depots near Balaklia in the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios said. "A group comprising prosecutors and investigators of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office and the main investigative department of the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] has been dispatched to the scene in order to organize and conduct a criminal investigation registered under Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 113, which qualifies these actions and events as an act of sabotage. In addition to that, the Military Prosecutor's Office has registered a criminal inquiry opened under Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 425, Part 3, namely negligence on the part of servicemen entailing grave consequences," Matios said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday. The sabotage probe has been opened by the SBU and the negligence case by the prosecution service, but these two cases have already been merged into one investigation procedurally overseen by the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office, he said. Subscriber content preview Uncertainty over the cost of coverage in the individual market has caused some in their 50s and early 60s to put plans on hold. By CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer CHICAGO Workers dreaming of early retirement are getting the jitters as Washington debates replacing the Obama-era health care law with a system that could be a lot more expensive for many older Americans. The uncertainty over the cost of coverage in the individual market has caused some in their 50s and early 60s to put plans on hold. Others who already left jobs with health benefits before reaching Medicare age are second-guessing their move to self-employment. . . . Next frontier for sustainability? The people inside all those green buildings Healthy indoor spaces improve productivity and can offer a great return on investment. By CHRIS HELLSTERN The Miller Hull Partnership Hellstern Until recently, many designers and building rating systems primarily focused on building performance. Where once only a few parameters like daylighting or increased ventilation supported the health of the people in the building, the focus is beginning to shift. The building industry is now placing more emphasis on concerns such as human health and indoor environmental quality. While Miller Hull has long taken occupant health into account in our design considerations, greater awareness and new tools are helping to make designs for health more acceptable in projects around the world. Companies can offer a new hire almost any financial benefit that can be dreamed of, but still find the need to differentiate themselves and compete for in-demand staff. To stay competitive, some companies are providing office spaces with reduced toxins or air- and light-quality standards that far exceed their competitors standard buildings. Employers now have real data to validate the benefits of such design choices. A 2016 study by Harvard Universitys T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that improved indoor environmental quality was associated with increased productivity and higher cognitive function. Photos by Lara Swimmer [enlarge] Miller Hull renovated its 14,000-square-foot studio in Pioneer Square last year. These results suggest that even modest improvements to indoor environmental quality may have a profound impact on the decision-making performance of workers, said Joseph Allen, lead author of the study. In addition, environmental building-rating systems like the Living Building Challenge (LBC) and the Well Building Standard are helping to increase the awareness and acceptance of more human health-centric building performance metrics. Although not all projects may be able to undertake the full Living Building Challenge, taking steps to focus on health metrics are a tangible way to include sustainability at any project scale and for any project type. With the Living Building Challenge, the option for petal certification provides more opportunities for buildings that may not be able to achieve the full challenge because of existing conditions. And in Seattle, the citys Living Building Pilot Program supports this certification level and offers additional departures like increased building area and height. Focusing on health metrics can benefit owners, occupants, designers and developers, and may be able to provide some of the greatest return on investment. Studio renovation Since completing the Living Building Challenge-certified Bullitt Center in 2013, Miller Hull is often asked whats next? We have taken great efforts to continue to move the dial for sustainability through our work and focus on occupant health. Just recently, we achieved Living Building Challenge petal certification of our Seattle studio. We are also working on what will be the first Living Building in the Southeast at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. [enlarge] Designers focused on environmental health concerns such as the presence of toxic materials. When Miller Hull needed to renovate our more than 14,000-square-foot studio in the historic Pioneer Square building we rent, we looked to the Living Building Challenge. As a single-floor tenant, we would be limited in pursuing the net positive energy and water portions of the Living Building Challenge that would involve the whole building. But this allowed us to focus on building interior environmental health benefits for our staff by adhering to the LBC red list, a list of 22 toxic materials or chemicals prohibited from the building. At certification, the project achieved 12 of 20 Living Building imperatives in five of seven petals of the challenge, including place, health and happiness, materials, equity and beauty. With a palette of exceptional daylight and views of Elliott Bay to work with, our space lends itself well to our desired open-office, team-based environment. The exposed wood structure highlights the natural materials of the Pacific Northwest and gave us an opportunity to use Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood in our renovation. Although it was not possible to pursue the net positive energy petal, we found other ways to reduce our energy use, including a switch to all-LED lighting, compliance with Seattles energy code, and an upgrade of a portion of the mechanical system. Perhaps one of the most unique attributes of our renovation provided by the Living Building Challenge was the requirement to offset a portion of land equal to our project area. Working with Forterra, we were able to help protect some of the last remaining undeveloped shoreline along Puget Sound on Anderson Island, providing for a health benefit beyond our office walls. [enlarge] The renovation earned a Living Building Challenge petal certification. Red list Employing our expertise to meet the LBC red list has made a significant impact on the air quality of our space. Like any materials-vetting process of this depth, we found difficulty with the complex mechanical and electrical items and even a few product categories that do not yet have red list-free options. But while there are numerous stories of difficult discussions with manufacturers and dead ends with product transparency requests, there are some great successes as well. We found successes with products and local subcontractors we have used before. We found new materials and product options with a greater range of manufacturers than in years past. We found manufacturers that were willing to make ingredient substitutions to their product line to achieve compliance and we found people that had not heard of the Living Building Challenge willing to work to achieve it. The market has made significant transformation in the past few years from where it was during some of our first Living Building Challenge work. Miller Hulls work continues beyond our renovation to advance both the tools available to assist with materials research and advocate for ingredient transparency within the building industry. As both a speaker and member of the advisory group for the recent American Institute of Architects Seattle Materials Matter series, we are working with our regional colleagues to expand knowledge around materials health and raise the level of debate on the subject. We also participate in Mindful Materials, a common platform for manufacturers to provide disclosure and optimization information for their building products. Miller Hull is also contributing to the development of Portico, the joint effort between Google and Healthy Building Network to build a healthy materials tool that will soon be available to the public. There are great advances for ingredient research on the horizon for our industry. If our industry is to demand transparency from the product companies we seek to do business with, we must also be transparent ourselves. Before undertaking the renovation design, Miller Hull participated in the International Living Future Institutes social justice program, Just. As advocates for materials ingredient transparency, we aimed to model our own corporate transparency. [enlarge] The office now has LED lighting, upgraded mechanical systems and wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Working together At Miller Hull, each project undergoes a series of sustainability reviews throughout each project phase. Each review involves a materials evaluation as we search for healthier product and material alternatives when possible. In addition, our firm is working to eliminate six common red list ingredients from our office master specifications, with the plan to reduce more each year. And while not everyone in our office needs to be a materials expert, staff have become more aware of the need for ingredient alternates and how to find help to incorporate them. Even the simple step of identifying one product or material to eliminate on each project, like PVC, can make a big difference and provide a gateway to changing office culture and practice. What is clear in the complex and evolving nature of the materials industry and transparency movement is that it will take all of us collaborating to be successful. A local group, the Healthy Materials Collaborative, has formed to do just that. Comprising more than 20 architectural firms, this group is a free, open-source collaborative that serves as a unifying presence and support network to advance product and materials transparency within the design practice. Currently, Miller Hull is designing U.S. embassies around the world, completing a net-zero energy and water border crossing with Mexico, finishing the first phase of the Pike Place Market expansion, and even designing net-zero energy residences on each coast. Our recent selection as the architect for the University of Washington population health building provides an opportunity to continue and improve our work on occupant health and promote transparency. We take both the challenges and lessons from our Living Building work to all our projects, and create spaces that consider occupant health for each of our clients. For all of us as designers, even starting with small steps to include designs focused on greater occupant health can make a substantial difference. Chris Hellstern is director of Living Building Challenge Services for The Miller Hull Partnership, an award-winning firm specializing in performance-based design for a wide range of public and private buildings. Other Stories: Georgia Tech wants a Living Building, but can designers beat the heat? Atlantas hot and humid climate requires turning to cooling strategies different from green buildings in Seattle. By MARC BRUNE and DAVID MEAD PAE Consulting Engineers Brune Mead The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta is aiming to build the worlds next Living Building, one of a handful of such buildings on a college campus. The building will meet the high standards of the Living Building Challenge 3.1, the built environments most rigorous and ambitious performance standard. The LBC requires buildings to operate annually on a net-positive energy basis. This means that the building must produce 105 percent of its own energy each year. Keeping the heat out For Georgia Tech, designing to net-positive energy demands significant planning and design team coordination. To accomplish this, designers first prioritized cooling- and heating-load reduction options to minimize the energy needed and allow passive operation for longer periods of time. Atlantas climate is hotter and more humid that Seattles. Summer nighttime temperatures in Atlanta may not drop below 70 degrees some nights, while Seattle summer temperatures frequently drop below 60 degrees. Designers prioritized decisions that enhanced the buildings ability to operate passively in Atlanta. This meant attention to strategies that would reduce summer cooling needs. Particular attention was paid to reducing infiltration, the uncontrolled movement of outside air into the building. In Atlanta, infiltration brings in large amounts of hot air and humidity. To keep these out, designers considered options like extreme envelope airtightness, vestibules, rotating doors and air curtains. Exterior venetian blinds are employed on the buildings west facade to limit the cooling load from summer sunshine. Triple-paned glazing aids in winter and summer to reduce building loads. The nighttime humidity and high temperatures also meant that natural ventilation and night flush strategies were not a great option. Reducing energy use Because the building will rely on renewable energy it creates onsite, reducing the total energy required is critical. Image by the Miller Hull Partnership [enlarge] Georgia Techs new education and research building will have a rooftop photovoltaic array. Every element of the design is evaluated using the energy models managed by PAE, the projects mechanical, electrical and plumbing designers. The models give the designers information about how much energy savings can be achieved by implementing additional energy conservation measures. Developing an energy-use model for a project with a fixed energy goal requires a remarkable amount of intentionality and rigor, as the model ultimately determines how much photovoltaics are purchased and installed. Decisions about small operating details become crucial. Factors such as operating hours, thermostat set points and plug loads become enormously important when all power must be generated onsite. Designers are analyzing a number of questions: The plans include a coffee cart to be added in the first-floor atrium and a maker space with significant power demand. Can the project accommodate the energy that would require? The LBC requires all potable water be generated onsite. How much energy will onsite water treatment strategies require? How many laptops, tablets and phones are likely to be charged at convenience outlets on a typical day? Would students use or bypass rotating doors intended to keep heat and humidity out of the building? Indoor comfort In order to make sure occupants experience thermal comfort with minimal energy use, strategies include radiant heating and cooling floors, dehumidification air handlers, and a closed-loop geothermal heat pump system. Radiant cooling is unusual in humid climates because of condensation concerns on the cold radiant surface. Designers are including additional condensations sensors and temperature reset strategies to mitigate the risks. The dehumidification air handlers being considered include dual-heat recovery wheels; one wheel provides heat recovery from the exhaust air, while the other provides free reheat. The net effect of the system is an approximately 30 percent reduction in the energy needed for dehumidification. The buildings primary heating and cooling source will be 50 350-foot-deep geothermal heat pump bores. The heat pump system increases efficiency over a more common air-source heat pump by exchanging heat with the ground, which is a constant 60 degrees in Atlanta. Finally, the team is designing to a more expansive theory of thermal comfort than typical. Thermal comfort is defined by six primary factors: air temperature, radiant temperature, humidity, air speed, clothing level and activity level. All six variables are being considered in the design. The end result is a building operating at higher air temperatures in summer without sacrificing occupant comfort. This reduces energy use and the size of the mechanical system that needs to be installed. Onsite energy After these energy-efficiency measures are included, onsite renewable energy is added to the building to balance the energy requirements. The projects current predicted Energy Use Intensity is around 30 kilo-British thermal units per square foot annually. That requires approximately 17,000 square feet of solar photovoltaic panels to meet the predicted demand of the building. The rooftop photovoltaic array will multitask by producing energy, collecting rainwater and providing shade for the south and west facades. Onsite battery storage is included to provide a backup option in the case of a prolonged power outage. A model for others Building to net-positive energy leads to different design decisions with added benefits: Extra daylight improves occupants natural circadian rhythms, engaging the environment adds to the sites natural beauty, and putting energy-saving systems on display educates occupants. The building will be a showcase for sustainable practices, and a healthy and positive addition to the environment. The hope is that the project will ultimately be replicable and a model that other universities and campuses around the world can look to for their own Living Buildings. Funded through a private grant from The Kendeda Fund, the Living Building at Georgia Tech is expected to become a Living Building Challenge 3.1-certified facility in 2019. The projects design and build partners include architects Lord Aeck Sargent in collaboration with The Miller Hull Partnership and construction manager Skanska. Design team consultants include Newcomb & Boyd, PAE Consulting Engineers, Uzun + Case, Biohabitats, Andropogon and Long Engineering. Image courtesy of PAE Consulting Engineers [enlarge] Atlanta has hundreds more hours of 70- to 90-degree heat than Seattle each year. Marc Brune is an associate principal and David Mead is a building performance specialist at PAE Consulting Engineers. Other Stories: Students from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) are using their skills and knowledge on a range of schemes to support the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, which is home to youngsters from some of Indias poorest families. The ashram is supported by DMU Square Mile India, and students from DMU regularly travel to the ashram to work with the children and the community. Students and staff from DMUs Faculty of Technology visited the ashram to assess its current energy system and see how they could harness renewables like solar and water to improve reliability and cut costs. RELATED NEWS Book a place at DMU's next Open Day Square Mile India celebrates year of changing lives Trip of a lifetime inspires DMU Dance students Mechanical Engineering student Nasir Balera was in one of three groups who each looked at a different aspect of the process. Information gathered was then brought back to DMU with the groups working on solutions that will then be taken back to India later this year. They visited a community centre and looked at the ways in which energy was used and a girls school, which uses some solar panels for its electricity. Its about seeing what could be possible and the kind of projects which exist already, and seeing how well they work, he explained. It makes what we learn in the lectures more relevant because we can see the issues we have to work around, as well as get the chance to talk to people who will be using the systems about what they want and make it relevant to them. David Pilsworth, a Mechatronics student, said one of the main problems was the unreliability of electricity from the grid. By creating and storing their own power, the ashram would be able to solve this. He said: This visit has allowed me to see how what we learn can be applied in real life. Its all good seeing schematics on paper, but you need to see how things work and are used, and talk to the people using it. Weve seen some of the systems used here and we are looking at a hybrid energy system, and what other features from the natural world we can use. I would like to help install the solar cells and any other renewable energy sources. Sinopec to buy 75% in Chevron's South Africa and Botswana assets for nearly $1 bn China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) yesterday struck a deal to buy a 75 per cent stake in US oil giant Chevron Corp's South African assets and its subsidiary in Botswana for nearly $1 billion (R12.62 billion). The deal will give the Chinese state-owned giant its first major refinery in Africa. The assets in the sale comprises of a 100 000 barrel-per-day oil refinery in Cape Town, a lubricants plant in Durban as well as 820 petrol stations and other oil storage facilities. The sale also includes Chevron's 220 convenience stores across South Africa and Botswana. The remaining 25 per cent of the assets would continue to be held by a group of local shareholders, in accordance with South Africa's black economic empowerment requirements. Sinopec plans to retain Chevron's Caltex brand for the retail stations for up to six years before launching a rebranding strategy. ''With this investment, Sinopec looks forward to becoming an integral part of South Africa and Botswana's local economies,'' the company said in a statement. Chevron had put these assets for sale a year ago as part of its three-year divestment program announced in 2014. De Beers buys LVMH's 50% stake in De Beers Diamond Jewellers South African diamond specialist De Beers today took full control of jewellery retail chain De Beers Diamond Jewellers by buying French luxury goods group LVMH's 50 per cent stake. De Beers, a division of diversified mining giant Anglo American Plc, did not reveal the financial terms of the purchase. De Beers Diamond Jewellers' retail network comprises 32 stores in 17 countries. This includes a growing business in greater China, an established presence in London and Paris, and a new flagship location in New York. Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group, said, "With its strong brand awareness, consummate diamond expertise and a commitment to responsibility, De Beers Diamond Jewellers is a trusted and industry-leading diamond jeweller. More fully integrating the De Beers Diamond Jewellers brand and store network will enable us to deliver an even more differentiated diamond offering, alongside our fast-growing diamond brand, Forevermark.'' Francois Delage, CEO, De Beers Diamond Jewellers, said: ''De Beers Diamond Jewellers is firmly established as one of the world's leading diamond jewellery retailers. We already have a shared heritage and strong brand link with De Beers Group. By being fully part of the Group, we will benefit even more from the unique diamond culture, established since 1888.'' Founded in Kimberley, South Africa, De Beers controls nearly two-thirds of the world's rough diamonds. Many are mined from De Beers's own mines in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, while others are purchased from miners under contract to De Beers. De Beers teamed up with LVMH in 2001 to jointly open jewelry stores in the world's most fashionable cities to sell diamond jewellery branded with the De Beers name. There are dead and wounded after shooting in Kyiv center, SBU and police working at scene SBU chief Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasyl Hrytsak has confirmed information about the dead and wounded as a result of shooting in the center of Kyiv. Investigative and operational groups of the National Police of Ukraine and the SBU are working at the scene. "The preliminary data that I've got suppose that the SBU didn't carry out special operations. There are indeed dead and wounded people near the Premier Palace. Investigative teams of the National Police and the SBU are currently working there," Hrytsak told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday. US prosecutors probing possible N Korean role in $81-mn Bangladesh bank heist Federal prosecutors are probing the possible role of North Korea in the theft of $81 million from the central bank of Bangladesh in what security officials feared could be a new front in cyberwarfare. The office of the US attorney in Los Angeles had been examining the extent to which the bold heist in February 2016 had been aided by the North Korean government, according to a person briefed on the investigation who was not authorised to speak publicly, The New York Times reported. To carry out the theft, the attackers, used the global payment messaging system, Swift, to persuade the Federal Reserve Bank of New York transfer funds from the Bangladesh bank to accounts in the Philippines. Some 11,000 banks and companies use Swift to transfer money from one country to another. The cyber criminals followed up the Bangladesh heist, with attacks on banks in Vietnam and Ecuador using Swift. North Korea had not been publicly named in the Bangladesh heist until The New York Times reported last May that security researchers had uncovered evidence that pointed towards it (See: Hackers steal $101 mn of Bangla money from US Fed). The researchers uncovered a rare piece of code used in the theft had also been used in the hacking attack on Sony Pictures in December 2014 (See: US sees North Korea hand in Sony hack). Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter as saying that prosecutors believed Chinese middlemen helped North Korea carry out the theft from Bangladesh's central bank, which was among the biggest bank robberies in modern times. The report said the current cases being pursued might not include charges against North Korean officials, but was likely to implicate the country, as the US accused a foreign government of orchestrating the heist. According to the report, hackers breached Bangladesh Bank's systems and used the SWIFT messaging network to request nearly $1 billion from its account at the New York Fed. Though the involved branch of the US central bank rejected most of the requests, it allowed some, resulting in $81 million disappearing into casinos and other entities in the Philippines. According to a top police investigator in Dhaka who spoke to Reuters in December some Bangladesh Bank officials deliberately exposed its computer systems, enabling the hackers to get in. Commenting on the closures of Ulster Bank branches in Raphoe and Ardara, Donegal TD Thomas Pringle says the decision does not "put the needs of the community" to the fore. "In the case of Ardara this means that there will be no branch banking facilities available in the vibrant tourist town. Ulster Bank have confirmed to me that the ATM will be maintained in the town but this will be little comfort for the communities and businesses in the town that will not have access to lodgements or getting change to help their businesses. "This decision does not put the needs of the community at the fore and is short sighted on behalf of the bank. I believe this decision by the bank will do nothing to facilitate opportunities for business to grow and development in the region. "The Bank claims that the growth in internet banking has meant that the footfall in these particular branches has declined significantly however in rural areas with patchy if any internet coverage the option of internet banking is not available to many people in the area. "I am calling on Ulster Bank to reverse this decision and continue to provide this vital service in the areas of Raphoe and Ardara and would call on the Government to step in with a contingency plan in light of the worrying rate of decline in services, including banking services, across rural Ireland in recent years," concludes Pringle. The branch in Raphoe is due to close in June and Ardara in September. Ulster Bank Raphoe The funeral will take place in Derry today of former Northern Ireland deputy first minister Martin McGuinness, who was Sinn Fein's chief negotiator during the peace process. President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, DUP leader Arlene Foster, former US president Bill Clinton and former British prime minister Tony Blair are expected to attend the requiem mass in the Church of Long Tower. Huge numbers of people from Donegal will be among the thousands expected to go to Derry for the funeral later today. Meanwhile, Pearse Doherty, Sinn Fein TD, has said that Martin McGuinness contributions have meant that republicans of his generation were not faced with the question of whether to join the IRA. The Donegal deputy, who led the tributes locally, put his reflections on the contributions of the late former deputy first minister in the North in a personal context during a discussion on Tonight With Vincent Browne on Tuesday. I wasnt born when Martin McGuinness joined the IRA, Deputy Doherty said. However, he said he would like to believe that if he lived in the Bogside as a young man and had seen friends shot by the British Army, or marchers shot down on Bloody Sunday, as the State stood idly by, that he would hope that I would have the power of my convictions to join the IRA at that time as well. Similarly, Deputy Doherty said that he would hope, if I were alive 100 years ago in this city that I would be inside the GPO and not outside the GPO. However, Deputy Doherty said, Because of Martins contributions, the generation of republicans that I come from didnt have to take that course of action, because Mr. McGuinness endeavours with others ensured a peaceful democratic path to Irish unity. Deputy Doherty was among those who paid tribute to Mr. McGuinness after news emerged on Tuesday of his death at age 66. Deputy Doherty was a teenager when he first met Mr. McGuinness and said that while Mr. McGuinness was a true son of Derry, he also had a great affinity for Donegal. Mr. McGuinness mother was from Donegal, and he spent many an evening walking in the Inishowen peninsula, Deputy Doherty recalled. Mr. McGuinness would also come to Donegal quite often when Deputy Doherty stood for elections, he said. Donegal County Council Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Terence Slowey, on behalf of councillors and council management and staff, has extended his deepest sympathy to Mr. McGuinness family and loved ones. Books of condolence in Mr. McGuinness memory have been opened at council offices in Lifford, Letterkenny, Donegal town, Dungloe, Carndonagh and Milford, and the former town council offices in Buncrana. The sister of Ireland's longest missing child has said that the support she has received this week has been a source of great comfort. Mary Boyle was six when she went missing from Cashelard near Ballyshannon on March 18th, 1977. Numerous searches and investigations occurred in the wake of her disappearance. A march to mark the 40th anniversary of her disappearance took place in Dublin, on March 20th. Around one hundred people gathered outside the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission, 150 Abbey Street Upper and from there they walked to the Department of Justice offices at 51 St Stephens Green. Ann Boyle said: I have recieved messages from a lot of people, messages have come from everywhere, even from America. It has been a hard week, there is no point in saying otherwise. Lots of people from Ballyshannon, Letterkenny and across the county have sent me messages too. There's been a lot of support, it means a lot,she said. The mother of five said that the march was one of hope. There was an atmosphere of hope. I still do hope that Mary's body can be found so we can give her a decent burial, she said. Ann said that the recent Primetime programme, which outlined the investigation into Mary's disappearance, was positive as it brought the case to light once again. It was good because it got her name back out there again, she said. A specialist garda unit has been established in Ballyshannon to take a fresh look into the disappearance of Mary Boyle. The Serious Crime Review team will scrutinise the case from when Mary went missing. They are speaking to people that they have never spoken to before so that is good. I do hold out hope, she said. Ann said that everything that is happening is about Mary: This isn't about going after anyone. This is just about Mary. This is just about Mary. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. When Amazon starts collecting sales tax from internet buyers in Hawaii, Idaho, Maine and New Mexico on April 1, it will mean the online retailer will be a tax collector for all 45 states and the District of Columbia that have the levies. No, it's not a bad April Fools' joke targeting online shoppers. On this April 1, Amazon really will start collecting state sales taxes nationwide. The Seattle-based internet retailer already was adding the tax line to invoices in most of the 45 states and District of Columbia that have sales (or similar) taxes. Now, final deals have been struck between the online giant and Hawaii, Maine and New Mexico. There goes my plan to have my Amazon goods shipped to my cousin in Las Cruces! From no way to OK: Back in 2008 when New York became the first state to demand Amazon collect and remit sales tax to Albany, the online retailer challenged the law. But a series of court battles went the Empire State's way. Other state lawmakers and tax departments soon followed New York's remote sales tax collection lead. Amazon at first resisted, ending its connection to affiliate sellers in some states. But the revenue-hungry states held firm for the most part. Or they opted to provide Amazon with its own tax breaks to build distribution facilities within the states. Those structures provided the necessary physical nexus required by the 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Quill. A more recent Supreme Court decision is seen as the catalyst of this latest rush by Amazon to strike tax collection deals with the few states where it didn't collect sales taxes. In December 2016, the justices refused to hear a challenge to Colorado's so-called tattletale sales tax collection law, letting the controversial statute stand. Under the Colorado law, companies have the choice of sending buyer info to state tax officials so they can seek applicable sales taxes from resident buyers. Or the companies can collect the sales tax and remit to the state. Amazon apparently decided the sales tax collection was easier. Final few states added: Amazon also apparently decided just to run the sales tax collection table. Since the start of 2017, the online seller has agreed to collect sales tax in 10 states. When April 1 arrives, the final three OK, it's technically four, but I blogged about the imminent Idaho sales tax online collection last weekend Amazon sales tax-free states will be part of the tax collection ranks. Again, I've got to remind folks who are ticked off that this is not a new tax. States with sales taxes have use taxes. These levies, which typically are the same rate as your sales tax, mean you owe the tax on an item you bought elsewhere, either physically while traveling or from a catalog or online, and brought back to your home state to use. But since consumers are not very compliant here, states have tried for years to get the out-of-state sellers to serve as their tax collectors. In a few days, that will be Amazon with its shipments to U.S. customers. Here's the scoop on these final additions to the Amazon tax fold. Hawaii: Technically, Hawaii doesn't have a sales tax. Instead, it collects a general excise tax (GET) from the Aloha State's businesses. Customers, however, will tell you that they pay as retailers pass along the GET in higher prices on products. So what Amazon will be collecting in Hawaii from will be the state's use tax. This is the tax that all state tax departments levy on items bought out of state but brought within the borders to be used by the purchasers. In Hawaii, notes the Department of Taxation, "The use tax equalizes the tax on a transaction by requiring those acquiring goods (for example, cars, clothes, jewelry, computers, equipment, etc.) from out-of-State sellers to pay a tax at the same rate that an in-State seller would have paid in general excise tax if the sale had occurred in Hawaii." "The state will continue to seek ways to ensure that we collect taxes already owed. The revenue will help pay for vital services for the people of Hawaii," said Gov. David Ige said in a statement about the Amazon decision. Beginning April 1, the money estimated to be $60 million a year will come from a 4.5 percent tax for purchases made by Amazon shoppers on Oahu and a 4 percent tax for purchases on the state's other islands. Maine: Effective April 1, Down Easters will see their state's 5.5 percent sales tax tacked onto their Amazon invoices. George Gervais, Commissioner of Maine's Department of Economic and Community Development, applauded the Amazon decision in a statement as "welcome news to Maine retailers and consumers." I know a few consumers who don't agree, but . "Maine businesses can go toe-to-toe with the very best out-of-state companies, provided they are competing on an equal playing field. Amazon's decision to collect and remit sales tax to the state of Maine is an important first step in leveling the playing field," said Gervais in a statement about the tax collection. Maybe the not-so-thrilled consumers will be happier if, as Gervais postulated, "The increased tax revenue could help lawmakers reduce the state's income tax burden." New Mexico: Like Hawaii, New Mexico doesn't have a strict sales tax, but rather a gross receipts tax (GRT). The Land of Enchantment's GRT rate varies throughout the state, ranging from 5.125 percent to 8.6875 percent. The differences are because the total rate is a combination of state, county and, if applicable, municipal levies where businesses are located. New Mexico businesses pay the total GRT to the state, which then distributes the counties' and municipalities' portions to those jurisdictions. The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department says Amazon's decision to start collecting the tax will likely bring in "tens of millions" of dollars to the state. New Mexico lawmakers recently had been moving a couple of bills to require remote retailers to collect tax from customers. It's not clear whether that legislation was the catalyst for Amazon's decision. Consideration of the tax bills will continue, though, as Amazon isn't the only online seller operating in New Mexico. There's also speculation that Amazon's decision could be in advance of the company opening a distribution center or other facility in New Mexico. "Thats what we're most excited about," Ben Cloutier told the Albuquerque Journal. "The potential is there for more growth and not just the immediate revenue impact." Beyond Amazon: Amazon's nationwide sales tax collection is good news for revenue-hungry states, but they're always looking for more tax targets. While Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world, it is not the only one. So look for states to continue their legislative efforts to force other remote sellers to join Amazon tax collection ways. How long has Amazon been collecting sales tax in your state? Has it made a difference in your online shopping? You also might find these items of interest: The search for a new Superintendent for Enterprise City Schools came to a close Tuesday night when the ECS Board of Education approved a motion by a vote of 3-1 to offer the position to interim Superintendent Greg Faught. Board member Dr. Daniel Whitaker nominated Faught and his nomination was seconded by board member Gloria Jones. Whitaker pointed to trustworthiness, loyalty, experience, honesty and humility as the qualities that led to his decision to nominate Faught. There is a great saying from Walter Payton, the great running back from the Chicago Bears: When youre good at something, you will tell everyone; when youre great at something, theyll tell you, Whitaker said. I truly believe that Mr. Faught, given the opportunity to be our superintendent, will lead to people talking about the great things our school system does. Whitaker, Jones and Bob Doerer voted to offer the job to Faught . Bert Barr was the only dissenting vote. We had four great applicants, Barr said before the vote. I ask you tonight to look forward and make sure that you are voting for the school and children. That is the main thing. Faught said that he is grateful for the opportunity to lead the Enterprise school system and ready to move forward. Im extremely humbled by this and look forward to moving the school system forward, Faught said. Youre going to see a cohesive school system, classrooms and teachers with a common goal and committed to doing whats best for the kids. We want our students to live happy, healthier lives because of their experiences with us. Faught was selected over ECS Coordinator of Student Affairs Zel Thomas, Oxford City Schools Assistant Superintendent Chris Cox, and Pelham High School Principal Dr. Jason Yohn. Faught was named interim superintendent on Nov. 29 after the retirement of former ECS Superintendent Dr. Camille Wright, and previously served as assistant superintendent under Wright. Before that, Faught was ECS Secondary Education Curriculum Supervisor from 2012 until 2014, when he was named assistant superintendent, and was the principal of Enterprise Junior High from 2001-12. Faught will now undergo a background check and will negotiate a contract with the school system. The board hopes that all of that will be complete in the next 10 days. In other news, the board heard an audit report from Carr, Rings and Ingram CPA Hilton Galloway. According to Galloway, the schools revenue in 2016 was $48 million, a $1.3 million increase from the previous year. Galloway also said that ECS was one of the top schools he has audited, in terms of finances. Also, contracts were renewed for Dauphin Junior High Principal Judy Thomas and Hillcrest Elementary Principal Dr. Teri Prim. The board also unanimously approved the purchase of a Knuckle Boom Lift, for $37,000, for the school system rather than continue to rent the one that it has been doing. The board also approved the purchase of a replacement for a cooling tower coil for Enterprise Early Education Center, a number of personnel actions and the suspension of an unnamed ECS employee for one day without pay. Ukrainian law enforcement officers view the theory of Russia's involvement in former Russian State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov's killing in central Kyiv as a primary theory. "Bearing in mind who the victim was, we see the Russian Federation's actions aimed at eliminating this person as someone who gave important testimony in proceedings taking place in Ukraine among the primary theories," Oleksandr Vakulenko, Ukrainian National Police deputy chief and head of the Main Investigative Directorate, told reporters at the crime scene. Andriy Kryschenko, chief of the Ukrainian National Police department for Kyiv, said for his part with reference to the assassin and Voronenkov's bodyguard, who were both wounded in the shootout, that doctors have yet to determine how serious their injuries were and whether their lives were in danger. "We can only say that they are reliably protected: both the security guard and the hypothetical assassin," Kryschenko said. Ask Nissan's management about the latest Navara ute and they'll tell you its engineers did not get it wrong when designing the popular pickup's suspension. But when Nissan asked customers, sales staff, journalists and its own engineers about the machine's divisive rear suspension arrangement, it learned the model fell short of what some people expect from a work-ready ute. The brand took a bold step with the current-shape D23 Navara in 2015, setting aside the conventional (and ancient) leaf-sprung, live axle suspension hardware used by the likes of Toyota's HiLux in favour of a more comfortable and sophisticated five-link rear end with coil springs. Comfortable when carrying little cargo, the Navara struggled when approaching its maximum payload. Those soft rear springs sagged visibly, lending the ute a nose-high stance reflected under the skin by a frame that rested against small rubber "dampers" more conventionally described as bump stops when laden. The Navara also drew flak for a lack of lateral stability, swaying from side-to-side without the body control of conventionally suspended rivals. In short, it missed the mark, and was never a serious consideration for the Best Ute trophy in Drive's Car of the Year awards. Nissan Australia boss Richard Emery admits his brand "lost some, and gained some" customers with a ute perceived as more liveable but less practical than key rivals. So the brand went to work on a running update to the dual-cab ute, redesigning those cone-shaped rubber dampers and replacing overly soft springs with firmer units at the front and rear. (The 2015 Navara's frame rests on unusual rubber cones when fully loaded. Nissan changed their shape for 2017) Near-identical to the original NP300 Navara on the outside, the updated Series II specification also rings in a handful of cost-saving measures such as the removal of rear cup holders and external "NP300" badges. Another key change is the addition of a new Navara SL model that slips in between the Spartan Navara RX and the mid-grade ST, blending the wide body, reversing camera and more powerful twin-turbo diesel engine of high-grade models with budget touches such as steel wheels and a vinyl floor that keep the price to a respectable $43,990 plus on-road costs in manual, dual-cab, 4x4 form. Like many utes, the Navara offers a somewhat bewildering array of models that result in Nissan selling the updated Navara in 31 flavours comprised of three body styles, three engine choices, five trim grades and the option of rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive. We tested the car as a dual-cab 4x4 proposition powered by the stronger of two Diesel engines - a twin-turbocharged 2.3-litre unit that pumps a solid 140kW of power and 450Nm of torque through a seven-speed automatic transmission. Smoother and more efficient than some of its more powerful rivals, the unchanged motor gets the job done with a minimum of fuss, helped ably by a well-sorted transmission. Nissan's local launch in the NSW Snowy Mountains offered the opportunity to test the machine in three states: one vehicle was unladen, another had about 300 kilograms in the tray, and the third towed a trailer weighing around 950 kilograms. It's important to note that the two cargo-carrying versions only represented around one third of the machine's ultimate ability, so the Navara certainly wasn't pushed to the brink of its capabilities. Plainly, we can't say whether Nissan has truly sorted out the Navara's rear end. What we can say is that the stiffer suspension makes it feel a little unwieldy without a load in the tray, the front and rear axles feeling somewhat disconnected to each other and out of sync on bumpy Australian roads. It jiggles away incessantly and doesn't feel planted to the roadway. Though Nissan claims none of the original model's comfort was lost with the transition to firmer springs and shocks, that doesn't appear to be the case. Either way, the new model is much more settled with a light load in the back and the stiffer springs in the new car do a better job of shielding the underbody from those rubber bungs. Again, we'll defer further judgement until Nissan allows us to test the car on our own terms with something closer to the dual-cab ST's 990 kilogram maximum in the tray. For its part, Nissan says the majority of customers don't haul heavy loads on a regular basis, and that much of their driving time is spent with little to no load in the back. The Navara continues to offer treacle-slow steering that requires a little more muscle than customers may expect, requiring plenty of work on the wheel at low speeds. The Good: Modern style inside and out Cabin legroom and features Fair ride and handling The Bad: Lazy powertrain response Offroad capability Hard cabin plastics Theres a bit of a Chinese invasion going on right now in the Middle East with the proliferation of various new car brands. Over the past year, weve driven cars from Geely, Changan and Haval, but theres one Chinese carmaker that has been around here longer than them. That would be Morris Garages, better known as MG, the British brand that was bought out by Chinas SAIC. Their latest offering is the MG GS, a compact crossover SUV with the tongue-twister name. Designed at MGs UK design centre, the Chinese-built GS is a handsome little car, sharp and contemporary. With its intricate 18-inch alloys and silver trim breaking up the black lower-exterior cladding, the MGs styling elements look more resolved than in any other Chinese offering. It looks small, but is actually a bit longer than a Hyundai Tucson. Its put together as well as any Japanese or Korean car, but our test car had a front bumper that appeared to be of a different colour from some angles. Step-in height isnt particularly high, but an unneeded integrated side-step actually makes it more of a stretch to get inside. The cabin design itself is nicely done, with angular shapes and a clean control-button stack below the multimedia screen, but its all comprised of hard plastics. Only the seats, door inserts and armrests are padded, upholstered in rather unappealing leatherette. Build quality is generally fine, except for a few issues specific to our test car, such as rear headrests that are jammed in one position. Cabin space is pretty decent, with good rear legroom and just enough headroom to fit taller occupants. Boot space is oddly below average, smaller than pretty much all its rivals, although it will still fit prams and such, the rear bench split-folds, and there is a hidden storage space underneath the boot floor. There are also enough cup-holders, cubbies and pockets strewn about. Tech features are highlighted by a capacitive touchscreen that feels oddly resistive in the way the screen flexes and washes out in the sun. While it comes with everything from a 6-speaker stereo with woofer to a dual-zone a/c with rear vents, everything offers decidedly average performance. We also couldnt connect our iPhone using the Bluetooth, although it works fine with Android phones. Other available features include an electric parking brake, USB/AUX ports, rear camera and sensors, power windows and mirrors, glove-box cooling, automatic xenon headlights with LED running lights, fog lamps, smart keyless entry and start, and cruise control whose stalk is hidden behind the steering wheel so you cant read the markings while driving. Safety features include ESP, ABS with EBD, hill-descent control, tyre-pressure monitor, front airbags and optional side/curtain airbags. Fitted with a 2.0-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder mated to a 6-speed dual-clutch automatic, this ambitious powertrain makes 220 hp at 5300 rpm and 350 Nm of torque from 2500 to 4000 rpm. It looks great on paper, but it suffers from severe turbo lag, exacerbated by a throttle delay on our test car, but after the initial hiccup, there is suddenly a deluge of torque at 2500 rpm, pushing the car to a 0-100 kph time of 9.0 seconds in our testing. Itd be much quicker if the delay issues as well as the fancy gearbox were tuned better its smooth at higher speeds but tends to be jerky at low speeds, has awkward ratios and refuses to downshift when you want more kick. We got around these issues by driving in manual mode, which makes the car feel faster. Overall, we still ended up with a very average fuel consumption figure of 12 litres/100 km. The engine itself is loud and buzzy, sending vibrations all over the car under throttle. The ride is smooth, with a mild floatiness over some uneven surfaces. But road noise is high above 100 kph, while wind noise becomes prominent at 120 kph. Handling is actually pretty good, capable of taking corners quite quickly with limited body roll and good grip from the 235/50 tyres on 18-inch wheels, although it feels top-heavy due to the high seating position. The electric power steering is lightly weighted but rubbery and lacking feedback. The brakes are decent though, with a linear response to pedal inputs. The MG GS can be had with optional all-wheel-drive as in our test car, with a locking centre-diff and hill-descent control. The ground clearance is decent as well, but it is still strictly a road-going vehicle, as it doesnt seem to cope too well on sand and there is no low-range gearing to help you get out once youre stuck. The MG GS is still a work in progress when it comes to competing on the world stage, but it has some redeeming qualities such as cabin space, handling and power. It is a reasonable proposition at its price-point, but there is stiff competition from the Koreans and even other Chinese brands who are doing far more to stand out. MG is currently offering 6-year manufacturer warranties and generous buy-back guarantees in certain GCC countries, which are certainly steps in the right direction. Home Off beat The 'Doctor' Of MotoGP Tries His Hand At Something Different oi-Kennedy Paul Ahead of this week's 2017 #QatarGP, nine-time MotoGP Champion and Qatar's two-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah came together for some shooting under the sun. {photo-feature} {promotion-urls} Investigation has 2 theories behind Voronenkov murder: killing of witness to Yanukovych case, witness to contraband in FSB structure The investigation into the assassination of former State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov is probing into two theories, i.e. his murder as a witness to the former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych case and as a witness to contraband in the Federal Security Service (FSB) structure, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said. "At the time preliminary theories are a theory of his assassination as a witness to the Yanukovych case, and the murder within the FSB contraband case covered by the president of the Russian Federation," he told a news briefing in Kyiv on Thursday. The book 'Louth Volunteers 1916' goes on general release to the public to coincide with the events of Easter week. The story is the definitive account on the journey of the Louth Volunteers and how it corresponded with events in Dublin as it is told in their own words. The book also shines a light on the social history of Louth in the years leading up to the Rising and the aftermath. Members of the Louth Volunteers 1916 page and relatives of those who took part, Alan Bogan, Marcus Howard and Padraig Agnew felt it important to do justice to the memory of the Volunteers 'These Volunteers weren' motivated by money, but by love of their country, to take on an Empire.' The foreword has been written by Eoin MacLochlainn, a relative of Patrick Pearse who was fascinated to find out what happened outside of Dublin. The book gives a real insight into how the Louth Volunteers did everything they could to follow directions given to them in spite of the countermanding order by Eoin MacNeill. The Louth Volunteers had tried to form an alliance with the Fingal battalion to help form a ring around the city. Author Marcus Howard had this to say: "The book had been launched to relatives in 2016 as it was important to get it out in the 100th year anniversary. We were blown away with the demand for the book and it sold out in just over two weeks. We are now on a second run with more photos and improvements made to the finished book. We know that Louth had an important role to play and were one of the few areas to mobilise around the country. The book has had to be completely financed themselves yet has been a huge success already. "The book also tells the story of the confrontation a number of Volunteers had in 1910 when they faced down a number of people who wished to praise the accession of King George V. Many witness statements given to the Bureau of Military History are bursting with fascinating details." Alan Bogan has said: "we are delighted to see the demand for such an important time in our history and feel we have done our best to remember our relatives correctly." Marcus added:"A number of 1916 relatives from around the country have snapped it up as well as many history enthusiasts. One person at the relatives launch bought 16 books. We have received orders from Australia, Chicago and London." The general launch will be on Tuesday April 11th in The Stonehouse in Blackrock at 7pm. The book is being released in various shops over the Easter period and can also be purchased at the www.thewritespace.ie as well as the Facebook page The Louth Volunteers 1916. St Fursey's Church in Haggardstown has been granted planning permission to extend the cemetery in the parish. The decision will also see the car park at the church expanded. According to Louth County Council, they have granted permission for the development to consist of the proposed extension of St Furseys Cemetery to the north east. This involves the change of use 0.67 hectares of land from agricultural use to use as burial ground. It will also see the extension of the existing access route, calvary scene, four additional car spaces including for a hearse, burial plots, planting and all ancillary site works. St Furseys Cemetery is adjoining St Furseys Church which is a protected structure. The work on the construction of the Haggardstown church probably began shortly after Catholic emancipation in 1829, as there is a record of a wedding being celebrated in 1833. However, the church was not consecrated until 1854. At the outset the church was named Saint Furseys. Saint Fursa was born in Ireland in the seventh century and became one of the great monastic missionaries aboard, first in East Anglia and later in France. Amazing things can happen when brands tie the knot but only if they pass the compatibility test, says Jessica Ruhfus, the founder and CEO of brand matchmaker Collabosaurus. The marketing and PR professional spoke to Dynamic Business about the competitive advantage businesses can gain through brand collaborations with compatible partners and why it made sense for her dating site for brands to team up with another Sydney start-up Law Squared, a law firm for entrepreneurs. Successful Collaborations such as Redbull X GoPro, Uber X Spotify and Samantha Wills X Yellowglen sparked the idea Collabosaurus, Ruhfus said. When complementary brands connect, there is an opportunity for each party to leverage the others assets and with little to no financial expenditure double their marketing capability through cross-promotion. Since launching in April 2015, weve connected over 550 brands for collaboration projects. Our membership rate has grown consistently at 3.5% per month and we have 3000 users from around the world with profiles and collaborative project listing on our site. Survival tool Ruhfus said brand collaborations not only play a critical role in the innovation process, theyve become increasingly necessary for the survival of businesses. An SME or start-up might have the most amazing product in the world, but if it isnt marketed properly and no one knows about it, whats the point? She said. Gaining exposure with the right audience and engaging them with highly relevant messages can be tricky for businesses with limited resources. Brand collaborations allow smaller businesses to grow their network and deliver extremely cost-effective marketing without a budget, which helps them compete with larger competitors. Due to their agility, SMEs and start-ups can also quickly execute multiple collaborative marketing campaigns in a short time. Therefore, smaller brands have the advantage of being able to engage with new audiences in an authentic, creative way more often. Compatibility test But how can start-ups and small businesses gauge whether a potential brand collaboration will result in synergy between the parties? According to Ruhfus, businesses must answer the following three questions in the affirmative when considering a brand partnership: 1. Do we share a similar audience? For cross-promotional efforts to be mutually beneficial, its essential for potential brand partners to serve a similar demographic. Collaborating with a complementary brand allows you to tap into or get in front of their community. If your communities are vastly different, then your marketing message will not have the desired effect of engaging a relevant audience of potential customers. 2. Do we have a complementary brand aesthetic/tone? Brands need to seriously consider how they will position themselves their collaborators audience. However, they also need to weigh up the impact of any cross-promotional effort on their existing audience if a business compromises on brand aesthetic too much, the risk is the brand will be become unrecognisable to the existing audience, particularly on social media. When there is a complementary brand aesthetic and tone, this helps both parties to immediately establish a recognisable brand presence with a new audience. It also means the collaborators hold true to and can champion their unique aesthetic and tone, which helps spark engagement in the brand collaboration. 3. Will there be a fair exchange of assets? Its not acceptable for a business to agree to feature a photographers logo in the footer of their website in exchange for a free four-hour event shot. This is not a fair exchange of assets between brand collaborators. Both parties need to consider the value of their assets (e.g. their email list, social presence, event influence, publicity pull and skill set) and arrange a fair exchange that suits both partys marketing goals. As each collaboration will be different, each exchange and its values are going to be also. We highlight the give + get of a fair asset exchange before a connection is made on our platform. Its important for both parties to be aware of the likely marketing outcomes of their brand collaboration, quantified in terms of time, exposure and skill set. A perfect match Collabosaurus recently established a brand partnership with Law Squared. According to Ruhfus, it has been mutually beneficial and will continue into the future for reasons including the fair exchange of assets between and a common audience. She explained, Law Squared were seeking relevant marketing exposure with the start-up and small business sector. Meanwhile, Collabosaurus was seeking a law partner to co-brand and co-produce contract templates that would safeguard against a situation where one brand takes advantage of another wed received feedback from small businesses that a key pain point in brand collaborations is when the other party doesnt follow through with a promise. We wanted to reduce the chances of a brand collaboration turning sour or becoming an unfair exchange. We could offer Law Squared exposure to over 28,000 entrepreneurs their desired demographic through joint promotional events in Sydney and Melbourne as well as ongoing social media and EDM support. In return, Law squared could offer us the time and legal expertise necessary to co-create CollaboHub a suite of legal agreement and contract templates to support smaller brands to negotiate with their dream collaborator and play a bigger game, particularly when dealing with large businesses that have a legal budget. The response has been amazing and weve continued our relationship with Law Squared too, which is a bonus. The killer of former Russian State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov has been identified, Ukrainian Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko said. "His identity has been established, he is a citizen of Ukraine," he told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday. Shevchenko did not name the killer. As reported, Voronenkov was shot dead in central Kyiv on Thursday. The killer was wounded by the ex-deputy's security guard and died later in hospital. The Kyiv-based Obozrevatel.ua (Observer) news portal said referring to its sources that Voronenkov's killer was on the wanted list. "The killer was born in 1988. He was wanted by Dnipro law enforcement officers for committing crimes under Articles 205 and 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (sham business and legalization of proceeds from crime)," the Observer reported. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has instructed the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Defense Ministry along with the State Emergency Situations Service to involve NATO's assistance in mine clearing in near the town of Balaklia in Kharkiv region. "[I've] given urgent instructions to the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the State Emergency Situations Service to engage NATO for humanitarian [assistance in] mine clearing in Balaklia," he wrote on Twitter on Thursday evening. There were explosions at artillery ammo depots of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry near Balaklia in Kharkiv region on Thursday, March 23, which resulted in the evacuation of almost 20,000 local residents. Taming the fire Statement by Sabine Lautenschlager, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, at the Credit Risk 2017 forum, Vienna, 23 March 2017 Theodore Roosevelt is supposed to have said: Risk is like fire: if controlled it will help us; if uncontrolled it will rise up and destroy us. I think that describes quite well the modern financial world and its risks. Managing financial risks is a bit like controlling a fire. Its the job of chief risk officers, the CROs, to constantly remind decision-makers about the fire safety rules. The recent financial crisis showed how important that job is. Its a job that requires CROs to be steadfast and to speak unpleasant truths from time to time just like banking supervisors have to do. Its regulation that helps us to do our job. Regulation seeks to control risks as well. Following the devastating fire of the financial crisis, we have overhauled the rules for banks. We have mended them, strengthened them, and expanded them. That was the correct and necessary thing to do. But now it is time to finish the job. More than eight years after the crisis, banks need regulatory certainty. But the job needs be finished at the global level. The financial system is global and so should be the rules that govern it. You cannot enjoy fresh air on your patch of land while there is a fire raging on your neighbours sooner or later the wind will blow smoke and sparks over the fence. Against that backdrop, I welcome the fact that, last weekend, the G20 have confirmed their support for the work to finalise Basel III. But there are still some voices who question the general extent of the regulation. To be crystal clear: it would be wrong to soften the rules. This would just prepare the ground for the next crisis. I cannot deny, though, that rules put a burden on those who have to comply the banks, that is. In that regard, it is often claimed that the burden on banks translates into a burden on the economy. Its said that banks could no longer pursue their traditional business because the capital requirements are too strict. Its also said that new business models would not make economic sense because of the regulatory cost. All that would hurt the economy. There are two things I can say in response. First, I do not see that regulation keeps banks from their traditional business of financing the economy. Loans to private households and smaller companies are treated very favourably when it comes to capital requirements. Think of the support factor in Article 501 of the Capital Requirements Regulation. This factor was introduced to facilitate the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises. I also do not see that regulation keeps banks from developing new business models those, for instance, that follow from digitalisation. Second, critics neglect the benefits of strong rules. Strong rules prevent crises, and crises hurt the economy. At the end of the day, it is only well-managed and well-capitalised banks that are able to finance the economy even when the going gets tough. They can finance the economy throughout the entire business cycle. Poorly capitalised and poorly managed banks, on the other hand, cannot support the economy during downturns they get into difficulty themselves. Strong rules therefore help the economy in a sustainable way. And even if we only consider the banks, we still see benefits. Stronger rules increase trust. And as a result of the crisis, a great deal of trust was lost. And thats a problem for banks because trust is a crucial asset for them. Trust has a positive impact on funding costs for banks, and it determines how attractive a bank is for business partners who think long-term. Strong rules thus help the banks, too. Altogether, I am convinced that the benefits of regulation are greater than the costs. But rules can only take us so far. Ultimately, it is people who make good or bad decisions. And this is where banks risk managers come into play. They are the first line of defence against excessive risks. Thank you for your attention. Seven years ago today, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Barack Hussein Obama: Thank you to President Obama, every Democrat who voted for it, every organization that advocated for it, and, most importantly, every grassroots organizer and activist that worked to get it passed. Meanwhile, sorry this dick move didnt work out for you: Just a snapshot of the insanity of about 40 hours in the Trump era We constantly talk about how we have to exist on two tracks one that pretends that we have a functioning democracy and another where rising authoritarian kleptocracy is doing its best to help excuse Russias meddling in our election. So in the lead up to Paul Ryans attempt to pass the atrocious and deadly American Health Care Act (ACHA!) on the 7th anniversary of the ACA becoming law, I decided to focus all of my attention and tweets on convincing people to call their Members of Congress and scream for mercy. (Believe it or not, your calls count and are counted. KEEP CALLING.) I didnt think I, personally could make a difference. But focusing on the functioning democracy part of my brain made me feel normal. The bill kept getting worse and, miraculously, crueler and more offensive. And it wasnt good enough for Ryan to get a vote. Your efforts along with a conveniently timed disastrous poll for the bill and the undeniable fact that the GOP has no fucking idea what to replace the ACA with have helped delay this vote. Thats good. As Topher Spiro, Vice President for Health Policy, Center for American Progress, has been saying for months, the GOP missed its best chance to repeal the ACA on January 20th, when no one was paying attention. Every second they go on without repealing it is a tiny victory. This doesnt mean they wont come back and do even worse tomorrow. But I want to take a moment and look back at the tweets I collected instead of retweeting or commenting on for the last 40 some hours. Obviously, not one day of the Trump Administration has been normal. But this turned out to be a particularly clusterfuck of a couple of days. It started like this with Trumps former campaign chairman admitting he worked for an Russian oligarch but denied he was working for Russias political interests then because he apparently only does that when he works for American oligarchs. Manafort confirms work for Russian billionaire, denies pushing country's 'political interests' https://t.co/quapj4BFdi pic.twitter.com/EcbHxZo2ax Fox News (@FoxNews) March 22, 2017 Here he is suddenly developing acid reflux when asked if Trump has any financial relationship with any Russian oligarchs. WATCH: In light of AP story re Manafort take a look at his response to a simple question re Russian oligarch ties https://t.co/getQDJUZZG pic.twitter.com/Ic85K4fAE0 Yashar (@yashar) March 22, 2017 And then there was this casual kleptocractic neoptism, which somehow upset people less than Chelsea Clinton getting an award from the cable channel Lifetime. Ivanka's new White House office, announced this week, has actually been waiting for her since Donald assumed power. https://t.co/IdxMjW6uhv Danielle Paquette (@DPAQreport) March 23, 2017 And the Trump staffer with ties to a Nazi-linked organization keeps changing his origin story. Gorka changes story from "I have never been a member of Vitezi Rend" to "I never swore allegiance formally." https://t.co/tRL1PVEeuJ pic.twitter.com/Tpvf0ZDau0 Eli Clifton (@EliClifton) March 22, 2017 And the guy from Trumps transition team who is supposed to be investigating Trump dove headfirst into helping Trump doing PR. Adam Schiff's spox @patrickboland confirms to me that @DevinNunes didn't discuss new revelations w/Schiff, theranking Intel Committee Dem. Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) March 22, 2017 Somehow Secretary of Energy Rick Perry had time for some stray homophobia. Rick Perry accusing first openly gay student president of Texas A&M of stealing election after rival disqualified https://t.co/Vb9TdajUTU Reid Wilson (@PoliticsReid) March 23, 2017 Never forget this. In considering the Affordable Care Act, House held 79 hearings over the course of a year, heard from 181 witnesses & accepted 121 amendments https://t.co/dqj0YCO8NO Claire McAndrew (@claire_mcandrew) March 23, 2017 Meanwhile in Ukraine. Former Russian lawmaker and Kremlin critic Denis Voronenkov shot dead in Kiev, Ukrainian Interior Ministry says https://t.co/CFwsDORijR CNN (@CNN) March 23, 2017 Then Trump decided to give an interview to Time, defending himself from the claim from the Wall St. Journal! that he clings to lies like a alcoholic clings to an empty gin bottle. It went as expected. CHAIT: "It is remarkable and perhaps praiseworthy that Trump gave long, detailed interview on subject of his being a pathological liar." https://t.co/95CieXenFf Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) March 23, 2017 Donald Trump made 14 false claims in his Time interview on the subject of whether he makes false claims. #TrumpCheck pic.twitter.com/11TdYuPDCO Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 23, 2017 In Trump's Time interview, he repeats an untrue story that National Review has since retracted & apologized for: https://t.co/I7j7EZ89Dg pic.twitter.com/EZ895nAIua Nicole Hemmer (@pastpunditry) March 23, 2017 Chait has the significance of this line right. https://t.co/li0AZenGWD pic.twitter.com/STa9S1eFK9 southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) March 23, 2017 Oh, yeah. This guy still exists. Some necessary context. But yeah. Sorry, this is never happening. If the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to release emails damaging to Clinton, then they won by fraud and this election is null and void. George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) March 23, 2017 We need to win the House back to even get the GOP serious about investigating this insane clown show. But first, call your Member of Congress again. Death to ACHA. [Image by Gage Skidmore |Flickr] WikiLeaks on Tuesday dumped thousands of classified documents onto the Internet, exposing hacking programs used by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The torrent of data is just the first in a series of dumps WikLeaks is calling Vault 7. This first installment includes 8,761 documents and files stolen from an isolated high-security network within the CIAs Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virginia. This first batch of data, according to WikiLeaks, introduces the scope and direction of the CIAs global covert hacking program, its malware arsenal, and dozens of zero-day weaponized exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products among them, Apples iPhone, Googles Android operating system, Microsofts Windows OS, and Samsungs smart TVs, which are turned into covert microphones. The source leaking the documents to WikiLeaks did so to raise policy questions about the CIAs hacking program, the organization said, and to open a discussion about the agencys power and the governments oversight mechanisms to keep it in check. The CIA offered a terse response to WikiLeaks actions: We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents, agency spokesperson Heather Fritz Horniak told TechNewsWorld. Bigger Than Facebook According to WikiLeaks, by the end of 2016, the CIA had produced more than a thousand hacking systems, trojans, viruses and other weaponized malware. Such is the scale of the CIAs undertaking that by 2016, its hackers had utilized more code than that used to run Facebook, it stated. The CIA had created, in effect, its own NSA with even less accountability and without publicly answering the question as to whether such a massive budgetary spend on duplicating the capacities of a rival agency could be justified, WikiLeaks contended. In a departure from the way it has carried out previous data dumps, WikiLeaks appears to have taken some steps to avoid collateral damage from its latest revelations. One thing that strikes me this time is the apparent care WikiLeaks took to redact sensitive information, said Mark Graff, CEO of Tellagraff. They were much more responsible this time than theyve been in the past, he told TechNewsWorld. Hurting US Security WikiLeaks claimed it redacted ten of thousands of CIA targets and attack machines throughout Latin America, Europe and the United States, and that it avoided including information in its data dump that could lead to the distribution of armed cyberweapons. No matter how careful WikiLeaks may have attempted to be, its Year Zero data dump undermines U.S. national security, according to Robert Cattanach, an attorney with Dorsey & Whitney. WikiLeaks release will rock the intelligence communities, he told TechNewsWorld. The CIAs ability to access the target devices and technologies certainly is compromised, Cattanach maintained, noting that the release appears to contain highly sensitive organizational and operational internal CIA information. The uses foreign intelligence services might have for such data can only be imagined, he added. Then theres the threat of that actual tools the CIA has used for hacking having been obtained but not yet released, Cattanach said. Loss of Important Tools Although no source code for the hacking tools appear to have been included in this batch of data, the information that has been released may still be turned into a weapon, noted John Hayes, CTO of BlackRidge Technology. There are going to be some very bright people looking at this, and if theyre pointed in the right direction, you may be giving them enough hints to recreate some of this stuff even if they dont have the source code, he told TechNewsWorld. The Vault 7 leaks have the potential to be very damaging to the U.S. intelligence community, said Adam Klein, a senior fellow with the Center for a New American Security. It could mean the loss of some very important tools for the intelligence community, he told TechNewsWorld tools that would be directed at great power adversaries: Russia and China, rogue states like Iran and North Korea, terrorist groups, drug traffickers, and criminal enterprises around the world. The extent of the damage may be tempered if WikiLeaks has overplayed its hand. Given WikiLeaks past record, it is unlikely that all or even most of the allegations are true, maintained James Scott, a senior fellow at the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology. If nothing else, the tools and malware capabilities provided are not exceptionally devastating over the tools and exploits already available on Deep Web markets and forums, he told TechNewsWorld. Authentication Needed The first step the U.S. government should take is to authenticate the data in the dump, Scott said. If the documents are authentic, then the CIA already knows what secure network was compromised, which tools are now exposed, and what exploits now need to be patched against adversarial use, he explained. After the Snowden incident and the NSA platform leak, it is possible that the agency even has an incident response plan for this scenario, Scott added. The Vault 7 material may have been turned over to WikiLeaks by a CIA insider, but the assistance of a nation state cant be ruled out. Some experts are speculating that exfiltration at this scale would necessitate the involvement of a well-resourced nation state threat actor, Scott said. These disclosures help the adversaries of the United States, Klein added. Thats not a concern for WikiLeaks, but its a concern of me and it should be a concern of all Americans. The worlds largest artificial sun is now shining at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in the town of Julich. On Wednesday, German scientists switched on project Synlight to test ways to make carbon-free fuel. The honeycomb-like setup involves 149 individually adjustable xenon short-arc lamps that can produce about 10,000 times the intensity of the natural solar radiation on Earths surface. To illustrate how powerful the lamps are, a single one can light a projector for a large cinema. We use the lamps because their light is the most similar to the sun, project manager Kai Wieghardt explained to Spiegel. If all the lamps are targeted to a single spot, Synlight can produce temperatures of up to 3,500 degrees Celsius or 5,432 degrees Fahrenheit. The goal of the experiment, as the Guardian reported, is to come up with the optimal setup for concentrating natural sunlight to power a reaction to produce hydrogen fuel. The 350-kilowatt array is housed in a specially constructed facility in Germany. DLR Youve probably heard of concentrated solar before. Concentrated solar facilities, like the ones being built in Nevada, Dubai and Morocco, involve a large field of movable mirrors that can harness sunlight and power a steam turbine to generate electricity. Likewise, Synlight researchers are investigating the possibility that a similar setup could be used to power a reaction to extract hydrogen from water vapor, which could then be used as a fuel source for airplanes and cars, according to the Guardian. Hydrogen fuelwhich has zero pollutant emissions and no greenhouse gaseshas been touted as the fuel of the future. Hydrogen is produced by electrolysis, the process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, and requires large amounts of electricity. Hydrogen fuel projects are seen as cost-prohibitive on a commercial scale. https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/794659286953689089 But as the Associated Press explained, researchers hope to bypass the need for electricity by harnessing the vast and renewable energy of the sun instead. Or, as DLR put it, Synlight researchers will be focusing on so-called solar fuels. The Julich experiment currently uses artificial light and requires a lot of electricity to operate. Running the array for only four hours sucks up as much electricity that a four-person household would use in a whole year. The project was also very expensive, costing $3.8 million to build. But the researchers hope to eventually use actual sunlight to produce hydrogen. Bernhard Hoffschmidt, director of DLRs Institute for Solar Research, explained to AP that once researchers have mastered hydrogen-making techniques with Synlight, the process can be scaled up ten-fold on the way to reaching a level fit for industry. Although Hoffschmidt noted that hydrogen can be incredibly volatile, by combining it with carbon monoxide produced from renewable sources, scientists could potentially make eco-friendly kerosene for the aviation industry. Enogen, a genetically modified corn for ethanol production, has contaminated non-GMO white corn grown in Nebraska and used to make flour for tortillas and other products. According to Derek Rovey, owner of Rovey Specialty Grains in Inland, Nebraska, a few of his contract farmers who grow non-GMO white corn had their crops contaminated by Enogen corn. Weve had some growers whove had some problems [with Enogen]. Their corn was right next to Enogen fields, said Rovey. Enogens GMO trait was detected in the white corn using GMO strip tests, said Rovey. He also said that flour made using his companys white corn tested positive for Enogen last summer. Enogen GMO corn can contaminate food corn through cross pollination in the field or improper segregation during grain handling. B.J. Katzberg, a corn seed dealer for Pioneer Hi-Bred, said one of his customer farmers had to abandon 25,000 bushels of corn due to Enogen contamination. He also knows of other farmers whove had Enogen contamination of their non-GMO white corn, including one who had to remove 600 feet of his cornfield and sell it to an ethanol plant. Farmers whose white corn crops are GMO-contaminated face market rejection and lost income, as they have to sell their corn to a cheaper market such as those for animal feed or, ironically, ethanol. Jim Clark, owner of Clark Specialty Grains in Gothenberg, Nebraska, also knows of farmers whove had contamination problems with Enogen corn. A farmer has a contract, delivers the corn and Enogen is detected; the corn must be sold for feed. Its a nightmare, he said. Will Ruin Corn for Milling Enogen is genetically engineered with an enzyme that converts starches in corn to sugars, the first step in the process of making corn ethanol. The problem is that Enogen could mix with corn grown for food and break down its starches and ruin the corn for processing, which would lead to crumbly corn chips and soggy cereals. It would only take one kernel of Enogen corn mixed with 10,000 kernels of food corn to ruin the food processing abilities of food corn, according to the North American Millers Association. In a 2013 article in the Organic & Non-GMO Report, Lynn Clarkson, president of Clarkson Grain, predicted problems with Enogen. This will ruin corn for milling, said Clarkson, whose company sells non-GMO and organic corn to food processors and millers. The ethanol industry is happy but other industries are seriously undermined by this corn. When asked about contamination problems experienced by the Nebraska farmers, Syngenta claimed in a statement that it has never had a verified incident. The company said it has been committed to provide Enogen technology in a way that respects other uses of the crop and other corn growers and works proactively with growers and industry to avoid potential conflicts. Syngenta said Enogen is grown in a closed-loop system with contracted growers that follow a comprehensive stewardship program to prevent commingling. For example, Syngenta developed a purple tracer that offers growers a visual way to ensure grain is properly segregated from planting to delivery. Ron Lowery, an expert in crop nutrition and management, said Syngenta is working to be good stewards of Enogen corn. But he also said that the GMO corn has negative possibilities for non-GMO and organic corn growers and for the baking and milling industry. Those negative possibilities are likely to increase as production of both white non-GMO corn and Enogen corn increase in Nebraska. There are a lot of ethanol plants and lots of white corn. And those dont mix, said Joel Starr, an organic farmer in Hastings, Nebraska. That equals a trainwreck. Connection to Bad Masa Flour Problem in California? Several people also suspect that Enogen GMO corn may be linked to problems with masa flour in California. According to media reports, scores of people reported problems with flour purchased at Amapola Market, a Hispanic grocery chain in Los Angeles. They said the tamales they made from the floura Christmas tradition for Hispanic familieswere gooey, fell apart and even made some people sick. Amapola Vice President Juan Galvan said the bad flour affected thousands of people. The problem was traced to a shipment of 120,000 pounds of white corn delivered to Amapola right before Christmas. The starch content is obviously different in this corn, Galvan said. Tamales dont bind. When you make the product, it falls apart. This is the kind of effect that Enogen corn would have on food corn. In fact, Rovey said the same thing happened with white corn flour sold to one of his retail California customers last summer, though on a much smaller scale than the Amapola incident. It was a similar type of productflour to make tamales, he said. We tested it and it came back with the Enogen trait. As a result, Rovey believes Enogen corn also caused Amapolas masa problem. Katzberg is also convinced Enogen ruined Amapolas masa flour. Yes, it is the problem. The enzyme breaks down the starch and disallows the product to cook through, so the tamales never finished. However, testing has not been conducted to confirm the presence of the Enogen trait in Amapolas flour. Enogen reminds Clark of StarLink, a GMO corn, which was approved for feed use only, but was later found in 300 food products, leading to a multimillion dollar food recall, along with multiple lawsuits in the early 2000s. It has a flavor of Starlink, Clark said. We were told it wasnt going to get into food, but it did. [facebook https://www.facebook.com/EcoWatch/videos/1461122080567391/ expand=1] The House Science Committee will hear testimony March 29 that will question whether climate change is a human induced phenomenon. The hearing, Climate Science: Assumptions, Policy Implications and the Scientific Method, is a just another prong in the current effort to undo the environmental progress made during the Obama years. It coincides with the efforts of the Trump administration, which has proposed to strip the federal budget of any monies that would be targeted to cutting carbon dioxide emissions. To that end, the president has signed executive orders to weaken Obamas Clean Power Plan, which would cut CO2 emissions by 32 percent by 2030, and eliminate rules to cut methane emissions from natural gas drilling. Witnesses at next weeks hearing will represent all points of view, including Judith Curry, who has serious doubts about climate change and has criticized other scientists for not expressing the same cynicism, and Climate scientist Michael Mann, who was invited by the Democrats on the committee. Mann is a professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University, who told the New York Times earlier this year that if human-induced climate change was not part of the equation, the amount of warming in 2016 would have less than one-in-a-million odds of occurring. One could argue that about 75 percent of the warmth was due to human impact, Mann told the Times. Neither side is likely to persuade the other during the hearings. Each side is dug in, with the Trump administrations point person being the administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt. He said earlier this month in an interview on CNBC that I would not agree that (carbon) is a primary contributor to the global warming that we see. https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/840335239016808448 Ninety-seven percent of all climate scientists have said that the matter is settled: Climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities. Trumps response? He has proposed to cut EPAs budgets budget by roughly 30 percent, from $8.1 billion to about $5.7 billion, while also slashing the agencys workforce from 15,000 to 11,800. Among the programs to be shed: Energy Star, which is a globally recognized symbol for the 5 billion products that have met the highest energy efficiency standards. Its supporters say it is a $54 million a year program that saves $34 billion a year in electricity costs. The new administration has concerns about the EPA but they have never been about Energy Star, Lowell Ungar, senior policy director for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, said in an earlier interview. This helps consumers across the country: rural, urban, coastal and middle of country. Why threaten a program that saves consumers money? Its important to note that not all Republicans are against action on climate. After all, the EPA was created under Republican President Nixon in 1972. A conservative group called republicEN is trying to sway conservatives to think differently. The organization believes that the denial of climate science is anathema to both American and conservative causes. As such, it said the loudest voices are drowning out those of the most reasonable, which includes much of the national electorate. There are small government solutions, the organization said. Eliminating subsidies to all energy sources would correct market distortions, the group touts. Meantime, 13 Republican members of the Climate Solution Causea bipartisan group in the U.S. House of Representatives which explores policy options that address the impacts, causes and challenges of our changing climateare pressing forward, having just invited EPA Administrator Pruitt to Florida to see the effects of rising tides. We cant deal in alternative facts, or alternative realities, said Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, in a release by republicEN. We have to deal with whatever theres consensus about as a starting point in legitimate debates that do exist. Sanford criticized Republican reluctance to take on the issue, Even though the scientific consensus has been clear You talk to old-timers, and they say its changing. By Ryan Schleeter The first 100 days in office are usually the height of a presidents political power. Its the window in which they have the most credibility and clout to push their agenda forward. But so far, President Donald Trumps agenda has met incredible resistance at every step. Thanks to you, his cabinet nominations were the most contested in history, his Muslim ban has been stopped in the courts at every attempt and the number of people showing up at marches and protests have dwarfed the crowds at his rallies. For the sake of our climate and communities, we need to keep that momentum going. To change everything, its going to take all of usespecially when the stakes are high and President Trumps attacks on climate progress are never-ending. Thats why I hope youll join us on April 29 in Washington, DC (or a city near you) for the Peoples Climate March. This is the time when we need to raise our voices and let President Trump and his administration of climate deniers and fossil fuel shills know that our people-powered resistance isnt going anywhere. From the Womens March in January to the Native Nations March earlier this month, we have already seen how mass mobilization can change the conversation and reassert the power of people in our democracy. Thats why on April 29, day 100 of the Trump administration, were marching for: Jobs. A fossil fuel-based economy doesnt just pollute our environment and wreak havoc on the climate. It also hurts American workers. Were marching for a clean energy economy that expands access to jobs and opportunityespecially for the communities of color, Indigenous peoples and balue collar workers hit hardest by our reliance on fossil fuels. Justice. As we shift away from fossil fuels, we need to take care not to leave anyone behind. Were marching for a just transition, one that protects working people and their livelihoods as we move away from the dirty energy sources of the past to the clean power of the future. That also means uplifting the stories of those on the frontlines of climate change and environmental hazards. Our climate. This one might seem obvious, but right now there is more at stake than ever in the fight against climate change. Were marching for a future that invests in clean energy, climate resilient cities and equitable development. Were marching to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which science tells us is the only way to ensure a livable planet. Were marching for a chance to avoid a climate catastrophe that future generations will have to pay for. The first Peoples Climate March in 2014when 400,000 people took to the streets of New York Citywas larger than anything the climate movement had ever seen. But today, were bigger, stronger and more motivated than ever before. Lets show President Donald Trump the movement that hes up against. Join us this April as we resist attacks on our climate, jobs and justice. BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) leader, on Wednesday called for media integration and creating favorable public opinion for the upcoming party congress. Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks during an inspection tour of the People's Daily. Liu urged staff on the newspaper to make more new media products and extend their influence to the Internet. He also stressed that new media should shoulder social responsibility and guide online public opinion. He also had online conversations with readers on the People's Daily website, and said he hoped that the website could help address social issues. Liu later held a seminar with officials in charge of major state media, where he said that media integration was a major industry trend and more effort was needed to foster it. "Media integration needs to abide the CPC's ideology and the Marxist idea of the press," Liu said. "Content is the key to the development of media integration, and more new media workers must be trained." Liu said the most important issue for the Chinese media this year was preparing for the 19th National Congress of the CPC. He called for strengthening political responsibility, enhancing representation of mainstream public opinion, and providing opinion for the stability of the economy and society. Nearly a decade after it first applied for a presidential permit, TransCanada is getting the green light from the Trump administration for its $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline. POLITICO reported Thursday that the U.S. State Departments undersecretary for political affairs, Tom Shannon, will approve by Monday the cross-border permit needed for the project to proceed. Reuters reported an update Friday saying President Trump will announce the approval of the tar sands pipeline at the White House today with the CEO of TransCanada. Sec. of State Rex Tillerson, former ExxonMobil CEO, recused himself from the Keystone decision since Exxon stands to profit from the pipeline. The Keystone XL was blocked by President Obama two years ago because the pipeline would not serve the national interests of the United States. But the November election changed everything. On Jan. 24, President Trump signed an executive order that invited TransCanada to reapply for a presidential permit. The company did so two days later. Environmental groups and grassroots citizens have long opposed the pipeline, painting it as a symbol of the threat of climate change. Once complete, the 1,200-mile pipeline will carry Alberta tar sands to processing and export facilities in the southern U.S. Keystone carries Canadas oil through an unnecessary pipeline likely made of foreign steel, all while polluting our heartland, treading on the rights of Indigenous people and private landowners, said Greenpeace USA climate campaign specialist Diana Best in reaction to todays development. It isnt what this country wants or needs. President Obama rejected the Keystone Pipeline because of public outcry, she said. We cannot let the Trump administration undo the progress that people all over the country have made to ensure we avoid catastrophic climate change. https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/837713534985318400 Best suggested that the president should shift his energy policy to prioritize renewables instead. Instead of pushing bogus claims about the potential of pipelines to create jobs, Trump should focus his efforts on the clean energy sector, the key to Americas future growth, Best said. Trumps energy plan is more of the samefull of giveaways to his fossil fuel cronies at a time when renewable energy is surging ahead. Renewable energy is not only the future, but the only just economy for today. Keystone, the Dakota Access Pipeline, and fossil fuel infrastructure projects like them will only make billionaires richer and make the rest of us suffer. We will resist these projects with our allies across the country and across borders, and we will continue to build the future the world wants to see, she concluded. Greenpeace is asking the State Department to provide documentation about the justification for Tillersons recusal and any waivers obtained or requested. Although TransCanada might have secured the permit, POLITICO noted that the company still needs approval from the Nebraska Public Service Commission to build the pipeline through the state. Additionally, Jane Kleeb, the president of Bold Alliance and Nebraska Democrat Party chair told the publication that construction will likely be delayed from landowners in the state who are unhappy with TransCanadas use of eminent domain along the route. Trumps decision will galvanize Americans, and further stiffen resistance to Trumps campaign to sacrifice our planet for Big Oil profits, Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica said. The fight over Keystone XL is not over. Greenpeace USA Executive Director Annie Leonard agreed. It takes money to build a pipeline, and the opposition movement to stop fossil fuel projects like Keystone will do everything it can to deprive TransCanada of any new funding for this ill-fated and unnecessary pipeline, Leonard said. TransCanada may have a permit, but can they find the funding? Financial institutions should have learned by now that its risky to hitch themselves to a project that already faces historic on-the-ground opposition from private landowners and Indigenous sovereign nations and could unlock a massive environmental, health and climate disaster. Keystone was stopped once before, and it will be stopped again. Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune shared the same sentiment. This project has already been defeated, and it will be once again. The project faces a long fight ahead in the states, but the fact remains that the American people do not want more fossil fuels, we do not want our private and public lands destroyed by a pipeline carrying the dirtiest fuel around, and we do not want our future and our childrens future to continue be threatened by climate change. (Reuters/Tony Gentile)Pope Francis poses with Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and his wife Jeannette during a private meeting at the Vatican March 20, 2017. Pope Francis issued an apology on behalf of the Catholic Church for its role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide after meeting with Rwanda President Paul Kagame on Mar. 20. The pontiff expressed his sadness for the Tutsi ethnic group massacre, conveying his "solidarity with the victims and those who continue to suffer the consequences of those tragic events." He asked for forgiveness for the Church's involvement in the massacre, which claimed the lives of over 800,000 members of the ethnic groups Tutsi and Hutus, and for the failings of the members of the Church who "succumbed to hatred and violence, betraying their own evangelical mission." The pontiff also addressed the dialogue between the government of Rwanda and the Catholic Bishops in Rwanda in November 2016. The Rwandan Catholic clergy issued a statement on Nov. 20, 2016, in which they apologized for the Church's complicity in the 1994 genocide. "We apologize for all the wrongs the Church committed. We apologize on behalf of all Christians for all forms of wrongs we committed. We regret that church members violated (their) oath of allegiance to God's commandments," Rwanda's Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote in their statement. According to the spokesperson for the Catholic Clergy, the statement's publication was aligned with the closure of the Catholic Church's Year of Mercy. While the statement was appreciated by the government of Rwanda, they were quick to issue a harsh rebuke which they released on Nov. 23, 2016. They cited the statement's "profound inadequacy" and how it emphasizes the Church's avoidance of "full and honest reckoning with its moral and legal responsibilities." The Rwandan government criticized the bishops' act to vindicate the whole Catholic Church of their accountability in the 1994 genocide by simply expressing remorse "on behalf of a few unnamed individuals." "Given the scale of the crimes, there is ample justification for an apology from the Vatican, as has occurred repeatedly with other cases of lesser magnitude," their reply statement stressed. Another state has followed Western Australias lead in allowing its secondary school students to nominate a gender other than male or female when applying to sit the senior exams. Victorian students who do not identify as male or female can now nominate their gender as X under the sweeping new changes, which take effect this year. LGBTI advocates have praised the move, which follows complaints by trans and gender diverse students who claimed being misgendered by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) when sitting their Year 11 and 12 exams. The new option will affect the VCAA personal details form, filled out by every student completing a Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), Victorian Education and Training (VET) or Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) course. YGender president, San Lilit, one of the advocates who raised the issue with the Victorian Education Department last year, told The Guardian that it was a huge step. One of the things we heard a lot is that for high school students in level three and four VCE (year 12) having to misgender themselves is very distressing, it makes VCE harder, and its just wrong, Lilit said. For students that are accepted at school for their gender identity and gender expression, it can be a bit of a slap in the face to have that undermined by VCAA. In a letter sent to schools last month, the VCAA said the move was entirely a student choice. This recognises that individuals may identify and be recognised within the community as a gender other than the sex they were assigned at birth or during infancy, or as a gender that is not exclusively male or female, the notice said. The Federal guidelines for government records currently specify that X should be an option in any personal records requiring sex or gender information. The announcement is one of several recent victories for LGBTI school students. This week, a school in New Zealand abolished gendered uniforms, replacing them with shorts, a kilt and trousers that can be worn by either sex. Several UK schools have also introduced gender neutral uniform policies and South Australia announced that its public schools would adhere to a mandatory transgender and intersex policy from this year. In February, a boy attending all-boys school Cranbrook was allowed to complete his studies while transitioning to become a girl. The student who will continue wearing the boys uniform and use existing unisex toilets will complete Year 12 under her new female name. Related stories: School abolishes gendered uniforms Mandatory transgender policy announced for schools What do transgender students mean for single-sex schools? To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020. XINING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Yangkye, a Tibetan housewife, regularly uses smartphone apps to plan her life. "I check the weather on my phone so that I can know when to dry my barley. I know how many steps I need to finish circling the Taer Monastery," said Yangkye, 52, who lives in Xining, capital of Qinghai Province in northwest China. An increasing number of mobile phone apps in the Tibetan language have made life more convenient for Tibetan people. Drakpa works at the Qinghai Tibetan Medical Research Institute and uses the app "Wise Tibetan Calendar" to assist his work. "The calendar sends reminders when certain Tibetan traditional medicine need be collected. For example on March 21 the soul position says the first knucklebone, which means the first knucklebone of one's hand, cannot be subject to blood-letting or fire acupuncture treatment," Drakpa said. "If you check the timing it states the first half of the day, which means it is better for patients to receive treatment before 11 o'clock in the morning," he added. The app was launched by the institute and a company from Sichuan last year, and has been downloaded 27,000 times. Up to 100 new users download it every day. "Information technology, like mobile phone apps, does not only change the way people live. It helps develop the language and culture," Drakpa said. Qinghai is home to several academic institutes that push information technology for the development of the Tibetan language. Tseringa leads an important lab at Qinghai Normal University that develops automatic translation between Tibetan and Chinese. "The accuracy rate has reached 75 percent," said Tseringa, deputy director of the lab. "The automatic translation system will be available through a phone app in the future." In August last year, developers in Qinghai launched China's first Tibetan-language search engine. Yongzin.com is a unified portal for all major Tibetan-language websites in China. "It has scored over 80 million visits by web users," said a technical supervisor of the search engine. BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States reached consensus on developing ties in the spirit of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation during U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's Beijing trip, said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wednesday. "This spirit is the correct way for the two major powers to get along with each other," spokesperson Hua Chunying told a routine press briefing. She was responding to a question regarding Tillerson's reaffirmation of the principle. Tillerson's move has received criticism from some U.S. scholars and former government officials. Some media said that having Tillerson reiterate this principle was a diplomatic triumph for China. "This can not be taken as someone's triumph," Hua said. "The principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation has been a good experience for the stable growth of China-U.S. ties in recent years, and is worth continuing." "China is willing to enhance communication and understanding with the United States, cement trust, properly handle disputes, expand cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral levels and boost new progress of bilateral ties at a new starting point." Last weekend, Tillerson paid his first visit to China since taking office last month. He is the first cabinet-level official in the new administration of the United States to visit China. British police confirmed that deal toll in Wednesday's terror attack outside the Parliament in central London has risen to five. Metro Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley told reporters that about 40 people were injured in the attack. Rowley, also London's top anti-terror officer, said that the officer who died in the attack has been named as Keith Palmer, who was 48 and had 15 years service as a police officer. He said he would not comment on the identity of the attacker, although he suggested the police was aware of who the assailant was. The attacker was shot dead after stabbing Palmer. The other three victims were all civilians, the police officer said. Liu Yunshan (C, front), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, views new media products at the People's Daily in Beijing, capital of China, March 22, 2017. Liu made an inspection tour of the People's Daily on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin) A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) leader, on Wednesday called for media integration and creating favorable public opinion for the upcoming party congress. Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks during an inspection tour of the People's Daily. Liu urged staff on the newspaper to make more new media products and extend their influence to the Internet. He also stressed that new media should shoulder social responsibility and guide online public opinion. He also had online conversations with readers on the People's Daily website, and said he hoped that the website could help address social issues. Liu later held a seminar with officials in charge of major state media, where he said that media integration was a major industry trend and more effort was needed to foster it. "Media integration needs to abide the CPC's ideology and the Marxist idea of the press," Liu said. "Content is the key to the development of media integration, and more new media workers must be trained." Liu said the most important issue for the Chinese media this year was preparing for the 19th National Congress of the CPC. He called for strengthening political responsibility, enhancing representation of mainstream public opinion, and providing opinion for the stability of the economy and society. (Global Times) 08:37, March 23, 2017 Local civil affairs authorities given up to April for findings China's top civil affairs authority has ordered reforms at foster care centers, after a welfare home in South China's Guangdong Province reportedly caused 20 deaths in 49 days this year. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has instructed local civil affairs departments throughout the nation to immediately inspect and rectify care centers, and to report back to the ministry before April 10, The Beijing News reported on Wednesday. The ministry said that all local civil affairs departments should learn from the case of the Lianxi Foster Center in Guangdong and guarantee the legal rights and interests of homeless people. The ministry ordered a thorough inspection of the care centers' qualifications, facilities, services, safety measures, bidding process, sources of funds and funding standards. Institutes deemed not qualified to offer foster services should be stopped immediately, and those that violate the law or rules should be made accountable. Records at a local funeral home show that, from January 1 to February 18, the Lianxi Foster Center of Xinfeng county, an NGO registered in 2010, delivered 20 corpses. The civil affairs bureau of Xinfeng has demanded that the center rectify its mistakes, and asked other institutes to take over the rest 733 people at the center. The center's legal representative and staffers were taken into custody in connection with the possible embezzlement of government subsidies. The officials involved in the case were also questioned or suspended, China Central Television reported on Wednesday. Lin Jing (pseudonym), an official at the civil affairs bureau of Huizhou, Guangdong said on Tuesday that they took back 13 homeless people from the Lianxi Foster Center, about half of whom suffer from tuberculosis, hepatitis B or syphilis, The Beijing News reported on Wednesday. An anonymous employee from a rescue station said that they had sent more than 200 people to the Lianxi center in the past six years, with almost 100 dying there, mostly from pneumonia. "They were sent there healthy," the employee said, but some of the people they took back on March 2 were found suffering from tuberculosis, syphilis or HIV. Another Huizhou official said that only the Lianxi welfare home would take in homeless people with infectious diseases, so rescue stations in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities in Guangdong all sent these people to Lianxi. The Ministry of Civil Affairs also ordered provincial departments to inspect the management information system and networks to help the homeless find their relatives, said The Beijing News. Information of homeless people stranded in care centers should be posted on a dedicated website run by the ministry, read the ministry's notice. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is probably one of the most highly searched smartphones right now, just behind the Galaxy S8. Ever since the fiasco with the Note 7, Samsung has stepped its game up to sell more Galaxy S7 and has started developing the Galaxy Note 8. Earlier, it was rumored that the Note lineup would not be back and instead Samsung would focus on launching a new brand under the flagship series. However, it seems like the success of the past Galaxy Note(s) have made Samsung reconsider the Note lineup. Samsung Galaxy Note 8 rumors claim that Samsung is eager to make this phone better, safer and the pinnacle of innovation. Every year, the Note lineup brings some form of innovation in the mobile hardware or software, and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 rumors have it that this year, things aren't changing. In fact, Samsung has touted that the Note 8 would be the most powerful flagship phone of 2017. While those claims are bold, Samsung has earlier proven themselves to be able to deliver on claims. If the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 rumors are indeed true, then the phone can be expected to have top of the line hardware. For starters, the Galaxy Note 8 might be coming with a bezel-less display like the Mi Mix, since the Galaxy S8 is rumored to have a massive screen to body ratio. Other than that, the phone might also bring a Quad HD or a 4K SuperAMOLED display, and it might get the 4K display, as the Note 8 would be VR compatible, and Samsung has been making bold claims about the Galaxy S8 and its VR capabilities. The screen size might also increase from 5.7-inch to 6.2-inch, but just like the LG G6, the phone would have a small profile. PhoneArena reports that the phone might come with a SnapDragon 835 or greater, and an Exynos 8895 or greater for Asian markets. It is also rumored to have a dual lens camera, just like the other phones in the flagship price bracket.Some Samsung Galaxy Note 8 rumors suggest that the phone would have IP68 water and dust resistance, and would also come with either 4GB or 6GB LPDDR4 RAM. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 rumors to release after the Galaxy S8, which is coming this April. Fans can expect the Note 8's launch by Q3 2017. Stay tuned for more Samsung Galaxy Note 8 rumors and updates. Share this: VIK Wine Philip Day discusses the VIK Wine and its capacity to change wine-drinkers perceptions of Chilean wine forever. This detailed review of the VIK Wine includes history, viticulture, vinification and overview of the companys wines. In the main, Chile is known for its affordable and generally acceptable wines but not for many particularly interesting wines. The VIK Wine brand has set out to change wine-drinkers perceptions of Chilean wine forever. This unusual winery has set itself the aim to create a world-class red wine that combines the bold attributes of Chilean wines with the elegance of top-flight French vintages, by developing a wine blended from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Merlot grapes. With just four vintages thus far, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, the expert wine-makers are already producing a remarkable stand-out product that has many global connoisseurs anticipating even greater things. Established in the sweeping valleys, less than 50 miles (80 km) from the soaring snow-dusted Andes Mountains, which can be seen in the distance, whilst only 28 miles (45 km) from the coast, the carefully considered design of the winery is such that it has minimal impact on the surrounding landscape. Its designers have succeeded in incorporating the most cutting-edge and advanced technology to make the business of wine production very efficient operationally, while also endeavouring to create a uniquely harmonious design. The vineyard is only one aspect of the VIK Vineyard experience however, for although its location was carefully chosen to ensure the best possible quality of grapes for wine, the architecture and the arts displayed at the spa, hotel and restaurants were designed to holistically compliment and intimately interconnect with the bounty that nature provides. The VIK Wine Vineyard is also beneficial for the local economy, being the largest employer in the area, while its kitchens are stocked with the freshest of ingredients, grown by neighbouring small-scale farmers. For its visitors, the location offers a truly picturesque setting, as the vista of blue hills and mountains fade into the distance, the vineyards steal the show in the foreground while a tranquil lake curls seductively just below the infinity pool which juts out from the hotel. At VIK Vineyard, the wines produced are the aesthetic expression of the holistic concept: fuelled by the passion of its workers; the result of the magnificently dynamic terroir, together with the application of viticultural and vinicultural best practices that knowledge, science and technology allows; demonstrating excellence in environmental stewardship, and the development of human and social capital through a special sensitivity to the environment as well as via artistic, cultural, gastronomic and architectural expression. In short, the emphasis of the synergy between all that goes into the creation of a great wine and its hedonist consumption, focuses on the whole, a perfect combination of humankind and nature for neither cannot exist independently, nor be understood without reference to the other. For this reason, VIK wine can be considered Chiles (if not the worlds) first holistic wine. History It was back in 2004, that Alexander Vik, a Norwegian-Uruguayan entrepreneur, proposed the establishment of a world-class vineyard to produce a truly unique wine. To find the best terroir, he gathered together a team of oenologists, climatologists, geologists, viticulturists and agronomists to undertake a search throughout South America. French wine consultant Patrick Valette was hired to lead the team and based on their findings, they settled on the location of the remote Millahue Valley, which translates as Place of Gold, in the local Mapuche language, the indigenous people of central Chile. Thus, in 2006 Alexander and Carrie Vik purchased some 4,325 hectares (10,688 acres) located in the interior of the valley encompassed by an incalculable number of gorges, which offered optimal climatic conditions for grape growing and a variety of unequalled microterroirs each of which with its own distinct exposure and cooled by coastal breezes would lend any grapes grown there the desired complexity Vik was seeking to make his signature world-class red wine. After meticulous soil studies were carried out, together with a variety of meteorological and land exposure studies, the selection of the varietals and rootstock were implemented with the aid of Jean Pierre Mercier from Univiveros. The varieties selected were, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, which were then planted throughout the many valleys, always seeking to achieve the best harmony between the hydric balance, climate, soils and the varietal rootstock. During 2006-7, Carrie and Alexander Vik organized an architectural competition among some of Chiles best architects, to design the winery at VIK Wine Vineyard. The proposal from the renowned architect, Smiljan Radic, won the competition, a man who accepted the challenge of designing for the inspirational vision of the couple. Following his selection as principal architect and designer, the VIK Wine team spent three years working alongside Smiljan Radic to refine and develop and enhance his original design concept and materials. From the beginning, the architectural aspect of the winery was a fundamental pillar and an expression of the Viks holistic concept of the vineyard. The completed winery at VIK Wine Vineyard features a unique and unprecedented design, which is not only state-of-the-art, highly sustainable and technologically creative but also provides a visually stunning experience that promises to redefine the wine-making and wine-tasting experience. Set amongst the mountains and sweeping valleys with the backdrop of the soaring Andes mountains in the distance, the winery has also been thoughtfully designed to have minimal impact on the landscape, while also striving to be exceedingly operationally efficient, through the implementation of the most advanced technology. Completed just a few months before Vina Vik retreat, the majority of the winery is built underground, with only its uniquely transparent, stretched-fabric roof visible, as if caressing the valley floor below, that allows natural sunlight to permeate the winery enabling it to operate without artificial lighting. While architecturally intriguing, it is also ecologically sound, being elementally cooled by Pacific Ocean breezes during the day and by air emanating from the Andes, at night. Situated at its entrance, is an extensive, moving-water reflection pool punctuated with a granite boulder sculptural installation made by Smiljan Radic and his sculptor wife, Marcela Correa. Built on the ridge of a hill, right in the middle of the property, the unique hotel, designed by Alex and Carrie Vik, with Uruguayan architect Marcelo Daglio as the architect consultant, is visible for miles around. The edifice is capped by an undulating roof made from bronzed titanium designed to reflect, in its construction and purpose, the valleys and mountains that surround it. Indeed, the golden colour of the building pays homage to the indigenous Mapuche name for the area, Millahue. The open walkways and glass walls throughout the construction allow the surrounding countryside to be observed from every angle and the pool and terrace are perfect for sunset watching. Vina Vik retreat offers luxury full-board accommodation. The property features a seasonal infinity pool offering panoramic views of the vineyards and mountains, as well as a choice of two restaurants, Milla Milla and the Milla Milla Pavilion, and a spa and wellness centre, which utilises products made with ingredients from the vineyard and the local area. The Viks love of contemporary art is evident everywhere, and they are serious collectors. Each suite at Vina Vik retreat features its own distinctive decor and the floor to ceiling windows offer its guests panoramic moutains views. A stay at Vina Vik retreat, like all five-star experiences, is expensive. However, its guests will get what they are paying for and will want for nothing. With an extensive range of activities included in addition to fine dining in both Milla Milla and the Milla Milla Pavilion, the experience feels like a luxurious stay with a very wealthy friend. (Further information may be found at the website.) Visitors are also welcome at the winery at VIK Wine Vineyard to experience the spectacular tasting room, where one of wine experts takes visitors through tastings of varietals by individual block, discussing the unique characteristics of each, as well as the various completed vintages. Visitors to the VIK Winery are additionally invited to dine, drink wines and shop in the Milla Milla Pavilion, a sun filled restaurant, lounge and shop featuring floor to ceiling glass-walls offering breathtaking views of the vineyard, winery, Vina Vik retreat and of course, the majesty of the surrounding panorama. All of these experiences though, are secondary to the serious business of producing a world-class red wine. Appellation / Wine Region Cachapoal Valley, Chile Creators Carrie and Alexander Vik Planted acreage Total: 330 hectares (815 acres) Grape varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Merlot Wines produced VIK Milla Cala La Piu Belle Terroir The vineyard is located in twelve valleys with distinct types of soil, ranging from poor, rocky soils; sandy and gravel soils; calcareous clay soils and fertile soils. Production Not stated Top Vintages Produced 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. Viticulture The VIK Wine vineyard is spread across twelve valleys, each with distinct soil types, hence the need at the planning stages of its layout to select the most appropriate plant rootstock for its desired characteristics best suited to thrive in each of these different terroirs. It is this variety and complexity that helps to create a unique and great wine. At the VIK Wine vineyard, precision in the viticultural development of wines is fundamental, relying on state-of-the-art technology to help maintain a high density plantation. Each lot of vines is pruned using the guyot method, where most of the years growth is removed with the exception of one or two canes for the generation of the coming seasons fruiting canes and one or two spurs to generate replacement canes. Towards the end of September, de-budding takes place to eliminate any shoots or suckers that have appeared on the vines trunk that would take energy from the vine to grow, produce and ripen fruit, as well as choosing among the best buds and eliminating any spur shoots when these appear with more than one shoot per bud. The best clusters are selected during a thinning process that usually occurs around the beginning of December, while at the same time any superfluous leaves are removed to enable the grapes to receive more light and ventilation, creating the ideal conditions for their maturation. The growing vines and the environment in which they are growing, are closely monitored by an irrigation system designed to deliver optimum hydric resources based on evapo-transpiration measurements (evaporation of water into the atmosphere from the soil and other surfaces and by transpiration from plants) which can also deliver the application of soluble nutrients, as required. The vineyard benefits from typically consistent mild temperatures during the day and very cool nights and rarely suffers periods of excessive heat, frost or hail. It is a true paradise for growing perfect grapes, as the exceptional luminosity together with a scarcity of lengthy or heavy rain showers during the growing and harvest seasons are very important factors in maintaining the freshness of the fruit while ensuring mature tannins by harvest time. Another important characteristic of the vineyard is the occurrence of a daily cooling Pacific Ocean breeze that arrives just after lunchtime from the local Los Lazos gorge. This breeze plays an essential part in maintaining a healthy vineyard because it reduces the ambient temperature by 2-3C, thereby cooling down the vineyard and prevents the grapes becoming dehydrated and reduces the risk of cluster mould. It is this synergy and respect between man and nature, together with a concern for the environment to ensure sustainable development, which enables the team to holistically produce their cherished VIK Wine. Vinification To ensure that only the best quality grapes are obtained, up to three manual harvests take place at night-time when the grapes are at their coolest depending on the maturity of the grapes. The wine-making team provides similar great care during the production phase of the wine, respecting the distinct natural conditions of each parcel of the vineyard. All the grapes are fed by gravity into stainless steel tanks to preserve the freshness of the fruit and the aromatic precision of the wine, thereby conserving the balance of the wine. The vinification process of each tank is unique, being appropriately adapted in order to respect both the origin of the grape and the organoleptic definition of the tank contents (taste, colour and odour). The pre-fermentation maceration takes place over 5 to 6 days, at a temperature of around 8C and during the alcoholic fermentation stage, the contents undergo five daily pump-overs to allow the must to extract properties from the grape skins such as the aromas, tannins and colour. Malolactic fermentation then takes place in all new French oak barrels. The wine-makers also perform a post-fermentation maceration of between 7 to 15 days depending on the year and tasting. The resultant wine is now aged in new French oak barrels, for 18-24 months with racking taking place every 3 months. To achieve the final blend, wines from many different blocks and varietals are assembled according to the nologists vision for the wine and is only completed through constant tasting over many months. Once finished, the blend is returned to the barrel until the nologist determines the blend is ready for bottling. The vinification of VIK Vineyards wines requires great attention to ensure the transformation of its constituent grapes into an elegant, fine, expressive, aromatic, well-balanced, full-bodied, complex, and world-class South American Premier Grand Cru. Since 2006 until fairly recently, Patrick Valette, served as the companys chief nologist and CEO. In December, 2016 he has assumed a new role overseeing Viniculture, Viticulture and Worldwide Brand Ambassador. The groups other master wine-maker and viticultor is Cristian Vallejo, who was recruited to the team in 2007. Wines VIK Indicative blend: Cabernet Sauvignon: 55%, Carmenere: 29%, Cabernet Franc: 7%, Merlot: 5% and Syrah: 4%. Alcohol content : 13.9 ABV. VIK is a complex, elegant, holistic wine that presents the drinker with a pleasurable, harmonious balance between its tannins and aromatic freshness. It is without doubt a world-class wine, suitable for long-term ageing, having the promise to become one of the best wines in the world. This singularly remarkable wine is the result of an elegant blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes, chosen yearly in different combinations. Milla Cala For those who may find the cost of VIK beyond their budget, the company has released a second label, Milla Calla, that enables them to sample their fantastic wines at a more accessible level. Indicative blend: Cabernet Sauvignon: 47%, Carmenere: 44% and Cabernet Franc: 9%. Alcohol content :13.9% ABV. VIK Wine Vineyard is also preparing to launch a third wine in 2017, called La Piu Belle. It will be launched in a bottle with a distinctive surreal label designed by Chilean artist, Gonzalo Cienfuegos. VIK Wine in the news January 2017: Vinous rates VIK 2012 a 95 and Milla Cala 2012 a 91 December 2016: Wine Review rates VIK 2011 a 96 December 2016: VIK Vineyard, the world-class wine experience in Millahue, Chile, is delighted to announce the appointment of Andres Izquierdo as CEO and General Manager and Gaston Williams as Worldwide Sales & Marketing Manager. May 2016: Wine Spectator rates VIK 2011 a 92 April 2016: Wine Enthusiast rates VIK 2011 a 93 October 2015: La Cav rates VIK 2011 a 97 Contact details: Address: Vina Vik Retreat & the Winery at VIK Vineyard, Hacienda Vik, Millahue Sin Numero, San Vincente de Tagua, Tagua, VI Chile. Internet: https://www.vik.cl Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VIKwine/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vik_wine/ Twitter: @VIK_wine YouTube: Vik Retreats For accommodation at Vina Vik, the exceptional 22 suite retreat at VIK Vineyard contact: reservations@vinavik.com or telephone: +56 9 5668 4853 For more information about tours and lunches at the winery contact: tours@vik.cl Telephone: +569 5668 4853 References (Global Times) 08:40, March 23, 2017 South Korea has returned the remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War to China on Wednesday at an airport ceremony in Seoul. It was the fourth batch returned following a handover agreement between the two countries. Since 2014, the remains of 569 soldiers have been returned by South Korea to China, the Yonghap News Agency reported. Chinese Civil Affairs Vice Minister Sun Shaocheng and South Korean National Defense Vice Minister Hwang In-moo attended the Wednesday ceremony, Yonghap said. The remains were unearthed between March to November 2016, and DNA tests confirmed the remains were those of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, the report said. The Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) Army joined the North Korean army in the Korean War against the South Korean army and US-led UN forces. 197,653 CPV soldiers have been confirmed killed in the war, with most buried on the Korean Peninsula, the Xinhua News Agency reported in February. Sun thanked the South Korean defense ministry for its efforts in finding and identifying the remains of Chinese soldiers, and called for deepened friendly cooperation between two countries. South Korea said it will continue searching for other possible remains in the spirit of humanism, despite strained ties over the North Korean nuclear issue, South Korean Ministry of National Defensesaid. An agreement between China and South Korea states that the two sides would consult each other every year on the hand-over of remains of Chinese soldiers found in South Korea. A hand-over is usually held before Chinese Tomb-Sweeping Day in early April, Xinhua said in February's report. [Photo/VCG] 1. Hong Kong-style milk tea One of the most popular milk teas in China is the Hong Kong-style milk tea. Stemming from the British practice of adding milk to black tea, the signature drink in Hong Kong is strained through a sackcloth to encourage smoothness, thus also known as "silk stocking milk tea". It's strongly brewed with carefully proportioned blends of up to four types of black tea, mixed with milk. European Council President Donald Tusk has asked EU leaders excluding the UK Prime Minister Theresa May to meet at the end of April to discuss the Brexit. The gathering will serve as a platform to agree on the guidelines for the Brexit negotiations with the United Kingdom and set out the priorities for the upcoming EU-UK negotiations. As you all know, I personally wish the UK hadnt chosen to leave the EU, but the majority of British voters decided otherwise. Therefore, we must do everything we can to make the process of divorce the least painful for the EU, Mr. Tusk said in an official statement. Our main priority for the negotiations must be to create as much certainty and clarity as possible for all citizens, companies and member states that will be negatively affected by Brexit, as well as our important partners and friends around the world, Mr. Tusk said. Mr. Tusk convened the meeting after Theresa Mays government had informed the EU that it would trigger Article 50 on 29 March. This move will initiate a two-year window for divorce talks to be settled and approved. As soon as European leaders agree on the Brexit guidelines, the EU will need another few weeks to create a formal negotiating mandate for Michel Barnier, who will lead the day-to-day negotiations on behalf of the EU. Only after this is done, substantive talks between Brussels and London can begin. The meeting has been scheduled for 29 April, which is between the first and second round of Frances closely watched presidential election. In another but related development, a leak of the EUs negotiating strategy has revealed that Brussels will take Britain to the International Court of Justice if it tries to walk away without paying an estimated 50bn divorce bill. According to a Dutch newspaper, the draft plan threatens a long legal battle at The Hague to get back what the EU views as the UKs liabilities for its 43-year membership. In response to UK prime ministers threat to leave with no deal if the Brexit talks will be a difficult path, an EU official was quoted as saying: In that case it is: see you in The Hague! More than 1200 African businessmen and politicians from almost 40 countries were participating in the 5th International Africa Development forum that took place on 16-17 March in Casablanca, Moroccos economic hub, under the theme New Inclusive Growth Models in Africa. The forum sought to promote trade and investment among African countries, thus urging South-South cooperation and dialogue to address development challenges. Participating countries included Burkina Faso, the Republic of Congo, Cote dIvoire, Egypt, Madagascar, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia. The opening ceremony was chaired by President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who also hailed the exemplary relations between Morocco and his country and praised Moroccos action, under the leadership of HM King Mohammed VI, who decided to ensure direct investment in Africa, to provide the Kingdoms contribution to the continents development in all sectors. Mr. Kabore also stressed that Africa must be in charge of its own future and this should be done particularly through the development of economic activities and the sharing of experience among the diverse countries of the continent. The event saw about 5,000 business-to-business meetings that dived into the opportunities in Africa particularly in agriculture, energy sector and electrification. The program also included workshops on the role of entrepreneurs in creating shared value in Africa, how to speed up financial inclusion and the role of urbanization fostering social inclusion. On top of the business meetings, discussions and round tables, the conference also featured South-South Cooperation awards that were handed to three African enterprises, which contributed to developing intra-African trade through partnership or productive investment. The forum also featured awards for the best African young entrepreneurs for their innovation and contribution to sustainable development and society. According to analysts, in order to develop effective trade patterns, Africa must put structural and regulatory reforms high on its agenda and it should also enhance financial integration to speed up efforts leading to intensified exchanges with emerging markets in the rest of the world and among its own countries and regions. Unacceptable President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani was clear this week when he condemned Turkey for accusing Germany and the Netherlands of Nazi methods in response to the ban on campaigning by Turkish ministers in their countries in favor of a referendum to give the president additional powers. It is unacceptable that the President of Turkey referred to Nazism in relation to a democratic country. Germany fully guarantees all fundamental freedoms and with these comments, Erdogan offends all Europeans, Mr. Tajani commented. Even though the EU and Turkey cooperate on a broad range of issues including migration, foreign affairs and trade, their mutual relations have become strained in the past year. Turkey has been an EU membership candidate since 1999 but the European Parliament last year adopted a resolution calling for the talks to be temporarily suspended in response to the ongoing repression in Turkey Turkey is not showing this political will as the governments actions are further diverting Turkey from its European path. This month, Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian leader of the Alde group, accused Ankara of cynicism for advocating freedom of speech, while journalists are imprisoned in Turkey. Lets freeze the negotiations on Turkeys accession now, this is the only thing we can do now, he further said. The EU is particularly worried about the deteriorating human rights situation following a fact-finding mission to Turkey by the EUs Foreign Affairs Committee. Elmar Brok, who was chair at the time, said developments have driven Turkey farther away from the EU. MEPs have also debated the situation in Turkey in plenary on several locations. The EU and Turkey have very tight trade and economic relations. The bloc is by far Turkeys largest export market (44.5%), while Turkey is the EUs fourth largest export market (4.4%). Both sides also intensively cooperate on migration and their last year deal successfully stopped the influx of migrants reaching Europe illegally. Never have the Dutch elections been monitored so closely by the international community as the 15 March general elections to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives. The possibility of the rise of the Party for Freedom, a nationalist and right-wing populist political party, kept observers on their toes. On top of harsh populist and anti-migrant rhetoric, the run-up to the election had been characterized by the Dutch-Turkish diplomatic incident triggered by Turkish efforts to hold political rallies in the Netherlands and subsequent travel restrictions placed by Amsterdam on Turkish officials seeking to back up the campaign among Turkish nationals living in the Netherlands for a yes vote in the upcoming Turkish constitutional referendum. While the skirmishes between European capitals and Ankara have recently become sort of a norm, the Dutch-Turkish conflict is unusual mainly due to its vivid rhetoric. Famous for their prudent and, as some even call it, boring style of diplomacy, the attitude of the Dutch government towards Ankara was for the first time been very different from what was a norm before no longer lenient but persistently non-compromising. While it is not yet clear whether the effects of the crisis will disappear soon or will become a more enduring phenomenon, there are already lessons that can be learned from this unprecedented skirmish. First, Mark Rutte won the election but populism has been the primary winner of the diplomatic incident the crisis will likely prompt the Dutch authorities to pay a close attention to Turkey debates, as well as encourage more intensive anti-Turkish sentiments within the populist party. Second, the crisis can also have a reverse effect on some voter groups, and third, the Turkish government will likely steer clear from any economic sanction this is simply because, as the Turkish Statistical Institute, in 2016, Turkey exported $3.6 billion worth goods to, and imported $3 billion worth goods from the Netherlands. This made the Netherlands the 10th largest market for Turkeys exports. Fourth, refugees and diaspora Turks have been the main victims of the incidents involving Turkish migrants in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, having been heavily instrumentalized not only by the two governments, but also by the media. Fifth, with European debates on Turkey polarizing the society and mainstream politics in crisis, as it is slowly adapting to populism to win over populism, in Mark Ruttes words the wrong kind of populism the Dutch-Turkish diplomatic confrontation is likely to echo in other mainstream parties in Europe, particularly those facing elections. Lessons Learned: The Netherlands-Turkey Crisis in 5 Points Opinion by Melike Janine Sokmen Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB). (The Opinion can be downloaded here) On Sunday 26 February 2017 ELN Research Fellow Thomas Frear took part in a panel discussion hosted by the Brookings Doha Center (BDC), devoted to discussing the motives fueling Russias foreign policy. The panel included Andrey Kortunov, director-general of the Russian International Affairs Council; Majed al-Turki, president of the Center for Media and Arab-Russian Studies; and Thomas Frear, research fellow at the European Leadership Network. Beverley Milton-Edwards, visiting fellow at the BDC, moderated the event, which was attended by members of Dohas diplomatic, academic, and media community. According to the Brookings post-panel report, Thomas Frear noted that the West should not be perceived as a single actor, but as a multiplicity of players that act both as states and as multinational organizations. Therefore, Western appraisals of Russian foreign policy are not monolithic. Nevertheless, the Russian intervention in Ukraine and the subsequent annexation of the Crimean peninsula marked a major change in European security. This was the first time a European state added to its national territory through military action since World War II. The action thus challenged a host of international accords aimed at preserving global stability and spurred a number of military deployments and a cycle of sanctions and counter-sanctions throughout Europe. This explains the Wests general wariness and opposition to Russias foreign policy, including in the Middle East. Thomas noted that the election of Trump adds an aspect of uncertainty to this complex situation. While Trumps promises of better cooperation on Syria may have been welcomed by Russia, his remarks about expanding U.S. missile defenses focused on Iran and North Korea and his hostility toward the Iranian nuclear deal were most certainly not. Overall, any attempts to improve relations between Russia and the West, come with the caveat of an expectation that Russia will abide by its obligations under international law. The current conflict, Thomas continued, has brought to surface the underlying differences between Russia and the West in interpreting international law. The two parties virulently disagree on matters such as self-determination and the right to intervene in the affairs of a sovereign state. Unfortunately, those differences will continue to pit Russia and the West against each other for the foreseeable future. You can watch the panel discussion below: Hi, guys A child needs to apply for a study visa to attend primary school. The father is a permanent resident but the mother is on a work permit. The mother's work permit will be expiring before the end of 2017. Do you guys think the duration of the child's study visa will be tied up to the mother's work permit expiry date considering the father is permanent resident? Anyone who has had a sort of similar experience? Brent oil dropped to the lowest in almost four months as surging U.S. crude inventories dim optimism that OPEC and its partners will curb output enough to rebalance the market. The global benchmark fell below $50 a barrel for the first time this year during the session. American crude supplies hit a record last week and output rose as the nations oil drillers added rigs. But prices came off the days lows as attention shifted to gasoline stockpiles, which slipped for a fifth week. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and 11 other nations began trimming supply for six months starting Jan. 1 in an effort to ease a global supply glut. While OPEC wont decide until May whether to prolong the cuts, ministers and officials from outside the group will meet this weekend in Kuwait to discuss the deals progress. OPEC will extend the deal if stockpiles are still above their five-year average, Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said in an interview with Bloomberg Television last week. This has got to hurt Middle East producers a lot, Chip Hodge, who oversees a $12 billion natural-resource bond portfolio as senior managing director at John Hancock in Boston, said by telephone. Given where inventories are and the rise in the U.S. drilling, theres no impetus to move prices higher. Brent for May settlement declined 32 cents to $50.64 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was the lowest close since Nov. 30, the day that OPEC agreed to its historic output-reduction deal. Brent slipped as much as $1.25 to $49.71 during trading and settled below the 200-day moving average for the first time since mid-November. Total volume traded was about 43 percent above the 100-day average. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery dropped 20 cents, or 0.4 percent, to settle at $48.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. benchmark closed at a $2.60 discount to Brent. U.S. crude supplies climbed 4.95 million barrels to the highest in weekly Energy Information Administration data going back to 1982. Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI and the nations biggest oil storage hub, rose 1.42 million barrels. 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. Theres just too much oil out there, Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts, said by telephone. We keep being told the market will rebalance and were not seeing any evidence. Its hard to maintain a bullish posture here. American crude production increased for a fifth week to 9.13 million barrels a day, the most since February 2016. U.S. oil drillers boosted the rig count to 631 last week, the most since September 2015, Baker Hughes data show. The U.S. is clearly going to be the last market to feel the effect of the OPEC, non-OPEC agreement because we have relentless growth in domestic production, Thomas Finlon, director of Energy Analytics Group LLC in Wellington, Florida, said by telephone. Gasoline stockpiles fell to 243.5 million barrels, while inventories of distillate fuel, a category that includes diesel and heating oil, dropped to 155.4 million barrels, the lowest this year. The inventory report wasnt as bearish as it first looked, Gene McGillian, manager of market research for Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut, said by telephone. The product drops kind of offset the crude build. Russia and Saudi Arabia head to this weekends OPEC committee meeting as the tortoise and hare of a global deal to cut oil supply, with Moscow sticking to a slow and steady pace despite Riyadhs cajoling. OPECs de-facto leader Saudi Arabia publicly prodded the Kremlin to speed up and implement its full 300,000-barrel-a-day production cut by the end of this month, but Energy Minister Alexander Novak reiterated it wont reach the target before April four months into the agreement. While this pace has offset the impact of deeper-than-expected cuts by other OPEC members, the need to show unity means Russia is unlikely to get called out for its inertia, said Daniela Corsini, a Milan-based analyst at Intesa Sanpaolo SpA. Confidence in the OPEC/non-OPEC deal is the most important tool to protect crude prices, Corsini said by email. Saudi Arabia will not openly criticize poor Russian compliance as its not in their interest to scare market participants. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are almost three months into the pact to take 1.8 million barrels a day off the market in a bid to eliminate a global surplus after three years of glut. After a promising start in January, Russian production flatlined the following month and is now just over halfway to the reduction Moscow promised. Compliance from the 11 non-OPEC participants estimated at just 64 percent in February will come under scrutiny at a ministerial meeting in Kuwait City on Sunday. The agreement is set to last the six months through June, but several OPEC members are signaling an extension may be necessary. Benchmark Brent crude dropped below $50 a barrel for the first time since November on Wednesday as swollen U.S. stockpiles and rising shale production offset the impact of the cuts. Russian output has fallen 160,000 barrels a day from the October level a post-Soviet record and will fall another 40,000 barrels by the end of this month, Novak said on March 17. He has maintained since the deal was first struck that the target will be reached no sooner than April. The Russian cuts are slower than what Id like, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said in a March 7 interview with CNBC. But I think we are patient and we will see where we are in May and take it from there. The structure of the Russian oil industry makes it harder for the country to deliver on a supply pledge, according to Chris Weafer, a Moscow-based senior partner at Macro Advisory. Unlike OPEC, where you have only one national oil company, the Russia industry is fragmented and, therefore, its collective actions are unpredictable, he said. Even as Russia reduces output, producers are preparing for growth, according to Ildar Davletshin, an oil and gas analyst at Renaissance Capital. Capex guidance is up for most companies so no one is cutting spending, he 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. Companies are achieving lower volumes by slowing down electric submersible pumps, closing more wells for workovers and fracking less. They likely plan to make up for missed production volumes in the second half, Davletshin said. Those plans may have to be abandoned if the supply deal is extended. OPEC meets on May 25 to decide whether to continue. Al-Falih has said the group would prolong the deal if oil stockpiles remain high, and other members including Iraq have expressed their support for an extension. Russia hasnt ruled out such a move, Interfax news agency reported Wednesday, citing Vladimir Voronkov, the countrys envoy to international agencies in Vienna. A final decision will depend on Saudi Arabia, it said. I dont have serious reasons to think Russia will abandon the deal, as long as they benefit from higher and stable prices, Intesas Corsini said. (Xinhua) 11:06, March 23, 2017 The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) announced Thursday that its Board of Governors has adopted resolutions approving 13 applicants to join the bank, bringing the bank's total approved membership to 70. A spokesperson of AIIB made the announcement at a press conference here. This is the first time the multilateral development bank has welcomed new prospective members since its inception. The approved applicants are five regional prospective members -- Afghanistan, Armenia, Fiji, China's Hong Kong and Timor Leste -- and eight non-regional prospective members, namely Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia, Hungary, Ireland, Peru, Sudan and Venezuela. "The interest in joining AIIB from around the world affirms the rapid progress we have made to establish the bank as an international institution," said Jin Liqun, president of AIIB. "I am very proud that AIIB now has members from almost every continent, and we anticipate further applications being considered by our Board of Governors later this year," he said. The 13 prospective members will officially join AIIB once they complete the required domestic processes and deposit the first installment of capital with the bank. The shares allocated to the new prospective members come from the bank's existing pool of unallocated shares, according to AIIB. With 57 signatories at its establishment in 2015, AIIB aims to provide financing to address the daunting infrastructure needs across Asia. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Nearing the end of his first full two-year term on the San Antonio City Council, Roberto Trevino faces five challengers in his re-election bid to retain the District 1 job. A licensed architect and pilot, Trevino portrayed his council experience as a balancing act between fighting broad systemic problems, such as income inequality and gentrification, and tackling daily nuts-and-bolts complaints about sidewalks, streetlights, sewers and potholes. District 1 is like the rudder for the city, he said. We are the city center, the focus of arts and culture, tourism, the central business district and some of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. Trevinos opponents say he doesnt adequately stay in touch with his constituents and are promising to do more to keep the elderly in their homes and improve infrastructure. The incumbent dismisses the criticism as campaign rhetoric. Ive gone to over 60 neighborhood association meetings, he said. Weve hosted six public safety summits, 37 coffee with the councilman gatherings, two health fairs, and participated in 44 community outreach programs, such as the Feast of Sharing. I work seven days a week, said Trevino, 46. You wont find anyone who puts in more hours at City Hall and in their district than I do. More Information District 1 candidates Roberto Carlos Trevino Age: 46 Occupation: Architect Education: Texas Tech (B.A. and MBA) Family: Single Elected/appointed posts: Bexar County Appraisal District Lauro A. Bustamante Age: 66 Occupation: Attorney Education: St. Gerard's Catholic School (SA) Family: Married (Rebekah Bustamante), with 10 children. Elected/appointed posts: Board member, Edwards Aquifer Authority, 4 years. Robert Feria Age: 32 Occupation: Organizer, American Federation of Teachers Education: 12 years of public schools throughout the U.S.; attended Goucher College (Baltimore) and Georgia State University, majoring in philosophy. Family: Single Elected/appointed posts: None Adrian Flores, Jr. Age: 53 Occupation: Political consultant/landlord Education: St. Mary's (private school, SA), Edison High School; St. Philips culinary school Family: Single Elected/appointed posts: Precinct chair, 7 years for Democratic Party. Michael Montano Age: 36 Occupation: Attorney Education: Central Catholic High School, Yale, Stanford Law School. Family: Single Elected/appointed posts: none Ross Adam Trevino Age: 37 Occupation: Association manager See More Collapse He said he has championed a program called Under1Roof that has replaced the leaking roofs of 28 homes in his district with a reflective radiant barrier under white heat-repelling shingles. Working with UTSA, weve lowered the temperature in some homes by 23 degrees with these roofs, at a savings of $80 to $120 a month on some utility bills, Trevino said. These are older people, generally, and if we can keep them in their homes we keep the neighborhoods more stable. He said he wants a truly independent ethics officer for the city, a tree-planting fund for distressed neighborhoods, and continued emphasis on arts and urban design projects that enhance the citys cultural charm. Also in the race are perennial candidate Lauro Bustamante, a lawyer; Robert Feria, an organizer for the American Federation of Teachers; Adrian Flores Jr., a landlord and political consultant; Michael Montano, a lawyer, and Ross Adam Trevino, who listed his occupation as association manager. Bustamante, 66, has made unsuccessful runs for city council, mayor, justice of the peace, the U.S. House, the 4th Court of Appeals and multiple state district judgeships over the past two decades. He won a 2010 bid for the Edwards Aquifer Authority board. In May 2008, the State Bar of Texas suspended Bustamante for two years for professional misconduct stemming from his 1998 divorce, the Express-News reported in 2014. His failure to comply with the divorce decree prompted his ex-wife to sue in state and federal courts to force payments he owed her. Court records indicate Bustamante was jailed twice for contempt of court. In a 2005 ruling, a bankruptcy court found he had created a sham real estate partnership to manage an office building he owned under the name of his aging mother. Bustamante emphasized his desire to see environmental and energy innovations in the district, such as solar energy cells, desalination plants, driverless cars and electric buses, and for public school children to have laptops or tablet computers. San Antonio has to attract that market, by offering incentives for those kinds of companies to develop their new technologies here in our city, Bustamante said. Texas must allow Tesla to sell its vehicles in the state. (Like many states, Texas requires automobiles be sold through third-party dealers, which the electric car maker Tesla refuses to do.) I think Austin is far ahead of us in technology, he said. San Antonio is ripe for catching up, but we must keep our people here and train them. Feria, 32, said he is dissatisfied with the attention Roberto Trevino gives to corporate interests and developers rather than working-class families and stressed the need for City Hall to focus on social justice and transparency. A former philosophy major at Georgia State University Im one or two classes short of my degree, he said the first-time candidate vowed to work to establish a $15-an-hour living wage throughout the city. Feria said he supports bringing high-paying technology jobs to San Antonio, but only if the city aggressively works to train its residents to qualify for those jobs. More of the citys boards and commissions should put their meetings on live TV and it should be easier for residents to track council members votes on specific issues, he said. A simple solution is to tabulate the council votes from the minutes in a separate column on a spreadsheet and put that on the city website, Feria said. There is a joke among community activists, he said, that the regular item on the city councils agenda called Citizens To Be Heard should be renamed, Citizens To Be Ignored, stemming from the feeling people get that all the important decisions have already been made. Feria said Trevino sees himself as a mediator between the city and developers, rather than a representative of his constituents. Its a shame were spending millions on sprucing up Broadway, but not doing much for those people who have been in their low-income homes for generations. Flores, 53, a longtime Democratic Party precinct chair, said too much of the citys money has been spent on out-of-town consultants and pet projects like the Hardberger Park land bridge in the recent bond program. We need to bury the utility lines in District 1, Flores said. They look horrible. And most of our sewage pipes are clay, creating a huge problem for city workers. He wants less food waste in the citys schools and restaurants, more help for homeless veterans and housing for them that could be converted from shipping containers and more solar-powered schools. A former seminarian and piano mover, Flores said the city should fund a comprehensive job training center where veterans could go for basic health, showers and clothing. It would have to be run by the churches to be successful, he added. Haven for Hope doesnt take everyone yet. As for the incumbent, We gave him a chance, Flores said. I get nothing out of his office. He wont return my calls. Court records indicate that Flores was twice arrested for misdemeanor DWI, in 1995 in Austin and in 2014 in San Antonio. I do not let those (arrests) define me, Flores said. I am a Boy Scout compared to some other politicians. Montano, 36, with degrees from Yale University and Stanford Law School, is making his first run for elected office and spoke of a leadership vacuum in this district. What I keep hearing is that Trevino focuses too much on his own vanity projects, like all those new white roofs and $100,000 toilets (the Portland Loo project downtown), over what the district really needs, Montano said. Montano, who grew up on the South Side, said he wants to focus on streets, sidewalks and drainage problems in District 1. Statistics he obtained from the San Antonio Police Department show violent and property crimes both increased in the district last year, but a more collaborative effort between the city and SAPD could help reduce crime, he said. Older and lower-income families are being pushed out of some of the districts rapidly changing neighborhoods, and the city must continue to use financial incentives to attract affordable housing development, but not the high-end condominiums that are popping up in some older neighborhoods, Montano said. Im not anti-development, he said. But we have to protect the people who have lived in these neighborhoods for decades and give these neighborhoods their character. He has acknowledged to the Express-News that in October 2002, as a Yale student, he was charged with nine counts of providing a false statement in absentee balloting. According to reports in the Yale Daily News, he was charged by the Connecticut states attorney with falsely affirming that he aided nine Fair Haven voters in completing applications for absentee ballots in a local election. Though the articles say Montano was allowed to perform community service, he and the attorney who represented him in the case said all the charges were dismissed. The state attorneys investigator on the case, Thomas Trocchio, did not return calls. In the eyes of Connecticut, Michael Montano was never arrested. The case was without merit, New Haven attorney Mark Goodman said. The judge recognized I did nothing wrong, Montano said. I was a young, naive college student. I collected a bunch of (applications for) ballots, and the town clerk said I had to sign them, so I signed them. It was an innocent mistake. Ross Trevino, 37, was contacted four times by the Express-News and did not respond to interview requests. bselcraig@express-news.net Lawmakers in Austin are considering legislation that would allow the state to license two controversial family detention centers near San Antonio, a move that would bring the facilities closer to complying with a court settlement governing the treatment of immigrant children. Because the centers hold adults and children, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services initially wouldnt license the facilities in Dilley and Karnes City when they were opened in 2014 after large numbers of Central Americans were crossing the border and claiming asylum. The next year, a federal judge in California ruled that immigration officials couldnt hold families for extended periods of time in Karnes City and Dilley because the centers werent licensed and were closed facilities that the families couldnt leave. The judge ruled that immigration officials must quickly release families held in those centers. The federal government still uses them as processing centers and says it releases families after about 21 days. The DFPS made an emergency rule change allowing it to license the facilities, sparking a series of lawsuits that ended with a judge in Austin ruling that the state didnt have authority to inspect and license family detention centers. Identical pieces of legislation introduced in the Texas Senate and House would allow DFPS to license the centers and give the department permission to exempt them from state rules governing child care facilities. The legislation would strike an existing state law preventing DFPS from licensing facilities where immigrants who have not committed crimes are held, but it contains language clarifying that the law would not authorize the state to enforce federal immigration laws. Reps. John Raney, R-Bryan, John Cyrier, R-Bastrop, and Mark Keough, R-The Woodlands and Sens. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, and Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, did not not respond to requests for comment. Dr. Marsha Griffin, the co-author of a policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics that outlined the negative effects of family detention, said the detention centers are inappropriate for children and dont meet basic needs or standards of child care. The 2,400-bed center in Dilley and the 800-bed facility in Karnes City have classrooms, play areas and on-site medical care, but the academy found that they were not sufficient and that detained children suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and have higher rates of anxiety, depression and behavioral problems. Griffin said the centers maintain jail-like conditions, including flashlight checks in childrens rooms while theyre sleeping. The centers should not be alleviated or released from those requirements that are set by law in Texas, Griffin said. Pablo Paez, vice president for corporate relations at the Geo Group, which operates the Karnes City center, directed questions about the future of family detention the number of detainees at the centers is unusually low, and the Trump administration has said its considering detaining parents separately from their children to federal officials. Paez wouldnt say if Geo worked with legislators to craft the bills. We support any effort to provide appropriate levels of government oversight and ensure the highest standards of care for the children and parents entrusted to us, he said. We remain focused on providing high-quality care in a safe and humane setting. Jonathan Burns, the director of public affairs for CoreCivic, the company that operates the Dilley center, said his company was not involved in writing the legislation. He also didnt answer questions about whether the Trump administration was likely to continue holding families in Dilley and Karnes City. Our focus continues to be on meeting our government partners stated needs with dignity and safety for the individuals they entrust to our care, Burns said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it couldnt comment on the pending legislation. In response to the American Academy of Pediatrics report, ICE said, Family residential centers are an effective and humane alternative for maintaining family unity as families go through immigration proceedings or await return to their home countries. jbuch@express-news.net Twitter: @jlbuch This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN Senate budget-writers eased the pain of their tight spending plan with a $2.5 billion fiscal maneuver Wednesday, but House Speaker Joe Straus immediately rebuffed their proposal as Enron-esque and said his chamber wont go for it. The scuffle was just the latest between the two chambers about how to meet the needs of a growing state despite a downturn in revenues caused by the uncertain oil-and-gas industry and their past decisions to cut taxes and dedicate significant funding to transportation. Counting money twice in order to balance the budget is not a good idea. This is the Texas Legislature. We are not Enron, said Straus, R-San Antonio, comparing the poster child for financial scandal to the funding mechanism supporting the Senate Finance Committees two-year budget proposal. The Senate committees spending plan totals $217.7 billion in state and federal funds and was approved 15-0 by the committee. It next goes to the full Senate. Finance Committee Chair Jane Nelson said after the committee vote that the $2.5 billion solved a lot of our problems and maintained in the face of Strauss criticism that its a smart money management decision. The Senate committees maneuver would delay the transfer of $2.5 billion thats promised for transportation in the coming two-year budget. Postponing the transfer until the beginning of the following budget period in fiscal year 2020 means it wouldnt count against the upcoming two-year spending plan, said Nelson, R-Flower Mound. Along with other cost savings, the maneuver allowed the Finance Committees budget proposal to include $106.3 billion in state general revenue spending over the next two years. Thats slightly less than the current state general revenue share of the budget but more than the $103.6 billion of general revenue in Nelsons starting-point budget. Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said delaying the transfer also will ensure the comptroller has all the information from the 2019 fiscal year to ensure the proper amount is being transferred to transportation. This does not take away any of that money from transportation, Nelson emphasized. But Straus took issue with the proposed Senate budget counting the $2.5 billion as being dedicated to transportation while the document simultaneously counts on the money being freed up for other purposes due to the delayed transfer. Formally reducing transportation spending in the two-year budget period, part of up to $5 billion approved by voters for that purpose, would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. But thats not what Senate budget-writers are proposing. Im not interested in cooking the books just to avoid a vote on the rainy day fund, said Straus, citing yet another big budget issue that is dividing the House and Senate. House leaders have suggested it makes sense to use a portion of the rainy day fund to stave off deeper budget cuts. The state savings account that is expected to reach $12 billion at the end of the next fiscal cycle if untapped. But leaving the fund intact has become a mantra among some conservatives, despite its effect on services. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, praised the Finance Committee for covering key services without dipping into the fund. Nelson said there is absolutely no appetite in the Senate for dipping into the rainy day fund for ongoing expenses or to cover a supplemental spending plan. The supplemental bill, a regular part of the budget process, will cover larger-than-anticipated expenses in the current budget cycle. Delaying the transfer of transportation funding, she said, is a smart money management decision that allows us to responsibly meet our needs without raiding the rainy day fund. Gov. Greg Abbott also has said hes confident the budget can be balanced without looting the savings account. Sen. Juan Hinojosa, a McAllen Democrat who is Finance Committee vice chair, said he sees nothing wrong with freeing up funds by postponing a payment. He said hed like to dip into the rainy day fund but obviously the votes are not there. As far apart as the House and Senate are in their approaches to the budget, Hinjosa said, Some of those solutions at some point will need to be worked out by the big three, the leadership Governor Abbott, Speaker Straus and Lieutenant Governor Patrick. Lawmakers who will work to negotiate differences after the House and Senate pass their spending plans will need at least the perimeters of an agreement among the leadership to guide us on how we are going to adjust and fund state government, Hinojosa said. pfikac@express-news.net Twitter: @pfikac Southtown residents said they were excited when Efraim Varga, a local house-flipper turned developer, announced in 2013 that he would build 28 stylish townhomes on an abandoned trailer park on Roosevelt Avenue. Varga said he expected to finish the project, known as The Park at Lone Star, by mid-2015, according to news reports. But the property remains empty nearly four years after the project was announced, except for a driveway and a few electrical boxes. Varga recently put it up for sale, raising the question of whether the townhomes will ever come to be. He had a tractor on there that we would joke about, said Victoria Garcia, president of the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association. Every time we would call him to ask him to give us an update, the tractor would move around from one side to the other to push some dirt around and make it look like something was happening. RELATED: NRP Group plans mixed-income apartment near Lone Star Brewery Some residents of Southtown are frustrated by the lack of progress Varga has made on Park at Lone Star and two other townhome projects he announced in recent years, Sunglo Urban Homes and Lotus Urban Homes. They say theyre skeptical of his ability to pull off an ambitious $150 million mixed-use development project called Essex Modern City that would bring huge amounts of office space, retail, apartments and condos to a former pallet manufacturing site in the struggling neighborhood of Denver Heights. The project is in its early days, to be sure. Varga and his partners are just beginning to raise financing and talk to potential leasing agents; theyve hired local architecture firm CREO to draw up schematic plans, and Big Red Dog to handle the engineering. Varga is teaming up with Harris Bay, a California investment firm founded in 2014 that flips houses in San Antonio and is building some townhomes in East Austin. East Side leaders have high hopes for Essex, saying it would bring much-needed jobs and retail to the area. But they acknowledge that building it will be a challenge. A $150 million project thats something you dont pull off every day. You have to have some big-pocketed investors, said Aubry Lewis, president of the Denver Heights Neighborhood Association. For their part, Varga and Harris Bay co-founder Jake Harris say theyve already raised nearly $6 million, which they used to buy Essexs 8-acre footprint last year, with enough left over to pay for architectural plans. Theyre confident they can raise the rest by partnering with other developers, taking out bank loans and by receiving local and federal subsidies. Construction will be easier because Essex wont be in a historic district, they said. RELATED: East Side to receive $150 million Pearl-like development We have millions and millions of dollars invested into this The retirement accounts, the people we put behind this, is whats really going to get this project done, Harris said. He added, Were hoping that this is a big enough project that the city helps us move quickly through the process, sort of like theyve done with other projects coming online now. The city has allotted about $877,000 in incentives for Vargas townhome projects in Southtown, according to the Center City Development and Operations Department. He has received about $213,000 of that so far $205,400 for Sunglo and $7,500 for the up-for-sale Park at Lone Star. The Park at Lone Star incentives included fee waivers and funds for an environmental assessment of the site. Varga said in an interview that his townhome projects have been delayed because of unexpected roadblocks that are typical in construction projects. He noted that other Southtown projects such as SOJO Urban Developments Cedar Street Townhomes have also taken a long time to get off the ground. My projects are not delayed because of financing or my capability to do them, he said. If my projects are delayed, its because of neighborhoods, code enforcement, zoning. Every developer goes through these. Sunglo, on South Presa Street, had a well-publicized groundbreaking in fall 2015 attended by U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett. Varga said at the time that he hoped to finish the homes by December of last year, according to news reports. Nothing has been built yet, although workers have laid the groundwork for utilities and a driveway. Varga said that after he applied for construction permits the city told him the project would violate height restrictions, so he had to go before the neighborhood conservation district to get permission. Harris Bay partnered with him on the project after a previous investor was cut out of the deal because he wasnt producing enough financing, he said. Construction is expected to wrap up this fall, he said. Another townhome project across the street from Sunglo, Lotus Urban Homes, was also announced in fall 2015 and has yet to break ground. With Park at Lone Star, Varga said he wasnt aware when he bought the site in 2013 that it was above an old SAWS sewer line that serves only a few homes. Now, SAWS expects him to reroute the line, he said. Its not my responsibility at all, Varga said. Anne Hayden, a spokeswoman for SAWS, said Varga signed a utility service agreement in 2014 stating that he would bear the cost if he wanted to move the sewer line before SAWS decided to replace it. Varga only asked SAWS to pay to move the line after realizing that their plan to move it wouldnt work, she said. He disputes that he signed such a document. Varga said he decided to put Park at Lone Star up for sale so he could focus on Essex. He doesnt plan to sell Sunglo or Lotus, he said. If I could get some of these off the table and focus on that, that would be ideal, he said. If not, were just going to build it out ourselves. Collaborative Homes, Vargas company that owns some of his properties, is almost two months behind in paying about $10,700 in property taxes owed for the Park at Lone Star and $6,715 for Sunglo, according to the Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector. Varga who was born in Hungary but moved with his family to California at age six has always wanted to become a developer, he said. His father and grandfather worked in construction, and he got his start as a construction manager in his fathers company, he said. During the housing crisis, he decided to move to San Antonio after doing research on cities that were holding up well economically. Since moving here, Varga has bought, fixed up and sold at least a dozen homes, property records show. Local residents who bought the homes say they were happy with his work. Shana Robles, who bought a home from him last year, recalled that he hauled away a dead tree in her back yard even though he didnt have to. My experience was absolutely wonderful, Robles said. He went above and beyond. Varga and Harris said theyre confident in their ability to finance the Essex project, which would include 80,000 square feet of creative office space, 65,000 square feet of retail, 248 apartments, 160 condominiums, 80 townhomes and a food hall, as well as spectacular amenities such as a climbing wall and vertical farms. Harris Bay is leading the financing effort, especially its co-founder Anton Bayer, who has a background in finance and founded the investment firm Up Capital Management. The team has met with Frost Bank and other local banks to discuss construction loans for the project, Varga and Harris said. Theyre looking for another developer to build the projects multifamily portion. Essexs development team is also considering financing the project through the federal governments EB5 program, which allows foreigners to gain residency in the U.S. by investing in programs that create jobs, Harris said. They plan to apply for city incentive programs, and they hope they will be eligible for federal incentives because the project is within the Eastside Promise Zone. Jackie Gorman, executive director of San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside, said shes hopeful that the project will come to fruition. She noted that Varga and his partners have already spent money in the neighborhood. Im a little more confident in this project than others that (developers) have talked about, Gorman said. They bought land. Thats more than a lot of other people have done. Theyve actually spent some dollars. rwebner@express-news.net @rwebner After the establishment of the PLA Honor Guard, China implemented motorcycle escorts in June 1954 for visiting foreign leaders. Then-Prime Minister of India and Minister of External Affairs Jawaharlal Nehru was the first national leader to be guarded by the escorts during his visit on Oct. 19, 1954. As an arm of the Chinese Armed Police Force, the motorcycle escort draws top riders from across China. In addition to selection standards such as political discipline, height, appearance and fitness, close to a dozen other strict tests are applied to applicants, including a physical, riding skills and psychological test. Apart from advanced riding skills, members of the escort are also trained in combat and shooting, and are guided to cultivate lightning-fast response times. With intense competition and frequent eliminations, it takes three to four years on average to become a qualified escort guard. Along with gun salutes and honor guards, motorcycle escorts are also considered the highest protocol for international diplomatic events. Establishing a bridge of friendship, the escorts convey a hope for peace to visiting leaders through their service. I watched with interest as the story of the Bynum School of northern Montana was told, and thought perhaps this holds the answer to a whole lot of lifes challenges. The tiny school at the foot of the Rockies made the NBC national news one recent evening not for something that would jar us with horror, but for an enduring tradition that shapes young lives in a joyous way. Dancing Every morning, before the day of schooling begins, the students of all ages gather for twenty minutes of dancing, followed by group singing. Teacher Susan Luinstra lights up with a smile as she describes the minute the music starts to play, as children rush to get a partner and hit the dance floor. The melodies often date back to an era before their parents even arrived in the world, and provide the type of simple rhythm that makes one focus on the moment, dancing with a partner. Luinstra told the origins of this tradition. Mr. Perkins Ira Perkins taught at the country school for 50 years, and believed it was dancing and singing that would hold the key to enduring the Great Depression. His thought was that even on the days when a child arrived at school with a chip on his shoulder, twenty minutes of dance could transform the day in to something good. He felt this partnership on the dance floor would bring, as the commentator explains, ranch kids and town kids, poor kids and kids with plenty to a place where experiencing joy together was a certainty. To dance, one has to work with a partner, and reaching that end result sets everything else aside. The children learn all types of dancing, including the joyous square dance, and the simple steps of the waltz which teaches timing and a need to pay attention to a partner. As their instructor says, this helps the children in ways which they carry with them out in to the world. Luinstra herself was once a student at the school, and it is obvious that she is happily carrying on the tradition of her former teacher, Mr. Perkins. Singing After dancing, the students and teacher gather on the floor to sing together before class begins for the day. Many of the songs date back to pre-Civil War days, lyrics sweetly telling love and life stories, tales of both heartache and joy, and simple triumphs. A community dance was held at the end of this particular week, and the turnout was impressive. A span of generations gathered for a good old square dance. Who can be sour or contrite while square dancing? With the first quarter of the year coming to a close, of course the profitability of the dairy industry is still uncertain for 2017. The mild, yet lingering winter will affect crop production. For example, how well did your alfalfa fields survive the heaving from the freezes and thaws? The milk price was low in 2016, but optimism remains for additional improvement in 2017. There appears to be some positive direction in exports, which could be a key factor to improvement in milk price. Of course, dependent on the crop year ahead, feed prices are expected to remain moderate. This is very critical since feed typically consists of 50 percent of the costs of milk production. Of continual discussion this year will be the farm bill and the Margin Protection Program (MPP). I think it is somewhat beneficial that it is finally being acknowledged that the MPP did not have the success for which the industry hoped. New proposals This acknowledgement has now spurred other program proposals and modifications to the MPP. A couple of cliches come to mind as I reflect on the MPP. One of which is, Im from the government, Im here to help you. If a farmer is always counting on the government program to keep them profitable, then I would say you are a risk taker. Management aspects need to be in place to make the dairy operation most profitable, whether an effective support program is in place or not. The other cliche is the KISS (Keep It Simple, well you know the other S) principle is not always the best principle to use. The MPP was initiated to be kept simple; however, regional milk prices may vary by $2-4.50/cwt and regional feed costs may vary by $2/cwt or more. Feed costs One of the proposed modifications to the MPP is regionalizing the feed costs, something that was known as a key issue with the beginning of the program. With the volatility of milk prices, I think efforts to stabilize the milk price, thus remove the lows of profitability, are important, but the approach used may not be simple and unintended consequences need to be avoided. Continued discussion on potential modifications to MPP or an alternative program will take up a lot of peoples time during 2017, something the industry seemingly just went through to develop the MPP. Modernization of the dairy industry will continue in 2017, with new herd management technology being installed, increased number of farms with robotic milkers, and increased number of farms with automated milk feeding systems for dairy heifers. The continued issues with hiring farm employees, potential changes in immigration laws, and farmers preference to spend less time in managing labor will continue to drive these adoptions of technology. Robotic milkers Because of these forces, the use of robotic milkers in Ohio is well beyond where many predicted five to 10 years ago. Certainly as 2017 advances, it is important to be optimistic about the dairy industry and to continue to work together for its success. Several changes within the industry are likely to occur this year, but the fundamentals are developing goals for the operation, controlling costs, and pursuing price improvements. The goals will need to focus on the plans for short- or long-term investment in the dairy industry and whether it is time for some of the new technology. Editor: The West Virginia Senate and House leadership is offering citizens property rights for sale to the natural gas industry. Terms of sale: Natural gas corporations must provide funds for political rhetoric whether it is true or false. They must fund Super Pacs that only support conservative, corporate-biased candidates. (Nonpartisan judge positions are available). These corporations need to promise voters a lot of jobs even if they are temporary, subject to boom and bust cycles, and workers are recruited outside our borders. As a bonus, the industry will have the benefit of weak environmental enforcement and a newly passed law allowing for more pollution in our rivers. SB576 is the newest forced pooling bill. There are two parts to the bill, co-tenancy and joint development. Throughout the bill, surface protections are removed, companies can pull in acreage without paying signing bonuses, the 1/8 royalty is subject to deductions and many other problems for West Virginia mineral and landowners are buried in the legal language. Joint development is basically transferring private property to industry for larger profits. This would be mandated by law. HB2688 gives the natural gas corporations unlimited access to private property for surveying. This allows the use of trucks and equipment of their choice on your land without your permission. If you are a landowner who supports this bill, contact the industry and ask their legal department to prepare an easement that allows industry to trespass on your land at their free will. The natural gas industry is using our elected representatives and our courts to bully and abuse our land and mineral owners. Did you vote for these people to give away your property rights? West Virginia needs to use this resource to bring our state out of poverty and not to take citizens property and give those rights to corporations to make larger profits. The industry has come up with deductions and fees to take the mandatory 12.5 percent (1/8) royalty down to a lower percentage and in some cases the mineral owner owes the company money for producing their minerals. Most West Virginia mineral owners will spend royalty money and pay taxes in West Virginia. Call Senate and House leaders and ask them to oppose these bills. Property owners have the right to negotiate with the industry for what they feel benefits them and their land. We do not need state government setting the terms for our private property! We would like to thank WV Royalty Owners Organization, National Royalty Owners Association, WV Farm Bureau, WV Surface Owners Rights Organization, WV Land & Mineral, Sen. Romano and Sen. Facemire for their continued opposition to these bills and supporting the best interest of West Virginia. If the industry would work on a bill that benefits all sides, and not biased to their interest only, then we would all be willing to work with them. Give our state the opportunity to profit from this resource. Bill and Priscilla Suan Lost Creek, West Virginia THOMPSON, Ohio The Thompson Ledge Dairymen held the first meeting of the year Feb. 18, at Thompson Town Hall. Nominations and voting for new club officers were held. Also, the chapter went over new poultry changes. The club discussed and decided to do a 4-H window display at Robisons Equipment Supply and Schafferts Feed in Thompson. Members also discussed the new fair theme for 2017, which is Country roots and cowboy boots. The club will be doing a fundraiser by selling Malleys Chocolates. The next meeting is April 8. BERLIN CENTER, Ohio The Village Varieties 4-H club met March 7. The club discussed scholarships at Camp Whitewood and camp fees. Trash pick up is April 1 at the OBrock house. Demonstrations were on CPR. BERLIN CENTER, Ohio The Mahoning County Goat Herders 4-H club met March 13 at the OBrock farm. The club discussed quality assurance and what everyone learned. They also talked about kidding. The next meeting will be April 24 at 7 p.m. at the OBrock farm. The club will play goat bingo to learn the parts of a goat. CANFIELD, Ohio Mahoning County Junior Fair Board members elected their 2017 officers: Karl Reph , president; Kristyn Svetlak, vice president; Karlee Banks, secretary/treasurer; Tess Emerson, assistant secretary/treasurer; and Callia Barwick and Sam Colonna, news reporters. Committee chairs were also elected: public relations committee will be guided by Callia Barwick and Samantha Colonna, the dance committee will be led by Brittany Siembieda, the Battle of the Barns will be headed by Elizabeth Schemetti and Kacey Cusick, the talent show will be organized by Tyler Moff, and the Youth Day committee will be led by Kristyn Svetlak. Senior fair board member Ward Campbell discussed new buildings and a new junior fair area scheduled for 2018, Judge Anthony DApolito shared interview tips and how to preparing for the future, and Beth Smith, the new 4-H youth development leader, talked about the 4-H Achievement Record and the rewards of good record keeping. Mahoning County Junior Fair Board will meet again April 20, at 7 p.m., in the Colonial Inn on the Canfield Fairgrounds. TUCSON, Ariz. By tagging individual bumblebees with microchips, biologists have gained insights into the daily life of bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) in unprecedented detail. The team found that while most bees are generalists collecting both pollen and nectar, individual workers tend to specialize on one of the two during any given day, dedicating more than 90 percent of their foraging sorties to either pollen or nectar. The observations also revealed that individual bumblebee workers differ vastly in terms of their foraging activity. Just like their domesticated cousins, the honey bees, bumblebees play important roles as pollinators, thus helping in agriculture and fruit production. But despite the ecological services they provide, many aspects of their biology still remain a mystery. Tags By outfitting each bumblebee with a radio frequency identification, or RFID, tag similar to the ones used to protect merchandise from shoplifters the researchers were able to keep tabs on them at all times and log the data automatically instead of relying on human observations limited to certain times. The way these studies have typically been done requires a human observer sitting in front of a hive entrance and taking notes all day, and nobody wants to do that, said Avery Russell, a doctoral student in entomology at the University of Arizona. With the RFID chips, we can track every nectar and pollen collection trip made over each workers lifespan and a portion of the colonys lifespan. Mating Once a bumblebee queen has mated, she burrows into the ground and overwinters. The following spring, she emerges and starts a hive that lasts until the fall. A typical bumblebee colony grows to about 75 workers, with about 40 to 50 going out and foraging on flowers for nectar and pollen. After the colonys growth phase, the colony produces unfertilized eggs that hatch into males. The male bumblebees then disperse in search for other unmated queens to begin the cycle anew. Each individual bee only lives between two weeks to a month at the most, Russell said, and even though they behave as generalists over their lifetime, our study showed that they tend to specialize on one food source over the course of a foraging day. The researchers were surprised to find a vast difference in efficiency, with the most active foragers making 40 times the number of trips each day as the least active workers. Interestingly, when we studied the morphology between very active foragers and workers that barely leave the hive, we found that bees with more sensitive antennae foraged more, Russell said. If you watch a bee only for an hour or so, you cant say what it will do over the course of a few days or over its whole life, Russell said. We dont yet know why, but it could be that workers that forage less do so because they arent quite as skilled at foraging as others and make themselves useful by doing more around the hive. To track the bees behavior, the team superglues tiny RFID tags to the backs of the bees. Each tag weighs only 2 to 3 percent of the bees weight. A Y-tube connects the hive to two arenas, one that offers pollen and one that offers nectar. When a bee leaves the hive to forage, it can choose to go to the pollen chamber or the nectar chamber. Two RFID readers mounted at the entrance keep track of the bees going in and out and help the researchers collect a wealth of data. This set up gives us information about directionality, Russell explains. Is the forager leaving or returning from foraging? We also get an idea of whether a bee goes from one chamber to the other, or whether it makes repeated trips to only one chamber, and we get to know how long the trips were. Each RFID reader only spits out timestamps and the identity of the bee, so if you want to know what the bees are doing, you need to parse all that information and turn it into things we can understand, Russell said. For example, how many trips a forager makes per day. While honey bees are known to be very consistent and tend to stick to one species of plant and often one type of reward over a day, a phenomenon known as floral consistency, bumblebees were thought to be more generalist. Foraging The present study came somewhat as a surprise in that Russells team found the bees tend to make strings of foraging runs for the same reward on a given day. One possible explanation is that foraging for pollen versus nectar requires very different behavioral regimes, so it makes sense for them to focus on one at a time, he said. Also, in many cases pollen and nectar are not both available from the same plant species. Researchers still dont know why bees switch between foraging for nectar or pollen. Bumblebees that specialize in a task, either over the course of their lifetime or over the course of a foraging day, turned out to be no more active than their generalist peers, however. Neither were they found to be larger, more able foragers raising the question as to why they specialize in the first place. One of the reasons bees might specialize could be some sort of memory constraint, Russell said. Rather than having to switch back and forth between dealing with many different floral designs and constructions, it might be more efficient to just stick with one for the duration of a foraging day. As for the more domestic individuals that were found to forage far less than their more adventurous colleagues, Russell says that this might reflect economics of skill allocation. Those that are less good at foraging probably shouldnt go foraging in the first place. The PGA board met on Friday and we are keen to meet with Ms Saffioti as soon as possible, to explain the view of the pastoralists and what will bring prosperity to the Rangelands. The test will be for (new Agriculture and Food Minister) Alannah MacTiernan in a cabinet full of metropolitan members of parliament with big commitments to make good on, to hold on to that resource and make sure that its being spent appropriately on diversifying the economy, meeting the needs of regional West Australians and delivering on that hope and promise that we have managed to secure for them for the past eight years. A story of American inventor Thomas Edison will be removed from the newest edition of a Chinese elementary school textbook after it was criticized by scholars as not in accordance with history and common sense. The story, which was previously included in a Chinese textbook for Grade 2 students, noted that, as electric lights had not yet been invented, 7-year-old Thomas Edison utilized mirrors to reflect candlelight to help doctors finish an appendectomy being performed on his mother. Edison's clever method, the story went, saved his mother's life. Though the story has been taught for almost 30 years, many educators and scholars have challenged its authenticity, worrying that students could see it as license to lie if it is perceived as false. I have often doubted the accuracy of this story when teaching it to my students. After searching carefully online, I realized that the story may be a fake one, as there is no written record in English of Edison saving his mother, Chen Jiaqi, a Beijing-based elementary school teacher, told the Peoples Daily Online. According to a scientific article published on Colombia Universitys official website, titled "History of Medicine: The Mysterious Appendix," surgical treatment for appendicitis didn't become commonplace until the 1880s. However, Edison would have been 7 much earlier, in 1854. In response to the controversy, the publisher, Peoples Education Press, said in an announcement on March 21 that the story will not be included its new textbook for the coming autumn semester. The controversial story has also stirred up heated debate online. Many internet users recalled their own experiences studying inaccurate stories" in elementary school, and left comments under the hashtag NewTextbook&EdisonSavesMother on Sina Weibo, which had garnered over 600,000 page views as of press time. In addition to Edisons story, I also learned in elementary school the fable of George Washington cutting down his fathers cherry tree and then bravely admitting his fault, which has since been disputed. I think those stories were made up for educational purposes, like teaching the kids to be honest or innovative, and I have no problems with such adaptations, one netizen wrote. However, most netizens agreed that the fake stories should be removed from the textbook, for fear that students may be encouraged to lie themselves if they are fed with lies. Kids at such a young age are not equipped with mature judgment. They believe what they are taught, including those lies. Though it is a Chinese-language textbook, it should also cultivate kids morals, rather than encouraging them to lie, another netizen commented. This is why we are very excited about our recent purchase of Southern Districts Estate Agency because it is a company that is well run, is respectful and looks after its people. Assistant Commonwealths Attorney James A. Willett questions Shadow Rams Jr. about the day his brother, Prince McLeod Rams died in the care of his father on March 13 in Prince William Circuit Court. China to launch new weather satellite in second half of 2017 BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- China will launch a new meteorological satellite in the second half of this year, which will be capable of detecting auroras, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced Thursday. The satellite, the country's fourth Fengyun-III meteorological satellite, is expected to improve weather disaster forecasting ability as well as environmental monitoring. Compared with its previous three Fengyun-IIIs, the new one will be more reliable, stable and accurate, as it will be equipped with several new remote sensors, according to CASC scientist Zhu Wei. The new satellite will carry sensors to detect changes in auroras and the ionosphere, and a microwave imager to provide constant all-weather monitoring of global weather indicators, Zhu said. China plans to launch another four Fengyun-IIIs in the future, helping shorten the interval between world weather forecast updates from six hours to four hours and double the frequency of updates for weather disaster monitoring. Fengyun satellites are a series of remote-sensing meteorological satellites developed by China. Fengyun-I and Fengyun-III are polar orbiting weather satellites, while Fengyun-II and Fengyun-IV operate in geostationary orbit. Previously, China has successfully launched 15 weather satellites. The Lion King Leonard Glenn FrancisThe group of top Navy officers allegedly on the take called themselves the Cool Kids, this Band of Brothers, the Brotherhood, the Wolfpack, the familia, and the Lion Kings Harem. The Lion King was Leonard Glenn Francis, aka Fat Leonard, the 350-pound Malaysian owner and boss of Glenn Defense Marine Asia. His Singapore-based company also operated in Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, the Philippines and the United States exactly where it needed to be to take care of the mighty Seventh Fleet. For more than a decade, Glenn Defense Marine Asia sold the Navy food, fuel, and water. It hauled away trash and pumped out liquid waste. Sometimes it provided tug boat service, and transported Navy personnel between ship and shore. Among those in the Lion Kings Harem, according to the DOJs latest indictment, were at least three Navy Captains Newly, Rick and Too Tall. There was a Marine Corp Colonel nicknamed Bubbles, and a Navy Commander called Choke. There was even an Admiral. Francis himself was arrested in 2013 in San Diego. He pleaded guilty to bribing scores of Navy officers with a steady stream of airline tickets, hotel stays, meals, cash, electronics, boozy parties, and prostitutes. The bribes allegedly helped Francis company win approvals for inflated invoices and claims for more compensation, and quash bid protests filed by competitors. The graft also gave Francis special access to Navy ships, which the officers sometimes moved to certain ports-of-call so that Francis company could service them, the DOJ said. The Seventh Fleet was established in 1943, in the middle of World War Two. Its still Americas largest forward-deployed fleet with 60 to 70 ships, up to 300 aircraft, and about 40,000 Sailors and Marines. The area of operations for the Seventh Fleet is the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Arabian Gulf some 52 million square miles. Thats more than 14 times the size of the entire continental United States. Command of the Seventh Fleet rests with the flag ship USS Blue Ridge. According to the DOJ, the Lion Kings Harem occupied the top rungs of the Seventh Fleet and the USS Blue Ridge. One Harem member had been the Commanding Officer of the USS Blue Ridge. Another served as the Blue Ridges Chief of Staff, responsible for administrative oversight of all aspects of the Seventh Fleet, including de facto control when the Seventh Fleet Commander was out of the region. An officer named in the indictment was the Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations aboard the supercarrier USS Kitty Hawk, responsible for directing the operations of all combat ships in the Seventh Fleet. Another coordinated all missions of the U.S. Marine Corps within the Seventh Fleets area of operations including deployments of Marines to Iraq and Afghanistan. There was the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence for the Seventh Fleet, whose role included assessing and counteracting foreign intelligence threats. One of the Navy Captains was responsible for meeting the logistical needs of every Navy ship inside the Seventh Fleets area of operations. The Executive Officer of the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier, was also named in the indictment. In all, the DOJ said, there were 22 members of the alleged conspiracy that kept Francis company busy and protected. In return he supplied the officers with walking-around money, electronic gadgets, airplane tickets, hotel rooms and, above all, prostitutes. One way the conspirators helped Francis, according to the indictment, was by leaking to him planned Seventh Fleet ship movements. The Harem gave up actual classified ship schedules and narrative summaries of them, the indictment said. The Navy officers named in the latest indictment were all subject to a Department of Defense regulation related to counterintelligence awareness and reporting. DoDD 5240.06 requires mandatory reporting of any improper handling or disclosure of classified information, any attempt to entice co-workers into criminal situations that could lead to blackmail or extortion, and any attempt to place those personnel under obligation through special treatment, favors, gifts, or money. Thats a nearly perfect description of how Leonard Glenn Francis allegedly corrupted and subverted some of the most powerful and important officers in the United States Navy. * * * As the DOJs Alana Robinson said, the Seventh Fleets highest-ranking officers allegedly worked together as a team to trade secrets for sex, serving the interests of a greedy foreign defense contractor, and not those of their own country. This is a fleecing and betrayal of the United States Navy in epic proportions, Robinson said. In the next post, well look at how the alleged conspiracy among the Lion Kings Harem worked from the inside. _____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. When I read a book, I want to believe it, I want to feel like Im there. When Im writing, I want my own words to feel just as real to the person reading them. Alice Feeney Sometimes I Lie begins with a short note from the protagonist: My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: Im in a coma. My husband doesnt love me any more. Sometimes I lie. Ive never been in a coma, but I have been in an accident, in which I sustained a serious head injury that left me unconscious. I woke up on a hospital bed, confused and disorientated. I had fractured my cheek bone and one of my eyes was swollen completely shut, so I could barely see. I was terrified. I didnt know what had happened or where I was, only that a man I did not know, (who turned out to be a doctor), was removing my clothes. I punched him in the face, then promptly passed out again. (I hasten to add this was very out of character I am not a violent person in real life!) So, I knew first-hand what it was like to wake up in a hospital with no memory of what happened to you, but I didnt know what it was like to be in a coma. I started by reading a lot about comas and coma patients. I trawled through old newspaper articles and stories I found online. It fascinated me how different the experiences I read about were, but it wasnt enough. A good friend knew what I was writing about and offered to help. She arranged for me to spend some time at Milton Keynes University hospital. I met with staff who explained in detail exactly what looking after a coma patient entails. I was able to experience being in the room where a coma patient would be cared for. I remember closing my eyes, wanting to hear what Amber might hear; the swish of a nurses plastic apron, footsteps and the sound of machines beeping dispassionately close by. I could smell what Amber would smell a nurses body lotion and the food being served on a nearby ward making me feel hungry. One member of the team even performed a resuscitation on a dummy to help me to know what Amber might hear, imagine and feel. I was also lucky enough to meet with a member of staff who not only looked after coma patients, but also managed their aftercare. She was kind enough to share some of the stories that patients had told her, about how they felt and what they could remember. The experience of spending time at the hospital was invaluable and Im incredibly grateful to the staff who kindly gave up their time to answer my many, many questions. I dont think its possible to always write what you know there are many brilliant books that simply would not exist if all authors stuck to that rule. But you can, and I think should, try to know as much as possible about what you write. Author and blogger Neal Asher releases his new book today- Infinity Engine, so we asked him to tell us a little more about the man behind the books. Neal Asher I was born in Billericay so you cannot be any more Essex than me Ian Dury and the Blockheads have a lot to answer for in that respect. But apparently I dont sound like an Essex boy, probably because of my Derbyshire parents, who are also to blame for my favourite expletive, which is bugger. Im not one of those effete writers who delights in being impractical and boasts about being unable to rewire a three-pin plug. I trained as an engineer and spend far too much time working with my hands when I really should be waxing creative at my computer. After too many years over on the dark side with plenty of cigarettes and alcohol Im now a bit of a fitness freak. After my wife died, rather than choosing the bottle or pills, I spent two years walking over 3,000 miles, also kayaking and swimming for miles. Now I walk and use the gym and, having experienced the bad effects of overtraining and under eating, have slowed down, a little. I like repairing stuff. A recent obsession has been chairs complete disassembly, hunting down materials (like lengths of broom for the binding on a bamboo chair), removing the detritus of old repairs, clamping and gluing, rubbing down and varnishing and re-upholstering. Dont ask I dont know why. People often ask me about how I plan out a book. Do I have a pin board covered with post-it notes? Do I write character sketches? Do I write out the plot? None of these. Apart from some vague images in my mind it all happens at the keyboard because writing for me is as much a voyage of discovery as reading a new book. This can be a problem when the publisher asks me what Ill be doing next. Apparently I am a master of monsters. The signs were there early when, at age 10 in art class, I was drawing dinosaurs and dragons while everyone else was concentrating on a still life of a rose in a wine bottle. While living out on Crete I tried growing all sorts of things, but discovered that chillies were what I could grow best. I then proceeded to make a sweet chilli sauce to my own recipe. I have made gallons of it mostly to give away. Even Greeks out there, whose taste is generally for bland food, have developed a taste for it. I once trained at Shotokan karate. Because I was lax about taking my tests to move up a belt I only reached green belt. But this means that nobody, but nobody, can build houses on me. I like mushrooms and toadstools. My mother, while in teacher training, did a project on them and, since as a child I necessarily tagged along when she was out collecting samples, this kinda stuck with me. I generally know what can be eaten without inducing a heart attack or visions of giant purple butterflies. My wife thought I was odd when on first date strolls in the woods I kept leaping into the brambles to claim some slimy prize. Mel B and Stephen Belafonte were reportedly spotted heading to family counselling on Wednesday (22.03.17). Mel B The former Spice Girl filed for divorce from her estranged husband on Monday (20.03.17) and the pair have reportedly taken their five-year-old daughter Madison - as well as Mel's children Phoenix, 18, whom she shares with Jimmy Gulzar and Angel, nine, from her relationship with Eddie Murphy - to a family therapy session in order to "make sure their kids are okay" in the wake of the split. According to TMZ.com, Mel and Stephen, both 41, travelled in separate cars to the session which took place in Mulholland Estates in Beverly Hills, at the home of Mel's long time psychiatrist Doctor Charles Sophy. The publication also reports that all three children travelled in a third car with their nanny. The reported family therapy session is believed to be the first session of this kind that the pair have attended, though it was previously reported they had tried couples therapy before their split to no avail. A source said: "They started from the beginning when they realised they were very different people, who would argue and row. Their personalities were like fire and ice, one minute it was pure adoration and the next it was an all-out war. "It led to them having blow-out arguments non-stop. However, as they got further down the line, the stress of keeping things together proved too much. The therapy prompted more fights and bitterness. Their connection by the end was all but burned out." Their split reportedly comes after he tragic death of Mel's father Martin gave her "a moment of complete clarity" and helped her make the decision to file for divorce. The insider added: "Ever since they got married, they have been plagued with problems. The writing has been on the wall for a while. Money was at the centre of many rows but Martin's passing provided a moment of complete clarity for Mel. "For the first time in a decade, she decided to put blood before water. Stephen was always coming up with business ideas which caused huge arguments. It is no secret her family didn't like him and now she has reconnected with them, Mel is sorting out her life. She's had enough of the chaos with Stephen. Her, the kids and her family come first." by Charlotte Hough for www.femalefirst.co.uk Prince Charles tried some "irresistible" cheese in Yorkshire on Wednesday (22.03.17). Prince Charles The 68-year-old royal - who is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip - couldn't conceal his delight as he tucked into a range of rich cheeses made by small producers across the UK when he visited The Courtyard - a renovated farmstead. After trying a chunk of cheese, he said: "This is seriously good." He then shovelled some more into her mouth and replied: "God, it's all so irresistible." The prince took a tour of every business at The Courtyard; including the Dalesbred, the cabinet makers, The Lime Gallery and Buon Vino, which specialises in wines. However, he was particularly interested in the cakes in The Brasserie as the chefs told him how all of the ingredients are sourced locally and how they make the sweet treats. Simon Robinson - who renovated The Courtyard in 2010 with his wife Sally Robinson and Mark Hancock - is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying: "I think it's been a fabulous day today. He was so interested in everything and the story of developing the barn. The most impressive part was the interest he showed in every single business." The prince has been very busy recently as before he stopped in Yorkshire, he was in Lancashire visiting the Clitheroe Food Festival. Charles was able to sample food and drink including a Duke of Lancaster's Regiment sausage and Hen Harrier golden ale as part of his tour of the Ribble Valley. Prince Charles met with local food producers and traders who were showcasing their goods as part of a special promotional event for the festival, which regularly attracts thousands of people from the UK. Queen Elizabeth has cancelled her visit to the new headquarters of the Metropolitan Police in London following the city's suspected terror attack on Wednesday (22.03.17). Queen Elizabeth The 90-year-old monarch was due to officially open the new Scotland Yard today alongside her husband Prince Philip but she's decided to postpone her visit following the tragic event in Westminster, which saw a man mow down a group of people on the bridge before stabbing a police officer to death, while the city remains on high alert. A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said last night: "In light of today's events the decision has been taken to postpone the Queen's engagement to New Scotland Yard tomorrow. The visit will be rearranged for a later date." It's thought around 20 people were injured during the incident and five people - including the brave officer - died before the suspected terrorist was shot dead by police. Scotland Yard have confirmed they are treating the incident, which came exactly after the atrocities in Brussels, as a terror attack, but the man's motives are as yet unknown. The queen was at Buckingham Palace when Westminster fell under attack, which prompted the armed police patrolling the royal residence to secure the gates. Londoners and those visiting the capital have been reassured that extra armed and unarmed police will be deployed on the streets of the city and underground stations. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "Londoners should be aware that there will be additional armed and unarmed police officers on our streets from tonight in order to keep Londoners, and all those visiting out city safe." Prime Minister Theresa May has asked the city to continue as normal in a bid to show the extremists that the country will remain strong and "move forward together." She said: "We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart." A brand new trailer promoting Channel 4 and E4 soap Hollyoaks has this week been revealed, teasing some shocking upcoming scenes that may see fan-favourite character Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) kill his former partner Amy (Ashley Slanina Davis). The pair have always had a volatile relationship, living together as boyfriend and girlfriend when teenagers, with Ste beating Amy on more than one occasion. With all of that in the past however, they now put their all into co-parenting and being best friends, but that could all be about to change. As Amy prepares to walk down the aisle with Ryan Knight (Duncan James), Ste gives his blessing to his former love despite never seeing eye-to-eye with Ryan since his debut in the village. When the residents of Hollyoaks discovered Ryan had cheated on Amy with Mercedes McQueen (Jennifer Metcalfe) however, everybody was firmly on Team Ste, before Ryan left for Canada. Returning to the show in last nights episode on E4 (March 22), Ryan asked for one last chance and begged Amy to go ahead with their pre-planned wedding. Kieron Richardson as Ste Hay in Hollyoaks That wedding goes ahead in Fridays First Look episode on E4 (March 24), but what Ste doesnt know is that Ryan has asked his newly-wedded to move to America with him, taking the children Leah and Lucas along for the life-changing journey. In the new trailer, we see Amy emotional when she sees Ste with the kids, but then hes later seen banging on her door and pleading to come in as he would never hurt her, only for Mike (Tony Hirst) to reply, except for when you hit her. Ordering Ste to get out of the flat, flashbacks to the teenage years play as the two push and shove one another in the present. We know Amy will be dying in Hollyoaks, but is this how shes going to go? Will Ste have something to do with her death? Hollyoaks continues weekdays on Channel 4 at 6.30pm, with First Look episodes airing weekdays at 7pm on E4. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on The biggest gainer and the third richest man on the Forbes' 31Annual World's Billionaires list is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose fortune increased by $27.6 billion for a total net worth of $72.8 billion. Spanish clothing retailer Amancio Ortega (known for the Zara fashion chain) has dropped to No. 4, despite his net worth increasing to $71.3 billion. Bezos has soared to nearly the top on the Forbes' list as Amazon's stock has climbed. He owns nearly 17 per cent of Amazon.com. At the 2016 shareholders meeting, Bezos said that Amazon is the fastest company ever to reach $100 million in annual sales, which it cleared in 2015. Ortega, the fourth richest man on the list, is the richest man in Europe and the wealthiest retailer in the world. A pioneer in fast fashion, he co-founded Zara parent Inditex in 1975. Ortega typically earns more than $400 million in dividends a year. The biggest gainer and the third richest man on the Forbes' 31st Annual World's Billionaires list is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose fortune increased by $27.6 billion for a total net worth of $72.8 billion. Spanish clothing retailer Amancio Ortega (known for the Zara fashion chain) has dropped to No. 4, despite his net worth increasing to $71.3 billion.# "Booming stock markets, higher commodities prices and plain old-fashioned entrepreneurship helped make this a record year in terms of wealth creation around the globe," said Luisa Kroll and Kerry Dolan, assistant managing editors of wealth at Forbes Media. About 2,043 billionaires (up from 1,810 in 2016) made the list, with an average net worth of $3.75 billion. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India An elementary school in southwestern China's Chongqing municipality is promoting the concept of a dustbin-free campus, encouraging students to instead hand-make reusable bags to collect their garbage. These bags can be seen in the classrooms of Tongxin Elementary School, where environmentally-friendly reusable bags hang beside the desk of each student. The bags, all produced by the students and their parents, are made from worn-out clothes or other recycled materials. According to a teacher named Zhao Xiaoxia, garbage is also sorted by type after classes finish. Zhao told Chongqing Morning Post that students get involved in the initiative starting from their first semester of school. Chen Xiang, director of moral education of Tongxin Elementary School, noted that the faculty reminds parents at the beginning of each semester that public areas of the campus are free from garbage receptacles, and every student should prepare a bag to collect his or her own trash. "Though the penetration of the reusable bags is not 100 percent, most students have developed the good habit of collecting their garbage in the bags," said Qin Bo, principal of the elementary school. The project has also been hailed by students' parents. The father of one student commented that his son has changed a lot since getting involved in the campaign. Not only does his son know more about saving resources and protecting the environment, the father stated, he is also more responsible in general and aware of health issues. www.chinanews.com/sh/2017/03-23/8180913.shtml?qq-pf-to=pcqq.discussion E-retail marketplaces will need to deduct up to 1 per cent tax collected at source (TCS) while paying their sellers as per the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, which will be implemented from July 1. The provision has been included in the model GST law, which was recently approved by the GST Council. TCS will not exceed 1 per cent of the sale proceeds. All e-commerce operators who are not agents need to collect TCS of up to 1 per cent of the total value of taxable net supplies made by the other suppliers through it and the consideration with respect to these supplies will have to be collected by the operators. The industry is concerned over the provision of TCS in the model law as it could lead to a lock-in of capital. It could also deter companies from selling their products through online marketplaces, according to media reports. E-retail marketplaces will need to deduct up to 1 per cent tax collected at source (TCS) while paying their sellers as per the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, which will be implemented from July 1. The provision has been included in the model GST law, which was recently approved by the GST Council. TCS will not exceed 1 per cent of the sale proceeds.# E-retailers are expected to file returns on TCS deductions, but if the sold goods are returned by buyers, the TCS for the products will not be deducted. E-commerce players in India had urged the government to re-evaluate the TCS clause. As an estimate, this clause would lead to locking up about Rs 400 crore of capital per annum for the e-commerce sector. In addition, it would result in a loss of an estimated 1.8 lakh jobs, putting a halt to the growth and investments in the sector, e-commerce sector stakeholders had said at a press meet organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Following the success of Japanese brand Uniqlo in the South Korean market, several Asian and European lifestyle and apparel brand retailers are setting up exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) in the country, in a bid to repeat the success of Uniqlo. A recent entrant is Hong based 6ixty8ight, which is opening a 992 sq metre flagship store in Seoul.South Korean media reported that 6ixty8ight which currently operates 130 stores in Hong Kong and China, targets teens and young women by offering casualwear, lingerie and training apparel. Following the success of Japanese brand Uniqlo in the South Korean market, several Asian and European lifestyle and apparel brand retailers are setting up exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) in the country, in a bid to repeat the success of Uniqlo. A recent entrant is Hong based 6ixty8ight, which is opening a 992 sq metre flagship store in Seoul.# Another brand from Sweden based H&M Group, & Other Stories will also open its first Asian store in Seoul and has also planned another Seoul store. It also plans to offer online retailing in South Korea by the year-end. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Merchants are betting on the Internet of Things (IoT), the growing network of web-enabled physical objects, to digitally enhance stores and keep consumers coming through the door in the era of online shopping, according to a recent report. They are turning to IoT to upgrade back-office functions by streamlining and optimising their supply chain operations. As per the Zebra Technologies 2017 Retail Vision Study, 70 per cent of the retailers who participated in the study are planning to invest in IoT by 2021. About 68 per cent may invest in machine learning and cognitive computing and 57 per cent are in the favour of automation. Retailers are investing in IoT technologies, from beacons that beam shoppers with customised coupons to radio frequency identification tags that track inventory, to simplify, enliven and customise the shopping experience, generate revenue, and reduce costs, according to the study. They are embracing IoT platforms to transform real time, visibility-driven data throughout the supply chain into actionable insights. Merchants are betting on the Internet of Things (IoT), the growing network of web-enabled physical objects, to digitally enhance stores and keep consumers coming through the door in the era of online shopping, according to a recent report. They are turning to IoT to upgrade back-office functions by streamlining and optimising their supply chain operations.# Nearly 96 per cent of retail decision makers are ready to make changes required to adopt IoT. Already, 67 per cent of respondents have implemented IoT and another 26 per cent are planning to deploy within a year, says the study. Retailers are also turning to IoT technologies to personalise the shopping experience. According to the survey, 75 per cent of stores will not only know when specific customers are in the store, but will also be able to customise the store visit for them by 2021. Retailers are also adopting technology solutions to heighten merchandise visibility throughout the supply chain, from the time inventory is shipped from the warehouse and received in a store's back room to when it is stocked and replenished on the sales floor. According to retailers surveyed, the key sources of customer dissatisfaction today are out-of-stock merchandise, and the same product available for less at another retail store. Over 70 per cent of retailers surveyed plan to provide, or are currently providing, item-level RFID technology. As an industry, retail inventory accuracy hovers at about 65 per cent, studies show. By contrast, RFID platforms can boost inventory accuracy to 95 per cent, while out-of-stocks can be reduced by 60 to 80 per cent with item-level RFID tagging. Around the globe, retailers are investing in IoT technologies to redefine their operations and the shopper experience. Merchants are reinventing their supply chains with upgrades that enable automated, real-time inventory visibility via IoT, such as RFID, which can boost inventory accuracy levels to as high as 95 per cent. Their emphases and progress across a swath of retail tech initiatives vary per region, states the study. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The 2017 Total Retail Survey report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has identified 10 different types of investments retailers can make to invest in their futures. With the continuing shift in customer preferences, a lingering low-growth environment and an unforgiving global marketplace, some retailers are facing threats to their very existence. The investment areas listed in the report include mobile site. Shoppers favour mobile apps for augmented rewards and loyalty points from retailers, but view mobile sites as far more convenient. Since then, there is a good deal of evidence for the superiority of the mobile website, as well as severe app overload. The report also suggests retailers to invest in talent. "The physical store is not in danger of disappearing any time soon. At the same time, the digital experience is all-important to consumers. Retailers need to consider both dynamics in their search for talent," it states. The 2017 Total Retail Survey report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has identified 10 different types of investments retailers can make to invest in their futures. With the continuing shift in customer preferences, a lingering low-growth environment and an unforgiving global marketplace, some retailers are facing threats to their very existence.# One of the top issues for retailers is parlaying the enormous amount of customer data they generate into actionable insights and thus, they need to consider investing in big data insights. Investment in an Amazon.com strategy is also on the list of investment areas in the report. Invest in the 'story', not traditional advertising, says the report. More and more of the global population is not attracted to traditional advertising they want authentic information they can find at their fingertips: what are their friends doing, which brands are hot on social media, what is trending with their favorite influencers. The retailers are also advised to invest in more secure platforms. Retailers also need to make investments in retaining their already loyal customers. Investing in showrooms and not the entire store network is another advice for the retailers. "While the store is not going away anytime soon, its purpose is evolving. There is compelling evidence that people want the physical experience of trying things, but arent that happy with aspects of the in-store customer experience," adds the report. Authenticity of branded goods is a huge issue for retailers, particularly for products made and sold in developing markets or whose supply chains wind through developing markets. Thus, it is necessary for retailers to invest in the authenticity of branded goods. PwC report also suggests investing in healthcare offerings. "The ten areas of investment described in this report cover a range of areas, including digital infrastructure, offline retail network, communication strategies, analytics capabilities, customer loyalty, and talent. The variety reflects the increased business complexity that retailers are facing. Since business models differ and budgets are not unlimited, the priority and urgency of the proposed investments will vary by company," concludes the report. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Arrangements are being made to establish the Pakistan Readymade Technical Training Institute (PRITI) that will require an investment of Rs 125 million. Efforts are being carried out to select a suitable site in central area for the institute, which will produce trained workforce for stitching, quality control, pattern designing and sewing machine mechanics. Training will be separately provided to male and female workforce at the institute, said Ijaz A Khokhar, chairman of Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) while addressing media persons. He also said that PRITI will be helpful for exporters dealing in readymade garments industry for employing trained workforce and improve productivity as well as overall quality of the products. Arrangements are being made to establish the Pakistan Readymade Technical Training Institute (PRITI) that will require an investment of Rs 125 million. Efforts are being carried out to select a suitable site in central area for the institute, which will produce trained workforce for stitching, quality control, pattern designing and sewing machine mechanics.# Speaking about the Sialkot industry, Khokhar said that close to 50 units in the area produce Martial Arts uniforms, while about 100 units manufacture tracksuits and sportswear. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The Advanced Industrial Intermediates business unit of German specialty chemicals manufacturer Lanxess will invest around 100 million during the next three years, to expand production capacity of chemical intermediates. The amount will be invested in various production plants in Germany and Belgium, with expansion scheduled to be completed by 2020.The company will invest 40 million each in the Leverkusen and Krefeld-Uerdingen facilities in Germany, with the rest to be spent to expand facilities in Brunsbuttel, Germany and Antwerp Belgium. The Advanced Industrial Intermediates business unit of German specialty chemicals manufacturer Lanxess will invest around 100 million during the next three years, to expand production capacity of chemical intermediates. The amount will be invested in various production plants in Germany and Belgium, with expansion scheduled to be completed by 2020.# Lanxess will expand capacity for special amines at the Leverkusen site and at the Krefeld-Uerdingen site; the plan is to expand production facilities for trimethylolpropane, hexanediol and menthols.It will also considerably increase the capacity of the MEA plant at Brunsbuttel at the Antwerp site; it will expand production capacities for rubber chemicals. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The Development Committee Members of European Parliament (MEP) have voted for binding rules on labour and environmental standards, and human rights in the garment sector's supply chain, using the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines for the textile industry as a model. The adopted report calls for a mandatory set of rules. The report sought rules from the European Union (EU) Commission so that all players in the textile and clothing industry supply chain respect the labour and human rights of their workers. It also adds that the EU should lead by example and purchase their textiles from sustainable and fair producers. The Socialists and Democrats (S&D) are at the forefront of the fight against unsustainable work in order to avoid further tragedies such as the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh. The Development Committee Members of European Parliament (MEP) have voted for binding rules on labour and environmental standards, and human rights in the garment sector's supply chain, using the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines for the textile industry as a model. The adopted report calls for a mandatory set of rules.# "National initiatives like the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles are a good and important base for a European initiative. The Commission must present an EU-wide regulation because trade does not only concern national markets. Trade policy is European policy," said S&D MEP Arne Lietz. "The EU is a significant market for textile products and therefore it bears a great responsibility for the working conditions in third countries. We need decent working conditions in accordance with International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards," said Norbert Neuser, S&D MEP and coordinator for international development. The MEPs had stated in a resolution voted recently that the EU Commission should propose rules obliging all players in the textile and clothing industry supply chain to respect the labour and human rights of their workers. They also advocated introducing EU tariff preferences and labels for sustainably-produced textiles. Textile workers around the world, many of whom are young women and children, suffer long working hours, low wages, uncertainty, violence and hazardous conditions. These practices also harm the EU industry, as they result in social dumping, MEPs noted in a non-binding resolution adopted by 14 votes to 2 with 8 abstentions. To make the industry more responsible and prevent tragedies like the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, MEPs suggest a series of proposals such as a legislative proposal for a binding due diligence system, based on OECD guidelines, that covers the whole supply chain. This should focus on women's and children's rights and acknowledge existing national initiatives, once they have been audited. The EU should ensure that 'hot spot' textile exporting countries that have preferential access to the EU market comply with obligations and the Commission should offer tariff relief for proven sustainable-produced textiles. EU member states should also promote the right to association and collective bargaining and an obligation to investigate accidents properly in their trade relations with developing countries. Making the 'social impact of production' visible on clothes can increase consumer awareness and help to bring about lasting change. EU institutions and Parliaments political groups should also set a good example in their public procurement of textiles, including merchandising, according to the MEPs. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India 404 Page Not Found The page you were looking for doesn't exist Take me home ALL EYES and ears last weekend were focused on Tanzanias new capital, Dodoma, where a Congress of the ruling Party Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) was in motion. It was an important meeting where major reforms were instituted related to the Constitution of the Party an enhancing the integrity of the Partys members and leaders. Of immense interest was the Partys recognition of its historic relationship and alliance with two political parties, one inside Africa and one outside Africa; that is, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Communist Party of China (CPC), respectively. A paradigm was made in terms of organizational structures, which the Tanzanians ruling party has seen the need to emulate, especially in terms of having the right number of people in the right places, and especially in terms of enhancing the personal integrity of the Partys leadership. Using the example of China, the most populous country in the world with a population of over a billion people, its unified political party is now 95 years old and has a membership of 88.7 million. But it has only about 2,200 members of its Congress or national conference, and only 205 members of its Central Committee and only 25 members of its Political Bureau. The ANC has only 6,000 National Congress members, and only 205 members on its National Executive Committee (NEC) and only 25 members on its Central Committee. Toward this end, the National Congress of CCM has also moved to cut down the number of both its decision making organs, the NEC and the Central Committee, which is in accordance with its new Constitutional amendment. Other reforms of Tanzania's ruling party forbid members from holding more than one leadership position. Before this reform, party members were free to hold as many posts as possible, both in the party and in the government, prompting this Columnist to engage a chapter in CCM and the Destiny of our Country, (CCM NA MUSTAKABALI WA NCHI YETU) published in 2007 Why this trend? is a question that comes to mind, or do these aspiring leaders want their name to read something like: Hon Minister Takadiri, MP, MNEC with multiple titles all heaped on one persons name? In a nutshell, these are some of the reforms announced this week at the conclusion of the CCM Party Congress. But as enticed before, what struck most political observers was the public singling out of Chinas ruling Party as an ally of Tanzanias ruling party, and indeed since Mwalimu Julius Nyerere ruled the country, Tanzanias ruling party has been a very close ally and admirer of Chinese Leader Mao Zedong, a founding member of Chinas Party. As I am writing, I am reliably informed that a delegation of the CPC is on the way to this country and is expected to fly in on Tuesday next week at the invitation of Chama cha Mapinduzi. It will be led by Comrade Guo Jinlong, Beijings Communist Party Secretary and a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Now, let us make a paradigm between the two allied political parties, Tanzanias CCM and Chinas CPC. It is a fact that China is moving forward as a peaceful country and is already a global social-economic power. The Chinese people, under the Communist Party, are steadily moving in one direction, unlike us in Tanzania rowing in a western style multi-party order. Are we sure of continued peace and stability in a multi-party order? One can say with certainty that stability in this country is first and foremost rooted in socialist ideology, which is geared toward tending for the greater majority of our population and ensuring that our leaders do not wear public faces along with private ones. But most importantly, we were rooted in a one party-state. Single party rule has reaffirmed more deeply our national unity, because we were not rowing in different directions, as is the case today in multi-partyism. But because we swallowed the Wests hook, bait, and sinker in favor of privatization, allowing ourselves to be de-industrialized with the loss of state-owned industries and factories, a situation arose when there were no more jobs for our people and the gap between the haves and have-nots escalated by the day. This is the situation facing this country today as we play around with what is being sung loudly as democracy. Is democracy important if ones stomach is empty? This is what our Chinese friends have refused to buy into, that is, letting the majority of the people go hungry or risking national unity and cohesiveness just to have many parties in the name of democracy! Even as I am writing this, most Tanzanians are not optimistic whether national peace will continue to prevail, given the fact that a socialist ideology which was highly contributive to national peace and the economic agenda does not prevail in the country today. What we see are contradictory and antagonistic political players who may easily exploit the widening gap between the haves and have-nots in our country today. There is greater need today to learn from the Chinese paradigm in ideological and national cohesiveness. How much I wish I had divine powers to airlift all Tanzanians to go and see China with their naked eyes! Tanzanians will be amazed at how one billion plus people, whose population is equivalent to the whole population of the African continent, have succeeded to empower almost all their citizens to go to bed well-fed in good quality houses for all, including in the villages. Eh! Bwana! I have seen China a couple of times myself, and every time I am there, I watch with my mouth agape in surprise at the development strides Chinese people are making each passing year. Furthermore, contrary to Western propaganda, the Chinese listen to minority voices, but have only a single national political party in place [Editor's note: China has a system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party. There are eight non-Communist parties in China], as we used to have here before. This is the Communist Party of China. It is amazing also how they maximize their land in growing food and other spheres of development. It is not by mistake that they are second largest economy in the world. Frankly, China should be considered the global economic leader, because Chinese resources are adequately well shared by their whole people, unlike other western powers, which are demarcated in classes. As I pointed out, this country is now in a multi-party order, which, for me, is just too unpredictable. Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) must move quickly to re-define itself to embrace its original socialist agenda. It must take a leaf from history and learn from other parties, such as the Community Party of China. CCM should revert to Socialism (Ujamaa) as a rational choice. It should draw social-economic programmes that augur well for the have-nots as a way of averting a social-economic crisis whose sparks have already been seen and heard in this country by anyone with eyes and ears. CCM must demand equity shares for its natural resources away from royalties offered by Western multinationals. It should move to resurrect the public sector in terms of building factories and industries to create jobs for the people in line with the current political line of party leader, Chairman Dr John Pombe Magufuli. In this context, as recognised by the CCM Congress, Tanzanians can count on the Chinese Communist Party as a tested ally and for one good reason: Its modus operandi is a win-win stance with all developing countries. Makwaia Wa Kuhenga is a Tanzanian columnist, author and a television presenter. Saif Ali Khan To Romance Nimrat Kaur Buzz is that Nimrat Kaur has been approached to play Saif Ali Khan's leading lady. Saif' Role In The Film If reports are to be believed then Saif plays uber cool, stylish entrepreneur with grey tones. Fatima Sana Shaikh Opposite Debutante Rohan Mehra Reportedly, the film will mark the Bollywood debut of late Bollywood actor Vinod Mehra's son Rohan. We hear that the makers who were hunting for an actress opposite him have zeroed down Dangal girl Fatima Sana Shaikh. Baazaar Along The Lines Of Amitabh Bachchan- Sanjeev Kumar Starrer Trishul Earlier while talking to a leading daily, Nikkhil had said, "'Bazaar' is a story of this city (Mumbai). It's a film which likens to a 'Trishul'. But the backdrop is business and share bazaar (market). It's about the city because intoxication of the city drives me crazy. I can't understand why people come into the city and live on sewage, really we're living on sewage. There is no infrastructure. Yet people stay back and stay for long which sparks an instant fire in you. So, 'Bazaar' is a story of two men, one who's made it and one who's trying to make it, how they come together and what they do." When Sri Mulyani Indrawati became Indonesias finance minister last July, returning to a job she held between 2005 and 2010, the country had missed its revenue target for seven years running. It was clear to her what the first order of business should be. She made sure our budget was credible, Robert Pakpahan, Indonesias director general of budget financing and risk management, told FinanceAsia. In particular, she emphasised improving the efficiency of tax collection, a crucial step in a country that has long struggled to get its wealthiest citizens to declare their assets. See the full rundown of our Finance Minister of the Year study. In the first six months of 2016, Indonesia had struggled. Government revenues had fallen by 5% at the same time as government expenditure rose by around 15.1%. The chances of the country hitting its 3% deficit target appeared slim. But after six months with Indrawati at the helm, the government had managed to easily beat its fiscal deficit target, ending the year with a deficit of just 2.5% of GDP. Certainly, not all of the credit for this success should go to Indrawati. Indeed, a crucial tax amnesty programme had already been launched before she started the job. But her fearsome reputation was undoubtedly crucial to the success of that programme. The early take-up of the tax amnesty was far lower than the government had hoped for. But in an August interview, Indrawati said she was not going to play around, warning wealthy Indonesians she had a lot of video tape evidence of them admitting to dodging taxes. The threats appeared to work. By the end of the year, around Rp103 trillion ($7.7 billion) of tax revenue had been collected under the amnesty. That was still only around 62.4% of the governments overall target but it was also well over the central banks own projections. Indrawati also pushed for cuts in spending, slashing government expenditure by 3% last year. This two-pronged approach to balancing the budget is economics 101 but it is also a rarity in a region where tax collection too often disappoints, and governments too often overspend. The comeback Indrawati has been here before. She won plaudits from international investors during her previous five years in office, earning a reputation as a courageous graft-buster. But by 2010, she appeared to have ruffled too many feathers, and left to take a job with the World Bank. Pakpahan, who knew Indrawati during her first term as finance minister, says her time at the World Bank has made her even stronger, adding more maturity and experience to what was already an impressive set of skills. Her comeback has certainly been good for the country. Indonesia achieved a dramatic narrowing of its current account deficit in the last quarter of 2016. Household consumption is improving. Infrastructure investment is on the rise. There are plenty of risks for the country. Tax revenue is still an issue, weakening last year once the proceeds of the amnesty are excluded. External risks loom large. But there is no one better suited to help Indonesia weather the storm. She works extremely hard, said Pakpahan. She really pushes us to work innovatively. Indrawatis return to the finance ministry has not been without moments of controversy. A public spat with JP Morgan, which was dumped as a primary dealer after releasing a sceptical research report, appeared unnecessary. But it may have been a calculated piece of politics from a woman who is sure to make enemies in the coming years. It was an over-reaction on her part, said a Hong Kong-based economist. But she still has to answer to a domestic audience about whether she is standing up for the country. She is certainly doing that. Indrawati has not been in office long, but she has returned to the job with a stellar reputation, an indomitable work ethic, and a commitment to reform that will make her few friends among Indonesias moneyed class. She is a worthy winner of FinanceAsias Finance Minister of the Year award. For the good of the country, we can only hope she will be competing for this award for many years to come. OLOMUC, Czech Republic, October 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Last March, Telepizza signed a Joint Venture Agreement with Forty's Pizza, the leading pizza delivery company in the Czech Republic . This joint venture company has been led by Mr. Jakub Slezar, founder of Forty's Pizza Telepizza's plans for the country include 25 stores in 3 years Telepizza currently owns 1,440 stores worldwide, 469 own stores (33%) and 971 franchised and master franchised stores (67%) The Telepizza Group, the leading non-US based pizza delivery company by number of stores, has announced the opening of its first 10 stores in Czech Republic, after the joint venture agreement signed in March 2017 with Forty's Pizza, the Czech Republic's leading pizza delivery company. These stores are being inaugurated this week in the city of Olomuc. The Czech joint venture is being led by owner and founder of Forty's Pizza, Mr. Jakub Slezar. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150317/735407-a ) (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/568329/Telepizza_Czech_Republic.jpg ) Today, all the Forty's Pizza stores have become Telepizza's stores, offering the best flavour of the Spanish brand, with its excellent dough and the best local quality ingredients, as well as its expertise and proven track record in marketing, technology, franchising and supply chain. Pablo Juantegui, Chairman and CEO of Telepizza explains that "Our international expansion is one of the keys to our success, and we look forward to new business opportunities to bring our brand all over the world. The openings in Czech Republic are key for Telepizza, in order to take full advantage of this growth opportunity for expanding our franchising business in Central Europe." "We are very proud of the inauguration of our first 10 Czech stores. We are really confident that our customers will love our products and service," states Telepizza President of International, Giorgio Minardi. International expansion, key pillar for Telepizza The plans for Telepizza in Czech Republic are ambitious. The company's forecasts include operating in the country through 25 stores in the next three years. In fact, agreements with leading businesses in key markets are a vital part of Telepizza's plans for international growth, alongside innovation. "With its strong heritage and focus on quality, the Telepizza brand has been a perfect match for us. We are delighted to have joined such a great organisation and are looking forward to using our extensive local knowledge to help grow the Telepizza business in the Czech Republic," Mr. Jakub Slezar comments. Telepizza Group: We are the largest non-U.S.-based pizza delivery company in the world by number of stores. Headquartered in Madrid, Spain, Telepizza operates in more than 20 countries through a network of own stores, franchisees and master franchisees, with 1,440 stores globally, including 469 own stores (33%) and 971 franchised and master franchised stores (67%) as of 30 June, 2017. Including our U.S.-based competitors, we are the fourth largest global player in pizza delivery in terms of number of stores. We are the market leader in our core markets by number of stores (number one in Spain, Portugal, Chile and Colombia and number two in Poland). The total sales within our network, including own stores, franchisees and master franchisees, are recorded as chain sales, which amounted to 541.2 million in the twelve months ended 30 June 2017. Telepizza listed on the Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Valencia stock exchanges with its shares starting trading on 27 April 2016. The total number of shares is 100,720,679. http://www.telepizza.com https://www.facebook.com/telepizza https://twitter.com/telepizza_es Contact: Telepizza, Miguel Justribo +34-91-6576200 miguel.justribo@telepizza.com HANOVER, Germany, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At CeBIT 2017, Huawei and Frequentis, a leading global supplier of communication and information solutions for safety-critical industries signed a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) for the joint development of an open ecosystem for public safety solutions, in a move set to usher in safer cities. In the face of mounting public security threats, Huawei is committed to joining forces with leading industry partners to develop a vibrant, robust, and open Safe City ecosystem. The partnership between Huawei and Frequentis is aimed at fostering a flourishing public safety ecosystem, which will ultimately translate into greater levels of safety for citizens, while unlocking efficiencies through innovation for companies operating in the public safety industry. The partnership will span the EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America regions. Under the partnership, Huawei and Frequentis will work together to develop a Next Generation Dispatching Solution for Command and Control centres. By supporting features such as seamless integration of consultation and surveillance systems across different agencies, real time voice and data transmission services, the joint solution will help public security agencies achieve greater efficiency, while reducing their total cost of ownership for mission-critical IT investments. The tie-up between the two companies is the latest in a long series of partnerships pursued by Huaiwei aimed at bringing the concept of Safe Cities to life by facilitating collaborative innovations. "By working together with Frequentis, Huawei aims to build joint innovation ecosystems, drive digital transformation, enable public safety industrial revolution," said Xiaoke Li, Vice President of Huawei of West Europe Enterprise, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. "Huawei is looking to allocate more resources to collaborations with industrial partners to provide more powerful and cost-efficient public safety solutions." The MOU signed by Huawei and Frequentis outlines the cooperation areas between the two companies. Both will work together on the design, development, validation and packaging of Safe City offerings. Frequentis has already set up a demo environment in the Huawei OpenLab in Munich. "Frequentis is looking forward to combining its skill sets and innovative product portfolio with those of Huawei in order to provide improved safety-critical solutions representing a true Evergreen Control Centre offering-- to benefit customers worldwide to save lives, protect properties, and maintain public order and safety," said Johann Schweiger, Director Global Sales, Frequentis AG. In addition to this partnership, both companies have agreed to initiate a series of cooperation projects worldwide, with a view to enhancing public safety through innovative safe city solutions. About Huawei Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com. Media Contact: Selina Xing +86-755-8924-7615 Xingziyue@huawei.com VALLETTA, Malta, Mar 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At exercise of the Employee Incentive Plan that was introduced for all employees in January 2014, where employees could choose between a cash bonus of GBP 3,000 or the equivalent value in performance share rights, the full value has vested and 107,004 share awards were exercised using 107,004 SDRs from Kindred Group's buy-back programme. Following this exercise, 2,478,262 SDRs from the Share buy-back programmes continue to be held by the Kindred Group. The total amount of shares outstanding in Kindred Group plc is 230,126,200 ordinary shares with a par value of GBP 0.000625. For more information: Inga Lundberg Investor Relations Tel: +44-788-799-6116 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/kindred-group/r/exercise-of-employee-incentive-plan-in-kindred-group-plc,c2221244 The following files are available for download: 3DEXPERIENCE Platform on the Cloud Helps Unite Technology and Craftsmanship to Accelerate the Creation of Distinctive Home Goods and Tableware Dassault Systemes (Paris:DSY) (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, world leader in 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced that Bernardaud, a French luxury porcelain manufacturer, is using the "My Product Portfolio" industry solution experience on the cloud to transform its product development process. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170322005930/en/ Copyright LilyRose Based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, "My Product Portfolio" provides Bernardaud with a unified digital environment for product design, engineering and management that is quickly deployed and helps the company to preserve the craftsmanship that has become its hallmark. Bernardaud is a family-owned company, based in Limoges, with a 150-year tradition of luxury porcelain that merges time-honored decorative arts techniques with distinctive designs, partnerships with renowned artists, and contemporary twists to conventional tableware formats. Bernardaud manufactures two million pieces annually; each piece requires at least one week to be completed and fifty artisans to produce. Always striving to innovate, the company wanted to accelerate the creation and launch of new pieces by digitalizing the product development process. Using the "My Product Portfolio" industry solution experience, Bernardaud can create 3D virtual models of each piece, virtually experience shapes, colors, decorations, enamel and engraving, and validate the design. This virtual model then serves as a referential for the mold used to make the piece. The company can virtually program and simulate the manufacturing process, factoring in whether the piece is crafted from liquid, powder or paste, as well as any changes in size or shape that can occur during firing. Bernardaud can also digitize its existing products to preserve its heritage of thousands of designs introduced by its artisans over the years. "Our customers expect a high level of quality and functionality from each of our pieces and this drives our thinking and our entire approach to business," said Michel Bernardaud, CEO, Bernardaud. "Porcelain manufacturing techniques have never been as sophisticated as they are today nor porcelain as elegant as it is today. 'My Product Portfolio' allows us to digitally enrich this technical expertise and make it more efficient. Will the shape of a teapot's spout prevent drips? How much gold must we blend into paint to obtain the desired look around the rim of a plate? We can virtually explore and answer such questions without the need for costly physical prototypes." "Companies in the home goods and tableware segments, from mass-market to high-end, require new strategies to build digital transformation into their processes that accelerate the launch of products that differentiate them in the eyes of their customers," said Chris Colyer, Vice President, Consumer Goods and Retail Industry, Dassault Systemes. "'My Product Portfolio' supports the skilled expertise required for innovation in leisure goods. This cloud-based solution is particularly suited for small and medium-sized businesses that benefit from its easy implementation and the flexibility to scale up as their business needs evolve." For more information on Dassault Systemes' industry solution experiences for Consumer Goods Retail, visit: http://www.3ds.com/industries/consumer-goods-retail/ About Dassault Systemes Dassault Systemes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, provides business and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations. Its world-leading solutions transform the way products are designed, produced, and supported. Dassault Systemes' collaborative solutions foster social innovation, expanding possibilities for the virtual world to improve the real world. The group brings value to over 220,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, in more than 140 countries. For more information, visit www.3ds.com. 3DEXPERIENCE, the Compass logo and the 3DS logo, CATIA, SOLIDWORKS, ENOVIA, DELMIA, SIMULIA, GEOVIA, EXALEAD, 3D VIA, BIOVIA, NETVIBES and 3DEXCITE are registered trademarks of Dassault Systemes or its subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170322005930/en/ Contacts: Dassault Systemes Press Contacts Corporate France Arnaud MALHERBE, +33 (0)1 61 62 87 73 arnaud.malherbe@3ds.com or North America Suzanne MORAN, +1 (781) 810 3774 suzanne.moran@3ds.com or EMEAR Virginie BLINDENBERG, +33 (0) 1 61 62 84 21 virginie.blindenberg@3ds.com or China Grace MU, +86 10 6536 2288 grace.mu@3ds.com or India Santanu BHATTACHARYA, +91 124 457 7100 santanu.bhattacharya@3ds.com or Japan Yukiko SATO, +81 3 4321 3841 yukiko.sato@3ds.com or Korea Myoungjoo CHOI, +82 10 8947 6493 myoungjoo.choi@3ds.com or AP South Tricia SIM, +65 6511 7954 tricia.sim@3ds.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Maxtech Ventures Inc. (CSE: MVT)(CSE: MVT.CN)(OTC PINK: MTEHF)(FRANKFURT: M1N) ("Maxtech" or the "Company), is pleased to announce it has entered into an arms-length agreement to acquire 2 additional manganese prospective mineral claims totalling 20,000 hectares in Brazil. Maxtech has now amassed approximately 40,000 hectares of exploration claims in Brazil. Terms of the acquisition include the payment of US $10,000 and the issuance of 200,000 common shares of Maxtech; the transaction is subject to the CSE and regulatory approvals. As announced on March 3, 2017, the Company initiated an exploration program on its claims acquired on December 6, 2016. Exploration techniques include using hand-dug pits, mobile auger drills and trenching with backhoes have begun in order to determine the dimensions and grade of any mineralization materials found containing manganese. Results are expected in the coming weeks. Maxtech CEO Peter Wilson states, "With this additional acquisition, Maxtech will have amassed one of the larger manganese mineral exploration claim sets in Brazil. The focus on manganese mineralization offers Maxtech an opportunity to potentially directly service nearby farming markets in need of manganese for fertilizer." About Maxtech Ventures Inc. Maxtech Ventures Inc. is a Canadian based diversified industries corporation with gold and manganese mineral properties. Its focus is on mining and the products that are derived therefrom. For additional information see the Company's web site at http://www.maxtech-ventures.com. Email to info@maxtech-ventures.com. Further information about the Company is available on www.SEDAR.com under the Company's profile. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively "forward-looking information") as those terms are used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "anticipates" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company, the Property, financing and certain corporate changes. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. Contacts: Maxtech Ventures Inc. Peter Wilson Chief Executive Officer 604-484-8989 peter@maxtech-ventures.com www.maxtech-ventures.com ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Ithaca Energy Inc. (TSX: IAE)(AIM: IAE) Not for Distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for Dissemination in the United States Ithaca Energy Inc. 2016 Financial Results 23 March 2017 Ithaca Energy Inc. (TSX: IAE, LSE AIM: IAE) ("Ithaca" or the "Company") announces its financial results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2016, together with the results of its independent year-end reserves assessment and an operations update. Financial and operating highlights Average production of 9,310 barrels of oil equivalent per day ("boepd"), ahead of full year guidance of 9,000 boepd (2015: 12,066 boepd) Unit operating expenditure reduced to $23/boe in 2016 (2015: $31/boe) 2016 cashflow from operations of $147 million, down from $261 million in 2015 Loss after tax of $54 million, impacted by the reduction in UK tax rates during the year (2015: $121 million) Downside commodity price hedging in place to mid-2018 -- 7,600 boepd at an average floor of $50/boe Net debt reduced to $598 million at year-end 2016, down from $665 million at the start of 2016 Refinancing of the Company's debt facilities anticipated during 2017 Proved and probable reserves, as independently evaluated by Sproule(1), increased to 76 MMboe, primarily as a result of the Vorlich and Austen licence acquisitions and updated portfolio work programmes Greater Stella Area development activities Stella field started up in February 2017 -- production to date approximately 1,700 barrels of oil per day net to Ithaca FPF-1 dynamic commissioning programme on-going -- producing at reduced rates to minimise flaring until the gas processing systems are fully commissioned Harrier field development programme underway -- development drilling to be completed in 2017, with start-up of production expected in the second half of 2018 Recommended Delek cash takeover offer - opportunity created for shareholders to crystallise the full value of their investments at a premium cash price Takeover offer by DLK Investments Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delek Group Limited ("Delek"), announced on 6 February 2017 for a cash consideration of C$1.95 per share, which equates to approximately 1.19 per share(2) Acceptance of the offer is unanimously recommended by the Board of Directors (excluding the Delek related party directors) based on an evaluation of the fullness of the offer relative to the future upsides and execution risks of the business Shareholder circulars distributed and closing of initial deposit period set as 17.00 (Toronto time) on 20 April 2017 -- the offer is conditional upon, amongst other things, more than 50% of the shares outstanding that are not currently owned by the Offeror and its affiliates being deposited by that time Les Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, commented: Our 2016 financial results reflect a year of good progress for the Company culminating in first oil from the Stella field in February 2017. This progress has been reflected in the near four-fold increase in our share price since the start of last year. Stella first oil was an important milestone for the Company and production is forecast to ramp-up upon completion of on-going dynamic commissioning of the gas processing facilities. Having reached this important milestone and after weighing up the potential risks and opportunities that lie ahead, the Board considers the takeover offer tabled by Delek as providing full value to shareholders and wholeheartedly recommends its acceptance." Production & Operations Average production in 2016 was 9,310 boepd (92% oil). The asset portfolio performed well over the course of the year, with production running ahead of the 9,000 boepd guidance as a result of solid performance from the Cook field. As previously guided, average production in 2017 is anticipated to be in the range of 19,000 to 22,000 boepd (approximately 75% oil). This range reflects the Stella start-up schedule, the programme of planned maintenance shutdowns during the year and sensitivities associated with the performance of those operational programmes. Production in the first quarter of 2017 is forecast to average approximately 9,200 boepd, including the initial contribution from the Stella field since mid-February 2017. While the on-going dynamic commissioning operations are continuing on the FPF-1, the Stella field is being produced at reduced rates from two of the five wells on the field in order to limit gas flaring. As a consequence, average Stella production to date has been approximately 1,700 barrels of oil per day net to Ithaca. Greater Stella Area Development Stella Following completion of the necessary offshore preparatory works on the FPF-1 floating production facility, first hydrocarbons from the Stella field was achieved in mid-February 2017. Production was initially started from one well on the field in order to commission and stabilise the liquid processing systems on the FPF-1 and commence oil exports to the shuttle tanker. Continued progress is being made with the FPF-1 dynamic commissioning programme. The key outstanding tasks involve commissioning of the fuel gas system and the two gas export compressors, in order to commence gas exports to the CATS pipeline. Initial load testing on the first of the two gas export compressors identified the requirement for modifications to the instrumentation on the machine in order to complete the commissioning scope. This work is in the process of being completed and it is expected that the planned commissioning programme will shortly recommence. Once load testing of the compressor has been satisfactorily proven, this will enable gas to be routed to the fuel gas system and initial pipeline exports to begin. Following this, testing of the second gas export compressor will commence. Once both export compressors are operational the ramp-up to full production rates will commence, followed by optimisation of production across the wells on the field. While it was anticipated that the dynamic commissioning and ramp-up programme would take up to eight weeks to complete, it is likely that these activities will take longer, with the ramp-up phase of operations now expected to commence in April 2017. GSA Oil Export Pipeline The work programme that is underway for installation of the oil export pipeline from the FPF-1 to the Norpipe system remains scheduled for completion in the second half of 2017. The main outstanding activities to be completed are the installation and tie-in of the pipeline export pumps on the FPF-1 and installation of the final subsea connections that are required to be undertaken immediately prior to the switchover from shuttle tanker to pipeline export. Harrier Development As previously announced, activities on the Harrier field development programme are scheduled to commence in April 2017, with the arrival on location of the ENSCO 122 heavy duty jack-up drilling rig. The rig programme involves a multilateral well being drilled into the two reservoir formations on the field and is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2017. The Harrier well is to be tied back via a 7.5 kilometre pipeline to an existing slot on the Stella main drill centre manifold for onward export and processing of production on the FPF-1. The subsea infrastructure installation activities are scheduled for summer 2018, resulting in the anticipated start-up of Harrier production in the second half of 2018. Financials Hedging The Company's commodity hedging position remains unchanged since the start of 2017. As of the start of this year the Company has 7,600 boepd (85% oil) hedged at an average floor price of $50/boe for the 18 months to 30 June 2018. Full commodity price upside exposure has been retained on 60% of the volumes hedged and upside exposure to $60/boe has been retained on a further 25% of the hedged volumes. Operating Expenditure Unit operating costs were reduced from $31/boe in 2015 to $23/boe in 2016, a year-on-year reduction of 26%. This reduction was achieved through supply chain cost saving initiatives, removing overheads and resetting the cost base to reflect the requirements of the current commodity price environment, combined with the cessation of operations at the Company's legacy high cost fields. Forecast 2017 unit operating expenditure is anticipated to be approximately $18/boe, reflecting the anticipated positive impact on unit costs of Stella field production. Capital Expenditure Total capital expenditure in 2016 was $63 million, in line with the revised guidance issued during the year to reflect inclusion of the expenditure associated with acceleration of the GSA oil pipeline installation operations. The planned capital expenditure programme for 2017 is forecast to total approximately $70 million. The majority of this expenditure relates to the GSA, primarily being Harrier development activities plus completion of the GSA oil export pipeline investment programme and Vorlich field development planning activities. Tax The Company had a UK tax allowances pool of over $1,700 million at 31 December 2016. At current commodity prices, the pool is forecast to shelter the Company from the payment of corporation tax over the medium term. During the year the UK government reduced Corporation Tax rates levied on E&P companies by 10% and effectively abolished Petroleum Revenue Tax charges. As a result of these changes, a non-cash deferred tax charge of $58 million is reflected in the 2016 Income Statement. Net Debt & Credit Facilities The Company's net debt at 31 December 2016 was $598 million, down $67 million since the start of the year. It is anticipated that net debt at the end of the first quarter of 2017 will be approximately $615 million. The increase on the year-end figure is due to anticipated movements in working capital. Net debt is forecast to resume its downward trend over the course of the year as a result of increased cashflow generation from the Stella field. Ithaca's existing bank debt facilities and senior notes have maturities in late 2018 and mid-2019, respectively. During 2017 the Company will assess the options to refinance these credit facilities and the associated debt maturity profiles. Year-End Reserves Total proved and probable ("2P") reserves as at 31 December 2016 have been independently estimated by Sproule(1), a qualified reserves evaluator, as 76 million barrels of oil equivalent ("MMboe"). These reserves reflect the addition of the Vorlich and Austen licence acquisitions completed during 2016 and updated portfolio work programmes. Further details of the Sproule evaluation are set out in the Management Discussion and Analysis for the 2016 financial results. The results of the Sproule reserves assessment do not result in a change in information that would reasonably be expected to alter the conclusions of the independent valuation prepared by GMP FirstEnergy for the purposes of Company's evaluation of the Delek takeover offer, which was completed in accordance with the requirements of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 -- Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. As such, the Company does not believe that the Sproule reserves assessment would reasonably be considered new information for the purposes of National Instrument 61-104 -- Takeover Bids and Issuer Bids, that would reasonably be expected to affect the decision of the shareholders of the Company to accept or reject the Delek takeover offer. Recommended Delek Takeover Offer On 6 February 2017 the Company announced that it had entered into a definitive support agreement with Delek Group Ltd on the terms of a cash takeover bid for all of the issued and to be issued common shares of Ithaca not currently owned by Delek or any of its affiliates for C$1.95 per share (the "Offer"). The Offer is being made by DKL Investments Limited (the "Offeror"), an affiliate of Delek, which is currently Ithaca's largest shareholder and holds approximately 19.7% of the currently issued and outstanding common shares of the Company. The Board of Directors excluding the Delek related party directors (the "Directors"), after consulting with its financial and legal advisers, considers the terms of the Offer to be in the best interests of Ithaca and its shareholders and have accordingly unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the Offer and deposit their shares. The principal reasons for this recommendation are centred on an evaluation of the fullness of the Offer relative to the future upsides and execution risks of the business. A full explanation of the reasons underlying the recommendation to shareholders and the multiple factors evaluated by Directors is contained in the Directors' Circular that was issued to shareholders on 14 March 2017. The evaluation and its conclusion was made in light of the Directors' own knowledge of the business, the industry and the financial condition and prospects of the Company and based upon the recommendation of a special committee of independent directors ("the Special Committee"), which has been advised by RBC Capital Markets in its capacity as financial advisor to the Company. The Offer will be open for acceptance until 17.00 (Toronto time) on 20 April 2017 (the "Expiry Time"). Shareholders wishing to accept the Offer must take action to deposit their shares. Successful completion of the Offer is conditional upon, amongst other things, more than 50% of the common shares outstanding (excluding the shares already owned by the Offeror and its affiliates) being validly deposited under the Offer prior to the Expiry Time (the "Minimum Tender Condition"). No deposited shares will be purchased by the Offeror if the Minimum Tender Condition is not satisfied. Full details of the Offer are contained in Takeover Bid Circular issued by Delek to shareholders of the Company on 14 March 2017 and the associated Ithaca Directors' Circular that was issued on the same date. Copies of both documents are available on the Company's website (www.ithacaenergy.com) and on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). 2016 Financial Results Conference Call A conference call and webcast for investors and analysts will be held today at 12.00 GMT (08.00 EDT), with a playback facility being made available on the Company's website later that day. Listen to the call live via the Company's website (www.ithacaenergy.com) or alternatively dial-in on one of the following telephone numbers and request access to the Ithaca Energy conference call: UK +44 (0)203 059 8125; Canada +1 855 287 9927; US +1 724 928 9460. A short presentation to accompany the results will be available on the Company's website prior to the call. Notes 1. The year-end independent reserves evaluation has been performed by Sproule International Limited ("Sproule"), a qualified reserves evaluator, in accordance with the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook pursuant to NI 51-101 - Standards of Reserves Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities. 2. Based on the closing exchange rate on 10 March 2017, as noted in the Takeover Bid Circular issued by Delek. The audited consolidated financial statements of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2016 and the related Management Discussion and Analysis are available on the Company's website (www.ithacaenergy.com) and on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). All values in this release and the Company's financial disclosures are in US dollars, unless otherwise stated. - ENDS - Enquiries: Ithaca Energy Les Thomas lthomas@ithacaenergy.com +44 (0)1224 650 261 Graham Forbes gforbes@ithacaenergy.com +44 (0)1224 652 151 Richard Smith rsmith@ithacaenergy.com +44 (0)1224 652 172 FTI Consulting Edward Westropp edward.westropp@fticonsulting.com +44 (0)203 727 1521 Cenkos Securities Neil McDonald nmcdonald@cenkos.com +44 (0)207 397 8900 Beth McKiernan bmckiernan@cenkos.com +44 (0)131 220 9778 Nick Tulloch ntulloch@cenkos.com +44 (0)131 220 6939 RBC Capital Markets Matthew Coakes matthew.coakes@rbccm.com +44 (0)207 653 4000 Notes In accordance with AIM Guidelines, John Horsburgh, BSc (Hons) Geophysics (Edinburgh), MSc Petroleum Geology (Aberdeen) and Subsurface Manager at Ithaca is the qualified person that has reviewed the technical information contained in this press release. Mr Horsburgh has over 15 years operating experience in the upstream oil and gas industry. References herein to barrels of oil equivalent ("boe") are derived by converting gas to oil in the ratio of six thousand cubic feet ("Mcf") of gas to one barrel ("bbl") of oil. Boe may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A boe conversion ratio of 6 Mcf: 1 bbl is based on an energy conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. Given the value ratio based on the current price of crude oil as compared to natural gas is significantly different from the energy equivalency of 6 Mcf: 1 bbl, utilising a conversion ratio at 6 Mcf: 1 bbl may be misleading as an indication of value. All references to dollars ($) in this press release refer to the United States dollar (USD), unless otherwise stated. About Ithaca Energy Ithaca Energy Inc. (TSX: IAE, LSE AIM: IAE) is a North Sea oil and gas operator focused on the delivery of lower risk growth through the appraisal and development of UK undeveloped discoveries and the exploitation of its existing UK producing asset portfolio. Ithaca's strategy is centred on generating sustainable long term shareholder value by building a highly profitable 25kboe/d North Sea oil and gas company. For further information please consult the Company's website www.ithacaenergy.com. Forward-looking Statements Some of the statements and information in this press release are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") are based on the Company's internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and beliefs as at the date of such statements or information, including, among other things, assumptions with respect to production, drilling, construction and maintenance times, well completion times, risks associated with operations, future capital expenditures, continued availability of financing for future capital expenditures, future acquisitions and dispositions and cash flow. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such information may prove to be incorrect. When used in this press release, the words and phrases like "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "plan", "should", "believe", "could", "target", "in the process of", "on track" and similar expressions, and the negatives thereof, whether used in connection with the Offer, operational activities, drilling plans, future GSA field development programmes, Stella production ramp-up timing, production forecasts, budgetary figures, future operating costs, anticipated net debt, anticipated funding requirements, planned maintenance shutdowns, potential developments including the timing and anticipated benefits of acquisitions and dispositions or otherwise, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are not promises or guarantees, and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations, or the assumptions underlying these expectations, will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this press release should not be unduly relied upon. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Ithaca Energy Inc. expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any forward-looking statement is based except as required by applicable securities laws. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect Ithaca's operations and financial results are included in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis and Annual Information Form for the year ended 31 December 2016 and in reports which are on file with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed through the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com). Enquiries: Ithaca Energy Les Thomas lthomas@ithacaenergy.com +44 (0)1224 650 261 Graham Forbes gforbes@ithacaenergy.com +44 (0)1224 652 151 Richard Smith rsmith@ithacaenergy.com +44 (0)1224 652 172 FTI Consulting Edward Westropp edward.westropp@fticonsulting.com +44 (0)203 727 1521 Cenkos Securities Neil McDonald nmcdonald@cenkos.com +44 (0)207 397 8900 Beth McKiernan bmckiernan@cenkos.com +44 (0)131 220 9778 Nick Tulloch ntulloch@cenkos.com +44 (0)131 220 6939 RBC Capital Markets Matthew Coakes matthew.coakes@rbccm.com +44 (0)207 653 4000 Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Kier Group plc. (KIE.L), a property, residential, construction and services group, reported that its profit attributable to owners of the parent for the six-month period ended 31 December 2016 significantly increased to 38.5 million pounds from 9.7 million pounds in the same period last year. Underlying profit attributable to owners of the parent for the period rose to 37.6 million pounds from 35.4 million pounds in the prior year. The company also announced that Phil White will be retiring as Chairman and standing down from the board with effect from the conclusion of the AGM on 17 November 2017. Philip Cox CBE, who is the Chairman of Drax Group plc and Global Power Generation and was previously Chief Executive Officer of International Power plc from 2003 to 2013, will join the board as a non-executive director and Chairman Designate on 1 July 2017. He will become Chairman with effect from the conclusion of the 2017 AGM. Kier Group said it remains on course to deliver its expectations for the full year and it is well positioned to achieve its Vision 2020 goals. The company said it has made good progress with its Vision 2020 goals in the six month period. It expects its net debt position to be maintained at 1x EBITDA for the full year and we remain confident of achieving its goal of double-digit profit growth on average each year to 2020. Profit before tax for the six-month period ended 31 December 2016 grew to 34.9 million pounds from 4.3 million pounds in the previous year. Underlying basic earnings per share from continuing operations of 38.9 pence, has increased by 11%. Underlying profit before tax at 46.3 million pounds (December 2015: 41.5 million pounds) benefitted from the lower financing costs and represents an increase of 12%. The Group's underlying operating profit for the period was 56.5 million pounds, an increase of 4% from the prior year. Group revenue for the six months was 2.01 billion pounds, compared to 2.02 billion pounds in the prior year. The company announced an interim dividend of 22.5 pence per share, up 5%,. This will be paid on 19 May 2017 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 31 March 2017. Kier Group announced that Phil White has advised the board of directors that he will retire as Chairman and step down from the Board with effect from the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting on 17 November 2017. He will be succeeded by Philip Cox CBE, who is the Chairman of Drax Group plc, the FTSE 250 energy group, and Global Power Generation or 'GPG', a joint venture between Gas Natural Fenosa and the Kuwait Investment Authority. Mr. Cox will retire as the Chairman of GPG by 10 September 2017. Philip Cox will join the Board as a Non-Executive Director and Chairman Designate on 1 July 2017 and will assume the role of Chairman immediately following the AGM. He will be a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees with effect from his appointment as a Non-Executive Director. Phil White was appointed to the Board with effect from July 2006 and has served as Chairman since January 2008. Since 2001, Mr. Cox has undertaken a number of non-executive roles, including as the Senior Independent Director of Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc and as a member of the boards of Talen Energy Corporation, Meggitt plc and Wincanton plc. Separately, Kier announced that, on 22 March 2017, it established a joint venture with CKH Developments Limited, a housing association and care services provider which principally operates in the east of England. Kier will transfer part of its land bank and a number of its residential developments in the east of England, valued at up to 97 million pounds, into the JV with Cross Keys contributing up to 4 million pounds of equity into the JV. Kier will receive a cash payment of up to 64 million pounds for the assets and the JV will be funded by a non-recourse revolving credit facility from HSBC Bank plc. There will be a 90:10 split of economic ownership and each party will have 50:50 voting rights. Initial completion of the transaction is expected to take place by 31 March 2017, with subsequent completions expected to take place prior to 30 June 2017 upon the transfer of further sites. The JV is expected to be cash generative from completion of the transaction. The transaction will release funds to Kier for reinvestment in other parts of its business in line with its 15% return on capital employed hurdle. Kier expects the transaction to be earnings accretive in 2019. Kier and Cross Keys have a long-standing relationship in the eastern region, operating in complementary sectors of the housing market. Kier will provide its development, land-buying, construction and sales expertise to the JV. Cross Keys will provide access to key strategic relationships for the benefit of the JV. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de TUSTIN, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Premier Holding Corporation (OTCQB: PRHL) announces that it has signed an agreement with Joy Langford & Associates (JL&A) to generate sales and help grow their business through its subsidiary, Energy Efficiency Experts (E3). E3 is currently working with Joy Langford & Associates, a Los Angeles based energy strategy company that specializes in public private partnerships throughout Southern California, to support and promote the sales agreement the company has with Sustainability Partners. Over the last two decades, JL&A has fostered energy deals with municipalities in the greater Los Angeles area such as Chino, Diamond Bar, San Bernardino and currently the cities of Vernon and Compton, assisting these communities with everything from LED lighting upgrades, to municipal gas curtailment, waste water management, and air emissions controls. Currently JL&A is assisting PRHL's Subsidiary, Energy Efficiency Experts, with its alliance with Sustainability Partners (SP) and their unique "Sustainability-as-a-Service" business model with both municipalities and in the private sector assisting large building owners. "JL&A is excited to be working with E3 on this unique product from Sustainability Partners. There is truly no other model like this on the market right now that gives owners and municipalities the freedom to choose the efficiency and sustainability equipment that best serves their needs and at the same time offers them the ability to have truly no out of pocket costs, no financial encumbrance, and no maintenance concerns," says Joy Langford. As previously reported, Sustainability Partners has an industry-disrupting alternative to the painful cycle of RFI, RFP, budgeting, financing, bond, taxes, rental, PPAs, leases and shared savings arrangements. Their model provides sustainability in a similar fashion as utility companies provide power... on a month-to-month service agreement. SP pays for 100% of materials and installation while continually providing maintenance, upgrades, and eventual replacements as newer, better technology arrives. This simple, utility- structured SaaS agreement gives customers high impact solutions with no cash outlay, no institutional guarantees, and no security interests or collateral, thereby strengthening the financials by reducing debt, reserves and operating costs on a continuing basis. President and CEO of Premier, Randall Letcavage adds: "We continue to be very excited about our relationship with Sustainability Partners and are increasing our efforts by bringing on strategic partners, such as JL&A who will help us grow this business line. JL&A's client base is in perfect concert with the target audience of SP, so we could not be happier about this relationship." About Premier Holding Corporation Under the corporate motto, "Everything Energy," Premier is an energy holding company focused on acquiring and integrating energy companies as synergistic subsidiaries. The Company accumulates residential and commercial clients in deregulated markets from all subsidiaries and cross sells energy and energy efficiency products and services including LED lighting, energy management systems, smart home technology, and more, maximizing profit potential and minimizing cost of client procurement. In addition, Premier Holding provides top line management and financial support, which includes access to capital, financing, legal, insurance, mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and management strategies. Additional integrated business offerings include direct energy services as power purchase agreements (PPAs), energy financing and leasing of generation programs in urban and rural real estate environments, lighting efficiency systems and refrigeration systems. For more information, visit PRHL Investors Relations www.prhlcorp.com. About Sustainability Partners Sustainability Partners (SP) works with customers to invest in and deploy energy efficient initiatives in a no cost, low-risk way with no obligations. The value-added approach of Sustainability-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivers effective and impactful energy, water and fuel efficient systems to customers by accelerating traditional project and procurement processes. With investment from BlackRock on behalf of their clients, which with $5.1 trillion Assets Under Management is the world's largest asset manager, Sustainability Partners has access to resources for accomplishing the very largest of infrastructure upgrades. About Joy Langford & Associates JL&A is recognized as a leader in environmental public policy and strategy, planning and execution, as well as strategic communications. JL&A focuses on climate change, air quality, advanced transportation, clean energy, and livable communities. JL&A works with a large network of corporations as well as policy makers and political leaders -- at all levels of government -- to advance their clients' initiatives. Further, JL&A advises numerous corporations on their corporate social responsibility initiatives to support safety, sustainability and environmental programs and policies that make for a better world. Premier Holding Corp. Safe Harbor This press release contains certain statements that may include "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects," "anticipate," "optimistic," "intend," "will" or other similar expressions. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in the Company's periodic reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website at http://www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Other than as required under applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume a duty to update these forward-looking statements. For more information, contact: Megan Samson (949) 260-8070 msamson@prhlcorp.com BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 5:30 am ET Thursday, the Office for National Statistics is set to release U.K. retail sales figures for February. U.K. retail sales are forecast to grow 0.4 percent on month in February, reversing a 0.3 percent fall in January. Ahead of the data, the pound fell against its major rivals. As of 5:25 am ET, the pound was trading at 0.8641 against the euro, 1.2395 against the Swiss franc, 1.2471 against the U.S. dollar and 138.58 against the yen. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- GAWK, Inc. (OTC PINK: GAWK), a cloud-based infrastructure-as-a-service company, today announced attendance at the Incompas Show, in New Orleans April 3-5, 2017. The Conference is an important meeting of top industry players. GAWK intends to showcase their cloud based VOIP products and highlight the differentiation of their customizable platform. To learn more about the show please visit: show.incompas.org "GAWK looks forward to reinforcing the growth we have experienced since the last meeting. We believe that attendance at Incompas is important as it gives us the ability to meet with clients and prospects face to face, as well as learn about the important work that Incompas is doing on our behalf in Washington DC," stated Scott Kettle, CEO of GAWK. "With the issue of Call Center jobs and 'offshoring' being a hot button issue in the White House and on Capitol Hill, we look forward to hearing from Incompas on the regulatory outlook for our industry." Incompas has long been an advocate of competition in the telecom industry, believing that it benefits the players and consumers of telecom services. GAWK management believes that a presence within this Who's Who of the Telecom industry is crucial. For investor inquiries please call (888) 754-6190 Ext. 3 or email IR@gawk.com For more information about GAWK's OTC Markets publicly traded shares click here About Incompas. For more than three decades, INCOMPAS (formerly known as COMPTEL) has served as an advocate for the competitive communications industry, supporting the growth of our member companies businesses and fostering economic development in communities around the world. In our pursuit of promoting principles of a competitive communications marketplace, we are active in proceedings underway at the FCC and other federal agencies, before Congress, in the international arena and in the courts. About GAWK, Inc. GAWK, Inc. (OTC PINK: GAWK) offers a suite of cloud communications, cloud connectivity, cloud computing, and managed cloud-based applications solutions to small, medium, and large businesses; and offers domestic and international voice services to communications carriers worldwide. It offers a suite of advanced data center and cloud-based services, including fault tolerant, high availability cloud servers, which comprise platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, and a content delivery network; managed network services that converge voice and data applications, structured cabling, wireless, and security services, as well as include Internet access via Ethernet or fiber at speeds ranging from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps; and data center solutions, including cloud services, colocation services, and business continuity services, such as storage and security. www.gawk.com Forward-Looking Statements All statements in this release that are not strictly historical facts are "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements are based on GAWK's current assumptions, beliefs and expectations, and involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause GAWK's actual results to be materially different from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some can be identified by the use of words such as "expect," "plan," "possibility," "offer," "if," "negotiate," "when," "believe," "will," "estimate," "continue," and similar expressions. Risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: ongoing and future intellectual property enforcement actions; the ability to successfully litigate or settle claims of patent infringement; GAWK's ability to obtain necessary financing, generate sufficient cash flow, and maintain appropriate indebtedness; and the increasing development of market competition in the area of telecommunications. These factors and others are described in more detail in GAWK's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risks discussed in the "Risk Factors" section in GAWK's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of these reports can be found on GAWK's website (www.gawk.com) under the heading "Investor Relations." GAWK is providing this information as of the date of this release and, except as required by law, does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contact: GAWK, Inc. Investor Relations 888.754.6190 Ext. 3 IR@gawk.com RED BANK, NJ--(Marketwired - March 23, 2017) - Plymouth Rock Assurance has announced the induction of 22 New Jersey insurance agencies into the 2017 Circle of Excellence. The Circle of Excellence appreciation program honors and rewards the insurers' top performing independent agents. Each year, Plymouth Rock recognizes a select group of agents based on their prior year financial performance and customer satisfaction. "It takes dedication, an innovative spirit and a commitment to superior service to be represented in the Circle of Excellence," said Ed Fernandez, President of the Independent Agent Division at Plymouth Rock Management Company of New Jersey. "These agencies and their agents represent the very best in the business. We are proud to honor and acknowledge their outstanding professional efforts." The 2017 Circle of Excellence winners are: AAA Northeast Insurance Agency, Inc.; The Barclay Group; The Bogle Agency, Inc.; Brouwer Hansen & Izdebski Associates; Carey-Stephan-Massi, Inc.; Couch Braunsdorf Insurance Group, Inc.; Daman Associates, Inc.; Five Star Insurance Agency LLC; Hardenbergh Insurance Group, Inc.; J. Byrne Insurance Agency, Inc.; James A. Connors Associates, Inc.; Marino Agency, Inc.; Miramar Insurance Agency, Inc.; Paladin Insurance Agency, LLC; R. K. Hughes, Inc.; Shults Insurance Agency, Inc.; Thomas H. Heist Insurance Agency, Inc.; Tri-State Insurance Agency, Inc.; Reiner Insurance Agency; Vreeland Insurance, Inc.; Weichert Insurance Agency, Inc.; Wiggers Insurance Service Corp. Plymouth Rock proudly rewards the winners with financial support and offers them professional development opportunities for continued investment in their agencies' growth and profitability. As part of the program, Circle of Excellence winners are eligible to receive education, specialized training and valuable incentives to assist with branding and customer acquisition. "A strong relationship between Plymouth Rock and our agency partners is the key to our mutual success," Fernandez said. "Along with our entire community of independent agents, we congratulate the 2017 Circle of Excellence winners and celebrate their performance." About Plymouth Rock Plymouth Rock Assurance is a marketing name used by a group of separate companies that write and manage property and casualty insurance in multiple states. Insurance in New Jersey is offered by Plymouth Rock Management Company of New Jersey on behalf of Palisades Safety and Insurance Association and its affiliates. Each company is financially responsible only for its own insurance products. For additional information about Plymouth Rock Assurance, please visit plymouthrock.com. Contact: Michael Buck 908-219-5326 mbuck@plymouthrock.com Espoo, Finland, 2017-03-23 11:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aspocomp Group Plc, Decisions of Annual General Meeting, March 23, 2017 at 12:00 noon The Annual General Meeting of Aspocomp Group Plc held on March 23, 2017 adopted the annual accounts and the consolidated annual accounts for the financial period 2016 and granted the members of the Board of Directors and the CEO discharge from liability. The Meeting decided not to pay dividend for the financial period 2016. The Annual General Meeting decided to set the number of Board members at five (5) and re-elected the current members of the Board Ms. Paivi Marttila, Ms. Kaarina Muurinen, Mr. Juha Putkiranta and Mr. Matti Lahdenpera, and elected Ms. Julianna Borsos, D. Sc. (Econ.) (born 1971) as new member to the Board, for a term of office ending at the closing of the following Annual General Meeting. The Annual General Meeting re-elected PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy, Authorized Public Accountants, as the company's auditor for a term of office ending at the closing of the following Annual General Meeting. PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy has notified that Mr. Markku Katajisto, Authorized Public Accountant, will act as its principal auditor. The Annual General Meeting decided that the chairman of the Board of Directors will be paid EUR 30,000 and the other members will be paid EUR 15,000 each in remuneration for their term of office. The Annual General Meeting further decided that EUR 1,000 will be paid as remuneration per meeting to the chairman and EUR 500 per meeting will be paid to the other members of the Board. The members of the Board of Directors will further be reimbursed for reasonable travel costs. The auditor's fees will be paid according to the auditor's invoice. The Annual General Meeting decided to authorize the Board of Directors, in one or more installments, to decide on the issuance of shares and the issuance of options and other special rights entitling to shares referred to in Chapter 10 Section 1 of the Companies Act as follows: The number of shares to be issued based on the authorization may in total amount to a maximum of 649,650 shares. The Board of Directors decides on all the terms and conditions of the issuances of shares and of options and other special rights entitling to shares. The authorization concerns both the issuance of new shares as well as own shares possibly held by the company. The issuance of shares and of options and other special rights entitling to shares referred to in Chapter 10 Section 1 of the Companies Act may be carried out in deviation from the shareholders' pre-emptive rights (directed issue). The authorization cancels the authorization given by the General Meeting on April 7, 2016 to decide on the issuance of shares as well as the issuance of special rights entitling to shares. The authorization is valid until June 30, 2018. The minutes of the Annual General Meeting are available on the company's website at www.aspocomp.com/agm starting from April 6, 2017 at the latest. For further information, please contact Mikko Montonen, CEO, tel. +358 20 775 6860, mikko.montonen(at)aspocomp.com. ASPOCOMP GROUP PLC Mikko Montonen CEO Aspocomp - a service company specializing in PCB technologies Aspocomp specializes in demanding PCB technologies, serving its customers throughout the entire life cycle of a product. Aspocomp sells and manufactures PCBs and also provides related design and logistics services as well as technology solutions. Aspocomp creates value for its customers with unique products and solutions, strong manufacturing and technology expertise, as well as fast and reliable deliveries. A wide network of expert partners together with Aspocomp's own manufacturing enables its customers to cost-effectively buy their PCBs from a single provider over the entire life cycle of a product. A printed circuit board (PCB) is the principal interconnection method in electronic devices. PCBs are used for electrical interconnection and as a component assembly platform in most electronic applications. Aspocomp's customers are companies that design and manufacture telecom systems and equipment, automotive and industrial electronics, security technology and semiconductor testing systems. Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Copper Fox Metals Inc. ("Copper Fox" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: CUU)(OTC PINK: CPFXF) reports that it has added 57 mineral lode claims to its 100% owned Mineral Mountain property, a Laramide age copper-molybdenum-gold project, located in central Arizona. Elmer B. Stewart, President and CEO of Copper Fox, stated, "The recent compilation work combined with a review of historical reports identified an area of oxide copper mineralization to the east of the Mineral Mountain project. The additional claims were added to cover the new zone of copper mineralization and protect the interpreted extension of the recently announced porphyry style mineralization hosted in a Laramide age Quartz Monzonite intrusion." Highlights: a. 57 mineral lode claims totaling 1,157 acres (468.4 ha) have been added to the Mineral Mountain project. b. These mineral claims cover an area where historical reports indicate that oxide copper mineralization was intersected by diamond drilling to a depth 537 feet (163.7 m). c. Several occurrences of oxide copper mineralization were observed in this area when locating the claims. d. The oxide copper mineralization is hosted in the Pinal Schist and interpreted to be associated with a Laramide age Quartz Monzonite intrusive stock. e. The new claims cover the interpreted easterly extension of the recently announced mineralization and potassic/sericitic alteration (see news release dated March 2, 2017). Mineral Mountain Project: The Mineral Mountain project is located in the northeast trending Jemez structural lineament, the same trend that hosts the porphyry copper deposits at Casa Grande, Florence, Resolution and in the Globe-Miami district in Arizona. The recent compilation of the 2015 and 2016 sampling results indicated that the mineralized trend extends to the east beyond the border of the Mineral Mountain project possibly associated with a linear trend of Laramide age Quartz Monzonite intrusive stocks. A Masters of Science thesis completed by Eberhard A. Schmidt for the faculty of the Department of Geology, University of Arizona in 1967, Pages 81-82., reports the following "A drilling program initiated by the B.O.W. Mining Company in 1964 attempted to confirm disseminated copper mineralization in Pinal Schist about one-half mile northeast of the isolated Mineral Mountain Quartz Monzonite exposure in Box Canyon. The schist in this particular area is somewhat iron stained on the surface, and at one place a gently dipping shear zone exposes considerable amounts of copper carbonates. The company drilled several AX holes down to 537 feet and reportedly intersected copper oxide mineralization from surface to the bottom. No sulfide mineralization or an enriched zone were encountered." "As pointed out elsewhere in this manuscript, the writer believes that the Mineral Mountain Quartz Monzonite extends further to the east beneath the Pinal Schist. The observed iron staining in the overlying schist and the sparse copper mineralization may be intricately associated with the monzonite intrusion". Elmer B. Stewart, MSc. P. Geol., President of Copper Fox, is the Company's non-independent, nominated Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101, Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and has reviewed and approves the scientific and technical information disclosed in this news release. About Copper Fox: Copper Fox is a Tier 1 Canadian resource company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V: CUU) focused on copper exploration and development in Canada and the United States. Copper Fox and its wholly owned Canadian and United States subsidiaries, being Northern Fox Copper Inc. and Desert Fox Copper Inc. hold the assets listed below: 1. 25% interest in the Schaft Creek Joint Venture with Teck Resources Limited on the Schaft Creek copper-gold-molybdenum-silver project located in northwestern British Columbia. 2. 100% ownership of the Van Dyke oxide copper project located in Miami, Arizona. 3. 65.4% of the shares of Carmax Mining Corp. who in turn own 100% of the Eaglehead copper-molybdenum-gold project located in northwestern British Columbia. 4. 100% ownership of the Sombrero Butte copper project located east of Mammoth, Arizona. 5. 100% ownership of the Mineral Mountain copper project located east of Florence, Arizona. On behalf of the Board of Directors Elmer B. Stewart, President and Chief Executive Officer Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and forward-looking information within the meaning of the Canadian securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking information"). Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements regarding the location of additional oxide copper mineralization; the interpreted extension of the mineralized trend; and the estimated size and content of the reported oxide copper mineralization. In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Copper Fox and its subsidiaries have made numerous assumptions regarding, among other things: the geological, financial and economic advice that Copper Fox has received is reliable and is based upon practices and methodologies which are consistent with industry standards; the reliability of historical reports; and the stability of economic and market conditions. While Copper Fox considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause Copper Fox's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. Known risk factors include, among others: the existence, depth, and location of the reported oxide copper mineralization may not be confirmed by additional exploration; the reported oxide copper mineralization may not be associated with the Quartz Monzonite stocks; the interpreted extension of the mineralized trend as previously reported may not be accurate; and future exploration of this area may not locate additional copper mineralization or copper mineralization at all. A more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing Copper Fox is disclosed in Copper Fox's continuous disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and Copper Fox disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law. Contacts: Copper Fox Metals Inc. Lynn Ball 1-844-464-2820 or 1-403-264-2820 BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- China abides by World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and will continue to do so, a commerce official said Thursday. Sun Jiwen, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), made the remarks at a press briefing in response to a question about a recent ROK complaint to the WTO over the situation facing ROK companies in China. An ROK representative told a WTO meeting on March 17 that some ROK businesses in China had been affected, Sun told reporters. "As a responsible member of the WTO, China always abides by WTO rules, honors its commitments, and will continue to do so," Sun said. He also noted that the ROK finance minister told media that there was "no evidence" that China has taken policy measures. Enditem BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The British pound continued to be strong against the other major currencies in the European session on Thursday, after data showed that U.K. retail sales increased for the first time in four months in February. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the retail sales volume grew 1.4 percent month-on-month in February, reversing a 0.5 percent fall in January and bigger than the 0.4 percent expected increase. On a yearly basis, retail sales volume growth accelerated to 3.7 percent from 1 percent in January. This was also faster than the expected 2.6 percent. Excluding auto fuel, retail sales volume climbed 1.3 percent in contrast to a 0.3 percent fall in January. Sales were expected to grow 0.3 percent. The annual growth in sales volume, excluding auto fuel, improved to 4.1 percent from 2.1 percent. Economists had forecast a 3.2 percent rise. In the Asian trading, the pound rose against its major rivals. In the European trading, the pound rose to nearly a 1-month high of 1.2527 against the U.S. dollar, a 3-week high of 1.2444 against the Swiss franc and nearly a 3-week high of 0.8605 against the euro, from early lows of 1.2463, 1.2365 and 0.8654, respectively. If the pound extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.26 against the greenback, 1.26 against the franc and 0.85 against the euro. Against the yen, the pound edged up to 139.14 from an early low of 138.39. The pound may test resistance around the 141.00 region. Looking ahead, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended March 18, U.S. new home sales data for February and Eurozone consumer confidence index for March are slated for release in the New York session. At 8:45 am ET, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will deliver opening remarks at the Federal Reserve System Community Development Research Conference, in Washington DC. At 12:30 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is expected to speak about the US education outcomes and achievement gaps at the Federal Reserve System Community Development Research Conference, in Washington DC. At 1:00 pm ET, Swiss National Bank Governing Board Member Andrea Maechler will deliver a speech titled 'The SNB Investment Policy and its Peculiarities' at the Money Market Event, in Zurich. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de ALBANY, New York, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The presence of a large number of companies has rendered the competitive landscape of the global smart agriculture market highly fragmented. The cumulative share of the top four players nearly 15.5% in the market in 2016, hinting towards a highly competitive environment. Raven Industries, Inc., Trimble Navigation, Deere & Co, and AgJunction, Inc., are the top market players. Of these, AgJunction, Inc., emerged dominant in 2016 holding a little short of 6% of the overall market, finds Transparency Market Research (TMR) in its new study. "A majority of the companies operating in the global smart agriculture market are looking to gain traction by means of innovation and technological improvements," said a lead TMR analyst. Besides this, exploring lucrative pockets around the world and establishing units are key strategies of emerging at the fore of this highly competitive market. Acquiring small and local players is yet another popular strategy adopted by the leading players aiming for expanding their regional footprint. According to TMR, exhibiting a promising 13.5% CAGR between 2017 and 2025, the global smart agriculture market is forecast to reach US$23.44 bn by the end of 2025. The market's valuation stood at US$6.55 bn in 2016. Regionally, North America emerged dominant with a value-based share of 44.14% in the overall market in 2016. Through the course of the forecast period, the region is likely to maintain its dominance. In terms of application, the precision agriculture segment was at fore with a share of 49.09% in the overall market in 2016. Demand for Better Yield to Fuel Implementation of Smart Agriculture Technologies As smart technologies make headway across industries, the agriculture sector is not to be left behind. A considerably rising demand for the same is noted especially across the agriculture sector in developed economies. These developments are currently implemented to reduce human effort at the same time boost agricultural yield. Latest technologies such as micro controller, cloud- or web-based platform, cameras, sensors, and smart devices, sensors, and cameras are implemented to help farmers understand their land condition better. Get PDF Sample for this Research Report @http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=11561 The need for latest and smart technologies in agriculture is primarily triggered by the persistent want for food to feed the globally rising population. Many countries are deploying smart agriculture also to keep track of their livestock and monitor their health. Besides this, the market is expected to gain impetus in response to the increasing demand for precision farming. Precision agriculture comprises remote sensors that capture multi-band images of crops from drones and UAVs. Also the rising trend of corporate farming is expected to fuel the demand for smart agriculture technologies. In addition, the rising scarcity of arable lands is tipping scales in favor of smart agriculture to help pursue greenhouse farming. Lack of Knowledge among Farmers to Curb Growth Potential in Underdeveloped Nations On the downside, the market is reeling under lack of awareness about advanced technologies among farmers. The scenario is exacerbated in developing and under-developed economies where farmers are coping with meager knowledge and feudalistic ways of selling crops. To make matters worse, the high cost of smart devices is inhibiting their use in the agriculture sector, despite abundant opportunities across emerging nations. Nevertheless, with internet penetrating even in remote areas, soon the aforementioned problems are likely to get mitigated. Besides the availability of high-speed internet, favorable government initiatives to educate farmers about the benefits of implementing smart technologies will aid in the market's expansion. This review is based on a TMR report, titled "Smart Agriculture Market (Solutions - Network Management, Agriculture Asset Management, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, Logistic and Supply Chain Management, and Smart Water Management; Application - Precision Agriculture, Livestock Monitoring, Fish Farming, and Smart Greenhouse) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2017 - 2025." Get more information from Research Report Press Release:http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/smart-agriculture-market.htm The report segments the global smart agriculture market as: Global Smart Agriculture Market, 2017-2025 Network Management Agriculture Asset Management Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Logistics and Supply Chain Management Smart Water Management Others Global Smart Agriculture Market, 2017-2025: By Application Precision Agriculture Livestock Monitoring Fish Farming Smart Greenhouse Others Global Smart Agriculture Market, 2017-2025: By Geography > North America - U.S. - Canada - Mexico > Europe - U.K - Germany - Italy - France - Rest of Europe > Asia Pacific - China - Japan - India - Rest of Asia Pacific > Middle East and Africa - Saudi Arabia - Egypt - South Africa - Rest of Middle East and Africa > Latin America - Brazil - Rest of Latin America Related Research Reports by TMR: Agriculture Robots Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/agriculture-robot-market.html Agriculture and Farm Machinery Market : http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/agriculture-forestry-machinery.html About Us: Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports. US Office Contact: Transparency Market Research 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Transparencymarketresearch Espoo, Finland, 2017-03-23 11:45 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aspocomp Group Plc, Company Announcement, March 23, 2017 at 12:45 p.m. In its organization meeting held today, the Board of Directors of Aspocomp Group Plc re-elected Paivi Marttila as Chairman of the Board and Kaarina Muurinen as Vice Chairman. The Board of Directors has at its meeting evaluated the independence of the Board members in compliance with the recommendations of the Finnish Corporate Governance Code. It is the view of the Board of Directors that all Board members, other than Ms. Julianna Borsos, are independent of the company's significant shareholders. The Board of Directors has also assessed that all the Board members are independent of the company. Board committees were not established as the extent of the company's business did not require it. For further information, please contact Mikko Montonen, CEO, tel. +358 20 775 6860, mikko.montonen(at)aspocomp.com. ASPOCOMP GROUP PLC Mikko Montonen CEO Aspocomp - a service company specializing in PCB technologies Aspocomp specializes in demanding PCB technologies, serving its customers throughout the entire life cycle of a product. Aspocomp sells and manufactures PCBs and also provides related design and logistics services as well as technology solutions. Aspocomp creates value for its customers with unique products and solutions, strong manufacturing and technology expertise, as well as fast and reliable deliveries. A wide network of expert partners together with Aspocomp's own manufacturing enables its customers to cost-effectively buy their PCBs from a single provider over the entire life cycle of a product. A printed circuit board (PCB) is the principal interconnection method in electronic devices. PCBs are used for electrical interconnection and as a component assembly platform in most electronic applications. Aspocomp's customers are companies that design and manufacture telecom systems and equipment, automotive and industrial electronics, security technology and semiconductor testing systems. Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de GENEVA, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TheEssamandDalalObaidFoundation (EDOF), which has a strategic partnership with CNN to support the CNN Freedom Project and itsMarch 14 MyFreedomDayInitiative, is pleased to congratulate CNN and the Freedom Project Teamona highly successful event. MyFreedomDayinvolved a wide array of activities aimed at calling attention to the continuing problem of modern-day slavery. The activities included students from hundreds of schools on six continents making anti-slavery signs and sharing them on social media; activists, journalists, and NGOs facilitating and broadcasting anti-slavery messages and conversations; and celebrities likeUsainBolt and SimoneBilesposting videos on what freedom means to them. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470758/EDOF_2017_Logo.jpg ) "To see the massiveglobal scope of the MyFreedomDay'sMarch 14 events is deeply inspiring," said EDOF's CEO, Dr.NawafObaid."We chose to providesupportto CNN for its Freedom Project not only because we believe contemporary human trafficking is a major problem that must be stopped in our lifetime, but because CNN has such an excellent track record of engaging a worldwide audience in its advocacy events. MyFreedomDayfar exceeded our expectations and we could not be happier with the results." While the MyFreedomDayInitiative was supported by CNN's large TV network, it was on social media and the Internet that the event really flowered. On the day of the event, there were more than 10,000 posts to the MyFreedomDayhashtagin a digital conversation that extended across Twitter,Instagram, Facebook,Snapchat, andYoutube. Over 160 million Facebook timelines were reached with the MyFreedomDaymessage, which doesn't even include non-CNNor privateFacebook accounts. Tweets were posted to thehashtagfrom over 100 countries, and MyFreedomDaytrended on Twitter in Nigeria, the UAE, the Philippines, the UK, and the US. Freedom Project videos were watched more than 5 million timesand the Freedom project stories had 4.3 million page views, with around 400,000 people viewingthe MyFreedomDaySnapchatstory and more than 2,600MyFreedomDaypostsonInstagram. While most of the above activity came from the hundreds of schools participating in MyFreedomDay, there was also a lot of sharing and messaging from anti-slavery activists, NGOs, journalists, and celebrities. The Global Slavery Index, Stop theTraffik, The Freedom Fund, andnumerous otheranti-slavery NGOs got involved as well. AsTarekObaid, EDOF Founder & President, points out, "This wrap-up, like MyFreedomDayitself, shows how profoundlycommitted the CNN network is to the Freedom Project'ssuccess and to the positive impact it can bringin the fight against human trafficking.And this is a commitmentEDOF shareswith them.It is totally unacceptable that slavery still exists in our world, yet to see so many young people, activists, andrenownedpublicfigures expressing their resistance to it, one begins to have hope for ending it." MyFreedomDaywas carried out bythe CNN Freedom Project.The Freedom Project's mission is toamplify the voices of the victims of modern-day slavery, highlight success stories, and help unravel the tangle of criminal enterprises trading in human life.EDOF joined the CNN Freedom Project in order to support this vision, toraise awareness of what credible organizations are doing to end human trafficking, andto increaseglobal awarenessabout the problemamong the business community. TheEssamandDalalObaidFoundationwasstarted in 2014by the sons of Essam and Dalal Obaidin order to carry on their parents' humanitarian spirits.It isa global non-profit organization thatsupports medical research and careas well as theefforts of state and non-state entities in fostering peaceand dialogue among people.EDOF's goal is to make a difference in improving the lives of people everywhere as it joins the daily effort of its fellow advocates to raise awareness, educate, and build bridges. More information about the EDOF and the CNN Freedom Project can be found at www.edof.org/en/partnerships/cnnfreedomproject Media Contact: Christelle Marquette Tel: +41-22-818-61-20 christelle.marquette@edof.org JAKARTA, Indonesia and SINGAPORE, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Embarking to effectively support corporations with ground-breaking HR technology and operative services, Singapore-headquartered Excelity Global Solutions and Jakarta-based Cekindo today announced their partnership for Indonesia.Being the largest economy in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is an exciting market to serve with a variety of industries, from MNCs to SMEs. More than 98 percent of Indonesian companies are categorized as SMEs, which account for 58.1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). With a strong emphasis on digitization and boosting sustenance from the Indonesian government, Excelity Global Solutions, the largest Asia-based payroll service provider, looks at its partnership with Cekindo to be able bridge the effectiveness for companies in being able to quickly streamline their HR & Payroll process through outsourcing and/or technology adoption. Excelity Global processes more than 1.2 million payslips per month in 19 countries across Asia Pacific. Commenting on this partnership, Aju Murjani, Managing Director, ASEAN, Excelity Global Solutions, said, "It's time for Indonesian corporations to effectively focus on strategic initiatives and with this partnership, I believe it's a partnership that fulfills mutual ambitions. Cekindo's dedicated team, with a deep understanding of the market and vision to disrupt the market, is a natural fit for us." Ing. Michal Wasserbauer, Principal Consultant, Cekindo Bisnis Group, said, "Excelity is the largest Asia-based payroll provider with excellent payroll cloud solution which is tailor-made for Indonesia market. We believe that cooperation with Excelity will be another important milestone for both of our companies which bring a lot of new benefits for our current and future payroll clients." About Cekindo Bisnis Grup Cekindo is one of the leading Market Entry Consulting firm in Indonesia providing full-range of market-entry and corporate secretarial services including Payroll Solution for several hundreds of clients every year from small and medium enterprises to large and multinational companies which also includes Fortune 500 companies. About Excelity Global Solutions The Singapore-headquartered Excelity Global Solutions, the largest Asia-based payroll outsourcing business, was founded in 1997. Excelity is a pioneer in payroll outsourcing, operating its proprietary platform in 19 countries across Asia Pacific with delivery centers in India, Singapore, China and Philippines. Serving over 1.2 million payslips monthly, delivered through managed services, also offers HCM offerings in SaaS and PaaS models. Media Contact: Pragati Puri pragati@80-db.com +91-991077062 TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Canstar Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: ROX) ("Canstar") is pleased to announce recommencement of drilling as well as an exploration update for its Kenora Gold Project located near Kenora, Ontario. As announced at the outset of Phase 1 drilling (see Company's press release dated December 14, 2016), the Kenora Gold Project will undergo several phases of drilling this calendar year. This announced program is designed to specifically target areas discovered to be inaccessible by a standard drilling rig during Phase 1, including the "Ace Showing" whose results include surface channel samples of 29.3 meters (true width) averaging 3.1 g/t gold (see Company's press release dated June 20, 2016). The program will be comprised of 500 meters of drilling and will act as a precursor to a larger program to commence shortly afterward. Drilling should be completed within approximately 2 weeks of this announcement. Canstar would like to take this opportunity to review the exploration dynamics and objectives for the Spring drilling program of 2017 for the Kenora Gold Project. The recently announced results (see Company's press release dated March 15th, 2017) represent the first ever drill results based on only just over 1,000 meters of drilling. Two key findings came from this modest program: 1. A new, 22 meter wide gold-bearing zone (0.5 g/t over 22 meters) was discovered 146 meters northeast of the Ace Showing on the same structural trend; this includes 7.0 meters at 0.7 g/t and 10.9 meters @ 0.6 g/t gold. 2. A zone in proximity ("proximal zone") to the Ace Showing occurring 22 meters east and 77 meters below the Ace comprised of low grade yet wide gold mineralization (11.0 meters @ 0.3 g/t) These results have demonstrated low grade gold bearing veins, which is a strong indicator of potential multiple gold bearing systems within the district at depth. The surface mineralization does correlate with the IP results and with placement of past shafts, as does the recent 22 meter intersection mentioned above. From the Ace Showing to the proximal zone encountered at depth is 80 meters of intervening, untested lithology. It is possible that these two zones are related and thus must be tested in this context. This program will do that. "Until now the Kenora Gold Project has never been explored at any detail with any modern methods including drilling. Artisanal mining from the 1800's has left isolated shafts, which followed superficial surface veins to depth, and some indications of deeper drifts based on our drilling experience," says Danniel Oosterman, Canstar's President and CEO, "The size of the land package is appreciable within a historic mining camp. As there are numerous indications of gold bearing structures throughout the intrusion contact areas, the Company has determined that a strong understanding of the structural relationship is key to unraveling how mineralization occurs on the Project." The Company's goal in 2017 is to determine the structure of the intrusion and how it relates to the host rock contacts throughout the district, as there are numerous superficial gold showings, and then determine where the more prospective gold bearing structures are likely to be and to focus and target these areas. Canstar sees an incredible opportunity to explore a sizeable gold bearing system and potentially enhance the value of the Kenora Gold Project as the gold system becomes better understood. Danniel Oosterman, P.Geo is President and Chief Executive Officer and is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and is responsible for the technical information in this release. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Danniel J. Oosterman, P.Geo, President & CEO Forward-Looking Statements Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward- looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of the Company's mineral properties, and the Company's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological and operational difficulties encountered in connection with the activities of the Company; and other matters discussed in this news release. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Contacts: Danniel J. Oosterman, P. Geo. President & CEO doosterman@canstarresources.com Karen Willoughby Director Corporate Communications 1-866-936-6766 kwilloughby@canstarresources.com OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - The euro declined against its major counterparts in the European session on Thursday, as investors became cautious ahead of the upcoming healthcare vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, which is a major test of the President's legislative ability to deliver his pro-growth plans. The latest reports suggest that House Republicans may not have the votes to pass their healthcare plan. The Republican plan faces an even tougher uphill climb in the Senate, raising concerns about what the GOP can accomplish even with a unified government. If the healthcare bill fails, it could imperil Trump's other policies such as tax reform and increased infrastructure spending. Investors also await speeches from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari for more clues on the outlook for U.S. monetary policy. Survey data from the market research group GfK showed that Germany's consumer sentiment index is set to weaken in April. The forward-looking consumer confidence index dropped to 9.8 in April from 10.0 in March. The indicator was forecast to remain unchanged at 10.0. The euro held steady against its major rivals in the Asian session. The euro slipped a 2-day low of 1.0768 against the greenback, off its early high of 1.0805.The next possible support for the euro may be seen around the 1.06 region. The 19-nation currency slid to 119.46 against the yen, its weakest since March 1.If the euro-yen pair extends weakness, 118.00 is likely seen as its next support level. The single currency fell to near a 3-week low of 0.8605 against the pound, from a high of 0.8654 hit at 6:30 pm ET. On the downside, the euro-pound pair may find support around the 0.84 region. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that UK retail sales increased for the first time in four months in February. The retail sales volume grew 1.4 percent month-on-month in February, reversing a 0.5 percent fall in January and bigger than the 0.4 percent expected increase. Following an advance to 1.0722 against the franc at 3:45 am ET, the euro edged down to 1.0697. Continuation of the euro's downtrend may see it challenging support around the 1.06 mark. Reversing from an early high of 1.4403 against the loonie, the euro dropped to a 2-day low of 1.4358. The euro is poised to target support around the 1.42 area. Looking ahead, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended March 18, U.S. new home sales data for February and Eurozone consumer confidence index for March are slated for release in the New York session. At 8:45 am ET, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will deliver opening remarks at the Federal Reserve System Community Development Research Conference, in Washington DC. At 12:30 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is expected to speak about the US education outcomes and achievement gaps at the Federal Reserve System Community Development Research Conference, in Washington DC. At 1:00 pm ET, Swiss National Bank Governing Board Member Andrea Maechler will deliver a speech titled 'The SNB Investment Policy and its Peculiarities' at the Money Market Event, in Zurich. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de CARDIFF, Wales, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Backbase, the market leader in omni-channel digital banking, announces the launch of its new Research & Development centre in Cardiff. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121002/567102 ) Wales is quickly becoming an important region with Welsh tech businesses on the rise, new tech hubs, tech events and entrepreneurs emerging across the region. According to law firm Nockolds, the total number of tech businesses in Wales grew from 3,000 in 2014 to 3,275 in 2016, representing a 9.2% increase whereas London only experienced a 11.6% rise in comparison. Backbase, together with the Welsh Government are contributing to this growth and helping to strengthen the technology community, support the region's economy and local employment, as well as attract new talent to the area. Backbase has plans to further grow this new office with expectations to double the number of employees by the end of the year. Cardiff has thriving tech clusters of innovative businesses and is set to further grow as businesses look towards more affordable space and access to a pool of local tech talents, graduating in specialisms such as app & software development, cyber security and social networks. It was an obvious fit for Backbase in selecting Cardiff for its new R&D office which is located in the Atlantic Wharf area. Backbase has offices in Europe, the US and Asia and is the market leader in omni-channel banking software having worked with 80 large financials around the world to streamline their digital self-service and online sales operations across all digital touchpoints. Their customer base includes the likes of Metro Bank, Barclays, CheBanca!, Hiscox, ING, KeyBank, Societe Generale and Westpac. First Minister Carwyn Jones said: "Welcoming a business headquartered in Amsterdam to our capital city is a vote of confidence in the Welsh economy and shows that, despite the uncertainty caused by Brexit, Wales is a great place to invest and do business. "I was pleased to hear Backbase, which serves to some of the largest financials across the globe, chose to invest in Cardiff because of the region's strong technical skill set. Cardiff was recently ranked in the top ten for growth and retention in the Global Competitiveness Index for Talent and Technology - and this investment, which will create a further 24 well paid, high quality jobs, will only add to our growing reputation as a leader in the field." Chris Whitcombe, VP Software Design at Backbase comments, "We are delighted to be joining the flourishing tech community in Cardiff. The region is showing great potential and has experienced fast growth in the last two years. We look forward to discovering its local treasures as well as its local tech talents." An official ceremony will take place in Cardiff on the 23 March at The Bonded Warehouse, Atlantic Wharf. About Backbase: Backbase is a fast growing fintech software provider that empowers financial institutions to accelerate their digital transformation and effectively compete in a digital-first world. We are the creators of the Backbase Omni-Channel Banking Platform, a state-of-the-art digital banking software solution that unifies data and functionality from traditional core systems and new fintech players into a seamless digital customer experience. We give financials the speed and flexibility to create and manage seamless customer experiences across any device, and deliver measurable business results. We believe that superior digital experiences are essential to stay relevant, and our software enables financials to rapidly grow their digital business. Backbase was founded in 2003, is privately funded, with headquarters in Amsterdam (HQ Global) and Atlanta (HQ Americas) and regional operations in London, Cardiff and Singapore. For press enquiries, please contact: Cristina Danila Marketing Manager Global Email: cristina@backbase.com Tel: +31-(20)-465-8888 Skype: cristinadanila Twitter: cristinaadanila TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Canadian Orebodies Inc. ("Orebodies" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: CORE) is pleased to announce that a Phase 1 drill program of 2,500 metres will be commencing on the Company's North Limb Property in early April. "We are excited to commence drilling in the next few weeks on our North Limb Property as we believe it has great underexplored potential. The 'Tongue' portion of the Property is particularly interesting, as it is interpreted to be the up ice potential source of the high grade Valley Float," said Gordon McKinnon, President and CEO of Orebodies. "Obviously, gold is the primary target. That being said, our VTEM Max airborne survey was successful in defining several high priority VMS and MMS targets that have never been tested, that cannot be ignored. In addition, we anticipate commencing an initial drill program on our Hemlo Wire Lake property shortly after the successful completion of the program at the North Limb. We are excited to begin a very active year for the Company." North Limb Drill Program The Company will be commencing its first drill program on the North Limb Property in early April. The current drill plan is anticipated to total 2,500 metres and is designed to test various exploration targets, including: -- "Hemlo Style" gold associated with the Lunny Lake Porphyry; -- Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") mineralization proximal to the historic Caravelle Cu, Zn, Au, Ag Occurrences; and -- Magmatic Massive Sulphide Ni, Cu mineralization ("MMS") associated with the Spruce Bay Ultramafic Complex. "Hemlo Style" Gold Target In 1996, Hemlo Gold Mines Inc. ("Hemlo Gold") encountered 1 metre of 37.35 gpt Au(1) and 1 metre of 10.6 gpt Au(1) approximately 200 and 400 metres southeast of the North Limb Property. These holes were drilled into the Lunny Lake Porphyry which was thought by Hemlo Gold to have similarities to the Moose Lake Porphyry, the principle host for the gold deposits at Hemlo. The Company plans to test targets along the extensions of the Lunny Lake Porphyry including airborne EM Anomalies identified from the 2016 VTEM Max Survey flown over the North Limb Property (see press release dated January 23, 2017). Tongue Property - Potential Source of the Valley Float Within the North Limb Property is an area covering 78 claim units referred to as "the Tongue". This area has seen no exploration since the initial Hemlo gold rush in the 1980s and has no record of ever being drilled. The Company's interest in the Tongue lies in that it is interpreted to be directly up-ice from the angular float of mafic volcanic material found to the southwest in 1994 that assayed up to 16.2 gpt Au(1), the source of which has never been located (see press release dated March 2, 2017). Studies done by the Company demonstrate that the gold mineralization from the float material is associated with disseminated sulphides (pyrite-arsenopyrite). In February, the Company completed a 15 kilometre induced polarization (I.P.) survey on the Tongue Property which outlined four high priority, unexplained, targets that will be tested in the upcoming diamond drill program. VMS Targets VMS style mineralization was first discovered on the North Limb Property by Caravelle Mines in 1964. Historic drilling from the #2 Occurrence included: Hole A2 - 2.5 m of 8.2 gpt Au, 1.1% Cu, 0.8% Zn, and 13.7 gpt Ag(1) and Hole W1 - 2.1 m of 3.2 gpt Au, 2.9% Cu, 2.1% Zn, and 52.8 gpt Ag(1). The 2016 VTEM Max Survey outlined an untested EM Target proximal to the #2 Occurrence. MMS Targets Historical geological mapping partially outlined a large approximately 2 km by 0.5 km ultramafic body near Spruce Bay on the eastern portion of the North Limb Property. The VTEM Max Survey identified three priority EM Anomalies associated with this ultramafic intrusive that could represent magmatic massive sulphide mineralization. Technical Information This press release has been prepared under the supervision of Mr. Bruce Mackie (P.Geo.), who is an independent consultant to the Company and a "qualified person" (as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101). Mr. Mackie has verified the technical data disclosed in this press release. (1) Readers are cautioned that assay results are historical in nature and have not been verified by a qualified person on behalf of Canadian Orebodies Inc. About Canadian Orebodies Inc. Canadian Orebodies is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company with a portfolio of properties in Ontario and Nunavut. Canadian Orebodies is focused on generating shareholder value through the advancement of its two Hemlo area properties: the North Limb and Wire Lake. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the timing of future exploration work or drilling, and the expansion of the mineralization. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Canadian Orebodies Inc., including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, risks associated with the uncertainty of exploration results and estimates, currency fluctuations, dependency upon regulatory approvals, the uncertainty of obtaining additional financing and exploration risk. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For more information please visit www.canadianorebodies.com. Contacts: Canadian Orebodies Inc. Gordon McKinnon President & CEO (416) 644-1747 www.canadianorebodies.com First mining development in Saskatchewan on First Nations land Muskowekwan to receive revenue stream through participation in the project Amec Foster Wheeler engineers to provide expert support Amec Foster Wheeler announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Muskowekwan Resources Ltd (MRL), a wholly-owned operating company of the Muskowekwan First Nations and Encanto Potash Corp. MRL and Encanto have a joint venture agreement to develop the Muskowekwan Potash Project the first mining project in Saskatchewan, Canada, on First Nations land. The MOU sets forth the terms of engagement under which Amec Foster Wheeler aims to provide First Nations members and businesses with opportunities for employment, training, and mentoring during each phase of the project, and is part of the company's approach to sustainability that includes integrating social, environmental and economic conditions into the company's values and operations. This includes establishing and maintaining the social license to operate and integrating sustainability goals into the early stages of every project. Muskowekwan, a Saulteaux (Ojibway) First Nation located approximately 140 km northeast of Regina, will receive a revenue stream through its participation in the project, and will be supported by engineering experts from Amec Foster Wheeler. Duane Gingrich, Senior Vice President, North America for Amec Foster Wheeler's Mining business said: "The foundation of the Memorandum of Understanding is based on our strong relationship with the Muskowekwan First Nation community. We are truly honoured to have signed this historic agreement that will help foster a culture of economic independence, ownership, and entrepreneurship amongst First Nations and local communities. Muskowekwan Chief and MRL President Reg Bellerose said: We look forward to working with Amec Foster Wheeler on this significant agreement to advance this opportunity. This agreement is a good step towards our goal of generating our own source revenues and providing access to training and employment for our people." Encanto Potash Corp., President and CEO Stavros Daskos said: "Working with Amec Foster Wheeler since their introduction to Encanto by Chief Bellerose has been an enormous help for the project. The team is always available, detail oriented and very devoted to helping us succeed. This relationship is exemplary of how First Nations business people, engineers, and international corporations work together on building industry to secure the future." ENDS Notes to editors: Amec Foster Wheeler (www.amecfw.com) designs, delivers and maintains strategic and complex assets for its customers across the global energy and related sectorsEmploying around 36,000 people in more than 55 countries and with 2016 revenues of 5.4 billion, the company operates across the oil and gas industry from production through to refining, processing and distribution of derivative products and in the mining, process power, pharma, environment and infrastructure markets. Amec Foster Wheeler offers full life-cycle services to offshore and onshore oil and gas projects (conventional and unconventional, upstream, midstream and downstream) for greenfield, brownfield and asset support projects, plus leading refining technology. Resilient World is our sustainability strategy for solving tomorrow's natural resource challenges together. In a changing world excellence demands new solutions solutions that are cleaner, more efficient, and built to last. To find these solutions we need problem-solvers. People who are driven every day to find answers to the world's toughest resource challenges. At Amec Foster Wheeler, our passion for solving these challenges connects us. Together with our customers we'll find the answers through innovation, ingenuity and expertise. Together we're building a more Resilient World. Amec Foster Wheeler shares are publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange and its American Depositary Shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Both trade under the ticker AMFW. Encanto Potash Corp. is a TSX Venture Exchange listed and traded Canadian resource company engaged in the development of potash properties in the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada, the largest producing potash region in the world. Through a joint venture agreement with Muskowekwan Resources Ltd. on our flagship property, Encanto has a project land package which totals approximately 61,000 largely contiguous acres. A Pre-Feasibility Study dated February 28, 2013 titled "Encanto Potash Corp. Technical Report Summarizing the Preliminary Feasibility Study for the Muskowekwan First Nations Home Reserve Project in South Eastern Saskatchewan, Canada" confirms the Proven and Probable KCI Reserves totaling 162 MMt grading 28% (average) which supports primary and secondary mining for over 50 years at an assumed annual rate extraction rate of 2.8 million tonnes. For additional information about Encanto Potash Corp., please visit the Company's website at www.encantopotash.com or review the Company's documents filed on www.sedar.com. Forward-Looking Statements This announcement contains statements which constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements include any statements related to the timing, results and success of contracts, and are generally identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "will," "may," "continue," "should" and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Amec Foster Wheeler, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking statements. Amec Foster Wheeler does not undertake to update any of the forward-looking statements after this date to conform such statements to actual results, to reflect the occurrence of anticipated results or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170323005584/en/ Contacts: Amec Foster Wheeler Lauren Gallagher: +1.602.757.3211 lauren.gallagher@amecfw.com or Achilleas Georgiou 44 (0)20 7429 7511 achilleas.georgiou@amecfw.com MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Matamec Explorations Inc. ("Matamec" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: MAT)(OTCQB: MHREF) is very pleased to provide a progress update on the flagship Kipawa project, a rare earths deposit enriched in heavies. Since 2015, Matamec has been focused on research to develop innovative methods to improve and optimize the mining and processing at Kipawa. These activities are summarized in the diagram below. Kipawa Innovation Diagram: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/651d_e.jpg "We have had the pleasure over the past couple of years to partner with leading universities and research centres to look into ways to improve the Kipawa Project," said Andre Gauthier, President and CEO of Matamec. "It's exciting to see the results of so much hard work from so many teams coming together. We expect to be able to share more details about some of our recent innovations over the coming weeks and months." Matamec's primary goal is to improve the overall project efficiency. It is pursuing this objective on numerous fronts, working with several groups of researchers in their different fields of expertise (see figure above). Research is being done to broaden the geological and mineralogical knowledge and characteristics of the Kipawa deposit, and to improve the accuracy of the modelling and estimation of the rare earth resources at Kipawa, as well as to evaluate the suitability of selective mining for the project. In terms of metallurgy, testwork is underway to explore the possibility of utilizing flotation and ore sorting in the beneficiation process. New and innovative metallurgical processes are being reviewed and tested, particularly for increasing rare earth recoveries, and for rejecting impurities. A new research project focusing on the separation of rare earth elements will begin shortly as well. Another important objective for the company is to minimize the project's environmental footprint. With this in mind, researchers are evaluating possible ways to generate the most stable form of tailings from Kipawa. In addition, we are investigating the production of potential by-products generated during the various metallurgical processes. Finally, in parallel with the planning of the second mini-pilot plant, a new revision of the Demonstration Pilot Plant is being designed for Kipawa, incorporating all the positive results obtained from the aforementioned innovative activities. Eliza Ngai, M.Eng, P.Eng, Metallurgist of the Company for the Kipawa project, is the qualified person according to the NI 43-101 standard, and is responsible for the technical content of this press release. About Matamec Located in Montreal (Quebec), Matamec Explorations Inc. is a junior mining exploration company in which activities are based on two main axes of development: gold, and key elements for technologies related to energy with properties containing, among others, lithium (Tansim-100% owned), Cobalt (Fabre-100% owned), nickel (Vulcain-100% owned) and rare earths (Kipawa-72% owned). Matamec's main focus is the development of the Kipawa Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE) deposit, a joint venture owned at 72% by Matamec and 28% by Ressources Quebec (acting as agent of the Government of Quebec); Toyota Tsusho Corp. (Nagoya, Japan) holds a 10% royalty on net profit in the deposit. In addition to the activities in energy sector, Matamec is exploring for gold, with three properties: HMR (1% NSR), Matheson JV (50% owned) and Pelangio (100% owned), located in the area of the Hoyle Pond Mine in Timmins (Ontario), as well as two in the Quebec Plan Nord region. These include Sakami (50% owned) and Opinaca Gold West (100% owned) properties in similar geological settings as the Eleonore Mine in James Bay (Quebec). Map showing location of Matamec Gold and Energy Properties: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/651c_e.jpg Forward-looking information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "scheduled", "anticipates", "expects" or "does not expect", "pursue", "targeted", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases that state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Although Matamec has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from expected results described in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the uncertainty as to whether the Kipawa JV will decide to extract minerals from the Kipawa Deposit, as well as those other risk factors set out in the Company's year-end Management Discussion and Analysis dated December 31, 2015 and other disclosure documents available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and Matamec disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Visit us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MatamecInc Contacts: Matamec Explorations Inc. Andre Gauthier, President (514) 844-5252 info@matamec.com CHF Capital Markets Cathy Hume, CEO +1 416-868-1079 x231 cathy@chfir.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 23, 2017) - Cloud Nine Education Group Ltd. (CSE: CNI) (the "Company" or "Cloud Nine") is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement to provide its ESL curriculum at a prodigious private school located in central Canada. At the request of the client, Cloud Nine has agreed to not to disclose the institution's identity until May when the 2017 marketing campaign is fully underway. The agreement positions Cloud Nine as their new client's exclusive ESL curriculum provider through 2020. The exclusivity provision applies to both the institution's summer camp program and to a year-round ESL study center that the client is obligated to open in 2017 at no cost to Cloud Nine. The fee structure provides a premium to those Cloud Nine currently applies in Latin America. In discussing the agreement, Company President & CEO, Michael Hunter said, "We are very pleased to have a reached a multi-year contract with one of Canada's oldest and most prestigious independent schools. We believe that the decision to use our curriculum exclusively speaks to the comprehensive nature of the Cloud Nine ESL Program, and provides the kind of positive messaging that our sales team can leverage to the Company's benefit." About Cloud Nine Education Group Ltd. The Company specializes in the development and sale of its English language curriculum called the Cloud Nine ESL Program. The system is technologically advanced and replaces textbooks with tablets and smart phones which better meets the needs of today highly mobile student base. YouTube videos and internet links are embedded in the curriculum's core content to create a dynamic and interactive platform. Unlike a textbook based program, the cloud hosted format allows Cloud Nine's team of curriculum developers to keep pace with world events and provide learning materials that are relevant and engaging for students. The Company also owns and operates an accredited ESL school in Vancouver called Cloud Nine College Ltd. For more information regarding Cloud Nine, please contact: Michael Hunter President and Chief Executive Officer Telephone: +1.604.377.5572 mhunter@c9eg.com Forward-Looking Information Statements in this press release include certain "forward-looking information". Statements in this news release regarding the Offering and the Company's use of the proceeds of the Offering contain forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that actual events may vary from the forward-looking information contained in this news release. Material risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this news release include, but are not limited to, changes in market conditions or regulatory requirements applicable to the Offering. The forward-looking information in this news release is based on the assumptions that market conditions and regulatory requirements will not change in any material respect and that the Company will be able to obtain all approvals required for the completion of the Offering, including approval of the Company's listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Company does not assume any responsibility for updating forward-looking information, except as required by law. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Taku Gold Corp. (CSE: TAK) ("Taku" or the "Company") announces its intention to undertake a non-brokered private placement to raise $500,000 through the distribution of 5,000,000 units ("Units") at $0.10 per Unit. Each Unit will consist of one common share and one common share purchase warrant; each warrant entitling the holder to acquire one additional common share at $0.15 for 24 months from the date of issue. In addition to relying on the usual exemptions, the placement will be available to all persons who held common shares of the Company as of March 21, 2017 (the record date). If aggregate subscriptions for Units from existing shareholders exceed the maximum number of Units available, the Company will allocate Units on a proportionate basis as to each subscriber's holdings of the Company's shares as of the record date. Finder's fees may be paid, in accordance with Canadian Securities Exchange policies. Closing of the placement will be subject to making applicable filings with the CSE. The Company confirms that there are no material facts or material changes concerning the Company which have not been generally disclosed. The net proceeds from the private placement will be used to fund Taku's ongoing exploration programs in the White Gold district of Yukon and for general working capital. This new gold camp has shown a rapid evolution from the initial Golden Saddle discovery in 2009, currently held by Kinross Gold Corp., to the $520 million, all-share acquisition of Kaminak Gold Corp. in May 2016 by Goldcorp Inc. Kaminak's key asset was the Coffee Gold project located at the south end of the White Gold district approximately 130 kilometres south of Dawson City. Coffee currently has total gold mineral resources (Goldcorp press release - May 12, 2016) of 3.0-million ounces indicated (63.7Mt at 1.45g/t), and 2.2-million ounces inferred (52.4Mt at 1.31g/t). Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. has also recently entered the camp with a proposed share purchase equal to 19.93% of the total number of issued and outstanding common shares of White Gold Corp. Taku holds a portfolio of 1,449 claims (29,813 hectares) in the White Gold district. On Behalf of the Board of Taku Gold Corp., Zachery Dingsdale, CEO and President About Taku Gold Corp. Taku Gold Corp. (http://www.takugold.com) is a mineral resource company focused on the exploration and development of precious metal properties in Canada with an emphasis on the White Gold district of Yukon and the Tagish Lake region of Northern British Columbia. Follow Taku Gold On: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/takugold Twitter: http://twitter.com/takugoldcorp YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TakuGold Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/takugold Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Taku Gold Corp. Zak Dingsdale CEO and President 1-905-269-0797 zak@takugold.com www.takugold.com CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- CaiTerra International Energy Corporation (TSX VENTURE: CTI) (the "Company") announces the resignations of Messrs. Colin Outtrim and Rick Pawluk as directors of the Company, effective March 22, 2017 in order to focus on other commitments. Mr. Pawluk has concurrently resigned as corporate secretary of the Company. The Company would like to thank Mr. Outtrim and Mr. Pawluk for their outstanding service and dedication to the Company and wishes each of them the best in their future endeavours. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: CaiTerra International Energy Corporation Songning Shen Chief Executive Officer (403) 875-2129 CaiTerra International Energy Corporation Perla Woo President (403) 827-6328 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Salazar Resources Limited (TSX VENTURE: SRL) (FRANKFURT: CCG) ("Salazar" or the "Company") is pleased to report results from the first twelve holes (3,363 meters) of the Phase V diamond drill program in progress on the Company's 100-per-cent-owned (21,500 ha) Curipamba volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) project in Ecuador. These holes represent new exploratory drilling and were not included in the latest El Domo resource estimate which was released on January 16th, 2015. The twelve holes were drilled as part of the planned 40-hole (10,000 meters) drill program that is designed to further expand the El Domo volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") deposit and explore its margins, as well as to test geophysical anomalies and surface showings (Figure 1). It is anticipated that the drill program will be complete by the third quarter of this year. HIGHLIGHTS: Hole CURI-218: -- 14.43 metres (13.07m true) averaging 2.65 g/t gold, 10.58 g/t silver, 1.32% copper, 6.63% zinc, including -- 3.58 metres averaging 9.68 g/t gold, 11.52 g/t silver, 0.46% copper, 2.64% zinc, and -- 4.47 metres averaging 0.29 g/t gold, 15.05 g/t silver, 3.16% copper, 19.25% zinc Hole CURI-213: -- 4.14 metres (true width) averaging 1.009 g/t gold, 16.78 g/t silver, 0.67% copper, 0.95% lead and 4.77% zinc -- 29.37 metres (true width) averaging 0.58 g/t gold, 77.93 g/t silver, 0.17% copper, 0.17% lead, 0.89% zinc, including -- 10.55 meters averaging 0.385 g/t gold, 8.02 g/t silver, 0.44% copper, 0.25% lead and 1.84% zinc, and -- 13.75 meters averaging 0.75 g/t gold, 149.7 g/t silver, 0.02% copper, 0.15% lead and 0.32% zinc Hole CURI-218, collared approximately 240 metres east of the El Domo deposit, was drilled westerly on section with hole CURI-176 (5.7 metres averaging 0.671 g/t gold, 3.3 g/t silver, 0.61% copper, 0.01% zinc and 0.96% lead). CURI-218 intersected 14.43 metres (13.07 metres true width) of massive and semi-massive pyrite-chalcopyrite-sphalerite grading 2.65 g/t gold, 10.58 g/t silver, 1.32% copper, 6.63% zinc beneath an andesite sill that occurs in this area (Table 1). The intersection in CURI-218 is located approximately 100 metres east of the intersection in CURI-176. It clearly demonstrates the extension of the El Domo mineralization to the east along with a significant increase in the thickness and grade of the mineralization. CURI-176 had previously marked the eastern limit of drilled mineralization in the El Domo deposit. Vertical hole CURI-155, drilled approximately 182 metres southeast of the collar of CURI-218, cut three mineralized zones with strong gold and silver values and anomalous zinc and copper values (see News Release of January 26, 2012) demonstrating the persistence of mineralization to the east. Further drilling is required to test this area. Fredy Salazar, President and CEO, commented: "We are excited with the results from hole CURI-218 located to the east of the El Domo resource. The mineralization encountered is thicker and of better grade to the last hole drilled in the El Domo deposit on this section. The intersection indicates significant potential for additional discoveries in this prospective area approximately 800 metres in length, in a north-south direction, and between 350 to 500 metres eastward of the deposit. Historic hole CURI-155 also indicates discovery potential in this area. We are currently drill testing this area with two drills. Also, this new finding paves the way and gets us closer to bringing this great project to a higher level." Holes CURI-211, 213, 216 and 217 were drilled west of the El Domo deposit to test an area with massive sulphide float and exposures of hydrothermal breccia. CURI-213 and 216 were collared approximately 350 metres west of the deposit and approximately 100 metres west of historic holes CURI-30 and 32. CURI-213, drilled easterly on section with CURI-30, intersected two zones of mineralization (Table 1) in a section of hydrothermal breccias and gypsum stockworks in a dacitic unit similar to the one found below the El Domo VMS deposit: -- 4.14 meters (true width) averaging 1.01 g/t gold, 16.78 g/t silver, 0.67% copper, 0.95% lead and 4.77% zinc -- 29.37 metres (true width) averaging 0.5 g/t gold, 77.93 g/t silver, 0.17% copper, 0.17% copper, 0.89% zinc The mineralization in CURI-213 may represent the down dip extension of the mineralization intersected in CURI-30 (From 19.75 meters to 29.50 meters: a total of 9.75 meters averaging 0.5 g/t gold, 32.3 g/t silver, 0.1% copper, 0.1% lead, 0.7% zinc). CURI-211, 216 and 217 did not intersect any mineralization. Holes CURI-212, 214, 215, were drilled up to 500 metres south and southwest of the El Domo deposit. The holes targeted geophysical anomalies with low resistivity and moderate chargeability. CURI 212 and 214 were drilled in the area of historic holes CURI-15, 16, 17 and 18 which intersected significant gold and silver mineralization in a breccia zone/diatreme with clasts of polysulphides and barite in an argillic matrix (see News Release of March 12, 2008). CURI-215 was drilled on section with, and 400 metres west of CURI-212 which intersected 1.63 g/t gold over 2.05 metres (Table 1). The drill holes intersected weak to moderately anomalous mineralization in a dacitic unit that may represent the geophysical anomalies. Holes CURI-207, 208, 209 and 210 were drilled up to 1.2 km southeast of the El Domo deposit to test targets identified by geological mapping which showed a lithological sequence similar to the one found in the El Domo deposit, as well as the presence of moderate geochemical mineralization and alteration. The drill holes intersected the expected geological sequence, however, no VMS mineralization was intersected. Figure 1 To view the graphic associated with this release, please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Salazar%20Image.pdf Table 1 SIGNIFICANT INTERSECTIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOLE ID FROM(m) TO(m) WIDTH(m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (%) Pb (%) Zn (%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No significant mineralization encountered in this hole, located 1 CURI-207 km east from El Domo resource ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No significant mineralization encountered in this hole, located CURI-208 1.1 km east from El Domo resource ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-209 No samples taken, located 0.7 km east from El Domo resource ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No significant mineralization encountered in this hole, located CURI-210 0.5 km east from El Domo resource ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-211 No samples taken, located 0.4 km west from El Domo resource ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-212 283.95 286 2.05 1.63 - - - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-213 105.34 109.48 4.14 1.01 16.78 0.67 0.95 4.77 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 133.65 163.02 29.37 0.59 77.93 0.17 0.17 0.89 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Including 133.65 144.2 10.55 0.39 8.02 0.44 0.25 1.84 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 147.6 161.35 13.75 0.75 149.7 0.02 0.15 0.32 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No significant mineralization encountered in this hole, located CURI-214 0.37 km south from El Domo resource ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No significant mineralization encountered in this hole, located CURI-215 0.43 km south west from El Domo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-216 No samples taken, located 0.32 km west from El Domo resource ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-217 170.27 170.7 0.43 - 8.5 0.72 - 5.75 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-218 318.27 332.7 14.43 2.65 10.58 1.32 - 6.63 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Including 318.27 321.85 3.58 9.68 11.52 0.46 - 2.64 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 328.23 332.7 4.47 0.29 15.05 3.16 - 19.25 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Widths presented in Table 1 are downhole core lengths. Where possible, true width estimates are noted in the text. A rigorous chain-of-custody and quality assurance/quality control program that included the insertion of certified standard control samples and blanks, and re-analysis of samples with high levels (overlimit) of gold, copper and zinc, was applied to the NQ-diameter, rock-sawn half-core samples. All samples were analyzed by Inspectorate Services Peru S.A.C. (Bureau Veritas), a certified ISO 17025 and ISO 9001:2000 laboratory. Table 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOLE ID EAST NORTH ELEV (m) AZIMUTH DIP DEPTH (m) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-207 696150.00 9854500.00 983.00 90 degrees -70 206.75 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-208 696382.00 9854576.00 981.00 90 degrees -70 292.29 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-209 696167.00 9855168.00 1030.00270 degrees -60 317.50 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-210 695750.00 9854810.00 955.00270 degrees -60 285.50 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-211 694500.00 9855000.00 896.00 90 degrees -70 215.50 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-212 695000.00 9854600.00 928.00 90 degrees -75 359.50 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-213 694570.00 9855100.00 860.00 90 degrees -75 176.56 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-214 695080.00 9854500.00 919.00 90 degrees -90 259.60 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-215 694600.00 9854600.00 1054.00 90 degrees -75 299.40 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-216 694570.00 9855100.00 860.00270 degrees -50 276.30 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-217 694600.00 9855000.00 860.00 90 degrees -70 287.40 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURI-218 695575.00 9855200.00 1100.00270 degrees -65 386.70 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 3363.00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Kieran Downes, Ph.D., P.Geo. a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF SALAZAR RESOURCES LIMITED Fredy Salazar, President & CEO Salazar Resources Limited Salazar Resources Ltd. is a publicly-listed (TSX VENTURE: SRL) mineral resource company engaged in the exploration and development of new highly prospective areas in Ecuador. Led by a senior Ecuadorian management team and most notably by its namesake Fredy Salazar, this team has been instrumental in other major discoveries throughout Ecuador, including Aurelian's Fruta Del Norte discovery, IAMGold's Quimsacocha Deposit, Mozo Deposit, Ex Newmont's Cangrejos Project and International Minerals Rio Blanco and Gaby Deposit. Being an Ecuadorian based company gives the Company a strategic advantage enabling the Company to complete exploration at a rapid pace. With an excellent property portfolio (4 projects - 36,269 hectares), good geopolitical positioning and a number of strategic corporate and financial partnerships, Salazar has positioned itself to be a strategic player in Ecuador. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This press release contains "forward -looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking information herein includes, but is not limited to, statements that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including such things as the execution of the Phase V drilling program. Such forward-looking information is based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in the Company's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward -looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws Contacts: Salazar Resources Ltd. ir@salazarresources.com www.salazarresources.com PULLACH, Germany, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Martin A. Schoeller, Chairman of the Bavarian Family Entrepreneurs and initiator of the Munich Europe Conference , emphasises the importance of a unified Europe. Despite of all criticism and fears the EU and those who built it, can be incredibly proud and grateful for the greatest success in peace, freedom and prosperity since mankind exists. "The Nobel Prize for the EU was not exaggerated". The poor and the wealthy of this planet have set their hopes in Europe. Migration desire and the investments of the wealthy to also get a home base in Europe, European schools and health service, a life free of fear and a guaranteed life in dignity for everyone underline the unique success of the European concept and organisation. The actual tendency of American withdrawal from a global joint responsibility is even reinforcing the importance of positive guidance provided by Europe. While the Americans cut developing aid the Europeans should and will increase it. We all know from looking at history and actually at the Middle East, Africa and many developing, frontier and Eastern countries, that the human being is the biggest threat to himself. We have a predator nature, protecting our friends and family and fighting our competitors with no mercy. Male humans can even unconsciously block their feeling of pity when in fight mode. Whenever there is the fear of scarcity by uncontrolled population growth and even the greed and strive for power, it makes human beings - especially the males - dangerous for others and leads to what we call abuse of power. The predator in us is easily to provoke by demagogic populist politicians as Erdogan, even under a democratic mask. It is therefore important that Germany shall not become the platform for advertising the abolishment of checks and balances in Turkey and shall not be the helper of a new dictator to get in power by abusing the democracy. All this know-how is part of the European peace formula and urgently needs to be preserved. Europe was built on the joint beliefs and values around the idea of human rights and human dignity. Europe has discovered - maybe following the oldest role model of Switzerland - that these values can only be maintained and also offered to the weaker members of our society by creating a rigorous system to prevent power abuse. Machiavelli would have predicted that a society cannot be organized without the threat of cruel measures but it has worked so far, to a greater extent thanks to the prevention of power abuse than to the concept of democracy. Many African countries, Egypt, Turkey and other Southern and Eastern hemisphere countries show that we need more than democracy for peace, freedom and prosperity for all. We need the European formula to achieve this and we need to continue to be a strong and friendly Europe and we even support our neighbors to benefit from the broad success of our model for society. So what is the European formula that we should preserve and not allow populists to jeopardize it by negative instrumentalization of fears? Based on the motivation to never again have something like the second world war or the Nazi terror, the key is the system of power abuse prevention in order to never again put human rights in question for everybody and without any exception; also the agreement not to attack, but only to defend if somebody was attacked, as well as the principle of the social market economy are the 3 fundamental principles that can be called the European formula. This practically means also equal rights for men and women which is different in any radical form of Islam. Therefore Europe is only compatible to the liberal forms and interpretations of Islam. Europe also has the strength and authority to discuss this with countries like Saudi-Arabia and Qatar and others and thereby can exercise influence into a humanely desirable direction and request changes from those governments whose population wants to escape to Europe. This gives us a logical legitimation to request and enforce it by law and by trade contracts. War is not needed. Our leverage is strong enough as people want to come to Europe or to make business in and with Europe. 100s of millions of Africans would like to come to Europe as they cannot even dream about a social protection with 1200 Euro per month, earning 30 USD per month with hard work and with no guaranteed rights. This is by the way a much higher priority than further redistribution of wealth internally at the expense of our economic strength. Europe obviously needs a joint strong border protection, but also needs and is capable of influencing the African neighbor states to build cities for refugees and create centers with social market economy principles. Europe can provide support and know-how and contractual preconditions because Europe has successfully gone one important step further than just protecting human rights. Next to human rights Europe stands for humanitarian solidarity and social market economy. The poorest and those who lose in the competition of the markets are protected in such a way that poor people in Africa and the Middle East try to migrate to get similar advantages. To achieve this European quality of life for all, the key is the power abuse prevention system meaning the political and the economic power abuse prevention. For the political power control we have the strict division of the 3 powers plus the free press and for the economic power control we have the 4 basic standards that are being controlled and enforced by law: compliance, anti-trust, social and environmental standards. Who makes a fortune in Europe has to do it by fair play and respecting the social and environmental standards. Many entrepreneurs outside the industrial nations don't have to follow these 4 principals rigorously and this is a clear topic to be addressed by Europe in the future. KYC is already a step in the right direction. If we want to keep our privileged European peace, freedom and prosperity, we obviously have to stay being a good neighbor of Africa and the Middle East without only building the borders that we now unfortunately need to build. We need to negotiate trade deals that encourage social standards and we have to ask everybody, foreigners and Europeans, to request social welfare at their home town. This works for example in Switzerland and prevents social welfare tourism. These times we have seen fears to become passionate and support populists, therefore it should be our priority that European reason becomes passionate as well. About the Bavarian Family Entrepreneurs Pressekontakt: Martin Alexander Schoeller Landesvorsitzender Bayern Die Familienunternehmer und fur das Kuratorium der Munchner Europakonferenz Zugspitzstr. 15 82049 Pullach Tel. +49-89-55277-100 martin.schoeller@schoeller.org TORONTO, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 --Patriot One Technologies, Inc. (TSX VENTURE: PAT) (OTCQB: PTOTF) (FRANKFURT: 0PL) ("Patriot One" or the "Company"), developer of a revolutionary concealed weapons detection system, today announced an agreement with Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino for a trial of its technology in order to evaluate integration capabilities with existing in-house security systems. Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino has long been an iconic landmark, comprised of nearly 3,000 hotel rooms, including 305 suites located on 64 acres with a 74,000-square foot casino and 200,000 sq. ft. convention center. The property is owned by Florida-based Westgate Resorts, the largest privately held company in Central Florida. Today, Westgate Resorts encompasses 28 resorts with more than 13,500 villas across the United States. Westgate's Chief Operating Officer Mark Waltrip said, "With this partnership, we are pleased to be moving ahead and look forward to deploying the product on-site and to integrating it with our existing security infrastructure. Hopefully this is the first of many deployments across our locations around the United States." Patriot One CEO, Martin Cronin comments, "We believe our innovative concealed weapons detection software solution and related hardware offers a very significant step forward in security technology. Naturally, Las Vegas offers us a chance to really put our solution to the test in a premier global destination. As a first class showcase for our company, we thank the Westgate team for their vision and leadership in providing us the opportunity to deploy the installation in front of a key audience. During the upcoming ISC West Conference in April, we plan to demonstrate the system under real operating conditions to the visiting security community from across the nation. This is a wonderful opportunity for us and we look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with Westgate Resorts." ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Martin Cronin" President & Director About Patriot One Technologies, Inc. (TSX VENTURE: PAT) (OTCQB: PTOTF) (FRANKFURT: 0PL): Patriot One has developed a first-of-its-kind Cognitive Microwave Radar concealed weapons detection system as an effective tool to combat active shooter threats before they occur. Designed for cost-effective deployment in weapon-restricted buildings and facilities, the innovative software solution and related hardware can be installed in hallways and doorways to covertly identify weapons and to alert security of an active threat entering the premises. Owner/operators of private and certain public facilities can now prominently post anti-weapons policies with compliance assured. The Company's motto Deter, Detect and Defend is based on the belief that widespread use of its technology will act as an effective deterrent, thereby diminishing the epidemic phenomena of active shooters across the globe. For more information, visit: www.patriot1tech.com. CAUTIONARY DISCLAIMER STATEMENT: No Securities Exchange has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to product development, licensing, commercialization and regulatory compliance issues and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include the failure to satisfy the conditions of the relevant securities exchange(s) and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulations. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by applicable law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information, please contact: Patriot One Inquiries +1 (888) 728-1832 info@patriot1tech.com www.patriot1tech.com LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- South American Gold Corp (OTC PINK: SAGD) is proud to announce the appointment of its new Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer. SAGD is appointing Joseph (Jody) Hanks to the Executive Vice-President & CFO positions. Mr. Hanks is an accomplished international professional with a legal background, graduating from Vanderbilt Law School. Mr. Hanks brings to the company a vast background in business which will help the company grow and achieve greater brand awareness. Please view Mr. Hanks' LinkedIn page http://www.linkedin.com/in/josephbhanks. President & Coo, David Reeves, stated, "I am extremely excited that Jody has accepted these positions with our Company. Ever since the first time I met with him I have been searching for a chance to work with him. With his recent relocation to Nashville, TN, this was the perfect time to make an offer to him." South American Gold Corp is a small cap, publicly traded company traded on the OTC Marketplace under the ticker symbol SAGD. The company had previously been focused on supplying goods and services to the cultivators (farmers) in the emerging cannabis market in the country of Uruguay. Under the new leadership the company has moved from tools and supplies to the cultivators in Uruguay, on to a whole new realm of the cannabis industry. The company's primary focus is its social media network project "PotCircles" which is focused on the LIFESTYLE of the cannabis and its users. The Company has recently announced the formation of Arkansas Medical Cannabis, Inc., a subsidiary created for the purpose applying for a Medical Cultivation License in the State of Arkansas. General Public Contact: username@potcircles.com Media Contact: info@sagdcorp.co Disclaimer This release contains forward-looking statements that are based on beliefs of South American Gold Corp. management and reflect South American Gold Corp.'s current expectations as contemplated under section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. When we use in this release the words "estimate," "project," "looks," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "plan," "predict," "may," "should," "will," "can," the negative of these words, or such other variations thereon, or comparable terminology, are all intended to identify forward looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of South America Gold Corp. with respect to future events based on currently available information and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, risks and uncertainties pertaining to development of mining properties, changes in economic conditions and other risks, uncertainties and factors, which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievement expressed or implied by such forward looking statements to differ materially from the forward looking statements. The information contained in this press release is historical in nature, has not been updated, and is current only to the date shown in this press release. This information may no longer be accurate and therefore you should not rely on the information contained in this press release. To the extent permitted by law, South American Gold Corp. and its employees, agents and consultants exclude all liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of, or reliance on, any such information, whether or not caused by any negligent act or omission. This press release may incorporate by reference the Company's reports and other filings. Investors are encouraged to review all filings. There is no assurance South American Gold Corp. will identify projects of merit or if it will have sufficient financing to implement its business plan. There is no assurance that the Company's due diligence on the potential projects and/or acquisitions will be favorable nor that definitive terms can be negotiated. Investors should consult their financial advisor before making an investment in a company. South American Gold Corp. 8275 S. Eastern Ave. Suite 200 Las Vegas, NV 89123 Phone: (702) 487-9003 Website: www.SAGDcorp.com SEATTLE, WA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- CFN Media Group ("CannabisFN"), the leading creative agency and digital media network dedicated to legal cannabis, announces the publication of an article discussing Future Farm Technologies Inc. (CSE: FFT) (OTCQB: FFRMF) and its recent move to build a presence in both Florida and California. Innovative Technology Future Farm has become an expert in developing cultivation and extraction technologies that produce greater yields than competing technologies. By leveraging its existing patented grow technology portfolio, the company is capable of growing cannabis with a 10x greater yield than a traditional greenhouse and 100x greater yield than conventional farmland. The technology also uses 90% less water and fertilizer while avoiding the use of harmful pesticides and hydrocarbons. Its award winning COB LED grow light technology also greatly reduces electricity requirements by up to 50% to increase profit margins. In addition to growing technologies, the company recently announced the acquisition of a high volume, state-of-the-art cannabis extraction machine. Management estimates that the machine is capable of generating up to $18,000 per hour in revenue by processing 20 pounds of cannabis every hour and extracting over 900 grams of cannabis oil. These oils are used for making edibles, topical ointments, shatter, and capsules which are higher margin products than cannabis flower and represent a fast growing and compelling long-term opportunity. Building a Portfolio Future Farm is an emerging leader in cannabis cultivation and extraction within fast-growing cannabis markets in Florida and California. Future Farm recently acquired a 15-acre parcel of land in Redland, Florida -- a county that is designated to legally cultivate, process, and dispense cannabis and located near Miami -- and has a LOI to acquire a fully-operational 10-acre greenhouse located in Orlando which generates almost $3,000,000 in revenue and $500,000 in EBITDA. If fully-licensed, these properties could be developed into 25-acres of cannabis cultivation space. Florida's state regulators project that its cannabis market could exceed $1.8 billion in size by 2020. In addition to its activities in Florida, the company recently announced that its FFM Consulting Services LLC subsidiary entered into a management agreement with a California non-profit that has secured a sublicense to legally manufacture cannabis oil using a non-volatile method. The company expects to be fully operational in the next 90 days and will manage the non-profit's new state-of-the-art extraction facility as the group produces highly-pure cannabis concentrates to medical marijuana patients. The company further announced that its FFM Consulting Services LLC subsidiary entered into a management agreement with a California non-profit that has secured a sublease for the purpose of cultivating premium grade cannabis in Riverside County, CA. The company will help the non-profit operate and expand within its 17,000 square foot cultivation facility that will be fully functional following the completion of facility modifications in three months. Experienced Management Future Farm's expansion efforts are being managed by a highly-capable team with a strong track record of success in the cannabis industry. John Sweeney was recently appointed to Chief Operating Officer with 16 years of direct cGMP manufacturing experience at leading biotech companies including Pfizer, Wyeth, Genzyme, and others. Before joining the company, Mr. Sweeney served as VP of Operations at Tilray -- a 60,000 square foot federally licensed Canadian medical cannabis operation located on Vancouver island -- where has was instrumental in implementing production systems. Chairman & CEO William Gildea has over 20 years of experience transforming environmental concerns into environmental and business opportunities. Before starting the company, he was a pioneer in the field of environmental insurance with a strong track-record of building businesses through effective finance and investment strategies. He has also held senior positions at Connecticut Bank & Trust and Phoenix Investment Counsel. Please follow the link to read the full article: http://www.cannabisfn.com/future-farm-emerging-leader-cultivation-extraction/ Learn how to become a CFN Media featured company, brand or entrepreneur: http://www.cannabisfn.com/become-featured-company/ Download the CFN Media iOS mobile app to access the world of cannabis from your smart phone: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cannabisfn/id988009247?ls=1&mt=8 Or visit our homepage and enter your mobile number under the Apple App Store logo to receive a download link text on your iPhone: http://www.cannabisfn.com About CFN Media CFN Media (CannabisFN) is the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis. We help marijuana businesses attract investors, customers (B2B, B2C), capital, and media visibility. Private and public marijuana companies and brands in the US and Canada rely on CFN Media to grow and succeed. Disclaimer: Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this release contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Emerging Growth LLC, which owns CFN Media and CannabisFN.com, is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. Emerging Growth LLC may from time to time have a position in the securities mentioned herein and may increase or decrease such positions without notice. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Emerging Growth LLC may be compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation or equity securities in the companies it writes about, or a combination of the two. For full disclosure please visit: http://www.cannabisfn.com/legal-disclaimer/. Frank Lane 206.369.7050 flane@cannabisfn.com SAN MATEO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Zoomdata, developers of the world's fastest visual analytics platform for big data, today announced Fiscal Year 2017 revenue growth of 250% year over year, led by geographic and channel expansion, an ambitious series of Federal business initiatives and the closing of a $25 million Series C equity financing round led by Goldman Sachs' Principal Strategic Investments Group. Zoomdata's market traction and technology innovations have garnered widespread recognition. Zoomdata debuted in the visionary quadrant in the 2017 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms and Gartner also named Zoomdata a 2016 Cool Vendor. In addition, the company was named a Ventana Research 2016 Technology Innovation Award for Operational Intelligence, and received the Top Ranking in the 2016 Annual Big Data Analytics Market Study from Dresner Advisory Services. The company was also granted 4 patents in support of its Visualization of Big and Streaming Data technology. "In many ways fiscal year 2017 was a breakout year for Zoomdata in revenue growth, technology advancements, international reach, as well as investor, partner, customer and industry acceptance and recognition," said Justin Langseth, CEO and founder, Zoomdata. In FY 2017 the company achieved dramatic international growth, increasing overseas sales 500% after expanding distribution in Europe and Asia Pacific. In June Zoomdata announced its entry into the United Kingdom market with new partners and customers, and the company also recently announced a significant expansion into Asia, with new offices opened in Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney. Zoomdata also grew its footprint in the federal marketplace in FY 2017, launching its federal program last March, securing a listing on the AWS Marketplace for the U.S. Intelligence Community and announcing an investment and technology development agreement with In-Q-Tel. Following the launch of its AnyCloud Initiative, which enables enterprises to visually interact with all data in the enterprise (on-premises or in the cloud), Zoomdata broadened its solution offerings with cloud vendors Google GCP, Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS, including offering premium support via the AWS Marketplace Product Support Connection (PSC) and participation in the Amazon Channel Incentive Program, which will facilitate AWS Marketplace sales of Zoomdata by Qualified Channel Resellers. Zoomdata also recently announced the industry's broadest and deepest visual analytics support for Google Cloud Platform's Cloud Spanner, PostgreSQL, Google BigQuery, and Cloud DataProc services. The Zoomdata partner ecosystem continues to expand, with a focus on technology, reseller and systems integrators that are engaged in Big Data deployments. Zoomdata's technology partners include data preparation industry leaders Paxata and Trifacta as well as Big Data solution providers Cloudera, MapR, Hortonworks, MemSQL, Teradata and Vertica. To help businesses realize the potential of Big Data deployments, Zoomdata has introduced joint solutions such as the Customer Insights Solution with Cloudera to leverage the expertise of systems integrators and value-added resellers that include Clairvoyant, Clarity, Datalytyx, Deloitte, Trace 3 and Unisys, among others. Consumers and business users increasingly expect that business intelligence functionality, visualization and analytics will be delivered directly and seamlessly in every service or application they use. Zoomdata's open, modular architecture technology is uniquely suited for use within other solutions. Zoomdata partners with companies such as ClickFox (who embed Zoomdata into their product to enhance customer journeys), CellOS (who help telecommunications companies more efficiently monetize their business) and Impexium (who help member organizations know their members better), among many others. About Zoomdata, Inc. Zoomdata develops the world's fastest visual analytics solution for big data. Using patented data sharpening and micro-query technologies, Zoomdata empowers business users to visually consume data in seconds, even across billions of rows of data. Zoomdata Fusion enables interactive analytics across disparate data sources, bridging modern and legacy data architectures, blending real-time streams and historical data, and unifying enterprise data with data in the cloud. Delivered in a microservices architecture for elastic scalability, Zoomdata runs on premises, in the cloud or embedded in an application. With offices in Chicago, New York, San Mateo, CA and Reston, VA, Zoomdata is venture-backed by Accel, Columbus Nova Technology Partners, Comcast Ventures, Goldman Sachs, NEA, and Razor's Edge. Editorial Contacts Joe Eckert Zoomdata +1.203.300.2649 Email Contact IRVINE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- iBrands Corporation, Inc. (OTC PINK: IBRC) is in the final stages of a $13 million CBD order. "We opened escrow and are now finalizing the transportation of the order," says Miguel Mixon, Director of Sales for iBrands. We expect to have the order before the end of the month. iBrands has also been fielding an overwhelming amount of calls for bulk CBD. In the last month alone, we sent out over 30 samples to various remanufacturers and retail companies. "Sourcing is getting tough as supply is drying up," Mixon went on to state. The company has also entered into talks with a major celebrity Musician/ Rapper who has a large presence within the cannabis industry. Due to the sensitive nature of the negotiations, the company cannot mention any further details at this time. Michael Ogburn: "As many know, I have formally stepped down as CEO of iBrands, but will continue to help the transition of the new team and completing the projects I have started with iBrands. It truly has been my pleasure working for a company with such a promising future. I couldn't be more excited about this new opportunity. I expect that the talks will conclude shortly with a positive result for both parties. Not only will iBrands expand further within the cannabis sector, but also add a much admired and liked celebrity to the company who will represent us within the media and help us make strategic business decisions." Further, the company announces that it has entered merger talks with a new complimentary entity. We expect to fully report on this new development in more detail over the coming weeks. About iBrands Corporation, Inc.: Headquartered in Irvine, California, iBrands Corporation, Inc. is a holding company that acquires and operates niche market brands having unique market positions within sectors that demonstrate return on investment potential. Business partnerships throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Europe provide our brands many markets to expand into and produce consistently high growth rates for the next decade. www.iBrandscorporation.com Safe Harbor Statement: This press release may contain forward looking statements and or observations which are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that involve risks as well as uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those anticipated or expected, including statements related to the amount and timing of expected revenues as well as any payment of dividends on our stock, statements related to our financial performance, expected income, distributions, and future growth for upcoming quarterly and annual periods. These risks and uncertainties include but not limited to information as contained within the Company's most current quarterly reports, annual reports, and or other such filings as may be accessed through the OTCBB website. Furthermore, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any such forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. We have incurred and will continue to incur significant expenses in our expansion of our existing as well as new product lines noting there is no assurance that we will generate enough revenues to offset those costs. Additional product offerings may expose us to additional legal and regulatory costs and unknown exposure(s) based upon the variables as associated with the general business channel we are operating in, the impact of which cannot be predicted at this time including risks as associated with our product and recent FDA pronouncements. iBrands Corporation, Inc. Investor Contact: (949) 440-3232 GUANGZHOU, China, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pinnacle Awards, the most prestigious award in the American furniture industry, is officially launching its first subcategory of awards outside the U.S., the Asia-Pacific awards, in collaboration with High Point Market and the China International Furniture Fair (CIFF), which is holding its Guangzhou exhibition from March 18 to 31 at China Import & Export Fair Complex & PWTC Expo in Guangzhou, China. Founded in 1995 by the American Society of Furniture Designers (ASFD), the Pinnacle Awards are issued to product designers whose creations are produced in large numbers for sale to consumers through retail stores. "This is the best interpretation of our commitment to promoting the matching between good design and good market," noted John Conrad, executive president of ASFD. "It is hoped that CIFF, as world's only partner of the Pinnacle Awards, can build a bridge between the United States and China to bring more amazing oriental designs to US consumers and make the American designs enter the broader oriental market." The schedule for The Pinnacle Awards Asia-Pacific at CIFF is as follows: May 8 to June 30 : Entry submission. : Entry submission. July 1 to August 31 : Entry review and judging. : Entry review and judging. September 1 to 30 : Awards announcements. : Awards announcements. September 11 to 14 : Award ceremony during CIFF ( Shanghai ). : Award ceremony during CIFF ( ). October 24 : Award ceremony in the U.S. : Award ceremony in the U.S. November 1 to December 30 : Touring exhibition of award-winning designs. Recipients of the Pinnacle Awards Asia-Pacific, as a company or as an individual, will be able to use the award's internationally recognized logo in association with their award-winning products, including product packaging, trade fairs and retail displays. The winners can also use the award certificates in marketing and business activities. The winners will be permanently featured on ASDA and High Point Market's websites. Some will also have the opportunity to be nominated for the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame. About China International Furniture Fair (CIFF) The largest furniture fair inChina, the 39thCIFF (Guangzhou) is organized by China National Furniture Association, China Foreign Trade Center (Group), Guangdong Furniture Association, and Hong Kong Furniture & Decoration Trade Association; it is hosted by China Foreign Trade Guangzhou Exhibition General Corp. The fair includes 3,900 exhibitors from 30 countries and is expected to receive over 170,000 professionals from 190 countries. For more information: http://www.ciff-gz.com/en Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/481714/CIFF_Pinnacle_Awards_Asia.jpg SANTA CLARA, California, BANGALORE and DUBAI, UAE, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Trianz, a digital transformation and technology solutions firm, announced a strategic partnership with Raltus Software, an Ireland-based validation software company, to deliver end-to-end testing and quality assurance services globally. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/452308/PRNE_TrianzUpdated_Logo.jpg ) Trianz made a significant stride in the Testing domain addressing critical challenges of major clients worldwide. Joining hands with Raltus Software, Trianz aims to further expand its expertise and innovation to improve the functionality and performance of mobile, distributedand heterogeneous applications in an agile environment leveraging Raltus Software's ProcedureCapture software. ProcedureCapture is an integrated, end-to-end and easy-to-use tool that ensures business processes, IT systems and applications are tested and documented to help companies in pharma, life sciences, energy, and financial sectors meet regulation requirements. The software uses single license to automate recurring tasks, capture and execute test scripts, manage defects, improve processes visibility, generate traceability matrices, and document the evidences necessary to fulfill GxP requirements. Speaking on the partnership, Ira Horowitz - VP Client Relationships at Trianz, said, "Encompassing ProcedureCapture in our portfolio of Independent Testing Services opens a new window for us in niche vertical domains. It further strengthens our QA and Testing CoE and provides valuable choice for our clients in their quality roadmap. Raltus Software testing solution further boosts our joint efforts in improving validation efficiency and enabling clients to experience a measurable business impact." "We are excited to partner with Trianz as they have institutionalized the global best practices on testing and QA," said, Robbie McConnell, Managing Director at Raltus Software. "We intend to help multiple clients in different verticals combining our respective capabilities," he added. About Raltus Software Raltus Software's ProcedureCapture is a risk-based Application Lifecycle Management solution which covers requirements, risk, testing, traceability and defects, all from one integrated, affordable and easy-to-use tool. The software captures processes and procedures as a 'visual storyboard' and then allows this asset to be used to document, train and test. It is specifically aimed at business users who are not programmers. Using its proprietary recognition and execution technology, Raltus Software enables its customers to deliver a more reliable and higher quality solution. Raltus Software has its main software development center in Ireland and offices in the US, the UK and Europe. Its customers span all the major verticals and markets globally. For more information, visit http://www.raltus.com/. About Trianz Trianz enables digital transformations through effective strategies and excellence in execution. Collaborating with business and technology leaders, we help formulate and execute operational strategies to achieve intended business outcomes by bringing the best of consulting, technology experiences and execution models. Powered by knowledge, research, and perspectives, we enable clients to transform their business ecosystems and achieve superior performance by leveraging Cloud, Analytics, Digital and Security paradigms. With offices in Silicon Valley, Washington DC Metro, Jersey City, Dubai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi NCR, and Mumbai, we serve Fortune 1000 and emerging organizations across industries globally. As a professional services firm, our values and culture are focused on delivering measurable business impact, predictability in execution, and a unique partnership experience. Contact information Prashant Bhavaraju Director, Marketing Trianz +1-408-387-5800 reach@trianz.com http://www.trianz.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Calibre Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE: CXB) (the "Company" or "Calibre") is pleased announce the Company and Centerra Gold Inc. ("Centerra") continue to advance exploration programs on the Siuna Gold-Copper Project (the "Project"), located in Northeast Nicaragua. Centerra can earn a 70% interest in the 253 km(2) Project by investing a total of $9.0 million in exploration on the property before December 31, 2020. Highlights -- The 2017 Calibre-Centerra Exploration Program is underway with an approved budget of US $1.35 million. -- Recent drilling on the Siuna Project in the Huracan area, south of the Cerro Aeropuerto Gold Deposit, has returned gold intercepts including: 1.52 m grading 48.8 g/t Au. -- Newly discovered, low grade, porphyry-style gold-copper mineralization has been intersected in a number of drill holes with intercepts including: 189.6 m grading 0.22 g/t Au and 537 ppm Cu. -- Exploration continues on the 241 square kilometer Northern Suina Project where results to date from soil sampling on a 400 m by 400 m grid have defined kilometer-scale gold anomalies that remain open for expansion. 2017 exploration is on-going consisting of wide-spaced soil and rock sampling on the Northern Siuna Gold Project, Induced Polarization and Ground Magnetic surveying of a series gold targets. -- Additional diamond drilling is scheduled for H2 2017. President and CEO, Greg Smith stated: "Surface exploration and drilling on the Siuna Project continues to advance a series of gold targets in a historic mining camp and analysis highlights the excellent opportunity to expand on the currently defined gold mineralization. Newly discovered, low-grade porphyry-style gold-copper mineralization intersected in drilling highlights the underexplored and prospective nature for further discoveries of the Siuna Project." Recent surface exploration and drilling has greatly enhanced the understanding of gold mineralization within the district. Conclusions include; -- Gold mineralization is potentially related to intrusive systems as indicated by mineralized diorites intersected in diamond drilling. -- Low grade Cu-Au "porphyry" style mineralization intersected in diamond drilling in volcanics and diorites is promising for locating greater density, higher grade quartz-sulphide-copper-molybdenum veinlets and stockwork style mineralization. Using the above characteristics as a guideline, gold mineralization in the Siuna district can be grouped into at least two intrusive related trends (1) Huracan-Aeropuerto-La Luz trend and further north, (2) Mina Victoria-Montes de Oro trend. Deeper Dipole-Diploe Induced Polarization surveys are designed to strengthen the understanding of the main mineralized zones. Recent exploration drilling on the Siuna Gold Project consisted of a total of 19 diamond drill holes (8 Huracan, 4 Coyol and 7 Tiburon) with a total meterage in 2016 of 4927 metres (2,439.8 m Huracan, 1,003.4 m Coyol and 1,483.8 m Tiburon). Results include; ============================================================================ Hole From To Length Au Ag Cu Zn ID m m (m) (g/t) (g/t) (ppm) (ppm) ============================================================================ HU16-031 9.15 10.67 1.52 48.80 43.9 171 228 HU16-031 and 32.08 173.35 141.27 0.19 0.6 663 286 HU16-031 incl 99.12 173.35 74.23 0.27 0.3 881 185 HU16-037 109.27 298.90 189.63 0.22 0.2 537 50 HU16-037 incl 126.00 154.35 28.35 0.40 0.3 830 46 HU16-042 260.77 501.73 240.96 0.15 0.3 348 72 HU16-042 incl 316.30 356.85 40.55 0.24 0.4 614 106 CY16-041 6.10 185.00 178.90 0.13 0.2 79 56 HU16-027 56.80 165.17 108.37 0.20 1.0 481 88 HU16-027 and 197.60 269.70 72.10 0.28 0.9 525 192 HU16-027 incl 197.60 225.70 28.10 0.41 0.9 717 204 CY16-040 115.90 172.50 56.60 0.18 0.3 63 307 TB16-032 91.00 131.02 40.02 0.21 2.1 114 4,312 TB16-032 incl 127.90 131.02 3.12 1.33 22.7 308 53,330 TB16-032 15.25 32.55 17.30 0.20 10.8 222 11,560 TB16-025 3.67 77.60 73.93 0.10 0.3 89 67 CY16-041 143.35 170.80 27.45 0.25 0.2 121 60 ============================================================================ Notes: - Intervals are core lengths / true width are estimated to be 70-80% of lengths. - Length weighted averages from uncut assays. Drilling in the Huracan area located south of Cerro Aeropuerto was successful in intersecting both narrow high grade gold mineralization and wider porphyry-style gold mineralization. The highest grade intercept was in drill hole HU16-031 which intersected 1.52 metres grading 48.8 g/t Au. Several low grade porphyry-style gold zones including anomalous gold and copper are present in HU16-042, HU16-027, -031 and -037. The drill intercepts are located along a 1.3 km trend. HU16-042 includes 241.0m @ 0.15 g/t Au and 348 ppm Cu (260.8 - 501.7m). Porphyry-style mineralization within diorites includes quartz-pyrite-molybdenite-chalcopyrite veins, pyrite-tourmaline blebs/veinlets, and disseminated pyrite-chalcopyrite. Patchy and disseminated magnetite alteration and weak to moderate potassic alteration typical in gold-rich porphyry systems such as Calibre's Primavera gold-copper deposit was prevalent in the lower half of the hole. The closest drill hole 300 metres to the south (HU16-037) intersected 189.63m grading 0.22 g/t Au and 537 ppm Cu (109.27 - 298.9m). The closet hole to the north (700 metres away - HU16-031) intersected 74.23 m grading 0.28 g/t Au and 881 ppm Cu (99.12 - 173.35 m). A further 500 metres north the gold mineralization in HU16-027 included two intercepts of 108.37m grading 0.20 g/t Au and 481 ppm Cu (56.8 - 165.17m) and 72.1m grading 0.28 g/t Au and 525 ppm Cu (197.6 - 269.7m). Located 200 metres west of the trend drill hole HU16-031 intersected 6.55m @ 0.61 g/t Au related to semi-massive sulphide similar to Cerro Aeropuerto deposit mineralization. Drilling along the Cerro Coyol-Tiburon trend was directed at a series of gold and base metal soil anomalies, geophysical (magnetic and IP) anomalies, and anomalous gold and base metal rock samples and trenches. Results from the Cerro Coyol area include: CY16-040 with 56.6 m grading 0.18 g/t Au and 63 ppm Cu and CY16-041 with 178.9 m grading 0.13 g/t Au and 79 ppm Cu. Results from the Tiburon area, two kilometres south of Coyol, include TB16-032 with 17.3 m grading 0.20 g/t Au and 222 ppm Cu including 2.25 m grading 0.803 g/t Au and 546 ppm Cu also with 2.3% Pb and 7.4% Zn, and a second intercept of 3.12m @ 1.3 g/t Au and 308 ppm Cu with 0.82% Pb and 5.33% Zn. On the Siuna Project potential exploration parameters for intrusion hosted (porphyry-style) mineralization include chalcopyrite / pyrite ratios, quartz-dominant vein density, magnetite alteration of the groundmass and proximity to shear zones. Work during Q1 2017 has concentrated on a Project-wide sampling program designed to extend existing anomalous zones and define new anomalous trends. Work to date has included; -- Exploration and sampling designed to cover the entire 241 sq. km Northern Siuna Area at 400 metre by 400 metre spacing. Sampling is 90% complete with 1,167 regional soil samples collected in 2017 and with results received to date for 50% of the samples collected. Results have outlined kilometre-scale anomalous areas which remain open. -- Additionally a total of 982 detailed soils have been collected in areas of previously outlined anomalous results including Mina Victoria, Roskilete, and Montes de Oro. Results have extended the existing anomalies and in some cases have outlined additional gold anomalous zones. -- Concurrent with the soil sampling a total of 254 grab rock samples have been collected. -- Further work consisting of ground magnetic and dipole-diploe IP geophysical surveying is on-going. The Siuna Project is located in the south-west portion of the Borosi Concessions and contains the past producing open pit and underground La Luz Mine that produced 17.1 million tonnes of ore grading 4.14 g/t gold (2.3 million ozs gold) as well as, one kilometre to the south, the NI43-101 compliant Inferred Resource at the Cerro Aeropuerto gold-silver deposit which hosts 707,750 ozs gold and 3.1 million ozs silver in 6.05M tonnes grading 3.64 g/t Au and 16.16 g/t Ag at a cut off of 0.6 g/t (see Calibre News Release dated February 28, 2011). Notes: -- Mineral Resources that are not mineral reserves do not have economic viability. -- The quantity and grade of reported inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured mineral resource category. -- Resource Estimate for Cerro Aeropuerto detailed in Technical Report titled NI 43-101 Technical Report and Resource Estimation of the Cerro Aeropuerto and La Luna Deposits, Borosi Concessions, Nicaragua by Todd McCracken, dated April 11, 2011. Within the Northern Siuna area existing gold targets include; Montes de Oro, Mina Victoria, Cerro Aza, and Roskilete. The technical content in this news release was read and approved by Gregory Smith, P.Geo, President and CEO of the Company who is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Centerra Gold Option - La Luz Project Calibre's most recent mid-tier gold producer partner, Centerra Gold, can earn 70% in the 253 km(2) (25,300 ha) Siuna Project by spending $9 million by December 31, 2020. About Calibre Mining Corp. Calibre owns a 100% interest in over 413 kilometres(2) of mineral concessions in the Mining Triangle of Northeast Nicaragua including the Primavera Project, Santa Maria Project and Monte Carmelo Project. Additionally, the Company has optioned to IAMGOLD (176 km(2)) and Centerra Gold (253 km(2)) concessions covering an aggregate area of 429 kilometres(2) and is party to a joint venture on the 33.6 kilometres(2) Rosita D gold-copper-silver project with Rosita Mining Corporation. Major shareholders of Calibre include gold producer B2Gold Corp, Pierre Lassonde and Management. Calibre Mining Corp. Greg Smith, P.Geo., President and CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or does not expect", "is expected", anticipates" or "does not anticipate" "plans", "estimates" or "intends" or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to materially differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Safe Harbor Statement under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented constitutes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements including but not limited to those with respect to the price of gold, potential mineralization, reserve and resource determination, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of the Company involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Atlas to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. La Luz Project - Recent Drilling Results ============================================================================ Hole From To Length Au Ag Cu Zn ID m m (m) (g/t) (g/t) (ppm) (ppm) ============================================================================ HU16-024 27.56 69.25 41.69 0.14 0.8 703 91 including 65.57 69.25 3.68 0.75 0.6 1,683 79 117.20 158.00 40.80 0.16 0.4 476 120 161.85 178.42 16.57 0.17 2.5 19 350 TB16-025 3.67 77.60 73.93 0.10 0.3 89 67 including 39.65 77.60 37.95 0.14 0.4 256 83 with 51.85 77.60 25.75 0.13 0.5 338 101 83.10 105.65 22.55 0.11 0.4 346 123 TB16-026 66.00 150.97 84.97 0.08 0.2 314 80 115.00 149.00 34.00 0.12 0.3 434 85 HU16-027 56.80 165.17 108.37 0.20 1.0 481 88 including 87.65 165.17 77.52 0.25 1.1 542 92 197.60 269.70 72.10 0.28 0.9 525 192 including 197.60 225.70 28.10 0.41 0.9 717 204 and 252.00 269.70 17.70 0.30 1.1 778 264 TB16-028 16.00 30.50 14.50 0.07 0.3 87 55 127.00 141.50 14.50 0.11 0.3 72 160 171.50 195.00 23.50 0.07 0.2 76 138 HU16-029 NSV TB16-030 25.60 42.70 17.10 0.07 0.3 81 99 61.90 62.53 0.63 1.40 1.0 76 129 HU16-031 9.15 12.20 3.05 24.86 25.0 107 147 including 9.15 10.67 1.52 48.80 43.9 171 228 32.08 173.35 141.27 0.20 0.6 663 286 including 99.12 173.35 74.23 0.28 0.3 881 185 TB16-032 15.25 32.55 17.30 0.20 10.8 222 11,560 including 30.30 32.55 2.25 0.80 50.1 546 74,300 49.83 52.88 3.05 0.12 6.9 151 10,320 91.00 131.02 40.02 0.21 2.1 114 4,312 including 127.90 131.02 3.12 1.33 22.7 308 53,330 HU16-033 94.55 101.10 6.55 0.61 1.1 33 291 including 96.07 97.00 0.93 3.14 1.1 20 140 111.85 112.85 1.00 1.59 19.6 4,460 2,070 TB16-034 126.00 127.72 1.72 0.03 37.7 81 6,321 131.55 132.38 0.83 0.71 77.8 147 2,417 172.00 176.90 4.90 0.07 2.3 57 659 231.80 234.85 3.05 0.09 13.3 44 2,038 239.60 240.70 1.10 0.60 40.8 75 3,225 HU16-035 39.40 47.27 7.87 0.14 1.1 216 460 59.47 74.72 15.25 0.10 0.3 42 148 128.60 170.80 42.20 0.04 0.2 44 283 TB16-036 52.30 76.00 23.70 0.06 0.2 172 177 153.00 168.20 15.20 0.07 0.2 232 119 173.60 192.15 18.55 0.17 0.2 325 90 218.90 224.17 5.27 1.05 0.2 151 54 218.90 220.00 1.10 4.70 0.2 36 27 HU16-037 109.27 298.90 189.63 0.22 0.2 537 50 126.00 154.35 28.35 0.40 0.3 830 46 CY16-038 111.95 149.80 37.85 0.15 0.2 136 183 217.40 238.37 20.97 0.06 0.2 86 75 CY16-039 186.05 250.10 64.05 0.10 1.1 500 102 CY16-040 115.90 172.50 56.60 0.18 0.3 63 307 including 136.35 152.50 16.15 0.10 0.6 42 783 CY16-041 6.10 185.00 178.90 0.13 0.2 79 56 41.17 56.42 15.25 0.27 0.2 79 38 143.35 170.80 27.45 0.25 0.2 121 60 HU16-042 260.77 501.73 240.96 0.15 0.3 348 72 316.30 356.85 40.55 0.24 0.4 614 106 ============================================================================ To view the March 23, 2017 News Release Siuna Compilation Map, please click here: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/CXB_%20Siuna_Mar2017_final.pdf Contacts: Calibre Mining Corp. Ryan King 604 628-1012 www.calibremining.com RingCentral Office extends presence to 13 European countries with in-country purchasing capability and euro billing Adds new channel partners in Europe RingCentral UK, Ltd., (NYSE:RNG), a leading provider of enterprise cloud communications and collaboration solutions and a wholly owned subsidiary of RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE:RNG), today announced the ability for customers to purchase RingCentral Office across 13 European countries. RingCentral's in-country European expansion signifies a strong commitment to providing local presence and the ability to purchase RingCentral solutions in euro currency in those new markets. The countries included in today's announcement are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. RingCentral has expanded its global customer care services to provide local language support in French, Canadian French, German, and Spanish. In addition, RingCentral will extend its multilingual product offering to include Spanish, Latin American Spanish, and Italian by July 2017. Current RingCentral Office languages supported include American English, UK English, Canadian French, International French, and German. "The rollout of RingCentral Office in Europe is a major milestone in our global expansion plans," said David Sipes, chief operating officer of RingCentral. "We've seen enormous traction with our Global Office product, which serves US-, Canada-, and UK-based enterprises with employees in various countries. With enterprises in Europe migrating to the cloud, we are excited to offer them in-country, fully localised communications solutions." Building on its existing Global Office offering, RingCentral continues to make significant investments to provide enterprise-grade quality of service, compliance, security, and reliability, with 17 data centres worldwide. The delivery infrastructure includes direct peering with more than 45 carriers and 200 ISPs around the world. Along with the localised product and support expansion, RingCentral also plans to open additional sales offices based in Europe, to complement existing sales locations in the US, UK, Canada, and Singapore. RingCentral is also committed to a major expansion of its channel partnerships across Europe and has already signed up a number of master agents such as AVANT, Intelisys Global, Ingram Micro, ScanSource, key partners such as CDW, as well as Google Premier partners Devoteam, Cloud Technology Solutions, Netpremacy and NRX, among others. "With RingCentral Office now available in Europe, we have a tremendous opportunity to empower our enterprise customers with a single cloud solution that makes worldwide communications seamless," said Olivier Chanoux, co-founder at Devoteam G Cloud, a Tier 1 Google partner and trusted advisor to European enterprises across 17 countries. "The enterprise workplace is evolving, and our customers are increasingly demanding cloud technologies to enable a more agile workforce. We selected RingCentral for its innovative, pure-cloud approach, and we look forward to working with them across the enterprise segment." For additional information, please visit https://www.ringcentral.com/europe. About RingCentral RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE:RNG) is a global provider of cloud unified communications and collaboration solutions. More flexible and cost-effective than legacy on-premise systems, RingCentral empowers today's mobile and distributed workforce to be connected anywhere and on any device through voice, video, team messaging, collaboration, SMS, conferencing, online meetings, contact centre, and fax. RingCentral provides an open platform that integrates with today's leading business apps while giving customers the flexibility to customise their own workflows. RingCentral is a leader in the 2016 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, Worldwide for the second consecutive year. RingCentral is headquartered in Belmont, Calif. 2017 RingCentral, Inc. All rights reserved. RingCentral, RingCentral Office, RingCentral Global Office, and the RingCentral logo are trademarks of RingCentral, Inc. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170323005424/en/ Contacts: RingCentral UK, Ltd. Evelin Goldstein, +44 (20) 34090863 evelin.goldstein@ringcentral.com SALT LAKE CITY, UT--(Marketwired - May 31, 2017) - Predictive Technology Group, Inc.'s (OTC PINK: PRED) partner Juneau Biosciences, LLC presented four research studies at the 13th World Congress on Endometriosis in Vancouver, Canada. These presentations documented recent progress in developing a non-invasive test for endometriosis. The presentations Included: VARIATION IN INNATE PAIN SENSITIVITY MAY PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN ENDOMETRIOSIS PROGRESS TOWARD DEVELOPMENT OF A NON-INVASIVE PREDICTOR FOR ENDOMETRIOSIS CCDC168 AND MUC12 GENES SHOW RECESSIVE EFFECTS IN WOMEN WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS ENDOMETRIOSIS GWAS REPLICATE ASSOCIATION NEAR THE KINASE INSERT DOMAIN RECEPTOR GENE (KDR) In 2016, Predictive Therapeutics signed a license agreement with Juneau Biosciences, LLC for the commercialization of assays and related services for the prediction of endometriosis, and other health concerns, in the infertility market. This license extended the close relationship between the two companies. Given these developments, Predictive Therapeutics and Juneau Biosciences are now poised to launch their novel ARTGuide test for women experiencing infertility. Commercial launch in the United States is now expected during H2 2017. Bradley Robinson, PRED CEO, states: "We look forward to the commercialization of the scientific developments that were presented at the World Congress on Endometriosis in Vancouver, Canada. The incorporation of these advancements into the ARTGuide test has the potential to assist fertility specialists in designing the optimal course of care for couples struggling with fertility while transforming the global fertility market. ARTGuide will provide "must-have" information for affected couples and their physicians." The ARTGuide test is expected to change the way that advanced reproductive technologies ("ART") such as In Vitro Fertilization ("IVF") are used to help couples struggling to have a baby. About Endometriosis: Endometriosis affects more than 10 million women in the United States. Endometriosis occurs when the tissue similar to the lining of the uterus (womb) is found in other parts of the body, most commonly in the pelvis. Monthly bleeding and inflammation caused by these lesions may severely impact a woman's quality of life. Some affected women experience severe pain, others infertility, others problems with their periods, and some have no symptoms at all. Today, definitive diagnosis requires surgery. Due to the difficulties, invasiveness, and expense of diagnosing the condition, the majority of women with endometriosis suffer for over a decade before receiving treatment. Treatment may involve hormonal suppression or a targeted destruction of the abnormal tissue during surgery. About Juneau Biosciences: Juneau Biosciences is a privately held medical genetics company conducting groundbreaking research to develop innovative diagnostic products for diseases that predominantly affect women. Launched in early 2007, the Salt Lake City, Utah-based firm has focused so far on the development of novel molecular diagnostics and therapeutics for endometriosis, a condition estimated to affect approximately 10% of reproductive-age females. This research is the basis of all the tests and therapies that we will produce, patent, and disseminate to signal the revolution in women's health care. Over the next several years, Juneau will launch additional programs for preterm labor and other gynecological and obstetric disorders. Juneau expects to improve the lives of millions of women through our genetic research and innovative health care solutions. Juneau Biosciences' knowledgeable team, state-of-the-art facilities, and innovative research techniques give us a unique advantage in developing diagnostics and treatments for women. About Predictive Technology Group, Inc.: Predictive Technology Group, Inc. (PRED), through its wholly owned subsidiaries, revolutionizes the treatment of serious and debilitating diseases through the commercialization of novel therapeutics leveraged by proprietary gene-based companion diagnostics. The Company develops and/or acquires proprietary technologies that open windows into the origin of human disease and the role that genes and their related proteins play in diseases' onsets and progressions. PRED's subsidiaries use gene-based information as cornerstones in the development of new diagnostics that assess a person's risk of disease and therapeutic products designed to effectively prevent and/or treat diseases. For further information about this release, contact Rich Kaiser, Investor Relations, YES INTERNATIONAL at 757-306-6090, yes@yesinternational.com, www.predictivetechnologygroup.com, www.predrx.com, www.predbiotech.com and www.yesinternational.com. Forward-Looking Statements To the extent any statements made in this release contain information that is not historical, these statements are essentially forward-looking and are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the difficulty of predicting FDA approvals, acceptance and demand for new vaccines and other pharmaceutical products, the impact of competitive products and pricing, new product development and launch, reliance on key strategic alliances, availability of raw materials, availability of additional intellectual property rights, availability of future financing sources, the regulatory environment and other risks the Company may identify from time to time in the future. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/5/31/11G140055/Images/JUNPRED-5d7782c5da70a84a8106741039b2569b.jpg Press Contact Mr. Rich Kaiser YES INTERNATIONAL 757-306-6090 yes@yesinternational.com www.predictivetechnologygroup.com www.predbiotech.com www.predrx.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed an unexpected increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 18th. The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 258,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level of 243,000. The increase surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 240,000 from the 241,000 originally reported for the previous week. The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also inched up to 240,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised average of 239,000. Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, fell by 39,000 to 2.0 million in the week ended March 11th. The four-week moving average of continuing claims also dropped to 2,026,750, a decrease of 32,000 from the previous week's revised average of 2,058,750. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. BANGALORE and WARREN, New Jersey, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mindtree, a global digital transformation and technology services company, today announced that it has been awarded the Sitecore Experience Award in the Marketing Agility category. Every year,Sitecore honors its customers and their partners for excellence in deploying a Sitecore solution to deliver an outstanding customer experience. (Logo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140416/681203) The award for the Marketing Agility category recognizes significant, measurable gains in productivity and marketing ROI through the Sitecore platform. This year's winning team, P&G and its digital anchor partner, Mindtree, has built one of the world's largest digital marketing ecosystems to transform consumer engagement. This multi-channel presence platform has streamlined digital marketing operations, resulting in 33% reduction in both cost and campaign time-to-market. "Getting the nuances of Digital Marketing right has become a crucial factor in maintaining strategic competitive advantage for Fortune 500 brands," said Anil Gandharve, Head of Retail, CPG and Manufacturing, Mindtree. "We are extremely honored to have been recognized for the many years of specialization on the Sitecore platform at P&G." "Congratulations to Mindtree for winning this year's Marketing Agility category of Sitecore Experience Awards," said Scott Anderson, CMO, Sitecore. "Development of a single marketing platform for all of P&G's brands is a testimony to Mindtree's depth in innovation, customer-centric thinking and implementation of Sitecore Experience Platform to deliver engaging customer experiences." For further reading: Download the case study:P&G transforms consumer engagement with a multi-channeldigitalmarketing platform Download our E-book:Transform customer engagement with CEP About the Sitecore Experience Awards The Sitecore Experience Awards is an international competition held on an annual basis. Winners are selected in several categories within each region. The nominations list is based on input from partners, customers, the press, analysts, and colleagues. Nominees are asked to submit an application outlining how they are using Sitecore to generate amazing experiences that feel personal to every customer and create a powerful brand halo across every channel that delivers real business results. Winners demonstrate creativity in presentation, integration with rich data sources and applications, an ability to educate, inform and motivate to action, and a compelling overall user experience. Visitwww.sitecore.net/Sitecore-experience-awardsto learn more about the awards and how to enter. About Mindtree Mindtree [NSE: MINDTREE] delivers digital transformation and technology services from ideation to execution, enabling Global 2000 clients to outperform the competition. "Born digital," Mindtree takes an agile, collaborative approach to creating customized solutions across the digital value chain. At the same time, our deep expertise in infrastructure and applications management helps optimize your IT into a strategic asset. Whether you need to differentiate your company, reinvent business functions or accelerate revenue growth, we can get you there. Visitwww.mindtree.comto learn more. NORTH READING, Massachusetts, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TraceLink Inc., the World's Largest Track and Trace Network for connecting the Life Sciences supply chain and eliminating counterfeit prescription drugs from the global marketplace, today announced an agreement with Advanco to resell ARC Suite software, an industry-leading software solution that integrates packaging lines and enterprise serialization repositories. The agreement with Advanco, an international provider of solution integrations for item level serialization, will provide pharmaceutical and contract manufacturing companies with competitive pricing and purchasing flexibility to utilize multiple line management systems while simplifying integration with the TraceLink Life Sciences Cloud at the enterprise and network level for serialization. As the leading provider for enterprise and network system Levels 4 and 5, TraceLink will offer the Advanco ARC Suite software to customers looking for aconsistent global site server solution that is independent of the Line Management System (LMS).ARC Suite will streamline their integration across all LMS solutions and remove any restrictions associated with purchasing from multiple line vendors resulting from implementing a proprietary Site Server. This simplified, interoperable approach through TraceLink and Advanco will allow manufacturers to leverage any combination of line management solutions while improving procurement and deployment flexibility. "Pharmaceutical and contract manufacturers continue to face a number of challenges in synchronizing multiple interconnected packaging levels in order to comply with serialization regulations. TraceLink and Advanco recognized the need to provide a flexible option for the industry to cut down on time-consuming and costly integrations between line management and enterprise systems and efficiently comply with serialization regulations," said Shabbir Dahod, president and CEO of TraceLink. "TraceLink is partnering with the industry's leading companies, such as Advanco, to deliver flexible, scalable solutions, quality implementation services and proven production integrations to its customers. These partnerships supplement our ongoing and active involvement with interoperability standards and industry workgroups such as Open-SCS and GS1, which demonstrate TraceLink's commitment to work collaboratively with industry to reduce risk and ensure optimal compliance for all members of the pharmaceutical supply chain." Olgun Yenersoy, founder and CEO of Advanco added, "TraceLink is the global leader in serialization and track and trace at the enterprise level because its proven Life Sciences Cloud serialization platform enables more than 500 pharmaceutical manufacturers, CMOs, distributors, 3PLs and dispensers to exchange data with over 248,000 supply chain partners. The TraceLink and Advanco integration offers true simplicity in system integration and will help facilitate smoother deployment of serialization solutions for all packaging levels. We look forward to continuing this partnership with TraceLink and working collaboratively to help the industry achieve compliance in the EU, US and other global markets." "The partnership between TraceLink and Advanco gives us increased flexibility, particularly for our customers that need options for leveraging different line management strategies, ranging from a single system to several large line management systems. Seamless integration is a core component to success for serialization and an integral factor for pharmaceutical manufacturers to achieve compliance on time," said Eric Tjoa, CEO of Tjoapack. "As a customer of both TraceLink and Advanco, we're able to offer easy integration across all line levels, well ahead of the U.S. and EU deadlines, while continuing to guarantee the highest quality of services for our customer base. We are thrilled about this partnership and will be discussing the benefits of simplified line-level integration with both companies at our upcoming serialization event on March 30 at Tjoapack headquarters." In addition, customers who purchase ARC Suite by Advanco from TraceLink will be able to rely on TraceLink's global customer success team for implementation assistance and ongoing technical support, further streamlining the user experience by coordinating support resources through TraceLink. To learn more about TraceLink's partnership with Advanco and ARC Suite, please visit www.tracelink.com About Advanco Founded in 1981, for the last 36 years Advanco has been working as a system integrator in diverse industry such as pharmaceutical, food, manufacturing, luxury goods, aeronautics, chemical and the automotive. Our experience in Pharma Packaging Serialization, starting with Turkish Track and Trace program, since 2009 is based on monitoring of supply chain events, traceability, and compliance with legislations that are vital for competitive advantage. Focused on the site execution management (Level 3) solution, the role of Advanco is to help its clients to be ready on time by harmonizing their businesses with existing/new regulations. Our mission is to contribute to continuously optimize the efficiency of the operations through "Serialized Plant Execution Management" for both production and distribution at the plant level. About TraceLink TraceLink is the World's Largest Track and Trace Network for connecting the Life Sciences supply chain and eliminating counterfeit prescription drugs from the global marketplace. Leading businesses trust the TraceLink Life Sciences Cloud to deliver complete global connectivity, visibility and traceability of pharmaceuticals from ingredient to patient. A single point and click connection to the Life Sciences Cloud creates a supply chain control tower that delivers the information, insight and collaboration needed to improve performance and reduce risk across global supply, manufacturing and distribution operations. A winner of numerous industry awards including Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 (ranked number 149 in 2016), the Amazon AWS Global Start-Up Challenge Grand Prize, and the Edison Award for Innovation in Health Management, the Life Sciences Cloud is used by businesses across the globe to meet strategic goals in ensuring global compliance, fighting drug counterfeiting, improving on-time and in-full delivery, protecting product quality and reducing operational cost. For more information on TraceLink and our solutions, visit www.tracelink.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. TraceLink is funded by Goldman Sachs, FirstMark Capital, Volition Capital and F-Prime Capital. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar traded at multi-month lows against the Japanese yen in the European session on Thursday, as first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased in the week ended March 18 and investors focused on a healthcare vote in the U.S. House of Representatives due tonight. Data from the Labor Department showed that initial jobless claims climbed to 258,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level of 243,000. The increase surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 240,000 from the 241,000 originally reported for the previous week. Although Republican leaders have been working furiously to try to build support for the bill known as the American Health Care Act, the latest reports suggest that House Republicans may not have the votes to pass the plan. If the healthcare bill fails, it could imperil Trump's other policies such as tax reform and increased infrastructure spending. The Fed Chair Janet Yellen gave no hints on the economy and monetary policy in her speech at Washington and instead addressed problems of childhood poverty and its connection with financial problems later in life. Traders await new home sales data for February at 10 am ET, with economists expecting the rate to rise to 565,000. The greenback showed mixed trading in the Asian session. While the currency held steady against the euro and the pound, it rose against the franc and the yen. The greenback declined to 110.63 against the yen, a level unseen since November 2016. Continuation of the greenback's downtrend may see it challenging support around the 109.00 region. The greenback pared gains to 0.9918 against the Swiss franc, from a high of 0.9942 hit at 5:15 am ET. If the greenback-franc pair extends decline, it may challenge support around the 0.97 mark. The greenback was trading at 1.0785 against the euro, down from a 2-day high of 1.0768 hit at 6:30 am ET. The next downside target for the greenback is seen around the 1.09 level. Data from the European Central Bank showed that euro area economic recovery is steadily firming and the trend is likely to continue to firm and broaden going ahead. 'The economic recovery in the euro area is steadily firming,' the central bank said in its latest Economic Bulletin. The greenback held steady against the pound with the pair trading at 1.2509, following nearly 4-week low of 1.2527 hit early in the European session. The pair was valued at 1.2483 when it closed Wednesday's trading. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the UK retail sales increased for the first time in four months in February. The retail sales volume grew 1.4 percent month-on-month in February, reversing a 0.5 percent fall in January and bigger than the 0.4 percent expected increase. Looking ahead, at 12:30 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is expected to speak about the US education outcomes and achievement gaps at the Federal Reserve System Community Development Research Conference, in Washington DC. At 1:00 pm ET, Swiss National Bank Governing Board Member Andrea Maechler will deliver a speech titled 'The SNB Investment Policy and its Peculiarities' at the Money Market Event, in Zurich. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 23 Trend: As a country that has suffered from terror, Azerbaijan strongly condemns the London terror attack, Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry tweeted Mar. 23. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of victims, the ministry said. We wish speedy recovery to the injured. On Mar. 22, at 14:40 GMT, a single attacker drove a car over Westminster Bridge, near the Houses of Parliament in central London. The car had mounted the pavement and driven the whole way across the bridge, knocking people over. The car then crashed into railings outside the Houses of Parliament. The attacker, armed with a knife, ran to the parliament where he was confronted by the police. One officer - who was not armed - was stabbed and killed. The attacker was shot dead by armed police officers. Five people have died and 40 people have been injured in the attack, according to the latest information. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Alset Energy Corp. (TSX VENTURE: ION) ("Alset" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that having completed an environmental report and an application for drilling, the Company has received the necessary permits to commence drilling at its La Salada lithium project near Zacatecas, Mexico. The Company is now in the process of securing drill crews and site personnel and is expecting to commence drilling in early April. In addition to the drilling, the Company will commence a shallow subsurface sampling program. These efforts are designed to better understand the geochemistry and deportment of lithium in subsurface soils and the depth and chemistry of potential brine of the La Salada salar. Allan Barry Laboucan, President and CEO of Alset Energy said: "This work will form the first part of our exploration program on the lithium salars near Zacatecas, Mexico. The La Salada salar has seen significant historical work and our own chemical analysis and leaching tests are guiding our drilling and sampling program. We are very excited about the ability to now generate our own samples to better understand the lithium potential of the salar and to determine its depth extent. This drilling and sampling program will give us new material for leaching tests and to help direct our future development of this lithium and potassium bearing salar." Drilling and Sampling Program Initially, two holes will be drilled to evaluate depth to bedrock and brine potential in the La Salada salar. Material collected during drilling will be sampled and sent in for geochemical analysis to better understand the vertical distribution of lithium and geochemical nature of the salar at depth. Additionally, Alset will carry out a subsurface sampling program on a 100-meter grid across the entire salar. The primary focus of this work is to enhance the Company's understanding of the near surface chemical composition of the salar infill material and most importantly, its lithium content. Furthermore, Alset intends to resample some locations of the historical grid sampling carried out on the salar as a means to validate historical results. Alset is also planning to use material collected from the drilling and sampling programs for scoping metallurgical testing to add confidence to previous leaching tests done with La Salada salar materials (see Company news release dated: 2017-03-03). The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Emily Hanson, PGeo, who is a qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. About Alset Energy (ION.V) Alset Energy is a TSX-V listed junior exploration company focused on exploring and acquiring mineral properties containing the metals needed by today's high-tech industries. The Company is actively exploring in Mexico and Canada. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Alset Energy Corp., Allan Barry Laboucan, President and CEO THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections Contacts: Alset Energy Corp. Allan Barry Laboucan (604) 505-4753 www.alsetenergy.ca WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., has criticized a back and forth between the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee as 'bizarre' and suggested the feud illustrates the need for an independent investigation into Russian interference in last year's election. In an interview on NBC's 'Today' show on Thursday, McCain called the quarrel between House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and Ranking Member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., 'very disturbing.' The dust up came after Nunes publicly claimed he has received evidence that communications by President Donald Trump and members of his transition team may have been monitored by the intelligence community. Nunes subsequently briefed the president on Wednesday on what he described as 'incidental' surveillance without providing the information to Schiff. The move led Schiff to lash out at Nunes' unusual behavior and suggested it raises questions about his ability to conduct a credible investigation of potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. 'It's simply not possible to do a credible investigation if you take information that's pertinent to the scope of what you're investigating and bring it to the White House instead of bring it to your own committee,' Schiff told MSNBC's Chuck Todd. McCain argued that both Nunes and Schiff were out of line and said the dispute shows a tremendous chasm between the two senior members of a vital committee. The veteran Arizona Senator said the latest developments indicate that a congressional select committee or independent commission should take charge of the investigation. 'I think that this back and forth and what the American people have found so far is that no longer does Congress have the credibility to handle this alone,' McCain told MSNBC's Greta Van Susteren. 'And I don't say that lightly.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Commerce Department is due to release U.S. new home sales for February at 10:00 am ET Thursday. Ahead of the data, the greenback held steady against its major rivals. The greenback was worth 1.0782 against the euro, 110.95 against the yen, 0.9928 against the franc and 1.2516 against the pound as of 9:55 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. On March 23, 2017, the Parliament (Saeima) approved amendments to the National Security law whereby the distribution system operator of Latvijas Gaze is included in the list of commercial companies critical to the national security. When the law takes effect, the owners of shares of the distribution operator (currently the shareholders of Latvijas Gaze) will have to approve ownership with the Cabinet of Ministers if the number of shares owned reaches 10% of the fixed capital, if a decisive influence or control over more than 50% of voting rights is gained, if the company or an independent part thereof is transferred into ownership or use of another person, if the shareholder owns at least 10% of shares of the merchant and there is a change of the shareholder's final beneficiary. These requirements will not apply to the current structure of shareholders, and the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers will only be required in the event of changes. Under the law, if a shareholder intends to acquire a qualifying holding or a decisive influence in Latvijas Gaze, it will have to seek permission of the Cabinet of Ministers before the transaction. However, if there is an intention to transfer the distribution operator or parts thereof to another company, the distribution operator itself will have to seek permission of the Cabinet of Ministers. In the event of a change of the final beneficiaries, the shareholder will have to submit a notice thereof within five days from the change. The law stipulates the procedure of notification and assigns the Cabinet of Ministers with drawing up a more detailed procedure of approval. Latvijas Gaze will notify its shareholders in detail of the procedure of notification as soon as the Cabinet Regulations are available. Under Article 14 of the Transitional Provisions, by June 1, 2017 Latvijas Gaze shall notify the Commercial Register and the shareholders of its compliance with the status or merchant critical to the national security, supplement the register of shareholders with information on such status, and notify the institution designated by the Cabinet of Ministers of its shareholders and persons exercising an indirect holding (voting rights), and the final beneficiaries - natural persons who directly or indirectly have a qualifying holding in this commercial company. The law will take effect on the next day after announcement. As soon as the law takes effect and as long as the distribution system operator is part of Latvijas Gaze, the requirements will apply to Latvijas Gaze and its shareholders. When the distribution system is separated, the requirements will apply to the separated commercial company and its shareholders. Vinsents Makaris Investor relations manager Phone: + (371) 67 369 144 E-mail: IR@lg.lv Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Regulatory News: Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE/Euronext Paris: PM) today informs its shareholders that it is holding the 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of PMI at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at the Empire State Ballroom, Grand Hyatt New York, 109 East 42nd Street, New York, New York, U.S.A., for the following purpose: Only shareholders of record on March 10, 2017 are entitled to vote at the meeting, or at adjournments or postponements of the meeting. To obtain copies of PMI's proxy statement for its 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and the necessary documents to vote your shares, please consult PMI's website at www.pmi.com/investors. About Philip Morris International Inc. ("PMI") PMI is the world's leading international tobacco company, with six of the world's top 15 international brands and products sold in more than 180 markets. In addition to the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, including Marlboro, the number one global cigarette brand, and other tobacco products, PMI is engaged in the development and commercialization of Reduced-Risk Products ("RRPs"). RRPs is the term PMI uses to refer to products that present, are likely to present, or have the potential to present less risk of harm to smokers who switch to these products versus continued smoking. Through multidisciplinary capabilities in product development, state-of-the-art facilities, and industry-leading scientific substantiation, PMI aims to provide an RRP portfolio that meets a broad spectrum of adult smoker preferences and rigorous regulatory requirements. For more information, see www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170323005824/en/ Contacts: Investor Relations: New York: +1 (917) 663 2233 Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4666 or Media: Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4500 MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- EXPLORATION KHALKOS. ("Khalkos") (TSX VENTURE: KAS) Khalkos announces the signing of two agreements aiming at the buyback of 3% NSR royalties on 26 claims of the Malartic Lakeshore block on its Malartic property and of a 1% NSR royalty on its Forsan property. The completion of these buybacks is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. For the Malartic Lakeshore block, Khalkos will pay $15,000 in cash ($5,000 has already been paid and is not reimbursable) and issue 1,500,000 common shares to the holders of the royalties. Following the buyback, no royalty will remain on the Malartic Lakeshore block. For the Forsan property, Khalkos will issue 250,000 common shares to the royalty's owner. Following the buyback, the Forsan property will be subject to a royalty of 2% NSR. There will be a hold period of four months and one day on all common shares issued. By buying back the existing royalties from the Malartic Lakeshore block, Khalkos bolsters its intention to become a major player in the world-class Malartic mining camp. Khalkos controls more than 10 km of first-class land in one of Canada's most active mining camps. This press release was prepared by Robert Gagnon, President of Khalkos, Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. www.khalkos.com Contacts: Khalkos Exploration Inc. Robert Gagnon President (819) 825-2303 (514) 510-7964 (FAX) rgagnon@khalkos.com Khalkos Exploration Inc. Christian Guilbaud Corporate Development (514) 813-7862 (514) 510-7964 (FAX) cguilbaud@videotron.ca www.khalkos.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Alexandria Minerals Corporation (TSX VENTURE: AZX)(OTCQB: ALXDF)(FRANKFURT: A9D) ("AZX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its common stock has begun trading on the OTC Market Group's OTCQB Venture Market under the ticker symbol "ALXDF". The Company's common shares will continue to trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "AZX" and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "A9D". The OTCQB Venture Market gives Canadian companies a broad access to the American investment community, while maintaining standards that result in improved investor confidence, as well as providing a seamless information flow from the TSX Venture Exchange to the OTCQB. "In response to growing investor interest in the United States, we have chosen to have Alexandria Minerals' shares trade on the OTCQB, with greater exposure and accessibility to our expanding American and international shareholder base," stated Eric Owens, President and CEO of Alexandria. "We look forward to further expansion of our shareholder base with this event." OTC Markets Group Inc. (www.otcmarkets.com) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market and the Pink Open Market for approximately 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS, it connects a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. It enables investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empowers companies to improve the quality of information available for investors. Current Activities Alexandria Minerals has ramped up its gold exploration drilling activities in recent months, and has had considerable success discovering new high-grade gold veins on its Orenada Zone 4 project in Val d'Or, Quebec. Since beginning its first extensive drill program on the property in the fall of 2016, the company has identified at least 13 parallel, high-grade gold vein sets at shallow depths on the property, from surface to 250 meters deep. High grade assays, such as those below, have aided in defining the gold zone that is now 700 meters long, 250 meters deep, and 30-50 meters wide, open on all sides: -- DDH OAX-17-084: 13.80 g/t gold over 6.50 meters, including 42.50 g/t gold over 1.50 meters -- DDH OAX-16-076: 8.88 g/t gold over 4.7 meters, including 14.72 g/t gold over 2.0 meters -- DDH OAX-16-074: 5.18 g/t gold over 3.5 meters, including 9.48 g/t gold over 1.3 meters -- DDH OAX-17-090: 6.76 g/t gold over 6.55 meters, including 8.91 g/t gold over 3.8 meters -- DDH OAX-17-090: 25.20 g/t gold over 1.20 meters -- DDH OAX-17-090: 17.30 meters over 1.00 meters -- DDH OAX-17-084: 16.30 g/t gold over 1.20 meters -- DDH OAX-17-084: 19.50 g/t gold over 1.50 meters Alexandria is in the middle of a 12,500 meter drill program on its flagship property located in the heart of one of the most prolific gold mining districts in the world - Val d'Or Quebec. The Company's goal is to complete this drill program by the end of April, 2017. All exploration results in this press release have been publicly released in prior press issuances. Phillippe Berthelot, P.Geo, is the Company's Qualified Person, and has reviewed these results. Further information about the Company is available on the Company's website, www.azx.ca, or our social media sites listed below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlexandriaMinerals Twitter: https://twitter.com/azxmineralscorp YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/AlexandriaMinerals Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/alexandriaminerals/ About Alexandria Minerals Corporation Alexandria Minerals Corporation is a Toronto-based junior gold exploration and development company with strategic properties located in the world-class mining districts of Val d'Or, Quebec, Red Lake, Ontario and Snow Lake-Flin Flon, Manitoba. Alexandria's focus is on its flagship property, the large Cadillac Break Property package in Val d'Or, which hosts important, near-surface, gold resources along the prolific, gold-producing Cadillac Break, all of which have significant growth potential. WARNING: This News Release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of up-coming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Alexandria Minerals Corporation relies upon litigation protection for forward-looking statements. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Alexandria Minerals Corporation Mary Vorvis Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations (416) 305-4999 Alexandria Minerals Corporation Eric Owens President/CEO 416-363-9372 info@azx.ca www.azx.ca NEW YORK (IT-Times) - Derzeit verdienen nur drei Hersteller wirklich Geld im Smartphone-Markt: Apple, Huawei und Samsung. Fur andere Smartphone-Hersteller scheint jedoch die Luft dunner zu werden. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommen die Marktforscher aus dem Hause Gartner, wie der Branchendienst Apple Must berichtet.... Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. PORTLAND, OR--(Marketwired - March 23, 2017) - ColumbiaSoft, a leading document management software company, has published a new case study highlighting improvements made possible at CIS using its Document Locator (DL) software. The case study describes how better file versioning and improvements in how files are approved for publication on the organization's Web site have resulted in greater efficiency and increased value for the Oregon cities and counties that are member-owners of the not-for-profit insurance risk pool. "DL has been value added for us: we've been able to serve many more materials to our members efficiently, in ways we never could have done ten years ago," said Lynn McNamara, executive director at CIS, in the case study. "If Document Locator didn't exist, it would add hours to our day." Document Locator has served as the fundamental file management system at CIS for almost ten years. The system has eliminated duplicate records, ended confusion over which is the correct file to use, and streamlined the process whereby important resources are made available in the organization's online risk library. An integration with the insurance-claims system also improves filing of important claims documents. As members complete an online form to file a claim and upload attachments, files are automatically organized in the document-management system. This saves time in filing documents, and reduces errors. The case study can be found online at: http://www.documentlocator.com/resources/casestudies/cis.htm CIS (Citycounty Insurance Services) is a public entity risk pool serving Oregon's city and county governments. As a not-for-profit trust, it's an alternative to the private insurance market, offering members better coverage and services at lower cost. About ColumbiaSoft Corporation ColumbiaSoft is a leading document management software company that helps businesses and government agencies enforce consistency and accountability for all document processes. Information workers use ColumbiaSoft software to manage and share electronic documents, digitized paper documents, e-mail, faxes, and other electronic files to lower costs, automate business processes, and meet regulatory requirements. As a Microsoft Gold Certified ISVr partner, an Autodesk Authorized Developer, and an Adobe Solutions Network partner, the company's products fully integrate with familiar applications such as Microsoft Windows, Office, Outlook, Adobe Acrobat, AutoCAD, and more. ColumbiaSoft is a privately held company based in Portland, Oregon and was founded in 1998. For more information, visit www.documentlocator.com. All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks of their respective owners. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/3/22/11G133822/Images/DL-VersionControl-d5f396356354a03cbc76cb4375df1ee6.jpg Media contacts: Jim Kemp Marketing Communications Manager ColumbiaSoft Corporation (800) 298-1172 x268 pr@columbiasoft.com Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 23 By Anakhanum Hidayatova - Trend: The Pakistan Day was celebrated in the Pakistani Embassy in Baku, Trends correspondent reported from the event. The event brought together representatives of the community of Pakistanis in Baku. The guests were greeted by Pakistani Ambassador to Azerbaijan Saeed Khan Mohmand, who congratulated them on the Pakistan Day. Pakistan Day or Pakistan Resolution Day, also Republic Day, is a national holiday in Pakistan to commemorate the Lahore Resolution passed on Mar. 23, 1940 and the adoption of the first constitution of Pakistan during the transition of the Dominion of Pakistan to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Mar. 23, 1956 making Pakistan the worlds first Islamic republic. The Pakistani ambassador to Azerbaijan noted that Pakistan had to overcome many difficulties on the way to the countrys independence. The diplomat also spoke about the successful development of bilateral relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan. Saeed Khan Mohmand noted the mutual support of the two countries regarding the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as the Kashmir conflict. Azerbaijan and Pakistan will continue to support each other in all international issues, the ambassador added. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum Unum (NYSE: UNM) and its employees in the U.S., U.K. and Ireland contributed more than $12.4 million and volunteered more than 87,000 volunteer hours to charitable organizations in 2016. "Unum's commitment to social responsibility is one of our core values and is reflected in the longstanding tradition we have of giving back to our communities," said Joe Foley, senior vice president. "It's rewarding to see our employees share that commitment and that they're dedicated to making a difference in the places where we work and live." Unum primarily focuses its charitable efforts on supporting public education initiatives that provide more opportunity for students to learn. Other areas of support include health and wellness and arts and culture. Over the years, Unum has been instrumental in creating education programs with South High Community School in Worcester, Mass., the Education Leaders Experience in Portland, Maine and Columbia, S.C., and the Strong Schools Grants programs in Chattanooga, Tenn. "We focus a lot of attention on these programs, and many more like them, because the collective impact they have on our communities is so great," Foley said. "They not only improve the educational outlook of children and young adults, they help us build strong communities by developing tomorrow's leaders." Based on standard volunteer formulas, the 87,000 hours logged by Unum employees is valued at roughly $2 million. Additionally, more than 350 Unum employees lend their leadership expertise as board members for various charitable organizations. Outside of public education initiatives, the United Way was a big beneficiary of Unum's corporate giving in 2016. Other beneficiaries in Unum's home states included: Public Education Foundation in Chattanooga Hanover Theatre in Massachusetts Educate Maine Boys and Girls Club of the Midlands in Columbia, South Carolina The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association in the U.K. Junior Achievement Ireland Unum provides financial protection benefits in the workplace such as disability, life, accident and critical illness, and dental and vision coverage. Through its Unum, Starmount and Colonial Life businesses, the company has offices across the U.S., the U.K., and in Carlow, Ireland. About Unum Unum Group (www.unum.com) is a leading provider of financial protection benefits in the United States and the United Kingdom. Its primary businesses are Unum US, Colonial Life, Starmount and Unum UK. Unum's portfolio includes disability, life, accident and critical illness, dental and vision coverage, which help protect millions of working people and their families in the event of an illness or injury. The company reported revenues of $11 billion in 2016, and provided $6.9 billion in benefits. For more information visit us at www.unum.com or connect with us at Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170323005935/en/ Contacts: Unum Brian Baker, 423-294-7839 bbaker4@unum.com PARSIPPANY, NJ -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Eugene Sobecki, National Sales Manager at Acrow Bridge, a leading international bridge engineering and supply company, was a featured speaker at the 2017 Europe Region Engineer Capabilities Workshop of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME). The theme of this year's event, held February 28-March 2 in Stuttgart, Germany, was Enhancing Engineer Capabilities through Collaboration. Sobecki's presentation on "Panel Bridge Technology: Meeting Tomorrow's Challenges Today" offered an overview of product compliance with today's requirements, techniques of assembly and installation, case studies on different applications of the panel bridges, and military-specific case studies, including Acrow's recent work in Mosul Iraq on a 250-meter Wet Gap Bridge and recent supply of 80 and 90 meter clear span bridges to support the CJTF Inherent Resolve military action in Iraq. These bridges are capable of handling the extreme weights imposed by military vehicles and tanks. "Acrow Bridge has a long history of working with military and civilian partners in providing both temporary and permanent bridging around the world. Acrow bridges are capable of supporting heavy vehicles under a variety of conditions and are ideal in addressing time-sensitive infrastructure needs," said Sobecki. "In addition to ongoing deployment needs, Acrow's modular steel structures are ideal for use in responding quickly to national emergencies, including natural disasters such as landslides, avalanches, earthquakes and floods. Our components can be quickly transported, assembled, and reused wherever they are needed." The Society of American Military Engineers leads collaborative efforts to identify and resolve national security infrastructure-related challenges. Founded in 1920, SAME unites public and private sector individuals and organizations from across the architecture, engineering, construction, environmental and facility management, cyber security, project planning, contracting and acquisition, and related disciplines in support of national security. About Acrow Bridge Acrow Bridge has been serving the transportation and construction industries for more than 60 years with a full line of modular steel bridging solutions for vehicle, rail, vessel, military and pedestrian use. Acrow's extensive international presence includes its leadership in the development and implementation of bridge infrastructure projects in over 80 countries, covering Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.acrow.com. Contact: Tracy Van Buskirk Marketcom PR Main: (212) 537-5177, ext. 8 Mobile: (203) 246-6165 tvanbuskirk@marketcompr.com BSD Crown Ltd. (LSE: BSD) (the "Company") Adjournment of General Meeting Ramat Gan, 23 March 2017 The Company refers to its announcement of 29 September 2016 and to its announcements of 23 February, 2 March and 20 March 2017 in respect of the upcoming general meeting of the Company to be held on 29 March 2017 (the "GM"). At the request of Adv. Kobie Amster, in his capacity as trustee over 10,278,451 shares of the Company and 24,909,603 shares of the Company's shareholder, BGI Investments 1961 Ltd., the Tel Aviv District court today accepted Adv. Amster's request and as such the Company hereby announces that the GM will be postponed until 9.00 a.m. (BST) on 19 April 2017 at the Hilton London Tower Bridge, 5 More London Place, Tooley Street, London SE1 2BY, United Kingdom (the "Adjourned Meeting"). Any forms of proxy or forms of direction submitted for the GM will remain valid for the Adjourned Meeting and, to the extent that shareholders or holders of depositary interests have not yet returned their form of proxy or form of direction in accordance with the instructions printed thereon, shareholders (in the case of forms of proxy) and holders of depositary interests (in the case of forms of direction) shall have until 9.00 a.m. (BST) on 17 April 2017 or 9.00 a.m. (BST) on 16 April 2017 (respectively) to return such forms. Enquiries: Gregory Gurtovoy, chairman of the board: office@bsd-c.com PUNE, India, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The report"Titanium Dioxide Marketby Grade (Rutile, Anatase), Application (Paints & Coatings, Pulp & Paper, Plastics, Cosmetics, Ink), and Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market is projected to grow from USD 10.64 Billion in 2016 to USD 14.12 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 5.8% between 2016 and 2021. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 89 market data Tables and 43 Figures spread through 140 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Titanium Dioxide Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/titanium-dioxide-market-225276554.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The anatase segment of the global titanium dioxide market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2021. Based on grade type, the global titanium dioxide market has been segmented into rutile and anatase. The anatase grade type segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2016 to 2021. Anatase grade titanium dioxide is preferred in the manufacturing of paper, as it is less abrasive to the papermaking machinery. The market for anatase segment is also expected to witness high growth owing to the increasing demand for the anatase grade of titanium dioxide in the paints & coatings application from the construction industry. Get PDF Brochure @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=225276554 The paints & coatings application of the global titanium dioxide market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The paints & coatings application of the global titanium dioxide market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Rapid growth in the automobiles and construction industries are expected to fuel the demand for paints & coatings application. Moreover, titanium dioxide, when used in paints and coatings, ensures longevity of paints and continued protection of the substrate. Titanium dioxide is used in various paints & coatings applications to provide aesthetic appeal, opacity, and durability. The Asia-Pacific titanium dioxide market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The Asia-Pacific Titanium Dioxide Market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2021. This is due to the continuously increasing population in the Asia-Pacific region, coupled with the increasing disposable income. In addition, increased demand for titanium dioxide from various key countries, such as China and India, is also contributing towards the growth of the titanium dioxide market in the region. Make an Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=225276554 Tayca Corporation (Japan), Huntsman Corporation (U.S.), Cabot Corp (U.S.), The Chemours Company (U.S.), Tronox Limited (U.S.), Kronos Worldwide Inc. (U.S.), Cristal (Kuwait), Evonik Industries AG (Germany), Cinkarna Celje (Slovenia), Lomon Billions (China), and Ishihara Sangyo Kaishal Ltd. (Japan), among others are the key players operating in the global titanium dioxide market. Browse Related Reports: Dyes & Pigments Market by Type (Dyes (Reactive, Disperse, Vat, Acid), Pigments (Titanium Dioxide, Inorganic, Organic)), Application (Textile, Leather, Paper, Paints & Coatings, Plastics, Construction) - Global Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/colorants-tinting-systems-paints-coatings-market-875.html Paper Coating Materials Market by Type (GCC, PCC, Kaolin Clay, Talc, Starch, SB latex, Titanium Dioxide, Wax, and others), Application (Coated 1, Coated 2, Coated 3, Coated 4 Paper, and Others), and Geography - Regional Trends & Forecast to 2019 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/paper-coating-materials-market-233132840.html Subscribe Reports from Chemicals & Materials Domain: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarketsprovidesquantifiedB2Bresearch on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of globalFortune 1000 companies as clients.Almost 75,000 top officersacross eight industriesworldwide approachMarketsandMarketsfor their pain points around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 Micro Quadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments.MarketsandMarketsis determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.For more information, please Contact: Mr.Rohan MarketsandMarkets 701 Pike Street Suite 2175, Seattle, WA 98101, United States Tel: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets For more information, please visit http://www.marketsandmarkets.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- DuSolo Fertilizers Inc. (TSX VENTURE: DSF) ("DuSolo" or "the Company") is very pleased to announce the completion of a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") of the Company's Direct Application Natural Fertilizer ("DANF") Santiago Project (the "DANF PEA"). The DANF PEA was prepared by the independent consultants GE21 Ltda. Giles Baynham, CEO of DuSolo, noted "We are very pleased to complete this DANF PEA and announce the results. Whilst we have been producing and selling DANF since 2015, this is the first Technical Report which demonstrates the positive economic potential of Santiago, and the Company believes it is the start of demonstrating the longer-term and higher value potential of the Company's assets in Brazil which will be the Company's aim throughout the course of 2017. We are now working on a separate PEA for the acid granulated DANF product (the "AG DANF PEA"), as well as exploration of the Amaury Concession. Market and product development is underway, as recommended by our market consultants, to achieve the DANF prices in the Upside Case." The DANF PEA is the first stage of the Company's strategy to demonstrate the economic potential of the Company's mineral resources based on the phosphate ("P2O5") deposits at its BonFim Project in Brazil. The Santiago deposit within the Bonfim area currently extracts phosphate rock which is processed into two DANF products grading 12% and 15% P2O5 at the Campos Belos Plant. The second stage of this strategy is to further improve its economic viability through the potential production of an Acid Granulated Phosphate Fertilizer, which combines 15% DANF with sulphuric acid to improve the agronomic performance of the DANF. This granulated product is expected to increase the market available to the Company, and yield higher selling prices due to improved solubility and agronomic performance based on a market study completed by Agroconsult. With the positive results of the DANF PEA, the Company has commenced the second stage of the strategy to produce the AG DANF PEA which is targeted for completion in the second half of 2017. DANF PEA HIGHLIGHTS -- Indicated Resources of 1.16Mt at 8.23% P2O5, including 0.29Mt at 14.78% P2O5 -- Inferred Resources of 2.70Mt at 8.58% P2O5, including 0.82Mt at 14.72% P2O5 -- Life of Mine ("LOM") 12.5 years -- LOM Production of 543Kt of 12% DANF and 635Kt of 15% DANF -- Post-tax NPV (10%) of US$13.0m -- Zero Initial Capital (already operating) -- Operating Costs (Mine, Plant, G&A) of US$18.47/t -- Upside Case NPV(10%) of US$30.3m based on Agroconsult Consultoria e Projetos ("Agroconsult") DANF Prices Note that the DANF PEA is preliminary in nature as it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability, and as such there is no certainty that the preliminary assessment and economics will be realized. A NI43-101 technical report for the DANF PEA will be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and posted on DuSolo's website (www.dusolo.com) within 45 days. The Company is not basing its production decision on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability, as a result there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with its production decision. GEOLOGY & MINERAL RESOURCES The Bonfim Project, within which the Santiago Project lies, is within a large package of rocks along the western edge of the Sao Francisco craton and immediately east of the Brasilia fold belt in central Brazil (Mendonca and Campos, 2012; Da Rocha Araujo et al., 1992). Within this area, rocks of the base of the Bambui Group can be found that are associated with the Sete Lagoas Formation, which is host to the phosphate mineralization. It includes the pelitic, carbonatic and phosphatic rocks that overlie the granitic rocks of the Aurumina Suite. The Sete Lagoas Formation can be found in the majority of the area and is distributed to the east of the granitic basement. Mineral exploration work and exploratory drilling was intensified since the March 7, 2014 Technical Report which included the Amaury and Bonfim Concessions. Re-interpretations were undertaken and - because of the various types of mineralization present, which display a large range of phosphate concentrations - the mineralization was separated into two principal groups: high grade (HG) and low grade (LG). The Mineral Resource Estimate for the Santiago Project was updated for this DANF PEA utilising recent drilling and exploration results, including a better understanding of the mineralization types and zoning, and of the continuity of grades and mineralization based on the extraction of around 100,000 tonnes since late 2014 from the Santiago Project. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table 1 Mineral Resource Table - Phosphate Indicated and Inferred Resources ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonnes Resource Type (Mt) P2O5% CaO% MgO% SiO2% Al2O3% LOI% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indicated HG(i) 0.29 14.78 20.49 1.02 41.53 8.44 4.08 ------------------------------------------------------------- LG(i) 0.87 6.08 7.92 1.22 58.79 9.96 3.90 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Indicated 1.16 8.23 11.03 1.17 54.52 9.59 3.94 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred HG(i) 0.82 14.72 20.92 0.97 42.62 7.95 4.22 ------------------------------------------------------------- LG(i) 1.88 5.89 7.83 1.48 58.39 10.73 4.43 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Inferred 2.70 8.58 11.82 1.32 53.59 9.88 4.37 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - High Grade Mineralization (HG): P2O5 greater than or equal to 10%, Low Grade Mineralization (LG): P2O5 greater than or equal to 3% and less than 10% - Mineral Resources are based on dry tonnes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EXPLORATION POTENTIAL Mineralization at Santiago remains open along the NW-SE trend, with a number of samples of outcropping phosphorite grading between 7.5% to 23.3% P2O5. The potential area is some 3 times the size of the current area considered in this DANF PEA and GE21 estimated an exploratory potential of 5 million tonnes to 14 million tonnes with the P2O5 grade varying between 4% and 18%. The potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature, there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource in the future. MINERAL PROCESSING & METALLURGICAL TESTING The material is placed in the run-of-mine ("ROM") patio area, stockpiled and blended in such a way so as to guarantee a constant feed grade for the beneficiation process. The processing route consists of crushing, screening and grinding, as shown in figure 1. To view Figure 1, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/DuSolo-Fig1.pdf. All of the material that is obtained from mining is transformed into the final product, which generates products that have greater or lesser value, depending on the phosphate concentration. Therefore, tailings are not produced during ore processing, and the recovery of material during the process is 100%. For internal quality control purposes, the company maintains its own laboratory, with equipment that serves to analyze certain characteristics of the product such as particle size, comminution, sample preparation and a spectrophotometer for determining the concentration of P2O5. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table 2 Summary of Production ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mass wet Material basis(Kt)(1) P2O5(%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mining products Type P2O512% 543 11.90 --------------------------------------------- P2O515% 635 15.24 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 1 178 13.70 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Waste Rock 865 n/a ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Material Stockpiled for Potential Future Beneficiation 1 080 7.15 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------- Strip Ratio(2) 1.56 ------------------------------- Strip Ratio(3) 0.37 ------------------------------- (1)Wet tonnes contain 12% moisture, both as ROM and as product; (2)Considers the material stockpiled for Potential Future Beneficiation as waste rock; (3)Considers the material stockpiled for Potential Future Beneficiation as product.; Note that the DANF PEA is preliminary in nature as it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability, and as such there is no certainty that the preliminary assessment and economics will be realized. CAPITAL & OPERATING COSTS As the Santiago Project and the Campos Belos plant are already extracting and processing phosphate rock, there is no additional capital requirement for the Project. Sustaining capital over the LOM is minimal and included in the maintenance costs. The Company estimates the existing capital equipment (primary crusher, hammer mills) have a capacity of c.280,000 tonnes per annum and the projected DANF PEA production of 100,000 tonnes per annum is approximately 35% of the actual installed capacity, resulting in reduced operating hours and general wear. Mobile equipment such as trucks, water trucks and front-end loader and excavator are all supplied on a contract basis. The Company maintains insurance for its assets which includes the Campos Belos plant. Operating costs are based on actual costs incurred by the Company, using the 2016 actual mining and processing costs. Fixed costs have been adjusted for the increase to 100,000 tonnes per annum. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table 3 Operating Costs ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item Cost Unit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mine Ore 2.88 US$/t ROM -------------------------------------- Waste Rock 0.97 --------------------------------------------------------- Transport & Road Maintenance 6.17 --------------------------------------------------------- Plant 5.11 --------------------------------------------------------- G&A 3.34 --------------------------------------------------------- Total 18.47 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A trade-off study to assess the impact of relocating the Campos Belos Plant to the Santiago Project and significantly reducing transport costs is currently being prepared. Taxes are included in the PEA cashflow analysis as follows: Royalties - 3.0% of revenue Taxes - 29.8% of EBIT The Company has significant tax losses available to be applied to future income in Brazil which have not been included in the DANF PEA analysis. DANF MARKET REPORT & PRICES This DANF PEA has assumed the following prices for the DANF products, based on the prices in 2016 and currently being received for the following products: DANF 12% P2O5 - US$31/t DANF 15% P2O5 - US$56/t Agroconsult provided a market study for the DANF products that DuSolo intends to produce. Assuming an average LOM production of 50,000tonnes per year for each product, Agroconsult's analysis suggests the following prices can be achieved: DANF 12% P2O5 - US$76.4/t DANF 15% P2O5 - US$93.7/t These prices are higher than currently achieved, but Agroconsult notes that with the correct strategy of market and price development and branding these higher prices could be achieved. GE21 have prepared an upside case model using the higher Agroconsult prices, and assuming an increase in marketing and selling costs of US$1,11 per tonne (approximately 50% increase in G&A). This results in an increase of the net present value to US$30,28million. GE21 recommends that management maintain its focus on marketing and sales prices, as this could provide significant improvements in the Santiago Project returns for limited increases in operating costs. QUALIFIED PERSONS The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Porfirio Cabaleiro Rodriguez and Mr. Bernardo Viana, both Managing Partners of GE21 Consultoria Mineral, in compliance with the standards of disclosure as set out in NI43-101. Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Viana are "independent qualified persons" for the purposes of NI43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators. On behalf of DuSolo Fertilizers Inc. Giles Baynham, Chief Executive Officer and Director FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information", within the meaning of Canadian legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur", "be achieved" or "has the potential to". Forward looking statements contained in this press release may include statements regarding the future operating or financial performance of DuSolo which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may not prove to be accurate. Actual results and outcomes may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: market conditions and other risk factors listed from time to time in our reports filed with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and DuSolo disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. For more information please refer to the technical report filed on SEDAR and titled "Bomfim Agro-Mineral Phosphate Project, Technical Report and Initial Resource Estimate Tocabtins and Goias States, Brazil," filed on March 5, 2014, effective December 31, 2013, and amended on February 6, 2015. The resource estimate was signed off by Mr. Porfirio Cabaleiro Rodriguez an Associate Consultant of Coffey Consultoria e Servicos Ltda., and was prepared in compliance with the standards of disclosure as set out in NI43-101. Mr. Rodriguez is an "independent qualified person" for the purposes of NI43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators. Disclosure - The Company's decision to produce DANF, its DANF production targets and cash flow projections were not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability. Without a technical report demonstrating economic and technical viability, there is uncertainty as to whether the Company will be able to economically produce DANF in a long run and as to whether the Company will be confronted with any unforeseen technical impediments. Similarly, the Company has not completed a preliminary economic assessment before making production and project expansion decisions. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange Inc.) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. Contacts: DuSolo Fertilizers Inc. (604) 484 7122 ir@dusolo.com Regulatory News: ERYTECH Pharma (Paris:ERYP) (ADR:EYRYY) (Euronext Paris ERYP), a French clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies for rare forms of cancer and orphan diseases, today announced that it has entered into a research collaboration with Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) to advance the pre-clinical development of the Company's erymethionase program for homocystinuria, a rare and severe metabolic disorder of methionine metabolism. The collaboration will leverage FCCC's world-class expertise to generate in vivo proof-of-concept data with erymethionase in a homocystinuria animal model. Classical homocystinuria is a rare, inherited genetic disease caused by a deficiency in the enzyme Cystathionine Beta-Synthase (CBS), which is critical for methionine metabolism. Patients are unable to fully metabolize the amino acid methionine, an essential amino acid found in food, which leads to the accumulation of homocysteine and methionine in the blood and urine. High levels of these amino acids are directly linked to morbidity and mortality, often at a young age. Symptoms include severe intellectual disability, eye lens dislocation, thromboembolism, osteoporosis, and seizures. The collaboration between ERYTECH and FCCC aims to demonstrate the potential of ERYTECH's erymethionase to lower homocysteine and methionine in the homocystinuria mouse model (CBS-deficient mice) developed by Professor Warren Kruger's lab at FCCC. Erymethionase is a methionine gamma-lyase (MGL, methioninase) enzyme encapsulated in red blood cells using ERYTECH's proprietary ERYCAPS technology platform to provide effective, long-acting therapeutic activity with reduced toxicity. In addition to the homocystinuria program, ERYTECH is developing erymethionase as a product candidate targeting cancer metabolism. New preclinical data supporting the potential role of erymethionase as a treatment approach against a broad range of cancers that rely on methionine metabolism will be presented at the upcoming American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, being held April 1 5, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Pr. Warren Kruger, PhD, Fox Chase Cancer Center, commented, "ERYTECH's approach with erymethionase has significant potential in this disease setting because it can reduce the levels of both homocysteine and methionine in blood plasma which is critical in restoring the metabolic balance in individuals with classical homocystinuria. We look forward to working with ERYTECH to advance this preclinical program to determine its potential as a therapeutic option for homocystinuria patients." Dr. Alexander Scheer, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of ERYTECH, added, "Classical homocystinuria remains a very challenging genetic disorder that the unique mechanism of action of erymethionase has the potential to directly and meaningfully impact. We are very pleased to enter this collaboration with FCCC and look forward to working closely with Dr. Kruger on this program as we accelerate the development of our technology platform to include highly specialized and rare conditions beyond oncology. This collaboration emphasizes ERYTECH's overarching strategy to develop novel, safer therapies to address high unmet medical needs. About Fox Chase Cancer Center: www.foxchase.org The Hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center and its affiliates (collectively "Fox Chase Cancer Center"), a member of the Temple University Health System, is one of the leading cancer research and treatment centers in the United States. Founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as one of the nation's first cancer hospitals, Fox Chase was also among the first institutions to be designated a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1974. Fox Chase researchers have won the highest awards in their fields, including two Nobel Prizes. Fox Chase physicians are also routinely recognized in national rankings, and the Center's nursing program has received the Magnet recognition for excellence four consecutive times. Today, Fox Chase conducts a broad array of nationally competitive basic, translational, and clinical research, with special programs in cancer prevention, detection, survivorship and community outreach. For more information, call 1-888-FOX CHASE or (1-888-369-2427). About ERYTECH: www.erytech.com Founded in Lyon, France in 2004, ERYTECH is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies for rare forms of cancer and orphan diseases. Leveraging its proprietary ERYCAPS platform, which uses a novel technology to encapsulate therapeutic drug substances inside red blood cells, ERYTECH has developed a pipeline of product candidates targeting markets with high unmet medical needs. ERYTECH's initial focus is on the treatment of blood cancers, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), by depriving tumors of nutrients necessary for their survival. ERYTECH plans to pursue regulatory approvals for its lead product candidate, eryaspase, also known under the trade name GRASPA, having achieved positive efficacy and safety results from its completed Phase 2/3 pivotal clinical trial in Europe in children and adults with relapsed or refractory ALL. ERYTECH also has an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial of eryaspase in the United States in adults with newly diagnosed ALL, and a Phase 2b clinical trial in Europe in elderly patients with newly diagnosed AML, each in combination with chemotherapy. ERYTECH believes that eryaspase also has the potential as a treatment approach in solid tumors and is conducting a Phase 2 clinical trial in Europe in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. In addition to eryaspase, ERYTECH is developing two other product candidates that focus on using encapsulated enzymes to induce tumor starvation. The company is leveraging the ERYCAPS platform for developing cancer immunotherapies (ERYMMUNE) and enzyme therapies beyond oncology (ERYZYME), such as the development of erymethionase in homocystinuria. ERYTECH is listed on Euronext regulated market in Paris (ISIN code: FR0011471135, ticker: ERYP) and is part of the CAC Healthcare, CAC Pharma Bio, CAC Mid Small, CAC All Tradable, EnterNext PEA-PME 150 and Next Biotech indexes. ERYTECH is also listed in the U.S. under an ADR level 1 program (OTC, ticker EYRYY). Forward-looking information This press release contains forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates with respect to the clinical development plans, business and regulatory strategy, and anticipated future performance of ERYTECH and of the market in which it operates. Certain of these statements, forecasts and estimates can be recognized by the use of words such as, without limitation, "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "seeks", "estimates", "may", "will" and "continue" and similar expressions. They include all matters that are not historical facts. Such statements, forecasts and estimates are based on various assumptions and assessments of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which were deemed reasonable when made but may or may not prove to be correct. Actual events are difficult to predict and may depend upon factors that are beyond ERYTECH's control. There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline product candidates that the candidates will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that they will prove to be commercially successful. Therefore, actual results may turn out to be materially different from the anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements, forecasts and estimates. Documents filed by ERYTECH Pharma with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers (www.amf-france.org), also available on ERYTECH's website (www.erytech.com) describe such risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, no representations are made as to the accuracy or fairness of such forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. Furthermore, forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates only speak as of the date of this press release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. ERYTECH disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statement, forecast or estimates to reflect any change in ERYTECH's expectations with regard thereto, or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement, forecast or estimate is based, except to the extent required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170323005918/en/ Contacts: ERYTECH Gil Beyen Chairman and CEO or Eric Soyer CFO and COO +33 4 78 74 44 38 investors@erytech.com or The Ruth Group Investor relations Lee Roth, +1 646 536 7012 lroth@theruthgroup.com or Media relations Kirsten Thomas, +1 508 280 6592 kthomas@theruthgroup.com or NewCap Julien Perez Investor relations or Nicolas Merigeau Media relations +33 1 44 71 98 52 erytech@newcap.eu TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is pleased to see that even in challenging economic times, Federal Budget 2017 affirms Canada's commitment to protect our lands, our waters and the variety of species they sustain. Conservation of our biodiversity, in turn, will ensure our country remains a place where people want to live, work and invest. NCC agrees with the federal government that protecting the environment and growing our economy go hand in hand. Budget 2017 restates Canada's pledge to protect 17 per cent of our land and inland waters and 10 per cent of our coastal and marine waters. Around the world, countries are forging ahead to reach these global targets by 2020. The Nature Conservancy of Canada is pleased to be working with the government to help chart a pathway for Canada to meet these goals. Private land conservation and public-private partnerships, such as the Natural Areas Conservation Program, can make a meaningful contribution to achieving Canada's international commitments. "Canada is in a position to lead the world in conservation," says John Lounds, President and CEO of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. "Our natural ecosystems support healthy and resilient communities. They are integral to any strategy to mitigate the impacts of climate change." The Nature Conservancy of Canada is encouraged to see that Budget 2017 provides: -- Funding to protect Canada's freshwater resources and to fight against aquatic invasive species, especially in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin; -- Additional support to help connect more Canadians to nature through our national parks and marine conservation areas; -- Changes to strengthen the credibility and long term impact of the Ecological Gifts Program (Ecogifts); and -- Support for the conservation leaders of tomorrow through the creation of new green jobs for young Canadians. Budget 2017 also recognizes that Indigenous Peoples are leaders in environmental stewardship, sustainable development and the management of natural resources on their lands. The Nature Conservancy of Canada applauds the launch of a pilot Indigenous Guardians Program to give Indigenous Peoples more resources and responsibility to manage their lands and to facilitate partnerships to help protect sensitive areas and species. About: The Nature Conservancy of Canada is the nation's leading private land conservation organization. NCC is a partner with Environment and Climate Change Canada in the Natural Areas Conservation Program. This matching-funds program, administered by NCC, has helped to conserve more than 400,000 hectares to date. www.natureconservancy.ca Contacts: Media Contact: Andrew Holland Director of Media Relations Nature Conservancy of Canada 1-877-231-4400 andrew.holland@natureconservancy.ca Regulatory News: Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (ticker: PSH:NA) today announced that PSH intends to apply for admission of its ordinary shares to the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange ("Admission"). Following Admission, it is expected that PSH will be eligible for inclusion in the FTSE UK Index Series, including the FTSE All-Share and FTSE 250 indices. The Company's listing on Euronext Amsterdam will not be affected. Following Admission, investors will be able to trade PSH shares on both markets with PSH shares being quoted and traded in Sterling in London and in USD on Euronext Amsterdam. PSH has decided to seek a premium listing in London in an effort to improve market access for investors, increase liquidity in PSH shares, and assist in narrowing the current discount to net asset value at which PSH shares trade. PSH intends to write to shareholders in due course to seek the requisite shareholder consents to make certain adjustments to its constitutional arrangements required to obtain a premium listing. Such consents are currently expected to be sought at PSH's Annual General Meeting of shareholders (AGM) in April 2017 with Admission currently expected in early May 2017. PSH has appointed Jefferies International Limited to act as sole sponsor and financial adviser to PSH in connection with the premium listing in London. About Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (PSH:NA) is an investment holding company structured as a closed ended fund that makes concentrated investments principally in North American companies. This is a disclosure according to Sec 5:25i of the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht). Important Notices This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute or form part of any offer to issue or sell, or the solicitation of an offer to acquire, purchase or subscribe for, any securities in any jurisdiction. PSH's shares have not been and will not be registered under the applicable securities laws of the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand or South Africa. PSH's shares may not be offered or sold within the United States, or to or for the benefit of U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act")) ("U.S. Persons"), except pursuant to an exemption from registration under the Securities Act. The Company has not registered as an "investment company" under the U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940, and investors will not be entitled to the benefits of that Act. This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including terms such as "intends", "intention", "will", "continue", "believe", "view" or, in each case, variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts and include statements regarding the intentions, beliefs or current expectations of the Company, including, among other things, with respect to admission to trading, indexation, investor access, liquidity and pricing. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and may be beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. Examples of such circumstances include required regulatory or stock exchange approvals. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future events or performance. The information contained in this announcement is given at the date of its publication and is subject to updating, revision and amendment. The contents of this announcement have not been approved by any competent regulatory or supervisory authority. Jefferies is authorised and regulated by the FCA and is acting as the Company's sponsor (the "Sponsor") in connection with the Admission and will not be acting for any other person, will not regard any other person as a client in relation to the Admission, and will not be responsible to any person other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of Jefferies or for advising any other person in respect of the proposed Admission. This announcement has been prepared by the Company and its investment manager, Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. (the "Investment Manager"). No liability whatsoever (whether in negligence or otherwise) arising directly or indirectly from the use of this announcement is accepted and no representation, warranty or undertaking, express or implied, is or will be made by the Company, the Investment Manager, the Sponsor or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisers, representatives or other agents ("Agents") for any information or any of the opinions contained herein or for any errors, omissions or misstatements. None of the Investment Manager, the Sponsor nor any of their respective Agents makes or has been authorised to make any representation or warranties (express or implied) in relation to the Company or as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of this announcement, or any other written or oral statement provided. In particular, no representation or warranty is given as to the achievement or reasonableness of, and no reliance should be placed on any projections, targets, estimates or forecasts contained in this announcement and nothing in this announcement is or should be relied on as a promise or representation as to the future. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170323006082/en/ Contacts: Maitland James Devas, +44 20 7379 5151 Media-pershingsquareholdings@maitland.co.uk Baku, Azerbaijan, March 23 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: OPEC oil output cut deal could be extended for a shorter period, perhaps to three months or so, instead of six months, Tom Pugh, the economist at British economic research and consulting company Capital Economics, told Trend March 23. It seems that the market expects the OPEC cuts to be extended. We also think this is now more likely than not, said the expert. OPEC will be especially wary of increasing US production, as there is no point OPEC continuing to cut output if the US is filling the gap, according to Pugh. The expert believes that if Saudi Arabia decides that other countries aren't pulling their weight in the deal it could also decide not to renew cuts. For the deal to collapse it would need one or more of the OPEC members to increase production and effectively no longer participate in the deal, he said. This could then cause Saudi Arabia to increase its production which would effectively kill the deal. This is quite unlikely, but countries like Iran, Iraq and Venezuela have been reluctant to lower the output. In December 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. Non-OPEC oil producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 bpd starting from Jan. 1, 2017 for six months, extendable for another six months, to take into account prevailing market conditions and prospects. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1, with top exporter Saudi Arabia cutting as much as 486,000 bpd. According to OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report, worlds oil supply decreased in February by 0.21 million barrels per day compared to January to average 95.88 million barrels per day. In November 2016, worlds oil supply was at 96.84 million barrels per day. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn CANTON, OH--(Marketwired - March 23, 2017) -equivant announced the top three recipients of its 2016 Justi Award today. The Palm Beach County Clerk & Comptroller won top honors with Operation Fresh Start, a collaborative program that gave individuals a one-time opportunity to resolve their outstanding nonviolent misdemeanor or criminal traffic warrants without the fear of arrest. Because of Operation Fresh Start, nearly $20,000 was collected and more than 380 warrants were cleared on a single day, with Palm Beach County taxpayers avoiding the high costs that come with incarceration. Those who participated truly received a "fresh start," moving on with their lives free of active warrants and positioned to settle remaining obligations. The 2 nd place winner for the Justi Award was the Lewis County Prosecutor and their Mental Health Alternatives program, a partnership between justice agencies and a local mental health treatment provider working to reroute chronically mentally ill persons who have run afoul of the law away from jail and toward recovery. To-date, more than 20 individuals have benefited from this life-changing program, saving the county over a quarter million dollars in jail days alone. Finishing in 3 rd place was the Elkhart County Sheriff with their blueprint to revamp jail programs to better prepare inmates for release. With a philosophy that emphasizes meaningful change rather than simply housing offenders, the Sheriff's Program Ward offers a structured environment in which individuals learn important skills and get help planning for their discharge back into the community. Although a relatively new program, the jail has already seen steep increases in program participation and reentry readiness, which studies have correlated to reductions in recidivism. Created in 2014, the Justi Award is an annual program that honors courts, clerks, public attorneys, and correctional/supervision agencies that have developed innovative programs or technology initiatives. All equivant customers are invited to submit their programs for recognition. "Our customers inspire us every day with their commitment to community and we're honored to recognize them through the Justi Award program," said Sue Humphreys, equivant director of industry relations. "Several great initiatives were nominated for 2016 and we congratulate them all. These top three truly demonstrate that meaningful change is possible when justice agencies focus on improving outreach within their communities." For more information on equivant please visit www.equivant.com. About equivant We are driven by a justice system that instills confidence through its processes and is accessible to all citizens. Like you, equivant aims to embrace community while advancing justice and deliver better outcomes to all who touch the justice system. We do this through our deep domain knowledge, modern technologies, and expert services that help promote public and individual safety by informing decisions at every step. As fellow stewards of justice, equivant is committed to your mission and we value your ideals. Our people operate with fairness and integrity, believing that there is no such thing as "good enough." For more information, please visit www.equivant.com. Contact: Kris Hoy Marketing Director equivant Tel: 330.470.4240 kris.hoy@equivant.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures inched lower Thursday, ending a five-day win streak after a Federal Reserve official hinted at three more rate hikes in 2017. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams told Wall Street Journal he expects the central bank to raise rates three or four times this year. Meanwhile, new home sales in the U.S. saw a substantial increase in the month of February, the Commerce Department revealed in a report on Thursday, with sales jumping to their highest level in seven months. April gold was down $2.50, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,247.20/oz. Commerzbank analysts say gold has plenty of room to rise further. 'Although this psychologically important threshold appears to be posing something of a challenge in the short term, the chances of the price rising above it are good,' analysts said. 'Speculative financial investors in particular are likely to jump back onto the bandwagon: in the run-up to the Fed meeting their net long positions had dropped to their lowest level since the beginning of the year, putting them a good 80% lower than their last summer's high,' wrote the analysts. 'There is ample upside potential, in other words.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the MEP services market in North Americais expected to reach USD 46.5 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of almost 19%. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170323005548/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the MEP services market in North America from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) This research report titled 'MEP Services Market in North America 2017-2021' provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. The market estimates include new sales, retrofit, replacement, spares, and the services market. Projects include FM consulting and engineering, electro-mechanical commissioning, and retrofits. The MEP services market in North America, due to its high market maturity and end-user awareness will exhibit stable growth during the forecast period. The need to maintain modern infrastructure facilities in an efficient manner will result in new business opportunities for MEP services vendors. Hard FM services involving electrical, mechanical, and water management services involve technical skill and expertise, which facilitates the growth of MEP services vendors during the forecast period. Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=57272 Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Technavio's industrial automation analysts categorize the MEP services market in North America into three major segments by end user. They are: Commercial buildings Government buildings Residential buildings MEP services market in North America by commercial buildings Infrastructural investments in the North America region has contributed toward the growth of the commercial sector in the region. Subsequently, the demand for managing various aspects of a commercial building has surfaced, propelling the growth of outsourced service vendors. Technical services involving O&M of electro-mechanical systems within a facility is driving the revenues for MEP service vendors in the region. According to Bharath Kanniappan, a lead automationresearch analyst from Technavio, "North American countries, Canada and the US, consist of several office buildings, business parks, and corporate office headquarters, which require specialized services for operating and maintaining the electromechanical and civil systems MEP services market in North America by government buildings Government buildings in North America as compared to other government bodies of other geographies are highly open to outsourcing their facility services to specialized vendors. Thus, MEP service vendors are expected to observe growth in terms of new and existing building projects in this sector. The growth of government-owned and operated buildings like airports, rail stations and harbors will necessitate growing need for efficiency in carrying out the electro-mechanical and civil works. "Governments in the respective countries of North America are not only increasing their outsourcing budget but also fostering relationships with external FM companies who can enhance the productivity of government buildings," says Bharath. MEP services market in North America by residential buildings The residential buildings in North America including standalone buildings and housing societies, which are gradually turning out to be a major consumer of MEP services. Developments in the residential real estate have resulted in the modernization of housing facilities with stress on the importance of energy optimization in these facilities. MEP vendors offer building owners and tenants with the ease of cutting down their electricity cost and enhancing the productivity of their building facilities. US residential buildings will continue to drive growth in terms of retrofit and replacement activities with a minor share of revenue generation through new business projects. The top vendors highlighted by Technavio's research analysts in this report are: EMCOR Global Facility Solutions Macro MEP Engineering WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff Browse Related Reports: Global Building Cable Management Systems Market 2017-2021 Global Automated Container Terminal Market 2017-2021 Global Remote Input Output Modules Market 2017-2021 Become a Technavio Insights memberand access all three of these reports for a fraction of their original cost. As a Technavio Insights member, you will have immediate access to new reports as they're published in addition to all 6,000+ existing reports covering segments like robotics. This subscription nets you thousands in savings, while staying connected to Technavio's constant transforming research library, helping you make informed business decisions more efficiently. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170323005548/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- True Nature Holding, Inc. (OTCQB: TNTY) (the "Company") announced today that it has expanded its non-executive Advisory Board with the addition of Mr. Leo Smith, who is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mr. Smith has extensive experience in rapid growth situations, in both public and private companies, and most recently has invested in both medical clinics and the emerging marijuana area. His experience extends past the US marketplaces, into the South American economies, and has a pulse on the expanding Hispanic communities in the US as well. "I am appreciative that Leo has offered to join our Advisory Board. He is an investor in Price Choice Pharmacy, in Miami, where we have a letter of intent for its acquisition. We believe his initial efforts with two (2) sites there can quickly be expanded. Further, he has excellent insight into the marijuana industry, and its legalization, and while we have no current plans to expand into that area, we do get inquiries frequently, and need his expertise to help us understand the risk, and potential reward that comes with this emerging market," said Mack Leath, member of the True Nature Board, and its Secretary. Background on C. Leo Smith C. Leo Smith, 48, former Chairman of the Board of Directors and former Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer of several private and U.S. public companies, is mostly focused on Mergers and Acquisitions and consolidating small private companies into larger public companies that will bring value and strong dividends to its investors, and shareholder base. Mr. Smith is very active both in the private and public sector and continuously is looking to build and grow small private entities into larger Multinational companies. His experience is diverse in many areas of business, for example: manufacturing, pharmaceutical distribution, service industry, international consulting, staffing, and most recently expanding into direct retail. Most recently he has become active in medical clinic operations, and in the emerging clinical marijuana products area, within states with new legal operations. In the developing area of prescription and recommendation area, both Medical Center of North Broward, LLC, located in Pompano Beach, FL., as well as the Washington D.C. Spine Center, LLC, located in down Georgetown, D.C. Additionally, in the Cannabis/Medicinal Marijuana space, in has invested in a 5,000 square foot facility licensed for a Cannabis Grow House in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In development is also a licensed processing laboratory, where the extract and waste of the Cannabis Harvest to produce Edibles, Oils and Waxes. The True Nature Holding, Inc. Advisory Board consists of professionals with subject matter experience in areas specific to the Company's plans and operations. These are "non-operating and non-executive" positions, and as such are not subject to the regulations of Section 16 of the Securities Act. Appointees have been awarded 100,000 shares of restricted common stock for the participation, and are otherwise not compensated. The Mission of True Nature Holdings, Inc. To unlock the potential of the compounding pharmacy industry to improve human and animal health, serve unmet patient needs, elevate the dignity of skilled pharmacists, and build shareholder value through the delivery of quality, cost effective, and innovative healthcare products and pharmaceuticals to the world. The Vision of True Nature Holdings, Inc. To become globally recognized for our best practices focused on driving quality, efficiency, and sustainability in the compounding pharmaceutical industry, natural solutions for healthy living, and novel approaches for delivery of these solutions. Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act As contemplated by the provisions of the Safe Harbor section of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, this news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to future, anticipated, or projected plans, performances, and developments, as well as other statements relating to future operations. All such forward-looking statements are necessarily only estimates or predictions of future results or events and there can be no assurance that actual results or events will not materially differ from expectations. Further information on potential factors that could affect True Nature Holding, Inc. is included in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We expressly disclaim any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements. To learn more about the Company, visit www.truenaturepharma.com. A one-page investor information document can be viewed at the following link: http://truenaturepharma.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/tnty-investor-info-sheet.20170227.pdf Contact: True Nature Holding, Inc. Mack Leath 404-913-1802 contact@truenaturepharma.com Technavio has announced the top seven leading vendors in their recentglobal data center rack market 2017-2021report. This market research report also lists 16 other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170323006049/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global data center rack market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business wire) Competitive vendor landscape According to the research analysis, the global data center rack market comprises of several vendors who offer a variety of rack solutions for data center facilities worldwide. 42U racks are offered by almost every vendor and are the most preferred product. Vendors also include customized racks to support the specific requirements of data center operators. The upcoming facilities are more likely to support the higher rack heat density, which will require the support for advanced rack-level cooling. The need for rack enclosures with accessories will be high for better cable management. Open frame rack architecture is adopted in small and enterprise-owned facilities. However, this will depend on the requirement of end-users. Many data center rack vendors offer rack enclosures that support the mounting of IT equipment. As server and storage equipment grows inside a data center, there will be a need for taller rack architecture that can support more equipment and adjust to increased cable management and cooling requirement. "Almost all the vendors in the data center rack market offer rack enclosures to containment solutions that support industry standards with strong expertise through several commercial deployments," says Navin Rajendra, lead data center analyst from Technavio. Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=57058 Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. TechnavioICTmarket research analysts identify the following key vendors: Black Box Corporation Black Box Network Services, a division of Black Box Corporation, is an integrator of complex communication solutions with expertise in sourcing, implementation, design, and maintenance. Eaton Eaton provides power management services. It caters to different end-markets, including agriculture and forestry, aviation, community infrastructure, construction, data centers, and energy. It also caters to government and military, healthcare, machine building, mining, metals and minerals, oil and gas, and residential sectors. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) HPE is among the leading providers of IT infrastructure solutions, namely server, storage, and network infrastructures for data centers. It is also involved in providing rack and power infrastructure solutions that include racks, UPS, KVM switches, and KVM console kits. Rittal Rittal designs, manufactures, and sells systems used for enclosures, power distribution, climate control, and IT infrastructure products; software and services; and system accessories. The company offers solutions under categories such as cooling, power, security rooms and safes, server racks and network cabinets, monitor and management, and fast turnkey solutions. Schneider Electric The company is a multinational corporation with product and service expertise in automation management, electricity distribution, and components for energy management. Schneider Electric designs and manufactures rack enclosures and accessories products in different sizes, namely 24U, 42U, 45U, and 48U for data centers worldwide. Tripp Lite Tripp Lite is a global designer and manufacturer of power protection and connectivity solutions. Data center racks by Tripp Lite are available in different sizes from 2U to 48U and a wide range of accessories. Some of the features of these racks include hinged wall bracket, seismic rack, TAA compliance, value series, plexiglass front door, and NEMA 12 (IP54) rated. Vertiv Vertiv, is one of the leading providers of critical infrastructure technologies and life cycle services for ICT systems. The company is involved in the design, manufacture, installation, and service of infrastructures such as rack enclosures, rack PDUs, UPS systems and power conditioning, thermal management, and software for monitoring and services. In the data center rack market, the company offers racks in different sizes, namely 42U and 48U. Browse Related Reports: Global Data Center UPS Market 2017-2021 Global Data Center Server Market 2017-2021 Global Software Defined Data Center Market 2017-2021 Become a Technavio Insights member and access all three of these reports for a fraction of their original cost. As a Technavio Insights member, you will have immediate access to new reports as they're published in addition to all 6,000+ existing reports covering segments like IT hardwarecloud computing, and product lifecycle management. This subscription nets you thousands in savings, while staying connected to Technavio's constant transforming research library, helping you make informed business decisions more efficiently. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170323006049/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com OTTAWA, ON--(Marketwired - March 23, 2017) - Energy and Mines is delighted to announce the launch of the Energy and Mines Australia Summit to take place June 29-30 at the Pan Pacific, Perth. The Summit will provide a timely platform for mining leaders to meet with international renewables and finance experts to explore solutions for affordable and reliable power solutions for mines. Driven by high power costs, grid reliability concerns and carbon reduction targets, Australia's mining industry is now actively exploring renewable energy options. New and operating remote mines are assessing the cost savings and carbon reduction benefits renewables offer when integrated with diesel and gas-powered generators. While grid-tied sites are reviewing behind-the-meter renewables options to counteract rising electricity costs and grid instability challenges. The Summit will feature local and international case studies from mining operators that have integrated renewable energy and storage solutions to drive down energy prices, ensure power reliability, and reduce carbon exposure. SunSHIFT is the In Association sponsor for the Summit which offers a complete picture of current opportunities and challenges in integrating alternative energy options for remote, fringe-of-grid, and grid-connected mines. ""We look forward to providing the mining community with an update around our modular, recoverable solar assets, designed specifically to provide mines with affordable, reliable and flexible power," commented Will Rayward-Smith, General Manager, SunSHIFT. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has assisted with putting together the Summit and ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht will provide a keynote presentation on June 29th. ARENA has been integral to the success of innovative renewable energy projects for Australian mines including Sandfire's Solar-Storage Hybrid for the DeGrussa MIne and Rio Tinto's Weipa Solar Plant. "ARENA believes in the power of shared knowledge and is seeking to drive the transition to renewable energy for off-grid industries. We have released data and insights from a number of supported projects that show how renewables can benefit mining companies," Mr Frischknecht said. In addition to SunSHIFT, ABB is a Lead Sponsor of this high-caliber Summit and Advisian, GHD, Hatch and VSUN Energy are also sponsors. "We are delighted with the response we have had thus far from miners and renewables experts interested in participating in our Australia Summit which marks our 10th event on renewables for mines in key mining centers," commented Adrienne Baker, Director, Energy and MInes. "Energy is top strategic concern for the mining sector in Australia and we are beginning to see more and more innovative, groundbreaking projects for mines that demonstrate the commercial viability and performance of alternative power." Registration is now open. For more information, visit www.australia.energyandmines.com for more details and contact Adrienne Baker at adrienne.baker@energyandmines.com or +1 613 680 2482 About Energy and Mines: Energy and Mines is the leading global information and event media provider for energy management and operations of the mining sector. Through its global Summit series (Canada, South Africa, Chile, UK, Australia) web portal and newsletter, Energy and Mines brings together the mining and renewable energy sectors to drive solutions for affordable, reliable and sustainable power for mines. www.energyandmines.com Adrienne Baker adrienne.baker@energyandmines.com +1 613 680 2482 WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After trending higher over the past several sessions, treasuries gave back some over the course of the trading day on Thursday. Bond prices initially showed a lack of direction but slid firmly into negative territory as the day progressed. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.2 basis points to 2.418 percent. The pullback by treasuries was partly due to profit taking after recent strength pushed the ten-year yield down to its lowest level in almost a month. Traders seemed to shrug off the ongoing uncertainty about the fate of the House Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. Hoping to win support for the bill, President Donald Trump purportedly made a 'final offer' to a group of conservative Republicans. Trump's offer reportedly included repealing a requirement that insurance plans cover a number of 'essential benefits' such as hospital stays, mental health services and maternity care. However, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told reporters 'no deal' had been reached after a meeting at the White House. Republicans had been hoping to vote on the bill known as the American Health Care Act on Thursday, but the latest reports suggest the vote could be delayed until at least Friday. On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the Labor Department showed an unexpected increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 18th. The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 258,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level of 243,000. The increase surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 240,000 from the 241,000 originally reported for the previous week. Meanwhile, a separate report from the Commerce Department showed a substantial increase in new home sales in the month of February. The report said new home sales spiked by 6.1 percent to an annual rate of 592,000 in February after surging up by 5.3 percent to a revised 558,000 in January. Economists had expected new home sales to climb to a rate of 565,000. With the much bigger than expected increase, new home sales soared to their highest level since reaching an eight-year high of 622,000 in July. Additionally, the Treasury Department announced the details of next week's auctions of two-year, five-year, and seven-year notes. The Treasury said it plans to sell $26 billion worth of two-year notes next Monday, $34 billion worth of five-year notes next Tuesday, and $28 billion worth of seven-year notes next Wednesday. Trading on Friday is likely to be impacted by developments on Capitol Hill, particularly if the vote on the Republican healthcare bill is held Thursday night. A report on durable goods orders in the month of February may also attract attention along with speeches by several Federal Reserve officials. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - March 23, 2017) - Lingo Media Corporation (TSX VENTURE: LM) (OTCQB: LMDCF) ("Lingo Media" or the "Company"), an EdTech company that is 'Changing the way the world learns English' through innovative online and print-based technologies and solutions, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a letter of intent (the "LOI") with Vested Finance, Inc., the developer and operator of the leading, mobile college marketplace app in the US, Schoold ("Schoold"), to complete a business combination (the "Transaction"). The resulting entity, which will continue as Lingo Media, will also retain the name "Schoold" for use within the college marketing and counseling market. The parties are working towards finalizing a definitive agreement within the next 30 to 60 days with respect to the Transaction, which is anticipated to be a merger of equals in which shareholders of each party will acquire 50% of the resulting entity. Upon completion and execution of a definitive transaction agreement, Lingo Media will issue a subsequent press release containing more specific details of the Transaction, including a private placement financing to be completed concurrently with the closing of the Transaction. Schoold, based in San Francisco, California, is privately held by Silicon Valley and New York investment firms including Social Capital and University Ventures, as well as by FastForward Innovations Limited (LON: FFWD), the London-based investment company led by Canadian entrepreneur Lorne Abony. "Millions of learners across the globe aspire to learn English for the specific purpose of becoming qualified to study in English," said Joe Ross, President and CEO of Schoold, which features profiles of over 3,000 universities and has served over one million students. "Together Schoold and Lingo Media will be the premier education technology company providing best-in-class English language learning resources and connecting students everywhere with higher education opportunities in the United States." "This merger opportunity positions Lingo Media to expand its international operations and its entry into the US higher education market," said Michael Kraft, President & CEO of Lingo Media. "We look forward to joining forces with Schoold and benefiting from Joe Ross's leadership and experience in the technology and education sectors." About Schoold Schoold is the leading mobile app for getting trusted advice on applying to university in the United States. With over one million served and thousands of rave reviews, the Schoold app functions as a higher education marketplace, connecting prospective students with colleges and universities. Recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a "must-have" app for international students, Schoold is democratizing access to higher education and helping students everywhere get smart about investing in their future. Schoold is available worldwide on iPhone, Android, and Kindle devices. Schoold is proudly built by Vested Finance, Inc., in San Francisco, California. To learn more, visit us on the web and download at the app store. Follow Schoold on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schoold_app/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/schoold/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SchooldApp/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/schooldapp Snapchat: @schoold_app About Lingo Media (TSX VENTURE: LM) (OTCQB: LMDCF) Lingo Media is a global EdTech company that is 'Changing the way the world learns English,' developing and marketing products for learners of English through various life stages, from classroom to boardroom. By integrating education and technology, the company empowers English language educators to easily transition from traditional teaching methods to digital learning. Lingo Media provides both online and print-based solutions through two distinct business units: ELL Technologies and Lingo Learning. ELL Technologies provides online training and assessment for English language learning, while Lingo Learning is a print-based publisher of English language learning programs in China. Lingo Media has established successful relationships with key government and industry organizations internationally, with a particularly strong presence in Latin America and China, and continues to both extend its global reach and expand its product offerings. Follow Lingo Media On: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LingoMedia Twitter: https://twitter.com/LingoMediaCorp YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/lingomedialm LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lingo-media-corporation RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LingoMedia Portions of this press release may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of securities laws. These statements are made in reliance upon Sections 21E and 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results, performance, or expectations implied by these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary materially from management's expectations and projections and thus readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Lingo Media has tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words such as "may," "should," "expect," "hope," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "plan," "estimate" and similar expressions. Lingo Media's expectations, among other things, are dependent upon general economic conditions, the continued and growth in demand for its products, retention of its key management and operating personnel, its need for and availability of additional capital as well as other uncontrollable or unknown factors. No assurance can be given that the actual results will be consistent with the forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise required by US Federal securities laws, Lingo Media undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or any other reason. Certain factors that can affect the Company's ability to achieve projected results are described in the Company's filings with the Canadian and United States securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml. NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE For further information, contact: Lingo Media Michael Kraft President & CEO Tel: (416) 927-7000 Ext. 23 Toll Free: (866) 927-7011 Fax: (416) 927-1222 Email: mkraft@lingomedia.com To learn more, visit us on the web For further information, contact: Schoold Joe Ross CEO Tel: (650) 665-9676 Email: joe@schoold.co Learn more about Schoold online LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- With its 17th annual North American Regulators Roundtable officially in the books, Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) proudly welcomed over 200 regulators and operators from 37 jurisdictions to the conference. GLI President and CEO James Maida said, "The support we have received from our regulator and operator clients is humbling, and we are honored that you chose to spend two days with us learning about industry trends, current and upcoming challenges and cutting-edge technology. Every aspect of this event was a success. We are proud to offer our expertise to the gaming industry." While the annual, two-day event, held at Luxor Las Vegas March 15-16, is always a unique opportunity for regulators and operators to absorb high-level information from industry leaders and voice their concerns and opinions, this year's conference took an even more elevated approach to industry learning. Brand new to this year's Regulators Roundtable was the GLI Innovation Room, which offered attendees hands-on, personal experiences with up-and-coming technology, and the Ask the Experts Lounge. Featuring live tools demonstrations as well as advanced technologies that attendees could play with and ask questions about, the room was staffed with experts and acted as an open forum for attendees to speak about any gaming-related topic. Popular sessions included "Esports Live Demonstration and Session," which featured a live athlete duel before the audience; "A Look Back and Lessons Learned," which focused on the emergence of new content and technology; and "Future Focused: A Discussion of New Technology in Gaming - Trends on the Casino Floor and Beyond - Roundtable/Open Forum," which allowed the audience to voice their thoughts and opinions on consumer trends. Other high-level topics of discussion included: Electronic table games Fantasy sports GLI University iGaming Promotional scams and slot cheats Skill-based gaming Social gaming Virtual sports GLI also welcomed keynote speaker, Senior Vice President Chief Compliance Officer Larry Potts from Scientific Games. As a retired Deputy Director from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Potts offered attendees intriguing stories that tied into his key message -- taking risks. Throughout the event, attendees were encouraged to use the improved Regulators Roundtable mobile application, which was accessible via their smartphones. With the event's mobile app, attendees were able to access the event agenda, read speaker biographies, participate in live polls, network with one another and keep track of GLI's social wall and event activity feed. GLI and its experts are proud to offer this diverse, informational and hands-on conference. GLI and GLI University will produce the Latin American and Caribbean Regulators Roundtable October 2017 in Panama City. About Gaming Laboratories International Gaming Laboratories International, LLC delivers the highest quality land-based, lottery and iGaming testing and assessment services. GLI's laboratory locations are found on six continents, and the company holds U.S. and international accreditations for compliance with ISO/IEC 17025, 17020, and 17065 standards for technical competence in the gaming, wagering and lottery industries. For more information, visit www.gaminglabs.com. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3122321 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3122324 Contact: Christie Eickelman Vice President of Global Marketing +1 (702) 914-2220 Email Contact TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- Itafos (TSX VENTURE: IFOS) ("Itafos" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Blueshirt Group, LLC ("Blueshirt"), an investor relations firm. Blueshirt has been appointed as an investor relations consultant to Itafos for an initial two year term and will provide investor relations, marketing and communications services for, and on behalf of, the Company. "We believe The Blueshirt Group is an ideal partner to help us raise our visibility with investors, analysts and the financial media. Our unique position in recommissioning Itafos-Arraias, our world class integrated SSP operation in Brazil, offers attractive near-term financial prospects and positions us favorably to continue the implementation of our business plan including the development of our other attractive phosphate assets," said Brian Zatarain, Chief Executive Officer of Itafos. Pursuant to the agreement, Blueshirt will receive a monthly retainer of US$10,500, and be reimbursed for approved expenses. The Company will pay for the services of Blueshirt out of immediately available funds. The agreement may be terminated by either party on 30 days' prior written notice to the other party. Blueshirt is based in San Francisco, CA and does not have any direct interest in Itafos or its securities, or any right to acquire such an interest. The appointment of Blueshirt is subject to the requisite filings with and acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable securities laws. About Itafos Itafos (TSX VENTURE: IFOS) is focused on becoming a significant integrated producer of phosphate based fertilizers and related products. Itafos has an experienced team with significant experience in the business of fertilizer operations, management, marketing and finance. Itafos owns and operates the Itafos-Arraias SSP Operations, which consists of an integrated fertilizer producing facility comprised of a phosphate mine, a mill, a beneficiation plant, a sulphuric acid plant, an SSP plant and a granulation plant and related infrastructure located in central Brazil. Itafos' exploration portfolio includes a number of additional projects in Brazil, including the Santana Project, a high-grade phosphate deposit located in close proximity to the largest fertilizer market of Mato Grosso State and animal feed market of Para State, and the Araxa Project, a high-grade rare earth elements, niobium and phosphate deposit located in close proximity to two operating mines, therefore benefiting from existing local infrastructure. In addition, Itafos owns an approximate 31.3% interest in GB Minerals Ltd. which owns the Farim Project, a high-grade phosphate deposit located in Guinea Bissau and an approximate 29.6% interest in Stonegate Agricom Ltd. which owns the Paris Hills Project, a high-grade phosphate deposit located in Idaho, United States and the Mantaro Project, a high-grade phosphate deposit located in Peru. About The Blueshirt Group The Blueshirt Group provides capital markets expertise and strategic financial and media relations counsel to growth companies and venture capital firms globally. Founded in 1999, The Blueshirt Group has earned its reputation as a leader in investor relations (IR), financial communications, financial media relations and crisis management. For more information, please visit http://www.blueshirtgroup.com. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Itafos Brian Zatarain Chief Executive Officer brian.zatarain@itafos.com www.itafos.com The Blueshirt Group Gary Dvorchak, CFA Managing Director +1 (323) 240-5796 gary@blueshirtgroup.com Baku, Azerbaijan, March 23 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Libya plans to bring its oil production to 1.1 million barrels per day by August, said chairman of the countrys National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanalla. He made the remarks during the meeting with chairmen of NOC-affiliated oil companies. Our production today is 700,000 barrels per day day and we work hard in order to reach 800,000 barrels per day before the end of April. We will reach 1.1 million barrels per day next August, added Sanalla. Alongside with Iran and Nigeria, Libya was also exempted from OPEC oil output cut deal reached last year in Vienna. In December 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. Non-OPEC oil producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 bpd starting from Jan. 1, 2017 for six months, extendable for another six months, to take into account prevailing market conditions and prospects. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1, with top exporter Saudi Arabia cutting as much as 486,000 bpd. According to OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report, worlds oil supply decreased in February by 0.21 million barrels per day compared to January to average 95.88 million barrels per day. In November 2016, worlds oil supply was at 96.84 million barrels per day. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/23/17 -- West Mountain Environmental Corp.'s (the "Company" or "WMT") (TSX VENTURE: WMT) Chinese legal counsel filed a motion to refer its contract dispute with Shanghai Hehui Environmental Technology, Co. Ltd. ("Hehui") to arbitration in conformance with the terms of the contract between the parties. The hearing scheduled for March 27th, 2017 will now determine whether the case will be heard by the court or an arbitrator. Should the motion for arbitration be denied, WMT will have a minimum of 10 days to file a counter claim and prepare for trial during which time the Company's Chinese bank accounts will remain frozen. The Company and Chinese legal counsel believe that the claim against WMT has no merit and will result in a positive outcome. The Company has a revolving line of credit with HSBC Bank Canada ("HSBC") that will expire March 24, 2017. On December 9, 2016, the Company negotiated an extension of the credit facility with HSBC and an increase in the borrowing limit subject to meeting certain conditions, most notably negotiating an extension of the maturity date for a bond held by Jereh Energy Services Corporation ("Jereh") for a minimum of one year. As of the date of this release, WMT has been unable to negotiate successfully with Jereh. Under the terms of the agreement with HSBC, the balance owed, CDN$150,000, will be converted to a term loan subject to monthly principal payments of CDN$15,000 plus interest calculated at the Bank's prime lending rate plus 2.50%. On October 27, 2016, WMT notified Jereh that it was in breach of its July 2016 Bond Extension Agreement and if not cured could jeopardize the Company's obligation to extinguish the note due on March 31, 2017. On December 5, 2016 the parties entered into negotiations to resolve the dispute as well as extend the maturity date of the Bond. The principal amount owing on the Bond is US$2,580,000 plus accrued interest of US$466,906.30 as of July 1st, 2016. Interest accrues at the rate of 6.0% per annum compounded annually. At this time WMT has failed to come to an agreement with Jereh and has notified Jereh that it will not be able to pay off the Bond when it comes due on March 31, 2017. About West Mountain West Mountain is an established Canadian environmental solutions company specializing in the thermal treatment of a variety of hazardous and non-hazardous waste streams. Through its subsidiaries it employs a unique indirectly heated, closed loop technology that allows it to extract even the most hazardous contaminants from soil and industrial sludge converting much of it into reusable oil and synthetic natural gas that it uses to sustain the process. This methodology offers significant opportunity for greenhouse gas reduction over traditional hazardous waste destruction technologies. The Company's management team maintains expertise in hazardous waste management and contaminated site remediation with experience spanning North America and 15 countries internationally. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained herein constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or the Company's future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements or information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "expect", "may", "will", "potential", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe" and similar expressions. The Company believes the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward- looking statements included herein should not be unduly relied upon. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to the legal proceeding commenced against the Company by Shanghai Hehui Environmental Technology, Co. Ltd., the expiration of the HSBC credit facility subsequent conversion to a term loan and the repayment of amounts owing under the Bond Extension Agreement. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and West Mountain undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts the responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: West Mountain Environmental Corp. Mr. Tim Mahoney CEO and President 709 726 5198 info@wmtenv.com www.westmountainenv.com TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - New Zealand will on Friday release February figures for imports, exports and trade balance, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. Imports are expected to be worth NZ$3.99 billion, down from NZ$4.19 billion in January. Exports are pegged at NZ$4.20 billion, up from NZ$3.91 billion in the previous month. The trade surplus is called at NZ$160 million following the NZ$285 million shortfall a month earlier. Japan will see preliminary March numbers for the manufacturing PMI from Nikkei; in February, the index score was 53.3. Japan also will see final January figures for the leading and coincident indexes; the previous readings were 105.5 and 114.9, respectively. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. NEW DELHI (dpa-AFX) - An Indian politician has allegedly beat an Air India employee repeatedly with a slipper after being unable to get a business class seat on a flight. Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who was flying on an Air India flight from Pune to Delhi, hit airline's duty manager Shivkumar with his slipper several times. 'The MP turned violent, broke the duty manager's spectacles, tore his shirt and hit him with slippers several times,' airline sources said. The MP told media: 'I am not a BJP MP. I am a Shiv Sena MP and will not tolerate any insult. Let the employee complain. I will complain to the Speaker and other authorities.' Gaikwad, who was carrying a business class ticket, insisted on taking the airline's early morning flight AI-852 from Pune to Delhi, which is an all-economy class. Air India filed a police complaint and said it was considering a 'no-fly' list for unruly passengers. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Mumbai: Echoing State Bank of India chief Arundhati Bhattacharya's views, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor S.S. Mundra on Thursday expressed concern over farm loan waiver affecting credit discipline. "The RBI's views has always been that farm loan waiver affects credit discipline," Mundra told reporters at the launch of Bandhan Bank's branch here. On 15 March, Bhattacharya had expressed reservation over assurances and demand for complete farm loans waiver, coming from different quarters. The following day, Congressmen staged a protest outside the SBI headquarters at Nariman Point in Mumbai to protest. Those making the demand for loan waiver include Maharashtra's opposition parties and the ruling ally Shiv Sena, besides the Karnataka government, while assurances to this effect have been made in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Bhattacharya too said it will disturb credit discipline among borrowers, since they will keep expecting more such waivers in future and then those (future) loans will remain unpaid. On resolution of the non-performing assets (NPAs) issue, Mundra said discussions were on in this regard. "A number of resolution mechanisms have been given to banks from time to time. Variety of cases will require use of different instruments," the RBI senior officer said. "Valuation of stressed companies need to be transparent," he added. Taking advantage of the recent spike in valuation, several employees of One97 Communications, which owns digital payments providing company Paytm, made a killing by selling shares to the tune of around Rs 100 crore, said a report in The Economic Times. Of the 500 employees working with the Noida-based company, around 47 employees offloaded shares in the parent company in recent weeks to a mix of both internal and external buyers. These employees saw this as an opportune time to use their employee stock options, especially, after Paytm's valuation reached $4.8 billion last year thanks to growing business and a sharp surge in the overall user base in the past 4-5 months. In fact, nearly 100 employees of Paytm have sold their shares in the company over the past two years even though it remains a private firm, according to the report. Some of the Paytm executives did sell a portion of their ESOPs in 2016 to external board members like former Google and Uber executive Amit Singhal, WhatsApp's Neeraj Arora, and Ruchi Sanghvi, Facebook's first woman engineer, the ET report added. Since the government's decision to ban high-value notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination came into effect on 8 November, 2016, consumers across the country, especially in metros, cities and towns, mostly shifted to digital payments, thereby boosting the user base of Paytm significantly. According to a tweet put out by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder & CEO, in late February, Paytm had achieved a subscriber base of 200 million users. He further said Paytm aims to reach 500 million users by 2020. Double century! Next milestone, 500 Mn by 2020. Thank you India," tweeted Sharma. As scores of employees of Paytm decided to monetise their ESOPs, the exercise also allowed the Chinese entities, Alibaba and its payments arm Ant Financial, to consolidate their holding in One97 Communications. Alibaba and Ant Financial own 45 percent stake in One97 Communications. On the other hand, these two entities along with Vijay Shekhar Sharma and early investor SAIF Partners together won 95 percent stake in the company, the ET report said. Buoyed by uptick in valuation and thanks to rising digital payment transactions in the company, early One97 Communications invesstors like Reliance Capital, Saama Capital and SAP Ventures clocked manifold returns by selling their shares to Chinese e-commerce group. Paytm's higher valuation and investors readiness to pump in funds into the company comes at a time when India's leading home-grown ecommerce players continue to face valuation downgrades and difficulty in raising funds from overseas investors. From a peak valuation of $15.2 billion, the Bengaluru-headquartered online marketplace firm Flipkart could now be valued between $10-$12 billion as several investors such as Morgan Stanley, Valic Co, Vanguard, Fidelity and T Rowe Price marked down the value of their holdings in the company over past one year. India's number one online marketplace firm has been facing problems raising funds over the past year or so, although recent media report indicate the company may soon get $1.5 billion from eBay and China's Tencent. Similarly, Snapdeal, country's third-largest ecommerce company, could see its valuation dropping below $3 billion from the peak of $6.5-7 billion. The company, too, is close to raising around $100-150 million capital from its largest shareholder SoftBank at a lower valuation. The sequel of the classic romantic film Love, Actually called Red Nose Day, Actually was released on 22 March, 2017, and it features the stars of the first film announcing the release date. In the trailer, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Martine McCutcheon, Bill Nighy and Rowan Atkinson hold up placards talking about how time has passed and that fans should watch the film to see what the characters are up to now. They joke about how they have aged. Liam Neeson is sure he has aged best, and Hugh Grant is certain that Colin Firth has not. This style of holding up cue cards with messages is exactly how one of the charcters Mark proposes to Juliet in the original film. "On Red Nose Day, we will meet again, because unexpected things happen on Red Nose Day," the actors say. Red Nose Day, Actually is said to be roughly 10 minutes long and will be released on 24 March, 2017 as a part of a charity cause. It is directed and written by Richard Curtis, who also directed Love, Actually. All the stars of the original film will feature in it, except Alan Rickman, who passed away in January 2016. The original film had nine subplots involving more than 20 characters. Watch the trailer here: The trailer of Persian film The Salesman delicately tells the story of man in pursuit of his wife's assaulter in Iran. It explores the fragile relationship between the spouses. The trailer opens with the sound of a crash and a child crying. The silhouette of a man enters the room and then opens a door to an elevator. Next we see a man, the protagonist, instructing scared people to flee from a building using the staircase. The screen turns black, and we hear a woman's voice asking, "Still alive, then?" The protagonist and a woman, presumably his wife, walk down a flight of stairs, out of a building which the man peers at. "I thought we'd have to dig you out of the rubble," the woman says. They seem to have moved into a new house, where the old tenant is yet to collect her belongings. Here on, the trailer becomes more fast paced. We see the woman prepare a bath and enter the bathroom. The door of the house opens ever so slightly, indicating that someone has entered the house. The protagonist returns home to find blood stains on the stairs and his wife's face covered in scars, implying that she has been assaulted. He insists that they go to the police, and his wife flatly refuses. His neighbours tell him that they heard cries from the apartment that night. The trailer has some powerful exchanges of dialogues. "Do you know what I am going through? What are you going to do?" the wife asks. "I need to find that guy," the husband says. "You're taking revenge," the wife replies. "You won't let me go to the police, what am I supposed to do then?" the husband demands. The trailer is interspersed with visuals of the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, in which the protagonist and his wife play roles and the trailer ends with a chase scene. The Salesman has been directed by Asghar Farhadi and stars Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti. It releases on 31 March, 2017 in India. Watch the trailer here: KABUL Taliban fighters have captured the strategic district of Sangin in the southern Afghan province of Helmand after security forces pulled out, leaving the district centre to the insurgents, officials said on Thursday.Helmand, which accounts for the bulk of Afghanistan's billion dollar opium crop, is already largely in the hands of the Taliban but the capture of Sangin underlines their growing strength in the south.Scores of American and British soldiers died fighting in Sangin in some of their bloodiest battles following the 2001 U.S.-led military intervention, and the loss of the district underlines the scale of the challenge facing the western-backed Afghan government and its international partners.Afghan forces have struggled to contain the spreading insurgency since international troops ended combat operations in 2014, leaving them to fight largely alone.With warmer spring weather beginning, increased fighting is expected across Afghanistan. Security officials warn that 2017 may be even tougher than last year, when both Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, and the northern city of Kunduz came close to falling. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said Taliban fighters had captured police headquarters and a military base overnight, as well as quantities of military equipment after they were abandoned by retreating government forces.He said the area had been bombarded by foreign forces following the withdrawal of Afghan troops and police, causing heavy damage to buildings and infrastructure.The NATO-led Resolute Support mission did not respond to a request for comment about whether they were involved at all in the fighting or bombing of the site. Omar Zwak, the provincial governor's spokesman, said security forces had conducted a tactical withdrawal some 3 km (1.8 miles) from the district centre to avoid civilian casualties.Abdul Majid Akhondzada, deputy provincial council chief of Helmand, confirmed that after the retreat, air strikes hit the district to destroy military equipment left behind. U.S. President Donald Trump is yet to announce a new Afghanistan strategy. The top U.S. commander in the country, Gen. John Nicholson, said last month that Afghanistan was in a "stalemate" and thousands more international troops would be needed to boost the existing NATO-led training and advisory mission.According to U.S. estimates, government forces control less than 60 percent of Afghanistan, with almost half the country either contested or under the control of the insurgents, who are seeking to reimpose Islamic law after their 2001 ouster.However, while the Taliban control large areas of the countryside, they have so far failed to capture and hold any provincial capital for more than brief periods. In Kunduz, which briefly fell to the Taliban in 2015, the insurgents control areas around the city and government rule is precarious. On Thursday, in the latest insider attack, a rogue local policeman killed nine of his colleagues at a security outpost, officials said.Heavy fighting has also been reported near Tarin Kot, the provincial capital of Uruzgan in south-central Afghanistan, which almost fell to Taliban fighters last year. (Reporting by Mohammad Stanekzai and Hamid Shalizi; Writing by James Mackenzie and Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Tom Heneghan) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Gopal Sharma | KATHMANDU KATHMANDU Nepal's prime minister is set to throw his support behind Beijing's initiative to build a modern-day Silk Road across Asia during a six day trip to China starting on Thursday, in a move that could upset traditional regional powerhouse India.Beijing is jostling to increase its influence in Nepal, which serves as a natural buffer between China and India.China, which has invested in hospitals, roads, hydropower projects and airports in Nepal, is keen to include it in President Xi Jinping's flagship "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR) initiative to link Asia with Europe, the Middle East and Africa.Prime Minister Prachanda, a former chief Maoist rebel commander, will discuss energy cooperation, investment and the OBOR programme with the Chinese leader, Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said. Well express our commitment to join the OBOR initiative, Rishi Adhikari, an aide to Prachanda, told Reuters. The leader is on his first visit to China since his election in August.India, which has a festering border dispute with China, has looked at the latter's ambitions in South Asia including Nepal with concern. India is still the landlocked Himalayan nation's biggest trading partner, donor and supplier of essential goods, as well as the only source of fuel for the impoverished country.In October, Xi avoided Nepal during a South Asian tour amid Nepali media reports that Prachandas government was growing closer to India and going slow on the China deals made by his communist predecessor last year. Kunda Dixit, editor of Nepali Times, said China had advised Nepali leaders not to try to play Beijing against New Delhi.So Prachanda will have to tread carefully not to ruffle feathers in Delhi and to make Beijing too anxious, Dixit told Reuters.Visiting Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan, in a meeting with Nepali counterpart Bal Krishna Khand on Thursday, said China would continue to support the Nepal Army in disaster management, U.N. peace keeping operations and development work, a Defence Ministry spokesman said. (Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Alison Williams) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Baku, Azerbaijan, March 23 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Azerbaijans exit from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) will not impact the progress or the construction of any of the project along the Southern Gas Corridor value chain, SGC Co told the Natural Gas Word (NGW). All of the partners have committed to finance the project, at a currently estimated investment cost of $43 billion, said the statement from the company. SGC is also of the opinion that given the progress made with many of the international financial institutions (IFIs) and the recent support expressed by the investors in the debt capital markets, the EITI exit should not inhibit its ability to raise financing from the external sources for the value chain. Notwithstanding that as per the decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan #287 dated Feb.25, 2014, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) stands ready to provide all necessary long-term financing to SGC for the successful completion of the Southern Gas Corridor project, said the statement. SGC said it will continue to make available its annual audited financial statements to its investors via Irish Stock Exchange, where SGCs Eurobonds are listed. "SGC has already attracted several loans from IFIs and continues discussions with certain other IFIs who are scrutinizing SGC thoroughly, said the company. SGC remains compliant with applicable regulations, rules and policies that it has agreed to adhere to. "Together with the successful tap of the 2026 notes, this reinforces investors confidence in Azerbaijans strong economic fundamentals and its commitment to develop transportation infrastructure for one of the worlds largest gas fields, said the statement. The Southern Gas Corridor project constitutes a multi-stakeholder value chain that is not dependent on Azerbaijan/SGC alone. SGC is a majority shareholder only in Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, while in the other three projects of the Southern Gas Corridor, SGC, through its subsidiaries, holds non-controlling interest. The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey. At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage. As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans Adriatic Pipeline. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @ Lyaman_Zeyn Jamshedpur: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday urged the Muslim community to support construction of the Ram Temple at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya. "Ram mandir can only be built at one place in Ayodhya where the structure of a temple was found at the disputed site following investigation by the Archaeological Survey of India," Swamy said at a function organised to pay tribute to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Shukhdev who were hanged on this day in 1931. The BJP Rajya Sabha MP claimed that the Allahabad High Court in 2003 had made it clear that the structure of a temple was found at the disputed site. "Babri Masjid was built after the temple was demolished and the Hindu community has been demanding the construction of the Ram temple for a long time," he said. "If the issue is settled amicably, it will be all right, otherwise we will enact a law to construct a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya when we get majority in the Rajya Sabha by April 2018," Swamy asserted. "We will appreciate, if the Muslim community comes forward to find an amicable solution to build the Ram temple at the site, or else we would too follow the step taken by the erstwhile Rajiv Gandhi government in the Shah Bano case," he said. "We have been asking the Muslim community to vacate only three sites in Mathura, Kashi and Ayodhya," he said, expressing hope that all these disputed sites would be freed by 2024. The MP, who was asked by the Supreme Court to talk to all parties in the dispute, said he had discussions with Muslim leaders -- AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and Babri Masjid Action Committee convener Zafaryab Jilani -- over the issue. "The Muslim leaders did not agree to a bilateral negotiation but wanted mediation of the Supreme Court," he said. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday appealed to the resident doctors in the state, asking them to call off their strike and assured them that the government would ensure their security in hospitals. Making a statement in the Legislative Assembly on the ongoing strike and its fallout on the public healthcare system, Fadnavis urged the doctors to follow their professional ethics by serving the people. "Because of the acts of a few irresponsible people of attacking doctors, it is not right to deny the poor their right to access to the medical facilities. I appeal to the doctors and their organisations to call off the strike and return to work," he said. Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis has requested doctors to withdraw their strike immediately (file pic) pic.twitter.com/eQVX9f0Hip ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 We will take strong legal action against those who attack doctors & will ensure doctors' security: CM Devendra Fadnavis in Assembly ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 The government had spoken to representatives of the striking doctors and accepted all their demands, Fadnavis said. "The state has enacted special laws to protect doctors. The quantum of punishment has been increased and attacks on doctors made a non-bailable offence," he said. "The laws need continuous upgradation and the government is open to discussion," he added. "We will try to see that attacks on doctors do not happen and if it happens the perpetrators will be punished severely," Fadnavis said. The resident doctors in Mumbai are reportedly set to meet Fadnavis on Thursday regarding the matter. Maharashtra: Resident doctors on strike to meet CM Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai, today (earlier picture) pic.twitter.com/s9CyMia1Mr ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 Bombay High Court on Thursday also directed the protesting resident doctors in Maharashtra to resume duty immediately. The high court, which had castigated the doctors during a hearing on a PIL on Tuesday, requested the resident doctors to give the government some time to provide adequate security. The HC stated that resident doctors can amicably resolve issues with Maharashtra government. The court ensured that no punitive action will be taken against the resident doctors after they resume their duties opposed to what was previously suggested. The court said that the matter will be taken again after a period of 15 days. #FLASH Bombay HC orders doctors on strike to resume duties & give some time to Govt for providing them proper security pic.twitter.com/6clKcQzDfB ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 Bombay HC also orders govt to provide security at govt hospitals for doctors, so they can work w/o fear. HC will hear matter after 15 days. ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (Mard) said on Thursday that they were ready to work but wanted proper security and assurance of safety from the government. MARD (Maha Assoc of Resident Doctors) files affidavit in court saying they're ready to for duty but want surety of safety from govt & admin. ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 Unfazed by the government's warning of suspension and cutting their pay, resident doctors across various hospitals in Maharashtra continued their strike for the fourth day on Thursday. Nearly 4,000 resident doctors have been striking since Monday, demanding enhanced security in the wake of a string of attacks on doctors by patients' relatives at government hospitals across the state. The protests have been hampering the services of Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) in various hospitals. Wednesday night, a woman doctor of the civic-run Sion hospital was allegedly beaten up by the relatives of a patient, which made the stand of the protesting medicos more aggressive. The civic-run KEM Hospital in Mumbai has started issuing suspension notices to the doctors who did not report to duty despite state Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan asking them to resume work by Wednesday evening. Mahajan had warned the protesting resident doctors that they would lose six months' pay and face suspension if they did not resume work by 8 pm on Wednesday. "After the government's directive on Wednesday, we have started issuing suspension notices to resident doctors in Mumbai's KEM, Sion and Nair hospitals," KEM Hospital's Dean Dr Avinash Supe told PTI on Thursday. Mumbai: Patients wait outside Sion Hospital as resident doctors continue with their strike. pic.twitter.com/rSlUrSq917 ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 "There are at least 1,500 resident doctors in these three hospitals who did not report to duty on Wednesday by 8 pm. Now, all of them will face suspension," he said. A representative of the protesting medicos said, "The resident doctors also need armed security personnel at sensitive places on the hospital premises. There should be an alarm system so that the doctors can call the security." "The pass system, commonly practised in private hospitals, should be implemented to restrict the number of relatives visiting a patient," he said. "There is also a need to make the attack on doctors a non-bailable offence and cases should be heard before fast track courts. These are our demands and we are not asking for the moon, still the state is not addressing it on priority," he said. The Indian Medical Association which has some 40,000 members in Maharashtra had on Wednesday also extended support to the agitation. The Full Time Medical Teachers' Association attached to Thane Municipal Corporation-run Rajiv Gandhi Medical College in the neighbouring district also issued a written letter extending support to the doctors' protest. Meanwhile, three persons have been booked for allegedly beating up the woman doctor in Sion hospital last night, police said on Thursday. Mumbai: Resident doctor at Sion Hospital allegedly attacked by a patient's relatives last night; Police complaint registered against 3 women pic.twitter.com/v35sujaIAN ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 The doctor was allegedly slapped and beaten up by the relatives of a four-month-old girl, who was admitted to the hospital for treatment of pneumonia, they said. The patient's mother and her other relatives alleged that the doctor was not providing proper medical treatment to the child, a police official said. After the incident, the doctors present in the hospital gathered and protested in the premises, he said. Later, the hospital administration called the police and the patient's mother was taken into custody, he said. The woman doctor also complained to the hospital administration about the incident, he said. The Sion police on Thursday registered an offence against the patient's mother and her two relatives under IPC section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), the official said. According to the data of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's medical department, the present strength of security personnel in KEM hospital is 210 and there is an additional requirement of 306 guards. The current strength of security staff in Sion hospital is 180 and there is an additional requirement of 206. In the Nair hospital, which is also run by the BMC, presently 97 security personnel are deployed and there is an additional need of 133. The Maharashtra government has already promised to deploy 500 security personnel from Maharashtra State Security Corporation in the hospitals by 1 April. The Medical Education Minister on Wednesday said that by April-end, 1,130 guards will be recruited in government hospitals to prevent attacks. He also said that Rs 33 crore has been sanctioned for the recruitment of guards. Hurriyat Conference will lodge strong protests in Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PAK) against the move by the Pakistani government to convert Gilgit-Baltistan region as its province. But this is not the first time that the separatists have gone against Pakistan: they have resisted moves by Pakistan to unify the two factions of Hurriyat Conference (HC) and earlier opposed Pakistan President Pervaiz Musharafs plan of regional autonomy as a resolution of Kashmir problem. Sources in the Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, which is popularly described as Hurriyat (G), said that they have conveyed to the Pakistani establishment their opposition to plans to convert Gilgit-Baltistan as one of its provinces. Hurriyat (G) has asked its cadre in PAK which is headed by its Convener and Incharge of the Azad Kashmir Chapter of Tehri Ki Hurriyat, Ghulam Mohammad Safi, to resist moves by Pakistan to turn Gilgit-Baltistan into its province. Hurriyat (G) has asked its cadre in PAK which is headed by its Convener and in-charge of the Azad Kashmir Chapter of Tehri Ki Hurriyat, Ghulam Mohammad Safi, to resist moves by Pakistan to turn Gilgit-Baltistan into its province. Both the Hurriyat (G) and Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, described as Hurriyat (M), have opposed the move to convert Gilgit-Baltistan as another region of Pakistan. Chairman of the Peoples Conference (PC) and executive member of Hurriyat (M), Bilal Gani Lone, said that Gilgit-Baltistan is only one of the regions of Jammu and Kashmir. We believe that conversion of Gilgit-Baltistan as one of the regions would weaken efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue, he said. However, it is not the first time that the Hurriyat Conference has gone against Pakistan. Sources said that the Pakistani establishment has conveyed to both the factions of the Hurriyat (G) and Hurriyat (M) to come together and to put a unified voice, but the same was not being heeded to. A top Hurriyat leader admitted that the Pakistans suggestion about unification of the Hurriyat Conference was not being followed. Earlier, during the regime of Pakistani President Pervaiz Musharaf, Syed Ali Shah Geelani had protested against his 4-point formula for the resolution of the Kashmir problem. Musharaf had advocated more regional autonomy and making the borders porous for regional peace. Musharaf had sounded the Hurriyat leaders during their visit to Pakistan in 2009 that a broader framework would be evolved on Kashmir and talks between Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umer and New Delhi had progressed over demilitarisation of Kashmir as the first step towards resolution of Kashmir problem. However, Geelani had opposed Mushrafs formula and stated that solution to the Kashmir problem should be worked out as per the United Nation Resolutions, which interestingly give a choice of referendum to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to either merge with Pakistan or stay with India. Indian Parliament has passed a resolution in 1994 that Jammu and Kashmir was its integral part and Pakistan must vacate the area under its occupation. The latest opposition by the Hurriyat Conference on the Pakistans proposal is being seen by many political observers here as a dramatic development. Political Analyst, Dr Shiekh Showkat Hussain, however, said that the move by Pakistan to convert Gilgit-Baltistan into a province is in reciprocation of the popular mood among the people of the region. There is a large public demand from the people of Gilgit-Baltistan that they should get representation in Pakistani parliament and the people there never wanted to become part of the Azad Kashmir administration which has its own President and Prime Minister, he said. The Gilgit-Baltistan areas were merged by Dogra rulers in their territory, but were given to the Britishers on lease. Till 1947 there was a separate British resident who operated from the area, he said. However, Hurriyat (G) Majlisi Shora member and Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Chairman, Shabir Ahmad Shah, said that the merger of Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan would go against interests of people of Kashmir. Pakistan is a party to Kashmir dispute , but the step to convert Gilgit-Baltistan into one of its regions would go against the interests of Kashmiris and work in favor of India. We have registered our view over the issue with the Pakistani government, he said. There has again been speculation recently about India's nuclear doctrine and the value of its no first-use-posture. The reason for the kerfuffle this time are a couple of sentences in former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon's book, Choices: Inside the Making of Indian Foreign Policy. Menon writes, There is a potential grey area as to when India would use nuclear weapons first against another NWS (nuclear weapons state). Circumstances are conceivable in which India might find it useful to strike first, for instance, against an NWS that had declared it would certainly use its weapons, and if India were certain that adversary's launch was imminent. This has been interpreted to mean that India's no-first-use posture is not credible, which would implicitly exonerate Delhi from the charge if it is made that it has quietly changed its nuclear doctrine. Instead, this understanding of Menon's words suggests that the Indian no-first-use policy was a sham from the very beginning. Menon also writes, ...proportional responses and deterrence were not the preferred posture in the initial stages of the weapons program, for it might tempt adversaries to test the space available below the threshold for full nuclear retaliation... Instead, the logical posture at first was counter-value targeting, or targeting the opponent's assets, rather than counter-force targeting, which concentrates on the enemy's military and command structures. Here, the object of interrogation is the past tense (emphasis mine) that Menon uses; does he mean to indicate that India initially settled for a massive retaliation against an enemy's cities but later may have surreptitiously modified its doctrine as its weapons systems became more sophisticated in terms of detection and destruction? However, the context of his objectionable grammar is the historical evolution of Indian nuclear thinking from the mid-1980s. Menon is talking about the inter-test years (1974-1998) when India had not publicly weaponised its peaceful nuclear explosion and therefore obviated the need for a nuclear doctrine. However, the former NSA is not nuclear-shy once red lines have been crossed. As he explains the rationale, There would be little incentive, once Pakistan had taken hostilities to the nuclear level, for India to limit its response, since that would only invite further escalation by Pakistan. India would hardly risk giving Pakistan the chance to carry out a massive nuclear strike after the Indian response to Pakistan using tactical nuclear weapons. In other worlds, Pakistani tactical nuclear weapon use would effectively free India to undertake a comprehensive first strike against Pakistan. Essentially, under India's massive retaliation strategy, military as well as civilian targets would be considered. A purely counter-value massive retaliation by Delhi would leave Pakistan's nuclear arsenal intact and capable of raining nuclear fire on Indian cities. The sudden realisation that the Indian military could potentially go after Pakistani nuclear assets as well as its infrastructure has caused a bit of a stir in some circles. There are several problems with this sudden alarmist tone. The most obvious is that this is not a new observation. Aside from the fact that scholars have gleaned every nuance out of India's nuclear policy already, the doctrine itself what is publicly available specifically states that its retaliation only policy is dynamic. In the words of the National Security Advisory Board, India shall pursue a doctrine of credible minimum nuclear deterrence. In this policy of "retaliation only", the survivability of our arsenal is critical. This is a dynamic concept related to the strategic environment, technological imperatives and the needs of national security. The actual size components, deployment and employment of nuclear forces will be decided in the light of these factors. India's policy is clearly stated to be to only retaliatory, which is again emphasised in the next section: "India will not be the first to initiate a nuclear strike, but will respond with punitive retaliation should deterrence fail." Nonetheless, this position is dynamic in that it is conceivable that imminent use of nuclear weapons against India - fuelling of missiles, field deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, delegation of launch authority especially from a state that has repeatedly declared a willingness, almost an eagerness, to strike first with nuclear weapons, will be treated as an attack and liable for Indian retaliation. As many Indian strategists have wondered, what is the morality of awaiting certain destruction just to satisfy a dictionary definition of no-first-use? Such use anticipatory self defence may not be to the satisfaction of semanticists but is nonetheless considered just under international law if it fulfils the criteria of the Caroline rule: instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation. Thus, as Menon himself noted, more flexibility ambiguity? has been built into the Indian nuclear doctrine than is realised. As a side note, it is interesting that the same Caroline rule that bears out Indian views on nuclear strikes objects to the dilution of NFU by extending it to chemical or biological weapons as India and other nuclear states have done. The composition of India's nuclear arsenal and its status should belie any fears about preemptive counter-force targetting. Most nuclear observers agree that the Indian arsenal is still rudimentary compared to mature nuclear states such as the United States, France, or China. By the benchmarks of those in whose footsteps it follows, India has conducted far fewer (hot) tests to confirm design parameters that would affect miniaturisation, maximise yield, or assure successful detonation in unconventional circumstances to be capable of precise, proportionate strikes. Although the exact composition of the Indian arsenal is classified, the mainstay may be assumed to be improved versions of its 1974 prototype that was tested again in 1998, a ~15 kT Hiroshima-style device and hardly an ideal choice for a surgical counter-force strike. The sub-kiloton designs, ideal for mating with the Brahmos missile for tactical strikes, are not as reliable as their larger brother. The real concern, then, and a more familiar one for Indians, is that their bureaucrats and politicians might be promising more than their military can actually deliver. It is also worth noting that in regions with population density as high as in the Indian subcontinent, it is very difficult to achieve a purely counter-value or counter-force strike. Military bases are almost always near population centres or important infrastructural nodes out of necessity. Even if Delhi's policy of massive retaliation was purely counter-value, it would inevitably damage or destroy vital military assets. Despite such collateral damage, the doctrine can then hardly be called counter-force. Yet, as the former NSA points out, it would be ludicrous to leave the enemy's nuclear arsenal intact for the sake of doctrinal purity. The newly-rediscovered ambiguity in the Indian nuclear doctrine may perhaps carry more salience because not only does it come from a former official who had a large role in shaping Delhi's nuclear policy but in view of certain "personal" comments former defence minister Manohar Parrikar recently made. Speaking at a book launch in Delhi in November 2016, the then defence minister calmly eschewed India's no-first-use policy although he immediately clarified that there had been no change in government policy. With two former senior officials casting doubt on India's intentions, should the international community consider Delhi's NFU to be diluted? It needs to be stressed that Menon merely explained India's long-existing doctrine and did not reformulate it. With regard to Parrikar's comments, seen in their entirety, there can be no doubt that Indian nuclear policy has not changed. At most, the former defence minister's comments indicate that there may be discussions going on in South Block in very small circles on updating India's nuclear doctrine. Surely, this cannot be a surprise when the Bharatiya Janata Party had even announced its intention to do so in its election manifesto in 2014. Indeed, the present government may change India's nuclear policy but it is absurd to expect that policies are static and eternal especially when even nuclear warheads are upgraded. Some observers have wondered at the opportune timing the Nuclear Suppliers Group plenary is just around the corner in June of a sudden panic attack on Indian nuclear no-first-use and counter-force posture. This is unlikely to have been a factor for several reasons: First, the US, India's supporter in the forum with the most clout, does not seem willing to twist arms on India's behalf as it did in 2008; second, India has found it difficult to bring into its confidence the several smaller states on the moral high horse; and third, China would be relied upon to veto Indian membership in the consensus-seeking group unless Pakistan were simultaneously admitted. The strategic dimension of NSG membership in South Asia should not be underestimated. So if not a shift in doctrine, has there been a change in strategy? With improving capabilities, it would be myopic not to expect refinements in strategy. However, none of it the apprehension about anticipatory self-defence or counter-force targeting adds up to a new phase in Indian nuclear posture. The nuclear doctrine has long offered these options and at best, India's material realities might be quietly catching up with its lofty ambitions. No matter, this whole affair has been an exercise in making mountains out of molehills. Srinagar: Militants on Thursday attacked a police vehicle in Shopian district of Kashmir. No one was hurt in the incident, police said. Militants opened fire on the police vehicle escorting the bullet proof car of Shopian MLA, Mohammad Yousuf, which was being brought from Anantnag to Shopian at 9.30 am at Harmain, a police official said. He said a police vehicle and the MLA's car suffered some damage while security forces returned the fire. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday proposed the formation of an Apex council with government nominees and doctors in it to look into issues of security of medical fraternity in hospitals. He also made a fervent appeal to the striking resident doctors to get back to their work and serve the public by adhering to professional ethics and the call of duty. The idea of an apex council was mooted at a meeting held by Fadnavis with representatives of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) to discuss the demands of the of resident doctors, who are on strike over the security in the state-run hospitals. Firstpost correspondent spoke to State Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan, who said that the Maharashtra government has promised to promptly fill up the existing 1100 vacancies in security forces. "Fadnavis proposed setting up of an Apex council with government representatives and doctors, which would meet in every three months to resolve the issues arising from time to time," an official of the Chief Minister's Office said. The chief minister directed the authorities concerned that adequate security be provided to sensitive hospitals with armed policeman and installation of CCTV cameras. If the doctors on duty were attacked, the expenses for their legal and medical aid would be borne by the government, the official said. The meeting came after the Bombay High Court took strong objection to the interruption of crucial life saving services and directed the government to resolve the matter amicably. Cracking the whip on the state government and striking doctors, court had earlier in the day ordered all striking doctors in government-run hospitals to return to work immediately, while directing the state government to take care of their concerns. The court also said that they will monitor the situation every fortnight. The court also asked the authorities to make provisions to permit only two relatives per patient inside the hospital and said the government should deploy the assured security personnel at various hospitals. The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), whose around 4,000 members went on a mass casual leave agitation since Monday in all public hospitals, filed an affidavit with the high court that the resident doctors were prepared to work but the government and hospitals should assure them of safety and security. Making his first comments on the issue, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday appealed to all doctors and organisations like MARD and Indian Medical Association (IMA) to withdraw their protest and assured better security and law enforcement. My statement in Legislative Assembly appealing the doctors to resume duties.Govt is concerned & working on doctors' security.#DoctorsStrike pic.twitter.com/dwyFslBi2Q Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) March 23, 2017 "The ongoing doctors agitation has caused lot of inconvenience to the people, especially poor patients, who are being deprived of medical care," he said in the state legislature. "Because of the acts of a few irresponsible people of attacking doctors, it is not right to deny the poor their right to access to the medical facilities. I appeal to the doctors and their organisations to call off the strike and return to work," he said. "The state has enacted special laws to protect doctors. The quantum of punishment has been increased and attacks on doctors made a non-bailable offence," he said. "The laws need continuous upgradation and the government is open to discussion," he added. "We will try to see that attacks on doctors do not happen and if it happens the perpetrators will be punished severely," Fadnavis said. The agitation by MARD continued for the fourth day on Thursday. Around 40,000 member-doctors of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) working in private hospitals or as general practitioners also joined the protest since Wednesday evening. Doctors at AIIMS in New Delhi and other places also went on token strikes of solidarity. With inputs from agencies Itanagar: A nine-day mega cultural event, Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsava, showcasing traditional folk dance and music was inaugurated in Tawang by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday. "It is a matter of pride for Tawang and Arunachal Pradesh that a big cultural event is being held in Itanagar. Despite repeated claims by a neighbouring country, Arunachal Pradesh is more Indian than any other part of the country," he said. About 100 artists representing different tribes of Arunachal Pradesh and 500 artists from across the country will showcase their traditional folk dance and music at the cultural extravaganza, organised by the Union Ministry of Culture. Khandu thanked and appreciated Union Minister of State for Tourism & Culture, Mahesh Sharma's leadership for organising the event in the state despite the issues of communication bottleneck and the region being a border state. The chief minister said that Arunachal Pradesh being land to more than 26 tribes and 100 sub tribes with diversity of culture expanding from Tawang to Longding is the best place to host such a mega cultural event. In his message to the people, Khandu appealed to the youths to preserve their cultural identity and be the agent to carry forward the ancient culture to next generation. He lauded senior members of the tribal community to have preserved and promoted the ancient culture and tradition. Also acknowledging the need for society to embrace modernity and development, the chief minister urged the people not to leave behind their culture in pursuit of it. Lamenting that the department of art and culture had been neglected in past, Khandu said his government will give due importance to it. He said that to bring back life to the department, a performing leader like Art & Culture Minister Mohesh Chai has been entrusted with the job. The chief minister said a regional cultural centre of the North East Zonal Cultural Centre (NEZCC) will soon be established at Itanagar. Govind Talwalkar did not belong to any specific school of thought, though he had some very strong and uncompromising convictions. He was liberal, in the British tradition. He was a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and he also believed that without Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India would not have emerged as a liberal democracy. He was a living legend for several decades and icon of the Marathi middle class. Naturally that huge groundswell of support and admiration surfaced on Wednesday, when the news of his passing away spread all over. Though formally retired over two decades ago, he continued to write, even from the US, where he had settled with his two daughters. He was almost ageless. At 92, he was contributing to Marathi dailies and journals with such regularity and frequency that journalists half his age would feel ashamed. It was not just the output, which was of course huge, but the themes and topics he covered were truly vast. From transfer of power in India and the British Rule, since the East India company in the early 17th Century, to the rise and fall of the Soviet communism, from a kind of renaissance to evolution of modern India, the intellectual storm in Europe in the 20th Century to the regressive Hindutva tendencies in India, the Partition and its catastrophic impact on the Indian subcontinent all historical narratives he studied, researched, argued and wrote extensively. His personal collection of books was mammoth and he was possessive of the books, which only a genuine book lover can understand. Napoleon to Nehru and Lincoln to Lenin, giant personalities attracted his scholarly attention. How he managed to read so much and also write in Marathi and English on such subjects is a mystery. Like everyone else, he too had only 24 hours per day but he had converted those 24 hours into 48 hours of work reading and researching. From that angle, one can say that he lived nearly 150 years of working life. Born in a typical lower middle class Brahmin family, lived early life in the ambiance of a nondescript suburb of Thane district, Dombivali, he developed intellectual pursuits and with them political ideas. That is when he was influenced by MN Roy school of Marxism and radical humanism. He met some stalwarts in that sphere. But he did not become "Royist" in the conventional sense, like many of his compatriots. That association with the intellectual world drew him to journalism. Initially, he worked under another "semi-Royist" in the Marathi daily Loksatta and then went over to Maharashtra Times, when the Times Group decided to launch the Marathi daily. That was in 1962. He became a full-fledged editor in 1968 and captained the ship till 1995. Those were fantastically turbulent innings. He covered the Nehruvian, post-Nehruvian, and Indira Gandhi era. Later, supported young Rajiv Gandhi's efforts in modernising-computerising India and became a strident critic of VP Singh and also of RSS-BJP, because he felt they were taking the country backwards. He hated the idea of Hindutva and was committed to the idea of secularism. But he believed in the Western notion and Ambedkarite-Nehruvian connotation of secular India, and not cheap politicisation of a great concept. From Milovan Djilas to Arthur Koestler, from Alan Bullock to William Shirer, from Bertrand Russell to Isaiah Berlin were his intellectual companions. He treated them like his cerebral family members. His books were his friends. He had few genuine friends, but they included the likes of YB Chavan and Inder Kumar Gujral, Nikhil Chakraborty and Sham Lal and Dileep Padgaonkar. Generally, he would not attend parties or Bohemian gatherings. He avoided public functions and did not appreciate the "celebrity" status when it was accorded to him. He really did not belong to the "lifestyle-celebrity-page 3" journalism. He was a quiet man and would choose company (and right kind of single malt with it). He had a huge following among the readers but he never appeased them. He could be sharp and acidic in his attack, even if that hurt his friends and acquaintances. He never sought political position like a seat in the Rajya Sabha, which he could have got, because of his contacts in high places. He lived a frugal life and the only luxury he indulged in was book, books and more books. He was a colossus and the younger generation perhaps will not be able to comprehend the personality and character of this legendary editor. He passed away, with him also his legacy. New Delhi: Leaders across party lines reacted sharply on Thursday to the incident where a Shiv Sena MP thrashed an Air India staffer and demanded strict penal action against the legislator, terming the incident as "sad and unfortunate". Although Shiv Sena supported its legislator, saying he is not the kind of person who loses his temper, the Congress threatened to rake up the issue in Parliament demanding strict action against Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad. "This is unacceptable and some kind of action needs to be taken. It should be coming from his party as well as all the MPs when they speak in one voice in regards to privileges accorded to them. They should also be speaking in one voice to seek accountability when this privilege is misused. "It is not only Shiv Sena's responsibility, it is also the responsibility of the government which is in power. Aviation minister should take action because it is a government employee who has been attacked by this MP," Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said. Gaikwad punched and hit a 60-year-old Air India Duty Manager with his slippers nearly 20 times and tore his shirt at IGI airport here on Thursday just because he could not travel business class in an all-economy flight. Chaturvedi said elected representatives should not be allowed to get away with such behaviour. "We will raise this issue in Parliament and not only this, lots of BJP MPs have been found guilty of misusing their power like this and using their position of authority to get away with this kind of behaviour. It needs to be condemned," she said. BJP MP Kirit Somaiya maintained that Members of Parliament need to behave in a more mature manner. "We the MPs are more responsible persons and we have to behave in more mature manner. Anybody, particularly MPs like me has to take the responsibility and not beat anybody whether Air India crew or common man. If my colleague MP has done some error, I feel I can apologise on behalf of MPs who are sitting here in Delhi," he said. Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande, however, said that there should be a probe into the entire incident. "Ravi Gaikwad is our MP and as far as we know him, he is not the kind of person, who loses his temper so soon. He is a good MP. If you go to his constituency, you will find people talk good things about him. "He has worked for the people. But what happened here, what was the mistake of the airline official and what was the instigation which led to him taking such an extreme step, it should be probed," she said. Congress leader Oscar Fernandes said that whether it is an MP or a citizen, nobody has the right to beat anybody. "We have great responsibility as Members of Parliament to support the staff who work in difficult conditions. I appeal to all people to treat our workers or public servants with all kindness and humility," he said. Air India is also examining whether to create a no-fly list for unruly passengers. No airline in India currently has such a list. Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam demanded action against the Shiv Sena leader and termed as "absolutely wrong" the act of Gaikwad. "Shiv Sena is a party in the government in Delhi and Mumbai. Its leader must behave properly and like a responsible politician or worker. It is up to the government now that they take action against the person who has done such a criminal act against a government official," he said. Stressing that nobody can take the law in his or her hand, Nirupam said action has to be taken against any person who goes against the legal framework of the country and resort to violence. Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who got into trouble with Air India after he hit an employee of the flight with his sandal, has written to Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan detailing his plight and complaining against the airliner. Gaikwad has said that he was told that for a year they have been operating all economy class flights so why would they charge any flier for business class. Gaikwad further complained about the lack of amenities that exist on international flights like offering towel, tissue and television and said Indian airlines do not maintain punctuality. He also complained about how instead he got misbehaviour when all he wanted was an authority for complaint. Ravindra Gaikwad, the Lok Sabha MP from Maharashtra's Usmanabad, slapped and, by his own claim, hit 60-year-old duty manager Sukumar 25 times with his sandal when the official went to persuade him to disembark after he refused to alight, holding up the aircraft for over 40 minutes. The national carrier has filed two FIRs against the MP, known for his strong-arm tactics, while Shiv Sena has sought an explanation from him. While one FIR relates to assault, the other is for holding up the aircraft. Police said the officer, Sukumar, has been sent for medical examination and based on its report a case will be registered. According to an Air India spokesperson, its duty manager at Delhi airport was hit with slippers several times by Gaikwad, who complained about having to travel economy - on an all-economy flight - even though he had a business class ticket. "The MP turned violent, broke the duty manager's spectacles, tore his shirt, hit him with slippers 16-17 times," Air India sources said. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Mar. 23 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: In the challenging external environment, maintaining strong, sustainable, and inclusive growth for Turkmenistan will require improvements in the business and regulatory environment to support further private sector development, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) mission said in a message following the visit to Ashgabat. Effective implementation of reforms of state-owned enterprises and privatization, greater efficiency of public spending, and continued focus on social protection and human development outcomes will be also required for Turkmenistan, according to the message. The authorities are aware of these priorities, and plan to embed them in the upcoming 7-year development plan for 2017-2023, said the message. The IMF team led by Martin Sommer visited Ashgabat during Mar. 6-17, 2017, to hold discussions for the 2017 Article IV consultation. During the visit, the team held meetings to assess macroeconomic and financial developments and discuss economic challenges and policy priorities with senior government officials, members of the Turkmen parliament, representatives of real and financial sectors, academics, and the diplomatic community of the country. The Turkmen economy continues to adjust to a challenging external environment, including persistently low natural gas prices and slower growth in trading partners, Sommer said at the end of the visit. Growth has been broadly stable recently, supported by natural gas exports and industrial policies. However, the external current account deficit remains. The authorities have been adjusting their strategy to the new reality of lower hydrocarbon prices, according to the IMF mission. In the near term, the key policy challenge is to re-calibrate the policy mix to reduce the sizable external imbalances, said the message. Options include gradual but significant cuts in public investment expenditures that remain among the highest in the world, combined with other policy measures which would help adjust domestic demand to a more sustainable level. The pace and composition of policy adjustment should be designed to reduce the adverse impact on economic growth and vulnerable segments of the population. Broader dissemination and improving the quality of macroeconomic and financial data would help enhance understanding of economic trends, attract foreign direct investment, and ease access to the global financial markets, reads the message. The IMF stands ready to support the governments reforms through policy advice and capacity building, including on macroeconomic statistics and forecasting, monetary policy operations, and fiscal policy, the message said. Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world in terms of the volume of natural gas reserves, according to BP. Currently, the country is able to export natural gas to China and Iran with the possibility of increasing the supply volume. This is while Russia has suspended the purchase of Turkmen gas. Air India filed an FIR against Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad after he hit a 60-year-old Air India Duty Manager with a slipper because he was refused a business class seat. The MP went on to say unapologetically that he hit the staffer because the latter misbehaved with him. He justified his actions by saying that he had paid for a business class ticket but was not given and it is not the first time such a thing had happened. "I hit the staffer 25 times, not just once," was Gaikwad's brazen response when Firstpost asked him about the incident. "I kept asking for a complaint book but they kept refusing. Finally, I told them I am an MP but they said 'Who MP, we only understand Narendra Modi,'" he said. "I told them that I am a Shiv Sena MP and not from the BJP, but they refused to budge. Then I held his collar and started hitting him," Gaikwad told Firstpost. Ashok Gajapathi Raju,Civil Aviation Minister reacted to the incident saying that such a thing should not have happened in the first place. No political party will encourage physical assault. It should never have happened: Ashok Gajapathi Raju,Civil Aviation Minister on R.Gaikwad pic.twitter.com/I78K7yUjB1 ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 Meanwhile, Air India issued a statement saying they will be conducting a probe into the incident. Yes,I had hit the staff. Do you expect me to hear their abuses quietly?: Shiv Sena MP R Gaikwad on hitting AI staff member with his slipper pic.twitter.com/eBCCwQ4bg3 ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 We have constituted a team to probe the whole incident: Air India on Shiv Sena MP beats AI staff member ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 According to News18, Gaikwad added that he had complained to Air India several times, since no action had been taken, he lost his cool. The staffer tried to explain that since the business section was full, he will be accommodated in the economy class. According to ANI, the Air India staffer said that when Gaikwad's request was denied, he became abusive and started hitting him. "He humiliated me in front of the whole crew," said the staffer. When I told him what he's asking isn't possible he(Shiv Sena MP R.Gaikwad)became abusive, used foul language:AI staff who was hit by Gaikwad ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 R.Gaikwad hit me, used bad words & not only broke my specs but humiliated me in front of the whole crew: AI Staff who was hit by Gaikwad ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 The MP was travelling from Pune to New Delhi when a row broke out over the seating arrangement. The incident happened when flight AI852 from Pune landed at New Delhi airport around 10.30 am on Thursday. According to the airline, Gaikwad was booked on an open ticket in business class with Air India which allows a passenger to take a flight on any date. But Gaikwad insisted on taking the 7:35 am AI 852 this morning from Pune to Delhi, which is an all-economy flight, sparking an argument between Air India staff and the politician. The MP boarded the flight but refused to alight from the aircraft when it landed at IGI airport here. This is when the 60-year-old duty manager, Shivkumar, approached the MP to try and placate him but was brutally manhandled, said Air India sources.Air India sent some officials to enquire the matter and learnt that he was forced to travel economy class though he held an open executive class ticket. When they requested him to get up and deboard, Gaikwad reportedly flared up and assaulted them with his slipper, the sources said. "The MP turned violent, broke the duty manager's spectacles, tore his shirt, hit him with slippers 16-17 times," said Air India sources. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena spokesperson M Kayande has come out in support of Gaikwad. Air India sent some officials to enquire the matter and learnt that he was forced to travel economy class though he held an open executive class ticket. When they requested him to get up and deboard, Gaikwad reportedly flared up and assaulted them with his slipper, the sources said. "The MP turned violent, broke the duty manager's spectacles, tore his shirt, hit him with slippers 16-17 times," said Air India sources. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena member M Kayande has come out in support of Gaikwad. Arvind Sawant, a Sena leader and MP from south Mumbai, defended Gaikwad and described the assault as a "reaction to rude and insulting behaviour of Air India officials". "Gaikwad is a professor by profession and he is known for his peaceful demeanour. Although Gaikwad was quite polite during the argument, the Air India officers were rude," he said. "They insulted him and used abusive language. One cannot expect us to keep quiet in such a situation. We at Shiv Sena do not tolerate injustice. We do not see anything wrong in Gaikwad's reaction," Sawant said. R.Gaikwad is a popular MP. We want to find out what made him lose his temper, what instigated him should be probed: M.Kayande,Shiv Sena pic.twitter.com/RaJ39w6jF4 ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 The sources said the flight was operated by an old ATR aircraft which has only economy class configuration. So he could not have been allotted a business class seat. Gaikwad is a member of Shiv Sena representing the Usmanabad constituency of Maharashtra. He is a first-time MP and two-time MLA from Umerga in Usmanabad. Meanwhile, here are some of the reactions that poured in on Twitter. @ANI_news The Air India staff who has been hit by Shiv Sena MP should be told and be facilitated to hit back the MP with his shoe in Public. (@Mukt_Mann) March 23, 2017 In any other country @ShivSena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, whose salary & perks we pay, would be jailed for assault. Hope AI takes this forward https://t.co/Kh9fsvvp85 Minhaz Merchant (@MinhazMerchant) March 23, 2017 Does the Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad belong to SS or Vanara Sena? Even, Vanara are better behaved. VSA (@vsayachit) March 23, 2017 I request @narendramodi ji to do a Surgical Strike on arrogant leaders like Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad to make ordinary Indian safe. Atrij Kasera (@AtrijKasera) March 23, 2017 Air India official beaten with slippers by Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad , India urgently needs to have "no-fly list" of unruly travellers Jayesh (@jayeshdewana12) March 23, 2017 The 57-year-old Lok Sabha member from the Osmanabad constituency in the Marathwada region was in the eye of a row in 2014 for allegedly trying to force-feed a Muslim caterer during the fasting month of Ramzan over the quality of chapatis served at the Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi. He has various criminal charges against him which include voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servants from duty, criminal intimidation and rioting among others. He was twice elected to the Maharashtra Assembly before going to the Lok Sabha in 2014. Gaikwad, whose violent streak was on display on Thursday, has been a member of the Joint Committee on Security in Parliament House Complex since April 2015. He holds M Com and B Ed degrees and is known as 'Ravi Sir' in his constituency. With inputs from the Agencies If a catalyst was needed to create a No Fly list of unruly air passengers in India, Thursday's incident involving a VIP flyer hitting an airline staffer should provide enough impetus for it. According to a complaint filed by R Sukumar, Duty Manager of Air India, Shiv Sena MP Ravinder Gaikwad refused to get off a flight which had landed at Delhi from Pune at around 09:40 on Thursday morning. Sukumar said that when he asked the MP to disembark from the plane, since the flight had to leave for Goa and 115 passengers were waiting to get on to it, the MP became abusive. Gaikwad allegedly also had a problem with Sukumar speaking in English. Then the MP (by his own admission) started beating the Duty Manager. Sukumar has ended his complaint by stating God save our country if this is the culture and behaviour of our MPs. Speaking to TV channels, Gaikwad did not once deny that he had assaulted an employee of Air India. He was also seen bragging about how he had hit the airline staffer 25 times. Gaikwad was also heard saying that he will file a complaint with the Civil Aviation Minister A Gajapathi Raju as well as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Neither Gaikwad nor Air India is a stranger to controversy involving flights and MPs. An airline veteran says there are quite a few instances of MPs delaying flights, demanding special treatment. But anyone physically assaulting an airline employee is still not a common occurrence. Perhaps Gaikwad has bitten off more than he can chew this time? On its part, Air India first did what comes naturally to any 'sarkari' company in our country it sought a report. The report submitted by Deputy GM (Commercial), Harendra Singh, says that the MP demanded Air Indias CMD or another director level officer to come on board the aircraft and sort out his issue. This implies that he didn't want mere airport in-charges to address his grievances, he wanted topmost officer running Air India. Would the MP have made the same demands if he were travelling by a private airline, one wonders. But what exactly caused the MP to fly into a rage? The report by Harendra Singh says that the MP wanted to know why he was asked to fly economy class when he held a ticket for business class. An Air India spokesperson says an FIR has been lodged in this incident, and added that Air India is examining the creation of a no-fly list of unruly passengers. Sources tell Firstpost that a second FIR has also been lodged by the airline, accusing the MP of delaying the flight. If a no-fly list is created after this unprecedented and boorish behaviour by an elected representative of the people, perhaps we will have to thank Gaikwad. Such a list would not only create some apprehension in the minds of people about what is and isn't acceptable behaviour in the skies, it would also arm airlines to better deal with nuisances. Air India should not brush this incident under the carpet, as it usually does with other incidents involving MPs. True, the government is the sole owner of this ailing airline and MPs usually treat it as their jagir (property), delaying flights at will and demanding other concessions. But there has to be a limit to which the airline will tolerate 'boorish' behaviour. MPs should learn to keep the welfare of common passengers in mind. Ravindra Gaikwad is no stranger to controversy. Media reports had earlier alleged that Gaikwad was one of the 11 MPs who, in 2014, had tried to force-feed a Muslim worker of the Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi during Ramzan, for not being served Maharashtrian food at the Sadan. Members of the Indian Parliament are already a privileged lot as is obvious from this written reply by Civil Aviation Minister in in the Lok Sabha. Heres a list of facilities extended for the travel of MPs by Air India: Facility of ticket issuance on credit through exchange order. Priority in confirmation of seats. All care taken to ensure that VIPs/Government Delegation travelling on flights are not offloaded. Liasion with personal: staff of MPs to ensure satisfactory arrangements for arrival/departure made in consultation with the various Government Agencies/Airport authorities/embassies. Seats of their choice allotted to them subject to availability. Baggage is handled on priority. Facility of AI lounges is offered, where available. Liasion is made with AAI/other authorities to provide lounges, where available. Assistance is provided in boarding/disembarkation. A choice of pre-booked meals is provided on board. In case of delays to flights/rescheduling, information is provided about the extent of delay, revised departure time. Alternate arrangements are made, if required. The question really should be: Should MPs get all of these privileges and then, should they still remain unaccountable for errant behavior? As we have been saying often enough, MPs and privileges on the government airline are all relics of the past and need to go. Although Civil Aviation Minister is not keen that they do. In 2015, he made it clear that MPs and their privileges shall not part. The question to ponder over is this: Would the Shiv Sena MP have behaved in this manner with the crew of a private airline? The government has no business being in the business of flying and it needs to loosen its control on Air India. If the pile of losses and a vast debt burden are not enough reasons for the Modi government to think of privatising Air India, perhaps the prospect of better behaved MPs would push it towards privatisation? The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred for two weeks the hearing of a CBI plea seeking restoration of criminal conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders, including veteran leader LK Advani, in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. The hearing will now take place on 6 April. Babri Masjid demolition case: SC bench added that the matter will be heard after two weeks. ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 Hindustan Times reported that the apex court deferred the hearing after LK Advani's lawyer, senior advocate KK Venugopal told the court he was occupied with another case. The CBI had initially charged Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh with conspiracy, but those charges had been dropped by the trial court. The agency then challenged the ruling in the apex court. The issue has returned to the spotlight after the BJP received an overwhelming majority in Uttar Pradesh and appointed Hindutva posterboy Yogi Adityanath as chief minister, reviving the hopes of its supporters that the party will build a Ram Mandir at the site, Hindustan Times reported. According to a report in the Financial Express, on Tuesday, the court advised an out-of-court settlement, saying that issues of religion and sentiment could be best resolved through talks. Chief Justice JS Khehar also offered to mediate even as the bench headed by him suggested that the parties to the dispute adopt a give a bit and take a bit approach for a meaningful and sincere negotiations to resolve the issue. The top court had on 31 March, 2015, issued notices to Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh and others on the plea by CBI. New Delhi: Terror attacks and ceasefire violations have relatively declined in Jammu and Kashmir after army carried out surgical strikes across Line of Control (LoC) in September last year, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. During the question hour, which saw a heated debate between the opposition and treasury benches, Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said the ceasefire violations by Pakistan have come down post-surgical strikes. "There were 228 ceasefire violations at the LoC in 2016 and 221 at the IB (International Border). However, till February 2017, there have only been 22 ceasefire violations till now and six on the IB," he said while replying to the supplementaries in the Rajya Sabha. Leader of opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad criticised the minister for not giving a proper reply and said he had never "witnessed butchering" of such an important issue during his 36 years of his Parliamentary career. However, Home Minister Rajnath Singh came to the rescue of his junior minister and rejected the charges of Azad saying that appropriate answer had been given to the question. He read out a statement which was similar to a written reply given by Ahir in Lok Sabha on Wednesday which showed that terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir have come down after the surgical strikes were carried out by the Indian Army on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. In his reply, Ahir said that during the three months prior to the 29 September surgical strikes, there were 110 terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in which 34 security personnel and seven civilians were killed. But during three months, post-surgical strikes, there were 87 terror incidents in the state in which 19 security personnel and six civilians were killed, he said. The surgical strikes were carried out by the army after the terror attack at in North Kashmir on 18 September last year in which 19 soldiers were killed. The government had said that during the strikes, many terror launch pads were destroyed and several militants killed in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. "The government has continuously encouraged to mainstream the youth, including providing employment opportunities to wean them away from militancy," Ahir said. A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed police officials to prepare an action plan for closure of slaughterhouses across the state and also ordered a blanket ban on smuggling of cows, meat lovers in the City of Nawabs had to give their favourite beef kebabs a miss. The iconic Tunday Kababi in Lucknow that is famous for it's buffalo meat kebabs had to shut down for a while on Thursday, citing lack of buffalo meat. The shop resumed operations later in the day, sans its trademark dish, according to News 18. Earlier in the day, Scroll had reported that the outlet in Akbari Gate which serves buffalo meat was shut while the other outlet in Aminabad which also serves chicken and mutton was open. Tunday Kababi dates back to 1905 and has been serving the iconic buffalo meat kebabs, which is a popular delicacy and a part of the Lucknawi, or Awadh cuisine. The current owner of the popular deli Abu Bakr, told News18 This is for the first time that we have to shut down our shop as we had no beef (buffalo meat). Our specialty is beef (Buffalo meat) kebabs and people come here from all over the world to taste it. Yesterday, our shop was closed and today we have opened it with a change. Today, we are selling kebabs made out of chicken and mutton for the first time from this shop... if this situation continues then we might be never able to sell original Tunday kebabs again. On Wednesday, three shops selling meat and fish were set afire by unidentified persons in Hathras, triggering panic in the area, police had said. The incident comes close on the heels of some slaughterhouses being sealed in Uttar Pradesh after the BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath was sworn-in. The police had said the arson incident took place in Manyawar Kanshiram Colony last night. The shop owners had said all their stock was charred in the fire. Superintendent of Police, Hathras, Dilip Kumar Srivastava, had said, "Unidentified persons set ablaze three shops selling fish and meat. An FIR has been registered against them." Sub-divisional magistrate (Hathras Sadar) Rakesh Gupta had later met the aggrieved shop owners and heard their grievances. The BJP had announced in its manifesto that it would take "stern steps to close down all illegal slaughterhouses besides banning mechanised slaughterhouses" if it comes to power. On Tuesday, a slaughterhouse, which was allegedly being run illegally, was sealed by the district authorities in Kamalgadaha locality. Officials had claimed that the slaughterhouse had been shutdown in 2012, but it continued to operate in a clandestine manner. The Ghaziabad Police had on Tuesday sealed 10 meat shops and four slaughterhouses which were allegedly running illegally in the city. With inputs from PTI New Delhi: The US has given a list of 271 people claiming they were illegal migrants from India, but the government has not accepted it and would allow their deportation only after proper verification, union minister Sushma Swaraj said on Thursday. "We have not accepted this list and have sought more details. We have said that it is only after we verify the details, can we issue an emergency certificate for their deportation," the External Affairs Minister said. Addressing concerns by members during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, she said it would not be correct to say that there has been a change in the US policies after the Trump administration has come to power. Several members expressed concern over the effects of the steps being taken by the Donald Trump administration on Indian citizens including skilled professionals living there. Referring to skilled workers, Swaraj said regarding H1-B and L1 visas for professionals, four bills have come to the US Congress but they have not been passed. She said the government was engaging with the US at the highest level to ensure that the interests of Indian people or the IT industry are not affected. "We are conveying to them that IT professionals are not stealing jobs but contributing to the US economy and making it stronger," the Minister said. Anand Sharma (Cong), while greeting Swaraj on her recovery after having been unwell, said it is important that skilled professionals are not confused with illegal migrants. Swaraj said she had earlier stated that some Bills have been moved in the US, but the government was taking steps so that they are not passed in such a form. She said the Foreign Secretary had met US Congress members who had been all praise for Indians. Even in 2012, a figure had come that 11.43 migrants lived there, of whom 2.60 lakh were Indians. "We did not accept the figure because it cannot be considered authentic without thorough verification," she said. She said "there are no authentic figures on the number of undocumented Indian immigrants in the US", adding that the government provided travel documents only after the concerned person was conclusively identified as Indian. "In case we don't provide travel documents, they would be jailed," Swaraj said, adding that from 2014 till date, 576 people have been provided travel documents. Responding to questions on social security, she said these issues have been raised in the past and can be taken up again later "as you say right now a sword is hanging on jobs". On H1B visas, she said there have been "flip-flops" in the past and the number of these visas rose from 65,000 to 1.95 lakh and then again went down to 65,000. "It is not that all these changes have happened only after the Trump administration has taken over," she said. Shiv Sena's Osmanabad MP Ravindra Gaikwad was on Thursday booked in two cases for assaulting an Air India staffer and delaying a scheduled flight. WATCH: Unedited footage of Shiv Sena MP R Gaikwad roughing up Air India staff (NOTE: STRONG LANGUAGE) pic.twitter.com/idFr8MpUTo ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 As the video shows Air India crew tried to restrain the MP and bring him to his senses. The Shiv Sena MP is seen here roughing up the Air India staff member after a small tiff. An Air India spokesperson said two separate first information reports (FIRs) were lodged against Gaikwad, with one being for abusing and assaulting an AI staffer with slippers and "attempting to throw him out of the aircraft" in which he was prevented by other staff present. The second FIR is for delaying a scheduled New Delhi-Goa flight with 115 passengers, owing to his behaviour on board. Both FIRs have been lodged with the Delhi Police. The AI is also examining the possibility of creating a 'no fly' list of unruly passengers on the lines of other airlines, the spokesperson said. Explaining their version of the incident following an enquiry, AI said Gaikwad travelled from Pune to New Delhi by flight AI852, which landed in Delhi at 9.35 am. The aircraft was later scheduled to fly to Goa at 10.55 am. After landing in New Delhi, all passengers disembarked, except Gaikwad. Enquiries revealed that the MP held an open business-class ticket, but wanted to travel on this flight that is a regular all-economy service and his aide was informed accordingly by the Pune Airport Manager. However, since Gaikwad insisted on taking that flight he was allotted a seat in the first row as there was no business-class configuration on it. At New Delhi airport, the MP refused to step out for almost an hour, even as 115 Goa-bound passengers waited to board the flight. "While the staff requested the MP to deboard, he became abusive and started hitting the AI employee with slippers. Gaikwad also tried to throw him out of the aircraft but was stopped by other AI staff," the spokesperson said. While the national carrier lodged the two FIRs against Gaikwad, the Shiv Sena has not reacted so far. With inputs from IANS Uttar Pradesh's new BJP government under Yogi Adityanath has implemented one of the key promises made by the party in its election manifesto by setting up an 'Anti-Romeo Squad' to check eve-teasing, stalking, harassment of women and moreover, to bring the controversial 'love jihad' under control. Although it is being viewed as a unique experiment, this notion of an Anti-Romeo Squad is in fact old wine in a new bottle, presented with much fanfare that has hogged the media limelight. If the Uttar Pradesh Police sources and old-timers are to be believed, this nabbing of so-called Romeos existed even in the past although under a different name or no name at all. However, as the states director-general of police Javeed Ahmed said, "The idea is to reclaim public spaces and make them safe for women." This new squad is more an organised action plan to curb the menace of eve-teasing and harassment of women. "Earlier, the police had undertaken such operations in some specific areas or districts to stop eve-teasing or stalking, but this time Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath wanted a clear plan to improve the law and order situation in the state and womens safety. This Anti-Romeo Squad will be implemented across the state by each and every police station," a senior police official told Firstpost on condition of anonymity. Not long after taking oath as chief minister, Adityanath asked Ahmed on 20 March to present a plan on how to improve the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. During the election campaign, the BJP had stated that it would implement an 'Anti-Romeo Squad' for womens safety, if came to power. During his campaign and also on his Hindu Yuva Vahini website, the saffron robe-clad politician had mentioned 'love jihad' as a major social menace and used it as an important poll issue. One may not agree with the use of the word 'Romeo' the protagonist of William Shakespeares ageless play Romeo and Juliet but according to the police, 'Romeo', 'Majnu' (of Persian love tragedy Laila-Majnu) etc are loosely used to describe love-struck miscreants, who either tease, harass or stalk women. Old wine in a new bottle According to the state police and the common man, exercises of this sort had been undertaken in the past by the police, but on a smaller scale in bits and pieces and in a more localised manner. Those exercises, it seems, didnt have any long-term impact. "Even during the Mayawati government, a drive was launched in Noida and a few other places in 2011, where police officials in plain clothes moved around the city to keep a watch on men misbehaving with women. In Noida, an anti eve-teasing drive headed by a woman police officer was launched for a short period," the senior police officer said. Even the commoners have old anecdotes to share. Allahabad-based businessman Anil Srivastava recalled, "It was probably in 1986 or 1987 that the police in Allahabad launched a drive against eve-teasers. After nabbing the boys/men teasing girls/women, the police used to put them in a caged vehicle called Majnu ka Pinjra (Majnus cage) and drive through the city to the police station. The intention was to shame the culprit in public." However, former DGP of Uttar Pradesh, Prakash Singh believes that if any operation like the 'Anti-Romeo Squad' is seriously implemented, it would nip rising crimes against women in the bud. "If the police, through this operation, can stop eve-teasing and stalking of women, it may succeed in curbing crime against women as eve-teasing gradually leads to molestation, rape etc. In Uttar Pradesh, crimes against women have increased exponentially and need to be controlled in the strictest manner. Here, eve-teasing sometimes leads to communal riots as well. In terms of policing, its a good step, if properly executed, Singh, a Padma Shri awardee, who has been working on police reform, told Firstpost. What role will the Anti-Romeo Squad play? - For the first time, a top-to-bottom policing system has been set up across the state to control crimes against women. - Each police station shall form a squad by taking women cops along with their male counterparts. - Team members will be in plainclothes as well as in uniform. - They will keep a close watch in specific areas like girls schools and colleges, market places, malls, cinema halls and gatherings where the presence of girls will be larger in number, making the areas prone to eve-teasing incidents. - The squad members will monitor activities of men and if found involved in teasing, stalking or harassment of women, they will be nabbed. - If its a matter of eve-teasing or passing of lewd comments, the police will call the parents/guardians and give a warning. - If the nature of the crime is serious, the person will be booked. - All actions will be taken within the ambit of law. "As the police raids a hotel when there is a complaint of prostitution, it will act on similar lines against miscreants involved in eve-teasing etc. If we have suspicions on any individual or couple, well simply ask for their credentials. Nobody will be intentionally harassed. Every action will be within the ambit of law. For the first-timers, well warn them and leave. But habitual offenders will be taken to task. The objective of this operation is to create fear among eve-teasers that they wont be able to get away with crime, the police official added. The two leaves have withered in the summer of 2017, thanks to the heat generated by the two rival camps of the AIADMK. In technical parlance, they have been frozen, which means the RK Nagar by-election on 12 April will not see either the two leaves symbol or the AIADMK name in its present form being used by any candidate. What the two candidates - TTV Dinakaran belonging to the VK Sasikala camp and E Madhusudhanan from the O Panneerselvam camp - have done is to choose a party name that shows their linkage to the AIADMK. So RK Nagar will see a contest between AIADMK Amma (Sasikala camp) and AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma (OPS camp). Throw MGR Amma Deepa Peravai - the outfit started by Jayalalithaa's niece, Deepa - into the mix and you realise Amma's stamp is all over this alphabet soup battle for her constituency. The two factions of the AIADMK have also chosen two symbols. While OPS has gone with an electric pole with its close resemblance to two leaves, Sasikala went for the hat. Both groups are, however, not likely to give up without exhausting the legal option. They will go to Supreme court challenging the EC order that said that since there is insufficient time before the byelection to go through 20,000 pages of material submitted by the parties, freezing the symbol is the only option. In the run-up to the EC hearing, chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami is believed to have told close confidants that the Sasikala faction will get the symbol. He was banking on the Akhilesh Yadav precedent earlier this year where by virtue of leading the government and a majority of the party, Yadav Junior bagged the cycle. But in the case of AIADMK, the cloud over Sasikala's election as interim general secretary in December 2016 threw a spanner in the works, with the rival camp calling it illegal. Under the party constitution, anyone aspiring for the post needs to be a member for five continuous years, which Sasikala is not. The AIADMK story differed from the SP saga in another respect as well. While a majority of the MLAs and MPs are with Sasikala, the cadre is seen to be with OPS. The Panneerselvam camp submitted over 8,000 affidavits to buttress its claim. But beyond the legalese, why the order is significant is because of the sentimental attachment the AIADMK rank and file and the people at large have with the symbol. It was chosen by MG Ramachandran and is therefore seen as part of his legacy. Expect Dinakaran and the Sasikala camp to go hammer and tongs at Panneerselvam, accusing him of having played a villainous role in robbing the AIADMK of the symbol. What this will do immediately is to, on the face of it, put the ruling AIADMK at a disadvantage. For most old-time AIADMK loyalists, fans of MGR and Jayalalithaa, the two leaves symbol has been the EVM button to go to, inside the booth. Dinakaran now has the task of ensuring people in the constituency, which is largely a middle and lower middle class area, know his new symbol. Though he should consider himself lucky that the awareness levels about the tussle over the symbol will be high in an urban constituency like RK Nagar. If the byelection had been in a rural constituency, the odds against Dinakaran would have been higher. Though Madhusudhanan too will feel the pinch, as it will amount to starting from scratch, it now nullifies the advantage Dinakaran would have had with the symbol. In that sense, the EC decision to freeze the symbol is Advantage Panneerselvam over Sasikala and explains the sense of jubilation in the OPS camp. The DMK, even though it has fielded a low-profile candidate would fancy its chances now in RK Nagar even though the seat traditionally has been an AIADMK stronghold, with the DMK last winning from here in 1996. At least, its rising sun is a more well-known symbol. Both Dinakaran and Madhusudhanan filed their nominations on Thursday, the last day for doing so after visiting the Amma memorial. The samadhi has been a pitstop for both candidates, as the optics only buttress their claim to be the inheritors of her political legacy. The stakes are high for both camps as RK Nagar pretty much will set the tone for what happens in Tamil Nadu after 15 April, when the results will be announced. Very few expected Dinakaran to throw his hat into the ring in a battle that will undoubtedly be tough. Now that he has done so, RK Nagar election will virtually be a referendum on his and his aunt's leadership. If Dinakaran wins, he will be here to stay, with chances of taking over as CM very high. The OPS camp will then run out of political oxygen in the short term. But if he loses, mid-summer political madness is sure to set in. Because the verdict will then be interpreted as Tamil Nadu refusing to cast its lot with Chinnamma and company. Given that the Palaniswami government survives with a slender majority, just half a dozen legislators changing their mind could bring the regime down. Either way, Palaniswami is on a sticky wicket personally. History is repeating itself because in 1988-89 after MGR's death, with both Janaki and Jayalalithaa factions staking claim to the two leaves, the symbol was temporarily frozen. Janaki then fought on the two pigeons symbol while Jayalalithaa's symbol was the rooster. The result of the RK Nagar poll could result in a realignment of forces within the two AIADMK camps, more so if Dinakaran loses. Just like it did after the 1989 rout for both AIADMK factions. In February, I met MGR Murugan, a rickshawpuller from Salem at the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai. An MGR fan and an AIADMK activist, Murugan had styled his hair as two leaves, even painting them green. He has his task cut out - he needs to change his hairdo immediately. It is now an accepted fact that the spectacle of one-party-dominant system has returned to Indian politics. It was a spectacle we were witness to in the first three decades of our Independence. That was the period when the Indian polity revolved round the axis of the Congress Party. The difference today is that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has replaced Congress as the party that enjoys unipolar hegemony over Indian politics. In the 1952 General elections, the first after the promulgation of the Indian Constitution, Congress won a whopping 364 out of 489 seats, the second biggest party being the Communist Party of India (CPI) with a meagre 16 seats. In the 1957 elections, the numbers somewhat changed (the Congress won 371 out of 494 seats and the CPI increased its strength to 27 seats) but the overall picture remained the same. The same scenario, more or less, prevailed in the three subsequent elections. Some Western scholars back then had expressed serious doubts about the nature and character of Indian politics if it was truly democratic. Formally, it was not a one-party dictatorship but it certainly did not present the possibility of an alternate party coming to power. The Indian scenario did not fit into the two-party or multi-party system prevalent in Western democracies. Eminent Indian political scientist, Rajni Kothari, in his internationally acclaimed book, 'Politics in India' (1970), explained the Indian phenomenon as a one-party dominant system. He argued that India was a true democracy based on universal adult franchise and because several political parties, both right-wing and left-wing, participated in the political process in free and fair elections. It was the overwhelming popularity of the Congress in the length and breadth of the country, having been the spearhead of the Indian freedom struggle, and the charismatic leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, the then prime minister, that ensured the unassailable position of the Congress. Things have turned a full circle in the last four decades, starting in 1977, when the Congress hegemony over national politics came to an end with its humiliating defeat in the General elections. Though the party bounced back to power in 1980 and won an unprecedented victory in 1984, in the wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, it lost its hegemonic power in the 1989 election. Since then, it has managed to get hold of power a few times, but as the leader of an alliance of several parties, not entirely on its own. The emergence of the Narendra Modi phenomenon in Indian politics has pushed the Congress party to the margins and catapulted the BJP to the centre stage. Though it is true that LK Advani was instrumental in transforming the BJP as a truly national party and sewing up the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that could propel it to power in 1999. That was a spectacular feat given the fact the BJP had won just two seats in the Lok Sabha elections in 1984. But Narendra Modi has helped the BJP to consolidate its position as a hegemonic party. Under his leadership, the NDA returned to power in 2014, a repeat of the 1999 scenario. But there was a difference; in October 1999, the BJP had won just 182 Seats, 90 short of a majority, but in 2014, the party notched up 282 seats. The BJP could have formed a government on its own, a feat that the Congress had achieved three decades ago, in 1984. In the 2014 General elections, the BJP clearly established its one-party dominant status and acquired the halo of a hegemonic position by its victory in most of the subsequent state Assembly elections, culminating in the landslide in Uttar Pradesh earlier this month. The BJP today is in power, either on its own or in alliance with other parties, in 17 states. If it wins over the few Congress-held states Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Meghalaya in the next couple of years, which it is most likely to do, then the stranglehold of the BJP over the Indian polity will be further reinforced. That would effectively establish the BJP system as the fulcrum of the Indian polity, replacing the Congress system of the yesteryears. But does this portend a good omen for India? That inevitably raises the question: Did the Congress system do good to the Indian democracy? It must be said that the political stability that the Congress-dominant system brought about helped the leaders to focus on administration in Independent India. With a leader like Nehru, with his deep democratic convictions, (Nehru had the opportunity to usher in personal dictatorship as leaders in most post-colonial societies did in the 1950s and 60s but he did not fall for it) democratic postulates were institutionalised in India. We owe our democracy largely to the Congress system. Does the BJP as a party have unflinching faith in democracy? Will Prime Minister Modi, the partys supreme leader, strive to uphold the democratic tradition like Nehru did or will he ride roughshod over the democratic institutions as Indira was fond of doing? There is a lurking fear that Modi is more akin to Indira than Nehru. Nehru went out of the way to uphold the sanctity of Parliament as the forum for larger policy debates and policy pronouncements. But Indira believed in plebiscitary democracy, bypassing democratic institutions like Parliament. There was a clear authoritarian streak in her. Modi, in that sense, is carrying forward the legacy of Indira by directly addressing the people on the major policy issues rather than taking the route of the legislature. Modi is better placed than Indira, in this regard, as he is prime minister in an age when television has become a mass medium in India, reaching every nook and corner of the country. Indiras authoritarian trait propelled her to impose Emergency when she was challenged politically in Parliament and on the streets. Will Modi do the same when he faces similar challenges? That question will arise only if the Indian political firmament will have a leader of the moral stature of Jayaprakash Narayan, as the conscience-keeper of the nation. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Mar. 23 By Demir Azizov Trend: The Senate (upper house) of the Uzbek Parliament will hold a regular plenary meeting Mar. 28-29, news service of the Senate reported. The agenda of the meeting will include consideration of a number of laws, including the laws on introducing amendments and additions to the Uzbek constitution, the law On Courts, the Civil Procedure Code and Economic Procedure Code of the country as well as a number of other legislative acts and the law On Supreme Judicial Council of Uzbekistan. The senators will also hear the reports of the Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) of Uzbekistan, representative of the countrys Accounting Chamber, prosecutor general, minister of internal affairs, chairman of the Board of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan and chairman of the countrys State Committee for Nature Protection. Uzbekistans bicameral parliament the Supreme Assembly was created in 2005. Its legislative chamber permanently has 150 MPs. The upper house - Senate has 100 MPs elected in equal numbers, i.e. six MPs from the Karakalpakstan Republic, provinces and the city of Tashkent. Sixteen more members of the Senate are appointed by Uzbek president from among the most distinguished citizens. The Senate meetings are held in case of necessity, but at least three times a year. Panaji: The Opposition Congress on Thursday walked out of the Goa Assembly during the customary address by Governor Mridula Sinha, protesting that she did not invite the party to form the government after it emerged as the largest bloc in the hung house. The Congress members turned upto the Assembly sporting black bands as a mark of protest. "It was a murder of democracy when the governor refused us an opportunity to form the government," Leader of the opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said when Sinha stood up to read out her address. We were not allowed to form the government despite having the numbers on our side," he said. All Congress legislators then rose in protest and walked out of the house as the Governor continued with her customary address. In the Assembly polls, Congress won 17 seats relegating the BJP to the second position with 13 in the 40-member House. However, the saffron party struck an alliance with regional outfits and independents to cross the half-way mark and form the ministry under Manohar Parrikar. The voice of junior leaders is seldom heard in most political parties. But an innocuous comment made by a minor functionary of the Congress party in Kerala in a social networking site has opened a floodgate of reactions. Political commentators view the bouquets and brickbats received by CR Mahesh, vice-president of the state youth Congress, following his criticism of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi as a reflection of the growing differences in the party over the present state of the top leadership. Mahesh unleashed the criticism against the Nehru-Gandhi scion on his Facebook page following the failure of the party high command to find a leader to head the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) even two weeks after the resignation of incumbent president VM Sudheeran and an upsurge in faction feud. Leaving the party headless at a time when it is facing a crucial by-election to the Lok Sabha is a serious lapse. If the leadership was sensitive to the feelings of the party workers, it should have appointed at least an ad-hoc president, says Mahesh. This has allowed the partys rivals to gain an upper hand in Malappuram, where the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the second largest ally of the party, is fighting the by-election, after the death of E Ahmed. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has even declared the election as an evaluation of the 10-month-old party-led government in the state. Mahesh told the Firstpost that the Congress, which should lead the poll campaign in the Muslim-dominated constituency, was in a state of stupor in the absence of the party chief. The delay in appointing the president has demoralised the workers and given rise to a fresh bout of factionalism in the party. What irked him most is the partys failure even to accept Sudheerans resignation. The party has been sitting over the resignation letter citing the absence of Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, who has gone abroad for treatment. Curiously, the party high command began consultations on finding a successor to Sudheeran after the Youth Congress leaders criticism hit the headlines. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, who was consulted by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Mukul Wasnik on the issue on Wednesday, said that the state party will get a head within two-three days. But Mahesh is not impressed. He feels that it will not be easy for the new leader to check the factionalism that reared its head in the wake of the setback the party suffered in the May 2016 Assembly election and has started crippling the party. The Youth Congress leader pointed out that the street fights going on in connection with the ongoing organisational election to the partys student wing the Kerala Students Union were the result of the faction war raging in the party. Group leaders have been recruiting members to their groups instead of the party and trying to capture the organisation in undemocratic manner. I dont know how Rahul Gandhi, who tried to promote merit in the selection of leaders could allow this" asks Mahesh, who was appointed as Kollam district youth Congress chief through the talent search initiative of Rahul. Mahesh, who blamed the faction feud for his defeat in the Karunagapally Assembly seat by a mere 1,759 votes, has viewed this as a serious lapse on the part of Rahul's leadership and has urged the leader to make way for others if he cannot lead the party. He also blamed Rahul for the setbacks the party suffered in the recent elections to the state assemblies. "The BJP has been invading the Congress bastions throughout the country through its communal agenda. The Congress, which has the freedom movement and secularism as its strong legacies is watching silently. What the party now needs is a strong leadership to market these advantages," he added. Respected Rahul Gandhi, if you are not interested to take the lead, please make way, as this great entity that has roots all over the country is getting snapped, Mahesh said adding that he was ready to die to see that the Indian National Congress stays alive in the country. But the senior leaders appeared that they did not need his sacrifice. They denounced his action forcing him to quit the party. The Youth Congress national leadership too conveyed their disagreement to his criticism by suspending him from the party. The Opposition leader has termed Mahesh's criticism of Rahul as a breach of the party discipline. He said that the party in the state was fully behind Rahul and there was no need to question his leadership at this juncture. "Rahul is capable of leading the party. He was able to achieve success during hard times for the party," Chennithala said. Former chief minister Oommen Chandy said that it was not correct to blame Rahul for the poll setbacks suffered by the party in the recent elections. He said that the BJP had snatched the victory from the Congress through undemocratic means. Mahesh, who owes allegiance to Chennithala, said that he did not expect his leader to disown him. He said that he had aired his opinion in the social networking site with the hope that the party will take steps to save the party from further disintegration. A disappointed Mahesh announced his exit from not only the party but also politics. "I am fed up with the politics of groupism. It is time for me to quit politics as the party that I represented for many years is in no mood to change or reform itself, Mahesh said, announcing his decision to resign. However, his supporters in the Congress and many well-wishers of the party have urged him to stay in the party. KL Mohanavarma, noted writer and former chief editor of Congress mouth piece Veekshanam said there was merit in the criticism aired by Mahesh. He said that there were many like Mahesh in the Congress, who were disenchanted with the current state of affairs in the party. They will follow Mahesh if the leadership does not take steps to reform the party. The writer said that what the Congress needed at present was an effective leadership to face the challenge posed by the Sangh Parivar. Political analyst NP Chekutty said that the people of the country were looking towards the Congress party to lead the fight against the communal forces that have tightened the grip over the politics in the country. Only the Congress has the mass base in the country to take on the BJP. Therefore, it is the need of the people to strengthen the party, he added. Mahesh's supporters have hailed his criticism of the Nehru-Gandhi scion. "Only a person with courage can say the 'King is naked'. Mahesh has said this to the 'Congress king'. We will stand by him," said Balu Sreekrishna in a post on Mahesh's Facbook page. Many like him have expressed solidarity with him repeating the idiom. One of the less discussed developments in the Finance Bill 2017 is the way Narendra Modi government has effectively made corporate funding of political parties more opaque, contrary to its promise of bringing in more transparency. The Finance Bill has made two important changes (read a story here) in this regard. First, it has scrapped a ceiling that earlier restricted a corporate entity from donating more than 7. 5 percent of its average net profit in the 3 immediate preceding fiscal years to a political party. This is still fine, since one can argue that companies wont have to do tricks to covertly donate cash to a political party to maintain a give-and-take relation. But, the second provision gives a completely different turn to the story. In the Finance Bill, the government has proposed to cancel an existing rule that requires corporate entities to disclose, in the profit and loss account, the name of the political party to which the funding is made. The company only needs to make a mention of the amount contributed under this category. Soon, the Companies Act will be amended to make these amendments a law. Now reading the two together, this is what it finally looks like a company can now contribute any amount it wants to a political party without disclosing the name of the party to shareholders. This is indeed disturbing since it defeats the very purpose of bring in more transparency in political funding. It will be almost impossible for the public or the shareholder to find out the real beneficiary (political party) to which the company is donating funds. Corporations can make these donations to the political party in power to make sure that it stays in the good book of the incumbent. In return, the company can ask for favours while awarding contracts or formulating government policies. There is a chance that the beneficiary names can still come out if someone moves the court or the Election Commission, but the process will be complex and time taking. A report (read here) in The Telegraph quotes a senior officer with the CAG office, saying thus: This means, for example, that an infrastructure firm could theoretically pay up to 50 percent of its net profits to a single party as donation without anyone getting wiser as to which party has been paid... this throws open the possibility that an order to build a highway or a railway bridge could be given to a firm and that firm could pay the donation to the party in power which placed the order with it." "The beauty is that if this happens, it will be legitimate and no questions can be asked by any ethics committee of Parliament or by any CAG audit," the report further quotes the official. Now, why would a government that strives for a transparent economy by nudging the citizens to rapidly shift to Aadhaar-based cashless transactions/ more disclosures exempt political parties from the transparency rule? It is understandable that why none of the opposition parties, including the main Opposition party, the Congress, raised this issue. All drink from the same pot. But, the consequence of this action will be continuation of corporate-political nexus that will remain a black spot on the Modi government. The recurring question is if the common man can be forced to embrace transparency in all his dealings, the government should ensure that the same rule applies to the political parties in the country as well. Worst, these amendments will be passed without even a discussion since Finance Bill is a Money Bill which means it wont require the Rajya Sabha nod. Ever since the Modi government took over power in 2014, its approach to political funding appeared to be clean. Even when the limit of anonymous cash donations was reduced to Rs 2,000 from Rs 20,000 in the last Union Budget, the move appeared directionally positive, though not foolproof. A political party could still make thousands of cash receipts showing donations below Rs 2,000 donations from an anonymous source and get away with no questions asked. But, that move signaled the governments intention to gradually clean up the mess of opaque political funding that is the root cause of all corruption in the system and a lifeline of corporate-political unholy nexus. The latest changes in the Finance Bill, however, raise serious concerns. We have enough evidence in the past to show that how the corporate-political nexus has weakened the economy. One of the reasons why the state-run banks in the country are neck-deep in bad loans is nothing but unholy relation between politicians and corporations. Right now, about 12-13 per cent of the total loans given by banks are stressed assets, which means they are problematic areas in the balance sheets of these banks. When a phone call or missive comes from a political office to a bank, no matter what autonomy we are talking about, the banker can hardly turn away the request. Such lending diluted the due diligence and prudential norms, and finally resulted in a situation where a large number of unworthy companies and crony-promoters secured large amounts of bank money, which is ultimately public money. This led to large-scale non-performing assets (NPAs), creating a near-crisis situation among certain public sector banks. Right now, of the total NPAs, over 90 percent is on the books of the state-run banks. The banking sector is not the only one which has been affected by the involvement of corporate-political nexus. But, we have not yet learned lessons from the past. To sum up, the changes in the Finance Bill, pertaining to corporate funding of political parties, has made the entire process even more opaque and, certainly, do not augur well for the Modi government which has all-along promised transparency in the system. The Aam Aadmi deserves to know more. Three Municipal Corporations of Delhi will go to polls on 22 April, 2017. The pitch for these elections is no less shrill than back in February 2015, when Delhiities stepped out to vote generously in favour of Arvind Kejriwal, giving his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) an absolute majority in the Delhi Assembly with 67 of 70 seats. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi's formidable victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections could not keep AAP away. Truth be told, from the time the Delhi chief minister first resigned, within 49 days of assuming power in February 2014, to his re-election with a thumping majority in 2015, arguments in Delhi's drawing rooms and chai addas flew both ways. Those who pressed the button on the lotus (BJP) in this David versus Goliath clash, believed having the same rulers at the Centre and state made it simpler for the capital to get a much needed facelift. Whereas, an overwhelming number of those who went for the upstart Kejriwal, connected with his much more impactful campaign run at the galli-mohalla level. Many who didnt care for Kejriwals belligerent politics or inexperience, simply voted for AAP as a viable counter argument to bestowing absolute power to one party. But much has changed between then and now, as Delhi prepares to vote again for its civic corporators, who hold the power over Delhiites' everyday life. What grabbed public attention though, was the constant and bitter standoff between AAP and the erstwhile Delhi lieutenant governor, Najeeb Jung. In all the battles that the AAP government picked, its constant crib has been that it isnt being allowed to function effectively. And, therefore, its pitch to voters this time around is to give them 'a majority in Municipal elections and see how they transform Delhi.' But is that really so? Im afraid not. Lets put the spotlight on one key policy which has been sacrificed at the altar of this power struggle Delhis Land Pooling Policy (LPP). Delhi, the capital of the worlds largest democracy, has seen a substantial rise in population both organic and through migration. In the last few decades, Delhis population has gone up from 60 lakh people to 1.7 crore. The current infrastructure and housing accommodates only 1.5 crore people. Rest find their way into growing slums and unauthorised colonies of the city. By the end of the year 2021, this population is expected to rise up to 2.5 crore people. The big challenge Delhi faces is to accommodate 80 lakh more people with the right kind of housing, supported by adequate social and physical infrastructure. Based on these estimates, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and subsequently the Urban Development Ministry notified Delhis LPP in September 2013. Now what is LPP all about? Its aimed at getting individuals or a group of land owners living in urban villages on Delhi's peripheries to pool their land and hand it over to DDA, which will develop public infrastructure like roads, before returning a substantial portion back to the owner. Minimum size of land parcel which will be acquired by DDA is two hectare. For land up to 20 hectares, DDA is to return 48 percent of the land to its holders; for land above 20 hectares, DDA must return 60 percent of the land to the original holder. Subsequent to the pooling exercise, the land owners can rope in real estate developers or developer entities to come up with affordable residential properties. The zoning done for LPP is in accordance with Master Plan of Delhi 2021 and was aimed to expand Delhis boundaries on all sides. This is a globally acceptable model for city development and should have been implemented right after regulations were notified in 2015. But and its a big but, for the policy to take off, the Delhi governments urban development department is required to notify 89 villages identified by the DDA, as development areas. Simple enough isnt it? Except Kejriwal, who cheered the LPP notification in one of his 'Talk to AK' video conferences, soon after assuming office, has dug his heels and is refusing to budge on it. AAPs stance give the Delhi government a blanket 10% of the pooled land to develop school, hospitals, bus shelters etc. Only then, say AAP, will the Delhi government notify the 89 villages and allow land pooling to move forward. Urban planners say this demand is flawed. "By default, more than 10 percent of this pooled 47,000 acres of land will necessarily pass on to Delhi government after sectoral plans are drawn out. Every master plan provisions for social and institutional development, which includes, health, education, sports, community clubs and shelters, is the responsibility of state governments," Ramesh Menon, founder, director of Certes Realty Ltd, said. DDA has time and again stated that land will be provided to Delhi Government in accordance with the master plan, on need basis, as is being done now. Dig deeper and you find that the Delhi government is already sitting on huge parcels of land. Between Agencies like DUSIB (Delhi Urban Shelter Development Board) DSIIDC (Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development) and departments of Health and Tourism, Delhi government has almost 3,000 acres of land at its disposal. Whats more, in November 2015, the AAP-led Delhi government transferred all Gram Sabhas, or the common village land in these to be notified villages, to its own revenue department. This adds approximately another 5,000 acres. So with almost 8,000 acres already under its belt, what exactly is AAPs quibble? Unfortunate as it is, with the village notification being held to ransom, nothing has moved. Except scams. Hundreds of buyers have been hawked property in the LPP zones, by unscrupulous entities. Hurriedly cobbled together development entities have mushroomed and pre-sold apartments with memberships in housing societies collecting anywhere upwards of Rs 1,000 crore from buyers. This is happening in direct contravention to the Supreme Court order on pre-launches, and right under the nose of Delhis revenue department. "There have been people/investors who have unfortunately bought properties in the Delhi land pooling zones, on the hopes of high return, unfounded advise from developers with little or no experience, as also middlemen, which include not only includes local brokers but also a few operating at a national and an international scale," corroborates Ashwinder Raj Singh, CEO of JLL Residential. And this well-oiled 'scam' continues to find scapegoats even today. You only have to travel to Chhawla, Najafgarh to see hoardings talking of a future smart city, attempting to lure more buyers. DDA, for its part, has come out with a few feeble advertisements warning buyers to stay away, but that is simply not enough. It could have easily served suo-moto notices to stop these fly by night operators. For Indias capital city, time is of immense value. The entire idea of land pooling was to make Delhi a future ready city. Even if the villages are notified today, it will take 18-24 months for DDA to get the land together. And then comes the work of developing it by DDA, an authority which has a dismal record of developing anything in Delhi. The fact that DDA itself needs a complete revamp is yet another story! In the meantime, Delhi suffers. And its quite clear to the voters that the standoff between Kejriwals AAP and Modis BJP has cost Delhi on several fronts. Anantnag: The skies are overcast and a small gathering of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party workers are sitting cross-legged in a whitewashed hall of Dak Bungalow in south Kashmir's Anantnag district. An ordinary looking, bespectacled man sporting a French beard is sitting on a sofa, flipping through a maroon notebook, occasionally taking notes, as the speakers present their grievances. This is Tassaduq Hussain Mufti, son of late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, kickstarting his political campaign for the Anantnag Parliament constituency that has been at the forefront of last year's agitation following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. A cinematographer by profession, Tassaduq does not even remotely look like a politician. He prefers short and crisp speeches, doesnt make promises the way politicians do during electioneering perhaps conscious of the political uncertainty outside the venue as he tells his workers to avoid risking their lives for his win. "We will win but not if you play with your lives," he says to loud applause and cheers from the workers. Most people at the venue know that campaigning for a political leader these days is fraught with danger. As the Valley is limping back to normalcy after the 2016 unrest that left close to hundred people dead and thousands injured. Anantnag and neighboring Kulgam were the epicenter of violence and it is here Tassaduq has decided to start his political career. The only son of the late Jammu and Kashmir chief minister who passed away last year while in office and paved the way for Mehbooba Mufti, his elder daughter, to become the chief minister, Tasaduq is fighting his maiden battle against the Congress state chief and political heavyweight Ghulam Ahmad Mir. What makes things worse for him is the unrest of 2016, marked by killings and a campaign of pellet-induced blinding of children. Tassaduq doesn't steer away from facing these realities. A straightforward man who speaks in hushed tones, he minces no words in acknowledging the rage on the streets. "There is a strong reason that people feel the way they feel, in a certain way. I am sure it will have some effect on my candidature. You cant ignore something that has happened so recently,"he tells me as we sit in a corner of a room full of young party workers inside the Dak Banglow. "It is a new place for me and I am not entirely comfortable. But it is a challenge and I have fought challenges throughout life to be where I am today," he says, "My presence here is to get everyone together and try to fulfil the dreams of my father and I am not reluctant today." The youngest of the four siblings, Tassaduq has hardly lived in Kashmir. He studied cinematography at the American Film Institute in New York. After his first film, Omkara, Ravi K Chandran, one of Indias best directors of photography called him one of the "most outstanding cameramen in India". Throughout life, he has stayed away from his family's political capital in the Valley but was pushed to suspend his artistic ventures, even if temporarily, and join the PDP on Mufti's first death anniversary. That day, he told a huge gathering that he was joining politics because he was inspired by his father's idea of what Kashmir could be like. Now in his first test, it is not going to be an easy ride. However, unlike Omar Abdullah who was buried under the load of expectation, Tasaduq is burden-free, something that can work to his advantage. "The name 'Tassaduq' means sacrifice and he has made just one by giving up his lucrative and promising career by entering politics. Even if doesnt win this election, you cant doubt his integrity and honesty," Tariq Ahmad Rather, a shopkeeper on the KP Road in Anantnag, says. The Anantnag constituency which will go to the polls on 9 April had fallen vacant after PDP chief Mehbooba took over as chief minister. The constituency is spread over four districts, five police districts and 16 Assembly segments with a total of 13,27,638 voters, including 1,495 service voters, for whom 1,635 polling stations in 1,146 locations have been designated. In public gatherings, most people demand government jobs from him and he politely answers by asking them to develop skills. Women give him handwritten letters; he skims through them and puts them in the left side of his blue blazer. When asked about the majority of people demanding government jobs, he says it is a necessity but other options haven't been explored either. "What has happened so far is that people have been employed without consideration for their skills; it has been going on for a long time and it will take time to set things right," he says. "It is a sort of anarchy or some kind of chaos that has set in here for many years. I think it is going to take quite a while before the system is put in place and other things work the way they should be. There are government departments that are overstaffed while some are understaffed and most of them have one common problem. They are least concerned about work or have little or no inclination to do what they are supposed to do," he says Departing from the conflict-loaded terminology, Tassaduq is more interested in nature. "I talk about ecological restoration because there is great deal of economic opportunity in that. In our country, including Kashmir, you have to travel through a mess to get to some kind of place that is very beautiful and stunning. If you were to create spaces, there will be a great economic opportunity too," he says. His primary interest is in the environment, ecology and preservation of cultural heritage of Kashmir. Even before he started taking an interest in the politics of the Valley, he was already working with a team of professionals brought from different parts of India and abroad to make suggestions in their fields, including the disposal of solid waste material at Srinagars Achan dumping site and the Pahalgam tourist spot. He has been also making efforts to preserve Srinagars Silk Factory, an architectural marvel set-up in 1860s, which is in a state of decay. As people continue to throng the room, he becomes inaudible. I try to lean towards him to hear more of his plans but it is becoming difficult. I bid him adieu, hoping that the brutal politics of the state don't overcome his passion for unconventional work. Outside, as people struggle to gain entry into his room, I met Mohammad Abdullah Shah. Having lost his 29-year-old banker son who slipped in a canal in Bijbehra last year, Abdullah had come to tell the junior Mufti to help him land a job recommended for his another son by Jammu and Kashmir bank. "This election, we will see", Shah tells me "whether people will vote for honesty or dishonesty. 'Nixon' as Tassaduq was called during his childhood, is different. He will represent freshness. He will bring truth and dedication into politics." Romeo, wherever he is, would be in depression these days. To fall in love, be in love and die in love is one thing, but to be branded a criminal for love and have a police squad named after you is quite another. The Bard of Avon wont be comfortable in his grave either. When he popularised the tragic story of star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, he would hardly have expected Romeo to be seen as an eve-teaser, roadside loafer or a potential molester by police in faraway India centuries later. The Uttar Pradesh governments idea of Anti-Romeo Squad is a bit odd on a couple of counts. It begins with the name itself. While one has no problem with the government coming down hard on men harassing girls and women on way to schools, college, markets and everywhere else and on buses, trains and all kinds of transport, one wonders why Romeo should be dragged into all this. His love affair with Juliet against the backdrop of feuding families in Verona was a serious one. Both died in the end without being together. Not without reason the sympathy for their experience in love continues to win hearts even now. Couldnt the government have called its anti-women harassment squad something else? Of course, its not an original idea. We have had similar squads in other states too. But it does no justice to the tragic hero. Its possible a generation of Indians would grow up believing Romeo was a sexual pervert of some kind whose only business in life was to harass women out of home. Lets accept the nomenclature and proceed. How does one define a Romeo? Is there a simple way of doing it? The broad understanding that he troubles women with a sexual intention is fine. Those targeting women in buses, trains and markets and near educational institutions or anywhere else are easily identifiable as Romeos. There are just too many of them and the police can act against them even without a dedicated squad. But how do you categorise a young couple sitting together in a park, holding hands in public and going to a movie together? They may not be couples even; they can be siblings or just friends or casual acquaintances. Experience with such squads tells us that people like these become easy targets for policemen looking to make easy money. Young couples in love are usually secretive about their identities and this becomes a weakness to exploit by policemen. The burden of proof lies on the former they have to prove who they are and the nature of relationship. Worse, vigilante groups move in. They can target couples directly or be in cahoots with the local police to do so. This perversion of the original idea is one reason why such efforts have always ended up in controversies. Moreover, what does it reveal on our appreciation for the idea of individual freedom? It is not normal when men and women feel threatened to go out together. Their being together becomes open to interpretation of outsiders and their privacy open to intrusion. It certainly is no reflection of a healthy state. Nobody needs it to be the guardian of public morality in such fashion. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would be appreciated much more if he ensured temperance to the actions of the Anti-Romeo Squad and let young people be. Coming back to poor Romeo, he would not like either his name or the idea of love vandalised. Neither would the Bard. He can sue the Uttar Pradesh government for character assassination if he pleases. Agartala: Four hundred Trinamool Congress members, including 16 of the total 65 state committee members of the TMC, have joined the BJP in Tripura on Thursday. The TMC members who joined the saffron party also include former chairman of the Tripura unit of Trinamool Congress, Ratan Chakraborty. The President of Tripura unit of BJP, Biplab Deb and Union minister of state for Railways, Rajen Gohain, jointly handed over the saffron party flag to Chakraborty. "BJP is the only political party in the country, which attached maximum importance to develop the backward north eastern region. I have full confidence that BJP would be able to free the state from the clutches of CPM and form a government in the 2018 elections to give relief to the people, Chakraborty told a press conference. Stating that he joined BJP "unconditionally", Chakraborty said, he would strengthen the party by bringing more TMC workers under the BJP banner. Nitai Chowdhuri, a state committee member of TMC, who joined the BJP said, altogether 16 members of the state committee of the total 65 have joined the BJP on Thursday. Gohain said, The BJP would get absolute majority in the 2018 state elections in Tripura and the ruling CPM would be washed away in a saffron tsunami". Whether one likes it or not, Yogi Adityanath, the powerful head of the Gorakhnath mutt, is now the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. His party, the BJP, has won the recent electoral contest convincingly, defeating all other competing forces. For many, the ascendance of Yogi Adityanath is unthinkable, while for others it is a positive development. A part of the existing narrative wants to allay the anxieties among those who belong to the unthinkable crowd but painting him as a saint (in the social sense of the term and not in the literal theological sense) with certain extraordinary human qualities a lover of animals, supported by minorities, simple lifestyle and such. In this age of media, such spins and counter spins compete. That is where reality is made, far away from actual truths on the ground. Given the attempted whitewashing of Yogi Adityanath, it is important to present some of Adityanath's public statements that he has not denied and try to see what are the ultimate implications of such a stance. More importantly, what are the repercussions of having a leader who believes in such stances while being the chief minister of the most populous Indian state. His activities need to be scrutinised very closely. Much of what Yogi Adityanath has said is on public record. This article will not quote his whole speeches, but only portions that are relevant. Are those taken out of context? Possibly. However, it is also the perspective of the reader or the listener who end up finding a context to these lines: "Hinduism is a different culture. Islam is a different culture. They cant coexist. Two cultures cannot coexist. It will cause friction. There definitely will be." This statement comes with certain issues. Uttar Pradesh has nearly 20 percent of its population comprising of Muslims. Now, whether Muslims of Uttar Pradesh have Islam as their culture, we dont know since human cultures revolve around numerous things, including religion. Take for example, Yogi Adityanaths decision to ban "illegal" slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh, which incidentally means most places where animal slaughter takes place in South Asia. These are non-cow slaughterhouses, since cow slaughter is banned in Uttar Pradesh. So, it affects non-cow meat eaters. I am a Bengali Shakto of Bengal. Meat is the prasad of Kali that we consume with respect and veneration. We sacrifice buffaloes, goats and various animals, not cows, to the holy mother and seek her blessings. We have been doing this for centuries. Our religious tradition is timeless. Yogi Adityanath is not. Yogi Adityanath will not take this prasad because he does not belong to that "culture". If we now take the principle of separate cultures as observed by Adityanath at face value, it also means that meat-eating Bengali Shakto faith is a different culture. Hindi-Hindu-Hindustani vegetarian religion is a different culture. So, going by Adityanath's admission, Hindi-Hindu-Hindustani vegetarian faith culture and animal sacrificing meat as prasad Bengali Shakto can't co-exist. According to him, this will cause friction. Why? Because West Bengal is a 98.5 percent non-vegetarian state and there is no chance that it will be converted to this Hindi-Hindu-Hindustani vegetarian religion of Yogi Adityanath. If some ideology demands friction and there are enough number of adherents to carry forward that mission of friction, there will be friction. Therefore, when there is someone at the helm of affairs in Uttar Pradesh who believes in the inevitability of friction, those of us in homelands where cultures are not defined solely by religion have much to be worried about. The rise of Yogi Adityanath may represent that inflection point when the friction-friendly majoritarian force in Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan zones will want to infect non-Hindi homelands. This sort of a situation is typically the point where in multi-national super states like the Indian Union, minority nationalities demand protection of their homelands culture and values by way of increasing assertion for state rights. The Union government is on a spree of centralising all power and the principal opposition to it comes from forces that are holding the banner of federalism. That is not accidental. We are witnessing what could be a long term schism in the body politics of the Indian Union that is much deeper and broader than the classical Hindu-Muslim schism. Whether that is good or bad, time will tell. But what is important is that one side of the schism believes that the two sides of the schism cant co-exist. That leaves three options. One can avoid this 'friction', which is a peaceful solution. Or one can convert to Adityanaths ideology and that deletion of self identity will possibly keep one away from 'friction'. And if either of these two dont happen, Adityanath advocates religious war. If by that, he means war of ideas or ideologies, that is one thing. If he means intolerance, then everyone is in trouble. Co-existence of different cultures is possible and that is the basis of the Indian Union which holds within itself radically diverse cultures linguistic, ethnic, religious and so on. The Indian Union is at a crossroad but it did not have to be this way. Mutual co-existence without aspirations for dominance over other peoples and other cultures is the basic working principle of a diverse, federal democracy. Sheer numerical dominance is making the Hindi-Hindu-Hindustani ideology stronger by the day and the reasons behind that numerical dominance is found oddly in reasons that the saffron brigade typically label Muslims with. Due to larger family sizes and greater fertility rates, Hindi states are increasingly becoming a greater proportion of the population of the Indian union and Hindi speakers are becoming a greater proportion of the population of non-Hindi states. This trend has been true for the decades for which data has existed. For the preservation of the federal structure of the Indian Union, something needs to be done that protects the cultures of our homelands against aggressive votaries of different cultures cannot coexist ideologies like that of Adityanath. DHAKA A fire broke out in Bangladesh's central bank on Thursday night on floors 13 and 14 of the 32-story building, with the cause of the blaze not immediately known. "12 units have been trying to douse the fire and now it is almost under control," an official of the fire fighting department said. The central bank of Bangladesh drew global attention last year when the hackers tried to steal about $1 billion from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and ultimately got away with $81 million. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said this week that North Korean hackers might have been involved. (Reporting By Serajul Quadir; Editing by Toby Chopra) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Toby Melville and William James | LONDON LONDON Five people were killed and about 40 injured in London on Wednesday after a car ploughed into pedestrians and a suspected Islamist-inspired attacker stabbed a policeman close to Britain's parliament.The dead, in what police called a "marauding terrorist attack," included the assailant and the policeman he stabbed. The other three victims were among those hit by the car as it sped across Westminster Bridge before crashing into railings just outside parliament.Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the attack as "sick and depraved"."The location of this attack was no accident," she said in a statement outside her 10 Downing Street office late in the evening."The terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech."Any attempt to defeat those values through violence was "doomed to failure", May said.Mark Rowley, Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer, told reporters the attack started when a car was driven over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injuring members of the public and three police officers."A car then crashed near to parliament and at least one man, armed with a knife, continued the attack and tried to enter parliament," Rowley said.He said the police's "fast-paced investigation" was working on the assumption that the attack was "Islamist-related terrorism". Police believed they knew the identity of the attacker but would not provide details at this stage, he said.It was the deadliest attack in London since four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the city's transport system in July 2005, in London's worst peacetime attack.It took place on the first anniversary of attacks by Islamist militants that killed 32 people in Brussels.Reuters reporters inside parliament during Wednesday's attack heard loud bangs and shortly afterwards saw the knifeman and the stabbed policeman lying on the ground in a courtyard within the gates of parliament.The dead police officer was identified as Keith Palmer, 48, with 15 years of service. LAWMAKERS CAUGHT UP IN CHAOS A Reuters photographer saw at least a dozen people injured on the bridge. His photographs showed people lying on the ground, some of them bleeding heavily and one under a bus.A woman was pulled alive, but with serious injuries, from the Thames, the Port of London Authority said. The circumstances of her fall into the river were unknown.Three French schoolchildren aged 15 or 16 were among those injured in the attack, French officials said.Several members of parliament (MPs) and senior officials were caught up in the chaos. Tobias Ellwood, a junior Foreign Office minister, was pictured attempting to resuscitate a man lying unconscious, reported to be the stabbed policeman.London Mayor Sadiq Khan said there would be additional police officers on the city streets to keep Londoners and visitors safe."We stand together in the face of those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life. We always have, and we always will. Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism," he said. Parliament's lower House of Commons, which was in session at the time, was suspended and lawmakers were asked to stay inside the building for several hours.May said parliament would convene as normal on Thursday in a sign that the attack would not disrupt life in the capital. However, a visit by Queen Elizabeth to officially open the new headquarters of London's police force, which had been planned for Thursday, was postponed "in light of today's events," Buckingham Palace said.In a telephone call with May, President Donald Trump offered Britain the full cooperation and support of the United States, the White House said. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemned the attack as "horrific acts of violence".German Chancellor Angela Merkel and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg were among foreign leaders who expressed shock and solidarity."NO SIGNS OF LIFE" Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic during the attack."I just saw a car go out of control and just go into pedestrians on the bridge," said Bernadette Kerrigan, who had been on a tour bus on the bridge, in an interview with Sky News."As we were going across the bridge, we saw people lying on the floor, they were obviously injured. I saw about 10 people maybe. And then the emergency services started to arrive. Everyone was just running everywhere."Former Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who witnessed the attack from a taxi as he crossed the bridge, said he saw five victims and made a video of the scene."I heard something that sounded like a small car crash. Then I looked out of the window and saw that there was one person lying on the asphalt," he told Reuters."I did not see the face of the person lying on the asphalt, but the person was not moving, it was not showing any signs of life. One of the men I saw, his head was bleeding very badly. But the person I filmed -- no, that person was not showing any signs of life."Journalist Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail newspaper told LBC radio that he had witnessed the stabbing of the policeman and the shooting of the assailant from his office in the parliament building."He (the assailant) ran in through the open gates ... He set about one of the policemen with what looked like a stick," Letts said."The policeman fell over on the ground and it was quite horrible to watch and then having done that, he disengaged and ran towards the House of Commons entrance used by MPs and got about 20 yards or so when two plain-clothed guys with guns shot him."In Edinburgh, the Scottish parliament suspended a planned debate and vote on independence as the news from London came in.Britain is on its second-highest alert level of "severe" meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.The most recent deadly attack in London to be treated as a terrorist incident was in May 2013, when two British Islamists stabbed to death soldier Lee Rigby on a street. (Additional reporting by Kylie Maclellan, Elizabeth Piper, Costas Pitas, Alistair Smout, Michael Holden, Kate Holton, Elisabeth O'Leary, Andy Bruce, David Milliken and William Schomberg; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Stephen Addison, Guy Faulconbridge, Giles Elgood, Catherine Evans and Jonathan Oatis) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Mar. 23 By Demir Azizov Trend: The presidents of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Nursultan Nazarbayev have signed a joint declaration in Astana to further intensify the strategic partnership and strengthen good-neighborliness between the two countries, the Uzbekistan National News Agency (UzA) reported. Members of the government delegations in the presence of the two countries presidents signed the Strategy for Economic Cooperation for 2017-2019 and the Agreement on Interregional Cooperation. Besides, a protocol on introduction of amendments and additions to the agreement on avoidance of double taxation, a protocol on introduction of amendments and additions to the international road transport agreement of 2006, as well as documents on cooperation in the sphere of parliamentarism, have been signed. The heads of the defense ministries of the two countries signed an agreement on military and technical cooperation. The heads of the foreign ministries of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan signed a program on cooperation between the ministries. By Olga Grigoryants | LOS ANGELES LOS ANGELES A Mexican immigrant whose daughter appealed to Pope Francis three years ago to stop his deportation from the United States requested asylum at a federal court hearing in Los Angeles on Wednesday.Mario Vargas-Lopez's attorney argued the 45-year-old could be the victim of violence if he is deported to Mexico because of the international attention his case has received."People in Mexico know who he is, and he might be targeted for ransom and extortion," attorney Alex Galvez said in a phone interview after the hearing.Vargas-Lopez was granted a hearing for Sept. 18 by Judge Rose Peters. He entered the United States in 1999, his attorney said, and had worked in construction in Tennessee and California.In September 2013, he was arrested in Tennessee on a drunken-driving charge and served a six-month sentence. On his release, he was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and held in its Louisiana facility.Vargas-Lopez was released on bond in March 2014, three days after his then-10-year-old daughter, U.S.-born Jersey Vargas, made a plea to the pope as part of a delegation delivering letters to the pontiff from children of illegal immigrants. As reported by the Catholic publication "The Tidings," the girl told Pope Francis: "My father is suffering."Vargas-Lopez was subsequently reunited with his family in Los Angeles and has remained free. U.S. immigration officials denied at the time there was any papal intervention. Galvez has argued that Vargas-Lopez's family ties in the country and clean record since his 2014 release from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centre should be taken into account in his request for asylum.A representative for the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on the case.Jersey Vargas, now 13, was not at Wednesday's hearing. (Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Patrick Enright and Peter Cooney) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. China's defence minister will arrive in Nepal on Thursday for talks on joint military exercises, a meeting that will be closely watched by India as Beijing boosts its influence in the region. Chang Wanquan will be in Kathmandu for a three-day visit the first by a Chinese defence minister in 15 years that will include talks with his Nepali counterpart and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. "Both sides are working out some agreements for assistance for the Nepalese Army," defence ministry spokesman Uttam Prasad Nagila said. "The ministry expects there might be some progress on talks over joint military exercises, but (it is) not confirmed yet." The prospect of the first army drills ever between China and Nepal will rattle India, which is often accused of playing "big brother" to its tiny neighbour. An army source, who asked not to be named, said the exercises may be dubbed "Sagarmatha Friendship" referring to the Nepali name for Mount Everest and would focus on disaster response. Sandwiched between China and India, impoverished Nepal has in recent years ping-ponged between the sphere of influence of Delhi and Beijing as the Asian giants jostle for regional supremacy. "What we are seeing this week with Chang's visit is more of a military exchange," said James Char, a China expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. "It is also something that has grown under the current leadership of (China's President) Xi Jinping." Landlocked Nepal remains dependent on India for the majority of its imports, but the previous administration aggressively courted China as part of a nationalist drive to decrease the country's reliance on Delhi. China has responded with grand infrastructure promises, including recently pledging $8.3 billion in investment to Nepal equivalent to nearly to 40 percent of its entire GDP. The staggering commitment dwarfed India's investment offer of $317 million. The current Maoist-led government in Nepal has sought to repair strained ties with Delhi while continuing to accept cash from its powerful northern neighbour. Prime Minister Dahal is due to fly to China later Thursday and will meet with President Xi next week. RAMALLAH, West Bank Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian and wounded three others on Thursday in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian health official said. The Israeli army said they had attacked a settlement with petrol bombs.The Palestinian health source said the dead man was 17 and that one of the three wounded was in critical condition.An Israeli army spokeswoman said three assailants got out of a car and threw petrol bombs towards the settlement of Beit El, near Ramallah when troops opened fire and confirmed hitting the men. She said the car then fled the scene. There was no immediate account from Palestinian officials of what happened.At least 240 Palestinians have been killed in Israel and the Palestinian Territories in a period of sporadic violence that began in October 2015 but has tapered off in recent months. Israel says at least 160 were Palestinians who launched stabbing, shooting or ramming attacks on Israelis before being killed by Israeli security forces, while others died during clashes and protests. Two American tourists and 37 Israelis have been killed in such incidents since October 2015.Israel has accused the Palestinian leadership of inciting the violence. The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, denies incitement and says assailants have acted out of frustration over Israel's five-decade-old occupation of land the Palestinians seek for a future state.The last round of peace talks broke down in 2014. (Reporting by Ali Sawafta; Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Alison Williams) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Linda Sieg | TOKYO TOKYO The head of a Japanese nationalist school at the heart of a swirling political scandal gives sworn testimony in parliament on Thursday, the latest twist in a crisis that is chipping away at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's popularity. Abe has said neither he nor his wife, Akie, intervened in a sweetheart land deal in which educational group Moritomo Gakuen, based in Osaka, western Japan, bought state-owned land at a fraction of its appraisal price to build an elementary school. Abe has also denied allegations by Yasunori Kagoike, who has said he would step down as head of Moritomo Gakuen, that Akie had donated 1 million yen ($9,000) on the prime minister's behalf."Since their claims are sharply at odds with each other, the truth needs to be cleared up for the public to see," said a recent editorial in the Asahi newspaper. Akie had been set to be honorary principal of the school, which was to open in April with a curriculum based on prewar patriotism that taught students to be subjects, not citizens. She cut her ties after the scandal broke. The group also runs a kindergarten with a similar curriculum. Kagoike will appear at budget committees of the upper and lower house on Thursday to give testimony under oath, and could face perjury charges if he is later found to have lied. Kagoike is a member of Nippon Kaigi, a nationalist lobby group that promotes a traditional ethos mixing Shinto myth, patriotism and pride in an ancient imperial line. The group has close ties to Abe and his cabinet.Defence Minister Tomomi Inada, under fire for an unrelated possible cover-up at her ministry, has also been ensnared in the school scandal. She had denied appearing in court on Kagoike's behalf but had to correct her statement to parliament after court records showed she had. She said her memory was faulty. Abe's Liberal Democratic Party had resisted opposition calls for Kagoike to testify but agreed after he said Abe had donated money, calling the allegation an "insult" to the prime minister.Abe's support fell 10 points to a still-robust 56 percent in a Yomiuri newspaper survey published this week, the biggest drop since he returned to office for a rare second term in December 2012.Abe quit abruptly in 2007 after a year at the top plagued by scandals in his cabinet, an election drubbing and ill-health. (Editing by Nick Macfie) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Patricia Zengerle and Dustin Volz | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee set off a political firestorm on Wednesday when he said the communications of members of Donald Trump's transition team were caught up in incidental surveillance targeting foreigners.Representative Devin Nunes said at a news conference that it was possible President Trump's own communications were also intercepted and disseminated among U.S. intelligence agencies.The White House seized on Nunes' remarks, which had cited anonymous sources, to bolster Trump's unproven assertion that former President Barack Obama's administration spied on the incoming president. Nunes himself said there is no proof of that, as have other lawmakers of both parties and the FBI director.A short while later, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer cited Nunes' comments at his White House news briefing."I do think it is a startling revelation, and there's a lot of questions that need to get asked," Spicer said.Democrats denounced Nunes' statements as highly unusual from the chairman of an intelligence committee, with the top Democrat on the committee saying its members had not been informed and implying that Nunes was giving political cover to the president.Intelligence reports about the communications appeared to "unmask" the identity of the Trump associates and the names were widely shared among the agencies, Nunes said. He said it was possible Trump's own communications were also collected.The National Security Agency routinely collects electronic communications on foreigners through a variety of surveillance tools. But information about Americans is also sometimes incidentally gathered, such as when someone is communicating to a foreign target. Typically the names of Americans are made anonymous, or masked, in foreign intelligence reports unless an intelligence agency determines the identity of that person is relevant to national security or a criminal investigation. It was unclear why the reports Nunes cited contained unmasked names.A U.S. government source said it was logical, if not normal, that communications from Trump aides would have been incidentally intercepted by U.S. agencies after his election, given that they would have an interest in talking to foreign governments. Trump took office on Jan. 20. Two days ago, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, told a hearing of Nunes' committee that his agency was conducting a criminal investigation of potential links between Trump associates and Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 U.S. election to benefit Trump."I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions the intelligence community ... collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition," said Nunes, who was himself on Trump's transition team.Nunes said he was referring to intelligence reports of communications collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act."I want to be clear, none of this surveillance was related to Russia or the investigation of Russian activities or of the Trump team," he said.Trump said he felt "somewhat" vindicated by Nunes' announcement after being briefed by Nunes. FBI head Comey on Monday said that Trump's claims were groundless. According to Nunes, the conversations in question were collected legally in November, December and January.In an interview with CNN, the committee's leading Democrat, Adam Schiff said, "The chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he's going to act as a surrogate of the White House, because he cannot do both."Nunes' remarks appeared tied to a line of questioning from Republicans during Monday's hearing about the importance of identifying and prosecuting those responsible for intelligence leaks.Republicans have focussed much of their discussion of the issue on the release of the names, or "unmasking" of Trump associates in the investigation. Trump fired his former national security adviser, General Mike Flynn, after the revelation that he had spoken to Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, during the transition - which was leaked to the press after those calls were caught by surveillance intercepts.Nunes appeared to suggest intelligence reports about intercepts other than Flynn's conversations existed. 'PROFOUND IRREGULARITY' Former intelligence officials and Democrats said Nunes' announcement was highly unusual from the chairman of an intelligence committee.Schiff said he was not consulted by Nunes before his news conference. Nunes' decision to share the information with the White House before informing the committee was a "profound irregularity," Schiff said, adding that "a credible investigation cannot be conducted this way."Schiff said the unmasking of a U.S. person may be appropriate in the context of an investigation.U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Russia of seeking to influence the presidential election in Trump's favour against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by hacking computer systems and spreading disinformation. Russia denies the allegations.Nunes said he was "very concerned" about whether U.S. intelligence agencies were spying on Trump. He briefed Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan before the news conference and went to the White House to share the information.Admiral Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, was asked by Republicans at Monday's hearing about the agency's policies for "unmasking" the names of Americans whose communications were incidentally collected under foreign surveillance programs.Rogers said that 20 NSA employees, including himself, have the authority to unmask the identity of an Americans communications, and that senior officials at the CIA, FBI and Justice Department can make such a request. Asked how many Americans had been unmasked since June 2016, Rogers said he did not know. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Dustin Volz, additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, David Alexander, Mark Hosenball and Tim Ahmann; editing by John Walcott and Grant McCool) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Chants of death to the dictator grow louder as Iran protests intensify The protests in Iran that were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini have now entered the 42nd day. The demonstrations are more powerful than ever and so is the crackdown by Iranian authorities. Thousands of mourners defied heightened security measures as they made their way to Aminis burial site in New Delhi: There is no report of any Indian casualty so far in the terror attack near the UK Parliament, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday night. India has condemned the attack in London in which three people were killed and more than 20 injured. London's Metropolitan Police said a man mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed a police officer with a knife outside the British parliament before being shot dead. "I am in constant touch with Indian High Commission in London. There is no Indian casualty reported so far. #LondonAttack @HCI_London (sic)," she wrote on Twitter. "Indian High Commission is there to help all Indian nationals in London. Please note the Telephone nos: 020 8629 5950 & 020 7632 3035 (sic)," Swaraj wrote. The minister advised people to avoid going to Parliament Square. "All are advised strongly to avoid Parliament Square and check Met Police website for further details on the attack. Stay safe! (sic)," she tweeted. "India strongly condemns Westminster terrorist incident & condoles loss of life. No place in democracies & civilised societies for terrorism (sic)," Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, Gopal Baglay tweeted. The London terror attack on Wednesday brings attention back to the discourse around terrorism, an issue which global liberal media and politicians either suppress or banish to the fringes. That does not mean these issues lose potency. By burying its head into the sand an ostrich cannot prevent attacks only denies itself the chance to take evasive action. More than 12 hours into the gruesome Westminster Bridge and Parliament carnage that left five dead (including the attacker), over 40 injured and forced British lawmakers and support staff to be locked down inside the Parliament building, London police have still not released the name of the terrorist responsible for the attack. Britain's top counter-terror officer Mark Rowley has revealed that the assailant has been identified but refused to release a name or nationality. According to BBC, he even urged investigative journalists to "show restraint" in reporting details while admitting that the attacker was "inspired by international terrorism" and "Islamist-related terrorism." British Prime Minister Theresa May called it a "sick and depraved terrorist attack" but her comments were carried by The Washington Post under the headline: "5 dead in vehicle, knife attack at British Parliament." Who are we kidding? Beyond the time required to clear reasonable doubt and investigation compulsions, what purpose is served by going slow in releasing crucial information? The only thing it succeeds in doing is to force media, which must cope with public need for information, by making erratic assumptions of the kind we saw on Wednesday night when Britain's Channel 4 erroneously blamed a hate preacher who is safely lodged inside jail. The reaction of British Police falls into an unfortunate pattern that we have seen of late in western security establishment that lumbers its way into releasing details and appears reluctant in confirming motives of blatantly obvious Islamist terrorist attacks. Global liberal media has duly taken the cue, carrying inane headlines such as the one carried by The Washington Post which seems to suggest that not the attacker but "vehicle and knife" carried out the attacks, as if these inanimate objects suddenly came to life. This dishonesty along with tactical response to terror governed by political and not humanist considerations have thoroughly crippled the global fight against terrorism. Instead of insuring us against attacks, it is costing more and more lives. The first step to counter Islamist terrorism is to see and call out for what it is instead of trying to suppress or downplay information. The blood on the Westminster Bridge pavement hasn't dried yet. Already we see spurious attempts to obfuscate the crime. The liberal motive is clear, even honest perhaps. But their foolishness is profound and the world is paying for it in blood. Every Islamist terror attack triggers a familiar set of response. It is either "terror has no religion" or suggestions that the attacker was not part of a poisonous ideology but a "lone wolf" acting on his own or a mentally deranged individual. This reflexive denial has two venomous causal effects. One, it contextualises the crime and emboldens followers of 'jihadism' into carrying out or inspiring more such attacks. Two, it creates a global backlash against followers of Islam that soon transforms into a hatred for immigrants and people of colour. We may choose to blame Donald Trump for it, but he is the symptom of the disease and liberals are the cause. Explaining the motives behind violent jihad, California-based author Shireen Qudosi writes in Counter Jihad, "Radical Islam a violent totalitarian ideology that accepts nothing less than complete submission to a skewed interpretation of faith. And that extreme application of a rigged belief system will always attack the West until it has either achieved total destruction, total domination, or both." The problem is, liberals are quick to label any criticism of Islamist ideology as 'Islamophobic'. This not only makes an honest discussion about 21st century's biggest scourge impossible but more damagingly, gives rise to resentment. Islamists, who follow a narrow and restricted version of their faith, then get the licence to call reformers "heretics" and liberals willingly walk into that trap. Author Sam Harris who has earned global notoriety among liberal circles for his willingness to call spade a spade, in an interview to The Atlantic on this topic, said: "Islam is not a race, ethnicity, or nationality: Its a set of ideas... Criticism of these ideas should never be confused with an animus toward people. And yet it is. Im convinced that this is often done consciously, strategically, and quite cynically as a means of shutting down conversation (on) important topics." London mayor Sadiq Khan, who took forever in coming out with a response for one of the biggest attacks to have targeted his city, had last year blamed Donald Trump for alienating Muslims. Hard questions must be asked. What new grievance narratives must the world discover every day to justify terror attacks? Trump's ignorant view of Islam could make both our countries less safe. It risks alienating mainstream Muslims. London has proved him wrong Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) May 10, 2016 Khan's boast has ended in tragedy. Last year, the London mayor had told Britain's The Independent newspaper that threat of terror attacks are "part and parcel of living in a big city." His comments were in context of New York city bombings when he said major cities around the world have got to be prepared for these sorts of things to happen when people least expect them. Though it was a comment made last year, this sort of contextualising and justification of violence is as dangerous as the finger that pulls the trigger or detonates the bomb. The world is bruised enough by terrorism. It can do without its apologists. Armed officers raided a flat in Birmingham on Thursday and made seven arrests in an investigation linked to the London terror attack, according to media reports. According to a report in the Mirror, the police cordoned off an apartment on Hagley Road, in Edgbaston, for several hours on Thursday night around 10:30 pm. Uniformed policemen remained at the scene throughout the night and the roads were reopened at 1:30 am. Sky News reported that a number of people had been arrested at the property. According to a witness, dozens of officers were pictured outside the second floor flat above a parade of shops which was cordoned off by police, Sky News reported. Five people were killed and about 40 injured on Wednesday when a knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage in the heart of Britain's seat of power, plowing a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack" and said the UK's terror threat level would remain at severe. With inputs from Reuters London: British police raided several properties and arrested seven people in connection with the attack outside Parliament that left four dead, including the man who mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and fatally stabbed an officer, a senior police official said. Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley said that he believed the attacker acted alone and was "inspired by international terrorism." He refused to identify the man. Police raided six addresses, including some in the central city of Birmingham, and arrested seven people in connection with Wednesday's attack by a knife-wielding man who also mowed down pedestrians with an SUV on Westminster Bridge, Rowley said. Rowley refused to identify the attacker, who was killed by police after fatally stabbing a police officer on Parliament's grounds. The attacker has been identified and was known to British security, according to a British security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak about ongoing security operations. He declined to name the man and to give any other details about his identity, nationality or hometown. He revised the death toll from five to four, including the attacker, the police officer and two civilians. He said that 29 people required hospitalisation and seven of them are in critical condition. He also said that authorities were still working out the number of "walking wounded." Police had previously given the total number of injured as around 40. Rowley said investigation were continuing around Parliament but expected that lawmakers would be able to go ahead with plans to reconvene in a show of solidarity. Before Rowley's news conference, British media reported that armed police carried out a raid on a property in Birmingham. The Press Association on Thursday quoted an unnamed witness saying that the operation was linked to the attack. The witness said that police raided an apartment and arrested three men. Police in the West Midlands, where Birmingham is located, directed inquiries about the operation to London's Metropolitan Police. The attacker drove an SUV into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing the vehicle into the gates of Parliament on Wednesday. He scaled the fences and later fatally stabbed a policeman before being gunned down by officers. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the rampage as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack." Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down after the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament, just yards from entrances to the building itself and in the shadow of the iconic Big Ben clock tower. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had "catastrophic" injuries. Three police officers, several French teenagers on a school trip, two Romanian tourists and five South Korean visitors were among the injured. The threat level for international terrorism in the UK was already listed at severe, meaning an attack was "highly likely." Speaking outside 10 Downing St. after chairing a meeting of government's emergency committee, COBRA, May said Wednesday that level would not change. She said attempts to defeat British values of democracy and freedom through terrorism would fail. Londoners and visitors "will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart," May said. President Donald Trump was among world leaders offering condolences. London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit Russia Mar. 27-28, the press service of the Kremlin said Mar. 23, Reuters reported. Rouhani will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 28, according to the press service. It is expected to pay particular attention to the prospects for expanding trade, economic and investment ties, including in the context of implementing major joint projects in energy and transport infrastructure, said the message. It is noted that Putin and Rouhani will continue to exchange views on the topical issues of the global and regional agenda. In addition, a number of bilateral documents will be signed following the talks. British police have identified the person responsible for the terror attack near Parliament as 52-year-old Khalid Masood. The police say in a statement on Thursday that Masood was born in southeastern England and was most recently living in the West Midlands, in central England. Police say Masood, who had a number of aliases, wasn't the subject of any current investigation and that "there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack." He had been arrested previously for assault, possession of offensive weapons and public order offenses. His first conviction was in November 1983 for criminal damage and his last was in December 2003 for possession of a knife. Car rental company Enterprise has confirmed that the car used in the terror attack in London this week was owned by them and rented in Birmingham. The company said in a statement on Thursday that the car "used in the tragic attack in London yesterday afternoon was one of ours." The company says an employee identified the vehicle after seeing the license plate in an online image. The company checked and immediately contacted authorities. It says it is cooperating fully. The company says "our thoughts are very much with the victims of this terrible tragedy." Armed police have arrested eight people in raids linked to the rampage that left three people dead and sowed panic in the heart of London. The Islamic State group said it was responsible, according to the Amaq propaganda agency linked to the jihadist organisation. "The perpetrator of yesterday's attack in front of the British parliament was a soldier of the Islamic State and the operation was carried out in response to calls to target coalition countries," Amaq said citing a "security source." Defiant British lawmakers returned to "business as usual" in the surreal silence of an area of central London normally thronged with tourists. Twenty-nine people were treated in hospital, including seven in critical condition, some with "catastrophic" injuries. Among them were French school children and foreign tourists. The attacker mowed down pedestrians with a car on Westminster bridge, killing two, and then jumped out and stabbed to death a police officer guarding parliament before being shot dead. The carnage was unleashed on the same day Brussels was marking the anniversary of Islamic State group bombings that killed 32 people. Hundreds of extra police were on patrol in London as officers worked around the clock to piece together what happened in the deadliest attack in Britain since four suicide bombers killed 52 people on the capital's transport system in July 2005. Europe has been on high alert after a wave of deadly jihadist assaults over the past two years. Britain's top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley said that police had arrested eight people in raids on six houses in London, the central city of Birmingham and elsewhere. "It is still our belief... that this attacker acted alone yesterday and was inspired by international terrorism," he said. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told BBC radio the working assumption was that the attack was linked to "Islamic terrorism in some form". The British flag over parliament flew at half-mast in a sign of mourning while forensic officers in white suits carried out a fingertip search of the courtyard outside where 48-year-old policeman Keith Palmer was stabbed to death. Police officers lined up outside their new headquarters nearby for a minute's silence in front of the eternal flame to officers who have given their lives in service. Queen Elizabeth II was due to open the building formally on Thursday but postponed the visit. "My thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's awful violence," she said, in a statement expressing her "enduring admiration" for the police. London Mayor Sadiq Khan called a candlelit vigil on Trafalgar Square later Thursday. Among those in parliament was Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose face was left smeared with blood after giving first aid to the fatally wounded police officer. US President Donald Trump and French President Francois Hollande both spoke to May and Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany stood with Britons "against all forms of terrorism". Britain's last terror attack was the 2016 assassination of MP Jo Cox by a pro-Nazi sympathiser in her constituency in northern England shortly before the vote to leave the European Union. With inputs from agencies London: A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage in the heart of Britain's seat of power Wednesday, plowing a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Five people were killed, including the assailant, and 40 others were injured in what Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack." Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down after the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament, just yards (meters) from entrances to the building itself and in the shadow of the iconic Big Ben clock tower. He died, as did three pedestrians on the bridge, and the police officer. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had "catastrophic" injuries. Three police officers, several French teenagers on a school trip, two Romanian tourists and five South Korean visitors were among the injured. Police said they were treating the attack as terrorism. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism chief Mark Rowley said police believed there was only one attacker, "but it would be foolish to be overconfident early on." He said an unarmed policeman, three civilians and the attacker died. Forty others, including three police officers, were injured. Rowley told reporters the attack started when a car was driven over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injuring members of the public and three police officers. "A car then crashed near to Parliament and at least one man, armed with a knife, continued the attack and tried to enter parliament," Rowley said. Islamic extremism was suspected in the attack, Rowley said, adding that authorities believe they know the assailant's identity but would not reveal it while the investigation was ongoing. The threat level for international terrorism in the UK was already listed at severe, meaning an attack was "highly likely." Speaking outside 10 Downing Street after chairing a meeting of government's emergency committee, COBRA, May said that level would not change. She said attempts to defeat British values of democracy and freedom through terrorism would fail. "The location of this attack was no accident," she said in a statement late in the evening. "The terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech." Any attempt to defeat those values through violence was "doomed to failure", May said. "Thursday morning Parliament will meet as normal," she said. Londoners and visitors "will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart." US President Donald Trump was among world leaders offering condolences, and in Paris, the lights of the Eiffel Tower were to be dimmed in solidarity with London. London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames. Wednesday was the anniversary of suicide bombings in the Brussels airport and subway that killed 32 people last year, and the latest events echoed recent vehicle attacks in Berlin and Nice, France. In the House of Commons, legislators were holding a series of votes on pensions when deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle announced that the sitting was being suspended and told lawmakers not to leave. Parliament was locked down for several hours, and the adjoining Westminster subway station was shuttered. The attack began early Wednesday afternoon as a driver in a grey SUV slammed into pedestrians on the bridge linking Parliament to the south bank of the River Thames. Former Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski was in a car crossing the bridge when he heard "something like a car hitting metal sheet" and then saw people lying on the pavement. "I saw one person who gave no signs of life. One man was bleeding from his head. I saw five people who were at least seriously injured," Sikorski told Poland's TVN24. Ambulances arrived within minutes to treat people who lay scattered along the length of the bridge. One bloodied woman lay surrounded by a scattering of postcards. The car crashed into railings on the north side of the bridge, less than 200 yards (meters) from the entrance to Parliament. As people scattered in panic, witnesses saw a man holding a knife run toward the building. "The whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben," said witness Rick Longley. "A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. I have never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw." The attacker managed to get past a gate into Parliament's fenced-in New Palace Yard, a cobbled courtyard in the shadow of the Big Ben clock tower. Daily Mail journalist Quentin Letts said a man in black attacked the police officer before being shot two or three times as he tried to storm the building. "As this attacker was running towards the entrance two plain-clothed guys with guns shouted at him what sounded like a warning, he ignored it and they shot two or three times and he fell," Letts told the BBC. The attacker fell to the cobbles just yards from the entrance to 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the parliamentary complex, busy with visitors and school groups. Beyond that, a corridor leads to the building's Central Lobby, flanked by House of Commons and House of Lords chambers. The prime minister was among lawmakers near the Commons at the time of the attack and was quickly ushered away by security officers and driven back to Downing Street. To get that far, the attacker would have had to evade the armed officers who patrol the Parliament complex in pairs, as well as Parliament's own security staff, who don't carry guns. The attack unfolded near some of the city's most famous tourist sites, including the London Eye, a large Ferris wheel with pods that overlook the capital. It was halted after the attack, stranding visitors in the pods, with an aerial view of the attack scene. London Ambulance Service said medics treated 12 people for serious injuries and eight who were less seriously hurt. Dr Colleen Anderson of St Thomas' Hospital said some of the wounded had "catastrophic" injuries. Lawmakers caught up in chaos A Reuters photographer saw at least a dozen people injured on the bridge. His photographs showed people lying on the ground, some of them bleeding heavily and one under a bus. A woman was pulled alive, but with serious injuries, from the Thames, the Port of London Authority said. The circumstances of her fall into the river were unknown. The French Foreign Ministry said that three students on a school trip from Saint-Joseph in the Brittany town of Concarneau were among the injured. Two Romanians were also among the injured, the country's Foreign Ministry said. Several members of parliament (MPs) and senior officials were caught up in the chaos. Conservative lawmaker Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was killed in the Bali terror attack in 2002, performed first aid on the wounded police officer, who later died. About 10 yards away lay the assailant. "I tried to stem the flow of blood and give mouth to mouth while waiting for the medics to arrive but I think he had lost too much blood," Ellwood said. "He had multiple wounds, under the arm and in the back." The dead police officer was identified as Keith Palmer, 48, with 15 years of service. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said there would be additional police officers on the city streets to keep Londoners and visitors safe. "We stand together in the face of those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life. We always have, and we always will. Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism," he said. Parliament's lower House of Commons, which was in session at the time, was suspended and lawmakers were asked to stay inside the building for several hours. May said parliament would convene as normal on Thursday in a sign that the attack would not disrupt life in the capital. However, a visit by Queen Elizabeth to officially open the new headquarters of London's police force, which had been planned for Thursday, was postponed "in light of today's events," Buckingham Palace said. In a telephone call with May, President Donald Trump offered Britain the full cooperation and support of the United States, the White House said. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemned the attack as "horrific acts of violence". German Chancellor Angela Merkel and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg were among foreign leaders who expressed shock and solidarity. No signs of life Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic during the attack. "I just saw a car go out of control and just go into pedestrians on the bridge," said Bernadette Kerrigan, who had been on a tour bus on the bridge, in an interview with Sky News. "As we were going across the bridge, we saw people lying on the floor, they were obviously injured. I saw about 10 people maybe. And then the emergency services started to arrive. Everyone was just running everywhere." Former Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who witnessed the attack from a taxi as he crossed the bridge, said he saw five victims and made a video of the scene. "I heard something that sounded like a small car crash. Then I looked out of the window and saw that there was one person lying on the asphalt," he told Reuters. "I did not see the face of the person lying on the asphalt, but the person was not moving, it was not showing any signs of life. One of the men I saw, his head was bleeding very badly. But the person I filmed no, that person was not showing any signs of life." Journalist Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail newspaper told LBC radio that he had witnessed the stabbing of the policeman and the shooting of the assailant from his office in the parliament building. "He (the assailant) ran in through the open gates ... He set about one of the policemen with what looked like a stick," Letts said. "The policeman fell over on the ground and it was quite horrible to watch and then having done that, he disengaged and ran towards the House of Commons entrance used by MPs and got about 20 yards or so when two plain-clothed guys with guns shot him." In Edinburgh, the Scottish parliament suspended a planned debate and vote on independence as the news from London came in. Britain is on its second-highest alert level of "severe" meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely. London has often been the target of terrorist attacks, from IRA campaigns in the 1970s and 80s to more recent Islamist plots. On 7 July, 2005, four Al-Qaeda-inspired British bombers blew themselves up on three subway trains and a bus in London, killing 52 people. British security forces say they have thwarted some 13 terror plots over the past four years, but in recent years the UK has largely been spared major international terror attacks such as the ones seen in Belgium and France. Last year, a far-right supporter shot and killed British lawmaker Jo Cox, who had campaigned for the UK to remain in the European Union. Prior to that, an attacker claiming to be motivated by Syria stabbed three people at a London subway station. The most gruesome recent attack occurred in 2013 when two Muslim converts of Nigerian descent attacked Lee Rigby, a British soldier who was walking down the street. The men ran Rigby down with their vehicle and then used a cleaver to hack him to death as bystanders watched in horror. With inputs from Associated Press and Reuters London, United Kingdom: The Islamic State group on Thursday claimed the deadly assault at the British parliament, as Prime Minister Theresa May identified the attacker as a British-born man known to intelligence services. "An act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy," May told a packed House of Commons, which stood for a minute's silence in remembrance of the victims of Wednesday's strike on the symbol of Britain's democracy. "We are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism," May said. Armed police have arrested eight people in raids linked to the rampage that left three people dead and sowed panic in the heart of London. The Islamic State group said it was responsible, according to the Amaq propaganda agency linked to the jihadist organisation. "The perpetrator of yesterday's attack in front of the British parliament was a soldier of the Islamic State and the operation was carried out in response to calls to target coalition countries," Amaq said citing a "security source." Defiant British lawmakers returned to "business as usual" in the surreal silence of an area of central London normally thronged with tourists. Twenty-nine people were treated in hospital, including seven in critical condition, some with "catastrophic" injuries. Among them were French school children and foreign tourists. The attacker mowed down pedestrians with a car on Westminster bridge, killing two, and then jumped out and stabbed to death a police officer guarding parliament before being shot dead. The carnage was unleashed on the same day Brussels was marking the anniversary of Islamic State group bombings that killed 32 people. Hundreds of extra police were on patrol in London as officers worked around the clock to piece together what happened in the deadliest attack in Britain since four suicide bombers killed 52 people on the capital's transport system in July 2005. Europe has been on high alert after a wave of deadly jihadist assaults over the past two years. May said the attacker's identity was known to the police and the MI5 domestic intelligence service. He was British-born and some years ago had been a "peripheral figure" investigated over concerns about violent extremism. "There was no prior intelligence of his intent or of the plot," May said. Britain's top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley said that police had arrested eight people in raids on six houses in London, the central city of Birmingham and elsewhere. "It is still our belief... that this attacker acted alone yesterday and was inspired by international terrorism," he said. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told BBC radio the working assumption was that the attack was linked to "Islamic terrorism in some form". The British flag over parliament flew at half-mast in a sign of mourning while forensic officers in white suits carried out a fingertip search of the courtyard outside where 48-year-old policeman Keith Palmer was stabbed to death. Police officers lined up outside their new headquarters nearby for a minute's silence in front of the eternal flame to officers who have given their lives in service. Queen Elizabeth II was due to open the building formally on Thursday but postponed the visit. "My thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's awful violence," she said, in a statement expressing her "enduring admiration" for the police. London Mayor Sadiq Khan called a candlelit vigil on Trafalgar Square later Thursday. Among those in parliament was Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose face was left smeared with blood after giving first aid to the fatally wounded police officer. US President Donald Trump and French President Francois Hollande both spoke to May and Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany stood with Britons "against all forms of terrorism". Britain's last terror attack was the 2016 assassination of MP Jo Cox by a pro-Nazi sympathiser in her constituency in northern England shortly before the vote to leave the European Union. That vote triggered a push in Scotland for a second referendum on seceding from the United Kingdom. The Scottish Parliament has postponed a debate and vote on the referendum following the London attack. The debate is now due to resume on Tuesday, the day before Britain is set to trigger the Article 50 two-year departure process for leaving the EU. May's spokesman said there was no intention to delay Article 50 because of Wednesday's attack. International victims A Spanish diplomatic source confirmed that one of the dead was 43-year-old British citizen Aysha Frade, whose mother was Spanish. Media reports said she was on her way to pick up her two daughters, aged seven and nine, from school. A man in his 50s was also killed. Several international tourists visiting one of London's most iconic sights were also caught up in the violence. Those wounded included 12 Britons, four South Koreans, three French children, two Romanians, two Greeks and one each from China, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland and the United States, May said. Three police officers were among those hurt, two of them seriously, and a seriously injured woman was rescued from the River Thames after coming off the bridge. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault travelled to London to visit three French pupils on a school trip who were among those hurt. The attack in London on Wednesday afternoon proves that terrorism has found a fresh conduit. Get personal. Up close and personal and hit the unarmed and the civilian, that is where it hurts. The numbers at the end of a very frightful day were five dead, forty wounded and only one terrorist those are bad and frightful odds. There is something more horrifying about the common public being hit in small numbers than the mega scenario of death and destruction where numbers mean nothing. It is the same mental DNA that makes the human mind respond to the singular. The child on the beach in Greece. The captains cap in an aircrash. The sight of Kim Phuc, the child running away from napalm that stopped the Vietnam war. The shot by Kevin Carter of a vulture next to a South Sudan baby waiting that woke up a global conscience. The new terrorist has realised that blasting buildings and transporting bombs are more 'spy who came in from the cold' stuff and passe in that the attention does not justify the effort and the expense. ..and for them the risk of being tracked. There is the chilling realisation that everything that moves is potentially dangerous and vehicles are available by the thousands. Just do a Paris or a Berlin and you get a nation to cower in fear. What can you do? Take everyones car away? Low tech terror is the norm these days and what one would call micro-terrorism has become easier to handle, requires less planning, less risk and most importantly, less use of brainwashed manpower. Also, with minimum use of the terror network the odds on tracking the perpetrators decrease exponentially. They become sleeper agents with no paper trail. This is the fourth major vehicular attack in recent times. That it is so easy to do and is just like driving under influence with intent makes it impossible for any force to foresee the possibility and pre-empt it. That it occurs close to iconic sites adds to the panic and the sense of desolation. What happened in London is an indicator that no city is safe. India, too, is a vulnerable nation and with terror tactics getting unpredictable, it's just a question of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Take Indian High Commissioner Yash Sinha's example. He, apparently, drove over the Westminster bridge 60 minutes prior to the attack. Like the three French students on a study trip to the United Kingdom hit by this man and the ripple effect hitting of France. As a world we have only one defence and that is to share intelligence and get on the same page. If we do not wake up to this dimension there will be more such attacks, random and non-specific without any blowback that could lead us to the masterminds. And every city should also take heed of the way in which the London services and systems responded and the impressive co-operation between police, medical services, the government and the public in locking down a city instantly to ensure that what happened on Westminster Bridge was not a diversion or the first link in a chain of attacks on the British capital. Emma Barnett, for BBC Radio 5 Live, stated that the streets around Westminster were unusually quiet. It is "extremely eerie", she said quietly, "essentially its as though (London's) heart has stopped beating." Did not quite agree with that but when terror strikes at places you are familiar with it causes a major disturbance in the community, a I was there yesterday sensation which is devastating. We, in India, also need to have an urban blue book, one that marks the steps that must be followed and ensures the real time responses are made so that casualties are minimized. In the sadness there has to be an awareness. While it might give US President Donald Trump and his tribe more evidence for hardcore reactions the true sorrow is that tomorrow morning every brown-skinned man woman and child especially if they are Muslim will wake up wondering if they will have to be the payback in a nation creped by fear. Do the terrorists understand that? Not likely. Which child will pay the price going to school? Which housewife will be cold shouldered the supermarket? Which husband will be put on lighter duties or sideswiped in his job just because, you know, who knows? The dastardly attack on Wednesday afternoon near the British Parliament by a knife-wielding man is the first major terrorist attack in London since the 7/7 transit bombings of 2005, which had killed 52 and wounded more than 700. Wednesdays attack, that killed five, including a policeman and the attacker, and injured about 40 among whom were three French high school students, four British university students, two Romanians, five South Korean tourists and a German woman residing in Australia reflects an emerging pattern globally, of 'copycat terrorism.' The attack appears to imitate similar "successful" attacks in France and Germany last year. On July 14, 2016, at least 84 were killed and dozens more injured when a lorry deliberately drove into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France. On December 19, some six month's after Nice, a truck was used to drive over pedestrians in a Christmas market, next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz, in Berlin; this incident left 12 people dead and 56 others injured. In Wednesday's eerily similar attack, the assailant drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing two people, before crashing it outside the Parliament. While attempting to enter the complex, he stabbed an unarmed police officer with a knife, who later died from the injuries. The police shot the assailant dead. In all these 'copycat' attacks, there was only one assailant a lone wolf and the instrument of attack happened to be a motor vehicle. A lone terrorist is far less likely to trigger an alarm or come under the police scanner. The design is obvious attack in a public place or high profile spot (such as the British Parliament), where the potential casualties are high and the resultant publicity will be global in reach. In other words, in a copycat attack, the instrument of terror is 'low-value' and easily accessible it can be anything of normal use (such as a motor vehicle) but the target, ideally, should remain 'high-value'. Secondly, the exercise is done in such a manner that there will be enough scope for the so called Left and liberal elements in established democracies (such as India, countries in Europe and North America) and the myriad of human rights organisations to argue that the "lone wolf" is not necessarily a part of a terror franchise, such as the Islamic State (IS) or Al Qaeda and that he could be "deranged enough" to commit such an act, without taking any instructions from any organisation. After all, it is the most common explanation offered for such an attack everywhere that economic deprivation and lack of education forced the attacker to adopt extreme views and turn to terrorism. In other words, extremism and fanaticism are fallouts of poverty and a lack of opportunities, for which the "State" is responsible. However, in both the Nice and Berlin attacks, the IS claimed responsibility, though not immediately. In both the incidents, more people were subsequently discovered to be involved in managing the attacks. Even in Wednesday's attack, the British Police have already arrested seven people suspected to be involved from different parts of the country. It should be noted that the date of the London incident, 22 March, happens to be the anniversary of the suicide bombings in Brussels last year, that claimed 32 lives. Therefore, it can be safely assumed that the latest attack on London has "IS links." Thus, it will be a folly to treat the 'copycat' terror in Europe as disconnected from global Islamic terror the terror that is being fought in the name of Islam. It is a well-coordinated effort at a massive scale, the notable tactical change being that the copycat syndrome employs assailants who are carefully chosen mainly immigrants, poorly-read, underemployed and drug addicts. This is so because they can be easily allured by employing starkly religious language and invoking religious texts that promise "other-worldly" rewards as compensation for "this-worldly" sacrifice including "the guarantee of eternal Paradise and the lascivious offering of seventy-two heavenly virgins." The London episode should not distract us from the fact that neither material deprivation nor inadequate education is a major cause for support of terrorism or participation in terrorist activities. After examining the educational backgrounds of 75 terrorists behind some of the most significant recent terrorist attacks against Westerners, Peter Bergen, the author of 'Holy War Inc', and Swati Pandey, a research associate at the New America Foundation, have found that a majority of them are college-educated, often in technical subjects like engineering and medicine. Databases of terrorism perpetrators collected by sociologist Diego Gambetta and political scientist Steffen Hertog also reflect this trend. In other words, the latest brand of the 'copycat terror' only masks the ugly truth that Islamic terror continues to attract reasonably well educated, financially comfortable and, in some cases, quite well off and often gainfully employed people. Consoder how some of our misguided professionals from Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telengana have joined the IS in last few years. That their number is very small is a different matter altogether. Of course, this is not to suggest that poverty is not connected with the deadly phenomenon. But the important point is that whereas the poor may turn out to be foot soldiers or motivators, like the assailants in Nice, Berlin and London, the leadership are usually in the hands of those who are well educated and powerful. The idea here is that if you have more educated and intelligent people in your ranks to guide you from behind, there are greater chances of success for terror incidents. We can ignore this reality only at our peril. By Ju-min Park | SEOUL SEOUL A North Korean missile appeared to have exploded just after it was launched on Wednesday, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said after detecting the latest in a series of weapons tests by the nuclear-armed state that have alarmed the region.The launch attempt was made near the city of Wonsan, on North Korea's east coast, the same place it launched several intermediate-range missiles last year, all but one of which failed."U.S. Pacific Command detected what we assess was a failed North Korean missile launch attempt ... in the vicinity of Kalma," Commander Dave Benham, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command, said in a statement, referring to an air field in Wonsan."A missile appears to have exploded within seconds of launch," Benham said, adding that a more detailed assessment was underway.A South Korean military official also said the missile appeared to have exploded just after it was launched.It was not clear what type of missile it was. The South Korean defence ministry said it was conducting analysis to determine further details. The increasing frequency of missile tests has fuelled a growing sense of urgency over how to respond to isolated, unpredictable North Korea, which conducted its fifth nuclear bomb test in September.It launched four ballistic missiles from near its west coast on March 6 and this week conducted a rocket engine test that its leader, Kim Jong Un, said opened "a new birth" of its rocket industry. The latest launch came as the U.S. envoy for North Korea policy, Joseph Yun, met his South Korean counterpart in Seoul to discuss a response to the North's weapons programmes. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Japan, South Korea and China and said that a policy of strategic patience with North Korea had ended, and all options, including a military one, were on the table if North Korea threatened South Korean or U.S. forces.U.S. officials stress however that tougher sanctions will be the likely response for the time being, and a senior U.S. official told Reuters on Monday the Trump administration was considering these as part of a broad review of North Korea policy. North Korea is believed to be working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland, but experts believe it is still several years away from that capability.John Wolfsthal, a senior director for non-proliferation and arms control at the U.S. National Security Council under former President Barack Obama, said it was difficult to pinpoint the cause of the missile test failures, but that North Korea's quality-control limitations were a likely factor. "There are many, many things that have to go right for (a missile) to work," he said, adding that failures nevertheless provided North Korea with vital knowhow and experience that would eventually allow them to develop a working intercontinental ballistic missile."They will eventually learn ... and no amount of sanctions and isolation will slow them, he said. Eventually they will be able to make it work."U.S. President Donald Trump rebuked Kim on Sunday, saying the North Korean leader was "acting very, very badly" and in a show of force in Tuesday, the U.S. Air Force said it deployed a B-1B Lancer strategic bomber in bilateral training missions in Japanese and South Korean airspace.The United States is also deploying an advanced missile- defence system in South Korea, in spite of objections from China, North Korea's neighbour and only ally.On Tuesday, a North Korean diplomat dismissed the threat of more sanctions and said his government would pursue an "acceleration" of its nuclear and missile programmes, including a "pre-emptive first strike capability" and an inter-continental ballistic missile. (Reporting by Idrees Ali, Jonathan Landay, Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom in Washington, Kaori Kaneko and Chris Gallagher in Tokyo, Jiwon Choi and Christine Kim in Seoul; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and James Dalgleish) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. As our neighbours celebrate their 77th Pakistan Day to mark the passing of the Lahore Resolution which demanded a separate homeland for Muslims of the subcontinent, here's what their press is reporting: Dawn reported that the celebrations kicked off at a military parade held at the Parade Ground near the Shakarparian hills in Islamabad with a pledge to make the country stronger by wiping out terror, achieving sustainable economic growth and political stability. 'India jeopardising peace of region' Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain, addressing the ceremony said, Pakistan's traditional atomic power is to ensure regional peace and stability and accused India of jeopardising the peace of the region through irresponsible behaviour, Dawn reported. "We are ready for dialogue with India and want to resolve the issue of incomplete agenda of the division of the subcontinent, in accordance with the UN resolutions on Kashmir," he said. 'India tanking Indus Waters Treaty talks' Dawn also reported that Pakistani officials accused India of tanking the next rounds of water talks which were slated held in Washington next month. Pakistan wants the World Bank to act as a guarantor of the Indus Waters Treaty, but India prefers negotiating within the framework of the treaty. Pakistani officials also stated that they wanted a decision that was legally binding on both India and Pakistan and that such a decision could come only from a court of arbitration and not a neutral expert. 'Release Kashmiri leaders from house arrest' According to a report in The Express Tribune, Pakistani foreign office urged India to release Kashmiri leaders who were put under house arrest in order to stop them from attending the reception being held at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi. These arbitrary restrictions are against the principles of democracy and freedom of movement, the foreign office said. We impress upon India to release the Kashmiri leaders and representatives from Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir so that they are able to attend Pakistan National Day reception." 'Thank you China' A contingent of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), Saudi Special Force's contingents and Turkish Janissary Military Band also participated in the parade. Hussain thanked China for sending its soldiers for the parade and described it as a "historic opportunity", Xinhua news agency reported. He said the Chinese army had never participated in such events earlier in Pakistan. Hussain also acknowledged the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, saying the project is a best example of bilateral economic partnership. Earlier, at rehearsal, Major General Li Jianbo, head of China's 90-member contingent, said: "We have come here to convey a message of friendship to Pakistan on behalf of the Chinese people and the Chinese army. We sincerely hope that Pakistan will progress day by day and its army will be stronger and stronger." With inputs from agencies By Michael Holden and Estelle Shirbon | LONDON LONDON The attacker who ploughed a car through a throng of pedestrians and then stabbed a policeman outside Britain's parliament was named on Thursday as Khalid Masood, a British-born man who was once investigated by MI5 intelligence officers over concerns about violent extremism.The death toll from Wednesday's attack on the heart of Britain's democracy grew to five as police said one of the injured, a 75-year-man, had died in hospital after his life support was withdrawn. That number included Masood, 52, who was shot dead by police.The attack was the deadliest in Britain since 2005, when 52 people were killed by Islamist suicide bombers on London's public transport system.It followed a series of Islamist militant operations that have killed some 280 people in France, Belgium and Germany in just over two years, and marked the third occasion a lone attacker has used a vehicle as a weapon.Islamic State claimed responsibility in a statement issued by its Amaq news agency, but did not name Masood and gave no details. It was not clear whether the attacker was directly connected to the jihadist group.Police said Masood was born in the county of Kent in southeast England and was most recently living in the West Midlands region of central England."Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement."However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH (grievous bodily harm), possession of offensive weapons and public order offences."Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament the attacker had once been investigated by the MI5 intelligence agency over concerns about violent extremism, but had been a peripheral figure.A U.S government source said Masood had associates with an interest in joining jihadist groups abroad, but there was no evidence he had done so himself."The people he was hanging out with did include people suspected of having an interest in travelling to join jihadi groups overseas but the attacker himself never did so," the source said. Police said Masood had never been convicted of a terrorist offence. His first conviction was in 1983 for criminal damage and his last one in December 2003 for possession of a knife.MAYHEM During five minutes of mayhem in the heart of London on Wednesday, Masood sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, mowing down pedestrians. He then ran through the gates of the nearby parliamentary precinct and fatally stabbed an unarmed policeman, Keith Palmer, before being shot dead."He will be deeply missed. We love him so much," Palmer's family said in a statement. The 48-year-old was married with a five-year-old daughter.About 40 people were injured, of whom some were in critical condition. May visited some of them, her spokesman said.Police arrested eight people at six locations in London and Birmingham in the investigation into the attack, which May said was inspired by a warped Islamist ideology. All were suspected of preparing terrorist acts, police later confirmed.The Enterprise rental car company said the vehicle used had been rented from its Spring Hill branch in Birmingham, which is in the West Midlands. The bloodshed took place on the first anniversary of attacks that killed 32 people in Brussels. A minute's silence was held in parliament and outside police headquarters on Thursday morning.As dusk fell, hundreds gathered in London's Trafalgar Square in a vigil to remember the victims. With traffic diverted away, volunteers handed out candles in an eerie silence.Helen Pallot, 26, from just outside London, was holding a bunch of flowers she planned to lay nearby."I have got a lot of friends and family that work five minutes away from there, so it just makes you think," she said. "It made me angry and sad and I wanted to come here and show that we can still all be here together."Speaking at the United Nations in New York, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson urged Internet providers and social media networks to do more to curb extremist propaganda."Theyve got to look at the stuff thats going up on their sites, theyve got to take steps to invigilate it, to take it down where they can," he said. "LONE-WOLF ATTACK" The casualties included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Chinese, one American and two Greeks, May said.Queen Elizabeth released a message saying: "My thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's awful violence."U.S. tourist Kurt Cochran was named as one of the dead in a Facebook post by family member Shantell Payne."With a heavy heart I must pass the sad news of our beautiful brother, father, husband, son and friend Kurt Cochran, he could not overcome the injuries he received in the London terror attacks," Payne wrote.Her post said Cochran's wife, Melissa Payne Cochran, was in hospital with a broken leg and rib and a cut on her head.The couple were in Europe to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.U.S. President Donald Trump paid tribute to Cochran in a tweet, calling him "a great American".Many have been shocked that the attacker was able to cause such mayhem in the heart of the capital equipped with nothing more than a hired car and a knife."This kind of attack, this lone-wolf attack, using things from daily life, a vehicle, a knife, are much more difficult to forestall," Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC.Three French high-school students on a school trip to London were among the injured. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault met some of their fellow students near the hospital where they were being treated. Their lives were not in danger. (Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper, William James, Costas Pitas, Kate Holton, Kylie Maclellan, Elisabeth O'Leary, Michael Holden, Alistair Smout, Stephen Addison and Mark Hosenball; writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Ralph Boulton, Kevin Liffey and Mark Trevelyan) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The top U.S. general in Europe said on Thursday that he had seen Russian influence on Afghan Taliban insurgents growing and raised the possibility that Moscow was helping supply the militants, whose reach is expanding in southern Afghanistan. "I've seen the influence of Russia of late - increased influence in terms of association and perhaps even supply to the Taliban," Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, who is also NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.He did not elaborate on what kinds of supplies might be headed to the Taliban or how direct Russia's role might be.Moscow has been critical of the United States over its handling of the war in Afghanistan, where the Soviet Union fought a bloody and disastrous war of its own in the 1980s. But Russian officials have denied they provide aid to the insurgents, who are contesting large swaths of territory and inflicting heavy casualties, and say their limited contacts are aimed at bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table.According to U.S. estimates, government forces control less than 60 percent of Afghanistan, with almost half the country either contested or under control of the insurgents, who are seeking to reimpose Islamic law after their 2001 ouster. Underlying the insurgents' growing strength, Taliban fighters have captured the strategic district of Sangin in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, officials said on Thursday.The top U.S. commander in the country, General John Nicholson, said last month that Afghanistan was in a "stalemate" and that thousands more international troops would be needed to boost the existing NATO-led training and advisory mission. Scaparrotti said the stakes were high. More than 1,800 American troops have been killed in fighting since the war began in 2001. "NATO and the United States, in my view, must win in Afghanistan," he said.Taliban officials have told Reuters that the group has had significant contacts with Moscow since at least 2007, adding that Russian involvement did not extend beyond "moral and political support." (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Beijing: Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is "a part" of China and India's "unfriendly" move to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the town will negatively impact bilateral ties as it involves "sensitive issues" related to the border dispute, a prominent Tibetan scholar said on Thursday. "Tawang is a part of Tibet and Tibet is a part of China. So Tawang is a part of China. There is not much problem here," Lian Xiangmin, director of contemporary research of the Beijing-based China Tibetology Research Centre, told the media reiterating China's claim over Tawang. In a rare interaction with the foreign media, he said the Dalai Lama's planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as part of south Tibet, is an "unfriendly" move on the part of India. Elaborating China's claim over Tawang, Lian said the Tawang Buddhist Monastery is part of the three main Buddhist temples of Tibet where monks of Tawang studied Buddhist "sutras". Referring to the Dalai Lama's planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh, he said in recent years the Indian government supported or made arrangements for the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang region. "It seems to us that it is not so friendly," he said. During his previous visit to Tawang, "the Dalai Lama said Tawang part of India. This is against the facts. It is not true. It undermines the friendly relations between China and India," he said. "I hope to see friendly relations between India and China. We don't want to see such a thing happening time and again. This time around the Indian government once again allowed the Dalai Lama to go to Tawang. This will only hurt the friendly relations between the two countries," he said. The Tibetan leader is expected to visit Tawang early next month. "We all know that between India and China there is the boundary question. What we should do is not to touch the sensitive areas but such a visit by the Dalai Lama will touch the sensitive issue. This will undoubtedly negatively affect friendly relations. We do hope history and facts are respected by both the parties," Lian said. Belgium police prevented a terrorist attack in Antwerp as a car tried to enter a shopping street at high speed, one person was detained, Sputnik reported. Belgian police on Thursday discovered a car containing arms and illegal material in the city of Antwerp and cordoned off a parking area where the car was stopped. The car, registered in France, seemed to have been chased down after it tried to run a red light, according to La Libre news outlet. The outlet reported that one suspect was detained by the Antwerp's police. According to Serge Muyters, chief of the city's police, quoted by Le Libre, the driver of the car was "a man on North African origin." But according to the Belgian Federal Prosecutor, detained man is French national living in France. Bart De Wever, the city's mayor, is reportedly expected to hold a press conference where he will announce that an attack has been thwarted. According to media reports, the car was trying to hit pedestrians. Demining teams have reportedly been summoned to the parking lot. "We are closely monitoring the situation. Security forces have shown exemplary work in Antwerp. [The Belgian government] remains on high alert," Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel wrote on his Twitter. On Wednesday, a man drove his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London and then attempted to enter the parliament, armed with a knife. The attack resulted in deaths of two civilians and one police officer, while 29 people are being treated in hospital. The attacker was shot dead by the police. The London attack came on the day of the one-year anniversary of three coordinated bombings in Belgian capital, two at an airport and one in the center of Brussels. WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate narrowly approved a procedural motion on Thursday to clear the way for a vote on President Donald Trump's nominee as ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, an outspoken bankruptcy lawyer aligned with the Israeli right.The vote was 52 to 46, almost exclusively along party lines, with almost every Senate Democrat voting no, to allow a final confirmation vote later this week.That amount of opposition is highly unusual for a nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel, a close ally of the United States. For decades, nominees from both Democratic and Republican presidents have been approved without objection, via unanimous consent or voice votes. Friedman, who has no diplomatic experience, is a long-time friend of Trump who worked for the Republican former New York businessman as a bankruptcy lawyer.In addition to investing in settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians, Friedman favours moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. The relocation is strongly opposed by many U.S. allies because both Israel and the Palestinians claim the city as their capital. Friedman is also known for using inflammatory language against those with whom he has political disagreements, such as describing former President Barack Obama as anti-Semitic. Democrats said his approach could risk security in a volatile region."Our ambassador should not be the kind of person who uses language to fuel violence, hate, instability," Democratic Senator Brian Schatz said after the vote. Trump's selection of Friedman reflects his shift in policy toward Israel after years of friction between former President Barack Obama and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Unlike Obama, Trump has wavered on the U.S. commitment to a two-state solution, long a bedrock of Washington's Middle East policy, and backed the embassy's relocation.When Friedman was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also largely along party lines, Republican Senator Bob Corker, the panel's chairman, praised him as an "impassioned advocate" for strong U.S.-Israeli ties."He understands the complexity of issues at stake for the United States and the necessity to support a democratic ally in an important and unstable part of the world," Corker said. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Andrew Hay) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. London: The lone attacker behind the terror attack on the UK Parliament was British, inspired by "Islamist terrorism" and known to authorities, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday, hours after the attack on Westminister bridge. May, who addressed the Commons as the Houses of Parliament reopened this morning a day after a terror attack on the complex claimed four lives and injured 29 others, said Britain's message was that "we are not afraid". "It is believed this attacker acted alone. The man was British-born and had been investigated by MI5 over extremism fears," May said, adding that the attacker was inspired by "Islamist terrorism". She also said that millions of acts of normality are the greatest response to terror. May described the investigation into the unnamed suspect as "historic" and not related to any ongoing inquiries by security services. The British Prime Minister also confirmed that eight people have been arrested as part of raids across London and Birmingham following the attack on Parliament. In her statement from Downing Street on Wednesday night, she had declared that Parliament "will meet as normal". On Thursday, she joined MPs, peers and other Londoners in a minute's silence to show solidarity with the victims of the attack and mark the start of proceedings at the Commons. Dispelling all fears, May assured that there was no reason to believe there are further imminent attacks. Eight people were arrested in raids, including some in the city of Birmingham. Police searched for clues as to why a man driving an SUV plowed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing two and injuring more than 30 others, before he fatally stabbed a police officer on Parliament's grounds. Police shot and killed the attacker, whose identity they have not yet disclosed. Parliament was locked down after the attack, and the return to business was seen as an important act of defiance. The silence began at 9:33 am, to honour the shoulder number of the murdered officer, Keith Palmer. "Those who carry out such wicked and depraved acts as we saw yesterday can never triumph in our country and we must ensure it is not violence, hatred or division but decency and tolerance that prevails in our country," Trade Secretary Liam Fox said. The other lawmakers responded: "Hear, hear!" Mayor Sadiq Khan called for Londoners to attend a candlelit vigil at Trafalgar Square on Thursday evening in solidarity with the victims and their families and to show that London remains united. London went on. Parliament Square, Westminster Bridge and several surrounding streets remain cordoned off by police. Scores of unarmed officers in bright yellow jackets were staffing the perimeter tape, guiding confused civil servants trying to get to work. In Parliament's New Palace Yard, a blue police tent was erected over the spot where the stabbing and shooting occurred, and two forensic officers worked at a trestle table nearby. Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley said that he believed the attacker acted alone and was "inspired by international terrorism." The attacker has been identified and was known to British security, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak about ongoing security operations. He declined to name the man and to give any other details about his identity, nationality or hometown. Rowley revised the death toll from five to four, including the attacker, the police officer and two civilians. He said that 29 people required hospitalisation and seven of them were in critical condition. He also said that authorities were still working out the number of "walking wounded." Police had previously given the total number of injured as around 40. One of those killed was Aysha Frade, a British national whose mother is Spanish, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had "catastrophic" injuries. Three police officers, several French teenagers on a school trip, two Romanian tourists and five South Korean visitors were among the injured. Before Rowley's news conference, British media reported that armed police carried out a raid on a property in Birmingham. The Press Association on Thursday quoted an unnamed witness saying that the operation was linked to the attack. The witness said that police raided an apartment and arrested three men. Police in the West Midlands, where Birmingham is located, directed inquiries about the operation to London's Metropolitan Police. The threat level for international terrorism in the U.K. was already listed at severe, meaning an attack was "highly likely." Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC that authorities assume the attack was linked to "Islamic terrorism in some form." Investigators worked around the clock. "They have been working right through the night, looking into his background, how he got hold of the vehicle, where the vehicle has been in the last day or two, and who may or may not have helped him," he said. Speaking outside 10 Downing St. after chairing a meeting of government's emergency committee, COBRA, Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday that level wouldn't change. She said attempts to defeat British values of democracy and freedom through terrorism would fail. Londoners and visitors "will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart," May said. President Donald Trump was among world leaders offering condolences. London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames. With inputs from the Agencies Paris: Militants are increasingly turning to vehicle-ramming attacks, like the one staged near Britain's parliament on Wednesday, because they are cheap, easy to organise and hard to prevent. Experts say the tactic of mowing people down avoids the need to obtain any explosives or weapons and can be carried out by a "lone-wolf" attacker without using a network of fellow militants all lessening the risk of alerting security agencies. "This kind of attack doesn't need special preparation, it is very low-cost, within anybody's reach," said Sebastien Pietrasanta, a French Socialist lawmaker and terrorism expert."It is often a case of individual action," he told Reuters. "They can be quite spontaneous."Five people were killed and at least 20 injured in London after a car ploughed into pedestrians and an attacker stabbed a policeman close to parliament in what police called a "marauding terrorist attack". The attacker was shot dead. Trucks were used to devastating effect last year against crowds in Berlin and Nice, in contrast to more organised attacks that have already hit Paris and Madrid as well as London in 2005 using teams of bombers or gunmen.Islamic State claimed responsibility for both the Nice attack last July, when a truck killed 86 people celebrating Bastille Day, and for the Berlin attack in December, when a truck smashed through a Christmas market, killing 12 people.While no group has yet claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attacks, Islamic State is under intense pressure in Syria and in Iraq, where one of its last strongholds, Mosul, is under assault from Iraqi forces backed by a coalition that Britain is part of.Islamic State encouraged readers of its online magazine Rumiyah in 2016 to use vehicles to kill and injure. Israel Attacks Vehicle attacks are not a new tactic in the Middle East. In 2008, a Palestinian rammed a bulldozer into vehicles on a Jerusalem street before a visit by the then US presidential candidate Barack Obama, wounding at least 16 people.Another Palestinian drove his truck into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem in January this year, killing four of them in an attack that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was likely to have been inspired by Islamic State. Former senior CIA analyst Paul Pillar said that, while concern had long focussed on "sophisticated or high-tech methods of terrorist attack, the most readily available methods for killing a lot of innocent people have always been simple and require no sophistication or training. "This includes mowing people down with a vehicle on any crowded city street. Locations might be chosen that have some other political or religious significance - such as a Christmas market, or the vicinity of a national parliament but there always are vulnerable public places with lots of people," he said. Jean-Charles Brisard, president of the Centre for the Analysis of Terrorism, a European think-tank, said Wednesday's attack seemed to be "rudimentary in its conception".Using a car as a battering-ram was a tactic that was highly rated by militants because it was lethal, he said. "With a vehicle, they cause a lot more deaths than with a knife or a machete." "Attacks today are increasingly unpredictable, with rudimentary weapons, handguns, knives, vehicles," he said. Anne Giudicelli, head of security consultancy Terr(o)risc in Paris, said the extra vigilance over large cities had helped to spawn a change in the militants' approach. "Every time you put in place a new measure after an attack or a thwarted attack, the assailants adapt to get around the measures in place and find the gaps," she said. Tyson Barker, programme director with the Aspen Institute think-tank in Germany, said the London attack underscored the difficulty of protecting "soft" targets, and the trade-offs between security and liberty in open Western societies. "You can never eliminate the possibility of an attack. The intent is to close down that openness so the response has to be smart analytics, resilience, vigilance, but not anything that would close down that openness, which is the exact thing that we're trying to preserve," Barker said. Barker said it was too early to predict the consequences of Wednesday's events but an attack by Islamic State sympathisers in San Bernardino, California, in 2015 had triggered a campaign pledge by now-President Donald Trump to ban Muslims from entering the United States. The Berlin Christmas market attack in December triggered significant changes in German policies on video surveillance and the ability to hold and detain asylum seekers deemed suspicious. Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki, part of a delegation in Paris for talks with French officials on counter-terrorism, said the defeat of groups like Islamic State and al Qaeda could lead to a splintering of the threat, creating new problems for governments."When they are defeated in Syria and Iraq we are all going to face difficulties and nobody knows where the ISIS (Islamic State) fighters will go to," he told reporters."I think we will be entering the next phase of terrorism which is through social media and lone wolves," he said. BONANZA88 JP: Situs Judi Slot Online Gacor Slot88 Bonanza Slot Terbaru Bonanza88JP adalah situs judi slot online slot88 terbaru dan terpercaya yang memberikan info bocoran rtp live admin jarwo bonanza slot terlengkap di Indonesia. Untuk anda yang sedang mencari situs judi slot terbaru gampang maxwin di slot88 dengan info bocoran rtp live admin jarwo bonanza slot, Bonanza88JP adalah jawabnya. Bonanza88 Jp merupakan situs slot gacor terbaru yang sediakan beragam jenis game slot online slot88 gampang menang dan benar-benar memberikan keuntungan untuk Anda. Ditambahkan lagi, Anda dapat nikmati beragam jenis bonus menarik dan permainan - permainan yang kerap memberi jackpot untuk anda semua. bonanza slot yakinkan anda tidak menyesal setelah tergabung bersama agen judi slot online slot88 Indonesia bonanza88 jp. Saat ini, perubahan teknologi membuat segalanya dapat dilaksanakan lewat koneksi internet, Terhitung saat bermain judi slot online slot88. Anda dapat menikmati permainan casino secara online kapan pun dan dimanapun. Tak perlu buang tenaga untuk ke casino, Anda dapat bermain slot online lewat komputer atau smartphone yang anda miliki. Disamping itu, Keringanan registrasi dan proses deposit yang paling gampang membuat pengalaman bermain anda jadi lebih cepat dan praktis serta gampang menang dengan info bocoran admin jarwo di bonanza88 jp. Telah banyak muncul situs judi slot online yang dapat secara mudah anda temukan di internet. Tapi, Tidak semua situs judi slot online slot88 itu terpercaya dan mempunyai kualitas terbaik. Anda harus pilih situs yang betul - betul terpercaya, Bila anda memutuskan untuk bermain di situs abal - abal maka anda harus berani terima kerugian. Maka dari itu, Anda harus tergabung di bonanza88 jp, Karena bonanza slot adalah situs slot gacor terbaru dan terbaik bonanza slot. Anda dapat nikmati beragam keuntungan dengan bergabung dengan bonanza slot karena bonanza slot memiliki promo bonus yang sangat menarik. Permainan Judi Online Bonanza88jp Slot Online, Judi Bola, Casino Online, Poker Online, Togel Online Slot Online Win Rate Tinggi Pragmatic Play, Joker123, Pgsoft, Microgaming, Habanero, Playtech, Slot88 Slot Gacor Terpercaya Gate of Olympus, Wild West Gold, Sweet Bonanza, Aztec Gems, Fruit Party Casino Online Indonesia Sbobet Casino, Ion Casino, Pretty Gaming, AG Casino, Pragmatic Play, Sexy Baccarat, AllBet Judi Poker Online Terbaik IDN Play, 9Gaming, BalakPlay Nama Nama 14 Situs Judi Slot Online Terpercaya Gampang Menang 1. Slot Online Pragmatic Play 2. Slot Online PG Soft 3. Slot Online Slot88 4. Slot Online Joker Gaming 5. Slot Online Habanero 6. Slot Online Flow Gaming 7. Slot Online Microgaming 8. Slot Online Spadegaming 9. Slot Online RTG Slots 10. Slot Online Play N Go 11. Slot Online Playtech 12. Slot Online Live22 13. Slot Online ION Slot 14. Slot Online Slot88 Situs Judi Slot Online Gacor Slot88 Bonanza Slot Terbaru Proses registrasi untuk tergabung jadi anggota di bonanza88jp juga gampang karena akan di pandu oleh customer service slot88. Tak perlu proses lama dan sulit untuk bergabung menjadi anggota bonanza88 jp. Cukup dalam beberapa detik saja anda bisa menjadi anggota di situs judi slot online slot88 bonanza88 jp dan akan mendapatkan info bocoran rtp live bocoran admin jarwo. Dengan proses deposit yang gampang dan minimum deposit yang dapat dijangkau, Anda bisa langsung nikmati beragam jenis permainan judi slot online slot88 di bonanza88jp. Beragam jenis bonus bonanza slot pasarkan dan dapat anda cicipi selekasnya mungkin dan info bocoran rtp live admin jarwo selalu siap memberikan anda jackpot terbesar di slot88. Bonanza88 Jp adalah situs slot gacor slot88 yang sangat berkualitas sehingga memberikan rtp live terlengkap. Bonanza88JP banyak memiliki permainan slot online bonanza slot yang kerap sering kasih jackpot terbesar dari info bocoran rtp live admin jarwo. Anda memiliki kesempatan besar untuk memperoleh jackpot karena bonanza slot menyediakan rtp live yang membuat anda gampang menang. Disamping itu, Minimal deposit bonanza slot juga sangat murah, Dan anda masih tetap mempunyai kesempatan besar untuk memperoleh hadiah dan keuntungan yang berlipat - lipat hanya bermodal info bocoran rtp live admin jarwo. Bonanza88JP sebagai situs judi slot online bonanza slot terpercaya mempunyai pelayanan terbaik kepada konsumen setia dan selalu siap online sepanjang 24 jam setiap hari. Bonanza slot dengan senang hati akan menjawab semua pertanyaan anda secara baik karena sebagai situs slot online terbaru dan terpercaya pelayanan kepada konsumen setia adalah nomor satu. Kecepatan Server % Keamanan Data Akun % Rating Situs % Layanan Support % Langkah Registrasi Anggota di Situs Slot Gacor Bonanza88JP Bagaimana triknya supaya anda dapat tergabung sebgai anggota di bonanza88 jp? Gampang sekali, Anda cukup ikuti beberapa langkah di bawah ini: 1. Masuk Ke Situs Bonanza88JP Langkah awal yang perlu anda kerjakan tentu saja ialah masuk lebih dulu ke situs bonanza88 jp. Anda dapat menemukan situs bonanza slot secara mudah di mesin penelusuran google. Setelah itu, anda bisa langsung melakukan registrasi dan melakukan deposit di slot88. Anda juga bisa menyaksikan lebih dulu bagaimana situs judi slot online slot88 dari bonanza slot dan bonus apa yang terdapat di situs bonanza slot selain itu jumlah permainan yang dapat anda mainkan. 2. Lakukan Registrasi Anggota dan Deposit Bonanza88JP ialah situs slot online slot88 terbaru dan terpercaya yang mempermudah anda untuk lakukan proses registrasi sebagai anggota dan mendeposit. Anda dapat ikuti instruksi dalam situs bagaimana cara daftar. Tidak sulit dan lama tentu saja, anda cukup isi info yang diperlukan dan secara cepat anda segera jadi anggota di situs slot online slot88 terbaik bonanza88 jp. Proses deposit di situs bonanza88jp termasuk gampang dan tak perlu masukkan jumlah yang besar. Dengan minimum deposit sebesar 10rb, anda telah langsung bisa bermain dan mempunyai peluang memenangi hadiah yang berlipat-lipat. Ditambahkan lagi, sistem deposit yang bervariatif dari bonanza88 jp membuat proses deposit jadi lebih gampang dan ringkas. 3. Bonanza88JP Menawarkan Slot Deposit Pulsa, Bank, dan E-Wallet Anda dapat mendeposit lewat Bank BCA, BNI, dan Berdikari. Disamping itu, bila anda memutuskan untuk mendeposit lewat pulsa, karena itu anda dapat pilih provider Telkomsel dan XL. Anda bisa juga mendeposit slot lewat OVO, DANA. GOPAY, dan Link Saja. Beragam jenis sistem deposit yang ada pasti mempunyai tujuan untuk mempermudah anda sepanjang jadi anggota di bonanza88 jp. 4. Peroleh Bonus Terbesar Setelah Bergabung Anda dapat memperoleh bonus saat menjadi anggota di bonanza88 jp yang sangat banyak sekali dan hanya di sediakan untuk anda. Bonanza88JP menawarkan beragam jenis bonus bagus yang benar-benar mengutungkan untuk Anda. Bonus new anggota, Bonus cashback, Bonus rollingan, Bonus deposit, Bonus referal, dan masih banyak lagi yang dapat anda raih. Anda dapat nikmati keuntungan bila mengajak teman atau kerabat untuk tergabung bersama situs slot online bonanza88 jp. Lewat code referal, Anda dapat memberi code yang anda miliki bila rekan anda ingin bergabung. Setelah proses deposit, Anda bisa langsung mengklaim bonus anda lewat live chat atau mengontak nomor WA pada bagian customer service konsumen setia bonanza slot. Keuntungan Bermain di Situs Slot Gacor Online 24 Jam Bonanza88JP Main game slot online slot88 pastinya tak dapat lewat situs slot online abal-abal, Anda mesti bermain di situs slot online yang sudah terpercaya serta bermutu. Apabila anda bermain di situs abal-abal, Anda bakal rugi besar. Oleh karena itu, Yakini anda memutuskan situs slot online terhebat serta terpercaya dan memiliki mutu yang paling bagus. Bonanza88JP adalah situs slot online terhebat tentunya sudah terpercaya selama bertahun-tahun. bonanza slot situs yang selalu berusaha untuk menyediakan pelayanan yang terbaik untuk semua member bonanza slot. Ditambahkan lagi, bonanza slot hanya menyiapkan game slot online bermutu yang tentunya dapat menghadirkan keuntungan buat anda. Bonanza88JP merupakan alternatif yang cocok buat anda yang sedang cari situs buat main bermacam ragam permainan judi online. Di bawah ini adalah keuntungan yang anda bisa apabila masuk jadi peserta di situs slot online bonanza88 jp : 1. Layanan Konsumen Online 24 Jam Setiap Harinya. Sama dengan situs slot online terpercaya, Bonanza88JP terus mempunyai komitmen buat memberinya service terhebat buat member-nya. Apabila anda masuk di bonanza88 jp, anda dapat nikmati pelayanan konsumen yang terus bersiap sedia buat anda. Apabila anda punya bermacam pertanyaan, anda langsung dapat mengabari bonanza slot. Pelayanan konsumen bonanza88 jp bakal menjawab semuanya pertanyaan anda dengan bagus. 2. Layanan Server Terbaik di Indonesia. Server yaitu hal khusus yang bikin sebuah situs dapat berjalan secara baik. Bonanza88JP punya mutu server yang terhebat serta dapat memberi dukungan keamanan anda dalam menjajahi situs bonanza88 jp serta nikmati bervariasi game slot online yang bonanza slot tawarkan. Selaku situs slot online bermutu, pastinya bonanza slot cuman memanfaatkan server yang punya mutu terhebat. Maka, anda dapat betah dan nyaman berlama-lama main di bonanza88 jp. 3. Struktur Keamanan Yang Telah Teruji. Bonanza88JP yaitu situs slot online bermutu serta terpercaya, di mana keamanan peserta yaitu nomor satu, tergolong keamanan banyak peserta bonanza slot. Main di situs bonanza88 jp, anda tak usah risau terkait keamanan anda. Semuanya personal data anda aman disimpan serta tak dapat ditebarluaskan. Anda dapat main dengan nyaman serta aman cuman di bonanza88 jp. 4. Merasakan Bervariasi Bonus Terbaik. Bonanza88JP menjajakan bermacam ragam bonus menarik. Anda dapat nikmati bermacam ragam bonus seperti bonus new peserta, bonus cashback, bonus rollingan dan sebagainya. Diluar itu, game slot online serta game casino online yang lain yang bonanza slot menawarkan pun bermutu serta menjajakan bermacam ragam bonus serta spesifikasi. Anda dapat nikmati sejumlah keuntungan dengan masuk selaku pemain bonanza88 jp. 5. Memiliki Kemungkinan Mendapat jackpot Besar. Bonanza88JP menyiapkan bermacam ragam game slot pembuat uang. Bonanza slot menjajakan game slot online yang ringan menang serta kerap kasih jackpot buat anda. Dengan masuk serta main selaku peserta di bonanza88 jp, anda punya kemungkinan buat mendapat jackpot bedat serta jadi pemenang hadiah. Daftar 14 Situs Judi Slot Gacor Terbaik Gampang Maxwin 1. Slot Gacor Pragmatic Play 2. Slot Gacor PG Soft 3. Slot Gacor Slot88 4. Slot Gacor Joker Gaming 5. Slot Gacor Habanero 6. Slot Gacor Flow Gaming 7. Slot Gacor Microgaming 8. Slot Gacor Spadegaming 9. Slot Gacor RTG Slots 10. Slot Gacor Play N Go 11. Slot Gacor Playtech 12. Slot Gacor Live22 13. Slot Gacor ION Slot 14. Slot Gacor Slot88 Daftar 16 Provider Slot Online Terbaik dan Terpercaya Memilih sebuah provider slot online terbaik di Indonesia memang tak bisa dilakukan dengan mudah. Apalagi buat para pemula. Banyak yang masih kebingungan dalam menentukan provider judi slot online yang terbaik dan terpercaya. Oleh karenanya, petaruh harus selalu berhati - hati dalam memilih provider yang memang terbaik dan bisa diandalkan dalam permainan tiap hari. Salah satu kemampuan yang harus dimiliki para pemain slot online adalah memahami provider yang bisa dipercaya. Kemampuan ini harus benar - benar dimiliki. Sebab, permainan jadi lebih lancar jika para petaruh memahami provider mana saja yang layak digunakan. Kemampuan seperti itu harus benar - benar dimiliki. Jadi, Mlai sekarang pahami provider slot gacor88 mana saja yang bisa diandalkan. Kalau memakai provider yang terpercaya dan berkualitas, pilihan game di dalamnya pun juga akan sangat lengkap. Kalau menggunakan game - game yang lengkap dan beragam itu, keuntungan yang bisa didapatkan para petaruh akan semakin banyak dan juga berlimpah. Ini adalah hal penting dalam permainan tiap hari. Sebenarnya, petaruh bisa memilih provider - provider terbaik yang sudah tersedia sebelumnya. Ada banyak sekali pilihan provider yang terpercaya. Jadi, petaruh bisa langsung menentukan pilihan dari game - game yang sudah ada tersebut. Tinggal disesuaikan dengan preferensi dan kesukaan masing - masing petaruh. Lalu, provider slot online mana saja yang layak dipilih dan digunakan dalam permainan judi sehari - hari? Berikut ini adalah rekomendasi provider game slot online terbaik yang bisa dicoba para petaruh. 1. Slot Online Pragmatic Play Pragmatic Play yaitu provider slot terhebat serta begitu tenar di golongan banyak pemain. Pragmatic Play yaitu situs slot online yang udah lama meningkatkan game slot online terhebat. Permainan slot dari Pragmatic adalah game slot online ringan menang yang rata - rata RTP bermainnya di atas 95%. Sejumlah game slot online tenar dari Pragmatic Play salah satunya yaitu Sweet Bonanza, Joker Jewels, Wild West Gold, serta Gates of Olympus. Seluruhnya dapat anda coba terlebih dulu lewat demo slot Pragmatic Play. 2. Slot Online PG Soft PG Soft yaitu perusahaan pengembang game slot online yang udah berdiri lama. PG Soft udah meningkatkan bermacam ragam game slot online bermutu serta tentulah ringan buat dimenangi. Dengan rata - rata RTP 95%, anda akan tidak menyesal permainkan game slot online yang ditingkatkan oleh PG Soft. Apabila anda ingin tahu, lekas permainkan dengan cara gratis buat coba lewat slot demo PG Soft. 3. Slot Online Habanero Habanero adalah situs slot online pemasok game yang punya nama besar di industri judi online. Game slot online yang ditingkatkan punya tingkat RTP rata - rata sebesar 95% sampai 97%. Sejumlah game ternama dari Habanero salah satunya yaitu London Hunter, Zeus, Presto!, serta Dragon's Throne. Pastinya masihlah banyak kembali game slot online yang lain yang dapat anda coba permainkan dengan demo slot Habanero. 4. Slot Online Playtech Playtech dibuat di tahun 1999 serta udah meningkatkan banyak game slot online bermutu. Playtech adalah perusahaan fitur lunak yang menyiapkan bermacam ragam permainan judi online salah satunya game slot online, casino, dan sebagainya. Game - game itu dapat anda coba terlebih dulu lewat slot demo Playtech. 5. Slot Online Joker Gaming Joker123 atau joker gaming yaitu situs slot online terhebat yang memiliki game slot online yang dapat anda permainkan. Joker 123 punya bermacam ragam slot game pembuat uang terhebat yang dapat anda permainkan. Apabila anda pengin coba terlebih dulu, anda dapat coba demo slot joker123 atau joker gaming sebelumnya main sesungguhnya. 6. Slot Online Spade Gaming Spadegaming pun adalah satu diantara provider slot paling tua yang udah berdiri sejak mulai 1998. Spadegaming adalah situs yang tenar serta sudahlah banyak meningkatkan game slot online terhebat. Spadegaming slot pun punya struktur keamanan yang teruji. Anda langsung dapat coba apabila ingin tahu dengan game slot online lewat slot demo Spadegaming. 7. Slot Online Micro Gaming Microgaming yaitu pemasok game slot online yang udah berdiri sejak mulai tahun 1994. Microgaming pun termasyhur selaku situs slot online dengan keamanan yang teruji. Game yang ditingkatkan juga punya ketenaran tinggi serta begitu patut untuk dipermainkan. Oleh karenanya, apabila anda ingin tahu jadi anda langsung dapat main memanfaatkan demo slot demonstrasi Microgaming buat coba terlebih dulu. 8. Slot Online RTG Slot RTG Slot pun adalah situs slot online pengembang game yang udah berdiri sejak mulai 1998. RTG Slot berbasiskan di Hong Kong serta punya pangkal pasar yang besar di lokasi Asia. Game slot online yang ditingkatkan oleh RTG slot termasuk simple serta ringan buat dimenangi. Apabila anda ingin tahu, anda langsung dapat coba game dari RTG slot lewat slot demo. 9. Slot Online Play N Go Play'n Go yaitu situs slot online terhebat yang udah berdiri sejak mulai 2009. Play'N Go menyiapkan permainan dengan bermacam bahasa antara lain Finlandia, Belanda, Norwegia, Swedia, juga Inggris. Sejumlah game slot online terhebat dari Play'N Go salah satunya yaitu Mega Moolah, Mega Fortune, Arabian Nights, sampai Irish Riches. Anda langsung dapat mencoba memanfaatkan demo slot Play'N Go. 10. Slot Online Flow Gaming Flow Gaming pun adalah satu diantara situs slot online pengembang game slot online ternama. Game slot online yang ditingkatkan oleh Flow Gaming pun adalah game terhebat dan ringan buat dimenangi. Game slot online yang ditingkatkan oleh Flow Gaming termasyhur dengan keamanannya juga spesifikasi. Apabila anda ingin tahu, anda langsung dapat coba slot demo Flow Gaming. 11. Slot Online Slot88 Slot88 yaitu situs slot online yang menyiapkan banyak permainan slot online, video poker, serta game casino online yang lain. Game slot online yang ditawari sama Slot88 punya tingkat RTP rata - rata sebesar 96%. Anda dapat mendapat banyak hadiah dengan tingkat RTP yang tinggi. Anda dapat coba terlebih dulu slot88 dengan memanfaatkan demo slot. 12. Slot Online Live22 ICG Slot yaitu situs slot online pembuat game slot online yang termasuk anyar di industru judi online. ICG slot jalan sejak mulai tahun 2016 serta udah sukses meningkatkan bermacam game slot online yang bermutu. Walaupun termasuk masih anyar, namun ICG Slot udah punya rekam jejak yang bagus di golongan banyak pemain slot. Anda dapat coba slot demo ICG terlebih dulu buat dapat merasai kehebohannya. 13. Slot Online ICG Slot ICG Slot yaitu situs slot online pembuat game slot online yang termasuk anyar di industru judi online. ICG slot jalan sejak mulai tahun 2016 serta udah sukses meningkatkan bermacam game slot online yang bermutu. Walaupun termasuk masih anyar, namun ICG Slot udah punya rekam jejak yang bagus di golongan banyak pemain slot. Anda dapat coba demo slot ICG terlebih dulu buat dapat merasai kehebohannya. 14. Slot Online ION Slot ION Slot yaitu perusahaan pencipta game slot online yang udah dibuat sejak mulai tahun 2011. Walaupun sedang berjalan di tahun 2011, namun ION slot telah menjadi situs alternatif buat orang - orang yang sedang cari game slot online terhebat. Coba permainkan terlebih dulu dengan slot demo ION slot biar anda dapat merasai bagaimana mutu dari game slot online ION slot. Daftar 5 Game Slot Online Tergacor di Bonanza88JP Bonanza88JP cuman menyiapkan game slot online terhebat buat anda. Semuanya game yang kami menawarkan ditingkatkan oleh provider terhebat. Ini adalah daftar game slot yang dapat anda permainkan di Bonanza88JP: 1. Sweet Bonanza Sweet Bonanza yaitu permainan slot terhebat yang ditingkatkan oleh Pragmatic Play. Permainan dengan obyek warna - warni serta banyak bermacam macam permen manis ini punya penampakan yang canggih. Anda bakal senang berlama - lama main di game slot online ini. Sweet Bonanza tergolong game slot online yang ringan dimenangi serta begitu tenar di golongan banyak pemain slot. 2. Mahjong Ways Mahjong Ways yaitu game slot online yang ditingkatkan oleh PG Soft. Game slot online ini pun adalah satu diantara game tenar di golongan banyak pemain. Mahjong Ways menjajakan obyek kebudayaan Asia terutama negara Tiongkok. Mahjong sendiri adalah permainan catur classic dari negara korden bambu. Oleh karenanya, apabila anda senang dengan penampakan bertajuk Asia, jadi Mahjong Ways yaitu alternatif yang pas. 3. Joker's Jewels Joker's Jewels yaitu game slot online yang ditingkatkan oleh Pragmatic Play. Joker's Jewels yaitu game slot online dengan penampakan slot classic yang simple. Joker's Jewels menjajakan obyek karnival dengan maskot badut sirkus. Game slot online ini sesuai buat anda yang puas dengan permainan slot classic dengan bentuk yang tidaklah terlalu ramai. 4. Wild West Gold Game slot online terhebat lalu WIld West Gold. Game slot online ini sesuai buat anda yang senang dengan permainan bertajuk koboi. Wild West Gold tergolong game slot online terhebat serta tenar yang tentulah jangan pernah anda tak memainkan. 5. Hot Hot Fruit Sesuai sama namanya, Hot Hot Fruit yaitu game slot online bertajuk buah - buahan dengan tingkat RTP sebesar 96,7%. Permainan slot ini tergolong yang terhebat serta tenar serta sejumlah pemain slot yang memainkan. Game slot online ini begitu disarankan buat anda. Tips Trik Menang Main Slot Pragmatic Biar Anda Menang Pragmatic Play yaitu provider game slot online yang terkenal di golongan banyak pemain slot online. Provider itu banyak meningkatkan game slot online yang diketahui selaku game yang ringan dimenangi. Oleh karenanya, game slot online yang ditingkatkan oleh Pragmatic Play banyak disukai oleh kebanyakan orang. Pastinya buat dapat kerap jadi pemenang game slot online Pragmatic Play, anda mesti mengikut teknik trik menang main slot di bawah ini: 1. Permainkan Game Slot Online dengan Nilai RTP Tinggi Berapa besar nilai RTP dalam satu game slot online adalah hal yang perlu buat anda cermati. Bertambah besar nilai RTP satu game, jadi bertambah besar juga hadiah yang dapat anda menangi. Oleh karenanya, apabila anda main dengan maksud buat jadi pemenang hadiah sebesar barangkali, tentukan game slot online dengan nilai RTP tinggi. 2. Permainkan Lebih dari pada Satu Game Slot Online Permainkan lebih satu game bakal membesarkan kemungkinan anda buat menang. Apabila anda cuman main lama di satu game saja, jadi kemungkinan anda bakal disitus - situ saja, bahkan kemungkin dapat jadi kecil. Kebalikannya, dengan main di lebih satu game, kemungkinan anda bertambah lebih besar. Apabila anda terasa sudah tak dapat menang kembali di satu game, jadi anda langsung dapat berganti game buat coba hoki. Oleh karenanya, bermainlah di lebih satu game slot online. 3. Di Anjurkan Untuk Bermain di Malam Hari Main saat malam hari dapat mempertingkat kemungkinan anda. Kebanyakan, game slot online melaksanakan penyegaran atau refresh di di saat malam hari. Waktu itu dapat anda fungsikan buat main serta mendapat jackpot. Lebih-lebih lagi, waktu malam hari sedikit pemain yang main, tentulah anda dapat mendapat peluang jackpot yang bertambah besar. 4. Menyediakan Modal yang Besar Untuk Bermain Biar anda dapat tanpa henti melaksanakan spin secara tanpa henti di game slot online, jadi anda butuh modal yang besar. Apabila anda cuman masukkan deposit kecil, jadi kapabilitas buat melaksanakan spin dapat menjadi terbatas. Oleh karenanya, yakini anda punya budget yang lumayan buat dapat melaksanakan spin sejumlah mungkin. Dengan melaksanakan spin sebanyak banyaknya, kemungkinan anda menang lantas bertambah lebih besar. The attacker who killed three people near parliament in London before being shot dead was named on Thursday as British-born Khalid Masood, who was once investigated by MI5 intelligence officers over concerns about violent extremism, Reuters reported. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued by its Amaq news agency, but did not name Masood and gave no details. It was not clear whether the attacker was directly connected to the jihadist group. Police said Masood, 52, was born in the county of Kent in southeast England and was most recently living in the West Midlands region of central England. "Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH (grievous bodily harm), possession of offensive weapons and public order offences." Prime Minister Theresa May earlier told parliament the attacker had once been investigated by the MI5 intelligence agency over concerns about violent extremism, but was a peripheral figure. During five minutes of mayhem in the heart of London on Wednesday, Masood sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, ploughing into pedestrians. He then ran through the gates of the nearby parliament building and fatally stabbed an unarmed policeman before being shot dead. Police arrested eight people at six locations in London and Birmingham in the investigation into the attack, which May said was inspired by a warped Islamist ideology. The Enterprise rental car company said the vehicle used in the attack had been rented from its Spring Hill branch in Birmingham, which is located in the West Midlands. "An employee identified the vehicle after seeing the license plate in an image online. We ran another check to verify, and immediately contacted the authorities," said company spokesman John Davies. Watches are not rocket science. Or are they? Watches are not rocket... Perhaps you dont have a PhD. Well, thats a shame, because with some watches, youll need one to understand how to tell the time. Perhaps you dont have a PhD. Well,... The Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is a big deal and is here to stay, Joseph Levitt, partner, Hogan Lovells LLP, Washington, told soft wheat millers participating in the annual spring conference of the North American Millers Association on Marco Island on March 13. Mr. Levitt said FSMA is the most important change to food safety in our professional lifetimes and may serve as the foundation for the federal approach to food safety for the next 50 years. Mr. Levitt, whose career includes 25 years as an attorney with the F.D.A., six of which were as director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, provided five underlying principles he said should be considered when approaching FSMA. First, implementation of FSMA will go forward. Joseph Levitt, partner at Hogans Lovells LLP, said the Food Safety Modernization Act is a big deal and here to stay." Its here to stay, Mr. Levitt asserted. It was a bipartisan bill. There always will be (foodborne illness) outbreaks in the news. Politicians will not want to roll back food safety. The food program at the F.D.A. is not on the chopping block as are other agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency. So, No. 1, you better keep your attention on FSMA because it is going to be around. Second, contrary to some of the early messaging about the bill as it was being drafted, it does raise the bar for food safety for all companies, Mr. Levitt said. Early messaging was, especially in the case of large companies, Dont worry, were just codifying what you do. Youre going to be in compliance on day one, Mr. Levitt said. Congress reasoned the bill would embody HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) principles, and many in the industry already had HACCP plans. What those drafters forgot was, when you hand a law, even a 300-page law, to a regulatory agency, the agency is going to amplify it, he said. When they amplify it, they dont amplify it down, they amplify it up. Turning to a comment made by a previous F.D.A. administrator, Mr. Levitt remarked, Remember, dogs bark, cows moo, and regulators regulate. Thats what they do. If you give the F.D.A. a statute that requires strong preventive controls, strong supplier verification and strong food defense, thats what youre going to get. Anyone who thinks this is business as usual is working under a misimpression. Third, FSMA is clearly aimed at the entire supply chain. Mr. Levitt said this key feature of FSMA is important to food manufacturers because they are being monitored not only by the F.D.A. but by their customers. Your customers are all going to be overseeing you, he said. It was intentionally set up that way because both Congress and the F.D.A. knew the F.D.A. couldnt reach everyone. Fourth, FSMA is directed not only at the domestic supply chain but the worldwide supply chain as it pertains to food products and ingredients that are imported for use in the United States. Finally, Mr. Levitt said while FSMA is all about prevention, from a regulators point of view, it is all about accountability. Congress built accountability into the law in three ways. No. 1 is records access review. The importance of records is that if F.D.A. inspectors go out, theyre not on a field trip, he said. They are there to collect evidence. And their evidence is records. It used to be they would go out and tour a plant, and what they saw is what they got. Now, theyre there to see not only what happens that day, but also what happened last week, last month, last year. Thats a whole different story. I can guarantee you that the F.D.A. has always viewed record access as just about the most important part of any new food safety law. Mr. Levitt said first, companies must be accountable to themselves through maintaining records. Secondly, companies have accountability in relation to the activities of their suppliers, and, in turn, the companies they supply become accountable for their activities. And third, there is accountability in the enforcement sense. FSMA does give the F.D.A. a number of new authorities: mandatory recall, suspension of registration, meaning it can shut your facility down, and others. That again is Congresss message: Were not kidding here. Mr. Levitt noted the flurry of executive orders issued by the Trump administration relating to regulations and budget will have some effect on the pace of implementation and enforcement; for instance, the issuance of further guidance documents may be delayed. But a rollback of FSMA itself was not in the cards. There is no seal that goes on either end of the main body. All the sealing is done by the spool seals and the small pistol below the spool. Theoretically, there should never be fluid getting past the spool seals, thus nullifying the need for seals on either end of the body. That's why when you see one of those control valves with RTV in that area, an unknowing mechanic tried to seal off a problem that can be traced to the internal seals of the unit. Randy Bradley, owner of Burger Kings in Iowa and Missouri for the past 27 years, said he is rooting for the House Republicans proposal to replace Obamacare, especially the Trump-endorsed American Health Care Acts (AHCA) plan to eliminate Obamacares employee mandate provision. According to Bradley, who employs more than 80 people, Obamacares employee mandate which requires that all businesses with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees provide health insurance to at least 95% of staff and dependents up to age 26, or pay a fee caused some of his workers to receive worse insurance than they previously had and other employees to experience up to a 20 percent reduction in wages. Basically, the government interfered and told me I couldnt provide my managers with that premium level of coverage anymore and my only option was to provide them with Obamacare, Bradley told FOX Business. Furthermore, even if I wanted to reimburse my managers for the premiums they paid for purchasing their own insurance on the open marketplace, I couldnt without facing major fines. Prior to Obamacare, Bradley said he provided his managers with a competitive group health care insurance policy, in which he contributed 75% of the premium and half of the deductible. However, a non-discrimination clause in Obamacare prevented Bradley from providing this plan to his managers if he didnt also provide the same plan to his hourly-wage employees, which he said would have bankrupt his business within three to four months. Implemented under Obamacare, according to Section 4980D of the Internal Revenue Code, if business owners reimburse employees the premiums they paid for purchasing their own insurance on the open marketplace, they are subject to a $100 penalty, per day, per employee -- or $36,500 per employee annually. As for Bradleys non-managerial, hourly-wage staff, he said a majority experienced a loss in wages due to Obamacare, and many still didnt qualify for employer-based coverage while many of those who did chose not to take it. A full-time employee, which must be provided insurance under the Obamacare employer mandate, is categorized as someone that works 30 hours or more per week. Therefore, Bradley said his employees who were working anywhere from 31-40 hours per week had their hours cut down to below 30, thereby not receiving insurance as intended by Obamacare, but actually losing hours, thus wages. For Bradleys other hourly-wage employees that kept their full-time, 30-plus hour schedule, Bradley was required to offer them Obamacare, in which he would pay 90.5% of the premium and they would contribute 9.5%. Ironically, most of my full-time crew that I offered Obamacare to, didnt take it, as they felt the penalty they would have to pay for not having it was actually less than they would have to spend on the premium to have the insurance, said Bradley. Only 4 out of Bradleys 40 full-time, hourly-wage employees opted for him to provide them with Obamacare. In addition, Bradley said the insurmountable amount of time he had to spend deciphering Obamacares rules and filling out the required paperwork, cost him revenue. Without a full Human Resources department given his businesses size, Bradley said he did most of the work himself, plus he was forced to hire an outside accounting firm to ensure he was in compliance with the 2,700-page law. Obamacare has created fear among business owners that an innocent mistake can cost their business millions in fines, said Bradley. National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) President and CEO Juanita Duggan, who categorizes Obamacare as devastating to small businesses, wrote a letter to Congress on March 14 urging each of its members who cares about small business to vote for the AHCA measure (which is Speaker Paul Ryans Obamacare replacement bill). Small business optimism has soared since November because small business owners anticipate a change in policies. Driving that optimism is the expectation that Congress will repeal Obamacare, said Duggan. Theres a lot more work to be done in order to make the health care system affordable, flexible and predictable, but the American Health Care Act is a necessary first step. Sixty percent of small business owners across the country, like Bradley, are in favor of repealing Obamacare, according to a BizBuySell.com survey of 700 small business owners and prospective buyers. Respondents of the survey cited the individual mandate as the aspect of Obamacare theyd most like to see repealed (51%), followed by the employee mandate (33%) and government subsidies (34%). As the bill currently stands, the AHCA would keep several popular provisions of Obamacare, including the following three that small business owners stated in the survey were most important to them: 1) banning the denial of health coverage to people because of pre-existing conditions (55%), 2) the right to keep children on their parents insurance plans up to the age of 26 (53%) and 3) prohibiting insurers from charging women higher rates than men for the same services (42%). According to the NFIB a conservative-leaning small-business lobby based in Washington, D.C., small business has long supported repealing and replacing Obamacare. The American Health Care Act would repeal the most punishing elements of Obamacare, including the massive tax increases and mandates that have increased costs, limited choices and smothered job creation, said NFIB CEO Duggan in a statement. However, most Democrats denounce the AHCA as a cruel attempt to strip Americans of their health care. According to projections by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), 14 million fewer Americans would be insured after one year under the Republican planas [s]ome of those people would choose not to have insurance because they chose to be covered by insurance under current law only to avoid paying the penalties, and some people would forgo insurance in response to higher premiums. But small business advocacy groups such as the NFIB argue that the AHCA will provide more health insurance choices, as it reduces health insurance costs for small businesses. This idea of choice is important to Wyoming-based Rayne Faubion, co-owner with her husband of R&R Rig Service, a 30-40 employee oil field company that repairs and moves oil field rigs in the Rocky Mountain region. Soon after Obamacare hit the market in 2010, Faubion and her husband found that Wyoming, where health care costs are high due to a small population, only had one insurance provider participating in the states online marketplace. All of the competing companies offering competitive insurance in our state went out of business, said Faubion. For a family of four, the Faubions went from paying $600 per month for insurance with decent deductibles and co-pays to $1,800 per month under Obamacare with worse deductibles and co-pays, she said. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) opposes the House plan, arguing that it would shorten the life of Medicare, hike costs for those who can least afford higher insurance premiums, risk seniors ability to live independently, and give tax breaks to big drug and health insurance companies. Older Americans want affordable health care including less expensive prescription drugs and continued protections for the most vulnerable, AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond said in a statement released this week. When Americans over age 50 look at the details of the House health care reform plan, they dont like what they see. They dont want big insurance and drug companies to reap massive profits at their expense. It is not just Democrats and groups like AARP, as of Thursday, there was still opposition to the plan from inside the GOP, dividing the party and President Trump. "We have not cut the deal yet," said House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, as reported by FOX News. At press time, it was still unclear whether the full House vote would happen Thursday, as originally was expected. Companies such as Verizon and AT&T have decided to pull ads from YouTube over extremist content in the video platform owned by Google. Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and former Google Senior V.P. of Products Jonathan Rosenberg discuss how they are addressing the issue. What we do is, we match ads and the content, but because we source the ads from everywhere, every once in a while somebody gets underneath the algorithm and they put in something that doesnt match. Weve had to tighten our policies and actually increase our manual review time and so I think were going to be okay, Schmidt told the FOX Business Networks Maria Bartiromo. Rosenberg explained that as Google has grown as a company its focus has shifted so it can better address these kinds of issues. What were focused on now is organizing around the CEOs who can have the kind of technical insights to build products that solve these kind of problems, said Rosenberg. Schmidt explained that YouTubes enormous growth has made it a big responsibility and challenge to manage. YouTube for example went from about 100 million hours of watched per day, to one billion hours of YouTube watched globally per day, its an extraordinary platform and an extraordinary responsibility. According to Schmidt, it is possible for computers to solve the issue of dealing with extremist videos as well as fake news. My own view on most of this sort of extremist things as well as fake news in general is that its essentially a ranking problem. Were very good at detecting whats the most relevant and whats the least relevant. It should be possible for computers to detect malicious, misleading and incorrect information and essentially have you not see it. Though Schmidt does not see this as censorship, saying, Were not arguing for censorship, were arguing just take it off the page, put it somewhere else. But Schmidt viewed it as a bigger issue with social media. Its a big problem in social media in my view, the social media thinks in terms of links, not ranking right? And theres undifferentiated linkings, like Im going to link to here and here and all of a sudden theyve discovered they think that what they think is a woman whos a passionate activist whos in fact a computer right, run by the Russians or whatever stereotype you have. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has settled a $3 billion lawsuit in which the bankruptcy administrator of MF Global Holdings Ltd accused the auditor of malpractice that led to the collapse of the brokerage run by former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine. Terms were not disclosed, but the case was "settled to the mutual satisfaction of the parties," representatives for PwC and the administrator said in separate statements on Thursday. The accord ends a trial that had begun on March 7 in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) All that glitters is not gold. Or so appears to be the case with some gold stocks right now. While players across the gold industry have taken a beating in recent months,Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE: AEM) and Yamana Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUY) have been hit particularly hard. They're down nearly 21% and 41%, respectively, in the past six months. Compare that to the relative resilience that larger gold miners like Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) and Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) have displayed and you're bound to wonder whether there's trouble brewing at Agnico and Yamana. AEM data by YCharts. If you ask me, I think the big price drops in both stocks offer a great opportunity for precious metal investors. But how do Agnico and Yamana stack up and which one should you buy? It's a tough match, as you shall soon see, but one stock looks particularly compelling right now based on three key aspects. 1. AISC: Agnico leads Gold prices aside, two other factors drive a gold miner's profits: production and costs. While production can differ considerably depending on the size and scale of a miner, costs are where things get really interesting because in a volatile industry like precious metals, low costs can prove to be one of the strongest competitive advantages. Image source: Getty Images. Gold miners use all-in sustaining cost, or AISC, to measure costs, which is a comprehensive metric that includes nearly every element of operating expenses. From a cost standpoint, Agnico had a strong 2016 as it beat its own target and ended the year with AISC of only about $824 per ounce, substantially lower than Yamana's 2016 AISC of $911 an ounce. It's worth noting, though, that Yamana reports AISC on a co-product basis or before deducting by-product metal revenues from production costs. Agnico's co-product AISC was $894 per ounce last year. Agnico is clearly more cost efficient than Yamana, but its investment thesis gets even stronger when you stack it against other players in the industry. Gold miner AISC for 2016 ($ per ounce) Agnico Eagle $824 Yamana Gold $911 Barrick Gold $730 Goldcorp $856 Newmont Mining $912 Data source: Companies' financials. You guessed it right: Agnico is among the lowest-cost producers in the industry today -- a status unlikely to change in 2017 given the miner's projected full-year AISC of $850-$900 an ounce versus Yamana's AISC guidance of $890-$910 an ounce. Agnico clearly wins this round. 2. Cash flows: Yamana makes the cut Do you wonder why most miners suffer losses or barely make profits even when precious metal prices are on the rise? I believe net income isn't a great metric metric to judge a miner's standing. That's because the nature of the mining business is such that miners periodically revalue their reserves based on spot prices, which could mean big writedowns when prices are falling as exploration and development of mines becomes unviable. That's not to say the mines aren't valuable anymore, but miners still end up with huge non-cash expenditures (read: writedowns) that make their profits look smaller than what they really are. Remember how Barrick sent shockwaves through the industry when it announced writedowns worth $3 billion early last year? Now here's the deal: Barrick ended 2016 with net profit worth only about $861 million but generated operating and free cash flows worth nearly $2.6 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively. The point I'm trying to drive home is that if you want to see how healthy a gold miner is, focus on its cash flows instead of profits. Here again, Agnico trumps Yamana in terms of growth in cash flows in recent years. AUY cash from operations (TTM.)Data source:YCharts. Let me warn you that Agnico's free cash flow could sufferfor a year or two as it spends money on developing its Meliadine and Meadowbank mines in northern Canada, having recently reversed asset impairments on them. Agnico expects to start production at both mines by the third quarter of 2019, which should push its total its production to 2 million ounces by 2020 from about 1.6 million of ounces for 2019. In contrast, I expect Yamana's cash flows to improve going forward as it brings its seventh mine, Cerro Moro, on line by early next year. Yamana's efforts to strengthen its balance sheet -- it recently spun off subsidiary Brio Gold and hasn't ruled out the possibility of selling its stake in Brio to raise cash to invest in growth and repay debt -- should provide further support. It's a tight call, but I believe Yamana wins this round given its immediate cash flow potential. 3. Valuation: The winner is... So far, it's a tie, so the final decision boils down to valuation. My favorite valuation metrics are based on cash flow, especially when it comes to mining stocks. AUY price to CFO per share (TTM). Data source:YCharts. It's a clear verdict: Yamana looks incredibly undervalued on a cash flow basis. When you factor in the growth potential in its cash flows in coming years, the stock could turn out to be a bigger winner than Agnico. 10 stocks we like better than Yamana GoldWhen 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 Yamana Gold 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 February 6, 2017 Neha Chamaria 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. ADS ADS The avant-garde X-TREM-1 by Christophe Claret, launched in 2012, is proof that watchmakings sacred cows are no match for the march of technological progress. Since the early days of watchmaking, magnetic fields (along with gravity) have been the watchs worst enemy, because they interfere with how they work. Watchmakers have therefore endeavoured to protect their timepieces from this malevolent influence, notably by using amagnetic materials. Five years ago, Christophe Clarets X-TREM-1 took the bull by the horns, beat those magnetic fields into submission and enfolded them in its bosom, where they became an integral part of the time display. The X-TREM-1 StingHD which Christophe Claret is unveiling at Baselworld this year has the same manually-wound mechanical movement and FLY11 flying tourbillon as its 2012 predecessor. The retrograde hours and minutes display uses two small hollow steel spheres placed inside two tiny sapphire tubes on either side of the caseband. The one on the left shows the hours, the one on the right, minutes. And thats where the magnetic fields come in. They are generated by two magnets pulled by cables 0.04 mm in diameter made up of hundreds of nanofibres of an extremely strong polyethylene gel, and they move the spheres inside the tubes. The spheres are thus magnetically propelled for a distance of 23 mm inside the tubes, along a graduated hour or minute scale, which is how they indicate the time. These thoroughly tamed magnetic fields have no mechanical connection with the movement, which makes the hour and minute display all the more mysterious. The Swiss lever flying tourbillon, which is set at an angle of 30 to give the wearer the best possible view, makes one full rotation each minute using the energy supplied by one of the movements two barrels, and is fitted with a double ceramic ball race. The second barrel is dedicated to the hour and minute display. Aesthetically, the look of the new X-TREM-1 StingHD will be familiar to connoisseurs of the American luxury brand StingHD. The company has been handcrafting mens jewellery and accessories for more than fifty years. Some of its impossibly cool leather straps, embellished with precious metals or diamonds, feature the same skull motif as the X-TREM-1 StingHD. The black chromed aluminium skull of the timepiece, designed by the New York jeweller, can be found on the tourbillon, whose cage was specially adapted to accommodate it. Its eye sockets are filled with two natural red rubies. Another evanescent, grimacing skull appears on the specially treated sapphire crystal when the wearer breathes on it. The watchs black and red livery is intended to evoke the terrifying mystery of death. The imposing rectangular case with the typically curvaceous profile of the X-TREM-1 collection is made of black PVD titanium, and the tubes that contain the hour and minute spheres are encased in a steel mesh, also coated with black PVD. The rubies of the eyes are mirrored by the red lacquered hour and minute markers, the Christophe Claret name and logo on the sapphire crystal, and the StingHD name and logo on the tourbillon cage, as well as the scarlet topstitching of the black shagreen strap. Just eight of the X-TREM-1 StingHD will be available. Each comes with an additional personalised strap and a jewellery bracelet decorated with a skull made of black diamonds with ruby eyes. It carries a price tag of 278,000 Swiss francs (plus VAT). Working for yourself has a lot of perks. Being able to save easily for retirement isn't one of them, thanks to the inaccessibility of employer-sponsored 401(k) or pension plans. Individual Retirement Account. Image source: Getty Images. Self-employed individuals currently make up around one-third of the workforce, and this entrepreneurial group is expected to account for 40% of all U.S. workers by 2020. Unfortunately, 61% of workers who've struck out on their own after previously working for an employer report they're more anxious about saving for retirement than when they had a traditional nine to five job. Concerns about retirement are justified. A TD Ameritrade survey found self-employed baby boomers were collectively $1.7 trillion short of having $1 million saved for retirement. The individual shortfall: $335,000 per person. The good news is, there are Individual Retirement Accounts to provide options for the self-employed to save for retirement and get tax breaks for doing so, even if entrepreneurs don't have access to a traditional 401(k). Consider these options to find the IRA that is right for you. SEP-IRAs SEP-IRA plans have high contribution limits, but require employers to contribute an equal percentage of salary for each employee who is eligible to participate. This option is often best for a business owner, including a sole proprietor, with few employees or no employees. Maximum contributions for a SEP-IRA as of 2017 are the lesser of 25% of employee compensation or $54,000. There are no catch-up contributions. Contributions are made with pre-tax dollars and you count as your own employee. All contributions to a SEP-IRA are made by an employer. If you have employees, contributing to their SEP-IRAs can become expensive. You do not have to contribute the same dollar amount to employee accounts as you contribute to your own; just the same percentage of income. If you save 15% of your salary in your SEP-IRA, you must make contributions to employee accounts of 15% of each employee's pay. Simple IRAs Simple IRAs are a good option for business owners with fewer than 100 employeesand no other workplace retirement plan. Employers can easily establish a Simple IRA using form5305-SIMPLEwith an eligible financial institution, such as a brokerage firm. You can open a Simple IRA even if you are your company's only employee and even if you operate as a sole proprietorship. Employees may contribute pre-tax up to $12,500 in a Simple IRA in 2017, plus an additional $3,000 at age 50 and up.Contributions are made through withholding funds from employee paychecks. Employers are required to match 3% of employee compensation or to make 2% non-elective contributions for each employee, regardless of whether that employee contributes to his or her own account. If you have a large number of employees, making elective contributions to their accounts can be costly but is not generally as expensive as making SEP-IRA contributions for staff. Contribution limits are also lower than SEP-IRA limits, which means the maximum you can save for your own retirement in this account is much lower. Traditional and Roth IRAs Self-employed individuals can also contribute to a traditional or Roth-IRA, both of which are open to any workers, even those with traditional wage income. However, contribution limits are often much lower, at just $5,500 maximum for most workers, plus an additional $1,000 in catch-up contributions if you're over 50 as of 2017. Higher-income earners are also disqualified from tax breaks for investing in these accounts if their spouse has access to a workplace retirement plan. Still, if you are eligible and you don't want to use a SEP-IRA or Simple IRA because you can't afford to contribute to employee retirement accounts, a traditional or Roth IRA offers you another option. Since you typically can put aside more tax-advantaged retirement savings due to your self-employed status, take advantage of this opportunity if you can. Pick the best self-employed retirement account option and start investing soon so you can reach your savings goals. The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,122 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after.Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The Nikkei share average edged up on Thursday, crawling back from a 1-1/2-month low, as support from a weaker yen helped offset a political scandal centered on the wife of Japan's prime minister. The Nikkei ended 0.2 percent higher at 19,085.31 points, after traversing in negative and positive territory. Earlier, it hit as low as 18,973.75, its lowest intraday level since Feb. 9. The market came under pressure from a political scandal involving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife. The principal of a Japanese nationalist school said in testimony to parliament on Thursday that he received a donation of 1 million yen ($8,980) from the prime minister's wife in 2015. Abe has previously denied that his wife donated 1 million yen to the school on his behalf. Japanese stocks later recovered, supported by the U.S. dollar inching up from four-month lows against the yen. The broader Topix was flat at 1,530.41 points, and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 added 0.1 percent to 13,688.70 points. (Reporting by Ayai Tomisawa; Editing by Randy Fabi) President Donald Trumps pick to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, white collar lawyer Jay Clayton, faced an aggressive line of questioning from Wall Street watchdog Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee Thursday. The Democratic Senator from Massachusetts took a thinly veiled jab at President Trump during the hearing, suggesting he chose Clayton in order to make it easier for Wall Streets bad actors to run free. If President Trump wanted to make sure that the SEC would have a hard time in going after his Wall Street friends, you would be the perfect SEC chair, she said without giving Clayton an interruption-free chance to respond. Under ethics rules, for the first two years of his tenure Clayton would be forced to recuse himself from cases involving former clients. As Warren cautioned, that includes a multitude of big banks. Your recusal problem seems to be even more severe than [former SEC] Chair [Mary Jo] Whites, Warren concluded. Claytons extensive experience with the world's biggest financial firms served as both a source of support and criticism on Capitol Hill Thursday. Clayton is currently partner at renowned law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, and his past clients have included Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), UBS (NYSE:UBS), Volkswagen, Bill Ackmans Pershing Square Capital Management and Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX). His wife also works for Goldman Sachs, though she has committed to leaving the role if her husband is confirmed. Warren said recusals pose a problem because it would leave the commission, which is currently comprised of Democrat Kara Stein and Republican Michael Piwowar, in a deadlock, prohibiting action. Republicans, she said, favor weaker enforcements, while Democrats favor stronger ones. Holding Wall Street firms accountable is a major job of the SECs mission and the SEC chair needs to be able to participate in those enforcement actionsNot on the sidelines when former clients and Wall Street firms are able to skate freethat raises a very serious concern about your nomination, Warren stated in summary. While Clayton didnt have an opportunity to respond to Warren directly, he was able to react when Senator Rounds (R-SD) took the floor and forfeited a portion of his time so the lawyer could respond to Warrens monologue. Much of the enforcement activity of the commission as I understand is driven by the enforcement division and the oversight of the enforcement division. I have every confidence that that will continue and that any recusals that I have to do will not impact that, Clayton countered. He also pushed back on Warrens accusations that Republicans are lax on enforcement. I do not see it that way. I think sometimes people of different parties have different enforcement priorities. But I would not say Republicans are lax on enforcement, he said. Additionally, Clayton addressed the issue of bipartisan deadlock in the event of his recusal, stating the biggest strength he would bring to the position is his ability to build a consensus. When pressed on potential business conflicts within the Trump administration, Clayton promised he would be committed to showing no favoritism to anyone. Clayton is expected to win the confirmation vote handily. After months of teasing, Alaska Airlines has bad news for loyal customers of Virgin America their airline's name is being dumped. Alaska says it will retire the Virgin brand, probably in 2019. Virgin America joins Northwest, US Airways, Continental and many others on the scrap heap of airline brands. With its hip vibe including mood lighting, orders of food and drinks from seat-back screens, and a staff of young, attractive flight attendants, Virgin America stood out from traditional competitors. After Alaska bought Virgin America last year for $2.6 billion, its CEO held out hope of keeping the name alive. But running an airline within an airline adds complexity and costs, so many in the business aren't surprised by Alaska's decision. The Honda CR-V was the best-selling crossover in America last year, but most of those sales happened before the all-new 2017 model hit showrooms in December. Things have only gotten better since then. Its now firmly supplanted the Accord as Hondas top model and finds itself vying for the title of Best-Selling Vehicle Thats Not a Pickup. Theres good reason for this. There wasnt much wrong with the CR-V, but now it has more room, more efficiency and more refinement than any other vehicle in the class. The CR-Vs excellence is such that trying to pin down how it can be so superior to the others is like trying to understand the concept of an infinite universe. It is. Just deal, and bask in the glory. Im speaking objectively. Youll have to decide if you like the way it looks. The CR-V is instantly recognizable as a crossover, but with a muscular style that suggests its been to the gym. Turns out it is fit and trim. Despite its bulked-up look and dimensions, it weighs a little less than the old one. Its also the most powerful CR-V yet if you step up from the entry-level $24,985 LX model, with its tried and true 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine, to a $27,635 EX, which comes with the CR-Vs first turbocharged motor: a 1.5-liter four-cylinder rated at 190 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque. Thats not the most available in the segment, but its plenty, and its fuel economy rules the roost at 30 mpg combined with front-wheel-drive, which is better than the sleeker Honda Accord sedan can do, and 29 mpg with all-wheel-drive, which the Accord doesnt have. The tiny engine even sounds pretty good, thanks to electronic noise-massaging wizardry, which also helps give the CR-V the quietest cabin this side of an Acura showroom. The interior is Hondas best-looking, too. With lots of soft surfaces and convincing wood and metal finishes, it outshines the larger, more expensive Pilot. Unlike in many crossovers today, the CR-Vs rear seats cant slide back and forth to divvy up leg and cargo room as needed, which seems like an oversight until you realize theres more than enough of each to make the feature unnecessary. FOLLOW FOX NEWS LIFESTYLE ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE AUTO NEWS The EX, EX-L and Touring trim levels have a 7-inch touch screen for an infotainment system thats equipped with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, but its most impressive feature is the reintroduction of a volume knob. Its literally a small thing, but the last CR-V didnt have one. You had to rub your finger back and forth on the screen to change the volume. This never worked right and was as distracting as it was infuriating. No one liked it, except maybe the person who designed it, although I wonder about that. The fact that Honda reverted to old-school tech indicates that it takes constructive criticism well. (Heres some more: Next time, bring back the tuning knob, too.) Turbo CR-Vs also come with a safety boost provided by the Honda Sensing package of autonomous driving aids. This includes a self-steering lane-keeping system, adaptive cruise control and pedestrian-detecting automatic emergency braking. I suggest applying the brakes for yourself sometime because they are as responsive as the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show champion, and youre the one that gets the treat. Do it on a twisty road, where the CR-V shines brighter than a small crossover should. The steering is quick, the suspension keeps the body in check while soaking up the worst the pavement can throw at it, the continuously variable transmission works as well as one with fixed gears and the view out of the windows is as expansive as that universe youre still trying to figure out. Family car shopping is a much simpler concept. If you need one, but not three rows of seats, buy the CR-V like everyone else. You wont feel so alone anymore. ---------- 2017 Honda CR-V AWD Touring Base price: $24,985 As tested: $34,595 Type: 5-passenger, 4-door utility Engine: 1.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder Power: 190 hp, 184 lb-ft torque Transmission: Continuously variable automatic MPG: 27 city/33 hwy Hollywood's biggest stars have recently had their private photos stolen and leaked online, but it is not clear if the FBI is making any moves to investigate the recent resurgence of celebrities' personal pics online. Demi Lovato, Emma Watson, Amanda Seyfried, Mischa Barton, Rose McGowan, figure skater Analeigh Tipton, model Dylan Penn and "Arrow" star Katie Cassidy are all among the latest victims of a list that continues to grow. The celebrity nude photo leak is being compared to August 2014s massive photo leak, where over 500 private nude photos of more than 100 female celebrities were distributed across the internet. The images range from benign snapshots from clothes fittings, to nudes and an alleged sex tape featuring Barton. 'BEAUTY AND THE BEAST' BREAKS RECORDS: IS EMMA WATSON NOW HOLLYWOODS MOST SOUGHT AFTER ACTRESS? Fox News reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department, and Drake Madison, a media relations spokesperson, said the LAPD wasn't looking into the recent leaks stating, There is no information regarding the celebrities listed. An FBI spokesperson in the Los Angeles office told Fox News the FBI could neither confirm nor deny an investigation into the recent leaks. The FBI does, however, have an ongoing investigation into the 2014 hack. Lovato, who was a victim of the 2014 hack, spoke out about the recent incident via Twitter and laughed it off. She tweeted, I love how everyones freaking out about one picture. Its not nude and its just cleavage." She added: Besides the world has seen me nude BY CHOICE before #vanityfair. The site Celeb Jihad recently shared private images of Seyfried and Watson. Despite being threatened with legal action, the website has not pulled down the photos of Watson, 26, and Seyfried, 31, and has instead made more celebrity nude photos public. Photos from a clothes fitting Emma had with a stylist a couple of years ago have been stolen. They are not nude photographs. Lawyers have been instructed and we are not commenting further, Watsons spokesperson told the BBC. According to The Sun, the Beauty and The Beast star is now taking legal action against the leak. According to TMZ, Seyfried's legal team is also looking to press charges. Seyfried's attorney sent a letter to Celeb Jihad, demanding the site remove the images that were intended to be private. The letter states the photographs were unlawfully obtained by a third party, and leaked to the site without Seyfrieds consent. MISCHA BARTON APPARENT VICTIM OF 'REVENGE PORN' In 2014, one of the major hacking victims Jennifer Lawrence sat down for an interview with Vanity Fair. I can't even describe to anybody what it feels like to have my naked body shoot across the world like a news flash against my will, the "Hunger Games" star said. It just makes me feel like a piece of meat that's being passed around for a profit. Just because I'm a public figure, just because I'm an actress, does not mean that I asked for this. It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It's my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can't believe that we even live in that kind of world, she added. People forget that we're human. Steve West has finally completed his North American caribou hunt and with a world-record bull. Three years ago, West, the host of The Adventure Series on Outdoor Channel, challenged himself to kill one bull from each of the five North American caribou species with just his CVA muzzleloader rifle. But even the avid hunter couldnt have predicted how his most recent hunt would end. In 2013, he snagged the first of his five caribou: the Alaskan-Yukon Barren Ground. Over the next few years, he followed it up with a Central Canadian Barren Ground, a Mountain Caribou and a Quebec-Labrador, leaving only one species in his crosshairs: the Woodland Caribou of Newfoundland. MINNESOTA 'BUTCHERS' CHARGED IN STATES LARGEST TRAPPING BUST Wests search for a Woodland bull took such an incredible turn that hes dedicating an upcoming episode of The Adventure Series to tell the tale. In October, West flew to Newfoundland, Canada, to meet up with Wayne Holloway, an expert hunter and guide at the Pine Ridge Lodge. Together, they began a days-long journey in search of the perfect bull. The two tracked caribou through the some rutting grounds near Clarenville, in the eastern part of the island, but West wasn't in a rush to snag the first one he saw. "I was going to enjoy every day I was out there," West told Fox News. "The reality is, I didn't want (the trip) to end." After days of in the wildreness, the duo finally spotted an ideal specimen perched on top of a hill. But when West approached and aimed his muzzleloader at the animals vitals, he noticed something was amiss. My instincts told me that something was wrong, West recalls on the show. (The bull) had a broken leg and puncture wounds on his side, from fighting, and he was thin and very old, he added. I had two seconds to understand what I was seeing. Ultimately, West decided to pull the trigger and take the animal down a move that lined up with his beliefs as a conservationist. "The conversationist in me overcame any other insticts that I had," West told Fox News. "(The caribou) was done. He was at the end of natural life. In a split second, I said to myself,' I have to take this caribou.'" I couldnt let him run off in that condition, West added in a press release. GREAT WHITE CIRCLES MAUI FISHERMAN FOR OVER AN HOUR Conservationists in Newfoundland will likely agree. According to wildlife biologist Shane Mahoney, the caribou in Newfoundland have been depleting their own food supply, resulting in starvation and weaker offspring. Thinning the herd and allowing the lichens to regrow is one way to replenish the population. But Wests split-second decision didnt just serve to further the future of the Woodland Caribou; he very likely scored himself a world record in the process. Upon returning home and receiving the bulls antlers in the mail, it was clear that West had snagged an especially large animal. An official from the Boone & Crockett Club records committee confirmed Wests suspicions, and scored the bull at 330 1/8 a full seven inches larger than the previous record holder. "I knew he was big when I shot him, but I didnt even think he might be a potential world record, said West. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS West is currently awaiting his certification of his muzzleloader world record for a woodland caribou. But in the name of fairness, his record is only "pending" until it officially appears in the Longhunter Societys eighth-edition record book. "For all I know, there could be a bigger one out there thats never been scored We want to be fair to any of the other hunters out there." Even still, West seems equally as proud of killing the suffering Woodland bull for the greater good of Newfoundland's population. To go kill any other bull would be irresponsible. That wouldve been like killing two bulls, West said. "I wouldve never lived that down in my own mind. Catch the story of West's incredible hunt in a special episode of "The Adventure Series," airing on March 25 at 7:30 p.m. on Outdoor Channel. Ana Alvarez, a working mother of two in Lima, never imagined being on the frontlines of a fight for marijuana in conservative Peru. But a police raid on a makeshift cannabis lab that she and other women started to soothe the symptoms of their sick children has roused support for medical marijuana, prompting President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to propose legalizing it in the latest pivot away from decades-old restrictions on drug use in Latin America. Alvarez said cannabis oil is the only drug that helped contain her epileptic and schizophrenic son's seizures and psychotic episodes. She and other women in similar situations formed the group Searching for Hope to seek legal backing as they honed techniques for producing the drug. "We wrote to Congress, to the health ministry," Alvarez said from her apartment as her son played in his room. "We got two negative responses." But the police bust put the women's plight on national television, triggering an outpouring of sympathy as they marched with their children in tow to demand police "give us our medicine back." "When we saw their reality, we realized there's a void in our laws for this kind of use" of marijuana, said cabinet advisor Leonardo Caparros. "We couldn't turn a blind eye." It is unclear if the right-wing opposition-controlled Congress will pass Kuczynski's proposed legislation, which would allow marijuana to be imported and sold in Peru for medical reasons and could permit domestic production after two years. Kuczynski, a 78-year-old socially liberal economist, once provoked an uproar for saying that smoking a joint "isn't the end of the world." But an Ipsos poll conducted following the raid showed 65 percent of Peruvians favor legalizing medical marijuana, and another 13 percent back legalizing the drug for recreational use. If the bill is passed, Peru would follow neighboring Chile and Colombia in legalizing the medical use of marijuana. Mexico's Senate has approved a bill to permit the use of medical marijuana, while Uruguay has fully legalized cannabis from seed to smoke. In the meantime, Searching for Hope has turned to the black market. Member Roxana Tasayco said cannabis oil had given her terminal cancer-stricken mother her appetite back and calmed her vomiting and nausea. "It's not going to cure her but it'll give her a better quality of life in her last days," said Tasayco. "If I have to break a few laws to do that for her I will." (Reporting By Mitra Taj; Editing by Andrea Ricci) The war in Syria is now in its seventh year. According to the United Nations, millions have been displaced and hundreds of thousands have been killed including medical workers. More than 750 medical personnel have been killed since the beginning of the war, increasing the need for doctors and nurses. A team of doctors and professors in the U.S. and abroad are working to train Syrian medical students online. Tarif Bakdash, a doctor and associate professor of pediatric neurology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center is part of that team. "As a Syrian originally," Bakdash said. "I feel like I have an obligation to help the Syrians at this point and as an American I feel I have a duty to bring to the world what is the United States about. Which is again to me a country of love and kindness and compassion." Bakdash immigrated to the United States from Syria in the 1980's. He volunteers his time on weekends to help develop a curriculum for medical students at Free Aleppo University (FAU). He says the university was founded nearly two years ago by former professors of Aleppo University, which is controlled by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "The idea behind it is because most of the medical students and most of the university students in Aleppo area can't go anymore to the universities because they are controlled by the government," Bakdash said. "These are kids in the rebel held areas. So basically the interim government decided to start a university." FAU has gained support in the United States since its founding. Yale University hosted a meeting in May of 2016 to drum up support for the university. Kaveh Khoshnood an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health, helped organize the meeting. Khoshnood says the school operates "underground" literally and figuratively since most students study in basements of buildings in "safe" locations. "Just getting together carries a risk of being targeted by the government forces," Khoshnood said. "Their locations are completely secret, we never know and of course we never ask where they are but they know fully well their taking risks but they want to be educated they want to work as doctors and nurses," he said. Although Yale University doesn't offer classes to FAU students, Khoshnood says he hopes to do more in the near future. Yale University medical students even started a YouCaring campaign to purchase anatomy apps for FAU students. Khoshnood added his colleagues at the State University of New York at Albany already have a platform in place to teach displaced students. The State University of New York at Albany offers classes to FAU students through its Global Multilingual Online College. Arash and Kamiar Alaei are brothers and co-directors of the school's Global Institute for Health and Human Rights. The Alaei brothers created a platform to help displaced students from around the world continue their education. "We developed the idea in late [2013] and we searched for the opportunity to recruit students," Arash Alaei said. "[The] Yale meeting was a great opportunity to have access to our target. After one month we started to deliver academic course[s] in addition to intensive English language program. Alaei says the courses are free for the nearly 500 students at Free Aleppo University and the platform provides nearly 60% of the pre-clinical courses needed. Professors at FAU teach the remaining classes. He added that the majority of students take the courses on their smartphones since they do not have access to laptop computers. According to Alaei, most of the students remain in Syria with some reside in Turkey. So far, the initiative has received nearly $100,000 in grants but Alaei says they are looking to build on the program and nail down more support from other universities. Alaei also says students are able to receive credit from Bahcesehir University in Turkey since FAU lacks accreditation. As the war wages on, Bakdash says he is focused on helping the Syrian people help themselves and rebuild his former homeland. Last year he visited Al Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan and he will make another trip to the region to provide care to those affected by the war this summer. "Let's open our hearts," Bakdash said. "Let's help them and let's support them. Not by bringing them here, but let's help them over there and we can do a lot, I think," he said. A 9-year-old boy wont be spending his spring break playing video games or sleeping in late, as hes determined to sell enough lemonade to help his ailing grandfather pay his medical bills. Angel Reyes, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, hatched the plan over Christmas with his mom, 11 Alive reported. I wanted to make money for him, $100, maybe $120, selling lemonade and popsicles, Reyes told the news outlet. Reyes grandfather, 52-year-old Richard Sanchez, was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in December and recently underwent surgery to remove a 9-inch tumor. The procedure has left the self-employed construction worker unemployed with mounting bills, 11 Alive reported. He is a very macho guy, but hes scared, Chasity Sanchez, Reyes mother, said of her father. The scary part for him is that he lost his sister 11 years ago to the same cancer. Reyes constructed a lemonade stand with the help of his uncle, and hung signs with hand-painted cancer ribbons. He sells cups of lemonade and ice pops for .50 cents each, and has even enlisted the help of a few friends, the news outlet reported. We sent pictures of the stand to my dad, Sanchez told 11 Alive. He got emotional when he saw them. News of the stand spread online prompting people to donate on a GoFundMe page, or take a ride to see Reyes in action. We raised $48 the first two days, and have done pretty good today, Sanchez told 11 Alive on Wednesday. Reyes said he wants to do anything he can to help his grandpa. I care a lot about my grandpa, he told 11 Alive. I want to do anything I can to help him. People have been really nice about wanting to help, too. Ill keep doing this as long as I can, if it will help him. ADS ADS While preserving a timeless elegance, this new model respects the the Villeret line with its full fired enamel dial, double-stepped bezel and pure lines. The chapter ring and Blancpain logo are enamel-painted, a decorative technique requiring many successive oven firings at an extremely high temperature (more than 800 Celsius). The Semainier Grande Date 8 Jours model offers a large twin-aperture date display, along with a week of the year indication showing the number of the week around the rim of its dial with a traditional blued serpentine hand. To ensure visual balance as well as enhanced readability, the day of the week is also displayed with a blued hand on a subdial in the 9 oclock position. The change of the week of the year takes place with the transition from Sunday and Monday. The numbering from 1-53 is a reminder that certain years comprise 53 weeks according to official calendars. The red gold 42mm case is equipped with Blancpains patented under-lug correctors that are entirely out of view when the watch is worn. This system enables the owner of the timepiece to adjust the indications with a finger tip, thus avoiding the need for a stylus tool. The corrector at 11 oclock serves to modify the day of the week; while its counterpart at 1 oclock controls the week of the year. The large date is set via the crown. This new model is powered by Caliber 3738G2, a 378-part self-winding movement. It is equipped with three mainspring barrels guaranteeing an 8-day power reserve, as well as a titanium variable-inertia balance with gold micrometric regulation screws and a balance spring in silicon. This material offers several advantages. Firstly, its low density makes it lighter and thus more shock-resistant. In addition, it is impervious to magnetic fields. The resulting balance spring is ideally shaped, thereby ensuring improved isochronism performance of the movement, which in turn leads to enhanced timekeeping precision. The sapphire case back provides a clear view of the finely hand-finished movement and the gold winding rotor with its honeycomb guilloche pattern. This new creation is offered with a hand-stitched chocolate-colored alligator strap. See all Baselworld news >> Gingers stand out from the crowd for more than the bright hue of their hair. They are also relatively rare: Only between 1% and 2% of the world's population is born a redhead. These folks carry two copies of a variant of the MC1R gene, which determines our hair and skin color. Their redhead DNA also leads to pale skin and cute frecklesbut that's not all. Research has revealed a handful of ways having red locks can affect a person's health, from how they feel pain (hint: more intensely) to their likelihood of developing various diseases. Your melanoma risk is higher It's no secret that their pale skin makes gingers more susceptible to sunburns and skin cancers. But in 2012, researchers actually discovered a link between redhead DNA and skin cancers with more mutations. Non-redheads aren't off the hook, either: Carrying just one copy of the recessive MC1R variant appeared to be tied to a bump in the number of mutations linked to melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer. It's another reminder of just how important it is to protect yourself from the sun's harmful rays no matter your hair color, and especially if you've got fiery locks. RELATED: 4 in 10 Popular Sunscreens Dont Meet Sun Safety Standards You're better at making vitamin D Fortunately for redheads, it doesn't take much sun exposure for their bodies to manufacture a healthy amount of vitamin D. Pale-skinned people are most efficient at synthesizing D, which is crucial for bone health, and is thought to protect against depression and fight off colds. (Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked a slew of health conditions, from hair loss to cancer.) Scottish experts have speculated that this ability gives redheads a genetic advantage in gloomy climates, because they can churn out more D in low-light conditions than people with darker skin or hair. You may be more sensitive to pain Research suggests that redheads experience pain more intensely than others, and may even require more anesthesia for surgery. The reason isn't entirely clear, but as this video from the American Chemical Society explains, one theory is that ginger DNA may heighten neural activity in the periaqueductal greya part of the brain that controls some pain sensation. RELATED: How the Mind Controls Pain You may look older than you are (but only a little) You can blame your DNA: In a Current Biology study published last year, Dutch researchers found that adults who carried two copies of the MC1R gene variant typically appeared two years older than other white adults of the same age. And it wasn't because gingers had more wrinkles (which you might guess, since they're more prone to sun damage). The gene variants were linked to other signs of aging, such as thinning lips and sagging skin along the jaw line, the researchers said. "This suggests the gene is affecting facial aging through some unknown route," co-author David Gunn, a senior scientist at Unilever, told HealthDay. RELATED: How to Get Rid of Frizzy Hair Male gingers are less likely to get prostate cancer Research published in 2013 in the British Journal of Cancer suggests that gingers have roughly half the risk of prostate cancer as men with light brown hair. The investigators followed more than 20,000 men in a long-term health study, and found that less than 1% of redheads got prostate cancer, compared to 40% of men with light brown hair. The study did not reveal why this is true, but the authors speculated that one possible explanation might have something to do with vitamin D. This article originally appeared on Health.com. The First Daughter has reportedly hired Cat Williams a former Vogue Australia staff member as her stylist. It is not known how long Williams has been working with Ivanka, who has an unofficial advisory role in her father President Donald Trumps White House. Williams previously worked as a fashion associate at Vogue, where she looked after the fashion cupboard, assisted the fashion team and worked as a stylist on fashion shoots," vogue.com.au reports. Williams left Vogue in 2014 and moved to New York, where she worked for celebrity stylist Micaela Erlanger, whose clients included Ivanka (Erlanger styled her for the Met Ball last May), as well as Oscar winners Lupita Nyongo and Meryl Streep, The Hollywood Reporter said. She was educated at The University of Sydney and worked at Harpers Bazaar before moving to Vogue Australia. At Vogue, Williams worked under fashion director Christine Centenera, who styles Kim Kardashian and works with Kanye West on his Yeezy line. While Ivankas personal style has been praised, her self-titled fashion line has been the source of much scandal for brand Trump. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS Ivanka still owns the business via a trust but no longer has any input in day-to-day operations, and rarely wears her own label. One of Ivankas most recent controversial looks included a $4000 Rouland Mouret dress she wore to Trumps State of the Union address. The First Daughter was criticized for contradicting the buy American message by manufacturing her labels clothes offshore (in China and Bangladesh), and regularly wearing foreign designers including Oscar de la Renta and Altuzarra during official engagements. She was slammed after she sported a $10,800 gold bracelet from her fine jewelry brand, Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, during a "60 Minutes" interview, followed by her brand promoting the accessory in a press release. This article originally appeared on news.com.au. A U.S. study has found sitting or standing on a vibration machine for just 20 minutes mimics the muscle and bone health benefits of a 45 minute walk, well at least for mice. HOW EATING CARBS CAN HELP YOU SHED POUNDS The mouse study is published in the Endocrine Societys journal Endocrinology. Our study is the first to show that whole-body vibration may be just as effective as exercise at combating some of the negative consequences of obesity and diabetes, said the studys senior author, Meghan McGee-Lawrence of Augusta University. While WBV did not fully address the defects in bone mass of the obese mice, it did increase global bone formation. Ms McGee-Lawrence says this suggests longer-term WBV treatments could hold promise for preventing bone loss. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS WBV consists of a person sitting, standing or lying on a machine with a vibrating platform. When the machine vibrates, it transmits energy to the body, and muscles contract and relax multiple times during each second. Researchers at Augusta University.examined the efficacy of WBV in two groups of five-week-old male mice. Click for more from News.com.au. Moms and dads in Montgomery County, Maryland are terrified and angry -- and with good reason. They don't know how many more illegal immigrant predators might be living among them -- waiting to brutally rape another 14-year-old American school girl. Click here to learn how to restore traditional American values to our nation. The Washington Post reports the two men accused of raping a ninth-grader on March 16 at Rockville High School came into this country illegally. Jose Montano, 17, and Henry Sanchez Milian, 18, were among tens of thousands of young people who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in 2016, the Post reported. In other words, former President Obama let them into the country. Both men were apprehended by federal border agents and were targeted for deportation proceedings but were eventually set free and turned over to relatives living in Maryland, the newspaper further reported. They were caught and they were released. And last Thursday they allegedly took turns raping a teenage girl in a public high school bathroom. I know that if this country enforced the laws that are already on the books, those two young men would not have been here and this rape, this horrendous rape, would not have occurred, one parent told Fox News. But we all know that for the past eight years, while he was in office, the administration of Barack Obama placed the well-being of illegal aliens over the well-being of American citizens. Thats ultimately why the illegals were not sent back to where they came from. They were set free so they could prowl the hallways of Rockville High School in the relative safety of a so-called sanctuary community. The school district denied any responsibility in the sickening attack. They told parents at a special meeting that federal law required they accept any student under the age of 21. They also said they were not allowed to ask about the immigration status of any student. You have young adult males that really do not have our culture and you are putting them in the same classroom as our 14-year-old girls and they are saying there is nothing we can do about that sorry, parent Theresa Rickman told Fox News. In other words, the liberal educators are telling parents Dont blame us. How many more Americans must be killed by illegals? How many more school girls must be raped before our elected leaders secure our borders? Heres my recommendation: I believe elected leaders of so-called sanctuary cities and communities should be held accountable for the actions of the illegals. If you harbor an illegal alien within your city limits and he commits a heinous crime, then the mayor and council should go to jail, too. Some of you may say, "Come on, Todd. Be realistic." Okay, fine. Let's be realistic. Two illegal aliens are accused of taking turns raping a 14-year-old girl as she screamed in agony and begged them to stop. She was violated inside a public school bathroom on American soil. Is that realistic enough for you? I'm disgusted, America. Are you? Click here for a free subscription to Todds newsletter: a must-read for Conservatives! President Trump gave a historic speech last week honoring President Andrew Jackson. True to current form, the media largely either missed or maligned it. During his visit to the Hermitage, Jacksons home and final resting place in Nashville, Tennessee, President Trump paid respects to his predecessor on Jacksons 250th birthday. He was the first president to do so since Ronald Reagan in 1982. And in his speech President Trump said something I have been saying for nearly a year now: That Presidents Trump and Jackson have a tremendous amount in common. First, President Trump earned the respect of the Americans who elected him largely by being an outsider and a disruptive force chosen to break up existing Washington power structures. He did this in the campaign by defeating long-time political power brokers in Republican circles. He disrupted the general election by defeating Hillary Clinton much to the dismay of the establishment in Washington and the media. And he has been working from the White House to further disrupt entrenched special interests and the pervasive, entrenched Washington bureaucracy. It was during the Revolution that Jackson first confronted and defied an arrogant elite. Does that sound familiar to you?, President Trump said, I wonder why they keep talking about Trump and Jackson, Jackson and Trump. Oh, I know the feeling, Andrew. Second, both men are intensely American figures who focus nearly all their energy on wresting power away from the ruling class and returning it to normal Americans. This is expressed in both mens populist messages and actions. Finally, President Trump, like President Jackson, is heavily criticized by the elites of the day. Trump recognized this and expressed it clearly at the Hermitage. Andrew Jackson rejected authority that looked down on the common people. First as a boy, when he bravely served the Revolutionary cause. Next, as the heroic victor at New Orleans where his ragtag and it was ragtag militia drove the British imperial forces from America in a triumphant end to the War of 1812. He was a real general, that one, President Trump said. And, finally, as President when he reclaimed the peoples government from an emerging aristocracy. Jacksons victory shook the establishment like an earthquake. Henry Clay, Secretary of State for the defeated President John Quincy Adams, called Jacksons victory mortifying and sickening. Oh, boy, does this sound familiar. Have we heard this? This is terrible. He said there had been no greater calamity in the nations history. President Trumps speech placed the movement that elected him into the context of American history. Over the nearly 250 years that our Republic has grown and changed, the American people have periodically rejected what they sensed as an emerging aristocracy and felt the need to elect someone like Trump or Jackson who can shake the establishment like an earthquake. You see this in the American Revolution, the Jacksonian Revolution and now the Trumpian Revolution. The speech, and President Trumps visit, also helped frame the events of the past week. In the context of Jackson, President Trumps America First budget makes perfect sense. His budget supports the priorities and interests of the American people not those of unelected bureaucrats. In Detroit, President Trump pledged a new economic model for manufacturers that calls for fewer regulations and lower taxes, so more Americans can find jobs to support their families. Finally, channeling Jackson is perfect for repealing and replacing Obamacarewhich will return health care decisions back to the people, doctors and states. Naturally, Tennessee news outlets were virtually the only agencies to cover the event. And while national media largely ignored it, a few liberal columnists couldnt help but criticize Trump for saluting Jackson, who has become persona non-grata among the elite, liberal intelligentsia despite Trump acknowledging Jackson was a flawed and imperfect man and a product of his time. But this is to be expected. One such columnist, Michael Gerson, pointed out another thing President Jackson had in common with President Trump: His opponents regarded his presidency as unimaginable, until he beat them, Gerson wrote. As his administration continues to grow and change, I suspect President Trump will continue to be a disruptive force in Washington on behalf of normal Americans. And his presidency will be every bit as historic as President Jacksons. When a political charlatan lacks character as well as imagination, a tantrum in the face of reverses nowadays is apt to climax with him spitting the epithet Nazi at opponents. Nazi is the go-to insult wielded by immoral losers everywhere. The latest instance of diplomatic speech-decay comes courtesy of Turkeys would-be sultan, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently lashed out at the Dutch and Germans, calling them, yes, Nazis. His successive outbursts erupted because the Dutch and German authorities would not allow Turkish politicians to hold rabble-rousing, neo-Islamist rallies on their soil. The rallies were intended to encourage expatriate Turks to vote absentee in Erdogans one-man-band referendum on April 16th. A majority Yes vote would fundamentally alter Turkeys government, converting it from a rough-and-ready parliamentary system to a presidential structure half a step shy of dictatorship. Erdogan thought it would be just fine to have his henchmen stir up division and hatred on foreign soil. European governments thought otherwise. Good for them. Erdogans Muslim-Brotherhood-influenced program also aims to deter Turks from integrating into European societies. Unlike other immigrants, many Turks have been doing just fine abroad, bringing along a strong work ethic in their plastic suitcases. Germany has ethnic-Turkish authors, doctors, professors, media personalities and parliamentarians (one of whom once borrowed a pair of my shoes, but thats another tale). For his bigoted part, Erdogan wants diaspora Turks to keep their distance from degenerate notions such as freedom of speech and association, free elections, womens rights, tolerance, secular educationall the evils of the modern world. At home, Erdogan has more journalists behind bars than China (including, of late, one German citizen). He has jailed tens of thousands of public officials, educators and military officers (he used last summers failed coup as an excuse for a massive purge of potential opponents). Hes been rolling back Mustapha Kemal Ataturks secular constitution at a breakneck pace. And, purely for political advantage, he re-ignited the conflict with Turkeys Kurds that had seemed a thing of the past. He has killed his own people, barbarously, after cynically labeling them as terrorists. He dreamed of a resurrected Ottoman Empire. When it became clear that the Arabs and other former subject peoples wanted no part of a new sultan and caliph who spoke Turkish, he reduced his immediate territorial ambitions to a chunk of Syria when he thought Assad was bound to fall (Erdogan has not been a savvy prognosticator of strategic developments). Now hes stuck in a quagmire with an army he stripped of its best officers (a matinee version of Stalins predicament after he gutted the Red Army just before his erstwhile ally, Herr Hitler, invaded Russia). Erdgoan blackmailed Europe with refugees, cozied up to Vladimir Putin to blackmail NATO, and hes threatening a blackmail of base closures against the United State, if we dont break our laws and simply hand over Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living quietly in the Poconos whom Erdogan views as a threat to his one-man rule. And then, last week, he labelled German Chancellor Angela Merkel a Nazi. Which is a bit rich, given that Merkel has been Europes staunchest defender of freedom and human rights, the perfect antithesis of Erdogan. But Erdogan does know how to insult a German. As for the Dutch, they suffered terribly under the real Nazis three-quarters of a century ago. Calling the Dutch Nazis is as absurd, repulsive and insulting as claiming that Anne Frank served in the SS. Surely, all civilized people can agree that the term Nazi should be reserved for the real thing. What does one make of a head of state so irresponsible that he cannot control his mouth, insults would-be allies and violates the basic norms of decency? One suspects that his tenure as head of state will not end well. This has been the week of the vernal equinox, the beginning of spring, when Kurds, Persians and others across the Middle East celebrate Nowruz, the holiday of light that marks the lengthening days and shrinking nights. But thanks to President Erdogan, Turkey is slipping deeper into darkness. FBI Director James Comey repeated his concerns Thursday over a "terrorist diaspora" that he believes will occur once ISIS territory in Iraq and Syria is "crushed" by coalition forces. Comey said during a speech at a national security summit at the University of Texas at Austin that he expects these individuals to flow outward largely to Western Europe, Southeast Asia, and North Africa. Labeling the impending phenomenon the "ghost of Christmas future," Comey used his remarks to urge government leaders and intelligence officials in Western Europe to "break down the barriers" in the EU and share intelligence and critical information in an effort to crack down on the terrorism threat. He did not make any references to Wednesday's attack in London. Comey compared Europe's need to unite on security issues to changes in the U.S. following the 9/11 attacks. He described Western Europe as FBI's front lines in preventing those individuals from committing violence outside of the so-called caliphate. In speaking to trend shifts the FBI has seen domestically with ISIS followers, Comey said that the foreign traveler issue that peaked during the summer of 2015 "hit the floor" in 2016 and has since stayed there. While ISIS's capacity to direct people to travel to the caliphate has dropped, the FBI chief called the ability of terrorists to use social media and the internet to inspire and enable individuals toward violence a "lingering phenomenon." Comey said that the FBI currently has in the area of 1,000 open homegrown terrorism cases in the U.S. trying to determine where people are on the spectrum of "consuming poison and acting on that poison." Speaking to the difficult nature of the current threat environment, Comey said these consumers of ISIS propaganda are people "of all backgrounds." The director said that FBI's terrorism-related cases have spanned the age range of roughly 15-60 years old, adding that there is no one particular "hot spot" in the U.S. for extremist activity because a lot of the recruitment and inspiration continues to happen online. Comey also acknowledged instances where individuals who had prior contact with the FBI went on to carry out attacks in the U.S. Specifically, he mentioned Orlando Pulse Nightclub attacker Omar Mateen and the fact that the Bureau had already done a months-long investigation on him that "produced nothing to incapacitate him on." Comey said that he personally reviewed the case file and called the work a "quality investigation," adding that he believes Mateen radicalized closer to the actual attack. When asked during the Q&A portion of the event whether his public statements on the findings of the Clinton email investigation had any bearing on his decision Monday to publicly acknowledge the existence of an FBI counterintelligence investigation into Trump campaign ties to Russian officials, Comey playfully said "I'm not gonna talk about it." The White House expressed optimism Friday afternoon that the Republican-backed health care bill would pass the House despite speculation it was short of support ahead of an afternoon vote demanded by President Trump. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump is looking forward to the House passing the bill and confirmed House Speaker Paul Ryan is meeting with Trump to discuss the way forward on the bill. According to GOP lawmakers and congressional aides, House Republican leaders were short of the votes needed for the bill to pass. Trump on Friday told lawmakers still on the fence over repealing and replacing ObamaCare with TrumpCare, that voting against the White House-backed bill is tantamount to voting for Planned Parenthood. Trump tweeted Friday, The irony is that the Freedom Caucus, which is very pro-life and against Planned Parenthood, allows P.P. to continue if they stop this plan!" In a bid to coax support from conservatives, House leaders proposed a fresh amendment repealing Obama's requirement that insurers cover 10 specified services like maternity and mental health care. Conservatives have demanded the removal of those and other conditions the law imposes on insurers, arguing they drive up premiums. The president met with members of the Freedom Caucus Thursday in an effort to win them over. But the vote was postponed after administration officials fell short. Trump issued lawmakers an ultimatum Thurday night. He wants the House to vote Friday on the legislation to begin dismantling ObamaCare and if it fails, he is "done with health care, and ready to move on to tax reform, a source told Fox News. "My understanding is hes going to get it," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on "The O'Reilly Factor." "Were hoping to make this the last anniversary that any American has to suffer under ObamaCare by instilling a patient-centric health care system in place, and the president has made that case to members throughout the spectrum of the Republican conference, and tomorrow, its time to vote," he added. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., thinks it will wrap up by 4:30 or 5 p.m. ET (WATCH FOX NEWS CHANNEL FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE). If the bill passes, it will be a monumental achievement for Speaker Ryan and Trump. But if the bill stumbles, recriminations will abound. Trump's demands aren't sitting well with some Republicans. Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie tweeted Friday morning: "If Exec branch tells Legislative branch "when 2 vote" "how 2 vote" & "what it will b allowed 2 work on if vote fails," is that a republic?" Republican leaders Thursday canceled a vote after leadership's attempts to lobby enough votes apparently failed -- a major setback for Ryan and Trump. "For seven and a half years we've been promising the American people that we will repeal and replace this broken law because it's collapsing and failing families," House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters after meeting with Republican leaders. "Tomorrow we're proceeding." Trump and Republican leaders had spent much of the day scrambling to get both moderates and conservatives on board with the increasingly unpopular legislation. "We have not gotten enough of our members to get to yes at this point under what we have now," House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told reporters. Ryan postponed his press conference twice as he worked with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy R-Calif., Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., to get enough votes to get the American Healthcare Act through the House on the seventh anniversary of ObamaCare's passage. The House Rules Committee is expected to prep the health care bill starting at 7am ET Friday. When asked about the timing of the vote McCarthy told Fox News the House should be "done in the afternoon" but said Democrats could delay things. Meanwhile, Trump met inside the Cabinet room with the Freedom caucus to try and rally conservatives to the cause. He also tweeted, urging supporters to call their representatives to back the bill. A senior administration official told Fox News after the meeting with Trump and the conservative group that there was a deal in the works, but that it was not yet finalized. A source from the Freedom Caucus later said there wasn't yet a deal. "I would say progress is being made, and that progress should be applauded with the efforts by the White House to deliver on a campaign promise, and to lower premiums for every American from coast to coast and in between," Meadows said. He also called Trump's involvement "unparalleled in the history of our country." When asked if this was a loss for the president, Meadows said: "Absolutely not." Earlier in the day, Spicer had expressed confidence that the White House was would be voted on and would pass. "Its going to pass. Thats it," he said at his daily press briefing. Spicer also noted that Trump had been making calls past 11 p.m. Wednesday night to try and bring members on board. Sources later told Fox News that the White House was anticipating a vote after midnight, but that was before the vote was canceled. House Republicans were due to meet about the around 7 p.m. ET, but there appeared no clear path to pass the bill. In appealing to conservatives with concessions that include limiting requirements that plans offer benefits including maternity and substance abuse care, Republican leaders risk scaring off moderates. A plan to cut funding to Planned Parenthood also risked spooking centrist Republicans. Meanwhile, Democrats blasted what they saw as Republicans amateurish maneuvering. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said it was a "rookie's error" to bring the legislation to a vote so early, and urged fellow Democrats to oppose the legislation. While Republicans scramble to make TrumpCare even more destructive, our Caucus must continue to be fully engaged today in exposing its disastrous consequences for the American people, she told colleagues in a letter Thursday. The AHCA would stop ObamaCares tax penalties against Americans who choose not to buy coverage, as well as cutting the federal-state Medicaid program for low earners. It would also give tax credits to help people pay medical bills, while allowing insurers to charge older Americans more. It would also repeal tax increases on high-earners and health companies. Fox News' John Roberts, Mike Emanuel, Serafin Gomez, Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Hawaii lawmaker who says she was pressured to give up her leadership post at the statehouse after criticizing President Donald Trump resigned Wednesday from the Republican Party. Rep. Beth Fukumoto said members of the GOP refused to oppose racism and sexism including a suggestion by Trump to create a Muslim registry during his campaign. "As a Japanese-American whose grandparents had to destroy all of their Japanese artifacts and items and bury them in the backyard to avoid getting taken and interned, how could I not have said anything?" Fukumoto asked. "And how could my party have not said anything?" Fukumoto was voted out of her post as House Minority Leader in February after calling Trump a bully in a speech at the Women's March in Honolulu, saying many of his remarks were racist and sexist and had no place in the Republican Party. Since then, she sought feedback from her constituents about leaving the GOP and said three-quarters of the more than 470 letters she received supported the move. She said she agrees with many Democratic positions on affordable housing and equitable taxes, and hopes to join that party. Hawaii Democratic Party leader Tim Vandeveer said Democrats will give Fukumoto a fair shake, but some members are concerned about her past voting record on civil rights and women's issues. "Changing political parties is not like changing jackets, just because the weather's better on our side of the street," Vandeveer said. Fukumoto voted against same-sex marriage when it came before the Legislature in 2013. She said Wednesday she voted that way to represent the majority of her constituents, but if she was voting on her own, she would have voted yes. On reproductive rights, Fukumoto said she does not believe in abortion in all three trimesters but does not want to rescind individuals' rights once they have been granted. "We have choice laws in Hawaii and I'm not looking to repeal those laws," she said. Members of the Democratic Party on Oahu will ultimately decide whether to accept Fukumoto, but the process could take months, Vandeveer said. Fukumoto said she's received letters of encouragement from Democrats and Republicans in nearly every state. Democratic U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz welcomed her to the party in a tweet, saying he's proud of her courage. Republican state Rep. Cynthia Thielen, a Fukumoto ally who voted against removing her from leadership, said, "the tiny party's brand is further weakened and its relevance to the wider, diverse constituency looks bleak." With Fukumoto's departure, Hawaii has just five Republican state representatives and no Republican state senators. Hawaii Republican Party Chairman Fritz Rohlfing declined to immediately comment because he had not yet reviewed Fukumoto's resignation letter. House Republicans' ObamaCare replacement plan was in peril early Thursday after lengthy leadership and committee meetings failed to produce an agreement that would shore up support among conservative members. "We have not cut the deal yet," said House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas. The committee spent 13 hours in session Wednesday without setting up a formal rule governing debate on the health care bill, which had been expected to be voted on by the full House Thursday. Sessions said he suspected that House Republicans would try to agree on a path forward for the bill when they meet in conference Thursday morning. The Rules Committee, usually tightly controlled by GOP leadership, had been expected to let the chamber vote on revisions that top Republicans concocted to win votes. These include adding federal aid for older people and protecting upstate New York counties -- but not Democratic-run New York City -- from repaying the state billions of dollars for Medicaid costs. Instead, the meeting broke up without any of the amendments being voted on. While the committee was in session, House Speaker Paul Ryan was meeting with moderate Republicans from Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maine and New York as well as members of leadership. One of those moderates, Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., issued a statement Wednesday saying he would oppose the bill. "I believe this bill, in its current form, will lead to the loss of coverage and make insurance unaffordable for too many Americans, particularly for low-to-moderate income and older individuals," Dent said before calling for House Republicans to "step back from this vote and arbitrary deadline to focus on getting health care reform done right to ensure that American families have access to affordable health care." However, another Pennsylvania Republican, Lou Barletta, said he had switched from "no" to "yes" after Trump endorsed his bill to use Social Security numbers to hinder people from fraudulently collecting tax credits. Barletta, an outspoken foe of illegal immigration, said he had been promised a vote next month on the measure by Ryan. The talks had focused on language to placate conservatives demanding repeal of ObamaCare's requirements that insurers pay for so-called "essential health benefits" specified services like maternity care, prescription drugs and substance abuse treatment. Earlier Wednesday evening, the leader of the House Freedom Caucus sounded a note of optimism after President Donald Trump huddled at the White House with 18 lawmakers, a mix of supporters and opponents. "Tonight is an encouraging night," said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who for days has said he has the votes to kill the measure. "But I don't want to be so optimistic as to say the deal is done." The Republican legislation would halt Obama's tax penalties against people who don't buy coverage and cut the federal-state Medicaid program for low earners, which the statute expanded. It would provide tax credits to help people pay medical bills, though generally skimpier than the aid Obama's statute provides. It also would allow insurers to charge older Americans more and repeal tax boosts the law imposed on high-income people and health industry companies. In a count by The Associated Press, at least 26 Republicans said they opposed the bill and others were leaning that way, enough to narrowly defeat the measure. The number was in constant flux amid eleventh-hour lobbying by the White House and GOP leaders. Including vacancies and expected absentees, the bill would be defeated if 23 Republicans join all Democrats in voting "no." In a show of support for the opponents, the conservative Koch network promised Wednesday night to spend millions of dollars to defeat the health care overhaul, the influential network's most aggressive move against the bill. Moderates were daunted by projections of 24 million Americans dropping their health coverage in a decade and higher out-of-pocket costs for many low-income and older people, as predicted by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In addition to Trump's powow at the White House, Vice President Mike Pence saw around two dozen lawmakers. Participants in the Pence meeting said there were no visible signs of weakened opposition and described one tense moment. Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, said White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told them: "We've got to do this. I know you don't like it, but you have to vote for this." Weber said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, bristled. "When somebody tells me I have to do something, odds are really good that I will do exactly the opposite," Barton said, according to Weber. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said that talk of deleting the insurance coverage requirements had converted him into a supporter. But before the late talks, others were skeptical. "We're being asked to sign a blank check," said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., who's been an opponent. "In the past, that hasn't worked out so well." Some Republicans were showing irritation at their party's holdouts, all but accusing them of damaging the GOP. "At some point we have to cowboy up and prove we can govern," said Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. "Otherwise we're just going to be the `no' party and some people are OK with that, it appears." Fox News' Chad Pergram and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Government troops patrol the streets of Myanmar as tensions with rebels escalate. (Photo : Getty Images) China's state-owned Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) suspended an account used for crowdfunding Myanmar rebels. The suspension was to preempt a possible breakdown of relations between Beijing and Myanmar. The Myanmar conflict is led by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), which stated that they had an account in AgBank that was used to get donations from sympathizers to their cause. Advertisement AgBank refused to answer questions on the suspension but asserted that they "diligently obeyed relevant laws, regulations and regulatory requirements." However, observers think that the issue has opened a new realm of questions regarding China's participation in the Myanmar conflict. AgBank is now suspected of engaging in shady dealings with the rebels. The rebels refuse to engage in a peace process and their acquisition of weapons will continue. This is in spite of the frozen account. Yan Zhen Kun, an MNDAA member and takes charge of donations, said that the account was frozen. He said, "We were told by the bank that we need to finalize some procedures. It did not tell us how long this might take." The account contained about $500,000 that was deposited to the account; some of it was wired through WeChat or Alipay, a subsidiary of Alibaba. Suu Kyi, the president of the Myanmar government, welcomed the move and said that Myanmar is confident that Beijing had nothing to do with the account. Myanmar's presidential spokesman, Zaw Htay, said, "We appreciated this action. Stability and peace in the border area are common interest for both sides. It was a very positive move from China." A spokesperson from China's foreign ministry, Hua Chunying said that the Chinese government will not let any group derail the relations between Myanmar and China. She said, "We consistently persevere in not interfering in other countries internal affairs and respect the entirety of Myanmar's sovereign rights and territory. We will not allow any group or individual to use China's territory to undermine China-Myanmar relations and the border regions' stability." The spokesperson added, "For any illegal activity, we will deal with it according to law." In a sign of growing concerns about Russias provocative military and rhetorical moves near NATO nations, the Swedish government held war games for the first time in 20 years. The dramatic move comes as a NATO group conducted military maneuvers in Lithuania. We are all accomplished at very high intensity training, a NATO spokesman said to reporters. And, we are prepared to deter [Russia] and defend Lithuania. Some U.S. experts say the feared attack or invasion by Russia is unlikely to happen, at least any time soon, but that suspicions toward Russia are understandable given its past invasions and hostile actions in the area. The events in Ukraine made them nervous, Brian Taylor, a political science professor at Syracuse University and an expert on Russia and post-Soviet politics, told Fox News of Russias military incursion there in 2014. All these countries are afraid, theyre sending a signal to Russia that they can provide their own security. It would be extremely risky for Russia to attack, Taylor said. At the same time, Taylor added, Russia has defied expectations in the past. No expected Russia to militarily annex Crimea, he noted. Recently, the Swedish government announced that mandatory military service would resume next year, with an expected 4,000 people drafted, according to published news reports. Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist referred to growing concern about Russias mounting aggression when he announced the draft and an increase in defense spending, according to the Times of London. The Times reported that Sweden also placed troops on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland. Russia often has told Sweden and Finland not to join NATO. While those two nations remain outside the coalition, Lithuania joined NATO in 2004. We are in a context where Russia has annexed Crimea, Hultqvist said, according to the Times. They are doing more exercises in our immediate vicinity. Russia annexed Ukraines Crimea in 2014, prompting NATO to send troops to Lithuania and to Estonia, Latvia and Poland as a warning to Russia. But Russias increasingly bold rhetoric and military exercises have even sparked discussions among NATO nations about forming their own European nuclear weapons deterrent program, one that would not rely on the United States. Those concerns have been exacerbated by President Donald Trumps criticism of NATO, with many Europeans worrying that the region may not be able to count on the United States in case of an attack. Last year NATO jet scrambled in response to Russian warplanes venturing close to NATO-member airspace 800 times, a huge jump from the 400 tallied in 2014 and 2015, VOAnews.com reported. We are protecting NATO airspace, NATO borders, VOA News quoted a Netherlands Air Force spokesman as saying. And, it is not necessarily just the Russians -- its any aircraft that does not comply with the rules that we have ... that apply in the air. Nonetheless, Taylor and some other experts in the U.S. see Russia as more of a nuisance for now than a genuine military threat. I wouldnt say its a major issue to watch in terms of a military threat, Taylor said of Russia attacking one of those countries that have been on alert recently. People are more worried about Russia making a political move to interfere with elections and spread fake news to make one of those countries look bad. And theres also concern, Taylor added, about Russia trying to stir up Russians living inside those states along the border. They worry that Russia would engage in low-level provocative actions, try to test NATOs willingness to come to their defense. Republican congressional investigators expect a potential smoking gun establishing that the Obama administration spied on the Trump transition team, and possibly the president-elect himself, will be produced to the House Intelligence Committee this week, a source told Fox News. Classified intelligence showing incidental collection of Trump team communications, purportedly seen by committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and described by him in vague terms at a bombshell Wednesday afternoon news conference, came from multiple sources, Capitol Hill sources told Fox News. The intelligence corroborated information about surveillance of the Trump team that was known to Nunes, sources said, even before President Trump accused his predecessor of having wiretapped him in a series of now-infamous tweets posted on March 4. The intelligence is said to leave no doubt the Obama administration, in its closing days, was using the cover of legitimate surveillance on foreign targets to spy on President-elect Trump, according to sources. The key to that conclusion is the unmasking of selected U.S. persons whose names appeared in the intelligence, the sources said, adding that the paper trail leaves no other plausible purpose for the unmasking other than to damage the incoming Trump administration. The FBI hasnt been responsive to the House Intelligence Committees request for documents, but the National Security Agency is expected to produce documents to the committee by Friday. The NSA document production is expected to produce more intelligence than Nunes has so far seen or described including what one source described as a potential smoking gun establishing the spying. Some time will be needed to properly assess the materials, with the likely result being that congressional investigators and attorneys wont have a solid handle on the contents of the documents and their implications until next week. Because Nuness intelligence came from multiple sources during a span of several weeks, and he has not shared the actual materials with his committee colleagues, he will be the only member of the panel in a position to know whether the NSA has turned over some or all of the intelligence he is citing. However, Fox News was told Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., had been briefed on the basic contents of the intelligence described by Nunes. CIA Director Mike Pompeo is also sympathetic to the effort to determine, with documentary evidence, the extent of any alleged Obama administration spying on the Trump team, sources said. At a dramatic Wednesday news conference, Nunes claimed to have seen evidence that members of the Trump transition team, possibly including the president-elect, were subjected to incidental surveillance collection that Nunes characterized as legal but troubling. What I've read bothers me, he told reporters, and I think it should bother the president himself, and his team because I think some of it seems to be inappropriate. Schiff blasted Nunes for not coming first to the Intelligence Committee with the information. "If accurate, this information should have been shared with members of the committee, but it has not been," Schiff said in a Wednesday statement. A leading U.S. senator is demanding to know why a teenager from Central America accused of raping and sodomizing a 14-year-old girl in a Maryland high school was allowed to enter and remain in the U.S. since crossing the border illegally months ago. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said Henry E. Sanchez-Milian, 18, of Guatemala, was detained by Border Patrol in Rio Grande Valley, Texas, last August after entering the U.S. illegally. The immigration status of another suspect in the rape, Jose O. Montano, 17, from El Salvador, was unclear. ICE reported Sanchez was ordered to appear before an immigration judge, but the hearing had not been scheduled. The agency would not release any information about Montano, citing his age. On March 16, 2017, a tragic event occurred in Montgomery County, Maryland. According to news reports, a 14-year old student was dragged into a high school restroom and raped by two teenage boys, Johnson wrote in a March 22 letter to Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). At a hearing March 22, Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, testified if Border Patrol had properly done its job, neither Sanchez-Milian or Montano would have been present in this country to commit this heinous act. Johnson wants to know if the teens arrived in the U.S. under the President Obamas Unaccompanied Minor Program, which allowed thousands of unaccompanied children fleeing violence in their country to cross the border illegally from Central America and remain in the United States. He also wanted to know more about Montano, and whether he also was picked up by Border Patrol. Johnsons inquiry followed testimony from Judd, who said: Had we done our job, that 14-year-old girl would have never been raped. Period. Had we held those individuals in custody, or that one individual in custody pending a determination that this person should be allowed to remain in this country, that rape would not have happened. We failed the citizens of this great nation by not securing the border. County charging documents allege that Montano and Sanchez-Milian forced their female classmate into a boys bathroom near the school gym last Thursday at 9 a.m., where they allegedly raped and sodomized her and forced her to perform oral sex. After school officials reported the incident, detectives from the Montgomery County Police Department Special Victims Investigations Division arrested Montano and Sanchez-Milian. A forensic team recovered blood and male fluids from the bathroom, court records show. Both boys, who are enrolled as freshman because of their weak English language skills, were charged with first-degree rape and two counts of first-degree sexual offense and will be tried as adults. The judge who oversaw their bond hearing refused to release them on bail, because the students are dangerous and flight risks. The case has sent shockwaves through the state, to Congress and to the White House. "We failed the citizens of this great nation by not securing the border. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) White House spokesman Sean Spicer commented on the case Tuesday in a press briefing: "The reason the president has made it such a priority to crack down on illegal immigration is because of cases like this." ICE has since lodged an immigration detainer against Sanchez-Milian, so ICE can take custody of him when he is released, but it is unclear whether local law enforcement will comply. Officials in Montgomery County have been pushing to make the area a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, and four days after the girls rape the House passed a measure that would essentially make the entire state a safe haven for illegal aliens, criminal or otherwise. It is longstanding county policy that county police do not enforce federal immigration law. Neither will they inquire about immigration status when individuals are stopped nor target individuals based on their ethnicity, race or religious beliefs, said the Charles Immigrant Resource Center in a guide for immigrants who recently moved to Montgomery. The countys law enforcement leaders are also committed to our values, and they will continue working to build trust in our community. Montgomery County, where the alleged rape took place, is on a list released this week by ICE of jurisdictions that have enacted policies which limit cooperation with ICE. Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan noted in a statement to the media this week about the case: When law enforcement agencies fail to honor immigration detainers and release serious criminal offenders, it undermines ICEs ability to protect the public safety and carry out its mission. Montgomery County is not the worst, but its pretty bad, said Jessica Vaughan, director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies. When Northern Virginia cracked down around 2005 from 2011, many illegals moved to Montgomery County, where they knew they would be treated more leniently, Vaughan said. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who opposes the sanctuary legislation, said he is outraged by the brutal and violent rape of a 14-year-old girl in a Rockville public school and called on Montgomery County to immediately and fully cooperate with all federal authorities during the investigation. The public has a right to know how something this tragic and unacceptable was allowed to transpire in a public school, Hogan said. The Supreme Courts decision to limit presidential power to fill agency posts will do little to deter President Trump as he continues to appoint members of his team, experts say. The high courts 6-2 ruling on Tuesday upheld a lower courts ruling that President Barack Obama exceeded his legal authority in a National Labor Relations Board appointment. The court said a former top lawyer at the NLRB had served in violation of federal law governing such appointments. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that Obama appointee Lafe Solomon was not allowed to serve as acting general counsel of the NLRB while he was, at the same time, nominated to fill that role permanently, pending Senate confirmation. At issue is the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, which prevents the president from using temporary appointments to bypass the Senates advice-and-consent role. The rule prohibits a person nominated for a position requiring Senate confirmation from serving in that position temporarily. Obama named Solomon as acting general counsel in June 2010 and he held the office until Nov. 4, 2013. Solomon never won Senate confirmation due to his favorable views toward labor unions. This decision is unlikely to have much impact on the presidents nominees in the near term, Max Stier, president and CEO of Partnership for Public Service, which tracks executive branch appointments, told Fox News. It could have a more significant impact later in the administration as the president may want to move his senior officials into vacant positions. Trump has already faced a similar situation in appointing Noel Francisco, a Washington lawyer whom Trump named as the principal deputy solicitor general, the only deputy solicitor general who is a political appointee. Because the president had not yet nominated nor the Senate confirmed a solicitor general, Francisco began to serve as acting solicitor general. But when Trump announced the official nomination of Francisco to serve as the permanent solicitor general, Francisco moved to another job in the Department of Justice pending Senate confirmation, and another person stepped in as acting solicitor general. The White House told Fox News on Wednesday that they had nothing to add to the Supreme Courts Tuesday decision. But Anne Joseph O'Connell, a professor at the University of California Berkeley Law School, told Fox News that the White House could avoid nominating people for jobs covered by the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which allows acting officials to serve for relatively long periods of time. The administration can go from one acting official to another acting official, OConnell said. When the Senate and White House are controlled by different parties, I worry this might become the default track. According to Partnership for Public Services Political Appointee Tracker, 495 key executive branch positions, which require Senate confirmation, await nomination. Stier said the ruling underscored the importance of the nomination process. On the whole, this ruling reaffirms the importance of the president and the Senate working together to confirm nominees for politically appointed positions. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Senate Judiciary Committee reconvened Thursday to hear from outside witnesses about Judge Neil Gorsuch's character and his suitability to sit on the nation's highest court -- as top Democrats started to come out against his confirmation. Gorsuch, who faced two days of intense questioning from Democrats, is on Capitol Hill but was not present at the hearing after finishing his testimony Wednesday. Instead, senators heard from lawyers, advocacy groups, critics and former colleagues on his qualifications. Democrats have shown continued opposition to Gorsuch, and started to come out formally against his nomination Thursday. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced he would lead a filibuster against Gorsuch's confirmation, calling the nominee a judge who "almost instinctively favors the powerful over the weak." Meanwhile, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said Gorsuch was "not the right choice." "I do not believe Judge Gorsuchs judicial approach will ensure fairness for workers and families in Pennsylvania," he said in a statement. Democrats Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ed Markey of Massachusetts have also declared their opposition. Gorsuch frustrated Democrats during his Wednesday hearing by following the precedent set by previous justices in refusing repeated attempts to push him to talk about key legal and political issues. When Democrats sought to tease out his views on everything from campaign finance laws to gay marriage and abortion, Gorsuch refused to discuss how he would rule. "I have declined to offer any promises, hints or previews of how I'd resolve any case," he said. However, he told Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.-- who expressed concern that he would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade -- that "no one is looking to return us to horse and buggy days." The biggest hiccup for Gorsuch came from outside the hearing. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday in a case involving learning-disabled students, overturning a standard for special education that Gorsuch had endorsed in an earlier case on the same topic. Democrats used the ruling to question why his thinking was turned unanimously by the high court. Gorsuch said he was bound by an earlier decision from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and objected to what he saw as insinuations that he didn't care about disabled students. "If anyone is suggesting that I like the result where an autistic child happens to lose, it's a heartbreaking accusation," he said angrily. Republicans, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of the Colorado native. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he hadn't seen a better nominee in 40 years in the Senate. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., lamented what he called the deterioration of the Senate confirmation process since Antonin Scalia, whose seat Gorsuch would fill, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were confirmed with more than 90 votes each. "What's happened? Did the Constitution change? I don't think so, I think politics has changed. I think it's changed in a fashion that we should all be ashamed of as senators, and I think we're doing great damage to the judiciary by politicizing every judicial nomination," Graham said. A committee vote is expected April 3, with a Senate floor vote later that same week. Republicans control the Senate 52-48, so it would require eight Democrats to move Gorsuch past procedural hurdles that require 60 votes. The Associated Press contributed to this report. As moderate House Republicans scrambled to shore up support for their ObamaCare replacement bill Wednesday night, Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price told Fox News that the legislation would let Americans "to the kind of coverage that they want for themselves, not that the government forces them to buy." RYAN VOICES CONFIDENCE ON OBAMACARE REPEAL AS CONSERVATIVES CALL TO 'START OVER' Price told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that the House plan, which is scheduled for a vote Thursday, "encompasses all of the kinds of things that conservatives and Republicans and the American people have been talking about for the last seven years," since ObamaCare became law. "What were trying to get to again is making certain that its patients and families and doctors that are in charge of healthcare, not Washington D.C.," Price said. The secretary, a former Georgia congressman, told Carlson that most Americans "don't like what's going on right now" with ObamaCare. "Youve got 20 million people who have said phooey on the whole program [and said] were either going to pay the penalty or ask for a waiver, and youve got another 20 million individuals that arent getting the kind of coverage that they want," Price said, "so this is a program that I think will work extremely well and we are again focusing on the individuals across the land who want to be able to select their coverage." Taylor Swifts historic mansion will meet its fate at a Beverly Hills City Council meeting in less than two weeks, Mansion Global has learned. Over the past year, Ms. Swift has pushed to turn her new home in Beverly Hills into a local historic landmark due to its long history as the estate of iconic Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn. Council members on April 4 will have the final say in whether to legally landmark the property, which the pop star bought from Goldwyns heirs in 2015 for $25 million and is now in the process of restoring. Goldwyn co-founded Goldwyn Pictures, which later merged into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM, known by its iconic roaring lion in the intro credits. He and his wife commissioned the Georgian Revival home in the early 1930s, even recruiting set designers from the studio to help with construction. But Ms. Swift, 27, is most likely Out of the Woods on this pet project, judging by the gushing fanfare her conservation efforts got when the application went before the Beverly Hills Cultural Commission in January. The commission voted unanimously in favor of the landmark designation, sending it through to the city council for final approval. This is one of the great estates in this city, and its very important to the history of the city, said Noah Furie, vice chair of the cultural commission, at the hearing in January. And Im thrilled that whoever the owner is, theyve found it important to keep this house and spend the money to restore it because its no small thing to do. It was revealed at the January meeting that Ms. Swift had commissioned a detailed architectural report in order to get the property landmarked, and is in the midst of restoring the home in painstaking detail. For instance, workers have temporarily removed the wisteria growing on the front of the home while they finish work on the exterior, and preserved the original plaster moulding on the curved interior staircase, Ms. Swifts architect Monique Schenk said at the January meeting. Really, when this projects done, hopefully this year its going to be really spectacular, Ms. Schenk said. Weve preserved and maintained a lot of the elements and those that were deteriorating, weve replicated. A publicist for Ms. Swift did not immediately return a request for comment. After their ads appeared next to extremist content on YouTube, telecom companies AT&T and Verizon said they were going to pull their ads from the video site. But the fallout may go further than just YouTube. Googles Chief Business Officer Phillip Schindler issued an apology on the companys blog on Monday, saying the practice is unacceptable. We know that this is unacceptable to the advertisers and agencies who put their trust in us, Schindler wrote in the blog statement. YOUTUBE UNDER FIRE FOR HIDING LGBT VIDEOS On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal said the ad cuts may expand past YouTube, covering much of their advertising from Google. Google did not immediately respond when reached for comment for this story. The company has promised to work on reforms and tighten safeguards and introduce new tools to make it easier for advertisers to manage where their ads appear. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said that with YouTubes size and scale (more than 100 million hours of video are watched each day), it has a responsibility to match ads and content properly. What we do is, we match ads and the content, but because we source the ads from everywhere, every once in a while somebody gets underneath the algorithm and they put in something that doesnt match, Schmidt said on FOX Business Network, in a discussion with Maria Bartiromo. Weve had to tighten our policies and actually increase our manual review time and so I think were going to be okay. The moves made by AT&T and Verizon, who are working on their own ad-targeting platforms, coupled with recent moves from others such as McDonalds, Audi, LOreal and retail giant Marks & Spencer to pull their ads designed for U.K. markets may negatively impact Googles business. GOOGLE HOME SURPRISES USERS BY PLAYING 'BEAUTY AND THE BEAST' PROMO Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser downgraded Google shares of Google to hold from buy, noting the company may have done global harm to itself. Overall, we think that the problems which have come to light will have global repercussions as UK marketers potentially adapt their UK policies to other markets and as marketers around the world become more aware of the problem, Weiser wrote in a note to investors. This should curtail spending slightly from the large agency-serviced brands which probably account for a quarter of spending on Google. According to research firm eMarketer, Google is expected to own generate $28.55 billion in 2017 from the lucrative search ad market in 2017. In the U.S., the research firm expects it to own 78% of all U.S.-related search ad revenue this year. Ever wonder if there was such a thing as transparent armor? It sounds like something straight out of a comic book, but it's something the Navy has actually created. U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) scientists have created a remarkable transparent armor that is lightweight and still provides excellent protection. HOW AMBULANCE COULD HELP PREVENT DIRTY BOMBS Nearly as transparent as glass, the armor is essentially invisible protection from bullets. And if the armor surface is damaged, warfighters could fix it on the fly with something as simple as a hot plate and the armor will meld itself back together. Think about how bulletproof glass (a misnomer since it is often only bullet resistant) works you can see through it and it stops bullets. Now what if you could do that for body armor and helmets? Thats the idea here. HOW TO MAKE YOUR CELL PHONE SELF-DESTRUCT 'MISSION IMPOSSIBLE' STYLE This next-generation armor advance could also amp up transparent bulletproof walls to protect tourist attractions from the attacks weve seen in Paris and most recently, in London. Whats the armor made of? The transparent polymer armor gets its transparency from something known as tiny crystalline domains. The armor itself is made up of alternating layers of elastomeric polymer combined with a harder material substrate. NRL scientists conducted tests using polymeric materials as a coating to try to enhance impact resistance. By applying layers of the special materials to body armor and helmets, the result was better protection for warriors against bullets. INCREDIBLE TECH DETECTS GUNFIRE ACROSS AMERICA The armor also helped reduce the impact of blast waves caused by something like an IED explosion, which could potentially help prevent brain trauma. When a bullet hits the armor If you picture a windshield that has been struck by a rock kicked up while driving, the rocks impact may cause damage that makes it difficult to see through the windshield. One of the amazing things about this see-through armor is that when it's struck by a projectile, such as a bullet, it still retains its lucid nature. Theres virtually no impact on visibility and the damage is limited only to the spot where the bullet connected with the armor. Repair vs. replace The possibility exists that this futuristic body armor could be ironed back into shape after it sustained some hits, because of the material used to create it. The material needs to be heated to around 100 degrees Celsius, which then causes it to become hot enough to melt the tiny crystallites. By heating the material, any impact from the bullet can be melded back together and returned to its normal state. Scientists believe that this sort of repair will not impact how the armor performs. THIS FOAM STOPS BULLETS COLD AND PULVERIZES THEM TO DUST Easy, fast repairs can be a great advantage for warfighters operating in remote locations and it can save money by repairing rather than replacing. Implications for protecting against global terror attacks In a scenario like the recent London attack, lightweight body armor approaches like the aforementioned can be very useful to protect armed officers from bladed weapons, bullets and other threats while the reduced weight can improve their speed, agility and flexibility of response. Like the Capitol building in the US, armed officers protect the building and those working in and visiting the building. Based on the information provided publicly thus far, the terrorist wielded a bladed weapon and attacked British officers. One officer was tragically killed. Guns and explosive devices are not the only methods of attack used by Islamic extremist terrorists. In Europe, terrorist plots and attacks have increasingly involved bladed weapons on foot as well the weaponization of vehicles. Islamic extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State group have been actively promoting these sorts of attack methods. FOR THE LATEST TECH FEATURES FOLLOW FOX NEWS TECH ON FACEBOOK Just last month in Paris, a terrorist tried to launch an attack with machetes at the popular tourist site of the Louvre museum. A French soldier stopped him before there were any casualties. In 2013, two terrorists drove at British Army soldier Fusilier Lee Rigby, who was walking a street in England. The terrorists then exited the vehicle, attacked him with blades and murdered him by hacking him to death. Invisible Walls? Ultimately, advances like NRLs in transparent armor could play a vital role in amping up invisible walls could be used to stop both people and vehicles from storming sites and areas. By enhancing protection, it could help prevent attacks and casualties. Paris recently announced they are building an eight-foot bulletproof glass wall around the Eiffel Tower. Why? Tourist sites are attractive targets for terrorists. The goal is to stop not just bullets but prevent vehicles loaded with bombs from gaining access. Transparent armor-ed up walls mean tourists can still enjoy an uninterrupted view while benefiting from enhanced protection. Advanced armor like this can also become a deterrent to future attacks. An artificial intelligence robot writes Chinese calligraphy on Jan. 16, 2017 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. Hangzhou is one of three recipients of $10 million AI centers from the agreement. (Photo : Getty Images) China's largest beverage producer on Monday has agreed to invest an initial $10 million with the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Haifa to build three artificial intelligence technology centers in China and Israel. The centers, which will house facilities in Beijing, Hangzhou and Haifa to research and develop AI for commercial applications, are financed by Chinese billionaire Zhou Qinghou, chairman and CEO of Hangzhou Wahaha Group, according to a report from online news magazine ISRAEL21c. Advertisement The agreement was signed in China in the presence of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and University of Haifa President Ron Robin, who were in the country for a three-day trip meant to improve business ties between the two nations and to celebrate 25 years of China-Israel bilateral ties, the report said. China's Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang and Israel's Minister of Economy and Industry Eli Cohen were also present during the signing. Under the new deal, the centers will develop and industrialize cutting-edge technologies from the University of Haifa and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, including vision tracking through mobile devices, image processing, and big data for medical applications, 3D image learning, chip technologies and biometric identification. The construction of the centers is expected to be completed in two years. Economic pivot The deal comes as Israel shifts its economy toward Asia over its old trading partners in the European Union and the United States. "Israel is pivoting toward Asia in a very clear and purposeful way," Netanyahu told reporters in Singapore last month. Israel's exports to China have reached $3.3 billion in 2016, three times more than the previous year, with the technology sector leading the way, according to Israel's Economy Ministry. "Given the basic infrastructure of initial and secondary development--airports, sewage lines, water--once you've done that, the way to go up and up and up is to constantly improve your products and services and utilities with technology," Netanyahu said during a stop during his three-day visit to Beijing. "We are your perfect junior partner for that effort," he added. The great explorers Lewis and Clark knew the importance of team expeditions. Now, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California are developing a small scout robot called the Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER) to accompany the next generation of Martian rovers in their outer space explorations. Inspired by origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, PUFFER is designed to change shape in order to squeeze into small crevasses that are too tight for rovers to reach. So far the two-wheeled scout has been successfully tested in hostile and diverse terrains including the Mojave Desert and Antartica. Though rovers themselves are built to last, they're expensive and NASA engineers take care not to send them on overtly dangerous missions. A handful of PUFFERs are comparatively cheap and can be deployed in high-risk regions. "They can do parallel science with a rover, so you can increase the amount you're doing in a day," Jaakko Karras, PUFFER's project manager at JPL, said in a press release. "We can see these being used in hard-to-reach locations -- squeezing under ledges, for example." Karras developed the PUFFER design by combining various origami techniques and biomimetic movements. The scout originated with four wheels but was eventually reduced to two with the addition of large treads that allow it to better grip and climb inclines. If PUFFER needs to recharge, it can simply flip over and collect sunlight through solar panels on its underside. Now that PUFFER can roam, it needs to be fitted with Bluetooth so it can be controlled remotely and packed with scientific instruments that will enable it to take and evaluate water samples and study the chemical makeup of its environment. NASA also plans to scale it up slightly to the size of a breadbox in order to make it a bit more durable. Few places are more holy to Christians than what's thought to be Christ's tomb in Jerusalem, but scientists are now warning that there's a "very real risk" of collapse at the site. Researchers from the National Technical University of Athens say the Edicule, a shrine that encloses the cave where the faithful believe Jesus was buried and resurrected, faces "catastrophic" collapse if issues aren't remedied soon, National Geographic reports. The Edicule itself is inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Scientists discovered the decaying foundationwhich they say is further destabilized by the fact that it's built on rubble and atop a network of tunnels and channelsduring a months-long, $4 million restoration project that was unveiled earlier this week. "This is a complete transformation of the monument," Bonnie Burnham, an ex-chief for the World Monuments Fund, said Monday at the unveiling, per the AP. During the renovation, however, extensive structural problems were uncovered by camera bots and ground-penetrating radar. The general instability of the site has been known for almost a hundred years, but varying Christian sects have been fighting over who has custody of the site and didn't come to a restoration agreement until March 2016. What the NTUA says is needed now: a new $6.5 million project that could take close to another year as workers grout rotting mortar and install sewage and rainwater drainage systems around the shrine. (In Scotland, archaeologists are trying to find the long-lost tomb of a king.) This article originally appeared on Newser: Scientists Issue Dire Warning on Christ's Tomb Farming was simple once. It was hard, backbreaking work, but it followed a basic formula: You plant it, you grow it, you harvest it. Then the tractor came along, and it became a little less backbreaking. But that was way back in the 20th century. Here in the 21st, farming is making the transition from backbreaking to head-spinning, thanks to all the high-tech Silicon Valley doodads tractor makers are planting in their products. Today, if youre a farmer in the heartland of America who wants to keep planting it, growing it and harvesting it with the help of your trusty tractor, nothing is simple anymore especially if your tractor breaks down. FARMERS FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO REPAIR THEIR OWN TRACTORS Thats when your new best friend may turn out to be a shadowy software hacker living in the Ukraine. As reported in Motherboard, a thriving crop of black-market hackers in Europe is creating and selling software hacks to John Deere software, which local mechanics in Americas breadbasket are downloading and using to repair the companys tractors. "When crunch time comes and we break down, chances are we don't have time to wait for a dealership employee to show up and fix it," Danny Kluthe, a hog farmer in Nebraska, told his state legislature earlier this month. "Most all the new equipment [requires] a download [to fix]." But farmers who buy new John Deere equipment must sign a license agreement that forbids nearly all unauthorized repair and modification to the companys machines that contain embedded software. You can tinker under the hood, but dont mess with the software. RUSSIAN HACKERS TARGETED JUST ONE YAHOO EMPLOYEE IN ORDER TO BREACH 500M ACCOUNTS "You want to replace a transmission and you take it to an independent mechanic he can put in the new transmission, but the tractor can't drive out of the shop, Kevin Kenney, a farmer in Nebraska, told Motherboard. Deere charges $230, plus $130 an hour, for a technician to drive out and plug a connector into their USB port to authorize the part." But if your local mechanic does a little searching on the internet, theres a good chance hell find just what youre looking for. "What you've got is technicians running around here with cracked Ukrainian John Deere software that they bought off the black market," Kenney said. According to Motherboard, Nebraska is one of eight states that are considering right-to-repair legislation that would invalidate John Deere's license agreement, which also prevents farmers from suing for "crop loss, lost profits, loss of goodwill, loss of use of equipment arising from the performance or non-performance of any aspect of the software." John Deere, predictably, is opposing such legislation. MCDONALD'S TWITTER ACCOUNT HACKED, BLASTS TRUMP "When a customer buys John Deere equipment, he or she owns the equipment," the company told Motherboard. "As the owner, he or she has the ability to maintain and repair the equipment. The customer also has the ability through operator and service manuals and other resources to enable operational, maintenance, service and diagnostics activities to repair and maintain equipment." "Software modifications increase the risk that equipment will not function as designed," the company continued. "As a result, allowing unqualified individuals to modify equipment software can endanger machine performance, in addition to Deere customers, dealers and others, resulting in equipment that no longer complies with industry and safety/environmental regulations." Thanks to an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that applies to land vehicles, modifying embedded software may be legal if it is a necessary step undertaken by the authorized owner of the vehicle to allow the diagnosis, repair, or lawful modification of a vehicle function." provided that it continues to meet emissions regulations. FOR THE LATEST TECH FEATURES FOLLOW FOX NEWS TECH ON FACEBOOK Whether its legal to download cracked software hasnt been answered yet. But whether it is or isnt, its available. "There's software out there a guy can get his hands on if he looks for it," a farmer and repair mechanic in Nebraska who uses cracked John Deere software told Motherboard. "I'm not a big business or anything, but let's say you've got a guy here who has a tractor and something goes wrong with it the nearest dealership is 40 miles away, but you've got me or a diesel shop a mile away. The only way we can fix things is illegally, which is what's holding back free enterprise more than anything and hampers a farmer's ability to get stuff done, too." Twitter's attempt to crack down on users who promote terrorism and extremist views resulted in the suspension of 376,890 accounts in the second half of 2016, according to the company's latest transparency report. That brings the total number of extremist accounts suspended to 636,248 since Twitter began tracking such suspensions in August 2015. Seventy-five percent of accounts suspended for promoting terrorism in the second half of 2016 were found by Twitter's own spam fighting tools, the company said. Others were suspended following outside requests, including those from government representatives. After coming after fire from advocacy groups for not doing enough to stamp out hate speech and extremist views, Twitter stepped up its purging efforts last year. In addition to removing tweets and accounts that violate the company's prohibition on promoting terrorism, Twitter has also suspended the accounts of several prominent individuals associated with the "alt-right" movement. In addition to suspending accounts, Twitter, like other social media companies, also receives legal requests from law enforcement agencies to remove content. Although it complies with many such requests, Twitter said it rejected most of the 88 legal requests in the second half of last year to remove content posted by verified journalists or news outlet accounts. "Given the concerning global trend of various governments cracking down on press freedom, we want to shine a brighter light on these requests," the company wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. The latest data on Twitter suspensions comes less than one week after several advertisers in the UK pulled their content from YouTube because it was showing up next to videos promoting extremism and hate speech. YouTube owner Google admitted that it can do better to ensure that its advertisers' content doesn't appear alongside videos with extremist and other objectionable content, something it acted on this week. This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. Portland. Providence. Paris. One of these three is not like the other, and yet it might be if popular low-cost airline JetBlue pushes ahead with apparent plans to purchase planes capable of flying over the Atlantic Ocean. The airline consistently ranks high in our Readers' Choice Awards among the best airlines in the U.S. and, with such rave reviews, it's no wonder that rumors pop up of the airline potentially adding Europe to its route map. Last July, JetBlue strongly hinted that it had been shopping for aircraft capable of flying further than its current fleet of Airbus and Embraer planes. At the time, JetBlue spokesperson Doug McGraw addressed Europe directly in a comment to Conde Nast Traveler, saying: "Europe suffers from the same lack of competition and high fares as (transcontinental) routes have. We have not committed to the LR (long-range aircraft), or to adding Europe to our network, but that is certainly an environment that JetBlue competes well in." According to Brian Sumers at Skift, JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes recently confirmed some rumors, as the airline is sizing up the Airbus A321LR, a version of the current favorite Airbus A321, but with the added ability to efficiently fly longer routes. The question, for Hayes, is: "Will flying that airplane to Europe drive a higher rate of return than flying it elsewhere in our network? With ultra-low-cost airlines like Wow Air and Norwegian already selling seats from as little as $69 each way between the U.S. and Europe, and deals from the major airlines frequently dropping as low as $400 roundtrip (even over holidays), there's little doubt that JetBlue has sleepless nights and numbers to crunch ahead of any decision. The funny thing is JetBlue already serves Europe kind of. Airline partnerships are confusing, and JetBlue has a long list of them that allow travelers to book flights to Europe on JetBlue's website. For example, its agreement with TAP Portugal makes it possible to book and pay once for flights from, say, Savannah to Lisbon, with JetBlue flying you from Savannah to New York, and TAP taking over for the long-haul to Portugal. If JetBlue begins their own service to Europe, travelers from the U.S. would be able to fly the one airline the whole way, enjoying the airline's signature service (unlimited snacks!) the entire way. How many free bags of Terra Blue potato chips does it take to cross the ocean? In the wake of Wednesday's deadly attacks just out side of Londons Parliament, many visitors are wondering how safe the city is now as they scramble for information. Police in London are treating the attack as an act of terrorism, one of the most serious since the bus and train bombings that took place more than a decade ago. Thursday, many tourists within the country expressed concern online, while those with travel plans to the U.K. are wondering whether to cancel. LONDON ATTACK: UK POLICE ARREST 8 IN MASSIVE PRE-DAWN RAIDS; STILL BELIEVE ASSAILANT ACTED ALONE I was planning to go to #London for tourism but that city is no longer safe. I canceled my plan, I'm extremely worried, one potential traveler to London posted on Twitter. I was planning to go to #London for tourism but that city is no longer safe. I canceled my plan, I'm extremely worried. Rastaman #EVET (@Rastamandj) March 22, 2017 Brianna Glenn, owner of Milk & Honey Travel, told Fox News that over the last couple of years, shes seen quite a few of these types of events that often occur in areas frequented by tourists. I have people going to London next month, and theyll come to me and ask me about cancelling, and what are the risks. Ill discuss it with them, Glenn said. But we have to be realistic and understanding that safety cant be accurately predicted. We have to be sensible about risks, but I dont want them to cheat themselves and live inside a safety bubble." One of the biggest terrorist attacks in London occurred July 7, 2005. Sometimes referred to as "7/7," the series of synchronized terrorist suicide bombings in the central city targeted civilians using the public transport system during rush hour. But Wednesday's attacks are unlikely to have any lasting effect, say tourism industry insider. David Scowsill, the president and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) told Fox News via email that his organization is "deeply saddened by yesterday's attack" but knows the city will remain strong. He continued, "England and London specifically are very resilient tourism destinations. We do not expect this isolated incident to have an impact on people's decision to travel to the country nor its capital. "As the security forces are investigating the attack, Londoners continue with their daily lives." But more recently, France-- another major destination for American tourists-- has been hit hard by a series of devastating attacks. After the 2016 attacks in Nice, France, Glenn said she had one cancellation-- but that client wasn't even traveling to France. "Sometimes its irrational," Glenn admitted but still, she recommends that all travelers purchase travel insurance for big trips. "Ive had people change routes of flights to avoid certain airports." Wednesdays tragic event took place in one of Londons most populated areas, near Parliament Square. Steve Born, vice president of marketing for the Globus Family of Brands, told Fox News that across his company they currently have 69 guests in London, and all are accounted for in their home base hotels. A few guests are staying near the location of the attack. Nine of the 69 tourists were staying at the Park Plaza Westminster hotel, so there was a logistical situation for them given traffic and getting them to maneuver around Parliament House, Born said. They had a theater night pre-scheduled, and we gave them the option to change plans or continue on. They all chose to continue, which speaks to the level of comfort in London, and now that they know everything is under control, they can continue to enjoy their vacation, he added. DO US CITIZENS REALLY NEED A VISA TO TRAVEL THROUGH EUROPE THIS SUMMER? Nearly ten percent of tourists in Britain last year came from the U.S., according to government statistics. In 2015, France, the U.S., and Germany were the top three markets to visit the U.K. accounting for 30 percent of the country's visitors, according to Visit Britian. In the first nine months of 2016, the English capital welcomed a record 14 million foreign visitors. Several tourist attractions were immediately impacted by Wednesdays attack. Not far from Parliament, The London Eye, one of the citys most popular attractions, was shut down as the attack unfolded, trapping hundreds of guests inside until police secured the area. The London Eye tweeted, We will always take every precaution to ensure the safety and security of our guests and staff. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS The attraction reopened Thursday afternoon, local time. Members of Parliament were evacuated to Westminster Abbey until police had the attack under control. The Abbey followed by closing to visitors for the day. Today, it is only open to those attending worship services. According to Metro UK, police are advising tourists to avoid traveling to or through several highly trafficked areas Thursday including the following places: --Parliament Square --Westminster Bridge (closed to traffic both ways for the ongoing investigation) --Lambeth Bridge Tube passengers may travel through the Westminster station but will not be allowed outside the station. And those with planned river tours down the Thames should note that boats not allowed to sail west of Blackfriars near Westminster. Police are also urging visitors to report any suspicious activity to authorities immediately. Fox News' Bill O'Reilly slammed the mainstream media on Wednesday's "The O'Reilly Factor" for ignoring the case of two immigrant teens, at least one of whom is in the U.S. illegally, accused of raping a Maryland high school student. "ABC, NBC, CBS did not cover it on their nightly news broadcasts," O'Reilly said in his "Talking Points Memo." "CNN did not cover the Maryland story in primetime last night. Ditto MSNBC. That is beyond anything I have ever seen in my 40 years-plus of journalism." PARENTS' EMOTIONS RAW IN WAKE OF RAPE AT MARYLAND HIGH SCHOOL "We all know why," O'Reilly said. "Illegal immigration is a political issue." The host went on to accuse the media of "allowing the sanctuary [city] movement to pretty much run wild" by opposing President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies. O'Reilly warned that "many Americans have had enough of illegal immigration," saying that "the federal government has lost control over the immigration process, and ... many states and cities will not obey federal law, creating anarchy." "[There] comes a time when citizens of any country have to demand justice, have to demand protection, demand the law be respected," O'Reilly said. "We have not, have not, come to that time yet in America." It's a story more than four decades in the making. Marion County deputies helped apprehend an accused Vietnam War deserter Tuesday morning. According to the Marion County Sheriff's Office, 75-year-old Linley Benson Lemburg lived in The Falls retirement community in Ocala under the false name William Michael Robertson for years. We knew he was married, but when we knocked on his door, we discovered a wife who appeared to be shattered and in shock. She said, while fighting through tears, that she had no idea her beloved husband had kept this from her all these years. Neighbor Shirley Strickland says, "I'm just stunned. I really am. He was the first to console people!" Marion County deputies say they apprehended Lemburg with no resistance and took him to the Sheriff's Office where latent fingerprint technicians confirmed his identity by matching his fingerprints to prints the Air Force had from his enlistment. Deputies then transported him to Mac Dill AirForce Base in Tampa for questioning. According to MacDill AirForce Base Spokesman Terry Montrose, Lemburg will be court-martialed on formal charges of desertion from a post in the United States in 1972. According to Marion County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lauren Lettelier, "Whether he has defrauded the government in any way shape or form will have to be investigated. We'll have to see what happened." Read more from FOX35Orlando.com. A mother and father in Phoenix are facing first degree murder charges, after their nine-year-old son was shot and killed on Monday. According to reports, Kansas and Wendy Lavarnia said their two-year-old toddler accidentally shot the nine-year-old, now identified as Landen Lavarnia. Police, however, said the couple tried to clean up all the blood, while their son lay dying, before calling 911. SIX TEEN GIRLS TO BE CHARGED AFTER FIGHT ENDED WITH VICTIM'S HAIR ON FIRE On Tuesday, Wendy, 28, was charged with child abuse, and Kansas, 31, was charged with having a gun. As a convicted felon, Kansas was not allowed to have one. On Monday, Wendy reportedly told police that she left a loaded gun on a bed, and was about to put it in a holster when her two-year-old got ahold of it, and shot his brother in the head. During a news conference Wednesday, police said they had their doubts. "The account given my Landen's mother was not consistent with the physical evidence found at the scene," said Phoenix Police sergeant Vince Lewis, during the news conference. GEORGIA MAN HEAD-BUTTED INFANT DAUGHTER, INVESTIGATORS SAY According to police, they believe Kansas was at the scene when Landen was shot, and they also believe Kansas was shot in the arm. Police also believe Wendy then tried to clean up a house that was awash in blood - in the master bedroom, master bathroom, main bathroom, hallway, kitchen area, and sinks. All that, according to Phoenix Police officials, happened while Landen lay dying. Police also said they believe Kansas then left home, and came back several hours after police got the 911 call. READ MORE FROM FOX 10 PHOENIX Police say three family members of a Wainwright home spent the social security payments of a veteran whose body was found badly decomposed in their living room. Deputies said they made the gruesome discovery while they were following up on a welfare check on 71-year-old Bob Harris, whom neighbors say they hadn't seen for an extended period of time. Police say they became more suspicious after learning that Harris' debit card for his social security was still being used. Video shows the suspects using the card for transactions. Deputies obtained a search warrant and entered the home Tuesday, March 21. Authorities said while walking through the home after entering, they discovered a badly decomposed, mostly skeletonized, body lying in the living room. The body was uncovered, lying in the open and decomposing only feet away from where the residents slept. Police are now trying to determine the cause of death. Three people who lived in the home, a father, mother and daughter have been charged with several crimes. 49-year-old Brian Sorohan faces gross abuse of corpse, theft and failure to report knowledge of a death charges. Read more from Fox8.com. Glamour Women Of The Year 2016 LIVE Summit (Photo : Getty Images) Modern Family star Ariel Winter went on a vacation in China with boyfriend Levi Meaden. Besides going to landmarks such as the Great Wall of China, she also posted racy photos of herself. The photos were taken at a cigar bar in Beijing showing the 19-year-old actress wearing a black lacy bra beneath a sheer top, silky skirt and boots that reach her thigh with fishnet tights, E! News reported. The photo, posted on Instagram, became viral with more than 211,000 likes and elicited over 2,700 comments after two days. Advertisement Cleavage Galore The photos included Levi Meaden where she is seen blowing repeated kisses to her boyfriend. In a lot of the images, Ariel Winters revealing outfit showed much cleavage. Besides vacationing with Ariel Winter, Levi Meaden is in China filming an action movie, Pacific Rim: Uprising. Aside from their China trip, the couple also went to Australia recently where they saw some kangaroos. In the Valentines Day vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Ariel Winter posted a photo where she is straddling Levi Meadon while wearing only a tiny blue bikini. Like other young stars such as Selena Gomez, Ariel Winter loves to post images showing a lot of her skin taken while aboard a boat in Bora Bora and with her family at The Grove in West Hollywood, the New York Daily News reported. Social Media Star The Modern Family actress has 2.6 million followers on social media whom she updates regularly by posting photos from her vacation and at work such as when she lost weight. Besides Instagram, she also has a Snapchat account. She joined Modern Family when she was just 12 and had a completely different body. Ariel Winter described her body then as stick thin, no chest and no butt. I was totally flat and I was sad about it, Self.com quoted the actress whose body which she loves to flaunt on social media changed overnight with her breasts now a D cup, plus a bigger behind and an expanded waist. A Chicago chiropractor has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly submitting at least $10 million in non-existent treatments and claims to Medicare and private insurers. The U.S. Attorneys office said in a news release that Henry Posada, 54, submitted the claims for physical therapy and chiropractic services that never happened. From 2008 to 2016, Posada submitted at least $10 million in fraudulent claims. About $5.1 million was paid to his clinic, Spine Clinics of America S.C., which focuses on chiropractic care and rehabilitation. PENNSYLVANIA MAN CHARGED WITH TAKING BRIBES FOR MILITARY BASE WORK According to the indictment, during the dates he claimed to have provided the chiropractic services, Posada was out of the state. In other instances, he used his patients names without their knowledge or permission to create fictitious claim forms. Posada was charged with 18 counts of health care fraud. His indictment seeks forfeiture of the $5.1 million, $850,000 in cashier checks, a car and a property owned by Posada. Health care fraud is punishable by up to ten years in prison. Posada could not be reached for comment. Posada pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. A status hearing is scheduled for May 30, 2017. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Its no surprise that secular U.S. college student bodies are becoming intolerant of conservatives, but the same trend may be emerging in some of the nations religiously affiliated schools. Take St. Olaf College, a school affiliated with the 3.7 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is about 40 miles south of Minneapolis. Kathryn Hinderaker, a St. Olaf student and vice president of the College Republicans, told Fox News that the atmosphere on campus has become physically threatening for conservatives. After the election [of Donald Trump] things definitely got a lot worse, she told Fox News. For days after, there were big protests held where students would gather in huge crowds and yell threats to Republicans and talk about their hatred for voters of Trump. It became a very hostile campus. COLLEGE STUDENTS VIOLENTLY PROTESTING CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS TEND TO COME FROM WEALTHY FAMILIES, STUDY FINDS They held a vigil for the death of America, she said. St. Olaf College officials said they do not endorse the hostility Hinderaker is reporting. They say they are actively working against any such behavior. When reactions cross this line and lead to bullying, harassment, or other behavior that violates our community standards, we have and will continue to enforce our code of conduct, a college spokesperson said. There is no place for bullying of any kind at St. Olaf, including student-on-student bullying because of a students political views. We also do not permit faculty/staff imposing their own views in an academic setting. VIDEO SHOWS LEFTIST ACTIVIST ATTACKING CONSERVATIVE COLLEGE STUDENTS One upshot of the perceived hostility and intolerance has been conservative students trying to keep a low profile and not disclosing their views. Ive had an insane number of people whisper to me at parties or other events: Hey Ive seen you around campus and I agree with you. Good job'," Hinderaker said. "That just shows how hard it is for students to speak up right now. They have to literally whisper to me: Im a conservative. The campus hostility to Republicans and conservatives belies the progressive communitys historic commitment to free speech and the free and open exchange of ideas, she said. They talk about diversity in all forms, which I think is wonderful, but what they forget about is diversity of thought, Hinderaker said. Besides keeping their heads down some students have decided to transfer to less-intolerant schools. Reagan Lundstrom Warner, a political science major at St. Olaf's, is one such student, according to St. Olafs student newspaper, the Manitou Messenger. Lundstrom Warner plans to transfer to St. Thomas University in South Florida next fall. While faculty are encouraged to remain unbiased, she said that one of her professors used class time to expound upon personal views. '[A professor] started every class with basically just ridiculing Trump for about 20 minutes,'" the newspaper quoted Lundstrom Warner as saying. The college spokesperson acknowledged there were some instances of students attempting to intimidate other students because of how they voted in the presidential election. In each case where a complaint was reported to the dean of students or provost, prompt action was taken to address that behavior with the student or faculty/staff member and appropriate sanctions were imposed. St. Olaf remains committed, as it has always been, to the free and open exchange of ideas. The experience of students at St. Olaf is not unique. The student newspaper said a survey revealed that in 1990, "42 percent of professors identified as liberal, compared to 60 percent in 2014. Today, left-leaning professors outnumber conservative professors five to one. St. Olafs student population is no exception, the Manitou Messenger said. In the 2016 general election, 82.18 percent of St. Olaf students who voted on campus cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, 10.33 percent voted for Donald Trump and Mike Pence and 5.03 percent voted for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson." A former Alabama judge is going to federal prison after pleading guilty to crimes that include having sex with a woman whose case was in his court. A judge sentenced 74-year-old Paul Conger Jr. of Akron to a year and a day in prison for obstructing justice, accepting a gratuity for an official act and stealing government property. Conger is a former Tuscaloosa County judge who was hearing cases as an administrative law judge for the Social Security Administration. He pleaded guilty in October to having sex at the Tuscaloosa courthouse with a woman who sought Social Security benefits. He also admitted trying to cover it up. Prosecutors say Conger approved $10,000 in retroactive benefits for the woman. He must report to prison in July and pay a $4,000 fine. A Texas woman has been rescued after she was stranded in a remote area of the Grand Canyon for five days, running out of food and almost out of water. Her car ran out of gas near the south rim of the national park, Fox 10 reported. Amber Vanhecke, 24, called 911, but her cell phone signal dropped, according to Arizona Department of Public Safety. Officials who rescued Vanhecke used their knowledge of the area to pinpoint her location. A helicopter crew was dispatched with a paramedic on board and spotted the glare of a car. A large Help sign could be seen from the air next to the vehicle. The chopper landed near the car, but no one was found inside. Notes found near the car and written on looseleaf paper said Vanhecke had gone to search for a cell phone signal. The crew then spotted Vanhecke waving her arms frantically about a mile away from the car. Rangers from the helicopter crew note that her food was gone and her water supply wouldnt have lasted much longer. She was smart and prepared. She had food and water in her vehicle for the trip. Even though she was down to her last bit of water, it kept her going. When she left the vehicle, she left notes so we knew where to find her. She did everything right, Trooper paramedic and crew member Edgar Bissonette said. Vanhecke was treated on the scene for exposure and flown to the trauma center in Flagstaff. Click for more from Fox 10. Two ilegal immigrant teenagers headed toward the U.S. from Guatemala said they were sexually assaulted by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent who they flagged down for help in July 2016. The border agent took sisters, ages 19 and 17, to an immigration intake center in Presidio, Texas, where he made the pair strip down and sexually assaulted them in a small room, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. The agent was not identified. What happened in that closet has caused me so much pain and sadness, the older sister, who asked to remain anonymous, said through a lawyer. "Im telling my story because I dont want anyone else to go through this." The agent allegedly took the sisters into a small room at the facility and said he had to strip search them for security. At that point he allegedly fondled them. The older sister said they began to cry while the border agent tried to console them with blankets and snacks, the Los Angeles Times reported. When the older sister tried to explain to other officers what had happened, she was called a liar, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. CBP must be held accountable for its officers sexual abuse of these vulnerable victims, their attorney said. There has been no criminal prosecution against the officer involved. CBP is not above the law, and its abuses of power must not be tolerated. The sisters were transferred to a detention center about an hour away from Presidio and they were released two days later, according to the Star-Telegram. They were reunited with their mother, who lives in Fresno, Calif., about three days after their release. The Border Patrol has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual assault in its detention centers and it is required that any employee who learns of sexual assault in the center to report it to a superior. A Border Patrol rep told the Los Angeles Times there is no room in CBP for the mistreatment or misconduct of any kind towards those in detention. Click for more from the Los Angeles Times. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 A Massachusetts man convicted of killing a pregnant woman and her two children 30 years ago has lost his bid for a shorter sentence. Daniel LaPlante was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole in the 1987 deaths of 33-year-old Priscilla Gustafson, 7-year-old Abigail and 5-year-old William in Townsend. He was then 17. His sentence was up for reconsideration because recent court rulings determined that juveniles can't be sentenced to life without parole. LaPlante was eligible for parole after 15 years for each conviction and he asked that two of his sentences run together, which would have made him eligible for parole this year. But the judge ruled Thursday he should serve at least 45 years for the crimes so must stay in prison at least another 15 years. A Utah man was killed and his wife seriously injured during the terrorist attack outside London's Parliament building on Wednesday, relatives announced, saying the two were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Kurt Cochran, 54, who was injured alongside his wife, Melissa, died Thursday morning at a hospital in London, relatives said. Family said they were among the first hit by the vehicle on Westminster Bridge. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement from Clint Payne, Melissas brother. "Our family is heartbroken to learn of the death of our brother- and son-in-law, Kurt W. Cochran, who was a victim of Wednesday's terrorist attack in London, he said. Kurt was a good man and a loving husband to our sister and daughter, Melissa. PHOTOS: LONDON TERROR ATTACK: THE DAY AFTER Melissas sister, Sara Payne-Mcfarland, wrote in a Facebook post that her sister suffered a broken leg, broken rib and head wound in the attack. While we are glad she survived, our hearts are broken and will never be the same after losing our dear uncle, brother-in-law, father. Kurt, you are a HERO, and we will never forget you, Payne-Mcfarland wrote. Payne said the husband and wife were scheduled to return to the United States on Thursday. They had previously visited Germany and Austria in what they called "a dream vacation," Fox 13 reported. The couple was in London visiting Melissas parents, who are serving a mission for the Mormon Church. Kurt was a good dad and likable guy who will be missed dearly by his two adult sons, said Danny Wiley, the step-father to Cochran's sons. Wiley said Kurt loved skateboarding and playing basketball with his sons. "It's devastating," said Wiley, who lives in West Valley City, Utah. "He was a good guy, everybody liked him. He always had a smile on his face." ISIS CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR DEADLY RAMPAGE OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT BUILDING We express our gratitude to the emergency and medical personnel who have cared for them and ask for your prayers on behalf of Melissa and our family. Kurt will be greatly missed, and we ask for privacy as our family mourns and as Melissa recovers from her injuries, Payne's statement said. A GoFundMe page has been created to raise money for Melissa. Hatch Statement on the Death of Utahn Kurt Cochran in London Terror Attack -- #utpol #londonattack pic.twitter.com/oppWp2e9al Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) March 23, 2017 President Trump offered his condolences to Kurt and Melissa's family and friend. "A great American, Kurt Cochran, was killed in the London terror attack. My prayers and condolences are with his family and friends," he tweeted on Thursday. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch released a statement on Twitter. Two people were killed and more than 30 others injured before the attacker fatally stabbed police officer Keith Palmer, 48, on the Parliaments grounds. Police shot the attacker, who later was pronounced dead. Another victim killed on the bridge was identified as Aysha Frade, a 43-year-old British national whose mother is Spanish. London police identified the attacker as 52-year-old Khalid Masood, who was born in Kent, England. Authorities said he was known to authorities and had a range of previous convictions for assaults, including grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and public order offenses. Police said there was no prior knowledge about his intention to mount a terrorist attack. He had not been convicted for any terrorism offenses. The Islamic State terror network has claimed responsibility for the attack. Fox News' Garrett Tenney and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A man recently freed from prison in Alabama is accused of abducting a woman whose dramatic escape from her car trunk was captured on video. Birmingham police announced Wednesday night that 28-year-old Manuel Ali Towns has been charged with kidnapping and robbery in the abduction of 25-year-old Brittany Diggs earlier this month. Towns was detained Tuesday. The ordeal -- which lasted for hours -- began outside Diggs' apartment in Birmingham's Avondale neighborhood, according to Al.com. When the woman arrived home, the suspect pointed a gun at her and demanded money, Birmingham police Sgt. Bryan Shelton told the website. When she said she didn't have any, he forced her into her car -- a black Nissan Altima -- and drove off. Diggs escaped by opening an interior trunk latch. Surveillance cameras at a gas station convenience store captured images of her tumbling from the trunk. Al.com reported that records show Towns was freed from prison in January after serving more than five years for marijuana possession. His record includes robbery arrests dating back more than a decade. Click for more from Al.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. British law enforcement on Thursday conducted sweeps at six properties with links to Wednesdays terror attack in the heart of London. Authorities said eight people have been arrested in connection to the attack that left four dead, including the attacker. PM Theresa May faces her first security crisis, but an expert said that her experience has prepared her for the role. 'HANNITY': GINGRICH SAYS WE NEED A WORLDWIDE TERROR STRATEGY 'HANNITY': DR. GORKA SAYS NOBODY SHOULD BE SURPRISED BY ATTACK TUCKER: TERROR WASN'T ALWAYS 'INEVITABLE' IN BIG CITIES 'TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT': FARAGE: YOU CAN'T HAVE OPEN-DOOR IMMIGRATION WITHOUT TERROR NO DEAL House Republicans' ObamaCare replacement plan was in peril early Thursday after lengthy leadership and committee meetings failed to produce an agreement that would shore up support among conservative members. The committee spent 13 hours in session Wednesday without setting up a formal rule governing debate on the health care bill, which had been expected to be voted on by the full House Thursday. 'SPECIAL REPORT': KRAUTHAMMER SAYS OBAMACARE REPEAL FAILURE WOULD 'DAMAGE' TRUMP 'TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT': HHS SECRETARY PRICE ON WHY THE PROPOSED OBAMACARE REPLACEMENT PLAN LIVES UP TO TRUMP'S PROMISE O'REILLY SLAMS MEDIA Fox News' Bill O'Reilly slammed the mainstream media on Wednesday's "The O'Reilly Factor" for ignoring the case of two immigrant teens, at least one of whom is in the U.S. illegally, accused of raping a Maryland high school student. "ABC, NBC, CBS did not cover it on their nightly news broadcasts," O'Reilly said in his "Talking Points Memo." "CNN did not cover the Maryland story in primetime last night. Ditto MSNBC. That is beyond anything I have ever seen in my 40 years-plus of journalism." FOX NEWS OPINION NEWT GINGRICH: Like Andrew Jackson, Donald Trump is an intensely American president The former speaker writes that President Trump gave a historic speech last week honoring President Andrew Jackson. True to current form, the media largely either missed or maligned it. NORTH KOREA EYED IN CYBERTHEFT Federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating if North Korea played a role in last year's theft of $81 million from a Bangladesh central bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The probe opens a new front in cyberwarfare where essentially a nation-state could be a suspect in a bank robbery. COMING UP ON FNC 9 AM ET: House GOP Conference holds meeting to discuss Health Care. Watch FoxNews.com for live coverage. 1:30 PM ET: White House press briefing with Sean Spicer. Watch live on FoxNews.com COMING UP ON FOX BUSINESS Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Googles parent company Alphabet, will be on "Mornings With Maria" at 6:30 AM ET. WITH GOP HEALTH CARE BILL IN LIMBO, SO ARE INVESTORS The U.S. financial markets declined slightly for the second consecutive session Wednesday. As uncertainty looms around the future of the ObamaCare replacement, investors are sitting on the sidelines, growing more uneasy about the likelihood of tax reform in the near future. Follow the markets throughout the day and the health care bill vote results on FOXBusiness.com A mother and her daughter were killed in separate car crashes within one hour on Tuesday, police in Alabama confirmed. The mother, 39-year-old Julia Yates Patterson of Valley Head, collided with another car on Alabama 117 at about 3 p.m. in the afternoon, investigators said. She was the only person in her car and was pronounced dead at the scene. PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE STUDENT DIES AFTER SKATE BOARDING ACCIDENT ON CAMPUS Paramedics rushed two people who were in the other car to a local hospital. Patterson's young daughter, 8-year-old Libby, was hit by a vehicle while out in the street about 30 minutes later, according to police. This also took place on Alabama 117. The young girl was pronounced dead at the scene. The coroner identified her as 8-year-old Libby Patterson. Click here to read more at WAFF 48. Britain Becomes Hub for Innovation with New Taxi Factory in Coventry Geely opened its car factory in the U.K. to produce electronic taxis. (Photo : Getty Images) Chinese automotive manufacturer Geely opened its factory in Coventry in the United Kingdom to build an electronic version of the British black taxi. Geely bought the London Taxi Company (LTC) and bought the rights to duplicate the classic British cab. The plant in Coventry is valued at 1.65 billion yuan. Advertisement Li Shufu, chairman of Geely, wrote an article for the opening of the English factory. He stated, "Today, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, of which I am chairman, will reaffirm our commitment to the U.K. with the opening of the first new Chinese-backed car plant in Britain, built in just two years, to launch a 21st century version of a famous motoring icon: the London taxi cab." According to a statement by the LTC, the factory "has the capacity to build more than 20,000 vehicles per year . . . the best ultra-low emission commercial vehicles in the world." Four years ago, Geely saved The London Taxi Company from going bankrupt. Geely also owns Volvo and will be using Swiss technology in the new e-taxis. Chris Gubbey, the chief of the taxi company, said that the factory's launch "marks the rebirth of the London Taxi Company." The new factory will produce 1,000 new jobs. "The plant is the first brand new automotive manufacturing facility in Britain for over a decade, the first dedicated electric vehicle factory in the U.K. and the first major Chinese investment in U.K. automotive," said LTC Chairman Carl-Peter Forster. Geely's chief executive wrote that China sees the U.K. as a "hub for innovation in new energy technology." The opening of the car factory coincides with the signing of Article 50 to formalize Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. Li wrote, "When the British Government triggers Article 50 to begin negotiating its withdrawal from the European Union, the whole world will be watching. From Shanghai to Silicon Valley companies with investments and trading interests in the U.K. will want to understand what it means for the economy, for exports, and for regulations." He added, "But, for now, China continues to see the U.K. as a hub for innovation in new energy technology, for manufacturing expertise and for skills." A member of the MS-13 street gang who had been deported from the U.S. four times stabbed two women and sexually assaulted a 2-year-old girl in a New York City suburb, according to local police. Tommy Vladim Alvarado-Ventura, 31, attacked the child Tuesday in the Long Island town of Hempstead while the girl's mother was at work and he was babysitting, Nassau County Police said in a news release. Prosecutors said he later attacked a woman outside a bar early Wednesday after getting into an argument over buying marijuana, punching and stabbing her in the back, thigh and mouth before running away, according to police. The woman was hospitalized with a collapsed lung. When he returned to the apartment, he then got into a confrontation with his girlfriend when she noticed her 2-year-old daughter had suffered severe injuries that were inflicted by him, according to police. He then allegedly punched and stabbed his girlfriend "multiple times," according to police, before he was able to grab her children and contact authorities. This is, in 28 years, probably the most heinous criminal act Ive ever seen, Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter told CBS New York. It really is nauseating. Police said Alvarado-Ventura was deported to El Salvador four times between 2006 and 2011, and that it is not known when he returned to the United States. The 31-year-old pleaded not guilty Thursday and was ordered held without bail. He faces life in prison. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A 20-year old Pennsylvania man is suspected of murdering his girlfriend's 4-year-old son and now his mother is being accused of helping him. Keith Jordan Lambing and Lambing's mother Kristen Herold, were found by police in an abandoned home in Butler, Pa. after receiving a tip. The two were sent to Butler County Prison, Butler Township Police told Fox News. Officials plan to charge Lambing with homicide, Butler District Attorney Richard Goldinger told Fox News. Herold is charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution, endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person, Butler Township Police said in a statement. Both Lambing and Herold were found at the abandoned home, Goldinger said. They had warrants for their arrest unrelated to the child's death, Butler Township Police Lt. Matthew Pearson told Fox News. Keith Lambing didn't show up to a burglary hearing the day before the 4-year-old died. The 4-year-old had been staying at the Super 8 motel in Butler with his mother, Lambing and a baby. The childs mother was at work when the 4-year-old needed medical attention, Goldinger said. Lambing called Herold for help. She came and picked up the boy but the child became unresponsive in the car. Herold called 911 for help and pulled into a parking lot. Paramedics came to the scene, performed CPR on the unresponsive child and took him to Butler Memorial Hospital where he died Tuesday, Goldinger said. The baby who was also staying at the motel is no longer under the mother's custody, Goldinger added. Youth services took the baby under protective custody. The 4-year olds mother is not considered a person of interest, Goldinger noted. The pathologist ruled the boy's death a homicide, Goldinger said, but when Fox News reached out to the Butler County Coroners Office, they said they were not releasing information about the autopsy at this time. A vigil for the 4-year-old was held Wednesday. Authorities say two people and a police dog are dead and a police officer is wounded after a shooting in south Louisiana. State Police Trooper Brooks David says the Crowley Police Department officer was shot late Wednesday night while responding to reports of shots fired at a residence. David says the officer was hospitalized in stable condition on Thursday. David says police shot and killed a suspect after that person shot the dog and the officer. A second person's body was found at the scene. David says the cause of that person's death was under investigation. Crowley Police Capt. Janet Kneeland referred questions to the city's police chief, who didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. The teacher accused of kidnapping one of his students sparking a nationwide manhunt was reportedly spotted on a beach in Corpus Christi, Texas Thursday. The Tennessean reported that Corpus Christi police were dispatched at about 1 p.m. to the 4500 block of U.S. Highway 181 in North Beach after a call from Tennessee was forwarded to the police department. Tad Cummins was added to Tennessees Most Wanted List after he was suspected of kidnapping his 15-year-old student Elizabeth Thomas last week. Authorities issued an amber alert for a silver Nissan Rogue with license plate 976ZPT. It's been a week, but we're not giving up hope. Stay vigilant, stay alert, and let us know if you spot these individuals or this vehicle. pic.twitter.com/jDACuW1iUg TBI (@TBInvestigation) March 20, 2017 Corpus Christi police spokeswoman Gena Pena said the call indicated an SUV with partially-matching plates may have been spotted in North Beach. Units are out there trying to look for the vehicle but nothing has been found, Pena told the Caller-Times. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations has been searching for the blond-haired student and 50-year-old Maury County Schools health teacher since March 13. Investigators believe Cummins may have abducted the girl to potentially sexually exploit her. The lawyer of the smiling Texas high school teacher accused of fondling a male student said his client looks so cheerful in her mugshot because shes innocent, according to a report. Sarah Fowlkes, 27, engaged in sexual contact with a 17-year-old male student and turned herself in on Monday, and shortly thereafter bonded herself out, according to the Lockhart Police Department. ALABAMA TRUNK ESCAPE: KIDNAPPING SUSPECT CHARGED Her lawyer, Jason Nassour told NBC theres no corroborating evidence to back up the claim, and that his client was busted only because of a statement made by a 17-year-old kid. This isnt a guilty person sitting there like they just got caught. When everythings fleshed out it wont be as it appears, Nassour said. Fowlkes touched the students genitals, with the intent to arouse or gratify sexual desire and the student made contact with the teachers breasts, also with the intent to arouse or gratify sexual desire, according to the arrest affidavit. Click for more from The New York Post. Prime Minister Theresa May, who spent six years in charge of the U.K.s interior ministry, is the more prepared to handle this terror crisis than any leader the country has ever seen, an expert on British political history told The Wall Street journal. As home secretary, the paper reported that she was in charge of British police, border security and the domestic intelligence services MI5. During her tenure, some critics said she at times put security over personal liberty. She oversaw an increase in surveillance powers of the security service. Shes absolutely smart and strong on security, Jonathan Russell, head of policy at Quilliam, a counter-extremism think tank in London, told the paper. Five people, including a London police officer who was stabbed and the assailant, were killed in a terror attack that saw more 40 people injured outside the Parliament building on Wednesday. May described the attack as "sick and depraved. May was yards from the scene and was taken away in a silver Jaguar as gunfire erupted. Authorities said there was only one attacker who authorities believe was "inspired by international terrorism." The threat level for international terrorism in the U.K. was already listed at severe, and will remain so, according to May. The attack comes just days before she is set to formally start Britains exit from the European Union. May, reportedly spoke with France's Hollande and President Trump. She vowed to not allow the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart." She said Parliament will meet again as normal on Thursday. A police officer who was among four victims of a terror attack in Westminster has been named as PC Keith Palmer. The 48-year-old husband and father was stabbed by a man armed with two knives in the grounds of the Houses of Parliament. Moments earlier the assailant struck a number of pedestrians with a car on Westminster Bridge, before crashing the vehicle into railings outside Parliament. UK PARLIAMENT TERROR ATTACK: 5 DEAD, INCLUDING COP AND ALLEGED ASSAILANT, IN 'SICK AND DEPRAVED' ACT He was shot dead by armed police after attacking PC Palmer and another officer Police say approximately 40 people were injured in the atrocity, some of whom were said to have sustained "catastrophic" injuries. Among those who rushed to help PC Palmer outside Parliament was Government minister Tobias Ellwood, who performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the injured officer. Murdered officer named as 48-year-old PC Keith Palmer, a husband and father with 15 years' service https://t.co/IV4sSLEpsM pic.twitter.com/NDeVZmDbE9 Sky News (@SkyNews) March 22, 2017 Paying tribute to PC Palmer, Met Police deputy commissioner Mark Rowley said: "He was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift - and he had every right to expect that would happen." Conservative MP James Cleverly, who served with PC Palmer in the Royal Artillery, described the officer as "a lovely man". He said: "I'm heartbroken. My thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of PC Keith Palmer. A brave man." Read more from Sky News. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 Ukrainian officials say around 20,000 people have been evacuated in the Kharkiv region near the border with Russia after a massive fire at a military ammunition depot. Ukraine's chief military prosecutor, Anatolii Matios, said on Facebook that the blaze, which erupted early Thursday at the depot in Balaklia, was sparked by an act of sabotage. He said there was no immediate information about any casualties. Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has flown to the area to monitor the blaze, which is still raging. The arsenal holds large-caliber artillery rounds and is one of Ukraine's largest. Kharkiv lies just north of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where Ukrainian troops have been fighting Russia-backed separatists. The conflict has killed more than 9,800 since April 2014. A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage in the heart of Britain's seat of power Wednesday, plowing a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Five people were killed, including the assailant, and 40 others were injured in what Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack." Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down after the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament, just yards (meters) from entrances to the building itself and in the shadow of the iconic Big Ben clock tower. He died, as did three pedestrians on the bridge, and the police officer. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had "catastrophic" injuries. Three police officers, several French teenagers on a school trip, two Romanian tourists, a Chinese citizen and five South Korean visitors were among the injured. Police said they were treating the attack as terrorism. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley said police believed there was only one attacker, "but it would be foolish to be overconfident early on." He said an unarmed policeman, three civilians and the attacker died. Forty others, including three police officers, were injured. Islamic extremism was suspected in the attack, Rowley said, adding that authorities believe they know the assailant's identity but would not reveal it while the investigation was ongoing. The threat level for international terrorism in the U.K. was already listed at severe, meaning an attack was "highly likely." Speaking outside 10 Downing St. after chairing a meeting of government's emergency committee, COBRA, May said that level would not change. She said attempts to defeat British values of democracy and freedom through terrorism would fail. "Tomorrow morning, Parliament will meet as normal," she said. Londoners and visitors "will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart." U.S. President Donald Trump was among world leaders offering condolences, and in Paris, the lights of the Eiffel Tower were to be dimmed in solidarity with London. London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames. Wednesday was the anniversary of suicide bombings in the Brussels airport and subway that killed 32 people last year, and the latest events echoed recent vehicle attacks in Berlin and Nice, France. In the House of Commons, legislators were holding a series of votes on pensions when deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle announced that the sitting was being suspended and told lawmakers not to leave. Parliament was locked down for several hours, and the adjoining Westminster subway station was shuttered. Conservative lawmaker Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was killed in the Bali terror attack in 2002, performed first aid on the wounded police officer, who later died. About 10 yards away lay the assailant. "I tried to stem the flow of blood and give mouth to mouth while waiting for the medics to arrive but I think he had lost too much blood," Ellwood said. "He had multiple wounds, under the arm and in the back." The attack began early Wednesday afternoon as a driver in a gray SUV slammed into pedestrians on the bridge linking Parliament to the south bank of the River Thames. Former Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski was in a car crossing the bridge when he heard "something like a car hitting metal sheet" and then saw people lying on the pavement. "I saw one person who gave no signs of life. One man was bleeding from his head. I saw five people who were at least seriously injured," Sikorski told Poland's TVN24. Ambulances arrived within minutes to treat people who lay scattered along the length of the bridge. One bloodied woman lay surrounded by a scattering of postcards. Police said one injured woman was pulled from the river. The car crashed into railings on the north side of the bridge, less than 200 yards (meters) from the entrance to Parliament. As people scattered in panic, witnesses saw a man holding a knife run toward the building. "The whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben," said witness Rick Longley. "A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. I have never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw." The attacker managed to get past a gate into Parliament's fenced-in New Palace Yard, a cobbled courtyard in the shadow of the Big Ben clock tower. Daily Mail journalist Quentin Letts said a man in black attacked the police officer before being shot two or three times as he tried to storm into the building. "As this attacker was running towards the entrance two plain-clothed guys with guns shouted at him what sounded like a warning, he ignored it and they shot two or three times and he fell," Letts told the BBC. The attacker fell to the cobbles just yards from the entrance to 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the parliamentary complex, busy with visitors and school groups. Beyond that, a corridor leads to the building's Central Lobby, flanked by House of Commons and House of Lords chambers. The prime minister was among lawmakers near the Commons at the time of the attack, and was quickly ushered away by security officers and driven back to Downing Street. To get that far, the attacker would have had to evade the armed officers who patrol the Parliament complex in pairs, as well as Parliament's own security staff, who don't carry guns. The attack unfolded near some of the city's most famous tourist sites, including the London Eye, a large Ferris wheel with pods that overlook the capital. It was halted after the attack, stranding visitors in the pods, with an aerial view of the attack scene. London Ambulance Service said medics treated 12 people for serious injuries and eight who were less seriously hurt. Dr. Colleen Anderson of St. Thomas' Hospital said some of the wounded had "catastrophic" injuries. The French Foreign Ministry said that three students on a school trip from Saint-Joseph in the Brittany town of Concarneau were among the injured. Two Romanians were also among the injured, the country's Foreign Ministry said. Trump spoke with May by telephone and applauded "the quick response of British police and first responders," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. London has often been the target of terrorist attacks, from IRA campaigns in the 1970s and 80s to more recent Islamist plots. On July 7, 2005, four al-Qaida-inspired British bombers blew themselves up on three subway trains and a bus in London, killing 52 people. British security forces say they have thwarted some 13 terror plots over the past four years, but in recent years the U.K. has largely been spared major international terror attacks such as the ones seen in Belgium and France. Last year, a far-right supporter shot and killed British lawmaker Jo Cox, who had campaigned for the U.K. to remain in the European Union. Prior to that, an attacker claiming to be motivated by Syria stabbed three people at a London subway station. The most gruesome recent attack occurred in 2013 when two Muslim converts of Nigerian descent attacked Lee Rigby, a British soldier who was walking down the street. The men ran Rigby down with their vehicle and then used a cleaver to hack him to death as bystanders watched in horror. ___ Associated Press writers Sophie Berman, Gregory Katz and Rob Harris in London and Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 The armed group took over the school little by little. One day when a fighter came to collect and burn the students' desks, teacher Thiernd Ouronfei decided he'd had enough. "I said he must put the kids' desks down. They hit me in the head with a knife and I was sent to the hospital for at least a week," he said. Even now, after the school in Central African Republic was liberated, parents are scared to send their children, he told The Associated Press. Some 20 percent of schools in Central African Republic are not functioning, and students' and teachers' lives are threatened as armed groups have looted, occupied and damaged the properties in the conflict-torn country, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Thursday. An education is a rare opportunity for children in the impoverished country to get ahead. "We're talking about a lost generation. These are students aren't going to get those years back," said Lewis Mudge, the group's Africa researcher and co-author of the report. "Many rebels have also been quite open that they are going to reoccupy schools during the upcoming rainy season." Central African Republic descended into conflict in 2013 when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew the Christian president. The Christian anti-Balaka militia retaliated with a backlash against Muslim civilians. While the country held successful democratic elections last year, many remote areas remain outside the government's control. Violence by armed groups has risen sharply since October. Various armed groups have used the schools as bases for years. Human Rights Watch, which visited schools between November and January and interviewed children and teachers as well as fighters, has called on the country's government and the United Nations to do more to ensure that armed groups stay far away from classrooms. In some cases, fighters may vacate a school, but still operate meters away. One student in Ngadja in Ouaka province told Human Rights Watch that he feared for his life after Seleka fighters occupied a nearby school on and off for more than two years. "I often ask myself, 'Should I even bother to go to school? Is it worth the risk?'" he said. The Seleka rebels for months used the school director's office as a prison, teachers in Ngadja told the rights group. In November, the U.N. humanitarian office estimated that while 2,336 schools in Central African Republic were operational, at least 461 were not because of insecurity, destruction, occupation and lack of teachers. Central African Republic's government in 2015 committed to protecting schools from attack and military use and permitted U.N. forces to clear them. Progress was made but then undermined when U.N., African Union and French forces in some cases occupied schools themselves, Human Rights Watch said. Once U.N. officials were informed, they left, the group said. "If there are to be any meaningful attempts at peace or at reconciliation, it's important to restart these structures that provide a degree of normalcy," Mudge said. China thinks that the country should not get involved in the India-Pakistan dispute on Kashmir. (Photo : Getty Images) Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan visited Nepal and Sri Lanka. Chinese state media warned India that if it interferes with China's relationship with southeast Asia, then Beijing will fight back. China-India relations are put into focus by the Global Times, saying that India is "treating South Asia and the Indian Ocean as its backyard with a hard-line manner." Advertisement The state media said that China is hoping that India will start reconsidering its position in the global market and prioritize China-India bilateral ties. The paper said, "China hopes India can understand the pursuit of China and regional countries for common development, and be part of it." "However, New Delhi doesn't share this thinking, instead of seeking to balance China. If such tendencies in India continue, China will have to fight back, because its core interests will have been violated," the paper wrote. It also said, "This is not what we hope for, but the ball is in India's court." China is not pleased with India when it permitted the Dalai Lama to enter Delhi to open an international Buddhist conference in Nalanda, Bihar. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Buddhists in Tibet. Tibet has been struggling for independence from China, saying that they are a separate state and not a part of the mainland. India is refusing to cooperate with China for the implementation of projects related to the One Belt initiative because of the Kashmir territorial dispute between India and Pakistan. The state paper believes that India is using the Dalai Lama to show reluctance to China's moves for development in south Asia. The paper wrote that India is "intensifying its communication with the Dalai Lama, to display its strength and leverage in order to put pressure on or counterbalance Beijing." According to experts, China has nothing to do with the territorial dispute over Kashmir. Wang Zhan, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's Parliament, said, "If we go through the Kashmir area, which belongs to India, its a problem of sovereignty for India but now Pakistan has the right to the administration over PoK." He added, "So, it's a problem between India and Pakistan and doesn't relate to China." I stood at the spot where an American, Kurt Cochran, was killed on Wednesday. Hit on the walkway of Westminster Bridge by a racing SUV with a madman at the wheel and then hurled over the balustrade to a landing 20 feet below. He was just wrapping up a 25th anniversary tour of Europe with his wife. She was thrown to the ground and suffered injuries. Like Nice, France, and like Berlin, Germany, both horror scenes I reported from, a madman had marauded through crowds for some twisted political end. Some say he drove as fast as 70mph and, looking at video of the incident later, it seems possible. No wonder another person was killed on bridge. At least 40 people were hurt, 29 still hospitalized, several in critical condition. LONDON TERROR ATTACK: KILLER IDENTIFIED AS 52-YEAR-OLD KHALID MASOOD He would end this horror with a political finale: Bursting onto the grounds of the British Parliament, stabbing and killing a police officer before being shot and killed himself. Remarkably some 24 hours after the terror, the bridge was reopened to traffic and pedestrians. Most certainly a signal from the British authorities that they would not be cowed by an act the ISIS terror group claimed to be done in its name. As they say here in the UK, keep calm and carry on. Still, even after the numerous attacks that Europe including the UK have experienced there was something unnerving and disconcerting about it all. Tourist souvenirs were scattered on the pavement where a body a few hours before had lain in a pool of blood. LONDON RAMPAGE: 8 DETAINED ON SUSPICION OF PREPARING TERROR ATTACKS The roads around the government buildings, the skies above, the River Thames below all swarming with police. And London, one of the greatest cities in the world, the mostly gentle city I've called home for 11 years, trying to make sense of it all. More security around Parliament is without a doubt one result of this. The policeman killed was unarmed. A low steel security wall surrounds only part of the complex. The entrance gate was wide open. Another is the realization that London, which has dodged the bullet quite literally in recent years as Paris, Brussels and other cities were ravaged by terror, is also most certainly a target of radical madness. And just maybe, a greater appreciation of the human wonder all around us. The mother who was going to pick up her kids who was struck down and killed. The three policemen injured returning from a ceremony honoring their past bravery. And the passers-by who came to the aid of a suited businessman left sprawling on the ground by the terror horror. I watched as a young medical staffer from a nearby hospital, one of many emergency workers who did so much, walked up to the spot where Cochran died and laid a bouquet of flowers. I asked her whether she had tried to save his life. She told me no, she just wanted to leave a remembrance. Lets hope the beauty of those lost wont be forgotten and we try harder to stop this from happening again. China urged Brazil to hand out harsh punishments to those involved in a tainted meat scandal on Thursday, and offered no time frame for lifting a ban on imports from the South American country. In its first official comment, China's Commerce Ministry confirmed it had suspended all shipments from Brazil, the world's top beef exporter, and said it was extremely concerned with quality issues in the country's meat industry. "China has promptly adopted temporary measures and suspended Brazilian meat imports," spokesman Sun Jiwen told reporters at a regular briefing in Beijing. BRAZIL REASSURES FOREIGN COUNTRIES AFTER MEAT SCANDAL Some of China's largest food suppliers have pulled Brazilian beef and poultry from their shelves, while countries including Japan and Canada have also banned imports from Brazil after inspectors there were accused of taking bribes to allow sales of tainted food. Brazil is the top supplier of beef to China, accounting for about 31 percent of its imports in the first half of last year. Much of it is used in canteens and foodservice.Sun said China expected Brazil to investigate the issues thoroughly and adopt effective measures to ensure the safety of its meat. BRAZILIAN GIANT MEATPACKERS TARGETED IN CORRUPTION PROBE "China hopes the Brazilian government will punish firms and individuals that broke the rules harshly," he added, calling for more cooperation between the two countries to ensure Brazlian meat imports are safe. "We hope responsible departments in both countries can further collaborate to prevent and deal with possible issues in the meat trade," Sun said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized what he described as "pressure" on ethnic Turks in Bulgaria ahead of elections in the country. Addressing representatives of Balkans' migrant groups on Thursday, Erdogan said he hoped for "fair and transparent" parliamentary elections there on Sunday. Erdogan's comments come days after Bulgarian nationalists blocked three border checkpoints for several hours to prevent Bulgarian citizens living permanently in Turkey from crossing over to vote. Tension between Bulgaria and Turkey are running high in recent days over alleged support by Turkey to a pro-Ankara party. Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry summoned Turkey's ambassador and recalled its ambassador from Ankara for consultations last week. Bulgaria criticized Turkey, saying its officials were interfering in Bulgaria's internal affairs by calling on people to vote for a particular party. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 The European Union has summoned Turkey's permanent representative to the bloc to explain what many have seen as threatening language by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan warned Wednesday that Europeans would not be able to walk the streets safely if European nations persist in what he called arrogant conduct. The remarks were his latest amid tensions over Dutch and German restrictions on Turkish ministers seeking to hold campaign meetings with Turkish citizens. EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said the foreign affairs office "actually asked the Turkish permanent delegate to the EU to come," adding "we would like to receive an explanation regarding the comment by President Erdogan concerning the safety of the Europeans on the streets in the world." Albania's defense ministry says an explosion has slightly injured two army personnel at a base in the west of the country. In a statement Thursday, the ministry said that an explosion the previous day injured an army sergeant's arm and leg and another civilian from the air traffic agency. The explosion occurred during the cleaning of the military base in Porto Romano, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of the capital, Tirana. The ministry gave no reason for the explosion. Albania, a tiny western Balkan country, is a NATO member since 2009. Agence France-Presse says a former photographer for the French news agency has been released in Bahrain after being held for more than 24 hours. The news agency said on Thursday that photographer Mohammed al-Shaikh is not facing charges, but that he was being held for his work for the AFP. The agency says the government declined to renew his press credentials in August. Al-Shaikh was taken into custody at Bahrain International Airport on Wednesday, following a trip abroad. Bahraini officials did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment. The photographer's relatives could not immediately be reached. The arrest comes amid a renewed crackdown that over the past year has seen Bahraini activists imprisoned or exiled and the country's largest Shiite opposition group dissolved. The president of the German parliament is suggesting changing the rules on who can become 'father of the house' amid fears that a nationalist politician could be entitled to the job after the next election. The role of father or mother of the house automatically falls to the oldest lawmaker in the Bundestag. He or she leads the first session of a new parliament and is next in line if the president or his deputies are prevented from performing that task in subsequent sessions. A member of the nationalist Alternative for Germany is expected to become the oldest lawmaker after September's general election. Parliamentary president Norbert Lammert proposed Thursday the role of 'father of the house' should in future fall to the longest-serving, rather than the oldest, member. The primary suspect in a string of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers in the U.S. -- a 19-year-old Israeli-American Jewish man -- was arrested in southern Israel Thursday, police announced. The unnamed suspect was arrested early Thursday morning in his house based partly on information from the FBI, and a court ordered later in the day for him to remain in custody for a week. Police also detained his father for questioning. JORDAN PLANNER OF 2001 BLAST RELIEVED EXTRADITION TO USA BLOCKED The investigation began about six months ago, following a threat made to a Jewish institute in New Zealand, according to an Israeli police statement. New Zealand identified the IP address as originating from Israel and contacted Israeli police. Investigators said they initially struggled to locate the suspect but then received several reports of threats from 16 Jewish centers in nine U.S. states Florida, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Tennessee, Georgia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and North Carolina. The FBI began investigating. Delta Airlines also received a threat about a bomb on one of its planes, causing it to halt flights to check their aircraft and forcing a plane already in the air to land, in February 2015. ISRAEL INVESTIGATES BOYCOTT LEADER FOR SUSPECTED TAX FRAUD The FBI handed over the information to Israeli police after finding that these threats too had originated from Israel. FBI statement on the arrest in Israel in connection with threats to Jewish organizations. pic.twitter.com/FDQ00lZ08l FBI (@FBI) March 23, 2017 The suspect used advanced disguise technologies when contacting other countries, such as distorting voice recognition software, police said, adding that a motive was unclear. "He didn't use regular phone lines. He used different computer systems so he couldn't be backtracked," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Officers seized computers and other items that allegedly let the suspect hide his trail. The Israeli army had refused to draft him after finding him unfit for service, the Haaretz newspaper reported. "We are troubled to learn that the individual suspected of making these threats against Jewish Community Centers, which play a central role in the Jewish community, as well as serve as inclusive and welcoming places for all - is reportedly Jewish," JCC Association of North America President and CEO Doron Krakow reacted. "Today's arrest in Israel is the culmination of a large-scale investigation spanning multiple continents for hate crimes against Jewish communities across our country. The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the civil rights of all Americans, and we will not tolerate the targeting of any community in this country on the basis of their religious beliefs," Attorney General Jeff Sessions responded. "Early this morning in Israel, the FBI and Israeli National Police worked jointly to locate and arrest the individual suspected for threats to Jewish organizations across the United States and in other parts of the world. The FBI commends the great work of the Israeli National Police in this investigation," an FBI spokesperson told Fox News. In all, U.S. Jewish community centers and day schools in the U.S. have received more than 120 bomb threats since Jan. 9, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Those threats led to evacuations of the buildings, upset Jewish communities and raised fears of rising anti-Semitism. The threats were accompanied by acts of vandalism on several Jewish cemeteries. U.S. authorities have also arrested a former journalist from St. Louis for allegedly threatening Jewish organizations. Juan Thompson has been indicted in New York on one count of cyberstalking. In Washington, the FBI confirmed Thursday's arrest but had no other comment. Fox News' Matt Dean, Serafin Gomez and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Italy's justice minister has reportedly asked officials to look into a case in which a court acquitted a man of raping a woman because she didn't scream. The Italian news agency ANSA said Thursday that Minister Andrea Orlando has asked ministry inspectors to begin checking into the case. ANSA said a court in Turin had ruled last month that the woman's saying "Enough!" to her colleague who allegedly raped her constituted too weak a reaction to prove that she was sexually attacked. The ruling specified she didn't scream or ask for help. Center-right Forza Italia opposition lawmaker Annagrazia Calabria decried the ruling, saying, "Certainly, you cannot punish the personal reaction of a woman terrified by what is happening to her." The ruling has also triggered an outcry by women's groups. U.S Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. (Photo : Getty Images) During the trip of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, China and the U.S. reached a mutual agreement with no conflict and mutual respect. This was revealed by Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry. Advertisement She said, "This spirit is the correct way for the two major powers to get along with each other." The move was not welcomed by critics in the U.S., who considered it as a victory for China and a loss for Washington. Hua said that the agreement is beneficial to both countries and not just a win for China. She said, "This cannot be taken as someone's triumph." She added, "The principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation has been a good experience for the stable growth of China-U.S. ties in recent years, and is worth continuing." The spokesperson said that the China-U.S. mutual agreement will mean that China will make more efforts to enhance communication and cement trust with the U.S. The good relationship between the two countries has a new beginning to create progress. Hua said, "China is willing to enhance communication and understanding with the United States, cement trust, properly handle disputes, expand cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral levels and boost the new progress of bilateral ties at a new starting point." However, a day after the announcements were made, a U.S. bomber was seen illegally flying inside China's zone in the East China Sea. The U.S. refuses to acknowledge the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) or China's claim on the East China Sea. The Americans assert that the zone is covered by international territory. The F-1 bomber plane was flying near South Korea, according to the U.S. Pacific Air Forces. The pilots of the bombers told Chinese controllers that they were flying in international waters and did not change their flight path. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 The head of an ultra-nationalistic Japanese school operator at the center of a land and political scandal has testified in parliament that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen ($9,000) through his wife for an elementary school where she once was honorary principal. Yasunori Kagoike, head of the Moritomo Gakuen group, said First Lady Akie Abe handed him the cash in an envelope on behalf of her husband during her September 2015 visit to Kagoike's kindergarten in Osaka. Abe has denied the donation or any influence in the scandal stemming from a 2016 state property sale to Kagoike at one-seventh of its appraised price. Such a donation is not illegal. Kagoike's school is known for a curriculum that resembles that of pre-World War II militaristic Japan. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 The latest on the attack outside Britain's Parliament (all times local): 7:25 a.m. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the attack outside Britain's Parliament in London. The rampage occurred hours after Erdogan warned that the safety of Western citizens could be in peril if European nations persist in what he described as their arrogant conduct. In a series of tweets posted late Wednesday, Erdogan said Turkey shared "the pain of the United Kingdom." Erdogan tweeted: "We stand in solidarity with the U.K., our friend and ally, against terrorism, the greatest threat to global peace and security." Earlier Wednesday, Erdogan warned that Europeans wouldn't be able to walk the streets safely, in remarks he made amid tensions over Dutch and German restrictions on Turkish ministers wanting to hold campaign meetings with Turkish citizens. ___ 7:15 a.m. British armed police have carried out a raid on a property in the central city of Birmingham, after an attacker killed four people before being fatally shot by police within Parliament's grounds. Police refused to say if the raid was linked to the rampage in the heart of Britain's seat of power. But British media including the Press Association on Thursday quoted an unnamed witness saying that the operation was linked to the attack that also injured around 40 people. A knife-wielding man drove an SUV into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing the vehicle into the gates of Parliament on Wednesday. He scaled the fences and later fatally stabbed a policeman before being gunned down by officers. He hasn't been identified. Three pedestrians were among the dead. ___ 4:10 a.m. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says the attack outside the British Parliament in London was the first subject of discussion when he met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia on Thursday morning in Canberra. Li says that "together, we send our condolences to the prime minister of the U.K. and together we condemn terrorism and we stand against all forms of terrorism." The Chinese leader says that "there cannot be continued instability in the world," adding: "We must cherish peace and stability." ___ 1:35 a.m. New Zealand's prime minister is condemning the attack outside Britain's Parliament that resulted in five deaths, including the assailant. Prime Minister Bill English told reporters in Rotorua that he has written to British Prime Minister Theresa May to express support for her government and to offer his country's condolences to the victim's families. A knife-wielding man went on the deadly rampage in the heart of Britain's seat of power Wednesday, plowing a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Other officers fatally shot the attacker. In addition to the dead, 40 people have injuries. May has condemned the incident as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack." ___ 12:15 a.m. South Korea's Foreign Ministry says five South Koreans in their 50s and 60s were among the 40 people injured in London during the terror attack outside Parliament. The ministry says the five were hurt when they were caught up in a stampede of people trying to escape the attack. It says four of the South Koreans suffered broken bones and other injuries and a woman in her late 60s needed an operation to treat a head injury. French far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is headed to Moscow for meetings with lawmakers less than a month before the election. Officials from her National Front party said she is traveling Friday, on the heels of a trip this week by Le Pen to Chad as she bolsters her international credentials for the two-round vote on April 23 and May 7. The head of the Russian Duma's international affairs committee, Leonid Slutsky, was quoted by the Tass news agency as saying Le Pen will hold meetings on the "international agenda such as the war on terrorism." Le Pen received a loan from a Russian bank in 2014 and her support for Moscow has been controversial because of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine and Syria. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the terror attack that left four people dead, including the assailant and a police officer, outside of Londons Parliament building on Wednesday, according to the Amaq media agency. "The perpetrator of the attacks yesterday in front of the British Parliament in London is an Islamic State soldier and he carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition," the Amaq statement said. The claim of responsibility comes fewer than 24 hours after a man driving an SUV plowed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge near the Parliament building. Two people were killed and more than 30 others injured before the attacker fatally stabbed police officer Keith Palmer on the Parliaments grounds. Police shot the attacker, who later was pronounced dead. HERO COP LIKELY SAVED OTHERS FROM LONDON MANIAC The attacker's identity has not been revealed, but British Prime Minister Theresa May said he was born in Britain and known to authorities who had once investigated him for links to religious extremism. "Our working assumption is that the attacker was inspired by Islamist ideology," she told members of Parliament. We know the threat from Islamist terrorism is very real. But while the public should remain utterly vigilant, they should not and will not be cowed by this threat. Related News... British officials did not release the attacker's identity or confirm a link with the Islamic State group, though May did say it would be wrong to describe the attack as "Islamic" extremism. "It is Islamist terrorism," she said. "It is a perversion of a great faith." On Thursday, British police announced that six homes were raided and eight arrests were made in connection to the Wednesday terror attack that left four dead, including the attacker and a police officer. PHOTOS: AFTERMATH OF 'TERROR INCIDENT' NEAR PARLIAMENT Armed police carried out the raid in the central city of Birmingham, about 130 miles north of London; however, police said they believed the terror attacker acted alone during his assault on the Westminster Bridge near Parliament. May called the attack sick and depraved, and stood defiant against it. An act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today we meet as normal we are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism, she said. Democracy and the values it entails will always prevail. While she honored the police, May also saluted the everyday actions of millions who went about their lives in London as normal and describing it as proof that the attack failed to break the determination of Londoners and Britons. "As I speak, millions will be boarding trains and airplanes to travel to London, and to see for themselves the greatest city on Earth," she told the House. "It is in these actions -- millions of acts of normality -- that we find the best response to terrorism -- a response that denies our enemies their victory, that refuses to let them win, that shows we will never give in." The prime minister said people from 11 countries were among the wounded victims, including one American. Others included: 12 Britons, 3 French, 2 Romanians, 4 South Koreans, 1 German, 1 Pole, 1 Irish, 1 Chinese, 1 Italian, and two Greeks required hospital treatment. UK PARLIAMENT ATTACK IS THE LATEST TERROR SCARE FOR LONDON Parliament began its moment of silence at 9:33 a.m. (5:33 a.m. ET), honoring the slain police officer, 48-year-old Palmer, a 15-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police and a former soldier. Parliament then returned to business, an act of defiance to those who had attacked British democracy. "Those who carry out such wicked and depraved acts as we saw yesterday can never triumph in our country and we must ensure it is not violence, hatred or division, but decency and tolerance that prevails in our country," Trade Secretary Liam Fox said. "Hear, hear!" lawmakers from all parties responded in unison. MAY'S EXPERIENCE PREPARED HER TO HANDLE LONDON ATTACK, AFTERMATH, EXPERT SAYS Mayor Sadiq Khan called for Londoners to attend a candlelit vigil at Trafalgar Square on Thursday evening in solidarity with the victims and their families and to show that the city remains united. "I really believe that some very searching questions are now being asked," former leader of the UK Independence Party Nigel Farage, now a Fox News contributor, said on "Fox & Friends." "I think the population of this country and indeed most of the other European states -- we're now saying to our governments, look, frankly, you have brought this upon us through immigration policies and through not cracking down on extremism that has grown in communities. What are you going to do for us? So we're calm, but I do think we demand answers." Parliament Square, Westminster Bridge and several surrounding streets remain cordoned off by police. Scores of unarmed officers in bright yellow jackets were staffing the perimeter tape, guiding confused civil servants trying to get to work. Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley revised the death toll from five to four: the police officer, two civilians and the attacker. He said that 29 people required hospitalization and seven of them were in critical condition. He also said that authorities were still working out the number of "walking wounded." Police had previously given the total number of injured as around 40. President Trump was among world leaders offering condolences. Former President Obama tweeted that this attack would not "shake the strength and resilience of our British ally." London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames. May underscored that the attack targeted "free people everywhere," and she said she had a response: "You will not defeat us." "Let this be the message from this House and this nation today: our values will prevail," she said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The eight people arrested after lone attacker Khalid Masood killed four people outside of the British parliament are suspected of preparing terrorist attacks, London police said on Thursday. In a statement, Scotland Yard officials they were still searching properties in Wales, the central city of Birmingham and east London. The eight people were arrested in early-morning raids in London and Birmingham, located about 130 miles north of the British capital. Police said all eight were held on "suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts," but did not elaborate further. "The investigation by the Mets Counter Terrorism Command into the terrorist attack on Wednesday continues to develop at a fast pace and involves hundreds of detectives," Scotland Yard said in the release Those arrested include a 39-year-old woman in east London, and a 21-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man at one address in Birmingham. A 26-year-old woman and three men ages, 28, 27, and 26, were arrested at a separate address in Birmingham. KILLER IDENTIFIED AS 52-YEAR-OLD KHALID MASOOD A 58-year-old man was also arrested at a third address in the central city of Birmingham for "suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts." Police said they still believe Masood, 52, acted alone when he drove an SUV into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer on the Parliaments grounds. UTAH MAN KILLED, WIFE SERIOUSLY HURT IN RAMPAGE According to police, Masood was born in Kent, U.K., and they believe he was most recently living in the West Midlands, which includes the city of Birmingham. Masood was known to authorities and had a range of previous convictions for assaults, including grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and public order offenses. ISIS claimed responsibility for the rampage, saying Masood was an Islamic State soldier who carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition. Prime Minister Theresa May called the attack sick and depraved in a defiant address to Parliament early Thursday. An act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today we meet as normal we are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism, she said. Democracy and the values it entails will always prevail. The dead included a British policeman, stabbed repeatedly, an American tourist who was celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary and a school administrator adored in the Spanish town where she spent summer vacations with her family. A 75-year-old victim of the bridge attack died late Thursday after he was taken off life support, police said. Police said six remain hospitalized: 4 with critical condition and two with life threatening injuries. London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames. May underscored that the attack targeted "free people everywhere," and she said she had a response: "You will not defeat us." "Let this be the message from this House and this nation today: our values will prevail," she said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The man behind the deadly rampage that left at least 4 people dead, including a police officer, outside of Londons Parliament building was identified as 52-year-old Khalid Masood. London police said Masood was born in Kent, England and they believe he was most recently living in the West Midlands, which includes the central city of Birmingham. Masood, who died Wednesday after police shot him on Parliament grounds, was known to authorities and had a range of previous convictions for assaults, including grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and public order offenses. PHOTOS: AFTERMATH OF 'TERROR INCIDENT' NEAR PARLIAMENT Police said there was no prior knowledge about his intention to mount a terrorist attack. He had not been convicted for any terrorism offenses. Prior to #WestminsterAttack Masood,52, was not subject of any current investigations & no intel about his intent to mount a terrorist attack Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 23, 2017 Masood was identified 24 hours after he drove an SUV, plowing it into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge near the Parliament building. Police said three people were killed and more than 30 were injured. A 75-year-old victim of the bridge attack died late Thursday after he was taken off life support, police said. Masood continued his attack, fatally stabbing veteran police officer Keith Palmer on the Parliaments grounds before police shot him. He was later pronounced dead. The ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the deadly rampage, saying Masood was an Islamic State soldier who carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition. Related Videos... According to a woman claiming to be the suspects former neighbor, Masood was a father and gardener who had a wife and a young child. The woman, who spoke to The Guardian, says she didnt know the mans name, but recognized the suspect as her neighbor after being shown a photograph of him on a stretcher. Iwona Romek told The Guardian they were a nice family, very reserved. She added that Masood was very calma nice guy. Romek said Masood and his family moved out suddenly around Christmas and did not say goodbye. Romek took one look at a photo of the attacker on a stretcher and said "That is 100 percent him." She said Masood would walk the child, around 6 years old, to school in the morning, and that he rarely left in the evening. But one day she saw him packing their belongings in the black van he bought to replace a red Fiat, and then they were gone, months after moving in. Muhammad Afzal, chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, told Fox News on the phone that Masood did not worship at the mosque. He added that from his understanding, Massood "lived most of his life in Kent and was a convert of Islam." "We are not afraid" and other messages of solidarity chalked onto Trafalgar Square pic.twitter.com/lEaKka0O8u Adam Payne (@adampayne26) March 23, 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May called the attack sick and depraved in a defiant address to Parliament early Thursday. An act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today we meet as normal we are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism, she said. Democracy and the values it entails will always prevail. While she honored the police, May also saluted the everyday actions of millions who went about their lives in London as normal and describing it as proof that the attack failed to break the determination of Londoners and Britons. "As I speak, millions will be boarding trains and airplanes to travel to London, and to see for themselves the greatest city on Earth," she told the House. "It is in these actions -- millions of acts of normality -- that we find the best response to terrorism -- a response that denies our enemies their victory, that refuses to let them win, that shows we will never give in." UK PARLIAMENT ATTACK IS THE LATEST TERROR SCARE FOR LONDON May revealed people from 11 countries were among the wounded victims, including one American, who was identified as Kurt Cochran. Family revealed Thursday that the 54-year-old Utah man had died of his injuries. Others included: 12 Britons, 3 French, 2 Romanians, 4 South Koreans, 1 German, 1 Pole, 1 Irish, 1 Chinese, 1 Italian, and two Greeks required hospital treatment. Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says the fact that victims from the London attack came from 11 countries shows that "an attack on London is an attack on the world." Johnson, who is in New York to preside over the U.N. Security Council, told reporters Thursday he is confident the extremists will be defeated "because our values are superior ... freedom, democracy, the equality of human beings under the law." On Thursday, British police announced that six homes were raided and eight arrests were made in connection to the Wednesday terror attack that left four dead, including the assailant. Armed police carried out the raid in the central city of Birmingham, about 130 miles north of London; however, police said they believed the terror attacker acted alone during his assault on the Westminster Bridge near Parliament. London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames. May underscored that the attack targeted "free people everywhere," and she said she had a response: "You will not defeat us." "Let this be the message from this House and this nation today: our values will prevail," she said. Fox News' Pamela K. Browne and the Associated Press contributed to this report. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 Here's what's known about the victims of an attack in London where a man plowed a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing two people and injuring scores of others. He then stabbed a policeman to death on the grounds of Britain's Parliament before other officers fatally shot him. Police have not yet released the attacker's identity. ___ Police Officer Keith Palmer, 48, was on duty protecting Parliament Wednesday when he was stabbed to death. He had been a member of the parliamentary and diplomatic protection forces for 15 years, and a soldier in the Royal Artillery before that. Honoring Palmer, Prime Minister Theresa May said he was "a husband, a father ... he was every inch a hero. "His actions will never be forgotten." Praise for Palmer's bravery also poured in from politicians and colleagues, and Britain held a minute's silence Thursday at 9:33 a.m. in honor of his shoulder number, 933. ___ Aysha Frade, a British national whose mother is Spanish, was one of two people killed on the bridge. Rachel Borland, the principal of DLD College a school in Westminster a stone's throw from Parliament said she was a "highly regarded and loved" member of staff who worked in the school's administration team. The Spanish Foreign Ministry says Spanish consular officials have made contact with Frade's relatives in Spain's northwestern region of Galicia, when her identity was confirmed. Frade was 43 and had two daughters, Spain's regional Voz de Galicia newspaper reported. ___ In addition to the dead, at least 30 people from 12 countries were injured. Of those who required hospital treatment, 12 were British, three were French, two were Romanian, four were South Korean, two were Greek, and one each were from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the U.S. Portuguese officials also said one person from Portugal was injured. Police earlier said that seven people were in critical condition. The Mexican actress tied to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman said that while authorities in her homeland were no longer seeking to locate and question her, the case has not yet been closed and that a new one had been opened. Kate Del Castillo said that because of these proceedings she lacked the necessary legal guarantees to travel from the United States, where she has lived for several years and is a naturalized citizen, to her place of birth. KATE DEL CASTILLO ASKS MEXICO TO DROP CASE AGAINST HER RELATING TO 'EL CHAPO' GUZMAN The 44-year-old actress, best known for her role as a powerful, tequila-drinking drug trafficker in the 2011 telenovela "La Reina del Sur" (The Queen of the South), made the remarks via videoconference at the presentation in Mexico City of "Ingobernable" (Ungovernable), a political drama series that is scheduled to debut on Netflix on Friday. In February, Mexico's federal Attorney General's Office announced that in compliance with a court ruling it had canceled the order to locate and question the actress. MEXICAN ACTRESS WAS CENTRAL FIGURE IN 'EL CHAPO' MEETING WITH SEAN PENN The AG's office had said upon issuing the order last year that Del Castillo may have received money from Guzman for a tequila company she represents or for a film about the life of the Sinaloa cartel kingpin, who was extradited to the US in January and faces a range of drug trafficking-related charges, including criminal conspiracy, racketeering and money laundering. He could be sentenced to life in prison if he stands trial and is convicted. Castillo said via video link that a second case had been opened against her in the Aztec nation but that she did not know any details; Mexican authorities have not confirmed that information. "It's not that I can't (go to Mexico), but I don't want to," she said. Del Castillo said in an interview last year with The New Yorker that El Chapo got in contact with her through his attorneys before escaping from a maximum-security prison in Mexico in July 2015 and gave her the rights to a potential biopic. Guzman sought her out after Del Castillo posted a message on Twitter in 2012 expressing disgust with Mexico's government and urging the drug lord to use his power and influence for the good of the country. A group comprising Del Castillo, American actor Sean Penn and some film producers met on Oct. 2, 2015, with Guzman at his hideout in the northwestern state of Sinaloa after a small plane flight and a seven-hour car journey with one of the drug lord's sons at the wheel. At the hideout, Penn interviewed Guzman for a Rolling Stone article that was published on Jan. 9, 2016, a day after the fugitive was recaptured in Sinaloa. "Do I regret having gone to Sinaloa? I don't regret anything at all," Del Castillo said of the meeting. In the 20-episode, Spanish-language "Ingobernable," the actress plays a Mexican first lady who is forced to go into hiding after being accused of killing her husband. Del Castillo said there were parallels between her character's plight and the media persecution she experienced after news of her meeting with Guzman became public. "That feeling that you're alone in the world, fending off lies, attacks. It's very powerful, something that's permanently etched into your body," the actress said. North Korea is in the final stages of preparing for another nuclear test, which could come in the next few days, U.S. officials with knowledge of the most recent intelligence from the region told Fox News. The test could come as early as the end of the month, said one official. U.S. defense officials have seen evidence that North Korea has completed digging new tunnels around the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, but it still has to move more equipment into the area for a possible test, the official added. The Pentagon is keeping a close eye on these looming developments. NORTH KOREA MISSILE TESTS FAIL SECONDS AFTER LAUNCH, US OFFICIALS SAY North Koreas nuclear preparations prompted the U.S. military in recent days to move a surveillance aircraft used to test the air following nuclear explosions to the region. The Air Force WC-135 Constant Phoenix arrived in Japan and will be used to patrol the area off the Korean peninsula in the coming days, according to a separate official. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Beijing last weekend to press the case about what to do about North Koreas erratic leader and his drive to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States. North Korea first conducted a nuclear test in 2006. Last year, it carried out two additional tests. Secretary Tillerson declared the Obama-era policy of strategic patience was over when dealing with North Korea and called the past 20 years of negotiating with the communist regime by past administrations a failure. The U.S. military is not the only nation concerned about North Koreas pending nuke test. Recent satellite imagery reveals Russia has moved one of its Antonov An-30R reconnaissance aircraft with air sample pods from its base outside of St. Petersburg. The Russian aircraft is used to take air samples to detect possible nuclear, biological and other chemical agents. TRUMP SAYS NORTH KOREA DICTATOR 'IS ACTING VERY, VERY BADLY' U.S. officials have seen evidence that North Koreas 33-year-old dictator, Kim Jong-un, checked into a new residence near the test site of a failed missile launch Wednesday near the port city of Wonsan on North Koreas east coast, according to one official. Wonsan is located six hours south of the nuclear test site. The Pentagon is increasingly concerned about North Koreas ability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead and eventually place it on a ballistic missile. Each missile brings North Korea closer to achieving that goal, according to defense analysts. In his New Years address, Kim Jong-un said his nation has entered the final stage of preparation for the test launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Earlier this month North Korea launched four ballistic missiles, which landed 190 miles from Japan, an indication North Korea was simulating a more sophisticated attack to overwhelm anti-ballistic missile systems in Japan. Roughly 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea and Japan. Last month, North Korea conducted its first ballistic missile test of the Trump administration while the president hosted Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. Poland's most powerful politician says he will tell British Prime Minister Theresa May that Warsaw would like Britain to keep close ties with the European Union after it leaves the bloc. Poland's ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski spoke Thursday on his way to meet May in London. The meeting was planned for Wednesday, but was put off following a deadly attack near the British Parliament in London. Kaczynski said his message for May was that Poland "deeply regrets Britain's decision (to leave the EU) but we want it very much to keep very close ties with the EU, with Europe." May is to trigger the exit procedure next Wednesday. Kaczynski was also expected to discuss future rights of hundreds of thousands of Poles living in Britain. Education minister Tarek Shawki told state TV on Wedensday evening that the ministry has halted the provision of meals to students at schools nationwide until the cause has been determined after the food poisoning of around 400 students in government-run schools in several governorates earlier, the latest in a series of cases of suspected mass poisoning from school meals. The health ministry said in a statement that 312 students were hospitalized in the governorates of Cairo, Suez and Aswan. The minister said the Cabinet is meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue. Al-Ahram Arabic said the provincial governor of Aswan ordered earlier today a halt to the distribution of meals at all schools in the governorate. State news agency MENA reported that 24 students were sent to hospital after suffering stomach aches, vomiting and fever in the Nile Delta governorate of Menoufiya, while 48 students in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Beni Suef were hospitalised with similar symptoms. Wednesday's incidents are the lastest in a series of cases of suspected large-scale food poisoning to hit state-run schools in several parts of the country this month. More than 3,300 students became ill and experienced similar symptoms last week after consuming school meals, according to information released by the Egyptian cabinet. The incidents prompted President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to set up an impromptu committee to determine the cause. In place for decades, Egypt's state-run National School Feeding Programme (NSFP) covers 13.5 million students and costs the government EGP957 million, according to the World Food Programme, which has been supporting the scheme since 1968. Last year, the government launched a plan to scale up the programme to reach all government-run schools. Search Keywords: Short link: Pope Francis is making five more child saints: two Portuguese shepherd children who said the Virgin Mary appeared to them in Fatima 100 years ago and three Mexican adolescents who were killed for their faith in the 16th century. Francis signed the canonization decrees Thursday. In the case of the Mexicans, Francis declared the three Child Martyrs of Tlaxcala worthy of sainthood without having a miracle attributed to their intercession, once again sidestepping the typical saint-making process. The boys, Cristobal, Antonio and Juan, were converted to Catholicism by missionaries in the early 1500s. Francis followed the rules in approving a miracle for Francisco and Jacinta Marto, the Fatima siblings, just two months before he is to travel to the Fatima shrine to mark the centennial anniversary of their apparitions. Police in Moscow have issued a warning to people intending to take part in an anti-Kremlin march organized by opposition leader Alexei Navalny. "Your personal safety may be under threat," said a statement posted Thursday on the website of Moscow's police department. "The event is illegal." More than 4,000 people have said on Facebook that they will attend the march scheduled for Sunday, which is protesting against high-level corruption. Navalny, who is campaigning to run in Russia's 2018 presidential election, wrote Thursday on his blog that "the law is on our side." The organizers of largely peaceful opposition gatherings in Moscow in recent years have always agreed in advance with city authorities about a venue. A lack of agreement this time raises the possibility of mass arrests. A spokesman for China's commerce ministry says the country has suspended imports of Brazilian beef, the first official confirmation of a Chinese ban. Brazil's agriculture minister said earlier that China suspended imports but until now Chinese officials have said only their government took unspecified precautions. Speaking on Thursday at a regular news briefing, the ministry spokesman, Sun Jiwen, said, "The responsible departments of the Chinese government have taken timely and temporary measures to suspend the import of beef from Brazil." Brazilian investigators say health inspectors were bribed to overlook expired meats and chemicals. They say other products were added to meat to improve its appearance and smell. Other governments including the European Union, Japan and Mexico have limited or banned imports of Brazilian meat. Tulio Linares saw four of his relatives and a neighbor die one by one in Venezuela. It all happened within a week, following a family meal where they had ingested one of the few staples that are still available and affordable in the starved nation: the starchy yucca o cassava. The explanation came in the autopsies results. The Linares and their friend had ingested the wrong kind of yuca, the so-called bitter yucca, which is inadvertently being sold in the street as sweet yuca. The two roots are almost undistinguishable, yet one is banned from the market because it contains a component - hydrocyanic acid that becomes poisonous if not properly processed. VENEZUELA MILITARY TRAFFICKING FOOD AS COUNTRY GOES HUNGRY The difficulty to set them apart is taking lives. Unofficial reports count at least 29 yuca-related deaths since October, including a 2-year-old girl last week. Dozens have been intoxicated to different degrees. The sweet version of the tuber has become a popular option for the lower classes and even Mc Donald's is using it since 2015 as a replacement for potato chips. According to the 2016 Living Conditions Survey, one of the more noticeable changes in food patterns from the previous year is proteins being replaced by vegetables and tubers. In 2015, Venezuelans predominantly bought flour, rice, bread and pasta, chicken and meat all those now in the luxury category for the vast majority. So the deadly yuca is a matter of great concern, especially because it is sold by untraceable unknowing individuals who are just trying to make a buck. THOUSANDS OF VENEZUELANS RISK LIFE IN MAFIA-INFESTED ILLEGAL MINING A member of the Linares family bought three kilos of the deadly cassava from a street vendor in a popular Caracas neighborhood last month. She paid 1000 bolivars ($1.4) per kilo. Within hours, the family members started with severe stomach ache and vomiting. Jesus Maria Cruz, 53, Don Tulios brother-in-law, was the first to die. Doctors didnt link the case to yuca poisoning, ruling instead convulsive syndrome and cerebral edema as cause of death. But alarms went off when during Jesus Marias funeral the next day Don Tulio's son, 19-year-old Jonathan, suddenly became ill and died before getting to the hospital. A few days later it was the turn of another brother-in-law, 65-year-old Alonso Cruz, followed by Cruzs wife. STUDY: VENEZUELANS LOST 19 LBS. ON AVERAGE OVER PAST YEAR DUE TO LACK OF FOOD Autopsies revealed that the deaths were due to bitter cassava poisoning, but the victims families are still waiting official word from the scientific police. "It's been almost a month and they still do not give us answers in the police and they're still selling food on the streets like nothing," said Tulio Linares told Fox News. The Venezuelan government has not issued any warnings about the bitter cassava. President Nicolas Maduro has not addressed the deaths in public except for one time when he was speaking about one of his opponents in Congress, Julio Borges, saying he was more bland than bitter cassava ice cream." next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 Syrian government forces are besieging the last Islamic State stronghold in the northern province of Aleppo, weeks after launching an offensive to free the entire province from militants. The push on Deir Hafer comes as U.S. aircraft ferried Syrian Kurdish fighters and allies behind IS lines to spearhead a major ground assault on the strategic IS-held town of Tabqa in Raqqa province, which borders Aleppo. That airlift marked a deepening U.S. involvement in Syria's conflict ahead of a looming battle for IS's de facto capital, the city of Raqqa. The Syrian Central Military Media says Syrian troops launched the Deir Hafer siege late Wednesday after capturing nearby areas. The opposition's Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Syrian troops have now cut the road linking Deir Hafer with Raqqa province. The exclusive Sydney school where students shared footage of an alleged sex attack insists the safety and wellbeing of pupils is its biggest concern. Teachers from Cranbrook School discovered dozens of students had distributed mobile phone footage of an alleged rape on a 15-year-old girl and alerted police, The Daily Telegraph reported. TEXAS TEACHER IN STUDENT-SEX BUST SMILED BECAUSE SHE'S INNOCENT, LAWYER SAYS A student at the school, also aged 15, is alleged to a have sexually assaulted the girl after she had drunk too much alcohol and passed out. The Telegraph reported the girl was unaware she had been assaulted until the footage was posted on social media. Today a spokeswoman for Cranbrook School told news.com.au: Our greatest priority is the safety and wellbeing of students. ALABAMA TRUNK ESCAPE: KIDNAPPING SUSPECT CHARGED The alleged attacker was reportedly being interviewed by detectives, while a second 15-year-old boy who cannot be named has appeared in court on charges of filming a young person committing a sexual act on another young person without their consent, producing child abuse material on his mobile phone and distributing that material on social media. He pleaded not guilty when the case was mentioned at Glebe Childrens Court on Monday. Cranbrook School management would not comment further due to the charges being laid. The matter is currently before the courts and as such it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this stage, the spokeswoman said. Cranbrook headmaster Nicholas Sampson told parents in an email the serious incident didnt occur on school grounds. Click for more from news.com.au ERA Sellers & Buyers Real Estate Recognized for 2nd Consecutive Year As Top Philanthropic Company in ERA Franchise System March 23, 2017 // Franchising.com // MADISON, N.J. - ERA Real Estate, a leading global real estate franchisor, recently recognized ERA Sellers & Buyers Real Estate, a franchise affiliate company with offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas, for its outstanding corporate social responsibility efforts over the past year. The company, led by brokers/owners and brothers Doug and John Van Nortwick, was awarded the 2016 Ed Bilinkas Memorial Award for the second consecutive year. The honor was announced at the 2017 ERA International Business Conference in Dallas, Texas. Commitment to community is an ERA Real Estate core belief, and ERA Sellers & Buyers Real Estate certainly exemplifies that value, said Sue Yannaccone, president and CEO of ERA Real Estate. Since we announced our brands commitment to send 1,000 children to MDA Summer Camp, Doug, John and company have gone above and beyond to meet the challenge. To date, they have sent nearly 100 children to summer camp and have committed to sending many more in 2017. We are grateful for their philanthropy, in awe of their engagement and inspired by their passion to give children with muscle disease the experience of a lifetime. Presented annually, the Ed Bilinkas Memorial Award recognizes the ERA systems top fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). ERA as a network has partnered with MDA for more than 35 years, and in 2014 created the ERA MDA Summer Camp Challenge: to send 1,000 children to MDA Summer Camp over the next three years. The network has already achieved 104 percent of its goal in year two of the challenge. To receive this honor for a second year in a row is humbling, said broker/owner Doug Van Nortwick. We went out with a goal and our incredible independent affiliated sales associates exceeded that goal. Our company thrives on helping others. For us, the only thing more rewarding than watching our group come together for a common good is knowing that more deserving children are enjoying a week of barrier-free fun at summer camp. As the top fundraiser for the ERA MDA Summer Camp Challenge, ERA Sellers & Buyers Real Estate raised $46,000 in 2016 and more than $52,000 in 2015 to send 97 children to camp. As a way to raise funds this year, the El Paso office hosted an old-fashioned cookout and the companys Albuquerque office raised more than $20,000 during their second annual fundraising raffle. The Ed Bilinkas Memorial Award honors the memory of ERA broker Ed Bilinkas who spent the last 15 years of his life tirelessly raising funds and support for the MDA. Often quoted as saying: I never met a stranger I wouldnt ask for a donation for MDA, Bilinkas helped raise more than half a million dollars for the organization. We admire Eds persistence in helping the families who benefit from the MDA, said broker/owner John Van Nortwick. We follow a similar approach but are also very fortunate to have tremendous support from our local community to help us fundraise for this extremely worthy cause. It is important that real estate sales professionals give back to the communities they serve and we are honored to be able to do just that. About ERA Real Estate ERA Real Estate is an innovative franchising leader in the residential real estate industry with nearly 45 years of experience in developing consumer-oriented products and services. The ERA network includes approximately 37,000 affiliated brokers and sales associates and more than 2,300 offices throughout the United States and 30 countries and territories. Each office is independently owned and operated. ERA Real Estate is a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY), a global provider of real estate services. ERA Real Estate information is available at: ExploreERA.com. Media Contact: Melissa Drake 973-407-7904 melissa.drake@era.com SOURCE ERA Real Estate ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Gyroville Opens First International Location in Ecuador Popular Southeast Florida Build-Your-Own Mediterranean Franchise Enters South America with Local Entrepreneurs Alberto Reyes, Miryan Salas, and Carmen Salas March 23, 2017 // Franchising.com // BOCA RATON, Fla. - Gyroville, a popular Southeast Florida Mediterranean fast-casual franchise, will be debuting its brand in South America next week with its first international location opening in Quito, Ecuador at Av Republica Del Salvador, N36-109 Local 2. The new store introduces the brands updated store design, which features a cleaner, crisp look and feel that is synonymous with its updated logo and color scheme. Neutrally based with accents of green, the new restaurant also includes updated light fixtures and furniture to reflect the new branding. All locations moving forward will open with this new prototype. The Quito store is the first location for master franchisees Alberto Reyes, his wife Miryan Salas and sister-in-law Carmen Salas. The trio discovered the franchise while searching for business ownership opportunities and decided to invest in the brand together. Through their master franchise development agreement, they anticipate to open five units in Ecuador within the next 3-5 years. Gyroville is unlike anything that is currently available in Ecuador so we recognized the potential almost immediately, said Reyes. Customers will love that they can customize their meal and choose from a number of healthy and locally-sourced fresh ingredients for their pita sandwich, wrap, rice bowl, or salad. Gyroville is a healthy, build-your-own fast-casual concept that offers a modern twist on traditional Mediterranean recipes. We are very excited to take the brand beyond American borders, said Scott Mortier, EVP of Business Development for Gyroville. When we launched the franchise opportunity, we knew the concept would translate well to other cultures and that international expansion made sense for our growth. The trend among consumers increasingly seeking healthier, less-mundane dining options is only growing, which makes Gyroville attractive for prospective master franchisees who are looking to develop the brand in their countries. The company seeks master franchise developers like Reyes and the Salas to continue developing the brand internationally as well as domestically in the United States, where Gyroville currently has eight locations. Domestically, the fast-growing franchise also seeks multi-unit operators and owner-operators to bring the brand to new markets, initially targeting the Southeastern part of the country. The company expects to open six locations in 2017, along with adding another 12 signed franchise agreements to continue steady growth throughout the United States. Previous restaurant experience is not required to become a Gyroville franchisee; the company has a proven business model, national purchasing deals and established systems in place that streamline all aspects of operations. Franchisees and management also benefit from a three-week training program. Depending on size, location, etc., the average cost to open a Gyroville is around $250,000. The franchise is on the SBA registry and has equipment financing available through Marlin. About Gyroville Gyroville was created in 2010 to bring Mediterranean cuisine to the fast-casual market. Gyroville starts by using only the freshest ingredients and prepares them using recipes that combine old-school, Greek traditions with a modern day twist. The concept allows customers to follow their choice of protein from the grill or vertical spit through an assembly line process, where they choose from fresh ingredients and homemade sauces. The first Gyroville opened in January 2010 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Today, there are eight locations in Florida. For more information, visit http://gyroville.com/. For more information about the Gyroville franchise opportunity, visit http://gyroville.com/franchise/ or call (855) 210-0725. Contact: John Crider Vice President of Franchise Development Gyroville Franchising, LLC C: 615.545.0896 F: 954.697.0877 john@gyroville.com SOURCE Gyroville ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Egypt's foreign ministry said the attack shows that terrorist organisations 'can invade communities and meddle with their security and stability despite the security precautions in place' Egypt condemned "in the strongest terms" a terrorist attack Wednesday outside the UK Parliament that left five people dead and 40 injured. In an official statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry late Wednesday, ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid expressed condolences to the families of the victims, saying that such events lead to a reaffirmation of the dangers of the terrorism phenomenon, which targets everyone regardless of race or religion He added that the attack sheds light again on the fact that terrorist organisations can invade communities and meddle with their security and stability despite the security precautions in place. This requires a comprehensive approach to confront terrorist organisations that involves intellectual, financial and security aspects, and concerted efforts to stop the spread of the destructive thought adopted by these oppressive groups, the statement by the spokesman read. On Wednesday, five people were killed and 40 were injured in London after a car plowed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and a suspected Islamist-inspired attacker stabbed a policeman close to Britain's parliament. The deceased, in what police called a "marauding terrorist attack," included the assailant and the policeman he stabbed. The other three victims were among those hit by the car as it sped across Westminster Bridge before crashing into railings just outside parliament. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the suspected terror attack. This is Londons deadliest attack since four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the city's transport system in July 2005, in the city's worst ever peacetime attack. Search Keywords: Short link: What should Virginia do to remain competitive in 2025? Is it preparing a workforce that can fill an estimated 800,000 new jobs by then, plus fill 1 million vacancies created by workers whove retired? And where should the General Assembly invest to improve the states talent supply? These were among the 22 questions Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce members got to vote on using an app or by texting during a presentation by Barry DuVal, president and CEO of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, during the regional chambers annual state of the chamber meeting March 21. It was held at the Jepson Alumni Executive Center in Fredericksburg. Their answers on a wide range of issues including transportation, comprehensive tax reform and frivolous lawsuits will join that of the states other chambers of commerce, business alliances and economic development groups to form Blueprint Virginia, an update to the Virginia Chambers long-term statewide economic development plan. The Culpeper Chamber of Commerce, for instance, will hold its meeting on March 29. The final document will be presented at the Virginia Chambers economic summit on Dec. 2 in Williamsburg. It will then be given to the next governor following the 2017 election, just as the first one was given to Gov. Terry McAuliffe before he took office. That Blueprint is always in the center of his coffee table when he calls me into his office, DuVal said. Blueprint Virginia serves as the basis for the Virginia Chambers legislative agenda, and it produces an annual report card to inform Virginians how their legislators voted on policies that will improve Virginias economic climate. The business community ought to have its fingerprints on policies that will influence the states business climate, DuVal said. He kicked off the survey with some basic questions for the 150 attendees, including the location of the majority of their employeesNorthern Virginia and Central Virginia got the most votesand if they thought Virginias economy is headed in the right direction. Nearly 80 percent agreed that it is. When asked to rank such things as transportation infrastructure and education and workforce development in order of importance to Virginias business climate, transportation infrastructure came in first. Education and workforce development came in second, followed in order by technology and innovation, health care, tax and regulation reform, and energy. The survey then zeroed in on workforce development and readiness, which DuVal said was the Virginia Chambers No. 1 issue during an interview after the presentation. Attendees ranked STEM, the term referring to science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, first. Middle skills, which require more education and training than a high school diploma but less than a four-year college degree, came in second place; followed by soft skills such as leadership and time management, and then communication skills. They also said that the community college system and vocational training institutions should get the most investment to improve Virginias talent supply, followed by the K12 education system. And they said that better access to nontraditional public education such as virtual or charter schools would help improve education and close the workforce skills gap. Jennifer Sager Gentry, the Virginia Foundation for Community College Developments vice chancellor for institutional advancement and executive director, said afterward that her organization works closely with the Virginia Chamber and theyre right on the mark to have community colleges in the center of their plans. She said that people realize that the jobs of the future are going to require middle skills, which community colleges provide through associate degrees and certifications. DuVal said that the Virginia Chamber plans to gather 7,000 votes through the survey presentations, and has already received close to 3,000. He also urged attendees to take part in the Virginia Chambers council meetings on specific areas of concern, including workforce, transportation and business climate and economic development. I think working with your local chamber, and your state chamber and your legislators, he said, will help create a brighter future for all Virginians. UPDATE: 10:30 a.m.: The lawsuit accusing Culpeper County of religious discrimination in its denial of a sewer permit to serve a planned mosque is headed for settlement talks. Following a hearing Wednesday in the federal courthouse in Charlottesville, both sides requested to mediate the lawsuit. The U.S. Justice Department alleges that the Board of Supervisors bowed to anti-Muslim public pressure when it turned down a pump-and-haul permit, which the county had routinely approved for other entities in the past. At hearing, U.S. District Judge Norman Moon pressed the county on why it had deviated from standard procedure in the matter. Moon later issued an order referring the case to mediation with U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Hoppe. The settlement conference was scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on April 6 in the U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg. --- CHARLOTTESVILLEA federal judge asked Culpeper Countys attorney many questions at a hearing Wednesday on the Justice Departments lawsuit accusing the Board of Supervisors of religious discrimination in its denial of a sewer permit for a planned mosque. U.S. District Judge Norman Moon heard about an hour of arguments from both sides before recessing without ruling on the countys motion to dismiss the lawsuit. He is expected to issue a written decision in the coming weeks. Woodbridge-based attorney Susan Pandak represented Culpeper County, repeatedly arguing that denial of the pump-and-haul sewer permit did not preclude the Islamic Center of Culpeper from building its prayer house. Its a self-imposed hardship, she said, contending that the Muslim congregation could have explored other options for waste disposal and reapplied to the county board. Pandak said the center failed to demonstrate unusual circumstances existed necessitating a pump-and-haul system on land along State Route 229 that is out of reach of public utilities and will not, according to the health department, support a traditional drain field. The United States is in a rush to tag Culpeper County with wrongdoing when the Islamic Center can build a mosque on its property in Culpeper County, Pandak said. She repeated numerous times that the county allows religious uses on any land zoning designation. Moon interrupted the lawyer numerous times in attempting to clarify how any building could be built without access to reliable sewer disposal. He also emphasized the countys history of approving all of the two dozen other requests for pump-and-haul permits through the years. The allegation is [the Islamic Center] is being treated differently than the other people who applied for this permit, he said. The only one that was denied was the mosque. The allegation, Moon went on, is that things were going along smoothly and the application was going to be approved until some members of the public raised the issue that these are Muslims and they are going to be praying out there. Pandak said it was sheer speculation that residents who made the incendiary remarks were in cahoots with county board members. Apparently what triggered the litigation were negative comments by random citizens and everybodys ears perked upit must be discrimination, she said. If thats all it takes for a discrimination case, we are in some very unfortunate times. Pandak further argued that the Justice Department lawsuit inaccurately alleged that the county, in denying the permit, violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. She said the legislation pertains to land use matters and that sewer permitting is not land use, but a health regulation issue. Moon thought it was splitting hairs, asking how could anyone develop any property without a proper sewer system. He again asked why all the other applicants didnt have to investigate other options and what the alternatives were. Pandak said mini sewer systems could be placed on properties for $25,000. It sounds like it would be substantially more expensive, Moon said. Pandak said it would be a better solution. Eric Treene, special counsel for religious discrimination in the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, argued that the Board of Supervisors used its pump-and-haul process to deny a land use that the county did not want. In seeking to get sewer service to the mosque site, the Islamic Center was told by the health department that pump-and-haul was the only way to go, he said, adding that the county administrator and then-board chairwoman also informed the group that getting approval for such was routine procedure. Without a sewer permit, there is no site plan approval or building permit issued, Treene said. The Justice Department claims discrimination in the case based on a number of factors, he said, including a departure from precedent, a routine procedure being denied, emails from the county administrator questioning why the request was being subject to greater scrutiny and the former board chairwoman alleging that the Islamic Center was being treated unfairly. Treene also referenced an email from local civic leader Kurt Christensen, who attended Wednesdays hearing, that questioned the construction of a mosque in Culpeper. The attorney said there was evidence that constituents took board members out to lunch to discuss the matter and that naked animus was expressed against Muslims at a local public hearing. Moon, in his closing remarks, said Culpeper County never had any problem with approving pump-and-haul permits before or shown that it was a less favorable system as it now claims. When all these other non-Muslim people came in, it was fine, the judge said. But then you find out they were Muslims, oh, its not going to be routine anymorewere going to look at different factors for you. Moon said the United States had some evidence in the case that someone might decide it is discrimination. A mix of current and former Germanna Community College staff turned out Wednesday morning to meet the first of three presidential candidate finalists. In an open forum reminiscent of a confirmation hearing at the Sealy Auditorium on the colleges Fredericksburg Area Campus, Linda ThomasGlover presented her views on future development and answered questions. When we talk about preparing individuals, making sure that were providing quality instruction and training to meet the diverse needs of our communitiesas were continuing to see changes in terms of how we learnto be successful in all of this, partnerships and relationships I think are critical to being successful, Thomas-Glover said. She is currently the president of Eastern Shore Community College, where she has been for about eight years, and has also worked in the administration of larger community colleges around the country. Attendees asked questions ranging from ThomasGlovers view of the importance of advising to how she would interact with the areas local governments regarding funding. Online, people asked questions as the forum was broadcast live on Facebook, and staff read the questions at the forum. The replay is available on the Germanna Community College Facebook page. ThomasGlover will speak at a second open forum in Culpeper at 10 a.m. today. The other candidates will speak on Monday and Wednesday at the Fredericksburg campus and Tuesday and Thursday at the Culpeper campus. Their forums will also be broadcast live and viewers will be able to ask questions online. After the forum, ThomasGlover said the variety of possibilities and the amount of student support at community colleges drew her away from teaching at four-year institutions. One of the things that I like about [community college] is that broad array or diversity of offerings, that were in a position to help people where they are, she said. If they need remediation, you can find it at the community college. If they only want to get a certification and become a truck driver, they can get it at the community college. If they want to save money for the first two years of college and then transfer to a four-year institution, they can do that. ThomasGlover oversaw the process of starting building construction at Eastern Shore, and was drawn by the opportunity to be involved with the construction of the Locust Grove campus and a new building in Stafford, for which fundraising is already underway but must continue. I have been at institutions of similar size and so know some of the interesting dynamics of multi-campus institutions where you have that contrast between urban and rural and serving multiple counties and all of those sorts of things, she said. Community colleges everywhere, and particularly in Virginia, also face declining enrollment and the resulting funding challenges, she said. Certificate and associates degree enrollment tends to decline when more jobs are available, and since Virginia colleges receive per-student funding, that can make maintaining long-term staffing and other projects difficult to plan. When youve got that decision to make between working and going to school [education] will take longer but right now [people say], I need a job to pay my bills. And you cant fault people for that at all, ThomasGlover said. Community colleges still offer a cost savings for students who intend to transfer credits to a four-year institution, which may drive recruitment, she said. Germannas status as a military-friendly school is also both challenge and opportunity for her, she said. One of the toughest questions probably has been adequately addressing the needs of veterans, she said, adding that she has family members who have served. When were looking at bridging individuals from where they are into, say, the workplace and they need some additional supportand that support can be in a host of wayshow do we find the resources to be able to give them that support that they need to help them make that transition? ThomasGlover feels her focus on student success and development would be a good fit at Germanna, she said. I feel that I can bring value here to the institution. Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said the government is grappling with the financial woes of Cairo's vital metro underground as the facility suffers from massive debts of some EGP 500 million, state news agency MENA reported. Ismail told reporters on Wednesday that the first of the Metro's three existing lines alone requires 350 million euros worth of maintainance and upgrades, excluding debts and the total cost to run. "It is very difficult that the situation is continuing this way," Ismail said. The prime minister said the government is currently looking at ways to fund the payment of outstanding debts. Last week, the Cairo Metro Company's spokesman told Ahram Online that the company is failing to cover maintenance, electricity and water expenses due to a lack of resources. Metro officials have repeatedly said the low ticket price, which has not been increased for over a decade, is one of the main reasons contributing to the service's losses. There have been repeated proposals to increase the ticket price in recent years, which officials say could double annual revenues, but the cabinet has yet to approve such a measure. The parliament was due to discuss the matter this week. Cairos underground train system, launched in 1987, is one of the oldest in the Middle East and Africa. Over 3.5 million of Greater Cairo's 21 million inhabitants rely on the subway for their daily travel, according to estimates by the country's national tunnels authority. Construction on the final phase of Cairo's third metro line is set to begin by June, according to Transporation Minister Hesham Arafat. A fourth line, financed through a loan from Japan, is planned and would begin operations in 2019/20. Search Keywords: Short link: Lynchburg Commonwealths Attorney Michael Doucette has been named special prosecutor to look into a complaint that a House of Delegates candidate in Norfolk was offered $10,000 in campaign funding to drop out and run for the School Board instead. Doucette has asked the state attorney generals office to grant approval for Virginia State Police to assist him in the investigation. The allegation involves some of the major government players in the Hampton Roads city known for its knotty and complicated politics. Suspended city Treasurer Anthony Burfoot is awaiting sentencing on federal corruption convictions, while former Sheriff Bob McCabe, under investigation by the FBI, announced his retirement and resigned mid-term. The election complaint names Evans Poston Jr., the citys commissioner of the revenue. It alleges Poston and others were willing to offer House candidate Joe Dillard Jr. $10,000 in campaign cash if he would drop out of the June Democratic primary for the seat held by Del. Daun Sessoms Hester, D-Norfolk, who is running for treasurer. Dillard is a lobbyist and NAACP official. Joining him in the primary for the Houses 89th District is Jerrauld Jay Jones, a lawyer at Willcox & Savage law firm and the son of Circuit Judge Jerrauld C. Jones, a former state delegate. His mother, Lyn Simmons, is a Norfolk juvenile judge. Community activist Michael Muhammad made the complaint March 16 to Norfolk Commonwealths Attorney Greg Underwood. A Democratic official who conveyed the campaign money offer to Dillard told him, Thats how its done in Norfolk, according to the complaint. Underwood asked to be recused from investigating the complaint, according to court records. Ron Batliner, the chief deputy in Postons office, is challenging Underwood in the Democratic primary for commonwealths attorney. When asked by phone Wednesday about the complaint, Poston said, This is false, and its election-year politics at its worst. Doucette, the special prosecutor, has experience in Hampton Roads. In 2015, he secured a criminal conviction against Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms, who pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of violating state conflict of interest law for a vote that benefited a borrower of TowneBank, where he was a senior executive at the time. MGySgt. Johnny Albert Stewart Jr. USMC (Ret.), 82, of Stafford, VA passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family on Wednesday, March 15, 2017. After serving honorably for 22 years with the United States Marine Corps he began working for GEICO in 1977 and retired again in 2002. An avid bowler and kite maker extraordinaire, Mr. Stewart enjoyed spending time with his family. A 39-year member of Regester Chapel United Methodist Church, Mr. Stewart was born and raised in Statesboro, GA and after several moves during his days in the Marine Corps, settled into Stafford County in 1977. Beloved husband, father and grandfather he will be missed and remembered for his kind, loving heart and generosity. Survivors include, his wife of 59 years, Charlotte Chick Stewart; his four children, Steve (Julie), Dave (Pam), Alan (Holly) and Cindy; thirteen grandchildren; sister Mary (Herb) Goldstein of Marietta, GA; and brother Donald (Ann) Stewart of Russellville, TN, along with their children. The family will receive friends from 4-6 p.m. on Sunday, March 26 at Covenant Funeral Service, Stafford. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, March 27 at Regester Chapel United Methodist Church. Interment will follow in Quantico National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Regester Chapel United Methodist Church Memorial Fund, 85 Bells Hill Road, Stafford, VA 22554. Online guestbook available at covenantfuneralservice.com. The personnel were killed when an IED detonated in their vehicles as they were attempting to chase militants during the raid Three army officers and seven soldiers were killed on Wednesday during a raid on a militant hideout in Central Sinai, the army's spokesman said on Thursday. In an official statement, spokesman Tamer El-Refai said ten army members were killed after two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) detonated in their vehicles as they were attempting to chase militants. El-Refai said the forces killed 15 militants and arrested seven others during the raid. He said the army also destroyed two storehouses, which were used to store half a tonne of TNT, IEDs, and subsistence and medical equipment used by the militants. Forces confiscated two four-wheel vehicles, explosives, 460 laptops, 640 cellphones, and several vehicle plates used by the militants. Thursdays announcement comes only a few days after the army said in two separate statements that it had killed 18 extremely dangerous terrorists in different parts of restive North Sinai and arrested 37 suspects. Egypts army and police forces have been battling a North Sinai-based Islamist insurgency that intensified following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Despite the relative infrequency of attacks in Central Sinai compared to North Sinai, security forces have recently aimed to tighten their grip on the area through a number of anti-terror operations. Hundreds of security personnel have been killed in terror attacks by militants in recent years, while the army says it has killed hundreds of militants in security campaigns in the governorate. Search Keywords: Short link: PRESIDENT Donald Trumps first federal budget is very important, but not for the reasons so widely discussed in recent days. He proposes a large increase in defense and homeland security spending to begin repairing years of Obama cuts in manpower, materiel and readiness. And Trump proposes sharp drops in spending on programs long favored by Democrats. You may have heard the orchestrated howls echoing through like-minded media pages and microphones. For years, Washington budget bees on both sides have hoodwinked Americans by announcing annual budget cuts that were not real cuts at all. They were just reductions in scheduled increases, as if government growth were a given. Trumps proposed cuts are very real; 30 percent out of the Environmental Protection Agencys budget, for instance. As Trumps predecessor once crowed to minority Republicans, Elections have consequences. Indeed, they do. Witness the flurry of Trumps executive orders. Ask Islamic State troops in Syria whether theyve noticed an enhanced, more aggressive American military presence since January. Or consider Trumps numerous listening sessions sounding out experts, executives and workers. But none of this has anything to do with the presidents proposed budget, or any presidents proposed budget. Thats because presidents can request, suggest, propose, even plead. But Congress decides the real spending. As proudly proclaimed by some congressional denizens in D.C.s fetid political environment, Trumps budget is dead on arrival. As has been every president-drafted budget in modern history. Trumps federal budget outline is to be expanded in May, when it likely will matter even less, coming after much congressional maneuvering. Trumps budget is important only for its political messaging. Which is still very important, but has nothing to do with actual spending. His budget sets out his goals and priorities. It tells Americanssupporters and opponents alikethat the new chief executive actually intends to follow through on major campaign promisesto rebuild the depleted military, to reduce foreign-aid giveaways with dubious results, to launch a major infrastructure rebuild, to steer considerable authority back to the states. It sets bargaining parameters with Congress. It sends the same message abroad to supporters and opponents. This gives the president leverage when it comes to foreign negotiations, which Trump will spend much of the summer negotiating during trips abroad. To the face of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump emphasized his abiding support for NATOand his adamant demand that alliance members including Germany live up to their own long-delinquent military spending commitments of 2 percent of gross domestic product. For perspective, U.S. defense spending under President John F. Kennedy was 10 percent of GDP. Trump dispatched Vice President Mike Pence to Europe last month to deliver the same message. There are degrees of firmness in diplomacy. The United States has long been rather gentle, even hesitant, in its demands of allies, prepared to shoulder the slack. Some countries have taken advantage of that well-intentioned patience. As you may have noticed already, Trump does not like presenting a patient public persona. Thats not how he was successful in real estate and building. Hopefully, he will learn in time to calibrate his manner with friends more than enemies. But the message of his budget outline is clear: What you heard in the campaign is what you see in this budget, said Mick Mulvaney, a former congressman now running Trumps Office of Management and Budget. The top-line message doesnt change, Mulvaney adds. Rebuild the nation. Dont add to the deficit. Congress has much on its plate nowthe budget, a Supreme Court nomination, Obamacare repeal, raising the debt ceiling and, of course, its inviolate two-week Easter vacationbecause some things cant be cut. As McClatchys Anita Kumar pointed out, do not look for much, if any, of Trumps specific proposals to survive their congressional autopsies. Cuts will fall on foreign aid and the EPAs budget, if not to Trumps scale. And the presidents proposed $54 billion defense increase might actually grow. But dont listen to all the moaning from supporters of government programs that endure because they can. This budget messaging exercise is merely a rehearsal for both sides. Andrew Malcolm is an author and veteran national and foreign correspondent covering politics since the 1960s. Follow him @AHMalcolm. THE U.S. Constitution makes President Donald Trump the commander in chief. The responsibility of raising and maintaining a military, however, was assigned by our Founding Fathers to Congress. From the administrations of Lincoln and Wilson to FDR and Reagan, every serious defense buildup has required bipartisan support from the House and Senate. Today, Americas armed forces need another jolt. So, once again, members of Congress must play their part to make sure our military can deliver enough punch to protect our homeland and our vital interests abroad. The global forces of instability are growing, especially in three parts of the world where regional peace and stability are particularly important to the United States. The solidity of Europe, Asia and the Middle East is threatened by Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and the trans-national Islamist threat spearheaded by al-Qaida and the Islamic State. Individually, none of these powers rise to the level of menace posed by the former Soviet Union. But when one of these threats acts up, we cannot expect the others to stand down. Indeed, we can expect them to try to exploit the situation. For that reason, our nation must have the capacity to deal with all of them at once, and here we have a problem. While we need to be able to respond globally, the Pentagon no longer has a global-size force. The Heritage Foundations annual Index of U.S. Military Strength objectively measures the ability of our armed forces to protect vital national interests in a multi-conflict scenario. And the measurement shows that, in terms of capacity, capability and readiness, the military has been in noticeable decline for years. In the 2017 index, the militarys overall ability to provide the hard power needed to prevail in a multi-conflict scenario was rated as marginal. Subsequent assessments suggest no change in the downward trend. There are several reasons for the deteriorating assessments. Our competitors have become more aggressive and significantly beefed up their military capabilities. Meanwhile, our alliesparticularly those in Europehave woefully under-invested in defense. But the biggest factor has been our own failure to reinvest in our increasingly strained military. The defense budgetunder the automatic spending reduction of sequestrationhas been cut by 25 percent over the last five years. U.S. combat operations have declined since the Bush era, but contrary to President Obamas claims, no wars have been ended. Meanwhile, other operational demands, such as increased deployments to Western Europe, have arisen. Yet our military is markedly smaller than it was a decade ago. In fact, the Army is smaller than at any time since before World War II. The Navy and Air Force are likewise at historically small levels. Readiness is another problem. Top brass have testified that only three of 58 Army brigade combat teams are ready to fight; less than half of the Air Force is ready; and half of the Navys aircraft are grounded for parts or maintenance. And budget cuts have dramatically reduced flight hours for pilots and other training essential to keeping our warriors sharp and safe. President Trump has proposed boosting the Pentagons budget, but his proposal is at least $30 billion short of what it needs to be. Far greater investment will be needed if we want to assure that America can remain a global power. James Jay Carafano is a vice president at The Heritage Foundation, where he directs the think tanks research on foreign policy and defense issues. He is a 25-year Army veteran. WOULD it make sense to cut the budget of an organization that has been making our borders safer for most of our nations history? When a preliminary version of the Trump administrations budget outline came out earlier this month, news spread quickly that the U.S. Coast Guard would face a reduction of $1.3 billion in the next fiscal year. Word of the possible Coastie cutback touched off a flurry of activity in Congress. Dozens of lawmakersboth Republicans and Democratsurged Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, to restore its funding. But when the administrations 62-page budget document was released a week ago, we learned that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security spending would increase by $2.8 billion. Much of the new money would be spent to start work on the presidents southern border wall and hire 1,500 additional Border Patrol and immigration enforcement agents. DHS has overseen the Coast Guard and 21 other protective federal agencies since its founding in 2002. The budget outline didnt specifically mention the Coast Guard or any cuts, but DHS stated that the spending plan sustains current funding levels for the U.S. Coast Guard, which allows for the continuation of day-to-day operations and investments in the acquisition, construction and improvements account. This is good news. Its positive for the security of our coasts on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. Its also important for public safety. The Coast Guard handled 16,456 search-and-rescue missions in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. The agency saved 3,536 lives, while 169 lives were lost and 330 people were unaccounted for during those missions. Closer to home, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe pointed out that last year the Coast Guard performed 6,100 interdictions of individuals who could have potentially violated U.S. law and threatened the safety of our communities. This venerable service branch has a substantial presence in Virginia (and this, no doubt, fuels the governors interest). There are stations in Cape Charles and Chincoteague on the Eastern Shore and Little Creek in Virginia Beach, and the Coast Guard is headquartered in Washington. The service keeps a close watch on the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. The Coast Guard is the countrys oldest continuous seagoing service, established in 1790 as the Revenue Marine. Its modern history began in 1915. It is one of the countrys five armed services, though it reports to DHS now. It has more than 36,000 active-duty members, along with more than 44,000 reservists, auxiliarists and civilian employees. More than 4,000 of those active-duty members are based in Virginia. The service has been involved in every U.S. war from 1790 onward. In 2014, it deployed 400 personnel and six patrol boats to protect Iraqi oil interests and train the Iraqi navy. Also that year, the Coast Guard intercepted more than 200,000 pounds of cocaine and 108,000 pounds of marijuana bound for the U.S., with a combined estimated value of more than $3 billion. It stopped more than 7,700 undocumented migrants from coming into the United States. Among other duties, it managed oil-spill cleanup projects, oversaw anti-terrorism efforts at more than 169 ports and screened 30 million crew and passengers arriving in our ports. Obviously, the budget dance has just begun in Washington and the Republican-majority Congress will have much more to say as it considers the Trump administrations priorities. Reasonable reductions and efficiencies can be achieved in any government agencys budget without gutting its core mission. For the sake of our commonwealth and our country, were pleased that an across-the-board cut to the Coast Guard is off the table nowand hope it stays that way. Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. In the interview, conducted on Wednesday as part of his official visit to Cairo, El-Hariri said he had presented the request during a meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, with El-Sisi expressing his readiness for such a task and issuing orders accordingly. The Lebanese leader did not reveal the type of training being sought. However, he said that Lebanon routinely sends officers to Egypt to receive training, something he said helped Lebanon in fighting terrorism. "We aim to get such help," El-Hariri said. He said that his main goal in requesting training assistance from Egypt is to bolster the capabilities of the Lebanese army and provide it with the necessary military power. "It's time for Lebanon to decide on its own fate. As the army becomes better armed and trained, there will be more interaction with the people, because the army is something that holds together all Lebanese sects and doctrines," he said, stressing that his country needs the support of Egypt, among other "brothers". El-Sisi received the Lebanese leader in Cairo on Wednesday, congratulating him on "the role played in reaching consensus between the different factions of Lebanese society." Hariri's visit is the first to Egypt since he took office in December 2016, and comes one month after a visit by Lebanese President Michel Aoun to Cairo. The two leaders discussed possible cooperation in various fields, including health, education and investment, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidential office. Hariri said that El-Sisi expressed his support for the "Lebanese harmony" that has emerged in the political sphere, leading to the election of Lebanese President Michel Aoun in October 2016. Prior to Aoun's election, the office of president had been vacant for more than two years, leaving a power vacuum in the country. "What happened in Lebanon is that we decided to look at ourselves before we look outside, and that's why such consent took place," Hariri said, referring to the election of Aoun and the formation of a cabinet lead by Hariri. Search Keywords: Short link: NFU Scotland has called for any replacement to the CAP post Brexit to be underpinned by a UK-wide framework to avoid creating trade barriers. In an evidence session of the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee at Holyrood on Wednesday (22 March), NFU Scotlands director of policy Jonnie Hall warned MSPs against creating a policy for Scotland that is so perpendicular from the rest of the UK or Europe that it thwarts our efforts to then trade. But Mr Hall also stressed: Creating a Defra-centric one-size fits all; that would not be in the interest of Scottish agriculture, I think youll find similar views held by Wales and Northern Ireland. See also: Hard Brexit incredibly damaging to Welsh agriculture Mr Hall said: What we want to see happen is a devolution settlement, which gives Scottish ministers the discretion to set a policy that is appropriate for Scotlands needs. Contrasting views He added ensuring each sector within the diverse profile of Scottish agriculture has the opportunity to move forward will be extremely difficult. But he said that the devolution of agricultural responsibility in 1998 has by and large worked very, very well in Scotlands interests. NFU Scotlands view is in contrast to those expressed by Scotlands first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has called for total autonomy in setting agriculture policy post Brexit. However, NFU Scotlands call was echoed by Scotlands Rural College and Scottish Land and Estates, which were also giving evidence in the hearing. Andrew Midgley, projects and research manager, Scottish Land and Estates said under an overarching envelope which Scottish ministers could tailor we wouldnt see a huge amount of difference to now. But he said ensuring Scottish ministers are involved in shaping the policy is an absolute requirement, although added there is likely to be more agreement in deciding the overarching policy than might be expected. Market distortion Following the committee session at Holyrood, Scottish Conservative MSP Peter Chapman, shadow secretary for the committee, backed the call saying the idea of completely divergent agricultural policies makes no sense at all. Mr Chapman said: We have heard a lot since the EU referendum in June about the powers in devolved areas. The UK government has been clear that the Scottish parliament will not lose any powers that are currently devolved, and that there may be more powers that come back after Brexit. Of course, there has to be flexibility within [a UK policy] for the devolved areas of the UK. However, we have to remember here in Scotland that the rest of the UK is our biggest market. Farmers Union of Wales president Glyn Roberts also called last week for the repatriation of powers from Brussels to the Welsh government ideally within a new UK framework. German public international broadcaster Deutsche Welle has denied allegations by some Egyptian media outlets that the company is "hostile" against Egypt. Several Egyptian media outlets have accused Deutsche Welle of disproportionately giving voice to opposition views within Egypt, as well as overhyping "negative" news stories in the country. In response, Deutsche Welle's director-general Peter Limbourg said in a statement on Wednesday that "Deutsche Welle is proud of its reputation in the Arab world for presenting balanced news coverage and allowing both the government and opposition representatives alike to express their views." Earlier this week, prominent Egyptian TV anchor Ahmed Moussa accused the board members of the company's Arabic arm of belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood or supporting Gaza's Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah which authorities accuse of training Egyptian Islamists and carrying out militant attacks in the country. Moussa, known for his close ties with the Egyptian regime and staunch opposition to the 2011 popular uprising, accused the channel of allocating 250 million euros to impose influence on Egyptian media organisations. Limbourg said in his statement that "this is not true. The total 2017 budget of all the foundation's sectors amounted to 326 million euros allocated for financing [content in] 30 languages as well as four television channels." Egyptian newspaper Youm 7 published a report earlier this week accusing Deutsche Welle of using "Nazi tactics" of "spreading strife" within countries targeted for future attack. Limbourg slammed this Nazi analogy as "stupid" and "absurd." "Deutsche Welle operates independently and enjoys great credibility worldwide. Our Arabic section works for its readers and viewers in Egypt and is certainly not [operating] against this country. " Search Keywords: Short link: Story Highlights 47% in South Sudan rate their lives poorly enough to be suffering Poverty, natural disasters prolong pain in Haiti, where 43% suffering 41% suffering in Ukraine is highest in Europe WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Amid the focus on happiness this week with the release of the 2017 World Happiness report, it's important to acknowledge the places in the world where it is in short supply. While the three happiest countries are in northern Europe -- Norway, Denmark and Iceland -- Gallup's World Poll finds three countries with the highest "suffering" rates in the world in 2016 span three continents. More than four in 10 people rate their current and future lives poorly enough to be categorized as suffering -- in South Sudan (47%), Haiti (43%) and Ukraine (41%). Countries With Highest Suffering in 2016 Thriving Struggling Suffering % % % South Sudan 9 44 47 Haiti 3 54 43 Ukraine 9 50 41 Gallup World Poll Gallup classifies people as "thriving" if they rate their current lives a 7 or higher and their lives in five years an 8 or higher on a ladder scale (based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale) with steps numbered from zero to 10, where zero represents the worst possible life and 10 represents the best possible life. People are considered "suffering" if they rate their current and future lives a 4 or lower. The U.N. World Happiness report, in comparison, ranks countries on their happiness and subjective well-being based only on a three-year average of people's ratings of their current lives from Gallup's World Poll. Civil War, Crime and Famine Plague South Sudan Civil war erupted in South Sudan shortly after it gained independence in 2011; high crime rates and food shortages -- that eventually became famine -- followed. Suffering rates in the new country increased significantly from 33% in 2014 to 47% in 2016 -- the highest level of suffering worldwide. According to the most recent Gallup data, more than four in 10 (46%) South Sudanese in 2016 report having money or property stolen in the past 12 months, the second-highest percentage in the world after Uganda, and one in four, 24%, have been assaulted, reflecting crime rates that are among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. And last month, the United Nations declared a famine in two sections of the country while warning that half of the population of South Sudan is facing starvation. Because of the dangerous conditions, emergency relief agencies struggle to deliver food and water to the most desperate areas. In 2016, seven in 10 South Sudanese say they did not have enough money to buy needed food for themselves or their families -- an increase of nine percentage points from 2015 (61%). Haitian Suffering Has Barely Abated Since the 2010 Earthquake Even before Hurricane Matthew ravaged Haiti in late 2016, the small Caribbean nation was already in deep distress, with more than four in 10 Haitians (43%) rating their lives poorly enough to be considered suffering in recent years (just 3% are deemed thriving). Long recognized as the poorest country in the Americas, Haiti is prone to natural disasters that put further stress on its infrastructure and vulnerable population. A devastating earthquake in 2010 triggered a major cholera epidemic that put intense pressure on Haiti's already fragile healthcare system. Even before the recent hurricane, satisfaction with the availability of quality healthcare had dropped to a new low of 9%. The 2010 earthquake further exacerbated the scarcity of affordable housing in Haiti. Six years later, just 17% of Haitians told Gallup that they are satisfied with the availability of affordable housing in the city or area where they live. Those figures have not likely improved since Hurricane Matthew struck the island last October; according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the storm left nearly 140,000 Haitians homeless. Ukraine's Suffering Is the Third Highest in the World Ukraine is the only European country near the bottom of the World Happiness rankings this year -- and the 41% of the population that is considered suffering is the highest Gallup has recorded among post-Soviet states; fewer than one in 10 Ukrainians (9%) are thriving. The ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian and Russian-backed separatist forces have further damaged already poor economic growth in the nation. A solid majority of Ukrainians (57%) believe their personal standard of living is getting worse. Nearly half of Ukrainians (46%) say there were times in the past year when they did not have enough money for food for themselves or their families -- the highest figure Gallup has ever recorded for Ukraine and one of the highest in all Europe. Bottom Line Not surprisingly, all three countries fall toward the bottom of the U.N. World Happiness rankings: Ukraine is No. 132, Haiti comes in at No. 145 and South Sudan is No. 147. These nations' low life evaluations will only improve with an end to conflicts, an increase in economic growth, and good governance that is focused on upgrading and enriching the lives of every resident. The data in this article are available in Gallup Analytics. A Giza criminal court sentenced to prison on Wednesday two police officers and four lower ranking police officers for torturing a man to death in a police station in late 2012. The court sentenced the deputy head of the investigation unit at Giza Police Station to five years and the station's deputy head to one year. Meanwhile, the four lower ranking policemen received three years in prison each. The rulings can be appealed. The policemen were convicted of torturing to death 26-year-old Saad Saeed after what the prosecution says was an unwarranted arrest in November 2012. The medical examiner's report showed that the Saeed died of severe beating. The Egyptian constitution stipulates that "torture in all its forms is a crime without a statute of limitations." Over the past two years, authorities have referred a number of policemen to trial in similar cases of torturing citizens to deaths. Search Keywords: Short link: American architect and sculptor Maya Lin, perhaps best known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., as a Yale University student in 1981, will deliver the next Provosts Lecture at Oregon State University on Tuesday, April 18. Lins works include a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., in Montgomery, Alabama and a piece along the Columbia River honoring the Lewis & Clark expedition. Lin will speak at 7:30 p.m. in The LaSells Stewart Centers Austin Auditorium. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and a book signing will follow the program. The event is free, but tickets are required for admission. They can be downloaded at communications.oregonstate.edu/events/maya-lin. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Lin has also designed a number of buildings, including the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City. In 2009, she received the National Medal of Arts and a documentary about her life and work won the 1994 Oscar for best documentary. In 2016 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Lin describes her work as a dialogue between the landscape and the built environment, and her more recent work has focused on the crucial role of nature in the modern world. Her latest memorial, titled "What is Missing?" is still in progress. It is described as a cross-platform, global memorial to the planet, located in select scientific institutions, online as a website, and available as a book, calling attention to the crisis surrounding biodiversity and habitat loss. As artist and architect for the Confluence Project, Lin has also designed public art pieces to commemorate the original location of Celilo Falls and other points of significance along the Columbia River system. For more information or accommodation for disabilities, contact University Events at 541-737-4717 or events@oregonstate.edu A stakeholders committee charged with narrowing down potential routes for a bike path linking Corvallis and Albany along the Highway 20 corridor started the day with three possibilities and finished with four. The mission of the Corvallis-Albany Bikeway Advisory Group is to determine if there is a feasible alignment to connect an existing bicycle and pedestrian path that ends near Cheldelin Middle School in northeast Corvallis and another that is planned to run from North Albany to Scenic Drive along the north side of Highway 20. Plans to link the two along the Union Pacific railroad tracks fell apart two years ago in the face of opposition from farmers and other landowners. Last month the committee shrank a list of 10 possible routes for a connecting path down to three, and the group met again over lunch Wednesday at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library to further narrow the field. After reviewing a technical advisory panels analysis of the three alternate alignments, the group quickly dismissed a route along the Willamette River as impractical. While some committee members praised the 8.5-mile river routes scenic values, others cited difficulties such as limited access points for maintenance and emergency services, the need for bridges at several creek crossings, high potential for flooding and erosion, and the need to acquire right of way through private property. A 5.5-mile alignment that would hug the south side of Highway 20 got a lot of support from committee members, who liked its directness, ease of access for maintenance and emergency services, and its minimal disruption of landowners. Downsides include proximity of users to the busy highway, the need to cross numerous driveways and the need for users to cross Highway 20 twice to connect with two end points. The third possibility under consideration was the so-called rural route, an 11.5-mile alignment that would have looped far north of Highway 20 by means of the shoulder of Highway 99W and a series of bike lanes along the side of Granger Avenue and a number of other rural roads. But committee members liked some aspects of the route, so instead of rejecting it outright, they came up with a plan to pursue three possible hybrid routes that would follow Granger at first and then branch out in different directions, including possibly crossing Highway 20 to finish along the south side of the highway or along the riverbank. During a 15-minute comment period at the end of the meeting, committee members got an earful from some of the 20 audience members present, several of whom voiced objections to one or more of the possible alignments. Karla Chambers of Stahlbush Island Farms urged the panel to keep cyclists off Granger Avenue, which her business uses as a truck route. Stephanie Hauge, who owns property along Highway 20, questioned the need for any bike path in the area, suggesting it would be a waste of taxpayer money. And Matt Mellenthin, who also owns property along the highway, said there was unanimous opposition among landowners in his neighborhood for any route along the river or the south side of 20. Both the Highway 20 route and the three variations of the hybrid route will be presented for public comment at a meeting from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 5 at the Sunset Building, 4077 SW Research Way, with a large part of that meeting reserved for public comment. The technical advisory panel will take another look at the remaining potential routes on April 12, and the Corvallis-Albany Bikeway Advisory Group will meet again from noon to 2 p.m. on April 25 at the Corvallis library, 645 NW Monroe Ave., to decide which route, if any, to recommend for a more detailed analysis by the county. The Benton County Board of Commissioners will have the final say on whether to pursue development of the path. The board is scheduled to discuss the matter at a 9 a.m. work session on May 16 and vote at a noon meeting on June 6. Both of those meetings will be held at the county boardrooms, 205 NW Fifth St. in Corvallis. Head of the Egyptian health ministry's Preventive Medicine Department Amr Kandil said on Thursday that a number of recent deaths of unknown causes in Qalioubiya governorate where not the result of a virus. On 15 March, the health ministry said that three people died of suspected food poisoning in the Nile Delta governorate of Qalioubiya. On the same day, 11 people in Greater Cairo's Shobra district were admitted to fever hospitals after suffering from ailments doctors could not identify, according to local media reports. The patients, who belong to two related families, were hospitalised for suspected food poisoning after displaying symptoms including intestinal inflammation, vomiting, severe diarrhoea and stomach ache, Kandil said. Kandil stressed that medical examinations have not revealed any type of viral infection, adding that the results of tests for possible food poisoning are pending. Food poisoning is not uncommon in Egypt, where basic public hygiene standards are poorly enforced. This week, more than 3,300 students from eight schools were hospitalised for suspected food poisoning after eating school meals in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag. Earlier in March, around 200 students were diagnosed with food poisoning after eating meals at two schools in the southern governorate of Minya. Days later, 14 students in Upper Egypt's Assiut suffered food poisoning, prompting the health ministry to order a halt on the distribution of school meals in the governorate until food safety tests could be carried out. Public prosecution will reopen investigations into illegal gifts to former Egyptian president from Al-Ahram media organisation Egypt's Criminal Court accepted on Thursday an appeal by prosecutors against an earlier court ruling to shelve investigations against ousted president Hosni Mubarak in the case commonly known as the "Ahram gifts". The court ruling implies that the public prosecution will be reopening investigations in the case. The ousted president was accused of illegally receiving gifts from the state-owned Al-Ahram media organization. In January 2013, Mubarak paid EGP 18 million (approximately $1 million) in compensation for gifts that he had received, along with members of his immediate family, from the state-owned Al-Ahram Press and Publishing Organisation. Mubarak's family also reimbursed state-owned newspaper Al-Gomhoreya with EGP 1.4 million for gifts received from the publication. Last year, a Cairo court ruled that investigations in the case should be shelved. Mubarak was released earlier this month following his acquittal on charges of killing protesters during the 25 January revolution in 2011. Since his ouster in 2011, Mubarak stood trial in a number of criminal cases on various charges, but has received only one final conviction in a corruption charge. In January 2016, the Court of Cassation upheld a three-year prison sentence for Mubarak and his two sons for using public funds slated for the maintenance of presidential palaces to upgrade their private properties. However, Mubarak was released from detention on the grounds of time served while undergoing investigation and trial. Following the verdict in that case, Mubarak's sons were also released on time served, have already spent more than three years behind bars pending investigation. Mubarak is still banned from travel pending investigations by the Illicit Gains Authority into the increase in his personal wealth since the 2011 revolution, according to his lawyer Farid El-Deeb. Prior to his release, the 88-year-old Mubarak was confined to Maadi Military Hospital for treatment since 2012. The former autocrat ruled Egypt from 1981 until a popular uprising ousted him on 11 February 2011. Search Keywords: Short link: Page Not Found Well that's embarassing. It looks like the page you're looking for has been moved or is no longer available. Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi received on Thursday a letter from his Sudanese counterpart Omar Al-Bashir that stressed the necessity of preserving cooperation with Egypt on all levels, according to Egyptian presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef. The letter, delivered by Sudan's Minister of State Taha Osman Al-Hussein, came after exchanges between media figures erupted this week regarding which country has the historical right to Egypts southern Halayeb Triangle region. Youssef said that Al-Bashir's letter expressed keenness to continue brotherly relations with Egypt in light of the historical bond between the two countries. "The exchanges between some media outlets in Egypt and Sudan do not reflect the unique relations between the two countries," the letter said, adding that Sudan appreciates Egypt's pivotal role in maintaining peace and stability in the Arab region. Youssef also stressed that the two countries agreed on encouraging media outlets to reflect the positive and brotherly aspects of the relations between Cairo and Khartoum. On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Egypt and Sudan said that they reject "unacceptable transgressions" that would drive a wedge between the two countries. The two ministers denounced what they called "attempts to stir [agitation] as well as the irresponsible handling [of issues] by some social media users and media outlets," the statement said, without elaborating. Media outlets in both countries exchanged attacks in recent days after Sudans media minister said in public statements that his country's civilisation is older than that of Egypt. Media figures have also argued over Egypts Halayeb Triangle region, which comprises three cities and has been a source of tension between both countries for years, with rows occurring at times over the right to manage the area's natural resources. Search Keywords: Short link: Nokia to launch e-commerce stores in India soon News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu It looks like Nokia branded stores are coming soon. HMD Global unveiled three Nokia smartphones - Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and Nokia 6 and a feature phone Nokia 3310 (2017) earlier this year. These phones are likely to be released in the latter half of the second quarter of this year. While we are left with a few more weeks for the release of these Nokia phones, there is some really interesting information. It looks like Nokia is in plans to open e-commerce stores in India in the coming months. We say this as Nokia has revealed the same on its official Twitter handle while replying to a query. The tweet confirms that the retailers and network operators will sell the Nokia Android phones. Nokia's new devices to be released in second half of Q2 In its heydays, Nokia enjoyed having a huge retail presence in India with its Nokia Priority Stores in almost every place that was important. Later, these stores were transitioned to Microsoft's retail channels following the acquisition. From the tweet, we can come to a conclusion that HMD Global is planning to bring these Nokia branded retail stores again. Earlier this year, Rajeev Suri, the CEO of Nokia, confirmed that Nokia will make use of the HMD sales channels to push the Withings range of products. We can expect Nokia mobiles (smartphones and feature phones), Nokia-branded wearables and the other digital health products to be available at the Nokia branded e-commerce stores in the near future. 4G Nokia feature phone with Qualcomm 205 likely in the making The Nokia Android phones and the feature phone will be made available sometime in May or June in India and a few other countries. We can expect the smartphones to be priced in the entry-level or mid-range market segment to give a touch challenge to the others. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Smaller in size As per the claims, the Snapdragon 835 chipsets overall size is 30% smaller than the previous generation chipsets, meaning it will take less area inside the phone than others. Improved performance Compared to Snapdragon 820, this chipset comes 27% increase in performance along with 40% lower power consumption, which in turn results in excellent battery life. Supports VR Unlike SD 820, this chipset was made keeping VR and AR in mind and comes with support for Google's VR platform Daydream. This feature will lead to immersive VR experience with 835's hand's mapping tech for interacting with the environments. Big improvements in camera This chipset comes with improved camera support that can support up to up to 32-megapixel single and 16-megapixel dual-camera. Having said that, it will be useful for the maker including Huawei, LG and more, who often manufactures smartphones with dual camera setup. Quick charging technology. The SD 835 will have a Quick Charge 4 technology, which delivers up to 20 percent faster charging than Quick Charge 3.0 that is found in the Snapdragon 821 and 820. Hope it doesn't heat up like Snapdragon 810 chipset. LTE Category In this flagship chipset, the LTE Category 16 supports download speeds of up to 1Gbps, while on the older Snapdragons, which supported LTE Category 12, the maximum download speed is 600Mbps. Xiaomi, Lenovo, Oppo, Gionee, Honor, Moto and more: Smartphones launch round-up Features oi -Harish Kumar Chinese brands a huge success in Indian smartphone market. While Smartphone rankings remain volatile the world over, presently, Chinese smartphone brands like Vivo, Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi have pretty much surpassed local rivals in India with increasingly stylish yet affordable devices. Furthermore, these Chinese brands are not only outpacing the Indian brands but seriously posing a threat to the market leader Samsung Electronics Co. in the world's fastest-growing major phone market. However, as Chinese mobile phone brands are booming in India and even making up more than 50 percent of new devices in the Indian smartphone market, the launch of new phones seems inevitable. Notably, the brands have already announced that they will launching a number of smartphones in India this year. Best Smartphones with 4GB RAM: Moto G5 Plus, Redmi Note 4, Lenovo P2, Oppo F1s and more As this is the case, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Oppo, Gionee, and Honor amongst others have already launched various smartphones for the Indian consumers. So if you are interested to know what smartphones were released, here's a list of all the Chinese smartphones recently launched in India. Best Mobiles in India A police officer and a conscript were killed on Thursday in North Sinai in a shootout with militants, Egypt's Ministry of Interior said in a statement. Police captain Moataz Abdel-Aziz and conscript Mahmoud Mohamed were killed in an exchange of fire between security forces and militants in El-Arish city. The police officer and conscript were part of a security patrol in the area. This is the second deadly attack today by militants on security forces in North Sinai. Earlier in the day, three army officers and seven soldiers were killed during a raid on a militant hideout in central Sinai after "two improvised explosive devices detonated near their vehicles as they chased militants." Fifteen militants were killed and seven were arrested during the raid, the army said. The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the killing of the 10 army personnel. Hundreds of security personnel have been killed in terror attacks in North Sinai by militants in recent years, while the army says it has killed hundreds of militants in security campaigns in the governorate. Search Keywords: Short link: Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro to soon be released in India News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Galaxy C7 Pro coming soon to India. The Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro was released in select markets such as Hong Kong and China. Now it looks like it will hit the shores of the Indian market soon. However, there is no official confirmation from Samsung regarding the India release of this phone for now. The Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro with the model number SM-C701F has received the Wi-Fi certification recently. A device with the same model number has been spotted on the official Samsung India website, tipping that its India launch is nearing. For now, there is no information on how much the smartphone would be priced at or when it will be released in India. It is priced at $435 (approx. Rs. 28,000) in Hong Kong. Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ color variants and pricing leaked Announced last month, the Galaxy C7 Pro is fitted with a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED FHD 1080p display. Under its hood, there is an octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage capacity that can be expanded further up to 256GB using a micro SD card slot. The imaging department comprises of 16MP cameras at the rear and front. The connectivity aspects of the Galaxy C7 Pro include 4G LTE, USB Type-C port, dual-SIM card support, and other common features. There is a fingerprint scanner on board embedded on the physical home button. A non-removable 3,300mAh battery powers the soon to be released Samsung phone giving it a decent backup. It has been announced in Pink Gold, Dark Blue, and Gold color variants. Source Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Michael Kors reveals Sofie and Grayson Android Wear 2.0 smartwatches News oi -Samden Sherpa Luxury watch manufacturer Michael Kors announced the Sofie and the Grayson, two new additions to its smartwatch family. Michael Kors one of the renowned luxury watch providers has just announced that they are adding two new watches to its smartwatch family. The new devices showcased have been dubbed as Sofie and Grayson and were showcased at Baselworld, an annual watch and jewelry show in Basel, Switzerland. The new smartwatches feature premium look and design and are powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC. Both the devices run on Android Wear 2.0 out of the box. Further one good quality is that both the smartwatches are compatible with a variety of straps. 200 Million 4G feature phones will be sold in India in the next five years However, the two smartwatches have been designed keeping in mind the genders. As such, Grayson model is designed for men, and it features a completely metal case and a sleek design. On the other hand, the Sofie is a wearable especially for women and it basically boasts of a relatively thin case compared to its predecessors but it does come with an eye-catching bezel. Both the Sofie and the Grayson are expected to be released this fall. Besides, their exact launch date is expected to be revealed in the coming days. Apart from the two smartwatches, the watch manufacturer also disclosed its plans to update the Michael Kors Access app that is currently present on the company's existing Android Wear smartwatches. According to the report from AndroidHeadlines, the new version of the app will include a feature called My Social which will allow the users to change and customize their watch faces using any images from their Instagram accounts. Xiaomi Mi 6 may indeed come with a Snapdragon 835, suggests Weibo post Further, the new feature will allow users to choose any photo on their Instagram feed and instantly display it on their watch face. This update is expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Obangame Express Enhances Nations' Capabilities Navy News Service Story Number: NNS170321-12 Release Date: 3/21/2017 1:21:00 PM From U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs ABIDJAN, Cte d'Ivoire (NNS) -- Maritime forces from Gulf of Guinea nations, Europe, South America, and the United States and several regional and international organizations began training for the multinational maritime exercise, Obangame Express, March 20. Obangame will officially kick off March 23, when nations begin executing real-world scenarios. For the next three days, African countries are preparing for the exercise by participating in training with maritime forces from around the world. The exercise is sponsored by U.S. Africa Command, and is designed to improve regional cooperation, maritime domain awareness, information-sharing practices, and tactical interdiction expertise to enhance the collective capabilities of Gulf of Guinea and West African nations to counter sea-based illicit activity. Quotes: "I certainly recognize the many complicated and diverse challenges this command faces every day across the vast African continent. It is up to us to bring forward creative and viable solutions to these challenges and view each one as an opportunity to work with and assist our African partners -- not only today but in the future as well -- in building a secure, stable and prosperous African continent." - Marine Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, U.S. Africa Command commander "Maritime security is a collective effort, which is why Obangame Express is such an important exercise. The majority of the region's economic activities rely on the safe and lawful use of Ivory Coast waters. Obangame Express brings together and increases the collective ability of African, European, South American and U.S. maritime forces to address challenges that threaten the freedom and security of our oceans. This is accomplished through the use of real-world scenarios designed to increase the ability of Gulf of Guinea nations to deter piracy, illicit trafficking and other maritime threats. This exercise, in various forms and names over the years, has proven successful at increasing partner nations' capabilities. I'm looking forward to once again working with our African partners to deter criminal activity at sea." - Navy Capt. Heidi Agle, Obangame Express officer in tactical command "The most important thing is about three 'ships' -- partnership, relationship and friendship. As all of us work together, we establish these three ships during the exercise which will make it much smoother when we have to do it in real operations." - Dave Rollo, Maritime Domain Awareness manager, Naval Forces Africa Quick Facts: Obangame Express puts maritime security in the hands of nations to whom it matters most. Here are five things you need to know: 1. Exercise Obangame Express is sponsored by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and designed to improve regional cooperation, maritime domain awareness (MDA), information-sharing practices, and tactical interdiction expertise to enhance the collective capabilities of Gulf of Guinea and West African nations to counter sea-based illicit activity. 2. Participating nations include Angola, Benin, Belgium, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Canada, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Congo, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spain, Togo, Turkey, the United States, and the United Kingdom, as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). 3. Obangame Express locations are throughout the Gulf of Guinea and in multiple areas at sea and ashore. At-sea operations will be conducted throughout the Gulf of Guinea. The largest footprint ashore will be in Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire. Numerous Maritime Operations Centers (MOCs) will be participating from ashore across the Gulf of Guinea and West Africa along with several international organization MOCs. An opening ceremony will be held in Accra, Ghana, and a closing ceremony will be held in Abidjan. 4. Obangame Express is scheduled to take place March 20-31 and encompasses an in-port command post exercise and an underway field training exercise in the Gulf of Guinea. 5. Obangame Express' purpose is to create realistic scenarios that mirror past piracy incidents whereby a hijacked vessel will transit from one territory to another. MOCs during the exercise will be challenged to recognize these illicit acts appropriately and share with other MOCs. Additionally, the exercise tests each individual maritime force to patrol their economic exclusion zones and detect and prosecute illegal activity, accordingly. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address In Juba, UN peacekeeping chief urges political solution for South Sudanese crisis 21 March 2017 The security situation in South Sudan is "very worrisome," the head of United Nations peacekeeping operations today said, warning that the number of people fleeing the country showing no signs of slowing, and calling for a political solution to the hostilities. "You cannot hope that a solution will come by the use of weapons, the solution has to be political," said outgoing Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous in a press conference in Juba, alongside Jean-Pierre Lacroix, who will take up the position in April. Mr. Ladsous underscored the importance of the 2015 peace agreement signed by President Salva Kiir and opposition groups, but noted that there are concerns about implementing an agreement which will shortly be two-years old. Earlier in the day, Mr. Ladsous said he spoke with President Kiir in what he described as a "good" meeting. Among the topics discussed were the challenges to humanitarian action, including impediments to getting clearances, as well as instances of aid workers killed or injured while on the job. Meanwhile, the needs in the country are greater than ever with two counties in Unity state Mayendit and Leer formally declared famines. Mr. Ladsous warned that the situation is "man-made" after several years of fighting and "is not going to improve" because it is now crop planting season and all farmers are displaced or seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. Speaking to journalists, Mr. Ladsous also noted that the first vanguard of the UN Security Council-mandated Regional Protection Force should be deployed to Juba "in the next few weeks." The units will be comprised of Bangladeshi, Nepalese, and Rwandan troops, followed by Ethiopian forces and troops from other countries. The senior UN official added that he will meet tomorrow in New York with Member States who are contributing troops to discuss the deployments. Once deployed to Juba, the Force will free a number of UNMISS units to "the countryside to better protect the civilians," he said. Mr. Ladsous noted, however, that the main responsibility for protection is with the Government of South Sudan: "We cannot have one blue helmet behind every single South Sudanese citizen. The responsibly to protect its own citizens is that of the Government. And we are here to support, to facilitate, to help the Government of the sovereign country of South Sudan." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Deteriorating security situation in DR Congo 'a source of major concern,' warns UN envoy 21 March 2017 The United Nations envoy for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today stressed the need for both the Government and the opposition groups there to show the same level of commitment and compromise which led to the signing on 31 December of an agreement on the electoral process, while also citing the UN peacekeeping mission's readiness to adapt to the deteriorating security situation. "The primary responsibility for the implementation of the Agreement rests with its signatories," the Secretary-General's Special Representative for DRC, Maman Sidikou, told the Security Council in a briefing. Under the agreement, President Joseph Kabila would stay in office until elections are held by the end of 2017. During this period, a 'National Council for Overseeing the Electoral Agreement and Process (CNSAP)' would be set up, and a new prime minister named from opposition ranks. However, some discord has delayed the implementation of the agreement, and the death of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, who was to head the CNSAP, had had a significant impact on the political process. Mr. Sidikou said that the situation seems to have evolved in the right direction over the last few days, with negotiations on the "Special Arrangement" resuming, and the Presidents of the two Houses of Parliament called for an irreversible and credible electoral process and expressed their support. Significant progress has been made in updating the electoral roll. To date, more than 19 million voters have been enrolled and the enrollment process is about to begin in the two remaining enrollment areas, said Mr. Sidikou, who is also the head of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). MONUSCO's logistical and technical support for the enrollment process will be completed by the end of this month, and if authorized by the Security Council, MONUSCO is prepared to provide technical and logistical support for the electoral process, which would go beyond updating the electoral roll. On the security front, Mr. Sidikou said that violence and threats to civilians are no longer concentrated in the eastern DRC, noting that community-based violence and inter-ethnic clashes have spread from areas already affected by armed conflict, such as the Kivus, to Tanganyika, the three Kasai provinces, Lomami and Kongo Central. The Secretary-General has set out a package of measures aimed at enhancing the ability of the MONUSCO Force to support the achievement of the Mission's strategic objectives in the current challenging security context through the adoption of a more mobile, flexible and agile posture. He has recommended the deployment of two additional formed police units (FPUs) to help the Congolese authorities address the potential threat of electoral and politically motivated violence in key urban centers where there is no FPU presence. Mr. Sidikou said that MONUSCO has already undertaken adjustments to its posture and operations, and that the Mission will continue to make such adjustments as may be required in the months ahead. "MONUSCO will continue to provide support for the implementation of the Agreement, while supporting efforts to address the mounting threats faced by the civilian population during the transition period," he concluded. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Military Strikes Continue Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, March 22, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 23 strikes consisting of 25 engagements against ISIS targets: -- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed a wellhead. -- Near Shadaddi, a strike suppressed an ISIS tactical unit. -- Near Raqqa, 18 strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and an ISIS staging area; destroyed four command-and-control nodes, three tanker trucks, three ISIS-held buildings, an oil storage tank, a vehicle-borne bomb, an ISIS headquarters, a fighting position and an ISIS media facility; and damaged four supply routes. -- Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes destroyed two wellheads and an oil inlet manifold. Strikes in Iraq In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted six strikes consisting of 35 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government: -- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS-held building. -- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed 11 tunnels, 10 fighting positions, three mortar systems, a rocket-propelled-grenade system, an artillery system and a heavy machine gun; damaged 12 supply routes, three fighting positions, three tunnels and a vehicle; and suppressed four ISIS tactical units. -- Near Tal Afar, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed an ISIS headquarters and a vehicle-bomb facility. Part of Operation Inherent Resolve These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said. The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect. For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said. The task force does 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mattis Urges Congressional Support for Additional $30 Billion for Defense By Lisa Ferdinando DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, March 22, 2017 The $30 billion in requested additional defense funding for fiscal year 2017 would be used to strengthen the military and protect the nation against emerging global security challenges, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Capitol Hill today. At a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Mattis warned that hesitation in investing in defense would deepen the "strategic mismatch between our future security and the military means to protect our people and freedoms." The secretary appeared at the defense budget and readiness hearing with Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "The security situation facing our country has become more challenging," Mattis said. "The looming threats have outstripped the level of resources we have been allocating to defense." Good Stewards of Taxpayers' Money President Donald J. Trump's request for the additional $30 billion represents the first step in a three-part, multi-year effort to restore readiness, Mattis explained. This year's budget appropriation, including the requested additional $30 billion, is needed to "get our aircraft back in the air, our ships back to sea, and our troops back in the field with refurbished or new equipment and proper training," the defense secretary said. "We base this request on a realistic appreciation of the capacity we need to fight and win on the battlefield," he said, noting the next phases of the effort focus on fiscal year 2018 and several years beyond. The department is aware of the sacrifices of the American taxpayers in making the additional funding for fiscal year 2017 possible, Mattis said. The department takes the responsibility of being wise stewards seriously." The $30 billion in additional funds include a base budget request of $24.9 billion and an overseas contingency operations budget request of $5.1 billion. The additional $30 billion funding request brings to $619.2 billion the amount requested by the Defense Department for fiscal year 2017, according to the DoD comptroller's office. Highlighting Military Support of Diplomacy Mattis highlighted the importance of military support of diplomatic efforts, saying diplomatic solutions are the preferred options. "Our military must ensure that the president and our diplomats always negotiate from a position of strength," he said. "Global threats require a global response, applying the full weight of our own and our allies' power, allies which are also increasing their defense outlays." Military deterrence, the defense secretary said, is only credible if military strength is sufficiently formidable that allies can confidently align with the United States in tempering adversaries' designs. Global Challenges Threaten National Security Interests The global security challenges threatening national security interests are numerous, Mattis outlined to the senators. "We see Russia and China seeking veto power over the economic, diplomatic and security decisions of nations on their periphery," he said. "Terrorist groups murder the innocent and threaten peace in many regions and target us." In addition, the secretary noted North Korea's "reckless rhetoric and provocative actions" with its nuclear activities. "This situation calls for our department to maintain a safe and secure nuclear deterrent and a decisive conventional force that can also fight irregular enemies since our military must be able to counter all threats facing us," Mattis said. Funding Requires 'Hard Choices' with 'Sustained Commitment' The defense secretary acknowledged "hard choices" will have to be made in funding the department. "With the help of the Congress, I believe we can build a force that is more lethal, without placing an undue burden on the American economy," he said. But, in order to do so, DoD needs a "sustained commitment from Congress in the form of additional funding and regular on-time budgets," Mattis said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Dunford: Now is the Time to Address Military Readiness Shortfalls By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, March 22, 2017 Military readiness must be bolstered, Defense Department leaders told the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee today. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the senators that sequestration gutted military readiness and asked the committee to approve a $30 billion amendment to the fiscal year 2017 defense budget request to help the department recover. Dunford was quick to point out that service members are sacrificing and that because of those sacrifices, "the joint forces can defend the homeland and our way of life, we can meet our alliance commitments and we maintain an overall competitive advantage over any potential adversary." The general does not want any potential adversary to think the United States cannot defend itself. Still, if the current budget climate is allowed to continue, the U.S. competitive advantage will continue to erode, he said. Military actions around the globe add their own special erosion. "Fifteen years of war have also taken a toll on our people and our equipment," Dunford said. "Many of our men and women continue to deploy as much as they are home. Similarly, our platforms, weapons and equipment are showing signs of wear. In many cases, we have far exceeded the planned service life for our vehicles, our aircraft and our ships." Delayed Modernization Budget battles also impose readiness blockages. "Eight years of continuing resolutions and the absence of predictable funding has forced the department to prioritize near-term readiness at the expense of modernization and advance capability development," the general said. "We now face what has been described as a bow wave of modernization requirements for both our nuclear and our conventional forces." Potential foes see this, he said, and invest money into capabilities in space, cyber, electronic warfare and missile defense, again closing the gap between themselves and the United States. "It's important that we reverse that trend," Dunford added. The fiscal 2017 defense budget request is a much-needed first step and it will address the most urgent near-term readiness concerns, the chairman said. It will fund current operations, address personnel shortfalls, resource training and improve maintenance across the joint force. "The additional request for resources also allows us to procure limited quantities of needed equipment to fill holes in our deploying units," he said. The budget amendment also contains $5.8 billion for overseas contingency operations. This will allow the military to further accelerate the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Dunford said. "From my perspective, not having the OCO money will restrict our ability actually to accelerate the campaign and seize opportunities," the general said. "We'll lose some flexibility." The extra money is needed to buy spare parts, ammunition and for more soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. "We really do have many of our people that are home about an equal amount of time to the time they deployed," the chairman told the subcommittee. "I visited one U.S. Navy ship last September. They were under way in a previous 12 months 70 percent of the time. They were at sea because of an important ballistic missile defense capability." Equipment Shortages The budget asks for some extra equipment. "We see that particularly in the case of the aviation enterprise, where units have fewer aircraft than they rate," he said, which creates two problems. The first is the unit doesn't have the system needed to go to war. "The other is they don't have sufficient aircraft to train," Dunford said. "And so, our pilots also have degraded readiness as a result of not have sufficient aircraft." The chairman used a Navy squadron in Oceana Naval Air Base, Virginia, as an example. The squadron rates 10 aircraft, but actually has only five mission-ready aircraft. "You can't get pilots to the right level of training proficiency on those five aircraft, which has two effects: one, is a readiness effect," he said. "The other is, over time, is a morale issue. We see the same thing with helicopters in the Army." The chairman's experiences over the past decade give him a much broader definition of readiness. "To me, it's about what actions are necessary to make units whole, to allow them to be combat effective and deployable," he said. "Today, it's a combination not only of maintaining equipment that we have; not only addressing the spare parts shortfall, but actually now replacing shadows [on] the ramp where equipment doesn't physically exist in the unit at a material condition that would allow us to deploy it." Now is the time to address this situation, he said. Any delay just pushes the readiness problem down the road. The military will ensure that units deploying in harm's way have the training, personnel, spare parts and equipment they need. But the units at home station will be stripped and the cost to bring readiness to acceptable levels will be much more farther down the budgetary road. "So admittedly, some of these initiatives won't realize a readiness benefit until 2019 or '20, but if we don't take the action in '17, that will simply become 2021 or '22," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S., Australian Airmen Participate in 'Diamond Shield' Exercise By Air Force Tech. Sgt. Steven R. Doty, 354th Fighter Wing DoD News, Defense Media Activity NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia, March 22, 2017 U.S. airmen from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, touched down at Royal Australian Air Force Base Williamtown in New South Wales, Australia, this week for Exercise Diamond Shield 2017. With a dedicated support team topping nearly 150 personnel, more than 20 U.S. pilots assigned to the 18th Aggressor Squadron will work with Royal Australian Air Force Air Warfare Center instructors to train and prepare RAAF fighter combat instructors, airspace battle managers, fighter intelligence instructors and fighter combat controllers. Diamond Shield is the second of four "Diamond Series" exercises conducted by the RAAF Air Warfare Center. The exercise is an Australian Defense Force training activity where high-readiness forces deploy quickly to remote locations in Australia in response to a simulated security threat. Exercise Scenario During the exercise, members of the Australian navy, army and air force will rapidly deploy to counter a fictitious force posing a threat to Australia's national security in the Kimberley region in Northwestern Australia. As a benchmark for aerial combat training through its annual series of Red Flag-Alaska exercises, integration of Eielson's 18th Aggressor Squadron pilots enhances interoperability and ensures the RAAF can operate in a combined environment to respond to any contingency in the region and provide an agile, decisive and effective deterrent to any future challenges. Diamond Shield is set to run March 13-31 and will incorporate Australian C-17A Globemaster III and C-130J Hercules transport aircraft, AP-3C Orion surveillance aircraft, as well as American F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syrian militants and allied rebels advanced against government forces in central Hama province on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. The Britain-based group said the militants and allied fighters have taken 11 towns and villages from government troops since they began the surprise offensive on Tuesday. It reported heavy fighting in the north and northeast of the province, with government air strikes targeting areas captured in recent days. Overnight and into Thursday morning, three villages fell from government control, with the advancing forces nearing the town of Maan. Syrian government forces seized Maan in 2014, after Islamist fighters killed at least 25 members of the Alawite sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs. Hama province is of strategic importance to Assad's government, separating opposition forces in Idlib from Damascus to the south and the regime's coastal heartlands to the west. The offensive is being spearheaded by the Tahrir al-Sham alliance, which is dominated by militant Fateh al-Sham Front, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate. In addition to 11 villages and towns, rebels and militants have captured several government checkpoints and part of the road between provincial capital Hama and the town of Mhardeh, the Observatory said. The monitor said the opposition forces were now around four kilometres (2.5 miles) from government-held Hama city. An AFP correspondent in northern Hama said government war planes were circling overhead and carrying out strikes on areas captured during the offensive. He said the sound of fighting could be heard even at a distance, and small groups of people could be seen fleeing the violence, most of them travelling in cars. Aid group Save the Children said Wednesday at least 10,000 people had fled their homes in the Hama area in the past 24 hours. The violence comes as UN-brokered peace talks are set to resume in Switzerland between government officials and opposition representatives. More than 320,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced by Syria's conflict since it began in March 2011. Search Keywords: Short link: Local Forces Launch Daring Assault Behind Enemy Lines in Syria By Cheryl Pellerin DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, March 22, 2017 Local forces in Syria launched a multi-pronged offensive that included a daring air assault behind enemy lines to liberate Tabqa Dam, located 25 miles upstream from the city of Raqqa, the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve public affairs officer said today. Army Col. Joseph E. Scrocca conducted a teleconference live from Baghdad with the Pentagon press corps to detail the operation planned and carried out by the Syrian Defense Forces and their Syrian Arab Coalition partners with support from the international coalition to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The SDF liberation of Tabqa is critical to isolating Raqqa and the next step toward annihilating ISIS in Syria, Scrocca said, adding that the dam, city and airfield are critical to ISIS for importing and harboring foreign fighters and exporting terror. The Tabqa locations are ISIS's last link to their territory west of the Euphrates River, he said. Isolating Raqqa Scrocca said Tabqa Dam has been used as an ISIS headquarters, a prison for high-profile hostages and a training site for ISIS leaders. Tabqa also has housed fighter-terrorist training camps and has served as a control center for terrorist attacks against the West since ISIS took control of the location in 2013. "Seizing Tabqa dam will isolate Raqqa from three sides and give the SDF a strategic advantage and the launching point they need to liberate the city," he said. A key element of the coalition's strategy against ISIS is to work by, with and through committed and capable local partner forces fighting to liberate their people and their land, Scrocca said. "The SDF and the local Syrian Arab Coalition fighters have proven to be the most effective ground force against ISIS in Syria, he added, "and they have proved it once again with this daring operation." The international coalition supported the offensive with air movement and logistical support, precision airstrikes, close-air support by Apache helicopters, Marine Corps artillery and special operations advice and assistance to SDF leadership, Scrocca said. Fighting ISIS in Syria, Iraq Over the last four months the coalition has conducted more than 300 airstrikes around Tabqa and to the west of Raqqa, and has killed hundreds of enemy fighters and destroyed more than 200 fortifications and more than 50 ISIS vehicles, the OIR spokesman said. "But make no mistake about it," Scrocca said. "It is SDF on the ground putting their lives at risk and valiantly engaging the enemy. It is the Syrian Democratic Forces, like the Iraqi security forces, who are making the sacrifices so that other coalition nations do not continue to suffer the threat of ISIS terrorism inside their own borders." Turning to Mosul in Iraq, Scrocca said that while Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was meeting yesterday at the White House with President Donald J. Trump, Iraqi forces continued to pressure ISIS on multiple axes of advance in or around the western part of the city. "It is grueling, bloody, tough fighting against a brutal and entrenched enemy who cares nothing about the local citizens and deliberately targets them as the [Iraqis] try to evacuate them from the front lines," the OIR spokesman said, "... but the [Iraqis] are not backing down." Scrocca added, "This is what building partner capacity looks like on the ground. This is what the coalition has strived to instill in these soldiers and police through our training. The by, with and through' strategy is working, and we know that because we've seen what these forces are doing every day against a truly evil enemy." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Release No. NR-101-17 March 22, 2017 Readout of Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis' Telephone Call with Egyptian Minister of Defense General Sedki Sobhy Pentagon Spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis provided the following readout: Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis spoke yesterday with Egyptian Minister of Defense Gen. Sedki Sobhy. Secretary Mattis expressed his commitment to advancing the U.S.-Egyptian defense partnership. Minister Sobhy underscored the strength of the countries' history of military-to-military cooperation and provided an assessment of shared terrorism concerns. The two leaders affirmed that they will remain in close communication in the pursuit of U.S.-Egyptian strategic objectives. http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1126838/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China denies reported construction plan for Huangyan Island People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 20:50, March 22, 2017 BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The reported plan to build an environmental monitoring station on Huangyan Island in the South China Sea is not true, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Wednesday in Beijing. Spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a daily press briefing. "Our position on Huangyan Island has been consistent and clear," she said, adding that China attaches high importance to its relationship with the Philippines, values the current good development momentum and will continue to promote bilateral ties. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Blackwater founder to open bases in Xinjiang People's Daily Online (Global Times) 08:24, March 22, 2017 Will open bases in Yunnan, Xinjiang to support Chinese firms Military company Blackwater's founder plans to build new bases in China, a move to support the One Belt and One Road initiative. Frontier Services Group (FSG), a company that helps businesses operating in frontier markets overcome complex security, logistics and operational challenges, is planning to built two operation bases in Northwest China's XinjiangUyghur Autonomous Region and Southwest China's Yunnan Province, Erik Prince, executive chairman of the firm, told the Global Times in mid-March. Prince, 47, is better known as the founder of the private military company Blackwater, now known as Academi, which provides executive security services and specialized training. It is reported that the over 5,000 Blackwater employees were working in nine countries at the company's height. But Blackwater changed its name and sold itself to other investors in 2010 due to its involvement in the Iraq War. Prince also has close ties with high-level US officials. For instance, he is brother to the new Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and a frequent Breitbart radio guest of White House power broker Stephen Bannon. One Belt One Road Regarding his new operation in China, Prince told the Global Times that "in late 2016, FSG has expanded its geographic focus from purely Africa to include the Northwest and Southwest corridors of the One Belt and One Road initiative." "The Northwest corridor includes the countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Southwest corridor includes Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia," said Prince, adding that "the planned new facility in China's Yunnan Province will allow FSG to be able to better serve companies in the Southwest corridor. Subsequently, FSG will be opening a training facility in Xinjiang to serve businesses in the Northwest corridor." Wang Dawei, spokesperson of FSG, told the Global Times that the Yunnan base will be operating within this year while the one in Xinjiang is projected to start operation in 2018. FSG's main service is to provide Chinese customers logistical support to get in and out of African danger zones, Prince told Bloomberg in 2015. "Africa is an important destination for Chinese investment ... We believe our team's local knowledge will greatly benefit Chinese clients," said Prince. FSG is betting its future on serving Chinese companies, which Prince says are unprepared to help employees who suffer accidents or violence overseas, Bloomberg reported in 2015. Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times that the security services for Chinese overseas enterprises should be bolstered to better implement the One Belt and One Road initiative. It is advisable for China to draw experience from private US companies, said Wu. Chinese companies desperately need overseas protection services, Li Jiang, director of the international affairs department in the China Security and Protection Group, told the Global Times, adding that Chinese security service companies lack advanced management theories. Different from Blackwater However, FSG's operation in China and Prince's background have sparked controversies back in the US, with some media, such as Buzzfeed News, suspecting Prince's business in China "could put him at odds with President Donald Trumpand could also risk violating US law," in a report on February 17. The Activist Post reported on February 22 that Prince is bringing Blackwater to China, accompanied by a composite photo of Prince and Chinese soldiers. Prince denied the accusation that FSG provides Blackwater-type armed security services. He said that the only thing FSG and Blackwater share in common is his involvement. "FSG employees do not carry guns and therefore do not provide any armed security services," said Prince, adding that unarmed security includes close protection, analytics, intelligence and risk assessments. When asked if his business in China seems to conflict with the China policy set by Trump and Steve Bannon, Prince said that "FSG activity is completely separate from the US administration. We do not see any conflicts between our business and the US administration." He added that One Belt and One Road initiative is FSG's main focus right now. "I am very familiar with the policy and believe it will transform trade across the world in the future. Trade and infrastructure are extremely beneficial to all nations. I do not see any conflict with US strategy," said Prince. Some media cast doubt on Prince's business in China. The Intercept reported in March 2016 that the US intelligence has been monitoring Prince's communications and movements for a year and that he has close ties with Chinese government. However, Prince said that he greatly respects Chinese companies' attitude toward frontier markets. "Chinese companies have been leading the way in developing frontier markets in recent years. This will increase with China's One Belt and One Road initiative and we look forward to supporting them," he said. The Intercept's report was also criticized by Wu, who said that some Western media have the wrong idea that anything involving China is bad, so Prince's cooperation with China is also bad. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US-led coalition air-drops allied militants near Daesh-held Raqqah Iran Press TV Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:0PM The US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has air-dropped ground forces near Syria's militant-held northern city of Raqqah in what the US military describes as preparations to recapture the extremists' main stronghold in the Arab country. The Pentagon said in a statement on Wednesday that US military aircraft had airlifted members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militant group near Tabqa, located 40 kilometers from Raqqah, providing air support for them to retake a major dam -- most commonly known as Euphrates Dam -- that remains in the hands of Daesh extremists. The SDF, a Kurdish-dominated and anti-Damascus alliance, said US forces had also been deployed with them in the airdrop. It noted that the operation also aims to block any advance by Syrian government forces from the western flank of Raqqah. A local official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the airdrop took place on Tuesday. Earlier this month, US Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the commander of the US forces purportedly fighting Daesh, said talks were under way with Turkey on the role Ankara might play in the operation to liberate Raqqah. "We are engaged in discussions with the Turks on how they might participate in the liberation of Raqqah and I don't know what the numbers of their participation might be," media outlets quoted the US military official as saying. Washington currently has about 500 Special Operations troops in Syria. However, their activities have been limited to what the Pentagon describes as training and assisting Kurdish forces in their battle against Daesh and other terrorist groups. Recently, General Joseph L. Votel, the commander of the US Central Command, said more American troops might be needed in Syria to step up their so-called campaign against Daesh. Votel also secretly visited northern Syria to meet US-backed militant groups. Turkey's Hurriyet daily newspaper reported in early February that Turkish military chief Hulusi Akar had presented his American counterpart, Joseph Dunford, with two plans for a potential operation said to liberate Raqqah. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Multiple bombings leave eight people dead in Nigeria Iran Press TV Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:2PM At least eight people have been killed in a series of blasts that hit Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri. The National Emergency Management Agency said five bombers attacked several points along the Maiduguri-Gamboru highway on Wednesday morning. One of the blasts hit a camp for Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram terrorists where two civilians lost their lives. According to the emergency management agency, all five of the attackers were killed. The explosions also left 20 other people injured. Nigeria has been at war with Boko Haram since the group started an insurgency in Borno state about eight years ago. Almost 15,000 people have been killed while the violence has displaced more than two million. Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Daesh, another Takfiri terrorist group, which has been wreaking havoc in the Middle East and North Africa over the past few years. Maiduguri is the birthplace of Boko Haram and the base for Nigerian military efforts to fight it. The city has frequently been the target of bombers. The terrorist group has started using females as bombers, but officials said the perpetrators of Wednesday's attacks were all men. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump will attend NATO summit in Brussels in May: White House Iran Press TV Wed Mar 22, 2017 5:58AM The White House has announced US President Donald Trump's travel plans to Europe for a NATO summit in May, a day after it was revealed that his secretary of state will skip the April 5-6 NATO meeting in Brussels. Trump will participate in the NATO summit on May 25, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement issued on Tuesday. The president "looks forward to meeting with his NATO counterparts to reaffirm our strong commitment to NATO, and to discuss issues critical to the alliance, especially allied responsibility-sharing and NATO's role in the fight against terrorism," Spicer said. He further said that NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg will travel to the White House on April 12 to meet with Trump. "They will talk about how to strengthen the alliance to cope with challenges to national and international security," the press secretary added. NATO members have frequently been attacked by Trump for not paying what he says is their fair share. "Many nations owe vast sums of money from past years and it is very unfair to the United States," he said last week at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "These nations must pay what they owe," Trump stated. The NATO agreement requires members to aim for two percent of their GDP with the goal of meeting that by 2024. According to NATO's annual report from last year, Germany spent 1.2 percent of their GDP on defense but has said they plan to spend more in coming years. The announcement comes following reports that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will skip the meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, but will travel to Russia in the following week. US officials told Reuters on Monday Tillerson will miss the NATO summit so that he can attend President Donald Trump's expected April 6-7 talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The disclosed itinerary of Tillerson was likely to send a message to NATO allies that the Trump administration was giving Moscow priority over them. But the latest announcement from the White House about Trump's visit to Brussels in May seems to calm nerves of America's NATO allies. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Afghanistan Backs U.S. Call For More Troops To Help Battle Taliban RFE/RL March 22, 2017 Afghanistan wants the United States to send more forces to help battle the Taliban and the Islamic State extremist group, the country's top diplomat has said. Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani on March 21 welcomed a recent call by U.S. General John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, for a few thousand more troops from the United States or other coalition partners to help break the stalemate in the war-torn country. The Trump administration has not yet said if it will send more forces in response to Nicholson's comments. Some 8,400 U.S. troops are currently deployed in Afghanistan, performing counterterrorism operations against insurgents and training the Afghan National Army. The war is in its 16th year. Citing a deadly attack this month on a military hospital in Kabul, Rabbani said Afghanistan needed U.S. help in addressing "military shortfalls," through increased training, ground and air capabilities, and reconnaissance and intelligence support. "We stand confident that the new U.S. administration under President Trump will remain strategically engaged and continue its support," Rabbani said at the Atlantic Council conference ahead of a gathering in Washington of the U.S.-led coalition against IS. He described Nicholson's call as "an appropriate decision considering the prevailing security challenges still facing us." In a sign of how major powers are vying for influence in the region, Rabbani said Russia was planning a 12-country conference on Afghanistan. The former Soviet Union engaged in a disastrous decade-long war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Rabbani said the United States had been invited but didn't know if it would attend. The State Department said it hadn't yet decided on its participation. Rabbani said the discussions would follow up on six-country talks held in mid-February involving China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Iran. He said he did not think the Taliban would be invited. In congressional testimony last month, Nicholson said Russia had been publicly legitimizing the Taliban and seeking to undermine the United States and NATO in Afghanistan. Rabbani said Russia and Iran had both told Kabul they have been in contact with the Taliban to encourage a return to the negotiating table, but deny providing the Taliban material support. With reporting by AP and Radio Pakistan Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-envoy -rabbani-backs-us-call-nicholson-more-troops-help- battle-taliban-islamic-state/28383507.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tillerson Urges U.S. Senate To Approve Montenegro's NATO Bid RFE/RL March 22, 2017 U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has written to the leaders of the U.S. Senate urging them to approve Montenegro's bid to join NATO, saying it is "strongly in the interest of the United States," media reported. In a March 7 letter, Tillerson argued that Montenegro's membership in the military alliance would support greater integration, democratic reform, trade, security, and stability in the Balkans, Reuters reported on March 21. Objections from two Republican senators, Rand Paul and Mike Lee, have delayed a vote in the Senate for months. Paul has questioned the wisdom of angering Russia, which opposes the expansion of NATO, and has objected to the costs of approving NATO membership for a tiny country that he said could not play a significant role in defending the United States. Montenegro, with a population of 650,000, hopes to win the required approval of all 28 NATO allies in time to become a full member at a NATO summit in May. It has been approved by 24 members. NATO members see Montenegro's accession as a way to counter Russia's efforts to expand its influence in the Balkans -- a view expressed by Tillerson, who urged the Senate to act before the May summit, which President Donald Trump plans to attend. "Montenegro's participation in the May NATO summit as full member, not as an observer, will send a strong signal of transatlantic unity," Tillerson wrote. "It is strongly in the interests of the United States that Montenegro's membership in NATO be ratified." With reporting by Reuters and Msn.com Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/tillerson- urges-us-senate-approve-montenegro-bid-to- join-nato-paul/28383503.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address AP: Former Trump Campaign Chairman Manafort Proposed Plan To Benefit Putin RFE/RL March 22, 2017 The Associated Press is reporting that Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, secretly proposed a political strategy to benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin and undermine his opponents. Citing several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records it obtained, the AP report on March 22 said that the American businessman proposed the plan to Oleg Deripaska, a Kremlin-connected Russian tycoon, as early as June 2005. It said the proposed plan was aimed at influencing politics, business dealings, and news coverage across the United States, Europe, and the former Soviet Union in ways that would favor Putin. Manafort eventually signed a contract worth $10 million with Deripaska and had a business relationship with him until at least 2009, AP said. The report appears to contradict earlier statements by the Trump administration, and Manafort himself, that he had never worked for Russian interests. Manafort, who resigned in August 2016 following allegations of contacts with Russian intelligence officials and of illicit payments related to his previous work for Russia-friendly former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's political party, confirmed to AP that he worked for Deripaska. But he said that the work "did not involve representing Russian political interests" and was being unfairly depicted as "inappropriate or nefarious" as part of a "smear campaign." In a statement to the news agency, Manafort said that he represented Deripaska almost a decade ago "on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments." AP said that a spokesman for Deripaska in Moscow declined to answer questions on Manafort, though it added that in 2008 a company spokesman said the magnate had never hired Manafort's firm. AP cited a U.S. official as saying on condition of anonymity that Manafort has been a leading focus of a U.S. intelligence investigation in the United States of the relationship Trump and his associates have had with Russia. FBI Director James Comey declined to name Manafort as a target of the investigation during a hearing in Congress this week, while White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on March 20 that Manafort "played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time" in the election campaign. When asked by NBC News on March 22 about the AP report, Spicer refused to discuss Manafort further. "It would be inappropriate for us to comment on a person who is not a White House employee," Spicer said. With reporting by AP Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/associated- press-manafort-trump-plan-to- benefit-putin/28384374.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli police say they have arrested a 19-year-old Israeli Jewish man as the primary suspect in a string of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers in the U.S. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Thursday the suspect's motives are unclear. Rosenfeld says the suspect is "the guy who was behind the JCC threats," referring to Jewish community centers in the U.S. that have received dozens of anonymous threats in recent weeks. Rosenfeld says the man, from the south of Israel, used advanced technologies to mask the origin of his calls and communications to synagogues, community buildings and public venues. He says the suspect also made threats in New Zealand and Australia. Search Keywords: Short link: China Not to Build Monitoring Facility on Disputed S China Sea Shoal Sputnik News 14:21 22.03.2017(updated 15:27 22.03.2017) Beijing is not planning to build a monitoring facility on the disputed shoal in the South China Sea. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying denied on Wednesday reports of preparations by Beijing to build a monitoring facility on the disputed shoal in the South China Sea. "[A plan to build the facility] does not exist at all," The Republic newspaper cited Hua as saying at a daily press briefing. She added that the reports concerning building the environmental monitoring stations on Scarborough Shoal were mistaken. According to the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, China placed great importance on the preservation of the South China Sea's ocean ecology, as well as on China-Philippines relations. Last week, a Chinese top official was quoted by the official Hainan Daily newspaper as saying that China planned to build up the disputed Scarborough Shoal located approximately 600 kilometers (370 miles) southeast of China. Reacting to the reports, the Philippines requested explanations from China and started preparations to formally protest China's plans due to the violation of a ruling by a United Nations-backed international tribunal of July 2016 declaring the shoal a common fishing ground outside any country's jurisdiction. China has been in control of the shoal since 2012 after the standoff with Philippine vessels. Additionally, China denied the access of Philippine fishermen to the traditional fishing area, postponing access until a visit by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to China happened, which took place last year. China, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have long contested ownership of the areas in the South China Sea, which is recognized as one of the world's busiest sea lanes and is believed to hold vast oil and gas reserves. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Moscow, Jakarta Looking Into Deal on Deliveries of Russian Be-200 Aircraft Sputnik News 13:06 22.03.2017 Moscow and Jakarta are discussing possible deliveries of Russian Be-200 amphibious aircraft, but it is unclear yet how many Indonesia may want to buy, the deputy director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) said Wednesday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Petukhov is the head of the Russian delegation at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) 2017, which kicked off in Malaysia on Monday. "At the moment [Jakarta and Moscow] are looking into the possibility of adding Be-200 aircraft to the [Indonesian] air fleet. We will only be able to talk about the quantity of the aircraft that Indonesia needs when we have received the official offer from the Indonesian side," Mikhail Petukhov said. In September 2016, Sergey Goreslavsky, the deputy chief of Russia's state arms exporter Rosobonexport, said that Jakarta was interested in Be-200. In 2015, Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff Agus Supriatna said that Jakarta was hoping to buy four Be-200 aircraft. The Be-200 amphibious aircraft is intended primarily for fighting forest fires and its distinguishing feature, according to manufacturer, is the fully pressurized fuselage. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Philippines Interested in Purchasing Russian Military Equipment Sputnik News 12:23 22.03.2017(updated 12:51 22.03.2017) The Philippines has expressed interest in purchasing Russian military equipment, the deputy director of Russia's FSMTC told Sputnik Wednesday. LANGKAWI (Malaysia) (Sputnik) The Philippines has expressed interest in purchasing Russian helicopters, fast boats, drones and small weapons, the deputy director of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) told Sputnik Wednesday. "The partners express interest to the Russian military equipment, including helicopter equipment, fast boats, unmanned aircraft and small weapons," Mikhail Petukhov said. Petukhov, who heads the Russian delegation at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition LIMA-2017, stressed that Russia was ready for the constructive talks and mutually beneficial cooperation with the Philippines. "However we have not received an official request for the defense products supplies from the customer yet," Petukhov noted. While Russia and the Philippines have not concluded any military-technical cooperation contracts to date, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has voiced the possibility of halting military and technical cooperation with the United States in favor of cooperation with Russia and China. In addition, a spokesman for BrahMos Aerospace, a Russian-Indian joint military venture, said during Thailand Defense & Security-2015 exhibition that the Philippines had been among the countries which had expressed interest in buying the BrahMos short-range supersonic missile. LIMA, the largest exhibition in the Asia Pacific region, started in Malaysia's Langkawi resort on Tuesday. Russia is presenting fighter jets, submarines and amphibious aircraft at the event. The annual exhibition accounts for 45 percent of Russian military equipment sales. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia, Sri Lanka Discuss Delivery Contract of Gepard 3.9 Frigates Sputnik News 10:12 22.03.2017 Russia and Sri Lanka are in discussions over a contract on the delivery of Gepard 3.9-class frigates to Colombo, the deputy director of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) told Sputnik. LANGKAWI (Malaysia) (Sputnik) An export version of Gepard-class Project 1166.1 frigates, Gepard 3.9 may be used in wartime to resist the engagement of enemy aircraft, ships and submarines; conduct escort missions; carry out of patrol duties; and provide fire support to landing missions and mine-laying. "The contract is currently at the stage of discussion," Mikhail Petukhov said at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition LIMA-2017 where he leads the Russian delegation. Russia delivered two Gepard 3.9s to Vietnam in 2011, with two other guard vessels under construction in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address DR Congo: UN, partners need urgent aid for over 370,000 displaced in south-east province 22 March 2017 Intercommunal violence in south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, a top United Nations aid official in the country has said, warning that the current response is being outstripped by the needs. "Unless peaceful coexistence is fully restored between the two communities, humanitarian needs will continue to spiral out of control," said the Humanitarian Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mamadou Diallo, wrapping up a three-day visit to the region on 20 March. Some 370,000 people have fled the cascading violence across all six territories that make up the province, in the last nine months, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated. The insecurity has disrupted aid operations resulting in what Mr. Diallo called "among the most urgent humanitarian hotspots in a country experiencing a worsening humanitarian situation." The UN Humanitarian Coordinator led a group that included representatives from UN agencies, donors and non-governmental organizations to Tanganyika's Kalemie and Manono territories. In Kalemie, the delegation visited the Kalunga site, home to some 17,000 people, where UN partners are providing emergency water and health care services amidst ongoing shelter concerns. "Speaking to the delegation, a displaced woman pleaded for education projects for the thousands of children living in the site, to avoid their further marginalization," OCHA said. The group then visited the Kamala site in Manono considered "the cradle of the intercommunal conflict" where "the delegation saw first-hand the burned, destroyed huts" of people forced to flee. On behalf of the international humanitarian community, the UN asked for $40 million to cover all the humanitarian needs, including $20 million for the most urgent, life-threatening needs for the displaced families. The DR Congo Common Humanitarian Fund and the UN Central Emergency Response Fund have recently allocated $5 million each for the response, with the Humanitarian Fund planning an additional allocation of $2 million. The humanitarian concerns came as the Secretary-General's Special Representative for DRC, Maman Sidikou, briefed the Security Council about the deteriorating security situation and the need to implement the 31 December agreement on the electoral process. Under the agreement, President Joseph Kabila would stay in office until elections are held by the end of 2017. During this period, a 'National Council for Overseeing the Electoral Agreement and Process (CNSAP)' would be set up, and a new prime minister named from opposition ranks. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tillerson: Anti-IS Coalition 'United' in Stopping Terror Group By Cindy Saine March 22, 2017 Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that U.S. policy is to "destroy and demolish" Islamic State, but that this could not happen if allies did not commit adequate funds and resources. "The success of our mission depends on the continual devotion to our stated objective of defeating this terrorist organization," he said, addressing a meeting in Washington of foreign ministers and senior officials from the Global Coalition to counter Islamic State. "I am pleased to announce that we have surpassed that total (over $2 billion for 2017) in dollar pledges. Let's fulfill our pledges so we can quickly disperse the funds we need to carry out operations for the rest of the year," he said. Tillerson also said the anti-IS coaltion "is united in stopping an ISIS resurgence, halting its global ambitions, and discrediting its ideological narrative." This week is the first full meeting of the 68-nation group since 2014. The State Department says the goal of the conference is to accelerate international efforts to defeat IS in the remaining areas it holds in Iraq and Syria, and maximize pressure on its branches, affiliates and networks. Acting spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Monday the coalition is at an important stage of the fight against the terror group. "First of all, it's an opportunity in the new administration to assess where we are at and what we want do going forward. I don't want to steal any thunder from the secretary, but I think he will come with new ideas and approaches and a new way of looking at how to defeat ISIS," he said, using another acronym for IS. The strategy session is giving Tillerson, the former Exxon CEO, the chance to meet face to face with U.S. allies, said Michael O'Hanlon. "If there are any fresh policy ideas all the better but it's not even necessary, it's not even obligatory for that in a first session because people need to get to know each other as well and of course Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump, these are not people who are all that well known to the broader foreign policy or national security community certainly not at a personal level," he said. O'Hanlon said there will be plenty of thorny issues for the coalition partners to discuss. "If they're Turkey, they got millions of refugees on their soil and no end in sight to the war in Syria. The Western Europeans are still nervous about ISIS fighters coming back home, especially those who came from their countries in the first place to go to the battlefield and coming back and attempting terrorist campaign," he said. "So no one's happy, no one should be happy, we are at a very intermediate stage of this campaign." Earlier this month, Brett McGurk, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter Islamic State, said that the now two year long fight against the terror group has reclaimed more than 50,000 square kilometers of territory from the group in Iraq and Syria, and the defeat of the group there is "now in sight." During the 2016 election campaign, President Donald Trump was critical of then President Barack Obama for what he called a weak fight against IS militants. During his inaugural address in January, Trump promised to eradicate Islamic State from the face of the earth. Continuing with the Obama-administration created anti-IS coalition may signal that the new administration will continue its predecessor's multilateral approach, at least on this one crucial policy. Some analysts expect the U.S. to ask Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to contribute more to "burden-sharing" to help fund reconstruction efforts in war-ravaged Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tillerson Taking 'New Ideas' to Global Meeting on Countering IS By Cindy Saine March 22, 2017 After keeping a very low public profile in his first couple of months on the job, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in the spotlight Wednesday and Thursday at a gathering in Washington aimed at countering the Islamic State terror group. This is the first full meeting since 2014 of foreign ministers and senior officials from the 68 countries and international organizations in the U.S.-led coalition that is fighting IS. The State Department said the goal of the conference was to accelerate international efforts to defeat IS in the remaining areas it holds in Iraq and Syria and maximize pressure on its branches, affiliates and networks. Acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Monday that the coalition was at an important stage of the fight against the terror group. "First of all, it's an opportunity in the new administration to assess where we are at and what we want do going forward. I don't want to steal any thunder from the secretary, but I think he will come with new ideas and approaches and a new way of looking at how to defeat ISIS," he said, using another acronym for IS. Meeting face to face The strategy session will give the former Exxon chief executive the chance to meet face to face with U.S. allies, said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a research and policy group in Washington. "If there are any fresh policy ideas, all the better," said O'Hanlon, who specializes in defense and foreign policy issues. "But it's not even necessary, it's not even obligatory for that in a first session, because people need to get to know each other as well. And of course Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump these are not people who are all that well-known to the broader foreign policy or national security community, certainly not at a personal level." O'Hanlon said there would be plenty of thorny issues for the coalition partners to discuss. Turkey, for instance, has "millions of refugees on its soil and no end in sight to the war in Syria," he said. "The Western Europeans are still nervous about ISIS fighters coming back home, especially those who came from their countries in the first place to go to the battlefield. ... So no one's happy, no one should be happy. We are at a very intermediate stage of this campaign." Earlier this month, Brett McGurk, the U.S. special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter Islamic State, said the two-year fight against the terror group had reclaimed more than 50,000 square kilometers in Iraq and Syria, and that the defeat of the group there was "now in sight." Tillerson to skip NATO summit The State Department confirmed Tuesday that Tillerson would not be going to a NATO summit in early April, saying he would meet with all the NATO countries' foreign ministers and top officials at the global ministers conference this week. Some Democratic lawmakers have sharply criticized Tillerson's decision to skip the NATO summit and to travel to Russia later in April, saying that would send the wrong signal to close allies. Notable for its absence from this global gathering on countering Islamic State will be Russia, since Russia is not part of the global coalition. Russian President Vladimir Putin's major focus in Syria has been keeping President Bashir al-Assad in power. During the 2016 presidential election campaign, Trump was critical of then-President Barack Obama for what he called a weak fight against IS militants. During his inaugural address in January, Trump promised to eradicate IS. Continuing with anti-IS coalition that was created under the Obama administration may signal that the new administration will continue its predecessor's multilateral approach, at least on this subject. Some analysts expect the U.S. to ask Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to contribute more to "burden-sharing" to help fund reconstruction efforts in war-ravaged Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lithuania Boosts NATO's Baltics Border Defenses With Eye on Russia By Daniel Schearf March 22, 2017 A German-led NATO battle group of tanks, armored vehicles, and troops, including Lithuanians, engaged "enemy attackers" mid-March on a field outside a military base in Rukla, Lithuania. The NATO group fired flares, smoke canisters, and blanks for what a press officer said was the first demonstration of maneuvers since they arrived in Lithuania earlier this year. A group of visiting German military and other European dignitaries watched from nearby stands. "We are from Norway, we are from Belgium and from the Netherlands. We all accomplished a very high intensity training," said Lieutenant-Colonel Christoph Huber, commander of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group, and the German contingent in Lithuania. "And, we are prepared to deter and to defend Lithuania." NATO is sending additional troops to the Baltics to reassure the former Soviet states against a resurgent Russia, which described the deployment as threatening its security. NATO troops After Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, NATO agreed to send troops to Lithuania and to Estonia, Latvia, and Poland in a move to deter potential Russian aggression. Russia's military drills and increased buzzing of NATO airspace have raised concerns among Baltic states, which rely on NATO policing for defense. NATO jet scrambles to intercept Russian warplanes approaching NATO member airspace jumped from an estimated 400 times in 2014 and 2015 to 800 times in 2016. "We are protecting NATO airspace, NATO borders," said Major Martin, commander of the Netherlands Air Force Detachment for NATO's Baltic air policing in Siaulai. "And, it is not necessarily just the Russians - it's any aircraft that does not comply with the rules that we ... that apply in the air." U.S. President Donald Trump's demand that NATO members pay more for their defense is welcomed by the Baltic states but there is concern that his push for better U.S.-Russia relations not sacrifice their interests. "We do hope that such kind of relations will not create new spheres of influence; no more Yaltas Two; and of course they should not be contrary to the international law as we know it," said Latvia Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics. Building a fence Lithuania is taking measures that include building a fence this year along its open border with Russia's Kaliningrad. The main purpose of the fence is to prevent smuggling, but there are also concerns about Russia. "Well, as I say, we have to be prepared for the worst," said the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense's Political Director Vaidotas Urbelis. "Provocations could happen. And, we saw an incident on the Estonian border where one officer was just kidnapped." The September 2014 incident on the Estonian border raised concern that Russia planned to use the same hybrid warfare techniques on the Baltics that it used to seize Crimea and still employs in eastern Ukraine. Sandwiched between NATO members Lithuania and Poland, Russia's Kaliningrad enclave is a strategic, military outpost housing its Baltic Fleet. Russia recently moved a S-400 missile defense system and nuclear capable Iskandar ballistic missiles to Kaliningrad, citing military posturing from NATO. Some residents are worried about the potential for conflict. "Because the Kaliningrad region is quite small and many people are quite concerned about that, including us," said resident Ekaterina who only gave her first name. Won't take a risk Others are less concerned. "I do not think that someone would take such a risk. I do not think that both NATO and the European Union are in a hostile mood," said a resident who identified himself only as Ilya. "The issue is with our president (Vladimir Putin)," he added. Just in case, Baltic states urged NATO to take additional security measures in the region ahead of a Russian September military exercise in neighboring Belarus, which some fear is much larger in scale than reported. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite in February described Russia's Zapad 2017 drills as "a very large and aggressive force that will very demonstrably be preparing for a war with the West." Russian state media on Tuesday reported the joint Russia-Belarus exercises involve around 3,000 Russian troops, 280 pieces of hardware and up to 25 Russian aircraft. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday invited NATO observers to the drills in an effort to increase transparency. "We are not hiding and should not hide anything. If NATO representatives want to be present at our drills, you are welcome. Moreover, I'm already receiving such information and such signals from them," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Angers Philippine President with Reported Plan to Build in Disputed Sea By Ralph Jennings March 22, 2017 China's reported proposal to build a monitoring station on a tiny shoal disputed by Manila would erode a fragile trust between the two countries and fluster the Philippine president, who is anxious to seek Chinese economic assistance. Chinese Environmental Monitoring Station Chinese media reports quoted the mayor of the Chinese city of Sansha as saying last week his government would start preparatory work this year for an environmental monitoring station at Scarborough Shoal, a tiny land feature 230 kilometers from Luzon Island. The Chinese foreign ministry dismissed those reports Wednesday, saying that "according to the relevant bodies in China, the reports ... are mistaken, these things are not true." Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily briefing that China places "great importance" on preserving the ecology of the South China Sea but that it also places great importance on its relations with the Philippines. If China carries through, it would threaten a trust it has established with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte after a stormy period from 2012 to mid-2016, analysts say. Duterte traveled to Beijing in October and pledged to shelve the maritime dispute and received commitments of $24 billion in aid and investment from China. "If China were to be very bold about something, barreling up and starting to undertake land reclamation, then I think it would be difficult for Duterte," said Euan Graham, international security director with the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. "And public opinion I think would also start to sway in the Philippines." Facing Chinese plans Duterte, whose largely impoverished country is looking for more foreign investment, said Tuesday via the presidential office website he "cannot stop China" at Scarborough Shoal. "We'll all lose our military and policemen tomorrow, and we are a destroyed nation," he said, referring to the relatively weak Philippine military. But later the Philippine Justice Ministry said it would protest to China over its intentions for the shoal, Manila-based news media reported. The president is conflicted at the moment because he welcomes Chinese help in building an 830-kilometer railway project on Mindanao, said Jay Batongbacal, director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea at the University of the Philippines. Massive aid promised "China is banking on the fact that it has promised so much international assistance and infrastructure development projects to the Philippines," Batongbacal said. The prospect of railway aid, he said, "may be factoring into Duterte's reaction, his fatalistic reaction that 'oh well, there's nothing I can do about it.'" Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said on a visit to the Philippines this week his government would be open to helping with the 218 billion peso ($4.34 billion) project, which would connect cities on a vast southern Philippine island that lags other parts of the country in economic development. History at Scarborough Shoal Scarborough Shoal was the site of a standoff in 2012 between Chinese and Philippine vessels and it's part of Beijing's claim to about 95 percent of the resource-rich South China Sea. Fishing boats from Luzon Island frequent the shoal, which encompasses 158 square kilometers of water. Duterte said last year he would declare a marine sanctuary in the shoal's lagoon. China's claim to the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea includes waters that Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also call their own. China has irritated the other governments with land reclamation, some for military installations, since it began expanding quickly in 2010. China would need to reclaim land to build on the shoal, analysts say. Does monitoring station violate agreement? Officials in Beijing might argue that a monitoring station doesn't violate the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea that it signed with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is being chaired by the Philippines this year, said Jonathan Spangler, director of the South China Sea Think Tank in Taipei. That accord only prohibits occupying so far uninhabited land features in the disputed sea, "Building an environmental monitoring station on Scarborough Shoal could theoretically be done without inhabiting the feature, but that would not make the action seem any less provocative to rival claimants or other major stakeholders," Spangler said. The Hainan Daily news report quoting the Chinese mayor has been removed from the Chinese media outlet's website, indicating the official's statement may have been premature, some experts say. However, China also raised the same prospect last year, prompting the Philippine government then to seek confirmation. China/Philippines relations at stake Chinese officials have time to "intervene" now if they hope to sustain strong ties with the Philippines, Batongbacal said. "There seems to be growing pressure among some critics in the Philippines for Duterte to be more forceful in his response" to China, said Carl Baker, director of programs with the think tank CSIS Pacific Forum in Honolulu. The Chinese vice premier's visit, however, suggests that Duterte's government "continues to believe that it can control the maritime disputes by promising to respond later to China's assertive behavior while taking advantage of the economic benefits of improved relations with Beijing," Baker said. A final green light by China or a backlash against Duterte among Filipinos could nudge the country back toward seeking support from its former colonizer and long-time military ally, the United States, some analysts say. Philippines could turn back toward US Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino, leaned heavily the United States for military support, which included joint maritime patrols after 2014. Duterte, a vocal opponent of American influence in the Philippines, canceled those patrols but he has gotten along with U.S. President Donald Trump since Trump took office in January. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in January before his confirmation that China should be barred from its landfilled islands in the contested sea, a comment that upset Beijing. Aquino also took the China-Philippine maritime dispute to a world arbitration court. The court ruled in Manila's favor in July, but China rejected the outcome and has sought bilateral talks with Southeast Asian claimant states to patch over maritime sovereignty issues. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran Steps Up Supplies to Houthis, Including 'Kamikaze' Drones By Jamie Dettmer March 22, 2017 They are nicknamed "kamikaze" drones. Houthi forces and those aligned with former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen are using them to target the missile-defense systems of Saudi-led coalition forces, weapons analysts say. According to a study by Conflict Armament Research (CAR), a London-based organization funded by the European Union to monitor the movement and use of conventional weaponry, Iran has been supplying Houthi forces and Saleh loyalists with weaponry since the start of the two-year conflict that has left 10,000 civilians dead and an estimated 40,000 injured. Among the weapons unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), which CAR researchers say in their report released Wednesday have been supplied in batches to Houthi and Saleh's forces. Topple government Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015 after Houthis toppled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Government forces dominate in the south and east of the impoverished country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, but Houthis, who are an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, control the larger towns in the northwest, including the capital, Sana'a. CAR researchers report that Houthi- and Saleh-aligned forces employ many of the drones to target the Saudi coalition's Patriot surface-to-air missile systems. "They do so by crashing the UAVs into the systems' radar sets (specifically the circular main phased arrays) -- directing the UAVs by programming their systems with open-source GPS coordinates of the Patriots' positions," researchers said. "While the coalition deploys Patriot systems to counter missile threats, the destruction of the Patriots' radar systems enables Houthi- and Saleh-aligned forces to target coalition assets with volleys of missile fire unhindered," they added. The use of these drones illustrates the Houthi- and Saleh-aligned forces' ability to employ low-cost technology against the coalition's sophisticated military assets, researchers said. Military transfers Military transfers by the Iranians to their allies in Yemen have been stepped up in recent months, according to U.S. and Western officials. On Tuesday, the Reuters news agency reported that U.S. officials have intelligence indicating Iran has been increasing weapons transfers to the Houthis, mirroring the strategy Tehran has used to support its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, in Syria. Iran rejects accusations from Saudi Arabia and the West that it is giving financial and military aid to the Houthis in the battle over Yemen. Tehran blames Riyadh for the intractable conflict. Last October, U.S. and Western officials highlighted the Iranian weapons transfers, which they said includes a range of weaponry, from small arms to missiles, as well as coastal defense cruise missiles such as ones fired at the USS Mason, an American naval destroyer, three times in October 2016. Those attacks on the naval destroyer prompted retaliation by the U.S. military, which launched cruise missiles that destroyed three Houthi radar sites. Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan, head of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, accused Iran shortly after the attacks on the USS Mason of being connected with the attacks on the ship. And he disclosed that U.S. and partner nations intercepted five seaborne weapons shipments from Iran that were headed to the Houthis. The CAR researchers say the acquisition of Qasef-1 drones "supports [Western] allegations that Iran continues to bolster the capacity of Houthi- and Saleh-aligned forces through the transfer of new technology and advanced weaponry." Weapons transfers are enabling the Houthis and their allies to conduct sophisticated asymmetric operations against the Saudi-led coalition. Unmanned aerial vehicles The CAR investigators inspected seven UAVs for their report. Six were seized on November 27 by Presidential Guards from the Emirates, who intercepted a truck transporting them in Yemen's Marib province. The drones were partially assembled. A seventh was recovered after it crashed near Aden International Airport. CAR investigators also examined a damaged drone recovered after a Houthi attack. The fuselage and wings of the UAVs bore printed serial numbers, corresponding to handwritten serial numbers stamped on various internal components. Some of the serial numbers were consecutive, indicating that the drones were manufactured on the same production line. Last month, Houthi forces displayed four UAVs, which they claimed to have designed and manufactured themselves. One of the systems displayed is identical to the UAVs produced by Iran's Aircra Manufacturing Industrial Company, the CAR investigators said. Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, a spokesman for the Sunni Arab coalition fighting the Houthis, told Reuters, "We don't lack information or evidence that the Iranians, by various means, are smuggling weapons into the area." Saudi military officials say that many of the weapons systems being used by the Houthis now were not in the arsenals of the Yemeni army, which the Houthis plundered in the first months of the conflict. Many of the Iranian weapons are being transported overland through Yemen's neighbor Oman, Saudi officials said. Oman denied the claim. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey summoned the Russian charge d'affaires on Wednesday and sent him another message Thursday to convey "deep unease" over two incidents in Kurdish militia-controlled Syria, Ankara said. Ankara said one of its soldiers had been shot and killed in southern Turkey on Wednesday by cross-border sniper fire from an area of northwestern Syria controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia. "Immediately after the incident, we invited the Russian charges d'affaires to the ministry and we first shared how seriously disturbed we were," Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu told reporters in Ankara. Under a ceasefire agreed late last year, Russia is responsible for monitoring violations in this region, he explained, saying that Ankara had warned that it would respond in kind if the incident was repeated. On Thursday, the foreign ministry sent a new message to the Russian envoy over photos of Russian troops apparently showing them wearing YPG insignia, state-run news agency Anadolu said. "The Russian party is familiar with our position" on YPG, diplomatic sources told Anadolu. "Therefore, those images have inconvenienced us. That was the message we communicated." A ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey has been in place since late December but both Syrian rebels and the Damascus regime have complained of repeated violations. Earlier this week, YPG spokesman Redur Xelil told AFP that Russian troops would train Kurdish forces in Syria, saying the Russians were already present at a training camp in the Afrin region. Afrin is one of three "autonomous" cantons controlled by the Kurdish militia in northern Syria. Ankara views the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia as a "terror group" linked to Kurdish separatists waging an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984. Muftuoglu also said Turkey was waiting for Russia to "take steps to close" the Moscow office opened last month of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose armed wing is the YPG. Moscow supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but has also recently worked closely with opposition supporter Turkey to try to end the six-year war in Syria. Search Keywords: Short link: Ex-Trump Campaign Chief Earned Millions from Russian Aluminum Magnate By Ken Bredemeier March 22, 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is acknowledging that he worked for a Russian aluminum magnate under a multi-million-dollar contract a decade ago, but is pushing back on claims that his efforts were aimed at advancing the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Manafort, Trump's campaign chief from March until August last year, told U.S. news outlets on Wednesday that he worked for Oleg Deripaska "almost a decade ago, representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments." But Manafort said that his work for Deripaska "did not involve representing Russia's political interests" supporting Putin. Manafort's work for Deripaska was disclosed by the Associated Press, which said Manafort signed a $10 million annual contract with the Russian in 2006 and maintained a business relationship with him until at least 2009. The former Trump aide, according to the news service's report, proposed a political strategy to thwart anti-Russian opposition in the former Soviet republics. In a 2005 memo to Deripaska, Manafort was quoted as saying, "We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success." Manafort said he "will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government." After disclosure of his previously unknown ties to Deripaska, Manafort said his work was being unfairly cast as "inappropriate or nefarious" and was part of a "smear campaign." FBI probe Manafort's link to Deripaska came to light two days after James Comey, the director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the country's top criminal investigative agency, told a congressional hearing that it is conducting a probe into whether Trump campaign aides criminally colluded with Russian interests during last year's presidential election. Manafort's name was mentioned 28 times at the hearing, but Comey declined to say whether Manafort was a target of the investigation. No one mentioned Deripaska. Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, spelled out at the hearing several links between Trump aides and Russia both before and after the election, asking whether they all were a mere coincidence. On Wednesday, Schiff said in a Twitter comment, "Manafort worked w/oligarch to advance Putin's interests and was Trump's campaign chair when Russia released stolen docs. Another coincidence?" The White House has repeatedly rejected any contention that Trump campaign officials colluded with Moscow to help Trump defeat his Democratic challenger, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But the FBI and the House and Senate intelligence committees are investigating the details of the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia, on orders from Putin, meddled in the election to help Trump win. Russia hacked into the computer of Clinton campaign chief John Podesta. The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks subsequently released thousands of his emails in the weeks before the November election that showed embarrassing, behind-the-scenes efforts by Democratic operatives to help Clinton secure the party's presidential nomination. Manafort's role Manafort ran Trump's campaign during the crucial months leading up to the Republican National Convention, where the billionaire real estate mogul claimed the party's presidential nomination. But on Monday, after Comey disclosed the FBI's probe of possible Trump campaign collusion with Moscow, White House spokesman Sean Spicer addressed Manafort's role in the campaign. Spicer said the 67-year-old Manafort played a "limited role for a very limited amount of time" in the campaign. Manafort left the Trump campaign last August after it was revealed he had worked for the pro-Russian party of ousted Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia as his government was toppled in 2014 by pro-Western interests. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN agency, Ugandan government call for urgent support amid influx of South Sudanese refugees 23 March 2017 United Nations refugee assistance efforts in Uganda are seriously overstretched as thousands of refugees from South Sudan, desperate for safety and assistance, pour into the country that is already hosting more than 800,000 people, the organization's top official dealing with refugee issues warned today. More than 70 per cent of the number in Uganda (about 572,000) arrived since July last year and given present rate of arrivals, the figure could surpass one million by the middle of 2017. "We are at breaking point" warned Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, appealing for urgent and massive support. "The lack of international attention to the suffering of the South Sudanese people is failing some of the most vulnerable people in the world when they most desperately need our help." According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Uganda's approach to dealing with refugees has long been among the "most progressive" anywhere on the African continent but the sheer scale of the influx has placed enormous strain its services and infrastructure. "Uganda has continued to maintain open borders," said Ruhakana Rugunda, the Prime Minister of Uganda, adding: "We continue to welcome our neighbours in their time of need but we urgently need the international community to assist as the situation is becoming increasingly critical." Chronic and severe underfunding has reached the point where critical programmes operated by UNHCR are at the risk of being dangerously compromised. Transit and reception facilities are rapidly becoming overwhelmed and there are significant challenges in providing adequate food rations, health and educational services, as well as sufficient clean water. The already dire situation has been further complicated by the onset of heavy rains. The UN agency is in urgent need of more than $250 million to support South Sudanese refugees in Uganda in 2017. There are clear risks that the severe underfunding in what has become the fastest-growing refugee emergency in the world is jeopardizing a model that allows refugees to thrive now. "Uganda cannot handle Africa's largest refugee crisis alone," said Mr. Grandi, calling on the international community to keep the future of the new comprehensive refugee response framework from being thrown into question. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taliban Capture Key Southern Afghan District By Ayaz Gul March 23, 2017 Afghanistan's Taliban have captured a strategic district center in southern Helmand province after heavy overnight fighting. The fall of the town of Sangin means the insurgents have extended their control to almost the entire district, also called Sangin, a month after staging a coordinated assault to capture it. Provincial military officials maintained Afghan National Army personnel staged a "tactical retreat" from the town, and relocated to their main army base about 20 kilometers from Sangin. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they told VOA that security forces were also able to retrieve their equipment and weapons while withdrawing to the base. Local media, however, quoted unnamed security officials in Helmand as saying that ANA forces left the district center after suffering heavy casualties and because of a lack of timely reinforcements and supplies. A Taliban spokesman said the ANA airlifted its besieged forces from Sangin after insurgents staged a major assault late Wednesday. He said the Taliban are now in control of Sangin, its police headquarters, and security outposts around the town. Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri described as militant propaganda reports the district had fallen to the Taliban and said Afghan forces are still battling the insurgents there. Russia to host meeting Most of the districts in Helmand, the largest Afghan province, are under the control of the Taliban. A group of 300 U.S. Marines is due to arrive in Afghanistan later this year for deployment in the troubled province to help local forces reverse insurgent gains. The insurgent advances come as Russia prepares to host a meeting of regional nations next month. The United States has reportedly also been invited, to discuss ways to promote peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Efforts are also reported under way to persuade the insurgent group to attend the meeting. A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, has denied reports the group will respond "positively" if invited to Moscow talks on April 14. The Taliban have long refused to hold direct talks with the Afghan government, calling it a "puppet" of the Untied States. The Russia-initiated dialogue on Afghanistan, however, continues to cause concerns in Kabul. Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani reiterated those concerns during a visit to Washington this week. "Establishing contacts with these terrorist groups will give them a wrong message and they will think that the international community is recognizing them," Rabbani said in an interview to the New Atlanticist. This, in turn, would undercut a peace and reconciliation process because the Taliban "will not be encouraged to come to the negotiating table," noted the Afghan minister. "When an invitation is extended to us only then we can consider it and comment on it," Mujahid told VOA. Kunduz attack Meanwhile, Afghan officials say a police officer suspected of links to the Taliban shot dead nine police personnel in the northern Kunduz province late Wednesday and later fled to the insurgent group. Local officials said the incident occurred at a security outpost around the provincial capital and the shooter seized weapons and other equipment. The Taliban claimed their fighters attacked the outpost and killed 10 Afghan personnel, capturing their weapons and equipment. Afghan troops and police forces have in recent months suffered several deadly, so-called insider attacks. Last week, an Afghan soldier shot and wounded three U.S. military personnel during a training session at an army base in Helmand. The attacker was shot dead. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Cyber Firm at Center of Russian Hacking Charges Misread Data By Oleksiy Kuzmenko, Pete Cobus March 21, 2017 An influential British think tank and Ukraine's military are disputing a report that the U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has used to buttress its claims of Russian hacking in the presidential election. The CrowdStrike report, released in December, asserted that Russians hacked into a Ukrainian artillery app, resulting in heavy losses of howitzers in Ukraine's war with Russian-backed separatists. But the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) told VOA that CrowdStrike erroneously used IISS data as proof of the intrusion. IISS disavowed any connection to the CrowdStrike report. Ukraine's Ministry of Defense also has claimed combat losses and hacking never happened. The challenges to CrowdStrike's credibility are significant because the firm was the first to link last year's hacks of Democratic Party computers to Russian actors, and because CrowdStrike co-founder Dimiti Alperovitch has trumpeted its Ukraine report as more evidence of Russian election tampering. Alperovitch has said that variants of the same software were used in both hacks. While questions about CrowdStrike's findings don't disprove allegations of Russian involvement, they do add to skepticism voiced by some cybersecurity experts and commentators about the quality of their technical evidence. The Russian government has denied covert involvement in the election, but U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian hacks were meant to discredit Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump's campaign. An FBI and Homeland Security report also blamed Russian intelligence services. On Monday, FBI Director James Comey confirmed at a House Intelligence Committee hearing that his agency has an ongoing investigation into the hacks of Democratic campaign computers and into contacts between Russian operatives and Trump campaign associates. The White House says there was no collusion with Russia, and other U.S. officials have said they've found no proof. Signature malware VOA News first reported in December that sources close to the Ukraine military and the artillery app's creator questioned CrowdStrike's finding that a Russian-linked group it named "Fancy Bear" had hacked the app. CrowdStrike said it found a variant of the same "X-Agent" malware used to attack the Democrats. CrowdStrike said the hack allowed Ukraine's enemies to locate its artillery units. As proof of its effectiveness, the report referenced publicly reported data in which IISS had sharply reduced its estimates of Ukrainian artillery assets. IISS, based in London, publishes a highly regarded, annual reference called "The Military Balance" that estimates the strength of world armed forces. "Between July and August 2014, Russian-backed forces launched some of the most-decisive attacks against Ukrainian forces, resulting in significant loss of life, weaponry and territory," CrowdStrike wrote in its report, explaining that the hack compromised an app used to aim Soviet-era D-30 howitzers. "Ukrainian artillery forces have lost over 50% of their weapons in the two years of conflict and over 80% of D-30 howitzers, the highest percentage of loss of any other artillery pieces in Ukraine's arsenal," the report said, crediting a Russian blogger who had cited figures from IISS. The report prompted skepticism in Ukraine. Yaroslav Sherstyuk, maker of the Ukrainian military app in question, called the company's report "delusional" in a Facebook post. CrowdStrike never contacted him before or after its report was published, he told VOA. Pavlo Narozhnyy, a technical adviser to Ukraine's military, told VOA that while it was theoretically possible the howitzer app could have been compromised, any infection would have been spotted. "I personally know hundreds of gunmen in the war zone," Narozhnyy told VOA in December. "None of them told me of D-30 losses caused by hacking or any other reason." VOA first contacted IISS in February to verify the alleged artillery losses. Officials there initially were unaware of the CrowdStrike assertions. After investigating, they determined that CrowdStrike misinterpreted their data and hadn't reached out beforehand for comment or clarification. In a statement to VOA, the institute flatly rejected the assertion of artillery combat losses. "The CrowdStrike report uses our data, but the inferences and analysis drawn from that data belong solely to the report's authors," the IISS said. "The inference they make that reductions in Ukrainian D-30 artillery holdings between 2013 and 2016 were primarily the result of combat losses is not a conclusion that we have ever suggested ourselves, nor one we believe to be accurate." One of the IISS researchers who produced the data said that while the think tank had dramatically lowered its estimates of Ukrainian artillery assets and howitzers in 2013, it did so as part of a "reassessment" and reallocation of units to airborne forces. "No, we have never attributed this reduction to combat losses," they said, explaining that most of the reallocation occurred prior to the two-year period that CrowdStrike cites in its report. "The vast majority of the reduction actually occurs ... before Crimea/Donbass," they added, referring to the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine. 'Evidence flimsy' In early January, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense issued a statement saying artillery losses from the ongoing fighting with separatists are "several times smaller than the number reported by [CrowdStrike] and are not associated with the specified cause" of Russian hacking. But Ukraine's denial did not get the same attention as CrowdStrike's report. Its release was widely covered by news media reports as further evidence of Russian hacking in the U.S. election. In interviews, Alperovitch helped foster that impression by connecting the Ukraine and Democratic campaign hacks, which CrowdStrike said involved the same Russian-linked hacking groupFancy Bearand versions of X-Agent malware the group was known to use. "The fact that they would be tracking and helping the Russian military kill Ukrainian army personnel in eastern Ukraine and also intervening in the U.S. election is quite chilling," Alperovitch said in a December 22 story by The Washington Post. The same day, Alperovitch told the PBS NewsHour: "And when you think about, well, who would be interested in targeting Ukraine artillerymen in eastern Ukraine? Who has interest in hacking the Democratic Party? [The] Russia government comes to mind, but specifically, [it's the] Russian military that would have operational [control] over forces in the Ukraine and would target these artillerymen." Alperovitch, a Russian expatriate and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council policy research center in Washington, co-founded CrowdStrike in 2011. The firm has employed two former FBI heavyweights: Shawn Henry, who oversaw global cyber investigations at the agency, and Steven Chabinsky, who was the agency's top cyber lawyer and served on a White House cybersecurity commission. Chabinsky left CrowdStrike last year. CrowdStrike declined to answer VOA's written questions about the Ukraine report, and Alperovitch canceled a March 15 interview on the topic. In a December statement to VOA's Ukrainian Service, spokeswoman Ilina Dimitrova defended the company's conclusions. "It is indisputable that the [Ukraine artillery] app has been hacked by Fancy Bear malware," Dimitrova wrote. "We have published the indicators to it, and they have been confirmed by others in the cybersecurity community." In its report last June attributing the Democratic hacks, CrowdStrike said it was long familiar with the methods used by Fancy Bear and another group with ties to Russian intelligence nicknamed Cozy Bear. Soon after, U.S. cybersecurity firms Fidelis and Mandiant endorsed CrowdStrike's conclusions. The FBI and Homeland Security report reached the same conclusion about the two groups. Still, some cybersecurity experts are skeptical that the election and purported Ukraine hacks are connected. Among them is Jeffrey Carr, a cyberwarfare consultant who has lectured at the U.S. Army War College, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and other government agencies. In a January post on LinkedIn, Carr called CrowdStrike's evidence in the Ukraine "flimsy." He told VOA in an interview that CrowdStrike mistakenly assumed that the X-Agent malware employed in the hacks was a reliable fingerprint for Russian actors. "We now know that's false," he said, "and that the source code has been obtained by others outside of Russia." This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Ukrainian Service. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Policeman, Pedestrian Killed In Westminster Terrorist Attack RFE/RL March 22, 2017 The British Parliament has come under what police described as a terrorist attack -- with an assailant driving a car into a group of pedestrians, and a man who got out of the vehicle running inside the Parliament's security perimeter, where he fatally stabbed a police officer before he was shot by security. At least one woman was killed in the March 22 attack when a driver sped across Westminster Bridge at a high speed and slammed into as many as 12 pedestrians before crashing into a railing near Parliament and the Big Ben clock-tower. The BBC reports that the police officer who was stabbed in the attack died later in a hospital. Reports said one person -- a thick-set man dressed in black -- got out of the car waving an object and ran inside the Parliament's security perimeter through a vehicle entrance used by lawmakers. The assailant stabbed one police officer inside the entrance gate and then ran further into the parliamentary estate. Meanwhile, there were unconfirmed reports that a second man in the vehicle was arrested outside of the parliamentary compound. London's ambulance service said it treated 10 people on Westminster Bridge who were injured by the vehicle. House of Commons Leader David Lidington said the assailant was shot by plainclothes police as he was running toward the Parliament building. Hospital officials said several people who were struck by the assailant's vehicle suffered "catastrophic" injuries. The BBC reported that a group of French school children who were walking on the northern end of Westminster Bridge were among those struck by the assailant's vehicle. French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve later confirmed that three French schoolchildren, aged 15 to 16, were among the injured. Westminster Bridge spans the River Thames and is used for vehicle and pedestrian traffic. It meets the Palace of Westminster compound near its northern end. A spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said she was safe after the attack. She had been in the House of Commons at the time of the attack and was quickly shuttled away by security to her office at 10 Downing Street, where she called for an emergency security meeting at her Cabinet Office Briefing Room. A full counterterrorism investigation was launched by London Metropolitan Police. Meanwhile, the Parliament was placed on lockdown and lawmakers were sequestered in a secure area along with others in the compound before people were allowed to start leaving. British Special Forces and heavily armed police were deployed inside the Parliament building after the attack, as military helicopters flew overhead. The violence outside the British Parliament came on the first anniversary of three coordinated suicide bombings in Brussels that killed 32 victims and injured more than 300 others. Extremists in the so-called Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Brussels attacks. Authorities said later that the Brussels attacks were carried out by members of a terrorist cell that had been involved in the November 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and injured 368 others. With reporting by Reuters, BBC, and AP Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/u-k-parliament- attack-shots-fired/28384559.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Reports: IS Threat Led to US Laptop Ban By VOA News March 21, 2017 U.S. media reports say worries about an Islamic State bomb led U.S. authorities to ban passengers from carrying large electronic devices on inbound flights from some airports in the Middle East. Citing unnamed sources, The New York Times reports that the ban was put in place to counter IS jihadists' plans to develop a bomb small enough to fit inside a laptop battery. ABC reports that intelligence obtained by U.S. officials earlier this year showed the IS group working on ways to smuggle explosives onto U.S.-bound planes. A government source told ABC the threat information is "substantiated" and "credible." The Transportation Safety Agency, however, denied any specific threat and said in a statement it instituted the ban due to "evaluated intelligence" that shows terrorist groups' continued interest in targeting commercial flights. The directive requires passengers flying directly to the United States from 10 Middle Eastern airports to store electronic devices larger than a cellphone in checked baggage. The TSA said it chose not to include cellphones due to logistical reasons. The TSA said it chose the airports "based on the current threat picture" and after consultation with intelligence officials, though more airports could be added in the future. "As threats change, so too will TSA's security requirements," the agency said. The airports affected by the U.S. ban are: Queen Alia International Airport, Cairo International Airport, Ataturk International Airport, King Abdul-Aziz International Airport, King Khalid International Airport, Kuwait International Airport, Mohammed V Airport, Hamad International Airport, Dubai International Airport, and Abu Dhabi International Airport. Britain institutes ban Britain joined the United States in instituting a similar ban on large electronic devices Tuesday, though the British version is slightly less restrictive. The British directive will block carry-on electronics larger than 16 centimeters in length, 9.3 centimeters in width and with a depth of over 1.5 centimeters on direct flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. "Direct flights to the U.K. from these destinations continue to operate to the U.K. subject to these new measures being in place," a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters. "We think these steps are necessary and proportionate to allow passengers to travel safely." Terrorism analyst Greg Barton of Australia's Deakin University said the action seems to be linked to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the terror group's affiliate active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia that has targeted airlines in the past. "They're clearly concerned about airports that are regarded as not being up to scratch on security, and other airports that are, while very good, dealing with massive flows of passengers that are coming through," Barton told VOA. "Presumably the intelligence that triggered all of this is linked to AQAP in Yemen, and it may have come out of that rather disastrous raid that killed a U.S. soldier but nevertheless was said to have yielded valuable intelligence." Terrorist efforts 'intensifying' Private security experts on both sides of the Atlantic are divided on the wisdom of having electronic gadgets consigned to the hold, with some pointing out that airlines have become increasingly worried about the risk of lithium battery-powered items catching fire in the hold. Others said a bomb could still be triggered via a cellphone signal. But a British intelligence official told VOA, "Consigning gadgets to the hold presents some serious obstacles for the bomb-maker, forcing him to design an automatic trigger device or timer that can be designed small enough to fit into an e-reader or a thin laptop." The TSA statement said, "Our information indicates that terrorist groups' efforts to execute an attack against the aviation sector are intensifying given that aviation attacks provide an opportunity to cause mass casualties and inflict significant economic damage, as well as generate overwhelming media coverage." Airlines were notified of the increased security measures Tuesday and have until Friday to comply. No end date was included in the order, meaning it will extend indefinitely. Several British airlines will be impacted by the British ban including British Airways and low-cost carrier Easyjet, as well as package-vacation carriers Thomas Cook and Thomson. The British ban affects in-bound flights from Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. It is unclear why the U.S. and British bans do not exactly match when it comes to the airports and countries included. Sophisticated technology No U.S. airline is impacted by the U.S. electronics ban none fly direct to any of the countries listed by the Department of Homeland Security, which warns militants are seeking "innovative methods" to bring down jets amid concerns that bombs will be hidden in laptops. A U.S. intelligence official dismissed claims by some security experts that the ban is as much politics-led as security-informed. He told VOA: "The ban is reflective of how sophisticated al-Qaida is becoming in the next generation of devices their bomb-makers are trying to develop." U.S. intelligence agencies have long been focused on militants in the Middle East exploring a new generation of non-metallic explosives unlikely to be detected by current airport security equipment. In 2014 U.S. intelligence officials were alarmed by what they said was a teaming up of veteran jihadists in Syria with bomb-makers and terror planners from AQAP. The group was behind the attempted Christmas Day bombing in 2009 of Northwest Airlines flight 253 by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who bungled the detonation of explosives sewn into his underwear. And it claimed responsibility for a 2010 cargo plane bomb plot foiled by British intelligence. Al-Qaida isn't the only group that's prompting concern. Last year the Somali insurgent group al-Shabab smuggled an explosive-filled laptop on a flight out of Mogadishu, blowing a hole in the side of the plane. The aircraft was still low enough that the pilot was able to land the plane safely. Meanwhile. Turkey said Tuesday it would ask the U.S. to reverse the ban, which affects travelers departing for the U.S. from Istanbul's Ataturk airport. VOA's Jamie Dettmer and Victor Beattie contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 4 Dead in Vehicle, Knife Attack Near British Parliament By Luis Ramirez, Jamie Dettmer March 22, 2017 At least four people, including a suspected attacker and a police officer, have been confirmed dead in an attack near the British parliament that authorities are treating as a terrorist incident. "Although we remain open minded to the motive, a full counterterrorism investigation is already underway," Commander BJ Harrington told a news conference Wednesday in London. A search is underway to confirm there are no additional attackers, though police officials have indicated the attack was carried out by a lone assailant. Parliament was placed on lockdown after an attacker stabbed a police officer before being shot by other officers on the parliament grounds. The injured officer later died of his injuries. At least two people were killed and eight others injured when a vehicle struck several people on the nearby Westminster bridge. A senior police officer told VOA that they believe only one assailant was involved in what appears to have been "a three-staged attack." It began with an SUV being driven over Westminster Bridge right by the House of Commons. The SUV mounted the sidewalk and struck several pedestrians. Attacker rammed pedestrians According to police sources, the vehicle struck some other pedestrians at the perimeter fence near the gates at Old Palace Yard. "The attacker then rushed the gates and struggled with a police guard who tried to stop him. The assailant stabbed him several times," the senior police officer said. "Other officers shot the attacker." Eyewitness accounts The gunfire was heard at 2:38 p.m. London time inside the House of Commons as lawmakers were debating legislation on pension reform. Eyewitnesses say about half-a-dozen shots were fired. "It all happened within a minute," witness Tawhid Tanim told VOA. "I came out of where I work and saw a car had pulled up and I heard I just heard bang bang bang and people running everywhere." President Trump briefed In Washington, the White House said President Donald Trump has spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May and has been been briefed on the situation in London. "We obviously condemn today's attack in Westminster, which the United Kingdom is treating as an act of terrorism, and we applaud the quick response that the British police and their first responders made to the situation," spokesman Sean Spicer said. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it is in close contact with British authorities but that the U.S. domestic security posture remains unchanged. PM May whisked away As the attack unfolded British Prime Minister May was in a voting lobby adjacent to the chamber of the House of Commons. Her plains-clothes bodyguards drew their weapons and one officer put his arm around May as they quickly escorted her out of the House of Commons, according to Andrew Bridgen, a Conservative lawmaker. Armed police have cordoned off streets within a block of the parliament building and the Westminster bridge has been shut down. Members of Parliament, who were in session when the attacks began, have been evacuated. If confirmed as a terrorist attack, it would be the first in Britain since May 2013 when an off-duty British Army soldier, Lee Rigby, was hacked to death on a London street by a self-proclaimed jihadist. It is the worst attack at the House of Commons since the IRA bombing in 1979, when Conservative politician Airey Neave, a confidant of Margaret Thatcher, was killed. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Police Identify Britain Parliament Attack Assailant By Luis Ramirez, Jamie Dettmer March 23, 2017 London police have identified the person who carried out Wednesday's attack near the British Parliament as Khalid Masood. British-born Masood, 52, was known to the police for a number of previous convictions for assaults, including possession of offensive weapons. He was last convicted in 2003 for possession of a knife. Masood had not, however, been convicted for any terrorism offenses. A religious convert, Masood had been an English teacher and was a fanatical bodybuilder. He is older than recent Islamist attackers in European cities. Earlier, Prime Minister Theresa May, in comments to Parliament about the attack, said the attacker was once investigated by the country's MI-5 intelligence agency "in relation to concerns about violent extremism." But she said he was not part of what she called the "current intelligence picture," and that there was no prior intelligence on this plot or his motives. IS claims responsibility Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack which killed three people and ended when an officer shot dead the attacker. A statement posted on IS's news agency said the attacker was a "soldier of Islamic State." But IS did not indicate that it assisted in the planning or execution of the attack, saying the man had responded to the terror group's call to attack civilians and the military in countries allied with the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS. One police officer and an American tourist, Kurt Cochran from Utah, have been identified among those killed. The officer was killed on the premises when he was stabbed by the attacker. Cochran succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. His wife was also badly injured in the attack. In a tweet, President Donald Trump paid tribute to Cochran. British police have arrested eight people in connection with the attack. Mark Rowley, head of counterterrorism efforts for London's Metropolitan Police Service, said the arrests came from searches at six addresses, and that "inquiries" at locations in London, Birmingham and other parts of the country were continuing. He did not specify how those arrested were linked to Wednesday's attack. "It is still our belief, which continues to be born out by our investigation, that this attacker acted alone and was inspired by international terrorism," Rowley told reporters. He added that the attacker's name should not be made public during what he called a "sensitive stage" of the investigation. The probe right now is focusing on the motives, preparations and associates of the attacker, who ran a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, then stabbed a security officer to death before himself being shot dead by another officer. Rowley said 29 people have been hospitalized, seven of whom were in critical condition. Rowley earlier identified the security officer who died in the attack as 48-year-old Keith Palmer, a husband and father who had served in British law enforcement for 15 years. May strikes defiant tone May's comments both Wednesday and her remarks to Parliament on Thursday have struck a defiant tone. As Parliament reopened for its normal meetings Thursday, May told lawmakers that what happened Wednesday "was an attack on free people everywhere." "Yesterday an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today we meet as normal, as generations have done before us and as future generations will continue to do, to deliver a simple message: We are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism," she said. May thanked Britain's friends and allies around the world "who have made it clear that they stand with us at this time." She said the victims include nationals of France, Romania, South Korea, Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy, Greece and the United States. The United Nations Security Council in New York, currently in meetings chaired by British foreign minister Boris Johnson, held a moment of silence Thursday for the victims of the attack. Thursday's Parliament in Britain also began with a minute of silence to remember those killed in the attack. Police officers also marked the occasion, standing silently outside the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police nearby. "You may know that today there are victims in London from 11 nations. Which goes to show that an attack on London is an attack on the world," Johnson said. "I can tell you from my talks here in the United States with the U.S. government and with partners from around the world that the world is uniting to defeat the people who launched this attack and defeat their bankrupt and odious ideology." Parliament in Britain also began with a minute of silence Thursday to remember those killed in the attack. Police officers marked the occasion, standing silently outside the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police nearby. London is under extra security with a boost in both armed and unarmed officers. A senior police officer told VOA it appears to have been "a three-staged attack." It began with an SUV being driven over Westminster Bridge right by the House of Commons. The SUV mounted the sidewalk and struck several pedestrians. According to police sources, the vehicle struck some other pedestrians at the perimeter fence near the gates at Old Palace Yard. "The attacker then rushed the gates and struggled with a police guard who tried to stop him. The assailant stabbed him several times," the senior police officer said. "Other officers shot the attacker." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IS Claims Responsibility for Britain Parliament Attack By Luis Ramirez, Jamie Dettmer March 23, 2017 Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack near the British Parliament in London, which killed three people and ended when an officer shot dead the attacker. A statement posted on IS's news agency said the attacker was a "soldier of Islamic State." But IS did not indicate that it assisted in the planning or execution of the attack, saying the man had responded to the terror group's call to attack civilians and the military in countries allied with the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS. One police officer and an American tourist, Kurt Cochran from Utah, have been identified among those killed. The officer was killed on the premises when he was stabbed by the attacker. Cochran succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. His wife was also badly injured in the attack. Prime Minister Theresa May, in comments to Parliament about the attack, said the man responsible was born in Britain and was once investigated by the country's MI-5 intelligence agency "in relation to concerns about violent extremism." But she said he was not part of what she called the "current intelligence picture," and that there was no prior intelligence on this plot or his motives. She reiterated that the working assumption of investigators is that he was "inspired by Islamist ideology." British police have arrested eight people in connection with the attack. Investigation Mark Rowley, head of counterterrorism efforts for London's Metropolitan Police Service, said the arrests came from searches at six addresses, and that "inquiries" at locations in London, Birmingham and other parts of the country were continuing. He did not specify how those arrested were linked to Wednesday's attack. "It is still our belief, which continues to be born out by our investigation, that this attacker acted alone and was inspired by international terrorism," Rowley told reporters. He added that the attacker's name should not be made public during what he called a "sensitive stage" of the investigation. The probe right now is focusing on the motives, preparations and associates of the attacker, who ran a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, then stabbed a security officer to death before himself being shot dead by another officer. Rowley said 29 people have been hospitalized, seven of whom were in critical condition. Rowley earlier identified the security officer who died in the attack as 48-year-old Keith Palmer, a husband and father who had served in British law enforcement for 15 years. May's comments both Wednesday and her remarks to Parliament on Thursday have struck a defiant tone. As Parliament reopened for its normal meetings Thursday, May told lawmakers that what happened Wednesday "was an attack on free people everywhere." "Yesterday an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today we meet as normal, as generations have done before us and as future generations will continue to do, to deliver a simple message: We are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism," she said. May thanked Britain's friends and allies around the world "who have made it clear that they stand with us at this time." She said the victims include nationals of France, Romania, South Korea, Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy, Greece and the United States. The United Nations Security Council in New York, currently in meetings chaired by British foreign minister Boris Johnson, held a moment of silence Thursday for the victims of the attack. Thursday's Parliament session began with a minute of silence to remember those killed in the attack. Police officers also marked the occasion, standing silently outside the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police nearby. Extra security London is under extra security with a boost in both armed and unarmed officers. A senior police officer told VOA it appears to have been "a three-staged attack." It began with an SUV being driven over Westminster Bridge right by the House of Commons. The SUV mounted the sidewalk and struck several pedestrians. According to police sources, the vehicle struck some other pedestrians at the perimeter fence near the gates at Old Palace Yard. "The attacker then rushed the gates and struggled with a police guard who tried to stop him. The assailant stabbed him several times," the senior police officer said. "Other officers shot the attacker." The gunfire was heard at 2:38 p.m. London time inside the House of Commons as lawmakers were debating legislation on pension reform. Eyewitnesses said about a half-dozen shots were fired. "It all happened within a minute," witness Tawhid Tanim told VOA. "I came out of where I work and saw a car had pulled up and I heard, I just heard bang bang bang and people running everywhere." White House condemnation In Washington, the White House said President Donald Trump spoke with Prime Minister May and was briefed on the situation in London. "We obviously condemn today's attack in Westminster which the United Kingdom is treating as an act of terrorism, and we applaud the quick response that the British police and their first responders made to the situation," spokesman Sean Spicer said. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it is in close contact with British authorities, but that the U.S. domestic security posture remains unchanged. As the attack unfolded, May was in a voting lobby adjacent to the chamber of the House of Commons. Her plainclothes bodyguards drew their weapons and one officer put his arm around the prime minister as they quickly escorted her out of the House of Commons, according to Andrew Bridgen, a Conservative lawmaker. If confirmed as a terrorist attack, it would be the first in Britain since May 2013 when an off-duty British Army soldier, Lee Rigby, was hacked to death on a London street by a self-proclaimed jihadist. It is the worst attack at the House of Commons since the IRA bombing in 1979, when Conservative politician Airey Neave, a confidant of Margaret Thatcher, was killed. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China, U.S. agree on principle of no conflict, mutual respect People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 20:56, March 22, 2017 BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States reached consensus on developing ties in the spirit of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation during U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's Beijing trip, said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wednesday. "This spirit is the correct way for the two major powers to get along with each other," spokesperson Hua Chunying told a routine press briefing. She was responding to a question regarding Tillerson's reaffirmation of the principle. Tillerson's move has received criticism from some U.S. scholars and former government officials. Some media said that having Tillerson reiterate this principle was a diplomatic triumph for China. "This can not be taken as someone's triumph," Hua said. "The principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation has been a good experience for the stable growth of China-U.S. ties in recent years, and is worth continuing." "China is willing to enhance communication and understanding with the United States, cement trust, properly handle disputes, expand cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral levels and boost new progress of bilateral ties at a new starting point." Last weekend, Tillerson paid his first visit to China since taking office last month. He is the first cabinet-level official in the new administration of the United States to visit China. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Five people were killed, including the assailant, and 40 others were injured in what Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack." Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down after the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament, just yards (meters) from entrances to the building itself and in the shadow of the iconic Big Ben clock tower. He died, as did three pedestrians on the bridge, and the police officer. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had "catastrophic" injuries. Three police officers, several French teenagers on a school trip, two Romanian tourists and five South Korean visitors were among the injured. British Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the "sick and depraved terrorist attack" in London. Earlier it was reported that a woman had died and other people were being treated for "catastrophic" injuries after a car crashed into pedestrians near the British parliament and an assailant stabbed a policeman in what police called a terrorist incident. The knifeman was then shot by police when he had tried to force his way into a courtyard just outside the Houses of Parliament. "We've declared this as a terrorist incident and the counter-terrorism command are carrying out a full-scale investigation into the events today," Mark Rowley, Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer, told reporters. May has ordered flags to be lowered to half-mast over Downing Street as a mark of respect to the innocent people who lost their lives in the attack outside parliament on Wednesday, the BBC reported. The announcement comes as she chairs a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee, which deals with major emergencies. The Cobra committee brings government ministers together with senior officials of the emergency services and security and intelligence agencies. The incident appeared to have unfolded in several locations, including on nearby Westminster Bridge where eyewitnesses said a car had crashed into pedestrians. Reuters reporters inside parliament heard loud bangs and shortly afterwards saw two people lying on the ground in a courtyard just outside. A Reuters photographer said he saw at least a dozen people injured on the bridge. His photographs showed people lying on the ground, some of them bleeding heavily and one under a bus. Sky News reported two people had died, but the total number of casualties was unclear. The London Ambulance Service said it had treated at least 10 people on the bridge. The incident took place on the first anniversary of attacks by Islamist militants that killed 32 people in Brussels. "Officers - including firearms officers - remain on the scene and we are treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise," police said in a statement. "We know there are a number of casualties including police officers but at this stage we cannot confirm numbers or the nature of these injuries," Commander BJ Harrington told reporters. "We received a number of different reports which included a person in the river, a car in collision with pedestrians and a man armed with a knife." A woman was pulled alive, but with serious injuries, from the Thames, the Port of London Authority said. French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said three French nationals were injured. French media reported they were high-school students. Messages of support May's office in Downing Street issued a statement saying her thoughts were with those killed and injured in the terror attack on Wednesday, according to AFP. Other world leaders, meanwhile, offered their own messages of support. German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock at the attack, saying her thoughts were with the British people and everyone in the capital, according to Reuters. French President Francois Hollande expressed support and solidarity with Britain. US President Donald Trump offered his condolences to the British prime minister, offering full cooperation and support from the US. Car "out of control" "I just saw a car go out of control and just go into pedestrians on the bridge," eyewitness Bernadette Kerrigan told Sky News. She was on a tour bus on the bridge at the time. "As we were going across the bridge, we saw people lying on the floor, they were obviously injured. I saw about 10 people maybe. And then the emergency services started to arrive. Everyone was just running everywhere." Officials said an assailant had stabbed a policeman and then been shot. Witness reports suggested the assailant and the stabbed policeman were the people seen lying on the ground outside the parliamentary building. The House of Commons, which was in session at the time, was immediately suspended and lawmakers were asked to stay inside. Prime Minister Theresa May was safe after the incident, a spokesman for her office said. He declined to say where May was when the attack took place. Journalist Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail newspaper told LBC radio that he had witnessed the stabbing of the policeman and the shooting of the assailant from his office in the parliament building. "He (the assailant) ran in through the open gates ... He set about one of the policemen with what looked like a stick," Letts said. "The policeman fell over on the ground and it was quite horrible to watch and then having done that, he disengaged and ran towards the House of Commons entrance used by MPs (members of parliament) and got about 20 yards or so when two plain-clothed guys with guns shot him." Reuters reporters inside parliament saw a large number of armed police, some carrying shields, pouring into the building. A helicopter ambulance landed on Parliament Square. U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House he had been briefed on events in London but gave no details. In Edinburgh, the Scottish parliament suspended a planned debate and vote on independence as news of events in London came in. Britain is on its second-highest alert level of "severe" meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely. In July 2005, four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the British capital's transport system in what was London's worst peacetime attack. *The story was edited by Ahram Online. Search Keywords: Short link: China eyes new impetus in ties with Australia, New Zealand People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 08:08, March 22, 2017 China hopes for new impetus for trade and investment cooperation and regional prosperity through the upcoming visit of Premier Li Keqiang to Australia and New Zealand. This visit will send a positive signal to the Asia-Pacific region and the whole world that the three countries are committed to trade and investment liberalization and regional peace, stability and prosperity, said Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang at a press briefing here on Tuesday. This year marks the 45th anniversary of China-Australia and China-New Zealand relations. The official visit, scheduled from March 22 to 29, is the first by a Chinese premier since China upgraded its relations with the two to comprehensive strategic partnership. "Australia is implementing a northern development plan while New Zealand has a 30-year infrastructure development plan. The premier's visit will promote coordination of China's Belt and Road initiative with the other plans," said Liu Qing, a researcher on Asia-Pacific studies with the China Institute of International Studies. During Li's stay in Australia, he will meet Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and hold the fifth annual talks with his Australian counterpart. The two prime ministers will also attend a trade cooperation forum together. Li will also meet Governor-General Peter Cosgrove and parliamentary leaders. The two sides will discuss the China-Australia free trade agreement, and cooperation in areas including technology, trade and investment, energy and resources, the judiciary and law enforcement, according to Zheng. China has been Australia's largest trading partner in the past 8 years. The two countries have witnessed booming bilateral trade since the FTA took effect in December 2015. Since full implementation last year, bilateral trade has reached 108 billion U.S. dollars and bilateral investment was over 100 billion U.S. dollars, Zheng said. "China, Australia and New Zealand are highly complementary in their economies," said Chen Fengying, an expert on global economy with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations. Trade cooperation is also on the agenda in New Zealand. Li will hold talks with Prime Minister Bill English and meet Governor General Patsy Reddy and other officials. The two sides will expand cooperation in such areas as infrastructure, agriculture and husbandry, technological innovation, education, culture, tourism and civil aviation, Zheng said. Bilateral trade between China and New Zealand has increased nearly threefold compared with 2008, when the two countries reached a free trade agreement. The first round of negotiations on upgrading the FTA will be held in the first half of this year. The upgrading will bring more opportunities for bilateral economic cooperation, and promote the two sides to increase market openness and reach consensus on areas such as services trade and e-commerce, Zheng said. Besides trade cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and tourism cooperation will also be on the agenda. This year marks the China-Australia Year of Tourism. There are already over 100 pairs of sister states, provinces and cities between the two countries. Li and Turnbull will attend a forum with officials from localities. The two sides will expand cooperation in education, culture, tourism and localities, and sign some cooperation deals, Zheng said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address DPR Korea facing 'entrenched, largely forgotten' humanitarian crisis, senior UN official warns 21 March 2017 Over two-thirds of the population in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) suffers from food insecurity, malnutrition, and a lack of access to basic health and sanitation services, according to a latest humanitarian report, which also appeals for $114 million to meet the urgent need of the most vulnerable. "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is in the midst of a protracted, entrenched humanitarian situation largely forgotten or overlooked by the rest of the world," Tapan Mishra, UN Resident Coordinator for DPRK, said in the Foreword of the 2017 needs assessment for the country. Frequent natural disasters, especially droughts and floods, changing weather patterns, as well as the lack of agricultural inputs, have left more than 5.6 million people, or 20 per cent of the total population, food insecure and undernourished, despite the political tensions. Updated data is needed to accurately evaluate the food insecurity situation while increasing crop yields is also of great importance to improve people's living standard, according to the report. Malnutrition, as a nationwide problem, needs proactive approach, especially with focus on the first 1,000 days of life. "Those most at risk from the consequences of a lack of access to healthcare include under-five children, pregnant women, people living with disabilities and the elderly," stated the report, while highlighting that "safe hygiene practices such as hand washing with soap are seriously affected in absence of running water and hygiene promotion." Therefore, the report suggested prioritizing health interventions in rural areas and improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene. Given small presence of humanitarian community in the country, as well as limitations on funding, UN agencies and partners are scaling up efforts to ensure the assistance is provided to the most needy people. However, the report underscored that some $114 million is needed for humanitarian relief, as "external assistance plays a vital role in safeguarding the health and well-being of millions of people." "I appeal to donors not to let political considerations get in the way of providing continued support for humanitarian assistance and relief," said Mr. Mishra. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address S. Korean military confirms DPRK missile test failure People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 12:48, March 22, 2017 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) test-fired missiles on Wednesday but apparently ended in failure, South Korea's military said. Yonhap news agency quoted the military as saying that South Korea and the United Stateswere aware of the related issue. The statement came as a response to reports that the DPRK test-fired several missiles at around 7 a.m. (2200 GMT) from Wonsan on its eastern coast. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New North Korea missile test ends in failure: Seoul Iran Press TV Wed Mar 22, 2017 5:8AM South Korea says the North has attempted to launch another missile, but the test appears to have ended in a failure. Seoul's Defense Ministry said in a statement that Pyongyang fired a missile from the eastern coastal town of Wonsan on Wednesday. "South Korea and the United States are aware of the North Korean missile launch and suspect it was a failure," said a spokesman for Seoul's military. The report did not give the number of the missiles put to test or their type. A spokesman for US Pacific Command, Commander Dave Benham, also said that they detected "a failed North Korean missile launch attempt... in the vicinity of Kalma." "A missile appears to have exploded within seconds of launch," Benham added. Kyodo News also quoted a source in the Tokyo government as saying that the North may have test-fired several missiles from an area on its east coast, but Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga later said the government has not confirmed Pyongyang's missile launch towards the country. Angered by the annual joint war games currently being carried out by the US and South Korea on the restive peninsula, North Korea has in recent weeks stepped up its missile tests. Pyongyang rejects claims by Washington and Seoul that the military drills are defensive in nature, saying the maneuvers are a rehearsal for a war against the North. The North's state media on Sunday reported that Pyongyang had conducted a test of a new high-thrust engine at its rocket launch station, with leader Kim Jong-un hailing the successful test as "a new birth" of the country's rocket industry. Kim said that "the whole world will soon witness what eventful significance the great victory won today carries." Washington has further infuriated Pyongyang by starting the installation of an advanced missile system at an air base in South Korea earlier this month. The missile system, known as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), is equipped with a powerful detection system known as an X band radar, which experts say would destabilize regional security and upset the region's current military balance. The US also occasionally deploys nuclear-powered warships and aircraft capable of carrying atomic weapons in the region. North 'not afraid of more US bans' Pyongyang has been subjected to international pressure, including US sanctions and Security Council resolutions, to abandon its arms development and nuclear programs. Yet, it says the programs are meant to protect the country from US hostility. On Monday, Reuters quoted a US official as saying on Monday that Washington is considering sweeping sanctions as part of a broad review of measures to counter what is called North Korea's nuclear and missile "threat." Reacting to the report, a senior North Korean diplomat at the UN said his country has no fear of tighter US bans and is determined to pursue the "acceleration" of its nuclear and missile programs. "Even prohibition of the international transactions system, the global financial system, this kind of thing is part of their system that will not frighten us or make any difference," said Choe Myong Nam, deputy ambassador at the North Korean mission to the United Nations in Geneva. The official censured the existing restrictive measures against North Korea as "heinous and inhumane." "We strengthen our national defense capability as well as pre-emptive strike capabilities with nuclear forces as a centerpiece," Choe said. He added that the North has been under sanctions for "half a century" but the state survives by putting emphasis on "self-sufficiency. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korea 'Ready for War' With the US Despite New Failed Missile Launch Sputnik News 16:30 22.03.2017 North Korea has claimed it is "ready for war" with the United States despite its most recent ballistic missile test failing moments after it was launched on Wednesday, March 22. South Korea and the US said the missile exploded within seconds of launch from the Gangwon province, in the hermit country's south-east. "North Korea fired one missile from an area near the Wonsan air base this morning [March 22], but it is presumed to have failed," said South Korea's Defense Ministry in a brief statement. Neither the US nor South Korea have released information on what type of missile was fired, or why it failed. The US Pacific Command said it was working with partners to assess the matter further. The test comes amid heightening tensions in the Korean Peninsula after a series of missile tests from the North and subsequent threats of military action from the US. In a response to the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's recent talk of tougher sanctions against the reclusive state, North Korea's Foreign Ministry released a statement on Wednesday, March 22, proclaiming that they are ready for war. "The nuclear force of North Korea is the treasured sword of justice and the most reliable war deterrence to defend the socialist motherland and the life of its people," the official Korean Central News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying. "We have the will and capability to fully respond to any war which the US wants. If the businessmen-turned-US officials thought that they would frighten us, they would soon recognize that their method would not work." After a visit of the heavily militarized border between the rival Koreas last week, Tillerson said: "Let me be very clear: The policy of strategic patience has ended. "We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security and economic measures. All options are on the table." While President Donald Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was "acting very badly" after it conducted a ground test for a new type of high-thrust rocket engine on Saturday, March 18. Pyongyang fired four ballistic missiles, three of which landed as close as 190 miles to the Japanese coast on March 6, causing concern among its neighbors. China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying again called on all parties on the Korean Peninsula, to "exercise restraint." "The current situation on the peninsula is extremely tense, 'everyone with his dagger drawn' would be a fair description," she said. North Korea's missile testing coincides with the US and South Korea's joint military drills in the South, which began on March 1. The drills occur annually and are set to last until the end of April. The US deployed an aircraft carrier, a nuclear-powered submarine and thousands of troops to supplement the South's soldiers and artillery on show. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US, South Korea Say North Korean Missile Test Fails By VOA News March 22, 2017 The United States and South Korea say a North Korean missile test Wednesday ended in failure. A spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command said the missile appeared to have exploded within seconds of launching from the Kalma peninsula, in the eastern part of the country. South Korea's military said the apparent test launch did not go off normally. Neither country gave details about what type of missile was tested, and both said they were continuing to analyze the launch. Earlier this month, North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan in response to annual U.S.-South Korea military drills, which the North sees as a preparation for war. Three of the missiles flew about 1,000 kilometers and landed in Japanese waters, the Pentagon said. U.S. officials said the weapons were medium-range rockets that did not pose a threat to North America. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Indian Air Force Pushes for Terrain Warning System on Super Hercules Aircraft Sputnik News 18:53 22.03.2017 The Indian Air Force has ordered terrain warning awareness system for its six Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules aircraft due this year to avoid accidents in Himalayan terrain. The aircraft will be based with the mountain strike corps being raised on the Line of Actual Control with China. New Delhi (Sputnik) The Indian Air Force (IAF) felt the need for terrain warning systems after losing two C-130Js in accidents, one in March 2014 and the other in February this year in an area bordering China. The two planes were among the six which the IAF had inducted in 2011. India ordered six more C-130Js for US $ 1.1 billion in 2013 on the demand of the IAF and they are expected this year. The US Air Force issued a Request for Information on the US Federal Business Opportunities, asking vendors to provide six C-130J aircraft with the Communication, Navigation and Identification database systems subscription for 40 months, starting May 31, 2017 through August 31, 2020. "This is a Foreign Military Sales effort for the Government of India," read the notice. Terrain warning awareness systems provide accurate terrain information to pilots, including man-made obstacles. According to the IAF, these six C-130Js will be part of 87 squadron based in Panagarh, which will be the location for the Indian Army's 17 mountain strike corps. More than 90,000 personnel will constitute the corps being raised for deployment along the 2,521-mile Line of Actual Control (LoAC) with China. The IAF has fixed-wing transport aircraft like AVRO, BBJ, Boeing 737-200, Embraer, Dornier, IL-76, IL-78, AN-32, C-130J and C-17. The lifespan of these aircraft range from about 20,000 to 100,000 hours. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US will honor Iran nuclear deal: Trump's advisor Iran Press TV Wed Mar 22, 2017 5:14AM US President Donald Trump's nuclear advisor says Washington will honor the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six major world powers, including the United States. Christopher Ford, the White House National Security Council's senior director for weapons of mass destruction and counter-proliferation, made the remarks during a conference in Washington, DC on Tuesday. Ford told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that the Trump administration will stick to the Iran nuclear pact unless otherwise is decided. "Until otherwise decided, the United States will adhere to the Iran nuclear deal and ensure that Iran also does," he said. However, the Trump aide also said that the White House is reviewing the Iran deal along with all other nuclear pacts that Washington has negotiated under previous administrations. Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China -- plus Germany started implementing the JCPOA on January 16, 2016. The deal limited parts of Iran's peaceful nuclear program in exchange for the complete removal of all sanctions against the country. Since then, Washington has on a number of occasions violated the agreement by imposing anti-Iran sanctions despite the United Nations' confirmation that Tehran has abided by the terms of the accord. In February, the Trump administration implemented a new round of sanctions against Iran following the country's successful test-launch of a ballistic missile, which Washington said was a breach of the JCPOA. Iran rejected the US claim, reiterating the right to develop its defense capabilities. Trump has been a staunch opponent of the international agreement negotiated by the US under former President Barack Obama. During his presidential campaign, Trump had promised to repeal the nuclear accord which he referred to as a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated." He also said that the agreement could lead to a "nuclear holocaust." Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has warned that Tehran is ready to restore its nuclear activities to the level it was before the 2015 deal should Washington fail to keep its end of the nuclear bargain. Iran "is fully prepared to return to the pre-JCPOA situation or even [to conditions] more robust than that if the US reneges on its promises to the extent that the JCPOA's continuation harms our national interests," Zarif stated on Monday. According to American political analyst Professor Dennis Etler, Trump is in no position to threaten Iran. "The reason for Trump's retreat from his bombastic rhetoric regarding both Iran and China is the sobering realization by his team that the US is in no position to follow through on his threats. There is also no prospect that the US will be able to do so during his first term in office," Professor Etler told Press TV recently. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address White House Adviser Says Will Honor Iran Nuclear Deal, Ensure Iran Complies RFE/RL March 22, 2017 A senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump on nuclear matters says that the United States will honor Iran's nuclear deal with world powers for now, while seeking to ensure strict compliance by Tehran. Christopher Ford, the White House National Security Council's senior director for weapons of mass destruction and counterproliferation, told a conference in Washington on March 21 that the U.S. administration accepted the deal despite repeated criticism by Trump. But he said the White House was reviewing the July 2015 agreement -- which curtailed Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions -- along with all the other nuclear arms pacts that the United States has negotiated under previous administrations. "Until otherwise decided, the United States will adhere to the Iran nuclear deal and ensure that Iran also does," Ford told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Other nuclear pacts the White House is reviewing include the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), a major international agreement "to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament." "We are reviewing policy across the board," Ford said. "That necessarily includes reviewing, among many other things, whether the goal of a world without nuclear weapons is in fact a realistic objective in the near-to-medium term in light of current trends in the international security environment." He cited what he said was tension between the goal of nuclear disarmament and the security requirements of the United States and its allies. Ford said the administration was also reviewing responses to Russia's recent deployment of nuclear-capable cruise missiles, which the United States has said is a violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty between Moscow and Washington. With reporting by Reuters and The Independent Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/white-house- aide-ford-says-honor-iran-nuclear-deal- ensure-iran-complies/28383425.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi forces gain more ground against Daesh terrorists in Mosul Iran Press TV Tue Mar 21, 2017 10:9PM Iraqi government forces have made more territorial gains in Mosul as they are battling in joint operations with allied fighters to flush Daesh Takfiri militants out of their last urban stronghold in the crisis-hit Arab country. Commander of Nineveh Liberation Operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, said on Tuesday that Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) forces had wrested full control over al-Resala neighborhood in the western part of the city, located some 400 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad, Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network reported. CTS members also killed a large number of Daesh extremists and inflicted heavy material damage on their positions, before recapturing the area. Iraqi forces raised the national flag over several buildings there afterward. Meanwhile, pro-government fighters from Popular Mobilization Units commonly known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha'abi have killed at least 77 Daesh Takifirs during operations in Talal Badush region, located some 15 kilometers northwest of Mosul. Iraqi Defense Ministry also announced in a statement that its F-16 and Aero L-159 ALCA fighter jets had struck the so-called Daesh military police headquarters in the al-Ba'aj district. The statement added that Iraqi military aircraft also pounded a position of Daesh bombers in al-Hadar village, destroying the hideout, a workshop for building improvised explosive devices, an arms depot as well as a storage for trinitrotoluene and C-4 explosive compounds. Elsewhere in the western province of Anbar, Iraqi Air Force warplanes killed 15 Daesh terrorists in Karablah and Rawa districts. Additionally, Naji al-Mariani, a Hashd al-Sha'abi commander, said his forces had shelled the road linking Duluiyah, located some 75 kilometers north of Baghdad, to Mutabijah, killing 13 Daesh extremists in the process. Three high-ranking militant commanders were among the slain Takfiris. Iraqi army soldiers and Hashd al-Sha'abi fighters launched their offensive to retake Mosul last October and since then they have made sweeping gains against Takfiri elements. Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IS group was responsible for an attack outside Britain's parliament which left four people dead, the group's Amaq news agency said on Thursday. "The perpetrator of the attacks yesterday in front of the British parliament in London is an Islamic State soldier and he carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition," the Amaq statement said. Islamic State, which has controlled parts of Iraq and Syria in recent years, has lost territory this year to local forces in those countries supported by a U.S.-led military coalition. Search Keywords: Short link: Daesh executed hundreds of detainees, buried bodies in Mosul mass grave: HRW Iran Press TV Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:11AM Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the Daesh terrorist group has executed possibly hundreds of detainees in Iraq's northern city of Mosul and buried them in a mass grave that could be the largest one discovered in the country so far. Witnesses told the New York-based rights organization that the victims, including several members of Iraqi security forces, were executed between June 2014 and May or June 2015, with their bodies dumped in a sinkhole at a site in western Mosul. Terrorists had also laid landmines and booby-traps in the mass grave in an attempt to "maximize harm to Iraqis," according to Lama Fakih, HRW deputy Middle East director. She described the mass grave as "a grotesque symbol of ISIS's (Daesh) cruel and depraved conduct a crime of a monumental scale." "If exhumation is possible, the process should be carried out under international standards," the HRW said. Iraqi forces took control of the site in mid-February 2017. Human Rights Watch visited the site on March 7, but was unable to inspect the grave due to the landmines. The United Nations estimated last month that removing all mines, explosive devices and booby traps left by Daesh in and around Mosul will cost as much as 50 million dollars. This is only one of dozens of Daesh mass graves found in Iraq and Syria, but, according to the report, it could be the largest. It was not possible to determine the exact number of the victims. Earlier in March, Iraqi forces announced they had found another mass grave near Daesh Badoush Prison, some 10 kilometers west of Mosul. The terrorists held between 500 and 600 detainees in the prison. Later on, an Iraqi general told Human Rights Watch that under the military's supervision, medical experts from Baghdad had exhumed about 400 bodies from the site. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), which tackles the issue of people missing as a result of the conflict, however, told the HRW that the excavations were unacceptable. "They must be carried out by trained teams with sufficient experience, because they are dealing with human remains at a crime scene," said deputy head of the organization Fawaz Abdulameer. Daesh began its campaign of terror in northern and western Iraq in 2014. Iraqi army soldiers and allied fighters are leading military operations to win back militant-held regions, trying to eliminate terrorists or driving them out of their country. They took control of eastern Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19. The United Nations said Wednesday that around 45,000 people have fled the fighting between Iraqi forces and Daesh terrorists in western Mosul over the past week, a 22 percent increase from the previous week. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi Army Liberates Over 60% of Western Mosul From Daesh Terrorists Sputnik News 19:07 22.03.2017 The Iraqi government troops liberated more than 60 percent of western Mosul from the Daesh terror group, outlawed in numerous countries, local media reported on Wednesday, citing spokesman for the Iraqi Joint Special Operations Command Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasul. CAIRO(Sputnik) Mosul's neighborhoods of Bab al-Toub and Bab al-Abyath as well as the Old City are currently witnessing heavy fighting, Rasul said, as cited by the Iraqi News agency. The army spokesman added that Daesh terrorists used snipers as well as suicide car attackers to stop the advance of Iraqi forces. In 2014 Daesh terrorists launched a full-scale offensive against Iraq, seizing a number of cities and towns including the second biggest Iraqi city of Mosul. The Iraqi operation to recapture Mosul, the key Daesh stronghold in Iraq, began in October 2016 and resulted in the liberation of Mosul's eastern part this January. Fighting continues in the city's west. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Libyan National Army Launches Operation Against Military Gangs Sputnik News 00:32 22.03.2017 The self-styled Libyan National Army has launched an offensive against illegal armed groups on the south of the country. CAIRO (Sputnik) The self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar has launched an offensive against illegal armed groups on the south of the country, local media reported Tuesday, citing a source in the LNA. The operation is aimed at gaining control over the cities of Sabha and al Shatii, the Akhbar Libya news portal reported. The LNA reportedly managed to block the militants' troops from the city of Misrata and take control over an air base. Libya has been in a state of turmoil since 2011, when a civil war began in the country and its longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown. The country's eastern regions are governed by the elected parliament headquartered in the city of Tobruk. The Government of National Accord, formed with the support from the United Nations and Europe and headed by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, operates in the country's west, including the Libyan capital of Tripoli. The eastern authorities act independently from the west, cooperating with the Libyan National Army led by Haftar, which fights against Islamic terrorists. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia's Military Exports Volume in 2016 Exceeded $15 Billion - Putin Sputnik News 18:04 22.03.2017(updated 18:24 22.03.2017) The volume of Russian exports in the sphere of military-technical cooperation in 2016 exceeded $15 billion, the country has retained the world's second place, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) He added that Russia's military-technical cooperation exports portfolio remained at $50 billion, Russian military products were in steady demand and were supplied to 52 countries. "As of the end of last year, Russia confidently holds the second place in the world in terms of military exports. Last year they exceeded $15 billion. I will recall that the figure stood at $14.5 billion in 2015," Putin said at a meeting of the military-technical cooperation commission. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Aerospace Forces to Receive Six T-50 Stealth Jets Sputnik News 11:52 22.03.2017(updated 12:53 22.03.2017) The Russian Aerospace Forces will receive six Sukhoi T-50 (PAK FA) fifth-generation fighter aircraft, spokesman said Wednesday. LANGKAWI (Malaysia) (Sputnik) The Russian Aerospace Forces will receive six Sukhoi T-50 (PAK FA) fifth-generation fighter aircraft as part of the first batch of deliveries, the forces' deputy commander said Wednesday. "T-50, there are no secrets here, is an aircraft with supersonic speed without afterburners, with stealth and artificial intelligence. We will receive this machine. Six pieces," Lt. Gen. Andrey Yudin told reporters at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition LIMA-2017. The T-50 is a single-seat, twin-engine multirole fighter jet designed for air superiority and attack roles and equipped with an advanced avionics system and an active phased array airborne radar. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Army to Receive Hypersonic Weapons, S-500 Missile Systems Soon Sputnik News 21:20 23.03.2017(updated 21:45 23.03.2017) The Russian army will soon receive military equipment based on new physical principles, hypersonic weapons and next-generation S-500 missile defense systems, Russian Presidential Aide for Military-Technical Cooperation Vladimir Kozhin said Thursday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov told Sputnik that a test unit of Russia's next-generation S-500 air defense system would be ready by 2020. The S-500 Prometey, also known as 55R6M Triumfator-M, is a cutting-edge anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missile system currently under development in Russia. "We are working to ensure that the Russian army has the most advanced weapons: S-500 systems are on their way, as well as weapons based on new physical principles, hypersonic, and so on. It's not a debate it is the reality of the present day," Kozhin told Rossiya 24 broadcaster. The S-500, designed by Almaz Antei, is said to have a range of 600 kilometers. The system can simultaneously intercept up to ten ballistic and hypersonic missiles traveling at a speed of up to 7 kilometers per second. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria conflict aimed at transforming Arabs' identity: Assad Iran Press TV Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:50PM Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says sponsors of the ongoing militancy in his country seek to change the identity and culture of Arabs through dissemination of Takfiri ideologies, which condone acts of violence as legitimate methods of achieving certain goals. Speaking in a meeting with representatives of the Tunisian leftist alliance Popular Front for the Realization of the Objectives of the Revolution in Damascus on Wednesday, Assad underscored the important role that political parties and popular organizations could play to identify the root causes of such a menace, and devise collective measures to confront it. Tunisian politicians, for their part, stated that Syria is going through a ferocious and unprecedented crisis because it is the last bulwark against Western and Israeli plots. They stressed that Syria had been and would remain the upholder of the Arabs' identity. The lawmakers further expressed solidarity with the Syrian government and nation, praising the exceptional steadfastness of Syrians in the face of the foreign-sponsored militancy they are subjected to. The meeting came only two days after Assad said the Damascus government was ready to discuss anything with representatives from opposition groups, noting that Syrian government forces were bound to safeguard the country's territorial integrity. He argued that opposition delegates withdrew from the latest round of intra-Syrian talks in the Kazakh capital city of Astana under the "negative influence of Turkey," emphasizing that Syrian government representatives welcome discussion on a vast array of subjects, including the Constitution, during the forthcoming UN-sponsored peace negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland. The Syrian leader stated that any military operation inside Syria must receive the approval of the central government, terming the presence of unapproved foreign troops on the Syrian soil an act of invasion. Assad underlined that the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group must clearly declare its intention as it has never been serious about fighting Daesh or any other terror groups. Assad also dismissed latest threats by Israel's minister for military affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, to destroy Syrian air defense systems, saying the Damascus government does not adjust its policies in parallel with those of the Tel Aviv regime. Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syrian Kurdish militias, Turkish military exchange cross-border fire Iran Press TV Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:13AM Cross-border tensions are rising between Kurdish militias in Syria and Turkey's military after a Turkish soldier was fatally shot from a Kurdish-controlled area in northwestern Syria. On Wednesday, the Turkish army said the soldier had been shot to death in Hatay Province by a sniper on the Syrian side of the border. Shortly after the incident, Turkish forces returned fire and shelled Syrian villages in the predominantly-Kurdish border region of Afrin, said the US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which is viewed as a terrorist group by Turkey. According to the YPG, at least 10 civilians were wounded in the Turkish assault. The group has threatened to take reciprocal action. "The Turkish army shelling is continuing," YPG spokesman Redur Xelil told Reuters, adding, "Any response by our forces in this region comes as self defense." Ankara considers the Kurdish forces as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has long been fighting for autonomy on Turkish soil. The YPG makes up the bulk of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed coalition of fighters who have seized swathes of territory from Daesh terrorists in northern Syria. Nearly two-thirds of the 30,000 SDF militants belong to the YPG. The US support for the SDF has enraged Turkey. The militia has been playing a major role in liberating Raqqah, the self-proclaimed headquarters of Daesh that fell to the terrorists in March 2013. Raqqah push In another development, Syrian Kurdish militias have given assurances that they will not enter the northern Syrian city of Raqqah as part of an upcoming operation to drive out Daesh terrorists from their main stronghold in the Arab state. Rodi Othman, director of the Syrian Kurds' representative office in Russia, said militants from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) will only engage Daesh terrorists in the vicinity of Raqqah, without entering the city, located near the Turkish border, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported. YPG militants, he said, will assist local tribal forces in their combat against Daesh terrorists at the outer boundaries of the city, adding that currently around 1,000 members of al-Shaitat Tribe are being trained in preparation for the liberation offensive, which is expected to start next month. According to the official, no strategy plan has so far been drawn up for the upcoming operation, which, he said, would be similar to the battle underway against Daesh in Mosul in neighboring Iraq. Othman further said the Kurdish militias are part of the Syrian nation, rather than an independent entity fighting to gain more Syrian territory. He added that YPG militias are focusing on defeating Daesh and helping the Syrian people recapture their land from the Takfiri terror group on their own. Othman further stated that the US military will not directly participate in the YPG combat operations, but will provide the fighters with military advice and coordinate airstrikes against the terrorists. YPG commander Sipan Hemo told Reuters last week that the operation to storm Raqqah was due to start in early April, and that YPG would make up a quarter of the force, comprising allied Arab militants, that would fight to take back the city. Turkey has deployed forces to northern Syria under the pretext of fighting Daesh, a move slammed by the central government as a violation of its sovereignty. The Syrian army, backed by Russian airpower, is also engaged in separate battles against Daesh in the area. Fatal US raids Meanwhile, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that at least 33 people lost their lives when US-led warplanes struck a school hosting displaced families south of the Daesh-held town of al-Mansoura in Raqqah Province a day earlier. "They're still pulling bodies out of the rubble until now. Only two people were pulled out alive," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what is purported to be Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. The coalition has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared goal of destroying Daesh. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Coalition Airdrops SDF Forces in Syria's Tabqa, Backs Offensive With Air Fire Sputnik News 17:52 22.03.2017(updated 18:03 22.03.2017) The US-led coalition against the Daesh terror group banned by numrous countries has airdropped partner forces to the vicinity of Tabqah dam near the Syrian city of Raqqa, US Central Command spokesperson Maj. Josh Jacques told Sputnik on Wednesday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with the support of the United States, launched Operation Euphrates Rage to retake Raqqa last November. The city was captured by Daesh militants in 2014. "The Coalition conducted an air movement of our Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) and Syrian Arab Coalition partners to liberate Tabqah dam," Jacques said. "The Coalition supported this offensive with air fires." The air-dropped forces have conducted a joint operation to liberate several villages in the vicinity of the town of al-Tabqah from Daesh terrorist group militants, media reported on Wednesday, citing local sources. According to the Sky News Arabia, the US military and opposition forces liberated four villages and blocked the road between Aleppo and Raqqa, to prevent Syrian government troops from approaching the city of al-Tabqah, a remaining Daesh stronghold in the region. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel Vows to Continue Launching Airstrikes on Targets in Syria Sputnik News 17:44 22.03.2017 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed that Tel Aviv will continue to carry out operations aimed at disrupting weapons transfers from Iran to Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shia movement which Israel considers to be one of the top threats to its security. "My policy is consistent," he said while on a visit to China. "We will not allow Israel to be attacked from Syrian territory and we will not tolerate the transfer of advanced weaponry [to Hezbollah] to the extent that we detect it. It's our policy to launch strikes at convoys carrying sophisticated weaponry. We will continue to attack whenever the Iranians smuggle advanced arms." Netanyahu added that the Israel Defense Forces would conduct military operations if intelligence data confirms a planned weapons transfer and if the mission is "operationally feasible." The Israeli prime minister also said that he made his stance on Hezbollah clear during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in March. "Therefore we need this personal connection [with Putin], which is important for Israel's national security," Netanyahu added. These comments came after Israel carried out several airstrikes on Hezbollah targets near the Syrian city of Palmyra, evoking a tough response from Damascus. The Syrian Arab Army fired three anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli warplanes. One of them was intercepted by the Israeli Arrow missile defense system. The latest IDF mission in Syria "was targeted not against Hezbollah per se, but rather against warehouses where Iran-made weapons were stored, particularly those armament types that cannot be transferred to a terrorist organization. These include missiles. In addition, Israel launched airstrikes against weapons-laden convoys which were heading toward Lebanon. Hezbollah's military installations or assets of the Syrian Arab Army were not under attack," Israeli political analyst Yakov Kedmi told Vzglyad. Unlike Russia and China, Israel and the United States consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization, while the European Union has blacklisted only the military wing of the Shia movement. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Eight people have died in violent clashes between two ethnic groups in central Mali, local sources told AFP Thursday, as tensions grow over use of land and food scarcity in the region. Increased availability of arms from Libya has also contributed to intercommunal violence in Mali, experts say, while drought has forced herders into areas traditionally cultivated by farmers. Cattle rustling in the village of Tougou angered traditional hunters who cultivate the land with their animals, a local official told AFP on condition of anonymity, who then carried out reprisals Wednesday against Fulani people they believed had stolen the cows. Clashes in the nearby town of Diabaly "killed eight people", the source said. Fulani people are frequently accused of criminality and colluding with jihadists who have sowed chaos in Mali in recent years, especially in the north but more recently in the centre as well. A hospital source confirmed 13 wounded people had arrived on Wednesday night for treatment, with victims corroborating the deaths of eight people. Military reinforcements were on the scene to calm tensions, a security source based in the northern city of Gao confirmed to AFP. Hundreds of people were displaced by similar violence in February, also between members of the Fulani minority and majority Bambara people, and 20 were left dead. Since the overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi's regime in Libya, weapons have travelled freely from the chaotic state in an arc of unrest through Mali and Niger. Search Keywords: Short link: Most of Daesh Leader Baghdadi's Deputies Dead - Tillerson Sputnik News 17:33 22.03.2017(updated 17:51 22.03.2017) Most of the deputies of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of Daesh, have been killed by the US-led coalition against the terror group, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said at the coalition ministerial in Washington on Wednesday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Tillerson added that eliminating al-Baghdadi is a matter of time. "Nearly all of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's deputies are now dead," Tillerson stated. "Including the masterminds behind the attacks in Brussels, Paris and elsewhere." Daesh planned its attacks in France and Turkey, among other nations, from its de facto headquarters in the Syrian city of Raqqa, he added. "ISIS [Daesh] has carried out horrific attacks in the streets of Paris and Istanbul, each planned from its headquarters in Raqqa." Daesh has recruited 90 percent less foreign fighters than a year ago, he said. He called on the US-led coalition to increase intelligence-sharing both in their own countries and internationally. "We need greater intelligence and information sharing within our own domestic intelligence agencies and [among] our nations." The secretary of state noted that information-sharing has already prevented attacks, and it must expand despite regional rivalries. "ISIS [Daesh] is connected across every continent and we must work to break every link in its chain," Tillerson added. Additionally, Tillerson called for greater cooperation with technology companies to prevent would-be terrorists from using encrypted messaging systems to plan attacks. The US intends to establish "interim zones of stability" in Syria to help refugees return to their homes, Rex Tillerson said. "While a more defined course of action in Syria is still coming together, I can say the United States will increase our pressure on ISIS [Islamic State] and al-Qaeda," Tillerson stated. "We will work to establish interim zones of stability through ceasefires to allow refugees to go home." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Monitor: Airstrike Kills 33 Civilians in Northern Syria By VOA News March 22, 2017 A Syrian war monitor said Wednesday an airstrike believed to be carried out by a U.S.-led coalition has killed at least 33 people at a school near the key city of Raqqa. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the airstrike happened early Tuesday outside the village of al-Mansoura, and that the school was serving as a shelter for people displaced by the fighting in Syria. Raqqa is the de facto capital for the Islamic State group, and the city's capture is a main goal for the various forces fighting the militants. The U.S.-led coalition, which includes about a dozen countries carrying out strikes against Islamic State in Syria, has been pounding Raqqa in recent days. Coalition data showed nearly 20 strikes per day there on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Overall, strikes in Syria are up dramatically this year, with about 550 per month in January and February compared to an average of about 350 in the last six months of 2016. U.S. warplanes are responsible for the vast majority of coalition airstrikes in Syria. Those strikes, and those done by Syrian forces and their ally, Russia, have brought concerns about civilian casualties in a war that has left more than 400,000 people dead and displaced millions from their homes. Earlier this month, the coalition released its latest civilian casualty report, saying that since operations began in August 2014 it has found "more likely than not" its airstrikes have killed at least 220 civilians. That includes strikes in both Syria and Iraq. Rights organizations and conflict monitors say the toll is much higher. The London-based group Airwars says coalition strikes have likely killed, at a minimum, 2,700 - 3,900 civilians in Iraq and Syria. Airwars puts the toll for Russian strikes, which have taken place only in Syria, at around 3,900 since they began in September 2015. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan ready to take on greater role in regional peace, security: Tsai ROC Central News Agency 2017/03/22 23:30:36 Taipei, March 22 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen said Wednesday that Taiwan is ready to take on a greater role in helping to ensure regional peace and collective security. Addressing a dinner party hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, the president said Taiwan's representative to the U.S. will soon attend an international conference on Iraq and Syria and commit the provision of mine-sweeping resources in an international effort. In January, she added, Taiwan had donated a mobile hospital to help rebuild war-torn Iraq. Tsai expressed her hope that bilateral relations between Taiwan and the United States will be elevated to an "upgraded version" of strategic partnership that will cover regional security, trade and economic cooperation. A more strategic partnership on regional security, a wider-ranging cooperative relationship and a deeper mutual trust can all be achieved by confidence, she said. On the same occasion, Kin Moy, director of the American Institute in Taiwan's (AIT) Taipei Office, announced that the United States and Taiwan have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation on combating intellectual property infringement and trade fraud crimes. (By Chen Cheng-wei and S.C. Chang) Enditem NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK armoured vehicles arrive in Estonia 22 March 2017 The first of hundreds of UK military vehicles have arrived in Estonia to support the UK's enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup. The first of hundreds of UK military vehicles have arrived in Estonia to support the UK's enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup based in Tapa, one of the largest ever NATO deployments to Eastern Europe. Setting sail from Marchwood, Southampton, last Wednesday, the Roll-on-Roll-off ferry also stopped off in Emden, Germany, to collect Warrior infantry fighting vehicles, Challenger 2 tanks and AS90 self-propelled artillery guns. It also carried Terrier, Titan and Trojan armoured battlefield engineer vehicles. The vehicles will then be moved by road from the port to Tapa. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said: "This is the start of one of the biggest deployment in Eastern Europe since the Cold War and by the end of next month, we will have 800 British troops, with armour, with tanks, ready to help reassure our allies and to underline our commitment to the security of Europe" "British troops are playing a leading role in Estonia and supporting our US allies in Poland, as part of wider efforts to defend NATO." Commanding Officer of 5 Rifles Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wilson added: "The arrival of British and French armoured vehicles, alongside the men and women of the enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup is hugely exciting. We look forward to integrating into the Estonian Defence Force and training alongside 1st Infantry Brigade within a matter of weeks." Along with the French contribution of infantry fighting vehicles and tanks, which also arrived over the last few days, these vehicles will give the 5 Rifles Battlegroup the capability to operate in a wide range of exercises and operations within the 1st Estonian Infantry Brigade. The arrival of these vehicles follows the first deployment of 120 personnel to the country at the end of last week, standing by our allies and bolstering the Estonian Defence Forces. The first train and advanced French elements of the 2th Regiment d'infanterie de Marine will join their British counterparts this week. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Alan Burkitt-Gray speaks to Don MacNeil, chief operating officer of GTT, about its company restructuring after coming out of Chapter 11 and its strategic roadmap for the next 12 months. Egypt will increase the price of standard metro-tickets to EGP 2, doubling the cost from EGP 1, transport minister Hisham Arafat announced on Thursday. In comments to state-run news agency MENA, Arafat said that the increase had previously been set at 3 EGP, but the minister had insisted on keeping it at 2 EGP. Earlier on Thursday, a source at the ministry told Al-Ahram that special-needs passengers and "other categories" will have their tickets priced at EGP 1 and EGP 1.5, respectively. It's unclear which categories will be exempted from the EGP 2 pricing. The announcement of the price increase follows approval by the cabinet on Thursday and a series of discussions in parliament in the attendance of Arafat. No date has been set for the implementation of the price rise. However, the minister said it would take place "very soon". The move follows a series of proposals by officials in recent years to increase ticket prices in order to fix the financial woes of Cairo's vital metro underground service. Metro officials have repeatedly said the low ticket price, which has not been increased for over a decade, is a key factor in financial losses by the metro service. Officials have argued that increasing ticket prices could double annual revenues. On Wednesday, Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said the government is seeking to solve the financial troubles of the metro service, with has some EGP 500 million of debt. Ismail told reporters that the first of the Metro's three existing lines alone requires 350 million euros worth of maintenance and upgrades, excluding debts and running costs. Last week, the Cairo Metro Company's spokesman told Ahram Online that the company is failing to cover maintenance, electricity and water expenses due to a lack of resources. Cairos underground train system, launched in 1987, is one of the oldest in the Middle East and Africa. Over 3.5 million of Greater Cairo's 21 million inhabitants rely on the subway for their daily travel, according to estimates by the country's national tunnels authority. Construction on the final phase of Cairo's third metro line is set to begin by June, according to Arafat. A fourth line, financed through a loan from Japan, is planned and due to begin operations in 2019/20. Search Keywords: Short link: The festival will host a range of performances and film screenings from 28 March to 1 April The fourth edition of the Backstreet Festival will run in Alexandria and Cairo, featuring circus, theater, music and film screenings from 28 March to 1 April. The 30 to 90-minute performances will be held in semi-outdoor spaces in Alexandria including the courtyard of Saint Gabriel School, the French Institute, the Jesuit Cultural Center and Wekalet Benha. Cairo will host one performance titled Zwai -- a 30-minute circus show by E1NZ (Switzerland) -- at Darb Al Ahmar Arts School (DAAS) on 28 March. The festival will also host four international films including Egyptian actor/director Hussein El Imams film Zay Oud El-Kabreet (Like a Matchstick) and German director Anne Linsel's Tanztraume Jugendliche Tanzen Kontakthof von Pina Bausch (Dancing Dreams) among others. 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 Search Keywords: Short link: The discovery of the statue was made by the European-Egyptian mission, working under the umbrella of the German Archaeological Institute A unique statue, possibly of Queen Tiye, the wife of King Amenhotep III and grandmother of King Tutankhamun, has been unearthed at her husband's funerary temple in Kom El-Hittan on Luxor's west bank. The exciting find was made by the European-Egyptian mission, working under the umbrella of the German Archaeological Institute. Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany who visited the site to inspect the discovery, described the staute as "unique and distinghuised". He told Ahram Online that no alabaster statues of Queen Tiye have been found before now. "All previous statues of her unearthed in the temple were carved of quartzite," he said. Hourig Sourouzian, head of the mission said that the statue is very well preserved and has kept is colours well. She said the statue was founded accidentally while archaeologists were lifting up the lower part of a statue of king Amenhotep III that was buried in the sand. "The Queen Tiye statue appeared beside the left leg of the King Amenhotep III statue," Sourouzian said. She added that the statue will be the subject of restoration work. Search Keywords: Short link: Two suspects in robberies in Danville, Pittsylvania County, Bedford and Caswell County are related. Justin Lee Stallings, 32, and Taylor LaShae Stallings, 21, suspects in several incidents in the region, are brother and sister, according to court documents. Justin Stallings is being held at the Danville City Jail, while Taylor Stallings is at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail. The two are charged in a Feb. 5 robbery of a Dollar General store in Bedford. The brother also faces a use of a firearm in commission of a felony charge. The two are believed to have been involved in crimes related to robbery, vehicle theft and various types of larcenies in Virginia and North Carolina as well. Justin Stallings was developed as a suspect in multiple robberies, according to a Danville Circuit Court search warrant. His sister, Taylor, is believed to have participated in at least two of those robberies. The brother faces charges in at least four different jurisdictions for robbery, burglary and vehicle theft. Danville police sought a search warrant for Taylors residence in College Park Drive to search for items related to the crimes. (in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted) Guidance exceeded and $110 million agreement to acquire second package of U.S. oil & gas royalties TORONTO, March 22, 2017 /CNW/ - Franco-Nevada's CEO, David Harquail, commented: "Our diversified portfolio continues to perform very well. In 2016, we exceeded our recently increased guidance ranges for both Gold Equivalent Ounces1 ("GEOs") and oil & gas revenues. The growth in 2016 is reflecting the contribution from acquisitions we made during the recent downturn and increased activity by many of the operators on our lands. Franco-Nevada has no debt and is growing its cash balances. We continue to see investment opportunities and Franco-Nevada has just agreed to acquire, for $110 million, oil & gas royalties on the Midland portion of the Permian Basin in Texas, U.S." 2016 Q4 Financial Highlights Record 129,036 GEOs delivered in the quarter, with 121,910 GEOs sold $155.3 million in revenue a 28.0% increase over Q4/2015 $122.2 million of Adjusted EBITDA 2 or $0.69 per share or $0.69 per share $4.5 million of net loss, or $0.03 per share, reflecting impairment charges of $67.4 million on the Cooke 4 stream $42.9 million of Adjusted Net Income3 or $0.24 per share 2016 Full Year Financial Highlights 464,383 GEOs sold a new record and a 29.0% increase year-over-year $610.2 million in revenue a new record and a 37.6% increase year-over-year $489.1 million of Adjusted EBITDA 2 or $2.79 per share or $2.79 per share $122.2 million of net income, or $0.70 per share $164.4 million of Adjusted Net Income 3 or $0.94 per share or $0.94 per share $157.8 million of cash and DRIP dividends paid $253.0 million in cash and cash equivalents at year end and no debt Revenue and GEOs by Asset Categories Q4/2016 Q4/2015 Revenue GEOs Revenue GEOs (in millions) # (in millions) # Precious Metals Gold $ 112.8 93,775 $ 88.0 79,800 Silver 21.9 18,650 18.9 17,112 PGM 8.0 7,611 7.9 7,523 Precious Metals - Total $ 142.7 120,036 $ 114.8 104,435 Other Minerals 2.2 1,874 2.1 1,877 Oil & Gas 10.4 4.4 $ 155.3 121,910 $ 121.3 106,312 For Q4/2016, revenue was sourced 91.9% from precious metals (72.6% gold, 14.1% silver and 5.2% PGM) and 87.2% from the Americas (18.5% U.S., 22.3% Canada and 46.4% Latin America). Operating costs and expenses decreased slightly year-over-year, reflecting a realized gain of $14.1 million on the partial buy back of the Kirkland Lake NSR. Oil & gas revenue increased 136%, reflecting both higher prices and production levels year-over-year. Cash provided by operating activities was $121.9 million, an increase of 43.5% compared to Q4/2015. Corporate Updates Credit Facilities: On March 22, 2017, Franco-Nevada extended the term of its existing $1 billion credit facility from November 12, 2020 to March 22, 2022. In addition, on March 20, 2017, Franco-Nevada's subsidiary, Franco-Nevada (Barbados) Corporation, entered into an unsecured revolving credit facility which provides for the availability of up to $100 million in borrowings. Midland oil & gas royalties: On March 13, 2017, Franco-Nevada agreed to purchase a portfolio of oil & gas royalties in the Midland shale play of the Permian Basin of Texas for $110 million. Closing is expected in the second quarter of 2017. STACK oil & gas royalties: On December 19, 2016, Franco-Nevada acquired a $100 million portfolio of oil & gas royalty rights in the Sooner Trend, Anadarko Basin, Canadian and Kingfisher counties ("STACK") play in Oklahoma's Anadarko basin. Kirkland Lake royalty buy back: In October 2016, Kirkland Lake Gold exercised its option to buy back 1% of an overlying 2.5% net smelter return royalty for aggregate cash consideration of $30.3 million. Franco-Nevada recorded a gain on disposal of $14.1 million. Cooke 4 stream impairment: In October 2016, Sibanye Gold Ltd. announced that it had ceased production at the Cooke 4 mine. Franco-Nevada recorded an impairment charge of $67.4 million. Antapaccay stream: On February 26, 2016, Franco-Nevada acquired a $500 million precious metals stream from Glencore plc with reference to production from the Antapaccay mine located in Peru. Equity financing: On February 19, 2016, Franco-Nevada completed a bought deal financing with a syndicate of underwriters for 19.2 million common shares at $47.85 per common share. Net proceeds were $884.3 million. 2017 Guidance In 2017, Franco-Nevada expects attributable royalty and stream production to total 470,000 to 500,000 GEOs from its mineral assets and revenue of $35 million to $45 million from its oil & gas assets. Of the royalty and stream production, 335,000 to 345,000 GEOs are expected from Franco-Nevada's various stream agreements. For 2017 guidance, silver, platinum and palladium metals have been converted to GEOs using assumed commodity prices of $1,200/oz Au, $17.50/oz Ag, $950/oz Pt and $750/oz Pd. The WTI oil price is assumed to average $50 per barrel with a $3.50 per barrel price differential between the Edmonton Light and realized prices for Canadian oil. The Company estimates depletion expense of $265 million to $295 million. 2017 guidance and 2021 outlook below is based on assumptions including the forecasted state of operations from our assets based on the public statements and other disclosures by the third-party owners and operators of the underlying properties (subject to our assessment thereof). 2021 Outlook Our outlook to 2021 further assumes that the Cobre Panama project will be ramping up production in 2019. At the same time, scheduled fixed ounce payments from Midas/Fire Creek, Karma and Sabodala are expected to step down to longer term royalty or stream payments. Using the same commodity price assumptions as were used for our 2017 guidance (see above) and assuming no other acquisitions, Franco-Nevada expects its existing portfolio to generate between 515,000 to 540,000 GEOs by 2021. Oil & gas revenues at the same $50 per barrel WTI oil price assumption are expected to range between $55 million and $65 million. Q4/2016 Portfolio Updates Precious Metals U.S.: GEOs from U.S. precious metals assets increased by 14.5% year-over-year with decreases from Goldstrike being more than offset by payments received from the South Arturo mine. GEOs received from the U.S. precious metal assets were 22,971 GEOs. South Arturo (4-9% royalty) This project, operated by Barrick and Premier Gold, poured its first gold in August. Q4/2016 payments represented 8,808 GEOs. The partners are looking at a second open pit (Dee) on the property and are advancing permitting for the El Nino underground opportunity below the current pit. Goldstrike (2-4% royalty & 2.4-6% NPI) Barrick is unitizing Goldstrike in an effort to reduce AISC by $100 per ounce which would benefit the profit royalty. Bald Mountain (0.875-5% royalty) Kinross reported that it has doubled reserves at this project to 2.1 million gold ounces. Stillwater (5% royalty) Stillwater Mining now anticipates that the Blitz project will add between 270,000 and 330,000 PGM ounces of incremental production annually when fully ramped up by 2021-2022. Precious Metals Canada: GEOs from Canadian precious metals assets increased by approximately 8.6% to 20,849 GEOs compared with Q4/2015. Hemlo (3% royalty & 50% NPI) The main contributor to the increase in Canadian GEOs was the Hemlo NPI. Barrick has increased reserves at Hemlo including the Interlake and C-Zone Deep zones to which the royalties apply. Hardrock (3% royalty) Centerra Mining and Premier Gold presented a feasibility for a 14.5 year project with production averaging 300,000 gold ounces per year. A draft EA has been submitted. Detour (2% royalty) Detour Gold has had challenges in getting approvals for its West Detour pit and is expected to provide an alternative mine plan. Holloway (sliding scale royalty) In Q4, Kirkland Lake Gold announced its intention to put Holloway on care and maintenance. The Holloway royalty property encompasses the Holt mine property on which Franco-Nevada also receives royalties. Mining at Holt is expected to extend onto the Holloway property in the near term. At December 31, 2016, Franco-Nevada has recovered its initial investment in the Holloway mine. Brucejack (1.2% royalty) Pretium Resources expects to begin commissioning of the underground mine in mid-2017. Timmins West (2.25% royalty) Tahoe Resources expects to provide a reserve estimate for the Gap 144 zone in Q3/2017. Precious Metals Latin America: GEOs from Latin American precious metals assets represented the largest year-over-year increase due to the addition of the Antapaccay stream. Precious metal GEOs earned from Latin America were 60,808 GEOs, an increase of 26.0% year-over-year. Antapaccay (gold and silver stream) Antapaccay delivered 22,927 GEOs in Q4/2016, for a total of 73,612 GEOs in 2016. Antamina (22.5% silver stream) Antamina delivered 10,619 GEOs during the quarter compared to 13,021 GEOs in Q4/2015, reflecting adjustments for final settlements of provisionally priced sales. For the full year 2016, Antamina delivered 60,273 GEOs. Candelaria (gold and silver stream) Candelaria earned 19,698 GEOs, compared to 21,846 GEOs in the prior year quarter, as expected according to its mine plan. Since acquisition, contained copper and gold in the reserves have increased by approximately 50% when mined depletion is included and the production profile has significantly improved. Guadalupe (50% gold stream) The 400,000 minimum ounce Palmarejo obligation was paid and fully met by Coeur Mining in Q3. That resulted in the original Palmarejo gold stream being terminated and the new Guadalupe stream commencing. During Q4, Franco-Nevada received 7,058 GEOs under the new Guadalupe agreement. Cobre Panama (gold and silver stream) During the quarter, Franco-Nevada contributed $46.6 million of its share of construction capital for the Cobre Panama project. Franco-Nevada at quarter end has contributed $462.2 million of its total $1 billion commitment for the construction of Cobre Panama. First Quantum reported that the project was 46% complete as of year end and that initial production in expected in late 2018 with ramping up through 2019. Franco-Nevada expects to contribute between $200-$220 million to the project in 2017. Precious Metals Rest of World: GEOs from Rest of World precious metals assets were 15,408 GEOs during the quarter, a 9.0% decrease year-over-year. This reflected lower production at MWS and that a portion of ounces delivered from Karma and Sabodala had not been sold as at quarter end. Karma (fixed gold deliveries and stream) 3,750 GEOs were delivered in the quarter of which 2,500 were sold in Q4/2016. Sabodala (fixed gold deliveries and stream) 5,625 GEOs were delivered in the quarter, of which 3,750 were sold in Q4/2016. Teranga Gold won the PDAC award for Environmental & Social Responsibility for its work around the Sabodala mine. Edikan (1.5% royalty) Perseus Mining completed an upgrade to the plant in October 2016 and is now reporting improved operating performance. Sissingue (0.5% royalty) Perseus Mining reports that this project has been in full scale development since July 2016 and expects first production in the March 2018 quarter. Perseus has also secured financing of $40 million to complete the development of the project. Cerro Morro (2% royalty) Yamana is targeting a Q2/2018 start-up. Tasiast (2% royalty) Kinross continues to advance development of the Tasiast Phase One expansion and expects to provide a feasibility for a possible Phase Two expansion in Q3/2017. Subika (2% royalty) Newmont Mining is expected to make a decision in the first half of 2017 regarding the underground development of Subika and expanding the Ahafo mill. Agi Dagi (2% royalty) Alamos Gold has tabled a positive feasibility for the project projecting annual production of 177,600 ounces of gold over 5 years. A positive PEA was also completed for the neighboring Camyurt project on which Franco-Nevada also holds a royalty Oil & Gas: Revenue from oil & gas assets increased to $10.4 million in Q4/2016 compared to $4.4 million in Q4/2015, reflecting both higher prices and production levels year-over-year. Acquisition of U.S. Oil & Gas Royalties Midland Basin: On March 13, 2017, Franco-Nevada, through its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, agreed to purchase a package of royalty rights in the Midland Basin of West Texas for a price of $110 million. The Midland Basin forms the eastern portion of the broader Permian Basin and represents one of the most active and profitable oil plays in North America. The royalties consist of approximately 97% mineral title rights, along with some GORRs, which apply to approximately 908 acres (net after royalties) that, with pooling, provides exposure to an estimated gross acreage of 675,000 acres (a significant portion of the overall Midland Basin) at an estimated average royalty rate of 0.14%. The royalties are subject to a diverse operator base, which is anchored by Pioneer Natural Resources. Royalty revenue is expected to grow in future years as horizontal drilling activity in the area continues to ramp up. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017. Shareholder Information and 2017 Asset Handbook The complete Consolidated Annual Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis can be found today on Franco?Nevada's website at www.franco-nevada.com, on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Management will host a conference call tomorrow, Thursday, March 23, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time to review Franco?Nevada's 2016 results, as well as discuss the 2017 and five-year outlook. In addition, Franco-Nevada will be releasing its 2017 Asset Handbook with updated disclosures on our assets and the number of gold ounces and royalty equivalent units associated with each asset. Interested investors are invited to participate as follows: Via Conference Call: Toll-Free: (888) 231-8191; International: (647) 427-7450 Conference Call Replay until March 30: Toll-Free (855) 859-2056; Toronto (416) 849-0833; Pass code 66380664 Webcast: A live audio webcast will be accessible at www.franco-nevada.com Corporate Summary Franco-Nevada Corp. is the leading gold-focused royalty and stream company with the largest and most diversified portfolio of cash-flow producing assets. Its business model provides investors with gold price and exploration optionality while limiting exposure to many of the risks of operating companies. Franco-Nevada is debt free and uses its free cash flow to expand its portfolio and pay dividends. It trades under the symbol FNV on both the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. Franco-Nevada is the gold investment that works. For more information, please go to our website at www.franco-nevada.com or contact: Stefan Axell Sandip Rana Director, Corporate Affairs Chief Financial Officer (416) 306-6328 (416) 306-6303 info@franco-nevada.com Forward Looking Statements This press release contains "forward looking information" and "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, respectively, which may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future events or future performance, management's expectations regarding Franco-Nevada's growth, results of operations, estimated future revenues, carrying value of assets, future dividends and requirements for additional capital, mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, production estimates, production costs and revenue, future demand for and prices of commodities, expected mining sequences, business prospects and opportunities. In addition, statements (including data in tables) relating to reserves and resources and gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") are forward looking statements, as they involve implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions, and no assurance can be given that the estimates and assumptions are accurate and that such reserves and resources and GEOs will be realized. Such forward looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "projects", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Franco-Nevada to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. A number of factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from any forward looking statement, including, without limitation: fluctuations in the prices of the primary commodities that drive royalty and stream revenue (gold, platinum group metals, copper, nickel, uranium, silver, iron-ore and oil and gas); fluctuations in the value of the Canadian and Australian dollar, Mexican peso, and any other currency in which revenue is generated, relative to the U.S. dollar; changes in national and local government legislation, including permitting and licensing regimes and taxation policies and the enforcement thereof; regulatory, political or economic developments in any of the countries where properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest are located or through which they are held; risks related to the operators of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest, including changes in the ownership and control of such operators; influence of macroeconomic developments; business opportunities that become available to, or are pursued by Franco-Nevada; reduced access to debt and equity capital; litigation; title, permit or license disputes related to interests on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; whether or not the Corporation is determined to have "passive foreign investment company" ("PFIC") status as defined in Section 1297 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; potential changes in Canadian tax treatment of offshore streams; excessive cost escalation as well as development, permitting, infrastructure, operating or technical difficulties on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; actual mineral content may differ from the reserves and resources contained in technical reports; rate and timing of production differences from resource estimates, other technical reports and mine plans; risks and hazards associated with the business of development and mining on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest, including, but not limited to unusual or unexpected geological and metallurgical conditions, slope failures or cave-ins, flooding and other natural disasters, terrorism, civil unrest or an outbreak of contagious diseases; and the integration of acquired assets. The forward looking statements contained in this press release are based upon assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including, without limitation: the ongoing operation of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest by the owners or operators of such properties in a manner consistent with past practice; the accuracy of public statements and disclosures made by the owners or operators of such underlying properties; no material adverse change in the market price of the commodities that underlie the asset portfolio; the Corporation's ongoing income and assets relating to determination of its PFIC status; no material changes to existing tax treatment; no adverse development in respect of any significant property in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; the accuracy of publicly disclosed expectations for the development of underlying properties that are not yet in production; integration of acquired assets; and the absence of any other factors that could cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. However, there can be no assurance that forward looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Investors are cautioned that forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Franco-Nevada cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward looking statements and investors should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. For additional information with respect to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, please refer to the "Risk Factors" section of Franco-Nevada's most recent Annual Information Form filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities on www.sedar.com and Franco-Nevada's most recent Annual Report filed on Form 40-F filed with the SEC on www.sec.gov. The forward looking statements herein are made as of the date of this press release only and Franco-Nevada does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. NON-IFRS MEASURES: Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA are intended to provide additional information only and do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures are not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flow from operations as determined under IFRS. Other companies may calculate these measures differently. For a reconciliation of these measures to various IFRS measures, please see below or the Company's current MD&A disclosure found on the Company's website, on SEDAR and on EDGAR. Comparative information has been recalculated to conform to current presentation. GEOs include our gold, silver, platinum, palladium and other mineral assets. GEOs are estimated on a gross basis for NSR royalties and, in the case of stream ounces, before the payment of the per ounce contractual price paid by the Company. For NPI royalties, GEOs are calculated taking into account the NPI economics. Platinum, palladium, silver and other minerals are converted to GEOs by dividing associated revenue, which includes settlement adjustments, by the relevant gold price. The gold price used in the computation of GEOs earned from a particular asset varies depending on the royalty or stream agreement, which may make reference to the market price realized by the operator, or the average for the month, quarter, or year in which the mineral was produced or sold. For Q4/2016, the average commodity prices were as follows: $1,218 gold (2015 - $1,104), $17.18 silver (2015 - $14.76), $944 platinum (2015 - $908) and $684 palladium (2015 - $606). Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA per share are non-IFRS financial measures, which exclude the following from net income and EPS: income tax expense/recovery; finance expenses; finance income; depletion and depreciation; non-cash costs of sales; impairment charges related to royalty, stream and working interests and investments; gains/losses on sale of royalty interests; gains/losses on investments; and foreign exchange gains/losses and other income/expenses. Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per share are non-IFRS financial measures, which exclude the following from net income and earnings per share ("EPS"): foreign exchange gains/losses and other income/expenses; impairment charges related to royalty, stream and working interests and investments; gains/losses on sale of royalty interests; gains/losses on investments; unusual non-recurring items; and the impact of income taxes on these items. Reconciliation to IFRS measures: Three months ended Year ended December 31, December 31, (expressed in millions, except per share amounts) 2016 2015 2016 2015 Net Income (Loss) $ (4.5) $ (31.4) $ 122.2 $ 24.6 Income tax expense (recovery) 13.4 (4.9) 45.7 23.9 Finance expenses 0.8 1.4 3.6 2.9 Finance income (0.9) (2.1) (3.5) (5.3) Depletion and depreciation 67.2 65.8 273.8 216.3 Non-cash costs of sales 1.2 1.7 6.5 6.6 Impairment charges 67.5 62.8 67.5 62.9 Impairment of investments 0.1 2.0 Gain on sale of royalty interest (14.1) (14.1) Gain on investments (7.9) (12.4) (0.9) Foreign exchange (gains)/losses and other (income)/expenses (0.5) 0.8 (0.2) 4.1 Adjusted EBITDA $ 122.2 $ 94.2 $ 489.1 $ 337.1 Basic Weighted Average Shares Outstanding 178.3 156.8 175.2 156.9 Adjusted EBITDA per share $ 0.69 $ 0.60 $ 2.79 $ 2.16 Three months ended Year ended December 31, December 31, (expressed in millions, except per share amounts) 2016 2015 2016 2015 Net Income (Loss) $ (4.5) $ (31.4) $ 122.2 $ 24.6 Foreign exchange (gains)/losses and other (income)/expenses (0.5) 0.8 (0.2) 4.0 Impairment charges 67.5 62.8 67.5 62.9 Impairment of investments 0.1 2.0 Gain on sale of royalty interest (14.1) (14.1) Gain on investments (7.9) (12.4) (0.9) Tax effect of adjustments 4.3 (11.9) 4.7 (9.6) Other tax related adjustments: Indexation adjustment 0.1 (0.4) Valuation allowance (2.5) (4.4) 0.9 Impact of change in depreciation rate 4.0 4.0 Impact of tax increases 0.6 (0.7) 1.0 1.4 Adjusted Net Income $ 42.9 $ 23.7 $ 164.4 $ 88.9 Basic Weighted Average Shares Outstanding 178.3 156.8 175.2 156.9 Adjusted Net Income per share $ 0.24 $ 0.15 $ 0.94 $ 0.57 FRANCO-NEVADA CORPORATION CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION (in millions of U.S. dollars) December 31, 2016 December 31, 2015 ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents (Note 5) $ 253.0 $ 149.2 Short-term investments (Note 6) 18.8 Receivables 71.1 65.1 Prepaid expenses and other (Note 7) 37.1 41.6 Current assets 361.2 274.7 Royalty, stream and working interests, net (Note 8) 3,668.3 3,257.5 Investments (Note 6) 147.4 94.8 Deferred income tax assets (Note 17) 21.3 16.1 Other assets (Note 9) 23.4 31.2 Total assets $ 4,221.6 $ 3,674.3 LIABILITIES Accounts payable and accrued liabilities (Note 10) $ 21.0 $ 18.0 Current income tax liabilities (Note 17) 16.6 2.8 Current liabilities 37.6 20.8 Debt (Note 13) 457.3 Deferred income tax liabilities (Note 17) 37.5 33.2 Total liabilities 75.1 511.3 SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (Note 18) Common shares 4,666.2 3,709.0 Contributed surplus 41.6 44.3 Deficit (336.8) (302.2) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (224.5) (288.1) Total shareholders' equity 4,146.5 3,163.0 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 4,221.6 $ 3,674.3 Commitments (Note 20) Subsequent events (Notes 13 & 22) The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements and can be found in our 2016 Annual Report available on our website FRANCO-NEVADA CORPORATION CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) (in millions of U.S. dollars, except per share amounts) 2016 2015 Revenue (Note 14) $ 610.2 $ 443.6 Cost of sales Costs of sales (Note 15) 105.8 93.1 Depletion and depreciation (Note 8) 273.8 216.3 Total cost of sales 379.6 309.4 Gross profit 230.6 134.2 Other operating expenses (income) Corporate administration (Notes 16 & 18) 20.7 15.1 Business development (Note 16) 3.4 2.7 Impairment charges (Note 8(b)) 67.5 62.9 Gain on sale of royalty interest (Note 8(c)) (14.1) (Gain) loss on sale of gold bullion (Note 2(b)) (2.3) 2.2 Total other operating expenses (income) 75.2 82.9 Operating income 155.4 51.3 Foreign exchange gain (loss) and other income (expenses) (Notes 2(b) & 6) 0.2 (4.1) Realized gain on investments 12.4 0.9 Impairment of investments (2.0) Income before finance items and income taxes 168.0 46.1 Finance items Finance income 3.5 5.3 Finance expenses (Note 13) (3.6) (2.9) Net income before income taxes 167.9 48.5 Income tax expense (Note 17) 45.7 23.9 Net income $ 122.2 $ 24.6 Other comprehensive income (loss): Items that may be reclassified subsequently to profit and loss: Unrealized gain (loss) in the market value of available-for-sale investments, net of income tax expense of $5.3 (2015 - income tax recovery of $1.6) (Note 17) 52.9 (27.0) Realized change in market value of available-for-sale investments, net of income tax expense of $1.6 (2015 - income tax recovery of $nil) (Note 6) (10.6) 1.1 Currency translation adjustment 21.3 (163.4) Other comprehensive income (loss) 63.6 (189.3) Total comprehensive income (loss) $ 185.8 $ (164.7) Basic earnings per share (Note 19) $ 0.70 $ 0.16 Diluted earnings per share (Note 19) $ 0.69 $ 0.16 The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements and can be found in our 2016 Annual Report available on our website FRANCO-NEVADA CORPORATION CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (in millions of U.S. dollars) 2016 2015 Cash flows from operating activities Net income $ 122.2 $ 24.6 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Depletion and depreciation 273.8 216.3 Non-cash costs of sales 6.5 6.6 Share-based payments 5.0 4.5 Impairment charges (Note 8) 67.5 62.9 Gain on sale of royalty interest (14.1) Unrealized foreign exchange loss 0.5 3.7 Mark-to-market on warrants (0.4) 0.5 Gain on investments (12.4) (0.9) Impairment of investments 2.0 Deferred income tax expense 3.5 (2.2) Other non-cash items (1.2) (0.8) Acquisition of gold bullion (Note 2(b)) (53.5) (66.6) Proceeds from sale of gold bullion (Note 2(b)) 67.3 60.8 Operating cash flows before changes in non-cash working capital 464.7 311.4 Changes in non-cash working capital: (Increase) decrease in receivables (6.0) 7.0 Increase in prepaid expenses and other (4.5) (3.8) Increase (decrease) in current liabilities 16.8 (0.3) Net cash provided by operating activities (Note 2(b)) 471.0 314.3 Cash flows from investing activities Proceeds from sale of investments 28.6 25.6 Proceeds from sale of royalty interest 30.3 Acquisition of investments (1.6) (111.3) Acquisition of royalty, stream and working interests (744.8) (1,016.8) Acquisition of oil & gas well equipment (2.1) (3.6) Acquisition of property and equipment (0.2) Net cash used in investing activities (Note 2(b)) (689.8) (1,106.1) Cash flows from financing activities Net proceeds from issuance of common shares 883.5 Proceeds from draw of Credit Facility 480.0 Repayment of Credit Facility (460.0) (20.0) Credit facility amendment costs (2.3) Payment of dividends (118.1) (94.1) Proceeds from exercise of stock options 16.3 10.5 Net cash provided by financing activities 321.7 374.1 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents 0.9 (25.6) Net change in cash and cash equivalents 103.8 (443.3) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 149.2 592.5 Cash and cash equivalents at end of year $ 253.0 $ 149.2 Supplemental cash flow information: Cash paid for interest expense and loan standby fees $ 3.0 $ 3.0 Income taxes paid $ 30.7 $ 27.8 The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements and can be found in our 2016 Annual Report available on our website SOURCE Franco-Nevada Corp. As a result of a review by the British Columbia Securities Commission, Nickel One Resources Inc. (the Company) is issuing the following news release to clarify certain disclosures previously made by it.The issues primarily concern the Companys disclosure pertaining to the Lantinen Koillismaa PGE-Cu-Ni project (LK Project) located in North-central Finland, as recently acquired by the Company from Finore Mining Inc. through the purchase of Nortec Minerals Oy, and compliance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101).The Company has made statements or references to mineral resources attributable to the LK Project, in the following disclosure documents:1. news releases of October 19, 2016 and February 1, 2017 (the News Releases);2. a corporate presentation (the Presentation) on the Companys website; and3, a link on the Companys website to an article by Rockstone Research dated August 11, 2016 (the Article).The Company advises that those mineral resource estimates, as disclosed, are not supported by a compliant NI 43-101 technical report, contrary to NI 43-101; and further advises that the estimates should not be relied on until they have been verified and supported by a compliant technical report. The Company has engaged Mining Plus Consulting Canada Ltd. to prepare a technical report, in compliance with NI 43-101, to support such disclosure. The Company expects to receive and file such technical report within 21 days following the date of this news release.The Company further acknowledges that in its recent MD&As, it did not identify and disclose the relationship to the Company of the qualified person who prepared, supervised the preparation of, or approved of the technical information therein; and, on its website and in the Presentation, the Company did not identify the qualified person who prepared, supervised the preparation of, or approved of the information pertaining to the LK Project. The Company advises that Scott Jobin-Bevans, Ph.D., PMP, P.Geo, a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101, did review and approve the disclosure in the Companys MD&As, its website and news releases. Dr. Jobin-Bevans also approved of the technical disclosure in this news release. Dr. Jobin-Bevans is a director of the Company.Vance LoeberCEO, President, DirectorVance LoeberPhone: 778 327-5799Fax: 778-327-6675Email: info@nickeloneinc.comNeither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.This press release is not an offer or a solicitation of an offer of securities for sale in the United States of America. The common shares of Nickel One Resources Inc. have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration. Vancouver, March 23, 2017 - Secova Metals Corp. (TSXV: SEK) (FSE: N4UN) (OTC: SEKZF) ("Secova" or the "Company") ("Secova" or the "Company") is very pleased to announce that is has increased its land position within the Windfall Lake district by acquiring 1107136 B.C. Ltd., a private B.C. Company which sole asset is 299 claims, or 16,500.55 hectares, for a purchase price of forty-thousand dollars and nine million shares of the Company. The majority of the acquisition, 261 claims or 14,369.25 hectares, are adjacent to Secova's Eagle River project which is on a south-east trend to the Windfall Lake, Urban Barry and the Gladiator gold projects. This acquisition has increased the Eagle River Project by approximately 370% from its original size (as per the Company's November 29th, 2017 news release on the acquisition of the Eagle River project than totaling 4,354 hectares) and brings the Company's total contiguous land package to 19,778.7 hectares (356 claims). Please refer to the map below (also available online at www.secovametals.com/projects/eagleriver) which details the expansion and location of Secova's Eagle River properties in relation to the current developments in the region. Secova Metals Eagle River Expansion in the Windfall Gold Camp, Quebec To view an enhanced version of this image, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4999/25811_a1490224791998_49.jpg With this acquisition, the Company also acquired three other claim blocks totaling 38 claims (or 2,141.3 hectares) that are strategically located in the western region of the gold camp and are adjacent to Osisko Mining's Windfall Lake project and Metanor's Urban-Barry project. "This acquisition provides Secova's shareholders with an opportunity to participate in the development of the Windfall Lake gold project and surrounding properties," stated Brad Kitchen, CEO & Chairman of Secova. "Management and Consultants are reviewing historic data and are in conversation with airborne and ground geophysics companies to develop an exploration plan that will rely on both new technology and management's intimate understanding of the development of the area." The acquisition is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. About Secova Metals Corp. Secova Metals Corp. is a Canadian gold exploration company focused on building a strong asset base through exploration of undervalued gold projects in Canada. Management has demonstrated expertise in advancing gold exploration projects into acquisition targets, most notably in the province of Quebec. Secova has the exclusive right and option to acquire from Tres-OR Resources Inc. ("Tres-Or"), an undivided 65% right, title and interest in the contiguous Duvay and Chenier Gold Projects. Secova can earn up to 90% of the property (an additional 25% ownership) by funding a pre-feasibility study after the initial exploration expenditures to bring the property towards production. The Company has a total contiguous land package of 174 claims covering over 7,766 hectares (17,458 acres) of land. The Duvay/Chenier project is in the Abitibi gold belt, one of Quebec's premier mining jurisdictions. The Company has plans to advance the development of Duvay/Chenier, Eagle River and Cobalt Bay projects as well as seek other avenues of growth through acquisition and mergers. For more information on Secova Metals Corp. please contact Morgan Good, Secova's President, at morgan.good@secovametals.com and Tel: +1 604-715-4751 or visit the website at www.secovametals.com for past news releases, media interviews and opinion-editorial pieces by CEO and Chairman Brad Kitchen. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, Secova Metals Corp. "Brad Kitchen" CEO, Director and Chairman Tel: +1 604-506-7555 info@secovametals.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release contains "forward-looking information" that is based on the Company's current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections. This forward-looking information includes, among other things, statements with respect to the Company's exploration and development plans. The words "will", "anticipated", "plans" or other similar words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. TORONTO, March 23, 2017 /CNW/ - U3O8 Corp. (TSX: UWE), (OTCQB: UWEFF) ("U3O8 Corp." or the "Company") reports on progress achieved in the quarter towards driving down production cost estimates on its priority project, the Laguna Salada Deposit in Argentina. The Company also reports that it has decided, under IFRS rules, to write down the value of its Colombian deposit in its 2016 year-end financial statements. This is an accounting measure that reflects the limited work undertaken in Colombia under the difficult conditions in the uranium resource sector over the last three years, while available funds have been focused on advancing the Laguna Salada Deposit in Argentina. The Berlin Deposit in Colombia remains in good standing and will be reactivated by the Company as soon as adequate funding becomes available. Prioritization of the Laguna Salada Deposit in Argentina With the limited funding that has been available to the Company during the downturn in the resource sector, and while uranium prices sunk to their lowest levels in a decade in December 2016, the Company focused its expenditure on its priority project, advancing it towards a feasibility study in a cost-effective manner. The Laguna Salada Deposit in Argentina is considered the Company's top priority asset under current market conditions for the following reasons: The deposit is flat-lying and shallow, with the uranium-vanadium layer exposed at surface in some areas and extending to a depth of only three metres in others. The advantage of this geometry is that it allows for mining to begin in the richest part of the deposit, where margins are highest, resulting in a quick payback of the capital borrowed for construction of the mine and plant, and freeing up cash flow to be returned to shareholders as soon as possible; The Preliminary Economic Assessment 1 on Laguna Salada estimated cash costs of production of approximately US$12 per pound of uranium in year one, while the highest grade material is mined. New discoveries of uranium and vanadium elsewhere in the Laguna Salada Project area (see press releases dated January 11, January 19 and February 7, 2017) returned grades that are similar to, or higher than, the grade of the material modeled to be mined in year one. Hence, this newly discovered material has potential to add to the Deposit's resource and to improve its economics; on Laguna Salada estimated cash costs of production of approximately US$12 per pound of uranium in year one, while the highest grade material is mined. New discoveries of uranium and vanadium elsewhere in the Laguna Salada Project area (see press releases dated January 11, January 19 and February 7, 2017) returned grades that are similar to, or higher than, the grade of the material modeled to be mined in year one. Hence, this newly discovered material has potential to add to the Deposit's resource and to improve its economics; Refinements to the way in which the uranium coating is removed from pebbles and sand grains in the gravels offer potential for greater efficiencies and lower production cost estimates. Additional test work is currently being undertaken in Australia on this aspect of the Deposit. Results of this test work are expected shortly; Environmental restoration would be done at the same pace as mining. Once the bulk of the uranium is removed from the gravel, the gravel would be replaced and replanted with indigenous species the aim being to leave the land in a better condition than it was prior to mining, to the long-term economic benefit of the landowners; There is a possibility that at least part of the power requirement of the project could be generated by wind turbines since Patagonia has an excellent wind resource. This creates potential for U3O8 Corp. to provide uranium that is produced with a low-carbon footprint that may provide marketing leverage in some jurisdictions; and Argentina is a country that is steadily increasing the proportion of electricity generated from nuclear plants. All of the uranium used in Argentina is imported and the country would benefit from security of local supply, the creation of jobs and tax income from local production. Write-down of Colombian Property for Accounting Purposes U3O8 Corp. has decided, in compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), to take an impairment charge of $7.7 million on its Berlin Project in Colombia in its year-end financial statements for 2016. One consideration under IFRS rules is that impairment should be considered if there has been less than optimal spending over the previous three year period, which is the case on the Berlin Project since available exploration funds have been prioritized for advancement of the Laguna Salada Deposit. Significant future expenditure on the Berlin Project may allow the Company to reverse the impairment charge. The Board and Management of U3O8 Corp. believe that Berlin is an exceptional deposit, containing a unique suite of commodities which are in demand by the clean energy industry including: uranium for nuclear energy; nickel, vanadium and phosphate for batteries; and rare earth elements for use in low-energy lighting and high-efficiency electric motors and generators. Exploration concession fees have been paid and the Berlin Project is in good standing. The next critical step for the advancement of the Deposit is pilot plant test work on the efficiency of nanofiltration to concentrate the metals and phosphate from the liquid into which these commodities are dissolved from the mineralized rock. The Company has not had the required $1.1 million in funds to commit to this work. If the test work is successful, the use of nanofiltration in the processing plant design may significantly reduce the capital cost estimated for the Project in the PEA2. Operating costs would also be expected to fall and metal recoveries increase. Positive results from the test work could markedly improve the economic robustness of the Project. Technical Information Dr. Richard Spencer, P.Geo., C.Geol., President and CEO of U3O8 Corp. and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has approved the technical information in this news release. About U3O8 Corp. U3O8 Corp. is focused on exploration and development of deposits of uranium and associated commodities in South America. Potential by-products from uranium production include commodities used in the energy storage industry in the manufacture of batteries - such as nickel, vanadium and phosphate. The Company's mineral resources estimates were made in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, and are contained in three deposits: Laguna Salada Deposit, Argentina a PEA shows this near surface, free-digging uranium - vanadium deposit has low production-cost potential; Berlin Deposit, Colombia a PEA shows that Berlin also has low-cost uranium production potential due to revenue that would be generated from by-products of phosphate, vanadium, nickel, rare earths (yttrium and neodymium) and other metals that occur within the deposit; and Kurupung Deposit, Guyana a uranium resource has been estimated in four veins within a uranium-zirconium vein system. Resources have been estimated on four veins, while consistent mineralization of the same type has been intersected in scout drilling of an additional six veins, while yet other veins require first-time exploration drilling. Information on U3O8 Corp., its resources and technical reports are available at www.u3o8corp.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Follow U3O8 Corp. on Facebook: www.facebook.com/u3o8corp, Twitter: www.twitter.com/u3o8corp and Youtube: www.youtube.com/u3o8corp. Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes certain "forward looking statements" related with the development plans, economic potential and growth targets of U3O8 Corp.'s projects. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intensions for the future, and include, but not limited to, statements with respect to: (a) the low-cost and near-term development of Laguna Salada, (b) the Laguna Salada and Berlin PEAs, (c) the potential of the Kurupung district in Guyana, (d) impact of the U- pgradeTM process on expected capital and operating expenditures, and (e) the price and market for uranium. These statements are based on assumptions, including that: (i) actual results of our exploration, resource goals, metallurgical testing, economic studies and development activities will continue to be positive and proceed as planned, and assumptions in the Laguna Salada and Berlin PEAs prove to be accurate, (ii) a joint venture will be formed with the provincial petroleum and mining company on the Argentina project, (iii) requisite regulatory and governmental approvals will be received on a timely basis on terms acceptable to U3O8 Corp., (iv) economic, political and industry market conditions will be favourable, and (v) financial markets and the market for uranium will improve for junior resource companies in the short-term. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in such statements, including, but not limited to: (1) changes in general economic and financial market conditions, (2) changes in demand and prices for minerals, (3) the Company's ability to establish appropriate joint venture partnerships, (4) litigation, regulatory, and legislative developments, dependence on regulatory approvals, and changes in environmental compliance requirements, community support and the political and economic climate, (5) the inherent uncertainties and speculative nature associated with exploration results, resource estimates, potential resource growth, future metallurgical test results, changes in project parameters as plans evolve, (6) competitive developments, (7) availability of future financing, (8) exploration risks, and other factors beyond the control of U3O8 Corp. including those factors set out in the "Risk Factors" in our Annual Information Form available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. U3O8 Corp. assumes no obligation to update such information, except as may be required by law. For more information on the above-noted PEAs, refer to the September 18, 2014 technical report titled "Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Laguna Salada Uranium-Vanadium Deposit, Chubut Province, Argentina" and the January 18, 2013 technical report titled "U3O8 Corp. Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Berlin Deposit, Colombia." ___________________________ 1 September 18, 2014 Technical Report: "Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Laguna Salada Uranium Vanadium Deposit, Chubut Province, Argentina. 2 January 18, 2013 technical report: "Berlin Project, Colombia Preliminary Economic Assessment, NI 43-101 Report." SOURCE U3O8 Corp. Vancouver, March 23, 2017 - Dajin Resources Corp. . ("Dajin") (TSX-V: DJI) (OTC: DJIFF) (Germany: C2U1) is pleased to announce that it has received the permit (Notice NVN-94695) from the Bureau of Land Management to proceed with drilling and civil works at its 100% owned Teels Marsh project located in Mineral County, Nevada. Dajin's President, Mr. Brian Findlay remarked, "This Notice has been a long time coming but encompasses a significantly different approach to exploration for Lithium brines in Nevada than undertaken by other companies. The Notice includes permission for the drilling of four large diameter wells, potentially to a depth of 4,000 feet (1,200 meters). These wells are intended to follow-up on the excellent surface brine results that Dajin previously announced. The drilling of deep, large-diameter, cased wells with the ability to discharge, is intended to not only measure the concentration of Lithium in the subsurface but to also carry out robust aquifer testing of any Lithium bearing subsurface aquifer(s) that may be encountered during the drilling. The testing volumes proposed for these wells could discharge up to a maximum of 20 acre-feet per well. This testing volume is possible because Dajin holds water rights in Teels Marsh. During the application process, a number of ancillary permits were acquired by Dajin in order to proceed with its exploration drilling plans. Dajin has temporary permits to change the point of diversion for each of the proposed wells under their base Water Right Permit #85204. Dajin has also received a Special Use Permit from Mineral County for use of heavy equipment on county roads. An agreement to obtain a local source of gravel from private land within the basin has also been completed. Dajin thanks its contractors Welsh Hagen Associates (civil works and permitting), and Capuano Engineering (drilling design), Mahannah & Associates (water rights permitting) and EM Strategies (formerly Enviroscientists; base-line studies), for their help through this process. About Dajin: (www.dajin.ca) Dajin is an early stage Lithium exploration company holding a 100% interest in 403 placer claims covering 7,914 acres (3,202 hectares) in the Teels Marsh region of Mineral County, Nevada. These claims are known to contain Lithium and Boron values and are adjacent to the birth place of US Borax Corp's first borax mine. Dajin also holds a 100% interest in 191 placer claims covering 3,851 acres (1,558 hectares) in the Alkali Lake region of Esmeralda County, Nevada, located 7 miles (11 kilometers) northeast of Albemarle Holding's Silver Peak Lithium brine operation in Clayton Valley. Dajin, through Dajin Resources S.A. ("Dajin S.A."), holds concessions or concession applications in Jujuy Province, Argentina that were acquired in regions known to contain brines with Potassium, Lithium and Boron values. These concessions exceed 93,000 hectares (230,000 acres) and are primarily located in the Salinas Grandes/Guayatayoc salt lakes basin. Dajin S.A. is partnered with LSC Lithium Corp. who has agreed to spend $2,000,000 to earn a 51% interest in Dajin S.A.'s Lithium properties while building a significant presence in Argentina. (click here for information on LSC Lithium Corp.) ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS For further information please contact: Brian Findlay Julie Hajduk at 604-609-6151or julie@dajin.ca President & CEO Head of Corporate Development The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Copyright (c) 2017 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Mar 23, 2017) - Alset Energy Corp. (TSX VENTURE:ION) ("Alset" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that having completed an environmental report and an application for drilling, the Company has received the necessary permits to commence drilling at its La Salada lithium project near Zacatecas, Mexico. The Company is now in the process of securing drill crews and site personnel and is expecting to commence drilling in early April. In addition to the drilling, the Company will commence a shallow subsurface sampling program. These efforts are designed to better understand the geochemistry and deportment of lithium in subsurface soils and the depth and chemistry of potential brine of the La Salada salar. Allan Barry Laboucan, President and CEO of Alset Energy said: "This work will form the first part of our exploration program on the lithium salars near Zacatecas, Mexico. The La Salada salar has seen significant historical work and our own chemical analysis and leaching tests are guiding our drilling and sampling program. We are very excited about the ability to now generate our own samples to better understand the lithium potential of the salar and to determine its depth extent. This drilling and sampling program will give us new material for leaching tests and to help direct our future development of this lithium and potassium bearing salar." Drilling and Sampling Program Initially, two holes will be drilled to evaluate depth to bedrock and brine potential in the La Salada salar. Material collected during drilling will be sampled and sent in for geochemical analysis to better understand the vertical distribution of lithium and geochemical nature of the salar at depth. Additionally, Alset will carry out a subsurface sampling program on a 100-meter grid across the entire salar. The primary focus of this work is to enhance the Company's understanding of the near surface chemical composition of the salar infill material and most importantly, its lithium content. Furthermore, Alset intends to resample some locations of the historical grid sampling carried out on the salar as a means to validate historical results. Alset is also planning to use material collected from the drilling and sampling programs for scoping metallurgical testing to add confidence to previous leaching tests done with La Salada salar materials (see Company news release dated: 2017-03-03). The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Emily Hanson, PGeo, who is a qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. About Alset Energy (ION.V) Alset Energy is a TSX-V listed junior exploration company focused on exploring and acquiring mineral properties containing the metals needed by today's high-tech industries. The Company is actively exploring in Mexico and Canada. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Alset Energy Corp., Allan Barry Laboucan, President and CEO THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections Egyptian Minister of Defence Sedki Sobhy and US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis agreed to continue working to strengthen US-Egyptian relations and achieve strategic objectives, the Pentagon spokesman said late on Wednesday. In a telephone conversation, Mattis expressed "his commitment to advancing the US Egyptian defence partnership," spokesman Jeff Davis said in a statement on the website of the US Department of Defense. "Minister Sobhy underscored the strength of the countries' history of military-to-military cooperation and provided an assessment of shared terrorism concerns," Davis added. The two officials said they "will remain in close communication in the pursuit of US-Egyptian strategic objectives." Cairo is one of Washington's closest Middle East allies. The US has been providing Egypt with military aid since the Arab country's 1979 peace deal with Israel. Ties grew strained under former US president Barack Obama who briefly suspended aid after the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. During a visit to Washignton earlier this month, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the continuation of US aid is crucial for Egypt in its fight against terrorism and efforts to maintain stability and peace in the region. Search Keywords: Short link: Back in 1932, a group of Wisconsin state employees banded together to defend their rights as civil servants, pushing back against a corrupt spoils system that would reward friends of politicians with important public-service jobs that demanded nonpartisan professionalism.That was the beginning of the formation of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. I am proud to serve as president of AFSCME, where we represent 1.6 million men and women -- everyone from bus drivers to sanitation workers to emergency medical technicians -- who never quit working to serve and strengthen their communities.Over the decades, even as our union has grown, we have had to contend with adversaries trying not just to hold down our members' pay and benefits but who fundamentally denigrate and disrespect their work. That reflexive scapegoating of public workers has now reached a fever pitch. Around the country, right-wing politicians, underwritten by corporate interests, are going after the rights and the economic security of those who work for the public good. They're not just trying to knock us down; they want to take us out.Nowhere has that been more true in Wisconsin, which since 2011 has been in the vanguard of the effort to take away public employees' hard-won employment rights. But what Wisconsin's legislature and governor did was just the beginning. Last month in Iowa, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad signed a bill gutting government employees' collective bargaining rights. The new law, which AFSCME's Iowa affiliate is challenging in court, means that most of Iowa's state and local public workers now have the right to negotiate only their base wages -- and a limited one at that. They no longer can bargain over other benefits or terms of employment such as health insurance, transfers and layoffs, or evaluation and grievance procedures.Illinois' Republican governor, private-equity billionaire Bruce Rauner, also has made it a top priority to kick public employees to the curb. Aiming to dictate rather than negotiate, Rauner has tried to force-feed our state members an unacceptable contract that includes a four-year wage freeze and a 100 percent increase in health-care premiums.Now the presidency of Donald Trump has ushered in a fresh wave of withering attacks on public employees at the federal level. Just days after taking the oath of office, Trump imposed a federal hiring freeze. And a new bill moving through Congress would eviscerate civil-service protections, making it easier to fire career government employees without due process. The president's proposed fiscal year 2018 budget is so austere that it would, according to the, expedite "a historic contraction of the federal workforce."Trump's proposed cuts to non-defense discretionary spending make sequestration look generous. Low-income housing, environmental protection, scientific research and international diplomacy all would take major hits, affecting the livelihoods of both federal employees and the people they serve. The Labor Department, for example, would be cut by more than one-fifth, with huge implications for job training, wages, occupational safety and more.And then there is the issue of ill-advised privatization. The Obama administration, after careful study, announced last summer that the federal government would no longer contract with private prison companies. But the new attorney general, Jeff Sessions, reversed that decision last month, even though private corrections corporations are a cancer on the criminal-justice system, contributing to the mass-incarceration epidemic and operating prisons with deplorable safety measures, sanitary conditions and rehabilitation records.Meanwhile, Trump and his team have taken every opportunity to smear those who have devoted their careers to the common good and the public interest. We have seen this in his tweets attacking the intelligence community and judges and in his disparagement of data generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We have seen it in his campaign promise to "remove bureaucrats who only know how to kill jobs"; in Newt Gingrich's call for "straight-out war" on the civil service; and in top White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon's talk of "deconstruction of the administrative state."Public employees don't expect to get rich, but some basic respect for the important jobs they do isn't too much to ask. Instead, in too many states and localities from coast to coast -- and now more than ever at the federal level -- their hard work is rewarded with pettiness and scorn. Not from their neighbors, but from politicians with an agenda.When you attack public workers, entire communities suffer -- their schools, hospitals, roads and more. To undermine law enforcement, social workers and 911 dispatchers, and their counterparts at every level of government, is to hurt the citizens who depend every day on the services they provide. The final day of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee got off to an awkward start Wednesday when the Supreme Court unanimously overruled the foundation of one of his opinions in a case involving the rights of children with disabilities.It was an embarrassing moment for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick, breaking shortly after Gorsuch sat down for the third day of a confirmation hearing that has otherwise gone smoothly.Pouncing on the decision, Democratic senators quickly asked Gorsuch for a reaction."That's fine. I will follow the law," Gorsuch told Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., in a self-deprecating tone that has been his trademark during the hearing. He laughed and said that he had been handed the ruling on the way to the bathroom during a short break. "If I was wrong, senator, I'm sorry."Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, came to Gorsuch's defense, noting that the 10th Circuit judge's 2008 ruling itself had not been overturned, though it had played a key role in another case that was the subject of Wednesday's high court ruling.The high court's ruling Wednesday bolsters the rights of millions of disabled children. Justices ruled for the parents of a Colorado boy with autism who had removed their son from a public school because he was screaming in class, climbing on furniture and making no progress. They enrolled him in a private school that specialized in autism where he flourished.They then sued the school district for a reimbursement, citing the federal law that promises a "free appropriate public education" to all children with disabilities.They lost in the 10th Circuit Court in Denver, which said the public school program was adequate because it was "merely ... more than de minimis," or minimal. This phrase came from the 2008 opinion by a three-judge panel, including Gorsuch.But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., speaking for the court, said that standard was too low. The federal law "demands more. It requires an educational program that is reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child's circumstances," he said in Endrew F. vs. Douglas County School District.A child's individualized learning program "must be appropriately ambitious in light of the circumstances," Roberts said. "The goals may differ, but every child should have the chance to meet challenging objectives."The rest of the day went better for Gorsuch.In response to questions from Sen Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Gorsuch distanced himself from Bush administration policies that authorized waterboarding of detained prisoners. She cited a 2005 document on which Gorsuch had hand-written the word "yes" next to a passage that said aggressive interrogation techniques had yielded valuable intelligence.What information did he have showing these techniques were effective? she asked.Gorsuch said he did not have clear memory of this from 12 years ago. "My recollection," he said, "is that that was the position that the clients were telling us. I was a lawyer. My job was an advocate, and we were dealing with the detaining litigation. That was my involvement."Gorsuch served one year in the Justice Department before being appointed to the 10th Circuit in 2006.The judge also refused Feinstein's request to endorse or accept the notion of assisted suicide for people who are terminally ill. She cited California's end-of-life option act."I, in my life, have seen people die horrible deaths," she said. "The suffering becomes so hard."Gorsuch said he could discuss this issue because he wrote a book on the topic before he became a judge. In his testimony, he repeated his view that dying people have a right to refuse further treatment, something the Supreme Court recognized 20 years ago."At one point, you want to be left alone. Enough with the poking and prodding," he said.But his book questioned the legality of allowing doctors to give willing patients medicine that could end their lives.He said doctors may give patients heavy medication for pain, so long as they do not intend the patient to die."I drew a line between intent and knowingly," he told the senator. Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky was unrestrained in his praise for President Trump: Opening for him at a rally on Monday, Mr. Bevin, a conservative Republican, echoed Mr. Trumps America First slogan and only gently noted the nagging divisions in their party.We now have a president and a Congress that are united in party, and yet we still have disagreements among us, Mr. Bevin said, insisting, This is healthy and good.In private, Mr. Bevin has been blunter about the partys disagreements. Just days before appearing with Mr. Trump in Louisville, he joined a conference call with the presidents budget director, Mick Mulvaney, to protest a White House proposal to defund the Appalachian Regional Commission, an economic development agency that spans 13 states and steers millions of dollars in federal money to Kentucky.Mr. Bevin was not alone in his dismay.As Mr. Trump and his advisers press for bone-deep cuts to the federal budget, Republican governors have rapidly emerged as an influential bloc of opposition. They have complained to the White House about reductions they see as harmful or arbitrary, and they plan to pressure members of Congress from their states to oppose them. As fraudsters go high-tech to scam governments for tax refunds, some states are employing decidedly low-tech ways of stopping them.In 15 states and the District of Columbia, tax returns that are flagged as unusual are issued as a paper refund check. The old-school method comes as tax filers are more susceptible to having their identity stolen. "When there's a suspicious situation, we send paper checks because that has to go to a physical person," says D.C. CFO Jeff DeWitt.Things that could flag a return include the filer having a new mailing address or using a bank account from previous years.Fraud typically occurs during the first half of the tax season because scammers tend to file their fake refund before the actual taxpayer does. Last year, fraudsters conned the government out of $227 million in just the first half of the tax season, according to an audit by the Internal Revenue Service.In Washington, D.C., paper checks have had a noticeable impact. Last year, the city prevented $25 million in fraudulent refunds from going out the door. In 2015, it saved $36 million. Since the District began employing the tactic two years ago, the total number of tax returns filed has decreased by 4 percent -- even as the population has increased. That, says DeWitt, is a sign that fraudsters are filing fewer fake returns.In addition to a return to paper, states are also tackling tax fraud through other low-tech means: education and legislation. Veranda Smith, deputy director at the nonprofit Federation of Tax Administrators, points to Maryland, where officials are actively publicizing its efforts to clamp down on tax preparers who commit fraud by altering their clients' tax returns. Typically the preparer adds deductions and credits to the return, pockets the additional tax refund and sends the remainder to the client. Maryland, whose own attorney general was the victim of tax fraud in 2015, also has legislation pending that would give the state more authority to go after bad practitioners.Trying to prevent tax fraud, however, is a bit like playing whack-a-mole: Close one route and criminals will find another.In Smith's view, taxpayers and governments would be better served if refunds were withheld until the end of the tax season. That would give taxpayers time to file their returns and governments the chance to identify conflicting returns. Smith adds that taxpayers could also adjust their withholding so that they are taxed more accurately during the year.But both ideas, she acknowledges, cut into a long tradition of tax refunds doubling for many as bonuses. "Politically," Smith says, "that love of the refund is something most elected officials do not want to touch." Nine months after the Maine Department of Labor outsourced its federally mandated job-matching service to an out-of-state vendor, that vendor has suffered a data breach that resulted in the theft of an unknown number of Mainers' sensitive personal information.America's JobLink of Topeka, Kansas, has become the victim of a hacking incident from an outside source in which the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of an unspecified number of job-seekers in up to 10 states were accessed, according to a news release. The states include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Vermont and Maine.Maine eliminated its Maine Job Bank service within the Department of Labor in July and outsourced the work to America's JobLink, citing cost savings and better technology as the reasons. Roughly 12,650 Maine residents have used the service since July, although not all of them included their Social Security numbers in their account information, according to the department.The data breach was discovered Tuesday, and America's JobLink technicians have since patched the security hole that allowed the hackers entry, the release said. New accounts created on or after March 16 were not affected, according to the state Department of Labor.Department spokeswoman Julie Rabinowitz said Maine officials are awaiting the outcome of an investigation by a digital forensics firm and the FBI to determine how many Maine accounts were compromised.In July, the department outsourced both its job-matching service and case management for Mainers enrolled in publicly funded training programs to America's JobLink, which describes itself as "an alliance of workforce organizations partnering to produce high-quality information technology, while maximizing the return on investments for members."Rabinowitz said the in-house systems used by the department prior to outsourcing were antiquated and did not meet new federal standards."Maine is caught between a rock and a hard place in meeting federal requirements with limited funding, because the federal funding is based on population and unemployment rate," she said.Prior to outsourcing, the department paid $650,000 to the state Office of Information Technology to maintain the job bank and case management systems during the 2015 fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2016. Under the outsourcing agreement with America's JobLink, Maine pays an annual subscription rate of $465,000 a year, plus an additional $136,500 to the information technology office, Rabinowitz said. That's an annual savings of $48,500.The department issued a news release Wednesday about the breach and said it plans to post additional information on the job service website, joblink.maine.gov.The department advised users of the service to log into their JobLink account to check whether their Social Security number was listed. It can be removed as long as the job-seeker is not actively filing for unemployment benefits, it said, although the department did not explain how removing it now would benefit the user, since the hack already has occurred.The department recommended that JobLink users put a freeze on their credit report if they had a valid Social Security number in their JobLink account. Maine law allows residents to freeze their credit report for free, which prevents thieves from accessing their credit report. It is also possible to place a free, 90-day fraud alert on credit reports with the three major credit reporting organizations, it said.Those with questions can call the department at 1-888-457-8883. Domestic Migration Rates for Metro Area Counties Density / Sq. Mile 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 # Counties Less than 200 -8.3 -20.6 -4.9 1.5 2.3 21.6 643 500 to 200 15.2 23.1 24.9 32.5 32.8 40.6 268 500 to <1k 17.5 17.9 28.0 35.9 38.0 39.7 109 Greater than 1k 0.2 3.7 -3.9 -24.4 -21.4 -33.9 146 NCHS Classification 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 # Counties Large Central Metro County 5.2 6.2 -6.2 -16.8 -15.4 -26.3 68 Large Fringe Metro County 3.7 4.8 25.6 35.4 36.0 47.5 368 Medium Metro County 4.9 -4.4 -1.1 3.9 12.3 26.1 372 Small Metro County -8.0 -14.2 -7.2 -9.3 -15.3 -3.5 358 For much of the past half century, St. Louis incurred a gradual decline as residents left the city. Like other urban areas, its population eventually stabilized with the revitalization of its central corridor and more young people moving in and around downtown. But now, the latest Census estimates suggest the slight growth may have been short-lived.Many urban counties that had halted population declines or experienced promising gains are similarly losing residents again, according to Census estimates released Thursday.These core urban counties, mostly found in older regions or the Midwest, are experiencing either accelerated population declines or a slowdown in growth. Areas around cities like Atlantic City, N.J.; Baltimore; and St. Louis, for example, all saw rates of population decline pick up significantly over the past year.compared the Census Bureau's updated domestic migration estimatesfor all counties within metro areas, which were then grouped by population density. The 146 most densely populated counties lost a total of 539,000 residents to other parts of the country over the 12-month period ending in July, representing the largest decline in recent years.At the same time, many more suburban counties are now welcoming more residents. Less densely populated metro area counties experienced another uptick in domestic migration last year.One of the main drivers of the decline for urban counties continues to be families fleeing for the suburbs.Couples leaving the city of St. Louis often head west or across the river in search of larger homes or better school districts, says Ness Sandoval, a St. Louis University professor who studies the citys demographic trends. The housing stock is one of the oldest of any city, so many opt for more modern homes further out rather than rehabbing vintage properties. Taking their place are not other families but often one or two single individuals who can afford to rent an entire home, according to Sandoval.Millennials are still moving in near the university and other parts of the city, but its not nearly enough to offset losses from those leaving. Over the 12-month period ending in July, the city of St. Louis lost 1.1 percent of its population -- the largest decline of any large Census-designated county nationally.The steady stream of residents leaving has led to thousands of vacant homes and lots, particularly on the north side. The city's Land Reutilization Authority currently holds approximately 12,000 vacant properties , far more than comparable cities. Meanwhile, Sandoval says, nearly all the new housing development is oriented more toward solo renters, rather than families.In some neighborhoods, we have condos for over $400,000, and in others, youd be lucky if you could get $25,000 for a house, he says.A somewhat similar scenario is playing out in the city of Baltimore, where the population declined at the same rate. A net total of 11,000 residents moved out of the city -- many to surrounding suburban neighborhoods -- nearly doubling the domestic migration loss of the prior 12-month period.The suburbs in Baltimore are no more just middle-class professionals, theyre much more diverse, says Andrew Cherlin, a Johns Hopkins University professor.Part of why St. Louis and Baltimore registered such large declines relative to other areas is that theyre independent cities not part of larger counties, occupying smaller geographies. The Census estimates cover all counties and metropolitan areas, reflecting annual changes over the 12-month period ending in July.Cook County, which contains Chicago, is another jurisdiction where population gains appear to have reversed. The county had reported slight population increases each year between 2010 and 2013 before losing residents over the past two years. Mounting losses from outmigration have similarly led to recent declines in Atlantic County, N.J.; Erie County, Pa.; and other larger Northern counties.Brookings Institution Demographer William Frey notes that suburbanization dropped off sharply in most places following the mortgage meltdown. Its now picking back up, he says, particularly across the Snow Belt and older cities.Theres a bit of an uptick in the exurbs and emerging suburban areas, he says. There could be more of it coming down the road.also compared migration patterns using a county classification scheme defined by the National Center for Health Statistics. Average net domestic migration rates for more suburban fringe metro counties continued to climb, and rates for medium metro counties also more than doubled last year. By comparison, the central counties of large metro areas declined significantly, losing an average of 26 people for every 10,000 residents last year.But not all residents of these predominately Northern urban areas are simply packing up and moving to the suburbs. In many cases, theyre also relocating to the Sun Belt.Migration to the Southern U.S. slowed down dramatically during the recession and has since rebounded the past three or four years, continuing with the latest population estimates, according to Frey.Urban jurisdictions throughout many of these Southern regions saw their numbers climb accordingly.Consider Maricopa County, Ariz., which added more than 81,000 residents last year -- by far the most of any county in the country. Several counties throughout Florida, South Carolina and Texas also all recorded annual population increases exceeding 3 percent.Meanwhile, industrial counties suffering losses for years generally recorded population declines that either remained steady or accelerated in the new Census release. For example, the Ohio counties of Trumbull and Mahoning, which make up the Youngstown metro area, both experienced their largest declines in recent years.Its also worth noting that many more urban counties, including those in the South, would be registering population declines if it werent for international migration. Data suggests average international migration rates for larger metro areas have changed little recently.Its too early to say how individual cities fared last year -- the Census Bureau is scheduled to release its 2016 city-level population estimates in May.Governing Description GIS 23 March 2017: Preventing school drop-out of boys particularly while ensuring that all children complete their education and achieve further qualifications and become autonomous responsible citizens is one of the key recommendations of the draft report of the Comprehensive Strategy on Street Children, developed by the University of Mauritius for the Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare. The highlights of the draft report were commented upon by the Minister of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, Mrs Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo, this morning at the National Women Development Centre in Phoenix at the opening ceremony of a one-day Validation workshop on the development of a comprehensive strategy on street children in Mauritius. The workshop brought together representatives of several Ministries; the Working Together Committee comprising various stakeholders dealing with issues relating to the protection, development and welfare of children; non-governmental organisations; civil societies; and the private sector. The objectives were to apprise participants of the main recommendations, collect their views and comments, and validate the strategy document before its presentation to the Ministry. According to Mrs Jeewa-Daureeawoo, the phenomenon of street children in Mauritius relates to children whose parents do not know that their wards are roaming the streets; children who are left on their own after school hours; and those who work after school hours. These situations are detrimental to the welfare of the children who can become involved in illegal activities and are vulnerable to all sorts of abuses and social ills, cautioned the Minister. The dislocation of family units and lack of parental presence result in many children growing up in a state of neglect and without the appropriate guidance and values, said Mrs Jeewa-Daureeawoo. This situation calls for aggressive sensitisation campaigns to raise awareness of parents as well as legal guardians on their responsibilities in bringing up children and consider what is best for their safe and sound development, she said. With respect to the recommendation on the necessity for children to know their rights, the Minister underlined the importance of providing children with relevant information on emotional, legal or other support so that they know where to get help. Mrs Jeewa-Daureeawoo also made an appeal for regular visits and inspections to children living with guardians and kinship, rather than their parents. The Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare has enlisted the consultancy services of the University of Mauritius since July 2016 for the development of a Comprehensive Strategy on Street Children. The objectives are to assess the nature and magnitude of the problem of street children in Mauritius, examine their situation and make recommendations in the form of an action plan. A consultative workshop to gather data and views and propositions of representatives of ministries, the private sector, and the civil society on street children was held in August last year. Description GIS 23 March, 2017: A two-day capacity building workshop focused on Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) for a low Carbon Development Strategy for Mauritius was inaugurated this morning at Henessy Park Hotel, Ebene, in the presence of the Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity, and Environment and Sustainable Development, Mr Etienne Sinatambou. This workshop aims at providing participants with an in-depth understanding of different types of NAMAs as they evolved during successive Conference of Parties. It will also as serve as a platform to discuss the relevance of NAMAs in the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions from the perspective of scaling up greenhouse gas emission reductions in order to achieve the objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. During the workshop, participants will be apprised of techniques of NAMA design and conceptualisation, prioritisation and action planning which will to culminate with the design of a NAMA for a selected case study. Participants will also get the opportunity to transpose the NAMA design concepts to mitigation ideas in their respective sectors. Participants comprise representatives of ministries, governmental and non-governmental organisations, academia and the private sector. In his address at the opening ceremony, Minister Sinatambou stressed that the issue of climate change, which remains one of the most pressing challenges to tackle, concerns not only the government, public officials and technicians, but also the whole population of Mauritius. He urged the participants to become ambassadors and resource persons to help sensitise and propose mitigation ideas to all the stakeholders concerned by climate change. The Minister further recalled that despite the fact that Small Island Developing States contribute to less that 1% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions, they suffer the most from the effect of climate change. Mr Sinatambou expressed his gratitude to the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Environment Programme for their financial assistance extended to Mauritius to address climate change issues. Mauritius has received financial assistance to the tune of 1.6 million US dollars for the implementation of the NAMAs project over a period of four years. (TNS) Netflix users, your binge-watching habit could soon get a little more expensive.The Alabama Department of Revenue has proposed an amendment that would apply the state's rental tax to streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify and others. The rental tax is 4 percent on all sales.There's a hearing for the amendment April 11 at 1:30 p.m. in Montgomery.But taxing these services through regulation could create problems for the state, said Bruce Ely, a tax attorney at Bradley in Birmingham and a professor in the University of Alabama's graduate accounting program. The concept of taxing these services isn't a problem, Ely said it's taxing it through regulation instead of through statute.At least a dozen states have taxed such services. But Alabama's rental statute is meant to apply to physical goods like cars or tapes, and Ely said trying to apply it to a use could create problems."The things we're talking about now, they're so different," Ely said. "The new technology just doesn't fit."For example, under the proposed amendment, the tax is based on a user's billing address. Ely said this doesn't account for the many children using their parent's Netflix account in another state, or folks using Netflix who haven't updated their billing address.Then, there's the issue of who gets the tax. The rental tax is complicated each city and county has the option of levying its own rental tax, though fewer than half of counties in Alabama have them."If you live in something called Birmingham, that could be four or five different cities and two different counties," Ely said. "I think what the industry would like is uniformity."All of these issues, Ely said, could easily be solved if the state legislature passed a new law aimed at taxing digital streaming services instead of trying to apply an old law.The state has lost revenue from the days where Blockbusters and other video rental brick-and-mortar stores paid taxes. As on-demand streaming services replaced that revenue stream, Alabama's tax code hasn't yet caught up.This isn't the first time the department has tried to amend this tax - in 2015, the Department of Revenue proposed a similar amendment, but several legislators sent the department a letter that said new taxes should be approved by the legislature.A representative for Commissioner of Revenue Julie Magee did not respond to a request for comment. Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Donald Trump said he felt "somewhat" vindicated on Wednesday after being briefed by the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, R-Calif. -- who said he had been given credible intelligence suggesting that the personal communications of members of Trump's transition team and possibly even the president himself had been caught up in foreign intelligence surveillance after the election. I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions, the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition. Details about U.S. persons associated with the incoming administration, details with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value, were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting," Nunes, who worked on Trump's transition team executive committee, told reporters on Capitol Hill today. "Third I have confirmed additional names of Trump transition team members were unmasked." Nunes, who briefed the president after talking to the press, stressed that the communications picked up had "nothing to do with Russia" and were shared with him "legally." He also said that he believed that the surveillance was conducted legally using a FISA warrant and that the information gathered had foreign intelligence value, meaning that the agencies would have been justified in collecting it. "Bluntly put, everything I was able to view did not involve Russia or any discussions with Russia," Nunes said. He would not say which country or countries were involved and has asked the National Security Agency for more information. Nunes' announcement was blasted by the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who said he was not made aware of the information. "If the chairman is going to continue to go to the White House rather than his own committee, there's no way we can conduct this investigation," Schiff said. "All of us are in the dark and that makes what the chairman did today all the more extraordinary." Congressman Schiff also said that Trump should not feel vindicated and that Trumps claim in those tweets that he was being wiretapped by his predecessor remain false. There is still no evidence that the president was wiretapped by his predecessor, Schiff said. President Trump's claims that he was remain as baseless today as they were yesterday and the day before when the directors of the FBI and NSA testified that they were made without any basis in fact. Asked if he felt "vindicated by Chairman Nunes" Trump said: I somewhat do. I must tell you I somewhat do. I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found. But I somewhat do. FBI Director James Comey said Monday that no individual could order direct surveillance and that his agency had no information that supported Trump's allegations against Obama. It was not clear exactly what Trump was referring to. The announcement came amid swirling questions about Russia meddling in the 2016 election and in the wake of the FBI announcing it was investigating potential links between Trump associates and Russian officials, allegations the president has called "fake news." Republican lawmakers, as well as the administration, have placed a premium on finding out whether U.S. nationals were "unmasked," or had their identities revealed to officials during the intelligence gathering process. They also have been pushing to find out who was responsible for leaking classified information to the press. Democrats have focused on whether there was potential collusion between Trump associates and the Russians. Nunes also said the intelligence came specifically from November, December and January during the transition phrase, but that it was possible communications were gathered before the election or after. Asked point-blank if he thought the president-elect had been "spied on," he would not directly answer. I guess it all depends on ones definitions of spying, Nunes said. I mean clearly it bothers me enough, I'm not comfortable with it, and i want to make sure the White House understands it. In the wake of a firestorm generated by the president tweeting that former President Barack Obama had his "wires tapped" at Trump Tower, Nunes maintained that while a physical tap of the building had been ruled out, Trump's team may have been surveilled in other ways, a position also proffered by the White House. "The House Intelligence Committee will thoroughly investigate surveillance, and its subsequent dissemination to determine a few things here: who was aware of it; why it was not disclosed to Congress; who requested and authorized the additional unmasking; whether anyone directed the intelligence community to focused on Trump associates and whether any laws, regulations or procedures were violated," he said. Nunes said the intelligence he was looking at was so "alarming" to him that he wanted to let the press know. White House press secretary Sean Spicer was asked numerous questions about the information Nunes shared. "I literally heard the statement, came out and briefed," Spicer explained. Despite saying he didn't want to get ahead of Nunes' briefing, Spicer called the findings "a startling revelation" and "raises serious questions." Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Abhi Nemani, the 28-year-old gov tech whizkid who cut his teeth as an executive at Code for America before serving as chief data officer in Los Angeles and interim chief innovation officer in Sacramento, is launching acceleration workshops for startups that want to do business with city and county governments.A service of Nemanis one-man firm consulting firm EthosLabs , the workshops aim to help companies refine products and pitches for local governments. Nemanis clients point to his experience in gov tech that spans the public, private and nonprofit sectors.He knows everyone in the space, said Catherine Geanuracos, chief operating officer of CityGrows , a cloud-based digital services platform for government. Geanuracos said Nemani also stands out for his ability to give informed and honest assessments about local government operations.He has a forward-thinking point of view around the potential for technology in government and a realistic view of changes and limitations, she said. Nemani is an investor in CityGrows.Nemanis startup workshop, which will likely begin in May, would give technology companies a crash course in doing business with local government. Nemani, who is based in St. Louis, plans to fly out to meet executives at their startups for the educational seminars.Companies would learn, for example, the difference between strong mayor and weak mayor systems, and how those organizational structures impact how private tech companies pitch to public officials.Those operational differences can have a profound effect on who the decision-maker is, Nemani said. Its often missed or not understood by new entrants into the market.The workshops would also give startups an overview of established gov tech contractors across the U.S., and how new entrants can sell officials on newer technologies that complement existing processes.The problem that a [city IT leader] faces is less about how exciting or interesting is this product its the opposite, Nemani said. Its how will this product fit with everything else I have going on?Seamus Kraft, executive director and co-founder of The OpenGov Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes government transparency, said Nemanis experience allows him to stand above other consultants entering the gov tech arena.Few people can look you in the eye and say, Ive been there and done that in the government technology world, and Abhi is one of the few people, Kraft said. Nemani is vice president of the OpenGov board, beside chairman Rep. Darrell Issa.Nemani joined Code for America in 2010, where he helped establish the Civic Startup Accelerator , a partnership between the national civic tech nonprofit and the city and county of San Francisco to apply innovative technologies to government problems.Nemani was tapped in 2014 by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to become the citys chief data officer. There, Nemani authored the citys open data policy that formalized the city's leading open data practices. Nemani also established a city data GeoHub that opened access to more than 1,000 data sets.Then in early 2016, then-Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson appointed Nemani as his interim chief innovation officer, a part-time consultancy role that handed Nemani the reins of a multimillion dollar economic development fund. Local lawmakers directed the $8.2 million innovation fund toward programs that bolstered the citys tech sector. During his tenure with Sacramento, Nemani helped design a grant program to grow and capitalize Sacramento area startups.Nemani said he stopped working with the city of Sacramento after his contract expired last December. The grant program, known as Rapid Acceleration, Innovation and Leadership, will launch its next application period in spring or early summer, said Ash Roughani, who now heads the Sacramento Mayors Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.Nemani launched EthosLabs about a year ago. In that time, hes worked with a handful of gov tech startups in different capacities, either as a board member or paid consultant. He said hes starting Startup Workshop to expand the number of startups he can work with.By Nemani's estimate, there are between 50 to 100 consultants in the gov tech space, not including the large consulting teams working for megafirms like Deloitte. But many of those individual consultants arent full-time, Nemani said.Given the recent growth in investment in the national gov tech sector, Geanuracos of CityGrows said Nemanis startup workshop could be a harbinger of a cottage industry.As the sector grows and matures, it makes sense that more folks like Abhi will be able to provide a robust consultancy, she said. Local governments can and should begin to use data more often in order to root out and eliminate corruption, a new study has found.The study, Taking a Byte Out of Corruption , emphasized that while major advancements in data analytics have given law enforcement agencies and policymakers new tools that could potentially fight public corruption, a lot of work remains before systems are established to ensure such data is used fairly and effectively. In the report, the authors speak often of this being a starting point for municipalities that want to bridge this gap.The study, the result of a yearlong effort, was conducted by the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (CAPI) Data Analytics Working Group at Columbia Law School in New York City, and support for it was provided by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation . It involved working with a group of leading practitioners, scholars, engineers and civil society members, and Jennifer Rodgers, executive director of CAPI, said such research into datas potential to fight corruption is a relatively new arena.Unfortunately, theres still a way to go before cities are really going to be in a position to do this in a meaningful and broad-based way, Rodgers said. Its a bit at its beginning, but there have been such successes in other areas of city management using data, and corruption-fighting is going to be one of the next frontiers, we think.The report, of course, is detailed and annotated, but broadly speaking it points to nine types of fraud that data can potentially help investigators identify, a list that includes transgressions as minor as HR violations like manipulating a time card to larger malfeasance such as fraud or corruption by elected officials at high levels.For each sort of fraud, the report gives examples of how data might be used to combat it. For example, with corrupt inspectors, the study suggests that keeping a database of incidences can help spot outliers, such as individuals giving excessively high or low numbers of violations, or logging passing grades too soon after failures, which might be an indicator of fraud.Rodgers said a data-driven approach to fraud investigation can also benefit existing watchdog agencies, even if theyre doing good work, such as the offices of the inspector generals that operate in both New York City and Chicago. New York, for example, has 45 city agencies that employ more than 300,000 people, with one anti-corruption office to oversee them all.Throughout the report the authors are careful to note that data is not going to be a magical cure for corruption, nor will it be able to identify fraud beyond a doubt. Data, if kept and cleaned properly, is simply a tool that can point investigations and watchdogs in the right direction, improving both efficiency and the frequency at which wrong-doing is identified.Gabriel Kuris, deputy director of CAPI, said another point the report seeks to stress is that data as a corruption-fighting tool can create a permanent system of checks, rooting out systematic issues, but, again, for most city governments this sort of work remains in the future.This is truly the first iteration of this, Kuris said. We really hope to improve it over time, and we certainly welcome any feedback. And any government that is working on this stuff that wants to share with us their efforts, wed like to partner. A team of researchers has found that a venerable audio transmitting technique could hold promise for smart cities, as well as private companies looking to inexpensively reach large numbers of people.The technology described in a white paper titled written by three student researchers and two faculty advisers from the University of Washington (UW) is a new approach to whats known as backscattering, or ambient backscattering; its a relative of todays RFID technology, and a passive broadcasting method that figured in one of the Cold Wars most notorious spy scandals.The team will deliver a presentation based on the white paper on Monday, March 27 at the 14th USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation in Boston a presentation that signals the group is confident the technology has an increasingly clear future as public agencies move aggressively to deliver services more cheaply and serve residents more effectively.According to one expert, the system has concrete potential for cities, including in autonomous vehicle deployments where the device might one day replace traffic signals and stop signs now recognized by human drivers.In the presentations abstract , group members spell out their discovery using ambient FM radio signals as a source for backscatter for the first time and what that means.This paper enables connectivity on everyday objects by transforming them into FM radio stations, the abstract reads. Our design creates backscatter transmissions that can be decoded on any FM receiver including those in cars and smartphones. This enables us to achieve a previously infeasible capability: backscattering information to cars and smartphones in outdoor environments.Their backscatter technique uses a device they built to find an existing FM radio signal, then reflecting it, jumping on-board and riding a very short distance to deliver audio or even data. The device is ultra low-powered, small and doesnt passively transmit very far 100 feet or less ensuring multiples could be installed in relatively close proximity without competing.Researchers achieved the breakthrough by using a new modulation technique, making backscatter follow existing FM transmissions in the Seattle area to successfully send sound and data short distances to a Moto G1 smartphone and a 2010 Honda CR-V.This enables us to embed both digital data as well as arbitrary audio into ambient analog FM radio signals, the group wrote.To test their work, members embedded the FM antenna devices they designed into posters and billboards, then showed they could communicate with receivers in the car and the smartphone.They also sewed conductive thread into a T-shirt to create a smart fabric that could send data to a smartphone.The results convinced them the technique shows promise for public agencies, even if we may be more likely to see it in reruns of the science fiction TV seriesin the immediate future than along a local highway.The concept of backscatter itself is not a new thing, but what were showing here is we can leverage these FM signals that are all around major cities and communicate to off-the-shelf receivers as well as cars, said Vikram Iyer, a UW doctoral student in electrical engineering and an author of the paper.Cities, Iyer told, could set aside a particular FM radio frequency on which to transmit then reflect on it to broadcast public information on those or pretty much anything you wanted at a particular location.The advantage, he said, is youd really be using infrastructure that already exists. All we really need to add is these devices that backscatter.The team built its device to backscatter on an FM signal from readily available components and cheaply, Iyer said. But on the receiving end, while our cell phones and cars may have the capability to receive FM radio broadcasts, Iyer notes that they would need additional equipment or apps to refine it.Because backscatter audio and data travels on an existing signal, it arrives with that signal as well meaning receiver designers would have to create noise-cancelling equipment or apps to mute the FM signal and let listeners hear just the backscattered information.Bhaskar Krishnamachari, professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and director of the Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and the Internet of Things at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, praised the devices low power usage, noting that backscatter transmitters dont do anything if theres no signal.But he pointed out that in terms of how far out we may be from seeing it in smart cities, the question in purely technical terms, the one bottleneck would be, 'What kind of receiver do you need and how widely available is it?'That said, Krishnamachari acknowledged the systems potential for cities as a universal docent in self-guided walking tours, delivering a pre-recorded message through a smartphone app about an historic building or area; and in autonomous vehicle deployments, where the small device might one day replace traffic signals and stop signs now recognized by human drivers.From a citys perspective, I think backscatter technology will be cheap as far as the transmitters are concerned or even potentially the receivers," he said. "It allows you to deploy these things more widely."Backscattering has the potential to be more or less as useful as other smart cities initiatives, says Cincinnati Chief Performance Officer Leigh Tami, who pointed out that smart cities and smart technologies are only as smart as the city using or implementing them.Tami toldvia email that two things, can give so-called smart initiatives the ability to implement and scale: ensuring backscattering, like any other new technology, is fully integrated with existing infrastructure and here, its relatively low cost would be an advantage; and making sure, like any other tech piece, it meets a specific need.There's a lot of cool stuff out there, but not all of it necessarily meets a need in the realm of government service delivery, efficiency, or citizen engagement, said Tami, who added that shed be interested to hear more about proposed use cases. (TNS) - Lawyers for the city and the firefighters union will present their arguments before the New York state Appellate Court on May 24 on whether an issue over eight demoted fire captains goes to arbitration.Union President Daniel Daugherty said the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191 has been waiting for the case to move forward in the state Appellate Division, Fourth Department, in Rochester since last fall.In September, the city appealed State Supreme Court Judge James P. McCluskys decision to allow the union to take the city to arbitration over the issue of the eight demoted captains.A spokeswoman for the Appellate Court confirmed on Wednesday that the case will be heard in Rochester on May 24.The 70-member union has been without a contract since July 2014. The contract talks became increasingly bitter after eight captains were demoted to firefighters last July. The eight lost about 20 percent of their annual salaries when they were demoted, while the city made the change to save about $100,000 a year.Mr. Daugherty said he believes that the union will be successful in the Appellate court.We havent lost anything yet, he said, noting that the union has several other court actions pending against the city.The firefighters and the state Public Employees Relations Board wanted the case to go to arbitration, but the citys attorneys, Bond, Schoeneck & King, filed the appeal in September, so its ending up with the appellate court.The bargaining unit also filed an improper-practice charge and another case involving the captains issue with PERB.Both sides have predicted that the dispute might not be resolved for two more years.The main sticking point remains the issue involving the minimal manning stipulation that 15 firefighters must be on duty at all times. The city contends that the stipulation causes the department to be overstaffed, while the union maintains that changing it would be unsafe.PERB must rule on the minimal manning issue before the two sides can agree on a new contract. The two sides also are debating known as scope charges what should be brought up during arbitration.In a related matter, Judge McClusky released his decision regarding a new set of standard operating procedures that went into effect in October as the result of the eight demotions.In his March 10 written decision, Judge McClusky denied the citys motion to stay arbitration in a dispute with the firefighters union over not paying differential pay to acting captains.According to the SOP, battalion chiefs were given the ability to temporarily promote firefighters to the role of acting captains on an as-needed basis, depending on the situation, such as when a call becomes more serious or another call comes in at another scene.Acting captains receive a 94-cent-an-hour pay differential for the entire shift. Daytime firefighters working 10-hour shifts now make $9.40 more a shift before taxes, while firefighters working 14 hours during a night shift earn $13.16 more a shift.On 11 occasions, City Manager Sharon A. Addison refused to approve the differential pay for acting captains, contending the temporary promotions were not needed.The bargaining unit filed a grievance and the city tried to convince the judge to issue a stay on the arbitration....The city manager can not have buyers remorse and decide not to authorize the expenditure of funds, the judge wrote in his decision.The city plans to appeal, Mr. Daugherty said.Its the second Appellate (case) going to Rochester, he said.Ms. Addison was not available for comment.With 11 separate actions filed, the union and the city are fighting on several legal fronts, including five with PERB. After an original judge recently left PERB for another position, those cases are back on track. Judge Nancy L. Burritt has been appointed to preside over those cases.Among the other cases filed by the union are: the demoted firefighters are working out of title and the city has left a captains position vacant. That case is in mediation.Nathaniel Lambright of the Syracuse law firm of Blitman & King represents the firefighters union.2017 Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, N.Y.)Visit Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, N.Y.) at www.watertowndailytimes.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. (TNS) -- State lawmakers may take back some of the money that Minnesota electric vehicle owners are saving by not having to pay a gasoline tax.Bills in the House and Senate would impose an annual surcharge of $75 to $85 on vehicles that are all-electric and plug-in hybrids based on electric motors. Gasoline-electric hybrids would be exempt.The move would bring Minnesota in line with state governments across the country that are increasingly seeking to slap fees on electric vehicles, some exceeding $150 per year.The fee is aimed at making electric vehicle drivers pay their fair share of road maintenance costs, which are partly paid for by gasoline taxes, said Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, the author of the House measure that would set a fee of $85 a year. A Senate bill proposes the same.On Tuesday, House Republicans introduced an omnibus transportation bill that includes a $75 electric car fee, according to a news release."I have an electric car, so I understand the consequences of it," said Garofolo, a Tesla driver.The fee would kick in on Jan. 1, 2018. The legislation, however, also would allow drivers of electric vehicles to use high-occupancy highway lanes without a charge.The state's gasoline tax currently 28.5 cents per gallon at the pump is the largest funding source for highway and bridge maintenance, covering 45 percent of the budget, according to Dane McFarlane, a senior research analyst at the Great Plains Institute, a Minneapolis nonprofit energy research group.The other main sources of road money are taxes on motor vehicle sales and annual fees on vehicle registrations.Through those sales and registration taxes, electric vehicles already cover their fair share of state highway expenses, McFarlane said. That's because those taxes are based on a vehicle's retail value, which is generally much higher for electric vehicles than other cars. For example, the Nissan Leaf S, a small electric car, sells for $30,680; a Tesla S goes for $68,000.Taxes paid by electric vehicle owners "more than makes up for any loss of government revenue from the lack of gasoline fill-ups," McFarlane wrote in a recent analysis. The proposed fee is a disincentive to drive cars that reduce greenhouse gases, he added.Garofalo acknowledged that electric vehicles generate more sales and registration tax revenue per car. But he said electric car prices are expected to come down over time, which could mean an "explosion" in sales of electric vehicles.A state fee will be harder to institute then, Garofalo said.Minnesota is a relative laggard in the adoption of all-electric cars.In 2016, excluding data for December, 967 all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles were sold in Minnesota, according to the Great Plains Institute. That's up significantly over 543 for all of 2015.Minnesota does not rank in the top 15 states for cumulative electric vehicle sales since 2009.Ten states have implemented annual fees on electric and electric-hybrid vehicles that vary from $50 to $300 per year, according to the Sierra Club, an environmental group. Since the start of 2017, six more states have proposed legislation that would require electric vehicle fees of up to $180. (TNS) -- With state-level guidelines for Federal Aviation Administration rules settled, legislation that would regulate state use of drones could soar toward the governors desk.So says state House Transportation Chairman Kevin Tanner, the sponsor of House Bill 481 , which would pre-empt local governments from enacting regulations regarding drone activity on top of state law.It basically allows the state to retain control over passing any laws or rules that would govern unmanned aircraft in the state, he said. I think it will pass. The governors office has signed off on the legislation, so they support it. Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a broader bill last year that, in addition to preventing local governments from regulating operation and testing of drones, would have banned weaponized drones , clarified privacy protections and limited the use of drones by law enforcement officials for gathering evidence in private places.In issuing his veto, Deal said he was appreciative of the intent of the legislation but believed signing such a bill would create a layer of state regulation that could be invalidated by the FAA in the future.He added that such layers of potentially inconsistent rules could come into conflict with what the business community, the science and technology community, and legislative leaders sought to create by drafting this legislation.Deal also established a commission to propose state-level guidelines until the new FAA regulations are released. The findings from the study commission provided the framework for this years bill.The only step that we would advise the General Assembly to take right now would be law that would pre-empt local governments from enacting additional ordinances, said Lewis Massey, a lobbyist and former Georgia secretary of state who served on the commission.The bill was designed to attract technology companies, such as Google and Amazon, that are experimenting with drones to know they are welcome in Georgia, Massey said.The idea, he said, was to make one clear set of statewide rules so the industry is able to grow and flourish in the state. Massey said the Association County Commissioners of Georgia and Georgia Municipal Association, which represent local government in the state, have not come out in support, but theyre also not opposing the bill.Lawmakers frequently tout rankings that show Georgia is a top state in which to conduct business in order to draw political support; drone legislation is no exception.We want to make sure were not doing anything to hamper the opportunity for the industry to grow in a very positive way, whether its unmanned aircraft or autonomous vehicles, Tanner said, referring to Senate Bill 219 , which would regulate self-driving cars on public roads.The bill also includes a provision for more recreational activity , such as drone use over Mercedes-Benz Stadium We made some exceptions to the pre-emption, and one of those deals with a city or county (that) can pass an ordinance that would govern an FAA restriction. This would just allow the city of Atlanta to pass an ordinance that would allow their local police officers to enforce that FAA restriction, Tanner said. So it would comply with FAA rules, but that would be the only type of ordinance they could pass one that enforces an FAA restriction.The additional provisions from last years bill may show up in future legislation, but Tanner said only time will tell.Weve got to watch the technology, he said, and weve got to see how the technology develops. (TNS) Huntsville's partnership with Google Fiber is an example of the "new and exciting partnerships" bringing next-generation Internet service to consumers, a congressional panel heard this week. Joanne Hovis, president of a consulting firm advising the city and others, told a House subcommittee Tuesday that broadband expansion should be part of any infrastructure program developed by Congress and President Trump. High-capacity Internet is the "critical platform and driver of simultaneous progress in economic development and global competitiveness, education, health care, public safety, transportation, and much more," she said.Left to market forces, she said, capital for these networks tends to go to dense population areas with better return on investment. Less-populated and lower-income areas without access "have seen their economies stagnate, their children move to more promising locations, their hopes for a better future ebb away," she said.State and local governments are increasingly offering incentives to lure high-speed Internet, Hovis said. She gave Huntsville as an example."In February 2016, the city of Huntsville, Alabama, the state's northern technology hub, announced that its municipal electric utility will build a fiber network throughout its city limits (presumably, to pass all or most businesses and homes), and that Google Fiber will become the first lessee of some of that fiber in order to provide gigabit services to residences and small businesses."The "Huntsville model puts the city in the business of building infrastructure," Hovis said, "a business it knows well after a century of building roads, bridges, and utilities. The model leaves to the private sector (in this case, Google Fiber, and any other provider that chooses to lease Huntsville fiber) all aspects of network operations, equipment provisioning and service delivery."Hovis also discussed other public-private partnerships in Maryland and Minnesota. Since last year, a handful of states have released RFPs in the interest of procuring their own public-safety long-term evolution (LTE) networks. Alabama and Arizona are still in the beginning stages, and New Hampshire selected Rivada Networks as its vendor last year.Last Wednesday, Michigan joined this small, but growing, list of states to issue an RFP and will begin seeking bids in order to sustain and further the public-safety LTE radio access network (RAN). The state has clarified that these actions do not signal a decision to opt out of FirstNets nationwide public safety broadband network . The governor will decide whether Michigan will choose an alternative to the FirstNet plan.The State has not made a decision to accept the proposal made by FirstNet for a NPSBN to serve public safety entities in Michigan, according to the Michigan RFP. Neither has the State chosen to opt-out of the FirstNet-offered RAN to serve its public-safety entities. It is the intent of this RFP to explore options available to the State that will that will be most responsive to the needs of public-safety entities and which will be sustainable over the coming 25-year period.As Brian Shepherd, Colorados single point of contact, told IWCE's Urgent Communications , the state could become the fifth state to issue this kind of RFP as early as next month.Our goal has always been to provide as comprehensive an analysis as possible when it comes to the opt-in/out decision, Shepherd told the publication. We believe, in order to accomplish this, we must have two fully vetted options, so we understand the pros and cons of each. This RFP will allow us to clearly understand what opting out would look like.The states plans will take place half a year after FirstNet chooses its nationwide partner and includes a 90-day grace period in which their respective governors must choose whether to opt out or go with FirstNet and its partner. F1 doctors on Thursday gave Pascal Wehrlein the green light to race in Australia, following a back injury that marred his pre-season. "The back is all good now," the Sauber driver is quoted by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport in Melbourne. Wehrlein missed the first Barcelona test but returned without major issue for the final days of running before Melbourne. The German said: "I was in Austria again after the tests and got back to full training." However, Wehrlein admits his winter programme was affected, conceding recently that he could be behind the eight ball for the opening races of 2017. "The situation is how it is," he said on Thursday. "I have to cope with that. But it should not be an excuse that I missed the first test week because it was my fault. The laps from the second test week must be enough." (GMM) ABS, a leading provider of classification and technical services to the marine and offshore industries, has granted Approval in Principle (AIP) for the Seatransporter-DF, a dual-fuel design concept developed by Algoship Designers Ltd. of Nassau, Bahamas. The design has the capability to accommodate multiple engine types as well as Type-C or membrane containment systems for LNG fuel. Algoship worked with CleanShips LLC of Stamford, CT, to develop a version of the bulk carrier design that would meet specific operational requirements without compromising cargo carrying capacity. The 38,000 DWT version is equipped with a 2,400 m3 LNG fuel containment system that could allow for approximately 100 days endurance. Algoship is applying the same design philosophy to Panamax-, Ultramax- and Kamsarmsized carriers and has determined that the dual fuel technology is also applicable to other vessel types. As the marine industry continues to adjust to comply with more stringent air emission requirements, the use of LNG as a fuel will be adopted in more subsectors in the marine industry. Developed to help meet the current and upcoming international air emission standards, the Seatransporter-DF design can be used in Emission Control Areas (ECAs). The agreement clearly states that it is production that OPEC producers are vowing to cut, but Iraqi oil minister Jabbar al-Luaibi has recently claimedrather emphaticallythat it is exports , not production, that serve as the baseline for the cuts. And according to Iraq, the agreed-upon cuts have been all about exports all along. Its been six months now that oil prices have been reacting to OPEC, first to the possibility of an agreement, and then to the production cut deal itself, forged by OPEC to rebalance the market. The dealinitially aired as an agreement to agree on a deal in September and signed at the end of Novemberwill likely impact the market for at least the next six months. Of course, exports are the logical by-product of production of oil exporting nations, but each of those producers feels the weight of production cuts differently. Each OPEC nation has a specific domestic demand for oil based on population numbers and the share of oil and petroleum products in the energy mix and electricity generation. Each member has unique buyers of their crude, along with differing agendas in keeping and/or growing market shares in various corners of the world. To cut exports rather than production would hit hard the bottom lines of those who are heavy exporters, so it's quite clear why an oil cartel whose self-proclaimed mission is to secure "a steady income to producers" chose to cut "production" instead of "exports" in its latest supply-cut agreement. OPEC producersespecially Saudi Arabia, which shoulders the biggest share of cutsare desperately trying to maintain their most important market shares such as those in Asia, while measuring exports bound for other destinations in its attempt to comply with the production cuts. The cartel would have never used the language exports in a deal to cut supply, because cutting their exports would mean they would hold a smaller market share. Having a smaller footprint globally would, in turn, mean that OPEC would wield less influence over the price of oil. Its doubtful OPEC would ever agree to such an unappealing scenario. But Iraq is uniquely positioned. First, Iraq must contend with the Kurds, as well as international companies, with which it has production agreements that come with penalties for breeching. For this reason, Iraq does not have as much control over production as, say, Saudi Arabia, who deals only with state-run oil. So using export figures rather than production figures may show that Iraq is complying at a higher rate, even though exports are not entirely under their control either. The mere perception of compliance, regardless of the validity, is important as far as the market is concerned. Another reason why Iraq may prefer to cite exports is because exports are a bit trickier to nail down. There is always conflicting loading data and shipping schedules to contend with, and its hard to pinpoint precisely how much oil each OPEC nation has heading out the door. Production, on the other hand, has concise figures (two figures each, we might add) published in OPECs Monthly Oil Market Reportone direct reported figure and one secondary source figure. Exports are even less transparent, especially for Iraq, who has export figures for both the north and the south. Data compiled by Bloomberg showed that Iraqs February exports of 3.85 million barrels per day were, in fact, 39,000 barrels per day higher than January levels, which doesnt seem so compliant. In October 2016, Iraqs oil exports were estimated to be 3.89 million barrels per day. So even if the reference basket that OPEC used to craft the deal was based on exports, it doesnt look like Iraqs compliance is particularly noteworthyits just more difficult to pin down exactly how noncompliant Iraq is. So, for OPEC, its about production cuts, but beyond the wording of the agreement, its the message: we are the ones finally doing something to bring the huge oversupply back to balance. The fine print, of course, is: we wanted the price of oil higher and stable, so that we could plug the gaps in our oil-revenue-dependent budgets. The market bought the balance message, and oil prices steadied at above $50 for three months. The initial surprisingly high compliance at more than 90 percent, due to Saudi Arabia going the extra mile, instilled further confidence that OPEC was following through its promised cuts. Almost every cartel producer is boasting near full or over-compliance, and those who dont comply, notably Iraq, are claiming the deals baseline is about exports. The price gains from the OPEC deal have been capped by resurgent U.S. shale output at the higher oil prices. But the recent drop in the price of oil wiped out almost all the price increase that the cartels deal has managed to achieve. The message to OPEC was that it may have underestimated U.S. shale resilience once again, and the cartels previous plans for higher prices may prove ill-conceived. OPECs playbook currently is 1) urging full compliance from all signatories to the deal, 2) using Saudis to signal they may be fed up with doing the extra heavy lifting for rogue members, and 3) talking prices up from time to time with messages that the supply-cut deal may need to be extended. Last week, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih told Bloomberg Television that OPEC would extend the deal beyond June if stockpiles were still above the five-year average. According to OPECs own estimates from earlier this month, OECD commercial oil stocks in January were 278 million barrels above the five-year average. OPECs deal now is trying to send a unified message that the members are making every effort to rebalance the market, so its unlikely that OPEC will correct Iraqs insistence that the deal was forged over export figures rather than production figures. The cartel is a diverse group of nations with various bilateral, trilateral and bloc relations among them. OPEC members rarely act in full concert, and seldom keep production-cut pledges. Their game now is playing the market with the possible extension of the cuts beyond June, and they have time until May to try to talk prices up. If the cartel doesnt extend the deal, the glut may not clear soon, further depressing oil prices and straining the already stretched OPEC producers budgets. If they decide to extend the deal, they risk losing market share and part of their power to sway oil markets and prices. Link to original article: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/An-OPEC-Deal-Extension-Isnt-As-Simple-As-It-Sounds.html Toyota will launch an eco-billboard campaign for the fuel cell Mirai, in coordination with Clear Channel Outdoor Americas, from 3 April through 28 May 28. Thirty-seven billboards in Los Angeles and San Francisco will create 24,960 square feet of pollution scrubbing surface and reverse the equivalent of 5,285 vehicles worth of nitrogen dioxide (NO x ) emissions per month. This catalytic converter of billboards uses a titanium-dioxide-coated vinyl to purify the surrounding air. When oxygen reacts with the energized titanium dioxide catalyst, NO x is converted to nitrate. The light-activated, smog-reducing billboards continue to purify the air as long as light, humidity, airflow and the titanium dioxide coating are present. PURETi Group, LLC, developed the titanium dioxide coating technology used on the eco-billboards, and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas has exclusive usage rights in the outdoor advertising category. Toyota highlighted the eco-billboard campaign during the first Environmental Media Association Impact Summit in Beverly Hills, Calif. A Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, wrapped with the titanium dioxide coated vinyl, purified the air as guests entered the event. Phone conversations and video visits between a wife and her husband, who is in jail, can be used in court. Jacob Anglesey, 35, a Green River Police officer accused of murdering a two-year-old boy, filed a notice of intent to claim marital privilege in the Third District Court of Judge Richard Lavery. In the notice, Anglesey asked the court to exclude the introduction of jail calls, video visits or statements derived from conversations he had with his wife, Chanelle Anglesey, under Wyoming State Statutes 1-12-104 and 1-12-101 (a)(iii). Statute 1-12-101 (a)(iii) provides that spouses may not... A community continues to rally around the family impacted by a tragic accident. With the deaths of two Green River residents, who were hit after a vehicle drove through their house, residents are trying to find ways to help them out. One-year-old Stella Doak and Debra Devries died as a result of the injuries sustained in the crash. Now, the community is trying to help the families out as much as they can. So far, two local construction companies, who havent been identified, have offered to fix the damage home for free. Others in the community have hosted bake sales with all of the proce... The United Nations' weather agency says the state of Earth's climate is bad and getting worse faster than before, especially with sea level rise accelerating. Sunday's World Meteorological Organization report helped open international climate negotiations in Egypt on a somber note. The report, which centralizes climate data and extreme weather reports already known, says that the rate of sea level rise is more than twice as fast as it was in the 1990s. It points out that the last eight years are the hottest on record. Greenhouse gases are at record high levels, with melting ice and hotter oceans. A Kansas abortion clinic that was among the first in the country to open after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade has been inundated with patients. Some drive 10 hours or more to get there, coming from Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and even Louisiana. But thats only if they can get an appointment. Planned Parenthood clinics in the state, including this newest one, are only able to take about 10% to 15% of the patients seeking abortions. Kansas is one of the few states in the region still providing abortions in the wake of the court's ruling. Secretary of State Secretary Rex Tillerson gave the opening address yesterday at a conference of nations allied in fighting the Islamic State ... ... but offered no hint of President Trump's plan to quickly and totally wipe out the terrorist group. Trump announced in May 2015, and repeated many times during his campaign, that he had a foolproof plan to take down ISIS. All I can tell you it is a foolproof way of winning, and Im not talking about what some people would say, but it is a foolproof way of winning the war with ISIS, he said in a Fox interview 22 months ago. And it will be absolutely, 100 percent theyll at minimum come to the table but actually theyll be defeated very quickly. In October, Trump declared: "I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me." So, where's the plan? Look, I didn't really expect Trump to defeat ISIS after only two months in office. In fact, I didn't believe that he really had a plan to do so. Maybe no one believed it. But when someone running for president makes such a claim, over and over, shouldn't he be held to account for it? When someone boasts that he has all the answers, that he knows more about a given subject than the professionals, shouldn't he have to produce? Oh, no. Not this president. But when are his supporters, who loved him because he was such a straight talker, finally going to wise up? In his remarks, Tillerson acknowledged that strategies already put in place are working: Reflecting on the past year or so, we should be encouraged by the significant progress we as a coalition are making. He added that over the past year, the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq and Syria had dropped more than 90 percent, and that 75 percent of the Islamic States online propaganda had been eliminated, according to The New York Times. So, there's no secret plan. Instead, there's chipping away at the terrorist group's strength and influence. This is part of a long war against terrorism, and there will be no quick or absolute victory. Anyone, even a president, who says otherwise isn't telling the truth. U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis helped introduce a bill in the Senate that would help National Guard members save on travel expenses incurred for training. Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the legislation Wednesday, Tillis' office said in a news release. North Carolina has about 12,000 National Guard members. Many must travel to complete their required duty training, and they typically pay for that travel themselves, Tillis' office said. Members can only claim that mileage and other travel expenses on their taxes if they had to travel more than 100 miles from their residence for training or if travel expenses exceeded 2 percent of their adjusted gross income, according to the release. The "Savings for Servicemembers Act" would reduce the travel minimum to 50 miles. That would align treatment of the National Guard and Reservists with federal workers who have a 50-mile minimum for travel compensation, according to the release. In 2001, the first Army attack helicopter units to take the fight to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan were the soldiers of the 130th Aviation Regiment from Morrisville," Tillis said in a statement. "Our military heritage is long and proud, and many of our Guardsmen travel hundreds of miles to serve. This legislation helps level the playing field and removes a fundamental unfairness from the system. Ecolab is celebrating the completion of its Kay facility expansion at 9 a.m. Friday. The ribbon-cutting and facility tour officially opens the 36,000-square-foot, LEED-certified office space at 8300 Capital Drive in Greensboro. Ecolabs Kay business serves the cleaning, sanitation and food safety needs of quick service restaurants and food retail locations throughout the world. This is Ecolabs fourth expansion at the Capital Drive facility since 1987. Various Ecolab executives and city and county officials are expected to attend. For information, contact Roman Blahoski at (651) 250-4385. Superhero run will assist aid agency Kappa Delta Sorority at High Point University and The Guild of Family Service of High Point will present the fourth annual Super Hero Dash, a 5K Run/Walk and Family Fun Run on April 2. The event will be held at HPUs Greek Village on International Avenue in High Point. Superhero capes and masks will be distributed to all participants. Registration begins at 1:30 p.m. The Fun Run begins at 2:30 p.m. with the 5K Run/Walk following at 3 p.m. Proceeds will support the services provided by Family Service of the Piedmont, a nonprofit with a mission to empower individuals and families. To register, visit http://www.safeandhealthyfamilies.com/superherodash. For information, call (336) 889-6105. National Geographic journalist to speak National Geographic photojournalist Amy Toensing will speak at Guilford College on April 3. Her public lecture will start at 5:30 p.m. in the Joseph Bryan Jr. Auditorium in the Frank Family Science Building. Its free and open to the public. Toensing has been a regular contributor to National Geographic magazine for more than a decade. Toensing has covered cultures around the world and reported on issues such as Muslim women living in Western culture and the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Her latest project, a story about widows in India, Africa and the Balkans, appeared in the February issue of National Geographic. Guilford College is bringing Toensing to campus in partnership with The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. For information about Toensing and to see some of her work, visit her website at www.amytoensing.com. Community college will host job fair Davidson County Community College and DavidsonWorks will hold a job fair from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 30 at the Rittling Conference Center on the main campus in Thomasville. More than 40 employers representing a wide range of professions are scheduled to attend. Representatives from the DCCC admissions office also will be on hand to answer attendees questions about the colleges programs. For information, visit davidsonccc.edu/job-fair-2017. Brick company to offer sales, consultations Pine Hall Brick Company will hold its annual Paver Days celebration from 8 a.m. to noon April 8 at the companys paver manufacturing plant at 350 Teague Road in Madison. Demonstrations, which show how homeowners can build their own brick patios and walkways, will be at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. Pine Hall Brick will also offer free patio and landscape design by Earth Graphics. Take a digital picture of your landscape, then bring it on a memory card, a CD or in your camera (dont forget your USB cable), and Earth Graphics will do a free 30-minute consultation. Appointments are available every 30 minutes from 8 until 11:30 a.m.; to schedule, call (336) 548-7108. Pavers will be offered at deep discounts ranging from 15 to 30 cents. Delivery is available in a limited area for $100 per load and all sales are final. Those attending may register for door prizes, including free brick pavers and a steak dinner. For information, call (336) 548-7101 or visit www.pinehallbrick.com. The N.C. attorney generals office will provide legal counsel to members of the Person/Caswell County district attorneys office who are named in their official capacities as part of a whistleblowers lawsuit. Debra Halbrook, a former victim-witness legal assistant in that office, filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court on Feb. 21, alleging that Person/Caswell County District Attorney Wallace Bradsher fired her after discovering she had reported to the State Bureau of Investigation allegations that he and Rockingham County District Attorney Craig Blitzer schemed to each hire the others wife to collect a combined $100,000 a year in salaries the women did not earn. Halbrooks lawsuit names as defendants in their official and individual capacities: Bradsher. John J. Stultz, the former Person/Caswell County chief assistant district attorney who is now a District Court judge. LuAnn Martin, senior assistant district attorney. Gayle Peed, the offices administrative assistant. Blitzer; his wife, Cindy Blitzer; and Pamela Bradsher are named in their individual capacities. The lawsuit also names the state of North Carolina and the Person/Caswell County district attorneys office as defendants. The N.C. Department of Justice will represent the official-capacity defendants, said Laura Brewer, a spokeswoman for the attorney generals office. Decisions related to the individual defendants are under review by our office. Brewer confirmed that Special Deputy Attorney General Grady Balentine will work on the civil case, with the potential of other attorneys joining him. On July 25, 2016, the SBI began investigating the district attorneys offices in Rockingham, Person and Caswell counties for the alleged theft of state money involving the misuse of the states payroll system. Superior Court Judge Joe Crosswhite, who ordered that investigation, named Cindy Blitzer and Stultz as suspects. Individually, several of those defendants have hired attorneys. The News & Record has confirmed that Wallace and Pamela Bradsher are being represented by attorneys at Alston and Bird in Durham. Craig Blitzer is being represented by Chris Clifton and Michael Grace of Grace Tisdale & Clifton in Winston-Salem, and Cindy Blitzer is being represented by Joe Zeszotarski of Gammon, Howard & Zeszotarski of Raleigh. Craig Blitzer resigned on March 10 from his elected position as Rockinghams district attorney, two days after SBI agents searched his office for evidence. Bradsher is still the Person/Caswell district attorney. Halbrooks lawsuit alleges violations of the states whistleblower protection act and federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act; obstruction of justice; intentional infliction of emotional distress; negligent infliction of emotional distress; and civil conspiracy. Halbrook, a 20-year employee who was months away from retirement when she was fired, is represented by attorneys Lee Farmer of Yanceyville and David Long and Drew Erteschik of Poyner Spruill in Raleigh. Craig Blitzer and Wallace Bradsher hired their wives to work as legal assistants in their own offices. Pamela Bradsher had worked in that position from Jan. 7, 2011, until Jan. 1, 2015, when Wallace Bradsher promoted her to an investigator. Cindy Blitzer was hired on Jan. 1, 2015, the day her husband took office, making $46,900 a year. On Jan. 13, 2015, the women swapped jobs and salaries. Pamela Bradsher resigned from her position on Aug. 18, 2015. Cindy Blitzer left her job on Oct. 25, 2016. Officials of the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts said they could not comment on whether she departed willingly or was fired, but the lawsuit states that she was fired. Halbrook said in a sworn affidavit that she became skeptical of Cindy Blitzers role when she noticed that she was listed as a full-time staff member and that she had seen Cindy Blitzer at work only five times each year and only for a few hours at a time. Halbrook became suspicious when she learned Peed would not enter time for Cindy Blitzer in the states payroll system, the lawsuit states. Halbrook contends in the lawsuit that Peed was the only person authorized to use the states payroll system but saw Stultz using it. When Halbrook confronted him, he told her not to worry about Cindy Blitzer, the lawsuit states. According to court documents, that was the first time Cindy Blitzers name had come up in the conversation between Stultz and Halbrook. The lawsuit states that, at that point, Halbrook became concerned her office was involved in a criminal scheme to pay the wives for time they did not work. Updated at 3:51 p.m. WASHINGTON GOP House leaders delayed their planned vote Thursday on a long-promised bill to repeal and replace "Obamacare," in a stinging setback for House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump in their first major legislative test. The decision came after Trump, who ran as a master dealmaker, failed to reach agreement with a bloc of rebellious conservatives. Moderate-leaning Republican lawmakers were also bailing on the legislation, leaving it short of votes. The bill could still come to a vote in coming days, but canceling Thursday's vote was a significant defeat. It came on the seven-year anniversary of President Barack Obama signing the Affordable Care Act, years that Republicans have devoted to promising repeal. Those promises helped them keep control of the House and Senate and win the White House, but now, at the moment of truth, they are falling short. "No deal," House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said after he and his group of more than two dozen rebellious conservatives met with Trump to try to get more concessions to reduce requirements on insurance companies. The Republican legislation would halt Obama's tax penalties against people who don't buy coverage and cut the federal-state Medicaid program for low earners, which the Obama statute had expanded. It would provide tax credits to help people pay medical bills, though generally skimpier than Obama's statute provides. It also would allow insurers to charge older Americans more and repeal tax boosts the law imposed on high-income people and health industry companies. The measure would also block federal payments to Planned Parenthood for a year, another stumbling block for GOP moderates. In a danger sign for Republicans, a Quinnipiac University poll found that people disapprove of the GOP legislation by 56 percent to 17 percent, with 26 percent undecided. Trump's handling of health care was viewed unfavorably by 6 in 10. The survey was conducted March 16 to 21 with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. GOP leaders had targeted Thursday for the climactic vote, in part because it marks the seventh anniversary of Obama's signing the measure into law. With the House in recess awaiting the outcome of the White House meeting, C-SPAN aired video of that signing ceremony. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., couldn't resist a dig. "You may be a great negotiator," she said of Trump. "Rookie's error for bringing this up on a day when clearly you're not ready." In a count by The Associated Press, at least 30 Republicans said they opposed the bill, enough to defeat the measure. But the number was in constant flux amid the eleventh-hour lobbying. Including vacancies and expected absentees, the bill would be defeated if 23 Republicans join all Democrats in voting "no." Obama declared in a statement that "America is stronger" because of the current law and Democrats must make sure "any changes will make our health care system better, not worse for hardworking Americans." Trump tweeted to supporters, "Go with our plan! Call your Rep & let them know." Tension has been building in advance of the critical vote, and a late-night meeting of moderate-leaning members in Speaker Ryan's office Wednesday broke up without resolution. A key moderate who had been in the meeting, Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, issued a statement saying he would be voting "no" on the health bill. "I believe this bill, in its current form, will lead to the loss of coverage and make insurance unaffordable for too many Americans," said Dent, a leader of the Tuesday Group of moderate-leaning Republicans. Congressional leaders have increasingly put the onus on the president to close the deal, seemingly seeking to ensure that he takes ownership of the legislation and with it, ownership of defeat if that is the outcome. Moderates were given pause by projections of 24 million Americans losing coverage in a decade and higher out-of-pocket costs for many low-income and older people, as predicted by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. ___ Associated Press reporters Alan Fram, Kevin Freking, Ken Thomas and Matt Daly contributed to this report. Multiple media outlets have reported that the House Republicans' planned vote tonight to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has been canceled. Earlier today, White House press secretary Sean Spicer had said President Donald Trump's meeting with the House Freedom Caucus was a "positive step" toward achieving the GOP's goal of driving down costs and increasing access to health care. Freedom caucus members told reporters on Capitol Hill that there was "no deal" following the meeting. Two dozen or so Freedom Caucus members have opposed the legislation pushed by GOP leaders, saying it doesn't go far enough to repeal "Obamacare." WINSTON-SALEM U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-5th) has defended her controversial bill that would allow employers to acquire genetic information about their employees and their families in order to reduce workers health insurance premiums. Critics say employees who decline genetic testing or choose not to participate in their employers wellness programs could face penalties under the legislation. Two weeks ago, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce voted, 22-17, to approve HR 1313, also known as the Preserving Employee Wellness Program Act. Foxx, the committees chairwoman, introduced the bill in the U.S. House and voted for it. U.S. Rep. Alma Adams (D-12th), a committee member, voted against it. Adams couldnt be reached Wednesday to comment on the bill. House leaders havent scheduled a floor vote for the bill, a committee spokeswoman said. The legislation has been overshadowed by the debate among Republican legislators in the U.S. House and Senate about the American Health Care Act that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Foxx spoke about the wellness bill Friday at the Lincoln/Reagan Day Dinner in Winston-Salem, which was sponsored by the Forsyth County Republican Party. About 200 Republicans attended. Foxx said that the bill is intended to correct contradictory legislation approved by Congress during the Obama administration. Recent news accounts of the bill have misinterpreted it, she said. We are setting the record straight, Foxx said. We do not ask for peoples genetic information. Wellness programs are purely voluntary, she said. But if they (employees) do participate, there is a chance to have their premiums reduced. What the media is saying if you dont participate, you get fined. That is not true simply not true. The bill would exempt workplace wellness programs from limitations under federal law on medical examinations and inquiries of employees, the prohibition on collection information in connection with issuing health insurance and limitations of federal law on collection of the genetic information of employees or family members of employees, according to the U.S. House website. This exemption would apply to workplace wellness programs that comply with limits on rewards for employees participating in the program. Foxx couldnt be reached Tuesday for further comment on the bill. Sheridan Watson, a Foxx spokeswoman, pointed to three statements, which have been released by Foxxs committee about the bill. In one of them, the committee said the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken steps to undermine the use of employee wellness programs by pursuing costly litigation against employers and adopting restrictive new rules. The commissions partisan actions are contrary to the bipartisan will of the Congress, defied the responsible policies of three federal agencies, and created significant regulatory confusion and legal uncertainty for employers, the committee statement said. Kimberly Smith-Brown, an EEOC spokeswoman, said her agency doesnt comment on pending legislation. Mark Hall, a professor of law and public health at Wake Forest University, said the bills sponsors may not have been aware when they introduced the legislation that some parts of it conflict with existing protections for employees such as the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. My guess is that the relevant committees will give these issues more attention now that they have been brought to light, Hall said. And I would not be surprised if the bill fails to advance through Congress in its current form. Critics of the bill said the legislation would eliminate prohibitions on employers to inquire about employees private genetic information and would give businesses the authority to impose penalties on employees who choose to keep that information private. However, the eight-page bill doesnt contain that specific language. Nevertheless, nearly 70 organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Diabetes Association and the March of Dimes sent a letter to Foxx before the committee vote, harshly condemning the bill. HR 1313 would allow penalties up to a maximum averaging many thousands of dollars per year if employees decline to disclose information from genetic tests that they, their spouses, their children or their other family members have had, or if they do not reveal their families medical histories, according to the letter. Allowing penalties of this magnitude would clearly allow employers to coerce employees into revealing their private genetic information, the letter says. Some employers support the bill, saying that it would clarify their authority under existing federal laws to administer employee wellness programs. The American Benefits Council, which advocates in Washington, D.C., for employer-sponsored benefit programs, has issued a statement supporting the bill. The council said that the bill would streamline complicated federal regulations governing employer-sponsored benefit programs. We believe in the promise of wellness programs to improve the health and productivity of employees, the council said. We are equally committed to protecting the privacy of employees personal health and genetic information. At least five people, including a suspected attacker and a police officer, have been confirmed dead and 40 injured in an attack near the British parliament that authorities are treating as a terrorist incident. "Although we remain open minded to the motive, a full counterterrorism investigation is already underway," Commander BJ Harrington told a news conference Wednesday in London. A search is underway to confirm there are no additional attackers, though police officials have indicated the attack was carried out by a lone assailant. British Prime Minister Theresa May addressed the public on television late Wednesday, calling the attack "sick and depraved." She vowed that it would not affect the daily routines of people living and working in the heart of London, where the attack took place. She also commended the security officers who responded to the attack, saying the loss of one of their own members made their work reassuring the public "all the more remarkable." May said any attempt to intimidate the British people through violence and terror is doomed to failure. She also said Parliament will meet on Thursday as usual. "We will all move forward together," she said, "never giving in to terror, and never allowing the voices of hate to drive us." Parliament was placed on lockdown after an attacker stabbed a police officer before being shot by other officers on the parliament grounds. The injured officer later died of his injuries. At least two people were killed and eight others injured when a vehicle struck several people on the nearby Westminster bridge. A senior police officer told VOA that they believe only one assailant was involved in what appears to have been "a three-staged attack." It began with an SUV being driven over Westminster Bridge right by the House of Commons. The SUV mounted the sidewalk and struck several pedestrians. It is deeply disturbing to observe that statements from the president of the United States cannot be relied on to be true. Starting with the birther assertions before the election, Trump said global warming information was a Chinese hoax and described Mexican immigrants as criminals. Now that he is president, he accuses Obama of wire-tapping, a practice whose authority was transferred to the judiciary after Nixons shenanigans. His speech to Congress had numerous factual errors on the crime rate, the unemployment rate and the economy. He cited no evidence. Afterward, the N&R even included an article with his statements followed by substantiated, researched evidence of his errors. REIDSVILLE Donations are pouring into Lowes Home Improvement of Reidsville to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. As of March 20, the store raised more than $7,500, well on its way to meet its latest goal of $8,000. The showing of people in this town right now is unreal, said Lowes of Reidsville ProServices Specialist Tyler Walker. This local effort to raise money is part of a larger company-wide initiative to support children with muscular dystrophy. Lowes as a corporation donates to the MDA, but we have to raise the money to donate to help the children because Lowes is a really big support of family and children, he said. The money raised in turn goes to fund clinic visits, purchase medical equipment and pay for children with muscular dystrophy to go to MDA camp at a cost of $800 per child. When our kids go to camp, they just go to camp and theres a counselor there, they play games and all this, Walker said. When MDA kids go to camp, there has to be doctors, nurses, special ramps for them to get around, special games for them to play, special circumstances for them to sleep at night. Theres got to be medication on standby. Theres a whole lot more than just, Hey, Im going to drop Charlie off at camp for the week. The store has raised money through walk-in donations, weekly bake sales and special events. On March 17, guests could test their luck with a $5 donation by dropping a chip down the Lowes plinko board to win prizes. Donated prizes included gift certificates to Carolina Cafe, NAPA products, shirts and hats from local contractors, earrings, homemade bread and more. The store has also hosted MDA Lock-Ups in which community members were locked inside a mock prison cell until they could raise bail. The bail was set at $100 in donations. Contractors were locking their whole companies up, Walker said. We had friends come and lock up. Everybody raised over $100. It was no big deal. The store plans to continue accepting donations, hosting MDA bake sales each Friday and planning events until the competition ends on March 31. All the stores right now are competing, Walker said. Everybodys trying to catch us. The Battleground store is right behind us on our tails. Nobody is going to beat us though. The people in Rockingham County and Reidsville have stuck by us in this. With the competition coming to a close at the end of the month, Lowes of Reidsville expects to know the regional winner in early April. Everybody in Reidsville will know if weve won, because theyre going to hear us cheer, Walker said. Were going to go crazy. Weve been in here since 2001 in this building and this will be the first contest weve won like that. For more information, contact the ProServices desk at Lowes at 336-280-2019. The store is located at 5201 U.S. 29 Business, Reidsville. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD City officials and business leaders await the arrival of the worlds largest hedge fund. But the company has not revealed when it will make its debut. Bridgewater Associates, headquartered in Westport, plans to open offices at 2200 Atlantic St., in the Harbor Point complex in the South End. City officials are expecting the company to move several hundred employees to Stamford possibly within the next few months in a move they see as a boon for the local economy. The arrival could also help to repair local relations for a company that has a contentious history with the city. With Bridgewater coming here, its only solidifying the trends of seeing financial companies moving back into Stamford, said Thomas Madden, Stamfords economic development director. Bridgewater did not respond this week to a message seeking comment. Officials from Building and Land Technology, 2200 Atlantic St.s owner, declined to comment. Anticipating a major arrival Madden said he has heard estimates of the companys headcount at 2200 Atlantic St. ranging between 300 and 800 employees, with a large number of IT workers and other operational positions. The opening could take place this summer, he said. Earlier reports have indicated Bridgewater planned to lease 135,000 square feet in the Harbor Point building. Connecticuts Department of Economic and Community Development is also closely tracking Bridgewaters moves. The firm has qualified for up to $22 million in state subsidies, an incentives package that calls for the company to retain about 1,400 jobs and create between 200 and 750 positions. Some $17 million of the state assistance would support about $527 million in capital improvements that DECD officials said Bridgewater is making to its two main Westport office complexes, its headquarters at 1 Glendinning Place and its hub at the Nyala Farms center, and possibly other properties. BLT owns Nyala Farms. During the renovation, the Stamford offices would likely house some employees previously based in Westport, according to DECD officials. Theyre completely revamping both office buildings in Westport, said Catherine Smith, the states economic development commissioner. We were absolutely aware they would be in need of swing space while doing that work. As a condition of its assistance package, Bridgewater could not use any of the state money for rent at 2200 Atlantic St. But DECD officials said they did not know whether Bridgewater was allocating funds for capital expenditures in Stamford. Depending on the size of the companys roster at 2200 Atlantic St., Bridgewaters move could significantly offset the local layoffs that Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS have carried out in recent years. RBS alone has eliminated about 560 Stamford-based positions since the beginning of 2015. Bridgewater coming in demonstrates that Stamford has an office market that supports financial services, said Joe McGee, vice president of public policy for The Business Council of Fairfield County. Were a financial center, so it make sense that Bridgewater would find this environment accommodating. Bridgewater initially envisioned a much larger presence in Stamford. It announced plans in 2012 to build a $750 million headquarters on a BLT-owned peninsula not far from 2200 Atlantic St. that formerly contained a boatyard. But the plan attracted intense opposition from residents who viewed the site as ill-suited for a corporate hub. The 14-acre peninsula has stoked conflicts since BLT demolished the boatyard in 2011 in violation of its zoning agreement with the city. Stamford presence DECD officials said they did not know whether Bridgewater would stay in Stamford after it completed its Westport renovations. While the capital improvements in Westport suggest a long-term commitment to that town, some Stamford business leaders said they hope the hedge fund would again consider Stamford. When major companies or corporations move into Stamford, that speaks volumes for how a city is growing, said Jack Condlin, president and CEO of the Stamford Chamber of Commerce. Other companies or corporations that are thinking of relocating would say, How about Stamford? But Bridgewater does not appear to be eyeing another wholesale relocation to the city. As far as I know, there are no future Bridgewater plans for a headquarters in Stamford, Madden said. If there is something that comes in, well evaluate it at the time it comes in. pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschott There was the time Tim Topi mixed dough with mushrooms and hoped to create a following for the bread it became. Unlike some of his other undertakings, it did not have staying power. That did not work, he says, laughing, in the Wave Hill Breads kitchen in South Norwalk. Nobody liked it. Not everything Topi gives rise to flies. Fortunately, however, for this master baker and owner, his attention to ingredients and traditional baking methods means most things do. He and his crew operate what they call an artisan micro-bakery. Micro typically suggests limited batches or production, specialty products, locally sourced ingredients, organic inclinations and attention to traditional methods all of which are hallmarks for the 12-year-old bakery. Though it counts commercial businesses among its customers, such as farmers markets, restaurants, grocery stores (nearly 50 locations across Connecticut and New York) and private clubs, the kitchen does not look or feel like a large commercial operation. On a recent night, with only Topi, his head baker Avery Peters and a few other employees zipping around, such an approach was obvious. Topi bought the bakery from its previous owners, Margaret Sapir and Mitch Rapoport, more than a year ago, having worked as their master baker for about three years. Topi continues the traditional French baking methods imparted to Sapir and Rapoport by Gerard Rubaud, a renowned master French baker based in Vermont, as well as tricks of the trade Topi learned while working with expert bakers in Italy for more than a decade. The process begins with grinding multiple grains, such as organic rye or spelt. The breakdown is not as rustic as a pestle-and-mortar operation, but as Topi pours the spelt berries into a small mechanical mill, he hovers like a chef to check the consistency and quality. It may take a bit more time and be more costly, but Topi believes the bread is better when the flour is freshly ground, as it keeps more of its rich nutrients. You get all of the freshness, and all of the flavors, too, he says, as the machine hums. Its then on to mixing, with the freshly milled flour, King Arthur flour, grains, seeds and whatever else the product requires. While a machine does the actual labor of mixing, just about everything else is done by hand. Throughout, the bakers finesse the product, such as adjusting the doughs water content, or hydration, based on the actual temperature and humidity in the environment. They are patient with the yeast and fermentation, rather than trying to rush it; some processes can take up to several days. They watch to know when to manipulate the dough at just the right time so they can punch it down, reshape it and let it rise again before baking. The loaves, baguettes and boules are transferred to racks, with some resting on wooden trays with a cloth canvas, known as a couche, which helps proof the bread. This natural fermentation requires no preservatives or additives. Bread must never be baked before its time, or put in an oven without the proper temperature, which can vary by the ambient temperature. The average customer may recognize the handmade quality based on the unique shape of each loaf and a dusting of flour, but it is really all these behind-the-scenes decisions that give Topis products the artisanal stamp. It is important to us to educate and let people know what we do, Topi says. They can appreciate why our bread is more expensive. They see the technique, the time and the process. In the late 1990s, at about the time Topi, who is originally from Albania, was getting into the business in Italy, the artisanal bread movement was picking up steam in the United States, with a handful of bakers bringing back old-world breads and techniques. More bakers hewing to these notions have arrived throughout the subsequent decades, but small, artisanal bread bakeries are still a relatively niche operation. When Topi arrived in the United States looking for a job three-and-a-half years ago, he says Wave Hill was the only bakery that was close to what I used to do in Italy. When I got here, the previous owners gave me a ciabatta loaf with olives. I didnt know I could have bread like this in the United States, he says. After returning home from his interview, he validated his initial perceptions. I ate the whole bread by myself. I didnt share. It was like I had never seen bread in my whole life. Topi receives similar reactions from customers for old standbys, including the ciabatta, the three-grain French Country loaf, brioche and rye, as well as some of his more enduring experiments wild yeast sourdough (a killer base for grilled cheese as per Peters suggestion and personal experience), in-season blueberry croissants and cherry tomato and zucchini focaccia. Bread has long been part of a flooded market, and anyone who has taken a trip to a grocery store knows there can be an extensive array of options. Wave Hill makes 12,000 to 15,000 baked items a week, including croissants, cookies and rolls. Can you really differentiate yourself? Everybody has bread, Topi says, smiling. But not everybody has good bread. chennessy@hearstmedia.com; Twitter: @xtinahennessy Those declines, coinciding with President Donald Trump taking office as he vowed to step up deportations of immigrants who entered the United States illegally, were not seen in the crime reporting of other ethnic groups, Beck said. Beck cited 41 fewer reports of rape -- down 25 percent - and 118 fewer domestic violence complaints -- a 10 percent drop -- among the city's Hispanic residents since January, compared with the same period of 2016. Latinos in Los Angeles are lodging fewer reports of rape and spousal abuse to police so far this year amid heightened concerns among immigrants that contact with law enforcement could lead to deportation, police Chief Charlie Beck said on Tuesday. Growing Mistrust The trend suggested a growing mistrust of the criminal justice system among Latinos as the Trump administration has pressed state and local law enforcement to assist U.S. immigration agents, the Los Angeles Police Department said. "While there is no direct evidence that the decline is related to concerns within the Hispanic community regarding immigration, the department believes deportation fears may be preventing Hispanic members of the community from reporting when they are victimized," the LAPD said in a statement. Beck himself suggested as much at a news conference with Mayor Eric Garcetti to announce new steps to shield immigrants who might be targets of the Trump administration's enforcement crackdown. "Imagine your sister, your mother, not reporting a sexual assault for fear that their family will be torn apart," the Los Angeles Times quoted Beck as saying at the event in Los Angeles' predominantly Lincoln Heights neighborhood. Los Angeles is one of dozens of municipalities and local governments across the country that have declared themselves "sanctuary cities," overtly refusing to cooperate in federal immigration enforcement. Barred from Immigration Status Like police in many of those cities, the LAPD has barred its officers from checking the immigration status of individuals they arrest or from keeping them locked up longer than otherwise warranted at the request of federal agents seeking to deport them, absent a court order. Garcetti issued a directive on Tuesday extending those policies to airport police, port police and firefighters, while prohibiting all city workers from using public facilities or resources to assist with federal immigration enforcement. The directive also requires every city facility and service be made available to all Los Angeles residents, regardless of immigration status, and that personal information submitted for enrollment in city programs and services be kept confidential. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GREENWICH Riverside School third-graders Gemma and Jordan Goodman wondered on a recent ski trip with their family why hand warmers didnt generate any heat to their thumbs. All our other fingers got warm except for the thumbs and we decided to do something about it, Gemma said. The brother and sister duo developed a prototype for a thumb warmer for skiers which they displayed this week at the schools annual STEM Fair. Now in its third year, the event aims to take the traditional science fair up a level by challenging students to focus not only on science, but the other components of STEM (technology, engineering, math). Students are asked to not just conduct experiments but to try to develop innovative solutions to real-world challenges. Students are developing analytical skills by thinking about a problem or a question they see in the world or around them and then exploring it, said Riverside School Principal Christopher Weiss. Theyre using scientific methods to explore but may also be creating an invention or building a model or even creating a business. The Goodman twins created a gauze pocket for thumbs filled with a mixture of iron powder, water, activated carbon and other ingredients that when shaken creates heat for seven hours. The challenge they faced was making the device small enough to fit under gloves and flexible enough to grip a ski pole. Its just a prototype, Jordan said. It leaks a lot and were working on it. It was really cool to do this and we want to keep going. Weiss said the fair is part of the schools ongoing effort to encourage student innovation, which also includes genius hour independent classroom projects and the schools space for 3D printing and robotics in the media center. What we wanted to do was create an opportunity for students to do things beyond science experiments, Weiss said. Thats certainly a staple of this event but we wanted to create something new and stress innovation and invention. Weve added coding and robotics as well and you see that more than you would at a science fair. Close to 170 students participated this year from across the schools grade levels, Weiss said. Some kids worked in teams and others did their projects on their own. Teachers were not involved with the development of the projects as the kids were told to do them independently. Our parents didnt even help us with any of it, said third-grader Chloe Cleaves, who presented an experiment on volcanoes with Annalynn Pacifico. We were doing it on our own because they didnt want to deal with the mess of the volcano. Pacifico added, We just went downstairs and came back up with a finished project. Cleaves and Pacifico added they were both inspired to do more projects after seeing what other kids in school had come up with. There was considerably less mess for third-grader Faran Grover, who called her project The Spoon Effect. Grover set out to answer a question shed had for a while: Why does a persons reflection appear upside down when they see it in a spoon? All we needed to do was do some research and make some pictures so people could understand, Grover said. It went pretty well after that. It was a lot of fun to do it. I went from not knowing a lot about it to being able to get ideas for other projects, trying to discover new things about things you find everywhere and make something out of the ordinary. Projects sought to determine how fast someone can ski down a mountain, why humpback whales have been in Long Island Sound, and how to make gummy worms grow in size. One discovered which brand-name sodas explode the most when you add in Mentos (Coke and Pepsi, a tie). One group created wind turbines. Third-grader Claire Fugelsang focused her project on The Science of Cooking in which she answered questions like: Why do cupcakes rise when cooked? Why does popcorn pop? And: Why is soda fizzy? On Tuesday night, an open house was held as part of the STEM Fair for Riverside School families. On Wednesday the exhibits were up throughout the school day and kids who made them presented their findings to their classmates. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com This time last year, a small website called Buy Me Once launched a solution that filled a previously unmet shopping need: It gave people an easy way to search for products that are built to last. The site attracted more than 400,000 visitors in less than two months after its launch, and has been widely recognized for helping people purchase products that they will enjoy using for decades to come. Related: 6 Steps to a Successful Product Launch The recent emergence of sites like Buy Me Once, Buy This Once and other similar sites signals a significant market opportunity for entrepreneurs. By researching those sites, they can identify consumer categories filled with soon-to-be-disposed-of products, and introduce alternatives that will last a lifetime. However, these people should know that they still face a long road ahead; bringing your product to market is much harder than just coming up with the right product design. I personally learned about the difficuly of building durable products ten years ago, after founding a company to sell umbrellas I designed that were built to endure. In growing the venture into a global business, Ive come to appreciate the following lessons when making products that will last: Implement a quality control program at the beginning of production, not the end. Umbrellas are surprisingly intricate mechanisms -- it can take over 200 parts to make a single folded unit. During one of our first production runs, we learned the hard way that little can be done after mass assembly to fix a flawed rivet or a missing spring. When this happens, starting production from scratch is often the only viable option, since disassembling a product can compromise its build integrity. This type of nightmare can be avoided if you work with your manufacturer to establish several quality checkpoints at the beginning of the process, as soon as the parts and materials arrive. Early detection is the key to a successful production, especially when you are dealing with high-end products that have lots of components. Any single part can derail a products success, as owners of the ill-fated Samsung Note 7 will attest. If your manufacturer reps tell you that they can only do quality control after production, ask if you can implement the pre-production quality-control process yourself. If the manufacturer youre working with doesnt agree to this, find another one that will. Avoid the inevitable inertia to compromise. Particularly in Asia, where manufacturers frequently work with clients whose goal is to achieve the lowest price, the best factories look for ways to save money and increase efficiency for your company. Over the years, though, Ive faced situations where manufacturers have switched materials suppliers without telling me, or made requests to omit certain product aesthetics to streamline production. Related: 5 Guidelines for Providing Product Warranties These compromises might seem small, but collectively they will have a significant impact on the final result. More than one in three U.S. Muslims fear they could be targeted by white supremacist groups following President Donald Trump's election and 42 percent say their children have been bullied in school because of their faith, a survey found. That fear contributes to a lower-than-average rate of voting by adult Muslim citizens, according to a study released on Monday by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Cracking down on what he called "radical Islamic terrorists" and restricting travel from certain Middle Eastern countries have been major elements of Trump's presidency. The study found that 38 percent of Muslims feared they could be victimized by white supremacist groups, a rate far higher than other major religions, and nearly one in five had made plans to leave the United States "if it becomes necessary." By comparison, 27 percent of Jews, 11 percent of Protestants and 8 percent of Roman Catholics and 16 percent of the religiously unaffiliated voiced such concerns. The liberal agenda caught in the act at todays meeting. Photo: Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images Starbucks steadfastly maintains that sales arent affected when it mixes coffee with social justice. But its new refugee-hiring plan, which came in reaction to Trumps ill-fated travel ban, did ignite a pretty swift conservative backlash, and now some investors who say theyve had enough of the companys constant liberal agenda plan to lambaste Howard Schultz & Co. at todays annual shareholders meeting. This group led by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a think tank thats also an investor is demanding that Starbucks rethink its liberal political stances, and just in general stop the attacks on President Donald Trump. They argue Schultz in particular is obviously liberal, perhaps even anti-conservative, and worry the CEOs politics have tainted the brand for consumers who disagree ideologically, in turn causing the brands public perception to seriously plummet which surveys show has happened, and which is never a good thing for sales numbers: Consumer sentiment about Starbucks fell sharply after the company announced plans to hire 10,000 refugees: https://t.co/Ua5qwwbvA8 pic.twitter.com/Wdx4opqFJa Tom Gara (@tomgara) February 22, 2017 Starbucks has hacked conservatives off many times before: about the holiday cups not having enough Jesus on them, about the chains strong support for same-sex marriage, and, of course, over that disastrous initiative that tried to solve racism by writing #RaceTogether on the sides of cups. But these werent quite direct attacks on President Trump, and Starbuckss plan to hire 10,000 refugees whipped legions of supporters into a frenzy, to the point where #BoycottStarbucks was trending on Twitter for a while. Starbucks tried countering that this was anything more than a handful of unruly tweeters, but this peeved investor group contends the response is hitting the company where it hurts. In a statement explaining todays charges, the think tank writes that coffee has no political allegiance, yet Starbucks has been unwavering in its support of liberal causes to the detriment of its brand and shareholder value. They add that Schultz is set to retire next month, but it still remains to be seen if the new CEO Kevin Johnson will try to unite Americans or continue Schultzs divisive politicking. Theyll get their answer by Christmas, at the very least. Fingers crossed for Rocky Mountain highs and oysters. Photo: Bravo Top Chefs next contestants will be packing their knives for the Centennial State. Bravo says Season 15 of the Emmy-winning series will take up residence in Colorado. In a statement about the new location, the channels VP Shari Levine says: We are always on the hunt for the next great culinary destination, and Colorado is fast becoming a hot spot for young chefs and foodies, making it an ideal backdrop for our upcoming season. Those are about all the details you get for now, except that Graham Elliot will return to the judges table alongside Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons and that viewers can expect filming locations all around the culinary scenes of Denver, Boulder, and Telluride. Production is supposed to kick off later this spring, so the list of cheftestants will probably trickle out very soon. Its the first time the show has picked Colorado, and the head of the states TV and film office is pretty pumped about that. This is a big get, he tells the Denver Post. Because Colorado is not looked on as a food destination. The best food show on television will show our great restaurants, ranches, farms, our lamb, peaches, wines People will look at Colorado in a different way. Food mecca or not, Colorados definitely viewed as another kind of destination. Maybe Tom Colicchio can provide the supplies. The sunken ferry Sewol was lifted 9 m off the bottom of the ocean on Wednesday night, promising that the wreck will fully emerge to the surface some time in the late afternoon Thursday. The ship, which is 144.6 m long and 22 m wide, sank on April 16, 2014 in the worst disaster in modern Korean history, taking over 300 mostly young passengers to the bottom with her. Empty, the ferry weighed 6,800 tons, but with the accumulation of debris and water it now weighs more than 10,000 tons. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said salvage workers lifted the ferry about 1 m from the seabed at around 3:30 p.m. to check if the hull remains straight and found no warping. The salvage of the sunken ferry Sewol is underway in waters off Jindo, some 472 km southwest of Seoul on Wednesday. /Yonhap The Sewol lay on its left side 44 m under the sea and salvage workers are lifting it in that position without turning it upright for fear that the hull might snap in half. The search for any remains of missing passengers trapped inside the hull will not be possible right away. First it needs to be tied to a barge and towed 1.7 km away to a semi-submersible structure, where workers will empty out the seawater trapped in the hull. A ministry official said it will take about 13 days before the ferry can be brought to dry land. Nine passengers are still officially missing, but the passenger list was apparently incomplete. There are fears that the hull could cave in while search efforts are under way, and debris and mud need to be cleared out. Government officials said search efforts will also focus on the seabed where the ferry lay. Salvage workers at first wanted to cut off the passenger cabin section and turn it upright in order to search for the bodies of the missing, but the families of victims took out an injunction against it because they fear that this could damage evidence pointing to the cause of the disaster. A ministry official said, "We will pursue search efforts in negotiation with the victims' families." The salvage of the sunken ferry Sewol continues overnight in waters off Jindo, some 472 km southwest of Seoul on Thursday. /Newsis The government has not decided what to do with the ferry once search efforts are complete. It remains to be seen whether it will be scrapped or preserved. The salvage project costs W85.1 billion and is being handled by a Chinese consortium led by state-run Shanghai Salvage (US$1=W1,125). Salvage work started in August 2015, and the ferry was originally slated to be hoisted out of the water in July last year. Shanghai Salvage had planned to use cranes but ran into trouble and switched to barges. These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. Haiti - Politics : Installation of the new Minister of Justice Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacques Guy Lafontant, in the presence of numerous personalities, including: Jules Cantave, President of the Court of Cassation, Inspector Michel-Ange Gedeon, Director General of the Haitian National Police, Me Sonel Jn. Francois and Constant Lionel Bourgouin, Director General of the Central Financial Intelligence Unit (UCREF) and General Director of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC), proceeded to the installation of Me Heidi Fortune as New Minister of Justice and Public Security. In his speech, the Head of Government said he rely on the new minister to take concrete actions to strengthen justice. In his words of circumstance, after the usual thanks, the new Minister Fortune promised to fight against prolonged pretrial detention and said relaying on the cooperation of all employees in order to fulfill his mission. Me Heidi Fortune, who has had a long career as a Magistrate in the judicial system in the North, notably as an investigating judge at the Court of First Instance in Cap-Haitien and a member of the Presidential Commission on Extended Pre-Trial Detention in 2016, replaces to this post Me Camille Junior Edouard Minister, installed under the Government Privert-Jean-Charles. HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Politics : New Ministry of Education promises changes Wednesday in Pacot, at the Project Coordination Unit (PCU) of the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP) in Pacot, Jude Alix Patrick Salomon, the new Minister of Economy and Finance, proceeded to the installation of Pierre Josue Agenor Cadet as Minister of Education replacing the outgoing Minister, Jean Beauvois Dorsonne. Minister Salomon invited Minister Cadet to place his expertise and experience at the service of the educational community without reserve. He said he believes that with the rich career and experience of the new Minister, he will bring a plus in the sector that so badly needs it. In his speech, the outgoing Minister Dorsonne, who spent nearly 12 months in this post, recalled the highlights of his time at the head of the Ministry and the difficulties encountered in his management stressing "It is up to the new incumbent to ensure the follow-up of a few projects in the education sector and to initiate others [...]" The new Minister Pierre Josue Agenor Cadet, a former professor of social sciences at the Institution of the Sacred Heart in Turgeau and Saint-Louis de Gonzague in particular, recognizes the scale of the challenges ahead, notably the question of wage arrears of teachers. He pledged to bring novelties in the education system for effective success, to the quality for all efforts made for decision makers, specifying that new technologies and school canteen are two of his priorities in his management. Also, he promised to straighten the Haitian school that has operated at several speeds for decades. He said that teachers will be better accompanied, but he will also be required that children in the classroom have the time it takes in the teaching-learning process. Finally, he explained the crucial role that education plays in the development and progress of modern societies. HL/ HaitiLibre Korean stocks are the favored buy for foreign investors who put their money into emerging markets. According to Yuanta Securities on Wednesday, foreigners have bought US$4.6 billion worth of Korean shares so far this year, the most from any of the eight newly industrialized countries or NICs. Next were Indian shares with $4.23 billion, Taiwanese with $4.19 billion, Brazilian with $1.42 billion, Indonesian with $321 million and Vietnamese with $685 million. But foreigners sold their stocks in Thailand with -$342 million and the Philippines with -$150 million. Powered by foreign buying, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,168.3 points Wednesday, up around seven percent since the beginning of this year. Foreigners have been snapping up Korean shares that are deemed undervalued, focusing on blue chips like Samsung, despite concerns over a U.S. Fed rate hike and China's economic retaliation against Korea's decision to deploy an anti-missile battery from the U.S. here. Lee Jong-woo at IBK Investment and Securities said, "Foreigners have bought almost W230 billion worth of Korean shares every day so far this month, but we will see the amount of buying decline amid concerns that share prices have peaked (US$1=W1,125)." Haiti - Politics : Jovenel Moise wants rational water management On Wednesday, 22 March, as part of World Water Day, which was celebrated this year under the theme "Why waste water ?" President Jovenel Moise took the opportunity to draw the attention of public opinion to the issues related to this vital resource and the ways and means to be implemented for its rational management to the benefit inter alia of a modern agricultural production in Haiti. It is also an opportunity to educate citizens about the need to behave responsibly towards drinking water, a resource to which 35% of Haitians in urban areas and 48% in rural areas have only a limited access, while 7.6 million Haitians (72%) lack sanitation facilities (source WHO and UNICEF) and rely heavily on international financial assistance. "During my 22 months of campaigning, I basically promised to put together the sun, land, people and water in order to lead the country on the path to sustainable development. Water and its control are therefore an important foundation of my vision. I believe that Haiti must imperatively become self-sufficient in agriculture through a public policy oriented towards the modernization of agriculture," declared President Moise. Convinced that freshwater resources can be a real asset for the development of the country, he advocates the rational management of our water resources and intends to take all necessary measures to support the Government in the actions to be taken in this framework. HL/ S/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Politics : Major projects of the Ministry of Tourism Wednesday, Jude Alix Patrick Salomon, the new Minister of Finance proceeded to the installation of his colleague Ms. Colombe Emilie Jessy Menos to the position of Minister of Tourism (MDT). She replaces the outgoing Minister Guy Didier Hyppolite. In her remarks for the occasion, the Minister Menos, highlighted the vision of the President Moise and Prime Minister Lafontant and promised as stated in the General Policy Statement to pursue the promotion of the destination, the establishment of a high-level commission to draw up a master plan for the development of the tourism sector for the next 25 years and the tabling of a draft law of orientation. The new Minister of Tourism has indicated that the government will encourage the construction of retirement villages for the Haitian diaspora. In addition, she nnounced that, in agreement with the town councils and the Boards of Communal Sections (CASEC), potential new attractions will be identified, developed and valued in the context of public-private partnerships. She also mentioned the major project to build a cable car linking Labadee to the Citadelle La Ferriere, which will be implemented in concert with the private sector. It should be noted that prior to this position, Ms. Menos was Director of Public Relations and Secretary of State within the MDT. HL/ HaitiLibre Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up New Ad-free Subscriber Login Email Password Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password. Stay logged in Help North Korea test-fired a missile from Wonsan, Kangwon Province on Wednesday morning but it exploded shortly after liftoff, the Defense Ministry here said. A military source here said it was probably a new, unproven type of missile. The North has previously experienced expensive failures. Of eight mid-range Musudan missiles launched on six occasions last year, only one was successful. The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced fresh sanctions on Wednesday against North Korea sending workers overseas and importing crude oil and related products. North Koreans laborers overseas have been one of the key sources of dollar revenues for the North Korean regime's nuclear weapons and missile programs. Committee Chairman Ed Royce introduced the Korea Interdiction and Modernization of Sanctions Act, which improves on sanctions Congress authorized in February last year. The measures are far more sweeping than the sanctions imposed so far by the UN. Entities that are caught violating oil sale sanctions could face retaliatory measures from the U.S. government. But more than 90 percent of the crude oil North Korea imports comes from China, which is unlikely to be impressed. A diplomatic source said, "It will be difficult for the U.S. to pressure China to halt crude oil supplies to North Korea immediately, but Chinese companies that do will have to fear becoming targets of a secondary boycott by the U.S." The legislation also stops North Korea from selling fishing rights and cracks down on online gambling and commerce websites operated by the North. It prohibits "goods produced in whole or part by North Korean forced labor" from entering the U.S. as well as banning foreigners who employ North Korean labor. It also bans imports of North Korean agriculture and other food products. The bill prohibits foreign banks from allowing North Koreans to open accounts and bans shipping insurance guarantees to North Korean vessels. "The legislation will provide the grounds to sanction all governments, businesses and individuals who deal with North Korea," a diplomatic source said. Half of the recent college grads (49%, to be precise) said they didn't have to go to college to acquire the skills they needed for their current jobs, and 86% of them said they were learning things on the job that they didn't learn in college. Three-quarters of the opportunity youth agreed that not having a college degree limited their options. "Screening for college degrees in the hiring process denies opportunity youth the ability to get a foot in the door, build skills on the job, and create more meaningful opportunities for life-long career success," the report said. Instead, they fall farther and farther behind. Their predicament is illustrated by a striking number in the report: 75% of the employers surveyed said the diploma is an effective way to narrow the pool of applicants and speed up the hiring process. More than 60% said a college degree is an effective way to assess an applicant's work ethic, personal skills, and mental capacity. But if a diploma means you're bright and hard-working, there's a danger of assuming that without one you're not. The Rockefeller Foundation is supporting research on two ways hiring departments could find good people without demanding a college degree. In one approach, a Rockefeller grantee named Incandescent is partnering with a company called Knack that uses customized video games to assess applicants' skills. In a pilot involving 600 opportunity youth, 83% performed at or above the level of a company's average performers for one or more entry-level jobs. Using another approach, Innovate+Educate, which is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, conducted a job fair last spring in Albuquerque in which resumes were not only not required, but prohibited. The idea was to rely strictly on skills assessment, levelling the playing field for opportunity youth who lacked experience. Twenty employers and about 600 applicants participated. A little over half got jobs, and about 260 still have them, Carleton says. Austrend Foods and its company director and part-owner Denzil Godfrey Rao have been accused of discriminating against a pregnant employee. The Perth-based food distribution company and Rao took unwarranted performance-management action against a sales executive after she fell pregnant with her first child, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman. Moreover, they allegedly denied her right to return to work after taking parental leave and constructively dismissed the employee by giving her a pre-written resignation letter after she told management she was pregnant with her second child. In early 2015, the employee informed Austrend that she intended to take parental leave half way through the year. The FWO alleges that a short time later, Austrend raised performance issues with her for the first time and issued her a written warning. It is alleged by the FWO that Austrends performance management action against the employee was unwarranted and a form of adverse action taken against the staffer in response to her declaring she intended to take parental leave. A couple of months after receiving the written warning, it is alleged that the worker agreed to delay her maternity leave in order to help Austrend who were experiencing a staff shortage. The employees formal leave period began one day before she gave birth to her first child. The FWO alleges that in November 2015, while the employee was on parental leave, Austrend rejected her request to return to work with flexible working arrangements and advised in writing that the employee could return to full-time duties in April 2016. The employee then fell pregnant for a second time and advised Austrend of her pregnancy in March 2016. The FWO also alleges the employee advised Austrend that it was still her intention to return to work in April, however the company told her it was extending her unpaid leave until after the birth of her second child. It is alleged that the employee then alerted Austrend that she had not requested an extension of unpaid leave and informed them that she had received advice that she was within her rights to return to work in April 2016 as originally agreed. Moreover, it is alleged that Rao and Austrend responded by denying the existence of any agreement that she return to work in April 2016, raised allegations of performance issues and asked her to obtain a medical certificate as to her fitness to return to work. The FWO allege that after the employee provided a medical certificate in July 2016, Austrend asked her to attend a meeting where she was asked to sign a Letter of Resignation pre-prepared by Austrend management. The Letter of Resignation, which the employee signed, allegedly amounted to a constructive dismissal of the employee. The FWO is seeking penalties against Austrend and Rao for alleged contraventions of workplace laws, as well as a Court Order requiring them to pay compensation to the employee for economic and non-economic loss. Rao faces penalties of up to $10,800 per contravention and the company faces penalties of up to $54,000 per contravention. FWO Natalie James said under the Fair Work Act employees have a lawful right to return to work following a period of parental leave. Allegations that pregnant women are facing discrimination in the workplace are of grave-concern and it is important that all employers are aware of their obligations under the law, she said. A 2014 report published by the Australian Human Rights Commission found that 49 per cent of mothers surveyed reported experiencing some form of discrimination during pregnancy, while on parental leave or returning to work. Under the Fair Work Act, it is unlawful to discriminate against employees on the grounds of pregnancy, race, colour, sex, sexual preference, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, family or carer responsibilities, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. Discriminatory behaviour can include dismissing an employee, threatening to dismiss an employee, reducing an employee's hours, denying training and promotion opportunities or refusing to employ, promote or train an employee. China supplies North Korea with 500,000 tons of crude oil for free and sells it another 500,000 tons, a source said Thursday. Beijing has refused to publish data since 2014, but the year before it sold 590,000 tons of crude oil to the North. The oil comes from China's Daqing oil field in Heilongjiang Province and is pumped to North Korea via an underground pipeline passing through Dandong along the border between the two countries and into a refinery in Sinuiju. The gasoline produced there is used by the North for domestic consumption while the LPG is sold back to China. (HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted an amendment to shorten by one business day the standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer securities transactions. Currently, the standard settlement cycle for these transactions is three business days, known as T+3. The amended rule shortens the settlement cycle to two business days, T+2. The amended rule is designed to enhance efficiency, reduce risk, and ensure a coordinated and expeditious transition by market participants to a shortened standard settlement cycle. As technology improves, new products emerge, and trading volumes grow, it is increasingly obvious that the outdated T+3 settlement cycle is no longer serving the best interests of the American people, said SEC Acting Chairman Michael Piwowar. The SEC remains committed to ensuring that U.S. securities regulation is reflective of modern times, and in shortening the settlement cycle by one day we aim to increase efficiency and reduce risk for market participants. Broker-dealers will be required to comply with the amended rule beginning on Sept. 5, 2017. To assist broker-dealers, other securities professionals and the investing public in their preparation for the implementation of a T+2 settlement cycle, the Commission has established an e-mail address T2settlement@sec.gov for the submission of inquiries to SEC staff. We're a family of seven living in Georgia where Andrew's working as a professor at GSU. You can read more about us here Election Talk gives candidates running in the municipal elections a chance to discuss their views on the increasingly international aspect of Finnish society, as well as how this will affect their work if they are elected. Voting will take place on 9 April 2017, with advance voting between 29 March and 4 April. The opinions expressed in this column are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Helsinki Times. I was challenged two months ago, by two political parties in Helsinki, to run as a candidate. This was due to my successful work against the Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki. My immediate answer was that yes, Helsinki does need to have someone to represent the growing 14% of non-Finnish, non-Swedish voters. Nevertheless, I do not believe in political representation, nor in politicians. After some thinking, and some talks with my two best existential advisers, my two kids, I came to a conclusion: Yes, there is a way for people like me, who do not believe in slaves, thus also not in Masters, to constructively improve the current governmental form of organization: through Direct Democracy and an end to political careerism. My life's work on architecture, activism, the public understanding of science, as well as my research on democracy all over the world, has awarded me with enough wisdom on different modes of governmental structures. I have explored many pathways to improve society and myself along with it, so this one should be taken as well. Yes, democracy is here to stay (whatever its form), not anarcho-syndicalism, but it is possible to reach levels of direct democracy so high, that the absence of power of professional politicians could be gradually dismantled. I therefore proposed to make a campaign and a mandate, as an independent under the Left Alliance list, in English, based only on two goals: My immediate goal is not to represent voters but to give them direct decision power, NOW. Every decision that I will make will be previously voted electronically by the group of people who wish to follow me, regardless of my own opinion. I will send them an explanation of the problem in English, on which they will vote. I will then represent the voted decision in the council and in every other meeting I attend. Even if not perfect, this method will show an important example. My long term goal is to bring an end to professional careers in politics. Research shows that a diverse group of problem-solvers makes better collective decisions than a group of experts. Everyone ought to be a "political animal" and to feel included by having a real voice, daily. Therefore, we need to question the career of the politician, who is often detached from local problems. Meaning, if I become a paid politician, my task will be successful only when I again become an amateur politician. In reality, we have an outdated system of public speakers (politicians) deciding on all matters, regardless of their expertise. The result is that we spend more time talking about the politicians instead of discussing the policies. In practical terms, and for lack of a better approach, it is preferable to widen the decision-making process and include the whole population. Educated citizens will also know when their voice should be heard or when to stay neutral. The citizens of Helsinki do have a great civic education in order to make asserted decisions and to avoid corruptive behavior. For example, as a Civil Engineer, I will certainly be engaged in discussions regarding the tunnel between Tallinn and Helsinki, but I will not cast so many votes in topics I am not so related to or interested about. So, we can gradually introduce direct democracy, either through technology (e-voting) or by gradually modifying our representative system into one where local citizens are randomly and temporarily elected for office (Demarchy). In a money-based society, everyone has a price. The old wisdom holds that power corrupts. The voters should question everything, especially me! Voters should develop critical thinking and analyze for themselves what is being laid out for them, just as this text here. I will do my best to be neutral, but I am as human and as prone to corruption as any other human being. We must not continue as spectators, nor must we believe that there will be one person who will be righteous all the way through. My voice should be questioned and heard as all others should be. Now, as in the movie, vote for Pedro, so you can vote every day, and not just every four years! My task is solely to inform, not to rule. Pedro Aibeo is a trained Design Architect (M.Sc., Dipl. Ing., TU Darmstadt, Germany) and Civil Engineer (M.Sc., Licenciatura, FEUP, Porto) with over 50 buildings designed and built in 15 countries. He is also a Visiting Associate Professor at UNAM University, Mexico and at Wuhan University of Technology, China, and a Lecturer, Research Assistant and Doctoral Candidate at Aalto University, Finland on "Architectural Democracy". He is the founder and Artistic Director of "Cidadania" theatre+games group, Germany, with written and directed theater plays at the United Nations and the Staatstheater Darmstadt on urban slavery and astronomy. He is a professional Musician at "Homebound" and the founder and Artistic Director of the "World Music School". He is a drawing teacher at the croquis nights in Helsinki and a comic novel writer on mathematics. He is a published current affairs author in several newspapers. http://www.pedroaibeo.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pedroaibeo2017/ https://twitter.com/pedroaibeo2017 Photo Helen Kurri Erdogan warned in a news conference on Wednesday that Europeans in any part of the world would not be able to walk safely on the streets if they kept up with their current attitude towards Turkey. Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre) has voiced his disapproval of the remarks made by Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, in the heat of the escalating diplomatic row between Turkey and Europe. Such rhetoric is extremely harsh, views Sipila. This kind of language should be contained. We are neighbours, after all. We neither have the need nor can afford to be creating divisions, he estimated in an interview with Talouselama on Wednesday. Turkey has been embroiled in a row with Germany and the Netherlands over campaign events organised to drum up support among Turkish expatriates for a referendum designed to increase the powers of Erdogan. Both Germany and Turkey have prohibited Turkish politicians from addressing rallies on grounds of security concerns, prompting Turkey to accuse the two countries of resorting to fascist methods and trampling on democracy. Turkey is not a country you can pull and push around, not a country whose citizens you can drag on the ground, Erdogan said in a news conference broadcast live on national television on Wednesday. If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets. Europe will be damaged by this. We, as Turkey, call on Europe to respect human rights and democracy. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Markku Ulander Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Nearly four-fifths (77%) of the 2,040 respondents to the survey estimated that adopting a more positive attitude towards entrepreneurship would benefit the entire country. The vast majority of the public are of the opinion that creating a more entrepreneurship-friendly climate would be in the best interests of Finland, indicates a survey commissioned by the Finnish Business and Policy Forum (EVA). Young people were even more confident in the benefits of promoting entrepreneurship: 82 per cent of under 35-year-old respondents indicted that they would welcome a shift in attitudes in a more entrepreneurship-friendly direction. The benefits of a more entrepreneurship-friendly climate were recognised readily also by supporters of the three ruling parties: 96 per cent of supporters of the National Coalition and over 90 per cent of supporters of both the Centre and the Finns Party estimated that a more entrepreneurship-friendly climate would benefit the entire country. Supporters of the Left Alliance were not quite as convinced of the necessity to promote entrepreneurship. Over one-half of them, regardless, indicated that they would welcome a shift in attitudes. Ilkka Haavisto, a research manager at EVA, describes the results as an eye-opener. The significance of entrepreneurship as a promoter of employment and well-being is clearly recognised. All Finns can take action to create a more entrepreneurship-friendly climate. At best, the change can thus take place quickly, he says in a press release from EVA. Haavisto also points out that the public are widely of the opinion that the risks of entrepreneurship are needlessly high in comparison to paid employment. Almost six-tenths (59%) of respondents said they agree with the statement that the costs and risks associated with self-employment are so high that you would have to be out of out of your mind to swap a regular pay-check for the daily grind of self-employment. Fewer than one-quarter (23%) of respondents said they disagree with the statement. Finland needs more entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks and pursue growth. The fact that 65 per cent of entrepreneurs also agree with the statement sends a serious message, says Haavisto. Almost four-fifths (78%) of supporters of the Finns Party estimated that the costs and risks of entrepreneurs are too high. The corresponding share was 64 per cent among supporters of the Left Alliance and as low as 35 per cent among supporters of the Social Democrats. The survey was conducted online between 11 and 23 January by Taloustutkimus. The respondents are representative of the entire 1870-year-old population of Finland. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi HENLEY MP John Howell has condemned the terrorist attack on London on Wednesday. Four people died when a man drove a 4x4 into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and then stabbed PC Keith Palmer in the grounds of Parliament before being shot dead by police. At least 40 others were injured with seven still in a critical condition. Seven people have been arrested and police have raided six addresses in London, Birmingham and elsewhere in connection with the attack. Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the attack as sick and depraved. Mr Howell said: The Prime Minister was right, this was a depraved attack. The police have been quick with taking this investigation further and there have been arrests around the country. This tells you how well we are set up to deal with terrorist incidents. My first thoughts are with the family and friends of those who have been killed. This was a tragic incident and we have to recognise there has been significant loss of life. My thoughts are with the police and security at the House of Commons who did a fantastic job in controlling this event and keeping us all safe. I dont think I can praise them enough. Mr Howell was inside the chamber from 3pm to 7.15pm while business was suspended and members were told to wait inside by Commons leader David Lidington. During that period the atmosphere was very calm with people talking to each other, he said. No matter what your political party, people realised we are all in this together. Parliament sat as normal on Thursday following a minutes silence for PC Palmer. Mr Howell said: There is a lot of work to be getting on with. Parliament is not a play thing, it is the centre of British democracy that will not cower to terrorists. Thames Valley Chief Constable Francis Habgood said the force will review security in light of the events. He said: On behalf of all my colleagues in Thames Valley Police, I offer my sympathies to all those affected by the serious events in London. I want to assure the people that Thames Valley Police and its partners will be reviewing all security in light of the incident. Although I think it is important to stress that there is no specific intelligence suggesting an imminent threat to Thames Valley, we will continue to review our deployments and take all possible steps to keep people safe. It is also incredibly important at times like this that communities come together and support each other. Should anyone have any concerns or see anything suspicious I would urge them to report it immediately. Winding up their investigation of ex-President Park Geun-hye, prosecutors are now shifting their focus to probing conglomerates implicated in the presidential corruption scandal, a spokesman said Wednesday. "We've made it clear that we'd continue to investigate conglomerates," the spokesman said in a press briefing. "Our recent questioning of SK and Lotte executives was part of the investigation plan." Prosecutors questioned the CEO of Lotte Group's duty-free shopping business on Sunday, two days before Park finally appeared for a grilling. Lotte donated a total of W4.5 billion to the dubious Mir and K-Sports foundations run by Park's crony Choi Soon-sil. It gave another W7 billion to the K-sports Foundation after Lotte chairman Shin Dong-bin met Park one-on-one in March last year (US$1=W1,125). Prosecutors want to know whether Park promised to help Lotte obtain a duty-free shop license. SK executives including chairman Chey Tae-won were also grilled last week. SK donated W11.1 billion to the two foundations. Shortly after his own one-on-one meeting with Park in February last year, Chey was asked by Choi to invest W8 billion in a project, but declined. Prosecutors have also asked the CJ Group for information about an abortive pop-culture park project in Seoul in which a drinking buddy of Choi's, commercial director Cha Eun-taek, pushed the conglomerate to invest. In his own face-to-face meeting with Park, CJ co-chairman Sohn Kyung-shik is also suspected of having asked Park to grant clemency to Lee Jay-hyun, another co-chairman from the group's founding family. Independent counsel Park Young-soo had originally hoped to tie these threads together and build a solid bribery case against the three conglomerates. But his mandate expired before he had time, and the probe was handed back to regular prosecutors. But prosecutors are apparently wary of bringing bribery charges against the conglomerates after the independent counsel already indicted Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong on a similar line of argument. "What's important for now is to find out the truth. Bringing charges against them comes later," a prosecutor said. Many in legal circles speculate that no charges will be brought against those executives because they were questioned as witnesses rather than suspects and the main thrust of the investigation is to lay bare corruption at Cheong Wa Dae. 46 military officers punished for discipline violations From:Xinhua | 2017-03-23 08:40 BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Altogether 46 people have been punished for their involvement in 10 cases of disciplinary violations, China's military inspectors said on Wednesday. These violations include false reimbursement, using public funds to treat personal guests, receptions and feasts exceeding set standards, and official cars used for private purposes, among others, according to a report of the discipline agency under the Central Military Commission. Nineteen officers, who were not directly involved in these cases, have been punished for failing to effectively oversee their subordinates. The cases were spotted by military inspectors during the New Year and Spring Festival season. The cases showed that some Communist Party of China officials did not show restraint, despite the country's campaign to curb official decadence and extravagance, the disciplinary agency said, vowing intensified inspections and penalties in the future. A Dublin man who was pressured into delivering more than 120,000 worth of cannabis to pay off his younger brother's drug debt has avoided being sent to prison. (Stock image) A Dublin man who was pressured into delivering more than 120,000 worth of cannabis to pay off his younger brother's drug debt has avoided being sent to prison. Brian O'Grady's father broke down in tears in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court when Judge Martin Nolan said he would take the "unusual step" of dep- arting from the mandatory minimum 10-year jail term and instead handed down a suspended five-year sentence. Judge Nolan accepted that O'Grady had made a "huge error of judgment" when he agreed to deliver 20kgs of cannabis resin to help pay off his step-brother's 2,000 drug debt. "He involved himself in a serious crime, but I would estimate his moral culpability was quite low," Judge Nolan said. O'Grady (31) with an address in Liam Mellows Road, Finglas, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing cannabis resin for sale or supply at Aldi car park in Finglas on February 12 last year. The drugs had a street value of 122,000. The court heard O'Grady was abandoned by his mother on the steps of the then Dublin Corp- oration offices when he was a baby and was only reunited with his father and step-siblings after some time in foster care. Surveillance Defence counsel Michael Bowman said it was perhaps O'Grady's early experience that had caused him to "foolishly take on the role of father figure" when his brother came to him for help. Det Gda Sean Smith told Noel Devitt, prosecuting, said that gardai carried out a surveillance operation on two men travelling from Cork to Dublin. O'Grady met the two in the Aldi car park in Finglas and placed two bags containing the drugs in one of their cars. They were arrested on their way back to Cork and O'Grady was arrested shortly afterwards. He made "immediate admissions" to gardai that he had agreed to deliver the drugs. He has six previous convictions, including road traffic offences and possession of a knife. He is a qualified electronic technician with an excellent work history, the court heard. The other two men received sentences of seven years and two years respectively. Handing down a suspended sentence, Judge Nolan said: "It's an unusual step and I'm unlikely to repeat it in the future." Families of the Rescue 116 crew return to Blacksod Pier after being brought to the scene of the crash at Blackrock Lighthouse on board the LE Eithne. The families of Rescue 116's missing crew have been given hope that their loved ones' remains will be recovered. A Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) has confirmed the position of the submerged "main section" of the aircraft. A search for the missing crew is expected to be carried out soon, with a strong possibility of establishing the three missing men are in the wreckage. A significant portion of the remains of the Irish Coast Guard helicopter was discovered on the seabed roughly 12km off the Mayo coast. Either the ROV or a dive team will examine the wreckage more closely. It was discovered some 60m from Blackrock island, where investigators believe the helicopter struck rocks on the western section before crashing into the sea. Robot The underwater robot was deployed from the Commissioner of Irish Lights vessel, the Granuaile. During the course of the operation it located what search teams believe is the body of the Rescue 116 helicopter. The discovery was described as a "significant development" on what was the eighth day of the massive search operation. Investigators stressed it has not yet been established if the three missing crewmen - Mark Duffy, Ciaran Smith and Paul Ormsby - are with the wreckage. The aircraft's experienced pilot, Capt Dara Fitzpatrick, was recovered from the sea last Tuesday but later pronounced dead. Supt Tony Healy, of Belmullet Garda Station, said that the location searched was close to where the signal of the aircraft's "black box" flight recorder was detected. "A Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle from the Granuaile conducted an operation on the seabed where we located parts of Rescue 116. "We're actively assessing what we found at the moment. This is a hugely significant step in the ongoing process of the recovery of the crew of Rescue 116. "We've found parts of the helicopter that we can identify," Supt Healy said. Senior investigators have said the primary focus of the operation is the recovery of the crew. Jurgen Whyte, chief inspector with the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU), added it is the "absolute hope" that the three missing Coast Guard workers are with the helicopter wreckage. "It's hugely positive, we could hear the beacon, we were homing in on the beacon and the proof in the pie is we have located the main part of the wreckage which is the helicopter itself. Weather "We have the wreckage so it's just a matter of getting the weather window to get the ROV down, work our way through the wreckage and hopefully we will be able to recover the crew," Mr Whyte said. "The priority has always been the recovery of the crew members, the recorder and then possibly the recovery of the wreckage. "Please God if we're successful in recovering the three crew members we will focus our attention on the recorder. "Depending on what we hear from the recording we will recover some, parts or all of the wreckage," the senior investigator added. Relatives of all four crew members were yesterday taken aboard the LE Eithne navy ship, which then took them towards the Blackrock island. A garda family liaison officer has been in constant contact with the families, who are being routinely briefed on any developments in relation to the search operation and investigation. Shoreline and air searches have continued throughout the week. A 13-man Naval Service dive team is also on standby should they be required. Divers from the Garda Water Unit have also been stationed at the Blacksod lighthouse. Police close to the Palace of Westminster as they deal with the aftermath of the attack. Photo: PA Five people were killed in a terror attack that brought carnage to the heart of London. The victims included the attacker, three civilians, and an armed police officer, named as Keith Palmer (48), who was stabbed as he confronted the terrorist. Mark Rowley, Scotland Yard's top anti-terror officer, confirmed that 40 others were injured after the attacker - armed with two large knives - mowed down pedestrians with his car on Westminster Bridge then rushed at the gates in front of the Houses of Parliament. Once inside, he stabbed a plain-clothes policeman before he was shot by armed officers. Three other fatalities are understood to be people who were hit on Westminster Bridge. Rowley said police think they know the identity of the man and that Islamic extremism is suspected in the attack. Prime minister Theresa May said it was a "sick and depraved terrorist attack". Gunfire Witnesses described scenes of terror when gunfire rang out as the attacker approached a second officer within yards of the Houses of Parliament. The attacker was pictured being treated by paramedics on a stretcher, as two knives used in the assault lay on the ground nearby. Paramedics fought to save his life and that of his police victim on the floor of the cobbled courtyard, with foreign office minister Tobias Ellwood among those who rushed to help. The police officer was wheeled away on a stretcher with his face covered and it was later confirmed he had died. Footage later emerged of the moment police opened fire after the attacker drove a grey Hyundai i40 across Westminster Bridge before crashing it into railings then running through the gates of the Palace of Westminster. London Ambulance Service said paramedics had treated at least 10 patients on Westminster Bridge. A party of French schoolchildren were among those caught up in the terror, with three injured. Two Romanian tourists were also among those hurt. The threat level for international terrorism in the UK was already listed at severe, meaning an attack is "highly likely". Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, May said that attempts to defeat British values of democracy and freedom through terrorism would fail. "Tomorrow morning, Parliament will meet as normal," she said, adding that Londoners and visitors "will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart". The attack left a trail of destruction as paramedics tended to victims on the bridge and at the gate. Witnesses said the attacker was shot by police as he approached a second officer clutching his knife during the incident at about 2.45pm. The attack took place in the middle of the day, at a time when Westminster was very busy. The entire incident lasted just two minutes. A London bus driver described the moment he saw the 4x4 plough into pedestrians after speeding across Westminster Bridge. Michael Adamou (25) was driving the 453 bus when he saw the Hyundai speeding in the direction of Parliament. He said panic-stricken passengers demanded to get off the bus and moments later armed police swarmed onto the scene and stopped all traffic. Turning "As I turned left out of Whitehall, so turning left to go over the bridge, I saw a car knock two people over. "Initially I thought he's lost control of the car but then I see quite a few people rushing into Parliament and police trying to stop everyone. "After a few seconds I just heard gunshots. Everybody on my bus was panicking." He said the driver "just mowed down whoever was in his way". "I did not see him coming over the bridge but I saw everybody laying on the bridge, not moving." Mr Adamou said he believed at least one woman had jumped into the Thames to escape. She was pulled from the water and was being treated in hospital. "He must have come down the whole side of the bridge on the pavement. I would say there were at least 15 or 20 people. "When I was getting everybody off the bus, because they made us leave the bus on the bridge, I heard one guy come running behind me shouting his wife had jumped into the river to avoid getting knocked down." Enda Kenny is determined to remain as Taoiseach while negotiations surrounding Brexit and the North proceed. In his weekly address to the Fine Gael parliamentary party, Mr Kenny once again declined to set out a timeline for his departure. No other TD addressed the issue, despite serious disquiet over Mr Kenny's refusal to provide greater clarity on his plans. The Fine Gael leader spoke of the importance of forming a power-sharing assembly at Stormont and added that he will remain as leader to see out the start of the Brexit negotiations - but did not specify which phases of these talks he intends to be involved in. British Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger Article 50 next Wednesday, setting in train a two-year period for which leaders can negotiate the UK's divorce from the EU. A key date for these talks is April 29, when EU council members meet in Brussels to discuss their strategy. At last night's party gathering, Mr Kenny indicated he would address his leadership after he returns from this meeting. Transition He had previously said he would deal with the issue "conclusively" following his visit to the US for St Patrick's Day. Sources say Mr Kenny was particularly vague about his departure and did not say when during the Brexit negotiations he intends to step down. However, he did say he would ensure the transition for the leadership is orderly and that he wanted to leave a strong foundation for his successor in terms of the Brexit negotiations, which many EU leaders believe will last longer than two years. Meanwhile, one of the front-runners in the race to succeed Mr Kenny yesterday said Fine Gael is "pretty relaxed" about when he steps aside as leader. In a further sign that the Taoiseach will be allowed to remain in office until the summer, Simon Coveney, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, said delays to the triggering of formal Brexit negotiations has "extended things somewhat". Trust Mr Coveney said all of Fine Gael "expected" that Mr Kenny will be at the April 29 Brexit meeting. "There's nearly more of an obsession outside Fine Gael than in it. I think the party is pretty relaxed at the moment," he told Pat Kenny on Newstalk radio. Mr Coveney said there was merit in sending the incumbent Taoiseach to the initial Brexit meetings as he has been preparing for the negotiations for more than a year. "The actual deal is done based on trust between senior political figures," he said. The Cork South Central TD, who is seen as the leadership front-runner along with Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar, said the Taoiseach will not want to take the focus away from key issues for government such as housing and economic growth. "I think what's more important here is how do we keep a functioning and stable government going through this process. I think that is foremost in the Taoiseach's mind." Asked about Mr Kenny's performance during his recent trip to the United States, the minister said he offered "global leadership" in dealing with Donald Trump. "I think he delivered extraordinarily well," he said. Murdered backpacker Danielle McLaughlin is set to make her final journey home from India. The remains of the young woman who was raped and strangled during a trip to Goa have been released by authorities. It is expected they will be flown back to Ireland tomorrow. The 28-year-old, from Buncrana, Co Donegal, was murdered while on a backpacking holiday in India, a country she had visited before and which she loved. Her body was discovered near the holiday hot-spot of Canacona on Tuesday last week. A local man, Vikat Bhagat (23), confessed to the attack soon after he was arrested by police. Danielle's body is being brought home with the help of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust which has been working with her family, the Depart- ment of Foreign Affairs and the British Home Office. Frustrating The charity's Colin Bell told the Herald that her remains have now been released following a delay. "She is on her way to Mumbai and should be flying home tomorrow and arriving on Friday," he said. One of Danielle's closest friends, Nicole Farren, arrived in Goa on Saturday, expecting the body to be released at the weekend. However, this turned out not to be the case, which was "frustrating", said Mr Bell. "But in light of the circumstances of her death, procedures has to be followed closely," he said. Funeral details have yet to be announced but are expected soon. Police in India have claimed Danielle knew her suspected killer and the pair had exchanged messages on Facebook. A post-mortem found that she had been raped, battered with a broken bottle and strangled. Election day forecast? Sunny skies and, perhaps, a good turnout "I hope that means that more people will go out and vote," said Barry Jackson, deputy elections director in Washington County. I was recently asked what I take along on an overnight trip whether it is for hunting, fishing, hiking or photographing the outdoors. It mostly depends on where and what I will be doing. There are several whats in my bag types of stories and videos along the Internet that help in laying a foundation for what others may use on similar expeditions you may be attempting to accomplish. I will be going on an overnight stay in one of the parks in North Carolina next week as a precursor to my trip to the west. This trip is mainly to see that I have all I need and to help lessen the loads of things I will not need. While this trip will be focused more on photography than anything, as it will serve as both an opportunity to capture images for a photo competition as well as test my setups, I will not bore you all with my camera equipment for the most part. If you do wonder what I will be taking along camera wise, feel free to contact me at billhowardoutoors@gmail.com and I will be happy to share information. Also, because this is a photography hike, my camera gear will consist of a good portion of the weight in my backpack. So I felt I really needed to get the pack down as one of the priorities in order to make the trip work. First of all, as this column is carried by several outlets, I need to add a disclaimer that I live in Eastern North Carolina. This results in low altitude areas. It also results in high altitude fatigue. Again, this makes a good reason to get the weight of the pack down as much as possible. Primarily being a hunter and not a hiker, I have an abundance of hunting backpacks. They are designed differently than hiking packs and tend to be a little more robust in both material and weight. I am not purchasing another pack and will be using one of my hunting backpacks, specifically the Hunter to Hunter Markhor Hunting Elk Mountain backpack. Other than camera gear, the next concern is camping overnight. The temperatures in N.C. will mirror the expected and historical temperatures on the trip west, so this will let me know whether the comfort level is there. Typically, I would carry a tent. When I hunt on overnight trips, I use a tent. When hunting or fishing, the tent makes a nice basecamp as I tend to camp near where I will hunt. Hiking trips are a bit different. Hiking by its very nature is nomadic, meaning you have to pack and go after each nights stay. For this I will be doing something a little different in order to save a small bit of time and right much weight. I will be using a hammock system in which my camp is my hammock. It consists of a mummy sleeping bag, an underquilt and overquilt, a rainfly, two spikes with cords for the rainfly, and two tree straps to hold the hammock and rainfly off the ground. This sounds like a lot, but the weight is roughly a quarter of what I would need even with a lightweight hiking tent, and the space required is less than half. I also need food and water on the trip. This entails a small two-cup sized foldable pot, a pocket rocket single burner, a small can of butane/propane mixed fuel, two spoons and two forks, and a water filter. For actual food, rather than purchasing the expensive dry foods, I tone it down a little and have portion bags for eight servings of mashed potatoes, some turkey jerky, some granola bars, and a very small container of peanut butter. I know, not the most appetizing meals, but I am not going there to eat at a four-star restaurant. I just need some extra energy while on the trails. I will begin with water in a water bladder for the hike but can and will use the water filter along the way on the streams located there. For extra clothes, I will only have an extra T-shirt, an extra pair of wool socks, and an extra pair of underwear along with a lightweight rainsuit, specifically Frog Togs brand. I can make it on these and the food I bring for at least one extra day in case of emergency. As for what I call survival items, the list seems long but takes up very little weight or room, and are all important. A head torch and flashlight are a must, and I will have an extra set of AAA batteries for the head torch. Also, a knife and paracord are part of the always have items. Because I am of the age where aches and pains set in, Ill bring a bottle of pain relievers just in case, and a small packet of bandages. I use my cellphone glass as a survival mirror, which works rather well, and I carry a map of the area and a compass in case the cellphone battery dies leaving me without GPS. To round out the survival items, I pack a small wire saw, a lighter and several packs of hand and feet warmers. While this is what I pack for a one-night trip, if something unfortunate were to happen, I could actually make it for several days with a little rationing. And that is what is in my bag. A Winston-Salem-based aviation maintenance business notified the state that it will lay off 345 people and permanently close this week. North State Aviation, headquartered at the Smith Reynolds Airport, cited an "unforeseeable significant downturn in business" as the cause of the closing, company officials told the state in a notice required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The WARN Act is a labor law that requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide a 60-day notice before plant closings and mass layoffs. Due to declining revenue and difficult business conditions, we were forced to take this action, a statement by CEO Gary Smith read. We sincerely regret the need for this action and the impact it will have on our employees, their families, our suppliers and the airport commission, all of which have supported us for a number of years. The companys second location in Kinston, which opened in September of 2015, has already shut down, a spokeswoman for the company confirmed. The company had pledged to hire 109 Kinston employees and spend $900,000 in capital investments at the Global TransPark facility. Smith, who took over as CEO of North State Aviation last year, said recently that the firm had been seeing increased competition in maintenance repair and overhaul from areas south of the U.S. border, according to the Triad Business Journal. Both he and attorney Howard Williams, listed as the company's registered agent, declined to speak with media. The WARN notice, filed Wednesday, said the company was not successful in obtaining capital to avoid or postpone "this unfortunate result." I was told there was a sudden, unexpected reduction in revenue that forced them to take this action, said Scott Piper, chairman of the Airport Commission of Forsyth County, who was informed Wednesday of the closing. Its my understanding they have a couple airplanes left to finish work on, but that this will be a fairly quick closure. North State took over the airport production space of Pace Airlines, which closed in September 2009, putting 423 employees, including about 300 locally, out of work. Charlie Creech, president of the company told the Journals Richard Craver in 2012 that the collapse of Pace fueled their desire to create their own maintenance company. The company, which opened in early 2011, vowed to have at least 308 employees within four years when it was made eligible for $300,000 in performance-based state incentives. It had 28 employees at that time. The company is working with applicable government agencies and other parties to find job opportunities for as many of its employees as possible. While Piper said the closing is sad, especially for the many employees, some of whom have been there since Piedmont Airlines occupied the space, the aviation industry will maintain its stronghold in the area. If this really is indeed the end of North State, its a very sad day for the loyal employees and their families, he said. That said, the Triad area has such strong aviation heritage, I dont really see this changing the strength of the aviation industry here. This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ Prime Minister Narendra Modis username in Uttar Pradesh was development but his password was Hindutva, claim his political adversaries who are yet to come to terms with the BJPs unprecedented electoral success in the countrys most populous state. For the opposition, it could be a convenient excuse to hide their ineptitude. But the BJP might have, willingly or unwittingly, promoted the same line of arguments by appointing Adityanath Yogi the chief minister. Appointment of a Brahmin and an OBC leader as deputy CMsboth dyed-in-the-wool Hindutva advocates is more about the burgeoning influence of the RSS in the BJPs decision-making process than any attempt to reflect the BJPs expanding social base. There is no denying the fact that Modi and his party colleagues blended Hindutva in their development narrative in their campaign. There is, however, an element of chicanery in the opposition parties arguments that the UP results mirrored polarisation along religious lines; they simply failed to read the pulse of the people. Click here for full coverage on Assembly elections 2017 The yearning for change to be a part of an alternative narrative built around peoples aspirations was unmistakable. BJPs projection of its rivals as representatives of sectarian interests only whetted their longings. For now, the real or imagined Hindu consolidation has got the opposition in a bind. The confusion in the opposition camp was evident from reactions of Congress leaders to Yogis appointment. Party spokesperson Manish Tewari saw in it as an extension of the politics of shamshan-kabristan, but the partys chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala was guarded, saying that it was the ruling partys prerogative to choose the CM and the Congress would continue to act as a watchdog of peoples interests. Explaining how so-called secular parties have gone on the defensive, a Muslim leader rued, They want to meet us in the darkness of night but refuse to recognise us in the daytime. After the Lok Sabha elections, senior leader AK Antony had said that the perception about the Congress being pro-Muslim had hurt the partys interests. Post-UP verdict, many of his colleagues are coming around to this prognosis. The BJP has reasons to gloat over the principal opposition partys plight, but the latest round of assembly elections has lessons for the ruling party, too. Since 2014, all the states the BJP won while riding the Modi waveMaharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, and Assam, among others were those where the Congress faced strong anti-incumbency. The first time the BJP faced anti-incumbency was in the last Punjab and Goa elections. Even Modis popularity could not help the BJP retain its support base among Hindus in Punjab and the party almost lost in Goa. Its obvious that while the PMs popularity gives BJP an edge, much also depends on the performance of its governments in states. The BJP seems to be coming close to realising its goal of a Congress-mukt Bharat with three more Congress-ruled states Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Karnataka going to polls in the next 14 months. Assuming that the Modi wave might still help the BJP buck anti-incumbency in Gujarat later this year, the big challenge for the BJP would be to retain its governments when the wheel turns full circle and other BJP-ruled states start going to polls from November 2018 onwards. Punjab and Goa results have posed a few teasers to the BJP about its governance models . It might face more probing questions in the future if it continues to interpret poll results, especially in UP, as a triumph of its Hindutva politics. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON At least 20 of the 44 ministers or 45% in the UP government are facing criminal cases, according to a report prepared by UP Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an advocacy group. Also, 35 of them or 80% are crorepatis, says the report which is based on the analyses of self-sworn affidavits of these leaders. Affidavits of three ministers, namely, Dinesh Sharma, Swatantra Dev Singh and Mohsin Raza could not be analysed due to unavailability of data. While Sharma has quit as Lucknow mayor after taking oath as deputy CM, the other two ministers are not presently members of either the state assembly or the legislative council. Out of the 44 ministers, 35 (80%) are crorepatis. The average assets of the ministers is Rs 5.34 crore, said a release issued by the organisation. Besides, 20 (45%) ministers have criminal cases against them. The study listed the charges as robbery, theft, forgery and voluntarily causing hurt. The richest minister as per the affidavits is Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi from Allahabad (South) assembly constituency with assets worth Rs 57.11 crore, the report said. Chief minister Adityanath has assets worth over Rs 71 lakh, while deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya had over Rs 9 crore worth assets, the report said. As many as 28 ministers have declared liabilities, and Nandi, again topped the list, with Rs 26.02 crore worth liabilities. On educational qualification, the report said seven (16%) ministers have declared their qualification to be between 10th and 12th pass, while 37 (84%) are graduates or have higher degrees. At least 18 (41%) have declared their age to be between 2550 years, while 26 (59%) between 5180 years. Out of 44 ministers, only five are women. Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta says she does not believe in making movies with top actors just to grab the eyeballs. Mehta, who has collaborated with superstar Aamir Khan for Earth, Preity Zinta for Heaven on Earth and made Beeba Boys with Randeep Hooda, says she casts the actors according to the requirement of the role. I work with them (stars) only if they are right for the film, said the 66-year-old filmmaker. Like Aamir was right for Earth, Randeep Hooda was fabulous in Beeba Boys, Priety Zinta was fabulous in Heaven on Earth, and so they all were part of the films and not because they are stars, she says. The films are financed by Canadians and I dont have this thing that I should have star in my film and then only the film will sell. Stop thinking that. I dont have that thing in me. They are wonderful stars (but I work with them) if they are right for the role. The Earth helmer says she catches up on Bollywood films and loved watching Aamir-starrer Dangal. Mehta feels though Indian filmmakers are churning out great stories, they are all coming from male directors. She says there is a lack of women filmmakers, both in India and internationally. You (India) have wonderful stories but they are all made by guys mostly. Like Trapped by Vikramaditya Motwane, then there is Masaan, Titli, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, its so funny, its not necessary to have serious cinema always. You have an amazing cinema, you have great filmmakers and stories here. But there is lack of women filmmakers not just here in India but across the world, she says. Mehta lauded the work of Bollywood female directors like Reema Kagti, Kiran Rao and Alankrita Shrivastava. Here you have Reema Kagti who did the wonderful film Talaash, Kiran Rao, she did a beautiful film Dhobi Ghat, and then you have Lipstick Under My Burkha, if you ever get to see it. So, there are four-five (women filmmakers) here and there, she says. Filmmaker Shirish Kunder found himself cornered for a mean jab at Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, whose elevation to the post has triggered a Twitter explosion with people pouring posies and poison in equal parts. Some compared the Yogi with Hollywood star Vin Diesel; others criticized his hardnosed Hindu right-wing image. Kunder called him a goon. Hoping a goon will stop rioting once hes allowed to rule is like expecting a rapist to stop raping once hes allowed to rape, he tweeted. And he posted a second: Going by the logic of making a goon as CM so that he behaves, Dawood can be CBI director. And Mallya - RBI Governor. That was Kunders response to writer Chetan Bhagats tweet after the BJP leadership chose the five-term parliamentarian for Gorakhpur and head priest of Gorakhnath mutt to head the government in Indias most populous and politically sensitive state. #YogiAdityanath as UP CM. Because when you make the naughtiest guy in class the class monitor, he behaves the best, Bhagat had tweeted. The filmmaker famous for the 2012 Bollywood sci-fi comedy Joker deleted his posts after a section of the twitteratti roasted him for his tweets against the Yogi, the BJP leader known to champion a far-right Hindutva agenda. The trolls are still at him. Meanwhile, the Yogis official twitter handle is growing at a rate of about 200 followers a minute. Follow @htshowbiz for more Kangana Ranauts journey in Bollywood is the stuff dreams are made of. And when the actor speaks her mind, shes also the biggest nightmare of those at the receiving end. In the 11 years shes been in the industry, the fiery actor has already carved an enviable space for herself, no less than any other A-listers. She is known as much for her choice of films and performance as for her unapologetic attitude and outspoken nature. Kangana was last seen in Rangoon. She has won three National Awards and four Filmfare awards to her credit. Be it taking on against nepotism in Bollywood (Karan Johar) or fighting it out for her beliefs against a superstar (Hrithik Roshan), she has never been afraid to speak her mind. Heres a look at six of the most hard-hitting, honest and unapologetic statements Kangana has given: 1. Cant tolerate bullying When asked if negative comments affect her, Kangana said, If its constructive, it will definitely be something that will add to me and my growth, but if its just some sort of mocking or bullying, thats not criticism... Thats just bullying. I will definitely not tolerate that. 2. I was playing the badass card, not the victim card Reacting to Karan Johars statements that Kangana was playing the victim card, the Rangoon star told Mumbai Mirror, I use every card possible. At the workplace, its the badass card to fight cutthroat competition. With my family and loved ones, its the love card. When fighting the world, its the dignity card, and for a seat in a bus, its the woman card. What is important to understand is that we are not fighting people, we are fighting a mentality. I am not fighting Karan Johar, I am fighting male chauvinism. 3. If shes sexually active, she becomes a whore Reacting to ex-boyfriend Adhyayan Sumans accusations of practising black magic, Kangana had said, When theyre jealous of a womans success, the first thing she becomes is a daayan. If shes crazily successful, she becomes a psychopath. If shes sexually active, she becomes a whore. Ive played a whore on screen, and my close interaction with prostitutes has allowed me to be extremely empathetic to them. So it doesnt work on me. Witches - I love Shakespeare, and like any other artist, Im also smitten by witches, or faeries, or demons, or Gods, or mysticism, or romanticism. It doesnt scare me. 4. On carrying the tag of being a feminist That tag sits a little heavy on me. Right now, that tag seems a bit superficial on me. I havent done anything significant to deserve this. I wouldnt want to pretend Im doing something for the society when Im not. The day I do, Id take pride in that. I wouldnt want to take credit for something Im not intentionally doing. 5.On working with the Khans Why should I work with the Khans? In the beginning, I wanted to have a conventional, very easy route where I can work with big heroes and be a big heroine. Now I get a lot of offers to work with the Khans. When I wanted work, nobody was ready to work with me. Now that Im my own hero on the sets, why should I work with other heroes? 6. Taking on Karan Johars nepotism Speaking on Karan Johars talk show Koffee with Karan, Kangana said, In my biopic, if it is ever made, you will play the stereotypical villain. One who is intolerant of outsiders.. the flag-bearer of nepotism in Bollywood and movie mafia. Follow @htshowbiz for more Actor Shraddha Kapoor, who was shooting for two films -- Haseena: The Queen of Mumbai and Half Girlfriend-- says it was difficult for her to juggle between the two characters. She was shooting for the biopic Haseena, where she is essaying the role of underworld don Dawood Ibrahims sister Haseena Parkar. Then she got into the dubbing and promotions of Half Girlfriend, where she plays a Delhi girl. A post shared by Shraddha ~ (@shraddhakapoor) on Mar 19, 2017 at 11:31pm PDT Haseena and Riya Somani in Half Girlfriend are two very different characters. Since I was simultaneously working on both the films, it was definitely challenging in its own way to juggle back and forth from both the characters and to get in and out of two worlds, Shraddha said in a statement. Based on Chetan Bhagats novel Half Girlfriend, the film adaptation is directed by Mohit Suri. Follow @htshowbiz for more iPhone-maker Apple may start making iPhones in the Peenya industrial area near Bengaluru in partnership with Wistron, a WSJ report quoted Indian government officials as saying. According to the report, Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron Corp will likely start making iPhone 6 and 6S models here in the next four to six weeks. Apple has been seeking tax sops to lower prices of production but the issue has been stuck due to GST rollout among other issues. WSJs report comes just a day after the government said it has not accepted most of the demands of iPhone maker, which wants to set up manufacturing unit in India. To a question in Rajya Sabha on whether the government has accepted most of the demands of the iPhone manufacturer, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said No. Apple India has sought concessions including duty exemption on manufacturing and repair units, components, capital equipment and consumables for smartphone manufacturing and service or repair for a period of 15 years, she said in a written reply. Apple might have wanted MSIPS and other incentives to continue even after the introduction of the GST. It could also look at income-tax holiday in the country similar to China and Vietnam, an industry expert told HT. Earlier, the Tim Cook-led company had sought relaxation of local sourcing norms under the shield of state-of-the-art and cutting edge technology providers. A foreign brand looking to open single-brand retail stores in India is mandated to source 30% from Indian manufacturers for a minimum period of three years. The government had extended it to five years in case of Apple. Apple wants higher exemptions since there are not many high-end phone-component makers in India to buy from, said a government official, who did not wish to be named. The company will have to manufacture the components in India, and it has to meet international standards. Bharti Airtel will acquire Tikona Digital Networks Private Ltds 4G and broadband spectrums of some states for about Rs 1,600 crore to increase its footprint across India. The deal comes days after the Idea-Vodafone merger deal that will create the countrys biggest telecom company. Bharti informed stock exchanges the acquisition will significantly bolster Airtels spectrum holding in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh to 30 mega hertz. The countrys leading telecom service provider will also buy the broadband BWA airwaves in the 2,300 MHz band in Uttar Pradesh (East) and (West), and Rajasthan circles through its subsidiary Bharti Hexacom Ltd. After the acquisition, Airtel will have 30 MHz in the 2,300 MHz band in 13 circles, the company said. Automakers in the UK will be affected by Britains divorce from the European Union, according to leaders from the automotive aftermarket industry. Brexit will affect those automakers who are sitting inside the UK and exporting out. There will be a potential cost, and then they will have to decide whether its safe to remain in UK and do I need to be somewhere else, Raj Manek, managing director of Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India, said on Tuesday. At the third edition of ACMA Automechanika, an exhibition of the automotive aftermarket manufacturers, that was held in New Delhi, Manek said, For example, BMW has three-four different components done in the UK factories. The BMW engine is produced in UK, and the British government would not want them to leave. So if theres more tax on BMW to export that engine to Europe, they will reduce the corporation tax in Britain, so for BMW it would remain the same. But the full impact of all this would be on the residents of UK, because the revenue coming in the pot for healthcare, roads, etc., will be affected. The UK government will do everything it can to restore businesses, said Manek. But automakers are going to wait and watch for policies to be framed, said Michael Johannes, vice-president of Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH. There are so many questions and the manufacturers make a decision only when there is an answer. The aftermarket will be mostly stable. But this kind of uncertainty is not good for business, he added. On President Donald Trumps threats over imports from Mexico to the US, Manek said, Once Donald Trump starts seeing both sides of the coin, hell realise that for something or the other, hell need people from outside of the US, hell need immigrants. Americans cant make everything themselves. When asked whether India is rising in automotive sector to take on China, Manek said, With initiatives like Make in India, the disparity between China and India in the manufacturing sector is decreasing. Over the next two-three years, youll see more and more FDI coming to India and that disparity becomes lesser. Thats when we can say India is a tough competitor for China. Youve good volumes in India, said Johannes, but in comparison to China, theyre smaller. Youve more cars here, you have bad streets and yet the age of cars on roads here is more. So you need more spare parts, you need more maintenance and thus there are more international companies from coming here. Automechanika is an international automotive trade fair organised by German exhibition company Messe Frankfurt. It is held in India biennially in association with Automotive Components Manufacturers Association (ACMA). The expo has grown from 436 exhibitors in 2015 to more than 550 exhibitors from 17 countries. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Bharti Airtel, the telecom behemoth run by Sunil Bharti Mittal will be the biggest beneficiary of the Idea Cellular-Vodafone merger, according to analysts. While the merger would create the largest telecom company in the country, with a market share of 42%, both Idea and Vodafone will have to let go some of its customers as regulations do not allow a telecom company to have more than 50% revenue market share in any circle. Idea and Vodafone have revenue market share of over 50% in six out of 22 circles. Bharti Airtel can make the most of the revenue leakage from the potential merger, writes Viju K George, analyst with New York-headquartered JP Morgan, in his report. The other risks that might give Airtel some boost, according to George is that in the near-to-medium term, the merger may cause some share loss. Also, eventually a single brand strategy will have to be worked out, especially if one brand (either Idea or Vodafone) seizes to exist. Both have complimenting strengths Idea is strong in semi-urban and rural, and Vodafone dominates urban circles. Throw in competition from Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio, the telecom battle is far from getting over. We expect triangular battle for market share to be a prolonged affair, writes Abhishek Gupta of IDFC Securities, in his note. We believe the challenges for the industry are unlikely to change due to sustained aggressive strategy of Reliance Jio to gain scale. Airtels gain was evident when Mittal supported the merger, even when there were speculations of Idea and Vodafone holding discussions. It is a perfect match Rural-urban, structured portfolio...makes for a good business case and I would support it, he told a news publication during the World Economic Forum. The integration, however, will at a cost. Layout of the 4G high-speed broadband network for different operators is not yet over. We expect they (Idea and Vodafone) will lose 5% revenue market share in 2017-18 (as Reliance Jio starts charging) and a further 2% during the network integration period. This implies their combined subscriber share will fall from the current 40% to 34.6% by March 2018, writes Chris Lane, analyst with another New York-headquartered global asset management firm Bernstein. Expectations are that Reliance Jio will close the year with 105 million customers with an average revenue per user of Rs 270, according to Bernstein. That will also force the Idea-Vodafone alliance to reprice its voice and data plan around Rs 350 per month. The lack of extensive 4G network is a problem for both Vodafone and Idea. Even if we combine Vodafone and Ideas scores in our survey they still rank third after Relaince Jio and Bharti, and also show significant weakness in B and C-circles, Lane writes. Once Reliance Jio starts charging its customers, the dynamics of the business will change. Jio has cornered a significant market share on the back of free services since it launched its operations in September. According to a report by Motilal Oswal, both Vodafone and Idea will lose 2.5% to 3% basis point market share dilution over FY16-21E, due to weak competitive footing on individual basis. Meanwhile, Airtel has also announced that it will buy Telenors local arm, its assets, spectrum and customers. Airtel and Reliance Jio might capitalise of the opportunities and grow their market share. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON It is a measure of both Indias growing international stature and the unconventional character of Yogi Adityanath that the new chief minister of Uttar Pradesh made headlines here in the United States. The American press took a similar interest in recent Dutch elections because of the prospect of the rise of the firebrand Right-wing politician Geert Wilders (unlike the BJP in UP, Wilders failed). In both cases, these faraway exercises of democracy appeared relevant to American readers because of the fevered, populist politics involved. They offered echoes of the victory of Donald Trump. Many of the responses to Adityanaths selection reminded me immediately of the language used after Trumps election. Amid widespread shock, some observers suggested that we must give him a chance, lets wait and see, and power will temper him. Its still the early days of his presidency, but Americans have no indication that winning the White House has in any way restrained Trump. Though his moderate apologists insisted that he doesnt mean what he says, Trump has stayed true to much of the bluster and fear-mongering rhetoric of his campaign, including planning the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico, banning refugees and visitors from certain Muslim countries, whittling away methodically at the H1-B visa, and gutting governmental attempts to study and combat climate change. Similarly, its telling that one of Adityanaths first moves as chief minister the approval of a government-funded museum of the Ramayana was geared towards his base. I dont want to belabour a comparison between Trump and Adityanath (the frequent comparison of Trump and Modi is often stretched beyond credibility). They are both obviously very different leaders, operating in very different political spaces. These comparisons are useful less in terms of understanding individual politicians and more in how they illuminate a wider context, a politics of the moment. The security establishment in the US warned against Trumps executive orders on immigration, arguing that they would do little to make Americans safer and that they actually might hamper US efforts in West Asia. But these orders werent devised for what they would achieve at the level of policy; they were meant to convey a message, project the image of a leader who would be true to his word and be tough on Muslims. The truth is that matters of economic policy are often too granular to capture the publics imagination and too complex to make sweeping changes. Make in India has been slow to have any real effect, while Trumps desire to retrieve jobs that, in a 21st century of increasing automation, cannot return to the American heartland will likely be frustrated. In the last century, demagogues have always professed to be technocrats ruling for the good of all, but instead have marshalled a divisive politics, corralling the majority against the minority. Early into his administration, Trump already has the lowest job approval ratings of recent presidential history. Yet without a shred of contrition, he maintains the approach of his campaign, demonising the media, dividing the public between supposedly un-American cosmopolitan elites and minorities, on the one hand, and the American heartland, on the other. Demagogues have long portrayed themselves as authentic representatives of the nation, while their opponents and critics are inauthentic and, worse, anti-national. It is undeniable that this kind of politics has found a degree of success in the US. At a tactical level, liberals and pluralists must shoulder some of the blame. After Adityanath became chief minister, many political pundits persuasively blamed the secular strategy of pandering to the clergy and other conservative representatives of the Muslim community in places like UP. For decades, the Democrats in the US have not been nearly as organised as the Republicans at the local level; they also criminally underestimated the fatigue with the liberal economic order in post-industrial states like Pennsylvania and Michigan. But there is a darker, more pervasive malaise here that allows huge populations to countenance the rise of deeply flawed leaders. We should worry that the traditional guardians of democratic virtue the media, civil society, and educated elites are beleaguered and unable to keep this trend at bay. Kanishk Tharoor is the author of Swimmer Among the Stars: Stories The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON DEHRADUN: Days after chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat constituted his 10-member council of ministers, discontent has started brewing in BJP with supporters of eight-time legislator and former Speaker Harbans Kapoor threatening to resign enmasse to protest against his non-inclusion in the Cabinet. BJP insiders said about 14 veteran legislators are unhappy as they were ignored for the Cabinet berths. Besides Kapoor, other disgruntled MLAs include Balwant Singh Bhoriyal, Surendra Jina, Chandan Ram Das, Khajan Das, Yatishwaranad, Rajesh Shukla, Pushkar Dhami, Bansidhar Bhagat and Ganesh Joshi. Among these (disgruntled) legislators are Shukla and Yatishwaranand who defeated former chief minster (Harish Rawat) by a huge margin, a senior BJP leader said. According to him, all of them are below 70 and below the age cap of 75 set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for getting the ministers post. BJP spokesperson Suresh Joshi down played the reports of rebellion in the party. These (discontent) are just teething troubles, which will be taken care ofThe entire party stands solidly behind our governmentThere is no doubt about that, he told HT. The unexpected good electoral result had aised the hopes of party veterans. But most of them drew a blank as five of the total nine Cabinet berths went to Congress turncoats. The short shrift they got from the high command has given rise to discontent among the newly elected BJP legislators. It came out in the open on Wednesday when Kapoors supporters threatened to resign enmasse to protest the partys decision to back Prem Agrawals candidature for the post of Speaker. On Thursday, the BJP legislator party unanimously elected Agrawal for that post. Those close to Kapoor said he was unhappy but kept his cool assuming that he might be given the post of the assembly Speaker. Instead, the party backed Agrawal who has been unanimously elected as the Speaker, a confidante of the BJP veteran said. No sooner had Agrawal filed his nomination, scores of Kapoor supporters gheraoed the residence of state BJP chief Ajay Bhatt to protest against the raw deal their leader got. Bhatt tried to calm them telling them that their sentiment had been conveyed to the partys central leaders, a Kapoor supporter said. The former Speaker though sought to play down the issue. Kapoor maintained that his supporters also gheraoed his Yamuna Colony residence. They are so angry that they stopped me from venturing out of my residence until their demands are met, he had told HT on Wednesday night. We have 57 legislatorsI know all of them cant be accommodated in the council of ministers and some will be left out. One does feel hurt, Kapoor admitted, when asked how he felt on being ignored for the cabinet berth. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Surgeries and out-patient department operations were affected in most government hospitals as 20,000 junior doctors went on mass casual leave on Thursday to support their counterparts in Mumbai asking for security in hospitals. Junior doctors from Maharashtra have been on strike for four days after a spate of attacks on them by relatives of patients. While emergency services are operational, services in the OPD, wards and routine operation theatres were not working to capacity between 9am and 4pm in all government hospitals in Delhi. We had to restrict our OPD registration; we closed the registration windows at 11. Some routine surgeries had to be postponed, said Dr Punita Mahajan, medical director of Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital. Doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung continued work but supported the strike. AIIMS doctors came to work wearing driving helmets and Safdarjung doctors had black ribbons pinned to their chest. AIIMS is a tertiary care hospital where poor patients come from across the country with prior appointments, so we will not stop our work. We condemn the Maharashtra governments move of suspending the doctors and we stand by FORDA, said Dr Vijay Gurjar, president of the resident doctors association at AIIMS. Most scheduled surgeries at all major hospitals were cancelled. Lok Nayak alone cancelled nearly 30 surgeries scheduled for Thursday. All our senior doctors and faculty members were diverted from the wards and the operation theatres to the OPD, so that patient care is not affected. However, some surgeries had to be cancelled after the resident doctors gave notice of the mass leave in the morning, said Dr JC Passey, medical director of the Lok Nayak hospital. Only doctors running the emergency services and the ICU are working, the rest have taken the day off. Consultants are running the out-patient department, said Dr Pankaj Solanki, president of the national body Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA). Doctors from a private hospital -- Sir Ganga Ram Hospital -- also decided to shut down their general and private OPD. Our hospital expresses solidarity with the concerns of IMA and DMA regarding safety of doctors. The emergency as well as the inpatient services will function normally tomorrow, a hospital release said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Around 100 teachers from varsities across the country are set to receive some lessons from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on putting behind colonial ways of imparting knowledge and imbibing national values in students at a seminar at Delhi University. A two-day seminar (March 25-26) titled Gyan Sangam is being organised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at DUs Hansraj College. The panelists for the seminar on how to free teaching system from colonial values and establish national values in them include, among others, the RSS chief, and its joint general secretary Krishna Gopal. The concept note for the event says that foreign elements destroyed Indias thousands-year-old education system and its centres, burnt our libraries and insulted Indian knowledge tradition. While on one side Turkish and Mughal invaders destroyed our temples, the English have established an education system which has made people lose their trust in the Indian education system, it says. India has to develop a social and intellectual point of view which will be able to solve problems of its current generation, it adds. We have to make students free of colonial values and establish national values in them, it reads. Around 100 teachers associated with the Sangh, and RSS workers from various universities will participate in the event. It will hold discussions on subjects like Political Science, International Relations, History, Archaeology, Science, Sociology, Communications, Theatre, Literature and Economics. The CBSE Class 12 History exam, conducted on Thursday, was easy and balanced, said most students and teachers. Teachers said most questions were direct and from the syllabus. The paper was easy and most questions were direct. It was not lengthy so it is expected that almost all students could attempt it without running out of time, said Teena Sharma, a History teacher at government girls school in Sonia Vihar. Nikita Akhuli, a Class 12 student, said, The question paper was easy and balanced. The questions were not complex. The map exercise was also very simple. Amar, a student of Delhi Public School, Indirapuram, said most of the questions were easy. I am expecting a good score. Most questions were from the NCERT books. Overall it was an easy paper, she said. Teachers said this years paper was easier compared to last years paper. Most of my students are happy and satisfied with their performance in the exam. The paper was balanced and easier than last years paper, said Vinita Sohanlal, who teaches History at DPS Mathura Road. Payal Saxena, who teaches History at Evergreen Senior Secondary School, Vasundhara Enclave, said, The question paper was direct and made out of the NCERT text. A few questions have been repeated from the last years paper.It was balanced and not lengthy. Map pointing was also very easy. The CBSE Class 12 board exams started on March 9 and will go on till April 29. Over 10 lakh students are appearing for the exam across India of which two lakhs are in Delhi. Students appeared for class XII examination at 10,678 centres in India. Fifty-eight examination centres have been set up in some Gulf countries and six in various other countries. The CBSE has a three-tier arrangement for surprise checking flying squads from the Board itself, Delhis Directorate of Education (DoE) and those from outside Delhi. Kannur VC Dr Gopinath Ravindran was the last to respond to Raj Bhavan shortly before the 5pm deadline. Delhi Police on Wednesday rescued a woman and her daughter, who had been living locked up in their house for the last four years, in southwest Delhis Mahavir Enclave. Police said they were found malnourished and living in unhygienic conditions. The womans elderly father-in-law lives in the same house. The matter came to light when a resident of A-block at Mahavir Enclave-II reported the matter to a local media channel and the police. He claimed that the two women - Kalavati (42) and her daughter Deepa (20) - were forcefully locked up in a first-floor room at a house nearby. However, when the police went to their house, the women told them that they were living inside out of choice. The police have now referred the two women to IHBAS (Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences). Clearly their mental condition is unstable. They are undernourished and both weigh not more than 25 kg. We have referred them to IBHAS and will oversee the treatment, an official said. According to the womans father-in-law, Mahaveer Mishra, Kalavati and Deepa had locked themselves up in the room since his sons death in a road accident in 2013. Mishras wife had passed away in 2000. Police officials said Mishra stayed in the next room and gave them food once a day whenever they asked for it. When the police tried to take them to the hospital on Wednesday, they refused to step out. The police, however, took help of a counselor to convince them after which they were taken to DDU hospital in Hari Nagar for treatment. They say the two women were hallucinating. The woman often claimed to have been speaking to her husband and went on without food for days during these bouts. In his statement, the elderly man said that he has been getting them treated by a local doctor, as he did not have enough savings to take them to a hospital, an official said. Mishra was a linesman retired from the MTNL and gets a monthly pension of Rs 16,000. He said that the women hardly ate in the last four years and never stepped out of the house. He also said that whenever he took them to the doctor, they refused to tell their symptoms to the doctor because of which they could not be treated, he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Regal, the 84-year-old movie hall in the heart of Delhi, will close down on March 31, only to return as a multiplex. The next change, Anushka Sharma-starrer Phillauri, will be the last movie to be screened in the cinemas current single-screen avatar. One of the owners of the hall, Vishal Choudhary, said that he has applied for the permission to open a multiplex in the heritage building and has got 60% of the proposal cleared. We have got the no-objection certificate from fire department and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as it is a heritage site, our designs have been approved by Delhi Urban Arts Commission, he told Hindustan Times. It will, however, take at least a year before the work begins as we have to take permission from several other departments and it takes a long time to finish these things, he said. Hindustan Times had reported on December 22 that the cinema was on the verge of closing due to severe cash crunch aggravated by demonetisation. Choudhary said it was time to fold up Regal as they had not been making money for many years now. Business has been down for a decade and last months collection of the movie Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya was also not very good. He said the cinema hall has been unable to recover operating costs in past two years. Half the money we get from the tickets goes to the distributor. It costs us over Rs2 lakh a week to run a show. Choudhary also said that they didnt want to take any chances after the collapse of some buildings in the Connaught Place recently. The New Delhi Municipal Council has asked the owners of buildings in the area to prove structural capability. This is another reason why he decided to close the theatre and rebuild it. A notice signed by owner VK Mahajan, posted outside the cinema states: The structural engineer has stated that our building is very old, its inspection will require a long period and we shall not be in a position to carry out business activity... New Delhi Municipal Council chairman Naresh Kumar told HT that blaming the civic agency for the bad condition of a private building is unfair. Any building which is structurally unsafe should be repaired, refurnished and retrofitted by the building owner. The onus is on the owner and it has got nothing to do with the local body. If the Regal building is unsafe, they can do repairs, he said. According to Kumar, the owner has already started the process for permission from the civic body to operate a multiplex. They have already applied for the required permission to run a multiplex in the Regal Building. We havent given the nod yet. However, if the building is not fit enough for a single screen, how can it house multiple screens, the NDMC chairman said. The theatre, built in 1932, holds a special charm for movie lovers, who see it as a place where erstwhile superstars Raj Kapoor and Nargis used to attend film premieres. The first and second floors of the Regal Building were sold to Madame Tussauds in 1996, so the famed wax museum could open its 22nd branch in Delhi. The ground floor remains with the owner. The number of visitors to single screen cinemas has been dwindling ever since Delhis first multiplex, now called PVR Priya, opened in Vasant Vihar in 1997. The subsequent mushrooming of multiplexes and malls in every corner forced the smaller single-screen theatres to shut down. Attempts at survival are proving to be ineffective. Even after renovating the cinemas, installing latest technologies, and keeping the price of tickets to minimum, these cinemas find themselves inching towards the end. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who assaulted an Air India staff on board a Pune-Delhi flight, may not be able to fly with the national carrier again. In response to the unruly treatment against a 60-year-old duty manager, the airline is planning to draw up a no-fly list of unruly passengers and put Gaikwad on it. The complaint by R Sukumar and report by Deputy General Manager confirms that MP assaulted him and even tried to push him off the plane. He tore away the button of his cardigan, broke his specs and humiliated him in front of other crew members, said an Air India official. In his complaint, Sukumar said the MP abused him. God save our country if this is the culture and behaviour of our MPs, he wrote. #WATCH: Sukumar, the Air India staff member who was beaten up by Shiv Sena MP R Gaikwad wants an FIR to be registered against Gaikwad. pic.twitter.com/6liOLOIjMg ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 On Thursday morning, Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP Ravindra Gaikwad hit the 60-year-old airline staffer with slippers. The MP was angry allegedly because Air India changed his seat from business to economy class. Air India said that the MP had an open ticket of business class, which means he could have travelled in any Air India flight. Despite being informed that AI 852 did not have a business class, the MP chose to travel in the same flight. Upon landing at Delhi airport, he refused to deboard asking for the CMD to arrive and apologise, said an Air India official. When Sukumar tried to talk to him, he got furious and hit him 25 times. WATCH: Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad admits that he beat an Air India staff member with slippers,remains defiant pic.twitter.com/1ws5nYptkn ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 Sukumar has filed a complaint of assault while Air India is filing another complaint for forcibly holding up the flight. The same aircraft had to go to Goa and 115 passengers had to wait for 40 minutes as the MP refused to deboard. According to the police, they have received one complaint so far and are examining it. They have said that they will file another complaint but we are yet to receive it. The complainant has been sent for medical examination. An FIR will be filed after medical examination, said a senior Delhi Police official. Meanwhile, Gaikwad has written to LS speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Civil Aviation Minister Ashok G Raju listing out problems plaguing Air India. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The April 23 Delhi municipal election is set to see an unprecedented six-cornered contest as Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has decided to throw its hat in the ring, despite the severe drubbing it received in the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The party has announced 70 candidates already, and will fight BJP, AAP, Congress and Yogendra Yadavs Swaraj India all 272 municipal wards of the city-state. Nitish Kumars JD (U) will contest at least 150 seats. In the last municipal elections, only BJP, BSP and Congress had contested on all the seats and Samajwadi Party was the next big party in terms of candidates with 107 candidates in fray. Lalu Prasad Yadavs Rashtriya Janata Dal, Ajit Singhs Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Uddhav Thakreys Shiv Sena had contested on 23, 21 and 16 seats respectively. Other parties like, Lok Jan Shakti Party, Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party, Nationalist Congress Party, and Communist Party of India had also contested on less than 100 seats. Whatever may have happened in the UP elections, in Delhi, we will contest with full strength, BSPs Delhi president, C P Singh said. The party used to be a key player in the capital and was the third major contender after BJP and Congress, albeit a small one. It had won 15 seats in the previous municipal elections in 2012 with over 10% vote-share. A party leader also highlighted that Muslim-dominated areas and outer Delhi used to be its stronghold. In the 2008 assembly election, BSP had won Badarpur and Gokalpur seats, and came second in Narela, Badli, Deoli, Tughlakabad and Babarpur seats. The party also got 10,00030,000 votes in 40 other seats. But all that was before Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party entered the arena in 2013. From 14.05% in 2008, BSPs vote share dipped to 5.35% in 2013 assembly polls and further to 1.3 % in the 2015 assembly election. They did not win even a seat both the times. In the last assembly election, voters gave a chance to AAP, but they are now tired of all the three partiesBJP, Congress and AAP, CP Singh reasoned. We will give them an alternative. However, the BSP leader who wished anonymity admitted that partys chances were slim, having fared poorly in the last few elections. Moreover, in the recently-concluded UP hustings, BSP could manage only 19 seats, its worst since 1991. And whether Mayawati will campaign or not is not decided yet. To make an impact in municipal election, party needs a magic since the UP drubbing is fresh in memory, the BSP leader said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday said it will present a vision document for improving urban life to the voters during the MCD election campaign. Partys national vice president and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said, We will try to emulate successful projects implemented in the 72 municipalities ruled by the BJP such as Pune, Indore, Lucknow, Bengaluru, and Jalandhar. Sahasrabuddhe said dropping incumbents has been a part and parcel of the BJP strategy for long and has been followed in the past elections in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. We look at these (municipal) elections with an innovative approach. We work with a perception to improve urban life. We have done a lot of good work in several municipalities where we are in power. We will bring those examples to fore and motivate our councillors to emulate them. It required structured efforts so we will expand the scope of our vision and thinking, he said He said the BJP campaign will highlight the Central governments initiatives for the betterment of Delhi and the work by party councillors in the last five years. The party will make the voters aware about the negativity spread by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). We will expose them by telling people about their politics of creating hurdles. People of Goa and Punjab have brought them down. We will finish the remaining task here, Sahasrabuddhe said. Party president Amit Shah had appointed Sahasrabuddhe with three central ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendar Singh, and Sanjeev Balyan to monitor municipal elections in the national capital. This is the first time that the BJP has sent a team of senior leaders to manage civic polls in the city. Sitharaman has been given the charge of South Corporation and Singh will look after East. Balyan has been assigned north civic body. Reacting to the unease among the sitting councillors over the issue of ticket distribution, he said their feelings are justified and such decision would evoke different reactions. They were little hurt and disheartened. Their feelings are being assuaged. Denial of an opportunity at a particular point of time does not mean end of the road. They are responding positively. Things are pretty normal, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The United Kingdom has faced an Islamicist terrorist plot on average every three months over the past three years so it was inevitable that, eventually, one terror plot would slip through the counterterrorism cordon. In the case of the Westminster attack the shock was arguably less about the casualties luckily far fewer than earlier jihadi actions in Paris, Brussels and Nice than the symbolic value of the target: the Mother of Parliament at a time when the prime minister was inside and its members were in session. Indians will draw an obvious parallel to the Lashkar e Tayyeba attack on their parliament in 2001. The evidence so far points to the work of a lone wolf terrorist inspired but not directed by the Islamic State. The terror attack was low-tech a car followed by a knife and, so far, there is no evidence of anyone else involved other than the single man who was shot by police. The Islamic State has praised him, but belatedly as if initially uncertain as to the attackers background. All of these are signs of a lone wolf attacker. Unfortunately, the world should brace for more such attacks. One, there is no sign that the West Asian political turmoil and Islams theological ruptures that are the founts of this present wave of extremism are waning. In particular, the Sunni Muslim sense of marginalisation that has helped feed the rise of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State continues and may even worsen. Two, even as the Islamic State seems to be entering the last several months of its physical existence, it has ordered its overseas followers to cause mayhem. The Islamic State remains a formidable online presence, releasing nearly 40 pieces on the net every day in multiple languages, many designed for niche audiences. That over 30,000 foreigners have gone to the Islamic State is evidence of its successful messaging, as well as the dozens of lone wolves it has inspired. Three, European countries are becoming especially vulnerable to jihadi attacks because of unemployment and anti-immigrant rhetoric, falling rates of terrorist interception, and a documented surge in Islamicist-related recruiters both on the ground and in cyberspace. There is some evidence that terrorists are increasingly keeping their planning offline to avoid electronic surveillance -- making pre-emption all that more difficult. India already faces multiple terrorist threats and may not necessarily have much to learn from the Westminster attack. Fortunately, the threat posed by the Islamic State to India continues to be minimal. But India has no reason to be complacent. The list of students selected to Class 1 in Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country has been released by many schools on their website on Wednesday and the remaining are expected to upload it by Thursday evening, an official said. The admission list is also being simultaneously displayed on the schools notice board for the parents to check. The list of all the schools is not being displayed at one central portal, a Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) official, who did not want to be named, told Hindustan Times. Intimation will also be sent through emails to parents of the child so they can know the status of their application, the official added. The official said around 6.5 lakh children applied for admissions to Class 1. Registration, which was open for all KVs in the 25 regions, started on February 8. The admission process has been online and cloud based in order to make it transparent. Due to heavy demand from parents and students for admissions, the KVS extended the last date for registration in Class 1 by 5 days to March 15. The registration process for Class 2 to 9 will begin in April and admissions for Class 11 in KVs will start after the declaration of the result of CBSE Class 10 board examination. KVs are centrally funded schools that provide quality education at affordable rates in the country. Over 1.2 million students study in 1,142 KVs across the country. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON About 150 out of 519 MBBS students from various Indian medical colleges who were thrown out by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for violating Supreme Court orders on counselling before admissions protested outside Union health minister J P Naddas residence on Wednesday. In Delhi, the protesting students, some with parents, said they were getting desperate and would not know what to do if justice was denied to them. One of the parents said the students had stopped eating and drinking, many were depressed. A Supreme Court had in an order on September 28, 2016, directed that all admissions had to be done after counselling by the state governments.The students were asked by MCI to leave as they had been admitted without counselling in 17 medical colleges in the country out of which 14 were in Uttar Pradesh. Many of the students already in MBBS programmes for three months were shocked to get notices from MCI asking them to vacate their seats. Those protesting in Delhi said they were forced to go for direct admissions despite high scores in the tough medical college entrance test NEET ( National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) as the counselling process was too slow and they had not managed to get admission till October 6, 2016, a day before the last date of counselling. All of the 519 students took direct admission on October 7. Shekhar Tripathy 26, studying in Hind Medical College near Lucknow, says his dreams are shattered. We were attending classes for the last three months and all of a sudden MCI served us letters to cancel our admissions. All my relatives, family members and friends know that I am pursuing MBBS and I will become a doctor. Now what will I tell them? I have no options left, he said, tears in his eyes. Medical students who have been asked by the Medical Council of India to vacate their seats in college. (Handout) Tripathy says his dream of becoming a doctor is well and truly over with the cancellation of his admission for the 2016 session. The health ministrys directive to fix an upper age limit of 25 for NEET from 2017 does not allow him to write the exam again. What do I do? he asks. As of now, no one has any answers for him. Guru Dutt , studying in FH Medical College, Agra, says, Its the state governments fault if it could not conduct counselling efficiently. MCI should have taken a considerate view. We have scored more marks then those students who were admitted through counselling. Another student, Megha Gupta, says they will continue their protests. Parents and doctors supporting the students outside the health ministers residence (Handout) It was our bad luck that the minister (Nadda) was in Kullu (Himachla Pradesh) when we protested outside his house. But we will meet MPs and continue to protest till we get justice. We have already written a letter to the PM, Gupta adds. In what has also come as a big setback for the students is that the Supreme-Court appointed Oversight Committee has also approved MCIs decision to cancel 519 admissions. I dont think there is any scope for these students now. The only option they have is to file a case in the Supreme Court, a senior health ministry official says. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The big day is finally here, and, this time around, it promises to be bigger than ever. The sixth edition of the Hindustan Times Most Stylish Awards, which is being held tonight (March 24), will see the whos who of Mumbai, dressed in their finest, walk the red carpet at the Taj Lands End hotel, in Bandra (W). If last years show is anything to go by, the extravaganza promises to be grander than ever, what with actors, film-makers, models, fashion designers and top chefs displaying the latest trends, and even sporting new haute styles. Sonam Kapoor seen sharing a moment with Jaya Bachchan at the 2016 show. (Pratham Gokhale/ HT Photo/) Last year, the ladies took the style quotient to the next level by opting for voluminous gowns and pantsuits, among other ensembles. The gentlemen impressed in bright jackets and traditional bandhgalas. Leading by example were Sonam Kapoor, Kalki Koechlin, Alia Bhatt, Parineeti Chopra and Katrina Kaif, to name a few. Shah Rukh Khan looked impeccable last year in a black suit and tie. (Satish Bate/ HT Photo) The 2016 gala also saw Ranveer Singh redefine style on the red carpet dressed in a bright red suit with a ruffled powder blue shirt as he kicked open the door of his car, jumped out and broke into an impromptu jig. The actor carried a boombox that played loud music. Matching Ranveers energy was none other than Anil Kapoor, who joined him on the red carpet midway through his brief jig. Shah Rukh Khan (recipient of the Most Stylish Global Icon award), Rekha (recipient of the Most Stylish Timeless Style Diva award) and Dharmendra (winner of the Most Stylish Lifetime Style Icon award) took home some of the most coveted trophies at the glam evening. This year, the show will kickstart with an electrifying performance by Kailash Kher. It will be followed by a fashion show. Taking the torch from last years stellar host Karan Johar will be this years comperes, actor Mandira Bedi and anchor Maniesh Paul. This year, Deepika Padukone, Ajay Devgn, Parineeti Chopra, Ayushmann Khurrana, Varun Dhawan, Taapsee Pannu, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Alia Bhatt, veteran actor Asha Parekh and Amitabh Bachchan, among others, will dazzle the red carpet. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more. If two of your things are getting manicures and drinking bubbly, then a new edible wine-flavoured nail polish could be for you. Prosecoo Polish is the latest weird and wonderful beauty innovation to hit the market, thanks to Groupon, and it is being hailed as a world-first. Made using real Prosecco, the sparkly golden polish apparently tastes and smells exactly like our favorite tipple, and, as a promotional video shows, it is designed to be licked off the fingers for a calorie-free slurp. However, despite the potential temptation, the products small print strongly advises against drinking the polish straight from the bottle. Unfortunately the polish, which was developed to mark Mothers Day, will not be available for general purchase any time soon. Beauty fans looking to get their hands on a bottle will have to enter a Groupon prize draw to be eligible to win one for free. Quirky edible nail polishes are becoming something of a niche marketing trend for brands. Last year, KFC exploited its Finger Lickin Good slogan to offer Hong Kong clients two nail varnishes designed to taste like its chicken recipes for Original and Hot and Spicy. The fast food chain is a serial offender when it comes to controversial cosmetics in August 2016 it hit the headlines when it debuted Extra Crispy, an SPF 30 sunscreen that allegedly smelled like its famous fried chicken. For more information on Prosecco Polish, see: www.groupon.co.uk Follow @htlifeandstyle for more A contractual employee of the electricity department was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl. Police identified the accused as Manoj from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and works in New Palam Vihar for power distribution company Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN). He has been charged with forcibly raping a minor under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act . He was produced in court on Thursday and sent to judicial custody, police said. The incident came to light after a doctor of a private hospital informed police about a pregnant minor after she came for treatment on Wednesday. As the girl was bleeding, her parents consulted a doctor. She is a class 10 student of a government school in the city and lives in Palam Vihar. The doctor informed police after a medical examination confirmed that she was three months pregnant. Palam Vihar police said they arrested the accused after recording the statement of the girl. In her statement, the girl said she met Manoj at her fathers shop. As she frequented the shop, she became friends with Manoj. Later, he started taking her for bike rides. In December 2016, Manoj took her to a secluded area near the Dwaka Expressway and forced himself on her. The girl, however, did not disclose the incident to anyone. Investigation is on in the case, police said. Sandeep Kumar, station house officer, Palam Vihar, said a case has been registered, and the accused was arrested on Wednesday. The accused was produced in the court today (Thursday) and sent to judicial custody, Kumar said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Scientists have developed a novel spray made from biomaterials that may help the heart heal without the need of sutures or glue. Researchers from University of North Carolina in the US have demonstrated the effectiveness of a minimally invasive method to form a regenerative cardiac patch that promotes repair of damaged cardiac tissue in a mouse model of a heart attack. Biomaterials sprayed onto the heart formed a platelet fibrin gel, called a cardiac patch, that helps the heart heal without the need for sutures or glue, researchers said. The spray painting method is an excellent example of how tissue engineering has evolved since the 1990s, said John A Jansen of Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. The described delivery method is easy to apply in clinics and shows significant potential for patient treatment, he added. The study was published in the journal Tissue Engineering, Part C. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more. Mr Bean is back! But, there is a catch. People can only see him in China. In a surprising cameo in the Chinese film Top Funny Comedian: The Movie, actor Rowan Atkinson reprised his role as Mr Bean, reports The Independent. Known as Mr Foolish Bean in China, his latest vacation takes him to the country, where he is using his iPhone to click ornate sculptures. Atkinsons co-star in the movie, said in an interview with The Beijinger, that they used body language to talk to each other. He said, (We communicated) just with facial expressions and gestures. We seemed to understand each other. It was a really interesting experience, which proves that comedy can cross boundaries. Top Funny Comedian: The Movie is Chinas answer to hit Hollywood comedy The Hangover. The story focuses on a group of four men and a woman, venturing to Macau where one of them gets lost, requiring the other four to save them. Follow @htshowbiz for more The government might have put Aadhaar on the fast track and made it mandatory for a host of services in recent weeks but the move also represents the latest twist to the BJPs changing stance over Indias largest identity scheme. When the BJP was in Opposition, senior party leaders relentlessly targeted Aadhaar and dubbed it as a fraud scheme, asking questions about its security. Raising the red flag against the Congress-led UPAs UIDAI bill, which aimed to give statutory backing to the Unique Identity scheme, the BJP did not allow the legislation to be passed in Parliament. But after coming to power, the NDA government brought an amended Aadhaar bill as a money bill to avoid Rajya Sabhas veto where the Opposition is in majority. There is also a case pending before the Supreme Court challenging the governments decision to turn Aadhaar bill into a money bill. On Wednesday, finance minister Arun Jaitley said that an Aadhaar card could become the sole identifier for a person in future. A stage may come that the unique identity will become the only card, Jaitley said, replying to the debate on finance bill. He later underlined that its biometric features act as anti-evasion measures. There are many countries where such a situation exists. There is a social security number in America and in India it (Aadhaar) could be the counterpart, the finance minister added. Biju Janata Dals floor leader Bhartruhari Mahtab opposed the governments decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for filing of income tax return from this year as well as for applying for PAN. So you are forcing the citizen, Mahtab remarked. Yes, we are, replied Jaitley. But in 2012, BJPs national spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi had slammed Aadhaar as a fraud programme and demanded a probe. This is a dangerous programme to regularise the illegal stay of migrants in the country. Is Bharat Mata so open to illegal migrants? The Aadhaar is also in contravention of Supreme Court directives. The entire biometric data of people enrolled has been stored outside the country, Lekhi had said. Ananth Kumar, now the parliamentary affairs minister of the NDA government, had said that Aadhaars contribution was to provide citizenship to illegal immigrants. If you illegally enter other countries, you are shot at or put in jail. But if anyone illegally enters India, he is given citizenship. This is the contribution of Aadhaar. Half of Assam is occupied by Bangladeshis. Aadhaar is the biggest fraud in the country, Ananth Kumar said. In 2010, at a function in New Delhi, Smriti Irani, who is now the Union textile minister, had said, The reality is that the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, which gives sanction to this particular card was rejected by the standing committee on finance. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter made an emergency landing near an agricultural land in Siddipet district of Telangana on Wednesday after it developed a technical snag, police said. It was a precautionary landing due to technical issues... The helicopter was not damaged and no one was injured, official sources said. Another helicopter carrying technical experts rushed to the spot and after the chopper got repaired, it was flown back to Hyderabad, they said. According to Gajwel police station official, the chopper which was on a routine training sortie from IAF Hakimpet Station here made the emergency landing in Anantaraopally village in Siddipet district at around 10am. Air India is mulling preparing a no-fly list for unruly passengers following Wednesdays incident in which a Shiv Sena MP allegedly assaulted a 60-year-old airline staffer with slippers over a disagreement. Air India is examining creation of no-fly list of unruly passenger on the lines of other carriers, a senior airline official said. Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad refused to deboard the Air India flight he travelled by from Pune to Delhi, leading to him beating up and abusing a duty manager who urged him to. Gaikwad, who had an open business-class ticket that allows him to travel on any date, insisted on taking the airlines early morning flight AI-852 from Pune to Delhi, an all-economy class plane. This led to an argument with the airline employees in Pune and an assault on the manager by the MP when the aircraft landed in Delhi. The MP turned violent, broke the duty managers spectacles, tore his shirt and hit him with slippers several times, airline sources said. There have been several reported incidents of unruly behaviour by the fliers onboard various airlines in the recent times. Last month, AirAsia India filed a police complaint in Bengaluru against two drunk fliers for creating nuisance onboard one of its flights. In January, IndiGo was forced to tie down a passenger to his seat for being violent onboard one of its flight from Dubai for New Delhi. According to the officials, between July 2016 and February 2017, 53 incidents of unruly behaviour by the passengers have been reported by the domestic airlines. According to the global aviation body, International Air Transport Association (IATA), unruly passengers are one of the top three safety issues that concern cabin crew. As per the IATA, in 2015, there were 10,854 reported cases of unruly behaviour by the passengers across airlines worldwide, which translate into one incident for every 1,205 flights. Air India chief Ashwini Lohani on Thursday asked the staff not to wait for an approval to file a police complaint in case of misbehaviour or assault by a passenger. The move came on a day when Shiv Senas member of Parliament Ravindra Gaikwad allegedly hit a 60-year-old airline duty manager with slippers and even tried to push him off the plane. While we have filed two FIRs it is necessary that in all such cases of a passenger misbehaving i.e assaulting air India staff, the airport manager would invariably lodge an FIR with the local police without waiting for any approvals, Lohani said in a statement released to the staff. The national carrier was also exploring the possibility of putting the MP on a no-fly list. Air India is also examining the creation of no-fly list of unruly passengers on the lines of other carriers, an airline spokesperson said. The two FIRs are for assault and delaying the flight for 40 minutes, the AI said. Police, however, said they received two complaints but no FIR has been registered. We will take legal opinion in the matter since the medical examination ruled out any fresh or visible injury. Decision on FIR will be taken after legal opinion, DCP (airport) Sanjay Bhatia said. The incident was reported from Air India plane AI 852 (Pune-Delhi) which landed at Delhi around 9.35am. The flight was supposed to be operated to Goa at 10.55am. After arrival of the flight, all passengers disembarked except the MP, the airline spokesperson said. The MP was allegedly upset as he didnt get to fly business. Since the MP wanted to travel on this flight he was allotted the seat in the first row itself since there is no business class on this flight, the spokesperson said. The MP refused to come out of the aircraft for almost an hour and he started hitting the staff when he was requested to deboard, the spokesperson said. As anger grew over the alleged assault, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray summoned Gaikwad to Mumbai. The party has sought an explanation from Gaikwad over the incident. The Sena does not condone violence of any kind, Harshal Pradhan, media adviser to Thackeray, told PTI. Gaikwad remained defiant and didnt deny hitting Sukumar. What did he (the AI official) say...Yes, I beat him with a sandal 25 times. Should I tolerate abuses from the media, from the company (Air India) just because I am an MP?, Gaikwad told ANI. This is not the first time that Gaikwad has created a controversy. He was once in news for having allegedly forced a stale chapatti down the throat of a fasting Muslim caterer, complaining about the quality of food served at the Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi. (With PTI inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON President Mamnoon Hussain says Pakistan is ready to hold talks with India on all issues, including Kashmir, as he opened an annual military parade to mark the countrys Republic Day. Chinese army also participated in Thursdays parade as a show of Beijings strong friendship with Pakistan. Pakistan displayed nuclear-capable weapons, tanks, jets and other weapons at the parade. Hussain said the audience at a stadium in Islamabad that the Chinese army has never participated in such an event in any other country. In a televised speech, Hussain accused India of endangering peace by violating a cease-fire in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is split between Pakistan and India and has been the cause of two of their wars. The Supreme Court adjourned for a second time on Thursday a plea challenging a trial courts decision to drop criminal conspiracy charges top BJP leaders, including veteran leader LK Advani, in the 1992 Babri masjid demolition case. The top court deferred the hearing by two weeks after Advanis counsel, senior advocate KK Venugopal said he was busy in another case. The next date of hearing is on April 6. Other than Advani, senior BJP leaders such as Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh are among the accused in the case. The Central Bureau of Investigation had charged the suspects with conspiracy but they were cleared by a trial court. The central agency then challenged the verdict in the top court. The sensitive issue has returned to the limelight after the BJP grabbed power in Uttar Pradesh with a brute majority, reviving hopes among its supporters over the partys proposed plans to build a Ram temple at the site. Many Hindus believe that Lord Ram was born at the spot where the first Mughal king Babar had build the mosque. The mosque was demolished on December 6, 1992 by kar sevaks of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), sparking communal riots across the country that left more than 3,000 people dead. The criminal cases in the Babri Masjid case stemmed from two crime files 197 and 198. Both were filed shortly after the disputed structure was demolished. The CBI, however, filed a combined chargesheet in the case. FIR number 197 was registered against lakhs of unknown kar sevaks and dealt with the actual demolition of the structure. The accused were charged with serious offences including robbery or dacoity with attempt to murder and promoting enmity between different religious groups. This case was being heard by a Lucknow court, which dropped conspiracy charges against the 13 leaders. The second, FIR 198, was registered against 12 persons, including Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Ritambhara, who were present at the Ayodhya when the masjid was being demolished. They are accused of promoting enmity, making imputations and assertions prejudicial to national integration and statements conducing to public mischief. This case is also pending before a court in Rae Barelli. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A strike by junior Maharashtras doctors, who are protesting a spate of assaults on colleagues by patients relatives, entered the fourth day on Thursday even as nearly 2,000 of them got expulsion notice a day ago. Maharashtras doctors are up in arms recent cases of violence against medical practitioners, including instances in Dhule and Mumbais Sion Hospital-- where relatives of patients attacked their respective doctors-in-charge. The agitators said patients are usually accompanied by a large number of relatives, which puts pressure on them. They have demanded adequate security measures and a pass system, where not more than two relatives will be allowed to remain with a patient inside the ward. Medical services at major civic-run hospitals remained paralysed as doctors continued their mass leave protest. We received eviction notices last night but the strike will continue, said a resident doctor from LTMG Sion Hospital, where a new case of an assault on a female doctor was reported on Wednesday evening. This was the seventh case of an assault on a doctor in the state in the last fortnight. Faculty members at KEM Hospital, Nair Hospital and Sion Hospital will meet on Thursday to decide if they too want to join the students protests. Close to 20,000 resident doctors at all major government hospitals in Delhi, except the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), also went on a mass casual leave on Thursday to express their solidarity with the Maharashtra doctors. The resident doctors have decided to be absent from the out-patient department, operation theatres and wards between 9am and 4pm on Thursday. They, however, assured that emergency services will continue to run uninterrupted. On Wednesday, nearly 1,200 doctors at AIIMS turned up for work wearing helmets to support their Maharashtra counterparts. Maharashtra medical and education minister Girish Mahajan asked doctors to join duty by Wednesday evening or face stern action, including a salary cut for six months. The Bombay high court is likely to further hear a PIL by city activist Afak Mandviya later in the day. The HC had on Tuesday slammed resident doctors who have resorted to a strike since Monday and granted liberty to hospital managements where the resident doctors are employed to take action against those who have on strike. The PIL stated that flash strikes by resident doctors going have become a regular event because of which great inconvenience is caused to thousands of poor and needy patients. You are not fit to be doctors. You are fit to be an ordinary factory worker if you insist that you will not resume work until your demands are fulfilled, the division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Girish Kulkarni said. They said that if the doctors cannot work, they must resign and gave the management free reign to initiate action against the doctors. Animal rights activist Nitasha Jaini was allegedly assaulted by unidentified miscreants near Patna high court on Friday evening when she tried to rescue a reptile from a snake charmer. Eyewitnesses said, the incident occurred around 5.30pm when the 53-year-old activist asked the snake charmer, who was collecting money from the passersby near the bar council by displaying the snake, to handover the reptile to her and tried to call police control room. Soon a crowd gathered around her, who sought to know who gave her the right to try and confiscate the snake. A case had been lodged against unidentified persons with the Kotwali police station on the basis of the statement of Jaini, said DSP (law and order) Shibli Numani, adding that police were trying to identify the attackers with the help of CCTV footage. Suddenly, I was surrounded by a mob of around 40 people. Some of them started beating me up and even tried to strip my clothes. The crowd kept questioning my professional integrity. This continued for about 25 minutes, she told HT. Jaini was coming out of the court attending a case, seeking release order to send 61 smuggled camels to a rehabilitation centre in Rajasthan, when the incident took place. The activist ,who is also associated with the Dhyan Foundation, an NGO working for animal welfare, helped rescue the camels that were traded illegally from Rajasthan to Kishanganj in Bihar. A witness to the Fridays incident said surprisingly the lawyers, who were passing by the spot, did not came forward to save her. Jaini claimed that the attackers could be associates of those who smuggled the camels to the state. We have been receiving constant threats from people, who claim to be the owners of the animals. However, they do not even have a single document, which is mandatory for transporting animals. Clearly, the nexus is well entrenched and our efforts to safeguard the animals has antagonised the racket, she added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON PATNA Amanpreet Singh Brar alias Anand Brar, an accused in the Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) question paper leak case, was brought by road to Patna in the wee hours of Thursday. He was arrested by the special investigation team (SIT) of the Patna police from the national capital on Sunday and taken on three days transit remand. Brar was brought to the Gandhi Maidan police station here in a white SUV at around 3.30am before being whisked away to an undisclosed location. Confirming his arrest, Patna senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaaj, who is heading the SIT, told HT, Brar will be produced in court most likely on Thursday. We had picked him up from Delhi on Sunday and taken on three days transit remand. So far 35 persons, including BSSC chairman and senior IAS officer Sudhir Kumar and its secretary Parmeshwar Ram have been arrested in the case. The BSSC had tasked Brar with printing optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets for the intermediate level examination to recruit over 1,700 on clerical posts in different government departments of Bihar. Prior to Brars arrest, his father Ajanta Singh, a resident of Amritsar, had moved the vigilance court here, requesting anticipatory bail for his son. In his petition to the court, Singh had said his son was unwell and undergoing treatment in a medical facility. However, the SIT picked up Brar when he was moving near the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. The police got a hint of BSSC question paper leak on January 28, a day before the first of the four-phase exams were to be held. The arrest of three persons from Kanti factory road in Patna on February 4, a day before the second phase exams, confirmed the worst fears of question paper leak. The police arrested BSSC secretary Parmeshwar Ram on February 8, followed by its chairman and senior IAS officer Sudhir Kumar. Five of Kumars kin, including two nephews, were believed to be taking the examination, which was subsequently cancelled after the question leak. Over 18 lakh candidates had applied for the exam, which was advertised in 2014. The SIT had picked up Kumar and three of his relatives from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand on February 24. STRAP Q-PAPER LEAK Patna cops picked Brar up from Delhi on Sunday and took him on 3-day transit remand Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Sanjeev Singh, the cousin of Dhanbads former deputy mayor Neeraj Singh who was gunned down on Tuesday, and five others were booked by police late on Wednesday night in connection with the murder, officials said on Thursday. Motorcycle-borne assailants intercepted Neerajs SUV barely 100 metres from his home on Tuesday and pumped 67 bullets from an AK-47 rifle and pistols into the Congress leader and 3 others, who were with him inside the vehicle. Neerajs youngest brother, Abhishek Singh alias Guddu Singh, named Sanjeev, Jharias BJP legislator, and his younger brother Siddhartha Gautam as the killers in the FIR, which was recorded by deputy superintendent of police (DSP) DN Banka and Saraidhela police station in charge Arvind Singh. I was there in Kolakusma when I got a phone call that my brother was shot. As I reached the spot, I saw Jainendra Singh alias Pintu was riding a bike and Sanjeev Singh was in the back seat arms hidden in a towel, Abhishek said in the FIR. Abhishek also claimed Sanjeev had opened indiscriminate fire on Neeraj who was in the car. Sanjeev told me that I killed your brother and you will also face the same consequence, Abhishek claimed in the FIR. Neerajs mother Sarojini Singh too said she had no doubt that Sanjeev was behind her sons murder. We will take revenge. It was the conspiracy of Sanjeev Singh to kill my son, she alleged. Neeraj, a mechanical engineer, had a bitter political rivalry with Sanjeev. Neeraj had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Jharkhand assembly election from Jharia constituency on a Congress ticket against Sanjeev. Police have constituted different teams to search the assailants and a special investigation team of CID was also formed to investigate the murder following the order of Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das. Police have recorded the statement and filed a case under relevant sections. Further action would be taken in this regard after consulting senior officers, DSP Banka said. Congress and other opposition parties have called for a Dhanbad bandh to protest Neerajs murder. Congress supporters blocked Dhanbad- Bokaro road near Putki disrupting vehicular movement since early morning. Long-distance buses remained off roads and schools and business establishment were shut for the second day on Thursday. However, board examinations were conducted as per schedule. No untoward has been reported from other parts of the city so far. Additional police forces have been deployed to maintain law and order of the city, Banka said. Neeraj is the nephew of Suraj Deo Singh, who is purported to be the inspiration for the iconic movie character Ramadhir Singh played by Tigmanshu Dhulia in Gangs of Wasseypur. Incidentally, Neeraj also has an uncle named Ramadhir Singh, who was convicted in a murder case and is in jail. Neeraj too was accused in several criminal cases, including murder. Gang wars have played out in Dhanbad for decades over coal trade and railway contracts. Muslim-dominated Wasseypur in the district is not unaffected by the fight for dominance and has its own set of warring sides. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The government has merged several powerful administrative tribunals and assumed powers to appoint and remove their chiefs, triggering fears the unprecedented move will undermine the authority and independence of these quasi-judicial institutions. The Finance Bill 2017, ratified by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, also made several structural changes, including making Aadhaar numbers mandatory for filing tax returns, allowing companies to make bigger, anonymous political donations and capping single cash transaction at Rs 200,000. But the most sweeping changes related to eight autonomous tribunals which were merged with other tribunals, and which also gave the government the power to appoint and remove the members in another 17 such bodies. This which could pose a conflict of interest in cases where the government is a litigant, critics said. Read | Lok Sabha passes Finance Bill, Aadhaar now mandatory for filing tax returns In some cases, the mergers appeared incongruous. For example, the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority Appellate Tribunal was merged into the Telecom Dispute Settlements and Appellate Tribunal. The bill also laid down severance terms for the chairpersons, vice-chairpersons and members of the merged tribunals: Up to three months pay and allowances, and it said officers will revert to their parent cadre, ministry or department. The government defended its decision, saying reducing the number of tribunals will speed up dispute resolution and curb wasteful expenditure. The government wont have any extra powers than what it has now in the functioning of these tribunals, a senior central minister told HT. But opposition parties and constitutional experts said such a move chips away at the independence of these institutions, and reflects the governments desire to ride roughshod over opponents and control even autonomous bodies. The rationalisation of tribunals is important at times, but this will lead to dilution of expertise and confusion. And through this move it will enable the government to put their own henchmen in tribunals, said Congress leader Veerappa Moily. Critics also questioned the governments motive in bringing in the changes through a money bill, which allows it to bypass the Rajya Sabha where it lacks a majority. The government move also appeared to contravene a 2014 Supreme Court order that held appointments to appellate tribunals must be free of executive interference. So far such hiring and firings were determined by laws governing these respective tribunals. A serious argument could be made that Parliament has given up its power to the executive regarding the functioning of tribunals, said advocate Alok Prasanna Kumar, who had prepared a concept note on tribunals for the law ministry in 2015. Some experts also shot down arguments that rationalising tribunals would lead to efficiency. There is no infrastructure and merging them will add to their backlog, overlap and confusion, Mohan Parasran, former attorney general, told Hindustan Times. Read | Lok Sabha passes bill to facilitate 60% tax on undisclosed income after Nov 8 Increasing control of the Centre over tribunals will be contrary to the spirit and principles laid down by the Supreme Court to ensure fairness and jurisprudence. The Finance Bill also allowed companies to give political parties more money anonymously. So far, a company could contribute up to 7.5 % of a three-year average of its net profits, and had to disclose the name of the recipient party. Now, that cap is gone, as also the need for companies to disclose the names of the beneficiaries. (Inputs from Suchetana Ray) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON MOTIHARI There can be no better prescription for bridging Indias growing social divide than the application of Gandhian thought and ideology of peace and harmony, for resolution of contentious issues of the day, Chief minister Nitish Kumar said here on Thursday. This is the reason why the state government, in the centenary year of Gandhijis Champaran movement, had decided to reach every doorsteps in Bihar with Gandhijis message, a natural follow up of the total ban imposed on liquor, he said. Kumar was addressing a function organized at Motihari MS college, as part of the Champaran Satyagrah centenary celebration. A number of Gandhian leaders, social activists and environmentalists were present at the function. Expressing his commitment to develop sites in Bihar associated with Gandhiji and the Champaran satyagrah, including basic schools founded by him, Kumar said he was he also addressing Gandhijis concerns about social issues like illiteracy and intoxication. After the liquor ban , I am working for elimination of all forms on intoxication in the state, he added. Kumar urged the environmentalist assembled for the function to suggest ways of desilting the Ganga. He also reiterated his stand that the Farakka barrage in West Bengal had slowed down the flow of the Ganga, causing massive siltation. Kumar also pays tributes to the Indian freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, on the occasion of martyrs day. Tushar Gandhi, great grand son of Mahatma Gandhi, said Bapu had scored his first victory against the British rulers in Champaran. But it was ironical that the condition of farmers today was not much better that the condition of indigo farmers in 1917. Hailing the Bihar government move to impose a complete ban on liquor, in April 2016,Tushar said a new movement for poorna swaraj should be started from Champaran. Many more Gandhis needs to be born in this land, he said.. Education minister Ashok Chowdhary hailed Kumar for driving Gandhian ideology through his Seven Nischay.(seven resolves) for providing better amenities to the people. The function was chaired by noted Gandhian Dr Ramjee Singh. Social activist Megha Pateker, waterman Rajendra Singh, Gita Mahadeo, Swami Agnivesh ,Braj Kishore Singh, SN Subarao,Nita Madeo,Arvind Anjum,VC of BRA Bihar university Amrendra Narayan and MLC Birendra Yadav, were among others present. Students of Motihari Engineering College sat on a dharna outside the CMs programme venue, raising slogans against the local administration after they were prevented from meeting Kumar. An independence movement such as the one in Jammu and Kashmir can be suppressed for some time but it cannot be finished off, Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit said on Thursday. He made the remarks at an event organised at his countrys high commission here to mark Pakistan Day. They came against the backdrop of a chill in bilateral ties and could anger New Delhi, which has repeatedly accused Islamabad of interfering in Kashmir. During his speech, Basit reiterated Pakistans position that the Kashmir issue, which had long been a cause of acrimony, must be resolved by the two countries according to the aspirations of Kashmiris. Speaking in Urdu, he said, Tarikh gawah hay ki azadi ki tehrik huyin hain unko waqti taur pe dabaya ja sakta lekin...khatam nahin kiya ja sakta. (History is witness that independence movements are such that they can be suppressed for some timebut they cant be finished off.) He added he hoped that the struggle of the Kashmiris willbe successful. Asked what he meant by aspirations, Basit replied, Whatever the people of the (Kashmir) Valley want, we should go by that. Basit further said that Pakistan wants a good and peaceful relationship with India and desires to settle all issues, including Kashmir, through dialogue. Our policy is to promote peace, especially in Asia, where we have tried to have better ties with all our neighbours. These ties must be based on equal footing and loyalty and our efforts have been in that direction, he said. Peace is in the interest of both countries and Pakistans efforts to seek a dialogue with India should not be seen as a sign of weakness, Basit said. Pakistan Day commemorates both the Lahore Resolution passed on March 23, 1940 for the creation of a separate homeland for Muslims in South Asia and the adoption of Pakistans first Constitution on the same day in 1956. The day was also marked by a military parade in Islamabad, where President Mamnoon Hussain said Pakistan is ready for talks with India on all issues, including Kashmir, which he described as an unfinished agenda of Partition. Hussain accused India of jeopardising peace by violating a ceasefire along the Line of Control in Kashmir. (With inputs from agencies) India has not accepted a list of 271 people deemed as illegal migrants by the United States authorities pending the verification of their nationality, Union minister Sushma Swaraj told Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The minister said India will not take steps to issue emergency travel documents to the people identified as illegal immigrants till it is sure of their citizenship. We have not accepted this list and have sought more details. We have said that it is only after we verify the details that we can issue an emergency certificate for their deportation, the external affairs minister said. Swaraj was responding to a question on the recent orders of the American President on illegal immigrants that put people of Indian origin in the US at the risk of deportation. The minister said India was engaging with the US at the highest level to ensure the protection of Indians on work visas in that country. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A married woman in Bihars Bhagalpur district, 230km from Patna, was tonsured and her eyebrows were shaved off by a mob, which accused her of having an illicit relationship with a co-villager. Police said the incident took place on Tuesday at Wade Dharpur village, 25 km from Bhagalpur, when the mother of three was found in company of Ranjeet Paswan at her house. The villagers also beat up Paswan, the police said, adding that the victim womans husband lived at Malda in West Bengal for earning livelihood. The woman, who had been illegally confined at her house by angry villagers, was rescued on Wednesday, the police said. Nand Kishore Yadav, husband of village sarpanch, ward member Mahadeo Pandit and 16 others have been made named accused in the FIR registered at Goaradih police station in connection with the incident. The FIR, lodged by the victim woman, also mentions over 100 unknown persons as accused. Bhagalpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manoj Kumar said the FIR had been registered under sections 354 B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides relevant sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act. READ: Woman paraded naked, her head tonsured in Muzaffarpur village Kumar said four persons, Ranjit Pandit, Santosh Pandit, Kunadan Pandit and Bajrangi Thakur the man who tonsured the victim had been arrested. Raids were on to nab the remaining culprits, he added. The woman had been brought to Bhagalpur and kept at women police station, the SSP said. After her statement is recorded, the police will review her safety concerns and accordingly take a decision on sending her to back to her village at Wade Dharpur, he said. Police said Paswan had stayed back at the womans house after they returned from a dance programme late on Monday night, the SSP said. The woman, however, told the police that Paswan was known to her husband. On Monday, I met him at a village market. Paswan accompanied me to my house and was charging his cellphone when the villagers caught him, she said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The detention of two budding entrepreneurs for eight hours by Patna police during the Bihar Entrepreneurship Summit at the Sri Krishna Memorial Hall in Patna a couple of days back found echoes in the state legislative council on Thursday. Raising the matter during the zero hour, BJP legislator Binod Narain Jha said it was a matter of concern that if one raised a question before the chief minister, Nitish Kumar, he is victimised. This is autocracy, he said. Jha found support from senior party leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who said it must be investigated whether the detention was made at the behest of the CM or the police acted on its own? If the detention was made by the police, action should be taken against the police official concerned, he said. The two entrepreneurs Nemi Kumar (43) of Madhubani and Suresh Sharma of Begusarai had raised their grievances before the CM, while he was speaking at the summit. Prasad, who had made an online application for his start-up idea, was peeved at the failure of the industries department to inform applicants through return e-mail the status and reasons for non-selection of their proposals. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday sent greetings to his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif on Pakistan Day, which marks the historic event of 1940 when the Lahore Resolution was passed demanding a separate homeland for Muslims of the subcontinent Modi sent his greeting in a letter. Sharif had sent a similar greeting to Modi in January this year on the occasion of Indias Republic Day. Pakistans high commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, on the occasion of Pakistan Day, expressed Islamabads desire to have good relations with India as well as to address the Kashmir issue. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah instructed party MPs from Uttar Pradesh on Thursday to refrain from seeking favours or pressuring officials in a state crucial to the partys ambitions of retaining power in 2019. At a breakfast meeting with the partys 71 Lok Sabha MPs from the state, the two leaders asked the lawmakers to help the new UP government with development-related work. Let the officers work. If someone is doing any wrong, the state government will look into it, Modi and Shah told BJP MPs at the first such meeting with parliamentarians from UP, according to sources. The two leaders told lawmakers to not seek transfers and postings of government officials or put undue pressure or police and administration, sources said. They also stressed on good governance being the mantra of the new state government. Sources said when Amroha MP Kanwar Singh Tanwar raised the issue of BJP supporters being arrested, Modi and Shah asserted that the law would take its own course and no favour would be extended to any culprit, merely because they were associated with the ruling party. Ballia MP Bharat Singh, too, raised the issue of party workers recommendations getting unheard. Sources reported Modi and Shah as saying that it was the duty of every party worker to ensure no compromise on the issue of corruption and law and order . Good governance should speak for itself, the PM said, advising party leaders against talking to media out of turn. Riding on Modis popularity and Shahs poll management, the BJP swept to victory in Indias most-populous state earlier this month, consolidating the prime ministers sway over national politics. With the party ruling at the Centre and in the state, the BJP leadership has repeatedly cautioned its lawmakers against laxity that could cost it in the next election. Winning UP again in the 2019 general election is crucial for the BJP if it has to return to power at the Centre. The BJP had built a campaign against nepotism and underdevelopment of UP under the previous Akhilesh Yadav government. With chief minister Aditya Nath distributing portfolios to his minister on Wednesday evening, the BJP is trying to get a synergy between the Centre, states, elected representatives and the party to maintain the momentum that recent electoral victories have given it. The prime minister himself represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tunday Kababi, one of Lucknows most iconic eateries, has stopped selling kebabs made of buffalo meat and is now offering chicken kebabs instead at its outlets in the old city and Nazirabad, days after chief minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses across Uttar Pradesh. Mohammad Usman, whose grandfather established Tunday Kababi in 1905 and who is now the owner, also confirmed their outlet in the old city was closed for a day on Wednesday because of a shortage of buffalo meat. There is a problem in procuring buffalo meat at the moment and hence we had no option but to stop selling the kebabs that used to be our USP, Usman told Hindustan Times. A visit to Lucknow is incomplete without tasting the melt-in-the-mouth galouti kababs at Tunday Kababi and hundreds of people jostle through the crowds on the cramped streets of the Old City to savour them. These kebabs used to be among the most-sold mainly because of their taste and affordability, Usman said adding that about 60kg of buffalo meat was consumed each day in the outlets. Closure of illegal and mechanised slaughterhouses has been among the pre-poll commitments of Adityanaths BJP, which was voted to power in the state recently with a massive majority. The saffron party seems to be acting on its promise, with a number of abattoirs across Uttar Pradesh being subjected to raids and shutdowns. Buffalo meat preparations are sold the most not just in Tundey Kababis outlets but across various other popular eateries like Rahims Kulcha Nahari shop as well. Our adversaries would like to raise the pitch against us but lets be very clear we are not against authorised and licensed slaughterhouses. But anything illegal cannot be justified and would certainly invite action, UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh said. Lucknow is among the several districts in the state where a comprehensive verification drive is underway to ascertain the number of legal slaughter houses and meat shops. Police have launched a crackdown on slaughterhouses across the state, triggering panic, with butchers and meat unit owners fearing for their livelihood. Shops selling chicken and mutton, which is legal, were shut in many parts of the state, fearing action. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON India stood with the United Kingdom in the fight against terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, hours after an attack near Britains parliament in London killed five people and injured 40. Modi said he was deeply saddened by the terror attack. Deeply saddened by the terror attack in London. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2017 The police has called the incident a marauding terrorist attack in which a car ploughed into pedestrians and a suspected Islamist-inspired attacker stabbed a policeman. The dead included the assailant and the policeman he stabbed. The other three victims were among those hit by the car as it sped across Westminster Bridge before crashing into railings just outside parliament. At this difficult moment, India stands with UK in the fight against terrorism. @theresa_may @Number10Gov Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the attack as sick and depraved. The location of this attack was no accident, she said in a statement outside her 10 Downing Street office late in the evening. President Pranab Mukherjee also extended his condolences to the bereaved families. Shocked to hear about the terrorist attack in London, he tweeted. India stands by UK ; terrorism must be met through collective action by international community # PresidentMukherjee President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) March 23, 2017 No Indians are known to be among the dead or injured so far. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met BJP MPs from Uttar Pradesh over breakfast on Thursday, where he was expected to exhort them to work towards development. This is the prime ministers first such meeting with lawmakers from countrys most-populous state, which the BJP won this month with three-fourths majority. The BJP has 71 MPs from Uttar Pradesh. We have for our government in UP after 15 years. The PM is expected to reiterate partys commitment for development and role of MPs in it, a lawmaker from UP said. Winning UP again in 2019 is crucial for the BJP if it has to return to power at the Centre. The BJP had build a campaign against nepotism and underdevelopment of UP under the previous Akhilesh Yadav government. With the party ruling at the centre and in the state, BJP leadership has repeatedly cautioned its lawmakers against laxity that could cost it in the next election. With chief minister Aditya Nath distributing portfolios to his minister last evening, the BJP is trying to get a synergy between the Centre, states, elected representatives and the party to maintain the momentum that recent electoral victories have given it. The prime minister represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Veteran Congress leader SM Krishna resigned from the Congress in January taking potshots at the party for being in a state of confusion and joined the BJP on Wednesday, almost a year before the assembly election in Karnataka. The 84-year-old leader was associated with the Congress for 46 years and served as the chief minister of Karnataka, governor of Maharashtra and external affairs minister. As long as Sonia Gandhi was in the saddle, I was very comfortable in the Congress party. But for the past three years leaders like me were made to feel unwanted. Dynastic politics without giving any importance to competence is the bane of Congress party, Krishna told Hindustan Times in a free-wheeling interview. Here are the excerpts: What is wrong with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhis style of functioning? Politics is a serious business. It is not a hit-and-run job nor is it a part-time job, said Krishna without taking Rahuls name . You were a close confidante of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in the party which has had dynastic succession for years. Thats what I am saying, dynastic succession without competence cannot last. I was among the many Congress leaders who requested Rajiv Gandhi to take charge of the party after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Rajiv was competent. He was an eloquent speaker, connected so well with people. It was only later in his tenure as the Prime Minister, he couldnt handle things. Did you or other senior leaders raise these issues with Rahul Gandhi? Where is the opportunity for that? So I stayed away from making suggestions for long. But look at the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working and the BJP president is working. They are very focussed and hard working. Many senior Congress leaders blame you for leaving the party after getting many positions. That is not the way to look at it. I have also contributed to the growth of Congress party in the state. I was the chief minister of the state from 1999 to 2004. In 1999, Congress had no chance whatsoever to form a government in the state. You said he were drawn to the BJP after Modis commitment to the nation and his zero tolerance towards corruption policy. But does the choice of Yogi Adityanath make you flinch about the way your new party works? Not at all. I have been reading about him of late and I am quite impressed with his ideas about environment protection, animal welfare and so on. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leadership, on Thursday, revealed the reason why not a single minister belonging to the party attended the Bihar day inaugural function, addressed by chief minister Nitish Kumar, here on Wednesday. And, what they said did not bode well for the future of the ruling grand alliance, comprising the RJD, JD (U) and the Congress. RJD state spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwary and party MLA Shakti Singh Yadav revealed all the ministers belonging to the party, including deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, stayed away from the function because the latters name did not figure on the official invitation card for the function. This is not acceptable to us. The education minister should explain as to why the name of the deputy CM was not put on the card and also take action against those responsible for the omission, said Tiwary and Yadav. Being No. 2 in the grand alliance government, Tejashwis name should certainly have been on the card, they argued. When the NDA government headed by Nitish Kumar was in office (Nov 2005-June 2013), the name of the deputy CM (BJPs Sushil Modi, at that time), used to find place in the Bihar Diwas invitation cards. Why was this not done this time? Tiwary asked. Other RJD leaders admitted in private that Tejashwi was miffed about his name not figuring in the card and chose not to attend the function, once again setting off speculation that all was not well between the two GA partners, the Lalu Prasad-led RJD and Nitish Kumar headed JD (U). Earlier, too, RJD workers had complained that were not invited for CM Kumars programmes organised in connection with his seven resolves for good governance, just at JD (U) functionaries were unhappy they were omitted from programmes organised by the Tejashwi-headed road construction department. Even posters of CM Kumar were not seen at these Tejashwi programmes, which ended up as RJD shows. While the RJD leaders, on Thursday, demanded an explanation from education minister Ashok Choudhary, of the Congress, for the slip-up on Tejashwi, the opposition BJP called the deputy CMs absence from the Bihar day show as another sign of the growing chasm between the two major GA partners. Senior BJP leaders Sushil Kumar Modi and Nand Kishore Yadav said the RJD leaders absence from the event showed the gulf within the ruling GA was widening. Kuch toh khichdi pak rahi hai. (There is something cooking), said Yadav. However, JD (U) spokesperson and former minister Shyam Rajak appeared to downplay the rift theory. The deputy CM is the best person to explain why he did not attend the annual Bihar day event, was all that Rajak was prepared to say. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON J Jayanthi is a resident of Chennais RK Nagar, considered a VIP constituency that was represented by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa till her death. But the problems the 36-year-old teacher faces are not out of the ordinary. Mountains of uncollected garbage make it difficult for Jayanthi to live in the Kodungaiyur neigbourhood of the constituency set for a byelection on April 12. As rival political parties lock horns over what is being billed a prestige contest dramatised further by a fight over Jayalalithaas legacy among rival factions of her AIADMK, the stench from the dump has got stronger. The dump breeds mosquitoes and flies and Jayanthi battles them round the clock. Just open your mouth, you will be forced to swallow many, she says. But the hazard notwithstanding, she has now chosen to raise her voice against what she says is a lack of amenities, ranging from inadequate supply of drinking water to the absence of a flyover at the Korukkupet railway crossing. Jayanthi is contesting on a ticket of the My National My Right Party, an outfit floated by those behind Januarys Jalllikattu protests, when thousands of youth gathered against a ban on the bull-taming sport. Though lack of development is a pressing issue, politicians with their high-decibel campaigns in RK Nagar have pushed local problems down the priority list. The electoral contest with 50-odd candidates in the fray is primarily on appropriating Jayalalithaas legacy. Women queueing up for drinking water, an everyday affair in the RK Nagar constituency. (HT Photo ) Radhakrishna Nagar has been a fortress for the AIADMK since 2001. The party had won from the seat even when the rival DMK swept the rest of Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaa won a byelection from here with a margin of 1.5 lakh votes in 2015, though her margin dwindled to 39,000 votes during the assembly elections the next year. Her association with the seat that fell vacant on her death last December has raised the stakes for her erstwhile partys members. A victory for the AIADMK faction led by Jayalalithaas jailed confidant Sasikala would help in consolidating the latters grip over both party and government, currently headed by chief minister EK Palaniswami. Sasikalas nephew, TTV Dinanakaran, is the party candidate. A defeat, and particularly a victory for the AIADMK faction led by former chief minister O Panneerselvam, will throw up political prospects pregnant with possibilities. Since the fight is essentially over staking claim on Jayalalithaas legacy, the faction has fielded E Madhusudhanan, a party veteran that the late leader trusted. DMK candidate arrives to file nomination papers for RK Nagar bypoll. (HT Photo) The split within the AIADMK has emboldened rival DMK which is hoping to reap political dividends by fishing in troubled waters. The party hopes its candidate NM Ganesh will win as feuding AIADMK factions battle each other. Although the DMK candidate is not a high-profile one, this confusion over the splitting of the AIADMK vote gives the opposition DMK an edge, says Professor Ramu Manivannan of the Madras University. Even the BJP, fresh from its victories in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, is looking to make inroads into the state by wresting the seat. It has fielded music composer Gagain Amaran brother of legendary musician Ilaiyaraaja as its candidate. The result will be music to our ears, say party leaders. Also in the fray to stake claim over Jayalalithaas legacy is her niece, Deepa Jayakumar. She is contesting on behalf of MGR Amma Deepa Peravai Party, promising to free her aunts AIADMK from self-seekers and revive the party. Back in the lanes and by lanes of RK Nagar, there is a growing sense of being let down by the politicians who seem preoccupied by their own political necessities. If there is a credible alternative, we will surely consider. But for the present, it is either the AIADMK or the DMK, says S Prakash, a medical representative. The stakes are high and there are already whispers of parties attempting to lure voters. The going rate is 10,000 rupees per vote or one gram of gold, alleges Ebenezer John, a functionary of the party floated by Jallikattu protesters. Besides the candidates, the Election Commission also has a fight on hand to keep the by-election free and fair. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The opposition and the ruling BJP locked horns in the Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly on Thursday after a book allegedly described Mahatma Gandhis assassin Nathuram Godse and demon king Ravana as great persons while another described Gond tribals as cow killers and beef eaters. During zero hour on Thursday, leader of opposition Ajay Singh pointed out to speaker Dr Sitasharan Sharma that a book by Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism had highlighted Godse and Ravana as great persons. On Wednesday, the opposition had cornered the government by raising the issue of wrong description of Gond tribals in a geography book meant for MA students in a college of Jabalpur. The government announced an inquiry into the matter and the book was withdrawn. On Thursday, Ajay Singh said it was unfortunate that Godse was presented as a Mahapurush (great personality). Ravana too had been depicted as a great person. At this, the speaker asked Singh to meet him in his chamber to discuss the issue. However, later, former home minister Babulal Gaur who took the book from senior Congress leader Govind Singh said the leader of opposition had mentioned a wrong name. It was not Nathuram Godse but Nathuram Gond. However, not many people across Indian may be able to recall the name of Nathuram Gond in the list of the great persons of the country. Lajpat Ahuja, rector of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism, said Nathuram Gond was mentioned not in any book but in a research paper which might have been a result of some survey done by the researcher among tribals. He, however, said they couldnt find Ravanas name in any of the books of the university. The state assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on Wednesday over Gond tribals being allegedly described as cow killers and beef eaters in a book titled Bharat ka bhoogol (Geography of India) for post-graduate students. Ajay Singh demanded an apology from the state government, and action against officials responsible for inclusion of the book in the curriculum. Ajay Singh waved a copy of the book, and said it was an insult to Madhya Pradesh. He alleged that the book also said Gonds ate flesh of several birds, animals and reptiles. Talking to journalists, Ajay Singh later said it was an insult to the entire state, as two-thirds of Madhya Pradesh once happened to be part of Gondwana. Official sources said the higher education department has issued notice to the principal of the Government Mahakoshal Arts and Commerce College in Jabalpur which had purchased the book for the college library. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat will meet vice chancellors and academicians over the weekend to discuss how social science research in the country should be guided and how to create a positive national narrative in academics. Nearly 500 invitees will attend the closed-door meeting Gyan Sangam in the Capital where apart from Bhagwat, senior Sangh functionaries will take stock of how the curriculum needs to be revisited, with emphasis on history and social sciences. Suggestions will also be made on textbook drafting and areas of research that universities can undertake in areas such as foreign policy and constitutional matters. According to sources in the Sangh, the meeting will also review how to prevent campuses from being bastions of the Left ideology. Speaking to Hindustan Times, one functionary said events such as beef eating festivals, Mahishasur Shahadat Diwas and Kiss of Love campaigns that erupted across university campuses over the past few years are fallout of communist ideology foisted on students. The Sangh blames academe for cultivating communist ideology and paving the way for Indian traditions and cultural studies being questioned and denigrated. Support for such campaigns came from the theories evolved by neo-left academicians who have made Ravana into a hero and question the relevance of goddess Durga, said a functionary on condition of anonymity. Alarmed by the communists capturing the mind space of the youth, and to unfetter campuses from such ideology, the RSS will set things rolling at the two-day meeting. The RSS and its students wing, the ABVP, have been at loggerheads with students unions, particularly those aligned with the Left parties over organising beef festivals while the Sangh pushes for a complete ban on its sale and slaughter. The Mahishasur Diwas, which was organized in JNU campus ostensibly to celebrate the mythological figure as an icon of the backward classes had sparked off a confrontation between the students and the government. According to the functionary the programme is intended to correct the biases that have crept in interpreting history and cultural studies. There is a need to change the way cultural studies are undertaken at universities. We cannot have the concept of nation dismissed as oppressive and authoritative. Like countries such as Switzerland and Australia that realized the dangers of western interpretation of cultural studies, there is a need to indigenize these, he said. The Centre is making yet another attempt at educating teenagers in the country on the contentious subject of sex. But this time, it has decided to take a new approach. After much deliberation, we realised one of the best ways to reach teenagers is through peer educators from within their own community so that they feel comfortable discussing their problems, CK Mishra, secretary, health ministry, said last month while launching the Saathiya or peer educator resource kit. The plan is to train about 1.65 lakh adolescents in the 15-19 age group who will then share correct information about sexual health with their peers. The scheme under the health ministrys Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) will also answer adolescents queries on sexual and reproductive health to substance abuse, injuries and violence (including gender-based violence), mental health, nutrition and non-communicable diseases and other issues that concern this particular age. This is a very ambitious programme, as it is about changing the behaviour and thoughts of the adolescent population in a positive way, Mishra said. Lack of awareness among teenagers has resulted in unsafe sexual practices, violence, substance abuse and mental disorders, including depression and anxiety. According to UNICEF Indias latest data, one in three adolescent girls have experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence, and 13% have experienced sexual violence by their partner. Around 2.6 million girls have experienced forced sexual intercourse or another form of forced sexual act in the country. Also, 77% of the girls were sexually abused by either husband or partner, while 3% reported sexual violence by a stranger. One in six girls began childbearing in adolescence. The study also revealed that 45% girls and 48% boys justify wife-beating, which was also reflected in it33% women are beaten by their husband or partner. Past attempts at making sex education part of school curriculum has drawn flak and criticism from various quarters, including political parties, parents and even teachers, who were too embarrassed to talk about sex with their students. Mental health is another neglected area. Owing to the stigma attached, discussing issues related to mental health is still considered a taboo. A Lancet study released last year showed that suicides contributed to the highest number of deaths among teenagers between 15-19 years in our country. WHO says 4.5% of the total population suffers from depressive disordersthat is more than 50 million people. The health ministry worked for close to a year with different stakeholders, including United Nations Population Fund, to come up with the new formatpeer trainers educating adolescents. Will It Be Effective? However, experts have expressed reservations over the effectiveness of the scheme. It is a great idea but it is still not very clear how these peer educators will operate or how they will be selected, said Dr Vikram Patel from Public Health Foundation of India, who was also a part of the advisory group for RKSK. It depends on a lot of factors such as gender, age, context, rural and urban setting, and the issues you are dealing with. There are important operational factors to be considered, he said. Health secretary Mishra however said there is an assessment component to gauge the effectiveness of the programme. We have a provision for evaluating the Saathiya programme after a year of implementation, but it will be too early to talk about it, he said. The role of states will be instrumental. Since health is a state subject, the success of the programme will ultimately depend on how well the states comply, especially those states that have had reservations about introducing sex education in their school curriculum. How the programme is implemented will entirely depend on the states. We have provided them a tool kit, but its eventually their call to pick and choose the content or modify as per their requirements, says Dr Ajay Khera, deputy commissioner of child health, health ministry. Dr Patel noted that some states had already launched the scheme, but several others were yet to take it up. There are several unanswered questions as of now, which we should find answers to by the end of the year, he said. One has to let it roll to know whether it will work or not. It is definitely not like a magical pill that will work overnight. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ranbir Kapoor recently attended the Global Teacher prize gala held in Dubai. He there represented India. Ranbir in the event was seen giving speech also. Ranbir in his given speech, "As an actor, I've often thought of how acting and teaching are close cousins. Both require limitless reserves of energy and enthusiasm. Both require humor, empathy, a gift for expressing ideas and holding the attention of an audience. And, both are jobs that come with homework in the after-hours." Ranbir on choosing acting said, "People think that I am an actor because my parents are actors. But, in truth, the only reason I wanted to become an actor was to get away from studies. I even took one-line roles, small parts in the background in theater productions, so that I could bunk classes." Ranbir considers Mr. Khanna( his second-grade Hindi teacher) and his debut film Saawariya director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. "Bhansali sir beat the craft out of me. He also taught me everything I know about films today. My experience of the best teachers is that they can detect potential - even when a student, and in my case, an actor, with the many glittering distractions of youth, is doing their best to waste or ignore their talents. Without teachers, much of this potential would go unused." Also read: The dream rumour of SRK and Ranbir together in film is just rumour Ranbir Kapoor is planning to reduce some weight Both the factions of the AIADMK on Wednesday expressed shock over the Election Commission freezing the partys election symbol of two leaves and said they will make all efforts to retrieve it. AIADMK deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran said he did not expect such an outcome and that he will win the RK Nagar bypoll and get the poll symbol back. Former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam in a statement said it was shocking and disappointing that his party didnt get the symbol despite submitting strong evidence to the EC and that they would get it back at any cost. Dinakaran, nephew of jailed AIADMK general secretay VK Sasikala, said the party workers had crossed similar situation in the past, referring to the EC freezing the election symbol post the death of AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran in 1987. AIADMK workers have crossed a similar situation. Therefore, they will remain united and we will win the polls and get the two leaves symbol again. Ammas (J Jayalalithaa) supporters are with us. We will win and retrieve the symbol, he told reporters in Chennai. Replying to a question, he said all relevant documents had been put before the EC on this issue and that he did not expect such an order by the poll panel. He also appealed to the voters to give their mandate to him as he was contesting to fulfil Ammas dream of making it a model constituency in India. He said he will be filing his nomination on Thursday. The Commission issued the order following the O Panneerselvam camp asking EC to allot the two leaves symbol to it. Following his February 7 revolt against Sasikala, Panneerselvam and some of his supporters were expelled from AIADMK by her. The Panneerselvam camp has since challenged her appointment as AIADMK general secretary before the EC. It has also fielded E Madusudanan against Dinakaran for the April 12 bypoll to RK Nagar, necessitated by the death of sitting member and former chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in December. S Semmalai from the Panneerselvam camp told PTI: We will go all-out, pursue legal measures and retrieve the victorious two-leaves symbol of M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa. We will emerge victorious. The former minister and sitting MLA from Mettur seat expressed shock over the EC decision, saying they firmly believed that they will get it as they had submitted adequate documents citing party bylaws and legal framework under which they should have been given the party symbol. Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it is addressing the concerns of some 43 Indian workers employed by a firm in the kingdom, with six having already been repatriated and another 12 set to return soon. Saud bin Mohammed al-Sati, the Saudi Arabian envoy, rejected reports that the Indians were being held captive by the firm and had been denied their wages. The issue came to light on Tuesday after external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj responded to a request for help from Telangana IT and NRI affairs minister KT Rama Rao and directed the Indian envoy to Saudi Arabia to rescue the Indian workers. Six workers have already come back and the papers of another 12 have been processed and they too will come back. Another 25 have expressed a desire to return and this is being looked into, al-Sati told Hindustan Times. After the Indians had approached the Saudi labour ministry, their case was referred to a tribunal that looks into the problems of foreign workers. The ministry had sent a team to inspect the place where they were working and their residential quarters. After the inspection, the employer was told to give them better accommodation. They are being given food and their wages have been paid till February. The reports that they are being held captive are incorrect, al-Sati said. Swaraj had asked Indian ambassador Ahmad Javed to help the Indian workers and send her a report. The Telangana minister had written to Swaraj seeking help for rescuing the workers, who he said were employed by Al-Hajry, a Saudi firm with interests in real estate and consulting services. The state minister had alleged the Indians had been held for 12 days without food or basic amenities. Javed - Plz help the Indian workers and send a report to me and Mr. K T Rama Rao. https://t.co/wl5PJdJef7 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 21, 2017 Al-Sati said his country had no tolerance for firms that violate the rights of workers. Saudi Arabia has welcomed Indian workers since the 1950s and you find them in many sectors, from construction to hospitality and engineering and IT, he said. The envoy acknowledged that Saudi firms had been restructuring because of economic conditions but noted that there had not been a fall in the number of visas issued for Indian workers in 2015 and 2016. We issued nearly a million visas for Indians and after excluding those going for the Haj, the rest are for workers and business-related visits, he said. However, job losses because of the slowdown in the Saudi economy, caused by low oil prices and a cut in government spending, has become a significant concern for the Indian government. Last year, Swaraj had asked Indian workers who lost their jobs to file claims for unpaid wages and assured them that the government would pay for their repatriation. The more than 3 million-strong Indian community in Saudi Arabia is the largest expatriate community in the kingdom. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has summoned partys member of Parliament Ravindra Gaikwad who on Thursday allegedly beat up a 60-year old Air India staffer with his slippers on Thursday morning, causing outrage. Gaikwad, Shiv Sena office-bearers said, was to leave Delhi at around 7pm and would head straight to Thackerays Bandra residence in Mumbai. The MP was angry allegedly because Air India changed his seat in the Pune-Delhi flight AI-852 from the business to economy class. The staffer has been identified as R Sukumar, a duty manager. While he has filed a complaint with the Delhi Police, Air India, too, has launched an inquiry. The flight landed (In Delhi) around 10am but the MP refused to de-board. When airline security staff was called, he got angry and started beating them with slippers, an airport source said. Gaikwad didnt deny hitting the official. What did he say...Yes, I beat him with a sandal 25 times. Should I tolerate abuses from the media, from the company (Air India) just because I am an MP?, Gaikwad, who represents Maharashtras Osmanabad in the Lok Sabha, told ANI. I am not going to repeat my complaint to whoever comes to ask about it. I asked him to call a senior who could resolve the issue but he said no, I will look into it. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy on Thursday claimed that the Ram Mandir will be constructed at Ayodhya by 2024. Flagging off a Tiranga Yatra organised by local BJP leader Amarpreet Singh Kale to honour those martyred in the Indian freedom struggle, Swamy said his party will ensure that the structure is constructed even if its through parliamentary legislation. The feisty Rajya Sabha member didnt seem to favour the Supreme Courts recommendation of an out-of-court settlement in the matter. Bilateral talks are not enough to pave the way for the Ram temple, he said. I spoke to various Muslim leaders on the issue, but couldnt arrive at a conclusion. The six-decade-old dispute can be resolved only through parliamentary legislation. Swamy said the BJP will have a clear majority in the Rajya Sabha by 2018, a development that could pave the way for enacting a law in this regard. At present, we have a majority only in the Lok Sabha. For passing a law, we also need to secure a majority in the Rajya Sabha. Once that happens, we will ensure that the Ram Mandir is constructed by 2024, he added. He said the minority community should forsake its claim over the disputed site, and cooperate with Ram devotees in constructing the temple. We will give them some space to construct a mosque on the other side of the Saryu river in Ayodhya, Swamy added. Swamy cited a 2003 geological survey report placed before the Allahabad high court to buttress his claim that Lord Ram was born on the disputed site. Hence, the temple will be constructed on that very spot while the mosque can be set up elsewhere, he said. A land where Ram and Krishna were born is now in safe hands. The dream of establishing a Hindu empire in this land now appears to be coming true, says Manoj Kashyap, convenor of the Rashtrawadi Pratap Sena (RPS), in northern Uttar Pradeshs Shahjahanpur. The RPS is one among UPs wide network of Hindu groups cheering Yogi Adityanaths ascent as chief minister of the state. Together, they view the Hindu hardliners takeover of political power as a licence to press on with the mission of creating a Hindu Rashtra. Set up five years ago to fight caste-based reservation in jobs, the RPS, an admittedly akramak sangathan (aggressive group), has over 5,000 sainiks across the state. When they heard the announcement on March 18, we got together with like-minded groups and celebrated the news, says Kashyap. Yogiji is a Hindu sher (lion) and there is no doubt that under his guidance the Hindu nationalist flag will be unfurled across UP, he says. Kashyap is confident that Adityanaths government will bring Hindutva fringe groups into political mainstream. The government will certainly act on the suggestions of nationalist organisations, from cow slaughter to raids on mosques and madarassas. Any Muslim boy trying to trap a Hindu girl in love jihad will be put behind bars, he says. Ved Nagar, the man in charge of the Gau Raksha Hindu Dal in west UPs Bishahra where a Muslim man was lynched in 2015 by a Hindu mob for allegedly storing beef thinks the empowerment is already afoot. The people of Bishahra came to me today. We are hoping for a CBI investigation and release on bail of the innocent kids who have been put in jail, he says. Nagar is also certain that there will be a 100% end to the spread of desh-droh. His foot soldiers have never felt more validated. We will draw strength from Yogi jis government, he says. Adityanaths anointment also came as good news for the Hindu Kranti Dal, a 10-year-old organisation with wide-ranging presence in Sitapur, Bareilly, Hapur and interests from temples to cows. Says Preetam Singh Lomas, in charge of the HKDs Meerut chapter, Having Yogiji as CM will certainly encourage us to charge forward. This government will carry forward the whole set of Hindu concerns. Nothing can stop Ram mandir from being built. Although most of these outfits see hope in Adityanath, some think his political rise will make the Hindutva fringe redundant. They will not have much to do because there will no longer be atyaachaar (atrocity) directed at Hindus, says Ishwar Dayal, chief of the Dharam Jagran Samiti, a vocal anti-conversion group with 500 units in each of UPs six regions. The government itself will take care of everything. It will set up anti-Romeo squads and make sure women are safe. The Hindu fringe network will have to wait for a few weeks to see how their future looks in a UP led by Adityanath. But for now they see it as the best thing to have ever happened to the state. Yogi as chief minister has given not just UP but the whole country a new identity, says Kashyap, of the Pratap Sena. Gujarat was already in safe hands and now Uttar Pradesh is also in safe hands. Mother India is now in safe hands, he says. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON About a week after the swearing-in, Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Thursday night distributed portfolios among his 10-member cabinet, keeping home, health, public works department and 33 more departments with himself. Satpal Maharaj, the senior-most minister in the cabinet, got nine departments such as tourism, pilgrimage and religious fairs, culture, besides Indo-Nepal and Uttarakhand river projects. Prakash Pant is the finance minister. He will also handle departments of legislative and parliamentary affairs, language, potable water and cleanliness. Former Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat has got environment, forest and wildlife, labour and solid water management departments. Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik is in-charge of urban development and housing, census, reorganisation and election departments. Yashpal Arya has got eight departments such as transport, social, minority and students welfare. He will also look after the development of border and remote areas, besides backward area development departments. While Arvind Pandey is the minister of panchayati raj, youth welfare, sports, school and Sanskrit education departments, Subodh Uniyal has got departments of agriculture, agriculture education, horticulture and silk development. Minister of state Rekha Arya has been assigned women and child welfare department, animal husbandry, sheep and goat rearing, fodder and pasture development and fisheries. Another minister of state, Dhan Singh Rawat, has got higher education, milk development, protocol and cooperatives portfolios. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Activists demanded on Thursday the arrest of Sadhvi Kamal Didi, a cow vigilante from the Rashtriya Mahila Gauraksha Dal, who allegedly led a mob that attacked a hotel and laid siege to it for six hours on March 19 over rumours of serving beef. The management of Hotel Hayat Rabbani, which was attacked, lodged a first information report (FIR) on Wednesday. This entire episode has shown us a collusion between the police and cow vigilante groups. Moreover, all the sections applied in the FIR are bailable, which also raise questions about the neutrality of the investigation, said Kavita Srivastava of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). In the FIR, the police have used sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 451 (trespass) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code). The activists pointed fingers at the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC), saying the civic body sealed the hotel illegally. Contrary to norms, no show-cause notice was issued to the hotel before it was sealed. We raised this issue with the CEO of the JMC, said Srivastava. The CEO told us that he had no idea that JMC had locked the premises of an hotel as the deputy commissioner of JMC is competent to do it. He had asked for the file. He said he will see if due process was followed. The hotel has remained closed since it was sealed on March 19 by the civic body. The JMC has communicated to us that a committee will be doing investigation to decide on the opening of the seal, but so far no investigation has started, hotel owner Naeem Rabbani told HT. Police said action will be taken against the accused after investigation. An FIR has been lodged by the hotel owner and investigation is on. We have sent the meat sample from the hotel for test at the forensic science laboratory, said deputy commissioner of police (west) Ashok Gupta. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday stood by Bengali poet Srijato Bandopadhyay against whom a police complaint was lodged for hurting religious sentiments after he posted a controversial poem on Facebook. On the evening of March 19, Bandyopadhyay, 42, posted a poem on his Facebook wall where he criticised the outcome of the UP elections, took a veiled dig at chief minister Yogi Aditya Nath and made a derogatory remark against Trishul, a quintessential Hindu symbol. I can tell you nothing harsh will happen to Srijato. Everyone has democratic rights. He wrote a poem, which is a political poem. Those who are spreading saffronisation have lodged the complaint. In social media the poet is being targeted and threatened. I do not want to name anyone. They want to dictate what we will think and do, said chief minister Mamata Banerjee, while speaking at an interview with a television channel. I have asked the police to investigate and give me a report, added Mamata Banerjee. Read: Police complaint against West Bengal poet for hurting religious sentiments of Hindus Acting on the complaint filed by one Arnab Sarkar for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus, Siliguri Police started a case and slapped non-bailable section of IT Act against Bengali poet Srijato Bandyopadhyay on Wednesday. One of the two sections carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison and/or fine. On Thursday, Srijato Bandopadhyay met with senior officers at Kolkata police headquarters alleging threats on his life in social media. He later went to cyber police station and lodged a complaint that threats have been pouring on against him and his wife in Facebook. On Thursday two more complaints were lodged against the poet for hurting religious sentiments in Bengal police stations. (Facebook) Meanwhile, two more police complaints were lodged against the poet in Bengal. One Joyjit Bhattacharya lodged a complaint with Ghola police station in North 24 parganas district, while another complaint was lodged by Biplab Kumar Chowdhury with Airport police station. Read: Police start case, slap non-bailable section against Bengali poet for hurting religious sentiments I will not give much importance to the issue. The majority of people in this country believe in freedom of speech. A degree of freedom of speech still exists in this country. Our country has not become Pakistan or Bangladesh, and one has the right to speak here. Since the past two days I have been trolled in Facebook after I posted the poem, said the poet speaking to media earlier. Some of the comments against me are dangerous threats. These people, so called flag bearers of Hindutva, never read poems and I do not expect them to understand, Bandyopadhyay said. Allahabad is all set to become a major solar power generation hub in Uttar Pradesh. The project to set up a solar energy park on Gujarat model at trans-Yamuna region of Meja in Allahabd has picked up speed. This park is coming up on a 100 hectare land near Kosda village of Meja tehsil and already 80 per cent of the work is complete. If everything goes as per plan, officials associated with the project, claim that generation of 50 MW power would start here from August itself. Many institutions and offices in Allahabad including Allahabad Nagar Nigam, Allahabad High Court and Indian Institute of Information Technology- Allahabad (IIIT-A) besides a number of government offices are also opting for roof top solar power generation plants. Under- construction solar power plants 130 kw solar power plant at Police Lines: The survey work for setting up the solar power plant is now complete. Construction is set to start soon. 50 kw solar power plant at office of Allahabad divisional commissioner: Works for setting up the plant is underway. Solar power generation is expected to start within three months. 300 kw solar power plant at IIIT-Allahabad: Installation of a 300 kw rooftop plant connected to power grid is under way at IIIT-As boys hostel. Generation of power expected from May 2017. Some of these solar power plants have even started functioning. The solar power plant set up atop the Vikas Bhawan, located in the heart of the city and housing offices of various government departments, is one such plant that is already producing 70 kw power for the past one month. The prestigious Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad (IIIT-A) is also all set to generate 300 KW electricity by installing solar panels on the roof of its boys hostel building. The institute would install a 300 KWp rooftop plant connected to the power grid at the boys hostel for the mission. Nearly 940 solar panels and 10 inverters will be installed on the roof of Fifth Boys Hostel of the institute that would start generation of power from May 2017. All these roof-top and other solar power plants will contribute excess electricity generated by them to the power grid, which then would also be used by others all over the state. Many believe that if the trend and the pace continues, Allahabad would become a major centre of producing solar generated electricity and help make power cuts during summers a thing of the past soon. New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (NEDA) junior engineer Mohd Shahid informed that besides government and non-government institutions, a number of individuals too are coming forward to set up solar power plants with NEDAs support. Leading in thermal power generation too With Meja thermal power plant work 80 per cent complete, another theemal one proposed at Karchchana and one by Jaypee Group already partly functional at Bara, Allahabad is also set to light up the state. The Jaypee Group plant already has two of its three proposed units functional and is producing 1320 mw power. The third unit will also start functioning from next month taking power generation capacity to 1980 mw. The NTPC and state governments 1980 mw power plant at Bara is nearing completion. Here three units of 660 mw each will generate thermal power and its first unit is expected to start functioning within the enxt three months. A 1980 mw power plant is also to be constructed at Karchchana but the construction work is yet to kick-off. Read more: IIIT-A to generate 300kw electricity from solar power SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As many as 43 people have been arrested from various districts of Uttar Pradesh for their alleged role in cattle smuggling, police said on Thursday. A total of 27 FIRs have been registered against 60 people for the offence. Police continued its crackdown on illegal slaughter houses and cattle smuggling after strict directives from chief minister Yogi Adityanath . The drive is continuing in the entire state to check cattle smuggling and illegal slaughter houses, said additional superintendent of police (ASP) at the DGP headquarters, Rahul Srivastav. According to the reports received from districts till Thursday, 27 FIRs have been registered against 60 persons for alleged cattle smuggling, out of which 43 have been arrested, he said. The maximum number of persons (26) were arrested in Agra, followed by six each in Meerut and Bareilly, three in Lucknow and two in Varanasi, Srivastav said. On action against illegal slaughter houses, the official said eight FIRS were lodged in Meerut, Varanasi and Bareilly. He said two illegal slaughters houses each were closed in Varanasi and Bareilly. The Uttar Pradesh government is against teachers of government-run secondary schools in Lucknow wearing T-shirts or jeans during work hours. District inspector of schools (DIoS) Umesh Tripathi told HT that teachers should wear clothes suiting the dignity of the profession. Teachers should avoid such clothes which compromise the dignity of the profession, Tripathi said. He said the issue would be discussed with higher authorities before further directives. Presently it is expected that teachers would avoid casuals like jeans and T-shirts to maintain the dignity of the profession as they are the most respected class of the society. Teachers are expected not to talk on mobile phones during work hours and keep school premises neat and clean, ensuring pan or pan masala stains inside schools are cleaned. Prayers in all schools has also been made compulsory. The directives say that teachers should not have pan masala, tobacco, cigarettes or pan during the school besides ensuring that shops selling such products are not located near schools. If such shops are found, school administration must work with authorities to shut them down. Teachers are expected to report to higher authorities and nearby police station any sort of teasing of students. Last year, the Haryana government drew flak for asking teachers to not wear jeans to work. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Yogi Adityanath governments decision to ban mechanised slaughter houses in Uttar Pradesh is at odds with the policy of the Centre, which has granted industry status to abattoirs, meat exporters feel as they consider taking recourse to legal means. The Centre has granted industry status to slaughter houses and the food processing ministry too provides an aid of 50% to encourage them. But, the UP government has ordered ban on all mechanised slaughter houses, said a functionary of the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association. It is in contravention to the central government policy, said the functionary. He said Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly 50% of Indias total meat exports and such a decision would affect the livelihood of 25 lakh people directly or indirectly. The association supports banning illegal abattoirs but opposes the move to shut down all the mechanised ones, he said. If the state government brings an ordinance in this regard, the association would approach the court, he said. We are keeping a close watch on the developments and will wait. An organised industry should not be dealt with in this manner, he said. In the past three months, the industry has suffered huge losses due to demonetisation and the closure of mechanised slaughter houses will add to the woes, he added. As per estimates, the country exports meat products worth Rs 26,685 crore annually and with the closure of slaughter houses in UP it will come down to half, the association functionary lamented. In its pre-poll manifesto, the BJP had said that if voted to power, it would shut all the illegal slaughterhouses and impose a blanket ban on mechanised abattoirs. And immediately after assuming office, the Adityanath government has gone for after illegal and mechanised abattoirs with full gusto. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath made a surprise inspection of the Hazratganj police station in Lucknow on Thursday morning. Adityanath, who has kept the home department with himself, stayed at the police station for about 25 minutes and inquired about the status of various FIRs lodged there. The chief ministers 5 Kalidas Marg residence, the Lok Bhawan secretariat and the Vidhan Sabha comes under Hazratganj police station. Uttar Pradesh director general of police Javeed Ahmed, who has been summoned by the CM more than eight times over the last three days, and Lucknow senior superintendent of police Manzil Saini accompanied Adityanath. UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath during his surprise visit to the Hazratganj police station in Lucknow on Thursday. (PTI) The CM also visited the Mahila thana (women police station) and the crime branch office located on the police station premises. The ruling BJP has promised to raise three women police battalions in the state capital for womens security. Anti-Romeo police squads for cracking down on eve-teasers are also being set up in the state. I feel the streets are never safe - day or night. Walking on the street that reaches my home, out of nowhere, a figure on a bike gropes my breast and drives away leaving me dumbfounded. Too slow to react, too numb to realise. That incident was more than four years ago and I am still scared. This is an excerpt from a post on howrevealing.com, a website that lets victims of sexual crimes share their stories. We dont know who wrote it, their age, or profession. The website specifies its a female author, but we dont know what she was wearing at the time of the attack, what time of day she was out on the street, or whether she was drunk or sober. In other words, there is no chance of victim blaming. Instead, we get uncensored, horrifying stories of a traumatic sexual assaults. Identity and descriptions of the victims and perpetrators of sexual crimes often create bias. People team up, and judgments are passed. Anonymity, hopefully, makes it raw and scary, says the founder of the website, Urmila (29), a Bengaluru-based lawyer and researcher. Urmila, who wishes her second name be kept a secret for her own safety, first came up with the idea of the website after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. She was studying in Delhi at the time, and witnessed the sudden, vocal outrage first-hand. It was also the first time she realised that women, from all walks of life, collectively shared experiences of harassment, gender-based violence, rape threats, and sexism. But only a few spoke out, or reported them to the authorities. Before the Nirbhaya case, sexual harassment was normalised in our society. It wasnt a big deal. It was only after the public outpouring of support after the incident that things changed. The case showed us the consequences of keeping quiet. Even today, women dont report sexual crimes thanks to victim shaming, and worse, online trolls, Urmila says. She launched howrevealing.com in January 2017 in an effort to create a judgment-free platform. People -- of all genders -- can write on the website to express their feelings: of fear, guilt, shame, anger, trauma, depression and apathy. Most importantly, the website provides anonymity to protect them from being identified and targeted online. Read more: Chuski Pop: The desi feminist podcast thats not afraid to talk about sex and drugs However, if the recent The Viral Fever controversy is any indication, the post that accused founder Arunabh Kumar of sexual harassment was criticised for being anonymous. Trolls rushed to Kumars aid by arguing the legitimacy of the post, and wrote it off as an effort to malign TVFs image. Its a risk we run with. Without anonymity, people wont speak up. Not just because they are scared, but also because some of the trauma is still fresh, and its difficult to talk about with your identity known, says Urmila. The decision to stick to the anonymity clause has worked in their favour so far. Two months in, the website already boasts of 80 posts, and Urmila claims they receive at least two posts every day. And, not all of the stories are bleak. Sure, its dominated by heart-breaking stories. But there are also stories of hope, and of people who stood their ground and fought for justice. For instance, a post by a man whose wife was raped by her friends, and their legal battle for justice. Today, we are happily married. I often think that we got through it together, but the truth is, she fought it all alone, he says. The good stories are important and necessary too. They offer hope, and confidence to others who are still scared, says Urmila. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON With the suspension of 19 MLAs, 10 from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and nine from Congress, in the Maharashtra assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government may breathe easy should it face any majority test on the floor of the house. If the government doesnt revoke the suspension, the Fadnavis government will not be dependent on its ally Shiv Sena for to prove its majority in the Assembly and can rely on Independents and smaller parties. The Opposition alleged that the nine-month suspension of its MLAs was done to avoid government defeat during a proposed cut motion to the budget. The cut motion (which demands a symbolic cut to the budget and the Opposition can demand voting on it) on a farm loan waiver would have forced the Sena to take a stand. If failed to prove the majority, the government has to resign. With the reduction of the 19 from the total strength of the Lower House, the required number to prove the majority has slumped to 135 from 145. The Sena has supported the Congress and the NCP on the loan waiver issue. If the cut motion was moved and the voting demanded, the strength of Congress (42) NCP (41) and Shiv Sena (63) comes to 146 against BJPs 131. The BJP has the support of more than eight MLAs from smaller parties and Independents, besides it own strength of 123 members. By suspending 19 opposition members, the BJP has saved itself, said a Shiv Sena leader. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, the leader of opposition in the legislative assembly, said the suspension was a tactical move by the BJP to avoid the embarrassment. This is the highest number of suspension of legislators in the last 65 years. In 1960, as many as 45 legislators were suspended on the issue of Samyukta Maharashtra (demand to include Mumbai in the state). BJP leaders, however, ridiculed the allegations and pointed out that they dont have to worry about the Sena since the latter is unlikely to walk out of the government considering the mood of the people in the state and the country. Parliamentary affairs minister Girish Bapat insisted that nothing but the ruckus by the legislators led to the suspension. Our government has the majority and the Sena is with us. We will complete our five years. The suspension has nothing to do with the so called threat to the government, he said. READ 19 MLAs suspended: Opposition boycotts Maharashtra legislature, terms decision unconstitutional SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday promised full support and security to resident doctors who have been striking following a string of attacks by relatives of patients. Fadnavis gave the assurance in a meeting with representatives of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD). Government officials said the association was satisfied with Fadnavis promise and will call off the four-day strike by Thursday evening. The MARD is yet to make any announcement. The strike by resident doctors entered the fourth day on Thursday. They even ignored state medical education minister Girish Mahajans warning to resume work by Wednesday evening or face six month salary cut after which Fadnavis decided to intervene in the matter on Thursday. In an hour-long meeting, the CM said the government was ready to recruit additional 1,100 security guards within a fortnight. These guards will be deployed at all government-run hospitals, said Mahajan. The CM also promised to form a legal cell that will provide free legal aid in cases of assaults against doctors, said a senior official, who attended the meeting. The state government is now hopeful that the doctors will resume their duties today evening and things will be back to normal as patients have badly suffered with the strike, Mahajan added. READ Bad day to fall ill: Maharashtra doctors strike enters fourth day, Delhi docs stop work in support Doctors strike enters fourth day, cripples health care in Maharashtra SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition walked out of the civic bodys standing committee meeting on Thursday, alleging that the ruling Shiv Sena and the administration were not taking the doctors agitation seriously or spelling out an action plan. On Thursday, members of the committee wanted municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta to give a statement on the floor of the house about what action the BMC is planning to take. But there was no statement made. We do not know what action the administration is taking. Meanwhile, patients in Mumbai are suffering, said Manoj Kotak, the BJP group leader in the civic body. Tensions between the Sena and BJP have continued after the elections, with the BJP saying it will take on the role of watchdog to ensure there is transparency in the working of the BMC. Opposition members also hit out at the Sena about the doctors strike. Congress corporator Ravi Raja said it was unfortunate that the commissioner was not at Thursdays meeting. The Sena, on its part, has said it has told the administration it will not let any of the committees function until the issue is solved. People know which party is serious about the issue by their statements. We have already said we will not let any committee function till the matter is resolved, said Yashwant Jadhav, group leader of the Sena. Resident doctors in the city and across the state have been protesting for four days, demanding better security for medical professionals after a series of attacks on doctors across the state in the past month. Read Bad day to fall ill: Maharashtra doctors strike enters fourth day, Delhi docs stop work in support SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON From the upcoming academic year, students from Classes 6 to 9 of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will get their grades only if they attend Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations. The announcement, made on Tuesday, is part of the new uniform assessment pattern that requires schools to assess students on their sincerity, attitude towards society, nation and other factors, which are hard to quantify, said teachers. Under the new system, discipline has been separated from scholastic activities and will be graded separately. Going beyond attendance and tidiness, schools have been asked to grade their students on their sincerity towards the country and society. The grades will be given on a three-point grading scale with A being equal to outstanding, B as very good and C qualifying as fair. Principals and teachers are, however, puzzled at the move. How can you judge anybody on sincerity? asked Deepshikha Srivastava, the principal of Rajhans Vidyalaya in Andheri. The best we can do is to ask the teachers to make a note in the calendar if the child behaves in an extremely anti-social manner, she added. Each school is supposed to devise its own mechanism to measure such intangible attributes of the students, but this would come in the way of standardization, said principals. Every school will do it differently. Some might mark students for attending national days, while others on their interactions with other kids, said Avnita Bir, principal of RN Podar School in Santacruz. CBSE has done away with the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) scheme which was in place since 2009 and replaced it with the Uniform System of Assessment and Examination to be followed by its affiliated schools. The objective of the new system is to create standardisation in evaluation and report cards across schools. Schools have been asked to follow a two-semester system with half yearly and annual exams. Two periodic tests of 10 marks each will be conducted in each semester. Students will be tested on the full book in Classes 9 and 10 and the quantum of studies will increase gradually for the students in lower classes. While schools have welcomed the new system, they admitted that it will once again bring back rote-learning and discourage activity-based learning. Under the CCE scheme, children used to love coming to school as we conduct several activities to make learning fun, said Raj Aloni, principal, Ram Sheth Thakur Public School in Kharghar. He added, The formative assessments were fun and the focus was on all-round development. Teachers said that only above average children will benefit in the new system as 90% of assessments will be pen and paper tests, while they were restricted to 60% earlier. Kids who might not be good at academics, average or below average, will suffer, said Aloni. Read: CBSE Class 12 Boards: Heres how you target 95% in accountancy SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Despite many malnutrition-related deaths in Maharashtra, the state government slashed the budget allocation for the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme for the next financial year by 31%. Till August 2016, malnutrition claimed lives of 254 children in Palghar district of Maharashtra. As per the latest ICDS data (November 2016), in Maharashtra, 5.9 lakh children suffer from Moderate Acute Malnutrition, while 87,833 children from Severe Acute Malnutrition. The ICDS is a centrally-run scheme under which nutritious food is given to poor children who are under the danger of malnutrition. An analysis of the Maharashtra budget for 2017-18 by Jaganyachya Hakkache Andolan (JHA), a network of organisations working on peoples right to life, showed massive drop in spending of the social service sector. The revised budget for ICDS for the year 2016-17 was Rs2,947 crore, while finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar allocated Rs 2,033 crore for ICDS for 2017-18, which is a drop of Rs 914 crore. This cut in the ICDS budget if for a second successive year is extremely surprising, since the problem of child malnutrition, especially in tribal areas of Maharashtra, has continued in severe form, said Amit Narkar, executive director, National Centre for Advocacy Studies. However, the analysis pointed out that this is not the first time that the state had drastically slashed the budget for ICDS. In budget 2016-17, the state government savagely cut the ICDS budget by 62%, which was unprecedented in the history of the programme for child nutrition and health. Vinod Shende, a volunteer with JHA, said Maharashtra needs to look at Tamil Nadu on how it spends to tackle malnutrition. Maharashtra should substantially increase fund allocation for ICDS if it seriously wants to tackle the issue. The state should allocate around Rs 4,800 crore for nutrition, but instead they are slashing the expenditure, Shende said. Deepak Kesarkar, Minister of state for Finance, said the allocations are according to the central governments allocations. I dont have the exact figures with me now, but ICDS is a central programme, and it also allocates funds to the state. So depending on that, the state government allocates funds for the department. If funds are needed, we can add it in the supplementary budget, Kesarkar told HT. According to Ravi Duggal, country head, International Budget Partnership, said, Their dependency on supplementary budget shows the weakness in planning the budgetary resources by the finance ministry. The analysis added that the budget which was touted as a farmer-friendly and pro-development budget, was deceptive and depriving as its commitment for agriculture and allied service saw a decline of 4.3% in comparison to last years allocation. Narkar added that the government has slashed budget allocation in social services sector and is going for fiscal conservatism, which will harm the state in the long run. READ MORE Malnutrition: Pay attention to the Palghars within Mumbai Over 254 children died of malnutrition in Palghar district: Maharashtra CM SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A day after the Maharashtra medical education department issued 2,000 expulsion notices to them, protesting junior doctors on Thursday said their strike will continue for the fourth day. Patient services across government hospitals are being affected, with out-patient departments running with an inadequate staff. In another blow to health care services in Maharashtra, the Indian Medical Association backed 4,500 junior doctors agitation. In solidarity with their counterparts, doctors at major government hospitals in Delhi have also threatened to go on mass casual leave. Some doctors in the national capital wore black helmets in a symbolic protest against assaults. We received eviction notices last night (Wednesday), but the strike will continue, said a resident doctor from LTMG Sion Hospital, where a new case of assault on a female doctor was reported on Wednesday evening. This is the seventh such case in Maharashtra in the last fortnight. The faculty of KEM, Nair and Sion hospitals will meet today to decide if they too want to join the students protests. On Wednesday, Maharashtra medical and education minister Girish Mahajan warned agitating doctors to join duty by Wednesday evening or face stern action, including a six-month salary cut . We have informed the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) to ask their doctors to resume duty by 8pm tonight (Wednesday), else get ready to face six months salary cut, the minister declared. But the announcement failed to persuade medicos as more attacks were reported on Wednesday evening. The protestors are asking the state government to ramp up security at government hospitals. Junior doctors in the state have been protesting the rise in violence against them by relatives of patients for the last four days. Meanwhile, the Bombay high court is likely to hear the case on Thursday afternoon. It had on Tuesday slammed resident doctors for the strike and granted liberty to hospital management to take action against them. You are not fit to be doctors, the division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Girish Kulkarni had said. You are fit to be an ordinary factory worker if you insist that you will not resume work until your demands are fulfilled, the bench had observed. Here is what doctors are demanding Increase jail term of attackers from existing three years to seven years, under Doctors Protection Act, 2010 No bail for accused for at least three months Form a medical committee to decide how serious a violation is Enact a strict law to prevent trespassing in hospital Consider it violation of law if a patient is accompanied by more than two relatives Suspend security personnel if they fail to prevent an assault on doctors Release funds to implement the law and appoint a brand ambassador to spread awareness for the safety and security of doctors READ Female doctor manhandled in Mumbai hospital Maharashtra government agrees to demands, but doctors continue protests Bringing relief to thousands of patients, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) on Thursday assured the Bombay high court that their members will return to work today. A bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Girish Kulkarni said the resident doctors can amicably resolve the issue by talking to the government and asked them to return to work immediately. Around 4,500 junior doctors in Maharashtra have been protesting for the past four days over a spate of attacks on them. They are demanding, among others, enhanced security in state-run hospitals. The assurance from the MARD came after advocate general Rohit Deo informed the court that the government had decided to deploy 1,100 armed guards of Maharashtra State Security Corporation in government and civic hospitals across Maharashtra; and 500 of them will be posted in Mumbai by April 5. He said the remaining 600 personnel will be deployed by April 30. These guards are conferred all necessary police powers, Deo said. The court accepted this statement and asked the doctors to report to work. You (doctors) resume work and see if everything is done as assured by the government. We will hear the matter every fortnight and supervise the issue, the judges said. The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Afak Mandviya who complained about repeated strikes by doctors, paralysing health service and adversely affecting poor patients across the state. Three rounds of meetings between the health minister and the representatives of MARD took place on Wednesday, Deo said. Doctors promised to resume duties, but only 92 of more than 3,500 resident doctors returned to work today, he said. Therefore, he requested the HC to direct the doctors to resume their duties immediately. The court agreed with the view expressed by Deo. Your profession is such that you cannot afford to go on a strike, said the bench. The HC on Tuesday slammed resident doctors and granted liberty to hospital managements to take action against them. You are not fit to be doctors, said the same division bench. You are fit to be an ordinary factory worker if you insist that you will not resume work until your demands are fulfilled, the bench observed. What doctors are demanding Increase jail term of attackers from existing three years to seven years, under Doctors Protection Act, 2010 No bail for accused for at least three months Form a medical committee to decide how serious a violation is Enact a strict law to prevent trespassing in hospital Consider it violation of law if a patient is accompanied by more than two relatives Suspend security personnel if they fail to prevent an assault on doctors Release funds to implement the law and appoint a brand ambassador to spread awareness for the safety and security of doctors READ Bad day to fall ill: Maharashtra doctors strike enters fourth day, Delhi docs stop work in support 20,000 doctors on strike across Delhi, but still working in helmets at AIIMS The Bombay high court spared a 32-year-old Dhule resident the gallows, but sentenced him to a minimum of 30 years in prison for brutally killing his wife over dowry, just two months after their marriage. A division bench of justices SS Shinde and KK Sonawane took lenient view of Nitin Gaikwads age and his his unblemished past. He was a driver employed with a local agricultural college. However, noticing that the circumstances on record showed that the murder was committed in extremely brutal, gruesome and painful manner, the bench sentenced him to life imprisonment and prohibited his release before he serves 30 years in jail without remission annual deductions in the prison term. According to the prosecution, the incident took place at night on July 24, 2014. The incident came to light the next day when neighbours knocks on the couples door was not responded to. They informed the local police. The police found Gaikwad and his wife, Pranita, lying in a pool of blood. She had sustained deep cuts on her throat and her husband was found to be injured with gashes on his wrist and other parts of the hand and some bruises on his throat. They were taken to a civil hospital, where Pranita was declared brought dead, and Gaikwad was treated for his injuries. The post mortem revealed that Pranita had sustained 10 deep cuts on her neck and throat. Gaikwads brother and parents were harassing the victim as her father had agreed to pay them Rs2 lakh as dowry, but he could manage Rs1.50 lakh. On November 10, 2016, a trial court sentenced Gaikwad to death terming the murder extremely diabolical. The high court upheld his conviction for murder holding that the evidence brought on record by the prosecution proved beyond doubt that the offence was committed by Gaikwad. The court also rejected his contention that somebody else assaulted him and his wife at night. READ Odisha industrialists son arrested for wife-swapping, torturing wife for dowry The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted a well-oiled international drug racket by arresting four people, including two repeat offenders, after raiding a paint factory 90km from Mumbai on Monday. In India, drug traffickers caught with a commercial quantity of drugs may be awarded the death sentence. The DRI, an apex intelligence organisation of Indian Customs, raided the Palghar Taluka Industrial Co-operative Estate situated on the Palghar-Boisar road. Officials seized 238kg of mephedrone in slurry form, along with 8.2kg hashish. They suspect that the drugs were to be smuggled to South Africa through Nepal. The mephedrone seized is worth around Rs10 crore on the international market. The agency arrested Bhanudas More, 53, the main suspect, along with Rauf Lulania, the manager, Pappu Chaudhary, 48, who allegedly got the raw materials, and Manish Sesaria, 30, a chemicals expert. The owner of the paint factory where the drugs were manufactured was unaware of what his premises was being used for, said officials. The accused told him they would make batches of chemical compounds and that each batch would take a week to prepare. He charged them Rs65,000 a batch. The Palghar factory, from which the drugs were seized on Monday. (HT Photo) Officials said More and Chaudhary had been convicted for drug-related offences in the past but continued to engage in illegal activities after their release. The network comprises More, who financed the deal, and Lulania, the middleman who negotiated with the owner. He also oversaw the manufacturing. Chaudhary got the raw material, and was to sell the drugs. Sesaria, a chemical expert, helped with the manufacturing process, said a high-ranking DRI officer. The accused were arrested under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. They were remanded in judicial custody till April 3. The gang of four operated out of a paint factory 90km from Mumbai. (HT Photo) Choudhary, in his statement, said he had been involved in drug trafficking since 2001. He was convicted in a case booked by Moradabad customs and served 10 years in jail. He was arrested by Narcotics Control Bureau, Mumbai in a case related to the seizure of hashish in America. He said he met More in 2003. They re-established contact in 2014, and planned to manufacture ephedrine, a psychotropic substance. Choudhary said he was also involved in smuggling at the Uttar Pradesh-Nepal border and was in touch with several drug dealers in Nepal. Read In 2016, police seized mephedrone worth Rs65.86 lakh in Mumbai Woman arrested in Mumbai with party drug meow meow valued at Rs4.30 lakh In Mumbai: Man arrested after police find mephedrone worth 2cr in his car SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Even as nearly 4,500 medicos in Maharashtra continue to abstain from work over assaults on them, a female doctor was allegedly manhandled at Sion hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday. It was the second such case in the hospital in the past four days. The attack came at a time when the residents doctors and the government were tantalisingly inching closer to break the deadlock. According to the police, a four-month-old girl was hospitalised with pneumonia. At 8.30 pm, the mother of the girl along with other relatives roughed up Dr Mansi Patil as they alleged that the patient wasnt given proper treatment, said a police officer. Other doctors at the hospital gathered at the spot and the police were informed. The police detained the mother, but Dr Patil did not file a complaint, saying she will raise the issue with hospital authorities. Junior doctors in Maharashtra are on strike for the last three days to protest the rise in violence against them by relatives of patients. Maharashtra medical education minister Girish Mahajan warned the striking doctors to join duty by Wednesday evening or face stern action, including salary cut for six months. The warning failed to break the deadlock as more than 4,500 doctors have stayed away from work. Boosting their cause, Indian Medical Association has also backed the strike. READ Maharashtra strike goes on as more doctors are attacked Doctors strike continues to test patients in Maharashtra Delhi AIIMS doctors don helmets, decide to go on mass casual leave today SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON 1 Matheran toy train likely to resume partially from June 1 The Neral-Matheran toy train is likely to chug again along the ghats of the Matheran hills from June 1. READ 2 After Devendra Fadnavis assurance on security, resident doctors may call off strike this evening Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday promised full support and security to resident doctors who have been striking following a string of attacks by relatives of patients.READ 3 Two killed, four injured after car overturns near Thane Two passengers were killed and four were critically injured after their car they were travelling in crashed into a divider and overturned on Ghodbunder road in Thane early on Thursday. READ 4 Dowry death: Bombay high court commutes Maharashtra mans death sentence to life term The Bombay high court spared a 32-year-old Dhule resident the gallows, but sentenced him to a minimum of 30 years in prison for brutally killing his wife over dowry, just two months after their marriage. READ 5 19 Opposition MLAs suspended: With numbers on its side, Maharashtra govt averts floor test With the suspension of 19 MLAs, 10 from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and nine from Congress, in the Maharashtra assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government may breathe easy should it face any majority test on the floor of the house. READ While the Opposition on Thursday came together to announce a statewide protest rally from March 29 to April 5 to demand a loan waiver for farmers, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), upset with ally Shiv Senas continued opposition to it in the legislature, including on the suspension of 19 Opposition legislators, went into a huddle. Sources in the BJP said the core committee, including senior most ministers, met at revenue minister Chandrakant Patil s residence to strategise on the ongoing political situation and thrashed out several options, including the possibility of mid-term polls and poaching 29 sitting legislators. Nearly 29 legislators, including 15 from the Congress and 14 from the NCP are in touch with us. Our political arithmetic says 21 of them can get elected. The options before us are whether to go for bypolls and get all of them to resign together in two batches or opt for mid-term polls in July, said a senior BJP minister. He said if the BJP could get 21 legislators on its own, the Sena would be neutralised completely until 2019. The core group was divided between the options with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in favour of mid-term polls, said sources. The party, high on the recent wins, estimates it could win 180 seats in the 288-member house. The BJP has 123 legislators and has support of another 11 legislators. If it wins another 11 seats in the Assembly, they will get a clear majority in the legislature. They [Sena] continuously target us. For how long can we keep quiet? Currently, there has been no communication between us. Our leadership is not certain of their stance and there is concern over the NCP playing dirty. The core committee discussed various possible options. It doesnt mean it can happen, but yes those alternatives are available, said a senior BJP leader. Meanwhile, the Opposition, after their rout in the recently concluded local polls, came together to announce a statewide Sangharsh Yatra against the government by boycotting the Assembly. The decision comes a day after the state government suspended 19 Opposition legislators for creating a ruckus on the day of the budget. All 83 opposition leaders will participate in the rally, which will start from Vidarbha and go through Mumbai to end at Panvel. In a call back to the old style of campaigning, small meetings, instead of big rallies, will be held with farmers along the route to increase the momentum on the issue. This kind of mass suspension of 19 legislators for raising the issue of loan waiver during the budget is unjust. We have been raising the issue of loan waiver from Day one and now its time to take it to people, as the government only wants to road roll on our demands and ignore the concerns of farmers, Ashok Chavan, state president of Congress told HT, after a joint meeting of Opposition leaders. Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said, There is a clear calculation behind the suspension of 19 legislators as the BJP is worried about the Sena voting against it in the budget and jeopardising stability of the government. This is the first time since the BJP romped to victory in the 2014 Assembly polls that the Congress and NCP have planned a state wide political initiative together. There is little doubt that the BJPs sustained winning streak in the state in local polls and Uttar Pradesh has nudged the Opposition into action with loan waiver as a ready issue to slam the state. We may have suffered defeat, but there is election in two years and its time to start. We want to tell people just how anti-farmer this government can be, said NCP leader Jayant Patil. The Opposition will hold another meeting on Friday morning to finalise the details of the protest. So far, the ongoing budget session has been a washout, with the Opposition as well as ally-turned-rival Shiv Sena cornering the government on loan waiver. What has complicated the issue for the ruling BJP is uncertainty over ally Senas stance, especially after the closely contested Mumbai civic polls. Within the Sena there is confusion on how to walk the tightrope between being part of the government and playing the role of Opposition. The confusion is only because the BJP does not take us into confidence before announcing their decisions. We were informed about suspension just before it was done. Our feedback was not taken before passing a vote on account, said a Sena minister. In house: govt pushes through business Even as the Opposition remained firm on boycotting proceedings of the Assembly over suspension of their 19 MLAs, the government tried to push through the business on Thursday. The debate on the budget was wrapped up abruptly, without allowing the MLAs to participate, and the appropriation bill to give approval for vote on account for routine expenditure was passed in a hurry. The state invited the wrath of Sena for not allowing its MLAs to speak on the budget provisions for farmers in distress. Parliamentary affairs minister Girish Bapat said legislators will get an opportunity to speak during department-wise debate on the budget. Senior Sena legislators Jayprakash Mundada and Vijay Auti said the Sena MLAs wanted to discuss the plight of farmers and the allocation for them in the budget. The Sena later registered its protest with CM Devendra Fadnavis and speaker Haribhau Bagde. The government may think of winding up the ongoing session by completing the remaining business next week, a week before its scheduled completion, said a BJP minister. The legislative council was adjourned for the day. Also read: 19 Opposition MLAs suspended: With numbers on its side, Maharashtra govt averts floor test SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Mumbai crime branch on Wednesday arrested a 27-year-old man who used to change the IMEI numbers of expensive stolen mobile phones in the city. The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is a unique serial number alloted to every GSM mobile phone and is used by networks to identify valid phones and block stolen or blacklisted phones. The Mumbai police had recently searched for a stolen mobile phone through its IMEI number. However, the accused, Vijay Narvankar, changed the IMEI number of the stolen phone though an electronic machine. Narvankar said that he got the machine from his brother, who died a year ago, said inspector Manor Harpude from the crime branch . The electronic machine is not available in Mumbai. It appears that Narvankars brother bought it from China. Narvankar was in contact with a mobile theft gang operating in the western suburbs. He took only expensive phones from them. He would also buy old and damaged phones at a cheap price. He would then deactivate the IMEI number of the stolen phones and replace it with the IMEI numbers of the old phones using the electronic machine. Narvankar worked in a mobile shop at Malwani, Malad (West). Following a tip-off, officials of unit 11 of the Mumbai crime branch laid a trap and arrested him. They recovered several mobile phones from him ,which he had bought from the mobile theft gang. Narvankar told police that he had been involved in the illegal activity since the past six months.He was produced before a court on Wednesday and has been remanded in police custody till March 27. Three hospitals in Mumbai will get guards to protect them round-the-clock. Highly placed sources in the state home department told HT the armed guards will be posted at the state-run JJ Hospital and the civic-run KEM and Sion hospitals. They will be drawn from the Maharashtra State Security Corporation (MSSC), a government-affiliated body that works under the Maharashtra police. MSSC guards have the powers to carry weapons and make arrests. They are headed by a senior IPS officer of the rank of an additional director general of police (AdGP). Around 1,100 guards will be required to cover the 16 government and civic hospitals across Maharashtra. The deployment of these guards will be done in phases, sources said. The three hospitals in Mumbai are among nine across the state selected for the first phase of deployment. A senior MSSC official told HT the corporation has 700 personnel ready to be posted at hospitals, and another 400 are being training at police schools. They will be deployed soon after their training programme by next month, the official said. Hospitals with medical colleges will be given priority, he said. The officer, however, refused to specify how many guards each Mumbai hospital will be given. The numbers will be decided as per the requirements and demands of each of the hospitals. He also made it clear the security of hospitals remains a police concern. We will only augment the arrangements. The governments action comes after a series of attacks on doctors by patients relatives triggered the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) to call statewide protests. Medical services have been hit over the past week and patients are seen waiting for treatment outside hospitals. Read: Another female doctor manhandled in Mumbai hospital SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON DRI officials said the prime accused in the Palghar drug seizure case, Bhanudas More, 53, had been convicted in February 2001, after methaqualone tablets also known as mandrax were seized from a factory raided by the Narcotics Control Bureau. He was imprisoned from 2001 to 2007. Officials said he pleaded with them after he was arrested as he could be awarded the death penalty. More is aware of the laws. He knows that if he is convicted twice for selling and possessing drugs of a commercial quantity, he is likely to be awarded the death sentence, said a high-ranking DRI officer. He added that More had sold 18kg powdered MD to two African nationals. The other accused, Pappu Chaudhary, was imprisoned from 2002 to 2010 after he was convicted in connection with a hashish seizure. More and Chaudhary met at Arthur Road Jail, said a DRI officer. Officials said Chaudhary was in touch with drug traffickers in India and abroad. The agency raised concerns over factory owners leasing their premises to strangers without inquiring what they intend to manufacture there. The accused told the factory owner that they would manufacture a compound used in paints. The owner leased a part of the factory to them. However, they bought their own equipment, including a glass line reactor. Factory owners must practise due diligence and should sign a contract with such people. The contract should include clauses stating that banned substances will not be permitted to be manufactured on the premises, said the officer. Investigations revealed that the accused asked the owner to extend their lease. The accused wanted to manufacture more product and had been negotiating with the owner for a month. We suspect that they may have rented places elsewhere in the state and are investigating further, said the officer. Read In 2016, police seized mephedrone worth Rs65.86 lakh in Mumbai In Mumbai: Man arrested after police find mephedrone worth 2cr in his car Woman arrested in Mumbai with party drug meow meow valued at Rs4.30 lakh SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) administration on Thursday provisionally cancelled the admission of 5,296 students from the 2016-17 batch for failing to provide necessary certificates and documents. However, the university has provided the last opportunity to the students to furnish the required documents at the vice-chancellors office by March 31. Around 20,000 applications came under scrutiny after the university administration conducted an inspection of the documents submitted by students. At the time of admission, students are supposed to submit class 12 mark sheet, transfer certificate, character certificate and domicile certificate. For students belonging to scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other backward castes, caste certificate is also necessary. A total of 841 institutes is affiliated to AKTU across the state, of which 93 colleges are in Ghaziabad and 75 in Gautam Budh Nagar. The students also belong to colleges in Ghaziabad and Noida. Of the 5,296 students whose admission was provisionally cancelled, 2,885 students were enrolled in Masters of Business Administration (MBA) courses, 2,116 were enrolled in technical courses, 66 in Masters of Computer Application (MCA) and 141 in pharmacy courses. The AKTU administration had kept admissions of around 20,000 students for the 2016-17 academic session on hold after they found documents submitted at the time of admission in 2016-17 to be fake or filled improperly. We had given a number of opportunities to the students to furnish the required documents. While many students managed to submit the documents, documents of 5,296 students were found to be fake or improperly filled, AK Shukla, the deputy registrar of the university, said. Shukla said that the colleges affiliated to the university were informed and given a deadline of March 17 to submit the required documents of the students, but 402 institutions had not complied with the directive, which is why the university has provided students with a final opportunity to submit documents. The Gautam Budh Nagar senior superintendent of police (SSP) issued directions for the formation of two dozen anti-Romeo squads in the district to ensure that women are not harassed in public places. The move follows orders from the states top police official after Yogi Adityanath took oath as the chief minister of the state. Officials said that the teams will patrol the city in plainclothes and keep a vigil of busy market areas, shopping malls, girls schools and womens colleges. Each team will comprise a sub-inspector and, men and women constables. The anti-Romeo drives were also started in the district with the deployment of plainclothes police personnel near womens colleges and in markets. Several cases of harassment have been reported in the district in the past, in which the public has been a mute spectator. The police often ignore complaints of teasing or do not respond on time. Women are prone to harassment in some crowded markets and malls. Men pass lewd remarks and even molest women in some cases. Hopefully, with these special squads, the situation will change, Shradha Tiwari, a working professional, said. The police said that even before the formation of these squads, there was a strict crackdown on such incidents in the district. They said they issued a strict warning to such persons and asked them to mend their ways. The police said that now, however, they will file a case under sections 294 (Obscene acts and songs) 268 (creating public nuisance) of IPC. Earlier, we used to warn those teasing girls and women and informed their parents. But from now, punishment will be strict. We will file a case against the offenders, a police official said. A senior police official said that incidents of teasing are often unreported due to social stigma but these squads will ensure swift action and also help in counselling the victims. He said, We want women to approach the police without fear and move freely in the city. The police said they will also increase vigil in the scarcely populated localities in Greater Noida, where women residents are concerned about their safety. Dismissing claims of moral policing, Dharmendra Singh, the Gautam Budh Nagar SSP, said, I will ensure that the police act fairly. A majority of meat sellers in the district closed shop on Thursday as teams of district officials and police are cracking down on those operating without the requisite licence from the corporation. Since Yogi Adityanath took over as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, the officials and police in Ghaziabad have been actively taking up the Bharatiya Janata Partys Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra, in which the party promised immediate closure of illegal and mechanised slaughterhouses. Officials also cracked down on meat shops in Ghaziabad city, Khoda, Loni and Dasna. These shops have been closed as none of them procured an operational licence from the corporation to sell mutton, chicken. As per by-laws, there should not be slaughtering in the shops and they should procure meat only from authorised slaughterhouses/markets. A team has been formed in each of the five zones to check such instances, said Dr RK Yadav, the city health officer, Ghaziabad municipal corporation. Those selling meat have shut shop fearing action by officials and have decided not to open their shops till they receive instructions in the regard and obtain necessary licences. All shops in Dasna are closed till we get instructions to open them after procuring licences from the government. When politicians are not ready to speak up, why should we? We have closed the shops as we dont have a licence to operate, Mehtab Qureshi, a shop owner from Dasna, said. Shopkeepers, however, admitted that it is hard to comply with many regulations that are necessary to procure a licence. We are required to have a storage facility and black films on glasses to avoid public view. However, we have small shops which are now closed. We mostly procure chicken from Ghazipur market where rates vary on a daily basis. Normally, chicken is available between Rs100 and Rs110 apiece and we sell it around Rs140, Akram, a shop owner from Khoda, said. Residents said that the shops were operating on roadsides or near residential areas as no special provisions were made earlier in the master plan. In a majority of highrises, the convenience shops have been set up by big brands. Getting a small kiosk here is out of the question for a small shopkeeper. Still, people need the shops to open to buy meat. The shops should be provided requisite licences, Sudeepta Pal of Windsor Park in Indirapuram said. The district magistrate, Nidhi Kesarwani, said that she has directed the corporation and nagar palikas to crack down on slaughterhouses and meat shops running without necessary permissions. We have asked the municipal corporation to open a single window, with the help of other departments, for (meat) shop owners to submit their applications for licences. Such shops (running without a licence) do not provide any revenue to the state at present. The shop owners should procure meat from markets and bring it to their shops to sell further to residents, she said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A probe has been ordered into the hoisting of a BJP flag by a group of party workers at a government school in Araria district of Bihar to celebrate the partys win in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election. The incident took place at Dak Haripur Kanya Madhya Vidyalaya in Forbesganj on March 18. Results of the assembly election were announced on March 11. The school is located around 35 km from the Araria district headquarters. When students and teachers were leaving the school on March 18, some BJP workers barged into the campus and hoisted the party flag there to celebrate the victory in UP, the schools headmaster told district education officer Faizul Rahman. Headmaster Jagdish Mehta said he tried to stop them but they outnumbered the staff and hoisted the flag, Rahman told PTI on Thursday. The district education officer said he has instructed the block education officer to investigate the matter. Action would be initiated based on the probe report, Rahman said. Araria district BJP president Babban Singh expressed regret over the incident and said it was caused by over-excitement of some local party workers. Those party workers did not find a suitable place to hoist the party flag to celebrate the win and did it in the school, Singh told PTI. Sub-divisional police officer Ajit Singh said the matter was related to the education department and if police were approached, they would investigate the incident. Two visits to France, one to Denmark and an ongoing trip to the United Kingdom to study the concept of smart cities besides 10 meetings and a number of presentations. These are some of the things officials involved in the smart city project have done since they started working on it about nine months ago. The net result, however, has been far from satisfactory as they have failed to take the project forward, with the special purpose vehicle (SPV) failing to hire a project management consultant that will prepare an estimate and execute the entire venture. Not only this, cities like Ludhiana, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Mysuru and Bhopal have already started development work as part of the project. The SPV, a joint venture between the UT administration and the municipal corporation, was to rope in the project management consultant Municipal corporation (MC) joint commissioner Manoj Khatri, who is in-charge of the smart city project, said, We have finalised a company as project management consultant and will get approval for it in the board of directors meeting on March 29. Sources said Gurgaon-based firm, Egis International, has been selected for this. CITY GOT ONLY Rs 71 CR IN THE FIRST YEAR While Chandigarh was supposed to get Rs 200 crore central grant in the first year, it received only Rs 71 crore. In the first year, the SPV was to spend Rs 400 crore, of which Rs 200 was to come from the Centre while the rest was to be contributed by the UT administration, which they have failed to deposit. In the next four years, the Centre is supposed to release RS 300 crore and as much is to be paid by the UT administration. Chandigarh was shortlisted in the smart city project in June 2016, and the SPV was formed a month later. INTERNATIONAL TOURS OF OFFICIALS In February 2016, smart city project chief executive officer (CEO) B Purushartha visited France and Copenhegen in Denmark to study the smart city management system. In December last year, he again visited France to attend a seminar on smart city. Now, he along with state mission director of the project Anurag Aggarwal is on a visit (from March 21 to 26) to Nottingham, UK, to attend a workshop. WHAT WILL CHANGE IN THE FIRST PHASE? Once the consultant is hired, of Sectors 16, 17, 19, 22, 35 and 43 that will be taken up as special cases under the area-based development (ABD) plan, the administration plans to spend 90% of total Rs 5,600 crore on Sector 43 alone. Smart parking, 24x7 water supply, smart metering for power and water, a bicycle track at the Leisure Valley, Sector 10, and disabled-friendly sidewalks, development of parks, street lights will be done. It will take five years to complete. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON If its not enough to shock you that a police post in Moga was being run on electricity stolen through a kundi connection, then heres a bit more about misuse of power. The case registered for the theft does not name any person but only Chowki, Focal Point, Moga, in the FIR at under the Electricity Act at the police station in Ludhiana. Norms say police have to mention accused person/s even as unidentified while registering a first-information report (FIR) as a case cannot be lodged against a lifeless thing, such as the police post (chowki) building. Worse, the FIR on Tuesday was registered a month after a team of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) led by sub-divisional officer (SDO) Neeraj Piplani, on a tip-off, raided the police post and found that electricity was being taken directly from the overhead low-tension transmission lines. On paper, the post doesnt have an electricity connection, but cops here were enjoying the comfort of an air-conditioner, besides using tubelights, fans, and an inverter for backup! The raiding team had filmed the raid and confiscated the illegal wires being used for the kundi. SDO Piplani said it is only understood that the person who was posted at the building would be liable for the theft. It is surprising to me that the police have not booked the chowki in-charge (Ram Lubhaya) despite his being was fully aware of the illegal power being tapped in his presence, he said. Jai Iqbal, the anti-theft police station in-charge, when asked about not naming any person in the FIR, said, PSPCL officials didnt recommend anyone to be booked except the name of building in their letter, due to which initially we have registered the case as such. The theft had come to light on February 23, after which PSPCL officials calculated a fine of Rs 3.9 lakh and sent a letter to the police station concerned in Ludhiana recommending registration of the FIR. If the department fails to pay the fine within a month, we will add the name of a liable person to the FIR, said Jai Iqbal. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a special central government package to provide one-time loan waiver to the debt-ridden farmers of the state. Amarinder, who met Modi at his Parliament House office, said the meeting was a courtesy call, during which the issue of farm debt waiver was also discussed. I have sought financial assistance from the Centre, my government is committed to waiving farmers loans and we have already initiated a timebound process for the same, he said. The state cabinet had, in its maiden meeting, started the necessary steps to implement the Congress poll promise on farm debt waiver, he pointed out. Expressing concern over the recent spate in farmer suicides in Punjab, the chief minister said he had requested Modi to announce a special package to pull out farmers out of the debt-trap. In a letter to the PM, Amarinder said the total farm debt in Punjab is more than Rs 80,000 crore, including the crop loans of Rs 12,500 in the cooperative sector. The average debt per farm household in Punjab works out to be Rs 8 lakh (including crop loan). NO DISCUSSION ON SYL With the SYL Canal matter in the Supreme Court, the Punjab CM did not discuss the issue with the PM, said a senior official. Since the matter is sub-judice, there was no point taking it up with the PM. The CM met senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani to discuss Punjabs stand on the issue, he said. There are many better halves in the cabinet of Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh. And they are working in tandem within the government, for better or for worse. On Monday, it was Navjot Singh Sidhus wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a former MLA who opted out of her Amritsar East seat for him, who courted a controversy by attending an official meeting of the local bodies department. She defended it saying that as a former legislator she knows civic problems and was just sitting and listening to officials while it was husband Sidhu who was chairing the meeting. On Wednesday, it was minister of state Aruna Chaudhary who made headlines as a TV grab of her husband, Ashok Chaudhary, a former government officer and now Congress leader from Gurdaspur, perusing official files sitting next to the minister went viral. The only distinction in hierarchy was that the back of the ministers chair was taller! Ashok Chaudhary later described it as good couples do things together. Razia Sultana, also a minister of state with independent charge like Aruna, is anyway seen as a proxy of her husband Mohammad Mustafa, an officer of the rank of director general of police (DGP) known for his proximity to Amarinder. Though Mustafa has not been seen in Razias public works department, according to Congress sources he had lobbied hard for getting the department for his wife. Mustafa was barred by the Election Commission from entering Sultanas constituency, Malerkotla, during the elections. As for the CM himself, Amarinders wife Preneet Kaur, who opted out of Patiala Urban for the husband but managed his entire campaign as he, as the Congress unit chief, campaigned across the state, is happy issuing specifications for the CMs new official residence. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Seerat Kaur Dhillon (35), the prime accused in the murder of her husband Ekam Singh Dhillon (40), whose body was found bundled in a suitcase in a BMW car on Sunday, on Wednesday refused to undergo lie detection test as requested by police, claiming there was no need for one as she had shot the victim dead. She said this in a local court. When I have confessed that I shot Ekam, where is the need of a lie detector test? I do not want to undergo the test, she submitted in the court of judicial magistrate Parul when she was produced after a two-day police remand. Seerat told the court that her brother Vinay Pratap Singh and his friend Jagat only helped her destroying evidence and had nothing to do with his killing. About the weapon used in crime, she said, We owned it but we did not have any licence. The police had recovered the weapon, a pistol, from the house that the couple rented a fortnight ago. Initially, she had claimed that the pistol was licensed but later said she did not remember whether it was licensed. A case was registered against Seerat, her brother and mother Jaswinder Kaur under Sections 34, 201, and 302 of the Indian Penal Code at the Mataur police station. The police are yet to arrest the two other accused. Citrus council case hearing adjourned Additional district and sessions judge Puneet Mohan Sharma on Wednesday deferred the hearing in multi-core Citrus Council scam, in which Ekam and Seerat are also accused, to April 7. The hearing was adjourned after court was informed that Ekam was dead. The court asked the investigation agency to place the death certificate on record during the next hearing. Ekam, who worked with Punjab Agrotech, had floated a firm Global Agri Venture in Seerats name. Ekam was senior manager of the Citrus Council and was accused of siphoning off money to the accounts of fake firms.The firm had shown Rs 1.15 crore business and had come up with its plants in Ludhiana district. I want to meet my kids, pleads accused Seerat pleaded before the court that the custody of her children, Gurnawaz (11) and Humaira (6), be handed over to her from their parental grandfather Jaspal Singh Dhillon who lives in Phase 6, SAS Nagar. They (Ekams family) are not allowing me to speak to my children. Please ask them to allow me to talk to them. Hand over their custody to me, Seerat pleaded before the court. To this, the court told her to engage a lawyer and file suit to get the custody. 6-day remand to probe where gun came from to Police have got another six-day remand to interrogate Seerat to find where the pistol was procured from. The police had moved an application seeking her 10-day remand. Seerat is giving contradictory statements and is misleading the probe and therefore we had sought extension of remand, said SAS Nagar senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Despite pumping water through seven tubewells into Sukhna Lake for over three months, the lakes water level continues to remain the same. While the level was 1,154 feet (against the required 1,163 feet) three months ago, on Monday, too, the level continued to be 1,154 feet. On January 16, the UT administration started supply of water from seven tubewells to fill the Sukhna, claiming that it will help the water level rise by 6-7 inches. The water was supplied for three months, which ended on March 20. UT administration has spent Rs 12 lakh in the past three months, even reducing supply to Sector 19, 20, 26 to 30 by 2 MGD per day (1 crore litre). The water, which was supplied to the lake can cater around 70,000 people i.e. 14,000 houses. The decision was taken after the Punjab and Haryana high court had asked the Chandigarh administration to look for solution to increase water of Sukhna Lake. UT chief engineer Mukesh Anand had assured that the receding level of Sukhna lake could be filled by supplying water from the seven tubewells located near the lake during four months of winters. When contacted, Anand said the water level on Monday was 1,154 feet and that the water level had reduced due to evaporation in summers, he said. WHY THE DECREASE IN SUKHNA WATER LEVEL? As per the report of National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee, a major reasons for loss of water in the lake is evaporation. Poor rainfall, too, leads to low water level. Sukhnas waterholding capacity has also reduced drastically due to sand deposits. Leading Tamil heroine Nayanthara, who has been called lady superstar by the trade, is all set for the release of her next female-centric horror thriller Dora. Director Doss Ramasamy says that his crew was amazed by the dedication of Nayanthara. As a director, I just asked her to bring out swag as she plays the main lead in the film but the entire crew was overwhelmed by her effort and detailing for the character, says Doss Ramasamy. The director also adds that Nayanthara sat with costume designer Anu Vardhan to get the right outfit and she also insisted on wearing a spectacle to bring out natural innocence to the character. In the film, Nayanthara plays an innocent girl Pavalakodi, who later becomes a rebel in the second half after she gets her hands on an Austin Cambridge car, explains the director. National Award winning actor Thambi Ramaiah plays Nayantharas dad in the film and Harish Uthaman will be seen as a cop. Nayanthara plays a character called Pavalakodi in the film. We also hear that there is an interesting cat and mouse game between Nayanthara and Harish Uthaman, which is said to be one of the major attractions of the film. Slated to release on March 31, Dora has been censored with A certificate for its horror content. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Thursday said he supports no one in the fray for the April 12 by-election to the RK Nagar assembly constituency in Chennai. The by-election is being held to fill the vacancy caused by the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The superstar said in a tweet, My support is for no one in the coming election. My support is for no one in the coming elections. Rajinikanth (@superstarrajini) March 23, 2017 Rajinikanths statement comes days after music composer and BJP candidate for the bypoll, Gangai Amaran, called on him. Amarans son Venkat Prabhu had tweeted on Sunday that the actor had wished him success in his political innings during the brief meeting. Today our thalaivar @superstarrajini met and wished my dad for his political victory in #RKNagarByElection #happyson #GangaiAmaran, Prabhus tweet had said. He had also posted a picture of his father with Rajinikanth at the latters residence. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Well-known Telugu actor Vishnu Manchu, in a multicultural collaboration between Hollywood and Tollywood, is all set to make a film on the call centre scam that happened in October 2016 in Hyderabad. The project will be bankrolled by the actors home banner and the plan is to make the film in English first and based on the response it will be decided whether it can be made in Hindi and Telugu or not. The scam unearthed nine call centres and the police arrested 71 employees. According to reports, these companies extorted hundreds of crores from US nationals in the name of their tax and immigration authorities. Vishnu said that he found the whole event fascination. A team of writers are already working on the pre-production process in Mumbai. The project will go on the floors from June and it will be extensively shot in Los Angeles, New York, New Jersey and Mumbai. Even though he didnt comment on the cast yet, Vishnu said that a few popular Indian actors will also be part of the project. Theyre hopeful of finalising the case and crew by May. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop When it comes to breaking into the world of travel, Europe holds the biggest appeal, according to a new survey of first-time travel. In a Booking.com poll that asked 15,000 travellers to name the destination that became their first travel experience, nine of the top 10 spots were in Europe, with Paris leading the way. The survey was conducted in January across 20 markets worldwide. Here are the top 10 most popular first-time travel destinations: 1. Paris, France 2. Barcelona, Spain 3. London, UK 4. Vienna, Austria 5. Malaga, Spain 6. Venice, Italy 7. Rome, Italy 8. Sydney, Australia 9. Zurich, Switzerland 10. Berlin, Germany Follow @htlifeandstyle for more As families go nuclear, paid non-medical care is becoming a reality for many senior citizens in their twilight years in many Indian cities. Across Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad, companies like Aaji Care are offering non-medical senior care. Once a senior citizen signs up, a volunteer will come over once every few days and just talk to him or her, take the person to a wedding or party or to the doctor, go to the bank or shop for groceries so he/she doesnt have to go alone. Often, they just read to the senior citizen, play puzzles or board games, help the client pass time. But it takes time getting used to volunteer care. We are still coming to terms with a concept as new as this, admits Subhadra Upadhyay, 88, whose son signed her up with The Family Member in Ahmedabad four months ago. But we had to be practical, because Bhavesh has his own family to take care of, she adds. Subhadra has a weak heart and a fractured foot that has left her partially immobile, which makes it difficult for her to accompany her son and daughter-in-law to family events or on holidays. Often, they would have to cancel, or at least one of them stay home with her, she says. Now, she stays back with company from The Family Member. Initially, we were scared about having a stranger in our home, says Bhavesh, 45, an IT executive. But the volunteers are very professional and details about them, including a police verification certificate, are sent to us in advance. The volunteers keep her company, watch Hindi soaps and religious shows with her, read to her, or just chat about this and that. Shes begun going for her doctor-recommended walks much more often. Initially, she would feel bad about having to pay someone to keep her company. But now the volunteers are like my kids, she says. Having new people also means my stories never get old, and I get to hear new stories too. But its not always the young ones reaching out. Usha Arvindan, 70, contacted The Family Member in Ahmedabad because she wanted to have someone home with her ailing and diabetic husband, while she went out to meet friends or attend pujas. I realised I was becoming asocial and giving up on everything I wanted to do, she says. I like that we are old and not dependent on each other or anyone else, says her husband, Arvindan Vyasa, 75. Prices range from Rs 150 for 1.5 hours to Rs 20,000 a month for multiple weekly visits and help with errands. Were less than a year old and already have about 25 clients and eight volunteers, says TFM founder Piyush Vayeda. Its been a success, says Prasad Bhide, who set up Mumbai-based Aaji Care in 2012. We get at least three new clients every month and are planning to expand to Pune. Theres also Samvedna Senior Care, set up in Delhi in 2013, and First Seniors set up in 2008; in Pune, Maya Care was launched in 2009. We aim to keep seniors independent, says Pratyusha Pinnali, head of marketing for Maya Care. We also try and fill in for their children to keep their loneliness at bay. All volunteers are cleared after police verification; details are sent to the subscriber in advance. Care givers acknowledge that there is really no substitute for family. Seniors dont always understand why their own family cant be there for them, says Archana Sharma, founder of Samvedna. SHE HELPS KEEP MY LONELINESS AWAY Eighty-year-old Mumbai resident Chhaya Patil waits for Nutan every afternoon. She is just like my granddaughter, says Patil, a retired clerk with the Mumbai Port Trust. She is a widow and her three daughters lived in not far from her home. College student Nutan Ghag spends four hours a day with Chhaya Patil, 80, solving puzzles and reading to her at her Mumbai home. Its nice to have someone new to tell my stories to, Patil says. (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo) Nutan Ghag is a 20-year-old college student who works part-time with Mumbai-based Aaji Care, an organisation that offers monthly companionship packages for senior citizens. She has been visiting Patil for eight months, for four hours a day half of which is spent solving puzzles and reading. The astrology page is our favourite one in the newspaper, Patil says. At 5 pm, they go for a walk either to the market or to the Dadar beach nearby. Patil then takes her afternoon nap while Ghag finishes college assignments or reads a book from the older womans collection. It works both ways. My parents dont live in the city, but with Aaji around, I dont feel so alone. And with me around, her three daughters can work stress-free, says Ghag. Patil says she likes that there is somebody as young as Ghag to help her with decision-making. Young minds have fresh perspective. Sometimes I agree, otherwise we take the middle path, she laughs. I would encourage more services like these to come up, where the young can volunteer and seniors get a new lease of life. Ghag gets Rs 4,000 a month for her service. It helps me pay my rent and meet college expenses, she says. But I dont do it for the money. In fact, I sometimes cancel plans to spend more time with Aaji. She teaches me a lot and I know I am making memories that will last a lifetime. For Patil, Ghag is now family. She helps keep my loneliness away, she says. YOU CANT PUT A PRICE ON GOOD COMPANY In Gurgaon, advancing age forced a free spirited Bhagyalata Dasto reach out for help. A retired lawyer and mother of three, she was born with a shrunken right arm, and at 52, a road accident left her confined to a wheelchair. My passion is knitting, she says. And I realise that my son and daughter-in-law cannot sit here and go through patterns with me or keep me occupied. They both run their own business; her other children are in Bangalore and London. Das at a Gurgaon doctors office with a volunteer from Samvedna. I realise that my son and daughter-in-law cannot keep me occupied all the time, she says. So, three years ago, the 72-year-old decided to sign up with Samvedna to have someone come over and keep her company for a few hours a week. The cost ranges from Rs 13,000 to Rs 20,000 a month. Though she has been an independent woman all her life, she now feels the need for some company as she is ageing, says Asheem Rath, her son. Four times a week, Das and her companion read together, play board games, watch funny YouTube videos or surf the internet for knitting designs. LIKE HAVING A FAMILY MEMBER IN THE HOUSE In Pune, Professor Sudhakar Kulkarni, 74, who has been blind for 30 years and lives alone, now depends on volunteers of Maya Care for company five days a week. The volunteers read newspapers and magazines to him, engage in discussions and debates, help him make calls to relatives and friends; once a week, a volunteer accompanies him to his sons house nearby. Twice a week, they help him buy groceries, do bank work or run other errands. Sometimes, the companion is another senior, looking for companionship himself. Here, Vidyadhar Joshi from Maya Care helps Sudhakar Kulkarni, 74, practise bhajans at his Pune home. (HT Photo) Kulkarni is also a trained classical vocalist and volunteers have sometimes walked in while he was practicing. They love my singing so much that they dont disturb me till the song is over, he says, laughing. Its like having a family member in the house, Kulkarni says. Today, you cant expect relatives to help you. Everyones busy and nobody lives together, he adds. It helps that these volunteers are learned, some even well-established and from good households. I dont have to be wary of letting them in. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SENIOR CARE VOLUNTEER So, what is it like to be a volunteer? It can be rewarding, but also emotionally draining, says Vikas Gambhir. Vikas Gambhir, a banker, also works part-time with First Seniors in New Delhi. Many of our clients have club memberships and beautiful homes, but are lonely and / or infirm. We debate politics, go to movies or have a couple of drinks together. I find being around old people fulfilling, he says. (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO) Its been a few months since Gambhirs mother died; he was 30 when he lost his father. You can never replace parents, but you can create memories with people like them, he says. Thats what prompted the 53-year-old banker to volunteer with First Seniors in Delhi. Volunteering is emotionally satisfying, as long as you learn to disconnect, he says. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Say hello to the person next to you. Reclaim territory on the armrest. Think of the reasons why you dont have a laptop or tablet with you. This is some of the light-hearted advice dispensed by Royal Jordanian on social media Thursday, a day before the carrier is to enforce a new US ban on most onboard electronics on US-bound flights from 10 cities in Muslim-majority countries. Royal Jordanian flies to New York, Chicago and Detroit. The US ban took effect Tuesday, with a Saturday morning deadline for compliance. Britain announced similar restrictions. Earlier this week, Royal Jordanian was among the first to announce the US was banning most electronics, including laptops, on board certain flights. The airline later deleted the tweet because Washington hadnt announced the ban at the time. Since then, the carrier has been trying to cheer up passengers and potential customers with humorous Twitter messages. It posted a list of 12 things to do on a 12-hour flight with no laptop or tablet. In another post, it took up rhyming, with a five-line poem that begins: Every week a new ban. Travel to the US since you can. It promises that No one can ruin our in-flight fun. But theres a serious side to the restrictions, including the potential for theft, damage or compromised data if laptops are checked with luggage. Travelers can also lose precious work time without access to laptops on long-haul flights. Taliban fighters have captured the key district of Sangin in southern Afghanistan province after security forces pulled out, leaving the region to the insurgents, officials said on Thursday. The fall of Sangin, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and US troops in Afghanistan, came amid the insurgents year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland of Helmand province. Since the withdrawal of NATO combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and with only a smaller US-led advise and training mission left behind, Sangin was seen as a major test of whether Afghan security forces could hold off the advancing Taliban. Helmand, which accounts for the bulk of Afghanistans billion dollar opium crop, is already largely in the hands of the Taliban but the capture of Sangin underlines their growing strength in the south. Sangins police chief, Mohammad Rasoul, said the Taliban overran the centre of the district early on Thursday morning. He said the district headquarters had been poorly protected and only eight policemen and 30 Afghan soldiers were on duty at the time of the Taliban siege. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi issued a statement claiming the capture of Sangin. Taliban fighters captured the police headquarters and a military base overnight, as well as military equipment that was abandoned by retreating forces. He said the area was bombarded by foreign forces following the withdrawal of Afghan troops. Afghan troops prepare for counter-attack Afghan security forces are now amassing nearby for a full-scale counter-attack in a bid to retake Sangin, Rasoul added, though he did not say when the assault would occur and how many troops would be involved. We are preparing our reinforcements to recapture the district, he said. It wasnt immediately clear whether the Afghan military would seek the help of international coalition forces in the area. In Kabul, a lawmaker from Sangin, Mohammad Hashim Alokzai, urged the military to move quickly to retake the district, saying its fall could have devastating consequences for Helmand, where the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah has in recent months come under constant and heavy attack by the Taliban. In a separate development in northern Kunduz province, an officer turned his rifle on sleeping colleagues, killing nine policemen, officials said. Police spokesman Mafuz Akbari said the insider attack on Thursday occurred at a security post and the assailant escaped under cover of darkness. Afghanistan has seen a spike in insider attacks. In such incidents, attackers usually end up stealing their weapons and fleeing to join insurgents. Akbari said the assailant had gone over to the Taliban. He also said the attacker and the Taliban gathered the bodies of the dead policemen and set them on fire. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack, but denied a policeman had been involved or that the Taliban had burned the bodies of the policemen. Afghan forces have come under intensified pressure by insurgents in both Helmand and Kunduz. The top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen John Nicholson, said last month the country was in a stalemate and thousands more international troops would be needed to boost the existing NATO-led training and advisory mission. According to US estimates, government forces now control less than 60% of Afghanistan, with almost half the country either contested or under the control of insurgents seeking to reimpose Islamic law. Australia rejected 500 Syrian refugees on security grounds during more than a year of vetting while accepting 12,000 eligible for resettlement from Middle Eastern camps, an official said Thursday. Immigration and Border Protection minister Peter Dutton said the deadly rampage near Britains Parliament on Wednesday, in which a man used a knife and car as weapons to kill four people, showed Australia was right to be cautious on who it accepted. The tragic events in London and elsewhere demonstrate the governments approach was prudent and there are people that wed excluded on national security grounds and people that we do have concerns about that we have not brought to our country and we never will, Dutton told reporters. The government announced in September 2015 that 12,000 refugees from the war in Syria and Iraq would be resettled as quickly as possible. All 12,000 have now been issued visas and more than 10,000 have already been brought to Australia, the government said on Wednesday. Dutton said there would have been significant consequences in our own country if the government had followed the oppositions advice by bringing all the refugees to Australia quickly. Duttons office did not immediately respond on Thursday to a request for comment on a newspaper report that as many 900 of the accepted refugees are members of Syrias Christian minority. Five people died in London, including the assailant, and another 40 were injured. The attackers identity has not been revealed, but Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley has said Islamist terrorism was suspected. Bangladesh on Thursday said it would reach out to the UN to declare March 25 as Genocide Day globally, in remembrance of the atrocities carried out by the Pakistan Army on the same day in 1971. The letter is ready... it will be sent to the United Nations by this month, liberation war affairs minister AKM Mozammel Huq told reporters. A delegation will go to the UN this month with a proposal to observe March 25 as Genocide Day globally while the foreign ministry, through the Bangladesh embassies and high commissions across the world, will campaign to get support from other countries in favour of our proposal. The UN General Assembly in 2015 declared December 9 as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. The minister said no genocide took place on December 9 but here in Bangladesh we witnessed one in March 25, 1971. So, we will propose the UN to shift the Genocide Day to March 25, Huq said. The Bangladesh Parliament earlier this month unanimously adopted a resolution declaring March 25 as the Genocide Day. The Pakistani army launched their infamous Operation Searchlight on March 25 to suppress Bengali peoples calls for self-determination, killing over 20,000 people alone in Dhaka. Officially three million people were killed in the subsequent nine-month Liberation War. Belgian security forces found a rifle as well as bladed weapons in a car driven by a Frenchman who tried to ram a crowd in the port city of Antwerp, prosecutors said on Thursday. Different arms were found in the boot bladed weapons, a riot gun (rifle) and a container of liquid that is still unidentified, the federal prosecutors office said in a statement. The suspect is Mohamed R., born on May 8, 1977, of French nationality and a resident of France, the statement said. Belgian police arrested the suspect after he tried to drive into a crowd at high-speed in a shopping area. The man was of north African origin and used a car with French registration plates, Antwerp police chief Serge Muyters said. The incident came a day after an attack on the British parliament killed three people plus the attacker, as well as after the first anniversary of the Brussels attacks in which 32 people died. A vehicle with French plates has tried to drive at high speed into the Meir (shopping street). A man in camouflage was taken away, Muyters told a news conference. The pedestrians had to jump aside, he said. My gratitude on behalf of all Antwerp to the soldiers who have intervened, the police services and the special intervention force, Antwerp mayor Bart de Wever tweeted. Continue to be vigilant Prime Minister Charles Michel said the government was following this situation as it develops in the Flemish-speaking northern city. We continue to be vigilant. Our security services did an excellent job in Antwerp, thanks, he tweeted. Meir is the main shopping street in Antwerps historic centre and is mostly pedestrianised. It is one of the most important shopping areas in the country. A map locating Antwerp, where a man tried to drive into a crowd in a shopping area at high-speed. (AFP) With soldiers deployed at key sites, Belgium has been on high alert since March 22 last year when suicide bombers attacked Zaventem airport and Maalbeek metro station that left 32 people dead and more than 320 wounded. Belgium suffered a further shock in August when a machete-wielding man shouting Allahu akbar (God is greatest) attacked two policewomen in the industrial town of Charleroi. He badly injured one in the face, before a third officer shot him dead. IS fighters coming home Islamic State Jihadists have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks using vehicles in Europe in recent months, including Wednesdays carnage in London. Attackers rammed lorries into crowds in the French city of Nice in July last year killing 86 people and a Christmas market in the German capital Berlin last year. On Wednesday, Belgiums King Philippe and Queen Mathilde led ceremonies commemorating the Brussels bombings, which were also claimed by IS. Interior Minister Jan Jambon told AFP in the runup to the anniversary that tighter security had made Belgium safer safer than it was a year ago. However he said it faced the threat of continuing radicalisation at home and from battle-hardened fighters returning from Middle East battle fields. Belgiums federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw told AFP in November that the cell that carried out the Brussels bombings, and was involved in the Paris attacks, had got its orders from high up in the IS command. Numbering around 500, Belgium is the European Unions largest per capita source of so-called foreign jihadist fighters, but Jambon said none had left the country for the Middle East since January 2016. British police arrested seven people in armed raids on Thursday linked to the deadly Islamist-related attacks the day on the symbol of the countrys democracy. Britains top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley also said police have revised down the number of victims from Wednesdays rampage to three from four. Some 40 people were wounded. We have searched six addresses and made seven arrests, Britains top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley told reporters in London. He said the raids included locations in London and the central city of Birmingham. Defiant British MPs meanwhile vowed to return to work as normal after the lightning attack on the iconic parliament building in the shadow of Big Ben. Authorities worked around the clock to piece together what happened when carnage was sown in the heart of London as the attacker ran down several pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge then charged at a policeman at the parliament gates, stabbing him to death with a large knife. Armed officers shot the attacker dead but not before he had killed two members of the public and the 48-year policeman guarding the seat of British political power in the deadliest attack in the country since 2005. Press Association news agency photos believed to be of the attacker lying on an ambulance stretcher showed a burly man wearing black clothes and a beard. Other pictures showed two people being treated on the ground inside the vehicle entrance gates of parliament, with a knife visible on the cobblestones, while three shots were heard ringing out on video footage as terrified passers-by fled. British lawmaker Mary Creagh told AFP there was a real sense of panic as the attack unfolded and a doctor at nearby St Thomas Hospital said they were treating people with catastrophic injuries. Forensics investigators and police officers work at the site near Westminster Bridge the morning after an attack by a man driving a car and weilding a knife. (Reuters) Sick and depraved Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as sick and depraved in a defiant address in which she affirmed parliament would meet as normal on Thursday. Standing outside her Downing Street residence after an emergency cabinet meeting, May said Britains alert level would remain unchanged at level four, or severe. We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart, said May, dressed in black. The prime minister was in parliament at the time of the attack and was ushered away in a silver car as gunfire rang out. Islamist-related terrorism Rowley said on Wednesday police suspected they were dealing with Islamist-related terrorism, adding that investigators believed they knew the assailants identity. Queen Elizabeth II postponed her appearance on Thursday to open the new headquarters of Londons Metropolitan Police, where the forces flag flew at half-mast following the attack. The attack came a year to the day after Islamic State jihadists killed 32 people in twin bomb attacks in Brussels and after a series of deadly assaults in Europe that had spared Britain -- until Wednesday. Parliament was locked down for several hours and police evacuated hundreds of MPs and visitors to nearby Westminster Abbey and the Metropolitan Police headquarters. An air ambulance flew in and police cordoned off a large area, while tourists on the London Eye, a popular visitor attraction, were left dangling up to 135 metres (443 feet) in the air for more than an hour during the attack. I saw three bodies lying on the ground and a whole lot of police. It was pretty terrifying, said Jack Hutchinson, 16, from the United States, who was stranded on the observation wheel with his parents. Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose brother Jonathan was killed in the 2002 Bali bombing, was pictured with his face smeared with blood helping to give first aid to the fatally wounded police officer. An injured man is assisted on the footpath under Westminster Bridge after an incident in London. (Reuters) Terror carnage at Westminster The worst previous attack in London was in 2005 when four British suicide bombers inspired by Al-Qaeda targeted the transport system, killing 52 people. Britains last terror attack was last years assassination of MP Jo Cox by a pro-Nazi sympathiser in her constituency in northern England. Britains allies reacted with shock and vowed to stand with London in the fight against terror while lights on the Eiffel Tower in Paris were switched off at midnight in solidarity with victims of the attack. US President Donald Trump and French President Francois Hollande both spoke to May and Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany stood with Britons against all forms of terrorism. Spoke to UK Prime Minister Theresa May today to offer condolences on the terrorist attack in London, Trump tweeted. The incident dominated Britains front pages, with The Mirror describing it as an attack on democracy while Londons Evening Standard carried the headline Terror carnage at Westminster. International victims Several international tourists visiting one of Londons most iconic sights were caught up in the violence. Five South Korean tourists were wounded, Seouls foreign ministry said, while the Romanian government said two of its citizens were also injured. A Portuguese man was hurt, the countrys government said, while a seriously injured woman was rescued from the River Thames following the incident. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said he would travel to London on Thursday morning to visit three French pupils on a school trip who were among those hurt. Chinese, Saudi and Turkish troops for the first time joined the Pakistan Day parade in the capital Islamabad on Thursday, in a sign of deepening ties. Before Pakistan showed off long-range rockets, tanks and other military hardware, armed Chinese troops marched past Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the chief of Pakistans powerful military. Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain said it was the first time Chinese troops participated in a parade in a foreign country, terming it a historic event, with the two countries embarking on building vast infrastructure together. Chinese troops march during a Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad. The militaries of the two countries have in recent years also increased cooperation. (AFP) Soldiers from Saudi Arabia, a long-time Pakistan ally, also joined the parade, as did a military band from Turkey, another largely Muslim nation that has strengthened ties with nuclear-armed Pakistan in recent years. Islamabad considers China an all-weather friend and in recent years the countries have grown even closer on the back of the $57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a Beijing-funded network of road, rail and pipelines that will link western China with Pakistans Arabian Sea port of Gwadar. The militaries of the two countries have in recent years also increased cooperation, with Chinese officials urging Pakistan to do more to improve security to help CPEC work. Saudi Arabian special troops march during a Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad. (AFP) China has long pressed Pakistan to do more to rein in Islamist militants, saying they have connections with extremists and separatists in Chinas unruly far western region of Xinjiang. The United States also has a strategic relationship with Pakistan, but the ties appear transactional at times, with Washington periodically cutting off funding for the Pakistani military to penalise it for failing to do enough to curb Islamist militants destabilising the region. Donald Trump Jr is facing a backlash for criticizing London mayor Sadiq Khan with a scornful tweet sent hours after an attack at the Houses of Parliament left four dead, including a police officer. The US presidents eldest son (39) tweeted a link to a September 2016 story in the Independent , which quoted Khan saying terror attacks were part and parcel of living in a big city, and I want to be reassured that every single agency and individual involved in protecting our city has the resources and expertise they need to respond in the event that London is attacked. You have to be kidding me?! Trump Jr tweeted, quoting the headline: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan. You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan https://t.co/uSm2pwRTjO Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 22, 2017 Its unclear if the presidents son read the article or understood that the quote was from six months ago and not a response to the Wednesday attack, which police are treating as a terrorist incident . Authorities said four people died, including a police officer stabbed by a lone attacker trying to enter the House of Commons. The suspect was fatally shot, and at least 20 people have been injured. The tweet earned strong criticisms in the US and the UK, including from Wes Streeting , the MP for Ilford North and former president of the National Union of Students. You use a terrorist attack on our city to attack Londons Mayor for your own political gain. Youre a disgrace, Streeting wrote. Is this helpful @DonaldJTrumpJr? tweeted Ciaran Jenkins, a correspondent with Channel 4 News. Did you even read the article before goading Londons Mayor during a live incident? Headline is based on very first sentence, which if youd bothered to read it could apply to any major city in the world, Jenkins added. Others on Twitter pointed Trump Jr to Khans actual response to the attack on Wednesday, in which he said: Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism. I want to reassure all Londoners and all our visitors not to be alarmed. Our city remains one of the safest in the world. London is the greatest city in the world. And we stand together in the face of those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life. We always have and we always will, the mayor said. Khans 2016 comments came after a bombing in New York City that injured 29 people. This is not the first time Trump Jr has gotten into trouble for his tweets. In September, he compared Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles , prompting widespread backlash. He also faced criticisms for sharing a white supremacist meme . The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dubais Emirates airline on Thursday announced it will provide a free packing-and-handling service for passengers on flights hit by a US ban on electronic devices larger than a standard smartphone. Emirates will allow passengers to hold on to their laptops and tablets after checking in until boarding time, when security staff at the gates will themselves pack the devices into boxes and load them onto the flight. Our new complimentary service enables passengers, particularly those flying for business, to have the flexibility to use their devices until the last possible moment, said Tim Clark, president of Emirates. The devices will be returned to their owners upon arrival in the United States free of charge. The service from Emirates, which prides itself as an airline of choice for business travellers, is also available for passengers transiting through Dubai International Airport. The US ban on laptops and tablets applies to flights from 10 airports in the region, including direct flights to the United States from Dubai International Airport and Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. US airlines do not operate direct flights out of the airports included in the ban. A similar British ban covers all airports in Turkey, Jordan and four other countries, but not the United Arab Emirates. Both countries have cited credible threats to civil aviation from Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group as the reason for the ban, which has come under criticism for targeting majority-Muslim countries. The bans officially go into effect this Saturday. Five people were killed and about 40 injured in London on Wednesday after a car ploughed into pedestrians and a suspected Islamist-inspired attacker stabbed a policeman close to Britains parliament. The dead, in what police called a marauding terrorist attack, included the assailant and the policeman he stabbed. The other three victims were among those hit by the car as it sped across Westminster Bridge before crashing into railings just outside parliament. Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the attack as sick and depraved. The location of this attack was no accident, she said in a statement outside her 10 Downing Street office late in the evening. The terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech. Any attempt to defeat those values through violence was doomed to failure, May said. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi expressed grief over the attack. Deeply saddened by the terror attack in London. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, Modi tweeted. At this difficult moment, India stands with UK in the fight against terrorism. @theresa_may @Number10Gov Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2017 Mark Rowley, Britains most senior counter-terrorism officer, told reporters the attack started when a car was driven over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injuring members of the public and three police officers. A car then crashed near to parliament and at least one man, armed with a knife, continued the attack and tried to enter parliament, Rowley said. He said the polices fast-paced investigation was working on the assumption that the attack was Islamist-related terrorism. Police believed they knew the identity of the attacker but would not provide details at this stage, he said. It was the deadliest attack in London since four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the citys transport system in July 2005, in Londons worst peacetime attack. Map of London, locating the Houses of Parliament, site of attacks Wednesday. (AFP) It took place on the first anniversary of attacks by Islamist militants that killed 32 people in Brussels. Reuters reporters inside parliament during Wednesdays attack heard loud bangs and shortly afterwards saw the knifeman and the stabbed policeman lying on the ground in a courtyard within the gates of parliament. The dead police officer was identified as Keith Palmer, 48, with 15 years of service. Lawmakers caught up in chaos A Reuters photographer saw at least a dozen people injured on the bridge. His photographs showed people lying on the ground, some of them bleeding heavily and one under a bus. A woman was pulled alive, but with serious injuries, from the Thames, the Port of London Authority said. The circumstances of her fall into the river were unknown. Three French schoolchildren aged 15 or 16 were among those injured in the attack, French officials said. Several members of parliament (MPs) and senior officials were caught up in the chaos. Tobias Ellwood, a junior Foreign Office minister, was pictured attempting to resuscitate a man lying unconscious, reported to be the stabbed policeman. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said there would be additional police officers on the city streets to keep Londoners and visitors safe. We stand together in the face of those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life. We always have, and we always will. Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism, he said. Parliaments lower House of Commons, which was in session at the time, was suspended and lawmakers were asked to stay inside the building for several hours. May said parliament would convene as normal on Thursday in a sign that the attack would not disrupt life in the capital. However, a visit by Queen Elizabeth to officially open the new headquarters of Londons police force, which had been planned for Thursday, was postponed in light of todays events, Buckingham Palace said. In a telephone call with May, President Donald Trump offered Britain the full cooperation and support of the United States, the White House said. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemned the attack as horrific acts of violence. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg were among foreign leaders who expressed shock and solidarity. No signs of life Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic during the attack. I just saw a car go out of control and just go into pedestrians on the bridge, said Bernadette Kerrigan, who had been on a tour bus on the bridge, in an interview with Sky News. As we were going across the bridge, we saw people lying on the floor, they were obviously injured. I saw about 10 people maybe. And then the emergency services started to arrive. Everyone was just running everywhere. Former Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who witnessed the attack from a taxi as he crossed the bridge, said he saw five victims and made a video of the scene. People leave after being evacuated from the Houses of Parliament in central London on March 22, 2017 during an emergency incident. (AFP Photo) I heard something that sounded like a small car crash. Then I looked out of the window and saw that there was one person lying on the asphalt, he told Reuters. I did not see the face of the person lying on the asphalt, but the person was not moving, it was not showing any signs of life. One of the men I saw, his head was bleeding very badly. But the person I filmed -- no, that person was not showing any signs of life. Journalist Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail newspaper told LBC radio that he had witnessed the stabbing of the policeman and the shooting of the assailant from his office in the parliament building. He (the assailant) ran in through the open gates ... He set about one of the policemen with what looked like a stick, Letts said. The policeman fell over on the ground and it was quite horrible to watch and then having done that, he disengaged and ran towards the House of Commons entrance used by MPs and got about 20 yards or so when two plain-clothed guys with guns shot him. In Edinburgh, the Scottish parliament suspended a planned debate and vote on independence as the news from London came in. Britain is on its second-highest alert level of severe meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely. The most recent deadly attack in London to be treated as a terrorist incident was in May 2013, when two British Islamists stabbed to death soldier Lee Rigby on a street. (With inputs from agencies) World leaders unanimously condemned the attack in the heart of London by a man who was shot dead by armed police, with many saying they stand with Britain. At least four people were killed and more than 40 injured in the attack outside parliament Wednesday when a man mowed down pedestrians with a car then leapt out and stabbed a police officer. In an address outside her Downing Street office, Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as sick and depraved saying the assailant chose the site as an assault on Britains democratic values. Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany stood firmly and resolutely alongside Britons in the struggle against all forms of terrorism while President Frank-Walter Steinmeier added: In these grave moments, we Germans feel very close to the British people. Merkel: Deeply shocked by attacks on police & members of public in London. My thoughts are with injured & our solidarity goes out to the UK. GermanEmbassyLondon (@GermanEmbassy) March 22, 2017 France President Francois Hollande sent a message of solidarity and support to the British people saying France could identify with their pain after the attack, in which three French high school students were also wounded. France, which has been hit so hard in recent times, knows what the British people are suffering today, he said. And Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve tweeted: Solidarity with our British friends, horribly attacked, full support for the injured French students, their families and their friends. United States The White House condemned the attack and pledged the full support of the US government in responding to the attack and bringing those to justice who are responsible, spokesman Sean Spicer said at a briefing. Canada Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: Our thoughts are with the victims of todays attack in London & their families. Canadians remain united with the people of the UK. Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) March 22, 2017 European Union European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the attack left him highly emotional. In Brussels to commemorate the one-year anniversary of attacks on the main airport and a metro station, Juncker said the fact that exactly on the same day something similar happened in London, and to London, is really putting me in the situation of someone who does not have... enough words to express how I am deeply feeling. European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted: My thoughts are with the victims of the Westminster attack. Europe stands firm with the UK against terror and ready to help. Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) March 22, 2017 Russia Speaking on Russian television, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sent Moscows condolences and said Russia felt Britains pain. We consider it an evil to which it is necessary to fight collectively. In this moment, as always, our hearts are with Britons and we share their pain. The Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Dutch television he was shocked by the horrific news and said: The city is in our hearts. We are following the situation closely, and are in contact with the British authorities. Italy Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who observed a moment of silence at the start of a meeting with Social Democratic lawmakers, expressed his condolences and said: Italy and the United Kingdom remain side-by-side in our condemnation and firm response to all forms of terrorism. Belgium Our condolences are with those who mourn and all who are affected in London, Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted. Our condolences are with those who mourn and all who are affected in #London. Belgium stands with U.K. in fight against terror @theresa_may Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) March 22, 2017 Turkey Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasised that Turkey feels and shares deeply in the United Kingdoms pain and that it stood in solidarity with Britain in the fight against terrorism. Erdogan had earlier warned Europeans in a speech on Wednesday that no European, no Westerner will be able to take steps on the street safely and peacefully, as a crisis between Ankara and the EU showed no signs of abating. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called terrorism a global catastrophe on Turkish television, adding: All countries should come together on the terror issue and fight together against it. Japan We are shocked and angered at the terror attack that generated many deaths and injuries, Japans top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters Thursday at a regular briefing. The government absolutely condemns the despicable terror attack. We express our heartfelt condolences to victims and bereaved families, he said, adding: Japan expresses a keen sense of unity with the British people. Greece We express our solidarity with the British people on todays indiscriminate attack, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tweeted. Spain Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tweeted: Espana esta con el pueblo britanico. Condeno el ataque sufrido en las inmediaciones de Westminster, Londres. Solidaridad con las victimas MR Mariano Rajoy Brey (@marianorajoy) March 22, 2017 Portugal This attack clearly shows the priorities on which Europe must concentrate. Its only when we are united that we have the capacity to face these threats, said Portugals Prime Minister Antonio Costa. Australia Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the assault was an attack on freedom and democracy everywhere. But we will never, ever let the terrorists win. We will defeat and destroy them on the battlefield, we will defeat and defy them at home, he said. We will never change the way we live. We will never let them divide us. Australia stands in resolute solidarity with the people of Britain in war against terrorism. Our heartfelt sympathies are with the victims. Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) March 22, 2017 China We send our condolences to the prime minister of the UK and together we condemn terrorism and we stand against all forms of terrorism, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in Canberra, speaking alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Qatar Qatar stressed its rejection of violence in all its forms and its support for the UK government in all the measures it takes to maintain the countrys security. Venezuela Venezuelas socialist President Nicolas Maduro expressed full support for the people of London and our absolute rejection of all forms of terrorism. Enough terrorism, enough war, enough violence. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and support the victims and their families, he said in televised comments. Hawaii lawmaker Beth Fukumoto, ousted last month as Republican leader of the states House of Representatives after publicly criticising President Donald Trump, resigned on Wednesday from her party to seek membership as a Democrat. Fukumoto, 33, the youngest Hawaii legislator to serve as House minority leader, said divisive campaign rhetoric during the 2016 elections convinced her the Republican Party no longer reflected her political values or the interests of her states diverse population. This election, I saw members of my party marginalising and condemning minorities, ethnic or otherwise, and making demeaning comments towards women, she said in an open letter of resignation to the Republican Party. Fukumoto, who is of mixed Japanese and Irish ancestry, said she found Trumps comments about banning Muslim immigrants and the possibility of establishing a registry of Muslim-Americans to be especially troubling. I wanted very badly to see the Republican Party denounce his comments, and that didnt happen, she told Reuters, saying a Muslim registry struck her as one step away from internment camps. That for me was the issue that really changed how I felt. A self-described political moderate, Fukumoto was the first Republican in 26 years to represent the largely middle-class central Oahu district outside Honolulu, capital of the predominantly Democratic state. She said she originally joined the Republicans out of a sense that Democrats were the status quo party, but she grew gradually disillusioned with the Republicans. She recounted a fellow Republican caucus member admonishing her last year that they should be considered the party of middle America despite Hawaiis diverse demographics. Before making the switch, Fukumoto sent out a questionnaire to constituents seeking their opinions. Of those who replied, 76 percent said they would support her regardless, while most of the remainder opposed her changing parties, she said. First elected to the state legislature in 2012, Fukumoto became leader of the states tiny House Republican caucus two years later, only to be removed by her peers in February of this year after she spoke out against Trump during the Womens March in Hawaii the day after his inauguration. As of Wednesday, Fukumoto, became the lone independent among 45 Democrats and five remaining Republicans in the states lower House, as she launches a process of applying for membership in the states majority party. A court in the United Arab Emirates has sentenced an Indian expat to 10 years in prison followed by deportation for espionage, local press reported on Thursday. An Abu Dhabi appeals court found the man -- who was not identified -- guilty of sharing sensitive information about movements of military ships with an unspecified country, according to the Gulf News daily. The United Arab Emirates last year sentenced an Indian citizen to five years in prison for spying for his country, Gulf News reported at the time. A number of other expatriates have been convicted of espionage in the UAE in recent years, including Pakistanis and Qataris. The so-called Islamic State on Thursday claimed responsibility for the terror attack in the Westminster village on Wednesday that left four dead, 29 injured, and the heart of Britains political establishment shocked but determined to keep calm and carry on. Amaq, the news agency used by IS to broadcast propaganda, said the group was responsible for the attack that included the attacker ploughing a car through pedestrians on the Westminster Bridge and later trying to enter the houses of parliament. It called the as yet unidentified attacker a soldier of Islamic State, as Prime Minister Theresa May informed the House of Commons that he was known to intelligence services, was born in Britain, and had been investigated some years ago by MI5 in relation to terrorism. She called him a peripheral figure who was not on the radar in recent times. May also revealed that eight people had been arrested in overnight raids in London and Birmingham. Some reports said the car used by the attacker was hired in Birmingham, where raids were carried out, besides at some addresses in London. MPs paid moving tributes to police officer Keith Palmer, who died after being stabbed several times by the attacker, as May said the threat level from international terrorism will remain at the second-highest level of severe. She confirmed that the attack was related to Islamist terrorism: Our working assumption is that the attacker was inspired by Islamist ideology. We know the threat from Islamist terrorism is very real. But while the public should remain utterly vigilant they should not and will not be cowed by this threat. The large number of tourists who usually throng the picturesque Westminster Bridge was reflected in the nationalities of those injured. May said those injured included 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Chinese, one Irish, one Italian, one American and two Greeks. May, MPs and others paid tributes to Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, who was called a hero for trying his best to save the life of police officer Keith Palmer, who was stabbed to death by the attacker within the parliament precincts. Striking a defiant note on London and Britain returning to normal, May said:But the greatest response lies not in the words of politicians, but in the everyday actions of ordinary people.For beyond these walls today in scenes repeated in towns and cities across the country millions of people are going about their days and getting on with their lives. The streets are as busy as ever.The offices full. The coffee shops and cafes bustling.As I speak millions will be boarding trains and aeroplanes to travel to London, and to see for themselves the greatest city on Earth.It is in these actions millions of acts of normality that we find the best response to terrorism. The Union Jack flew at half-mast, some roads around the Westminster village remained closed, but the humdrum of everyday life quickly returned in most of London on Thursday as parliament sent out a message of defiance against terrorism. In fact, even as Wednesdays terror attack was taking place and was being dealt with by Scotland Yard near the Big Ben and parliament square, few appeared elsewhere in this sprawling metropolis appeared concerned or changed routines. Eight arrests were made and addresses raided in Birmingham, London and elsewhere as Scotland Yard, parliament, London ambulance service and others observed a minutes silence in memory of those killed. Leaders and cities across the world expressed solidarity with London. London mayor Sadiq Khan announced a vigil at Trafalgar Square on Thursday evening. The threat to Britain from international terrorism remains since August 2014 at severe, and officials insisted that it would not be upgraded to the highest level of critical. Mark Rowley of Scotland Yard said:It is still our belief - which continues to be borne out by our investigation - that this attacker acted alone yesterday and was inspired by international terrorismClearly our investigation is ongoing - developing all the time - and is focused on his motivation, his preparation and associates. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen ($9,000) through his wife for a school run by ultranationalist educators, the groups leader told Parliament on Thursday, while also suggesting a land-buying scandal involving the school had political influence behind it. First lady Akie Abe had been honorary principal of the elementary school for several months until resigning two weeks after the scandal erupted in early February. In his sworn testimony in Parliament, Yasunori Kagoike, head of the Moritomo Gakuen group, said Akie Abe handed him the cash in an envelope on behalf of her husband during her September 2015 visit to Kagoikes kindergarten in Osaka. Abe has denied such a donation took place, but it would have been legal under Japanese law because Osaka is not Abes electoral constituency, which is in Yamaguchi in southern Japan. Still, Abe and his wifes ties to Kagoike have raised questions due to his extreme views on history and derogatory expressions about Chinese and Koreans, and the land-buying scandal involving the school has eroded Abes support in opinion polls. Kagoikes school is known for a curriculum that is seen as resembling that of pre-World War II militaristic Japan. And Kagoike is affiliated with the powerful political lobby Nippon Kaigi, which is believed to be behind Abes comeback in 2012 and has become influential in pushing Abes ultra-conservative platform. A building under construction for an elementary school in a compound owned by the Moritomo Gakuen group. (AP) Abe had spoken fondly about Kagoikes education policies but has distanced himself from the man, criticizing him for being too persistent. Kagoike said he is revealing the truth about Abe, who he thought was supportive before brushing him off once the scandal emerged. He said both Abes have kept close ties to him and Akie has exchanged dozens of text messages with his wife despite the scandal. Abe has denied any influence in the sale last year of state property to Kagoike at 134 million yen ($1.2 million), one-seventh of its appraised price. But Kagoike told parliament he believed there was political influence over his land purchase and a plan to open an elementary school. I believe there was political influence one way or the other at every occasion and place (during approval process), Kagoike said, without elaborating. The school project advanced rapidly through the licensing process but has fallen apart, Kagoike said, and he is seen as the bad guy, as if he had been framed. He urged lawmakers to question Akie, her assistant and finance ministry bureaucrats to clarify their responsibility in the land purchase. Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga on Thursday reiterated his and Abes denial over the alleged donation or any other political influence over Moritomo Gakuens licensing for its elementary school, where construction is almost complete. Four people were killed and 40 injured after being run over and stabbed in an attack at the gates of British democracy attributed by police to Islamist-related terrorism. The attack unfolded on Wednesday across Westminster Bridge in the shadow of Big Ben, a towering landmark that draws tourists by the millions and stands over Britains Houses of Parliament -- the very image of London. Heres what we know so far. Terror unleashed A knife-wielding man went on the deadly rampage, plowing a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Four people and the assailant were killed in what Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as a sick and depraved terrorist attack. The car crashed into railings on the north side of the bridge, less than 200 yards (meters) from the entrance to Parliament. As people scattered in panic, witnesses saw a man holding a knife run toward the building. The whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben, said witness Rick Longley. A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. I have never seen anything like that. I just cant believe what I just saw. The attacker managed to get past a gate into Parliaments fenced-in New Palace Yard, a cobbled courtyard in the shadow of the Big Ben clock tower. Daily Mail journalist Quentin Letts said a man in black attacked the police officer before being shot two or three times as he tried to storm into the building. As this attacker was running towards the entrance two plain-clothed guys with guns shouted at him what sounded like a warning, he ignored it and they shot two or three times and he fell, Letts told the BBC. The attacker fell to the cobbles just yards from the entrance to 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the parliamentary complex, busy with visitors and school groups. Beyond that, a corridor leads to the buildings Central Lobby, flanked by House of Commons and House of Lords chambers. Members of the emergency services work on Westminster Bridge. (AFP) Quick response Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down after the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament, just yards (meters) from entrances to the building itself and in the shadow of the iconic Big Ben clock tower. He died, as did three pedestrians on the bridge, and the police officer. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had catastrophic injuries. Three police officers, several French teenagers on a school trip, two Romanian tourists and five South Korean visitors were among the injured. Parliament was locked down for several hours, and the adjoining Westminster subway station was shuttered. Conservative lawmaker Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was killed in the Bali terror attack in 2002, performed first aid on the wounded police officer, who later died. About 10 yards away lay the assailant. I tried to stem the flow of blood and give mouth to mouth while waiting for the medics to arrive but I think he had lost too much blood, Ellwood said. He had multiple wounds, under the arm and in the back. The attack began early Wednesday afternoon as a driver in a gray SUV slammed into pedestrians on the bridge linking Parliament to the south bank of the River Thames. The prime minister was among lawmakers near the Commons at the time of the attack, and was quickly ushered away by security officers and driven back to Downing Street. To get that far, the attacker would have had to evade the armed officers who patrol the Parliament complex in pairs, as well as Parliaments own security staff, who dont carry guns. The attack unfolded near some of the citys most famous tourist sites, including the London Eye, a large Ferris wheel with pods that overlook the capital. It was halted after the attack, stranding visitors in the pods, with an aerial view of the attack scene. Dr. Colleen Anderson of St. Thomas Hospital said some of the wounded had catastrophic injuries. The French foreign ministry said that three students on a school trip from Saint-Joseph in the Brittany town of Concarneau were among the injured. Two Romanians were also among the injured, the countrys foreign ministry said. A street sign indicates a road closure near Buckingham Palace, as roads leading towards Westminster and Parliament Square in central London remain closed. (AFP) Terror attack Police said they were treating the attack as terrorism. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley said police believed there was only one attacker, but it would be foolish to be overconfident early on. He said an unarmed policeman, three civilians and the attacker died. Forty others, including three police officers, were injured. Islamic extremism was suspected in the attack, Rowley said, adding that authorities believe they know the assailants identity but would not reveal it while the investigation was ongoing. The threat level for international terrorism in the UK was already listed at severe, meaning an attack was highly likely. Wednesday was the anniversary of suicide bombings in the Brussels airport and subway that killed 32 people last year, and the latest events echoed recent vehicle attacks in Berlin and Nice, France. London has often been the target of terrorist attacks, from IRA campaigns in the 1970s and 80s to more recent Islamist plots. On July 7, 2005, four al Qaeda-inspired British bombers blew themselves up on three subway trains and a bus in London, killing 52 people. British security forces say they have thwarted some 13 terror plots over the past four years, but in recent years the UK has largely been spared major international terror attacks such as the ones seen in Belgium and France. Last year, a far-right supporter shot and killed British lawmaker Jo Cox, who had campaigned for the U.K. to remain in the European Union. Prior to that, an attacker claiming to be motivated by Syria stabbed three people at a London subway station. The most gruesome recent attack occurred in 2013 when two Muslim converts of Nigerian descent attacked Lee Rigby, a British soldier who was walking down the street. The men ran Rigby down with their vehicle and then used a cleaver to hack him to death as bystanders watched in horror. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement at Downing street in London. (REUTERS) United they stand US President Donald Trump was among world leaders offering condolences, and in Paris, the lights of the Eiffel Tower were to be dimmed in solidarity with London. Trump spoke with May by telephone and applauded the quick response of British police and first responders, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. May described the attack as sick and depraved, saying the assailant chose the site as an assault on Britains democratic values. German chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany stood firmly and resolutely alongside Britons in the struggle against all forms of terrorism while President Frank-Walter Steinmeier added: In these grave moments, we Germans feel very close to the British people. French President Francois Hollande sent a message of solidarity and support to the British people saying France could identify with their pain after the attack, in which three French high school students were also wounded. France, which has been hit so hard in recent times, knows what the British people are suffering today, he said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: Our thoughts are with the victims of todays attack in London and their families. Canadians remain united with the people of the UK. India reacts India stood with the United Kingdom in the fight against terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, adding he was deeply saddened by the terror attack. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said that there was no Indian casualty in the attack. Polands prime minister on Thursday drew a link between the attack in London targeting the British parliament and the European Unions migrant policy, saying the assault vindicated Warsaws refusal to take in refugees. Four people, including the attacker, were killed and about 40 injured on Wednesday after a car ploughed into pedestrians near the British parliament. Police believe the attack was Islamist-related, but have given no details about the attacker, who they say was acting alone. Polands right-wing, eurosceptic government has refused to accept any of the 6,200 migrants allocated to it under the European Unions quota scheme that is designed to share the burden of taking in the large numbers of migrants and refugees who have come to Europe over the past two years. I hear in Europe very often: do not connect the migration policy with terrorism, but it is impossible not to connect them, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo told private broadcaster TVN24. Earlier this week the EUs migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, on a visit to Warsaw, warned member states against failing to host refugees to help alleviate pressure on frontline states bearing the brunt of arrivals across the Mediterranean. The commissioner should concentrate on what to do to avoid such acts as yesterday in London ... Poland will not succumb to blackmail such as that expressed by the commissioner, Szydlo said. The commissioner is coming to Warsaw and trying to tell us: you have to do what the EU decided, you have to take these migrants .... Two days later another terrorist attack in London occurs, she said. The leader of Szydlos ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said back in 2015 that refugees could bring diseases and parasites to Poland, which is staunchly Roman Catholic and has very few Muslim immigrants. The migrant issue is just one of several over which Poland is at odds with the EU. Also on Thursday Szydlo said Poland might not accept a declaration EU leaders are due to endorse in Rome this month that will chart the blocs course after Britain leaves unless it addresses issues Warsaw considers crucial. The attacker who killed three people near parliament in London before being shot dead was named on Thursday as British-born Khalid Masood, who was once investigated by MI5 intelligence officers over concerns about violent extremism. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued by its Amaq news agency, but did not name Masood and gave no details. It was not clear whether the attacker was directly connected to the jihadist group. Police said Masood, 52, was born in the county of Kent in southeast England and was most recently living in the West Midlands region of central England. He was known by a number of aliases. Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH (grievous bodily harm), possession of offensive weapons and public order offences ranging from 1983 to 2003. Prime Minister Theresa May earlier told parliament the attacker had once been investigated by the MI5 intelligence agency over concerns about violent extremism, but was a peripheral figure. During five minutes of mayhem in the heart of London on Wednesday, Masood sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, ploughing into pedestrians. He then ran through the gates of the nearby parliament building and fatally stabbed an unarmed policeman before being shot dead. Police arrested eight people at six locations in London and Birmingham in the investigation into the attack, which May said was inspired by a warped Islamist ideology. The Enterprise rental car company said the vehicle used in the attack had been rented from its Spring Hill branch in Birmingham, which is located in the West Midlands. An employee identified the vehicle after seeing the licence plate in an image online. We ran another check to verify, and immediately contacted the authorities, said company spokesman John Davies. About 40 people were injured in the attack, of whom 29 remain in hospital, seven in critical condition. The attack took place on the first anniversary of attacks that killed 32 people in Brussels, and resembled Islamic State-inspired attacks in France and Germany where vehicles were driven into crowds. The dead were two members of the public, the stabbed policeman and Masood. My thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterdays awful violence, Queen Elizabeth said in a message. US tourist Kurt Cochran was named as one of the dead in a Facebook post by family member Shantell Payne. With a heavy heart I must pass the sad news of our beautiful brother, father, husband, son and friend Kurt Cochran, he could not overcome the injuries he received in the London terror attacks, Payne wrote. Her post said Cochrans wife, Melissa Payne Cochran, was in hospital with a broken leg and rib and a cut on her head but would recover. Indian-origin MPs who were inside the British parliament and were caught up in the aftermath of Wednesdays terror attack called for unity among communities on Thursday as Prime Minister Theresa May and Scotland Yard linked the attack to Islamist-related terrorism. Proceedings of the House were suspended soon after the attack, and nearly 400 MPs and others were told not to leave the building until it was safe. Among those MPs confined to a chamber were Indian-origin Labour MPs Keith Vaz, Valerie Vaz, Virendra Sharma and Seema Malhotra, and Conservative MP Shailesh Vara . The picturesque area of Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, the parliament and the London Eye - the scene of the terror attack - has been a major attraction for Indian tourists, among others, but there were no reports of Indian casualties so far. Sharma asked people not to jump to conclusions about the attacker and called for peace, unity and cooperation. He said: Yesterday a brave Police officer ran towards danger to protect the public and lost his life. I want to praise PC Keith Palmers sacrifice along with the hard work and professionalism of all the security staff yesterday. I would also like to thank Tobias Ellwood, my friend and colleague, for doing what he could to try and save the life of PC Palmer. Many men and women lie injured in hospital after this contemptible act, and two people are dead from the attack on Westminster Bridge. While the facts of what truly happened are still unfolding I would encourage everyone to carry on with their lives, as Londoners have done for centuries. We must not jump to conclusions, we must not sink to the level of people who hate us, we must stand together as a community not apart and not scared, unbent and unbowed, he said. Conservative Vara participated in a debate after May made a statement in the House of Commons on the attack. The attacker, he said, showed an ideology which is an evil that seeks to destroy a way of life across the globe. Malhotra tweeted: Could not be more grateful for our amazing police and security forces. You take such risks to keep us safe and are true heroes. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Theresa May revealed on Thursday that the Westminster attacker was a person born in Britain whose identity was known to the police and intelligence services, and said eight people had been arrested in raids in London and Birmingham overnight. Making a statement in the House of Commons on Wednesdays terror attack that left four people dead and 29 injured, including seven critical, May said the threat level from international terrorism will remain at the second-highest level of severe. She confirmed that the attack was related to Islamist terrorism: "Our working assumption is that the attacker was inspired by Islamist ideology. We know the threat from Islamist terrorism is very real. But while the public should remain utterly vigilant they should not and will not be cowed by this threat. May did not reveal the identity of the attacker but said he was a peripheral figure known to intelligence agency MI5 and was investigated some years ago in relation to terrorism. Some reports said the car used in the attack was hired in Birmingham. The large number of tourists who usually throng the picturesque Westminster Bridge was reflected in the nationalities of those injured. May said those injured included 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Chinese, one Irish, one Italian, one American and two Greeks. May, MPs and others paid tributes to Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, who was called a hero for trying his best to save the life of police officer Keith Palmer, who was stabbed to death by the attacker within the parliament precincts. The Union Jack flew at half-mast, some roads around the Westminster village remained closed, but the humdrum of everyday life quickly returned in most of London on Thursday as parliament sent out a message of defiance against terrorism. In fact, even as Wednesdays terror attack was taking place and was being dealt with by Scotland Yard near the Big Ben and parliament square, few elsewhere in this sprawling metropolis appeared concerned or changed their routine. Eight arrests were made and addresses raided in Birmingham, London and elsewhere as Scotland Yard, the parliament, the London ambulance service and others observed a minutes silence in memory of those killed. Leaders and cities across the world expressed solidarity with London. London mayor Sadiq Khan announced a vigil at Trafalgar Square on Thursday evening. The threat to Britain from international terrorism remains since August 2014 at severe, and officials insisted that it would not be upgraded to the highest level of critical. Mark Rowley of Scotland Yard said: It is still our belief - which continues to be borne out by our investigation - that this attacker acted alone yesterday and was inspired by international terrorism Clearly our investigation is ongoing - developing all the time - and is focused on his motivation, his preparation and associates. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a bid to help Molenbeek shed an image as a hotbed of Islamist extremism, schoolchildren led a march to central Brussels wearing T-shirts stamped with jihad for love. They were followed by Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders to show solidarity with the broader Belgian society as it mourns the 32 people killed in the suicide bombings in Brussels exactly a year ago. This shows a positive face of Molenbeek, Fatima Zibouh, one of the march organisers, told AFP after the group reached Place de la Bourse, which has become the focal point of national mourning. Culminating in a crowd of several hundred people from all religions, they mingled with relatives of the dead as well as those wounded in the attacks who also spread a message of peace and love. People take part in a march in the Brussels district of Molenbeek as part of ceremonies commemorating the first anniversary of twin attacks at Brussels airport and a metro train. (REUTERS) What we wanted to do above all is to provide space for citizens to express their solidarity and pay tribute to the victims of the attacks, she added. The march, she said, was also a way to turn the page and allow Molenbeeks citizens to return to ordinary lives after all the negative media and political attention it received after the November 13, 2015 Paris attacks and the March 22, 2016 Brussels bombings. Many of the attackers hailed from Molenbeek, a large Muslim community that suffers high crime rates. Molenbeek has long been linked to radicalism, a fact highlighted in media coverage. But it is a community of around 95,000 people from nearly 100 nationalities that lies just a few metro stops from the gleaming headquarters of the European Union. In 2001, it was in Molenbeek that the assassins of Afghanistans anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud had stayed. It was also home to one of the 2004 Madrid train bombers and the main suspect in the 2014 Jewish Museum attack in Brussels, while the perpetrator of a foiled attack on an Amsterdam-Paris train in 2015 stayed in Molenbeek with his sister before boarding in Brussels. Children are our future Pharred, a Molenbeek shop owner who watched the march gather, hoped for a future where extremism on all sides gives way to a moderate centrism and said the solidarity march would help a little. The children are our future, the Belgian-born man of Moroccan origin said. However, he added, that the divide between Belgiums Muslims and non-Muslims had worsened since the attacks because of negative media coverage, expressions of support for armed jihadists and provocative statements about Islam from politicians. Marchers hold a banner which reads 'I love Molenbeek' as they walk to the Bourse during the one-year anniversary for Brussels attacks victims in Brussels on Wednesday, March 22, 2017. (AP Photo) Mustafa, a retired school teacher, said it is now more difficult than ever for people with Muslim names to find jobs and expressed fears a growing extreme right could drive immigrants like him away from Europe. We the parents are especially afraid for the future of our children, he told AFP as he marched behind the school children clutching a white rose. He carried a sign saying against terror, xenophobia and stigmatisation in order to live together in solidarity. Mustafa said a dream came true when he moved to Belgium in 1979 from his native Tangiers under the cloud of a Moroccan police state, becoming a citizen of a democratic country that respects the rights of all. He said he was optimistic his dream would survive the current crisis. As if to reinforce the point, worshippers from Attadamoun mosque in Molenbeek carried a banner: Hand in hand to live together in peace. Mohamed el Bachiri, a Belgian-Moroccan from Molenbeek who lost his wife Loubna Lafquiri in the metro attack, broadcast a message of jihad of love over a screen set up at Place de la Bourse. The message should be the response to those who seek to divide us and spread violence and terrorism. Stefaan Plysier, a Dutch-speaking Belgian, said his message and the rally itself were an important starting point in a discussion to dispel the image of Islam and violence. We can find some universal values, he said. North Korea has a criticism of US President Donald Trump he probably wasnt expecting: Hes too much like Barack Obama. North Koreas state media, which regularly vilified Obama in the strongest terms, had been slow to do the same with the Trump administration, possibly so that officials in Pyongyang could figure out what direction Trump will likely take and what new policies he may pursue. But his top diplomats recent trip to Asia, which featured some pretty tough talk, appears to have loosened their lips. In North Koreas first official comments since new Secretary of State Rex Tillersons swing through the region, a Foreign Ministry spokesman seized on the former oil executives blunt assessment that Obamas strategy needs to be replaced and US efforts to get North Korea to denuclearise over the past 20 years have been a failure. The spokesman then slammed Trump for adopting the same policies, particularly regarding tougher economic sanctions, nevertheless. Tillerson admitted the failure of the U.S. efforts to denuclearise the DPRK for 20 years and end of Obamas policy of strategic patience during his recent tour, the Norths official Korean Central News Agency said in the dispatch that ran late Monday, quoting the unnamed Foreign Ministry official. Now Tillerson is repeating what Obama touted ... until he left the White House. North Korea, officially known as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea or DPRK, hasnt exactly been sitting quietly by as Trump gets settled in. Just before Tillerson arrived in Tokyo, the North launched several ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan. While he was still in China, it conducted a test of what it called a revolutionary new type of engine for its rockets. On Wednesday, it appears to have conducted more missile tests from the eastern port city of Wonsan, though they reportedly failed. To be fair, Trump doesnt really have a North Korea policy yet. Tillerson stressed repeatedly that a comprehensive policy review is underway and that the purpose of his trip to Asia was to hear out the Norths neighbors. How much he was able to do that is questionable. South Korea has only an interim government these days, since its president was just forced out of office because of a scandal. China, North Koreas economic lifeline, has a longstanding dialogue-based agenda that Washington is already familiar with but has never shown much interest in. On the other hand, Tillerson did raise some eyebrows with a few tough-sounding warnings. While in Seoul, he said everything was on the table, including military intervention or even a pre-emptive strike if tougher sanctions or other diplomatic measures fail to achieve Washingtons goals. Some policy experts in the U.S. say that is really more smoke than fire. If you look at Tillersons full statements, they were much more of a continuation of current policy than has been portrayed in the press, with an emphasis on expanding sanctions, said David Wright, co-director and senior scientist of the Global Security Program for the Union of Concerned Scientists. You can try to squeeze North Korea with more sanctions and maybe slow its program, but its hard to see how to stop it from moving ahead without diplomacy. Tillersons remarks are completely in line with longstanding U.S. policy, including Obamas, but just stated more threateningly. President Bill Clinton, for example, is known to have seriously considered a pre-emptive strike over the nuclear issue in 1994. Even so, tone is important in diplomacy and Tillerson does seem to have reassured some in Seoul and Tokyo that the United States hasnt forgotten them. Pyongyang, however, seems to have hit the familiar bravado button. The nuclear force of the DPRK is the treasured sword of justice and the most reliable war deterrence to defend the socialist motherland and the life of its people, the official reportedly said. If the businessmen-turned-U.S. authorities thought that they would frighten the DPRK, they would soon know that their method would not work. Pakistan continues to allow its territories to be used by terrorists operating in India, Afghanistan and other nations and they have the tacit and overt support of officials in the host government, says Tulsi Gabbard, the newly elected co-chair of the India Caucus of the House of Representatives. In Congress, Ive worked to cut back US assistance for Pakistan, particularly any military assistance, and increase pressure on Pakistan to stop these dangerous actions and break these ties, the Democrat from Hawaii, a third-term member of the House of Representatives, said in an interview to Hindustan Times. Gabbard, 35, moved a legislation, Stop Arming Terrorists Act, in the House in January thats aimed at ending US funding of terrorist groups in Syria and the region, which has been the focus of her attention in recent months, but if passed it would outlaw US funding for countries that back terrorism, such as Pakistan. It has bipartisan support, as is reflected in its co-sponsors six Republicans and three Democrats and it was introduced in the senate in March by members of the upper chamber who are backing it. Leading them is Rand Paul, a fiercely libertarian Republican who has called Pakistan a Frenemy. On hate crimes against Indians, Gabbard said, The recent rise of violence against Indians, Hindus, Sikhs, and other religious and ethnic minorities is deeply concerning. In the 115th Congress, we will continue our work to increase awareness and understanding across our communities, and urge the department of justice to investigate these horrific acts and address the rise of hate crimes across the country. Gabbard also called for a reasonable US stand on the H-1B visa programme, saying, We cannot make cuts or limitations on immigration that do not take into account the broader economic and social impact for our country and for our friends around the world. The Trump administration is understood to be considering a set of measures, through one executive order or more or legislative action, to curb H-1B visas, a temporary work programme for high-skill workers that critics have said is being abused to lay off American workers. The first Hindu ever elected to US Congress, Gabbard has forged a unique bond with Indian Americans who have adopted her as one of their own brushing aside whatever sets her apart white, un-hyphenated American, born in the US. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York in September 2014. (PIB) And she has been a willing and active accomplice Gabbard is often more culturally Hindu than her Indian American colleagues in Congress and American politics generally. She greets Indian Americans, for one, with namaskar and not the standard local fare. Gabbard, a major in the US Army National Guard who has served two tours of duty in the Middle East, has also struck up a close relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who sent senior BJP official Ram Madhav to represent him at her wedding in Hawaii in 2015, with a gift of a pashmina shawl and Ganesh idol made of five metals. The congresswoman, a rising star in US politics and member of the House Armed Service and Foreign Affairs Committees, met President-elect Donald Trump in New York just days after his election in November to urge him to end the US-backed war to overthrow the Syrian government, an effort she has introduced legislation on and long fought to end in Congress. Gabbard was elected co-chair of the India Caucus, with Republican George Holding, last week. Minister of state for external affairs MJ Akbar on Thursday represented the government at the Pakistan Day celebration here that was attended by several political leaders and members of the Hurriyat Conference. High commissioner Abdul Basit, whose term is set to end soon, received guests during the event at the Pakistani mission. He began his address with a quip about the World Happiness Report 2017 that ranked Pakistan and China ahead of India, which came in at a lowly 122 among the 155 countries on the list. We may not be the richest country in the world but according to a recent report we are the happiest one in the region. And that itself is a testimony to the resilience of our people, Basit said. We have no doubt, we are confident that Pakistan is now surging ahead and it is destined to become a regional economic hub and achieve ever more heights in its march towards peace and progress, he added. We also wish other regional countries more progress, more prosperity and we hope that whatever variables (and) factors that impede regional cooperation would be eliminated. Basit, who was recently passed over for the post of foreign secretary, said he hoped the regions collective future is far, far better than our past. He added, We also wish other regional countries more progress, more prosperity and we hope that whatever variables (and) factors that impede regional cooperation would be eliminated. The Pakistani envoy and his wife hosted a dinner for the guests, who included several ambassadors, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar and Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Bhat. Pakistan Day commemorates both the Lahore Resolution passed on March 23, 1940 for the creation of a separate homeland for Muslims in South Asia and the adoption of Pakistans first Constitution on the same day in 1956. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 6,800-tonne South Korean ferry was hoisted to the surface on Thursday nearly three years after it capsized and sank into violent seas off the countrys southwestern coast, an emotional moment for the country as it searches for closure to one of its deadliest disasters. More than 300 people -- most of whom were students on a high school trip -- died when the Sewol sank on April 16, 2014, touching off an outpouring of national grief and soul searching about long-ignored public safety and regulatory failures. Public outrage over what was seen as a botched rescue job by the government contributed to the recent ouster of Park Geun-hye as president. Workers raise the sunken Sewol ferry between two barges during the salvage operation in waters off Jindo in South Korea. (AP) Workers on two barges began the salvaging operation on Wednesday night, rolling up 66 cables connected to a frame of metal beams divers spent months putting beneath the ferry, which had been lying on its side in about 44 metres (145 feet) of water. People watch a TV news programme showing the sunken ferry Sewol partially lifted above in waters off Jindo in South Korea. (AP) By 3:45am, Sewols stabiliser surfaced from the water. About an hour later, the blue-and-white right side of the ship, rusty and scratched and its painted name SEWOL no longer visible, emerged for the first time in more than 1,000 days. By about 7am, the ferry had been raised enough for workers to climb on it and fasten it further to the barges. As of 5pm, the top of the ferry was about 8.5 metres (27 feet) above the waters surface. A relative of a missing passenger of the sunken Sewol ferry cries as she watches workers lift the boat in waters off Jindo in South Korea. (AP) The bodies of 295 passengers were recovered after the sinking, but nine are still missing. Relatives, some of whom were watching from two fishing boats just outside the operation area, hope those remains will be found inside the ferry. Some cried as they took turns watching the emerging wreckage with telescopes. I shouted in joy when we heard that the ship surfaced at dawn. I thought we finally can find the missing nine, Lee Geum-hee, the mother of a missing school girl, told a television crew. In this April 16, 2014 file photo, South Korean rescue helicopters fly over the ferry Sewol, trying to rescue passengers from the ship in waters off Jindo in South Korea. (AP File) But when I actually saw the ship coming up, I was devastated. All this time my poor child was in that cold, dirty place. It was heart wrenching. Lee Cheoljo, an official from the ministry of oceans and fisheries, said workers need to raise the ferry until its upper side is about 13 metres (42 feet) above the surface. A graphic showing plans to raise the sunken Sewol ferry, according to the South Korean maritime ministry. (AFP) Workers had initially planned to do this by Thursday morning, but were forced to halt temporarily when the ferry began rubbing against pulleys and other equipment on the barges as it came up, Lee said. They resumed hoisting the ferry after spending hours to better balance it. Once Sewol is raised to the desired height, salvage crews will load it onto a semi-submersible, heavy-lift vessel that will carry it to a mainland port. The loading process, including emptying the ferry of water and fuel, is expected to take days. Once the ferry reaches the port 90 kilometers (55 miles) away in the city of Mokpo in about two weeks, workers will begin clearing mud and debris and search for the remains of the missing victims. An investigation committee will also search for clues that could further explain the cause of the sinking, which has been blamed on overloaded cargo, improper storage and other negligence. A group representing the families of the victims issued a statement demanding that it be part of the investigation committee. Many bereaved family members and their supporters have been demanding a more thorough investigation of the governments responsibility in the sinking, questioning why higher-level officials have not been held accountable. The ferrys captain survived and is serving a life sentence after a court found him guilty of committing homicide through willful negligence because he fled the ship without issuing an evacuation order. Ousted President Park was forced to defend herself against accusations that she was out of contact for several hours on the day of the sinking. The allegations were included in an impeachment bill lawmakers passed against Park in December, amid broader corruption suspicions. Park was formally removed from office by the Constitutional Court earlier this month. She is now under criminal investigation over suspicions that she conspired with a confidante to extort money and favors from companies and allow the friend to secretly interfere with state affairs. In a meeting with Cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, the acting head of state, urged officials to do their best to ensure a successful salvaging of the ferry, and instructed them to plan a thorough and quick investigation once the ship reaches the Mokpo port. Salvaging the huge, corroded ferry from a channel notorious for dangerous currents has been a difficult and expensive job. South Korea agreed in 2015 to an 85.1 billion won ($76 million) deal with a consortium led by Chinas state-run Shanghai Salvage Co to do it. While many large shipwrecks around the world have first been cut into sections to be raised, this was never an option for Sewol because there are hopes of finding the remains of the missing victims inside the wreckage. The Taliban captured a key district centre in Afghanistans southern Helmand province on Thursday while in the countrys north, an officer turned his rifle on sleeping colleagues, killing nine policemen, officials said. The fall of Sangin district, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and US troops in Afghanistan, comes amid the insurgents year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland of Helmand. The British who took over southern Helmand in 2006 were headquartered at Camp Sebastian, which at its peak was the center for 137 bases in Helmand. Most of Britains more than 400 military deaths occurred in Helmand province in Sangin alone, Britain lost 104 soldiers. Since the withdrawal of foreign NATO combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and with only a smaller, US-led advise and training mission left behind, Sangin has been seen as a major tests of whether Afghan security forces can hold off advancing Taliban fighters. The districts police chief, Mohammad Rasoul, said the Taliban overran Sangin center early on Thursday morning. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, also issued a statement claiming the Taliban capture of Sangin. Speaking to The Associated Press over the phone from several kilometers (miles) away from the district center, Rasoul said the district headquarters had been poorly protected and that at the time of the Taliban siege, only eight policemen and 30 Afghan soldiers were on duty. Afghan security forces were now amassing nearby for a full-scale counter-attack in a bid to retake Sangin, Rasoul added, though he did not say when the assault would occur and how many forces would be involved. We are preparing our reinforcements to recapture the district, Rasoul said. It wasnt immediately clear whether the Afghan military would seek the help of international coalition forces in the area. NATO spokesman William Salvin said in a statement that Afghan troops remained in Sangin district but had relocated several kilometers (miles) outside the district center. He said the relocation was necessitated because of the extensive damage to the district center by the Taliban. In Kabul, a lawmaker from Sangin, Mohammad Hashim Alokzai, urged the military to move quickly to retake the district, saying its fall could have devastating consequences for Helmand, where the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah has in the past months also come under constant and heavy attack by the Taliban. The seizure of Sangin is a major tactical triumph for the Taliban, Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the U.S.-based Wilson Center, said Thursday. The insurgent group has taken over a major urban space in one of its major stronghold provinces, amplifying the major threat that the group poses to Afghanistan nearly 16 years after it was removed from power. Sangin is also one of the biggest opium markets in Afghanistan, which saw over 4,800 metric tons produced countrywide in 2016 __ more than all other opium-producing countries combined, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes. Efforts at poppy eradication in Afghanistan have been severely restricted because of the insecurity in the southern and eastern regions of the country, where the bulk of the crop is grown. Opium, which is used to make heroin, is a major source of income for the insurgents and the Taliban levy taxes on opium that moves through its territory. Its hard to overestimate the significance of Helmand its strategically located near Pakistan, its a bastion of the opium trade, said Kugelman. Perhaps the biggest reason why the British focused so much on Sangin is that they had invested so much over the years in trying to stabilize the place and had suffered many combat deaths in the process. In northern Kunduz province, police spokesman Mafuz Akbari said the insider attack on Thursday that claimed the lives on nine policemen took place at a security post and that the assailant escaped under the cover of darkness. Afghanistan has seen a spike in so-called insider attacks. In such incidents, attackers who turn their rifles and kill colleagues usually end up stealing their weapons and fleeing the scene to join insurgents. Akbari said the assailant had gone over to the Taliban. He also claimed that the attacker and the Taliban gathered the bodies of the dead policemen and set them on fire. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack, but denied that a policeman had been involved or that the Taliban had burned the bodies of the policemen. The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. The region is remote and not accessible to reporters. Afghan forces have come under intensified pressure by insurgents in both Helmand and Kunduz. The key word in the British capital on Thursday morning was getting back to normal as sombre faced MPs and parliament staff returned to the palace of Westminster in a show that it was business as normal after Wednesdays terror attack, but a new normal was in place. The Union Jack was flying at half-mast and road closures around the Westminster continued to be in place, but elsewhere in London there was the usual bustle on the transport network. Parliament was keen to send a message of defiance as the usually busy streets around were deserted. A statement said: The House of Commons and the House of Lords will be sitting today (Thursday 23 March) at their planned times. Services to support the business of both Houses will be running as normal and public access to parliamentary proceedings will be maintained. Flags fly at half-mast over the Houses of Parliament the morning after an attack in London by a man driving a car and wielding a knife left four people dead and dozens injured. (Reuters) Overnight, Scotland Yard arrested seven people and conducted raids in London, Birmingham and elsewhere following the attack in which a man in a car mowed down dozens of pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing into railings around the Parliament complex. The attacker then stabbed a policeman, who subsequently died, before he was shot and killed by armed security personnel. Some reports said the car used to plough into people on Westminster Bridge was hired in Birmingham. Flowers are left outside New Scotland Yard after a minute's silence the morning after an attack by a man driving a car and wielding a knife left four people dead and dozens injured in London. (Reuters) Mark Rowley, who leads counter-terrorism policing, revised casualty figures on Thursday morning - four (not five) had died and 29 (not 40) were injured. Seven of the injured are in critical condition in London hospitals. The four deaths were those of police officer Keith Palmer, who was stabbed by the attacker, and two members of the public - a woman in her 40s and a man in his mid-50s, Rowley said. It is still our belief - which continues to be borne out by our investigation - that this attacker acted alone yesterday and was inspired by international terrorism...Clearly our investigation is ongoing - developing all the time - and is focused on his motivation, his preparation and associates, he added. London mayor Sadiq Khan announced a vigil at Trafalgar Square on Thursday evening, while Scotland Yard said it will hold a meeting of faith leaders during the day. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Scotland Yard on Wednesday night said it was probing the UK Parliament attack on the assumption that it was inspired by Islamist-related international terrorism, although it refused to reveal more details. Mark Rowley, who leads counter-terror policing, said the death toll had risen to five: three civilians mowed down by the attacker on Westminster Bridge, one police officer stabbed to death inside Parliament complex, and the attacker who was shot dead. Of the 40 injured, he said three were police officers, with two of them seriously wounded. The attacker has been identified, but they would not reveal it for now. Rowley confirmed that Britains current terror threat level will remain at severe, the second-highest after critical. It has remained severe since August 2014. The attack bore similarities with the July 2016 Nice truck attack where 86 people were killed. Both the attacks involved using a vehicle as a weapon. Later, Islamic State claimed responsibility for Nice attack. In another similar attack, at least 12 people were killed in Germanys capital Berlin in December 2016 when a 24-year-old Tunisian man, a supporter of Islamic State, steered a truck into a crowded Christmas market. In March last year, terrorists set off several bombs in Belgium capital Brussels airport and a metro station, killing 32 civilians. Islamic State claimed responsibility for this attack too. London is no stranger to terrorism. On July 7, 2005, four suicide bombers detonated themselves in London underground trains and a double-decker bus, killing 52 people and injuring over 700. In May 2013, fusilier Lee Rigby was killed in Woolwich, southeast London by two al-Qaeda inspired extremists. Scotland Yard has been rehearsing responses to terror attacks, including of the 2008 Mumbai kind, but when it happened at the heart of London on Wednesday, it was caught off guard. This is a day that we had planned for, that we all hoped would never happen, but sadly it is now a reality, Mark Rowley said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON They are called the Freedom Caucus, and they hold the key to the fate of a White House-backed legislation moved by the Republican party to repeal and replace Obamacare, which conservatives have railed and ran against for years. President Donald Trump tried to rally them in a closed-door meeting at the White House just hours ahead of a vote on the bill, called American Health Care Act, on the floor of the house of Representatives amid talk of possible defeat. With Democrats set to vote against the legislation, Republicans cannot afford to lose more than 21 votes to pass the bill, but they were faced with nearly three dozen members of Freedom Caucus, a group within the Republican party, opposed to it. It was Representative Mark Meadows, the leader of this group, that Trump threatened jokingly, the White House added later to come after during a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers earlier in the week. Trump has continued to reach out to Meadows since, through phone calls, but not without any success, as the lawmaker told The Washington Post he doesnt have a formal offer from the White House yet. The Freedom Caucus is made of hard-right Republicans who have been a major thorn in side of the party leadership, defeating bills and legislative actions they believe are not conservative enough. And thats their chief criticism of the American Health Care Act, introduced by House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and backed by President Trump. They have won some last minute concessions in the negotiations under way. But the leadership cannot afford to give away too much as that could drive away moderate Republicans, specially those who who represent constituencies that Trump couldnt carry in his presidential election. Calling Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama a separatist who wants to create an independent political entity in China, a top Beijing-based think-tank on Thursday said India should not allow him to visit disputed areas and emphasised that only Beijing will decide his who his successor will be, when needed. The Dalai Lama on April 1 is expected to begin a tour of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh which China claims is part of south Tibet. He will be in Tawang between April 5 and 7 where he slated to deliver religious lectures. The Chinese government has already warned India that it is gravely concerned about the visit. On Thursday, the China Tibetology Research Centre (CTRC) sent out a sharp note of displeasure. So Tawang is part of Tibet and Tibet is part of China, so Tawang is part of China. Not much of a question, Lian Xiangmin, director of the CTRC-affiliated Institute of Contemporary Tibetan Studies said. In recent years, the Indian government has given support or made arrangements for the Dalai Lama to visit the Tawang region. It seems to us something not very friendly, Lian said at a rare press conference organised by the CTRC, one of eight senior scholars on Tibet deployed to field questions from reporters. We know between China and India (there is the) boundary question. We shouldnt sensitive areas. Such a visit by Dalai Lama touches sensitive issues and (will) undoubtedly negatively affect China-India relations, he said. During his (last) visit to Tawang, he said Tawang is part of India. That is not true and not according to facts. It undermines friendly relations between China and India. I do hope to see friendly relations between our two countries. We dont want to see such things happening time and again. This time around Indian government arranged visit will only hurt friendly relations between the two countries, he said. We do hope history and facts will be respected by both parties. Our two countries have every reason to keep friendly and sound relations, he said. On the importance of the Tawang monastery, he said it was a subsidiary of the Zhaibang monastery (Drepung in Tibetan) in Lhasa one of the three major temples of Tibetan Buddhism. Monks from Tawang went to Zhaibang to study sutras, he said. On the issue of Dalai Lamas succession, Lian said it has to be done according to historical conventions and religious rituals. I hope that his successor should be found in his hometown in China, Lian said. In China, there are 6 million Tibetan people. Apart from religious followers who are Tibetan, there are also people of other ethnic groups who follow Tibetan Buddhism. I believe they hope to see the successor of the 14th Dalai Lama produced in their neighbourhood in China. We need to respect the wish of these religious followers, he said. Lian said the Dalai Lama has predicted that he will live till the age of 113. So, we now have 31 years to go, so I dont think it is appropriate to talk about it (succession) 31 years in advance, he said not without a hint of sarcasm. Four problems that China has with the Dalai Lama 1. Dalai Lama claims Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is part of China but only after China occupied it in 1951. 2. China says he has never stopped separatist activities. 3. China claims the Dalai Lama wants to establish a political entity in China spanning some 2.5 million sq km a fourth of the total land area of China which comprises TAR, Qinghai and parts of Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. 4. The Dalai Lama wants to visit Taiwan and has never recognised it as part of China. Beijing calls Taiwan a breakaway region of the mainland. Tulsi Gabbard, the newly elected co-chair of the India Caucus of the House of Representatives, has said Pakistan continues to allow its territories to be used by terrorists operating in India, Afghanistan and other nations and they have the tacit and overt support of officials in the host government. Gabbard, the first Hindu to be elected to Congress, also believes the US should take reasonable stand on H-1B visa programme, saying there cannot be blanketed cuts or limitations on immigration that do not take into account the broader economic and social impactfor our friends around the world. In an email interview with Hindustan Times, Gabbard, a major in the US Army National Guard who has done two tours of duty in the Middle East, gave her views on the India Caucus elections and her plans and views as the new co-chair. Congresswoman, congratulations on you election as co-chair. What will be the goals of India Caucus under your leadership? What is the one thing that you may want to leave behind as a legacy achievement? Gabbard: Since the US-India Caucus was established in 1994, it has played a key role in driving U.S.-India bilateral relations forward. As co-chairs, Rep. Holding and I are meeting with members of the Caucus as well as Indian American leaders and organizations to discuss the Caucuss legislative agenda and goals in the 115th Congress. Major areas of interest include strengthening mutually beneficial economic ties, building upon the existing U.S.-India security framework and our shared fight against terrorism, and expanding foreign exchange student programs between the U.S. and India, which have fallen far behind other comparable nations. What do you think is the state of India-US relations currently? And what next? Gabbard: As the worlds largest and oldest democracies, the U.S. and India are natural allies. From cooperating in education to business to counterterrorism and so much more, the U.S. and India have made great strides in strengthening our important relationship. As we look to the future, there is great potential, which is why its important that we build upon this progress, strengthen our ties, and expand our relationship for the benefit of both countries and their citizens. What are your views on H-1B visa issue, which might come up in congress on its own or as part of a comprehensive immigration reforms package? Critics have argued it is being abused to outsource American jobs to low-wage replacements from abroad, mostly India. And India has argued it is a trade issue and that there is a shortage of skilled manpower in the US locally, which is being filled by foreigners and, finally, it helps keep the American economy competitive. Gabbard: We need an immigration policy that both strengthens our American economy and workforce, and that recognizes the economic contributions that Indians and Indian-Americans continue to make here in the United States, without fear that a change in politics will put their business at risk or separate their family. We cannot make blanketed cuts or limitations on immigration that do not take into account the broader economic and social impact for our country and for our friends around the world. There is growing frustration in congress with Pakistans continuing reluctance to act decisively against terrorist groups operating from its soil, against Afghanistan and US-led coalition forces across its western border and against India on the eastern border. What can, and should, the US do? Do you think declaring Pakistan a state-sponsor of terrorism will help? Gabbard: Pakistan has continued to allow terrorist organizations to operate within their borders, moving across borders unchecked, allowing access into India, Afghanistan, and other nations. Officials within the Pakistani government have also continued to provide tacit and overt support for terrorism. In Congress, Ive worked to cut back U.S. assistance for Pakistan, particularly any military assistance, and increase pressure on Pakistan to stop these dangerous actions and break these ties. Ive also introduced the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, legislation that would stop the U.S. government from using taxpayer dollars to directly or indirectly support groups who are allied with and supporting terrorist groups like ISIS and al Qaeda. If passed, this bill would make it illegal for the U.S. government to provide support, funding, and weapons to any nation that has given or continues to support terrorists. In the aftermath of the killing of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian engineer in Olathe, Kansas; the shooting of Deep Rai, a Sikh man, in Kent, Washington; and the chilling video shot by an anti-immigrant activist of Indian families in a public park in Dublin, Ohio, Indians are concerned. Many think the US is not safe for them any more. What needs to be done? By the administration? And congress? Do you plan to use the platform of the leadership of India Caucus to push the House on this? Gabbard: The U.S.-India Caucus has long brought together people from different parties and different parts of the country to work together on strengthening relations between the U.S. and India, and to recognize the contributions Indian-American make to our country. The recent rise of violence against Indians, Hindus, Sikhs, and other religious and ethnic minorities, is deeply concerning. In the 115th Congress, we will continue our work to increase awareness and understanding across our communities, and urge the Department of Justice to investigate these horrific acts and address the rise of hate crimes across the country. India has a very different view of Syria, which you visited recently, than the US. If I may, your views are closer to Indias, which has also opposed regime change, and wants bloodshed to be stopped by both sides. Would you push for India to play a bigger role in the conflict? Do you see yourself working with India on this or is this outside the charter? Gabbard: Ending our illegal and counterproductive regime change war in Syria is among my top priorities in Congress. The United States has spent trillions of dollars on regime change wars in the Middle East instead of investing in comprehensive immigration reform, job growth, aging infrastructure, affordable housing, education, health care, and so much more. I will continue to work towards increasing awareness among my colleagues on the need to pass the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, so that we can focus on defeating terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, which pose a grave threat to US, India, and the world, and so that we have the resources to reinvest in our communities here at home. Travellers across the Middle East expressed frustration Wednesday at a ban on large electronic devices for flights to the United States and Britain that has sparked confusion and speculation. From Saturday, passengers on flights to the United States and Britain from major hubs in Turkey and the Arab world will have to check in any device larger than a smartphone, including laptops and tablets. The United States and Britain have cited intelligence indicating passenger jets could be targeted via explosives planted in electronic devices. Caught in the middle of the ban are thousands of travellers growing increasingly frustrated with what they see as an absurd measure. Is there anything else I should know before flying back home? Navy blue boxers not allowed? Should I shave? asked an American expat living in Abu Dhabi with a direct flight to the United States next week. As the March 25 enforcement deadline looms, passengers are growing increasingly wary of restrictions on living in and travelling from the Middle East. They took my laptop and my camera, said Mustafa, who did not give his second name, as he boarded a plane out of Dubai to the United States. The US ban affects nine airlines from eight countries: Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The British ban, meanwhile, targets flights out of Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Lebanon. Canada and France have also said they are looking into similar regulations. Why? At the Tunis airport, a passenger flying to Canada via London said he was confused by the new measure. I mind because I need my laptop or my iPad. Its a personal thing. Why do I have to put them in hold? said Riadh, 33, adding he now feared they would be damaged or stolen. In Lebanon, another traveller named Riad, an IT worker in his 50s, said he would copy his laptop hard drive before flying to London next week in case it disappeared or was damaged in transit. Its a hassle. Why dont they just turn the laptop on -- or the tablet -- as usual and put it through the machine? Many were quick to flag a lack of logic behind justifications of the ban. Every criminal in the Middle East: Oh no! We cant take the direct flight to the US! I hate connecting flights! *Cancels criminal plans*, Egyptian analyst Mohamed El Dahshan wrote on Twitter. Ankara has said it plans on requesting that the US repeal the measure. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticised the ban as a unilateral, temporary move better replaced by permanent measures. The British ban has sparked concern in tourism-dependant Tunisia, which is trying to recover from 2015 jihadist attacks that killed holidaymakers. It will have a negative impact on tourism, said Mohamed Ali Toumi, the head of a Tunisian travel agents federation. American officials have publicly cited security concerns. From what we know, the ban is linked to intelligence on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula gathered by the US military, said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. Time is money The US has conducted intense air raids on AQAP targets across Yemen since January. The Pentagon has confirmed 40 strikes this month. The US Department of Homeland Security has also cited an explosion on a flight out of Somalia in February last year, in which the suspected bomber was killed. The attack was claimed by the Shabaab insurgent group. But experts do not rule out other motives behind the ban, including business lost to increasingly popular Gulf carriers Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways. US airlines do not have direct flights from the airports affected by its new restrictions. American airlines are going to benefit simply because airlines make their business from the business travellers, so on these long flights that are in excess of eight or 12 hours, time is money -- but there are definitely more pressing considerations linked to security, said aviation analyst Kyle Bailey, president of the US-based consultancy KL Bailey Associates. The UK ban will affect British Airways and easyJet, as well as airlines from targeted countries. Critics have also raised lithium batteries -- which are covered by strict regulations on domestic flights in the United States -- as a point of concern. There is some concern around the lithium batteries in the cargo compartment, which could be highly explosive if they overheat, Bailey said. But from what we hear, the terrorism risk outweighs the risk of fire at this point. A statement from the Mormon church issued on behalf of relatives said on Thursday a Utah man was among those killed in Wednesdays London attack and his wife was seriously injured. Kurt W Cochran and his wife, Melissa, were on the last day of a special trip celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary when the deadly attack played out in the heart of London. They had been due to return to the United States on Thursday, according to a statement from his brother-in-law, Clinton Payne. An attacker plowed an SUV into pedestrians Wednesday on Londons Westminster Bridge, killing two and wounding dozens, and then stabbed police officer Keith Palmer inside the gates of Parliament. The assailant was shot dead by armed officers. The church said the Utah couple was also visiting the womans parents, who are serving as Mormon missionaries in London. The woman remains hospitalised. Her family said Cochran was a good man and loving husband. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, and the investigation shifted on Thursday to a city in central England long known as an incubator for radicalism. The attacker was born in Britain and had been investigated for links to religious extremism, British Prime Minister Theresa May said in a sweeping speech to lawmakers in which she also encouraged people in London to go about their lives. At least eight people were arrested in raids, some in the central city of Birmingham. The Islamic State group said through its Aamaq News Agency that the attacker was a soldier of the Islamic State who carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of the coalition of countries fighting IS in Syria and Iraq. In addition to the police officer and the attacker, who was shot by police, two people died on Westminster Bridge and at least 30 others were injured, seven critically. British officials did not release the attackers identity or confirm a link with the Islamic State group. May described it as a perversion of a great faith. The IS group has been responsible for numerous bloody attacks around the globe and has specifically called for Western followers to carry out this kind of attack in their own countries, though the group has also claimed events later found to have no clear links to it. The London attack echoed vehicle rampages in Nice, France, and Berlin last year that the group claimed under its banner. May set an unyielding tone Thursday, saluting the heroism of police as well as the ordinary actions of everyone who went about their lives in the aftermath. As I speak millions will be boarding trains and airplanes to travel to London, and to see for themselves the greatest city on Earth, she told lawmakers. It is in these actions millions of acts of normality that we find the best response to terrorism a response that denies our enemies their victory, that refuses to let them win, that shows we will never give in. Parliament began its moment of silence at 9.33am, honoring the shoulder number of the slain officer, Keith Palmer, a 15-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police and a former soldier. Then Parliament, which was locked down after the attack, returned to business a counter to those who had attacked British democracy. Police believe the attacker acted alone and there is no reason to believe imminent further attacks are planned, May said. He had been investigated before but police believed he was a peripheral figure. New Mexicos Fort Stanton has an interesting historyabove and below the surface. The U.S. Army built the post in 1855 as a base of operations against raiding Mescalero Apaches, and in July 1878 its soldiers marched 10 miles east to Lincoln to support the Murphy-Dolan faction in the Lincoln County War. According to historian Lynda A. Sanchez, officers and others with ties to the fort were also avid cavers. In 1855 Emil Fritz and other Company K troopers went on a patrol underground, she explains, with orders to observe and explore topography that might interest the military. This was about the same time soldiers had chased Apaches into the interior of the sinkhole now known as Fort Stanton Cave. Fritz and others signed their names on a cave wall. Lieutenant Orsemus Boyd and Captain Casper H. Conrad later became cavers, building a boat in the early 1870s to cross what they thought was an underground lake. It was a bust and sank, almost drowning Conrad, says Sanchez. Conrads Branch, inside Fort Stanton Cave, is named for him, and today pieces of Conrads boat are still visible in the mud near Inscription Rock and along the sides of the cave. Newspaperman Ash Upsonlater ghostwriter of Pat Garretts biography, The Authentic Life of Billy the Kiddescribed the cave in 1872: In one place a lofty dome seems to pierce the roof of the outer world.It confuses the sense to gaze so long upon the brilliant beauties of this place. General [James Henry] Carleton and several other officers were more than two days and nights in the cave. They burned a box of candles but failed to find a terminus. Five years later the Wheeler Survey, supervised by 1st Lt. George M. Wheeler, surveyed about 2 miles of the cave. They had only scratched the surface. Today members of the Fort Stanton Cave Study Project have mapped more than 31 miles, Sanchez says, rivaling the length of Carlsbad Caverns. This spring project members will publish 12 Miles to Daylight, about the cave and its exploration. While the cave itself remains closed over concerns about white-nose syndrome affecting its bat population, the project is working with the Bureau of Land Management on special permits and guides for public access. WW Thomas Gilcrease got the idea to collect art while touring Europe. He got the funds in Oklahoma, where he was raised and made his fortune. Gilcrease was born in 1890 in Louisiana, but his growing family soon moved to his one-fourth Creek mothers homeland in Oklahoma Territory, where his father ran a cotton gin. When the government split reservation land into privately owned parcels, Gilcreases Creek heritage entitled him to a 160-acre allotment that turned out to be rich with oil. Wildcatters discovered the Glenn Pool reserve in 1905, and by 1917 more than 30 producing oil wells dotted Gilcreases land. In 1922 he started his own Gilcrease Oil Co. Fast forward two decades. Gilcrease had established his company headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, and an office in Paris. His extensive European travels in turn led him to start collecting art, while his Indian heritage and Western roots made those the focus of his collection. In 1943 he opened the Gilcrease Museum at the oil company headquarters in San Antonio, and when the company moved to Tulsa, he opened a public gallery on his estate there. Over the next several years oil prices dropped, and Gilcrease faced debts galore. As he mulled selling off his art, Tulsa organized a 1954 bond election to pay his debts, and Gilcrease deeded his massive collection, buildings and all, to the city. Thats the history of the museum in a nutshell, but it doesnt begin to tell the story. The collectioncomprising nearly a half-million artworks, artifacts, books and other materialsdoes that. Suffice it to say only 6 percent of the collection is on display at any given time. Gilcrease wanted to put together a collection that would do for the United States what European museums had done for Europe, says Laura Fry, senior curator at the Gilcrease since leaving the prestigious Tacoma (Wash.) Art Museum in 2015. Its just as significant and carries the same historic weight. At the heart of the collection are more than 12,000 works of fine art, featuring standouts by such Western icons as Frederic Remington, including 18 of his 22 bronzes, as well as his thought-provoking 1908 oil on canvas With the Eye of the Mind. Also well represented is Charles M. Russell, from his iconic 1909 oil on canvas Wagon Boss to preparatory sketches, illustrated letters and some 13,000 other personal items, objects and images. Gilcrease was also an admirer of Joseph Henry Sharp, a founding member of New Mexicos Taos Society of Artists. The museum founder purchased almost 350 of Sharps works, 200 from the artist personally. Gilcrease far outpaced his contemporaries, not only in sheer number of acquisitions but also in the breadth and elasticity of his collecting vision, Byron Price writes in his introduction to Treasures of Gilcrease: Selections From the Permanent Collection. Besides securing stunning artworks, the Oklahoman bought thousands of rare books, manuscripts and documents, including certified copies of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and of the Articles of Confederation. Visitors also find works by George Catlin, Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, Alfred Jacob Miller, Olaf Seltzer and many others. Chiricahua Apache sculptor Allan Housers outdoor bronze Sacred Rain Arrow graces the museum entrance. Gilcrease also supported young Indian artists, collecting and even commissioning works from Woody Crumbo, Willard Stone and Acee Blue Eagle. Gilcrease became fascinated with archaeology and ethnology and financed field excavations of Mississippi Valley Indian mounds. Reflecting his interest, the museums anthropology collection features hundreds of thousands of objects. But the Gilcrease isnt just about the past. Through August 27 the museum presents Textured Portraits, featuring Ken Blackbirds photos of reservation life in present-day Montana and Wyoming, while through December it hosts The Essence of Place, an exhibition of photographer David Halperns black-and-white Western scenics. Nor is the Gilcrease solely focused on Western art and history. Youll also find works by Thomas Eakins, Charles Willson Peale, John Singleton Copley, Winslow Homer, John James Audubon and William Merritt Chase. The archival collection, housed at the Gilcreases Helmerich Center for American Research, includes more than 100,000 items. Gilcrease died on May 6, 1962, and is interred on the museum grounds. Every man must leave a track, and it might as well be a good one, was his personal philosophy. His art collection and the museum that bears his name have certainly left a good track, and their future appears secure. In 2008 the city of Tulsa partnered with the University of Tulsa to preserve and advance the Gilcrease. WW No Old Western In reference to Bill ONeals 9 Western Film Stars From Texas (Roundup, October 2016): No Country for Old Men a Western? I never heard that before, especially considering The American Frontier purpose of Wild West. Also, Willie Nelson a Western film star? Western actor, maybe, but certainly no star. I otherwise love Wild Westand that photo of luscious Linda Darnell (as Chihuahua in My Darling Clementine). Steve Northcutt Little Rock, Ark. Editor responds: No Country for Old Men is considered a neo-Western, as we mentioned in the August Roundup when noting it won the 2007 Oscar for best picture. Willie Nelson isnt on our list of favorite Western actors either, but we do prefer Willies singing to that of, say, John Wayne (who admitted his singing was bad; when he played Singin Sandy Saunders in 1933s Riders of Destiny, his singing voice was dubbed). Horony or Haroney? In the October 2016 issue are several articles mentioning Kate Horony [including Doc & Kate, by Gary L. Roberts], but on the inside back cover is an ad for a revolver commemorating Doc Holliday and Kate Haroney. Someone didnt do his research. Darrell Dehne Pierre, S.D. Gary Roberts responds: Kate was born Marie Katherine Horony. When she reverted to her family name around 1888, she went by the name Mary Horony (although her marriage certificate and her wedding announcement in The Aspen Weekly Times in 1890 added an e, rendering the name Horoney). At some point, I am not sure just when, other members of Kates family, her sisters and brothers, began to use the spelling, Haroney. In some of the documents it is hard to determine whether an o or an a is used, but by the 20th century the preferred form was Haroney. Bitterroot Game In regard to Rodney A. Fosbacks comment about wolves in Letters (October): Like knowledge, a little history can be worse than no history. During the Lewis and Clark visit scarcity of big game in the Bitterroot country had nothing to do with wolves. Rather, that area was old-growth forest, maintained with periodic cool burns executed by Sheepeaters. Such is not prime big game habitat. It was only decades after the Sheepeaters were removed that the hot fires burned, clear-cut logging started, lots of understory came in, enhancing big game habitat, and the elk and deer populations rose. Lewis and Clark had plentiful game to the east where wolf numbers were huge, matching the big game on the plains and open mountain country. In short, the Bitterroot area was not only short on big game but also short on wolves. The latter had nothing to do with the former. As to the rest: Tough. Im an elk hunter, and I long for the howl of wolves. James C. Burnham Cotopaxi, Colo. No Horn Pardon December 2016, with Tom Horn on the cover, was a nice issue. From time to time I see suggestions a posthumous pardon be granted to Tom Horn. When we conducted the retrial of Horn in 1993, which resulted in an acquittal, we indicated to Wyoming Governor Mike Sullivan we would not pursue a posthumous pardon. Sullivan graciously agreed. Chip Carlson Cheyenne, Wyo. Cruickshanks Recently, various individuals have mentioned in Wild West that they were unable to find English Earp researcher David H. Cruickshanks [see Adelia Earps Dubious Memoir by Scott Dyke, with a sidebar by Bob Palmquist, in the October 2016 issue of Wild West]. My last correspondence with him is dated May 2010, in which he told me he was in very poor health and felt he would not be on the earth much longer. An obit in the Edinburgh Evening News [reporting the death of a David H. Cruickshanks at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Feb. 21, 2013] perhaps solves the mystery. Phyllis Moreeale-de la Garza Willcox, Ariz. Scott Dyke responds: I cant say the obit is his, considering the fact I have a photo of him and his young daughter, while the obit lists three sons. Cruickshanks is not an uncommon name in Great Britain. Send letters to Wild West, 1919 Gallows Road, Suite 400, Vienna, VA 22182-4038 or by email. Include name and town. Strong Support for the War Fighters For U.S. troops in Vietnam, fire support bases were like the frontier outposts in the Old West. The difference, one gunner in an artillery battalion said, was that the Indians who always seemed to be surrounding the place used AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades instead of bows and arrows. Those bases were a critical component of U.S. military strategy in the Vietnam War from the troop buildup in the mid-1960s through the drawdown in the early 70s, as writer Arnold Blumberg explains in Storms of Steel. Able to deliver both offensive and defensive punches, firebases provided artillery support to infantry teams on patrols and were virtually impregnable fortresses of protection for the troops camped there. In many ways, to know the history of firebases is to know the history of the Vietnam War. It is a history that is getting special recognition now in commemoration of the wars 50th anniversary. A presidential proclamation issued May 25, 2012, set the official dates of the commemoration as May 28, 2012, through Nov. 11, 2025. President Barack Obama asked the country to show our Vietnam veterans, their families and all who have served the fullest respect of a grateful nation. Vietnam is an enthusiastic participant in the commemoration. You can see some examples in this issue. We have a new item called 50 Years Ago in the War, which will provide a timeline of the war. (The August 2014 issue you are reading covers events from the summer of 1964.) That item, like others specifically tied to the anniversary, will be marked by a special 50 logo. We are also introducing a new department called Intel, where we will gather a variety of useful information about the war and disseminate it to you. This issues Intel department includes a picture that received a lot of comments (some of them very poignant) from many of the several thousand followers on our Facebook page. If you havent liked us on Facebook yet, we would love to have you join our growing community at www.facebook.com/VietnamMag and tell us what you think. If would prefer to write us a letter on paper, we still accept those too. Originally published in the August 2014 issue of Vietnam. To subscribe, click here. Kham Duc Too I enjoyed the Kham Duc story in the June issue. I was there between May and November 1964 with an A Teamone of four Southern Special Forces Groups stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., that went as a unit to Vietnam for six months. We were also at Khe Sanh. This photo of us (above) was taken during an overnight in Japan, on our way back to Fort Bragg. (P.S. I went to school with Harry Sommers, Vietnam magazines founding editor.) Emanuel Williams Atlanta, Ga. Thanks for Mike D. Shepherds excellent article on the evacuation of Kham Duc base in 1968. Id like to contribute some information on the history of Kham Duc. My Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha A-727 was placed under the operational control of the CIA after we arrived in the summer of 1963. We worked for CIA Da Nang Base Chief Tucker Gougelmann, who was responsible for conducting covert cross-border operations. The commanding officer of A-727, Captain Joe Schwar, and half the team deployed to the old French fort at Khe Sanh, and as the team executive officer, I led the half that opened Kham Duc in August 1963. Kham Duc was not known as Camp 105 in my time. Each of us was assigned a small battalion of CIA-recruited montagnard and Vietnamese mercenaries called border surveillance battalions. The surveillance mission was a cover; our jobs were to conduct cross-border strike and reconnaissance missions onto the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. We believe a patrol under Staff Sgt. Charlie Septer, which ambushed a convoy carrying weapons, constituted the largest weapons capture by any single Special Forces Team in 1964. Ngoc Tavak was our forward operating base. CIA-owned Air America flew our cross-border support. The covert missions were transferred from the CIA to the Military Assistance Command Studies and Observations Group in 1964, and our team returned to the United States. The first MACSOG mission into Laos was launched from Kham Duc by Special Forces captains Charlie Norton and Larry Thorny. Thorny was killed on that initial effort. Colonel Wayne Long (ret.) Chester, Md. Misread Misread Signals As a longtime reader of Vietnam, I wanted to point out a serious discrepancy in Karl Lowes article 1964: Misread Signals, Lost Opportunities in the April issue. Lowe writes (pg. 53): North Vietnamese perspectives of the war are just emerging through the translated writings of senior participants. Andrew Weists 2013 Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land features many such translations that refute the 1964 estimates conclusions and point out the missed opportunities of threatening a limited-objective invasion in 1965. The author goes on to provide quotations from generals Vo Nguyen Giap, Dong Sy Nguyen, Le Trong Tan and Hoang Minh Thao. While these quotations are indeed found in Weists book, none are from the translated writings of the named North Vietnamese generals. The quotations are from a chapter in the book Fight for the Long Haul, written by dissident Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin. He says in this chapter that the quotations were told to him by these generals during private conversations before Bui Tin defected in 1990. There is a tremendous difference between translated writings and secondhand quotations from a defector. The quotations may be true, but none of the North Vietnamese generals named ever wrote anything even remotely similar to the quotations given. Merle L. Pribbenow Falls Church, Va. Karl Lowe responds: Merle Pribbenows critique is accurate. In the articles original longer version, characterization of North Vietnamese perspectives followed a discussion of how no history of a war is complete without the view from the other side of the hill. I added that North Vietnamese perspectives are only now emerging through translation projects such as that underway at Texas Tech. I went on to say that Andrew Wiests Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land offers intriguing insights based on the writings of Colonel Bui Tin, a defector writing from Paris (since deceased) who was military affairs editor of Nan Nhan, the Communist Party newspaper, and a veteran of combat against France, South Vietnam, the United States and the Khmer Rouge. I described Bui Tins quotations as his recollection of conversations with former colleagues and senior officials he advised. Unfortunately, that more accurate characterization became lost in the process of trimming the article. I regret not being more watchful for possible misperceptions. Originally published in the August 2014 issue of Vietnam. To subscribe, click here. A fierce advocate of offensive battles using large forces, Communist leader Le Duan shaped military strategy throughout the war. In December 1964, the Viet Cong, famous for their hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, overran villages in four South Vietnamese provinces near Saigon with the powerful force of two regiments. One of those big units, the 272nd Regiment, crushed a mechanized rifle company from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam on December 9, destroying 16 armored personnel carriers in the process. In an even more dramatic demonstration of a large-unit force (a regiment or bigger), during the early morning hours of December 28 the 271st Regiment smashed into the hamlet of Binh Gia, home to about 6,000 Catholics who had fled North Vietnam after the Communist victory in 1954. Binh Gia was one of the villages involved in the U.S.-supported pacification program established by South Vietnam to improve the security and lives of people in refugee settlements. After killing many of Binh Gias militia defenders, the 271st Regiment took on the seven ARVN battalions that responded to the attack. The results of the five-day battle were devastating to South Vietnam: A Marine battalion and a similar-size Ranger battalion were bloodily defeated. About 200 South Vietnamese troops and five U.S. advisers were killed. Viet Cong troops captured more than 300 weapons and shot down two helicopters, killing four U.S. Army crewmen. Only 32 VC had been killed. Afterward, the new commander of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, General William Westmoreland, believed the enemy was moving from guerrilla and small unit warfare into attacks by big units that would stand their ground, according to his 1976 memoir, A Soldier Reports. With this change from guerrilla-type actions to large-scale assaults, U.S. commanders urgently needed to determine who in Hanois leadership elite was responsible for the new strategy so they could try to anticipate the enemys next moves. From 1964 through 1975, there was never a satisfactory answer. Most dismissed from consideration Ho Chi Minh, the nations frail and elderly leader. Other possibilities among Hanois leaders included the former vice premier, Truong Chin; the defense minister, General Vo Nguyen Giap; and later during the war, Senior General Van Tien Dung, the assumed planner for the 1968 Tet Offensive, the 1972 Easter Offensive and the final offensive in 1975. Often the guessing game pointed to the possibility of collective agreements in the Politburo. In the end, all those conjectures proved wrong. Not until 2012 would a convincing answer come. After 10 years of diligent research, unprecedented access to previously secret archives and in-depth interviews with North Vietnamese wartime leaders, American scholar Lien-Hang T. Nguyen discovered the master strategist: Le Duan (sometimes pronounced Le Zwan), first secretary of the Vietnam Workers Party from 1960 until 1986. Le Duan determined Hanois foreign policy, deployment of forces, allocation of resources and other weighty matters. A believer in stand-up, big-unit attacks, Le Duan vigorously defended his approach when he faced resistance from Giap and Ho later in the war. Le Duan, born into the peasant class of central Vietnam in 1907, became a passionate Communist revolutionary in 1928 and was deeply dedicated to the overthrow of French colonialism. He appeared to be a humble attendant and clerk for the French-built Indochinese railway but lived a clandestine life as an enthusiastic rebel. Le Duan stood out from most Communist Party leaders, well-educated men. His speech was coarse, sometimes unintelligible. But his diligence, sincerity and zeal propelled his rise within the party. In 1931, at age 24, Le Duan was arrested and imprisoned by the French. He was released in 1936 and three years later reached the top ranks of the party in central Vietnam. Le Duan was jailed again in 1940 and freed in 1945. Le Duan was then sent south to head the partys affairs there. In 1948 he met another party member assigned to the region, Le Duc Tho, an educated man who had prison experiences almost identical to Le Duans. Tho became Le Duans second in-command and firm ally for the next 38 years. Together they recruited fighters and organized the southern part of the country against the French. In recognition of his missions importance, the party elevated Le Duan in 1951 to Politburo membership in absentia. The party also named him head of the Central Office of South Vietnam, responsible for both political and military affairs in the southern region. Meanwhile in the north, the First Indochina War (1946-54) had begun as Ho and Giapassisted by training, weapons, equipment and advice from Communist Chinalaunched Vietnams struggle for independence from France. A controversy over tactics used by Giap during the war would have great influence on Le Duans future. In 1951 and 1952, Giap was heavily criticized for using costly, big-unit human wave attacks against French forces. De-emphasizing guerrilla fighting, he would employ several 10,000-man divisions in large-scale offensive operations. Two of Giaps divisions engaged two regiment-size French units in January 1951 at Vinh Yen, 30 miles northwest of Hanoi. The heavily outnumbered French defenders defeated both divisions with devastating napalm airstrikes. Giaps defeated forces retreated with about 6,000 dead and 500 captured. Giap later acknowledged his failures and returned to small-unit operations in a campaign of protracted warfare. But he also placed some of the blame on a Politburo comrade, General Nguyen Chi Thanh, an advocate of big-unit attacks. Le Duan may have seen Giap as a rival, but for whatever reason, he became an enthusiastic promoter of offensives by large units and found support from Tho and Thanh. After the war ended in 1954 with the collapse of Frances will to fight and the partition of Vietnam, there was a six-year period of relative peaceand preparation. About 1 million North Vietnamese left the land of their ancestors and traveled south to avoid life under militant Marxism. At the same time, about 200,000 living south of the dividing line chose to settle in North Vietnam. Le Duan secretly remained in South Vietnam with 10,000 of his Viet Cong combatants and began organizing forces for a fight to bring the area under Communist rule. Le Duan was called back to North Vietnam to speak about South Vietnam at a party leadership conference that took place between late December 1958 and early January 1959. He warned that South Vietnam, with U.S. military and financial assistance, could soon be converted to a Western ally and become an enemy of communism. He proposed political and military measures to unite both Vietnams. A month later, the party approved Le Duans recommendation. Then, in May 1959, party leaders established a large organization to prepare and maintain a supply route (the Ho Chi Minh Trail) capable of carrying men and arms into South Vietnam. In September 1960, Le Duan was given the power to prosecute the coming war and manage the affairs of state for Hanoi. He was also elevated to first secretary of the Vietnam Workers Party. His responsibilities included directing the day-to-day activities of the government and bringing about a national democratic revolution in the South. That same year, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem became increasingly concerned about the growth of insurgent activity. Insurgent groups, usually comprising three to 12 Viet Cong in the late 1950s, had grown to include 30 to 50 men. Diem asked the U.S. government to send Special Forces soldiers who would train volunteers for Ranger-type units to counter the guerrilla operations. In May 1960, three 10-man Special Forces teams arrived and established a Ranger school. A year later, President John F. Kennedy, pulling back from a failing attempt to contain communism in Laos, moved Special Forces units from Laos to Vietnam. Kennedy laid out in April 1961 his new goals for Southeast Asia: Prevent Communist domination of South Vietnam, and create in that country a viable and increasingly democratic society. Some 400 Special Forces troops were dispatched to advise, assist and train the South Vietnamese. Meanwhile, Le Duan dispatched 5,000 former South Vietnamese members of the North Vietnamese Army to join about 25,000 Viet Cong regulars and an estimated 80,000 part-time VC guerrillas in South Vietnam. Diems army at this time had reached about 280,000 troops. American support and advisory personnel numbered about 3,000. Le Duan hoped to ship an additional 30,000 to 40,000 army regulars south by 1963. On Jan. 2, 1963, a VC regular battalion scored a big victory at the Battle of Ap Bac in the Mekong Delta. Le Duan touted it as evidence that American technology and advice did not give Diems poorly led troops an edge against spirited Communist forces. After the Battle of Ap Bac, the enemy knew it would be difficult to defeat us, he said. The Ap Bac defeat was a crushing blow to the Saigon regime. In a few hours, 63 men in the Army of the Republic of Vietnams 7th Division were killed. Three American advisers also perished, and no less than five U.S. Army helicopters were shot out of the sky. The VC battalion escaped with light losses. In the last weeks of 1963, events in South Vietnam and the United States encouraged Le Duan to accelerate his war plans. On November 1, a coup by ARVN generals removed Diem from power, and he was assassinated the next day. On November 22, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Le Duan believed the coup would create confusion and weakness in the Saigon government, and he assumed American troops in Vietnam would continue to grow from their year-end strength of 16,000 because of President Lyndon B. Johnsons pledge to continue Kennedys policies. The North Vietnamese leader moved quickly to put fellow big-unit advocate Thanh in command of the Central Office of South Vietnam. In December Le Duan made a secret announcement to Hanois top leaders, telling them there was no need to follow a policy based on a protracted war. He claimed victory could be attained in 1964 with a strategy of general offensivegeneral uprising: a major revolt of urban dwellers simultaneously executed by large units of regulars that would destroy the ARVNs regular formations. If for some reason the uprising in the cities runs into trouble and we are forced to pull our forces out, that will not matter, Le Duan said. That will just be an opportunityto learn lessonsin order to try again at a later date. Hanois leadership approved the strategy, and Le Duan directed the Defense Ministry to bring its forces to the wartime strength of 300,000. He ordered the armys 101st, 95th and 18th regiments down the Ho Chi Minh Trailbringing about a fourfold increase in Hanois regulars south of the 17th parallel that divided Vietnam. The new strategy was demonstrated with vivid successes in late 1964 and early 1965. The first show of strength was the 271st Regiments thrashing of the ARVN in the December 1964 battle at the Catholic refugee village of Binh Gia. In May 1965, two Viet Cong regiments, one in Phuoc Long province and another at Quang Ngai province, mauled ARVN battalions. On June 10, elements of two VC regiments overran a U.S. Special Forces camp in Phuoc Long and thoroughly defeated a pair of ARVN battalions in a two-day battle. By then Washington was preparing a response. Johnson, having seen that airstrikes in the north failed to deter Hanoi after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964, decided that American ground forces would be necessary to prevent the collapse of South Vietnam. In March 1965, the U.S. government began geographically limited ground operations in South Vietnam. Westmorelands analysis and proposals arrived in Washington before the month was out. The general wanted ARVN troops to focus on protecting the countrys populated regions and pacified rural settlements, while U.S. and foreign allied forces would engage and defeat Communist regulars. The ARVN would accompany U.S. operations only occasionally. In April Johnson authorized the use of U.S. troops for ground offensives. In July he informed Americans that he was raising military strength levels in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000 and stated, Additional forces will be needed later and they will be sent as requested. The fight between U.S. and Communist regular forces began in August 1965 when the 1st VC Regiment was surprised at its base near the Chu Lai coastal area in Quang Tin province, about 57 miles south of Da Nang. In a six-day battle, the 7th Marine Regiment, reinforced by elements of the 3rd and 4th Marine regiments, all but destroyed the Viet Cong force. The Communists left 645 dead on the battlefield, while the Marines suffered 45 killed and 203 wounded. Another notable big-unit battle was fought two months later in Pleiku province. General Chu Huy Man had been ordered to gain control of the province using three North Vietnamese Army regiments. In an October attack on a U.S. Special Forces training camp for hill tribesmen, one of those regiments, a 2,300-man unit, was thoroughly defeated by ARVN reinforcements and U.S. air power. The North Vietnamese losses included 890 killed, 100 missing and about 500 wounded. In November the other two regiments fled toward the Cambodian border, doggedly pursued by elements of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). The American troops caught up with both units, and a bloody clash resulted in 634 known dead for the North Vietnamese, plus an estimated 581 additional deaths and six prisoners. The cavalrymen lost 79 killed and 121 wounded. In 1966-67 more U.S. and ARVN victories raised doubts in Hanoi about North Vietnams leadership. Le Duans failed Victory in 1964 general offensivegeneral uprising scheme was recalled, and Communist Party officials became embroiled in a debate about the wisdom of costly slugfests with superior American firepower. Giap, North Vietnams defense minister, openly criticized Thanhs big-unit operations. He called them wasteful and suicidal. Thanh responded by characterizing Giaps charges as carping commentary from an armchair general. Thanh, parroting Le Duans thinking, argued that the American strategy was bound to fail because the United States did not have enough troops to counter the steady flow of North Vietnamese soldiers moving south. And he pointed to growing protests against the war during the run-up to the 1968 U.S. presidential election. American endurance was waning, Thanh said. North Vietnamese intellectuals also participated in the dispute, demanding expanded peace talks and negotiations. In the summer of 1967, Le Duan, his authority challenged, acted quickly to crush opposition to his policies, forestall a rush to diplomatic negotiations and save his offensive strategy with its big-unit formations. He overruled his own minister of for eign affairs, firmly stating there would be no negotiations until there was a major, decisive military victory over ARVN forces in 1968. When Ho and Giap argued for protracted, low-intensity warfare, Le Duan responded by jailing their subordinates, including Hos secretary, Vu Dinh Huyen; Giaps deputy defense minister, Dang Kim Giang; and the deputy chief of the general staff, General Nguyen Van Vinh. Several hundred officials and others opposed to Duans dictates were imprisoned in the Hoa Lo facility, better known to Americans as the Hanoi Hilton. Turmoil in Hanoi continued at a high-level strategy meeting on July 18-19, when Le Duan briefed Ho on a massive operation designed to bring about the major, decisive victory. The regular army would engage the Americans in rural areas while South Vietnams urban centers would erupt in mass insurrections leading to an overthrow of the government. Ho said the plan was unrealistic and too grandiose, and he urged Le Duan to revert to protracted, low-intensity guerrilla warfare. Le Duan rebuffed the nations revered leader and directed his staff to continue planning the giant operation that became the 1968 Tet Offensive. Showing their disapproval, Giap and Ho chose to leave the country before the Tet battle, returning to Hanoi only when that campaign was over. Throughout the dispute, there was a common understanding that guerrilla and local forces were essential. Those groups had always fed recruits into regular units, persuaded villagers to support their own and the regular forces and assisted the big units in combat. Ho hit on the essence of the argument when he said Le Duans plan put too much emphasis on the regulars. Le Duan, however, firmly believed that only the regulars could win the decisive battles needed for a final victory. After establishing unfettered authority over the North Vietnamese government, Le Duan remained Hanois most powerful official in the decade following the fall of Saigon. He headed a unified Vietnam during its incursions into Cambodia, its tangle with China in a 1979 border war and its near economic collapse in the early 1980s. Le Duan died in Hanoi at age 80 on July 10, 1986. Although Communist forces achieved almost none of their objectives during the Tet Offensive, the boldness of their widespread attack shocked South Vietnams allies, who began to have serious doubts about the value of continued participation in the war. Le Duan was proved right about conducting battle with regiments and division-size forces. They were essential in unifying the country during Le Duans final 1975 conquest of South Vietnam. Curiously, Le Duan, Hanois expert on South Vietnam, was wrong about the prospects for a popular uprising against the government there. In 1968 most South Vietnamese either resisted Communist forces or remained passive. Much the same attitude was displayed when Le Duan launched the successful 1975 campaign. About 1.2 million South Vietnamese risked their lives trying to escape Communist control by setting out to sea, many in leaky boats. But Le Duan was right about American endurance. While successive American administrations attempted to keep some ground forces in South Vietnam, as they had in Korea, Congress mandated total U.S. troop withdrawal in 1973. How important was Le Duans role in the Vietnam War? An excellent case can be made that he started the warand finished it. Rod Paschall was a Special Forces A detachment commander in Vietnam 1962-63, served in Laos in 1964 and returned to Vietnam in 1966 as a rifle company commander and staff officer until 1968. He served in Cambodia 1974-75. Originally published in the August 2014 issue of Vietnam. To subscribe, click here. Code-breakers enabled U.S. spies to peer into the communications centers of the North Vietnamese, but then problems arose. THROUGHOUT MUCH OF THE WAR, AMERICAN code-breakers intercepted North Vietnam- ese radio transmissions of planned actions along the Ho Chi Minh Trailperhaps the National Security Agencys greatest contribution during the war. President Lyndon B. Johnson certainly thought so. The NSAs success excited Johnson and his national security adviser, Walt W. Rostow, when they were briefed on the program in early 1968. The American spy program, called the Vinh Window after a city that was one of the main interception points, was undoubtedly the most extensive penetration into North Vietnams secret communications that the United States achieved. Johnson and Rostow thought this intelligence would win the war. Its not the NSAs fault the war turned out differently. Communications intelligence, or Comint, came to Vietnam early. American radio detachments worked in Indochina even during the French war in 1954, and once the insurgency reignited they came back quickly. In April 1961 John F. Kennedys administration ordered all U.S. intelligence agencies to establish a presence in South Vietnam and trade information with the Saigon government. Kennedy rejected plans to send U.S. combat troops to Vietnam in November 1961, but he accepted covert annexes that included increasing the NSA contingent. That December a U.S. Army Comint man became one of the first Americans killed in action. Specialist 4 James T. Davis had been working with members of a South Vietnamese radio team when their truck hit a land mine and guerrillas ambushed the survivors. The Vinh Window operation principally involved the United States Comint units at Phu Bai and Da Nang, in the upper reaches of South Vietnam. Americans came to that area early in 1962, when a 50-man team arrived at Da Nang to support tactical air operations. The radio spooks conducted hearability studiesthey listened in on radio transmissions to find the best place for interception antennas. Around Da Nang the clear preference was the nearby Monkey Mountain. At first the Americans employed only two radio receivers, Air Force Security Service specialists trained and focused on adversary air forces. But they had little to monitor aside from some Chinese activities in southern China and North Vietnamese transport flights. General William Westmoreland, the U.S. commander in Vietnam, demanded more relevant intelligence, but those efforts encountered special difficulties. The effect of tropical temperatures and humidity on radio waves hampered the U.S. spies ability to record transmissions. In addition, radio beams on the frequencies the Americans were working followed a line-of-sight path, further cutting the interception range. Without the men or equipment for more stations, not to mention intercept locations near enemy transmitters, the radio spooks were challenged to find practical solutions for those problems. In 1964 the Air Force stationed a Comint aircraft at Da Nang. The following year the intercept station at Da Nang became the 6924th Air Force Security Squadron, which grew to 30 intercept posts manned 24/7 and an aircraft component of Commando Lance RC-130 radio surveillance planes. In addition, a detachment of Marine radiomen previously in the Central Highlands moved to Phu Bai in 1963. Sailors of the Naval Security Group joined them. The Marines went to Da Nang in 1965 and worked directly with the headquarters of the III Marine Amphibious Force, the high command for American troops throughout the region. The Army got into the act with its 8th Radio Research Unit, at Phu Bai from November 1964. All these Americans and their South Vietnamese alliesincreasingly focused on North Vietnamese and Viet Cong tactical communications and logistics traffic. U.S. efforts to spy on North Vietnamese through radio intercepts faced one particularly vexing problem: For a long time Hanoi and the Viet Cong put few communications on the air. They did not use radios to direct engagements until the very end of 1964, at the battle of Binh Gia. Hanois intelligence service, the Research Bureau, deliberately minimized its use of the ether; messages went primarily by courier. Most radios were inexpensive shortwave receivers, and radiomen simply listened in and wrote down encrypted Morse code transmissions from Radio Hanoi. The North Vietnamese maintained a handful of transmitters that were used when spy networks urgently needed to get a message up north. Hanois Peoples Army did not engage openly until 1965, and its radio equipmenta hodgepodge of French, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and American gearproved increasingly difficult to maintain. In North Vietnam, most communications went through the old French telephone system, and landline communications could not be intercepted without physically putting a wiretap on cables inside enemy territory. For what radio traffic there was, Hanoi used basic codes that had evolved from a system developed by the Peoples Army Cryptographic Bureau as early as 1951. French radio intelligence had broken many variants of those codes, but ones introduced late in 1953 had stymied all French efforts to penetrate them. Although Hanois codes were surprisingly good, the North Vietnamese lacked sophisticated encryption devices, and their codes were not impregnable. For example, the NSA was able to read North Vietnamese naval messages at the Gulf of Tonkin. Hanoi changed its land forces codes and its communications system in 1962, however, making them more difficult to crack. At this point the Peoples Army introduced specific codes for messages to Laos and the forces running the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The North Vietnamese further improved their security in 1963, centralizing communications at their Hanoi transmission hub. From 1965 through 1967 they introduced radio techniques that required no responses, which protected subordinate stations from revealing themselves. American radio spooks fell back on direction-finding and traffic analysis. In direction-finding, different interception stations take bearings on a messages point of origin and triangulate the bearings to locate the transmitter. Traffic analysis plots the hierarchy of the network by observing which stations send orders, which ones report and what the number of messages indicates. Over time this record generates an increasingly precise picture. These methods became the backbone of U.S. Comint in Vietnam. Using them, the Americans were able to discover the expansion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in 1964-65, the moment when the North Vietnamese sent troops across the Demilitarized Zone in 1966 and the movement of two infantry divisions toward Khe Sanh a year later. Some argue that after a certain pointin 1966 or 1967the Comint was aware of every major action being planned by Hanoi. But detailed knowledge of enemy intentions and strength remained shrouded in the encrypted messages. Westmorelands strategy of defeating his adversary through attrition depended on an accurate assessment of enemy strength, and a key factor in that calculation was the number of fresh troops Hanoi sent down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. American road-watch teams and aerial reconnaissance along the trail furnished some information, but much was of questionable accuracy. The big break came from the North Vietnamese themselves. The A Shau Valley had long been an arena of confrontation. Hanoi strengthened its hold there in 1966, when it forced the evacuation of the A Shau Special Forces camp. The valley then became a base area and one terminus for the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In May 1967 monitors at Comints Da NangPhu Bai complex overheard the enemy in plain-language conversations that emanated nearby. Direction-finding and traffic analysis traced the North Vietnamese transmitters to the A Shau and linked them to the Rear Services Department of the Peoples Army, responsible for operating the trail. Voice radio conversations had been rare in III Marine Amphibious Force sectornone had been detected until 1965and had never been encountered on Rear Services networks. It turned out that Hanoi, seeking higher rates of data transmission, had begun switching to voice traffic. Most of those messages concerned air defenses, but for the first time they offered a look at the enemys playbook. Five months later a 6924th Squadron plane out of Da Nang overheard similar voice radio from a location in the panhandle of North Vietnam. Orbiting over the Gulf of Tonkin, the Commando Lance recorded traffic in a simple voice cypher the code-breakers soon understood. More North Vietnamese transmitters joined this network, at points from Thanh Hoa to Vinh, until 31 had been detected. The network also belonged to the enemys Rear Services Department. Once the radio spies deciphered the messages they realized the discussions concerned the movement of supplies and reinforcements down the trail. Traffic analysis established that the enemy transmitters worked for binh trams, the sector commands along the trail, and their subordinate way stations, which were sites where convoys stopped and troops camped on their march south. This source of information soon became known as the Vinh Window because the Americans were working on traffic intercepted from that station when they first broke the enemy codes. The NSAs director, General Marshall S. Carter, directly controlled Comint in Southeast Asia and made the Vinh Window a top priority. The 6924th Squadron had four of the Commando Lance aircraft. Carter, based at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Md., persuaded the Air Force to divert RC-130s from units in Europe to increase the Commando Lance detachment at Da Nang to six planes, permitting Comint missions for 12 hours a day. But the RC-130 had one critical weakness: It was restricted to relatively short missions, which meant that more aircraft were needed to maintain the radio watch. Even a 12-hour watch meant putting every aircraft on the line, either to fly or to serve as a spare. The Air Force came up with an alternative: RC-135 Rivet Card jets of the 82nd Reconnaissance Squadron. Crammed with Comint and stationed at Yokota Air Base in Japan to monitor the Soviet Union, the planes were redeployed to Kadena Air Base on Japans Okinawa island and added the Gulf of Tonkin to their assignments. Each Rivet Card jet, a specialized version of the Boeing 707, could spend 19 hours in the air. If one plane spent 12 of those hours orbiting in the gulf, two planes could keep a 24-hour watch. Starting in early 1968 the Rivet Card entirely replaced the RC-130 on the gulf orbit. Commando Lance planes then shifted to mounting watch in Laos over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Interception of the Vinh Window voice radios opened a stunning panorama. During the five months preceding the Tet Offensive the radio spies identified 50 infiltration groups of Peoples Army soldiers, most confirmed by other sources. The data quickly assisted U.S. air operations, which suddenly could narrow their targets to the points where North Vietnamese troops were expected. When targeters lacked specific intelligence, they just aimed at general interdiction and bombed the Hanoi-Haiphong region; as the data collection improved however, U.S. bombers put more emphasis on other places. The Rolling Thunder air assault against the Hanoi-Haiphong area peaked in October 1967 at 36 percent of U.S. combat sorties. At that time 61 percent of U.S. sorties were aimed at the North Vietnamese panhandle. A month later the attacks against the infiltration routes rose to 75 percent of Rolling Thunder strike missions, and in December to 83 percent. Meanwhile, action against the Hanoi-Haiphong zone dropped to 15 percent of the total. Over the same period the Seventh/ Thirteenth Air Force doubled and then more than redoubled the sorties flown over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. In December 1967 nearly 6,000 combat sorties were sent against Vietnamese panhandle targets and an equal number were directed at south Laos, but barely 800 sorties were flown against Hanoi-Haiphong. Even more telling, over half of Rolling Thunder combat missions (57 percent) went against the sector south of Vinh and just above the DMZ. The air generals increased their concentration on that area, known as Route Package 1, until Rolling Thunder devoted to it more than four times the effort being directed at Hanoi-Haiphong. During Tet and afterward, air commanders maintained this high-priority effort. Hanoi changed its method for identifying infiltration groups from a three- to a four-digit system in February 1968. The radio spies quickly adapted. Even better, the code-breakers discovered the first digit stood for the destination of the force. Additionally, radio intercepts concerning requisitions for supplies at the binh trams helped U.S. troops estimate the size of infiltration groups. The interrogation of prisoners and defectors then permitted a checkand further refinement of force projections. Sometimes the North Vietnamese gave away that information directly. A typical example is a report that Art McCafferty, director of the White House Situation Room, furnished to Johnson security adviser Rostow on June 10, 1968. In it he observed that the number of infiltration groups on the trail had diminished over the preceding month from 18 to seven, but the projection of Peoples Army reinforcements en route or arrived had grown from 151,000 to 177,000 men. The quality of the information improved steadily. When General Creighton Abrams took over from Westmoreland in spring 1968, the Vinh Window intelligence became a staple at his command briefings. That August he learned that 124,000 infiltrators had entered the pipeline. Abrams and his intelligence chiefs speculated on the accuracy of the projections. At another typical briefing, in November 1968, the discussion included the tonnages of specific types of supplies the North Vietnamese had moved the previous week. In June 1969 Abrams intelligence chief told him captives had identified only two infiltration groups that had not appeared in Vinh Window traffic. The data could become quite granular. In June 1970 Abrams learned that only 39 of 116 men in an infiltration unit had arrived with their group. The rest were dead, exhausted or sick, or had stayed behind at binh trams along the trail. At a May 1971 briefing, intelligence analysts reported a binh trams notice that half its vehicles were out of commission. Vinh Window intercepts give us new perspective on Igloo White, the electronic battlefield the United States created along the trail. Igloo White used strings of sensors to detect movement, a command center in Thailand to track the big picture and aircraft to attack the targets. As a result of the Vinh Window, the Seventh/Thirteenth Air Force knew when to expect infiltration groups to enter the battle arena. From 1968 to 1972 the Air Force mounted eight Commando Hunt campaigns focused especially on the infiltration routes. The rain of destruction peaked in 1969 when 433,000 tons of bombs fell on the trail. Maintaining the Vinh Window became difficult, how- ever. The most pernicious problem was the sheer mass of information. Not all of the intercepts had intelligence value, but some offered opportunities for immediate action. Efforts to pinpoint those opportunities included instant transcription and preliminary analysis aboard the aircraft so that only the most important information would be forwarded to ground stations. But not much room could be spared for linguists and analysts on the planesthe Rivet Card RC-135s were already crowded with 35 radiomen and flight crewso the onboard analysis scheme proved impractical. Analysis at Phu Bai, where most translation occurred, also became more challenging as the volume of intercepts mushroomed. The Army and Navy detachments there lacked enough Vietnamese linguists to do the job, and a backlog soon developed. In 1969, when Navy Vice Adm. Noel Gayler took over the NSA, he tried to transfer as many American linguists as possible to Phu Bai for Vinh Window work. Their places at other stations could be filled by South Vietnamese recruited for American Comint units under a program known as Dancer, which had begun a few years earlier. Some Dancer linguists even made it to Phu Bai. But the NSA and its service affiliates could never be sure that some Dancers werent really enemy agents, so even very skilled ones had to prove themselves time and again. In addition, once the Saigon government declared general mobilization in 1968, even South Vietnamese working for the Americans were subject to call-up for their countrys army. That caused more headaches as the NSA tried to protect its Vietnamese workforce. The Vinh Window backlog persisted. There were also problems with the intelligence itself. Hanoi did not number its groups sequentially. This led to endless speculation over gap groups: Had the radio spies failed to intercept relevant messages or did those infiltration groups even exist? Should intelligence include numbers for gap groups in its estimates? U.S. intelligence conducted many studies to solve this mystery but never cleared it up. Even so, the Vinh Window provided far more information than American intelligence had ever had. Meanwhile Hanoi, unable to preserve the security of its communications, did the next best thing and tried to interfere with the communications collectors. The Rivet Card planes endlessly orbiting over the Tonkin Gulf could be tracked on radar, and the North Vietnamese occasionally sent MiG-21 fighters after them. The MiGs would go supersonic as they approached, make a single pass firing everything they had and hightail it for home. The Americans countered with fighter escorts from aircraft carriers on Yankee Station in the gulf. Observing the Rivet Cards flight patterns, the North Vietnamese took advantage of times when escorts broke off to refuel, occasionally sending pairs of MiGs to strike them. The Americans responded with new tactics. Spy planes retreated to the southern end of their orbits to pick up a couple of fighters that sheltered within their radar image. The Rivet Cards then flew close to Haiphong to tease the enemy. MiGs scrambled, only to be destroyed by the fighter jets. After losing several MiGs, the North Vietnamese stopped chasing the spy planes. No Rivet Card was ever flamed on a Vietnam Comint mission. Rough weather frequently imperiling landings and takeoffs at Kadena were a greater concern than the enemy. In 1972 the Vinh Window detected Hanois deployment of most of its general reserves. The Air Force crafted a fresh aerial effort, Island Tree, to block the reinforcements. The Rivet Cards added a new orbitone over Laosto record the flood of North Vietnamese message traffic. But the intelligence bonanza did not blunt the enemys march. Hanoi struck at Easter and maintained its offensive through the year. Washington negotiated a cease-fire, signed at Paris in January 1973, and left the Vietnam War. Ultimately, the Vinh Window had not been quite the miracle Johnson anticipated. John Prados is a historian based in Washington, D.C. His seven books on the Southeast Asian conflict include Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945-1975, a Pulitzer Prize nominee. Originally published in the August 2014 issue of Vietnam. To subscribe, click here. P art of the 6 billion regeneration of the Royal Docks is Royal Wharf, coming right on time for the launch of the Elizabeth line, and superbly located for London City airport. As housing developments go, Royal Wharf is a whopper. Up to 3,500 homes are being built on a site at Silvertown, E16, transforming an industrial zone where sugar once arrived into Britain. Sandwiched between the ExCeL centre and the Thames Barrier, next year Crossrail services will start to run from Custom House station, offering locals quick links to the City and West End. The first residents moved into Royal Wharf last year and over the next five years an anticipated 20,000 people, many priced out of Canary Wharf, will call this mega development home. From 115,000: shared-ownership homes at Traders Quarter in Royal Wharf SHARED-OWNERSHIP HOMES FROM 115k While Royal Wharf is affordable beside Canary Wharf, homes there arent exactly a giveaway. Studio flats at the Oxley and Ballymore development start at 325,000, and one-bedroom flats from 364,000. However, Notting Hill Housing association can offer just over 50 flats from a significantly more realistic 115,000 in two buildings at Traders Quarter in Royal Wharf Corsair House and Cape House. That sum buys a 30 per cent share of a one-bedroom flat with a full price of 385,000. Buyers must raise a 10 per cent deposit of 11,550. Monthly costs will include mortgage repayments of about 607, rent at 618, and 170 service charge. Traders Quarter in Royal Wharf: Notting Hill Housing association can offer just over 50 flats from 115,000 in two buildings Corsair House and Cape House Two-bedroom flats start at 131,250 for a 25 per cent share, which means raising a deposit of 13,125. Monthly costs include mortgage of about 690, rent of 804, and 250 service charge. Three-bedroom flats are priced at 164,375 for a quarter share, requiring a 16,437 deposit, with monthly mortgage repayments at about 874, rent at 822, and service charge at 380. HUGE POTENTIAL At 38 acres, Royal Wharf will be an urban village. With a high street, market square and a riverside park, the layout is inspired by the side streets and mews of Belgravia and Bloomsbury. 327,500: a two-bedroom flat in Garvary Road, E16, near Custom House station which will have the Elizabeth line. Call Dexters (020 7517 1199) Transport links are pretty good even pre-Elizabeth line. The nearest station is Pontoon Dock on the DLR in Zone 3. Theres also the Emirates Air Line cable car linking the Royal Docks with Greenwich, while City airport makes weekends in Europe a breeze. Sitting beside Thames Barrier Park, Royal Wharf passes the green space test. For now, though, it lacks much to do. There are a few restaurants, cafes and bars in and around the ExCeL conference centre but these are very much of the business traveller variety, and while there are plenty of shops at Canary Wharf, its a bit soulless. But big plans are afoot and when regeneration beds in, the area has huge potential as a place to live, and to expect price growth. Buy into it today, and be prepared to exercise patience until the bigger picture is delivered. Hospitality Net today Sign up to our free daily newsletter, London -- World Travel Awards will host its much anticipated Latin America Ceremony 2017 at the glittering, all-inclusive Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya on 9th September. Located on Mexico's breathtakingly beautiful Pacific Coast, the all-inclusive Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya consists of 687 rooms and suites in the family-friendly Hacienda section and 577 rooms and suites in the adult-only Heaven section, catering for families as well as adults seeking a child-free break. "We are beyond excited to be hosting the World Travel Awards Latin America Ceremony for the very first time at Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya," commented Frank Maduro, VP of Marketing for the AIC Hotel Group of which the all-inclusive Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya is a part. "It is a great honour and true pleasure to welcome the region's best-of-the best in hospitality. With the World Travel Awards being a pinnacle in the travel industry and a benchmark of success, we're thrilled to be a part of such a monumental event." The all-inclusive Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya also boasts a private white sand beach on its door-step, in addition to six swimming pools (two family pools and four adult only pools), endless dining options, a first rate fitness centre and the Rock Spa - the largest in the Caribbean with 75 treatment rooms, hydrotherapy current pools and steam rooms. Further afield, the delights of Mexico's Riviera Maya - think Mayan ruins, world-class diving sites, tropical forests and eco parks - reward exploration. World Travel Awards President Graham Cooke said: "The Latin America Ceremony is always a highlight of the Grand Tour for World Travel Awards, and the team and I are excited to be bringing the event to the Mexican Riveria for the first time since 2009." "We look forward to welcoming industry leaders and luminaries to the all-inclusive five-star Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya in September, and I know it will be a night to remember." Voting for the World Travel Awards Latin America nominees will open on 22nd March 2017 and conclude on 19th July 2017. World Travel Awards was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry. Today, the World Travel Awards brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire. Each year, World Travel Awards covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognise and celebrate individual and collective success within each key geographical region. World Travel Awards Ceremonies are widely regarded as the best networking opportunities in the travel industry, attended by government and industry leaders, luminaries and international print and broadcast media. For more information about World Travel Awards, please visit the official website. About AIC Hotel Group AIC Hotel Group spearheads sales and marketing efforts for luxury resort properties in Florida, including Eden Roc Miami Beach and Nobu Hotel Miami Beach, as well as throughout Mexico and the Caribbean, including Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana (the world's first all-inclusive Hard Rock Hotel) and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Santo Domingo (set to open in late 2017) in the Dominican Republic, in addition to seven Mexico properties including Hard Rock Hotel Cancun, Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta, Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya, Hard Rock Hotel Los Cabos (set to open in 2018), Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Cancun (set to open in 2018), Nobu Los Cabos (set to open in 2018) and UNICO 2087 Hotel Riviera Maya, the first of a new luxury all-inclusive concept. For additional information, visit www.aichotelgroup.com. About World Travel Awards WTA was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry. Today, the WTA brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire. Each year, WTA covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognise and celebrate individual and collective success within each key geographical region. WTA gala ceremonies are widely regarded as the best networking opportunities in the travel industry, attended by government and industry leaders, luminaries and international print and broadcast media. For more information about WTA visit worldtravelawards.com World Travel Awards +44 (0) 20 7925 0000 World Travel Awards It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Jevgenia Petrosjan joins GuestJoy as a Sales Manager, bringing in more than 10 years of hospitality and tourism management experience. As a Sales Manager, Jevgenia will oversee day-to-day sales operations of Guestjoy company, including visits to our international customers in Czech Republic, Germany and France. Jevgenia comes from a diverse hospitality background. She was the Tour Operator of Via Hansa and before that Jevgenia also worked as a Customer Specialist of Hurtigruten Norwegian company where she took care of German and French customers. Additionally, for many years, Jevgenia worked to support Hilton hotel customers. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from Mainor Business School and has impressive language skills. She is fluent in Russian, Estonian, English, German and French. Guestjoy is a hotel CRM for independent hotels to earn more revenue from additional services. Hotels can send out highly personilised pre-arrival emails, upsell services to upcoming guests and collect more reviews. The solution is designed for independent hotels and small chains worldwide. The company was established in Estonia and currently has offices in London, Tallinn and Gdansk. Guestjoy is associated with Mercure, Sokos Hotels, Mogotel, Relais & Chateaux and serving hotels in 12 countries, among them are UK, Scandinavia, Russia, Baltic States, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Greece. Visit us at guestjoy.com Email: [email protected] As if Beyonce wasnt already a queen in our eyes, shes out here secretly making dreams come true in her spare time. Sometime in the recent days, Beyonce reached out to Houston high school senior Ebony Banks who is battling stage four cancer and surprised her with a Facetime call shell remember for the rest of her life. One of Banks biggest dreams was to meet Beyonce. So her friends launched a social media campaign using the hashtag #EBOBMEETSBEYONCE (EBOB is her nickname) to make her wish come true. [Banks] is a really big fan of [Beyonce] and she has so much love for her that we really want to get [Banks] to meet her, said Banks friend Cristal Depaz. Beyonce is one of her idols. She admires her so much, so were trying to put that on Twitter and Instagram to get Beyonces attention. Well, it turns out the social media strategy paid off because a couple days after the hashtag went viral, Queen Bey surprised Ebhony with a FaceTime phone call from her hospital bed. I love you Beyonce, said Banks while Beyonce waved back and replied, I love you. Check out the heartwarming moment (below). [Via] Beyonce Drakes More Life is breaking streaming records right and left. But is it inspiring the people? We sent our man Devon Jefferson out to the streets of Los Angeles to find out. As Devon discovered, the people of Los Angeles are somewhat split on the merits of More Life. One woman wondered aloud when Drake would return from Jamaica to Canada, while another individual declared, That shit hard. Our interviewees debated the best guest features on the playlist, with some surprising choices, as well as the nature of Drakes perceived shots at Tory Lanez. Watch Word on the Street: More Life edition below. Listen to More Life here. More Life New music to be released ahead of fourth album Gorillaz will release new music tonight, it has been announced. Damon Albarn's virtual band have been teasing at new material for months, with new art-work on Twitter and a single, 'Hallelujah Money' with Benjamin Clementine, being released on inauguration day. Last weekend, a tracklist was leaked on the bands subreddit, increasing rumours that the project's long-awaited fourth studio album is nearing release. Yesterday BBC Radio 1 announced that they would "premiere brand new music from Gorillaz" on Mistajam's show at 7:30 UK time. Mistajam confirmed the news this morning on Twitter, saying "Tonight, for the first time in the world you're going to hear TWO new tracks from the Gorillaz at 7:30" Tonight, for the first time in the world you're going to hear TWO new tracks from the @gorillaz at ?: 7:30pm on ?: @BBCR1 ?? pic.twitter.com/r9mAHzuh2d mistajam (@mistajam) March 23, 2017 Advertisement The band have also announced they will host their very own music festival, Demon Dayz, at Margate's Dreamland amusement park, with the line up to be announced shortly. Jamie Hewlett, the man behind the quirky cartoon style Gorillaz has become known for, confirmed the record will be released later this year, adding that they will not rush the recording process as the album will be "really fucking special". Norwegian artist Rebekka Karijord has announced that she will return to Dublin this May in support of her acclaimed new album Mother Tongue. Karijord will perform on May 19, with tickets going on sale Tuesday March 28. Mother Tongue, released on Control Freak Kitten Records in late January, is a concept album chronicling the 3-month-premature birth of her first child and her own entrance into motherhood. The album is a fearless piece of work, largely written following the traumatic arrival. But, more than an album about childbirth, Mother Tongue is about instinct, belonging and about finding ones own emotional language themes currently evident on a much more global scale. Listen to the first single from Rebekka's new album 'Home': This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Four Houston area oil and gas companies reported that they increased the pay of their CEOs by as much as $2.7 million in 2016, the first indications of what analysts expect was a much better year for top energy executives as the industry began to climb out of the worst oil crash in a generation. Rising crude prices, which boosted both the performance and stock prices of energy companies, helped lift the compensation of the chief executives of EOG Resources, Noble Energy and Cabot Oil & Gas, all of Houston, and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. of The Woodlands. The pay raises, mostly in the form of stock awards and cash incentives, increased their compensation by about $1.6 million to $2.7 million in 2016, according to regulatory filings. The companies are among the first of local energy firms to file annual reports that disclose the compensation of top executives for the previous years. Analysts generally expect to see CEO compensation rise across the exploration and production companies after a much less lucrative 2015, when oil prices plunged before hitting a low of about $26 a barrel in early 2016. Prices subsequently doubled, rising about $50 a barrel by the end of the year, while aggressive cost-cutting, including deep layoffs, helped stabilize finances and drive a rally in energy stocks. The stock-market value of Anadarko, EOG, Noble and Cabot climbed by a combined $40 billion last year, even though they lost a combined $5.6 billion in income. 2016 CEO compensation $18.7 million Al Walker Anadarko Petroleum $11.3 million Dan Dinges Cabot Oil & Gas $10.5 million William Thomas EOG Resources $10.1 million David Stover Noble Energy See More Collapse "They had a really good year," said Chris Crawford, president of Houston consultancy Longnecker & Associates. "You had a bounce back in oil prices, you saw companies restructure their balance sheets and move assets into less expensive places to drill." Components of pay The two-year oil bust forced more than 200 North American energy companies into bankruptcy and put more than 100,000 people out of work across Texas. But oil companies typically maintain pay levels for executives as an incentive to stay on the job even in tumultuous years, the consultants said. Executive compensation typically comprises several components, including salary, cash bonuses, stock and stock options awards, retirement benefits and other perks. Anadarko CEO Al Walker's base salary edged lower by $50,000 to $1.3 million in 2016, but his total compensation rose by $1.6 million to $18.7 million last year. About half the increase came from an $800,000 boost to his performance-based cash incentives, the rest from the value of Walker's retirement program, which fluctuates year to year. Stock and option awards accounted for about 60 percent, or $11.2 million of Walker's compensation in 2016. In 2015, Walker's compensation declined $3.6 million, primarily due to a $3 million decline in the value of his retirement program and a $600,000 reduction in cash incentives. Other pay raises EOG Resources increased the 2016 pay for CEO William Thomas by about $2.7 million to $10.5 million. The company kept his base salary flat at $925,000, but increased stock awards by $3.6 million to $7.5 million. In 2015, Thomas' pay declined by $2.8 million, with much of the reduction coming from a drop in stock awards and the company's cash incentive program. Noble Energy raised the total pay for CEO David Stover by $2.8 million to $10.1 million. Much of the increase came from a $2.6 million increase in stock awards, while his base salary stayed flat at $950,000. Stover's pay increased the year before, as well, by nearly $2 million, reflecting his promotion from chief operating officer in 2014. At Cabot Oil & Gas, CEO Dan Dinges' total pay rose by $2.3 million to $11.3 million. His stock awards climbed by $1.8 million and cash incentives increased by more than $600,000. His base pay stayed the same at about $900,000. Dinges' total pay in 2015 dropped by about $800,000 because of reductions in stock awards and cash incentives. Anadarko, EOG, Noble and Cabot declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment on their CEO's pay. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Capt. Kristi Taylor watches the approaching ship from the bridge of the Pamisos, an oil tanker 750 feet long and 138 feet wide. She lets the giant vessels go bow-to-bow until they're six-tenths of a mile apart. The crew awaits her orders. It's a maneuver both commonplace and potentially catastrophic. Taylor has met and passed thousands of ships without incident. But she knows just one wrong move could cost millions or even billions of dollars in damages, spill oil into the channel or risk the lives of those onboard. The captain and crew know this, too, and don't hesitate to follow orders through Houston's especially narrow channel. At this point on the Pamisos, with the ships side by side, Taylor increases the urgency of her commands. "Starboard 20," she says to the helmsman, who moves the rudder 20 degrees to the right. But she can still feel the Pamisos being pulled into the passing ship's wake. "Hard to starboard," she says to counteract the pull, "full ahead." The increased speed does the trick, and the two vessels continue down the Houston Ship Channel without incident. She begins to guide the Pamisos back to the center of the channel. "Ease to 20 ease to 10 midship ... ." With another successful maneuver behind her, Taylor looks at the differential GPS displayed on her laptop to see when and where the Pamisos will greet its next vessel. She returns her attention to the path ahead. Ships cannot enter or leave the Houston Ship Channel without guidance from Taylor or one of her 96 colleagues, who have memorized every nook and cranny of the waterway and undergone years of training. They're trusted to avoid shallow spots along the channel, maneuver around other vessels and not anchor on pipelines during the especially bad bouts of fog that Houston is prone to getting. The coveted positions require years of experience and, like the maritime industry overall, have long been dominated by men. Taylor is one of four women in the Houston Pilots Association. To educate the next, more diverse generation of pilots, Taylor will be featured in the television show "So You Want To Be?" The program introduces children to potential careers, and Taylor recently watched a preview of her episode. "I hope it will inspire kids who might not know there's that opportunity," she said. Piquing girls' interest at a young age could help boost the number of women at sea - a number that remains low. "Because shipping is so global and it's the engine of world trade, women ought to have a role to play," said Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, president of the World Maritime University. "And there is a place for women." Seeing the world Taylor stumbled into her career at sea. Growing up in Colorado, she first went to a traditional college and considered becoming a teacher. But her love of travel, coupled with her father's wishes that she not follow in his footsteps as a math teacher, pushed her to look for other options. She graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1995 with a bachelor of science degree in marine transportation and a third-mate license - the hierarchy goes captain, chief mate, second mate and then third mate - and began seeing the world. She's traveled to Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, India, Hawaii and Mexico, to name a few destinations. It was rare to be the only woman on board, but there were never more than five on any given ship. Crediting her predecessors as the trailblazers, Taylor said discrimination wasn't really an issue. "Since I wasn't the first wave," she said, "by the time I got to shipping we were just old news." Fellow pilot Capt. Sherri Hickman, who graduated from the Maine Maritime Academy in 1985, recalled it was common to be the only woman on board during her nine years on oil tankers. An additional challenge was overcoming historical superstition about women on ships being bad luck. But after a few days, she said, she would prove to the other sailors that she knew the job and there weren't any issues. The converts included one captain, she added, who initially had complained he didn't want a woman serving as second officer. She won him over, too, and he eventually helped her earn a captain's ranking. Hickman became a pilot in 1994. "It's not such an eye-opener to them anymore," Hickman said. "It's just accepted." Now Hickman's daughter, Coronado, is joining the next wave of women at sea. She graduated from Maine Maritime last May, making them the first mother-daughter pair to complete the school's cadet program and is sailing as third officer on a container ship. Still, the numbers show there's room for growth. A 2003 report from the International Labour Organization found that women represent between 1 percent and 2 percent of the world's 1.25 million seafarers, and most of them worked as hotel personnel on cruise ships. Doumbia-Henry said this figure was confirmed in a 2013 report from that organization. She likewise cited estimates from two other global shipping groups, BIMCO and the International Chamber of Shipping, showing there are currently 16,500 women out of the 1.6 million seafarers on merchant ships. Barriers include gender discrimination and the difficulty of attracting women to a career at sea or enrolling them in maritime academic institutions, Doumbia-Henry said. Traditional stereotypes also play a role. Overcoming hurdles She hopes advances in technology and regulation can help overcome such hurdles. New technology makes it easier to stay in touch while at sea, she said, and more efficient shipping creates shorter stints away from home. On the regulatory front, Doumbia-Henry said the International Labour Organization's Maritime Labour Convention has gender-sensitive language, contains strong anti-discrimination provisions and includes requirements for new ships to have separate sleeping areas for women. Amendments adopted in 2016 provide a zero-tolerance policy for bullying and harassment. Some signs suggest more women will move into leadership positions. Doumbia-Henry said 48 women are enrolled to earn their Master of Science in maritime affairs at the World Maritime University. That's 37.2 percent of the 2016-2017 class. Maritime and shipowners' associations now have women on their boards or in senior management positions, said Karin Orsel, president of the Women's International Shipping & Trading Association. That was not the case 10 to 15 years ago. Roughly 40 women work as pilots in the U.S., said Capt. Robert Shearon, presiding officer for the Houston Pilots. The local association also has two African-American pilots, one Indian, one American Indian and three Hispanics. "I think the whole industry is diversifying," he said. Reaching a younger audience To educate the next generation of seafarers, the local pilots group works with local high schools, San Jacinto College and Texas A&M University at Galveston. Taylor's video, complete with animations and vocabulary lessons, will reach a younger audience. The episode is likely to air in the fall. But becoming a pilot is no easy feat. Jobs become available only when someone retires or activity increases at the port. Applicants generally have 10 to 20 years of maritime experience. "For a long time, I didn't think that I would ever be accepted," Taylor said, "so I didn't even think about applying." She eventually submitted an application, which was accepted four years later. At the time, she had 14 years of sailing experience and an MBA in supply chain management and finance. Before beginning her three-year apprenticeship, Taylor had to draw from memory detailed charts of the Houston Ship Channel, including buoys and beacons, underwater obstructions and fathom curves that indicate the contour of the channel floor. That took about three months. "Within a pencil width," Taylor said. "It's got to be exact." After that, she spent six months shadowing other pilots before she was allowed to guide ships herself. Pilots don't actually steer the ships but instead direct the helmsman on how to steer. Taylor became a full-fledged pilot in 2014. Shearon, declining to elaborate on salaries, said pilots are "adequately compensated for the amount of risk we assume." Each year, about one pilot in the U.S. dies while working, and several others are severely injured. He said the most dangerous part is transferring between the pilot's boat and the ship; using a ladder on the side of the vessel. Pilots work as independent contractors bonded together by an association. They evenly split expenses, such as hiring pilot boat captains or dispatchers, and the money earned from guiding ships in and out of the port. Taylor said the different weather patterns, traffic scenarios and ship characteristics keep her job interesting and provide opportunities to improve. Some seafarers have been surprised to meet a woman pilot, she said, but none have been intentionally rude. They just struggle with the terminology. "They don't know what to call you," Taylor said. "They'll call you 'Mrs. Pilot' or 'lady pilot.'" This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Toshiba Corp., one of Japan's oldest and largest multinational conglomerates, is on the verge of bankruptcy, revealing the real problem with nuclear power plants: They cost too much. Toshiba revealed last month that it will likely post a $4.4 billion loss because its U.S. subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric, has written off $6.3 billion from work on four new nuclear reactors in Waynesboro, Georgia and Fairfield County, South Carolina. The Georgia plant is three years behind scheduled and $3 billion over budget. The South Carolina reactors are several years behind schedules and $2.4 billion over budget. Toshiba's stock price has fallen from 475.20 yen a share in December to a recent low of 178 yen. Ratings agencies have slashed Toshiba's credit ratings and warn of an imminent default on the company's bonds because there are likely more budget over-runs ahead at both facilities. "The current financial strain on Westinghouse and Toshiba could lead to higher completion costs and further delays," Fitch Rating Service reported. And the Japanese government is in no mood to bail Toshiba out. "Fiscal pressure rose last week as the Japanese government said it was not considering supporting Toshiba and the company missed, for the second time, a reporting deadline for its audited third quarter results," the Fitch note added. "Its application to delay its results until April 11 was approved, but it remains at risk of being de-listed for failure to meet the requirements of the Tokyo Stock Exchange." Analysts at Standard & Poor's were no less pessimistic. "Absent unanticipated, significantly favorable changes in the issuer's circumstances, we see a rising likelihood Toshiba will become unable to fulfill its financial obligations in a timely manner or will undertake a debt restructuring we classify as distressed in the next six months," S&P wrote. The Georgia and South Carolina plants were supposed to prove that nuclear power is viable in the United States. Westinghouse touts the AP1000 PWR reactor as the most advanced available based on licensed technology. The nuclear energy industry is lobbying governments around the world to build more plants because they release no greenhouse gases and supply a steady supply of energy no matter the weather conditions. When it comes to operating costs, nuclear power is cheap. The capital expenses, though, are huge. And if it weren't for a regulated electricity market, there is no way these two nuclear power plants could compete with natural gas, wind and coal in a competitive electricity market like we have in Texas. Reports emerged Tuesday that Toshiba is considering a prepackaged bankruptcy with Westinghouse's creditors. The $500 million deal would keep Westinghouse operating until the debt is restructured. This follows on the heels of reports that Toshiba wants out of the nuclear business altogether. There are over 60 nuclear reactors under construction around the world. In many places they will make economic sense, while in others, they are government vanity projects. As attractive as it might seem, though, new nuclear power plants still haven't shown that they're economic in the United States, and the dire status of Toshiba and Westinghouse is proof. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge is cutting 1,000 jobs, largely in Houston and Calgary, after completing its $28 billion acquisition of Houston's Spectra Energy this year. The company would not disclose how many of the layoffs would come in Houston, but a few hundred are expected to lose jobs here. The cuts represent a 6 percent workforce reduction across the U.S. and Canada. "After a careful evaluation, Enbridge has taken the difficult but necessary step to address the overlap in the combined company's organizational structure," Enbridge spokesman Michael Barnes said. The layoffs were expected as Enbridge looked to gain savings from the merger. Enbridge CEO Al Monaco warned earlier this month that cuts would come among corporate and administrative staffs that each company maintained before the merger. "Whenever there is a combination of this magnitude, there's going to be some duplication," Monaco said in an interview. "We're really focused on making sure we continue the growth momentum that we have, and that's going to take people." The merger established Calgary-based Enbridge as North America's largest pipeline company, overtaking Houston-based companies like Kinder Morgan and Enterprise Products Partners and its Calgary rival, TransCanada. When the deal closed in late February, the merged company had roughly 17,000 workers, including 1,750 in Houston. Enbridge has estimated it'll generate $540 million in pre-tax savings from the merger, about half of which is through personnel reductions. Enbridge will leave its eight floors of downtown real estate in the 1100 Louisiana building, known as Enterprise Plaza, and move the more than 700 employees who work there to Spectra's old headquarters on Westheimer Court by year-end. The West-heimer office already replaced the Spectra signs with the Enbridge logos. Spectra was created 10 years ago as a standalone pipeline company after being spun off from Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy, which operates utilities and merchant power companies. As new pipelines have become harder to build in the face of growing environmental protests, companies have increasingly sought to grow through mergers. Last year, for example, TransCanada acquired Houston-based Columbia Pipeline Group for more than $10 billion to increase its share of the U.S. shale gas market. Enbridge gained a 90,000-mile network of gas and natural gas liquid pipelines from Spectra, enhancing its access to U.S. natural gas markets. About 80 percent of Enbridge's assets were in crude oil and other liquids before the Spectra deal. The merged company splits its markets evenly between oil and gas. Starting in 2001, Enbridge began a rapid Texas expansion by acquiring Houston-based Midcoast Energy Resources, giving the company a larger presence in the natural gas transmission business and significantly widening its geographical reach in North America. A few years later, Enbridge expanded in the Gulf of Mexico after purchasing Shell Gas Transmission. Enbridge even has three Texas wind farms now. Enbridge already funnels crude from the Canadian oil sands to the Houston area, thanks to its Seaway pipeline system that's jointly owned with Enterprise Products Partners. The next step is running crude from North Dakota to Texas. Enbridge in February closed on its $1.5 billion purchase of a 27.6 percent stake from Energy Transfer in the controversial and nearly completed Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline would send crude to existing networks that funnel oil to the Gulf Coast. Enbridge's three tax-advantaged partnership businesses all will remain based in Houston with no plans for name changes or consolidation - Enbridge Energy Partners, Midcoast Energy Partners and Spectra Energy Partners. Former Spectra CEO Greg Ebel also remains with the company as chairman of the merged firm. President Donald Trump ordered one of his top economic advisers to threaten a pipeline company that he would "terminate" a project if it didn't drop what he described as a "$14 billion" lawsuit against the U.S., the president told a crowd on Tuesday night. Trump, in a speech at a fundraiser in Washington, said the directive was given to National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs, though he didn't specify which company was being told to drop its lawsuit. Trump said the company did drop the suit, adding, "Isn't that easier?" "Being president gives you great power," Trump said. Cohn has emerged as one of Trump's top advisers, with an expanding portfolio that includes virtually all economic and jobs-related issues. Trump has personally threatened several companies since winning the election, telling Boeing and Lockheed Martin, for example, that he might block some of their contracts, but this is the first time he's revealed ordering a top adviser to deliver such a message. In June, TransCanada, the Canadian company that has tried to develop the Keystone XL pipeline since 2008, filed a $15 billion claim against the U.S., alleging the Obama administration's refusal to allow the construction of the pipeline was "based on an arbitrary political calculation." The claim alleged that blocking the pipeline deal was a violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the case was filed in the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes. On Jan. 24, in one of his first acts as president, Trump signed an executive order that "invites" TransCanada to resubmit its application for building the Keystone XL pipeline. This was seen as a way to clear the way for the project to proceed, though there were still some procedural hurdles for the company. Trump has said the pipeline would help create American jobs and improve the economy. But climate scientists and environmentalists had opposed the creation of the pipeline, saying the Trump administration was giving a gift to big oil companies at the expense of the environment. On Feb. 27, TransCanada's lawsuit against the U.S. was suspended for one month, "pursuant to the parties' agreement." Describing his exchange with Cohn, Trump on Tuesday night recalled saying, "Wait a minute. I'm approving the pipeline and they're suing us for $14 billion and I've already approved it right?' I said 'Go back to them and tell them, if they don't drop the suit immediately, we are going to terminate the deal.' " In fact, Trump had not actually approved the pipeline deal when he signed the executive order, only cleared the way for the pipeline application to be resubmitted. Trump had also stated during his first week in office that the pipeline and all new pipelines would have to be built with American steel in American pipes. He reiterated that Tuesday night. But TransCanada had purchased the pipe it needed years earlier when it thought the project would be approved; only half came from U.S. pipeline makers and much of the raw steel for that came from abroad Carrie Brandsberg-Dahl's wanderlust was nurtured early. Born in Utah to a Japanese father from Hawaii and German mother from Los Angeles, Brandsberg-Dahl delighted in her family's cultural mix; it inspired her to want to see the world. "I learned to understand the world is a very large place, and the only thing different is language," she said. Her geophysicist husband, Sverre Brandsberg-Dahl, is from Norway. Ironically, the couple met in Denver at a Stereolab concert. "He had the coolest leather jacket I had ever seen," said Brandsberg-Dahl, who describes her own style as avant garde. Best friends for several years, they married in Norway in 2003. They have two daughters, Sophie, 9, and Elisabet, 11, who are fluent in Norwegian, and a blue whippet dog, Genevieve, named for the canine companion in the "Madeline" children's book series. After the birth of their first child, Brandsberg-Dahl and her husband spent date nights at Houston Grand Opera performances. It fueled their passion for the arts. More for you Introducing the Houston Chronicle Best Dressed List 2017 This year, the couple is chairing the Opera Ball's Encore party. Brandsberg-Dahl also is active with the Young Patrons Circle at Houston Grand Opera and Young Associates Council at Houston Symphony, and she serves on the steering committee for Houston Chamber Choir and Circle of Fifths. She also has chaired the auction for the Mercury gala. Style mantra: Rei Kawakubo said it best, "I work in three shades of black." Style icons: Tilda Swinton, Victoria Beckham Favorite designers: Saint Laurent, Rick Owens, Burberry, Alexander McQueen, Max Pittion sunglasses Favorite shoe: Christian Louboutin's Daffodile Favorite local restaurant: "I don't eat red meat but love Underbelly. Chris Shepherd works magic with fish and vegetables." Guilty pleasure: Champagne Wardrobe staples: Leather leggings, sky-high heels and a perfectly tailored blazer. Fitness routine: "Eran Malone (Houstonian Hotel & Spa) motivates me to push past my limits. He is amazing." Beauty must-have: A perfect red lip Signature scent: Rose Favorite flower: Peony Favorite place to vacation: Berlin, London and Norway (her husband's homeland) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, a former Texas governor and Texas A&M University student leader, said Wednesday the election of the first openly gay student body president was "stolen" from the candidate who received the most votes but who was disqualified because of election irregularities in a process that "made a mockery of due process and transparency." In an extraordinary written submission to the Houston Chronicle's Editorial Board, the energy secretary also suggested that Bobby Brooks' victory was engineered by the Student Government Association in a quest for diversity on the traditionally conservative campus. "What if Mr. Brooks had been the candidate disqualified?" Perry wrote. "Would the administration and the student body have allowed the first gay student body president to be voided for using charity glow sticks?" Perry, who as an Aggie student was twice elected yell leader, called on the university's administration to "explain why they stood passively by while equal treatment was mocked in the name of diversity, and why they did not brief the Board of Regents." Brooks was declared the winner in the campus election by the SGA even though he came in second in the vote count to Robert McIntosh, who was disqualified by student election officials for not providing receipts for glow sticks used in his campaign. McIntosh's mother is Alison McIntosh, a longtime Republican fundraiser, according to Empower Texans, a conservative political organization. Her company, The McIntosh Company Inc., raised money for the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney and John McCain. Perry's letter was submitted to the Chronicle the same day the paper ran a front page story about Brooks' election and the conservative Empower Texans, which acknowledged that a "student body election doesn't usually rise to the level of deserving adult attention," weighed in online. "McIntosh's disqualification appears to have nothing to do with campus election rules and everything to do with campus bureaucrats attempting to promote a left-wing multiculturalism agenda at A&M," said Empower Texans president and CEO Michael Quinn Sullivan. Alison McIntosh and student government election officials did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday evening. When alerted to Perry's letter by a reporter, Brooks said "oh boy" and declined further comment. Robert McIntosh told The Battion, A&M's student newspaper: "I'm thankful for Secretary Perry's support of fairness in the Houston Chronicle today. I did not at all expect his editorial and I'm humbled to have his support. He made a compelling case which I fully support and continue to fight for. "Our campaign team won the election and was subsequently disqualified unfairly. Diversity, at it's heart, is equal treatment of all, and we hope this situation is resolved in a way that ensures a fair and more transparent process now and in future elections," the senior said. School surprised Texas A&M University's administration said it had nothing to do with the student-led election's results, and it said regents received news clippings about A&M during the election, as is standard procedure. "To suggest that the disqualification of a candidate was in the interest of some sort of political correctness does not reflect the Texas A&M of today," spokeswoman Amy Smith said by phone Wednesday. "Were the roles reversed, I am absolutely convinced that a minority candidate judged to have violated rules would have been disqualified." She added, "we were a little surprised that the secretary of energy of the United States of America would have the time and bandwidth to weigh in on a university student body president election." As energy secretary, Perry leads a federal agency with a projected $28 billion budget and which controls the nation's nuclear stockpiles. McIntosh was disqualified on charges that he did not provide receipts for glow sticks used in a campaign video. He also faced charges of voter intimidation, which were later dismissed on appeal. In McIntosh's disqualification, the student body's judicial court acknowledged that "the casual observer might find the decision of the Commissioner and this Court unreasonably officious" but said its decision was based on election regulations. "The desire of the electorate is overturned, and thousands of student votes are disqualified, because of free glow sticks that appeared for 11 seconds of a months-long campaign," Perry wrote. "Apparently glow sticks merit the same punishment as voter intimidation." Perry then went on to suggest the outcome would have been different if McIntosh were not a white male. "Campus diversity is something every school and student should strive to consistently improve," he wrote. "But it must be done the right way. The quality of diversity on a campus depends on fair treatment, rather than preferred outcomes or engineered results. McIntosh's treatment suggests that A&M is choosing preferred outcomes over equal treatment: that the ends justify the means, and that not every student is deserving of the same treatment." 'Bigger fish to fry' Political scientists who study Texas politics were surprised by Perry's decision to weigh in on College Station's campus politics. "It's astounding," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University who has studied Texas politics for decades. "He's written it as a call for fairness, not that he's come out against the first gay student body president at A&M, but the extraordinary part is that he took the time to do this when he should have so many bigger fish to fry in his current job." Mark Jones, a Rice University political science professor who has watched Perry's political career rise and fall for years, said he, too, was surprised by Perry's intervention into the A&M election. "This must be his inner Aggie speaking, because this is certainly not something you expect a Cabinet secretary to weigh in on - actually, probably not even a governor," Jones said. "It's strange. Of all the things he could have an opinion on, this is probably not the smartest move for a Cabinet secretary. He must really be upset about it." Brooks did not promote his sexuality during the campaign in speeches or on social media, though he said in an interview Monday that it was "basically working knowledge for those who cared to know." WASHINGTON - In his final day of questioning at his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Judge Neil Gorsuch continued to answer with practiced generalities on Wednesday, frustrating Democrats who seemed unable to rattle him or pin him down. "You have been very much able to avoid any specificity like no one I have seen before," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "And maybe that's a virtue, I don't know. But for us on this side, knowing where you stand on major questions of the day is really important to a vote." Looking for 'a beating heart' Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., said he was searching to find "a beating heart and an independent streak" behind Gorsuch's testimony. After trying in a span of 20 hours over two days, Democrats were not able to move Gorsuch off script. Instead, interest in the hearing seemed to wane, and many in the Capitol came to view a confirmation as inevitable. Gorsuch managed to endure as much by what he did not say as by what he did. Most Supreme Court nominees are fairly reticent, but Democrats said Gorsuch outdid the last two Republican appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. They gave their views on seminal Supreme Court decisions, said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "We've had justices nominated by Republican presidents who have been willing to discuss past precedent," Leahy said. "I was just kind of hoping you would be as transparent as these prior nominees were." The Supreme Court gave Senate Democrats a small gift on Wednesday, issuing a unanimous decision in a case on students with disabilities that rejected the approach Gorsuch had taken in a different case. The relationship between the two decisions was indirect, and Gorsuch said he had merely followed precedent. But Democrats welcomed the opportunity to elicit answers from Gorsuch about a specific Supreme Court decision. At other points, senators probed Gorsuch's general judicial philosophy, notably his commitment to originalism, which tries to interpret the Constitution consistently with the understanding of those who drafted and adopted it. "It's selective originalism," Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said of the nominee's approach, accusing him of relying on "nonoriginalist judges to get to the outcome" in some preferred cases. In a speech last year, Gorsuch said judges should "apply the law as it is, focusing backward, not forward, and looking to text, structure and history to decide what a reasonable reader at the time of the events in question would have understood the law to be - not to decide cases based on their own moral convictions or the policy consequences they believe might serve society best." Feinstein asked where that approach left women and gays given the understanding of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause when it was ratified in 1868. Gorsuch responded that he would respect precedents providing for constitutional protections for those and other groups. He later said he would do so even if the precedents had not themselves used an originalist approach to interpreting the Constitution. "No one is looking to return us to horse and buggy days," he said. Later, he added, "Backward doesn't mean backwards." $5 for 'bigly' Even attempts to saddle Gorsuch with President Donald Trump's baggage, including the president's attacks on the judiciary, yielded little. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, suggested that his Democratic colleagues were being hypocritical, citing their own criticisms of Gorsuch. "It's a little rich for them to be maligning a sitting federal judge," Cruz said, "and at the same time giving speeches about how unacceptable it is for anyone to criticize a federal judge." The closest Gorsuch came to embracing Trump was perhaps the inadvertent deployment of a curious adverb - "bigly" - often associated with the president. (Trump has said he is merely saying "big league.") "I just won five bucks," Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., told the judge. WASHINGTON -The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday accused U.S. spy agencies of abusing their surveillance powers by gathering and sharing information about President Donald Trump and his transition team, an unproven charge that was quickly embraced by the White House but threatened to derail the committee's investigation of possible Trump campaign ties to Russia. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., one of Trump's closest allies on Capitol Hill, said he was alarmed after seeing intelligence reports disseminated after the Nov. 8 election that made references to U.S. citizens affiliated with Trump, and possibly the president-elect himself. He appeared to be referring to relatively routine cases of surveillance on foreign individuals in which they communicated with or mentioned Americans. "What I've read seems to me to be some level of surveillance activity - perhaps legal, but I don't know that it's right," Nunes said to reporters outside the White House. "I don't know that the American people would be comfortable with what I've read." But Nunes' refusal to disclose how he had obtained the documents and his unusual handling of the material - which he withheld from other committee members even while rushing to present it to the White House - were interpreted by some as a sign that his discovery was engineered to help the White House. Trump said he regarded Nunes' disclosures as validation of his widely discredited claim that he was the illegal target of a wiretapping operation last fall ordered by President Barack Obama. Asked whether he felt vindicated, Trump said during a brief public appearance at the White House: "I somewhat do. I must tell you I somewhat do. I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found." The timing of Nunes' disclosures was politically advantageous for Trump, coming just days after FBI Director James Comey testified that the president's wiretapping claims were groundless and falling on a day when Republicans struggled to muster enough votes to pass a health-care overhaul bill. Democrats respond Nunes' White House visit was denounced by Democrats as a partisan move that severely damaged the prospects of the committee carrying out an impartial probe. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that Nunes' action "casts quite a profound cloud over our ability to do the work," and he called for the formation of an independent commission. "If the chairman is going to continue to go to the White House rather than his own committee, there's no way we can conduct this investigation." Other Democrats suggested that Nunes may have crossed a legal line by publicly talking about secret intelligence work. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the congressman's statements "appear to reveal classified information, which is a serious concern. With regard to the substance of his claims, I have no idea what he is talking about." Nunes, who served as a member of Trump's transition team, would not say whether his information came from a source affiliated with the White House - or whether the reports he had seen simply cited cables between foreign entities or direct communications between Trump or his team and a foreign agent. "I'm not going to get into any of this," he said, stressing only that it was "very clear to me" who the Trump team officials referenced in the report were. The White House has previously enlisted Nunes, as well as a senior U.S. intelligence official, to knock down politically damaging reports about Trump and Russia. White House officials dismissed suggestions that Trump aides had coordinated with Nunes. "We watched his press conference on the Hill at the same time everybody else did," White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders said. "We didn't have any information before that." The developments added to the intrigue and animosity that have so far characterized Trump's relationship with U.S. intelligence agencies, as well as the administration's efforts to fend off reports of Russian ties that forced the resignation of Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and a recusal on Russia-related matters by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Ambiguous wording Nunes' claims raise the possibility that U.S. spy agencies violated long-standing rules that are designed to protect U.S. citizens from surveillance and require Americans' names to be stricken from intelligence reports except in rare circumstances. But the lack of detail provided by Nunes, and the ambiguous wording he used in his public appearances to describe the materials, made it hard to determine whether there was any violation. Nunes's statements appear to center on surveillance approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a secretive panel that authorizes the interception of communications of known or suspected agents of foreign powers - such as ambassadors - or terrorism suspects. Though it is generally not acknowledged, the U.S. government has for years used FISA warrants to eavesdrop on ambassadors, embassies and others believed to be acting in America on behalf of foreign governments. While such surveillance aims to gather intelligence about foreign actors, it can often pick up conversations with their American counterparts - such as State Department officials, lawmakers or other Americans who speak to foreign officials. Agencies refer to such monitoring as "incidental" collection and take steps to minimize the sharing of those people's names or identifying information within the government, often by masking their names in internal reports about the intercepted communications. Nunes described the surveillance as apparently legal but nevertheless troubling because it involved the activities of Trump and his aides after he was elected but before he became president. "It looks to me like it was all legally collected. It was a lot of information on the president-elect and the transition team and what they were doing," he said. Nunes' statements were remarkable on numerous levels. He publicly discussed FISA-approved surveillance, something that Comey had refused to do before Nunes' committee days earlier. Nunes attributed his information to an anonymous source, after he and other members of his party have bemoaned media reports relying on unnamed people. Perhaps most significantly, Nunes went to the White House to brief the president on the details of material potentially gathered as part of his panel's investigation into associates of the president and Russia's interference in the campaign. Nunes said that none of what he reviewed involved Trump team contacts with Russian officials. He initially said the collection included details of Trump's conversations but then backed away from that claim, saying only that it was "possible." McCain calls actions 'bizarre' The directors of the FBI and NSA spent more than five hours Monday being grilled by lawmakers on Nunes' committee about the counterintelligence probe looking for any evidence of coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the election. Comey was also asked about Trump's claims on Twitter that he had been the victim of an Obama-ordered wiretap. "I have no information that supports those tweets," Comey said. Schiff said that after speaking with Nunes on Wednesday afternoon, the Republican said that most of the names of American citizens were not "unmasked" in the intelligence reports but that it was still possible to ascertain their identities. "Because the committee has still not been provided the intercepts in the possession of the chairman, it is impossible to evaluate the chairman's claims. It certainly does not suggest - in any way - that the president was wiretapped by his predecessor," Schiff said. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called Nunes's actions Wednesday "remarkable" and "bizarre," and said the partisan jockeying from Nunes and Schiff - with "no substantiation," McCain added - were turning the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into a political sideshow. He called for either a select committee or an independent commission to look into the matter. City Council on Wednesday reassigned a small portion of Houston's delinquent tax roll collections from the politically connected tax giant Linebarger to its higher-performing competitor, even as some members questioned why the smaller firm was not getting a larger slice of the lucrative pie. Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins & Mott and Greenberg Traurig significantly outperformed Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson's tax collection rate this year, a city analysis shows, leading several council members to question during a Monday committee meeting why the Turner administration was planning to reallocate just 2 percent of Houston's accounts. Much of that concern faded by Wednesday, however, as Mayor Sylvester Turner - whose former law firm was kept on retainer by Linebarger for more than a decade - urged council to approve the new agreement. "Both law firms signed a letter in support of the breakout," Turner said, addinghe wished to avoid further negotiations. "It is not in the best interest of the city to engage in that highly divisive process." One of the city's lawyers earlier this week stressed the city's desire to adjust its dual-vendor model incrementally. "We think it's been really successful and don't want to jeopardize that success by making a wholesale switch of, say, eight or 10 or 12 different accounts and arguably overwhelm the system," First Assistant City Attorney Tom Allen told council's Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee on Monday. "We have to be sure our own internal infrastructure is capable of managing the change when the change comes." 'Granny Smith to McIntosh' Houston adopted the dual-vendor model for delinquent tax collections three years ago, under former Mayor Annise Parker, and gradually has assigned additional accounts to Perdue. Perdue now collects on 13 percent of the city's delinquent tax roll and maintained an 81 percent collection rate during the first half of this fiscal year, according to the city. Linebarger's collection rate was 43 percent for the remaining accounts. The reallocation approved Wednesday increases Perdue's share of city accounts to 15 percent, starting next month. "We're glad to have gotten additional accounts. Of course, we wish were assigned more," Perdue partner Michael Darlow said. "We'll continue to work hard for the city and, hopefully, put ourselves in the position to be awarded more accounts next year." A Linebarger spokesman declined comment, but firm partner Norman Nelson wrote a letter to the mayor and City Council last week supporting the reassignment. Pre-empting questions Monday about the gap in reported firm performance, Allen said it could be misleading to compare collection rates. "Collecting in different parts of the city is very different in terms of difficulty and, I would submit, economies of scale may also have skewed the results in some way," he said. "I'm not sure if you would say this is going to be apples and oranges, but you may want to say this is Granny Smith to McIntosh." District B Councilman Jerry Davis on Wednesday called on the city to improve its performance evaluation criteria. "I would like for us to bear down and get a way that we can make ... the comparison more of apples to apples," he said. At-largeCouncilman Mike Knox agreed, saying, "I think it does a disservice to both law firms and the city that we don't have a method that really makes sense." Turner said the city was working to develop a more effective evaluation process. Split allocation questioned District H Councilwoman Karla Cisneros, meanwhile, voiced frustration at what she said was a lack of complete information about firm performance, and District E Councilman Dave Martin questioned why additional accounts were not assigned to Perdue. "It was clear in my mind that Perdue did a pretty good job," Martin said after the council meeting Wednesday. "Why not see if we could make a split more along the lines of 50/50 rather than 85/15?" Martin, persuaded by the firms' agreement, nevertheless joined council in unanimously approving the new assignments. He had suggested Monday that the city delay any reallocations for six months to allow more time to work on the contracts. Allen indicated the legal department may not have been able to dedicate the time it ordinarily would to these contracts because staff was tied up working on the city's pension reform plan, which awaits state legislative approval. "There are not enough hours in the day," Allen said. The mayor dismissed that notion Wednesday. "We did not run out of time. The city attorney talked with me. I made the decision, and this is where we are," Turner said. "It has nothing to do with pensions." Linebarger, which regularly hires state lawmakers, kept Turner's former law firm on retainer for more than $25,000 a year through 2015. Darlow said Perdue currently does business with two Texas lawmakers. AUSTIN - The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday proposed a $106.3 billion budget for Texas government during the next two years, a blueprint that House leaders quickly branded as inadequate, setting the stage for a protracted battle with the lower chamber over spending priorities. One provision that drew immediate criticism from House Speaker Joe Straus would balance the budget by delaying the transfer of $2.5 billion in transportation money until the following year. Senators said the move would allow the state to use that money to avoid steep cuts in health care and school programs. Straus, in unusually blunt comments, likened that plan to the Enron accounting fraud scandal that brought down the Houston-based energy giant in 2001, in a collapse that shook the financial world. "Counting money twice in order to balance a budget is not a good idea. This is the Texas Legislature. We are not Enron," Straus, R-San Antonio, told reporters after the Senate plan was approved by a 15-0 vote. "I'm not interested in cooking the books just to avoid a vote on the rainy day fund. We have option." House leaders, whose initial budget proposal totaled $108.9 billion, have said they would prefer to tap the state's $10.2 billion savings account for as much as $2.5 billion to avoid more severe cuts to state programs, even though fiscal conservatives have said they will oppose any such efforts except for one-time expenses or natural disasters. The Senate plan, expected to go to the full chamber next Tuesday, would not tap the savings account - commonly known as the Rainy Day Fund - and Finance Committee Chair Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, said she sees no interest among her Senate colleagues in doing so, though she may be willing to consider it for a few one-time projects. By cutting taxes two years ago, the Legislature reduced the amount available to spend this year by about $4 billion; lawmakers also agreed to set aside another $5 billion two years ago for transportation projects. Available revenues have been further reduced by an economy rendered sluggish by lower oil and gas revenues. "This budget remains a work in progress, but we will continue our work to make the most of every dollar, meet our priority needs and keep Texas moving in the right direction," Nelson said. "This committee left no stone unturned looking for savings, examining our budget drivers and looking for ways to make smarter use of our limited resources." Senate leaders did not immediately respond to Straus' criticism, but Nelson said the accounting maneuver had been approved by Comptroller Glenn Hegar, a former senator. Others noted the Legislature used a similar maneuver in 2011 to help balance the budget by delaying payment of more than $1 billion in Medicaid costs until the next budget period. Nelson said the maneuver will give lawmakers an additional $2.5 billion to pay for schools and health care that otherwise would have faced cuts. And, it will not delay funding for any highway projects, she said. "It solved a lot of our problems," Nelson said of the move, which drew unanimous support from her budget-writing committee. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, at odds with Straus on numerous issues since the legislative session began in January, applauded the Senate proposal as "a budget that maximizes our resources in these lean times and reflects our conservative principles. Nelson and other Senate leaders said the proposed budget continues current funding levels for public education, and adds $2.6 billion for student enrollment growth, projected at more than 80,000 per year over the next two years. Senators conceded that more of the budget's education dollars will come from local taxes - not state funds - when compared with the state budget two years ago. School advocacy groups moved Wednesday to begin lobbying the House to cover more of the costs and to enact school-finance reform, which the Senate plan does not address. While many of the allocations are much less than requested by state agencies, Nelson said Senate leaders are confident the amounts budgeted will allow the continuation of most current state services without significant program cuts. Among other provisions, the spending plan would add $316 million to fund a Teacher Retirement System shortfall; provide $3.4 billion more for Child Protective Services, $430 million more than in the current budget, to fix chronic case load backlogs and high staff turnover; include $780 million for new construction and significant repairs to the state hospital system, and add $44.9 million for the Railroad Commission to bolster current operations and increase pipeline safety. Border security would be funded at its current level of $800 million over two years, even though officials at one point hoped that an increasing federal presence under President Donald Trump could allow Texas to scale back its massive border-enforcement initiative. Public universities, under the Senate plan, would face cuts of 6 to 10 percent for special projects, an issue that has drawn intense lobbying from those schools since those cuts were made public last week. The budget bill would boost Medicaid funding to cover the growth in case loads, even as it assumes more than $400 million in cost-containment initiatives that critics say could evaporate with additional costs to Texas from expected changes the federal Affordable Care Act, which the Republican-led Congress has promised to repeal. The bill includes $40 million for infrastructure improvements at the Port of Houston and other Texas ports, and allocates $46.2 million for preservation projects at the Alamo in San Antonio. Just over $25 million is included for high-caliber bullet-proof vests to protect Texas peace officers, a new program supported by Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders. While the Senate plan was cheered by some for its fiscal restraint, some advocacy groups expressed concern that it allocated only $65 million for pre-K programs championed by Abbott, instead of $236 million, and that it would underfund therapy programs for children with developmental disabilities. "By using a portion of the Rainy Day Fund for its intended purpose, the Senate could fully fund these and other priorities," said Stephanie Rubin, CEO of Texans Care for Children, a leading advocacy group. Rank-and-file senators said privately Wednesday that the House dismissal of the Senate budget portends a heated, protracted battle over the state budget that could begin as early as next week, when the House Appropriations Committee is expected to begin finalizing its own version of the budget. On a sunny spring day in Texas City 12 years ago today, workers at the BP refinery had just finished a company-sponsored lunch in appreciation of a month without any on-the-job injuries. The celebration wouldn't last long. As they walked back to a temporary construction building, a malfunction deep in the bowels of the facility triggered a chain of catastrophic events that would result in one of the worst refinery accidents in U.S. history. The blast killed 15 workers and injured more than 180 others. Air ambulances spent hours shuttling burn victims to the helicopter pad outside the emergency room at UTMB Galveston in a harrowing scene resembling something out of a war movie. What happened on that terrible day ultimately was documented in a seminal report prepared by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, the independent federal agency charged with investigating chemical accidents. The CSB not only probed what caused this disaster, it also recommended that BP conduct its own study and rethink its corporate safety culture. Today there's literally no telling how many lives have been saved by the lessons gleaned from those two reports, which have been incorporated into academic curricula and technical standards observed throughout the industry. The CSB is to chemical accidents what the National Transportation Safety Board is to airline crashes. Just as the NTSB investigates what causes plane mishaps and tells airlines what lessons they can learn to prevent future disasters, the CSB probes accidents at chemical plants and suggests what the owners and managers of refineries should do to make their workplaces safer. This agency has investigated everything from the fertilizer explosion in West, Texas, to the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. So it's downright baffling that President Trump's proposed budget calls for eliminating all funding for the CSB. "Chemical Breakdown," a Houston Chronicle investigation last year, documented how federal agencies including the CSB are already overwhelmed, lacking the resources to adequately oversee facilities that handle dangerous chemicals. Our nation's regulatory system for the chemical industry has been so poorly funded, its complex and outdated rules go largely unenforced, leaving facilities that handle these hazardous materials to mostly police themselves. So it's no wonder petrochemical industry experts told Chronicle reporters Mark Collette and Matt Dempsey the Trump administration's proposed gutting of the CSB is "remarkably stupid," "really sad" and "standing up for death and destruction." We're not talking about a bloated federal bureaucracy with a padded payroll. The CSB has only 40 employees and an annual budget of about $12 million. Compare that to the estimated $60 billion cost of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill. If this agency's work has prevented a single major industrial accident - and people in the industry have no doubt it has - the return on investment is well worth the comparatively small expenditure of taxpayer dollars. No doubt about it, the CSB is a bargain. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle believe President Trump's budget proposals were mostly dead on arrival the moment they landed on Capitol Hill, but major parts of this spending plan will certainly survive. Texas lawmakers, who know the importance of the chemical industry in our state, need to make sure the CSB survives. Anything less would be an insult to the memories of the 15 workers who died a dozen years ago today in Texas City. As Texas' first Aggie governor and as someone who was twice elected Yell Leader of Texas A&M University, I am deeply troubled by the recent conduct of A&M's administration and Student Government Association (SGA) during the Aggie student-body president elections for 2017-2018. When I first read that our student body had elected an openly gay man, Bobby Brooks, for president of the student body, I viewed it as a testament to the Aggie character. I was proud of our students because the election appeared to demonstrate a commitment to treating every student equally, judging on character rather than on personal characteristics. Unfortunately, a closer review appears to prove the opposite; and the Aggie administration and SGA owe us answers. Brooks did not win the election. He finished second by more than 750 votes to one Mr. Robert McIntosh. However, McIntosh was disqualified by the SGA Election Commission and Judicial Court through a process that - at best - made a mockery of due process and transparency. At worst, the SGA allowed an election to be stolen outright. More for you Rick Perry blasts election of Texas A&M's first gay SGA president Here are the facts: Six hours after the election polls closed, the SGA Election Commission received 14 anonymous complaints, accusing McIntosh of voter intimidation. Rather than question McIntosh or conduct an investigation, the Election Commission immediately disqualified McIntosh and declared Brooks the winner. Later, the Commission added a second charge - again from an anonymous complaint - that McIntosh had failed to provide a receipt for glow sticks appearing in a campaign video on Facebook. Now, as someone who appointed university regents for more than a decade, I assumed that the administration would have briefed the Board of Regents, considering the allegations of widespread voter intimidation and the disqualification of thousands of student votes. If anything is worthy of oversight, these events should qualify. Incredibly, it appears that the Board of Regents was never informed. Upon appeal, McIntosh was cleared of all charges of voter intimidation. None of the complaints were made by students who interacted with McIntosh, and many of the accusers turned out to be supporters of Brooks or his campaign volunteers. In other words, the entire episode that initially disqualified McIntosh was dismissed as a series of dirty campaign tactics. The second charge of missing receipts was upheld by the Court, despite the fact that McIntosh had acquired the glow sticks for participating in a charity event prior to the campaign. Further, they were no different than visual props used by McIntosh's rivals' campaign videos - none of which were itemized or expensed. In its opinion, the Judicial Court admitted that the charges were minor and technical, but, incredibly, chose to uphold the disqualification, with no consideration given to whether the punishment fit the crime. The desire of the electorate is overturned, and thousands of student votes are disqualified because of free glow sticks that appeared for 11 seconds of a months-long campaign. Apparently, glow sticks merit the same punishment as voter intimidation. Now, Brooks' presidency is being treated as a victory for "diversity." It is difficult to escape the perception that this quest for "diversity" is the real reason the election outcome was overturned. Does the principle of "diversity" override and supersede all other values of our Aggie Honor Code? Every Aggie ought to ask themselves: How would they act and feel if the victim was different? What if McIntosh had been a minority student instead of a white male? What if Brooks had been the candidate disqualified? Would the administration and the student body have allowed the first gay student body president to be voided for using charity glow sticks? Would the student body have allowed a black student body president to be disqualified on anonymous charges of voter intimidation? We all know that the administration, the SGA and student body would not have permitted such a thing to happen. The outcome would have been different if the victim was different. Election Commissioner Rachel Keathley must explain why she chose to overturn a fairly won election and disqualify thousands of votes on the basis of anonymous complaints and flimsy technicalities. Chief Justice Shelby James must explain why she treated these cases as annoyances rather than with respect. The administration must explain why it stood passive while equal treatment was mocked in the name of diversity, and why officials did not brief the Board of Regents. Campus diversity is something every school and student should strive to consistently improve. But it must be done the right way. The quality of diversity on a campus depends on fair treatment, rather than preferred outcomes or engineered results. McIntosh's treatment suggests that A&M is choosing preferred outcomes over equal treatment: that the ends justify the means, and that not every student is deserving of the same treatment. That is precisely opposite from the values that I learned as an A&M cadet. Robert McIntosh was not treated the same as his competitors. If we do not serve him and the voting majority of students, then we fail every student at our beloved university - and tarnish the ring that our alumni wear with pride. Perry is the former governor of Texas, a 1972 graduate of Texas A&M University, and our nation's 14th Energy Secretary. The notion that safety is always good for the bottom line is not new - but it is most assuredly a principle that should be taken more seriously. Twelve years after the BP Texas City disaster - one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the history of the United States - there still is much to learn. Investigating such accidents is the responsibility of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) - the independent, nonregulatory federal agency that I head. I am devastated to know that President Trump's 2018 budget proposal seeks to eliminate the CSB. We have a truly unique mission as we are the only agency that acts as a watchdog for both industry and government agencies. Without the CSB, lessons will not be learned from future high-consequence fires and explosions. Every refinery and chemical plant should be aware of the CSB's work and support its continued existence. The CSB's learnings from high quality accident investigations will not only keep communities and workers safe but also improve companies' bottom lines. In Texas, 24 chemical accidents have been investigated by the board. As the state with the highest number of CSB investigations, we hope that leaders in government across Texas will support the agency's ongoing work. Simply put, prevention is good business. Industrial accidents do not occur in a vacuum; they reverberate throughout industry and affect ordinary Americans. The costs are enormous, from injuries and fatalities to long-term economic consequences. The February 2015 explosion at an ExxonMobil plant in Torrance, Calif., which is currently being investigated by the CSB - was the costliest disruption at a California refinery in the past 16 years, and contributed to pushing California's gas prices past $3 per gallon. A study by the RAND Corp. found that motorists paid at least $2.4 billion in higher pump prices in the six months following the explosion. The 2005 explosion and fire at BP Texas City cost the lives of 15 workers and billions of dollars in fines and settlements. Likewise, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill took the lives of 11 workers and has cost the company billions in settlement claims alone and untold environmental damage in the Gulf Coast region. Exactly 12 years ago today, a series of explosions ravaged the isomerization unit of the BP Texas City Refinery. Our investigation resulted in a new standard of care for corporate boards of directors and CEOs throughout the world, calling for same level of scrutiny for process safety management as financial management. Boards of directors of oil and chemical companies should examine every detail of their process safety programs to prevent future death and destruction, and the CSB challenges the industry to ask what reports, safety videos and educational tools they are using in their facilities. The absence of an accident is not a measurement of safety. True prevention requires a shift from focusing on past success, to driving meaningful safety change. The CSB is dedicated to uncovering the hidden catastrophic risk factors that potentially wreak havoc on business. To put it in a more practical manner, the cost of just one accident can far exceed the $11 million annual budget of the CSB. Ultimately, we play an invaluable, irreplaceable role in the safety and security of Americans. Sutherland is chairperson and CEO of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. gapore ranks first in the world as a startup ecosystem in terms of talent, according to a large-scale survey by Startup Genome. In its 2017 Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking, the organisation attributed the city-states top spot in talent to strong performance in Access and Cost sub-factors.The experience levels of Singaporean Talent is comparably strong, given that 80% of the Engineering and 74% of the Growth teams have gained at least two years of prior startup experience already.Singapore also placed 12th in the overall ranking, dropping from 10last year due to two new Chinese entrants No. 4 Beijing and No. 8 Shanghai.Startup Genome said Singapore lies in a strategic location in the region that renders it an easy access point for up-and-coming tech markets in Asia. It also said 1,600-2,400 tech startups in the city-state enjoy significant government subsidies.The government launched 13.2 billion R&D Initiative, and merged two tech-oriented agencies into the unified GovTech, which oversees key regulatory frameworks and the delivery of digital services.To further accelerate the development of a mature venture capital landscape, the government also launched schemes that match early-stage VC funds on a one-to-one basis, it added.The organisations said Singapore implemented innovative and aggressive policies in the 1990s to spur the growth of its startup ecosystem. It values the ecosystem at US$11bn, compared to the US$4.1bn global average.There is some concern in the Funding Index where Singapores Early-Stage Funding growth is falling behind its peers, however, with some of the strongest Tech Talent in the world every problem should be seen as a challenge, the organisation said.The city-states start-up founders are the youngest in the world, with a median of 28 years. Only 12% are women, compared to the global average of 16%. Singapore has the 6th highest percentage of immigrant founders in the world at 35%. Netflixs Death Note is the latest adaptation under fire for whitewashing. On Wednesday, the first trailer sparked outrage after it featured a cast of white actors, despite the fact that its based on a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba. Advertisement More than 2,600 people have now signed a petition to boycott the movie. The story itself is full of Japanese culture, history, and identity and the Japanese narrative is essential to the plot and storytelling, writes petition creator Sarah Rose on Care2. Death Note shouldn't be cast with all white actors as it goes against the very soul of the story. The original manga follows a Japanese character named Light Yagami who stumbles upon a supernatural notebook that allows him to kill anyone by writing down their name. While the Netflix remake appears to follow the same storyline, the characters have been westernized, with white actor Nat Wolff playing the lead Light Turner. I already knew they was gone whitewash the fuck outta death note but dis tew much pic.twitter.com/O8xs7XEYKs LA RITTY (@METALTEARSOLID) March 22, 2017 In addition to whitewashing, the petition states that Asian-American actor Edward Zo auditioned for the movie but was not cast, which only adds fuel to the fire. Advertisement Zo previously spoke out about this in 2015, claiming he did not land a role because he is Asian. I've been told to my face that I can't audition for certain big Hollywood projects because I'm Asian. #DeathNote being one of them, he wrote on Instagram. Hollywood is one of the few industries that can get away with this type of blatant racism. It is a common occurrence that you will not even have the chance to audition because of your race or ethnicity & yet Hollywood loves to parade under the guise of multiculturalism; It's a complete facade. That same year, Zo also took to YouTube to express his dismay over the whitewashing in Death Note. This would have been an amazing opportunity for an actor of colour, for an Asian actor, to take the global stage and break barriers and break stereotypes, he said. They were not looking to see Asian actors for the role of Light Yagami. In addition to the petition to boycott the film, fans on Twitter were quick to call out Netflix. hey netflix if u wanna whitewash death note u could at LEAST get the actors to look SOMEWHAT LIKE THEIR CHARACTERS N0R5K1 (@kittuazoldyck) March 23, 2017 This is so sad. Why did y'all whitewash Death Note? This could have been a masterpiece smdh. https://t.co/AuSuEeg2gK zabree (@nochillzabree) March 22, 2017 Advertisement Please tell me they whitewash *the names* of the Netflix Death Note characters they whitewashed. Catt Small is in NYC (@cattsmall) March 23, 2017 Lol @netflix movie "Death Note" - Young Light Turner uses a magic notebook to kill the dreams of minority actors. #whitewash april (@april_yim) March 22, 2017 In response to the backlash, one Twitter user noted that some of the producers of the film are Asian. Mad about the whitewash of Death Note? Blame these white supremacists. #deathnote pic.twitter.com/W4sBom18Ux A. Fox (@whaterintowhine) March 23, 2017 Another argued that Netflix made it clear its an American version. They made it clear its an American version based on death note go away with your whitewashing stuff the Japanese versions are there for you Chrollo Lucilfer (@MiloticSama) March 22, 2017 Advertisement While the user is right that there are Japanese adaptations out there including four live-action films, an anime TV series and a musical many quickly pointed out the biggest flaw with the argument. Why does "American version" mean "white"? There are plenty of Asian-American people in this country. @MiloticSama Claire (@CCSell) March 22, 2017 This is not Netflixs first whitewashing controversy. The company was previously under fire for casting white actors in Marvels new show Iron Fist. CORRECTION - Mar. 24, 2017: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Netflix's "Death Note" is a show. The post has been corrected to state that it is a movie. Advertisement Also on HuffPost Ontarios principal public service union says it will not support the provinces basic income experiment if it means job losses for social workers. "Frontline social assistance staff are open to seeing their job descriptions evolve, but there is no way we will support any new model of social assistance delivery that doesn't involve them," said Warren Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). Advertisement Thomas said he is all for the basic income if it helps raise people out of poverty, "but people in poverty need more than money. They need employment counseling, housing supports, crisis intervention, and personal advocacy. And those things can only be provided by real live human beings who care for a living." The province of Ontario recently released the results of its public consultations on the basic income in a document titled What We Heard. What We Heard clearly didn't hear the voices of frontline social assistance workers," Thomas said in a statement. The provincial report doesn't ... mention frontline social assistance staff at all, he added. Advertisement Many advocates of the basic income including Hugh Segal, the former Senator hired by the provincial Liberals as a consultant on the basic income project say part of its benefit is to reduce the intrusiveness of government into peoples private lives. Unlike means-tested programs like welfare and unemployment insurance, a basic income wouldnt require public servants passing judgment on individuals, they argue. But the flipside of this is that there could be far less demand for the social workers involved in dispensing public assistance. In its submission to the province, the OPSEU argued that the government wouldnt be able to save much money by replacing some existing programs with a basic income. The cost of administering Ontarios welfare and disability programs, including labour costs, amounts to just 3.7 per cent of the total cost, the submission stated. As basic income experiments proliferate around the world including in Prince Edward Island, the Netherlands, Finland and Kenya some labour unions are starting to voice opposition to a plan they fear could make many public service jobs redundant. Advertisement Finlands largest labour union, SAK, recently called the countrys basic income experiment useless and made what would ordinarily be a conservative argument against it that it would encourage people to drop out of the workforce, harming economic productivity. Ontario announced a basic income pilot project as part of its spring 2016 budget, and hired Segal to lead the effort. Segals report, released last fall, proposed two different experiments in which low-income earners would receive a top-up to $1,320 a month, or 75 per cent of the provinces low income mark. A third experiment would see recipients receive 100 per cent of the low income mark, and each group would try out different ways of calculating taxes on additional earned income. Those with disabilities would be granted additional money. The pilot projects would replace the Ontario Works welfare program and the province's disability support program. Advertisement The province is expected to announce the locations and details of the basic income pilot projects later this year. Segal has suggested the projects run no less than three years. Also on HuffPost The middle-class dream is slipping through the fingers of families in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and the fault lies with our politicians. Forget about a car in every garage and a chicken in every pot -- with parking spots in downtown condos selling for between $45,000 and $60,000 per space, who can afford a garage, let alone a house attached to it? In February, detached homes in the GTA sold for an average price of $1.21 million, and Toronto home prices are expected to grow by 20 to 25 per cent this year. Compare that to average Ontario weekly earnings of $963, or $50,000 per year, and you can see the problem. Advertisement Ontario politicians depend on middle-class GTA voters for their electoral success and should be committed to seriously addressing the issue of housing affordability. Cue renewed pontification by the Finance Minister Bill Morneau about bringing in a foreign home buyers tax. The trouble is that many experts point out that the price issue has been overwhelmingly driven by a shortage of supply rather than a sudden increase in demand (let alone foreign demand). And supply restrictions are largely the fault of our political leaders. A report by CIBC took aim at the 2006 Places to Grow Act as instrumental in restricting housing supply. The act introduced policies to increase intensification and density in new housing development. The act required rezoning along transit corridors, and mandated that by 2015, 40 per cent of all new developments be within existing urban boundaries. This requires the building of townhouses, stacked homes and apartments over in-demand detached homes. The act also requires new developments have a density of 50 residents or jobs per hectare. Advertisement While CIBC found that neither of these targets have been met, the government mused about increasing them. This would lead to an even further restriction of land supply as municipalities would struggle to make up the difference. On top of actual physical restrictions on land, government bureaucracy restricts the available supply of land. It takes much longer to bring land to market, and compliance costs are riding. The Fraser Institute estimates that typical approval timelines in the GTA range from 14.4 months in Burlington to 24.3 months in Georgina, with Toronto at 17.7 months. A tax is never more popular than when it's on someone else - especially someone who can't vote. And the Ontario Home Builders' Association found that when total government costs are all factored into the price of a new home, they add up to over $100,000 in Toronto, $82,000 in Simcoe County, and $92,000 in Durham Region. It's like paying a second down payment directly to the government. And of course this doesn't factor in the land transfer tax, which is $48,400 on an average detached home in Toronto. These were all political choices. So when politicians like Minister Charles Sousa opine about housing affordability, they need to look in the mirror. But instead of recognizing problems that were brought about through their own ideological vision of a province where every city looks like the core of downtown Toronto, they take aim at foreigners. A tax is never more popular than when it's on someone else -- especially someone who can't vote. Advertisement The problem is that a foreign buyers tax will do nothing to solve the housing affordability problem in the GTA. Foreign buyers make up too small a portion of sales to make a difference -- less than five per cent, according to the Toronto private real estate board. Even proponents who advocate for a foreign buyers tax concede that a foreign tax won't solve be enough to stop rising prices. This seems to be the governing philosophy of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and her cabinet. Create a crisis through failed policy, face public unrest, then bring in a Band-Aid solution that won't address the underlying (and government caused) issues. It's what happened with electricity, and now it's happening with housing. Instead of blaming foreign demand for prices that are rising because of government-imposed supply restrictions, the government should address how their own ideologically driven policies are contributing to the affordability crisis. But blaming others means the government doesn't need to change. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: In my recent engagements with Canada's Muslim communities, they expressed their fear of not being treated as other Canadians. They want what all Canadians want -- a future for their families and to be able to practice their religion freely, as other faiths do. Before going any further, I need to ask: are the existing laws protecting Canadians from hate speech, hate crimes and violence failing Muslim Canadians? Advertisement The answer is NO, they are not failing them. The existing legislation is designed to protect all Canadians, and Muslim Canadians must use these laws to send a message that they, too, are equally protected. Motion 103 has created a strong division between Canadians, including amongst Muslim communities themselves, and as it stands I cannot support it. It is the rhetoric from Liberal MPs and cabinet ministers that's creating an environment of fear, anger and confusion. What needs to be made clear is that most Canadians challenging this motion are not challenging the issues facing the Muslim communities, or that racism does not exist; what they are uncomfortable with in this motion is the fact that it is favouring one community over others. Even though the motion is written broadly to include other groups, it highlights only the religion of Islam (Islamophobia), and so any debate or mention of this motion will continue to focus on this religion at the exclusion of others. Advertisement It is clear that if the Liberals keep using this type of rhetoric and push an agenda of divisive politics, it is the Muslim community overall that will suffer and be further ostracized. In my decades of experience in Parliament, the case has always been of finding a compromise on all sides. I find it alarming that the Liberal caucus is using this motion to divide our country and further harm the very group they are professing to help. The blatant use of this issue to politically divide us was made ever so clear when former federal Minister of Justice Hon. Irwin Cotler advised MP Iqra Khalid to compromise by making the motion broader by including all groups, and to use a more appropriate concept of "anti-Muslim bigotry" which in the larger scope is more definitive than the ambiguous term "Islamophobia." The Liberals' refusal to compromise and work with everyone to create a motion that supports all groups reveals that this issue will be used to further the Liberals' political agenda to gain more favour from the Muslim community. Advertisement So, who wins here? No one. Laws are already in place to protect Canadians from hate speech and hate crimes. Canadians are asking only for equal treatment for all. The Liberals must not make the safety of our Muslim community a political agenda. The safety of all Canadians is paramount and to play these games is what ultimately puts everyone at risk. As I stated earlier, if you want to be treated equally you must also act equally towards Canadians of all faiths. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: Closing Tax Loopholes deferred Spooked by what U.S. President Donald Trump might do on taxes in the United States, the Liberal government has deferred meaningful action on closing unfair and ineffective tax loopholes in this year's federal budget. Several months ago, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said he planned to close at least $3 billion worth of tax loopholes. Canadians for Tax Fairness had identified $16 billion worth of unfair and ineffective tax loopholes that could be axed. Advertisement Perhaps the most outrageous was the stock option loophole which annually hives off $800 million to Canada's wealthy CEOs by giving them a 50 per cent tax discount on their cashed stocks. During the election campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeatedly promised to get rid of it. That did not happen -- for the second year in a row. Instead, Federal Budget 2017 closed a few small loopholes such as the Public Transit Tax Credit. The total savings amounts to $215 million -- compare that to the $16 billion that could have been raised. Neither did they act on the capital gains loophole that provides a 50 per cent tax discount to those with investment income. This costs the government $10 billion that could have boosted their inadequate investment in child care. It would have had the added benefit of creating more jobs, boosting participation of women in the labour force and increasing tax revenue over time. Budget 2017 shows neither vision nor commitment to the government's promise for a simpler and fairer tax system. Budgets are about priorities. When 92 per cent of the benefit of this protected loophole goes to the top 10 per cent, it makes one question their stated commitment to helping the middle class. It is true that Trump's protectionist trade policies could set off a global trade war. His elimination of financial regulation could precipitate another financial meltdown. Both could trigger a global recession that would hit Canada's economy and tax revenue. But the threat of Trump's tax-cut agenda is over-blown, and it is questionable whether the Trump administration will be able to get them through a divided congress given his failed efforts so far to replace Obamacare. Canada's statutory corporate tax rates are 13 points lower than the U.S. and our effective corporate tax rate (or the taxes corporations pay after taking advantage of all the generous depreciation allowances and tax credits) at only 8.5 per cent are one of the lowest rates in the OECD and 10 points below U.S. rates. With big increases in military spending that Trump wants to do and the cost of building a wall to pay for, he will not be able to lower corporate taxes in the U.S. below Canadian rates. Changes in tax treatment of capital gains or stock options would not have a significant impact on Canadian corporate competitiveness. This is a lame excuse for inaction on this issue. Budget 2017 shows neither vision nor commitment to the government's promise for a simpler and fairer tax system. Advertisement Leveling the playing field on e-commerce It seems random that Uber is the only e-commerce company to be affected by the budget. Google, Facebook, Airbnb and other foreign e-commerce giants continue to be exempted from collecting GST/HST on advertising sales or sales of services in Canada. Uber will be required to do so. Canadian media outlets are required to collect HST/GST. They are losing advertising revenue and it has caused job losses in the Canadian media and cultural sectors. Leveling the digital playing field by requiring Google and Facebook and other foreign online companies to collect HST/GST and pay corporate income taxes would have enabled Canadian media companies to compete on an equal playing field and stem the loss of jobs in media and the cultural sector. It would have also raised $ 1 billion a year. More on Tackling Tax Havens The one area where the Liberal government continues to move forward is in tackling tax havens. The Canada Revenue Agency got $521M for tax-haven enforcement efforts. This is in addition to $444 million earmarked in 2016. Almost $2 billion in new revenue is expected from these efforts over five years. The government will require that tax facilitators and advisers disclose tax avoidance transactions to the CRA. This was one of the recommendations from the Parliamentary Finance Committee hearings on the KPMG tax scam. This will hopefully prevent tax scams such as KPMG's Isle of Man scandal. Advertisement Budget 2017 also commits the government to strengthening corporate and beneficial ownership transparency. This would provide safeguards against money laundering, terrorist financing, and tax evasion. It moves Canada closer to its commitment to international standards. Morneau has also committed that "The government will collaborate with provinces and territories to put in place a national strategy to strengthen the transparency of legal persons and legal arrangements and improve the availability of beneficial ownership information." Corporate Tax Dodging This government is to be commended for targeting wealthy individuals using tax havens. The measures to date are paying off so they have decided to do more. But individual tax dodging comprises only a third of the tax-haven problem. Most of that activity is blatantly illegal and easier to track. Advertisement The bigger problem is Canadian multinationals shifting profits to subsidiaries in tax havens. This accounts for two-thirds of haven-related tax loss. Much of what corporations get away with is technically legal. Tackling this challenge requires changes to weak corporate tax laws. Canada should start by requiring that corporations prove economic substance for any subsidiary in a tax haven to qualify as a separate corporate entity for tax purposes. This is a critical step if this government is serious about tackling tax havens. How long before regular taxpayers conclude that the promise of fair system was an empty one? One Step Forward, Two Steps Back It is commendable that the Liberal government has taken steps to tackle tax havens. Their efforts are producing results and they are on track to raise almost $2 billion over five years. It is a tax policy that Canadians deserve. But they failed to take any meaningful action on closing tax loopholes or leveling the digital playing field. Closing unfair and ineffective tax loopholes could have raised $16 billion. They failed to deliver, again, on their election promise to end the stock options deduction that gives almost a billion dollars to some of the richest people in Canada. They failed to make the tax system simpler or fairer. The finance minister did promise to study, and possibly act, on loopholes sometime in the future. But just how long should Canadians be expected to wait? How long before regular taxpayers conclude that the promise of fair system was an empty one? Advertisement Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: As democracy sails increasingly into troubled waters, one has to wonder how confident we are that we are up to the challenge. Most of us had assumed that as our wisdom and experience of working together increased, democracy itself would prove itself sufficient for facing whatever challenges confronted us. Instead, what we have are democratic systems at various points of peril around the globe. Populism, which many assumed would infuse new life into our politics, has instead struck off in many new directions and made it even more difficult to find consensus. While it has been true that democracy doesn't automatically equate with equality, neither does populism bring accountability. Our politics should not just be about our choices, but the depth of our character. One of the great lessons we are now learning since World War Two is that democracy is fairly useless if it is merely inherited. Growing up in countries that have enjoyed advanced political systems doesn't guarantee that they will automatically function effectively. For it to truly work democracy must be reinvented in every generation. It is not alone enough to just don it like some favourite old coat; we must infuse it with our best efforts at public advancement if it is to succeed. Democracy functions at its worse when it depends on coercion and works best when it enhances the collective awareness of citizenship in voluntary action. Advertisement Our politics should not just be about our choices, but the depth of our character. If we are truly devoted to the public good, then coercion isn't required -- we do it willingly out of our commitment as good citizens. The very moral and ethical factors that created dynamic democracy in the first place must be renewed before our political state falls into the disarray that we so frequently see today. Have we taken our democracy for granted? Most of us have and now our public life is suffering from neglect. Many of us view politics as some kind of political process that runs whether we pay attention or not. What democracy brought to us was the belief in the values of people and a kind of benign trust that eventually they would put the collective good above their individual pursuits. Democracy has always been about individualism, but depended on the ability of the average citizen to elevate their understanding and temperament to the place where it could work collectively with others for the common good. It's not rocket science, but it becomes impossible if in the pursuit of out lives we forget to look out for the community. It's likely this is what Thomas Jefferson was thinking about when he penned: "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government." With the anxiety over the future faced by most citizens today, Jefferson's ideal seems farther away from us than any time in recent memory. He saw democracy as revolutionary; we see it as automatic. He saw citizens as revolutionaries; we view them as consumers. Advertisement Democracy's great ties are with civil society, not government. Politics is about how we make choices; civil society is about who we are. And what is civil society's great gift to the democratic process? It's civility, not the rancor running through our interactions today. Democracy is about getting the best of us out into the public space, while still permitting us to enjoy our individual pursuits. In far too many cases we have allowed our collective life together to be decided by politics and not the better angels of our natures. The most overwhelming forces facing the modern age can never be overcome by billions of individuals sealed in their own orbits. Democracy can only overcome those challenges when it brings us into a common space together, ready to work together, despite our differences, for the sake of our future. Somehow we have to get back to this and our politics at the moment is struggling with how to accomplish it. A vibrant democracy requires, above all else, revolutionary citizens who seek to build one another up out of respect instead of tearing them down out of fear. It turns out that Ralph Nader was prescient when he said, "There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship." The great question for all of us now is: are we ready for the sacrifice. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Lyle Stafford / Reuters A proponent of the anti-Islamophobia federal government motion M-103, listens to speeches during a rally at City Hall in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada March 4, 2017. REUTERS/Lyle Stafford It's 1989 and my family and I have landed back in Canada after a few years in Pakistan. I'm five. I'm ready to start school. I don't speak a word of English, let alone French. But because my parents learned from their citizenship test that French was the official second language of the country, I'm enrolled in French Immersion anyways. And since we are in Alberta, I am bound to learn English. This is the reasoning my mother often gives -- it's the effort they put in to make sure I would understand what it meant to be Canadian. In 1988, the year prior to our return, the Canadian Multiculturalism Act took effect, recognizing the cultural and racial diversity of the country and acknowledging the freedom of all Canadians to preserve and share their cultural heritage. We are a proud multicultural society, and we wear it as a badge of honour. Advertisement So what does that make me? A French speaking-first generation Western Canadian-Pakistani? I don't imagine anybody identifies this way in his or her day-to-day life. I don't imagine anybody has to. I didn't identify this way because I never felt like I had too either. And for the longest time, I chose not to. I was Ozman or Oz (both of which are nowhere near the pronunciation of my name, Osman). Maybe this was naive of me. Maybe I knew it was wrong, but I willfully ignored it. I don't know. It wasn't until recently that I realized what a disservice I was doing by not making my many identities clear to those around me. And it's not until recently that I realized why: we are a country that celebrates multiculturalism without knowing what that means for the people who actually makeup the multicultural fabric of this country. I came to this realization when I saw the reaction against the fight to combat Islamophobia: when I saw the reaction to Motion-103. Member of Parliament Iqra Khalid introduced the Motion last December. It calls for the condemnation of Islamophobia in Canada, including other forms of racism and religious discrimination. This latter half reads as though directly pulled from the Multiculturalism Act, which gives the freedom of cultural and religious expression. Advertisement Most Canadians support an ideal without having any understanding or experience of what multiculturalism actually is or means. In addition to condemning Islamophobia and systemic discrimination, the Motion calls on the House of Commons Heritage Committee to study how the two issues can be eliminated while collecting data on hate crimes. It all seems reasonable to me. Especially given the current context in different parts of the world, and especially when different religious and cultural groups across the spectrum have endorsed M-103. But even as I was writing this, opposing groups were fighting against M-103. Those opposing the Motion are arguing for the preservation of free speech, with many believing that it gives special attention to Muslims over other groups - a select few even believe that the Motion is a disguised push for Sharia law in Canada. This points to a deeper issue that I also came to realize: how can we be against M-103 and combating Islamophobia while still claiming to be multicultural? Advertisement Can we say we are a multicultural society if we're unable to fundamentally accept its most basic concept: tolerance of other cultures and religions? Why is there a discrepancy between the support many Canadians show to multiculturalism -- and who often feverishly argue is the basis of Canadian identity -- and combating Islamophobia? If we're (arguably) a multicultural society then why are we also not an anti-Islamophobia society? An anti-anything that's against our fundamental identity as a multicultural society? It's because most Canadians support an ideal without having any understanding or experience of what multiculturalism actually is or means. If being multicultural is being tolerant and accepting, then raising your voice against Islamophobia is part of being Canadian. This is why I realized that I've done a disservice to my fellow Canadians by not identifying more strongly as a French speaking-first generation Western Canadian-Pakistani: It's allowed them to carry on believing in an ideal that they've never really had to work towards; an ideal that they've never really felt the burden of. And now, when the time has come, though many are raising their voices for action against Islamophobia, the cracks in our understanding of ourselves as Canadians, in our identity as a multicultural society, is becoming noticeable from the other side. Advertisement It's showing the thin depth of our character. It's laughable that we can on the one hand accept refugees -- we can accept the very people that will carry our identity as a tolerant and multicultural society forward -- and on the other hand, simultaneously oppose a Motion that aims to protect the very people, whether Muslim or Christian, that give us this identity. And yes, I take responsibility for my part in this: for not making myself more visible and for not making the layers of my identity more accessible and understandable. If I'm being honest though, it's tiring carrying the luxury of what allows this country to declare itself tolerant and multicultural while not being supported for the reasons that permit those claims. Especially right now -- but especially knowing the efforts to integrate that my parents have undertook. More than ever, it's a time for sharing the burden and taking onus, and the responsibility is on each of us to do so. As M-103 continues to be debated, and though it will pass, there will be fallout and repercussions. Taking onus and sharing the burden means creating tolerant spaces. It means reaching out and checking in with your neighbours and the people around you. It means more than declaring yourself an ally -- it means taking ACTION. Because if being multicultural is being tolerant and accepting, then raising your voice against Islamophobia is part of being Canadian. Advertisement Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Eighty years ago, the Spanish Civil War resulted in a vast displacement and large number of unaccompanied child refugees. It was from the ashes of that crisis that Plan International was created. I am sure John Langdon-Davies, the founder of Plan International, would be heartbroken to know how urgently, in so many parts of the world, our work is still needed. Today there are 75 million girls and boys who lack access to education, including 17 million refugee and internally displaced children. While these numbers can be numbing, they are real for the young girls and boys living through protracted conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, among other affected regions. These conflicts have created a generation of children and young people who have been denied their right to an education. In Syria alone, six years into the conflict, two million children are out of school. Advertisement Children are unable to go to school anymore due to the ongoing conflict and famine in South Sudan. (Photo: Plan International) This weekend I was at a global education event, the Global Education & Skills Forum, discussing solutions to the realities these children face. We have come together with a range of other organizations, from the Varkey Foundation to Interpeace, to develop new ideas and partnerships to ensure all children continue to learn even when they are displaced and living in countries affected by conflict. A key part of all these discussions is teachers. Teachers working in some of the world's forgotten crisis and conflict zones face significant challenges to keeping children safe, instilling a regular rhythm to their lives, and simply providing learning. These frontline teachers are some of the unsung heroes that often go unnoticed in the media coverage of war zones. At Plan International, we want to elevate and celebrate these educators who quietly promote peace, stability and learning in some of the most precarious and conflict-ridden corners of the globe. Advertisement Refugee children from Syria at a Plan International-supported school in Egypt. (Photo: Plan International/Eman Helal) I met two such remarkable teachers this weekend; Ron Alvarez and Hanan Al Hroub. Ron travels between refugee camps to teach children music and develop a global orchestra of refugee children. Hanan, the winner of the 2016 Global Teachers Prize, spent years teaching in Palestine and has called on the world to support and connect teachers so they are able to champion peace. And of course, these inspiring educators exist in our own backyard as well. In fact the recipient of this year's Global Teachers Prize was Maggie MacDonnel, a Canadian who teaches at a school in the Inuit village of Salluit, in the Canadian Arctic. Within the community Maggie works to empower young girls, helping them build the skills, self-esteem and resiliency to overcome barriers such as high levels of suicide, gender-based violence and teen pregnancy. A third-grade girl from Syria learns with the support of Plan International at a school in Egypt. (Photo: Plan International/Eman Helal) To elevate the voices of millions of teachers around the world like Ron, Hanan and Maggie, we announced at the forum that we will co-chair a new global alliance on Post Conflict and Peace Education, with a focus on accelerated learning programs. Working in partnerships and alliances is the only way we will be able to achieve the urgent change that is needed, and the Global Education and Skills Forum facilitated many more of these to develop and move forward. Advertisement The last few days have been brimming with energy, ideas and belief -- a belief that if we work together, all children will be able to receive an education. At Plan International Canada we will continue to work hard to transform that belief into reality. Nadine Grant is Vice President of International Programs and Business Development at Plan International Canada Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Co-Authored by Jennifer Rubli. Research Coordinator, Femme International On the day that newly-elected President Trump re-enacted the global gag rule, and deprived millions of women around the world not only of access to safe abortions, but of the right to make their own choices and receive reproductive health education, I was in Tanga, a coastal region of Tanzania, East Africa. I was sitting with seven adolescent girls with various physical and intellectual disabilities, talking about how they manage their periods, and the barriers they face every single month. Advertisement I was sitting there listening as, for the first time, they were allowed to talk about this strange and burdensome thing that happens to them, they were allowed to ask questions, they were allowed to give voice to their struggles and confusion. I was sitting there thinking how badly I wish those seven powerful and unaware men could be with me in that hot, stuffy room, because it was impossible to be there and not come out of it moved beyond belief, and utterly determined to do something, anything, that will make it better. In Tanga, as in much of East Africa, there is a strict culture of silence surrounding menstruation. It is not spoken about. And it is the epitome of shame and humiliation for someone to know that a girl is menstruating, especially if it is a man. For girls with disabilities, the taboo compounds their issues, because they are not always capable of understanding exactly what menstruation is, or able to manage it independently. They understand the shame, but not the reason for it. They understand they're not supposed to talk about it, but they also have to tell somebody they're menstruating. Advertisement Girls with disabilities are subject to double discrimination, as they grapple both with being female, and having a disability. Because of this, they are even less likely to be able to access services. The girls I spoke with were like any other adolescent girl I've met. They go through puberty, they notice boys, they are insecure and want to fit in. But their disabilities exclude them from everyday social situations where they might benefit from peer support in the development of social skills. They are more likely to be victims of abuse, stemming from their lack of socialization and desire to be accepted and included, and therefore are more likely to suffer the consequences of early pregnancy. And thus, the cycle of shame and exclusion and discrimination continues. It is tradition in Tanga that when a girl gets her first period, she is sent to what is called a Kungwi, a female elder who passes on traditional information to young girls. Kungwis are often the ones who teach girls about puberty and menstruation and everything important to being a woman. It sounds great. But in reality, kungwis have no formal training, and rarely know much more than the girls themselves. As a result, they pass on the culture of shame silence to the next generation. Some of these women are even abusive, and punish the girls severely when they don't learn quickly enough; because of their disability, it may be harder for them to understand. Some Kungwis teach nothing more than sex positions and how to be with a man, reinforcing the popular belief that menstruation marks the sexual maturity of a girl, and signifies her as ready to be married. One of the many myths I came across in the area is that menstruating girls are not allowed to cross a crossroad or intersection. A physician explained that this came from wanting to keep girls close to home, keep them safe. In reality, it means a menstruating girl or woman is restricted to her house. If she needs water, if she needs food, if her child at school needs her, if she needs a help, she is unable to get it. She is stuck, maybe alone, and often scared. Advertisement A girl's first period can be a little of scary, even if you are prepared for it. Imagine suddenly finding your underwear filled with blood, and having no idea what is happening to you? And with your disability, you may not have the mobility to get someone, or the capacity to tell somebody what is happening. The girls I interviewed spoke of desperately wanting to know what menstruation was before its onset, and how to predict when it was going to start, because suddenly seeing the blood in their underwear, completely unprepared, caused them to panic. And in their panic, they might run into the street and be hit by a car or very hurt somehow, one participant worried. It was obvious to me that these young girls had so much more to say, and so many more experiences to share with the world. The more time we had together, the more their confidence grew and the words began to flow. Their body language changed as they realised they were being listened to. Their voices grew strong, and the confusion and frustration began to show through as they expressed their discontent with the status quo. Experiences like this change people, for good. I was lucky enough to be granted a glimpse into the unjust world these girls face every month, every day, and that sort of trust comes with a responsibility - to share, to act, to do something about it. Women and girls with disabilities are desperately under-represented in menstrual health management (MHM) programming and interventions. The need for education, and research, is great, and my conversations in Tanga only confirmed what I already believed - breaking the menstrual taboo is critical in the fight for gender equality. Advertisement Femme International is an NGO based in Tanzania that delivers essential reproductive health education to women and girls, and is dedicated to breaking the menstrual taboo for all women. The Feminine Health Empowerment Program teaches girls (and boys!) how their bodies work, what the menstrual cycle is, and how to make safe and healthy choices for themselves. Along with educational workshops, Femme distributes reusable menstrual products to ensure girls have access to safe and sustainable tools. This year, Femme will be partnering with Youth with Disabilities Community Program (YDCP), an organisation in Tanga that provides services and life skills training to youth with disabilities, to bring the Feminine Health Empowerment Program to girls with disabilities, as well as providing training courses and sensitization for parents, the traditional Kungwis, parents and community leaders. You can support this project with a donation here. After a year of congratulating ourselves on the welcome we've given to some 40,000 recent Syrian refugees, Canadian opinion on migration is now being challenged by a trickle of would-be asylum seekers entering the country irregularly across small, unofficial crossing points. That this trickle is being headlined as a "flood" or "wave" of migrants that risks overwhelming Canada's refugee-response capabilities would be laughable if it were not also inflaming anti-immigrant sentiment and obscuring the individual people and families so desperate to find chances at a better life in Canada. Advertisement Stories of refugees descending on Manitoba and Quebec border towns have heightened some of the rhetoric about Canada's approach to border security, but so far they have done seemingly little to change the notion that we remain a more welcoming place than other countries. Our news channels have been happy to show images of RCMP officers carrying strollers and assisting some of the most recent newcomers. What we rarely get to see are pictures of other arrivals being fingerprinted, detained and in some cases incarcerated for exerting their rights to request asylum. For the most part, Canada's geography -- surrounded by oceans, ice and a single international border -- has been a buttress protecting most of us from direct exposure to the current global migration crisis, in which more than 60 million people around the world have been displaced from their homes by deprivation, drought, gang violence, conflict and persecution. It has been easy for us to believe we are perhaps more welcoming than our Australian, European or American counterparts, who have visibly externalized their borders, paid third countries to actively block would-be migrants or erected physical and legal barriers to deny large numbers of people their rights to seek and be given asylum in a dignified manner. Recognizing the right to seek asylum It is worth recalling that people have a right to flight, to seek physical protection and asylum, and that countries have the legal obligation to extend such shelter and to welcome and review each request. This does not mean that all asylum seekers will be accepted; many can and will be sent back to their home countries, provided those are places that respect human rights and offer relative safety. Sadly, domestic fears and stagnant economies in many destination countries seems to have led many of their citizens to want to close the door fully on refugees and asylum seekers. It behooves us to review not only their original reason for fleeing their home countries, but the violence they may have suffered along the way. But we must not turn our backs on our collective responsibility to welcome refugees with dignity, to extend and review individual asylum claims on their merits and, where the latter is lacking, to ensure returnees are only sent back home or to third countries where it is safe to do so. As Canadians, we must open our eyes to the fact that our government already manages our borders through a complex system of interdiction -- one that has been designed purposely to block asylum seekers from reaching our soil and exerting their rights to flee violence and seek safety. We must also acknowledge that, through the very act of flight, most people in transit have become vulnerable, suffered abuse and fallen prey to gangs, smugglers and unjust authorities. The people we see crossing farmers' fields into Canada are few in number, but they represent a much larger global humanitarian crisis in which tens of millions have nowhere to go. Whatever the causes that drive them from their homes around the world, many forcibly displaced people find themselves caught up in a system from which there is no easy escape. Those who arrive in Canada represent a tiny and perhaps fortunate minority who may soon be approaching the end of a long, dangerous and harrowing journey. Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) sees this firsthand through our work delivering emergency medical care on the front lines of the world's worst conflicts and crises. People displaced by violence and desperation are often our patients, and we see how when safe destination countries in places like Western Europe and North America raise both literal and figurative barriers to asylum seekers, migrants end up in a violent limbo where safety, dignity and the rule of law are absent. I myself have been to MSF projects in Libya and Mexico where the suffering we see in patients can be directly traced to the obstacles that drive them into dangerous underground migration networks. Migrants are doubly vulnerable People who run the gauntlet of slavery, illegal detention, kidnapping and sexual violence while trying to exercise their rights to flight often become doubly vulnerable, and it behooves us to review not only their original reason for fleeing their home countries, but the exactions and violence they may have suffered along the way. Barriers and containment will not stop people from fleeing, and deportations to unsafe countries merely returns victimized people to unending uncertainty, oppression and abuse. Advertisement The number of refugees Canada should accept is a question for Canadians and our politicians to debate. (It is worth noting that Lebanon has accepted one million refugees since the start of the conflict in neighbouring Syria in 2011, which is close to one refugee for every four citizens; Canada's open-armed welcome of 40,000 Syrians last year represents close to one for every 875 citizens.) I would encourage us to set a goal we can be proud of, both today and when we look back years from now. Whatever the outcome of these debates, let us ensure that our treatment of vulnerable people trapped in the desperation of the global migration system remains dignified, that we acknowledge the suffering to which they are exposed while in transit and that we do not return would-be asylum seekers to the unofficial prisons and torture of Libya, to the gangs and kidnapping in Central America, nor to dictatorial regimes where human rights are not guaranteed. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: By Wayne Karl Spring has sprung, and while spring season is normally an occasion to celebrate, with days growing longer, weather getting warmer and real estate heading into busy season, everything feels a little different this year. Canada's real estate markets are dealing with myriad of issues. In the Toronto area, it's an acute supply shortage, skyrocketing prices and a resulting affordability crisis. Advertisement In B.C., a compositional shift towards softer sales and slowing price growth. In Alberta, it's all about recovery, as the province and housing sectors claw their way out of two or three years of economic quagmire. Other provinces are dealing with their own economic- and market-specific challenges and opportunities. In the resource-intensive provinces of Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador, sales activity is still running at lower levels and supply is elevated. This has resulted in weakened price trends for these provinces, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). In Ontario's Greater Golden Horseshoe (the GTA, Hamilton-Burlington, Oakville-Milton, Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Brantford, the Niagara Region, Barrie and nearby cottage country), the balance between supply and demand has become increasingly tight. This is expected to lead to continued double-digit price growth, resulting in further erosion in affordability and sales activity in the absence of a significant and sustained rise in new supply, CREA says. Advertisement PRESSURE ON POLICY Against this backdrop, add the delicate and often confusing issue of policy. In Ontario, for example, the provincial government is facing hard lobbying from multiple sources -- chief among them the Ontario Home Builders' Association, Ontario Real Estate Association, and the Building Industry and Land Development Association -- to, in short, make more land available on which to build lowrise homes. And to speed up the approvals process. The Canadian Home Builders' Association (CHBA) is also growing more vocal. In early March, it released an in-depth analysis of key factors underlying housing market conditions. The Housing Supply Deficit - Not Enough Homes for Families with Young Children, points to a significant and growing mismatch between housing demand and what the residential construction industry is able to supply, given planning and zoning patterns and lack of available serviced land. The report notes that if current trends continue, Canada will see a shortfall of 300,000 family-oriented homes over the next decade. "There has been a lot of commentary around what's driving house prices in markets like Vancouver and the GTA," says CHBA CEO Kevin Lee. "Much of this overlooks the fundamental factors of supply and demand, and the increasing number of young families trying to achieve homeownership." FOREIGN BUYERS In Toronto, having seen how effective a foreign buyers' tax in Vancouver has been to cooling a potentially overheating market there, the City is said to be considering taking similar action. Something... anything might be better than to let double-digit price growth continue unchecked, proponents say. Advertisement But, critics argue, slapping a tax on foreign purchases is short-sighted and will do nothing to facilitate a long-term solution to increase the supply of new homes. If all of this wasn't complex enough, add the prospect of the National Housing Strategy. Due out at some point this year, this federal initiative will attempt to address the varied and challenging issues, involving differing provincial and regional economies, housing markets and conditions, from affordable housing to rental markets to homeownership. BUDGET 2017 Until then, we were looking to the 2017 federal budget, tabled on March 22 to see what, if anything, Ottawa would include to begin tackling some of these challenges. At the very least, it would have been reasonable to expect some modernization of the existing Home Buyers' Plan to allow Canadians impacted by sudden and significant life changes to buy a house without tax penalty. Many thought such changes would be included in Budget 2016, but none were forthcoming. Budget 2017, while making housing a priority by proposing to invest more than $11.2 billion over 11 years in a variety of initiatives, still comes up short on addressing affordability for first-time buyers. Advertisement "The housing-related allocations in this budget are principally for affordable/social housing, so the key challenge of affordability for market-rate housing, and especially for first-time homebuyers, remains an issue," CHBA's Lee told YPNextHome. Originally published on YPNextHome.ca Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Anniesa Hasibuan show As the relationship between growing migrant Muslim populations and the western nations that host them grows increasingly complex, the controversy over the dress code for Muslim women has taken on an alarmingly central role. The recent European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision, which has ruled that bans on headscarves (and other religious symbols) in the workplace can be legal, is only one in a series of judgements on this controversial matter. While the ECJ has leaned towards religious neutrality and against the display of religious symbols in the workplace (including, for instance, the Christian cross), the United States Supreme Court, recently ruled to the contrary. In the case of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v Abercrombie & Fitch (2015), the US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favour of the hijab-clad employee, despite the employer's claims that her headscarf clashed with the company's dress policy. Only the dissenting judge, Justice Thomas reasoned as the ECJ has, that the dress code was a neutral policy and could not be the basis for a discrimination lawsuit. Even in the United States, however, the outcome of such cases is not always clear. In 2012, for example, a hijab-wearing employee who had sued Disneyland, did not succeed against her employer. Advertisement Legal decisions aside, the issue of the hijab seems to have become a bone of contention between those in the West who see the increasing number of headscarves around them as a cultural invasion and those among the often young Muslim population who see it as a symbol of resistance. Instead of an essential religious dictate, however, the hijab is more of a desperate attempt to forge an identity that has largely been displaced as a result of migration. Women in Muslim-majority countries who veil or cover their hair often do so because of familial, or in the case of Saudi Arabia and Iran, state pressure. Ironically, women who wear the hijab in the West often choose to do so. While women in the Middle East may be wrapping themselves in additional garments to ward off the prying eyes of men dominating the bazaars and workplaces, some Muslim women in the West have told me that they find the hijab liberating and empowering. As someone who grew up partially in Saudi Arabia and witnessed firsthand the oppression of women that comes through forcing the veil upon them, that is indeed a strange concept for me to digest. The constant conflation of Muslim women and the headscarf in the western media is therefore something that I find quite disturbing. There are countless observant and pious Muslim women who do not cover their hair. On the other hand, there are also those who wear the hijab but aren't particularly interested in following some of the more fundamental dictates of Islam. Advertisement For generations we have learned that in order to be true to the Muslim faith one must affirm that there is one God and that Muhammad is his messenger. The Koran repeatedly stresses the importance of being steadfast in prayer and of giving alms to the poor, to feed the needy and to take care of orphans. Not once does the Koran mention the hijab, or headscarf, explicitly as an Islamic necessity. There are a few verses in the Koran that advise a modest dress code but to borrow a line from the renowned Pakistani film, Khuda ke liye (For God's sake), "How can a religion that is meant for all time and all peoples insist on one particular uniform?" Certain Islamic scholars from countries as diverse as Pakistan, Egypt and Morocco have affirmed the view that what is modest is subject to interpretation and discretion and does not necessarily include a head-covering. Paradoxically, at a time when significant numbers in the West are growing resentful of headscarves and most unfortunately some of this intolerance has manifested itself in the form of hostile Islamophobic attacks on hijab-clad women, the fashion industry is rushing to embrace the hijab. Realising the monetary potential of marketing to brand-conscious hijabi millennials, Nike Pro Hijab, priced at $80, is the latest addition to jump on the "modest fashion" bandwagon. Dolce and Gabbana have gone several steps further, with their ostentatious daisy print hijab and abaya collection, aimed undoubtedly at the residents of the oil-rich Gulf Arab states, they accessorise with statement handbags and sunglasses that could set you back thousands of dollars. Modesty anyone? Keeping the controversy alive, a few months ago, Playboy magazine featured its first hijab-wearing Muslim woman. For her supporters, this was a "bold case for modesty" and perhaps another milestone in breaking barriers for those wearing headscarves. But to me, this was akin to turning the entire concept of hijab on its head. Though the Koran does not dictate a precise form of dress for men or women, it does ask both to be discreet and modest and not to draw unnecessary attention to oneself. An often-quoted verse asks both men and women "to lower their gaze and guard their private parts". Playboy of course has historically been associated with the exact opposite of this philosophy. Advertisement The concept of Islamic modesty therefore is not meant to test boundaries or provoke identity clashes with a wider society but simply to maintain decorum, respect and harmony between men and women. As Muslims in the West, we would be better off focusing on the more basic and uncontested tenets of our religion and finding common ground with other Abrahamic faiths based on shared principles, such as providing for the needy and helping the downtrodden. After periods of heavy fighting, the district of Al Qaboun had in recent years lived in relative peace under a truce between rebels and government forces, experiencing only occasional breaches. Everything changed at the end of February. This relatively quiet, poor neighbourhood in the north-east of Syria's capital descended in full-blown terror ahead of an intensive military campaign. "People were frightened to death. Even before there was any military activity rumours were circulating. There was an atmosphere of fear... the residents had seen what had happened elsewhere in the last four months: it was now Al Qaboun's turn", recounts an aid worker from a local organisation, supported by Christian Aid. Advertisement The aid worker [who cannot be named for security reasons], explained further: "After Daara was bombed last year, and then Wadi Barada, where the water source for Damascus is, Al Qaboun is now the sixth chapter of Damascus suburbs being targeted one by one." The community reacted quickly to the threat. First women and children, and later the men, packed up their lives and left. In a matter of just two weeks 4,600 families had fled, more than 24,000 people. They escaped by whatever means possible, whether by truck, motorbike, on foot or via tunnels to the relative 'safety' of Eastern Ghouta and Barzeh - which were also under fire. They found shelter with relatives if lucky, but also slept in parks and in schools and other public buildings. For most, this will not be the first time they have been displaced. Most people have moved at least three times before to escape death. As the aid worker puts it: "There is no certainty... nothing bright on a horizon... they want to be in a position just to live - at least not to die." Six years on from the start of the conflict, the prospects remain bleak. Last year, on the fifth anniversary, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said: "Syria is the biggest humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time, a continuing cause of suffering for millions which should be garnering a groundswell of support around the world." Advertisement But a year later the crisis has still not abated: the numbers in desperate need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria have only increased. In the last 12 months, the world watched while barrel bombs dropped on civilians; while children's bodies were pulled from dust and rubble; while populations of besieged towns faced starvation as humanitarian relief was denied to them; while an Amnesty report revealed that thousands have been detained and executed. And at the end of 2016, the world watched while rebel-held Eastern Aleppo was bombed beyond recognition. The forced displacement of civilians from Aleppo in December felt at the time like a crescendo to over five years of horror. However, the record has played on, and it is civilians and civil society that have again and again borne the brunt. The statistics bear this out (13.5 million in need of humanitarian aid), but these incomprehensible numbers also seem to overshadow the human impact. However, what the statistics also fail to reveal is the resilience of Syrian civil society. When we read about food being delivered in besieged towns and cities, about doctors and nurses risking their lives to care for the wounded when hospitals are being targeted, about education continuing in underground classrooms, this is down to Syrian civil society. One such civil society organisation is Christian Aid's partner, assisting families who have fled Al Qaboun: it is staffed by Syrians who, before the war, came from all walks of life. Syrian civil society does not just exist within the national borders. The millions displaced overseas have also played an active part in building NGOs to support their fellow Syrians trapped at home: organisations that promote equality, diversity, education and inclusion. Advertisement Civil society is "the last hope (Syria) has left", as Assaad al Achi of Syrian NGO Baytna ('Our House') put it, during last week's Chatham House conference on Syria, held in London. When a peace settlement is finally reached, Syria cannot move forward without including this new emboldened, empowered civil society. This is why any discussions on the future of Syria, such as at the upcoming Supporting the future of Syria and the Region Brussels conference, (April 4-5), must include these voices and reflect the mosaic of Syrian society that has bloomed out of the ashes of this crisis. Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters The death of Martin McGuinness has sparked off considerable debate on social media this past few days. His legacy remains as controversial in death, as in life. Some have portrayed him as heroic peacemaker, and others as a mass murderer who should rot in the hottest corner of hell. The former deputy first minister of Northern Ireland thus seems the very incarnation of the old adage that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. He's a Mandela to some and an Osama Bin Laden to others. Regardless of opinions, his life has been cemented firmly in past, present, and future depictions of Irish and Northern Irish history. Advertisement Unfortunately, from analysing language used on social media and in some tabloid newspapers, there is a shocking lack of understanding in British society about recent Irish history. Comments such as "murdering scum" and "RIP Irish filth" have appeared on sites that I frequent, or did until criticising such attitudes. Mentions given to victims usually concentrate on those who died at the hands of the IRA. It's as if there is only one side of the story, or some people have only ever been exposed to a very simple and singular narrative. In that side of events, Catholics are always depicted as a minority, with no associated reference to their actual numbers. Demographics are rarely mentioned, despite such facts as their impact on the recent Northern Ireland Assembly election. Associated with this, there is scant reference to deaths on the nationalist side, whether at the hands of loyalists or British security forces. This links into a lack of explaining the context in which Martin McGuinness became a member of an organisation that is so hated in the British public mindset. It is hated for a good reason in many quarters because back at the height of the IRA campaign even Irish people living and working in the UK could have been seen as legitimate targets. That's why it's understandable for people not to sympathise in any way with the IRA's brutality, but that shouldn't get in the way of trying to understand. This complex historical scenario cannot be simplified to Martin McGuinness captaining a team of bad guys against the honourable forces of a British military that is beyond reproach. There's no doubt that the IRA enacted terrible atrocities on their home island and across the water, but so too did some on the other side. Advertisement That's the part which Britain seems never to have addressed in the same way as France has had to struggle with its Algerian past, or America with Vietnam. Granted Northern Ireland is an awful lot closer to home than Vietnam, and is officially a constituent part of the United Kingdom, but there seems no conscious effort in the UK to understand the Irish desire for self-determination. Maybe it's time for people in Britain to engage in discussion about the root causes of the conflict, and the government's role in this. For people like Martin McGuinness, Britain is not some neutral arbiter of a dispute between two warring sides. Instead, it is an occupying power using the might of numbers to deny Ireland the unity that its people voted for in 1918, before the government of that time decided to abandon democracy, and ignore the vote. Whether or not we agree with that, this position has to be understood in order to make any sense out of the situation. The IRA did not just emerge out of the blue, but evolved from centuries of conflict, and then decades of systemic discrimination. People don't have to sympathise with them, but they should at least understand the background they come from. That understanding will help move the 1998 Belfast Agreement forward, towards resolving outstanding issues of equality for the culture, symbols, and language of some on the nationalist side. That Agreement originally came into existence to end the military conflict as much as the political conflict. Because of this, there is necessary ambiguity about some issues, including the long-term constitutional future of Northern Ireland. However, in theory, the Agreement does recognise each side's aspirations as being equal. Unfortunately, in practice, the mention of a united Ireland still draws anger and prejudice in some quarters. Added to this, it is very rarely mentioned in the mainstream media. This creates the danger that it again becomes a cause embraced by those outside of the mainstream. Advertisement Across the world, communities are coming together to find a more balanced way of life. The stresses of modern day living are taking their toll and people are searching for deeper connections with each other and the natural world. Many are feeling a pull to go back to the roots and lead a simpler day to day routine, getting in touch with a mindful approach to being. Kiran is one of these people. He has become disillusioned with the typical capitalist model of economic growth and projects centred around profit so he returned back to his home village after working in the city. He had a dream to create a healing space where he could practice therapies based on ancient Ayervedic wisdom. As a yoga teacher, and ayervedic practitioner with experience treating people with injuries, illnesses, disabilities and special needs he wanted to have his own land where people could come to heal. Advertisement Kiran's portrait by Hogg Photography So he founded Anahata healing arts centre, situated in Ravandur, not far from Mysore in South India. His focus is on a holistic approach to health, cultivating balance between the body, mind and spirit with the belief that this will help people to heal naturally from within and prevent certain illnesses developing in later life. The yoga classes, Ayervedic massage and meditation classes that he runs are all part of finding this balance. Another essential component to holistic health is the food we eat. Organic fruit, vegetables, grains and herbs are grown on the grounds at Anahata and are cooked from scratch to make healthy vegetarian meals. Anahata also has juicing and detoxing programmes to cleanse the body and focus on getting certain nutrients. Fresh organic produce from the farm at Anahata, by Hogg Photography Anahata welcomes local people, international guests and volunteers from around the world, forming a global community. Currently there are various different projects running such as the construction of new rooms, made with natural materials such as mud, water and wood. Kiran says it's important to be as sustainable as possible in order to work alongside nature and have respect for the environment around us. Advertisement Another ongoing project is the development of a rehabilitation centre where people can come to get back in touch with their inner strength and work with treatments such as physiotherapy, yoga and massage. For children there is a strong focus on play and sensory stimulation to enable them to enjoy the movement of their bodies and gain confidence in themselves. Kiran says that in the village it can be difficult for kids with special needs to get out and socialise so he hopes to provide a space where they can come and enjoy spending time with others, feeling part of the community. Kiran, has a lot of experience working in this way and has helped visitors to move forward from pain. Kamalamma, an elderly woman from the local village had damaged both her knees and the hospital said she must get a knee operation for each leg which would have been very expensive. However instead, she came to Anahata and with rehabilitation therapy there and no surgery she found a way to walk again. Kamalamma's portait by Hogg Photography Kiran told me that his philosophy is to put people before profit and ensure that all those who need it have access to the right care and treatment. This is why he runs his centre on a donations basis, as well as offering volunteer exchanges through the international site "workaway". It's always inspiring to see people living in a way that is aligned with their principles, working hard to benefit both the local and wider community. Spending time here at Anahata, I have been reminded that another way of life is possible and we can carve a path that is right for us, being sure to take care of our health. Advertisement Anahata by Jasmine Irving Cheluva, one of the biulders creating eco friendly rooms at Anahata, by Hogg Photography If you asked most people who they consider to be the most influential or important person ever to come out of the city of Hull, the chances are that William Wilberforce's name wouldn't come up very often - certainly not outside of Hull. And yet there can be few Hullensians who have done more to shape and influence the society we live in today, thanks primarily to his pioneering work to abolish slavery. Born in Hull in 1759, he became an MP aged just 21 and dedicated most of his life [nearly 50 years] to the movement to abolish slavery. The story behind his fight to eradicate slavery is an important one - and one that is just as relevant today as it was some 210 years ago. Advertisement He displayed courage, tenacity and perseverance in abundance to speak out against slavery at a time when most people were unwilling to do so, preferring to look away rather than confront the wretched business that was going on in front of them. He was completely unaccepting of such ignorance, saying 'you may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know'. Without his tireless efforts, it's extremely doubtful we would have seen the passing of the Slave Trade Act in 1807, ending Britain's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. And if it wasn't for this Act, coupled with the society he founded in 1823 to abolish slavery entirely, it's very unlikely we would have seen the introduction of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. Indeed, history and modern society might have looked very different if it wasn't for Wilberforce. And it wasn't just humans that he cared deeply about either - he also helped to found the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. His is a story that deserves to be told time and time again. And now it will be. To mark the 210th anniversary of the passing of the Slave Trade Act, and to celebrate Hull's legacy of freedom in its City of Culture year, I and my colleagues at the University of Hull have been working in collaboration with the Digital Design Studio at Glasgow College of Art to bring Wilberforce back to life through 3D wizardry. Our Virtual Wilberforce features in a series of four short animated videos, talking about his powerful life story and fight for freedom in his own words, from his first speech against the African slave trade in the House of Commons in 1789 through to his death in 1833. Advertisement Played by Adan Osborne, one of our own drama students, Virtual Wilberforce provides insight into his inspirational fight against slavery, the obstacles he faced during his campaign, and the great fortitude he displayed, often against great odds. Over the course of the City of Culture year, Virtual William will appear at Paragon Station and in Wilberforce House, where he grew up as a boy, with the aim that as many people as possible will watch the videos and recognise the lessons from the past. The work of the abolitionists, led by Wilberforce, was the first grassroots human rights campaign in which men and women from different social classes and backgrounds volunteered to end the injustices done to others. His fight then is now our fight today. And we currently have a real battle on our hands. In the UK, an estimated 13,000 people are working as slaves in hospitality, domestic servitude, agriculture, retail, organ harvesting and the sex industry. It touches on all aspects of all lives from the clothes we wear through to the food on our tables. And if there is any doubt as to the magnitude of the problem globally, the UN says modern slavery and trafficking is now the second-largest criminal industry in the world, with the International Labour Organisation putting annual profits from forced labour at $150bn. Fake news is everywhere - or so we're told. It's not always easy to spot since it looks pretty much like the real thing. And the real thing, well... that may not be as truthful as you might imagine. First, you need to separate the stuff that is literally made up with no basis in fact from the rest. That's usually been created to affect your perceptions, views and actions. It's given credibility by the fact that it's shared by people you know and trust. And they've shared it because it's compelling in some way. We'll get to why in a minute but that helps it bypass the usual critical tests that we apply to anything anyone says to us. Next, keep an eye out for stuff that is created to look like news. VIPs, celebrities and leaders will say things to get coverage. The timing of those utterances, the places that they are said, the form, the pictures, the key quotes and the supporting endorsements are all carefully choreographed to create coverage. Advertisement It's "real" but it has been created because they want to achieve something. They may want to get coverage to drive up sales, launch products, change opinion, raise their profile or any number of other things. For example, if you see revealing interviews with actors in the feature pages of newspapers, the chances are they're promoting a film. You could include humorous material in here. Whilst it often parodies real events, it does so in a way that conveys truths, and which, for reasons below, we may be inclined to believe. Finally, there's "the news", the content that fills our newspapers and news programmes. That looks real enough - and it is - but it too is shaped for our consumption. Events happen but they have to be processed, put into "stories" complete with pictures, quotes, background and commentary. This all needs to be squeezed into a product that doesn't exceed our attention span. Inevitably, there's a bit of simplification, editing and focusing taking place. So how do you decide what's real and what's not? Here are some questions you should ask. Do you want to believe it? If you read something that you want to believe, it could be that it's been written in such a way as to take account of your biases or prejudices. We're more likely to believe something if it accords with our own views. That's called 'confirmation bias'. Advertisement So if you feel strong negative emotions - hate, anger, indignation - then be wary. Be honest with yourself and admit that you have strong biases and views about things. These may have become visible on your social media likes or content and it may have been mined and used to shape news directed at people like you. Who is saying it and why? The more credible a person or organisation is, the more they have to lose by being associated with fiction passed off as fact. If the news in a mainstream channel such as the BBC, then it will have been sourced from reputable places. Some media outlets will insist on three independent sources to verify something before they publish. Major publications will engage fact-checkers just to be sure. Reputable organisations know that being caught with fake stuff will affect how their audiences view all of their coverage. Look at who is driving a story. When someone goes to the trouble of creating a story - either by saying or doing something that is likely to grab attention - you can be pretty sure that they'll benefit in some way. Look at the motives of those who have either sourced the story or are quoted in it. What do they stand to gain? That will allow you to judge its authenticity and whether it has been shaped in some way to affect your attitudes or actions. Why now? In much of public life, timing is all. So if something is out there now, what else is going on? It could be that the news is there to "create a climate of opinion" or to soften up the audience for a more challenging piece of news. So whilst the news may be real it may be angled to change your perceptions. It could be a trail for something else, priming you so that you are more receptive to what's coming next. Advertisement Is someone trying to distract you? Sometimes organisations will push out stories that soak up our attention just so they can sneak something else under the wire. Organisations have to manage uncomfortable news and will release it when we're busy looking at other stories. This "burying" technique allows them to say, when challenged later, that they told people about "it" ages ago, making it "old news" and therefore (hopefully) less interesting. What do you feel like doing now? If having read something, you're now spurred to action - you want to tell someone about it, share it via social media or rush out and do something - then re-read it. How has the writer (or those quoted) managed to change the way you feel? Look at the angle and question it. Try to see the story from another point of view. Be sceptical. Whilst it may be real, it may also have been written to trigger a change in your attitude or outlook. Look at yourself Our own content - the things we share on social media - is now scrutinised by algorithms which are able to read our personalities and propensities for different attitudes and actions. In Yuval Harari's latest book, Home Deus, he quotes research about Facebook algorithm's ability to predict our personalities. Apparently, it can outperform our work colleagues' ability to predict our personality within 10 likes, our friends in 70 likes, our family members in 150 likes and that of our spouses in 300 likes. The right to free speech has become a contested and contentious issue in the arena of anti-hate activism. The pro free speech argument rests on the fact that people have a right to express their views and that censorship denies people this basic right. The counter argument runs on the lines that there needs to be exceptions to free speech for the safety and good of society. Both myself and Resisting Hate strongly believe that hate speech is not free speech. Free speech is not the holy grail of civil liberty. No human being exists in a vacumn where they can speak as they please with no regard for the consequences of what they are saying. Too often we hear of the right to freedom of speech with rarely a mention of the responsibilities. Yet we do have a responsibility in our speech. We have a responsibility not to harm others, incite hate against them or to create a society of prejudice and intolerance. Here are some key points as to why we do not consider hate speech to be free speech Hate speech often deals in preconceptions and stereotypes Invoking stereotypes is the antithesis of free speech. It shackles individuals to being a caricature of their race, faith, gender or sexual orientation and denies them the right to be identified based on their own merit and identity. When we deny people the right to be individuals it is the start of a slippery slope where people are objectified and categorised as a product of a type. This eventually leads to the process of dehumanisation where human beings are no longer seen as individuals in their own right. Advertisement Hate speech incites violence and endangers innocent people The easiest accounts to get suspended on social media are the ones that make threats of violence. These can be in the form of a direct threat to an individual or an oblique threat to a group or community. Threats are a problem for two distinct reasons. Firstly there is the obvious fact that a threat makes an individual or group feel unsafe and at risk of perceived or actual physical harm. But perhaps equally as worrying is the fact that when threats go unchecked they encourage other haters to take part in threatening and violent speech. It is important to take threats seriously because they can and do escalate into physical harm. Threats do not constitute free speech. There is a difference between expressing an opinion and telling damaging lies I do agree that an individual has a right to express an opinion. There are many cases where I dislike the opinions of others but I acknowledge that they have a right to hold and share those opinions. What they do not have a right to do is tell lies to publicly reinforce that opinion. Our group saw an example of this the other day where a photograph of a child mauled by a dog had been used on social media to report an "attack perpetrated by immigrants." There was no attack, the story was entirely fictional and was being spread to incite hatred against various groups in the UK perceived not to be "English" enough by a group of far right Twitter accounts. While we are all free to tell the truth, in my view, freedom of speech does not extend to telling untruths with an agenda to demonise others. Actualising the "right" of free speech violates the rights of others One of the most common objections our group receives in relation to our belief that hate speech is not free speech is the argument that an individual has the right to say what they please and that putting restrictions on this denies them that right. Putting aside the issue that alongside the right to free speech comes an implied responsibility not to abuse that right there is also an inherent conflict between the right of one individual to express a view and the right of another individual not to be abused or verbally attacked. One social media account may wish to express for example their extremist hate view (and I use this atrocious example as it is a real life example seen so frequently by us) that "All Jews deserve to be killed." However a Jewish person also has the right to log onto social media without being exposed to the extremist view that others wish them dead. Advertisement Free speech is not as simple as saying it is the actualisation of a right - as the right of one individual in this case is a direct conflict with the right of another. Freedom of speech does not mean speech without consequences There was an outcry on Twitter the other day as a response to the verdict on the Katie Hopkins court case where the court ruled that Ms Hopkins had to pay damages to the plaintiff for tweets implying the lady in question had desecrated war memorials. The view was expressed by some that Ms Hopkins was exercising her right to free speech and therefore should receive no sanctions for the comments she had made. This misses the point of what free speech actually is. Free speech is not speech free from consequences. When we choose to express ourselves we also choose to accept the consequences of that speech. Hate speech normalises hate in society When we are exposed to hate on a regular basis we become desensitised to it and extreme views become ubiquitous. If we allow speech with no regulation or restriction and accept that any individual has the right to express any view then we open ourselves to the very real danger of normalising hate in our society. We destigmatise those members of society who spew hatred into our world and we allow views of division and discrimination to become endemic within our communities. Advertisement It's just one week on from the launch of DEC's East Africa Crisis Appeal and we have been completely overwhelmed by the incredible response from the British public. We've also had generous donations from the UK government, trusts and companies and many high profile figures, including the Queen and Prince Charles. At the time of writing, a staggering 32million has been raised for East Africa and a further 22million raised for the Yemen Crisis Appeal which also remains open. Sadly, though the scale of this response also reflects the severity of the situation; hunger is looming on a massive scale across East Africa. Drought and conflict have left 16million people on the brink of starvation and in urgent need of food, water and medical treatment. People are already dying in South Sudan and Somalia. In Kenya, the government has declared a national emergency and Ethiopia is battling a new wave of drought following the strongest El Nino on record. Advertisement Concern Worldwide's Weydow nutrition centre Women, children and older people are suffering the most; we are hearing reports that families are eating water lilies to survive and mothers are going without food, to give the little they have to their children. There are many shocking facts and figures that are being reported to us, but the one that keeps me awake at night is that 800,000 severely acutely malnourished children across Somalia, South Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia are at risk of dying unless they get treatment. But it's not too late - the aid is getting through. The DEC is made up of 13 member charities who are already working on the ground with communities across East Africa and have the skills and knowledge to provide life-saving aid to some of the worst affected people. At Concern Worldwide's Weydow nutrition centre on the Afgoi Corridor, just outside Mogadishu in Somalia the numbers of arrivals have been steadily increasing in recent weeks as has the severity of cases of malnutrition. Advertisement Five year-old Nasra Ali is severely malnourished, weighing just 12.5kg. Her mother, Fatima Hassan says that her five children travelled for 10 days to get to the capital from Jubbaland. They are now staying at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp. Five year-old Nasra Ali DEC member agencies like Concern are giving out packets of 'Plumpy Nut' - a tasty and life-saving peanut paste. A month's supply of this vital treatment for a malnourished child costs just 25. Already we know that British Red Cross has supported 350,000 people in South Sudan by air dropping food; ActionAid has distributed food and water to nomadic pastoralists in Somalia; Save the Children is delivering food, water and medical care to 40 of the most drought effected communities in Ethiopia and in Kenya Plan International UK is supporting 53,500 people with food, cash vouchers and access to water ....and much, much more is happening right now. The crisis is far from over and more money is needed to help reduce the scale and severity of this emergency. UNOCHA estimates that $3.6billion is needed for the four countries and only $600million has been received this year - there are so many more who need our help. The money raised by the DEC appeal will provide millions of people in desperate need with vital food, water and medical treatment. Every donation makes a huge difference. Advertisement "You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan" tweeted Donald Trump Jr. The attack on Khan was repeated by Nigel Farage, among others, and shared across social media by far right Islamophobes, all while Parliament remained in lock-down. It's saddening, but also sickening, that there are people who will look to score political points and bend truths to fit their agenda at a time when there was still a very real threat to people in and around Westminster, and while people lay injured and dying on Westminster Bridge. But to be clear, these people targeted Sadiq Khan because he is Muslim and that fits in with their Islamophobes and divisive far-right agenda of marginalising a the Muslim community. If he was Christian or atheist, he wouldn't have been the target of this hatred. If you read the article from which this (false) quote originates, Khan was speaking following the explosion in New York last September. He said that being prepared for terrorist attacks was "part of the parcel" of living in a big city - quite different from saying "terror attacks are part of living in a big city", as the son of the US President implied. But anyone who still thinks this was the London Mayor being tolerant of terror attacks, or simply accepting them as inevitable, should read Khan's full comments. Advertisement London, like other major cities, has got to be prepared for attacks, he said. "Nothing is more important to me than keeping Londoners safe." "That means being vigilant, having a police force that is in touch with communities, it means the security services being ready, but also it means exchanging ideas and best practice." When he was elected as Mayor last May, he appointed Lord Harris to review London's terrorist attack response. At the time, he said "The terrorists are evolving their tactics and we have got to evolve our response to them all the time. I am afraid the consequences of a terror attack are very, very scary. They want to kill. They want to maim and terrify. It is my job to try to make sure that we are as safe as we can be." On the day of the attack, he said: "We must never accept terrorists being successful, we must never accept that terrorists can destroy our life or destroy the way we lead our lives". Man seriously injured Sunday in head-on crash with semi on U.S. 50 Local NAACP President Dennis Powell and Mayor Linda Tyer speak on the city's commitment to affirmative in City Council Chambers on Wednesday. The mayor with Board of Health member Michael Summers, left, Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski, Councilor Peter White, Personnel Director Michael Taylor, Councilor Jon Krol, Superintendent Jake McCandless, Police Chief Michael Wynn and Powell. White, chairman of the Affirmative Action Committee, discusses his panel's role. Pittsfield Public Schools caseworker Marie Richardson and Summers. PreviousNext Pittsfield Committed to Diversity But Work Still to Be Done Mayor Linda Tyer says her administration is committed to opening up opportunities for the city's minority populations. PITTSFIELD, Mass. A recent letter to the editor castigating the city's administration for failing to promote affirmative action prompted Mayor Linda Tyer to respond with a full court press. James M. Boyle, currently of Cheshire, a former School Committee member and city councilor, was upset by a recent photo of the nine new firefighters hired through Civil Service and a $1.1 million grant. The white firefighters, he wrote to The Berkshire Eagle, showed a lack of commitment to diversity and he urged citizens to tell state and federal officials to cut off access to grants "until they show real progress in promoting affirmative action." But Tyer, flanked by city officials, employees and local NAACP President Dennis Powell in City Council chambers, said Boyle had it all wrong. "I understand and recognize that some in our community have not always felt included or represented by our local government," she said. "That is why I made such a strong commitment to this particular issue ... "I'm here today to set the record straight but also to reassure the citizens of our city that we, and I, are committed to authentic change inside of city government." It's still a challenge, said Powell, whose NAACP chapter pushed to reinvigorate the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee three years ago. "Are we where we should be? No. Are we where we were? No. ... "Progress, I'm happy to say, has been made but the process is a slow process and it's slow because it wasn't practiced in the past." Since taking office last year, Tyer said her administration has worked to increase outreach to minority populations, provide greater access to employment and work with organizations such as the NAACP, and recruit a more diverse population on boards and commission. The process is transformative, she said, and takes time. The mayor pointed to a recent recruitment expo hosted by the Police Department. "The whole concept of the expo was to increase local interest and to demystify the Civil Service process," Tyer said. "The event was well attended and generated a lot of interest among a lot of young people in our community." And as a way to eliminate financial barriers, the city is offering to pay tuition up front for student officers attending the police academy. Once hired, the new officers will pay that back through payroll deductions. Director of Personnel Michael Taylor said the city is also working with BerkshireWorks to get potential candidates for city positions into programs that will allow them to earn certificates or the skills they need. The city also hosted an open house to introduce some of the possibilities for employment with the city. It's all about having the qualifications for a post, he said. The city is circulating out job notices as many places it can, including through the NAACP, and ensuring that candidates understand what qualifications are required and where they can get them. The city's demographics in 2015 was 85.1 percent white; 5.4 percent African-American; 5.4 percent Hispanic; 1.8 percent Asian and .2 percent American Indian. Employment figures for 2016 show progress over the year before. African-American and Hispanic employees, at 3.3 percent each in 2015, are now both 5.4 percent; Asian and American Indian, both at .2 percent, haven't changed. White employees have dropped from 93.2 percent of the city workforce to 90 percent. The city employees about 480 people; the School Department, about 1,200. Mass MoCA's Larry Smallwood displays an illustration of the planned information totems. Mass MoCA Looking to Orient Visitors, Send Them Downtown A life-size mockup of a wayfaring sign. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. Thousands of visitors are headed for the city this summer and Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts is hoping to push as many as it can into the downtown. The museum opens its $65 million renovation of the massive Building 6 that will double its gallery and events space this May and welcomes back the Solid Sound Festival and Freshgrass. The two music festivals alone will bring up to 13,000 people total for two weekends at the sprawling former Sprague Electric campus. The museum's attendance has soared past 150,000 and the completion of Phase III will likely push it higher. One effort is to make sure visitors know where they are and where they're going. "We've had about 100,000 people who've been upset over being lost over the past 20 years," joked Mass MoCA Deputy Director Larry Smallwood at Monday's Mass MoCA Commission meeting. The museum's proposing to install wayfaring signs around its property, and possibly one on city property, to orient visitors, get them to the front entrance and direct them downtown. The Planning Board on Monday signed off on the rugged steel-plate totems that will stand 6 feet high. At 14 inches wide and 2 inches thick, the rusty totems should be readily visible to help guide patrons into the complex; on the way out, they'll direct them downtown. Each one will have a map, with the totems in the interior having a campus map and those on the periphery a map of the city. Locations will be limited to places unlikely to move City Hall, for instance, or "shopping district." "We want to get landmarks to help people navigate around the city," explained Smallwood, adding to the Planning Board "it's not just to get people in, it's to get people out." Further signs within the complex will help visitors find their way through the massive museum. "Mass MoCA is a terribly confusing place," Smallwood told the Planning Board. Engineering work on the foundations has to be done before permits can be pulled, he said. A Monday's meeting Mayor Richard Alcombright asked if technology could be integrated into the totems as a way to direct people more specifically to local businesses. Smallwood said the museum now uses an app so people can orient themselves on Google map inside the buildings and available through a Bluetooth. Markers to areas of local interest could be added to the map so when people zoom out, they show up. "There's a possibility to build a park that's a connection between MoCA and downtown ... or make it a combination of a maker's mill or assets for artists," said Smallwood. There's been interest in the temporary artist studio idea, rentals and the development of an art supply store, but the first option is one that was put forward in 2014 to replace the building with a park. The city had put forward the museum's concept for a $6.8 million MassWorks grant but didn't get it. Thompson noted the museum had just received a major grant. "The feedback back was positive, but it was a bit early," he said. "It was a significant project. ... that was essentially making it a public park." The plans are still available and could be resubmitted. In the short term, the area will be looked at for use during the North Adams Exchange. iciHaiti - Politics : Installation of the new Minister of the Diaspora Wednesday, Aviol Fleurant, Minister of Planning and External Cooperation https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-20441-icihaiti-politics-reinstalling-of-the-minister-of-planning.html in the presence of various personalities of the country among others: the former Minister of MHAVE, Robert Labrousse, the former Director General Marc-Elie Nelson and the deputy Jean Rene Lochard, proceeded to the installation of Mrs. Stephanie Auguste as Minister of the Haitians Living Abroad. She replaces the former Foreign Minister Pierrot Delienne who assumed this function on an interim basis. In his remarks for the occasion, the Minister of Planning advised Mrs. Auguste to cultivate humility, the spirit of service and patriotism in her new role, in order to achieve better results. He urged her to create conditions that would allow Haitians from abroad to return to invest in the country. The new Minister of MHAVE, announces that she will pay special attention to Haitian investors abroad, specifying that with the support of the Government, she intends to offer tax and customs advantages to the latter, to encourage them to come investing in the country. IH/ iciHaiti Israel Vows to Stand with UK to Defeat Scourge of Terrorism The Fellowship | March 23, 2017 Israel Vows to Stand with UK to Defeat Scourge of Terrorism Israel, a nation that knows all too well the pain of terrorism, spoke out against the deadly London terror attack yesterday. The Times of Israel reports that Israeli leaders expressed shock at the attack, while also sending their condolences and vowing solidarity with the British people: Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said in a statement: Israel expresses its deep shock at the terror attack in London today and its solidarity with the victims and with the people and government of Great Britain. Terror is terror wherever it occurs and we will fight it relentlessly. Israel has faced a wave of Palestinian car-ramming, stabbing and shooting assaults since 2015. Israels Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, expressed his countrys support to his counterpart, UK Ambassador Matthew Rycroft. Israel stands as one with the British people as we all work together to defeat the scourge of terrorism. We send our condolences and wish a speedy recovery to all those injured, said Danon. In a ritual that has followed many similar such attacks, Tel Aviv City Council was lit up in the Union Jack colors. The move was a symbol of solidarity with London, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai wrote on Twitter This Isnt Our Last Love Letter Dear Don Don, Way back in 92 I walked into the room and knew Never felt this way before I shook your hand while gazing into your eyes And the feeling grew As I took a seat I knew A love that would have my heart Forever I knew Way back in 92 They say love at first sight doesnt always last or isnt true We were the exception to that rule Our love had no where to hide A spark set fire As if this is how the universe started I never doubted our love or what we could do Together we grew Forming a bond everlasting That became our glue My euphoria was YOU Im eternally grateful for the love and life we shared For how fortunate we were : to have and to hold through sickness and in health Til death do us part Until we are together again This isnt our last love letter I love you with all my heart and soul Yours forever, Deirdre (Mrs. Hank Snow) Im fortunate to have fallen in love with, marry and make a life with the sharpest, coolest, funniest, most rare, bad ass, tender loving, loyal man on the planet, my husband Don Imus. A True American Hero I dont know why it has been so hard for me to write about my dear friend Don Imus. I certainly know what he meant to me, my family, my charity, my hospital and the millions of fans that listened and loved him for so many years. I keep reading all the beautiful condolences that people are writing about how much a part of their lives were effected by listening to him over the years. But what most people dont talk enough about is what he did for all of us. In every sense of the word, he was an American Hero. His work with children with so many different illnesses and his dedication to their future was unmatched by anyone I have ever known or heard about. Besides raising over $100,000,000 for so many causes, he took care of young people for over 20 years in a state where he could not breathe. Along with his incredible wife Deirdre, he created a world where children were not defined by their disease. That was a miracle! He was a miracle. I will miss him ever day for the rest of my life. I was blessed to be a part of his and Deirdes life. No one will ever do what he did. I love you Don Imus - A TRUE AMERICAN HERO David Jurist IMUS IN THE MORNING FIRST DAY BACK! Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Netflix has debuted the first teaser trailer for Death Note, an original film from director Adam Wingard (Blair Witch) based on the manga series of the same name by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The supernatural thriller follows a high school student who comes across a supernatural notebook, realizing it holds within it a great power; if the owner inscribes someone's name into it while picturing their face, he or she will die. Intoxicated with his new godlike abilities, the young man begins to kill those he deems unworthy of life. The action has been moved from Japan to the US, with protagonist Light Yagami being turned into Light Turner, who will be played by American actor Nat Wolff (Paper Towns). The original manga series spawned the widely spread Ill take a potato chip and EAT IT! meme. Lakeith Stanfield (Atlanta, Get Out) and Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man) co-star in the adaptation, along with Margaret Qualley (The Leftovers), Paul Nakauchi (Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End) and Shea Whigham (American Hustle). Death Note is out worldwide on Netflix 25 August. Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Following on from directing Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, and both upcoming Avengers films, you would expect Joe and Anthony Russo to perhaps take a long earned break. Not so, as the duo are already lining up future projects. According to Deadline, The Russo Brothers are setting up a production company, the first release being a feature from Swiss Army Man directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan (aka The Daniels). While details surrounding the project are being kept under wraps, the science fiction flick is reportedly as original as Swiss Army Man, the Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano starring film that won the duo best dramatic directing honours at Sundance festival. The Russos, The Daniels, and Jonathan Wang - who partnered on Swiss Army Man - will produce, the script having been written by Scheinert and Kwan. Films to get excited about in 2017 Show all 13 1 /13 Films to get excited about in 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi Director: Rian Johnson Rian Johnson Cast: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Lupita Nyong'o Plot: No details yet, but it will continue directly on from Rey coming face-to-face with Luke at the end of The Force Awakens. Release Date: 15 December 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Thor: Ragnarok Director: Taika Waititi Taika Waititi Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum, Karl Urban, and Mark Ruffalo Plot: Story details are minimal as of now, but Thor's third return to screen has already been teased to feature a loose adaptation of the famous 'Planet Hulk' storyline. Release Date: 27 October 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 You Were Never Really Here Director: Lynne Ramsay Lynne Ramsay Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Alessandro Nivola Plot: A war veteran's attempt to save a young girl from a sex trafficking ring goes horribly wrong. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Annihilation Director: Alex Garland Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, and Oscar Isaac Plot: A biologist's husband disappears. She thus puts her name forward for an expedition into an environmental disaster zone, but does not quite find what she's expecting. The expedition team is made up of the biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Wonderstruck (image from Far From Heaven) Director: Todd Haynes Cast: Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, and Amy Hargreaves Plot: The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Mother (image of Darren Aronofsky) Director: Darren Aronofsky Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, and Ed Harris Plot: A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 The Killing of a Sacred Deer (image from The Lobster) Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Cast: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Alicia Silverstone Plot: A surgeon forms a familial bond with a sinister teenage boy, with disastrous results. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Blade Runner 2049 Director: Denis Villeneuve Denis Villeneuve Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, and Jared Leto Plot: Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years. Release Date: 6 October 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Lady Bird (image of director Greta Gerwig) Director: Greta Gerwig Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, and Lucas Hedges Plot: The adventures of a young woman living in Northern California for a year. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara (image of director Steven Spielberg and star Mark Rylance) Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Mark Rylance, Oscar Isaac Plot: The Kidnapping Of Edgardo Mortara recounts the story of a young Jewish boy in Bologna, Italy in 1858 who, having been secretly baptized, is forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents' struggle to free their son becomes part of a larger political battle that pits the Papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 How to Talk to Girls at Parties Director: John Cameron Mitchell John Cameron Mitchell Cast: Elle Fanning, Ruth Wilson, and Nicole Kidman Plot: An alien touring the galaxy breaks away from her group and meets two young inhabitants of the most dangerous place in the universe: the London suburb of Croydon. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 The Dark Tower Director: Nikolaj Arcel Nikolaj Arcel Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, and Tom Taylor Plot: Gunslinger Roland Deschain roams an Old West-like landscape in search of the dark tower, in the hopes that reaching it will preserve his dying world. Release Date: 28 July 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Suburbicon Director: George Clooney George Clooney Cast: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Josh Brolin, and Oscar Isaac Plot: A crime mystery set in the quiet family town of Suburbicon during the 1950s, where the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and betrayal. Release Date: 24 November Meanwhile, The Russo Brothers are busy working on Avengers: Infinity War, which is currently filming at Pinewood Studios, Atlanta. The ensemble film is rumoured to be the most expensive film ever made. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Brexit was caused in part by climate change, former US Vice-President Al Gore has said, warning that extreme weather is creating political instability the world will find extremely difficult to deal with. Mr Gore, speaking at an event in which he previewed a sequel to his landmark 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, said the principal cause of the Syrian Civil War had been the worst drought in 900 years, which forced 1.5 million people to move from the countryside to the cities. There they met a similar number of Iraqis who had fled the conflict in their homeland, creating powder keg conditions that Syrian government officials privately feared would explode. The resulting war brought more refugees into Europe, causing political instability and helping convince some in the UK to vote to leave the European Union. One of the most controversial Leave campaign posters showed a queue of refugees stretching into the distance with the caption Breaking point: The EU has failed us all. The then-Chancellor, George Osborne, described the poster as disgusting and vile and, like others who explicitly compared it to Nazi propaganda, said it had echoes of literature used in the 1930s. Mr Gore, whose new film An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power is due out in the UK in August, told an audience at the Advertising Week Europe event in London: This collision between the power of industrial civilisation and the surprising fragility of the Earths ecosystem now poses a great danger that could even threaten the future of human civilisation itself. One of the lines of investigation [scientists] have been pursuing has led them to the conclusion that significant areas of the Middle East and North Africa are in danger of becoming uninhabitable. And, just a taste of this, to link it to some of the events that the UK and European Union are going through think for a moment about what happened in Syria. Before the gates of hell opened in Syria, what happened was a climate-related extreme drought. From 2006 to 2010, 60 per cent of the farms in Syria were destroyed and 80 per cent of the livestock were killed. The drought in the eastern Mediterranean is the worst ever on record the records only go back 900 years, but its historic. And 1.5 million climate refugees were driven into the cities in Syria, where they collided with refugees from the Iraq War. Wikileaks revealed the internal conversations in the Syrian government where they were saying to one another we cant handle this, theres going to be a social explosion. There are other causes of the Syrian civil war, but this was the principal one. Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees Show all 10 1 /10 Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees Ernie Enkelaar Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees Aziz Kawak Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees Aziz Kawak Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees Ernie Enkelaar Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees Ernie Enkelaar Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees Aziz Kawak Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees Syr: Utrecht's restaurant staffed by refugees The war broke out in 2011 as people took to the streets during the Arab Spring protest movement against dictators in the Middle East. President Bashar Assad responded by sending in the troops. Mr Gore said this had produced an incredible flow of refugees into Europe, which is creating political instability and which contributed in some ways to the desire of some in the UK to say whoa, were not sure we want to be part of that anymore. He said this kind of political instability was being felt by a number of countries around the world. Some countries have a hard time even in the best of seasons but the additional stress this climate crisis is causing really poses the threat of some political disruption and chaos of a kind the world would find extremely difficult to deal with, Mr Gore said. Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Show all 13 1 /13 Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Volunteers walk a group of refugee children towards their school on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children pose at a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Syrian Kurd mother combs Roza's hair, as she prepares to go to a volunteer-run school in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children attend an English language class at the volunteer run school on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children carry vegetables in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A newly arrived Syrian refugee, 13, holds her sister, 2, in a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children pretend they go to school as they play in a refugee camp in the island AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Greek girl walks past a graffiti on her way to a school on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Malian refugee child poses from behind a fence in a makeshift camp AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Syrian Kurd mother combs Roza's hair, as she prepares to go to a volunteer-run school in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Syrian family from Aleppo newly arrived to Greece sits in a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A child carries a broken blackgammon game in a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A child holds onto her mother, Djeneba from Mali, before attending school in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty This is a view shared by the current US Defence Secretary, General James Mad Dog Mattis. Despite Donald Trumps apparent dismissal of the problems being caused by climate change, the US military is taking the issue seriously. Mr Mattis made this clear in comments to US Senators as he sought their confirmation of his appointment. Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today, he said. It is appropriate for the combatant commands to incorporate drivers of instability that impact the security environment in their areas into their planning. Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Show all 7 1 /7 Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The Solidarity With Refugees group said Saturdays protest aimed to show our Government and the world that Britain is ready to welcome more refugees. Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis People march through central London as they take part in a protest rally organised by Solidarity with Refugees in a bid to urge the Government to take more action on the migrant crisis Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The protest comes days before world leaders meet to discuss crisis at UN General Assembly Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Demonstrators made their way from Park Lane to Parliament Square in London on Saturday afternoon Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Marchers chanted refugees are welcome here and waved banners reading no-one is illegal and lets help people Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The march was supported by charities and groups including the Red Cross, Asylum Aid, Save the Children, Hope Not Hate, Oxfam and the UN Refugee Agency Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis In the wake of Alans death, David Cameron pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK over the coming five years but there have been additional calls to re-home those who have already reached Europe, as well as asylum seekers coming from other conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan Rex Features Climate change can be a driver of instability and the Department of Defence must pay attention to potential adverse impacts generated by this phenomenon. I agree that the effects of a changing climate such as increased maritime access to the Arctic, rising sea levels, desertification, among others impact our security situation. I will ensure that the Department continues to be prepared to conduct operations today and in the future, and that we are prepared to address the effects of a changing climate on our threat assessments, resources, and readiness. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Millennials get a lot of stick. They call us overly-sensitive snowflakes and lampoon us for spending money on lavish brunches instead of saving up for house deposits. Apparently were all obsessed with ourselves, take too many selfies and are awful humans for organising hook-ups via dating apps. But it could in fact be that the baby boomers are a more egotistical generation than millennials. According to writer and venture capitalist Bruce Gibney, baby boomers are a generation of sociopaths. In his new book, he argues that their reckless self-indulgence is in fact what set the example for millennials. Gibney describes boomers as acting without empathy, prudence, or respect for facts - acting, in other words, as sociopaths. And hes not the first person to suggest this. Back in 1976, journalist Tom Wolfe dubbed the young adults then coming of age the Me Generation in the New York Times, which is a term now widely used to describe millennials. But the baby boomers grew up in a very different climate to todays young adults. A selection of the most powerful millennials in the world Show all 5 1 /5 A selection of the most powerful millennials in the world A selection of the most powerful millennials in the world Kim Jong-un A selection of the most powerful millennials in the world Mhairi Black A selection of the most powerful millennials in the world Neymar A selection of the most powerful millennials in the world Kim Kardashian-West A selection of the most powerful millennials in the world Alexander Wang When the generation born after World War Two were starting to make their way in the world, it was a time of economic prosperity. For the first half of the boomers particularly, they came of age in a time of fairly effortless prosperity, and they were conditioned to think that everything gets better each year without any real effort, Gibney explained to The Huffington Post. So they really just assume that things are going to work out, no matter what. Thats unhelpful conditioning. Recommended Millennials struggle because their parents awarded them for failing You have 25 years where everything just seems to be getting better, so you tend not to try as hard, and you have much greater expectations about what society can do for you, and what it owes you. And millennials now are facing far higher levels of debt and unemployment than their parents. Gibney puts forward the argument that boomers - specifically white, middle-class ones - tend to have genuine sociopathic traits. He backs up his argument with mental health data which appears to show that this generation have more anti-social characteristics than others - lack of empathy, disregard for others, egotism and impulsivity, for example. We have an enormous amount of data about the boomer mainstream, and it matches up surprisingly well with the description of antisocial personality disorder, Gibney explains. But even if this is true, its worth noting that there isnt much historical mental health data with which to compare the stats for baby boomers. Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyEats email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Scott Wiener loves pizza. He loves pizza so much he gave up having a regular job to found a tour of pie hotspots in New York. He's so obsessed with it that he has collected over 1,300 pizza boxes from around the US. Pizza is delicious, customisable, portable, and inexpensive, the 35-year-old obsessive tells The Independent. Its the perfect food! The New Yorkers love affair with the Italian staple started in New Jersey, where he gradually began buying pizza weekly as a teenager. When he left to study at Syacruse University and toured the US with rock bands he was amazed by how many different combinations of flat bread and toppings there could be. Realising Scott was addicted to pizza, a friend gifted him a pizza journal so he could document every bite. After he graduated, Scott worked a range of jobs from performing as costumed characters at birthday parties, working on TV shoots and fashion shows, to helping to run a now defunct record label. When he took off six months from working as an evenings co-ordinator, his love for pizza became his career almost by mistake. He started rounding up friends in his car to head out for pizza-tasting sessions around New York. After he rented out a bus for his birthday, he had a light-bulb moment, and Scotts Pizza Tours was founded. That was nine years ago. Since then, Scotts Pizza Tours have run 3,500 trips for over 46,000 people. Naturally, Scott, also pens a column for Pizza Today Magazine, and judges pizza contests across the US. The Independent caught up with him to talk about what makes the perfect pizza and his second-favourite food. The world's biggest food fights Show all 11 1 /11 The world's biggest food fights The world's biggest food fights La Tomatina, Bunol, Spain Biel Alino/AFP/Getty Images The world's biggest food fights La Tomatina, Bunol, Spain Biel Alino/AFP/Getty Images The world's biggest food fights La Tomatina, Bunol, Spain Biel Alino/AFP/Getty Images The world's biggest food fights World Custard Pie Championship, Kent Funk Dooby/Flickr The world's biggest food fights World Custard Pie Championship, Kent Funk Dooby/Flickr The world's biggest food fights La Merengada, Vilanova i la Geltru, Spain Ajuntament de Vilanova i la Geltru The world's biggest food fights La Merengada, Vilanova i la Geltru, Spain Ajuntament de Vilanova i la Geltru The world's biggest food fights Battle of the Oranges, Ivrea, Italy Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images The world's biggest food fights Battle of the Oranges, Ivrea, Italy Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images The world's biggest food fights Clean Monday, Galaxidi, Greece Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images The world's biggest food fights Clean Monday, Galaxidi, Greece Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images Hi Scott, tell us a little about yourself Im 35 years on the planet, originally from New Jersey but currently living in Brooklyn. Job title is president and founder of Scotts Pizza Tours on Slice Out Hunger. What is the formula for mind-blowing pizza? Its all about balance. Great cheese is nothing without great crust. Great crust is nothing if not topped with delicious ingredients. Thinking back on all the different pizzas you have eaten, which was the best and why? Ive had a lot of pizzas that changed my life, but the pizza marinara at Pizzeria Da Michele was one of the big moments for me. Its the simplest pizza you can get, with just tomato and garlic and oil, and no cheese. It was divine. I ate it in Feb 2009 and still remember the taste. What is the worst pizza you have ever eaten? The only pizza I ever tried that I couldnt even swallow was at a kosher place in Brooklyn. I wont name names, but just trust your instincts when approaching a pizzeria. I should have trusted mine. How can a person check if a pizza shop is good before testing the pizza? Are there warning signs in the menu? There are very few warning signs but take a look on other peoples tables and eyeball the goods. Sometimes a pizza could look good and taste bad but it rarely looks bad and tastes good. After pizza, what is your favourite food? I love ice cream. It's the same idea. you can have a simple basic flavour and toppings and or mix-ins could either enhance or distract. Its also all over the world, so I like that everyone has a shared experience with it. Tell me about your collection of pizza boxes I currently have over 1,300 pizza boxes in my collection. Theyre from over 65 different countries and all of them are amazing in their own way. Recommended The guilty pleasure foods that chefs secretly love to eat I havent been to most of these places, but people ship boxes to me in Brooklyn and I really love that. I wrote a book about the collection, called Viva La Pizza! The Art of the Pizza Box, and weve even done art gallery shows of the best boxes in the collection. How can a person make a delicious pizza at home? What is the most important ingredient? Dough is the most important ingredient. If you dont feel comfortable making your own, buy some from a local pizzeria. But making dough is so easy, I almost hate giving you that cheat step. Be careful with the dough. You dont want to handle it wrong or it will lost its ability to stretch. Once you get the dough and the stretch, the rest is just knowing how much topping to use. What are your thoughts on tomato puree and its role in pizza? Im not a fan of puree, I prefer either crushed tomato or whole peeled tomatoes that get crushed at the pizzeria. What are some the most memorable experiences you have had when running the pizza tours? Amazing things happen every day on the tour. Weve had marriage proposals, an actual wedding, crazy run-ins with famous pizza makers. Theres really something new all the time but I forget about them all when someone asks me to name one. What are some of the most exciting pizza trends at the moment? There a big push lately for long fermentation, high hydration dough thats really exciting. People are getting more focused on the dough and thats really the most important component. I even know some people who are milling their own flour! What sort of pizza do you refuse to eat? For example frozen pizza? I dont refuse pizza. I dont eat a lot of frozen pizza or chain pizza, but I would never ever refuse it. What do you usually eat in a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Breakfast is almost always oatmeal. I have a couple slices throughout the day on tours. If Im cooking at home, Id roast some veggies and maybe have a piece of fish. I try to eat carefully because pizza can get rough on the body if left unchecked. But I have a routine and so far its working out fine. What are your plans for the future? Im doing more research to get the bank of information we discuss on the tours to be as accurate as possible. Most of the time were talking about things in a way that are not readily available online, so were doing the research ourselves. Its a lot of fun but its hard work. Were also pushing our nonprofit, Slice Out Hunger, which does hunger relief fundraising via the pizza community. Thats a huge project right now but its a really important one. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In Western culture, we are brought up to believe relationships should be monogamous. Cheating is wrong and we should all be faithful to our partners. Or at least thats what were told from a young age. But does monogamy really make sense? Or is it just something ingrained in us? Scientists have for a long time researched into whether monogamy is better than polyamory but have never reached a conclusion. This could be in part because scientists cant break free of a certain worldview gripping their field, Quartz suggests. The concept of monogamy is such a deep-rooted part of our culture that we dont realise we have an unconscious bias towards it, which skews research. In fact, a new study due to be published in Perspectives on Psychological Science this week will claim exactly that: relationship studies may be flawed because primacy is given to monogamous unions. Researchers from the University of Michigan set out to discover whether previous studies have been skewed to promote monogamy, whether purposefully or not. They concluded that the way we study relationships is problematic. The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships Show all 10 1 /10 The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships Catana Chetwynd The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships Catana Chetwynd The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships Catana Chetwynd The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships Catana Chetwynd The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships Catana Chetwynd The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships Catana Chetwynd The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships Catana Chetwynd The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships Catana Chetwynd The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships Catana Chetwynd The cartoons that perfectly sum up relationships Catana Chetwynd According to Terri Conley, the studys lead author, our attitudes to monogamy are so ingrained as to be invisible. Its not even that we think about it being right, she said. We just see it as the only way. One way in which previous studies have been skewed is through the language used - words associated with polyamory are often not neutral. Recommended 5 very real problems when you have more than one sexual partner People are asked about infidelity or cheating, for example, as well as the offended party or the betrayed partner. The new study from the University of Michigan, however, claims that non-monogamous relationships are just as successful as monogamous. They surveyed over 2,000 people over the age of 25, 617 of whom were in consensually non-monogamous relationships. After assessing a range of factors such as jealousy, passion, trust and general satisfaction, they found that polyamorous relationships functioned just as well as the monogamous ones. The premise that monogamy is superior to other types of non-monogamous relational arrangements continues to permeate the ways in which researchers construct and test theories of love and intimacy, Conley said. But whether we can ever truly have studies free from any bias remains to be seen. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Over the past few years, there has been a rise in self-marriage. This being quite as literal as it sounds making a commitment to a deep, meaningful relationship with just yourself. Self-marriage, otherwise known as sologamy, is not legally recognised but has been on a steady rise in recent years. In many cases, it can mirror traditional weddings with various case studies and news stories showing women in wedding dresses stood alongside their bridesmaids and wearing a wedding ring. Dominique, from California, runs a self-marriage ceremonies website which assists people who wish to make that commitment to themselves. She says the community of people willing to do so is growing She held her own ceremony in 2011, aged 22, after practicing self-love for many years, where she lit candles in her bedroom and vowed to be kind and compassionate to myself, especially when I make mistakes. Prior to this, she travelled across India for six months to connect with her own self-love after dedicating her career and studies to researching the subject. Ceremony in Corfu, Greece (Bibbie Friman) My purpose in life is to help hold a space within and for all to drop into our true nature of being, to love ourselves more fully, and to experience the true intimacy of the divine in order to create a world where we live, serve, and embody love, she told The Independent. I have dedicated my life to the pursuit and study of love as a force for global, social, and personal change. She has since worked with at least 250 clients in their self-marriage ceremonies, both in real life and over the internet. Charging $200 for a 10-week self-study programme in preparation for their ceremony, she advises on anything from advice on the deep connection to yourself you are supposed to aspire to as well as what should be involved in the ceremonies. Love and sex news: in pictures Show all 31 1 /31 Love and sex news: in pictures Love and sex news: in pictures What makes a perfect penis? Scientists have now answered one of these great unknowns. According to a new study, general cosmetic appearance is the most important penile aspect when it comes to what women value down there. This is swiftly followed by the appearance of pubic hair, penile skin, and girth. Length comes in at number six, with the look of the scrotum trailing closely behind. The least important facet of the phallus, say the scientists, is the position and shape of meatus, the vertical slit at the opening of the urethra. Getty Love and sex news: in pictures Half of divorcees had doubts on their wedding day Over half of divorcees considered abandoning their husband or wife-to-be at the altar on their wedding day, a new study has revealed. On top of likely worrying about wedding favours and making sure guests behave on their big day, 49 per cent of divorcees admitted they were unsure before the ceremony that their marriage would last. Some 15 per cent of divorcees polled said they were so wracked with doubt that they felt physically sick in the run up to their wedding. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures Students who marry after studying the same subject Picking a university subject is already difficult enough for young people. But heres an extra piece of data to weigh on your decision: you may be picking a life partner as well. Dan Kopf of the blog, Priceonomics, analysed US Census data and found that the percentage of Americans who marry someone within their own major is actually fairly high. About half of Americans are married, according to the 2012 American Community Survey (part of the Census). And about 28 per cent of married couples over the age of 22 both graduated from college. (The survey didnt recognise same-sex marriages for the 2012 data, but it will for 2013 onwards, says Kopf). Sean Gallup/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures How much sex we have (and how much we'd like) As a nation, we dont have as much sex as we would like, a survey has (somewhat unsurprisingly) confirmed. In a poll of 1523 people by YouGov, 64 per cent of Britons said they would wish to have sex at least a few times a month. The same sample said that only 38 per cent had sex at least a few times a month. In addition, 10 per cent said they wished to have sex every day, a goal which only 1 per cent admitted reaching. Rex Love and sex news: in pictures The new female condom Picture an internal condom. The chances are youre thinking of something which resembles a carrier bag. However, this could all be about to change with the new VA w.o.w. Condom Feminine. Not only is it a wireless, Bluetooth enabled, vibrating interactive device, which comes available in the shape of a heart, but the manufacturers think youll love it more than not using a condom at all. Love and sex news: in pictures One in five Brits admit to having had an affair One in five British adults admits they have had an affair, according to a new poll. 20 per cent of male respondents and 19 per cent of female respondents admitted to having had an affair in a new poll of 1660 respondents by YouGov. Orlando /Three Lions/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures The UK's favourite sex position Casting aside the myth that Brits are a prudish bunch, a new survey has revealed that doggy style is the nations favourite sex position. As many as a quarter of UK adults surveyed said doggy style was their favourite way to indulge with a partner. Missionary, which is sometimes scoffed at the most boring position, was favoured by a fifth of the 1,000 people surveyed by high street sex shop Ann Summers, seeing it come in as third under "woman on top". Caiaimage/REX Love and sex news: in pictures Who's most likely to cheat? Men and women who are economically dependent on their spouses are more likely to cheat, a new study has revealed. Researchers have found that men who are solely financially dependent are more like to cheat than women, at 15 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. Men who are rely on their wives may cheat because they are undergoing a masculinity threat by not being the primary breadwinner as is culturally expected, said study author Christin L. Munsch, a UConn assistant professor of sociology. Eye Candy/REX Love and sex news: in pictures Jailed for loud sex noises A woman who breached a court order barring her from causing nuisance by making "loud sex noises" was sent to jail. Gemma Wale, of Small Heath, Birmingham, was given a two-week prison sentence after a civil court judge concluded that she had breached the order by "screaming and shouting whilst having sex" at a "level of noise" which annoyed a neighbour. Rex Features Love and sex news: in pictures Photo of wedding guest proposing to girlfriend in front of bride and groom goes viral When the staggering amount time, money, and effort that goes into to planning a wedding is considered, it seems pretty obvious that all guests have is to do is turn up with some gifts, and not upstage the couple. But this fact seems to have escaped one man, whose grinning face has gone viral after he decided to propose to his girlfriend in front of the bride and grooms top table. The photo, which has been viewed over 1.4 million times on Reddit, shows a boyfriend perched on one knee in front of his crying girlfriend. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures Sexual fantasies The results of a sex survey are busting the myth that Britons are sexually repressed, by revealing how the majority of women have lived out their sexual fantasies. As many as 81 per cent of women and 77 per cent of men have shared and acted out fantasies with a partner with having sex in public topping the list of turn-ons. The study also laid bare the influence of TV and film on our desires, with three-quarters of couples saying they had inspired them. Meanwhile, a further three quarters of women and over half of men have played out a fantasy theyd found in a book. LEO RAMIREZ/AFP/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures The world's sexiest nationalities Irish men are the worlds sexiest, according to a survey of thousands of jet-setting women. In a poll of 66,000 of single American women who use MissTravel.com, as many as 8,000 said that Irish men are the sexiest. Around half of the females who took said they were turned on by Irish men said their accent influenced their choice, according to the Irish Times. ANDREW COWIE/AFP/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures More sex = happiness? Couples were asked to double the amount of sex they had each week over a three month period by researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University, who compared them to couples who had their normal amount of sex. Their findings, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior, went against advice given by the average self-help book having more sex doesnt automatically make a person happier. Instead, couples who were instructed to have more sex reported a decrease in happiness levels. Mood Board/Rex Love and sex news: in pictures Most sexually satisfied countries It is often considered the most amorous nation on the planet, but France doesn't even feature in a new list of the most sexually satisfied countries. According to a Durex global survey of 26,000 people, aged 16 and older, across 26 countries, only 44 per cent of people are fully satisfied with their sex lives. In the wake of these results, AlterNet has compiled a list of the 12 most sexually satisfied countries, with Switzerland, Spain and Italy topping the list. INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures Sex o'clock They say women are from Venus and men are from Mars but a new sex survey suggests that members of the opposite sex seem to operate in different time zones too. While women like to get steamy between 11:21pm on average, men are more likely to be turned on at the rather inconvenient time of 7:54am. These times fall into the broader timeslots of 11pm and 2am for women, and 6am and 9am for men. PIERRE ANDRIEU/AFP/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures More sex = more money People who have more sex are likely to earn more, new research claims. The research, partly conducted from the responses of 7,500 people, found employees who have sex two or three times a week earn 4.5 per cent more than colleagues who do not. Rex Love and sex news: in pictures The effects of watching porn Contrary to suggestion that porn desensitises viewers to sex, a study has found that it doesn't "negatively impact sexual functioning" and in fact boosts couples' sexual attraction to one another. In research published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, scientists at the University of California tested the effects of visual sexual stimuli on men in relationships, finding that it "is unlikely to negatively impact sexual functioning, given that responses actually were stronger in those who viewed more VSS." Rex Love and sex news: in pictures 'I have herpes' A woman diagnosed with herpes at the age of 20 has written an emotional essay about living with the common condition to fight the stigma surrounding it. Ella Dawson, now 22, said she had never had unprotected sex and thought she wasn't the sort of person STDs happened to when the symptoms first appeared during her time at university in the US. She wrote that the diagnosis initially felt like a punishment for her values and relationships and worried her that telling boyfriends would ruin her love life. Ella Dawson Love and sex news: in pictures More sleep, better sex A new study could have a simple answer to enhancing your sex life just get a good nights sleep (if you are a woman at least). A study conducted by a team at the University of Michigan Sleep and Circadian Research Laboratory found women who get an extra hour of sleep at night reported higher levels of sexual desire and were more likely to have sex with their partners. Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures Swipe right A woman has detailed her experiences of a week of always swiping right on Tinder. By opening the floodgates, as Ms Caster describes it, she receives scores of messages from different men and not all are terrible. Love and sex news: in pictures The most adulterous town in the UK Ever wondered what the neighbours are up to? Well if you live in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, then the answer is probably... having an affair. The bustling East Midlands town has been granted the dubious honour of being the UK's top spot for infidelity with a total of 941 affairs reportedly taking place right now. According to The Official Infidelity Index 2015, which was released this week, 2.54 per cent of the towns population are currently seeing someone they shouldn't. REX FEATURES Love and sex news: in pictures Average penis size revealed Scientists have measured more than 15,000 mens penises in an effort to find out what size is normal. Researchers at Kings College London and a London NHS trust said they hoped the review would help address the concern that some men have about their penis size and aid people suffering from anxiety and distress. They revealed that the average flaccid penis is 3.6ins (9.16cm) long, or 5.2ins (13.24cm) when stretched, and 3.7ins (9.31cm) in circumference. Erect penises are 5.1ins (13.12cm) long on average and 4.5ins (11.66cm) in girth. Rex Love and sex news: in pictures One true love Men fall in love more times in their life than women, according to a new survey. 2,000 adults were asked about relationships, and discovered that more than half of men say they've loved more than one person their lifetime. For women, it's markedly fewer, with only 45 per cent saying they've had multiple loves. Love and sex news: in pictures Dating site for 'beautiful people only' A self-proclaimed elite dating website has removed around 3,000 members because they were "letting themselves go". BeautifulPeople.com describes itself as the largest internet dating community exclusively for the beautiful and puts peoples photographs to a members vote to decide if they are allowed in. But administrators have now shown that the rigorous 48-hour selection period is not a permanent pass by taking thousands of profiles down, mainly because of weight gain and graceless ageing. Love and sex news: in pictures Sex is a 'miracle cure' Regular exercise including sex, walking and dancing are miracle cures staring us in the face and could dramatically cut our risk of cancer, dementia, heart disease and diabetes, leading doctors have said. In a new review of existing evidence which reveals the full extent of benefits that can be accrued from exercise, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said the improvement in health and savings to the NHS could be incalculable. Susannah Ireland Love and sex news: in pictures Pornhub searches by age of user Pornhubs prolific Insights blog fires out many reports of sociological interest, none more so than its latest on age, which lays bare different age groups' sexual proclivities. Looking at the most popular searches among 18-24s, there are several familial terms including 'step mom', 'milf', 'mom' and 'step sister', a trend that seems to die out somewhat in users' 30s. By 65, 'massage' becomes the top term, while 'granny' perhaps unsurprisingly also hits the top ten. PlaceIt/Just Another IKEA Catalog Love and sex news: in pictures Mature sex Research into the sexual lives of more than 7,000 men and women between the ages of 50 and 90 in England reveals that half of men and almost a third of women aged 70 and over were still sexually active, with around a third of these sexually active older people having sexual intercourse twice a month or more. Around two-thirds of men and over half of women thought good sexual relations were essential to the maintenance of a long-term relationship or being sexually active was physically and psychologically beneficial to older people. Getty Creative Love and sex news: in pictures The secret to an eighty year marriage Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that 42 per cent of marriages in England and Wales end in divorce, and the average British marriage which ends in divorce lasts 11 years and six months. Helen and Maurice Kaye, now aged 101 and 102, have been married for 80 years, and say the secret is: I think its important to have patience and tolerance. You're two entirely different people who suddenly live together, which can't be easy. But if you love each other, you get over the difficulties. Love and sex news: in pictures Valentine's Day porn Pornhub saw a (slight) drop in traffic on Valentine's Day as people focused on pleasuring their partners rather than themselves. Everywhere, it is, except for London. Overall UK traffic dipped 3 per cent across the UK, with Plymouth and Oxford seeing the biggest drops of 11 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. In fact every major city spent less time watching porn bar London, the Pornhub audience for which grew by 2 per cent. Getty Love and sex news: in pictures 1 in 10 men paying for sex A tenth of British men have admitted to paying for sex, according to a new study. Professionals aged 25 to 34 who binge drink and take drugs were found to be the most likely to have used the services of prostitutes, based on findings from a study of 6,108 men. Around 11 per cent of subjects, in the study published in the Sexually Transmitted Infections journal, have ever paid for sex in their lifetime and four per cent admitted to doing so in the last five years. Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures Questions that determine if you're in love The existence of love and its nature is something that has troubled philosophers for centuries, but a pair of scientists believe they have a set of questions that yield "clear empirical evidence" of it, or at least whether your relationship will end in divorce. They are: 'How happy are you in your marriage relative to how happy you would be if you weren't in the marriage?' and 'How do you think your spouse answered that question?' Columbia From the sounds of it, self-marriage ceremonies are not particularly different from traditional ceremonies involving two people. Dominique stresses each ceremony differs vastly depending on the person and there is not one fixed way for people to self-marry: some marry alone, as she did, others in public and some in front of family and friends. Some people like to guide their own ceremony and others like to have a friend or minister ordain the ceremony. In more public traditional ceremonies, there are speeches, cake and food, and wedding dresses involved; in others just a candle and silent vows taken. Recommended Why these heterosexual couples are demanding a civil partnership Self-marriage rings also exist but this too can take different varieties to the traditional. For Dominique, she had her nose pierced specifically and now wears a wedding nose-ring. I like to think of it as if I am breathing in my commitment to love with every breath, she says. While the trend has mainly been ascribed to women, who make up the majority of Dominique's clientele, she has worked with a few men. The reasons why people may self-marry vary. Most of the time it is a deep call from inside, the feeling that this would be the next step to living a life full of love, what is needed to commit more deeply to treat ourselves better, she says. Sometimes the call happens during a life transition for example when someone has broken up with their partner or got a divorce, is about to get married to someone else, or is longing to meet a life partner and knows that self-marriage is the first step. She lists the four components to self-marriage as: becoming your own lover and best friend, connecting with and committing to your deeper purpose, uniting all the aspects of yourself even those which contradict each other and harmonising your external relationships and circumstances. However, the movement is often met with cynicism and mockery. Dominique says she has experienced a mixed reaction to her own matrimony, admitting some do think its crazy. What does she say to people who accuse those who self-marry of attention seeking and label it as nonsense? My experience is that most people who criticise self-marriage don't understand the full extent of it, or they see the world in a very different way than I see it. It can be thought of as something selfish or ridiculous, but when you actually take the time to consider what it really means, it is the most selfless thing a person can do: to commit to first know love within them, so they can more fully give love and be love in the world. For me, marrying yourself is not a performance or display of look at me and how worthy of love I am! in some way that diminishes other peopleit is a full claiming of the miracle of a single life, not separate from any other life. It is a celebration and an honouring in the deepest sense of a life in service to love and to me, this is something truly selfless, truly generous. A woman about to self-marry (Dominique Youkhehpaz) (Tehya Shea) Dominique does not seem too fussed about trying to convince the cynics, saying she is more than happy to let people have their own opinions. In a modern society where marriage is on the decline, it could be argued that developments like self-marriage further undercut what some people, and groups, see as the sanctity of marriage. However, Dominique says her own ceremony has been the root of her strength in her relationship with her boyfriend. Self-marriage makes marriage to others more powerful, she argues. If we are true to ourselves and take full responsibility for our own lives, for our happiness and willingness to be kind to ourselves, there is even more space within us to love and support another. If we cannot handle or treat ourselves with love and compassion, how can we expect to love another? Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Signs are growing that inflows of European Union workers to the UK have peaked, just as Prime Minister Theresa May is due to trigger Article 50 to commence the Brexit divorce process. In an analysis published on Thursday, the Resolution Foundation think tank highlights official data showing that new National Insurance registrations by EU migrants have plateaued since the referendum. It also points to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Labour Force survey, which shows the number of EU workers recorded in the UK appears to have peaked. Provisional net immigration figures released in February from the ONS also point to a slower rate of EU immigration to the UK in the third quarter of last year, directly after the referendum. Net long-term international migration from EU citizens was estimated to be 165,000, down from 189,000 in the previous quarter. NI registrations plateau Resolution Foundation Given that all three sources point to falling or plateauing migration flows, or indeed actually falling migrant worker numbers, we can be fairly confident that a shift is underway, said Stephen Clarke, an analyst at the think tank. There have been reports of labour shortages from sectors such as farming and road haulage, which are particularly reliant on EU workers. EU worker numbers down Resolution Foundation The latest report from the Bank of Englands network of regional agents this week said there was little evidence yet of EU migrants leaving due to Brexit. But it added that some had left due to the 13 per cent trade weighted slump in sterling since the referendum vote, which had reduced the value of their repatriated earnings. And the agents related reports from firms of difficulties recruiting new EU workers due to a shrinking pool of candidates. EU net migration lower ONS Ms May has interpreted the Brexit vote as a mandate to end EU freedom of movement. In January, she said that the UK would have to leave the single market because the rest of the European Union had made it clear that it would not negotiate over freedom of movement for EU workers. The Prime Minister has said she will invoke Article 50 on 29 March. Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jeroen Dijsselbloem faced pressure to resign as head of the euro areas finance ministers after comments he made on the obligations of aid-receiving countries were seen as both offensive and widening the north-south divide in Europe. I cant spend all my money on women and drink and then at the end ask for your help, Mr Dijsselbloem was cited as saying in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published on Monday, alluding to the solidarity northern euro countries had shown with southern countries during the regions crisis. This principle holds at personal, local, national and also at European level. The remarks from Mr Dijsselbloem, whose position at the head of the European body had already been weakened by the poor showing of his party in the Dutch general elections this month, drew a sharp response from Portugal, Spain and Greece, all countries that received aid during the financial crisis. Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa called the comments xenophobic, racist and sexist, while the Greek government said they arent helfpul. The row underscores the simmering tensions between core northern European economies and the weaker periphery nations including Greece, Ireland and Portugal that had to implement unpopular reforms and budget cuts in exchange for financial aid from the region. While Mr Dijsselbloem said he regretted that his remarks had caused offence, he said he had no intention of resigning. The comments come from a tough Dutch Calvinistic culture, with Dutch directness, he said in the Hague on Wednesday. I understand that this is not always well understood and appreciated elsewhere in Europa. That is another lesson I have to learn. The comment on drink and women was about myself. I said that I cannot expect to spend my money in a wrong way and then ask for financial support. Portugals Costa said on Wednesday that with views like the ones expressed in the interview, it was unacceptable for Mr Dijsselbloem to continue to head the Eurogroup. In a serious Europe, Mr Dijsselbloem would have been dismissed by now, he said. Its not acceptable that someone who has his behavior, who has a xenophobic, racist and sexist view about a part of the countries of the European Union, can be president of an entity like the Eurogroup. Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos, who lost his bid to become head of the Eurogroup to Mr Dijsselbloem in 2015, said he was surprised by the Dutch finance ministers comments. While Spain received aid to rescue its banking system in 2012, it has also contributed to each bailout package even as its public finances came under strain, a Spanish official added. At a time when Europe seeks its next steps, statements that widen the north-south divide arent helpful, Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos told reporters in Athens. Apology Demanded Beyond southern Europe, EU Competition Commissioner and former Danish economy minister Margrethe Vestager said in Brussels on Wednesday that Mr Dijsselbloems comments were wrong. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. Dijsselbloems European political future is still up in the air after his Labour party was beaten in last weeks Dutch elections, declining to nine parliamentary seats and marking its worst loss in a general election. He has said he wants to stay on until his mandate ends in January. Europe will only be credible as a common project on the day that Mr Dijsselbloem stops being Eurogroup president and there is a clear apology to all the countries and peoples that were deeply offended by these comments, Portugals Costa said. Bloomberg For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Who would have thought Heineken would be seen as a symbol of Communist oppression? Thats whats happening in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbans ruling party has filed a bill to ban the vintage red-star logo featured on products including the beermakers iconic green bottles. Accusing Amsterdam-based Heineken of bullying a small, partly ethnic-Hungarian owned brewer in neighbouring Romania after the Dutch company won a patent dispute there, the government in Budapest is pushing for fines and even prison sentences for anyone selling products featuring totalitarian symbols. That includes the red star thats also associated with the Communist regime that ruled Hungary for more than four decades last century. Recommended Tesco has stopped selling Heineken beers because of Brexit We believe we have to defend every Hungarian brand when someone wants to use its market dominance to squeeze out others, Lajos Kosa, the parliamentary leader, told reporters on Tuesday. The bill banning totalitarian symbols and the Heineken case is the confluence of two issues, he said. The ruling Fidesz party is also trying to narrow the scope of the bill to ensure products including Converse shoes and San Pellegrino bottled water, which also feature the red star, arent affected, Kosa said. Thats rekindled questions about government interference in the private sphere via targeted legislation, a recurring complaint from investors that helped pushed Hungary down to 69th place in the World Economic Forums Global Competitiveness Index last year from 52nd place in 2010 when Orban returned to power. Heineken rejected the association that its star is a symbol of communism, saying brewers have used the logo since the Middle Ages. Its points represent beers ingredients: water, barley, hops, yeast, and a fifth that comprises the magic of brewing. Naturally, the red Heineken star has no political meaning whatsoever, and we use the same brand symbols across the world, in every market, the company said in a statement. We will closely monitor this local matter and hope and trust that this matter will be resolved soon. Kosa conceded that the bill had caveats and that the ruling party would modify it to make it conform to international law and also to protect retailers. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. In a 2008 lawsuit, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a red star cannot be understood as exclusively representing communist totalitarian rule. In 2013, the Hungarian Constitutional Court struck down a law that sought to criminalise the use of symbols associated with totalitarian regimes, saying the law was too broad in scope and undermined freedom of speech. The same year, lawmakers revised the law, making the use of totalitarian symbols such as the red star a criminal offence only if used with the intent to undermine social peace and especially with the aim of hurting the victims of such regimes. Bloomberg For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Millions of young people could face having to work an extra year before being able to draw a state pension, according to two separate reports. Under projections drawn up by the Government Actuarys Department (GAD), people aged under 30, face working until the age of 70 to qualify for a state pension compared to the age of 68 under current legislation. A separate official review published by John Cridland, former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), proposed that state pension age should rise to from 67 to 68 between 2037 and 2039, seven years earlier than originally planned. The current state pension age the earliest age that a person can start receiving their state pension - is 63 for women and 65 for men. It is due to rise to 65 for both by late 2018, 66 by 2020, and 67 by 2028. However, experts said if the new recommendations were adopted , people in their 40s would face their state pension age being pushed back by an extra year. They warned those in their 30s and younger may eventually face the possibility of having to wait until they are 70 before being able to draw their pension. The Government is under pressure to address the spiralling cost of the 100bn-a-year state pension, which is expected to increased further as a result of rising life expectancy and therefore the increasing ratio of pensioners to workers. In Thursdays report, Mr Cridland said the change is necessary to keep the State Pension fair and sustainable. My review considers the consequences of an ageing society[]. The aim is to smooth the transition for tomorrows pensioners, and to try and make the future both fair and sustainable. Vince Smith-Hughes, retirement expert at Prudential, said that as a result of the proposed changes younger people will need to plan ahead. They are likely to find their state pension age is significantly higher than they currently assume, he said. The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life Show all 17 1 /17 The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 1 West Midlands Pylons are seen situated over a residential housing area in Birmingham Getty The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 2 East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire A general view across Scunthorpe Getty The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 3 Shropshire and Staffordshire Aerial view of Wellington in Shropshire Rex The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 4 South Yorkshire A general view showing housing in Rotherham, South Yorkshire Getty The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 5 West Yorkshire Homes in Bradford, West Yorkshire Getty The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 6 Herefordshire and Worcestershire Houses located in the county of Worcestershire Getty The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 7 West Wales and the Valleys A general view of houses and homes in Aberystwyth, Wales Rex The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 8 Essex Housing in Basildon, Essex Rex The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 9 Kent A view of housing in Gravesend, Kent Rex The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 10 Greater Manchester A general view of traditional terraced houses in Manchester Getty The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 11 Cumbria Aerial view of Ambleside in the Lake District, Cumbria Rex The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 12 East Wales A view of Barry near Cardiff, in Wales Rex The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 13 Tees Valley and Durham Red brick back to back terraced houses in Dawdon, County Durham Rex The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 14 Inner London Residential tower blocks in an area with a high concentration of social housing in Southwark, London Getty The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 15 Derbyshire and Nottingham Terraced houses in the Lenton area of Nottingham Rex The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 16 Northumberland and Tyneside Apartments in North Shields near Newcastle Rex The 17 regions of the UK with the worst quality of life 17 South Western Scotland Portpatrick Harbour in Portpatrick, Scotland Rex Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon said requiring everyone to wait until an ever increasing age to draw a state pension is inflexible and increasingly outdated. This is a missed opportunity to meet the needs of those who through health concerns, job pressures or lack of employment opportunity simply cant keep working into their late 60s. We call on the Government to keep the door open to future change, Mr Cameron said. Prudential research earlier this week found that at least one in seven people retiring last this year made no financial provision for their retirement. The survey found that many rely heavily on the State Pension to provide an income when they stop working. Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Is Pluto a planet? Its not a question scientists ask in polite company. Its like religion and politics, says Kirby Runyon, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. People get worked up over it. Ive gotten worked up over it. For years, astronomers, planetary scientists and other space researchers have fought about what to call the small, icy world at the edge of the solar system. Is it a planet, as scientists believed for nearly seven decades? Or must a planet be something bigger, something more dominant, as was decided by vote by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006? The issue can bring conversations to a screeching halt, or turn them into shouting matches. Sometimes its just easier not to bring it up, Runyon says. Recommended These are the best pictures of Pluto living humans will ever see But Runyon is ignoring his own advice this week at the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston. In a giant exhibition hall crowded with his colleagues, hes attempting to reignite the debate about Plutos status with an audacious new definition for planet one that includes not just Pluto, but several of its neighbours, objects in the asteroid belt, and a number of moons. By his count, 102 new planets could be added to our solar system under the new criteria. Its a scientifically useful bit of nomenclature and, I think, given the psychological power behind the word planet, its also more consumable by the general public, Runyon says. A classification has to be useful, or else its just lipstick on a pig, countered planetary scientist Carolyn Porco. Runyons definition is not useful at all. The debate rages on. Order in the thought: the real layout of the solar system is much more chaotic (Nasa) (NASA) If aliens arrived at our solar system tomorrow, they would not see planets laid out in the orderly parade depicted in textbooks. Instead, theyd encounter hundreds of constantly moving bodies engaged in a complex dance around a brightly burning star. Its hard to know what would immediately catch their attention. Probably Jupiter, the largest body in our solar system. Next theyd spot Saturn, Neptune and Uranus other giant worlds and the two belts of debris that orbit the sun inside Jupiters orbit (the asteroid belt) and beyond Neptune (the Kuiper belt). If they peered a bit closer, theyd spot the small, rocky spheres of the inner solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. They might see the dozens of worlds that circle the larger bodies or Ceres in the asteroid belt. And finally, if they searched near the Kuiper belt, theyd discern Pluto, tinier than Earths moon but undeniably captivating, with water ice mountains and a heart-shaped plain. 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 Which of these would they consider a planet or whatever the alien term for planet might be? When the IAU voted in 2006, scientists came to the conclusion that gravitational dominance is what distinguishes the eight planets from the solar systems other spheres. From giant Jupiter to tiny Mercury, each is massive enough to make them the bullies of their orbits, absorbing, ejecting or otherwise controlling the motion of every other object that gets too close. According to the definition, planets must also orbit the sun. Pluto, which shares its zone of the solar system with a host of other objects, was reclassified as a dwarf planet a body that resembles a planet but fails to clear its neighbourhood, in the IAUs parlance. If you look at the solar system with fresh eyes, it is really hard to not realise that there are eight big things dominating the solar system and millions of tiny things flitting around, says Caltech astronomer Mike Brown, whose discovery of the dwarf planet Eris, announced in 2005, precipitated the IAU vote a year later. Eris, a dwarf planet in the outer solar system that is larger than Pluto (Nasa) (NASA/JPL-Caltech) Brown was not at that vote, but he says that a definition based on orbital dynamics is the most profound classification you can come up with. Thats the one that asks the question were asking as planetary scientists, he explains. Why did the solar system form with these eight giant things and all these other things around them? But to Runyon, that distinction is less important than what dozens of solar system worlds have in common: geology. Im interested in an objects intrinsic properties, he says. What it is on its surface and in its interior? Whether an object is in orbit around another planet or the sun doesnt really matter for me. Runyon calls his a geophysical definition. A planet, he says, is anything massive enough that gravity pulls it into a sphere (a characteristic called hydrostatic equilibrium), but not so massive that it starts to undergo nuclear fusion and become a star. Its only about one force and one property, the mass, says Alan Stern, who led Nasas New Horizons mission to visit Pluto in 2015. Stern is a co-author on the paper outlining Runyons new definition. I think thats very elegant, as a physicist. Within that definition, Runyon and Stern say, scientists can divide planets into subcategories: moon planets like Europa and Titan; rocky planets like Earth and Mars; gas giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn; icy planets like Eris and Pluto. But making planet more inclusive would formalise something many scientists already do: use the term when comparing geologic features. Runyon says he found dozens of examples in the scientific literature of researchers referring to the planets Pluto, Earth and Mars to talk about glacial processes on their surfaces, or a planet-wide haze layer when discussing the moon Titans atmosphere. As planetary scientists we feel like the situation got really badly mangled back in 2006, Stern says. It was time somebody write this all down and start a new conversation. A 16th-century illustration of the universe, which lists the moon as a planet (Nasa) (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris via NASA) Questions about the definition of a planet go back much further than the debate over Pluto. The moon was considered a planet until the 17th century, when Copernicus placed it in orbit around the Earth. Galileo initially referred to the four largest moons of Jupiter as planets, but astronomers eventually adopted the term satellite instead. Ceres was considered a planet for several years after it was discovered circling between Mars and Jupiter in 1801. But when astronomers realised it was just the largest of thousands of objects inhabiting that stretch of sky, they renamed Ceres an asteroid and called its crowded home orbit the asteroid belt. When Pluto was named the ninth planet in 1930, astronomers vastly overestimated its size, suggesting it could be even larger than Jupiter. It would also take more than 50 years for them to realise that Pluto had plenty of company in its far-flung orbit. Jean-Luc Margot, a planetary scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) who voted in favour of the IAU resolution in 2006, says Pluto might have gone the way of Ceres if scientists had found other Kuiper belt objects sooner. An aspect of science is that we revisit our ideas, he says. We have to be able to acknowledge when we make a mistake. That moment came in 2006. When astronomers arrived at the IAU meeting in Prague that year, they were surprised to hear that a group had been working in secret to devise a formal definition for planet something that had never been done before. A planet, the group proposed, was any object made round by its gravity thats in orbit around a star. Though many bodies in the solar system met this requirement, only Ceres and Eris would be made new planets; Pluto and its moon Charon would be called a binary planet system. The group also suggested a new classification, pluton, for bodies like Pluto whose orbits around the sun took 200 years or more. The draft definition made almost no one happy. It was criticised as awkward and arbitrary, and the secrecy in which it was developed meant that researchers who wanted to improve the definition had little time to do so. Scientists spent the next two weeks of the conference rushing to come up with terminology they liked better. Sara Seager, an exoplanet researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who did not attend that years meeting, recalls watching the chaos from afar. It actually was very confusing, she says. Everyone was asking me what was going on. Id be in a taxi and the taxi driver would say, I really want Pluto to be a planet. Will it still be a planet? And I couldnt say." The vote happened on the meetings last day. Despite the rushed circumstances, the resolution passed with a large enough majority that no one counted the votes. Pluto had lost. Stern, who missed the 2006 meeting to help his daughter move to university, says it felt like astronomers who study black holes and stars had hijacked the most important concept in his field. He hadnt even known that a definition was being formulated otherwise, he might have tried to attend the meeting. Now, suddenly, he was a planetary scientist whose object of study was no longer a planet. He scoffed at Plutos new classification, dwarf planet. How can an adjective in front of a noun not describe the noun? Stern asks. There are dwarf stars but theyre still considered stars. Runyon, who was a 21-year-old college student at the time of the IAU vote, says that the result never sat well with him. In 2015, he was on the data analysis team for the New Horizons spacecraft as it flew past Pluto. That December, the stunning new images of that distant world fresh in his mind, he sat down and in a fit of creative passion drafted his definition. The paper that Runyon is presenting this week isnt a formal proposal, like the one that was devised at the IAU. Hes not putting his definition up to a vote, or even suggesting that it should replace the IAUs. If he did, its unlikely that the IAU would adopt it. But its sure to spark debate. Porco, who is one of the lead scientists for Nasas Cassini mission to Saturn, pointed out that she is a planetary scientist and has no problem with the IAUs orbital dynamics-based definition. She also noted that astronomers already have a perfectly serviceable term for the kind of body Stern and Runyon are trying to describe: world. In her view, the only scientists who want to make those places planets are people who study Pluto. Nearly everyone agrees that the IAU definition is imperfect. Margot, the UCLA planetary scientist who voted for the resolution, has tried to refine it. But the debate over Pluto was so traumatic for the community, he says, that he doubts that the IAU would be willing to revisit the issue any time soon. If you talk to enough scientists on either side of this debate, youll notice that their arguments start to echo each other. They use the same terms to criticise the definitions they dont like: not useful, too emotional, confusing. Both groups want the same thing: for the public to understand and embrace the science of the solar system. But each is convinced that only their definition can achieve that goal. And each accuses the other of confusing people by prolonging the debate. But Seager, the exoplanet researcher, says the opposite might be true. In her experience, the debate over Plutos status has given her more opportunities to talk about the solar system than ever before. What I love about it is its a teaching moment, she says. If someone asks about Pluto you use that as an opening to say, look whatever you want to call it, heres whats going on in our system today. Seager has no dog in this fight. Her gaze extends far beyond the Kuiper belt, to worlds that orbit stars light years from our own. In the years since the IAU resolution, scientists have found thousands more planets outside our solar system. Many are like nothing astronomers have ever seen before giant hot Jupiters that orbit tightly around their stars; rogue planets that rocket through the galaxy independent of any sun. For scientists like Seager, the age of planet discovery is just beginning. What else is out there? Whats beyond Pluto? she asks. Theres so much we still dont know. The Washington Post Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It was a singularly transformative experience that helped one Christian reconnect with God, develop greater empathy and even enabled them to cry. Going on a religious retreat has long been said by the participants to be a significant moment in their lives, but now scientists have discovered that it may have a physical effect on the brain. Scientists in the US studied the effects of attending a week-long retreat involving silent contemplation and prayer in accordance with the teachings of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. In what is believed to the first study of the neurophysiological effects of going on a retreat, the researchers scanned the brains of 14 people who took part, all Christians aged from 24 to 76, before and after the trip. They found there were significant reductions of five to eight per cent in the binding of two neurotransmitters associated with positive emotions, dopamine and serotonin, in two parts of the brain. Dopamine is involved in cognition, emotion and movement, while serotonin is associated with emotional regulation and mood. Writing in a paper in the journal Religion, Brain & Behaviour, the researchers said: The findings, although preliminary, suggest that participating in a spiritual retreat can have a short-term impact on the brains dopamine and serotonin function, and that this might relate to various emotional and spiritual measures. But they added the study perhaps raises more questions than answers. For example, the spiritual retreat we studied has multiple elements including meditation, silence, prayer, self-reflection, and personal spiritual guidance, the paper said. Some of these practices, meditation in particular, have been studied more extensively in recent years and have been found to elicit a number of neurophysiological and subjective changes. For at least some of those taking part, it was clear they had felt the experience had been beneficial. The seven-day retreat I participated in was singularly transformative and helped me connect more easily to Spirit and re-connect to God, one said. Also, before the retreat, I would definitely say that I had a limited range of emotion, particularly not feeling very empathetic and not able to cry. Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary But, during the retreat, I felt the complete opposite and was much more in touch with a wide range of emotions. Another suggested they planned to change significantly. The retreat made me realise the need to re-prioritise aspects of my life, particularly putting God and Spirit before work, the person said. One of the researchers, Dr Andrew Newberg, of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, said the studys findings went some way towards explaining what was happening, but more research was needed. Since serotonin and dopamine are part of the reward and emotional systems of the brain, it helps us understand why these practices result in powerful, positive emotional experiences, he said. Our study showed significant changes in dopamine and serotonin transporters after the seven-day retreat, which could help prime participants for the spiritual experiences that they reported. Our team is curious about which aspects of the retreat caused the changes in the neurotransmitter systems and if different retreats would produce different results. Hopefully, future studies can answer these questions. However the researchers stressed the small-scale study was preliminary and cautioned they had not used a control group. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A 14-year-old boy has become one of Britain's youngest convicted rapists, after a court found him guilty of sexually assaulting his four-year-old half-sister. The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, attacked the girl at their family home in Bolton last year. He was 13 at the time of the incident. A youth court heard that the rape took place when the girl went upstairs to use the toilet while her brother was having a shower. After the assault, she went downstairs and told her mother what had happened. Her mother immediately called the police. Prosecutor Andrew Hey read out a statement from the girl's mother, who said she was still shocked by what happened. "I can't quite believe what has happened," she said. "I cannot stop shaking. My head is spinning with it all. I have no reason to doubt what she has told me. She is not one to tell lies." Mr Hey told the court: "Her brother was upstairs having a shower and the girl went to use the toilet. After a few minutes their mother shouted up to her to ask what she was doing. She then spoke to her mother about what she and her half-brother had engaged in." The boy pled guilty to one count of raping a girl under 13 and one count of assaulting a girl under 13. He was given a 12-month referral order, which means he will work intensively with counsellors and youth workers to change his behaviour. The youth offender panel, the teenager, his parents, and his sister must all agree a contract and aim to repair the harm caused by the incident. District Judge Mark Hadfield told the defendant: "You are 14 years old, 13 at the time you committed these very, very serious offences. "In fairness to you, you co-operated with the police. But I don't really need to tell you that, had you been a little older, you would be facing a more serious sentence. The consequences have been far-reaching. It has had an impact on the family." UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images 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 He added: "My one hope is the young age of your stepsister will mean it will be forgotten in the distant future. Thankfully your school attendance has improved since the commitment of the offences so I hope this represents an isolated incident. "A good deal of work has been done on your behalf by social services and the youth offenders' service. They feel that you are a young man who can be dealt with in the community rather than being locked up for many months or even years." In August last year, an 11-year-boy became the youngest convicted rapist in Britain after he admitted to abusing his nine-year-old sister. The boy, from Plymouth, was caught after pictures of the attacks were found on his mobile phone. He was handed a 12-month intensive referral order at Bodmin Magistrates' Court in Cornwall after admitting to two counts of rape. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The woman who plunged into the Thames during the terror attack in Westminster has been named, according to Romanian media. Andreea Cristea, a 29-year-old Romanian architect, was spotted in the river soon after the attack. It isn't clear whether she leapt into the water to escape the violence or if she was thrown from the bridge as part of it. Ms Cristea was in London to celebrate her boyfriend's birthday, according to reports. Woman fell into Thames after being hit by car, now in stable condition Romanian Ambassador Dan Mihalache told Realitatea TV late Wednesday that the woman sustained serious head injuries and has badly damaged lungs. Her boyfriend suffered a foot fracture. The pair haven't been named. Mihalache said: "They were tourists, unfortunately they were unlucky. They had come to celebrate his birthday." He said the pair planned to get married. Port officials said that they had pulled a woman from the water, injured but alive, soon after the attack was over. She was treated for serious injuries, the Port of London Authority said. "A female member of the public was pulled from the water near Westminster Bridge, alive, with serious injuries," a PLA spokesman told Reuters in the aftermath of the attack. "She's undergoing very urgent medical treatment now." The river was closed to all non-emergency traffic for much of the time after the attack. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP A London bus driver who described the panic after the attack said that he was aware someone was in the water soon after a car was driven down Westminster Bridge. "Once I got everyone off the bus I heard someone shouting that his wife had jumped into the river to avoid getting knocked over," Michael Adamou told The Independent. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Spanish teacher on her way to pick up her children from school has been named as one of the victims of the Westminster attack. Aysha Frade, 43, died of her injuries after a car ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. Spanish media said Mrs Frade had two daughters aged eight and 11 and worked at the nearby DLD College London. Rachel Borland, the college's principal, said staff were "deeply shocked and saddened" at news of Mrs Frade's death. All our thoughts and our deepest sympathies are with her family," she added. "We will be offering every support we can to them as they try to come to terms with their devastating loss. Aysha worked as a member of our administration team at the college. She was highly regarded and loved by our students and by her colleagues. She will be deeply missed by all of us. Colleagues and friends were paying tribute to Mrs Frade on social media. "My heart aches for her family," one wrote, while another called her a "wonderful, lovely woman". Westminster attack: What we know so far She was a lovely girl lovely mother, lovely wife, she was just a lovely person with two lovely children, Patricia Scotland, a family friend, told the BBC. Theyve lost their motherIm in shock, I cant believe it. Mrs Frade, a British citizen, had familial links to the Spanish municipality of Betanzos, where relatives were notified of her death on Wednesday afternoon. Her two sisters run an English academy in the area, which suspended classes as news of the tragedy spread, La Vos de Galicia reported. Mrs Frade was the second victim named following Wednesdays attack, where PC Keith Palmer was stabbed to death outside the Houses of Parliament. She and another member of the public, a man in his 50s, died of injuries sustained on Westminster Bridge as an attacker sped his car along the pavement. He crashed it into gates next to the Houses of Parliament before getting out and bursting through the entrance, stabbing PC Palmer before being shot dead at around 2.40pm. Theresa May praised the bravery of police officers as it was announced that the Houses of Commons and Lords would run as normal on Thursday. Floral tributes with a message reading 'We are not afraid, our hearts are with you' are seen near a police cordon in Westminster (Getty Images) "Any attempt to defeat those values through violence and terror is doomed to failure, the Prime Minister said. "Parliament will meet as normal. We will come together as normal. "And Londoners - and others from around the world who have come here to visit this great city - will get up and go about their day as normal. "They will board their trains, they will leave their hotels, they will walk these streets, they will live their lives. "And we will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart. Donald Trump was among world leaders to offer their support as the investigation continues. Acting Deputy Commissioner Mark Rowley, the Met's senior anti-terror officer, said police believe the suspect was inspired by international terrorism but did not name any group. Our thoughts are with those who lost loved ones, those who were injured and all those affected by this attack, he added, paying tribute to PC Palmer and his 15 years of service. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP He was someone who left for work expecting to return home at the end of his shift, and he had every right to expect that would happen. Paramedics fought to save both PC Palmer and his attacker on the floor of the cobbled courtyard in front of Parliament, with Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood among those who rushed to help. Armed officers, some in plain clothes and wearing balaclavas, created a large safety cordon around the yard feet from where MPs had earlier attended Prime Minister's Questions and injured victims on Westminster Bridge. One woman hit by the attacker's car before he reached Parliament was confirmed dead by a doctor at St Thomas' Hospital. Others on the bridge suffered catastrophic injuries. Another woman who fell into the Thames was rescued and given urgent medical treatment on a nearby pier. A party of French schoolchildren were among those targeted on the bridge, while four students from Edge Hill University were also hurt, and another couple said to have minor injuries. Romanian and South Korean tourists were among those caught up in the atrocity. Seven people have been arrested in raids in London, Birmingham and elsewhere overnight. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Brendan Cox has urged Britain not to let itself be divided by the Westminster attack, saying the assailant no more represents British Muslims than his wifes murderer represented the people of Yorkshire. Jo Cox, a Labour MP, died after being shot and stabbed outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire on 16 June by far-right extremist Thomas Mair. Mr Cox said it was important to remember the victims, and not the assailant, of yesterday's terror attack outside Parliament and on Westminster Bridge that left four dead. "What the terrorist would like to happen is for us to fall apart and start blaming groups of people, to say that in some way this is Muslim or Islam as a whole," he told Radio 4's Today programme. "We have to remember that the person who did this is no more representative of British Muslims than the person who killed Jo is representative of people that are from Yorkshire." "Im going to do whatever I can to remember the names of the victims like PC Palmer and not the name of the person who did this, partly driven by the desire for notoriety," he said. Seven people remain in hospital in a critical condition after the incident, in which a man drove a car along a pavement and stabbed a policeman before being shot dead by police. The officer, who died from his injuries, was named as 48-year-old Keith Palmer. A woman in her 40s and a man in his 50s were also killed in the attack. The first thing we need to do is to remember that this is a story about people who didnt come home yesterday, and the impact that will have on their families, the thousands of lives that will be touched by the individual tragedies, said Mr Cox. Tributes to murdered MP Jo Cox (Garry Knight) What helped me in the weeks after [Ms Coxs death] was that sense of public support, those thousand acts of kindness the sense the person you lost meant something not just to you, but to others. PC Palmer, a husband and father who had served in the Metropolitan Police for 15 years, was outside Parliament when a man armed with two knives entered the gates and stabbed him. Mark Rowley, the Met's top anti-terror officer, said PC Palmer was "someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift, and he had every right to expect that would happen." In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Speaking outside Scotland Yard, acting deputy commissioner Rowley said: "Today in Westminster we saw tragic events unfold and our thoughts are with those who lost loved ones, those who were injured and all those affected by this attack". A further three police officers were among the injured, two of whom were in a serious condition, he added. The attack began at around 2.40pm and proceedings in the House of Commons were immediately suspended. Deputy speaker David Lidington announced to the House that a police officer had been stabbed and the alleged assailant shot by armed police. Recommended How strangers rushed to the aid of the Westminster Bridge victims Images have emerged of a man dressed in black, believed to be the suspect, being treated on a stretcher within Parliament grounds. A knife could be seen lying on the ground nearby. Seven people have been arrested in connection with the attack after police searched six addresses, said Mr Rowley. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon told the Today programme the working assumption was the attack was linked to Islamic terrorism in some form. Aysha Frade, 43, died of her injuries after the attacker ploughed his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. Spanish media said Ms Frade had two daughters aged eight and 11 and worked at the nearby DLD College London. Westminster attack: What we know so far Mr Rowley said 29 people had been treated in hospital with seven people in a critical condition. We must not allow terrorists to create discord, distrust and fear," he said. The police stand with all communities, later today a meeting of faith leaders will be held here at New Scotland Yard. Whilst our work to investigate and understand what happened yesterday continues with vigour, we must also reflect. I want to thank the public for their support and all their good wishes, I know it is appreciated by all those men and women who are out there today protecting us. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Child sex offences recorded by police forces across the UK have hit an all-time high, prompting campaigners to urge that more needs be done to reduce the increasingly common instances of children at risk of online grooming. The number of alleged sex offences against children in 2016 was up by nearly a fifth on the previous year, climbing to 55,507, or one child sex offence every ten minutes, according to figures obtained by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). A total of 13,565 incidents of rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation were recorded against children aged ten and under, while 2,799 of these crimes were perpetrated against children below the age of four some of whom would be too young to even attend primary school. The shocking statistics, obtained through Freedom of Information requests, have prompted calls for specialist training for police investigating child abuse that occurs through online platforms, which have increased dramatically in recent years. More than 1,800 incidents involving online indecent images of children are currently referred to the National Police Chief Councils (NPCC) Child Sexual Exploitation Referral Bureau each month, compared with 400 a month in 2010, according to the National Strategic Assessment of Organised Crime 2016. In one case known to the NSPCC, a 15-year-old girl was sexually exploited online by an adult man who communicated with her through a mobile phone messaging app under the guise of a young girl. Charlotte, whose name has been changed to protect her anonymity, was coerced into sending naked images of herself at a time when she felt low and lonely, and was later close to meeting up with the man, before the NSPCC intervened. When I was 15 I was feeling really low and lonely. I found it difficult to mix with people and I wasnt sure why, said Charlotte, now 18. I used to go online a lot and often used Blackberry messenger (BB). One day I got a BB request from a girl I didnt know and added her. I dont know how she got my number but I had previously put my BB number on Facebook asking people to add me. We talked quite a lot for a few days about general things and built up a friendship. After a couple of days the conversation turned. She kept asking and asking for me to send her a naked picture. I wasnt very confident and was more likely to do something like that without questioning the reason why so I just sent her one without thinking about it. She kept asking for more. When I said no she threatened to put the ones she had on Facebook. I was scared as I didnt want my friends and family to see it. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images 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 The photographs were later shared on a Facebook group, and police traced the page back to a man who had been targeting a number of young girls in this way. It made me feel even worse knowing that it was a man that had done that to me. The BB messages had a females name and picture on it and I didnt even question that it could be someone else and not the person who they said they were, Charlotte added. I was bullied a lot and had to move from my area, school and home to escape it. Not long after that a man called Liam added me on Facebook. We started talking a lot and the conversation was really friendly. He was saying that I should call him and go and meet him. He turned the conversation sexual and then started saying that I should have phone sex with him. I didnt and Im glad because the police later told is it was the same man who had tricked me before. The NPCCs child protection branch has responded to the findings by highlighting the role played by technology in cases of child sex abuse, saying more must be done to combat the threat to children online including the role of service providers. Chief Constable Simon Bailey, NPCCs council lead for child protection, said: These figures, collated by the NSPCC, continue to highlight the shocking scale of child sexual offences reported to police forces. As a service our approach is changing for the better and many more victims now have the confidence to come forward and report. We have responded to criticism, risen to the challenge and changed the way we engage with victims and how we investigate abuse. We now have to look at the possibility that more abuse is being perpetrated and that technology is facilitating this. As its involvement in investigations is becoming increasingly common, more needs to be done to combat this threat. I believe the service providers have to do more. Dr Juliane Kloess, researcher in Forensic and Criminological Psychology at the University of Birmingham, who has done extensive research into the issue, told The Independent sex offences against children are largely facilitated by the expanding online environment. The sexual molestation and abuse of children existed long before the emergence of the Internet, yet the engagement in sexually inappropriate communication with children and potentially locating them via Internet communication platforms for sexual abuse in the physical world is largely facilitated by the online environment, Dr Kloess said. The anonymity of the online environment allows users to adopt online identities or personas, which are difficult to verify and may be used for the purpose of deception. The Internet further affords a greater opportunity to gain access to a child through the availability of a wide range of Internet communication platforms and an apparently unlimited number of users. Once contact has been established with a particular child, offenders may engage in a process of sexual grooming in order to overcome the childs resistance, as well as gain their compliance and secrecy to avoid disclosure. Research by the universities of Bath and Birmingham in collaboration with the NSPCC recently found 55 per cent of people involved in sexting were below the age of 16, among whom two-thirds felt forced to send images to the other person who in more than half of cases this was to someone over the age of 18. In a separate UK study of 354 school children, 33 per cent of the 13- to 14-year-olds said they had been approached sexually online, while 25 per cent of the young people who had received unwanted sexual approaches reported high levels of distress as a result of the contact, including stress, fear, anxiety and depression, along with post traumatic stress disorder. Separate research found that only 10 per cent of these types of sexual approaches tend to be reported to authorities, supporting warnings from the NSPCC that the total number of sex offences committed is unknown because children may not have come forward due to being frightened, embarrassed, or not realising that they have been abused. NSPCC Chief Executive Peter Wanless said: This steep rise lays bare just how extensive this appalling crime against children has become, claiming multiple victims every hour, some of whom are yet to say their first word. Sexual abuse can shatter a childs life and leave them feeling ashamed, depressed, or even suicidal. Now, more than ever, victims need help as soon as possible to help them recover from their ordeals and go on to lead full and happy lives. Government must commit funds to early intervention that better help these children who through no fault of their own are enduring so much pain. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump Jnr has sparked outrage for launching into a scathing attack on Sadiq Khan in the aftermath of the Westminster attack. The Presidents eldest son shared a link to a six-month-old story by The Independent on Twitter which quoted the Mayor of London saying terror attacks were part and parcel of living in a global city. Trump Jnr, an executive of the Trump Organisation, said: You have to be kidding me?! It is not clear whether Trump Jnr read Mr Khans actual article before misrepresenting the London Mayors comments. It also is unclear whether he was aware the six-month-old piece bore no relation to the Wednesday attack outside the Houses of Parliament and instead centred on Mr Khans reaction to a bombing in the Chelsea neighbourhood of New York. In the resurfaced article, Mr Khan said: Nothing is more important to me than keeping Londoners safe. I want to be reassured that every single agency and individual involved in protecting our city has the resources and expertise they need to respond in the event that London is attacked. Trump Jnr, a steadfast supporter of his father, came under fire for weighing in on the London atrocity while details about the attack were still coming in. He was hounded by those in the UK and the US. Wes Streeting, the Labour MP for Ilford North, said: You use a terrorist attack on our city to attack Londons Mayor for your own political gain. Youre a disgrace. Ciaran Jenkins, a Channel 4 correspondent, asked Trump Jnr if he thought his remarks were helpful. 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 Did you even read the article before goading Londons Mayor during a live incident? he said on Twitter, before adding: Headline is based on very first sentence, which if youd bothered to read it could apply to any major city in the world. Key word: threat. Tom Coates, a tech entrepreneur, swore at the presidents son and highlighted the fact he himself was a Londoner who has lived through the IRA, anti-gay nail bombings and 7/7. Mr Khan, who has organised a vigil in Trafalgar Square at 6pm to commemorate victims of the attack, has refused to talk about Trump Jnrs scornful tweet in two separate interviews, saying: "I've been doing far more important things over the last 24 hours." After being pressed about whether we should accept terror attacks as part and parcel of London life, Mr Khan remained insistent terrorism should never be accepted. We must never accept terrorists being successful, we must never accept that terrorists can destroy our life or destroy the way we lead our lives, he said on the Today Programme on Radio 4. We must never accept a situation where people try and divide Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs from each other or from those who are not members of organised faith. We must never accept a situation where people incite hatred against people because of the faith they belong to. The Metropolitan Police is deploying extra armed and unarmed patrols across the capital to provide protection and reassurance in the aftermath of the tragedy, which investigators are treating as an Islamist-inspired terror attack. In the aftermath of the attacks, Trump Jnr also retweeted an unverified image posted by Breaking911 titled: Al Jazeera viewers seem to react with joy over London terror attack. The presidents son, who is the first child of Mr Trump and Czech former model Ivana Trump, has no White House role but remains an occasional surrogate for his father. Trump Jnr, who claimed his fathers comments about grabbing women by the pussy are typical among some men and are a fact of life last year, also occasionally calls out the President's political opponents on Twitter. Like his father, Trump Jnr has also made numerous appearances on shock jock radio shows over the years. On the day a gunman killed a dozen people in a cinema in Colorado in 2012, Trump Jr appeared on Opie and Anthony and the hosts played a recording of a witness describing the tragic incident, to which Trump Jr retorted, Overall, I give the movie two thumbs up! In other radio appearances, Trump Jr mocked the treatment of children in beauty pageants, assumed all Arab people were named Mohammed or Ali and came to the defence of his fathers rhetoric on immigrants. A representative for Trump Jnr did not immediately respond to request for comment but has decline to comment on the matter to other publications. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Isis is resorting to claiming responsibility for atrocities like the Westminster attack in efforts to disguise its huge losses in Syria and Iraq, analysts have said. Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old from Kent, was hailed as a soldier of the Islamic State in a propaganda statement released a day after he murdered three people and injured 40 more. Brief remarks echoing those issued after previous attacks across Europe claimed the atrocity was carried out in response to calls to target citizens of coalition countries. Experts said the claims lack of biographical information and specifics suggested Isis did not directly commission or facilitate the attack outside the Houses of Parliament. Westminster terror attacker named as Khalid Masood Jean-Marc Rickli, a research fellow at Kings College London and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, said the groups recruiters could have been in contact with Masood online. When Isis has not directly ordered an attack, it does some kind of vetting process and background check to see if the person has been in contact with Isis members in one way or another, he told The Independent. The concept of lone wolf is difficult because in most cases there is contact with recruiters, or people involved in the organisations can be traced. Pure lone wolf attacks are very rare, they are more the exception than the norm. Dr Rickli said that while Isis seeks to boost its image, it also exercises caution in claiming attacks as it has an interest in being credible. Renad Mansour, an academy fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, also said the idea of lone wolf attacks was problematic. He said that while many assailants act on their own intuition and with no direction, they are frequently part of wider online or offline extremist networks incorporating family members or friends. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Isis is far from being a centralised organisation, Dr Mansour told The Independent. Sometimes you have people in these networks going to Syria and then coming back but its hard to draw a direct link. Investigators are probing Masoods possible links to a wider extremist network, saying that although there was no prior intelligence of his intentions he had been the subject of a terror investigation by MI5. Recommended How Isis is turning young criminals into new brand of terrorist It did not result in prosecution but Masood was known to police for a range of convictions dating back to 1983 for violent crime including assaults, grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. Research has shown that more than half of European Isis fighters have a criminal past, with recruiters deliberately targeting violent criminals and gang members looking for redemption and a licence to kill in the name of jihad. The terrorist group itself dislikes the term lone wolf, instructing its followers instead to use the term just terror attacks for the justified murders of so-called disbelievers, whether civilians or members of the security forces. Before being killed by an air strike in August, Isis chief spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani issued a series of calls for supporters unable to join its ranks in Syria or Iraq to wage jihad in their home countries. His last announcement, released in May, called for atrocities in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and was linked to the Orlando shooting, Nice attack and Magnanville stabbing. Abu Muhammad al-Adnani led Isis calls for lone wolf attacks before being killed in an air strike (AP) Since Adnanis death, Isis propaganda has continued inciting terror attacks in Europe, the US, Australia and other countries supporting military operations against its fighters. An issue of its Rumiyah magazine issued in October contained lengthy instructions on how to carry out knife attacks, including what weapon to use, deadly places to strike a blow and ways to overcome discomfort at the thought of such slaughter. The next issue of the propaganda magazine, released in multiple languages in November, advised jihadis to launch vehicle attacks in an article citing the Nice lorry attack that killed 86 people as a superb demonstration. Having a secondary weapon, such as a gun or a knife, is also a great way to combine a vehicle attack with other forms, it read. Masoods attack appeared to match Isis instructions to target crowded outdoor attractions, seeing him plough a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge where two people were killed before crashing it into railings outside Parliament. He emerged with a knife and attempted to run inside the nearest entrance, fatally stabbing PC Keith Palmer before being shot dead. Dr Mansour said that the Houses of Parliament were a hugely symbolic target for the group, seeing horrific scenes beamed around the world with the iconic backdrop of Big Ben. Isis supporters are trying to show their reach is wider than many would have assumed, he added. Jihadis are fighting for survival in western parts of their former Iraqi stronghold of Mosul (Reuters) As Isis loses more and more territory in Iraq and Syria, it needs to find another narrative to show its success. Dr Rickli predicted the group would continue attempts to incite unpredictable and low-tech attacks around the world to maintain momentum and hit the headlines. Because Isis is being challenged in Syria and Iraq they have to move into an insurgency mode, he added, noting that large-scale bomb and gun attacks of the kind seen in Paris and Brussels had been made far more difficult by security crackdowns across Europe. There are fears commanders could attempt to exploit returning foreign fighters to carry out or organise further attacks, with at least 400 jihadis believed to have travelled back to the UK from Isis territory. Members of the 68-nation US-led coalition met in Washington on Wednesday, hailing success in halving Isis fighting force since its formation in 2014 and driving militants from swathes of territory in their self-declared caliphate. Jihadis are fighting for survival in western parts of their former Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, while international forces surround Isis de-facto Syrian capital of Raqqa in preparation for an all-out assault. The US-led coalition has conducted more than 19,000 air strikes on Isis targets, with officials saying the bombing had killed tens of thousands of fighters and about 180 leaders, as well as disabling oil fields, destroying ammunition, factories, weapons facilities, command posts and cash stores. We are united in our determination to eliminate this global threat and overcome its false, destructive narrative, members said at their US conference, vowing to work relentlessly towards Isis final defeat. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The terrorist responsible for the Westminster attack has been named by police as Khalid Masood, as further details continue to emerge about the identity of the killer. The 52-year-old was born Adrian Russell Ajao in Dartford, Kent, and most recently lived in the West Midlands. He is understood to have converted to Islam in prison, having spent time behind bars for violent crime, at which point he also went by the alias Khalid Choudry. Former neighbours said they were shocked to learn of his involvement in the attack, telling The Independent he was a "nice guy" who had a "normal family". He is thought to have had young children, although there were conflicting reports regarding how many. Some acquaintances said he had three, and some four. Recommended Westminster attacker was known to police Scotland Yard said Masood had previous convictions for assaults, grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. In one attack he is reported to have stabbed a man in the face, leaving him needing cosmetic surgery. His first conviction was in November 1983 for criminal damage and his last conviction was in December 2003 for possession of a knife. He had not been convicted of any terrorism offences, but police said he was known by a number of aliases. The Metropolitan Police and Sussex Police did not confirm further details of Masood's convictions or prison sentences to The Independent. Although Masood had never been a part of a terror plot himself, he had been associated in the past with suspected Islamist terrorists, security sources told The Independent. His indoctrination may have begun through meeting extremists while in prison, they said. Masood, who was described as a bodybuilder, was reportedly brought up by his single mother, Janet Elms, in East Sussex. The Daily Mail reported his mother married a man named Phillip Ajao when Masood was a young boy. At times, he is understood to have gone by the name Adrian Elms. The Home Office said it was still investigating how all Masood's aliases fitted together. Westminster terror attacker named as Khalid Masood He is thought to have made trips to London from the West Midlands to plan his attack and had stayed in the capital during his visits. Apart from Kent and Birmingham, he had lived for brief periods of time in Luton and east London. Three people were killed when he ploughed a car through pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, before storming the Parliamentary estate. He was then shot dead. He is thought to have regularly attended a mosque in Birmingham, although security sources refused to discuss details because, they said, it was part of ongoing investigations. Scotland Yard said eight people five men and three women had been arrested in London and Birmingham and were being held on suspicion on preparing terrorist acts. Seven of the suspects, aged between 21 and 39 were arrested overnight. A 58-year-old man was arrested in a separate raid. Detectives are continuing to search a number of addresses in relation to the attack, including three properties in Birmingham, one in east London, and one in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Emergency services at the scene while two knives lay on the floor outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after a policeman was stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament (PA wire) Masood had been living at a property in Birmingham's Winson Green neighbourhood with a woman and young child, but left abruptly in December, according to his former neighbours. He is also thought to have had an interest in bodybuilding, and to have claimed to be an English teacher. Shocked residents in Winson Green, described a man who had appeared the perfect suburban neighbour. He washed his car, mowed his lawn, said Ciaran Molloy, 27, a mailing machine engineer who lived overlooking Masoods new-build house. He was quite friendly, polite in every interaction. Its a shock to know he did what he did. Its a shock to know he lived across the road. Mr Molloy said Masood would mostly be seen wearing gym clothes, a tracksuit, although I did sometimes see him in Muslim dress. He added: He had a missus, kids I think it was two girls, about seven or eight, who youd see wearing school uniform, and a son of about three. Other neighbours said Masoods wife tended to wear grey Muslim-style clothing, while keeping her face uncovered. Parliament holds a minute-long silence in memory of the victims of the Westminster attack One local child said he had once played football with Masood and another relative, who was aged about seven, in Masood's front garden during the last summer holidays. The boy said: "He was a nice guy, he even taught us how to play football, passes and touches". Kaodi Campbell, 25, a student at University College, Birmingham, said: He was a nice guy to me. He helped me jump start my car a few times. He was happy to lend me a set of jump leads. Its mad that it was him. They did keep themselves to themselves, but they seemed like a normal family. Masood and his family, she added, moved out at the turn of the year, without telling any of their neighbours they were leaving. I just noticed one day that they had moved out. Earlier, Prime Minister Theresa May said the attacker was born in Britain and had previously been investigated for suspected extremism by MI5. He was once investigated in relation to concerns about violent extremism some years ago but was a "peripheral figure". The case is "historic" and the attacker was "not part of the current intelligence picture," Ms May added. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Isis claimed the attacker was a "soldier of the Islamic State" when it claimed responsibility for the attack. However the group did not name him and did not provide any further details. The terrorist group regularly claims credit for atrocities and there is no evidence at present to verify the claim. No video has yet surfaced of him pledging adherence to Isis and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which has become the practice of those carrying out attacks on behalf of Isis. The Enterprise rental car company said the vehicle used in the attack had been rented from its Spring Hill branch in Birmingham, which is located in the West Midlands. "An employee identified the vehicle after seeing the licence plate in an image online. We ran another check to verify, and immediately contacted the authorities," said company spokesman John Davies. Masood had told the firm that he was an English teacher on Tuesday and later called the company to say he was likely to cancel the hire, but they did not hear from him again. About 40 people were injured in the attack and around 29 remain in hospital. Five people remain in a critical condition and two have life threatening injuries. Police had given the death toll as five but revised it to four. The casualties included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Chinese, one American and two Greeks, Ms May said. The attack took place on the first anniversary of attacks that killed 32 people in Brussels, and resembled Isis-inspired attacks in France and Germany where vehicles were driven into crowds. It was the deadliest attack in Britain since 2005, when 52 people were killed by Islamist suicide bombers on London's public transport system. Police asked anyone with information about Masood to contact the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321 Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Khalid Masood, the man responsible for killing four and injuring many more in Westminster, was well known to police. But British-born Masood wasn't known for looking to commit a terror attack. He wasn't the subject of any current investigations and police had no intelligence about his plan to commit such an attack, police said. His crimes were various but not related to terrorism: he has a range of different convictions for assaults, including for GBH, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. His first conviction was in November 1983 for criminal damage and his last conviction was in December 2003 for possession of a knife, the police said. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP He had never been convicted of terror offences. Three people were killed when the knife-wielding attacker ploughed a car through pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, before storming the Parliamentary estate wielding a knife. He was shot dead. Before the attack, Masood worked as an English teacher, Sky reported. He was a Muslim convert and lived with his wife and at least one child, according to neighbours. Beyond those details, little has emerged about Masood as a person, beyond an interest in bodybuilding. Theresa May said that police were working on the assumption that he was inspired by a warped Islamist ideology. As well as Khalid Masood, he was known by a number of different aliases, police said. Masood was 52-years-old, and was born in Kent. But police said that he had most recently lived in the West Midlands likely in Birmingham, where police made a number of arrests in raids the night after the attack. The report that Masood lived in the West Midlands also matches up with the fact that the car used in the attack appears to have been rented from Enterprise's Spring Hill branch in Birmingham. The company said the car was identified by an employee after seeing the licence plate online. He had been living at a property in Birmingham's Winson Green neighbourhood until December, according to the Birmingham Mail. The paper reported that he had been living there with a woman and a young child. One neighbour said she was "very surprised" that Masood could commit such an act of violence. At a house being searched in the city, his former neighbour Iwona Romek, said she could not believe her eyes when she realised the man who had lived near her was the same person responsible for the attack. She said: "I am very surprised, I cannot believe it. "Because when I saw him, I couldn't even see that he could do something like this. Now I'm scared that someone like that was living close to me." She added: "I see pictures of him lying injured and from that picture I can see it's him. And my partner as well he has seen the picture, he is at work, and when I showed it him he said 'oh my God' it's him." Ms Romek said she had seen him with a child, aged between five and six years old, and a partner but that they had moved away around two to three months ago. Earlier, Ms May had said that the attacker had previously been investigated for suspected extremism by MI5. But those investigations do not appear to have led to any conviction, and she said that he was "not part of the current intelligence picture". Other residents, elsewhere in Birmingham, told how more than a dozen black-clad officers equipped with machine guns smashed their way in to the Birmingham flat, believed to be a rental property, at about 11pm on Wednesday. The Met have confirmed the raid was part of a wider operation in which several addresses were searched and eight arrests made. One witness who works in a shop near the second-floor Birmingham flat told the Press Association: "The man from London lived here." He added "They came and arrested three men." Stuart Bailey, who lives four doors down, was going for a drink with his friend when an armed officer shouted at him. The 25-year-old added: "There were a load of armed police in the street and on the pavement and I could see three or four in front of me. "They were all dressed in black and armed with what looked like MP5s (submachine guns) and one of them had six ammunition magazines strapped to his leg. I wasn't allowed back in my property for an hour." Masood's history is likely to lead to questions for the intelligence services, given they had been in contact with him before the attack. Defence secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC that Masood appeared to be a "lone wolf". He used "things from daily life, a vehicle, a knife" in the attack, making it "much more difficult to forestall", he said. Isis claimed that Masood was a "soldier of the Islamic State" when it claimed responsibility for the attack, but did not make reference to his name or any details. Authorities had initially kept the attacker's name secret while investigations were underway. Police asked that anyone with information about Masood contact the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An officer on duty, a teacher, a pensioner and a tourist celebrating his wedding anniversary with his wife the world is learning more about the four people killed in Wednesdays attack in Westminster. The third victim of the terror attack in Westminster has been named as American Kurt Cochran. Mr Cochran was visiting London with his wife Melissa to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. His wife was injured in the attack and she is in hospital with a broken leg, rib and a cut to the head. On Thursday evening police confirmed that a 75-year-old man, the fourth victim, had died in hospital as a result of the attack. His life support was withdrawn, detectives said. A Facebook post by the Cochrans' family described the loss of the 54-year-old as "heart wrenching". It said: With a heavy heart I must pass the sad news of our beautiful brother, father, husband, son and friend Kurt Cochran, he could not overcome the injuries he received in the London terror attacks. This pain is so heart wrenching and raw it has rocked our family and all that knew him to its core. We will miss Kurt beyond words. We love you Kurt. RIP. Melissa Payne Cochran is in the hospital with a broken leg, rib and a cut on her head but will recover from her injuries. Sending all the love to her for a quick recovery. Kurt Cochran was visiting London with his wife Melissa (Facebook/Shantell Payne) A statement from Ms Cochran's side of the family said: Our family is heartbroken to learn of the death of our brother and son-in-law, Kurt W. Cochran, who was a victim of Wednesdays terrorist attack in London. Kurt was a good man and a loving husband to our sister and daughter, Melissa. They were in Europe to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, and were scheduled to return to the United States on Thursday. Melissa also received serious injuries in the attack and is being cared for in the hospital. US President Donald Trump tweeted condolences to Mr Cochran. He said: A great American, Kurt Cochran, was killed in the London terror attack. My prayers and condolences are with his family and friends. Mr Cochran was the third person who died in the attack to be named. Aysha Frade Aysha Frade was walking to pick up her daughters from school when she was killed (Facebook) Aysha Frade, who worked as a sixth form Spanish teacher at the nearby DLD College London, also died in the attack. A British national, whose mother was Spanish and father was Cypriot, she lived in London with her two young daughters and her husband. She was walking to meet her daughters from school when the attack happened. The schools head teacher Rachel Borland said Ms Frade was a highly regarded and loved teacher at the college. She will be missed by us all. A former neighbour of Ms Frade, Patricia Scotland, who lives in the Ladbroke Grove area of London told the BBC Ms Frade had been a lovely mother, a lovely wife. "She was just a lovely person, with two lovely, lovely girls," she said. "You couldn't ask for better neighbours". PC Keith Palmer PC Keith Palmer was on duty and unarmed when he was stabbed by the attacker (Metropolitan Police) PC Keith Palmer, 48, was stabbed by the attacker who was attempting to gain entry to the Palace of Westminster. PC Palmer was on duty as an unarmed member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad at the Houses of Parliament. He had been in the Metropolitan Police since 2001 and has a five-year-old daughter. A statement from PC Palmers family said: Keith will be remembered as a wonderful dad and husband. A loving son, brother and uncle. A long-time supporter of Charlton FC Dedicated to his job and proud to be a police officer, brave and courageous. A friend to everyone who knew him. He will be deeply missed. We love him so much. His friends and family are shocked and devastated by his loss and ask that they are left to grieve alone in peace. Conservative MP and former colleague James Cleverly described the police officer as a lovely man, a friend. Im heartbroken, he said. In a moving tribute to PC Palmer in the House of Commons, Mr Cleverly later described him as a strong, professional public servant, while Prime Minister Theresa May said he was every inch a hero and his actions will never be forgotten. Charlton Athletic Football Club, paid tribute to PC Palmer by placing a scarf on the seat he occupied in the stands as a long-time season-ticket holder. Over 225,000 has been donated after the Metropolitan Police Federation launched a memorial fund to pay tribute to their fallen colleague, who they say was simply doing his job when he was senselessly targeted while guarding the Palace of Westminster. A JustGiving page launched just after 9am on Thursday reached its target of 10,000 in less than two hours. Injured At least 40 people were injured in the attack, including a Romanian woman who has undergone major surgery, including the removal of a blood clot on her brain. Her fiance also sustained a broken foot. Three French school children were also struck by the car as it drove along the pavement on Westminster bridge. One boy is in intensive care with broken legs, a head injury and a localised haematoma behind one of his lungs. Two police officers are also believed to be in a serious condition in hospital, while another is reportedly stable. The group were returning from an event that recognised their bravery in service, according to the Metropolitan Police. Two British students were also injured, with one requiring stitches for a head wound, while the other sustained a wrist injury. In total five people remain in a critical condition and two have life threatening injuries. Attacker The attacker has been named as 52-year-old Khalid Massood, who was born in Kent and is believed to have been living in the West Midlands. He was shot dead at the scene of the attack. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Londoners have expressed their pride at living in a "strong, tolerant, progressive and diverse" city the day after the Westminster terror attack. Social media users are posting messages of solidarity and defiance under the hashtag #WeAreNotAfraid, with some challenging the right-wing response to the incident. Four people died and 29 were treated in hospital for injuries when a man drove a car along a pavement and stabbed a policeman outside Parliament before being shot by officers. The people hospitalised after the attack were from 11 different countries, confirmed Theresa May. Among the injured were: 12 Britons, 4 South Koreans, 3 French, 2 Romanians, 2 Greeks, 1 German, 1 Pole, 1 Irish, 1 Chinese, 1 Italian and 1 American, she said. Seven people remain in a critical condition in hospital after the attack, which police are treating as a terrorist incident. Nigel Farage blamed the attack on political support for multiculturalism, claiming it had created a fifth column of terror supporters within Western societies. The former Ukip leader challenged the assertions of the Prime Minister and Mr Khan that Britain stands united in the face of attack, insisting that the people in fact want answers about what they are going to do. "Hopkins, Farage, anyone using the Westminster attack to further a venomous political agenda doesn't represent us," wrote Twitter user Nicole Smith. Another user, Zoe Paramour, wrote: London is strong, tolerant, progressive and diverse we are not afraid. Terri Paddock said: Dear Americans and Trump fans. Pray for London if you want but dont use us to justify racism and religious hatred. London's mayor Sadiq Khan told the BBC terrorists may want to target cities like London because its citizens respect, embrace and celebrate one another. As the Mayor of London, I bring many experiences to this job including the faith I belong to and the experiences Ive had growing up in the greatest city in the world, he said. Westminster falls silent in memory of terror attack victims The four victims included the wounded officer, named as 48-year-old Keith Palmer, and the assailant who was shot dead by police. Spanish teacher Aysha Frade, 43, and a 30-year-old man were also killed in the attack. Brendan Cox urged Britain not to let itself be divided by the incident, saying the assailant no more represents British Muslims than his wifes murderer represented the people of Yorkshire. Recommended Isis claims responsibility for London terror attack What the terrorist would like to happen is for us to fall apart and start blaming groups of people, to say that in some way this is Muslim or Islam as a whole, he told Radio 4's Today programme. However, some far-right commentators cited Londons cultural diversity as a reason for the attack. Paul Joseph Watson, a writer for right-wing website Infowars, said: London is probably the most diverse city in the world and look what happened. Is diversity still our strength? in a tweet. Mr Farage told Fox News the attack bolstered US president Donald Trump's case for tougher vetting of migrants from some Muslim nations, claiming that countries which open their door to immigration from the Middle East are inviting in terrorism. The idea that this whole country is united, which is what we are hearing from our leaders, I'm not sure is true, he said. I think the British people want some answers from our leaders as to what they are now going to do. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP We've made some terrible mistakes in this country, and it really started with the election of Tony Blair back in 1997, who said he wanted to build a multicultural Britain, he added. I do actually think that the moment has come for us to actually point the blame. What these politicians have done in the space of just 15 years may well affect the way we live in this country over the next 100 years. Donald Trump Jnr also stoked controversy after he criticised Mr Khan on Twitter, sharing a link to a six-month-old story by The Independent that quoted the mayor saying terror attacks were part and parcel of living in a global city. You have to be kidding me?! wrote the US Presidents eldest child. When asked about the criticism, Mr Khan sharply said: Im not going to respond to tweets by Donald Trump, likely referring to Trump Jr. Responding to news of the attacks, mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo said both London and Paris are tolerant, cosmopolitan cities, open to the world, that draw their strength from their diversity, reported The Telegraph. "London carries on calmly. Don't buy the 'shut down' story. Our city is as determined, dignified and open as ever. #WeAreNotAfraid," wrote Twitter user Schona Jolly. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Muslim Council of Britain has condemned the cowardly and depraved terror attack that left three victims dead in London. There is no justification for this act whatsoever, said the groups Secretary General, Harun Khan. The best response to this outrage is to make sure we come together in solidarity and not allow the terrorists to divide us. My condolences, thoughts and prayers go to the families of the victims. His remarks came after a crowdfunding campaign by a group called Muslims United for London raised more than 3,000 for victims and their loved ones within an hour of its launch. The fund had surpassed 9,000 at the time of publication and was continuing to rise rapidly. Muddassar Ahmed said he started the fund after witnessing the attack, having entered Portcullis House just 10 minutes before terror struck and being barricaded inside for four hours. Sadiq Khan on the Westminster attack: "Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism" I was shocked to see the injuries and loss of life outside my window, he wrote. I reflected on what it means to be a born-and-bred Londoner and found myself proud of how security and medical services responded, how ordinary passers-by offered first aid, and what our Parliament means to me, an institution that is the oldest of its kind in the world and how, regardless of our critiques of government policies or political parties, remains an institution that reflects how the will of the people can be expressed with civility and dignity. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) commended the Metropolitan Police, emergency services, Prime Minister and Mayor of London for their response to Wednesdays atrocity, which has been claimed by Isis. Two members of the public British mother Aysha Frade and American tourist Kurt Cochran were killed as the attacker ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing it into railings guarding the Houses of Parliament. He ran to one of the entrances and fatally stabbed PC Keith Palmer before being shot dead by an armed officer. Mr Khan, who will be joining a memorial for the victims to be half in Trafalgar Square, hailed Mr Palmers bravery and thanked the police and emergency services. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP I hope my Muslim brothers and sisters will reach out to fellow Londoners and Britons in solidarity to demonstrate that such hatred will not defeat our way of life, he added. The MCB is the UKs largest Muslim umbrella organisation and represents more than 500 national and local groups, mosques, charities and schools. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, urged Muslims to be vigilant against the dangers of Islamist ideology and hate preachers. He urged people to ensure young people know true Islam from online propaganda to help them combat the risk of grooming and radicalistation. Terrorists want to attack London is because they hate the fact that we dont just tolerate each other whether youre a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, member of an organised faith or not, we respect, embrace and celebrate each other and thats going to carry on, Mr Khan told the BBC. In a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, which injured more than 40 people, Isis said it was carried out by a soldier of the Islamic State in response to calls for revenge on countries bombing its territories in Syria and Iraq. Metropolitan Police detectives are investigating the attack as terror-related but have not named any particular group. Eight people have been arrested in a series of overnight arrests in London and Birmingham, where the attacker hired the car used in the massacre. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Muslim-born political adviser working in Parliament has described what it was like to witness the London terror attack unfold that killed four and injured at least 40. Labour adviser Imran Ahmed told how he, along with other Muslim or Muslim-born colleagues, shared a different sadness knowing the attack had likely been perpetrated by an Islamist extremist. Mr Ahmed, who was a former special adviser to MP Hilary Benn, told The Independent he felt an "inevitable sense of responsibility due to his Muslim heritage. Its an added sense of responsibility. There's a sense you stand apart from those that do these sorts of things and that you're more empowered than most members of your community to make things better, he said. But you feel a sense of empowerment and purpose because you do work here and you do have the capacity to make things change. As a Labour adviser you feel like you are in a position to help. Mr Ahmed now identifies as an atheist, though he was brought up a Muslim and his parents both continue to be religious. Its not something that comes to mind very often - I don't much think about my heritage or my parents religion, he said. But after an attack like this its the sharing of that burden that really makes the soul lighter because you know that together, the rest of us who are of Muslim faith or descent can make a difference. Mr Ahmed, who was in Portcullis House when the attack occurred, returned to Parliament today and described the atmosphere as very, very quiet." In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Its very, very quiet outside and inside, everyones being a bit warmer to each other than they already are and theres a sense of purpose," he said. He also issued a scathing criticism of the far-right, labelling Tommy Robinson a hatemonger after he launched into a tirade in front of Parliament yesterday that has been widely condemned as Islamophobic and inflammatory. I am as much anathema to those half-witted f***wit terrorist chumps as a Christian or a Jewish person or a Hindu. They hold us in contempt? F*** me, you have no idea how much I hold them in contempt, Mr Ahmed wrote on Facebook. For their actions, their beliefs and how pathetic they are in not doing the work and having the true steel to see through their political goals without resorting to the cheap, vicious, nasty last resort of violence. It came as police announced the arrests of eight people in connection with the terror attack that brought bloodshed to the heart of London. The Metropolitan Police's top anti-terror officer confirmed police have searched six addresses and made seven arrests. The black-clad terrorist - who is believed to have been British-born - armed with two knives, mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed his car through a crowd of people, including schoolchildren. He was then shot dead by armed officers in the courtyard outside the Houses of Parliament after he stabbed Pc Keith Palmer, who died of his wounds. Two members of the public, one believed to be Aysha Frade, a 43-year-old Spanish teacher who was on her way to pick her children up from school. The other man killed was in his fifties but has not yet been identified. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Police have arrested eight people in connection with the terror attack that brought bloodshed to the heart of London. The Metropolitan Police's top anti-terror officer confirmed police had searched six addresses and made seven arrests, and the Met later released a tweet to say they had made an eighth arrest. Isis claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq news agency. Addressing the Commons, Prime Minister Theresa May said: "We are not afraid and our resolve will never waiver in the face of terrorism." Ms May said the attacker was a British citizen who was known to police and security services, and had been investigated some years ago over violent extremism. She said the working assumption was he was inspired by Islamist terrorism. Westminster attack: What we know so far She told MPs: "Yesterday an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today we meet as normal, as generations have done before us and as future generations will continue to do, to deliver a simple message: 'We are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism'." The black-clad terrorist, armed with two knives, mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed his car through a crowd of people, including schoolchildren. He was then shot dead by armed officers in the courtyard outside the Houses of Parliament after he stabbed PC Keith Palmer, who died of his wounds. Speaking in the shadow of New Scotland Yard, yards from the site of the atrocity, the Met Police's acting deputy commissioner Mr Rowley said: "Hundreds of detectives have been working through the night and during that time officers have searched six addresses and made seven arrests. "The inquiries in Birmingham, London and other parts of the country are continuing." Mr Rowley revised the death toll down from five to four, but said a "mix of nationalities" were among the dead. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP PC Keith Palmer, a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad, was stabbed to death as he tried to stop the attacker inside the grounds of the Houses of Parliament. Two members of the public, one believed to be a Spanish teacher on her way to pick her children up from school, the other a man in his 50s, were also killed in the attack. Aysha Frade was on her way to pick up her daughters from school when she was killed in the Westminster attack (Facebook) Aysha Frade, 43, died of her injuries after the attacker ploughed his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. Spanish media said Mrs Frade had two daughters aged eight and 11 and worked at the nearby DLD College London. The terrorist was shot three times by armed police and later pronounced dead in hospital. Emergency services treat an injured man after a police officer was stabbed and his apparent attacker was shot by officers at the Houses of Parliament (PA) Emergency services at the scene while two knives lay on the floor outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after a policeman was stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament. (PA wire) Mr Rowley said 29 people had been treated in hospital with seven people in a critical condition. Speaking as MPs were returning to Parliament in a show of defiance, he said: "We must not allow terrorists to create discord, distrust and fear. "The police stand with all communities, later today a meeting of faith leaders will be held here at New Scotland Yard. "Whilst our work to investigate and understand what happened yesterday continues with vigour, we must also reflect. "I want to thank the public for their support and all their good wishes, I know it is appreciated by all those men and women who are out there today protecting us." The car is understood to have mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge before ramming the railings outside Parliament The Queen sent her condolences to those affected: "My thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's awful violence." Sir Michael Fallon said police were investigating whether the attacker acted alone or had help. The Defence Minister told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: "It was no accident that this attack was on Westminster, because it is at Westminster that we debate differences, very sharp differences, very freely and respectfully between us, and this kind of Islamic terrorism doesn't respect those differences, so it is no accident that there was an attack here." He went on to praise the police response: "They have been working right through the night, looking into his background, and how he got hold of the vehicle, where the vehicle has been in the last day or two, and who may, or may not, have helped him." Asked if the attacker was known to police, he said: "I can't confirm that, you will have to ask the police that." Sir Michael said a spirit of defiance was the best response to such attacks. "It is also, I think, evident form everyone involved yesterday that we are not going to let this kind of terrorism win." The Union flag flies at half mast at parliament after a suspected terror attack brought bloodshed to central London (EPA) The head of MI5 has condemned the attack as "appalling and disgusting". Andrew Parker, director-general of the security service, confirmed its operational response has been "fully mobilised". He said in a statement: "The thoughts of the men and women of MI5 are with the families of those killed in Westminster yesterday, and with the other innocent people injured in this appalling and disgusting attack. "We stand shoulder to shoulder with our police colleagues, grieving at their loss while also applauding the professional excellence of their response. "As Acting Deputy Commissioner Rowley said, the security community prepares for such awful events while working tirelessly to prevent them. "The MI5 operational response is fully mobilised in support of the police." An armed police officer stands guard near Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament (Jack Taylor /Getty) (Getty) Britain's most senior police officer confirmed he witnessed the terror attack at Westminster. Acting commissioner of the Met Police Craig Mackey is being treated as a significant witness as he was on the scene. Speaking outside Scotland Yard just yards from the scene of the attack, Mr Mackey said: "I personally was a witness to part of yesterday's events, including part of the tragic attack on PC Palmer. "As with all police officers, I therefore had a duty to secure my evidence and produce statements yesterday evening, which I did before resuming my role leading our response to this incident." Prime Minister Theresa May praised the bravery of police officers as it was announced that the Houses of Commons and Lords would run as normal the day after the attack. "Any attempt to defeat those values through violence and terror is doomed to failure, she said. "Parliament will meet as normal. We will come together as normal. "And Londoners, and others from around the world who have come here to visit this great city, will get up and go about their day as normal. "They will board their trains, they will leave their hotels, they will walk these streets, they will live their lives. "And we will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart." Stories of heroism and bravery emerged from the incident, which brought central London to a standstill and closed transport networks. Paramedics fought to save PC Palmer and his attacker on the floor of the cobbled courtyard in front of Parliament, with Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood among those who rushed to help. Mr Ellwood, who lost his brother in the Bali bombing, could be seen pumping the officer's chest then standing above him, his hands and face smeared with blood. A party of French schoolchildren were among those targeted on the bridge, while four students from Edge Hill University in Ormskirk were also hurt, with two described as "walking wounded", and another couple said to have minor injuries. Romanian and South Korean tourists were also caught up in the tragedy. Donald Trump was among world leaders to offer their support. Shortly after 1.30am UK time, the US president tweeted: "Spoke to UK Prime Minister Theresa May today to offer condolences on the terrorist attack in London. She is strong and doing very well." Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Britain's most senior police officer witnessed the terror attack at Westminster, he has confirmed. Acting commissioner of the Met Police Craig Mackey is being treated as a significant witness as he was on the scene. He was not one of those injured. Seven arrested and six addresses raided in connection with Westminster attack Speaking outside Scotland Yard just yards from the scene of the attack, Mr Mackey said: "I personally was a witness to part of yesterday's events, including part of the tragic attack on PC [Keith] Palmer. "As with all police officers, I therefore had a duty to secure my evidence and produce statements yesterday evening, which I did before resuming my role leading our response to this incident." Mr Mackey, who is temporarily in charge of the Met after the retirement of Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, was Chief Constable of Cumbria Police in 2010 when gunman Derrick Bird shot and killed 12 people. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A vigil is to be held to remember the victims of the attack in Westminster, the Mayor of London has announced. Sadiq Khan has encouraged Londoners and visitors to attend the event, which will take place today (Thursday) at 6pm in Trafalgar Square, to remember the victims of yesterdays attack and stand against terrorism. Two members of the public and a police officer have died and dozens more were injured after the attacker mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and ploughed his car into pedestrians, before fatally stabbing a police officer outside Parliament. In a statement released on Thursday morning, the Mayors Office invited people to come together in solidarity with the victims and their families, and urged that London would stand together in the face of those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life. The Mayor invites all Londoners and everyone visiting our city - to come together in solidarity to remember those who have lost their lives, to express sympathy with their families and loved ones and to show the world that we are more committed than ever to the values that we hold dear that we remain united and open, the statement read. Shortly after the attacks, Mr Khan released a video message in which he said Londoners would "never be cowed by terrorism". "London is the greatest city in the world, and we stand together in the face of those who seek to harm us and our way of life," the Mayor said. "We always have and we always will. "There will be additional armed and unarmed police officers on our streets from tonight in order to keep Londoners, and all those visiting our city, safe. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP "I want to reassure all Londoners, and all our visitors, not to be alarmed." Communities around the world have shown solidarity with those affected by Wednesday's Westminster terror attack through a series of poignant gestures. As midnight fell in France on Thursday night, the Eiffel Tower switched its lights off to honour those killed in the London massacre. Elsewhere, Ron Huldai, the mayor of Tel Aviv, posted images of the City Hall building in Israel, illuminated in red, white and blue. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} We must wage war against the disbelievers who dominate our lives. If you cannot make a bomb, there are then other weapons; certainly a simple knife from your local B&Q will do the job, declared the fighter from Al-Shabaab in a video celebrating the murder of soldier Lee Rigby. Raising a Kalashnikov assault rifle, the masked man went on to talk about the UK cities and towns from which the Somali terrorist group had drawn jihadists. Birmingham came top of the list. This was in 2013 and by then Birmingham already had the distinction of being the birthplace of the UKs first suicide bomber; the city where the countrys first al-Qaeda plot was hatched and also of being the home of one of the financiers of the 9/11 atrocity. Woman who knew Westminster terror attacker 'shocked' to find out it was Masood Last night police carried out a series of raids in the city following the Westminster attack. Four arrests, out of eight nationwide, were made there. The car which was crashed into the railings outside the Houses of Parliament after mowing down people on Westminster Bridge was rented from a Birmingham branch of the firm Enterprise. Recommended Theresa May calls leaders of countries hit by Westminster attack Isis said it was behind the murders of three people and injuries to a dozen others in the London assault, describing the attacker as a soldier of the Islamic State. However, the terrorist group routinely claims credit for such acts and the veracity of this cannot be established at this stage. The spread of extremism in Birmingham had continued unabated since the Al-Shabaab video was posted. A study earlier this year estimated that one in 10 of all those linked to Islamist terrorism in Britain and abroad came from just five council wards in the city. Thirty-nine convicted terrorists came from Birmingham, which has a Muslim population of 234,000. The wards of Springfield, Sparkbrook, Hodge Hill, Washwood Heath and Bordesley Green supplied 26 of them. It is a fact that surprises and raises concern that the numbers from Birmingham of those who had embraced extremist violence is more than those from West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Lancashire, which, between them, have a Muslim population of just under 665,000. The Islamist alumni from Birmingham include Rashid Rauf, of British and Pakistani background, who was one of the ringleaders of a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners in 2006. He was arrested in Pakistan in December that year but the more serious charges of terrorism against him were reduced to forgery and possession of explosives in court. American officials complained that Rauf was being protected by elements in the Pakistani secret police, ISI, and the countrys military. Rauf escaped, or was allowed to escape, from prison but was reportedly killed in a CIA drone strike in November 2008. There were, however, reports that he had claimed he was living in a fundamentalist enclave in North Waziristan. Birmingham also produced Moinal Abedin, the UKs first al-Qaeda inspired terrorist. He had attended a training camp in Pakistan, and, on his return, had turned his house in Sparkbrook into a bomb-making factory. When raided, it led to the discovery of an industrial quantity of the high explosive HMTD of the type used in the 7/7 London bombings. Abedin was jailed for 20 years in 2002. Irfan Khalid, whose family came from Pakistan, was involved in a plot with the expressed aim of killing more than those who died in the 7/7 bombings. The ambition, according to secret recordings, was to inflict about 2,000 casualties. He was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2013. Others in the Islamist roll include Parviz Khan, jailed for life in 2008 for planning to kidnap and behead a British soldier on behalf of al-Qaeda and Abdelatif Gaini, Humza Ali, Mohammed Ali Ahmed and Gabriel Rasmus, who trained for jihad with paintballing sessions in Solihull. Humza Ali was later convicted of terrorism offences; Rasmus was jailed after being arrested en-route to Syria; Ali Ahmed was convicted for handing money over to a man linked to the Brussels bombing and Gaini is thought to be fighting for Isis in Syria or Iraq. Westminster terror attack claims fourth innocent victim Most of these men have family links to Kashmir, a state disputed between Pakistan and India. Many young men went to Pakistan to train to fight against Indian forces in Kashmir and some of them, say British and American security officials, were also channelled by their handlers in sections of the Pakistani security establishment, to other jihadist groups fighting elsewhere in the region, including Afghanistan. Some joined al-Qaeda and Isis. Indoctrination took place in mosques which had been taken over by radical clerics and, it is claimed, a number of schools. Birmingham is in the centre of the so-called Trojan Horse plot in which, it is alleged, an organised group of Islamists sought to infiltrate and take over state education establishments. Young Muslims from other backgrounds, including Somalis, who had arrived in Birmingham over the years were also influenced by hardline clerics. It helped create a recruiting pool of fighters: the jihad which was spawned was responsible for death and destruction not only in the Middle-East and Asia, but also, as we know, back home in Britain. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} MPs, peers and staff working in Parliament and Whitehall led a minute's silence to pay respects to the victims of the Westminster terror attack. A large area around the Palace of Westminster, including Parliament Square and Westminster Bridge, remained cordoned off the morning after the attack but staff were able to access the building and return to work. The House of Commons sat after prayers at 9.30am, when the minute's silence followed, and then questions to Liam Fox and ministers from his Department for International Trade. Westminster attack: Theresa May vows Britain will never give in to terror Prime Minister Theresa May will lead a show of defiance in the wake of the attack, which left four people dead including the terrorist, and many others injured, by giving a statement to MPs in the Commons at 10.30am. Two people in overalls and masks were seen sorting through material near the area in New Palace Yard where the attacker was shot and PC Keith Palmer stabbed, and an area in the courtyard remained cordoned off. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP The popular Terrace cafeteria was open and serving a hot breakfast as normal as MPs, peers and staff arrived for work. The Union flag was flying at half-mast over the Houses of Parliament and other nearby buildings. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A junior doctor has described how he "ran to help" victims of the Westminster attack when he heard screaming while off-duty in the area. NHS doctors, nurses and emergency staff have been called heroes for their brave response to the terror attack. Medics working at nearby St Thomass left the hospital and rushed to the scene of the incident outside Parliament and on Westminster Bridge after a man drove a car along a pavement and stabbed a policeman. Four people died including the wounded officer named as 48-year-old Keith Palmer and the assailant who was shot dead by police. Jeeves Wijesuriya, the first doctor to attend to the injured, said he entered the police cordon to attend to PC Palmer and the attacker. I heard the screaming so ran to help and the police ran me in, he told Buzzfeed News. Dr Wijesuriya said emergency services and police were incredible as we tried to save both the officer and the assailant, adding: "We spent some time trying to resuscitate them both." A medic near Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, where a police officer was stabbed yesterday (Getty Images) One of the patients died at the scene and the other at St Marys hospital in Paddington, he said. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron told the BBC he had seen medics run into danger to help the 29 injured in the attack, which police are treating as a terrorist incident. He urged people not to give up on our values and give into fear, saying there was lots to be proud of yesterday. Spanish teacher Aysha Frade, 43, and a 30-year-old man were also among the victims. Seven people are in a critical condition in hospital. Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, praised Dr Wijesuriya on Twitter, saying: Were proud of you and everyone who stepped up. All sympathies with those affected by yet another senseless tragedy. In the darkest of days, real heroes appear, said campaign group NHS Million in a tweet that has been shared more than 1,700 times. And doctor Rachel Clarke wrote: Amazing NHS doctors and nurses from Tommies [St Thomass] running straight to those in need, regardless of risk to selves. Heroes. Dr Tony Joy, of Londons Air Ambulance, who were called to treat victims of the attack, told the BBC: We were immediately on scene and started to asses the casualties, and looked for information about how many other patients there might be. We assessed a number of patients, we were involved in treating several, and tried to support the London ambulance services in any way we could. PC Palmer, a husband and father who had served in the Metropolitan Police for 15 years, was outside Parliament when a man armed with two knives entered the gates and stabbed him. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Mark Rowley, the Met's top anti-terror officer, said PC Palmer was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift, and he had every right to expect that would happen. Eight people have been arrested in connection with the attack after police searched six addresses. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon told the Today programme the working assumption was the attack was linked to Islamic terrorism in some form. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The car used in the terror attack on Westminster Bridge was hired from a branch of Enterprise in Birmingham. A man mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and drove the Hyundai through a crowd of people, including schoolchildren. He was then shot dead by armed officers in the courtyard outside the Houses of Parliament after he stabbed PC Keith Palmer, who died of his wounds. Westminster falls silent in memory of terror attack victims A spokesperson for Enterprise Holdings said: We can confirm that the car used in the tragic attack in London yesterday afternoon was one of ours. "An employee identified the vehicle after seeing the licence plate in an image online. We ran another check to verify, and immediately contacted the authorities." They added: "We are co-operating fully with the authorities and will provide any assistance that we can to the investigation. "Our thoughts are very much with the victims of this terrible tragedy. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Earlier, the BBC reported the car had been hired from Solihull, however the Enterprise spokesperson confirmed this was not the case. "We are not releasing any further details," the spokesperson said. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} After the terror attack in Westminster that left four people dead, anxiety among Londoners and city-dwellers around the world is inevitably running high. Police have arrested eight people after a black-clad man, armed with knives, mowed his car through a crowd of people on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer in the courtyard outside Parliament. He was shot dead by colleagues of PC Keith Palmer, who died of his stab wounds. But while the terror threat level remains at severe in Britain, it is important to remember the chances of ever being caught up in a terrorist attack are extremely unlikely. If you do ever witness at attack, police have issued advice about what to do. First, run to safety if you can. Do not try to surrender or negotiate. If escaping is not an option, try to hide. This is better than confrontation. Turn your phone to silent and make sure vibrate is also off. If at all possible, barricade yourself in. Police have issued advice on what to do in the event of a weapons attack (NPCC) When safe to do so, tell the police by calling 999 if in the UK, and if possible, warn others to stay away. If you witness or have any information about suspicious behaviour, you can report it in confidence by calling the police on 0800 789 321 or completing an online form. Police define suspect activity as anything that seems out of place, unusual or just doesnt seem to fit in with everyday life. Westminster attack: How the day unfolded Examples include anyone hiring large vehicles for no obvious reason, anyone randomly buying large amounts of chemicals, or anyone taking photos of security arrangements. Remember, in an emergency you should always dial 999. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The security services successfully foiled more than 12 UK terror attacks last year, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has revealed. In the aftermath of the Westminster attack, however, the Defence Secretary also admitted that Britain now faced a new type of lone-wolf, low-tech terror threat that was much more difficult to prevent. Speaking the day after a terrorist used a car to mow down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a policeman outside Parliament, Sir Michael told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: This kind of attack, this lone wolf attack, using things from daily life a vehicle, a knife is much more difficult to forestall. We are also dealing with a terrorist enemy that is not making demands or holding people hostage, but simply wants to kill as many people as possible so this is a new element to international terrorism. This is a new type of attack where somebody gets hold of a vehicle and drives it into innocent people that also shows the moral vacuity of these terrorists. But he insisted that the security services were successfully foiling terror plots, saying: The police and agencies that we rely on for our security have forestalled a large number of attacks in recent years over a dozen last year. This seems a significant increase on some previously disclosed figures. In October, Neil Basu, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police and the senior national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing, said the security services had successfully foiled at least 10 attacks in the last two years. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Suggesting the scale of the threat faced by the UK, Mr Basu added: We continue to work at a relentless pace with our key partners, currently dealing with around 550 live cases at any one time. One attempted plot, it was revealed last August, had been thwarted in the final hours before the planned attack on a UK target. An operation run by GCHQ, the British intelligence and security organisation, used interception warrants to monitor phones owned by individuals linked to the 2015 plot, it was reported. According to the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, agents were then able to identify and intercept a would-be terrorist cell that was close to carrying out its plan. Answering questions about whether the security services had enough resources to deal with such levels of threat, Sir Michael Fallon revealed this had been reviewed at an emergency COBRA meeting chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday night. He said: We reviewed whether the Met had all the resources they need including military back up to deal with situations like this. That is something we always review at the time. There have been increases in the budgets of the security services over the last few years. We will continue to keep that under review. The police and the security agencies will have the resources they need. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Thousands of mourners have attended the funeral of Martin McGuinness, including former US President Bill Clinton and Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. Mr McGuinness, a former IRA commander who played a central role in the Northern Irish peace process and served as Deputy First Minister, died on Tuesday morning aged 66. He had been suffering a rare genetic condition. The politicians home city of Derry was brought to a standstill as thousands lined the streets to pay their respects as Mr McGuinnnesss funeral cortege travelled from his home in the Bogside to his local church. His coffin was carried by Sinn Fein figures including party president Gerry Adams and leader in the North Michelle ONeill. Although his coffin was draped in the Irish tricolour flag, the funeral had no Republican or IRA motifs as the family had previously agreed with the Catholic Church. The ceremony was an inter-faith event, with a requiem mass lead by Catholic priest Fr Michael Canny and Bishop Donal McKeown. It also featured homilies from Protestant church leaders, including the Methodist and Presbyterian faiths, in a reflection of reconciliation between Catholic and Protestant communities achieved by the peace process. Sinn Feins Gerry Adams and Michelle O'Neill carrying Martin McGuinness's coffin PA (PA) Mr McGuinnesss nephew Ordhan read a passage from Ecclesiastes 3:3, which included the tribute: a time to kill and a time to heal, in an apparent acknowledgement of the politicians involvement in both the violent conflict and the peace process. After much speculation, DUP leader Arlene Foster, who served alongside Martin McGuinness as Northern Ireland First Minister, attended the service. Recommended Mourners gather in West Belfast to mark death of Martin McGuinness She had previously refused to confirm if she would attend, due to Mr McGuinness involvement with the IRA during the conflict. Ms Fosters life was particularly marked by IRA violence during the Troubles. When she was eight years old, her father, a serving police officer, was shot by the IRA at the familys Fermanagh home. When she was a teenager, the terror group also bombed her school bus. The coffin was eventually passed from family to fellow Republican politicians (PA) (PA Wire/PA Images) British Prime Minister Theresa May did not attend the service. The British Government was represented by Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire. Leaders pay tribute to Martin McGuinness in Westminster and Stormont Both the current Irish PM Enda Kenny and his predecessor Bertie Ahern were in attendance. Addressing the congregation following the mass, former President Bill Clinton paid tribute to Mr McGuinness. In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Show all 18 1 /18 In Pictures: Martin McGuinness In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Northern Ireland's Former Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has died aged 66 Getty Images In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Martin McGuinness walking past a Bloody Sunday Mural in the Bogside in Londonderry PA wire In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Britain's Queen Elizabeth II shaking hands with Sinn Fein politician and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness at Hillsborough Castle, south of Belfast in Northern Ireland Getty Images In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness AP In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, shaking hands with British Prime Minister Tony Blair as First Minister Ian Paisley, looks on at Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast Getty Images In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness walks past the Houses of Parliament in London AP In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Sinn Fein Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness Reuters In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Republican party Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams standing with Sinn Fein politician and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness as he arrives to give a press conference at a hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland Getty Images In Pictures: Martin McGuinness First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness smiling after being sworn in as ministers of the Northern Ireland Assembly PA wire In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness celebrate at Kings Hall in Belfast with a supporter after hearing the result of the Irish referendum Reuters In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Sinn Fein member of parliament Martin McGuinness speaks to the media outside Holloway Prison, in London Reuters In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness embracing at Dublin Airport PA wire In Pictures: Martin McGuinness US. President Bill Clinton shakes the hand of Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness as Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams watches, following Clinton's speech at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast Reuters In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at the opening of Ireland's first IKEA store in Belfast PA wire In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness PA wire In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness addressing Nationalists after the march in Londonderry outside the Guild Hall PA wire In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Michelle O'Neill, the new Sinn Fein leader in the north takes a selfie with Martin McGuinness on the steps of Stormont Getty Images In Pictures: Martin McGuinness Bernadette McGuinness carries the coffin of her late husband Martin McGuinness in Londonderry, Northern Ireland Getty Images Mr Clinton was heavily involved in the Northern Irish peace process in the lead-up to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement peace treaty in 1998. He extended special thanks to Ms Foster for her attendance as a gesture towards the Catholic community in Northern Ireland. He praised Mr McGuinness for realising you could have an Ireland which was free and independent and self governing, but still inclusive. He added that the Sinn Fein politicians success in the peace process came from expanding the definition of us and shrinking the definition of them. Mr Clinton concluded his remarks, calling on the people of Northern Ireland to fulfill Mr McGuinnesss legacy and ensure peace remained in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams is also due to make an address at the graveside. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Nigel Farage has suggested support for multiculturalism is to blame for the Westminster attack. The former Ukip leader claimed the political support for multiculturalism had created a "fifth column" of terror supporters in Western societies. Mr Farage argued this was the fault of former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, claiming his government ordered search parties to track down immigrants from around the world to bring to the UK. Mr Farage argued people would be keen for answers in the wake of the London attack which killed three people and questioned Theresa May and Sadiq Khans insistence Britain was united in the wake of the incident. The Ukip MEP failed to mention the fact many of the victims of the attack were in fact foreigners themselves. Aysha Frade, a Spanish teacher on her way to pick up her children from school, was one of those who died. Of the casualties admitted to hospital, 12 were British, three were French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, two Greeks and one citizen from both Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the US. Mr Farage, who has forged a blossoming relationship with President Donald Trump in recent months, said the atrocity strengthened Mr Trumps arguments for creating more extreme vetting for immigrants coming to the US. Nigel Farage's most controversial moments Show all 12 1 /12 Nigel Farage's most controversial moments Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he unveiled that 'breaking point' poster during the referendum Mr Farage was accused of deploying Nazi-style propaganda when he unveiled a poster showing Syrian refugees travelling to Europe under the next Breaking point. Users on social media were quick to compare the advert to a Nazi propaganda film with similar visuals and featuring Jewish refugees. The poster was particularly controversial because it was unveiled the morning of the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox Rex Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said hed be concerned if his neighbours were Romanian In May 2014 Mr Farage was accused of a racial slur against Romanians after he suggested he would be concerned living next to a house of them. I was asked if a group of Romanian men moved in next to you, would you be concerned? And if you lived in London, I think you would be, he told LBC radio during an interview. Asked whether he would also object to living next to German children, he said: You know the difference Bongarts/Getty Images Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said the EU campaign was won 'without a bullet being fired' Nigel Farage has said the next Prime Minister has to be a Leave supporter AFP/Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he resigned as Ukip leader and came back days later After failing to win the seat of South Thanet at the general election, Nigel Farage stepped down as Ukip leader as he had promised to do during the campaign. Days later on 11 May he un-resigned and said he would stay after being convinced by supporters within the party. Well see how long his resignation lasts this time AP/Matt Dunham Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he blamed immigrants for making him late Mr Farage turned up late to a 25-a-head meet the leader style event in Port Talbot, Wales in December 2014. Asked why he was late, he blamed immigrants. It took me six hours and 15 minutes to get here - it should have taken three-and-a-half to four, he said. That has nothing to do with professionalism, what it does have to do with is a country in which the population is going through the roof chiefly because of open-door immigration and the fact that the M4 is not as navigable as it used to be Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he wanted to ban immigrants with HIV from Britain Mr Farage has used his platform as Ukip leader call for people with HIV to be banned from coming to Britain. Asked in an interview with Newsweek Europe in October 2014 who he thought should be allowed to come to the UK, he said: People who do not have HIV, to be frank. Thats a good start. And people with a skill. He also repeated similar comments in the 2015 general election leadership debates Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he defended the use of a racial slur against Chinese people Defending one of Ukips candidates, who used the word ch**ky to describe a Chinese person, Mr Farage said: If you and your mates were going out for a Chinese, what do you say you're going for?" When he was told by the presented that he honestly would not use the slur, Mr Farage replied: A lot would Lintao Zhang/Getty Images Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said parts of Britain were like a foreign land The Ukip leader used his 2014 conference speech to declare parts of Britain as being like a foreign land. He told his audience in Torquay that parts of the country were unrecognisable because of the number of foreigners there. Mr Farage has also previously said he felt uncomfortable when people spoke other language on a train Screengrab Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said the British army should be deployed to France At the height of trouble at Britains Calais border Mr Farage proposed a novel solution. The Ukip leader called for the British army to be sent to France to put down a migrant rebellion. In all civil emergencies like this we have an army, we have a bit of a Territorial Army as well and we have a very, very overburdened police force and border agency, he said. If in a crisis to make sure weve actually got the manpower to check lorries coming in, to stop people illegally coming to Britain, if in those circumstances we can use the army or other forces then why not AFP/Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said breastfeeding women should sit in the corner Mr Farage sparked protests from mothers after he told women to sit on the corner if they wanted to breastfeed their children. I think that given that some people feel very embarrassed by it, it isnt too difficult to breastfeed a baby in a way that's not openly ostentatious, Mr Farage said. He added: "Or perhaps sit in the corner, or whatever it might be AFP/Getty Images Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said the gender pay gap exists because women are worth less At a Q&A on the European Union in January 2014 Mr Farage said there was no discrimination against women causing the gender pay gap. Instead, he said, women were paid less because they were simply worth far less than many of their male counterparts. A woman who has a client base, has a child and takes two or three years off - she is worth far less to her employer when she comes back than when she went away because that client base won't be stuck as rigidly to her portfolio, he said Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said he actually couldnt guarantee 350m to the NHS after Brexit During the EU referendum campaign the Leave side pledged to spend 350 million a week on the National Health Service claiming that this is what the UK sends to Brussels. Nigel Farage didnt speak out against this figure and also pledged to spend EU cash on the health service and other public services himself. Then the day of the election result he suddenly changed his tone, saying he couldnt guarantee the cash for the NHS and that to pledge to do so was a mistake Getty Speaking on Fox News, Mr Farage said: "The idea that this whole country is united, which is what we are hearing from our leaders, I'm not sure is true. "I think the British people want some answers from our leaders as to what they are now going to do, he continued. "I do actually think that the moment has come for us to actually point the blame. What these politicians have done in the space of just 15 years may well affect the way we live in this country over the next 100 years." Mr Farage went on to discuss the possible causes behind the incident with Sean Hannity, a conservative TV personality and well-known supporter of President Trump. The British politician, who has recently become a commentator on the US network, said: "We've made some terrible mistakes in this country, and it really started with the election of Tony Blair back in 1997, who said he wanted to build a multicultural Britain. "His government even said they sent out search parties to find immigrants from all over the world to come into Britain. Do you know what? I don't think we vetted a single one of them. He continued: "The problem with multiculturalism is that it leads to divided communities. It's quite different to multi-racialism. That's fine, that can work very happily and extremely well. But we've finished up with very divided communities. "I'm sorry to say that we have now a fifth column living inside these European countries. Surely an American audience seeing this horrendous thing happening in Westminster should start to say to itself that when Donald Trump tries to put in place vetting measures, he is doing it to protect your country." Mr Farage attacked protesters in Fifth Avenue in New York and in wider America, saying: "Frankly, if you open your door to uncontrolled immigration from Middle Eastern countries, you are inviting in terrorism." Mr Farage was the first foreign politician to meet Mr Trump in person and met him before Theresa May. He has met with the president on a number of occasions since, having both attended a heroes and villains costume party in New York in early December. The Metropolitan Police is deploying extra armed and unarmed patrols across the capital to provide protection and reassurance in the aftermath of the tragedy, which investigators are treating as an Islamist-inspired terror attack. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} London Mayor Sadiq Khan has refused to reply to a critical Twitter post by Donald Trump Jr, saying he has been doing more important things in the wake of a deadly terrorist attack in Westminster, Im not going to respond to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr, Ive been doing more important things over the past 24 hours," Mr Khan said. In the aftermath of Wednesday's deadly terror attack near Parliament, Mr Trumps eldest son on Wednesday sparked controversy when he shared a link to a six-month-old story by The Independent that quoted Mr Khan saying terror attacks were "part and parcel" of living in a global city. You have to be kidding me?! Mr Trump Jr said on Twitter. In the September 2016 article, Mr Khan said major cities have got to be prepared for these sorts of things. He added: It is my job to try to make sure that we are as safe as we can be. Many supporters of the Trump administration have shared the article since the Westminster attack, with some framing the interview as though it had only just happened. Instead of focussing on the tweet, Mr Khan used his interview with CNN to speak about the ways in which London had responded to the attack. "What I do know is that the threat level in London and across the country is severe, that means an attack is highly likely," Mr Khan said. "Terrorists hate the fact that whether its New York, whether its London, whether its Paris, whether its Brussels, Istanbul, whether its Madrid we have diverse communities living together peacefully getting on with each other, respecting each other. "Weve got a situation where Parliament is returning to normal today, City Hall is returning to normal today, tourists are returning to London today, business are returning to normal today just the things that the terrorists hate. "Im not going to allow terrorists to divide London, to destroy our way of life. We havent in the past, not currently, not in the future." Sadiq Khan responds to Trump Jr's tweets In a later interview with the BBC's Today programme, Mr Khan again refused to comment on Mr Trump's son's criticism. When pressed about the remarks he made in September, he insisted that terrorism should never be accepted. We must never accept terrorists being successful, we must never accept that terrorists can destroy our life or destroy the way we lead our lives, he told host Michelle Hussain. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP We must never accept a situation where people try and divide Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs from each other or from those who are not members of organised faith. "We must never accept a situation where people incite hatred against people because of the faith they belong to. The London mayor, who has organised a vigil in Trafalgar Square to commemorate the victims of the attack, suggested people want to attack London because its citizens do not merely tolerate each other regardless of religion but respect, embrace and celebrate" one another. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Sadiq Khan has addressed Donald Trump Jnrs scathing attack on him in the wake of the Westminster attack. The Presidents eldest child stoked controversy after he criticised the Mayor of London in the immediate aftermath of the incident which killed three people. Trump Jnr shared a link to a six-month-old story by The Independent which quoted Mr Khan saying terror attacks were part and parcel of living in a global city. You have to be kidding me?! Trump Jr said on Twitter. After being asked about Trump Jnrs criticism of him on the Today Programme on Radio Four, Mr Khan sharply said: Im not going to respond to tweets by Donald Trump. It is probable Mr Khan was referring to Mr Trump's son here rather than the president himself. What I will say about this is the threat level in London and our country remains the same: its severe. That means according to experts an attack is highly likely," the London Mayor continued. The commissioner who just retired said last year that as far as an attack was concerned its a question of when not if. Thankfully the police and the security services and the emergency services practise for such incidents. One Im afraid has happened yesterday. The response from the police and the emergency services has been superb. Mr Khan was then pressed about whether we should accept terror attacks as part and parcel of London life but remained insistent terrorism should never be accepted. We must never accept terrorists being successful, we must never accept that terrorists can destroy our life or destroy the way we lead our lives, he told host Michelle Hussain. 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 We must never accept a situation where people try and divide Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs from each other or from those who are not members of organised faith. We must never accept a situation where people incite hatred against people because of the faith they belong to. Londons mayor, who has organised a vigil in Trafalgar Square at 6pm to commemorate victims of the attack, suggested people want to attack London because its citizens do not merely tolerate each other regardless of religion but respect, embrace and celebrate" one another. Mr Khan, the first Muslim to become mayor of a major Western capital, also referred to his own religion saying: As the Mayor of London, I bring many experiences to this job including the faith I belong to and the experiences Ive had growing up in the greatest city in the world. The Metropolitan Police is deploying extra armed and unarmed patrols across the capital to provide protection and reassurance in the aftermath of the tragedy, which investigators are treating as an Islamist-inspired terror attack. It is not clear whether Trump Jnr, an executive of the Trump Organisation, read Mr Khans actual article or was aware the six-month-old piece bore no relation to the Wednesday attack outside the Houses of Parliament before criticising him. In the article, Mr Khan said: Nothing is more important to me than keeping Londoners safe. I want to be reassured that every single agency and individual involved in protecting our city has the resources and expertise they need to respond in the event that London is attacked. Trump Jr, who claimed his fathers comments about grabbing woman by the pussy are typical among some men and are a fact of life last year, is the first child of Mr Trump and Czech former model Ivana Trump. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Syrians being resettled in the UK are to be recognised as refugees by the Government, six years after the country's civil war began. People who have fled Syria and are resettled in Britain under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme (VPRS) will for the first time be granted refugee status, enabling them to access certain rights that have previously been barred to them, including higher education and overseas travel documents. Syrian refugees in the UK have previously been given a special form of leave to remain called Humanitarian Protection, which prevented them from accessing services that are granted to those with refugee status. They faced a three-year wait before being eligible for student finance, which put university out of reach of many, and were also unable to apply for the same travel documents as other refugees, which resulted in Syrians being unable to easily go abroad to visit their family in other countries. In a written ministerial statement published on Wednesday, the Home Secretary said that while the decision to grant Humanitarian Protection rather than Refugee Leave to Syrians fleeing war was right at the time, the Government has since recognised that it did not provide access to particular benefits and decided to grant them refugee status. At the beginning of the scheme, granting Humanitarian Protection allowed us to quickly assist and resettle the most vulnerable. As we have previously said, we have kept the policy under active review, read the statement. We have listened to those who have raised concerns about the consequences, for those we resettle to the UK, of granting Humanitarian Protection rather than Refugee Leave. We have also taken the time to work through the policy and practical implementation issues in detail. The decision to grant Humanitarian Protection was the right one at that time. However, while Humanitarian Protection recognises the need an individual has for international protection, it does not carry the same entitlements as refugee status, in particular, access to particular benefits. We think it is right to change the policy and now is the right time to make this change." The statement said that from 1 July 2017, the Government would be granting those admitted under the VPRS and the VCRS refugee status and five years limited leave, with those who are already resettled under these programmes given the opportunity to make a request to change their status from Humanitarian Protection to refugee status. Campaign groups who have been carrying out behind the scenes lobbying for resettled Syrians to have the same rights as people granted refugee status have welcomed the move, but said the previous policy was "not enough" from the start. Responding to the announcement, Labour peer Baroness Lister, who has been asking questions about why the Government hasn't changed the policy in the House of Lords since the start of the year, told The Independent: Im delighted by the news. Its taken a long time, and theres been quite a lot of behind the scenes pushing and shoving. Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Show all 12 1 /12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man crosses a street in Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A vendor sits inside an antique shop in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors walk inside Aleppo's Umayyad mosque, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk inside the Khan al-Shounah market, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man walks past shops in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk along an alley in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors tour Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A general view shows the Old City of Aleppo as seen from Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk near Aleppo's Bab al-Faraj Clock Tower, Syria October 6, 2010 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man stands inside Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters I can see the argument as to why the Government had originally applied Humanitarian Protection, because things had to move quickly, but they could then have moved faster as evidence was presented to them of the problems that this was creating. This change is very important for those who will benefit from it." Dr Lisa Doyle, director of advocacy at the Refugee Council, a charity that has been campaigning for the change, said: The Refugee Council is delighted that refugees from Syria have finally been recognised as such by the Government. This news will open the door to university for thousands of Syrian refugees and enable people to be able to visit their loved ones in other countries. Its never been enough for the Governments resettlement programme to enable Syrian refugees to simply survive, and everyone stands to benefit from allowing refugees to thrive, integrate into British life and achieve their full potential. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Sadiq Khan has said London will never be cowed by terror as the capital mourns the death of three victims in the Westminster attack. You will see Londoners returning to work whether its in Parliament, whether its in City Hall, whether its in hospitals or businesses across London, because thats who we are, the mayor told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. We are not going to allow these terrorists to cow us, were not going to allow them to change our way of life. Mr Khan paid tribute to PC Keith Palmer and other victims of the attack, which saw a man plough his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing two members of the public. He crashed it into a fence outside the Houses of Parliament, launching himself inside the entrance and fatally stabbing PC Palmer before being shot dead. The Metropolitan Police is deploying extra armed and unarmed patrols across London to provide protection and reassurance in the aftermath of the atrocity, which investigators are treating as an Islamist-inspired terror attack. Mr Khan praised the emergency services for carrying out their work in extremely difficult circumstances, with concrete bollards among the safety measures being deployed. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP He has come under fire over an interview last year where he said the threat of terror attacks were part and parcel of living in a big city and said security services had to be prepared. Well take the precautions weve got to take but remind the world that Londons faced such horrific incidents before, the mayor and former Tooting MP added. We cant allow them to succeed in dividing communities, we will not allow them to destroy our way of life. Were going to be defiant, were going to be resilient, were going to return to work but of course never be complacentwe must never accept terrorist being successful. The mayor also urged the UK not to allow the attack to be used as a means of inciting hatred. Terrorists want to attack London is because they hate the fact that we dont just tolerate each other whether youre a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, member of an organised faith or not, we respect, embrace and celebrate each other and thats going to carry on, he added. A vigil is to be held in Trafalgar Square at 6pm to commemorate the victims of the attack. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Archbishop of Canterbury has hit out at the perverted, nihilistic, despairing view of the terrorist who carried out the Westminster attack on Wednesday. The Most Reverend Justin Welby contrasted it with the devotion shown by those who cared for those injured in the attack. He told the Lords that it was through such care and duty that there was a victory for what's right and good over what is evil, despairing and bad. After the Prime Minister's statement had been repeated in the Lords, the Archbishop said he had received messages of sympathy and support from faith leaders around the world and across the UK overnight. He painted what he described three pictures for peers, the first being of a vehicle being driven across Westminster Bridge by someone who had a perverted, nihilistic, despairing view of objectives of what life is about and society is about that could only be fulfilled by death and destruction. The second, he said, was of that same person a few minutes later... being treated by the very people he had sought to kill. The third was of these two Houses where profound, bitter and angry disagreement is dealt with not with violence, despair or cruelty but with discussion, reason and calmness. The Archbishop said these pictures pointed to deep values of doing what was right and behaving properly where that generosity and extraordinary sense of duty leads people to treat a terrorist is shown, where that bravery of someone like Pc (Keith) Palmer is demonstrated, that there is a victory for what is right and good over what is evil, despairing and bad. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP That was shown yesterday. That is shown not just in our expression of values but in our practices which define those values and that is the mood we must show in the future, he added, to cheers of support from a packed chamber. Press Association Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Governments standards watchdog is to launch an investigation into MPs second jobs and other outside interests, it has announced. The Committee on Standards in Public Life made the announcement on Thursday following the row over the appointment of George Osborne as the editor of the Evening Standard newspaper. Mr Osborne was criticised taking up the editorship of the capitals newspaper alongside another advisory role at the BlackRock finance and a third on the lucrative speaking circuit all quite remaining MP for Tatton. Lord Bew, Chair of the independent Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: The Committee met today and discussed the subject of MPs outside interests. We will make a further submission on reasonable limits for outside interests to the Commons Committee on Standards on-going inquiry into the Code of Conduct for MPs. We will be holding a short review to inform our submission. Given the public interest in these issues, we welcome contributions from all interested parties. The Terms of Reference will be available on our website next week. He added: It is for the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, and the House of Commons Committee on Standards to rule on individual cases. The announcement by the Committee did not mention Mr Osborne or the Evening Standard by name. Evgeny Lebedev, who owns both the Evening Standard and The Independent, defended the appointment last week. Sad old commentariat. Wait and see his paper before judging, he said. Frankly George Osborne will provide more effective opposition to the Government than the current Labour Party. And will stand up for the interests of London and Londoners. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images 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 Robert Barrington, executive director of Transparency International UK, however accused Mr Osborne of damaging the reputation of parliament and democracy at a critical time in the country's history. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Home Secretary Amber Rudd has urged people not to point the finger of blame at the intelligence services for the Westminster terror attack. Suspect Khalid Masood was known to MI5 and had been investigated in relation to concerns about violent extremism some years ago, Theresa May told MPs today. Her comments raised the question of whether investigations into Masood had been dropped too soon and whether he should have been under surveillance. Recommended Westminster attacker was known to police But Ms Rudd said it would be absolutely the wrong judgment to conclude that the tragedy was the result of an intelligence failure. I think we have to be careful before we point any finger of blame at the intelligence services. They do a fantastic job, she told the BBC. The fact that he was known to them doesn't mean that someone has 24 hour cover. I think we'll discover more about this particular man and the people around him but I'm in no doubt that the intelligence services are doing a great job. Asked if the admission that Masood was known to the security services was evidence of a clear intelligence failure, Ms Rudd replied: I think that would be absolutely the wrong judgment to make. I'm confident that as we get more information - and I really can't be drawn any further on it at the moment - that we will learn more and take comfort from the information that we have and the work that the intelligence services do. The Home Secretary confirmed that Masood had spent time in jail, but pointed out it was not for terrorist-related offences. All I can tell you is what the police have said so far which is that he was someone known to them but that he was on the periphery of the intelligence agencies, she told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg. I think we'll hear more from them in due course but we have to remember that this man was known to them partially because he had been in jail but not for terrorist offences. Ms Rudd cast doubt on Islamic State's claim Masood was a soldier of the so-called terror group, also known as Daesh. We all know Daesh, we all know that they want to have a terrorist attack in the UK. We know that Daesh have tried to claim some responsibility. We don't know that yet, but what we do know is that they want to exploit it by putting fear into people and saying it was all about them. We will see. The Home Secretary said she did not believe new legislation or extra resources were needed to help the security services prevent a repeat of the atrocity. I think that the Government and the country has the tools that it needs to combat terrorism, said Ms Rudd. We have the right legislation, we have the right programmes and we have the right support. I don't think it would be right now to have some knee-jerk reaction and introduce something new. Asked if police and security agencies needed more funds, she replied: I am absolutely confident they have what they need. We have actually increased the counter-terrorism budget. We've increased the amount of funding for the armed uplift for policing. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May faced a call to arm all police officers at Parliament and other targets, as she confirmed a review to beef up security following the terror attack. PC Keith Palmer, who was stabbed to death in the shadow of Big Ben, was not carrying a firearm as is the case with many officers stationed around the Parliamentary estate. Two armed plain clothed officers quickly arrived at the scene, shooting dead his attacker just a few yards away, within a few seconds of the stabbing. Delivering her statement, the Prime Minister emphasised to MPs that the security measures had worked, because the man had been quickly stopped. In terms of security here in Westminster, we should be clear first of all that an attacker attempted to break into Parliament and was shot dead within twenty yards of the gates, Ms May said. If his intention was to gain access to this building, we should be clear that he did not succeed. The police heroically did their job. But Theresa Villiers, a former Northern Ireland secretary, suggested it was time for all police who patrol areas known to be of interest to terrorists to be armed. As we reflect on what happened, is it time to consider whether the police who guard sensitive sites known to be of interest to terrorists, like Parliament, or like airports, should routinely carry personal protection weapons, even when those officers are not part of the units formally tasked with armed response? she asked. In response, Ms May said the level of security had been enhanced significantly over her 20 years in Parliament. As to whether individual officers undertaking particular duties are routinely armed, that is an operational matter for the police themselves, she added. They are the best able to judge the circumstances in which it is best for individuals to have those arms, but of course we have seen a significant increase in the number of armed response vehicles, the number of counter terrorism specialists, firearms officers. Earlier, the Prime Minister confirmed that the police, the Parliamentary authorities and the Cabinet Office were jointly reviewing security, but described that as routine. Early today, extra concrete blocks were delivered to Parliament as the first visible sign of the extra security measures planned. The review is certain to focus on the obvious weak spot of Carriage Gates, facing onto Parliament Square, through which the killer of PC Palmer entered. The officers there are not armed, but instead present a friendly face to tourists, helping them to take photos of Big Ben. Armed officers sometimes stand behind them. Because it is used by cars carrying ministers and staff with permits to park underneath New Palace Yard, the heavy gates are frequently wide open. There are no airport-style checks, as there are at other Parliamentary entrances, including those at St Stephens Gate and Portcullis House, which houses most MPs offices. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The powerful watchdog that scrutinises the intelligence services is set to probe whether officials properly handled the case of Westminster attacker Khalid Masood. Sources close to Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee told The Independent there would likely be a big investigation into whether the 52-year-old killer should have been better monitored after it emerged he was known to agents. They added that there would be a particular focus on whether lessons have been learnt from errors found in the way security services operated in the run up to the brutal murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in 2013. Recommended Defiant Londoners return to work after Westminster terror attack Concerns were also raised as to whether parliamentary security is adequately staffed, following a sizeable drop in the number of firearm-trained officers employed by the Metropolitan Police. It was reported that the officer who shot Masood, ending his rampage, was actually Defence Secretary Michael Fallons personal bodyguard, who was only on the scene coincidentally. Theresa May told MPs in the Commons on Thursday that while Masood was known to security services, his case was historic and that officers did not believe him to be part of the current intelligence picture. Later in the day Home Secretary Amber Rudd said it would be wrong to say there had been an intelligence failure. However, an official close to the ISC said: [Masood] had at one point been looked at by the intelligence and security services, but obviously it had gone dormant. That sometimes happens with these cases. Westminster attacker named as Khalid Masood There is going to be a big investigation on this. It is always a worry for the intelligence and security services, when it comes to dropping cases, but they cant follow them all up. At the end of the day they have to take a decision on each one, and they will now want a proper investigation of who knew what and when. The committee is due to meet next week where the question as to whether it should launch an investigation or not will be raised. The group, chaired by former attorney general Dominic Grieve and filled with cross-party politicians from the Commons and Lords, can choose to launch an inquiry itself or it might be asked by Ms May to take the work on. In 2014 the committee conducted a far-reaching inquiry into the murder of Lee Rigby, killed a year earlier by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale on the streets of Woolwich. The committee insider said: It was a case, once again, where the people who had killed him had been looked at by the security services and there were recommendations. It would be a fair assumption to say that the committee would look back at those recommendations with regards to this case. The 2014 report discovered a number of errors and made criticisms where processes were not being followed or decisions not recorded. Who are the victims of the Westminster attack? The report concluded the errors did not necessarily mean Fusilier Rigbys murder could have been prevented, but it called for better procedures. It also highlighted the challenge of monitoring every single individual of potential interest that comes before the intelligence services. The report said: Clearly, MI5 must focus primarily on the highest priority individuals. However, that leaves a large group of individuals who may also pose a risk to national security, but who are not under active investigation. Previous attempts by MI5 and the police to manage this group have failed: We have not yet seen any evidence that the new programme, established in late 2013, will be any better. This is an important issue and the committee will continue to take a close interest in it in order to ensure that the necessary improvements are made. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP In a statement to MPs, Ms May said Masood was once investigated in relation to concerns about violent extremism, but said he was a peripheral figure. She added: The case is historic. He was not part of the current intelligence picture. There was no prior intelligence of his intent or of the plot. Asked later if there had been a failure of intelligence, cabinet minister Ms Rudd said: I think that would be absolutely the wrong judgement to make. Im confident that as we get more information and I really cant be drawn any further on it at the moment that we will learn more and take comfort from the information that we have and the work that the intelligence services do. Scotland Yard later said Masood had previous convictions for assaults, including GBH, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. Westminster terror attacker had been investigated by MI5 over violent extremism His first conviction was in November 1983 for criminal damage and his last conviction was in December 2003 for possession of a knife. He had not been convicted of any terrorism offences, but had been known by a number of aliases. Also in the Commons, former cabinet minister Theresa Villiers suggested it was time for all police who patrol areas known to be of interest to terrorists to be armed. Ms May argued that the level of security in Westminster had been enhanced significantly over her 20 years in Parliament, and that questions over whether individual officers should be routinely armed is an operational matter for the police. Parliament holds a minute-long silence in memory of the victims of the Westminster attack But former Met senior investigating officer Peter Kirkham raised concerns that there might have been a fall in the number of armed guards at the gates of Parliament where the Westminster attacker struck. He said: Im beginning to hear that theres been a reduction [of armed officers] at the Houses of Parliament. Hence there wasnt armed officers specifically on that gate yesterday, it was in the presence of that yard. Weve heard that it was a protection officer that just happened to be there by chance. Reports emerged on Thursday that the individual who shot Masood was Mr Fallons Met close protection officer, raising questions as to whether another armed guard would have been on the scene if he were not. Police officers stand guard on Victoria Embankment following yesterday's attack in London, England (ge) The Met said it would not be appropriate to confirm the identity of any officer involved in a fatal firearms incident. But his intervention comes against the backdrop of broader falling numbers of firearms officers in the whole of London. Official Home Office figures show they dropped by a quarter, from a high of 2,856 in 2010, to 2,139 last year. A source from Parliaments Joint Committee on Security told The Independent there had been no recent discussion about a reduction in the number of armed officers at Westminster. Any such reduction would need to be considered first by the committee, the source said, which is chaired by Deputy Leader of the Commons Lindsay Hoyle. If there was a recommendation to cut the number of armed officers on the frontline at Parliament, we would be told about it, he added. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Britain will not be cowed by the threat of terrorism in its cities, the Prime Minister has said, following an attack on Parliament in which four people died. In tributes in the House of Commons this morning Theresa May said the attacker, who has since been named as Khalid Masood, 52, did not succeed in getting past Parliaments gates and that police did their job heroically. We know the threat from Islamist terrorism is very real. But while the public should remain utterly vigilant, they should not and will not be cowed by this threat, the Prime Minister told MPs. She said the act of terrorism had tried to silence our democracy, but pledged: We are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism. She continued: The greatest response lies not in the words of politicians, but in the everyday actions of ordinary people. For beyond these walls today, in scenes repeated in towns and cities across the country, millions of people are going about their days and getting on with their lives Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn thanked public servants for their work respond to the attack, and in particular noted a Conservative MP who had gone beyond the call of duty. As the Prime Minister said, when dangerous and violent incidents take place, we all instinctively run away from them, for our own safety, he said. The police and emergency services run towards them. We are grateful for the public service yesterday, today and every day that they pull on their uniforms to protect us all. I want to express our admiration to [Tobias Ellwood], whose efforts yesterday deserve special commendation. He used his skills to try to save life. Mr Corbyn also paid tribute to Keith Palmer, the police officer who was stabbed dead in the attack, and to the police and security services who keep us safe every day on the Parliamentary estate. He also echoed similar sentiments to the Prime Minister, arguing that the UK must not allow fear or the voices of hatred to divide or cower us. PC Palmer, the slain police officer served as a reservist from August 1987 to August 2001, leaving as a bombardier, and had 15 years of service in the police. Conservative MP James Cleverly, who had met the Pc 25 years ago as part of Battery 100 Regiment, Royal Artillery, paid a tearful tribute to his late comrade. He was a strong, professional public servant and it was a delight to meet him again only a few months after being elected, he said. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Four people including the suspected attacker and a police officer died in Wednesdays attack. At least 40 others were injured in the attack, with seven reported to be in a critical condition. Police have arrested eight people in raids, and have said the attacker was British, known to the security services, but not part of the current intelligence picture. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A former senior London police officer has raised concerns that there was a reduction in the number of armed guards at the gates of Parliament where the Westminster attacker struck. Peter Kirkham pointed to reports that the officer who gunned down attacker Khalid Masood was the personal bodyguard of Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who it is claimed was only on the scene coincidentally. His intervention raises questions over whether the knifeman who stabbed and killed unarmed PC Keith Palmer on Wednesday, may have killed more had the bodyguard not been on hand. It also comes against a backdrop of a 25 per cent fall in the number of Metropolitan Police firearms officers since 2010. After Prime Minister Theresa May stood in the House of Commons and told how the Government has boosted police spending, former Met senior investigating officer Mr Kirkham refuted her claim. He said: Im beginning to hear that theres been a reduction [of armed officers] at the Houses of Parliament. Hence there wasnt armed officers specifically on that gate yesterday, it was in the presence of that yard. Weve heard that it was a protection officer that just happened to be there by chance. Mr Kirkham added on Sky News: The security of the Houses of Parliament is going to be reviewed, what really needs to be reviewed is the levels of policing in the whole of the country. PM responds to Westminster attacks A source on Parliament's Joint Committee on Security told The Independent there had been no recent discussion about a reduction in the number of armed officers at Westminster. Any such reduction would need to be considered first by the committee, the source said, which is chaired by Deputy Leader of the Commons Lindsay Hoyle. If there was a recommendation to cut the number of armed officers on the frontline at Parliament, we would be told about it, he added. But reports emerged on Thursday that the individual who shot the assailant on Wednesday was Mr Fallons Met close protection officer, raising questions as to whether another armed guard would have been on the scene if he were not. The Met said it would not be appropriate to confirm the identity of any officer involved in a fatal firearms incident. Official Home Office figures show that the number of Metropolitan firearms officers dropped by a quarter, from a high of 2,856 in 2010, to 2,139 by last year. Westminster falls silent in memory of terror attack victims Speaking in the Commons on Thursday morning, the Prime Minister said: Following the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, we protected the police budgets for counter-terrorism and committed to increase cross-government spending on counter-terrorism by 30 per cent in real terms over the course of this Parliament. And over the next five years we will invest an extra 2.5bn in building our global security and intelligence network, employing over 1900 additional staff at MI5, MI6 and GCHQ and more than doubling our global network of counter-terrorism experts working with priority countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. She went on: In terms of security here in Westminster, we should be clear first of all that an attacker attempted to break into Parliament and was shot dead within twenty yards of the gates. If his intention was to gain access to this building, we should be clear that he did not succeed. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May stayed up long into the night after Wednesdays terror attack, calling the leaders of countries whose citizens were injured. The Prime Ministers spokesman confirmed she had already spoken to the US, German, French and Romanian leaders and still had a list to get through on Thursday. Ms May confirmed in the House of Commons that citizens of 11 nations were injured, some who were children, others who were badly hurt, after the attacker careered down the pavement of Westminster Bridge and crashed his car into the perimeter fence of Parliament. The incident occurred while Ms May was still in the House of Commons, but once she was whisked to safety she took control of the situation, chairing an emergency meeting of the COBR committee. Officials confirmed on Thursday that she had also called US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also attended the Commons on Thursday to listen to Ms Mays statement, standing at the start of the session to show solidarity with MPs. The Prime Minister told the Commons: At approximately 2.40pm yesterday, a single attacker drove his vehicle at speed into innocent pedestrians who were crossing Westminster Bridge, killing two people and injuring around 40 more. In addition to twelve Britons admitted to hospital, we know that the victims include three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Irish, one Chinese, one Italian, one American and two Greeks. And we are in close contact with the governments of the countries of all those affected. She also confirmed that the Westminster attacker was born in Britain and had previously been investigated for suspected extremism by MI5. The Prime Minister said the probe took place several years ago and that the unnamed suspect was not part of the current intelligence picture. Westminster attack: Theresa May vows Britain will never give in to terror Overnight raids in Birmingham and London have resulted in the arrest of eight people and intensive investigations continue as the police presence is stepped up nationwide. Aysha Frade was the second victim named following Wednesdays attack, where PC Keith Palmer was stabbed to death outside the Houses of Parliament. She and another member of the public, a man in his 50s, died of injuries sustained on Westminster Bridge as an attacker sped his car along the pavement. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Muslim-led campaign to raise money to support the families of victims of the Westminster terror attack has seen donations soar above 3,000 an hour after launching. Muslims United for London saw donations flood in immediately after launching the online donations page. The funds will be used to support victims and victims families of the terror attack in Westminster on Wednesday in which four people died and 40 injured. Woman fell into Thames after being hit by car, now in stable condition Those killed include a police officer on duty outside Parliament, who was named as PC Keith Palmer, 48, and Aysha Frade, a Spanish teacher who worked at DLD College London. In a statement Muslims United for London said: The British Muslim community stands with the community during these difficult times and extends their support in raising funds to help with the immediate, short-term needs of the families of Keith Palmer, the other victims and the families of the victims. While no amount of money will bring back lives lost or take away from the pain the victims and their families are going through, we hope to lessen their burden in some way. Muddassar Ahmed, who launched the page, told ITV last night he had seen the aftermath of the attack from his office window. I was in a meeting and suddenly my phone started going off and people started calling me. We looked out of the window and we saw a scene of horror. It was so shocking and completely out of the blue, he said. Its something you hear about, but never expect to experience. The group said 100 per cent of funds collected through this campaign will go to the victims and the families of the victims most affected by the tragic events that unfolded on March 22, 2017, in our community. The campaign comes as Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, has called for increased security outside Mosques. In a statement he said: The terrorists aim to divide communities, the far right are doing the work of these terrorist groups by perpetuating the division and hatred, but as British citizens, we will continue to work to bring people together and defeat the ideology of violence. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Sadly, after such terrorist atrocities innocent Muslims and our Mosques are deliberately targeted as acts of Muslim hatred, we need to remain vigilant and resolute to not allow anyone to divide our communities. I want to pay tribute to PC Keith Palmer killed yesterday in the line of service defending our democracy; we pay tribute to him and offer our prayers, condolences and solidarity to his family and friends. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Justice Secretary Liz Truss has been subjected to a scathing two-pronged attack by the most senior judge in England and Wales after her failure to defend three judges smeared as enemies of the people in the wake of a high court ruling on Article 50. Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd also criticised Ms Truss for misleading the public after she incorrectly announced new rules for rape victims who are providing evidence at trial. Regarding the High Courts November 2016 Brexit ruling, in which three judges ruled that Parliament, not the Prime Minister, must trigger Article 50 in order to start the UKs exit from the European Union, Lord Thomas said Ms Truss was completely and utterly wrong by keeping a near-silence in the face of a torrent of abuse directed at the judiciary. At the time, The Daily Mail front page called the judges enemies of the people, while The Daily Telegraph ran with: The judges versus the people. The three judges were subsequently met with a wave of personal vitriol. Lord Thomas told Lords Constitution Committee: The circuit judges were very concerned. They wrote to the Lord Chancellor because litigants in person were coming and saying youre an enemy of the people. It is the only time in the whole of my judicial career that I have had to ask for the police to give us a measure of advice and protection [for Gina Miller, the lead claimant in the case] in relation to the emotions that were being stirred up. Former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Igor Judge, said at the time that Ms Trusss silence constituted a very serious failing in her legal obligations: She is in relative terms a very inexperienced politician with no legal experience, who has been silent, and answered to Downing Street when she should have been independent. Lord Thomas said it was Trusss explicit duty as Lord Chancellor to defend the judges. He said: I regret to have to criticise her as severely as I have, but to my mind she was completely and absolutely wrong. And I am very disappointed, he said. I can understand how the pressures were on in November, but she has taken a position that is constitutionally, absolutely wrong. Ms Truss said she supported the freedom of the press, later adding: I think it is dangerous for a government minister to say, this is an acceptable headline and this isnt an acceptable headline. Lord Thomas told peers: There is a difference between criticism and abuse, and I dont think that is understood. I dont think its understood either how absolutely essential it is that we are protected. According to The Guardian, a Ministry of Justice spokesman said: An independent judiciary is the cornerstone of the rule of law, and it is the duty of the Lord Chancellor to defend that independence. The Lord Chancellor takes that duty very seriously. She has been very clear that she supports the independence of the judiciary, but that she also believes in a free press, where newspapers are free to publish, within the law, their views. Rape trial reforms Lord Thomas also criticised Ms Trusss department for putting out inaccurate information about a pilot scheme to allow rape victims to provide pre-recorded testimonies. Last week the Ministry of Justice published an announcement saying that following the successful pilot of the scheme, victims of sex attacks will soon be able to have their cross-examination pre-recorded before trial, across the whole country. This was incorrect. The pilot schemes which had taken place in Kingston-upon-Thames, Leeds and Liverpool Crown Court are the only ones which will be extended to include adult sex assault victims. Lord Thomas said: There was a complete failure to understand the impracticalities of any of this. The Ministry of Justice is under-resourced. They do not have enough people to understand. Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Show all 13 1 /13 Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Supreme Court Brexit Challenge People wait to enter the public gallery outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private arrives at the Supreme court in London on the first day of a four-day hearing Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waves the EU flag in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Satirical artist Kaya Mar poses with two of his paintings in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin. The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Businesswoman Gina Miller arrives at the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Attorney General Jeremy Wright arrives at the Supreme Court in London EPA Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Protesters outside the Supreme Court in London, where the Government is appealing against a ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs' approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union PA wire Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protesters wearing a judge's wigs and robes stands outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protester holds up a placard outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waiting to enter the public gallery waves a European Union flag outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters In order to rectify Ms Trusss inaccurate announcement, Lord Thomas wrote to senior judges to correct the misleading impression, the Ministry of Justice had given. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Rival pro-EU campaign groups are sending out mixed messages about whether a planned anti-Brexit demonstration will go ahead in London on Saturday. The March for Europe had long been planned to assemble at Park Lane, moving to Westminster seeking to emulate a demonstration after the referendum last summer attended by tens of thousands of people. However the European Movement, which is chaired by former Tory MP Stephen Dorrell, has told its supporters to stay away at the last minute because of the burden that the march might place on police in the aftermath of Wednesdays terror attack. In discussions with the police it has been made clear to us that although they will not prevent the march going ahead, it represents an enormous burden at a time when they need to concentrate on the investigation into the terrorist attack in Westminster, Mr Dorrell said in a message to the groups email list. It is with sadness that we want to advise you not to travel on Saturday as we do not wish to add to that burden. Mr Dorrell said he hoped that another march could be arranged on another day. The claim that the march was off was immediately disputed by another campaign group, Unite for Europe, however. A message posted on that groups website said: We have spoken to the police and the GLA. We can confirm that the march will go ahead. All plans remain the same. We will only move to our contingency if the police are still investigating the crime scene come Saturday. Our contingency will include the same march start point and time with an alternate end point nearby. The group added that it would not be intimidated and would observe a period of silence for the victims of Wednesdays attack. The row spilled over onto social media, with rival Twitter accounts promoting the march initially at loggerheads about whether it was going ahead. 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 The rows led to accusations by some supporters of the march that "fake" disinformation was being spread about whether the march was going ahead or not. One separate conspiracy theory suggested that the European Movement's statement was faked; however this has been verified by The Independent. The march comes just days ahead of the planned triggering of Article 50 by Theresa May. MPs and peers passed a bill to give the Prime Minister the power to formally start EU negotiations last week. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Serjeant-at-Arms arrived with the mace. There were the usual prayers, then a minutes silence then the business of the house, albeit not quite as usual. One by one they rose to say the same, noble thing. To speak of our values, to praise a man killed in the service of his country. Killed protecting parliament, protecting parliamentary democracy. Many members sat with their faces set in masks of defiance, diligently nodding along with every repeated sentiment, of how our values will long outlast theirs, and quite right too. But one mans face was not defiant. James Cleverly stared straight ahead as if in a trance. His lower lip curled upward. His entire countenance pointed toward the floor. An army major, and an MP since 2015, he sat behind the Prime Minister as she praised PC Keith Palmer, a man she called every inch a hero. Recommended Woman who fell into the Thames during terror attack is named But when he rose to speak, James Cleverly did not speak of a hero, but of a mate. With your indulgence sir, Id like to turn to PC Keith Palmer, he said. Who I first met as Gunner Keith Palmer, twenty five years ago, at Headquarters Battery, 100 Regiment, Artillery. He was a strong, professional, public servant. It was then that his voice cracked. It was a delight to meet him again, a few months after being elected. There was an inescapable sense that he had more to say, but knew the words would not come. He asked the Prime Minister to consider a posthumous recognition of the work he did, and returned to his seat. She said she would do so. They queued up to call it business as usual. One read out a picture circulating online, a mockup of a London Underground sign politely telling terrorists that this is London and we will drink tea and jolly well carry on as usual. But its not business as usual. Not really. Tobias Ellwood, the member for Bournemouth East, who spent yesterday afternoon on his knees beneath Big Ben seeking to revive PC Palmer, stood upright by the entrance way. Each time his heroics were praised he glanced at his feet. A hero perhaps, and yes, he has arrived at work the next day to carry on as normal. But he knows the paramedics who worked with him, trying to save a life are off elsewhere this morning, trying to save someone elses. Where they worked there is a blue tent. Workers in white forensic suits are gathering evidence. But that is not to doubt the defiance. When the Serjeant-at-Arms arrives at the end of the day to take the mace away again, the final item on the order paper, the last subject to have been discussed in the oldest parliament in the world? The Rattys Lane Incinerator at Hoddesdon. As fitting a tribute as any. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Prime Minister has said it is wrong to describe the terror attack on Westminster Bridge and Parliament on Wednesday as Islamic terrorism. Following her statement in the House of Commons on Thursday morning Theresa May was asked by Conservative MP Michael Tomlinson whether she agreed that the term was inappropriate. He asked her: It is reported that what happened yesterday was an act of Islamic terror. Will the Prime Minister agree with me that what happened was not Islamic, just as the murder of Airey Neave was not Christian, and that in fact both are perversions of religion? Ms May replied that she believed it was not right to use the term, suggesting that such ideology was perversion. I absolutely agree, and it is wrong to describe this as Islamic terrorism, she said. It is Islamist terrorism, it is a perversion of a great faith. Mr Tomlinsons question referred to the killing of a Conservative MP by the Irish National Liberation Army in 1979 by car bomb attack at the House of Commons. In making her statement Ms May appeared to correct her Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who this morning said there was a working assumption that the attack was linked to Islamic terrorism. It was no accident that this attack was on Westminster, because it is at Westminster that we debate differences, very sharp differences, very freely and respectfully between us, and this kind of Islamic terrorism doesnt respect those differences, so it is no accident that there was an attack here, he had said in a statement. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Four people including the suspected attacker and a police officer died in Wednesdays attack. At least 40 others were injured in the attack, with seven reported to be in a critical condition. Police have arrested eight people in raids, and have said the attacker was British, known to the security services, but not part of the current intelligence picture. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} There is now more than circumstantial evidence the member's of Donald Trumps campaign team colluding with Russia to disrupt the presidential election, a leading Democrat has claimed. Adam Schiff, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told US broadcaster MSNBC that there was evidence very much worth of investigation, but he refused to elaborate on what that might be. I can tell you that the case is more than that, the California congressman said. And I cant go into the particulars, but there is more than circumstantial evidence now. I dont want to go into specifics, but I will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of investigation, so that is what we ought to do. Asked by host Chuck Todd is he had seen direct evidence of collusion, he refused to expand on his previous statement. His comments came within days of FBI director James Comey's admission that the Bureau was looking into both Russias alleged interference with the 2016 election and also possible links between Moscow and members of Donald Trumps campaign team. Mr Schiff questioned Mr Comey when he appeared before politicians earlier this week, although one prominent newspaper described his performance as more labradoodle than Doberman. Other congressional committees also are investigating a possible Russian connection mostly behind closed doors. The US government alleged last summer that Russian intelligence had tried to interfere with the presidential election, in an apparent attempt to help Mr Trump. This included hacking into the emails of senior members of Hillary Clintons team and the Democratic National Committee. In late December, Mr Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats in punishment for the alleged interference. Vladimir Putin surprised many by deciding not to reciprocate. Mr Trump has long rejected the claim that Russia had came to his assistance. Moscow also denied the allegations. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump's relationship with the truth has been called into question again after he made a series of unfounded claims in a magazine interview. Speaking to Time, the US President challenged his interviewer to "name what's wrong" before offering a string of examples where he said he had been proven correct. What am I going to tell you? I tend to be right, he added. Im an instinctual person, I happen to be a person that knows how life works. Mr Trump claimed he had predicted Brexit the day before it happened. In fairness to the US leader, he had called the result in March interview, but on 22 June he told Fox Business: I dont think anybody should listen to me because I havent really focused on it very much. My inclination would be to get out, because you know, just go it alone. The US leader also claimed he predicted the terrorist attack in Brussels, when what he actually said was that Brussels is a hellhole. He went on to defend his claim that hundreds of Muslims had celebrated on 9/11 by saying he read it in The Washington Post. The story in question said police were looking into a select few incidents. Perhaps more concerning was Mr Trump continuing to insist that 3 million people had voted illegally in the 2016 election. Suggesting that the number could be even higher, he said many of people registered incorrectly, and/or illegally, but he did not specify what registering incorrectly means. Calling himself an instinctual person, Mr Trump boasted about predicting his own electoral victory. He went as far as to claim he and his team thought we were going to win the night of the election." But a week after the vote Mr Trump told supporters in Wisconsin that he really assumed I lost on election night. I got a call from my daughter at about 5 oclock, and she was called by people in their business, he told the crowd that night. And her husband, Jared, great guy, he was called. Then they called me and they said: Im sorry, Dad. It looks really bad. Looks really, really bad. The President also contradicted himself when discussing his statements on Sweden. At a campaign rally in February, Mr Trump made a passing reference to what happened Friday night in Sweden. It was later revealed that nothing had happened that night in Sweden and the US leader was widely mocked by some of the country's citizens on social media. Mr Trump later claimed that he had been referencing a Fox News report about the country that had aired the night before his speech. In the Time interview, however, Mr Trump claimed he was talking about the situation in Sweden general. Im talking about what Sweden has done to themselves is very sad, that is what I am talking about, he told the magazine. That is what I am talking about. You can phrase it any way you want. Throughout the interview, Mr Trump returned to his controversial claim that Barack Obama had ordered a wiretaps be placed in Trump Tower in the lead up to the presidential election. Citing House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes claim that Mr Trump had been subject to incidental surveillance, the President said his accusations were right. Asked about Trumps wiretapping allegations later, however, Mr Nunes responded: "That never happened." To back up his claim, Mr Trump cited a New York Times article on alleged surveillance. That story, Wiretapped data used in inquiry of Trump aides," said the FBI had intercepted some calls from Trump associates. It never mentioned any kind of surveillance much less wiretapping of Mr Trump himself. In a final pitch to showcase his great instincts", Mr Trump predicted he would once again grace the cover of Time magazine after the interview. But instead, against a black backdrop, it bears the simple question: Is truth dead? Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Trump administration is still short on votes to repeal and replace Obamacare and the vote has been postponed until at 24 March. If 23 Republicans dissent, the American Health Care Act will not pass the House of Representatives. We've made very reasonable requests and we're hopeful that those reasonable requests will be listened to and ultimately agreed to, head of the dissenting Republican Freedom Caucus Representative Mark Meadows said after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House. The vote count estimates range from 29 to 36 Republicans who have said they cannot support the bill in its current form, according to the New York Times, Washington Post, CBS News, NBC News, and The Hill. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer called the meeting with dissenters "intense". One option for Congress is to reschedule the House vote, although the White House have said they expect the vote to go ahead and have not asked House Speaker Paul Ryan to delay the vote Daniel Dawes, a health care attorney and director of government affairs at the Morehouse School of Medicine, told The Independent that not rescheduling the vote is a matter of pride...making a statement. The seventh anniversary of Obamacare is 23 March. Vice President Pence and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney have been flooding the Hill, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has said during a briefing in efforts to convince members of the Freedom Caucus. They have been making concessions to get people on board but Mr Dawes said these were just empty promises because the bill came up through the reconciliation process. This process assures that Democrats cannot filibuster the bill by Democrats in the Senate, where the bill would go for vote once it passes the House. How repealing Obamacare would affect these Louisiana voters However, it also limits the amendments the White House can place on the bill because of Byrds Rule, part of Senate rules that prohibits including provisions in reconciliation legislation are not germane to spending, revenue levels, or the debt limit, according to Mr Dawes. It means that if the White House has made promises on language around abortion, the requirement that able-bodied poor people on Medicaid would be required to work in order to get coverage under the plan, covering those with pre-existing conditions, and allowing those under 26 years of age to remain on their parents insurance - they would be stripped away if/when the bill reaches the Senate. One of the main concerns for the Freedom Caucus is taking out the Obamacare holdover of essential health benefits, which requires insurance companies to provide a set of issues covered for all beneficiaries in the individual market. These benefits include mental health and substance abuse counselling, maternal and newborn care, womens health screenings, and paediatric care to name a few. The argument is that requiring insurance companies to cover these items for everyone drives up the cost of premiums. Mr Dawes, who worked with universal healthcare advocate late Senator Ted Kennedy, explained that indeed the essential health benefits clause does drive up premiums but the service coverage is meant to be preventative. However, he said, we found that most Americans were under-buying what they need. So eventually, they would need to purchase new plans or supplemental insurance to account for unexpected illnesses, accidents requiring physical therapy, or pregnancy, Mr Dawes said. Their premiums could go up on the back end more than if insurance companies had been required to cover those items in the first place, so eliminating the clause would only help Republicans get a better score from the Congressional Budget Office which rates proposed bills. A separate bill passed the House on 22 March regarding association health plans, which was originally part of the larger Republican replacement plan. According to Mr Dawes it was likely left out because it would have driven up the overall cost of the replacement plan. Under the new bill, small business owners can pool their employees and approach insurance companies as a small group to negotiate for better rates on premiums - the thinking is that a larger pool of people drives down cost. Those people within that association will see lower premiums, however they are decreasing the overall pool within that particular state. If enough small businesses take advantage of this scheme, the premiums of others in the state market will go up because they are now in a smaller pool. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has defended some of the wild claims he has made in his short political career amid questions over his credibility, saying, I guess I cant be doing so badly, because Im President, and youre not. The interview with Time magazine was a rare moment of media access to Mr Trump for a publication that is not considered right-leaning. Instead of squarely addressing Times question regarding the reputation of the White House and his relationship with the intelligence community, Mr Trump was evasive and would only say repeatedly that he inherited a mess. Recommended Republicans demand Trump retracts Obama wiretap allegation According to Mr Trump the mess includes the situations in North Korea and the Middle East, inaccurate national employment statistics, and trade. I inherited a mess with jobs, despite the statistics, you know, my statistics are even better, but they are not the real statistics because you have millions of people that cant get a job, OK, Mr Trump said. There has been no evidence to suggest the statistics issued by the Department of Labor are incorrect. 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 FBI director James Comey gave explosive testimony in front of Congress on 20 March, stating that his agency had no information to verify Mr Trumps accusations on Twitter that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower in New York during the 2016 presidential campaign. Mr Trumps response to the question of whether he believes Mr Comey was typical of his rhetoric with the members of the press. I know you are going to write a bad article because you always do[but] wiretap data used in inquiry of Trump aides. OK... Front page, January 20th. Now in their second editions, they took it all down under the internet, Mr Trump said referring to The New York Times articles on the subject. He did not elaborate or clarify further and instead pivoted to blame leakers in the government possibly in his own administration that leaked information on Former Director of National Intelligence Michael Flynn and Mr Trumps conversations with Mexico and Australia. When asked if he was worried if the claims he is making about wiretapping, statistics, and being wrong on other issues would hurt his credibility, Mr Trump said: Name whats wrong! I mean, honestly. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} For once, the former US Vice President wasn't the "Biden" everyone wanted to see. Instead, Joe Biden had to play second fiddle to a four-month-old Golden Retriever puppy bearing his name. The pair met at protest against the dismantling of Obamacare outside the Capitol Building in Washington DC, after the veteran politician spotted the creature in the crowd and started "cracking up". Recommended Joe Biden returns to politics to protest for Obamacare Wandering over Mr Biden started kissing the puppy and his namesake was quick to reciprocate. I named the dog Biden just because he is probably my favourite politician and favourite elected official, his owner Sydney told BuzzFeed News. She declined to give her surname. I really respect Joe Biden even though I don't necessarily align with him politically," she added. "As soon as he saw the dog during the actual speech, he pointed at the dog, tapped his friend and then started like cracking up. Right towards the end, I, like, kind of signalled him, and he, like, gave me a wink to come over. Trump says 'Obamacare is dead' as he prepares to repeal and replace healthcare act As soon as I told him his name was Biden, he started kissing the dog, which is like exactly what I expected Biden would do. As soon as I told him [that the dogs name was Biden], his face lit up. The 74-year-old was making his first major public appearance since leaving the White House in what served as both a protest and an anniversary celebration of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. A recent Congressional Budget Office estimate predicted that the Republicans new replacement healthcare bill will save $337 billion (227 billion) over a decade. But it will also mean an estimated 24 million more Americans will lose healthcare coverage and 14 million of them in the first year alone. Mr Biden told the protesting crowd that the new bill was a tax bill that will transfer close to $1 trillion to wealthy people who dont need it. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump on Thursday tweeted his condolences to the family of an American killed in a London terrorist attack. Mr Trump called the victim, Kurt Cochran, a "great American" and offered prayers and condolences to his family and friends. Mr Cochran is one of three victims who died Wednesday after an unnamed suspect drove an SUV through a crowd at Westminster Bridge. The 54-year-old American was vacationing with his wife, Melissa. The two were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, according to a statement from their church. Police have identified the other victims of the attack as Aysha Frade and PC Keith Palmer. Ms Frade taught Spanish at a nearby college, and PC Palmer served on the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad at the Houses of Parliament. Mr Trump first tweeted about the attacks 13 hours prior, saying he had offered his condolences to British Prime Minister Theresa May. "She is strong and doing very well," the president reported. Eight people have been arrested in connection with the attack, but police have yet to name a suspect. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Republican politician who was defending a new abortion bill claimed rape and incest could all be part of Gods will. Oklahoma representative George Faught also said the Lord uses all circumstances while debating the amendment in the US states House of Representatives. The bill would impose fines of $10,000, rising to $100,000, for any person who performs an abortion solely because of a diagnosis of Downs syndrome or any other genetic abnormality. Recommended Republicans push bill to allow doctors to lie about foetal anomalies Is rape the will of God? asked Rep. Cory Williams. Mr Faught replied: If you read the Bible, theres actually a couple circumstances where that happened and the Lord uses all circumstances. I mean, you can go down that path, but its a reality, unfortunately. When Mr Williams pushed him on whether both rape and incest were the will of God, Mr Faught followed up: Its a great question to ask, and, obviously if it happens in someones life, it may not be the best thing that ever happened. But, so youre saying that God is not sovereign with every activity that happens in someones life and cant use anything and everything in someones life, and I disagree with that. The HB1549 bill, introduced by Mr Faught, also said the woman would not be held criminally liable and could bring civil action against the physician. KFOR.com reports that the bill passed with 67 votes to 16, and that more than 16 others abstained from voting. A similar bill passed both the House and Senate last year, but Governor Mary Fallin vetoed it because she deemed it unconstitutional. HB 1549 now heads to the Senate. Abortion law varies across the US. At least 11 anti-abortion bills have been introduced to the House of Representatives in Oklahoma already this year, which includes women having to ask for the fathers written permission. A documentary by the BBC and actor Sally Phillips last year looked at the ethics of an NHS pregnancy screening test that detects, with 99 per cent accuracy, the foetal abnormalities indicating Down's syndrome. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Oil giant Exxon Mobil has been ordered to hand over information in an alias email account allegedly used by Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, to discuss climate change. Prosecutors in New York are investigating claims that Exxon may have misrepresented the risks posed to its business by global warming for years. If true, this may have persuaded people invest in the business on a false pretext. Environmentalists have long warned that the need to stop producing the greenhouse gases causing climate change will mean oil and gas companies will be left with potentially billions of dollars of so-called stranded assets that they are not allowed to sell. Exxon Mobil is also facing legal action by a campaign group, the Conservation Law Foundation, which claims it tried to discredit climate science in order to keep selling fossil fuels. The cases are reminiscent of lawsuits against Big Tobacco companies in which it was demonstrated they were aware that smoking caused cancer while publicly denying any link. According to the New York Attorney Generals office, Exxon failed to hand over all of the documents relevant to its investigation as ordered by a court. These are said to have included messages on an email account in the name of Wayne Tracker, allegedly used by Mr Tillerson, whose middle name is Wayne, to discuss global warming issues between at least 2008 and 2015. In a letter to a New York County judge on 13 March, the Attorney Generals office claimed Exxon had continuously delayed and obstructed the production of documents from its top executives, which are crucial to OAGs [Office of the Attorney Generals] investigation into Exxons touted risk-management practices regarding climate change. Most recently, after Exxon declared its document production substantially complete on February 15, 2017 despite producing fewer than 700 management-committee documents out of over 415,000 documents produced overall OAG immediately demanded an explanation. Despite saying they would provide a substantive response, Exxon failed to honour that promise and simply made a vague offer to supply more documents, the letter added. In a new court order, the judge told Exxon to hand over the Wayne Tracker emails and other documents by 31 March. 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke filled with the carbon that is driving climate change drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan Following the ruling, the Attorney Generals office said: Sixteen months after our initial subpoena, Exxon was ordered by the court to finally produce all documents from its management committee, and to provide clear answers to the Attorney Generals office about any documents including those from alias accounts that were lost. Exxon lawyers have said the Attorney Generals ever-shifting investigative theories meant they had initially focused on providing 109,000 documents related to four staff involved in studying climate change before trying to provide other information, Inside Climate News reported. They said they had searched some 2.6 million pages of company records in the process. Despite the Attorney General's assertion that ExxonMobil has not complied in good faith, at no point did ExxonMobil refuse to add a single custodian requested by the Attorney General, a lawyer for Exxon said. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A white US army veteran killed a man in New York after travelling there specifically to kill black people, according to police. James Harris Jackson chose a man at random and killed him with a sword, according to police. The attack was intended as "an assault" on the city's inclusiveness and diversity, authorities said. The man from Baltimore turned himself in at a Times Square police station, about 25 hours after he had killed Timothy Caughman, who had staggered into a precinct bleeding to death. 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 "I'm the person that you're looking for," Jackson told police, according to Assistant Chief William Aubrey. Jackson told police that he had been harbouring feelings of hatred towards black men for at least 10 years after he was arrested on suspicion of murder. He had travelled to New York before the weekend and had been staying in a Manhattan hotel in anticipation of the attack, police said. "The reason he picked New York is because it is the media capital of the world and he wanted to make a statement," Mr Aubrey said. Jackson wandered the streets in a long black coat, carrying a 26-inch sword. He then encountered Mr Caughman, who was collecting bottles from rubbish bins, according to police. He was stabbed repeatedly in the chest and back, apparently at random. Mr Caughman was 66 years old and lived nearby. He was taken to hospital by police after he arrived at the station, and later died in hospital from his wounds. Mr Caughman had an active Twitter account, on which he wrote about being an autograph collector and posted about the films and music that he was interested in. Recent tweets shared his enthusiasm for John Lennon, Chuck Berry and St Patricks day writing. Investigators say that Jackson appeared to have been considering other attacks. But he surrendered after he realised that his photo was being passed around in media reports. He may even have attempted an attack earlier on, according to authorities. Video surveillance showed him walking purposefully towards a black man but not attacking him. The attack took place on the same day as the incident in Westminster, in the UK. The New York Police Department has seen increased security and the introduction of "heavy weapons" to UK-related locations in the city. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A group of Republicans in the US Congress are about to commit to taking action on global warming with only a few more needed to create a working majority on the issue, Al Gore has said. If the Trump Administration embraces full-scale climate science denial, the actions of Congress could be crucial as it could prevent many of its plans under the checks and balances system designed to limit the power of any single branch of the US government. Speaking at a preview of his forthcoming documentary, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, Mr Gore, a former US Vice-President, agreed that Donald Trumps election as US President was a setback, but took comfort from record levels of support for dealing with climate change among the public and action being taken by US states and cities. And he added that Congress may not go along with what hes recommending. Mother Nature turns out to be a pretty persuasive advocate. Just as you have had these exceptional downpours we have as well and droughts, Mr Gore told an audience at an Advertising Week Europe event in London. Last week there was what was called the Hurricane Katrina of the Plains with a million acres burned and thousands of cattle burned. Literally almost day now there are these events. Even those who dont necessarily want to use the phrase global warming or the climate crisis are saying ok, its time to do something about this. As of yesterday theres a new development, there are now 30 Republican members of the House of Representatives who have changed sides on this issue and have become part of a group committed to solving the climate crisis. We only now need a few more to have a working majority on this issue in the US Congress. There are about 10 Republican senators who right now are considering changing sides, a couple already have. So we are going to win this, theres no question about that. History is on our side. Bill Nye to Bernie Sanders: The effects of Trump's climate change denial could be catastrophic He also said he thought there was a realistic chance that Mr Trump would not withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change, as the President has repeatedly promised. There is an active debate within his inner circle, I have some visibility to that debate. I dont know what is going to happen but I think there is still a chance that he will not pull out of the Paris Agreement, Mr Gore said. He is seemingly determined to eliminate all of the Government programmes that he can eliminate that would help the US reach its goals but the speed and force of this transformation underway in the West may lead to the achievement of the US goals regardless of what he does. But he suggested time could be running out to avoid climate change becoming a threat to human civilisation. The remaining question is how quickly will we win, because every day we still contributing to this over-burden of heat trapping in the atmosphere, Mr Gore said. CIA director nominee Mike Pompeo refuses to accept Nasa's findings on climate change And, you know, the atmosphere is very thin. We walk outside after this event and look up at the sky, it seems like a vast and limitless expanse. Actually the scientists have long told us and the pictures from the astronauts show its an extremely thin shell around the planet. The late Carl Sagan used to say if you have a large globe with a coat of varnish, the thickness of that varnish on the globe is analogous to the thickness of the atmosphere. If you could drive a London taxi cab at normal speeds straight up in the air it would only be a few minutes before you reached the top of the sky. Its a small enough space that we are capable of radically changing its chemical composition. Thats what we are doing. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A fervent supporter of Jewish settlements and opponent of Palestinian statehood has been confirmed as the next American ambassador to Israel, by the Republican led US Senate. David Friedman, Donald Trump's choice for the role, will now take up the role after senators voted largely along party lines, 52-46 to approve his nomination. Democrats, who claimed that he lacked the temperament for such an important diplomatic post, were unable to block his appointment to the role. The son of an Orthodox rabbi, Mr Friedman has been a fervent supporter of Israeli settlements and an opponent of Palestinian statehood. He has also staunchly defended Israel's government A combative attorney who once worked as Mr Trump's bankruptcy lawyer, his nomination generated strident opposition from many Democrats. T hey pointed to Friedman's past verbal attacks against people with opposing viewpoints on Israel and argued he lacked the temperament for such an important diplomatic post. Sen. Al Franken said Mr Friedman's "past conduct demonstrates that he lacks the tools one needs to be a good diplomat." Mr Friedman sought to use his confirmation hearing in February to apologise for using inflammatory language and pledged to be "respectful and measured" if confirmed. During that hearing, he acknowledged he deserved criticism for incendiary comments that targeted former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, liberal Jewish advocacy groups and others. Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Show all 12 1 /12 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict The fire in my heart is beyond my ribs. You left me beloved - Soliman Shaheen, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict Let me get enough of you, as Im still hungry for your smile my son - Soliman Shaheen, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict They besiege me in my homeland so I flew to heaven - Rodaina Al Agha, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict And I am still facing the pain all by myself - Lama Shakshak, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict My brother, I watched you go while my heart was tearing - Helen Mo'amar, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict My new doll is lonely in the rubble - Ayah Sha'ath, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict When a soul hugs another soul they never split, even in death - Ismail Matar, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict Everyone is gone and I stayed alone to make the world witness the injustice done to me - Hamza Shaheen, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict The hand that carries the arms carries roses too - Madeeha Al Majayda, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict My eyes tell you about a dream that overcame the fence - Soliman Shaheen, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict A childhood caught in an unjust siege - Hadeel Quidh, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict All the details are torn after you - Hamza Shaheen, 17 Mr Friedman had called one group, J Street, "worse than kapos" a reference to Jews who helped the Nazis imprison other Jews during the Holocaust. He also accused Mr Obama of "anti-Semitism." Republicans said Mr Friedman's atonement satisfied them. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Friedman an "impassioned advocate" for strengthening bonds between the United States and Israel. Mr Corker said Mr Friedman "understands the complexity of the issues at stake for the US and the necessity to support a democratic ally in an important and unstable part of the world." Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} There is a cover up to hide connections between members of Donald Trumps campaign team and Russia, according to one of the journalists who broke the Watergate scandal. Carl Bernstein called the current US leader more treacherous than Richard Nixon, who was forced to resign 1974 after, along with Bob Woodward, he helped to unearthed a web of political spying, sabotage and bribery leading back the White House. A persistent critic of Mr Trump, Mr Bernstein made the claim after a new report suggested that members of Mr Trump's administration may have coordinated with Russia during the presidential campaign. Mr Trumps election campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was accused of once working to further the interests of the Russian government. Suspicions over electoral campaign connections to Russia continue to dog the President, who has denied any collusion took place. But Mr Bernstein told CNN: "Ive been saying for a while that theres a cover-up going on here. "The cover-up is among those who worked in the Trump campaign and associates of Trump and its now becoming much more clear what it is that they have been concealing which are these contacts, which revolve around leaked emails from Podesta's account. John Podesta was the chairman of Hillary Clintons unsuccessful campaign, whose emails were leaked in the lead up to the election. Mr Bernstein also questioned the Presidents reluctance to be more open about the allegations. What were seeing is push back, smoke screens, an attempt to keep away from what really happened here by the President of the United States," he told the broadcaster, adding that it "raises a whole set of additional questions." Trump tweets that he is vindicated during Russia hearing, Comey asked about truth of what he says The President instead should want to get to the bottom of this, Mr Bernstein said. He also raised a distinction between the members of Congress serving under Nr Nixon and Mr Trump. "The heroes of Watergate were really Republicans, they were Republicans in the House and the Senate who wanted this investigated to the bottom: What did the president know and when did he know it," he said. "Thats what were not seeing here. Were not seeing it from the Republicans on the Hill who are consumed by supposedly looking for leaks." Mr Bernstein also alleged many Republicans condemning leaks had themselves leaked classified information in the past. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The FBI has reportedly obtained information suggesting that aides of President Donald Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to coordinate the release of information to damage Hillary Clintons campaign. US officials told CNN that the agency is currently reviewing human intelligence, travel, business and phone records, and several accounts of in-person meetings. However, the officials did caution that the information was not conclusive. The bombshell report comes several days after FBI Director James Comey announced that his agency had begun looking into the Trump campaigns activities because his agents had gathered a credible allegation of wrongdoing or reasonable basis to believe an American may be acting as an agent of a foreign power." One law enforcement official told the network that the information suggests people "connected to the campaign were in contact and it appeared they were giving the thumbs up to release information when it was ready." President Trump protests Show all 20 1 /20 President Trump protests President Trump protests Patrons hold a sign as people march by while protesting the election of Republican Donald Trump as the president of the United States in downtown Los Angeles, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators rally following the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators march following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests Thousands of protesters rallied across the United States expressing shock and anger over Donald Trump's election, vowing to oppose divisive views they say helped the Republican billionaire win the presidency AFP/Getty Images President Trump protests Demonstrators protest outside the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois Getty President Trump protests A police officer aims a launcher after demonstrators threw projectiles toward a line of officers during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests An officer examines a vandalized police vehicle as demonstrators riot in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators take over the Hollywood 101 Freeway just north of Los Angeles City Hall in protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests A woman holds up a sign reading 'Trump you are an Idiot' as demonstrators gather during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump outside the City Hall building in Los Angeles, California EPA President Trump protests A masked demonstrator gestures toward a police line during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, near the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas, Nevada Reuters President Trump protests Musician Lagy Gaga stages a protest against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on a sanitation truck outside Trump Tower in New York City Getty President Trump protests A woman yells as she takes part in a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A man dressed in red-white-and-blue sits on the curb during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A protester sets off fireworks during a protest against President-elect Donald Trumpin Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests University of California, Davis students protest on campus in Davis, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests An Oakland police officer checks out damage after a window was broken by protesters at a car dealership in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests A protester faces a police line in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests President-elect Donald Trumpis victory set off multiple protests AP President Trump protests A fire burns during protests in Oakland, Calif AP The bureau has already been investigating former Trump associates including Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Carter Page for their contact with Russian officials. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Monday denied that any collusion took place. "Investigating it and having proof of it are two different things," he told reporters after Comey's announcement. Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC on Wednesday night that there is more than circumstantial evidence now indicating that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to disrupt the election. I can tell you that the case is more than that, he told the network. And I cant go into the particulars, but there is more than circumstantial evidence now. He added, I dont want to go into specifics, but I will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of investigation, so that is what we ought to do. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} US Treasury officials are apparently investigating the offshore financial activities of Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Investigators have been given information relating to transactions in Cyprus, the AP reported. His affairs are reportedly being examined as part of a federal anti corruption probe into his work in Eastern Europe. Yesterday, it was revealed that Mr Manafort once worked to further the interests of the Russian government in the region. Mr Manafort was Mr Trump's unpaid campaign chairman from March until August last year, when he was replaced by Steve Bannon, controversial founder of Breitbart News. He has been a leading focus of the US government's investigation into alleged Russian influence of the 2016 election. Federal prosecutors became interested in Mr Manafort's activities years ago as part of a broad investigation to recover stolen Ukrainian assets after the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych there in early 2014. No US criminal charges have ever been filed in the case. It was not immediately clear what time period was covered under the government request for information about Mr Manafort's financial transactions in Cyprus. Cypriot officials handed the data over after a US request. Mr Manafort was known to route financial transactions through Cyprus, according to records of international wire transfers obtained by the AP and public court documents filed in a 2014 legal dispute in the Cayman Islands. He has not yet responded to questions about the offshore transactions. FBI chief confirms Russia election interference probe In the 2014 case, Manafort used Cypriot shell companies as part of a nearly $19 million deal with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska to purchase Ukrainian cable television provider Black Sea Cable. Mr Deripaska said that after taking the money, Mr Manafort and his associates stopped responding to Mr Deripaska's queries about how the funds had been used. As part of their investigation, US officials were expected to look into millions of dollars' worth of wire transfers to Mr Manafort. In one case, the AP found that a Manafort-linked company received a $1 million payment in October 2009 from a mysterious firm through the Bank of Cyprus. The $1 million payment left the account the same day split in two, roughly $500,000 disbursements to accounts with no obvious owner. There is nothing inherently illicit about using multiple companies as Mr Manafort was doing. But it was unclear why he would have been involved with companies in Cyprus, known for its history of money laundering before joining the European Union, with unclear sources of the money flowing in to them and with such secrecy surrounding the firms' connections to Manafort. A Treasury Department spokesman, Stephen Hudak, declined to answer the AP's questions about Manafort's records. "We often get press inquiries concerning individuals and our policy is to never confirm, nor deny the existence, or non-existence, of any potential investigation," Mr Hudak said. Cypriot officials said further information would have to come to the agency through a formal request to the Cypriot Ministry of Justice and Public Order under a mutual legal assistance treaty although no request has been made, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss the case. Democrats on Capitol Hill who are part of two congressional investigations of Trump associates said the new disclosures about Mr Manafort's work for the Russian billionaire guarantee that Mr Manafort will be sought as a key witness in upcoming hearings. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., who is a member of the Senate intelligence committee, said revelations about Manafort's work were "serious and disturbing." The AP's reporting about Manafort's activities "undermines the groundless assertions that the administration has been making that there are no ties between President Trump and Russia. This is not a drip, drip, drip," said Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier of California, a member of the House intelligence committee. "This is now dam-breaking with water flushing out with all kinds of entanglements." 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 White House said Mr Trump had not been aware of Manafort's work on behalf of Mr Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006. "To suggest that the president knew who his clients were from 10 years ago is a bit insane," Press Secretary Sean Spicer said. "I don't know what he got paid to do," Spicer said, adding, "There's no suggestion he did anything improper." The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, was established in 1990 and became a Treasury Department bureau soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. It collects a vast repository of records that financial institutions are required to report under the Bank Secrecy Act, such as suspicious activity reports and currency transaction reports, and assists law enforcement agencies in helping analyze complex data. The agency is a part of an international network of so-called financial intelligence units that share information with each other in money laundering and terrorism financing investigations. It's work has been critical in helping officials piece money trails together and identify leads for criminal investigators. Press Association Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has said Theresa May is "strong and doing very well" after the two leaders spoke by phone following the terror attacks in Westminster. The US President tweeted late on Wednesday night: "Spoke to U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May today to offer condolences on the terrorist attack in London. She is strong and doing very well." Earlier, White House spokesman Sean Spicer applauded "the quick response of British police and first responders. Mr Trump himself said during a brief appearance before reporters at the White House that he was just getting the news, calling it "big news. French President Francois Hollande offered his condolences to Ms May for those who died in the attacks and expressed France's solidarity with Britain "in this tragic ordeal". "The British and French services are in close contact to conduct the investigation," he added. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also expressed her support and solidarity with Britain. "I want to say for Germany and its citizens: we stand firmly and resolutely by Great Britain's side in the fight against all forms of terrorism, she said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: "Our thoughts are with the victims of today's attack in London and their families. "Canadians remain united with the people of the UK." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} North Korea has a criticism of US President Donald Trump he probably wasn't expecting: He's too much like Barack Obama. North Korea's state media, which regularly vilified Obama in the strongest terms, had been slow to do the same with the Trump administration, possibly so that officials in Pyongyang could figure out what direction Trump will likely take and what new policies he may pursue. But his top diplomat's recent trip to Asia, which featured some pretty tough talk, appears to have loosened their lips. In North Korea's first official comments since new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's swing through the region, a Foreign Ministry spokesman seized on the former oil executive's blunt assessment that Obama's strategy needs to be replaced and US efforts to get North Korea to denuclearise over the past 20 years have been a failure. The spokesman then slammed Trump for adopting the same policies, particularly regarding tougher economic sanctions, nevertheless. Tillerson admitted the failure of the US efforts to denuclearise the DPRK for 20 years and end of Obama's policy of 'strategic patience' during his recent tour, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in the dispatch that ran late Monday, quoting the unnamed Foreign Ministry official. Now Tillerson is repeating what Obama touted... until he left the White House. North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK, hasn't exactly been sitting quietly by as Trump gets settled in. Just before Tillerson arrived in Tokyo, the North launched several ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan. While he was still in China, it conducted a test of what it called a revolutionary new type of engine for its rockets. On Wednesday, it appeared to have conducted more missile tests from the eastern port city of Wonsan, though they reportedly failed. To be fair, Trump doesn't really have a North Korea policy yet. Tillerson stressed repeatedly that a comprehensive policy review is underway and that the purpose of his trip to Asia was to hear out the North's neighbours. How much he was able to do that is questionable. South Korea has only an interim government these days, since its president was just forced out of office because of a scandal. China, North Korea's economic lifeline, has a longstanding dialogue-based agenda that Washington is already familiar with but has never shown much interest in. On the other hand, Tillerson did raise some eyebrows with a few tough-sounding warnings. While in Seoul, he said everything was on the table, including military intervention or even a pre-emptive strike if tougher sanctions or other diplomatic measures fail to achieve Washington's goals. Some policy experts in the US say that is really more smoke than fire. If you look at Tillerson's full statements, they were much more of a continuation of current policy than has been portrayed in the press, with an emphasis on expanding sanctions, said David Wright, co-director and senior scientist of the Global Security Program for the Union of Concerned Scientists. You can try to squeeze North Korea with more sanctions and maybe slow its program, but it's hard to see how to stop it from moving ahead without diplomacy. Tillerson's remarks are completely in line with longstanding US policy, including Obama's, but just stated more threateningly. President Bill Clinton, for example, is known to have seriously considered a pre-emptive strike over the nuclear issue in 1994. Inside the daily life in North Korea Show all 19 1 /19 Inside the daily life in North Korea Inside the daily life in North Korea People reading a newspaper at the metro station Inside the daily life in North Korea Thoughts of the leaders on the tram. They have about a dozen of these on every tram, all with different thoughts Inside the daily life in North Korea Young people training for a big upcoming festival Inside the daily life in North Korea People at the Pyongyang's annual marathon Inside the daily life in North Korea Many stars on one of the trolleys in Pyongyang Inside the daily life in North Korea An intimidating poster in a primary school in North Korea. Inside the daily life in North Korea Solar panels installed on a street lamp. Inside the daily life in North Korea A poster on the window next to one of the venues we visited in Pyongyang Inside the daily life in North Korea Kids playing football next to the Arch of Triumph. After a while tourists were allowed to join, so some of us did Inside the daily life in North Korea Class in an educational center in Pyongyang (where people over 17 years old can attend any classes they choose after school, for free) Inside the daily life in North Korea People waving at me during the Pyongyang marathon Inside the daily life in North Korea People having a great time dancing at a public park Inside the daily life in North Korea A metro driver in a metro station in Pyongyang Inside the daily life in North Korea Fireworks to mark the birthday of the Eternal President Kim Il Sung on our last night in Pyongyang Inside the daily life in North Korea My wonderful tour guide at a public park Inside the daily life in North Korea One of the parks in Pyongyang Inside the daily life in North Korea A person rowing some boats for the day at a river in Pyongyang Inside the daily life in North Korea The National War Museum Inside the daily life in North Korea Public park in Pyongyang Even so, tone is important in diplomacy and Tillerson does seem to have reassured some in Seoul and Tokyo that the United States hasn't forgotten them. Pyongyang, however, seems to have hit the familiar bravado button. The nuclear force of the DPRK is the treasured sword of justice and the most reliable war deterrence to defend the socialist motherland and the life of its people, the official reportedly said. If the businessmen-turned-US authorities thought that they would frighten the DPRK, they would soon know that their method would not work. Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Russia may be supplying Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, the top US commander in Europe has said. Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, who is also Nato's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, told a senate hearing he had seen Russian influence on Afghan Taliban insurgents growing. "I've seen the influence of Russia of late increased influence in terms of association and perhaps even supply to the Taliban," Mr Scaparotti said. It comes after Taliban fighters captured the strategic district of Sangin in the southern Afghan province of Helmand after security forces pulled out, officials said. Helmand, which accounts for the bulk of Afghanistan's billion dollar opium crop, is already largely in the hands of the Taliban but the capture of Sangin, where US and British forces once suffered heavy casualties, underlines their growing strength in the south. More follows For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie have been dragged into the heart of a political scandal involving a far-right school, after the schools head teacher testified that he received a secret donation of 1m yen (7,200) from the couple. The growing scandal has already seen Ms Abe resign as honorary principal of another school which was planned by Moritomo Gakuen, a right wing group in Osaka. The organisations schools require pupils to bow before portraits of the imperial family, to sing the national anthem daily and promotes Japans pre-war imperialist school curriculum, which promotes sacrifice for the state and teaches children to be subjects, not citizens. The scandal initially focused on a deal in which the new school was offered land from the government at just one-seventh of its market value. Mr Abe has denied any connection to the land deal, and has promised to resign if he was found to have been personally involved. But now, Yasunori Kagoike, the president of the Moritomo Gakuen group, has claimed under oath that the prime minister and his wife made a secret donation to the school. Mr Kagoike claimed Akie Abe gave him an envelope containing cash after she made a speech at one of the groups schools in 2015. At a parliamentary committee on Thursday he said: She said, please, this is from Shinzo Abe, and gave me an envelope with 1m yen in it. Recommended Japan ousts Scotland to become whisky world leader He added: Abes wife apparently says she doesnt remember this at all, but since this was a matter of honour to us, I remember it quite vividly. The prime minister flatly denied any claims of donations, and his office described the allegations as an insult. However, Mr Kagoikes statement may sway public opinion after he repeated the allegations under oath in parliament, where it was broadcast on six national television networks. The connection between the prime minister and the schools head is also in the spotlight as a result of the scandal. Both men are members of Nippon Kaigi, a nationalist lobby group that promotes patriotism and recognition of Japans imperial past. The scandal has already impacted Mr Abes popularity, with opinion polls indicating a fall in the cabinets approval ratings of between three and 10 points. Nonetheless, the administrations popularity remains at about 50 per cent. 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 Japan is due an election in late 2018. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Taliban insurgents have captured a strategic district in embattled Helmand Province, according to officials, while Afghan troops were evacuated from the area and Air Force planes bombed military installations there to prevent the Taliban from using them. The district of Sangin was once a prize over which insurgents battled British and American troops for control, with high casualties on all sides. For the past year, Taliban forces have been pressing to retake it as part of their broader push to dominate the desert province bordering Pakistan. Officials said there was heavy fighting in the area overnight and that Afghan troops were moved to a military base about a mile away, according to government officials cited in Afghan TV news reports. After they reached safety and withdrew their equipment, their installations were bombed and destroyed. There were no immediate details on casualties. An army spokesman in the region, reached by phone, however, said there had been no serious fighting and no casualties. He said local security leaders had decided to evacuate their forces yesterday afternoon after learning that Taliban fighters had entered the homes of local residents. We didn't want to fire back to avoid civilian casualties, said Mohammed Rassool. The military council decided to order a retreat. However, he added that the Taliban have been trying for years to capture Sangin. They did it yesterday. The Taliban already controls several large districts in Helmand, and its forces have surrounded and attempted to attack the capital city, Lashkar Gah, for months. American forces were sent there late last year to help beat back the insurgents. Less than two months ago, the Taliban launched a heavy attack against government positions in Sangin, killing more than 100 soldiers and police, but they were driven back with help from extra troops and air strikes. Officials said they used tunnels from private houses to reach front-line government checkpoints. Sangin is a town of 30,000 in the heart of Helmand's opium producing region. After the Taliban regime was ousted in Kabul in 2001, Sangin remained under Taliban control, in alliance with local tribes and drug traffickers, for several years before British forces arrived and set up a base there in the summer of 2006. For the next nine months, Taliban forces besieged the Western troops in one of the longest and fiercest clashes of the war. Nato officials compared the combat to the Korean War, and British soldiers nicknamed the area Sangingrad, after the battle of Stalingrad in World War II. In April of 2007, more than 1,000 international troops assaulted the area and occupied it after most Taliban fighters had left, and Sangin was restored to government control. Washington Post For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The United States has declined to join other countries in criticising China over allegations of torture against human rights lawyers. The UK, Germany, Canada and eight others signed a letter raising concerns about lawyers and rights activists detained incommunicado for long periods. The letter urges China to investigate torture claims against lawyer Xie Yang and others. The US abstention comes as activists raise growing concerns that the Trump administration is de-emphasising human rights in diplomacy. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson struck a conciliatory tone with China during a visit last week. The State Department won't say why the US didn't sign, who made the decision and whether the White House was involved. The State Department says the US raises serious human rights concerns as part of regular discussions with China. Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A shotgun and several bladed weapons have been found in the car of a man who tried to drive at high speed through a busy shopping street in Antwerp, forcing pedestrians to jump out of the way. The federal prosecutor's office said the car was intercepted at the port docks and police arrested a man, identified as 39-year-old Mohamed R, who has been living in France. Soldiers in the busy shopping street were immediately involved in trying to control and stop the car, which was moving away at high speed. In the car, authorities said they found knives, a shotgun and a gas can with an unknown liquid. The bomb squad was brought in and the authorities raised security in the centre of town, in places where people normally gather. Police officers stand next to a car which had entered the main pedestrianised shopping street in the city at high speed (Reuters) The office said "because of these elements, and the events in London yesterday, the case is being taken on by the federal prosecutor's office," which usually deals with extremist attacks. A spokesperson for Antwerp Police told The Independent: Police intercepted the car at around 11am this morning. There were no injuries and one man was arrested. The incident is under investigation. Antwerp police chief Serge Muyters said the driver of the car was detained once it was stopped. No further information could be given. Prime minister Charles Michel said: "We remain vigilant. Our security services have done excellent work." 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 French President Francois Hollande said a French national appeared to have been involved in the suspected attack. "It seemed to involve a French national, with possibly a certain number of weapons in his boot it's up to the judges to make a statement on that who was looking to kill or at the very least create a dramatic incident," Mr Hollande said. "Therefore we must continue to be on high alert and mobilise all our forces," he added. The events happened on the day after the nation held remembrance services for the Brussels attacks, which killed 32 people last year. Belgium has been living under the second highest anti-terror alarm ever since. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Brussels International Airport, where 16 people died in two bomb attacks on March 22 2016, looks shiny new. The Maelbeek subway station, where another 16 died from a backpack bomb, processes commuters much as it always has. And tourism is recovering, despite Donald Trump calling the Belgian capital a hellhole to be avoided at all costs. One year after the attacks, the city's physical scars may have healed, but the pain is apparent beneath the surface. Still, the city's residents and authorities are determined to find a way to forge ahead, without changing the character of one of the world's most international cities. Confronted by doubts and fears, you have shown courage and a magnificent will to reconstruct, King Philippe told a remembrance service. It comes under difficult circumstances. Surveillance is up almost everywhere. The city and Belgium as a whole continue to live at the second-highest terror level, meaning there is a serious threat of an attack. The fear of an attack is widely shared across Europe, underlined at Britain's parliament Wednesday as an attacker stabbed an officer and was then shot by police, and witnesses said a vehicle struck several people on the nearby bridge. Even if locals in Brussels are mostly oblivious to heavily armed paratroopers patrolling the city's landmarks, visitors still stop in their tracks when they notice the camouflage dress and the machine guns. At the airport, authorities have taken a lot of additional security measures that go well beyond the European regulations, Arnaud Feist, Brussels Airport CEO, said in an interview with The Associated Press. Normality is still far off on the anniversary of the attacks, which also wounded more than 300 people. The social fabric is still especially frayed in the rundown Molenbeek municipality in the centre of the city, where several of the extremists who were involved in the Brussels attack or the November 2015 Paris attacks had lived or grown up. The area, which has a large immigrant community, was portrayed as jihadi central and Europe's hotbed of fundamentalism, and is still far from recovering from the stigma. People stand for a moment of silence in Brussels (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP) It's a fact that there really was Molenbeek-bashing after the Paris attacks, said the district's mayor, Francoise Schepmans. The facts about rampant crime on some streets and unfettered religious extremism in some mosques and a Quran school were laid bare. The mayor, with help from national authorities, has started a long cleanup operation. She has closed some mosques for incendiary language and found that 102 nonprofit organisations had links to illegal activities, some to religious radicalism. The work is going to take years before Molenbeek gets a positive image again, she said. When a huge, mysterious mural appeared, showing Caravaggio's Sacrifice of Isaac of a struggling child with a blade to his neck awaiting slaughter, it struck a chord. A super-violent beheading scene on the edge of Molenbeek, said Brussels alderwoman Ans Persoons. We didn't want it to raise tensions, and the debate is still continuing over whether to paint over the mural. A woman lays flowers on a makeshift memorial at the Bourse (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP) Overall, it makes it tough for a city to bounce back, especially one that relies on its tourism industry. Before the attacks, said Patrick Bontinck, CEO of the Visit Brussels tourist office, tourism was growing approximately 10 percent each year since five years. We were in a really good situation. The devastation that destroyed the main arrivals hall at the airport and ripped through the Maelbeek subway line had an immediate impact. We had a drop of approximately from 30 to 40 percent in just two or three days after the attack, Bontinck said. Hotels and restaurants were hit hard, and despite help from the authorities, some were pushed into bankruptcy. It took a ripple effect for people to come back. First, tourists from the neighbouring countries returned, then other Europeans, and now tourists from across the world are starting to see Brussels as a viable destination again. It took us about six months to get the traffic back as we normally had, airport CEO Feist said. We had traffic records in November, December and even January this year. Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Show all 27 1 /27 Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Wreaths of flowers in front of an entrance of the Maalbeek subway station in Brussels in homage to the victims of a terrorist attack. Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Wreaths of flowers in front of an entrance of the Maalbeek subway station in Brussels in homage to the victims of a terrorist attack. Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims A building illuminated with the Belgian flag colours and a heart in Brussels, two days after suicide bombing attacks of terrorists on March 22 in Zaventem airport and subway Maelbeek. Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims A picture taken on 24 March, 2016 on place de la Bourse in Brussels, shows drawings and a candle, two days after suicide bombing attacks of terrorists on March 22 in Zaventem airport and Brussels subway Maelbeek Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Candles are displayed in tribute to the Brussels attacks victims on 24 March, 2016 on place de la Bourse in Brussels, two days after the suicide bombing attacks of terrorists on 22 March. Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims A mourner lights a candle in Trafalgar Square during a candlelit vigil in support of the victims of the recent terror attacks in Brussels. Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels airport workers pay tribute to the victims near Zaventem Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Activists light candles and hold placards to condemn the terrorist attacks in Belgium, during a gathering in Manila, Philippines Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims A banner for the victims of the bombings reads "I am Brussels" at the Place de la Bourse in the center of Brussels Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, left front center, stands with front row, left to right, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Belgium's King Philippe, Belgium's Queen Mathilde and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel as well as members of the European Commission during a minute of silence at EU headquarters in Brussels Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims People join hands in solidarity near the former stock exchange following the bomb attacks in Brussels Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Belgium flags ornate the facade of the Paris Town Hall Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims A woman embraces her children at The Place de la Bourse as she pays her respects to victims of the terrorists attacks in Brussels Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Belgian and European Union flags fly at half mast following the bomb attacks in Brussels Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Candles in the colors of the Belgian national flag are lit inside the Belgian embassy in Madrid, a day after the deadly suicide attacks on the Brussels airport and its subway system Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Servicemen of Azov, Ukrainian volunteers battalion, hold torches in front of floral tributes during a ceremony in front of the Belgian embassy in Kiev, in tribute to the victims of Brussels attacks Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims A refugee boy holds up a placard reading "Sorry for Brussels" at a refugee camp near the Greek-Macedonian border Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels tributes People light candles in tribute to victims at a makeshift memorial at the Place de la Bourse in Brussels Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels tributes A woman holds a drawing by French cartoonist Plantu picturing a character made of a French flag consoling another made of the Belgian flag, in front of the Hotel de Ville in Paris Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels tributes The colours of the Belgian flag are projected on to (clockwise from top left) the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the town council building in Belgrade, Rome's Campidoglio and the Royal Palace at Dam Square in Amsterdam Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels tributes Candles are lit in tribute to the victims, at the Place de la Bourse in Brussels Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels tributes A woman holds a placard reading "Paris hearts Belgium, How much time will it take us to open our eyes and say STOP, Today our hearts are broken, Open your eyes to change the future" at the Place de la Republique in Paris Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels tributes People gather to pay a tribute to victims of terrorist attacks in Brussels Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels tributes People write messages on the ground at Place de la Bourse in Brussels Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels tributes A bouquet of flowers in the Belgian national colours with a card reading 'To our neighbours, to our friends, to our Belgian brothers - an indignant Parisian' is seen next to a French national flag at the fence of the Belgian embassy in Paris Getty Images Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels tributes Solidarity messages are written in chalk outside the stock exchange in Brussels AP Brussels attacks: tributes are paid to the victims Brussels tributes Messages and floral tributes outside the Brussels stock exchange AP For Bontinck, it is important not to lose the global feel of the city. The International Organisation for Migration says 62 percent of the population of Brussels is foreign-born, second only to Dubai. After the Paris attacks with its Brussels connection, Trump described the city as like living in a hellhole right now because of its lack of integration. Bontinck still bristles. We are the second-most cosmopolitan city in the world and we want to keep our value of sharing, people of all nationalities living together, he said. Maybe Mr. Trump doesn't like this, but this is our value and we want to continue to share this with all of the world. Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Approximately 500 Syrian refugees have been rejected for resettlement in Australia after undergoing more than a years worth of vetting checks, an official has said. Another 12,000 more asylum applications from Syrians and Iraqis living in refugee camps in the wider Middle East were approved, Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said on Thursday. The minister did not provide any details on the security procedure, but said that the intelligence agencies and security services of several different countries, including the US, were used in the process. Westminster attack: How the day unfolded He also added that Wednesdays deadly attack on Westminster Bridge in London which killed three people and injured 40 justified a cautious approach to refugee resettlement. The tragic events in London and elsewhere demonstrate the government's approach was prudent and there are people that we'd excluded on national security grounds and people that we do have concerns about that we have not brought to our country and we never will, Mr Dutton said at a news conference. It has since emerged that the suspected attacker - who died at the scene - is a British-born citizen. In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Show all 30 1 /30 In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian family arrives at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces, at the al-Hawoz street roundabout, after leaving Aleppo's eastern neighbourhoods Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian woman, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, reacts as she stands with her children in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood, after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-regime fighters, gesture as they drive past resident fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood , after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-regime fighters, gesture as they drive past residents fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood, after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian pro-regime fighter speaks with a child, as residents flee violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood. Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops AFP/Getty Images In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Smoke rises as seen from a governement-held area of Aleppo, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian soldiers targeting rebels-held areas in the eastern neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syria. According to media reports, the army is now holding on 99 percent of Aleppois eastern neighborhoods EPA In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-government forces patrol Aleppo's eastern al-Salihin neighbourhood after troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian soldiers rest following the battle at al-Sheik Saeed neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria EPA In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian pro-government fighter walking past closed shops in the Bab al-Nasr district of Aleppo's Old City. Once renowned for its bustling souks, grand citadel and historic gates, Aleppo's Old City has been rendered virtually unrecognisable by some of the worst violence of Syria's war Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria The crucial battle for Aleppo entered its 'final phase' after Syrian rebels retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances. The retreat leaves opposition fighters confined to just a handful of neighbourhoods in southeast Aleppo, the largest of them Sukkari and Mashhad Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian civilans arrive at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces, at the al-Hawoz street roundabout, after leaving Aleppo's eastern neighbourhoods. Syria's government has retaken at least 85 percent of east Aleppo, which fell to rebels in 2012, since beginning its operation Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian civilians flee the Sukkari neighbourhood towards safer rebel-held areas in southeastern Aleppo Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrians celebrate in the government-held Mogambo neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, after rebel fighters retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrians celebrate in the government-held Mogambo neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, after rebel fighters retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances. The fall of Aleppo would be the worst rebel defeat since Syria's conflict began in 2011, and leave the government in control of the country's five major cities Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian refugee Aliya inside the tent where she lives with her husband and ten children in a camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian refugee women and children outside the entrance to their tents in the refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA Wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA Wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee woman outside the entrance to the tent where her family live, in the refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A vehicle drives past a mosque at night in Idlib, Syria. Picture taken with a long exposure Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Damaged buildings stand in the rebel-controlled town of Binnish in Idlib province, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria The night sky is seen through damaged windows in the rebel-controlled town of Binnish in Idlib province, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Damaged buildings stand in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, Syria Reuters The Australian government promised in September 2015 to take in 12,000 people fleeing the conflicts in Syria and Iraq as quickly as possible. Around 10,000 have now been issued visas and brought to the country for resettlement. Mr Dutton also praised the coalition government for not rushing the screening process, citing possible significant consequences for security. The ministers office did not immediately respond on Thursday to a request for comment on an Australian newspaper report that as many 900 of the accepted refugees are members of Syria's Christian minority. We have brought people here who have passed security checks, and they will contribute significantly to Australian society, he said. They will be good Australians they will work hard and they will educate our children - they are the migrants we want coming to our country. The Associated Press contributed to this report For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The worst is yet to come as the fight to oust Isis from Mosul reaches its climax, the UN has warned, adding that around 400,000 people remain trapped in the city by sniper fire and landmines. Civilians left stranded by fighting are running out of food, clean water, and electricity, Bruno Geddo, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Iraq, told reporters in Geneva on Thursday. People are trapped in the Old City in that situation of panic and penury may inevitably lead to the cork popping somewhere, sometime, presenting us with a fresh [refugee] outflow of large-scale proportions, he said. The worst is yet to come. Iraqi forces launch push to retake western Mosul from IS The more you go without food, the more you become panicked and the more you want to run away. At the same time it [the outflow] is increasing because the security forces are advancing and therefore more people are in a position to run away where the risk is likely more mitigated. Everyone is hungry, there is no food and people are starving. We left last night when the army opened a way for us, Waleed, a displaced civilian, told Reuters as he joined other mud-splattered families being loaded on to trucks bound for internally displaced people (IDPs) camps. Around 157,000 people have braved Isis boobytraps, car bombs, snipers and artillery fire to reach IDP shelters in the last month, with a cumulative total of more than 200,000 people at one point or another displaced by the fighting since Operation Inherent Resolve began in October 2016. In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Mosul offensive In pictures: Mosul offensive A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah In pictures: Mosul offensive A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty On average between 8,000-12,000 people per day are now reaching displaced persons facilities, which Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq Lise Grande warned last week were reaching capacity. While Isis - which overran the city in June 2014 - is now on the backfoot, it remains in control of about 40 per cent of west Mosul, and the last remaining 2,000 or so militants are fighting fiercely rather than abandoning their positions. US-backed coalition troop operations were halted on Thursday due to adverse weather, while local Kurdish news outlet Rudaw reported that air strikes - likely conducted by US planes - had killed 230 civilians. A spokesperson for Central Command, which coordinates US military action in Iraq, told The Independent they were aware of the reported loss of civilian life and the civilian casualty team was investigating the situation. Defeat for Isis in Mosul will be a major blow for the group, effectively ending their incarnation as a land-hold force in the country, but the battle could still take weeks. The jihadist fighters are expected to fall back to their de facto capital of Raqqa across the border in Syria, which is also the target of an US-backed operation designed to dovetail with the Mosul offensive. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Approximately 230 people are reported to have been killed in what is thought to have been a US-led coalition air strike on an Isis-held neighbourhood in Mosul. A correspondent for Rudaw, a Kurdish news agency operating in northern Iraq, said that 137 people most believed to be civilians died when a bomb hit a single building in al-Jadida, in the western side of the city on Thursday. Another 100 were killed nearby. Some of the dead were taking shelter inside the homes, Hevidar Ahmed said from the scene. Women and children treated for chemical weapon exposure in Mosul A spokesperson for Central Command, which coordinates US military action in Iraq, told The Independent they were aware of the loss of civilian life as reported by Rudaw and the information had been passed on to the civilian casualty team for further investigation. [The US-led coalition] takes all reports of civilian casualties very seriously and assesses all incidents as thoroughly as possible. Coalition forces work diligently to be precise in our air strikes and ensure that all strikes comply with the [internationally agreed] Law of Armed Conflict, Captain Timothy Irish said. A daily assessment report from Central Command stated that five strikes near Mosul on Thursday had destroyed five Isis units and a sniper team, as well as 11 fighting positions, vehicles and artillery equipment. No other fighting force in the country has the capability to launch an aerial attack of the scale reported. Iraqi coalition ground forces, backed by a US-led coalition bombing campaign, began the gruelling Operation Inherent Resolve to remove Isis from Mosul in October 2016. The jihadi fighters now hold onto approximately a quarter of the city on the western bank of the River Tigris that cuts through Mosul from north to south. In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Mosul offensive In pictures: Mosul offensive A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah In pictures: Mosul offensive A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty An estimated 400,000 Iraqis are trapped in the remaining Isis-held areas, the UNs refugee agency said on Thursday. Those caught up in the fighting face growing food shortages or being hit by crossfire if they try to leave. Isis has used civilian homes to shelter fighters and weapons throughout the battle for the city, rigging buildings and streets with explosives to impede Iraqi troops progress. The fighting has come at a heavy price for both Mosuls residents and Iraqi soldiers: thousands of Iraqi civilians have died in the fighting, and a cumulative total of more than 200,000 displaced from their homes. At least 6,878 civilians were killed in violence mainly inflicted by Isis around the country last year, the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) has said. Many Mosul residents report their loved ones have died as a result of friendly fire rather than Isiss warfare tactics. AirWars, a UK-based non-profit monitoring the effect of anti-Isis air strikes on civilians, said last week that they believed 370 civilians died in US-led coalition bombing in the first week of March alone. Over the border in Syria in the last week, the US has been accused of killing civilians in two separate bombing incidents: 33 died in a strike near Raqqa which was supposed to target Isis positions, and more than 50 after a strike hit a mosque in Aleppo province rather than an al-Qaeda meeting point. Removing Isis from Mosul, which is Iraqs second largest city, will effectively spell the end of Isis as a land-holding force in the country, driving the remnants of the group back to their de facto capital of Raqqa. While losing the city will be a decisive blow, the jihadi organisation is expected to pose a renewed threat in the form of an insurgency war against Iraqi forces. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An Israeli-American teenager is suspected of calling in bomb threats against Jewish community centres across the United States. Israeli police on Thursday arrested the 19-year-old who holds citizenship in both Israel and the US. The FBI worked in tandem with Israeli national police over the span of several months. Investigating hate crimes is a top priority for the FBI, and we will continue to work to make sure all races and religions feel safe in their communities and in their places of worship, FBI spokeswoman Samantha Shero told The New York Times. The Anti-Defamation League has recorded more than 120 bomb threats against Jewish community centres across the US since 9 January, elevating fears of anti-Semitism in the country. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the suspect, who comes from the south of Israel, used advanced camouflage technologies to cover his tracks and mask the origin of his calls and other communications to synagogues, community buildings and public venues. He added the suspect sent dozens of threats to public venues, synagogues, and centres in the US, New Zealand and Australia. The suspect also sent threats to Delta Airlines in 2015, forcing one flight to make an emergency landing. The arrest is separate from the case of a St Louis man who was arrested earlier this month for threatening eight Jewish centres. Authorities said the man was attempting to harass his former girlfriend. Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Show all 15 1 /15 Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: People participate in an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message "Go Trump". Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: People participate in an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message "Go Trump". Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: People participate in an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message "Go Trump". Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: People participate in an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message "Go Trump". Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: Children play on playground equipment that was defaced with swastikas during an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message AGo Trump.A Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz speaks at a anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message AGo Trump.A Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: A piece of playground equipment that was defaced with swastikas stands during an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message AGo Trump.A Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn A woamn takes a photo of messages and flowers left at a playground before a protest against racism and hate after swastikas were found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Activists protest racism and hate after swastikas were found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Activists protest racism and hate after swastikas were found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Activists protest racism and hate after swastikas were found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn New York State Senator Daniel Squadron speaks as activists protest racism and hate after swastikas found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. The two remaining members of the Beastie Boys called for an anti-hate rally at the park in memory of band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Flowers left by activists at the entrance to Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016 after swastikas were found in the park. The two remaining members of the Beastie Boys called for an anti-hate rally at the park in memory of band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Messages and flowers left by activists at a playground protesting racism and hate after swastikas were found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. The two remaining members of the Beastie Boys called for an anti-hate rally at the park in memory of band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Activists protest Racism and Hate after swastikas found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. The two remaining members of the Beastie Boys called for an anti-hate rally at the park in memory of band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Attorney General Jeff Sessions also issued a statement commending law enforcement for their work in the joint investigation. Todays arrest in Israel is the culmination of a large-scale investigation spanning multiple continents for hate crimes against Jewish communities across our country, he said. The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the civil rights of all Americans, and we will not tolerate the targeting of any community in this country on the basis of their religious beliefs. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} As a Syrian architect, my enjoyment is complete when I wander through the districts of Old Damascus. I used to walk with my daughter and tell her stories about each significant place we passed. In Old Damascus one of the longest inhabited cities in the world 5,000 years of history come alive. The tight network of traditional streets are complemented by stunning architectural masterpieces, such as the ancient Umayyad Mosque (completed in 715AD), the Roman Temple of Jupiter and the Byzantine arches. Al Asruniyeh souk was our favourite destination on special occasions. Al Asruniyeh is a commercial neighbourhood located between the Citadel of Damascus and the Great Mosque of the Umayyads, inside the walls of the ancient city. The souks of Damascus are part of daily life bustling marketplaces where political, social and cultural differences are forgotten. But since the start of the armed conflict in Syria six years ago, much has changed in my home town. Although the city remains relatively safe compared to other parts of Syria, many have fled, lives and livelihoods have been lost, and treasured cultural heritage has been destroyed. In April 2016, a fire raged through Al-Asruniyeh. For the local community, losing part of Old Damascus is like misplacing part of their own soul, their memory and identity. Yet history has shown that despite attempts to destroy Damascus, it has always risen from the ashes, stronger and brighter, powered by the local community. Time and time again, the Damascenes have proven adept at rebuilding their lives, and their city, in the wake of disaster. Layers of history in Old Damascus (Bryn Pinzgauer/Flickr) Rising from ashes For example, in 1860 when Syria was under occupation by the Ottoman empire, the quarter of Bab Tuma in the north-east of the city was ransacked. More than 3,500 houses, churches and monasteries were comprehensively looted and set ablaze. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands were displaced. Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Show all 12 1 /12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man crosses a street in Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A vendor sits inside an antique shop in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors walk inside Aleppo's Umayyad mosque, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk inside the Khan al-Shounah market, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man walks past shops in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk along an alley in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors tour Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A general view shows the Old City of Aleppo as seen from Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk near Aleppo's Bab al-Faraj Clock Tower, Syria October 6, 2010 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man stands inside Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters The district was rebuilt between 1863 and 1880 by local builders who returned after the clash. Elements of the old Bab Tuma were preserved by using traditional materials to create similar urban forms. Yet innovative features were also added. Builders used new decorative techniques, and added open windows to the facades as a reflection of new social needs, opening them up to the street outside. The Bab Tuma quarter, 2016 (Ataa Alsalloum) (Ataa Alsalloum, Author provided) Again, on 18 October 1925, the city was bombed by the French army in an attempt to quell a revolution against French rule. As a result, the western district known at that time as Sidi Amoud was mostly destroyed. Several traditional masterpieces were burnt or damaged, and hundreds of lives were lost. The destruction after the French attack, with the minarets of the Umayyan mosque on the horizon The district was remodelled in 1926 by the French, this time according to modern European characteristics. The local community, who had no voice in this reconstruction, changed the districts name into Al-Hariqah which means fire in Arabic to commemorate the terrible event. This rebuilt area has a peculiar character. The orthogonal road network and the heights of the buildings differ from the organic urban fabric of Old Damascus, and the new structures do little to reflect what was lost. Rebuilding Al Asruniyeh Today, Damascenes are once again confronted with the task of rebuilding and this time, they control the outcome. Yet the loss of Al-Asruniyeh raises critical questions about what should rise in its place. The history of Damascus shows that when ruins are rebuilt by the local community, the new layer is imbued with the soul of the city. Rather than covering up the citys history, the new buildings become a part of it. For that reason, community input is needed now more than ever before. The heritage of Syria has been a source of pride and dignity for the Syrians, despite differences in religion and political opinion. Their built heritage has been always a source of shared memory and history, as we all enjoy its authentic and aesthetic character. Old Damascus, with all its souks, khans and districts, embodies Syrians cultural, social, educational and economic values. Because of this, safeguarding the architectural characteristics of the old city should be a cornerstone of the reconstruction process. City authorities must develop a plan to manage Old Damascuss urban heritage, in a way that upholds its social and cultural integrity. The main square of Al-Hariqah district, 2016 (Ataa Alsalloum) (Ataa Alsalloum, Author provided) Whats more, rebuilding the Al Asruniyeh souk presents an opportunity for reconciliation. Although the armed conflict continues, Syria has been enduring it with dignity and pride. Starting the reconstruction now is vital, to encourage Syrians to return and participate in rebuilding their country, spreading a feeling of safety, ownership and pride in the city once more. Ataa Alsalloum is a research fellow in architecture, University of Liverpool. This article first appeared on The Conversation (theconversation.com) Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theres been so much sneering about Donald Trumps claim that Obama was wiretapping him, its heartening hes had a chance to explain himself. In an interview with Time magazine he says: Because a wiretapping is, you know today it is different than wiretapping. It is just a good description. This is a common misunderstanding. You might say to someone I went snowboarding this morning. So they ask, Really? Where did you go snowboarding? Then you say, No, not snowboarding, you idiot, which is today, you know, different from snowboarding. I meant SNOWBOARDING. Then the other person laughs at what a fool theyve been. And hes definitely right grammatically, as wiretapping is a fairly accurate description of wiretapping. If he took an English exam, hed answer the question Describe what the author means when he says the sunset is magisterial, by writing: He means its magisterial. And it would be an A* for such a good description. Its an ambitious project Trump has set himself, because hes set the standard of manic announcements so high early on. By June his press conferences will start: Michelle Obama kidnapped my internal organs. Shes currently got my intestines and shes using them as a lasso while training to be an alien cowboy. Devin Nunes: We picked up 'incidental' intelligence on Trump But once hes allowed to make his case, it all becomes clear. For example, at one point he declared there had been an Islamist terror attack the previous night in Sweden, though no one in Sweden was aware of this. Recently he explained his statement had been accurate, because there was a riot in a small town in Sweden, only two days after hed said there had been the terrorism the night before. You see, give someone a chance to fill out the details and it all becomes clear. Its a shame the television news isnt this careful with their reports. BBC News could start: The Taj Mahal burned down last night, and all the rhinos have escaped from Bristol Zoo. And even if it hadnt happened, it would still be true because a couple of days earlier there were strong winds in Suffolk. But while the world checks the accuracy of Trumps announcements, he calmly pursues his main agenda. Yesterday he tried to scrap the healthcare scheme introduced by Barack Obama, and replace it with his own. The type of changes arising from this cheery new system would be a rise in payments of 30 per cent for 64-year-olds, which makes sense because if people cant make the effort to be 28, why should the rest of us subsidise them? The problem with any healthcare scheme is theres always a group that seeks to take advantage of it, which is the sick. Backwards and forwards and in and out of hospitals they go, lapping up their chemotherapy and liver transplants that they probably dont even need but have anyway because the rest of us idiots are paying for it. A common argument made by opponents of the old healthcare scheme in America has been: Why should a 60-year-old man have to buy a plan that includes maternity benefits hell never use? This is precisely the point. Similarly, why pay for a police force if youre not being robbed? It would be much fairer if we each pay for our own personal sniper. Im sick of tax money going to mountain rescue units when I live on flat land. And why do my taxes provide a zebra crossing in Ipswich that Ive never crossed? If I have to fork out taxes for a primary school in Taunton, Im going to turn up one morning and sit in the classroom doing hand paintings whether Im arrested under Operation Yewtree or not, because Im entitled to what I pay for. And what possible benefit is it to me if pregnant women have somewhere to have their babies rather than be forced to have them at a bus shelter? How does that make society better for me in any way? Sadiq Khan responds to Trump Jr's tweets This is the sort of dilemma Trump is trying to address. So the new bill would give health back to those who pay for it. To gain under the new scheme, you have to be earning over $200,000 a year, and those in that bracket will be made on average $5,000 a year richer. At last, someone is prepared to speak up for the rich in America. Theres a moral reason for making these changes, which the health insurance companies emphasise, and thats choice. Under a socialised health scheme such as the NHS, the citizen is denied that choice. When you have a heart attack and collapse in the street, what right does the state have to force you into the back of an ambulance and save your life? Thats communism, that is. It starts with a Stroke Recovery Unit and ends with forced collective farms and the invasion of Hungary. Its unclear whether Trumps changes will be passed, as even some Republicans fear this obvious transfer of wealth to the rich will dampen morale among many of Trumps own supporters. There are a lot of arguments that could be made to try and win these people away from Trump on this issue, though its hard not to feel the most attractive one is: THATS WHAT YOU BLOODY VOTED FOR YOU STUPID OLD TOSSPOTS. DONT PRETEND ITS A SURPRISE AND GO OOH, WHOD HAVE THOUGHT A BILLIONAIRE WITH A GOLDEN LIFT WHO SAID HE WAS GOING TO SCRAP OBAMACARE WOULD BRING IN A SCHEME THAT FAVOURED THE RICH? But it might be more productive to ignore it altogether, and concentrate on him putting out a tweet saying: Al Gore set fire to my tortoise. Fact. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} British-born, known to the intelligence services and the police, previously questioned about his extremist views and holding convictions for assaults, including GBH, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. Could Khalid Masood have been stopped? It is an inevitable question in such tragic circumstances, and a fair one at least to pose. In every outrage the security forces, their political masters and the wider population has to be satisfied that every possible practical precaution had been taken. There may have been mistakes in this case, or there may not none of that is so clear now. What we do know, however, is that only in a totalitarian police state is it possible to eliminate all possible threats to security, and in fact not even entirely reliably in such circumstances. The British do not wish to live in a police state as the price of improved security; absurd as it is, that would only represent a victory for the terrorists themselves who wish to destroy our way of life. Much the same goes for ever more draconian measures to invade privacy and erode civil liberties. Almost mundane questions will need to be asked about the quality of intelligence and surveillance over this individual and any associates or accomplices. But it is too premature to condemn the authorities for incompetence. Besides, we should take them at their word that they quietly thwart scores of planned deadly attacks every year; the record, so far as can be judged, is not one to be ashamed of. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Nor is it sensible to believe that extremism can ever be eradicated. The Prevent strategy has many critics, inside and outside Muslim communities, and could no doubt be reformed to make it more sensitive and more effective. Hate preachers are all too common, but there are already laws that can control them, and the pressure of the wider Muslim community to minimise their influence on impressionable young minds. It is also an uncomfortable truth that the vast library of jihadi material available freely on the internet is near-impossible to regulate. Multiculturalism is hardly to blame for that. If it has been as profound a failure as Nigel Farage and others claim, there would be far more incidents than the ones we have witnessed. Nor can it be blamed for the murderous assault on Jo Cox MP last year. The backlash that the enemies of democracy on the extreme fringes of British society yearn for has not come. People generally recognise that their Muslim friends, neighbours and work colleagues wish nothing more than the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families, as does everyone. Their leaders have vocally condemned the violence, though none of it is their fault, and the daily contributions millions of our fellow Muslim citizens continues. Recommended A strike at the heart of our democracy With previous generations of terrorists Irish republicans, Basque separatists or the far left there were identifiable individuals, though vile, who could be negotiated with. The funeral of one such individual, the reformed IRA gunman Martin McGuinness, was held on Thursday, a reminder of how so many conflicts involving the British have ended up with terrorist leaders becoming leaders of their independent nations and taking tea with the Queen. Even if it were sensible to engage with Islamist organisations such as Isis, they have little, if any, control over those inspired by the myriad perversions of Islam circulating on the web. Sadiq Khan, who as London Mayor has shown leadership and statesmanship sadly lacking elsewhere, has been much criticised, and much misrepresented, for holding the view that terrorism has become a fact of modern life in big cities but he is right. Islamist terrorists not Islamic, as Theresa Amy also correctly stressed and the deranged individuals who take it on themselves to act in their name prefer to attack high-profile world-famous landmarks in media hubs such as Berlin, Paris and London, or New York and Washington as on 9/11. As the Westminster attack shows, a low-tech assault on a famous symbolic target in the West can yield vastly more coverage than yet another suicide car bomb killing many more people in Kabul. The terrorist also win if we lose our sense of perspective. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In the immediate aftermath of what police are describing as a terrorist incident in and around Parliament, at least three facts stand out suggesting that the attacks are similar to those carried out over the last two years by Isis supporters in Paris, Nice, Brussels and Berlin. . The similarities with the events today are in the targets of the attacks which in all cases were ordinary civilians, but the means of trying to cause mass casualties differs. In Nice, Berlin and London no fire arms were used by the attackers, while in Paris and Brussels there was a coordinated assault in which guns and explosives were employed. In Nice on 14 July 2016 a truck killed 86 people and injured hundreds, driving at speed through crowds watching a firework display on the Promenade des Anglais until the driver was shot dead by police. Isis claimed that he was answering their calls to target citizens of coalition nations that fight the Islamic State. Britain is a member of the coalition with aircraft and special forces troops in action against Isis in Iraq and Syria. Recommended Tributes to police officer killed in Westminster attack Isis claimed responsibility for a lorry which drove into a Christmas market in 19 December 2016, killing 12 and injuring dozens. As with Nice, this appears to resemble what happened on Westminster Bridge, going by first reports. The overall location of the attacks today may be significant and would fit in with the way that Isis normally operates when carrying out such atrocities. This is to act in the centre of capital cities or in large provincial ones in order to ensure 24/7 publicity and maximise the effectiveness of the incident as a demonstration of Isiss continuing reach and ability to project fear far from its rapidly shrinking core areas in Syria and Iraq. Isis is sophisticated enough to know that such attacks carried out in news hubs like London or Paris will serve their purposes best. In cases of attack with a knife or a vehicle then Isis would not need to provide more than motivation, though individuals seldom turn out to have acted alone. It may no longer have cells in Europe capable of obtaining fire arms or making bombs. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP It could be that the attacks were carried out by another group, the most obvious candidate being one of the affiliates of al-Qaeda in Yemen. Syria or elsewhere. On 11 March 2017 Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian affiliate of al-Qaeda, carried out two bombing attacks in Damascus, killing 59 people, mostly Shia pilgrims from Iraq visiting holy sites. But the Syrian arm of al-Qaeda, while carrying out suicide bombings against targets in Syria, has previously avoided doing so abroad in order to make itself more diplomatically palatable than Isis. Could the attacks on Westminster Bridge and in Parliament be linked to the siege of Mosul where Isis has lost the east of the city and half the west since an Iraqi army offensive started on 17 October? Isis has traditionally tried to offset defeats on the battlefield, by terrorist attacks aimed civilians that show they are still very much a force to be feared. The same logic led to the ritual decapitation, drowning and burning of foreign journalists and domestic opponents. The most likely speculation at this early stage is that the attacks in London are inspired or directed by Isis, but there is too little evidence to make the connection with any certainty. Isis often holds off claiming such atrocities for several days to increase speculation and intensify terror. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The current threat level in the UK is classified as severe, meaning that an attack is highly likely, and it has been long expected that London would be revisited by terrorism. One recurring theme of concern was of a Mumbai-style attack, with teams of gunmen with explosives carrying out multiple raids and seeking to take hostages, a scenario replicated in the Paris atrocity of 2015. What took place today was more like the recent massacres in Nice and Berlin, with a vehicle being used as a weapon with lethal effect. Unlike in those two cities, however, the terrorist here was armed with a knife and not a gun. Under the circumstances, the measures to protect the Houses of Parliament itself worked but at a cost. The car being used for the attack, a dark-coloured hatchback, crashed into railings outside, but in any event, the entrance is blocked by metal barricades which would have prevented entry. The attacker was shot dead after getting into the grounds, but not before he had managed to stab a police officer to death. The attacker claimed two more lives and injured 20 others, some of them seriously, when he drove on to the pavement on Westminster Bridge on the way to the Parliament building. But that, unfortunately, could have happened in any public road near or far from Parliament. There are other possible scenarios. The car could have been packed with explosives or the attacker could have been carrying a gun. That would have, almost certainly, led to an even greater number of casualties. There are contingency procedures in place for that, including flying in a SAS team to deal with an ongoing situation. But the only way to prevent that would be to bar vehicles from the vicinity of Parliament. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Even that would not necessarily guarantee total safety, as the IRAs mortar launch at Downing Street in 1991 showed. It was inevitable that an act of terrorism would take place sooner or later. In the aftermath there will be debate about additional security measures and whether that infringes on civic society. Less than half an hour after the carnage a member of the public, stopped at a police cordon, demanded to know Why not? Its a free country. The response was, Not at the moment its not. The invisible Border at Newry is under threat from Brexit, while Enda Kenny and Arlene Foster have failed to develop a joint approach to fight new partition THE Irish Question is very difficult, the spoof history of Britain, '1066 And All That', opined. Every time the English find the answer, the Irish change the question. Now, with Brexit, the English have changed the question, but the answer is just as elusive. The sudden re-emergence of a united Ireland as the answer is as mistaken as anything the British came up with in days gone by. Whatever question to which unity might be the answer it is not Brexit. This is not just because of the politics - intractable though they are - but the economics. I am not talking even of the 10bn or so subvention from London to Belfast, or the fanciful ideas of how this burden would be shared in a new constitutional arrangement. It is about the economic costs of Brexit itself to the island. Floating Irish unity as an issue risks making those costs even higher, when every political, intellectual and diplomatic sinew needs to be strained to achieve the best terms for the island in the extraordinary negotiations which are about to begin; protecting as much as possible of what we already have and being ready on both sides of the Border for the major logistical changes to be made if Brexit really does happen. A successful negotiation of all-island arrangements will require an all-island approach. The events of the past few weeks and months have made that less likely, not more. But it is worse that. This unity fancy will make it more difficult to deal with that reality, not easier. Everyone always has something to say about Irish unity (your columnist included). But hardly anybody - perhaps nobody - has found anything very helpful to say about a possible NIexit. Charging about on the well-trodden ground of Irish unity is simply dodging the difficult stuff. A startling illustration was the apparent argument that leaving the EU would be so painful for the North that it would be better off in a united Ireland. The obvious objection is that, if the divorce terms turn out to be as harsh as that, they will also impose such economic losses on the Republic that unity will be the last thing on the agenda. Much of this confusion seem to stem from what might happen to farming and agri-business, given that EU funds make up 80pc of the income of northern farmers. Before membership in 1973, though, British government support made up a similar proportion of farm income. It was southern farmers who lost out from the UK "cheap food" policy. The same could well happen again. With agriculture accounting for 1pc of GDP, Britain can afford a cheap food policy. Indeed, it may have to introduce one; both to offset the unpopularity of other Brexit consequences results and to show off some shiny new trade deals with places like Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. The Republic should be very afraid. In purely trade terms, Northern Ireland also seems to have less to fear. It exports just 3bn to the Republic and 2bn to the rest of the EU. On that basis, its 14bn sales to Great Britain are far more important. Unlike any change to its position in the UK, that will not be directly affected by Brexit. Indirect effects are a different matter and Brexit may put paid to any northern hopes of building a worthwhile market economy on the back of foreign direct investment, irrespective of the rate of corporation tax. It is a mistake to think primarily of the Republic and the North as trade partners with each other. Rather they each trade abroad, and abroad mainly means GB for indigenous companies - around 60pc of their exports for northern ones and 40pc for the south. A better way to think about it is that each jurisdiction supplies the other with materials, semi-finished products and services which contribute to final sales. Business will not only suffer directly from Brexit, whether through tariffs, currency instability or reduced income support, but indirectly through higher intermediate costs and disruption of existing supply chains. As well as threats to existing benefits such as the all-island energy market and cross-border research, the prospects for mutually beneficial developments (many of which should have been better established by now) in healthcare, education, transport, communications and pursuit of foreign investment will greatly diminish. One of the few obvious points in all of this is that Brexit losses can be minimised and the island's potential maximised by pursuit of a joint north-south agenda. It is almost as obvious - although we still hope to be pleasantly surprised - that no-one in Dublin or Belfast knows what to put in it. They have my sympathy. The inevitable results of a hard - or even firm - Brexit have been well explained. A plan to mitigate them would require the EU to do things it has never done before and the British government to make special arrangement for Northern Ireland while juggling with Scottish independence and Tory eurosceptic paranoia. Free movement (almost) of people across the Border looks relatively easy to negotiate; employment status a bit more difficult. If Ireland wins concession there - plus financial compensation - one can see why the rest of the EU might think that was enough. It might be enough for the public as well, but it would far from the best outcome. Free movement aside, Ireland would still be split even more firmly in two by tariffs, regulation, duties on goods which would make further processing on the other side of the border uneconomical, and the need for separate transport routes and energy infrastructure. It might finish off all-island banking and reverse the welcome increases in cross-border business services and tourism. A few months ago it looked possible that Belfast and Dublin could have drawn up proposals to avoid this new partition, using the existing cross-border institutions. It would have required the utmost delicacy: all the constitutional difficulties would be on the unionist side, especially the implication that the Irish Sea would be part of the Border. Yet even with the limited analysis which seems to have been done, unionists were sufficiently alarmed that, with large dollops of reassurance from Dublin, they might have considered a joint approach. Instead the Executive has fallen - to resume goodness knows when or how - and the southern media is full of united Ireland fever. One has to conclude that whatever opportunity did exist has vanished. Not for the first time, the vocal anti-partitionists have reinforced partition and done harm to both parts of the island. A new 'Brexit roadshow' has been undertaken by Bord Bia as the State body seeks to safeguard Irish exporters against the effects of Britain leaving the EU. A team of food, drink and horticulture specialists from Bord Bia will meet with more than 150 exporters across Ireland over the coming weeks to hold in-depth analysis on the likely impact of Brexit on businesses. As part of the roadshow, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed launched a new 'Brexit Barometer' in conjunction with Bord Bia yesterday. An interactive tool that will be used at each of the meetings across the country, the 'Brexit Barometer' will allow businesses to identify and calculate their own unique risks and opportunities arising from Brexit. The 'Brexit Barometer' includes 100 questions across six specific risk areas - routes to market, customs and tax, supply chain, trade, currency and human resources. "With the triggering of Article 50 in sight it is timely that I launch this new Brexit support initiative, which I encourage all food exporters to engage with as much as possible," Mr Creed said. "Since the Brexit referendum my Department has provided Bord Bia with 3.6m in additional funding to develop new innovative proposals such as the 'Brexit Barometer'," he added. The Irish food, drink and horticultural industries exported a total of 4.1bn to the UK last year, representing 37pc of total exports. Bord Bia has also launched a number of wider programmes in recent months including insights into consumers and markets in South East Asia, Africa, UK & Continental Europe. The ECB could fast track authorisation of banks leaving the UK because of Brexit, a top official confirmed yesterday. The ECB may be willing temporarily to forego its requirement to pre-approve the financial models banks use to determine risks, provided that these models have already been approved in Britain, ECB board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger told bank executives, confirming a Reuters exclusive. An agreed fast-track regime would apply across all European banking markets and so limit the risk of firms exploiting so-called "regulatory arbitrage" or differences in standards between countries, something that Financial Services Minister Eoghan Murphy complained about last week. The fast track plan would see supervisors spare lenders having to undergo a lengthy initial test of their risk models, Lautenschlaeger said on Wednesday. For investment and wholesale banks, risk models can be highly complicated so reviewing those internal controls and models can take months. The ECB's temporary waiver could expedite relocation, potentially reshaping Europe's financial landscape with places like Dublin, Frankfurt, Paris, and Luxembourg grabbing business from London. "With a view to internal models, we would aim to be accommodating regarding the timing," Lautenschlaeger, a bank supervisor, said. "There will be a transitional period in which new euro area entities might use internal models that have not yet been approved by the ECB." The condition for such an exemption is that models must have already been approved by the UK's Prudential Regulation Authority and that the banks must have already applied for internal model approval in the euro area, Lautenschlaeger said. "The transitional period will cease as soon as we have approved or rejected the bank's model application," she added. Britain will trigger divorce proceedings with the European Union on March 29 and UK-based banks are almost certainly lose their rights to access the EU's single market from London, now the bloc's financial hub. A handful of firms, like Goldman Sachs and insurer AIG, have already announced plans to move some operations to Europe but most are still holding out, contemplating their next step as it may take years before clarity on the new regulatory framework is delivered. Despite the expedited entry, banks should not expect easier supervision, Lautenschlaeger said, warning that Europe will not lure banks by giving up its standards. "We will not accept empty shell companies," she said. "All entities in the euro area must have adequate local risk management, sufficient local staff and operational independence." Meanwhile, Dublin is the best alternative for London-based bankers forced to move after Brexit, according to an index of 15 cities compiled by a relocation company. Ireland tied for the highest top income tax rate, at 52pc, but benefited from being English-speaking and the "low" cost of renting a flat in Dublin - cheaper than Paris, Frankfurt or Luxembourg, Movinga said on its website. Amsterdam is the next-best destination for Brexit exiles, while Frankfurt languished in sixth place and Paris in ninth, below Valletta in Malta and Brussels, the index showed. Additional reporting Reuters and Bloomberg Boston-based real estate investment and private lending firm Grand Coast Capital has announced its acquisition of Swords Plaza, a 9,409 sq m (101,285 sq ft) retail and office complex located on Main Street in Swords, County Dublin. While the company did not disclose the amount it paid for the complex, the figure is understood to have been in the region of the 14.5m asking price that had been sought by selling agents, Cushman & Wakefield. With the complex producing a net operating income of 1,556,000, the investment is set to deliver a return of approximately 10.34pc. Some 70pc of the rental income at Swords Plaza is derived from a selection of high-profile tenants including McDonald's, Smiles Dental, Axa Insurance, ASL Aviation, DHL Express and Seetec Employment & Skills. ASL Aviation pays a rent of 361,000, while McDonald's and DHL pay rents of 160,000 and 142,000 respectively. The complex currently enjoys an occupancy level of over 97pc while the WAULT (weighted average unexpired lease term) is 7.94 years. Commenting on the completion of the deal, CEO and founder of Grand Coast Capital Group, Jeff Carter, said: "The acquisition of Swords Plaza provides Grand Coast Capital a strategic investment opportunity in an ideal location on a very attractive basis. "This property stands as a well-positioned income-producing asset, generating strong current returns with favourable potential for added improvement," Mr Carter added. A statement from the company, meanwhile, said the acquisition of Swords Plaza reiterated Grand Coast Capital's continued investment interest in Ireland, which now includes a number of hotel, commercial, and mixed-use real estate assets. Located approximately 12km north of Dublin city centre, Swords is one of the largest suburban centres in the country. The town boasts a diverse array of amenities and retail offerings, with an easily accessible location on the M1 motorway, linking Dublin and Belfast. Swords is home to numerous corporate headquarters including Kellogg's, Merck, Cadbury and Bristol Myers, owing to its close proximity to Dublin Airport and Dublin city centre. RTE is sitting on an estimated cash pile of over 220m, which it could realise immediately by relocating from its Montrose campus and selling it in its entirety. But management at the State broadcaster made a decision in 2015 that its operations would remain based in Donnybrook, on lands that are almost universally acknowledged by property industry professionals as among the most valuable in the State. While agents Savills formally placed 8.64 acres of RTE's Montrose campus on the market yesterday at a guide price of 75m, the Irish Independent understands that the most lucrative option of selling all 32.12 acres occupied by the broadcaster was specifically excluded from considerations RTE gave to the disposal of its lands in late 2015. Referring to the broadcaster's seeming refusal to countenance the prospect of moving from its Dublin 4 base, a source familiar with the matter cited the "serious difficulties" the relocation of RTE's TV studios would present. That argument was dismissed by a number of figures within the property industry, with suggestions that RTE should consider relocating to an alternative and less costly site either within the capital or on its periphery. While one source referred to the example set by TV3 in locating its studios at Westgate Business Park in Ballymount next to the M50 motorway, another source suggested that RTE might consider the role it could play in the regeneration of Dublin's north inner city by relocating to a site there. The 8.64-acre site now being sold as part of the 'Project Montrose' process is expected to attract a wide array of bidders from both Ireland and abroad. Among the Irish developers expected to run the rule over the lands, which director at Savills Ireland Mark Reynolds described as a "once-in-a- generation opportunity" are: Cairn Homes, Sean Mulryan's Ballymore Group, Johnny Ronan's RGRE (Ronan Group Real Estate), Michael O'Flynn's O'Flynn Group, Joe O'Reilly's Chartered Land, Michael Cotter's Park Developments, Davy Hickey Properties, I-Res REIT, and property investor Paddy McKillen. Potential international interest in buying the site or providing the funding for its acquistion by an Irish developer is expected to come from players such as Colony Capital, Kennedy Wilson and Hines - all three of which have invested heavily in Irish property in the years since the crash. The RTE site is being sold with a detailed feasibility study for a high-quality housing scheme, designed by leading architecture practice O'Mahony Pike Architects. According to it, the lands have the capacity to accommodate up to 500 units comprising a mix of up to 20 high-value houses and approximately 500 apartments, subject to the necessary planning permission being obtained. Commenting on the prospects for the site, Mark Reynolds said: "The pent-up demand from buyers and renters for quality apartments in prime locations in Dublin 4, coupled with the backdrop of limited competing supply, will ensure a successful sales campaign for the scheme when completed." Farmers in North Tipperary are staging a protest in the Department of Agriculture's offices, after they say they were declined a meeting. Approximately 200 farmers, led by IFA North Tipperary Chairman Tim Cullinane, arrived in the offices of the Department in Nenagh this morning in a dispute over the inspection regime in the area and a number are now refusing to leave. The farmers occupied the offices around mid morning and requested a meeting with the area inspector, which it is understood was refused. Cullinane said that the farmers will remain in situ until they are granted a meeting to discuss the situation. The North Tipperary IFA Chairman said that the treatment of Tipperary farmers on area aid inspections is not acceptable and can no longer be tolerated. He said that in 2015 there was 321 inspections carried out by the Nenagh office and penalties were applied in 53pc of the cases, amounting to total fines of 1.28m. Expand Close Farmers stage sit in at Department of Agriculture offices in Tipperary / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Farmers stage sit in at Department of Agriculture offices in Tipperary Nationally, he said, the penalty rate is 39pc of inspections and the average penalty is 750.00 compared to an average of 1,300 per inspection in Tipperary Livestock farmers, he said, are dependant on the single farm payment for 90-100pc of their income and all the protesting farmers are looking for is a reasonable approach by inspectors who come onto farms. "We cannot have inspectors arriving on dairy farms at 8am morning and expect the farmer to be available." He said they are also concerned about the scale of penalties for missing tags. "These tags are approved by the Department of Agriculture but it is farmers who are getting the blame when there is a problem." Cullinane said the farmers will remain until they are granted a meeting. it is understood that a meeting has been requested in recent weeks, but the meeting request was declined. A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said that Irish farming receives over 1.4 billion per annum in direct payments; the majority of this is from the EU Budget. "Payments under various Farm Schemes are subject to compliance by the beneficiaries with the relevant EU Regulations and the specific terms and conditions of the schemes. "In accordance with the requirements of EU Regulations, inspections are carried out at farm level by trained Department staff to ensure compliance by the beneficiaries and consistency in the outcome. Selection of farms for inspection can be random or risk based and many inspections are done by remote sensing (without the necessity of a visit). "The Department strives to ensure that farm visits are kept to a minimum and, where possible, that a number of schemes are covered in one visit. "Where non-compliances are determined, a penalty may apply to payments in respect of the non-compliance on a sliding scale; the level of penalties is on average each year, quite small. The level of penalty varies across each county depending on land type, intensity of farming, etc." Farmers who are unhappy with penalties, they said, can has recourse to an internal Departmental review (by a different official) of the decision should he/she wish to challenge the outcome of an inspection, or can refer the matter to the Agricultural Appeals Office who will carry out an independent review of any decision. They also can also refer the matter to the office of the Ombudsman should he/she wish to challenge the decision of the Agricultural Appeals Office. Owners of a John Deere Tractor, worth an estimated 30,000, have released CCTV images of the machine being stolen. Gardai in Tullow are continuing to investigate the taking of a vehicle which occurred between March 17 and the early hours of March 18. Gardai confirmed to FarmIreland.ie that no arrests have yet been made and investigations are on-going. The tractor was reported as stolen in the Rathoe area of Carlow. Expand Close CCTV image of the tractor before theft. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp CCTV image of the tractor before theft. It is understood the John Deere 6920 was stolen on in the early hours and the owners are offering a reward for information on the tractor which has an estimated value of 30,000. The registration of the tractor is 05 MH 5303. Expand Close Stolen John Deere tractor / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Stolen John Deere tractor It is understood the machine was last seen in Castlecomer between 8.30pm and 9pm on March 17. An appeal has been made for anybody with information on the tractors whereabouts to contact Carlow Garda station on 059-9136620. It comes as a rural crime expert has said criminal gangs are now targeting isolated rural areas in Munster and Connacht in order to avoid Garda detection along motorways. It is understood the success of Operation Thor and its crackdown on crime in the midlands region is driving gangs onto less policed regional and back roads. Experts say the criminals, mainly city-based, are now regularly staying in remote parts of Kerry, Cork, Clare, Mayo, Galway and Donegal for a couple of days before carrying out attacks on specific 'soft' targets. "Kerry, Cork, Clare, Mayo, Donegal: those areas are being targeted without a doubt because they are now being seen as soft targets," says Colin Connolly, former Rural Crime Prevention Executive at the IFA. The RTE campus in Donnybrook, Dublin 4, part of which is to be sold off. Photo: Doug OConnor An "air of uncertainty" has been hovering over Montrose for months now, a senior RTE staff member has revealed. At the station's TV studio 4 yesterday, staff packed in to hear about the grand new 'vision' for the station. But most had already seen the headlines announcing 200-300 redundancies and heard Dee Forbes's lengthy interview with Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio 1. Many were frustrated the news had been made public prior to meeting with staff. Workers gathered around internal TVs throughout the campus, which beamed the meeting across screens for those who couldn't attend or fit in the studio. Ms Forbes's speech focused less on redundancy specifics and was more of an upbeat discussion about new hubs and plans to bring RTE further into the digital age. With the money gathered from the imminent sale of campus land, after taxes, the funds would go into new infrastructure and towards much-needed updates to technology, she said. Ms Forbes also referenced a Finnish broadcaster she had visited, which, she said, had most emulated the type of structure she wants to impose on RTE. Following her speech, questions were put to the floor. One correspondent posed a question about highly sought after car parking spaces - a number of which will be lost with the sale of land on the campus. Afterwards, one RTE staff member pointed out that mass redundancies could result in a lack of experienced broadcasters and programme makers within the station. "They will pay people to go and then pay them more to come back on contract," the employee said. "The station will find a lot of people applying for redundancy but then it will find that the only way to cover the work they did properly is to hire them back. "RTE has made the mistake of becoming too top heavy. "There is an over-abundance of managers and supervisors and project people in areas like human resources, marketing and sales and less people doing the actual work on the ground," they said. Another senior staff member spoke of the growing feeling of discontent and uncertainty around RTE. "There has been an air of uncertainty over Montrose for a while - there's no doubt about it," they said. "Talk of these redundancies has been doing the rounds since before Christmas and there wasn't much said specifically about where they will be made in the meeting. "With the planned merger of TV, radio and digital under one umbrella of content, there are a lot of people uncertain about their futures. "It makes people fearful and unsure - especially the old guard - some of whom feel that they could be surplus to requirements around here now." Trade Union Group (TUG) chair Shirley Bradshaw wasn't at the meeting but did have a "briefing" with the director general on Tuesday. For Ms Bradshaw, the most important thing is that the station does seem to have a plan. "From a TUG perspective, we welcome that there is a plan and we will work with them to find the best solution," she said. "As long as the redundancies are voluntary, we will work with them...we don't know where the job cuts lie at this stage and my concern would be that people who want to avail of the package, would be able to." She added: "In regards to what the package might be, we have no idea and we will just have to wait." As, it seems, will 10pc of RTE's workforce. The State's Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) will no longer be sole auditor of Nama's group entities, with the bad bank now drafting in a firm to undertake statutory audit work for the next three years, when the agency expects to be wound up. The C&AG has previously defended its role as Nama's only auditor and insisted that it could continue to do so despite new EU rules introduced last year. The appointment of a statutory auditor to all of Nama's subsidiaries - which effectively comprise all its operations - comes after the C&AG, the State's financial watchdog, and Nama clashed last year following the 2014 sale of a 1.6bn portfolio of Northern Ireland loans. The sales process was dubbed Project Eagle by Nama. Since Nama's inception in 2009, its accounts have been audited only by the C&AG. However, Nama said that under the Companies Act, 2014, the C&AG is no longer deemed to be a statutory auditor, except for companies not trading to make a profit. The C&AG had previously argued that Nama was not specifically created to make a profit. As such, the C&AG had maintained that Nama was a not-for-profit organisation for which it could continue to be the statutory auditor. But that is no longer the case. "The C&AG is not in a position to audit the statutory financial statements of the Nama group entities for the financial year ended 31 December 2016 onwards," Nama noted in a request for audit tenders published yesterday. The appointment may extend beyond the end of 2020, if required, according to Nama. However, Nama must also continue to submit annual accounts to the C&AG for each Nama group entity and the Nama group itself for audit by the watchdog under the terms of the Nama Act. A Nama spokesman said audits by the new statutory auditor and the C&AG would now take place in parallel. Last September, a report by the C&AG claimed that the sale of the Project Eagle loans by Nama resulted in a loss to the agency of up to 190m (219m). The loans were sold to US firm Cerberus following a controversial bidding process, where the C&AG insisted Nama deviated from its normal loan sale process. The Government then established an enquiry into the sales process. Findings of that enquiry by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) were published just last week. It found that the Project Eagle sales process was "seriously deficient". PAC chairman Sean Fleming said Nama was unable to show that it got "value for money for the Irish State". Nama ceo Brendan McDonagh has rejected criticism of the Project Eagle sales process. The Central Bank has it will engage with the credit union sector about changing regulations that could allow for the funding of social housing. While the Central Bank said it was open to engagement with the sector on the social housing issue, the regulator said that overall standards of regulatory compliance are well below the those required to safeguard members funds. Anne Marie McKiernan, Registrar of credit unions at the Central Bank, told the Oireachtas committee on finance that the onus was on the credit unions to ensure that they were investing the money of their members in a prudent way. Ms McKiernan added that it was worrying that the conversation surrounding easing of lending restrictions had focussed around the issue of mortgage provision. She said that the regulator did not want "to lift limits and see what happens". She said that credit union management had not presented the Central Bank with adequate proposals that met the regulatory compliance standards of the regulator. The Central Bank has said the biggest challenge facing the credit union sector is to figure out how to grow lending in a responsible manner. Des Carville, head of shareholding and financial advisory division at the Department of Finance, said that a review by the Credit Union Advisory Committee had thrown up persuasive arguments about raising lending limits for credit unions. There is a persuasive argument that the lending limits constrain upfront investment and this will form part of the implementation group discussions, Mr Carville told the oireachtas committee on finance, public expenditure and reform. However, he added that it was the job of the Central Bank to make changes to any to existing restrictions on lending. The Department said that 18pc of credit unions now had assets in excess of 100m and may need to be treated differently to smaller credit unions. Officials from the Department of Finance were quizzed as to why credit unions were not being allowed enter into the mortgage lending market. Labours Sean Sherlock accused the Department and the Central Bank of not taking credit union sector seriously because they were voluntary organisations. We have the utmost respect for the credit union sector. We are very supportive of the sector, Mr Carville replied. Committee chairman John McGuinness said that credit unions have been held back from entering in the housing market. Labour's Sean Sherlock said that the scale of the problems in the credit unions had been grossly, grossly overestimated. Mr Carville said that there was 250m in the Credit Institutions Resolution Fund and that 30m had been used to assist credit unions that had ran into difficulties. The credit unions had been asked to pay 7m per year into the fund, which has now built over the course of five years Mr McGuinness accused the Department of illegally taking money from the credit unions given that that legislation for the resolution fund had only required credit unions to contribute for four years. Mr McGuinness concluded the session saying the merry-go-round is coming to and end. Were all getting sick of it. The push to boost the number of houses being built could ultimately lead to the economy overheating, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has warned. The think tank also said if unemployment goes below 5.5pc the Government will also have to take steps to cool the growing economy. In its latest quarterly commentary, the first of 2017, the ESRI said it was revising up its growth forecast slightly for this year and next on the back of stronger than expected growth projections for both the US and UK, and that unemployment was falling faster than expected. It is predicting that GDP will rise by 3.8pc this year, compared with a previous forecast of 3.5pc, and 3.6pc next year. "That's because of the slightly improved forecast for the US and UK, but also because at the tail end of last year and the start of this year, it was evident that the labour market has performed better than expected," said research professor and author of the commentary, Dr Kieran McQuinn. "The unemployment rate has come down a little bit quicker than we expected. The overall tax take, the various different taxes, they actually shored up quite well towards the end of the year." The ESRI said domestic sources continue to be the driving forces behind the growth in the economy, with both investment and consumption set to make strong positive contributions to GDP over the coming years. But property-related factors are dominating both areas. Higher levels of residential and commercial supply are increasing investment, while higher rents are contributing significantly to consumption. And with demand likely to outstrip supply for the foreseeable future, higher rents are likely to dominate spending in the short-term, the think tank said. The ESRI said that housing supply is now responding to increased demand. It said the total number of houses built last year was just under 15,000. It expects that to rise to 18,500 this year and to 25,000 in 2018. But if it continues beyond that, to above 30,000, there is a risk that that could cause the economy to overheat, Mr McQuinn said. "We're treading a very fine line between, on the one hand we need more housing, that's clear and evident, and our latest estimate would suggest we need even more houses that we thought we did, but the issue is that driving the economy toward producing that, there is the possibility that we could veer into overheating territory. It's a very difficult line to tread." "If we start to build 35,000 to 40,000, or 45000 to 50,000 houses, then we're clearly into an overheating situation." Mr McQuinn said that even if 25,000 houses are being built a year, and the unemployment rate dips below 5.5pc, there is a risk of overheating and the Government will have to make the political decision to step in and take money out of the economy. The ESRI is forecasting unemployment to fall to 5.6pc next year. It said the expected increase in construction activity will contribute to a consistent fall in unemployment over the next two years. The ESRI said the growing relevance of the construction sector may give rise to productivity-related issues. "It will be recalled that one of the main reasons for the substantial deterioration in the competitiveness performance of the Irish economy in the 2000s was the disproportionate role played by the construction sector," the commentary noted. "The increased level of construction activity could also cause the unemployment rate to reduce faster than envisaged. If unemployment were to fall below 5.5pc, this would almost certainly confirm that the domestic economy is overheating." Meanwhile, the Nevin Economic Research Institute said Government plans to deal with the housing shortage are insufficient and that the "lack of access to affordable quality homes constitutes a significant crisis" for the State. In its latest economic commentary, the left-leaning think tank said the housing supply shortage is associated with a range of problems - fiscal, financial and market related. It said the Government should adopt a radically-different approach to housing, based on what it calls the European Cost Rental Model. This would involve the establishment of a single, unitary mixed-income rental model operated by a publicly-owned company on a cost-recovery basis. This would be known as the Housing Company of Ireland, and Nevin said it would be more ESB than Irish Water. The funding for the company would come from a number of sources, including the exchequer, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, including the proceeds from the sale of part of the stake in AIB, the European Investment Bank, Nama surplus funds, a new Irish Housing Solitary Bond and other sources. The aim would be to have 70,000 new homes over a five-year period, including 20,000 vacant but habitable houses currently in place, with a total capital investment of 12bn, which would, ideally, be treated as being "off the books" by Europe. Rents would be charged at full economic cost, but low-income households would be subsidised. Similar schemes are already in operation in Austria and the Netherlands, Nevin said. A wave energy device from Cork-based Ocean Energy which was previously tested in Galway Bay. Irish renewable energy companies will have access to 3m as part of an EU wide initiative to support renewable ocean energy. The overall 17m fund is being launched in conjunction with seven government and agencies from across Europe. Companies and research organisations in Scotland, Brittany, Pays de La Loire, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the Basque Country are eligible to apply for funding under the scheme. The Irish arm of the funding will be administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). Through this programme we are leveraging significant funds and resources across the EU in support of the development of the ocean energy sector, said Jim Gannon, CEO of SEAI. With a sea area ten times our land mass, we recognise the huge potential that ocean energy has to offer Ireland in creating a clean, low carbon economy, attracting investment and creating high value local jobs, Mr Gannon added. In Greece, the TV licence fee is obligatory and also paid through electricity bills. Stock Image The suggestion from RTE director general Dee Forbes that TV licence fees be paid through utility bills isn't a new concept. Italy and Greece are among a number of countries that impose the charge on electricity bills, with Italy introducing the new rules just last year. The Stability Law allows for the fee to be paid in 10 instalments. The annual cost is 100, and users must pay the licence fee if they own one or more televisions. A report last month said that evasion rates had fallen from 30pc to 4pc since the new system was introduced, yielding additional revenue of 500m over the year to the Italian national broadcaster. An estimated 21 million households paid. In Greece, the licence fee is obligatory and also paid through electricity bills. It costs 51.60 a year. Ms Forbes said evasion rates in Ireland were among the highest in Europe, at around 19pc. She suggested that linking the fee with electricity bills could improve collection rates. Profits at IFG were down in 2016 Profits before tax at Irish listed financial firm IFG fell by 26pc last year to 6.4m(7.3m), according to preliminary results for 2016 released this morning. Adjusted profit at the company fell by 14pc to 10m(11.5m) last year, while earnings per share dropped by 7pc over the course of the year. IFG said it had incurred exceptional costs of 1.7m(1.9m) as a result of ongoing restructuring and relocation activities. Total assets under management rose by 14pc however, to 26.7bn (30.8bn). We enter 2017 with both businesses in stronger positions than last year, benefiting from the accelerated investment in people and technology, which will differentiate both businesses going forward, said IFG ceo John Cotter. In our markets, serving high-net worth clients, the quality of our relationships, digital capability and product set, is critical to retaining and attracting new clients, Mr Cotter added. Permanent TSB will finalise a clean-up strategy for its problems loans, including mortgages, by mid-year, the Irish Independent has learned, in a move designed to end investor uncertainty about the mounting regulatory pressures facing the lender. Global distressed-debt funds are circling the troubled residential mortgage portfolio of State-backed Permanent TSB, amid intensifying expectations the recovering lender will launch a formal sales process within the next six months - including of home loans in deep arrears. A handful of opportunist funds - including Lone Star, Cerberus and CarVal - are already eyeing the rump end of PTSB's toxic mortgages. At its recent annual results presentation, the bank disclosed that close to 1.5bn of its 5.9bn of non-performing loans remained untreated as borrowers reneged on repayments or failed to engage with the lender. However, sources stressed PTSB - which is 75pc State owned - may confine any sale to the buy-to-let mortgages. Yet the anticipated purge of PTSB's soured loan book comes as the same opportunists line-up for a major slice of AIB's 1.8bn impaired residential buy-to-let portfolio. Bids were reportedly submitted for the AIB loans earlier this year in a sales process dubbed Project Cyprus. However AIB, which required a near 20bn lifeline from taxpayers to stave off its collapse, remains tight-lipped about the auction amid preparations for a potential initial public offering in May or June. The Government wants to offload a 25pc slice of its 99.8pc stake in the lender. AIB declined to comment on the status of Project Cyprus. The deal will be closely watched since the market for large-scale distressed residential loans in Ireland remains untested. While the global opportunist funds have hoovered up billions of euro of soured commercial mortgages, chiefly from Nama, lenders have clung on to toxic residential mortgage books fearing the political fall out from selling home loans. In a recent note to clients Goodbody stockbrokers' banking analysts, said a sale of PTSB's untreated non-performing loan portfolio was the "most likely option". Goodbody also emphasised PTSB has adopted a "robust" provision coverage of 42pc for its impaired book. While this enables the bank to cast off the portfolio at a discount, it's understood part of the attraction for the loans stems from the number of borrowers still servicing the debt. One source pointed out that at least a third of borrowers within this rump end of the book are repaying at rates higher than the interest charge. PTSB, along with AIB and Bank of Ireland, is under pressure to resolve its non-performing loans amid a regulatory squeeze - including orders from the ECB to tackle bad loans. The bank confirmed that it is shutting 22 branches and laying off 220 people. Photo: GETTY RURAL areas are set to be the big losers after Ulster Bank confirmed it is closing branches. The bank confirmed that it is shutting 22 branches and laying off 220 people. Most of the branch closures are in country towns, but five are set to go in Dublin. The Dublin closures include relatively well off places such as Dalkey, Donnybrook, Rathmines and Sandyford, as well as Dorset Street in the city centre. Four branches are going in towns in Cork. The bank says that it will add two new mobile banks to its network. It is aiming to achieve reductions in staff numbers through voluntary redundancies, but this cannot be guaranteed, it is understood. The bank employs 2,810 people in branches and other roles. There will be 88 branches after the closures, which will take place in June and September 2017. Defending closures and lay-offs, the bank said it was seeing an average of just 30 customers a day using the branches it is closing. Some 62pc of its transactions were digital last year. This compares with 10pc in branches, Ulster Bank said. News of the branch closures was first reported in the Irish Independent earlier this month. Ulster Bank chief executive Gerry Mallon said as well as doubling the number of mobile banks, the lender will introduce community banks. These are officials who will help vulnerable customers to transact digitally. The bank is also increasing its investment in its existing branches, he said. These changes also include the closure of 22 branches. Mr Mallon said closing a branch was a difficult decision which the bank did not take lightly Our branch network remains an important part of how we serve our customers. However, the role of the branch continues to move toward advice and away from day-to-day transactions, with only 10pc of our customer interactions now happening in branch. The bank said it was consulting with the Financial Services Union on the job losses. The affected branches are: Ardara, Co Donegal; Arva, Co Cavan; Ballincollig, Co Cork; Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo; Ballymote, Co Sligo; Blackpool, Co Cork; Briarhill, Co Galway; Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan; Carrigaline, Co Cork; Castletroy, Co Limerick; Cootehill, Co Cavan; Dalkey, Co Dublin; Donnybrook, Dublin; Dorset Street, Dublin; Edenderry, Co Offaly; Edgeworthstown, Co Longford; Fermoy, Co Cork; Newcastle, Co Galway; Newcastlewest, Co Limerick; Raphoe, Co Donegal; Rathmines, Dublin; and Sandyford, Dublin. Powerscourt Distillery will be based in the grounds of the Powerscourt estate in Co Wicklow Tech entrepreneur Mike Peirce - who founded Mentec - has emerged as an investor in Powerscourt Distillery, the craft distiller based in the grounds of the Powerscourt estate in Co Wicklow. The company has secured 3.75m in funding, with Mr Peirce stumping up 750,000. Mr Peirce's son Alexander has invested 375,000. Both are directors of the whiskey business. Powerscourt Distillery first announced plans in 2015 to establish the project at the estate, which is owned by the Slazenger family. It secured planning permission last year. An old mill house on the estate is being converted to house the 10m distillery, which is using mineral water from Powerscourt Estate's well. It intends to create a portfolio of whiskeys and expects to employ 18 people full-time. At full production, the distillery will have the potential to produce more than one million bottles of whiskey every year. The first batch of whiskey is set to be distilled early next year and then placed in oak casks to mature. Filings at the Companies Registration Office show that Powerscourt Distillery has just raised 3.75m. Other investors include the Slazenger family, which has injected 1.5m. The distillery's co-founders are Gerry Ginty and Ashley Gardiner. Mr Gardiner has invested 380,000. He is also a co-owner and director of a Dublin firm, Dublin Display Centre, which undertakes shop fit-outs. That firm has invested 95,000 in the distillery business. Anthony Murphy - previously a director of another shopfitting firm, Storebest - has invested 185,000. Mike Peirce, who is now living in Guernsey, founded Mentec in 1978. It grew to encompass processor design, hardware distribution and application software development. It was acquired in 2006 by AIM-listed Calyx for 16m in an all-cash deal. Mr Peirce was also involved in other technology firms, including chip designer Parthus. The number of new distilleries and brewers established in Ireland has ballooned in recent years, with well over 100m having been invested in the sector. In January, Guinness owner Diageo said that it will invest 25m in a new distillery at the Guinness headquarters in Dublin. It's reviving an old brand, Roe & Co for its whiskey. It will be aimed at the higher end of the market, with a 35-a-bottle price tag. Other distilleries have been opened or are being developed in the city. Among them is the Teeling Whiskey Distillery. Rothco's executive creative director Alan Kelly has a question for Irish marketers. Sorry, correction, in fact, Kelly has four questions for Irish marketers: What type of agency have you got? Is it creatively led? Account-management led? Or, is it client-led? Kelly says if the agency isn't creatively led, everyone should pack up their bags and take a hike. That's to say, unless everyone on the agency team isn't defined by creativity, then it's all a waste of time, Kelly told an Association of Advertisers in Ireland (AAI) Toolkit breakfast. He's referring to agency creatives, account management, connection strategists, producers, media and client. Kelly said it isn't just the biased rambling of an agency person - it's proven. Creatively awarded campaigns have been shown to provide 11 times the return on investment (ROI) than non-awarded work. The problem is that too often brand campaigns seem to want to blend in with the clutter, rather than stand out. "Maybe we're all worried that if our ideas get noticed, there's a chance that some people mightn't like it and we could lose our jobs," Kelly said. But if we look at some of the most creatively confident countries in the world, like Brazil and New Zealand, you lose your job if you don't stand out. "Look," Kelly insisted, "we've all been in research groups where one guy has had a problem with something on a storyboard. 'I don't like the fact that the couch in the ad is red... I hate red couches', he says. "I've been in the room behind the mirror where this comment has released panic: 'We need to change the couch colour now!' "Well, maybe it's OK that someone doesn't like the colour. "And maybe it's OK that someone hates your ad. It's not our job to make everyone in the country comfortable. It's our job to break through the clutter of the thousands of messages people are being bombarded with ads every day. To stand a chance of doing that, everyone must be creative." All things being equal, creativity is a marketer's best unfair advantage, Kelly insisted. * Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) will not be re-pitching for Ulster Bank's strategic and creative account as the RBS procurement division in the UK has decided to review its advertising. The WPP agency has worked with the RBS-owned bank for over 10 years, during which time it developed some highly-acclaimed work. O&M rolled out the recent 'Help for What Matters' and 'Mortgage You Can Live With', both of which won awards at the last Effies. When contacted by AdLib for comment, Ogilvy ceo JP Donnelly said his agency had enjoyed "an excellent working relationship" with Ulster Bank but both parties now felt the time was right to go their separate ways. Elsewhere in adland, Focus Advertising has won Kia Motors, which was handled by RLA in Belfast since 2006. The Kia move follows a three-way contest for the business, with Focus competing against Bloom and Bonfire. The media was not up for review and stays at Havas. Irish Rail is in the process of reviewing its media and creative accounts, currently handled by Mediavest and Publicis respectively. RTE's media account, with Vizeum, IAG's Aer Lingus, at Mediavest, and the Food Safety Authority, at Mindshare, are all out to pitch. * In a bid to further enhance its influence at home and overseas, the Digital Marketing Institute (DMI) has rebranded with a new corporate identity, tagline and website. The redesign was created in-house by head of brand Ray Doyle, who, with Ken Stanley, co-founded Brand Social, the agency acquired by Javelin three years ago. Co-launched by director Ian Dodson in 2008, DMI has expanded over the last three years and is now certified with 80 colleges, universities and training providers overseas. It handles certified corporate training in digital marketing for IBM and Vodafone. DMI's website switched from a mainly orange colour palette to blue to promote greater trust, professionalism and loyalty. The website redesign involved its internal UX team creating a more user-friendly and responsive design. A new tagline, 'Setting the Standard', aims to highlight the institute's role as a digital educator. * Friends First is doubling its ad spend this year by running a 650k TV, radio, out of home and online campaign by extending its 'Amongst Friends' investment funds and income protection messages. The ads, created by OwensDDB with media buying by OMD, are again voiced by actor Simon Delaney, who co-hosts TV3's 'Saturday AM' show with Anna Daly. * Former McConnells Advertising boss and UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School lecturer John Fanning is the guest speaker at the Association of Advertisers in Ireland (AAI) Toolkit breakfast in Core Media next Tuesday. In a talk entitled 'Things in the Offing', Fanning will discuss the issue of branding in "a new age of un-beauty, rage and fear". Michael Cullen is editor of Marketing.ie; cullen@marketing.ie Dublin continues to remain the only region with higher per capita disposable income than the State average. (Stock picture) Dublin residents have the highest incomes in Ireland, on average, followed by the people of Limerick, Kildare and Cork. These four counties were the only ones with above average incomes, according to new figures. The Central Statistics Office(CSO) released the most up-to-date income figures for the nation yesterday, covering the year 2014. The average disposable income for people in Ireland was 19,178 in 2014. The CSO definition of disposable income is a person's total income minus income tax and other taxes and social insurance contributions, or PRSI payments. Dublin residents topped the income league with an average of 21,963, after tax and PRSI. Limerick residents came second with 20,395, Kildare was in third place with 19,385, followed by Cork with 19,234. The lowest incomes in Ireland were in Donegal with an average of 15,061. Second last was Roscommon on 16,281. Third lowest was Monaghan on 16,395, followed by Offaly on 16,460. The Dublin region's average disposable income per person at 21,963 was 14.5pc higher than the average nationwide figure of 19,178. The Dublin residents' income in 2014 showed a rise of 5.5pc compared with the previous year. Of the remaining seven regions, only the Mid West, consisting of Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary, with an overall average of 19,021, had an average disposable income per person on a par with the State average. The Border region with 16,601 and the Midland region with 17,035 fared worst among the eight regions at approximately 13pc and 11pc respectively below the State average. The gap between the maximum and minimum value of disposable income per head per region increased from 4,524 in 2013 to 5,362 in 2014, due to Dublin regional incomes increasing by 1,129 (5.4pc). Those in the Border region, the lowest income region, increased by 291, or 1.7pc. Dublin continues to remain the only region with higher per capita disposable income than the State average during the entire 2006-2014 period, while the Midland, Border and West regions continue to earn less than the State average. Viewed from this longer-term perspective, that is from 2006 onwards, the divergence in income between the regions and Dublin was at its lowest in 2010 but has continued to widen in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The CSO stated the figures provide an useful indication of income variability. A question I've heard many times from entrepreneurs is: "How can we compete with Google and Facebook for talent?". There is a perception that European startups can't compete with the cash and equity and lunches and massages of the US multinationals stationed here. It's an understandable concern - and one that can be overcome. The first thing to note - lest start-ups pit themselves as opponents of multinationals - is that global tech giants are net contributors to the local talent pool in the UK and Ireland. Thousands of talented immigrants are attracted here by the prospect of working for big brand tech companies. While the resulting competition for talent is stiff, it is not zero sum. Second, the multinationals employ a lot of people here. A quick-and-dirty LinkedIn search will show you the number of employees at 10 well-known US tech firms (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Linkedin, Airbnb, Twitter, Dropbox and Snap) in Ireland (13,150) and the UK (20,870). LinkedIn is imperfect and these numbers are likely an underestimate. But let's proceed with them for a moment. Assuming the average annual attrition rate is 10pc, about 3,400 people leave these 10 companies in the UK and Ireland every year. That's a lot of untethered talent. Caveats apply, of course. Some of these workers are jumping to other multinationals. The majority are not the software engineers that are most in demand at startups. But the fact remains that there is substantial turnover at multinationals and, given the size of their employee base, the number of free agents churned up is high. With a little ingenuity, talented people can be prised free. Let's say you find someone at a multinational that you want to hire. There are a few things you should know. 1. What "customer segment" is your candidate in? If you don't know what's important to them, you could be wasting your time. There are two important dimensions: financial lock-in and job fulfillment. While compensation is only one part of this story, it is an important one. The more mature companies on the Top 10 list above pay a higher proportion of total compensation in the form of cash (salary plus bonus/commission), while the younger ones rely heavily on equity. Golden handcuffs - in the form of unvested equity or deferred cash payments - are quite common, even at junior levels in US tech multinationals. I think of financial lock-in as a state of mind rather than a number. What's important is whether or not the candidate feels locked-in by the comp package they're on. This is not something you can calculate on a spreadsheet. Someone who has just bought a house with a large mortgage may not be willing to take a salary cut, no matter how much they dislike their job. Fulfilment at work is a big topic for another day. But suffice to say, it's important to ascertain the candidate's level of job fulfilment early in the process. Let me say a few words about candidates in each segment. (i) 'No chance'. When you encounter someone who is happy and feeling financially locked-in, wish them well and move on. This happens frequently with directly-sourced candidates - after all, a LinkedIn profile doesn't tell you anything about a candidate's feelings. (ii) 'Velvet coffin'. Members of this club come in two varieties: temp and perm. Temps. Take an unfulfilled Snap employee this week. They'd be nuts to leave six months before the lock-up period expires and their stock becomes liquid. Stay in touch but don't bother trying to hire them today. Perms. Permanent members of the velvet coffin club dislike their jobs but won't resign because the pay is too bloody good. They are typically senior or tenured and have a tortured mental state when it comes to their careers. They dabble in self-delusion ("I'll leave when I find the right job"), so frequently accept recruitment calls and interview around town. Head-hunters love sending you these candidates because they look good on paper. But if you think you've found one, beware. They will snaffle a lot of your time and then reject your offer because the role isn't quite right. The real explanation will be money. (iii) 'Worth chasing'. There are lots of great candidates in this category. Fulfilment at work is more often caused by good attitude than good fortune. You want people like this in your company. They make their own luck. And if they don't feel financially locked-in - which, remember, has more to do with mindset than unvested equity - it's game on. (iv) 'Proceed with caution'. There are lots of great candidates in here too, but tread carefully. Make sure you understand why they're unfulfilled and you're confident they don't carry this disaffection around with them. 2. What's your hiring product? Big companies call it the Employer Value Proposition. Sounds like old guff but it's not - in fact, it's more relevant for startups than for established companies. What deal do you make with employees when they trade precious hours of their life for time with you? Your little startup doesn't have the highest salaries, best benefits, or most well-known brand. So it better have something else that's distinctive. What is that? Vague talk about values and culture is a red flag that you're not clear about what you're offering to candidates. 3. Personal impact beats global platform. Most people are motivated more by visible personal impact than by the chance to operate on a global platform. Startups offer the former, multinationals the latter. It is the rare job that offers both. Media coverage of entrepreneurship often focuses on the global platform - from Genentech to Facebook, companies that came out of nowhere to change the world within a decade. Your startup is likely not on that path and you don't have to pretend it is. You can offer the kind of visible personal impact that Employee Number 50,000 at Apple will never achieve. I heard Rory O'Driscoll define your job as "something that won't get done if you don't do it". By that measure, everyone at a startup has a job; the same cannot be said of everyone at a multinational. Don't under-estimate the human desire to have a job - one that won't get done if you don't do it. 4. At some point, stop selling and wait. When an A-player candidate is torn between the safety of their public company and the risk and excitement of your startup, it is tempting to drag them over the line by any means necessary. After all, they're so close to signing! I've learned the hard way that this is a mistake. When someone chooses between two very different options, there is no right and wrong answer. It is impossible to prove that your company is the right choice. Once you have given them all the information to make a fully informed decision, it is imperative that they take the final step unaided. They must want to join you. Otherwise, they'll always be looking over their shoulder at their old position, regretting their move when times get tough in startup land. Frontline Ventures (Frontline.ie) is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in and accelerates ambitious B2B software entrepreneurs. The fund is managed by partners Shay Garvey, Will Prendergast, William McQuillan, and Stephen McIntyre from offices in Dublin and London. For more from Stephen McIntyre, visit Medium.com/@stephenpmc. Microsoft has built a special customised version of Windows 10 for the Chinese government. The operating system is available to consumers in China, but the countrys government hasnt been overly keen on Windows. It placed a ban on Windows 8 for government use in the aftermath of Edward Snowdens NSA spying revelations, and partnered with Canonical in 2013 in an ultimately doomed effort to create a Windows alternative called Kylin. Microsoft has so far refused to reveal how its modified Windows 10, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company developed the Chinese government-friendly version of the software in partnership with the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group. We have already developed the first version of the Windows 10 government secure system, Alain Crozier, the CEO of Microsoft Greater China, told China Daily. It has been tested by three large enterprise customers. The company is currently finalising the Windows 10 Creators Update , which looks set to arrive next month. It will introduce a raft of new features, including Paint 3D, Beam game streaming, new accessibility features, including braille support, as well as a multitude of performance and security tweaks and enhancements. However, a change in wording in a new preview build suggests that the Creators Update could expose users to huge internet data charges. AN advertising boycott against YouTube has spread to the US, where two of the countrys biggest advertisers, AT&T and Verizon, have suspended ads on the video platform. The move follows confirmation by one of Ireland's biggest ad agencies, Core Media, that it has "paused" all of its clients ad campaigns on YouTube and Google Display Network. Companies such as Marks & Spencer, McDonald's and Tesco have already withdrawn advertising from YouTube in the UK because of their ads being placed within extremist YouTube videos. Such videos include rape apologists, anti-semitism and terrorist propaganda. Under Google's advertising system, creators of such videos get paid around 7 for every thousand clicks. Core Media, which represents Heineken, AIB and the National Lottery among others, made its decision to suspend ad campaigns with YouTube and GDN over concerns that ads were appearing within videos that did not suit their clients branding. Until we are confident that a solution to the brand safety challenge is in place, Core Media is pausing all ad campaigns on YouTube and GDN, said Alan Cox, chief executive of Core Media. Another large Irish ad agency, Havas Media Ireland, said that it was consulting with clients such as Hyundai, Emirates and the FAI over whether or not to suspend ad campaigns on YouTube and Google. However, the boycott does not apply to Google search ads, where Google makes much of its advertising revenue. Mr Cullen said that Core Media will now begin whitelisting and blacklisting sites and content on behalf of clients who are concerned about where their brands appear. Core Media, which has 300 employees here, purchased 225m of media advertising in Ireland last year. Its stance comes as more senior Google executives offer apologies and system reform to assuage advertisers' fears. The company's chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, said that Google will hire more people to address ads appearing alongside extremist content and, in some cases, to block such content altogether. "We deeply apologise," said Philipp Schindler, chief business officer in Google. "We know that this is unacceptable to the advertisers and agencies who put their trust in us. We're taking a tougher stance on hateful, offensive and derogatory content. We'll be hiring significant numbers of people and developing new tools powered by our latest advancements in AI and machine learning to increase our capacity to review questionable content for advertising. "We won't stop at taking down ads. The YouTube team is taking a hard look at our existing community guidelines to determine what content is allowed on the platform - not just what content can be monetised." One of Irelands biggest advertising agencies has confirmed that it has begun a boycott of YouTube advertising on behalf of some of Irelands largest brands. Photo: GETTY One of Ireland's biggest advertising agencies has confirmed that it has begun a boycott of YouTube advertising on behalf of some of Ireland's largest brands. Core Media, which represents Heineken, AIB and the National Lottery among others, is pulling all campaigns over concerns that ads are appearing within videos that include extremist content. "Until we are confident that a solution to the brand safety challenge is in place, Core Media is pausing all ad campaigns on YouTube and GDN," said Alan Cox, chief executive of Core Media. The move comes after another ad agency, Havas Media Ireland, said that it was consulting with clients such as Hyundai, Emirates and the FAI over whether or not to suspend ad campaigns on YouTube and Google. Companies such as Marks & Spencer, McDonald's and Tesco have already withdrawn advertising in the UK because of their ads being placed within extremist YouTube videos. Such videos include rape apologists, anti-Semitism and terrorist propaganda. Comedian James Corden has said he believes Londoners will join together more than ever in the wake of the Westminster terror attack. The London-born host of the Late, Late Show said he had pangs of wanting to return to the UK from Los Angeles after learning of the horrific incident, in which five people, including the attacker, died and at least 40 were injured. Speaking at the PaleyFest TV festival in Hollywood, James told the Press Association: London is a vibrant and diverse and proud city. Thats my experience of it. I dont know what the motives were for something like today. But I do know that if those motives were in any way to try and divide people in that city or that country, it wont happen. Because I can remember after the 7/7 attacks, intrinsically those people will join together more than ever. James, 38, who moved to the US two years ago, said that after learning of the attack you would imagine youd think, Oh Im glad Im not there. But actually I had pangs of just wanting to be there, of wanting to be with loved ones and friends. I think people will be feeling like that in London right now. Its a brilliant city and place and I hope everyones safe and stays that way. Video of the Day James also paid tribute to the victims of the attack on Wednesdays episode of his US chat show, The Late, Late Show. He told the audience: I know a lot of people in England watch this show, theres a lot of people from Britain who work on this show and of course our thoughts go out to everyone whos been affected by this. The jury in the Roy Webster murder trial is due to resume deliberations for a third day today. The four women and seven men were sent home last night after having spent just over three-and-a-half hours considering a verdict. They had retired for a short time on Tuesday evening after Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy finished delivering his charge to the jury, with deliberations continuing yesterday. Earlier, the jury asked to rehear the statement of a woman who met the accused shortly after he beat Anne Shortall to death with a hammer. Mr Webster (40), a father-of-two from Ashbree, Ashford, Co Wicklow, has pleaded not guilty to the murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Ms Shortall (47) at The Murrough, in Wicklow town, on April 3, 2015. That plea was not accepted by the prosecution. Expand Close Anne Shortall / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Anne Shortall It is the State's case that Mr Webster beat Ms Shortall to death after they had a one-night stand and she threatened to "reveal all" if he did not pay her to have an abortion, after she lied to him about being pregnant. The defence has maintained the accused had no intention of killing or causing serious harm to Ms Shortall, a mother of three, but had "lost control" and reacted in fear and panic. Before lunch yesterday, the foreman of the jury asked Judge McCarthy if they could rehear the statement of Carmel Phibbs, a friend of the accused's wife Sinead. Ms Phibbs, whose statement had been read to the court on day six of the trial, was at the Webster home on the afternoon that Ms Shortall was killed. She told gardai that when Mr Webster arrived home he was acting "completely normal". The jury has also been given a number of exhibits, including the hammer that the prosecution alleges Mr Webster used to beat Ms Shortall to death. Maureen O Hagan, of Elton Park, Sandycove, Dublin pictured leaving the Four Courts after she settled her High Court action for damages. Pic: Collins Courts A WOMAN who sued over an attack by her neighbour's cat has settled her High Court action for damages against them. Charity co-ordinator Maureen O'Hagan said she was attacked when she attempted to shoo the black cat out of her south Dublin home in the early hours one morning. Ms O'Hagan (59) of Moyallen, Elton Park, Sandycove, sued her next door neighbours, Marty and Diane Olson, for negligence and breach of duty and nuisance in the control, care and supervision of their cat. She claimed the cat had a mischievous and abnormal nature which she alleged the Olsons knew about. The case, which was before the court for assessment of damages only, was settled following talks on Thursday. Her counsel, Noel MacMahon, told the court she suffered four nasty lacerations to her hand after the cat grabbed it. Expand Close Maureen O Hagan, of Elton Park, Sandycove, Dublin pictured leaving the Four Courts yesterday(Thurs) after she settled her HIgh Court action for damages. Pic: Collins Courts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Maureen O Hagan, of Elton Park, Sandycove, Dublin pictured leaving the Four Courts yesterday(Thurs) after she settled her HIgh Court action for damages. Pic: Collins Courts The cuts later became infected and she required a procedure under local anaesthetic where an infected wound was washed out and repaired. Mr McMahon said Ms O'Hagan had discovered the Olson's cat after it entered her home at 3am on October 5, 2015 and she tried to shoo it away. The animal jumped on her and bit her on the right hand, index finger and knuckle joint. It was claimed the Olsons failed to control the cat adequately or at all and caused or permitted the cat to bite Ms O'Hagan. It was further alleged the Olsons failed to heed the complaints previously made by Ms O'Hagan about the cat's vicious and dangerous propensity, It was claimed Ms O'Hagan had previously witnessed the cat acting aggressively on her property on a number of previous occasions. Ms O'Hagan further claimed the Olsons failed to keep the cat away as they had previously said they would try to do and allowed the cat to roam freely and enter Ms O'Hagan's property when they knew or ought to have known that it was a cause of concern. There was also an alleged failure to have the cat properly trained or to keep it muzzled. Ms O Hagan attended her doctor and was prescribed oral antibiotics but it was claimed her hand failed to respond and deteriorated on the second day on antibiotics. She was referred to the emergency department of Blackrock Clinic and the Acute Plastics Trauma Unit for further management. It was noted she had four bite wounds on her right hand but the main concern was a penetrating bite on her right index finger. The infected wound had to be washed out and repaired under local anaesthetic. It was claimed Ms O'Hagan complains of residual pain, swelling and redness on her right hand and had to have six sessions of physiotherapy afterwards. She also said she has been left with a scar. Members of the Irish Coast Guard searching the coast near Belmullet, Co Mayo, for the missing crew of Rescue 116 Photo: Frank McGrath An Irish Navy RIB comes ashore from the LE Samuel Beckett at Blacksod Pier. Photo: Steve Humphreys Minister of State for Regional Economic Development Michael Ring chats with Garda Kevin Conroy and Garda Tommy Organ from Belmullet Garda Station after he paid a visit to Aughleam Community Hall near Blacksod in Co Mayo during the seach and recovery of Rescue 116. Pic Steve Humphreys Minister of State for Regional Economic Development Michael Ring chats with Garda Supt. Tony Healy from Belmullet Garda Station after he paid a visit to Aughleam Community Hall near Blacksod in Co Mayo during the seach and recovery of Rescue 116. Pic Steve Humphreys Minister of State for Regional Economic Development Michael Ring chats with Garda Supt. Tony Healy from Belmullet Garda Station and Garda Inspector Garry Walsh (right) after he paid a visit to Aughleam Community Hall near Blacksod in Co Mayo during the seach and recovery of Rescue 116. Pic Steve Humphreys Minister of State at the Departments of An Taoiseach and Defence with Special Responsibility for Defence Paul Kehoe TD and Minister of State for Regional Economic Development Michael Ring TD meet with members of the Irish Coastguard at Blacksod Bay in Co Mayo during the seach and recovery of Rescue 116. Pic Steve Humphreys Blacksod Lighthouse in Co Mayo during the seach and recovery of Rescue 116. Pic Steve Humphreys Minister of State at the Departments of An Taoiseach and Defence with Special Responsibility for Defence Paul Kehoe TD and Minister of State for Regional Economic Development Michael Ring TD arrive at Blacksod Bay in Co Mayo during the seach and recovery of Rescue 116. Pic Steve Humphreys Minister of State at the Departments of An Taoiseach and Defence with Special Responsibility for Defence Paul Kehoe TD and Minister of State for Regional Economic Development Michael Ring TD are debriefed from the bridge of the LE Samuel Beckett situated near Blacksod Bay in Co Mayo during the seach and recovery of Rescue 116 by Lt. Cdr Darragh Kirwan Officer in Commanding Le Samuel Beckett (centre wearing glasses) . Pic Steve Humphreys Minister of State at the Departments of An Taoiseach and Defence with Special Responsibility for Defence Paul Kehoe TD and Minister of State for Regional Economic Development Michael Ring TD meet with members of the Irish Coastguard at Blacksod Bay in Co Mayo during the seach and recovery of Rescue 116. Pic Steve Humphreys Dive teams are hoping a weather window will open on Friday to allow them to examine the wreckage of an Irish Coast Guard helicopter which crashed into the Atlantic over a week ago. "Conditions are improving all the time," Declan Geoghegan of the Irish Coast Guard said. Expand Close Lt. Cmdr. Darragh Kirwan Officer in Command of the LE Samuel Beckett fourth from left, briefs Minister Paul Kehoe and Michael Ring TD along with Jurgan Whyte of the Air Accident Investigation and members of the Gardai and Defence Forces on the bridge of the LE Samuel Beckett Credit: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lt. Cmdr. Darragh Kirwan Officer in Command of the LE Samuel Beckett fourth from left, briefs Minister Paul Kehoe and Michael Ring TD along with Jurgan Whyte of the Air Accident Investigation and members of the Gardai and Defence Forces on the bridge of the LE Samuel Beckett Credit: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. "There'll be an exploratory dive hopefully. The ROV can only tell us so much. The human eye is much better. Once the divers go down they will have a much more positive idea of things." Minister with Responsibility for Defence Paul Kehoe and Minister for Regional Economic Development Michael Ring have visited Blacksod and have been briefed on the search efforts thus far. Mr Ring expressed his sympathies to the families of the four crew members while paying tribute to the efforts being made by rescue workers and the local community. "The people that are here behind me today providing food. The people that are putting their lives at risk going out on the boats, the people that have gone out searching the last number of days. Expand Close A letter written by Katie Frazer from Castlebar to the volunteers at Aughleam Community Hall near Blacksod in Co Mayo during the seach and recovery of Rescue 116. Pic Steve Humphreys / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A letter written by Katie Frazer from Castlebar to the volunteers at Aughleam Community Hall near Blacksod in Co Mayo during the seach and recovery of Rescue 116. Pic Steve Humphreys "I want to compliment this community. This is what rural life is about, this is what rural communities are about and I can not praise this community enough," Mr Ring said. Speaking at a press briefing at Blacksod lighthouse on Thursday night, Supt Tony Healy said that recordings of the wreckage, taken by an underwater robot, were also being analysed to determine if the three crewmen were on board. "We had two clear goals today. One was in relation to the ROV descending at the bottom this morning to clear the site to enable the navy divers to do a dive. "The second was to do more underwater searching with the ROV and we're in the process of analysing that data," Supt Healy said. The senior garda stated that all objectives had been met as part of the search, which included detecting a signal from the aircraft's black box. An underwater robot has already been re-deployed to examine the wreckage of Rescue 116 and attempt to locate its three missing crew members. The Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) was launched from the Irish Light's vessel, the Granuaile, this afternoon. Equipped with high definition cameras and two robotic arms, the Holland 1 carried out further examinations along the sea bed where the main section of the aircraft has been located. This site is 40m deep and close to where a signal from the helicopter's black box was detected. Investigators and search teams have not yet been able to establish if the three missing crewmen- Mark Duffy, Ciaran Smith and Paul Ormsby- are with the wreckage. The fourth crew member and pilot, Capt Dara Fitzpatrick, was recovered in a critical condition but later pronounced dead. The AAIU has said it believed the tail of Rescue 116 hit rocks on the western end of the island, about 13km (eight miles) off the Mayo coast as it returned from supporting a rescue mission to refuel at Blacksod. There was no indication of any danger moments before the Sikorsky S92 vanished, with the crew's final transmission: "Shortly landing at Blacksod." It is hoped that the members of the Naval Service team can be deployed tomorrow morning in order to carry out a detailed examination of the wreckage, which is located 60m from Black Rock island. Rescue workers and investigators have stated the weather conditions are expected to be favourable tomorrow, but stressed that divers will only be used if safe to do so. Last night the navy vessel, the LE Samuel Beckett arrived at Blacksod Bay from where the operation is being coordinated. Additional reporting from PA The concepts of educational diversity and inclusivity are not new, though the language pertaining to them has changed over the years. In reality they have been part of educational discussion since the establishment of the first comprehensive schools in the late 60s and the first community schools in the early 70s. The first comprehensive schools - St Patrick's, Shannon, St Aidan's, Coothill and Scoil Chuimsitheach, Ceathru Rua - were charged with, and committed to, the provision of a comprehensive curriculum open to all students of the catchment area irrespective of race, colour, creed or ability; the then Education Minister, George Colley, said it was "of paramount importance that we seek out and develop the talents not just of the few who are intellectually gifted, but all our children". The recent debate on divestment at primary level and the school Admissions Bill has brought diversity and inclusivity into sharper focus and has led to considerable debate. Since the establishment of those first comprehensive schools, Irish society has changed considerably. Religious vocations have declined, as has religious involvement in schools. The student population has increased in diversity, reflecting diversity in society. The school curriculum has changed, as has subject content. Technology has become a universal tool for self-directed learning as new skills are required to manage a more complex world. From the beginning, community and comprehensive schools were well placed to meet the changes and challenges as their boards of management reflected the communities they served and were inclusive of parents, teachers and community members. While it has sometimes been asserted that boards of management were controlled by religious nominees, it must be remembered that these religious nominees numbered three while there were seven other non-religious positions on the board, reflecting the diversity of society. The Deed of Trust was very careful in protecting the rights of those who did not belong to the majority faith. Until recently, numbers of students withdrawing from religious education were quite small. As demand for withdrawal from religious education grows, schools will be challenged to provide alternative arrangements, courses, etc, for the relevant students. Research suggests that religious provision, or not, for students is but one aspect of diversity. There are other concerns that must be considered in order to broaden the debate on diversity and inclusivity. These include but are not limited to: issues of ethnic and linguistic interest, socio-economic background and status, integration of students with special needs and equality of access to a comprehensive curriculum. The 2009 UNESCO publication 'Policy Guidelines on Inclusion in Education' sees inclusion as a process of "strengthening the capacity of the education system to reach out to all learners, of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all children through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, and reducing and eliminating exclusion within and from education". Our society is not homogenous and neither are our schools. Our classrooms are not populated by students identical in ethnic origin, ability, interest, socio-economic background and status. Consequently, it is at classroom level that the issues of diversity and inclusivity are most keenly appreciated. Delivering an inclusive education means that schools must be engaging and supportive centres of learning for all students, not just the select few. In real terms, it demands that every day, in every classroom, all students learn and achieve in a safe, supportive, inclusive and disciplined learning environment, according to their ability and interest. In order to achieve this, schools are charged with embedding inclusive practices in all their policies and practices, and with providing a high quality education for all students. Furthermore, schools need to be empowered and enabled through DEIS initiatives to respond constructively to the needs of the educationally disadvantaged and, as communities of learning, they must recognise, celebrate and respond to diversity so that students not only feel safe but are free from discrimination and prejudice. Antoinette Nic Gearailt is president of the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools (ACCS) whose annual convention this week is devoted to inclusion and diversity Teaching can be emotionally exhausting, and nothing drives practitioners up the walls more than to be told they have a "grand job with short hours and long holidays". Quick as a flash they will cite OECD statistics which show the time they spend actually teaching is very high compared with other countries. The contract for teachers in Ireland differs from many other countries. In Ireland, it predominantly covers teaching time - 28/22 hours a week, as well as 37/33 'Croke Park' hours annually, depending on whether primary/post-primary. It is also common practice to give many hours voluntary activity, such as for sport and drama. In other countries , the teachers contract could be for up to 40 hours a week to incorporate a range of non-teaching duties. Should we look anew at the time they spend in schools, on teaching and on non-teaching activities? Should we have a "newly designed working agreement, or contract" for those to whom we entrust our children's education? Is it time for a 'New Deal' in the words of five experts, who devoted much of their working lives to the education departments of our universities? Between them, they have spent almost 200 years preparing tens of thousands of young teachers for their chosen careers. The idea is put forward in a new book written by three former professors of education - Aine Hyland (UCC, pictured), Sheelagh Drudy (UCD) and John Coolahan (MU), as well as Seamus McGuinness, former senior lecturer in Education (TCD) and Padraig Hogan, senior lecturer in Education (MU). They cite the EU Commission, which noted that overall working time is a concept used in the majority of European countries and includes activities in school such as meetings or management duties. It corresponds to the total number of working hours a week, as set down in collective bargaining agreements or other contractual arrangements. The authors remind us about the high quality learning environment in Finnish schools where a 'less is more' approach to the school timetable is concerned. Proportionate reductions in teaching time are matched by increases in time for collaborative planning, reviewing and evaluating activities. Research shows that it is practitioners' capacity in collaborative planning, reviewing and evaluating activities that enables schools to take ownership of their own professional work and to grow as professional learning communities. Where scheduled time isn't made available for such activities, it's difficult to see how things like school self-evaluation, mentoring of newcomers or indeed systematic feedback to students can become hallmarks of the professional cultures of teaching. International experience, they say, has shown that time for professional development is best provided for as part of a negotiated settlement. There are big issues here, which must be carefully identified and faced. "A New Deal begins with a public acknowledgement on all sides of the hurts and hardships caused by a prolonged economic downturn," they write. The phrase a 'New Deal' was popularised by former US President Franklin D Roosevelt to focus collective energies on achieving a brighter future, which is also the underlying optimistic tone of the book. The authors borrow another American expression, this time from educationalist John Dewey, who wrote about "collateral learning" in the form of enduring attitudes, of likes and dislikes that are often much more important than the spelling lesson or the history or geography that is learned. "For these attitudes are fundamentally what counts in the future. The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning." The book recommends different ways in which learning and collateral learning can be helped, such as enhanced professional development; a cap on the size of reception classes in primary schools; an increased allocation of school-based, teacher-led assessment (yes, they back Junior Cycle reform); strengthening educational leadership and governance; an integrated public policy approach to equality; closer liaison between the inspectorate and the Teaching Council; and, predictably, more funding for the sector, from pre-school upwards. "Increased investment in education will be essential as the economy recovers if the Government and the Department of Education and Skills (DES) are to achieve the targets set out in the DES Action Plan 2016-19 and other targets that may be considered necessary as policy develops, particularly in relation to marginalised pupils," it adds. Nobody, not least the senior DES officials who attended the launch of the book recently, would disagree. But education is competing with other demands on the public purse which are commanding greater urgency, such as homelessness, the never-ending health crisis and transport infrastructure. A lot of political lip service is paid to the idea of investment in education but it's not accompanied by enough hard cash. At the launch, a gentle warning was given about jumping from the introduction to the final chapter as the reader would miss many worthwhile chapters in between. These include a very useful discussion on what equality and inclusion really mean in education; how the role of the inspectorate has changed; the transition from second level to higher education; and the long history of attempts to introduce school-based assessment. 'Towards a Better Future - a Review of the Irish School System' was published by the Irish Primary Principals' Network and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals The book, published by the Irish Primary Principals Network and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, is yet another example of the part both organisations have played in showing and developing leadership in Irish education. Patients suffered one of the worst days of hospital trolley overcrowding yesterday as the Health Minister signalled the promise to extend free GP care for all has now been pushed out for another decade. Minister Simon Harris was outlining a set of long-term proposals for another overhaul of the health service. But as he was speaking, the HSE reported that 67 more patients were waiting for a hospital bed across the country compared to the same day last year. Nationally, 565 patients were lying on trolleys with 50 crammed into the emergency department of University Hospital Limerick. He said that it would take 10 years to achieve free GP care for all - a promise originally made in 2011. Over that time there is a need to invest in staff, buildings, diagnostics and training while the expansion of eligibility for primary care services would have to be done on a "phased and prioritised basis". However, Mr Harris did not provide any costings for his proposals at the Committee on the Future of Healthcare, which is to produce a plan for the service next month. The plan also failed to provide specific proposals to address the shortage of key staff, including doctors and nurses, which is leading to closed theatres and spiralling waiting lists for surgery. Mr Harris conceded he was "acutely conscious of the challenging staffing environment". The need to secure and retain staff is important when assessing both "pay and tax rates", he suggested. "But it also means we must enhance the attractiveness of the work environment with ongoing learning and career opportunity," he said, without providing any more detail. He wants to see hospital consultants who currently earn a public salary, and can top-up their income with fees for treating each private patient, agree to annual remuneration. This would cover public and private work. This would aim to counter the perverse incentive doctors have to treat more private patients. Any such change would involve a renegotiation of the consultants' contracts. There are currently 400 consultants posts unfilled as more doctors snub jobs in Irish hospitals due to pay and conditions. Mr Harris said the public and private mix of medicine will continue - but he gave no signal of any cuts in tax relief for private insurance. Responding to calls by some committee members to axe private medicine in public hospitals, he said this would cut their income by 700m. He also outlined medium and long-term plans to dismantle the HSE. This will include joining up hospital groups and the nine community health organisations which currently cater for areas such as GP services, mental health care and nursing homes. Both hospitals and community care were under the one umbrella until 2014 when they were split. But just two years on he plans to reunite them. The monolith of the HSE would be replaced by regional bodies, although part of it would be retained to provide a national service in areas such as cancer care. In the medium-term, Mr Harris said he wants to change how the HSE at top executive-level functions. There was no analysis of the Department of Health, whose civil servants contributed to the minister's presentation. The crew of Rescue 116; (left to right) Paul Ormsby, Mark Duffy, Dara Fitzpatrick and Ciaran Smith, A fresh search for the missing crew of Rescue 116 is expected to be carried out tomorrow with the hope of establishing whether the three missing men are with the wreckage. It follows the significant discovery of large remains of the Irish Coast Guard helicopter on the seabed roughly 12km off the Mayo coast. Expand Close Families of the R116 crew return to Blacksod pier after visiting the scene of the crash at Blackrock lighthouse. Photo: Steve Humphreys / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Families of the R116 crew return to Blacksod pier after visiting the scene of the crash at Blackrock lighthouse. Photo: Steve Humphreys It was discovered some 60 metres from Black Rock island, where investigators believe the helicopter struck rocks before crashing into the sea. Due to deteriorating weather conditions, the next phase of the operation is hoped to be carried out tomorrow morning, when either a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) or a dive team will examine the wreckage. However, crews will also be on standby throughout today if a weather window arises. An underwater robot was deployed after 9am yesterday. During the course of the operation the ROV found what search teams believe is the wreckage of Rescue 116. The discovery was described as a "significant development" in what was the eighth day of the massive search operation. Read more: Underwater robot deployed in latest attempt to search for Rescue 116 and missing crewmen Investigators stressed that it has not yet been established if the three missing crewmen - Mark Duffy, Ciaran Smith and Paul Ormsby - are with the wreckage. The aircraft's experienced pilot, Capt Dara Fitzpatrick, was recovered from the sea last Tuesday but later pronounced dead. Supt Tony Healy, of Belmullet garda station, said that the location searched was close to where the signal of the aircraft's black box was detected. "We're actively assessing what we found at the moment," he said. "This is a hugely significant step in the ongoing process of the recovery of the crew of Rescue 116. "We've found parts of the helicopter that we can identify as Rescue 116." Senior investigators have stated that the primary focus is the recovery of the crew. Jurgen Whyte, chief inspector with the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU), added that it is the "absolute hope" that the three missing Coast Guard workers are with the wreckage. "It's hugely positive, we could hear the beacon, we were homing in on the beacon and the proof in the pie is we have located the main part of the wreckage which is the helicopter itself. "We have the wreckage so it's just a matter of getting the weather window to get the ROV down, work our way through the wreckage and hopefully we will be able to recover the crew," Mr Whyte said. "The priority has always been the recovery of the crew members, the recorder and then possibly the wreckage. "Please God, if we're successful in recovering the three crew members, we will focus our attention on the recorder. "Depending on what we hear from the recording we will recover some, parts or all of the wreckage," the senior investigator added. Emergency personnel on Westminster Bridge, close to the Palace of Westminster, London, after at least two people have died after a knifeman brought terror to the heart of Westminster, mowing down pedestrians then stabbing a policeman before he was shot by armed officers. Picture: Lauren Hurley/PA Wire Emergency services transport an injured person to an ambulance, close to the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) An Irishman caught up in the London terror attack has spoken of seeing "body after body" of those mown down by the attacker's car. Michael Kingston, from Goleen in West Cork, spoke today of his shock after he saw victims "lying dying in the street". The maritime lawyer, who is a director of the Irish Cultural Centre in London, said he was walking along Westminister Bridge on his way to a meeting when "all hell broke loose". Speaking on the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork radio station Red FM, he said he arrived at traffic lights in the vicinity of the bridge when the attack happened. "I got to the lights and all hell broke loose. "There were cars racing around the corner and there was a car mounted on the kerb on the far side and people running from it," he said. "The next thing I heard shots and saw police scrambling. I was closer to the car which I could see on the other side of the road and I realised at that point it was a terrorist attack. "It was quite clear to me that it was a terrorist attack when I saw bodies on the ground that hadn't been in the vehicle and that the police were shouting 'He's down there.' I decided then to take evasive action," he said. Police were telling people to run away from the scene but before that, he didn't know what direction he should go. "There were no paramedics at this stage. There were just bystanders trying to tend to people basically lying dying in the street," he said. He said he would also have been on the side of the bridge where the attack happened if he had not been delayed by two or three minutes. "I ushered everyone back who was coming across the bridge," he said. "As I walked, I could see body after body and I didn't know at that stage whether they had been shot by the terrorist. I later found out they had been mown down," he said. "On the other side of the bridge, where Guy's Hospital is, paramedics started running from the hospital along the railings on the southside of the bridge to tend to the people, to help the bystanders who were doing their best," he said. ICE CREAM......Pictured at The Photo call to launch The Cruinniu na Casca, an new national day of culture and creativity which will take place on Easter Monday Nationwide, at RTE this morning were; Miriam O'Callaghan and Heather Humphreys, Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Joe Duffy and Blathnaid NiChofaigh. Credit: Colin O'Riordan Pictured at The Photo call to launch The Cruinniu na Casca, an new national day of culture and creativity which will take place on Easter Monday Nationwide, at RTE this morning was little Mae McCormack (4and a half) and Hailey Assaf (4) playing with baloons. Credit: Colin O'Riordan Pictured at The Photo call to launch The Cruinniu na Casca, an new national day of culture and creativity which will take place on Easter Monday Nationwide, at RTE this morning were; TV presenter Blathnaid Treacy with Mae McCormack (4 and a half), Iseult McNamara (3) and Hailey Assaf (4). Credit: Colin O'Riordan Pictured at The Photo call to launch The Cruinniu na Casca, an new national day of culture and creativity which will take place on Easter Monday Nationwide, at RTE this morning were; little Hailey Assaf (4) gives her floweral hair band to Miriam O'Callaghan. Credit: Colin O'Riordan A new national day of culture and creativity will take place nationwide on Easter Monday as part of the Creative Ireland programme. RTE will present the events of Cruinniu na Casca that will be held across Dublin city centre from 11am to 6pm on April 17. The annual free festival - directly translated as a meeting at Easter - will also be held by each of the 31 local authorities in every county across the country. Cruinniu na Casca aims to celebrate contemporary Irish society through live music and dance, coding, theatre, art and music workshops, talks and tastings, readings and screenings, special events and more. The special celebration follows on from the successful RTE Reflecting the Rising which was held in Dublin city centre last year as part of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme. Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister Heather Humphreys were joined by RTE Director General Dee Forbes to launch the first Cruinniu na Casca. Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close ICE CREAM......Pictured at The Photo call to launch The Cruinniu na Casca, an new national day of culture and creativity which will take place on Easter Monday Nationwide, at RTE this morning were; Miriam O'Callaghan and Heather Humphreys, Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and Joe Duffy. Credit: Colin O'Riordan Children playing with bubbles pictured at The Photo call to launch The Cruinniu na Casca, an new national day of culture and creativity which will take place on Easter Monday Nationwide, at RTE this morning. Credit: Colin O'Riordan Pictured at The Photo call to launch The Cruinniu na Casca, an new national day of culture and creativity which will take place on Easter Monday Nationwide, at RTE this morning were; Miriam O'Callaghan and Heather Humphreys, Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs with performers. Credit: Colin O'Riordan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp ICE CREAM......Pictured at The Photo call to launch The Cruinniu na Casca, an new national day of culture and creativity which will take place on Easter Monday Nationwide, at RTE this morning were; Miriam O'Callaghan and Heather Humphreys, Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and Joe Duffy. Credit: Colin O'Riordan "The theme for Cruinniu Na Casca 2017 is diversity and inclusion. As a people, as communities, we can only benefit from taking a day every year to think seriously about ourselves, to have important conversations but also to share our experiences and to come together to enjoy our cultural heritage and the work of our artists and performers," the Taoiseach said. "I firmly believe that Cruinniu has the potential to enrich our social and cultural lives long into the future. Minister Humphreys said there will be a wide series of family friendly events right across Dublin city centre, curated by RTE, with events of a large and small scale also happening in every county nationwide. "We want to encourage people to become involved in the cultural life of their own county through a national day of creativity. We have set ourselves some ambitious targets for year one of Creative Ireland, with Cruinniu na Casca top of the list," she said. Highlights in Dublin and around the country include: *Live performances from Crash Ensemble, the Academic, Booka Brass, Slow Moving Clouds and Landless in Dublin City Centre *Workshops on DJing, illustration, film, TV and radio production in Smithfield Square *A Ceili Mor and an international Dance Zone at the Custom House *Siamsa Tire will take over the town park in Tralee, where visitors will be able to enjoy Beautiful Beasts, an exhibition of sculpture for children, presented by The Ark. *Athenry has a full programme of creative fun, with archery, juggling, drums and sambas, traditional crafts as well as Irish music, song and dance at multiple locations in the town. *In Abbeyshrule, Co. Longford, a Cruinniu na Casca event will take place at dusk at the 12th century Cistercian Abbey, and will include an evocative programme of performances by local artists. A US naval officer has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a female officer in a Dublin hotel. The officer, who is in his 30s, was on a day off while his ship the USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) was docked in port at Cobh, Co Cork. It is believed that he and a number of fellow officers, including the alleged victim, were staying at a hotel on Dublin's O'Connell Street. Gardai confirmed that they were called to the premises in the early hours of Wednesday morning and a man was arrested. He is currently detained under section four of the criminal justice act at Store Street garda station A spokesman for the US Embassy in Dublin confirmed that they were aware of the alleged sexual assault incident. In a statement, they added: "The alleged assault occurred in a hotel in Dublin while the USS Donald Cook was in port at Cobh, Ireland for a scheduled port visit. "The incident is currently under investigation, and the U.S. Navy is cooperating fully with local law enforcement, An Garda Siochana. "USS Donald Cook, just as the rest of the U.S. Navy, is committed to preventing and responding to sexual assault; eliminating it from our ranks through focused education, comprehensive response, compassionate advocacy, and just adjudication in order to promote professionalism, respect, and trust, while preserving Navy mission readiness. "The U.S. Navy would like to express deep respect and gratitude to the people of Ireland for the personal friendship that they have extended to visiting U.S. servicemen and women." The spokesman concluded: "The alleged assault is currently under investigation and I will not comment further on the details of this case at this time." Dublin Fire Brigade put a fire out at a house in Cushlawn Park Park in Tallaght. Picture:Arthur Carron A woman in her 30s had to jump out a bedroom window - after a fire broke out at a west Dublin home late last night. The woman was rushed to Tallaght Hospital with smoke inhalation - though her injuries are not believed to be life threatening. It is unclear if she has any broken bones from landing onto the concrete outside her two story home in Cushlawn Park, Tallaght. The fire broke out shortly after 10pm with four Dublin Fire Brigade trucks and two ambulances arriving on the scene within six minutes of the call. Expand Close Dublin Fire Brigade put a fire out at a house in Cushlawn Park Park in Tallaght. Picture:Arthur Carron / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dublin Fire Brigade put a fire out at a house in Cushlawn Park Park in Tallaght. Picture:Arthur Carron The woman is understood to have been the only person in the house at the time. The house has been described as "gutted" throughout, with destroyed mattresses and furniture pulled out by fire fighters on scene. Neighbours admitted their shock at the incident, with one couple saying they were unaware of the fire and had no idea why all their fire alarms were going off. "We've been told our house is safe and we're just glad there were no casualties," one local said. "We didn't know why all our alarms were going off and we opened the door and saw a blaze," he added. The former US president, Barack Obama, has sent his condolences to the family and friends of Martin McGuinness as thousands of mourners are expected at his funeral today in Co Derry. Mr Obama said that the former deputy leader of Northern Ireland had a "persistent belief" in a better future for the people of Northern Ireland. "I send my condolences to the family and many friends of Martin McGuinness, a man who had the wisdom and courage to pursue peace and reconciliation for his people. "His leadership was instrumental in turning the page on a past of violence and conflict that he knew all too well. "In our own meetings, I was always struck by his good humor and persistent belief in a better future for the people of Northern Ireland. May Martin rest in the peace that he pursued in life, and may his example inspire others to follow a path of reconcilliation." Former US president Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and ex-Northern Ireland first minister Peter Robinson are set to join mourners at the funeral of Martin McGuinness in his native Derry today. Expand Close Members of the public sign the book of condolences for Martin McGuinness at the Mansion House in Dublin. Photo: Collins / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Members of the public sign the book of condolences for Martin McGuinness at the Mansion House in Dublin. Photo: Collins In a hugely symbolic move, Arlene Foster will also attend the funeral of Mr McGuinness as the former deputy first minister is laid to rest. The DUP leader will take her place alongside dignitaries from across Ireland, the UK and beyond in paying respects to the one-time IRA commander turned peace-making politician. President Michael D Higgins and his predecessor Mary McAleese will also attend the requiem Mass, as will Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire will represent the UK government in the heart of Mr McGuinness's beloved Bogside neighbourhood in Derry. Expand Close Michelle ONeill and Arlene Foster. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Michelle ONeill and Arlene Foster. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Former Democratic Unionist leader Mr Robinson is also expected at the funeral. Read more: Martin McGuinness: Proud IRA man hoped history would judge political legacy fairly Thousands are expected to bring parts of Derry to a standstill as people say farewell to Mr McGuinness (66), who died in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a short illness. Yesterday, Mr McGuinness's legacy was remembered at Stormont and in Westminster. Expand Close mourners leave Martin McGuinnesss home in Derry. Photo: REUTERS/Phil Noble / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp mourners leave Martin McGuinnesss home in Derry. Photo: REUTERS/Phil Noble At UK prime minister's questions, Theresa May said she could never condone his violent past, but also reflected on his "indispensable" role in securing peace. At a special session of the Stormont Assembly, Mr McGuinness's Sinn Fein successor Michelle O'Neill paid an emotional tribute, while Ms Foster acknowledged that Northern Ireland would "never see his like again". Ms O'Neill told the Assembly her heart was broken yet bursting with pride. "The legacy that Martin wished was for a better future based on equality and measured by the joy and laughter of all of our children," she said. "So on behalf of Sinn Fein I rededicate our party to completing his life's work and to living through his legacy." Peace Ms Foster said Mr McGuinness's legacy was "complex and challenging". She said his death was "hugely difficult" for victims of the IRA but said to many nationalists and republicans he was a "leader, friend or mentor". The former first minister added: "It is precisely because of his past, because of his involvement with the IRA in the 1970s and 1980s, because of his influence within those circles, that he was able to play the role he played in bringing the republican movement towards using peaceful and democratic means and, because of all of that, I doubt we will ever see his like again." UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told the Commons: "Martin played an immeasurable role in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland, and it's that peace we all want to endure." In Derry, well-wishers queued outside the McGuinness family home in the Bogside area to pay their respects. Mr McGuinness, who died from a rare heart condition, completed an extraordinary political journey from an IRA leader in Derry to sharing power and a remarkable friendship with his erstwhile foe, DUP leader Dr Ian Paisley. He also struck up a warm relationship with Queen Elizabeth II, whom he praised for her contribution to peace. She is to send a personal message to Mr McGuinness's family. Read more: Martin McGuinness: The reaction in quotes... Mr McGuinness's last major act as a politician was to pull down the power-sharing Executive at Stormont when he resigned as deputy first minister in January in protest at the DUP's handling of a green energy scandal. With Stormont still without a power-sharing Executive or new speaker in the wake of the subsequent snap election, traditional protocols were overridden to enable MLAs to assemble to mark his death. People lined up to sign a book of condolences in the Great Hall of Parliament Buildings. On Tuesday night, thousands of people gathered to pay tribute at a candlelit vigil in the republican heartland of west Belfast. Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill (left) Mary Lou McDonald (middle) and Gerry Adams (right) during the funeral procession of Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness. Photo: Thomas McMullan/PA Wire On this weeks show, Political Editor, Kevin Doyle, is joined by INM Political Correspondents, Niall OConnor and John Downing, as they discuss Martin McGuinness legacy, Endas endless departure, and ask if a dress code is really needed in the Dail? Click here subscribe to the Floating Voter on iTunes. Is the legacy of Martin McGuinness that of peace-maker or can his violent past be forgotten? 'History is being re-written to a large degree this week,' said John Downing on the show. 'There is a danger of McGuinness being canonised and his funeral used for political ends. He did direct heinous crimes while with the IRA that he failed to acknowledge in his lifetime.' The panel were agreed that McGuinness' passing will now speed up a generational change in Sinn Fein but the question is whether it will leave a vacuum in their party? Each week on the Floating Voter, INM's political team discuss the main issues affecting Irish politics, bursting the bubble around Leinster House. New episodes on Independent.ie every Thursday. The Irish edition of the 'Daily Mail' following the death of Martin McGuinness Two British tabloids took very different editorial lines on their coverage of Martin McGuinness's death in their UK and Irish editions yesterday. In Ireland, the 'Daily Mail' ran a simple black and white photograph of the former IRA commander on its front page without a headline. However, in the UK the newspaper ran bloody images of injured adults and children fleeing the Guildford and Enniskillen bombings. A comment piece said he "bore heavy responsibility for tearing Northern Ireland apart, setting back by decades any hope of understanding between the province's two communities". "Nicknamed the 'Butcher of Bogside', he never expressed a word of remorse for ordering knee-cappings, ruthless murders of police and soldiers and the random slaughter of civilian men, women and children," it said. Similarly, 'The Sun' offered Irish readers a sympathetic perspective on Mr McGuinness's life by using a headline based on a quote from Ian Paisley Junior. "It's not how you begin it's how you end," the Irish edition said. But in the UK the headline was simply "Unforgiven" with a secondary headline quoting families saying the Sinn Fein politician "can go to hell". In general, Irish publications focused primarily on Mr McGuinness's journey from gunman to statesman. Expand Close How the Daily Mail treated the news in its UK / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp How the Daily Mail treated the news in its UK But in the UK, the 'Daily Telegraph' led with a story stating that senior police officers decided not to pursue the former deputy first minister over his alleged role in an IRA atrocity because it was too "politically sensitive". Meanwhile, the BBC has been criticised for allegedly 'fawning' over Mr McGuinness in its coverage. Television licence 'enforcers' are to be recruited in a bid to recoup the 40m in unpaid fees every year, the Irish Independent has learned. Communications Minister Denis Naughten is working on legislation which will allow him to take responsibility for TV licence inspections away from An Post. Expand Close Dee Forbes, Director General of RTE. Photo: David Conachy / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dee Forbes, Director General of RTE. Photo: David Conachy If approved by Cabinet in the comings weeks, his department will be able to use a public tender to find a 'TV licence agent'. However, there is no proposal to tack licence fees to electricity bills, a method that RTE director general Dee Forbes said had been a "huge success" abroad. Mr Naughten is understood to have already told RTE that there will be no hike to the 160 charge in the immediate future. A spokesperson said last night that there was "no chance" that the fee would be doubled. Ms Forbes later backtracked on this idea, saying such a rise was "not practical". Expand Close Almost 14pc of households dont pay their licence fee, but there are just 46 inspectors for the entire country. (Stock picture) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Almost 14pc of households dont pay their licence fee, but there are just 46 inspectors for the entire country. (Stock picture) She told the Irish Independent: "What I was saying was that the licence fee here in Ireland is incredible value at 40 cent a day. "The breadth of value and programming of everything that goes out from RTE every day for 40 cent a day is incredible. "If it was doubled, would it be good value? Of course it would! But I'm not for one minute calling for a doubling of a licence fee, because it's not practical." The Department of Communications favours a large-scale clampdown on evasion rather than any price increase. Read more: 'It's incredible value for money' - RTE's new director general thinks licence fee should be doubled Almost 14pc of households don't pay their licence fee, but there are just 46 inspectors for the entire country. Sources said the evasion rate was "very high" by European standards and costs about 40m a year to public service broadcasting. Ms Forbes cited the model in Italy where the licence fee was added to electricity bills, which she said was a "huge success". However, this proposal is not being considered. She also stressed that the responsibility for collecting the licence fees doesn't lie with RTE. That responsibility falls to An Post and the Government. "We have 40m-50m being lost every year and that's money that's not coming to us and not to the creative sector here in Ireland and that's a great shame," said Ms Forbes. "What I'm saying we need to do is concentrate on reforming the licence fee collection. Read more: 'It's not practical' - RTE's new director general moves to distance herself from 'double licence fee' comments "The licence fee is collected by An Post on behalf of the department and it's up to the department to decide how they want that done. "Certainly, the minister has outlined that he would like to tender the contract later this year around the collection and that is something he has indicated and that's something we are very grateful will be happening later in the year." In a bid to collect more money, Mr Naughten will ask Cabinet colleagues to back the Broadcasting Amendment Bill 2017 within the next fortnight. Meanwhile, Fianna Fail is already working on a proposal that will see any increases going to local media rather than the national broadcaster. The party's communications spokesman Timmy Dooley said his party would require "a lot more detail from RTE executive to justify a price rise". Fianna Fail favours the introduction of a broadcasting charge that would see every household contribute to public service broadcasting. Sports Minister Patrick O'Donovan, who was critical of RTE in his previous role on the Oireachtas Communications Committee, told the Irish Independent the call for a price hike was "opportune". Sense of impending doom: Gerard Ingoldsby found his experience of bowel cancer very lonely, despite fantastic support from his family. Photo: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision A recent survey which showed that one in seven people with cancer feel they have no close friends they can talk to about their disease comes as no surprise to one of Ireland's leading experts in the field. Turning 60 years of received wisdom on its head, Dr Paul D'Alton, head of the Psycho-Oncology Department at St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin, says that coping with cancer is not always about the power of positive thinking. In fact, however well-intentioned the sentiment, telling a person with cancer to be positive can have the opposite effect by making them feel even more isolated than they already are. In the world of psychology, the Kubler-Ross model of the five stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance - is well-established. But according to Dr D'Alton, "there is no such thing as 'stages of grief'". "Emotions don't progress in predictable stages," he says. "Somebody diagnosed with cancer might feel a rush of anger, denial, sadness and other emotions within 15 minutes. And those feelings can return at any point, in any order. It's not a linear process, it's erratic. Feelings can be all over the place." Commenting on the recent Macmillan Cancer Support study of people diagnosed with cancer in Scotland, Dr D'Alton says Ireland offers an equally lonely landscape for cancer sufferers. It's a vista with which Gerard Ingoldsby from Ballincollig, Co Cork, became all too familiar when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer at the age of 42. But it wasn't until 18 months after he received his diagnosis that he was hit by the loneliness of the disease. "I'd been open all along about having cancer," he says. "I didn't want an elephant in every room, so if some people seemed uncomfortable at first, I'd try to bring up the subject to put them at ease. By doing that I found they usually relaxed and could talk about it. Many were shocked that someone my age could get this form of cancer." The good news was that it had been caught early. A Stage 3 polyp contained in the lower colon was eminently treatable, the doctors assured Gerard. He went through an intensive course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy to shrink the tumour before surgery to remove it altogether. A further six months of chemotherapy completed his treatment, which was a complete success. So why, in April 2006, after he was given the all-clear, did he suddenly feel a sense of loneliness that threatened to engulf him? "It wasn't depression, it was more a feeling that I didn't have a purpose or a focus," he says. "It felt like, 'Right, you're fixed. So what happens now?' That's when it hit me - feelings of isolation, severe anxiety and a sense of impending doom. For 18 months I'd had weekly reassurances from the hospital and suddenly they stopped. "Despite fantastic support from my wife Mary and my family, I was under a black cloud, convinced that something awful was about to happen. Mary tried to reason with me, 'The awful thing has already happened - you got cancer.' "My GP compared it with post-traumatic stress disorder. I felt that my mind and spirit needed to catch up with my body. My oncology nurse encouraged me to go to Cork ARC Cancer Support House. It was the best thing I ever did. From the minute I walked through the door, everything changed. Counselling, meditation and Tai Chi helped me figure out what was going on. Without their help and support I don't know where I'd be today. "It's very difficult for family and friends to understand the feelings that are part of having cancer. Only another cancer patient has the first-hand experience to know what you're going through." Now Gerard volunteers in the Irish Cancer Society (ICS)'s Survivors Supporting Survivors programme, where somebody with cancer can talk with a survivor of a similar form of the disease. He encourages anybody who's struggling emotionally to reach out and use this service. "I've spoken to people at different stages of cancer. Some are very private and don't want to discuss it with their friends; others may not want their employers or co-workers to know. Sometimes the stress about things associated with cancer is worse than the disease itself. You worry about the impact it has on the family, and how you'll manage financially - things that people often don't open up about... it's not always a doctor you need, it's a shoulder, someone to listen." And for family and friends looking for ways to support a loved one with cancer, rushing in with rapturous good cheer may not be the best approach. "The bottom line is that cancer is a life-threatening illness, which brings with it a great deal of emotion, fear and uncertainty," says Dr D'Alton. "Humans don't cope well with uncertainty. We tend to lock down and isolate ourselves from others. "People deal with cancer as they would with other difficulties in their lives," he adds. "If you're a pragmatic, task-focused type, you'll bring that approach to your dealings with cancer. Whatever way you choose to handle it is okay. Talking is by no means mandatory." There is good news on the horizon, he says, with the government's new 10-Year Cancer Strategy to be launched later this year. "For the first time, this includes key recommendations about the psychological and emotional needs of people with cancer," says Dr D'Alton. "It's quite a breakthrough, because it means that patients' emotional and psychological wellbeing will be factored into their medical care." According to Donal Buggy, ICS head of services and advocacy, "being faced with a cancer diagnosis can be one of the most devastating things a person can go through, which is why emotional support is so vital, not just at the time of diagnosis, but throughout treatment and beyond. "We're really proud that Gerard is one of our survivor support volunteers. Funds raised this Daffodil Day will allow us to continue running this service, which offers a one-to-one support programme, providing emotional and practical support to newly diagnosed patients," he says. "All of our Survivor Support volunteers have had a cancer diagnosis. The volunteers have been carefully selected and trained to give support, practical information and reassurance when patients need it most. To avail of the service, patients can call our Cancer Nurseline on 1800 200 700, between 10am and 4pm, Monday to Friday." The Irish Cancer Society's 30th Daffodil Day takes place on Friday, March 24. For more info, see cancer.ie/daffodilday. You can make a donation by visiting cancer.ie, calling CallSave 1850 60 60 60 or texting 'Daff' to 50300 to donate 4. Five tips for helping a friend with cancer Practical advice: Dr Paul D'Alton 1. Don't isolate the person by insisting they stay positive. 2. Don't know what to say? Try this: "I don't know what to say. I'm really sorry." 3. Never say: "Let me know what I can do to help." It's better to be specific. Say: "I can bring you to hospital on Friday," or "I can do your shopping," or "I can collect the kids from school." 4. Take the shoulder-to-shoulder approach, not eye-to-eye. Sometimes the best place to have a conversation is in the car, where you're sitting next to each other, both facing in one direction. 5. Never say: "You'll be fine." The person might not want to let you down by admitting that they feel anything but fine. - Paul D'Alton Wigs and brows: Hilary Dunne was diagnosed with breast cancer on her 45th birthday. Look Good Feel Better was a lifeline, she says. Photo: Tony Gavin With an appetite for adventure, Dubliner Cathy Moore had great plans for her 50th year; among them were trips to Disneyland Paris, San Francisco and Las Vegas. The last thing she was banking on was a detour, but a breast cancer diagnosis in 2011 soon put paid to that. "It confirmed what I more or less knew myself, but meeting with the consultant, I got a sense that this was serious," she recalls. "It was like a punch in the gut." Treatment would involve a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy and Cathy herself had a plan of action. "We had to plan a trip to the hairdresser, and to buy a wig," she recalls. "The hair wasn't as big an issue as the eyelashes and brows," she added. "That really strips you of your identity. I was on steroids too, so I felt like a marshmallow. I was looking in the mirror like, 'who am I looking at? Where am I?'" Through nurses at Beamount Hospital, Cathy heard of Look Good Feel Better, a non-profit initiative created by the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) especially to give women back their identity. Sixty volunteers - most of them beauty therapists and make-up artists - meet with patients in 12 hospitals around Ireland, and offer them tutorials and hints on how to work with their wigs, fill in sparse brows, or do their make-up. In the battle against a life-threatening disease, mascara may appear a triviality, but for most patients who have availed of the service - around 800 women in Ireland last year - the service becomes a true lifeline. The initiative is available in 26 countries around the world, and since the Irish programme's inception in 2003, almost 9,120 women have benefited from the service. Oncology or ICS Daffodil Centre nurses arrange the appointments, often held on-site at the treating hospital, and products are generously donated by many of the major cosmetic companies. The entire operation is also run through fundraising and volunteers' efforts. "It's a laugh a minute," affirms Moore. "When you're on a time scale, and it's 'don't do this, don't eat that', and you think there's nothing you can do, it's like manna from heaven. The life force comes back into you. I honestly felt like a woman again." Hilary Dunne, a homemaker from Tallaght, Dublin, was also diagnosed with breast cancer on her 45th birthday. Told that the cancer was "aggressive but highly treatable", she too underwent chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. "When (the diagnosis) was confirmed, I said, 'okay, let's do what we have to do. It's not going to get me so let's get on with it'," she recalls. "My advice to anyone having chemo would be to get rid of your hair before it falls out. I left mine really short, and some of it came out in the shower. And it wasn't a nice experience. On the upside, you haven't the energy to wash or blowdry your hair anyway." Similarly, Look Good Feel Better, she says, "put the juice back into me". "I went in and came out buzzing, on an absolute high. I didn't have energy to shop for creams and make-up but I was given a kit and a road map. Doing this meant it was a day at hospital where you weren't getting needles stuck in you. No one spoke about cancer. I couldn't tell you what cancer they had, but I knew what shade of lipstick they were wearing." Look Good Feel Better had benefits that Hilary didn't see coming: "One of the hardest things was seeing the fear in my son and daughter's eyes, and my husband's eyes, when I would come home from the hospital. One evening, for about two hours, Sarah (my daughter) and I had great fun with make-up instead. When I look back on the whole chapter, that's the thing I remember about the journey. Not the hospital time." Margaret Heffernan, joint programme manager at Look Good Feel Better, adds: "A lot of women feel guilty for feeling bad about losing their hair. They know it's not the most serious thing going on for them, but it's still an awful feeling. "It's an afternoon where they can forget about what's going in. Our looks are such an integral part of our personality and lives. And the difference between a stranger noticing and not noticing their illness can sometimes make all the difference." The Irish Cancer Society's 30th Daffodil Day takes place tomorrow. For more information, see cancer.ie/daffodilday. For more on Look Good Feel Better, to donate, or become a volunteer, see lookgoodfeelbetter.ie or call 01 873 4996 Already one of the worlds most expensive destinations, Iceland is considering a new tax on tourists to prevent overcrowding. The country has witnessed a near fivefold increase in tourism since 2010 and is looking at ways of limiting the number of foreign arrivals. Hitting holidaymakers in the wallet is certainly one way of doing that. In an interview with Bloomberg, Icelands tourism minister, Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir, warned that the country is in danger of being overwhelmed. The sector and all of us have to be careful not to become victims of our own success, she said. Iceland, which has a population of just 332,000, welcomed 490,000 foreign visitors in 2010. This year that figure is set to rise to a whopping 2.3 million and that, says Gylfadottir, is not sustainable. Some areas are simply unable to facilitate one million visitors every year, she said. If we allow more people into areas like that, were losing what makes them special unique pearls of nature that are a part of our image and of what were selling. Expand Close Reykjavik. Deposit photos / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Reykjavik. Deposit photos The Icelandic government is considering a range of measures to limit tourism, all of which are likely to push up the price of a holiday to the country. They including increasing the existing hotel tax which raised a reported 400 million krona (3.38m) for the countrys coffers in 2016 forcing tour operators to purchase licenses and imposing limits on the number of people who can visit certain sites. The government claims money raised through any such initiatives would go towards improving infrastructure and facilities. When we talk about charging for access, to me that relates more to controlling the number of people entering particular areas which we need to do, Gylfadottir told Bloomberg. We also need to ensure that tourists that come here get a positive experience during their stay. Tourist taxes are seldom popular, but they are likely to prove particularly contentious in Iceland, which is already extremely expensive for foreigners. When I went in February costs were prohibitively high try 11-plus for a pint of beer, said Hugh Morris, a travel journalist with The Telegraph. Dinner at even reasonable establishments always seemed to nudge towards the triple figure mark. Read more: Read More Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] There have been several inaccurancies as details of the incident unfold. The aftermath of any horrific attack can often result in a flurry of information and misinformation being circulated, as has been the case with the Westminster attacks. On Wednesday a man mowed down pedestrians including schoolchildren with his car on Westminster Bridge, before crashing the vehicle into the gates in front of the Houses of Parliament. There he stabbed a policeman before being shot dead by other officers. Four people have died including the policeman and the attacker while 29 victims are being treated in hospital, with seven in critical condition. As the details surrounding the attack continue to unfold, there have been several reports of misinformation you should be wary of. The attacker has not yet been named. Hours following the attack, Channel 4s Senior Home Affairs Correspondent Simon Israel quoted a source identifying the attacker as Abu Izzadeen formerly known as Trevor Brooks. However as news of the attackers so-called identity spread, it emerged Izzadeen was thought to be in prison. Izzadeen previously admitted to a serious and deliberate breach of counter-terrorism restrictions and was actually sentenced to two years in prison in January last year. Channel 4 later issued a statement apologising for the error. On Thursday morning, police said eight people thought to have links to the Westminster attack had been arrested in overnight raids in London, Birmingham and elsewhere but have yet to reveal any names. London Mayor Sadiq Khan didnt explicitly say Terror attacks are part of living in big city. Donald Trump Jr criticised Khan in the hours following the attack, tweeting: You have to be kidding me?!: Terror Attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Within the tweet, he included a link to an Independent article from September 2016 in which Khan had said hed suffered sleepless nights following an explosion in New York in which 29 people were injured. Khan had said he believed the threat of terror attacks were part and parcel of living in a great global city while urging Londoners as well as those in other capitals to be vigilant, be prepared and support the police and security services to help keep the city safe. There are several names of victims floating around, but at least one is a hoax. Photos of a young, red-headed woman began circulating on social media along with messages suggesting she had been in the Westminster vicinity at the time of the attack. Some tweets suggested the woman named as Tamara De Anda was a student at London School of Economics and Political Science, while others claimed shed just been visiting the capital. However the woman whose name is in fact Tamara De Anda is actually a Mexican journalist who happened to be partaking in a Facebook Live session with The New York Times hours after the attack. Of the four who lost their lives in the attack, only two had been named as of Thursday morning: Pc Keith Palmer and Aysha Frade, who worked at DLD College London just a few hundred metres from Westminster Bridge. The attacker has been named by police as Khalid Masood. A massive police operation is under way into the car and knife terror attack that shook the heart of London yesterday. These are the latest developments: What do we know about the attacker? Scotland Yard have formally identified the man believed to be responsible for the attack as 52-year-old Khalid Masood. The force said Masood had previous convictions for assaults, including GBH, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. He had not been convicted of any terrorism offences. Theresa May revealed earlier that he was British-born and was investigated by MI5 some years ago over concerns of violent extremism. What did he do? The attacker, armed with two large knives, drove a Hyundai 44 which was hired from a branch of car hire-firm Enterprise in Shirley, Solihull into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. He jumped out of the car after smashing it into the railings encircling the Palace of Westminster, fatally stabbing Pc Palmer as he entered the grounds. He was shot dead moments later by another officer. Has anyone been arrested? Eight people have been arrested and six addresses raided across London, Birmingham and elsewhere. Has anyone claimed responsibility? The so-called Islamic State group has claimed responsibility, saying through its Aaamaq news agency that the London attacker was a soldier of theirs. Who were the victims? Four people have died the victims have been named as 48-year-old husband and father Pc Keith Palmer; mother-of-two Aysha Frade; and US tourist Kurt Cochran. The attacker also died. Among the injured are 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, two Greeks, and one each from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the United States. Three police officers were also hurt, two of them seriously. We musnt cower. Londoners packed out Tube and train stations this morning to show that they would carry on as usual. As MPs returned to the scene of the deadly attack to gather at the usual time inside the Palace of Westminster, commuters got on with their lives showing they too refused to be cowed by terrorism. Graham Lloyd-Evans was sitting in Victoria station during rush hour when he said the attacks will make people more determined to live a Western way of life. The 49-year-old said: It is not going to change anything. I think you will find everybody feels the same way. You can see that by the people walking through here already. Some people will be [worried about travelling in London], but then the people who travel in London all the time almost accept this. It wont stop you from doing what you need to do. Its not going to stop me sitting here and reading my book, and with a cup of coffee. Thats the life. Meanwhile, Twitter users shared pictures of packed out Tube stations, at odds with any picture being painted from elsewhere of a city shut down by terror. Lucy Thompson works in London, and said she would carry on as usual. She said: I feel fine. If its going to happen it is going to happen. You could get hit by a bus probably more easily than get caught up in something like that. Its happening all the time now. It is shocking and upsetting but it is happening around the world. One of the only signs that something major had happened was the number of armed officers policing the streets and stations. When I got here [Victoria station] the police presence was comforting, said Emma Klausner. I just saw some on horse back, there are two horses outside. It makes you feel safer because you know they are only there to protect you. The attitude of Londoners was reflected online, where people admired the citys ability to get on with life. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan told Sky News that Londoners would rise and return to normalcy. He said: The important thing is we mustnt cower, we mustnt allow the terrorists to succeed and to destroy our way of life, or to divide communities. We have got to show them that we are resilient, that democracy, justice, civil liberties, our way of life, tolerance, are values they hate. Prime Minister Theresa May addressed the House of Commons and told MPs that an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy. She said: But today we meet as normal as generations have done before us, and as future generations will continue to do to deliver a simple message: we are not afraid. And our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism. And we meet here, in the oldest of all Parliaments, because we know that democracy and the values it entails will always prevail. Mrs May confirmed that the attacker was British born and known to the police and MI5. He was once investigated some years ago in relation to violent extremism, but was a peripheral figure. The Eiffel Tower turned off its lights in solidarity with the UK. As the dust begins to settle in the aftermath of yesterdays terror attack on Westminster, world leaders have begun to share their condolences and show solidarity with the UK. French president Francois Hollande tweeted his condolences to Theresa May and the UK, and the lights of the Eiffel Tower in Paris were symbolically switched off to honour those killed. The landmark has a history of going dark to mark sombre events such as the terror attacks which claimed the lives of 130 people in the French capital in November 2015. Elsewhere, the mayor of Tel Aviv Ron Huldai showed his support by tweeting a photo of City Hall lit up in red, white and blue. Donald Trump eschewed Twitter, his favoured form of communication, to report his talk with Theresa May on Facebook. President Donald J. Trump Readout of the Presidents Call with Prime Minister Theresa May of the United Kingdom: President Donald J. Trump spoke today with Prime Minister Theresa May of the United Kingdom to offer his Dutch PM Mark Rutte pledged his support to Britain, whereas at the same time far-right candidate Geert Wilders (who lost out on the recent election) was far more accusatory in addressing the issue. In a statement, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said: Canadians stand united with the British people in the fight against terrorism. We will continue to work together with the UK and all our allies to show the world that freedom and democracy will always triumph. Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull expressed similar sentiments. And closer to home in England, council leader John Clancy posted a picture of Birmingham Library lit up in solidarity. Even though the area around Westminster is still a crime scene, mourners have already begun laying flowers in tribute to those who lost their lives. Former US President Bill Clinton speaks during the funeral of Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness at St Columba's Church Long Tower, in Londonderry. He urged the leaders to finish the peace building process of the veteran Sinn Fein figure. Former US president Bill Clinton paid tribute to Martin McGuinness as thousands thronged the streets of Londonderrys Bogside to pay their respects to the veteran Sinn Fein figure. Looking down on a coffin draped in an Irish tricolour at St Columbas Church, the former US president, who was central to the Good Friday Agreement negotiations, implored the leaders to pick up where McGuinness left off. He persevered and he prevailed. He risked the wrath of his comrades and the rejection of his adversaries, Clinton said. He made honourable compromises and was strong enough to keep them and came to be trusted because his word was good. He added: Our friend earned this vast crowd today. Even more, he earned the right to ask us to honour his legacy by our living. To finish the work that is there to be done. Clinton spoke briefly with the McGuinness family after his passionate eulogy and touched the coffin as he walked by. Also attending the funeral were ex-Democratic Unionist Stormont first ministers Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster, Irish President Michael D Higgins and his predecessor Mary McAleese, Taoiseach Enda Kenny and former taoiseach Bertie Ahern. McGuinness died on Tuesday from a rare heart condition aged 66. Two 12-year-old boys were left with horrific facial injuries after an acid or chemical substance was allegedly thrown at them. Police in Scotland are appealing for witnesses after the attack in the Northfield area of Aberdeen yesterday at approximately 8pm. Shane Flower (12) suffered significant burns around his eyes, cheek and mouth. His sister Gemma Florence posted a picture on Facebook of the 12-year-old recovering in hospital. "My gorgeous little brother's face! "Someone threw some sort of acid/chemical at him and his friend's faces!! "My poor boy is devastated," she wrote. Detective Inspector Allen Shaw, who is leading the investigation, said it was a "shocking and despicable" attack. "This has been a shocking and despicable incident against two young boys who have obviously been left upset and shaken by what has happened to them. They have been left with significant injuries and were taken to the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital for treatment. "Extensive inquiries are ongoing to trace those responsible and we are working with our colleagues in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as part of our investigation. There will be a police presence in the area for some time, however the scene where this incident happened has been examined and I can assure the public it is safe. "I would appeal for anyone with information about the incident, whether you were in the area at the time or know anything about it, to please get in touch. You can contact Police Scotland on 101, via the Police Scotland website or via the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 if you would prefer to remain anonymous. "I can assure the local community that all resources available to us will be used to trace those responsible. It won't be tolerated." Police have reportedly performed a controlled explosion near Westminster, less than a mile away from the scene of a terrorist attack which claimed the lives of three people. A senior BBC producer said London's Metropolitan Police had confirmed the operation on Birdcage Walk, yards from Westminster Bridge where a terrorist ploughed a hire car into pedestrians, killing three people before getting out and murdering a police officer. Both Buckingham Palace and Downing Street are nearby. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Police are dealing with a suspect package in the area of Birdcage Walk. Officers remain on the scene." The spokesman did not confirm whether a controlled explosion had been carried out. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Police are dealing with a suspect package in the area of Birdcage Walk. Officers remain at the scene." The spokesman did not confirm whether a controlled explosion had been carried out. The Met said on Twitter: "Unattended bag found Birdcage Walk/Horseguards was not suspicious. All cordons put in for safety being lifted. Thanks for your patience." The reported explosion came during a BBC News live broadcast. Senior producer Pia Talbot tweeted: "Police say they've just carried out a controlled explosion within earshot of our live spot." Sky News reporter Laura Bundock tweeted there was a "very loud bang close to security cordon where suspicious package found". Masood is thought to have regularly attended a mosque in Birmingham, although security sources refused to discuss details because, they said, it was part of ongoing investigations. Scotland Yard said eight people five men and three women had been arrested in London and Birmingham and were being held on suspicion on preparing terrorist acts. Detectives are continuing to search a number of addresses in relation to the attack, including three properties in Birmingham, one in east London, and one in Carmarthenshire, Wales Isis claimed the attacker was a "soldier of the Islamic State" when it claimed responsibility for the attack. However the group did not name him and did not provide any further details. The terrorist group regularly claims credit for atrocities and there is no evidence at present to verify the claim Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan paid tribute to the victims of the London attack, saying: "Terror and violence will never triumph over democracy." "I unreservedly condemn the attack outside the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. I deplore the loss of life, and note that the casualties include a police officer killed in the line of duty," he said. "I wish to extend my condolences and on behalf of my Government, my support to the people of London and the UK. Terror and violence will never triumph over democracy. "The Irish Embassy and my department have been active in London, and at this time we have no reason to believe that any Irish citizens have been affected or are persons over whom there are concerns." Fianna Fail spokesperson on foreign affairs Darragh O'Brien TD also offered his sympathies. "I condemn this appalling attack in the strongest possible terms. These acts of violence are intended as an attack on democratic values and must be resisted and rejected on that basis," he said. "Exactly 12 months to the day since 35 people were killed in the Brussels airport attacks, today's events are a terrible reminder of how very real the challenge is to protect citizens while respecting human rights and protecting basic freedoms." An Oireachtas spokesperson last night refused to comment on whether or not additional security measures have been put in place at Leinster House in light of the attack in London. It is understood that Oireachtas authorities are satisfied with security arrangements and that they regularly liaise with gardai and the Army on the matter. Anyone concerned about family members in London should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs on 01 408 2000, or the Embassy in London on 0044 207 235 2171. Foreign minister Tobias Ellwood was praised as an "absolute hero" after he tried to save the life of the policeman stabbed during the attack on the British parliament. The Conservative MP attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and applied pressure on the wounds to stem the blood flow to keep him alive. Mr Ellwood, a former captain in the Royal Green Jackets, attended the victim as he waited for medical staff and an air ambulance to arrive in Parliament Square. He was later seen with bloodied hands talking to police officers near the scene before going back to the Foreign Office. Read more: Any attempt to defeat the values Parliament stands for are 'doomed to failure', Theresa May A source close to Mr Ellwood said: "[He] tried to give mouth to mouth and stem blood flow from multiple stab wounds to the officer until the chopper and medics arrived." There were reports last night that Mr Ellwood "ran in [the] opposite direction to everyone else, he ran towards the injured police officer". Photographs later emerged of Mr Ellwood, dressed in a blue suit, helping medical staff and policemen treat the officer, who later died. A source close to the MP said last night he was "well but shaken". Mr Ellwood, MP for Bournemouth East, has been Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office since July 2014, covering the Middle East and Africa brief. He lost his brother Jon in the Bali terror attack in October 2002, which killed 202 people including 27 Britons. Mr Ellwood has previously talked about the difficulty in getting the body of Jon, who was a teacher, back after the attack. MPs from across the political spectrum last night praised him as a "hero". Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police close to the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. A man with a knife has been seen within the confines of the Palace, eyewitnesses said: Victoria Jones/PA Wire An injured man is assisted after an incident on Westminster Bridge in London, Britain March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville Injured people are assisted after an incident on Westminster Bridge in London, March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville Police close to the Palace of Westminster, London, after policeman has been stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament. Victoria Jones/PA Wire PC Keith Palmer who was killed during the terrorist attack on the Houses of Parliament, London Credit: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire Armed police respond outside Parliament during the attack on Westminster in London, Britain March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth Scenes following the London attack (main and insets right) and Keith Palmer (inset left) Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London. Inset: Aysha Frade (43) died of her injuries Emergency services at the scene outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after a policeman was stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire Kurt Cochran, Keith Palmer and Aysha Frade - The victims of the London terror attack The Westminster terror attack has claimed its fourth innocent victim, as police confirmed that a 75-year-old man has died in hospital. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The man had been receiving medical treatment in hospital following the attack and life support was withdrawn this evening. "Next of kin have been informed and are receiving support from specially trained family liaison officers." Earlier, the man police believe to be responsible for the terrorist attack in Westminster was formally identified as Khalid Masood (52) Scotland Yard said. Scotland Yard said Masood had previous convictions for assaults, including GBH, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. He had not been convicted of any terrorism offences. Earlier the Islamic State terror group claimed through its news agency that the Westminster attacker was a "soldier of the Islamic State". Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Emergency services at the scene outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after a policeman was stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire Police close to the Palace of Westminster, London, after policeman has been stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament: Yui Mok/PA Wire Police close to the Palace of Westminster, London, after policeman has been stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament. Victoria Jones/PA Wire Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emergency services at the scene outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after a policeman was stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire Arrests Eight people, three women and five men, have been arrested in London and Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts by detectives investigating the Westminster attack, Scotland Yard said. The Independent Police Complaints Commission has said "no police officers are under investigation" over the Westminster terror attack, but it is "currently investigating the circumstances". Searches were carried out at three addresses in Birmingham and one each in east London, Brighton, south-east London and Carmarthenshire. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Westminster terror alert An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Westminster terror alert A 39-year-old woman was arrested in east London while a 21-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man were held at one address in Birmingham. A 26-year-old woman and three men aged 28, 27 and 26 were arrested at another address in Birmingham. They were all held overnight while a 58-year-old man was arrested on Thursday at a third address in Birmingham. Investigators are working on the basis that the attacker acted alone. Expand Close PC Keith Palmer who was killed during the terrorist attack on the Houses of Parliament, London Credit: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp PC Keith Palmer who was killed during the terrorist attack on the Houses of Parliament, London Credit: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire Car firm Enterprise confirmed the Hyundai used in the attack was one of its vehicles. Islamic State claimed the killer was one of its "soldiers". A review of security arrangements at Westminster was launched. Victims The victims admitted to hospital included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Irish, one Chinese, one Italian, one American and two Greeks, she said. Video compartido en Twitter por el turista taiwanes Aaron Tsang mientras la gente huye pic.twitter.com/cmVrw8lC6c #londres Telemadrid (@InformativosTM) March 22, 2017 UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the government was in close contact with counterparts in all the countries affected. Ms May visited victims in hospital this evening. Taoiseach Enda Kenny spoke to British Prime Minister Theresa May this evening following the horrific attack in London. He offered the sympathy of the Irish Government to the British people and offered any assistance that may be required. The Prime Minister confirmed that the injuries suffers by an Irish person were not life-threatening. They also spoke about the ongoing negotiations in Stormont towards the reestablishment of power sharing in Northern Ireland. The call lasted approximately ten minutes. This afternoon the third victim of the Westminster terror attack was named as US tourist Kurt Cochran from Utah. US president Donald Trump has hailed a tourist killed in the Westminster terror attack as a "great American". Kurt Cochran from Utah was in London celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary with his wife Melissa Payne Cochran when the terrorist struck. President Trump tweeted: "A great American, Kurt Cochran, was killed in the London terror attack. My prayers and condolences are with his family and friends." Mr Cochran's wife was also injured in the attack. She sustained a broken leg and rib, but it is not believed to be critical. Shantell Payne wrote on Facebook: "With a heavy heart I must pass the sad news of our beautiful brother, father, husband, son and friend Kurt Cochran." She continued: "This pain is so heart wrenching and raw it has rocked our family and all that knew him to its core. We will miss Kurt beyond words. We love you Kurt. RIP. Melissa Payne Cochran is in the hospital with a broken leg, rib and a cut on her head but will recover from her injuries. Sending all the love to her for a quick recovery." Expand Close Kurt Cochran (left) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kurt Cochran (left) Earlier it was revealed that Spanish teacher Aysha Frade (43) died of her injuries after a car ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan TD, has confirmed that one Irish person was amongst those injured in yesterdays terrorist attack in London. Minister Flanagan said that his Department has, through the Irish Embassy in London, offered and stands ready to provide consular assistance. Independent.ie understands that the injuries sustained by the Irish person, believed to be a woman, are not considered to be life-threatening. Four people were killed in the incident yesterday afternoon and in the region of 40 injured as an assailant drove a car on the footpath on Westminster Bridge, before crashing the car at the British parliament and getting out to stab a policeman to death before the attacker was shot. The British Prime Minister also told MPs that murdered PC Keith Palmer was "every inch a hero and his actions will never be forgotten". She added that the British Parliament was sending out the message following Wednesday's attack: "We will never waver in the face of terrorism." Mrs May addressed MPs as they gathered at the usual time inside the Palace of Westminster, which a day before had come under attack from a knife-wielding terrorist. An hour after MPs had stood for a minute's silence in honour of the innocent people killed in the attack, Mrs May delivered a statement with details of the atrocity. Mrs May said the attacker had been identified as someone known by police and MI5, and the working assumption was that he was inspired by Islamist terrorism. The BBC is reporting that he was British-born. "Yesterday an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today we meet as normal, as generations have done before us and as future generations will continue to do, to deliver a simple message: 'We are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism'," Mrs May said. "A terrorist came to the place where people of all nationalities and cultures gather to celebrate what it means to be free. "And he took out his rage indiscriminately against innocent men, women and children. "This was an attack on free people everywhere, and on behalf of the British people I would like to thank our friends and allies around the world who have made it clear that they stand with us at this time." Westminster Bridge has reopened less than 24 hours after the attack. Victims of the Westminster terror attack are being treated in hospitals across London. King's College Hospital has confirmed its A&E department took in eight patients - six men and two women. Two of these patients are in a critical condition, while six are stable. At St Thomas' Hospital, two patients - a man and a woman - remain in a stable condition. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust declared a major incident at St Mary's Hospital on Wednesday afternoon at 3.55pm. It has yet to release a statement on whether it is currently treating any victims. The Royal London Hospital said it admitted one patient but a spokeswoman said no further detail could be given on whether that patient died, is being treated or has been discharged. Earlier, A Spanish teacher on her way to pick up her children from school was named as the first civilian victim of the Westminster attack. Aysha Frade (43) died of her injuries after a car ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. Spanish media said Mrs Frade had two daughters aged eight and 11 and worked at the nearby DLD College London. Mrs Frade, a British citizen, had familial links to the Spanish municipality of Betanzos, where relatives were notified of her death on Wednesday afternoon. Mrs Frade worked in the administration team at DLD College London, just a few hundred metres from Westminster Bridge, principal Rachel Borland confirmed. Ms Borland said: "We are all deeply shocked and saddened at the news that one of the victims yesterday was a member of our staff, Aysha Frade. "All our thoughts and our deepest sympathies are with her family. "We will be offering every support we can to them as they try to come to terms with their devastating loss. "Aysha worked as a member of our administration team at the college. "She was highly regarded and loved by our students and by her colleagues. "She will be deeply missed by all of us." Mrs Frade was the second victim named following Wednesdays attack, where PC Palmer was stabbed to death outside the Houses of Parliament. She and another member of the public, a man in his 50s, died of injuries sustained on Westminster Bridge as an attacker sped his car along the pavement. Counter-terror detectives are continuing to search for clues about how the armed attacker brought death and destruction to the streets of London on Wednesday. The number of people killed was revised down from five to four this morning. Mark Rowley, Scotland Yard's top anti-terror officer said 29 people had been treated in hospital with seven people in a critical condition. Most of these were mown down on Westminster Bridge. Officer Palmer, 48, a husband and father, whose bravery was hailed by colleagues, friends and the many British MPs whom he was charged with protecting. His family described him as a "wonderful dad and husband, a loving son, brother and uncle", adding that he was "dedicated to his job and proud to be a police officer, brave and courageous". Paying tribute to Mr Palmer, Mr Rowley said: "He was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift - and he had every right to expect that would happen." Mr Rowley declined to name the attacker, but said police suspect he was "inspired by international terrorism" - and that they believed they knew who he was. Seven people have been arrested in raids in London, Birmingham and elsewhere linked to the Westminster terror attack, Mr Rowley revealed, adding that six addresses were raided overnight. At the scene of one of the police raids, a flat in Hagley Road, Birmingham, one witness told the Press Association: "The man from London lived here." Read More Witnesses described scenes of terror when gunfire rang out as the attacker approached a second officer within yards of the Houses of Parliament. The suspected attacker was pictured being treated by paramedics on a stretcher, as two knives used in the assault lay on the ground nearby. Paramedics fought to save his life and that of Mr Palmer on the floor of the cobbled courtyard in front of Parliament, with British Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood among those who rushed to help. "Heartbroken" former colleague, Conservative MP James Cleverly, paid tribute to the "lovely man" he had known for a quarter of a century. "I've known Keith for 25 years. We served together in the Royal Artillery before he became a copper. A lovely man, a friend. I'm heartbroken. "My thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of Pc Keith Palmer. A brave man." British MPs said that the terror attack could have been prevented if police on duty at a well-known security weak spot had simply kept it bolted. The killer managed to get in through a vehicle gate in New Palace Yard used by the Prime Minister and other members of the Government because it was not locked. Footage later emerged of the moment police opened fire after the attacker drove a grey Hyundai i40 across Westminster Bridge before crashing it into railings then running through the gates of the Palace of Westminster. In other developments, another woman who apparently fell into the Thames was rescued and given urgent medical treatment on a nearby pier. London Ambulance Service said paramedics had treated at least 10 patients on Westminster Bridge. A party of French schoolchildren were among those targeted on the bridge, with three injured. Mrs May, who was ushered away from Parliament after the attack, was chairing a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee. The attack left a trail of destruction as paramedics tended to victims on the bridge and at the gate. Witnesses said the attacker was shot by police as he approached a second officer clutching his knife during the incident at about 2.45pm. Radoslaw Sikorski posted a video to Twitter purporting to show people lying injured in the road on Westminster Bridge. Mr Sikorski, a senior fellow at Harvard Centre for European Studies, said he saw at least five people lying on the ground after being "mown down" by a car. "I heard what I thought what I thought was just a collision and then I looked through the window of the taxi and someone down, obviously in great distress," he told the BBC. "Then I saw a second person down, and I started filming, then I saw three more people down, one of them bleeding profusely." That carnage was followed very shortly afterwards by a crash outside the House of Parliament, followed by a stabbing of a police officer and a number of shots being fired. A number of officers were injured in the struggle. Eyewitness Rick Longley described the attack at Palace of Westminster. "We were just walking up to the station and there was a loud bang and a guy, someone, crashed a car and took some pedestrians out. "They were just laying there and then the whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben. "A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. "I have never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw." Another witness, from South Africa and living in Ireland, said she and two friends went towards the palace gates and saw a man lying on the floor inside. She said: "I saw a body, they were working on the floor. They were just inside the gates. "He had one gunshot wound to the right side of his chest. I don't know if he was dead or alive, but people were working on him. "I saw that needed medical attention and I asked if I could help because I am a doctor, but they said they were fine. "Then the police moved us back." Department of Foreign Affairs - Ireland President Michael D Higgins expressed the sympathy of the Irish people with the families of those who have lost their lives and to those who have been injured, resulting from the terrible attack in Westminster. President Higgins will be writing formally to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to express the sympathy, condolences and solidarity of the Irish people with our neighbours at this difficult time. The Irish embassy in London say they are monitoring the situation. Anyone with serious concerns for Irish people can contact +35314082527/+44 20 72352171. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference The Department of Foreign Affairs later confirmed that they were not aware of any Irish caught up in the attack. Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said: I unreservedly condemn the attack outside the Houses of Parliament at Westminster today. I deplore the loss of life, and note that the casualties include a police officer killed in the line of duty. I wish to extend my condolences and on behalf of my Government, my support to the people of London and the UK. Terror and violence will never triumph over democracy. The Irish Embassy and my Department have been active in London, and at this time we have no reason to believe that any Irish citizens have been affected or are persons over whom there are concerns. Britain is on its second-highest level of "severe" meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely. In May 2013, two British Islamists stabbed to death soldier Lee Rigby on a street in southeast London. In July 2005, four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the British capital's transport system in what was London's worst peacetime attack. More to follow Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police close to the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. A man with a knife has been seen within the confines of the Palace, eyewitnesses said: Victoria Jones/PA Wire An injured man is assisted after an incident on Westminster Bridge in London, Britain March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville Injured people are assisted after an incident on Westminster Bridge in London, March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville Police close to the Palace of Westminster, London, after policeman has been stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament. Victoria Jones/PA Wire Armed police respond outside Parliament during the attack on Westminster in London, Britain March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth PC Keith Palmer who was killed during the terrorist attack on the Houses of Parliament, London Credit: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire Scenes following the London attack (main and insets right) and Keith Palmer (inset left) Counter-terror detectives are continuing to search for clues about about how an armed attacker brought death and destruction to the streets of London on Wednesday. Five people were killed in the "sick and depraved" terror attack, including a police officer who was stabbed and his assailant. Mark Rowley, Scotland Yard's top anti-terror officer, confirmed that 40 people were injured after the attacker - armed with two large knives - mowed down pedestrians with his car on Westminster Bridge then rushed at the gates in front of the Houses of Parliament, stabbing a plain-clothes policeman before he was shot by armed officers. The officer who died was named as Keith Palmer, 48, a husband and father, whose bravery was hailed by colleagues, friends and the many British MPs whom he was charged with protecting. Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Police close to the Palace of Westminster, London, after policeman has been stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament: Yui Mok/PA Wire Police close to the Palace of Westminster, London, after policeman has been stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament. Victoria Jones/PA Wire Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Police close to the Palace of Westminster, London, after policeman has been stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers in a major security incident at the Houses of Parliament: Yui Mok/PA Wire Paying tribute to Mr Palmer, Scotland Yard's Mark Rowley said: "He was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift - and he had every right to expect that would happen." The three other fatalities are understood to be people who were hit by the car on Westminster Bridge. Mr Rowley declined to name the attacker, but said police suspect he was "inspired by international terrorism" - and that they believed they knew who he was. BBC Newsnight reported there was a suggestion the car used in the attack was hired from an address in Birmingham. However, this has not been confirmed. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Westminster terror alert An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Westminster terror alert Armed police were involved in a raid at a residential property in the city late on Wednesday night, with Hagley Road reportedly closed for about 3 hours from 11pm. There is no indication that the raid was linked to the attack at Westminster. Witnesses described scenes of terror when gunfire rang out as the attacker approached a second officer within yards of the Houses of Parliament. The suspected attacker was pictured being treated by paramedics on a stretcher, as two knives used in the assault lay on the ground nearby. Paramedics fought to save his life and that of Mr Palmer on the floor of the cobbled courtyard in front of Parliament, with British Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood among those who rushed to help. "Heartbroken" former colleague, Conservative MP James Cleverly, paid tribute to the "lovely man" he had known for a quarter of a century. "I've known Keith for 25 years. We served together in the Royal Artillery before he became a copper. A lovely man, a friend. I'm heartbroken. "My thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of Pc Keith Palmer. A brave man." British MPs said that the terror attack could have been prevented if police on duty at a well-known security weak spot had simply kept it bolted. The killer managed to get in through a vehicle gate in New Palace Yard used by the Prime Minister and other members of the Government because it was not locked. British Prime Minister Theresa May has described the attack as "sick and depraved". Speaking outside 10 Downing Street after chairing a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergencies committee, Mrs May paid tribute to the "exceptional men and women" of the police force who responded to the attack. Mrs May said that any attempt to defeat the values that Parliament stands for was "doomed to failure". And she vowed: "We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart." Video compartido en Twitter por el turista taiwanes Aaron Tsang mientras la gente huye pic.twitter.com/cmVrw8lC6c #londres Telemadrid (@InformativosTM) March 22, 2017 Footage later emerged of the moment police opened fire after the attacker drove a grey Hyundai i40 across Westminster Bridge before crashing it into railings then running through the gates of the Palace of Westminster. In other developments, another woman who apparently fell into the Thames was rescued and given urgent medical treatment on a nearby pier. London Ambulance Service said paramedics had treated at least 10 patients on Westminster Bridge. A party of French schoolchildren were among those targeted on the bridge, with three injured. Mrs May, who was ushered away from Parliament after the attack, was chairing a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee. The attack left a trail of destruction as paramedics tended to victims on the bridge and at the gate. Witnesses said the attacker was shot by police as he approached a second officer clutching his knife during the incident at about 2.45pm. Radoslaw Sikorski posted a video to Twitter purporting to show people lying injured in the road on Westminster Bridge. Mr Sikorski, a senior fellow at Harvard Centre for European Studies, said he saw at least five people lying on the ground after being "mown down" by a car. "I heard what I thought what I thought was just a collision and then I looked through the window of the taxi and someone down, obviously in great distress," he told the BBC. "Then I saw a second person down, and I started filming, then I saw three more people down, one of them bleeding profusely." That carnage was followed very shortly afterwards by a crash outside the House of Parliament, followed by a stabbing of a police officer and a number of shots being fired. A number of officers were injured in the struggle. Eyewitness Rick Longley described the attack at Palace of Westminster. "We were just walking up to the station and there was a loud bang and a guy, someone, crashed a car and took some pedestrians out. "They were just laying there and then the whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben. "A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. "I have never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw." Another witness, from South Africa and living in Ireland, said she and two friends went towards the palace gates and saw a man lying on the floor inside. She said: "I saw a body, they were working on the floor. They were just inside the gates. "He had one gunshot wound to the right side of his chest. I don't know if he was dead or alive, but people were working on him. "I saw that needed medical attention and I asked if I could help because I am a doctor, but they said they were fine. "Then the police moved us back." Department of Foreign Affairs - Ireland President Michael D Higgins expressed the sympathy of the Irish people with the families of those who have lost their lives and to those who have been injured, resulting from the terrible attack in Westminster. President Higgins will be writing formally to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to express the sympathy, condolences and solidarity of the Irish people with our neighbours at this difficult time. The Irish embassy in London say they are monitoring the situation. Anyone with serious concerns for Irish people can contact +35314082527/+44 20 72352171. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference The Department of Foreign Affairs later confirmed that they were not aware of any Irish caught up in the attack. Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said: I unreservedly condemn the attack outside the Houses of Parliament at Westminster today. I deplore the loss of life, and note that the casualties include a police officer killed in the line of duty. I wish to extend my condolences and on behalf of my Government, my support to the people of London and the UK. Terror and violence will never triumph over democracy. The Irish Embassy and my Department have been active in London, and at this time we have no reason to believe that any Irish citizens have been affected or are persons over whom there are concerns. Britain is on its second-highest level of "severe" meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely. In May 2013, two British Islamists stabbed to death soldier Lee Rigby on a street in southeast London. In July 2005, four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the British capital's transport system in what was London's worst peacetime attack. More to follow It was the terrorist attack that police and security services always feared, but hoped would never come. A man, dressed all in black, drove a car at 80kmh the full length of Westminster Bridge, aiming deliberately at pedestrians and cyclists. The bodies were scattered in his wake. One woman died after she was hit and thrown under the wheels of a bus; another woman was struck as she walked past a stand selling postcards to tourists. She lay on the ground under the shadow of Big Ben, blood pouring from the wound in her head and seeping into cracks in the pavement. The driver of the Hyundai 4x4 then crashed the vehicle into the iron railings that surround the Palace of Westminster, hitting at least two more pedestrians. He leapt from the car and ran around the corner, brandishing a kitchen knife, eight inches long. Hundreds of tourists and workers panicked into a "stampede", ran for their lives while the attacker, now on foot, headed for Parliament Square and pushed past police officers at the barrier to New Palace Yard. Just within the entrance he slashed and stabbed at an unarmed policeman, who would later die of his wounds. It was only then that the marauder was stopped in his tracks as, at just after 2.40pm, a plain clothes officer, possibly a minister's personal bodyguard or a member of the security services, pulled out his pistol and fired two, possibly three, shots into the intruder's chest. Terror had struck at the very heart of Britain and its government. Expand Close Click to view full size graphic / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Click to view full size graphic Read more: 'I missed it by 30 seconds' - Irish man walked into parliament moments ahead of attacker The British Prime Minister Theresa May had been due to leave the House of Commons for the short drive to Downing Street when the attack happened. "This is a day that we had planned for - that we all hoped would never happen - but sadly it is now a reality," said acting deputy police commissioner Mark Rowley, who is in overall charge of Britain's counter-terrorism police. Mrs May would later declare, in a speech just before 9pm on the steps of Downing Street: "We will never give in to terror; we will never allow hate and evil to drive us apart." The carnage had begun a little over six hours earlier. "At first I thought the car had lost balance, but he was going in and coming back in a zig-zag, he did it about three times," said Ismail Hassan (45), who was riding his motorbike on Westminster Bridge when he saw the 30,000 ( 34,666) grey Hyundai Santa Fe - registered in Chelmsford, Essex - career towards him. "When he got to the shop he started hitting people, driving into people. The car was hitting people on the pavement," he said. One victim was seen trapped under the rear wheel of a bus. A junior doctor later confirmed the worst. Colleen Anderson at St Thomas' Hospital said a female pedestrian had died. "I confirmed one fatality. A woman. She was under the wheel of a bus. She died, confirmed her death at the scene." Dr Anderson added: "There were people across the bridge. There were some with minor injuries, some catastrophic." Expand Close Emergency personnel on Westminster Bridge, close to the Palace of Westminster, following the attack. Photo: PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emergency personnel on Westminster Bridge, close to the Palace of Westminster, following the attack. Photo: PA Another eyewitness told of seeing a body floating "face-down" in the Thames below. It wasn't clear if the woman he had seen in the river had been hit by the car and tossed over the bridge or had jumped into the water to avoid being hit. She was later pulled alive from the river. Another body could be seen lying at the foot of the stairwell that leads up to the bridge from the river footpath. The victim had either jumped or was flung on to the rain-soaked paving slabs below. It didn't look like anything could help him. Later, a white and blue scene of crime tent was pitched over the body and a stretcher brought to the scene. The victim would have been one of the first to be hit. Back on the bridge, three French schoolboys on a trip to London had been critically injured. "Three of us were hit, we don't know if they are dead or not," said the group's teacher. "I cannot speak anymore, I don't know what to say." Expand Close Tourists are left stranded on the London Eye after London goes into lockdown following the attack. Photo: AFP/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tourists are left stranded on the London Eye after London goes into lockdown following the attack. Photo: AFP/Getty Images One of the group of 10 - a young teenage girl - sat and wept openly on a bench a few hundred yards from the scene of devastation and destruction. She was wrapped in a foil blanket and being comforted by fellow pupils. Martin Pearce (32) filmed the aftermath. "There is blood everywhere," he said. "I don't know why I'm crying but people have been shot or stabbed all over the place." In truth, what he had witnessed was the result of a car used as a weapon. Read more: 'I thought a bomb was about to go off': Bus driver on Westminster Bridge during attack describes what he saw Police officers were also hit and injured. They had been walking along the bridge, having just come from a commendation ceremony. One of the group, who was in his 30s, suffered a head injury. He was being treated last night at King's College Hospital, south London. The hospital said it was treating eight patients in total, two of them critical. After perhaps 10 seconds, the Hyundai had come to a halt just off the bridge; the driver, deliberately or otherwise, having crashed into the railings opposite parliamentary offices in Portcullis House. Eyewitnesses had described how the bearded man, said to be of Asian appearance and in his 40s, had then leapt from the car. But his attack was far from over. Rick Longley (50), a health and safety manager from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, recalled: "He got out the car. I was standing next to the policeman right at the entrance where Big Ben is right behind you. "There was a car crash and all the crowd surged around the corner. I couldn't work out why they were surging. But as the crowd surged, this guy with a beard came over my shoulder, brushed me and then he got a huge knife and was plunging it into the policeman. He was literally with a huge knife plunging it into this guy. "I've never seen anything like it. The policeman was cowering. He didn't know what to do." Katie Marthini, who was on holiday and visiting Westminster, said: "We heard four shots. It was in the enclosure next to Big Ben. It's terrifying we ran. Everyone was running." Jayne Wilkinson, another tourist, said: "We were taking photos of Big Ben and we saw all the people running towards us, and then there was an Asian guy in about his 40s carrying a knife about seven or eight inches long," she said. "There were three shots fired, and then we crossed the road and looked over. The man was on the floor with blood. He had a lightweight jacket on, dark trousers and a shirt. He was running through those gates, towards Parliament, and the police were chasing." Her partner, David Turner, added: "There was a stampede of people running out. You saw the people and you thought 'what the hell is going on'." Journalists had witnessed the events too. Gordon Rayner said: "A man who appeared to be carrying a knife, who had got around 25 yards inside the gates, was rushing towards a policeman who pulled a pistol and fired three shots into his chest from around six feet away. "Knocked off his feet by the impact of the bullets, he fell backwards on to the cobbles." Quentin Letts, a parliamentary sketch writer, said: "I saw a thick-set man in black clothes come through the gates... he had something in his hand, it looked like a stick of some sort, and he was challenged by a couple of policemen in yellow jackets. "And one of the yellow-jacketed policemen fell down and we could see the man in black moving his arm in a way that suggested he was stabbing or striking the yellow-jacketed policeman." He added: "As this attacker was running towards the entrance two plain-clothed guys with guns shouted at him what sounded like a warning, he ignored it and they shot two or three times and he fell." Inside parliament, security services went into overdrive. Mrs May had been in the voting lobby and was bundled out of the Palace of Westminster and into a waiting silver Jaguar car. Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative MP, saw Mrs May being led to safety: "I've watched the prime minister moved away by the biggest plain-clothed police officer I've ever seen. He put his arm around her and took her very quickly away." Outside the Palace of Westminster, the emergency services had gone to work, setting up makeshift treatment areas for the wounded. An air ambulance landed in Parliament Square. Some 53 year six pupils from St John and St Francis School in Bridgwater, Somerset, had been on a trip to the Palace of Westminster. To calm their nerves, the pupils, aged 10 and 11, began singing. A Labour councillor later tweeted: "Apparently there are schoolchildren singing songs in Parliament to lift people's spirits." It was a rare moment of humanity in a terrible, terrible day. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police are working through the night to identify the roots of the deadly terror plot which brought bloodshed to the streets of London. Here, we look at some of the key questions the investigation will seek to answer. What was the background of the killer? The identity of the knifeman who injured scores of pedestrians in a car before rampaging into the Palace of Westminster has yet to be made public. Detectives will probe the man's background extensively to see if he was known to authorities. If he was was not on the radar of security services, questions will be asked about why this was, but if he had been highlighted as a potential threat, this will likely be viewed as a major security failing. If he was known to police, why was he not being closely monitored? Counter-terrorism efforts are shared between the police - spearheaded by the Metropolitan Police - and GCHQ, MI5 and MI6. Round-the-clock monitoring is only possible on a handful of high-priority terror suspects due to limited resources, potentially meaning the Westminster attacker could have slipped through the surveillance net. Top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley suggested the assailant could have been "inspired by international terrorism", which will lead officers to scour for potential links overseas. Read More How many people were involved in planning and executing the attack? It appears only one man directly carried out the bloody assault on Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, but others could have helped shape the plot. A key focus of the investigation will be whether the man was inspired by a terror cell such as Islamic State - receiving support and funding either domestically or from abroad - or whether he was a so-called lone wolf. How did the knifeman's rampage penetrate the Palace of Westminster? Despite the Houses of Parliament being among the most closely guarded sites in the country, the attacker managed to burst through the Carriage Gates. It is usually manned by armed police and blocked by metal barricades, with barriers in place to stop vehicles advancing. Described by MP Mary Creagh in reports as a "weak spot", the access point is regularly opened to allow cars to pass in and out. Why the gate was not firmly locked - especially after the car driven by the killer crashed into the nearby railings - will be a point of concern for detectives. How did the attacker make it so deep into the grounds? When he was fatally shot on the cobbled paths which feed into the Palace of Westminster, the terrorist had carried out an attack of significant breadth. He had mowed down bystanders on the length of Westminster Bridge, crashed his vehicle, ran around the corner and into the Palace grounds, past a line of security. Many will be asking how his slaughter was able to continue as long as it did. An Air Ambulance outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police close to the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. Police outside the Palace of Westminster, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Palace of Westminster. A police officer stand outside an address in Hagley Road, Birmingham, where armed police have raided a flat overnight. West Midlands Police have directed media queries to the Met Police, who have refused to discuss the incident for operational reasons. Photo: Richard Vernalls/PA Wire A police officer stand outside an address in Hagley Road, Birmingham, where armed police have raided a flat overnight. West Midlands Police have directed media queries to the Met Police, who have refused to discuss the incident for operational reasons. Photo: Richard Vernalls/PA Wire A police officer stand outside an address in Hagley Road, Birmingham, where armed police have raided a flat overnight. West Midlands Police have directed media queries to the Met Police, who have refused to discuss the incident for operational reasons. Photo: Richard Vernalls/PA Wire Seven people have been arrested and six addresses have been raided in Birmingham and elsewhere in connection with the Westminster terror attack, Mark Rowley, the Met's senior anti-terror officer, has said. Counter-terror detectives are continuing to search for clues about about how an armed attacker, believed to have "inspired by international terrorism", brought death and destruction to the streets of London. Five people were killed in the "sick and depraved" terror attack, including a police officer who was stabbed and his assailant, while dozens more were injured. Armed police launched a late-night raid on a second-floor flat above a row of shops on Hagley Road in Birmingham. Witnesses have said seven people were taken away by police in last night's raids around London. Read More Mark Rowley, the Met's senior anti-terror officer, told Press Association that six addresses were raided overnight. He spoke as MPs were returning to Parliament in a show of defiance. Mr Rowley revised the death toll down from five to four - the attacker, Pc Keith Palmer, who he stabbed, and a woman in her mid 40s and a man in his mid 50s, who were mown down as the terrorist sped across Westminster Bridge in his car. He said 29 people had been treated in hospital with seven people in a critical condition. At the scene of one of the police raids, a flat in Hagley Road, Birmingham, one witness told the Press Association: "The man from London lived here." Mr Rowley said it was still his belief the attacker worked alone and was inspired by "international terrorism", adding that there was no specific information to suggest any further threat to the public. The officer who died was named as Keith Palmer, 48, a husband and father, whose bravery was hailed by colleagues, friends and the many British MPs whom he was charged with protecting. Paying tribute to Mr Palmer, Scotland Yard's Mark Rowley said: "He was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift - and he had every right to expect that would happen." The three other fatalities are understood to be people who were hit by the car on Westminster Bridge. Mr Rowley declined to name the attacker, but said police suspect he was "inspired by international terrorism" - and that they believed they knew who he was. BBC Newsnight reported there was a suggestion the car used in the attack was hired from an address in Birmingham. However, this has not been confirmed. Armed police were involved in a raid at a residential property in the city late on Wednesday night, with Hagley Road reportedly closed for about 3 hours from 11pm. There is no indication that the raid was linked to the attack at Westminster. Read More Witnesses described scenes of terror when gunfire rang out as the attacker approached a second officer within yards of the Houses of Parliament. The suspected attacker was pictured being treated by paramedics on a stretcher, as two knives used in the assault lay on the ground nearby. Paramedics fought to save his life and that of Mr Palmer on the floor of the cobbled courtyard in front of Parliament, with British Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood among those who rushed to help. "Heartbroken" former colleague, Conservative MP James Cleverly, paid tribute to the "lovely man" he had known for a quarter of a century. "I've known Keith for 25 years. We served together in the Royal Artillery before he became a copper. A lovely man, a friend. I'm heartbroken. "My thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of Pc Keith Palmer. A brave man." British MPs said that the terror attack could have been prevented if police on duty at a well-known security weak spot had simply kept it bolted. The killer managed to get in through a vehicle gate in New Palace Yard used by the Prime Minister and other members of the Government because it was not locked. British Prime Minister Theresa May has described the attack as "sick and depraved". Speaking outside 10 Downing Street after chairing a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergencies committee, Mrs May paid tribute to the "exceptional men and women" of the police force who responded to the attack. Mrs May said that any attempt to defeat the values that Parliament stands for was "doomed to failure". And she vowed: "We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart." Footage later emerged of the moment police opened fire after the attacker drove a grey Hyundai i40 across Westminster Bridge before crashing it into railings then running through the gates of the Palace of Westminster. In other developments, another woman who apparently fell into the Thames was rescued and given urgent medical treatment on a nearby pier. London Ambulance Service said paramedics had treated at least 10 patients on Westminster Bridge. A party of French schoolchildren were among those targeted on the bridge, with three injured. Mrs May, who was ushered away from Parliament after the attack, was chairing a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee. The attack left a trail of destruction as paramedics tended to victims on the bridge and at the gate. Witnesses said the attacker was shot by police as he approached a second officer clutching his knife during the incident at about 2.45pm. Radoslaw Sikorski posted a video to Twitter purporting to show people lying injured in the road on Westminster Bridge. Mr Sikorski, a senior fellow at Harvard Centre for European Studies, said he saw at least five people lying on the ground after being "mown down" by a car. "I heard what I thought what I thought was just a collision and then I looked through the window of the taxi and someone down, obviously in great distress," he told the BBC. "Then I saw a second person down, and I started filming, then I saw three more people down, one of them bleeding profusely." That carnage was followed very shortly afterwards by a crash outside the House of Parliament, followed by a stabbing of a police officer and a number of shots being fired. A number of officers were injured in the struggle. Eyewitness Rick Longley described the attack at Palace of Westminster. "We were just walking up to the station and there was a loud bang and a guy, someone, crashed a car and took some pedestrians out. "They were just laying there and then the whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben. "A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. "I have never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw." Another witness, from South Africa and living in Ireland, said she and two friends went towards the palace gates and saw a man lying on the floor inside. She said: "I saw a body, they were working on the floor. They were just inside the gates. "He had one gunshot wound to the right side of his chest. I don't know if he was dead or alive, but people were working on him. "I saw that needed medical attention and I asked if I could help because I am a doctor, but they said they were fine. "Then the police moved us back." Department of Foreign Affairs - Ireland President Michael D Higgins expressed the sympathy of the Irish people with the families of those who have lost their lives and to those who have been injured, resulting from the terrible attack in Westminster. President Higgins will be writing formally to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to express the sympathy, condolences and solidarity of the Irish people with our neighbours at this difficult time. The Irish embassy in London say they are monitoring the situation. Anyone with serious concerns for Irish people can contact +35314082527/+44 20 72352171. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference The Department of Foreign Affairs later confirmed that they were not aware of any Irish caught up in the attack. Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said: I unreservedly condemn the attack outside the Houses of Parliament at Westminster today. I deplore the loss of life, and note that the casualties include a police officer killed in the line of duty. I wish to extend my condolences and on behalf of my Government, my support to the people of London and the UK. Terror and violence will never triumph over democracy. The Irish Embassy and my Department have been active in London, and at this time we have no reason to believe that any Irish citizens have been affected or are persons over whom there are concerns. Britain is on its second-highest level of "severe" meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely. In May 2013, two British Islamists stabbed to death soldier Lee Rigby on a street in southeast London. In July 2005, four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the British capital's transport system in what was London's worst peacetime attack. With reporting from Press Association and The Telegraph A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage at the heart of Britain's seat of power yesterday, smashing a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of the country's parliament. Four people were killed, including the assailant, and about 40 others were injured in what UK Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack". This morning, Mark Rowley, the Met's senior anti-terror officer revised the death toll down from five to four - the attacker, Pc Keith Palmer, who he stabbed, and a woman in her mid 40s and a man in his mid 50s, who were mown down as the terrorist sped across Westminster Bridge in his car. He said 29 people had been treated in hospital with seven people in a critical condition. Mr Rowley said it was still his belief the attacker worked alone and was inspired by "international terrorism", adding that there was no specific information to suggest any further threat to the public. Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down after the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament, just yards from entrances to the building itself and in the shadow of the iconic Big Ben clock tower. He died, as did two pedestrians on the bridge, and the police officer. The fatally wounded policeman, who was unarmed, was named by Scotland Yard as 48-year-old husband and father Keith Palmer. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had "catastrophic" injuries. Three police officers, French teenagers on a school trip and two Romanian tourists were among the casualties. Police said they were treating the attack as terrorism. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Britain's top counter-terrorism police officer Mark Rowley said police believed they knew the identity of the attacker but he declined to provide details. Read more: Any attempt to defeat the values Parliament stands for are 'doomed to failure', Theresa May Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Mrs May said that level would not change. She said attempts to defeat British values of democracy and freedom through terrorism would fail. Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close A heavily bleeding woman is helped at the scene. Photo: REUTERS A victim gets medical treatment on the bridge. Photo: REUTERS The carnage at the scene. Photo: REUTERS / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A heavily bleeding woman is helped at the scene. Photo: REUTERS "Tomorrow morning, parliament will meet as normal," she said. She said Londoners and visitors "will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart". Yesterday was the anniversary of suicide bombings in the Brussels airport and subway that killed 32 people last year, and the latest events echoed recent vehicle attacks in Berlin in Germany and Nice in France. In the House of Commons, legislators were holding a series of votes on pensions when deputy speaker Lindsay Hoyle announced that the sitting was being suspended and told lawmakers not to leave. Parliament was locked down for several hours, and adjoining Westminster tube station was shuttered. The attack began early yesterday afternoon, as a driver in a grey SUV slammed into pedestrians on the bridge. Former Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski was in a car crossing the bridge when he heard "something like a car hitting metal sheet" and then saw people lying on the pavement. "I saw one person who gave no signs of life. One man was bleeding from his head," Mr Sikorski told Poland's TVN24. Read more: 'I missed it by 30 seconds' - Irish man walked into parliament moments ahead of attacker Ambulances arrived within minutes to treat people who lay scattered along the length of the bridge, which links parliament to the south bank of the River Thames. One bloodied woman lay surrounded by a scattering of postcards. Police said one injured woman was pulled from the river. The car crashed into railings on the north side of the bridge, less than 180 meters from the entrance to parliament. As people scattered in panic, witnesses saw a man holding a knife run toward the building. "The whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben," said witness Rick Longley. "A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. I have never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw." The attacker managed to get past a gate into parliament's fenced-in New Palace Yard, a cobbled courtyard in the shadow of the Big Ben clock tower. 'Daily Mail' journalist Quentin Letts said a man in black attacked the police officer before being shot two or three times as he tried to storm into the building. The attacker fell to the cobbles just yards from the entrance to 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the parliamentary complex, busy with visitors and school groups. Beyond that, a corridor leads to the building's central lobby, flanked by House of Commons and House of Lords chambers. Mrs May was among lawmakers near the Commons at the time of the attack, and was quickly ushered away by security officers and driven back to Downing Street. As it happened: London reeling as five confirmed dead and 40 injured in attack To get that far, the attacker would have had to evade the armed officers who patrol the parliament complex in pairs, as well as parliament's own security staff, who don't carry guns. Life-changing The attack unfolded near some of the city's most famous tourist sites, including the London Eye, a large Ferris wheel with pods that overlook the capital. It was halted after the attack, stranding visitors in the pods, with an aerial view of the attack scene. London Ambulance Service said medics treated 12 people for serious injuries and eight who were less seriously hurt. Dr Colleen Anderson of St Thomas' Hospital said some of the wounded had "catastrophic" injuries. "Some had injuries they could walk away from or who have life-changing injuries," she said. Three French students on a school trip from Saint-Joseph in the Brittany town of Concarneau, two Romanians and five South Koreans were among the injured. Firefighter Andrew Klein holding Nalu in Santa Monica, California (Courtesy of Crystal Lamirande via AP) California firefighters who spent 20 minutes performing resuscitation on a dog they rescued from a burning apartment have been hailed as heroes. The dog's owner, 35-year-old Crystal Lamirande, had just returned to her Santa Monica apartment when a neighbour shouted that there was a fire. Ms Lamirande said she frantically tried to save her dog, a 10-year-old Bichon Frise/Shih Tzu named Nalu. But the smoke was too thick, she said. Moments later, as firefighters arrived, she told them about Nalu. They quickly got the fire under control and pulled the lifeless dog from a bedroom. Firefighter Andrew Klein spent 20 minutes bringing the dog back to life as her tearful owner watched. Ms Lamirande said the dog spent the next 24 hours in an oxygen chamber and is doing well. AP House Intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes walks out of the White House following a meeting with Donald Trump (AP) The US House intelligence committee chairman has privately apologised to his Democratic colleagues after his decision to openly discuss and brief President Donald Trump on the interception of his transition team's communications. Republican representative Devin Nunes' decision to disclose the information before talking to committee members outraged Democrats and raised questions about the independence of the panel's probe into Russian interference into the 2016 election and possible contacts between Trump associates and Russia. Mr Nunes said: "It was a judgment call on my part. "Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the wrong decision." A congressional aide said the chairman apologised to Democrats and pledged to work with them and share information related to the investigation. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House panel, said: "A credible investigation cannot be conducted this way." The White House quickly embraced Mr Nunes' revelations and the president said they "somewhat" validated his wiretapping allegations. Mr Nunes' critics also questioned whether the California congressman was coordinating with the White House in order to give the president cover for his explosive claims that Barack Obama wiretapped Mr Trump's New York skyscraper. Mr Nunes, who served on Mr Trump's transition team, ducked questions about whether he was parroting information given to him by the White House, saying only that he was "not going to ever reveal sources". He maintained that Mr Trump's wiretapping allegations against Mr Obama were false. Representative Jackie Speier said Mr Nunes apologised to the minority members of the committee. She told reporters on Capitol Hill that she does not know where the information came from, but recalled a comment Mr Trump made in a Fox News interview earlier this month where he said the White House "will be submitting things before the committee very soon that hasn't been submitted as of yet". The disclosure came two days after FBI Director James Comey publicly confirmed the bureau's own investigation into the Trump campaign's connections with Russia. Mr Comey's comments came during the intelligence committee's first public hearing on Russia's election interference, an investigation being overseen by Mr Nunes. Mr Nunes said he received the new intelligence information after that hearing. He said it revealed that Mr Trump's transition associates - and perhaps even Mr Trump himself - had their communications picked up through legal surveillance. The surveillance was conducted legally, Mr Nunes said, and did not appear to be related to the FBI's Russia investigation. He said his concern was that the identities of the Trump officials were improperly revealed and the contents of their communications were "widely disseminated" in intelligence reports. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Mr Nunes said: "What I've read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team." Ms Speier said Mr Nunes' disclosure could be a "weapon of mass distraction" in light of allegations of coordination between Russians and the Trump campaign during the 2016 campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton. "This could be a lot of theatrics," the House intelligence committee member said. Senator John McCain said: "This is a bizarre situation. "I'm calling for a select committee because I think this back-and-forth shows that Congress no longer has the credibility to handle this alone." Later, in an interview with MSNBC, Mr Schiff said evidence "that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of an investigation" exists of Trump associates colluding with Russia as it interfered in last year's election. Members of the group are already thought to have travelled to Syria German state officials have banned an Islamic cultural association which ran a mosque in the central German town of Kassel due to extremist comments. Hesse state interior minister Peter Beuth said the Almadinah Islamic Culture Association was banned because the group's leading imam had, among other things, repeatedly called for the killing of infidels in his sermons. Investigations by the authorities also confirmed that several members of the mosque had already left Germany for Syria to join extremist Islamic fighters there. The statement said the group's ban came after several months of investigation and a raid of the mosque and other buildings by 160 police officers in November. Hundreds of extremists have left the country to join jihadists in Syria and Iraq in recent years. Ms Le Pen is expected to go forward to the two-candidate run-off in the presidential race (AP) French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is heading to Moscow for meetings with senior politicians less than a month before the election. The National Front leader's visit comes on the heels of a trip this week to Chad, the base of a French military operation aimed at rooting out Islamic extremists from a swathe of Africa. Ms Le Pen is seeking to bolster her international credentials ahead of the two-round French election on April 23 and May 7. According to the head of the Russian Duma's international affairs committee, Leonid Slutsky, Ms Le Pen will hold meetings on the "international agenda such as the war on terrorism". Her trip comes at a time when US politicians are investigating President Donald Trump's campaign links to Russia. Ms Le Pen received a 7.2 million loan from a Russian bank in 2014 which raised concerns over Moscow's potential influence on her and her party. She has made multiple visits to Russia, as have her father, niece and other members of the National Front, often meeting with Russian legislators. Moscow has courted far-right parties in Europe in an influence-building campaign as friction between Russia and the West has mounted over the conflict in Ukraine and the Syrian civil war. National Front treasurer Wallerand Saint Just said Ms Le Pen's trip is not a cash-raising exercise, though party members have said they are seeking millions to fund both the presidential and the ensuing parliamentary election campaigns. Current polls suggest Ms Le Pen could win the first round of voting but would lose the second round to centrist Emmanuel Macron. Ms Le Pen has said she considers Crimea - annexed from Ukraine in 2014 - a part of Russia, and would cultivate closer ties with Russia if elected president rather than pressuring it over Vladimir Putin's authoritarian policies. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (right) and Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi at the meeting in Washington. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images World leaders gathered in Washington DC for talks yesterday on how to defeat Isil. During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump said he had a "secret plan" to defeat Isil and pledged to "bomb the hell out of" the terror group. He has ordered his administration to "develop a comprehensive plan", but is yet to reveal the details. Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, yesterday hosted the first full meeting of the international coalition against Isil since 2014. The meeting came as easyJet has become the first British airline to introduce an aircraft cabin ban on electronic devices as the British government confirmed the move was in response to an "evolving" terrorist threat. Passengers on holiday flights from the Middle East and North Africa were told yesterday they would be banned within days from carrying laptops, tablets and other electronic devices on board the aircraft. The British government introduced the ban after a similar move by the US, where officials revealed "evaluated intelligence" showed that terrorists are "aggressively pursuing innovative measures" to carry out attacks with devices such as laptop bombs. According to US media reports, American intelligence officials have been given a "credible" tip-off that Isil has been developing explosives that can be hidden in electronics. Further intelligence is believed to have come from a raid by US Navy Seals in Yemen in January, which targeted al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP). Yesterday, Downing Street announced that more than two million passengers a year flying on airlines including British Airways, Thomson, Thomas Cook and easyJet will be prevented from taking devices larger than a mobile phone into the cabin. Stolen Instead, anyone flying from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia will have to put electronic devices in their hold luggage, despite concerns they could be stolen or damaged. UK Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokesman admitted that the restrictions would cause "disruption", but said that they were necessary for the safety of passengers. The restrictions will cover all electronic devices larger than 6.3in (16cm) long, 3.6in (9.3cm) wide and 0.6in (1.5cms) deep. ( Daily Telegraph London) AN American college student, whose parents are both from Ireland, has tragically died after falling from the fourth floor of a balcony during St Patrick's Day celebrations. Conor Donnelly (18), from Pearl River, New York was transported to hospital after the incident but was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. He was at a fraternity house party and had attempted to climb to a third floor balcony from the fourth floor when he fell to his death, police confirmed. His funeral is due to take place in New York today. Mr Donnelly, whose dad is from Tyrone and his mother from Galway, was a first-year student at Binghamton University. Reports say he was pledging at fraternity Alpha Sigma Phi at the time. However, police said his death is being treated as accidental and was not as a result of 'hazing' - a controversial series of rituals used by frat houses to determine which first-year students can gain entry to their house. In a statement, the fraternity said: "Alpha Sigma Phi is very saddened to learn of the passing of Conor Donnelly, and we extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends. "While police have determined his death to be an accident, we will continue to provide our full cooperation during the ongoing investigation. Additionally, a senior Alpha Sigma Phi staff member is now in Binghamton to provide support to members after the loss of their friend." He is survived by his parents Martin and Carmel, and his siblings Denise and Declan. Binghamton Police confirmed alcohol was a "contributing factor" in his death following a post-mortem. Mr Donnelly was Senior Class President during his secondary school years and was described by friends as a "shy, but nice" guy. Alana Prosapio told The Journal News that she remembers Donnelly being shy and quiet growing up. She said he spent his summers in Ireland. "All of a sudden in high school, he blossomed," she said. "He became our class president. He became the star of our grade. He wanted people to be happy. He put everybody first. He lived every day to his fullest." His secondary school teacher described him as an "organiser". "He would be the point person," he said. "He was an organiser. He would be the guy who would get prom organised or the homecoming dance." Numerous students were attending the party, which was being held in the midst of an unofficial St. Patrick's Day celebration by students. Police said the incident happened at a "recognised" fraternity that does not have a history of nuisances or other notable problems. Sarah Fowlkes grinned into the camera after being arrested on suspicion of having sex with a student Photo: Lockhart Police Department A teacher smiled in her mugshot after being arrested on suspicion of sexual activity with a 17-year-old student. Sarah Fowlkes faces up to 20 years in prison if she is convicted of the crime. She has also been suspended from her job at Lockhart High School in Texas. Despite this, the biology teacher grinned from ear-to-ear after she had her mugshot taken hours after celebrating her birthday with her husband. Local police obtained an arrest warrant for Mrs Fowlkes, who turned herself in. Police claim to have found evidence of messages sent between her and the student. They said "the content was sexual in nature". According to the Houston Chronicle, a school administrator had contacted the police about an inappropriate relationship between a teacher and a student. In a statement on its website, Lockhart Independent School District said she been suspended. "Parents entrust their children to us every day, and it is something we do not take lightly," Superintendent Susan Bohn said in the statement. "Student safety is the district's most important priority. As soon as we learned of the report, we acted swiftly to involve law enforcement and CPS to conduct a thorough investigation. The district does not and will not tolerate any improper communication or contact between a teacher and child." Local police officer Detective Jesse Bell told KXAN: "Seventeen years old is obviously older but at the same time it doesn't make anything right. "If the kid is in school, parents trust the school to take care of their kids so it's definitely not right that a teacher in a position of power over a student be able to take advantage of a student." In the US, an improper relationship between an educator and a student is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Jaroslaw Kaczynski said he was assured that 'in the first phase of negotiations Britain will want to take care of the issue in a positive way' (Czarek Sokolowski/AP) Poland's most powerful politician has said he received assurances from Prime Minister Theresa May that the rights of Poles living in Britain will be approached in a favourable way in the early stages of Britain's exit negotiations with the European Union. Ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski met Mrs May in London on Thursday, a day after their planned meeting was put off following the deadly attack near Parliament. Mr Kaczynski said after the 10 Downing Street meeting that he was grateful to Mrs May that it was held, despite the tragic events. On a key issue for Poland of preserving the rights of hundreds of thousands of Poles living in Britain, Mr Kaczynski said he was assured that "in the first phase of negotiations Britain will want to take care of the issue in a positive way". By reciprocity, the rights would also be guaranteed to British citizens living in the European Union, he said. Mrs May is to trigger the exit procedure next Wednesday, opening some two years of negotiations. Before the talks, Mr Kaczynski said his message for Mrs May was that Poland "deeply regrets Britain's decision (to leave the EU) but we want it very much to keep very close ties with the EU, with Europe". Other topics they discussed included the economy, defence and fighting tax evasion, he said. AP A new program that aims to divert low-level drug offenders to treatment rather than jail is the latest local effort to combat the growing opioid epidemic. Statesville City Council granted permission to the Statesville Police Department to apply for a U.S. Department of Justice Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program grant. The grant is for $400,000 over 36 months and is part of the Alternative to Incarceration Project and the local Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program. The funding would be used to hire additional personnel to manage the program and would go toward training and other expenses to develop LEAD, according to Pam Navey, SPD community resource coordinator. LEAD is a community-based diversion approach with the goals of improving public safety and public order, and reducing unnecessary justice system involvement of people who participate in the program, according to the organizations website. LEAD participants were 58 percent less likely to be arrested after enrollment in the LEAD program in Seattle, compared to those who went through the system as usual criminal justice processing. Community leaders and health care professionals came together for a summit in February on the opioid problem in Iredell County. In Iredell in 2015, 364 people received emergency department treatment for opioid abuse, according to the Iredell County Health Department. That number increased by more than 200 in a year, with 573 people being treated in 2016. Nationwide, overdose deaths involving prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 1999 to 2015, more than 183,000 people died from overdoses related to prescription opioids. In 2015 alone, more than 15,000 deaths were attributed to opioid overdoses, according to CDC figures. If Statesville receives the grant, it would join Winston-Salem, Wilmington, Waynesville, Gastonia, Fayetteville, Dare County and Brunswick County as areas with LEAD programs in North Carolina. WASHINGTON - The Republican health-care overhaul faces its greatest test ever Thursday as President Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., work feverishly to persuade enough Republican lawmakers to back the measure and push it to a floor vote. Late Wednesday, the White House and House leaders were still scrambling to boost support, and signaled at the 11th hour a willingness to rework the measure to mollify conservatives. On Thursday morning, House leaders postponed a 9 a.m. meeting of the entire GOP Conference, signaling that negotiations were still underway. As of late Thursday morning, 36 House Republicans - mainly conservatives - had announced their opposition to the bill, known as the American Health Care Act. After insisting for weeks that the changes sought by hard-right members would render the bill unable to pass the Senate, White House officials and GOP House leaders appeared to shift their thinking - and opponents agreed to keep working on a deal with the goal of holding a floor vote in the House by Thursday night. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said he had taken personal calls Wednesday from Trump seeking a resolution, although he said no formal offer had been extended by the White House. "We are working very diligently tonight to try and get there," Meadows said Wednesday. "The president has been profoundly engaged," said Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. "I think things are going in a very good direction right now." Trump is scheduled to meet with Freedom Caucus members at 11:30 a.m. at the White House, and will then host a "listening session" on health care with truckers there Thursday afternoon. Thursday marks the seventh anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and Republican leaders are eager to mark it with a historic vote demonstrating its evisceration has begun. In a sign of how high the stakes are for both parties, former President Barack Obama issued a statement noting that more than 20 million Americans have gained coverage since he signed the law, while the rise in health costs has slowed. "So the reality is clear: America is stronger because of the Affordable Care Act," Obama said, adding that Republicans are welcome to work with Democrats to improve the law. "But we should start from the baseline that any changes will make our health care system better, not worse for hard-working Americans. That should always be our priority." Both the president and vice president made personal appeals throughout the day Wednesday to secure the votes needed to pass the House. While most of their lobbying is focused on the roughly two dozen House conservatives skeptical of the measure, a handful of moderates have also decried the current proposal as harming the elderly and poor. Vice President Mike Pence huddled with members of the Freedom Caucus in his Eisenhower Executive Office Building office early Wednesday, while Trump met with 18 House Republicans at the White House, but these efforts appeared to produce just one definitive aye vote from the conservative camp: Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. GOP leaders can afford only 22 defections, given that one Democrat is expected to be absent Thursday. A Freedom Caucus spokeswoman said that "more than 25" members of the group oppose the bill. Wednesday's events laid bare party leaders' struggle to muster enough votes for one of their defining goals: to roll back the 2010 health-care law that helped galvanize conservatives in the years since to wrest control of both the legislative and executive branches from Democrats. If Republicans fail this initial test of their ability to govern, Trump and Capitol Hill Republicans may face a harder time advancing high-priority initiatives on infrastructure, tax reform and immigration. They might also find themselves navigating strained relationships among themselves. For much of Wednesday, the Freedom Caucus's message, spokeswoman Alyssa Farah tweeted, was: "Start over." At the same time, four more Republican moderates - Reps. Charlie Dent (Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (N.J.), Daniel Donovan (N.Y.) and David Young (Iowa) - announced their opposition Wednesday, increasing pressure on leaders to win over the conservatives. Ryan summoned more than a dozen members of the moderate Tuesday Group to his office late Wednesday in an apparent bid to curb further defections. One participant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private meeting, said Ryan and other House leaders described the potential deal with the Freedom Caucus, which would strip essential health benefits but leave other ACA mandates, such as those dealing with preexisting conditions and coverage of adult dependents, in place. "People got to say their piece and react to the proposal. It's safe to say people had concerns about stripping out essential health benefits, especially at this late hour," the Tuesday Group member said. "I think they're short [of votes], and I think they're considerably short . . . I'm not sure where all this goes tomorrow." Conservatives are seeking to eliminate more of the ACA's insurance mandates, known as "essential benefits," which require plans to cover specific medical benefits, such as mental health care, prescription drugs and preventive care. That, conservatives argue, is the only reliable way to force down premiums. Ryan warned in an interview Wednesday with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that fulfilling those GOP demands would violate Senate budget rules and leave the bill vulnerable to a blockade by Democrats. "Our whole thing is we don't want to load up our bill in such a way that it doesn't even get considered in the Senate," the speaker said. "Then we've lost our one chance with this one tool we have." That stance appeared to shift late Wednesday, when separate aides in the White House and the House GOP leadership said a new interpretation of Senate rules had raised the possibility that acceding to the Freedom Caucus's request might not threaten Senate consideration of the whole bill. But both aides said the provision could still be stripped out once the bill reaches the Senate. Democratic Senate aides insisted that would be the case. "What the proponents aren't telling conservative House Republicans is that the plan to repeal essential health benefits will almost certainly not be permissible under Senate reconciliation rules," said Matt House, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. In fact, the new negotiations late Wednesday raised the possibility that the challenge would only grow at the other end of the Capitol. There are at least a dozen skeptics of the bill among Senate Republicans, who maintain a slim 52-to-48 advantage in the Senate, and many of them want to maintain some of the current law's more generous spending components. Republicans can afford to lose the votes of only two senators, assuming Pence would step in to cast a vote for the health-care rewrite in the case of a tie. In addition to conservatives, who do not think the proposal does nearly enough to undo the ACA, some moderates fear it will harm their constituents as well as their party's prospects at the ballot box. "We're not there yet," Meadows said Wednesday, "but we're very optimistic that if we work around the clock between now and noon tomorrow that we're going to be able to find some common ground. Tonight is an encouraging night, and yet I don't want to be so optimistic to say that the deal is done, but I do think that there is a framework to work with our leadership and the leadership in the Senate and certainly the administration to find some common ground." He continued: "The overall impression of the Freedom Caucus is we're willing to jump through unbelievable hurdles to hopefully get to a point where this bill is better for the American people." An additional potential hurdle facing the bill is the updated analysis still to come from the Congressional Budget Office, which will reflect changes to the measure that were issued Monday. That analysis could be rendered inaccurate if further changes are made before the vote. Earlier Wednesday, even as opposition appeared to persist, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the measure would pass the House, adding that there is no Plan B if the proposal goes down. "There is Plan A and Plan A," said Spicer, who described Trump as "the closer" for the deal. "We're going to get this done." Complications stemming from the bill's last-minute tweaks appeared to add yet another political headache Wednesday, as veterans groups discovered that the latest draft might make them ineligible for a tax credit. A change made to ensure the measure would comply with Senate rules created a separate consequence - that individuals would qualify for the bill's tax credits only if they "are not eligible" for other types of coverage, including those provided by Veterans Health Administration. In an email, House Ways and Means Committee spokeswoman Lauren Aronson said the issue would be fixed in subsequent legislation. "This amendment makes no change to veterans' health care. In working with the administration and the Veteran Affairs Committee, we will continue to ensure that America's veterans have access to the best care available." Carlos Fuentes, legislative director for the Veterans for Foreign Wars, said veterans want the issue resolved before any bill becomes law. "It would be a huge impact on veterans if this were not corrected," he said. KANNAPOLIS Robert Lee Wise, 54, of Kannapolis passed away Tuesday, March 14, 2017, at the Glenn A. Kiser Hospice House. Mr. Wise was born June 27, 1962, in Concord, son of the late Walter E. and Peggy Craver Wise. Robert was a 1980 graduate of A.L. Brown High School and work for GMI. He was a car enthusiast and jack-of-all-trades, having the ability to fix anything, and was always read to help neighbors and friends. In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by son, Robert Lee Wise Jr. Survivors include his wife, Gwen Honeycutt Wise, who he married in April, 1982; son, Joshua Ross Wise and wife, Sara of Spencer; daughter, Brandi Huffman and husband, Jeremy of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; grandchildren, Savannah Wise, Johnathon Humphrie, Jaylee Ray Huffman and Braxton Huffman; and a sister, Patsy Herman of China Grove. Private memorial services will be held at a later date. Special thanks to GMI, Robin Baker, Tallie Stancil, Valerie Pethel and Patsy Herman (aka Sissy) for all their help. Online condolences can be made to the Wise family at www.carolinacremation.com. Carolina Cremation of Salisbury and Charlotte is assisting the Wise family. As his mega budget scientific entertainer '2.0' is nearing the finish line. Superstar Rajinikanth will be taking part in an event conducted by the film's producer Lyca Productions for Sri Lankan Tamils on April 9, 2017. Gnanam Foundation, run by Lyca Group Chairman Subaskaran Alliraja has built 150 houses, for the Tamil families displaced by the final war of ethnic conflict in 2009. The keys for the newly built houses will be handed over to the beneficiaries in the event to be held in Jaffna on April 9. Rajinikanth will take part as the chief guest of the event and hand over the keys to the beneficiaries. This is the first time, the 65 year old Superstar is taking part in an event associated with Eelam Tamils. There is a tremendous patronage for Tamil films among Tamil living in north and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. The much loved Superstar of Tamil cinema visiting the place is expected to draw huge crowds also because the actor is expected to address the gathering. C.V.Vigneshwaran, the Chief Minister of Northern Province, Tamil National Alliance Leader R.Sampanthan and Malaysian Senate leader S.Vigneshwaran are the other prominent guests who will be gracing the event with their presence. Gnanam Trust being run by Subaskaran under his mother's name has constructed these houses on a budget of Rs.22 crores. They are also involved in rebuilding the schools damaged during the 2009 war. The houses have been built in Chinnadampan and Puliyankulam villages in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka. PDS board approves interim dividend of Rs2.50 per share PDS Limited has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company on Monday has approved an Interim Dividend of Rd2.50 per share. The Company adopted a dividend distribution policy... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 3:10 pm Rajesh Exports incorporates 100% subsidiary ACC Energy Storage; Stock climbs 2% Rajesh Exports Ltd. has announced that it is foraying into Advanced Technology Solutions with a focus on Energy Storage Solutions. REL has been selected by the Government Of India as one ... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 2:42 pm Markets under selling pressure with Nifty around 18,100-levels Domestic benchmark indices trading mixed after a gap-up opening on Monday. Both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks are marginally lower in the afternoon market session. On the sectoral front... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 2:00 pm Rupee rises 23 paise to 82.12/ $ Early on Monday, the rupee strengthened versus the US dollar by 23 paise to 82.12 amid rising local stocks and falling oil prices. The native currency rose 23 paise from its previous close to t... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 1:20 pm Cineline India opens 5-Screen multiplex, MovieMAX in Mumbai; Stock jumps 3% Cineline India Limited stocks in the fast lane after announcement of opening of 5-Screen multiplex at Sarvodaya Mall Kalyan, Mumbai. In a regulatory filing, the company informed the ... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 12:47 pm On Friday, March 31, the IU McKinney School of Law, in collaboration with the state chapter of the NAACP, the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus and other groups, will host the Protecting the Urban Environment Symposium. This event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 8:15 a.m. Event organizer Dr. Carlton Waterhouse said the event has been held annually at the school for nearly a decade, but this years focus on urban environments was an intentional choice based on current issues surrounding places like Flint, East Chicago and Indianapolis. Topics of discussion will include lead contamination, access to clean drinking water and the steps involved in getting assistance from state agencies. The environmental conversation is one that needs to be at the top of list for the African-American community, because they have a disproportionate exposure to pollution all over the country. Their failure to pay attention to it means they are on the menu as opposed to at the table, said Waterhouse, who serves as director of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Law program. They will still be affected by it and be exposed to it, but they will not be aware. It also means that they wont be involved in the decision-making that could resolve what these problems are. Jaqueline Patterson, the national Director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, said it was important for them to be involved in this awareness effort given the fact that in Black communities, environmental hazards from coal fire power plants, incinerators and the presence of lead or cement result in clusters of the population becoming infected with cancer and respiratory illnesses. Other consequences include losses in property values and intellectual barriers for those in school, as exposure to pollution can impair ones cognitive ability. We see it as intersectional with our civil rights agenda, Patterson said. The event will feature four panel discussions throughout the day, one of which is titled The Legacy of Lead in Indiana East Chicago and Beyond. Last month, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb declared a state of emergency in East Chicago, a disaster declaration that former Gov. Mike Pence failed to approve. The emergency status, which was initially for 30 days, has been extended to allow more time for state and federal agencies to work together on solutions. Additionally, residents of the West Calumet housing projects, which are slated to be demolished, are still in the process of relocating, many of them seeking to leave at the end of the school year in late May. Last week, however, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill joined 16 other state attorneys general and two governors in calling for an end to what they describe as unlawful federal overreach by the Environmental Protection Agency in a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. In the correspondence, Hill stated that in Indiana, federal agencies have far too much power to interfere in Hoosiers lives. As attorney general, I work daily to make sure our state complies with federal law while at the same time protecting state prerogatives from the overreach of the federal government. I am eager to work with my fellow state attorneys general who share my concerns, he went on to say. Activists like Denise Abdul-Rahman, the NAACPs state Environmental Climate Justice Chair, and Waterhouse both shared that they felt the statement was in poor taste, particularly given the states current issues. Im very disheartened that our African-American attorney general is supporting policies that are not going to be beneficial to the most vulnerable communities, said Abdul-Rahman. Waterhouse, a former EPA attorney, sees the attorney generals request as an attempt to create a scenario in which there is little regulation or penalty if something goes wrong. (EPA attorneys) arent influenced by the size of the company theyre investigating or who their friends are. They make choices based on whats best for the environment. However, when state agencies are involved, they dont have the same level of distance, so a very powerful company is able to influence the local leadership of the state, and that impacts the significance of the enforcement actions that they take against those states, he said. The reason people dont want the EPA involved is it allows the economic players in the state to have lower fines and less significant enforcement actions against them when they violate the rules. The rules are there for the protection of the people. The decision to have a less protective environment is a decision to have fewer people involved in keeping it safe and keeping it clean. I dont see how members of the state could think its a good idea to have fewer people help keep them safe and healthy. Despite these potential barriers, community members involved in this fight soldier on. We helped to sign on to a petition with other national organizations because it has been found now that their water has been impacted by lead. Theyve had lead smelters and arsenic and the childrens blood levels were seven times what the CDCs reference level is, said Abdul-Rahman. From an Indianapolis perspective, these are lessons we need to heed, because we have the community of Martindale-Brightwood that has hosted lead for several years. Abdul-Rahman, who has been closely involved with initiatives in both East Chicago and Indianapolis, shared that in East Chicago, residents are asking for a complete repair to the lead piping infrastructure as well as tax exemptions for their homes. They are still paying property taxes on places that are worthless, she said. Some are asking to even be bought out. Recently, the NAACP and other organizations have begun collecting water bottles, filters and other supplies. On April 5, they will host a listening session and crisis tour featuring Patterson with the Twin City Ministerial Alliance. The plan is to also distribute water filters at this time. For more information on how to donate, contact Denise Abdul-Rahman at (317) 331-0815 or inecjnaacp@att.net. The Indiana Commission on the Social Status of Black Males will host its seventh annual Indiana Black Barbershop Health Initiative. On Saturdays throughout April, attendees can receive free screenings of their blood pressure, body mass index and blood glucose and find information about prostate health at 60 barbershops in 15 communities statewide. For more details, visit in.gov/icssbm or call (317) 233-1744. The City of Indianapolis is partnering with Gleaners Food Bank to pilot a Community Action Relief Effort (CARE) Bags program, which will provide sacks of groceries to Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) officers for distribution directly to residents in need. The CARE Bags pilot is an expansion of the CARE Mobile Pantry Program, which provides fresh groceries once a week to locations where families are known to be food-insecure. The pilot will also serve as a test of the Citys new social service referral system, Community Officer, which will allow officers to make referrals from the field for various community-based interventions. This month, the gospel music community of Indianapolis will have a major reason to celebrate, as one of its own receives a rare honor. Dr. Leonard Scott, founder of Indianapolis-based Tyscot Records, will be inducted into the Stellar Honors Hall of Fame during the 32nd annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards. The event will be held in LasVegas on March 25 and will premiere on April 9 on the TV One network. It will also be shown in syndication in various markets until May 7. In addition to Scott, Fred Hammond and the Mississippi Mass Choir will also be inducted into the prestigious Honors Hall of Fame. We are elated and humbled about this honor, Scott told the Recorder. It was definitely a pleasant surprise. Produced by Chicago-based Central City productions, the Stellar Awards is recognized as the premier event honoring African-American gospel artists. Artists placed in the hall are people who have been widely recognized for having high artistic quality, long-term success and a significant impact on the growth of the gospel music industry. Even with Tyscots popularity and his own success as a recording artist, Scott has expressed genuine surprise about receiving the honor from the Stellar Awards. He said he did not know what to expect when contacted by Stellar Awards founder and industry titan Don Jackson. Scott noted that Indianapolis itself has been home to many great gospel recording artists and executives who have had a national impact, such as Rodnie Bryant, Lamar Campbell and the late Al Hobbs. I never thought of myself as being in the same category as people like them, he said. Although many people may admire this kind of humility and measured confidence, the fabled success of Scotts company cannot be overstated. Established in 1976, Tyscot is the oldest surviving African-American-owned gospel music label. It is also one of the few independent recording companies still in operation. Scott and his co-founder, the late Craig Tyson, formed the company as a recording vehicle for the Christ Church Apostolic Radio Choir. We were just praising the Lord through music, Scott said. We were advised that if we wanted to record the songs, then we needed to do it the right way for legal purposes and incorporate. Since the early 1980s, many high-profile gospel artists have been signed by Tyscot, including Rev. John P. Kee and his New Life Community Choir, Deitrick Haddon and the Voices of Unity, Rodnie Bryant, the Anointed Pace Sisters, the Rance Allen Group, VaShawn Mitchell, Carman, Shirley Murdock and Bishop Larry Trotter. Like most recording companies, however, Tyscot has also had to overcome tough times that challenged its very survival. This kind of situation occurred in 1993 when Spectra, Tyscots distributor, filed for bankruptcy. This left Tyscot unable to receive more than $500,000 it generated from selling albums, which also meant the label could not pay its artists or expenses. Fortunately, all of our artists stayed with us, even though it was not clear whether or not they would get paid, Scott said. The manufacturers we owed worked with us. Tyscot experienced a full recovery with the release of more material by Kee, including 1999s Not Guilty, which was the labels first certified Gold Record. Scott noted that such experiences provide some of the best testimonies of divine intervention. It was an example of how God can work any situation out, he stated. There are times when we should have been wiped out. However, God has his hand on us, and we are still here. In recent years, Tyscot has been riding on a massive wave of success, which was shown during the 2016 Stellar Awards when Anthony Brown & Group therAPY won in a record-setting 10 categories. Browns ensemble was widely recognized for the album Everyday Jesus, which was driven in part by Worth, a popular single. Every now and then you have a song that becomes a standard, Scott said. Worth is in that category. Additionally, the Stellar Awards recognized Tyscots Casey J. as new artist of the year and honored the Rance Allen Group as both quartet of the year and traditional group/duo of the year. Also in 2016, Brianna Bri Babineauxs album Keys to My Heart made its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard gospel chart and was nominated for a Dove Award in the newly created category of Urban Worship Album of the Year. Tyscot is anticipating more success in 2017. Scott said he is excited about some of the new products the label is developing, including Trust in You, a fresh single from Anthony Brown. Also slated for release is a new film entitled Switching Lanes, which includes Fred Hammond and actress Marla Maples, the former wife of President Donald Trump. The film was among the last projects to feature the late Martin actor Tommy Ford. In addition, Scott is preparing to release a book, 31 Days to Wealth, Wholeness and Happiness. The book is about taking care of the total man, including the physical, emotional, financial and spiritual aspects of your health, said Scott, who says he is sometimes told that he looks younger than his actual age. That is one way to look and feel younger. Scotts induction into the hall is the latest triumph in a lifetime of achievements that even he did not anticipate early in life. During his youth, Scotts goals and plans were very simple. My dream was just to graduate from school, get a good job and a car, make at least $100 a week and party on the weekends, he said. However, Scott said, God and his parents had greater expectations for him. Scotts father wanted him to be a doctor, although the younger Scott did not believe he was smart enough to do that. My father said, Boy, why dont you do something with your life? Scott recalled. He saw something in me. That is what young people need today, someone who believes in them and can point out something positive in them that they may not see on their own. Scott set out a list of goals and was successful in achieving them, including establishing his own dental practice, which continues to thrive today. I decided that even if I didnt make it, I was at least going to try, he said. And you know what? I discovered that most of the time, when you give it your best and aim as high as you can, you will reach your goals. In the early days of Tyscot, Scott operated the label out of his dental office. Today, the label has a modern building on the citys north side. Scott is also pastor of Rock Community Church and takes pride in his role as a husband, father and grandfather. When asked how he has been able to juggle all of these responsibilities, Scott simply replied, God. He also credited the support of his wife Christine, his son Bryant, who manages the day-to-day business of Tyscot, and his daughter Lynna, who works with him in the dental practice. God has placed tremendous people in my life, Scott said. He is quick to add that the ultimate source of his strength and success has been the higher power that continues to guide his life. There is no way I can take the glory, Scott said. Everything I have, God gave it to me. The now-suspended police chief in the district of Yongsan has been booked for an investigation, along with the head of the Yongsan Ward office and two others, on charges of profess... For the most part, residents of the Big Apple are unfazed as the city changes around them, now immune to the rate at which progress arrives. However, Manhattan is about to see something so ridiculously over the top it can turn the head of even the most unimpressed New Yorker. Concept image of the exterior of the Big Bend - oiio Architectural firm oiio Studio has just revealed its plans for what its calling the longest building in the world, and the concept images make it pretty clear the title is well deserved. The Big Bend, as its called is a slender tower that stretches 4,000 feet long yes, long. In a bid to take advantage of Manhattans zoning laws, architects have long since built their towers higher and higher, in order to gain more usable space. The Big Bend is similar in that it rises to a dizzying height, before curving around and growing back down into the earth. The glass-lined tower even needs a special elevator system, capable of travelling in curves, horizontally, and in loops. "The innovative track changing system allows for the horizontal connection of two shafts on the top and bottom to create a continuous loop," oiio said in a press release. "If we manage to bend our structure instead of bending the zoning rules of New York we would be able to create one of the most prestigious buildings in Manhattan. The longest building in the world." Concept image of the interior of the Big Bend - oiio If all goes to plan, the Big Bend would technically be double the height of the tallest towers in the world right now, if it was stretched out that is. The team explains that, since the skyscraper trend began, towers have just been getting higher, and more expensive over time. "We have become familiar with building height measurements. We usually learn about the latest tallest building and we are always impressed by its price per square foot. It seems that a propertys height operates as a license for it to be expensive. 'The Big Bend can become a modest architectural solution to the height limitations of Manhattan. We can now provide our structures with the measurements that will make them stand out without worrying about the limits of the sky." Everything to do with space seems fast, big or grand. The International Space Station is 400 km high, travels at 27,600 kmph, but for some reason its Internet connection is... worse than dialup?! NASAs fixing that soon, with a revolutionary new Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) that enables astronauts in space to access earthly Internet at a speed of 1Gbps. Read More 1) YouTube Faces Heat For Hiding LGBTQ Videos In 'Restricted Mode'; Issues Apology YouTube, worlds largest video-sharing platform, was under fire recently for hiding LGBTQ-related videos within Restricted Mode setting, which is designed to screen out objectionable content. It was reported that YouTube was filtering out a hell of a lot of LGBTQ content. Read more 2) 12 Facts About Bhagat Singh That You Still Didn't Know 86 years ago today, one of India's greatest revolutionary freedom fighter, Bhagat Singh, was given the death penalty by the British colonisers. And though he died young, only 23 years of age, his actions inspired the youth of the nation to fight for the nation's freedom. Read more 3) Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad Slaps Air India Crew Member Because He Didn't Get A Business Class Seat Air India has constituted an inquiry team to probe an incident that happened onboard one of its flights involving one of its crew member and Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad. Read more 4) Yogi Adityanath Effect? UP Minister Cleans Dirty Office Floor Himself Influenced by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths drive to keep the government building clear of pan masala and plastic, an Uttar Pradesh minister created a viral moment today in Lucknow. Read more 5) 40,000 Delhi Doctors Join Protests Even As Bombay HC Orders Those In Mumbai To Resume Work Immediately Around 40,000 doctors from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) have joined the resident doctors in Maharashtra who are on a strike since Monday demanding better security at workplace. Read more India is swamped with the human crisis- rapes, molestation, child marriages, gender issues have become an everyday thing. Recently, a 12-year old boy has been booked under the POCSO Act after a teenaged girl, who gave birth to a baby girl, claimed that he had impregnated her, police said on Monday. reuters Both the boy and the 17-year old girl are relatives and the case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act had been registered on the basis of a statement given by her, they said. Police said they have decided to conduct a DNA test to verify the claim of the girl, who delivered the baby girl in a private hospital recently, that the boy is the father of the child. He would be prosecuted as per the Juvenile Justice Act. hd.clarin A case has also been registered against the private hospital under POCSO Act for allegedly not informing them on the same day when the girl was admitted for delivery. Police said a case under section 21 of the POCSO Act has been registered against the hospital. Meanwhile, hospital sources claimed that they had immediately informed the district childline authorities after coming to know about the girls claim. Reuters It was the family members of the girl who had brought her to the hospital for admission, hospital sources said. The new born baby has been handed over to the childcare institution after the girls relatives informed the district childline authorities that they were not ready to accept it, officials said. The world might get tired of lauding Sushma Swaraj for her phenomenal work, the lady just wouldn't stop. Every other day we hear a story about the Indian superwoman helping people. (Also read: Sushma Swaraj Urged To Rescue 29 Telangana Workers Who Are Held Captive In Saudi Arabia) Her delivery of work is not restricted the geographic boundaries of our nation, that said, Swaraj has proved that all it takes to for her to help is the awareness. On 22nd March 2017, Rajeev Sharma tweeted to Ms Swaraj urging her to save his brother who was being held for ransom in Serbia. Sharma also shared a video of his brother who was being beaten by his kidnappers. He further revealed that it was an agent who wooed their son into getting a job, instead took him to a refugee camp. @SushmaSwaraj please help my brother his life in big trouble somebody kidnap in Serbia country and ask him send the money unless we kill him rajeev sharma (@rajivsharma103) March 21, 2017 @SushmaSwaraj my broVinaymahajan mb no.In Serbia +381643856567 and passport no. L5604040 age entered in refugee camp 22 years guide by agent rajeev sharma (@rajivsharma103) March 22, 2017 Keeping in mind the gravity of the situation, Swaraj immediately replied and sent help to the man. Within just 24 hours, Vinay Mahajan was rescued and in the safe custody of Serbian authorities. Rajeev - Indian Ambassador to Belgrade Sanjay Verma has just informed me that /1 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 23, 2017 Vinay Mahajan has been found and is in safe custody of Serbian authorities. @rajivsharma103 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 23, 2017 She further demanded exemplary punishment for the agent who got the family in trouble! Mr.Luther - This is because of the agent who sent him there. This agent deserves exemplary punishment. @ProtectorGenGOI https://t.co/PzsSAiXmrQ Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 23, 2017 Indeed, she is a superwoman! (Also read: Superwoman Swaraj Rescues Hyderabadi Woman Who Was Being Tortured By Her In-Laws In Pakistan) When Bibi Sara, a resident of Mandya in Karnataka wrote a letter to Prime Minister Modi, she had only one wish - to complete her education. Now the MBA student has got an education loan of Rs 1.5 lakhs to complete her studies. ANI This came after the PMO intervened, responding to Sara's letter seeking help. She wrote to the PM after the Central Bank of India refused to provide her a loan citing previous unpaid dues. Sara said she couldn't pay the loan or the college fees as her father, a sugarcane factory worker has not received his salary for the past eight months. Responding to Sara's letter, PMO asked the Karnataka Chief Secretary to consider her case. ANI With the PMO's letter Sara and her father Abdul Ilyas approached Vijaya bank, which sanctioned a loan of Rs 1.5 lakhs. "Sara's father came to us with PMO letter. We have checked their background too and they were eligible for education loan. So we sanctioned the loan," Kshema Kumar, Senior Manager of Vijaya Bank said. An elated Sara said she was confident that the PMO will respond, but was surprised how fast it happened. "I was confident that PM will respond but did not expect it to be so fast, I got a reply in just 10 days," she said. Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. The FBIs Conspiracy Theory of a Trump/Putin Collusion Has No Clothes By Paul Craig Roberts March 23, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Unable to provide an ounce of evidence that a Trump/Putin conspiracy stole the presidential election from Hillary Clinton, the corrupt US intelligence agencies are shifting their focus to social media and to Internet sites such as Alex Jones and Breitbart. Little doubt the FBI investigation will trickle down to Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept, Zero Hedge, the Ron Paul Institute, Nomi Prins, Naked Capitalism, Lew Rockwell, Global Research, antiwar.com, and to others on the PropOrNot, Harvard Library, and Le Monde lists, such as top Reagan administration officials David Stockman and myself. It is extraordinary that the FBI is so desperate to protect the budget of the military/security complex that it brings such embarrassment to itself. Who in the future will believe any FBI report or anything a FBI official says? Those behind this investigation understand that it is so ridiculous that they must give it gravity and credibility. They selected two reporters, Peter Stone and Greg Gordon, in the McClatchy News Washington Bureau, who fit Udo Ulfkottes definition of bought journalists. Hiding behind anonymous sourcestwo people familiar with the inquiry and sources who spoke on condition of anonymitythe presstitutes fell in with the attack on independent media, reporting that one former US intelligence official said: This may be one of the most highly impactful information operations in the history of intelligence. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article139695453.html Wow! A totally ridiculous investigation is one of the most important in history. The implication is that the Russians are operating through scores or hundreds of independent media sites to control how Americans vote. There was once a time in America when people were skeptical of anonymous sources. It was widely understood that anyone could tell a reporter anything and that a reporter could claim an anonymous source whether or not the source existed. Perhaps it was the Watergate investigation by the Washington Post that gave anonymity credibility. The Posts reports made it sound like any sources ratting on Nixons perfidy was at risk of their lives, and the subtle emphasis on risk gave anonymity credibility. The real story under our noses is not a Trump/Putin/independent media conspiracy to steal the presidential election. The real story is the totally obvious collusion between the Hillary forces, the US print and TV media (with the partial exception of Fox News), and the CIA and FBI to steal the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders, the presidential election from Donald Trump, and to delegitimize Trumps election. The theft of the nomination from Sanders is precisely what the leaked Podesta emails show. The totally one-sided presstitute support for Hillary and full-scale assault on Trump clearly show the presstitutes participation in the collusion. The extraordinary lies told in public by Obamas CIA Director John Brennan clearly demonstrate the CIAs lead in the attempted frame-up of Trump and his team. FBI Director Comeys statement the day before the presidential election that the FBI had once again cleared Hillary of criminal charges sent the Dow up 371 points and set the stage for a Hillary election victory. Why are not any of these hard facts in the news? Why, instead, do the presstitutes and intelligence agencies report nothing but fake news, supported by anonymous sources? Why is a false reality being constructed, and the hard facts ignored? Note another extremely strange feature of our strange time. Elements of the liberal/progressive/left portray President Trump as a member of the One Percent operating for the One Percent against the people and filling his government up with generals and his budget with more military spending. Why then is Trump under full-scale assault from the military/security complex? Why are they working to contradict, delegitimize and impeach their own agent? If Americans were a thinking people, or even a people capable of thought, how could such inconsistent disinformation dominate public discussion? What we should be scared about is that in America today, facts cannot compete with lies. The McClatchy story describing a pointless investigation as one of the most important in history is working its way through the media. See: http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-some-right-wing-sites-under-1490115530-htmlstory.html http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/21/fbi-probing-breitbart-infowars-in-russian-influence-investigation/ http://news.antiwar.com/2017/03/21/fbis-russia-probe-turns-focus-on-social-media-bots/print/ Are we to conclude that Americas corrupt and disloyal intelligence agencies are a direct threat to democracy, that they are committed to overthrowing Trumps presidency in a color revolution, that, unable to provide any evidence whatsoever for their conspiracy theory of a Trump/Putin collusion to steal the presidential election, the intelligence agencies have moved on to the discredit the independent Internet media that are in the way of the intelligence agencies control over explanations? It is a hard fact that the Democrats, US intelligence, and the presstitutes are absolutely determined to control the explanations given to the American people and the wider world. The Agents are out in force, and Neo is nowhere in sight. The demonization of Russia and the extraordinary level of tension that the ignorant and foolish Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama regimes created with Russia are disconcerting, indeed, frightening to those, such as myself, Patrick Buchanan, and Stephen Cohen, who experienced the long decades of the Cold War. We have never seen such highly provocative, entirely gratuitous behavior of one nuclear power toward another as the behavior of the US toward Russia over the past six presidential terms. What the Cold Warriors of the time experienced was a gradual buildup of mutual trust that enabled Reagan and Gorbachev to end the Cold War and remove the threat of nuclear Armageddon. In contrast, the Clinton, Bush, and Obama regimes, the FBI, CIA, NSA, the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, NPR, MSNBC, and the rest of the presstitutes, the right-wing Republicans, such as Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and Ben Sasse, the Democratic Party, and the liberal/progressive/left have convinced Russia, in the words of Russias President Putin, that we cannot trust the United States. This achievement of these idiots comprises the greatest crime humans have committed in their entire history. The atomic bombs with which the Americans gratuitously destroyed two Japanese cities are mere pop guns compared to the thermo-nuclear weapons of today. Some of the crazed neoconservatives erroneously believe that Russia is not sufficiently well-armed to respond to US aggression, but the fact of the matter is that Russias strategic weapons are superior and more powerful than those of the US. How can it be anything other than a death wish for European governments to be egging on conflict with Russia, for women marching not against war but against Trump for wanting to reduce tensions with Russia, for US intelligence to be totally committed to orchestrating a Russian threat that all but guarantees thermo-nuclear war? One would think that people would be marching in favor of reduced tensions with Russia and demanding that Trump deliver on this promise, not that they would be out opposing Trump. What is the importance of Identity Politics compared to nuclear war? How can Americans, Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Europeans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and Japanese contain their outrage against the governments that are putting the life of the planet at risk for nothing except the budget and power of the US military/security complex? Trump is silly to roll back environmental protections, but this pales in comparison to the environmental damage of thermo-nuclear war. How can the left-wing be lost in Identity Politics while the life of the planet is being put at extreme risk? Why did CounterPunch recently and suddenly abandon the working class and peace and take up the cause of the victim groups of Identity Politics women, blacks, homosexuals, lesbians, transgendered, and Muslim refugees (see Eric Draitser CP, Vol. 24, No. 1), the cause of the EU and globalism (see http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/20/brexit-nationalism-and-the-damage-done/ ) which benefits only the One Percent, and the demonization of Trump and Putin? Perhaps it is only a coincidence, but CounterPunchs collapse coincides with CP being put on and removed from the PropOrNot list of Russian agents/dupes. My columns, for years a welcome feature on CounterPunch, suddenly ceased to appear. We have had no explanation from CounterPunch why the site suddenly gave up on peace and bread. One might think that the audacity of the lies from the FBI, CIA, NSA and their media whores would provoke a powerful response from the liberal/progressive/left and from European populations, but it hasnt. What about Trump himself? Has he been forced to abandon his goal of normal relations with Russia, as this article in the Intercept suggests? https://theintercept.com/2017/03/21/revolving-door-military/ If not, is Trump filling top Pentagon and Homeland Security positions with generals and defense contractors in order to neutralize the military from participating in a CIA/presstitute coup against him? If Trump is eliminated, with Pence as VP and the list of appointees provided by the Intercept, the US government will pass into the hands of the military/security complex for the remainder of its existence. Is Trump now focused on protecting himself instead of protecting all of us from a deadly conflict with Russia? If so, this is the achievement of the US intelligence services, the Democratic Party, right-wing Republicans, the presstitute media, and the liberal/progressive/left. If anyone remains to write the history of the Great Incineration, the identity of those responsible is completely clear. Credibility of Cyber Firm that Claimed Russia Hacked the DNC Comes Under Serious Question By Michael Krieger March 23, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Before I get to the meat of this post, we need to revisit a little history. The cyber security firm hired to inspect the DNC hack and determine who was responsible is a firm called Crowdstrike. Its conclusion that Russia was responsible was released last year, but several people began to call its analysis into question upon further inspection. Jeffrey Carr was one of the most prominent cynics, and as he noted in his December post, FBI/DHS Joint Analysis Report: A Fatally Flawed Effort : The FBI/DHS Joint Analysis Report (JAR) Grizzly Steppe was released yesterday as part of the White Houses response to alleged Russian government interference in the 2016 election process. It adds nothing to the call for evidence that the Russian government was responsible for hacking the DNC, the DCCC, the email accounts of Democratic party officials, or for delivering the content of those hacks to Wikileaks. It merely listed every threat group ever reported on by a commercial cybersecurity company that is suspected of being Russian-made and lumped them under the heading of Russian Intelligence Services (RIS) without providing any supporting evidence that such a connection exists. Unlike Crowdstrike, ESET doesnt assign APT28/Fancy Bear/Sednit to a Russian Intelligence Service or anyone else for a very simple reason. Once malware is deployed, it is no longer under the control of the hacker who deployed it or the developer who created it. It can be reverse-engineered, copied, modified, shared and redeployed again and again by anyone. In other words malware deployed is malware enjoyed! If ESET could do it, so can others. It is both foolish and baseless to claim, as Crowdstrike does, that X-Agent is used solely by the Russian government when the source code is there for anyone to find and use at will. If the White House had unclassified evidence that tied officials in the Russian government to the DNC attack, they would have presented it by now. The fact that they didnt means either that the evidence doesnt exist or that it is classified. If its classified, an independent commission should review it because this entire assignment of blame against the Russian government is looking more and more like a domestic political operation run by the White House that relied heavily on questionable intelligence generated by a for-profit cybersecurity firm with a vested interest in selling attribution-as-a-service. Nevertheless, countless people, including the entirety of the corporate media, put total faith in the analysis of Crowdstrike despite the fact that the FBI was denied access to perform its own analysis. Which makes me wonder, did the U.S. government do any real analysis of its own on the DNC hack, or did it just copy/paste Crowdstrike? As The Hill reported in January: The FBI requested direct access to the Democratic National Committees (DNC) hacked computer servers but was denied, Director James Comey told lawmakers on Tuesday. The bureau made multiple requests at different levels, according to Comey, but ultimately struck an agreement with the DNC that a highly respected private company would get access and share what it found with investigators. Wed always prefer to have access hands-on ourselves if thats possible, Comey said, noting that he didnt know why the DNC rebuffed the FBIs request. This is nuts. Are all U.S. government agencies simply listening to what Crowdstike said in coming to their independent conclusions that Russia hacked the DNC? If so, thats a huge problem. Particularly considering what Voice of America published yesterday in a piece titled, Cyber Firm at Center of Russian Hacking Charges Misread Data : No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter An influential British think tank and Ukraines military are disputing a report that the U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has used to buttress its claims of Russian hacking in the presidential election. The CrowdStrike report, released in December , asserted that Russians hacked into a Ukrainian artillery app, resulting in heavy losses of howitzers in Ukraines war with Russian-backed separatists. But the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) told VOA that CrowdStrike erroneously used IISS data as proof of the intrusion. IISS disavowed any connection to the CrowdStrike report. Ukraines Ministry of Defense also has claimed combat losses and hacking never happened. The challenges to CrowdStrikes credibility are significant because the firm was the first to link last years hacks of Democratic Party computers to Russian actors, and because CrowdStrike co-founder Dimiti Alperovitch has trumpeted its Ukraine report as more evidence of Russian election tampering. How is this not the biggest story in America right now? Yaroslav Sherstyuk, maker of the Ukrainian military app in question, called the companys report delusional in a Facebook post . CrowdStrike never contacted him before or after its report was published, he told VOA. VOA first contacted IISS in February to verify the alleged artillery losses. Officials there initially were unaware of the CrowdStrike assertions. After investigating, they determined that CrowdStrike misinterpreted their data and hadnt reached out beforehand for comment or clarification. In a statement to VOA, the institute flatly rejected the assertion of artillery combat losses. The CrowdStrike report uses our data, but the inferences and analysis drawn from that data belong solely to the reports authors, the IISS said. The inference they make that reductions in Ukrainian D-30 artillery holdings between 2013 and 2016 were primarily the result of combat losses is not a conclusion that we have ever suggested ourselves, nor one we believe to be accurate. In early January, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense issued a statement saying artillery losses from the ongoing fighting with separatists are several times smaller than the number reported by [CrowdStrike] and are not associated with the specified cause of Russian hacking. But Ukraines denial did not get the same attention as CrowdStrikes report. Its release was widely covered by news media reports as further evidence of Russian hacking in the U.S. election. In interviews, Alperovitch helped foster that impression by connecting the Ukraine and Democratic campaign hacks, which CrowdStrike said involved the same Russian-linked hacking groupFancy Bearand versions of X-Agent malware the group was known to use. The fact that they would be tracking and helping the Russian military kill Ukrainian army personnel in eastern Ukraine and also intervening in the U.S. election is quite chilling, Alperovitch said in a December 22 story by The Washington Post . The same day, Alperovitch told the PBS NewsHour : And when you think about, well, who would be interested in targeting Ukraine artillerymen in eastern Ukraine? Who has interest in hacking the Democratic Party? [The] Russia government comes to mind, but specifically, [its the] Russian military that would have operational [control] over forces in the Ukraine and would target these artillerymen. Alperovitch, a Russian expatriate and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council policy research center in Washington, co-founded CrowdStrike in 2011. The firm has employed two former FBI heavyweights: Shawn Henry, who oversaw global cyber investigations at the agency, and Steven Chabinsky, who was the agencys top cyber lawyer and served on a White House cybersecurity commission. Chabinsky left CrowdStrike last year. CrowdStrike declined to answer VOAs written questions about the Ukraine report, and Alperovitch canceled a March 15 interview on the topic. In a December statement to VOAs Ukrainian Service, spokeswoman Ilina Dimitrova defended the companys conclusions. In its report last June attributing the Democratic hacks, CrowdStrike said it was long familiar with the methods used by Fancy Bear and another group with ties to Russian intelligence nicknamed Cozy Bear. Soon after, U.S. cybersecurity firms Fidelis and Mandiant endorsed CrowdStrikes conclusions. The FBI and Homeland Security report reached the same conclusion about the two groups. If the companys analysis was delusional when it came to Ukraine, why should we have any confidence that its analysis on Russia and the DNC is more sound? Answer: We shouldnt. This article was first published at Liberty Blitzkrieg blog The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. 7 Ways to Stop Terrorism By WashingtonsBlog March 23, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - In the wake of the barbaric Paris terror attack, everyone is debating how to stop further terrorism. Some say we need more war against Islamic countries or more spying or more crackdowns on our liberties. But despite what the talking heads may say the methods for stopping future attacks are well known Weve got to drain the swamp. I. Stop Overthrowing the Moderates and Arming the Crazies We know its a difficult concept to grasp, but if we want to stop terrorism we should wait for it stop supporting terrorists. Specifically, were arming the most violent radicals in the Middle East , as part of a really stupid geopolitical strategy to overthrow leaders we dont like (see section III for more details). And see this , this , this , this and this . And strangely were overthrowing the moderate Arabs who stabilized the region and denied jihadis a foothold. Indeed, the French terrorists who just murdered the cartoonists in Paris apparently just returned from waging war against the Syrian government, where they may directly or indirectly have obtained U.S. weapons or training. If we want to stop terrorism, we need to stop supporting the terrorists . II. Stop Supporting the Dictators Who Fund Terrorists Saudi Arabia is the worlds largest sponsor of radical Islamic terrorists. The Saudis have backed ISIS and many other brutal terrorist groups. According to sworn declarations from a 9/11 Commissioner and the Co-Chair of the Congressional Inquiry Into 9/11, the Saudi government backed the 9/11 hijackers (see section VII for details). Saudi Arabia is the hotbed of the most radical Muslim terrorists in the world: the Salafis (both ISIS and Al Qaeda are Salafis ). And the Saudis with U.S. support back the radical madrassas in which Islamic radicalism was spread. And yet the U.S. has been supporting the Saudis militarily, with NSA intelligence and in every other way possible for 70 years. In addition, top American terrorism experts say that U.S. support for brutal and tyrannical countries in the Middle east like Saudi Arabia is one of the top motivators for Arab terrorists . So if we stop supporting the House of Saud and other Arab tyrannies, well get a two-fold reduction in terror: (1) Well undermine the main terrorism supporters And (2) Well take away one of the main motivations driving terrorists: our support for the most repressive, brutal Arab tyrannies III. Stop Imperial Conquests for Arab Oil The U.S. has undertaken regime change against Arab leaders we dont like for six decades. We overthrew the leader of Syria in 1949, Iran in 1953, Iraq twice, Afghanistan twice, Turkey, Libya and other oil-rich countries. Neoconservatives planned regime change throughout the Middle East and North Africa yet again in 1991 . Top American politicians admit that the Iraq war was about oil, not stopping terrorism (documents from Britain show the same thing ). Much of the war on terror is really a fight for natural gas . Or to force the last few hold-outs into dollars and private central banking . And the U.S. military described terror attacks on the U.S. as a small price to pay for being a superpower : A senior officer on the Joint Staff told State Department counter-terrorism director Sheehan he had heard terrorist strikes characterized more than once by colleagues as a small price to pay for being a superpower. Security experts including both conservatives and liberals agree that waging war in the Middle East weakens national security and increases terrorism. See this , this , this , this , this , this , this and this . For example, James K. Feldman former professor of decision analysis and economics at the Air Force Institute of Technology and the School of Advanced Airpower Studies and other experts say that foreign occupation is the main cause of terrorism. University of Chicago professor Robert A. Pape who specializes in international security affairs agrees . Weve fought the longest and most expensive wars in American history but were less secure than before , and there are more terror attacks than ever . Remember, Al Qaeda wasnt even in Iraq until the U.S. invaded that country. If we want to stop terrorism, we have to stop overthrowing Arab leaders and invading Arab countries to grab their oil. IV. Stop Drone Assassinations of Innocent Civilians Top CIA officers say that drone strikes increase terrorism (and see this ). The CIA the agency in charge of drone strikes even told Obama that drone kills can increase terrorism. If we want to stop creating new terrorists, we have to stop the drone strikes. V. Stop Torture Top terrorism and interrogation experts agree that torture creates more terrorists . Indeed, the leaders of ISIS were motivated by U.S. torture . (And one of the French terrorist said he was working for ISIS.) Once again, we have a very current example: Paris terrorist Cherif Kouchi told a court in 2005 that he wasnt radical until he learned about U.S. torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. If we want to stop creating new terrorists, we have to stop torturing permanently. VI. Stop Mass Surveillance Top security experts agree that mass surveillance makes us MORE vulnerable to terrorists. Stop it. VII. Stop Covering Up 9/11 Government officials agree that 9/11 was state-sponsored terrorism they just disagree on which state was responsible . Because 9/11 was the largest terror attack on the U.S. in history and all of our national security strategies are based on 9/11 we cant stop terror until we get to the bottom of what really happened, and which state was behind it. Many high-level American officials including military leaders , intelligence officials and 9/11 commissioners are dissatisfied with the 9/11 investigations to date. The Co-Chair of the congressional investigation into 9/11 Bob Graham and 9/11 Commissioner and former Senator Bob Kerrey are calling for either a permanent 9/11 commission or a new 9/11 investigation to get to the bottom of it. The Co-Chair of the Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 and former Head of the Senate Intelligence Committee (Bob Graham) said that the Paris terror attack, ISIS, and other terrorist developments are a result of failing to stand up to Saudi Arabia and declassify the 9/11 investigations report about Saudi involvement in 9/11: The 9/11 chairs, Ron Paul, and numerous other American politicians have called for declassification, as well. Again, others have different ideas about who was behind 9/11. But until we get to the bottom of it, terror attacks will continue. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Stop Throwing Bodies In the River Defenders of current government policy say: we have to do something to stop terrorists! Yes, we do But we must also stop doing the 7 things above which increase terrorism. We have to stop throwing new bodies in the river . But the powers-that-be dont want to change course they gain tremendous power and influence through our current war on terror strategies. For example, the military-complex grows rich through war so endless war is a feature not a bug of our foreign policy. Torture was about building a false justification for war . Mass surveillance is about economic and diplomatic advantage and crushing dissent . Supporting the most radical Muslim leaders is about oil and power a small price to pay to try to dominate the world. A leading advisor to the U.S. military the Rand Corporation released a study in 2008 called How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qaida . The report confirms what experts have been saying for years: the war on terror is actually weakening national security (see this , this and this ). As a press release about the study states: Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests that there is no battlefield solution to terrorism. We, the People, have to stand up and demand that our power-hungry leaders stop doing the things which give them more power but are guaranteed to increase terrorism against us, the civilian population. Democratic Party Floats Proposal for a Palace Coup By Andre Damon March 23, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - On Wednesday, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman addressed an open letter to a group of generals, deep state operatives and a corporate executive in President Trumps cabinet, effectively calling on them to organize a palace coup. The recipients of Friedmans letter, code-named Calling On a Few Good Men, are three generalsSecretary of Defense James Mattis, National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kellyalong with CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the former oil tycoon and current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Using the language of a political toady, Friedmans column begins: Dear Sirs, I am writing you today as the five adults with the most integrity in the Trump administration. Mattis, McMaster and Kelly, you all served our nation as generals in battle. Pompeo, you graduated first in your class at West Point and served as a cavalry officer. He continues, I am writing you directly because I believe you are the last few good men who can stand up to Trump. Referring to the impeachment of Richard Nixon, Friedman declares, The last time our country faced such a cancer on the presidency, the Republican Partys leadership stood up and put country before party to get to the truth. But todays Republican Party has declared moral bankruptcy and abdicated its responsibility. Combining flattery with self-abasement, he continues, I ask those of you who honored our country as military officers how you would have reacted if your commanding officer had charged his predecessor with a high crime that violated his constitutional oath Would you military men have simply said, Sorry, I just do artillery or Im just staying in my lane? Knowing some of you, Id like to think not. Friedman reveals the completely reactionary character of the opposition of the Democratic Party to the Trump administration. Trump and his band of fascists, generals and billionaires have provoked the hatred of tens of millions in the US who oppose the administrations attacks on democratic rights, its police state persecution of immigrants, and its appeals to chauvinism, racism and militarism. But the opposition of Friedman and the Democratic Party on whose behalf he speaks has nothing to do with these democratic sentiments. Friedman gives voice to tendencies in and around the Democratic Party that are prepared, in pursuit of their McCarthyite-style demonization of Russia, to welcome a palace coup that would impose a military/intelligence/corporate junta on the American people. The wealthy and corrupt social layers for whom the millionaire columnist speaks are motivated by two primary concerns. First, that Trump is threatening US imperialist interests around the world by backing away from the Obama administrations war-mongering policies toward Russia, and at the same time undermining the image of the US internationally with his overt lying and bullying of Washingtons allies. He makes this clear in his column, pointing to discussions in the United Arab Emirates and polls in Germany showing declining support for the US, and warning that the world is watching. He cites US imperialist strategist Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, who warns that without an urgent course correction, the US could find itself not with America first, but with America alone. The second major concern is that Trump is stoking popular discontent at home that could spiral out of control and threaten the entire economic and political system. Far from appealing to the broad popular opposition to Trump that began to erupt in the days after his inauguration, the Democratic Party is fixated on avoiding at all costs the emergence of a movement of the working masses. That is why it appeals to the military/intelligence apparatus and the corporate aristocracy in its struggle with the faction of the ruling class represented by Trump. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter The war between the two is a war of liars between two deeply reactionary factions of the same capitalist elite. The Trump camp seeks to pursue a different approach in the drive of US imperialism for global hegemonyputting off for now war plans against Russia in order to focus US aggression first on China. Both factions would drag the people of the United States and the world into a third world war, with the prospect of nuclear annihilation. And there is no difference between the two on the need to escalate the war against the working class. Those opposed to Trumps policies of anti-immigrant racism, the destruction of social programs and war must reject the efforts of the Democrats to corral popular anti-Trump sentiment behind their own program of war and social reaction. What is necessary, and what is being fought for by the Socialist Equality Party and the World Socialist Web Site, is the development of a working class opposition based on a socialist program to put an end to capitalism and imperialism. Copyright 1998-2017 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved North Korea: The Really Serious Options on the Table By Pepe Escobar March 23, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - The National Peoples Congress in Beijing made it clear that China in the 21st century as led by Xi Jinping now relies, as a state, on the core leaders four comprehensives as the letter of the law. The four comprehensives are to build a moderately prosperous society; deepen economic reform; advance the law-based governance of China; and strengthen the Communist Partys self-governance. No foreign-policy adventure/disaster should be allowed to interfere with the four comprehensives, which, extrapolated, are also linked to the imperative success of the New Silk Roads (One Belt, One Road), Chinas ambitious outreach across Eurasia. But then theres supremely unpredictable North Korea. And the notorious Lenin line resurfaces: What is to be done? Pyongyang has successfully tested land-based, mobile, solid-fueled intermediate-range ballistic missiles. When operational, this development translates into a North Korean first-strike capability difficult to track, as well as the means to absorb an initial foreign attack and retaliate with nuclear-tipped? missiles. Four North Korean missiles recently and deliberately aimed at the Sea of Japan constitute a clear message: We are able to hit US military forces in Japan and we can defeat any missile defense deployed or to be deployed by the US, Japan and South Korea. Patience or bust US Secretary of State T Rex Tillerson has officially proclaimed that the era of US strategic patience concerning North Korea is over, and all options are on the table. Yet this does not necessarily mean a new war in the Korean Peninsula led by President Donald Trump, which would be an absolute folly with horrific consequences, and all for nothing. Pyongyang carefully protects its crack team of engineers, who would put a nuclear program back on track in no time. Team Trump knows very well that Seoul extremely vulnerable to the Norths military machine would veto military strikes against North Korea, as would Beijing. Its significant that Chinese media have chosen to emphasize Tillersons moderate tone on North Korea while duly signaling the failure , once again, of trademark US sanctions policy. Every major world actor knows that the abandonment of strategic patience plus a deluge of additional sanctions will inevitably lead to Pyongyang, in a flash, selling fissile material in the global black market for ready cash. And overwhelming pressure on North Korea may lead to the lethal counterpunch of that country accumulating up to 50 nuclear weapons capable of hitting anywhere in South Korea and Japan by 2022. So the only reasonable option is what for Washington, so far, has been anathema: to sit down at the negotiating table with Pyongyang and hammer out a definitive peace treaty to replace the current armistice that suspended, but did not officially end, the Korean War. That is what I heard over and over again when I visited North Korea for Asia Times. And it should be crystal clear: peace treaty first; then the end of sanctions; then North Korea ending its nuclear-weapons program. That also happens to be what the Chinese government wants; Beijing is terrified of a war sooner or later disturbing the currently frozen albeit dissolving status quo. The problem is that Team Trump just like the previous US administration of Barack Obama assumes that Pyongyang, under pressure, must relinquish its nuclear-weapons program before the negotiations start. Wishful thinking, as anyone who has been to North Korea knows. North Korea is for all practical purposes a nuclear power. The only way it might get on the road to becoming a normal nuclear power, like for instance Pakistan, is for the Korean War to be finally over. The invisible Tokyo-Beijing gamble But then theres a fascinating parallel development, as relayed by European Union diplomats directly dealing with Asia. Japanese industrialists mostly dont buy Prime Minister Shinzo Abes conservative old-guard xenophobia concerning China. Japanese exports to China are actually rising compared with Japanese exports to the US. Former minister Ichiro Ozawa , aka Shadow Shogun, president of the Liberal Party and former leader of several opposition parties, is plotting to unseat Abe in the next general election. He is calling for the merger of his Liberal Party, the Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party, saying, quite rightly, We cant win if we fight separately, adding that the three parties can unite on basic policies as they all call for shutting down nuclear plants, scrapping the new national-security laws and rejecting the next increase in the consumption tax. As important, the LP, DPJ and SDP strongly favor Tokyo-Beijing rapprochement, and Ozawas pedigree as a friend of China is well established. In December 2009, when he was secretary general of the ruling DPJ, Ozawa famously led a group of 600 Democratic parliamentarians and businessmen to China. At the beginning of his political career as a Liberal Democratic Party member of parliament, Ozawa was the closest political ally of prime minister Kakuei Tanaka, who is most remembered for normalizing Japanese relations with the Peoples Republic of China in 1972. It is from Kaku-san that Ozawa inherited the title of Shadow Shogun, and it is to this day that Ozawa believes that his mentor was scapegoated for the Lockheed scandal and driven out of office because he saw close China-Japan relations as as key to East Asian peace and prosperity. Meanwhile in South Korea, after the debacle over the impeachment of conservative president Park Geun-hye, there are considerable forces warming up to Beijing. A political majority in South Korea favors economic cooperation with China for instance, in the aeronautics industry coupled with an Asian entente to solve the North Korea problem. The most probable winner of the next presidential election to be held on May 9 is Moon Jae-in, a firm supporter of the Sunshine Policy of closer contacts and economic cooperation with Pyongyang and no revival of the military pressure inaugurated by former president Kim Dae-jung and pursued by Seoul from 1998 to 2008. Facts on the geopolitical ground spell out massive unpopularity of the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile system possibly to be deployed by the end of next month in South Korea. When Tillerson urged Beijing to refrain from creating economic policies that could hinder the deployment of THAAD, that could have been coded language acknowledging that Beijing has moved heavy electronic-warfare jammers up to positions where THAAD may be rendered useless against a possible North Korean response. And that ties in perfectly with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently describing Beijing and Pyongyang as being as close as lips and teeth though, of course, teeth can sometimes bloody lips, and China has also called on North Korea to suspend nuclear and missile activities in exchange for a halt in US and South Korean military exercises. The two sides are like two accelerating trains coming towards each other, Wang said on the sidelines of the recently concluded National Peoples Congress in Beijing, defining it as Chinas task to apply brakes on both trains. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Doing it the Asian way Beijing could possibly deliver calibrated economic pressure on North Korea (suspension of coal imports) and at the same time imprint on Washington the necessity of dialogue, eventually bringing both parties to the table. At the Obama-Xi Sunnylands summit in 2013, Xi stressed a new type of relations between major powers, based on non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation. It hasnt happened yet. But absent a torrent of off-message late-night tweets, the Trump-Xi summit at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, next month might well deliver a compromise. Meanwhile, the Tokyo-Beijing track, invisible to the Trump-Xi track, could be laid with Abe out of power. The first major consequence of a Tokyo-Beijing rapprochement might be a negotiated solution for North Korea that would include a soft end of the Kim dynasty. However it happens, South Korea would likely refuse a lightning-quick reunification, German-style. North Korea would remain as the same state for at least another decade, with Chinese cadres, including influential members/associates of the Politburo, helping remaining technocrats in the North to step beyond the Kim dynasty. Under this optimistic scenario, after one century of hardcore conflict, Japan and China might aim for some sort of reconciliation call it a historical compromise very much aligned to Xi Jinpings ideas, now that hes finalizing being completely in charge of the Peoples Liberation Army and totally in control of the Communist Party machine. A mix of Japans high technology and Chinas industrial solidity would mean a quick overtaking of the US, an economic-policy convergence beyond the short-term profitability of financial speculation, stressing economic balance, with the priority being job preservation and solidarity-based social policies. Why Spend $54 Billion More on the Pentagon? To Start a War, Obviously The president apparently wants to put the U.S. on a permanent war footing to sustain his unpopular presidency. By John Feffer March 23, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " FP " - J So, let me see if Ive got this right. North Korea has been pushing its ally China to rein in the United States. Pyongyang is worried that Washington is about to launch a preemptive attack, so it has tried to use whatever minimal amount of influence it has to persuade China to use its considerable economic leverage with the United States to get those knuckleheads inside the Beltway to listen to reason. Or maybe I misheard the report on the radio. How about this: As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump promised to stop reckless U.S. military interventions overseas, like the one he so disliked (after it failed) in Iraq. So, as president, he is withdrawing all troops from Syria, reducing U.S. military presence in Asia, and pulling the United States out of NATO. Oh, and hes going to cut the military as part of his overall promise to downsize government. Perhaps I misheard that report as well. During the Obama administration, the comic duo of Key and Peele famously introduced the anger translator who could give voice to what President Obama was really thinking as he provided measured responses to all manner of nonsense lobbed in his direction. Ah, those were halcyon days when we made fun of the American president for not giving voice to his true feelings. What kind of translator do we need for the Trump era? Perhaps a reality translator that reveals the simple, id-like intentions behind the current presidents Tweet-rants and policy proposals. Type in Obama bugged Trump Tower and out comes: Hey, hey, stop looking at my links to Russia, okay!? Type in 2017 budget proposal and out comes: Im gonna destroy every potential source of resistance to me and my ambitions. Type in Trumpcare and out comes Im going to rob poor Peter to pay propertied Paul. (To quote just one example : Trumpcare would encourage health care companies to pay their overpaid CEOs even more money!) Ive come to the conclusion, after about 60 days of presidential antics, that the problem is not fake news. The problem is a fake administration. Its no surprise that Donald Trump, as president, just makes things up. Hes been doing that all his career. But now an entire government is being re-engineered around the pathological dishonesty of the executive and his advisors. This is bait-and-switch on a level never seen before in the United States. It would all be rather amusing if millions of lives werent at stake both domestically through the self-destruction of the federal government and internationally through the very real prospects of war. This president, with his insuperable ambition to score some wins, is in search of some missions to declare accomplished. North Korea and the Islamic State are at the top of the list. But dont be surprised if the $54 billion that Trump wants to add like an enormous cherry on top of the Pentagons over-rich sundae will translate into even more conflicts around the world. Lets Go to the Numbers If Trumps proposed Pentagon increase of $54 billion were the military budget of a distinct country, it would come in fifth on the list of global military expenditures . Basically, Trump wants to add an entire annual British military budget on top of what the United States already spends which already towers above any imaginary coalition of potential rivals. With the rest of his deplorable budget request, Trump will encounter pushback from Congress and cities and major constituencies like the over-65 set . Some of his own voters might finally come to their senses when they realize that Trump the Great is waving his magic hand in the air to distract them from seeing the other hand pick their pockets. But on the military side, Trump has, if anything, underbid. Congressional hawks are complaining that Trump is not throwing enough money at the Pentagon. They say that hes only offering a 3 percent increase over what the Obama administration estimated for 2018, that Trump the candidate made even grander promises , that the Pentagon should get at least another $37 billion . If Congress comes back with this figure, it would increase the increase to $91 billion. Trumps boost alone would then rise to number three on the list of global spenders, after the United States and China. What does Trump want to spend all this extra money on? He wants a 350-ship navy even though the Navy is already undertaking a 30-year program to raise the number of ships from the current 272 ships to 308. He has hinted at pulling out of the New START treaty with Russia once he found out what it was so that he could build more nukes . There would be more soldiers, including as many as 60,000 more in the Army. But all of this is just skirting the real issue. Donald Trump wants to spend more money on the military because he wants to go to war. First: Islamic State As a candidate, Donald Trump focused most of his martial fury on the Islamic State. He promised to bomb the hell out of ISIS and, within 30 days in office, come up with a plan to defeat the entity. When he was elected, radical jihadists predictably rejoiced : Bring it on, they effectively said. Within 30 days, Trump indeed published a memorandum on defeating ISIS. Bottom line: We need to come up with a plan. In the absence of a strategy, what Trump has done is chilling enough. He has unleashed the CIA to conduct drone strikes, reversing an Obama administration order. He has continued to sanction B-52 strikes , like the one this month in the Syrian village of Al Jinah that killed dozens of civilians. Hes sending 1,000 troops to join the fight against ISIS in Syria. He wants to rely more on Special Forces in raids like the one in Yemen in January that went so spectacularly wrong , leaving one Navy SEAL and several civilians dead. In some ways, Trump is merely continuing Obama-era practices. But it promises to be a no-holds-barred version of the last administration counter-terrorism program. Even our allies in the region are getting concerned. Trump met this week with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, pledging to stand side-by-side with Iraq in the campaign to defeat ISIS. But after the meeting, Abadi apparently had second thoughts. Committing troops is one thing. Fighting terrorism is another thing, he said at the U.S. Institute of Peace. You dont defeat terrorism by fighting it militarily. There are better ways. Perhaps Abadi was thinking of the Trump administrations initial inclusion of Iraq among the seven countries on the Muslim travel ban list. Or maybe he was thinking of Trumps alarming pledge to seize Iraqi oil now under ISIS control. Or perhaps the better ways simply referred to all the non-military parts of U.S. foreign policy diplomacy, food aid, cooperation with international organizations that Trump wants to ax from the federal budget. Even stalwart Trump supporters like Bob Dole are up in arms about humanitarian programs like the Dole-McGovern initiative that provides school meals to 40 million children around the world that are now on the chopping block. What better way of creating the next generation of America haters? Next: North Korea Rex Tillerson, the empty suit that Trump has installed in the now supererogatory position of secretary of state, is trying to get back in on the action. On a recent trip to Asia, Tillerson sat down with Chinese premier Xi Jinping to plot the further isolation of North Korea. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Tillerson pointed out that the strategic patience approach toward North Korea had failed over the last eight years. Thats obviously true. The alternative, however, was much worse: Tillerson said that all options , including military ones, were on the table. All of the military options come with unacceptable risks of retaliation and escalation to full-scale war. The United States could try to destroy a single missile launch, take out as much of North Koreas nuclear complex as possible, or attempt a full regime change a la Iraq. North Korea would perceive even a limited strike as the start of a war, Max Fisher points out in The New York Times, and respond with its full arsenal. Given the relatively crude ICBM capability that North Korea currently possesses, the people who would suffer from an escalation would be Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese. Perhaps Trump is simply trying to scare the Chinese into doing more to rein in its erstwhile ally. But China doesnt have that kind of influence in Pyongyang (just as it doesnt have that kind of influence in Washington to change the Trump administrations policies). Or perhaps the Trump administration will go to war simply out of a general attitude of un-strategic impatience. Beyond ISIS and Pyongyang Building the Navy up to 350 ships and inducting another 60,000 people into the Army have little to do with dealing with either ISIS or North Korea, unless the Trump administration anticipates sending another large occupation force to the Middle East or Asia. Even Trump knows that dispatching tens of thousands of American troops to a warzone is a political mistake. Partly Trumps moves are about ensuring that the military is on his side. Partly its about tilting government in general away from soft power and toward hard power. Partly its about Trumps personal vulnerability on military matters given his decision not to fight in Vietnam. It wouldnt be the first time that a guy stocked up on weapons as part of a grand scheme of compensation. Theres been speculation that Trump is really bulking up for a showdown with China . Given Trumps phone call with Taiwan, his threats to impose tariffs on Chinese imports, and his bellicose rhetoric about Chinas role in the island dispute in the South China Sea, there does seem to be some good evidence for this possibility. But the Trump administration has recently dialed back the hostility. Trump himself assured Chinese leader Xi Jinping of U.S. commitment to the one-China policy. Tillerson followed with a visit in Beijing that emphasized mutual respect. The uncomfortable truth is that Trump probably doesnt have any specific war-fighting scenario beyond laying waste to ISIS territory and declaring mission accomplished over the smoking ruins. Rather, he wants to put the United States on a permanent war footing as a way to sustain his unpopular presidency. Until a challenger emerges that can focus U.S. national security concerns, Trump will let fire at range of targets such as terrorists, journalists, and Germans. Perhaps his provocative rhetoric and actions will encourage some small country to stand up suicidally against the United States and allow Trump to declare a Grenada-like or Panama-like victory. Like the $19.5 billion that the Trump administration is giving NASA for its Mars program, Trumps war plans are a long shot. Casinos know that once a gambler wins on a long shot, theyll go bankrupt trying to reproduce that once-in-a-lifetime event. Unfortunately, bankruptcy in Trumps case means collective ruin for the rest of us. Any chance we can convince NASA to send Trump on its first manned mission to Mars so that he can return to the planet that birthed him? Four people were confirmed dead yesterday while several others sustained injuries after Britains Parliament was locked down following a terrorist incident. The attacker, whom several witnesses described as a middle-aged man, reportedly charged at police officers outside the Parliament with an 8-inch knife before being shot. Sources told the Independent the assailant is Asian. We heard a loud bang, lots of shouting and men running around. Someone rushed through, attacked a policeman, a witness said. He appeared to be carrying a knife or a gun. We then heard gunfire, five or six rounds. The House of Commons, which was in session at the time, was immediately suspended and lawmakers were asked to stay inside. House of Commons leader David Lidington told BBC that the alleged assailant was shot by armed police after the serious incident. But he said he could not go into further details until there was confirmation from the police and security authorities. Lidington said an air ambulance was at the scene to take away casualties. TV pictures showed traffic halted on the nearby Westminster Bridge and emergency vehicles swarming around as the busy bridge was completely shut off to traffic.Prime Minister Theresa May was safe after the incident, a spokesman for her office said. He declined to say where May was when the attack took place. Authorities later confirmed that the police officer, two civilians and the suspected attacker were dead. Eyewitnesses recounts the incident. There were some with minor injuries, some catastrophic. Some had injuries they could walk away from or who have life-changing injuries, said Colleen Anderson, who is a junior doctor at St.Thomas Hospital. Finance Minister Philip Hammond described it as a horrific attack. PMB Sympathises with Britons over London terrorist attack President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned yesterday s terrorist attack near the United Kingdom Parliament Building at Westminster, London. The President, in a statement by his special adviser media, Femi Adesina, who sympathized with the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, assured her that the government and people of Nigeria stand with Britons at this sad and trying moment in their country. According to President Buhari, terror attack anywhere in the world is condemnable, adding that the whole world must join hands to defeat the perpetrators of terrorism. Source: Leadership The Adamawa branch of Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has expressed their grievances over the delay in payment of their accumulated gratuity owed its members by the state government. Addressing a news conference on Thursday in Yola, the state Chairman of NUP, Mr Samson Almuru, said that the union was disturbed by the governments continued refusal to attend to the problem. The expectation of any civil servant is that soon on retirement from service, he or she is paid fully accrueable gratuity and such other benefits with minimum delay to start a post-retirement life happily without any difficulty. Sadly, however, this is not tenable in Adamawa State, as retirees who completed all retirement formalities far back 2009 to date are yet to get their gratuity paid, and no date fixed to effect the payments. We consider this act as an unwholesome and does not augur well for the well being of retired civil servants battling to settle down and assume a post-retirement life for good. Almuru explained that the accumulated unpaid gratuity in the state was about N19 billion in addition to severance gratuity of about N200 million. He lamented that even the one billion naira approved for pension arrears by the state government from the first tranche of Paris Club refund was yet to be paid. He the government plan to pay only pension arrears without gratuity from the Paris club refund was unacceptable to the union, adding that pension and gratuity could not be separated. While lauding President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the release of the second tranche of the refund, Almuru said the state government should do the needful by ensuring that the problem of pensioners was addressed. Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to hastily facilitate the payment of the second tranche of the London/Paris club refund to ease financial hardship of the state. With this development, it is our sincere hope that Adamawa State will, this time around, do justice by paying the accumulated gratuity or substantial part thereof to its retirees. Efforts to get the acting Secretary of Adamawa State Pension Board, Mr Talmon Fwa, to comment on the matter was abortive, but the Chairman of the Committee for the Payment of Outstanding Salary Liabilities, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abba-Jimeta, said the government had approved one billion Naira for the payment of arrears of pension. Abba-Jimeta said the committees mandate was to pay just arrears of salaries and pension as the funds available from the Paris club refund could not cover gratuity. He explained that the Memorandum of Understanding signed between states and Federal Government on the Paris club refund was that 50 per cent would go for arrears of salaries and pension while remaining would go for projects. Abba-Jimeta said that following the approval of one billion naira for pension arrears, the committee was waiting for the list of beneficiaries from the state and local government pension boards to commence payment. Source: ( PM News ) Nigerian gay activist, Bisi Alimi, has expressed his utmost feeling of resentment over the adoption of Christianity and Islamic religion by Africa. In a post on his Instagram page, the gay activist, noted that he was looking forward to the day Africans will gather their Bibles and Qurans and burn them in a market place. Alimi, in his post maintained that Europeans used the bible to enslave Africans and as such the black race should reject Christianity and Islam. The post reads, I look forward to the day Africans across the continent will gather their Bible and Quran and burn them at the market place, while we go in search of who and what our authentic selves are. It is the responsibility of Africans both young and old to make sure the continent regains its glory. We should remember the Europeans that used the bible to enslave us have turned their back against it. See post below: In Cross River, the states water board has pledged to prosecute anyone involved in illegal connection of water and vandals. The Managing Director of the board, Prof. Godwin Igile, made this known yesterday in Calabar as part of the event. He said that the board, which distributes 180.000 cubic metres of water every day from its seven water plants across the state, had faced a lot of challenges in maintaining the facilities due to vandalised installations. Igile, who said the practice had hindered the efficient water distribution across the state, warned that the board would not hesitate to punish offenders when caught. He said: Those who illegally connect water would soon be arrested because they are thieves and those who consume water without paying are also thieves. We have partnered the internal revenue service to raise a revenue court to prosecute offenders. Igile stressed that the N250million target proposed by the state government was still achievable, with the completion of six other water plants across the state. He said more households would soon be connected to boost the revenue earnings of the board. Despite the increase in our electricity tariff from N9 million to N15 million monthly and our chemical supply from N10 million to N16 million, with the challenges of illegal connection and indebtedness, we are still able to produce the cheapest water in the country, he added. In Nasarawa State, the newly appointed Commissioner of Water Resources and Rural Electrification, Dr. Abdulkarim Cana, explained that he inherited a decayed water ministry. Source: Guardian Former United States of America (USA) Air Force veteran, Tanwa Ashiru yesterday said the country must address the burden and the plight of the Niger Delta people to effectively tackle the challenges of securing the oil and gas industry. He made the submission at this years edition of SECUREX West Africa conference, the biggest security event in Nigeria. Ashiru who is also the Chief Executive of Bulwark Intelligence told participants at the conference that all efforts in helping the people of the Niger Delta must be grassroots based and not through the traditional rulers or political leaders. It must start at and benefit the people at the bottom. Most Nigerians do not trust the government to be honest and adequately compensate them for resources found on their property. This lack of trust has a lot to do with illegal bunkering. Socio-economic development across various institutions and facets of society: Infrastructure, trade, schools and health care, among others, he stated. Ashiru added that the Niger Delta people was in dire need of honest leaders but regretted that the people do not hold their leaders accountable because they dont know any better. Once they start seeing real development in a few communities others will demand the same for their towns. If people perceive social infrastructure as beneficial to them, those living in the vicinity of that infrastructure will be more likely to protect them. Today in the Niger Delta, the people do not feel that the oil and gas infrastructure in the area are benefitting them at all. It is for this reason that they have no will to ensure its protection unless of course, they are benefitting from protecting it. Managing Director of Zoom Lens Security, Mr. Dennis Amachree who also presented a paper at the event, told The Guardian that SECUREX West Africa has changed the security narrative in Nigeria. According to him, The organizers of SECUREX have done something that has been lacking in the country because we have had international security seminars and exhibitions in other countries, where a lot of exhibitors and manufacturers of security equipment exhibit all kinds of technologies. Securex has been able to do a smaller version in Nigeria and we expect this to continue because we have a lot of people who are into the business that are vendors who vend the security material such as Drones, CCTV cameras and other tools that people can actually use and have the best ideas on how to deploy them in their companies or homes. And then the educational sectors are very good. I delivered a lecture on counter terrorism, I look forward to more of this and more involvement to Nigerians on this particular kind of security shows. Amachree urged the Lagos State government to take the fight against kidnapping more seriously, adding that bank robberies cannot be a challenge in Lagos, although they should take kidnapping more seriously because Lagos is the fastest growing metropolis in the world right now. We cannot make kidnapping part of our daily worries because that is something that has to be eliminated totally and that means the government has to put in more effort into curbing it, he said. Marketing Manager of Afrocet Montgomery, organizers of SECUREX, Jamie Pearson noted that the event has succeeded in bringing security operators in Nigeria together. SECUREX has made great impact to West Africa and Nigeria. It has succeeded in bringing together many security professionals under one roof. As much as it is learning about what new technologies there are out there, it is about West Africa coming together and discussing what affects them and how they can come out of the challenges. It is also about learning from the experts and understanding what other opportunities there are for those working in West Africa to bring new technologies and services to their organization. Our participants come from fourteen different countries and our visitors come from at about ten different West African countries, he added. Source: Guardian Suspected Gun men have kidnapped a french man in Chad in an area near the border with Sudans Darfur region early on Thursday, Frances foreign ministry said. Europe 1 radio said the man in his sixties had been working for a mining company and was seized carrying the staffs wages, without giving its sources. The man was kidnapped south of Abeche, a mining area about 800 km (500 miles) east of the capital NDjamena, a French military source told Reuters. There were no immediate reports of any group claiming responsibility or making demands in the area crossed by nomadic groups and rebels fighting the Sudanese government over the border in Darfur. The last French national kidnapped in Chad was an aid worker taken in the eastern border area in 2009 and released nearly three months later inside Darfur. We confirm the kidnapping of one of our nationals in Chad, a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement. We are mobilized and working with local Chadian authorities to secure the freedom of our compatriot. Chad, a landlocked former French colony, hosts the headquarters of Frances 4,000-strong regional anti-militant operation, known as Barkhane. It closed its northern border with Libya in January to block militants fleeing the conflict there, and has said it is worried about Islamic State operating in its territory. Around 1,000 French troops are stationed in Chad, including a small detachment at Abeche. About 1,500 other French nationals also live in the country. Two other French nationals are being held in Africa one kidnapped in Mali in December by Islamist militants, the other seized in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier in March. It was all about protest in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State on Wednesday as Women of Isu community stormed Abakaliki to protest the activities of Fulani herdsmen in the area, particularly the rape of a 70-year-old widow. The women carried placards with different inscriptions such as Fulanis have destroyed all our crops and polluted our rivers and ponds, Fulanis have humiliated us, among others. They alleged that a herdsman raped a 70-year-old widow, resulting in her going into a coma. The leader of the protesters, Florence Okoro, said the herdsman sneaked into the old widows house while she was preparing her evening meal and raped her. Okoro, who added that the hands and legs of the old widow were broken in the process, appealed to the state government and security agencies to protect women. Addressing the women, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Augustine Nwankwegu, condemned the rape of the widow and the destruction of farmlands by herdsmen. Nwankwegu assured the protesters that the government would take action against the perpetrators of the crime. He told them that Governor David Umahi had directed that the culprits be fished out and prosecuted. The commissioner said, The governor has heard this and asked me to look for a way to catch the man (rapist) so that he would be punished accordingly. We have gone to the police and they told us they were on the way to bring him (rapist) to Abakaliki. Im promising you that by Monday, he would be arraigned in court. You will come and see him because what he has done is wrong. The Chief of Staff, Government House, Mr. Emmanuel Okorie, condemned the activities of the herdsmen in the area, saying, Its annoying that Fulani herdsmen, instead of taking care of their cattle, are touching you. What is expected to be done for you to be happy, our governor will do it. Source: ( Punch Nigeria ) Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode has revealed plans by his administration to build a 6,000-bed hostel within the main campus of Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo in partnership with the private sector to improve on the learning experience in the institution. The Governor, while speaking at the 21st Convocation ceremony of LASU held at the universitys auditorium complex, Ambode said government would continue to invest in infrastructure in tertiary institutions in the State including LASU to make them emerge as great citadels of learning and pride of all. While commending the management and governing council of the institution for the professionalism with which the affairs of LASU had been piloted, Ambode charged them to build on the ranking of the institution as the best State University in Nigeria to become one of the best five universities in the country by 2020. The governor particularly encouraged the management to work assiduously to make LASU emerge as the preferred university of choice by 2025. He said: You will recall that at the 20th Convocation of this institution last year, I made a commitment that our Government will invest massively here and upgrade its status to that obtainable anywhere around the world provided all stakeholders can ensure that peace reigns on Campus. One of the results of that is the accreditation of this institutions School of Dentistry; the only State University to have an accredited School of Dentistry. We will continue to invest in physical and social infrastructure in this University. We have many projects nearing completion and these legacy projects when completed will no doubt change the entire overview of the landscape of the university. One of these projects is a PPP arrangement to deliver a 6,000-bed hostel for LASU. Besides, Governor Ambode urged students of the institution to take advantage of the Ready.Set.Work (RSW) initiative of the State Government to learn necessary entrepreneurial skills to be self-dependent and employer of labour, rather than looking for job after graduating from school. He said with programmes such as RSW, government will continue to develop the capacity of tertiary institutions in the State to produce graduates who are immediately employable upon entry into the labour market. While congratulating the eminent Nigerians who were deservedly honoured at the convocation ceremony, the Governor admonished the graduands to be good ambassadors of LASU and the State, especially by conquering the world. Earlier, LASU Chancellor and retired justice of Supreme Court, Justice Adesola Oguntade, and Chairman of Governing Council of the Institution, Professor Adebayo Ninalowo, in their respective speeches, commended Governor Ambode for matching his words with action in terms of huge investment in infrastructure and academic excellence in the Institution. They observed that the repositioning of LASU initiated and sustained by the Governor was already yielding results with the recent ranking of the institution as the Best State University in Nigeria in 2016 by the National Universities Commission (NUC), and the first State University to secure full accreditation of its Faculty of Dentistry by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, among other numerous achievements. Also, Vice Chancellor of LASU, Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun thanked the Governor for progressively implementing reforms in the institution, saying while the management of LASU was not resting, it nonetheless can conveniently assert that graduates of the institution have been imbued with cutting-edge ethics and intellectual capabilities to contribute meaningfully to the society. He also urged public spirited Nigerians to come to the aid of the institution especially in building additional lecture halls, among others. A total of 36, 540 students graduated from various faculties and obtained certificates ranging from diploma, first degree and higher degrees. Honourary awards were also presented to some eminent Nigerians. They are former NUC Executive Secretary, Professor Peter Okebukola; foremost industrialist, Sir Adebutu Kessington; and one of the richest black women in the world, Chief Mrs Folorunsho Alakija. Source : ( PM News ) The debate on the second rejection and re-nomination of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu for confirmation by the National Assembly is not over yet. Vice President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Monday Ubani yesterday said President Muhammadu Buhari cannot re-nominate Magu to the Senate based on the internal rules of the National Assembly regarding such issues. He said if that was the case, then there could be a problem, adding that he may not know what is on President Buharis mind as Magu had been rejected for the second time by the Senate. He also said the law permits the president to re-nominate a candidate for confirmation by the Senate, but doubt if this would work out since there are internal rules in the Senate that may play a vital role in making his re-nomination for the third time possible. Under the law, the president can re-nominate Magu, but going by what Senator Dino Melaye said, there are internal rules in the Senate that specify how many times a candidate can be re-nominated for confirmation, he said. He added that there are two options for the president. Either he exploits the lacuna in law that provides for perpetually retaining the EFCC boss in acting capacity or he nominates another person for the job. Another lawyer, Charles Lambo pointed out that the presidencys insistence on Magu was an illegality and a breach of trust between the executive and the legislature. This is because section 171 of the constitution gives the president powers to appoint certain officers, which are subject to confirmation of the Senate without which they act in nullity and the EFCC Act also confirmed that the position of Chairman must be confirmed by the Senate, he added. He further explained that for Magu to remain in acting capacity after the Senate has rejected him twice was an illegality and advised the presidency to obey the Senate resolution on the matter. Unlike Ubani who argued that the presidency can exploit the lacuna in the law, Lambo believes it cannot be possible, even as he made referred to Professor Itse Sagay statement that Magu can continue in Acting capacity indefinitely. But this is democracy and cannot be possible under the constitution, he stressed. Source: Guardian The decision of the Senate to ask for the resignation of Comptroller-General of Customs, retired Col. Hameed Ali, over his refusal to wear the service uniform has been condemned by the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders. NAGAFF`s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Stanley Ezenga, said on Thursday that the senate should rather engage Ali on issues based on performance rather than uniform that had no impact on efficient service delivery in the customs. He said the customs boss was not a career customs personnel and compelling him to wear the uniform did not seem the right thing to do. We at NAGAFF are not in support of the call for the sack or resignation of the Comptroller-General of Customs by the Senate over his refusal to appear before it in full customs uniform. Our position is based on the fact that the issue has nothing to do with service delivery and that he is not compelled by any rule or law to do so as he is not a career customs officer. Rather than delving so much on the issue of uniform wearing, we urge the senate to criticise the CG on issues of performance and other things that could make the customs deliver on their mandate. We appeal to the Senate to spare us all this uniform drama and focus on better issues that could deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigerians, he said. The senate had called for the resignation of the Comptroller-General following his refusal to appear before the upper house on Wednesday in his Customs uniform. The senate had said Ali was not fit to occupy the office for not heeding the directive to wear uniform and that he was sending a wrong message to career custom officers by his refusal to do so. The upper chamber had earlier turned back the Comptroller-General on March 16 for not appearing in uniform and rescheduled his appearance for Wednesday. Ali said his refusal to wear the uniform was hinged on the fact that he had been sued on the issue and he was awaiting the outcome of the litigation. He also cited an advice from the Attorney-General of the Federation as a reason for his decision. The senate had first invited Ali to appear before it on March 8 to brief it on the proposed policy for payment of Customs Duty by vehicles owners, no matter the age of the vehicle. However, Ali did not honour the invitation on the ground that he had a management meeting. Not satisfied with the reason, the senate had issued a warrant mandating Ali to appear on March 16. (NAN) The Federal Government has debunked the rumour that Nigerians were killed in latest attack in South Africa. The Minister of foreign affairs who spoke through his spokesman,Clement Aduku, in Abuja said that there was no reported loss of life during the incident. It expressed concern that the incident came barely few days when both Nigerian and South African Governments successfully proffered solution to xenophobic attacks against foreigners in South Africa. It said that contrary to media reports, the latest incident was a scuffle that took place on March 14, 2017 in a motor park in Polokwane in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. According to the statement, during the scuffle, two Nigerians were injured, one of who has already been discharged from the hospital and the other receiving treatment. The Ministry has received no report of casualty or death of any Nigerian in this latest altercation though some properties were reportedly destroyed in the ensuing escalation. From all indications, the recent incident does not constitute xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, the ministry said. It assured that Nigerias Acting High Commissioner in South Africa, Martin Cobham, was working in close partnership with the Consul-General in Johannesburg, Godwin Adama, to resolve the issues. Source : ( Premium Times) A Chief Magistrate Court in Akure, the Ondo State Capital has sentenced a pastor,Waleola Sunday on Wednesday to three years imprisonment for sodomizing male children resident around his church, a Cherubim and Seraphim (C&S) Church pastor. The case was presided by Mrs. Victoria Bob-Manuel who passed the judgement on the pastor after he was found guilty of child molestation. Trouble started for the pastor after a tip-off led officers of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the state to the pastors church in Oke Aro where he was arrested. Ebiriku David, the legal officer of the NSCDC told the Court that the pastor was a serial homosexual who was in the habit of seducing young males. David said the offence of the prophet was against section 32 (1) of the Ondo State Child Right Law 2017. While pleading guilty to the crime before the court, the 32-year-old pastor blamed the devil for his misdemeanor. Sunday who confessed that he had sodomized about four children said he picks up his victims from public schools during break. I would take them to the bush and seduce before they returned back to their classes, he told the court. I believe its devils work because I would always come back to my senses after I molested the little boys. At last, the erring clergyman was sent to the Olokuta Prison yard, Akure for three years. Source: ( Punch Newspaper) A female Bishop of the Gods Bible Church in Lagos was arrested and charged before a Lagos court for her alleged involvement in fraud and stealing on Tuesday . Rev. Mrs. Adline Ngozi was alleged to have obtained the sum of N1 million each from two members of her congregation, Mrs. Temitope Kadri and Dr. Mrs. Ishaq Olanrewaju under the false pretense of putting a five-year deposit scheme with an interest of N100,000 every month. Rev. Mrs. Adline Ngozi was alleged to have obtained the sum of N1 million each from two members of her congregation, Mrs. Temitope Kadri and Dr. Mrs. Ishaq Olanrewaju under the false pretense of putting a five-year deposit scheme with an interest of N100,000 every month. The victims, allegedly fell into the trap and gave her the money since last year and were expecting the returns. Not until they realised that the whole investment was a scam and when the victims asked for a return of their money, Ngozi started threatening that she will place a curse on them to scare them from demanding the money. The matter was reported to the police at Idimu division who arrested Ngozi and charged her to court with fraud under the Criminal Code. Appearing before the Magistrate court sitting in Ejigbo where she was arraigned on Tuesday , she pleaded not guilty. The presiding Magistrate, Mrs. J.O.E Adeyemi granted her bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum. She was remanded in prison custody pending when she will perfect her bail. The matter was adjourned till April 19th, 2017 . Source: PM Express The Lagos State Police, Alagbado, has apprehended three siblings who are in the business of selling beans on Adenekan Street, Alagbado, Lagos State, for allegedly selling poisonous beans to their customers. The suspects Faith Ogbona, Chidioke Ogbona and Sunday Ogbona were arrested by policemen from the Alagbado division when a woman raised alarm after she saw Chidioke applying Sniper, an insecticide, on the beans. While Chidioke and Sunday were picked up on Friday, their elder brother, who owned the shop, was arrested on Sunday when he went to the station to secure their bail. The police said 41-year-old Faith had wanted to influence his brothers release by allegedly offering the divisional police officer a N500,000 bribe, which the latter rejected. The suspects, who hail from Ebonyi State, were paraded on Wednesday at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja with some bags of the poisonous beans and some bottles of Snipers recovered from the shop. Eighteen-year-old Chidioke told our correspondent that he wanted to preserve the beans with the insecticide to prevent it from being infested with insects. He said it was his first time of putting the substance in the foodstuffs, claiming that he deduced his preservation method from the use of Sniper to kill rodents. Chidioke said, I just saw it (Sniper) as something that kills insects and decided to use it to preserve the beans and kill the insects therein. I was applying the chemical for the first time when a woman approached me and warned that it was dangerous. A few minutes after, some policemen came to arrest me. My brother (Faith) was not around when I put the Sniper in the beans. Although the shop owner confessed that his suppliers in Maiduguri, Borno State, where he bought the goods, used some chemicals including Sniper and DD Force, to preserve beans, he said his brother carried out the act without his consent. Faith, who said he started the business four years ago, also denied offering the bribe to the DPO. He said, I wasnt around when my brother was caught putting Sniper in the beans. I was called on the telephone and I quickly returned to Lagos from Ibadan (Oyo State), where I had gone for a function. Sunday came to my shop when he learnt some policemen were there and he was also arrested. Chidioke just came back from our village. He had never seen me put Sniper in beans. In Maiduguri, if my suppliers wanted to preserve beans, they put DD Force or Sniper in water and spray it on the beans. It will be stored for about three or six months, depending on the quantity of chemicals applied. I have never mixed beans with chemicals, but I have been buying the one with chemicals from Maiduguri. If it is stored for a long time, it is not dangerous for human consumption. However, Sunday said he just alighted from a motorcycle when the police arrested him. I dont preserve my beans with Sniper. I normally buy the quantity I can sell before insects infest it, he added. The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said the suspects would be charged to court after investigation. He said, The excuse the owner of the shop gave was that he was mixing pesticide with beans and that he had been selling it like that. He approached the DPO, thinking he could easily settle the case and get the two other suspects released. He offered her N500,000, but she rejected it, the CP added. Source : Punch Newspaper Kenyas most philanthropic and wealthiest musician, Kanyi Njagua, popularly known as Jaguar, has hit and killed two people in a car accident that happened yesterday in Kirinyaga County. According to the police, the musician was driving his Range Rover heading towards Makutano when he lost control and veered off the road before hitting a motorcyclist and his passenger at Rukanga along the Sagana- Makutano road on Wednesday. Nairobi News adds the motorcyclist, Mugo Mwangi, 21, and his pillion passenger, James Maingi, 21, died on the spot and their bodies were taken to the Kibugi Mortuary. The police on Thursday said the vehicle, which was later towed to the Sagana Police Station, had loose chippings.The musician took to social media to express his distraught about the accident, moments after the story went viral. Photo Credit: Stella Cherono/Naijapals Pressure from protesters insisting that amnesty international must leave Nigeria seems not to be abating as for the third consecutive day, the protesters in hundreds have besieged the International human rights organizations Abuja office. The relentless protesters on Wednesday again stormed the organisations office, condemning the recent report by amnesty international where it alleged human rights abuse by Nigerias security agencies. However, Wednesdays protest took a different dimension as the protesters appeared with a coffin in front of the amnesty international office bearing the inscription, RIP Amnesty International. Addressing the protest in front of the amnesty office executive Director of Global Peace and Life Rescue Initiative (GOPRI), Melvin Ejeh said amnesty has until 12 midnite today to vacate Nigeria, adding that beginning from Thursday, legal actions will be taken against the organisation. He described as laughable recent report by Amnesty International that it doesnt recognize or react to NGOs not registered with it as the height of AIs penchant for trivialities and a fact that the international NGO doesnt believe in what it preaches. Ejeh challenged Amnesty International to disclose its affiliation with Boko Haram for the world to know when and where it registered Boko Haram that the killers have become their partners. According to him, his organization will not be cowed by names calling by Amnesty International or its affiliates in Nigeria who derive pleasure in the killing of Nigerians by Boko Haram but Would continue to hold its sit in until every force fighting the Nigerian people is demolished and demobilized, he added. It would be recalled that some Nigerians had since on Monday besieged the amnesty international office insisting that they will occupy the office until the organisation quits Nigeria. Source: Leadership The General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye has said there is still hope for Nigeria, despite the numerous challenges confronting the country. Adeboye, while addressing over 50, 000 faithful during a conference organised by the RCCG, First Born Family at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, said Nigerians should not be discouraged because of the economic and other challenges the country is facing currrently. The clerics said Gods purpose and intention for the development of the country is still intact and would soon come to pass if we continue in prayers and remain committed to Him. The cleric also emphasised the need for all the ethnic groups to continue to live in peace and unity, saying: The challenges confronting the country are not beyond what God can handle. In another word of exhortation, one of the organisers and Special Assistance to the G.O on Missions, Pastor Brown Oyitso said Nigeria coul not be worse economically and socially than what it is at present before God would intervene what is needful of us is to continue to pray and hope in the Lord. Source: Guardian Conspiracy, inefficiency and fatal illness have cast a pall over one of Nigerias prestigious schools, Queens College. Fingered in the predicament facing the school is the government and management. Head, Education Desk, IYABO LAWAL, writes on how the duo might have let down pupils in the school. Mrs. Cynthia Adama has not slept in almost five days as her gaze remained fixated on her 12-year-old daughter, who was admitted at the Child Emergency Unit of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba. Your daughter has been vomiting she just collapsed, those were the last words she heard on the other end of her mobile phone as she raced to Queens College, Lagos. After tending a child for 12 years, thats not the news any parent wants to hear especially when they leave that child in the care of people paid to impart knowledge to and protect the child. Thats why shes joining a group of parents this week to explore the possibility of a legal action. Someone has to be held accountable. The circumstances surrounding the deaths of Vivian Osaniyi and Bithia Itulua, Junior Secondary School pupils of Queens College Yaba, are too agonising to recount. In recent times, the school has been in the news for the wrong reasons. In March last year, a probe panel was set up to investigate alleged sexual assault of a Junior Secondary School (JSS) 2 female pupil by a male teacher. Now, news emanating about the school is mind-boggling. The college was shut down on February 23 following the death of two boarding students who began vomiting and stooling after allegedly drinking contaminated water and eventually died. As if that was not enough, an outbreak of cholera soon ensued, leaving about 200 pupils in need of urgent medical attention. Many parents, who have children in the school, accused the authorities of negligence for allowing the pupils to drink out of the schools water system when they knew it was unsafe. Queens College, by all standards, is one of the elite schools in Nigeria that over the years maintained an enviable record of high academic performance, moral rectitude and good upbringing of pupils , which would not have been possible without a tradition of committed management or good school administration. All of that may have changed along with the general decay in the country. That being the case, news of the death of the students has jolted many people, especially parents and guardians, as well as federal and Lagos State government authorities. Lagos State Governments role As the bad news of the schools predicament spread like wildfire, it did not go unnoticed by the relevant authorities as the Lagos state ministry of health waded into the crisis and conducted series of tests on the schools water supply. In its report, the government confirmed that the water taken by the pupils was actually contaminated and advised an indefinite shutdown of the school over the outbreak of water-borne disease. Addressing reporters on the matter, the state Commissioner for Health, Jide Idris said the schools resumption should be delayed until appropriate health measures are put in place for the safety of the pupils. Idris noted further that water samples from the school analysed at the states Drug Quality Control Laboratory and the Microbiology Department of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASU) indicated high bacteria content in the water samples from the schools kitchen, behind the dining hall and Queens Delight, the schools water factory. The bacteria range from Coliforms, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Klebsiella ozoana, and Aeromonas hydrophilia. Unsanitary environment According to information on the website of New York State Department of Health, Coliforms are bacteria that are always present in the digestive tracts of animals, including humans, and are found in their wastes. They are also found in plant and soil materials. It points out that water pollution caused by faecal contamination is a serious problem due to the potential for contracting diseases from pathogen. Frequently, concentrations of pathogens from faecal contamination are small, and the number of different possible pathogens is large. Although most strains of E. coli are harmless, some produce a toxin that makes humans sick. Concerning Salmonella, the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) says they are bacteria that make people sick. Most people infected with Salmonella develop diarrhoea, fever, and abdominal cramps between 12 and 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts four to seven days, and most individuals recover without treatment. Others like Klebsiella ozoana and Aeromonas hydrophilia are indicative of unsanitary environments. Experts say that Aeromonas hydrophilia is a heterotrophic, gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium mainly found in areas with a warm climate usually in brackish water. The implication of this is clear; faecal matter got into the water the students were drinking. Also, the kitchen areas were found to be unhygienic. But this could not have been a sudden development. Usually, deterioration is the evidence of lack of maintenance and poor management over a sustained period of time. Queens College was billed to open on March 19 but the Lagos State commissioner for health had asked for a postponement because results from schools sick bay indicate more pupils should be kept under observation longer. The total number of students who were treated at the clinic on account of abdominal pain, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea between January 11 and February 15 was 1,222. There were four different peak periods of infection namely January 31, February 2, 8, and 14. Sixteen pupils were admitted in various hospitals, nine have been discharged, two died, while one is still on admission at the Intensive Care Unit of LASUTH and three at LUTH, the commissioner said. To fully grasp the enormity of the situation, it is best to place it in context. Queens College currently has over 2,800 girls out of which 2,180 of them are in the boarding house while 616 are day students. This means that 78 per cent of the students population has a high risk of being infected. Already 1,222 pupils have exhibited symptoms of infection. Apart from these children, there has not been any mention of tests carried out on the schools teaching and non-teaching staff numbering over 200. But there is more to the problem than meets the eye. The role of the PTA Following the outbreak of the disease, most parents were disappointed that while cholera was affecting their children, the school was pumping into their body systems malaria drugs. A cross section of parents berated the schools management for its insensitivity while also accusing the federal government of neglecting the school. We saw it coming but we didnt take it serious, said Mrs. Veronica Ajei, a mother of three whose child is a student of the college. My daughter used to tell me that their hostel toilets were no longer being kept clean. She said since the beginning of the first term, she and her colleagues had noticed that no matter how bad the toilets and environment were, the cleaners were hardly ever on duty. To Ajei, the school management had been failing in its responsibility to keep the children safe in a conducive learning environment. James Afolabi, who has two daughters in the college, was also displeased with the school management. But unlike Ajei, Afolabi said the blame must be extended to the leadership of the schools PTA which he accused of working in conjunction with a former principal of the school, Dr. Lami Amodu, now transferred in the wake of the crisis and replaced by Bola Are. The PTA executive was supposed to be protecting parents and the childrens interests, rather, they kept shielding the woman ( Amodu). If not, the issue would not have degenerated to this level. The mismanagement going on in the school would have come to the fore. Though none of his two daughters were affected, Afolabi recollected the good memories his family has about Queens College which necessitated the decision to send his daughters there. He lamented that recent events had caused concern, as the safety of their kids, more than the schools fame, was all they cared about. A parent whose child was affected said the PTA chairman told him he paid for 3,000 bags of pure water for the pupils indicating that they had prior knowledge that the water supply was bad. Why wasnt any concrete action taken? What should have been the role of the PTA in the school when a possible epidemic is two deaths away? But the PTA chairman, Dr John Ofobike blamed the federal ministry of education for the present state of the school. So far, the challenges confronting the school and the entire confusion over its situation are traceable to many years of neglect by the Federal Ministry of Education. Ofobike denied that his executive was shielding the former principal, insisting that the role of the PTA was only advisory. Ofobike said when he came on board as the PTA chairman in October 2016, he realised an obvious shortage of staff in two areas of the school the kitchen and the cleaning departments. He recalled that on assumption, he discovered that there were just six workers in the kitchen to cook for about 3,200 boarding school students every day. From the handover note I got, I was made to understand that the PTA had been supporting the school with about 30 staff in the kitchen, 38 cleaning staff, four nurses in the clinic, three drivers, 45 qualified teachers and four PTA secretariat staff. All except the teachers and drivers were laid off because the previous PTA committee could no longer pay for their services. The PTA purse was lean as I was told and later found out. On assumption of office, I discovered that the salary of the 45 PTA staff teachers for the month of October was N2.175m and I met N1.517m, so we knew there would be problems. We realised we were also going to have a problem on our hands with the reports coming from the kitchen and the cleaning department as a result of insufficient staff, so we met with the school management and requested we hold an emergency meeting of parents and teachers. On the issue of contaminated water the children were said to be drinking, the PTA chairman who said he had to spend more than N4m of his own money to address the situation, said two weeks after the students resumed from the Christmas holiday, he received complaints of stooling and vomiting in the school. I was called upon but they were saying it was the kitchen and was perhaps the food they ate, no one was sure, especially with the number of students reporting to the clinic with vomiting and stooling. I was called to find out what was the issue and at a point they had to take samples of the water from the school to find out the problem. I was told it must be from the water because the tank was not washed and the corrosiveness must have led to the contamination. I then asked the school authorities to instruct the students not to take the water again. I went to the factory in the school to buy sachet water worth N295,000, about 3,000 bags in all. I asked that the sachet water be distributed to each of the students and soon after, there was no more admission at the schools clinic, he said. Globally, the PTA plays a key role in education. PTAs in Nigeria are said to have been largely preoccupied in ensuring high moral standards and academic excellence and some make representations to government to improve learning environment but in the wake of the Queens College saga, stronger participation would be required. A major constraint, educationists say, is that PTAs are not empowered in Nigeria. While not taking over the school administration, the government should effectively empower the PTAs and specify their role because they play an important part in educational development, says Jonnwakalo Chykodili, in a research published for the department of education foundations, University of Nigeria ((UNN) Nsukka. For now, the school remains shut to enable health teams conduct thorough investigation. Professor Chidi Odinkalu, President-General of Unity Schools Old Students Association, USOSA, with grief in his heart stated that the situation in the school is a public health emergency and in support of Idris said, It is not prudent or responsible to allow the return of children to the premises at this time. Not a few Nigerians are worried about the disturbing news of children falling sick and dying in the school and they have called for independent certification of the school as safe for human activity before it is reopened. The duty of looking after children in a learning environment is said to be a sacred trust. This public health crisis at Queens College calls attention to the responsibility of everyone, especially school managements and education administrators, to uphold this trust at all times, Odinkalu added. Only that there is no price big enough to bring back a dead child. Attitude of the federal ministry of education It is worrisome that since the cholera outbreak and subsequent death of two pupils at the college, the federal ministry of education has not made any pronouncement on the matter. Efforts by The Guardian to get the position of the ministry on the incidence proved abortive but an official who spoke on condition of anonymity said because of the uproar the matter has generated the management may have decided to handle the matter as discreetly as possible to avoid further controversy. The official pointed out that the Queens College scandal is a reflection of the state of broken down infrastructure in most of the nations 104 unity colleges, hardly can one go to any of these elitist schools without any case of infrastructural decay. He however expressed hope that the Queens College crisis would spur the government into action. According to the source, Let me tell you, what is happening now did not just start yesterday really, it has always been there and they have allowed it to fester. The truth is that the situation is not peculiar to Queens College, I can tell you that in most, if not all the Unity colleges you visit in the country, you will discover one case of rot or another of broken down facilities. My only prayer is that this time around, the current problem with Queens College would spur government into action to begin the rehabilitation of infrastructure in those colleges to restore their fast fading glory. Source: Guardian A 17-year-old undergraduate of the University of Lagos, Ugochukwu Daniel, who allegedly gang-raped a 17-year-old girl with his friends, was on Thursday released on N500,000 bail on the orders of a Surulere Chief Magistrates Court in Lagos. The Chief Magistrate, Mrs A. Ipaye-Nwachukwu, who gave the ruling, also granted the accused two sureties in like sum after he pleaded not guilty to a three-count charge of conspiracy, rape and sexual harassment. Ipaye-Nwachukwu said one of the two sureties must be a blood relation of the accused, while the second surety should be a civil servant of not less than Grade Level 14 She also directed that the sureties should produce evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government. She said the case file should be duplicated and a copy sent to the State Director of Public Prosecutions for advice. The prosecutor, Sgt. Anthonia Osayande, had told the court that the offences were committed sometime in January at High-Rise Quarters, University of Lagos. She alleged that the accused with others at large conspired and raped a 17-year-old girl (name withheld). Daniel sexually harassed the girl with video clips in order to intimidate her. The accused had sexual intercourse with the 17-year-old girl without her consent, she alleged. The offences contravened sections 137, 260 (2), 264 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015 (Revised). The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Section 137 provides life imprisonment for offenders. The magistrate adjourned the case until May 18. (NAN) Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora, Hon. Rita Orji has urged Nigerian government to consider a diplomatic sanction against South Africa, until Nigeria living in the country are protected. She also urged Nigerians living in South Africa to return home as thier security by the government of thier host country cannot be guaranteed. Orji in an interview with selected journalists noted that the protracted xenophobic attacks against Nigerians by South African natives persisted even after inter-parliamentary engagement between the two countries. let the South African Embassy here go home and let the Nigerian high commission over there return home until there is a lasting solution to this problem. What will be a good relationship when the parliament left their country to South Africa and on returning another attack started? Does it show they value the delegation that came, does it show they have respect for the government of Nigeria, if they do, the reoccurrence will not be within three days, she said. Orji added that a diplomatic sanction against the government of South Africa would mea that the Nigerian government is serious about protecting the lives and properties of her citizens abroad. That is to show that what they want us to come and do is talk and go and that is why I dont want to be part of talk and go. I want action and that action must be seen, felt and heard, Orji said. According to Orji, the Nigerian government should not massage the ego its South African counterpart. It is not to go and massage the ego of South Africans or their envoy, the truth of the matter is that there is a gang up against Nigerians in South Africa. I made it clear that the manner the re-occurrence of xenophobic attack is coming in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the time shall come when it will not take six months before it re-occurs because nobody has been sentenced to death. She added that, No remedy has been given to those that were attacked, those their businesses were looted were not compensated and there is no economic loss to South Africa. Nigeria is supposed to take a critical look at the issues and tell their embassy over here to control these people they call unknown soldiers that are killing human beings. Source: Leadership Android suffers from a reality-based reputation problem, with reports of malicious apps stealing user data and critical security vulnerabilities that can take over user devices. Over the years, Google has been working to improve its mobile operating system with new security features, the release of monthly security updates, and better tools to detect and remove malicious apps both on devices and in the Google Play app store. As a result, Android is safer than you may believe, the company says in its annual Android Security Year in Review report. Google deserves credit for improving Android security last year: The release of Safe Browsing API, file-based encryption, verified boot, and media server hardening has tremendously improved the overall security of Android devices. But Googles report shows mixed results for the overall state of Android security. 1. Mobile malware fears are overstated There are lots and lots (and lots!) of warnings about malicious apps and mobile malware. Theyre mostly found on unsanctioned third-party app marketplaces, but some manage to bypass security controls and sneak into Google Play. Still, getting apps only from Google Play is very safe. Google calculates that 0.05 percent of all Android devices that got apps from only Google Play had a potentially harmful app installed at the end of 2016. Trojans accounted for more than half of such apps installed on Android devices in 2016. A big fear factor from security vendors is device rooting, which gives apps access to core Google services and to other apps by bypassing Androids security mechanisms. But Google found that most devices are either rooted by the user or the manufacturernot by malware. Even user-initiated rooting is not common: 0.346 percent of all installs. A teeny-tiny portion of those installs0.0001 percentcame from apps found on Google Play. As for apps that can root the device without user permission, they accounted for 0.002 percent of all installs in 2016. Although most potentially harmful apps come from third-party markets, Googles goal in 2017 is to better protect users even from those apps, too. To be clear Googles definition of potentially harmful apps does not include annoying apps, such as those that are overly aggressive in collecting device identifiers and metadata because they dont put Android users, user data, or devices at risk, the report said. 2. Many devices dont get security updates Although the company releases security patches monthly, about half of devices in use at the end of 2016 had not received a platform security update, Google saidthat is, they hadnt received any updates at all. Google relies on manufacturers and carriers to push out updates to most devices; Google can only ensure that its own Nexus and Pixel devices get updates on a regular schedule. Google is trying to make it easier for device makers and carriers to deliver security updates to their customers. Users are more likely to get security updates if they use popular Android models, according to data gathered by Duo Labs, the research arm of mobile authentication provider Duo Security. Duos analysis suggests that, among the top 50 Android models used by businesses, 46 percent of devices received a security patch in the previous 90 days, and 81 percent had received one in the previous 180 days. Although its better to patch devices with each update, the Android updates are cumulative, so users who eventually update are covered up till that patch version. Still, the overall numbers for Android security arent great. A substantial percentage of Android devices remain at risk. Thats even true for critical security vulnerabilities. For example, Duo found that at the end of 2016, 40 percent of affected Android devices hadnt applied patches for four vulnerabilities (CVE-2016-2503, CVE-2016-2504, CVE-2016-2059, and CVE-2016-5340) that affected a widely used Qualcomm chip set, though the patches were released between July and October. The percentage of unpatched Android devices is particularly troubling when you realize that the vast majority96 percentof Android devices support getting the monthly updates, said Rich Smith, R&D director of Duo Labs. The unfortunate reality seems to be that carriers just have to wait 30 days for the hype to die down and then everyone forgets, he said. 3. Google, LG, Samsung, and Sony are among the best at updating Although Google didnt say what devices are included in its top 50 devices list, the report gives some indication of what devices are receiving regular updates: Asus Zenfone 3, BQ Aquarius M5, Google Pixel, Google Pixel XL, LG V20, Motorola Moto Z Droid, Nexus 6P, Nexus 5, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, OnePlus OnePlus3, Oppo A33W, Samsung Galaxy S7, Sony Xperia X Compact, and Vivo V3Max all had an update rate between 60 percent and 95 percent by the end of 2016. Over 78 percent of active flagship Android devices on the four mobile major network operators had a security patch level from the last three months. Those devices include Samsungs Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy S7 Active, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy S6 Active, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note Edge, and Galaxy A5 (2016); LGs G5, G4,G3, and V10; Lenovos Moto X Play, Moto X Style, Moto X Force, Droid Maxx 2, and Droid Turbo 2: Huaweis Mate 8, Mate S, P8, and P9; and Sonys Xperia Z4, Xperia Z5 Compact, and Xperia Z5 Premium. Although the Android update process covers all devices running Android KitKat 4.4.4 and later, which accounts for 86.3 percent of all active Android devices worldwide, its a sure bet that updates still depend on geographic location, carrier, and manufacturer. Anyone in the market for a new device should consider that some manufacturers appear to be better about updates than others. 4. Users arent taking advantage of Smart Lock Smart Lock, introduced back in 2014 as part of Android Lollipop 5.0, lets devices remain unlocked if it is in the users possession. Smart Lock depends on a combination of security signals, including facial recognition, trusted places such as the users home or office, and the presence of a paired Bluetooth device such as a smartwatch. The idea is to reduce the number of times a user has to manually entering a password, while still encouraging users to adopt a secure lock screen that protects the device when its not nearby. Google estimates that the use of Smart Lock can reduce the number of times people have to manually unlock the device by 90 percent. But fewer than half of Android devices worldwide have enabled Smart Lock, according to the report. The country breakdown is even wackierwith Somalia having the highest adoption rate at 82 percent, followed by Samoa at 78 percent. Smart Lock adoption rates get more interesting when you combined it with the data from Duo Labs. Duo found that 70.7 percent of Android devices it tracks have enabled Smart Lock. The difference is due to Google tracking all Android devices and Duo tracking ones used by businesses. Businesses tend to require the use of passwords, which they can enforce through Exchange or mobile management policies. Such requirements impose a burden on users that seems to drive them to using Smart Lock to ease that burden. The dark regions show very dense dust clouds. The red stars tend to be reddened by dust, while the blue stars are in front of the dust clouds. These images are part of a survey of the southern galactic plane. Credit: Legacy Survey/NOAO, AURA, NSF Consider that the Earth is just a giant cosmic dust bunny a big bundle of debris amassed from exploded stars. We Earthlings are essentially just little clumps of stardust, too, albeit with very complex chemistry. And because outer space is a very dusty place, that makes things very difficult for astronomers and astrophysicists who are trying to peer farther across the universe or deep into the center of our own galaxy to learn more about their structure, formation and evolution. Building a better dust map Now, a new study led by Edward F. Schlafly, a Hubble Fellow in the Physics Division at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), is providing a detailed, 3-D look at dust on a scale spanning thousands of light-years in our Milky Way galaxy. The study was published March 22 in The Astrophysical Journal. This dust map is of critical importance for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), a Berkeley Lab-led project that will measure the universe's accelerating expansion rate when it starts up in 2019. DESI will build a map of more than 30 million distant galaxies, but that map will be distorted if this dust is ignored. The light from those distant galaxies travels for billions of years before we see it, according to Schlafly, but in the last thousand years of its journey toward us a few percent of that light is absorbed and scattered by dust in our own galaxy. We need to correct for that. Just as airborne dust in Earth's sky contributes to the atmospheric haze that gives us brilliant oranges and reds in sunrises and sunsets, dust can also make distant galaxies and other space objects appear redder in the sky, distorting their distance and in some cases concealing them from view. Scientists are constantly developing better ways to map out this interstellar dust and understand its concentration, composition, and common particle sizes and shapes. Once we can solve the dust problem by creating better dust maps and learning new details about the properties of this space dust, this can give us a much more precise gauge of distances to faraway stars in the Milky Way, like a galactic GPS. Dust maps can also help to better gauge the distance to supernovae events by taking into account the effects of dust in reddening their light. The overarching aim of this project is to map dust in three dimensions to find out how much dust is in any 3-D region in the sky and in the Milky Way galaxy, Schlafly said. Combined data from sky surveys shed new light on dust Taking data from separate sky surveys conducted with telescopes on Maui and in New Mexico, Schlafly's research team composed maps that compare dust within one kiloparsec, or 3,262 light-years, in the outer Milky Way including collections of gas and dust known as molecular clouds that can contain dense star- and planet-forming regions known as nebulae with more distant dust in the galaxy. The resolution of these 3-D dust maps is many times better than anything that previously existed, said Schlafly. This undertaking was made possible by the combination of a very detailed multiyear survey known as Pan-STARRS that is powered by a 1.4-gigapixel digital camera and covers three-fourths of the visible sky, and a separate survey called APOGEE that used a technique known as infrared spectroscopy. Infrared measurements can effectively cut through the dust that obscures many other types of observations and provides a more precise measurement of stars' natural color. The APOGEE experiment focused on the light from about 100,000 red giant stars across the Milky Way, including those in its central halo. What they found is a more complex picture of dust than earlier research and models had suggested. The dust properties within 1 kiloparsec of the sun, which scientists measure with a light-obscuring property known as its extinction curve, is different than that of the dust properties in the more remote galactic plane and outer galaxy. New questions emerge on the makeup of space dust The results, researchers found, appear to be in conflict with models that expect dust to be more predictably distributed, and to simply exhibit larger grain sizes in areas where more dust resides. But the observations find that the dust properties vary little with the amount of dust, so the models may need to be adjusted to account for a different chemical makeup, for example. In denser regions, it was thought that dust grains will conglomerate, so you have more big grains and fewer small grains, Schlafly said. But the observations show that dense dust clouds look much the same as less concentrated dust clouds, so that variations in dust properties are not just a product of dust density: whatever is driving this is not just conglomeration in these regions. He added, The message to me that we don't yet know what's going on. I don't think the existing (models) are correct, or they are only right at the very highest densities. Accurate measures of the chemical makeup of space dust are important, Schlafly said. A large amount of chemistry takes place on dust grains, and you can only form molecular hydrogen on the surface of dust grains, he said this molecular hydrogen is essential in the formation of stars and planets. Filling in the blanks Even with a growing collection of dust data, we still have an incomplete dust map of our galaxy. There is about one-third of the galaxy that's missing, Schlafly said, and we're working right now on imaging this 'missing third' of the galaxy. A sky survey that will complete the imaging of the southern galactic plane and provide this missing data should wrap up in May, he said. APOGEE-2, a follow-up survey to APOGEE, for example, will provide more complete maps of the dust in the local galaxy, and other instruments are expected to provide better dust maps for nearby galaxies, too. While the density of dust shrouds our view of the center of the Milky Way, Schlafly said there will be progress, too, in seeing deeper and collecting better dust measurements there as well. ### Researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Harvard University also participated in this work. APOGEE is a part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III), with participating institutions including Berkeley Lab, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. PanSTARRS1 surveys are supported by the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy; the Pan-STARRS Project Office; the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes in Germany; the Johns Hopkins University; the University of Durham, the University of Edinburgh, and the Queen's University Belfast in the U.K.; the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Inc.; and the National Central University of Taiwan. Pan-STARRS is supported by the U.S. Air Force. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www. lbl. gov (http://www. lbl. gov). DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov . Grain Spreads: WASDE Outlook Walsh Trading - 26 minutes ago Minor Changes Predicted Nat-Gas Prices Surge on Colder U.S. Forecasts Barchart - 47 minutes ago Dec Nymex natural gas (NGZ22 ) on Monday closed up +0.544 (+8.50%). Dec nat-gas rallied sharply to a 1-1/2 month high on Monday on the outlook for colder U.S. temperatures to engulf the country, which... NGZ22 : 6.732 (+5.19%) SPY ETF Selling The Rallies At The Blue Box Area Elliott Wave Forecast - 48 minutes ago Hello fellow traders. Another trading setup we have had recently was selling the rallies in (SPY) ETF. In this technical blog were going to take a quick look at the Elliott Wave charts of SPY published... SPY : 379.81 (+0.92%) Crude Oil Falls on Chinese Energy Demand Concerns Barchart - 51 minutes ago Dec WTI crude oil (CLZ22 ) on Monday closed down by -0.82 (-0.89%), and Dec RBOB gasoline (RBZ22 ) closed down -8.17 (-2.99%). Crude oil and gasoline prices Monday gave up an early advance and posted... CLZ22 : 91.91 (-0.76%) RBZ22 : 2.6643 (-2.58%) Market Outlook Ahead of U.S. Elections Blue Line Futures - 1 hour ago Our daily video . . . Cocoa Prices Surge on Global Supply Concerns Barchart - 1 hour ago December ICE NY cocoa (CCZ22 ) on Monday closed up +72 (+2.96%), and December ICE London cocoa #7 (CAZ22 ) closed up +9 (+0.44%). Cocoa prices Monday extended their week-long rally, with NY cocoa posting... CCZ22 : 2,506s (+2.96%) CAH23 : 2,008s (+0.60%) Sugar Under Pressure from Weak Crude Prices Barchart - 1 hour ago March NY world sugar #11 (SBH23 ) on Monday closed down -0.03 (-0.16%), and Dec London white sugar #5 (SWZ22 ) closed down -8.20 (-1.52%). Sugar prices Monday posted modest losses on weakness in crude... SBH23 : 18.68s (-0.16%) SWZ22 : 530.80s (-1.52%) Coffee Prices Retreat on the Outlook for Bumper Brazil 2023/24 Coffee Crop Barchart - 1 hour ago December arabica coffee (KCZ22 ) on Monday closed down -5.20 (-2.96%), and Jan ICE Robusta coffee (RMF23 ) closed down -18 (-0.96%). Coffee prices Monday sold off, with arabica falling to a 15-month nearest-futures... KCH23 : 166.05s (-3.26%) RMF23 : 1,851s (-0.96%) Update 7/19/17 A revised remuneration policy for Safestore executives is also in jeopardy of being rejected by shareholders. At least two voting advisory servicesInstitutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Institutional Voting Information Service (IVIS)have issued reports criticizing the revised plan for providing excessive compensation, according to the source. Safestore officials are expected to hold a special meeting next week to try to gain support from voters. "Despite a reduction in quantum as compared to the original proposals, the new framework will nonetheless provide a significant (up to 1.6 percent of the issued share capital) reward opportunity to the executive directors, for which the underlying rationale remains not particularly compelling," Institutional Shareholder Services indicated in its report to clients. "In parallel, there is an increase in annual bonus award opportunity. Altogether, the new remuneration policy will significantly enhance the total potential remuneration package." IVIS rated the proposal as a red top, its strongest warning to shareholders. Its assessment raised concerns to the structure and scale of prospective compensation, the source reported. "We have engaged extensively with shareholders, listened to their concerns and revised our proposed remuneration policy accordingly, Safestore officials said in a released statement. "The new proposed five-year LTIP is structured to reward success, extending beyond the board to the wider management team. The board believes that the policy is right for the company and for all shareholders to continue the success of the last three years. 3/22/17 After gathering feedback from shareholders, the board of directors for U.K. self-storage operator Safestore Holdings PLC has withdrawn proposals to adopt a new directors remuneration policy and replace the companys existing Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP). As proposed, CEO Frederic Vecchioli would have received up to 2.5 million shares after five years, worth 9.4 million by current valuation. Nearly 40 other company leaders would also have received pay bonuses, according to the source. By withdrawing the resolutions, the existing pay policy, as approved by shareholders in 2014, will remain in place until Oct. 31. The company will then seek approval for a new policy, according to a company press release. "After an extensive consultation process, which resulted in amendments to and tightening of performance conditions, the board had proposed a new and innovative long-term incentive plan. Its central aim was to incentivize and reward a wider group of executive directors and senior management to drive corporate performance over the next five years, board chair Alan Lewis said. While we have received considerable support from shareholders on the proposed structure, it is clear that for others concerns remain. Under these circumstances, the board considers it appropriate to withdraw the remuneration proposals, Lewis continued. The board will continue to engage in dialog with shareholders to find a solution that best meets the needs of all." The board had previously tightened the proposed bonus plan due to pressure from shareholders, the source reported. Other publicly traded firms in the U.K., including defense manufacturer Chemring Group and tobacco company Imperial Brands PLC, have recently scuttled incentive plans due to dissatisfaction among shareholders. Safestore operates 134 self-storage facilities, including 109 facilities it owns in the U.K. and 25 in France. Its wholly owned properties comprise more than 5.6 million square feet of storage space, while its entire portfolio serves approximately 55,000 customers. A group of institutional investors representing $65 trillion in assets sent a letter last week to Gary Cohn, director of President Donald Trumps National Economic Council, urging him not to change the current Securities and Exchange Commission shareholder proposal process. Cohn, previously second-in-command at Goldman Sachs Group, has been given a mandate by Trump as have others in the presidents administration to propose cuts to regulations that he and his office identify as being unduly burdensome. The pro-business advocacy group the Business Roundtable (BRT) submitted an earlier letter, dated February 22, to Cohn recommending that, among other things, he encourage the SEC to move forward with its proposed reforms to the shareholder proposal process, which would tighten eligibility for proposals submitted by shareholders as part of the proxy voting process and enable more exclusions of proposals and repeat submissions. The authors of the March 15 letter to Cohn argue that such changes are unnecessary. Our members are long-term shareholders who can attest to the fact that for over 45 years the shareholder proposal process has served as a cost-effective way for corporate management and boards of directors to gain a better understanding of shareholder priorities and concerns and to benefit from those insights on critical and emerging risks and opportunities, the investor groups write in the letter, signed by the Principles for Responsible Investment, the Council of Institutional Investors, Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, and the U.S. SIF (the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment). The process has proven to be valuable to numerous companies and has given shareholders an important voice. The groups also sent a copy of their letter to prospective SEC chair Jay Clayton, who will face the Senate Banking Committee for his confirmation hearing on Thursday. In particular, BRT objects to SEC Rule 14a-8, which prescribes the terms under which a company must include a shareholders proposal in its proxy statement, to be voted on at the annual general meeting. According to the rule, a proposal must be included as long as it does not violate one of the rules of eligibility or procedural requirements. The 13 possible reasons for exclusion include a shareholder submitting more than one proposal, owning less than $2,000 worth of shares or 1 percent of eligible voting shares, and submitting a proposal more than 500 words long. BRT told Cohn, In too many cases, activist investors with insignificant stakes in public companies make shareholder proposals that pursue social or political agendas unrelated to the interests of the shareholders as a whole. The investor groups say the current system is working well, arguing that the 14a-8 process has had a positive effect, highlighting ineffective corporate governance, enhancing transparency, and promoting corporate actions on a range of environmental, social, and governance issues that promote economic growth and job creation over the long term while increasing long-term shareholder value. Widely regarded as a level head in the Trump administration, Cohn a registered Democrat witnessed plenty of shareholder resolutions during his time at Goldman Sachs. Shareholders used their rights post-2008 to try to get banks to change some of their actions and governance structure. In particular, Goldman Sachs management has repeatedly successfully advised voting against any proposal to split up the board chair and CEO roles, something many corporate governance advocates are in favor of and which has come up on the proxies of Goldman and other banks that face this issue. The firms will seek $110 million in cost savings, including $80 million in the first year after the merger. One in 10 jobs are at risk of being cut under U.K. fund manager Henderson Groups deal to buy Janus Capital Group in the U.S., according to Roger Thompson, the soon-to-be chief financial officer of the combined business. The layoffs loom as Henderson estimates $110 million of cost savings from the merger, including $80 million in the first year, the firm said in a March 21 document approved by the Financial Conduct Authority. About one quarter of the cost synergies will arise from reducing combined headcount in investment management and trading functions, Henderson said in the document, while additional savings will come from the rationalisation of finance, human resources, legal, risk, compliance, IT and operations teams. The merger, expected to be completed in May, will result in a wider range of outperforming actively managed funds and strategies across all major asset classes and sectors, according to a statement earlier this month from Henderson. The deal, which involves a combined $320 billion in assets, is the latest tie-up of active managers under rising pressure from stronger performing passive investment providers. We are publically talking about 10 percent of our headcount, so 90 percent are not affected, Thompson, currently CFO at Henderson, said in an interview. In some instances, both sides have an A Team and there is only room for one team, he said. At the newly named firm, Janus Henderson Group, distribution and marketing teams will account for one fifth of cost savings, according to the document filed with the FCA. Thompson said the businesses are doing all that they can to minimize staff concerns, noting: We want to make decisions and get on with it. We have not been hanging around. Though Thompson said the restructuring of distribution is necessary, he pointed to the geographical fits between the businesses. We are really strong in the U.K., Europe and Asia, and Janus is very strong in the U.S. and Japan, he said. Fifty-four percent of their combined assets were in the Americas at end of last year, compared to 31 percent in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and 15 percent in Asia, the FCA document shows. We have been talking about building out our institution business in Europe, Thompson said of Henderson. We would have liked to have done more in 2016 but then the merger came along. He said hes excited about doing business in Japan, where both Janus and Henderson have staff, noting that he had lived there for 12 months and has a soft spot for it. The all-stock merger will give Henderson stockowners a controlling 57 percent stake in the business, with Janus shareholders owning the rest. The group will be based in London and have an expected market value of $5.6 billion, based on Henderson and Janus share prices, according to the FCA document. Mergers among active managers could pick up as many have struggled to attract investors amid the rising popularity of low-cost, passive investment strategies. In early March, for example, Standard Life agreed to buy Aberdeen Asset Management in a deal that helps the firms gain scale as they seek to stem redemptions. Just three years ago, investors had good reason to think Steven Cohens hedge fund days might be over. His firm, SAC Capital Advisors, pleaded guilty in 2014 to insider trading charges after a long-running government investigation that ultimately forced SAC to return money to investors and pay a record $1.8 billion in civil and criminal penalties. But Cohen, who was not convicted of any criminal wrongdoing himself, appears to be gearing up for an even bigger future. Cohens ban on managing outside money will be lifted by as early as January 2018, after he struck a deal in January 2016 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle allegations that he failed to supervise SAC portfolio manager Mathew Martoma, who was found guilty of engaging in insider trading that prohibited him from managing client money for two years. That means Cohen will once again be allowed to manage money for outside investors. Many expect he will do just that, and the slew of new hires at his rebranded family office, Point72 Asset Management, suggests Cohen has big plans. One of the firms latest hires is Drew Gillanders, a former analyst at Och-Ziff Capital Management, who is expected to focus on health care and consumer sector investments at Point72s London office, according to people who spoke with the Financial Times, which first reported the move last week. Gillanders will be at least the third recent hire from Och-Ziff, which has endured about $13 billion in investor withdrawals in the past year and now manages $33.7 billion. Two former analysts at Och-Ziff, Peter Goodwin and Jonathan Lin, joined Point72 in 2016 as portfolio managers. Goodwin joined in January at the firms New York office, and Lin in August in Hong Kong, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Mark Herr, head of corporate communications at Point72, declined to comment on Gillanderss move. A spokesman for Och-Ziff did not immediately provide comment. The Stamford, Connecticutbased Point72 maintains outposts in New York, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Singapore and has a U.S. stock portfolio valued at $14.2 billion. The firm boosted the head count at its Singapore office last year, hiring nine people in 2016 for a total of 27 employees and moving to a new office with capacity for 60 employees, according to a Point72 press release in November. In just the first eight months of 2016 alone, Bloomberg reported that the family office added 31 people including 21 on the investment side to the three offices in Asia. Whereas Point72 has not said it will manage outside money, Cohens return is widely anticipated. Bloomberg reported that Cohen wrote a memo to the staff in January 2016 saying that although he might not decide to manage money for outside clients, the opportunity is tempting. In early 2016, Cohen formed Stamford Harbor Capital, a new hedge fund to be run by one of his top deputies, Perry Boyle. Under the terms of Cohens settlement with the SEC, he is allowed to own Stamford Harbor but cannot supervise its activities. Some speculate the new hedge fund may be preparing to accept outside money next year. In SACs heyday, Cohen charged a 3 percent management fee and 50 percent incentive fee, despite the longtime industry standard of 2-and-20. The firm made these fees worthwhile, as its flagship fund compounded at 30 percent annually until 2013. Then came the SECs investigation, resulting in nine years in prison for Martoma, whom the government charged with making $275 million from trades based on insider information. Cohen himself neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing. Since then, the Point72 family office has taken measures to beef up compliance and improve its image. Cohen hired Douglas Haynes in 2014 as managing director of human capital, and Haynes is now president of Point72. But as Point72 continues its growth spurt, its doing so in a political environment with a view of Wall Street that is still unclear. President Donald Trumps nominee to head the SEC, Sullivan & Cromwell partner Jay Clayton, will testify before the Senate Banking Committee on March 23. A review of LinkedIn profiles of current Point72 employees turns up at least nine, including Goodwin, who have joined the New York office since the beginning of 2016 in various investment, research, and compliance roles. Two of the most recent hires are Maxim Kesin, now Point72s director of machine learning, and Christina Yang, an analyst. Candidates with quant backgrounds continue to be in high demand, says Michael Castine, a partner at executive recruiting firm Ridgeway Partners. He says that as hedge funds cut back on staff, the entities that are hiring now are family offices, which are becoming trendy places to work. One of the draws of working at a family office which may explain why several people from Och-Ziff moved to Point72 is flexibility in the investments. Predominately, because you dont have to raise assets, depending on the background of the patriarch or matriarch, theyre flexible on where the investment [focus] will be, Castine says. Cohens hiring of quant professionals suggests he sees big data as an important investment edge. Hes putting money into the strategy, too. Cohen has committed to investing as much as $250 million in Boston-based Quantopians trading algorithms, while Point72s venture capital arm has made a $4 million general partner commitment. This content is from: Video The president will take a more aggressive stance with China and Russia if Republicans win the House or the Senate, according to BCA Researchs Matt Gertken. One head is elevated to top post after chair steps down Amanda Whiting, IAG Australian Business Divisions EGM for SME, talks about her start in the insurance industry, how being an SME owner has helped her career, and her love of foodI pretty much started my career in insurance. My first role was a data entry operator for a health insurance company and I have been fortunate enough to work for great companies that have resulted in many career opportunities.Mainly it was around ensuring that we could put customers lives back to where they were before the unexpected happened. I have also really enjoyed being involved in providing service to customers in whatever role I have been in. We are all customers and whenever I experience great service I think to myself wow, I wonder if we do that?The rate of change, particularly in SME businesses, is both a challenge and an opportunity. The shift from insuring assets to insuring intellectual property and liability are emerging. I love the entrepreneurial spirit of SMEs and the way that changes are tackled by the industry. There is definitely an opportunity to help by guiding businesses through the risks we know exist from our 160-plus years of experience.I think being an SME owner myself really showed the daily challenges that businesses face. Relying on repeat customers to drive your livelihood has been an insight and a highlight that I keep close when working for a large organisation. Now having the role of executive general manager for SME and being able to influence our approach is definitely a highlight.We are moving away from covering physical threats and risks to property, to ensuring that customers lives and livelihoods are protected in the non- physical assets such as data - including cyber threat and intellectual property. Robo-advice and artificial intelligence will play a role in the way we provide information and products to our customers, and is already starting to emerge.I would describe myself as a foodie, I love to cook and enjoy eating out, we normally have some sort of house renovation on the go, and anything outdoors.Surrounding myself with the best people, staying close to the customer and passionately making changes to support both has made me very successful. XL Catlin has announced the appointment of a new head of its international cyber and technology, media and telecoms practice.James Tuplin will take on the role and will be responsible for underwriting cyber insurance, as well as professional indemnity for the technology and media sectors.Tuplin will join XL Catlin from QBE s European operations and has nearly 15 years experience in the insurance industry.At QBE, Tuplin was cyber and TMT portfolio manager and helped grow the firms cyber presence. Prior to his time with QBE, Tuplin worked for Allianz and Zurich in a number of roles.Louise Dennerstahl, XL Catlins head of international financial lines insurance, welcomed Tuplin to the business and said that his cyber expertise will help the firm grow its presence in the emerging market internationally.He is a respected figure in the market, known for his expertise in cyber insurance and his knowledge of the technology sector, Dennerstahl said. I am convinced that he has the right skillset to lead our international underwriting efforts successfully for these high profile and complex insurance solutions.The move follows the promotion of Tim McMahon to global chief underwriting officer, property, which the business announced earlier this week. In cooperation with a tech incubator, Aviva Canada recently held an event that tackled technologys disruptive effects on the insurance space.#InsurTechCanada, jointly hosted by Aviva Canada and OneEleven, invited thought leaders,start-ups, venture capitals, auto experts, and tech enthusiasts to share their thoughts about how specific industries could be disrupted by technology.Were thrilled to be partnering with OneEleven on this InsurTech Canada series of events, said Aviva Canada chief information officer Ben Isotta-Riches. Leveraging the power of partnerships and collaboration is in our DNA at Aviva Canada. Weve added tech disruptors to our list of valued partners and together were going to change the industry. This is just the beginning as there will be more insurtech events like these to come.Were extremely excited to partner with Aviva Canada on the event series and hackathon initiative, said OneEleven managing director and entrepreneur in residence Haroon F. Mirza. The success of yesterdays kick-off event shows the value of collaboration between innovation hubs and innovative corporate partners. Were thrilled to play our part to put insurtech on the map in Canada.On the first day of the event, Ted Graham, head of open innovation at General Motors, served as keynote speaker; in his part, he discussed emerging trends in the tech mobility space. Brian Kobus of OMERS Ventures then held a presentation showcasing Canadas current direction with autonomous vehicles. The day was capped off with a showcase of up-and-coming tech start-ups such as Litmus, Netlift and RepairMatch.According to a release, Aviva Canada and OneEleven plan to collaborate on even more projects to offer start-ups the right tools to develop their business ideas in the insurance space. Both companies have announced that they will host a joint Hackathon later this year. Most businesses aren't using best practice controls The future of warfare is hybrid and the future is now, expert says With President Donald J. Trump making moves to change the US tax system, leaders of tax-exempt charitable organizations met in New York City in an effort to arrive at a consensus to propose a regime that would suit their activities.Ray D. Madoff, Boston College Law School professor and tax law expert, organized the meeting, which had room for 26 participants which includes Brian Gallagher , United Way Worldwide chief executive; Nancy Brown, who heads the American Heart Association; and Susan Dreyfus, president and CEO of the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities.Our goal is to provide useful information to non-profit leaders so that they can effectively engage in conversations about tax reform and the non-profit sector, Madoff said in a NonProfit Times report.Among the topics up for discussion in the meeting are donor advised funds, donor intent, excise taxes and asset management and distribution by foundations.The Trump administration is making proposals to adjust the tax regime ruling the non-profit sector, which many feel will limit their giving capacity, the report added.Philanthropy and the charitable sector are the institutional embodiments of societys highest idealsIt is because of these ideals that the government chooses to subsidize charitable activities through the tax code Madoff was quoted as saying in the report. A state contract bridge inspector accused of creating a false safety report for a county bridge has been convicted of a felony. New York Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott announced Monday that Akram Ahmad of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was convicted by a Hamilton County Court jury for offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree. The court says Ahmad fabricated a report he filed after a December 2013 inspection of a bridge over a creek in Hamilton County. State officials say Ahmads report used much of the same language as a 2012 report and listed deficiencies that had been repaired earlier. Ahmad is scheduled for sentencing in June. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics New York Parliament got back to work on Thursday after Londons worst terror attack in more than a decade left four people dead, including the assailant and the police officer he stabbed. Lawmakers, and those investigating the crime scene outside, held a minute of silence as lawmakers returned less than 24 hours after the deadly assault that also put 29 people in hospital, seven with critical injuries. Police, who said the attacker acted alone and was probably inspired by Islamist terrorism, arrested seven people overnight. In New Palace Yard, where the lone strike came to its brutal conclusion, a tent covered the point where the constable died. The ambulance that came to his aid was still there, its door still open. By the gates 48-year-old Kevin Palmer had guarded, 11 investigators in pale blue plastic suits stood in silence. Then, the minute over, they knelt down in a line and continued their fingertip search of the cobbles. Inside, business resumed with questions to Trade Secretary Liam Fox and fellow ministers. The Scottish National Partys trade spokeswoman, Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, appeared to be fighting back tears as she paid tribute to the victims before putting her question. On Wednesday the attack shut down Parliament, leaving hundreds of lawmakers and workers in lockdown for several hours. May was in the lobby of the House of Commons before she was whisked to safety in a Jaguar. A car crashed into railings outside Parliament after running down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. A man with a knife then ran through the gate, assaulted Palmer, and was shot. Among the dead were people on the bridge, and French school children were among those hurt. The location of this attack was no accident, May, dressed in black with a quavering voice, said outside her residence a 10-minute walk from the scene. The terrorists chose to strike at the heart of our capital city. The attack comes amid political and economic uncertainty surrounding plans to start withdrawing from the European Union next week. Its Londons biggest terrorist attack since the multiple bombing of the transport network in 2005, and strikes a symbolic and highly fortified site in the center of London. Brussels Anniversary It was exactly a year since the worst terror attack in Belgiums history, in which 32 people were killed and hundreds more were wounded. It also bore the hallmarks of similar attacks carried out elsewhere in Europe, where vehicles have been used to mow down pedestrians. It comes a day after the U.K. joined the U.S. in unveiling new security measures banning laptops from flights from some Middle Eastern countries. The U.K.s last major terrorist attack was in July 2005, when four radical Islamists targeted morning rush hour, killing 52 civilians. More recently, in June 2016, Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was killed by a right-wing extremist, while in May 2013 a British soldier was stabbed to death outside his southwest London barracks by two men. British police have arrested record numbers on suspected terrorist charges since the countrys terror threat was raised to its second-highest level in August 2014. Rowley said extra police officers, both armed and not, will roam the streets of London and the army will be called upon if needed. The alert level remains unchanged. May struck a defiant tone in addressing the country, urging people to carry on. Tomorrow morning Parliament will meet as normal; we will come together as normal; and Londoners and others from around the world who have come here to visit this great city will get up and go about their day as normal, she said. They will board their trains, they will leave their hotels, they will walk these streets, they will live their lives, and we will all move forward together, never giving in to terror. Related: Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Legislation London A state senator from Fargo says the North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund will not pay a claim from the founder of a former horse racing betting company whose conviction for illegal gambling was overturned. A judge has ruled that Susan Bala is owed more than $13 million in taxes the state collected after she was convicted in 2005 of 12 felony charges. She spent 17 months in federal prison before the conviction was overturned. Democratic Sen. Tim Mathern, a member of the appropriations committee, tells KFGO radio that when interest is figured into the payment, the state will owe millions of dollars beyond the original $13 million figure. Mathern says the source of the funding will probably be determined near the end of the session. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. A fire that leveled a multimillion-dollar apartment building under construction and spread to about two dozen homes in suburban Kansas City, Mo., started when a welder accidentally ignited wooden building materials, fire officials said. More than 100 firefighters battled the blaze at the CityPlace development in Overland Park on March 20 and three were treated for minor injuries. The fire destroyed the four-story apartment building, heavily burned a second and rained burning debris onto a nearby neighborhood, damaging at least 22 other homes. Overland Park Fire Chief Bryan Dehner said the building where the fire started was most vulnerable when the fire happened because it was so early in the construction process that it lacked fire deterrents such as a sprinkler system. A steady wind of 10 to 15 mph also played a role in the spread of the fire, said John Ham, a Kansas City spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Overland Park Fire Marshal Mark Sweany said that a welder accidentally sparked the initial blaze, The Kansas City Star reported. Titan Built LLC, the construction company working on the apartment project, released a statement expressing concern for the health and welfare of employees and surrounding neighbors. Titan Built has meticulous safety protocols in place; in our 42 year history, we have never experienced an incident such as this, the statement said. We are closely working with the fire department and actively participating in the investigation to determine the cause, all toward implementing preventative processes in the future. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Kansas The developer of the Dakota Access pipeline has reported recent coordinated physical attacks on the much-protested line, just as its almost ready to carry oil. Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners didnt give details, but experts say Dakota Access and the rest of the nearly 3 million miles of pipeline that deliver natural gas and petroleum in the U.S. are vulnerable to acts of sabotage. Its a threat that ETP takes seriously enough that it has asked a court to shield details such as spill response plans and features of the four-state pipeline that the company fears could be used against it by activists or terrorists. Here is a look at some pipeline security issues: Recent Attacks Authorities in South Dakota and Iowa confirmed that someone apparently used a torch to burn a hole through empty sections of the pipeline at aboveground shut-off valve sites. Mahaska County Sheriff Russell Van Renterghem said the culprit in Iowa appeared to have gotten under a fence around the facility, but Lincoln County Sheriffs Deputy Chad Brown said the site in South Dakota wasnt fenced. The Iowa incident was discovered March 13 and the South Dakota incident on March 17. Pipeline operators are asked to report security breaches to the National Response Center. Data on the centers website show no reports from ETP this month. The $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline runs 1,200 miles through the Dakotas, Iowa and Illinois. How Do You Attack a Pipeline? Because pipelines mainly run underground, aboveground shut-off valves are natural targets, according to Jay OHara, a spokesman for the environmental group Climate Direct Action. That group targeted valves on pipelines in October in North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and Washington state, though the pipeline companies said activists didnt succeed because none of the sites were operating when the attacks happened. Explosives, firearms and heavy machinery also have been used to try to sabotage pipelines. Securing pipelines is difficult because they often travel long distances through remote and even uninhabited territory, said Kelly Sundberg, a professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, who studies energy infrastructure security and environmental crime. The Danger Sundberg said its stupid and dangerous to tamper with pipeline shut-off valves. Modern oil pipelines are incredibly sophisticated systems that move huge volumes of petrochemicals at high pressures, he said. Simply closing a valve can cause the pressure upstream to increase quickly, creating a significant risk of a spill that endangers the environment and anyone in the area where the pipe suddenly bursts, he said. In response to the October incidents, federal regulators issued a bulletin warning that tampering with pipeline valves can have significant consequences such as death, injury, and economic and environmental harm. Sundberg also said that its ironic for people who say theyre concerned about the environment to take an action that could cause an environmental disaster. But OHara said: The hypocrisy really lies in the pipeline corporations who say their pipelines are safe, say leaks dont happen. They blame activists who are trying to stop global cataclysm by taking action to point out what they do every day, which is leak and spill. Someone who targets a pipeline facility in the U.S. could face up to 20 years in prison. Whos Responsible for the Recent Attacks? No suspects have been identified in either state and no group has claimed responsibility OHara told The Associated Press that Climate Direct Action wasnt involved in any actions against the Dakota Access pipeline. Attorneys for the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes, which are leading the legal battle against the pipeline, said the tribes dont condone acts of violence against pipeline property. How Frequently Does Pipeline Sabotage Occur? Not very often, Sundberg said. It happens more frequently in Canada than the U.S. Its generally committed by people trying to make an environmental point. It would be very scary if terrorist groups tried it in North America, he said. Some of the worst incidents in the U.S. were on the Trans Alaska Pipeline. Vandals blew up a section in 1978, spilling about 16,000 barrels of oil near Fairbanks. In 2001, a drunken man fired a hunting rifle into the pipeline near Livengood, causing more than 6,000 barrels to spray out. Some of the most notable incidents in Canada happened in the 1990s and 2000s in Alberta and British Columbia. A series of bombings in 2008-09 targeted pipelines in British Columbia. Weibo Ludwig, an Alberta man who crusaded against the extraction of sour gas containing high amounts of hydrogen sulfide, was convicted in several of the 1990s acts of vandalism. He was arrested but never charged in the later attacks. Pipeline sabotage happens with some regularity in war zones. Iraqi insurgents, Colombian rebels and Mexican guerrillas all have claimed responsibility for pipeline attacks in recent decades. Karnowski reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press news researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this story from New York, and reporter David Pitt contributed from Des Moines, Iowa. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics USA Energy Oil Gas Pollution Iowa Chubb has introduced a new online system for independent agents that will quote and issue a comprehensive workers compensation policy for small businesses. Chubbs workers compensation policy for small business owners targets a range of industries, with coverage features such as: Coverage for small businesses with as few as one employee up to businesses with revenues of $10 million Small business protection for medical expenses and lost wages to employees Coverage options such as waiver of subrogation and various employer liability limits 24/7 automated system access with the ability to generate a quote and issue a policy in minutes Chubbs workers compensation policy for small businesses can be combined with Chubbs business owners policy to provide customers broad coverage and Chubbs policy and claim service capabilities. Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance. Topics Agencies Workers' Compensation Commercial Lines Business Insurance Chubb President Donald Trumps nominee for labor secretary expressed support for increasing the salary threshold at which overtime currently must be paid to employees, but criticized the doubling in the rate put in place by the Obama administration. During Alexander Acostas confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Wednesday, Chairman Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, criticized the Obama administrations move to extend overtime benefits to millions more workers and pressed Acosta on his views. Acosta said it was unfortunate that such a threshold could go unchanged since 2004, but that doubling the limit as President Barack Obama attempted does create what Ill call a stress on the system. The rule is currently blocked in court, and Acosta declined to commit to defend it there. 150 Million Workers During his three-hour hearing, Acosta avoided being pinned down on the overtime rule or the fate of particular programs or agencies under Trumps proposed 21 percent cut in the departments funding. Asked by New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan about potential cuts to Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors ranks, he answered, Can I commit to no less than current levels? Thats a very precise statement and something is going to have to give somewhere in the budget. Republicans on the panel praised Acosta and appeared to be ready to vote next week to send his nomination to the full Senate, but Democrats wanted more direct answers and subjected the former Florida prosecutor to sometimes heated questioning. You may not want to answer my questions, but there are about 150 million American workers who are pretty interested in the answers to these questions, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said in the last minutes of the hearing, after unsuccessfully seeking commitments on overtime, the fiduciary rule for financial advisers and workplace safety. If you cant give them straight answers on your views on this not hide behind an executive order - your views on this, and commit to stand up for workers on these obvious and very important issues, then I dont have any confidence youre the right person for the job. Overtime Rule Senators from both parties sought to pin Acosta down on how we would handle the overtime rule, without great success. Acosta told South Carolina Republican Tim Scott that he understood the senators desire to know what he would do, but this is an incredibly complicated rule, he said. What I would say is I understand the extreme economic impact that a doubling has in certain parts of the economy, Acosta said. Because of the size of the increase there are serious questions as to whether the Secretary of Labor even has the power to enact this in the first place. That did not seem to satisfy Scott, who told the nominee, These are things that you should be contemplating already. Asked about the issue by Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the committees ranking Democrat, Acosta said he was very sensitive to the fact that it hasnt been updated since 2004. We now see an update that is a very large revision and something that needs to be considered is the impact it has on the economy, on nonprofits, on geographic areas that have lower wages. Fiery Exchange In a fiery exchange, Warren pressed Acosta repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, to commit to leave in place the rule enacted under Obama making standards more stringent for exposure to cancer-causing silica dust. Acosta told her he cant make a commitment because the White House has ordered review of regulations. Warren expressed disbelief to Acosta that you want to be Secretary of Labor but you have no opinion on the issue. Warren also criticized Acostas unwillingness to say whether he would defend the overtime rule in court, saying, Youve had time to take a look at it and its not a long ruling. Trump tapped Acosta Feb. 16 to replace his first nominee, CKE Restaurants Inc. CEO Andrew Puzder, who withdrew amid controversies including his past employment of an undocumented housekeeper, a domestic-abuse accusation in his divorce proceedings and alleged labor law violations at CKEs Hardees and Carls Jr. brands. Acosta arrives with much less personal controversy. Hes also been less outspoken than Puzder, a frequent media commentator, about Labor Department issues. During his testimony, Acosta touted his paycheck to paycheck upbringing, and he promised to fairly enforce the law as senators pressed him on overtime rules and political pressure on hiring. As a former prosecutor, my enforcement efforts will always be on the side of the law, Acosta said. Two Republican senators and former presidential candidates, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, introduced Acosta to the committee prior to his opening statement. He has a sterling record of public service to our state and country, Rubio told his colleagues, adding that he has continuously demonstrated his ability to effectively tackle the problems at hand with ease. Cruz praised him as a man of character and a man who has a passion for justice, saying he has an impeccable record in each of his past public service jobs. Acosta, the Florida International University law school dean, described for senators how his parents fled Cuba in search of freedom, then worked as a typist and inventory clerk to support him. They were able to give me these opportunities they did not have because though they didnt have a college education, they had something very important and thats a job,he said. He emphasized his concern about the so-called skills gap between workers skills and employers needs; his commitment to enforce workplace safety laws; and his intent to be an advocate for the American workforce within the Trump administration. He cited the support his nomination has drawn from some unions familiar with his past government work. They know that while we did not always agree, I was always willing to listen and to consider and to seek principled solutions, he said. Bush Appointments Before taking the law school job, Acosta was appointed by George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate for three past positions: member of the National Labor Relations Board, head of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, and U.S. attorney. Labor groups, who helped defeat Puzder, have been far more conciliatory toward his replacement. A few unions, including the Laborers International Union of North America and the International Association of Fire Fighters, have already endorsed Acostas nomination. But his performance on Wednesday was panned by the AFL-CIO, whose president Richard Trumka said it raises serious questions and doubts whether he is committed to making life better for working families. Trumka, who has praised Acostas qualifications, said in a statement that the nominee today offered no indication that he would use those qualifications to stand up for workers. Democratic senators werent sold on Acostas responses at the hearing. Im digesting still, Virginias Tim Kaine said when asked his view after the hearing ended. Im not ready to really say. During the hearing, Murray asked him to commit to preserve the funds for the departments Womens Bureau. But Acosta told her, I believe in a unitary executive, so I dont think any cabinet secretary can make commitments, because ultimately, you have a boss. Murray responded, Thats what worries me. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. The White House is talking with House conservatives about last-minute changes to the embattled GOP health-care bill aimed at wooing enough holdouts to secure House passage. Lawmakers and Trump administration officials are discussing revisions to essential benefits requirements in Obamacare, according to members of Congress and a White House official familiar with the discussions. The negotiations dragged late into Wednesday night, and Republicans postponed until Thursday a key procedural step before the bill gets to the floor. Holdouts in the House Freedom Caucus also pushed for changes in Obamacares requirements that insurers cover people with pre-existing conditions, but the White House gave them a hard no, according to a White House official. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, disputed that. Addressing pre-existing conditions has always been a requirement for any replacement plan that HFC would support, he said late Wednesday. Meadows said that there was no deal yet with the White House, and that it was too early to tell if one would be reached overnight or Thursday. Members of the Freedom Caucus are scheduled to go to the White House Thursday morning, the same day the House is scheduled to vote on the measure. The president and I came to an agreement in principle, Meadows told Fox News late Wednesday. What were trying to do now is to make sure that that our agreement is something that can be executed in a way that passes the Senate. Last Procedural Step The House Rules Committee, which will make final changes to the bill before it gets a floor vote, postponed a session that lasted for more than 12 hours on Wednesday as the talks with the conservatives dragged on. The committee plans to reconvene Thursday, finalize changes to the bill and set the rules for how it will be debated in the full House. President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan have been working to win over conservative rebels who stand in the way of their Obamacare replacement measure. Late Wednesday, Meadows said there are signs of movement. Im very encouraged that we might be seeing some real headway, he told reporters. I can tell you this, the message needs to be that the president is fully engaged in making a big difference. Earlier Meadows had said the measure lacked enough votes for passage. Losing Moderates? Yet as Trump and Ryan pick up conservative members with some of the potential changes, they risk losing moderates. Republican Representative Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, leader of the moderate Tuesday Group in the House, said Wednesday night he would oppose the bill. I believe this bill, in its current form, will lead to the loss of coverage and make insurance unaffordable for too many Americans, particularly for low-to-moderate income and older individuals, he said in a statement. Meadows and other conservative Freedom Caucus members have been demanding changes to the essential benefits portion of the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to cover 10 categories of services. Those services include hospitalization, ambulance services, maternity care, pediatric services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, prescription drugs, rehabilitative care and laboratory services. The goal of limiting the required essential health benefits would be to bring down health insurance premiums. Senate Rules Its unclear whether changes to these requirements could survive procedural challenges in the Senate. What the proponents arent telling conservative House Republicans is that the plan to repeal essential health benefits will almost certainly not be permissible under Senate reconciliation rules, Matt House, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, said in a statement late Wednesday. It will require 60 votes to repeal these protections, and the votes just arent there in the Senate. Earlier Wednesday, Alyssa Farah, a spokeswoman for the Freedom Caucus, wrote on Twitter that more than 25 members of the group remain opposed enough to defeat the bill and that GOP leaders should start over. Trump met with nearly a dozen Republican lawmakers Wednesday morning who still have concerns about the legislation. Separately, about 26 Republicans met with senior White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence. To the Closer Were bringing them to the closer, Representative Patrick McHenry, a senior member of the House GOP vote-counting team, told reporters at the White House, referring to Trump. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer noted that at least two lawmakers who had expressed reservations as recently as Tuesday are now backing the bill. I think the trajectory is going very well for us, he told reporters. This is the only way that we will repeal and replace Obamacare. But the Freedom Caucus has said that the current bill is not a complete enough repeal of the health-care law. The floor vote scheduled for Thursday could be the first sign of whether the caucus will be able to enforce its conservative principles in the age of Trump. How can you talk about repealing the ACA, Obamacare, without repealing the essential benefits and the guaranteed issue? Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania said, referring to the required benefit packages under the Affordable Care Act and the laws preexisting condition rules. Freedom Caucus members said White House officials made the pitch that conservatives should pass the bill so that the Senate can amend it and address their concerns, but several lawmakers said they werent buying it. Pence made a play for more support for the bill based on the Senate being able to change it, Representative Randy Weber said in an interview, adding that hes still a no. Thats a hard row to hoe. Because wed like for it to be as strong as possible going over to the Senate, he added. Do It Now Weber said many Republicans were elected to Congress because of Obamacare, and said they cant wait years for costs to come down. In 10 years none of us will be here, he said. Probably at this rate, in two years none of us will be here. If the Freedom Caucus is unable to win major changes or block the measure it could mark a double victory for Ryan by diminishing the influence of a group that led the ouster of his predecessor, John Boehner. Indeed, a Republican aide said that House leaders see the prospect of damaging the clout of the Freedom Caucus as a satisfying byproduct of passing the health-care measure. Last Holdouts So far, about a dozen members of the Freedom Caucus have come around to embrace the bill. The group claims to have roughly 40 members, but doesnt publish an official roster. Whether any of the Freedom Caucuss remaining holdouts will drop their opposition to the health-care measure before Thursdays vote will determine the outcome. Those holdouts are being cheered on by several Senate conservatives, including Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah. Meadows was singled out as a holdout by Trump during a closed-door meeting with House Republicans Tuesday morning. Representative Richard Hudson, a Republican from North Carolina, said the Freedom Caucus will damage itself if it ends up blocking the measure, though he predicts most members eventually will come on board. How can they go back and face their constituents if theyre the reason we didnt get the most significant entitlement reform in a generation, if theyre the reason we didnt keep our promise of repealing Obamacare, Hudson said. It defies me to understand where theyre coming from. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Legislation Politics An attorney for the estate of a man who was naked and paralyzed when he died in a cell in the Tulsa County (Oklahoma) Jails medical unit hailed a jurys $10.25 million verdict in a federal civil rights trial. The jury deliberated for about 10 hours over two days before returning its verdict on March 20 that the sheriffs office and former Sheriff Stanley Glanz violated Elliott Williams civil rights, the Tulsa World reported. I just hope that the county takes it seriously and they do something, said Dan Smolen, an attorney for the Williams estate. The jury ordered the sheriffs office and Glanz to pay $10 million in compensatory damages to the Williams estate. It also ordered Glanz, who was sued in his private capacity, to pay $250,000 in punitive damages. Glanz was the only defendant subject to the punitive damages claim. Attorney Guy Fortney, who represented Glanz and the sheriffs office, said he was disappointed and would meet with current Sheriff Vic Regaldo to discuss a possible appeal. Glanz and Regalado declined to comment. Williams brother, Kevin Williams, said he was satisfied with the jurys decision, but he called for criminal charges to be filed. No amount of money is going to bring him back, Kevin Williams said of his brother. People need to be going to jail. There needs to be criminal charges filed. The jury found that the county was indifferent to Williams when he was in jail and also to problems that have existed in the jail for decades, Smolen said. An autopsy found that Williams death on Oct. 27, 2011, was due to complications from a broken neck and that he exhibited signs of dehydration. A surveillance camera that medical staff attempted to use to prove whether Williams was faking his paralysis captured video of the 51 hours he lay helpless on the floor of the cell, and an edited portion of the footage was shown to jurors during the trial. The video shows food trays being tossed on the floor at his feet and a cup of water being placed on the floor out of his reach. Williams arrived at the jail Oct. 21, 2011, following an altercation with Owasso police. According to testimony and court records, Williams suffered a mental breakdown stemming from his separation from his wife and his mothers cancer diagnosis. Owasso officers pepper-sprayed and arrested the 37-year-old man on an obstruction complaint when he reportedly took a step toward them and said he wanted to be shot. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Oklahoma Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. has agreed to pay $1.6 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over a 2013 security breach that exposed the credit and debit card data of about 350,000 shoppers. Court documents show the Dallas-based luxury retailer filed the settlement agreement on March 17 seeking approval from a federal judge in Chicago, where the lawsuit was filed in March 2014. Neiman Marcus has said its credit card processor notified the retailer in mid-December 2013 about a breach involving some in-store purchases. Thieves stole some customer payment information and made unauthorized charges. Neiman Marcus announced the breach in January 2014. Some customers sued, alleging negligence. Company spokeswoman Ginger Reeder declined comment on the ongoing litigation. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Texas A resident in Orange County, Florida, is alleged to have committed an insurance scheme that included having his car stolen and destroyed to collect an insurance payout. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater announced the recent arrest of Michael Abrams on charges of arson, insurance fraud and grand theft after he was accused of devising a plan to have his 2016 Toyota Camry stolen and destroyed so that he could collect insurance. In early December 2016, Orange County Fire Rescue (OCFR) responded to a fire scene involving a vehicle that had reportedly been stolen in the state of New York. When OCFR requested the assistance of the Florida State Fire Marshals Office to determine the cause and origin of the fire, investigators began to unravel Abrams story. During interviews with investigators, Abrams admitted to paying an unknown male $300 to take and destroy his car. After reporting it stolen, Abrams filed an insurance claim totaling $10,000. The plan to destroy the car by setting it on fire; however, was interrupted when the fire department was called to the scene of the crime. Upon confessing to an active role in the burning of his car and the filing of an unlawful insurance claim, Abrams was arrested and charged with several felonies. Abrams was booked into the Orange County Jail, bail was set at $50,000, and he faces 20 years in prison if convicted. More often than not, acts of arson are committed in order to collect insurance payouts or to cover up a larger crime, said Atwater. To concoct the plan that he did is an elaborate act of fraudone that undoubtedly drives up the cost of insurance for every Floridian. Im proud of our investigative team for getting to the truth and putting this man behind bars where he belongs. Source: Florida Department of Financial Services Topics Florida Auto Panoramica privacy Questo sito web utilizza i cookies per fornire all'utente la miglior esperienza di navigazione possibile. L'informazione dei cookie e memorizzata nel browser dell' utente, svolge funzioni di riconoscimento quando l' utente ritorna nel sito e permette di sapere quali sezioni del sito sono ritenute piu interessanti e utili. The Regional Meeting of Young Parliamentarians of the Asia-Pacific will take place on 25 and 26 April 2017 at the Hilton Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Jointly organized by the IPU, the Parliament of Sri Lanka and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Meeting will be on The role of young parliamentarians in advancing inclusive and peaceful societies and preventing violent extremism. In recent years, the world has witnessed new waves of violent extremism that have taken the lives of many innocent people. Preventing violent extremism (PVE) must now go beyond adopting traditional short-term, security-orientated strategies. The world now needs strategies which incorporate long-term changes at the structural level by eliminating inequalities and marginalization and promoting peace and tolerance, all efforts to which young people have to be able to contribute. Parliaments, and especially young parliamentarians, have a key role to play in in advancing inclusive and peaceful societies and preventing violent extremism. This Meeting will build awareness of PVE issues and identify parliamentary action to be taken by young parliamentarians. It will empower young parliamentarians by building their capacities and offering them opportunities for networking and cooperation. The Meeting is open to young men and women members of national parliaments in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as IPU observers and selected youth organizations, networks and associations. The Meeting will be conducted in English. Update 5.50pm: Delivering the graveside oration for Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams appealed for his legacy to be built on by achieving equality and freedom in Ireland. Deputy Adams began by describing the loss being felt by so many people today. This week, Ireland lost a hero. "Derry lost a son. Sinn Fein lost a leader and I lost a dear friend and a comrade, but Martins family has suffered the biggest loss of all. They have lost a loving, caring, dedicated husband, father and grandfather, a brother and an uncle. Gerry Adams oration at graveside of Martin McGuinness https://t.co/pZ4nN17p3I Gerry Adams (@GerryAdamsSF) March 23, 2017 In a concise and eloquent speech, Gerry Adams concluded by reaching out to unionists. So, here at the graveside of this good man, let me appeal to our unionist neighbours. Let us learn to like each other, to be friends, to celebrate and enjoy our differences and to do so on the basis of common sense, respect and tolerance for each other and everyone else as equals. Let me appeal also to nationalists and republicans; do nothing to disrespect our unionist neighbours or anyone else. . @GerryAdamsSF says he encouraged @M_McGuinness_SF to write a childhood memoir when he was sick, but illness progressed too quickly Mark Devenport (@markdevenport) March 23, 2017 Stand against bigotry. Stand against sectarianism. Respect our unionist neighbours. Reach out to them. Gerry Adams delivers eulogy at graveside: There was not a bad #MartinMcGuinness or a good Martin McGuinness. Simply a man, doing his best. pic.twitter.com/fexeJ2vSs6 Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) March 23, 2017 Lead, as Martin led, by example. Update 4pm: The funeral of Martin McGuinness has heard that the best tribute to his legacy would be to continue and complete the work of peace. That is according to former US president Bill Clinton, who also thanked DUP leader Arlene Foster for attending the funeral. Bill Clinton says "those who have legitimate grief on both sides must embrace the future together" pic.twitter.com/EA7ofDlEpC RTE News (@rtenews) March 23, 2017 Mr. Clinton also prompted applause for Taoiseach Enda Kenny for his comments about immigration in Washington on St Patricks Day. Bill Clinton is now speaking about McGuinness, has drawn laughter four times already. Mutual love between crowds here and Clinton is clear. Ronan Duffy (@ronanduffy_) March 23, 2017 Martin McGuinnesss remains will shortly be removed to the City Cemetery in Derry, where thousands of people lined the streets to watch his remains pass by. They asked me to speak for three minutes. He could do it in 30 seconds. Bill Clinton pic.twitter.com/QV9fwOqwMp RTE News (@rtenews) March 23, 2017 Giving the final eulogy, Clinton tried to give the eulogy McGuinness would have given for himself: Bill Clinton's full speech at the funeral of Martin McGuinness https://t.co/9poLXrLATi RTE News (@rtenews) March 23, 2017 Watch a live stream of the funeral here: Update 2.55pmMartin McGuinnesss funeral mass has heard he was a remarkable man and his life was a remarkable journey. Thousands of people followed his tricolour-draped coffin through the Bogside to St Columbas Church. Former US President Bill Clinton, former SDLP Leader John Hume and DUP Leader Arlene Foster are among those in attendance. Martin McGuinnesss wife Bernie (centre) follows his coffin is it arrives at St Columbas Church . Martin McGuinness will be laid to rest in City Cemetery later - following a graveside oration by Gerry Adams. Opening the funeral mass - Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown said the best legacy to Martin McGuinness was the congregation of all faiths and backgrounds. It is a tribute to those who didnt just talk the talk but walked the walk of implementing the Good Friday Agreement, that all three of those strands are so well represented here this afternoon. The Northern Ireland strand, leaders of a number of parties - it is wonderful to have you here, thank you for coming. The funeral of Northern Irelands former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness takes place at St Columbas Church Long Tower. Chief Celebrant Fr Michael Canny said the scene at St Columbas church would have been unthinkable a generation ago. The presence of political rivals and opponents among you who have come to pay your respects this afternoon - your coming is the most eloquent testimony to the memory of Martin McGuinness. When you seek a monument for the man who brought us here today, look around you. By your presence, you are his monument. Update 1.50pm: The coffin of Martin McGuinness has left his home in Derrys Bogside ahead of his funeral. A piper played as his coffin was carried onto the street where a tricolour flag was placed on top by members of Sinn Fein. The crowd broke into applause as family members slowly carried the coffin along the street. Mr McGuinness wife Bernie carried the coffin as it made its way along part of the route the civil rights march took on Bloody Sunday in 1972. Martin McGuinness coffin is carried into the Bogside. Picture: PA The procession then made its way past the iconic Free Derry Wall mural. After a slow walk through the streets, the funeral procession arrived at the church an hour after leaving the family home. Thousands gathered outside the church broke into applause as the procession entered church grounds. He will soon be laid to rest at City Cemetery, with a final farewell being led by Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams in a graveside oration. Sinn Feins Michelle ONeill (front), Mary Lou McDonald (middle) and Gerry Adams (back), carry the coffin during the funeral procession of Martin McGuinness, ahead of his funeral at St Columbas Church Long Tower. Picture: PA Thousands packed the streets as the body of the former Stormont deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander left his street for the final time. President Michael D Higgins and his predecessor, Mary McAleese, are attending the funeral, as is Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Former US president Bill Clinton and ex-Democratic Unionist Stormont first ministers Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster are also attending the Requiem Mass in Derry for the Sinn Fein veteran. A piper continued to play as the coffin was carried down the hill, through the former first ministers beloved city. The funeral procession stopped and the coffin was then handed over to be carried by members of Sinn Fein leadership, including Gerry Adams and Michelle ONeill. The 66-year-old died on Tuesday from a rare heart condition. Mr McGuinnesss beloved Bogside neighbourhood came to a standstill as his remains were walked to the Long Tower church. Martin McGuinness coffin is carried down Westland Street into the Bogside in Derry ahead of his funeral today. Picture: PA There was a round of applause inside the church as Mrs Foster took her seat. The symbolism of the leader of unionism attending a former IRA mans funeral is highly significant - even more so in Mrs Fosters case, as her father survived an IRA murder bid during the Troubles and she herself was on a school bus caught up in an IRA bombing as a child. Crowds outside the church applauded when Mr Clinton arrived. Earlier: Thousands of people will turn out in the City of Derry today for the funeral of Martin McGuinness. The former IRA commander turned Deputy First Minister died from a rare heart condition on Tuesday aged 66. An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, President Michael D Higgins, his predecessor Mary McAleese, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair will be among those at Requiem mass at St Columbas Church at 2pm today. A woman signs a book of condolence for Martin McGuinness at the Mansion House in Dublin. Pixcture: PA It will be the second funeral of the day attended by the President, who will also go to footballer Ryan McBrides service in Derry this morning. Mr McGuinnesss beloved Bogside neighbourhood will come to a standstill during this afternoons service at the Long Tower church. It is set to be an extraordinary day of mourning in Derry. Hours before Mr McGuinnesss funeral, the same church will witness the funeral of the popular captain of Derry City FC Ryan McBride, 27, was found dead in his bed on Sunday. Mr McGuinnesss death came in the midst of a political crisis at Stormont, with talks ongoing to form a new powersharing executive following the acrimonious collapse of the last administration. Politicians from both sides of the Norths community divide will attend his funeral. Former Democratic Unionist leader Mr Robinson is expected to be there, while it is understood that DUP leader Arlene Foster will also attend. The former First Minister still hadnt confirmed her attendance by late last night. Though thousands of supporters have lauded the legacy of Mr McGuinness, his death has drawn a very different response from many victims of the IRA, with some bereaved relatives not prepared to forgive him for his paramilitary past. Many political leaders at Westminster and Belfast commended his contribution to the peace process. British Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament she could never condone the ex-IRA commanders violent past but she credited his "indispensable" role in moving the Republican movement away from armed conflict. At a special session of the Stormont Assembly, Mr McGuinnesss Sinn Fein successor Michelle ONeill paid an emotional tribute while Mrs Foster acknowledged that Northern Ireland would "never see his like again". Mrs ONeill told the Assembly her heart was broken yet bursting with pride. "The legacy that Martin wished was for a better future based on equality and measured by the joy and laughter of all of our children," she said. "So, on behalf of Sinn Fein I rededicate our party to completing his lifes work and to living through his legacy." Mrs Foster said Mr McGuinnesss legacy was "complex and challenging". "Things have fundamentally changed since I was growing up in the 70s and 80s and changed immeasurably for the better and Martin McGuinness did play a role which I will always condemn in the 70s and 80s, but I also have to acknowledge the role that he played over this last decade and more in government in Northern Ireland," she said. Mr McGuinness completed an extraordinary political journey from an IRA leader in Derry to sharing power and a remarkable friendship with his erstwhile foe, DUP leader Dr Ian Paisley. He also struck up a warm relationship with the Queen, whom he praised for her contribution to peace. She is to send a personal message to Mr McGuinnesss family. Mr McGuinnesss last major act as a politician was to pull down the powersharing executive at Stormont when he resigned as deputy first minister in January in protest at the DUPs handling of a green energy scandal. Update: 11.40pm: The NBRU has written to the acting CEO of Bus Eireann regarding the companies intention to implement cost-cutting measures. The letter, signed by NBRU General secretary Dermot O'Leary, alluded that Bus Eireann has not been factual with their account of Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) talks with the unions. Addressed to Ray Hernan, the letter stated that the 'accusation' by Bus Eireann that 'there was a refusal at the WRC to accept any reductions of earnings, including unnecessary overtime earnings is untrue. According to this correspondence, both the NBRU and their SIPTU colleagues have accepted the need for a reduction in payroll. The union outlined what they feel is the companies responsibility to provide leadership in relation to the treatment of workers, something which is currently thought to be lacking. The NBRU also said the bus company have annoyed their members by looking for a 'quick fix' to the problems faced by the national transport provider. The Trade Union Group is to meet tomorrow at 12pm, when they will decide their next move in reaction to what they deem an 'appalling attack' by Bus Eireann on its employees. Earlier: Bus Eireann has said there is now "no basis" for reconvening talks with unions and are to implement a list of cost-cutting measures immediately, writes Elaine Loughlin. The move is likely to now spark an all-out bus strike. In a letter to staff, Bus Eireann management has said it is "deeply disappointing" that it could not reach agreement with unions and "difficult decisions must subsequently be taken to safeguard our Companys future". "Given the unions current position, there is no prospect of the situation changing and, as a result, no basis for talks reconvening," Bus Eireann acting CEO Ray Hernan stated. Meanwhile Transport Minister Shane Ross has said he will only talk to Bus Eireann unions and management once the industrial dispute at the company is solved. Mr Ross has told the Dail that his intention during the dispute is "to keep as far away from it as possible and to leave it to the two parties involved". Writing to staff this afternoon, Mr Hernan said an overall review of the company structure is almost complete but will result in "job losses in some areas but will also provide opportunities in others". He then outlined 46 measures that will be implemented "immediately". These include a ban on all unplanned and un-rostered overtime, stricter controls around bus hire and the elimination of "non-essential spend". Staff will no longer be allowed to carry over annual leave which has not been used. While recent Central Bank figures found that perception by Irish SMEs of the willingness of banks to provide them with credit have improved considerably in the past three years, other surveys show access to finance is still a high concern for about one-third of Irish small businesses. This is why SMEs are looking beyond their banks for alternative sources of funding. Among these options is peer-to-peer lending. The largest platform Linked Finance launched in 2013 and rival Grid Finance arriving the following year. Peer-to-peer lending works by matching investors with small businesses in need of loans. Using their own capital and a priming grant from their Local Enterprise Office, Barry ONeill and his brothers Padhraig and Brian founded craft brewery O Brother over two years ago. When the brothers were looking to raise 20,000 to renovate the brewery for visitors, they contacted Linked Finance, having heard positive accounts of peer-to-peer lending from friends. They found the rates and the levels were better, or comparable to what banks were offering, Barry ONeill said. Describing the process as a sort of inverted auction, he said: You put up your published financials, the purpose of the loan, you decide on the payback period and your desired rate. The exposure for O Brother, which supplies about 80 pubs and restaurants across Ireland, the UK, and Italy, appealed to Mr ONeill. The lenders are essentially our target customers, he said. They get a good return on their investment, they tell their family and friends, and when they go into a bar theyll try our beer. Its a win-win for everybody. There are other funding sources. Small businesses can access a range of loans, supports and grants from Enterprise Ireland, Local Enterprise Offices, business innovation programmes through universities, and various State departments. A while back, food business graduate and mother Veronica Kenneally saw a gap in the market for healthy snacks. Veronicas Snacks, which include Crunchy Creatures, baked, dinosaur-shaped corn snacks, were already on supermarket shelves around the country, and having self-funded the initial stages, including the massive costs of promotion and marketing, she had the opportunity to expand into the UK. Ms Kenneally was getting frustrated with the 10-week wait for a decision on an application for a bank overdraft when a friend pointed her towards Microfinance Ireland, a government initiative to provide loans to small businesses. She received a loan of 25,000 and was impressed with the fast turnaround. The process could not have been simpler, she said, adding that it took less than three weeks. The loan allowed her to continue to grow her business. Another source is crowdfunding. The idea behind crowdfunding is to pair donors with small businesses, charities or arts events who want to raise funds for a project or campaign. Platforms include Fundit, iDonate, and Seedups. Art teacher Joanne Condon who runs upcycling furniture shop, Kyle Lane, in Clonmel Co Tipperary, considered crowdfunding after a book she had illustrated had a successful campaign on Fundit. She put on workshops to test demand for her own book. The first five sold out and the feedback convinced Ms Condon that there was a market. You price everything so you know how much you need to raise. Then you offer rewards, Ms Condon said, explaining that rewards, which are scalable, included copies of the book, workshops, and interior design consultations. Setting her target at 12,000 after factoring in the cost of photography, editing, design, printing, and promotion for 1,000 books, she exceeded that target to raise over 14,000 through 156 funders. One of the benefits in raising funds this way is the additional marketing that comes with it, she said. Youve already a client base and your book is marketed before its out. Other SMEs look to angel investors for their early investments. The benefits for the business is that the investor can tap know-how that should allow the business to grow. Richard Barrett and Ross ODwyer launched sports news website Pundit Arena, raising 650,000 through investors. Some 60,000 came from investors through the Halo Business Angel Network, an all-island initiative by Enterprise Ireland and InterTrade Ireland. Mr Barrett said the potential was apparent from the start. In our infancy, we had a couple of 100,000 users per month and it was growing. Current users stand at 2.6m per month and 29m on social media. An investor in the business, Colm Lyon, sold global payments company Realex Payments for 120m in 2015. The attraction of having such business angels onboard is the experience they bring. He built his business from nothing. Having people like him and John Lamphiere has been way more valuable to us than any amount of cash, Mr Barrett said. In its latest economic outlook, the think-tank believes the conditions that ended in the disastrous property crash a decade ago could start fermenting again as the economy sucks in more jobs to build houses. Research professor Kieran McQuinn said the fast-growing construction industry could place the economy on the horns of a dilemma. Thats because new homes are needed to meet current huge shortages but the economy could not again risk devoting a lot of resources on construction. Citing surveys showing a large pick-up in construction jobs, he said the trigger could be as the jobless rate fell in the coming years below 5.5%, at a time when building houses could continue to attract more workers. Amid strong growth in employment, the jobless rate currently stands at 6.6%. The think-tank had focused on the housing market to flag up the potential that construction would again go through the same cycle when in the past it drove everything, Mr McQuinn said. For that reason, politicians should avoid the temptations to ramp up spending even as the domestic economy generates more tax revenues. Instead of tapping the revenues, spending may need to be reined in. It forecasts housing completions of 18,500 units this year and 25,000 completions in 2018. The ESRI said: It is more than likely that the construction sector will assume a growing importance in the domestic economy over the medium term. While this reflects the fact that housing supply is still somewhat below estimated levels of housing demand in the economy, it is important to remember the imbalances which emerged in the Irish economy prior to 2007. Not alone did the housing bubble have severe consequences for the banking sector, but overall economic activity was distorted in a number of ways by the disproportionate significance of the construction sector. Nonetheless, the latest quarterly report projects a healthy snapshot of the economy, in the short term. It forecasts GDP will expand at a slightly-faster pace of 3.8% this year and 3.6% in 2018. Exports will continue to grow in the short term but increasingly, demand at home will drive the economy. Unemployment will fall to 5.6% in the last few months of 2018, it forecast. Once the jobless rate falls below 5.5%, the economy may enter the start of an overheating phase, the think-tank believes. In the longer term, the economy faces turbulence. The UKs determination of staying out of the EUs customs union points to a hard Irish border, implying large effects on food producers, tourism and other industries, North and South. Dublin may benefit overall from Brexit if it were to lure banks leaving London, but other regions which are dependent on the food industries, including the border counties, north Cork and Tipperary could be adversely affected. The America First trade policies of President Donald Trumps White House pose further challenges, the ESRI predicts. In his first major Brexit speech this year, the European Commissions lead Brexit negotiator said the UK must honour its EU budget pledges and wont be allowed to simply opt into the bits of the single market it likes. A scenario where there is no agreement, a no-deal scenario, is not ours, Michel Barnier told a gathering of regional lawmakers in Brussels yesterday. We want an agreement. We want to succeed, succeed not against the British, but with them, Mr Barnier added. He insisted a new EU-UK trade deal and transitional arrangements to ensure a smooth exit will be discussed only after an orderly withdrawal is agreed, with a focus on citizens rights, British budget commitments and borders. But the UK wants to discuss a future trade deal and transitional arrangements, in parallel. EU officials hope the withdrawal will take only a couple of months to negotiate, leaving them around a year to discuss a trade deal, but much will depend on the mood once talks kick off in May. On the UKs Brexit bill, Mr Barnier said each country must honour its commitments but said that the UK would not pay a single euro it had not agreed to while a member of the EU. When a country leaves the union, there is no punishment, there is no price to pay to leave, Mr Barnier said. But we must settle the accounts; no more, no less. UK prime minister Theresa May has said she wants to sign an ambitious free trade deal with the soon-to-be 27-member EU, but Mr Barnier warned her she would not get an a la carte solution once the UK is outside the bloc. The United Kingdom will find itself, automatically, in a less favourable situation than an EU member state; it will not be able to participate in the single market a la carte, Mr Barnier said. He also warned the UK against lowering social, tax, environmental, and consumer standards to try to compete in the market following Brexit. What faces us is not the prospect of regulatory convergence, but the risk, the probability, of regulatory divergence that could damage the internal market, he said. EU leaders are to meet in Rome this weekend, without the UK, to discuss the future of the bloc on the occasion of its 60th anniversary. They will reunite in Brussels on April 29 to sign off on Mr Barniers negotiating mandate, after which divorce talks will begin. Mark Simpson of Goodbody said continuing uncertainty could lead to consumers being most affected in the long run as disruption was prolonged. According to reports, EU officials have told airlines they will need to move bases and have the majority of European shareholders if they wanted to fly routes within continental Europe, after Brexit. In Brazil, police have accused inspectors of taking bribes to allow sales of rotten and salmonella-tainted meats. Brazil is the top supplier of beef to China, with 31% of its imports in the first half of last year. Hong Kong, the second biggest buyer of Brazilian meat last year, has banned the imports, following the lead of Japan, Canada, Mexico and Switzerland. The EU called Brazilian representatives to an emergency meeting this week to explain the scandal involving rotten meat and the countrys two largest exporters, JBS and BRF. Last weekend, Brazilian Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi announced the suspension of exports from 21 meat processing units being investigated. Operation Weak Flesh was launched in six Brazilian states last Friday, after a two-year investigation by federal police. Companies are accused of using chemicals and acid to disguise rotten meat. Among the investigated units are the worlds number one poultry and beef exporter firms, BRF and JBS. More meat export bans are feared in Brazil, where the price of shares in JBS has slumped 20% since Friday, shares in their rival Marfrig fell 7.9%, and the BRF share price fell 18.2%. Minerva shares fell 14.9%. Last year, Brazil was the second largest global exporter of bovine meat, at nearly 1.1 million tonnes, worth an estimated $12 billion. Exports are expected to expand further as Brazilian production systems improve. The EU is not currently a major export destination for Brazil, due to quota restrictions, high tariffs on out-of-quota shipments, and fewer beef producers than previously being licenced to supply the EU. But Brazil is still the primary supplier of imported chilled and frozen beef, with about one third of the EU market. Italy and Spain are the primary destinations. Before EU concerns were raised about cattle traceability and foot and mouth disease controls, in December 2007 (when Irelands IFA led the opposition to Brazilian beef imports), Brazil was the second largest supplier of beef to the UK. But in 2016, it had slipped to eighth position, with only a 1% market share. Beef is a central item in the current negotiations by South American countries with the EU on a free-trade agreement, but progress has been very slow in the talks. Dutch milk production will dip temporarily in 2017, but will gradually resume its increase, starting from 2018, according to a United States Department of Agriculture assessment of the countrys plan to cull 160,000 cows, which started on March 1. The cow cull will therefore only temporarily improve the EU dairy market and it could depress the EU beef trade this year. It will cut milk production by 6-10%, depending on how farmers decide to meet the targets. This has halted the fast expansion of Dutch milk production after the EU abolished milk quotas in April 2015, jumping 6.8% in 2015, or by an additional 850,000 tonnes of milk, to 12.5mt. The cow cull also ends the FrieslandCampina dairy co-ops incentive payments to its Dutch member dairy farmers which have successfully kept the companys 2017 milk intake up to March in balance with its available processing capacity. The Dutch based co-op (the worlds sixth biggest dairy company, with a turnover of 11 billion) paid 6.85m to farmers in January and February this year, to persuade them to cut milk production by about 53m kg. It made similar payments in 2016, after the fast expanding Dutch milk supply in the latter months of 2015 exceeded the traditional spring peak supply, and put pressure on milk processing capacity. Now, the Dutch livestock sector is positive about the new clarity in regulations to reduce phosphate emissions, and the industry is confident farmers will cut emissions sufficiently, preserving the Dutch nitrate derogation. For the longer term, the livestock sector expects that improved efficiency will still allow further expansion of dairy herds and milk production, through more effective feeding and fertilisation of pastures, and further processing and exporting of manure. It is part of the plan to save the countrys nitrates derogation granted by the EU, which allows allowed Dutch farmers use extra fertiliser. Without it, dairy farmers would have to reduce their herds by 480,000 animals, or about 20%. But the EU is now willing to leave the nitrate derogation in place this year, and negotiate a continuing derogation up to 2021, if the Dutch livestock sector successfully carries out an EU-approved plan to reduce phosphate emissions from livestock by at least 6.6m kg (one of the conditions of the derogation granted in 2006 was to not exceed the 172.9m kg of phosphate emissions reached in 2002, but this was breached in recent years). The new plan requires farmers to reduce their herd size, or stop farming, and requires feed compounders to lower the phosphorous content in the feed. Meanwhile, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs must report the level of phosphate emission to the EU every three months, or the Netherlands could lose its nitrate derogation, incur EU fines, or be forced to further cut livestock numbers, in addition to the ongoing cull of about 160,000 cows (6.6% of the Dutch dairy herd, and 0.38% of the total EU dairy herd). The Dutch dairy cull is equivalent to a 0.61% rise in annual EU beef production. At an average slaughter weight for cows and heifers of 299 kg, additional beef production of about 47,840 tonnes can be expected. This is equal to 11.6% of annual Dutch beef production. It exceeds the Dutch beef processing capacity, requiring some animals to be exported for slaughter elsewhere. The dairy cull rules bar farmers from transferring their cattle from a dairy farm to another type of farm. The cull does not seem to have affected the EU cull cow market yet. But market watchers will be vigilant for signs of an impact over the next couple of months, until July, when the compensation payment offered to Dutch farmers decreases rapidly. If there is an impact, it may affect the beef trade in the UK, because the Netherlands is a key export destination for UK cow beef. Irish beef exports could be hit, in turn, because of our heavy dependence on exports to the UK. In other parts of the Dutch plan to reduce the countrys phosphate pollution from livestock, exemptions are ending which allowed expansion of pig and poultry farms, with the precondition that excess manure from the farm is processed. The phosphorous content of pig feed will probably also be reduced. But the effect on pork and poultry production is expected to be minimal. The Prison Officers Association told the committee that an analysis conducted by the State Claims Agency projected there would be an estimated 107 assaults by prisoners on prison officers in 2017. The agency based the figure on physical assaults between 2011 and 2015, when there were 475 cases. The nature of these assaults included concussion, lacerations, cuts, fractures, burns and bites, said POA general secretary John Clinton. Most of these injuries were to the head and face, thereby leaving a permanent reminder to the injured officer of the incident. He said that, in a survey of prison officers, 78% of respondents said they had been physically assaulted by prisoners at some stage. Mr Clinton said that the absence of protection measures such as batons, incapacitating spray and body cameras, undermined staff confidence. The Oireachtas justice committee was continuing its hearings on penal reform. POA deputy general secretary Jim Mitchell said that even though the sick leave scheme had been extended, officers were having to return to work without being able to perform their full duties, and some were being forced to retire. He said the injuries were persisting because of the sheer violence used. Mr Clinton said the decision by the Irish Prison Service to close the Training Unit, a semi-open centre attached to Mountjoy Prison, was a retrograde step and a matter of immense concern. The unit is being redeveloped as a prison for older prisoners. Earlier, Eoin Carroll of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice told the committee that the number of young adults imprisoned should be significantly reduced. He said: Politically if we wished to be a European leader in having a low young adult prison population this would require a 50% reduction in prison places. Much of this could be achieved through an expansion of the Garda Youth Diversion Programme. He said young adults aged 18-24 who are imprisoned should be treated as a separate group and that there should be dedicated facilities for them. He was also concerned at the dramatic increase in the number of women being sent to prison and called for step-down facilities for females leaving prison. The Irish Examiner revealed this month that, instead of the memorial recommended in the 2009 Ryan Report on institutional child abuse, Richard Brutons officials are looking at the possibility of a permanent exhibition. The department said it was engaging with potential interested parties about whether an exhibition could be held in a public institution, as it says potential sites identified by Dublin City Council would not be suitable for the proposed memorial. However, the department has also told the Irish Examiner that the committee established by ex-minister Batt OKeeffe to oversee the process was not consulted. The six-member group includes two representatives of institutional abuse survivors. It was formed to oversee implementation of the first recommendation of the Ryan Report, which was the erection of a permanent memorial as a reminder to future generations of what happened in industrial schools and other institutions. However, it has not been convened since shortly after An Bord Pleanala refused planning permission in November 2013 for a memorial that had been planned to overlap with the Garden of Remembrance in inner city Dublin. Bernadette Fahy, a former resident of Goldenbridge industrial school in Dublin, and a co-founder of the Aislinn Centre, said she suspects the committee has not been kept informed by the department as the memorial has fallen down the list of government priorities. They told us they would explore possible sites with Dublin City Council, but its nearly four years since planning was refused. We expected to hear from them, thats where it was left, she said. The Department of Education said the idea of a permanent exhibition had not yet been discussed with the memorial committee because it is at an early stage, but any decision would be taken in consultation with survivor groups. Paddy Doyle, the other survivor representative on the memorial committee, said he does not accept that the department was just scoping the idea first. They should absolutely have consulted us even before doing that, I would feel very strongly, even the courtesy of a phonecall to seek our view on this. Nobody, it doesnt matter who they are, should ride roughshod over the committee, even if theyre only sitting down talking about it, he said. He and Ms Fahy did not rule out support for the idea of an exhibition, although Ms Fahy reiterated her belief that the Garden of Remembrance site would have been the ideal location. The overturning of Dublin City Councils grant of permission to the project hinged largely on the impact on the adjoining memorial to those who died fighting for Irish independence. Ms Fahy said it would be interesting to know what alternative sites had been identified and why the department ruled them out. Its been nearly 10 years, and there isnt a brick laid and not a glimmer of light. What is it that they cant communicate with a group they set up themselves, they seem to be talking to everybody else, she said. Judge Patrick Durcan yesterday imposed a fine of 250 on Brian Moore arising from the incident. It followed the judge imposing a fine of 750 from the incident in October. The fresh sanction came yesterday at Ennis District Court following a probation report. Moore, of The Paddocks, Westbury, Limerick, pleaded guilty to three air rage-related charges from the Berlin-Shannon flight that had 149 passengers on board on February 26 last year. He started to verbally abuse cabin crew after a credit card machine did not accept payment from him. Insp Tom Kennedy said Moore continued to engage in obnoxious behaviour towards Ryanair staff. Solicitor John Casey said his client has since taken on board that alcohol does not suit him. In reply, Judge Durcan said: Isnt that the problem? That he did take alcohol on board? Insp Kennedy said it was 15 minutes into the flight from Berlin when Moore started to make his presence felt. After purchasing drink and food, he tried to pay with his credit card and it didnt work for some reason. He told the cabin crew member to fuck off and give her back the card and it continued in that vein for a while, the inspector said. Moore was in seat 22F and was causing difficulty and making his presence felt to the passengers around him. Judge Durcan said: Isnt it curious he was sitting in seat 22F bearing in mind his language on the date? Insp Kennedy said: Mr Moore was speaking in English and breaking into German and he spoke in German except when telling the staff where to go. He was advised to behave but did not stop and continued to be obnoxious. Moore had brought a shampoo bottle on board filled with whiskey and was drinking from that, the prosecution said. Mr Casey said the accused has learned his lesson. He said his client co-operated with the Probation Services and there was a good report before the court. The 21-year-old Irish citizen has been detained in an Egyptian prison since August 2013, after the Muslim Brotherhood held a day of rage over the removal of president Mohamed Morsi. Colm OGorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, said the further delay comes after Ibrahims innocence has been further vindicated by Egypts own legal system, which following a technical review of audio-video material presented in the case, found no evidence against him. The company, which was prosecuted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to 11 charges, in four cases, under Waste Water Discharge (Authorisation). The prosecutions related to water treatment plants in Dublin, Limerick, Galway and Cork. Irish Water had been prosecuted twice previously by the EPA and could have faced fines of up to 5,000 per charge. Finalising the case yesterday, Judge John Brennan said that save for one of the facilities, in Balbriggan, in Co Dublin, all the plants were antiquated while Irish Water came into being relatively recently. He also noted its co-operation with the EPA, that it had agreed to discharge prosecution costs, and the lack of risk to public health. At an earlier hearing, prosecuting solicitor Maeve Larkin said the EPA was proceeding with three charges in connection with a waste water treatment plant in Athenry, Co Galway. This facility takes in waste water for treatment and then discharges clean water into the Clarinbridge River. Irish Water failed to complete required upgrades by the end of 2015 and had released water with excessive pollutants into the river and failed to report an incident. Mr Cole asked the court to note that Irish Water intends to carry to out a 5m upgrade at the Athenry plant. Judge Brennan imposed fines totalling 3,500 in this prosecution. The next case involved four charges related to sewage overflowing at three waste water pump stations in Balbriggan, in north Co Dublin last year. These led to a minor fish kill in a river in May, and Skerries beach being closed for the June bank holiday weekend. The EPA learned about the beach closure from media reports and it had not been reported to them by Irish Water as required, said EPA inspector Brendan Kissane. Do not swim notices had to be put up, he told the court. Fines totalling 5,000 were imposed for the pollution incidents in Balbriggan. The next case related to two offences at a waste water treatment plant in Boherbue, Co Cork. EPA inspector Patrick Chang said upgrade work was required by the EPA to be completed by the end of 2014 but it is not going to happen until 2019. Discharges to the Brogeen River, which leads to a tributary of the Blackwater, contained pollutants which were toxic to fish and could affect salmon reproduction. However, he agreed with defence counsel that there was no danger to public health and significant upgrades are planned. Judge Brennan fined Irish Water 4,000 for these breaches of the regulations. Ms Larkin said the last case related to two offences at Dromcolliher, Co Limerick, at a 1940s-built water treatment plant. Judge Brennan imposed fines amounting to 7,000 in this case. The guilty plea in all the prosecutions meant a trial as long as a tribunal had been avoided, the judge had remarked at an earlier stage. Circuit Court president Mr Justice Raymond Groarke said he feared 10,000 would not be enough to compensate Dawid Szafirowski who now needs to use inhalers. Barrister Lydia Bunni told the court Dawid was only 16 months old when he suffered severe chest infections and respiratory problems after his family moved to Cherrywood Grove, Clondalkin, Dublin. Ms Bunni said mould on walls, dampness, and condensation became apparent three months after they moved in on March 7, 2012. She said the problem was reported to landlords Damien and Natasha Long, and to managing agent Ray Cooke Auctioneers Ltd, but that they failed to take action and the problems persisted. Judge Groarke heard Dawid attended his GP in October 2012 complaining of respiratory problems, before being transferred to hospital. Following treatment, he needed to use two separate inhalers five times a day. Ms Bunni said Dawid had no history of lung problems before 2012, but developed a recurrent wheeze that is exacerbated in bad weather. He has improved since his family moved to new accommodation in March 2013. Through his mother Urszula Szafirowska, of St Johns Wood, Clondalkin, Dawid sued the Longs, of Cherrywood Grove, Clondalkin, and Ray Cooke Auctioneers, of Westward House, Monastery Rd, Clondalkin, for negligence. It was alleged the accommodation was not fit for human habitation and that the defendants ignored repeated calls and emails from his family while continuing to charge rent. Ms Bunni said the defendants made a 10,000 settlement offer. She said 15,000 would be a better offer. Judge Groarke refused the proposed settlement and the case will go to a full trial at a date to be fixed by the Circuit Court office. Mr Harris intends scrapping the health authority as part of a plan for the future of Irelands healthcare. Of more immediate concern, however, is the HSEs governance structure and Mr Harris does not want the current situation to continue. The minister told the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare that measures to improve governance were urgently needed. I do not believe the current governance structure is in any way adequate for me to discharge the function that the House [Oireachtas] expects me to discharge, said Mr Harris. The chair of the committee, Roisin Shortall, said that the committee was very concerned about the lack of independent oversight of the HSE and the fact it did not have an independent board. That is a matter of serious concern. It is very hard to see how that issue could be addressed, without addressing the organisational structures at the same time, she said. Mr Harris said that the HSE director general was currently responsible to the authoritys directorate for the performance of his or her functions but many of the members of the directorate were actually subordinate to the director general. During his presentation earlier, Mr Harris, said that subject to the committees report, he intended asking his department to come forward with proposals to improve governance arrangements for the HSE for so long as it continued in its current form. This will include an examination of the current vesting of governing authority in the HSE directorate, including the fact that the current director was responsible to the directorate for the performance of his or her duties. Mr Harris believes there is a shared frustration between the HSE, the department and himself about the current governance arrangements. It was an issue that needed to be tackled as they set about making the HSE a much leaner body. He said the HSE should be more equipped to lead than to directly control and with fewer management layers between the top and front line. Staff were also impacted negatively by structures that placed too many layers between leadership and frontline staff. He wants to further develop hospital groups and community health organisations, align them geographically and, as they developed, devolve greater decision-making and accountability. Once statutory responsibilities and accountabilities are devolved from the centre to hospital and community health organisations, the HSE would be dismantled and replaced with a much leaner national health agency. In the interim, existing legislation in which the HSE operates will be reformed to improve governance. Mr Harris said that in devising a strategic way forward, they would have to bear in mind that, at any given point in time, there would always be limited resources available. That is just a reality. But I think we all agree that we need to do better than we are doing at present. To do so, we must have better systems in place to guide us in setting priorities and allocating finite resources. Over the next decade, we need to get past the stage of constant fire fighting to a place where we can have a mature debate about how to set priorities and where to develop our services. Grzegorz Miarkowski, aged 59, was celebrating with a Polish couple at their apartment at Esker Pines in Lucan when a row erupted. The trio were eating Christmas dinner and began drinking around 8pm on December 24, 2015, Dublin Coroners Court heard. Later, following the arrival of another man who lived with the couple, Mr Miarkoskis behaviour changed and a fight ensued. THE Constitution, in the section outlining the fundamental rights of every citizen in Ireland, says that the courts, and all other bodies or persons making decisions that affect you, must treat you fairly. As a community bound by the processes and decisions of the almighty An Bord Pleanala, we are digging deep to maintain belief in the application of the principle of fair treatment, given the news of its incredible fourth deferral of a decision on Indavers third attempt to build a large commercial incinerator in Cork Harbour, leaving its statutory deadline of July 12, 2016, abandoned in the dust some eight months back. The prospect of a 240,000-tonne incinerator is one that clearly affects the Cork Harbour community, which has come together for the past 16 years to fight this proposal. An Bord Pleanala, the body making the decision that affects us, is bound to treat us fairly. We are hardened hats who engage repeatedly in good faith, but know from experience that fairness doesnt come without a fight. We rise again and again to the challenge of raising funds, participating in lengthy oral hearings, engaging expert witnesses and legal representatives to deal with the complexities of the process and to take on the teams that the applicants employ. We struggled through High Court and European Court challenges while juggling the ordinary lives we strive to live. Dinner, on many an evening, had to be a takeaway. There is little doubt among us that had the material contained in the application submitted to An Bord Pleanala in January 2016 and examined at a 17-day oral hearing in spring 2016 been robust enough to merit approval, it would at this stage be approved. Thats fair enough. That the same standards dont apply to refusal of permission is the latest in a long series of inequalities embedded by design or otherwise in the strategic infrastructure development application process. Thats not good enough. This application process is a child of the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006, designed to route large-scale developments of an infrastructural nature past county council approval and straight to An Bord Pleanala, on the basis that a large number of those would end up there anyway. Core to this act is the objective to provide, in the interests of the common good it is failing miserably. In place of the common good stands a developer-led process with a fundamental shift away from the community it affects, and towards the developer. This saw Indaver open pre-planning consultations with An Bord Pleanala in August 2012, following the refusal of planning in 2011, but not lodge the eventual application for three-and-a-half years, until January 2016. The contrast with the strict six weeks allowed to the public to analyse the complex and enormous application, with a full oral hearing just weeks later, could not be more stark, or less fair. A process that grants an undefined period of time to the applicant, a rushed period to the public, as much time that it needs to itself, then more time to the applicant, is a weighted process, not a fair process. It is now 16 torturous years since Indaver first proposed to build on the site purchased from Irish Steel in its dying days. In the intervening years, little has changed in terms of the proposed development, refused in 2011 on various grounds including flooding and coastal erosion. Everything has changed, however, in the area surrounding the site. The National Maritime College, the IMERC research campus, the development of Spike Island as a key tourist attraction, the development of Fort Camden, and the expansion and consolidation of the Irish naval headquarters at Haulbowline have seen the area develop into a hub of education, research, and tourism, underlined by three Cork Harbour masterplans and backed by Government investment. This must be allowed to flourish and guarantee Cork Harbour the balance it deserves going forward, without removing job creation from the agenda. The latest deferral is an infuriating kick in the teeth for the community and for the Cork Harbour area. Indaver has had every chance to get its homework right, failed and yet is still being spoon fed instead of being sent home. But the real questions on everybodys lips is why? Why is An Bord Pleanala giving Indaver the opportunity to further its case, more than a year after the application was submitted, 10 months after the oral hearing closed, and eight months after the statutory decision deadline of July 12? Why has An Bord Pleanala not returned a decision when the Department of Defence outlined at the oral hearing that the facility would have strategic implications for the State, that it would create a flight safety hazard to Irish Air Corps helicopter operations, and would impact on the Irish Air Corps ability to operate helicopters into Haulbowline? Why is Indaver being asked to provide further information on matters of strategic importance to the State? Experts neither in aviation nor accuracy, they have no jurisdiction in this area. Why is Indaver being given an opportunity to correct erroneous dioxin modelling figures exposed on the final day of the hearing of a magnitude that the hearings inspector, Derek Daly, said threatened the veracity of the application and forced him to break for legal advice? Why has it taken so long for the inspectors report to go before An Bord Pleanala, when the inspector, mindful of the July 12 deadline, said at the hearing that he knew what he was writing and would have it written quickly? Why, when there are clear grounds for a refusal, but not for a grant of permission, has An Bord Pleanala failed to make a call? A weighted process that throws up no end of questions and delays giving an answer doesnt tick the fairness box adequately for those of us affected. As a community, we must have faith in the Almighty Bord. But we know we must continue to fight our own battles. Linda Fitzpatrick is the public relations officer for Chase (Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment), the umbrella group battling Indavers repeated incinerator proposals in Cork Harbour for more than 16 years. chasecorkharbour.com One of the basic landscape issues in mobility is the security of Googles Android operating system. The reason is simple: The confusing maze of versions of the OS and the need to somewhat differently configure each for the variety of device manufacturers and networks upon which they run creates cracks and crevices through which clever, and even not so clever, crackers and malware distributors can do damage. Google, which claims that it is reacting to the challenge, this week released its third annual Android Security Year in Review. One of the key tools is Verify Apps, which continually patrols users devices for potentially harmful applications (PHAs). Google said that Verify Apps conducted 750 million daily checks in 2016 compared to 450 million the year before. Overall, Googles efforts have cut problems significantly, at least according to the company. The report says that Trojans are now 0.016 percent of installs, a 51.5 percent drop compared to 2015. Also dropping overall and compared to 2015: hostile downloaders (0.003 percent; 54.6 percent), backdoors (0.003 percent; 30.5 percent) and phishing apps (0.05 percent; 0.15 percent). An example of the type of attention being paid to security was the removal of a family of potentially harmful applications, Threat Report reported last week. Chamois malware potentially manipulated ad traffic, sent premium text messages and downloaded more plugins. Researchers said that the malware featured a multistage payload and custom encrypted storage, and constantly changed its file format. While thats pretty clearly good news, Google is not out of the woods. Far from it. Macworld offers an Android versus Apple iOS comparison. Unsurprisingly, considering its name, the story notes that the site sit(s) unashamedly in the iOS camp. Still, the piece seems fair. The first section deals with security. The main takeaway is that one demographic group in particular really likes Android: the bad guys. Pulses 2015 Mobile Threat Report estimates that 97 percent of mobile malware is written for Android. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that only 0.7 percent of malware aimed at iOS. The reason is simple: Its easier to break into Android, and malware writers will almost always go for the low-hanging fruit. Not all the problems are Googles fault. Last week, Check Point Software reported that severe infections were found on 36 Android devices sent to two companies. The problems were introduced after the devices left the factory and before they arrived at the customer premises. This suggests that Googles supply chain is not secure. Google is making progress in its security efforts and significant dangers exist. The two facts are not contradictory. Hopefully, the balance will continue to tilt toward progress and away from insecurity as time passes. Carl Weinschenk covers telecom for IT Business Edge. He writes about wireless technology, disaster recovery/business continuity, cellular services, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and other emerging technologies and platforms. He also covers net neutrality and related regulatory issues. Weinschenk has written about the phone companies, cable operators and related companies for decades and is senior editor of Broadband Technology Report. He can be reached at [email protected] and via twitter at @DailyMusicBrk. BMW is tapping the design capabilities of a tech company that specializes in Mixed Reality Vehicle Development which enhances the process of making concept cars. Combining the best of real and virtual worlds, Unreal Engine uses sophisticated technology to generate virtual and realistic vehicle pieces. This practice is fast gaining momentum as other vehicle makers are gradually turning to mixed virtual reality to develop new products. The process of creating new car designs is now quick and painless as possible. The carmaker relies on Unreal Engines rendering capabilities to create virtual surfaces and objects overtop 3D-printed prototype vehicle pieces. This lets designers and engineers examine how various materials or surfaces will look on a final product vehicle without having to actually build it first. BMW and Unreal Engine's Mixed Reality Vehicle Development entails building elements including interior surface coverings, windows sizes, and different car functions using VR (Virtual Reality) overlaid on top of the rapidly prototyped 3D-printed basic surfaces. This saves an enormous amount of time and money compared to the traditional concept car process. In particular, this new process identifies issues prior to building the prototype, the TechCrunch reported. Aside from costs and time saved using mixed VR, the car manufacturer also says its new facilities can easily facilitate collaboration between designers and other staff around the world. Its also less wasteful as it does not require the building of multiple vehicle versions of the same model to evaluate changes in the design, the Let's Go Digital reported. Its probably still early to call Mixed Reality Vehicle Development a slam dunk, but BMW certainly has seen the value on it. Augmented reality is also useful in safety research as shown in the CeBIT 2017 exhibition in Germany. The system also provides useful visual data such as the approaching of the vehicles, collision forces, and deformations, to reconstruct vehicle accidents and make them comprehensible. This year will be a big one for Apple, as the company is scheduled to release its anniversary handheld, the iPhone 8 later this year. But while the upcoming flagship is highly anticipated, there are individuals that are looking forward to the 2017 MacBook models. And if rumors are anything to go by, there is a lot to look forward to this third quarter. According to International Business Times AU, the 2017 MacBook models are likely to launch in the third quarter and will come in two RAM options, an 8GB model, and a second 16GB variant. The standard 8GB option will be great for those looking to purchase an entry-level notebook. However, the larger RAM unit will provide users with the much-needed memory space. Meanwhile, Bloomberg has reported that Apple is working on a new chip for its Mac laptops, which will provide more functionality. The processor reportedly started development last year is largely similar to that found in the 2016 MacBook Pro and powers the Touch Bar feature. The upcoming one, codenamed T310, would theoretically handle the computer's low-power mode function. The publication claimed that the current ARM-based chip for Macs is independent with the rest of the computer's other parts and focuses mainly on the Touch Bar's functionality. The new chip will theoretically connect with the other parts of the MacBook, including storage and wireless components. The move will enhance the chip by adding responsibilities to it. Theoretically, the entire MacBook could offer more functions than previous generations. The latest model was the 2016 MacBook Pro, which introduced the world to the Touch Bar. Last October, Apple debuted the addition which replaced the standard function keys. However, no new releases were made for the MacBook Air and the standard MacBook. There have been no official announcements made for the 2017 MacBook as of now. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor was a huge success upon its release, as it found its way into several flagship units. The company is now looking to further its involvement in the industry by releasing the new Snapdragon 835 chip. Moreover, an entirely new platform will be arriving with it. As noted by Forbes, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835's new Mobile Platform solution will indicate the company's mastery of its silicon design know-how that is geared directly for mobile architecture. More importantly, however, the new system will be better than anything that has been released before it. To prove so, the company released the benchmarks of the chip. The publication explained that the Snapdragon 835 has a new semi-custom ARM Cortex design, which follows the more standard big.Little design practice. This means four lower power ARM cores that clock 1.8GHz and four high-performance cores that clock at 2.45GHz. Qualcomm has claimed this design will reap significant increases in power efficiency when compared to the last generation. The chip is 35 percent smaller in terms of size, but reportedly consumes about 25 percent less power in total. The drain on the battery is yet to be seen, but Qualcomm is nevertheless already making rather big claims as is. In addition, the Snapdragon 835 will reportedly surpass Apple's A10 fusion processor in a handful of gaming tests. The new chip apparently offers up to 25 percent better graphics in virtual reality. In comparison with the A10, Qualcomm's powerhouse benchmarked better numbers in a majority of the tests. The publication gave particular praise because the results were garnered using a prototype handheld and not a retail shipping product. These are all good numbers, particularly considering how much more Qualcomm is promising over the power of the Snapdragon 820. As AnandTech has reported, the previous generation was already installed in most of 2016's best, most powerful and highest tiered handhelds. The Snapdragon 835 has a lot to live up to. When I had three kids ages 3 and under, we spent a lot of time at the park. We lived in a small apartment with no backyard and not much space for three energetic boys, so the park was a lifesaver for me: the kids could run around to their hearts content and I could snatch a few minutes to read. In the midst of endless diapers and laundry, half an hour with a book was a treasure, a sweet little escape that helped me be a better mom to my kids the rest of the day. And so every afternoon youd see me standing at the swings, holding a book in one hand and pushing a child with the other. It wasnt so bad when I was only pushing one kid, but when I was pushing two at a time it got really tricky, and when I was pushing all three I had to give up on my book altogether. These days Ive gotten smart; I listen to audiobooks when Im at the park with my kids. Listening to an audiobook makes it much easier for me to enjoy my book and keep an eye on my little ones at the same time! I listen to books while I run errands and fold laundry, too. In honor of all the times reading has helped me as a mom, and the fact that this month is Womens History Month, today Im sharing 7 books that tell the stories of amazing real life women. Now, for those of you who, like me, are a wee bit skeptical of non-fiction (I just want a good story!), let me assure you that every one of these books held my interest from start to finish. Here are 7 books about incredible, real life women: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly If youre anything like me, you saw this incredible movie a few months ago and have been wanting to know more about the black women who helped the United States with the space race ever since. Ive been listening to this audiobook this week and Ive loved hearing a whole lot more of the story. One of my main questions as I watched the movie was how did so many black women come to have such influence in the biggest scientific undertaking in the countrys history in the state of Virginia, one of the most prejudiced areas of the country? I mean, some public schools in Virginia remained closed for five years after the federal mandate to integrate because whites would prefer their own children to have no education at all rather than go to school with black students. And at the very same time, black mathematicians Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were not only working at NASA, they were instrumental in helping to break the sound barrier and send a man into orbit around the earth. Their contribution, especially considering the social challenges they faced, is astounding. I have loved listening to this one! The stories are fascinating, the history is enlightening, and the narration by Robin Miles is top notch. If youd like to listen to this book (or another one) for free, head over to Audible and sign up for a 30-day trial. Youll be able to download your first audiobook absolutely free! Below Stairs by Margaret Powell If youve ever watched the depiction of servants life in shows like Downton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs and wondered how accurate it is, this book is for you. This is the memoir of a real-life kitchen maid that was said to have inspired both of those shows, and its a hoot! Margaret tells us about her early life, growing up with almost nothing but a loving family and lots of green grass to run around in. She describes the hardships of her life so matter of factly that at the same time you realize just how difficult life was for many of the lower classes at the turn of the century, you also realize people can be happy with very little in the way of money or possessions. She describes her jobs as a kitchen maid and cook with many different families, revealing much about how the upper class functioned at the time. While the account isnt as polished as most books I read (Margaret left school at 13 to start earning her own way), its honest, lively, hilarious, and poignant at the same time. For example this is her explanation of why poor people had so many children in those days: You see that was the only pleasure poor people could afford. It costs nothing at least at the time when you were actually making the children. The fact that it would cost you something later on, well, the working-class people never looked ahead in those days. They didnt dare. It was enough to live for the present. After the success of her first book, Margaret Powell wrote three or four more, and now they are all on my to-read list! The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon Im ashamed to admit I often dont follow the news, meaning Im not nearly as informed about things happening in the world as I ought to be. I knew about the Taliban occupation of Afghanistan, but I didnt really know what that meant. This book tells the true story of Kamila Sidiqi, and Afghan woman whose life changes dramatically when the Taliban seized control. Instead of working as a teacher, Kamila is confined to her home, along with the other women in the country. Overnight, they are no longer allowed to leave their homes without a male relative and are subject to violence and brutality if they show any skin in public. Additionally, her parents and older brother are forced to flee, leaving Kamila with her five sisters and 13 year old brother. Desperate for a way to break the monotony of her life and figure out how to support her family, Kamila starts a dressmaking business despite the risks involved. Her business blossoms and she eventually starts a school to help other women learn the skills needed to support themselves. Her story is both eye-opening and inspiring. Call The Midwife by Jennifer Worth I have watched all five seasons of this show on PBS, but have just finally gotten around to reading the memoirs that inspired them. Amazing women abound in these stories, from the midwives that are such a part of the community to the women of the East End who work so hard to care for their families, often with so little. I simply cant believe that these stories were real life just sixty years ago. Jennifer Worth does an amazing job mixing memorable stories of real women in with just enough history to give you an idea of just how important the midwives were to the community their served. The midwives worked in the poorest areas, helping those who had little access to medical care, and saved thousands of mothers and babies (before the midwives were organized, almost 40% of mothers and 60% of babies in the poorest areas of Britain died!). NOTE: some difficult to read subject matter. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot In 1951 a poor black woman named Henrietta Lacks visits Johns Hopkins hospital, where she is diagnosed with cervical cancer. At this time, doctors were trying, and failing, to create a line of human cells that would regenerate eternally. They knew an immortal cell line would be of invaluable worth to their research and have an incredible impact on medicine in general, but they just couldnt seem to make it work. Until Henrietta arrived at their hospital, that is. A sample of Henriettas cervical tissue begins to grow at an extraordinary rate. While Henrietta gets sicker and sicker, and eventually dies (perhaps as a result of subpar care given to her because she was black) the doctors working with her tissue are making the most extraordinary and impactful discovery in recent medical history, all without Henriettas knowledge or consent. Thirty years later Henriettas cells, known as HeLa, had been vital in developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. HeLa cells are being bought and sold across the world, changing the face of medicine and earning huge amounts of money for the scientists that have developed them. All the while Henriettas posterity lives in poverty, unable to afford health insurance, while Henriettas name has been forgotten. This book is the record of what happens when Rebecca Skloot decides Henriettas story needs to be told. These is My Words by Nancy E. Turner This book, which is one of my absolute favorites, is actually a work of fiction; however, the story and main character is based on the real-life adventures of the authors great grandmother. We first meet our heroine, Sarah Agnes Prine, when shes a 17 year old traveling with her family through the Arizona Territories. Over the course of the book we see her fight to defend her family from Indians, struggle through the hardships of living on the frontier, teach herself to read, fall in love, and become an incredible, tenacious mother. I wonder sometimes when I read books like this if Id ever be able to make if through the challenges these amazing frontier women faced. The book is absolutely riveting, not to mention one of the best love stories Ive ever read, so dont pick it up unless you can clear your schedule. And yes, its going to make you cry, but its entirely worth it! The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen I read this entire book before realizing its based on a true story! Mary Bowser was a real person, a freed slave who returns to Virginia at the outset of the Civil War to spy for the North at great personal risk. We meet Mary Bowser as a young slave who has to hide her ability to read from her Master. When he dies and his progressive daughter inherits the estate, she frees Mary and sends her up North to be educated, where Mary begins to build a life she never expected. But when war breaks out, Mary is willing to risk her freedom and everything else to return to Richmond to see what she can do to help the Unions cause. She poses as a slave and ends up working in Robert E. Lees household, where her ability to read and near photographic memory mean shes doing much more than just cleaning the generals office. This is an incredible story about a woman who helped the Union win the Civil War. Id love to hear what youre reading or listening to right now, so leave me a comment! I am always looking for new books. And dont forget to visit Audible to sign up for your free 30-day trial and receive your first audiobook for FREE. My family loves Audible! I listen to books while Im at the park with my kids, driving around town, or cleaning my house (sometimes the only way I can convince myself to scrub my shower is to put a great audiobook on). Its a really wonderful way to keep up with all the great new books I want to read but dont have time for. Happy listening! This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Audible. The opinions and text are all mine. REASSURANCES have been given by police that there is no evidence of an immediate threat to the Isle of Wight, in the wake of yesterday's (Wednesday) London terror attack. Hampshire Constabulary chief constable Olivia Pinkney said: "Our thoughts are with the families, friends and colleagues of those killed and seriously injured as a result of the events in London yesterday. "There is currently no specific intelligence to indicate an immediate threat to any locations within the UK, including Hampshire or the Isle of Wight. "As is standard procedure whenever an incident like this happens, whether in the UK or abroad, we are reviewing our security procedures and resources to ensure that they are appropriate and if any changes need to be made. "We have also reviewed all planned events taking place in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the coming days, as is normal procedure, to ensure all plans are up-to-date. "At this time we are satisfied our plans are robust but we will continue to review the situation and follow any national guidance. "We understand that the events in London yesterday may cause people to worry but we would renew our advice to our communities to be alert but not to be alarmed. "We would advise members of the public to remain vigilant and if you see anything that causes you concern or raises your suspicions do not hesitate to call the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321, or 999 in an emergency." As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. Close Feds laud $83M to better Pell Bridge The congressional delegation of Rhode Island was in Jamestown to celebrate an $82.5 million grant to upgrade the bridge that connects Conanicut Island to Newport. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a... Local author, illustrator collaborate on book A local woman has turned her digital cross-country teatimes with her granddaughter into a childrens book. Tuesday Tea, written by Debby Furness Saletin and illustrated by Maryann England, both of... Local group asks for rental rules changes A group of residents is expected to present its recommendations on how to improve the ordinance that governs short-term rentals. Member Ron Ratcliffe said the item is scheduled to be... Dayton Power & Light has disclosed that two of its coal-fired power plants will no longer be economically viable in 2018, according to a CNBC report. The two coal-fired power plants are both located in southern Ohio, so that means that the states will have to deal with a number of people losing their jobs in connection with the closures. The Hill reported that the J.M. Stuart and Killen generating stations will be the coal-fired power plants that will be shuttered. The AES subsidiary has executed a review of the power plants that lasted for several months before coming to the decision that keeping them running would no longer be profitable. Dayton Power & Light has considered how the economy would change and how it will impact the power plants in reaching the decision, according to reports. This is definitely not the first time that an energy company decided to close down coal-fired power plants. There have been hundreds of coal-fired power plants that have been shut down in recent years. The coal industry has been battling criticisms especially from environmentalists who argue that coal as an energy source harms the environment more than it helps people. On top of that, the increasing popularity of natural gas as an energy source also provides a negative impact on the coal industry. Former President Barack Obama's administration had supported the phasing out of coal as an energy source. However, current President Donald Trump has vowed to impose less stringent regulations on energy companies that rely on coal. Trump is planning to do away with legislations that contributed to the weakening of the coal industry. Environmentalists and critics cheered Dayton Power & Lights' decision to close the two plants. The Sierra Club, one of those that are happy with the decision, urged everyone to work together for cleaner energy options. Jobs & Hire previously reported that Exxon Mobil attorneys defended U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for using an alias email account when he was still the CEO of the energy company. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stated that he did not seek or desire his current job. He only took it after his wife convinced him to. The CNBC reports that Rex Tillerson, the current Secretary of State serving under President Donald Trump's administration, credits his wife for his present occupation. In an exclusive interview with the Independent Journal Review, he said that he did not want the job, nor did he seek it. Trump had apparently called him to talk about the world but had ended the conversation by offering Tillerson the job as the United States of America's head diplomat and also the fourth person in line for the presidency. Tillerson said that he was stunned with the job offer. When he told his wife the news once he got home, she gave him an I-told-you-so in the form of "I told you God's not through with you," writes CNBC. "My wife told me I'm supposed to do this," Tillerson said. He added that he had planned to retire this month and be with his grandkids out on the ranch. In other news, Tillerson is planning to skip a NATO meeting in favor of welcoming China's president during his visit, followed by a trip to Russia in April, reports Reuters. The news gives off the impression that Russia is being given priority over NATO allies. The NATO meeting would have been Rex Tillerson's first since he took office. Skipping the talks would be a mistake, says Eliot Engel, who is the senior Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives foreign affairs committee. He says that it is a "grave error" that will shake the confidence of American's allies. It will also create concern that Trump's administration is too cozy with Putin. To read more about it click here. For more news, follow Jobs & Hire. After some retailers and customers chose to boycott First Daughter Ivanka Trumps merchandise, many thought that the Trump Organization would be wary of expanding its brand. However, it looks like President Donald Trumps sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, are determined to push through with the familys real estate business as the two are launching a new line of mid-range hotels called Scion. According to AP, Scion will be the first Trump-run hotels which will not be bearing the familys name. Rooms will reportedly cost from $200 to $300 a night and will feature modern, sleek interiors and common areas. It appears that the Trump Organization is now trying to appeal to a different market as a stay in an average room at their other hotel brands normally cost about $500 to $700 a night. Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danziger told AP that the company has signed letters of intent with more than 20 developers to build the hotels. Its full steam ahead, said Danziger about the new hotel line. Its in the Trump boys DNA. While the expansion could raise some ethical questions, it was said that the family wont be putting up the money to build the hotels. Instead, the Trump Organization plans to get local real estate developers and their investors to produce the funds to build the Scion hotel line. The Trump brothers decision to expand their business comes after Ivanka Trump was given an unofficial role in the White House. As previously reported by Jobs & Hire, the First Daughter will be given a West Wing office, government-issued communication devices, and access to classified information in the unnamed role. She is said to follow the ethics rules that apply to government employees. Meanwhile, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are also said to be following the letter of an ethics arrangement that states that they are not to talk about the family business with their father. The arrangement also states that the president should not discuss government business with his sons or the Trump Organizations executives. In a joint statement to Politico, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. said, We do not have any role in the current administration and we take the separation of the Trump Organization and the office of the president very seriously. It has been a tough few weeks for Miki Agrawal, founder of the period underwear line Thinx. After former employees claimed that working with the company was akin to being in an abusive relationship, another ex-employee is coming forward, saying that Agrawal inappropriately touched her amid other transgressions. Last week, a complaint was filed with the City of New York Commission on Human Rights by Chelsea Leibow. The 26-year-old previously worked as Thinxs head of public relations. Leibow was terminated last year after making complaints about Agrawals behavior. Speaking with New York Magazines Noreen Malone, Leibow said that at first, the company culture seemed open and honest. But a month or two after her arrival, Agrawal said that she was obsessed with Leibows breasts and helped herself. If youve ever been touched without your consent, you know its jarring, said Leibow. Adding insult to injury is that her co-workers and other employees saw what happened, due to Thinxs co-working space at the Center for Social Innovation. Leibow said that the incident developed into a pattern, with Agrawal regularly commenting on Leibows breasts and touching them, both while they were alone and in front of others. In her filing, Leibow said that the Thinx founder also molested at least one other female employees breasts. The former Thinx employee said that she doesnt think that her boss was coming on to her, but felt that Agrawal did objectify her body by making detailed comments about her breasts. It seemed like a way for Miki to assert her dominance over female employees by simply doing whatever she wanted to do without asking, and showing she could get away with it, said Leibow. In addition to the inappropriate touching, it was also claimed that Agrawal would routinely change clothes in front of her employees, conduct meetings via video conference while unclothed, and that she would also do so while using the toilet. These shocking allegations come after other former Thinx employees blasted the company founder for creating a toxic work environment and for paying them below industry standards, as previously reported by Jobs & Hire. Some workers even took to Glassdoor to post scathing reviews about the company, saying that Thinx was a dumpster fire and that Agrawal is a time bomb and a liability. According to NYMag, Agrawal denies that she inappropriately touched Leibow. As for the earlier allegations, the former Thinx CEO said in a Medium blog post they have asked a law firm to look into all the claims. The company commissioned a third party employment firm to conduct extensive diligence on each allegation and they all came back false and without merit, she said. The virtual assistant wars is about to get bigger as Samsung has just announced that its upcoming phone, the Samsung Galaxy S8, will be launched with its own AIBixby. In a blog post by Injong Rhee, Samsungs head of research and development for Software and Services, it was said that Bixby will be an intelligent interface on the companys devices. Rhee detailed the three things that set Bixby apart from other virtual assistants such as Siri, Cortana, and Alexa, saying that Samsung's new AI offers a more satisfactory experience due to its completeness, context awareness, and cognitive tolerance. Rhee said that when an app becomes Bixby-enabled, the AI will be able to support every task that the application is capable of performing using touch commands. Users can also use Bixby through voice commands. While other AIs require users to state the exact commands for the virtual assistant to be able to complete the task, Bixby is said to be smart enough to understand commands with incomplete information and will execute the task to the best of its knowledge. If it needs more direction, Bixby will prompt users to provide more information and take the execution of the task in piecemeal. Upcoming Samsung smartphones will have a dedicated Bixby button on the side of the device to make it easier for users to activate and command the AI. Rhee also confirmed that the Galaxy S8, which will be launched later this month, will come with pre-installed applications that are Bixby-enabled. The initial set will expand over time. After Bixby is applied to Samsung smartphones, it will be gradually made available to all of the companys appliances. With the inclusion of Bixby in the Galaxy S8, Samsung is sending out a message to the tech world that it is ready to take on Apples Siri, Amazons Alexa, and Microsofts Cortana. It also signifies a brand new start for the South Korean company as it moves on from its disastrous Galaxy Note 7, which was launched last year. As for the Samsung Galaxy S8s exact release date, rumors claim that the phone, together with the Galaxy S8 Plus, will go on sale on April 21 in the US, according to Recombu. The phones are said to be officially unveiled on March 29. For more, check out Jobs & Hires update on the Samsung Galaxy S8. Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. Collegiate Licensing Co., Richmond reach deal The Collegiate Licensing Co., the licensing affiliate of IMG College, announced Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with the University of Richmond to manage its domestic trademark licensing program starting July 2017. The Collegiate Licensing Co. said that through the partnership, Richmond will gain access to its brand protection, brand management and brand development services. The agency will also work with the university to help leverage best-in-class licensees, tap into key retailers, provide access to exclusive retail intelligence and consumer insights, and develop customizable national and regional retail marketing programs. The collegiate licensing agency also represents the University of Delaware, Drexel University, James Madison University and the College of William and Mary. Fran Daniel Finalists named in innovation competition Five research scientists from three North Carolina universities are finalists in the inaugural Innovation for Impact Prize competition. They are: u North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Hye Won Kang, assistant research professor of family and consumer sciences; Perpetua Muganda, professor of biology; and Shengmin Sang, associate professor and lead scientist in the Center for Excellence in Post-Harvest Technologies. u UNC Greensboro Nicholas Oberlies, associate professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy. u East Carolina University Anthony Kennedy, associate professor of analytical chemistry. The competition is co-sponsored by SoBran Bioscience, a contract research organization based in Fairfax, Va., and the Piedmont Triad Office of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. A grand prize winner, to be announced at Triad BioNight on March 30 in Greensboro, will receive a pre-clinical research study valued at $10,000 and a cash prize of $1,000. The four runners-up will each receive $500 cash prizes. Fran Daniel Googles YouTube losing major advertisers AT&T, Verizon and several other major advertisers are suspending their marketing campaigns on Googles YouTube site after discovering their brands have been appearing alongside videos promoting terrorism and other unsavory subjects. The spreading boycott confronts Google with a challenge that threatens to cost it hundreds of millions of dollars. Google depends largely on automated programs to place ads in YouTube videos because the job is too much for humans to handle on their own. About 400 hours of video is now posted on YouTube each minute. The Associated Press Forsyth County commissioners are exploring options to consolidate human-services programs. In 2012, the North Carolina General Assembly removed a population threshold that applied on consolidating county human- services programs meaning in Forsyth County the Department of Public Health and the Department of Social Services. The General Assembly gave three options for counties to consider, and Forsyth commissioners discussed them at their winter work session in February. The first option dissolves the governing boards of one or both of the departments. The commissioners would assume the powers and duties of the public health and/or the social services boards. Stokes County elected to do option one for both public health and social services. Wilkes, Surry, Watauga, McDowell and Columbus elected this option for social services only. The second option would create a new consolidated health services agency by combining social services and public health. Commissioners would then appoint a new consolidated health services board to oversee the new agency. Several counties, including Wake, Gaston and Rockingham use this model. The third option is a combination of options one and two where commissioners create a consolidated health services agency and becomes the governing board of the new agency. Mecklenburg, Guilford and Yadkin counties are among the 12 counties that use this model. Arguments for consolidation are that counties gain efficiency by also consolidating back-office functions, cross training staff and creating one intake office for both services. A lot of clients of social services are clients of public health, said assistant county manager Rhonda Tatum. This keeps them from having to run here and run there. It would just have one person for the intake. Arguments against consolidation are that each department should serve its own unique population and part-time elected officials like county commissioners dont have time to govern agencies. Tatum said that staff would recommend consolidating as long as the county is doing it for the right reasons. A lot of places have had a crisis in one of their departments either public health or social services so they wanted to take advantage of (consolidation) and that hasnt worked real well, Tatum said. A factor in consolidation efforts is the State Human Resources Act. Some employees of human services are classified as state employees under the state Human Resources Act which follow different policies and procedures than at the county level. Consolidating human services would classify all employees as county employees, which would simplify some processes in the countys human resources department. HR has to go through this complicated process just to classify a position, and that would go away, Tatum said. From a staff perspective, they probably wouldnt see much difference. Nancy Young, vice chairwoman of the Department of Social Services board, said she wants more information on the consolidation options, but she does have some concerns about the possibility of one department of human services. These two departments are both so complex and are bound by rules, regulations and laws controlled beyond the county, she said. I understand (consolidation) conceptually, but Im just not sure it does what theyd want it to do. Commissioners will vote Monday to hire a consultant to look more closely at the consolidation options and to work with each department and board. WASHINGTON The FBI is investigating whether persons involved with President Trumps campaign collaborated with Russian officials to help Trump win the election. Let that sink in for a moment. Then take a deep breath, exhale and try to imagine where this might lead. FBI Director James Comey confirmed Monday what we suspected: An active probe of Russias election meddling, which includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russias efforts. Hours earlier, Trump had fired up his Twitter account in a vain attempt to make the whole thing go away. He began his tweet by saying, The Democrats made up and pushed the Russian story as an excuse for running a terrible campaign. That was a lie, perhaps designed to reassure the presidents loyal supporters, perhaps to salve his own bruised ego. The Democrats didnt make up anything. The intelligence community has reached the conclusion that the Russian government actively tried to meddle in the election initially, perhaps, to weaken confidence in our political process, but later to boost Trumps chances of winning. To this end, according to the intelligence assessment, the Russians hacked into the internet communications of prominent Democrats and party institutions including the Democratic National Committee and orchestrated a series of leaks timed to do maximum political damage to Hillary Clinton. It is bad enough to have to wonder whether Trumps narrow margin of victory might have resulted from a boost provided by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is much worse to think that anyone connected with the Trump campaign might have known about this interference by an adversarial foreign power and failed to sound the alarm or, perhaps, even collaborated in the dark operation. Trump pretends this is all sour grapes over Clintons loss, but its not; she didnt win, and Democrats have moved on. Its about what Comey called a Russian attempt to undermine democracy by helping one candidate at the expense of another. Trump also tries to change the subject by making wild and unsupported allegations, such as his ridiculous charge that former President Obama ordered wiretapping of Trump Tower during the campaign. Comey and National Security Agency head Michael Rogers both testified they had no information to support Trumps claim. Comey added that no president could unilaterally order such surveillance. And Rogers flatly denied the Trump administrations absurd fallback claim that Obama somehow arranged for British intelligence to do the snooping for him. Throughout the hearing, Republicans sought to focus on leaks of classified information that found their way onto the front pages of The Washington Post and The New York Times. At one point, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., pressed Comey on whether a journalist who published such material wasnt guilty of committing a felony. Comey didnt bite, apparently disinclined to threaten reporters with long prison terms. The real issue, of course, is the information itself. Michael Flynn had to resign as Trumps national security adviser after it was revealed that he had lied about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Despite what he told Congress during his confirmation hearing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions had meetings with Kislyak, as did several other Trump campaign advisers. There are numerous allegations of other contacts, which have yet to be discounted or confirmed. Meanwhile, Trumps rhetoric about Putin and Russia has been anomalously gentle. He does not hesitate to blast German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a staunch ally, for not spending enough on defense; he goes out of his way to bash our neighbor Mexico; and he even managed to get into a needless row with the prime minister of Australia. Yet he has consistently conveyed his admiration for Putins leadership and expressed a desire for a warmer U.S.-Russia relationship. An FBI investigation, it seems to me, would necessarily have to look into the presidents business relationships with Russians tied to the Putin regime. In 2008, Donald Trump Jr. said publicly that Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of our assets and that we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia. The president now denies significant business involvement with Russians. Which is true? If the FBI trains scrutiny on such Trump campaign figures as Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, what will they find? And why does the subject of Russia so reliably send Trump into a Twitter rage? This trail may lead somewhere or it may lead nowhere. But now it will be followed to the end. Moussa81/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Donald Trump Jr. criticized London Mayor Sadiq Khan after a terrorist attack in London today near the Houses of Parliament, referring to remarks Khan made in 2016. On Twitter, Trump wrote, "You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in a big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan." Accompanying the tweet was a link to a September story by The Independent, which reprinted a quote from Khan in The Evening Standard, in which he said the threat of attacks is "part and parcel of living in a big city." You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan https://t.co/uSm2pwRTjO Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 22, 2017 Khan made the remarks to The Evening Standard shortly before a meeting with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio in September. Days before, a pressure cooker bomb injured dozens of people in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood. "It is a reality, I'm afraid, that London, New York, other major cities around the world have got to be prepared for these sorts of things," Khan said at the time. He added, "That means being vigilant, having a police force that is in touch with communities. It means the security services being ready, but also it means exchanging ideas and best practice." In the interview, Khan criticized Trump's father, thenpresidential candidate Donald Trump Sr., for saying within minutes of the explosion that it was time to "get tough." "I'm not going to speculate as to who is responsible or how the police in New York should react," Khan told The Evening Standard. "Speculating when you don't know the facts is unwise." The attack near the Houses of Parliament was described as "inspired by international terrorism" by police. Khan is London's first Muslim mayor. Four people were killed and at least 40 more were injured in the attack. The suspect was also killed, shot by police on the scene. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Fans of the namaste bow or tree pose will soon have a new studio to practice their regular stretching and breathing techniques, as Essential Yoga recently held its soft opening at 140 West Richardson Street (upstairs from Katie Mae's) in Summerville's historic downtown area. Read moreEssential Yoga debuts in Summerville Marilyn Stasio's review in the Crime Column of the New York Times, on the new Cat in the Stacks mystery by DEBORAH CROMBIE : I'm going to start with a quote, on this day when I feel particularly in need of a bit of comfort--fromon the newmystery by Miranda James (aka my friend Dean.) "Let us now praise the cozy mystery, so comforting on dark days, so warming on chilly nights--the literary equivalent of a cat. 12 ANGRY LIBRARIANS...checks a lot of essential boxes." What better introduction to this series, if you haven't been fortunate enough to read it! The books feature widowed librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel, and are set in a small collegiate town in Mississippi. Here's a peek at Twelve Angry Librarians : Charlie is stressed out. The Southern Academic Libraries Association is holding this years annual meeting at Athena College. Since Charlie is the interim library director, he must deliver the welcome speech to all the visiting librarians. And as if that werent bad enough, the keynote address will be delivered by Charlies old nemesis from library school. Its been thirty years since Charlie has seen Gavin Fong, and hes still an insufferable know-it-all capable of getting under everyones skin. In his keynote, Gavin puts forth a most unpopular opinion: that degreed librarians will be obsolete in the academic libraries of the future. So when Gavin drops dead, no one seems too upset But Charlie, who was seen having a heated argument with Gavin the day before, has jumped to the top of the suspect list. Now Charlie and Diesel must check out every clue to refine their search for the real killer among them before the next book Charlie reads comes from a prison library And here's Dean--er, Miranda--to set us straight on libraries. Libraries come in assorted flavors there are public libraries, government libraries, corporate libraries, law libraries, music libraries, art libraries, medical libraries, as well as various other kinds of libraries. Each type of library has its particular needs that make it distinctive from the other kinds of library. Their collections can be vastly different. For example, a medical library collection and a public library collection dont have much in common, because they serve different communities. In my Cat in the Stacks series I write about two kinds of library, the public library in Athena, Mississippi, and the library at Athena College. The latter is considered an academic library. An academic library serves the needs of its parent institution, and there are thousands of academic libraries and academic libraries in the United States. There are also professional associations for the different types of libraries, and these association meet, usually on an annual basis. For the latest book, I thought it would be fun to write a mystery set at an academic library conference, so I made up an association the Southern Academic Libraries Association, or SALA. Athena College is the host library, and since Charlie is serving as interim director of the library, he will have to play a role in the meeting. Whether he really wants to is another matter. At these meetings librarians do presentations, and there are usually a couple, if not more, keynote addresses. What if, I thought, someone is murdered during one of these keynotes? What if its the person speaking who is murdered? And what if the speaker just happens to be someone that Charlie dislikes? Those were the seeds of the plot of Twelve Angry Librarians . I decided that some of the important characters would be fellow students from Charlies days in graduate school in Texas twenty-five years ago. Readers get a glimpse into Charlies history in this book, and they also see a side of his personality that doesnt surface often. Thats part of the fun of writing a series, actually. Exploring a characters history and aspects of his personality that slowly emerge as the series progresses. Now, before anyone gets worried, Ive been to numerous professional library association meetings, and thus far no one has been murdered. But you never know . . . . DEBS : And here's more about Dean, who will be checking in to chat with us today! Miranda James is the pseudonym of Dean James, a seventh-generation Mississippian recently returned home after over thirty years in Texas. A mystery fan since the age of ten, he wrote his first novel at the ripe old age of twelve. The only copy of The Mystery of the Willow Key vanished years ago, but since it was highly derivative of the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden mystery series, thats probably a good thing. Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday signed into law a bill [Senate Bill 519, PDF] that separates the celebrations of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Confederate General Robert E Lee. King and Lee were both born in mid-January and up until the bill was signed, the state of Arkansas celebrated both men on the same day. The law now allocates days several months apart for each, making Lees day of recognition the second Saturday in October, which is near the anniversary of his death. Lees holiday will not be a holiday for state employees like Kings, but the bill requires students of the state be taught [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report] about both Lee and King. Although previous attempts to separate the holidays failed, Arkansas legislature voted in favor of the bill 66-11. Debate has intensified in the past year over the acceptability of confederate symbols in everyday life. Earlier this month a federal appeals court ruled [JURIST report] that New Orleans can remove confederate statues. In September a judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi [official website] dismissed [JURIST report] a challenge to the constitutionality of the Mississippi state flag. In August 2015 a judge in Texas denied a request for a temporary restraining order to halt the University of Texas at Austin from relocating a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis [JURIST report]. In July it came to light that Dylann Roof, who is charged with the murder of nine black church members in South Carolina [JURIST report], prominently posed [NYT report] with the confederate flag. Also in July South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from the state house [JURIST report]. Although the Charleston shooting led to renewed focus on the use of the Confederate flag, controversy over the flag has persisted for years. In June of last year the US Supreme Court ruled that state governments can restrict [JURIST report] the kinds of messages printed on specialty license plates after the Sons of Confederate Veterans argued that the Texas governments refusal to issue specialty license plates including an image of the confederate flag violated the First Amendment. In 2008 a federal court affirmed [JURIST report] a district courts grant of summary judgment to a Tennessee public high school in a lawsuit brought by three students who claimed the schools ban on wearing the Confederate flag was unconstitutional. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson [official website] on Wednesday signed into law a bill allowing individuals over the age of 21 to get enhanced concealed carry permits [HB 1249 materials]. Individuals who have concealed carry permits may apply for the enhanced permit and, after eight hours of additional training, may carry the concealed weapons at public colleges, airports, polling places, sporting events, some state offices and the state capitol. Under HB.1249/Act 562 concealed weapons are still forbidden in courtrooms, K-12 public schools, public pre-K programs, prisons and dorm rooms, even with the enhanced permit. The law allows for churches, places of worship and other establishments to post notices forbidding the entry of concealed weapons onto the premises. The law will go into effect on September 1. The ability to carry concealed weapons, especially in churches and on college campuses, has become an increasingly prevanlent issue. Last month, the New Hampshire House of Representatives approved a bill that would repeal the law prohibiting state citizens from carrying concealed firearms without a permit. Earlier in February the US House of Representatives voted to repeal [text, PDF] an Obama-era gun regulation that required mental health information to be shared with the national gun background check system. In December Ohio Governor John Kasich signed Senate Bill 199 [JURIST report], making it legal to carry concealed weapons at daycare facilities and onto college campuses. Last September the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit restored [JURIST report] gun ownership rights of individuals convicted of minor crimes. Earlier that month the New Jersey Second Amendment Society filed [JURIST report] a lawsuit against the states Attorney General in New Jerseys district court alleging the states stun gun ban is unconstitutional. In June the US Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that a state law conviction on reckless domestic assault is sufficient to bar possession of a firearm under federal law. Earlier in June Hawaii Governor David Ige signed a bill [JURIST report] requiring gun owners to be listed on an FBI database, notifying police if a Hawaii citizen is arrested in another state and providing a continuous criminal record check on those individuals seeking to possess a firearm. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] has upheld [opinion, PDF] a lower court ruling allowing a Texas school board to open their meetings with a student-led public prayer. By affirming the lower court ruling, the Fifth Circuit held [Fox News report] Monday that the prayers are not unconstitutional as government-established religion. The case is a result of a lawsuit by the American Humanist Association [advocacy website] and a graduate of Birdville High School, the school in question. The appellate panel ruled that student-led prayers for legislative bodies differ from unconstitutional prayers in public schools. The court further cited the Supreme Court decision Town of Greece v. Galloway [opinion, PDF], which held that a towns practice of opening its town board meetings with a prayer did not violate [JURIST report] the Establishment clause. Judge Jerry Smith wrote for the panel: It would be nonsensical to permit legislative prayers but bar the legislative officers for whom they are being primarily recited from participating in the prayers in any way. Indeed, the Supreme Court did not take issue with the fact that Town of Greece board members bowed their heads during invocations. Public prayer has been an increasingly contested issue since the Supreme Courts ruling in Town of Greece v. Galloway. In February the US court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled [JURIST report] that offering christian-only prayers at public board meetings in unconstitutional. In September the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled [JURIST report] that North Carolina county commissioners can open meetings with a prayer. In April Idaho Governor Butcch Otter vetoed a bill [JURIST report] that would have permitted the use of the Christian bible in a public school. The US Department of Justice [official website] petitioned [text, PDF] Wednesday to have the travel ban executive order [text] by President Donald Trump [official profile] reviewed more quickly. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions [official profile]commented [text] on the proceedings earlier this month, saying [t]his executive order provides a needed pause, so we can carefully review how we scrutinize people coming here from these countries of concern and further stating, [t]his Department of Justice will defend and enforce lawful orders of the President consistent with core principles of our Constitution. The DOJ said it is seeking quicker movement because the executive order has not taken effect following rulings in Maryland and Hawaii [JURIST report]. On Monday, the Hawaii district judge who issued one of the injunctions refused to clarify [JURIST report] his travel ban ruling. Judge Derrick Watson strongly condemned the new travel ban, saying [t]he illogic of the Governments contentions is palpable, in his opinion [text, PDF]. Last Friday the Washington federal judge who ruled against Trumps original travel ban declined [JURIST report] to reinstate the injunction on the amended ban. Before that on Thursday, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied [JURIST report] a rehearing of Trumps original immigration order. Two weeks ago the Department of Justice withdrew [JURIST report] their appeal after Trump signed his revised ban. The DOJ had originally sought the appeal [JURIST report] in February. The Mississippi Senate [official website] on Tuesday approved a bill [text, PDF] that would prohibit cities in the state from passing so-called sanctuary laws limiting how local government groups cooperate with federal immigration agencies. The bill defines a sanctuary policy as one that (a) limits or prohibits any person from communicating or cooperating with federal agencies or officials to verify or report the immigration status of any person; or (b) grants to any person the right to lawful presence or status within the state, a county or municipality, or the campus of a university, college, community college or junior college in violation of federal law. The bill was passed in the Senate by a vote [vote record, PDF] of 39 to 11, with 2 absent. The bill now goes to Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant [official website], who is expected to sign [Clarion Ledger report] it into law. Bryant has stated that the law will help Mississippi abide by federal immigration laws. Opponents of the bill state that it will make immigrants less likely to report crimes. Since the election of US President Donald Trump, some states and cities have proposed legislation to crackdown on sanctuary policies while some cities continue to stand behind their policies [JURIST op-ed]. In February, the Alabama House approved [JURIST report] a bill to block funding for sanctuary universities. In the same month, Texas Senate approved a bill targeting sanctuary cities [JURIST report] by requiring them to comply with federal immigration law. Earlier in February San Francisco filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over an executive order that would cut federal funding [JURIST report] from sanctuary cities. In January, San Franciscos police chef was sued by an undocumented El Salvadorian over the citys sanctuary protection laws [JURIST report]. Also in January, the New York Attorney General proposed model language [JURIST report] for immigration laws and policies in sanctuary cities. A second federal judge has signed off on a revised settlement [settlement, PDF] in a suit that had accused the New York City Police [official website] of illegally surveilling Muslim communities in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. Judges Chen and Haight were the judges for href=https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/raza-v-city-new-york-complaint>Raza v. City of New York [complaint] and Handschu v. Special Services Division [case materials], and both had to sign off on the revised settlement before it could take effect. The finalized settlement prohibits investigations in which race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin is a substantial or motivating factor; limits the NYPDs use of undercovers and confidential informants to situations in which the information sought cannot reasonably be obtained in a timely and effective way by less intrusive means; and installs a civilian representative within the NYPD with the power and obligation to ensure all safeguards are followed and to serve as a check on investigations directed at political and religious activities. An initial settlement had been reached in 2015, but Haight refused to approve it last October [JURIST report], finding it did not sufficiently protect the constitutional rights of Muslim citizens residing in the city. Earlier this month this revised settlement was reached [JURIST report] to Haights approval. In October 2015 the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website] revived the civil rights lawsuit filed by a coalition of Muslim groups that accused the NYPD of conducting unjustified surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey. In April 2014 the new commissioner of the NYPD William Bratton announced [JURIST report] the disbanding of the Demographics Unit surveillance unit used to spy on the Muslim communities. In February 2014 a judge for the US District Court for the District of New Jersey ruled [JURIST report] that the NYPDs surveillance of Muslims was a lawful effort for national security and did not constitute harm or violation of civil rights. In September 2013 former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly admitted [JURIST report] that the NYPD spied on mosques and on a Muslim preacher but requested that the court dismiss the complaint. The US Supreme Court unanimously vacated and remanded [opinion, PDF] a lower decision [opinion, PDF] regarding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) [text, PDF] on Wednesday. The court ruled that to meet IDEA standards, a school must offer an individualized education program that is tailored to each childs needs, finding that students with disabilities must have the chance to make meaningful, appropriately ambitious progress. Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District [SCOTUSblog materials] questioned whether a minimum standard was acceptable or an individualized program had to be created for each student under IDEA. Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the court, [i]t cannot be right that the IDEA generally contemplates grade-level advancement for children with disabilities who are fully integrated in the regular classroom, but is satisfied with barely more than de minimis progress for children who are not. There are currently almost 6.5 million students with disabilities in the US. A complaint was filed [SCOTUSblog report] after parents of an autistic student felt their child did not receive significant benefits that were tailored to their child and his changing needs as he progressed and got older. A hearing officer found in favor of the school. The parents then filed a lawsuit in federal court, which also found in favor of the school. On appeal, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit [official website] upheld the ruling [opinion, PDF], stating that the school merely needed to provide the child with a benefit that was more than de minimis. Ford is doing much in the Connected Vehicle Technologies space. Its award-winning SYNC 3 system incorporates much of the functionality desired by consumers today. At the Geneva Motor Show, we caught up with Jan Schroll, Ford of Europes Supervisor for Connectivity Application, to discuss the challenges of integrating connectivity and the road ahead. just-auto: In January 2017, Ford announced the creation of the SmartDeviceLink (SDL) Consortium. With the emerging popularity of SDL, can you foresee a scaling back of the work with Apple and Google, regarding CarPlay and Android Auto respectively? Jan Schroll: There are no plans to discontinue our engagement with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. We are building more pillars for the customer to choose from. We are enabling the customer to have the ultimate power of choice in terms of connectivity. We are continuing the Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support and we will further strengthen our Applink and SDL. The creation of the consortium will strengthen our SDL and Applink engagements. Of course, as something Ford founded, SDL is something we will strengthen further down the road. Were also enabling mobile navigation applications to work with Applink and SDL. j-a: How many applications does the Applink platform now support? JS: It varies by market. Here in Europe we have around 20 and in the US, we have 70 or so. The US has far more. j-a: What explains the difference? More developers, other challenges? JS: Sometimes we have partners that are regionally specific. For example, a Spanish bank, or a German newspaper. These are not applicable in all markets. Its very interesting that a lot of local app developers are interested in creating apps for the platform. The main reason for difference is the cadence of the technology. Applink was first released in the US. It has been established longer. Even on Ford SYNC with Applink, developers have been interested in the platform. With the SYNC 3 systems, the bigger screen gives developers even more technical possibilities to interact with the customer. In the US they also have a lot of local radio stations. j-a: Are there any particular apps you are excited about for the future? JS: Yes, actually in Germany, we have just added a catastrophe warning app. It only works for Germany at the moment, but it beams live catastrophe information directly into the car. j-a: When we are talking catastrophe, how disastrous are we talking? Storm Doris? Or something worse? JS: It covers storms, black ice, chemical accidents in plants, etc. Its done through official data released by the German authorities. For example, the suspected terror attack in Munich. They put out an alert and they can begin to manage the traffic quicker. They plan to expand to Austria and Switzerland I think and maybe then they will further expand. j-a: Does Ford have a lot of control over how real-time the apps are? JS: No, theyre not Ford data. Theyre not Ford-derived or -processed data. We manage the integration of the app into the car, but the accuracy of the app isnt something we control. Thats the Applink principle, right? Were not making demands that would really limit developers. The developer is fully in charge of getting his data from the cloud. j-a: Regarding voice control, there are some features in the SYNC 3 which are not controlled by voice control. What are the challenges with this? JS: On the one hand, for voice control specifically, we have to distinguish between the on-board system, where you dont require any connectivity for it to work there are some differences in Fords built-in system and Apple or Googles voice control systems which rely on an online connection. If you have an app that runs offline, you can use voice control all the time. If the app requires a connection, then its limited. Thats one of the key elements of our built-in system. We still have huge areas in Europe where we still have limited or no 4G or 3G coverage. For those customers specifically, we need to serve them an onboard solution. j-a: There isnt any toggling between certain screens, too, for example, Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. I probably only notice this more as I test out both handsets for my work, but still, what is this about? JS: I agree, it is somewhat difficult to flip between the examples you gave. This is because you have to really hit the escape button in the Android Auto or CarPlay environments really accurately. Unfortunately, thats under the control of Apple or Google. We cant just reposition escape points, we have to use the ones they provide. Thats why it can be sometimes clumsy. I imagine this is done quite deliberately to ensure the customer says in their ecosystem. j-a: So, theres a lot to look forward to for SYNC4? JS: I wouldnt tie apps to a specific SYNC generation. Applink is just a platform which will keep growing regardless of the SYNC system. Some of the refinements of the SYNC system, like the bigger display screen, have encouraged more developers to get involved with Applink, but the products are separate. SYNC is the hardware platform and we continue to evolve the software in it. It means customers that have the SYNC 3 system will be eligible for the software updates moving forward. j-a: Recently Ford said it was not going to consider the Level 4 autonomy and that there may be a need to jump straight to Level 5? JS: Actually, what we are confirming our CEO Mark Fields has said we are skipping the Level 3. We are further evolving driver assist features up to level 2 and in parallel we are working on Level 4 vehicles for commercial applications. Thats what the plans are. Well start to launch an SAE Level 4 capable fully autonomous car in 2021 in the US, in a commercial application (ride hailing/ride sharing services). j-a: How does the patchy 4G coverage and on-board requirements for storage affect hardware requirements? JS: Theres a definite trade-off between the processing power and the features you can offer. Because if you have on-board, off-board system, you have a tremendous amount of processing power at your fingertips immediately. In the car we have a small computer, with an integrated microchip with sufficient code produced for it, to bring enough features into the car. Moving forward, we in the very long-term will be aiming to move processing power from the car into the cloud to offer even better services. The cloud not only has more processing power but also holds more data. The key challenge, or opportunity, for the auto makers is to find a very good, very seamless way of merging the on-board content with the off-board content. You have to guarantee a certain minimum standard of features in the car, but you then have to cleverly link the cloud-connected features into it, so when customers have the coverage, they can utilise the full amount of data. You still have to be very competitive, even without a connection. j-a: Would you have a timeline for that? JS: I would say [vaguely] in the coming years. Youll have heard FordPass Connect is coming early next year. Well be putting a modem into the car and well be offering connectivity and WiFi hot spotting, via our partner Vodafone. Itll be the network provider in Europe. j-a: Will that cost the consumer? JS: We havent yet confirmed any pricing. j-a: What kind of influence do you have over what direction the MNOs take to bring the end goal of full, reliable coverage? JS: We are working very closely with Vodafone to ensure they remain a very competitive provider. I cant go into business insights, of course, but yes, theres collaboration. Weve joined the 5G Automotive Association but at the moment, its too early to say anything really. NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Style Daily Update The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Style Weekly Update A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Style Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter. Chinese companies with aspirations to go global should ensure their intellectual property rights are protected before expanding into overseas markets, a top IPR expert said. Chen Hongbing, head of the World Intellectual Property Organization's China office, said that as more enterprises go out, it is essential they understand the laws and regulations in other countries to avoid patent disputes. "China is on the edge of a historic transition," he said in an exclusive interview with China Daily. "With globalization and regional economic integration, the country's commodities, technologies, brands and capital are moving into overseas markets at a rapid pace. "In this process, innovative products and technologies need to be protected with IPR. ... Otherwise, difficulties may arise." The central government has put more emphasis on innovation in recent years, leading to a series of technological breakthroughs. In 2015, China's patent office received a record 1 million applications, the most reported in any country in a single year. "The number of patent applications has soared, which shows a rising awareness about IPR, improvement of IPR system operations and an uplift of overall innovation performance by the country," Chen said. IPR protection has become a major part of many companies' strategic management to promote their competitive edge and reduce dispute risks, he added. WIPO's data show that 43,168 Patent Cooperation Treaty applications were filed from China last year, the third-highest worldwide another sign of the importance China attaches to patent protection in overseas markets. For international registration of trademarks, the applications from China under WIPO's Madrid System hit a record 3,200 cases last year, a year-on-year growth of 68.6 percent. Chen said major Chinese companies such as ZTE, Huawei, BOE and Xiaomi have enlisted WIPO's services to protect their innovations and branding overseas. Francis Gurry, director-general of WIPO, said, "China-based filers are behind much of the growth in international patent and trademark filings, making great strides in internationalizing their businesses as the country continues its journey from 'made in China' to 'created in China'." The organization, a United Nations agency with 189 member states, offers a wide range of global IP services, including the Patent Cooperation Treaty and Madrid System for the international registration of trademarks. The Madrid System allows companies to seek protection of their trademarks in more than 100 countries by filing just one registration at WIPO. "Without the service, companies have to register their trademarks in different countries. This takes time, energy and money," Chen said. "With different languages, legal systems and cultures, it's not easy to go through the process country by country." A convenient and effective system for cross-border patent protection is key to companies going global, he said, adding: "WIPO's Global IP Services are increasingly recognized by Chinese companies and innovators. In central and western regions, they have also shown a growing interest, and in coastal areas, they are using the services widely now." President Xi Jinping sent condolences on Thursday to Britain's Queen Elizabeth following the terror attack in London. In the message to the queen, the president strongly condemned the attack, and offered his profound condolences and sincere sympathy to families and loved ones of the victims and the injured. Xi said terrorism is the common enemy of the international community and China is firmly opposed to terrorism of any form. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with the United Kingdom and the international community, and will strive to safeguard the security of both countries and the world at large, he said. Beijing Capital Development Holdings (also known as Beijing SHOKAI) has made another property acquisition in London after Grosvenor Europe agreed to the sale of Fleet Place House for 96.5 million pounds ($120 million). Fleet Place House has sold for 96.5 million pounds to a Chinese property investment company. Grosvenor Europe, one of four operating companies of a privately owned international property group, instructed BNP Paribas Real Estate to sell the property. Following a competitive bidding process, which included investors from the UK, US and Asia, the prime multi-let office and retail investment was sold to Beijing SHOKAI. Grosvenor bought Fleet Place House in 2013 from German family trust AM Alpha on behalf of the Grosvenor London Office Fund for 68 million pounds, a net initial yield of 5.9 percent. The building on Holborn Viaduct provides office, retail space and ancillary accommodation comprising approximately 8,543 square meters arranged over basement, ground and eight upper floors. Scott Rowland, fund manager at Grosvenor, said: "Since purchasing Fleet Place House, Grosvenor has upgraded both the asset and the income profile, driving income growth and delivering very attractive returns to our investors." The property is currently let to various tenants, including Samsung, Bevan Britain, Dimension Data, Pret a Manger and Starbucks. At the end of 2016, Beijing SHOKAI paid approximately 210 million pounds to Korea's Samsung Asset Management for 30 Crown Place in the UK's capital, the headquarters of law firm Pinsent Masons. In 2015, the Chinese investor agreed an off-market deal to buy Friary Court from German closed-ended fund manager HIH Global Invest. The Beijing company paid around 67 million pounds for the 6,967 square meter office building, which reflected a net initial yield of 4.5 percent. Beijing SHOKAI's scope of business includes the development of commercial, residential and affordable housing, and property operation, including hotel operation and property management. As of June 30, the investor had total assets of approximately 20 billion pounds. Beijing Capital Development Holding develops and manages property in China and has invested and set up overseas subsidiaries in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Macau and the US. Grosvenor said it could not reveal any details of the transaction and Beijing SHOKAI had yet to reply to enquiries at the time of publication. LONDON - Police arrested seven people in the investigation into a lone-wolf attacker who killed three people and injured 40 before being shot dead by police near parliament in London, Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer said on Thursday. A police officer stands on duty as the union flag flies over Parliament at half-mast the morning after an attack by a man driving a car and weilding a knife left five people dead and dozens injured, in London, Britain, March 23, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] Mark Rowley said there were four dead including the attacker and 29 people still being treated in hospital, seven of whom were in a critical condition. Police had said on Wednesday that the death toll was five in the worst such attack in Britain since 2005. The attacker sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, ploughing into pedestrians along the way, then ran through the gates of the nearby parliament building and stabbed a policeman before being shot dead. Authorities have said they are working on the assumption that the attack was Islamist-related. Britons have been shocked by the fact that the attacker was able to cause such mayhem in the heart of the capital equipped with nothing more sophisticated than a hired car and a knife. "The police and agencies that we rely on for our security have forestalled a large number of these attacks in recent years, over a dozen last year," said defence minister Michael Fallon. "This kind of attack, this lone-wolf attack, using things from daily life, a vehicle, a knife, are much more difficult to forestall," he told the BBC. A minute's silence was held in parliament and in front of police headquarters at New Scotland Yard at 0933 GMT, in honour of the victims -- 933 was the shoulder number on the uniform of Keith Palmer, the policeman who was stabbed to death. Police believe they know the identity of the attacker but have not named him. "We're dealing with an enemy, a terrorist enemy, that is not making demands or taking people hostage, but simply wants to kill as many people as possible. This is a new element to international terrorism," Fallon said. Rowley said police had searched six addresses in London, Birmingham and other parts of the country in their investigation. "It is still our belief ... that this attacker acted alone and was inspired by international terrorism. At this stage we have no specific information about further threats to the public," Rowley said. He said there was a mix of nationalities among the dead but gave no details. The victims were the policeman, Palmer, and two members of the public, a woman in her mid-40s and a man in his mid-50s. The fourth dead was the assailant. VIGIL Three French high-school students aged 15 or 16, who were on a school trip to London with fellow students from Brittany, were among the injured. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was expected to arrive in London to visit them at hospital, French media reported. There were also five South Koreans among the injured, South Korea's foreign ministry said in Seoul. Prime Minister Theresa May was due to make a statement to parliament on the attack at 1030 GMT. A vigil was planned in London's Trafalgar Square at 1800 GMT. Fallon said security arrangements at parliament would be reviewed. A meeting of COBR, the government's crisis response committee, was due to take place later on Thursday morning. Westminster Bridge remained cordoned off with a strong police presence. The nearby Westminster underground rail station, normally a busy hub in the morning rush hour, was not accessible from the street as it was within the cordon. May said on Wednesday the location of the attack was not an accident. She said any assault on British values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech was doomed to failure and Britons would not be divided by such acts. But anti-immigration groups were quick to make links between immigration and the attack. Leave.EU, a group that has campaigned for immigration to be severely restrained as part of Britain's exit from the European Union, accused mainstream politicians of facilitating acts of terror by failing to secure borders. "We are sick, tired but perhaps even more so we are angry that recent governments across Europe have enabled these attacks through grossly negligible policies that have left us vulnerable," the group said in a statement. In France, far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen also drew a link, saying that events in London highlighted the importance of protecting national borders and stepping up security measures. The Scottish parliament, which suspended a planned debate and vote on independence on Wednesday because of events in London, was due to resume those proceedings on Tuesday, the BBC reported. AP Faced with an increasingly precarious job market, young people are willing to give more for less. This is being exploited with a rise in unpaid internships. Able to handle multiple tasks under strict deadlines, devotion to work late hours when needed: these were some of the criteria for a three to four month internship in Brussels, completely unpaid, that I applied for directly after receiving my Bachelors degree. I wanted to kill some time before starting my Masters degree, and I thought an internship would be a good opportunity to gain valuable work experience an expand my contacts network. The description of the responsibilities included assisting in the organisation of events, writing summaries and comprehensive report (sic),data management, office management, and so on. It sounded promising, albeit demanding. Directly after the interview, I was hired, so to speak. After leaving the job early with a profound sense of unfulfillment, I grew increasingly critical about the internship industry as a whole. Four months later, after leaving the job early with a profound sense of unfulfillment, I grew increasingly critical about the internship industry as a whole. To refer to it as an industry sounds silly, but in the post-crisis era we are increasingly faced with organizations that hire interns as replacements for paid entry level employees, inexorably demanding desperate students and graduates to invest all their time and energy to do tasks that provide little in terms of valuable work experience. More recently, having gained a stronger sense of what I want for myself and what Im willing to accept from others, I declined an unpaid internship that required my presence for at least four days a week for six months and required that I work in the cafeteria at least once a week. The fact that a company that earns millions a year has the gall to demand unpaid interns to do work that really would best be done by paid cafeteria staff is astounding to me, but maybe this is becoming the new normal as employers are increasingly undermining the potential of educated youth in a race to the bottom. The harsh reality is also that there will always be someone who is willing to do the unpaid work that others would decline. I dont want to give you tips about how to get an internship position or how to write a good cover letter. I do want to emphasise the growing phenomenon of unpaid internships that might look seductive as a line in ones CV but ultimately offer little by way of a learning experience and exacerbate competitiveness and inequality in an already precarious job market. Unpaid work in organising a conference on unemployment The organization that I interned for set up conferences in Brussels on a variety of topics, one of which concerned the issues facing the European job market and unemployment. The conference was held in the affluent four star Silken Berlaymont Hotel, and my job that day was to welcome delegates and speakers and take notes. At this stage I was a few weeks into my internship, and I was already growing cynical and exasperated with the amount of work I was doing for no pay, or at least with no sense of personal benefit to me. I remember sitting in a corner that day during the conference, taking notes as I was asked to do, while one of the hired speakers, Professor Mike Campbell, was describing the growing phenomenon of unpaid internships in Europe, in the context of the fact that many youth have trouble finding employment. During the discussion session, I fantasized about raising my hand and announcing like one would do in a dramatic scene of a badly scripted film that I was myself an unpaid intern for the organization that was hosting this very conference about employment issues. Instead, I kept quiet, and stood politely by the door when the session ended in time for a stiff networking lunch break. Gaining a disillusioning experience My internship experience was a disillusioning one. I have learned about the prevalence of internship positions that seem to exist primarily as a means for organizations to cut costs and hire free labour. Unpaid internships are becoming more common, especially in the aftermath of the economic crisis. Many employers require their interns to do real work, in the sense that they are indispensable to the functioning of these organizations. Too many interns receive no rewards in return for the work they do, whether in terms of financial compensation or as a fulfilling learning experience. Of course, one learns by doing, but there is only so much energy that one can invest in an organization (especially those that receive generous funding and/or financial profit) for free before one feels exploited. This counts not only for the amount of effort that one puts into their work, but also the quality of the work that interns are asked to do; it is doubtful that making two hundred badges for conference attendees, or working in a cafeteria, will teach me much about working in a non-profit organization. Ultimately, too many interns receive no rewards in return for the work they do, whether in terms of financial compensation or as a fulfilling learning experience. Given the competitiveness of the job market, many young people are already happy to have a line in their CV and a letter of recommendation for the months of valuable work that they do. But young people are getting the short end of the stick: while organizations continue to benefit from the labour that youth are willing to offer for little to no reward, finding a stable, paid job is becoming increasingly difficult. We are the boomerang generation: vacillating between living independently, and depending on our parents for support because of the precariousness of the job market. If you have the privilege to be able to rely on your parents financially in the first place, that is. Regulations and reality Formally speaking, according to Eurofound, an EU agency devoted to the improvement of working conditions, an internship is legally required to meet the following criteria: it should not involve tasks that would otherwise be done by a full time employee, it should revolve around training, it should be no more than six months long, and interns are required to receive a bonus payment if the duration of the internship is longer than two months. It is easy for employers to bypass these regulations. I remember in the agreement that I signed for my internship, it explicitly states that I am not an employee. For another internship that I did after graduating from secondary school, I signed a volunteer contract. It goes without saying that a contract for a volunteer is absurd; volunteers, by the simple fact of being volunteers, have no obligations towards the organization they are working for. Yet a growing number of organizations are officially hiring interns as volunteers. By doing so, organizations can further avoid the responsibility that involves having employees; volunteers are not legally required to be paid, or even have their workers rights respected. After all, theyre volunteering, arent they? Interns are not volunteers The activist organization, Intern Aware, which protests the exclusionary nature of unpaid internships, makes a clear distinction between internships and volunteering. Volunteering, they state,involves a person working on their own terms; they volunteer their time when it works best for them and are not required to undertake certain tasks or meet certain standards of performance. Interns, like employees, are monitored by their bosses and are given a set of tasks to complete within a certain time frame and a certain set of standards. For this reason, Intern Aware argues that interns should be paid like regular employees. The blurring of the boundaries between volunteers and interns is dangerous and allows organizations to avoid meeting the legal standards for working conditions. Interns can thus work for several months at a time with no pay, undertaking mundane administrative tasks, and receive no legal protection as workers. At the very least, interns should be left with a sense of having learned something fulfilling from their experience, and should feel that they have made a valuable contribution to the organization. Ideally, they should be treated as potential employees, in which as a reward for their commitment, the organization also commits to them. Internships should provide experience, yet they require one I continued my unpaid internship for four months, being fully aware of the competitiveness of the paid job market and hoping it might benefit me in the long run. However, the internships themselves are becoming increasingly difficult to get. About thirty other people applied for the internship position that was unpaid and involved long working hours. I guess I should consider myself fortunate to have gotten it. Internships that are less demanding or provide even the slightest compensation are even more competitive.Even though the purpose of internships is, as mentioned above, to provide training and experience to fresh graduates just entering the job market, I noticed that many internships require prior work experience. The fact that the requirements for internship positions are so high shows that many internships exist for the benefit of the organization, even though internships should benefit the intern before anyone else. You might be thinking that if people are willing to work for free, let them. After all, this is something they signed up for, and you can always make the choice to leave if you are not happy with your internship experience. Yet in the present job market, in which several extracurricular activities and at least one or two internships are required to meet the minimum standards of a few entry-level jobs, what does it really mean to have that free choice to work for free? Sure, we could make the choice to not compete altogether and accept our fate as low-paid workers. Many people are happy with doing more basic, less ambitious work. But should we really accept this as our only alternative? Unpaid internships exclude those who cannot work for free. We also cant ignore the wider impact that unpaid internships have for society as a whole. To quote the slogan for Intern Aware, unpaid internships exclude those who cannot work for free. In other words, there is nothing meritocratic about a system that only works to the advantage of those who can live on savings or support from their parents for several months at a time. One might also wonder what it means for society if potentially great minds have difficulty competing in the job market because of the necessity to have done unpaid work in order to compete for a paid job. The bottom line is, unpaid internships contribute to the growing gap between the rich and poor. KEARNEY -- A family of two was displaced this morning following a structure fire at East Lawn Mobile Home Estates 171. Members of the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department responded to the fire call at about 9:50 a.m. Heavy smoke came from the doublewide house as firefighters tried to locate the source of the fire. The fire was under control at 10:33 a.m., and American Red Cross was on the scene providing assistance. The State Fire Marshals office was investigating the cause. LINCOLN High school students may take on the role of state senators at the Unicameral Youth Legislature June 11-14. At the State Capitol, student senators will sponsor bills, conduct committee hearings, debate legislation and discover the unique process of the nations only one-house legislature. The Unicameral Youth Legislature gives behind-the-scenes access to students who have an interest in public office, government, politics, law, public policy, debate or public speaking. Students will learn about the inner workings of the Legislature directly from senators and staff. Registrants may apply for a Greg Adams Civic Scholarship Award, which covers the full cost of admission. Applicants must submit a short essay. Other $100 scholarships also are available. To learn more about the program, go to www.NebraskaLegislature.gov/uyl or call 402-471-2788. The deadline for registration is May 15. KEARNEY Creating a public mural gives Derek Rusher a bigger audience for his artwork. About 90 percent of the people will see the front face of a museum and theyll never go in, Rusher said during a break in painting on the west side of Kearney Public Library at 2020 First Ave. Only 10 percent will walk through the doors. With this artwork, 100 percent will see it. Theyre seeing art, and thats one thing thats cool about public art. Rusher worked on an outside wall of the library on a cool and windy recent day with Katherine and Josh Arias, brother and sister artists who often assist Rusher with his projects. The trio specializes in spray painting public art murals. Kearney Mayor Stan Clouse suggested the idea, library Director Matthew Williams said. The library has always been behind public art, Williams said. I think thats part of our mission. A lot of the credit for the idea came from our mayor. Driving past the library every day, he saw a need for public art. The idea of a mural came to mind right away. After noticing other public artwork by Rusher and his team, Williams thought of them. The director of the library had seen other examples of library public art on institution walls across the country. After getting the commission, Rusher presented the idea of a book shelf to Williams. Rusher said, We put together a design and showed it to him. He liked it and got a bunch of books together that he felt would work best. Rusher arranged the books in an aesthetically pleasing way. Color, size those things matter, Rusher said. We wanted enough variety that we didnt have a bunch of blue books in a row, or the same height in a row. We tried to vary it up the best we could. The project includes three walls featuring three types of books: Nebraska history books, childrens books and literature for adult readers. All of them touch on Nebraska in some way. Several of the books are by national authors who have come to read at Kearney Public Library. Rusher and his team began the project on Sunday, working a few hours a day as the weather and their schedules allow. If you hang out with us when were painting, youll see a lot of banter, a lot of good fun mural talk is what we describe it as, Rusher said. We work well together. We all have a little bit of the same personality, but then a little different personality as well. We all bring a different art technique to the project. Katherine is a painter, and Josh comes from a spray-painting background. Im kind a middle-of-the-road guy. We can all combine our forces to make an art team. In his personal library, Rusher admitted that he keeps them all on the floor, are books for his toddler children ages 1 and 3. I dont have an arrangement for books at my house, he said. The three artists collaborated on murals at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Club at 2254 First Ave., a mural of the Lincoln Highway, and two pieces of public art on the Chesterman Coca-Cola/Dr. Pepper bottling plant at 119 W. North Railroad St. Im learning a lot as we go along, Rusher said about books and literature. Its just like when we do any mural, we learned a lot about the project were painting. We learned a lot about Coke and the boy in the artwork, Sprite Boy. Public art also gives Rusher the chance to make large paintings. There are obviously some large pieces in places like the Joslyn Museum in Omaha, he said. Even in the Museum of Nebraska Art you can find some big pieces. But in order to get a piece thats 15 feet by 25 feet high, you cant do that in a museum. Or even three pieces, side by side, that are 10 by 10, thats hard to do in a museum. The team considered erecting a protective tent while creating the artwork but decided to paint in the open. Doing it live, people can see the process, Rusher said. In an art museum, you see the finished piece. Doing live art, in public, where were not covering or hiding anything, you see the process and you see the steps we take. You might even see some faults that we might make and have to fix. Painting in the open allows the public to watch the evolution of the artwork. All three artists encourage people to stop by the library to watch and ask questions about the project. Its amazing to see people drive by slowly, Rusher said. Some people get out and take pictures, and some people just wave from their cars and give us a thumbs up. When its hanging in an art gallery, I dont get to stand by a piece of art and hear the comments people are making. As for finishing the murals, the artists know that the weather will determine the amount of time they can spend working each day. And each of the artists also works in other areas: education, the arts and community service. Well be here for a while, Rusher said. Thats good because the longer were here, the better, because it attracts interest. Its nice that we dont have to rush this project. Its all spray painted except for the letters. We have to hand paint the letters. You have to keep the integrity of those letters. MADISON, Wis. Martha Christensen, 85, of Madison died Sunday, March 19, 2017, in Madison. A memorial service will take place in Madison. Cress Center in Madison is in charge of arrangements. Dr. Christensen was born on Jan. 4, 1932, in Ames, Iowa, to Eva (Patterson) Christensen and Leo M. Christensen. She had most of her education in the public schools in Lincoln, Neb., and attended the University of Nebraska (Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees) and the University of Wisconsin (Ph.D. degree). She joined the University of Wyoming faculty of botany as a mycologist in 1963 and remained there as a teacher and investigator until her retirement in 1989 to care for her ailing mother in Laramie and in Miller, Neb., her ancestral home. She returned to Madison after her mothers death in 1999. In her research, she studied the ecology of the soil microfungi, the source of antibiotics. She examined relationships within soil microfungal communities, and variations in those communities in different types of soils and in different kinds of plant communities, finding many new species. Grants mainly from the National Science Foundation and from the pharmaceutical industry funded her research throughout her whole career. She published more than 60 major research papers and served as mentor for 25 graduate students in mycology. She collected soil samples for analysis from more than 100 native plant communities (deserts, grasslands, bogs, forests and tundra) in the United States, Europe and Africa. She reviewed papers for professional journals in botany and mycology, and she reviewed grant proposals for the National Science Foundation, the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy. She held several offices in the Mycological Society of America, including that of president, and also served in the Wyoming Outdoor Council and in the Laramie chapters of the Audubon Society and Phi Beta Kappa. Her honors included the Weber-Ernst Award from the University of Nebraska Department of Botany (1953), Woman of the Year from the University of Wyoming Student Association (1971), Woman Faculty of the Year from the University of Wyoming Mortar Board (1971), the Teaching Effectiveness Award from the University of Wyoming (1973), a Faculty Merit Award from the University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences (1982), the William A. Weston Award for teaching excellence from the Mycological Society of America (1991), and the Outstanding Former Faculty Award from the University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences (1997). In 2013, she received the prestigious Johanna Westerdijk Award from the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute in Utrecht, the Netherlands. She enjoyed the outdoors, hiking and birdwatching not only in Wyoming and Wisconsin but also in Africa, South America, Australia and Europe. A violist, she also enjoyed classical music, especially chamber music and opera. In Madison, she worked actively in SAIL (Sharing Active Independent Lives), a volunteer organization that serves the needs of the independent elderly. She is survived by her twin brother, James Christensen and Carol of North Liberty, Iowa; by two nieces, Laura Ellen Christensen and Paul Muhly and Martha Ann Nussbaum and Philip and her family of Iowa City, Iowa; and by one nephew, James Martin Christensen and his family of Mount Vernon, Iowa. She was preceded in death by her parents; an older sister, Ruth Ellen Christensen; and a younger brother, Richard Martin Christensen. Memorials are suggested to The Nature Conservancy or to the Wyoming Outdoor Council. Visit www.CressFuneralService.com to share a memory. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form St Luke's General Hospital already provides free car parking for people being treated for cancer and other patients in certain special cases, the hospital's General Manager has clarified. It follows recent confusion over how parking fees at the local hospital are applied to regular visitors, as well as serious criticism from the Irish Cancer Society. The number of patients attending St Luke's has increased in recent years, and the hospital earned 500,000 last year from parking. Earlier this month, the Irish Cancer Society slammed the hospital for what it described as 'crippling' parking charges for patients attending cancer services. The organisation then wrote to Kilkenny councillors asking them to introduce Notices of Motion at council meetings to bring in free parking for people in such circumstances. On Monday, local councillors agreed to write to St Luke's management to ask that efforts are made 'to ensure free car parking for oncology patients and designated family members or carers during their treatment'. The Notice of Motion was in the name of David Kennedy (Sinn Fein), Maurice Shortall and Tomas Breathnach (Labour Party), Andrew McGuinness (Fianna Fail) and Pat Dunphy (Fine Gael). However, local councillor Breda Gardner (Independent) informed the meeting that she had received clarification from the hospital's general manager Anne Slattery this week indicating that the hospital already provides this facility. The correspondence, seen by the Kilkenny People, says that St Luke's facilitates free parking for patients 'in receipt of regular oncology treatments at the oncology unit on site'. An arrangement is in place with the oncology ward and the security office in relation to patients who are issued special parking passes. Ms Slattery says that where 'exceptional car parking cases' are brought to attention, they are viewed 'in a considerate way based on the circumstances'. Furthermore, the hospital also participates in the Irish Cancer Society's voluntary Care to Drive programme. Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick said he had recently been at the hospital and encountered a lady, whose husband is ill with cancer, who was unaware of the free parking policy. He said he thought that Ms Slattery and hospital management should perhaps advertise it a little better. The carpark is over capacity two or three times a week, and plans are currently being made to develop more spaces. More set down parking spaces are being created towards the front of the new north entrance to the hospital, to enable patient drop-off. A defendant who struck a barman with a glass bottle causing a laceration on the back of his head had his case adjourned. Michael O'Reilly, 1 St Mary's Avenue, Hebron Road admitted assault causing harm at the World's End bar on John Street on March 12. The court heard that on March 12, 2016 gardai were called to the premises following a report that a member of staff had been assaulted and struck on the head with a glass bottle while standing behind the counter. Prosecuting Sergeant Alma Molloy said that the defendant had become 'very aggressive when refused drink' and 'had hit the barman with the bottle'. The injured party received medical attention and had a three centimetre laceration to his head which required five staples. Solicitor Con McDonnell said that his client was a 21-year-old who claimed that the barman had used derogatory language. He took exception to it and he realises now that it was an over reaction. He has not come to garda attention for some time and is on the straight and narrow now, he said. Sergeant Molloy outlined that the defendant has five previous convictions, including convictions for being intoxicated in a public place to such an extent as to be a danger to himself and to others, engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour, failing to appear in court, assault causing harm and theft. Judge Colin Daly adjourned the case to May 9 and ordered that a pre-sanction report be ordered including suitability for a community service report and sentence. By Valerie Volcovici and Nerijus Adomaitis WASHINGTON/OSLO, March 22 (Reuters) - The United States remains committed to the "principles and goals" of the global transparency initiative to fight corruption in managing revenues from oil, gas and mineral extraction, it said on Wednesday. There were doubts about U.S. participation in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) after Congress killed the "resource extraction rule" that required companies such as Exxon Mobil to disclose taxes and other fees paid to foreign governments, such as Russia. The EITI, which was founded in 2003, and which the U.S. joined in 2014, sets a global standard for governments to disclose their revenues from oil, gas, and mining assets, and for companies to report payments made to obtain access to publicly owned resources, as well as other donations. "The (U.S. Interior) Department remains committed to the principles and goals of EITI including transparency and good governance of the extractive sectors...," Heather Swift, a spokesperson for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, said in an email to Reuters. Industry sources familiar with EITI implementation said the United States was already pulling out in all but name, but could formally remain a member until its progress assessment scheduled to start in April 2018. Azerbaijan left the group in March after the EITI board, chaired by Sweden's former prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, suspended its membership over concerns about limits on civic freedoms. The EITI initiative was primarily aimed at developing nations and most of its members are in Africa. But Britain, Germany and Norway also joined, while France and Australia have also expressed interest. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin and former Republican Senator Richard Lugar, authors of legislation encouraging U.S. participation in EITI, said withdrawal would harm national interests. "Such a retreat is a retreat from our values, which give America its strength and its moral leadership in the world," they said in a joint statement. Jonas Moberg, head of EITI's secretariat in Oslo, said the United States continued to be the part of the global initiative, but if it decided to leave, it wouldn't be the end of the initiative, now being implemented in 51 countries. "Should the administration of President Trump decide to bring an end to EITI implementation, we are not concerned that it would be a decision followed elsewhere," he added in an email to Reuters. The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), which represents 23 leading mining companies, has said companies that work in EITI member countries will still have to abide by strict disclosure rules, despite the recent U.S. legal changes. (Additional reporting by Barbara Lewis in London and Alissa de Carbonnel in Brussels; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) * Vietnam's discounts tighten to $35-$50/T * Indonesia's discounts at $5-$10/T on high supply By My Pham HANOI, March 23 (Reuters) - Vietnam's coffee export market was quiet this week with prices tightening on limited supply of high-quality beans, while Indonesia saw brisk trade due to higher supplies at the onset of the harvest season, traders said on Thursday. Prices in Daklak, Vietnam's largest coffee bean-growing province, dropped to 46,700 dong-47,300 dong ($2.05-$2.08) per kg , from 47,300 dong-48,000 dong a week ago, in line with a decline in London's ICE May contract . The May contract has fallen a combined 1.5 percent in the last two sessions. "There was mostly domestic trade while export activity was slow," said independent analyst Nguyen Quang Binh, adding that foreign importers were reluctant to buy as they have abundant stocks. Some traders have now switched to quoting coffee prices under London's ICE July contract . Torrential and prolonged rains in Vietnam last December also hurt the supply and quality of beans during the drying progress. Vietnam's coffee export volume this year may drop 20-30 percent annually, an industry official said. The 5-pct black and broken grade 2 robusta was quoted at $35-$50 a tonne below the May contract, tightening from $30-$50 a tonne last week. Vietnam on Wednesday said India has lifted its temporary ban on import of six commodities from Vietnam including coffee and pepper. In Indonesia, a major competitor to Vietnam, traders quoted robusta grade 4, 80 defects at a discount of $5-$10 percent a tonne to the May contract, from a premium of $20-$30 a week earlier, due to high supply. "Trade is starting to get busy again, especially this Monday. Supply of coffee is plentiful. There were about 100 vehicles that drove in to deliver coffee to the warehouse," a trader from Bandar Lampung said. * This story now incorporates the previous weekly Vietnam Coffee report . For any feedback on this change, please contact matthew.tostevin@tr.com. ($1 = 22,790 dong) (Reporting by My Pham; Aditional reporting by Mas Alina Arifin in Bandar Lampung; Editing by Sunil Nair) By Bruno Federowski SAO PAULO, March 23 (Reuters) - The Brazilian real weakened on Thursday after the country's lower house of Congress approved a government-sponsored bill by a narrower margin than expected, raising concerns of fading support for a planned pension reform. The bill, which allows companies to outsource any job and drew fierce opposition from labor unions, was approved 231-188. President Michel Temer's government says it will create new jobs and help pull Brazil out of a two-year recession. The real slipped 1.4 percent as traders worried that could force Temer to further dilute plans to revamp the country's costly pension system in order to guarantee approval. Temer announced on Tuesday that the proposal would only apply to federal employees, without changing pension systems managed by state governments or large cities. Most other Latin American currencies were flat as investors waited to see whether U.S. President Donald Trump could push through a healthcare bill to replace Obamacare, paving the way for an effort to cut taxes. Emerging assets have rallied hard this year on the back of Trump's promises to cut taxes and regulations and to revitalize crumbling infrastructure. But they stumbled on Wednesday after the healthcare bill stalled in Congress, raising doubts about his ability to implement his pledges. Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index seesawed, with shares of power utility Cia Energetica de Minas Gerais SA among the biggest gainers. Traders booked profits on the stock following a three-day slump triggered by concerns that it could lose the operating licenses to several power dams. Reuters reported on Thursday that Cemig, as the company is known, plans to sell a bigger stake than initially planned in subsidiary Light Energia SA , according to a person with direct knowledge of the plan. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1540 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD % Latest change change MSCI Emerging Markets 968.01 0.11 12.14 MSCI LatAm 2584.43 -0.8 11.3 Brazil Bovespa 63413.15 -0.17 5.29 Mexico IPC 48741.43 0.52 6.79 Chile IPSA 4706.79 0.36 13.38 Chile IGPA 23564.61 0.33 13.65 Argentina MerVal 19767.30 0.51 16.84 Colombia IGBC 10071.13 0.19 -0.56 Venezuela IBC 37377.17 1.05 17.89 Currencies daily % YTD % change change Latest Brazil real 3.1376 -1.35 3.56 Mexico peso 19.0330 -0.09 8.99 Chile peso 663.8 -0.17 1.04 Colombia peso 2918.6 -0.10 2.84 Peru sol 3.243 0.03 5.27 Argentina peso (interbank) 15.6150 0.03 1.67 Argentina peso (parallel) 16.03 0.31 4.93 (Reporting by Bruno Federowski; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) (Kitco News) - The geologist behind Lundin Golds Fruta del Norte, a nearly 5 million ounce gold project, is heading back into the Ecuadorian jungles to find potentially two Lost Cities of Gold. While the proposal sounds like a script for a new Indiana Jones movie, geologist Keith Barron, president of Aurania Resources (TSX.V: ARU, said in an interview with Kitco News that his latest project is more than just a mythical story. After almost two decades of research, which included going through the Vatican archives, Barron said that he has historical documentation that the cities, which were actually gold mining towns -- founded by Spanish Conquistadors in the mid-to-late 16th century -- existed and could prove to be significant deposits. He added that some documents suggest that these mines were in operation on and off for almost 30 years. We got enough documentation behind us that we are able to put together the history and the geology that really makes this story compelling, he said. Barron explained that his geology team is planning a massive exploration project of 208,000 hectares in the Andes foothills, known as the Cordillera de Cutucu. He said that his research suggests that this mountain range is the location of the two historic mining towns: Sevilla del Oro and Logro no de los Caballeros. According to the research, the two mining centers are the last of a total of seven lost cities in Ecuador that have yet to be discovered. Ecuadors historic Nambija mine in the south-eastern part of the country was also one of the seven of these lost mines. The mine was rediscovered in the early 1980 and produced, on record more than 2.7 million ounces, said Barron. In the historical narrative these two lost places were considered to be much richer than Nambija but nobody really knows what that could mean. These records have been lost to history, he said. If there was on and off activity there for 30 years or so then you know they were more than just placer deposits, he said. Although it is uncertain whether Barron will be able to find the two lost cities, he is confident that he will find some resources in his property. He said that there are indications that the Cordillera de Cutucu is part of the same mineral belt as Fruta del Norte. It is really a stretch of anyones imagination that there couldnt be a couple of potential gold mines in the northern part of the same belt that contains Fruta del Norte, he said. Armed with their historical and geological data, Barron said that they are now preparing their exploration plan, which will include using aerial radio metrics and magneticsurveying. The team is also planning an extensive surface program to analize stream sediment. We are going to tackle this in a technically sound manner, he said. We will get anomalies and work them up to see where they lead, he said. Using New Innovation To Locate The Lost Cities The second part of intrigue to this story is that the company is using new technology, raising capital through crowdfunding, to locate these historic mining camps. Aurania has been listed on Canadian-based Klondike Strike, the new online investment platform created by Red Cloud KS. Chad Williams, president of Red Cloud KS, said that it the project is resonating with potential investors because it is a unique project. So far it has been the best campaign on Klondike Strike. It is a story that can appeal to all senior fund managers. It is backed by a geologist who already has a proven track record but there is a little bit of history and a little bit of mystery. Williams said that the projects location, Ecuador is also a significant factor that is attracting investment dollars, especially after the successful development of Lundin Golds Fruta del Norte property. A lot of people feel that Ecuador is an untapped resource and investors are looking for these types of opportunities, he said. NEW YORK, March 23 (Reuters) - Investors poured $8.3 billion into U.S.-based taxable bond funds during the latest week, Lipper data showed on Thursday, marking the largest inflows for the funds since last July. U.S.-based stock funds posted $1 billion in outflows during the same period, according to the data. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Chris Reese) 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 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. * March manufacturers' sentiment index +25 vs +20 in Feb * Service-sector index unchanged at +26 * Business mood seen slipping over next three months * Reuters Tankan suggests improvement in BOJ tankan By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Izumi Nakagawa TOKYO, March 24 (Reuters) - Confidence among Japanese manufacturers rose for a seventh straight month in March to a three-year high, while the service sector's mood held steady, a Reuters poll showed, highlighting an export-led economic recovery. The Reuters' monthly poll - which tracks the Bank of Japan's key quarterly tankan - found confidence at both manufacturers and service-sector firms up from three months ago, pointing to an improvement in the central bank's survey due April 3. In the poll of 531 large- and mid-sized firms, conducted between March 7-21 in which 254 responded, the sentiment index for manufacturers rose to 25 from 20 in February, led by materials firms such as oil refinery/ceramics, textiles/paper and steel/nonferrous metals. It was the highest reading since April 2014, but is expected to drop to 23 in June. Compared with three months ago, the sentiment index was up nine points. The Reuters Tankan comes as Japan's long-stagnant economy shows signs of life, with exports and factory output benefiting from a global economic recovery, although consumer spending has remained sluggish. Exports grew the most in more than two years in February even as a widening trade surplus with the United States potentially raises tensions in the face of rising U.S. protectionism under President Donald Trump. "Exchange rates are stable at around 115 yen, providing a good environment for our clients, many of whom are exporters," a manager at a nonferrous metals producer wrote in the survey, which companies answer anonymously. Manufacturers cited stability in exchange rates, brisk demand for smartphones, and a pick-up in demand from China as factors underpinning their sentiment. Some companies were concerned about uncertainty over the outlook for global economy, while others complained about sluggishness in private consumption that constitutes about 60 percent of Japan's economy, the world's third largest. The Reuters Tankan service-sector index held steady at 26 in March, with retailers and wholesalers rebounding from the previous month's slump. It was seen slipping to 24 in June. Compared with three months ago, the sentiment index was up seven points. The central bank's last tankan in December showed sentiment among big Japanese manufacturers improved for the first time in six quarters to hit a one-year high, as a weak yen and a pick-up in global demand brightened prospects for exporters. The Reuters Tankan's sentiment indexes subtract the percentage of companies saying conditions are poor from those saying conditions are good. A positive number means optimists outnumber pessimists. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Graphic on Reuters Tankan, BOJ tankan Table on breakdown of Reuters Tankan ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Eric Meijer) Two Canadian mining organizations are welcoming a number of planned investments included in the countrys proposed budget that was announced Wednesday. The budget was the second from Finance Minister Bill Morneau under Canadas Liberal government. News reports described the spending plan as a stay-the-course budget with few surprises, as Canadian officials wait to see the impact of U.S. President Donalds Trumps policies on Canadian trade. The government reinstated a so-called rainy day reserve of C$3 billion, thereby widening the projected deficit in 2017-2018 to C$28.5 billion from C$27.8 billion forecast in November. "Budget 2017 contains important steps that have the potential to restore Canada's place as the world's top destination for mineral investment and place to do business, including addressing the infrastructure shortage in Canada's remote and northern regions and supporting industry's innovation efforts, said Pierre Gratton, president and chief executive officer of the Mining Association of Canada. However, more details are needed to determine whether they will be successful in fostering sustainable mining growth and enabling Canada to compete against other nations for much-needed investments." In particular, the MAC favored programs focused on infrastructure, especially for remote, northern and Indigenous communities. Further, mining organization welcomed the government's commitment to develop a new National Trade Corridors Fund to address congestion in the transportation-supply chain, plus Budget 2016's C$1 billion investment for innovation in natural-resources sectors, calling for programs to be launched yet this year. Other measures favored by the MAC include a one-year renewal of the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) during what the organization terms a critical time for Canada's junior-exploration sector, funding for the launch of an Indigenous Guardians Pilot Project, and a one-year extension of the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy. "MAC is also pleased to see funding for work-integrated learning, and we are currently working with the Mining Industry Human Resources Council to support such a program for the mining sector," Gratton said. The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada praised inclusion of many of the same budget items the METC, infrastructure spending for remote, northern regions, training programs for Aboriginal people, and the $1 billion fund for innovation. "A number of initiatives included in Budget 2017 are in line with PDAC's recommendations to ensure Canada's mineral exploration and development sector can further discover and develop the natural resources our nation is blessed with, for the benefit of all Canadians," says PDAC President Glenn Mullan. The Canada Infrastructure Bank -- announced in the Fall Economic Statement and part of the federal government's nation-building infrastructure plan -- will help unlock natural resources in remote and northern Canada, PDAC said, adding that the mining organization has advocated for this since 2013. "The METC has been renewed by successive governments because it is a proven, effective incentive that has stimulated investment in grassroots exploration and created greater opportunity," said Andrew Cheatle, PDAC executive director. "Without this vital tax credit, there will be less exploration, which means less mineral discoveries, and ultimately, less economic benefits that are generated by producing mines" The mineral exploration and mining industry contributes around C$56 billion in gross domestic product annually and directly employs more than 373,000 workers, plus another 190,000 indirectly, PDAC said. Mining is the largest private-sector employer of Aboriginal people in Canada, the organization added. HANOI, March 23 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 6:19 GMT. March 23 USD/VND mid-point 22,253 USD/VND interbank 22,790/22,800 USD/VND unofficial 22,780/22,800 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.10/36.38 Interbank offered rates Overnight 4.6-5.0 1 week 4.8-5.0 1 month 4.9-5.1 3 months 4.9-5.2 NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources. One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co. For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on . For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom) JOHANNESBURG, March 23 (Reuters) - South Africa's state-owned power utility Eskom said on Thursday it has signed a new five-year electricity sales agreement with its neighbour, Namibia. Eskom, the sole power provider in Africa's most industrialised country, has struggled to meet power demand in South Africa in the past due to its ageing infrastructure. "Eskom has turned around and we are now open for business with surplus capacity available to empower economic growth," Eskom said in a statement. "This agreement provides energy security to Namibia and allows for economic development and growth in the country without electricity availability concerns." Namibia, where power supply is under strain, normally imports electricity from neighbouring countries. (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Joe Brock) (Adds context, details) By Tife Owolabi YENAGOA, Nigeria, March 23 (Reuters) - Former militant leaders in Nigeria's Niger Delta oil region have urged the government to pay out delayed stipends granted under a 2009 amnesty or face protests, a statement said on Thursday. An uneasy peace is currently being kept in Nigeria's oil-producing heartland, which was rocked last year by militant attacks that cut crude production by as much as a third. Failure to pay off former militants under the amnesty could jeopardise the relative stability in the region and even result in oil production again being choked off. "We are calling for the immediate release of the balance sum of the 2016 supplementary budgetary allocation ... to avert any situation that will warrant beneficiaries of the programme going to the streets to protest and barricade roads," the former militants said in a statement. The government is now in talks with militants to end the attacks which cut Nigeria's output by 700,000 barrels a day (bpd) for several months last year, reducing total production at that time to about 1.2 million bpd. It has since rebounded. Under the amnesty programme, each former militant is entitled to 65,000 naira ($213.68) a month plus job training. But last week a special adviser to Nigeria's president said the programme was facing a cash crunch. Authorities had originally cut the budget for cash payments to militants to end corruption. They later resumed payments to keep pipeline attacks from crippling vital oil revenues. Two months of stipends were paid out in January, but the amnesty office said foreign schools fees and other allowances had not been sent by the federal government yet. The damage from attacks on Nigeria's oil industry has exacerbated a downturn in Africa's largest economy, which slipped into recession in 2016 for the first time in 25 years, largely due to low oil prices. Crude oil sales make up around two thirds of government revenue. (Reporting by Tife Owolabi; writing by Ulf Laessing and Paul Carsten; editing by David Clarke and David Evans) * Bids $44.5 mln for 13 licences in U.S. Gulf of Mexico * Says "resets" exploration campaign offshore U.S. * Wins six licences, including five operated, in UK (Combines British, U.S. strands) OSLO, March 23 (Reuters) - Norway's Statoil was the second top bidder for 13 oil exploration leases in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and won six licences offshore Britain, it said on Thursday, in a sign it may be looking to boost reserves after slashing costs. "The importance of oil companies' ability to replenish reserves after several years of spending cuts is increasing as oil prices stabilize, brokerage RBC Capital Markets said in a note on Thursday." Statoil bid a total of $44.5 million for 13 licences in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, coming second only to Shell and ahead of Hess Corp , Chevron and Exxon , the latest auction results showed. The company said in a separate statement it had won five new operated licences in the northern North Sea and one in the frontier area west of Scotland, committing to drill at least three wells. Statoil said its bids for licences in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico meant that the company was "resetting" its exploration campaign there, two months after saying it was considering whether to end it due to poor results. "We continue to believe in the potential of the Gulf of Mexico," Statoil's Tore Loeseth, head of exploration in the U.S. and Mexico, said in a statement. Statoil's spokesman said the company believed it could be more successful based on the analysis of the seismic data and the lessons from the previous drilling. The U.S. auctions results are subject to a 90-days formal review and final approval, with no commitment to drill. Statoil, however, would have to hand back its licences if it fails to spud wells in 5-10 years, depending on water depths. The company expected its offshore U.S. production to nearly double by 2020 from about 60,000 barrels per day in 2016. The tender in Britain, which received bids last year, attracted the lowest interest in 14 years, reflecting the drop in appetite for finding new oil in the North Sea due to high costs and weak oil prices. Brent crude price were trading at over $50 a barrel most of the time in 2017, up from over $40 a barrel in 2016. (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing Terje Solsvik and David Evans) The Herald reports: The Governments foreign intelligence agency can now spy on New Zealanders under spying reforms passed into law this afternoon. The New Zealand Intelligence and Security Bill was supported at its final hurdle by all parties except the Greens. The reforms have not attracted the same level of debate and controversy as the expansion of the Government Communications Security Bureaus (GCSB) powers in 2013. That is partly because the latest round of law changes have cross-party support. The bill brings the GCSB and the NZ Security Intelligence Service (SIS) under the same laws and warranting regime. In a fundamental shift in policy, it permits the GCSB to monitor New Zealanders if national security issues are at stake. Stuff reports: A report commissioned by 35 New Zealand MPs has suggested reducing pastoral stock by 35 per cent as a way to get the country to a target of net zero carbon emissions. The report by UK-based Vivid Economics and commissioned by the Globe-NZ laid out three pathways to address the Paris Agreement commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050. This has also been long standing Green Party policy. It is of course daft. If we shoot one in three cows, it will not reduce global emissions. It may in fact increase them as our dairy industry is less greenhouse gas intensive than other countries. The global demand for milk will remain the same, so there will simply be more cows elsewhere making even more emissions. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr What a nasty prick Browning shows himself to be. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr By Yoon Ja-young Four out of 10 Koreans will be 65 or older in 2060. The population will start to decline after reaching its peak in 2031. These are part of the estimates based on statistical data released Thursday. According to the "2016 social index" disclosed by Statistics Korea, the country's population is expected to reach its peak of 52.96 million in 2031, steadily increasing from 51.25 million last year. It will start to slide from then, marking about a 1 percent decrease in 2060. Statistics showed that Korean society is getting older. The median age of Koreans stood at 41.5 last year, but it will reach 50.3 in 2033. Due to the low birthrate, the number of newborns continues to fall while advanced medical technology is increasing the number of senior citizens. In 2060, the ratio of Koreans aged 65 or older will mark 41 percent, which compares with 13.2 percent last year. The number of senior citizens for every 100 in the working-age population will stand at 82.6 in 2060, which means every worker will have to support almost one senior citizen, each. The statistics also showed that single-person households will become the norm, unlike a decade ago when the four-member household was the most typical. In 2015, 27.2 percent of households were composed of a single person. Koreans are also delaying marriage. Korean women who were getting married for the first time were on average 30.1 years old last year, while men were 32.8. In 1990, brides were 24.8 while grooms were 27.8. Many Koreans think marriage is optional, with 51.9 percent saying that marriage is essential. In 2010, the ratio stood at 64.7 percent. The number of babies born per woman stood at 1.17 in 2016, which is the world's lowest level. Due to the low birthrate, the number of students for each teacher is decreasing. There were 28.7 children per teacher in elementary schools in 2000, but the ratio almost halved to 14.6 last year. The ratio of middle school students who proceed to high school after graduation stood at 99.7 percent, while 69.8 percent of high school graduates went to higher education. That, however, is lower than the 82.1 percent marked in 2005. It showed that private education is common in Korea, with 67.8 percent of elementary, middle and high school students getting some kind of private education last year. Their parents spent on average 256,000 won a month per child. The hourly wage of workers averaged 13,753 won last year, down 5.7 percent from the previous year. It is the first time since 2009 for the hourly wage to fall. Those who completed only middle school earned 85.1 percent of the average wage of those who have high school diplomas, while those who graduated from college earned nearly double of those who finished middle school. Those who have master's degrees or Ph.D. earned 2.6 times more than those with only high school diplomas. Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) rose 4.9 percent in 2015 to total 1,558.6 trillion won, but per capital gross national income (GNI) contracted by $731 to stand at $27,340. Korean households earned 4.4 million won, on average, up 0.6 percent from a year ago, but their spending on consumption dropped 0.5 percent to 2.6 million won. Food and beverages took 13.7 percent of their spending followed by transportation with 12.1 percent and education with 11.1 percent. Only 11.4 percent were satisfied with their income while 46.3 percent said they are dissatisfied. Only one out of 10 Koreans participated in volunteering in 2016. The ratio has been falling during the past few years. Those who are participating in some kind of sports, meanwhile, stood at 70.5 percent, up 4.9 percentage points from a year ago. Cancer continued to be the number one cause of deaths for Koreans. By Park Hyong-ki Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol Korea cannot rule out the possibility of the U.S. Treasury Department reclassifying the country as a currency manipulator next month, Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol said Thursday. Given that the U.S. has clearly stressed transparency in foreign exchange policies at the recent G20 meeting of financial leaders, Korea could be listed as a manipulator, the chief monetary policymaker told the press. "Considering the U.S. position, it is also a concern that we cannot exclude the possibility, even though there is not a high chance (of being listed as a manipulator)," Lee said. "Should the U.S. classify Korea as a currency manipulator, we expect bilateral negotiations to take place, and will demand the U.S. to rectify its decision." The G20 finance leaders agreed at the meeting last week in Germany that they stand against "devaluations by targeting exchange rates for competitive purposes." The U.S., however, did not sign on to promoting free trade, sticking to its policy of trade protectionism. President Donald Trump's administration has been criticizing countries such as China, Japan and Germany over their large trade surpluses with the U.S., accusing them of exploiting weak currencies. Korea, along with China, Japan, Taiwan, Germany and Switzerland, was put on the U.S. currency watch list last October. The finance ministry is explaining Korea's situation with regards to its foreign exchange and current account surpluses to the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund, the BOK said. This is part of the country's preemptive measures so as not to be listed as a manipulator, Lee noted. The central bank's currency policy remains the same, the governor said. "It is appropriate for the BOK to implement its currency policy based on supply, demand and economic conditions. Should the market face increased volatility and deviate from the norm of the current economic situation, Korea will seek to stabilize it like other economies do," he said. Korea's high household debt at over 1,340 trillion won is further undermining the economy. But the BOK chief said reducing the debt size in an economy that is already very weak and fragile would bring a shock. The best way to resolve the debt problem is job creation and wage increases. "Creating jobs and increasing wages, I believe, would be the most ideal way to revive the economy." The BOK chief added that the government would inevitably have to support the restructuring of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) given its size and influence over the economy. "Considering the potential economic loss following its collapse, a state-led restructuring plan will be inevitable," he said. The government and state-run banks decided to extend relief loans worth 2.9 trillion won to DSME, which is facing another liquidity crisis. By Park Hyong-ki State-run banks will give 2.9 trillion won ($ 2.6 billion) in fresh loans to the debt-ridden Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said Thursday. The Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) will extend the new loans just 17 months after creditor banks gave the shipbuilder a 4.2 trillion won rescue loan. DSME will get the money after the government, the KDB and Eximbank reach an agreement with other creditor banks and shareholders. Also, the latter two must agree to the government's proposal to swap a portion of the company's debt for equity. This means the fate of DSME lies with creditor banks and institutional investors such as the National Pension Service. The parties will meet to negotiate next month. Should the government and the state-run banks fail to persuade investors, they will put DSME into a workout program aimed at reviving the shipyard. "The workout in the last scenario will focus on revitalizing the company as soon as possible rather than settling its debts through asset liquidation," an FSC official said. The court-led rehabilitation program will only involve the two state-run policy banks, which will provide the necessary funds to improve DSME's finances. This comes as DSME is about to face another liquidity crisis next month. It has to pay 440 billion won to its investors. DSME is low on cash as it only has about 400 billion won left from the 4.2 trillion won relief loan it received in 2015. Overall, the shipbuilder has to come up with 1.5 trillion won to settle payments due over the rest of the year. It has had no luck in securing cash through new orders these amounted to $1.54 billion in 2016, well below its initial forecast of $11.5 billion. The company posted a net loss of 2.7 trillion won last year, and has a debt ratio of 2,732 percent. Its financial troubles could lead the company to default and go under, given that it lost 531 billion won in capital on its balance sheet. The FSC admitted that it and DSME were too overly optimistic on a recovery in global shipbuilding. "Not even the global researcher Clarkson expected such a prolonged slump," the FSC official said. The slump resulted in cash flow problems for the shipbuilder, which could not secure 1.4 trillion won following delivery delays because its buyers including Angola are in a financial crisis. The FSC will propose that institutional investors swap 50 percent of DSME's debt for equity, and extend the maturity of the rest by three years. Investors hold about 1.5 trillion won in DSME bonds and commercial paper. Commercial banks will be asked to swap 80 percent of subordinated loans worth 700 billion won into equity, and extend the maturity on the rest by five years. Banks' exposure to DSME came to around 18 trillion won in total as of last December. The KDB and Eximbank are owed over 15 trillion won, and commercial banks 2.7 trillion won. Additional state support for DSME will most likely affect their balance sheets and capital adequacy ratios as they will have to set aside more reserves for the possible bad debt and record them as costs. "The restructuring plan we proposed has been drawn from a highly conservative point of view," the FSC official said. The financial regulator's stance is that it needs to improve DSME's finances first, and then put it up for auction when its debt ratio falls to around 200 percent. It is also be ready to recapitalize the policy banks should their capital adequacy ratios fall following more loans to DSME. Financial Services Commission Chairman Yim Jong-yong, right, listens to Korea Development Bank (KDB) Chairman Lee Dong-geol during a minister-level meeting at the Government Complex in central Seoul, Thursday, over giving additional financial support to Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). The government said that it will provide up to 2.9 trillion won in new loans to DSME in order to keep the debt-riddled shipbuilder afloat. The KDB is DSME's main creditor. / Yonhap By Nam Hyun-woo The government's plan to rescue liquidity-strapped Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) faces skepticism. The state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) said Thursday they will provide new loans worth 2.9 trillion won ($2.59 billion) to the ailing shipbuilder on condition that creditors and bondholders agree to a 2.9 trillion won debt-to-equity swap and a 900 billion won debt rescheduling. The government estimates that DSME will be able to save 1.8 trillion won through such efforts. As it still has 400 billion won as the remainder of a previous bailout fund, the injection of 2.9 trillion won would give 5.1 trillion won of financial leeway to the embattled shipyard. The amount is precisely equivalent to the necessary funds, which DSME would need until 2018 under the worst-case scenario, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC). If the creditors failed to make a consensus over the rescheduling, the government said it has no option but to go for a "pre-packaged plan", which is a mixture of court receivership and a debt workout program. Then, the FSC claims creditors will face huge losses due to DSME's failure to win new orders and defaults on existing orders. However, the FSC scheme draws criticisms that it was haunted by the country's time-honored "too-big-to-fail" myth and ended up "failing to see the forest for the trees." The FSC came up with three solutions immediate liquidation, the pre-packaged plan and a second lifeline for DSME after providing 4.2 trillion won in support in 2015. It claims the first option would incur losses of 59 trillion won while the second one would generate massive damage to creditors. Hence, it argues the bailout is the only viable approach. Critics contend the FSC is trying to frighten creditors and citizens so they will agree on the government's proposal. KDB Chairman Lee Dong-geol came up with a similar rationale. "The government plan is the most realistic and reasonable solution for creditors and other related parties," he said. A Seoul-based analyst, who asked not to be named, countered: "The government is scaring creditors saying that they would be empty-handed if they resort to the pre-packaged plan. It urges creditors to accept the debt-to-equity swap and debt rescheduling by making them believe getting small is better than nothing." There are also concerns that the country's other shipyards Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries would also suffer as the government is set to keep DSME afloat by using taxpayers' money. "Companies ordering ships know that every penny counts for DSME. If DSME survives, it will desperately try to get orders even at low prices and those who order will also take advantage of the situation," a source close to the matter told The Korea Times. "As other major Korean shipbuilders also suffer from shortages with new orders, they will also have to suggest low prices to compete with DSME and this is feared to aggravate the whole ecosystem of our shipbuilding industry." Minority report The FSC stressed that it made the whole plan based on "very conservative assumptions" on the shipbuilder's future. However, it seems to be very positive over one factor: the outlook on the shipbuilding industry. The commission said it decided to salvage the shipbuilder because the global shipbuilding industry is slowly recovering and will see an upturn in 2018. It cited a 2016 September report from Clarksons Research, a leading shipping and shipbuilding researcher. According to the report, the new orders of ships are expected to increase from 11.2 million compensated gross tonnages (CGT) in 2016 to 29.5 million CGT in 2018. Industry insiders agree to the estimation, citing the International Maritime Organization's earlier decision to set up tougher environmental regulations, which will spur ship owners to replace old vessels. However, the FSC had already experienced a debacle after relying on a different Clarksons report. While making a 4.2 trillion won support package for DSME in October 2015, the commission underscored Samjong KPMG's report that DSME would win new orders worth $11.5 billion in 2016. The accounting firm's report was based on the Clarksons' estimation. Despite the rosy outlook, however, DSME ended up winning merely $1.54 billion in orders last year, over which FSC Chairman Yim Jong-yong said "we committed a mistake of not being conservative enough." With the government suggesting Clarksons' report as their grounds, calls are growing that it should reveal "a minority report" written by McKinsey & Company. Last year, Korea Offshore & Shipbuilding Association commissioned McKinsey to come up with a report on DSME. Reportedly in a draft leaked to the media, the consulting firm estimated DSME's operating loss would be more than 10 percent of its sales in 2020, but the FSC has not disclosed the final report. Shelf life: until May? The government said it will put DSME on sale after normalizing it and will restructure the country's shipbuilding industry from the "big 3" Hyundai, Samsung and DSME to a big 2. However, it remains to be seen whether the next administration will accept it after the presidential election on May 9. The government's DSME rescue plan has already been under criticism among lawmakers who question the veracity of the government's projections. "The DSME problem is a matter of extreme urgency and the government can not postpone measures until the new administration becomes fully functional," FSC Chairman Yim said. "However, I am also not sure whether it is appropriate that we suggest mid- and long-term visions for DSME and the next government will have its own plans." Chef Machindra Kasture By Kim Se-jeong Above is gulnar biryani, a rice and vegetable dish that is cooked halfway through and then baked. Below is beef vindaloo made of beef cooked with spices blended in vinegar. /Courtesy of the Millennium Seoul Hilton This year's Indian Food Festival at the Millennium Seoul Hilton is unlike previous ones. The festival is open until Sunday at Cafe 395, the hotel's buffet restaurant at the lobby. Machindra Kasture is the festival's main chef. Kasture had served two Indian presidents for eight years and brings the best of Indian cuisine. The chef said a jewel of Indian cuisine is the diverse range of dishes. "Every state (in India) has its own dishes," Kasture said during an interview on Tuesday. "In the North where the weather is really cold, you see dishes using lamb fat. Down in the south like in Bangalore, you see many seafood (dishes) and in Goa many types of coconut-based gravy." At the festival, he wants to showcase a little bit of everything to the Korean guests. The festival menu includes pork sarpotal, a dish from the southern Goa region and made of pork marinated in garlic, ginger and other spices; beef vindaloo, another Goan dish made of beef cooked with spices blended in vinegar; and Northern dishes, including tandoori chicken, butter chiken, tofu makhani (cottage cheese), chingri malai curry, curry from west Bengal, and gulnar biryani, a rice and vegetable dish that is cooked halfway through and then baked. The chef, who is visiting Korea for the first time, said he found Korean cuisine amazingly different from Indian cuisine. "It's very light, with not so much fat and oil. It's very lightly cooked," he said. "It is very healthy. You have a variety of seafood. We have similarities between Korea and India, but when it comes to food, I think we are quite different." With his rich culinary experience, however, finding a culinary bridge between the two countries will be only a matter of time for him. He has traveled the world extensively while serving two former Indian presidents Pratibha Patil, who was in office from 2007 to 2012, and Pranab Mukherjee, who has been in office since 2012. Kasture left the Presidential palace in 2015. He mainly cooked Indian cuisine during these travels with the two presidents, but along the way, he got new culinary ideas. For example, in Mexico, he made salad and curry using cactus leaves. During the eight years, his main responsibility was preparing official meals for the presidents, their families and their guests during their visits to the palace and at banquets. "It is a great honor to cook for your head of your state," he recalled. "I was so proud. My family was so proud of me, and so was my community." Kasture now works for the Indian Tourism Development Cooperation. His focus is on food production and promoting Indian cuisine around the world, which was how he was invited to headline the food festival in Seoul. He said he doesn't cook at his home in New Delhi, but wife, a radio-broadcast journalist, does for him. His 16-year-old son, Vaishnav, also has an interest in cooking. "He cooks home sometimes, and he teaches me things," he said with a smile. The dishes are available at the festival during lunch and dinner. For more information and reservations, call Cafe 395 at (02) 753-7788. Ibis Style Ambassador Seoul Gangnam By Kim Se-jeong Hotels in Korea are offering a variety of packages catering to guests looking for things to enjoy during spring. Grand Ambassador Seoul Hotel The Grand Ambassador Seoul Hotel is offering three spring packages until May 31. The spring berry package includes a one-night stay in a hotel room and two glasses of strawberry drinks at the hotel's lobby lounge and deli. The package costs 169,400 won. The spring picnic package includes a picnic box _ a sandwich, fruits and macaroon _ two tickets to N Seoul Tower via the cable car, on top of a room stay and two strawberry drinks. The package costs 209,000 won. The spring Mount Nam trekking package is for those who like mountains, including a one-night stay in a hotel room, in-room breakfast service for two, trekking of Mount Nam with a carefully-chosen route by a concierge. The package guest will receive a bag with a bottle of vitamin water and a towel and have a Polaroid camera rented out to take pictures during the trek. The package costs 212,300 won. For more information and reservations, call (02) 2270-3111-3 or visit grand.ambatel.com.Hotels in Korea are offering a variety of packages catering to guests looking for things to enjoy during spring. Ibis Style Ambassador Seoul Gangnam Lifestyle business hotel Ibis Style Ambassador Seoul Gangnam is offering a seasonal package involving books until April 30. The package includes a one-night stay in a superior room, breakfast for one, free Wi-Fi service and access to the fitness center. The guests will also receive a copy of the Korean book on self-help written by Seoleda, a pseudnym for art therapist, Choi Min-jeong. The package is 108,900 won on both weekdays and weekends, excluding tax and service fees. For more information call (02)3011-8888. The Ibis Style Ambassador Seoul Myeong-dong offers a similar package until May 31. The package includes a one-night stay in a standard room, breakfast for two, two cups of coffee, access to the outdoor sauna and a copy of the self-help book. The package costs 114,400 won during weekdays and 125,400 won during weekends. For more information and reservations, call (02) 6202-8888. The Hyatt Hotels The Hyatt Hotel chain in Korea has launched a 2+1 room promotion to celebrate the arrival of spring. The Grand Hyatt Seoul, the Hyatt Incheon and Hyatt Regency Jeju offer an additional night stay to those who book two nights in a row until March 31. The stay period is until April 23. Guests in each hotel will have access to fitness centers and swimming pools. For more information and reservations, guests should contact each hotel. Call Grand Hyatt Seoul at (02) 797-1234, Grand Hyatt Incheon at (032) 745-1234 and Hyatt Regency Jeju at (064) 733-1234. The Sheraton Grand Incheon The Sheraton Grand Incheon is adjacent to Songdo Central Park famous for its cherry blossoms in spring, and the hotel is offering a special package until April 20. The package includes two sushi bentos and seafood nabe sets for a cherry blossom picnic, a one-night stay in the Deluxe City View Room, a copy of the Lonely Planet Incheon guide, free access to the fitness center and indoor swimming pool. The package costs 214,000 won, excluding tax and service charges. For more information, call (032) 835-1004. Fashion models pose during the runway of "CRES. E DIM." by Kim Hong-beom during the 2017 Spring and Summer Hera Seoul Fashion Week last October. / Courtesy of Seoul Design Foundation By Kim Jae-heun Jung Ku-ho Seoul Fashion Week executive director Jung Ku-ho has been emphasizing for the past two years that promoting Korean fashion designers and the country's biggest fashion event abroad is his top priority. Now his tenure has come to an end and he has yet to decide whether he will renew for another term, but Jung continues to highlight that his successor has to also prioritize promoting Korean fashion abroad. From the beginning of his term, Jung mobilized his personal connections to invite global fashion gurus, such as International Vogue Editor Suzy Menkes and fashion critic Diane Pernet. In his possibly final festival next week, Jung will bring ex-dean of fashion design school Parsons Simon Collins, Vogue Italy Senior Editor Sara Maino and i-D Fashion feature director Anders Madsen to Seoul. "First of all, I think I was successful in introducing Seoul Fashion Week to the world," said Jung during an interview with The Korea Times last Thursday at Seoul Design Foundation headquarters in Dongdaemun, eastern Seoul. "People began to recognize the characteristics of Seoul Fashion Week and our fashion designers here. Now, we need to make business out of it and that's what we lack," Jung said. "It is important that our designers get more feedback from global experts rather than locals. We cannot send all Korean designers abroad, so at least we can try to give them an experience as if they were opening a show in Europe." A male model walks on the runway of "MUNSOO KWON" by Kwon Mun-soo during the 2017 Spring and Summer Hera Seoul Fashion Week last October. / Courtesy of Seoul Design Foundation As a fashion designer himself, Jung believes Korean fashion has come to a stage where designers have to focus on quality rather than quantity. Korean fashion had been investing in high-end dressmakers until the economic recession hit the country in 1997, which led to market changes. Mid- and low-priced clothes started to sell well and street brands begin to thrive in Korea. "In the eyes of foreigners, it is a shame that there aren't so many Korean high-end designs but there are many young, casual and affordable street contents here, which appeals to European retailers, particularly in Britain," said Jung. Over half of the contracts signed at Seoul Fashion Week's trade shows are with Chinese customers. For many Korean fashion designers, Chinese buyers are their main clients. However, Jung rather advises them to put only one outfit in one celebrated European retail store. "In the past, it was important how many orders you obtained. It was important how much you sell your clothes for, rather than who you sold it to. Now, we have to focus on the quality, not quantity," he said. "I am not talking bad about the Chinese market. You can sell hundreds of pieces to a local shop that nobody goes to. It is much better to hang at least one piece in a shop that is crowded with people and it promotes you," said Jung. He added that Korean fashion is far behind compared to those of Japan and China. The Japanese fashion industry is 30 years ahead of Korean fashion when it comes to the number of Japanese designers active in Europe. "We need to have at least 10 Korean fashion designers selling their clothes in top European retail stores but we barely make over half. There are some 20 to 30 Japanese fashion brands which entered in the European market like COMME des GARCONS, Issey Miyake, Wonderground, White Mountain, you name it. There are countless Japanese brands that already entered the Western market in the 1980s," he said. "China has global fashion designers like Alexander Wang too. We are the last among the three." Honorary fashion designer Han Hye-ja's art installations are displayed in her archival exhibition at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul last October. / Courtesy of Seoul Design Foundation Still, Jung thinks Korean fashion has high hopes as the local industry is young and Korean fashion designers have begun to distinguish themselves on global stages. "Seoul's 10soul" is one of the projects that Jung adopted in the beginning of his tenure that picks the top 10 designers from Seoul Fashion Week to open pop-up stores in collaboration with popular European retailers. Fashion brand "Blindness" by Shin Kyu-yong has recently entered Italian high-end fashion retailer Excelsior with its 2017 Spring and Summer collection. Shin was nominated for the rookie award of the 2017 LVMH Prize. Fashion designer Han Hyun-min of "Munn" also became Asia's top contender for the Wool Mark Prize with his last collection and entered high-profile French showroom Showroom Romeo along with Tiiki of designer Kim Young-kyun. "What foreign press and global buyers take seriously when they come to Korea is whether the Seoul Fashion Week has many good runways to watch. It does not happen in one day and it takes time. Last season was particularly great and if it continues, we will have our own devoted buyers keep coming to our shows," Jung said. The entrance to a path leading to a site in Nagasaki honoring conscripted Korean workers during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule is blocked by wooden planks. Yonhap. / Yonhap By Yi Whan-woo The municipal government of Nagasaki in Japan has shut down the only path to a site honoring Koreans who were forcibly taken to work on two islands off the city's coast during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation of Korea. Suh Kyung-duk, a Sungshin Women's University professor who has devoted himself to uncovering Japan's wartime crimes, said Thursday three large wooden planks were set up at the path's entrance preventing public access to a memorial stone, which has become a popular attraction for Korean visitors. The remains of unidentified Korean coal miners on the islands of Hashima and Takashima are believed to be buried underneath the memorial stone. This is a clear violation of Japan's promise to UNESCO in 2015 to correctly address the issue of forced labor on Hashima. The site was among the 23 historical settings that won UNESCO world heritage recognition in July 2015 for representing the industrial revolution of Japan as an economic powerhouse during the 1868-1912 Meiji period. In line with Seoul's demand, the Japanese delegation acknowledged back then that a large number of Koreans "were brought against their will and forced to work under harsh conditions in the 1940s" at some of the 23 sites. It also promised to set up an information center explaining the circumstances under which Koreans toiled. An estimated 59,000 were taken to seven of the 23 sites, such as coal mines, shipyards and steelworks to produce fuel and military equipment. "I visited the site after getting a tip from the online community," Suh said. "It was impossible to pass through the wooden planks." The Nagasaki city government governs the two islands, where Mitsubishi, a Japanese conglomerate, operated coal mines in the past. Suh said both of them blamed each other over who was responsible for attempting to prevent people from visiting the memorial stone and learning about Japan's wartime crimes. "The city officials said they moved the remains to a temple close to the memorial stone, hinting that public access to the stone is no longer necessary," he said. "But when I contacted the people at the temple, they said they had no clue as to the whereabouts of the remains. Citing that Mitsubishi installed the memorial stone, they directed us to contact the company, which responded that the Nagasaki city government exclusively deals with related issues." A growing number of Koreans have become aware of the memorial stone after Suh appeared on a popular TV reality show and took its crew to the site in September 2015. "The Nagasaki city government may have closed the path because it was afraid of growing awareness toward Japan's dark history and found it humiliating," Suh said. Despite its UNESCO pledge, Japan only has been highlighting Hashima as evidence of Japan's rapid industrial development as the first non-Western nation to do so. South Korea issued a statement Thursday, condemning the terrorist attack in the heart of London a day earlier, which killed at least four people. "The government strongly condemns the savage attack on civilians near Britain's Houses of Parliament in London on Wednesday," the statement said. "The government prays for the victims and expresses deep condolences and consolation for the bereaved families and British people," it said. South Korea regards highly Prime Minister Theresa May's determination never to give in to terror and will actively join the international community's fight against terrorism, the statement said. At least four people were killed, with dozens others injured in the attack when the suspect drove a car into pedestrians and stabbed a police officer. Those who were injured included five South Korean tourists, with one of them sustaining serious injuries to her head. (Yonhap) The United States is working to stop China's economic retaliation over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, a politician here quoted an American diplomat as saying Thursday. Joseph Yun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, met with Rep. Park Jie-won, chief of the minor centrist People's Party, during a four-day visit to the Asian ally. Park later told reporters at the National Assembly that he "strongly protested" China's economic retaliation over Washington's deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea. China has banned tour packages to South Korea and cut off other bilateral ties in apparent anger over the deployment, which it claims is a threat to its security. Yun replied that the U.S. "expects China's economic sanctions to be resolved in the near future and is working on it," Park said. The diplomat expressed hope for a good outcome from Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington next month, saying he has held "in-depth talks" over the THAAD issue with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Park added. "It sounded like they were quite optimistic and had various (plans) for Xi Jinping's visit," he said. (Yonhap) / Korea Times photo by Park Gyung-woo The sunken ferry Sewol began emerging from the water in a massive salvage operation early Thursday, nearly three years after the ship sank and left more than 300 dead or missing in one of the country's worst maritime disasters. Officials said that part of the ship was seen above the water at 3:45 a.m. as two salvage barges lifted the 145-meter-long, 6,825-ton ship that had been lying at about 40 meters under water off South Korea's southwest coast near the island of Jindo. "Part of the Sewol's structure, which is believed to be its stabilizer, was seen above the water with naked eyes," an official of the Oceans and Fisheries Ministry said. If the lift is successful the salvage barges will move the hull onto a semisubmersible ship, which will carry it to the port of Mokpo, he explained. / Joint Press Corps "It will take about eight days to lift the ship and move it to the port. And it will require four additional days to move it onto a dry dock," the spokesman said. Before committing to raising the ship, the ferry was carefully test lifted one meter from the sea bottom at 3:30 p.m. so experts could see if the vessel was ready to be raised, the ministry said. The hull had been left at a depth of some 40 meters for nearly three years since it sank off the country's southwestern coast near Jindo Island in April 2014. The sinking, the country's worst maritime disaster, left more than 300 people dead, mostly high school students on a school excursion. Nine of them still remain missing. The ministry said salvage workers carried out balancing procedures first before committing themselves to pulling the hull out of the water. It said all technical aspects and local weather conditions were reviewed. Divers also checked the underwater situation to make certain that the operation will go smoothly. The complete lifting and transportation of the vessel to port is expected to be an arduous process and require good weather conditions, officials said. The hull itself should break the water's surface in the early hours of Thursday if there are no complications. / Joint Press Corps Efforts to lift the 145-meter-long, 6,825-ton ship began at 10:00 a.m. with two salvage barges and the semisubmersible ship. It took several hours to decide whether to start lifting the ship because the sea must be fairly calm, meaning waves must be under 1 meter and wind speed needs to be below 10 meters per second. Earlier, the Seoul government decided to pull the ferry out of the water intact in order to protect any remains of the people still missing from the tragic sinking. / Joint Press Corps The 85.1 billion won ($72 million) project to recover the ship is being conducted by a Chinese consortium led by China's state-run Shanghai Salvage. Divers have worked on making the ship buoyant by injecting air into tanks in the vessel and installing large balloons and other flotation devices. Once the ship reaches Mokpo, authorities will try to find the remains of people still listed as missing and determine why the ship sank. / Joint Press Corps The ferry Sewol emerges from the water between two jacking barges off the shore of Jindo Island, Thursday, nearly three years after the vessel sank in the southwestern sea. More than 300 passengers and crew members were killed in the nation's worst maritime disaster. / Korea Times photo by Park Gyung-woo Hopes high for finding 9 missing bodies and truth behind sinking By Jung Min-ho The sunken ferry Sewol emerged from the waters Thursday, nearly three years after it sank and left more than 300 people dead in Korea's worst maritime disaster. According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, salvage operators successfully lifted the 145-meter-long, 6,825-ton ship off the seabed at 3:45 a.m. 1,073 days after it sank on April 16, 2014, off the southwestern island of Jindo. "Part of the ferry, which is believed to be its stabilizer, is now seen above the surface of the water," Lee Cheol-jo, the ministry official in charge of the operation, told reporters at the time. The tragedy took the lives of 304 people mostly teenagers on a field trip, and the remains of nine are still missing. Hopes are high that they will be found once the ferry is recovered. The first stage is to raise the ferry, which had been lying on its side at a depth of 44 meters, to an ideal height so a semisubmersible recovery ship can be maneuvered under it. The ferry will then be taken to Mokpo Port in South Jeolla Province, where it is expected to arrive March 30, and be moved into a dry dock three or four days later. The ministry said the schedule is subject to change depending on weather conditions. The first stage was planned to be completed by 11 a.m., but was delayed because of technical difficulties. As of 10 p.m., the ministry said 10 meters of the ship was above water. It will try to remove all obstacles to raising the ferry by Friday morning. About 450 salvage workers started efforts to raise the ferry at 10 a.m. The ministry said they first stabilized the submerged vessel before beginning to lift it. Two barges were positioned on either side of the ship into which airbags had been placed to facilitate the salvage operation. Beams were also installed underneath the wreck. This photo featuring clouds in a ribbon shape was taken by Kim Tae-yeon, a Wonju resident in Gangwon Province, Wednesday evening. Kim said she spotted the cloud on her way home from work. /Yonhap By Kim Se-jeong The families of nine missing passengers of the sunken Sewol ferry kept their hopes up on Thursday for the possibility of retrieving what's left of their relatives' bodies after three years. The nine include Hur Da-yoon, a Danwon High School student from Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, her schoolmates and a Vietnamese immigrant. The Vienamese mother was moving to Jeju Island with her family including a five-year-old child the child was the only one in the family to survive. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries made it clear that the recovery is their priority. "The search for the nine is the most important task," Vice Minister Yoon Hag-bae said, Thursday. "Based on testimonies of witnesses, we have estimated where we might possibly find the bodies. We expect they can be found near the ship's stern. But that part is dented at the moment. It is a delicate process." French Ambassador to Korea Fabien Penone, fifth from right, with VIP guests during the opening ceremony of the 2017 Francophonie Festival at the Novotel Ambassador Hotel, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Mar. 20. / Yonhap By Eom Da-sol The French Institution of Korea will hold the "Francophonie Festival" in Seorae Village, Seoul, from Mar. 25 to 26. The event will feature French movies, a quiz and chanson contest, according to the academic arm of the French embassy here. Francophonie is an international organization promoting cooperation among French-speaking countries. Seorae Village is one of the biggest residential areas for French people in Korea. "We hope this provides an opportunity for citizens to know more about French culture and language," a French Institution official said. By Kim Rahn Nam Jae-joon Former spy agency chief Nam Jae-joon will join the presidential race as an independent. According to a group of his supporters Thursday, the former National Intelligence Service (NIS) director will announce his bid for the presidency at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan, central Seoul, Friday. It is the second time a spy agency head has made a presidential bid, following Chang Se-dong in the 2002 election. The ultra-right wing contender and 400 of his supporters plan to sing the national anthem at the announcement ceremony in an attempt to appeal to conservative voters, especially former President Park Geun-hye's supporters who use the national flag as their symbol. "My goal is to root out North Korean sympathizers and build a unified, democratic Korea," Nam said in a press release. He said the domestic and Northeast Asian political situations are in disarray, saying he will devote himself to protecting the country and democracy. Nam was the Army chief of staff during the former Roh Moo-hyun administration and the first NIS director under the Park administration until May 2014. In an interview in January, he said if he had known about Choi Soon-sil, Park's longtime friend who is the central figure of a massive presidential corruption scandal, he would have entered Cheong Wa Dae with a gun (to shoot her to prevent her meddling in state affairs). By Kim Rahn Former President Park Geun-hye speaks during her visit to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters in Seoul seven hours after Sewol ferry began sinking in this April 16, 2014 photo. / Yonhap Seeing the ferry Sewol finally emerging from the water, Thursday, nearly three years after it sank off the southwestern island of Jindo, some people might have thought about one ill-fated woman former President Park Geun-hye. It might be coincidental that the ferry was lifted just after Park was removed from power, but many are talking about a possible correlation between the two incidents. The nation's worst maritime disaster, which resulted in the deaths of 304 passengers and crewmembers, was a symbolic case showing the Park administration's incompetence. As she showed no sincere effort to salvage the sunken vessel quickly and failed to empathize with bereaved families, the incident quickly became a political issue. And people started to believe that Park was trying to keep the ship in the water as long as she could to prevent possible political damage. For the last three years, the government has not been active in salvaging the ferry, in which the remains of nine unaccounted-for people are believed to remain, and finding out the truth about why the ferry sank. It also failed to determine whether rescue work and its consequent responses were proper, although the government claimed it was actively doing so. Because lifting the sunken ferry required a combination of appropriate technology and proper weather conditions, it may be coincidental that the slow salvage process suddenly sped up and the ferry was lifted only days after Park's removal. But the timing of the salvage leaves questions about whether her administration had been deliberately lukewarm on the issue to conceal evidence that could show its incompetence. By Jun Ji-hye Moon Jae-in, the leading presidential contender of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) postponed an event, Thursday, at which he was to ceremonially declare his official bid. He said the timing was inappropriate as the nation was in a solemn mood waiting for the salvage of the sunken ferry Sewol. "As the Sewol ferry was raised to the surface today, Moon decided to refrain from running any election campaigning including the ceremony," an aide told reporters. Moon, who continues to lead opinion polls among presidential candidates, originally planned to make an announcement through a video clip and place it on social network services. The aide did not clarify how long Moon will put this off. Instead, Moon said if elected, he will set up a special fact-finding committee to unearth the truth about the maritime disaster, including the exact cause of the sinking. The liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) began its two-week primary vote to select its candidate for the May 9 presidential election Wednesday. But even before the polling began in earnest, the primary race has overheated, with leading contenders trading mudslinging accusations. An Hee-jung, the party's second-most popular runner, lashed out at front-runner Moon Jae-in, accusing him of engaging in negative campaigning. In a Facebook post uploaded at around 2 a.m. Wednesday, the South Chungcheong Province governor said, ''Moon's negative tactics will frighten people and make them disenchanted." "With such an attitude, he can neither take power through a change of government nor lead the country successfully,'' An added. An's accusations came after he drew fire from Moon for offering to form a grand coalition with all political parties and expressing that even the impeached President Park Geun-hye ''had good intentions'' in creating two shadowy foundations. In an earlier Facebook post, Moon also accused the two-term governor and Lee Jae-myung, another strong contender, of engaging in a smear campaign. In Tuesday's debate organized by a broadcaster, the DPK's leading presidential runners, including Moon, spent nearly 30 minutes out of the 100 minutes scheduled slandering each other. The mudslinging by the supporters of the candidates through social media is also heating up. Intense debates to confirm facts and vet candidates' qualifications are welcomed, but offensives based on falsehood and nit-picking must be averted. Whoever wins the DPK's primary will face little challenge from other candidates in the presidential election, considering that the party's three leading contenders enjoy combined approval ratings of 60 percent. This implies that there is a higher chance of the party's primary race overheating. But it is doubtful if the DPK's primary is satisfying the public's aspirations for ''straightening out our politics,'' which have erupted since the disgraced former president was removed from office. Rather, the DPK's contenders have been facing criticism for behaving arrogantly as if they had already retaken power. They should compete fairly and squarely with policies and vision rather than slandering and negative tactics, keeping in mind that the entire nation is watching them closely. Certainly, no candidate will win the hearts and minds of the public just by slandering others. By Lee Min-hyung The so-called "creative economy" centers here are at the risk of closing, suffering a severe blow after their mastermind former President Park Geun-hye was ousted due to a ruling upholding her impeachment. The creative economy was dubbed as her mainstream economic policy under which the Park administration established conglomerate-funded 18 innovation centers across the nation. But with the Constitutional Court upholding the ruling to unseat Park on March 10, calls have grown that the centers should stop wasting taxpayers' money and reshape its management structures. This is because the centers were funded by the country's major conglomerates, which is similar to two foundations at the center of the political corruption scandal involving Park and her close confidant Choi Soon-sil, who is now on trial. Big firms were forced to donate funds to the two foundations whose establishment and operation were headed by Choi. In return, some of them are suspected of having received special favors from the Park government. In addition, the public is ramping up their criticism on the startup-breeding centers, as they have yet to generate tangible outcomes, despite the massive capital invested mostly from the conglomerates and taxes. "The purpose of the policy, in itself, was in the right direction, as Korea still lags far behind major economies in terms of the startup ecosystem," an IT industry source said. "But whoever grabs the next presidency, the creative economy center will not maintain its structure as it is now. The centers will first be renamed and their funding structure is also highly likely to undergo a drastic shift." In particular, the fate of the Seoul Creative Economy and Innovation Center is up in the air, with visual artist Cha Eun-taek arrested for his involvement with CJ Group, which had served as the key supporter for the center. The retail conglomerate invested some 1.3 billion won into the Mir and K-Sports foundations controlled by Choi. Amid the snowballing scandal, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon withdrew a plan in November to offer 2 billion won ($1.78 million) in subsidies for the Seoul center. "The prosecution is investigating creative centers' management systems, so it remains unclear whether the government will continue to allocate budgets to run the Seoul creative center," he said at that time. "The scrapped two billion won budget will be used to support other companies operating businesses in Seoul." Another source at an affiliate from one of the funding conglomerates said: "The structure to fund capital to the scandal-tainted firms will likely discontinue, but the upcoming president will maintain the essence of the startup centers to reduce the nation's conglomerate-driven economic structure." Seen above are smartphone retail stores at Techno Mart in Sindorim, Seoul, Wednesday afternoon. Techno Mart is dubbed the shrine of illegal subsidies in Korea. / Korea Times photo by Lee Min-hyung By Lee Min-hyung Sales of LG Electronics' premium G6 smartphone are getting off to a good start, with the nation's most clandestine retailers voicing optimism over stronger-than-expected customer reactions. Tech-savvy and price-sensitive smartphone users in Korea often rush to Techno Mart in Sindorim, southwestern Seoul, to buy new mobile phones, as the place is often dubbed the "shrine of illegal subsidies." Because of the super-cheap price ranges they offer, retail store clerks there are reluctant to reveal details over how they can offer such massive illegal subsidies. For instance, the Galaxy S7 is on sale for only some 100,000 won ($89.37) at some stores there, lowering its price tag of 799,700 won for the 32GB model. Under the current telecom subsidy regulation, mobile carriers can offer up to 323,000 won in subsidies for Samsung's flagship device, which means customers can get the phone for 476,700 won at the cheapest. But the price reduction range is much steeper for the G6, as most Techno Mart retail stores offer more subsidies for the device whose price tag is 899,800 won. Depending on the mobile rate system, carriers can provide a maximum of 218,000 won in subsidies, allowing customers to get the phone for 681,800 won. One retail store official offered 200,000 won for the G6 on a 24-month plan. "Customers, looking for flagship Android smartphones are more likely to opt for the G6, as the device is up to date and comes with no striking downsides, compared with its predecessors including the G5 and the G4," the store official said. "It is true that people have negative stereotypes on LG smartphones over such issues as boot loop problems," he said. "But the G6 is currently the only option for those seeking to buy the latest premium smartphone." The relatively narrow price gap between the G6 and the Galaxy S7 is another reason for the stronger-than-expected demand for the LG device, according to a manager from another retail shop. "Even if Samsung boasts a more premium brand value, most customers stick to the latest model," he said. Because there is only a 100,000 won price gap between the two models, most people go for the latest one, the G6, according to him. Techno Mart as clandestine smartphone retailers When asked how much popular smartphones such as the S7 and G6 are, almost all of the stores declined to give a direct answer. They, instead, showed the maximum price range they can offer by typing it on a calculator. Some stores do not unveil smartphone prices to customers unless they answer one question: "What price did other stores offer you?" If customers say "This is the first store I have visited," some store managers give a suspicious look at the customers and end the conversation. "Offering illegal subsidies is a target for paparazzi, so most retail stores remain defensive by speaking newly coined words to customers such as Galucky which refers to Galaxy S7," a telecom industry source said. "Only those who can clearly follow up with what they say can get the opportunity to buy the cheapest smartphones." To root out the nation's years-long illegal subsidies by mobile carriers, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning introduced the Mobile Device Distribution Improvement Act in October 2014. To some extent, the regulation succeeded in curbing mobile carriers from offering excessive subsidies for customers, but these unfair practices remain prevalent online and at such clandestine retail stores as Techno Mart. Earlier this year, the science ministry said it is considering not extending the controversial act amid a growing backlash from customers who argue it has only boosted the revenue of mobile carriers for the past two years. Samsung BioLogics' business development division Vice President James Park, left, holds a plaque after the company won six prizes at the 2017 Contract Manufacturing Organization Leadership Award in New York, Wednesday (local time). Next to him is Matt Hicks, chief operating officer of the awards' main sponsor Federal Equipment. / Courtesy of Samsung BioLogics By Yoon Sung-won Samsung BioLogics won all six prizes of a global biopharmaceutical industry award ceremony in the United States, the company said Thursday. During the Contract Manufacturing Organization (CMO) Leadership Awards in New York, the Korean medicine manufacturing company said it has swept all categories including reliability, capabilities, expertise, compatibility, development and overall quality. This marks the fourth consecutive year for Samsung BioLogics to win awards at the annual event but it is the first time the company swept all categories. "Being recognized in all core criteria attests to our solid position as a full service provider for mammalian biopharmaceutical products, being responsible from clinical development to commercial manufacturing at our state-of-the-art facilities," Samsung BioLogics CEO Kim Tae-han said. "We will continue to provide quality-driven manufacturing for flexible and cost-effective services that ensure dedicated support for our clients and their patients." Jointly hosted by U.S. magazine Life Science Leader and research agency Industry Standard Research (ISR) since 2011, the CMO Leadership Awards have assessed over 80 contract manufacturers annually around the world. The ISR evaluates the CMOs by 30 performance metrics in its quality benchmarking survey to determine winners in the six categories. "The CMO Leadership Awards recognize the successes of individual drug development and manufacturing organizations in serving the needs of their biotechnology and pharmaceutical customers and partners," Life Science Leader Executive Editor Louis Garguilo said. "Recipients are evaluated by the executives and managers of the sponsors where the CMOs have worked, in the six critical categories." ISR President Andrew Schafer said, "Our stringent screening processes and the high caliber of qualification are required to provide experiential feedback on their involvement with contract suppliers over the past 18 month." Samsung BioLogics said it seeks to strengthen its presence in the rapidly growing global biopharmaceutical market by investing $730 million in establishing its third plant with a bioreactor capacity of 180,000 liters. The company expects the third plan will make it the world's largest biopharmaceutical provider in terms of manufacturing output with 362,000 liters per year. South Korea's state-run creditors of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. on Thursday announced a set of rescue packages worth 5.8 trillion won ($5.17 billion) for the ailing shipbuilder. The huge rescue measures, proposed by the state-run Korea Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of Korea, are the second round of bailout for the shipbuilder that has been suffering severe liquidity problems over heavy losses from offshore projects. Under the rescue packages, Daewoo Shipbuilding will receive new loans worth 2.9 trillion won, if lenders and bondholders agree to swap 2.9 trillion won of debts for new shares in the shipbuilder. Unless they agree on the debt-for-equity swap plan, Daewoo Shipbuilding will be placed under a new corporate rehabilitation program, which is a combination of debt workout and court receivership, the creditors said. "If private lenders and bondholders disagree on the debt-for-swap plan, we will implement an intensive restructuring program by using legally binding measures," the creditors said in the statement. Daewoo Shipbuilding will be required to cut 25 percent of its personnel costs and slash its workforce by 1,000 jobs. The fresh rescue package calls for the labor union of Daewoo Shipbuilding not to stage a strike. Thursday's rescue package is a reversal of the government's previous stance that it would not use fresh money to help salvage Daewoo. Daewoo Shipbuilding received a 4.2 trillion-won rescue package in late 2015, but it has failed to improve the shipyard's cash flows. The shipbuilder suffered an operating loss of 1.61 trillion won (US$1.44 billion) last year following an operating loss of 2.94 trillion won in 2015. Its net loss narrowed to 2.71 trillion won last year from a loss of 3.3 trillion won a year earlier with sales also dipping 15.1 percent on-year to reach 12.74 trillion won, it said. The pending and sticky problem facing Daewoo Shipbuilding is how to pay off 440 billion won worth of debt due next month. It has to refinance or pay off a total of 940 billion won worth of debt this year and 550 billion won next year. Daewoo Shipbuilding is expected to face gloomy earnings this year because of its heavy reliance on offshore orders, which have dropped due to a fragile recovery in the global economy. (Yonhap) Adolf Klenk, head of research and regulatory affairs at Dr. Wolff, speaks about caffeine's effectiveness in preventing hair loss during a press conference at the Westin Chosun Hotel, Seoul, Thursday. The German pharmaceutical and cosmetics firm officially launched Alpecin caffeine shampoo and other hair care products in Korea. / Courtesy of Dr. Wolff By Lee Hyo-sik Caffeine is effective in preventing hair loss, according to a 113-year-old German cosmetics firm, Thursday, which said Korean consumers concerned about losing their hair will greatly benefit from its shampoo and other hair care products. "An increasing number of Koreans, including those in their 20s and 30s, suffer from hair loss. But unfortunately, most of them don't know that caffeine can help them prevent or slow baldness," Adolf Klenk, head of research and regulatory affairs at Dr. Wolff, told reporters at a press conference. "After conducting numerous tests over the years, Dr. Wolff found out that caffeine works better than any other known substances in preventing or slowing hair loss," Klenk said. "We hope that many consumers here reap benefits from using our scientifically proven products that contain caffeine. Many studies proved that caffeine has a positive effect on counteracting hereditary hair loss." Founded in 1905, Dr. Wolff first introduced the Alpecin brand in 1930 for scalp care. In the early 2000s, Alpecin introduced its first caffeine-containing product, Alpecin Liquid, a caffeinated hair tonic. Alpecin caffeine shampoo, the brand's best-selling product, has become the top male hair loss shampoo in Germany, and is now available in more than 40 countries. People stand near a crashed car and an injured person lying on the ground, right, on Bridge Street near the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, March 22, 2017. Britain has been targeted Wednesday by what authorities are calling a terrorist incident, after vehicle mowed down pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge, killing at least one woman and leaving others injured, around the same time as a knife-wielding attacker stabbed a police officer and was shot on the grounds outside Britain's Parliament. / James West via AP-Yonhap By Lee Han-soo Five South Korean tourists were injured in a bloody terror attack near the Houses of Parliament in central London on Wednesday (local time). Five people died and 40 were hurt. The attack started when a man mowed down pedestrians with a car on Westminster Bridge. He then fatally stabbed a policeman outside the parliament building before being shot dead. British Prime Minister Theresa May called the attack "sick and depraved." "We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart," May said outside 10 Downing Street in London. One of the five Korean tourists is in a critical condition. "Four South Korean tourists sustained light injuries and the other had serious injuries," a tour agency official told Yonhap. "They are now being treated at two hospitals." The badly injured tourist was identified as a woman surnamed Park, 67. She was injured when she fell after being pushed by people fleeing the scene, according to officials at South Korea's Embassy in London. City police officers, Greene County sheriff's deputies, and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers are looking for a person who fired shots at two officers during a traffic stop late Thursday morning. The Springfield officers tried to pull over a pickup for speeding on College Street at Lexington Avenue, two blocks west of Kansas Expressway, about 11 a.m. When the officers -- a veteran training officer and a newly commissioned officer still in training -- approached the stopped pickup, the driver took off and someone fired shots at the officers through the pickup's back window, breaking out the window of the patrol car. A police department spokesman says the officers did not return fire but put out an emergency call for backup and for other officers to try to stop the fleeing pickup and driver. The officers weren't able to get a description of anyone in the truck because it has heavily tinted windows. It turns out the truck's owner from Springfield had reported it stolen. Officers found the crashed truck about two miles away near West Bypass at State Street, a couple of blocks south of Mount Vernon Street, but the driver had fled. Officers set up a perimeter of the area around the truck and started searching. Many officers were in the area but did not find the driver. A Highway Patrol helicopter crew helped with the search. Search dogs also tried to follow the shooter's scent. The search for the shooter will be difficult since police have no description. Ashley Martin, who was at Wilson Automotive and Tire on College at Lexington for a car repair, said she hit the ground when she heard the shots. "It was scary. I didn't want to get shot," said Martin, who said she checked on the officers after the shooting. As a precaution, police asked administrators at Westport Elementary and Middle School to move students inside from the playground. Westport is on Golden Avenue just north of Mount Vernon Street, several blocks east of West Bypass. Also, because the shooter wasn't found, the Willard School District chose not to bus students to any area south of Interstate 44. The Willard District includes part of west Springfield near where the shooter abandoned the wrecked pickup. The district asked parents to pick up their children, or arrange for someone to pick them up. It also held high school students who drive and live south of I-44 until getting permission from parents for them to drive home alone. That decision affected students at the high school, middle school, intermediate school, Orchard Hills, Willard South and Willard Central elementary schools. The exhibit Making Communities: Art & The Border, opened March 3 at University Art Gallery (UAG) on UC San Diego campus, and turned out to be a delightful surprise. Although the premise is serious and hotly controversial, the exhibits personalities and playfulness, along with their deep insights on opening night, made for an exciting evening. Curator Tatiana Sizonenko gathered some of the best examples of art associated with the San Diego/Mexico border, which will remain on exhibit through April 13. Collectively, the show brings back many memories. Victor Ochoa, aka Mr. Mural, who was lead artist on the colorful murals under the Coronado Bay Bridge in Chicano Park, brought in a collection of small paintings depicting Chicano cultural icons, like Vato or La Migra. Louis Hock, contributed thermal, night vision photographs taken over the shoulders of Border Patrol officers. David Avalos, who helped establish the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, in addition to co-founding the Border Art Workshop, offered a memorial piece. Debra Small created a beautiful exhibit of medical plants used on both sides of the border by Native Americans. Elizabeth Ciscos oversized photographs of La Migra (Immigration) chasing immigrants loomed menacingly overhead. The notorious Las Comadres had me running after them through the gallery trying to snap their photos during an improvised Keystone Cops performance piece. Near the end of the evening, reflections by San Diego State University (SDSU) art professor Richard Keely, brought everything together in a light of understanding and appreciation. The exhibit is a retrospective of the last 50 years, with 20 artists each imagining a more just and interconnected world. At the time the works originated, they were powerful and provocative, and they brought out the ire of some people, but have since become accepted and mainstream. Perhaps the most famous artist at the opening was Ochoa. He told the group he was born in LA and sent back to Tijuana with his family as an illegal immigrant when he was 7 years old. He said he was constantly hassled by police and Caltrans when he began painting the world-famous Chicano Park murals. Nowadays, however, Caltrans claims that they were responsible for putting the murals up! Ochoa remarked with a chuckle. Ochoa said that he did not receive compensation for painting the murals, but did end up getting about $1 million for the technical manual used for their upkeep and restoration. I tried to spread the money out to all who were involved, he said. Ochoa pointed out that he didnt have to worry about graffiti artists painting over his mural work because he set up an organization, based on mutual respect, to help them with their artwork and to give them space for their painting. He added because of his work on the Chicano Park murals, hes been invited to speak and work all over the world. Ive been painting murals in Cuba for the past 15 years and the IRA invited me to Belfast to help them do some murals supporting their cause, he said. Avalos, who in 1990 received a MFA degree from UCSD Visual Arts, is a member of the Committee on Chicano Rights, and professor in the School of Arts at CSU San Marcos. He explained that his work in the show has been sitting in a cardboard box for many years. Its a colorful, scale model of the old donkey carts that lined Revolution Avenue in Tijuana. Tourists would don sombreros and have their pictures taken while sitting on the carts as a souvenir of their visit. As Avalos explained, the people who took the photographs of the tourists developed their pictures in little boxes on the spot. They painted the donkeys with zebra stripes so the donkeys would show up better in the photographs, which were sometimes a little washed out. But on a more serious note, this sculpture is actually a tribute to Francisco Sanchez, who was shot to death at age 40, on Dec. 8, 1980, by the Border Patrol. Avalos said he helped start the Border Art Workshop with the aim of educating border artists and bringing up the standard of their work. Our most important accomplishment was the art show we put on at Galeria de la Raza, which is located in the Mission District of San Francisco. The thing I remember most about the show was meeting artist Robert Crumb, world famous for the Zap Comic Book series of the San Francisco hippie era, he said. Three of the 15 original members of Las Comadres, a feminist art group concerned with the rights of immigrants, also attended the opening Ruth Wallen, Emily Hicks and Anna OCain. Las Comadres spun off from the Border Art Workshop because of what they perceived to be a sexist attitude on the part of the men in the workshop. At the Carmel Mountain Nature Preserve in Del Mar, Wallen helped design and install signage that explains the life cycle of vernal pools and their inhabitants the endangered freshwater fairy shrimp. Hicks is a performance artist who teaches both Chicano Studies and Comparative Literature at SDSU. One of Las Comadres projects was filming Hicks getting married at the border fence! She said the work of Las Comadres and the Border Art Workshop were included in a book that came out in France titled, Geoesthetique. She also mentioned being in an art show at Wisteria Cottage in La Jolla, which was sponsored by the La Jolla Historical Society. OCain, who is married to SDSU professor Keely, said in 1989, Las Comadres hired a small plane to trail a banner through the sky with a poetic response to all the people who lined up and were shining their car headlights on the border fence to protest growing illegal immigration. The banner read: A Thousand Points of Fear: Another Berlin Wall. Keely called the exhibit important and vital, explaining, I remember going to all the events for this artwork when they were happening for real. Those were very exciting times, but things are different now. Rather than having a socio-political agenda, like back then, these artworks now offer a historical perspective to help educate new students. IF YOU GO: UAG is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Thursdays. Additional border art work can be found at the SME Gallery on the UCSD campus, open 2:30-6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Admission is free. Catch a performance by Cog*nate Collective exploring tension at the border, 6 p.m. Thursday, April 6 in Room 149 of the Visual Arts Presentation Lab at SME. uag.ucsd.edu Last call for photos to La Jolla librarys FAMILIES art exhibit The La Jolla Library Art Gallery committee issued a Last Call! for submissions to its next One Subject exhibit, FAMILIES: A Juried Show of Photographs. The deadline for entries is Friday, April 14. Entry forms can be found at the library, 7555 Draper Ave., or online at lajollalibrary.org/your-library/art-exhibits/ The committee challenges photographers to take the subject families and create an image that represents that idea within their own personal context. Photographers may submit up to five images for the show, black-and-white or color no smaller than 8 x 10 inches or larger than 30 x 40 inches. All accepted photos must be framed simply in black or wood frames. Questions? E-mail pjasper@sbcglobal.net Many local schools on Spring Break next week For La Jolla public schools in the San Diego Unified School District, Spring Break runs March 27-April 3. At UC San Diego, final exams for Winter Quarter take place March 20-25 and Spring Quarter instruction begins April 3. UC schools propose cap on non-resident enrollment University of California regents proposed to cap the enrollment of out-of-state undergraduate students to 20 percent, except in seven of its campuses, including UC San Diego. Non-resident students numbered 34,673 in fall 2016 (thats 16.5 percent of the systems 210,170 undergraduates), but colleges like UCSD are at 22.8 percent non-resident undergraduates. Some state legislators have been trying to cap the number of out-of-state students admitted in the UC public-funded system to ensure the enrollment of California undergrads, but other voices allege that non-residents bring extra funds to the UCs, which help the university improve its quality. Scripps Institution uncovers fault system off La Jolla coast Offshore, from San Diego Bay to Seal Beach in Orange County (and then inland through Los Angeles coast), a newly-discovered fault line could create earthquakes up to a 7.3 magnitude. Valerie Sahakian discovered the fault during her thesis research for Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). Even if you have a high 5- or low 6-magnitude earthquake, it can still have a major impact on those regions, which are some of the most densely populated in California, she wrote in a press release. The researchers processed data from previous seismic surveys and supplemented it with data gathered offshore by Scripps researchers and seismic surveys conducted aboard former Scripps research vessels New Horizon and Melville in 2013. Senior citizens sought for neighborhood patrols The San Diego Police Departments Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol (RSVP), Northern Division, seeks additional volunteers to serve in the communities of La Jolla, University City, UTC, Pacific and Mission Beaches, Bay Park and Clairemont. RSVP duties include patrolling local neighborhoods while serving as additional eyes and ears for the police department. Volunteers assist uniformed officers with directing traffic when needed, making deliveries to various courts, searching for stolen vehicles using computer-driven license plate readers and ticketing vehicles parked illegally in handicap spaces and Red Zones, or with out-of-date registrations. RSVP volunteers visit elderly residents living alone to check on their safety and welfare. They also check homes for residents on vacation. Volunteers come from all walks of life and must be at least age 50 and possess a California drivers license. A minimum of three days per month service is required, with time out for vacations. To learn more, contact Northern Division at (858) 552-1737 or send an e-mail to sdpdnorthern@pd.sandiego.gov and request a ride along. La Jollan pens a story about California lifeguards La Jolla resident Tony Bathney will publish his first novel Tower 18 on May 9. The San Diego-based story takes readers to local beaches and inside the lifeguard towers for a view into the professions routines, accompanied by the dramatic story of two female lifeguards and their rivalry. Bathey, whos a retired Army Airborne Master Sergeant, said he spent 10 years making rescues and instructing junior lifeguards on various California beaches. For more details or to pre-order his book, visit elevatepub.com/product/tower-18 Spring signup underway at Osher Learning Institute Registration for the spring quarter is open at The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC San Diego. The Institute conducts twice daily lectures and seminars for members age 50 and older. The first lecture for the quarter is 10 a.m. Monday, April 3 on the Extension campus, 9600 North Torrey Pines Road. Class offerings will include presentations from scholars and experts in the fields of International Relations, Science, Medicine, Art and Humanities among many other subjects. Spring quarter lecture subjects range from Hollywoods Golden Age to Stem Cell Research. (858) 534-3409. olli.ucsd.edu Author to discuss college admission strategies La Jolla native Greg Kaplan will hold a strategy session for his 2016 book, Earning Admission: Real Strategies for Getting into Highly Selective Colleges, 2 p.m. Saturday April 1 at La Jolla Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave. I grew up in La Jolla walking to the library after school and on weekends, he said, adding that hes offering the lecture as a way to give back to the place where I learned to read. During the talk I will discuss ways families can prepare for the college admissions process and maximize their childrens odds of admission through strategy and encouraging our children to pursue their passions instead of checking off imaginary boxes for the application process, he said. (858) 552-1657. lajollalibrary.org or earningadmission.com Construction begins on argued-against Shores home A La Jolla Shores home-build project that drew mixed reviews in 2014, moved forward with construction in mid-March. The 1,624-square foot single family dwelling at 8374 Paseo Del Ocaso, has been demolished to make way for a 3,860-square foot single family dwelling unit with an attached 415-square foot garage. According to a City of San Diego report on the project, on Nov. 18, 2014, the La Jolla Shores Advisory Board voted 4-0-0 to recommend denial of the project based on bulk and scale, and setback concerns. After the meeting, the applicant increased the front setback, reduced the overall floor area and added elements to break up the bulk and scale. The revised design was presented to the La Jolla Community Planning Association, and on Feb. 5, 2015, the group voted 12-0-2 to recommend approval of the project. Janie Emerson, who sits on multiple boards and reviewed the project in 2014, told La Jolla Light, via e-mail, This project in the current form should have gone to La Jolla Shores Planned District Ordinance committee, La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee and then to La Jolla Community Planning Association. To my knowledge that never happened. The City report goes on to state that the revised project design provides articulation along the facades, architectural projections, and uses stucco, textured limestone, wooden gray marble veneer, mahogany wood veneer and various green wall/screens on the exterior of the building, in muted earth-tone colors consistent with what has been generally used in the surrounding development. The proposed setbacks, in addition to the offsetting planes, variation in building materials help break up the perceived bulk and scale and are an adequate transition between the proposed development and the existing one- and two-story single family dwelling units, and implement the community character recommendations within the La Jolla Community Plan. Kyoto University office coming to UC San Diego Kyoto University of Japan, one of the University of California San Diegos international partners, will open an office in San Diego in early April, both campuses have announced. The Kyoto University Office will be located in the Sunroad Corporate Center, Suite 200, at the Eastgate Mall near UC San Diego. When UCSD opened an office in the heart of Tokyo in 2016, Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla said: By opening this new office, UC San Diego is demonstrating our commitment to strengthen our global partnerships and advance the frontiers of knowledge in order to benefit our planet and humankind. Have a La Jolla news tip? E-mail details (and include a related, high-resolution photo if possible) to editor@lajollalight.com or call (858) 875-5950. Over the past few months, complaints have been reported to the La Jolla Village Merchants Association and the La Jolla Light about businesses using what some La Jollans see as overly aggressive tactics to get customers into their stores. At least three of the shops are on Girard Avenue and another two are on Prospect Street. These are primarily skincare companies with employees who stand in the doorways handing out product samples and urging passersby to enter the stores. For Julie Durkee, who works in The Village, the practice has changed the way she walks and shops around town, and she said she finds the presence of these clerks distressing. They stand in the doorways and are very friendly and smiling, but if you make eye contact, they say, I can fix the bags under your eyes or wrinkles or whatever they notice at first glance. But if you dont make eye contact, they follow you, stepping out further, she reported. If they just stood in the doorway with samples that wouldnt bother me, but when they see Im not making eye contact and they pursue me, thats not OK. She said she likes to stroll through town on her lunch break, but no longer walks along Girard Avenue because of these businesses. Its unnerving. Even when I pass one, I know there are a few more ahead of me that I have to deal with. At that point, I just go back to the office, she said. To make matters worse, Durkee said she has a health condition that requires medication every day, which affects her skin. I know what I look like, and nothing they can sell me is going to help. So reminding me of all of that is hurtful. My situation is unique, but its not just me hearing this. There are other women who hear such comments several times as they walk down the street. Merchants Association response Durkee reported her complaints to the La Jolla Village Merchants Association (LJVMA) and, she is not the only one to do so. LJVMA executive director Sheila Fortune said she has received multiple complaints about high-pressure business practices in recent months, but tasked with supporting local businesses, the associations hands are tied. Ive gotten phone calls and e-mails from people wanting us to shut down these businesses, but what they are doing is ... not illegal, she said. Technically, they are not supposed to come out of their doors, but were getting reports that they aggressively approach people. Ive even had it happen to me! They throw samples at me and try to get me in the store, she said. Its frustrating and its getting worse. Police Department response San Diego Police Community Relations Officer Larry Hesselgesser confirmed that the practice of standing in the doorway and inviting people in is legal. On the topic, San Diego Municipal Code Chapter 5: Public Safety, Morals and Welfare, states: It is unlawful for any person on the streets, sidewalks or other places open to the public to aggressively coerce, threaten, hound, harass or intimidate another person for the purpose of soliciting money or goods, and that a persons actions are considered to meet this rule when (among other things), The solicitor persists in following the solicitee closely, and continues to demand money or other thing of value after the solicitee has rejected the solicitation by words or conduct. Further, the Municipal Code defines aggressively as behaving in a hostile manner, and harass as to irritate or torment persistently, and hound as to pursue relentlessly and tenaciously. Fortune said she reached out to some of the offending store managers, but had difficulty getting through to them. La Jolla Light had a similar experience and could not reach management at two of the stores for this story. One store manager claimed to have given a supervisors phone number to a different Light employee, which was untrue. Fortune said when people call or e-mail their complaints, she advises them to ignore the vendors and just keep walking or say, no thanks. One Village business owner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the tactic poses a huge problem and customers are complaining. One woman told me she has stopped walking along Girard Avenue and she only takes the alleys to go shopping, she said. More and more of my customers are not going to shop here if theyre getting harassed. A lot of people, especially elderly people and women, feel like they have to respond, and then they end up in the store. I just wish they knew to just say no or not pause to answer. Another local business owner, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a longtime customer now requests to be let in through the back entrance to avoid the street solicitors. Better Business Bureau response Mike Sedio, vice-president of operations and general counsel for the Better Business Bureau San Diego, Orange and Imperial Counties, recommends the just say no method. The BBB advocates for savvy and empowered consumers who can make decisions at their own pace, and when a company creates an artificial sense of urgency, there is nothing wrong with saying no or slow down, or saying you need to look them up, research their product and come back, he said. Of the reported five stores that post employees at the door to distribute samples, only one store manager returned La Jolla Lights calls to be interviewed about its sales practices. That manager said the store has not received any complaints about sales clerks outside offering samples. Its just something we do at all of our stores to market the products better, to offer something more friendly and exciting for the client, she said. We try not to be aggressive, we try to be classy. Our reputation is important to us. When it comes to complaints, we will address anything that people are not happy about. For San Diego Police Department Captain Tina Williams and Lt. Erwin Manansala, being posted at Northern Division is a homecoming. Each was promoted to their posts on Feb. 11, but both were acting in their positions beforehand. And both already have experience at the 4275 Eastgate Mall police station, which oversees La Jolla, Bay Ho, Clairemont Mesa, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, University City and more. Williams said she became a police officer in 1994 and in the course of her extensive rotation throughout the department was stationed at Northern Division as a lieutenant for the inland areas. Her resume includes time in Southeastern, Eastern and Northern Divisions; with the gang units and SWAT teams; and positions such as patrol officer, sergeant, supervisor, detective sergeant, commanding officer and finally, captain. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a police officer, the San Diego native said. There wasnt one particular moment that stands out. I just knew from a young age I wanted to be in law enforcement. Im the first one in my family to serve, so its not like it was a family tradition. The biggest thing is that Im helping the community and doing something different every day. For Manansala, who became a police officer in 2005, his first year on the job was at Northern Division, patrolling the beaches. He was then transferred to Central Division for six years. After that, he returned to Northern Division to patrol the inland communities, ran the Mid-City Crime Suppression Team, worked on investigations with the Internal Affairs Unit, and did a tour with the SWAT unit and Emergency Negotiations team. But when he was promoted to lieutenant last year, he again found himself back at Northern Division. Being a police officer was never something I thought about, Manansala explained. In college I was thinking about law school, but I was in the Marine Corps at the time. When the Towers fell (during the 9/11 terrorist attacks) we were called to active duty, so I was going to school at night while on duty in the Marines. So my grades werent exactly top tier to get into law school and I was debating what kind of career path I would take. A friend of mines father was a San Diego police officer and she told me she could see me as an officer, so I talked to her dad and took the test, went through the whole process. I got hired and fell in love with it. Now that they are here, both Williams and Manansala said they are ready to keep the complex areas of Northern Division safe, and are both advocates of community-assisted policing. In Northern Division, we have both inland communities and coastal communities and the inland residents have different concerns than the coastal residents, Williams said. In the coastal areas, theres an influx of tourists and part-time residents over the summer and holiday weekends. Any time you have that many people in one area, youre going to have an increase in traffic congestion, people dumping trash and, unfortunately in the beach areas, people dont always pay attention and they leave things in plain sight in their vehicles and things get stolen, which we get calls about. Between the police staff shortage and the large geographic area within Northern Divisions jurisdiction, officers cannot respond to every call, noted Manansala. Our division is one of the largest in the City, he said. We encompass more than 41 square miles and we have over 220,000 residents to look after and thats not including the summer months when we have tourists. Williams added that having made the rounds at community advisory boards, she noticed that residents seem to think they should be cautious about calling the police a perception she would like to see changed. Its OK to contact us. Please contact us, she said. We believe if you see something, say something. Public safety is a shared responsibility. So if we never get that call, we never receive that information. Depending on how active the command is that day, sometimes things get prioritized lower but for us at least we have that information. If we arent hearing it from the community, we have no way of knowing theres something we should be keeping an eye on. In light of the short-staffing at San Diegos police communication centers, which was deemed a near-emergency in late 2016 (with people reporting busy signals when they called 911 or the non-emergency line), Williams said the department has hired 40 new dispatchers. Now the wait time for calls has met and exceeded national standards, she said. In addition to incident-specific calls, Williams and Manansala advocate for Neighborhood Watch programs as a resource for exchanging crime and safety information. We have some of the strongest and most active Neighborhood Watch programs from Clairemont to the beach communities, which is evidenced by peoples postings on nextdoor.com and their willingness to call in and report suspicious activities, Manansala said. This areas Neighborhood Watch programs and the police have a great working partnership because they let us know about suspicious activities to give us a leg up on crime in the community. Whether its someone unfamiliar in the neighborhood, someone rummaging through trash, or an armed robbery in progress, our priority is public safety, serving the community and providing a better quality of life. Historic ties of north Meck span throughout region Though the north Mecklenburg area didnt see significant population growth until a few decades ago, its rich history dates back to the Revolutionary War. That was the basis of... An easier-than-expected first mammogram experience HUNTERSVILLE Scheduling a cancer screening probably ranks somewhere on your to-do list between "clean out the garage" and "donate those clothes that don't fit." Sure, you'll get to it at... PRESS RELEASE Roger Stone Reiterates: Brits Did It March 22, 2017 (EIRNS)Trump friend Roger Stone, second only to Paul Manafort on the current "Trump associates tied to Russia" hit-list, is swinging back hard against the "demagogery, red baiting, fearmongering and half-truths" slung around in Mondays House Intelligence Committee hearing, as he told the Los Angeles Times, amongst others. Nor is he backing down on the role of the British in the Get Trump affair. Stone told the Daily Mail that Judge Napolitano is correct; the British government did spy on Donald Trump. "My own sources high up in the Tory government, who are quite powerful, assured me that there was surveillance by the Brits. Of course they deny it; thats their job," he said. Stone is telling all and sundry he would welcome the opportunity to testify before the House or Senate on his alleged Russian ties. As for Sen. John McCains charge that Stone needs to explain his ties to Russia and Yanukovich, Stone told the Central Florida Post, "No, McCain needs to explain his ties to the Saudis, who I see wrote a very large check for his institute." Stone expressed his "deep concern" over McCains mental health, suggesting that a psychological exam is in order. PRESS RELEASE To GOP Activists, Trump Again Invokes American System Economics March 22, 2017 (EIRNS)Speaking to a dinner of the Republican National Congressional Committee yesterday, President Donald Trump fervently spoke of the "American System of economy" for a second day, following his evocation of Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln, and the American System at a Kentucky mass rally on March 20. The last president to preach the American System may have been William McKinley; Trumps "whig" speeches have generated a freaked-out response from the Von Mises Society and similar British and "Austrian school" free traders and "libertarians." "I called it the American model," said Trump, in a speech that had at first trod familiar ground of congratulations to fundraisers and Republicans present including himself. "And this is the system our Founders wanted. Our greatest American leadersincluding George Washington, Hamilton, Jackson, Lincolnthey all agreed that for America to be a strong nation it must also be a great manufacturing nation." The President invoked McKinley: "The Republican platform of 1896more than a century agostated that Protection and reciprocity are twin measures of American policy and go hand in hand.... We renew and emphasize our allegiance to the policy of protection, as the bulwark of American industrial independence and the foundation of American development and prosperity." Then Trump progressed to the American Systems "internal improvements," or infrastructure projects in todays terms. "Our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, ran his first campaign for public office in 1832when he was only 23 years old. He began by imagining the benefits a railroad could bring to his port [part] of Illinoiswithout ever having seen a steam-powered train. He had no idea, and yet he knew what it could be. Thirty years later, as President, Lincoln signed the law that built the first Transcontinental Railroad, uniting our country from ocean to ocean.... "Another great Republican President, Dwight Eisenhower, had a vision of a national infrastructure plan. As an officer in the Army after World War I, he joined a military convoy that trekked across the nation to the Pacific Coast. It traveled along the Lincoln Highwaycalled then the Lincoln Highway. Its journey began by the South Lawn of the White House, at a monument known today as Zero Milestone. Anybody know where that is? The journey made a great impression on then young Eisenhower. More than three decades later, as President, he signed the bill that created our great Interstate Highway Systemonce again uniting us as a nation. "Now is time for a new Republican administration, working with our Republican Congress, to pass the next great infrastructure bill. Our party must dream as big and as bold as Lincoln and Eisenhower." Trump continued to the American System subjects of invention, and foreign policy. "Imagine the breakthroughs that will breathe fresh life into forgotten places. Picture the new roads that will carve pathways all across our landand we need them. And think of the new inventions that will lift up the sights of our nation. "Finally, as we imagine this new prosperity at home, let us also work to achieve real and enduring peace abroad.... The best Republican Presidents have not only been warfighters, but also peacemakers. We will never hesitate to do what we must to keep us safe today, but we will always seek a more peaceful tomorrow. We will, and we will succeed.... If we stand for these thingssafety, prosperity and peacethen there is no limit to what we can achieve." Quoth the very bothered Von Mises Society, "The economic policies of Whigs endure. Unfortunately, the dangers of Whig economic folly and fallacy do not diminish with time." What "endure," are great nations built on the American System. The first time I realized I had joined the exclusive bittersweet club for professionals of color was at the dinner held in my honor after giving my first reading as a published author. Picture it: Toledo, Ohio, 1999. I knew this was the first of many such social gatherings in which my hosts would treat me to a pleasant meal, and I accepted with graciousness. What I had never been told was what to do when the bill arrived. So I excused myself to let them handle it without my awkward presence. As I headed to the mens room located near the entrance to the restaurant, a white woman approached me and said quite indignantly: Excuse me, but were still waiting for our table! I was stunned, but then I wasnt really surprised that something like this happened to me. Over the years I had heard about such encounters from mentors and friends about that moment of honest misunderstanding or, at worse, of stereotypical assumptions about race and ethnicity. When people of color come together, this exchange of anecdotes is inevitable: being mistaken for the cleaning staff, a receptionist, a loiterer, a transient, because our professions and vitae are not visible on our skins. We tell these stories because the consequences of the exchange is immediate embarrassment, mortification and maybe even hurt feelings the painful reality that no matter how much we achieve, weve just been reminded about how other people really see us. Shaking our heads together is a way to cope with micro-aggression. Advertisement We tell these stories to each other because theres rarely an opportunity for examination or satisfactory explanation. We usually leave the encounter never certain of what really transpired. And the unfairness of it all is that we must speculate about actions and ponder questions during the sleeplessness that inevitably follows. At night the irritation becomes amplified. Being an academic or an artist doesnt spare us the indignity of being devalued. The hard lesson is that respectability doesnt protect us, and neither does being a part of a liberal space; being an academic or an artist doesnt spare us the indignity of being devalued. Since becoming a college professor, I have had more stories to share: the time I went to the deans apartment for a dinner party with a bottle of wine in my hand and was mistaken at the door for a delivery man; the time I was stapling a lesson handout in the department copy room and was mistaken for the office assistant how could I, in my brown body, exist beyond such roles? I thought that as I matured I would develop a thick skin about these failures of the imagination, but I discovered quite recently that I have not. Maybe its the times, the belief that being a model citizen would shield a person from expulsion or deportation is under serious threat if not debunked altogether. The expectation that immigrants could actually earn a place at the table has become a precarious promise of the American dream. Picture it: Chicago, 2017. I am on assignment for a literary magazine to interview an up-and-coming Latina talent from the area. I ask her to meet me at the building housing a renowned literary foundation and its library. The hook of her story, and mine (and why I had a sentimental reason for pitching the article), is we were both inhabiting cultural spaces from which our communities have felt excluded. About 10 minutes into our conversation we are asked to leave for talking in the library, which was empty of any patrons except for us. The optics were unnerving: a white woman, supervising from the second floor, sends her message via text to her assistant to ask the two Latinos to leave while the African American security guard has to look on. The point of this specificity is not to shame the literary organization, but to illustrate how such dynamics of race and power are not lost on those of us whose writing questions, unpacks and critiques authority, policy and boundary. The optics were unnerving: a white woman, supervising from the second floor, sends her message via text to her assistant to ask the two Latinos to leave... I left without a fight because I have to choose my battles wisely most of the emotional energy comes from being on the defensive. Plus, I was a man doing a job, being the consummate professional with a suit and a briefcase. My business attire didnt rescue me. I didnt explain who I was because it shouldnt matter that I am an award-winning writer to have to earn entrance into such a place. Yet it still stung to be told I didnt belong. As I exited the building, I felt as if I didnt deserve to be a part of any literary establishment at all. That emotion was short-lived, thankfully, though its demise couldnt come fast enough. Unfortunately, apologies and explanations after the fact do not take away the strain on the heart. I can forgive, but I will hardly forget. And I have to remind myself that those identities that bring me the most pride being Mexican, being an immigrant, being gay are also what make me the most vulnerable in certain situations. And since the current political climate textures my everyday experiences, its hard not to take any affront as a hostile act against my journey, my history and even my communities. In order to avoid boiling with bitterness and anger, I write it out and thereby dont have to shoulder the burden alone. Turning a moment of dismissal into a moment of reflection and awareness gives it meaning. Grievance gains more substance that way. So this is my invitation to everyone to participate in the conversations about the uncomfortable interactions that many of us have to navigate. Its critical to move these anecdotes beyond the support group, the complaint department and the suggestion box and into the general consciousness otherwise we suffocate behind closed doors, silent and misunderstood. Heres how to start that process: Learn about who we are by inviting us in, by reading our books. Gonzalez, an award-winning poet and author of a dozen books of prose and poetry, is professor of English at Rutgers-Newark and one of the L.A.Times critics at large. Bebe Stores Inc., a mall retailer whose velour tracksuits were once ubiquitous fashion staples, is reportedly closing all its stores and focusing on its online business. The Brisbane, Calif., company is trying to shut about 170 stores and avoid bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg, which cited unnamed people familiar with the situation. If not enough landlords agree to negotiate leases, the company may still have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the sources said. The company could not be reached for comment. Bebe is just the latest retailer to face this situation as bricks-and-mortar retailers scramble to keep up with the rise of e-commerce and changing consumer tastes. BCBG Max Azria Group closed 210 stores this year, and its planning to shut freestanding stores in Canada and consolidating operations in Europe and Japan after filing for Chapter 11 this month. American Apparel is closing all its stores by April after selling its intellectual property to Gildan Activewear. Advertisement Retailers catering to young shoppers have struggled as their customers have gravitated more toward fast-fashion chains such as Zara and H&M, analysts said. Thats especially the case for brands such as Bebe, which became known for party frocks along with rhinestone-studded tracksuits. (Juicy Couture, the other grande dame of velour tracksuits, closed all its U.S. stores by 2015.) It seems they are out of touch with whats going on, Jane Hali, chief executive of investment research firm Jane Hali & Associates, said of Bebe. Millennials arent buying clothes for one occasion. They buy clothes that are more casual that can be dressed up or down. Its a long fall for Bebe, which opened its first store in San Francisco in 1976. Founder Manny Mashouf, who remains chairman and chief executive, named the company using a play on a famous line in Shakespeares Hamlet To be or not to be. Over the last 4 years, Bebe has lost nearly $220 million. Last year the company sold just under 50% of its brand to Bluestar Alliance, a brand management company. The move raised cash and also was intended to help Bebe develop a wholesale licensing business. Bebes focus on its online business will be tricky to navigate, analysts said. Retailers have to master the logistical side, ensuring that deliveries and returns are seamless for Web orders. Retailers have also found that e-commerce sales can be higher in areas with physical stores, which give shoppers a chance to try on products and offer a place to return items in person. To be a successful online merchant, you really have to have your operations humming smoothly, Hali said. I dont know if they have that down pat. shan.li@latimes.com Follow Shan on Twitter @ByShanLi ALSO Walking the enormous new Ikea in Burbank all 2,000 steps of it Fashion brands, including several L.A. retailers, are dying off as shoppers habits change American Apparel rapidly grew its retail footprint. Did that strategy contribute to its collapse? Thousands of AT&T technicians in California and Nevada went back to work Thursday, ending a one-day strike after their union and the Dallas telecommunications giant reached a truce. An estimated 17,000 union members had gone on strike early Wednesday over a grievance about increased responsibilities for technicians who typically install and maintain the companys U-verse television system. The spat highlighted ongoing tensions between AT&T Inc. and members of the Communications Workers of America, District 9, who have been working without a contract since April 2016. Advertisement The union announced the settlement agreement on its Facebook page late Wednesday. An AT&T spokesman confirmed that the strike has been resolved and that employees returned to work on Thursday. Union officials said the walkout was triggered by AT&Ts demand that technicians who typically install and maintain the companys U-Verse TV service also work on the cables and hardware for landline phone service. (AT&Ts wireless division was not affected.) The company will no longer require technicians to perform work assignments outside of their expertise and classification, the union said in a statement. The strike included only landline workers who belong to the CWA in California and Nevada. Union workers have said they have been increasingly asked to perform the duties of higher-paid employees and that AT&T has proposed reducing sick leave and disability benefits and wants them to pay more for their healthcare. AT&T has been under pressure to reduce costs as the phone market matures. Its wireless service faces increased competition from Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, and fewer people have been opting for landline phones. Last month, a bargaining agreement covering some 21,000 AT&T wireless phone workers nationwide expired. AT&T would like to reach a new accord with those employees as well as the wireline workers that is, workers who deal with non-wireless services such as landline phone, broadband Internet and U-verse TV in California and Nevada. Were currently negotiating with the union in a good-faith effort to reach a fair labor agreement covering wireline employees, AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said in an email Wednesday. Were the countrys largest employer of full-time union labor, and our goal in these negotiations is to continue to provide our employees with high-quality union careers with wages and benefits that are among the best in the country. meg.james@latimes.com samantha.masunaga@latimes.com Twitter: @smasunaga Twitter: @MegJamesLAT UPDATES: 12:50 p.m.: This article was updated with details of the agreement, with comments from union officials and an AT&T spokesman, and with additional background information. This article was originally published at 7:55 a.m. Less than four months after Universal Studios Hollywood removed the 3-D feature from its Harry Potter flying simulator ride, the park has upgraded the attraction to include high-definition images of fire-breathing dragons, enchanted trees and evil flying creatures. The images shown during Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, once projected on the rides wraparound screens at the rate of 60 frames a second, are now projected at 120 frames a second. The park described the technology as 4K-HD, referring to horizontal resolution of about 4,000 pixels in high definition. The ride, which uses sets and various technologies, including animatronics and film projection, gives riders the sensation that they are flying with Harry Potter around Hogwarts Castle and through a Quidditch match while escaping a dragon, Dementors and an enchanted willow. Advertisement It is the centerpiece ride of the $500-million Wizarding World of Harry Potter expansion that opened in April, the latest in a series of new attractions added to the park over the last two years. Although Universal Studios Hollywood remains a smaller rival of Disneyland, its latest offerings have improved its ability to compete. In December, the park quietly removed the 3-D feature from the ride, eliminating the need to put special glasses on each rider. The 3-D technology was touted as setting the California ride apart from a similar attraction at Universals Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Fla. At the time the 3-D feature was eliminated, park representatives declined to explain the reason. But several riders and theme park enthusiasts had said the Forbidden Journey ride made them nauseated. Visual 3-D effects have been in use for years in other Universal Studios attractions, such as Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, Transformers the Ride: 3-D and King Kong 360: 3-D. But the Harry Potter rides sense of motion can feel extreme as seats are lifted and tilted dramatically while riders watch moving images on a wraparound screen. Universal Studios Hollywood officials now say they had long planned to convert the 3-D technology in the ride to 4K-HD. We continually evaluate our attractions and made intentional enhancements to the Forbidden Journey ride to effectively transition from 3-D to state-of-the-art 4K-HD at 120 frames per second, which is double the original films speed, park spokeswoman Audrey Eig said. As a progressive theme park, we determined the increased frame rate would offer an even more intense and immersive experience for our guests. hugo.martin@latimes.com To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter. UPDATES: 2:20 p.m.: This story was updated to include a comment from Universal Studios Hollywood about why the 3-D technology was removed. This article was originally published at 12:05 p.m. Southern Californias defense industry, long the epicenter for high-flying aerospace technology and advanced weapons for the military, could get a major windfall under President Trumps proposed new budget. But the expected spending boom would come at the cost of billions of dollars in federal support for Californias farmers, earthquake preparation, environmental protection, affordable housing, job training, and other critical institutions and services. The White House request to Congress to boost defense spending by $30 billion over the next six months and $54 billion more next year would flush federal dollars to hundreds of Pentagon contractors from Santa Barbara to San Diego that manufacture parts or provide engineering support for big-ticket military programs, experts say. Advertisement Nearly half the money for this fiscal year would help purchase sophisticated fighter jets and drones, new warships and advanced missiles, many of which are designed and built in Southern California. Trumps blueprint faces stiff resistance from Democrats and some Republicans in Congress, and is all but certain to be rewritten before it is approved. But the proposal clearly signals larger defense budgets after several years of cuts and flat lines. The Trump administration will try to convince lawmakers that the war against Islamic State, the battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and growing global security concerns will require vastly larger budgets each year for defense, homeland security and veterans. I have proposed a budget that calls for one of the largest increases in defense spending history, Trump told a campaign-style rally Monday in Louisville, Ky. We need it. [Weve] got a lot of bad actors out there, folks. Its also jobs, he added, because were going to make this equipment right here in the U.S.A. Trump has argued that 16 years of war has created a dire need to replace or upgrade aircraft, weapons systems and other worn equipment. Critics contend that the Pentagon helped create the problem by replacing older systems with highly sophisticated, complicated armaments that in some cases cost three times more. To help pay for the new hardware, the White House has proposed cutting most federal departments by about 10% to 12% next year, and to shift much of the burden for crucial services to states and county governments. California already is projected to face a $1.6-billion deficit next fiscal year and federal dollars make up about a third of the state budget. That doesnt include the Community Development Block Grants that go to cities and counties, which would be eliminated under the Trump plan. If the cuts are enacted, police forces would be reduced, schools would face layoffs and major initiatives for the poor such as the In-Home Supportive Services program, which provides care for the elderly and disabled, and the CalFresh food stamp program, which serves needy residents could be scaled back dramatically. Federal housing programs that underpin a plan approved by Los Angeles voters to battle the homelessness epidemic would be vastly reduced. The ability to respond to earthquakes and forest fires would be diminished, and college students struggling to pay tuition would get less help. President Trump has shown that he does not value the future of our children and working families, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the minority leader in the House, said about the proposed budget. It fails to recognize that the health of America, the strength of America, does not just depend on our military. California economic advocates and budget analysts say its difficult to find an industry in the state outside of defense that would benefit from the proposed federal budget. Surely, a number of the programs slated for elimination or severe cuts can and ought to be improved, but lets not put Americas economic future at stake by essentially liquidating them, said Bill Allen, chief executive of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Placing restrictive policies on immigration and trade does not help the state of California in any way, said Steve Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto. Overall, this budget will negatively impact the economy with few exceptions. On the plus side, the budget could revive highly skilled engineering and manufacturing jobs in the Southland, which has been left reeling by waves of layoffs since the Cold War ended and across-the-board spending cuts that were part of a 2011 budget deal with Congress. Aerospace-related jobs in Southern California fell from 273,000 in 1990 to 92,000 today, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.'s latest numbers on the industry. If approved by Congress, the Pentagon would fulfill a wish list that includes 24 F/A-18 fighter jets for $2.32 billion; five F-35 fighter jets for $596 million; and 13 MQ-1 Gray Eagle drones for $130 million. Parts for the F-35 stealth fighter involve 240 major defense companies and smaller mom-and-pop suppliers in California, more than any state. Several hundred Northrop Grumman Corp. workers build the F-35 fuselages in Palmdale, although final assembly is in Texas. Northrop builds fuselage sections for the Navys F/A-18 fighter jet in its El Segundo facility on Aviation Boulevard, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. builds Gray Eagle drones in Poway. Additional defense spending means more work for assembly lines, local machine shops and structural manufacturers, said Jim Adams, an aerospace analyst with PricewaterhouseCoopers, which tracks the defense industry for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Nothing is promised at this point, but it looks like there will be some stability in the industry, he said. Defense hawks in the Republican Party, led by Sen. John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, are pushing for an even larger defense budget. Unfortunately, the administrations budget request is not enough to repair the damage and to rebuild the military, Thornberry said after the White House released its plan. On Wednesday, the administration lobbied Congress to appropriate $30 billion more for the military for the last six months of the fiscal year, partly to help pay for the wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The money would help get our aircraft back in the air, our ships back to sea and our troops back in the field with refurbished or new equipment and proper training, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis told the Senate Appropriations Committee. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) complained that the administration has said it would cut $18 billion from non-defense programs to help offset the request, but hasnt said which programs would be targeted. With $18 billion in unspecified cuts to the domestic side of the ledger, how can we make a decision if we dont know what the specific cuts will be? Reed said. Thats something that we would have to know before we could thoughtfully make a judgment. To appropriate the $30 billion, Congress would need to lift the so-called sequestration spending caps that were imposed in 2011 as part of a budget agreement. The Senate would need a 60-vote super-majority for approval, meaning eight Democrats would have to break ranks. Loren Thompson, a defense policy analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., said the White House would find it difficult to find eight Senate Democrats willing to lift the budget cap on the Pentagon given all the domestic cuts the White House is proposing. President Trumps proposed defense increases would generate billions of dollars of weapons spending in Southern California, but trading off domestic priorities for more defense may make it impossible to find the necessary 60-vote super-majority, he said. Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah), a former Air Force pilot, said the supplemental spending request was not yet a priority in Congress, which has been tied up with investigating the Trump campaigns links with Russia and writing a healthcare bill to replace Obamacare. Its being overwhelmed right now, Stewart said. Its one step at a time. william.hennigan@latimes.com Twitter: @wjhenn ALSO: Climate change is real: Just ask the Pentagon Overweight, tattooed, stoned? The Pentagon may still want you Captured battlefield cellphones, computers are helping the U.S. target and kill Islamic States leaders Walt Disney Co.s chief executive has no interest in having theme park visitors strap on virtual reality headsets that block out their view and place them inside a digital world. Smaller rivals, including Knotts Berry Farm, SeaWorld and Six Flags, have turned to such virtual reality experiences as an affordable way to spice up rides, but Disney CEO Bob Iger said reality-destroying headsets would be ersatz at his stable of parks. Hes ordered his team not to even think about it. Iger, speaking at a USC Marshall and Annenberg event in Santa Monica on Thursday, instead talked up the possibility of launching high-tech augmented reality attractions. Those will still probably involve headgear, but the devices will blend the real and digital worlds. Advertisement Iger noted he spends each Tuesday afternoon at a Disney engineering lab sporting a head-worn device that enables him to hold a light-saber and duel with a stormtrooper. He could be referring to a partnership with augmented reality device maker Magic Leap. Iger expressed hope the gadget would get lighter and more comfortable someday. He didnt shed more details. But its possible that game would contrast with virtual reality rides at other theme parks because people would be on a large set and moving around other people, as opposed to standing in place and only seeing computer projections. Disneyland currently offers a popular Jedi Training Academy in Tomorrowland, with live characters who pretend to fight light-saber-wielding children visiting the park. What we create is an experience that is real, Iger said. When you walk into Cars Land, you feel youre in Radiator Springs because of what weve built not only the attention to the detail, but the scale. Iger described how Disney spent considerable time and money ensuring robots cast as Avatar characters would have vibrant facial expressions at an attraction opening in May at its Orlando theme park, This will have expressions you will not believe in terms of how Navi-like they are, he said, referring to the human-like alien race in the film franchise. Theme park experts had already speculated that virtual reality headsets would be unlikely at Disneyland. Theme park purists dont like them, Martin Lewison, a business management professor at Farmingdale State College, said last year. Theyd much rather go on a $250-million ride at Disneyland than throw a mask strapped to a Samsung smartphone over my eyes. Iger also shed some insight into the upcoming Star Wars attraction at Disney parks in Anaheim and Orlando. One ride is expected to let visitors joyride in the cockpit of Han Solos spaceship, Millennium Falcon. Its pretty good, real good, Iger said of test rides hes done in a simulator. paresh.dave@latimes.com / PGP Twitter: @peard33 Can anyone fill Martha Grahams shoes? Thats a formidable challenge for the young performers who take on her roles, but it may be even more ambitious to embody the real-life grande dame of American modern dance. Actress and former professional dancer Christina Carlisi makes an admirable attempt in Martha, a one-woman show at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks. In this play by Ellen Melaver, Carlisi plays a 74-year-old Martha Graham fresh off a disastrous performance of Clytemnestra and facing pressure to retire from the stage. Convinced that the world wants her dead rather than dancing, she has gathered together her company, patrons, hangers-on and critics to mockingly share her last will and testament. Advertisement To New York Times dance critic Clive Barnes, she bequeaths her foot, whose twisted bones, curled toes, bunions, callouses and spurs are a record of her illustrious career one spun from training with Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn at the Denishawn School in Los Angeles, teaching at New Yorks Neighborhood Playhouse and running her own studio in Manhattan. Quite an historical archive, she quips, before taking us through the peaks and valleys of her life, the curves and contours of her memories. Melavers script weaves together Grahams biography (dance history novices may miss some references) and reveals the dance makers sharp wit, flair for the dramatic and proneness to bouts of rage and brooding black Irish depression. SIGN UP for the free Essential Arts & Culture newsletter Under the direction of Stewart J. Zully, Carlisi oscillates between these highs and lows well enough, but what is less apparent is the vitality, the life force, the quickening to paraphrase Graham that pulsed through her veins and informed accounts of her. There were forces within her personality like those within a wild animal, Grahams longtime friend and fellow choreographer Agnes de Mille wrote in her book Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham. In his book Martha Graham: A Dancers Life, Russell Freedman quotes former Graham company member Gertrude Shurr as saying: We used to watch her with alarm. She had her tantrums because she couldnt draw out of herself all of the devils she kept inside her. I thought this was the way Martha had to be, because she wasnt a normal human being. She was a genius. The play does not exude this intensity, but there are moments of magic when Carlisi aided by Camille Loftins apt choreography and Derrick McDaniels lovely lighting design seems to channel the spirit of Graham. When Carlisi elegantly tangles herself in a telephone cord revealing the magnificent geometry of Grahams technique or performs Grahams iconic shrouded solo Lamentation, the mood of these scenes shifts into an almost awe-inspiring register. Similarly, a serene sparkle comes into her eye as she pretends to cup in her hands the face of Erick Hawkins, Grahams one-time husband and dance partner. When graced with Melavers lyrical gems of Graham-like wisdom If you give your body limits, suddenly you will see how limitless it is Carlisis performance can be incandescent. If only it were glowing throughout. Martha Where: Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks When: 7:30 p.m. Sundays, ends May 28 Cost: $25 Info: (818) 687-8559, www.marthasoloplay.brownpapertickets.com Follow The Times arts team @culturemonster. ALSO Robert Schenkkans Building the Wall, set in Trumps America A high-jinks-filled Twelfth Night at the Wallis Wait for it: Hamilton announces on-sale date for single tickets in L.A. A Wrinkle in Time, live onstage: A celestial romp aimed at kids UPDATES: 5:25 p.m. March 28: This article has been updated to reflect the extension of the production and a new ending date of May 28. Trooper (1998), a single-channel video by Thomson & Craighead, shows a police officer yanking a woman from her car at gunpoint, forcing her to the ground and cuffing her hands behind her back. The short scene, taken from a CNN webcast, repeats more than 20 times, speeding up with each replay until the action looks cartoonish and jerky, and the voice-over devolves into a wordless, helium-high squeak. The repetition of something inherently disturbing can have multiple, contradictory emotional effects, as Warhol made clear 50 years ago in his screenprinted grids of electric chairs and car crashes. Todays relentless tide of traumatic sound- and sight-bites affirms: Repetition can numb, but it can also amplify. Here, as the audio commentary becomes inconsequential, the visual evidence only grows more brutally distilled. Made in the first decade of the Web, Trooper feels dismayingly prescient. The piece serves as one chronological bookend in a gnawing brainworm of a show at the West Hollywood gallery Young Projects. The other is nearby, settled into a velvet-lined box and encased in a vitrine. Its a bottle of perfume that Thomson & Craighead concocted to evoke the end of days. Fittingly blood-dark, Apocalypse (2016), has a sharp, vegetal scent, the olfactory counterpart to the thunder, hail, dead sea creatures, opened earth and burning lake described in the Book of Revelation. Even doom can be marketed, and opulently. Advertisement Jon Thomson and Alison Craighead, a couple based in London and the Scottish Highlands, have myriad ways of getting under the skin and staying there. The audio and video installations here are joined by printed balloons, an altered clock and a set of posters. Drawing from Flickr, YouTube, other websites and data streams, the works all enact shifts in context and structure that trigger a sense of instability, a dislocation that ranges from amusingly benign to psychologically daunting. In 2010, they re-edited the 1960 film The Time Machine so that all of the spoken dialogue occurs in alphabetical order. The narrative is re-schematized as a collage, in keeping with the temporal discontinuity at the heart of the story, and at no expense to its drama. Snippets of incongruous footage linked by a common word flutter by, yielding an engrossing found poetry: greetings, heavens, help, here, honestly, how, hurry, and so on. SIGN UP for the free Essential Arts & Culture newsletter In Help Yourself (2016), listeners can compose a sound montage for themselves, armed with a headphone jack and a bank of options: 32 audio sessions encouraging different sorts of self-improvement, such as unlocking creative potential and curing depression. The smorgasbord of affirmations speaks to a hunger for internal stability; surrounding works address broader causes for unease. One monitors the safety of nuclear waste depositories and another samples personal chronicles of war. Throughout, Thomson & Craighead zoom in, then pull back, toggling between individual voices and global phenomena. Complex but understated, their work addresses the forces of belief, fear and uncertainty. It relies upon media heralded as connective to reveal something of the disconnection it wreaks. Much here will linger and haunt, not least the pungent scent of Apocalypse. Young Projects, Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Through April 15; closed Sundays and Mondays, open Saturday by appointment. (323) 377-1102, www.youngprojectsgallery.com Follow the Los Angeles Times arts team @culturemonster. ALSO: The NEA works. Why does Trump want to destroy it? L.A. Without the NEA: Series looks at what a city loses if funding gets the ax Kerry James Marshalls paintings insist on black self-representation Mark Rydens foray into set design is a fantastical ballet If the first CW television crossover between The Flash and Supergirl back in March of 2016 sparked the superhero friendship, Tuesday nights musical revue cemented it with tap shoes. Watching the jaunty episode titled Duet was like inhaling pure joy a saccharine-saturated performance so ridiculously self-aware that both leads Barry The Flash Allen (Grant Gustin) and Kara Supergirl Danvers (Melissa Benoist) intermittently dropped character to look around the set, as if they too couldnt believe the charm of what they were creating. Former Glee star Darren Criss was cast as antagonist the Music Meister. He popped into the last few minutes of a previous Supergirl episode and whammied (yes, whammied) Supergirl into the musical fantasy land. It was a place where everyone spoke with accents straight out of a high school production of Guys & Dolls and looked fabulous. Advertisement Naturally, Supergirls National City Scooby gang were concerned about said whammying, so they crossed over to the alternate dimension that houses Flash and his Central City compatriots. Fortunately, the Flash was also whammied by the Meister and presto! the musical crossover was set. Although the rationale behind the villains evil scheme wasnt entirely coherent he wanted to drain their powers while making them understand love, or something? it didnt need to be. Criss was put in this episode for two reasons: to look good in red suspenders and to sing. And he did both quite well. But the true thrill of the musical debut was simply witnessing The Flash and Supergirl cast many of whom have a background in musicals get a prime chance to unleash their inner theater kid. John Barrowman (a veteran of Miss Saigon and The Phantom of the Opera) got a bit of camera time dancing and singing to the 60s pop classic Put a Little Love in Your Heart. Jeremy Jordan (of the original Broadway production of Newsies and NBCs musical drama Smash) was naturally paired with a piano. Victor Garber (whose stage credits include the original Broadway cast of Assassins and the 1990s revival of Damn Yankees) got a short but sweet number, and then there was original Rent cast member Jesse L. Martin. This isnt the first time Martin has graced The Flash with song, but we did not expect him to reappear in this alternate musical reality in a relationship with Garber (who started on The Flash but is now on DCs Legends of Tomorrow) belting out More I Cannot Wish You from Guys & Dolls together. They were just a couple of theater-style gangster dads singing classic Broadway songs to their TV daughter, and that was stupendous. Why? Because it was ridiculous, and all heart. And heart is one thing you can depend on from The Flash and Supergirl. When these two shows commit to acts of adorableness, they go full basket of puppies. There is no in between, no treading water. There are only soft-shoe duets between superheroes with actual lyrics like, Im your super that has a double meaning friend. If youre going to do a musical episode on television and compete with legendary greats like Once More With Feeling from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or The Nightman Cometh installment of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the key is to commit. The Flash accomplished this by doubling down with a happy ending that wound up with the title character proposing to his love interest, Iris West (Candice Patton), through song. The number, penned by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (who just won an Oscar for City of Stars from La La Land), hits hard when the worlds fastest superhero starts crooning Runnin Home to You. Duet was sweet, sweet cheese. It was a kitten delivering a Hallmark card with the words youre purr-fect spelled out in glitter. But it knew it and steered into the delightful. In a TV world awash in procedural dramas and murder mysteries, sometimes it feels pretty great to take a song break. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Comic-Con 2016 On Now Cast of 'American Gods' drop divine secrets on the new Starz series On Now Liam Cunningham and Isaac Hempstead on finding the humor in 'Game of Thrones' On Now Acting opposite a giant Hollywood monster on 'Kong: Skull Island' On Now Luc Besson takes us inside his next space odyssey 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets' On Now Norman Reedus on the secret Walking Dead' cast Comic-Con ritual On Now The cast of 'Orphan Black' reveal what they want to see resolved in the series finale On Now 'Supergirl' cast on inspiring little girls to pick up a cape of their own On Now Video: Comic-Con: Wishing there could be a body swap between Fitz and Mac on 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'... On Now Charlie Hunnam on the hyper-stylized antics of 'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword' On Now Comic-Con: Ana Gasteyer and Wyatt Cenac on 'People of Earth' meredith.woerner@latimes.com Twitter: @MdellW ALSO: Westworld stars confront the nature of the fembot Negan promises hes just getting started, but have Walking Dead fans already seen enough misery? For the love of monsters: An insider tour of Guillermo del Toros Bleak House before his LACMA show Star Wars: The Last Jedi will not be changed because of Carrie Fishers death. The actress, who died in December, appears throughout the next installment of the blockbuster series and wont be replaced by a hologram, Walt Disney Co.s top executive announced Thursday. Fishers unexpected death sparked fervent speculation about how Disney would handle her role as Leia in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which is the the eighth film in the series and scheduled for release in December. Shes in VIII, and were not changing eight to deal with her passing, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said during an on-stage conversation with his wife, Willow Bay, on Thursday at a conference hosted by USCs Marshall and Annenberg schools. Her performance, which weve been really pleased with, remains as it was. Advertisement In The Force Awakens, it was revealed the Leia, now a general, is the leader of the Resistance fighting against the evil First Order. Her relationship with Han Solo has become a bit strained in the years since the events of Return of the Jedi, but the two share a son named Ben. Ben, however, has been seduced by the dark side of the Force and fights for the First Order as Kylo Ren, which means there is plenty of Skywalker-Solo family drama left to be explored in the remaining Star Wars films. Iger and Bay also noted Fishers scenes in The Last Jedi wouldnt be modified using hologram technology. Disney had used a digital re-creation of a late actor in a previous Star Wars film. Were not doing that with Carrie, Iger said, describing the upcoming film as just as satisfying as the last Star Wars. Ive seen VIII and its quite good, he said, joking that he watches clips under the covers in bed to hide from his teenage sons. It picks up where VII left off. (That film ended with Force-sensitive hero Rey face to face with the reclusive Jedi Luke Skywalker as she returned his lightsaber.) Igor also shed some more light on the upcoming standalone Han Solo film, which stars Alden Ehrenreich as the younger incarnation of the famous smuggler. Were shooting now an origin story of Han Solo, which will come out in 2018, said Iger. That picks up when [Han Solo] is 18 years old and takes us to when he is 24. The significance of those six years in Han Solos life? He acquires a certain vehicle and meets a certain Wookiee, said Iger. That will happen in this film, and youll also discover how he got his name. Thats right: Fans will finally learn how Han Solo came to own the Millennium Falcon and befriend Chewbacca. One detail still missing about the Phil Lord- and Christopher Miller-helmed anthology film, however, is its official title. Iger also teased the future of Star Wars beyond the already-planned films, including Episode IX and one more anthology installment. Were just starting to talk about what happens in Star Wars after IX, Iger said. We have a creative team actually thinking about what could be another decade and a half of Star Wars stories. Its kind of mind-blowing to spend an afternoon with the creative team talking about that. I mean, where could you go, or where should we go? A galaxy far, far away, he joked. Igers contract with Disney has just been extended for one year as the company continues to search for his replacement. Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters Dec. 15, with the untitled Han Solo anthology film scheduled for a May 2018 release. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Comic-Con 2016 On Now Cast of 'American Gods' drop divine secrets on the new Starz series On Now Liam Cunningham and Isaac Hempstead on finding the humor in 'Game of Thrones' On Now Acting opposite a giant Hollywood monster on 'Kong: Skull Island' On Now Luc Besson takes us inside his next space odyssey 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets' On Now Norman Reedus on the secret Walking Dead' cast Comic-Con ritual On Now The cast of 'Orphan Black' reveal what they want to see resolved in the series finale On Now 'Supergirl' cast on inspiring little girls to pick up a cape of their own On Now Video: Comic-Con: Wishing there could be a body swap between Fitz and Mac on 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'... On Now Charlie Hunnam on the hyper-stylized antics of 'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword' On Now Comic-Con: Ana Gasteyer and Wyatt Cenac on 'People of Earth' tracy.brown@latimes.com Twitter: @tracycbrown For a director regularly drawn to slipperiness and surprise, French filmmaker Francois Ozon (Swimming Pool) sounds almost unfamiliar with his own work when he reveals, For a long time, Ive wanted to make a film about secrets and lies. Wasnt 2013s Young & Beautiful, about a teenager keeping her life as a prostitute from her parents? And 2014s The New Girlfriend, built around a widowers hidden penchant for cross-dressing? But its a very different kind of subterfuge Ozon is exploring in his new film, Frantz, a black-and-white post-World War I tale of shared grief and tense rapprochement. In 1919 Germany, a young woman named Anna (newcomer Paula Beer) mourns her fiance Frantzs death, but who is the tearful Frenchman (Pierre Niney) visiting his grave with flowers? In adapting a sentimental play by Maurice Rostand from the Lost Generation era (and first filmed by Ernst Lubitsch in 1932), Ozon chose to shift the point of view from the guilt-ridden French war veteran, named Adrien, to the intrigued Anna, thereby withholding the mystery of his connection to a German casualty. Advertisement Its a good opportunity to play with the audience, like Hitchcock did, Ozon says in a recent phone interview. So you are like the character of Anna, you ask questions. You make a movie in your head. You dont have this suspense in the Lubitsch movie. What follows is a cagey dance of well-meaning deceit, as a common ground of sadness brings Adrien, Anna and Frantzs loss-stricken parents toward a kind of healing. As with many of Ozons movies, storytelling fosters a connection between onetime enemies. Its a film about lies, but about fiction too, and our need to believe, he says. When Adrien comes to Germany, he comes to tell the truth, but in front of people who want to hear something else, he tells them a fiction that maybe [helps] their pain. The German scenes were filmed in portions of the ex-Communist east still untouched by modernity, and for the first time, Ozon found himself primarily directing actors speaking a different language. What eased the challenge was the sense from the natives that this was no ordinary French take on their country. Usually in French movies, the German is the bad guy. This time, you empathize with them, says the director, who heard as much from German audiences when he promoted the movie there last year. They were very touched that a French director made a film about them. Ozon goes so far as to mirror Adriens visiting Germany with a second half in which Anna travels to France, enduring her own foreign unease in a cafe when flush-with-victory patrons break out in La Marseillaise. Stripped of its underdog patriotism as in the famous Casablanca scene, or its uniting power after the Paris attacks, however, lines about cutting enemies throats and impure blood evoke something different. The lyrics are very violent, says Ozon, who had in mind the queasy Biergarten scene from Cabaret, in which a Nazis lilting song grows increasingly nationalistic. I thought itd be interesting to hear the song in the context of war, especially from the point of view of the German character. Though Niney (Yves Saint-Laurent) is a known quantity in France hes one of the best young actors, says Ozon the directors on-screen Anna arose from an arduous search of young performers in Germany. I had in mind a Romy Schneider, this kind of actress, notes the director, referring to the beloved French star of the 60s and 70s. Someone powerful and beautiful. When I met Paula [Beer], it was perfect. She was just 20 years old, but she had real maturity. The first scene we shot, she had a tear at the perfect moment. I realized I made the right choice. Another decision of Ozons was a last minute one, and made his producers nervous: not shooting in color. There was a little fight, he says, laughing. But I had the feeling it would be stronger, more honest, because our memory of this time from so many films and documentaries is in black and white. And yet Frantz isnt completely monochrome, with Ozon picking certain scenes a characters fond remembrance, a trip to the German countryside for bursts of primary hues. My personal tastes go to Technicolor, so I wanted these moments for that, like life coming back in this period of death. A director whos aware of his established proclivities, Ozon admits hes up to his old tricks again with his next film: an erotic thriller. I realized Frantz is my most chaste movie there is no sex scene! he says. I wanted to go back to sex. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com In the opening moments of Frantz, the latest intricately layered mystery from the French writer-director Francois Ozon, a German woman named Anna (Paula Beer) visits the grave of her fiance, a soldier recently slain in the trenches of World War I. You can sense the wars immense reach in a few fleeting details a man who whistles in Annas direction is missing an arm but also in the eerie quiet that has descended on the towns cobbled streets and in the somber cast of the movies black-and-white images. If you happen to have seen Ernst Lubitschs Broken Lullaby, the 1932 antiwar drama on which this new film is based, you might also sense something more: a curious and telling shift in perspective. Lubitschs film, adapted from a play by Maurice Rostand, was a rare message picture from a director celebrated for his exquisite comic touch, unfolded through the eyes of a French veteran making an unexpected visit to the grieving loved ones of a dead German soldier. Frantz retains the earlier films central premise and pacifist themes. A Parisian musician named Adrien Rivoire (Pierre Niney) has come to pay his respects to Dr. Hoffmeister (Ernst Stotzner) and his wife, Magda (Marie Gruber), and to share his memories of their fallen son, Frantz (played by Anton von Lucke in flashbacks). But this time, the storys moral and dramatic fulcrum is Anna, whose loving, protective attitude toward the Hoffmeisters, whom she regards as her own parents, is matched by her intense curiosity about this stranger in their midst. Advertisement The presence of a Frenchman in Germany so soon after the Great War does not go unremarked upon by Dr. Hoffmeister, who receives Adrien coldly at first, or by the glowering locals one of whom, Kreutz (Johann von Bulow), wants to marry Anna himself. Adrien, for his part, is sympathetic but not entirely above suspicion. His recollections of many happy hours spent with Frantz in Paris before the war, visiting museums and playing the violin together, bring the Hoffmeisters no small measure of solace. But his sad eyes and halting, fearful demeanor seem to tell a darker, more unsettling story. That story will not be revealed here, though Ozon, a master of misdirection and one of French cinemas most prolific chroniclers of gay desire, delights in raising the sort of romantic possibilities that are easier for an audience to countenance now than they were in 1919. More than once, Frantz hints that it will reveal itself as a homoerotic reworking of Broken Lullaby. But Ozon has something simpler and no less intriguing up his sleeve. One of the directors chief aims here articulated with rueful clarity by Stotzners sober-minded doctor is to eliminate the distractions of nationalism and politics, and to remind his characters and his audience of the unimaginable suffering endured on both sides of the conflict. Not for nothing has Ozon rechristened the dead German soldier Frantz, playfully evoking both his own name, Francois, and the nation of France itself: Its as if he were suggesting that the responsibility for a mans death does not always belong to his killer alone. At one point, Ozon goes so far as to deconstruct a famous scene from Casablanca, investing a moment of unambiguous moral triumph with undercurrents of menace and dread. By this point, Frantz has shaken off the last vestiges of Broken Lullaby and plunged forward in an entirely new narrative direction, one that begins when Anna boards a train for France and sets out to find answers of her own. In doing so, she becomes the latest in a line of richly conflicted Ozon heroines the women played by Charlotte Rampling in Under the Sand and Catherine Deneuve in Potiche come especially to mind forced to confront impossible situations, usually set in motion by the men in their lives. Anna, reeling from devastation and disbelief to a startling rush of desire, doesnt know what either the past or the future holds, but she rises to the occasion with a bracing mix of clever calculation and pure instinct. Something similar might be said of Ozon, whose work often attempts not always successfully, but always impressively to bridge the gap between style and feeling, between his flair for formal trickery and his desire to usher the viewer into a realm of unbridled emotion. In perhaps his most Ozonian gesture, he occasionally floods cinematographer Pascal Martis monochrome palette with a sudden infusion of warm color, usually to signal a flashback to happier times. These moments are sometimes dreams, sometimes memories and sometimes beautiful lies, which is very much to the directors point. One of the key questions hes asking here is about the moral necessity of telling a falsehood, particularly when the need to shield those already in mourning from further pain becomes its own moral imperative. Frantz achieves its own version of this paradox. It is a cunningly crafted fiction, full of visual artifice and narrative sleight-of-hand, that by the end could hardly feel more sincere. ------------ Frantz In German and French with English subtitles MPAA rating: PG-13, for thematic elements including brief war violence Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes Playing: Nuart Theatre, West Los Angeles See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers justin.chang@latimes.com @JustinCChang With a resume that includes zombies, soldiers, a smart-mouthed superhero and now astronauts fighting a creature in space, screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have become specialists in crafting genre hybrids and defying expectations. Their latest film, the sci-fi thriller Life, had its world premiere as the closing film of the recently concluded South by Southwest Film Festival, which has become one of the premier platforms for the smart and surprising. Wernick and Reese first met in high school in Phoenix and have been working together for more than 17 years. Their first feature collaboration was on the 2009 hit horror comedy Zombieland. But it was their long-gestating Deadpool that brought them unexpected acclaim after the R-rated subversive superhero movie became not only a worldwide box-office success, it also earned Reese and Wernick a nomination from the Writers Guild Awards. Advertisement As Reese put it, We just never would have guessed that Deadpool of all things would be our prestige play. With Life, the two surprise yet again, creating a hybrid of a philosophical sci-fi story and intense thriller within the contained environment of a horror movie. In the film, a group of astronauts including stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds and Rebecca Ferguson aboard the International Space Station collect a soil sample from Mars that turns out to have a definitive example of life on another planet. When that sample is re-animated and begins to grow beyond their control revealing itself as bent on destruction of any other life it encounters the astronauts must fight not only for their own survival but also to keep the creature from reaching Earth. The origins of the film, directed by Daniel Espinosa, came from a lunch Reese and Wernick had with producer David Ellison during the making of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which they wrote. Ellison, whose Skydance company produced G.I. Joe, pitched them the core idea based around his own interest in a recent NASA expedition to Mars. From there, Reese and Wernick came up with a more fully formed story and then wrote the script. We were both fans of the movie Alien, which of course our movie will be compared to, maybe fortunately or unfortunately, says Reese. But on this our general feeling was Alien is, if you can believe it, almost a 40-year-old movie. And it was always set in a universe thats pretty far flung from our own its the future, its spaceships off in distant galaxies, and we were attracted to Life because it really felt like the grounded, real, science fact-ion version of this story. We really are on the hunt for life on other planets and on Mars itself. Within that context, their script makes the Alien story plausible. We really liked taking the genre aspect, this alien, and dropping it into today and a location that actually exists, the International Space Station, Reese adds. At every turn in the script wed ask ourselves, what would really happen? And what better haunted house in the entire universe than the International Space Station, 200 miles above Earth, Wernick says. You cant get out, youre stuck, its the ultimate haunted house. At every turn in the script wed ask ourselves, what would really happen? Rhett Reese, co-screenwriter of Life For Ellison, it was Wernick and Reeses versatility that made them the right writers for the story. Paul and Rhett have unbelievable range, Ellison says. One of the things that was appealing to them from the original conversations was just really getting to dive into a genre they hadnt gotten to get their hands on before. Espinosa had previously worked with Reynolds on the 2012 action movie Safe House. And although many people know Ferguson from her breakout role in Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, which Ellison also produced, Espinosa has known her for many years from their native Sweden. For Espinosa it was the simple core idea of the story that allowed him the freedom to dig into creating not only the realistic sense of being on the space station but also to bring out the human drama among the characters of the crew. I can look at this like Im doing a big science-fiction movie, but I can also look at it as Im doing this piece with six actors and one location, Espinosa says. Among the other films that premiered at this years SXSW Film Festival was Atomic Blonde, directed by David Leitch, who will be handling the upcoming sequel to Deadpool, also written by Reese and Wernick. The success of the first Deadpool is something the pair are still surprised by, but it has made them feel even more freed to explore unlikely connections and pushing further in their work. I think it was an apple among oranges, Wernick says of Deadpool. There are superhero movies upon superhero movies and not only anymore in the summertime. Every month is the summertime, which is good for the movie industry but it feels like its just an onslaught of more of the same. I think [Deadpool] had a freshness to it in the sense that people hadnt really seen anything like this, an R-rated, self-deprecating, self-loathing anti-hero who you fall in love with and root for. With Life, the pair were able to combine the hard realities of science, the scares of a horror movie and even some of the most basic questions about human existence and our place in the universe. Theres great debate in terms of how likely is it for life to spontaneously occur somewhere when the conditions for it are present. I think my basic understanding is that while it is an unlikely occurrence, the universe is a very big place, Reese says. I think thats both the dream and the frightening idea, that we arent alone. SIGN UP for the free Indie Focus movies newsletter Mark.Olsen@latimes.com Follow on Twitter: @IndieFocus Aaron Katzs Gemini brings moody L.A.-cool to South By Southwest Charlize Theron and James McAvoy blow through South by Southwest with Atomic Blonde Edgar Wrights Baby Driver is an action-musical thrill ride at South By Southwest Perhaps most disheartening about the disjointed mess Diamond Cartel is that it will go down as the late, great Peter OTooles final screen appearance. What he was doing in this cheesy, Kazakhstan shot-and-set crime thriller is anyones guess; that hes scarcely in it may be the saving grace. Several other familiar actors also found their way into the mayhem here, most notably a bulky, scenery-chewing Armand Assante in a new career low as an unhinged kingpin-type in pursuit of a mega-diamond. Michael Madsen, Tommy Tiny Lister, Don The Dragon Wilson and Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa pop up as well in other blurry, one-note roles. Nominal lead characters Ruslan (Alexey Frandetti) and Aliya (Karlygash Mukhamedzhanova), reunited ex-lovers who become dubiously involved with said diamond, provide a bit of focus to the dizzying plot. But the attractive pair too often gets lost amid baffling flashbacks, clunky action sequences, incoherent double-crosses, a rogues gallery of stock bad guys, tone-deaf melodrama, florid narration and scads of hackneyed dialogue. Advertisement Director Salamat Mukhammed-Ali, who co-wrote with Magamet Bachaev and Dauren Mussa, serves up a gaudy mishmash of visual styles that plays out against a whatever-works musical score. The films audio is, to be charitable, inconsistent. The largely Russian- and Kazakh-speaking cast is so incongruously dubbed into English it evokes an old Japanese monster movie. ------------- Diamond Cartel Not rated Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes Playing: Arena Cinelounge at the Montalban, Hollywood See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com Writer/director Christophe Honore adapts Ovids epic poem Metamorphoses into a lyrical and philosophical film of the same title. Honore sets the events in a contemporary environment, while maintaining the story details of the mythology, a choice that highlights the hedonistic, brutal, often misogynist themes that underpin the antics of the Roman gods. The result is a daring exploration of the inextricable and fluid relationships of sex, gender and power. After a brief introduction involving a hunter in the woods, a trilogy of tales begins, involving a high school girl, Europe (Amira Akili), who is somewhat willingly on her part abducted by a handsome stranger, Jupiter (Sebastien Hirel). He seduces her and then recounts previous exploits, including Io (Coralie Rouet), whom he changes into a cow to protect her from his wife (Melodie Richard). This encounter turns into a rambling road movie of sorts, as Europe is passed onto Bacchus (Damien Chapelle) and then Orpheus (George Babluani), learning of their escapades along the way. Like Alice, Europe goes through the looking glass, never to see the world in the same way again, and like Dorothy, she learns theres no place like home. Honore has made a challenging, yet compelling film, using classical techniques to delve into a story thats as elemental as it is existential. Advertisement ------------- Metamorphoses Not rated In French with English subtitles Running time: 1 hour, 42 minutes Playing: Arena Cinelounge at the Montalban, Hollywood See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com A lack of any sort of training isnt exactly a selling point for most entrepreneurs but for florist Kelsie Hayes, it has become her calling card. The fact that Im not a trained florist really works in my advantage, says Hayes, from a table at Gansevoort Market. The 27-year-old is the founder of the year-old business Popup Florist, which she runs out of a window-facing slot at the Market, having landed there in June after a series of, yes, pop-ups. Her training, rather, is in fashion design, which has led her to develop a client roster including companies like Barneys New York, Topshop, Baja East and Sandro, and individuals like Eva Chen and Emily Weiss. Upon graduating from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, the Maryland native was quickly scooped up as a designer for the now-defunct brand Beckley, where she was given near-complete creative control. It was sort of my dream job in fashion, she says. I worked with the owner really closely, we did three collections a year and we had our own stores to put them in, so it was amazing. We ended up closing in November, [the founder Melissa Akkaway] wanted to focus on her family and I think fashion is just really hard right now. Going from her dream gig to unemployed at 25 left Hayes wondering what the next step was and what would top her previous gig. I had a brief moment of oh my God, what am I going to do with my life, she says. And then I thought I should really start doing florals or events, something else thats another passion of mine. So one night, in January of 2016, I was like, I should start something called Popup Florist because then I dont have to have a permanent space. And I signed up for the Instagram right away. The social media app has been the main driver in her success. After her first pop-up at West Village coffee shop The Elk, for Valentines Day in 2016, she continued with small pop-ups before moving into Gansevoort Market in June. But Instagram word-of-mouth has been the biggest source of business. Eva Chen is probably one of my bigger clients; shell mention me in her Instagram story, and when she does, [I always] feel like someone reaches out to me, Hayes says. Emily Weiss from Glossier put [my work] on her Instagram story and then after that did another post of my business card. Its gone exactly how I wanted to I work with fashion brands and beauty brands, and I havent had to do any corporate work really. Ive been able to work with my dream clients. Instagram has changed everything for all businesses, but for mine its [especially] helpful. In addition to such influencers and regular customers, who mostly find her in the market and through Postmates (where she is the only florist vendor), Popup Florist is becoming a go-to for a variety of brands looking for nontraditional floral arrangements. For fashion week I did Topshops dinner, and I also did a dinner for Baja East, at Kola House, she says. [For Baja East] we did little baby gold pineapples very their vibe, supertropical. I think the best thing about working with fashion brands and coming from that background is it doesnt take a lot of effort on the client part they just tell me what theyre doing and they kind of give me creative control. My main thing with this, and my first thought when I started it with these brands, is that I want to send things out in a more thoughtful way than I think other florists do. I always think of how I can get the brands message across. Her lack of training and relative newness is one of her biggest appeals to such brands. The one thing I always hear back from customers is oh my God Ive never seen this with this, she says. I think my aesthetic is putting together interesting color or texture arrangements, instead of whats supposed to go together. I dont think that people can get away with that in other industries. ALSO Ready, set, Coachella. A look at chic spring sandals perfect for festival season Uri Minkoff and stylist Jason Rembert collaborate on a line of fun, futuristic bags Why Ruby Rose is 'obsessed' with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Urban Decay's new artist-inspired collection Since he was about 8 years old, Victor Salgado has been going to Grand Central Market almost every week. Thirty years ago, his mother would take him to downtown Los Angeles from their home in Hollywood to go shopping for vegetables at the market, where the prices were low and the produce was fresh. A live mariachi band would play every weekend, the floor was strewn with sawdust, and there were dozens of food stalls to pick from for lunch. Salgado would only eat at one of the markets many restaurants, China Cafe. These days, he makes the 70-mile trek from Palmdale with his wife and 1-year-old daughter, usually on a Sunday. They meet up with Salgados parents and his sister and sometimes his 18-year-old son. After hunting around for four empty metal tables to push together, they sit as a family for a couple of hours, eating seafood noodle soup, fried rice with shrimp, won ton soup and fried dumplings. While nearly everything else has changed over the course of the last three decades, the same servers and cooks are still working at China Cafe as when Salgado, 38, was a kid. I guess thats the beauty of it. Its still the same, and the same food, he said. Advertisement But four years after Grand Central Market was reborn as a foodie destination, China Cafe is now changing too. The restaurants many loyal customers the swing-shift workers, the construction guys, the Deloitte accountants, the City Hall and court house employees have had to eat elsewhere since late November when China Cafe closed for the first time in 40 years for an extensive remodel. It will reopen in April. Rinco and Susie Leung are a change in their own right: Theyve only operated China Cafe for four of its nearly 60 years in business. The couple bought the restaurant from Yi Woon Leung and Munhan Wong, relatives of Susies, who had run the restaurant since 1998, when they purchased it from Tam Yu Hay. But when Rinco Leung describes the changes they have made, its clear he appreciates that a degree stasis is part of what makes the restaurant an institution. After all, when server Martha Luna, who has worked at China Cafe since 1980, was asked to describe how the restaurant has changed over the decades, she said that they got a new sign once. China Cafe owner Rinco Leung (without the hardhat) poses with workers after the cafes sign is turned back on. (Amy Scattergood / Los Angeles Times) (Amy Scattergood / Los Angeles Times) I keep the old style, Leung explained on a rainy day in January as he sat at one of the metal tables that the Salgado family knows so well, in front of the boarded-up restaurant. I dont want some customers saying, Oh, China Cafe is changing. There havent been many changes to the menu: The wontons have been reworked, as has the recipe for the chicken stock thats used throughout the menu. For a while, Leung tried selling Tsingtao, that mainstay beverage of Chinese restaurants but no one ordered it. After four months, he stopped carrying it, sticking instead with what customers have always drank at China Cafe: Mexican beer. Next to where Leung was seated, behind the temporary wall, a familiar layout was taking shape: A new kitchen and a slightly longer bar, which will be finished with a countertop the color as the old red Formica and lined with the same style of black swivel stools. The restaurants classic neon sign and menu board were taken down and refurbished with new tubes and a fresh coat of paint. A photo on Leungs phone showed the bright colors of the restored sign. It still looks old-style too, but unmarred by decades of hanging in the market hall, which marks its 100th anniversary this year. But while Leung may be all about the old style at the restaurant, when its time for a beer at the end of the day, you wont find him drinking Modelo Negra at China Cafes red counter. He prefers the craft beers from the neighboring stall, Golden Road Brewery. The closure of businesses like the small farmacia that preceded Golden Road has made the market into something of a symbol for gentrification in downtown Los Angeles. But even if there are new customers eating vegan ramen or smoked-fish bagels, families like the Salgados are still dining in the market hall too. Kyle Glanville, co-owner of G&B Coffee, called the clientele he sees sitting at the tables between his coffee bar and China Cafe a perfect snapshot of this part of L.A. in the year 2017. Salgado said he was a little disappointed when the market started to change. I guess I was used to that old style that it had, he said. It used to feel like home. Now, the straw-scattered floor and mariachi bands have given way to grass-fed beef burgers and the endless line for Egg Slut sandwiches. But Salgado appreciates the new Grand Central Market too. It doesnt matter what color, what culture you are you see all type of people in there, he said. I think thats real nice, you know? food@latimes.com ALSO: Its Taco Tuesday. Here are 11 recipes to help you celebrate How to make the killer cheeseburger from Curtis Stone and the Nomad food truck Alvin Cailan and Bruce Kalman lead the chef lineup at Coachella. Plus how to buy last-minute festival wristbands When youre craving comfort food, sometimes the only thing that will satisfy is a truly great meatloaf sandwich. Maybe you want your sandwich layered with lettuce and tomato, slathered with a condiment or two or even submerged under a blanket of gravy, just because. A great meatloaf sandwich is a portable feast, if a messy one. Meatloaf can mean many things to many people. If nothing else, a meatloaf sandwich is a poor mans pate. Elevated, a meatloaf sandwich is like a great hamburger, but with personality flavored with vegetables and herbs, sometimes spiced to the hilt and cradled between two slices of bread. . Los Angeles is home to many diners and coffee shops that offer their take on the classic comfort food. Here are nine places that take pride in their meatloaf sandwiches: Advertisement Bay Cities Italian Deli Meatloaf sandwich from Bay Cities Italian Deli. (Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times) A Santa Monica institution since its opening in 1925, Bay Cities is an Italian marketplace and deli perhaps best-known for its massive signature sandwiches. Almost any time of day, youll find a line of customers waiting to place their order at the deli counter. Bay Cities beef-based meatloaf didnt start as a sandwich at all; it was originally offered as a dinner special. But after a customer asked for the meatloaf in sandwich form, the deli added it to the menu. As with other sandwiches on the menu, you can order a small ($6.50) or large ($8.40) sandwich, your choice of bread and with or without the works. With thick slices of meatloaf served hot and under a pool of marinara sauce, this is one glorious mess of a sandwich. 1517 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 395-8279, www.baycitiesitaliandeli.com Bergamot Cafe Bergamot Cafes meatloaf sandwich. (Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times) In Santa Monicas Bergamot Station Arts Center, the Bergamot Cafe is locatedatop the loading dock of a onetime water heater factory, offering center visitors and neighborhood locals a variety of breakfast and lunch items, including hot and cold sandwiches. Mannys turkey meatloaf ($7.99) is the creation of chef Manuel Ruiz, and he says hes been making the recipe for 23 years. The sandwich is served on La Brea Bakery bread and is offered with chips or baby greens. 2525 Michigan Ave. # A3, Santa Monica, 90404, (310) 828-4001, www.bergamotcafe.com Brighton Coffee Shop Meatloaf sandwich from Brighton Coffee Shop. (Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times) The oldest coffee shop in Beverly Hills, Brighton Coffee Shop has been catering to both Hollywood stars and regular customers since the early 1930s. The restaurant serves breakfast and lunch with a menu that still carries a number of original items. According to owner Pil Rai Ahn, the beef meatloaf is the same recipe the restaurant has been using since the beginning; a turkey meatloaf was introduced about 20 years ago to cater to customers who wanted a more healthful option. The coffee shop offers two meatloaf sandwiches. The classic ($9.50) includes a thick slice of warm meatloaf sandwiched with lettuce and tomato between slices of toasted bread. The grilled cheese and meatloaf ($9.95) is served hot off the griddle with American, Swiss, cheddar or Provolone cheese. Each comes with coleslaw or potato salad. 9600 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills, (310) 276-7732, www.brightoncoffeeshop.com The Brite Spot Meatloaf sandwich from Brite Spot. (Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times) An Echo Park institution, the Brite Spot diner has been open since 1949 on the corner of Sunset and Glendale boulevards.The joint is known for its breakfasts, served all day, along with a generous assortment of pies and other baked goods. But its the meatloaf sandwich ($12.95) thin slices of lightly spiced chicken meatloaf piled high between thick, ketchup jam-slathered slices of griddled sourdough that might just be your new favorite. The sandwich, served with lettuce and tomato (the pickles are on the side), is served with your choice of sides, including French fries, fruit, vegan potato salad, coleslaw or Tater Tots yes, Tater Tots. The sandwich has only been on the menu a couple of months, replacing a meatloaf dinner that used an older recipe, and is the creation of chef Mindy Lymperis. You can eat your sandwich outside on the patio, under one of the black and white umbrellas, or in the retro diner, complete with dark wood paneling, glittery patent leather booths and a wraparound counter lit with sputnik-style chandeliers. 1918 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 484-9800, www.britespotdiner.com Foodlab Meatloaf sandwich from Foodlab. (Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times) Foodlab is the creation of mother-son team Esther and Nino Linsmayer; the small West Hollywood marketplace and cafe started as a catering company. It has a decidedly European feel (the Linsmayers are Austrian) and offers an assortment of breakfast and lunch items. The Austrian meatloaf sandwich ($10.95) is a creation of Esthers, and is made up of grass-fed beef and served with caramelized onions, Dijon mustard and a secret sauce with a little kick, on panini-pressed ciabatta. What makes it Austrian? So many times meatloaf is bland, says Esther. I put a lot of spices and herbs in it. I wanted to give it a European touch. 7253 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 851-7120, www.foodlab-la.com The Kitchen Meatloaf sandwich from the Kitchen. (Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times) Open in Silver Lake since 2000, the Kitchen, run by Fred Schleicher and Mark Motonaga, is a homey neighborhood spot specializing in classic American fare. The meatloaf sandwich ($13.50) has been on the weekday lunch menu since 2010: a thick slice of beef and pork-based meatloaf served with melted jack cheese, roasted tomatoes, and finished with chipotle ketchup and mayonnaise between two slices of toasted sourdough. Ask for extra napkins when youre enjoying this sandwich, which is offered with your choice of fries or garlic mashed potatoes. 4348 Fountain Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 664-3663, thekitchen.la Joans on Third Meatloaf sandwich from Joans On Third. (Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times) Opened as a tiny catering kitchen on Third Street almost 20 years ago, Joans on Third has become an L.A. institution, serving thousands of customers a day. The 3,000-square-foot marketplace and cafe features a deli, olive bar, cheese counter, ice cream bar and bakery, as well as a kitchen where you can order breakfast and lunch items off the menu. Among the favorites on the menu? Joans turkey meatloaf. It was one of the first things on the menu, along with our mac and cheese, says owner Joan McNamara. The meatloaf is based on a recipe from McNamaras mother, and the sandwich ($12.00) is served on sliced ciabatta or your choice of bread, along with tomato, lettuce and McNamaras chipotle aioli. And while you can order the sandwich hot or cold, McNamara prefers it cold. I love when meatloaf first comes out of the oven; its perfect hot in the moment. But when its cold, its like a pate, and I love it that way. Why would you heat it? 8350 W 3rd St., Los Angeles, (323) 655-2285; 12059 Ventura Pl., Studio City, (818) 201-3900 www.joansonthird.com Mels Drive-In Meatloaf sandwich from Mels Drive-In. (Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times) A California institution, the first Mels opened in 1947, when the drive-in concept was in its early days. Featured in American Graffiti and Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, the diner is known for its 1950s vibe, complete with soda fountains, wraparound counters and deep booths, and with no shortage of formica and chrome. Mels meatloaf has been on the menu since the beginning for close to 70 years, though the recipe was updated a few years ago to use grass-fed beef. The loaves are individually made to order, not sliced, giving each serving a nice crust think of a burger, but with a lot more personality. The sandwich ($12.75) is served on toasted sourdough, with mayo, lettuce and tomato, and your choice of side. 8585 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 854-7201; additional locations in Hollywood, Sherman Oaks and Northern California, melsdrive-in.com Nats Early Bite Meatloaf sandwich Nats Early Bite. (Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times) On an average weekend morning, youll find a line outside at Nats Early Bite, a longtime San Fernando Valley staple in a Sherman Oaks strip mall, with plastic chairs set up for people to cool their heels as they wait for a table or a seat at the counter. (A second location is in Woodland Hills.) The diner, famous for its breakfast and lunch comfort food classics, was originally opened by Nat Elias, who sold it to former busboy-turned-cook Victor Carlos in 1988. Along with the cinnamon rolls, the meatloaf, which comes in either turkey or beef versions, is one of the oldest recipes at Nats. Its over 100 years old, says Carlos. The sandwich ($10.50) is served open-faced with a scoop of mashed potatoes, with either beef or turkey gravy. Any secret to the recipe? Its what I tell all the customers, says Carlos. Its the love we put into it. 14115 Burbank Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 781-3040; 22737 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, (818) 222-2350, natsearlybite.com ALSO: Recipes ready in 30 minutes or less Culinary SOS: Recipes from your favorite restaurants Browse our Recipe Database for thousands of our best recipes noelle.carter@latimes.com @noellecarter The Carpinteria Greenhouse and Nursery Tour on April 1 cant help but be a showy affair were talking bajillions of beautiful blooms that are normally off limits to visitors, in one of the nations most productive flower-growing regions. But the farmers have a deeper message for the thousands who come to ogle the fields of lilies, Gerbera daisies and other brilliant stems: Look for the orange and blue CA grown stickers when you purchase your bouquets. For the record: An earlier version of this story said the tour would take place 90 miles north of Santa Barbara. It is 90 miles north of Los Angeles. Advertisement Were trying to get people to be more discerning, said Kasey Cronquist, head of the California Cut Flower Commission. Historically, in the wholesale flower business, a rose is a rose is a rose, but not anymore.Now you need to ask, Where did this rose come from? Flower farms have become a rarity in the United States, with about 80% of cut blooms imported from other countries, primarily in South America, Cronquist said. Only about a dozen farms in the United States (including one in Carpinteria) still grow roses for bouquets, for instance, Cronquist added. Its simply cheaper to grow them in other countries and ship them to the United States. Most of the imports are flown into Miami and then trucked to their final destinations, Cronquist said. If youre looking for freshness, the average consumer is not thinking of flowers grown in Bogota [Colombia], flown into Miami and then trucked to Los Angeles. U.S. flower farmers have had to scramble to find profitable varieties that appeal to consumers. Its more challenging every single year, says David Van Wingerden, co-owner of Westland Orchids & Produce, but being a farmer is in my blood. 9th annual Carpinteria Greenhouse & Nursery Tour What: Free, self-guided tour of seven farms in Carpinteria, about 90 miles north of Los Angeles. Bouquets for sale at every farm, water and food for sale along the route When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., April 1 Info: CarpinteriaFarmTours.com More: For a deeper dive into the cut-flower world, theres the American Grown Field to Vase Dinner on March 30 in Carpinteria. Tickets are $175. AmericanGrownFlowers.org/fieldtovase Jeanette.Marantos@latimes.com Follow me @jmarantos on Twitter Its easy to get drawn in by Kings & Queens in Their Castles (Damiani, $45), Tom Atwoods compelling new book of portraits chronicling lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans at home. Thats because Atwood has managed to capture so many familiar faces in unremarkable moments. Veteran actress Meredith Baxter is pictured in her Santa Monica kitchen, lost in thought, gripping a nutritional supplement. Advertisement George Takei is shown wrapping Christmas presents at home in Los Angeles. CNN anchor Don Lemon takes a call on the balcony of his New York apartment. There are the voices you know too: Ari Shapiro, co-host of NPRs All Things Considered, rinses a sponge in his Washington, D.C., kitchen. In his quest to highlight the LGBTQ community, Atwood photographed more than 350 subjects across the country over a 15-year period, including the not-so-famous: Beekeepers Mary Celley and Sue Williams are captured trekking through snow to bee boxes in Brooklyn, Wis., for example. And in Harpers Ferry, W. Va., Vick Marchand, a ballroom dancing instructor, and John Happ, a paleontologist who studies dinosaurs, tend to their chickens. Atwood turns the culture of celebrity and architecture into something that goes beyond portraiture as he documents how similar we all are. Recently, we spoke with Atwood about the long-term project and how our homes convey a bit about who we are. What was the impetus for this book? When I was younger, in my 20s, I wanted to do a photography book. I was always interested in architecture and wanted to go to architecture school. I knew a lot of gay people in New York who had fabulous homes. I remember looking at gay photography and a lot of the photos were trendy urban shots of men with their shirts off or fully naked. I wanted to do a series that would focus on people and not their bodies. The gay community is often represented in urban environments. Being from a small town in Vermont, I wanted to show gay people living everywhere. Many of the celebrities, such as John Waters and Greg Louganis, are well-known. How did you find the less famous? It took thousands of hours of letter writing. When I meet someone I write down where they are from and I keep a contact book. When I went to West Virginia and Tennessee, Id look in my contact file, and friends would make referrals. I utilized gay magazines as a resource along with LGBTQ groups on Facebook. I would message people. I would go to gay and lesbian nonprofits. I tried to include people from a variety of professions and went to small towns and rural places in culturally conservative places. We expect interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullards home to be fabulous, which it is. The other interiors dont appear to be styled. Some are messy. I got referrals to a lot of people who had professionally designed spaces. It was nothing new. I like spaces that are done by the homeowner. I often wouldnt know that much about them or see their space beforehand. Each shoot took two to three hours, although I only had 20 minutes with some of the celebrities. I would ask them to walk me around their home and tell me about it. The location for the portrait was often not my decision. I typically wouldnt rearrange anything. Meredith Baxter, for instance, was lost in thought. She opened her soul and her heart. Her daughter had just gone away to college. Is there a common thread running through these portraits? In general, gay people are not that different. There is a subset of gay people who have a sensibility that is avant-garde and creative, and I wanted to celebrate them. I do think there is a disproportionate amount of us in creative fields. Generally, peoples spaces accurately convey who they are, or their homes were a projection of who they want to be. There is a hint of camp and humor in my style to celebrate that. What do you want people to take away from the book? How varied people are in this community. I also hope people celebrate the gay sensibility a bit. And I hope it provides role models for LGBTQ youth. A few people have written to me that it inspired them to come out. Another wrote to me that it inspired him to get into photography. There are so many leading figures in the gay community that we can be proud of. Let them live on and be a snapshot of gay life during this point in time. lisa.boone@latimes.com Twitter: @lisaboone19 For an easy way to follow the L.A. scene, bookmark L.A. at Home and join us on our Facebook page for home design, Twitter and Pinterest. ALSO: Restoring a neglected tract home to Midcentury glory in Palm Springs Artisans achieve the perfect balance in their live-work rental in Watts More Southern California home tours Ever since President Trump was elected, people have been asking Pablo Alvarado: If I get detained, you will protect me, right? You will help me so I dont get deported? The longtime immigrant-rights organizer increasingly answers, point-blank: Dont count on it. Get ready to fend for yourself. Advertisement People have to act, he said. They have to take the bull by the horns. He and advocates across Los Angeles have worked overtime the past few months to spread that message. To get the word out, theyre acting out scenes, setting up hotlines, holding televised town hall meetings and forming community watch groups. One organization spent $70,000 to make a highly polished Know Your Rights video. This goes beyond handing out pamphlets to people, said Angela Sanbrano, with the national Latino rights organization Alianza Americas. We need this information to sink in, to become a part of their conscience, so immigrants understand their rights and dont give them away. Fear and denial can paralyze, but advocates say the community is mobilizing now more than it has in nearly two decades. Some groups, such as the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, or CHIRLA, are urging people to make appointments for legal consultations now. That way, if they are detained, theyll already have attorneys familiar with their cases and know whether theyll stand a chance in court. A woman listens during a CHIRLA immigrant rights workshop. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) More than 50% of the time, we find that people have a way to become legalized but they dont realize it, said Angelica Salas, CHIRLAs executive director. The Westlake group, which fights for immigrants rights, has long held Know Your Rights workshops to educate vulnerable immigrants. Since December, it has trained more than 16,000 people, four times as many as by the same time last year. On a recent Thursday, a group of about 15 men, women and their children from Mexico, Central America and China gathered in CHIRLAs meeting room to get advice. Who has already talked to a lawyer? asked organizer Tony Bernabe. None had. Youre failing, Bernabe said. Youre failing. You need to have a meeting with your family to talk and see whos most at risk. People listen during a CHIRLA immigration rights workshop in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) They had lots of questions, most about their kids: One woman said she had found someone to look after them if she got detained, but the relative lived in Wisconsin. Another said she was ready to assign a caretaker, but a lawyer was charging her nearly $900 for the power of attorney letter. One man wanted to know where his kids would be taken if Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him in the street when they were with him. Things have changed, Bernabe told them. It used to be that they wouldnt arrest both parents. Theyd leave the mother behind to care for the kids. But now, now we dont know what they might do. Ten years ago, CHIRLA posted a Know Your Rights video on YouTube that became a nationwide teaching tool. The nine-minute video was shot when George W. Bush was president and immigration raids were common. It shows actors playing out scenes in which ICE raids a garment factory and a couples home and a police officer pulls over an Asian woman and begins to ask immigration questions. Between each scene, two radio show hosts appear with legal tips: Request a signed warrant with your name on it, remain silent, dont run. This year, when CHIRLA saw a boost in donations, it made a follow-up on what immigrants should do if detained. The new video tells the tale of three detainees from Mexico, Korea and Somalia and includes more than 200 extras, many of them in the country without legal status. It explains to people, in a very visual way, what they need to do if they get detained, Salas said. It shows them that they have constitutional rights and the power to do something. The video shows how a hopeless Somalia detainee, who has no relatives to help him, increases his chances of freedom by reading law books and fighting for an attorney. In Ontario, Rosemary and Rene Rodriguez also have been updating their message to reach out to immigrants. In the 1970s, the couple founded a political theater group, Teatro Urbano, in response to the Vietnam War and police brutality. This year, they partnered with Sanbrano of Alianza Americas to stage performances at immigrant marches and forums. The 10-minute improvised skits often draw in people from the audience. They act out scenes of immigration officials knocking on a door without warning, and they advise immigrants to carry small cards, affirming their right to be silent. Rene Rodriguez said he cant recall a time when immigrants felt this much anxiety. I also have never seen organizing on this level, he said. The theater director encourages immigrants to go about their daily lives but to keep a low profile. Dont live in fear, he tells them. But be very cautious. Still, some immigrants are taking risks to educate others. PresenterJose Diaz-Balar, lawyer Alma Rosa Nieto, center and CHIRLA Executive Director Angelica Salas on the Telemundo set at East Los Angeles College for the Know Your Rights broadcast. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Geyso Lemus, who is seeking asylum, recently took part in a Know Your Rights television broadcast at East Los Angeles College, hosted by Telemundo as part of a new educational series launched after Trump was inaugurated. Seen by millions of viewers, it features lawyers and immigration experts, and people across the nation ask questions. Lemus sat quietly as the show host described how her young son was attacked and burned by gangsters in El Salvador. He has legal status. Its a difficult situation, she said. How do I prepare myself if tomorrow immigration detains me? How do I protect my children? At his workshops, Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, is candid. The good news is that Trump says he only plans to deport criminals, he tells people. The bad news is he thinks youre all criminals. A week after Trumps election, the activist went on Facebook and asked his network to gather and plan a response to Trumps deportation plans. More than 650 people crowded into a meeting room in Westlake. So began a movement of town halls and training that spread to South L.A., Koreatown, the San Fernando Valley, Pasadena and El Monte. For those interested in starting their own neighborhood immigrant-rights watch groups, Alvarado has started offering a daylong training workshop to explain how to handle an encounter with ICE and what to do if someone is detained. His group also launched a text messaging network to sort out raid rumors and squash false ones before they lead to panic. The gatherings are attended by a wide range of people with and without legal status. Alvarado tells them: Put aside emotion. Focus on strategy. When immigration knocks on the door, they wont knock on activists doors, he tells them. Theyll knock on your door, when you are alone. Youre going to have to know how to protect yourself. To read the article in Spanish, click here esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com @LATBermudez ALSO Sisters from Guatemala claim Border Patrol agent sexually assaulted them 34 cities and counties urge a federal judge to block Trumps sanctuary cities executive order L.A. County sheriff expresses sympathy for immigrants, but says sanctuary bill could hurt them The last time Maricela Garcia was seen alive was one night in January, when she left a Goodwill store in Reseda so she could smoke a cigarette. Garcias siblings said the 26-year-old seemingly vanished without a trace, leaving behind her car, her purse and an anguished family. On Wednesday, officials identified a decomposed body discovered in Santa Clarita earlier this month as Garcias. Advertisement The remains were found March 7 about 20 miles away from the Goodwill store in a remote area along Golden Valley Road, west of Robert C. Lee Parkway. Authorities said Garcia had been reported missing Jan. 13, the day after she disappeared from the Goodwill store along Sherman Way. Her disappearance was under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and drew media attention. I see her every day, friend Kiana Jones told KTLA-TV around the time Garcia vanished. She doesnt just wander off by herself. But three days before disappearing, Garcia appeared distraught and told her sister that she had a secret, Sarah Garcia told the Los Angeles Daily News. Garcias mother later posted a public letter to the Facebook page Help Find Maricela Garcia, asking police to inspect a cellphone and choker found near the place where she was last seen alive. That choker in your evidence room? That was her favorite thing to wear. I swear she would sleep and shower in it if she could! the mother wrote in the letter, which was reported by the Los Angeles Daily News. The Facebook page has since been deactivated. If you look at it now, its obvious from the way it looked to have been ripped off her neck, that she will never wear it again, the letter continued. Its all torn and tattered. I cannot allow myself to think of how it came to be that way. At the time of Garcias disappearance, police said there was no sign of foul play, but the confirmation of her dead body prompted a homicide investigation. The coroners office has not yet determined what caused her death. Anyone with information about Garcias death was asked to contact detectives at (323) 890-5500. matt.hamilton@latimes.com Twitter: @MattHjourno San Francisco prosecutors have charged the owner of a vintage clothing store with attempting to sell coats and other items made of endangered species, including jaguar and snow leopard. Dist. Atty. George Gascon said Tuesday that 68-year-old Cicely Ann Hansen was charged with nine misdemeanor counts of illegal possession for sale of an endangered species. Hansen owns Decades of Fashion, a popular vintage clothing store in San Franciscos Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Advertisement The case started after authorities received a tip and two wardens posing as customers went to the store and tried on a jaguar coat, priced at $4,500, and an ocelot coat, priced at $850. Two weeks later, wildlife protection officials served a search warrant and seized more than 150 items of clothing and accessories made from sea turtles, cheetahs, leopards, ocelots, jaguars, seals, pythons and snow leopards. Hansen denied the charges during a court appearance Tuesday. A man has been detained in connection with the deaths of four people whose bodies were found inside a Sacramento home Thursday morning, police said. Police received a call about 7 a.m. from a relative asking officers to check the welfare of the victims, according to Sgt. Bryce Heinlein, a spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department. The relative had been unable to reach the victims, he said. The relative also indicated there were suspicious circumstances at the home in the 1100 block of 35th Avenue, Officer Linda Matthews said. Advertisement When officers arrived at the house, no one came to the door, she said. So officers broke in to the home and discovered the bodies, police said. Officials did not disclose how the people died, and no estimate was given for how long the bodies had been inside the house. During the investigation, officers received information that led them to a man in San Francisco, Heinlein said. The mans identity was not released. We believe the victims were known to the suspect, Matthews said. It doesnt appear to be random act, Heinlein said. That should alleviate some of the fears in the area. Police still were working to identify the victims and determine what happened inside the home. Their ages, gender and relationship were unknown, he said. Heinlein said the discovery will impact the community, the victims family and officers. Homicides are rare in the South Land Park neighborhood, about five miles south of downtown Sacramento, he said. Its very traumatic, Heinlein said. veronica.rocha@latimes.com Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA ALSO Vietnam War memorial in Venice vandalized by taggers again Should video from LAPD body cameras be released after a police shooting? If so, when? Police Commission wants to know Emmy-winning producer gets 13 years in prison for trying to kill Studio City tenant over Oscars joke UPDATES: 1:55 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the crime scene. This article was originally published at 11:45 a.m. Crowds marched through Downtown Los Angeles Thursday afternoon to protest efforts by Republican lawmakers to overhaul the Affordable Care Act. In a rally that occupied a portion of Temple Street outside of the Roybal Federal Building, speakers addressed a crowd of healthcare providers and advocates. Healthcare in a Western democracy is a right and not a privilege, said L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. The storm is just beginning. This is L.A. County, and we aint playing. Advertisement Message from LA County Supervisor @mridleythomas "to the 45th occupant of the White House" about Republican health care plan pic.twitter.com/GRg1IxgXs0 Sonali Kohli (@Sonali_Kohli) March 23, 2017 Some protestors feared that they would lose access for themselves or loved ones if the new bill, the American Health Care Act, passes. Ezekial James, 24, volunteers with the L.A. LGBT Center and said most of his friends are transgender men and women who rely on Obamacare to receive hormones. James said he is absolutely terrified of what would happen if Medicaid funding is cut. Medicaid covers preventative medicine for James, including PEP to prevent HIV, and a medication to keep his Omega-3 allergy under control, he said. "Most of my friends are trans women and men" who need hormones that Obamacare covers, says Ezekial James, 24, protesting at Roybal pic.twitter.com/wpwZkX25c8 Sonali Kohli (@Sonali_Kohli) March 23, 2017 Others feared for the people they serve. St. Johns Well Child & Family Center had a large presence at the march, with employees wearing shirts and holding signs that said Stay Loud! and Save our healthcare. St. Johns receives federal grants and insurance reimbursements on Medicaid, so this repeal would cut their funding and the number of people theyre able to serve, said St. Johns development director Patrice Wagonhurst. We won this round, said Cindy Navarrete, 54, after Republicans postponed the vote Thursday afternoon. It gives our people a chance to work harder hopefully not to lose Obamacare at all. Navarrete, a medical assistant who serves homeless people in Downtown L.A. through St. Johns mobile clinics, said part of her job involves preventive care. So many people, so many children would be without healthcare under the Republican plan, Navarrete said. A lot of them are sick in a whole lot of ways that theyre not aware of. That preventive care keeps uninsured patients out of expensive emergency-room situations, said St. Johns recruitment director Martin Chao, who brought his 12-year-old son, Lawrence, to the protest. Both father and son wore American flags around their necks. Lawrence said he was wearing the flag because it symbolizes freedom and justice, and the Affordable Care Act is our right. Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli. An Emmy-winning producer was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in state prison for trying to kill a tenant who laughed after he declared he would win five Academy Awards someday, authorities said. Andre Bautista, known as Andre Bauth, was found guilty by a judge on Feb. 2 of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the stabbing, according to the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. The prison sentence concludes a two-year saga that started on Sept. 8, 2015, in a boarding house in Studio City. Advertisement The 38-year-old Colombian actor and producer was the operator of the boarding house in the 3100 block of Laurel Canyon Boulevard. That day, prosecutors said, Bautista told the tenant that he would win multiple Oscars someday. When the tenant laughed, Bautista became upset and started arguing with him. The tenant, who identified himself as Clayton Haymes to KCBS-TV, said, When he said five Oscars, we all kind of laughed a little bit, and he got really upset. Bautista was enraged and stormed out of the room, prosecutors said. He entered the kitchen and grabbed a knife, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Bautista followed the tenant into another bedroom and stabbed him in the chest, piercing his lung, prosecutors said. Bautista fled to Mexico after the attack. Los Angeles police issued a warrant for Bautistas arrest on Sept. 10, 2015. He surrendered a week later at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence indicating Bautista had written and starred in an independent movie with a plot twist similar to the charges he was facing. The film portrayed a landlord who killed his tenants, prosecutors said. Bautista won a daytime Emmy in 2015 as a producer for the online soap opera The Bay. veronica.rocha@latimes.com Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA ALSO Man detained after 4 people found dead inside Sacramento home Vietnam War memorial in Venice vandalized by taggers again Marion Suge Knight hospitalized again as he awaits trial in murder and robbery cases Los Angeles, West Hollywood and Santa Monica are among the 34 cities and counties arguing that President Trumps threat to withhold federal funds from sanctuary jurisdictions is unconstitutional. In an amicus brief supporting Santa Clara Countys lawsuit against Trump, they are urging a federal judge to issue a nationwide injunction on Trumps January executive order, which would punish localities that refuse to help federal immigration enforcement. The order is vague, does not provide due process and violates the 10th Amendment by taking power away from local agencies, they argue in the brief, filed Wednesday. Advertisement The cities and counties in the amicus brief all have very different policies about how they use their own local police force the extent to which they cooperate with federal law enforcement, said Dean Harvey, an attorney at Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein who filed the brief. What they all agree on is that this executive order is unconstitutional. More than 400 jurisdictions across the country have some sort of sanctuary policy, though there isnt widespread agreement on what the term means. Los Angeles officials have pledged not to help federal law enforcement deport Los Angeles residents. Los Angeles is proud to join jurisdictions across our nation in opposing this unlawful executive order, Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer said in a statement. All our residents benefit from policies that promote public safety by encouraging cooperation between our immigrant communities and law enforcement. There are fears that residents wont seek healthcare or report crimes if theyre afraid of deportation, which could pose public health and safety risks to others in the community, said Santa Monica spokeswoman Constance Farrell. The Santa Monica Police Department will leave federal matters to the federal government, she said. Other municipalities that signed on to the brief include Los Angeles County, Santa Ana, Oakland, Chicago, Manhattan Beach and Salinas. The city of San Francisco has also sued the federal government to block the order. sonali.kohli@latimes.com A sex offender who died Monday in a shootout with Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies outside the departments Temple City station was facing child pornography charges, officials said. Andrew Jared Lane was being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department in connection with child pornography allegations, said Shiara Davila-Morales, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. Prosecutors charged Lane on Jan. 19 with two felony counts of distributing child pornography in connection with a $40,000 arrest warrant, she said. The case stemmed from a Dec. 8, 2015, incident, according to court records. Advertisement Deputies discovered the warrant when they met with Lane on Monday morning when he visited the Temple City sheriffs station on Las Tunas Drive to register as a sex offender, officials said. As deputies approached Lane to take him into custody on the warrant, he ran to his SUV, got into the back seat and armed himself with a shotgun, the Sheriffs Department said in a written statement. He began firing at deputies and the station building, leading to a gun battle with deputies, said Capt. Steven Katz, who heads the Sheriffs Departments homicide bureau. No deputies were injured. When the gunfire ended, members of the Sheriffs Departments special weapons team checked the SUV and discovered Lane was dead. A shotgun and handgun were found inside the SUV, Katz said. At a news conference Monday, Katz said that Lane suffered an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. But authorities could not say if he died from the self-inflicted gunshot or deputy gunfire. On Wednesday, Los Angeles County coroners officials said Lanes autopsy is pending, and his cause of death has not been determined. In August 2001, Lane was convicted of oral copulation with an individual younger than 18 and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor, according to court records. He was sentenced to more than six years in prison. veronica.rocha@latimes.com Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA A Los Angeles County sheriffs civilian oversight commission on Thursday backed Sheriff Jim McDonnells attempt to send prosecutors the names of deputies found to have committed serious misconduct on the job. The county commissions move makes it the latest group to support the sheriff in the battle over a secret list of 300 problematic deputies whose history of misconduct could damage their credibility if they are ever called to testify in criminal cases. The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations have already endorsed in court briefs McDonnells effort to reveal the information, which is facing a legal challenge by the deputies union. Advertisement The Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, created last year to increase accountability, voted 5 to 2 to approve a resolution to support the sheriffs disclosure effort. The commission, led by former federal judge Robert C. Bonner, approved a resolution that said both the Sheriffs Department and District Attorneys office have a duty under the due process clause of the United States Constitution to provide defendants in criminal cases with evidence within their possession that is favorable to such defendants. Bonner, who headed the Drug Enforcement Administration before joining the oversight panel, was part of a blue-ribbon commission that found a pattern of excessive force under McDonnells predecessor. Commissioners Lael Rubin, a former top prosecutor, and J.P. Harris, a retired sheriffs lieutenant, opposed the move. I vote no for the specific reason that I feel incumbent to understand and know how it is that this list got put together, Rubin said. I would not vote no in the future if I was satisfied it was put together fairly and in compliance with the law. Rubin, who as a prosecutor handled the issue of so-called Brady disclosure, said she wants to know from the department more details about what led names to be on the list. Harris said he agreed with Rubin that he needed a better understanding of the lists construction before endorsing the sheriffs effort. The Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs has sued the department over the disclosure, saying it would violate peace officer confidentiality laws and draw unfair scrutiny of deputies whose mistakes might have happened long ago. A Superior Court judge agreed in January that providing the list would violate state law, but said the department could turn over the names of problem deputies when theres a pending case in which that officer might testify. Last month, a two-judge appellate court panel granted the unions request to put a temporary hold on any transmission of names, even in pending cases. Activists on Thursday told the oversight commission that they needed to back the sheriffs efforts and that there should be more transparency. Kim McGill of the Youth Justice Coalition told the oversight commission that it should push the district attorney to not allow these deputies any authority in court given their histories. The commission, she said, needs to encourage all police agencies across L.A. County to make a similar disclosure. Helen Jones told the commission that she received a $2-million settlement from the county related to a relatives jailhouse death and yet the deputies involved are now at sheriffs stations across the county. Under the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brady vs. Maryland, prosecutors are obligated to alert defendants to any evidence that could aid the defense. That evidence includes information that could undermine an officers credibility. Not doing so could result in wrongful convictions. The ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief early this month asking the appeals court to reject the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs request that none of the names of problem deputies be sent to prosecutors. The department warned about 300 deputies in October that their personnel files contained evidence of moral turpitude. The letters said such acts could include accepting bribes or gifts, misappropriating property, tampering with evidence, lying, obstructing investigations, falsifying records, using unreasonable force, discriminatory harassment and family violence. Sheriffs officials said it was possible that some of the offenses didnt apply to any current deputies on the department. The targeted group represents about 3% of the departments roughly 9,100 deputies. In the letters, the department said the list would include only deputies found guilty of wrongdoing by internal investigators. The agency would send only the deputies names, not their entire personnel files, the letters said. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey office has said her offiice does not obtain lists of problem officers from police agencies. Her office so far has not taken a position on the legal challenge But last month, one of her deputy district attorneys filed a declaration in the sheriffs unions favor stating that Laceys office actively declines to accept information from officer personnel files without the permission of the officer. But in an interview with The Times, Lacey distanced herself from Deputy Dist. Atty. Jason Lustigs declaration, saying it wasnt her position. richard.winton@latimes.com Twitter: @lacrimes ALSO 2 killed, 1 wounded in shooting near South L.A. liquor store Posters to go up at UC San Diego targeting Janet Napolitano and sanctuary campuses San Francisco man threatened to shoot Muslim woman in alleged hate crime, police say Amber Alert issued after toddlers are abducted during car theft in Riverside County Marion Suge Knight has been hospitalized for an undisclosed medical condition as he awaits trial in two robbery and murder cases, authorities said Thursday. The 51-year-old former rap mogul, who has been jailed since January 2015, was taken Tuesday to an area hospital, where he remained in stable condition, said Nicole Nishida, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. For the record: An earlier version of this article quoted Deputy Dist. Atty. Cynthia J. Barnes as saying that Marion Suge Knight did it for the cameras, in reference to Knights health issues. She said Knight did it in front of the cameras. Nishida declined to disclose details about Knights health condition because of medical privacy laws. According to the Sheriffs Departments jail records, Knight is receiving care at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. Advertisement His fiancee, Toi-Lin Kelly, told the New York Daily News he is suffering from life-threatening blood clots. Kelly told the newspaper she is afraid Knight isnt receiving proper medical treatment at the jail. Knights ailments have landed him in and out of hospitals since his arrest in 2015. He is being held in lieu of $10-million bail on charges of murder and attempted murder. Authorities say he ran over two men with a truck on Jan. 29, 2015, at Tams Burgers in Compton. Terry Carter died, and Cle Bone Sloan was seriously injured. Before Knight was charged with murder, he and comedian Micah Katt Williams were accused of stealing a photographers camera on Sept. 5, 2014, outside a Beverly Hills film and TV studio. They were charged with robbery and ordered to stand trial. During the course of Knights legal predicaments, he has changed his legal team more than half a dozen times and has been hospitalized several times, sometimes immediately after court hearings. He collapsed and was hospitalized twice during two court appearances in February 2015. He was taken to the hospital for stomach-related medical issues and an unspecified emergency. Knight has complained repeatedly of stomach issues and an ongoing medical complication, which resulted from being shot multiple times in 2014 at a West Hollywood nightclub. When Knight appeared in court in March 2015, he was taken to a jail hospital after saying that he couldnt really comprehend what was happening. I cant really see, he said in court, while wearing eyeglasses. I cant really comprehend whats going on. He also complained about how much weight hed lost in jail, saying he has shed about 30 pounds. Later that month, he collapsed again in court after his bail in the murder case was set at $25 million. During that hearing, Knight appeared to tense up, and his left shoulder was twitching. He was briefly unconscious and received treatment at a jail hospital. At the time, Deputy Dist. Atty. Cynthia J. Barnes said she believed Knight did it in front of the cameras. Then at an April 8, 2015, hearing, he was wheeled into the courtroom on a stretcher-type chair. A week later, Knight was taken to a hospital for another medical emergency after he was ordered to stand trial. Then in May 2015, he claimed he was sick and refused to exit his jail cell for a scheduled court hearing in the robbery case. A month later, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge denied a request made by Knights attorney for private medical treatment. A hearing in Knights murder case is scheduled Monday in downtown L.A., according to Los Angeles Superior Court records. veronica.rocha@latimes.com Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA ALSO Freed inmate hijacks car in jail parking lot, authorities say San Fernando pastor seriously injured in attack UC is moving forward with Mexican initiative, regardless of Trump actions Two teenage sisters fleeing Guatemala became so desperately lost trekking across the Texas desert that when they saw a U.S. Customs and Border Protection truck, they waved for help. But the sisters, age 19 and 17, claim that they were taken by a Border Patrol officer to a closet in the Presidio intake office, where he forced them to strip and sexually assaulted them in July 2016. Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California filed legal claims Tuesday against the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of the sisters, now living in Fresno with their mother. The claims, seeking $750,000 in compensation for each sister, describe in graphic detail the alleged molestation by the Border Patrol officer, whose identity remains unclear. Advertisement What happened in that closet has caused me so much pain and sadness, the older sister said. Im telling my story because I dont want anyone else to go through this. I hope the officer will be honest about what he did and take responsibility for his actions. This is the only way well be able to ensure this never happens again. The sisters identities were shielded by their attorneys, who say the pair fear retribution. In her claim and statements, the elder sister said the pair fled tyranny in Guatemala and when they crossed the border she understood that arrest and deportation were possible but she believed they would be safe. But once inside the Texas intake office they were left in a holding cell with the Border Patrol officer, who she said took her to a windowless closet that seemed like a pantry on the night of July 11. Once there he ordered her to remove her sweater, shirt, tank top and bra; she successfully pleaded to keep her bra but the officer fondled her breasts, the claim alleges. He let her put her top back on but then ordered her to remove her pants, leggings and underwear; she begged to keep the underwear on, but he pulled down her underwear and touched her genitals with his hands, according to the claim, and she realized it wasnt a weapons check but a sexual assault. He returned to the cell and then took her young sister. The 17-year-old, in her claim filed Tuesday, said the officer repeated the conduct with her. As the pair began to cry afterward, the officer attempted to calm them down with chips and chocolates, the elder sister recalled. CBP must be held accountable for its officers sexual abuse of these vulnerable victims, said ACLU of Northern California staff attorney Angelica Salceda. There has been no criminal prosecution against the officer involved. CBP is not above the law, and its abuses of power must not be tolerated. A representative of Customs and Border Protection said the agency cant comment on pending litigation, but added, We take allegations of misconduct seriously and there is no room in CBP for the mistreatment or misconduct of any kind toward those in our custody. We do not tolerate corruption or abuse within our ranks, and we fully cooperate with any criminal or administrative investigation of alleged misconduct by any of our personnel, on or off duty. The department has a zero tolerance policy prohibiting all forms of sexual abuse and assault in its custody. The current rules, adopted in 2014, also generally forbid male officers to pat down female detainees. A 2014 Los Angeles Times investigation found that the vast majority of complaints involving Border Patrol agents on the Southwest border resulted in no disciplinary action. Documents obtained by the Times suggested little accountability for alleged beatings, sexual abuse and other mistreatment of detainees. The sisters claims were filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows individuals to sue the federal government and seek monetary damages. Within an hour of the alleged assaults, the sisters reported the conduct to another CBP officer in the field office where they were held, and an investigation was launched by the Department of Homeland Securitys Office of Inspector General. During the inquiry, the sisters were interviewed twice and asked to draw a depiction of the closet. ACLU attorneys said federal authorities so far have not pursued criminal charges against the officer and they do not know if any disciplinary action was taken. ACLU officials said they are unsure of the Border Patrol officers identity, but the sisters did point him out to other officers when reporting the attacks. Following the report and initial investigation, the pair were taken to a detention center and eventually released to their mother, who has lived in the U.S. for 12 years. The sisters have undergone counseling for the alleged assaults. I have suffered every day from this experience, and it has been extremely hard to sleep at night, the elder sister said in a statement. Allegations of sexual misconduct against the Border Patrol arent unusual. A 2015 CBS News investigation found that at least 21 Customs and Border Protection officers had been indicted or pleaded guilty to sexual offenses on and off duty. From 2012 to 2014 more than 35 sexual misconduct cases were pursued against agents, the agencys former head of internal affairs revealed. Mitra Ebadolahi, Border Litigation Project staff attorney at the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, said, CBP has a troubling and extensively documented history of human rights abuses at the border. richard.winton@latimes.com Twitter: @lacrimes UPDATES: 5:50 p.m.: This article was updated with a response from Customs and Border Protection. This article was originally published at 5:45 p.m. University of California President Janet Napolitano is headed to Mexico next week to reassure leaders there that the public research university remains committed to academic collaboration even if some of it, such as climate change research, is at risk under the Trump administration. In an interview Wednesday, Napolitano said she would build on the UC-Mexico Initiative she launched in 2014 despite President Trumps plans to build a border wall, increase immigration enforcement and reduce federal research funding. She said she planned to tell Mexicans during three days of meetings starting next Wednesday, Regardless of what is happening federally, the University of California remains open to academic partnerships with Mexico. Advertisement Napolitano developed ties with Mexico as the governor of Arizona and as U.S. Homeland Security secretary. She said she launched the initiative to bring together disparate work at individual UC campuses. She provided $60,000 in seed money for UC faculty to meet with Mexican counterparts and decide priorities; they selected education, energy, the environment, health and the arts and culture. In all so far, UC has provided $3 million. The researchers have raised an additional $12 million, primarily from the National Science Foundation, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and Tec de Monterrey. The environmental group, for instance, received a five-year, $4-million National Science Foundation grant for climate-change research. That research wont stop, Napolitano said, even if federal funding for it does. The work continues, she said. We will be searching for other sources of funding, including from Mexican government agencies. We will be searching for other sources of funding, including from Mexican government agencies. UC President Janet Napolitano Patricia Gandara, a research professor of education at UCLA, said the systemwide initiative has made an enormous difference collaboratively. Its brought some campuses together to do much more than any one of us could have done alone, she said. UCLA, UC San Diego and UC Riverside, she said, are working with Mexican partners to support students who travel back and forth between the two countries. While the research groups initial focus was on Mexican students in the U.S., its now shifting toward the growing number of American students returning to Mexico with parents who were deported, lost jobs or got freaked out about Trump, Gandara said. About 500,000 such students now attend Mexican schools, Gandara said and their numbers and lack of adequate Spanish have overwhelmed education officials there, she said. Last fall, the UC-Mexico group held a conference on the issue in Mexico City. Other projects include a bilingual, online algebra curriculum that was tested with Mexican students in the Los Angeles Unified School District and an effort to map schools and other educational resources in the whole Southern California-Baja California Norte region. In spite of this ugly rhetoric were hearing, Gandara said, referring to Trump, there is a great deal of desire and goodwill to make things better for kids on both sides of the border. Under the initiative, the number of American and Mexican students, faculty and postdoctoral fellows studying in each others countries has increased 34% in the last three years, said Cindy Giorgio, director of UC-Mexico, which is based at UC Riverside. Exchanges include a summer program at five UC campuses, offering Mexican students a chance to work with faculty members here on research projects and prepare for U.S. graduate school. Other joint research focuses on diabetes, synthetic materials for brain surgery, renewable energy and border technology. UC also is working with business groups on both sides of the border to create binational student internships. By geography, by history and culture, California and Mexico share a lot, Napolitano said. At the University of California, we can do a lot to strengthen that partnership. teresa.watanabe@latimes.com Twitter: @teresawatanabe MORE ON THE UC: UC regents debate enrollment limits on students from other states and countries, approve Berkeley chancellor Anti-Semitic vandalism found at law students dorm at UC Hastings Editorial: How many high-paying out-of-state students is enough for UC? The drought is over in Silver Lake at least, at its picturesque reservoir. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials announced Wednesday that the popular Silver Lake Reservoir which has stood empty for more than a year will be refilled starting in mid-April. For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that the new pipeline installed at Silver Lake Reservoir delivered water to customers in central and downtown Los Angeles. The pipeline was installed to bypass the reservoir and maintain the connection to the water supply. Also, DWP spokeswoman Ellen Chengs last name was misspelled as Chang.--- The 96-acre reservoir is expected to be fully refilled by the middle of June, nearly a year ahead of schedule. Officials previously said refilling would begin in May and take about 12 months. Advertisement The faster rate owes to months of powerful winter storms that soaked California and caused record snowpack levels in the Eastern Sierra, whose runoff provides much of L.A.s water supply. With the above-average snowpack, we have a surplus of water in the L.A. Aqueduct system and with it the opportunity to refill Silver Lake Reservoir ahead of schedule, said Richard Harasick, the agencys senior assistant general manager of water. Still, L.A. City Councilman Mitch OFarrell, whose district includes part of the reservoir, called for continued conservation. This overflow is a gift, he said, but we need to continue to be vigilant in our conservation efforts for water use. Built in 1907, the Silver Lake Reservoir originally held an emergency supply of drinking water, but it later became part of the drinking water infrastructure. The reservoir was drained in 2015 as part of a project by the DWP to build a pipeline that would maintain a connection to the water supply and isolate the reservoir, which will be filled but no longer part of the drinking water system. The lost storage was replaced with a new underground storage facility called the Headworks Reservoir. The new subterranean reservoir, located north of Griffith Park, had to be built to comply with federal regulations requiring drinking-water storage to be covered or underground. The 4,600-foot bypass pipeline project, which includes a 66-inch steel trunk line that runs along the bottom of the reservoir, was completed in February, according to utility spokeswoman Ellen Cheng. Without water, the Silver Lake Reservoir was an unsightly concrete basin that resembled a proving ground, with construction trucks, equipment and sprawling weeds. We got our water back, said Jill Cordes, one of the leaders of the Refill Silver Lake Now campaign, after the DWP made the announcement Wednesday. The organization Cordes helped lead sprouted up amid a larger community debate over possible development around the reservoir, which is part of a 127-acre complex that includes a recreation center, open land and the smaller Ivanhoe Reservoir. The area is a popular destination for joggers. Some want only to refill the reservoir, while others are open to expanded recreation opportunities. Among the improvements that some residents are hoping for is the opening of a path along the southern part of the reservoir. Currently, the path ends and pedestrians have to walk around a recreation center before returning to the path closer to the water. A larger community planning process is underway to solicit input about the future of the reservoir something Cordes and others are eager to accelerate. We can look at this beautiful lake while we take five or 10 years to figure out what will make it better, Cordes said. Its a win-win. matt.hamilton@latimes.com | @MattHjourno UPDATES: 9:45 p.m.: This article was updated with additional background on the reservoir and comments about its future. 7:30 p.m.: This article was updated to clarify the original refill plan. This article was originally published at 7:05 p.m. A Vietnam War memorial in Venice that was damaged by a tagging crew last year has again been marred by graffiti, authorities said. Los Angeles County sheriffs detectives are investigating the latest defacement, which was reported to authorities Friday by a citizen who sent photographs, said Ramon Montenegro, a spokesman for the sheriffs Transit Policing Division. Montenegro said the graffiti, which consists of thin, hastily written letters, appears to have been painted by gang members. The massive mural on Pacific Avenue, which fills a blocklong brick wall, is reminiscent of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. On a black background, it bears the names of 2,273 soldiers counted as either prisoners of war or missing in action in Vietnam, as well as the words You Are Not Forgotten. In May 2016, just before Memorial Day, the wall was marred by Angel Castro, a 24-year-old tagger known as Liter, whose moniker was spray-painted in giant white letters on the wall. Castro was sentenced in January to four years in state prison after pleading no contest to vandalism and robbery. He also was ordered to pay $38,000 restitution. Steven Barber uses black spray paint to cover the white letters of graffiti on the wall. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) The graffiti covered dozens of veterans names, and detectives still are searching for other vandals who may have helped, Montenegro said. The most recent tagging does not appear to be related, Montenegro said. Were treating this as a completely separate crime, he said. Its a different style. The tagging last year was done by what our people classify as prolific taggers, people that might consider themselves artists except for the fact that their canvas is someone elses property. Montenegro said the new graffiti looks a lot more amateurish like it came from somebody that had a spray can of paint. Detectives do not have suspects in the latest vandalism, he said. We do have nationally renowned graffiti-tagging detectives working on this. I feel confident that if its possible to identify this person, they will find them, Montenegro said. The Sheriffs Department is investigating the vandalism because the mural, which was dedicated in 1992, is painted on a Metropolitan Transportation Authority building and, therefore, is under the sheriffs jurisdiction, Montenegro said. The graffiti on the veterans memorial strikes a nerve with people, including me because Im a veteran myself, Montenegro said. Somebody went out of their way and took their time to put those names of Americans that gave their lives in the Vietnam War to keep us free, he said. The nonprofit Social and Public Art Resource Center, which is based in Venice, will begin restoring the mural in the coming days, it said on Facebook. Authorities have asked anyone with information about the latest tagging, or last years vandalism, to contact the sheriffs Transit Policing Division at 888-950-7233. hailey.branson@latimes.com Twitter: @haileybranson Cardinal William Henry Keeler, the longtime leader of the Archdiocese of Baltimore whose influence in the Catholic Church spanned international borders over nearly six decades, has died at the age of 86. The retired archbishop of Baltimore, who led the regions nearly 500,000 Catholics from 1989 until 2007, died Thursday while under the care of the Little Sisters of the Poor at St. Martins House for the Aged in Arbutus, the archdiocese announced. During his 17 years as archbishop, Keeler hosted Pope John Paul II in 1995, voted in the conclave that chose Benedict XVI to succeed him, and raised well over $100 million for programs, schools and scholarships for low-income city students. Advertisement The cardinal was a leading national voice against abortion, and he built an international reputation for forging ties with believers of other faiths. He was also thrust into the national spotlight by the priest sexual abuse scandal that gripped the church, when a Baltimore man shot a priest who was later convicted of molesting him as a child. The cardinal was lauded by many for being the first in the nation to name accused priests, detailing financial settlements and publicly apologizing for priests crimes. He has been one of the leading statesmen of the Catholic Church throughout his career, said Sean Caine, vice chancellor of the archdiocese. He will be deeply missed and not forgotten. William Henry Keeler was born March 4, 1931, in San Antonio to Thomas and Margaret Keeler. The family moved to Lebanon, Pa., where he attended St. Mary School and Lebanon Catholic High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa., in 1952 and studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained to the priesthood on July 17, 1955. He quickly rose through the ranks of the Catholic Church. He earned a doctorate in canon law in 1961 and worked in the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pa. Harrisburg Bishop George Leech invited him to accompany him to the Second Vatican Council, the ecumenical council from 1962 to 1965 that transformed the church. One of his responsibilities was to explain every document the council produced, in English, to journalists. The council is credited with bringing the church into the modern world. He was consecrated an auxiliary bishop of Harrisburg in 1979. He took as his episcopal motto Opus Fac Evangeliste Do the Work of an Evangelist. He became the seventh bishop of Harrisburg in 1984. In 1989, Pope John Paul II appointed him archbishop of Baltimore, the nations first diocese. Keeler was elected president of the organization that became the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1992. He had been elected the organizations vice president in 1989, while hosting the bicentennial celebration of the archdiocese. He chaired the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver attended by Pope John Paul II. He was created a cardinal by the pontiff in 1994 and his achievements helped draw Pope John Paul to Baltimore in 1995. Keeler developed a reputation for effectively building ecumenical and interfaith bonds, particularly with Protestants and Jews. He was appointed to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in the summer of 1994 and to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in November 1994. He was instrumental in arranging Pope John Pauls meetings with Jewish leaders in Miami and with Protestant leaders in South Carolina, and he participated in drafting the Catholic-Jewish reflection on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Hes as beloved by those of the Jewish faith as he is by those of the Catholic faith, Caine said. He was a true champion of that relationship. Its an important relationship, especially here in Baltimore where there is such a big Jewish and Catholic population. One of Keelers priorities was the strengthening of Catholic schools. His fundraising prowess led to a record-setting $100 million campaign in the early 1990s. He led efforts to raise a $25 million scholarship fund to help low-income Baltimore youth attend Catholic schools. Nearly 17,000 scholarships have been awarded, mostly to non-Catholic students. Keeler was commended for his transparency when in September 2002 he released the names of 56 priests accused of sexual abuse in Baltimore since the 1930s and disclosed all information related to the nearly $6 million in settlements and other expenses the sexual abuse had cost the archdiocese. He was the first bishop to release the names of every priest who had been credibly accused, Caine said. He was a very principled man, a man of courage and strength. Earlier that year. Keeler publicly apologized to those who had been sexually abused by priests, and said he regretted his decision in 1993 to return the Rev. Maurice Blackwell to his parish after an abuse allegation. Father Blackwell was shot in May 2002 by 26-year-old Dontee D. Stokes. Stokes, who was acquitted later that year of attempted murder, said he had been molested by the priest in 1993. I take full responsibility for the decision I made in 1993 given the facts and circumstances before me, Keeler wrote in an opinion piece published in The Baltimore Sun on May 17, 2002. In light of what has occurred and of what was revealed in 1998, I would not make the same decision today. Keeler submitted his letter of resignation to the Vatican in April 2006, a month after he turned 75, in accordance with canon law. Bishops must retire at age 80. The cardinal and two friends were injured in a car crash about 60 miles outside Rome that October. One priest, a longtime friend of Keelers, was killed. Keeler and the priest who was killed were passengers in the car. The cardinal suffered a broken ankle. Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Edwin F. OBrien to succeed Keeler in 2007. Cardinal Keeler remained in Baltimore at St. Martins House and was serving as president of the Basilica Historic Trust at the time of his death. Donovan and Kelly write for the Baltimore Sun. Officials are calling the death of a black man who they say was repeatedly stabbed with a sword by a white U.S. Army veteran an assault on New Yorks inclusiveness and diversity. James Harris Jackson of Baltimore had taken a bus to New York to target black men, authorities said. He encountered Timothy Caughman, who was collecting bottles from trash cans, and stabbed him in his chest and back with a 26-inch sword, Assistant Chief William Aubry said. Jackson, 28, had been wandering the streets in a long overcoat, which concealed the sword, Aubry said. He turned himself in at a Times Square police station early Wednesday, a day after the wounded Caughman staggered into a police precinct. Advertisement Jackson, who was arrested on suspicion of murder, told police he had harbored feelings of hatred toward black men for at least 10 years, authorities said. He traveled to New York on March 17 and had been staying in a Manhattan hotel. The reason he picked New York is because its the media capital of the world and he wanted to make a statement, Aubry said. Caughman, who was 66 and lived nearby in a transitional house, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. According to his Twitter page, he was an autograph collector and a music and movie lover who tweeted about John Lennon, Chuck Berry and the best St. Patricks Day writing. He said he wanted to visit California someday. After the attack, Jackson went to the bathroom of a nearby restaurant and washed off the blood from the killing, authorities said. Investigators said they believed Jackson was considering other attacks, but surrendered after noticing his photo in media reports. He had two knives and told investigators where they could find the sword, which was later retrieved from a trash can not far from the scene, police said. Video surveillance captured Jackson in the days leading up to the attack, and investigators said he had walked purposefully toward another black man but did not attack him. It was not immediately clear if Jackson had a lawyer who could comment on the case. He said nothing to reporters as he was led from a police station. A call to his familys home phone rang unanswered. A former neighbor who tangled with Jackson over an apartment in Baltimore recalled him as a piece of work who fell months behind on rent. Hes just one of those people that you wish you never met, said Marcus Dagan, who had been informally managing the building on behalf of its then-owner and took Jackson to court over the rent. Dagan said Jackson moved out in 2015 without paying. When Jackson moved in in 2014, he indicated he was a military veteran and was in college, studying toward becoming a lawyer, Dagan said. Jackson left behind a collection of war movies, the former neighbor said. Jackson was in the Army from March 2009 to August 2012 and worked as a military intelligence analyst, the Army said. Deployed in Afghanistan from December 2010 to November 2011, he earned several medals and attained the rank of specialist. The circumstances of his discharge are unclear; the Army cites privacy laws that prevent releasing such details. Bias attacks have more than doubled this year in New York, and there have been nine reported bias crimes against black people, up from five in the same time period last year. We are a safe city because we are inclusive. We are a nation of unrivaled strength because we are diverse, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement condemning the attack. No act of violence can undermine who we are. ALSO Arkansas governor signs bill expanding concealed gun rights Thirty-five years past a deadline set by Congress, Nevada ratifies the Equal Rights Amendment Claims of inadvertent U.S. surveillance on Trump transition team raise questions Good morning. Its Thursday, March 23, and heres whats happening across California: TOP STORIES Lending advice in these trying times Theyre told to be prepared, be self-reliant and know their rights. Thats what immigrant advocates are telling people seeking advice as President Donald Trump transforms the countrys immigration policies. To get the word out, theyre acting out scenes, setting up hotlines, holding televised town hall meetings and forming community watch groups. One organization spent $70,000 to make a highly polished Know Your Rights video. This goes beyond handing out pamphlets to people, one advocate said. Los Angeles Times Advertisement Plus: For parents here illegally, the biggest fear has to do with their children. Los Angeles Times Brown in D.C. Gov. Jerry Brown is in Washington meeting with lawmakers and trying to convince them that the GOP replacement for Obamacare is a disaster, among other things. He called the legislation an insult to democracy itself and warned that the proposal would shift $6 billion in costs a year to Californias state government by 2020. Los Angeles Times A windfall for some Southern Californias defense industry, long the epicenter for highflying aerospace technology and advanced weapons for the military, could get a major windfall under President Trumps proposed new budget. Los Angeles Times L.A. STORIES The Silver Lake drought is over: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials announced Wednesday that the popular Silver Lake Reservoir will be refilled starting in mid-April. Los Angeles Times Lead hot spots: There are at least 29 Golden State neighborhoods where children had elevated levels of lead in their blood that were at least as high as in Flint, Mich. In one Fresno neighborhood, kids had lead rates nearly three times higher than in Flint. Reuters High on jobs! Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian attended a marijuana job fair and found that theres a lot of interest in the industry. The employers included cannabis cultivators, edibles manufacturers, dispensaries and a cannabis trade magazine. Los Angeles Times California in the age of Trump: California is out of control, according to the president. Its GDP also grew nearly twice as fast as the rest of the country in 2015. The state is destiny made manifest, and the rest of the country is always trying to catch up Every state is stuck in a fraught marriage with Washington, and Californias may now be the fraughtest. Washington Post When not to drive: A dramatic visualization of traffic accidents on L.A. freeways. Crosstown Traffic POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT Budget worries: Times columnist Steve Lopez talks with an L.A. doctor who races to cure deadly diseases and worries about Trumps plan to cut NIH funding. Los Angeles Times Lotsa voters: There are more than 19 million registered voters in California, but residents are less likely to be affiliated with either of the major parties, according to new state registration numbers. Sacramento Bee Oh boy: A new state analysis released Wednesday shows that California would lose $24.3 billion in federal funding by 2027 for low-income health coverage under the current Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. Kaiser Health News Plus: In Californias Central Valley, which is predominantly conservative, Medicaid coverage has been expanded under the Affordable Care Act, and the latest proposal made by congressional Republicans would cut Medicaid funding by 25% by 2026. CNN Money Suspension rates down: Suspensions at Californias public schools are down, but black students still face higher suspension rates. This is a new indicator being used to see how well schools are doing. Los Angeles Times Nice try: Times columnist George Skelton says this Democrats plan to fund free college tuition is a good idea with a bad revenue source: millionaires. Los Angeles Times CRIME AND COURTS Puppet and Bouncer: In jail, they were nicknamed Puppet and Bouncer. They were also paid $335,000 over four years for their work as jailhouse snitches. This payment and their seemingly lavish lifestyle behind bars have inspired a state bill to limit the rewards given to criminal informants. Orange County Register Congratulations in order: The two victims of the sensational Vallejo kidnapping got engaged a week after the kidnapper was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for the crime. San Francisco Chronicle Puppies for sale: A Southern California woman sold sick puppies to unsuspecting families through a fake rescue group, prosecutors say. Los Angeles Times THE ENVIRONMENT Nothing like a good shower: How L.A. is transformed by a lot of rain not just the climate but the people. BuzzFeed Wheres the weed whacker? Native flowers arent the only plants in super bloom this spring. Nasty weeds have also flourished. Los Angeles Times The DJT factor: The California Coastal Commissions new Executive Director Jack Ainsworth has pledged to protect the states coastline even as President Trump vows to roll back environmental regulations that could pose a threat to his domain. KQED Watch: Wednesday was World Water Day, and heres a look at the severe effects of the five-year drought in the state. The Economist Weeds effect on the environment: The legal marijuana cultivation industry is about to explode, but how that growth affects the environment is an open question. Will legalization and new regulations ease its impact or make the situation worse? News Deeply CALIFORNIA CULTURE We bought a farm: Internet meal-kit pioneer Blue Apron has bought a ranch in Bolinas, and the ranchs owner Bill Niman will join the company to build a pasture-centric supply chain for all the beef, pork, turkey and chicken that Blue Apron ships in its 8 million meals each month. Washington Post. Be ready with the barf bag: This movie is not for people with weak stomachs. The Nuart Theater is giving out bags for screenings of a French movie called Raw. The film is about a teenagers evolution from veterinary student to cannibal. LAist Make a reservation: Check out L.A. Weeklys list of 99 essential restaurants to visit in 2017. LA Weekly Native NASCAR heroes: Heres a ranking of the 10 best California-born NASCAR race drivers. Fox Sports CALIFORNIA ALMANAC Los Angeles area: sunny Thursday and Friday. San Diego: partly cloudy Thursday, sunny Friday. Sacramento and San Francisco area: partly cloudy Thursday, rainy Friday. More weather is here. AND FINALLY Todays California Memory comes from Kevin Wolf: It was 1979, and I was back at home in Palos Verdes for the Christmas break and watching the Rose Bowl with family on one of the most gorgeous days ever. The smog was gone, and the view of downtown L.A. and the San Gabriel Mountains with their snow-covered peaks was spectacular. The USC and Michigan fans were in their shirtsleeves on that 72-degree afternoon. We were commenting on how such a beautiful day on national TV would exacerbate the problem of too many people wanting to live here. Then the 1979 Malibu earthquake struck and rolled through the stadium. Oh, good, we said after learning that it was mostly harmless. That should keep a lot of those viewers from moving here. If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.) Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad. In the wake of the Aliso Canyon methane leak the largest such leak in U.S. history, which temporarily displaced 8,000 families from their homes whats wrong with using some common-sense caution before reopening the natural gas storage facility? Sen. Henry Stern (D-Canoga Park) has proposed doing just that. His bill Senate Bill 57 would not allow the Southern California Gas Co. to start reinjecting gas into its underground natural gas storage field until an independent study determines exactly what caused the well failure and massive leak in the first place. That independent study, called a root-cause analysis, was ordered by state gas regulators and the California Public Utilities Commission in December 2015. Its supposed to answer critical questions, such as how the massive leak happened and whether there are enough protections in place to prevent another one. At a hearing last month, a CPUC official said the root-cause analysis is the ultimate level of safety. Advertisement However the study wont be completed until the fall, at the earliest, and SoCal Gas doesnt want to wait that long to restart operations. State regulators could allow the facility to reopen any day. SB 57 would take effect immediately to ensure that doesnt happen without the root cause determination. But the bill has been blocked by Sterns fellow Democrats. This week, after delaying a hearing on the bill for month, Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) yanked SB 57 off the agenda of the Senate Energy Committee, which he chairs. Huesos committee had offered amendments proposed by SoCal Gas that would have gutted the bill. Stern rejected the amendments and Hueso pulled the item from the agenda citing a great deal of misunderstanding among members, according to his staff. Hueso must not keep stalling this important legislation. The fate of Aliso Canyon is far too important. Some residents in Porter Ranch continue to suffer health effects they believe are linked to Aliso Canyon emissions. Los Angeles County health and fire officials say that SoCal Gas and state regulators have not yet demonstrated that Aliso Canyon is safe to re-start. The county has sued the state to block the reopening until the root cause analysis is completed, along with a new emergency response plan and an analysis on how to protect wells in the event of a major earthquake. But SoCal Gas and business groups continue to warn that Southern California runs a greater risk of gas shortages and power outages as long as Aliso Canyon is closed. Last year, state energy officials warned the region could experience as many as 14 days of rolling blackouts during the summer if power plants couldnt use gas stored in Aliso Canyon. There were no blackouts. Nor were there any serious gas shortages during the winter. (SoCal Gas said it had to temporarily withdraw gas from Aliso Canyon in January to avoid a shortage during a cold snap, although environmentalists and a county report questioned whether that was really necessary.) Both sides raise legitimate points, but Sterns bill includes a provision allowing the governor to order Aliso Canyon back into service if there is a bona fide gas shortage. That emergency provision helped mollify the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council also support the bill. The Aliso Canyon leak was an extreme environmental and public health accident, and lawmakers ought to support extreme caution in deciding whether to reopen the facility. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Body cameras worn by Los Angeles police officers are virtual eyewitnesses, recording and presenting incidents as the tiny lenses see them. Like any witness testimony, the captured images are useful, although incomplete, depictions of what happened. In high-profile cases a large or at least vocal swath of the public generally wants to see such images immediately while the LAPD typically keeps them under wraps pending a full investigation exacerbating suspicions that the department has something to hide. This week marks an important step in revisiting that policy. In cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Commission, the nonprofit Policing Project based at New York University School of Law will begin a process of public outreach, through community meetings, questionnaires and interviews, to help shape recommendations on the release of video and related issues. Police policy cant be shaped by public vote, but neither can the department properly do its work in the absence of meaningful policy input from the public it serves. That input is provided in part by the commission itself, and in part by members of the public who attend commission meetings but those sessions too often degenerate into shouted accusations followed by room-clearing and angry recriminations. The additional and more systematic process of opinion-gathering could be helpful. Advertisement A similar process in Camden, N.J., was generally well-received. A report from the Policing Project effort in New York is due any day now. The L.A. commission, under the leadership of President Matt Johnson, deserves praise for getting the process underway here. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and the new Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission should take note. The county has yet to purchase body cams for its deputies, and the sheriff, county budget officials and the Board of Supervisors have been in sometimes tense talks over the cost of doing so. Meanwhile, many deputies are buying, wearing and using their own body cameras for their own protection but there has been no public discussion of what they can do with the video, when they should turn the cameras on and off, or other questions that loom large as video becomes ubiquitous in law enforcement. Convening such a discussion is well within the job description of the sheriffs oversight commission. The composition of that panel itself was determined after a series of community meetings in various parts of the county, but limits of that process soon became clear. Outreach and public notice were inadequate. The multifaceted Policing Project format to get public input on body cameras for the Police Commission may lead to a more inclusive process, and a similar effort could be similarly useful to the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission if it decides, as it should, to take up body camera policy. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook For all the acrimonious debate over Measure S, the slow-growth ballot measure that suffered a decisive defeat this month, most factions could agree on one thing: The development process in Los Angeles is broken. Although Measure S was not the answer, neither is returning to business as usual. With the vote behind us, its time to take stock of the citys very real challenges and devise a more effective strategy for inclusive growth in L.A. The city is experiencing a remarkable development boom in long-neglected areas: downtown, Hollywood, parts of South L.A., Boyle Heights and along the L.A. River. This is the result of market forces but also of policy initiatives designed to promote more vertical development around an expanding public transit system. All this growth presents an opportunity to plan a city that works for more people namely, to build more housing in proximity to more jobs and to reduce our dependency on cars. Advertisement But increasingly, L.A. is becoming a city where only the wealthy can afford to live. If development continues in its current direction, the city will continue to lose affordable housing and the result will be more displacement of low-income residents. Low-income Angelenos will have to move farther away from good jobs and schools, creating more economic insecurity for everyone and depriving L.A. of the diverse skills, talent and energy that make it a dynamic and cosmopolitan city. No other American city is permitting the wholesale destruction of its original housing stock at the rate that L.A. is. L.A.s rejection of Measure S was not an endorsement of trickle-down housing policy. The city needs more housing, but market solutions have failed to meet the needs of many residents. In 2014, L.A. far exceeded its production goal for new housing for people with above-moderate incomes while meeting only one-third of its goal for very low-income housing. L.A. County now has a deficit of nearly half a million affordable units. No other American city is permitting the wholesale destruction of its original housing stock at the rate that L.A. is. The city is losing both its architecturally significant homes and swaths of rent-controlled apartments. According to the Coalition for Economic Survival, 1,372 rent-controlled units were removed from the market in 2016, up nearly one-third from 2015. And this figure reflects only evictions that have been properly registered with the city; it does not account for cash-for-keys transactions and bad-faith evictions, which result in the loss of many more rent-controlled units. L.A. doesnt just need more growth, we need better growth development that prioritizes affordable housing, protects what is special about the citys existing housing infrastructure and plans more density near mass transit. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council have committed to updating both the citys General Plan and its 35 community plans. These plans are an important place to start. Updates should be made with the following priorities. *Any increases to housing density any upzoning of neighborhoods must mandate affordable housing. *The city needs to create an inventory of affordable and rent-controlled housing units within each of the 35 community-plan areas and update these inventories annually. If an inventory ever shows a net reduction in affordable units, the loss should be recovered. *In updating each plan, the city ought to engage with leadership from low-income communities and communities of color that have historically been excluded from the planning and development process. Previous attempts to address the needs of these communities have been undermined by developers with better access to City Hall. Of course, the city and community plans cannot solve the problem alone. To be successful, updates to these plans must be paired with efforts to strengthen tenant protections and increase funding for developers of affordable housing. *At the state level, the legislature should enact and the governor should sign a bill introduced this year, AB 1506, to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act a 1995 law that permits owners of rent-controlled units to raise rents when a tenant moves out. Costa-Hawkins has encouraged bad-faith evictions and contributed to spiking rent levels across the city. Repealing it would give cities the flexibility to enact or strengthen local rent-control laws. *The city should generate new sources of funding for affordable housing. With the 2012 dissolution of redevelopment agencies, which were required to set aside 20% of their resources for low- and moderate-income housing, cities across California lost a critical source of such funding. This loss has been compounded by recent declines in support for federal housing. L.A. should adopt a strong Affordable Housing Linkage Fee ordinance, requiring developers of market-rate housing to contribute to a city fund for the creation of new affordable housing. Planning for inclusive growth will require strong leadership from city government, held accountable by genuine participation from the bottom that is, from all residents, not just those with the most resources and clout. If Angelenos allow the status quo to continue, we will build a city where low-income people have no place. Scott Cummings is a professor of community development law and legal ethics at UCLA. Doug Smith is a staff attorney in the Community Development Project at Public Counsel. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook ALSO Editorial: Dont reopen Aliso Canyon until we know what caused the worst methane leak in history Do men really talk too much? The California bar exam flunks too many law school graduates This week, Variety magazine announced that it would honor former first daughter Chelsea Clinton at its Women in Power luncheon with a Lifetime achievement award. The news spread quickly among both Trump supporters and left-leaning Clinton detractors who believe that the familys tone-deafness cost them the election. Chelsea accepting such an award at the tender age of 37 confirmed the out-of-touch elite narrative once and for all. And then The Hill, the D.C. outlet that had broken the news, clarified that Chelseas honor was not, as initially reported and gleefully reposted, for achievements over the span of her lifetime. Rather, it was an honor bestowed jointly by Variety and the television network Lifetime for her work promoting better eating habits for children. Its a Lifetime achievement award, not a lifetime achievement award. When it comes to accepting prizes for charitable contributions, Chelsea is in no way an outlier. Everyone in her income bracket has a shelf full of honors. Luncheon ceremonies are a way to publicly thank big-name benefactors, get them to show up to the event, and therefore attract other donors and media interest. Ivanka Trump, for example just picking someone at random here is no stranger to vanity awards. She has been honored by organizations such as the European School of Economics and the Diamond Empowerment Funds GOOD Awards. (Tagline: Diamonds do good.) Advertisement But Chelsea, like her mother, never gets a break unlike Ivanka and her father. The Lifetime achievement mistake was an error of capitalization that became a convenient Internet cudgel at a time when Democrats are focused on resistance, uneasy about class politics, and searching for the next generation of leaders. Meanwhile, in the real world, the Trump administration announced that Ivanka would be getting her own White House office and high-level security clearance despite her fathers insistence that none of his children would enjoy such privileges after his election. Nepotism is a charge that the Trumps find easy to circumnavigate. Not so for the Clintons. Shouldnt...first-daughter hatred be reserved for Ivanka? Although Chelsea recently tried to quash rumors that she will seek Kirsten Gillibrands New York Senate seat if Gillibrand runs for president in 2020, that hasnt stopped people from reading the tea leaves to predict what shell do next. Chelsea has been a vocal Trump critic, commenting on issues such as infant mortality and #SaveBigBird as well as racism in education and affordable healthcare. It has not gone unnoticed: A CNN headline last month read: Chelsea Clinton embraces her Twitter sass. Shes writing a childrens book. Shes joined the board of Expedia. The most minor details about her provoke outrage and inspire conspiracy theories. The studious interest in Chelseas next move is understandable coming from the right, which has always hated the Clintons and no doubt welcomes the distraction Chelsea offers from the presidents dismal approval ratings and damning intelligence hearings. Bill, Hillary and Chelsea have long been enthusiasm-boosters for the Republicans, and theyre reluctant to give them up. But the laser-focused Chelsea vitriol is perplexing when it comes from the left. Shouldnt such first-daughter hatred be reserved for Ivanka? Wouldnt their attention be better spent on potential 2018 and 2020 candidates who have already declared their interest? Arent there bigger battles to fight and arent they glad that such a prominent Democratic figure is registering her dissent with the current administration? Its a strange time for the Clintons. Trumps opponents are desperate for Democratic public figures to show some backbone, yet many blame the Clintons status as American royalty for the loss of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and the other states that really should have swung blue. Apparently 2016 is not done with us yet, and not only because the FBI is still investigating the Trump campaigns ties to Russia. The Clintons dont make sense as de facto Democratic leaders anymore, but that doesnt mean they should just fade away, either. When Hillary recently said in a speech in Pennsylvania that she was ready to come out of the woods, I, for one, was happy about it. And while I dont think she deserves a special award for it, Im glad Chelsea is speaking out, too. They should be using their public following and personal connections to push back against Trumps policy agenda, and to help build a new wave of left-leaning leaders who dont have family ties to money and power. Such a legacy would be the real lifetime achievement. Ann Friedman is a contributing writer to Opinion. She lives in Los Angeles. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook. During a visit to Seoul last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson drew some reddish lines around North Korea. Twenty years of talking has brought us to the point we are today, Tillerson said at a news conference. Talk is not going to change the situation. If North Korea threatens South Korean or American forces or elevates the level of its weapons program, Tillerson warned, preemptive military action is on the table. Tillersons comments did not come entirely out of left field. For months, Washington has been abuzz over the possibility that North Korea may successfully test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to an American city. In a New Years address, North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un indicated such a test could come sooner than we think. Advertisement But Tillersons warning did signal that the Trump administration is taking U.S. policy toward North Korea in a new direction that we may be serious about abandoning engagement and willing to pursue containment through military action. We can expect that attacking North Korea, even with an intended surgical strike, will bring retaliation. If North Korea is newly capable of striking an American city with a nuclear-armed missile, however, it would not be the first time that the U.S. was defenseless against an adversarys weapons. Americans lived for years with Soviet and Chinese missiles pointing in our direction. We had no way to defend against Soviet missiles in the 1950s, nor Chinese missiles in the 1960s. We were worried in 1960 when Nikita Khrushchev, then the Soviet leader, pounded his shoe against a table during a session of the United Nations General Assembly. For many reasons, Mao worried us even more. Analysts can read Tillersons comments in different ways. If he meant to indicate that the U.S. would undertake a military strike on North Korea to prevent the testing and development of an ICBM a left of launch program, as the Pentagon would call it such an act could not properly be called preemption, because it would not be responding to an imminent attack. Rather, we would be taking preventive action and risking a preventive war with the goal of cutting off the emergence of a future threat. The invasion of Iraq in 2003, for instance, was a preventive war, not an act of preemption. Ethics, law and prudence are on the side of preemption but not on preventive strikes. If, on the other hand, the U.S. intelligence community were to conclude that North Korea was about to launch a missile at Los Angeles, Seoul or Tokyo, we should fully expect Trump to order a preemptive strike to take out the missile before it is launched. If this is the only line Tillerson meant to draw, he should have saved the ink and not made news with the threat. In either scenario, we can expect that attacking North Korea, even with an intended surgical strike, will bring retaliation, most likely against South Korean and American forces and civilians on the Korean peninsula there are a lot of both within range of North Korean missiles and artillery and possibly a second Korean War. The U.S. and its allies should be ready for this. At the moment, neither we nor our allies are prepared for war. With so much at stake, Tillerson should disclose what exactly is new about the North Korean threat that makes deterrence suddenly unreliable. Certainly it is not the quality or quantity of North Koreas nuclear weapons. At the height of the Cold War, the number of Soviet weapons counting tactical and strategic weapons deployed in silos, on submarines and aboard bombers reached 30,000 or so. The North Koreans have less than 20. It is possible that U.S. officials lack confidence in the rationality of Kim Jong Un. If this is the case, the American people should be informed that this is why we are risking another Korean War. Some argue that an alternative to military action is the adoption of tougher sanctions together with more pressure on China to allow them to work. While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with such an approach, there is little reason to think it will be effective in stopping North Koreas nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. So the real alternative to war is a negotiated settlement that addresses the threat. There is a lot of work yet to be done in order to set the table for productive negotiations. More than 20 years ago, we struck a deal with the North that froze plutonium production for almost a decade before the deal collapsed: They cheated and we caught them. That was still a deal worth making, and the next one will have to be better. For starters, we should require that North Korea improve the human rights of its citizens as a condition of normalizing relations with the U.S. The United States has no real capability to shoot down ICBMs, but we never have. We have been defenseless against this threat for six decades. For all those years, we have relied on deterrence and the promise of devastating retaliation. The logic is that the capability of our conventional and nuclear weapons deters our enemies and provides for the nations security. If the U.S. is going to abandon this logic now, it should be done with great care, and with the full understanding that we are risking war. Robert L. Gallucci is a professor of diplomacy at Georgetown University. He served in the State Department as chief U.S. negotiator during the North Korean nuclear crisis of 1994, and as an ambassador-at-large and special envoy dealing with threats posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook Fifty years after the birth of feminism, when its promise of gender liberation seemed closer and more distant than ever before, the word mansplaining arose to describe male domination of speech. Derived from an essay by the journalist Rebecca Solnit, mansplaining started as a joke, then appeared on the New York Times word of the year list and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary. The word succeeded because it describes a common social scenario so aptly. Solnits inspiration was a man at a party who, on learning that she had written a book about the film pioneer Eadweard Muybridge, lectured her on a recent book about Muybridge, which happened to be Solnits book. It was yet another case of a man, confronted with a knowledgeable woman, displaying his knowledge to the maximum. We have all witnessed similar scenes. Solnit argued that these tiny but ubiquitous social interactions amount, in aggregate, to a politics of silence. In ways big and small, men have too much say, she wrote in Men Explain Things to Me. But there is an empirical question that Solnit never addressed in that book: Do men in fact talk more than women? In her 2006 book, The Female Brain, the neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine claimed that the average woman uses nearly three times as many words as the average man. Other researchers disagreed vociferously. At the University of Arizona, a group of sociologists attached voice recorders to 396 participants and found no statistical difference in how much men and women spoke. The widespread and highly publicized stereotype about female talkativeness is unfounded, they wrote. The stereotype being that women, not men, have too much say. Advertisement If men and women are from different tribes or different planets, then we are doomed to a permanent stand-off. In 2014, Harvard researchers using electronic monitoring found that men and women spoke more or less depending on the size of the group and the setting. While collaborating on a work project in groups of seven or fewer, women talked more and men talked less. During a lunch break, women spoke more when they were in large groups, and men talked more when they were in small groups. A recent California State University study of email exchanges, measuring number of words per message and number of messages per exchange, found that women wrote more than men across a range of situations, in both work and personal messages. The researchers concluded that electronic communications may level the playing field, or even give females an advantage, in certain communication situations. The stereotype up for rejection in this case being that men wont shut up. Who talks more has been one of the traditional battlegrounds in the gender wars. At the beginning of the feminist revolution, male reserve rather than male speech was the symptom of failure. In 1971, the sociologists Jack Balswick and Charles Peek wrote in The Inexpressive Male that as sex role distinctions have developed in America, the male sex role, as compared to the female sex role, carries with it prescriptions which encourage inexpressiveness. For the men courageous and sensitive enough to recognize the import of the feminist revolution, the first requirement was expression: expression as release from frozen Stoic ideals and expression as the beginning of a considerate masculinity. Men were encouraged to talk more, not less, particularly around women. The irony probably wont comfort Solnit, but the man blathering on at that party is, in certain respects, the result of this conscious program to overcome gender restrictions, to make men give more of themselves. The irony runs deeper than awkward scenes at parties. The entire discussion of mansplaining operates on the assumption that people who talk more socially are demonstrating more power. They arent. Reserved speech has been the marker of masculine power for millennia. The strong silent type has an ancient pedigree. Speak softly and carry a big stick was Theodore Roosevelts definition of U.S. foreign policy and, like so many descriptions of U.S. foreign policy, also a stand-in for fantasies of masculinity. Baldessare Castiglione in The Book of the Courtier, the guide to gentlemanly etiquette popular across Europe during the Renaissance, advised as early as 1528 that a gentleman keeps everything but his most certain opinions to himself: Let him be circumspect in keeping them close, lest he make other men laugh at him. In the early 16th century, men and women both were laughing at men who talked too much about things they didnt understand. And that is the correct response to the guy who told Solnit about her own book: to laugh in his face. Laugh at him because hes weak. I recognize that I am now mansplaining mansplaining. Behind that absurdity lies a despair that has haunted the feminist revolution from the beginning: the despair that men and women cannot understand each other. Despair over language is the deepest despair. If equality eludes us even in our words, how can we dream of justice in our bodies? The classic books of intergender linguistics have always betrayed a shared hopelessness, even in their titles: Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. Thats Not What I Meant! Male-female conversation is cross-cultural communication, Deborah Tannen wrote, depressingly, in You Just Dont Understand. Men and women need translators, like those at high-power summit meetings. If men and women are from different tribes or different planets, then we are doomed to a permanent stand-off. The battle of the sexes will be never-ending and the gender wars ongoing and irresolvable. But our language fails us most of all when it comes to describing the state of gender itself. The gender wars, the battle of the sexes these are disastrous metaphors. We have used the word war to describe the historical process of men and women beginning to live together as equals. We have used battle to describe the advent of deeper intimacies and more just laws. The language of conflict is no longer useful. The future can belong only to men and women together. The most vital, the most profound changes in the lives of men and women have occurred in their lives together: in bed, in families, in workplaces. Gloria Steinems famous declaration is true: Womens Liberation is Mens Liberation too. The opposite is also true: Real liberation is men and women together. That means men will have to do some of the explaining. Stephen Marche is a novelist and columnist. His latest book is The Unmade Made: The Messy Truth About Men and Women in the 21st Century, from which this essay was excerpted. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook Eight years ago, the Obama administration promised that the Affordable Care Act would drive down costs. Small business owners, in particular, were told that they could take advantage of new tax credits, and that new exchanges would give owners and employees alike new options to purchase coverage. But by the time President Obama signed the bill, it was abundantly clear that the law would do more to harm small businesses than help them. The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was perfectly misnamed. It failed entirely to make insurance affordable for small business owners and millions of other Americans. On the contrary, Obamacare has driven up costs for small business owners, who are hit with higher payroll taxes, taxes on health insurance products, the employer and individual mandate penalties, and the so-called Cadillac tax on expensive health insurance plans. Small business owners, through the National Federation of Independent Business, fought the law on constitutional grounds, taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court in NFIB vs. Sebelius. Unfortunately, a narrow majority on the court rescued the law and its punishing mandates. Advertisement Most small businesses run on tight margins. When their expenses rise, owners have limited options to keep their business open. Health insurance costs remain the No. 1 concern of small-business owners in NFIBs Problem and Priorities survey, the same place theyve occupied in that survey for 30 years. Were long overdue for a do-over for Congress to repeal and then replace the Affordable Care Act. Small businesses need affordability, flexibility and predictability in the health insurance market. The bill introduced in Congress, the American Health Care Act, or AHCA, is a good first step that we believe makes progress on all three of those fronts. Affordability The AHCA eliminates most of the ACAs taxes and delays the implementation of the Cadillac tax for a number of years. Thats good news for employers, especially here in California, where 99.8% percent of all employers are small businesses. Flexibility The ACA created the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP. These exchanges were supposed to be a way for small businesses to give their employees options in purchasing insurance. It was estimated that 1 million Americans would get coverage through this method. In reality, very few states set up SHOP exchanges. In fact, the last time the government published a figure for SHOP enrollment in 2015 it was only 85,000 nationwide. The law, moreover, penalized small businesses that contributed to their employees health insurance on the individual market. It took bipartisan legislation last year to remove the fines small businesses faced for helping in this way. The AHCA, in contrast, improves flexibility in healthcare arrangements by boosting health savings accounts, nearly doubling current contribution thresholds. Small businesses have long appreciated this method of saving for future healthcare expenses. Predictability Under Obamacare, many NFIB members had their plans canceled. Some have been forced to switch plans multiple times since the law was signed. Small-business owners dont want to go through another period of uncertainty. The AHCA sets up a stabilization fund that should help insurance companies navigate changes in the markets and ensure that businesses and individuals can maintain coverage. The AHCA is not perfect. Congressional leaders, however, have promised additional reforms aimed at creating more options, more competition, fewer mandates and lower costs. Those reforms will come in phases. Passing any of them will be nearly impossible unless the AHCA is passed first. Most small businesses run on tight margins. When their expenses rise, owners have limited options to keep their business open. Our members tell us that the high cost of healthcare keeps them from hiring and expanding their business. And the ACAs employer mandate, which starts at 50 employees, disincentivizes them from turning a successful small business into a larger operation. Small-business optimism soared after the election because owners believed Washington would act on their priorities. If lawmakers in Washington want to see small businesses thrive, they need to repeal a huge impediment to growth and make real progress on healthcare reform. Tom Scott is the state executive director for NFIB California, which represents 22,000 dues-paying small-business owners across the state, and 325,000 members nationally. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook To the editor: Originalists seem to think that our Constitution is complete, a flawless document written largely by our sainted founding fathers. (Democrats voice deep skepticism at Gorsuchs confirmation hearing for Supreme Court seat, March 20) But thats the problem: Some of the framers were imperfect men who apparently had few qualms about the subjugation of women, the enslavement of blacks and the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans. Many either looked the other way or participated in these acts with some vigor (Thomas Jefferson owned hundreds of human beings). Now, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) says judges are not free to rewrite statutes to get results they believe are more just ... [or] to reorder regulations to make them more fair. Advertisement This left me wondering just what the Supreme Court is for. Jim Anderson, Santa Clarita .. To the editor: The letters opposing Supreme Court justice nominee Neil Gorsuchs originalism leave out some critical references that clarify what this legal approach is about. (The myth that is Neil Gorsuchs originalism, Readers React, March 21) Per the claim that an originalist interpretation leaves the Constitution rigid and static, the Constitution actually provides for an amendment process that has been repeatedly used. What the framers sought was a government of laws, not of men, challenging Supreme Court Justice William Brennans and the letter writers preference for coping with current problems and current needs without going through any amending process. There is no mention of the natural law versus positive law issue. In the 1960s, the Supreme Court replaced natural law (the basis of our founding document, the Declaration of Independence) with positive law without any amending process. When these references are considered, the static arguments lose credibility, Brennans fidelity to unwavering values appears a bit hypocritical, and the dropping of natural law principles becomes rather alarming. Maybe we need to get a bit more honest in discussing the actual arguments involved in originalism. Thomas J. Rath, Pasadena .. To the editor: Trump opened his 2020 presidential campaign on Feb. 18 in Melbourne, Fla. He has since held more rallies, indicating that the 2020 campaign is in full swing. The Republicans have clearly stated that no nominee for the Supreme Court should be considered during a campaign, and since we are clearly in the heat of one, Gorsuch should be placed on a shelf with Judge Merrick Garland until the next president is chosen. Let the people decide. James Lashly, Ojai Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, a Republican from the San Joaquin Valley, took a trip to the White House that made as big a splash as Californias recent torrential rains. Even though he is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that is investigating links between Russia and members of President Trumps campaign team, Nunes chose to share intelligence reports with the president before he shared them with members of his committee. Democrats went ballistic saying Nunes had acted improperly, raising serious questions about his ability to lead an independent, bipartisan investigation. Observers with deep ties to the intelligence community said it was unprecedented for someone in the key position Nunes holds to so brashly share sensitive information with a person who is the object of an inquiry. Another Californian, U.S. Rep. Adam B. Schiff from Burbank, is the ranking Democrat on the House committee. Speaking to reporters in his usual calm, ex-prosecutors voice, Schiff said, The chairman will either need to decide if hes leading an investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he is going to act as a surrogate of the White House. Because he cannot do both. Advertisement 1 / 51 la-1491523602-y7ephyarj1-snap-image (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 51 la-1491368625-0bgh58ihw8-snap-image (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los angeles Times) 6 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 51 Trump inspires millions to take to the streets -- to oppose him. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 51 Cartoon caption contest winner at the DENT conference in Sun Valley, Idaho: Jon Duval, executive director of the Ketchum Community Development Corporation. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 51 Old radicals and big media descend on Selma (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 51 Horsey imagined the creation of the Ann Coulter phenomenon in this cartoon from 2007. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 51 This David Horsey drawing is a reconfiguration of a cartoon he first published in 2006. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 51 Donald Sterling, owner of the L.A. Clippers, should give Cliven Bundy a call. After Sterling loses his NBA franchise and the deadbeat Nevada rancher loses his cattle, the two old racists will both need a buddy. Maybe they can team up together and open an all-white rodeo. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 51 Besides sending a chill up the spine of the international community, Vladimir Putin has accomplished one other thing by seizing Crimea and threatening the rest of Ukraine: Putin has brought back the bear. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 51 The right-wing insurrection at the Bundy ranch in Bunkerville, Nev., has taken another weird turn with new revelations about the family history of Cliven Bundy. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 51 David Horsey / Los Angeles Times (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) In comments outside the West Wing after he met with Trump, Nunes said he had told the president that communications from members of his transition team had been inadvertently intercepted by U.S. intelligence agencies. Fox News jumped on this as evidence confirming Trumps recent tweet that accused President Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower. Despite Foxs quick leap to shill for Trump, Nunes statement actually undercut Trumps charge by making clear that, not only was the surveillance inadvertent, it was also legal. Unsurprisingly, Fox, the reliable mouthpiece for the GOP, is reflecting the pervasive denial that is making a lot of Republicans look like quaking little boys whistling past a spooky graveyard. They seem quite desperate to pretend there is nothing scary about the FBIs probe into contacts between Trump surrogates and Russian intelligence operatives at a time when the Russians were hacking their way into the American presidential election to do damage to Hillary Clintons campaign. Earlier this week when FBI Director James B. Comey appeared before the House Intelligence Committee, GOP members arrived at the hearing with an orchestrated series of questions focusing not on the Russian attack on American democracy but on leaks from within government agencies that helped expose connections between Trumps people and the Russians. They looked more than a little silly chasing this line of inquiry after Comey dropped a bombshell by acknowledging that his agency is conducting an active investigation into the Trump-Russia links. Trump apologists are also making themselves look ridiculous by continuing to insist that Paul Manafort, who headed the Trump campaign for a period that included the Republican National Convention, was somehow a marginal figure in Trumps run for the White House. He was far from peripheral and, according to convention delegates on the platform committee, it was he who engineered the removal of a plank in the platform that called for sending arms to Ukraine in support of that countrys fight against Russian military aggression. Wednesday, the story about Manaforts cozy relationship with Russia blew up again with the revelation that Manafort at one time had a multi-million dollar contract with a Russian oligarch who is part of President Vladimir Putins inner circle a deal in which, according to an Associated Press report, Manafort promised to provide services that would greatly benefit the Putin government. The more Republicans try to protect their president by downplaying the very curious and apparently very frequent contacts between Russians and Trump campaigners, the more it looks as if they are willingly aiding a coverup. They would do well to stop collaborating and start following the lead of their 2008 presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain. McCain is now calling for a select committee to take over the investigation. He sees that as a necessary step toward uncovering the impartial truth. It will be difficult for other Republicans to argue against McCain now that Nunes has so badly compromised his committees work by trotting off to share secrets with Trump. David.Horsey@latimes.com Follow me at @davidhorsey on Twitter TV ads target lawmakers on the fence over Gov. Jerry Browns plan to raise gas taxes to repair roads By Patrick McGreevy Gov. Jerry Brown talks to Steve Glazer in 2011, when Glazer was still an advisor to the governor and before he was elected to the Senate. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) With supporters of a road repair bill still counting votes, a coalition of business and labor leaders on Friday began running television and radio ads that target eight legislators who have not yet committed to vote for the measure. The Fix Our Roads Coalition is spending $1 million on a statewide, week-long ad blitz that urges legislators to vote next week for Senate Bill 1. The bill would raise gas taxes and vehicle fees to generate $52 billion the first 10 years to repair crumbling roads, highways and bridges, and expand mass transit. We are closer than ever to finally passing a transportation funding package to fix our long-neglected and crumbling roads, said Michael Quigley, executive director of the California Alliance for Jobs, which is co-funding the commercials. These new ads are part of an all-out grassroots, earned media, advertising and social media campaign to support passage of this bill by next week. In addition to ads that call on legislators to support the bill, eight advertisements call on legislators by name to support the plan. Those targeted include Sens. Steve Glazer (D-Concord) and Anthony Cannella (R-Ceres), and moderate Democratic Assembly members Adam Gray of Merced, Rudy Salas of Bakersfield, Sabrina Cervantes of Corona, Sharon Quirk-Silva of Buena Park and Al Muratsuchi of Torrance, as well as Republican Catharine Baker of San Ramon. The bill needs a two-thirds vote in both houses, which would require all of the Democrats to support the measure. Cannella and Baker are being wooed by Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders to step in if one of the Democrats gets cold feet. Representatives of Cannella and Glazer said earlier this week that they were still weighing the issue. Brown and legislative leaders have called for the Legislature to act by Thursday, after which time the lawmakers head out on spring break. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former Assembly Speaker John A. Perezs views on the L.A. congressional race he dropped out of By Christine Mai-Duc (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Before he suddenly dropped out of the running citing health reasons, former Assembly Speaker John A. Perez was widely considered the favorite to replace Xavier Becerra in the 34th Congressional District. With Perez out, the race is wide open and isnt likely to be decided Tuesday, when 24 candidates compete in the primary. Instead, the top two vote-getters regardless of party are expected to advance to a June 6 election. (If any one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote Tuesday, its all over). Perez offered his thoughts on the race in an interview published Friday by Politico. Some of his major points: Perez said he thinks state Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez is significantly ahead of the pack and will make the runoff. A cluster of candidates, including Alejandra Campoverdi, Wendy Carrillo, Arturo Carmona, Maria Cabildo and Robert Lee Ahn, are in a close enough race that any one of them could advance. If Carrillo were to move forward, Perez says, the narrative in the runoff would be about which candidate is more progressive and whos an insider versus an outsider. Perez says if he were the front runner, Campoverdi is the one Id be most concerned about running against due to her connections in Washington and her national profile, which could create a new level of viability. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement To fight against human trafficking, this state senator wants to train motel employees to spot signs of abuse By Jazmine Ulloa Former Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego). (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times) State Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) wants to increase services for human trafficking survivors and make it easier in court to put away their abusers. Flanked by prosecutors and hotel industry officials at a news conference Friday in San Diego, the former Assembly speaker announced new housing and mental health assistance for victims and introduced legislation that would require hotels and motels to train their employees to spot signs of human trafficking. Another of her proposals would expand the character evidence that prosecutors can bring forth at trial against defendants charged with selling victims for sex or labor. The bills are meant to attack a multibillion-dollar trade that has a wide sweep in California, home to three cities on the FBIs list of 13 top human trafficking destinations: San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles. National human trafficking hotline calls across California generated 1,323 cases in 2016 nearly twice as many as any other state. Atkins is among lawmakers pushing the issue at the Capitol, where legislation has focused on targeting traffickers, protecting victims and addressing what advocates say is a law enforcement culture in which child survivors sometimes are treated like criminals. But funding for victims services and programs has been an obstacle. A bill by Atkins to develop pilot projects in three counties to address the commercial sexual exploitation of youth sailed through the Legislature without opposition last year only to be vetoed by the governor. Her second bill for a statewide task force died in the Senate appropriations committee. Atkins latest proposal to provide training for motel employees follows a similar bill by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens). It failed in the last legislative session amid opposition over costs to businesses. That hasnt stopped Atkins from trying again. Hotels are ground zero for sex trafficking in this state, she said in a statement. Sex traffickers are exploiting some of the most vulnerable people in our society, including children. These victims are often hiding in plain sight, and traffickers take advantage of the fact that many hotel employees dont recognize the signs. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print State Controller Betty Yee says Californias tax collection agency has been mismanaged and needs a complete overhaul By Patrick McGreevy Citing a review that found widespread mismanagement at the state Board of Equalization, State Controller Betty T. Yee on Friday called for stripping the panel of responsibilities for tax administration and audit and compliance functions so it can focus on handling taxpayer appeals. Yees proposal came in response to an evaluation by the state Department of Finance that found board officials were improperly redirecting resources and employees to pet projects in their districts. In order to rebuild taxpayer trust, meaningful reform is essential, said Yee, who serves as an ex-officio member of the board. I urge the Legislature and the governor to strip the board members of all statutory functions and permanently move these duties and assigned staff to a separate new department under the governor. The Department of Finance review found the board had difficulty providing complete and accurate documentation in response to inquiries, and various levels of management were not aware of and could not speak to certain actions, including the informal establishment of a call center, creating an unofficial office location and inconsistent use of community liaisons. The evaluation said personnel records showed workers assigned to administrative jobs that they were not doing, having been transferred to help board members in their districts. Even though each elected board member has a $1.5-million budget to cover office costs, some members borrowed workers from the head office, taking them from jobs that involved bringing in tax money and having them instead reach out to board members constituents, the review found. The redirection of workers violated state budget rules. In addition, the reviewers said the board provided 11 different versions of its proposed sales and use tax allocation adjustment and the Department of Finance found errors and omissions throughout. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Sen. Kamala Harris has opened a gubernatorial fundraising account but she has no plans to run for governor, aide says By Seema Mehta (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) Sen. Kamala Harris opened a campaign fundraising account to run for governor in 2026, but that does not mean Californias newest U.S. senator has any plans to seek the office. Harris plans to use the account to store the $1 million in leftover funds from her successful 2014 reelection campaign for attorney general, said Sean Clegg, Harris political spokesman. Harris left her post as state attorney general mid-term when she was elected in November to the Senate seat opening created by the retirement of Barbara Boxer. She faced a March 31 deadline to shutter the attorney general account, and under election law cannot mingle money raised for state campaigns with funds raised to run for federal office. Its purely political bookkeeping, Clegg said. The 2026 date could raise eyebrows because after the 2018 gubernatorial election, that will likely be the next time the governors office is open because its occupant is termed out. But Clegg said Harris did not open an account for a lower office like lieutenant governor as politicians in similar situations typically do because, he said, we werent interested in being cute about it. So we designated the only potential future office one could conceivably contemplate, although were not contemplating it, he said. Were focused on the job were doing. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement This California lawmaker wants to crack down on toys and electronics that pick up conversations and personal information By Jazmine Ulloa State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), left (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press ) A California state senator wants to prevent companies from selling products that can listen in on conversations and collect personal information from unknowing consumers. Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) has filed legislation that would require manufacturers to equip their Internet-connected devices, including toys, clocks, kitchenware and electronics, with certain security and privacy features. Dubbed the Teddy Bear and Toaster Act, Senate Bill 327 takes aim at the so-called Internet of Things, the inter-networking of everyday devices that some tech and privacy experts say amounts to a growing industry with little oversight. The more we know and the more we learn about the Internet connection of all sorts of devices, many are realizing that we dont know the extent to which these devices are invading our lives, Jackson said. Under her proposal, companies would have to design their products so that they alert consumers through visual, auditory or other cues when they are gathering data. They would have to obtain user consent when they intend to transfer the information. And they would have to disclose at point of sale whether the devices are capable of sweeping up sensitive data, so that customers can take that into account while shopping. Most states, including California, have privacy breach laws to protect personal information. The proposal, which would extend those provisions to consumer devices, could be the first of its kind nationwide. But it is expected to garner wide opposition from retailers and manufacturers. A My Friend Cayla doll (AFP/Getty Images) Still, supporters point to growing privacy concerns. Some toys, like the My Friend Cayla doll banned in Germany, prompt children to give personal information, such as their parents names and their addresses, and their manufacturers reserve the right to target young buyers in direct marketing campaigns. Other smart devices lack the most basic security features that make them vulnerable to a hack or coordinated cyberattack. In a statement, James P. Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Kids Action, which is sponsoring the bill, said such toys and electronics can put consumers at risk. These products get rushed out to the market without the privacy issues being addressed in advance, and then consumers end up paying the price, he said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print President Jerry Brown? Dont rule it out, governor quips By Patrick McGreevy Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislative leaders appealed Thursday for support for a proposed gas tax and vehicle fee increase to fix the states roads and bridges. (Patrick McGreevy / Los Angeles Times) In arguing for approval of a new transportation package on Thursday, Gov. Jerry Brown appeared to enjoy himself in refusing to shoot down a supporters suggestion that he run for president even as he noted his 79th birthday is next week. Standing next to other elected officials and construction workers at the rally in in Concord, Brown argued that gas tax and vehicle fee increases are needed to address a backlog of much-needed repairs to Californias crumbling system of roads, highways and bridges. Im telling you the truth because why would I lie to you? Brown said. I dont think Im running for office. All Ive got left is lieutenant governor, treasurer and controller. Or president, someone in the crowd shouted. Brown responded that he would be 82 when the next presidential election comes around. But you know, dont rule it out, he quipped, drawing laughter and applause. Lest the comment turn into a national story, an aide later clarified the governors intentions: He was joking. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gov. Jerry Brown is making appeals to legislators for votes on his new transportation plan one district at a time By Patrick McGreevy Gov. Jerry Brown stumps for the new transportation funding plan on Thursday in the Bay Area city of Concord. (Patrick McGreevy / Los Angeles Times) Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders on Thursday took their campaign for higher transportation taxes and fees to the Bay Area district of state Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Concord), one of the holdouts in the state Senate who has not yet committed to vote for the package. Surrounded by dozens of construction workers, Brown warned that if the transportation bill unveiled on Wednesday isnt approved this year, it may not happen in the foreseeable future. There is nothing more fundamental in the business of government than making sure the roads and bridges dont fall apart, and they are falling apart, Brown said. Glazer recently withheld his vote from a bill proposing a similar plan for repairing state bridges, roads and highways, and on Wednesday, a spokesman said he had still not committed to any plan but wanted to review the detailed proposal before taking a position. Construction workers at the rally held signs that pictured crumbling roads and said, Senator Glazer Fix This Now. Vote for SB 1. Brown said Glazer, his former senior advisor, does not disagree with the intent of the bill. He loves this plan, but he has another idea on his mind and he wants to marry the two and see if he can get some outcomes that I dont want to get into at this particular place, Brown told reporters. Sen. Jim Beall, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said Glazer wants the transportation funding bill to include a clause barring employees of Bay Area Rapid Transit from going on strike. Beall said that is a labor-relations issue that cannot be included in the bill raising taxes. You cant do that, Beall said. A spokesman for Glazer said the senator is still undecided on the bill. The senator is continuing to have conversations with the principals, said Steve Harmon, a spokesman for Glazer. He declined to comment on Bealls statement. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) said there may be similar rallies in Los Angeles and Riverside in the coming days. Two other Democrats who have not yet committed to the plan are Riverside Sen. Richard Roth and Woodland Hills Sen. Henry Stern. Brown acknowledged that there is work to do to secure the two-thirds vote needed in both houses of the Legislature to raise the base excise tax on gasoline by 12 cents per gallon, to a total of 30 cents per gallon, and to create a new annual vehicle fee that would average $51 based on the value of the car or truck. Rendon said approval of the transportation bill would cost the average California motorist an extra $10 per month, which he said is a deal compared to the current cost of $720 in annual vehicle repair costs required because of running over potholes and other rough road conditions. Hoping to force a Senate vote on the package early next week, Brown was accompanied to the Concord news conference by Rendon and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles). They urged lawmakers to support the bill, which would generate $5.2 billion annually for the first 10 years for road and bridge repairs, mass transit improvements and other projects to reduce congestion. Glazer, known as a maverick in the Legislature, was Browns campaign manager during the 2010 gubernatorial election and remained a senior advisor to the governor before running for the state Senate in a special election in 2015. ---- 1:23 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from a representative for state Sen. Steve Glazer. This article was originally published at 12:42 p.m. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Who will be Californias next governor? New poll shows Newsom leads with 1 in 3 voters undecided By Seema Mehta (Nick Ut / Associated Press) In the race to replace termed-out Gov. Jerry Brown, the largest number of voters in a new statewide poll does not favor a candidate in the race. About 1 in 3 voters said they were undecided, according to the survey by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies. Among candidates who have entered the race, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom holds a strong lead with 28% of the vote, followed by Republican businessman John Cox with 18%, according to the poll, which was released Wednesday. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa clocks in at 11%, state Treasurer John Chiang at 8% and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin at 3%. Because the race is far away and public campaigning has not yet started in earnest, the poll could primarily be an indicator of name recognition. The field of candidates is also likely to grow. Newsom has several natural advantages: He was the first person to enter the race in 2015 and has a large fundraising edge. He has perhaps been the candidate most in the spotlight among the Democrats running, notably for his support of the marijuana legalization measure on the November ballot. Cox may have benefited from being the lone Republican in that version of the poll. Pollsters conducted a second version of the poll with five additional potential candidates, none of whom have announced a run for governor in 2018 San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon and former state Controller Steve Westly. Newsom still led the pack to come in at 24%. The two Republicans, Faulconer and Cox, tied at 11% each. Faulconer has said he does not plan to run for governor. Garcetti, Villaraigosa, Chiang, Steyer, De Leon, Westly and Eastin all placed in the single digits. Steyer and Westly have the personal wealth to self-fund a campaign, giving them time to decide whether to enter the race. Westly unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2006, losing in the Democratic primary to state Treasurer Phil Angelides. In the 2018 contest, the two candidates who receive the most votes in the June primary will move onto the November general election. The poll of 1,000 registered voters in California was conducted online in English and Spanish between March 13 and 20, and has a margin of error in either direction of 3.6%. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California legislators team up to expand John Muir National Historic Site By Sarah D. Wire Californias senators and Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) filed legislation Thursday to add 44 acres to the John Muir National Historic Site. The John Muir Heritage Land Trust has offered to donate the additional land to the National Park Service, which operates the site, and the bill would authorize the agency to accept the parcel. The time John Muir spent with his daughters at their scenic home and its neighboring property played a major role in launching the national parks movement. Expanding the existing park to preserve more of this history and beauty is a fitting tribute to Muirs legacy of protecting land for all to enjoy, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in a statement. Located about 30 miles east of San Francisco, the John Muir National Historic Site consists of Muirs Alhambra Valley home and 325 acres outside of Martinez. DeSaulnier said in a statement that expanding the property is a fitting celebration of his legacy, and will offer nature-goers greater access to enjoy the beauty of the East Bay. DeSaulnier sponsored the same bill last year, which passed the House unanimously but was not considered by the Senate. Feinstein and former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) carried the Senate version, which died after a committee hearing. Such bills often take a few attempts to pass, even without major opposition. Muirs writings helped inspire the creation of the National Park Service, starting with his lobbying of Congress to protect the Yosemite Valley from dams. He also was a founding member of the Sierra Club. Californians owe him a debt of gratitude, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said in a statement. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Californias attorney general could investigate local police shootings under new legislation By Liam Dillon Attorney John Burris, center, comforts Robert and Deborah Mann, family members of Joseph Mann, who was killed by Sacramento Police in July, after a news conference on Oct. 3, 2016. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) Californias attorney general could investigate local police shootings under a new bill authored by a Sacramento lawmaker. Democratic Assemblyman Kevin McCartys Assembly Bill 284 would allow local police departments or district attorneys to ask Atty. Gen. Xavier Becceras office to independently investigate police shootings of civilians. The legislation was prompted by high-profile police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Eric Garner in New York City and last summers police shooting of Joseph Mann, a mentally ill homeless man, in Sacramento, according to McCartys office. In all three cases, local prosecutors declined to charge the officers. There is a growing skepticism and a perceived conflict of interest, of the current process of local district attorneys investigating local police, said a fact sheet on the bill provided by McCartys office. Given that they work so closely, it is a valid question of whether this is the most transparent process for the public. There is a growing appetite, both at the national and local level, to create a better and more transparent system for [police shootings] that is fair to police, families, and the community in order to restore public trust. McCartys bill would make state investigations voluntary in these cases and would be implemented only if lawmakers also give Becceras office money to pay for the effort. In 2015, McCarty tried to pass legislation that would have made state investigations of local police shootings mandatory, but that bill failed to make it out of legislative committees. This year, lawmakers have generally scaled back prior efforts to change the states rules governing police discipline and transparency. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former offenders will help award millions in Proposition 47 grants to rehabilitate inmates By Jazmine Ulloa We have listened to law enforcement talk about how horrible Prop. 47 is, said Vonya Quarles, an advocate for the formerly incarcerated. Now we have a chance to help the people who are hurting. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)) California officials will begin the process this spring of awarding $103 million in grants to programs for inmates centered on rehabilitation, substance abuse and reentry into society. The efforts will be funded with dollars saved from prison spending under Proposition 47, the sweeping 2014 ballot measure that downgraded six drug and theft crimes to misdemeanors and allowed defendants to renegotiate their punishments. For the large coalition of criminal justice advocates that poured millions into getting the proposition passed and that has closely tracked its implementation, this is a long-awaited step. Other states have passed similar laws, but California is the only state to invest those savings into services meant to help people stay out of prison. On the executive committee helping award the grants are formerly incarcerated people who know the system from the inside. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement What would single-payer healthcare look like in California? Lawmakers release new details By Melanie Mason Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A proposal in California for a single-payer healthcare system would dramatically expand the state governments presence in medical care and slash the role of insurance companies. New amendments released Thursday fill in some key details on the universal healthcare measure proposed by state Sens. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), although the biggest political question how it would be paid for remains unanswered. Under the proposal, which was announced in February, the state would cover all medical expenses for every resident regardless of their income or immigration status, including inpatient, outpatient, emergency services, dental, vision, mental health and nursing home care. Insurers would be prohibited from offering benefits that cover the same services as the state. The program would eliminate co-pays and deductibles, and patients would not need to get referrals to see eligible providers. The system would be administered by an unpaid nine-person board appointed by the governor and the Legislature. A universal healthcare system run by the government has long been a dream of liberals, with many rallying behind insurgent Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders proposal for Medicare for all in the 2016 race. After a GOP effort to replace Obamacare stalled last week, Sanders said he intends to introduce a nationwide single-payer bill in the U.S. Senate. Proponents in California, who are no longer playing defense to preserve the Affordable Care Act, also touted a broader healthcare plan. With Republicans failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Californians really get what is at stake with their healthcare, Lara said in a statement. We have the chance to make universal healthcare a reality now. Its time to talk about how we get to healthcare for all that covers more and costs less. The cost sure to be the biggest hurdle for the measure so far remains unknown. The authors say they intend to pay for the program through broad-based revenue, but details of a funding proposal have not been hashed out. Gov. Jerry Brown sounded wary of a sprawling single-payer plan while speaking to reporters last week on his trip to Washington D.C. Where do you get the extra money? This is the whole question, Brown said. The bill is sponsored by the California Nurses Assn., which already has been rallying its members in support of the bill, SB 562. There has been a seismic shift in our political system through grassroots activism; we have an inspired, motivated base that will make its voice heard, RoseAnn DeMoro, the labor groups president, said in a statement. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California backs San Francisco court challenge of Trump administration threat to withhold funds from sanctuary cities By Patrick McGreevy Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said Wednesday he has filed an amicus brief supporting San Franciscos court challenge to President Trumps order targeting so-called sanctuary cities and counties that refuse to enforce federal immigration laws. The move marks a half-dozen times the state has filed briefs supporting legal challenges to various Trump orders. Last week, Becerra filed papers supporting a lawsuit by Santa Clara County. That case and San Franciscos challenge the legality of the Trump administrations threats to withhold federal funds from states and local jurisdictions that the administration deems to be sanctuary jurisdictions. Becerras brief cites Californias interest in protecting state laws and policies that ensure public safety and protect the constitutional rights of its residents. Threatening to take away resources from sheriffs and police officers in order to promote misguided views on federal immigration policy is reckless and puts public safety at risk, Becerra said in a statement. It is the right and responsibility of California and each state under the Constitution to determine how it will provide for the safety and general welfare of its residents and to safeguard their constitutional rights. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti asks the federal government to define a sanctuary city By Sarah D. Wire View Instagram post Amid a new call from the Trump administration to cut off federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck had a question for the head of Homeland Security on Wednesday: What exactly is a sanctuary city? Garcetti and Beck joined a bipartisan handful of mayors and law enforcement leaders from across the country in Washington to air their concerns about President Trumps recent executive orders on immigration to Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly. Los Angeles is among the jurisdictions often called sanctuary cities that dont assist with federal immigration enforcement. State and local leaders in California have said they will continue to protect people in the country illegally despite the Trump administrations threats. After the closed-door meeting, mayors and police chiefs said their main request for Kelly was for a firm definition of what the federal government considers a sanctuary city. We think that as long as were complying with federal law then we shouldnt be labeled with whatever label intimates that were not, Beck said. Were looking for clarification; we are looking to be involved in the conversation so that decisions arent made that affect us without our input. Homeland Security spokesman Dave Lapan said the department is working on a definition but does not have a timeline for when it would be finalized. Although there is no legal definition of the term, the administration has seemed to define sanctuary jurisdictions as ones that dont comply when Immigration and Customs Enforcement asks them to detain prisoners after they have served their sentences so they can be picked up for deportation. Multiple federal courts have said the detainer orders differ from an official warrant and are not legal justification for holding someone who has served his or her sentence or is no longer under arrest. Los Angeles is one of several cities in California that does not hold people for immigration officials without a warrant, and Garcetti said that is going to continue. We see it as abiding by the Constitution, because there is case law that says we cant hold people for longer than permitted, Garcetti said after the meeting. Lapan said the Department of Homeland Security is working on ways to address concerns about the legality of holding someone for immigration officials, as well as the concerns of mayors of cities that have laws instructing law enforcement officers not to comply with immigration officials. Part of having this discussion is to find out, How can we get around this? Lapan said. If we are dealing with a criminal alien, somebody who is both in the country unlawfully and has committed crimes, the best place for us to take them into custody is in a jail or prison. Thats the safest for everyone, both our officers and the communities. Garcetti also disputes the administrations assertion that it can withhold federal funds from cities that dont comply with ICE orders. Garcetti pointed to a 2012 Supreme Court decision that said the government couldnt withhold Medicaid funds if states chose not to expand access to the program under the Affordable Care Act. I think we all feel on very strong constitutional and legal footing that it was decided in the Obama administration you cant put a legal gun to the head, a financial gun to the head of jurisdictions, whether its states or localities, and take their money if you dont agree with what they are doing in a different area, he said. Garcetti invited Kelly to visit Los Angeles. We need to make sure that we also are showing the perspectives of everyday people in cities like Los Angeles, he said. Garcetti also attended California congressional Democrats weekly lunch and met privately with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) before appearing on an immigration panel hosted by House Democrats. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Anti-discrimination measure or blow to religious freedom? California bill sparks debate on employer codes of conduct By Melanie Mason Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A measure that would bar employers from firing workers for having an abortion or giving birth to a child out of wedlock is getting pushback from religious groups who say such a bill would prevent them from requiring employees to act in accordance with their faith. Under the bill by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego), employers would not be able to discipline or fire workers for any reproductive health decision, such as pregnancy, in-vitro fertilization or abortion. What this bill does is make sure that people can make the best healthcare decisions for themselves and for their families without the fear that theyll risk their livelihoods in doing so, Rebecca Griffin of NARAL Pro-Choice California, a sponsor of the measure, said at a Wednesday afternoon hearing at the Capitol. A teacher at a Christian college in San Diego was fired in 2012 for becoming pregnant while unmarried. The school said her pregnancy violated its employee code of conduct, which prohibited premarital sex. In 2015, San Francisco Archibishop Salvatore Cordileone sparked a backlash when he proposed a new morality clause in the faculty handbook and contract for local Catholic schools that opposed same-sex marriage and certain reproductive medical procedures. With employees being fired for code of conduct violations in other states, proponents said California should set an example for the country, Right now, while were facing a federal government that is attacking reproductive freedom at every turn and condoning the type of discrimination that this bill prohibits, we feel like this is the time for California to take a stand for our values and make sure that our workers have the best protections possible, Griffin said. But the proposal faces opposition from religious groups, who argue such codes of conduct are integral to the relationship with their workers. The bill would specifically deny religious employers our 1st Amendment protections to infuse our codes of conduct with the tenets of our faith, said Sandra Palacios of the California Catholic Conference. The reaction from religious groups was not uniformly negative. The Rev. Rick Schlosser, executive director of the California Council of Churches, which represents mainline Protestant and Orthodox denominations, pointed to the diverse positions on reproductive issues among his groups members to explain his support for the bill. Any legislation that limits peoples ability to make their own moral decisions is harmful to religious freedom, said Schlosser. But other religious groups said the measure threatened to undermine the very purpose of requiring their employees to abide by a code of conduct. An organization specifically chartered to support or oppose a specific set of beliefs or actions cannot fulfill its mission without requiring adherence to a code of conduct, wrote Jonathan Keller, president of the conservative California Family Council, in an opposition letter. Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond) asked why such codes of conduct should govern a personal decision an employee makes out of the workplace. Our community covenant does say that our employees are required to uphold our biblical values, and that certainly is a round-the-clock priority for us, responded Phillip Escamilla, the public policy chair of William Jessup University, a Sacramento-area evangelical Christian college Gonzalez Fletcher, herself a practicing Catholic, said she was not trying to unfairly target religious institutions. But, she said, she was trying to combat an inherent sexism that comes with enforcing such codes of conduct. A female employees reproductive decisions such as entering an abortion clinic or being pregnant out of wedlock can be seen by her employer, Gonzalez Fletcher said. A males decisions to whether or not theyre going to abide by a conduct never rise to that level, she said. So that inherent difference in how women and men are treated with these types of decisions just show how little privacy women are able to maintain. The bill, AB 569, cleared the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, its first legislative threshold, on a 4-2 vote. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gov. Jerry Brown, legislative leaders propose raising $5.2 billion annually to repair Californias roads and bridges By Patrick McGreevy (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Acknowledging that the states transportation system has been neglected, Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders on Wednesday announced a proposal to raise gas taxes and vehicle fees to generate more than $5 billion annually for repairing Californias crumbling system of streets, highways and bridges, as well as to increase mass transit. It remains uncertain whether Brown will be able to muster the two-thirds vote in both houses of the Legislature needed to approve the new revenue sources, which include a 12-cent-per-gallon increase in the existing 18-cent base excise tax on gasoline. The package also includes a new, annual vehicle fee that would average about $48 based on the value of the car. The package was announced at a news conference on the Capitol steps attended by Brown, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles). California has not approved an increase in the base excise tax on gas for 23 years, according to Brian Kelly, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency. As a result, the state faces a $130-billion backlog of repairs to state highways and bridges and local streets. There is sizable money here to make things better, Kelly said. People are going to get improved neighborhood streets. They are going to get improved highways and bridges, more faith that they are traveling on safe structures. And we are going to invest to improve the congestion into our trade corridors and congestion on their commute. Assembly and Senate Republicans released a joint statement opposing the plan. Californians already pay some of the highest gas taxes in the nation, the statement said. The transportation proposal announced by the Capitol Democrats is a costly and burdensome plan that forces ordinary Californians to bail out Sacramento for years of neglecting our roads. Brown has set a deadline of April 6, the day before the Legislature leaves on its spring break, to have the new package voted on by lawmakers. Because Republicans have generally opposed the tax increases, the package may need the vote of every Democrat to get the two-thirds majority for passage. Three Democratic senators had been holding off their support before the new plan was released. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Election officials say mistake on Korean language ballots substantially smaller than previously thought By Christine Mai-Duc (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles County election officials say a mistake made on Korean-language sample ballots in the upcoming 34th Congressional District race likely affected fewer than 780 voters. The error, which listed the races 23 candidates in the wrong order on some Korean-language sample ballots, was discovered last week after Korean American voters pointed out their mail-in ballot materials looked different than English-language sample ballots sent to the same home or apartment building. Initially, election officials said they didnt know how widespread the problem was. As a precaution, they sent bilingual notices and corrected sample ballots to all 8,251 voters in the district who received Korean-language sample ballots. None of the sample ballots enclosed with actual mail-in ballots were affected, officials say. In a letter to election officials and L.A. County supervisors Tuesday, the Korean American Coalition called it a violation of federally protected voting rights. The letter asked officials to host a 24-hour hotline for Korean-speaking voters until election day, provide more information on the scope of the error and extend the mail-in voting deadline for those who had received the misprinted ballots. In a response sent Wednesday morning, County Registrar Dean Logan said the error was limited to a small number of sample ballots in a single print run of 777 sample ballots. Based on the agencys review, Logan wrote, it appears that substantially fewer than the 777 voters were affected. The registrars office says it is extending the hours of operation for its voter hotline and staffing it with Korean-speaking operators. Voters concerned that they may have been affected can call 1-800-815-2666 and select option 3 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. this weekend. Voters will also see additional signage at polls addressing the issue and Korean-speaking poll workers will be instructed to remind voters to check their ballots. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Talks at Capitol focus on boosting California transportation funding by some $5.2 billion annually By Patrick McGreevy On Highway 1 in Big Sur, the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge has buckled, cutting off a community of hundreds from schools and isolating renowned businesses from customer traffic. (Robin Abcarian / Los Angeles Times) With a deadline looming, Gov. Jerry Brown is winding up negotiations with legislators in hopes of reaching an agreement on a plan that would provide at least $5.2 billion annually for a transportation backlog that includes repairing Californias aging and crumbling system of streets, highways and bridges, officials said Tuesday. Those close to the talks said an agreement on the package could be announced as early as Wednesday afternoon. The question remains whether Brown and leaders can muster the two-thirds vote needed to approve a phased-in gas tax increase of up to 12 cents by the April 6 deadline set by the governor. Key senators remained uncommitted to any plan as of Tuesday. And a new voter-approved rule requires a bill to be in print for 72 hours before it can be passed. The bill needs approval in both houses. Assembly Democrats were briefed on the evolving plan behind closed doors on Tuesday and some officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment, said talks are progressing on a plan that would provide the bulk of money to a fix-it first program of road repairs divided evenly between state projects and those of cities and counties. Money would also be dedicated to mass transit, bicycle, pedestrian and trucking routs for ports. The proposal also would include reforms proposed by lawmakers, including Republicans, that would hold officials accountable for proper use of the money, including a requirement for regular audits, creation of an inspector general position and a ballot measure requiring new money to be spent on transportation projects. Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) authored a bill that would put a measure on the ballot, saying Tuesday such guarantees are required given the urgency of the deferred maintenance backlog, and the additional burden we are asking Californias taxpayers to carry. John Myers contributed to this report. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Advertisement Watch: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director attends community meeting in Sacramento Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gov. Jerry Brown calls for countermovement against Trumps colossal mistake on climate change By Evan Halper California Gov. Jerry Brown warned that President Trump has just made a colossal mistake in gutting the federal governments effort to combat climate change, which will ignite a response Trump is unprepared to handle. It defies science itself, Brown said in a call to The Times shortly after Trump signed an executive order that aims to bring an abrupt halt to the United States leadership on global warming. Erasing climate change may take place in Donald Trumps mind, but nowhere else. Yes, there is going to be a countermovement, Brown vowed, predicting Trumps actions will mobilize environmentalists in a way President Obama never could. I have met with many heads of state, ambassadors. This is a growing movement. President Trumps outrageous move will galvanize the contrary force. Things have been a bit tepid [in climate activism]. But this conflict, this sharpening of the contradiction, will energize those who believe climate change is an existential threat. Brown and other big-state governors and mayors are moving swiftly to fill the global leadership vacuum Trump created with Tuesdays directive, which stops short of officially pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord of 2015. I see Washington declining in influence, but the momentum being maintained by California and other states aligned with China and those who are willing to do something, said Brown, who will be traveling to China soon for meetings on climate. There is a growing activism on the part of millions of people who will not stand by and let Donald Trump effectively tear up the Paris agreement and destroy Americas climate leadership and jeopardize the health and well-being of so many people. In the face of Trumps retreat on climate change, Brown said California will step up its own efforts to push others toward clean energy. We are not fully meeting the challenge of climate change yet, he said. We are doubling down on our commitment. We are reaching out to other states in America and throughout the world and other countries. We have plenty of fuel to build this movement. This is real, Brown said of the threat created by climate change. The nations of the world have recognized it in Paris. I will continue doing my best to work with and rouse the world community, whatever the politicians in Washington do or dont do. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California and its allies hint at new legal battles over Clean Power Plan By Chris Megerian California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) President Trumps effort to roll back the Clean Power Plan could quickly run into legal challenges from California and its allies across the country. State Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra and his counterparts from states including New York, Massachusetts and Oregon said they wont hesitate to protect those we serve including by aggressively opposing [Trumps actions] in court. The joint statement was also issued by Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and other cities. Californias stance isnt surprising because the state joined Obama administration efforts to defend the Clean Power Plan in 2015. Further legal action could underscore the determination of local and state governments to push forward with fighting climate change even as Trump withdraws federal regulations. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Meeting climate change goals will require billions for transportation and housing improvements, reports say By Liam Dillon A major push to get Californians out of their cars and onto their feet, bikes and public transit is essential if the state wants to meet its aggressive goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, according to new reports from the state and UC Berkeley researchers. Californians will have to drive an average of 1.6 miles less a day and regional government agencies believe it will cost billions of dollars to make the mass transit and housing improvements needed for that to happen. UC Berkeley researchers argue in a new study that a boom in dense housing across the state will bring major greenhouse gas reductions and economic growth. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California expects to be unscathed as Trump targets Clean Power Plan By Chris Megerian A solar farm in Kern County (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) Although Californias leaders may protest President Trumps announcement Tuesday that hes scrapping the Clean Power Plan, his decision is expected to have little effect on a state already marching toward renewable energy. In fact, greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation in the Golden State are already below what the federal government would have required by 2030, and theyre expected to drop even further. Rollback of the Clean Power Plan is pretty much irrelevant to California, said Frank Wolak, a Stanford University economist who has advised state leaders on climate regulations. The federal rules, enacted by former President Obama as part of his campaign against climate change, were intended to push states away from coal and toward cleaner energy sources. But that was already underway in California. Los Angeles, one of the last places in the state to rely on coal, was already planning to stop importing electricity from out-of-state coal plants by 2025. In addition, state law requires California to generate half of its electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2030, and state Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) has suggested pushing even further. When it comes to fighting pollution and climate change, there are some areas where California relies on the federal government. For example, they share authority on regulating vehicle emissions, and Trumps preparation to roll back federal rules has caused alarm here. However, theres less of a concern when it comes to generating electricity. Trumps moves have caused some anxiety among California companies that are developing clean energy technologies and looking for new markets to sell them. Bob Keefe, executive director of Environmental Entrepreneurs, said the Clean Power Plan would have been a huge economic catalyst. President Trump is basically telling Californias more than 40,000 clean-energy businesses and the 500,000 workers they employ that they dont matter to him, he said. Rail cars filled with coal in Wyoming (Ryan Dorgan / Associated Press) Its an open question how Trump could affect various efforts for California to integrate its electricity grid with neighboring states, an idea that has failed to gain traction so far. Advocates of the concept say regional cooperation could expand the market for renewable energy, but the lack of federal pressure to cut emissions could dampen enthusiasm in places such as Utah and Wyoming, which rely on coal. They dont have the Clean Power Plan bearing down on them, said Don Furman, who directs the Fix the Grid campaign thats seeking closer relationships among West Coast states. Ralph Cavanagh, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said he doesnt expect changes to the Clean Power Plan to harm efforts to create a regional electricity grid, because of the falling cost of renewable energy. The rationale is stronger today than it was yesterday, he said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California GOP lawmakers introduce bills to boost healthcare and jobs for veterans By Liam Dillon Sen. Janet Nguyen (R-Garden Grove) speaks at a press conference introducing a package of bills aimed at helping California veterans. (Liam Dillon / Los Angeles Times) Republican state lawmakers unveiled a package of six bills Tuesday aimed at improving job training and healthcare services for California veterans. Our veterans have served this country bravely and it is only right for us to recognize their contribution and see that when they do come home they receive the care and assistance they deserve, said state Sen. Janet Nguyen of Garden Grove, who authored three of the measures. The six bills are: Senate Bill 410 from Nguyen and Assembly Bill 353 from Assemblyman Randy Voepel of Santee, which would expand hiring preferences. for veterans. SB 409 from Nguyen and SB 485 from state Sen. Jim Nielsen of Gerber, which would increase mental health services and oversight at state veterans homes. SB 411 from Nguyen, which would pay some military reservists $100 a month once they turn 50 if theyve served for 10 years or more. SB 197 from Sen. Pat Bates of Laguna Niguel, which would waive state and local sales taxes for nonprofits that donate facilities to the U.S. Department of Defense a measure aimed at helping construction of a mental health care facility at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print These Los Angeles girls went to Capitol Hill to ask the Senate to fight new immigration enforcement efforts By Sarah D. Wire Fatima, left, and Yuleni Avelica, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) during a news conference on Capitol Hill. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images) Fatima Avelica, 13, was training for the Los Angeles Marathon with her father before he was arrested by immigration agents last month after dropping Fatimas sister off at her Lincoln Heights school. Fatima had to pause repeatedly, pressing her fingers to her eyes, as she told the story to reporters at a news conference in the Capitol on Tuesday. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) handed handkerchiefs to Fatima and her sister Yuleni Avelica, 12. The girls had medals from completing the marathon dangling around their necks. Democratic senators held the news conference to urge their Senate colleagues to reject President Trumps request for $3 billion to hire thousands of new immigration agents, expand detention facilities and build a wall among the southern border as part of his pledge to deport millions of people in the country illegally. The White House has characterized the moves as necessary for public safety. Californias Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris said Trumps immigration enforcement orders are too broad, sweeping up nonviolent offenders or people accused of the civil offense of being in the country illegally. She called the executive orders, which vastly broadened who can be targeted for deportation and leaves a lot of discretion to local immigration officials misguided and misinformed. Its irresponsible to paint a whole population of people as racists and murderers and bad hombres, she said, referencing one of Trumps own lines about immigrants. Its actually ignorant and we cant afford to run our country that way. The girls father, Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, a Mexican citizen, has lived in the U.S. for 25 years. ICE officials cited two misdemeanor convictions as the reason for his arrest. His four daughters were all born in the U.S. Fatima said the family is waiting for word every day on whether he will be deported. Fatima said she now wants to become an immigration lawyer. Its like a new marathon for me, and I know I can finish it, Fatima said, tears welling up again. But, I need my coach there. I need my dad. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Gov. Jerry Brown, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blast President Trump on climate change By Chris Megerian California Gov. Jerry Brown (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown joined with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday to criticize President Trumps pending announcement to roll back climate regulations and insist that their states will push forward anyway. Dismantling the Clean Power Plan and other critical climate programs is profoundly misguided and shockingly ignores basic science, they said in a joint statement. With this move, the Administration will endanger public health, our environment and our economic prosperity. Brown and Cuomo represent the two largest states with the most ambitious goals for fighting global warming, and theyve already set equivalent targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Theyre also pushing to generate half of all their electricity from renewable sources by 2030. With or without Washington, we will work with our partners throughout the world to aggressively fight climate change and protect our future, Brown and Cuomo said. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (Spencer Platt / Getty Images) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print To stem rising prices, a California lawmaker is taking on how hospital chains craft their contracts By Melanie Mason Amid concern that sprawling hospital chains are leading to higher prices, a California state senator is trying to clamp down on how hospital networks craft their contracts to win market dominance. Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) is offering a measure that would prohibit hospitals from certain contracting practices he sees as anti-competitive, such as requiring health plans to contract with all affiliates of the hospital or mandating that health plans agree to binding arbitration for antitrust claims. Weve lost a level of transparency thats affected affordability and access and fairness, Monning said in an interview. Multi-hospital chains are becoming prominent throughout the country, with proponents saying such mergers make care more efficient and better coordinated. But a recent USC study found that while hospital prices in California have grown overall, the costs are higher in the states largest chains. Once you control a market, you can artificially increase costs, said Monning, adding those higher prices can spill over to neighboring hospitals, too. Competitors think if they can charge this much for a hip replacement, were going to as well, Monning said. Another study by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute found premiums in Northern California were 30% higher than those in Southern California, in part because of the dominance of a few healthcare systems in the north. Micah Weinberg, the institutes president, said hospital consolidation was a logical issue to look at, particularly because healthcare coverage expansion under the Affordable Care Act is now under less threat from Congress following the failure of the House Republicans replacement bill. We have to double down on the real work, which is getting people access to quality healthcare and affordable costs, said Weinberg. One of the biggest barriers to that is the lack of competition among healthcare providers. Weinberg said much of the question is a matter of federal antitrust enforcement. Its really difficult to do things at the state level that are effective here, he said. Still, consolidation has increasingly come under scrutiny in California. The state attorney generals office under Kamala Harris, now serving as U.S. senator, investigated consolidation of hospital and physician groups, and the effect on consumer prices. Last year, the healthcare trust for the United Food and Commercial Workers union, sued Sutter Health, alleging antitrust violations. The Pacific Business Group on Health, an organization that represents major companies such as Wells Fargo and Chevron, also raised alarms on Sutters requirement that firms use arbitration to resolve disputes--or face higher rates for Sutters healthcare services. The business group is a supporter of Monnings bill, as well as the California Labor Federation. The California Hospital Assn. has not taken a position on the bill. ------------ FOR THE RECORD March 29, 2017, 1:52 p.m.: A previous version of this article reported that the Pacific Group on Health sued Sutter Health. The United Food and Commercial Workers healthcare trust filed the suit. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Los Angeles assemblyman returns to work in Sacramento after more than two-week absence By Melanie Mason Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) After more than two weeks away from the state Capitol, Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) was back at work Monday, with his staff blaming the absence on unspecified medical reasons. Im not going to comment on what the illness was, said his chief of staff, Darryl Lucien, who added that the legislator was feeling better Monday. Ridley-Thomas, 29, was not available for an interview to discuss his absence. He originally went on leave March 7. At the time, he did not specify an illness and so Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendons office considered him to be on personal leave. Under legislative rules, those absences did not allow him to receive per diem payments a subsidy intended to offset the costs of traveling and living in Sacramento. On March 21, he informed Rendons office that he was on medical leave, thus becoming eligible for the $183 per diem. Lucien said the original personal leave request was an error and that all of Ridley-Thomas time away from work was for health reasons. Its medical leave, Lucien said. He has a doctors note that was submitted, excusing him for the time he was out. Ridley-Thomas was not entirely absent from legislative work during that time. While on leave, he yanked one high-profile piece of legislation a measure that would exempt tampons and other feminine hygiene products from sales tax from a hearing in the Assembly Revenue and Taxation committee, which he chairs. The bills author, Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens), said she spoke directly to Ridley-Thomas about a request to amend her bill days before that committee hearing. Lucien said Ridley-Thomas was working on a very limited basis, fielding calls from members to the extent he was able to speak with them. A fellow Democrat, Assemblyman Bill Quirk of Hayward, stepped in to chair the Revenue and Taxation panel during a March 13 hearing. A subsequent hearing on March 20 was canceled. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Adam Schiff calls on Devin Nunes to remove himself from Russia investigation By Sarah D. Wire Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) on Monday urged fellow Californian Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) to remove himself from their investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Before late last week, Schiff had gone out of his way not to be critical of Nunes throughout the fledgling investigation. They have held the top positions on the House Intelligence Committee for two years, and have served in Congress together for more than a decade. This is not a recommendation I make lightly, as the Chairman and I have worked together well for several years; and I take this step with the knowledge of the solemn responsibility we have on the Intelligence Committee to provide oversight on all intelligence matters, not just to conduct the investigation, Schiff said in a statement. After much consideration I believe Chairman should recuse himself from involvement in investigation/oversight of Trump campaign & transition pic.twitter.com/jpfA1x80Si Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) March 27, 2017 Nunes last week surprised many when he told reporters that conversations between Trump and his transition team may have been accidentally picked up during legal intelligence gathering. Nunes briefed the media and President Trump before informing his committee. A spokesman for Nunes, who was a member of Trumps transition team, said Monday he obtained the information from a source on White House grounds, which raised even more questions. Nearly a week after Nunes announcement, committee members still havent seen the evidence, Schiff said. There was no legitimate justification for bringing that information to the White House instead of the committee. That it was also obtained at the White House makes this departure all the more concerning, Schiff said. Nunes spokesman would not comment on calls for the chairman to recuse himself. House Democrats have called for an entirely independent investigation, but short of that were coalescing around the call for Nunes to step aside. Among others, Schiffs Intelligence Committee colleagues Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) and Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) have also called for Nunes to step aside from the investigation. The House and Senate intelligence committees are both investigating allegations that Russia tried to interfere with the presidential election and what, if anything, the Trump campaign knew about it. So far, too many people in the White House and administration, and now the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, have betrayed their duty to conduct an independent, bipartisan inquiry into the Trump teams ties with Russia, Swalwell said in a statement. Chairman Nunes should no longer be anywhere near this investigation, let alone leading it. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said in a statement that Nunes had tarnished the chairmanship. She also said it was long overdue for House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) to ask him to recuse himself from the investigation. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Blasting federal action on immigration, Californias chief justice warns the rule of law is under threat By Patrick McGreevy California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye warned Monday that the rule of law in state is under threat. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye did not mention President Trump by name in her annual State of the Judiciary speech Monday, but she blasted federal actions on immigration and warned that the rule of law in the state is under threat. In addressing the Legislature, she also called on members to end years of underfunding of the state court system. The chief justice said the rule of law has failed repeatedly in the state, including when her husbands parents were among 120,000 Japanese Americans put in internment camps during World War II. Simply put, the rule of law means that we as a people are governed by laws and rules, not by a monarch, she said. People take the rule of law for granted until it is under threat, she added. I submit to you today that the rule of law is being challenged, she said. We are living in a time of civil rights unrest, eroding trust in our institutions, economic anxiety and unprecedented polarization. Cantil-Sakauye cited a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center that California was home to 79 ethnic hate groups more than any other state. Our values and our rules and laws are being called into question, and all three branches of government and the free press are in the crosshairs, she said. Without naming Trump, the chief justice criticized recent federal enforcement of immigration laws in which agents have gone into courthouses to take immigrants into custody. She said it was concern over the rule of law that caused her to write to the U.S. attorney general and the Homeland Security secretary recently, asking them to refrain from conducting immigration raids at or near courthouses. When we hear of immigration arrests and the fear of immigration arrests in our state courthouses, I am concerned that that kind of information trickles down into the community, the schools, the churches. The families and people will no longer come to court to protect themselves or cooperate or bear witness, she said. I am afraid that will be the end of justice and communities will be less safe and victimization will continue. The chief justice also repeated her concerns about the lack of sufficient funding for the judiciary even as legislators are adding laws by the thousands. Since 2011 when I became chief justice, 6,408 bills have become law in California, while the judicial branch budget has been shrinking, Cantil-Sakauye said. I have said before that we are on the wrong side of justice when it comes to funding our courts. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Its not just Berniecrats: Korean voters could also swing L.A.'s congressional race in a big way By Christine Mai-Duc Robert Lee Ahn, center, is the only Korean American candidate running in a field dominated by Latinos in the 34th Congressional District race. (Christine Mai-Duc / Los Angeles Times) The crowded race to replace Xavier Becerra in the 34th Congressional District, which includes most of Los Angeles Koreatown, appears to be bringing Korean American voters out in large numbers. Thats in part because in a field dominated by Latinos, Robert Lee Ahn has a shot at becoming the only Korean American in Congress and the first Korean American Democrat to be elected to the body. Ahn, a businessman and former L.A. city planning commissioner, has raised a formidable amount of money in a short period of time, much of it from donors in the Korean American community. His campaign spent weeks helping register voters at Koreatown malls and restaurants, and says they registered more than 600 new voters so far. Part of our campaign is to build awareness and get the community more civically engaged, Ahn said on a recent Friday morning as his campaign embarked on a 34-hour voter registration drive outside the BCD Tofu House restaurant. As a Korean American, obviously thats a natural base of mine. Inside, Ahn shook hands with supporters and navigated the lunchtime rush to ask for voters support table side. Some of it may be paying off. More than a quarter of the 10,841 mail-in ballots turned in for the race so far were cast by Korean American voters, according to an analysis of surnames, birthplace and translated ballot materials by Political Data. Koreans make up just 6% of registered voters in the district. Nearly half of Korean American voters who have already cast a ballot in the race did not vote in the March 7 city elections. Ahn, who has said hell bring a business sensibility and common sense to the office, says he has been running a campaign that reaches out to all kinds of voters. But the fact that there hasnt been a Korean American in Congress for more than 20 years means his candidacy has gotten plenty of attention from the Korean American press. I think people recognize the importance and historic nature of this election, Ahn said. I think theres a hunger for a voice ... and theres a palpable frustration of not being heard, not being properly represented, and I think thats what were seeing in the early returns. But the result of those early votes so far is unclear, particularly after elections officials disclosed that a number of Korean-language sample ballots had been misprinted with the candidates listed in the wrong order. Those who used the faulty sample ballots to cast their vote could have inadvertently voted for a candidate they didnt intend to support, and officials still dont know how widespread the problem is. Ahn isnt the only Korean American candidate to energize the community in recent years. David Ryu, the first Korean American elected to the L.A. City Council, rode to victory in 2015 with the help of a wave of support from Koreatown leaders. I believe a political awakening is occurring in the Korean American community all over the nation, but especially here in L.A., said Joon Bang, executive director of the Korean American Coalition. Our community is evolving and its beginning with understanding the power of their vote. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Nothing short of blackmail: California Senate leader denounces plan to cut funding from sanctuary cities By Jazmine Ulloa California Senate Leader Kevin de Leon. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) California Senate leader Kevin de Leon on Monday called U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions move to cut federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities nothing short of blackmail. In a statement, De Leon (D-Los Angeles) said Sessions and the Trump administration stuck to alternative facts when describing immigrants and sanctuary counties and cities, where local policies limit the cooperation of law enforcement agencies with federal authorities on immigration laws. Instead of making us safer, the Trump administration is spreading fear and promoting race-based scapegoating, he said. Their gun-to-the-head method to force resistant cities and counties to participate in Trumps inhumane and counterproductive mass-deportation is unconstitutional and will fail. De Leon was responding to an earlier announcement made by Sessions at a White House press briefing. Sessions urged all states and local jurisdictions to comply with federal immigration laws and said it would be a condition for receiving federal grants. Jeff Sessions: "countless Americans would be alive today. And countless loved ones would not be grieving" if sanctuary cities were ended. pic.twitter.com/sEgH3bvPwi BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) March 27, 2017 State leaders are still calculating the fiscal impact of the move in California, where the Senate leader has filed a bill that would prevent state and local law enforcement agencies from using resources to enforce federal immigration laws. Data shows sanctuary counties have lower crime rates than comparable nonsanctuary counties #SB54 https://t.co/rKZDsB8x8E Kevin de Len (@kdeleon) March 27, 2017 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California National Guard official tells legislators forced bonus repayments will be resolved by mid-summer By Melanie Mason A top official for the California National Guard told state legislators Monday that he hopes lingering issues from the soldiers being forced to repay enlistment bonuses will be resolved by mid-summer. A Times investigation last year found that the Pentagon demanded thousands of soldiers repay enlistment bonuses up to a decade after going to war in Iraq or Afghanistan. The claw-back came after audits revealed vast overpayments of bonuses, due in part to mismanagement and pressure to hit enlistment targets. The Times story prompted outcry that soldiers, who were not at fault for accepting the bonuses, were now facing financial hardship. Matthew Beevers, the deputy adjutant for the California National Guard, told a joint hearing of the Senate and Assembly Veterans Affairs committees that just over 1,000 soldiers currently hold debt due to the bonus recoupment. Soldiers who are affected by the repayment demand must go through a federal waiver adjudication process, which Beevers described as unnecessarily long, complex and resource-intensive. He said the state-run Soldier Incentives Assistance Center was working with those who need to navigate the complex process to get those debts waived. "[If] you got a bonus and you completed your obligation and for some reason, you werent entitled to it, weve done everything we can do ensure that those soldiers get to keep those bonuses and we continue to do that today, Beevers said. Beevers said the state is trying to locate all soldiers who may be carrying debts due to the enlistment bonus. For those who complete the federal adjudication process, around 50% get their debts waived, he said. At the end of the day, there might be 600 or so soldiers out of 16,000 who might have to pay money, which is a very very small number, he said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former California legislator Henry Perea will lobby for the oil industry in Sacramento By Chris Megerian (Tomas Ovalle / For The Times) As lawmakers debate the future of Californias climate policies, the oil industry is boosting its lobbying firepower with a former Democratic assemblyman from Fresno who has bedeviled environmentalists in the past. Henry Perea resigned his Assembly seat to work for a pharmaceutical group. Now hes jumping to the Western States Petroleum Assn. as a senior vice president, a role hes scheduled to start on May 1. Henry brings us unique expertise, said a statement from Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the associations president. He understands our state, our industry and how smart public policy can ensure Californias continued leadership in environmental protections while maintaining a diverse, vibrant economy. While serving in the Assembly, Perea led the so-called moderate caucus of business-friendly Democrats. He played a key role in stalling 2015 legislation that would have created tough new targets for reducing oil consumption. Environmentalists have made progress since then, successfully pushing through legislation to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Now these issues are being debated again as lawmakers consider whether to extend the states cap-and-trade program, which is intended to provide a financial incentive to reduce emissions. The oil industry supports extending the program, but its working to ensure favorable terms and to loosen the states other regulatory plans. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democrats out with ads targeting Rep. Mimi Walters for supporting GOP healthcare bill By Sarah D. Wire Republicans didnt vote on their plan to replace the Affordable Care Act on Friday, but Democrats already have ads out criticizing vulnerable GOP House members like Rep. Mimi Walters of Irvine for backing the bill. The Internet ads, paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will target 14 Republicans who voted for the bill in the House Budget, Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce committees. The ads will run for at least a week on social media sites, including Facebook and Instagram. Walters knowingly voted for a bill to raise premiums and deductibles, slap an age tax on older folks, and rip insurance away from 24 million hardworking Americans. Its critical that voters in Californias 45th District know where Walters stood on this harmful legislation, DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Lujan said in a statement. Walters, who serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, was one of the earliest supporters of the bill among the California Republican delegation. Rep. Walters is committed to improving and expanding healthcare choices, lowering costs and protecting taxpayers. Her votes in the House reflect those principles and she will not be deterred by campaign ads created in Washington, D.C., by Nancy Pelosis political committees, said her campaign consultant, Dave Gilliard. The DCCC has already announced plans to target Republican representatives of the seven California congressional districts that backed Hillary Clinton for president. Clinton won Walters Orange County district by 5 percentage points. Walters was elected for a second term with 58.6% of the vote. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Gov. Jerry Brown says California wont be running to the courthouse every day to fight President Trump By John Myers With many of his fellow Democrats demanding multiple challenges to President Trumps proposals, Gov. Jerry Brown said this week he will continue to support a more measured approach. Were going to fight very hard. But were not going to bring stupid lawsuits or be running to the courthouse every day, Brown said during an appearance Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press. Were going to be careful. Well be strategic. The governors interview, taped on Thursday in Washington, came at the end of a four-day visit where he sought common ground on issues ranging from transportation to disaster relief. Brown also took aim in a visit to Capitol Hill at the now-failed Republican healthcare proposal. In the interview, Brown acknowledged that he is seeking a different path forward than Californias legislative leaders and other Democrats who are aggressively pushing back on a variety of Trump proposals. Well, if everythings a lawsuit, yeah, were in trouble here. I do curb the exuberance on either side, he said. People like to escalate. Republicans do that, and Democrats also do that. So Im there somewhat as the senior statesman now, and Im going to keep everything on an even keel. The governor used the national television interview to repeat recent suggestions that California has a number of projects that are ready to go should Trump make good on his promises to fund a major infrastructure effort. But Brown staunchly defended Californias acceptance of immigrants, including those who are in the U.S. illegally. He argued that immigration has been a major boon to the states economy and invoked the teachings of Christianity to criticize Trump and his fellow Republicans. Trumps supposed to be Mr. Religious Fellow, and I thought weve got to treat the least of these as we would treat the Lord, said Brown, who trained to become a Jesuit priest in his youth. So I hope he would reconnect with some of these conservative evangelicals, and theyll tell him that these are human beings, theyre children of God. They should be treated that way. The programs host, Chuck Todd, asked Brown whether he could offer national leadership for Democrats in the Trump era. The governor, who ran unsuccessfully for president three times, said he was willing to speak out in any way he could be helpful. Following last weeks historic defeat of a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, Brown also offered Trump advice on how to help the economically struggling states whose voters put him in the White House. Its going to take some income support from the federal government, the governor said. Its going to take healthcare. Its going to take the kind of programs that the Republican Party traditionally doesnt like. So heres the dilemma. Yes, Obama was not able to help those people in the way they felt they had a right to. But Mr. Trump, now the burden is on you. And you better figure it out, or youre not going to be there again. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Small donations play big role in the 34th Congressional District By Christine Mai-Duc Congressional candidate Kenneth Mejia raised 90% of his money from small donors in the most recent campaign finance filing. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) More than 17% of individual contributions to all candidates in the 34th Congressional District came in small donations of less than $200, according to the latest campaign finance reports. The reports, which cover fundraising and spending between Jan. 1 and March 15, show that more than $250,000 of the $1.4 million raised by the candidates in the race came from un-itemized small donors, or those who gave less than $200 and are not named in campaign finance reports. Three candidates who raised a significant chunk of money from small donations were Arturo Carmona, Wendy Carrillo and Kenneth Mejia, all of whom are vying for votes from supporters of former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has preached the need to rid politics of special interest money. Many of the candidates have sent email pitches to supporters asking for donations of $10, $20 or $27, the amount made famous by Sanders, who often cited the number as the average donation given to his presidential campaign. Carmona, a former Sanders campaign advisor, raised the most in small donations, with $57,125, or 52% of his total. Small donors gave Carrillo $25,948, about 32% of her fundraising total and Mejia, an accountant and Green Party candidate, received nearly 90% of his total funds, or $31,957, in amounts of $200 or less. Federal law does not require candidates to itemize, or report the names of, donors who give below that amount. Alejandra Campoverdi raised $44,210 from small donors, who made up 28% of her haul, while Raymond Meza raised 48%, or $14,764 of his money from small-dollar contributions. UPDATE: 7:45 p.m. This post was updated to clarify that the numbers reported are based on un-itemized donations of $200 or less to candidates. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Robert Lee Ahn raised the most money by far in latest campaign finance reports for L.A.'s congressional race By Christine Mai-Duc Robert Lee Ahn, left, and Vanessa Aramayo, second from left, join the other candidates for the 34th Congressional District. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles TImes) Congressional candidate Robert Lee Ahn far outstripped some of the top fundraisers in the 34th Congressional District, taking a surprise lead in campaign finance reports filed Thursday. The reports cover fundraising and spending between Jan. 1 and March 15 and will be the last numbers well have before the April 4 primary election, in which 24 candidates are running. Ahn, a former L.A. city planning commissioner, raised a whopping $338,702 in contributions and loaned himself an additional $295,000, bringing his total to more than $630,000 raised since January. Ahn, an attorney and the only Korean American candidate in the race for a district that includes Koreatown, got more than $100,000 in contributions from donors with Korean surnames. The closest behind Ahn was Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, who raised $244,766 over the same period, the majority of it from political action committees, including many donations from fellow legislators in Sacramento. Sara Hernandez, a former teacher and L.A. City Hall aide, was close behind Gomez with $224,783 raised. Alejandra Campoverdi, a former White House staffer and former Los Angeles Times employee, raised $156,432. Ahn has also spent the most money so far this year, at $352,538, and has $271,271 in the bank, more than any other candidate. Gomez ended the period with $274,830 cash on hand, while Hernandez and Campoverdi have $149,990 and $122,961 left to spend, respectively. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Dispute in California Senate leads to ethics complaint against leader Kevin de Leon By Patrick McGreevy Then-state Sen. Isadore Hall III, left, talks with Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon in Sacramento last year. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Republican state Sen. Andy Vidak on Friday filed an ethics complaint asking for an investigation into whether Democratic Senate leader Kevin de Leon engaged in an improper cover-up of threats allegedly made by former state Sen. Isadore Hall III against a group of farmers. Anthony Reyes, a spokesman for De Leon, defended the decision not to investigate allegations against Hall. With due respect, the state Senate doesnt waste taxpayer resources investigating dubious hearsay accounts of private conversations held in hotel lobbies and thats what Senator De Leon clearly and politely communicated to Senator Vidak, Reyes said. Any suggestion otherwise is patently ridiculous. Hall, a Democrat from Compton, was appointed in January to the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board by Gov. Jerry Brown. The appointment was opposed by farm industry groups, including the Western Growers Assn., which complained he received contributions from the United Farm Workers for his unsuccessful campaign for Congress last year. Vidak said that he had heard from multiple people that on Feb. 28, the evening before Halls confirmation hearing in the Rules Committee, Hall allegedly made threats in an obscenity-laced tirade in the lobby of the Sacramento Hyatt Hotel that he would get the farmers opposing his appointment, the senator wrote in a letter to the Senate Legislative Ethics Committee. The board is a quasi-judicial agency that rules on disputes between farm worker organizations and growers. The alleged threats were made to four farmers who are members of the California Fresh Fruit Assn., Vidak said. Vidak said he had formally asked De Leon, as chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, to have the panel investigate the allegations and report the findings to the Senate. On Thursday, Vidak said, De Leon allegedly informed him that there would be no investigation. Senator De Leon told me yesterday that he and the leadership of the CFFA have worked things out so Hall wont be investigated,'" Vidak said in a statement Friday. Is this really how the Senate handles reports of threats and intimidation by someone pending a Senate confirmation vote? The association called the allegation that it worked out an agreement with De Leon baseless and false. The group said in a statement that Vidak did not talk to its members before he filed the complaint. If he did, he wouldve learned there is no agreement and that CFFA remains opposed to the confirmation of Senator Hall, the group said. Hall declined to comment on Vidaks complaint, said J. Antonio Barbosa, the boards executive secretary, responding on his behalf. Further, his testimony at his Senate Rules Committee confirmation hearing makes clear that he will be fair and impartial, make sound decisions, and speak to growers and farmworkers, Barbosa said. Reyes disputed Vidaks allegations. Chasing goofy conspiracy theories might fly on President Trumps Twitter feed, but it has no place in the California Legislature, Reyes said. In his letter to the ethics panel, Vidak says his complaint is that the Senates confirmation process of gubernatorial appointees may have been compromised in this situation. He asked for an investigation into whether credible information about potential criminal activity by an unconfirmed gubernatorial appointee has been intentionally ignored/withheld, and whether a member of the Senate Rules Committee is making arrangements with representatives of private organizations to bury investigations of gubernatorial appointees. Updated at 4:40 p.m. to include a comment from the California Fresh Fruit Assn. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A.'s GOP congressman: It is hard to find a consensus on something that impacts more than 1/6th of our economy By Sarah D. Wire A handful of California Republicans had declined to take a position on the House GOPs healthcare bill, and now they wont have to. Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale), the only Republican who represents L.A. County, said he was conflicted up until the vote on the bill was canceled Friday afternoon. In the past two weeks my colleagues worked to build a consensus on how best to repair our flawed healthcare system and build a patient-centered system that works for the American people, Knight said in a statement after the vote. We learned that it is hard to find a consensus on something that impacts more than 1/6th of our economy and the lives of almost every American. Saying they didnt have enough votes to pass it, House Republican leaders canceled a vote on their healthcare bill minutes before vulnerable Republican members like Knight would have had to vote on the effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Knights district is among seven Republican districts being targeted by Democrats in 2018, and several of the members who represent those districts never took a stance on the bill, saying they were worried about the effects on their districts and were still hearing from constituents. Experts estimated millions of Californians would have lost insurance under the bill. Just two of the targeted members, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) and Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine), said they would vote for the bill. Walters had no comment after the bill was pulled, but the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee came out swinging, with committee spokesperson Evan Lukaske saying, Walters now owns this until election day. Other targeted members seemed to brush off President Trumps plan to let Obamacare go its way for a little while. Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), who didnt take a stance on the bill, said afterward Congress needs to keep working on healthcare. Congress must come together to enact legislation to stabilize our healthcare market, reduce federal spending, and ensure we are able to maintain access to healthcare for Americas most vulnerable populations. Any potential solution must be thoughtfully considered, he said in a statement. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) flirted with voting against the bill, saying he was not yet prepared to support it, but never committed either way. The [GOP bill] was an imperfect approach and I believe that we can do better, he said in a statement. We will go back to the drawing board and get this right for each and every American concerned with high costs in their healthcare and ever-dwindling choices and access to care. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Despite threat of legal battle with Trump, California stays the course on vehicle emission rules By Chris Megerian Electric cars charge at a San Diego utility. (Rob Nikolewski / San Diego Union-Tribune) California will keep pushing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, state regulators decided Friday, even though President Trump is preparing to roll back rules in Washington. The restrictions represent a key part of Californias battle against climate change, and theyre intended to force automakers to build cleaner cars and sell more electric vehicles. Environmentalists cheered Fridays decision from the Air Resources Board. Were very disappointed by what were seeing at the federal level, so today feels warm and welcoming, said the Sierra Clubs Kathryn Phillips. California has the unique ability to set tougher standards than the federal government, but Fridays decision could put the state on a collision course with Trump. Under the presidents direction, federal officials are examining whether to loosen vehicle rules that were finalized in the waning days of the Obama administration. The California Air Resources Board meeting in Riverside this week. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) At risk is the existence of a national standard on vehicle emissions, something the auto industry has prioritized to reduce the complexity of its manufacturing operations. We should all be getting back to work on this, said John Bozzella, who advocates for international car companies as head of the Assn. of Global Automakers. Mary Nichols, chair of the Air Resources Board, questioned the industrys commitment to higher standards given their request for Trump to review the rules. What were you thinking when you threw yourself upon the mercy of the Trump administration? she said. A dozen other states have adopted Californias standards as their own, and environmentalists hope Fridays decision will foster a broader market for electric cars. This agency has seen federal administrations come The final day of Judge Neil M. Gorsuchs testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee got off to an awkward start Wednesday when the Supreme Court unanimously overruled the foundation of one of his opinions in a case involving the rights of children with disabilities. It was an embarrassing moment for President Trumps Supreme Court pick, breaking shortly after Gorsuch sat down for the third day of a confirmation hearing that has otherwise gone smoothly. Pouncing on the decision, Democratic senators quickly asked Gorsuch for a reaction. Advertisement Thats fine. I will follow the law, Gorsuch told Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) in a self-deprecating tone that has been his trademark during the hearing. He laughed and said that he had been handed the ruling on the way to the bathroom during a short break. If I was wrong, senator, Im sorry. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) came to Gorsuchs defense, noting that the 10th Circuit judges 2008 ruling itself had not been overturned, though it had played a key role in another case that was the subject of Wednesdays high court ruling. The high courts ruling Wednesday bolsters the rights of millions of disabled children. Justices ruled for the parents of a Colorado boy with autism who had removed their son from a public school because he was screaming in class, climbing on furniture and making no progress. They enrolled him in a private school that specialized in autism where he flourished. 9 questions from the inadvertent surveillance of Trump transition team They then sued the school district for a reimbursement, citing the federal law that promises a free appropriate public education to all children with disabilities. They lost in the 10th Circuit Court in Denver, which said the public school program was adequate because it was merely more than de minimis, or minimal. This phrase came from the 2008 opinion by a three-judge panel, including Gorsuch. But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., speaking for the court, said that standard was too low. The federal law demands more. It requires an educational program that is reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the childs circumstances, he said in Endrew F. vs. Douglas County School District. A childs individualized learning program must be appropriately ambitious in light of the circumstances, Roberts said. The goals may differ, but every child should have the chance to meet challenging objectives. The rest of the day went better for Gorsuch. In response to questions from Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Gorsuch distanced himself from Bush administration policies that authorized waterboarding of detained prisoners. She cited a 2005 document on which Gorsuch had hand-written the word yes next to a passage that said aggressive interrogation techniques had yielded valuable intelligence. What information did he have showing these techniques were effective? she asked. Gorsuch said he did not have clear memory of this from 12 years ago. My recollection, he said, is that that was the position that the clients were telling us. I was a lawyer. My job was an advocate, and we were dealing with the detaining litigation. That was my involvement. Gorsuch served one year in the Justice Department before being appointed to the 10th Circuit in 2006. The judge also refused Feinsteins request to endorse or accept the notion of assisted suicide for people who are terminally ill. She cited Californias end-of-life option act. I, in my life, have seen people die horrible deaths, she said. The suffering becomes so hard. Gorsuch said he could discuss this issue because he wrote a book on the topic before he became a judge. In his testimony, he repeated his view that dying people have a right to refuse further treatment, something the Supreme Court recognized 20 years ago. At one point, you want to be left alone. Enough with the poking and prodding, he said. But his book questioned the legality of allowing doctors to give willing patients medicine that could end their lives. He said doctors may give patients heavy medication for pain, so long as they do not intend the patient to die. I drew a line between intent and knowingly, he told the senator. david.savage@latimes.com On Twitter: DavidGSavage ALSO If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog White House attacks Democrats plan to filibuster Gorsuch 9 questions from the inadvertent surveillance of Trump transition team Just as the campaign for L.A.s only open congressional seat this year began to intensify, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti had a warning. Trust me, this will be a low-turnout election, Garcetti said a few weeks ago at a campaign kickoff event for Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat he already had endorsed. Do not take this for granted. This is a very crowded field and the people who bring out the most of their friends will win. For months, Gomez and the rest of the 24 candidates running in this central L.A. district have been trying to do just that. With 20 Democrats running in a left-leaning district and little daylight between their mostly progressive platforms, the candidates focus has been on the shoe-leather campaigning thats needed to win over small groups of voters and get them to the polls. Advertisement Theyve hosted neighborhood coffees, organized happy hours and trekked up hills in Mount Washington, trying to reach as many voters as they can in the districts 48 square miles, which wind through downtown, Koreatown and much of the citys northeast corridor. Some have predicted that participation by the 34th Districts 305,000 voters in the April 4 special primary might linger in the single digits, while others say it could be closer to the 20% turnout of L.A.s March city races. But political observers and candidates agree: With two dozen hopefuls in the race vying to at least finish in the top two, every vote has the potential to determine the result. The largest group of voters may be people the candidates already know people who are engaged enough to even be aware a special election is happening. Theyre also the kind of folks who are more likely to be party insiders and following local politics closely. Theyre people who are involved in their neighborhood associations, theyre involved in their school, theyre civically engaged. Theyre the kind of people who feel guilty not voting, said Paul Mitchell, who runs data firm Political Data Inc. Though the noisy liberal protests inspired by the Trump presidency suggest theres renewed excitement among those kinds of likely voters, there are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic about the prospects for overall turnout in this race. Off-year elections often are plagued by low turnout simply because voters dont know or care much about the little-publicized contests. This district, represented for more than two decades by Democrat Xavier Becerra before he vacated it to become Californias attorney general, has ranked among the lowest in voter turnout statewide in the last several years. And the April 4 election date, which is sandwiched between two unrelated city elections, has caused confusion. When one woman urged her Twitter followers to vote for Wendy Carrillo on March 7, the Democrat had to correct her: My election is actually April 4! Carrillo wrote. Voters who got their congressional election ballots just after the March city races complained about receiving them too late, until they realized they were intended for next months race. The condensed timeline for the special election has left candidates, many of them unknown newcomers, with the burden of introducing themselves, persuading voters and informing them about the elections existence all at once, says Carolyn Riggs, campaign manager for Tracy Van Houten, a 34-year-old Democrat and aerospace engineer who has pitched her roots in science as an asset in tackling issues like climate change and infrastructure. Its like a fierce hunt for voters, said Arturo Carmona, 38, as he went door to door in Boyle Heights on a recent warm afternoon. Reaching through the black iron gate at one house, Carmona shook hands with Estela Quezada and delivered his pitch. His eyes widened when she told him she was one of five registered voters living in the home. In an election that could be decided with as few as 30,000 votes, thats huge, he said. Carmona, Van Houten and many of the Democrats they face have vowed to fight deportations of immigrants in the U.S. illegally and want to protect the Affordable Care Act from Republicans. They share something else: In a top-two primary where the 42-year-old Gomez holds an advantage in name recognition, the unspoken goal for many is to clinch a spot and go head-to-head with the Democratic assemblyman in a runoff June 6. (In the unlikely event a candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, that candidate would win the election outright and there would not be a runoff.) The simple basic math if those Republicans come out to vote is that they are going to be 12% of the electorate. Paul Mitchell, Political Data Inc. This is a two-part race, Democrat Sara Hernandez said at a gathering Sunday, where about a dozen supporters sipped white wine and ate cupcakes in an airy downtown apartment. Hernandez, who casts herself as a former teacher who can bridge the disconnect between policymaking and its effect on peoples lives, has the same challenge as the rest of her opponents: building up enough support in a splintered liberal field to squeak into a runoff. That would defy conventional campaign wisdom, which suggests the lone Republican in the race has a better chance of breaking from the pack because so many Democrats are splitting the vote. While Republicans make up just 9% of registered voters in the 34th District, GOP voters are known to turn out more heavily, especially in low-turnout elections. The simple basic math if those Republicans come out to vote is that they are going to be 12% of the electorate, which could be enough to carry perennial candidate William Rodriguez Morrison to the runoff, Mitchell said. In especially low-turnout elections, Mitchell said, voters tend to be older, whiter, more conservative and much more partisan. Any top progressive vote-getter to face Morrison is almost certain to coast to election in June. Robert Ahn, the only Korean American candidate in the race, is trying to change that picture. His campaign has focused on registering new voters, particularly within the Korean American community. Since January, his volunteers and staffers say they have registered more than 650 voters. Six hundred voters could flip this election, Mitchell said. And theres some indication Ahns strategy is paying off. In mail-in ballots turned in so far, more than a quarter of votes were cast by Koreans, based on Political Datas analysis of surnames, birthplace and translated ballot materials. Koreans make up just 6% of registered voters in the district. With just over a week to go before the election, 10,841 voters already had mailed in ballots, more than twice the rate voters in the district turned in ballots for the March 7 election. Of those early voters, a whopping 43% did not vote in the most recent city election, and more than a third are new voters who have been registered only since 2016. Its not clear yet whether that could spell higher turnout. An explanation, Mitchell said, is that having just one question on the ballot might encourage voters to turn in their ballots earlier. Douglas Herman, a Democratic strategist, said those kinds of numbers suggest only that the election will overwhelmingly be decided by mail-in ballots. He expects no significant bump in overall turnout. I dont see any indications that this is a barn-burner turnout in this election, he said. Trying to buck that prediction has proved challenging for candidates. Carmona, after chatting at length with Consuelo Lopez, 71, and her husband, Conrado, was assured after Consuelo told him in Spanish, My vote is with you. But as he turned to go, Lopez waved from her porch: Esto es para distrito catorce, no? This is for District 14, right? Consuelo asked, referring to the City Council district in which she lives. No, Carmona corrected her. This is District 34, for Congress. christine.maiduc@latimes.com For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc. ALSO Heres what 23 candidates in L.A.s congressional race say on the top issues Could Gov. Jerry Brown be the new face of an anti-nukes campaign? Hes thinking about it FBI is investigating San Diego-area Rep. Duncan Hunter for possible campaign finance violations Updates on California politics UPDATES: March 24, 11:50 a.m.: This article was updated with new numbers of returned mail ballots in the race and with an updated number of candidates running. This article was originally published at 10:15 a.m. March 23. With federal authorities hinting at a possible crackdown on state-licensed marijuana dealers, a group of California lawmakers wants to block local police and sheriffs departments from assisting such investigations and arrests unless compelled by a court order. A bill by six Democratic legislators has drawn strenuous objections from local law enforcement officials, who say it improperly ties their hands, preventing them from cooperating with federal drug agents. It really is quite offensive, said Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood, president of the California State Sheriffs Assn., who said he objected to lawmakers wanting to direct law enforcement how they want us to work. Advertisement But proponents say the measure is needed to assure marijuana growers and sellers that applying for state licenses will not make them more vulnerable to arrest and prosecution under federal law, which designates cannabis as an illegal drug. Prohibiting our state and local law enforcement agencies from expending resources to assist federal intrusion of California-compliant cannabis activity reinforces the will of our states voters who overwhelmingly supported Proposition 64, said Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), the lead author of the new bill. The act of resistance is similar to legislation that would prevent California law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal immigration officials in the deportation of people in the country illegally. Senate Bill 54 would address that concern and make California a so-called sanctuary state for immigrants, while Jones-Sawyers legislation would similarly make the state a sanctuary for the marijuana industry. The immigration and marijuana issues have been given new focus by the administration of President Trump, who state officials fear is breaking from the policy of former President Obama, who took a more hands-off approach to both issues. U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions has indicated in public comments that he thinks marijuana is a danger to society. Last month, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer caused a stir when he said, I do believe that youll see greater enforcement of laws against the sale and use of recreational marijuana. In November, California voters approved Proposition 64, which legalized the growing and sale of marijuana for recreational use. State agencies plan to begin issuing licenses early next year. The new legislation would prohibit state and local agencies, unless served with a court order, from using agency money, facilities or personnel to assist a federal agency to investigate, detain, report, or arrest any person for actions that are authorized by state law. California authorities would also be unable to respond to requests by federal agencies for the personal information of anyone issued state licenses. The measure has angered some local law enforcement officials including Youngblood, who sees it as improperly meddling in law enforcement decisions in the same manner lawmakers are proposing with immigration law. This is ridiculous that this looks like a solution to somebody, he said. The sheriff said his agency frequently works with federal drug agents in task forces targeting illegal marijuana grows in forested areas of the county. He said he doesnt want to be prevented from working with federal authorities, even if the state starts licensing pot farms. [Growing and selling marijuana] is still a federal felony and we are still in the United States of America, and the state of California cannot take over the United States, Youngblood said, predicting that at some point the federal government is going to have to step in and say, You cant do that. The legislation has garnered initial support from marijuana industry leaders, including Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Assn. The election of Mr. Trump as president, and subsequent confirmation of Mr. Sessions as attorney general, has been perceived by many of our members to have increased the risk of doing business, Allen said. Businesses will need to feel confident that the state will protect them from the federal government. Current protocol and law obligates local law enforcement to cooperate with federal drug agents, he said. It is very hard for federal agents to go into a rural county and kick down a bunch of doors and arrest a bunch of people without the local sheriff being a part of it. Allen said. Its dangerous, actually. This is about giving them legal standing to actively not participate. Updates from Sacramento Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), a coauthor of the measure, said the legislation is needed because of a threat that the Trump administration might withhold federal funds from states that do not cooperate with federal authorities, although that threat has so far been limited to immigration enforcement. As this administration has threatened to defund California, we should not be expending scarce local and state resources to assist the federal government in ways that run counter to the crystal-clear wishes of California voters, Bonta said, adding that the measure, Assembly Bill 1578, will reassure responsible operators that the state wont turn them in to federal authorities. The assemblyman said it is important that the bill also protects the personal information of license holders so that they are willing to share it with state regulators. California is committed to not sharing licensee information with the federal government and thereby upholding the will of the voters in creating a safe marketplace for medical and adult use, Bonta said. The current policy of the state Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation would be to treat any request for personal information as a formal request under the California Public Records Act. The agency would determine, based on the information being requested, what is required to be released and what is exempt from disclosure under the law, said Alex Traverso, a bureau spokesman. Allen expects California to follow the lead of states such as Colorado, which makes public on a website the names of businesses and addresses of those who are given licenses to grow and sell marijuana. The Colorado website lists growers and sellers by the names of limited liability corporations and does not list who the individual investors and partners are. Allen said industry attorneys have advised him that some basic information about license holders will have to be made public. The bills provision on personal information is good symbolically and well-intentioned, Allen said, but we are not relying on anonymity as our pathway forward. To read the article in Spanish, click here patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com Twitter: @mcgreevy99 ALSO Heres why law enforcement groups are divided on legislation to turn California into a sanctuary state Trump administration signals a possible crackdown on states over marijuana Updates from Sacramento Kudos to Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman for boldly trying to free college students from paying tuition. That truly would make California great again, to plagiarize one Twitter addict. Plaudits also to the Stockton Democrat for specifying precisely how shed raise the $2 billion needed to finance the states largess. Unlike many of her lawmaking colleagues, shes not just throwing out a big spending proposal and hoping the funds will somehow appear magically. But hisses for selecting the money pot that she did: the million-dollar income earners. Advertisement Havent we in California been hitting these rich people enough? Theyre everyones pigeons. When do they just bolt the state and leave a big hole in the Sacramento treasury? Neighboring Nevada has no state income tax. Lake Tahoe, anyone? Or theres tax-friendly Arizona. Its top income tax rate of 4.5% is the 13th lowest in the nation. Oregon has a 9.9% top income tax rate, but no sales tax. Washington state doesnt have an income tax. Californias soak-the-rich income tax rate is ridiculous: 13.3% at the top. California voters reauthorized that last November to help fund education, mainly K-12 schools. Because of those high rates, the top 1% of earners pay 48% of the state income tax, as of the last count in 2014. That high tax rate includes a special 1% surcharge on all income above $1 million. This extra money goes to mental health care. Now Eggman has introduced a bill to pile an additional 1% surcharge on those million-dollar earners, lifting the top rate to 14.3%. The roughly $2 billion collected would cover all the California resident tuition costs not already being funded by various grants and financial assistance to lower- and middle-income students at the public universities. Everything has gone up, but middle-class wages havent kept pace, Eggman says. A middle-class income no longer affords a family the ability to send a child to college. Only a tiny fraction four-tenths of 1% of state income tax returns reported earnings exceeding $1 million in 2014. It amounted to 65,620 returns out of nearly 15.9 million. These people are easy touches at the ballot box because they are so few. But their incomes also are unreliable, depending on whether were in boom times or bust. Times now are good and the state expects that this year therell again be roughly 66,000 taxpayers with million-dollar incomes. But back during the recession in 2009, there were only 33,000. So under Eggmans bill, when the next recession hits, what would Sacramento politicians tell the college kids: Sorry, were hurting. Better go borrow big? Updates from Sacramento Then theyd likely be saddled with student loan repayments for many years, perhaps until their own children are headed to college. Thats the kind of stifling debt burden Eggman and other legislators are trying to end. If free tuition is good public policy and it certainly was for my generation then the broad public should pay for it, not just a few rich people. Eggman points out that since the tuition freebies would not be means tested doled out based on financial need wealthy students would also benefit. That is, if they were attending the University of California or Cal State not some private college such as USC or Loyola. UC tuition currently is about $12,300 a year, plus campus fees. Cal State students pay nearly $5,500 plus fees. All told, these tuitions bring in about $5.9 billion a year. But the UC regents have voted to raise tuitions by 2.5%. And Cal State trustees, after heated debate, voted Wednesday to hike its tuitions by 5%. Ive heard some people argue and had emailers write that if tuition were free, thered be less incentive for students to work hard and graduate in four years. College would be one big free party. Nonsense. My generation paid no tuition at either UC or Cal State. But college was hardly free. There were room, board and book costs. Many of us still had to work part-time. For me, it was two years of live-at-home community college, two years away at San Jose State and graduation. Then off into the world. I couldnt have afforded any more schooling. California provided tuition-free college for generations. It helped California achieve greatness by broadening the middle class and offering opportunities for upward mobility not available in other states. It was an economic engine. Gov. Pat Brown, Gov. Jerry Browns father, gets a lot of undeserved credit for creating this affordable, accessible college system through the Master Plan for Higher Education. Wrong. Pat Brown was a great governor, but the tuition-less college system had been created many decades earlier and was continued through Republican governors and GOP-controlled legislatures. The master plan merely clarified the roles of the three higher-education systems. Tuition reared its ugly head during the reign of Gov. Ronald Reagan amid violent anti-Vietnam War protests on university campuses. But the tuitions didnt really soar until the 1990s as the state cut back on college funding. It had other obligations: escalating costs of healthcare, prisons and K-12 schools. The latter was the result of Proposition 13 property tax cuts that greatly reduced local funding for schools. Eggmans bill will require a two-thirds legislative vote and the governors signature to reach the 2018 ballot. Thats very iffy. But if voters get a say, they might just enjoy socking it to the rich and restoring Californias greatness as a free tuition state. george.skelton@latimes.com Follow @LATimesSkelton on Twitter ALSO Heres an idea for legislators: Figure out how to pay for a spending bill before proposing it What does sanctuary state actually mean? Its time for lawmakers to figure it out Updates from Sacramento Adam Schiff views documents White House says back Trump surveillance claim By Michael A. Memoli (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) traveled to the White House Friday to view documents President Trump has said partially vindicate his claim that his predecessor ordered surveillance of him during the campaign. In a statement, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said he was told they were precisely the same materials viewed previously by the committees chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), which Schiff said should now be shared with the full panel membership. Nothing I could see today warranted a departure from the normal review procedures, Schiff said, adding that he could not discuss the contents of the documents, which remain classified. Nunes was shown the documents last week by White House officials surreptitiously, then announced to reporters the next day that he needed urgently to go to the White House to brief Trump about them. Schiff, in his statement, said that the White House has yet to explain why senior White House staff apparently shared these materials with but one member of either [Intelligence] committee, only for their contents to be briefed back to the White House. Schiff also had a brief but cordial meeting with Trump during his time at the White House, a spokesman said. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters earlier Friday that other Democrats have been invited to the White House to view the materials, which he said would shed light on their investigation. Both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees are conducting separate reviews of Russian interference into the 2016 election; Trump has asked each panel to also probe his own claim that his predecessor engaged in wire tapping of his phones at Trump Tower during the campaign, an assertion that has been denied by Nunes as well as the heads of the FBI and intelligence agencies. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Mnuchin regrets plugging The Lego Batman Movie, pledges to exercise greater caution in the future By Jim Puzzanghera Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday told a top government ethics official he should not have publicly plugged The Lego Batman Movie a film in which he has a financial stake and promised to exercise greater caution in the future. I take very seriously my ethical responsibilities as a presidential appointee and the head of the Department of the Treasury, Mnuchin wrote to Walter Shaub, director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. On Monday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Shaub to determine whether Mnuchin had committed an ethics violation last week when he discussed the movie during an event hosted by the Axios news website that aired on C-SPAN2. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Rep. Adam Schiff says its too early to consider an immunity deal for Michael Flynn By Associated Press The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee says its too early to consider an immunity deal for President Trumps former national security advisor. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) says that Michael Flynn even discussing possible immunity in exchange for protection from prosecution is a grave and momentous step because of the seniority of his former position. Schiff says the House Intelligence Committee is interested in hearing Flynns story, but there would have to be coordination with the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Justice Department on the terms. The House and Senate intelligence committees and the FBI are investigating Russias meddling in the 2016 election. The investigation includes scrutiny of Flynns ties with Russia. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump administration admonishes California chief justice over claim that agents are stalking immigrants By Del Quentin Wilber U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions (Mark Wilson / Getty Images) The Trump administration on Friday fired back at Californias top judge, disputing her characterization this month that federal immigration agents were stalking courthouses to make arrests. In a letter to Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, leaders of Trumps Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security objected to her description of federal agents conduct. As the chief judicial officer of the state of California, your characterization of federal law enforcement is particularly troubling, wrote Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, objecting to Cantil-Sakauyes use of the word stalking. They said agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were using courthouses to arrest immigrants in the U.S. illegally, in part, because California and some of its local jurisdictions prohibit their officials from cooperating with federal agencies in detaining such immigrants under most conditions. Sessions and Kelly told Californias top judge that she should consider taking her concerns to Gov. Jerry Brown and the cities and counties that limit local law enforcements involvement with immigration agents. Cantil-Sakauye, a former prosecutor who rose through the judicial ranks as an appointee of Republican governors, said through a spokesman that she appreciated the Trump administrations admission that they are in state courthouses making federal arrests. Making arrests at courthouses, in my view, undermines public safety because victims and witnesses will fear coming to courthouses to help enforce the law, she said Friday. She expressed disappointment that courthouses, given local and state public safety concerns, were not listed as sensitive areas offlimits to agents. Federal policy lists schools, churches and hospitals as sensitive areas. The letter from the Justice Department officials defended the arrests of immigrants at courthouses. By apprehending suspects after they have passed through security screening at courthouses, federal agents are less likely to encounter anyone who is armed, the letter said. The arrest of individuals by ICE officers and agents is predicated on investigation and targeting of specific persons who have been identified by ICE and other law enforcement agencies as subject to arrest, they wrote. Cantil-Sakauye had asked the Trump administration on March 16 to stop immigration agents from seeking immigrants at the states courthouses. Courthouses should not be used as bait in the necessary enforcement of our countrys immigration laws, she wrote in a letter to Sessions and Kelly. Her letter did not say which courthouses had been the location of such stalking, but judges and lawyers in Southern California have complained of seeing immigration agents posted near courts. She said she feared the practice would erode public trust in the state courts. Sessions and Kelly urged Cantil-Sakauye to speak to Brown and other officials who have enacted policies that occasionally necessitate ICE officers and agents to make arrests at courthouses and other public places. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Back in the spotlight, Hillary Clinton takes aim at Trumps budget By Evan Halper Hillary Clinton stepped back into the spotlight this week after laying relatively low since the election, and she had some advice for President Trump: Tear up the White House budget plan. Clinton was at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security to bestow an award named in her honor to Colombian leaders who helped bring an end to war in that country and elevate the role of women in the peace process. She spoke of the progress the world has made in advancing womens rights since she spoke forcefully on the issue two decades ago when the U.N. gathered world leaders to address it in Beijing. But she warned that progress is threatened by Trump. We are seeing signals of a shift that should alarm us all, Clinton said. This administrations proposed cuts to international health, development and diplomacy would be a blow to women and children and a grave mistake for our country. Clinton then raised the letter signed by 120 former generals and admirals beseeching the Trump administration not to make the cuts. These distinguished men and women who have served in uniform recognize that turning our back on diplomacy wont make our country safer. It will undermine our security and our standing in the world. A lot has changed since Clinton was on the campaign trail, but some things about her style on the stump havent. She pulled out a favorite line from last year as she began to talk about a study that backed up her point about the damage Trumps budget plan could do. Here I go again, Clinton said to whooping and cheering from an audience of mostly female students, talking about research evidence and facts. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Seeking a way forward, Trump increasingly finds himself at odds with his own party By Michael A. Memoli (Evan Vucci / Associated Press ) President Trump won his office in spite of the best efforts of some in his party. Now, the tenuous nature of the bonds between Trump and the GOP are increasingly on public display as the president openly feuds with conservatives and White House officials debate whether to reach out to Democrats in order to restart his domestic agenda. The latest and strongest evidence came Thursday as Trump escalated his political battle against the members of the House Freedom Caucus, the conservative lawmakers who helped block the healthcare bill he backed. Early in the morning, he said on Twitter that the caucus would hurt the entire Republican agenda if they dont get on the team. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018! he added. It was an extraordinary message, suggesting that Trump might try to back challengers in primaries against lawmakers of his own party something few presidents have tried, none with much success. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Tillerson tells NATO allies to pay more, do more to fight terrorism By Catherine Stupp Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday promised NATO allies that the United States will stand by their side but also expected them to spend more on defense and do more to fight terrorism. Tillerson participated in a day of discussions with foreign ministers from the 27 other NATO member nations, his first with the full roster of allies, who were sent scrambling last week to accommodate the top U.S. diplomat after he said he could not attend the meeting originally planned for early April. The United States is committed to ensuring NATO has the capabilities to support our collective defense. We understand that a threat against one of us is a threat against all of us, Tillerson said. But, he added, as President Trump has made clear, it is no longer sustainable for the U.S. to maintain a disproportionate share of NATOs defense expenditures. The United States is amping up pressure on NATO members to increase their defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product, in line with a 2014 agreement among the alliances 28 member countries to meet the target by 2024. Only five NATO countries meet the 2% threshold. The U.S. spends 3.61% of its GDP on defense, more than any other member of the alliance. Tillerson said that if countries have not met the 2% spending goal by the end of the year, they should at least have a concrete plan that clearly articulates how, with annual milestone progress commitments, the pledge will be fulfilled. Pressure to meet that strict deadline is likely to upset some allies. German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told reporters before Fridays meeting that he thinks it would be completely unrealistic for Germany to bring its military defense spending up to 2% of GDP. I dont know any politician in Germany who thinks that this would be reachable or desirable, Gabriel said. Germany is increasing its military spending this year to $39 billion, or 1.2% of its GDP. Gabriel rejected the Trump administrations focus on military expenditures, arguing that humanitarian aid and Germanys spending to take in refugees should be considered part of the defense budget. Tillerson also called on allies to take a greater role in the fight against terrorism. NATO can and should do more, he said. Fighting terrorism is the top national security priority for the United States, as it should be for all of us. Tillersons earlier announcement that he would skip the meeting struck a nerve among the alliance members, coming at a sensitive time when tensions between the Trump administration and NATO allies have soared. The schedule change caused an awkward protocol shuffle, with a handful of foreign ministers unable to make it to Brussels. What was supposed to be a two-day meeting was compressed into half of a day. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tried to cast optimism on the last-minute schedule change, calling it a sign of the strong transatlantic unity and flexibility of our alliance that we were able to find a date. The foreign ministers meeting is crucial because it lays the groundwork for a NATO summit with heads of state in May, which will be President Trumps first overseas trip since taking office. Tillersons day of talks at NATO headquarters in Brussels follows visits from Defense Secretary James Mattis and Vice President Mike Pence, who attempted to dispel fears that the Trump administration will seek to loosen ties with the alliance. Trump called NATO obsolete in an interview published days before his inauguration. He later insisted, during German Chancellor Angela Merkels visit to the White House earlier this month, that the U.S. will maintain its strong commitment to the alliance. Tillerson arrived in Brussels on Friday morning after meeting Thursday in Ankara, Turkey, with that countrys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to discuss terrorism and Syria, though the leaders failed to reach an agreement on how to combat Islamic State. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump weighs in on Michael Flynns request for immunity President Trumps former national security advisor, retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, is seeking immunity from prosecution in return for testifying to the House and Senate intelligence committees, a congressional aide said. The development was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Gen. Flynn certainly had a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit, his lawyer, Robert Kelner, said in a statement. No reasonable person, who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch-hunt environment without assurances from unfair prosecution. On Friday morning, Trump tweeted his support for Flynns request. Flynn was ousted as Trumps national security advisor last month after news reports disclosed that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about phone conversations with Sergey Kislyak, Russias ambassador to the U.S. The calls were picked up by U.S. surveillance targeting the Russian envoy, and a description of the contents was leaked to the Washington Post after the Justice Department warned the White House that Flynn could be subject to blackmail. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Former national security advisor Michael Flynn seeks immunity By David S. Cloud President Trumps former national security advisor, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, has been seeking immunity from prosecution in return for testifying to the House and Senate intelligence committees, a congressional official confirmed Thursday. The negotiations were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. In a statement, Flynns lawyer, Robert Kelner, said Gen. Flynn certainly had a story to tell and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit. No reasonable person, who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch-hunt environment without assurances from unfair prosecution. Trump fired Flynn three weeks into the new administration after news reports disclosed that he had lied to White House colleagues, including Vice President Mike Pence, about his contacts with Sergey Kislyak, Russias ambassador to the U.S. In December, Flynn had telephone conversations with Kislyak in which he discussed sanctions that the Obama administration had recently imposed on Russia to punish Moscow for its interference in the 2016 presidential election. Flynn denied to Pence and other officials that he had discussed the sanctions with Kislyak. So far, the committees, which are investigating Russian interference and whether anyone close to Trump colluded with Moscow, have not taken Flynn up on his offer, the Journal reported. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump administration appeals Hawaii judges order against travel ban By Jaweed Kaleem The Department of Justice has appealed a Hawaii court order that brought President Trumps travel ban to a national halt. The government has argued that the president was well within his authority to restrict travel from six Muslim-majority countries and put a pause on refugee resettlement. The appeal Thursday to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals came a day after U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu refused to dismiss his temporary block of the travel ban that he issued on March 15. With the appeal, the government is now fighting to reinstate the travel ban in two appeals courts on opposite ends of the country. That increases the likelihood that one of the cases will make it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice appealed a Maryland district judges order against the travel ban to the U.S. 4th District Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. Both rulings in Hawaii and Maryland said Trumps executive order discriminated against Muslims. Watson and U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland cited Trumps campaign promises to suspend Muslim travel to the U.S. as proof of his orders anti-Muslim bias. The Hawaii ruling is broader than the Maryland one. It blocks a 90-day pause on travel to the U.S. from nationals of six majority-Muslim countries and a 120-day moratorium on new refugee resettlement. The Maryland ruling only halted the ban on travel into the U.S. by citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The 9th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over nine Western states, is the same court where a panel of three judges denied a government request last month to reverse ruling against the first travel ban by a federal judge in Washington state. Trump, in turn, lambasted the bad court and signed a new executive order on travel on March 6 that was modified in an attempt to survive court challenges. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Senate heads for nuclear option if Democrats filibuster Gorsuch nomination By Lisa Mascaro One of the Senates most serious jobs confirming the presidents choice for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court has devolved into a game of political chicken. Senators are heading toward an institution-defining showdown next week as Democrats promise to try to block President Trumps nominee, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, with a filibuster, a rarely seen maneuver for high court appointments. Republicans are threatening to respond by changing long-standing Senate rules to circumvent the 60 votes that would be needed to overcome a filibuster. Instead they would allow confirmation with a simple majority. The outcome has the potential to not only shape the future of the Supreme Court which has been without a full bench since the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia last year it also could crush one final vestige of bipartisanship in the Senate, altering the upper chamber for years to come. The battle over the Supreme Court seat was always expected to be a partisan affair in todays heated political climate. But the polemics intensified after the Republican majority denied President Obamas nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, a confirmation hearing ahead of last years presidential election. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Scalias seat has been vacant longer than any Supreme Court justices in nearly 50 years By Colleen Shalby (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Its been more than 400 days since Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalias death left his seat vacant. With Republicans having blocked a vote on then-President Obamas nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, and with Senate Democrats now making plans to filibuster President Trumps nominee, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, it could take even longer to replace Scalia. Its not unheard of for a justices seat to remain empty for a considerable amount of time. Pew Research Center did the math and found that the longest gap was 841 days, in the mid-1840s, from the time of Henry Baldwins death to his replacement Robert Griers confirmation. But the last time in recent history that a vacancys duration in this range occurred was after Abe Fortas resigned in 1969. It took 391 days to fill that seat, an interval that ended in 1970 when Harry Blackmun the justice who authored the courts landmark opinion in Roe vs. Wade was confirmed. Blackmun was President Nixons third pick to fill that seat. The second-longest vacancy in recent years occurred in 1988. It took 237 days to fill Lewis Powells seat after he retired, with Anthony Kennedy succeeding him. Its been 58 days and counting since Trump nominated Gorsuch. Heres how his waiting time from nomination to confirmation stacks up against the current justices: Elena Kagan: 87 days Sonia Sotomayor: 66 days Samuel A. Alito Jr.: 82 days John G. Roberts Jr.: 23 days Stephen G. Breyer: 73 days Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 50 days Clarence Thomas: 99 days Anthony M. Kennedy: 65 days If Gorsuch is confirmed soon, he wont start considering cases until the courts new term in October. And if hes not confirmed? Trump would nominate another successor to Scalia theres no limit on how many times he can do that. Until Scalias seat is filled, lower courts decisions serve as tie-breakers. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Sens. Manchin and Heitkamp become first Democrats to announce support for Gorsuch By David Savage Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota became the first Democrats to say they will vote for Judge Neil Gorsuch and not support the effort to filibuster his confirmation to the Supreme Court. Their announcements came as no surprise. Both are centrists who have to run for reelection next year in states that voted overwhelmingly for Trump. After considering his record, watching his testimony in front of the Judiciary Committee and meeting with him twice, I will vote to confirm him to be the ninth justice on the Supreme Court, Manchin said. I have found him to be an honest and thoughtful man.... I have not found any reasons why this jurist should not be a Supreme Court justice. Heitkamp said she was impressed with Gorsuchs record as a judge. This vote does not diminish how disturbed I am by what the Republicans did to Judge [Merrick] Garland, referring to the GOP-led Senates refusal last year to consider President Obamas choice to fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. But I was taught that two wrongs dont make a right, she said. The Republican majority in the Senate needs six more Democrats to join with them if they hope to stop the expected filibuster of President Trumps Supreme Court nominee. It takes 60 votes to end the debate under the Senates current rules. But the 52 Republicans may vote to simply eliminate this requirement if the Democrats stand firm against Gorsuch. On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to approve Gorsuch on a party line vote and send the nomination to the Senate floor. A final vote is expected April 7. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print White House invites lawmakers to see intelligence material after New York Times report By Noah Bierman The White House has invited House and Senate intelligence committee chairs to review documents that it says were recently discovered by national security staff that could help determine whether information gathered about American citizens was mishandled. White House spokesman Sean Spicer would not say whether these are the same documents that Rep. Devin Nunes, the Tulare Republican who chairs the House intelligence committee, said he reviewed last week. Nunes has refused to identify his sources. Some saw his disclosure as an attempt to give credence to President Trumps widely refuted claim that President Obama had ordered wiretaps on his phone during the campaign. Nunes said the material he reviewed suggested that intelligence agencies had incidentally collected information about Trump or his associates. He has declined to be more specific or share the information with the committee. But the New York Times reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources, that two White House officials helped Nunes get access to the documents. And now the same information may be provided to other members of the Intelligence committee. In a letter to the bipartisan group of intelligence leaders sent Thursday, White House Counsel Donald McGhan said administration lawyers would supervise the review given the sensitivity of the documents to protect the extremely sensitive intelligence sources and methods. The letter calls on the committee to investigate the possibility that classified information was inappropriately gathered and handled and whether civil liberties of American citizens were violated. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters that he welcomed the chance to review the materials, though he said he would be obligated to share them with the rest of his committee. More troubling to Schiff, he said, was the cloak and dagger stuff and circuitous route that the White House national security staff appears to have used to disseminate the materials in that secret meeting with Nunes. Schiff said White House staff may have been trying to launder information through the committee, rather than simply providing it directly to the president. If that was designed to hide the origin of the materials, that raises profound questions about just what the White House is doing, Schiff said. We need to get to the bottom of whether this was some sort of stratagem by the White House. In a letter to McGhan, Schiff said answering the White Houses questions would require asking intelligence agencies how the information in the documents was gathered. I hope you will confirm to the committee whether these materials are the same as those first shared with Nunes, Schiff wrote. 2:11: This story was updated with staff reporting Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trumps team: A network of ties to Russia By Angelica Quintero The FBI is investigating possible coordination between people associated with the Trump campaign and Russian authorities during the 2016 election. The U.S. intelligence community has said it is confident that the Russian government directed hacking operations and intended to interfere with the U.S. election process. Take a look at how some high-profile people have been drawn into the investigation. See the graphic Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former RNC official is first to depart senior West Wing staff By Michael A. Memoli A former top Republican National Committee official and ally of White House chief of staff Reince Priebus will depart her West Wing post in the first significant shake-up of President Trumps senior staff. Politico first reported that Katie Walsh, the deputy White House chief of staff, will leave to take on an advisory position with political groups that were formed to support the presidents agenda from the outside. Walsh had served as chief of staff at the RNC when Priebus was party chair. At the White House, she served in a similar capacity under Priebus, tasked with overseeing the senior staff and the scheduling operation. Though White House officials denied the move was a signal of disharmony within the senior ranks, her departure spoke to issues dogging the new administration a top-heavy operation in the West Wing and also the inability of the president to sustain the kind of grassroots support for his agenda that proved key to his electoral win. It was abundantly clear we didnt have air cover when it came to the calls coming into lawmakers, and nobody can fix this problem like Katie Walsh, Priebus told reporters later, according to Time. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Putin: Read my lips, there was no Russian meddling in U.S. vote By Ann M. Simmons Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto during the International Arctic Forum in Arkhangelsk, Russia, on Thursday. (Sergei Karpukhim / AFP/Getty Images) Calling the accusations lies, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday denied that Moscow meddled in last years U.S. elections. Read my lips, no, Putin said during a panel moderated by CNBC, according to a report on the news agencys website. All those things are fictional, illusory and provocations, lies, the Russian president said. All these are used for domestic American political agendas. The anti-Russian card is played by different political forces inside the United States to trade on that and consolidate their positions inside. Putins comments came as the Senate Intelligence Committee was set to begin a hearing entitled Disinformation: A Primer in Russian Active Measures and Influence Campaigns, which will focus on understanding the method of Russias active disinformation campaign and assess the extent of Moscows interference. FBI Director James Comey confirmed earlier this month that his agency was investigating Russias intrusion into the 2016 poll and whether there was any collusion between Moscow and President Trumps campaign. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump levels extraordinary threat against GOP conservatives; Ryan says he understands presidents frustration By Noah Bierman House Speaker Paul D. Ryan commiserated with President Trump Thursday after the president launched a Twitter assault on the group of rebellious Republicans known as the Freedom Caucus. I understand the frustration, I share the frustration, Ryan told reporters Thursday, when asked to respond to Trumps threat to campaign against fellow Republicans. Freedom Caucus members, who back limited government and have defined themselves in opposition to the Washington establishment, have been a major headache for GOP leaders. Ever since the Republicans took control of the House in 2010, conservative refusal to back key bills to fund government agencies has forced GOP leaders to negotiate with Democrats for the votes they need. Freedom Caucus members helped lead the charge against former Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). The caucus was blamed by many Republicans last week for torpedoing the leaderships plan, backed by Trump, to make significant changes to Obamacare. Still, Trumps threat to fight them in the 2018 elections was an extraordinary step. Trump had previously made electoral threats against wayward members of his party, but Thursdays tweet was especially direct, threatening to treat them the same way as Democrats. The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017 Freedom Caucus members have begun pushing back aggressively. A spokeswoman for the group argued on Twitter that Trump did not have his facts right and that Republican moderates were equally responsible for sinking the healthcare bill. View Twitter post Finding Trump supporters to challenge Republicans in a primary would be hard and could further thrust the GOP into civil war. Trump, despite low poll numbers nationally, remains popular in core Republican districts. Many members of Congress, however, ran ahead of him in their districts in the last election. The president has also suggested he might be open to cutting deals with Democrats, something the White House has discussed but not followed through on. That would also be difficult, given the rancor on the left. Ryan said Thursday that the best path is for Republicans to come together on healthcare and other issues About 90% of our conference is for this bill to repeal and replace Obamcare, and about 10% are not. And thats not enough to pass a bill, he said. What I am encouraging our members to do is to keep talking with each other until we can get the consensus to pass this bill. But its very understandable that the president is frustrated that we havent gotten to where we need to go, because this is something that we all said we would do. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Pence casts tie-breaking vote to advance bill that would let states withhold federal funds from Planned Parenthood By Lisa Mascaro Republicans needed Vice President Mike Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote Thursday in the Senate to advance legislation that rolls back rules preventing states from withholding certain federal funds to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. With opposition from two Republican women, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Republicans did not have enough votes with their slim 52-seat majority to advance the bill. Pence, a longtime opponent of abortion, arrived to cast the vote breaking the 50-50 tie and will be expected to do so later Thursday on final passage. We just saw a historic moment, said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) It is a sad day for the United States Senate. The measure rolls back a regulation finalized at the end of President Obamas administration that explicitly prevented states from denying federal Title X family planning funds to clinics, like Planned Parenthood, that also provide abortion services. Under longstanding practice, no federal funds can be used for abortions, but federal family planning money can flow to the clinics to provide other healthcare services. Some Republican-led state governments had been moving in recent years to choke off Title X funds from any clinics that offered abortion service. The Obama rule sought to prohibit such practices. The bill Thursday, sponsored by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), has already cleared the House. It is part of a series of bills being passed by Congress under the so-called Congressional Review Act, which allows federal regulations put in place during the final days of the previous administration to be undone by simple majority passage. Passage by the Senate later Thursday would send it to the White House for President Trumps signature. Busy day in D.C., but always happy to make time to meet visitors touring the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/4q6JG8wP0E Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) March 30, 2017 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Senate committee narrowly approves Acostas nomination to be Labor secretary By Jim Puzzanghera (Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP) A Senate committee on Thursday narrowly approved R. Alexander Acosta to be Labor secretary, moving to fill one of President Trumps few remaining vacant Cabinet posts. The nomination of Acosta, a law school dean and former Justice Department official, was approved by a 12-11 vote by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. All of the panels Republicans supported the nomination; all of the Democrats were opposed. If confirmed in a full Senate vote, which is expected soon, Acosta will be the only Latino in Trumps Cabinet. A date for the final vote hasnt been set. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Follow the money and the trail of dead Russians, expert urges senators By Del Quentin Wilber (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) The Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday into Russian efforts to influence the November elections has been a long history lesson, tracing Moscows decades-long efforts to use misinformation to undermine democracies. But Clinton Watts, of the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University, provided a roadmap to better understanding the Kremlins efforts. He urged senators and the U.S. government to follow the money to figure out how misinformation websites and social media outlets are being funded. While the Russians conducted their hacking in the Internets shadows, their efforts to influence the election was hardly a secret, he said. You can hack stuff and be covert, but you cant influence and be covert, he said. You have to ultimately show your hand. And thats why we have been able to discover it online. The second way to trace Russian influence was more ominous: Follow the trail of dead Russians, he said. There have been more dead Russians in the past three months that are tied to this investigation, he added. They are dropping dead, even in Western countries. Watts didnt finish the thought but was likely referring to a spate of deaths of high-profile Russians, some of which appeared to be assassinations although others appear to have been from natural causes. With the daytime execution of a Russian politician in Ukraine last week, at least eight Russian politicians, activists, ambassadors and a former intelligence official have died since the U.S. election. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Russia has stepped up efforts to influence elections, experts tell Senate panel By David S. Cloud (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) Moscow has stepped up its interference in U.S. and European elections, using social media, hacking and other tools to undermine public confidence and to raise doubts about the U.S as an ally, Russia experts told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. The committee was taking testimony from experts in Russian propaganda and intelligence operations as part of its investigation into Moscows meddling in the 2016 election. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the panel, emphasized that in addition to examining the broad topic of Russian efforts to influence the election, the panel also must seek to answer whether President Trumps campaign had contact with Russian officials last year, noting the the FBI has opened its own probe. I will not prejudge the outcome of our investigation. We are seeking to determine if there is an actual fire, but there is clearly a lot of smoke, Warner said. Dr. Eugene Rumer, Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the panel that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably viewed Moscows meddling in the U.S. election as an unqualified success. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Tillerson meets Turkish officials to seek support for battle against Islamic State in Syria By Umar Farooq Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday met for more than two hours with Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as they hoped to shore up troubled relations between their nations. Making his first trip to Turkey, Tillerson became the highest-ranking Trump administration official to hold a face-to-face session with Erdogan, an increasingly authoritarian leader who is also a NATO member and key ally in the fight against Islamic State in Syria. The meeting went longer than planned. Turkey and the United States disagree sharply on how to combat Islamic State: Washington supports Kurdish militias that Erdogan regards as an arm of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey and the U.S. consider a terrorist organization. Trying to fight against Daesh through terrorist organizations such as ... extensions of the PKK, would be like shooting yourself in the foot, Erdogans senior advisor, Ibrahim Kalin, said ahead of Thursdays meeting. Daesh is a pejorative Arabic acronym for Islamic State. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Hawaii judge extends national halt on Trumps travel ban By Jaweed Kaleem Donald Trump in San Diego in May. (John Gastaldo / San Diego Union-Tribune)) The Hawaii federal judge who brought President Trumps revised travel ban to a national halt this month extended his order blocking the bans enforcement. The move Wednesday sets the stage for the Justice Department to appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the ruling. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watsons original order halting the travel ban was issued March 15, a day before the ban was to go into effect, in the form of a temporary restraining order. At a hearing in Honolulu on Wednesday, federal lawyers asked Watson to either dismiss that order or narrow the restrictions to apply to fewer parts of the travel ban. Instead, Watson said he would turn the order into a preliminary injunction, which has the effect of extending his order blocking the travel ban for a longer period. Watson said he would keep intact the restrictions on the travel ban -- a block of its 90-day moratorium on travel to the U.S. from nationals of six majority-Muslim countries and its 120-day pause on new refugee resettlement. If the Justice Department appeals the case, it will be heard in the same court that upheld a national halt to Trumps first travel ban last month after a Seattle federal judge ruled against it. The administration has already appealed to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals a Maryland judges more limited March 16 ruling that stopped enforcement of the travel orders country-specific ban. Both the Hawaii and Maryland judges found Trumps executive order to discriminate against Muslims. They used the presidents campaign statements promising to suspend Muslim travel to the U.S. as evidence of the orders anti-Muslim bias. Government lawyers have argued that the president is not singling out Muslims but instead acting within his power to restrict immigration and safeguard national security while better vetting procedures are developed to prevent potential terrorists from entering the U.S. Trump has said hell take the case over the travel ban to the U.S. Supreme Court. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Ivanka Trump gets formal White House role, with ethics obligations but no pay By Michael A. Memoli (Brendan Smialowski / AFP-Getty Images) Ivanka Trump is taking on a more formal White House role with a title but not a paycheck a move intended to quell ethics concerns raised about her status in her fathers administration. In a statement, the White House noted that the presidents elder daughter already had an unprecedented role in the administration different from that of previous presidential children. She now will take the title of special advisor to the president, and therefore assume the same responsibility to abide by ethics standards that other federal employees have, the statement said. The decision demonstrates the administrations commitment to ethics, transparency and compliance, the administration said. Although Ivanka Trump already had a West Wing office as does her husband, senior advisor Jared Kushner she now will have increased opportunities to lead initiatives driving real policy benefits for the American public that would not have been available to her previously, a White House spokesman said. The announcement came on a day when President Trump sought to promote his administrations commitment to empowering women. He delivered remarks at an East Room event that included other top women in his Cabinet, including U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Small Business Administration head Linda McMahon. Ivanka Trump held a roundtable with female business owners earlier, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said. Earlier Wednesday, leading Senate Democrats sent a letter to the Office of Government Ethics raising concerns about the increasing, albeit unspecified position Ivanka Trump had held and the potential conflicts of interest that her government position might trigger with her personal businesses, including a retail clothing brand. The letter from Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) asked the agency whether Trump would be required to divest herself of personal assets or if she could be required to recuse herself from certain functions. Trumps new position was first reported by the New York Times. In a statement to the paper, Trump said she was acting in response to ethics concerns, but noted she already had been voluntarily complying with all ethics rules. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Russia inquiry one of the biggest congressional probes in decade, senators say By David Lauter Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), right, and Mark Warner (D-Va.). (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) The Senate Intelligence Committees probe into Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election will be one of the biggest investigations in years and has already involved an unprecedented level of cooperation between Congress and U.S. spy agencies, the panels chairman said Wednesday. At a Capitol Hill news conference, the committee chairman, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, and its ranking Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, emphasized the bipartisan nature of the panels efforts, drawing a determined, though unstated, contrast with the partisan dysfunction of a parallel investigation in the House. The committee will go wherever the intelligence leads us, Burr said. And he pointedly refused to endorse White House statements that investigators inevitably will find that there was no collusion between President Trumps campaign and the Russians. It would be crazy to try to draw any conclusions at this point, Burr said. We know that our challenge is to answer that question to the American people, Burr said, referring to the issue of Trumps involvement. Warner said he had confidence in Richard Burr to run a fair investigation and produce a bipartisan conclusion. Warner said Americans should not lose sight of what the investigation is about: An outside foreign adversary effectively tried to hijack the election and favor one candidate over the other. They didnt do it because it was in the best interest of the American people, he said. "[Russian President] Vladimir Putins goal is a weaker United States. The Russian action should be a concern of all Americans regardless of party affiliation, he added. The committee staff already has reviewed thousands of pages of intelligence documents and has begun scheduling interviews with a list of 20 preliminary witnesses, who will be questioned in private before the panel holds public hearings, Burr said. He strongly implied that one of the potential witnesses is retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who was fired from his post as national security advisor to Trump after the disclosure that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about his contacts with Russias ambassador to the U.S. You would think less of us if the committee had not talked with Flynn, Burr told reporters. The witnesses, including Jared Kushner, the presidents son-in-law and advisor, will be questioned when the committee is ready, he said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Justice Department watchdog finds DEA cash seizure program may pose risk to civil liberties By Del Quentin Wilber A Ukiah, Calif., police officer works with a dog to search for drugs or cash in a motorists car on May 14, 2014. (Francine Orr/ Los Angeles Times) The way the Drug Enforcement Administration seizes cash and other assets may pose a risk to civil liberties, the Justice Departments internal watchdog reported Wednesday. The Justice Departments inspector general also determined that the agency does not measure or track how its asset seizure activities advance criminal investigations. Over the last decade, more than $28 billion has been seized through the departments asset forfeiture program. The effort and others in states have generated intense controversy in recent years, with critics contending that many seizures are unfair because some who lose their assets are never charged with crimes. Law enforcement officials, however, say that seizing property and cash is a key tool in disrupting criminal organizations and compensating the victims of crimes. Former Atty. Gen. Eric Holder in 2015 limited how state and local authorities can obtain seized funds by working with federal agents. In its report released Wednesday, the inspector general examined 100 cases in which the DEA seized cash. Eighty-five of the cases involved interdiction at transportation hubs, such as airports or parcel centers. Nearly 80 of those seizures resulted from the direct observation of agents or local police. The inspector general and the Justice Department have raised concerns in the past about such stops and searches, in part, due to the potential for racial profiling. Of the 100 cases, the DEA could verify that only 44 advanced ongoing investigations, led to a new investigation, or resulted in an arrest or prosecution, the inspector general found. When seizure and administrative forfeitures do not ultimately advance an investigation or prosecution, law enforcement creates the appearance, and risks the reality, that it is more interested in seizing and forfeiting cash than advancing an investigation or prosecution, the report said. The inspector general also found that the Justice Department does not provide enough training or require state and local officers working on federal task forces to be trained on asset forfeiture policies. The Justice Department responded in a letter to the inspector general that its analysis was flawed and its sample significantly underreported the amount of seized funds that are ultimately returned. In a statement, Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said, Asset forfeiture is a powerful and effective law enforcement tool, allowing the department to compensate victims, deprive criminals of the proceeds of their crimes, remove the tools of crime from criminal organizations, and deter crime. The department believes that the ongoing public debate about asset forfeiture is healthy, she added, but as outlined in our formal response, we strongly disagree with large swaths of this report and its flawed methodology that failed to address the essential role asset forfeiture plays combating some of the most sophisticated criminal actors and organizations, including terrorist financiers, cyber criminals, fraudsters, human traffickers, and drug cartels. 9:23 a.m.: This story was updated with Justice Department comment. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Hoax. Con job. Chinese plot. Trump tweets have bashed climate science for years By Michael Finnegan President Trump signs an executive order Tuesday to rescind Obama administration policies on climate change. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) As President Trump moved to halt federal efforts against global warming on Tuesday, he avoided an important phrase: climate change. It was the same story during his campaign for president; Trump rarely mentioned it. When he pledged in May to withdraw the United States from the Paris treaty, a pact among nearly every nation on Earth to reduce the carbon emissions that cause global warming, it was one of the few occasions when Trump broached the topic. Trumps muted approach made political sense. To reject science is to risk alienating millions of moderate voters who support action to stop global warming. But before Trump started running for president, he often bluntly attacked climate science. Some highlights from his Twitter feed: Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Supreme Court rules in favor of merchants who want to advertise credit card fees By David Savage Supreme Court rules on swipe fees (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)) Merchants may soon have the right to tell customers that they will pay a surcharge if they use a credit card rather than pay with cash. The Supreme Court cast doubt Wednesday on laws in California, New York, Florida and seven other states that make it illegal for sellers to impose a surcharge on credit card sales. In a 8-0 decision, the justices said these laws regulate speech and may be challenged as violations of the 1st Amendment. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said these laws do not prevent merchants from offering a discount for those who pay cash. Rather, they simply forbid disclosing that a posted price includes a surcharge of 2% to 3% for using a credit or debit card. Merchants want to pass the fees along only to their customers who choose to use credit cards, he said. They also want to make clear that they are not the bad guys -- that the credit card companies, not the merchants, are responsible for the higher prices. But the ruling Wednesday was only a partial victory for the five New York businesses, including a hair salon and an ice cream parlor in Brooklyn, that sued to challenge the ban on advertising or disclosing surcharges for using credit cards. The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York had upheld the law on the grounds it was a price regulation, not a speech restriction. Roberts and the high court disagreed. What the law does is regulate how sellers may communicate their prices, he said. A merchant who wants to charge $10 for cash and $10.30 for credit may not convey that price any way he pleases. He is not free to say '$10, with a 3% credit card surcharge. But the justices did not strike down the state laws, instead sending the case back to the New York court to decide whether this speech regulation could be justified. Sometimes, laws are used to regulate the words of commercial transactions to prevent buyers from being fooled or confused. Until recently, the major credit card companies had imposed contract restrictions that prevented merchants from disclosing surcharges. But those provisions have challenged and knocked down. That in turn led to new legal challenges against the state laws which forbid sellers from disclosing these surcharges. The case decided Wednesday was Expressions Hair Design vs. Schneiderman. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trumps poll numbers are low. But the people who put him in office say its not time to judge him yet By Noah Bierman Its been five months since the euphoria of a Donald Trump rally at the local arena brought optimism to this former Democratic stronghold. The snow from a long winter has begun melting into the rocky soil, and the digital sign in a torn-up parking lot blinks hopefully: Warm days are coming. President Trump has yet to deliver jobs or the repeal of Obamacare. But here, in an area crucial to his unexpected election victory, many residents are more frustrated with what they see as obstruction and a rush to judgment than they are with Trump. Give him six months to prove himself, said an information technology supervisor. Give him a year, said a service manager. Give him four years, said a retired print shop owner. Give the man a chance, said Crystal Matthews, a 59-year-old hospital employee. Theyre just going to fight him tooth and nail, the whole way. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print To fight womans defamation claim, Trump cites the Bill Clinton-Paula Jones case which the president lost By David Savage President Trump is citing Bill Clintons famous sexual harassment battle in his effort to block a California womans lawsuit claiming Trump lied about groping her in the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007. Problem is, Clinton lost that bid for legal immunity when the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 1997 that the chief executive is not shielded from responding to a civil suit regarding his private behavior. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement House sends Trump bill to kill landmark broadband privacy regulations By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) sponsored the repeal bill. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) The House voted Tuesday to kill landmark privacy restrictions for Internet service providers and sent the bill to the White House, which indicated President Trump would sign it and invalidate the rules before they go into effect. The measure, approved largely along party lines, repeals tough new Federal Communications Commission regulations that would require broadband companies to get explicit customer permission before using or sharing most of their personal information. The data include health information, website browsing history, app usage and the geographic information from mobile devices. The rules also tighten data security requirements. Republicans, along with AT&T Inc., Charter Communications Inc., Comcast Corp. and other providers of high-speed Internet service, strongly opposed the rules. They argued that the restrictions are tougher than those for websites and social networks that also collect and use the highly valuable consumer data, which companies use to target advertising. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print U.S. commander says theres a fair chance that coalition airstrike is responsible for civilian casualties in Mosul By W.J. Hennigan Rescuers are still recovering bodies from a suspected U.S. airstrike in the Iraqi city of Mosul. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) The top U.S. general commanding the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria said that the U.S.-led coalition was probably responsible for a blast that killed more than 200 people. If we did it, and I would say theres at least a fair chance that we did, it was an unintentional accident of war and we will transparently report it to you, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend told reporters Tuesday via teleconference from Baghdad. He made the comments in response to witness reports that an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition leveled a large apartment block and killed scores of civilians, including women and children, in west Mosuls Jadidah neighborhood on March 17. My initial assessment is that we probably had a role in these casualties, Townsend said. But investigators are still trying to determine whether other factors -- possibly including repeated airstrikes in the neighborhood or an explosive device accidentally or deliberately planted near the building -- could have led to its collapse. The fact that the whole building collapsed contradicts our involvement, Townsend said. The munition that we used should not have collapsed an entire building. So thats one of those things were trying to figure out in the investigative process. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gov. Jerry Brown calls Trump energy plan a colossal mistake that will galvanize climate change activists By Evan Halper Gov. Jerry Brown. (Gregory Bull / Associated Press) California Gov. Jerry Brown warned that President Trump has just made a colossal mistake in gutting the federal governments effort to combat climate change, which will ignite a response Trump is unprepared to handle. It defies science itself, Brown said in a call to The Times shortly after Trump signed an executive order that aims to bring an abrupt halt to the United States leadership on global warming. Erasing climate change may take place in Donald Trumps mind, but nowhere else. Yes, there is going to be a counter-movement, Brown vowed, predicting Trumps actions will mobilize environmentalists in a way President Obama never could. I have met with many heads of state, ambassadors. This is a growing movement. President Trumps outrageous move will galvanize the contrary force. Things have been a bit tepid [in climate activism]. But this conflict, this sharpening of the contradiction, will energize those who believe climate change is an existential threat. Brown and other big-state governors and mayors are moving swiftly to fill the global leadership vacuum Trump created with Tuesdays directive, which stops short of officially pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord of 2015. I see Washington declining in influence, but the momentum being maintained by California and other states aligned with China and those who are willing to do something, said Brown, who will be traveling to China soon for meetings on climate. There is a growing activism on the part of millions of people who will not stand by and let Donald Trump effectively tear up the Paris agreement and destroy Americas climate leadership and jeopardize the health and well being of so many people. In the face of Trumps retreat on climate, Brown said California will step up its own efforts to push others toward clean energy. We are not fully meeting the challenge of climate change yet, he said. We are doubling down on our commitment. We are reaching out to other states in America and throughout the world and other countries . We have plenty of fuel to build this movement. This is real, Brown said of the threat created by climate change. The nations of the world have recognized it in Paris I will continue doing my best to work with and rouse the world community, whatever the politicians in Washington do or dont do. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump orders government to dismantle Obamas climate change policies By Evan Halper President Trump ordered an abrupt halt to Americas crusade against climate change. (March 29, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR) President Trump on Tuesday ordered the federal government to retreat from the battle against climate change launched by President Obama, issuing a directive aimed at dismantling the core policies that have made the U.S. a global leader in curbing emissions. The plan unveiled by Trump reflects an about-face for the U.S. on energy, and it puts into jeopardy the nations ability to meet the obligations it agreed to under the global warming pact signed in Paris with 194 other nations. It would shelve the landmark Clean Power Plan that mandates electricity companies reduce their emissions. It seeks to dislodge consideration of climate throughout the federal government, where it has been a factor in every relevant decision in recent years. My administration is putting an end to the war on coal, Trump said. I am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on American energy to reverse government intrusions and to cancel job killing regulations. Under the order, the government will abandon the social cost of carbon that regulators had painstakingly calculated and begun factoring into their decision on permit applications and rulemaking. Restrictions on methane releases at oil and gas drilling facilities would be eased. Agencies will also stop contemplating climate impacts as they launch into new projects, and restrictions on coal leasing and fracking on federal lands will be lifted. The directive, for which progressive states and environmentalists have been preparing for months, is certain to set off years of litigation and conflicts between Washington and state capitols. Some of the most far-reaching policies Trump is seeking to bring to a halt cannot be canceled unilaterally and require lengthy administrative proceedings. But others he can end with the stroke of his pen. Smoke rises from the Colstrip Steam Electric Station, a coal-burning power plant in Colstrip, Mont., on July 1, 2103. (Matt Brown / Associated Press) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement A trade war is brewing inside the White House between rival camps By Don Lee Soon after President Trump took office, an executive order was quietly drafted to suspend talks with China on an obscure but potentially far-reaching treaty about bilateral investment. After eight years and two dozen rounds of negotiations, the treaty terms were almost in final form. Pulling out after so much time and effort would send a clear message that the Trump administration meant to take a new and tougher approach to China. But the executive order never even got to the presidents desk. It was quietly shelved, according to sources inside and outside the White House, at the behest of former Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn, now Trumps top economic advisor. Killing the order was a small victory for a White House faction that supports free trade and the global economy. But it was only an opening skirmish in what promises to be a long and bitter struggle over trade policy that so far is being waged behind the scenes in the Trump administration. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Supreme Court reverses death sentence for Texas inmate who could not tell time or name the days of the week By David Savage The Supreme Court set aside a death sentence on Tuesday for a Texas inmate who as a 13-year-old could not tell time or name the days of the week, concluding he should not be executed in light of his mental disability. In a 5-3 decision, the justices reversed the Texas state appeals court that had restored a death sentence given to Bobby James Moore, a 57-year old prisoner who shot and killed a store clerk in a botched robbery in 1980. At issue was whether Moore had a mental disability that would make his execution cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment. The justices banned states from executing prisoners with a mental disability, but they left states some flexibility to set the standards. But three years ago, the justices faulted Florida authorities for relying almost entirely on I.Q. scores. In the Texas case decided Tuesday, the justices said state judges had ignored ample evidence that Moore had severe mental disability as a child. That evidence was not overcome by the fact that he had adapted well in prison, they said. At 13, Moore lacked the basic understanding of the days of the week, the months of the year and the seasons; he could scarcely tell time or comprehend the standards of measure, said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. After failing every subject in the ninth grade, Moore dropped out of high school. Cast out of his home, he survived on the streets, eating from trash cans, even after two bouts of food poisoning. After fatally shooting the clerk in the 1980 robbery, he was sentenced to death. The Texas courts reexamined his sentence after the high court abolished capital punishment in 2002 for defendants with a mental disability. A state judge listened to experts and set aside Moores death sentence, But the states criminal appeals court disagreed. Its judges said Moore had demonstrated adaptive strength by living on the streets and carrying out a robbery, and therefore did not qualify as having a severe mental impairment. Ginsburg said the state judges had relied on an outdated understanding of mental disability, and her opinion in Moore vs. Texas said the state court must reconsidere its decision. Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan agreed. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. dissented. While he agreed the states authorities may have used outdated standards, Moore had I.Q. scores ranging from 69 to 79 that show he did not have the significantly sub-average intellectual functioning that would exempt him from the death penalty. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito agreed. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print The Freedom Caucus roars back to relevance to challenge Trumps agenda and strategy By Lisa Mascaro When House Speaker Paul D. Ryan pulled the plug on the GOPs Obamacare overhaul, lawmakers spilled out of the Capitol basement, angry, frustrated and stunned. But Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), leader of the conservative and rebellious House Freedom Caucus that led the fight against the bill, was uncharacteristically quiet, downplaying his political victory and mulling over the next move. After coming together to battle President Obama and becoming a driving force in the Republican Party, this 30-member-plus bloc of deficit hawks and right-flank conservatives had appeared for a while to be pushed aside by the movement that swept President Trump into office. But after helping defeat the GOP healthcare overhaul, the Freedom Caucus has roared back to relevance as a political power in the Trump era. It has reasserted itself as not just a renegade assemblage of mostly back-bench lawmakers, but as a core block of votes that Trump will need to push past the healthcare debacle to tax reform, budget battles and other issues. These guys saved the Republicans, said Adam Brandon, president of FreedomWorks, a group that organized a North Carolina rally on Monday in honor of Meadows. As beaten and battered as they are, weve got a group thats willing to take the hard decisions. If youre going to drain the swamp, these are the guys who are going to do it. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print White House stopped Yates testimony about Russian meddling in presidential election, lawyer says By Associated Press A lawyer for former Deputy Atty. Gen. Sally Yates said in letters last week that the Trump administration had moved to squelch her testimony in a hearing about Russian meddling in the presidential election. In the letters, attorney David ONeil said he understood the Justice Department was invoking further constraints on testimony she could provide at a House Intelligence Committee hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday. He said the departments position was that all actions she took as deputy attorney general were client confidences that could not be disclosed without written approval. The Washington Post first reported the letters. A person familiar with the situation confirmed them as authentic to the Associated Press. The White House called the Post story entirely false. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and part of Trumps transition team, last week announced that the committee was canceling the planned public hearing with Yates and two former Obama administration intelligence officials the former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Did Mnuchin cross an ethical line in plugging The Lego Batman Movie? A senator wants to know By Jim Puzzanghera (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) A Democratic senator wants to know if Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin committed an ethics violation when he publicly plugged The Lego Batman Movie, a film in which he has a financial stake. A former Hollywood financier, Mnuchin was asked at the end of a question-and-answer session on Friday hosted by the Axios news website to name a movie people should see. Well, Im not allowed to promote anything that Im involved in. So I just want to have the legal disclosure, youve asked me the question and I am not promoting any product, Mnuchin said at the event, which aired on C-SPAN2. But you should send all your kids to Lego Batman, he said. The crowd laughed. But Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, wasnt amused. Hes asking the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to look into the comments. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Venezuela hits back in showdown with OAS, U.S. over democracy By Tracy Wilkinson The Venezuelan foreign minister had harsh words Monday for the regional organization that is considering sanctioning her country for its failure to hold democratic elections. Delcy Rodriguez, the foreign minister, accused the Organization of American States of wanting not to punish Venezuela but to destroy it. Rodriguez appeared at an OAS panel convened in Washington. D.C., after the United States and 13 other of the hemispheres nations united to demand the leftist Venezuelan government free political prisoners and set a date for long-overdue elections. Failure to do so, the 14 countries warned, could trigger a decision to suspend Venezuela from the 69-year-old regional body. OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro, a former Uruguayan foreign minister, has been especially critical of Venezuelas embattled government. He noted that President Nicolas Maduro canceled both a referendum that could have recalled his government and later regional elections, after the opposition made huge gains in parliamentary voting in 2015. In addition, thousands of people have been arrested for their political beliefs, Almagro said, including opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has been in jail for three years. But Rodriguez, in a speech to the OAS panel, said Venezuelas revolution continues strong. She accused Almagro of being a stooge of the U.S. government, a lying mercenary who is a traitor to everything a Latin American diplomat should represent. He lacks independence when he voluntarily bows to the wishes of the most powerful nation of this organization -- and becomes its spokesman, Rodriguez said. Although the OAS has often been accused of pro-Washington tendencies, 13 nations in addition to the United States have joined to condemn Venezuela, a significant shift in Latin America away from populist regimes. Other leftist-ruled countries, like Bolivia, have said they will support Venezuela. Rodriguez said the accusations against her government were unilateral, unjustified and biased. She called on the OAS to suspend discussion of Venezuela, but another session was scheduled to proceed on Tuesday -- the same day Maduros Socialist Party is planning big anti-imperialism marches at home. All of the countries most critical of Venezuela, including the United States, say suspension of the oil-rich, Caribbean country from the OAS should be a measure of last resort. Despite its oil wealth, Venezuela is in the throes of an economic and humanitarian disaster, with severe shortages of food and medicine and skyrocketing inflation and homicide rates. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions criticizes sanctuary cities but offers no new policies By Michael A. Memoli Decrying the safety risk posed when cities dont cooperate with federal immigration authorities, Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions repeated previous statements that the Trump administration would seek to deny so-called sanctuary cities some federal grant fun Decrying the safety risk posed when cities dont cooperate with federal immigration authorities, Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions repeated previous statements that the Trump administration would seek to deny so-called sanctuary cities some federal grant funds, but offered no new policies. Despite his high-profile appearance at the White House briefing room, Sessions merely reiterated Obama administration policy related to immigration. Justice Department officials said any new measures would be weeks or months in the future. The Obama administration issued instructions last July that required any cities applying for Justice Department grant programs be in compliance with federal law requiring cooperation between local, state and federal agencies with requests from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Sessions noted that any jurisdiction applying for grants from his department would have to certify that compliance. The Justice Department already has been requiring that, which indicates that police and sheriff departments which currently have Justice Department grants already have been asserting that they are meeting the requirements of federal law. Although many cities have policies that they, or critics, characterize using the label sanctuary, those policies do not necessarily mean they are violating the law. Sessions did say that the Justice Department could in the future institute additional requirements, but announced none. Fundamentally, we intend to use all the lawful authority we have to make sure that our state and local officials, who are so important to law enforcement, are in sync with the federal government, he said. He did offer a warning to jurisdictions considering adopting sanctuary status. The California legislature is considering a proposal to institute the designation statewide; Sessions, though, singled out Maryland for a similar proposal. That would be such a mistake, Sessions said, while noting Marylands Republican governor opposes the change proposed by the heavily-Democratic legislature. Sessions cited a high-profile case in San Francisco where a 32-year-old woman was killed by man who had been previously deported multiple times despite a request by immigration authorities to continue his detention to illustrate the administrations case against such policies. Countless Americans would be alive today and countless loved ones would not be grieving today if these policies of sanctuary cities were ended, Sessions claimed. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Devin Nunes plot thickens, as his spokesman concedes he met source for surveillance claim at White House By David S. Cloud The day before the House Intelligence Committee chairman revealed that conversations by Trump transition officials may have been inadvertently picked up by U.S. surveillance, he met with the source of the information at the White House, his spokesman said Monday Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), went to the White House because there was a facility there for reviewing classified information, said Jack Langer, a spokesman for Nunes, who has refused to divulge the identity of his source. Chairman Nunes met with his source at the White House grounds in order to have proximity to a secure location where he could view the information provided by the source, Langer said. The latest news added another twist to a bizarre series of events last week: On Monday, FBI Director James Comey testified before Nunes committee that his investigators were looking at possible coordination during the presidential campaign between Russian officials and people close to Preisdent Trump. Tuesday night, Nunes went to the White House where someone showed him documents related to U.S. intelligence surveillance, according to his statement. On Wednesday, Nunes announced to reporters that he had seen evidence indicating that people close to Trump had been subjects of surveillance during the transition. He then went to the White House, saying that he needed to brief Trump about the revelations. On Thursday, Nunes apologized to committee members for not having shown the evidence to them before briefing the president. Later that day, his spokesman conceded that Nunes did not know for sure that any Trump aides had actually been subject to surveillance, just that their names had appeared in intelligence reports, which could have resulted from other people talking about them. That sequence of events could buttress Democrats claims that the episode last week was a White House ploy to shift attention away from the FBI investigation. Democrats already have been saying Nunes should be disqualified from heading an inquiry into whether Trumps aides had improper contacts with Russia. Nunes statement left several questions unanswered. One is why he would have had to go to the White House unless his source worked there, because members of Congress have access to a secure facility at the U.S. Capitol. Asked to explain Nunes actions, Langer said in an email, The information comprised executive branch documents that have not been provided to Congress. Because of classification rules, the source could not simply put the documents in a backpack and walk them over to the House Intelligence Committee space. He added: The White House grounds was the best location to safeguard the proper chain of custody and classification of these documents, so the Chairman could view them in a legal way. Last week, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had dismissed speculation that the White House had supplied Nunes with the information, saying that the suggestion did not pass the smell test. He added, however, that he did not for sure what Nunes had told Trump or where his information came from. After Nunes apologized to members of his committee Thursday and promised to thoroughly investigate the surveillance, several lawmakers said Nunes had promised to provide them the surveillance information he had received. That has not occurred yet. In his first statement last week, Nunes said he was concerned that some Trump transition officials identities might have been improperly revealed in intelligence reports, despite rules requiring them to be kept confidential in most cases. The Chairman is extremely concerned by the possible improper unmasking of names of U.S. citizens, and he began looking into this issue even before President Trump tweeted his assertion that Trump Tower had been wiretapped, Langer said. Whether any officials names actually were unmasked is unclear. The ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) has questioned Nunes assertions about improper unmasking. But Schiff noted that he has not seen the documents Nunes claims to have seen. Schiff had no comment on the news that Nunes had seen the documents at the White House. UPDATES 10:20 a.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting. This article was originally published as an Associated Press report at 9:06 a.m. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Venezuela in showdown with OAS, U.S. over political prisoners By Tracy Wilkinson The besieged leftist government of Venezuela is under mounting pressure after the United States and 13 of the hemispheres other leading nations demanded the release of political prisoners and other pro-democracy concessions. The Organization of American States, the regions main collective body, has threatened to suspend Venezuela because of what it called the autocratic repression imposed by President Nicolas Maduro. Maduros foreign minister, Delcy Rodriguez, will appear Monday before an OAS panel in Washington to plead her governments case. This comes after members of the Venezuelan delegation stormed out of OAS meetings last week, according to diplomats. OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro, in a report on Venezuela, noted that Maduro canceled both a referendum that could have recalled his government and later regional elections, after the opposition made huge gains in parliamentary voting in 2015. A Maduro-controlled Supreme Court then stripped the parliament of much of its power. In addition, thousands of people have been arrested for their political beliefs, Almagro said, including opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has been in jail for three years. The OAS is demanding Venezuela hold elections or risk suspension from the group, a drastic measure. The last time a country was suspended was when the military and right-wing politicians staged a coup against the elected president in Honduras in 2009. Under OAS regulations, a country can be suspended when the democratic order is altered. Venezuela is in the throes of a devastating economic and humanitarian crisis. The oil-rich country has among the highest homicide and inflation rates in the world and suffers from severe shortages of food and medicine. The Maduro government angrily condemned the OAS actions as imperialist interference and vowed to resist. Adan Chavez, brother of the late Hugo Chavez, the socialist strongman who set Venezuela on its revolutionary path, claimed the OAS was plotting a coup against Maduro. Maduro views much of his opposition as right-wing oligarchs who have long repressed the poor. Although the OAS has often been accused of pro-Washington tendencies, it is significant that 13 nations in addition to the United States are united in condemning Venezuela. This marks a shift away from populist regimes in much of Latin America. The Trump administration, which has shown little interest in Latin America beyond Mexico, did issue instructions to diplomats to find ways through the OAS to put pressure on Venezuela, according to people familiar with the matter. Those instructions came despite parallel administration plans to slash funds to the OAS and other multilateral institutions like the United Nations. Trump recently spoke by telephone to the presidents of Chile and Brazil and in both cases discussed Venezuela, the White House said. And he met at the White House with Lilian Tintori, the wife of Lopez, the jailed opposition leader, as she lobbied for her husbands freedom. The Treasury Department earlier this year slapped sanctions on Venezuelas vice president, Tareck El Aissami, alleging he was a major drug trafficker, charges he denied. Were not pushing for Venezuelas expulsion from the OAS at this time, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said late last week. However, we do think the OAS is the appropriate venue to deal with the ongoing situation in Venezuela, he said. Elections are essential to securing accountability, and the Venezuelan people deserve a voice in creating solutions to the myriad economic, political, and social and humanitarian challenges that they face. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump takes to Twitter to blame GOP hard-liners over healthcare failure By Laura King (Mandel Ngan / AFP-Getty Images) President Trump on Sunday blamed fellow Republicans and two influential conservative advocacy groups for last weeks failure of the GOP healthcare plan. The president had said on Friday that it was the fault of Democrats that House Speaker Paul D. Ryan pulled the measure from consideration rather than putting it forth for a floor showdown that the GOP leadership would have lost. In a Sunday morning tweet, the president appeared to shift culpability to the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative group of GOP lawmakers who were key to depriving Trump and his camp of the votes needed for passage. Democrats are smiling over the bills failure, Trump declared on Twitter. The Freedom Caucus, he said, had saved President Obamas Affordable Care Act with the help of Heritage Action and the Club for Growth, two organizations that had opposed the GOP measure. The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), declined to engage in any sparring with the White House, instead predicting that a Trump-led Republican effort to overhaul Obamas signature healthcare legislation eventually would move ahead. At the end of the day, the most valuable player will be President Trump, he said on ABCs This Week. Meadows also insisted there had been no conversation about any attempt to force out Ryan, who is being blamed for failing to marshal sufficient support for the measure he had spearheaded. Trump so far has refrained from public criticism of the speaker, but again on Twitter he specifically urged followers to watch a Fox News segment on Saturday night, featuring commentator Jeanine Pirro excoriating Ryan and calling for him to be ousted. That gave rise to speculation that Trump would seek to force the speaker to take the fall for the debacle. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print After the GOP healthcare bill fizzles, Trump blames the Democrats and says he learned a lot about loyalty By Brian Bennett President Trump addresses the cancellation of a vote Friday on the GOPs plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act. After failing to land a deal on the healthcare bill, President Trump on Friday blamed Democrats, even though the GOP controls Congress and the White House, and made few overtures across the aisle when pushing the bill. When you get no votes from the other side -- meaning Democrats -- it is really a difficult situation, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office after a revolt by Republican lawmakers forced House leaders to stop a vote in their bid to overhaul the Affordable Care Act. Trump insisted that the current healthcare law, commonly known as Obamacare, will collapse under its own weight, and then Democrats will want to make a deal with the White House. I truly believe the Democrats will come to us, Trump said. In the meantime, Trump is moving his attention to pushing through a tax reform bill, he said. We will probably be going really hard for the big tax cuts and tax reform -- thats next, he said. Trump, who has spent decades negotiating real estate deals and seeing many of them fall through, seemed sanguine discussing the effort he put into getting a healthcare reform bill passed. This was an interesting period of time, Trump said. We learned a lot about loyalty and we learned a lot about the vote-getting process. Trump stopped short of blaming House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and avoided singling out the group of conservative Republican lawmakers, who dug in their heels in opposition. Lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus that largely stood against the bill are very good people and friends of mind, he said. I was disappointed because we could have had it, he said. Im a little surprised, he said. When asked by a reporter if he would reach out now to Democrats for ideas on how to get a deal, Trump said, No, I think we need to let Obamacare go its way for a little while. Then well see how things go. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Tillerson will meet with NATO counterparts, after all By Tracy Wilkinson Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will meet with NATO allies next week in Brussels, a move that could quell controversy over his earlier decision to skip a long-planned summit of the transatlantic alliance. The State Department said Friday that Tillerson added a stop at NATO headquarters in Brussels to a previously scheduled trip to the Turkish capital of Ankara. Tillerson will be in Ankara on Thursday to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials to discuss the fight against Islamic State militants in Syria and to reaffirm Turkeys important role in ensuring regional stability, the State Department said. The next day, he will go to NATO, the State Department said. NATO officials were attempting to put together a session with the other 27 allied nations. Earlier this week, news that Tillerson would miss the NATO ministerial meeting set for April 5-6, roiled the alliance. Administration officials said Tillerson would have to be in Washington to attend President Trumps first face-to-face meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 6-7. At the same time, Tillersons aides announced he would be traveling to Moscow the following week. Criticism was swift from European allies but also from several former American diplomats and key U.S. lawmakers, who said the decision raised questions about the Trump administrations commitment to NATO. During his campaign, Trump called the alliance obsolete, although more recently he has voiced support for it while also demanding members spend more money on defense. In response, Tillersons aides said they were exchanging possible alternative dates with NATO to attempt to arrange a meeting in which all parties could participate. It was not yet clear if next Fridays meeting will take the place of the April 5-6 session, which as of late Friday remained on NATOs formal calendar. Diplomats considered the ministerial meeting as especially important because it will lay the groundwork for a May 25 NATO summit of heads of state and government, which Trump has said he will attend. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Charter promises Trump something new ($25-billion investment) and something old (20,000 jobs) By Jim Puzzanghera Charter Communications Chief Executive Thomas Rutledge. (Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images) The chief executive of Charter Communications committed in a meeting with President Trump on Friday to invest $25 billion on broadband infrastructure while joining a trend of business leaders touting previously announced job creation at the White House. In the case of Charter Southern Californias dominant cable-TV and Internet service provider Chief Executive Thomas Rutledge said he expected to hire 20,000 new U.S. employees over the next four years. Charter had made the hiring promise in 2015 when it was purchasing Time Warner Cable. The new development was the time period in which it will occur. Nevertheless, Trump indicated the job creation was triggered by his election. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Threats made against Hawaii judge who ruled against travel ban By Jaweed Kaleem (George Lee / The Star-Advertiser via AP) The Hawaii federal judge who brought President Trumps revised travel ban to a national halt last week has become the target of threats. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson has received the threats since his March 15 ruling, according to FBI spokeswoman Michele Ernst. Ernst said the FBI is ready to assist but declined to provide more information. The U.S. Marshals Service also said it would not give details. The U.S. Marshals Service is responsible for the protection of federal judicial officials, including judges and prosecutors, and we take that responsibility very seriously, the agency said in a statement. While we do not discuss our specific security measures, we continuously review the security measures in place for all federal judges and take appropriate steps to provide additional protection when it is warranted. Watson, a judge in the U.S. District Court of Hawaii in Honolulu, issued a scathing 43-page opinion against the travel ban the day before it was to go into effect. He wrote that, despite the bans stated secular purpose, Trumps own words marked the executive order as a fulfillment of the presidents campaign promise to temporarily bar Muslims from coming to the U.S. The illogic of the governments contention is palpable, Watson said. In response, Trump said Watsons ruling was terrible and makes us look weak. Trump has vowed to take the travel ban case to the U.S. Supreme Court. An appeal of a separate Maryland federal judges ruling against the travel ban is currently pending in the U.S. 4th District Court of Appeals. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print House GOP gives up on healthcare bill as Trump suffers first legislative defeat By Lisa Mascaro Unable to muster enough support from his own party, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan again postponed a vote Friday on the GOPs plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act. The move came at the request of President Trump, who just Thursday night issued an ultimatum that lawmakers should hold the vote regardless of the outcome. It was the second time House GOP leaders had to delay a final reckon The top Democrat in the Senate said Thursday that he will oppose the confirmation of federal Judge Neil Gorsuch to serve on the Supreme Court and encouraged other Democrats to reject President Trump's choice, setting up a showdown with majority Republicans. "I have concluded that I cannot support Neil Gorsuch's nomination," New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer said on the Senate floor. "My vote will be no and I urge my colleagues to do the same." Shortly before Schumer's declaration, Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, who faces reelection next year in a state Trump won in November, also announced his opposition to Gorsuch. Casey said he had "serious concerns about Judge Gorsuch's rigid and restrictive judicial philosophy, manifest in a number of opinions he has written on the 10th Circuit." The opposition from the two Democrats came after two days of hearings in which Gorsuch emerged without committing any notable gaffes and with solid Republican support in the GOP-led Senate. The Judiciary Committee is expected to vote in the next two weeks to recommend Gorsuch favorably to the full Senate. Though Gorsuch is expected to eventually be confirmed, the process on the Senate floor is less assured. There was a dump truck driver from Baldwin Park, a humanities professor from Long Beach, a conceptual artist from Altadena and a stay-at-home dad from Mid-City. They didnt have much in common, except for one thing: Theyd all fallen for fungus. Hard. Their shared obsession led them to the Los Angeles Mycological Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation and deeper knowledge of mushrooms a strange and frequently misunderstood life-form. Advertisement A few times a year, usually just after a rain, the society leads a foray for its mushroom-loving members. These occasional mushroom hunts are part reunion, part scavenger hunt and part nature hike. They also offer the opportunity for the fungi-obsessed to talk mushroom books, mushroom recipes and favorite mushrooming spots. No more than 25 people can attend, and it almost always fills up. Mushrooms dont yield themselves to your desires. Im grateful every time I see one. Stephanie Fousek, humanities professor and mushroom hunter Psathyrella candolleana mushrooms pop through ground cover in the Cleveland National Forest. Theyre edible but unsubstantial. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) The most recent foray was in the mountains of the Cleveland National Forest, above Lake Elsinore. Many of the attendees had traveled more than an hour and a half to be there. They arrived armed with wicker collecting baskets lined with wax paper, the better to let their bounty breathe. (A mushroom confined to a plastic bag grows slimy and spoils quickly). Some enthusiasts wore cotton gloves, just in case they found a mushroom hiding in a clump of poison oak. There were also a few copies of the seminal mushroom-hunting guide, All That the Rain Promises and More. The cover image of a grinning, tuxedo-clad man carrying a tenor horn and a massive mushroom would inspire anyone to keep their eyes peeled for fungi. (Speaking of instruments, did you know the experimental musician John Cage was so into mushrooms that he co-wrote a book on the subject? His extensive mycology collection is housed at UC Santa Cruz. Its useless to pretend to know mushrooms,' he once said. ''They escape your erudition.) Steve Pencall searches for mushrooms in the Cleveland National Forest during a mushroom foraging hunt with the Los Angeles Mycological Society. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Steve Pencall, a retired research technician who organized the Saturday morning foray, said that even after 35 years of mushroom-hunting, he keeps his expectations low. I always say, I dont expect to find any mushrooms. Im just out for a walk in the woods, he said. Stephanie Fousek, the humanities professor, said hunting mushrooms keeps her grounded. It reminds me that you have to be in a space of openness and gratitude, she said. Mushrooms dont yield themselves to your desires. Im grateful every time I see one. Larry Squyres, the dump truck driver, put it this way: Its like the ultimate Easter egg hunt. In general, Southern Californias warm, dry climate does not make for ideal mushroom territory. But every once in a while, we get lucky. Last spring was an amazing year for morels, despite the disappointing El Nino, mushroom experts say. No one is quite sure why. ALSO: Native flowers arent the only plants in super-bloom this spring nasty weeds have also flourished And after the rains in early 2017, a colorful menagerie of fungus emerged even in highly trafficked areas like Griffith Park and Topanga State Park. (Mushroom foraging is not allowed in either place photos only!) In Lake Elsinore, members of the mycology group fanned out across a shady campground. Their eyes were glued to the ground as they prodded the leaf litter with sticks. As she scanned the forest floor, Cordelia Martinez reminisced about mushroom hunting trips up north. When you travel somewhere with dark wet canyons, it feels like there are mushrooms growing on the walls, said Martinez, an Irvine resident who was there with her son Samuel. Here, we really have to work for it. The two have had success in Southern California. She pulled out her smartphone to show off pictures of Samuel holding a basket laden with morels some of the most prized fungi for eating that they collected last year. Why did the mushrooms come up then? Because they felt like it, Samuel said. Los Angeles Mycological Society members Andy Wallace and Carol Snyder consult the mushroom book All That the Rain Promises and More. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Mushrooms are inherently mysterious. They are the visible part of a large underground fungal network that is hard at work beneath our feet. This hidden part of the fungus is called the mycelium, and it consists of what looks like a root system made of thin wispy hairs kind of like what you might see growing on an apple as it rots. Mycelium produce mushrooms only when they can spare the energy and when there is enough water to ensure the spore-producing fruits wont dry up immediately. In literature, people talk about invisible voices, or the stories that arent being told, Fousek said. To me, thats how mycelium are because they are below the soil. She noted that one of the largest organisms in the world is thought to be a network of honey fungus that stretches for 2.4 miles across the Blue Mountains in Oregon but remains hidden in the Earth. It produces clumps of light brown mushrooms that grow on stumps and tree trunks. It turns out there are many reasons to love fungi, and fungus lovers will be happy to explain them to you. Theres an otherworldliness to them, said David Bermudes, a microbiologist at Cal State Northridge who leads a monthly mushroom class for mycological society members at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Plants and animals seem so familiar we see them all the time. But we dont spend 365 days a year with mushrooms. Theres an unfamiliarity there thats intriguing. Florence Nishida, a mycologist at the museum who co-teaches the class, said mushrooms are also unpredictable, which adds to their mystique. They have this mysterious quality of just popping up, she said. If you are interested in a plant you can always go back and watch as it develops flowers and seeds. But the mushroom is ephemeral you happen to be there when it comes up out of the ground or you dont. Nishida said her infatuation with fungus also stems in part from the role it plays as natures most effective decomposer breaking down dead trees, leaves and animals and restoring their nutrients to the environment. Bacteria does a certain amount of it but fungi are the heavy lifters, she said. Without them we would just be buried in this massive load of dead things. A clump of jack-o-lantern mushrooms lie by a creek bed. These mushrooms are nonedible and toxic but glow in the dark. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) And then theres their inherent inscrutability. Some are considered delicacies while others are poisonous. Some change color when you touch them or send out their spores in what looks like a puff of smoke. Still others glow in the dark or make you hallucinate. And yet, they often go unnoticed. You really only find them when you pause otherwise you would just pass them right by, Bermudes said. Its the people who learn to pause that become intrigued by fungi. After about 90 minutes of mushroom hunting, Pencall blew a whistle to alert the group it was time for lunch. Over sandwiches and a few freshly picked wild-green salads, the group identified the mushrooms theyd found amber phosphorescent jack-o-lanterns the size of a fist, clumps of lumpy black elfin saddles that almost look like they are melting, and light brown candy caps that smell like caramel if you lean in close. There were a few cup fungi, which are not proper mushrooms, and bright orange witches butter, a jelly fungus that grows on trees. Some members had gathered a handful of small specimens that the group dismissively referred to as LBMs (little brown mushrooms). At a second location just a few minutes away, the group found dozens more black elfin saddles in a parking area. With mushrooms you never know what you will find and where, so its always worth looking, no matter where you are. Pencall recalled magical times when hes walked through a forest and seen hundreds or maybe thousands of mushrumps mounds concealing a growing mushroom. The sudden appearance of so many mushrooms is a reminder that some things cannot be explained, he said. Nor perhaps, should they be. deborah.netburn@latimes.com Do you love science? I do! Follow me @DeborahNetburn and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook. MORE IN SCIENCE Ancient relative of crabs, shrimps and lobsters is named in honor of David Attenborough As the planet gets hotter, some mammals may get smaller How the Great Barrier Reef is responding to global warming. (Hint: not well) The 21-year-old woman accused of murder in the death of a man found with stab wounds inside his Costa Mesa condominium March 11 told police investigators that the man had attacked her before he died, according to a court filing. Orange County Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy filed a motion in Orange County Superior Court on March 14 requesting that the court order Amber Angelovic of Huntington Beach to allow prosecutors to take photos of any bruising or injuries consistent or inconsistent with her statements to investigating officers, the document states. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Angelovic and Derek Valentine, 32, had met at a party about three weeks before Valentines killing, according to their mutual friend Michael Li, who said the two had expressed interest in each other to him. Valentine asked him about Angelovic and sought advice for courting her, Li said in an interview Wednesday. Angelovic had asked if Valentine was a good guy, Li said. Li met up with them at the Stag Bar + Kitchen in Newport Beach late on the night of March 10, he said. The group had a few drinks to celebrate Angelovics new job and discussed going to another bar. Li said he went to the restroom and when he returned, Angelovic and Valentine were gone. He sent Angelovic a text message asking if they had left and she responded that they had. They exchanged their last text around 2:50 a.m. March 11, Li said. A few hours later, Costa Mesa police launched a homicide investigation after finding Valentines body inside his home at 610 Shasta Lane. Police responded to the condominium after receiving several emergency calls at about 5:30 a.m. reporting a stabbing. A knife authorities believe was used in the crime was found in the home. Prosecutors wrote in last weeks court filing that Angelovic had spent the night at Valentines home and that at 5:28 a.m., Valentine walked out of his room bleeding from two stab wounds to his chest. He announced that he was dying and fell down the stairs, Murphy wrote. The source of that information is unclear in the document, and Murphy did not return a call from the Daily Pilot seeking comment. One of the wounds was to Valentines heart and he died on the floor, the filing states. According to the document, Angelovic told police investigators that Valentine had hit her multiple times in the face and shoulders and slammed her against a wall and the floor. Murphy wrote there were no significant visible marks or injuries on her face or body at the time of her initial statements. Li said that in the more than two years he had known Valentine, hed never seen him act aggressively. That just wasnt him, he said. Prosecutors have charged Angelovic with murder and a possible sentencing enhancement of personally using a deadly weapon, according to court records. Angelovic graduated from Florida State University in 2016 and has worked as a nanny, an activities director and a surf instructor and as a saleswoman for a yacht company in Florida. She has been released from Orange County Jail on $1-million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday, according to court records. Angelovic did not respond to a message seeking comment. Li said Valentine had the energy of a power plant and a clear zest for life. He will always be remembered as the heartbeat of the crowd, who prided himself on making sure everyone around was having a great time, Li said. Valentines father, Jeff, wrote about the loss of his son in a Facebook post. Despite the awful shock and gut-wrenching pain involved with losing my only child so suddenly and without notice, Im able to endure this horrible tragedy only because I have the guaranteed assurance that I will be reunited with him again one day in heaven, as Derek received Jesus Christ as his lord and savior, he wrote. Valentine grew up in Florida and attended the University of Florida, earning a bachelors degree in marketing in 2010. Court records from Florida and an online wedding registry indicate Valentine was married in June 2012 and divorced in August 2013. Court records indicate his then-wife filed a lawsuit against him in July 2013 alleging domestic violence, but the case was later dismissed. Valentines LinkedIn page indicates he worked as a salesman at an AT&T store in Tustin and as a service manager and sales manager for the Bridgestone tire company in Texas and Florida. Photos on his Facebook page show he traveled to Maui and Australia in 2016. He was in the process of earning his real estate license, Li said. There was no adventure too big for him. His purpose in life was to find good people to share these adventures with and experience every ounce of joy that life has to offer, Li said. He will truly be missed, but his memory never forgotten. A memorial for Valentine is scheduled for April 1 in Melbourne, Fla. hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @HannahFryTCN The Huntington Beach City Council is supporting a state Senate bill that would relieve cities of liability when people are injured by beach fire pits or public barbecue grills. Mayor Barbara Delgleize sent copies of a letter to California state senators John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) and Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) last week on behalf of the council, endorsing SB 720 and asking the two officials to support it as well. The letter says the council voted unanimously in favor of the bill, which was introduced by state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) on Feb. 17. It says the city is a prime tourist destination and the fire pits are particularly popular with visitors, but they can be dangerous when not used properly. There are times where users of these fire pits operate them in an unsafe and reckless manner and act irresponsibly around the fire pits even though the city takes necessary steps to warn of potential hazards and, as we do in Huntington Beach, clean out the fire pits every night, the letter says. It goes on to say the city has to endure costly litigation and/or settlements following some injuries. SB 720 would eliminate the citys liability for injuries sustained as a result of a fire or the remnants of a fire from fire pits, rings, circles or barbecue grills located in parks or on beaches. According to the letter, existing laws immunize cities from being sued for injuries caused by a natural condition of unimproved property, such as a beach, despite the presence or absence of safety services such as lifeguards and beach cleanup services. But, it adds, injuries caused by fire pits and barbecues have left cities open to lawsuits. SB 720 is a needed piece of public policy that removes the city and public entities from costly liability and allows these monies to be put to better use, the letter says. benjamin.brazil@latimes.com Twitter: @benbrazilpilot With Polish dancing, mean Tweets read aloud, freestyle rapping, comedy and a heavy drum-and-bass light show that captivated the auditorium, school spirit was truly on full display for the fourth Mr. La Canada pageant on Saturday. The male pageant is widely popular among classmates, who attend and clamor to see what their classmates will pull off on stage, all for a good cause. At the end of the evening, senior Armand Manoukian, also known as Mr. Spirit, was awarded the Mr. La Canada crown. Its so much fun to do it, Manoukian said. I didnt care whether I won it or not. Everyone worked super hard. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Associated Body Student (ASB) Director Marian Price said that between the pageant and a restaurant fundraiser tied to it that was held earlier in the week, the organization earned approximately $2,110, which will go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. ASB member Alexandra Schilling, who along with member Jenna Kaufman organized this years pageant, said they really stepped it up for 2017 to aim for a higher fundraising goal. The March 15 fundraiser at Blaze Pizza awarded the contestants extra points to their overall score in the pageant if they got a several of their friends and family members to attend. As stressful as it can be to plan such a big event like this, its all worth it in the end to see everything come together, Schilling said. And especially this year to be raising funds for breast cancer, something that personally affects me Im really proud of the event. Kaufman and Schilling spoke on stage to their classmates during the video segment of the pageant, highlighting how breast cancer affects many students in some way. The video included several interviews with students on campus who discussed the topic, whether it had touched their grandmother, mother or aunt. Pageant hosts Tatiano Safarian and Zoe Williams kept the show going with strong banter, including the question-and-answer portion with the contestants. Williams said they spent a lot of time rehearsing, including putting in more than 12 hours on Saturday. In her first year as ASB director, Price said she has been impressed by the amount of work, time and energy the students put into Mr. La Canada. On Monday, she said she reflected with students on how it went. There was a general sense that even though the event was a success and people were happy with the turnout, for the time and effort it takes it should be more/better advertised, not only at school level but in the community, she said. We loved the talent show and the energy and humor of the candidates. We are already looking at next year and thinking that we will need better transitions, more time for rehearsal and more chaperones. Sanderson is a contributor to Times Community News. Melissa Patton, executive director of Lanterman House, has announced to the museums board of directors and La Canada Flintridge city officials her plans to retire later this year after 25 years at the helm. Patton was a young mother of two with her masters in museum studies from USC when she was hired in 1992 by Lanterman Foundation Board President Sue Schechter, then-mayor Joan Feehan and Gabby Pryor, then city manager, to oversee on a part-time basis the restoration of the former Lanterman family house, which had been left to the city. This female mafia was running the city, and they just said, This is who weve decided is going to be the director of Lanterman House, Patton joked of her hiring. That is how I ended up here. Join the conversation on Facebook >> As phases of rehabilitation to the building were completed, Pattons job duties shifted toward turning the Encinas Drive house and its contents into a functioning museum and showcase of La Canadas founding family and their role in Crescenta Valley history. A quarter of a century later, the 1915 stone bungalow-style manse once called El Retiro is a cultural touchstone for visitors who want to learn more about the citys founders and the early days of the valley. A thriving archive of historical documents makes the location an important local resource and point of interest to the estimated 43,000 people whove come to the house since it opened to visitors. Patton, 60, says now seemed as good a time as any for her to retire and, in doing so, make room for the next leg of Lanterman Houses journey. The executive director officially announced her plans to step down as of Sept. 1 the 25th anniversary of her first day on the job in a March 9 meeting of the Lanterman Historical Museum Foundation Board of Directors. I figured I will have been here for 25 years. That seemed like a good time to depart, she said. The Lanterman board has appointed board member and docent Bob Moses to serve as interim director while it searches for Pattons replacement, according to President-elect Mary Lou Langdyke. Were in the process of creating a current job description, Langdyke said Monday. Bob has graciously agreed to be the interim director, so were not going to miss a beat. But we want to take our time and make sure [the job description] reflects whats really needed at this point. A retired nursing home administrator whose own roots go back to La Canadas early families, Moses praised Pattons many contributions to Lanterman House. She has come, personally and professionally, a very long way, as well as bringing the museum a long way, he said. She has been a fantastic executive director. Patton, who plans to get more involved in art and art history and travel internationally with husband and Caltech chemistry professor Jay Winkler, is bracing herself for a bittersweet departure. It is going to be hard to let it go, she said. "(But) I hope Im leaving it in a very good place, both physically and educationally, and that we have not just made ourselves useful, but made ourselves an important part of the Crescenta Valley. -- Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com Twitter: @SaraCardine In a remote north Indian village, Ashu Maliks name and phone number are written in big red letters on a small shed along a serene canal. For a quarter-century, it has been his job to recover bodies that have fallen into the canal. When someone in a nearby district goes missing, Malik often hears a knock at the door. Police officers, investigative agencies and families have all sought the 38-year-olds help in dealing with accidents or suicides. Advertisement Built more than 60 years ago, the Bhakra Main Line canal, which runs through four states in northern India, is a tranquil sight that is often tainted by the odor of dead bodies. The canals sluice gate, where the water branches in two directions, is located in Khanauri, which is where the bodies often turn up. Malik grew up alongside the canal in the state of Haryana. He was 12 when he discovered his skill for diving. A woman was washing her clothes at the canal when she lost her balance, the bearded Malik recalled. She cried for help and I jumped in as others watched on. I saved her life and a local newspaper carried the news with my photograph. Malik was excited when the police officer in charge rewarded him for his bravery with 50 rupees, less than $1 in todays money. That was five months rent in 1991-92, he said with a smile. My father was a poor man. He could not believe it. He thought I had stolen something. A few weeks later, the officer summoned Malik again and offered him 80 rupees to fish out a body. The young boy was scared; the corpse was bloated and decomposed. But I dived in, tied a rope around its leg and completed the job, he said. The Bhakra Main Line canal runs through the village of Khanauri, in northern India. (Parth M.N. / For the Los Angeles Times) By 1998, Malik was the leader of a team with four divers. He now works with 140 volunteers across four states, all men, and offers their services via a website. He and his team have fished out tens of thousands of bodies, he said, including instances when buses have crashed into the canal with dozens of passengers aboard. He opened a ledger where he has meticulously listed victims by name and date, as well as hundreds of local newspaper clippings. Maliks village of Khanauri is in the agrarian state of Punjab, which has a population of just under 28 million. With a farm crisis, drug use and unemployment weighing on people, Malik said suicides are on the rise. His team finds roughly 10 bodies every day, he said, most of them suicides. So many family members of missing people visit Khanauri in search of closure that, about a decade ago, a local charity built a guesthouse. A full-time police officer sits there now to gather the details of every new missing persons case and circulate them by WhatsApp to Maliks team. Based on the location, divers are identified. They strip down to their underwear and swim without any protective gear. For all his fame, however, Malik lives in poverty. As a child he neglected his studies to focus on diving, because the money he made helped his father, a widower, support him and his three sisters. Malik lives at the guesthouse, paying about $50 in rent a month. He wishes that authorities would hire him and pay him a fixed salary. He has a robust folder of bravery citations, but no money to pay for the education of his four children, ages 3 to 13. His wife died of cancer two years ago. His only income comes from families who ask him to recover bodies, but most are debt-ridden often the reason the person committed suicide in the first place. It costs about $200 to deploy divers across many parts of the canal, he said. But if a family is poor, he wont ask for money. I am happy with their blessings, he said. Sometimes he finds valuables that were dropped into the canal, pawning them to raise about $100 every month. Occasionally, police officials have accused him of stealing items off the bodies. Malik denies this, believing the police resent him because by finding bodies, he exposes the incompetence of the authorities. I have been interrogated several times, he said bitterly. But they have not found anything against me. Villagers have always stood by me. I believe I have been helpful and honest while doing what I am doing, he went on. But it is not enough to ensure an education for my kids. Am I asking for too much? To read the article in Spanish, click here Parth M.N. is a special correspondent. ALSO: Another Dalit suicide on campus raises fears of a crisis of discrimination at Indian universities The elaborate ceremony that says everything you need to know about India-Pakistan tensions Bone by bone, Iraqis unearth a mass grave: We will be out there digging until no one is left ANSAN, South Korea For South Korea, a country that pulled itself out of abject poverty to become the worlds 15th-largest economy, the most stinging accusation about last weeks ferry sinking is that it looks like a Third-World disaster. While the captain escaped and the crew dithered and bickered with emergency officials, hundreds of passengers, most of them high school students, obediently remained in their cabins as the ferry rolled and slipped beneath the surface of the cold, gray sea. Mistake piled atop mistake turned a near-shore mishap into the nations worst maritime disaster in decades. The calamity has shamed many South Koreans and left them with serious doubt about their political leaders at a moment when they were preparing for a high-profile visit from President Obama, who is slated to arrive Thursday night. Advertisement We are supposed to be a prosperous middle power, but the fundamentals are still weak, said Choi Kang, vice president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. There was no control tower, nobody in charge. The botched rescue also has cast a harsh light on a Confucian culture in which young people are taught to respect the older generation. I feel embarrassed as a Korean. We failed our children, said Kim Seun-tae, a 50-year-old minister whose son attends Danwon High School, which had 350 students and faculty members among the 476 people aboard the ship. Kims son was not on the ferry. The minister said he was struck by video from survivors cellphones that showed the mostly 16- and 17-year-old students sitting dutifully in their seats. They were good, well-behaved kids. They followed instructions, Kim said. Everybody is in a state of shock and depression. We cant look each other in the eye or speak. Some events initially planned for the presidential visit have been toned down to avoid any appearance of festivities at a time when divers will probably still be plucking bodies from the sunken vessel, according to people involved in the planning. More than 160 passengers remained missing as of Tuesday, with 139 confirmed dead. South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who made the protection of youths one of the themes of her administration, lashed out Monday at the crew members who abandoned the ship, saying the behavior of the captain and some crew members is beyond understanding and no better than homicide. But Park faces accusations that her newly restructured Ministry of Security and Public Administration failed at its first disaster response. They were civil servants with no experience or expertise. When it came to a time of crisis, people were paralyzed, said Jeong Chan-gwon of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Crisis Management Analysis. When she called the captain a murderer, it showed clearly how much political pressure she is under, said Scott Snyder, a Korea specialist with the Council on Foreign Relations, who was visiting Seoul last week. A panicked and inexperienced crew failed to call the coast guard, instead notifying the vessel traffic service at their destination on Jeju Island, about 50 miles away. It took 53 minutes for the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters to mobilize. Meanwhile, the 69-year-old captain had already left the ship. Most of the crew members survived, while more than two-thirds of the passengers appear to have been lost. Even before the official call for distress, students used their cellphones to call their parents and the South Korean emergency number. Help us. The boat is sinking, one boy reportedly told emergency dispatchers, according to a report Wednesday on Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting. The kids had never been on a ferry like that before. They didnt know what to do. They could have been saved, said Kim Seong-kyu, 19, a school student who was among the mourners leaving white chrysanthemums and handwritten messages at a makeshift shrine outside the school. Among those being mourned was one of the surviving teachers from the doomed expedition who hanged himself from a tree last week in Jindo, the port city where families are staying. Seven crew members have been arrested, including the captain, a semi-retired and part-time pilot who had been called at the last minute to command the 6,825-ton ship. He was in his cabin when the boat ran into trouble, with a 25-year-old third mate at the helm. Investigators believe that a sharp right turn by the novice might have caused the ferrys cargo to shift, putting it in an irreversible list. The 20-year-old vessel was purchased from Japan and refurbished in 2012 to accommodate more cargo and passengers for its regular overnight journeys between Incheon port and Jeju, a resort island off the southern coast. The vessel had passed inspection in February, but former crew members have complained to South Korean media that they feared the boat was top-heavy. The boat had stability problems. It had been remodeled to carry more freight and more passengers than it should have, said Shin Sang-chul, a former shipbuilding executive. Shin believes the ferry had been listing throughout the voyage and that the crew failed to alert authorities about the situation. Whatever the cause, the remaining personnel were clearly unfamiliar with evacuation procedures. A transcript of a telephone call with the port in Jindo, revealed a crew in a state of panic and confusion. At least make them wear life rings and make them escape, the port operator yelled at the crew, according to the transcript. A helicopter will be there and other ships nearby are approaching. The crew resisted repeated suggestions that passengers evacuate, saying that the public announcement system was broken, that the ship was too tilted to move about, or that there were too many passengers to fit into the helicopter. Its completely impossible for the Sewol ferry to evacuate, the crew responded. The equivocation proved fatal. In the end, it appeared that most of the students followed earlier instructions to don life vests but remain in their seats and cabins. Fewer than 80 were among the 174 passengers and crew pulled from the capsizing boat, according to official tallies. Many parents and residents in Ansan complain that the government assured them in the early hours of the disaster that most of the 325 students aboard had been rescued. Theyve lied to us all along, said a man in a Red Cross uniform at an emergency center in Ansan, who said he could not be quoted by name because of his position. The parents believe that the government buried our young children alive at sea. For Song In-ji, a 15-year-old freshman at the Danwon school, that might be the most enduring lesson from the tragedy: Dont trust adults. I cant understand how they could stay in their seats as the water was rising, the boy said. We cant trust anyone anymore. barbara.demick@latimes.com The arrest of a teenage Israeli-American for dozens of bomb threats against American Jewish institutions sent relief through Jewish communities Thursday, but raised new questions about the threats and a broader rise in anti-Semitism. Israeli police arrested the unidentified man variously described as 18 or 19 years old on suspicion of phoning in the bulk of the bomb threats, which have hit more than 100 Jewish centers in the United States since the beginning of the year. In total, the Anti-Defamation League has counted more than 150 hoaxes, many which hit individual Jewish centers several times, causing shutdowns and evacuations of day schools. The man is also suspected of calling in a bomb threat against Delta Air Lines at New Yorks John F. Kennedy airport in early 2015. Advertisement While its been praised by U.S. Jewish leaders, the arrest has also perplexed them. Local police said the man, who hid under his shirt when brought into a court south of Tel Aviv on Thursday, is Jewish and holds both Israeli and U.S. citizenship. His father was also arrested, and will be held for the next week, authorities said. His identity is also under a gag order. We are troubled to learn that the individual suspected of making these threats against Jewish Community Centers, which play a central role in the Jewish community, as well as serve as inclusive and welcoming places for all is reportedly Jewish, said Doron Krakow, CEO of the JCC Assn. of North America, in a statement. The group represents the majority of community centers that have been targeted. Bomb threats are usually hoaxes, sometimes childish pranks and sometimes carried out to make a political or racist statement. But its not always the stereotypical bigot, said Brian Levin, a hate crimes expert and professor at Cal State San Bernardino. There are various types of offenders that commit these symbolic high profile acts, including the mentally unstable offender, those seeking personal benefit or revenge, thrill seekers, and those conflicted about their identity, he said. Levin expressed concern that the arrest of a Jewish suspect would embolden the very people most likely to carry out anti-Semitic acts. Racists in the alt-right will play the hate hoax angle of this from here on in, he said. Over the months, Jewish leaders have pressed President Trump to speak out against the bomb threats, with many suggesting that the presidents campaign activities and his initial reluctance to talk about the crimes emboldened extremists. During the campaign, Trump came under fire for retweeting white supremacists and anti-Semites, earning him support from the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups. The president also was later criticized for purposely leaving any mention of Jews out of a statement observing the Holocaust and brushing off a question about anti-Semitism during a news conference as insulting. Under pressure, Trump opened his first speech to a joint session of Congress by denouncing the hate and evil of the threats and recent vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, and also earlier spoke about anti-Semitism during a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Authorities said Israels special investigations and cyber units had been investigating the threats for the last three months with the FBI and police officials from Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Police said the man, a resident of Ashkelon in southern Israel, used computers and satellite equipment to mask the location from where the calls were being made, and manipulated the calls to disguise the voice behind them. We have concrete evidence. It was phone call after phone call, said Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israeli police. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions praised the FBI and the Israeli police for the arrest, describing it as the culmination of a large-scale investigation spanning multiple continents. The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the civil rights of all Americans, and we will not tolerate the targeting of any community in this country on the basis of their religious beliefs, Sessions said in a statement. Its unclear what motivated the man, whom Israeli police said they would be keep in custody until at least March 30. In a statement sent via the Office of the Israeli Public Defender, his lawyer, Galit Bash, said her client suffers from a brain tumor that may have had an effect on his cognitive functions. He showed irrational behavior during the investigation, said Bash. She said he wasnt accepted into the Israeli army and was home schooled instead of attending a high school. She declined to comment on whether the suspect admitted the accusations against him. Bash said he was born in Israel to at least one American parent and that the family had spent several years in the U.S. She said she could not be more specific. At Jewish community centers across the U.S., leaders said the arrest gave them a relative sense of calm after months of tensions. We are relieved that progress has been made towards a resolution here, but were also going to remain vigilant, said Brian Greene, executive director of Westside Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles, whose center had received two bomb threats since February. Greene did not know if the teen who was arrested is responsible for the threats at his center, and said he would leave extra security measures in place. We are hopeful this brings us to a close, but we have to be prepared and ready should there be others, copy cats or otherwise, out there, he said. Rabbi Yosef Konikov, director of Chabad of South Orlando, said he was relieved but surprised by the teens identity, which he called a curveball. Since January, his religious center had received at least two threats, he said. On one hand, its a bit of a relief because this wave is over, he said. On the other hand, its sad and disturbing, he said. Thursdays arrest was not the first in the bomb threats case. On March 3, former journalist Juan Thompson was arrested in St. Louis on suspicion of making threats to seven Jewish community centers and threatening the Anti-Defamation Leagues New York headquarters. Police said Thompson, who they believed made the threats in an attempt to frame an ex-girlfriend, was a copycat and not behind most of the crimes. The two arrests also dont account for several other incidents targeting Jewish institutions that remain unsolved. Several Jewish cemeteries, including ones in St. Louis, Philadelphia and Rochester, N.Y., were vandalized in recent weeks. In addition, a synagogue in Evansville, Ind., was struck with a bullet in February. Nobody was injured. Jewish leaders said they remained on alert about other potential crimes against Jewish communities. Im relieved but still highly concerned, said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. The impact of this individuals actions is crystal clear: These were acts of anti-Semitism. These threats targeted Jewish institutions, were calculated to sow fear and anxiety, and put the entire Jewish community on high alert. Greenblatt said he was still hoping for resolution to the many other threats Jewish Americans have recently faced. Jews have regularly been near the top of the FBIs annual list of groups most targeted by hate crimes. Of 1,244 crimes motivated by religious bias in 2015 the most recent statistics available 53% were directed at Jewish people. Hate crimes against them rose 9% over the previous year. JCCs and other institutions should not relax security measures or become less vigilant, Greenblatt said. Times staff writer Kaleem reported from Los Angeles and special correspondent Mitnick reported from Tel Aviv. Times staff writer Alene Tchekmedyian contributed reporting. Man arrested in St. Louis in connection with threats against Jewish community centers Trump denounces anti-Semitism after Jewish community centers receive 68 bomb threats in six weeks After bomb threat, Westside Jewish center looks ahead: Were not going to let it change how we think UPDATES: 3:52 p.m.: This article has been updated throughout with U.S. reaction, details from defense attorney, other details. This article was originally posted at 1:35 p.m. The man who killed four people and injured dozens more in an attack outside the British Parliament before being shot to death by police was a peripheral figure in British terrorism investigations who had a long criminal history that included violent crimes, authorities said Thursday. The Islamic State group claimed the British-born suspect, identified as Khalid Masood, 52, as one of its soldiers. He is believed to be the assailant who plowed through pedestrians in a car on Westminster Bridge on Wednesday, then ran toward the Parliament compound with a knife, which he used to fatally wound a police officer before he was shot and killed by other police. Advertisement A 75-year-old man injured in the rampage died Thursday, police said, bringing the death toll to five, including the police officer and Masood. Dozens of others were injured, some seriously. Among the dead was a Utah man celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary with his wife. 1 / 23 A police officer places flowers from members of the public in London. (Will Oliver / EPA) 2 / 23 Union flags fly at half-staff in front of Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament in central London. (Niklas Hallen / AFP/Getty Images) 3 / 23 Police forensics teams search Parliament Square outside the Houses of Parliament in London. (Andy Rain / EPA) 4 / 23 Pedestrians cross Westminster Bridge in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament in London after the bridge reopened following the March 22 terror attack. (Niklas Hallen / AFP/Getty Images) 5 / 23 Police stand guard outside a flat in Birmingham, which was raided by anti-terror police in connection with the London attacks. (Christopher Furlong / Getty Images) 6 / 23 The front pages of U.K. daily newspapers reporting on the terror attack in central London. (Daniel Sorabji / AFP/Getty Images) 7 / 23 A member of the public is treated by emergency services near Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament in London following a terror attack. (Carl Court / Getty Images) 8 / 23 Emergency services at the scene outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Police say they are treating a gun and knife incident at Britains Parliament as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise. (Stefan Rousseau / Associated Press) 9 / 23 Armed police following major incidents outside the Houses of Parliament in London. (ANDY RAIN / EPA) 10 / 23 Emergency services transport an injured person to an ambulance, close to the Houses of Parliament in London. (Matt Dunham / Associated Press) 11 / 23 A member of the public is treated by emergency services near Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament in London. (Carl Court / Getty Images) 12 / 23 Emergency services at the scene outside the Palace of Westminster in London. (Stefan Rousseau / Associated Press) 13 / 23 Armed police in position outside the Houses of Parliament in London. (Andy Rain / EPA) 14 / 23 An iinjured man on Londons Westminster Bridge holds his knee in an image from video. (Radosaw Sikorski / AFP/Getty Images) 15 / 23 An injured man is helped to safety near Westminster Bridge in London. (Carl Court / Getty Images) 16 / 23 Bystanders look on outside the police security perimeter near the Houses of Parliament. (Jack Taylor / Getty Images) 17 / 23 An injured person is loaded into an ambulance near Westminster Bridge in London. (Carl Court / Getty Images) 18 / 23 A police officer directs pedestrians back from the area around the Houses of Parliament in London. (Andy Rain / EPA) 19 / 23 Police secure the area close to the Houses of Parliament in London. (Matt Dunham / Associated Press) 20 / 23 Armed police on a street outside the Houses of Parliament in London. (Andy Rain / EPA) 21 / 23 Police in London secure the area on the south side of Westminster Bridge close to the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday. (Matt Dunham / Associated Press) 22 / 23 Police in London close the area near Houses of Parliament on Wednesday after reports of violence. (Victoria Jones / Associated Press) 23 / 23 A police officer stands on Parliament Square outside of the Houses of Parliament in London on Wednesday after witnesses reported sounds like gunfire outside. (Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press) The attack came one year to the day after a pair of suicide bombings in Brussels killed 32 people and injured more than 300 others. Islamic State also claimed responsibility for those attacks. With Europe on high alert Thursday, police in Belgium said they had arrested a French man of North African descent on suspicion of attempting to run over pedestrians in a crowded shopping street in the city of Antwerp. Soldiers on a routine patrol spotted the vehicle as it sped through the area but were unable to halt it, they said. Police were alerted and sent a rapid response team, which intercepted the vehicle and driver. No injuries were reported, but a rifle, several knives and a canister containing an unidentified liquid were found in the vehicle, prosecutors said. We are monitoring the situation very closely, the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, said in a tweet. French President Francois Hollande told reporters that the suspect identified only as 39-year-old Mohamed R. was trying to kill or at the very least create a dramatic event. We must therefore be extremely vigilant and also mobilize all our forces, he said. Authorities in Britain said Masood, the London suspect, had recently been living in the West Midlands in central England, was known by several aliases and had previously been investigated by the MI5, Britains domestic intelligence agency. He had a range of previous convictions for assaults, including grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and public order offenses dating from November 1983 to December 2003, police said. He had not been convicted of any terrorism-related offenses and was not the subject of any current police investigation. British Prime Minister Theresa May told members of Parliament inside a packed House of Commons chamber that Masood was once investigated over concerns about violent extremism. He was a peripheral figure, she said. The case is historic. He was not part of the current intelligence picture. There was no prior intelligence of his intent, or of the plot. The Islamic State-linked Aamaq news agency issued a statement saying the person who carried out the attack was a soldier of the Islamic State. It added that the person carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of the coalition. Islamic State has called on its supporters to carry out attacks against citizens of the U.S.-led coalition that has been targeting the group since 2014. The group has been directly responsible for numerous bloody assaults around the globe but also has claimed other attacks in an apparent show of opportunism. The assailant appeared to have acted alone but was inspired by Islamist-related international terrorism, said Mark Rowley, acting deputy commissioner at Londons Metropolitan Police. Police investigating the attack raided six addresses overnight, resulting in eight arrests. Sealed boxes of evidence were removed from the properties. Police patrols will be stepped up in the coming days but the threat level which was already set at severe will not be raised and there was no information to suggest there were further threats to the public, police said. May said that the best possible response was for the public to go about its usual routine, and that included her decision for Parliament to meet Thursday morning. Our values will prevail, she said. Hundreds of people gathered for a vigil Thursday evening in Trafalgar Square to show their respect for the dead and injured. Speeches were given by Home Secretary Amber Rudd and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who both paid tribute to the slain police officer Keith Palmer as the crowds broke into spontaneous applause. He was courageous, he was brave, Rudd said. And he was also doing his duty. Khan condemned the evil and twisted individuals who seek to do harm and threaten western societys way of life. He said London would never be cowed by terrorism and coming together Thursday night was a way to prove that. People who gathered on a cold evening brought candles, flowers and handmade signs saying We stand together and We are not afraid. Several groups of young Muslims stood amid the crowd, eager to defend their religion as peaceful and show that they are Londoners too, and feel the pain of the attack. Personally, its very difficult to see our religion put in such a bad light, said law student Naveed Mirza, 20. He and his friends were wearing T-shirts with the logo #IAmAMuslim across their chest. But through our actions and good will we will prove to the world that Islam is a peaceful and loving religion. Hundreds of people mingled around the square after the official vigil ended to share words with strangers. Many approached some of the Muslims present to share their respective feelings of sadness, confusion and anger at the senseless violence. People have got to show their support for one another, said Brian Morris, 71. I think the average Londoner realizes that these people are radicalized maniacs, for want of a better word, who have nothing really to do with the true meaning of Islam. They cant beat us and they never will. We fought two world wars and won. A few terrorists are not going to overpower us. One victim of the attack was named by British media as Spanish teacher Aysha Frade, 43, a mother of two who was on her way to collect her children from school when she was killed. The Utah victim was identified as Kurt Cochran, who was with his wife, Melissa, who was seriously injured, according to a statement released by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on behalf of Melissa Cochrans family. Metropolitan Police announced the death of the 75-year-old victim late Thursday evening, but did not identify him. May paid tribute to Palmer, the police officer, as a husband and father who had devoted his life to the service of his country. He was unarmed and standing guard in a courtyard that is not accessible to the public and leads directly into the Houses of Parliament, when the attacker approached him with a large knife and stabbed him several times. The assailant was then shot dead by police. He was every inch a hero and his actions will never be forgotten, the prime minister said of Palmer. The Palmer family issued a statement calling the slain officer brave and courageous, a friend to everyone who knew him and a staunch supporter of Charlton F.C., a professional soccer team in southeast London. The team issued a statement paying tribute to Palmer, with a photo of his seat he was a season ticket-holder -- draped in the teams red scarf. It is with great sadness that the club has learned of the tragic death of loyal fan, PC Keith Palmer --> https://t.co/4YED5bCx7j #cafc pic.twitter.com/TQbKSrGFET Charlton Athletic FC (@CAFCofficial) March 23, 2017 A total of 29 people were hospitalized after the attack, seven of whom remained in critical condition Thursday, police said. There were also an unspecified number of walking wounded. The injured include 12 Britons, as well as citizens from France, Romania, South Korea, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy, the U.S and Greece, the prime minister said. Three police officers returning from a commendation ceremony were also hurt; two remain in a critical condition. The attack brought the heart of British government to a standstill as lawmakers, staff and journalists became trapped inside Parliament and buildings in the vicinity for several hours. Flags were at half-staff on Thursday morning and a moment of silence was held to honor the dead and injured. Yesterday an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today we meet as normal, May said. We are not afraid. And our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism. This was an attack on free people everywhere, she added. Times staff writers Alexandra Zavis and Alene Tchekmedyian in Los Angeles and special correspondent Nabih Bulos in Beirut contributed to this report. MORE: Passengers react to ban on carry-on electronics on flights from the Middle East Deadly attacks in London, Paris, Berlin and beyond have shaken Europe in recent years Cities around the world show support for London after deadly terrorist attack UPDATES: 2:40 p.m.: This article was updated with death toll rising. 2 P.M.: This article was updated with vigil at Trafalgar Square, details on Belgian arrests, other details. 11:40 a.m.: This article was updated with details about slain police Officer Keith Palmer 10:05 a.m.: This article was updated with the arrest of a man suspected of driving a vehicle at high speed toward a crowd in Antwerp, Belgium. 9:40 a.m.: This article was updated with details about the suspect. 9 a.m.: This article was updated with the identity of the attacker and of a victim from Utah. 6:15 a.m.: This article was updated with more details about Islamic States taking responsibility for the attack. 5:31 a.m.: Updated to add Islamic States claim on the attack. This article was originally posted at 4:55 a.m. Cities around the world illuminated and dimmed landmark buildings Wednesday night to show solidarity with London after a deadly terrorist attack in the heart of the city. An attacker plowed through pedestrians in a bustling tourist area outside Parliament before fatally stabbing a police officer. Five people were reported dead in the attack, including the police officer and the assailant, and at least 40 were injured. The attacker, who has not been identified by authorities, was shot dead by police. Advertisement City Hall in Tel Aviv was illuminated with the colors of the Union Flag. #TelAviv City Hall lit up tonight in colours of the Union Jack, in solidarity with the city of #London and my colleague @SadiqKhan pic.twitter.com/WOTFlU9OF4 Mayor of Tel Aviv (@MayorOfTelAviv) March 22, 2017 Officials in Birmingham, England, lighted up the Library of Birmingham in red, white and blue. The @LibraryofBham lit to show Birmingham's solidarity with London. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by today's #Westminster attack. pic.twitter.com/UHQilWGovq LeaderofBirmingham (@BrumLeader) March 22, 2017 In Paris, the Eiffel Tower was dimmed at midnight to commemorate those killed in the attack. I will turn my lights off tonight, at midnight, to pay tribute to the victims of the London attack. #EiffelTower pic.twitter.com/MTnkoflVv3 La tour Eiffel (@LaTourEiffel) March 22, 2017 The Metropolitan Police Service flew its flag at half-staff over Scotland Yard to mark the death of the 48-year-old officer, Keith Palmer, and the other victims in the attack. A member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, Palmer was a husband and a father with 15 years of service. Flag at half-mast over Scotland Yard tonight to mark the death of our officer & the other victims of this afternoons attack in #Westminster pic.twitter.com/NqaGSqJtmt Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 22, 2017 The attack in London fell on the one-year anniversary of twin bombings in Brussels. There, citizens gathered outside the Bourse for a moment of silence, where many held up their hands to form the shape of a heart. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert / Associated Press) alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter @AleneTchek ALSO Passengers react to ban on carry-on electronics on flights from the Middle East Deadly attacks in London, Paris, Berlin and beyond have shaken Europe in recent years Tillerson calls for more allied support in fight against Islamic State A 6,800-ton South Korean ferry was hoisted to the surface Thursday nearly three years after it capsized and sank in violent seas off the countrys southwestern coast. The reappearance of the vessel above the surface was an emotional moment for the country as it searches for closure to one of its deadliest disasters. More than 300 people most of them students on a high school trip died when the Sewol sank on April 16, 2014, touching off an outpouring of national grief and soul searching about long-ignored public safety and regulatory failures. Public outrage over what was seen as a botched rescue job by the government contributed to the recent ouster of Park Geun-hye as president. Advertisement Workers on two barges began the salvaging operation Wednesday night, rolling up 66 cables connected to a frame of metal beams divers spent months putting beneath the ferry, which had been lying on its side in about 145 feet of water. By 3:45 a.m., Sewols stabilizer surfaced from the water. About an hour later, the blue-and-white right side of the ship, rusty and scratched and its painted name SEWOL no longer visible, emerged for the first time in more than 1,000 days. By about 7 a.m., the ferry had been raised enough for workers to climb on it and fasten it further to the barges. As of 5 p.m., the top of the ferry was about 25 feet above the waters surface. The bodies of 295 passengers were recovered after the sinking. Nine are still missing. Relatives, some of whom were watching from two fishing boats just outside the operation area, hope those remains will be found inside the ferry. Some cried as they took turns watching the emerging wreckage with telescopes. I shouted in joy when we heard that the ship surfaced at dawn. I thought we finally can find the missing nine, Lee Geum-hee, the mother of a missing girl, told a television crew. But when I actually saw the ship coming up, I was devastated. All this time my poor child was in that cold, dirty place. It was heart-wrenching. Lee Cheoljo, an official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said workers need to raise the ferry until its upper side is about 40 feet above the surface. Once Sewol is raised to the desired height, salvage crews will load it onto a semi-submersible, heavy-lift vessel that will carry it to a mainland port. The loading process, including emptying the ferry of water and fuel, is expected to take days. Once the ferry reaches the port of Mokpo in about two weeks, workers will begin clearing mud and debris and search for the remains of the missing victims. An investigation committee will also search for clues that could further explain the cause of the sinking, which has been blamed on overloaded cargo, improper storage and other negligence. A group representing the families of the victims issued a statement demanding that it be part of the investigation committee. Many bereaved family members and their supporters have been demanding a more thorough investigation of the governments responsibility in the sinking, questioning why higher-level officials have not been held accountable. The ferrys captain survived and is serving a life sentence after a court found him guilty of committing homicide through willful negligence because he fled the ship without issuing an evacuation order. Ousted President Park was forced to defend herself against accusations that she was out of contact for several hours on the day of the sinking. The allegations were included in an impeachment bill lawmakers passed against Park in December amid broader corruption suspicions. Park was formally removed from office by the Constitutional Court earlier this month and now faces criminal investigation over allegations she conspired with a confidante to extort money and favors from companies and allow the friend to secretly interfere with state affairs. In a meeting with Cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, the acting head of state, urged officials to do their best to ensure a successful salvaging of the ferry, and instructed them to plan a thorough and quick investigation once the ship reaches the Mokpo port. Salvaging the huge, corroded ferry from a channel notorious for dangerous currents has been a difficult and expensive job. South Korea agreed in 2015 to pay a consortium led by Chinas state-run Shanghai Salvage Co. $76 million to do it. While many large shipwrecks around the world have first been cut into sections to be raised, this was ruled out for the Sewol to minimize disturbance of any remains inside the wreckage. ALSO He has a job: diving for dead bodies. But his family still lives in poverty Passengers react to ban on carry-on electronics on flights from the Middle East Taiwan demonstrates a newfound love of dogs with a law to stop killing them All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced. 19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc. Sovereign raises more than $400m in Swiss francs after being away from the market for almost 20 years It was previously announced that the Huawei Mate 9 is going to be the very first non-Amazon device to have support for Amazon Alexa, way back at CES 2016. However, the feature wasn't included when the phone was officially released and shipped in the United States. However, Huawei had also said that the feature would only be delivered in a later update. Now, Huawei has fulfilled its promise, and the Alexa update has started rolling out in the United States. According to Android Police, this will make the Mate 9 a very interesting device for voice interaction. During the months in-between Alexa's announcement and release, Google has also started rolling its Assistant out to numerous phones. The Huawei Mate 9 also has Google's Assistant, and now it's about to be getting Amazon's Alexa too. This would make it the ideal device to try the two AI assistants side-by-side; Amazon has previously noted that Alexa is great at several things like home automation, shopping, and even news, while Google claims that its Assistant also does the same thing. The much-anticipated update might be starting its rollout today, but it looks to be staged in different levels. Many Huawei Mate 9 owners have claimed that they haven't seen any OTAs come through on their phones as of the moment. In order to use Alexa's voice commands on the Huawei Mate 9, an Article on Droid Life says that users must first initiate and start the Huawei Alexa app. Once the app has been launched, users can then ask Alexa various things. These would include: Acquiring information by asking about famous people, historical dates, and amazing places; locating a restaurant, movie or local business place; ordering from Amazon/ Amazon Prime; control connected smart home features such as appliances, lights, and temperature; hearing traffic or weather updates; and even checking your calendar. Alexa has more than 10,000 skills to showcase its user, and new Alexa skills are constantly being added all the time, delivering, even more, capabilities for Amazon's AI assistant. With that being said, Alexa will be a great addition to the Huawei Mate 9. A 17-YEAR-OLD girl got her own back on her parents after being banned from living at home by trashing their house and stealing thousands of pounds worth of property with the help of four youths, a court heard. Suspicious neighbours alerted the police after hearing a commotion and seeing people loading up a van at the family's home in Prestwood on June 23, Aylesbury Crown Court heard on Friday. Paul Mitchell, prosecuting, said police discovered 2,000 damage to carpets and furnishings which had washing products sprayed or poured over them, and 4,000 of electrical equipment stashed in the van. He said that officers found one of the youths lying in a drunken stupor in the bathroom and the girl and the three others hiding in the attic. The girl and an 18-year-old man, of High Wycombe, faced sentence for burgling the house and the three other youths, two aged 16, one from Oxford, the other of no fixed abode and a 17-year-old from Chesham, faced sentence for theft. The teenager could not be named for legal reasons. They had admitted the offences at an earlier hearing and the 18-year-old man also pleaded guilty to possessing a small unspecified amount of cannabis. The court heard that 18-year-old man was addicted to crack cocaine at the time. Timothy Ashmole, speaking on the girl's behalf in mitigation, said that what she had done was in revenge for being banned from the house because she had refused to do what her parents had wanted. The 18-year-old man was sentenced to 21 months in a young offender institution and the girl and the other three youths were made subject of detention and training orders the girl for 18 months, the two 16-year-olds for 12 months and the 17-year-old boy for 10 months. Mar 23, 2017, 12:25pm ET Toyota licenses Microsoft's portfolio of connected car patents \"The connected car represents an enormous opportunity for the auto industry, and at the core its a software challenge,\" says Microsoft\'s Peggy Johnson. Toyota has established a broad patent licensing agreement with Microsoft, securing access to intellectual property for connected car technologies. In a blog post, Microsoft Intellectual Property Group chief IP Counsel Erich Anderson suggests the company's software patents will play a significant role in the automotive industry's "digital transformation" as more vehicles are connected to the internet and cloud services. Toyota already uses Microsoft's Azure platform to power its Big Data Center. The latest agreement covers additional patents related to operating systems, file storage, connectivity, sensors, gesture computing, graphical user interfaces, voice recognition, multi-touch, security and artificial intelligence. "The connected car represents an enormous opportunity for the auto industry, and at the core it's a software challenge," says Peggy Johnson, Microsoft's executive VP of business development. The companies have not publicly disclosed how much Toyota paid for access to the patent portfolio. Bethlehem hopes to find a bright spot in its forced 911 center merger with Northampton County. The city will still be operating a smaller scale public safety center manned by dispatchers 24/7 after the merger, so city officials see a great opportunity to add a 311 hotline to field resident complaints and answer citizen's questions. "It's better customer service," said Robert Novatnack, the city's emergency management coordinator. Mayor Bob Donchez already has announced he wanted to explore creating a 311 hotline. Tuesday night the mayor said it is the perfect time to pursue the idea. Bethlehem and Allentown are in the midst of consolidating their municipal 911 dispatching system after lawmakers in June 2015 enacted a new funding formula giving the two cities four years to merge with Northampton and Lehigh counties. The two cities operate the only two remaining municipal 911 systems in the state and funding for them expires June 30, 2019. A 2016 study commissions by the counties and cities recommended creating a regional Lehigh Valley 911 dispatch center, although it found it would be hard to do ahead of the 2019 deadline. The idea did not gain traction. Bethlehem's merger with Northampton County is already underway and by July 2019 all of the city's 911 calls will be routed through Northampton County, Bethlehem Emergency Management Coordinator Robert Novatnack told Bethlehem City Council's public safety committee Tuesday night. The state, county and city are working closely together through out the transition. "We want to maintain that high level of service," Donchez said. While the county will be handling all 911 calls, Bethlehem's public safety center will still operate 24/7, 365 days a year, Novatnack said. Staffing levels will be halved from 29 employees, six who are part-time, to 13 full-time employees, including 10 dispatchers. Among their many duties, city dispatchers will field calls from citizens, man the city's 122 police cameras, coordinate special events, operate the 311 and handle all radio communications between city departments, Novatnack explained. The city hopes to be able to fund the public safety center for about $1 million annually in 2019. Currently, local taxpayers pay about $1.48 million a year towards the 911 center. By early 2018, all of the 911 centers will be on the same platform and by June 2018 Northampton County will begin hiring new dispatchers, who would start in July 2019. It takes about a year to train a new dispatcher. City officials are encouraging the county to hire Bethlehem dispatchers who will be losing their jobs. "They are going to be a blessing to the county," Bethlehem police Chief Mark DiLuzio said. The county has not yet determined how many dispatchers it will need to hire to handle the city's emergency calls. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. When Joe Prendergast joined An Garda Siochana on May 14, 1980, Johnny Logan had just won the Eurovision Song Contest with 'What's Another Year' and everyone wanted to know Who Shot JR. Thirty-seven years on and Superintendent Prendergast recalled that era at a coffee morning to mark his retirement from the force in the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel this morning (Thursday). A large crowd of colleagues and friends turned out to mark the Mayo man's almost four decades of service. Joining Superintendent Prendergast were his wife, Geraldine, son Harry, daughter-in-law Kate, two year old grandson Daniel, and his brother Paddy and sister-in-law Kay. Inspector Aidan Farrelly was on duty as MC for the occasion and he noted Joe Prendergast's "sense of decency and fair play, as well as his commonsense approach." On behalf of the civilian workers in Portlaoise, Margaret Fitzpatrick wished Supt Prendergast all the best in his retirement. Superintendent Martin Cashin paid tribute on behalf of the Superintendent's Association and Birr District Garda Division. "He was a dedicated and proud police officer," said Martin Cashin of his colleague. "He led by example in pursuit of high standards. He had great empathy with people, both internally and externally. He was a man of conviction who spoke his mind. "Being Superintendent in Portlaoise was a difficult challenge with 12 stations and two prisons. It also had the satellite towns which sprung up during the boom and which brought their own challenges. He did his job exceptionally well with his team," he noted. Supt Cashin made a presentation to Joe Prendergast on behalf of the Superintendent's Association and Birr Garda District. The Portlaoise Social Club also presented Geraldine Prendergast with a bouquet of flowers. Chief Superintendent John Scanlon said that Joe Prendergast was a consummate professional. He was gentleman who dealt with issues humanely. "He is part of what is sometimes criticised as the old school, but the old school has something good to offer - tradition, loyalty and dedication. Those of you who wish to decry the old school, we could do with a lot more of it these days. We could certainly do with loyalty to this organisation and what we do. Joe was a loyal and a valued colleague." Chief Supt Scanlon made a presentation of a painting of Portlaoise Garda Station Joe Prendergast said he was leaving the job in a positive frame of mind. He recalled fallen colleagues who never got the chance to retire. "This job allows you to make a positive difference in peoples lives. You are there with them in good times and when they are at their lowest ebb. I hope that in some way I helped make peoples lives better. "I am very proud to have worked with people of the highest caliber. This job is about doing good and being on the right side." He noted that he served in seven different stations, and made 11 moves. He was in Kildare twice; Banager twice and Portlaoise three times, as well as Tallaght for a year and a half. A memory of his time in Kildare was the kidnapping of Shergar in February 1983. "As a junior Garda I was given the job of minding the stable the morning after the horse was gone. I don't know what happened to Shergar but I know he never came back on my watch." He also spent six years in Tullamore as an Inspector and was appointed Superintendent in Kildare in 2012. "That was a time when resources were tight and I admire how people showed what they were made of when their back was to the wall. "In recent times some people have been pontificating from their studio armchairs about Garda culture and using words like systemic, and saying it needs to be eradicated as quickly as possible. "I can tell you that I'm a witness to Garda culture and, in my experience, it is men and women who are doing a difficult job to the best of their ability and putting themselves and their safety on the line on a daily basis. That is the Garda culture I know. "We are very lucky in Ireland that the Gardai have the support of the vast majority of people. They know what we are about and they are behind us. There is a minority that are against us, and that is because we interrupt their way of life. "In Portlaoise in the last six to eight months we have had Gardai assaulted, kicked and spat at and seriously assaulted. Some are out on sick leave. However, there is a resilience there day after day. "Always hold your head up, you are on side of right. "We should not mind criticism and we need to change but I am very proud of the garda culture I know and long may it last. Superintendent Prendergast thanked his family and also mentioned his mother, who will turn 96 in October. IFA National Livestock Chairperson, Angus Woods is in Brussels today where he will meet with MEPs, senior officials in the EU Commission in DG Sante, DG Agriculture and COPA to reiterate the IFA call for a ban on Brazilian meat imports. Mr Woods said MEPs and the institutions of the EU must respond strongly and back the calls from both EU farmers and consumers with action, and impose a full ban on substandard Brazilian meat imports. He said this position should also be strongly supported by Member State Governments. The IFA Livestock leader said the real story and details behind this scandal have not emerged. It is incredible that the EU Commission were only made aware of the issue through media reports. Attempts by the authorities to try and confine the scandal to a limited number of establishments are not credible, when the reports indicate that the government inspection and control authorities were operating fraudulently and taking bribes from processors to buy certificates," he said. Mr Woods added this latest scandal and ongoing difficulties in Brazil point to a systematic breakdown of standards and controls. Based on previous FVO reports and the work of the IFA/Irish Farmers Journal investigation in 2006/2007, the EU Commission is fully aware of the failure of the Brazil authorities to meet EU standards. On this basis, the EU should act strongly now and impose a full ban. IFA has written to the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis demanding a full ban. The IFA Poultry Chairperson, Nigel Renaghan said the EU Commission must withdraw from trade talks with Mercosur while this investigation in Brazil is ongoing. Standards and controls have to be at the centre of any trade discussions. The EU Commission cannot stand over negotiations with the Mercosur group against the backdrop of the very serious issues raised in Brazil. The latest developments also highlight the need for a strong policy on standards in the context of Brexit. He said, In the IFA policy document on Brexit we have set out very clearly the need for equivalent standards on food safety, animal health, welfare and the environment and the need for the application of the Common External Tariff for imports to both the EU and UK. Pharmacists have issued a reminder to parents to be extremely careful when giving medicines to children and to always seek the advice of their pharmacist before giving a child any medication. The correct dose of medicine can vary depending on a childs age, weight and symptoms. As children grow, dosages can also change. Medicines meant for an adult should never be given to a child. The Irish Pharmacy Union has produced a handy downloadable leaflet for parents on managing the most common ailments in babies and young children, including advice on medicine safety. Ann Marie Horan, a member of the IPUs Executive Committee and a community pharmacist, said, When a child is sick, it is natural that parents want to make them feel better. Occasionally parents can unintentionally give young children too much medicine, especially when they are administering medicine regularly. Medicine dosages for children should be adjusted according to the age and weight of the child, particularly when it comes to common pain relieving medicines. Too little medication can be ineffective, while too much medication can be harmful. Your pharmacist will be able to advise you on the correct dosage for your child and I would encourage all parents to check with us - thats what were here for. The following advice is a guideline for parents when giving medicine to a child: Read the leaflet. Always follow the recommendations on the information leaflet provided with the medication. Give the correct dose. The dose must be suitable for the childs age and weight. Follow the directions on when the medicine is to be taken. Stick to the instructions, for example, with or after food, or with liquid. Use the proper sized spoon. Never guess the dose. Always use a 5ml spoon or dosage syringe provided with the medication. Follow age and weight limit recommendations. If the label says don't give to children under a certain age or weight, don't do it. Ensure the child takes all of the medicine each time it is given. Keep a record of how much you have given and when. Do not chill or crush medicine without checking it is okay to do so with your pharmacist as this could alter the effectiveness of some medicines. Never mix medicines without first checking with a pharmacist that its safe to do so. Many different-sounding medicines have the same ingredients and you can accidentally overdose as a result. Do not give aspirin to children under 16, unless it is specifically prescribed by a doctor. Store medicines in a cool dry place. Safety First. Keep all medicines well out of the reach of children. Parents should seek immediate medical assistance if their child shows any adverse reactions to a medication such as trouble breathing or swallowing, a rash, hives, vomiting or diarrhoea, concluded Ms Horan. Deputy Tony McLoughlin recently asked the Minister for Health about the status of the development of a new 25 bed Mental Health Unit at Sligo University Hospital; the status of the plans to develop Mental Health and CAMHS Services in the Northwest region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. He was told by the Health Service Executive that the new Acute Mental Unit will be a purpose built 25 bedded unit on Sligo University Hospital Campus. Planning permission for the project was granted in 2015. The first stage of the tender process (Expressions of Interest) was advertised in late 2016 and submissions are currently being shortlisted. "An enabling works package is being prepared as alternative accommodation must be provided for services currently on the site of the new unit. The enabling works are expected to commence in Q2 2017 and be completed by the end of Q3 2017. The main works are expected to commence in early 2018. This would indicate a completion date for construction in Q3 2019 and operational by Q4 2019. All is subject to the availability of Capital Funding. "Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Services provides quality and safe services in the disciplines of Adult Mental Health Services, Mental Health for people with intellectual disability, Psychiatry of Old Age and Community Rehabilitation and Recovery. Services are delivered through Community based multidisciplinary teams. "Currently the vacancies in Sligo Leitrim Child and Mental Health Services are for 2 Specialist Consultant Psychiatrists and 1 Senior Clinical Psychologist. The recruitment process for the Clinical Psychologist is underway and every effort continues to be made to source, recruit and retain permanent Consultant Psychiatrists with the Speciality of Children and Adolescents in Sligo Leitrim. "As of 13 March 2017 a Specialist Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist has been recruited for 20 hours per week. This Consultant will provide clinical leadership, guidance and direction to the Non Consultant Hospital Doctors (NCHDs) and wider CAMHS team," the spokesperson concluded. With reports of further cuts to RTE and concerns over increasing the licence fee, Leitrim and Irish emigrants in the UK are protesting against any change to their link to RTE Radio One. In the Autumn of 2014 RTE gave one months notice of the closure of its Radio One service on Longwave. This shocked many listeners in Ireland, Northern Ireland and even more so in the UK. Subsequently due to public pressure RTE delayed closure until January 2015 and then further until 2017, it is now understood that the changes will not come into effect until 2019. Leitrim emigrants took to the streets of Manchester for th UKs biggest St Patricks day parade on March 12 to protest any cut to their last link to home. Pensioners in their 70s and 80s marched in support of RTELW252 threatened with closure this coming May. A government report engaged 3000+ listeners and more than 90% said that they listen every day or most days to the longwave station. RTE now say they will introduce a new digital service which will include programming aimed at Irish in the UK.The service is designed to offset the loss of the station's longwave service which is due to shut down in June 2019. Full details of the service have not been clarified. Enda OKane one of the campaigners says if the longwave is pulled people in Northern Ireland will not be able to listen to RTE Radio One in their cars. He said older Irish emigrants rely on their service to stay in touch with news at home. For more details on the campaign visit: http://savertelongwaveradio.com/ Its an old and accepted wisdom that Africas progression in fact the worlds is dependent on investment in its young people. With over 70% of the population across the continent aged 35 and under, it couldnt be clearer that Africas challenges and its priorities, must be those of its young people. Despite this, leadership in Africa is on average 10-20 years older than leadership in Europe and America, despite the western worlds older populations. The Africa Liberal Network (ALN) itself, despite progress in this area with, for example, the appointment of the liberal politician Sidi Toure to the position of Minister for Youth in Cote DIvoire, is dominated at the leadership level by politicians over a certain age. This is why we are so proud to announce that, with the sponsorship and support of the Liberal Democrats International Office, the ALN has elected its first ever youth network, newly named the Africa Liberal Youth (ALY), and empowered it to become the voice of young people within the ALN and Africa. In Nairobi, Kenya, in the days proceeding the ALN General Assembly, the six young people elected to the new youth committee met for a three-day workshop, organised by the Liberal Democrats International Office, designed to bring them together to make a plan for their first year in office. Bringing in experienced facilitators and trainers from the highly successful Democratic Alliance (DA, South Africa) Young Leaders Programme, we ran sessions on core liberal values, brand-development and also facilitated a day-long planning session in which the ALY wrote its vision statement and developed a set of objectives for the coming year. We also had great discussions with representatives from the International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY), which represents young liberals from around the world. The ALY will present its vision and plans to the ALN General Assembly on Thursday, outlining their goal to establish the networks brand and online presence before the end of the year and to begin running online and media campaigns to shine a light on the major challenges facing Africas young people. Once they are better established, the ALY plans to develop a leadership programme to identify, develop and invest in outstanding young liberals from across the continent. For over ten years, the Liberal Democrats have been proud sponsors of the ALN and have supported the Network to grow into the largest political affiliation in Africa. We look forward to working closely with their new youth organisation as they develop into a strong and passionate voice for Africas young people and for liberalism on the continent. To follow developments at the Africa Liberal Network General Assembly, follow @AfricanLiberals and @LibDemInternat on Twitter or follow the #ALNGA hashtag. * Harriet Shone is Head of the Liberal Democrats International Office. On leaving the Labour Party last year (which I have written about here), I was asked if I was going to be leaving my trade union UNISON. I didnt and no dont intend to. The question confused me. I was a trade union activist in the Labour Party more than I was ever a Labour Party activist who happened to be in a trade union. As a trade unionist I see the purpose of my membership is to be supported at work and to have the union collectively bargain on my behalf for better pay, terms and conditions at work. I have held a number of roles within the trade union movement. I have been a workplace steward, a full time senior union rep, a delegate to Trades Unions Congress and a member of UNISONs National Executive Council representing low paid members from my region. None of which involved too much involvement with the Labour Party. My main activism was supporting members with their issues at work, supporting them through grievances, disciplinaries and sickness cases as well as acting on behalf of larger groups in restructures. Funnily enough no one when meeting me to get help over their workplace issues were particularly bothered about what political party I was a member of, they were more bothered about what advice I had to give them. You know, being a good union rep isnt about being a member of one party or another, its about listening to peoples problems and acting on them, which is what as community politicians we should be doing too. Nationally my union campaigns on issues such as the living wage, the bedroom tax, pensions reform and other issues which affect our members such as LGBT equality and fighting racism and this is where the interaction with the Labour Party and Labour politicians comes in. As a union delegate to Labour Party conference I spoke on the living wage and the work my union had done in campaigning for a living wage. My trade unions involvement with the Labour Party is more about lobbying for changes to policy rather than bankrolling specific candidates, although thats not to say that some of that doesnt go on, but only from the money paid into affiliated political funds. If you opt out of that part, you arent supporting the Labour Party. So why do the trade unions only talk to or associate with the Labour Party? The issues raised within the labour movement are not just Labour Party issues, they are issues which affect every working person. And lets be honest, the trade unions and Labour dont always agree, so why shouldnt the Liberal Democrats engage with them on issues of mutual interest on a similar basis? The trade union movement is a good thing, but its by no means perfect. So how could we as Liberal Democrats change it? Well I think a good start would be for those in a unionised workplace to join their union, opt out of the political fund and get active within their union. You could perhaps be a workplace contact to hear about what your union is talking about with your employer, you could become a steward, a health and safety rep or a union learning rep, you could attend your branch committees and talk about whats affecting you at work. Trade unions are basically member led organisations and if we want them to engage with us, we need to engage with them. Im still proud to be a trade unionist, proud to stick up for my colleagues when they need me and proud to be a Liberal Democrat in the labour movement. Why not come join me? * Sarah Brown is a Liberal Democrat activist who lives in Manchester. A FAILURE to develop the 150m Northern Distributor Road in Limerick would be disastrous for future jobs, three business leaders have warned. In an unprecedented move, bosses at three of the largest foreign direct investment employers in the city have joined with the IDAs mid-western manager Niall OCallaghan to warn rejection of the massive scheme would send the wrong signal to investors. Barry OSullivan, Johnson and Johnson, Bill Doherty, Cook medical and Catherine Duffy, Northern Trust spoke out as councillors prepare to vote on plans to vary the development plan to allow the road go ahead. The link would cross the Shannon from the citys northside where it would open up Moyross bypass Corbally and traverse the Mountshannon Road, before continuing to the Cappamore Junction and the Dublin Road. A roundabout would be built to provide a link to the old Dublin/Castleconnell Road, with a second roundabout included near to the Daughters of Charity in Lisnagry to link in with the Dublin Road, which connects Annacotty and Castletroy to the city centre. The R445 would be reconfigured to connect to the new roundabout, with another exit connecting to the Cappamore/Murroe Road. And crucially, a spur is proposed across the Mulcair River to provide a link with the National Technology Park, while the Northern Distributor Road would eventually continue and connect to the Mackey Roundabout to allow M7 access. Many see the Northern Distributor Road as the solution to existing capacity constraints on the main road through the National Technology Park and the university which can see 40 minute delays. But there is still huge opposition to the plans among residents and councillors who fear flooding along the route. A flyover is proposed for the Mountshannon Road. When the initial plans came before council in 2015, they were rejected 27-3, with Willie ODea saying the new plans will be obsolete when they finally get off the ground due to population growth. A number of other councillors in both Limerick and Clare have spoken against the multi-million euro route. But the three business leaders who between them lead companies employing over 3,000 people are taking a different approach. This road is vital and it would be disastrous for future development and future jobs in the National Technology Park if it were to be rejected again, said Mr OSullivan, who also chairs the Mid-West Action Plan for jobs group. It will relieve both the National Technology Park and neighbouring areas of the current congestion issues and open it up for further investment, expansion and job creation, he added. Mr Doherty warned: Local authority members must not deny this process, not least when it would mean that it has the capacity to deny this part of Limerick considerable future investment. And Ms Duffy said it would be incomprehensible if the city and region were denied the opportunity offered by the link. It is time for local authority members to stand up for Limerick and the region, she added. Mr OCallaghan, who is the IDAs top representative in the region, said: Limerick and the Mid-West have been the great success story of the Irish recovery. Not including the Northern Distributor Road in the development plan would run contrary with the proud business reputation all stakeholders have worked so hard to collectively build over the recent past, and would be a regressive message. Councillors will vote on whether to vary the development plan at Mays meeting, while closing date for submissions on the route is Monday. COUNCILLORS in Limerick's metropolitan district have criticised planners for granting permission to Irish Cements controversial proposals. Under 10m plans, Irish Cement in Mungret is seeking to ditch the use of petroleum coke in the production of the substance. Instead the firm wants to use solid recovered waste and used tyres, a move which many residents fear could lead to an increase in the number of emissions from the plant, with fears these could be toxic in nature. For its part, Irish Cement has always claimed that due to the fact incineration will take place at 1,500 degrees celsius, there will be no increase in emissions. But meeting for the first time since conditional permission was given, members did not hold back. Cllr Malachy McCreesh, Sinn Fein, said: Allowing hazardous waste to be incinerated at any facility in Limerick will certainly present future generations with possible far reaching health impacts, due to the likely emission of dioxins and furans. To date, objections on serious health concerns, by local communities and residents living in the wider emissions impact zone have been ignored. His party colleague Seighin O Ceallaigh agreed, adding: None of us supported this. We have been slapped in the face by a pure lack of democracy. This is an example of the disastous effect of power being given to unelected officials. Cllr James Collins, Fianna Fail, said: This is an ageing cement kiln. Irish Cement is trying to compare this to a purpose-built modern waste incinerator. Its a nonsense. We dont believe what Irish Cement is telling us, and we dont have faith in the EPA. Solidarity councillor Paul Keller added: This decision is a slap in the face for councillors. You can throw away the motto People First Council director Kieran Lehane said: "I do accept the very genuine concerns expressed. But were bound in making decisions by planning and environmental law. EMPLOYEES at Cook Medical in Limerick will host The Kube charity event on Saturday week in the South Court Hotel in aid of the Mid-West Cancer Foundation. Staff are aiming to raise up to 30,000 from the event on Saturday, April 1, at 8.30pm. Angela Moloney, finance director at Cook Medical, said the company is acutely aware that cancer is a disease which affects many, either personally or through its impact on family and friends. Ms Moloney will also be competing on the night as attendees at the event bid money to go head to head with her in a Beat the Boss challenge. The founder of the Mid-West Cancer Foundation, Professor Sanjeev Gupta, a consultant medical oncologist and regional director of services at University Hospital Limerick, is encouraging people to attend on the night. We are delighted and honoured that Cook Medical has chosen the Mid-Western Cancer Foundation as the recipient of the money that will be raised by The Kube. The Foundation, your local cancer charity, would be grateful for your support of this exciting event that Cook Medical has kindly organised and look forward to seeing you there, said Professor Gupta. One in two people in Ireland will develop cancer during their lifetime, according to figures released by the Irish Cancer Society. If you would like further information on how to support the event, please email kube@cookmedical.com or tel 061 334440 and ask for a Kube committee member. A MAN who is accused of assaulting a woman who sustained severe injuries when she was stabbed and doused with acid has been granted bail despite a garda objection. The 28-year-old, who has an address in St Marys Park, appeared before Limerick District Court this Wednesday afternoon. Detective Garda Ronan OReilly told the court the defendant was arrested on Monday and that he made no reply when he was formally charged on Tuesday night. The man is accused of assaulting his then partner, causing her harm at her home at Hassett Villas, Thomondgate overnight on November 26, last. He faces a separate charge of assaulting her at the same location on an unknown date last October. Opposing bail, the detective said the alleged victim was found in an unconscious state on the floor of her flat when gardai were alerted to an incident in the early hours of November 27. She was placed in an induced coma and spent more than two months in hospital. Judge Marian OLeary was told she sustained severe burns to her face, neck, throat and upper limbs as some form of acid was poured over her. The woman, who cannot live independently because of her injuries, also sustained a stab wound to the back, fractured ribs and a collapsed lung. While gardai expressed concerns the accused would contact the woman if released, Judge OLeary granted him bail subject to an independent surety of 2,500 being approved by the court. He must also sign on daily and obey a curfew. THE Christian Brothers have dropped the threat of legal action against abuse survivor Tom Wall of Glin, Fianna Fail TD Niall Collins confirmed this Thursday. The threat arose over the legal ownership of documents saved from a fire by Tom Wall at the Industrial School in Glin in 1973 and lodged with UL two years ago. Now, Deputy Collins said, the Christian Brothers had confirmed to him that they would be satisfied with copies of the documents and had no interest in engaging in legal action. Deputy Collins raised the issue of the documents in the Dail on Wednesday where he claimed the documents effectively sold into slavery some of the boys sent to Glin. Holding up a document, he said it was effectively a contract for sale under which boys were sold out of the industrial school into the labour market. The documents, he explained, included health reports, referral letters from the Courts Service, education referral letters from the Department of Education and letters written by the boys but not posted. And he asked Education Minister Richard Bruton to take possession of the documents and to meet Mr Wall. Mr Wall revealed in the Limerick Leader last week that no agreement could be reached with the Christian Brothers over the documents. He had no problem with giving copies of the original documents to the Christian Brothers for their archive, he explained, but he made clear he did not want the originals to be lodged with them as he feared they would be destroyed. In his statement released last night, Deputy Collins said that after he had raised the matter in the Dail he had received an email from the Christian Brothers outlining and clarifying their latest position. He subsequently spoke to the head of the European Province of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, Br Edmund Garvey who confirmed to me that he will be satisfied with copies of the documents and further stated that he has no interest in engaging in legal action. This being the case its is a welcome change in their position and hopefully the matter will soon he settled to the satisfaction of all, Deputy Collins said. He now understood that these points would be conveyed to Mr Wall. In his email to Deputy Collins, which was seen by the Limerick Leader, Br Garvey claimed that their position on the matter of the documents was substantially different from what you have have read in media coverage. "The European Province of Christian Brothers neither had nor has any vested interest in seeking the return of the Glin documentation for any reason save to ensure that our archives are as complete as possible as the documentation contains important family history which we believe would be helpful in assisting any inquiries from former residents. The Limerick Leader contacted Br Garvey about Mr Walls statements last week but was told they did not wish to comment. Ulster Bank has announced it is to close two branches in Limerick later this year as part of a nationwide restructuring programme. Around 20 jobs are at risk locally with the branches in Newcastle West and Castletroy earmarked for closure. 20 other branches across the country are set to close by September. The move means Ulster Branch will no longer have a presence outside of Limerick city where it will retain branches at OConnell Street and Dooradoyle. The Croom branch closed two years ago while its branch at UL closed after Bank of Ireland was awarded the contract to operate there. Vicky O'Sullivan of the Newcastle West Business Association said she was gutted when she heard that the local branch is to close. "It came out of the blue, it's a huge blow for the town, I'm shocked and we're worried about the impact it will have on staff," she said. Ulster Bank chief executive Gerry Mallon said the decision to close branches was a difficult one which the bank did not take lightly Our branch network remains an important part of how we serve our customers. However, the role of the branch continues to move toward advice and away from day-to-day transactions, with only 10* of our customer interactions now happening in branch, he said. OVER 200 American choristers have already signed up for the Limerick Sings International Choral Festival, which returns for a fifth annual staging this June. The festival, which is run by Campus Life Services in UL and the University Concert Hall, was launched in conjunction with a 30th anniversary concert by acclaimed vocal group Anuna in the Concert Hall at the weekend. Once again the festival is working with Perform International, a leading music tour company based in Atlanta, to attract US choirs, and there are 200 choristers already confirmed to attend including, Canterbury Voices from Oklahoma, Tallahassee Community Chorus and Pensacola Childrens Chorus from Florida, Oswego Festival Chorus from New York and Fairfield County Childrens Choir from Connecticut. There are a host of local and national choirs signed up for the non-competitive weekend including Limerick Choral Union and Aoide together with The Gunas, Dalkey Active Retirement Association Choir and Maynooth Chamber Choir. Choristers and audiences can look forward to performances in St Johns Cathedral, the UCH and the Holy Trinity Abbey Church in Adare, while the Cliffs of Moher will provide the stunning backdrop for a Big Sing. It takes place from June 22-25. Sinead Hope, director of the UCH, said the festival keeps growing. We are delighted to have two particularly exciting new additions to the 2017 programme, a Big Sing on the iconic Cliffs of Moher at which all festival participants will gather under the Baton of International Conductor Andre Thomas, and a workshop with Anunas education team, she said. The workshop is open not just to festival participants, but also anyone that enjoys singing in a choir and would like to learn some new techniques and stage etiquette tips. Choirs will be performing all weekend in different venues throughout Limerick including, of course, University Concert Hall, as well as St. Johns Cathedral and Holy Trinity Abbey Church in Adare. Were looking forward to a great weekend of song! she added. The programme features classical, sacred and contemporary music and there will be something for all music lovers in Limerick this June, Ms Hope. See www.limericksings.com for more details. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. How boy (really) gets girl Love, and the advantages of being ordinary /news/talking-point/how-boy-really-gets-girl-111646891258676.html 111646891258676 story Varun Dhawan played the role of an available, ordinary, local boy whom Alia Bhatt falls for at the end in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), the first instalment of the franchise that released Badrinath Ki Dulhania this year. The hero of Badrinath Ki Dulhania is a young man who does not know what compound interest is. In fact, he does not know what simple interest is. Even though his father owns a car dealership, where he works, he is unaware that ABS stands for anti-lock braking system. All of the worlds acronyms or abbreviations are unfamiliar to him. Apart from the Taj Mahal, he does not know the other wonders of the world as decided by white people. He looks like the sort of muscular man who can make his breasts quiver at will, and rate that highly as talent. He has an idiot man-friend whom he loves and they often walk with their little fingers locked. He is unemployable, short-tempered, and lives in Jhansi, which he does not wish to flee. He is an obedient son because his father is rich, a condition that is often passed off as an Indian family value. Yet, in the end, the boy secures the love of an exceptional girl. She is beautiful and dominant. At weddings she dances in the Hum Aapke Hain Koun way that leads men to sing to her buttocks, but what she really wants is to start her own business. She lives in Kota in the type of beautiful house producer Karan Johar wishes, for aesthetic reasons, every lower middle-class Indian would possess. Her home is a happy place but she wishes to flee to make something of her life. She can speak English fluently and is familiar with words like claustrophobia". She recognizes her suitor from Jhansi as an imbecile. In the end, he does not transform into a clever man, there is no situation that he overcomes through force of character, he does nothing heroic, but she falls in love with him. There are Indian stories where a man wins the affection of a woman because he is extraordinary. And there are stories where a man is so fortunate when he is unremarkable, or, worse, a wreck. In most of mainstream Indian cinema, the boy is stricken by the beauty of the girl and some other qualities, including talent and intellect, but it is usually not clear what the girl sees in the hero. That Devdas was written by a Bengali does not explain the attraction of a total loser and why women must love him. Badrinath, in fact, is puzzling in its deliberate portrayal of the boy as not merely unremarkable but exceedingly stupid, with no redeeming prospects. It is a type of carelessness that Hollywood usually avoidsthe boy in La La Land, for instance, is a jazz romantic and some sort of struggling puritan pianist, highly admirable features in a man who also resembles Ryan Gosling. We dismiss the emptiness of the Indian hero as part of the artistic mediocrity of commercial cinema. But what if it is not a flaw at all? What if the unremarkable man as the most common recipient of love is closer to the truth? What if the typical modern Indian hero is, in fact, sheer anthropology? The love of a girl, with its exaggerated compliments, long, fond stares and promise of decadence, is generally presumed to be a reward for distinguishing male qualities. It is an idea that women themselves have promoted through the many ways in which they talk of romance and the loud expectations they have from men, which physically and intellectually disqualify most men. That is the reason I went through my entire late adolescence confused by the lovers the adorable girls took. As it is, I could not understand how women could be in love with men who were not writers, or at least scientists and other kinds of artists (but not the postmodern kind). And how could all of them laugh so easily in the company of their men when most men were not funny at all? In the real world, love occurs for the simplest reason, that it is very desperate to happen, and because it cannot wait it tends to reward not the extraordinary but the available. As Eartha Kitt sang: Doesnt have to be prince or movie star/A Texas oilman or a French marquis/Doesnt have to be handsome as a picture/An ordinary guys all right with me. An exceptional quality of the ordinary is that it is ubiquitous. Like in a Hindi film, a guy in the right place at the right time has a better chance than the invisible prophesied genius titan. The regular guy is in the right place at the right time because he is up and about most times even as his formidable competition is hidden in solitary confinement working long hours on heroic dreams. He is most often not the brilliant coder or artist or scientist or athlete and does not have to spend a colossal amount of time nurturing his gifts. And he probably exhibits signs of appealing goodness because as an ordinary person he, rightly, believes he needs the backing of people, so he has a natural tendency to reach out. The exceptional young men, meanwhile, however attractive their talents might be, may not be as agreeable as the ordinary. Or they might be too proud to make the first move, or too scared of the shame of rejection. In the language of love, there is much talk about the inexplicable connection" that two people discover, or the fiery chemistry". This is meant to explain why women choose regular guys when they could have been with more gifted men. But we can never be sure how much of this chemistry is influenced by the far less glorious circumstances of the players involved or how much of this is in reality plain misconceptions or delusions that people wish to surrender to because they are tired of loneliness. And there is the matter of equal handicaps. In the satire The Lobster, director Yorgos Lanthimos creates a fictitious world that is somewhat familiar: An oppressive society expects everyone to find love within a certain period, or they will be converted into animals of their choice. If you encounter any problems you cannot resolve yourselves," an official tells prospective couples, you will be assigned children, that usually helps." In their desperate search for love to save themselves from becoming animals, men and women who are handicapped in some form also search for similar flaws in others. In the real world that the film parodies, love is very rarely a match of the strong and often a union of equal weaknesses. And there is much beauty in that. It does not matter what creates it, there is such a thing as love. It is our finest form of insanity, and we must not be too troubled by whether its origins are sound at all. Manu Joseph is a journalist and a novelist, most recently of The Illicit Happiness Of Other People. Google Android O is taking shape, for the better The Developer preview of Android O shows that there will be significant performance upgrades in the OS this time /news/talking-point/google-android-o-is-taking-shape-for-the-better-111646891336878.html 111646891336878 story With Android O, Google is trying to limit the activities of background apps even when you are working on other apps in the foreground. Google has released a developer preview called O for the next version of Android. What the O will be finally named will be decided later this year when the new OS and the new Pixel smartphones will be released. The developer preview provides app developers an early look into the features of the new OS so they can test and validate their apps for the new OS. This allows them to make their apps ready by the time new OS is available to consumers. Google will provide more details on the upcoming OS at the Google I/O Conference in May 2017. Here are some of the key features of the upcoming Android OS. Better battery Battery backup has been at the top of Googles agenda since last couple of years. With Doze and Doze 2.0, they have been able to minimize battery drain caused by background activities. However, this worked only when the phone was not being used. With Android O, Google is trying to limit the activities of background apps even when you are working on other apps in the foreground. Apps in the background will be updated or synced less frequently. If a user is busy and cant check a notification right away but doesnt want to miss it either, they can snooze a notification to show up after a few minutes again. Smarter notifications With Android N, Google made notifications panel more interactive. And, with Android O, they have taken it a step further. Users can club their notifications into channels. So all notifications from news apps will show up together under news and all notifications from social media apps will show separately under social media. User can fine tune their notifications further by creating categories within these channels. Also, if a user is busy and cant check a notification right away but doesnt want to miss it either, they can snooze a notification to show up after a few minutes again. Superior audio The new OS will require some hardware upgrades from phonemakers too, as far as new phones are concerned. Android O will support advanced Bluetooth audio codecs such as Sonys LDAC codec. It enables transmission of three times more audio data compared to audio transmitted through standard Bluetooth audio codecs. This means smartphones with Android O will be able to stream higher quality audio even during Bluetooth streaming. Wireless connectivity made better Another notable feature that could be seen in Android O is Wi-Fi Aware. Also known as Neighbour Awareness Networking (NAN), this technology allows users to connect and communicate with other users in their vicinity over a secure wireless network. This will allow users to chat with each others over messengers, send and receive files and even challenge each other in two player games without requiring an internet connection. More options on lockscreen This option to access an app from the lockscreen itself is very popular with users. In phones running stock Android UI, shortcuts are limited to camera or phone call. A lot of custom UIs allow users more options such as access to Facebook or Google Maps first thing after the lockscreen. With Google O uses can customise the lockscreen shortcuts and add more options and the ones that they actually want. With Android O, users can superimpose a new shape or design over the app icons. New look icons The idea behind stock Android is to keep things lighter, but at times the interface looks too bland. With Android O, users can superimpose a new shape or design over the app icons. User can choose the shapes and even add some animations when they interact with the apps. This will give the interface a more symmetrical and lively look. Better cache management Android O will allocate a fixed amount of storage space for every apps cached data. When a user clears cached data in the phones settings, cached data of those apps will be deleted first that have exceeded their limit. The system will also delete the oldest cache files first. Mr. Ciruli is the Director of the Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Denvers Josef Korbel School of International Studies. He is an adjunct professor teaching public opinion and foreign policy. The Crossley Center conducts research and presents live and virtual programs on foreign policy, politics, public policy and public opinion. Mr. Ciruli holds a law degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and a bachelors degree cum laude in political science from UCLA. He is a member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), and is the past-president of the Pacific Chapter of AAPOR (PAPOR). Mr. Ciruli is a board member of the Social Science Foundation of the University of Denver Josef Korbel School of International Studies and past-president of the Georgetown Law Alumni Board and the Denver Athletic Club. Muriquis on Watch Two northern muriquis, or woolly spider monkeys (Brachyteles hypoxanthus) peer down from a tree in RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala, a protected reserve in southeastern Brazil. (Image credit: Carla Possamai/Muriqui Project of Caratinga) Two northern muriquis, or woolly spider monkeys (Brachyteles hypoxanthus) peer down from a tree in RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala, a protected reserve in southeastern Brazil. Muriquis seem resilient against a rapidly-spreading yellow fever outbreak that has affected brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba) and humans alike. [Read the full story on the monkeys in Brazil's rainforest] Baby howler A young brown howler monkey rests on its mother's back. (Image credit: Carla Possamai/Muriqui Project of Caratinga) A young brown howler monkey rests on its mother's back. These monkeys depend on the forest for food, eating leaves, fruits, seeds and other vegetation. They're named for their booming territorial calls, which have been largely silenced in the RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala reserve by the yellow fever epidemic. Hanging Out Brown howler monkeys hang out in Brazil's Atlantic Forest. A yellow fever outbreak has killed thousands of this species since late 2016, spreading rapidly despite the fragmentation of the forest that leaves the monkeys nowhere else to go. (Image credit: Carla Possamai/Muriqui Project of Caratinga) Brown howler monkeys hang out in Brazil's Atlantic Forest. A yellow fever outbreak has killed thousands of this species since late 2016, spreading rapidly despite the fragmentation of the forest that leaves the monkeys nowhere else to go. Baby muriqui A baby muriqui monkey and its mother at the RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala reserve. (Image credit: Carla Possamai/Muriqui Project of Caratinga) A baby muriqui monkey and its mother at the RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala reserve. The reserve is the former farm of Feliciano Miquel Abdalla, who protected the forest and ultimately worked with scientists and conservationists to establish today's reserve, which covers 2,470 acres, 80 percent of which is natural forest and 20 percent is former pasture and regenerated forest. In 1983, the Caratinga Biological Station was established on the reserve, giving researchers a headquarters for studying critically endangered species like these muriquis. Rare monkeys In the 1980s, the population of muriqui monkeys at the reserve dropped to only about 50. (Image credit: Carla Possamai/Muriqui Project of Caratinga) In the 1980s, the population of muriqui monkeys at the reserve dropped to only about 50. The conservation efforts of Abdala and a network of scientists and environmentalists helped boost those numbers to 340 by September 2016. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there were only around 855 known muriquis in the wild as of 2005, meaning that the RPPN Feliciano Miquel Abdala reserve is home to a proportion of all muriquis. Monkeying around A muriqui dangles by its tail while foraging in the treetops of its forest reserve. (Image credit: Carla Possamai/Muriqui Project of Caratinga) A muriqui dangles by its tail while foraging in the treetops of its forest reserve. The monkeys at RPPN Feliciano Miquel Abdala are the best-studied muriquis anywhere; they have been continuously monitored since 1982. Last monkeys standing Deforestation and hunting have been the major threats to the muriqui population, according to the IUCN. (Image credit: Carla Possamai/Muriqui Project of Caratinga) Deforestation and hunting have been the major threats to the muriqui population, according to the IUCN. Fortunately for these spider monkeys, they do not seem to be as susceptible to yellow fever as brown howler monkeys. Now researchers are eager to learn what will happen to the muriquis population and to muriquis behavior as brown howlers in the RPPN Feliciano Miquel Abdala reserve have died in large numbers. Brown howlers Two brown howler monkeys peer down from a branch in the RPPN Feliciano Miquel Abdala reserve. (Image credit: Carla Possamai/Muriqui Project of Caratinga) Two brown howler monkeys peer down from a branch in the RPPN Feliciano Miquel Abdala reserve. Yellow fever, carried by mosquitos, has swept through the brown howler population here, killing thousands. This image clearly displays the oversized throat structures of the brown howler, adaptations that allow them to make resonate, booming howls. Forest sentinel A brown howler monkey with a baby on its back peers out from the leaves in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. (Image credit: Carla Possamai/Muriqui Project of Caratinga) A brown howler monkey with a baby on its back peers out from the leaves in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. The RPPN Feliciano Miquel Abdala reserve is a rare area where natural forest still persists; much of the surrounding area has been cleared for agriculture. Forest morning A view over the treetops of the RPPN Feliciano Miquel Abdala reserve in southeastern Brazil. (Image credit: Carla Possamai/Muriqui Project of Caratinga) A view over the treetops of the RPPN Feliciano Miquel Abdala reserve in southeastern Brazil. This land was purchased by the farmer for which it is named in the 1960s, and the forest within was protected despite strong pressure to clear the land for timber and agriculture. Over the years, the spot has become an important refuge for wildlife and an important research station for biologists and conservationists. [Read the full story on the monkeys in Brazil's rainforest] Even grizzly bear cubs wouldn't be off-limits for hunters with the new resolution on hunting in Alaska wildlife refuges. The U.S. Senate voted, mostly along party lines, on Tuesday (March 21) to abolish a regulation that prohibited certain types of hunting in Alaska national wildlife refuges. In the 52-to-47 vote, the Senate used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn a so-called midnight regulation that President Barack Obama's administration passed in their last hours in office last year. (Under the 1996 CRA, Congress can, in an expedited fashion, eliminate any regulation, which then can't be reinstated in a "substantially similar" form, according to an article in the Washington Post. The justification for the abolition was that states, not the federal government, should shape regulations regarding wildlife within their borders, according to the Washington Post. [Should We Hunt Yellowstone Grizzly Bears? (Op-Ed)] Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., opposed the effort to abolish hunting regulations in Alaska refuges, saying at the hearing that in his view the new law would "turn back the clock 100 years on the management of our native wildlife on our national wildlife refuges in Alaska." The new resolution would allow trapping, baiting and aerial shooting of wildlife, such as wolves and grizzly bears, on Alaska's refuges, the Washington Post reported. Rather than supporting hunters, "what the CRA before us in my view puts at risk when you vote to put the federal stamp of approval on methods of take that the public views as objectionable even unethical, when you allow that ideologically driven style of game management to even permeate the sanctity of our national wildlife refuges, I don't think that's standing up for hunters," Heinrich said at the hearing. "I fear that it's endangering the future of something that is critical to culture and way of life." The National Rifle Association, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Alaska chapter of the Safari Club International all backed the overturning of the hunting regulations, according to the Post. The Sierra Club issued a statement strongly opposing the overruling. "Now hunters can kill grizzlies and wolves on Alaska's wildlife refuges, including mother grizzlies with their cubs, and wolves with their pups in their dens. State wildlife officials can even shoot at grizzly bears from helicopters," they said. Some senators and others who support the new resolution suggest that by ridding areas of predators, such hunting will bring back dwindling wildlife prey populations, such as elk, moose and caribou. The problem, according to the Sierra Club, is that there's no scientific evidence to back up the idea that controlling predators brings back other wildlife. "This resolution undermines science-based wildlife management and the basic premise of public lands as places for wildlife conservation," Alli Harvey, Alaska representative with the Sierra Club's Our Wild America campaign, said in the Sierra statement. "It overrides fundamental national environmental safeguards in the name of narrow special interests." Original article on Live Science. "Portrait of George III of the United Kingdom" by Johann Zoffany. The painting was completed in 1771, when King George III was 33 years old. Hundreds of letters written by King George III, the so-called "Mad King," support the modern diagnosis that he suffered from mental illness during his later years, a new study found. Using computer analysis, researchers investigated letters written by George during his 60-year reign over Great Britain and Ireland, from 1760 to 1820. They compared writings from periods in his life when he was thought to be mentally unsound, to letters he wrote when he appeared healthy. The researchers programmed a computer so that it learned to identify 29 written features to differentiate between the writings of people who had mental disorders and people who did not. It analyzed features such as complexity of sentence structure, vocabulary richness, and word variation and repetition. The computer then searched for those features in the king's letters, comparing changes in writing style to identify deteriorating mental health, the new study reported. [5 Controversial Mental Health Treatments] Oceans rise, empires fall George was widely considered to be a cultured monarch. He founded and funded the Royal Academy of Arts, was the first British monarch to study science and established a vast royal library, of which 65,000 volumes were later donated to the British Museum, according to a biography posted on the British royal family's website. But George was also held responsible for "losing" the American colonies, which declared their independence in 1776. Great Britain's defeat exacted a toll on the king's health. He went through periods of physical and mental illness from 1788 to 1789 and during 1801, the royal family's website reported. And by 1810, the king's mental condition had deteriorated so much that he was unfit to continue as king, and his oldest son, George IV, assumed the throne as Prince Regent. Accounts from a royal physician who attended George III during an early episode of illness described the king as undergoing "an intire [sic] alienation of mind," while his wife, Queen Charlotte, told a confidante that George "often spoke 'til he was exhausted, and the moment he could recover his breath began again, while the foam ran out of his mouth," according to a study published March 2010 in the journal History of Psychiatry. The madness of kings For the new study, the researchers enlisted a technique called "machine learning," in which a computer is programmed to learn from the data it collects. In this case, the researchers trained a computer to identify what could be signs of mental illness in King George III, as defined by the writing style in his letters, said study co-author Peter Garrard, a professor of neurology at St. George's University of London. "King George wrote very differently when unwell, compared to when he was healthy," Garrard said in a statement. "In the manic periods, we could see that he used less-rich vocabulary and fewer adverbs. He repeated words less often, and there was a lower degree of redundancy, or wordiness," Garrard said. Prior studies had determined that computers could identify disordered language that was characteristic of people suffering from schizophrenia, dementia and bipolar disorder, the researchers reported. And when the scientists applied this type of analysis to George's letters, they found differences that marked a stark contrast between periods of mental health and "acute mania," a historical medical term referring to a condition that could resemble the manic phase of bipolar disorder, the study authors wrote. A metabolic culprit? The cause of George III's mental decline has not been well-understood. In 1969, an analysis of the king's condition published in Scientific American suggested that his troubling "psychotic" episodes were the byproduct of a metabolic disorder called porphyria, a hereditary condition with mental symptoms that can include hallucination, bouts of paranoia and depression. And in 2005, researchers reported evidence that the doctors who treated the ailing king may have inadvertently worsened his condition by giving him doses of arsenic. [Senses and Non-Sense: 7 Odd Hallucinations] However, it was later questioned whether the porphyria diagnosis was accurate, despite its widespread acceptance. Scientists argued in 2010 that the 1969 study ignored or underrepresented evidence from medical accounts, and they suggested that porphyria might not be the cause of the king's illness. Furthermore, there was little substantial evidence of George's urine being significantly discolored, a distinctive porphyria symptom. The new findings hint that King George III likely suffered from a mental illness not related to porphyria, a diagnosis that the scientists described in the study as "thoroughly discredited." "In the modern classification of mental illness, acute mania now appears to be the diagnosis that fits best with the available behavioral data," the researchers wrote in their study, which was published online March 22 in the journal PLOS ONE. Original article on Live Science. Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will continue his tour of the U.S. with a stop in Laredo on Tuesday. Lopez Obrador, who is the head of the National Regeneration Movement Party, announced in mid-February that he would be visiting Laredo, as well as multiple other U.S. cities, to support the rights of Mexican immigrants. A male juvenile was accused of taking away a leather belt from his mother and hitting her with it, according to Laredo police. The 15-year-old boy was charged with aggravated assault of date, family, household member with weapon. In 1932, the great comic director Ernst Lubitsch switched gears to make an agonizing antiwar drama, Broken Lullaby, that did not impress audiences or critics and remains underappreciated to this day. Frantz is a new film by Francois Ozon that takes the Broken Lullaby story and tells it from a different angle. This new film is exceptional and one of Ozons best. Talking about Frantz and its connection to Broken Lullaby is a bit awkward, in that the premise of Broken Lullaby the essential thing that the audience knows from the first minutes is made into a mystery in Frantz. Both films are set about a year after World War I and involve a young Frenchman who travels to Germany, grief-stricken over the death of Frantz, a German soldier of his acquaintance. The difference is that, while Lubitsch told the story from the perspective of the Frenchman, Ozon focuses on Anna, Frantzs Germans fiancee, played brilliantly by newcomer Paula Beer. Anna lives with the family of her fiance, and its a house of grief in a small town that is also grieving, filled with heartsick women and old men all the young men are dead. Anna starts noticing that flowers are appearing on Frantzs grave, placed by the mysterious young man. Soon, she meets this man, Adrien (Pierre Niney), and she brings him to meet Frantzs parents. Like Frantz, Adrien was a music student, and his stories about friendship with Frantz, in prewar Paris, bring some relief to the familys sorrow. A sense of loss pervades Frantz, one of tragedy that cant be undone, of lives changed forever, of pain that can never go away. The movie is shot in a glossy but unglamorous black and white, which only sometimes switches or melts into color, either for prewar scenes or brief moments of hope. Ozon creates a beautiful stillness in Frantz that makes us feel we are there in the midst of these lives, witnessing the purity of their sadness. For those few who have seen Broken Lullaby, and even for those who havent, its worth noting that Ozon takes the story of Frantz months past the ending of the Lubitsch film. Broken Lullaby was antiwar vehemently, stridently, almost hysterically. The recentness of World War I and the fear of World War II gave the original story a frantic immediacy. Frantz is about something else. Its a meditation on the impact of tragedy and on the various ways people are affected. Beer is only 22, but she has a gravity beyond her years, which is fundamental for playing Anna, who is practically widowed without having been married. Annas youth is her strength, and we sense that somehow she will find something approximating happiness, even if she will never be able to return to her prewar blitheness. Whats in question throughout the film is the form that this future life will take. Ozon never forgets that these are individuals and not archetypes. With consummate subtlety, he introduces a question about the sexuality of one or more of the characters just the barest hint, but it adds an extra dimension. World War I was a horror that happened to all kinds of people, every one of them with a particular dream and vision of what life might be. The title, incidentally, is a curious choice. In Broken Lullaby, the dead soldiers name was Walter. Here hes Frantz, which sounds almost identical to the way youd pronounce France in French. Thats a nice change that has some relevance to the course of the film. Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle Frantz Drama. Starring Paula Beer and Pierre Niney. Directed by Francois Ozon. In French and German with English subtitles. (PG-13. 113 minutes.) To see a trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8nIZqh2854 1 Nightclub shooting lawsuit: A personal injury attorney representing some of the families and survivors of the Orlando nightclub massacre filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the gunmans employer and wife, claiming they were able to stop Omar Mateen before the attack but didnt. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in South Florida on behalf of more than four dozen of the survivors and family members of those killed at Pulse nightclub in June. Forty-nine people were killed during the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history at the gay nightclub. The lawsuit claims wrongful death, negligence and other counts. 2 Concealed guns: Arkansas governor signed a sweeping gun rights measure into law on Wednesday that will allow concealed handguns at state colleges, some bars, government buildings and even the state Capitol. The measure approved by Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson allows people to carry concealed handguns at the locations if they undergo up to eight hours of active-shooter training. Hutchinson chaired a National Rifle Association task force that called for trained, armed staff at schools after the 2012 elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The new state law, backed by the NRA, will take effect Sept. 1. A man who's suspected of repeatedly staring into a woman's home while fondling himself faces charges of public lewdness and burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault. Officers identified Marlon Velasquez from surveillance footage on the homeowner's security camera. Recordings from past dates show multiple instances of Velasquez peering into a bedroom window while touching himself. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Chelsea Torres saw the rock fall from above as she barreled down the side of a mountain, but there was nothing she could do. It was too late to hit the brakes. No way to avoid the rock without swerving into oncoming traffic. The 24-year-old gripped the steering wheel and plowed ahead. Thankfully, the newborn conjoined twins in the backseat weren't screaming. The rock ripped the exhaust off Torres' Kia Optima as she passed over it, forcing her and her husband, Nick, to stay an extra night in Colorado for repairs. That, however, was the most trouble they saw during their six-day, 1,700 mile drive from Houston to Idaho last week. "We're home safe," said Torres, who seven weeks ago gave birth to conjoined twin girls, Callie and Carter, at Texas Children's Hospital. READ: Parents came to Houston to save conjoined twins; now, it's time to go home They first came to Houston last fall, leaving behind their jobs and family after doctors in Idaho told them the surgical team at Texas Children's offered their best shot at delivering the girls and, if necessary, separating them. Torres figured they'd be here for years, but after Carter and Callie were delivered via cesarean section last month conjoined at the belly, and sharing every organ and limb from the waist down the doctors told them the girls were so healthy, they weren't candidates for risky separation surgery. For now, there was nothing more to be done. So, two weeks ago, they loaded the girls and their 3-year-old, Jaysen, into the car and headed for home. Aside from the rock incident "I am a very unlucky person," Torres said the drive went smoothly. The girls slept much of the way in their custom-built car seat, she said. "We have officially made it home and will start our journey as a family taking things day by day," Torres wrote last week on the fundraising page they set up to help pay their medical bills. In an email to the Chronicle on Thursday, Torres said they're still adjusting to their new reality after a week at home and likely will be for years to come. ___ Mike Hixenbaugh writes about health care and medicine for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Send him tips at mike.hixenbaugh@chron.com. Colorado, the first state to legalize recreational sale of marijuana, continues to provide lawmakers around the country with examples of what they should and should not do as they prepare to regulate medical and adult-use cannabis industry. The latest involves allowing people to grow a large amount of marijuana in their homes, which Rocky Mountain State lawmakers have learned leads to a host of issues. Chief among them is the ability for organized crime to legally grow large amounts of marijuana, then divert it to the black market. A new measure that limits the number of marijuana plants a person can grow at home won approval in March from the Colorado House of Representatives. It is expected to win approval in the Senate, and Gov. John Hickenlooper has also supported tighter restrictions in the legal marijuana market. Related: Everyone but Republicans Favors Legalizing Marijuana Nationally If passed, the measure would allow law enforcement to target suspected criminal enterprises that have used the states previous laws governing home-grown marijuana to their advantage. Current law allows medical marijuana users to grow as many as 99 plants in their homes. The new law restricts that to 16. Multi-National Criminal Organizations The bill states that organized crime has moved into Colorado and that state lawmakers helped create the situation by initially allowing such large numberss of cannabis plants to be grown at private homes. Many cities in the state, including Denver, have limited the number of plants that can be grown, but the 99-plant rule remains in effect across large sections of the state. Large-scale, multi-national crime organizations have exploited Colorado laws, rented multiple residential properties for large-scale cultivation sites, and caused an influx of human trafficking and large amounts of weapons as well as the potential for violent crimes in residential neighborhoods, the bill states. Related: Marijuana Industry to Create 283,000 Jobs by 2020, Report Projects Large-scale cultivation sites in residential properties have been used to divert marijuana out of state and to children. The states voters did not envision homes being used to cultivate large amounts of marijuana, said Police Chief John Jackson of Greenwood Village, just south of Denver. The current limit of 99 plants is a massive loophole in our state law that attracts criminal elements from across our nation in search of a quick buck, he said, according to the Denver Post. Other reasons for the law. While the bill focused on going after criminals, those who read the fine print learned about a litany of issues that arise when states allow people to grow a large amount of marijuana at their home. For example, the bill listed these issues: Overburdening a homes electricity capacity by trying to grow too many plants. A high potential for water damage and mold in homes where many plants are grown. A noxious smell that limits the ability of others who live in the area to enjoy the quiet of their homes. Because sites where marijuana is grown are often a rental, retrofitting the home to allow for large scale cultivation of marijuana can lead to significant damage that a landlord must contend with. Large-scale marijuana grow houses dramatically reduce property values in the area. To stay up to date on the latest marijuana related news make sure to like dispensaries.com on Facebook. Related: Colorado Takes Aim at the Marijuana Black Market Everyone but Republicans Favors Legalizing Marijuana Nationally Legal Marijuana a 'Powerful Force' in Oregon Economy Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Kristen Poshard was approved March 15 as the new Madison County Board Community Development Director, one of several long-simmering issues the County Board tackled at its monthly meeting. She succeeds Frank Miles, who signed a separation agreement shortly after County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler was elected. Poshard has several misdemeanors in her criminal background history and in the past few meetings several County Board members have expressed concern about her appointment. Prenzler withdrew her appointment and changed her job title to deputy director. At Wednesdays meeting, her appointment as Community Development Director was first on the agenda. Phil Chapman, a Republican from Highland, praised Poshard's performance as deputy director and predicted that she will do well as the departments director. She sets an example by coming early and staying late and sets the tone of teamwork in her department, Chapman told his colleagues. She has gone out of her way to be available to board members. For example, she assisted me with flood water issues in Highland, she helped with the Highland Senior Community Center, shes helped with economic issues that will impact Worden, Staunton and Livingston, she makes her staff available to us and provides appropriate direction. She leads by example. Chapman said that in an era when County Board members are concerned about salaries, Poshard has said she is willing to work for less. Even those people who told me they were not intending to vote for Ms. Poshard all had to tell me that she was doing her job in an excellent way. All in all, her performance could not be better. I think we would simply be making something official that shes already doing. Jim Dodd, a Democrat from Alton, voiced concerns that had been raised at previous board meetings. I thought at one time this board authorized the Sheriffs Department to do background checks on all the people you hire, Dodd, a Democrat said. Prenzler responded that background checks are different for different positions in county government. The County Board approved Poshards hiring by an 18-8 vote. Board members also approved hiring Marc McLemore to the 9-1-1 Emergency Telephone System Board. McLemore is a captain with the Madison County Sheriffs Department and is currently Director of Courthouse Security. Before the meeting, Prenzler sent out a press release asking Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons to investigate whether computer data was wiped or destroyed by members of the previous administration before they left office in November. The release quotes the countys new information director, Rob Dorman, as saying that the process whenever an employee leaves is to make a copy of the computers hard drive onto the county server. When his staff went to retrieve the information there was limited information or none at all, according to the release. The release states that in January Dorman sent the hard drives to a data recovery company based in Denver. The press release states that the county is waiting for more information before they contact the states attorneys office. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A 23-year-old Harris County woman is suing the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo after she was raped by two men while passed out in a truck during a 2012 trail ride event. Brie Ana Williams, whose $10 million lawsuit also targets the Los Vaqueros trail ride, was 19 when she was brutally attacked at a trail-ride sponsored event outside a Dayton bar, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Harris County court. She spoke to reporters Wednesday and asked that her name be used in an effort to draw attention to the assault. The Chronicle typically does not name victims of sexual assault. "It's really tough," Williams said. "It's taken a long time for me to get my self-worth back and remember that I'm a woman and I'm worth more than what they used me for." Her attorney, Chad Pinkerton, said the organizations have a responsibility to ensure their events are safe. "The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has a duty to protect Brie Ana and every other woman who attends trail ride events," attorney Chad Pinkerton said. "We will hold them responsible, and we will make sure no other woman ever has to live through the horrible conduct the Los Vaqueros trail ride allowed to happen." The Houston Rodeo distanced itself from the legal wrangling, noting the assault occurred two months before riders arrived in Houston. "The Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride is a separate entity from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, with its own rules and regulations. Most trail ride organizations have multiple rides throughout the year, which are run independently from the show," officials said in a statement. "Due to pending litigation, the show is unable to comment further." Los Vaqueros did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment. The two men accused in the assaults were convicted in Liberty County, but one is free and attending trail ride events again, Pinkerton said. Alvin Prine, who was 54 at the time, is still serving a 20-year sentence for sexual assault. David Ramirez - whom Pinkerton said is related to the Los Vaqueros trail boss - pleaded to a lesser charge and was sentenced to two years probation, according to court records. During the December 2012 gathering that Pinkerton described as a "drunk fest," Williams passed out and was put in her boyfriend's brother's truck to sleep it off, according to the suit. When she woke up, she found a man on top of her. "I thought it was my boyfriend," she said. But then the man spoke, and she realized it wasn't. Meanwhile, her boyfriend headed over to the truck to check on Williams. When he tried to open the door, someone pulled it shut. He thought it was a joke until he heard his girlfriend calling his name. When he finally pulled the door open, he came face-to-face with Prine, who fled the scene. It's unclear when Ramirez participated in the assault, but two minors at the event later said they'd seen both men by the truck and heard Prine say, "I bet I can get her pants off," according to the suit. When Prine was sentenced in 2015, prosecutors revealed that he'd been convicted of fathering a child with an underage girl 25 years earlier in another county. Although the more recent trail ride rape was nearly five years ago, Pinkerton said the case still falls within the state's statute of limitations for a civil suit. "[Williams] is coming forth because she has courage and she should be applauded for that courage, not questioned," he said. Pinkerton said that the rodeo either sanctioned or sponsored the event and was thus legally responsible for ensuring a safe environment. "What they should do, at a minimum, is make their parties and their events safe," he said. "They didn't make it safe. They know they didn't make it safe. And they should be held responsible." Although the suit asks for damages up to $10 million, Pinkerton offered higher hopes Wednesday: "All the money that they have, that's what I want," he told reporters. Los Vaqueros was at greater fault, Pinkerton said. Despite Prine's prior conviction, the trail ride association let him become a member, and then failed to evict him from the 2012 event even though he was intoxicated and had been tossed from the nearby bar after a confrontation with another trail rider, according to court documents. "I'm not sitting here in judgment of all the trail rides," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and say that all the trail rides are dangerous. I'm not going to say that the trail rides are a bad thing because I do see the benefit. "But I will say this: Los Vaqueros has a reputation of being dangerous." Since coming forward with her story, Williams has faced criticism and harassment, Pinkerton said, although he didn't offer specifics. "To those people out there that are making negative comments about my client, you should be ashamed," he said. "The people that are saying those things, they don't have a daughter," he added. "But guess what? My client is still standing strong. Those comments won't affect her. She will have her day in court. And justice will be served." Houston ISD school board trustees voted 5-0 to allow embattled Assistant Superintendent of Special Education Services Sowmya Kumar to resign Thursday following a Chronicle investigation that found she and her staff set an arbitrary cap on the number of students who could receive special education services in the district. Kumar had been with the district since 2010. Four trustees including Rhonda Skillern-Jones, Diana Davila, Manuel Rodriguez and Jolanda Jones - missed the vote. Trustees discussed the resignation in an executive session that was closed to the public and did not offer comments on Kumar before they voted to accept her departure. Trustees and others have been calling for Kumar's removal since a Dec. 27 Chronicle story detailed how her department pressured schools to identify few students as having special needs and to provide few with services. Denied: Read the series that casts light on how Texas treats its special education students A presentation created by Kumar and her staff in January 2012 showed one of their goals was to keep the percentage of students with disabilities at 8 percent of the district's total enrollment, and special education enrollment in HISD eventually dipped to 7.4 percent, records show. About 13 percent of students nationally are identified as disabled and receive special education services. After the Chronicle story was published, Kumar wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Education saying the district's special education work and goals were mischaracterized. "When possible, we strive to avoid labeling children because research shows that the 'special education' designation can carry an unfair stigma in our society that can harm a child," Kumar wrote. "The decline in HISD's special education population resulted from an intentional decision to more thoughtfully address the needs of students who, in the past, would have been labeled under special education. In HISD, we believe that serving children should be our goal, not putting a label on them." Kumar's 8 percent cap was lower than the 8.5 percent cap created and pushed by the Texas Education Agency more than a decade ago. The TEA's mark saw the share of students receiving special education services fall by 32 percent, though TEA officials denied they had kept disabled students out of special education and said their guideline calling for enrollments of 8.5 percent was not a cap or a target but an "indicator" of performance by school districts. The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation of 12 districts' special education practices in February following the Chronicle's investigation, including in Houston ISD. Earlier this month, Houston ISD trustees finalized a special committee to review the district's special education practices. Among their first tasks is to find an independent firm to audit the district's special education department, which has not been done since 2010. The committee is slated to present its findings and recommendations to the board either at the end of this year or early in 2018. But some board members were more blunt in their criticisms of Kumar and her department. In a series of December emails obtained by the Chronicle, Trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones wrote to other Board of Education members and HISD senior staff officials: "I don't care to listen to (Kumar) any more. I've asked on multiple occasions for something to be done about her and her department and sent many parent complaints as well as been repeatedly informed of these things by staff." She continued, "We wouldn't be at this point if we had done right by these children instead of dismissing her arrogant posturing and allowing her to continually perpetuate these practices." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN ANTONIO --- A man was arrested Wednesday afternoon in the shooting death of a woman who was killed following an argument Saturday on the Northeast Side. Montrail "Tre" Thomas Butler, 21, was charged with murder in the death of Stephanie Woodford. She was 34. Butler was quiet with an empty expression as he was escorted to a police vehicle Wednesday in the San Antonio Public Safety Headquarters, 315 S. Santa Rosa Ave. RELATED: Driver killed after SUV slams into wall, catches fire on northbound Hwy. 281 An affidavit for Butler's arrest said he walked into the back of a home in the 4900 block of Teasdale to pick up his belongings Saturday because he didn't get along with Woodford. When Woodford saw this, she confronted him in the back yard. After they argued, a witness told police Woodford went to the front yard to smoke a cigarette and Butler went to the bathroom. As Woodford returned inside, Butler walked out of the bathroom with a pistol in his right hand, the witness said. RELATED: Witness arrested in case of S.A. man killed by police officer That's when he fatally shot Woodford in the head, according to the affidavit. Police found Woodford's body just inside the front entrance when they arrived. Butler then turned his attention to a 21-year-old woman also inside the house and began pistol whipping her, police said. She ran out of the house, followed by a witness who drove her to a nearby medical clinic. EMS transported her to San Antonio Military Medical Center where they discovered she too had been shot in the head. There were several metal fragments lodged in the back of her head, but the bullet did not penetrate, the warrant states. jbeltran@express-news.net Twitter: @JBfromSA AUSTIN -- House Speaker Joe Straus and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick continued firing verbal shots at each other on Thursday, notching up their unusually public rivalry on a West Texas radio show. Interviewed on the Chad Hasty Show on Lubbock's KFYO radio station, Straus answered Patrick's assertions on Monday on a Dallas station that the San Antonio speaker was "out of touch" on some important political issues, including the so-called "bathroom bill." Patrick, an arch-conservative Republican who has been critical of House votes, has made passage of the controversial measure a keystone of his legislative agenda. Straus, a Republican who is considered more moderate than Patrick, and House leaders have made clear it is not one of theirs. "The lieutenant governor is absolutely correct," Straus said on the show. "He has a different audience. I mean, literally an audience. He was in your business. He's an entertainer, a talk show guy. And a statewide elected official. I'm not." Straus said his audience "is the constituents back home and the House members. I think that my audience, my constituents, have been generally pleased with [my] job performance, and his audience has been generally pleased with his." "The Democrats have voted for me, but so have the Republicans," the speaker said. "And that's not something in this era of polarized politics that I run away from or that I'm embarrassed by. I will work with everybody, and I'm happy about that, and I think it leads to better results. "I encourage others to try it," he added, a remark that appeared directed at Patrick's more partisan approach to leadership in the Senate that's controlled by ultra-conservative Republicans like himself. Later on Hasty's show, Patrick said he is proud of his background as a sportscaster and in radio,saying it "prepared me for this job." "For years, like you, I got a chance to listen," Patrick said. "I got a chance to listen to the voice of the people for years. I got a chance to hear what they cared. I understood the issue. I understood where the voters were." While disagreements between the presiding officers of the two legislative chambers are not unusual, especially during a session addressing contentious issues, the public nature of the Patrick-Straus feud is notable. While the two men meet on Wednesday morning for breakfast with Gov. Greg Abbott to discuss state issues -- insiders in attendance describe the sessions as collegial -- the Senate and House positions on issues such as the bathroom bill, school choice and even the budget have been much more adversarial. Abbott's office had no comment on Thursday's on-air exchange. On Wednesday, shortly after the Senate Finance Committee approved its version of the state's next two-year budget, Straus harshly criticized it because the Senate used an accounting maneuver to avoid a $2.5 billion shortfall. "Counting money twice in order to balance a budget is not a good idea. This is the Texas Legislature. We are not Enron," Straus, R-San Antonio, told reporters in an unusually harsh response that reportedly angered Patrick and most senators. "I'm not interested in cooking the books just to avoid a vote on the rainy day fund. We have option." One of the two suspects accused of raping a 14-year-old student at Rockville High School in Rockville, Maryland was picked up by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Texas seven months ago, determined to have illegally entered the country, and issued a notice to appear in immigration court, federal officials said Monday. The suspect, Henry Sanchez-Milian, 18, arrived in Montgomery County around that same time period, according to records filed at Montgomery County District Court. He was placed in ninth grade at Rockville High School, as was the other suspect, Jose O. Montano, 17, according to a court hearing last week. Montano has been charged as an adult in the case. RELATED: Gang member, convicted sex offender apprehended by border patrol in South Texas Montano is accused of pushing the 14-year-old student into a boys' bathroom during school hours Thursday morning and then forcing her into a stall as she tried to hold on to a sink, according to police affidavits filed in court. Inside the stall, he and Sanchez-Milian, whose name also is spelled as Sanchez in court records, took turns attacking the girl, according to court records. Both teenagers have been charged with one count of first-degree rape and two counts of first-degree sex offense. The crimes carry possible sentences of life in prison. The suspects' accounts of the events have not yet been presented in public filings. Montgomery County schools superintendent Jack Smith said Monday the allegations are "horrible and unacceptable." As part of a broader effort to review security measures, schools officials said Rockville High School staff were taking steps to more closely monitor hall passes and students coming in and out of class. "I was immediately sick and disgusted" about the reports of what happened at Rockville High, County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said Monday. "This should not happen. Period." Leggett said the two suspects had "no previous involvement in the county's criminal justice system." He said that if the suspects are convicted, he would "cooperate fully" with federal immigration officials to have them deported after serving any imposed prison sentences. RELATED: Child's backpack used to hide $141K at El Paso border crossing The suspects' immigration status is a topic of high interest for residents in Montgomery County and, as news of the case spreads nationally, people in other states. Available records at Montgomery County District Court show that Sanchez-Milian was born in Guatemala and lived there until he was 17. "In August 2016, Henry Sanchez-Milian was encountered by a border patrol agent in Rio Valley Grande, Texas, who determined the individual had unlawfully entered the United States from Mexico," ICE spokesman Matthew Bourke said in a statement. "Sanchez-Milian was issued a notice to appear in front of an immigration judge, which is currently waiting to be scheduled." Sanchez-Milian arrived in Montgomery County seven months ago, according to Montgomery County court records. After his arrest last week, ICE officials requested a "detainer" be placed on him at the county jail, meaning they are interested in possible future deportation proceedings. ICE officials declined to comment on whether they have requested a detainer for Montano, saying they could not discuss his case because he is a juvenile. According to court records, Montano was born in El Salvador, lived there for 16 years, and also arrived in Montgomery County seven months ago. - - - Bill Turque contributed to this report. 1 Famine appeal: The International Red Cross is appealing for $400 million to help millions of people facing famine or the risk of it in four conflict-ridden countries Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan and Nigeria. The Geneva humanitarian agency said Wednesday that it wants a massive scale-up in assistance and hopes to provide essential aid to about 5 million people. Operations Director Dominik Stillhart said 20 million people facing starvation is not something we are dealing with every day. 2 Not in school: An aid group says nearly a third of all children in war-torn Afghanistan are unable to attend school, leaving them at increased risk of child labor, recruitment by armed groups, early marriage and other forms of exploitation. Save the Children says more than 400,000 Afghan children, over 1,100 per day, are expected to drop out of school this year due to growing instability and the forcible return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, adding to the 3.7 million already out of school. More than 600,000 Afghans returned from Pakistan in 2016 and around 1 million more are expected in 2017. The report says more than half of all returnee children do not attend school, often working on the streets because their parents cannot find jobs. If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option. The Islamic States Amaq News Agency has issued a statement claiming that the terrorist responsible for yesterdays attack in London was a soldier of the so-called caliphate. Citing a security source, Amaq states: The attacker yesterday in front of the British parliament in London was a soldier of the Islamic State, executing the operation in response to calls to target citizens of coalition nations. Amaqs claim is similar to a series of statements that were issued after past operations across Europe and the US. Thus far, Amaq hasnt provided any specific details about the man responsible for killing at least three people, including an American citizen and a British policeman, and wounding dozens of others. The terrorist drove his vehicle into a crowd, then jumped out and used a blade to assault other people. The UK Metropolitan Police has identified the terrorist as Khalid Masood, a 52 year-old man who was born in Kent and is believed to have been most recently living in the West Midlands. Masood was known by a number of aliases, but was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack. However, the Metropolitan Police says Masood was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults and other crimes. His criminal record reportedly extends all the way back to Nov. 1983 and his last conviction was in Dec. 2003 for possession of a knife. Abu Bakr al Baghdadis propagandists have repeatedly encouraged followers to ram their vehicles into Western citizens. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has also promoted the idea. Last year, jihadists used trucks during attacks in Nice on Bastille Day and at a Christmas market in Berlin. In both cases, Amaq described the attackers as a soldier of the caliphate. Another similar assault was carried out at Ohio State University in November, when a Somali refugee, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, drove his car into a crowd of people before exiting the vehicle and then using a knife to assault his victims. Artan was quickly shot dead by a campus police officer. Once again, Amaq described him as the Islamic States soldier. Amaq has repeatedly described terrorists as soldiers of the Islamic State In addition to the instances mentioned above, Amaq and other Islamic State propaganda outlets frequently describe the terrorists who carry out such deeds as soldiers of the caliphate. An Islamic State claim of responsibility doesnt prove that the group had direct ties to the attacker. However, authorities have found that terrorists had digital ties, or were at least inspired by the Islamic State, in a number of cases. Islamic State operatives have also orchestrated a series of plots in the West. For example, the Islamic State described the May 2015 shooters in Garland, Tex. and the couple who assaulted a holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif. as the groups soldiers. The San Bernardino terrorists were also labeled supporters. The shooters in Garland, Tex. reportedly communicated with Junaid Hussain, a key Islamic State operative who was killed in an American airstrike last year. And the husband and wife jihadists responsible for the massacre in San Bernardino pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi on Facebook prior to their demise. The team of jihadists that carried out the Nov. 2015 assault in Paris was hailed as a group of believers from the soldiers of the Caliphate. In that case, the jihadists were directly dispatched by the Islamic States mother organization in Syria. The Paris attacks were different from the other, small-scale attacks claimed by the Islamic State and carried out by individuals in Europe. Omar Mateen, who repeatedly pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi the night of his shooting at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Fla. in June, was described as a fighter for the organization. Amaq said Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, was a soldier of the Islamic State. The same wording was also used to label a young slasher in Wurzburg, Germany. After the Nice, Wurzburg, Ansbach (Germany) and Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (Normandy, France) attacks, Amaq also emphasized that the men responsible had acted in response to calls to target countries belonging to the crusader coalition. And after the operations in Wurzburg, Ansbach, Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray and Balashikha (Russia), Amaq disseminated videos of the terrorists swearing allegiance to Baghdadi. The videos were recorded beforehand, demonstrating that the jihadists had at least some digital ties to the Islamic States operations. Indeed, European officials discovered that a series of plots have been remote-controlled by the Islamic States digital operatives. American authorities have also found that the so-called caliphates men had virtual connections to a number of recruits who were intercepted before they could carry out their murderous acts. Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. After months of heavy fighting in Sangin, the Taliban took control of the districts center in Helmand province last night. Yet, Resolute Support NATOs mission in Afghanistan attempted to claim victory. Resolute Support tweeted a statement which attempted to salvage the loss of Sangins district center: Headquarters Resolute Support statement on #Sangin: The only thing they left to the Taliban is rubble and dirt pic.twitter.com/diS4Qt6rQh Resolute Support (@ResoluteSupport) March 23, 2017 Resolute Supports statement is not credible. Lets look at some of the statements made by Resolute Support to explain how, even with the sunniest possible spin, losing Sangin was nothing short of a disaster. > Resolute Support says: Fighting destroyed the infrastructure and there were no more civilians in the district center. What really happened: The Sangin district center has exchanged hands multiple times during heavy fighting. The Taliban has surrounded the center for months, and fought over a deserted area in order to gain a victory over rubble. Afghan forces, backed by the US military and Resolute Support, were unable to halt the Talibans advances and protect civilians in Sangin, so they left. > Resolute Support says:The new district center and ANP [Afghan National Police] HQ were repositioned just over two kilometers south. What really happened: The new district center had to be relocated because Afghan and coalition forces failed. Leaving the old district center wasnt by choice. They were forced to abandon the district center. In The New York Times, Afghan government and security officials admitted the district center had fallen, and not relocated as Resolute Support claims: While spokesmen for the central government denied claims by the Taliban that the district had fallen to them, some conceded that the insurgents had overrun the district center and government facilities. But local Afghan government and military officials said there was no doubt Sangin had finally fallen to their enemy. > Resolute Support says: Once the move was complete, the US assisted in destroying the buildings that were no longer usable and also destroyed inoperable vehicles that were left in place so that they would not be a safety hazard. What really happened: This is what is known as the Ben Tre defense: It became necessary to destroy the town to save it, or more commonly quoted as We had to destroy the village in order to save it. Additionally, if there are no civilians in the old Sangin district center, then just to whom would those inoperable vehicles pose a safety hazard? The Taliban? More likely, the Taliban seized working vehicles and equipment, as it has claimed. Expect to see a Taliban propaganda video showing off their war prizes, as the group has flaunted numerous times in the past. > Resolute Support says: The ANSDF [Afghan National Security and Defense Forces] defended the district center for two months and left on their own terms. What really happened: They needed to be airlifted out of the district center in the middle of the night and destroyed the town on the way out the door. If they left on their own terms, they would have driven out the front gate and not left behind valuable equipment that was taken by the Taliban. > Resolute Support says: The only thing they left to the Taliban is rubble and dirt. What really happened: They also left rubble and dirt to the Afghans who owned property in the old district center, including the merchants at the bazaar. Normally, claims by the Taliban, particularly from a victory such as this one in Sangin, can rarely be taken at face value. Facts and figures are often exaggerated to widen the margin of a win in the public eye. This time, it was Resolute Support that could not be trusted. Resolute Supports false bravado is not only shameful, but counterproductive to the overall mision. It would have been far better for Resolute Support to sweep this loss under the rug rather than defend the indefensible. Their spin cycle only served to create a bigger mess. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) claimed that the US killed a senior commander from Pakistans tribal agency of North Waziristan in a drone strike near the Pak-Afghan border on March 18. Commander Yusuf Wazir, the slain Taliban leader, also lost a father and a brother in previous US drone strikes, according to the jihadist group. The TTP announced Wazirs death in a statement, along with a graphic depicting Wazirs so-called family of martyrs (shown above). The US military has not confirmed that it carried out a drone strike that killed Wazir. Additionally, it is unclear if Wazir was killed in Afghanistan or Pakistan. According to the Taliban, Wazir was a very close and confidant companion of North Waziristan factions leader, Commander Akhtar Muhammad Khalil. Khalil, who has been featured in Taliban propaganda in the past, was named the Talibans emir for North Waziristan in May 2016. He was responsible reconciling the North Waziristan faction with the TTP. Wazir strived towards serving local and foreign Mujahideen, a clear reference to al Qaeda, which is known to operate in North Waziristan, and also to fulfill their household and other needs. He used to stay ahead in every battlefield. He had great ethics and modesty and he was very courageous in nature. His martyrdom statement was entitled Family of Shuhada because three of his immediate family members were killed while waging jihad. According to the TTP, his father, Taj Ali Khan, was killed in a US drone strike in 2008, and his brother, Abdul Haq, embraced martyrdom in a drone strike four months ago. Another brother, Fazl e Haq, was killed while battling the Pakistani military in the Jani Khel area of North Waziristan. Uptick in activity along the Afghan-Pakistan border The deaths of Wazir and Qari Yasin, an al Qaeda leader who was a member of the Punjabi Taliban, over the weekend, as well as Qari Abdullah Mairaj on March 2, may indicate that the US has increased the targeting of Pakistani and Afghan jihadists. The TTP announced today that Yasin and three followers were killed in a US drone strike in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan. Yasin was an experienced jihadist who trained others in explosives and electronics, and was behind multiple major terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Unnamed Taliban officials claimed that Mairaj, a senior leader in the Haqqani Network, was killed in a US drone strike in the eastern Afghan province of Khost. Mairaj is said to have accompanied Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban in 2009, when he was exchanged for five dangerous Taliban leaders who were held by the US at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The US military has not commented on the strike that killed Yasin, but it did deny that its aircraft conducted operations in Khost the day that Mairaj was killed, according to UPI. While the US military is able to strike at will against jihadists operating in Afghanistan, as the country is considered to be in areas of active hostility, the Obama administration put restrictions on the targeting of terrorist leaders and operatives across the border in Pakistan in an effort to reduce civilian casualties as well as tensions with the Pakistani government. The last confirmed US drone strike that took place in Pakistan successfully targeted Mullah Mansour, emir of the Afghan Taliban, in May 2016. Last week, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration planned to roll back Obamas restrictions that limited the CIAs role in the targeting of terrorists and sought to scrap the near-certainty standard of no civilian deaths for strikes outside war zones. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. The Taliban seized the district of Sangin in southern Helmand province, forcing Afghan troops to withdrawal and Coalition forces to launch airstrikes to destroy bases and government facilities left behind. Sangin has been a battleground in Helmand for several years and has exchanged hands multiple times. In a statement released on Voice of Jihad, the Taliban said that it controls the Sangin district administration center, police headquarter and a key military base after the district center was completely overrun by Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate last night. According to the Taliban, Afghan forces fled by airplanes overnight, leaving many tanks, vehicles, heavy artillery and a sizable amount of military equipment behind. The group claimed that 39 armored personnel carriers, one tank, 34 pickup trucks and other vehicles and equipment were taken during the assault. [The] Enemy has bombarded the said installations after escaping, the Taliban claimed. The Talibans update from Sangin cannot be independently verified by FDDs Long War Journal, but their claims can largely be substantiated by press reporting from Afghanistan. TOLONews reported that security forces moved all their equipment out on Wednesday night before the air force bombed the installations in order to destroy them. While the spokesman for Helmands governor denied Sangin was overrun, local Afghan government and military officials said there was no doubt Sangin had finally fallen to their enemy, The New York Times noted. The Taliban had previously overran Sangins district center in July 2016, but Afghan forces backed by US air support pushed the jihadists to the outskirts of the town. Afghan security forces have telegraphed their weakness to the Taliban for several years. In Aug. 2014, senior officers attempted to negotiate a peace deal in Sangin, which was overrun by the Taliban in June of that year. The security situation in Sangin is a microcosm of that in Helmand. All of the southern province is an active battleground. In Helmand, the Taliban now controls seven of the provinces 14 districts (Baghran, Dishu, Khanashin, Now Zad, Nawa, Musa Qala, and Sangin) and contests another six, including the provincial capital (Lashkar Gah, Nahr-i-Sarraj, Kajaki, Nad Ali, Marjah, and Garmsir), according to data compiled by FDDs Long War Journal. The status of Washir district is uncertain as new reports from the district are scarce. Nearly all of Helmand has been controlled or influenced/contested for well over a year. The situation in Helmand is so bleak that the Taliban has effectively surrounded the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah for well over a year, and have launched several forays into the city. Two days ago, a suicide bomber killed eight Afghan security personnel in an attack in the capital. The Taliban have also launched major attacks in the district. In Oct. 2016, the Taliban ambushed a large convoy of Afghan troops after they negotiated their safe passage from their base on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah. More than 200 Afghan troops were killed, wounded, captured, or surrendered. [See LWJ report, Taliban details deadly ambush of Afghan military convoy.] As the Taliban has ramped up pressure in Helmand, it has also increased its footprint throughout Afghanistan. FDDs Long War Journal has identified 45 Afghan districts under the Afghan jihadist groups control, and another 55 that are heavily contested. The number of Taliban controlled and influenced/contested districts has risen from 70 in Oct. 2015 to 100 this month. This assessment has been verified by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which noted last month that the Afghan government has lost territory to the insurgency and district control continues to decline. According to SIGAR, the Afghan government controls or influences just 52 percent of the nations districts today compared to 72 percent in Nov. 2015. An estimated 15 percent of Afghanistans districts have slipped from the governments control over the past six months. [See FDDs Long War Journal report, Afghan government has lost territory to the insurgency.] Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. NASHUA, N.H. Rivier University students, staff and faculty traveled to Louisiana and Costa Rica to perform community-service projects during spring break. The Louisiana event is a service project coordinated by Riviers Campus Ministry Office. Nursing students and faculty flew to Costa Rica on a faculty-led clinical immersion trip. Both groups are working with local community members on projects to improve their quality of life. On March 4, Rivier faculty members Cheryl Bragdon and Tracy Hardy escorted a group of nursing students to Alajuela, Costa Rica, where they were welcomed by their hosts, the Franciscan Sisters of the Most Pure Conception. Students have spent time in clinics and making home visits to provide health-care services. They immersed themselves in the culture and daily life of the island and gained insight on the global health-care system. Before their trip, the students organized a successful health and hygiene products drive and brought a large supply of items for donation to local clinics. Through their Facebook page, Rivier Serves in Costa Rica 2017, students shared photos of Alajuela and their activities. They described the Costa Rican people as warm and welcoming and their encounters with the community as humbling. Kristin Nelson, director of Campus Ministry, said Rivier students conducted hands-on service to reflect and examine the need for and purpose of service through the lens of faith. Rivier student volunteers also participated in the ServeUp New Orleans national service project to rebuild homes compromised by flood and storm damage. Building on that momentum, Rivier first-year students will take part in the universitys fifth annual Day of Service on April 22. Each year on a designated day in April, the entire freshman class, along with peer mentors and staff members, perform community service at nonprofit organizations throughout the Greater Nashua area. Students gain an appreciation for service and connect with the local community by contributing their time and talents to those in need BOSTON The state budget in Massachusetts appears to be facing a double whammy surging enrollment and costs in MassHealth at a time when the federal government is poised to pull massive amounts of funding out of health care. In a letter to members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation Tuesday, Gov. Charlie Baker estimated the American Health Care Act sponsored by leaders of his Republican party in Washington would result in $1 billion less in federal revenue for Massachusetts in 2020, $1.3 billion less in 2021 and $1.5 billion in 2022, with likely a greater annual impact in the years that follow. In addition, Baker raised new concerns about federal support for a health care waiver his administration negotiated with the Obama administration prior to the November election. The governor, who has said since President Donald Trumps election that he believed the agreement outlined in the waiver was not in jeopardy, said in his letter that the federal bill would put at risk so-called 1115 payments authorized under the waiver accord. By FY22, the Commonwealth estimates an additional $425-475 million per year of reduced federal revenue in potential elimination of 1115 payments not captured under the per capita targets, including federal matching funds for a state-run ConnectorCare Wrap subsidy, Baker wrote in his letter, which was released Tuesday morning by his communications office. The actual experience for these and other factors is significantly dependent on how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services implements the legislation and unpredictable factors in the future (e.g., pharmaceutical growth). Baker concluded, Overall, our analysis indicates that the AHCA would increasingly strain the fiscal resources necessary to support the Commonwealths continued commitment to universal health care coverage. Republicans in Washington, D.C. on Monday night released amendments to the bill aimed at boosting the vote count behind it. At a budget hearing in Roxbury Tuesday morning, Marylou Sudders, the Baker administrations health and human services secretary, said the projected fiscal impact for Massachusetts does not appear to be helped by the amendments that were filed last night. The debate in Washington may serve as a prelude to Beacon Hill debates over ensuring the states high insurance coverage rate and how to pay for that. The administrations estimates are based in part on applying Congressional Budget Office assumptions to Massachusetts. The $1.5 billion estimate of reduced federal funds in fiscal 2022 includes $1.3 billion of annual MassHealth federal revenue losses and $200 million in reduced federal subsidies for private insurance. In Massachusetts, the likelihood that people will drop health insurance if Republicans in Washington are able to eliminate mandates on employers under the Affordable Care Act is reduced because of a state law requiring individuals to have health insurance. Massachusetts also has protective insurance coverage laws that would not be superseded by the federal legislation, Baker wrote. Hoping to move people off MassHealth and onto employer-sponsored health plans, the governor proposed levying a $2,000 per-employee assessment on businesses with 11 or more employees that dont offer health coverage or that do not insure at least 80 percent of their full-time staff. The proposal has received a mixed reception, with business organizations objecting to the assessment as an unfair new tax and a group of health providers, faith groups and unions cheering the idea. In his letter, Baker said the assessment would be increasingly important if the federal mandate is repealed. In the letter, Baker did not stake out a position for or against the AHCA. He concluded, I hope this information is helpful to you as Congress takes up the American Health Care Act. My administration and I will continue to stay in touch with you as we work together to ensure access to quality, affordable health coverage for all Massachusetts residents. MassHealth enrollment has surged 70 percent since the start of Gov. Deval Patricks term in 2007 and there are nearly 2 million low-income, elderly and disabled indivdiuals in Massachusetts covered under the program, which is paid for largely through a combination of state and federal tax revenues. The number of Massachusetts residents enrolled in subsidized private commercial insurance through the Massachusetts Health Connector increased 40 percent from September 2015 through September 2016, the state Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) reported Tuesday. Enrollment in individual Qualified Health Plans through the Connector surpassed 225,000 members from September 2014 to September 2016, according to CHIA, which said that was the highest level since the redesigned health insurance exchange opened in 2014. Business / Billionaires Mar 23, 2017 | By Staff Writer When your fortune is estimated to be somewhere in the billions and you hold the title of being the 12th richest man in Russia, one would think that losing $150 million from the sale of four artworks would barely register on the radar. And yet it has. Back in 2008, Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev enlisted the help of Swiss art dealer and Singaporean permanent resident, Yves Bouvier to acquire 38 pieces of art through his storage company Natural le Coultre. The pieces, which included works by Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci, cost the Russian an eye-watering US$2 billion and after a lengthy legal battle, Rybolovlev turned to Christies to recoup his losses. Having made his fortune in selling fertiliser, Rybolovlev invested in the fine artworks only to claim in 2014 that Bouvier had greatly inflated the prices. In February 2015, the billionaire filed an official complaint in Monaco where he is based and in Singapore, against Bouvier. His complaint even states that the art dealer pocketed US$1 billion from the sale. The messy legal battle has left not only Bouviers business in dire straits few would have confidence in doing business with someone accused and arrested for dodgy dealings. In Singapore, the court ruled that Bouvier had attained the paintings as requested by Rybolovlev and that the transacted prices had been agreed upon. Alas, the sale of Modiglianis and Monets fetched only a fraction of the amount he had paid. The acclaimed auction house is set to sell off five more artworks that the Russian businessman still wishes to get off his hands. Those in the know have hinted that the sale of the artworks by the billionaire is a bid for him to prove to the courts that his claim has merits. Nicole Gonzales-Van Cleve Download Image: Web Nicole Gonzales-Van Cleve, Ph.D., assistant professor at Temple University, will discuss her research on race, law and criminal justice during a presentation at 5:30 p.m. on April 7 at Lycoming College. The presentation, to be held in the Jane Schultz Room in the Wertz Student Center at Lycoming College, is free and open to the public. Gonzales-Van Cleve is the author of the 2016 book, Crook County: Racism and Injustice in Americas Largest Criminal Court. Her extensive study details the complicit, and sometimes demeaning, legal culture of Chicagos court personnel. In doing so, Crook County provides a powerful narrative that forces readers to reexamine colorblind justice in America. Her ethnography was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Gonzalez-Van Cleves research examines the cultural impact of mass incarceration on criminal justice institutions and the contradictory ways racial stigma is reproduced. Along with her latest book, she has published papers in various publications including Criminology, and Law and Social Inquiry. She also published a chapter titled Reinterpreting the Zealous Advocate: Multiple Intermediary Roles of the Criminal Defense Attorney in Lawyers in Practice: Ethical Decision Making in Context, (Leslie Levin and Lynn Mather eds., University of Chicago Press, 2012). She is a recipient of several fellowships and grants including the 2014-2015 Ford Foundation Fellowship Postdoctoral Award, the Farrel Grant for Public Policy and the Badesch Fellowship from the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice. She earned recognition for the 2010 Outstanding Graduate Paper presented by the Sociology of Law Section of the American Sociological Association. Van Cleve is the current co-chair of the Law and Society Associations Collaborative Research Network on Critical Research on Race and the Law; a junior fellow of Yale Universitys Urban Ethnography Project; a member of the Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice Network; and is a visiting scholar at the American Bar Foundation. Gonzelez-Van Cleve served in The Office of the Chief of Staff at the White House during the Clinton Administration and subsequently worked for five years as a consumer brand planner for Leo Burnett, USA. She has been the research director for Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice, a policy nonprofit organization that specialized in legal advocacy. The presentation is sponsored by the Strauser Lectureship Endowment that brings nationally-recognized speakers to the College, and is organized by the Criminal Justice department. The lectureship honors former Professor Larry Strauser who founded the interdisciplinary criminal justice program in 1977 and who worked untiringly to advocate and educate to improve the legal system in the U.S. Photo: The Daily Meal E-commerce giant Amazon has delayed its much anticipated launch in Singapore, as the groundwork required to set up its business here has taken longer than anticipated, according to a media report. Citing two sources with knowledge of the plans, TechCrunch reported on Thursday (23 March) that Amazon has pushed back its entry into Southeast Asia, with Singapore as the launch market, from the first quarter of 2017 to later this year. Last November, it was reported that that the company would initially offer its Prime delivery service alongside its AmazonFresh grocery services in the Republic. Amazon views the Singapore market favourably due to factors favouring e-commerce such as higher ownership of credit cards, wider internet penetration and more established logistics and delivery networks. When it eventually enters Southeast Asia, Amazon will take on perennial rival Alibaba, which purchased a major stake in regional commerce firm Lazada in 2016. Lazada itself purchased Singapore-based service Redmart in the same year. Last year, Google and Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings co-authored a report that estimates e-commerce spending across the region to reach US$88 billion by 2025. Narendra Modi: A Political Phenomenon Narendra Damodardas Modi has emerged as the indisputable champion of the Lok Sabha Election 2014 by delivering the partys best results ever in the general election of India. Modi, who worked as a tea-seller in his childhood, has come a very long way to have excelled in the report card of the worlds largest-ever electoral exercise. He will now serve the nation as the Prime Minister, with the goal of implementing the Gujarat model of development throughout the nation. He took the oath as the Prime Minister of India in a lavish affair on 26 May 2014. Narendra Modi governed Gujarat for 13 years as its Chief Minister. He was selected by L K Advani, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in 2001 to give a direction to the election campaign in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Modi was elected as the Chief Minister of Gujarat on 7 October 2001, and was been the longest-serving Chief Minister of the state. In the 2012 Gujarat legislative assembly election, he won his fourth consecutive term as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. A career that started as an errand runner for the RSS (Hindu Right wing group) is now perhaps on the way to reach its zenith. Yes, Narendra Damodardas Modi has walked quite a distance wearing unflinching confidence on his sleeves. The former Gujarat Chief Minister and Indias current Prime Minister candidate is a fascinating case study as the man opens up equal number of avenues for his critics as well as admirers. The man is admired for his economic policies and growth scenario in Gujarat, but he also bears flak for the dismal state of the Human Development Index in Gujarat.Now, since he has become the Prime Minister of India, lets have a deeper look into Narendra Modis biography. Humble Beginnings The idea of struggle was never very distant for Modi. He used to run a tea stall till the time RSS inducted him as a full-time member. With whatever minimal training he received from the partys associates, he surged ahead and exhibited enough capability to be given the charge of the ABVP (the student wing of RSS). His diligence and dedication towards the party hardly ebbed despite the fact that he was simultaneously pursuing a Masters degree in Political Science. This average student from Vadnagar tutored himself to take greater steps on a national level. Family Although there isnt enough about Modis personal life in the public domain, the political discourse sometimes throws up bits of facts and stories. He was born into a middle class family of six in Vadnagar in Mehsana District (then Bombay state) to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and Heeradben Modi. He was bethrothed when quite young, but chose to walk away from the marriage and has remained a bachelor. Early days in Politics Narendra Modi was drawn to politics in his early teens and was a member of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). During the 1960s India-Pakistan war, even though he was only a young boy, he volunteered to serve soldiers traveling through railway stations. As a youth, he became a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a student body involved in anti-corruption. After having worked full time with them, he was then nominated as its representative in the BJP. Modi was also a campaigner in the RSS during his years in college and took on the task of encouraging the party members. Partnering with Shankersingh Vaghela, Modi began a strong cadre base in Gujarat. Narendra Modi has come from a humble background and is known for his simple lifestyle. He has a reputation of being a workaholic and introvert. Mr. Modi has tried to change his image from that of a Hindu Nationalist politician to that of a sincere administrator.The party began getting political attention and formed a coalition government in April 1990. After this, the BJP came to power in Gujarat in 1995. During this period, Modi was responsible for the Somnath to Ayodhya Rath Yatra and a similar trek from Kanyakumari in Southern India all the way up to Kashmir in the north.A careful observation of his rise to the national podium would evince how he remained glued to his fundamentals continuing agitations during the nationwide Emergency, organizing Murli Manohar Joshis Ekta yatra (journey for unity), and impressing everyone with electoral strategy ahead of the 1995 state elections. As BJP tasted victory, Modi relished his newly ordained post of the partys General Secretary. The workaholic and loyal sevak moved to New Delhi to take up the new responsibility of managing the partys activities in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Three summers whizzed past and Modi already had the post of National Secretary of the BJP under his kitty. First Stint as Chief Minister of Gujarat Times were turbulent in Gujarat with allegations of corruption and poor governance doing the rounds. After Shankarsingh Vaghela left the BJP, Keshubhai Patel was made Chief Minister of Gujarat and Modi became General Secretary of the party in Delhi. Weak handling of the effects of the Bhuj Earthquake in 2001 prompted the BJPs national leaders to seek a new candidate as chief minister, after the removal of Keshubhai Patel. In October 2001, Modi was brought in to fill the vacuum and made Chief Minister of Gujarat despite his lack of experience in governance. Initially, the BJP was not very keen on having him at the forefront and the party was contemplating the position of deputy CM for him, which he refused. He wrote to Advani, and the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, stating that he was either going to be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all. In July 2007, he became the longest-serving Chief Minister in Gujarats political history.In the Gujarat legislative assembly elections of 2012, Narendra Modi won the constituency of Maninagar over the Indian National Congress, with a majority of 86,373 votes. The BJP won 115 out of the 182 seats and formed its government in Gujarat. This was Narendra Modis fourth term as the Chief Minister. The following year in March, he was appointed as member to the BJP Parliamentary Board which is the highest decision-making body of the party. He was also nominated as a member of the partys Central Election Committee. Taking Tough Calls His rift with the VHP started to show after his much-criticized decision of demolishing 200 illegal temples in Gandhinagar. This was just the trailer. Modi was also vocal about PM Manmohan Singhs reluctance to revive anti-terror laws. He called for invoking tougher laws in states following the 2006 Mumbai blasts. Time and again, he has judiciously chosen issues to pontificate and attack the central government. In the wake of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Modi brought up the issue of security along Gujarats coast. The UPA government acted upon this immediately and sanctioned construction of 30 high-speed surveillance boats. Recently, he came down heavily on the Central government for its weak approach towards Chinese incursions in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh and infiltration by Bangladeshis on the Indo-Bangladesh border. Criticisms The Modi government came under bitter criticism following the 2002 Gujarat riots that betrayed the prevailing communal harmony within the state. Investigations were ordered into alleged abatement of crime. Modis image suffered a quake as a common consensus was established that pointed fingers at the chief minister for allowing communal violence in the state. Some demanded his prosecution for promoting enmity among different communities during the riots. His way of functioning has also been the topic of much debate in the political arena with commentators and subject-matter experts lambasting him for carrying the DNA of fascist leadership. His critics call him a self-centered autocrat who doesnt care a hoot about the BJP. The Gujarat chief minister finds himself in the bad books of analysts as he is also accused of twisting facts to suit political motives on more than one occasion.In June 2013, when Narendra Modis was appointed as the chairman of the national campaign committee, L K Advani submitted his resignation escalating his objection against Modis appointment. But, the BJP leadership remained rigid on its choice to put Modi in front of 2014 campaign. A self-made man Besides being a revered orator and a prolific writer, he is also a caring son and a man with his brand of humour. Those who have been associated with him for long are of the opinion that the idea of power is exciting to him. Next time you wonder how he could garner so much of national attention, think of this. He underwent a rigorous training in the US on public relations and image management.When it comes to taking lessons on brand building, Modi says theres no greater inspiration than Mahatma Gandhi. His eulogies about Gandhi come from the fact that He spoke of Ahimsa but carried a stick. He never wore a cap but the world wears a Gandhi Topi. Modis careful metamorphosis from a Hindutva party man to a pro-development leader and change maker speaks volumes for his image-building ability. His two-year long escapade into the Himalayas and co-mingling with the yogic sadhus gave him a fair understanding of Hinduism. That partly explains why people listen to him in rapt attention when he talks of ideologies. Face of Development Favorite among the leaders of India Inc. Modi frequently refers to his P2G2 (Pro-people good governance) formula to substantiate his claims on holistic development. Some observers are of the opinion that Gujarat has been able to improve its agricultural output despite being a semi-arid state. The credit is given to the Gujarat governments measures to scale up groundwater projects and initiatives to increase the use of micro-irrigation.India Inc. is almost unanimous in their verdict. They want Narendra Modi as the next PM. Reason? They seek a strong leadership that has a clear road-map and actionable plans ready for execution. Indian business leaders from Ratan Tata to Mukesh Ambani seem to be convinced that for India to come out of its Gross Domestic Paralysis, a visionary and decisive leadership is essential. Empirical evidence suggests that Gujarat has been able to position itself as a lucrative destination for investment. Under his aegis, according to a political commentator, the level of corruption receded and technology parks have seen the light of the day. His iconic call for Minimum Government and Maximum Governance has frequently struck the chord with the masses. Ranking in Forbes In 2015, the Forbes magazine has ranked Narendra Modi at ninth position as the most powerful person in the world. In 2014, Modi ranked 14th in the same list. The magazine said about Modi that the PM presided over 7.4% GDP growth in the first year in office and has also raised his profile as a global leader, especially during his visits with Xi Jinping and Barack Obama. It also added that managing 1.2 billion people requires more than shaking hands and now Modi must pass his partys reform agenda and keep the fractious opposition under his control.With so many brand images of Narendra Modi existing in a juxtaposed manner, it is to be seen which one suited his greater agenda and helped him in winning the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Narendra Modi Facts and Information Cosmetic fanatics, what youve all been longing for has finally crossed over from the arena of imagination into solid existence. Presenting to you Sephora Beauty Shopping, Sephoras first ever mobile shopping app. No need for tiresome travels to Sephora any longer, your beauty needs are now only a click away. Now, before we get drowned out in the deafening shouts of euphoria and celebratory cheers, let us promptly run you through the astounding benefits and attractions stowed away in this remarkable mobile app. What awaits you Sephoras phone app offers everything you need for an immaculate shopping experience and more. From orderly catalogues to professional tutorials, this app promises holistic and impeccable customer service. Plus, users will be granted first-hand knowledge to get this exclusive offers. Could it get any better than this? Actually, it can. That is, if youre a Beauty Pass holder. (If youre not already, you should know that joining the Beauty Pass squad is completely free!) Beauty Pass members are lavished with the privileges of collecting points and redeeming incredible rewards through this app. Not only that, the app seamlessly weaves the traditional and digital shopping experience together by giving members access to their distinctive Sephora barcodes, thus extinguishing the need to produce their cards in-store upon any purchase. Aiming to enhance the shopping experience of all beauty fanatics in the South East Asian region, Sephora has definitely fulfilled its goal. But, they arent stopping there. This app is a mere preface to the technological creativity of Sephora, in its journey to creating fast-beauty a real possibility for Singaporean shoppers. And you thought Sephora couldnt get any better than it already was. Free to download, the Sephora Beauty Shopping app is available for download on both the App store and Google Play. Lim Han Read More: 4 Surprising ways to use papaya in your beauty routine Blooming Beauty: 10 Flowers guaranteed to make your skin blossom Beauty Inspo: 11 Best beauty looks to steal from Paris Fashion Week Donald Trump The Anne Frank Center used a statement on the arrest of a man suspected of making bomb threats to Jewish community centers to needle President Donald Trump for his perceived silence on anti-Semitism. "We are grateful for the arrest of a suspect in a number of bomb threats to Jewish institutions," Steven Goldstein, the executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect in New York, said in a statement. "This year, we have called on the Administration to respond to such threats consistently in real time, which didnt happen." The as-yet-unnamed suspect is a 19-year-old US-Israeli citizen who was arrested in Israel. The man is reportedly suspected of carrying out bomb threats and other threats across the US as well as in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand over a six month period. "It doesn't matter where any suspect is from or what his or her background is," Goldstein said. "Taking Antisemitism or any other kind of hate seriously requires a rapid response so that our nation, and indeed the world, sees the U.S. government as a leader against hate, rather than as a silent bystander." In a later message, the Anne Frank Center responded to claims that because the suspect is Jewish, it undermines the threat of anti-Semitism: We have received a number of Antisemitic messages this morning in response to the arrest in Israel of a Jewish young man as the suspect in a number of bomb threats to Jewish institutions in the United States and elsewhere. The theme of the Antisemitic messages has been this: See, it's your people, Jews, who were responsible. One message to our organization said a "white" person was not responsible. Such vitriol requires us to respond further: Hate is hate, and our nation had the right to expect this Administration to respond to hate with urgency every time. Our organization, like others, had to pull teeth to get a governmental response to the bomb threats and other desecration. Almost every time, we never got responses. The religion of a suspect doesn't matter. The hateful acts were the same, and the lack of governmental responses along the way were the same. Moreover, we will not tolerate using today's arrests as a pretext for more Antisemitism or other hate. To point to the religion of one depraved individual, and use that as a pretext for hate against an entire religion, is immoral and unacceptable, and those who engage in such arguments should be ashamed of their own prejudice. Story continues The Anne Frank Center has been outspoken during Trump's presidency as attacks and threats against the US Jewish community have increased. "The president's sudden acknowledgement is a Band-Aid on the cancer of Antisemitism that has infected his own administration," Goldstein said in February, after Trump called anti-Semitism "horrible" and said it "has to stop." "His statement today is a pathetic asterisk of condescension after weeks in which he and his staff have committed grotesque acts and omissions reflecting Antisemitism, yet day after day have refused to apologize and correct the public record," Goldstein said. "Make no mistake: The Antisemitism coming out of this Administration is the worst we have ever seen from any Administration." More recently, the Anne Frank Center called on actor Tim Allen to apologize for comparing the experience of being a conservative in Hollywood to living in Germany in the 1930s. NOW WATCH: Trump appears to ignore requests for a handshake with Angela Merkel during their first meeting More From Business Insider In the traditional Irish rural community of yesteryear there was a saying, never speak ill of the dead. Martin McGuinnesss body was scarcely cold before the keyboard warriors were launching attacks on his reputation. In the ensuing days from his death those from a unionist background, with a black and white attitude, have simply condemned him as a terrorist. Meanwhile the Great and the Good in the corridors of power and influence in the USA, the UK and the European Union were lauding his statesmanlike shift from terrorist to peacemaker. There is no doubt that Martin McGuiness divided people. But his life and his political journey hold lessons for all those who wish to change things. It is better to analyse rather than eulogise or berate. Martin was a product of his environment and his ideas and actions were shaped by the kind of society he grew up in and its historical past. Ireland was occupied by Britain for centuries and was only conceded an element of independence following the 1916 uprising and the guerrilla war pursued by Michael Collins and the IRA up to 1921. However, they partitioned the island, leaving northern nationalists under Unionist domination. Martin McGuinness was born in 1950 and grew up in a working class nationalist district of Derry City in an area called the Bogside beneath the walls of Derry City, then under Unionist control despite a Catholic/Nationalist majority in the City. At the time of his birth the Northern Ireland State had been in existence for a mere 30 years. The partition of Ireland by the British State was to ensure that British long term strategic economic and political interests were safe-guarded. The deliberate partition of the isle was to ensure a permanent Unionist majority in the new Northern Ireland State. The new Unionist government, to ensure their control, abolished proportional representative voting and gerrymandered electoral wards. In local government elections they did this by introducing the property franchise (i.e. only those paying rates, owners of property could vote), while businesses could have six votes. This weighted representation heavily in favour of the Protestant community, leading to many towns with a Catholic majority coming under Unionist control. Hence, for example, the poor housing record in nationalist areas. Also the Unionist government openly discriminated against Catholics. Educated Catholics would apply to join the Imperial Civil Service rather than the Northern Ireland Civil Service where promotion for Catholics was severely restricted. In the Stormont parliament itself the nationalist opposition was treated with contempt. Only one Bill proposed by the nationalists on a wildlife issue was passed in the 1930s. Furthermore in the mid-sixties as Martin was coming into adulthood the Unionist government decided to build a second University in mainly Protestant Coleraine rather than in the recommended and mainly Catholic City of Derry. The Unionists, however, also feared the labour movement. Whenever there seemed to be any movement by the mainly industrialised Unionist working class towards a Labour Party or militant trade unionism then the dogs of sectarianism were unleashed to weaken class solidarity. Brought up in a two bedroom home in the Bogside, Martin had few life chances to escape either the dole or the emigrant boat. He failed the 11+ exams and left school with his only qualifications, his own innate intelligence and his own strong personality. He eventually managed to find work as a meat packer in a butchers shop after being refused a job as a mechanic because of his religion. His employment coincided with the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement in the North and the worldwide radicalisation of the late1960s. The convergence of both these internal and external factors could not but impact on any working class nationalist, aware of their second class place in the Unionist controlled state. When the RUC baton-charged the first civil rights march on the streets on the 5th of October 1968 Martin, like many others, became radicalised. For the next 18 months street fighting was a common occurrence in Derry. From stone throwing to petrol bombing, many learned the tactics of street fighting emboldened by the examples from around the world, including the May Days of France 1968. Key figures in the civil rights movement in Derry were left-wing republicans and a small left-wing group of Labour Party members under the influence of people like Johnny White and Eamon Mc Cann. Martin was first attracted towards the Official IRA and joined it for about three months before gravitating towards the more militant anti-communist Provisional IRA under the leadership of Sean McStiofian, Daithi OConaill and Ruairi OBradaigh. His decision to join the IRA was not some whim of fancy, as elements in the Free State, (i.e. the Irish Republic) establishment and media would have one believe. It took place against a background of discrimination by the Unionist establishment in the North against the nationalist/Catholic minority in housing, in employment, in voting. Unionism had a clear policy of discrimination against the minority. And if the minority started to cause problems then sectarian pogroms would be launched periodically to let them know their place. In the 1920s Catholics were driven out of Lisburn, and Catholics and rotten prods i.e. left-wing protestant workers, were driven from ship-building and heavy industry. In the 1930s a short-lived alliance between workers across the sectarian divides against poverty was smashed by major sectarian attacks from extreme loyalist elements spurred on by the Unionist establishment. They even set up a loyalist workers organisation to win Protestants from the trade union movement. The weapon of sectarianism was used against the nationalist population who, when the state was founded, made up 1/3 of the population. The other major weapon in the hands of Unionism was armed force. The police, the RUC, was almost entirely Protestant and it was backed up by an armed part-time militia called the B. Specials, 100% Protestant, used to harass and intimidate Catholics. When the Civil Rights campaign started in 1968, Ian Paisley was able to mobilise off-duty B. Specials and other elements to attack marchers, most notably when a student Peoples Democracy march from Belfast to Derry was harassed and attacked at Burntollet Bridge and later in the Waterside area of Derry In Belfast, Catholic homes were burned in Bombay Street and the Ardoyne leading to the then largest movement of population since the end of the Second World War. They were resisted by poorly armed units of the Official IRA. A mob attack on a small Catholic area in the predominantly protestant East Belfast was resisted by a local armed militia and members of the newly formed Provisional IRA. Many at the time believed that the leadership of the Official IRA wanted to merge with progressive elements, including the Communist Party, to form a National Liberation Front. Many of the more traditional republicans saw this as a way of moving away from armed struggle and all of this was too left-wing for them. Hence, the emergence of the Provisional IRA (the Provos as they became known), initially a loose alliance of traditional right-wing republicans, militant urban working class youth and rural armed nationalists. In the ensuing repression by both the Unionist armed forces and the British army, the Provos gradually became the main opponents of this oppression and eventually formed a formidable guerrilla army that took the war, as they saw it, to the Brits. Martin McGuinness was to play a pivotal role in that army. In Derry he had risen rapidly through the ranks and by the time of Bloody Sunday, January 30th, was second in command of the Derry Provisionals. Bloody Sunday, when the British Army opened fire on a civil rights march killing thirteen civilians, saw the effective end of the civil rights movement and the beginnings of the long war strategy of the future leadership of the Provos. Hundreds of young militants joined the Provos. By the summer of 1972 Martin was held in such high regard by the leadership of the Provos that he was included in a delegation to meet with the British in Cheyne Walk London. He carried a revolver at that meeting. However, the insistence of the Provo leadership that the condition for any talks was a British declaration of intent to withdraw from Ireland meant a complete breakdown in those talks. Both Adams and McGuinness learnt from that debacle that negotiations would involve compromise, something the other Provo negotiators were resolutely opposed to. The British for their part saw officer material in Martin McGuinness and recognised Adams leadership qualities. Over the next twenty years irregular contact was established between the British and elements of the Provo leadership. Due to their long historical imperialist experience the British knew that all armed conflicts had to end in negotiations so they always sought out those who could negotiate and deliver. During the 1970s Martin McGuinnesss reputation grew within the Provos as a ruthless effective leader and operator. Two terms in gaol did not deter him and he was as committed to the cutting edge of the IRA as anyone. He fully participated in the re-organisation of the IRA in the late seventies, when it was restructured into cells, and the policy of the long war strategy adopted by the leadership now grouped around a Gerry Adams faction. Although initially against the hunger strike strategy adopted by the prisoners in the H-Block and opposed to participating in elections, the leadership swiftly changed its mind when it saw how the wind was blowing. Nationalist electors were sympathetic towards the prisoners and those who represented them in local and national elections. The new policy was known as the armalite and the ballot box policy (from a speech by Danny Morrison), and while Martin was prepared himself to stand for elections, he still felt that it was the cutting edge of the IRA that would make the difference. Many seasoned IRA volunteers held Martin in such high esteem that they felt that he would never betray the cause in the future and followed him as he took, along with the Provos, a different path. UVF Volunteers - Photo: Fair UseDuring the mid-seventies a number of ceasefires were called by the Provos and the British provided Incident Centres to monitor those ceasefires. At the same time both the Unionists and British intelligence were arming loyalist militias, such as the UDA and the UVF. The more southern based leadership of the Provos were, at least, conscious of the strength of the Unionist desire for union with Britain and tried to take that into account. But they were discredited by the ceasefires and the Adams faction soon was in the dominant position. The 1981 hunger strikes, ending in the deaths of 10 hunger strikers, were pivotal in the rise of Sinn Fein and it becoming the dominant body within nationalism. Over a ten year period they achieved this whilst at the same time units of the IRA were stepping up operations both in Europe, Britain and the North. During this period Martin was believed to be the Chief-of-Staff of the IRA. However, while the armed conflict was still going on there was now regular contact with the British government, facilitated by the leader of the SDLP John Hume and two priests based at Clonard Monastery in Belfast. At the same time Loyalism had been rearmed with weapons brought in from South Africa and was now effectively targeting republicans. At the same time, the British army was targeting the more militant areas of Republicanism and decimating key local leaderships. The peace process, or as some call it the pacification process, was in full swing. It is now clear that many units of the IRA were not aware of just how detailed the talking was. They were fed with the ideas of No return to Stormont, No decommissioning, etc. While some were prepared to continue the armed struggle, others recognised the war weariness within the nationalist population and the rise of sectarian hatred within both sections of the population. During this time, as part of the new strategy, Sinn Feins Ard-Feis voted to take up their seats in the Dail, the Parliament of the 26 counties in the South. This lead to a walk out by the more traditional elements based around Ruairi OBradaigh who then went on to form Republican Sinn Fein and the Continuity IRA. As they walked out Martin McGuinness pointed to them and said Shame! Shame! Shame! The predictions of those who walked out, that the new path of the Adams leadership would take them to abandon traditional Republican goals proved to be accurate. But the influence of those who were soon to be denounced as dissidents was minimal, indeed as was that of other splits in the late nineties, including the Real IRA responsible for the Omagh bombing in 1998. It is now clear that from the time of the 1981 hunger strike the Adams leadership was in direct contact with the British with a view to ending the armed struggle. They recognised, as indeed did the British, that there would be no outcome as long as the armed struggle continued. The war had reached the point of stalemate. Furthermore, some within the leadership of the Provos were appalled at the growth in sectarianism within the nationalist population, although they failed to recognise that they themselves were partially responsible as republicans had committed sectarian murders in the course of the armed campaign. The end result of the tortuous negotiations that involved unionist and nationalist parties and both the British and Irish governments together with representatives from the USA, was a comprehensive deal that committed the formerly militant IRA/Sinn Fein to purely peaceful means to pursue their ideals. The result was electoral success for Sinn Fein. Purely in parliamentary terms their strategy has been successful. Sinn Fein overtook the SDLP as the largest nationalist Party in the North and in the South they are now the third largest party. Bobby Storey, Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams carry Harry Thompson - Photo: Sinn FeinMartin McGuiness played a major part in that process. In becoming Deputy First Minister to Ian Paisley, Peter Robinson and then Arlene Foster, all of the DUP, a right-wing fundamentalist party, he proved an extremely effective politician. He impressed initially as a Minister of Education, winning over opponents with his charisma, his friendly disposition and his effectiveness. A former head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service said he came in as a Minister but left as a statesman. High praise indeed from the heart of the establishment!! And the price paid? Sinn Fein accepted the return of a power-sharing Assembly at Stormont. They agreed to administer British rule. They decommissioned IRA weapons. They accepted the continuing sectarianism of the North. They accepted and supported the new police force, renamed as the PSNI, which, however, continued the old RUC policy of harassing republicans. While Minister of Education Martin also approved PPI initiatives in education, with disastrous results for some schools. He did prepare the ground for the abolition of the 11+. However, this also involved the introduction of private 11+ tests with two separate tests one for the state sector and one for the Catholic sector. Despite Sinn Feins opposition to austerity, in order to facilitate the workings of the Stormont Assembly, they agreed to hand back welfare powers to Westminster which subsequently introduced their austerity measures to the North of Ireland with disastrous consequences for poor families. Sinn Fein did this so that they could not be accused in the South of introducing austerity in the North while being against it in the South. They also supported the running down of public services and giving tax concessions to the big corporations. None of this would have been possible without the support of Martin McGuinness. He was pivotal in selling all these compromises to the rank and file republicans. He personally was as committed to implementing the Good Friday Agreement as anyone. He stretched himself as far as he could to reach out, in the vain hope that his gestures would somehow convince unionists of republicanisms good intentions. In meeting the Queen twice and calling dissidents traitors to Ireland he served well the interests of those who he once opposed in arms. It is little wonder that those republicans who once followed his leadership should now be so bitter at what they now see as a betrayal. However, bitterness is no guide to a way forward. Serious advocates of change learn the lessons from past failures. They don't stamp their feet like angry adolescents. Sinn Fein over the course of the past forty years has learnt well how to manage change. They now have rebranded the armed struggle as a fight for equality. That has been used to justify their participating in the Stormont Assembly and opposing direct rule from Britain. It is a far cry from the slogans of the 1970s of Smash Stormont. It is also not what the volunteers in the IRA joined that organisation for. They joined to establish a Republic and that was what they risked their lives for. However, today the world is a vastly different place than it was when the Provos were formed. What may have been relevant in the 1970s is not relevant today. The pace of change in society and in technology has been astounding. Undoubtedly the North of Ireland is a better place today than it was during the heights of the troubles. The Catholic middle classes are now no longer second class citizens. Sinn Fein now represents their interests. Some statistics from the Northern Ireland Peace Monitoring Report 2016 make interesting reading: Of the top 20 least deprived wards, four have switched between the 2001 census and the most recent 2011 census from being majority Protestant to being majority Catholic Those four areas were all in East Belfast/Castlereagh, formerly the stronghold of Peter Robinsons DUP. It is now no wonder that Unionism no longer holds a majority in the Assembly for the first time since the state was set up. Catholics are now on an almost equal level with the number of Protestants in the state. However, that is small comfort to the most deprived ward in all of the North, the Whiterock ward in West Belfast, the heartland of Sinn Feins support. Gerry Adams was the MP there for over twenty years yet no change in the social and economic conditions during all of that time was ever achieved. That was why Sinn Fein lost a seat in the Assembly to the People Before Profit candidate Gerry Carroll. It was the working classes in both Unionist and nationalist traditions who bore the brunt of the pain, the agony and the deaths during the conflict. Their only gain was the absence of that pain and agony. However, they still live in relatively poor social and economic conditions, with high suicide rates among working class males. Ghettoised into sectarian physical and mental ghettoes, they have few to articulate and fight for their common interests. Unless and until the activists from these areas share a common vision of what is possible and achievable then we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. Only socialism can provide the means to defeat sectarianism. Socialism provides such a vision, and the building of a party dedicated to ending sectarian divisions and borders can provide the organisation necessary to achieve that vision. No one can deny that Martin McGuinness was effective as a guerrilla leader, an effective Minister and an able Deputy First Minister. He stood out as a political leader. He believed in a United Ireland and in that sense he certainly was a republican. His death is a blow to the organisation he devoted his life to and a sad blow to his wider family circle. But and there is always a but neither the strategy nor the tactics used by his organisation have changed the fundamental social and economic conditions in which he and his class grew up in. Britain still rules part of Ireland, the working class is as divided as ever and landlords, money lenders and greedy non-tax paying corporations still exploit the working class. It is time for a new direction. sound seal.jpg The state has approved $75,000 in investment tax credits for Sound Seal, an Agawam company that makes soundproofing and other noise-reduction products. The company is investing nearly $1 million to expand its Agawam facility, creating or retaining almost 80 jobs in the process. (GOOGLE MAPS / SCREENSHOT) AGAWAM -- Tax incentives are helping an Agawam business and a dozen other Massachusetts companies create and retain thousands of jobs to deliver millions in private investment, according to the state's Economic Assistance Coordinating Council, which approved the incentives on Wednesday. The EACC's Economic Development Incentive Program is helping 13 companies in 11 communities create 1,181 jobs, retain 4,685 existing jobs, and deliver over $469 million in private investment, state officials said. The program offers investment tax credits and other incentives to companies that create jobs and build new facilities in Massachusetts. Investment tax credits are basically an incentive for business investment, allowing companies to deduct a certain percentage of investment costs from their taxes. Sound Seal, an Agawam-based manufacturer of soundproofing and other noise-reduction products, has been approved for $75,000 in investment tax credits. The company is planning a $950,000 expansion project that will create 15 new jobs, retain 63 existing jobs, and add around 10,000 square feet to its facility on Almgren Drive. The City of Agawam has approved a TIF, or tax increment financing deal, for Sound Seal that's worth over $38,000. Mayor Richard A. Cohen has touted the company as the type of business Agawam wants to attract and retain. "It is these types of collaborative opportunities that keep businesses in Massachusetts," he said. The mayor also praised Debra Boronski, the western regional director of the Massachusetts Office of Business Development, for "making this happen." Boronski's office helps companies that are looking to expand or get a foothold in Massachusetts gain access to resources and incentive programs to create jobs. The Economic Development Incentive Program promotes growth by luring new businesses to the commonwealth and helping existing companies grow, according to Gov. Charlie Baker. The program "complements investments in our people and our communities to drive sustained economic growth," he said Wednesday. The EEAC board also approved investment tax credits for two Pittsfield companies, including $145,000 for Modern Mold & Tool Inc. and $74,000 for Shire City Herbals. Modern Tool is investing $3 million to grow its operation in Pittsfield, the largest city in Berkshire County and the third-largest in Western Massachusetts, trailing only Springfield and Chicopee. The expansion project will create 20 new jobs and retain 50 existing jobs, according to state officials. Shire City Herbals produces Fire Cider, an organic apple cider vinegar tonic whose catchphrase is "Feel the Tonic Boom." The company is planning a $1.2 million expansion that will create 10 jobs and retain 14 existing jobs. The city of Pittsfield has approved a TIF valued at $42,788. Puppy cam: Meet Ichabod and Fernando, puppies with Rainbow Rescues, available for adoption #nationalpuppyday Posted by MassLive on Thursday, March 23, 2017 Happy National Puppy Day! To celebrate, MassLive is hanging out with some adorable puppies, all of which are available for adoption in Massachusetts. Around 11 a.m. MassLive Facebook followers got to meet Ichabod and Fernando. Ichabod is a 6-month-old, male pit bull and Fernando is a 7-month-old, male mix. According to Rainbow Rescue's website, they are both good with other dogs and cats. They also have the basics of potty training. Followers will then get to meet multiple puppies and dogs through Mutt Rescue. The recuse is having an adoption event at the Petsmart in Chicopee for people to come meet the dogs. There will be heated tents and volunteers to ask questions about the dogs. They will be there from March 23 - 24 from 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. and March 25-26 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. For other pets available for adoption in Massachusetts, check out our weekly Pet Project. Related photos: Oriental Taste, an establishment that opened last year in downtown Northampton, rejects the predictable in favor of the authentic, delivering a dining experience faithful to the tastes and textures of China's Sichuan region. Housed in a modernized storefront on Main Street, Oriental Taste benefits from a slick, contemporary setting. The long, narrow dining space has a sushi bar along one side; an intimate dining mezzanine toward the back doubles as a function space. While a few familiar choices - Eggplant with Garlic Sauce ($9.95), General Tao's Chicken ($11.95), and Beef with Broccoli ($13.25) - have found their way onto Oriental Taste's menu, the agenda is dominated by less well known possibilities such as Cumin Chicken ($12.95), Dry Braised Beer Duck ($15.95), and bone-in Beef with Black Pepper Sauce ($15.25). The seafood side of the ledger is equally unconventional, suggesting the likes of Salt & Pepper Soft Shell Crab ($17.95) and a Braised Whole Fish ($23.95) sauced with spicy minced pork. Appetizer options include some of the usual suspects - Vegetarian Spring Rolls ($3.25) for example -- but also incorporate dim sum specialties such as Roast Pork Buns ($3.50), Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf ($4.95) and Crispy Shrimp Balls ($5.50). We started our meal with a personal favorite, Scallion Pancakes ($4.25). The Oriental Taste version had a crisp, flakey exterior, which contrasted nicely with the softer-textured center of the cake. Plenty of green onion was at hand to ratchet up the taste bud experience. Even the dipping sauce was distinctive, with a slightly alcoholic sharpness that underscored an otherwise soy-dominated flavor. Dry braising, a technique by which food is both seared and steamed, is popular at Oriental Taste. As well as employing the aforementioned technique, the Sichuan Style Dry Braised Beef ($14.95) we ordered typified the house flavor architecture - spicy and pungent. A stir-fry incorporating thin-cut beef and a host of traditional vegetable accompaniments, the dish came to the table in a miniature wok-style warmer. Rather than the predictable typical cornstarch-thickened glaze, the beef featured a thin braising broth infused with the smoky heat of wok-scorched chilies. When ordering the dry braise we had noted it merited a chili pepper icon on the menu, the traditional designation for a "hot & spicy" preparation. In our experience such warnings are mostly all bark and no bite, but not at Oriental Taste, where "hot" truly means hot. After our first few bites of the beef we began to experience a telltale, albeit not entirely unpleasant, tingle about the lips. In most Chinese-American settings "red-cooked pork" is commercial char sui, a cut of lean pork that's been rubbed with spices and food coloring to give it a distinctive pink color. The Red Cooked Pork ($12.95) we enjoyed at Oriental Flavor was more in line with tradition. Inch-thick slabs of pork belly simmered in soy sauce and five-spice powder were served in their cornstarch-thickened braising liquid; steamed baby bok choy offered a contrast in color and texture. Unctuous and ultra rich, the pork belly was comfort food, Chinese style. In addition to its multi-paged repertoire of Chinese dishes, Oriental Flavor offers an array of sushi bar specialties. These include representative sushi and sashimi options, various hand rolls, and various dinner assortments. However, unlike most other Chinese restaurants that dabble in sushi, Oriental Taste doesn't involve itself with Japanese-inspired kitchen entrees. We tested the sushi chef's mettle by ordering a Hong Kong Roll ($12.95). An elaboration on the familiar shrimp tempura roll, the Hong Kong Roll featured an overlay of spicy minced tuna and a decorative drizzle of eel sauce, a sweetened soy glaze. Oriental Taste is licensed for the sale of beer and wine, maintaining a selection of both. When it comes to dessert, Oriental Taste lists traditional offerings such as Homemade Pumpkin Cakes ($3.50) and Tang Yuan Soup (rice dumplings in sweet syrup --$3.50). The Sesame Cakes ($3.50) we enjoyed were interesting examples of Chinese pastry craft. Sesame-crusted and filled with sweetened red bean paste, they had the soft, slightly gummy texture of an undercooked donut. Name: Oriental Taste Address: 41 Main Street, Northampton Telephone: (413) 582-6888 Website: NorthamptonOrientalTaste.com Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Entree prices: $8.25 - $26.95 Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa Handicapped access: Accessible, rest rooms down one flight Reservations: Accepted kirk-picard.jpg Who's the best 'Star Trek' captain? (The Tylt) If you want to rile up Trekkies, just ask them who's the best captain in the franchise. James Tiberius Kirk was the franchise's first captain (played by William Shatner) and later rebooted in J. J. Abrams' "Star Trek" film series (played by Chris Pine). But so many fans argue Jean-Luc Picard is actually the best captain, and we have the incredible Patrick Stewart to thank for keeping the "Star Trek" train going from the mid-1980s until the early 2000s. Who's the best captain? PERSPECTIVES Shatner is 86-years-old, and he's been Captain Kirk for 51 years! Stewart has been Captain Picard since 1987 and helped revitalized the franchise. And they're not just Starfleet captains... they're rap gods. Kirk and Picard also met in 'Star Trek: Generations' ... but it was not the franchise's finest hour. Trekkies celebrated the birthday of the ORIGINAL "Star Trek" captain. Take that. 22 March 1931. William Shatner was born in Montreal, Canada. Best known as Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek TV series. pic.twitter.com/GIylUk0ExQ Prof.Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) March 22, 2017 Captain Picard is the meme god! That's how you know he's been best captain since "Star Trek: The Next Generation" premiered in 1987. Further proof that Picard is the best captain pic.twitter.com/rOtXieNHsL kevin 'sloosh' shlaw (@itsakev) March 13, 2017 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Digital, Inc. property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say. jaffe.phooto.jpg Al Jaffe, left, and Valley Press Club President Charlie Bennett at last year's scholarship presentations in Springfield. Jaffe, the first recipient of the Valley Press Club scholarship in 1964, has personally donated one of the scholarships being offered by the club to area students. (Valley Press Club) SPRINGFIELD -- The Valley Press Club is slated to award up to six $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut who are interested in pursuing a career in journalism. Scholarship applications may be sent by mail to the Valley Press Club, P.O. Box 5475, Springfield, MA 01102, or electronically to scholarship@valleypressclub.com. The deadline for submissions is April 1. Scholarships will be awarded June 17. The Valley Press Club offers several different scholarships to students looking to study journalism, including the Al Jaffe Scholarship, the 22News Scholarship and The Republican Scholarship, according to Noreen Tassinari, scholarship committee chairwoman. Funds for the Al Jaffe Scholarship were donated by Jaffe himself, who was the Press Club's first scholarship winner in 1964. Jaffe, who retired in 2015 as vice president of talent negotiation and production recruitment at ESPN, was a senior at Pittsfield High School when he was awarded the club's initial $500 scholarship. He attended Emerson College and currently serves on the Emerson College board of trustees. The Republican scholarship, funded by The Republican newspaper and administered by the club, is for students within the newspaper's circulation area who are planning careers in print journalism. The 22News Scholarship, funded by WWLP-TV and administered by the club, is for students planning careers in broadcast journalism. The Valley Press Club also finances two scholarships itself, including the Edward J. Malley Jr. Memorial Scholarship, established in memory of the former chief photographer for the Springfield Newspapers, for students planning careers in photojournalism. Primary emphasis is placed on career goals, writing ability, scholastic aptitude and overall achievement as measured by an applicant's high school transcript, class rank, academic awards, SAT scores and extracurricular activities. Over the course of five decades, the Valley Press Club has presented over $104,000 in scholarships to eligible students. Further information about the scholarships is available at valleypressclub.com, high school guidance offices, or by emailing ntassinari@thebige.com SANTIAGO, March 23 (Reuters) - The negotiation process between BHP Billiton and striking workers at its Escondida mine in Chile has ended unsuccessfully, Escondida mine president Marcelo Castillo said on Thursday, and the company will try to restart operations. The company will also evaluate an option of the Chilean labor code that would allow miners to work under the previous contract for 18 months, if miners present the option, Castillo said. He added that that option, known as Article 369, would create a complex scenario for both parties. (Reporting by Felipe Iturrieta; Writing by Gram Slattery; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Senator Lesser with Joanne Stan and grandkids 2.jpg BOSTON A West Springfield family this month got an inside look at the State House when State Senator Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, hosted them for a tour of the building. Stan and Joanne Pirog of West Springfield, along with their grandchildren, Alexa and Ryan of Longmeadow, met Lesser at the State House on March 16, a statement from Lesser's office says. The tour was given after Jenna Papadopolus of Longmeadow, Stan Pirog's daughter, won it in a silent auction. "Senator Eric P. Lesser welcomed Stan and Joanne Pirog of West Springfield, and their two grandchildren, Alexa and Ryan of Longmeadow, to the State House on Thursday. Stan had won a silent auction for a tour of the State House and lunch with Sen. Lesser," a statement from Lesser's office says. The auction at which Stan Pirog won the tour, was held to benefit Longmeadow Montessori schools, a statement from Lesser's office says. massachusetts state police.JPG A 31-year-old State Trooper has died from a medical emergency, according to Massachusetts State Police. (Massachusetts State Police) BOSTON - A 31-year-old Massachusetts State Trooper has died from a "medical emergency" while off-duty, according to a statement released by State Police. The episode occurred while the Trooper was "performing physical training" while off-duty on Wednesday afternoon. He was taken to Framingham Union Hospital and subsequently pronounced dead, according to police. The nature of the medical emergency has not been made clear at this time. Additionally, the identity of the Trooper is not being released at this time, though police have released a number of details about his service record--including that he is a member of the 80th Recruit Training Troop, as well as a veteran of the United States Air Force. Police say the Trooper was assigned to the Framingham Barracks as a member of the Division of Field Services. "The State Police express our gratitude to the Framingham Police officers, firefighters and ambulance personnel who responded to the Trooper's medical emergency, and to the emergency room staff at Framingham Union Hospital," reads the State Police statement. "All of them tried valiantly to save his life." "Most of all, our thoughts at this time, and our prayers, are with his family. He is survived by his wife, father, sister and in-laws," the statement concludes. AMHERST -- Following Wednesday's terror attack in London, University of Massachusetts officials have confirmed that all 23 students studying there are safe. UMass officials have not yet had contact from the lone faculty member in London, said UMass spokesman Edward Blaguszewski. But in an email he said, "We currently have no reason to believe that this person has been affected by the attack." British police Thursday identified the man responsible for the attack as 52-year-old Khalid Masood. The attack left four people dead, including an American, and dozens injured. Masood allegedly plowed an SUV into pedestrians on a crowded London bridge and then stabbed a police officer to death on the grounds of Britain's Parliament. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Police said in a statement that Masood was born in southeastern England and was most recently living in the West Midlands in central England. A Morman church official says a Utah man was killed and his wife was seriously wounded in the London attack. Kurt W. Cochran and his wife, Melissa, were on the last day of a trip celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary on Wednesday when the attacker struck in the heart of London. He plowed an SUV into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing two and wounding dozens, then stabbed police officer Keith Palmer to death inside the gates of Parliament. The assailant was shot dead by armed officers. The woman remains hospitalized. The church said Thursday the Utah couple was also visiting the woman's parents, who are Mormon missionaries in London. Public forum on timber rattlesnakes taking place in Ware on March 22, 2017 The battle over whether Quabbin Reservoir should host a new timber rattlesnake colony continued during a public forum on March 22, 2017 at the Knights of Columbus hall in Ware (JIM RUSSELL PHOTO) WARE -- Discussion about whether Quabbin Reservoir should be home to a new timber rattlesnake colony continued during a public forum Wednesday at the Knights of Columbus hall in town, with proponents and opponents of the idea expressing their opinions. The 14-person Rattlesnake Review Working Group, formed earlier this year to recommend whether the state should be allowed to import a colony of the rattlesnakes at a peninsula of the Quabbin Reservoir, within Mount Zion, convened the meeting, attended by about 100 people. A question some members of the panel and the public want to know is the actual timber rattlesnake population in Massachusetts. "How do we go about counting the number of snakes?" a Ware resident asked the panel at Wednesday's meeting. Priscilla Maglio traveled from Marshfield to attend the Ware meeting. "Are there more than we know about? What kind of survey was done? Have we actually surveyed how many rattlesnakes we have here in Massachusetts?" she asked the panel. "I think this is based on a false premise that the rattlesnakes are endangered. I think there are more than you know about," she said. One attendee said a study should be completed "in an unbiased way" by an organization that is not advocating for an increase in the snake population. The RRWG said it would not respond to questions during the meeting but would provide answers to the questions, which could occur at April's meeting (the date, time and location of April's meeting have not been set). During last month's RRWG meeting, a state herpetologist estimated there are 200 to 400 timber rattlesnakes in Massachusetts, but declined to say where the colonies are located. Anne Stengle, who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in organismic, told attendees that the poisonous timber rattlesnakes "are not an animal to be feared." She said, "There is no sound science that shows we should be this fearful of this species." Hardwick Conservation Commission Chairman William Zinni told the RRWG that state wildlife officials must "ensure that we do not lose our wildlife species diversity." Laurie Whitney, of Ware, said that instead of experimenting with a potential new colony at Mount Zion, "we should invest in the existing dens." Residents of Easthampton attended the meeting to urge the state not to expand the snake population on Mount Tom. "Don't you dare put these snakes in Mount Tom," Marty Fedor said. Northampton resident Sue Grant expressed her thoughts to the panel about the Quabbin rattlesnake idea by singing a song that included the following lyrics: "Oh that refuge on Mount Zion The citizens of course will foot the bill There will be plenty of venom on Mount Zion When the rattlers reach the refuge on the hill" Among the questions the RRWG is expected to provide information about prior to issuing its recommendation is whether public access to Quabbin Reservoir would be further restricted if the reptile colony is established. Access questions are of particular to concern to those who fish the reservoir. * Five dead, including attacker, near UK parliament * Police raid six addresses, arrest eight * Attacker British-born, known to intelligence agency * Attack inspired by Islamist ideology - PM May * Attack in pictures and graphics: http://tmsnrt.rs/2nbf27l (Updates with death of another victim, adds U.S. intelligence source) By Michael Holden and Estelle Shirbon LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - The attacker who ploughed a car through a throng of pedestrians and then stabbed a policeman outside Britain's parliament was named on Thursday as Khalid Masood, a British-born man who was once investigated by MI5 intelligence officers over concerns about violent extremism. The death toll from Wednesday's attack on the heart of Britain's democracy grew to five as police said one of the injured, a 75-year-man, had died in hospital after his life support was withdrawn. That number included Masood, 52, who was shot dead by police. The attack was the deadliest in Britain since 2005, when 52 people were killed by Islamist suicide bombers on London's public transport system. It followed a series of Islamist militant operations that have killed some 280 people in France, Belgium and Germany in just over two years, and marked the third occasion a lone attacker has used a vehicle as a weapon. Islamic State claimed responsibility in a statement issued by its Amaq news agency, but did not name Masood and gave no details. It was not clear whether the attacker was directly connected to the jihadist group. Police said Masood was born in the county of Kent in southeast England and was most recently living in the West Midlands region of central England. "Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH (grievous bodily harm), possession of offensive weapons and public order offences." Story continues Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament the attacker had once been investigated by the MI5 intelligence agency over concerns about violent extremism, but had been a peripheral figure. A U.S government source said Masood had associates with an interest in joining jihadist groups abroad, but there was no evidence he had done so himself. "The people he was hanging out with did include people suspected of having an interest in travelling to join jihadi groups overseas but the attacker himself never did so," the source said. Police said Masood had never been convicted of a terrorist offence. His first conviction was in 1983 for criminal damage and his last one in December 2003 for possession of a knife. MAYHEM During five minutes of mayhem in the heart of London on Wednesday, Masood sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, mowing down pedestrians. He then ran through the gates of the nearby parliamentary precinct and fatally stabbed an unarmed policeman, Keith Palmer, before being shot dead. "He will be deeply missed. We love him so much," Palmer's family said in a statement. The 48-year-old was married with a five-year-old daughter. About 40 people were injured, of whom some were in critical condition. May visited some of them, her spokesman said. Police arrested eight people at six locations in London and Birmingham in the investigation into the attack, which May said was inspired by a warped Islamist ideology. All were suspected of preparing terrorist acts, police later confirmed. The Enterprise rental car company said the vehicle used had been rented from its Spring Hill branch in Birmingham, which is in the West Midlands. The bloodshed took place on the first anniversary of attacks that killed 32 people in Brussels. A minute's silence was held in parliament and outside police headquarters on Thursday morning. As dusk fell, hundreds gathered in London's Trafalgar Square in a vigil to remember the victims. With traffic diverted away, volunteers handed out candles in an eerie silence. Helen Pallot, 26, from just outside London, was holding a bunch of flowers she planned to lay nearby. "I have got a lot of friends and family that work five minutes away from there, so it just makes you think," she said. "It made me angry and sad and I wanted to come here and show that we can still all be here together." Speaking at the United Nations in New York, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson urged Internet providers and social media networks to do more to curb extremist propaganda. "Theyve got to look at the stuff thats going up on their sites, theyve got to take steps to invigilate it, to take it down where they can," he said. "LONE-WOLF ATTACK" The casualties included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Chinese, one American and two Greeks, May said. Queen Elizabeth released a message saying: "My thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's awful violence." U.S. tourist Kurt Cochran was named as one of the dead in a Facebook post by family member Shantell Payne. "With a heavy heart I must pass the sad news of our beautiful brother, father, husband, son and friend Kurt Cochran, he could not overcome the injuries he received in the London terror attacks," Payne wrote. Her post said Cochran's wife, Melissa Payne Cochran, was in hospital with a broken leg and rib and a cut on her head. The couple were in Europe to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. U.S. President Donald Trump paid tribute to Cochran in a tweet, calling him "a great American". Many have been shocked that the attacker was able to cause such mayhem in the heart of the capital equipped with nothing more than a hired car and a knife. "This kind of attack, this lone-wolf attack, using things from daily life, a vehicle, a knife, are much more difficult to forestall," Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC. Three French high-school students on a school trip to London were among the injured. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault met some of their fellow students near the hospital where they were being treated. Their lives were not in danger. (Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper, William James, Costas Pitas, Kate Holton, Kylie Maclellan, Elisabeth O'Leary, Michael Holden, Alistair Smout, Stephen Addison and Mark Hosenball; writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Ralph Boulton, Kevin Liffey and Mark Trevelyan) Worcester developer Kevin A. Perry Jr. remains in federal custody following an appearance in Boston for a detention hearing at the Moakley US Courthouse. Authorities arrested Perry earlier this week on federal charges and accused him of money laundering, unlawful cash structuring, making a false statement on a loan application and distribution of over 400 grams of fentanyl. Perry pleaded not guilty to the charges. Perry, who was previously convicted of a conspiracy to manufacture and distribute ecstasy, entered the courtroom on Thursday wearing an orange shirt and pants. His hands and legs were shackled. Perry is being detained without prejudice, meaning he can ask to schedule another detention hearing in the future. Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy told Perry in court that the proceeding can be moved to the federal courthouse in Worcester. Perry appeared in Boston with his attorney, James Budreau. Greg Friedholm from the US Attorney's Office represented the government. The detention hearing lasted just several minutes, as Budreau agreed to detention without prejudice. A nationwide search ended with the selection of W. Paul Harrington, Jr., as the new head of Pope Francis High School. He begins July 1. His task will be filled with challenges, but also with opportunity. With construction of a new high school underway, Harrington will take over with students still attending the current Chicopee location. The challenges facing New England parochial education are no secret. Falling enrollment has forced closure of many schools at both the grade school and high school levels. Parents wrestle with tuition costs, and diocesan support relies on healthy parishes. This comes at a time the Roman Catholic Church, from the Vatican to Greater Springfield, is working to reshape itself to fit modern society - without compromising its deepest and most profound principles and values. The percentage of families who choose parochial school purely for religious religions is not what was once true. Yet schools such as Pope Francis are still dedicated "to fulfill (the) mission to instill Gospel values and foster academic excellence to a diverse community of learners," Pope Francis spokeswoman Jennifer Lopez said. Pope Francis High will soon have a modern, state-of-the-art facility with which to carry on a proud tradition. Harrington's experience with Catholic education in California, coupled with his Massachusetts background as a Holliston native, serve him well to guide Pope Francis High School through its new era. The school's challenge of balancing relevance, academic excellence and Catholic values is also its great opportunity. The education landscape has changed in the past 20 years, but there will always be a place for a quality parochial school that blends these characteristics well. Pope Francis is doing that now and will soon have a new building to help maintain it. We wish Mr. Harrington the best as he joins the Western Massachusetts parochial and educational community. North Korea Trump vs Obama In this file image made from video released by KRT on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, North Korea launches four missiles in an undisclosed location North Korea. North Korea has a criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump he probably wasn't expecting: he's too much like Barack Obama. Just before Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Tokyo, the North launched several ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan. While he was still in China, it conducted a test of what it called a "revolutionary" new type of engine for its rockets. On Wednesday, March 22, 2017, it appears to have conducted more missile tests from the eastern port city of Wonsan, though they reportedly failed. (KRT via AP Video, File) Back when Barack Obama was president, he directed the Pentagon to ramp up a super-secret operation that used technology to disrupt North Korea's missile tests. How successful the operation was remains a mystery, but the failures of many North Korean launches soon after intensification of the program might not have been exactly coincidental. When Donald Trump was inaugurated as Obama's successor two months ago, his administration inherited the ongoing cyberwar against Pyongyang's missile program. One obvious question: Did it make use of the cyber operations on Wednesday when another North Korean missile failed just seconds after it had been launched? Call it a game of cat-and-mouse, nuclear-style. The cyberwar against Kim Jong Un's missile and nuclear ambitions was reported earlier this month by The New York Times, which omitted details of the workings of the program at the request of government officials who hoped to keep Pyongyang in the dark about specifics of the technology. But still, the overall game plan was clear: Delay as much as possible Kim's efforts to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to our shores. If North Korea's leader Kim can plausibly threaten, say, Seattle, the balance of global power becomes all out of whack. As such, the longer we can keep the despotic leader of the isolated and impoverished nation from his nuclear goals, the better off the world will be. The Times' report on the cyberwar against North Korea's missile program noted that it recalled the joint U.S.-Israeli effort to cripple Iran's nuclear development with the so-called Stuxnet computer worm that was used to sabotage that nation's nuclear programs several years back, making mishaps appear accidental. And so it is in North Korea, perhaps. For now, at least. But the clock is ticking. After he learned of our tech warfare successes against his missile program, Kim reportedly had senior North Korean security officials executed. What comes next, of course, is anyone's guess. An attack on North Korea's missile sites has reportedly been considered, not only by the Trump administration, but also by the Obama White House before it. One trouble: Given the ease of moving many of the Soviet-style missiles, hiding them in caves and the like, even an all-out assault might not prove fruitful. And it could only serve to provoke Kim further. And talk has gotten us mostly nowhere. While we've gabbed about sanctions, rewards, looking for some leverage against Pyongyang, Kim has moved forward. Though Beijing's recent decision to halt temporarily coal purchases from North Korea will hit the rogue nation in the wallet - coal is its largest export, after all - there's no guarantee that the ban will endure. For now, then, there's the cyberwar apparatus and perhaps some behind-the scenes work with China to slow Pyongyang's ICBM ambitions. It's not great, but it's where we are at present. Unless, of course, there are efforts inside North Korea to destabilize the leader, to see if the cult of personality that is the foundation of his rule can be weakened. State Democrats decry proposed Medicaid changes From left, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., gather in the House Rules Committee to shape the final version of the Republican health care bill before it goes to the floor for debate and a vote, Wednesday, March 22, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (J. Scott Applewhite) As House Republicans moved to shore up final support for their Affordable Care Act replacement plan Thursday, members of Massachusetts' congressional delegation released a report highlighting how the controversial health care law has benefitted state residents. The 180-page "Shared Values: Massachusetts Perspectives on Health Reform" report, which lawmakers released ahead of an expected vote on the GOP-backed "American Health Care Act," touts the ACA's impact on the Bay State's insurance coverage rate, women's health care and children's access to care and preventative services. The document, offered by 10 of the state's 11 congressional lawmakers, includes perspectives from Massachusetts hospitals, health care providers, constituents and others in support of the law, known as Obamacare. It further contends that the law has helped support substance abuse services in the state, guaranteed care for those with disabilities and chronic conditions, and improved mental health service integration. U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, who has vocally opposed GOP efforts to repeal the health care law, argued that while the ACA has "provided quality, affordable health care to millions of folks in Massachusetts over the past seven years," the Republicans' plan would rip coverage away, increase costs and severely harm local hospitals and health centers. "Families and entire communities throughout Massachusetts have benefitted tremendously thanks to the Affordable Care Act, and our delegation will work tirelessly to protect middle-class families from these harmful Republican efforts," he said in a statement. Congressman Jim McGovern, D-Worcester, agreed, contending that the Republican bill, which proposes canceling the fines on individuals who don't carry health insurance, overhauling the federal-state Medicaid program and replacing income-based subsidies with age-based tax credits,"would be devastating for families across Massachusetts who would lose health care and face higher costs." "Health care should be a right in this country and we're going to fight like hell to protect and strengthen access to affordable health care for all Americans," he said. U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, meanwhile, argued that the report shows Massachusetts "is proof that you don't have to choose between a strong economy and universal health care." "Repealing the Affordable Care Act would be a bad prescription for Massachusetts, and we will fight this heartless Republican effort to strip away the right to health care," he said. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, whose office took the lead in releasing the report, argued that state residents have made clear that "high-quality, affordable health coverage matters." Felicity Lingle, a 40-year-old former Springfield-area substitute teacher who was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis, for example, said she "cannot imagine where she would be without her health insurance coverage from both MassHealth and Medicare," according to the report. Prior to enrolling in so-called "RomneyCare" -- the Massachusetts law which served as somewhat of a model for the ACA -- Lingle did not have health insurance, it noted. Jenny Giering, a Worthington resident who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, meanwhile, said ACA coverage has allowed her to survive her treatment and later complications. "The passage of the ACA did more to shore up our little family than any other piece of legislation in my lifetime," she said in the report. "It has enabled me to face my grave illness without worrying whether cost would be a factor in my treatment or whether I could try the next medication my doctors prescribed to relieve my pain." U.S. Reps. Michael Capuano, D-Somerville; Niki Tsongas, D-Lowell; Bill Keating, D-Bourne; Joe Kennedy III, D-Brookline; Katherine Clark, D-Melrose; and Seth Moulton, D-Salem, also signed their names on to the report. Congressman Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston, who voted against the ACA seven years ago and has since called for fixing the law, was not listed on the document. Facing pushback from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, House leaders reportedly postponed Thursday's expected vote on the AHCA, as they sought to win more support from conservative members. A poll released Thursday suggested that American voters oppose the House GOP plan by a three-to-one margin. Hong Kong will select a new leader on Sunday in a vote skewed towards Beijing that has once more opened up the city's political divisions. Pro-democracy campaigners describe the election process as a farce and predict weekend protests as the prospect of political reform in the semi-autonomous city appears more unattainable than ever. Hong Kong's next leader will be chosen by an electoral committee rather than the general public and the person selected has to be formally approved by Beijing. The majority of the 1,194 representatives on the committee belong to pro-establishment special interest groups such as agriculture and real estate which lean towards China. Only a quarter come from the pro-democracy camp. It is the first leadership election since mass rallies in 2014 calling for Hong Kong residents to have the right to vote for the city's highest-ranking official failed to win change, and comes as concerns grow that Chinese authorities are tightening their grip. Former deputy leader Carrie Lam is seen as Beijing's favourite for the job, and some pro-establishment members of the electoral committee say they have come under pressure to vote for her. Lam is intensely disliked by the pro-democracy camp after promoting the Beijing-backed political reform package which prompted 2014's "Umbrella Movement" that paralysed parts of the city for more than two months. The proposal had promised a public vote for city leader in 2017, but said candidates must be vetted. It was dismissed as "fake democracy" by opponents and rejected in parliament by pro-democracy lawmakers. Since then the political reform process has been shelved. - 'Selection, not election' - Those opposed to Lam cast her as just another version of unpopular current leader Leung Chun-ying. Her main rival is ex-finance chief John Tsang, perceived as a more moderate establishment choice and the public's clear favourite in opinion polls. Story continues Known as "Mr Pringles" for his resemblance to the moustachioed crisp brand mascot, Tsang has cast himself as a unifying candidate. Most pro-democracy members on the electoral committee will vote for Tsang to keep Lam out and did not field their own candidate for fear it would split the anti-Lam vote. That leaves the third and most liberal nominee, former judge Woo Kwok-hing, who is unlikely to make a dent. But many young activists reject the vote outright. Pro-democracy campaigner Joshua Wong, the face of the 2014 protests, says he does not endorse any of the candidates and will join protests outside the harbourfront voting venue. "Hong Kong is just implementing a selection, rather than an election," 20-year-old student Wong told AFP, describing all three nominees as pro-establishment. "No one will deny that Carrie Lam is the worst one and a nightmare for us -- but it doesn't mean we can put aside our principles and endorse any pro-China candidate," he said. - Long-term battle - Lam has questioned whether the environment is right for reintroducing the political reform debate, while Tsang says any changes must adhere to the unpopular framework laid down by Beijing. There was little scope for any new leader to diverge from Beijing's script, said Yvonne Chiu, assistant professor at Hong Kong University's department of politics and public administration. "The chief executive internally can do a lot of things, but at the same time will always have an eye on what Beijing is interested in and what Beijing is willing to accept," said Chiu. China is taking an increasing interest in the way Hong Kong is governed after a turbulent five years under Leung, added Chiu. Following the failure of the "Umbrella Movement" to win reform, a new brand of activist advocating a split from the mainland rather than just greater autonomy has emerged, sparking fury from Beijing. Hong Kong is governed under a semi-autonomous "one country, two systems" deal since being handed back to China by Britain in 1997. China's premier Li Keqiang shut down any notion of Hong Kong independence last month, saying the idea "would lead nowhere", and each of the three candidates has also rejected the idea. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Hong Kong described Sunday's vote as not only a concern for the city "but also the central government's exercise of sovereignty and governance over Hong Kong". Although Lam is a divisive figure, some say Beijing sees her as a softer touch than Leung but still able to deliver hardline policies. "It's really a sexist view in Beijing's eyes I think -- a 'woman's touch'," said Suzanne Pepper, honorary fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Pepper said Lam's decision to focus on social issues reflected Beijing's wishes for the city leader to downplay big-picture politics. But for activist Wong, the fight for a more representative political system remains a priority. "Without democracy, political struggle and instability will still continue in the future," he said. The Massachusetts Department of Education on Thursday announced its intention to significantly expand programs that allow high school students to take college classes for credit. "By having them earn credits before they get out of high school, by experiencing college level courses, there's a much greater likelihood they'll complete their college education," said Education Secretary Jim Peyser, in a phone interview with The Republican / MassLive. Early College programs are meant to make college more affordable for low-income students by letting them take community college classes for free while in high school and earn credit toward their eventual college degree. The goal is to improve rates of college completion among low-income students, minorities and first generation college students. The program could also make more students see attending college as a viable option. Education Secretary Jim Peyser Students typically enroll in the programs in ninth grade, then follow a structured curriculum that is aligned with a specific career path. It includes taking college classes, generally at a community college, doing internships and interacting with employers. The students earn at least 12 college credits, the equivalent of one semester, before they finish high school. The credits are transferable to all public colleges and universities in Massachusetts. Today, there are 27 Early College programs in Massachusetts serving 2,400 students, of whom 55 percent are low-income, according to the Department of Education. Peyser said each program enrolls an average of around 100 students. State officials hope to double the number of high schools that offer these programs and increase their capacity to 250 to 300 students per program. The state has already issued some planning grants to high schools to create Early College programs. In his fiscal 2018 budget proposal, Gov. Charlie Baker asked for another $2 million. The bulk of the implementation of the expansion would happen in fiscal 2019, and Peyser said state officials are still figuring out what the costs would be and how they would be paid for. He said the state anticipates combining public money with private donations from philanthropic groups. There will also need to be some cost-sharing between high schools and colleges. A report on Early College programs in Massachusetts commissioned by the Barr Foundation cited research in other states showing that these programs did increase college completion rates, particularly among low-income and minority students. The report estimated that the cost of the program would be approximately an additional $800 annually for each student who participates, adding around 5 percent to the current per pupil cost of educating a high school student. The report said the result of that investment would likely be increased college completion rates and increased college affordability. Peyser said state officials hope to use the program specifically to target underserved students - students who may otherwise be unprepared for college, who might not be planning to go to college or who would have trouble affording it. "This is designed...to provide students who may not see college in their future with a pathway to get ready for college," Peyser said. The Massachusetts boards of higher education and elementary and secondary education voted in January to launch the initiative and begin the process of crafting standards for the programs. The boards will vote in June to ratify the definition of an Early College program and the process for designating these programs. Bills pending in the state Legislature would codify the initiative into law, and potentially set the stage for appropriating more state money. The initiative comes as state education officials are seeking new ways to close the achievement gap that currently exists based on wealth and race after voters in November rejected a proposal to expand access to charter schools. What drives success? Cognitive skills are important, but so are harder-to-measure strengths that fall under the heading of what is sometimes called character. Richard V. Reeves, of the Brookings Institution, has been doing research on the persistence of social and economic disadvantage for a long time. He often directs his attention to noncognitive skills. Thomas B. Edsall Full Story: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/opinion/what-does-it-take-to-climb-up-the-ladder.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-regionion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0 About 170,000 job-seeker accounts set up through the Idaho Department of Labor were compromised in a computer hacking March 12-13, the agency said Wednesday. The hacking incident involved Americas Job Link, a Kansas-based, multistate system that operates the departments IdahoWorks job search engine. Full Story: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/mar/22/idaho-says-170000-job-seeker-accounts-compromised-/ Humans have always done things that were considered normal at the time, that now seem horrific. Pregnancy, meat eating, and fossil fuels will all one day be unthinkable. Matt Chessen Full Story: https://backchannel.com/the-future-called-were-disgusting-and-barbaric-aac9d3ab2b90#.dzejook16 FVCCs Continuing Education Center caters to lifelong learners by offering a variety of personal enrichment and professional development courses and workshops. There are still spots available in the following spring programs: Those who serve on the board of directors for a nonprofit organization will benefit from a new workshop series designed to help board members learn best practices for fundraising on behalf of their organizations. "Im Expected to Fundraise Help!" will be held on two Thursdays, April 6 and April 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the college. Cost to participate is $65 per person. The series will be taught by Chany Ockert, a Certified Fund Raising Executive and private consultant with more than 16 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations. Meredith Coopman will teach "Principles of Interior Design" from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday evenings at the college from April 6 to 27. Cost to participate is $59 per person. Students will learn about design trends, color theory, concepts of scale and proportion, furniture styles, lighting, fabrics and more. Coopman owns Meredith Coopman Design Studio in Kalispell and holds a bachelors degree in interior design and a masters degree in architecture. She has more than 16 years of experience working as an interior designer. Those interested in camping in the backcountry with horses can learn the basics this spring through a course taught by June Burgau, an experienced stock handler and backcountry camper. "Horse Packing and Wildlands Camping" will be held Thursday evenings from April 20 to May 25 at the Northridge Lutheran Church in Kalispell. Students will learn how to pack horses using mantie and modern equipment in this hands-on class. "Leave No Trace" camping skills and wilderness ethics will be emphasized. Cost to participate in the class is $115 per person. Students who enroll and attend all six classes are eligible to receive a $50 scholarship from the Back Country Horsemen http://www.bchmt.org/ For more information or to register for any of these courses, contact the FVCC Continuing Education Center at 756-3832 or visit http://www.fvcc.edu/continuing-education. Yesterday, On behalf of Next Frontier Capital http://www.nextfrontiercapital.com/ I testified to the Senate Tax Committee in support of HB 187. Rep Jim Hamilton (D) of Bozeman is sponsoring the bill in an effort to increase the pool of risk capital available in Montana. He deserves our support and gratitude for his leadership and vision. If after reading the post below you feel inclined to support HB 187, please email Rep. Hamilton via [email protected]. Additionally, please reach out to Sen Leader Scott Sales [email protected] . What is the bill? HB 187: Establish An Angel Investor/Venture Capital Tax Credit What does it hope to accomplish? Simply put, the goal is to attract risk capital to MT above and beyond the organic rate of development. Why does this matter? Brookings Institute research finds that advanced industry jobs earnings have increased almost five times as fast as those in the overall economy, offer a significant wage premium at every level of education, offer powerful multiplier effects where every new advanced industry job supports more than two others, and enjoy average wages of $90,000. Moreover, advanced industry jobs require capital and talent, both of which are in relatively limited supply in Montana relative to neighboring states. In brief, the bill provides income tax credits to investors in qualifying businesses, ie high-tech, advanced industry companies, and venture funds. The bill calls for investors to receive a 30% tax credit, $750,000 lifetime, and up to $75,000 per year. For example, a $1m investment in a qualifying fund or business would create a MT tax credit of $300,000 to the investor with the ability to take the deduction over ten years with a max credit in any one year of $75,000. Who Testified? In addition to NFC, SiteOnes CEO, Stan Abel, the Chamber of Commerce, the MT Bankers Association, the MT Photonics Industry, Liz Marchi of Frontier Angels Fund, Dennis OBrien of Linn Grove Capital, Pat LaPointe, Blackmore Sensors Alex Fichtler, and the Montana Small Business Alliance testified in support of the bill. Don Beeman, the former CEO of Ligocyte, and others wrote letters in support. Thank you to all. Precedent? Today, 26 states have enacted legislation to motivate equity investors to invest in high-risk, early-stage ventures in an attempt to stimulate state economies. Policy makers believe that there is a market failure in that many entrepreneurial companies are prevented from exploiting growth opportunities due to a lack of risk capital. This perceived failure in risk capital markets is addressed by either directly increasing the supply of risk capital or by increasing the expected returns to investors through decreasing taxation, improving exit markets, or reducing barriers to entrepreneurship. The most common formula is to offer tax relief on the amount invested in early stage ventures, which has an immediate effect on the annual income tax of the investor (IIJ Study: Seeding Venture Capital). Expected Outcome? The Bill passed the House and received broad support from both the House Tax and House Appropriations committees. The bi-partisan support for the Bill is encouraging to see and is explained by the recognition of both the current lack of equity capital in MT and the relationship between risk capital and high-wage job creation. We applaud Rep Jim Hamilton for working closely with the high-tech and private capital sectors to work to create a bill that will make MT more competitive and capital more readily available. Will Price is the founder of Next Frontier Capital. "Our focus is to partner with mission-driven, talented entrepreneurs to build Montana technology companies of impact, utility, and value" http://www.nextfrontiercapital.com/ The high courts ruling Wednesday bolsters the rights of millions of disabled children. Justices ruled for the parents of a Colorado boy with autism who had removed their son from a public school because he was screaming in class, climbing on furniture and making no progress. They enrolled him in a private school that specialized in autism where he flourished. They then sued the school district for a reimbursement, citing the federal law that promises a "free appropriate public education" to all children with disabilities. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., speaking for the court, said that standard was too low. The federal law "demands more. It requires an educational program that is reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the childs circumstances," he said in Endrew F. vs. Douglas County School District. A childs individualized learning program "must be appropriately ambitious in light of the circumstances," Roberts said. "The goals may differ, but every child should have the chance to meet challenging objectives." By David G. Savage Full Story: http://www.governing.com/topics/education/tns-scotus-schools-autism.html By Jake Spring BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese automaker Chery Automobile Co Ltd [CHERY.UL] has filed a complaint with the country's trademark regulator over Mercedes-Benz's use of the "EQ" name for a line of green-energy vehicles, throwing up a potential road block for the Daimler AG (DAIGn.DE) unit in the world's largest electric car market. A Chery spokeswoman told Reuters on Thursday that the automaker had filed a complaint with the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which it hopes will bar Mercedes from using the name in China. She said Chery has used the name "eQ" for its two-door battery electric car for two years. Mercedes showed off a concept car for its forthcoming line of electric vehicles last year, saying it would build its first EQ car in a German factory by the end of the decade. The automaker said last year it could make EQ in China but did not give a launch date. A Mercedes spokeswoman declined to immediately comment on Thursday. A ruling in Chery's favour would be a blow to Mercedes in a key market for new-energy vehicles as more electric cars are sold in China than the rest of the world combined, thanks in part to government initiatives targeting air pollution. "If it entered the Chinese market, it would impact our trademark rights," the Chery spokeswoman said. "Mercedes Benz EQ and our (eQ) are extremely similar. Their product is also an electric car." China's central government aggressively promotes green cars to fight intense urban smog and is urging its domestic industry to leap forward in automotive technology. (Reporting by Jake Spring and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Christopher Cushing) The new 9,200 square-foot facility will allow the college to expand its nursing and public health programs. Governor Steve Bullock Thursday awarded $400,000 in Community Development Block Grant Economic Development funding to Glacier County for the construction of a health sciences facility at Blackfeet Community College. The new 9,200 square-foot facility will allow the college to expand its nursing and public health programs. "Blackfeet Community Colleges expansion of health care industry courses will give students the tools they need to land good-paying jobs in one of Montanas fastest-growing sectors and fill an important community need," Governor Bullock said. "I commend the tribe, county, federal and state government partners in working together to make this important expansion a reality." Full Story: http://commerce.mt.gov/News/PressReleases/governor-bullock-announces-funding-to-help-build-blackfeet-community-colleges-health-science-facility The Ministry of Health and Wellness wishes to draw the attention of non-vaccinated personnel and affiliated personnel of the Port Services, Airport Services, Charitable Institutions, Private Homes and Mauritius Prisons Services, of the following information, pertaining to their forthcoming compliance with the COVID-19 (Restriction of Access to Specific Institutions) Regulations 2021. Administration of a 1st dose of a COVID-19 vaccine is currently ongoing in 17 dedicated vaccination centres around the island, every weekday and on Saturdays from 09 00 Hours to 15 00 Hours. The vaccination centres are as follows: o Plaine Verte Youth Centre o Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre, Pailles o MFD Conference Centre, Freeport, Mer Rouge o J&E Building (ex AXA), Nr Sunray, Coromandel o Riviere du Rempart Youth Centre o Anjalay Stadium, Pamplemousses o Riche Mare Community Centre o Cote dOr National Sports Complex o Shri A.B Vajpayee Tower, Conference Hall, Ebene o Omnicane Business Getaway, Plaine Magnien o Riviere des Anguilles Village Hall o Aquarelle, Surinam o Dr. James Burty David Gymnasium, Curepipe o Pandit Sahadeo Sports Complex, Vacoas o Plaza, Rose Hill o Germain Comarmond Stadium, Bambous o Central Warehouse, Castel In the event that a personnel or affiliated personnel of the above mentioned services and sectors cannot get vaccinated following a medical advice coming from either one of the Ministrys vaccination teams or a Private Medical Practitioner, he/she will have to submit his/her name to his/her employer or Officer in Charge. The employee or Officer in Charge will submit the list of names and contact details of the non-vaccinated personnel to the Ministry of Health and Wellness on: mohscesec@govmu.org Those who are self-employed and have to carry out professional activities in the specific institutions above can also send their names and contact details on the same email address. The Ministry of Health and Wellness will submit an appointment list to the employer or Officer in Charge and contact those who are self-employed, so as to allow them to be medically examined by one of the Ministrys Panel of Medical Officers already set up in all 5 Regional Hospitals. Those who are found to be non-eligible for COVID-19 vaccination will receive a non-eligibility certificate delivered by the Ministry of Health and Wellness. Those, who after being medically examined by the Ministrys Panel of Medical Officers, are found eligible shall proceed for vaccination or produce a Negative PCR Test of not less than 7 days in order to gain access to their respective places of work, in compliance with the provisions of the COVID-19 (Restriction of Access to Specific Institutions) Regulations 2021 The Ministry of Health and Wellness will not emit PCR test Results Certificate for those found eligible for vaccination by the Ministrys Panel of Medical Officers. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires Le Premier Ministre a mis le Cabinet au courant de son prochain voyage a Rodrigues dans le cadre des 20 ans de laautonomie de lile et les 50 ans des vols dAir Mauritius. Cabinet has taken note that the Prime Minister would effect an official visit to Rodrigues from 09 to 13 October 2022 in the context of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Autonomy of Rodrigues. On that occasion, he would also proceed with the inauguration of the Green Space in Port Mathurin to be named after Late Sir Anerood Jugnauth, GCSK, KCMG, QC and also the Commemoration of 50 years of operations of Air Mauritius in Rodrigues. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires has unveiled a senior leadership reshuffling that will take effect when President James Quincey becomes CEO later this spring, a shakeup observers say indicate the soda giant will focus more on beverage innovation. On Thursday, announced the changes will take effect on May 1, when Muhtar Kent steps down after serving as CEO for eight years. Among the changes: Cokes Mexico President Francisco Crespo will ascend to the newly created role of chief growth officer; research and development executive Robert Long will become chief innovation officer; and current chief information officer Barry Simpson will remain in that role but be elevated as a direct report to Quincey. We are moving quickly to structure our organization for faster growth and to ensure we can respond to the fast-changing needs of our consumers, said Quincey in a statement. Coke also announced three executives would depart the company as part of the senior leadership shakeup. The most notable of those exits was the decision by chief marketing officer Marcos de Quinto to retire after a 35-year career at Coke. He helped steer the Taste the Feeling campaign and at last years Beverage Digest conference, lauded Quincey as a leader, saying he was not only probably the best professional we can have in this moment. As a person - he is fantastic. The changes come as Coke and other major soda manufacturers like and Snapple confront a prolonged decline in soda volume in the U.S. as consumers buy more bottled water, flavored waters, teas, and newer innovative beverages like plant-based drinks. As a result, Coke has pivoted to remake the portfolio to concentrate more on brands liked bottled water Smartwater, flavored water Vitaminwater, and dairy brand Fairlife. That work to remake the portfolio helped net revenue grow by 4% in the flagship North America market last year, at a time when many Big Food manufacturers are posting declines as consumers ditch legacy brands in favor of startups that are disrupting the grocery store aisle. Story continues Observers say the leadership changes at Coke imply that Quincey and his newly formed team will focus more on innovation to better position the beverage giant for growth. By including three new direct reports to the CEO role focused on growth, innovation, and digital, Quinceys priorities are clear: to reaccelerate growth in [Coke] through new products and better engagement with customers and consumers, wrote analyst Bonnie Herzog in an analyst report. She added the company appears poised to continue to transform the portfolio to place bigger bets on juices, waters, energy drinks, and plant-based/dairy offerings. In the end, what are we aiming for as a company? Were aiming to grow faster than our industry, Quincey said at CAGNY, an industry event held in February. He explained some of the actions Coke planned to pursue in that hunt for growth includes reformulations that lessens the amount of sugar found in Cokes beverages as consumers say they want to consume less of it. Coke also wants to increased focus on selling smaller packs, which have been successful in the market. While growth in North America is encouraging, Quincey will steer Coke after years of underperforming peers on the stock market and after the companys 2017 targets fell short of Wall Streets expectations. The company is facing challenges abroad, most notably a poor performance in Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela, all markets that are suffering economically. Coke has said that macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges this year would look similar to last year. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com (The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters) * Graphic: Chinese aluminium volatility - http://tmsnrt.rs/2mvGXl9 By Andy Home LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - The political heat is rising in the aluminium market, with a trio of industry bodies calling on the G20 to address global market imbalances resulting from China's burgeoning output. "China's state-sponsored support is contributing to an unsustainable structural overcapacity that will impact growth and contribute to heightened instability until it is addressed." So wrote the heads of the U.S. Aluminum Association, its cross-Atlantic peer European Aluminium and the Aluminium Association of Canada in a March 15 open letter to the Group of 20 leading economies. What they want is the sort of global forum created to discuss steel overcapacity at last year's G20 summit. The charges against China's leviathan aluminium sector are largely the same as those against its equally huge steel industry. "Both the massive increase in production and the excess capacity have had a downward effect on the prices, generating significant economic and employment losses for our respective producers and economies," the three associations said. As with steel, trade tensions are rising with the United States taking the lead. It has launched a broad complaint about Chinese aluminium subsidies with the World Trade Organization, while the Aluminum Association has filed a petition seeking anti-dumping duties on aluminium foil. All of which is somewhat ironic. The price of aluminium traded on the London Metal Exchange is up 14 percent this year and, at $1,930 a tonne, close to two-year highs. This, of course, is also all about China, as the market tries to price in the potential for significant anti-pollution production curbs next winter. "Heightened instability", it appears, works both ways. Graphic on monthly Chinese aluminium production figures: http://tmsnrt.rs/2mvGXl9 UNSTABLE STATISTICS Story continues China has lifted its share of global primary aluminium production from about 10 percent in 2000 to more than 50 percent, with the International Aluminium Institute's (IAI) latest figures showing that China produced 54.4 percent of the global total in February. Give or take a percentage point or two, because even the country's production numbers are unstable. Annualised output dropped by 1.7 million tonnes in February relative to January, if you believe the figures supplied to the IAI by China's Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA). It seems highly unlikely that such a huge amount of capacity simply went offline last month. The largest monthly swing in production in the rest of the world over the past 10 years was a drop of 584,000 tonnes in January 2012, a period of falling prices and multiple capacity closures. Seasoned aluminium hands have grown accustomed to this sort of volatility in Chinese production figures, particularly around the end of both calendar and lunar years, as well as the occasional revisions to historic production figures. CNIA shocked the market at the start of 2016 when it added more than 4 million tonnes to the production ledger over the 2011-14 period. It has just sprung another little surprise; this time deducting 154,000 tonnes from 2015. The official monthly figures, in other words, should carry a strong health warning. Production seems to be trending higher. Taking the cumulative net change over the past four reported months (November 2016 to February 2017), national run rates have increased by about 925,000 tonnes annualised. That would seem to tally with anecdotal reports of new capacity coming online and restarts to take advantage of the improving price environment. FUTURE AND PRESENT INSTABILITY The market is still digesting the implications of Beijing's anti-pollution measures in regions around the Chinese capital over the winter heating months from mid-November to mid-March. A requirement that local aluminium smelters cut capacity by 30 percent puts at risk about 1.3 million tonnes of production, with potential further hits from mandated closures of plants producing other smelter inputs such as carbon anode and pet coke. Affected Chinese producers might be expected to run their smelters as fast they can to compensate. But Beijing's environmental crackdown is far more extensive than the winter pollution measures and it is already affecting production rates. Environmental inspection teams were in Henan province last month and at least one operator, Linfeng Aluminum and Power, closed some capacity as a result, according to specialist Chinese aluminium consultancy AZ China. Capacity closures across the metals production sector are now increasingly happening pre-emptively ahead of inspections. Moreover, environmental inspectors are returning at regular intervals to check on progress. Shandong province will receive its fourth environmental check next month, AZ China says. Beijing is committed to sending inspection teams to every province over the course of this year, including key aluminium production hubs such as Xinjiang. Chinese policymakers' search for "blue skies" has injected a new level of uncertainty in the world's largest supplier of aluminium. TIME TO TALK And that means a previously unknown degree of uncertainty in a global aluminium supply chain that has historically not been prone to the sort of disruptions that plague other industrial metals, such as copper. All this at a time when aluminium usage is growing fast as the metal takes an ever-growing materials share in key sectors such as transport. Its success has in large part been predicated on a global tendency to overproduce, particularly in China, and the resulting relative low level of pricing volatility. It's ironic that just as international pressure is rising on China to rein in its aluminium smelters, the country is doing precisely that in the form of an environmental clampdown. But the three aluminium bodies are certainly right when they refer to heightened instability. China's dominance of global production has left the aluminium market highly vulnerable to shifts in the country's policy. That needs to be addressed and the G20's steel forum is as good a template as any. If nothing else, it could start with getting a better statistical picture of just how much China is producing. (Editing by David Goodman) Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina and Camp Grier in Old Fort have collaborated to permanently conserve 203 acres in the Jarrett Creek watershed portion of the non-profit camps property. Conservation easements on the land will protect forested stream buffers and include other conservation provisions to ensure that stream water quality, extensive natural habitats, and scenic public views from Pisgah National Forest are forever protected. This includes land along high quality streams at the camp including Jarrett Creek in the Catawba Basin headwaters. Were grateful and pleased to be able to work with Camp Grier to protect these important watershed lands, says Tom Kenney, land protection director for Foothills Conservancy. Conserving this land will benefit everyone who enjoys spending time outdoors at Camp Grier and in surrounding areas, and all of the Carolinians who depend on drinking water from the Catawba Basin. Each summer, children from across the state visit Camp Grier. Its watershed lands are home to educational activities, trails, rustic camping and places to wade in Jarrett Creek. U.S. Forest Service lands, which adjoin two sides of the property, already protect nearly all of the creeks watershed lands upstream to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It has been wonderful to work with Foothills Conservancy on this project, said Jason McDougald, Executive Director of Camp Grier. As an outdoor ministry, preserving our natural resources and developing a love of the outdoors in young people is central to our mission. Knowing the funds generated from this project will not only conserve over 200 acres, but will also be used by our endowment to provide the base funding for our Maybin Mission Streets to Peaks programco-founded by Cameron Maybinis tremendously rewarding. This is truly a win for our land and water and a win for the young people who will be able to enjoy life-changing experiences in the outdoors for generations to come. In September 2014, the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund awarded a $178,653 grant to help Foothills Conservancy acquire the conservation easement at the camp. The project received $34,500 of grant funds from the N.C. Department of Justice Environmental Enhancement Grant Program, through a block grant to Blue Ridge Forever, a Western North Carolina land trust partnership of which Foothills Conservancy is a member. Conservationists Fred and Alice Stanback of Salisbury also contributed $145,000 to the project. Camp Grier is an outdoor ministry of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The camp offers an overnight residential camp each summer for boys and girls grades 212 that includes hiking, swimming, rock climbing, arts and crafts, agriculture, canoeing, service, whitewater paddling, mountain biking, and backpacking. Camp Grier also works with church and community groups throughout the year to plan and execute service-learning experiences. Each year its facilities are also rented by church groups, youth groups, mountain bike and equestrian groups, retreats, and weddings. Authorities said Thursday they arrested and charged a Marion woman with having drugs and weapons during a traffic stop. Deputy Steven McPeters of the McDowell County Sheriffs Office charged Holly Michelle Schism, 36, of 1756 Toms Creek Road in Marion, with possession with intent to sell and deliver methamphetamine, carrying a concealed weapon, carrying a concealed gun, possession of up to ounce marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a vehicle to keep a controlled substance. At 11:10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22, McPeters aided Chief Deputy Ricky Buchanan with a vehicle stop at 1175 West Tate St. in Marion. Schism was found to be driving the car. A search of the suspect and automobile turned up 27 grams of methamphetamine, a small amount of marijuana, various items of drug paraphernalia, a handgun and a knife with brass knuckles. Schism received a $17,000 bond. Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead at his home in Southern California. He was 34. Representatives for Carters family confirmed the singers death Saturday. They did not provide any immediate further comment. A sheriff's official says deputies responding to reports of a medical emergency found a person deceased at the home in Lancaster. Aaron Carter, the younger brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, performed as an opening act for Britney Spears as well as his brothers boy band, and appeared on the familys reality series, House of Carters. us mexico border There's a really good reason for President Donald Trump to rethink his hardline anti-immigration promise of building a costly "Great Wall" along the US-Mexico border: Many fewer people are actually trying to cross into the US illegally now than in the past. Those are the findings of a new study released as part of the Brookings Institution's Papers on Economic Activity conference and authored by University of California at San Diego economists Gordon Hanson, Chen Liu, and Craig McIntosh. "From the rhetoric during and since the 2016 presidential election, one would think that the United States continues to experience a surge of low-skilled immigration," the authors wrote. "Although in previous decades such labor inflows certainly occurred, since the Great Recession U.S. borders have become a far less active place when it comes to the net arrival of foreign labor." Economists widely agree that immigration is beneficial to growth and that Trumps anti foreigner, antitrade stances will most likely be detrimental to the very workers he promised to help during the campaign. But beyond this, the Brookings paper suggests the border-wall idea is counterproductive on its face. The statistics are striking. From 1990 to 2007, the paper said, "the number of working-age immigrants with 12 or fewer years of schooling more than doubled, rising from 8.5 million to 17.8 million individuals." The Great Recession, however, which made US economic prospects look a lot dimmer as 9 million jobs quickly evaporated, helped dent the attractiveness of the US as a destination for workers. Moreover, Trump's focus on Mexico is misguided, the authors suggest, and speaks more to xenophobic populism than any fundamental economic concern. "The undocumented population declined in absolute terms between 2007 and 2014, falling on net by an annual average of 160,000 individuals, while the overall population of low-skilled immigrants of working age remained stable," the authors wrote. Story continues "Because U.S. neighbors to the south are today experiencing much slower labor-supply growth, the future immigration of young low-skilled labor looks set to decline rapidly, whether or not more-draconian policies to control U.S. immigration are implemented." Put another way, if theyre not coming, why build it? NOW WATCH: Here's what those white marks on your nails say about your health More From Business Insider BBC, Thursday, March 23, 2017 9:44 AM Evaldas Rimasauskas, an alleged phishing artist has been arrested in Lithuania and charged with tricking two US technology firms into wiring him $100m (80.3m) through an email phishing scam, BBC reports. The companies were not named but were described as US-based multinationals, with one operating in social media, BBC continued. Read the whole story at BBC by Philip Rosenstein , March 23, 2017 As Washington, D.C. buzzes with the impending vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA), last-minute ads and incentive-based 2018 reelection funds are trying to influence the outcome. The American Action Network, which counts allies of Republican House leadership among its organizers, is targeting the conservative House Freedom Caucus on conservative talk radio with 60-second ads. The House Freedom Caucus has been tepid about the new bill, arguing that it does not go far enough to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The Republicans plan provides more choices and lower costs, listeners of the ad are told. The American Health Care Act is a conservative plan to end Obamacare. President Trump is 100% behind these strong conservative reforms. President Trump himself makes a cameo at the tail end of the ad: This is going to be great for people. The ad is targeting 28 districts in Alabama, Arizona (Phoenix market), Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee (Nashville market), Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. advertisement advertisement In January, the American Action Network spent over $4 million on TV, digital and print supporting the repeal of Obamacare. Still, tensions are rising within the Republican Party. Conservative kingmakers the Koch brothers have set up a seven-digit fund through the Koch Network, promising to only fund the reelection campaigns of Republicans who vote no on the AHCA. Further, the Koch Networks Americans for Prosperity said it will immediately ramp up their paid digital efforts to thank Republican members of the House who vote against AHCA. The Paul Ryan arm of the Republican Party is bracing for attacks from the Democrats. Planned Parenthood said it would start a mailer campaign to constituents of Republican members who vote yes in districts carried by Hillary Clinton in 2016. Todays expected vote there is a chance the AHCA vote could be delayed is also spurring the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) into action. Its first ad of the 2017-2018 cycle, titled The Price, takes aim at the AHCA ending with the words: What will the Republican health care bill cost you? by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, March 23, 2017 The Senate on Thursday voted 50-48 to revoke sweeping broadband privacy rules passed last year by the Federal Communications Commission. The House has not yet voted on a companion bill, but could do so as early as next week. If ultimately approved by the House and signed by President Donald Trump, the Republican-backed resolution of disapproval will also prohibit from the FCC from replacing the rules with similar regulations in the future. The FCC's broadband privacy rules, passed 3-2 last October, imposed a host of new requirements on Internet service providers. Among others, the regulations require carriers to obtain opt-in consent before drawing on subscribers' Web-surfing data and app usage history for ad targeting. The ad industry and broadband carriers oppose that requirement, as does FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Critics argue that the opt-in consent mandate subjects carriers to tougher standards than search engines, social networking services and other Web companies. advertisement advertisement The Federal Trade Commission -- which lacks jurisdiction over broadband providers and other common carriers -- broadly recommends that Web companies allow people to opt out of the collection and sharing of non-sensitive data. The FTC also suggests that companies should obtain opt-in consent before sharing a narrow category of "sensitive" data -- including health information and precise location data. But privacy advocates say broadband carriers aren't comparable to search engines, ad networks or other online companies -- largely because broadband carriers can glean detailed knowledge about subscribers' online activity by examining all unencrypted traffic that passes through their networks. The FCC's privacy rules grew out of the net neutrality rules, which reclassified broadband as a "telecommunications" service. With that shift, broadband providers became obligated to protect users' privacy, but the FCC did not issue detailed regulations until last October. The net neutrality rules still require ISPs to protect consumers' privacy. But without regulations from the FCC, it's not clear what that requirement will mean in practice. Despite worldwide progress since the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) came into effect in 2005, not all key demand-reduction measures have been fully implemented at the same pace, but doing so could reduce tobacco use even further. The global tobacco control treaty has increased the adoption of tobacco reduction measures around the world, which has led to a 2.5% reduction in global smoking rates, according to a study published in The Lancet Public Health. The treaty obligates the 180 countries committed to it to implement strong evidence-based policies, including five key measures: high tobacco taxes, smoke-free public spaces, warning labels, comprehensive advertising bans, and support for stop smoking services.1 The study - conducted by a team of researchers from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, based at the University of Waterloo in Canada and the World Health Organization in Geneva - noted that although progress in combatting the global tobacco epidemic has been substantial, this progress has fallen short of the pace of global tobacco control action called for by the treaty. One of the authors, Dr Geoffrey Fong, from the University of Waterloo, Canada, said: "The study provides strong evidence that the FCTC has led to a significant increase in the implementation of tobacco control measures. Further, the study shows that the objectives of the WHO-FCTC in reducing tobacco use can be met through adoption of key demand-reduction measures at their highest level and strong implementation of these measures. The WHO-FCTC has been a success in reducing tobacco use in countries that engaged in strong implementation and saw their smoking rates decline - at a level much greater than those countries that did not." 2 The study analysed WHO data from 126 countries (116 parties and 10 non-parties), tracking strong implementation of the five key demand-reduction measures from 2007 to 2014, and examining the association between the number of measures fully implemented and country's smoking rates from 2005 to 2015. Those countries fully implementing more of these measures experienced significantly greater reductions in smoking rates. Overall, each additional measure implemented at the highest level was associated with a reduction in smoking rates of 1.57 percentage points, which corresponds to 7.1% fewer smokers in 2015, relative to the number of smokers in 2005. On average, smoking rates across the 126 countries went down from 24.7% in 2005 to 22.2% in 2015 - a reduction of 2.5%. However, the trends varied across countries, with smoking rates decreasing in 90 countries, increasing in 24 and remaining the same in 12 countries. For example, from 2007 to 2014 countries in Northern Europe and South America implemented a significant number of key demand-reduction policies and experienced large reductions in smoking prevalence (7.1% and 6.8%, respectively) between 2005 and 2015. Meanwhile, countries in the African region introduced very few of these policies and experienced increases in smoking rates (3.4% in Western Africa, 12.6% in Middle Africa and 4.6% in Northern Africa). The most frequently implemented measure by 2014 was smoke-free public places (28%, 35 of 126 countries implemented the measure, 28 of which did so between 2007 and 2014), which reduce smoking-related disease and death by protecting people from second-hand smoke and also encourage smokers to quit. The least frequently implemented measure was advertising bans (13% of countries, 16 of 126, 12 of which did so between 2007 and 2014), which have been shown to reduce the number of people starting smoking, especially among young people. By 2014, support for stop smoking services had been adopted by 16% of countries (20 of 126) and a quarter (25.4%, 32 of 126) had implemented health warnings on cigarette packaging. A fifth of countries (22.2%, 28 of 126) had implemented high taxation on tobacco - the most effective measure for reducing smoking, especially in low- and middle-income countries where smokers are more price-sensitive. Since the treaty came into force, a number of countries have made dramatic advances in their efforts to reduce tobacco use, including some low- and middle-income countries. Panama introduced a complete smoke-free policy and a complete ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship in 2008, and established a strong quit assistance program in 2009. Nepal introduced a complete smoking ban and a complete tobacco marketing ban. More recently, it also introduced the world's largest pack warnings, taking up 90% of the front and back of the pack, with strong graphic images of the harms caused by cigarettes. "While the progress of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has been remarkable, there are still far too many countries where domestication of the treaty and its implementation has fallen short," said Dr Fong. "One important cause of this is the tobacco industry's influence, particularly in low- and middle-income countries."2 According to WHO, tobacco use causes nearly six million deaths a year globally. It also poses a huge burden on the global economy through healthcare and lost productivity costs of more than US$1 trillion each year. The study was not a fully global analysis as only 65% of countries could provide the data needed for the study, but it did include countries from all income classification levels, WHO regions and UN sub-regions. As the study is observational the lower smoking rates could be influenced by other factors. The researchers were unable to account for how well enforced the policies were, meaning their impact could be underestimated if taking into account countries where the measure was not actually implemented properly. In addition, as many countries implement tobacco control policies together or shortly after one another, it is difficult to distinguish which measures have the largest overall impact. "The data did not allow a detailed analysis of the impact of individual policies," said Dr Fong. "Thus, there is a need for other studies that are specifically designed to evaluate the impact of all the WHO-FCTC policies and not just the key demand-reduction measures. Such studies can provide guidance to countries about what policies may offer the greatest benefits, and can support the strong emphasis that the WHO-FCTC Conference of the Parties is placing on mobilizing efforts to accelerate and strength the implementation of the treaty."2 Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Kenneth E. Warner, University of Michigan School of Public Health, USA, said: "No study can do it all. The present undertaking is remarkably ambitious, examining, as it does, five distinct policy areas in well over 100 countries over a period spanning a decade. The authors deserve ample credit for reinforcing, with solid empirical evidence, the core message in the FCTC: tobacco control policy matters. The authors cite evidence that the FCTC has accelerated implementation of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship bans, smoke-free laws, and pack warning labels. Let us hope that this study increases adoption of all of the core evidence-based demand-reduction policy interventions, especially including raising taxes, the highly effective intervention that has lagged in terms of adoption." The study was funded by Health Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Cancer Society. It was conducted by scientists from the University of Waterloo, University of Buffalo, the World Health Organisation and the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research. All European Union Member States have made commitments towards reducing inequalities in access to health care and in health outcomes. But substantial differences in mortality rates persist in the paediatric renal replacement therapy population across Europe. This is the sad result of a brand new study published in The Lancet this week. The authors extracted and carefully analyzed patient data from the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology/European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ESPN/ERA-EDTA) Registry for 32 European countries. In summary, the analysis showed that public health expenditure was inversely associated with mortality risk and explained 67% of the variation in renal replacement therapy mortality rates between countries. Moreover, differences between countries in their ability to treat the youngest patients, who are typically the most complex and costly to treat, were an important driver for poor outcomes. "We hope that this study is a huge wake-up call for policy makers in Europe", explains Professor Kitty J. Jager, Managing Director of the ERA-EDTA Registry. Throughout Europe there are vast inequalities in access to renal care. Especially Eastern European countries remain burdened by stringent austerity measures and limited health-care budgets, which results in higher mortality rates. "In some countries children are still dying, because renal care does not meet the European standards. This is something we are not willing to accept any longer. Measures for improvement have to be taken!" But what measures would be promising? The study observed a positive trend between the number of paediatric nephrologists in a country and the time patients spent in nephrological care before starting renal replacement therapy. "This makes an early referral a key factor for a better survival of pediatric dialysis patients und underlines the value of specialist care as it has already been shown for adult patients", comments Professor Dr Andrzej Wiecek, president of the ERA-EDTA. "Nephrology is a key subspecialty of internal medicine which has to be strengthened within the healthcare systems, if we want to decrease patient mortality." Day of the week did not affect the survival chances of people undergoing emergency surgery, research has found. The findings challenge the results of previous studies, which had suggested that those who undergo elective surgery at the end of the week are at a greater risk of dying. Researchers looked at more than 50,000 emergency surgery cases in Scotland over a three-year period between 2005 and 2007. They tracked patients' outcomes until 2012 and found that after adjustment for other risk factors, the day a patient received surgery had no effect on their short or long-term survival. Patients who were admitted over a weekend were more likely to be operated on sooner, the study found. More than a third of all surgical procedures in the UK are classified as emergencies. Emergency patients are eight times more likely to die than those who elect to have surgery as they are more likely to experience complications. Previous research has pointed to a 'weekend effect' in which patients who undergo elective surgery on Saturdays or Sundays were more likely to die than those operated on during the week. Commentators had suggested that restricted access to expertise and resources at the weekend - particularly senior staff - were key factors. The new study found no evidence to link day of the week to an increased risk of death for those undergoing emergency operations. Researchers say their study involved a smaller number of cases than previous research but that theirs is the first to report analysis of a complete national dataset. The study, published in the British Journal of Surgery, was funded by the Chief Scientist's Office of Scotland. Dr Michael Gillies, a Consultant and Associate Medical Director who works in the University of Edinburgh's Department of Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, said: "Emergency surgery is associated with far greater risks than elective surgery so it is reassuring to find that patients in Scotland are receiving the same high standards of care throughout the week." OTTAWA March 22, 2017 Pamela Fralick Canada Canada Canada's Canada Canada's /CNW/ - Innovative Medicines Canada Presidentissued the following statement in response to the tabling of the federal budget:"Innovative Medicines Canada is pleased to see this government's commitment to increasing innovation in. We are also particularly pleased to note that the health/bio-sciences sector has been recognized as an industry that provides immense value to Canadians through jobs, growth and economic impact.is a nation of innovators. Our members understand the opportunity that innovation presents every day, across the country. We want to ensure that the health/bio-sciences sector can continue to grow, providing high-quality jobs to Canadians, attracting investment in research and development and finding the next generation of medicines."Our industry has much to offer ininnovation economy and we look forward to partnering with the government through their various initiatives in health and innovation, including superclusters and the Innovation Canada Economic Strategy Tables program."Innovative Medicines Canada is committed to working with the Government ofto further the innovation agenda for the benefit of all Canadians."Innovative Medicines Canada is the national voice ofinnovative pharmaceutical industry. We advocate for policies that enable the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative medicines and vaccines that improve the lives of all Canadians. We support our members' commitment to being valued partners in the Canadian healthcare system.SOURCE Innovative Medicines Canada Advertisement "Those chloride ions essentially hold water outside the cells," Kesimer said. "We need that water there. When that flow of chloride is reduced, the airway surfaces become dehydrated."In people with CF, this lack of water is accompanied by a thickening and increased stickiness of the mucus layer.People suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF) get frequent lung infections because their airway mucus is too thick and sticky. The sticky mucus, which is composed of many kinds of proteins called mucins, does not move like it should.It clogs the lungs and makes it easy for bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens to keep growing and causing chronic infection. This can eventually lead to lung damage and shortened lifespan.In the new study, the research team found that in cystic fibrosis patients, proteins called mucin, that gives mucus its gel-like consistency, fail to unfold normally in the airways thus making the mucus more thick and sticky.Under ordinary circumstances, the mucin proteins are secreted from cells in a tightly packed form and they unfold rapidly into elongated, linear molecules, giving mucus the consistency it needs to clear airway surfaces and protect the lungs."In healthy people - after airway surface cells secrete mucins - the proteins unfold from a compact form to a more open, linear form," said senior author Mehmet Kesimer, PhD, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and member of the UNC Marsico Lung Institute. "And we found that this unfolding process is defective in CF airway epithelia."Mucin proteins, particularly the dominant one called MUC5B, in healthy epithelial cells or human saliva, unfold into more open, linear forms within a few minutes to a few hours of being secreted.But in CF, MUCB5 usually remained in a compact form. Electron microscopy revealed an abnormally dense structure for the MUCB5 secreted by CF cells.In the next step, researchers blocked the flow of chloride ions from the cells. This reduces the watery layer lining the airway surface which resulted in mucin proteins persisting in their compact form.The dehydration of airway surface then triggered increased concentration of MUCB5.This work suggests that depletion of the normal water layer on airway surfaces is the principal reason why MUCB5 fails to unfold normally. There is more evidence that the key to the mucins is the watery layer upon which the mucus glides.Kesimer said, "We did experiments with saliva, primary human cells, and even the tracheas of pigs, and they all indicated that dehydration is the critical factor."Clinical trials already have found evidence that inhaled hypertonic saline, sterile salty water, which helps restore a normal ionic balance to the airway and rehydrate it, helps in thinning the mucus and slows the decline of lung function.Researchers are also targeting chemical bonds within mucin proteins. This approach may break up the abnormally large and dense forms of MUCB5 into smaller fragments to benefit CF patients.The findings suggest that therapies to rehydrate the airway lining might restore normal MUCB5 function and thin out the mucus sufficiently to provide a benefit for CF patients.The mechanism by which mucus becomes abnormal in CF airways was explained by researchers from the UNC School of Medicine and their findings are published inSource: Medindia By Ece Toksabay and Nick Tattersall ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey will review all political and administrative ties with the European Union after an April referendum, including a deal to curb illegal migration, but will maintain economic relations with the bloc, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday. In an interview with broadcaster CNN Turk, Erdogan said everything "from A to Z" in Turkey's relations with Europe would be reviewed after the April 16 referendum on constitutional changes that would extend his powers. He also said he would meet "face to face" with the new U.S. administration in May. The relationship between Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump, both populist leaders, will be closely watched, with ties between the NATO allies deeply strained. Turkey has been incensed by U.S. support for a Kurdish militia in Syria it sees as a terrorist group, and by the continued presence in the United States of Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish cleric Ankara blames for a failed coup last July and wants extradited. Turkey's relations with the European Union have meanwhile become particularly acrimonious after Germany and the Netherlands cancelled planned campaign rallies on their territory by Turkish officials seeking to drum up support for a "yes" vote in the April referendum. Both cited security concerns for their decision, but Erdogan has accused them of using "Nazi methods" and trampling on free speech. He made no apology on Thursday for the comparison. "You get disturbed when we say it is fascism, it's Nazism, but what you are doing fits in that definition," he said. Erdogan said European countries were allowing events for the "no" campaign while banning Turkish officials from rallying his supporters. He accused Germany of supporting terrorism and said he had no plans to visit the country before the referendum, contrary to some recent media reports. The European Commission earlier said it had summoned the Turkish ambassador to explain comments by Erdogan that Europeans would not be able to "walk safely on the streets" if they kept up their current attitude towards Turkey. Despite the row, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said during a trip to Athens on Thursday that communication channels between the EU and Turkey must remain open. The row has placed Europe in an awkward position with Ankara, which has seen its decades-old bid to join the bloc move at snail's pace due to concerns over its human rights record, ethnically-split Cyprus, and reluctance among some European countries to admit a largely Muslim nation. Turkey is an integral part of a deal to keep hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants fleeing the Middle East and beyond from moving to Europe, in return for 3 billion euros ($3.23 billion) in EU financial aid to Ankara. Erdogan also said a U.S. and British ban on devices bigger than a cellphone in the cabin on flights from several countries including Turkey had damaged mutual confidence and said he hoped the mistake would be corrected soon. Turkish Airlines , which is 49 percent state-owned, could be particularly hit by the restrictions. More than half of its international passengers are transit customers who could instead travel through Europe or other hubs. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) PARIS, March 23 (Reuters) - French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will announce his support for centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron later on Thursday, regional newspaper Ouest-France reported. The paper said Le Drian, a member of the current Socialist government, would explain his decision at a meeting of the regional Brittany assembly later in the day. Le Drian is considered as one of the more popular members of President Francois Hollande's cabinet and a respected voice in security matters and foreign affairs, and his support for the 39-year old former economy minister would give Macron more weight in those particular areas. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Michel Rose) A sign is displayed in the reception of Goldman Sachs in Sydney, Australia, May 18, 2016. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo By Olivia Oran and Ross Kerber NEW YORK/BOSTON (Reuters) - For the first time in more than a decade, Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) has managed to avoid any proxy battles with activist shareholders by convincing investors and securities regulators that voting on several proposed corporate policy changes were unnecessary. The Wall Street bank this year faced shareholder proposals on topics ranging from its corporate structure to its financial ties to a controversial oil pipeline, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The issues would have been up for a vote at Goldman's annual meeting in April. But in at least two cases, shareholders withdrew proposals after Goldman made concessions; in another three, the SEC sided with the bank's view that the proposals were not worth including. A Goldman spokeswoman and SEC spokesman both declined to comment. The last time the bank had a proxy free of shareholder proposals was in 2006, which covered the prior year, said proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services. While Goldman may still face questions about its executive pay, it stands out among big U.S. banks that have so far filed proxies, all of which are facing battles at their upcoming annual meetings. "It's unusual for a large company, particularly large financial institutions that attract public attention, to have no shareholders proposals on their proxy," said Yaron Nili, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin who focuses on corporate governance. For many years, management teams of big banks dismissed activist shareholders as nuisances and their issues as irrelevant. But after the 2008 financial crisis, their annual meetings and investor gatherings became circus-like events: Protesters shouted down executives over bailouts, decried societal failures and, in one case, a topless female began chanting on stage in front of a conference room. In 2010, Goldman faced seven proposals - its biggest number ever - addressing topics like climate change and executive compensation, according to ISS. Story continues Goldman management began making a greater effort to engage with small investors, looking to restore the bank's reputation after critics cast it as the greediest on Wall Street. "As the financial crisis gets further in the mirror, Goldman Sachs seems to be less in the spotlight," said Patrick McGurn, special counsel for ISS. Last year the bank held 150 meetings focused on corporate governance with 77 shareholders in total, according to its proxy. In interviews, some investor activists said Goldman deserves credit. "Their willingness to engage is meaningful," said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, a California nonprofit that withdrew a resolution it had filed calling for Goldman to report on its financial involvement in a contentious Dakota pipeline project. In return, Goldman agreed to review policies on human rights and other issues. In other cases, Goldman won permission from regulators to leave measures off its proxy like a union-backed proposal that would have barred certain equity awards for executives leaving to enter government service. Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Wells Fargo are each facing at least four proposals. JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) have not yet filed their proxies, though SEC filings indicate that they successfully fought off several. The toughest job for Goldman this year may be to win shareholder backing for its executive pay, which won support from just 66 percent of votes cast last year. Support for executive pay among Russell 3000 companies averaged 91 percent last year, according to consulting firm Semler Brossy. After meeting with shareholders, Goldman made changes such as cutting a long-term award for Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein amid concerns it was too complex. The board awarded Blankfein, who is also chairman, $20.2 million for his work last year. (Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York and Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Bernard Orr) UPPER THUMB If youve got a rundown cabin that could use a major facelift, you could be famous. With the recent success of the Maine Cabin Masters television program, Dorsey Pictures is looking for its next soon-to-be-stars of a cabin-renovation space. And it could be you. Whitney Hayes, development coordinator for Dorsey Pictures, recently contacted the Tribune about filming in various states, including Michigan. The network is seeking teams of workers who remodel cabins in remote areas while keeping a little bit of the backwoods history in the process. Maine Cabin Masters follows builder Chase Morrill and his team who save and transform abandoned cabins buried deep in the remote woods of Maine. From historic cottages nearly 100 years old, to camp cabins in need of some major tender, love and care, the group provides these properties with a much-needed facelift. Now, theyre looking for new locations to film outside of Maine and the Thumb could be on the list. From discovering the forgotten and fallen cabins to tracking down the owners living or deceased the cameras will follow the entire reclaim process. If you and your build team specialize in reclaim renovation, contact Whitney Hayes at whayes@dorseytv.com. Casting for builders and contractors has already begun. Hayes could not be reached on Wednesday for further details. The program will appear on the DIY network. HARBOR BEACH The Harbor Beach Community Hospital Foundation is hosting its European Tower Pheasant Hunt as its next fundraising event. This event will be on Saturday, April 1, at the Rooster Ranch on Germania Road near Ubly, starting at 7:30 a.m. with registration and breakfast at 8:30 a.m. There will be a gun raffle setup, practice clay pigeons, tower hunt, lunch and a walk up pheasant hunt with guides and dogs. The birds are cleaned by the ranch and distributed to the hunters. There will also be a gun raffle sponsored by Randys Hunting Center and a 50/50. Vange Wolschleger made a pheasant quilt that will go home to some lucky winner. You can purchase tickets at the hospital admitting office, and you do not need to be present to win. Helomics-SCOPE USA Partnership Provides Pharmaceutical and Diagnostic Companies with a Single Partner Capable of Providing a Complete Range of Pre-Clinical and Clinical Trial Services PITTSBURGH, PA / ACCESSWIRE / March 23, 2017 / Helomics Corporation (Helomics), a privately-held, healthcare company providing personalized medicine solutions for clients in the pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and biotechnology industries, and SCOPE International USA, Inc. (SCOPE USA), the North American office of an independent, full-service, contract research organization offering a complete range of clinical development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries, today announced the completion of a strategic agreement to co-market products and services. Under the terms of the agreement, Helomics and SCOPE USA will collaborate to identify, develop, and facilitate new business opportunities with potential partners in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, clinical diagnostics, medical device, and clinical research industries. Alethea Wieland, President and Managing Director of North American Operations for SCOPE USA said, "We are very pleased to be partnering with Helomics, a recognized leader in oncology for personalized medicine diagnostic assay development and commercialization. This critical partnership with Helomics will augment and complement our U. S. and international business services in the ever-increasing complex fields of oncology and personalized medicine." "We are looking forward to collaborating with SCOPE USA in identifying new business initiatives that will benefit both organizations," stated Gerald J. Vardzel Jr., President and CEO of Helomics. "SCOPE's global presence combined with our strong clinical diagnostics presence in North America will yield synergistic commercial opportunities for us and value for our clients." Donald L. Very, Jr., PhD, Vice President of Research and Commercial Development at Helomics commented, "SCOPE International is a leading provider of comprehensive clinical trial design and management services. Their expertise, products, and services are a unique complement to ours and together, we can provide a comprehensive set of preclinical and clinical trial services to our partner-clients in the pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and medical device industries." Story continues About Helomics Corporation Helomics is an integrated clinical contract research organization whose mission is to improve patient care by partnering with pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and academic organizations to bring innovative clinical products and technologies to the marketplace. Helomics offers advanced clinical laboratory diagnostic tests as well as scientific and non-scientific product enhancement services to provide a customized solution to our client's specific product development needs. Helomics is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the company maintains state-of-the-art, CLIA-certified, clinical and research laboratories. For more information please visit: www.helomics.com. About SCOPE International USA, Inc. SCOPE International USA, Inc., located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the North American office of a privately held, independent, full-service contract research organization offering a complete range of clinical development and consulting services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. With 17 offices in Western and Eastern Europe, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, and the United States, SCOPE's dedicated staff cover more than 30 countries. For more information please visit: www.scope-international.com. Safe Harbor Statement Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A Of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements that include the words "believes," "expects", "anticipates" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For more information regarding Helomics Corporation, please contact: Michelle Murgia, Marketing Communications and Design Helomics Corporation mmurgia@helomics.com 412-432-1363 For more information regarding SCOPE International USA, Inc., please contact: Alethea Wieland, President and Managing Director (North American Operations) SCOPE International USA, Inc. awieland@scope-international.com 724-272-1245 SOURCE: Helomics Corporation Camp Lejeune Town Halls Aim to Help Those Exposed to Toxic Water. Heres How You Can Go. Retired Marine Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger made it his mission to tell the world that if they lived or served on Camp Lejeune... NATO's supreme commander called Thursday for an escalated military buildup in Europe to deter Russia as senators from both sides of the aisle questioned whether President Donald Trump would confront or cooperate with President Vladimir Putin. "His intent is to fracture NATO," Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti said of Putin. NATO needs more troops, ships, planes and munitions -- including an aircraft carrier battle group -- to shore up allies against Russia, he said, adding he also needs strong support from the State Department. "I rely heavily on our relationships with the other agencies in our government," Scaparrotti, who doubles as NATO supreme commander and head of U.S. European Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "That's the way we traditionally operate." Trump's budget outline, released last week, proposes a 28 percent cut to the State Department in part to pay for a $54 billion increase in military spending. Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and the SASC chairman, asked, "It wouldn't help if we slashed spending for the State Department?" Scaparrotti replied, "No, sir." McCain, who has repeatedly called Putin a "thug and a murderer," also renewed his charges that Putin is behind the intimidation, jailing and murder of dissidents. He pointed to reports from Moscow on Wednesday that Nikolai Gorokhov, the lawyer for the family of slain dissident and whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, had been severely injured when he was pushed or fell from his apartment building window. "This kinda stuff you can't make up," he said. McCain later noted that in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, dissident and former Russian parliamentarian Denis Voronenkov had been gunned down on the street Thursday. "This horrific crime marks the continuation of a campaign of KGB-style brutality designed to intimidate anyone who dares to oppose the tyranny of Vladimir Putin," he said. Scaparrotti said, "We have to, both as the U.S. and also as allies, come together and make a more aggressive confrontation of Russia, particularly in this grey area" where Russia uses hacking and "fake news" in attempts to influence Western elections. Democrats on the panel questioned whether Trump would ease sanctions on Russia in line with his campaign rhetoric, in which he expressed admiration for Putin. "I think we must retain the sanctions," Scaparrotti said. "If we want to send the right signal to Russia," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, "a big piece of it is having a commander-in-chief that will say the right things to Russia." She told Scaparrotti, "Until we have a commander-in-chief that is willing to speak out against this thug and his behavior, I don't know that all the great work that you and your command can do is ever going to move the needle enough." Scaparrotti echoed other field commanders in supporting the supply of defensive weaponry to Ukraine, including anti-tank weapons, reconnaissance drones and electronic warfare capabilities to counter Russia's drones. Ukraine "is in a very tough fight" against Moscow-backed separatists in the eastern Donbass area in a three-year-old conflict that has killed 10,000, Scaparrotti said. He also said that the Obama administration's strategy of rebalancing forces to the Asia-Pacific region -- the so-called "Pacific pivot" -- had shortchanged the buildup of forces in Europe to deter Russia. In his prepared remarks for the hearing, Scaparrotti said, "The strategic re-balance to Asia and the Pacific, combined with budget limitations in the Budget Control Act of 2011, have contributed to substantial posture reductions across our land and air domains. "For example, between 2010 and 2013, two fighter squadrons and a two-star numbered air force headquarters were inactivated, along with associated critical enablers and staff personnel," he said. "In addition, the last two heavy Brigade Combat Teams (BCT), a two-star division headquarters, and a three-star corps headquarters were removed from Europe, leaving only one Stryker and one airborne brigade." The U.S. and its allies have since begun to rotate troops and armor to Poland and the Baltic states, but "without fully resourced, heel-to-toe rotational forces, the ground force permanently assigned to EuCom is inadequate to meet the combatant command's directed mission to deter Russia from further aggression," Scaparrotti said. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. The latest attack in London underlines the growing threat in Europe from individuals inspired or directed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, NATO's commander said Thursday. "It underscores again the dynamic environment in Europe," Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti said of the attack that began on Westminster Bridge near Parliament. "Europe is challenged by both the flow of terrorists returning to Europe from Syria and other places" and "they're challenged by an internal threat of those inspired by ISIS or directed by ISIS." The self-indoctrinated terrorist was one "of a number of threat streams that we have of this type within Europe," said Scaparrotti, who doubles as NATO supreme commander and head of U.S. European Command. The overall ISIS terror threat is "probably higher in Europe than any other part of the globe with the exception of the places that we're physically fighting them, like Syria and Afghanistan and Iraq." Scaparrotti said he is particularly concerned by the criminal gangs that help smuggle refugees into Europe. The gangs also "are more than willing to move equipment, personnel, weapons and people" to abet ISIS plots. Scaparrotti spoke at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing a day after British-born, 52-year-old Khalid Masood is accused of driving a vehicle into crowds on Westminster Bridge, killing two people, and then stabbing a police officer to death on the grounds of Parliament. At least 40 people were injured in the attack, British authorities said. Masood was reportedly shot to death by security officers. One of those killed on the bridge was tentatively identified as U.S. citizen Kurt Cochran of Utah. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack and called Masood a "soldier" in its ranks, but the claim could not immediately be verified. In raids around Britain, at least eight people have been taken into custody on suspicion of possible involvement in the attack. Before reports of the London attack circulated Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson presided at a meeting of 68 nations in the anti-ISIS coalition to press for closer coordination in defeating ISIS in the Mideast and reducing the spread of the terror threat. "I recognize there are many pressing challenges in the Middle East, but defeating ISIS is the United States' number one goal in the region," he said. "As we've said before, when everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. We must continue to keep our focus on the most urgent matter at hand." Tillerson also cautioned against a spillover of the ISIS threat to other areas once the group is defeated in the Mideast. "As we stabilize areas encompassing ISIS' phony physical caliphate in Iraq and Syria, we also must prevent their seeds of hatred from taking root elsewhere," he said. "A digital caliphate must not flourish in the place of a physical one." -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. If you think about it, there is not a better time to build a new morning fitness habit than right now with the end of... sHEALY Wellness, organizer of the International Holistic Medicine Summit, announced the event will be held at Unity Village, Kansas City, MO on June 12th - 15th. Attendees will receive thirty six continuing education or up to nine AMA PRA Category 1 Credits for attendance FAIR GROVE, MO / ACCESSWIRE / March 23, 2017 / Join sHEALy Wellness For the Intl Holistic Summit In Kansas City, MO June 12th 15th. Early Bird Pricing till April 8th! Doctors, Nurses, Holistic Practitioners looking for the latest information on Integrating The MULTIFACETED Holistic Medicine Approach can register to attend International Holistic Medicine Summit scheduled for June 12th 15th 2017. Dr. C Norman Shealy and Dr. Sergey Sorin from sHEALy Wellness invite all to Unity Village, conveniently located in Kansas City, Missouri to learn from some of Holistic Medicine's greatest minds. Enjoy four full days of seminars and workshops dedicated to all facets of Holistic Medicine. Attendees will receive thirty six continuing education credits (CEU's) or up to nine AMA PRA Category 1 credits for seminar attendance. The International Holistic Medicine Summit for 2017 will cover key topics from world renowned doctors and holistic practitioners such as: Caroline Myss Intuition as the Foundation for Holism, David Brownstein, M.D. Holistic Medicine for the 21st Century: What Works and What Doesn't Work, C Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D. Why Holistic Medicine? The Foundations for Healthy Longevity, Sergey Sorin, M.D. Sound as an Integral Part of Holism, Melinda H. Connor, Ph.D. Full-Spectrum Energy Techniques that Support Physical Tissue Repair, Claude Swanson, Ph.D. Torsion and the Life Force in Energy Medicine, Shanhong Lu, M.D. The "Chronically Sick American" and How to Restore Yourself in 90 Days, Brent W. Davis, M.D. Quantum Science of Mind/Body transformation, Salaheldin Halasa, M.D. Nitromedicine: Developing Protocols To Enhance Stem Cells and Manage Chronic Disease. More speakers and topics to be announced. Please check event website for full details. Story continues When asked about the reasons behind creating this event, the hosts of the event, Dr. C Norman Shealy & Dr. Sergey Sorin said: "Over the past 100 years American Medicine has distanced itself from natural practices to PharmacoMafia controlled and InsuranceMafia manipulated so called "Healthcare." The result is opioid addiction, drug complications killing over 106,000 people every year, remarkably expensive and ineffective approaches such has coronary bypass surgery and chemotherapy. The only answer is a truly Holistic approach which includes comprehensive integration of body, mind, emotional and spiritual CARE." The best examples of Holistic Medicine can be experienced June 12-15, 2017 at the International Holistic Medicine Summit at Unity Village, Missouri, including the opening keynote by five time New York Times Best Seller, Caroline Myss. For more information and to save on admission with early bird registration sign up before April 8th at: https://sHEALYWellness.com Contact Info: Name: Norm Shealy Email: info@shealywellness.com Organization: sHEALy Wellness Address: 5607 S 222nd Rd, Fair Grove, Missouri 65648, United States For more information, please visit https://shealywellness.com/ SOURCE: sHEALy Wellness Aguia Resources Limited: Infill-Bohrprogramm auf Tres Estradas kiefert weiterhin sehr ermutigende Ergebnisse INFILL-BOHRPROGRAMM AUF TRES ESTRADAS LIEFERT WEITERHIN SEHR ERMUTIGENDE ERGEBNISSE Wichtige Ergebnisse: Bohrungen demonstrieren weiterhin die homogene Art und Kontinuitat der Vererzung sowohl lateral als auch zur Tiefe. Infill-Bohrkampagne auf 14.000 Bohrmeter erweitert letzte 1.300m werden bis Ende April niedergebracht. In der Tiefe sind viele Abschnitte machtiger als im fruheren Ressourcenmodell erwartet wurde. o TED-16-091 durchteufte 90,10m mit 3,49% P2O5 ab 150,00m Tiefe. o TED-16-094 durchteufte 61,84m mit 4,30% P2O5 ab 218,00m Tiefe. o TED-16-098 durchteufte 26,73m mit 3,95% P2O5 ab 86,00m Tiefe. o TED-16-104 durchteufte 64,40m mit 4,27% P2O5 ab 237,00m Tiefe. Weitere Entdeckungen einer hochgradigen oberflachennahen oxidierten Vererzung: o TER-17-202 durchteufte 30,00m mit 13,67% P2O5 ab Oberflache einschlielich 8,00m mit 18,85% P2O5. o TER-17-203 durchteufte 24,00m mit 16,02% P2O5 ab Oberflache einschlielich 10,00m mit 20,03% P2O5. Erste Ergebnisse der Arbeiten in Pilotanlage der Eriez Flotation Division werden in Kurze erwartet. Vergleichsstudie fur bankfahige Machbarkeitsstudie nahert sich dem Abschluss. Bankfahige Machbarkeitsstudie macht gute Fortschritte, Vergleichsstudie und erweitertes Bohrprogramm werden laut Erwartungen das Wert-Angebot weiter erhohen. Das brasilianische Unternehmen mit Fokus auf die Entwicklung von Phosphatlagerstatten Aguia Resources Limited (ASX: AGR) (Aguia oder das Unternehmen http://www.commodity-tv.net/c/mid,36622,VRIC_2017/?v=297284 ) berichtet den Aktionaren uber den neuesten Stand des Infill-Bohrprogramms auf ihrem Vorzeige-Phosphatprojekt Tres Estradas im Suden Brasiliens. Das Programm liefert weiterhin sehr ermutigende Ergebnisse, die die Homogenitat und Kontinuitat der Lagerstatte demonstrieren. Vier Kernbohrgerate sind weiterhin vor Ort im Einsatz. Das Ruckspulbohrprogramm wurde jetzt abgeschlossen. Bis dato wurden Bohrungen mit einer Gesamtlange von 12.680m niedergebracht, davon entfallen 8.465m auf Kernbohrungen und 4.215m auf Ruckspulbohrungen. Nach Identifizierung einer neuen Vererzungszone entlang der Sudgrenze der Lagerstatte entschied sich das Management zur Erweiterung des Bohrprogramms um 1.500 bis 2.000m (siehe Pressemitteilung vom 16. Februar 2017). Die Infill-Bohrungen entlang dieser Zone werden fortgesetzt und als Ergebnis der sehr positiven Ergebnisse wird das Programm jetzt insgesamt ungefahr 14.000 Bohrmeter umfassen, eine Zunahme um ungefahr 40% gegenuber dem ursprunglichen Plan. Der Abschluss der Bohrarbeiten wird bis Ende April erwartet. Die Ergebnisse werden in eine aktualisierte JORC konformen Ressourcenschatzung fur Tres Estradas aufgenommen, die nach Fertigstellung veroffentlicht wird. Die Identifizierung der neuen Karbonatit-Zone besitzt das Potenzial fur eine beachtliche Erhohung der Gesamtressource auf Tres Estradas und rechtfertigt die Erweiterung der Bohrarbeiten. Die Zielsetzung des Programms ist die Umwandlung der geschlussfolgerten Ressource in die Ressourcenkategorien erkundet und angezeigt. Dies wurde bis jetzt erzielt, da die Infill-Bohrungen weiterhin Gehalte und Machtigkeiten liefern, die mitunter besser sind als im ursprunglichen Modell fur Tres Estradas, wie Abbildungen 2 und 3 unten demonstrieren. Zum Beispiel, Bohrung TED-16-091 durchteufte 90,1m Karbonatit, was um 50,1m bzw. 125% uber den Erwartungen lag, und Bohrung TED-16-094 durchteufte 61,8m Karbonatit, was um 29,8m bzw. 93% uber den den Erwartungen lag. Die oxidierte Vererzung an der Oberflache lieferte hohe Gehalte wie zum Beispiel in TER-17-202. Diese Bohrung durchteufte 30,00m mit 13,67% P2O5 ab Oberflache einschlielich 8,00m mit 18,85% P2O5 und Bohrung TER-17-203 durchteufte 24,00m mit 16,02% P2O5 ab Oberflache einschlielich 10,00m mit 20,03% P2O5 (siehe Tabelle 1 unten Assay Results of the Drilling Campaign, Analysenergebnisse der Bohrkampagne). Millcreek Mining Group, die Firma, welche die bankfahige Machbarkeitsstudie (Bankable Feasibility Study, BFS) betreut, fuhrte vor Kurzem eine Projektbesichtigung als Teil ihrer Uberprufung des Ressourcenmodells durch und Aguia ist der Ansicht, dass die Berichte uber diese Projektbesichtigung positiv waren und die Arbeiten des Unternehmens alle Qualitatskontrollmanahmen erfullten und ubertrafen. Der technische Leiter Fernando Tallarico auerte sich dazu: Wir konnten mit den Ergebnissen nicht zufriedener sein, diese Lagerstatte erfullt weiterhin unsere Erwartungen, wie es das erweiterte Bohrprogramm demonstriert. Wir bestatigen nicht nur unser ursprungliches Ressourcenmodell, sondern identifizieren auch Aspekte der Lagerstatte, die unserer Ansicht nach das Potenzial zur Ressourcenerweiterung auf Tres Estradas besitzen. Die Folge ist eine Reduzierung des erwarteten Abraumverhaltnisses, was eventuell die Abbaukosten verbessern wurde angesichts der groeren Machtigkeit der Lagerstatte und dass die neue Zone innerhalb der fruheren Grenzen der Tagebaugrube an die Oberflache tritt. Justin Reid, Managing Director von Aguia, fugte hinzu: Der Umfang und der Wert von Tres Estradas nimmt mit jedem weiteren Bohrmeter zu und die Ergebnisse sind einfach herausragend. Unser technisches Team hat wahrend der letzten paar Monate hart gearbeitet, um diese Ergebnisse vorzulegen, und ich begluckwunsche es fur dieses Ergebnis. Da die Infill-Bohrungen jetzt abgeschlossen werden konzentrieren wir uns jetzt auf die Intensivierung des metallurgischen Programms in der Pilotanlage in Zusammenarbeit mit Eriez, den Abschluss der Vergleichsstudien, die laut Erwartungen wesentlich verbesserte Projektkosten demonstrieren werden, und avancieren die BFS bis zum Abschluss. Die Genehmigungsverfahren verlaufen planmaig. Wir haben signifikante Fortschritte auf unserer Entdeckung Eastern Limb gemacht und und kommen voran mit unseren Planen fur eine Notierungszulassung an der TSX Venture Exchange als Teil unserer laufenden Strategie der globalen Marktausdehnung. Fur weitere Informationen kontaktieren Sie bitte: Justin Reid, Managing Director E-Mail: jreid@aguiaresources.com.au Tel.: +1 416-216-5446 Catherine Stretch, Chief Commercial Officer E-Mail: cstretch@aguiaresources.com.au Tel.: +1 416-309-2695 Jan-Per Hole, Vice President Corporate Development Australia E-Mail: jph@aguiaresources.com.au Tel.: +61 (0) 414 899 732 In Europa: Swiss Resource Capital AG Jochen Staiger info@resource-capital.ch www.resource-capital.ch Herausgegeben durch Ben Jarvis, Six Degrees Investor Relations: +61 413 150 448 Folgen Sie Aguia auf Twitter: @ Aguia_Resources Uber Aguia: Aguia Resources Limited (Aguia) ist ein an der ASX notiertes Unternehmen, dessen Primarfokus die Exploration und Entwicklung von Phosphatprojekten in Brasilien ist. Aguia besitzt ein bewahrtes und sehr erfahrenes Team im Land mit Sitz in Belo Horizonte, Brasilien, mit Firmenburos in Sydney, Australien. Aguias Schlusselprojekte liegen in Rio Grande do Sul, ein erstklassiges Agrargebiet, das zu 100 % von Phosphatimporten abhangig ist. Die Phosphatlagerstatten Rio Grande besitzen eine hohe Qualitat und haben kostengunstige Produktionscharakteristiken. Ihre Lage ist ideal durch die Nahe zu Straen-, Eisenbahn- und Hafeninfrastruktur. Aguias erfahrenes Managementteam hat eine nachgewiesene Erfolgsgeschichte, hochwertige Bergbauprojekte in Brasilen zur Produktion zu bringen. Die Information in dieser Pressemitteilung, die sich auf Explorationsziele, die Exploration, Ergebnisse, Mineralressourcen oder Erzvorrate bezieht, basiert auf Informationen, die von Dr. Fernando Tallarico zusammengestellt wurde. Dr. Tallarico ist ein Mitglied der Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario. Er ist ein Vollzeitbeschaftigter der Unternehmens. Dr. Tallarico verfugt uber ausreichende Erfahrung in Bezug auf den hier behandelten Vererzungs- und Lagerstattentyp und die Tatigkeiten, die ihn jeweils als sachkundige Person im Sinne des Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves in der Fassung von 2012 ausweist. Dr. Tallarico ist damit einverstanden, dass die auf seinen Informationen basierenden Angaben in einer der Form und dem Zusammenhang angemessenen Weise in den Bericht aufgenommen werden. Die Ausgangssprache (in der Regel Englisch), in der der Originaltext veroffentlicht wird, ist die offizielle, autorisierte und rechtsgultige Version. Diese Ubersetzung wird zur besseren Verstandigung mitgeliefert. Die deutschsprachige Fassung kann gekurzt oder zusammengefasst sein. Es wird keine Verantwortung oder Haftung: fur den Inhalt, fur die Richtigkeit, der Angemessenheit oder der Genauigkeit dieser Ubersetzung ubernommen. Aus Sicht des Ubersetzers stellt die Meldung keine Kauf- oder Verkaufsempfehlung dar! Bitte beachten Sie die englische Originalmeldung auf www.sedar.com, www.sec.gov, www.asx.com.au/ oder auf der Firmenwebsite! http://www.irw-press.at/prcom/images/messages/2017/39285/22032017_DE_Drilling_Update_DPG.001.jpeg Figure 1: Geological map of the Tres Estradas carbonatite draped over aerial photograph, highlighting the status of the ongoing drilling program. http://www.irw-press.at/prcom/images/messages/2017/39285/22032017_DE_Drilling_Update_DPG.002.png Figure 2: Drilling section 950NE of the Tres Estradas Deposit, showing the recently discovered new mineralisation zone as outlined in red in the inset picture. http://www.irw-press.at/prcom/images/messages/2017/39285/22032017_DE_Drilling_Update_DPG.003.png Figure 3: Drilling section 750NE of the Tres Estradas Deposit, showing the thickening of the carbonatite at depth relative to the previous resource model highlighted in dashed red. Table 1 Assay Results of the Drilling Campaign (*Holes identifications initiated with TED are diamond holes and those initiated with TER are reverse circulation holes) Hole_IDFrom To (m)LengthP2O5% CaO% MgO% Fe2O3%SiO2% Al2O3% (m) (m) TED-16-150.00240.1090.10 3.49 29.80 9.22 10.72 12.03 2.29 091 TED-16-45.87 83.35 37.48 4.15 38.03 7.09 7.22 8.37 1.54 092 135.50162.5027.00 4.31 33.82 10.62 6.21 7.99 0.76 TED-16-1.40 5.00 3.60 5.12 7.66 4.76 16.98 44.15 7.52 093 57.75 99.00 41.25 3.53 33.91 8.35 7.76 12.60 2.01 TED-16-218.00279.8461.84 4.30 36.40 7.31 8.10 9.76 1.73 094 TED-16-1.55 3.45 1.90 7.31 11.80 7.75 15.70 35.55 9.36 095 173.00277.11104.113.50 31.76 8.76 7.80 12.21 2.65 TED-16-38.30 42.00 3.70 4.48 28.57 8.67 9.40 13.61 1.80 096 104.85147.0042.15 3.10 26.99 7.90 10.64 22.15 3.25 168.00255.0087.00 3.11 34.07 6.90 8.99 13.76 2.39 TED-16-64.18 82.16 17.98 4.02 35.06 8.59 6.72 7.82 1.19 097 TED-16-86.00 112.7326.73 3.95 35.31 7.72 7.51 10.32 2.09 098 TED-16-50.00 55.00 5.00 3.00 19.16 8.45 15.72 29.60 5.32 099 72.00 133.0061.00 4.03 36.60 6.85 8.27 9.83 1.68 TED-16-33.00 73.00 40.00 3.41 31.13 7.46 7.74 17.66 3.76 100 91.00 125.0034.00 3.95 20.23 8.95 11.36 31.00 6.62 Includ8.00 5.46 19.86 8.58 12.72 31.04 6.89 ing 169.25184.4015.15 4.15 30.40 13.40 7.25 11.33 1.07 TED-16-138.00158.4020.40 4.40 33.42 10.54 6.10 9.42 1.38 101 177.00222.0045.00 3.33 35.55 7.06 7.49 11.33 2.15 232.00242.3010.30 3.79 23.80 12.27 10.42 17.07 3.30 252.00253.871.87 3.29 31.37 12.70 7.13 6.99 1.38 TED-16-142.00166.8024.80 3.54 20.76 9.59 13.24 36.14 5.54 102 170.48225.1054.62 3.29 35.46 7.07 7.51 12.26 2.37 TED-16-0.00 17.78 17.78 3.93 13.37 7.71 12.93 40.53 5.64 103 17.78 66.85 49.07 3.74 29.68 14.38 8.80 6.31 0.38 267.90296.0028.10 3.20 38.77 6.35 5.95 8.58 1.61 TED-16-5.70 35.00 29.30 3.25 16.68 8.75 13.00 39.26 6.22 104 237.00301.4064.40 4.27 33.69 7.53 8.38 13.13 2.61 TED-16-129.64195.6265.98 4.26 34.42 8.09 9.15 9.19 1.54 105 Includ3.83 7.85 27.70 10.01 18.10 9.76 1.04 ing TED-17-144.91202.0057.09 3.75 30.40 9.36 7.55 15.60 2.92 106 TED-17-67.35 81.00 13.65 3.80 32.41 9.59 8.17 19.13 1.78 107 87.00 135.5348.53 3.85 33.94 8.31 9.15 8.73 1.49 TED-17-44.00 47.00 3.00 3.00 34.02 5.21 10.20 16.05 2.49 108 109.43284.60175.173.37 35.71 7.16 7.18 12.05 2.09 Includ27.91 4.25 37.91 7.75 7.04 7.74 1.35 ing Includ7.50 4.20 35.49 7.54 8.31 10.91 1.97 ing TER-16-1.00 42.00 41.00 3.18 39.79 4.99 5.76 11.75 1.60 170 52.00 64.00 12.00 3.04 41.29 4.87 5.91 8.83 1.46 TER-16-Not mineralized 175 TER-16-Not mineralized 176 Hole_IDFrom To (m)LengthP2O5% CaO% MgO% Fe2O3%SiO2% Al2O3% (m) (m) TER-16-0.00 15.00 15.00 9.94 11.04 2.74 36.72 17.59 4.54 177 15.00 97.00 82.00 4.61 37.65 5.38 10.02 8.09 1.52 TER-16-1.00 16.00 15.00 5.73 9.29 10.76 15.53 35.62 9.07 178 16.00 20.00 4.00 5.09 28.02 9.37 10.09 19.00 3.07 40.00 60.00 20.00 4.03 30.74 9.09 11.39 11.75 2.33 TER-16-1.00 29.00 28.00 12.77 17.54 3.28 25.57 25.27 4.81 179 29.00 58.00 29.00 4.56 35.62 6.54 10.75 8.11 1.39 TER-16-0.00 28.00 28.00 12.65 16.78 2.81 26.04 27.67 4.56 180 28.00 41.00 13.00 6.19 35.00 5.96 11.93 10.32 1.72 TER-16-1.00 23.00 22.00 14.98 20.90 1.54 23.89 25.34 3.25 181 23.00 35.00 12.00 3.91 30.68 6.69 10.28 18.58 3.48 TER-16-0.00 17.00 17.00 12.13 18.73 3.05 20.67 28.81 4.52 182 17.00 30.00 13.00 5.20 43.56 3.74 6.42 7.76 1.32 TER-16-0.00 13.00 13.00 11.47 22.16 2.93 15.11 28.88 4.48 183 14.00 26.00 12.00 3.10 42.20 4.50 6.10 8.10 1.46 TER-16-11.00 14.00 3.00 3.11 18.37 8.32 15.87 32.87 4.81 184 16.00 17.00 1.00 3.97 24.00 7.83 10.90 25.30 5.88 TER-16-3.00 12.00 9.00 4.07 22.36 8.48 13.90 25.20 3.99 185 12.00 24.00 12.00 3.35 25.18 9.17 11.90 18.84 3.49 TER-16-0.00 2.00 2.00 4.06 8.07 4.88 18.15 39.80 11.05 186 TER-16-1.00 4.00 3.00 3.71 9.42 7.82 15.50 41.97 8.14 187 16.00 17.00 1.00 3.27 19.30 8.12 16.20 31.50 4.40 19.00 20.00 1.00 3.13 18.10 8.68 12.60 35.40 6.13 TER-16-0.00 20.00 20.00 3.15 39.13 4.89 7.72 11.21 1.84 188 20.00 60.00 40.00 3.33 37.47 5.78 6.89 11.07 2.11 TER-16-1.00 11.00 10.00 8.49 11.90 6.74 21.09 27.48 6.30 189 11.00 47.00 36.00 3.73 33.94 7.39 8.42 12.47 2.47 TER-16-0.00 6.00 6.00 3.02 12.17 7.26 16.37 41.97 7.93 190 TER-16-0.00 1.00 1.00 3.29 9.48 4.93 17.90 41.60 6.95 191 17.00 18.00 1.00 3.00 17.50 9.47 19.40 35.20 4.93 TER-16-0.00 3.00 3.00 3.61 24.57 6.24 13.16 22.43 5.65 192 TER-16-Not mineralized 193 TER-16-0.00 9.00 9.00 3.29 21.63 4.64 9.48 30.22 7.82 194 TER-16-1.00 2.00 1.00 4.14 13.10 6.11 19.00 38.10 7.61 195 14.00 20.00 6.00 3.24 27.29 7.03 10.12 21.96 5.51 29.00 31.00 2.00 3.24 33.00 8.66 8.54 13.85 2.19 33.00 35.00 2.00 3.17 42.70 5.47 5.39 6.65 1.15 36.00 37.00 1.00 3.63 44.40 5.25 4.22 5.81 0.94 39.00 40.00 1.00 3.01 45.00 4.81 4.75 4.65 0.75 TER-16-4.00 6.00 2.00 3.04 10.05 6.07 16.65 42.40 9.53 196 21.00 30.00 9.00 3.88 39.33 5.74 7.09 9.63 1.79 TER-17-0.00 9.00 9.00 8.02 11.15 3.81 17.63 38.89 7.64 197 Includ2.00 11.28 15.10 1.40 18.10 37.15 6.00 ing 12.00 13.00 1.00 5.58 7.82 2.09 11.80 44.80 14.50 TER-17-67.00 80.00 13.00 3.33 38.99 3.77 5.50 14.14 1.31 198 TER-17-4.00 7.00 3.00 3.41 20.97 6.29 10.96 32.23 5.04 199 12.00 25.00 13.00 3.27 27.43 9.09 10.67 19.06 3.45 Hole_IDFrom To (m)LengthP2O5% CaO% MgO% Fe2O3%SiO2% Al2O3% (m) (m) TER-17-0.00 21.00 21.00 6.36 12.53 5.89 14.11 36.48 9.54 200 Includ4.00 11.92 16.88 5.88 17.40 27.88 5.82 ing 31.00 50.00 19.00 3.75 20.66 8.08 10.55 29.62 8.04 TER-17-1.00 21.00 20.00 15.41 20.67 2.20 22.33 24.82 4.17 201 Includ10.00 20.29 27.35 1.86 24.03 14.98 2.00 ing 21.00 29.00 8.00 6.32 32.98 3.97 20.45 7.56 0.98 TER-17-1.00 31.00 30.00 13.67 18.89 4.54 19.98 25.99 4.28 202 Includ8.00 18.85 25.30 2.00 23.69 14.90 2.31 ing TER-17-1.00 25.00 24.00 16.02 22.29 1.13 25.60 21.22 3.01 203 Includ10.00 20.03 26.05 1.23 27.28 14.04 2.15 ing 25.00 40.00 15.00 5.61 33.78 6.99 12.04 9.06 1.49 TER-17-1.00 14.00 13.00 3.09 11.36 9.08 20.36 36.90 6.77 204 14.00 15.00 1.00 3.30 14.20 8.25 21.20 33.70 5.50 TER-17-25.00 65.00 40.00 3.68 30.74 9.20 8.64 14.98 2.83 205 Includ1.00 6.27 26.90 10.90 8.03 19.20 2.21 ing Includ4.00 6.29 25.47 10.90 10.34 21.00 2.85 ing TER-17-2.00 10.00 8.00 4.78 13.75 8.77 16.34 38.10 7.72 206 Includ1.00 9.56 19.50 8.68 13.30 35.50 6.74 ing 66.00 80.00 14.00 4.08 29.01 13.63 9.24 9.25 0.89 TER-17-0.00 10.00 10.00 7.82 13.50 7.28 16.33 35.31 5.52 207 Includ6.00 9.73 15.36 7.96 18.18 31.15 4.25 ing 10.00 25.00 15.00 4.02 25.62 9.97 9.37 19.52 4.67 TER-17-28.00 37.00 9.00 4.57 30.64 10.04 8.19 11.56 2.19 208 TER-17-41.00 45.00 4.00 3.00 19.18 8.54 15.58 26.65 6.09 209 53.00 55.00 2.00 4.06 16.80 9.06 16.85 32.50 6.80 TER-17-0.00 10.00 10.00 8.12 14.97 7.68 23.39 30.56 3.95 210 11.00 29.00 18.00 3.22 27.35 14.16 8.41 13.12 0.99 TER-17-1.00 5.00 4.00 7.93 14.55 10.04 17.32 35.87 4.18 211 5.00 40.00 35.00 4.26 30.64 9.40 9.36 14.22 2.05 TER-17-2.00 3.00 1.00 3.06 7.67 8.10 13.80 46.80 8.77 212 9.00 13.00 4.00 3.66 13.83 9.66 16.55 38.20 7.34 52.00 54.00 2.00 3.04 16.30 8.96 17.40 34.25 5.72 TER-17-2.00 7.00 5.00 4.39 15.62 9.85 12.96 42.44 6.18 213 7.00 60.00 53.00 4.38 19.20 9.35 12.04 37.62 6.83 TER-17-0.00 7.00 7.00 3.12 7.91 4.83 11.42 46.47 13.68 214 12.00 14.00 6.00 3.27 23.00 11.20 10.26 21.55 4.90 26.00 38.00 12.00 3.16 17.46 10.53 13.34 27.57 6.85 58.00 100.0042.00 3.14 26.54 12.00 7.87 20.37 2.23 TER-17-0.00 7.00 7.00 7.70 19.30 9.21 12.10 35.00 8.47 215 7.00 60.00 53.00 4.16 18.67 9.73 11.94 37.81 7.21 TER-17-44.00 51.00 7.00 3.94 20.06 10.38 13.07 27.33 5.48 216 91.00 101.0010.00 3.00 22.73 10.20 11.94 21.70 4.81 106.00120.0014.00 3.16 19.81 11.00 10.42 24.33 6.63 TER-17-18.00 35.00 17.00 3.31 18.35 9.50 13.42 34.50 6.68 217 TER-17-3.00 12.00 9.00 3.36 10.61 8.62 14.78 45.30 7.58 218 Includ4.00 4.79 10.12 9.77 15.92 36.95 9.30 ing 12.00 40.00 28.00 3.68 17.83 8.91 14.66 34.21 7.31 Hole_IDFrom To (m)LengthP2O5% CaO% MgO% Fe2O3%SiO2% Al2O3% (m) (m) TER-17-1.00 13.00 12.00 7.69 12.17 9.25 17.32 3.25 7.69 219 13.00 35.00 22.00 3.64 27.94 7.46 9.52 21.08 5.56 TER-17-1.00 16.00 15.00 3.38 12.96 9.07 14.11 37.63 8.51 220 17.00 19.00 2.00 3.60 21.60 8.98 8.94 24.60 8.49 23.00 25.00 2.00 3.84 38.85 4.94 6.35 11.44 2.76 TER-17-1.00 5.00 4.00 3.70 13.34 9.11 17.10 31.45 6.48 221 5.00 6.00 1.00 3.20 39.40 3.91 6.54 11.90 1.76 TER-17-1.00 6.00 5.00 8.51 13.32 2.48 18.24 35.76 9.20 222 6.00 25.00 19.00 4.50 38.67 5.42 6.09 10.38 1.71 TER-17-0.00 8.00 8.00 7.12 13.21 6.60 15.94 35.70 8.08 223 8.00 34.00 26.00 3.02 32.76 7.23 7.81 16.21 4.36 37.00 40.00 3.00 3.31 35.67 7.20 6.91 13.51 3.50 TER-17-4.00 9.00 5.00 3.83 5.98 6.51 14.96 43.68 9.91 224 TER-17-0.00 16.00 16.00 7.98 13.11 4.66 17.58 39.47 4.28 225 Includ5.00 10.39 14.72 4.76 18.76 37.22 3.65 ing 16.00 80.00 64.00 4.20 31.41 10.17 8.92 11.18 1.64 TER-17-0.00 12.00 12.00 10.33 16.58 7.78 16.92 29.94 4.70 226 Includ6.00 14.43 20.52 7.40 17.65 22.57 3.72 ing 12.00 80.00 68.00 3.89 29.42 11.61 8.41 14.45 1.69 TER-17-45.00 80.00 35.00 3.63 30.63 11.30 7.98 14.56 1.27 227 Includ4.00 5.94 34.05 9.36 6.99 13.24 1.08 ing Includ4.00 6.33 30.97 13.45 7.60 11.22 0.50 ing TER-17-0.00 23.00 23.00 11.96 22.21 1.79 16.13 28.11 3.91 228 Includ18.00 13.39 18.95 1.83 18.12 30.42 4.28 ing 23.00 80.00 57.00 5.03 36.01 6.89 7.88 10.86 1.61 TER-17-28.00 80.00 52.00 3.28 30.86 8.12 8.56 16.31 3.66 230 TER-17-0.00 3.00 3.00 3.60 26.65 5.01 11.30 24.47 5.31 231 3.00 25.00 22.00 3.59 40.25 5.33 6.73 9.91 1.56 TER-17-Not mineralized 233 TER-17-0.00 8.00 8.00 5.89 16.41 4.97 15.04 34.60 5.61 232 8.00 100.0092.00 3.76 36.04 7.07 7.55 10.74 1.71 TER-17-1.00 8.00 7.00 7.26 21.44 3.75 17.49 25.78 5.68 234 8.00 12.00 4.00 3.99 31.25 7.78 10.40 13.37 2.31 Table 2 Collar Details Hole_IUTM_UTM_NElevatiLengthStatusDatum AzimuDip D E on (m) of th (m) coord inate TED-16767165769364 246.20GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -091 58 66 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767265771352 170.15GPS SAD-69 150.0-65. -092 06 87 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767465772351 106.10GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -093 20 89 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767165770360 306.90GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -094 34 12 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767065768362 292.30GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -095 37 80 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767465773357 272.85GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -096 18 22 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767165771355 105.90GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -097 62 75 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767065770352 117.95GPS SAD-69 150.0-70. -098 85 97 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767365771349 145.75GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -099 70 22 Z21S 0 00 TED-16766865769353 194.15GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -100 96 35 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767065771340 267.75GPS SAD-69 150.0-50. -101 09 30 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767265771349 242.55GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -102 88 47 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767165771357 307.50GPS SAD-69 150.0-58. -103 83 27 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767165770354 319.35GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -104 13 49 Z21S 0 00 TED-16767265770359 203.10GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -105 75 70 Z21S 0 00 TED-17767065768362 210.80GPS SAD-69 330.0-60. -106 03 40 Z21S 0 00 TED-17767265769362 145.15GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -107 64 88 Z21S 0 00 TED-17766965770345 284.60GPS SAD-69 150.0-60. -108 97 48 Z21S 0 00 TER-16766265763327 70.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -170 67 01 Z21S 00 TER-16767565769353 30.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -175 48 94 Z21S 00 TER-16767465770359 28.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -176 32 06 Z21S 00 TER-16767465770261 100.00GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -177 44 94 Z21S 00 TER-16767465771357 60.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -178 20 17 Z21S 00 TER-16767465770366 66.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -179 89 97 Z21S 00 TER-16767565771366 45.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -180 25 34 Z21S 00 TER-16767665772362 38.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -181 36 42 Z21S 00 TER-16767665772360 30.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -182 22 77 Z21S 00 TER-16767665773356 27.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -183 93 44 Z21S 00 TER-16767665773352 23.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -184 73 79 Z21S 00 TER-16767665773351 25.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -185 64 94 Z21S 00 TER-16767665773351 20.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -186 29 55 Z21S 00 TER-16767765774353 25.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -187 10 15 Z21S 00 TER-16767765773355 60.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -188 33 74 Z21S 00 TER-16767765774352 53.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -189 51 44 Z21S 00 TER-16767865774352 30.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -190 01 57 Z21S 00 TER-16767865774350 25.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -191 44 82 Z21S 00 TER-16768065775325 20.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -192 82 71 Z21S 00 TER-16768165775329 20.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -193 24 98 Z21S 00 TER-16767965775328 20.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -194 99 15 Z21S 00 TER-16767665773326 40.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -195 00 08 Z21S 00 TER-16767465772326 25.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -196 50 65 Z21S 00 TER-17767465769352 48.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -197 89 16 Z21S 00 TER-17767365770346 80.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -198 59 44 Z21S 00 TER-17767365771342 25.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -199 25 81 Z21S 00 Hole_IUTM_UTM_NElevatiLengthStatusDatum AzimuDip D E on (m) of th (m) coord inate TER-17767465768358 50.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -200 34 92 Z21S 00 TER-17767365769360 29.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -201 40 66 Z21S 00 TER-17767465769359 40.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -202 13 29 Z21S 00 TER-17767365769357 40.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -203 76 94 Z21S 00 TER-17767265770358 22.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -204 00 97 Z21S 00 TER-17767065769350 37.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -205 26 99 Z21S 00 TER-17767065769353 80.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -206 40 74 Z21S 00 TER-17767065770352 25.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -207 58 45 Z21S 00 TER-17767365770356 37.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -208 61 20 Z21S 00 TER-17767165770363 55.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -209 71 48 Z21S 00 TER-17767165770357 30.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -210 48 88 Z21S 00 TER-17767165770352 40.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -211 01 70 Z21S 00 TER-17766965768355 100.00GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -212 29 69 Z21S 00 TER-17766965768355 60.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -213 19 85 Z21S 00 TER-17766965769349 100.00GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -214 54 24 Z21S 00 TER-17766865768355 60.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -215 80 53 Z21S 00 TER-17766865768353 120.00GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -216 33 33 Z21S 00 TER-17766865767354 35.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -217 01 90 Z21S 00 TER-17766765767345 40.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -218 34 05 Z21S 00 TER-17766665766340 35.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -219 20 02 Z21S 00 TER-17766565765340 25.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -220 46 31 Z21S 00 TER-17766565765338 30.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -221 33 54 Z21S 00 TER-17766565765338 25.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -222 09 05 Z21S 00 TER-17766465764330 40.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -223 62 77 Z21S 00 TER-17766465764328 35.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -224 29 15 Z21S 00 TER-17766865765361 80.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -225 26 02 Z21S 00 TER-17766965765363 80.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -226 07 75 Z21S 00 TER-17766865765363 80.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -227 88 39 Z21S 00 TER-17766865765363 80.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -228 65 30 Z21S 00 TER-17766765764354 80.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -230 51 23 Z21S 00 TER-17766665763352 25.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -231 94 73 Z21S 00 TER-17766765764355 100.00GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -232 29 15 Z21S 00 TER-17767565773354 25.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -233 87 28 Z21S 00 TER-17768065775318 18.00 GPS SAD-69 0.00 -90. -234 47 50 Z21S 00 JORC Code, Table 1 Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data (Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections.) CriteriJORC Code explanation Commentary a Samplin Nature and quality of Work is being carried out g sampling using RC and diamond techni ( drilling, with samples ques eg cut channels, random being analysed by chips, or specific laboratory analyses specialised industry suitable for the standard measurement tools carbonatite mineralisation appropriate to the being minerals under targeted investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or Drill hole locations are handheld XRF instruments, detailed in a table in the text of this release, and etc). These examples should shown graphically on a not be taken as limiting plan the broad meaning of sampling. Include reference to Hole locations are picked measures taken to ensure up using hand-held GPS. sample Sampling is carried out using comprehensive representivity and the appropriate calibration of Aguia protocols and QAQC any measurement tools or procedures as per industry systems best used. practice Aspects of the Mineralisation is determination of generally mineralisation that are visual Material to the Public Report. In cases where RC samples are collected industry standard work and assayed at 1m has been done this would intervals, with a be relatively simple representative 2kg sample ( of all intervals being eg reverse circulation collected for XRF assay at drilling was used to the obtain 1 m samples from laboratory. which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge Half core diamond drill for fire assay). In other samples in mineralized cases more explanation may material are generally be required, such as where collected at 1m intervals there is coarse gold that and sent to the laboratory has inherent sampling for assay; however lengths problems. Unusual will vary to generally commodities or between 0.5 and 1.5m to mineralisation types honour geological ( boundaries where required. eg submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed In all cases drilling information. samples are sent to SGS laboratories in Belo Horizonte and analysed using method XRF79C_10 Lithium tetra borate fusion. Elements assayed for include SiO 2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, TiO 2, P2O5, Na2O, K2O, MnO and LOI, which is considered suitable for the type of mineralisation Drillin Drill type (eg core, Reverse Circulation g reverse circulation, Drilling utilized a face techni open-hole hammer, rotary sampling Hard Formation ques air blast, auger, Bangka, Bit with Tungsten buttons sonic, and a diameter of 5 inches. No downhole etc) and details (eg core surveys were completed. diameter, triple or standard tube, depth of diamond tails, Core Drilling Drilling face-sampling bit or other utilized HQ equipment for type, whether core is weathered material and NQ oriented and if so, by for fresh rock. Downhole what method, surveys are performed on 3-metre intervals using a etc). Maxibore down-hole tool. No core orientation has been carried out. Drill Method of recording and RC recoveries are sample assessing core and chip monitored by samples recove sample recoveries and weight. The minimum ry results recovery is assessed. 85%. Core Drilling Recovery by sample and by drill run was recorded; core recovery generally exceeds 97% Measures taken to Diamond Drilling Due to maximise sample recovery the coherent nature of the and ensure representative fresh rock and homogenous nature of the nature of the samples. mineralisation sample recovery is not an issue. In the saprolite recovery is maximised using short drill runs and best drilling practices. RC Dry samples are collected through a cyclone and riffle splitter ensuring homogenisation and representative sampling. Wet samples are dried, and then homogenised and sampled by hand. Whether a relationship Mineralisation is exists between sample homogenous throughout the recovery and grade and mineralized intervals, whether sample bias may with no relationship have occurred due to between sample recovery preferential loss/gain of and grade on any type of fine/coarse drilling. material. Logging Whether core and chip RC logging is to a samples have been detail considered suitable geologically and for inclusion in resource estimations geotechnically logged to a level of detail to support Diamond logging is appropriate Mineral considered suitable for Resource estimation, inclusion in resource mining studies and estimations, metallurgical metallurgical studies and preliminary studies. mining studies. The lack of orientated core and geotechnical logging prior to cutting precludes the use in detailed mining studies Whether logging is RC logging includes qualitative or lithology and quantitative in nature. weathering Core (or costean, channel, Diamond logging includes etc) photography. rock type, alteration , structure and qualitative magnetism. No core orientation has been carried out, with structural measurements being limited to alpha angles only. All core is photographed dry before being cut The total length and 100% of the relevant percentage of the relevant intersections of all intersections drilling are logged logged Sub-sam If core, whether cut or Solid core is sawn in pling sawn and whether quarter, half, with half being sent techni half or all core for assay and half being ques taken. retained for reference. and Friable core is split down sample the prepar ation center line using a spatula or similar tool, with half being retained and half sent for assay. If non-core, whether RC- One metre samples are riffled, tube sampled, collected from the rotary split, cyclone, with moist samples being split using etc and whether sampled wet a plastic liner and metal or cross-blade device, and dry. dry samples being split through a riffle splitter. Saturated samples are dried before homogenization. Two representative samples of between 500g and 2kg are collected, with one for assay and a second for reference. For all sampling and drilling, samples are dried and crushed, and then milled to 75% passing 80 mesh using LM mills at the laboratory. For all sample types, the The sample preparation nature, quality and techniques are industry appropriateness of the standard and are sample preparation considered appropriate for technique. the mineralisation being investigated Quality control Industry standard procedures adopted for all procedures are employed, sub-sampling stages to including ensuring maximise non-core samples are adequately homogenized representivity of samples. before assay and archive samples are collected Measures taken to ensure No field duplicate that the sampling is samples or second half representative of the in sampling was done. The situ material collected, target mineralization is including for instance largely results for field homogeneous. duplicate/second-half sampling. Whether sample sizes are Sample sizes are appropriate to the grain considered appropriate to size of the material being the grain size of the sampled. material being assayed Quality The nature, quality and The XRF method used is of appropriateness of the industry standard and assay assaying and laboratory considered appropriate for data procedures used and the analysis of and whether the technique is apatite-hosted phosphate labora considered partial or mineralisation. tory total. tests Sample preparation and analysis was completed at SGSs Belo Horizonte laboratory in Brazil using standard crushing and pulverization techniques. The prepared pulps are analysed by a lithium borate fusion XRF spectroscopy for major oxide elements (P2O5, Al2O3, CaO, Fe2O3, K2O, MgO, MnO2, SiO2, TiO2 , Na2O and LOI (Method code XRF79C and PHY01E). In specific cases, samples were also analysed for a suite of 31 elements using an aqua regia digestion and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Method code ME-MS81). The preparation and analytical procedures are appropriate for the type of mineralization sampled and are reliable to deliver the total content of the analysed compounds. make and model, reading Where utilised, hand held times, calibrations XRF is factors applied and their derivation, an Delta Analyser CS-4000 etc. by Innov-X Systems For geophysical tools, There is a calibration spectrometers, handheld plate supplied by XRF instruments, INOVV-X-Systems for the calibration of the etc, the parameters used in Portable X Ray determining the analysis Fluorescence including equipment. instrument Nature of quality control Aguia has prepared two procedures adopted certified phosphate ( reference materials eg standards, blanks, (standards) from material duplicates, external collected from the laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels Tres Estradas deposit of accuracy these comprise a mid and ( high grade standard and ie lack of bias) and are considered appropriate precision have been to the mineralisation established. being drilled This is in addition to fine and coarse blank standards prepared from barren quartz veins. One each of the above company supplied standards is included in each batch of 48 samples, in addition to a pulp duplicate. One batch of 48 samples is sent monthly for umpire laboratory testing. Umpire testing is performed at At ALS Chemex in Lima, Peru, where they are analyzed for a suiten of elements using method code XRF12pt/XRF24) Additionally, Aguia relies on the analytical quality control measured implemented by the ISO accredited laboratory used. Verific The verification of The AGR procedures ation significant intersections consists an internal of by either independent or double check and, when sampli alternative company required an independent ng and personnel. verification during the assayi independent audit ng process. The use of twinned holes. Given this is the initial programme at TE South no twin holes have been drilled Documentation of primary Data is manually entered data, data entry onto logging sheets on procedures, data site by verification, data storage (physical and electronic) Aguia geologists. This data protocols. is then entered into a digital database consisting of Excel workbooks. Assay data from the laboratory is merged into the downhole sample sheets. All original logging sheets and digital data are stored. Digital data is regularly backed up. Data is yet to be externally audited; external audits of previous drilling has confirmed the veracity of work carried out Discuss any adjustment to There is no adjustment to assay assay data. data Locatio Accuracy and quality of All borehole collars were n of surveys used to locate surveyed according to the data drill holes (collar and local UTM coordinate points down-hole surveys), system (South American trenches, mine workings Datum 1969 SAD69, Zone and other locations used 21S), using differential in Mineral Resource GPS equipment before estimation. drilling started, and once drilling had been completed. Specification of the grid SAD 1969 UTM system, Zons system 21S used. Quality and adequacy of A topographic survey of topographic the project area was control. completed using differential GPS technology. The survey consisting of lines spaced 25 metres apart, and control lines spaced 100 metres apart. The topographic survey generated contour lines at 1-metre intervals in the meta-carbonatite area. Contour lines at 5-metre intervals were obtained for the remaining area using shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) and orthorectified Geoeye images with 0.5 metre resolution. Data Data spacing for RC Drilling RC holes, spacin reporting of Exploration all vertical, at g and Results. distri Tres Estrada South are bution being drilled on 50m spaced lines, with spacing along drill lines determined by carbonatite outcrop Diamond Drilling Diamond holes (inclined) at Tres Estradas are being drilled on 100m spaced lines, with spacing along drill lines determined by carbonatite outcrop Whether the data spacing The data spacing and and distribution is distribution is considered sufficient to establish suitable for the style of the degree of geological mineralisation being and grade continuity tested, and will be appropriate for the suitable for use in Mineral Resource and Ore Mineral Resource and Reserve estimation Reserve procedure(s) and estimations classifications applied. Whether sample For the purposes of compositing has been reporting of results no applied. sample compositing has been applied Orienta Whether the orientation The bulk nature of the tion of sampling achieves mineralisation indicates of unbiased sampling of that sampling bias will data possible structures and not be introduced by in the extent to which this changing drilling relati is known, considering the direction on to deposit geolog type. ical struct ure If the relationship Given the bulk and between the drilling homogenous nature of the orientation and the mineralisation it is orientation of key considered that there is mineralised structures is no sampling considered to have bias introduced a sampling bias, this should be assessed and reported if material. Sample The measures taken to Chain of custody is securi ensure sample managed by ty security. Aguia. Samples are stored on site. Assay samples are sent by freight express to the relevant laboratories. Audits The results of any audits Tres Estradas Audit by or or reviews of sampling SRK Consulting in early review techniques and 2013 s data. and late 2014 indicated that techniques utilised by Aguia were in line with generally accepted industry best practices. The same audit found no issues with the data. Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results (Criteria listed in the preceding section also apply to this section.) CriteriaJORC Code explanation Commentary Mineral Type, reference Tres Estradas tenemen name/number, location and Permit 810.090/91, t and ownership including irrevocable right to 100% land agreements or material under an exercised option tenure issues with third parties agreement with status such as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding Companhia Brasiliera de Cob royalties, native title re interests, historical (CBC). sites, wilderness or national park and On July 1, 2011, CBC and Ag environmental uia settings. Metais Ltda., a subsidiary of The security of the tenure held at the time Aguia in Brazil, executed of reporting along with an option agreement any known impediments to providing the irrevocable obtaining a licence to purchase option of these operate in the mineral rights by area. Aguia Metais (or its affiliate or subsidiaries). On May 30, 2012 Aguia Metais exercised the purchase option concerning these mineral rights by means of its affiliate Aguia Fertilizantes S/A (Ag uia Fertilizantes). On July 10, 2012, CBC and Aguia Fertilizantes execute d an irrevocable agreement providing the assignment of these mineral rights to Aguia Fertilizantes. On July 20, 2012 CBC filed a request before the DNPM applying for the transfer of these mineral rights to Aguia Fertilizantes. The 2nd two-year term expired on August 16, 2012, with the Final Explo First day of school at Mitchell Elementary Six new classrooms are ready for students at Mitchell Elementary in Ann Arbor on Tuesday, September 6, 2016. Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News ANN ARBOR, MI - Fourteen Ann Arbor Public Schools buildings are at or above their target student capacity in the 2016-17 school year, which has prompted the board of education to consider additions at some schools. But the schools that are most overcrowded are not necessarily the ones in consideration for the extra space. New housing developments have AAPS administrators preparing for enrollment increases in certain areas of the district. "We also monitor regularly all of the other buildings, especially looking at the sizes of classes coming into the school, through kindergarten round-ups and pre-school," said district communications specialist Andrew Cluley. Ideally, AAPS wants its student enrollment at 90 percent of each building's total capacity. Of the 14 schools at or above 90 percent capacity this school year, six are being considered for additional classroom space: Burns Park, King, Mitchell and Thurston elementary schools will receive modular classroom units for the 2017-18 school year, and Carpenter Elementary and Forsythe Middle schools are being monitored to see if they'll need additional space as well. However, three schools that are above 100 percent capacity this school year are not on the district's short list for expansion. Wines Elementary is the most overcrowded, with its enrollment of 453 students this fall at 113 percent of the building's total capacity. Angell Elementary is at 103 percent of its total capacity, and Allen Elementary is at 100.5 percent of its total capacity. When enrollment exceeds capacity, class sizes will be higher than average or non-instructional spaces like multi-purpose rooms will be used as classrooms, school officials noted in a document outlining enrollment projections for Mitchell, Burns Park, King, Thurston and Logan. There are six other schools not at the target 90 percent capacity also being monitored for potential additions: Abbot, Haisley, Lakewood and Logan elementary schools and Clague and Scarlett middle schools. Paying for school expansions To fund additions to alleviate overcrowding at some schools, the AAPS school board decided to ask voters to support a property tax increase in the May 2 election. The proposal calls for an increase to the school district's sinking fund, making it a 10-year, 2.5-mill property tax that would raise about $20 million a year that AAPS. About $28 million - or 14 percent of the total increased sinking fund revenue - would be spent on additional classrooms, first in the form of modular units and then permanent additions could be made to schools that show sustained enrollment growth. On Wednesday, March 22, the school board approved spending $2.95 million on four modular units that each contain four additional classrooms for Burns Park, King, Mitchell and Thurston. Other priorities the board has approved for the increased sinking fund revenue include: repairing and replacing aging infrastructure at the schools, for an estimated cost of $140 million; and completing proposed projects that the 2015 bond revenue will not cover, which would cost about $32 million. "We've been living with the state of our schools, the state of our buildings - the boilers that broke, the roofing leaks, the parking lot issues, all of those things," said board president Christine Stead at a Jan. 25 meeting. "We know our community has approved a 1-mill sinking fund, which we are incredibly grateful for. That generates about $8 million a year, but it is not anywhere near enough to even handle one major roofing project at one of our big high schools." By law, sinking fund revenue must be spent on purchasing real estate, upgrading buildings and facilities or infrastructure updates related to technology. The median home value in the City of Ann Arbor in 2016 was $325,000, which equates to a taxable value of about $162,500. The owner of a home with a $162,500 taxable value currently pays $162.50 a year for the AAPS sinking fund millage. Under the new sinking fund, that homeowner would pay $406.25 a year. Reasons for the enrollment spike While some AAPS buildings already are at their target capacity this school year, administrators predict enrollment will continue to grow over the next few years. AAPS anticipates another 977 students will enroll in the district in the next two years because of more available housing. "We will have children coming as a result of these new (housing) areas this fall - in the fall of 2017," Superintendent Jeanice Swift told the trustees when she first publicly introduced the sinking fund increase on Jan. 18. "It's very exciting, but we must prepare." The map shows the schools in the Ann Arbor Public Schools district that will receive modular classrooms for the 2017-18 school year and which schools will be monitored to see if their growing enrollment also warrants additional classrooms. (Map provided by Ann Arbor Public Schools) New developments factored into AAPS' enrollment projections include North Oaks, Woodbury Club and North Sky in the northeast part of the school district. There are other developments in the southeast and west areas of the city, including South Pond Village subdivision, a new subdivision in the works at 2857 Packard Road, the Ann Arbor Housing Commission's proposed redevelopment on Platt Road and Hickory Way affordable housing on Maple Road. And that's not all of the housing developments the city is currently considering. Burns Park and Thurston also will add Young Fives classrooms in the 2017-18 school year, which added to the urgency of needing modular classroom units at those schools. Those two schools plus Logan and Mitchell currently house Young Fives programs. Board secretary Jeff Gaynor said Wednesday he has heard concerns that some schools are overcrowded because of the number of Schools of Choice and in-district transfer students AAPS accepts. Schools of Choice students live outside the geographical school district, and in-district transfer students live within AAPS boundaries but choose to enroll at a school other than their neighborhood school. The Michigan Department of Education provides Schools of Choice numbers by school district, not for individual schools. In the 2015-16 school year, AAPS gained 1,234 students through Schools of Choice and had 1,638 resident students enroll elsewhere through Schools of Choice. Swift said Wednesday she plans to present the board with data on Schools of Choice and in-district transfer enrollment at their next meeting, although it's more difficult to track the in-district transfers. "So just to be very clear, we are not adding these modular classrooms because of an influx of students through the 'students of choice' program," said board vice president Susan Baskett on Wednesday. "We are not," Swift agreed. Last fall, district administrators attributed the school district's growing enrollment to attracting more students who already live within the school district's boundaries to attend Ann Arbor Public Schools and rising Young 5s and kindergarten enrollment. From the 2013-14 school year to this school year, AAPS has seen a net increase of 1,001 students in preschool through 12th grade, with a net increase of 346 students from fall 2015 to fall 2016. AAPS' growth comes at a time the statewide population of school-aged children is shrinking. From 2004 to 2014 - the most recent data available from the U.S. Census - Michigan's population of children from birth to 17 years old decreased by 12.2 percent and Washtenaw County's child population decreased by 4 percent. Delonis_Center_032317_RJS_01.jpg The Delonis Center homeless shelter at 312 W. Huron St. in downtown Ann Arbor on March 23, 2017. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News) ANN ARBOR, MI - The nonprofit agency that runs the Delonis Center homeless shelter in downtown Ann Arbor is getting a new director. The board of directors for the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County has hired Dan Kelly to serve as executive director starting May 1. Ellen Schulmeister, the agency's longtime director, is retiring at the end of June after nearly 20 years on the job. Dan Kelly Kelly has a master's degree in social work from the University of Michigan and is currently the housing director at South Oakland Shelter in Oakland County. He also is an adjunct faculty member at Oakland University. "Mr. Kelly began his career as the front door staff person at South Oakland Shelter in 2007 and soon knew he wanted to do more in the social work field around housing and homelessness," the Shelter Association stated in a news release. "He became the housing coordinator and lead case manager at SOS in 2008, and in 2010 he became the program manager for the organization." Kelly earned his master's degree in 2012 and that same year interned at the Corporation for Supportive Housing in Detroit, where he coordinated advocacy visits with members of the Michigan Legislature. He has been on the board of directors of the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness in Lansing since October 2016. "Mr. Kelly has broad knowledge, education and experience in housing and homelessness and will play a key role in addressing these critical issues in our community," the Shelter Association's news release stated. Schulmeister joined the Shelter Association as director in February 1998 and led the agency as a new four-story homeless shelter on Huron Street was being constructed. The Robert J. Delonis Center opened in 2003. SCIO TOWNSHIP, MI - A fire destroyed a mobile home Thursday, March 23 in Scio Township. Just before 11:30 a.m., Scio Township fire responded to a home in the 6000 block of Jackson Road for a report of a fire. The fire was contained to the living room and kitchen of the mobile home, said Fire Chief Carl Ferch, and caused smoke damage throughout the structure. About 60 percent of the contents were damaged, and the structure is likely a total loss, he said. Firefighters rescued a dog and a cat from the home, and they were fine, he said. The fire started in the kitchen, Ferch said, but he doesn't yet know the cause. No one was injured. Chelsea, Dexter, Saline and Manchester fire departments assisted at the scene. Ryan Stanton | ryanstanton@mlive.com North-south commuter rail to Ann Arbor A small handful of residents and local officials attended the final community meeting for a north-south commuter rail feasibility study Wednesday night, March 22, at Eberwhite Elementary School in Ann Arbor. Representatives from the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority and consultants SmithGroupJJR, Quandel Consultants and AECOM presented information about the cost effectiveness and feasibility of starting up a 27-mile commuter rail service from Howell to Ann Arbor, or possibly just a 12-mile service from Whitmore Lake into Ann Arbor as a first phase. Potential funding scenarios, including property tax increases, were discussed at the meeting. Continue reading to learn more. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR The study area The proposed commuter rail service, which has been discussed for more than a decade and is known to many as the WALLY project, would run on existing freight tracks that are owned by the state north of Barton Drive and owned by a private company called Watco south of that. The service is being evaluated as a way to ease traffic congestion along U.S. 23 and to promote economic development and job creation. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Different service options This shows all of the service options evaluated during the feasibility study. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Costs for different options This shows the capital startup costs to do things such as make track improvements to allow commuter trains to go up to 60 mph, as well as the annual operating expenses, ridership estimates and travel times. A full service with four trains running between Howell and downtown Ann Arbor with intermediate stops in Genoa, Hamburg and Whitmore Lake, as well as near Barton Drive in Ann Arbor, was the most expensive of the options. It would be a 51-minute trip to go the full length of the line, and it's estimated there would be 1,840 daily trips, amounting to 920 people served, including more than 220 University of Michigan employees. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Two options made the cut Two options were selected for additional analysis. That included the full service from Howell to Ann Arbor and a shorter service just from Whitmore Lake to Ann Arbor. Stops in Ann Arbor would include near Barton Drive along the Plymouth Road corridor and downtown between Washington and Liberty streets, with passengers exiting to Liberty Street. Don't Edit Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Side-by-side comparison Here's a look at the costs of the two north-south commuter rail service options chosen for additional analysis. The shorter service from Whitmore Lake into Ann Arbor is about half the cost, yet it maintains about 90 percent of the initial ridership, the thinking being that people from beyond just Whitmore Lake would be willing to drive to a park-and-ride lot next to the tracks off U.S. 23 at 8 Mile and hop on a commuter train there to get to Ann Arbor, avoiding rush-hour congestion on the highway and making their travel times to and from work or other destinations more predictable and less stressful. The ridership projections were calculated by plugging local information, including demographic and employment data, into a Federal Transit Administration model that is considered to be an unbiased determinant of potential ridership, said Bob Moore, chief engineer with Quandel Consultants. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Capital funding assumptions It's assumed 75 percent of the funding for capital startup costs would come from state and federal sources, with a 25 percent local match. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Operating funding assumptions In addition to state and federal operating assistance, it's assumed that local taxpayers would need to pay about $10.1 million per year in local funding for the full service from Howell to Ann Arbor or $5.2 million per year for the shorter service from Whitmore Lake to Ann Arbor. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Local tax options for full service If a decision is made to implement the full service, voters throughout all of Livingston and Washtenaw counties could be asked to pay a new property tax to fund it, which would go to a vote of the people in an election. The analysis on the left shows the owner of a $250,000 home with a $125,000 taxable value would pay about $50 per year if there was a 0.4-mill tax levied throughout both counties. The analysis on the right shows an alternate scenario in which only the jurisdictions closest to the line would pay to fund the full service, resulting in double the cost for those picking up the costs because not as many people would be paying the tax. Under that scenario, with a a 0.84-mill tax, the owner of the same value home would pay about $105 per year. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Local tax options for shorter service This shows three alternate property-tax scenarios for funding a shorter commuter rail service from Whitmore Lake into Ann Arbor. The option on the left shows taxpayers throughout Washtenaw County paying a 0.34-mill tax equal to $42.50 per year, while the option in the middle shows taxpayers in municipalities closest to the line paying a 0.61-mill tax equal to $76.25 per year and the option on the right shows only Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Township and Northfield Township paying a 0.84-mill tax equal to $105 per year. Those dollar amounts again assume a home with a $250,000 market value and $125,000 taxable value. Don't Edit Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Side-by-side millage rate comparison Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Creating a new transit authority After looking at the costs and service options, the feasibility study concluded north-south commuter rail is feasible, but the next consideration is the governance structure. The leading option appears to be the creation of a new Act 196 transit authority. Don't Edit Ryan Stanton | ryanstanton@mlive.com A regional project AAATA strategic planner Michael Benham, seated at left during Wednesday's discussion at Eberwhite Elementary, said theres a recognition that north-south commuter rail would be a regional project and it would take a regional entity to pay for it and operate it, so it wont just be Ann Arbor or AAATA taxpayers subsidizing people commuting into Ann Arbor from points north. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Seeking federal funding The results of the new study are expected to be used to prepare the project for future federal funding under the Federal Transit Administration's "Small Starts" program. It could take years to get to the point of funding the service and no information has been released about when a proposal for local funding could go before local voters. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Shorter service more cost effective The study concluded the shorter service from Whitmore Lake to Ann Arbor might have a better shot at getting funded, and that could be a first phase with service added between Howell and Whitmore Lake at a later time. Don't Edit Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Comparison to other systems The feasibility study compared the cost projections for north-south commuter rail into Ann Arbor to other systems across the United States. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Relatively high costs The comparison to other systems showed north-south commuter rail into Ann Arbor would have relatively high costs. The University of Michigan has offered to subsidize the cost of fares for its employees for the first three years. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR The case for commuter rail This information about the benefits of commuter rail, including costs saved by not building more parking facilities in Ann Arbor, was presented at Wednesday night's meeting. Don't Edit Ryan Stanton | ryanstanton@mlive.com Ann Arbor problems AAATA board member Larry Krieg, shown speaking here during Wednesdays meeting at Eberwhite Elementary, argues Ann Arbor desperately needs a solution to its traffic and parking problems and commuter rail can help. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR Downtown Ann Arbor station A July 2014 report by the AAATA's consultants for the north-south commuter rail project, SmithGroupJJR and Quandel Consultants, identified this as the preferred location for the downtown Ann Arbor station. The station is minimal in design with a simple platform for people to step on and off trains and shelters/canopies, as well as ADA-accessible ramp/sidewalk connections to Washington and Liberty streets. This would fit within the existing railroad right-of-way on the east side of the tracks behind buildings that currently house the Kiwanis thrift shop, Blind Pig and 8-Ball Saloon, Circus/Millennium/Gotham/Cavern Club, and the Blank Slate Creamery. Watco, which owns the railroad, would need to approve the plan, which also would require permitting for potential construction within the Allen Creek floodplain. "A future option would include a public-private partnership that would focus on development of a train station along the tracks integrated with retail on the First (Street) frontage for one of the parcels between Washington and Liberty," the 2014 report states. Don't Edit Don't Edit Ryan Stanton | ryanstanton@mlive.com Bus vs. rail Neal Billetdeaux, a consultant with SmithGroupJJR, responded to residents at Wednesday's meeting who questioned why there's a focus on commuter rail before trying less-expensive bus service. The AAATA has discussed launching an express commuter bus service on U.S. 23 to bring people into Ann Arbor from points north, but AAATA officials stated two years ago there would need to be provisions for express buses to bypass highway traffic congestion so the service would be reliable and competitive with travel by car. After the Michigan Department of Transportation is done with its project to add capacity on U.S. 23, it's expected express bus service could be considered then. Bus may make a lot of sense as a first step, Billetdeaux said. That can be analyzed. Don't Edit Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR More information More information can be found on the project website at www.nsrailstudy.com. ANN ARBOR, MI - The 19-year-old man Israeli police believe is responsible for making threats to Jewish centers across the United States may be connected to a recent threat in Ann Arbor, police say. The FBI confirmed Israeli police Thursday, March 23 arrested a 19-year-old man with dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship who they say called in bomb threats to Jewish community centers around the world, the Washington Post reports. Ann Arbor police Detective Lt. Matthew Lige said while the FBI has not established a direct link to the bomb threat Feb. 27 at a Jewish school in Ann Arbor, there's a strong probability the man is connected to it. On Feb. 27, a Hebrew Day School staff member told police a male caller said there was a bomb in a backpack and it would be detonated, according to police. Investigators found no bomb on the premises. The school is located in the Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor, 2937 Birch Hollow Drive. There were 17 threats across the U.S. the same day. The FBI is still investigating the incidents, Lige said. The New York Times reports the suspect is Jewish and has a brain tumor that may impair his cognitive functions. There have been more than 100 reports of threats to Jewish community centers this year, according to the New York Times. Police arrested a man from St. Louis for making several threats to Jewish centers earlier this month, but it was not connected to the threat in Ann Arbor, Lige has said. Becker.png NOVI, MI - Michigan will lower its flags to half staff Friday, March 24 in honor of the U.S. Air Force pilot from Novi who died last week during a training flight. Capt. Andrew Becker, 33, was killed March 14 when the U-28A aircraft he was in crashed at 6:50 p.m. in eastern New Mexico. Gov. Rick Snyder on Thursday issued the order to lower flags to half staff at state buildings and within the state Capitol. "Capt. Becker was a dedicated Air Force pilot who will be remembered for his brave service to his country. I send my heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and community as we all mourn his loss with them," Snyder said in a statement. Becker was a pilot for the 318th Special Operations Squadron. He was deployed oversees nine times during his service. According to his obituary, the Air Force will posthumously promote him to the rank of major. Becker was known for his contagious laugh and work for animal welfare charities, the obituary states. He is survived by his spouse, mother and father, according to the Air Force. His funeral is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at Ward Presbyterian Church in Northville. Rep. Devin Nunes on Wednesday threw a huge wrench into the middle of the investigations surrounding President Donald Trump, his claims of being wiretapped by his predecessor, and Russia's meddling in the election. And he now finds himself in a central role after making Republicans and Democrats alike scratch their heads over what appeared to be an unprecedented move. Nunes, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, called for a sudden 1 p.m. press gathering Wednesday, with its subject unclear. But once it began, he fired off what sounded like a bombshell revelation: The intelligence community, he said, had "incidentally collected" information on the Trump transition team during the transition period. The California Republican went on to say the collection occurred on "numerous occasions" and was not related to the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in last year's presidential election. "Details about US persons associated with the incoming administration, details with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value, were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting," Nunes said. The information he spoke of was collected legally, in his view, under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and he did not know if the surveillance consisted of phone calls, but that the intelligence reports he had seen "clearly show" Trump and his team were "monitored." Another wrinkle: The White House, he said, was totally unaware of what he was describing to the press. So after the conclusion of his impromptu briefing, he went to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to alert the president and his administration. Following his White House meeting, Nunes stood outside for another press conference. While he said this information did not in any way prove Trump's inflammatory, evidence-free Twitter claim that President Barack Obama wiretapped phones at Trump Tower, Nunes said he had "no idea" whether the collection was intentional spying on behalf of the government. Story continues "We won't know that until we get to the bottom of did people ask for the unmasking of additional names in President Trump's transition team," he said. A member of Trump's transition team, Nunes finds himself leading the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russia's effort to manipulate the 2016 US presidential election. It was during a hearing Monday in front of Nunes' committee that FBI Director James Comey said the bureau had been investigating potential ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government since late July. Additionally, Comey said the Department of Justice could provide no evidence to back up Trump's explosive claim that Obama wiretapped him. But Nunes, in his White House press conference, said he found nothing wrong with briefing the president on information that could be related to an ongoing investigation into members of his administration and campaign team. "Because what I saw had nothing to do with Russia and the Russian investigation," Nunes said. "It has everything to do with possible surveillance activities, and the president needs to know these intelligence reports are out there, and I have a duty to tell him that." Many others didn't see it this way. Luke Russert, a former Capitol Hill reporter for NBC, said the episode was "insane" and that in seven years covering Congress, he "never saw something like this from" an intelligence chair. "This is very dangerous. I have trouble seeing somebody like Mike Rogers doing this," Russert tweeted, referring to the former chairman of that committee. "Intel Chairmen don't act like this." Evan McMullin, a former CIA operative who ran an independent presidential campaign in 2016, said that with Nunes saying the communications were "incidentally collected," the real question was: "Who was Trump talking to?" "If what Devin Nunes says is true, Trump was communicating with persons of intelligence or criminal interest," he tweeted. "This is Devin Nunes doing President Trump and Congressional Republicans a favor by muddying the waters on the Trump/Russia investigation." Joe Scarborough, the host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and an ex-Republican congressman, tweeted that Nunes' actions were cause for him to be removed as chair of the committee. And David Jolly, a fellow ex-Republican congressman who has been fiercely critical of Trump in recent days, tweeted that Nunes and the entirety of the House GOP has "zero credibility now." "Blew it," he wrote. "[Rep. Adam Schiff of California] now the cerebral hero of this investigation." Adam Schiff Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the intelligence committee, seemed in his own right flabbergasted about Nunes' move during an early-evening press conference where he essentially said Nunes' Wednesday moves soiled their panel's investigation. The California Democrat said hadn't seen or heard of the reports Nunes spoke of before he discussed the matter with the media, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Trump. "The chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he's going to act as a surrogate of the White House," Schiff said. "Because he cannot do both." He would not say whether Nunes had disclosed classified information, but he did call the disclosure "highly irregular and probably inappropriate." "Unfortunately I think the actions of today throw great doubt into the ability of both the chairman and the committee to conduct the investigation," he said. "I've expressed these grave concerns with the chairman." Schiff said the disclosure heightened the necessity for an investigation to take place by a fully independent body. He even went as far to suggest the move could be a part of a broader conspiracy. "I'm not sure what the point of this extraordinary process is and I have to hope that this is not part of a broader campaign by the White House aimed to deflect from [Comey's] testimony," he said. Donald Trump Trump's allies took the Wednesday news as word that the president was vindicated for his earlier assertion about Obama, which earned him scorn across the political spectrum and led to the sitting FBI director having to publicly rebuke the claims. Fox News host Sean Hannity took to Twitter after the Nunes episode to declare victory over the "destroy Trump media" and asked if anyone doubted whether American journalism was "dead." "Devin Nunes confirms SURVEILLANCE VS POTUS," he wrote. "Sara Carter, John Solomon, Sean Hannity right again. Destroy Trump media wrong again. ... Any doubts journalism in America is DEAD? Alt left propaganda destroy @realDonaldTrump media is the opposition party. Bannon correct." Asked about the Nunes revelations after meeting with the intelligence chair, Trump expressed his appreciation for the California Republican rushing to tell him what he found. Did he feel vindicated for his widely panned claims? "I somewhat do," he said. NOW WATCH: 'F--- you for that': Milo Yiannopoulos attacks the media in a press conference after resigning from Breitbart More From Business Insider For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. Adam Schiff The months-long investigation into potential ties between associates of President Donald Trump and Russia has taken several pivotal turns just this week. The existence of the ongoing, multipronged inquiry was confirmed by FBI Director James Comey during a congressional hearing on Monday. And before Wednesday, there had been no public acknowledgement from US lawmakers or the intelligence community of concrete evidence tying Trump or his associates to collusion with the Kremlin. But in an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday, Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who is ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said of the investigation: "There is more than circumstantial evidence now." Schiff declined to go into specifics when pressed by host Chuck Todd. "But I will say there is evidence that is not circumstantial," Schiff said, "and it is very much worthy of investigation." Related: For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. Schiff's comments echo a CNN report published Wednesday evening that cited unnamed US officials who told the network the FBI had information indicating people associated with Trump may have coordinated with suspected Russian operatives on the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. The information includes "human intelligence, travel, business and phone records and accounts of in-person meetings," CNN reported, citing its sources. Watch a portion of Schiff's remarks below: Schiff on collusion btw Trump associates and Russians: "I can't go into the particulars, but there is more than circumstantial evidence now" pic.twitter.com/JvPv74ROiM David Mack (@davidmackau) March 22, 2017 Russia-related inquiries are underway within the House and Senate Intelligence committees, the FBI, and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Rep. Devin Nunes, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, threw a huge wrench into the matter on Wednesday when he confirmed some information was "incidentally collected" on members of the Trump transition team before Trump's inauguration. Story continues The revelation came amid Trump's weeks-long wiretapping crusade, which started when he used Twitter to accuse the Obama administration of wiretapping Trump Tower before the election. The Trump administration has since explained the tweets as referring only to a suspicion that Trump was being surveiled generally, and Trump appeared to take Nunes' unexpected announcement as vindicating of his unproven claims. Several associates of Trump have been at the center of the ongoing Russia investigation, including former campaign manager Paul Manafort, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone, and former Trump adviser Carter Page. The Trump White House has repeatedly denied any untoward involvement with Russia during the election. NOW WATCH: A reporter asked Spicer if hes confident that no one in the White House is a foreign agent More From Business Insider By Karin Strohecker LONDON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund hopes an audit into Mozambique's debt burden will be concluded in the next couple of weeks and that the government will publish the results, the head of the IMF's Africa department said on Wednesday. The fund is also looking to base any policies or programmes designed for the Central African economic bloc (CEMAC) around maintaining the currency peg the six nations hold against the euro, Abebe Selassie told Reuters in an interview. Debt-ridden Mozambique, one of the world's poorest countries, is struggling to repay loans of more than $2 billion that were not approved by parliament. The discovery of the loans prompted the IMF to halt a further loan last April, and led to the collapse of its currency and of investor confidence. The government appointed multinational risk management firm Kroll in November to investigate the hidden loans to state firms, and said it granted an extension to the investigation in February. [nJ8N1F9018] "We hope the audit will be finished in the next couple of weeks," Selassie said in an interview on the sidelines of a meeting at think-tank Chatham House. Asked if he hoped the results of the audit would be made public, Selassie said: "In general, there is no better tonic against issues like this than transparency." Speaking about the fund's work with CEMAC countries, Selassie said recent engagements with the bloc - comprised of Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Congo Republic and Central African Republic - to put in place policies and potential programmes had been "very constructive". "They have made it very clear that they want to maintain the peg and we agree that will be the anchor for policies," he said, referring to the CFA Franc, which is tied to the euro at a fixed exchange rate with the peg guaranteed by the French Treasury. "So there will be significant fiscal reforms that need to be effected as well as reforms to promote growth and we are working on developing those with a number of the CEMAC countries." EFFECTS OF DEVALUATION While many analysts believe CFA countries will ultimately benefit from a devaluation because it would make their exports more competitive, many inside the zone are concerned about more expensive food and fuel imports. The IMF already has programmes in place with Chad and the Central Africa Republic, and has initiated discussions with Cameroon and Gabon, with a recent mission to Congo expecting to result in discussions as well, said Selassie. CEMAC leaders agreed in December to engage with the IMF to find ways to overcome macroeconomic instability caused in part by a fall in global commodity prices. [nL5N1GL4IR] Meanwhile in Ghana, the government needed to first and foremost recognise the need to reduce the deficit quite significantly, said Selassie. "The debt level is high in Ghana, and it is going to be important to reduce the fiscal deficit and to avoid adding to debt," he said. The West African country also needed to get a grip on the financing of its state-owned enterprises as well as reform public finances to ensure excessive spending in election years did not keep recurring. "Unfortunately, this has been a feature of Ghana's policies in the past few election cycles," Selassie said. Just a few years ago, Ghana's economy was one of the most dynamic in Africa, but it was hit hard starting in 2014 by a slump in global prices for its gold and oil exports. President Nana Akufo-Addo told parliament in February a three-year IMF programme aimed at stabilising national finances had failed to meet its objectives, placing the blame squarely on the government he defeated in elections in December. [nL8N1G62V3] Selassie confirmed that he expected economic growth across sub-Saharan Africa to come in at 2.8 percent this year and 3.7 percent in 2018. (Reporting by Karin Strohecker; editing by Mark Heinrich) US private equity firm Advent International Corp has withdrawn from a bidding process to acquire Pfizer Inc's Brazilian generic drugs joint venture, leaving rival Bain Capital LP as the only contender for the company, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. Last November, Advent and a number of companies placed non-binding offers to buy Laboratorio Teuto Brasileiro SA, commonly known as Teuto | Pfizer, the people said. Still, Advent failed to place a binding offer, for reasons the people declined to discuss. Bain Capital, which has also participated in the eight-month old process to sell Teuto | Pfizer, has not yet presented a final, binding offer for the company, which owns Latin America's largest generic drugs plant. Pfizer (PFE.N) owns 40 percent of the venture, with the Melo family still owning the remaining stake. Reuters reported in October that the shortlist of suitors included Advent, Bain and Torrent Capital Investment Corp. Buyout firms presented more attractive terms than other drugmakers initially contacted, including Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Mylan NV. Pfizer and the Melos put the company up for sale last July and hired the investment banking units of Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Grupo BTG Pactual SA as advisers. Shareholders had expected to fetch between 1 billion reais and 1.5 billion reais ($324 million and $486 million) for the venture. Advent, Bain Capital, Pfizer and Teuto, which is located in the midwestern Brazilian city of Anapolis, declined to comment, as well as the banks involved. The people, who requested anonymity since the process remains private, said that a failure to find a buyer could rekindle a dispute between Pfizer and the Melos. The rift stems from an option to buy out the family between 2014 and 2016, taking into account a pre-defined valuation of 14.4 times operational profit for Teuto | Pfizer, the people said. Pfizer backpedaled on previous plans to exit the generic drugs segment late last year. Still, performance of the business in Brazil, the world's No. 3 market for generics, has hammered rivals like France's Sanofi SA (SASY.PA), which has dealt with excess inventory at a local unit. In addition, Brazil's harshest recession ever has put the brakes on the sale of medicines, which expanded 11.5 percent last year. That number compared with 15 percent growth two years ago. Representative Image live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More With many telecom companies joining hands to beat competition and cut costs, some industry employees are having restless nights out of fear they may lose their jobs. A report in the Hindu BusinessLine today, quoting industry sources, says that thanks to the spate of consolidation recently, as many as 10,000 employees may lose their jobs over the next year. A large merger, such as the one announced between Idea and Vodafone earlier this week, tends to many job roles redundant at participating companies due to duplication. Some departments may have surplus employees. Jobs like telecallers or ground-fleet salesmen would be too many in number and a good portion of them might have to be let go, Dinesh Goel, Co-Founder & CEO, Aasaanjobs, told Moneycontrol. Telecom companies are generally bottom heavy with a lot of entry level staff for sales and back office operations, he added. Other support teams like finance and legal may also see surplus of employees, which will result in layoffs. Companies that are coming together Analysts say the Vodafone and Idea merger announced Monday could be a step that could change the face of the telecom industry -- in that it would also change the employee needs of these companies. In particular, the merger could take away 7,000 jobs, according to the HBL report, while another 3,000 could be from Reliance Communications and Aircel merger. Idea and Vodafone are looking at saving around USD 2.1 billion through synergies and the obvious way to cut costs would be let go of employees as human resources cost a significant amount to the telecom companies. Quantum of job cuts the industry may see Goel expects a 20 percent job cut in the industry. This will help the merged entity reduce the cost pressure and showcase better Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) numbers, he said. While joining forces, companies look at better usage of the available workforce. The merger also slows down business development activities as the combined entity will have access to more markets, compared to any individual entity. The timeframe that Goel expects for the layoffs is anywhere between 6 to 12 months post mergers. It would generally take companies up to 6 months to consolidate the new teams and measure their performance as a combined entity, he added. Will consolidation leave employees with no jobs at all? Goel has a positive outlook for the telecom industry as India is on the cusp of mobile and internet penetration. He says that demand for experienced workforce in the sector is far greater than the supply of talent. Mergers should not render people unemployed, as the market would be able to absorb the laid off talent, he added. Also, employees in tier-2 cities can be less worrisome as telecom companies are aiming to expand there. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The Economic Survey this year proposed a bad bank to kickstart the resolution of non-performing loans in the banking industry. In theory, a bad bank will take up the bad loans, leaving banks with a clean balance sheet, which in turn should allow them to raise capital when required. However, analysts, policy makers and even bankers are divided on the effectiveness of the idea. Suresh Ganapathy of Macquarie Capital feels it is not a definite solution for the bad loan problem. It is a temporary stop gap arrangement, Ganapathy told Moneycontrol. For a long-term solution, the government needs to bring about structural reforms, he says. An easier solution would be for the government to infuse capital into state-owned banks. But that looks unlikely, given the government's own balance sheet problems. In its newsletter GREED & fear, CLSAs Christopher Wood says: It seems that the Modi governments strategy is to leave the state-owned banks to address their problems by natural attrition. This is partly driven by the governments reluctance to reduce its holding in PSUs below 50 percent, Wood says, adding that this would work to the advantage of private sector banks. A view which Ganapathy too holds. In the current scenario, private banks have an edge over the PSUs with stronger balance sheets and better earnings opportunity, he says. Recovery of loans remains one of the major challenge for PSUs. Alongwith with low recovery rate, problems of bureaucracy and legal issues makes recovery difficult for banks. Ganapathy doesnt expect defaults on restructured loans to increase in a big way, but cautions that resolution continues to look weak and will be slow. The current tools like S4A have not done much. Also, the disconnect between the bankers and asset restructuring companies (ARCs) has prolonged the situation and led to a pricing dispute between the two. The predominant attitude of bankers towards ARCs is that they only do asset stripping and are getting their management fees and have little contribution towards operational restructuring or turnaround of the company, Macquarie says in its India Banks/Financials: Waiting for Godot Where is the recovery? report. From the private equity viewpoint, bureaucracy bottlenecks and slow implementations makes things difficult for ARCs. Slow credit growth is another issue for the banks. Credit growth is likely to remain muted as no capex demand for new or existing projects is visible, Ganapathy said. Currently, the credit growth in the industry has fallen from double digits to sub-5 percent. For FY18E, credit growth is expected to be around 8 percent. Shift to IFRS, the new accounting standard from next fiscal, will add to PSU woes. IRFS includes three parts a new expected credit loss (ECL), new guidance for classification and measurement of assets and liabilities and changes in hedge accounting. The main impact will be from change in ECL, where till now the Reserve Bank used to prescribe provisioning on the basis of age of the stressed asset. Under IFRS, banks will have to provide for losses it could incur from the NPL, which could push-up the provisioning. It could impact 40 percent on net worth due to scale-up in provisions, Ganpathy said. Given the current scenario, it is advisable to stick with banks with strong balance sheet and good earnings probability, according to Ganpathy. Macquaries top picks include HDFC Bank IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank Hindustan Zinc has approved a mega special dividend of nearly Rs 14 lakh crore. It is the highest ever in a financial year in the whole of India's corporate history. Throwing more light on the matter, Sunil Duggal, CEO, Hindustan Zinc told CNBC-TV18 that the final decision on dividend will be taken on April 1. The approval for dividend was taken with the thought of rewarding shareholders since there was a large pile of cash on the books, he added. Even post the dividend, the cash balance with the company would stand at Rs 15000 crore, which could be utilised to fund projects or investments if any. He also clarified that there was no discussion yet on the divestment of the government's stake. Talking about production, he said, We are ramping up and we are on right track to deliver 1.2 million tonne in FY19-20. Below is the transcript of the interview. Q: 1,375 percent dividend announced by HZL and 95 percent in October. So this is the final one for the investors? A: As of now I would say it is the final one but we will take a final decision in the month of April. Q: A lot of investors as well as analysts believe that this is the precursor to governments residual stake sale in HZL, could you elabourate on that? A: This is just the guesswork that people are doing in the market. There is no discussion, which has taken place in the board. No agenda has been brought by any of the stakeholders. So as of now, I do not think anything is going to happen in the time to come in the near future. Q: If you look at the history, the dividend pay-out has increased from 2014 onwards and in the last financial year and this financial year we have seen the highest in terms of 1,200 percent and 1,375 percent, so how is the trend changing? A: It is nothing like a trend changing. The companys performance has become more robust in the last few years. So the balance sheet was becoming very healthy. The returns on the investment are okay. The cash was piling up so we decided at some point of time in a board that it will be worthwhile to deliver to the shareholders and reward them. So we rewarded them. Even after paying this dividend of Rs 14,000 crore odd, you can see that the cash balance at the end of the year would be around Rs 15,000 crore. So the cash lying at a level of Rs 15,000 crore is enough to fund the projects going forward and take any other decision if we want to take -- take a bold decision on any investment or diversification at that point of time. So, I think that was the decision which was taken by the board. Q: This financial year 95 percent and yesterday the board decided 1,375 percent dividend for its shareholder but it is still a special dividend, can we expect more dividend for the current financial year since you spoke about Rs 15,000 crore cash balance? A: I do not think for the current year any further dividend would be there but it is a board matter, which will be decided. As of now, there is no understanding that any further dividend would be given at the end of the year. Q: Can investors expect 100 percent dividend pay-out in next one-three years? A: It is a board matter. I am nobody because there is a lot of cash, which has been taken out from the balance sheet. Going forward, it all depends on what will be the performance of the company although the volumes are going up and you also see the prices -- the way it is looking, healthy prices are looking and the rally may continue along with the volume and the silver volume. So it all depends on what happens, how the balance sheet will look like and what decision the board of directors will take at that point of time. I am nobody to comment at this point of time. Q: Will the cash received by the parent company be utilised for the Anglo-American stake which has been acquired recently? A: That is not my prerogative, better you ask the Vedanta guys. Q: What is the outlook you see for zinc? Many analysts believe that in 2017-2018 it will peak the highest price, so how do you see the outlook on prices for zinc? A: I am very bullish personally. How the turn of events have happened last year -- around 0.8 to 1 million tonne of the deficit of concentrate which has happened has put a lot of pressure on the smelters and because of which the treatment charges have gone to the rock-bottom in the history of the zinc. So it has put a lot of pressure on the smelters and they are not able to earn any profit along with that it also does not look like the mine supply will pick up in the time to come. I have heard that around 0.5 million tonne of capacity in China is shut down and that will put additional pressure on the supply side. You must have also heard that last week in Peru, floods have come and because of the flood situation some smelters were shut down, some mines are also flooded. So I am not sure when the operation of some of these smelters or the mines or the railway track will resume but in the near-term maybe in the next three months time, it will further tighten up the supply side. So I expect both the prices and the premium should look up. Q: What is the outlook for production for HZL? A: We are ramping up and we are on right track and we will deliver 1.2 million tonne in FY19-20. Every year the volume is growing, the silver is growing at a much faster pace because of the contribution from the silver-rich mines is going every year, so next year there will be further growth in volumes. Q: What could be the timeline for governments residual stake sale? It is again on the agenda for the government on strategic sale for the next financial year? Have you heard anything from the government? Do you expect, are you positive that very soon the government will be able to sell its residual stake? A: No communication has come from the government, no discussion has taken place in the board, no tickers have come, so I do not think in the near future anything is going to happen but it all depends on how the turn of events will happen and the discussion will take place. Q: There was one proposal given by HZL on buyback of shares, which never got a nod from the government, will that proposal again come back in the new financial year? A: You must have heard Mine secretary told at some point of time they are taking a legal opinion. The opinion couldnt come and it was taking a little more time so in the meantime board of director thought that it is worthwhile at this point of time to disburse the dividend rather than waiting for that. So let us see what happens going forward. Post market hours on December 7 last year, Divis Laboratories told stock exchanges it had received five observations from the US drug regulator for its Unit-II facility in Visakhapatnam. It did not explain the nature of these observations. The stock did not react much the next day, an oddity considering how investors nowadays overreact to even minor events. The initial muted reaction was either owing to the lack of details or because investors drew comfort from the fact that Divis remained one of the last Indian pharma companies to have avoided the US Food and Drug Administrations wrath. But everything changed on December 23. After the company made public the details of the observations, the stock lost a quarter of its value. Devil in the details The observations included the failure to exercise proper control over computerised systems used for analytical testing of drugs, poor maintenance of facilities and equipment, not conducting a proper investigation into complaints on deviations in product batches, among others. What might have particularly irked the regulator was that inspectors found evidence of falsification and destruction of documents. This indicated serious breaches of data integrity, which the agency considers a serious offence. Moneycontrol independently verified the observations listed in the US FDAs 18-page letter addressed to Kiran S Divi, Director and President Operations at Divis. The final blow came on Tuesday, when the regulator banned Divis Unit-II facility. The stock tanked 20 percent, despite the relief of 10 products being exempted from the import alert including some top-selling active ingredients. The US FDA sometimes exempts products if it sees shortages significantly impacting patients and drug prices. As per the import alert, the FDA inspection revealed that the firm was not operating in conformity with current good manufacturing practices (GMPs). The alert will remain in effect until the violations are considered resolved, either through re-inspection or submission of appropriate documentation. Possible impact "Divis along with third party consultants, is currently working to address the concerns of the US FDA and is making all efforts to fully meet the compliance requirements, the company said in a statement on Tuesday without specifying the impact the import alert will have on its sales in the US. Company executives couldnt be reached over phone on Wednesday. Divis Unit-II plant in Visakhapatnam is located at Chippada village, about 35 km north of the port city and accounts for 23 percent of overall sales . Analysts anticipate not just revenue loss on account of the import alert, but also see risks of order cancellations, customer attrition and a slew of rigorous inspections by other regulators, which could structurally affect the business. "With 40-50 percent of the drugs manufactured here covered by the import alert, we cut FY18/FY19 earnings estimates by 36-40 percent to build in revenue losses, remediation costs and order cancellations," said Religare Securities in its research note. "Fresh capacity addition is likely to be delayed given the ongoing farmer agitation at Vizag and Kakinada, and with Unit-I operating at 85 percent-plus, Divi could find it difficult to shift key products," Religare said. Amey Chalke of HDFC Securities concurred. "Divis is a preferred partner for most top Pharma MNCs, and presently enjoys an advantage over other less established players," he said. "However, the import alert has now created an uncertainty regarding the continued success of the custom synthesis business." The top 5 customers constitute 38 percent of the companys revenues. Analysts were also surprised by the swiftness of US FDA action. Typically US FDA alerts the company through a warning letter and in the same letter it gives directions and time-frame for corrective action. In Divis case, there seems to have been no such formality. "The problem with Divis is that in the absence of a warning letter, the company may not be able to undertake any remediation," said GG Gurudatta, Director and CEO of Bengaluru-headquartered Estima Pharma. Gurudatta expects the resolution of Divis plant to take around three-and-half years and a review the list of products exempt if the regulator doesnt see any shortages. Forgettable year Divis started off 2017 on a high note. The company moved its corporate office to new premises at Hyderabads IT hub Hitec City. It ended FY16 with a net profit at Rs 1107.69 crore and sales of Rs 3815.7 crore, maintaining a healthy EBITDA margin of 37 percent. Around three-fourths of the companys sales came from exports to US and Europe. The company is also setting up a large manufacturing facility near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh at an investment of Rs 500 crore. Murali K. Divi, 65, chairman and managing director of the company, announced to his shareholders at the companys annual general meeting that the new plant will help de-risk its operations and achieve visible growth opportunities. Just when everything seemed to going in the companys favour Divis was struck with an agitation from farmers opposing its upcoming plant on grounds of alleged pollution and forcible acquisition of land. The local agitation and delays in getting approvals has pushed deadlines by several quarters. To make matters worse, the company that earlier maintained a clean regulatory track record failed spectacularly in the December US FDA audit. business Montana's first phase delivery to take place in December 2020: Emami Infra "Montana has been formally launched yesterday and we are going to complete this in two phases. First phase delivery is in December 2020", Girija Choudhry, Wholetime Director & CFO at Emami Infrastructure told CNBC-TV18. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Ramakanth Akula, CEO of Waterbase gave an update on the amalgamation with Pinnae Seeds which is a part of their group company. He also shared his outlook for the business going forward. Waterbase Limited is a leading manufacturer of high-quality shrimp feed in India. The company also processes shrimp in IQF, Block Frozen and Cooked form from its own captive farms, and exports its produce to global markets, predominantly Japan, Europe and the United States. The companys processing plant is FDA listed and EU approved, and processing is done as per HACCP guidelines. Amalgamation with Pinnae Seeds will lead to increase in capacity. The current capacity for the company stands at 35,000 tonnes which would go up to 1,10,000 tonnes post-amalgamation, said Akula. Moreover, the capacity utilisation which is around 50 percent is also expected to go up, he said The company is also hopeful of moving back to double-digit EBITDA margins going forward, on back of lower raw material prices, he said. Over 90 percent of revenues comes from the shrimp feed business but going forward expect the new shrimp processing and export business to also start contributing towards revenues, said Akula, adding that the company also plans to get into new verticals like farm input segment. Stayzilla founder Yogendra Vasupal A Chennai court on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of Stayzilla Founder and CEO Yogi Vasupal, who has been languishing in Puzhal Central Prison in the city, since last week. The bail was denied on grounds that the Chennai police is yet to get custody of Vasupal, who is currently behind judicial custody, said a report here. Vasupal, who had shut Chennai-based Stayzilla last month, was arrested on complaint by a local media agency Jigsaw Advertising over pending dues of Rs 1.7 crore. The issue became public when an emergency email by Stayzilla co-founder Sachit Singhi to investors Nexus Venture Partners and Avnish Bajaj of Matrix Partners asking for 'help' was made public on social media. More worried about other cellmates Meanwhile, over 440 startup founders (as of last update) in the country have written an open letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh requesting a fair investigation into the Stayzilla issue. People close to Vasupal told Moneycontrol that he is more worried about other cellmates who are facing frivolous charges and are behind bars but don't have help or support like he has received. The letter sent to the Union Home Minister is supported by Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, former Infosys Chief Financial Officer Mohandas Pai, among others. Trade associations such as Assocham, CII, Ficci, Nasscom and IAMAI have supported the cause. In a blog, before his arrest, Vasupal pointed out the deficiencies in the system when a company tried to wind down operations in India. About 90 percent startups fail in the country; however, winding down is a painful procedure which can take up to three years. There is no use of having jumped so many hoops to be a private limited company thinking that it will limit individual liability, when people at senior levels in police dont even understand the differenceor can pretend not to know it, Vasupal had said live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Shishir Asthana Moneycontrol Research Every year, the government comes out with an eye-watering target for disinvestment proceeds. But unfortunately the whole sell-off process has become synonymous with Life Insurance Corporation bailing out the government by acquiring the shares up for sale: In effect, money going from one of the States pockets to the other. But there are companies so dire that even the insurance giant will not touch them. In such cases, the government asks the company to utilize its own cash balance to buy out the promoter, i.e. itself. Every year, by hook or by crook, the government tries to meet its divestment target from listed companies. However, most of the basket cases are in the unlisted public sector. Many of them are bleeding so profusely that there is no alternative but to let them die. Some are loss-making but stand a chance of surviving in the competitive environment with modernisation, focused management and capital influx. In such companies divestment is not a solution; instead, the government should give away its entire stake to professional management more capable of sailing the ship. This seems to be the reasoning behind governments think tank Niti Aayog's recommendation of immediate strategic sales in 12 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs). Companies included in this list are National Textile Corporation, Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore, Hindustan Antibiotics, Scooters India and Hindustan Fluorocarbons. Most of the companies in the list are loss-making even at the operating level. Old machinery, products not aligned to market needs, lack of vision and high fixed costs are some of the reasons for the sorry state of these companies. Take the case of National Textile Corporation with 30 operational mills and 60 closed ones. The company makes an operational loss and has been able to refurbish its existing units only by selling assets of the closed ones. While Indian textile companies have been making a mark for themselves globally, NTC does not even have a brand of its own. Incorporated in 1968, NTC is younger than one of the biggest private sector players, Vardhaman Textiles, that was incorporated in 1951. Yet the difference between the two companies is summed up in Vardhaman Textiles mission statement on the first page of its annual report. "If there is anything that 51 years of working in Indias textile sector has taught us, it is the need to keep reinventing." NTC's annual report does not carry any mission statement. A directionless approach is written all over NTC's balance sheet. Bloated manpower, which has been a problem with most loss-making public sector units, is also an issue at NTC. Its employee cost as a percent of revenue stands at 24 percent as compared to only 7.3 percent for Vardhaman. All other factors being equal, its own manpower is taking the company down. The other public sector companies have more or less a similar tale to narrate. To Niti Aayog's credit all the companies identified have a good potential to survive and prosper, in other hands. An aggressive management and a few harsh decisions will do the job. Air India's example has shown that freezing recruitment is unlikely to solve the problem. Air India has for the last 18 years put a stop to hiring; as a result its average employee age is now 50 years. This is lethal for an industry where youth is an advantage both in the cabin and in understanding constantly-evolving technology. The very fact that these companies are able to book revenue shows there is a market for their products. Internal restructuring is all that is needed to bring these companies on track, but a militant labour union might make the deal unattractive. Government will have to either clean up the companies by offering a generous VRS or assuring the new owners a smooth transition. In a move that could have far reaching implications, Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar in a bid to resolve the Babri Masjid demolition case has ordered that petitions and annexing documents being filed in the case should be without bulky paper-books and SC would now electronically collect all trial court and High court records. Today a bench of CJI Khehar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose was going to hear the case about reviving the conspiracy charges against BJP leaders, Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti in connection with the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. SC adjourned the hearing in Babri Masjid demolition criminal case to April 6, 2017 and directed that parties should file written submissions in the matter. CJI J S Khehar stated that in the next six to seven months there will be no more filing of bulky paper-books as petitions and annexing documents with it. This move can significantly expedite the chances of an early verdict as there were supporting documents which ran into thousands of pages and dated back to 16th century in order to determine the ownership of the land. CJI further said that now SC will electronically collect trial court and HC records and there will be no need of case records being filed afresh in SC. CJI also said that from now on whoever wishes to file petition in SC will only have to briefly put in writing the grounds on which they are challenging a HC order. This case has its genesis in two sets of cases, one was against the BJP leader Advani and others who were present at the stage at Ram Katha Kunj in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, when the mosque was demolished and the other was against the volunteers (Kar Sevaks) who were present during the demolition. CBI had earlier accused Advani and 20 other people under sections of Indian Penal Code charging them of promoting enemity between classes, circulating false rumours to intention of causing public peace. Later it had leveled charges of criminal conspiracy which was dismissed by a special court later upheld by the Allahabad HC. But SC on March 6, while hearing CBIs plea, questioned as to why conspiracy charges cannot be restored against BJP and RSS leaders, it had also hinted that it would club the two separate hearings going on in Rae Bareli and Lucknow courts. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Consumer goods distributors and wholesalers will face the brunt of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as companies look to shift to direct distribution channels to save money, according to an Edelweiss report. The report said that HUL has more than tripled its direct reach from 0.9 million outlets in 2009 to 3.2 million in 2013, while Godrej Consumer has expanded its urban direct outlet coverage by over 20 percent in 18 months till FY15. Marico too, started with the objective to increase direct coverage in top six metros merging it into regular distributor coverage. "Demonetisation has compelled players to turn the spotlight on expanding direct coverage...Direct distribution has not become a bigger focus of companies but with GST also coming in it should be the way forward." said the report. Apart from consumer companies' shift to direct distribution, wholesalers and distributors are at a great disadvantage with the arrival of the indirect tax reform. Being the middlemen, they make gains from unbilled goods that do not attract VAT. For instance, if a product which should have cost the wholesaler Rs 112.5 (assuming 12.5 percent VAT and Rs 100 product cost), costs him only Rs 100. With the GST's implementation, the middlemen will come into the organised bracket and will have to pay taxes for the very first time. This will lead to an increase in compliance costs and taxation for them. Taxation of distributors will also have a small impact on consumer companies. "This could push up overall distribution costs of companies, which in our view should not be more than 50 60bps and will be a onetime exercise as the same can be easily passed on to consumers," the report forcasts. The consumer goods manufacturers, on the other hand, are going to largely benefit from the GST. A government advertisement encouraging migration to GST The change will bring about stringent compliance norms that may affect the unorganised sector. This will shift the market share of the organised sector higher. The report also said that most companies are becoming GST ready, months before it becomes a reality by tweaking IT systems and company processes. "Most have set up separate GST committees to take care of all the systems, processes and compliance required under the new regime and a few have also appointed consultants from the Big FourPWC, Deloitte, EY, KPMG," the report added. Is the government planning to put a cap on iron ore prices to support domestic steel industry? There are indications that the government may place a ceiling on iron prices within a month, as part of the governments efforts to aid the domestic steel industry, to arrest the surge in imports and help local producers realise better prices and margins. The likely move, however, has got the iron ore industry worried. Iron ore miners say that a cap will severely dent the budding revival signs in the industry that has been plagued by plunging exports. There is a fierce price battle between Indian and Australian miners and that has led to steep discounts, especially in the low-grade market. For ore with iron content below 58 percent, Indian miners have been forced to give discounts of as much as 40 percent to compete with Australian ores, which are being offered at a 25 percent discount for similar grades. Sources told Moneycontrol that the steel ministry is working on a plan to cut raw material costs by capping iron ore prices and making coking coal mines available under auction for steel metal. In October 2016, Niti Aayog had pushed the case for a new and dynamic steel policy. A Niti Aayog report said that seeing the current situation of the steel sector, it may be unlikely to achieve the targets envisaged in the National Steel Policy 2012 -- a capacity of 300 MT and production of 275 MT by 2025. The report also advocated independent regulators for both steel and mining sectors besides highlighting the need for keeping a check on supplies and price of iron ore. The steel ministry has now taken a leaf out of Niti Aayogs views and has mandated the governments premier policy think tank to devise formulations so that iron ore prices can be brought down. Iron miners say such a move will adversely affect the mining industry, potentially derailing the recent revival. "Steel is sold at the market price and there is protection from imports of steel. Why is the government trying to subsidise the steel industry"? a leading iron ore miner said, requesting anonymity. "The cost of iron ore in steel production is only 15 percent". Iron ore prices (62 percent FE content) have collapsed from a high of USD 150 per metric tonne in January 2013 to merely USD 40 per metric tonne by December 2015 as steel industry in China slowed down but miners from countries like Brazil and Australia did not cut global supplies. The price drop has been sharper for lower grades of iron ore. It is only in four months to January 2017 that prices have picked up steam and stabilized around USD 80 per metric tonne, although still nearly 50 percent lower from the peak seen in January 2013. According to Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), Indias exports slumped from a peak of 117 million tonnes in the year to March 2010 to 4.5 million tonnes last year. The government cannot come in the way of a market mechanism because there has to be a free market and market is determined by demand and supply. If supply is more, then there is no cause for steel ministry to fix the price, RK Sharma, Secretary General of FIMI said. "If you are fixing the iron price, which is a raw material for steel industry, you should also fix a reasonable price for steel, which is a raw material for downstream industries such as machine tools and some more products. Price of iron ore affects only few steelmakers, whereas price of steel affects millions of users, Sharma said. Shipments have climbed to 14.8 million tonnes in the eight months to November but this is still a very small proportion of the global seaborne market of about 1.4 billion tonnes. A fierce price battle between Indian and Australian miners has also led to steep discounts, especially in the low grade market. For ore with iron content below 58 percent, Indian miners have been forced to give discounts of as much as 40 percent to compete with Australian ores, which are being offered at a 25 percent discount for similar grades. Indian iron ore miners say the industry is severely crippled with high royalty, various state level taxes, high export duty, export restrictions and cap on production. Any further restriction on iron ore pricing will be detrimental for the mining industry, they say. Kolkata: Union minister of state (independent charge) for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goel addresses at a media conference during inauguration of "CII National Council meeting" in Kolkata on Tuesday. PTI Photo (PTI1_3_2017_000149B) Indian Railways has agreed to continue electricity purchase from Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd (RGPPL), commonly known as Dabhol project, for a period of five years beginning April 1, Parliament was informed today. "Railways has agreed to continue to purchase 500 MW power from RGPPL power plant from April, 1, 2017 for a period of five years," Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to Lok Sabha today. According to the reply, the Maharashtra government has agreed, in principle, for granting waiver of state transmission charges and transmission losses and also waiver of VAT on gas purchase by the RGPPL. The minister stated that RGPPL has started generation of power under the scheme of utilisation of gas-based power generation capacity for 2015-16 and 2016-17. He further told the House that the total debt of RGPPL is about Rs 8,906 crore and the government has taken several steps for revival of the project. The minister listed steps including the decision to demerge the Power Block and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal into two separate entities. Besides the banks/financial institutions have agreed to restructure the debt. The gas supply to RGPPL at a firm price for a five year period has been agreed by the GAIL, the minister said. The Reserve Bank of India has recommended case-specific waivers as the demand for farm loan waiver extends to other states after Uttar Pradesh's new CM offered to fulfill his electoral promise. Citing concerns around credit discipline in loan waivers, RBI Deputy Governor SS Mundra said, "Our organisational view had always been that this (loan waiver) can have some concern around credit discipline. I think what is more important is to understand the component and where there is a need and if there is a need, what kind of design could be there which can meet the concern of all the requirements." Mundra who was speaking on the sidelines of a banking event. Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) which won a massive mandate in UP elections earlier this month, had committed to a farm loan waiver as its election promise. A recent State Bank of India (SBI) report said the UP government will need Rs 27,419.70 crore to waive off loans to farmers. Such a farm loan waiver took place in 2009 after the national elections when United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government announced a Rs 60,000 crore debt waiver package for small and marginal farmers. SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya also recently flagged the negative effects of a loan waiver on the credit repayment culture among farmers. It also has an adverse impact on the governments fiscal budget. Speaking about microfinance borrowers repayments, Mundra said there could be short-term disruptions but the RBI has no particular reason at this point to look at state-specific relaxation. Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), a self-regulatory body for microlenders, wrote to the RBI last month expressing fears of huge non-repayments owing to demonetisation impacting states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttarakhand. On the ailing condition of banks due to bad loans, Mundra said that the asset quality review (AQR) deadline of March 31 holds as of now and that the RBI, government and stakeholders including banks are actively discussing on recovery and resolution. There is nothing like a one-umbrella solution for everything. There are these instruments that are available. I think we need to provide more strength to the processes and that is where there are discussions going on whether the institution of oversight committee can be further enlarged or strengthened, the RBI deputy said. He added that the decisions should be adopted by all very quickly and resultant valuation should be transparent. If the valuation leads to a haircut, then that would entail capital requirement and other variety of instruments are being discussed. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Bank unions are opposed to the governments condition of sacrificing employee benefits and arranging market capital for infusing government funds into public sector banks. The unions and general secretaries of the ten banks are set to meet in Kolkata on Friday to discuss a response to the governments plan. The government on March 16 shot off a letter to these banks stating that capital infusion would depend upon quarterly milestones and only after they sign a memorandum of understanding with unions, banks boards, management and employees. The milestones include active NPA (non-performing asset) management, strengthening credit monitoring, arranging capital from the market, selling non-core assets, divestment of stake in subsidiaries to close loss-making branches and rationalisation and reduction of employee benefits by rationalising and reducing administrative expenses. According to S Nagarajan, General Secretary, All India Bank Officers' Association: The question is why should bank employees suffer for the decisions taken by the senior management? Big ticket loans are approved by the Boards, so the sacrifice of benefits must come from the top first. He added that the employees are not involved in the decision-making process while raising funds from the market. According to the unions, the bank employees and officers have already worked hard in the aftermath of last Novembers note ban and have not been compensated enough. In addition, weaker banks need to see resolution and recovery of the large corporate loans which require government handholding. The 10 banks identified for capital allocation are Allahabad Bank (Rs 418 crore); Andhra Bank (Rs 1,100 crore); Bank of India (Rs 1,500 crore); Bank of Maharashtra (Rs 300 crore); Central Bank of India (Rs 100 crore); Dena Bank (Rs 600 crore); IDBI Bank (Rs 1,900 crore); Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 1,100 crore); UCO Bank (Rs 1,150 crore) and United Bank of India (Rs 418 crore). The Union leaders are opposed to the idea of private capital coming into public sector banks as they could lead to lending to only profitable sectors and business that curtails peoples interests. CH Venkatachalam, general secretary of All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA), said: We are in full agreement that NPAs should be resolved but not at the cost of employees. Further, the capital from the market means the investors will look for returns. This means that banks will only look to invest into profitable lending. This will curtail lending towards agriculture or education loans. SBI Caps has been inducted to design the detailed bank-wise plan based on which the agreement between the government, banks management and employees will be signed. The unions are also asking to revise basic pay and a five-day working week for the employees of public sector banks. Police tapes off Parliament Square after reports of loud bangs, in London, Britain, March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth Five people were killed and about 40 injured in London on Wednesday after a car ploughed into pedestrians and a suspected Islamist-inspired attacker stabbed a policeman close to Britain's parliament. Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the attack as "sick and depraved". "The location of this attack was no accident," she said in a statement outside her 10 Downing Street office late in the evening. "The terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech." Any attempt to defeat those values through violence was "doomed to failure", May said. Mark Rowley, Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer, told reporters the attack started when a car was driven over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injuring members of the public and three police officers. "A car then crashed near to parliament and at least one man, armed with a knife, continued the attack and tried to enter parliament," Rowley said. He said the police's "fast-paced investigation" was working on the assumption that the attack was "Islamist-related terrorism". Police believed they knew the identity of the attacker but would not provide details at this stage, he said. It was the deadliest attack in London since four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the city's transport system in July 2005, in London's worst peacetime attack. It took place on the first anniversary of attacks by Islamist militants that killed 32 people in Brussels. Reuters reporters inside parliament during Wednesday's attack heard loud bangs and shortly afterwards saw the knifeman and the stabbed policeman lying on the ground in a courtyard within the gates of parliament. The dead police officer was identified as Keith Palmer, 48, with 15 years of service. LAWMAKERS CAUGHT UP IN CHAOS A Reuters photographer saw at least a dozen people injured on the bridge. His photographs showed people lying on the ground, some of them bleeding heavily and one under a bus. A woman was pulled alive, but with serious injuries, from the Thames, the Port of London Authority said. The circumstances of her fall into the river were unknown. Three French schoolchildren aged 15 or 16 were among those injured in the attack, French officials said. The proposal to raise equity investment cap of provident fund money with the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to 15 percent from the current 10 percent is likely to sail through at the forthcoming meeting of EPFO's Central Board of Trustees (CBT). Central trade union representatives who had been opposing equity investment of PF money of EPFO subscribers from the very beginning appear to have reconciled themselves to the fact that support from an overwhelming majority of non-trade union CBT members would result in the proposal being accepted. "We have all along been opposing the move to invest retirement money in the form of PF in equities since it is a risky investment and might result in erosion of the corpus in the long run. However, Central Trade Unions have only 10 representatives in the 42-member CBT. The employers' and the state government representatives will go with the government. However, we will record our protest at the meeting," DL Sachdeva, General Secretary, All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) told said. The next meeting of the CBT is scheduled to be held on March 30, 2017. The proposal to hike the equity cap has not been included in the formal agenda of the meeting but is likely to be brought in through special mention. Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya has said that the issue will be taken up at the meeting. He said that the government's move comes at a time when the equity markets are doing well and returns on past stock investments are good. The markets are doing well and the returns on EPFO's equity investments look good. But what will happen after some time if the market goes down? There may be negative returns," Sachdeva said. According to figures released by the Labour Ministry on Wednesday, EPFO had invested Rs 18,609 crore in ETFs till February 18, 2017. This included Rs 17,105 crore in Nifty 59 and Sensex-based ETFs, while another Rs 1,504 crore was invested in CPSE ETFs floated by the government. The returns on equity investments stand at above 18 percent in 2016-17. In 2015-16, EPFO had invested Rs 6,577 crore in ETFs that fetched a return of 13.24 percent. The returns compare well with the payout of 8.65 percent fixed by the government to PF subscribers for 2017-18. AK Padmanabhan, President, Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) said the equity cap can be raised without the matter being placed before the CBT. "The fact is that the Finance Ministry has set a band of 5-15 percent of equity investment by EPFO. Hence, it can go up automatically without the need to bring it before the CBT. It is just a formality," said Padmanabhan, a member of CBT told Moneycontrol. Incidentally, CBT is the highest decision-making body of EPFO. Padmanabhan, however, said that the central trade unions remain opposed to the move. All central trade unions including Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh (which is close to the ruling BJP at the Centre) has in the past objected to stock market exposure of PF money. You are endangering the lifetime saving for subscribers meant for old age income security," Padmanabhan said. By CNBCTV18.COM Following an impressive victory in recent state elections, Modi's ruling faction the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh chief minister on Sunday. A 44-year old priest, Adityanath is a well-known figure of Hindutva, a right-wing ideology that champions Hindu nationalism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's controversial decision to install a rabble-rouser as leader of India's most populous state may signal a new direction in his policy platform and potentially sow seeds of religious tension. Following an impressive victory in recent state elections, Modi's ruling faction the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh chief minister on Sunday. A 44-year old priest, Adityanath is a well-known figure of Hindutva, a right-wing ideology that champions Hindu nationalism. In the past, he's made numerous remarks perceived as hateful towards minority religions in the Hindu-majority nation. He's asked Indian Muslims to leave the country, recently praised President Donald Trump's travel ban on certain Muslim-majority countries, and suggested that minorities were to blame for communal riots. Last year, he claimed Mother Teresa was part of a conspiracy to Christianize India. A youth group that he founded, Hindu Yuva Vahini, has also been linked to violent incidents. Adityanath's promotion in Uttar Pradesh, dubbed the political heart of India, signals a dramatic change in Modi's political outlook, strategists said. "There is no denying the signal this pick (of chief minister) sends: with a huge mandate, the BJP has decided to lead with the face of religious nationalism not the forward-looking, twenty-first century face of the New India in their most important state," said Alyssa Ayres, senior South Asia fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, in a recent note. While the BJP itself is a Hindu nationalist party, populism and economic development has dominated Modi's first three years in office. Up until now, the prime minister has largely concentrated on manufacturing, sanitation and infrastructure initiatives, such as 'Make in India' and the nation-wide construction of toilets. But Adityanath's rise to power could mean Modi has chosen to focus his governance on religion instead as he looks to cement his leadership before the 2019 general election. "Adityanath's selection may seem surprising because his support for Hindutva appears to contradict Modi's campaign rhetoric of prioritizing economic development above Hindu-first policies," said Eurasia analysts in a note. But for the BJP, Adityanath represents a subservient leader who will continue Modi's anti-corruption drive, shore up support within the Hindu base, and strong-arm the civil service to execute Modi's agenda, the note continued. Following his swearing-in on Sunday, Adityanath said he will look to implement measures aimed at curtailing special privileges for government ministers, including a declaration of assets. He's also promised to improve law and order by eliminating thug rule, a critical issue for a gang-ridden state like Uttar Pradesh. With a population equal to Brazil's, Uttar Pradesh is of central importance to the rest of the nation. "Since independence, the politics of Uttar Pradesh have reflected those of the country as a whole," said Mark Fleming-Williams, global economics analyst at Stratfor, noting that the state has produced eight of India's 15 prime ministers. "It is the country's steering wheel; anyone who wishes to control India must control Uttar Pradesh." While local media are already discussing Adityanath's chances of becoming prime minister one day, a more pressing issue accompanies his new role: Hindu-Muslim conflict. It's feared that his inflammatory remarks and practice of divisive politics will spark fresh tensions between the two groups, who have a long history of conflict in India. Islam is the nation's second-largest religion behind Hinduism, and Uttar Pradesh is around 20 pecent Muslim. "Until now, Modi's BJP government has been relatively circumspect on sensitive communal issues, but the appointment of Adityanath signals a shift in its approach. From now on, Muslims are likely to be left with the understanding that they are in a Hindu country and that their values and beliefs are of secondary importance," said Fleming-Williams. Religious unity has long been a perennial problem in the world's largest democracy but it's taken on renewed importance amid recent developments. Calls to construct a new Hindu temple in southern Uttar Pradesh and India's ongoing hostilities with Pakistan in the disputed region of Kashmir have cast an intensified spotlight on Indian Muslims. Angel Broking's currency report on EURINR Yesterday, the Euro currency spot traded lower by 0.12 percent (EURUSD) and 0. 17 percent (EURINR) after a Dutch newspaper reported that EU is ready to take Britain to court if it does not agree on key issues such as the 50 billion ($62.4 billion) Brexit divorce bill. Furthermore, the release of trade balance report showed that EUs current account surplus narrowed to 15 - month low. Fresh figures show the surplus fell to 24.1bn in January 17, down from a revised 30.8bn the previous month. Due to all the above factors, EURINR spot is expected to trade lower. Due to all the above factors, EURINR spot is expected to trade lower. Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Read More By CNBCTV18.COM News of the police action, including one address in Birmingham, follows on from Wednesday when a suspected terrorist plowed a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge and then fatally stabbed a police officer before being shot. British police have searched six addresses and made seven arrests in raids as part of an investigation into Wednesday's attack on the Houses of Parliament which left four people dead and 40 injured, London's Metropolitan Police has announced. News of the police action, including one address in Birmingham, follows on from Wednesday when a suspected terrorist plowed a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge and then fatally stabbed a police officer before being shot. Mark Rowley, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said at a press conference Wednesday night that the dead attacker was believed to be the only suspect, but declined to comment on the assailant's identity. The police's working assumption is that the attacker was inspired by international Islamist terrorism. Londoners can expect to see heavier police presence, both armed and unarmed, throughout the city for the next few days, Rowley said. Speaking Thursday morning, U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said that Parliament is currently reviewing its already stringent security measures. Police forensics team examine a car in Parliament Square on March 22, 2017 in London, England. Wednesday's attack unfolded around 2.40 p.m. local time when the assailant drove a grey Hyundai i40 along a pavement on Westminster Bridge, before running to Parliament. There he was confronted by a police, including unarmed PC Keith Palmer, who later died from stab wounds. Tobias Ellwood, a member of Parliament who was at the scene at the time, was praised for his efforts to provide mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to Palmer. The other victims are yet to be named. Addressing the country outside 10 Downing Street Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the attack and applauded the heroism demonstrated by the police. "The terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech," she said. "But let me make it clear today, as I have had cause to do before, any attempt to defeat those values through violence and terror is doomed to failure." Londoners and tourists will wake up on Thursday and go about their lives as normal, May said. The city's mayor, Sadiq Khan, echoed the prime ministers remarks, saying "Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism." The attack is the worst London has seen since 2005, when the capital was hit by a series of suicide bomb attacks on public transport during rush hour on July 7. The city has been on "severe" alert since 2014, which indicates that an attack is "highly likely", in response to conflicts in Iraq and Syria. This was an increase from a previous level of "substantial", which implies a strong possibility of an attack. Parliament is to hold a minute's silence at 10 a.m. London time on Thursday to commemorate the victims of the attack. Wednesday marked the one year anniversary of suicide attacks which took place in Brussels' Zaventem Airport. Memorial services were held around the country to remember the 32 people killed and 320 injured by the attack. A controversy erupted on Thursday after a Shiv Sena MP admitted to beating an Air India flight attendant with a slipper following an argument over being moved to economy from business class. "He was arrogant," Ravindra Gaikwad later told reporters, expressing no regret. "I hit him 25 times with my sandal." The incident took place on Thursday morning after the Air India flight from Pune landed in Delhi at around 10.30am. Gaikwad refused to get off the plane as he was forced to travel economy despite carrying a business class ticket and did not accept the airline's explanation that there were only economy seats on the flight. WATCH: Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad admits that he beat an Air India staff member with slippers,remains defiant pic.twitter.com/1ws5nYptkn ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 Gaikwad claimed an airline employee tried to make him exit the plane and told him not to give him "BP" (blood pressure). "I said I am an MP, don't raise your voice. He said 'what MP? I will talk to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi', so I hit him. I am not here to take abuse...I am not from the BJP," the MP said. The Air India steward has alleged that he was "humiliated in front of the entire crew and his spectacles were broken". The Shiv Sena has sought an explanation from the MP on the issue. "The Sena does not condone violence of any kind," Harshal Pradhan, media adviser to Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. His high-handedness drew flak online including from a leader of ally BJP. "Elected representatives need to respect people who are doing their job, irrespective of whether the Air India man was rude," said Shaina NC, BJP leader Shaina NC. Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Thursday said that no political party will encourage such an act. "It is a question of human behaviour. Any citizen hitting an airline staffer doesn't make any sense. If there is anything, it can always be taken up. No citizen will behave like this," Raju told news agency ANI. Air ambulance in London The Islamic State today claimed responsibility for a brazen terror attack on the UK Parliament that killed four people, including the British-born attacker who was known to British secret services, even as eight people were arrested in raids across London and Birmingham. Three people were killed and 40 injured when the 52-year old attacker, identified as Khalid Masood, yesterday mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed to death a police officer outside parliament complex in the heart of Westminster before being shot dead by Scotland Yard. Masood, who was born in Kent and had previously been convicted of violent offences, had been known to MI5 but was considered to be a peripheral figure. He was known by a number of aliases and had been living in the West Midlands recently. Prime Minister Theresa May said the attacker was British born and he was once investigated in relation to concerns about violent extremism few years ago. "We are not afraid...An act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today we meet as normal," May told sombre-looking lawmakers in the packed House of Commons which reopened today with a minute's silence a day after the attack. "It is still believed that this attacker acted alone, and the police have no reason to believe there are imminent further attacks on the public. His identity is known to the police and MI5, and when operational considerations allow, he will be publicly identified. Our working assumption is that the attacker was inspired by Islamist ideology," May said. Soon after her speech, the ISIS on its propaganda news agency 'Amaq' claimed responsibility, saying a "Soldier of the Caliphate" carried out the attack on the British Parliament. "The operation was carried out in response to calls to target coalition countries," it said in a statement. Police said Masood had previous convictions for a number of violent offences. He was arrested in the past for causing grievous bodily harm, but not in relation to terror charges. His first conviction was in 1983 for criminal damage and his last conviction was in December 2003 for possession of a knife, Metropolitan Police said. "Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack. However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences," a Scotland Yard statement said. In her speech, Prime Minister May said that eight people have been arrested during raids across London and Birmingham following the attack on the Palace of Westminster in London, which houses Britain's Parliament and the iconic Big Ben. In a message to the police, British Queen Elizabeth II said, "My thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's awful violence." May said the threat level to the UK has been set at 'severe' meaning an attack is highly likely for some time. This is the second highest threat level. The highest level 'critical' means there is specific intelligence that an attack is imminent. Giving details known about the attack, May said a single attacker drove his vehicle at speed into innocent pedestrians who were crossing Westminster Bridge, killing two people and injuring around 40 more, of which 29 were hospitalised. The attacker then left the vehicle and approached a police officer at Carriage Gates of Parliament, attacking him with a large knife, before he was shot dead by an officer. In addition to 12 Britons admitted to hospital, the injured include three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Irish, one Chinese, one Italian, one American and two Greeks. "There was no prior intelligence of attacker's intent or of the plot. Intensive investigations continue," May said. She also paid tribute to the security services and the police officer who lost his life in the attack. "Yesterday we saw the worst of humanity, but we will remember the best. We will remember the extraordinary efforts to save the life of Police Constable Keith Palmer. He was every inch a hero," she said. Scotland Yard Acting Deputy Commissioner and Head of Counter Terrorism Mark Rowley said the investigation was at a critical stage and the identity of the attacker was not being released as the ongoing investigation tries to piece together the suspect's "motivations, his preparation and associates". He urged the public to use their instincts and report anything suspicious, saying the Met Police will be working round the clock and all annual leave has been cancelled. "We must not allow terrorists to create discord, distrust and fear. The police stand with all communities," Rowley said. Overnight, West Midland Police officers stormed a second-floor flat in the city believed to be the residence of the knife-wielding attacker and led away people in handcuffs. It has also emerged that the car used in the attack was reportedly hired from Solihull area of Birmingham. The flag at New Scotland Yard premises in London is flying at half-mast following the attack, which claimed the life of one of their officers who was on guard at Parliament. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan today invited all Londoners and visitors to the capital to a candlelit vigil in Trafalgar Square to show solidarity with the victims of the attack. PTI AK ABH NSA ZH AKJ . (Adds deal, details) By Teis Jensen COPENHAGEN, March 22 (Reuters) - Shipping and oil company A. P. Moller-Maersk on Wednesday reached an agreement with the Danish state that means it will pay less tax on its North Sea oil and gas activities through 2025. The deal, which has been under negotiation for months, makes it viable to redevelop the Tyra field through which 90 percent of Denmark's gas production is processed, and it is seen as crucial for the Danish company that is seeking to spin off its energy assets via a listing or merger. Maersk and its partners in the Danish Underground Consortium (DUC) -- Shell, Chevron and state-owned Nordsofonden -- with whom it owns Tyra, will decide on the redevelopment of the field by the end of the year, Maersk said. "We will now issue tenders and progress engineering work towards detailed plans in preparation of a final investment decision by end 2017," Maersk Oil's Chief Operating Officer, Martin Rune Pedersen said in a statement. "Pending a final investment decision, production from Tyra is now expected to shut in December 2019 and restart in March 2022," Maersk Oil said. The deal means the tax allowance on oil and gas production will be increased gradually over the next six years to 6.5 percent from 5 percent now, the finance ministry said. The tax allowance will be withdrawn if the oil price rises to above $75 per barrel, the ministry said. Tyra's platforms have sunk 5 metres since production began 30 years ago but Maersk has earlier said it would not be viable to redevelop it given the conditions offered by Denmark. The deal will support investments of more than 10 billion Danish crowns ($1.5 billion) in oil and gas production in the North Sea, and could increase tax revenues by 26 billion crowns through 2042, the finance ministry said. ($1 = 6.8880 Danish crowns) (Additional reporting by Erik Matzen and Nikolaj Skydsgaard, editing by David Evans) BLUE BELL Eleven months ago, Ryan Oakes was an executive officer and second-in-command to a United States Marine Corps Rifle Company of over 200 Marines. He spent his days at sea, sailing around the world to places like Japan, Jordan, and Djibouti, Africa. Before that, he was repairing fighter jets. This Veterans Day, though, [] Friends In Pink is still on the radar and growing every year Rabbis installation at Keneseth Israel will get a boost of student creativity By Teis Jensen COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Shipping and oil company A. P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) on Wednesday reached an agreement with the Danish state that means it will pay less tax on its North Sea oil and gas activities through 2025. The deal, which has been under negotiation for months, makes it viable to redevelop the Tyra field through which 90 percent of Denmark's gas production is processed, and it is seen as crucial for the Danish company that is seeking to spin off its energy assets via a listing or merger. Maersk and its partners in the Danish Underground Consortium (DUC) -- Shell (RDSa.L), Chevron (CXN.N) and state-owned Nordsofonden -- with whom it owns Tyra, will decide on the redevelopment of the field by the end of the year, Maersk said. "We will now issue tenders and progress engineering work towards detailed plans in preparation of a final investment decision by end 2017," Maersk Oil's Chief Operating Officer, Martin Rune Pedersen said in a statement. "Pending a final investment decision, production from Tyra is now expected to shut in December 2019 and restart in March 2022," Maersk Oil said. The deal means the tax allowance on oil and gas production will be increased gradually over the next six years to 6.5 percent from 5 percent now, the finance ministry said. The tax allowance will be withdrawn if the oil price rises to above $75 per barrel, the ministry said. Tyra's platforms have sunk 5 metres since production began 30 years ago but Maersk has earlier said it would not be viable to redevelop it given the conditions offered by Denmark. The deal will support investments of more than 10 billion Danish crowns (1.2 billion pounds) in oil and gas production in the North Sea, and could increase tax revenues by 26 billion crowns through 2042, the finance ministry said. (Additional reporting by Erik Matzen and Nikolaj Skydsgaard, editing by David Evans) March 23, 2017 Syria Summary - The U.S. Move On Tabqa Will Complicate The Political Situation Turkey is at a dead end in Syria. Erdogan's dream of going on to Raqqa and Deir Ezzor or even Aleppo city has been blocked by an agreement between the U.S. and Russia. His proxy forces are stuck north-east of Aleppo city and have no way to go further south, east or west. They conquered a piece of rural land that gives Erdogan no negotiation leverage but potentially a lot of headaches. A small Russian contingent has moved into the Kurdish enclave in north-west Syria around Afrin blocking any serious Turkish move against that area. Turkey and its paymasters in Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have lost the fight over Syria. Still tacitly backed by the U.S. they are currently trying a Hail-Mary pass to again achieve some negotiation power for the next round of Geneva talks. This is likely to again fail. Their proxy forces in the north west, including al-Qaeda, moved from the north towards the city of Hama (see map, red=Syrian government). Over the last days they captured 11 small villages which were only lightly defended. The Russian and Syrian airforce are now devastating them and a counter-attack by the Syrian army is prepared and will soon throw them back. Source: Islamic World News - bigger Coordinated with the Hama attack was an attempt to capture ground on the eastern periphery of Damascus and in the south around Deraa. The Damascus attack has run its cause. No ground was taken and held by the Takfiris and the counterattack against them is advancing. The attack in Deraa failed to break the Syrian army defense lines. The head of the "White Helmet" propaganda gang in south Deraa was killed in an IED attack by al-Qaeda aligned forces. He was no Samaritan. He also commanded the 18 March Division, part of the foreign paid insurgency against the Syrian state. The large Syrian army move on Idleb governate to liberate it from the Takfiris is still in preparation. No date has been set for its launch. East of Aleppo city the Syrian army had blocked all Turkish proxy advances. It continued south to retake the country side from the Islamic State and is making good progress. The biggest city in the area, Deir Hafar, was nearly surrounded today by the Syrian army when the Islamic State fighters suddenly moved out. It is now back in government hands. [The sources were wrong on this. Deir Hafar is effectively surrounded but not yet in government hands. - Mar 23 1110 pm] The Syrian army in the area will continue to move south and south-east towards Raqqa and Deir Ezzor. The U.S. proxy force in north-east Syria, the Kurdish anarcho-marxists of the PKK/YPK, have advanced on Raqqa. Raqqa lies slightly north of the Euphrates. The only way south and west from Raqqa that was left open was across the Tabqa dam that dams up the Euphrates and creates the Assad lake. Source: Syrian Generation - bigger Yesterday the U.S. and its proxy forces started a surprise attack to take the dam (map). Helicopters transported YPG fighters to the south of the Euphrates and improvised ferries (vid) carried their heavy equipment across the lake. Apache helicopters and heavy U.S. artillery covered the move. They blocked the road between Raqqa towards Aleppo in the west and they are now moving towards Tabqa city directly south of the dam. At the same time a YPG/PPK force is moving from the north towards the dam. There is some fear that Islamic State fighters could blow up the dam but the first to drown in the following flood would be all Isis fighters and their families in Raqqa and beyond. In areas further south and east there is some fighting between the Syrian army and ISIS groups around Palmyra and in Deir Ezzor. The situations there seem mostly stable with slight advances by the Syrian government forces. Israel recently made some splash by bombing Syrian government forces near Palmyra. This was against certain parameters the Russian and Israeli governments had agreed upon. While Russia will not hinder Israeli attacks on Hizbullah weapon transports going to Lebanon it will interdict should Israel (again) hit any forces in Syria fighting ISIS or other Jihadis. Israel was warned off by a Syrian anti-air missile launch. Loud noise was made thereafter by the Netanyahoo government in Tel Aviv. But that is mere domestic grandstanding. Netanyahoo is under criminal investigation and is fighting for his political life. It is still unclear how the Trump administration plans to proceed on Syria. The move south of the Euphrates may block the Syrian government forces from moving further east towards the enclave in Deir Ezzor which is still under siege by ISIS. But the Euphrates crossing may also be a purely military move without a political intent to simply to enable the taking of the Tabqa dam. As a military move it makes completely sense. If this is a political move it will complicate the already confusing situation. Posted by b on March 23, 2017 at 18:34 UTC | Permalink Comments next page Shots Fired, a television series partially filmed in Mooresville last year, will air its pilot episode tonight (Wednesday). The show, a 10-hour series, will debut at 8 p.m. on the Fox network (channel 8 on MI-Connection). Numerous scenes were filmed throughout Mooresville, including downtown. Shots Fired is described as a show that "examines the dangerous aftermath of two racially charged shootings in a small Southern town, providing an explosive autopsy of our criminal justice system." Adds Fox: "When an African-American sheriffs deputy kills an unarmed white college student, a small town in North Carolina is turned upside-down. Before the town has a chance to grapple with this tragedy, the neglected murder of an African-American teen is brought to light, opening wounds that threaten to tear the community apart." The series stars Richard Dreyfuss, Helen Hunt, Jill Hennessy, Will Patton and Sanaa Lathan. They would be our caller of the year if our bosses could let us play it! Local animal lovers received some good news from the city council last week: Morgan Hill Police Department is going to hire a full-time animal control officer for the first time in nearly six years. The five-member council March 15 unanimously approved this update to the citys public safety master plan, as well as the re-establishment of MHPDs Street Crimes Team. Police Chief David Swing recommended the changes and addressed the master plan updates before the council. The citys animal control officer position was eliminated in 2011 as part of a larger budget cut due to declining revenues during the Great Recession. Since then, MHPD has continued to provide animal control services. However, these tasks have been performed by the citys multi-service officers, who handle a variety of other responsibilities. The value of an animal services officers is, it will increase the capacity during daytime efforts, and free up the multi-service officers to take property crime reports and other functions, as those jobs were originally intended, Swing said. He added that filling the animal control officer position again will meet a strong desire in our community to continue to have that expertise. Two Morgan Hill residents who currently volunteer to help and rescue local animals spoke in favor of Swings proposal March 15. Jennifer Lepow, co-founder and president of All Animal Rescue and Friends, said the citys MSOs cant be available as much as needed. The All Animal Rescue group, which is run entirely by volunteers, helps in the capture of loose dogs, cats and other animals, and they assist residents with their animal-related issues as much as we can, Lepow said. But the group is not equipped or deputized to respond to some animal services tasks, such as performing welfare checks for neglected animals, compiling abuse reports, responding to dog bites and attack complaints, and issuing citations for theft of an animal, hoarding or other offenses. These issues do exist in Morgan Hill, Lepow said. The city needs a full-time animal control officer to be able to handle them. The animal control officer position will be added to the citys current two-year budget this summer. Swing said the position will cost about $100,000 in personnel expenses, but there are no startup costs because MHPD already has a truck and other equipment necessary for the position. Councilman Rene Spring said the addition is money well spent. I think there is a need, Spring said. For me, cats and dogs are residents too. Theyre family members. Street crimes team returns The council also approved the reassignment of a detective from the Drug Enforcement Administration task force to the citys soon-to-be-reinstated Street Crimes Team. The detective was assigned to the federal drug task force in 2015, but Swing said having that officer working on local street crimes would help increase the departments capacity and respond to crime spikes and trends, as well as seasonal offenses such as package thefts. The officer and Street Crimes unit would also improve MHPDs gang-related intelligence gathering and suppression, Swing added. The reinstatement of the Street Crimes Team would provide for increased deployment of two sworn officers during peak periods of weekend evenings or an additional 40 hours of directed enforcement coverage, adds a staff report presented to the council by Swing. By not participating in the DEA task force any longer, the city will lose out on about $60,000 in annual recurring revenue from seizures and forfeitures. However, that cost pales in comparison to hiring a new officer, which is time consuming and would run about $200,000 per year, Swing added. The officer will be reassigned by April, and the Street Crimes Team will be at work by this summer, Swing said. MHPDs annual budget is about $15.6 million. NEBO The White Creek Fire at Shortoff Mountain grew by more than 1,500 acres from Wednesday to Thursday, but successful burnouts have led to 80 percent containment of the 4,355-acre blaze. Lisa Jennings, a public information officer with the United States Forest Service, said Wednesdays burnouts led to the large mushroom cloud of smoke, but that the smoke lifting away was more beneficial to folks in the area than it settling into town. Additionally, with the fire now 80 percent contained, USFS crews and other personnel on the scene have completed burnout operations. We took advantage of a window (Wednesday) afternoon for burnout operations, Jennings said. Folks all across the county could see that big smoke yesterday. Atmospheric conditions were lifting that smoke up off the fire and actually, the heat of the fire drew that smoke in and formed that column. But generally, it at least lifted that smoke off instead of settling it down into Morganton. So, folks could see the smoke, but it wasnt like the day before when it was really smoky and was impacting peoples health a lot more in the city of Morganton. We finished burnout operations (Wednesday). We are not expecting to do any additional burnouts unless conditions change. The blaze was reported at 4 p.m. March 16 and is burning near Wolf Pit Road at the south end of Linville Gorge on the Grandfather Ranger District of Pisgah National Forest. Officials have determined a lightning strike in the area of March 1 likely was the ignition source for the wildfire. The fire measured 35 acres Thursday, 75 acres Friday, 575 acres Saturday, 585 acres Sunday, 1,365 acres Monday, 1,750 acres Tuesday and 2,750 acres Wednesday. In the span of three days, containment of the wildfire jumped from 20 percent to 80 percent. Jennings credited the successful burnouts for the progress made in that regard. Its those successful burnouts, Jennings said. Thats really what it is that we look at. Thats the way you secure your containment lines is making sure that there are not unburned fuels in between the wildfire and those containment lines. Thats exactly what those burnouts did. Jennings said more precipitation is expected to come to the area impacted by the fire this weekend. That, along with the progress made in containment, has crews feeling optimistic about winding down the fire altogether. We are feeling really good about where this fire is at this point, said Jennings. With the rain coming in Sunday, that should be a big help. We are assessing the closure area. Obviously, as soon as its safe, we want to let folks back into at least portion of that area. But we do still have that closure in place. Were feeling really good about this. Were actually starting to reduce the number of resources on this fire with that jump in containment. But we do have folks out there monitoring and patrolling those fire lines both day and night and putting out any remaining hot spots near the fire lines. More than 150 personnel members between the USFS including Crew 101 from Prineville, Oregon the North Carolina Forest Service, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Burke County Emergency Management, McDowell County Emergency Management, North Carolina Emergency Management and local departments are on the scene of the fire, according to the USFS. All USFS lands east of State Road 1238 (Old N.C. Highway 105/Kistler Memorial Highway), south of Conley Cove Trail (Trail No. 229), south of Table Rock Picnic Area, west of Back Irish Creek Forest Service Road No. 118 (Blue Gravel Road) and Roses Creek Forest Service Road No. 99 and north of NC Highway 126 are closed due to the fire. Shortoff Trail (Trail No. 235), Rock Jock Trail (Trail No. 247), Pinch-In Trail (Trail No. 228), Linville Gorge Trail (Trail No. 231) south of Conley Cove Trail (Trail No. 229), Mountains to Sea Trail (Trail No. 440) from State Road 1238 at Pinnacles to the Table Rock Picnic Area and any social trails existing within the closure area are off-limits as well. Closure areas are subject to change with changing fire conditions. Justin Epley can be reached at jepley@morganton.com or 828-432-8943. NEBO - Fire crews still are actively fighting to fully contain the White Creek Fire burning at Shortoff Mountain and Tuesday evenings weather front brought little relief. The wildfire grew by 1,000 acres in a days time to 2,750 acres by Wednesday afternoon with containment rising to 50 percent, according to a press release from the U.S. Forest Service. Storms that moved through the area Tuesday provided no measurable rainfall or affect on the fire, but did produce lightning in surrounding areas, prompting firefighters to respond to multiple fires on small areas of land, the release said. On Wednesday morning, crews were still in the mode of monitoring, patrolling and putting out any hotspots that were created during the burnout operations, said Lisa Jennings, a public information officer with the USFS. They also took did some additional burnouts to help secure the containment lines, she said. Overnight, the crews are just basically monitoring and patrolling the fire and making sure that everything stays within the containment lines, Jennings said. The blaze was reported at 4 p.m. March 16 and is burning near Wolf Pit Road at the south end of Linville Gorge on the Grandfather Ranger District of Pisgah National Forest. The fire measured 35 acres March 16, 75 acres Friday, 575 acres Saturday, 585 acres Sunday, 1,365 acres Monday, and 1,750 acres by Tuesday evening. Residents and motorists may have seen a huge plume of smoke rising above the fire Wednesday afternoon, which fire officials say is caused by the atmospheric conditions pulling up the smoke to create a type of column. (The smoke) is going to keep directing more south and pushing down as the evening goes on, Burke County Fire Marshal Mike Willis said Wednesday. Smoke issues were expected to impact the areas from (Dysartsville Road) to Morganton with possible impact further east, depending on wind shifts, throughout Wednesday night, according to information from the Burke County Government Facebook page. Until this fire is out, the winds can continue to shift pretty quickly, especially in between Lake James and Morganton, Jennings said. People can expect to see smoke through the weekend. Crews have completed structural protection on a hunting cabin that was threatened by the fire and have crews on standby if conditions worsen, according to reports on Tuesday. There are some houses on the south end of the fire that are outside of the containment lines and they are in close proximity to the fire, but we do have a good line in between them and the fire at this point, Jennings said. We do have structure protection staged in case something were to change and we would need to put that in place. The United States Forest Service wants to minimize the impact on the wilderness and are trying to fall back to existing lines from previous wildfires, she said. The containment areas have been established and we are falling back to natural barriers, Jennings said. On the west side of the fire is the Linville River. There is not a fire line put in place there and, on the northern side, we are using a creek for part of it, too. On Tuesday, the USFS said the probable cause of the fire was due to a lightning strike. They were unable to find any evidence that pointed toward human cause. They believe the lightning strike occurred on March 1, instead of March 6 as reported Tuesday, she said. Folks might remember that is the day when there was that big tornado warning, Jennings said. We are in a severe drought right now and the fuels are still really dry and the grounds are still really dry, Jennings said. With these lightning strikes it can smolder in the soil or in a heavy downed tree for two to three weeks before the fuels and the leaf litter dries up enough that it can spread. Throughout the area of the wildfire, crews had setup lightning mapping tools to ensure that if any strikes were to come near the firefighters, they would be able to evacuate them in a timely manner, Jennings said. There was some lightning (Tuesday night), but not in the general vicinity, Jennings said. (This was) just for safety precautions to make sure that nobody was out there when that big (weather) front was coming through. Several years ago, there was an incident in this area where firefighters were actually struck by lightning. (Those) were actually in the western part of the district so it was not in the direct vicinity of the White Creek Fire, but it does pull firefighters away to go check out those reports, she said. Currently, there are154 firefighters are working the fire, the USFS release said. The U.S. Forest Service is leading fire response efforts, with support from the North Carolina Forest Service, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Burke and McDowell County Emergency Management, North Carolina Emergency Management, and local volunteer fire departments. All USFS lands east of State Road 1238 (Old N.C. Highway 105/Kistler Memorial Highway), south of Conley Cove Trail (Trail No. 229), south of Table Rock Picnic Area, west of Back Irish Creek Forest Service Road No. 118 (Blue Gravel Road) and Roses Creek Forest Service Road No. 99 and north of NC Highway 126 are still closed as of Wednesday afternoon due to the fire. Shortoff Trail (Trail No. 235), Rock Jock Trail (Trail No. 247), Pinch-In Trail (Trail No. 228), Linville Gorge Trail (Trail No. 231) south of Conley Cove Trail (Trail No. 229), Mountains to Sea Trail (Trail No. 440) from State Road 1238 at Pinnacles to the Table Rock Picnic Area and any social trails existing within the closure area are off-limits as well. Closure areas are subject to change with changing fire conditions. They re-evaluate these closures daily and will open back up the trails and different areas when they are deemed safe for visitors, she said. Jennings says that the Forest Service is getting into the peak of their fire season and that the area is still in a drought. (We just) want to make sure people are careful (with their fires) and we think this is a lightning start, but human starts are the No. 1 cause of fire in North Carolina, she said. Staff Writer Jonelle Bobak can be reached at jbobak@morganton.com or 828-432-8907. The largest funds in the sector are dominated by managers with a great deal of experience who focus on companies with the potential for durable growth. The MFS Meridian US Value fund has a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver and has been managed by Steven Gorham since 2002. Gorham is an experienced investor who benefits from the support of co-manager Nevin Chitkara, appointed to the role in 2006. The managers have a large pool of experienced analysts at their disposal to carry out an investment process that is focused on identifying high-quality firms which exhibit sustainable and superior returns on equity and free cash flow. The managers like companies with solid balance sheets and durable franchises. They take a long-term view with their holdings and often hold them for a decade or more as evidenced by the low turnover rate. The strategy has an excellent long-term track record since Gorham took charge here. The managers focus on downside protection has enabled the fund to hold up better in down markets than most of its peers but this means that it will not participate as much in rallies. The Legg Mason ClearBridge US Aggressive Growth fund holds a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver and is managed by two highly experienced managers: Richard Freeman and Evan Bauman. Freeman is amongst the industrys longest-tenured managers and has been at the helm since 1983. The strategy invests in companies with high growth rates that the managers believe can be sustainable over the long-term. They look for secular growth businesses with high barriers to entry, competitive advantages, innovation, low leverage and attractive valuations. They take a long-term approach when investing and pay very little attention to the index, so sector and stock weightings often differ from those of the benchmark. The approach leads to a high concentration in the top 10 holdings which tend to account for over 50% of the overall portfolios equity assets. Such an investment approach is not without risks but investors who share the managers long-term perspective have been well served. The Silver rated Robeco BP US Large Cap Equities fund is managed by Mark Donovan and David Pyle, who boast over two decades of experience in US equity market. The duo is supported by a well-resourced, stable and experienced analyst team. They use a bottom-up approach which combines quantitative and qualitative analyses to identify companies/sectors where they believe catalysts for growth exist. The approach has resulted in concentration in some areas, namely technology, healthcare and financials which accounted for over 45% of the overall assets as the end of November 2016. The long-term results are solid, an outcome achieved with lower volatility. The JPM US Value fund holds a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Bronze and has been run by Jonathan Simon since its 2000 inception. He is a seasoned investor and is supported on this offering by Lawrence Playford and Gloria Fu, who came on board in 2006. The manager aims to add value by investing in companies with high barriers to entry, low cyclicality, and management focused on increasing intrinsic value. The strategy has a mid-cap bias and the portfolio has historically had an overweight to those names compare to peers. Financials and consumer cyclicals companies have been favoured over recent years and combined the sectors represent more than half of the holdings by assets, a stake well above most of its peers. The strategy has generated good results over the long-term. 2 Top Performing US Funds Top performers over three years show that a disciplined and patient approach continues to pay off. The Dodge & Cox Worldwide US Stock fund is amongst the strongest performers and has a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold. This fund benefits from one of the most experienced, stable and well-resourced team in the US equity space. The current eight-person investment policy committee that manages this strategy averages 23 years of tenure with the firm and includes current chairman and CIO Charles Pohl, director of research Brian Cameron, and director of international equity Diana Strandberg. They are supported by a deep pool of analysts and follow a disciplined value-oriented investment approach. They favour businesses with good management, competitive advantages and good growth potential. These may also be businesses that are under a cloud at the time of purchase. They typically stick with their contrarian picks for years until they pay-off. The portfolio is built from the bottom up, with sector exposures often veering from market weightings. Technology, financials and healthcare sectors have dominated the portfolio for a number of years more than 65% of equity assets at the end of 2016 and the top ten picks have generally accounted for about a third of the assets. Investing in controversial areas has led to lumpy performance at times, but the teams patience and discipline has paid off as evidenced by the excellent long-term results. Investors who share the managers patience and long-term investment horizon have been well rewarded. The Polen Focus U.S. Growth fund has been managed by Dan Davidowitz and Damon Ficklin since its launch in 2013 and the two have managed the US-sold version of this product since 2010. The duo aims to identify high quality companies with strong earnings potential, abundant free cash flow, low debt levels and high and sustainable returns on equity. Their analysis incorporates the assessment of industry dynamics, free cash flow, competitive advantages, and includes meetings with company management and stakeholders. The managers will typically avoid cyclical and capital-intensive firms. The investment approach results in a very concentrated portfolio whose holdings are diversified across the growth spectrum to enable the strategy to perform in different market environments. The bulk of the portfolio is invested in secular growth firms trading at reasonable valuations, such as Alphabet, while the other growth buckets include stable firms with underappreciated growth such as Accenture, durable growth names for more uncertain times and firms with significant growth potential such as Celgene. The strategy has posted solid returns since its inception. A version of this article appeared in International Adviser magazine It does not matter if you favour active or passive fund strategies for Morningstar readers, income remains the top priority when choosing components for your portfolio. But analysts are warning investors to look for sustainable yields when picking out funds. Data from Morningstar found that Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield ETF (VHYL) and iShares UK Dividend ETF (IUKD) were among the top 10 most popular ETFs among Morningstar.co.uk readers in February. However, Morningstar analysts warned that these funds do not provide sustainable income over the long term. Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield ETF came fourth on the top hits list in February while iShares UK Dividend ETF came ninth. Both Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield ETF and iShares UK Dividend ETF are not suitable for investors seeking regular income, Morningstar passive analysts warned, awarding the iShares UK Dividend ETF a Negative rating while the Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield ETF has a Neutral Rating. Companies within the portfolio of Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield ETF are less profitable in comparison with other dividend-focused funds, said Morningstar passive analyst Dimitar Boyadzhiev. Therefore Boyadzhiev this could translate into higher probability of capital losses or lower realised income since the companies are more likely to cut their dividends. The ETF tracks the highest-yielding segment of the FTSE All-World Index, which does not evaluate the ability of its constituents to sustain their dividend payments. Boyadzhiev has a positive view of Vanguards management team and competitive pricing, however the lack of sustainability makes the fund vulnerable to capital losses. iShares UK Dividend ETF offers exposure to 50 UK stocks with the highest one-year forecast dividend yield. Simply selecting the highest-yielding stocks can be risky because some high-yielding stocks may be companies with poor fundamentals whose stocks are trading at low prices, reflecting the fact that the company may be in trouble, said Hortense Bioy, director of European passive fund research with Morningstar. This fund has a below-average investment proposition that will likely continue delivering inferior returns over the long term. We have therefore awarded this fund a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Negative, said Bioy. Dividend-paying stocks tend to outperform in stable or declining-rate environments but struggle when rates are on an upswing, said Bioy. When rates rise, a company's cash flow must be discounted at a higher rate. All stocks are affected, but if the economy is booming, stable dividend-paying stocks will not generate as much investor demand as riskier stocks from cyclical and speculative sectors, Bioy added. Will the US Stock Rally Last? The Gold Rated Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VUSA) has topped the most popular ETF list among Morningstar.co.uk readers since November last year, following the outcome of the US Presidential Election. Investors also looked at ETFs that track other developed market indices. The Silver Rated Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF (VWRL), Vanguard FTSE 100 ETF (VUKE), iShares Core FTSE 100 ETF (ISF) and the Silver Rated iShares Core MSCI World ETF (SWDA) proved popular among readers in February. From the election to the end of December 2016, nine out of eleven equity sectors within the S&P 500 traded higher, with value cyclical stocks being the largest beneficiaries as President Donald Trumps policies were interpreted by many as a shift from monetary policy to fiscal policy, said Fatima Khizou, analyst with Morningstar. However, this week S&P 500 saw their biggest fall since October, down 1.2%. Morningstar readers, however, look to take profits from the rally by investing in S& 500 tracking ETFs, with Vanguard S&P 500 ETF among Morningstar.co.uk readers favourites. Morningstar analysts also like this fund, saying this ETF is one of the best in its category. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF offers broad and diversified exposure to US large-cap stocks by tracking the S&P 500, the most oft-cited proxy for the US equity market, said Bioy. Passive investors also sought gold exposure as well, as the price of yellow metal has been up from the bottom level in December to $1257.32 in February by 11.3%. ETFS Physical Gold (PHGP) and iShares Physical Gold ETC (SGLN) came fifth and seventh on the most clicked ETF list in February. The Silver Rated iShares Corporate Bond ETF (SLXX) came tenth on the list. MEXICO CITY, March 23 (Reuters) - Mexico's peso currency is still undervalued, but by no more than 10 percent, Central Bank Governor Agustin Carstens said in an interview with U.S. news agency Bloomberg. The peso hit a series of record lows following Donald Trump's surprise U.S. presidential win but the currency has recovered somewhat as U.S. officials have struck a more conciliatory tone towards Mexico. (Reporting by Michael O'Boyle) Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive. To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research. Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process. Dustan Woodhouse examines just how preposterous the recent mortgage rule changes were by comparing lending practices of big banks and monolines. Our Government has concerns about their role with CMHC -- essentially a mortgage insurance company -- a role in which taxpayers are technically liable for their clients actions and behaviour (despite current CMHC premium reserves on hand to withstand up to a 40% market devaluation). These concerns were apparently part of justification used regarding recent significant changes to not only the amount of debt Canadians can access (~20% less mortgage money) but also just which companies Canadians can access mortgage debt through. Limiting exposure to potentially bad behaviour seems a common refrain in Ottawa these days. But what about bad behaviour with regard to unsecured debt? Not our problem they state. Citing their lack of guaranteeing unsecured debt as they do mortgage debt. Lets view this through the lens of an analogy using cars, booze, and sales tactics. Instead of mortgage insurance lets call it car insurance, and consider the sales process of two different types of car dealers. Company #1 strives to maximize profits by giving away a six pack of wine coolers (a new credit card) and a 40oz bottle of whisky (an unsecured line of credit) with every car (mortgage) sold. They place these extras right there on the passenger seat at the time of delivery. Easy access. Now hey, you dont have to open these products up, and they cost you nothing if left unused. After all you only pay for what you consume. The sales agent is directly compensated for upselling you on the use of said wine & whisky; in fact their annual bonus depends upon it. Company #2 has no Whisky (unsecured debt) to offer you. Their business model is simply to place you the right car (mortgage) for you and that is it. Often at a sharper price, with a few more bells and whistles, and a vastly superior trade in value (prepayment penalties). They send you on your way with a smile and a wave. No follow-up to cross-sell you on multiple other tempting products, like the wine & whisky for example. Admittedly not everyone is going to crack that bottle open and consume the entire thing during their first drive home. But it seems reasonable, at least it should be to the insurance company (The Federal Government) witnessing this sales process, that there ought to be some greater concerns about the increased claims from company #1 and perhaps some stiffer regulations and legislation may be in order especially when the governments own research shows that twice as many clients of company #1 (0.28%) get into trouble and make a claim is do clients of company #2 (0.14%). Table 1-A: Characteristics of median mortgage borrowers 2013Q12016Q3 Financial Services Committee Hears Arguments to "Restructure CFPB" The House Financial Services Committee (FSC) held a hearing on Tuesday into the constitutionality of the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The hearing arose in part from a pending case, PHH Corp. v. CFPB, in which that constitutionality is one of the principal issues. The DC District court recently ruled in favor of PHH but CFPB has been granted a rehearing. The Justice Department has opposed that action and has sided with PHH against the Bureau. The committee's first witness was Theodore B. Olson Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Former Solicitor General of the United States. Olson is also lead counsel for PHH in the pending suit. He said the creation, by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, of the CFPB "is the product of cherry-picking some the most democratically unaccountable and power-centralizing features of the federal government's administrative agencies, and aggregating them into one massive and all-powerful body." That the Bureau is headed by a single, autonomous Director appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to a five-year term that may extend indefinitely until a successor is confirmed allows the Senate to prevent a president from appointing a new director and prohibits the President from removing the director except for cause. Olson maintains that Dodd-Frank violated this principle of the Separation of Powers when it created the CFPB. The CFPB, he said, is an executive agency possessing far-reaching legislative, executive, and judicial powers that impact vast sectors of our economy. The Director has broad discretion to enforce 19 federal consumer protection laws, promulgate regulations, litigate in the name of the federal government, and punish private citizens-all without any accountability to the President, in whom the Constitution vests the executive power to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." The Director's immense powers are perpetually funded outside the auspices of congressional oversight and appropriation. The Director also has expansive authority to hire, fire, and compensate CFPB employees, including discretion to waive the normal competitive-service requirements. The application of a for-cause removal provision to a single director, Olson said, differentiates the CFPB from almost every other independent agency. "And if the Director and the President, acting through an executive agency, disagree on the interpretation of federal consumer finance law, the Director's view controls. Thus, the CFPB's organic statute even purports to give the Director greater power than the President in the execution of federal consumer finance law." He said the CFPB possesses other characteristics that further remove it from presidential oversight. For example, Dodd-Frank prohibits the President from exercising any authority to control the CFPB's communication with Congress, with respect to legislation or testimony. Not only is the Director unaccountable to the President, he is also unaccountable to Congress. The ability to determine how money is spent is also an important check on federal agencies. However, Congress effectively abdicated this responsibility by allowing the CFPB to fund itself entirely outside the appropriations process. The Director is authorized to claim as much as 12% of the Federal Reserve System's assessed fees, a percentage which amounted to $632 million in fiscal year 2016. The agency's structure also insulates the President from political accountability. In the constitutional system envisioned by the Framers, the President is "directly dependent on the people, and since there is only one President, he is responsible." The second witness, Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash, Professor of Law and Miller Center Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia, also took exception to any prohibition on a president removing executive officers from their position, basing his opinion also on Article II of the Constitution which "Establishes this general Proposition, That "The EXECUTIVE POWER shall be vested in a President of the United States of America . . . . ", arguing that that power includes removal from office. He says only in unusual instances is Congress authorized to abridge or restrain presidential powers. Though the Constitution grants the President the power to remove, it nowhere grants Congress power to retract or limit that authority. Another way of putting the point, Prakash says, is that the Constitution does not generally treat presidential powers as if they were modifiable by congressional decree. Rather the Constitution's grants to the Presidents are not defeasible by statute." A third witness invited by the committee's Republican majority was Adam J. White of the Hoover Institution. White relied primarily on case law in his testimony which centered around the single-head structure of CFPB rather than a multi-member commission which is common to many independent agencies. In its recent and contested opinion in PHH Corp. v. CFPB: the DC court found, "The Director of the CFPB is the single most powerful official in the entire U.S. Government, other than the President. Indeed, within his jurisdiction, the Director of the CFPB can be considered even more powerful than the President. It is the Director's view of consumer protection law that prevails over all others. In essence, the Director is the President of Consumer Finance." Under Morrison v. Olson, the courts found an officer can enjoy statutory "independence" from the President if and only if the officer enjoys only "limited jurisdiction and tenure and lack policymaking or significant administrative authority." However, the Dodd-Frank Act gave the CFPB Director statutory independence from the President, yet also vested the Director with an immense delegation of power to regulate and prosecute whatever he deems to be an "unfair, deceptive, or abusive act or practice." White said, "This grant of independent power goes far beyond the lines that the Court drew around the independent counsel statute in Morrison, and thus should be struck down by the courts-or, better still, reformed by Congress." In the PHH case the count also vindicated a fundamental principal of "independent" agencies, namely that such independence should be reserved only for "quasi-judicial and quasi legislative" bodies that exercise power through multi-member deliberation rather than through unilateral action. By focusing on the structure and nature of independent commissions, the Court in Humphrey's Executor "drew a sharp line between officials who were part of the Executive establishment and were thus removable by virtue of the President's constitutional powers, and those who are members of a body 'to exercise its judgment without the leave or hindrance of any other official or any department of the government.'" When a multi-member commission exercises its judgment, White said, it is exercising collective judgment, in a process that differs starkly from single-leader agencies. With multi-member commissions, decision and activity are replaced by deliberation; secrecy is replaced by transparency; dispatch is replaced by friction. Like congressmen or appellate judges, the members of a commission debate one another, challenging each other's positions and ultimately producing a collective judgment and perhaps dissenting opinions. Brianne J. Gorod Chief Counsel, Constitutional Accountability Center and counsel in PHH Corp. v. CFPB to members of Congress involved in the passage of Dodd-Frank was the only witness invited by minority committee members. She called the CFPB's leadership structure consistent with the text and history of the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent. In drafting the Constitution, the Framers gave Congress considerable flexibility in determining how to shape the federal government. The Supreme Court held over 80 years ago that Congress may choose to shield the heads of independent regulatory agencies from presidential removal at will and has repeatedly reaffirmed that principle, including six years ago in an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts. She said, "In the process, the Court has explained that the question in assessing the constitutionality of a removal restriction is whether that restriction 'impedes the President's ability to perform his constitutional duty'." Here she says, it plainly does not because if the President determines, for instance, that the Director is "abusing [his] office," committing a "breach of faith," or "neglecting his duties or discharging them improperly," the President may hold the Director accountable by removing him. Nor, she maintains, is there any constitutional prohibition on the CFPB being funded outside the congressional appropriations process. This is in factor common practices for federal financial regulatory agencies, and all but two are funded in that way. Further, the argument of CFPB opponents that its independent funding is prohibited by the Constitution's Appropriations Clause is irrelevant because the Bureau's funding does not involve paying money out of the Treasury. No other part of the Constitution prohibits Congress "from enacting funding structures for agencies that differ from the procedures prescribed by the ordinary appropriations process." Finally, Gorod says, CFPB opponents argue that the CFPB's power is both unprecedented and unlimited. "This, too, is clearly wrong. In fact, the CFPB's powers resemble those of comparable financial regulatory agencies and are subject to the same restrictions, along with additional limits unique to the Bureau." Olson puts forth some prescriptions for Congress to "remedy the constitutional problems of the CFPB." It must fundamentally change the structure of the agency to respect the separation of powers principles of the constitution. The Director must be made removable at will by the President and other provisions limiting the President's oversight authority must be eliminated. While the Supreme Court has approved multi-member "independent agencies" while allowing restrictions on the President's removal power, "The Framers did not envision government by a multiplicity of "experts" removable only for cause." Congress should also reassert its own oversight he says, giving it back the power of the purse. This oversight is an important democratic check, particularly if Congress eliminates the existing for-cause removal provision. Removing the disabilities placed on the President without shoring up Congress's authority could significantly change the balance of power between executive and legislative branches. mike huckabee The list of politicians urging President Donald Trump to spare the arts from federal funding cuts added an unexpected name on Wednesday: Mike Huckabee. In a column in The Washington Post, the former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate called on Trump to reconsider slashing the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts. The Trump administration's first budget included proposals to cut off funding of the agency, as well as 16 others. The NEA receives about $150 million in federal funding a drop in the bucket amounting to 0.004% of the federal budget. But to Huckabee, who plays the bass guitar, that funding goes a long way. "To someone such as me for whom an early interest in music and the arts became a lifeline to an education and academic success this money is not expendable, extracurricular or extraneous. It is essential," he wrote. Participation in the arts fosters students' creativity and problem-solving skills, Huckabee wrote, abilities that can translate to other areas of academics and beyond. "Creativity finds cures for diseases, creates companies such as Apple and Microsoft and, above all, makes our culture more livable," he said. To some, Huckabee may be an unlikely champion of the arts agency. The hardline conservative made budget-balancing a priority during his 2016 presidential campaign. In 2010, he once called on Congress to cut funding for National Public Radio. But Huckabee framed the arts as an investment that more than pays itself off. "The arts are a $730 billion industry, representing 4.2 percent of our gross domestic product more than transportation, tourism and agriculture," he wrote. "Im for cutting waste and killing worthless programs. Im not for cutting and killing the hope and help that come from creativity." Huckabee joins a growing list of Republican lawmakers who are publicly defending the NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities, another agency on the chopping block. Story continues The two agencies were established in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson through the Arts and Humanities Act. Read Huckabee's column here NOW WATCH: Obama's White House photographer has been trolling Trump on Instagram More From Business Insider From Apps to Secondary, a Multitude of Vendor Changes and Announcements Have you been asked to join the Trump Administrationnew group focusing on mortgage finance policy? No? My cat Myrtle hasn't gotten the nod (yet) either, but if you want on, you'd better give them a call. Mark Calabria, chief economist to Vice President Mike Pence, said the Trump administration is developing a group to focus on mortgage finance policy. "You will see in a few months a set of principles, and then we'll go from there," Calabria said. Let's play catch up on some recent vendor news, especially ahead of the MBA's Tech conference next week. PCLender's next generation of service has integrated consumer direct, automated workflow, and the agency's new technology suites. PCLender is not only prepared for the new HMDA regulatory changes but also has made dramatic updates to the dashboard reporting functionality and the look and feel of the user interface, creating an intuitive experience to further simplify today's lending complexities for community banks, credit unions and mortgage bankers. Indecomm Global Services, a leading provider of business process as a service (BPaaS), software as a service (SaaS) technology, and learning products for the mortgage industry, announced it will be presenting next generation automation technologies in its Kaizen risk management and IncomeGenius income analysis mortgage platforms at the MBA Technology conference next week. In a move that will create one of the largest fintech companies in the world, Vista Equity Partners is acquiring software maker D+H and intends to merge it with software maker Misys, the company reports. The combined company will have a global footprint and the broadest set of financial software solutions available on the market, with approximately $2.2 billion in revenues, around 10,000 employees and more than 9,000 customers across 130 countries, including 48 of the top 50 banks, per Vista Equity Partners. Ten-year old MountainView Capital Holdings and its subsidiaries are launching a new name and a new look: a new logo, new branding and a new website. Its parent company is now known as MountainView Financial Solutions, LLC. The company has also launched a new, more comprehensive website at MViewFS.com. MountainView has previously operated under multiple service names, including MountainView Servicing Group, MountainView Capital Group, MountainView Risk Advisors, MountainView IPS, and McGuire Performance Solutions. eEndorsements announced the launch of its next generation. eEndorsements 'client review content management system serves the mortgage industry by making it easy to manage client testimonials across the internet. The latest release allows for greater connectivity with back office solutions such as LOS, CRM and Mobile Apps, along with optimized social media automation to spread social proof to new prospective clients. eEndorsements offers individual plans for loan officers as well as enterprise solutions for mortgage companies; visit eendorsements.com for your free profile. Valuation Management Group announced its renewal as a Georgia Bankers Association (GBA) Strategic Partner. Valuation Management Group handles the entire real estate appraisal process. This includes: approving the appraisers, managing the appraiser panel, handling the bid process for complex residential appraisal assignments and commercial appraisal assignments, engaging the appraisers and performing a robust, quality technical appraisal review. MetaSource, provider of business process management (BPM), workflow, and compliance solutions, has acquired Dallas-based Orion Financial Group. This acquisition expands and adds depth to its existing lien release offering for its portfolio of solutions. Orion Financial Group has experience providing mortgage assignments, lien releases and document retrieval to mortgage servicers, investors, credit unions, and lenders. Vantedge launched its Vantedge Real-Time Predictive Marketing (RPM), a fully managed data-driven marketing service tailored for credit unions. The subscription-based service combines real-time predictive analytics, dynamic campaign management, personalized multi-channel message delivery and ROI measurement with marketing advisory services. Vantedge RPM leverages transactional, lifestyle and other behavioral data as well as predictive modeling to help credit unions truly understand and even anticipate the needs of individual members, serving them highly relevant and personalized advertisements at the precise moment they're considering a purchase. Ellie Mae announced the introduction of its Ellie Mae's Encompass Consumer Connect. Delivering a state-of-the-art, completely branded and unique self-service online loan origination experience for homebuyers. Lenders will be able to quickly turn interest into applications by extending their brand to consumers with a fully configurable, drag and drop website builder. Completed applications automatically flow into the loan officer's pipeline within the Encompass mortgage management solution. Incomplete applications can be quickly followed up to gain that borrower's business and extend the relationship and ensure compliance. FormFree's automated asset verification service, AccountChek, is now available through Ellie Mae's Encompass Consumer Connect. The integration allows Encompass users to verify and share asset and deposit information with their lenders in seconds without uploading bank statements. AccountChek's cloud-based app securely connects with virtually any financial institution to consolidate, analyze and verify assets and deposits, delivering a safe and hassle-free experience for borrowers and greater purchase certainty for lenders. Simplifile's Collaboration and Post Closing services will be available this month through Ellie Mae's Encompass all-in-one mortgage management solution. The seamless integration allows Encompass users to collaborate with settlement agents via Simplifile and work together seamlessly on documents and disclosure data from pre-closing to post closing. Simplifile Collaboration enables lenders to work directly with their settlement agents to share, receive, and validate disclosure data, documents, and transaction details. Simplifile Post Closing provides lenders with real-time updates on the recording status of documents, then closes the loop on the entire mortgage transaction by delivering the final title policy and fee data electronically. Lenders One and the Mortgage Bankers Association have formed an alliance that will provide new benefits to both Lenders One and the MBA members. Because of the new agreement, Lenders One members who join the MBA will receive a discount on their first year of MBA membership dues as well as savings on MBA products and services. MBA members will be eligible to join Lenders One and receive a discount on their cooperative dues as well as other benefits. Optimal Blue announced a new partnership with Blend, the leading digital mortgage solution, to integrate their pricing engine into Blend's platform. The partnership will allow lenders using both Optimal Blue and Blend to seamlessly access pricing workflows within Blend, making the entire mortgage application process significantly more efficient and transparent. Altisource launched noteXchange, a state-of-the-art proprietary mortgage trading platform. noteXchange is a secondary market trading platform that brings buyers and sellers together in a centralized exchange that enables better communications, shorter sales cycles and automated processes with real time pricing data coming from Thomson Reuters. Require Holdings, LLC, announced it has completed its acquisition of Deeds on Demand. Deeds on Demand is the first Internet-based deed and real estate document service designed to provide fast, accurate and integrated document preparation services. Deeds on Demand's services will be merged with reQuire Real Estate Solutions, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Require Holdings, that services the title insurance industry. eOriginal, Inc. has been selected as the technology solution provider for the Fannie Mae next generation electronic vault (eVault). Fannie Mae is committed to enhancing the digital mortgage revolution and removing obstacles to eMortgage adoption through a modern, secure, and scalable platform. eOriginal's hosted platform enables the secure management of electronically signed assets (eNotes) throughout their post-execution lifecycle. In addition to investing in new eVault infrastructure, Fannie Mae is also simplifying eMortgage adoption by transitioning to the MISMO SMART Doc Version 3.0 format in 2017. Stewart Title Insurance, and ClosingCorp, announced that rates and fees from Stewart's nationwide network of Stewart Title offices are now available to lenders through ClosingCorp's SmartFees platform. SmartFees will support, capture and verify title rates and fees from the entire network of Stewart Title offices nationwide, enabling lenders to obtain quotes for loan estimates (LEs) and closings. SmartFees integrates loan file information, transfer tax and recording data, service provider fees from more than 70,000 rate cards, and lender business rules and requirements into a single, seamless process and platform. Capital Markets Another day, another rally - and yesterday both stock and bond prices improved. The February Existing Home Sales report was the big data release and showed sales declining more than expected on lower inventories. But the median selling price was up 7.7% y/y to $228,400, and the median time on the market was 45 days, down from 59 one year ago. First-time buyers were 32% of sales. The FHFA Housing Price Index was unchanged m/m in January (+5.7% y/y). December's growth was 0.4%. Economists and traders are now opining on "bull flattening" - the Fed has raised short term rates yet the long end of the yield curve hasn't moved. The bull flattening of the treasury curve aided lower mortgage rates prices although originator supply was relatively muted with treasuries in rally mode with some hedge adjustments as some commitments are likely to fall out given the recent rate rally. By the time the dust settled the 10-year note had improved more than .250 in price (to yield 2.40%) while 5-year notes and 30-year agency MBS prices improved between .125-.250 depending on coupon and security. The big news overnight was reports of a "deal" between Trump/Ryan and the House Freedom Caucus that should help drag the health care bill through the House later today, but in a way that will all but doom it in the Senate. The bigger question remains when will the GOP pivot away from healthcare and address tax reform? This morning we've already had Initial Jobless Claims (+15k to 258k, a 7-week high). Coming up is New Home Sales. The US House of Representatives is also expected to vote on the current GOP proposal to repeal and replace the ACA (aka Obamacare). We commence the day with the 10-year at 2.41% and agency MBS prices a shade down/worse versus Wednesday night. Jobs and Announcements Verus Mortgage Capital, a leading Non-Agency/Non-QM correspondent investor, continues to see record monthly volumes due to its "expansive product offering and new correspondent sellers joining the platform monthly." "Many companies are looking to Verus and its innovative product offering to offset the impact from higher rates" said Dane Smith President of Verus. In February Verus's affiliate Invictus Capital Partners completed its first rated securitization backed by Non-QM loans acquired by Verus, only the second investor to issue a rated transaction backed by non-prime mortgages following the financial crisis. The pool included loans with alternative documentation sources such as bank statements for self-employed borrowers, consumers with prior credit events, and business purpose loans to investors. Verus Mortgage Capital is adding additional correspondent sales people nationwide to keep up with new client demand" said Smith. If you would like to be part of a fast-growing company that values its employees and is committed to making "common sense loans" please email your resume to Jeff Schaefer, EVP, National Correspondent Sales. Mann Mortgage, "a growing and dynamic multi-state lending company seeks a qualified Chief Operations Officer to join its Executive Management Team. The person will direct, plan and organize all activities of loan operations, to include underwriting, closing, shipping, funding and post-closing to ensure effective, efficient and risk neutral loan serves to branch offices. An ideal candidate will be knowledgeable of the entire mortgage loan process including FHA, VA and RD requirements. Strong underwriting knowledge is a must and DE preferred. The company offers outstanding benefits and an informal team-oriented work environment. Submit your resume directly to Mann via jobs@mannmortgage.com. Jeremy Walker joined Pacific Union as Retail Regional Vice President for the Southeast region. Pacific Union Financial LLC is growing its Retail division once again, and Mr. Walker will be responsible for expanding the Retail branch network and increasing the current reach of Pacific Union to consumers. As the Southeast Regional Vice President, he will be responsible for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Are you interested in joining the growing Pacific Union Southeast sales team? If so, please contact Jeremy Walker. In California "The Daily Press announced, 'PRMG VOTED No. 1 BEST Mortgage Company in the DESERT!' PRMG originally opened its doors in the California High Desert over 15 years ago, centered around the ideology of 'built by originators for originators.' PRMG not only established its roots in the California High Desert, but has grown to over 1,300 employees with 93 branches across the country, demonstrating that when you have the best people working for a great company it makes it much easier to gain the confidence and trust by the loyal customers they serve. Congratulations to PRMG Hesperia and Victorville Branches! To learn more, please email Paul Lucido, National Marketing Director." In more personnel news LoanLogics, specializing in loan quality management and performance analytics, announced that 26-year veteran mortgage credit executive Elliot Salzman has joined the company as Chief Credit Officer responsible for enhancing and overseeing the credit policy functions of the LoanLogics LoanHD platform to deliver a more comprehensive approach to ensuring loan quality as well as overseeing the organization's Credit Quality Policies and Procedures. Mount Pleasant, SC (29464) Today Generally clear skies. Low near 65F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Generally clear skies. Low near 65F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Your digital subscription includes access to all content on our agricultural websites across the nation. Access unlimited content and the digital versions of our print editions - This Week's Paper. Crude prices have rebounded significantly after falling to 13-year lows of around $26 a barrel in February 2016. Crude prices are expected to continue following that path -- even if its not a straight line -- in 2017, according to Stratas Advisors, a Hart Energy company. John Paisie, Stratas executive vice president, told those gathered Wednesday at Midland Country Club for Hart Energys Special Briefing: Permian Outlook, that prices should end the year at about $57 a barrel. But there are strings attached to his companys prediction: Prices will rise to that level if shale oil production doesnt come back too fast, he said. Shale production could rise about 700,000 barrels and not harm the market, Paisie said. While production from the Permian Basin has risen it never declined during the downturn other shale basins continue to lag, he said. That forecast comes as West Texas Intermediate prices have retreated from $54 a barrel to about $47 a barrel. Paisie attributed part of that decline to the rapid rebound in U.S. shale production, primarily in the Permian. Other reasons for the decline include a record number of long positions in the market, bearish words from members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, record levels of crude inventories and lagging demand in the U.S., specifically for gasoline. The continued fallout from declining domestic production had been one reason prices had risen above $50 a barrel following OPECs announcement of a production cut, which was joined by several non-OPEC member countries. Paisie said other factors boosting prices were a stronger-than-expected Chinese economy, weakening U.S. dollar, stronger U.S. economy and stronger U.S. gasoline demand, trader sentiment as traders closed short positions and the construction of additional storage capacity. He will be watching the May gathering of OPEC members and how the outcome of that meeting will affect prices. OPEC may be on the run, but its still running, he said. There are three possible outcomes as OPEC members address the fate of the production cuts they undertook at the beginning of the year, Paisie said. While members may decide to end the cuts amid frustration over shale oils resurgence and stagnant prices, he doesnt think thats likely. There is the chance members could agree to deeper cuts, which Paisie said is a possibility because of rhetoric coming from OPEC nations and their desire to push prices out of their current range. But the greatest likelihood is that the production cuts will be extended through the end of the year, he said. Even if compliance with the cuts is 60 percent, he said demand should begin to exceed supply in the second half of the year. His forecast is for crude output to fall 1.6 million to 1.8 million barrels a day and demand to rise 1.4 million barrels a day. That could help push prices above $60 a barrel in 2018 -- if shale production doesnt rise too quickly, he said. A Midland man was arrested Sunday after he allegedly shot a man, according to court documents. Juan Francisco Galindo, 47, was being held Wednesday on a $100,000 bond for a first-degree felony charge of aggravated assault of a date/family/house member with a weapon. Midland police were dispatched to Midland Memorial Hospital on Sunday in reference to a reported assault. Galindo used a handgun to shoot a man outside of a party venue, according to his arrest affidavit. The affidavit doesnt include details about the mans injury. If convicted of the first-degree felony charge, Galindo could face up to life imprisonment. Musician Aaron Carter's twin sister, Angel Carter ConradShe has broken her silence about the death of her brother, with whom she had a turbulent relationship in the last years of his life. The former child singer was found dead at his home We are collating signatures to petition ... Paul Manafort Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, is under fire amid new reports that he secretly worked to advance Russian interests for years before he joined Trump's presidential campaign last April. Manafort's ties to foreign oligarchs and dictators have raised questions for decades, but his work for the Trump campaign likely has him under FBI investigation. Raised in politics and business Manafort was born in 1949 and raised in New Britain, Connecticut, a majority Democratic town where his father served three terms as a popular Republican mayor. Like Trump, Manafort comes from a real-estate family. Alongside his political work, his father also ran the family construction company, Manafort Brothers Inc., founded by his Italian immigrant father. Instead of taking over the family business, Manafort decided to pursue his interest in politics and moved to Washington, DC, where he earned both an undergraduate business degree and a law degree at Georgetown University. A Republican operative and international 'gun for hire' While working at a private law firm two years after graduating from law school, Manafort began advising Republican president Gerald Ford's 1976 campaign. Since the 1970s, he has established deep and sometimes murky, connections in Washington and around the world, serving as political lobbyist, adviser, and an international political consultant for leaders around the world, including dictators Mobutu Sese Seko of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines. Manafort's international work has long raised eyebrows among Democrats in Washington. In 2004, he became a top adviser to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian strongman whom Manafort is widely credited with helping win the presidency in 2010. Story continues Yanukovych was ousted in 2014 after widespread demonstrations again this decision to back out of a deal with the EU that would have distanced Ukraine from Russia and fostered closer ties with the West. On February 20, 2014, Ukrainian riot police opened fire on thousands of demonstrators who had gathered in central Kiev. Fifty-three protesters were killed that day, and dozens more over the next few days. Ukrainian prosecutors have said Yanukovych ordered the security forces' attack on protesters, and at least one human-rights lawyer representing the victims is investigating what role, if any, Manafort played in encouraging Yanukovych's crackdown. Yanukovych fled to Russia amid the protests and is now living under the protection of the Kremlin. A memorial for protesters killed in Kiev Manafort's Trump connections In March 2016, Trump hired Manafort to manage the Republican National Convention and wrangle delegates into supporting Trump. Manafort had experience convincing delegates to support Gerald Ford in 1976 the last time the Republican Party began a convention without having selected its presidential nominee. In May 2016, Manafort was promoted to the position of campaign chairman and chief strategist. He became the campaign's de facto manager after Trump fired Corey Lewandowski in late June. Manafort served in this senior role until August 2016, when he resigned over reports about his legally questionable work mixing politics and business in Ukraine. The New York Times, citing ledgers uncovered by an anticorruption center in Kiev, reported on August 16 that $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments from Yanukovych's pro-Russia Party of Regions had been earmarked for Manafort for his work with the party from 2007 to 2012. According to a Politico report, Trump's family was also unhappy with changes made to the Republican Party platform that many saw as pro-Russian and in which they believed Manafort played a role. Why is Manafort under fire now? On March 22, the Associated Press reported that Manafort was paid $10 million between 2006 and 2009 to lobby on behalf of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally, using a strategic "model" that would "greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success." AP reporter Jeff Horwitz told Fox News that Manafort was "a gun for hire" who was willing to work explicitly "on behalf of Russian interests." Manafort's name had been connected to Deripaska's before the AP reported on their lucrative contract. The two were involved in a partnership that went south, and wound up with Deripaska accusing Manafort of "disappearing" with nearly $19 million intended for investments. Deripaska filed a lawsuit against Manafort in the Cayman Islands in 2014, and was still trying to get his money back in August 2015, according to documents obtained by Politico. White House press secretary Sean Spicer denied on March 22 that Trump had been aware that Manafort had lobbied on behalf of Deripaska. On top of this, Ukrainian member of parliament has accused Manafort of accepting nearly $1 million from Ukraine's pro-Russia Party of Regions, and then laundering it through a company that claims to sell computers. Ukrainian lawyers also want to question Manafort about what role he played, if any, in the 2014 police killings of protesters in Kiev. In another bizarre twist, late last month, hackers broke into Manafort's daughter's iPhone and published four years' worth of purported text messages roughly 300,000 messages on the dark web. In a series of texts reviewed by Business Insider that appear to have been sent by Andrea to her sister, Jessica, in March 2015, Andrea said their father had "no moral or legal compass." "Don't fool yourself," Andrea wrote to her sister, according to the texts. "That money we have is blood money." "You know he has killed people in Ukraine? Knowingly," she continued, according to the reviewed texts. "As a tactic to outrage the world and get focus on Ukraine. Remember when there were all those deaths taking place. A while back. About a year ago. Revolts and what not. Do you know whose strategy that was to cause that, to send those people out and get them slaughtered." In another text to her cousin, who was also her father's business partner, Andrea called Manafort "a sick f---ing tyrant." Paul Manafort with Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller Are Trump and Manafort still aligned? Manafort and Trump have been connected since the 1980s when Trump hired Manafort's lobbying firm to help the Trump Organization. Trump became close with Manafort's business partner at the time, Roger Stone, a self-proclaimed "dirty trickster" who served as an early adviser to Trump's presidential campaign. Earlier this month, Stone said he had exchanged private messages on Twitter with a hacker implicated in a massive cyberattack that targeted the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election. In 2006, Manafort and his wife bought a Trump Tower apartment, which Manafort still owns and resides in when he's in Manhattan. Manafort has denied all the allegations against him. In February, Manafort said he had "never knowingly spoken to Russian intelligence officers, and I have never been involved with anything to do with the Russian government or the Putin administration." The White House appears to be creating as much distance between Manafort and the Trump campaign as possible. On Monday, Spicer told reporters that Manafort "played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time" in the campaign, despite having spent five months on the campaign and nearly three of those months as the chairman. Others close to Trump have made opposing claims about Manafort's influence. "We couldn't be more happy with the work that he's doing, the way he's tackling these things, the way he's handling the organization of everything going forward," Donald Trump Jr. told the AP last July. In August, former House Speaker and Trump loyalist Newt Gingrich told Fox News host Sean Hannity that "nobody should underestimate how much Paul Manafort did to get this campaign to where it is right now." Manafort under FBI investigation? The revelations about Manafort's work with a Russian oligarch come amid reports that the FBI has evidence to suggest that Trump campaign associates colluded with Russia during the presidential election to undermine Hillary Clinton. During a hearing before Congress on Monday, FBI Director James Comey said publicly for the first time that the bureau was conducting a counterintelligence investigation that included an examination of whether Trump associates worked with Russian officials to influence the election. Comey declined to say whether Manafort was under investigation, but it has been reported that he and Roger Stone are both subjects of FBI scrutiny. Trump's former national-security adviser and top campaign surrogate, Michael Flynn, is also reportedly under FBI investigation. Flynn was paid $35,000 to speak at a gala celebrating state-sponsored news agency Russia Today in December 2015. A few months earlier, he was paid $11,250 to speak at an event hosted by Russia's top cybersecurity firm, Kasperky Lab. In response to the AP's latest report about Manafort's dealings with Deripaska, House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Jackie Speier said that the Trump-Russia investigation is no longer a "drip, drip, drip. This is now dam-breaking with water flushing out with all kinds of entanglements." NOW WATCH: A body-language expert analyzes Trump's unique handshakes More From Business Insider New Mother Lode Fairgrounds CEO Kenneth Alstott View Photos View Video Sonora, CA After a tumultuous past year where the past fair manager resigned in a controversial fashion, a new leader is taking the reins. At its Wednesday night meeting, the Mother Lode Fairgrounds Board of Directors, in a unanimous vote, approved the hiring of events manager Kenneth Alstott as the new Chief Executive Officer. He will replace former CEO Stacey Dodge, a Tuolumne County native that, as reported here, resigned this past summer from the post following a very public fallout with some board members. Alstott knows of the past unrest but told Clarke Broadcasting, I saw that they [Mother Lode Fairgrounds] didnt have a lot of money. There are a lot of projects that need to be done around the fairgrounds but I really believe that with the community involvement that there was a hidden gem here. Alstott is from the San Bernardino area. His background includes twelve years of fair CEO experience with eight managing the San Bernardino County Fair and up until April of last year as head of the Cow Palace in Daly City in the Bay Area. He also served four years in the military and 20 years in law enforcement; most recently with the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department working investigations and as part of the K-9 unit. All that experience he says makes him ready for this new task, stating, My goals are not only to unite the board but listen to the community and their input in it. We need to remember that the community is always that tenth board member. So, we value their opinion and their views on things. I dont see any issues going forward. I think everyone is excited about this. Were just looking forward to getting going. A sentiment echoed by Board President Missy Marino indicated it was a big sigh of relief. She indicated the board was glad to be moving forward with this positive change as Alstott really stood out during the interview process, adding, He was very thorough. He was very organized. He asked us questions about the job that we hadnt thought aboutHe was right on it and we knew that he was the man to get us out of the situation that weve been inWe want our fair to be more successful and he has some great ideas. Alstott also notes his background is as a project guy and experience with non-profits and foundations. His work with district agricultural associations has given him knowledge regarding state rules and regulations as well. He will be under contract with a salary not to exceed $24,200 for the remainder of 2017. (Click here for other contract details.) Alstott shares that his schedule will be intermittent, several days every other week but that he will be available 24/7 as he will commute from southern California. With the Mother Lode Fair about 15 weeks away he says he is not worried as the board has already done much of the leg work. As for possible changes to the fair next year he shares, Bull riding, demolition derby, monster trucks, were going to look at the gates, the numbers, the costs to produce those types of things and then make a decision from there. For this years fair I think well just generally take a look and see how things run and see how the community responds to it and then get their feedback and then look to make those changes. Alstott will hit the ground running as his first day on the job is Thursday. GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. A ban on most electronics in the cabins of some U.S.-bound flights may be aimed at thwarting terrorist attacks, but it also raises questions about the safest place to stow devices with lithium-ion batteries on airplanes. The Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday that laptops and other large electronic devices won't be allowed in the passenger cabins of nonstop flights to the U.S. from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa. The move is in response to intelligence reports that terrorists are looking for new ways to place explosives in electronic devices on airplanes. Passengers on these flights will now be required to pack devices in their checked luggage. Yet because the lithium-ion batteries in laptops occasionallythough rarelyburst into flames, the new rule raises the question: Is it dangerous to store hundreds of laptops in suitcases in the hold of an airplane? The issue has been studied extensively by aviation safety experts over the past few years. And there is an emerging body of opinion that, yes, it is somewhat safer if laptops and similar devices are kept in the passenger compartment rather than the cargo hold. Why? For one thing, if a laptop catches fire in the cabin, it will be noticed immediately and steps can be taken to put it out. And though there are fire safety systems in the hold of an airplane, they aren't well-equipped to deal with the type of fire that lithium-ion batteries generate. Theres a balance here, says John Cox, a former pilot and CEO of Safety Operating Systems, an aviation consulting firm. As we put lithium-ion batteries in cargo holds, they are no longer in an area where the crew can deal with them if they do catch fire. And the fire suppression systems using only [the common extinguishant] halon have not proven to be effective on lithium-ion fires. If a battery-powered device were to catch fire in the cargo hold, the halon in the onboard suppression system might extinguish the flames, but the battery would continue to heat up, potentially causing other fires. Story continues If you have a cargo hold with numerous lithium batteries, once one goes and starts that heating process, it can propagate to further devices, Cox says. You have this reignition. Cox adds that the Federal Aviation Administration "is in a very, very difficult situation. He acknowledges the challenge in weighing the threat of terrorism against the threat of an in-flight battery fire. I would like to see the risk analysis, but, at this point, I think that weve mitigated some risk and introduced some other. In a briefing Monday night, senior administration officials acknowledged that moving lithium-ion batteries from the passenger cabin to an airplanes hold did create some hazard. DHS declined to explain why it believes storing these devices in checked luggage will improve safety. "Were not able to talk about the specific details of security requirements," a spokesman said. Lithium-ion batteries are a known safety risk, says Karen Walker, editor-in-chief of Air Transport World, an airline industry trade publication. If they catch fire, its a very intense heat. And fire and aircraft dont mix very well. When a battery malfunctions, according to Consumer Reports chief scientific officer James Dickerson, its usually because the membranes that separate the charges in the battery are breached, which creates a short circuit and generates a sudden release of energy. That violent burst of energy causes the battery to reach temperatures approaching 1,000 F, potentially destabilizing nearby batteries, creating a condition known as thermal runaway. Lithium-ion batteries have been in the news in recent months, with spectacular videos popping up on YouTube of various devicesranging from hoverboards to a pair of headphonesbursting into flames. Last fall, the FAA banned the Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphone from U.S. flights after it was recalled because of reports of fires and explosions. But it's important to keep the dangers in perspective, given that millions of devices powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are put to use every day. The frequency (of fires) is quite small compared to the number of batteries in use, but it still is a potential hazard, says Dickerson, an expert on battery science. He adds that nonrechargeable batteries, such as the AA and AAA cells you might find in a remote control, do not pose the same threats for consumers. Last year the FAA warned that transporting pallets of lithium-ion or nonrechargeable lithium-metal batteries in the cargo holds of planes could cause a catastrophic explosion if a single cell were to catch fire. Although stopping short of an outright ban, the agency warned against packing large numbers of batteries togetherbecause of the dangers of thermal runawayand cautioned that the batteries should be kept separated from other hazardous materials. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), affiliated with the United Nations, last year banned the shipping of lithium-ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft because of the safety concerns. As with the FAA's restrictions, the move dealt only with commercial cargo, not the electronics devices carried onboard or stowed beneath the plane by passengers. Though passengers on domestic flights are currently allowed to pack devices containing lithium-ion or lithium-metal batteries in carry-on or checked luggage, the FAA requires that spare batteriesthose not installed in a devicebe limited to carry-on bags because of the potential for a battery with unprotected electrodes to come in contact with a loose metal object and short out, causing it to ignite. The FAA on Tuesday deferred comment to the DHS. The ICAO issued a statement acknowledging the need to continually address emerging threats, citing the importance of "finding an effective balance between safety and security approaches." According to administration officials, the DHS is working with the FAA and airlines to determine the best way to implement the new travel restrictions. The State Department has been in contact with the eight countries with airports affected by the measures. Smartphones and medical devices belonging to passengers and electronics devices carried by a planes crew are exempt from the ban. Officials say theres no end date for the restrictions. They are continuing to evaluate intelligence, leaving the door open for the new security measures to expand to other airports. The move currently affects flights coming from specific airports in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Nine foreign airlines and about 50 flights daily to the U.S. will be affected. No U.S.-based airlines are on the list because none currently offer nonstop service from the affected airports to the U.S. Britain announced a similar ban Tuesday. The U.S. changes officially went into effect at 3 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday, and airlines have 96 hours to comply. Those who dont could see their clearance to land in the U.S. revoked, the officials said. Update: This article has been updated with additional information from the Department of Homeland Security. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright 2006-2017 Consumer Reports, Inc. Israeli police have arrested a 19-year-old Israeli Jewish man as the primary suspect in a string of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers and other institutions in the U.S. Bomb threats made in 37 states, two Canadian provinces Suspect didn't use regular phone lines, police say PREVIOUS STORY: JCC of Greater Orlando evacuated Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld described the suspect as a hacker but said his motives were still unclear. Israeli media identified him as an American-Israeli dual citizen and said he had been found unfit for compulsory service in the Israeli military. His name wasn't released. The Anti-Defamation League says there have been more than 150 bomb threats against Jewish community centers and day schools in 37 states and two Canadian provinces since Jan. 9. In Florida, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando had to be evacuated three times in January because of bomb threats. Police didn't list the specific cases involving the 19-year-old suspect. The threats led to criticism of President Donald Trumps administration for not speaking out fast enough. Last month, the White House denounced the threats and rejected anti-Semitic and hateful threats in the strongest terms. U.S. authorities have also arrested a former journalist from St. Louis for allegedly threatening Jewish organizations. Juan Thompson has been indicted in New York on one count of cyberstalking. But Israeli police described the local man as the primary suspect in the wave of threats. Israeli police said the suspect made dozens of calls claiming to have placed bombs in public places and private companies, causing panic and significant economic damage, and disrupting public order, including by the hurried evacuations of a number of public venues around the world. The man is suspected of placing threatening phone calls to Australia, New Zealand and also within Israel. He didnt use regular phone lines. He used different computer systems so he couldnt be backtracked, Rosenfeld said. The Associated Press contributed to this story. WASHINGTON - U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) on Wednesday sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Acting Secretary Michael Young requesting that he provide a 60-day extension of the Emergency Use of CRP Lands for the Texas Panhandle Fires. The text of the letter is below. I am writing to respectfully request a 60-day extension of the Emergency Use of CRP Lands for the Texas Panhandle Fires. As you are aware, many counties in the Texas Panhandle recently experienced devastating wildfires. With almost 500,000 acres burned, thousands of miles of fence destroyed, and more than 2,000 head of livestock killed by smoke and flames; livestock producers are in dire need of places to house remaining livestock while fencing is re-established in these disaster areas. While the 30-day emergency use that has been approved by the USDA is very welcome and appreciated, I have heard from several producers that will not be able to build fences in time to meet the short deadlines. Replanting grasses and finding other sources of forage within a months time will also be a daunting, if not impossible, task. Additionally, there are several counties in my district that experienced heavy losses that are only eligible for grazing once every three years. Along with falling prices for cattle and our recent lack of rain, this disaster has certainly added additional uncertainty to affected producers. An extension of the Emergency Use of CRP Lands would provide a better opportunity for fencing to be rebuilt while providing a safe home for livestock. It will also help these struggling producers recover and get back on their feet. Within your rules and regulations, I ask that you give this request your full and prompt considerations. I look forward to our continued and shared work to ensure the viability of our nations agricultural producers. After sweltering in record heat and battling dry, dusty winds in recent days, local and area residents could end their week with severe thunderstorms. According to the National Weather Service, a dry line will move eastward across the Texas Panhandle-South Plains Thursday evening, firing off strong storms. Some storms could be severe. Very windy conditions are expected both Thursday and Friday, with blowing dust possible. Prevailing winds are expected to be in the 25 to 35 mph range with gusts to 50 mph, the Lubbock NWS office advises. The stormy weather Thursday night will usher in cooler temperatures on Friday, along with more wind. At greatest risk for scattered severe storms Thursday night is within a wide strip of the central Panhandle-South Plains of Texas, northward through the Oklahoma Panhandle and into Kansas and Nebraska. Included in the storm area are Lubbock, Plainview, Amarillo and Liberal, Kansas. The risk includes hail 1 to 2 inches in diameter, winds in excess of 58 mph and possibly one or two tornadoes. The high winds associated with the storm system will continue the threat of fire weather. With the approach of the low on Thursday, the NWS reports, well see winds quickly ramp up out of the south, reaching near or just above Wind Advisory criteria. Strong upper level support exists for the development of supercells Thursday evening. The NWS says large hail will be the primary threat, with the probability of downburst winds as well. The severe threat will sweep across the forecast area overnight, and well experience a brief respite in the winds, forecasters point out. One positive, they note, is that winds will be out of the northwest, dragging cooler air in, and thus, finally giving the region a nice break from the unseasonal heat for a day or two. Afternoon highs of 92 on Sunday and Monday set local daily temperature records, besting the previous record temperatures for those two dates by 6 degrees. The previous record highs were both 86, set in 1921 and 1916, respectively. On Sunday afternoon, a weak trough will pass just to the north of the region. That should result in a breezy afternoon, but no significant threat of storms. Forecasters are watching the development of yet another strong trough that could bring more storm activity by the middle of next week. Rain chances for the Plainview area are 20 percent Thursday afternoon, increasing to 70 percent Thursday night. Theres a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms on Tuesday. TROY -- City police Officer Kevin McKenna, who was charged Saturday with drunken driving after crashing into a Colonie police vehicle, was suspended Thursday, Troy police spokesman Capt. Dan DeWolf said. McKenna will not work or be paid for 30 days, DeWolf said. If the officer is still under internal investigation after that time, he will remain suspended with pay, the captain said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Bay Area may be losing a bit of its luster. After years of being overrun by new residents drawn by a red-hot economy, the number of people moving out has begun to catch up with the number moving in, new census data show. In fact, in some parts of the Bay Area including Santa Clara, San Mateo and Marin counties already more people are leaving than arriving, according to the estimates released Thursday, which cover the period from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016. The same would be true in San Francisco if it werent for the high number moving in from abroad. Such a trend has not been seen since last decades recession. Job growth has slowed, and that leads to a lessening in demand to live in the Bay Area, said Hans Johnson, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California who had not seen the new census figures. But its not like were having outright job losses or increasing unemployment. Thats not happening. The regions economy, by all measures, is still robust. Whats happening, say Johnson and other demography experts, is that the extraordinary upswing that led California out of hard times last decade, with the tech sector propelling the boom, has become slightly less alluring. At the same time, housing prices have continued to grow, compounding the crunch. The key here is being able to afford to live in the Bay Area, said Johnson. Jobs and housing are really the primary criteria driving peoples decisions. Its kind of a balancing act between the two. If jobs predominate, people are moving in. If housing predominates, you have less people moving in. For Redwood City resident Lolly Mitchell, 29, the scales have tipped on the side of cost. The hardware engineer, whose husband is also in the tech industry, has been saving to buy a home but finally decided that Bay Area prices are just too much. The couple recently closed escrow on a house in Los Angeles. I moved up here because there was more work for my husband, said Mitchell, who came from Southern California. Weve been working hard to be financially secure here. But we dont want to live paycheck to paycheck. We just dont want to be at risk for the amount of money wed have to pay for a new home. The median home price in the Bay Area was $784,500 last month, according to the California Association of Realtors. In San Francisco, it was $1.28 million. Homes in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Marin counties also averaged more than $1 million. While prices have not been growing as fast as they were a few years ago, when double-digit appreciation was not uncommon, and the number of sales has begun to drop, real estate values are still ticking upward, the associations data show. When you dont have enough supply and you continue to have demand, you put pressure on home prices, said Oscar Wei, senior economist at the association. And when home prices are at a high level, people will move to more affordable counties in the Bay Area or even farther out. The new census data show that eight of the regions nine counties, with the exception being Solano County, experienced their lowest levels of net migration the number of people moving in minus the number moving out last year in at least four years. Some havent seen numbers as low since the recession, when jobs in the Bay Area, like elsewhere, were harder to come by. When considering only people coming and going from elsewhere in the U.S., most Bay Area counties, including San Francisco, saw greater outflows than inflows. But sometimes influxes of foreigners offset losses in the domestic population. The number of births also tempered migration losses. Marin was the only county to actually lose population. Overall, the Bay Areas population grew 0.7 percent to 7.68 million in the time period, the data show. Santa Clara County had the most residents, with 1.92 million people, followed by Alameda County, with 1.65 million. San Francisco counted 870,887 people. Solano and Contra Costa counties, where real estate prices tend to be lower, saw the most growth, 1.4 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. The new census figures do not include demographics, such as race or income, of the people moving to and from the Bay Area. Nor do they track where people are coming from or going to. Demographers looking at real estate records and tax returns have found that the exodus often begins in California, with people moving within the state from more to less expensive regions. The nearby states of Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona have also been popular, as has Texas. A LinkedIn report this month cited Portland, Ore., as the top destination for its Bay Area users leaving the state. Todd David, executive director of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition, which advocates for making the region more affordable, said its not just poor people who are finding it expensive to live here. The population that were starting to lose in San Francisco is the middle-income, he said. These are the people getting squeezed. While the likes of Google and Apple continue to create jobs both plan to open new, sprawling campuses locally many companies are not keeping up. And few offer salaries commensurate with Bay Area costs. State data show that Januarys job growth hovered just above 2 percent for most of the Bay Area. Thats down from closer to 4 percent a year ago and nearly 5 percent two years ago. Even though jobs are being added, the growth has slowed, said Janice Shriver, a labor market consultant for the California Employment Development Department. The area reached full employment, so its hard to maintain that massive job growth we had after the recession. Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander Livestock producers are seeking $750 million to beef up the nations vaccine bank for foot-and-mouth disease, saying an outbreak on U.S. soil would quickly reach epidemic proportions and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in losses to producers of cattle, pork, sheep and other livestock. Foot-and-mouth disease, or FMD, is a highly contagious viral disease that was considered eradicated from the U.S. in 1929, but remains endemic in Africa, Asia, some South American countries and the Middle East. While it does not affect humans and is not considered a public health or food safety threat, it sickens cows, pigs, sheep, goats, deer and other animals with divided hoofs. Infected animals usually must be euthanized. There hasnt been a recent outbreak in the U.S. to cause alarm, but the nations vaccine bank in Plum Island, New York, has antigens for only 10 of the 23 strains currently circulating around the globe, David Herring, vice president of the National Pork Producers Council said at a hearing Tuesday of the House Agriculture Committees Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture. The hearing was part of a whirlwind of events setting the groundwork for the next farm bill, a roughly $1 trillion five-year spending plan that covers food stamps and other federal nutrition programs and sets standards for crop insurance, farm support programs and an array of other programs affecting U.S. agriculture and forestry. House Agriculture Committee Michael Conaway, R-Midland, has said he is committed to getting the 2018 farm bill passed on time. U.S. pork exports reached a record 2.3 million metric tons in 2016, accounting for 26 percent of production. Those markets would quickly close if the disease was detected, he said, adding that it wouldnt take much for terrorists to unleash FMD in the U.S. as a way of hurting the U.S. food supply and inflicting serious economic damage. The U.S. pork industrys top priority for the next farm bill is establishing a foot-and-mouth disease vaccine bank, Herring said. If this country ever had an FMD outbreak not only could it devastate my farm and the whole livestock industry but the entire U.S. economy. Craig Uden, president of the National Cattlemens Beef Association, said an FMD outbreak would cause enormous economic losses not only to livestock producers, but also auction markets, slaughterhouses, food processors and related industries, and consumers. We feel that this vaccine bank is vitally important to the beef industry as FMD is still a threat as countries around the world continue to grapple with the disease, Uden said. Herring cited research from Iowa State University concluding an FMD outbreak could cost pork, beef, corn and soybean producers $200 billion over 10 years. Since any of the strains could be the culprit, an adequate vaccine strategy would require 10 million doses for each of the 23 strains as well as surge capacity for 40 million doses, he said. The producers are asking for $150 million for each of the five years of the farm bill to contract for an offshore, vendor-maintained vaccine antigen bank with inventory to cover the first two weeks of an outbreak. The money also would allow for a contract with an international manufacturer to provide surge capacity. David Anderson, an agricultural economist at Texas A&M University, said it wasnt surprising that disease outbreak control would be a top priority for livestock producers. The avian flu outbreak that spread through northern U.S. flocks in 2014 and 2015 forced destruction of some 50 million birds and caused more than $3.3 billion in economic damages. A current outbreak of avian flu has already forced euthanasia of some 200,000 animals in three southern states. In 2013, porcine epidemic diarrhea showed in U.S. swine for the first time, and by mid-2014 had spread through 27 states. Its really an economic disease, Anderson said. The procedure around the world is that when a country has an outbreak, everybody bans their product. Its really devastating. The response has been you quarantine the area and kill all the animals. Cattle ranchers in Texas, the nations leading cattle producing state, were among those opposed to the USDAs Aug. 1 decision to allow imports of fresh and frozen beef from Brazil. The announcement coincided with Brazils decision to reopen its markets to U.S. beef, which had been banned due to a 2003 incidence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. Ranchers said they were not convinced Brazil has a handle on foot-and-mouth disease. Its nothing about trade or having their beef come into the United States, the issue is health and herd security, Saginaw rancher Pete Bonds said. Theres still some cases of foot-and- mouth disease in Brazil. Theyre saying theyve got it under control with vaccinations; I dont believe them. The problem is if hoof-and-mouth would ever hit in the state of Texas, the cattle industry as we know it today is over, Bonds said. Hogs are actually more susceptible to hoof-and- mouth than cattle. And with the wild hog population in the state of Texas theres no way we can control it. An inquiry into a devastating 2001 FMD outbreak in England determined a likely cause to be domestic hogs that were fed contaminated beef. It was not cooked properly. It was fed to hogs and hogs got it and transferred it to cattle, Bonds said. If you think about it, you dont cook hamburger well enough, you throw it down, a wild hog comes and eats it and then it gets started. lbrezosky@express-news.net @lbrezosky Sears Sears has a bigger problem than plunging sales: dwindling inventory. Companies that supply Sears with the TVs, toys, and clothing for sale in its stores are growing increasingly concerned about the retailer's ability to pay its bills, and some are cutting back on shipments to stores as a result. That means Sears and Kmart stores are receiving less merchandise to sell, which is a grave problem for a company that's trying to avoid a possible bankruptcy by reversing years of sales declines. Reuters spoke to three suppliers that are cutting back shipments, refusing bigger orders, or demanding earlier payment from Sears. A Bangladesh-based textile firm told Reuters that it has drastically cut back shipments to Sears for the upcoming holiday quarter, and that it's reevaluating accepting new orders to protect itself against the risk of nonpayment. The company declined to be identified. Another supplier, Arnold Kamler, CEO of New Jersey-based bicycle manufacturer and importer Kent International Inc, told Reuters that Sears tried to purchase more bikes from them last year "because a lot of their current suppliers were either cutting them off or limited them on credit." He said he declined Sears' request. Sears Suppliers have been worried about Sears' financial health for a while, but their concerns really accelerated in the last half of 2016. It's a problem that's underreported because so few suppliers are willing to discuss the matter openly for fear of triggering a Sears bankruptcy or disrupting their relationship with the company. But the issue is readily apparent stores, where empty shelves and barren wall displays showcase the impact of the company's declining inventory. Recent visits to Sears stores in Richmond, Virginia and Woodbridge, New Jersey revealed a clear lack of inventory. Story continues Sears At both stores, it appears that employees have tried to spread out the merchandise to fill the store. Regardless of their efforts, many areas of both stores were nearly empty. Unfortunately for Sears, suppliers' fears may only accelerate going forward following the company's admission in a filing this week that there's "substantial doubt" about its ability to stay in business. Sears' stock plunged by nearly 13% following the news. Sears The company's chief financial officer, Jason Hollar, later tried to reassure investors in a blog post saying the company remains focused on meeting its financial obligations. "We are firmly focused on improving the operational performance and financial flexibility of Sears Holdings," he said. NOW WATCH: We went inside a Sears and saw why the company is dying More From Business Insider Here are a few only-in-San Antonio experiences you can take part in this weekend: a chance to play in the streets of Southtown; Mardi Gras in the middle of Lent; and pan dulce (potentially) dunked in beer. Click through the slideshow for details on these events and more, including the return of genial comedy star Louie Anderson. The pleasure of watching T2 Trainspotting is different from that of other movies. The pleasure comes mostly from the director, Danny Boyle, but its not the pleasure of bedazzlement, of getting shook up and shocked and jostled. Its pleasures are more friendly than that, easier, wittier. At its best, and T2 is mostly at its best, theres a kind of joy about it, and a joy in watching it, of sitting back and witnessing a succession of beautiful and clever surprises, of never knowing whats coming next and of always having that next thing be something better than you might ever have guessed. Boyle has been guilty in the past of virtuosity for the sake of virtuosity. If you wanted to be grumpy, you could say the same for T2, except that here hes not trying to impress the audience. Hes trying to delight the audience, and he succeeds, frame by frame, idea on top of idea, coming up with brand new ways to please, literally, from the first shot until the last. Trainspotting was an unexpected hit in 1996 about heroin addiction among Scottish working-class youth. It was a funny movie, despite all the scenes involving needles. This one is even funnier, possibly because the heroin element has been reduced to almost nothing, but also because the characters are all 20 years older and cant quite take themselves as seriously, even though they try. The first thing we see are feet on a treadmill. They belong to Renton (Ewan McGregor), who looks in good shape for a fellow who was strung out 20 years ago. Its a triumphant image of health, but Boyle undercuts this immediately with tiny flashbacks to Renton as a youth, suggesting the lingering presence of bad memories. And then the scene resolves into sudden slapstick way. This is Boyle having fun, starting his movie in a way someone else might, and then saying no, this is not going to be the usual thing. The excuse for T2 is Rentons return to Scotland after a 20-year absence. He arrives to find himself in a new, Europeanized Edinburgh, with women with funny accents handing out tourist information at the airport. (He asks one of them where she is from. Slovenia, she says.) Were soon reminded that, back in the day, Renton robbed his old buddies. Now hes back to pay his debts. All the characters get a flashy introduction. Begbie (Robert Carlyle), an explosive maniac, is in prison, screaming at and terrifying his lawyer. Spud (Ewen Bremner) is still a junkie and living a pathetic existence. In a scene both laugh-out-loud funny and unbelievably grotesque, he is in the process of suffocating himself with a plastic bag when Renton comes to visit him. And Simon (Jonny Lee Miller) is working low-level scams. The ambition of his life is to set up a brothel, with his new Bulgarian girlfriend (Anjela Nedyalkova) working as his madam. The script by John Hodge, loosely based on two Trainspotting novels by Irvine Welsh, has a slapdash feeling, as though one thing were following another, with no plan or reason. At times, viewers may have trouble figuring out whats going on, assuming they care enough to try. But theres nothing casual about Hodges ability to hold an audiences attention. He gives scenes a solid grounding, which allows Boyle to take flight. In T2, Boyle never stops thinking of interesting things to do. Renton visits his father, and they talk in the kitchen about Rentons dead mother. As they do, we notice Rentons shadow is filling the empty chair at the table. The light source makes no sense. Its just a fun touch, there for the sake of being there. Later in the film, Boyle starts a sex scene to the accompaniment of the 1979 Blondie song Dreaming, which never sounded so good. Intuiting that the audience doesnt want the song to stop, Boyle fills the screen with a series of sights and incidents involving other characters, such as Spuds renovation of a bar. Theres nothing to analyze here, nothing to dissect, just a joyful combination and sounds and images that will probably please every single living soul that sees it. No, T2 is not a great film, but its pleasures are great and so rare and accomplished that it raises T2 to a level approximating greatness. There is something to be said for a movie this enjoyable. T2 is great enough. Running time: 118 minutes MPAA rating: R (drug use, profanity, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, violence) S.A. has transformed into a culinary destination, with tourists from around the world arriving hungry for everything from puffy tacos to upscale Peruvian. The current roster of dining and drinking attractions is the best the city's ever seen. The San Antonio culinary scene is filled with hundreds of gems waiting to be discovered and delicious fare waiting to be devoured. The food team from the San Antonio Express-News compiled a list of the top restaurants in the Alamo City deserving of recognition from bakeries to coffee shops, wineries to bars and casual eateries to upscale restaurants. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany The excitement was palpable at the Camino Nuevo addiction treatment center Wednesday. But it was tinged with anxiety. Staff and clients at the Central Avenue clinic were bustling, preparing for an open house on Thursday, a celebration of their success during the worst heroin epidemic in decades. Wilfredo Rosado, 51, beamed as the paintings he did in jail, framed for the first time, were hung on the wall for the event. But Rosado and others are also concerned about what will happen if Congress passes the American Health Care Act, the Republican plan to replace Obamacare, formally the Affordable Care Act. They're worried that if it passes, they will lose insurance coverage and with it, access to treatment. "The Medicaid, I'm worried about that," Rosado said. Advocates for substance abuse services say the Republican proposal could gut addiction treatment at a time when communities are grappling with staggering rates of drug abuse and overdose. There were 2,754 drug overdose deaths in New York in 2015, according to federal data. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that 24 million Americans would lose insurance coverage under the AHCA by 2026, including people with Medicaid and private health coverage. Sen. Charles Schumer released estimates Wednesday that about 200,000 New Yorkers in congressional districts that cover the Capital Region would be among them. Under Obamacare, all insurance policies are required to include coverage for mental health and substance abuse treatment. An estimated 115,000 New Yorkers with mental illness and substance abuse disorders receive coverage through the NY State of Health exchange or the expansion of Medicaid supported by the federal law, according to health advocate VOCAL-NY. Micky Jimenez, director of Camino Nuevo (New Path in Spanish) said she had not been worried about the effect of a replacement for Obamacare on the treatment center, given the obvious need for its counseling services and access to methadone, a tightly controlled medication used to keep addicts' cravings for heroin at bay. The clinic has already outgrown its original space and moved into a 3,000-square-foot site with five methadone-dispensing windows in December. As of Wednesday, it had 490 clients, a 20-person increase from last week. Jimenez cannot contemplate halting the growth, for the same reason she has not been able to envision a reduction in financial support for the programs. "How could this go away? We have 144 people overdosing every day," she said, citing an oft-quoted national figure. In recent weeks, however, clients' anxiety over the federal health insurance law has upset Jimenez, too. Instead of worrying about getting safe housing or finding a new job, they are stressed over losing insurance. About 80 percent of Camino Nuevo's clients are on Medicaid, while 20 percent have private insurance. Brooke Epstein called Camino Nuevo "the center of my life." The 27-year-old from Cohoes found her way there for treatment last June. She was "sick and tired of feeling sick and tired," she said, looking for the first time to get clean since she started using heroin and crack cocaine at 17. Her mother and sister both died of overdoses. She gets up in the morning now feeling blessed for her bowl of cereal and cup of coffee, grateful that she is not reaching for a syringe to shoot up. "If I couldn't have this program, I feel like the life that I'm just beginning would be over," Epstein said. Rosado found Camino Nuevo a year and half ago, after spending most of the 1990s in jail for drug-related crimes and later failing to complete several treatment programs. Camino Nuevo is the first place he's been, he said, where he doesn't feel "less than." He believes like he never has before that he can live without drugs. "Being here in this place is giving me the break I need to cut that part of my life out," Rosado said. chughes@timesunion.com 518-454-5417 @hughesclaire A Danbury woman studying in London was on the phone Wednesday with her boyfriend in the United States when she learned a terrorist attack had occurred outside Parliament. We really didnt know exactly what had happened, except that a police officer had been stabbed, said Kassie Mendes, 19, a Danbury High School graduate and Quinnipiac University student. My boyfriends mother shes always watching the news screamed from the background . Im lucky I decided to stay in for the day and catch up on my laundry. Four people were killed and at least 30 were injured when a man authorities identified as Khalid Masood drove his car into a crowd of pedestrians on the Westminster Bridge before stabbing the police officer just outside the Parliament building. Mendes said her friends and relatives had been concerned about potential terrorist attacks when she left for London in January, and the university had put procedures in place to maintain contact with students in the event an attack occurred. A sophomore studying psychology, Mendes is among 13 Quinnipiac students studying in London this semester. My mother told me to stay away from big crowds Mendes said. I guess she was right. The school had told students before they left that in the event of an attack they would get an email telling them what had happened and asking for information about their safety and whereabouts. When that email came Wednesday, Mendes replied she was in a safe and secure location. Mendes said she had yet to venture outside of her dorm by late afternoon Thursday, but others who had walked through London told her everyone seemed to be in a somber mood. Londoners are known for keeping to themselves anyway, she said. But today friends are walking down the street just looking down at the sidewalk and not even talking to each other. Mendes was about 20 minutes away from the Parliament building when the attack occurred, but she said she heard the sounds of sirens and helicopters afterward. Choppers continued flying through the neighborhood Thursday, she said. But the chaotic scene, and the confusion and sadness that followed, werent really new for Mendes, who was in geography class in Danbury four years ago when a lone gunman attacked Sandy Hook Elementary School. I knew that I needed to stay calm and not to panic before we got more information about what was happening, she said. Growing up in the United States, where police are routinely armed, has helped her deal with the increased police precautions. Most of the police officers today are carrying guns, which they dont normally do, and its putting a lot of locals on edge, she said. But Im used to cops carrying guns. Mendes and some friends considered going to a candlelight vigil Thursday night, but were concerned about the potential for additional attacks. There have been a lot of raids in the city, but the prime minister just said not to worry about additional attacks, and Im going to trust her, Mendes said. Weve all decided that we are going to stay. Were not going to let something like this ruin a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Mendes said she always knew that she wanted to study abroad, having spent two weeks in Europe during an educational program in high school. NEW FAIRFIELDA Candlewood Isle resident has threatened legal action in his most recent attempt to stop the towns controversial proposal to use herbicides in Candlewood Lake to prevent the spread of invasive Eurasian milfoil and blue-green algae. Bob Stryker, who lives in a waterfront property in the Candlewood Isle community, notified the Board of Selectmen that he will pursue criminal trespassing charges should the town or the company hired to implement the proposal, Solitude Lake Management, apply the herbicides to the waters on his property. The town plan would use the herbicide Diquat to kill the milfoil on about 60 acres, and would apply copper sulfate to up to 160 acres to treat blue-green algae, both of which prevent swimmers and boaters from using the lake. One of the two treatment areas includes the northern shoreline of Candlewood Isle. Stryker said the Candlewood Isle Association and several of its residents own both the land neighboring the lake and a quarter-mile extent of land under the water, which was acquired from someone who owned the land before it was flooded in the 1920s. He hopes to enlist neighbors to join him in pursuing charges. A whole bunch of us here are trying different ways to stop this, Stryker said. All you need is a couple other people to say theyll go along with me. Speaking for myself, if somebody trespassed, I would go to the attorney and say I want this person arrested. To pursue the charges, Stryker said, he would cite common law pertaining to subaqueous, or underwater, land. According to an article by Hartford attorney Sally A. Roberts, Connecticut has consistently upheld the rule that ownership of land extends to the waters above it in certain circumstances. Although he opposes the use of herbicides, Stryker said, his decision to take legal action was based more on the way the town developed the proposal, which he claims violated several state statutes. Im not arguing about the product, Im arguing about the process, he said. They did everything backwards. Stryker claims the town violated a statute that requires municipalities to put any expense over $20,000 to a town vote. The Oct. 13 special town meeting where residents agreed to contribute $30,000 to lake studies was wrongly applied in January toward the $52,000 cost of the herbicide proposal, he said. Stryker submitted a complaint to the state Freedom of Information Commission to have the October meeting declared null and void. Tom Hennick, public education officer for the commission, said Strykers complaint has yet to be reviewed. If it succeeded, he said, the town would need to hold another vote on using the money specifically for the Solitude plan. But in his 17 years with the commission, Hennick said, hes learned that declaring a meeting null and void is a rare occurrence. We tend to say, Look, thats not how you do it, do it right next time, he said. If it was particularly egregious or an intentional snub, then we might [declare it null and void], but in my experience, that doesnt happen all that often. Stryker also said the March 2 public hearing on the proposal, which was attended by more than 150 residents, should have been held before the selectmen signed the contract with Solitude Lake Management. And after the hearing, where most residents spoke against the proposal, Stryker said selectmen should have immediately abandoned the plan. An online petition against the use of herbicides in Candlewood Lake, started in January, has gathered more than 2,600 signatures. Theres overwhelming negativity for this proposal, Stryker said. So why dont they simply say, The people spoke and were going to honor our constituents? Whats the motivation for hanging on to this? First Selectmen Susan Chapman will meet with officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection next week to discuss the proposal. She said the meeting will address whether the town should revise or abandon the plan in light of a recent decision to increase the number of weed-eating carp introduced to the lake as part of a milfoil reduction program. aquinn@newstimes.com; @QuinnNewsTimes The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission logo adorns an office door at the SEC headquarters in Washington, June 24, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two Israeli residents have been charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading in Mobileye NV before the maker of sensors and cameras for driverless vehicles agreed to be acquired by Intel Corp for $15.3 billion. According to a complaint filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Ariel Darvasi and Amir Waldman made "remarkably timed" purchases of Mobileye shares and call options prior to the March 13 merger announcement. The SEC said the purchases resulted in about $427,000 of profit for Darvasi and $4.5 million for Waldman, after the announcement caused shares of Jerusalem-based Mobileye to rise 28.2 percent in one day. According to the SEC, both defendants were connected to Mobileye insiders through the scientific academic community at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which developed Mobileye technology and produced at least 11 Mobileye directors and officers. Darvasi, of Mevasseret Zion, Israel, is a genetics professor at the university, while Waldman, of Yarqona, Israel, is a self-employed engineer, the SEC said. It was unclear whether Darvasi and Waldman have hired lawyers. Darvasi did not immediately respond to an email request for comment after normal business hours in Israel. Waldman could not immediately be reached for comment. Neither Mobileye nor Santa Clara, California-based Intel was accused of wrongdoing. Mobileye did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Intel declined to comment. Reuters obtained a filed copy of the complaint, which was not immediately available in online court records. U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan on Thursday temporarily froze the defendants' assets in two accounts at Interactive Brokers LLC, finding "a basis to infer" they violated U.S. insider trading laws, court records show. The SEC said Waldman conducted most of his Mobileye trading in the six weeks before the merger was announced, starting on the day Intel and Mobileye signed a non-disclosure agreement, and generated a 1,883 percent return. Story continues Darvasi began buying Mobileye stock on March 2 after selling 40,000 shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, the only securities in his account, the SEC said. The case is SEC v Darvasi et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-02088. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Dan Grebler and Leslie Adler) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SCHENECTADY A security officer at Rivers Casino who allowed an underage player onto the gaming floor on Valentine's Day was unqualified and lack the proper training for the job, according to the findings of a state investigation, and the gambling hall was fined a total of $6,000 for two separate violations. Andrick Singh of Schenectady was allowed onto the floor at 10:32 p.m. on Feb. 14 and he played slot machines for 1 hour and 45 minutes. It's a good bet that he would never have been caught if he hadn't hit a jackpot of $1,326 at 12:30 a.m. and couldn't provide identification to claim his money. A March 7 letter sent by the state Gaming Commission to Mary Cheeks, general manager of Rivers Casinso & Resort, states the advanced identification detection scanner at the entrance to the casino floor was functioning and the security officer was alerted "that the individual seeking entry was underage, but the alert was disregarded." Singh was removed from the floor and casino inspectors were notified, the letter from Division of Gaming Director Thomas Anapolis says. Two state investigators on the site interviewed security personnel and viewed surveillance footage to determine what happened. Singh was arrested and charged with criminal impersonation, criminal trespassing and unlawful possession of marijuana. He was sentenced Feb. 15 to adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, meaning the charges will be dropped if he avoids trouble with the law for six months, "Rivers Casino & Resort personnel admitted knowledge that the security officer staffing the entrance where the underaged individual accessed the floor was unqualified for the position and lacked sufficient training to prevent underage access to the gaming floor," the commission wrote. The casino was fined $5,000 for allowing a person under 21 years old to make a wager and $1,000 for having that individual on the floor "for longer than necessary to reach a destination that is not on the gaming floor." Charles Wiff, a spokesman for the casino, issued a statement Thursday, saying the casino "acted swiftly and appropriately once the underage customer was identified, and also self-reported this incident" to the Gaming Commission. "Responsible gaming, including preventing underage gaming, is a top priority at our property, and we are continually making improvements to our operations to maintain our commitment to that mission," the statement says. Rivers partnered Wednesday with the New York Responsible Play Partnership to present a public meeting on responsible gaming, the letter says. Wiff said he could not comment on personnel-related matters when asked if the security officer was disciplined. Rivers has 30 days after its receipt of the March 7 letter to appeal the ruling and fine pnelson@timesunion.com 518-454-5347 @apaulnelson Atascocita High School students spent their spring break participating in the Festival of Fantasy Parade at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. People travel to Disney World from all over the country, which makes this a perfect opportunity for the school band to share their talents while representing their district. Damien Murphy's 3-year-old son, Jamie, is one of these curious, mischievous kids who gets into everything. "Whenever I walk into a room and see something that could be trouble," said Murphy, of Nenagh, Ireland, in County Tipperary, "I instantly see Jamie in it. He's a real boundary pusher." Once, for example, he and his dad were looking after an aunt's dog. Jamie "woke up early in the morning and cut a bunch of hair off it," Murphy, 35, told The Washington Post. Still, Murphy said, he didn't see it coming - it being Jamie's Great Toy Machine Caper - when he, Jamie and his brother Shane, 5, walked into Jump 'n' Gyms, a commercial play center that boasts a "multi-level play area" filled with kidly delights. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Washington Post Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Washington Post Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Among them was one of those big claw machines filled with cuddly stuffed teddy bears, doggies, giraffes and dragons, a contraption tantalizing to young and old alike but especially to 3-year-olds. Even though it says "Prize Every Time" in big yellow letters, 3-year-olds can't read and are smart enough anyway not to be taken in. Indeed, as someone recently wrote, getting a prize can be tough "unless you're small enough to climb inside . . ." It happens that Jamie was small enough to climb inside, said his father. "I was sitting down having a coffee," Murphy said, looking after the boys, when Jamie wandered off for just a second. "He went out of my sight, walked off just to my left. I heard what I thought was a muffled complaint," looked over and there he was. "He was just there, inside the machine, looking out of the glass." It seems that Jamie had climbed in through the flap where the toys come tumbling out, if you're lucky enough to get one, his father said. It's a small space, but then again, Jamie is a small boy, only a few feet high. "He seemed a bit panicked," said Murphy, "and then I told him, 'listen, you're fine,' and gave him a big smile. Then he started laughing." Meanwhile, as Murphy was alerting the staff, an off-duty fireman who happened to be at Jump 'n' Gyms with his children, "strolled over with a big grin on his face. He said '90 percent of my job is getting kids out of trouble like this,'" Murphy told The Post. And so the fireman did get Jamie out of trouble, coaxing him to exit the machine just the way he entered, telling him to crouch down, crawl back into the slot, through the flap, and then shimmying him out of the machine. It was all over in 10 minutes. The owner of the gym, James O'Sullivan, confirmed in an email to The Post that the boy was in the machine. "But how he got there," he said, "nobody knows. Obviously none of the staff working Monday saw him getting into the machine." O'Sullivan said he has had the machine removed and asked the company that operates it to review it. "At this stage," he said, "we are thankful that Jamie didn't manage to hurt himself during his little adventure." Dad, son and son, were reunited, joined by two cuddly green dragons, one for Shane and one for Jamie, courtesy of Jump 'n' Gyms. This sort of thing has happened elsewhere. ABC News reported on several incidents of small children getting into toy claw machines, and getting stuck. "The prizes are so close but they are just out of reach," Barbara Eldredge, a design researcher told ABC. "The appeal of going inside is like entering a magic land. It's kid-sized and if the kid can fit, why not?" For the second time in a week, Berkeley police revealed they uncovered a major haul of drugs and stolen loot after catching a suspect red-handed. This time, officers nabbed a 35-year-old Berkeley resident who was out on bail with thousands of dollars in cash, sizable quantities of methamphetamine and heroin, a stun gun, a real gun and other spoils. But perhaps the most unusual item seized among the pile of pillaged goods was the burglars GPS ankle monitor that was issued by his bail bondsman. The takedown happened around 7 p.m. on March 16 when Berkeley police went to serve a search warrant at a home on the 3800 block of Market Street in Oakland. Investigators were looking for Anthony Beamon. When police got to the home, they spotted their man grabbing two backpacks from a car parked out front, police said. As officers swooped in, Beamon took off, ditching one of the backpacks and a bag of drugs, officials said. Police eventually caught up to Beamon after a quick foot chase and took him into custody. Inside the ditched bag, police said they found the ankle monitor and a loaded .40 caliber pistol that had been stolen during a residential burglary. In the other bag, investigators found what they believe were stolen MacBook laptops. Police also seized methamphetamine, heroin, close to $4,000 in cash, three firearms, a ballistic raid vest, an electronic stun gun and other stolen property. Beamon was arrested on suspicion of possession for sales of methamphetamine and heroin that carry weight enhancements charges along with enhancements for having a loaded firearm with methamphetamine and heroin. He was booked additionally on suspicion of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, running a drug house, committing a felony while being out on bail, possession of stolen property, resisting arrest and a misdemeanor court probation violation. Beamon had been out of custody on $770,000 bail from three prior criminal cases involving possession for sales of drugs and firearms, police said. That arrest came three days before Berkeley police brought in another major haul. On Sunday, officers recovered thousands of dollars in cash, heroin and an illegal firearm when they busted three suspects near the UC Berkeley campus. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky Lawyers for Alameda County and would-be gun dealers dueled in a federal appeals court Wednesday over a land-use law that raised two far-reaching questions: whether a local government can restrict the location of gun stores and whether the Constitution includes a right to sell firearms. Theres no free-standing right to sell a gun at a store of your own, Brian Goldman, a lawyer for the county, told an 11-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. But Donald Kilmer, attorney for the prospective gun retailers, said the right to own guns for self-defense, as recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court, depends on having a place to buy them. Kilmer said the 1998 county ordinance, which prohibits new gun stores in unincorporated areas of the county within 500 feet of a residential neighborhood, a school or another gun store, was intended to stop new gun stores from opening. He said his clients application to open a gun shop near San Leandro, 446 feet away from homes on the other side of Interstate 880, was vetoed by county supervisors because they do not like guns. The countys lawyers said 17 other cities and counties in California, including San Francisco, Oakland and Contra Costa County, regulate the locations of commercial gun dealers. In a 2008 Supreme Court ruling declaring a constitutional right to possess firearms at home, Justice Antonin Scalia said that laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms were presumptively lawful, requiring opponents to show why the laws interfered with gun ownership. At Wednesdays hearing, Judge Marsha Berzon noted that there are 10 licensed gun stores in Alameda County, including one about 600 feet from the proposed site. How does the countys restriction cause any interference with the Second Amendment right to buy guns? she asked Kilmer. The nearby store doesnt sell handguns, the lawyer replied, and it also doesnt offer state-required safety training that his clients store would provide. Judge Richard Tallman said interfering with legally mandated training might be a constitutional violation, but another judge, John Owens, said the same training is available at homes of local gun owners identified by the National Rifle Association. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko jeff flake In a victory for internet service providers like Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T, the US Senate on Thursday voted to kill a set of Obama-era privacy regulations passed by the Federal Communication Commission in October. The most notable part of the rules, which has not taken effect, would require ISPs to get explicit consent before sharing consumers' web-browsing data and other personal information with advertisers. The vote passed 50 to 48 along party lines, with Republicans in favor of the repeal and Democrats against. They were voting on a resolution proposed earlier this month by Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and cosponsored by 24 other Republicans that broadly calls for the FCC's privacy rules to "have no force or effect." The resolution was proposed via the Congressional Review Act, a seldom-used law that the GOP is more widely applying to repeal federal regulations they contested late in the Obama administration with a simple majority vote. Republicans have a majority in both chambers of Congress. The resolution will now need to pass in the House of Representatives where Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee proposed a similar resolution earlier this month then be signed by President Donald Trump before going into effect. Because the resolution uses the CRA, the FCC would be outlawed from creating similar privacy regulations if the repeal is signed by Trump. The context The FCC's privacy rules were passed in a party-line vote in October after months of contention between Democrats and Republicans at the agency. The rules were something of a follow-up to the 2015 Open Internet Order, the high-profile regulations that classified the internet as a public utility. That set in place today's net-neutrality rules which forbid ISPs from blocking, throttling, or prioritizing sites as they see fit but also left the FCC in charge of ISPs' privacy regulations. Story continues ajit pai fcc The privacy rules apply a range of guidelines to ISPs about how they treat consumer data, but the most notable bit would force them to obtain explicit consent before they're able to share "sensitive" consumer information with advertisers. In other words, ISPs would need you to opt in to their data-collection policies before they're able to take that sensitive data and use it for targeted ads. When people are given that explicit option, they are typically less likely to accept it. That means less potential revenue for ISPs. Much of what the FCC deemed "sensitive" fell in line with looser, pre-net-neutrality privacy guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission things like financial, health, and geolocation info but the agency notably added web-browsing and app-usage data to the list. That specific provision is not scheduled to go into effect until later this December, however. Even under the would-be privacy rules, which now appear doomed, ISPs would not be required to get opt-in consent for other bits of personal information like email addresses. The FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, has strongly opposed the privacy rules, and voted against them as a commissioner last October. Last month he halted one part of the privacy rules that would've broadly required ISPs to "engage in reasonable data security practices." Pai and GOP commissioner Michael O'Rielly have a 2-1 majority at the agency. comcast Pai feels the privacy rules unfairly target ISPs and give internet companies like Google and Facebook the ability to harvest more consumer data and dominate digital advertising. Google and Facebook are by far the two biggest players in the digital ad industry. Websites like Google and Facebook are still regulated by the FTC's looser guidelines and thus are not forced to obtain opt-in consent before they collect and sell your web-browsing and app-usage data. This is partly why you may see ads personalized to your browsing history when you browse the web. ISPs aren't happy about this discrepancy, and they have petitioned the FCC to roll back the rules entirely. Telecom industry groups have said keeping the rules could limit ISPs' ability to provide otherwise free or low-cost services. The wireless-industry trade group CTIA also argued in a note to the FCC last week that web-browsing and app-usage history were not "sensitive" information. The debate comes at a time when ISPs like Verizon are increasingly interested in boosting their digital advertising presence. Even though internet companies are not covered here, they have also opposed the regulations, mainly because they do not want a precedent to be set that may apply to their data-collection policies in the future. Groups representing Google, Facebook, and the like urged Congress to repeal the privacy rules using the CRA this past January. Another shot at the net-neutrality rules Like many issues in Washington, this is a heated debate drawn squarely along party lines. Democrats and consumer-advocacy groups argue that it is fair to apply more stringent privacy rules to ISPs because it is generally more difficult to switch internet providers than it is to use different websites particularly in rural and low-income areas with fewer choices of ISPs and because ISPs are more easily capable of seeing everything you do over the internet connections they sell. (Though it's worth noting that behemoths like Google and Facebook are able to reach beyond their own sites.) Facebook magnifying glass logo They also note that many websites provide free services in exchange for their targeted ads, whereas ISPs still charge relatively high fees for access to internet service. Republicans and other conservatives, however, call the privacy regulations an overreach by a federal agency. "In reality, this is just yet another avenue designed to give the FCC more control over the internet that should be open," David Williams, the president of the right-leaning Taxpayers Protection Alliance, said Tuesday in a statement in favor of the act. Pai ultimately wants to return ISP privacy regulation to the FTC, as was the case prior to the net-neutrality order. Until that's possible, though, he has called for a privacy framework that allows ISPs to be regulated under guidelines similar to those from the FTC, putting them back in line with how internet companies are enforced. "All actors in the online space should be subject to the same rules, enforced by the same agency," Pai and the acting FTC chairwoman, Maureen Ohlhausen, said in a joint statement upon the FCC's data-security stay last month. "Until that happens, however, we will work together on harmonizing the FCC's privacy rules for broadband providers with the FTC's standards for other companies in the digital economy." But if privacy enforcement of ISPs is eventually removed from the FCC, there are doubts over whether the FTC has the authority to regulate ISPs' privacy practices at all. Apart from the restriction on future regulations set by the CRA, an appeals-court decision last year said AT&T was exempt from FTC oversight because it is a "common carrier" a title that was set for all internet providers through the 2015 net-neutrality order. Pai says that, if the privacy rules are reversed, the FCC will still be able to regulate ISPs' privacy policies using Title II, Section 222 of the Communications Act. Those regulations are less stringent than the Obama-era regulations, however, and do not cover web-browsing or app-usage data. fcc Title II is the linchpin of the 2015 net-neutrality order, and it is what gives the FCC much of its regulatory power over ISPs. But it is also what Pai and other Republicans most wish to dismantle as part of a larger rollback of the net-neutrality rules. If that happens, as expected, it could further reduce any privacy-related oversight of ISPs. Even if the net-neutrality order is undone, ISPs like Verizon and AT&T would retain "common carrier" status because they offer telephone services. That could create a situation in which no agency has clear regulatory authority over certain ISPs' privacy practices, and thus require further action to expand FTC authority. That may be unlikely with the deregulatory-minded GOP in charge. It'd also make it unclear if internet providers would be forced to give opt-in or opt-out options before selling web-browsing or app-usage data. Democrats blasted Thursday's vote as taking too much control of personal data out of consumers' hands. "This is yet another repeal without a replace," said Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, likening the vote to the ongoing healthcare debate. "Let me be clear: This is the single biggest step back in online privacy in many years," he continued. Consumer advocacy groups were similarly opposed. "What I can say with confidence is Congress is handing a gift to the lawyers for the cable and telephone industry to be able to fight back against privacy law enforcement and putting consumers at a disadvantage to have their rights protected," said Ernesto Falcon, legislative counsel at the left-leaning Electronic Frontier Foundation. A final rollback of the rules appears all but certain at this point, be it through the congressional action here or an eventual FCC move. ISPs, advertisers, and internet companies can breathe a sigh of relief, but privacy advocates can consider it a missed opportunity. NOW WATCH: AT&T CEO: Trump is a 'positive development' for our industry More From Business Insider This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DTE officials have stated that the wind turbine project in Ingersoll Township is in the very, very early stages of development. But, initial feedback from township residents wasnt very positive for DTE. Wednesday night saw nearly 200 people pack Ingersoll Township for a special meeting of the township board. Of the 20 people that spoke during the public comment portion, 15 were opposed to the wind turbines, two were in favor of them and three others were seeking more information or neutral. We are at the very, very early exploration stages of a possible wind project here in Ingersoll Township, said Scotty Kehoe, DTE Energy regional manager for corporate and government affairs. Calling it, the toughest issue weve been through in quite some time, Ingersoll Township Supervisor Chuck Tabb presided over a meeting that had the potential for explosiveness, but remained civil and peaceful. We wanted to make sure that the residents of the township were aware of the issue. Were really pleased with the turnout. We had a lot of input here, Tabb said. During his introductory remarks, Tabb shared the township vision: Ingersoll Township is a safe, attractive, rural community that balances farming and residential uses while protecting our natural environment and individual freedoms. At the top of Wednesdays agenda was printed the vision statement, which a couple of speakers cited during public comments. Kehoe followed with an update on the process of building a wind park, and an overview of DTE. We want to take a Michigan first approach, said Kehoe, of the reason why DTE has targeted Ingersoll. The approval process, which may take up to 10 years, includes the following steps: Determining if appropriate wind conditions exist Determine if the property is appropriate: flat, open farm land Approach land owners with lease agreements to determine interest This is where we are today, Kehoe said. If residents show interest, then a wind park would be designed Approval/rejection by the township board and possible permitting Construction of the park Along the way we will do some significant environmental studies as well, Kehoe added. Of the two proponents, one earned his living by construction of wind turbines and the other was local environmentalist Peter Sinclair, a long-time supporter of the green energy movement. I love the wind turbines that we see just south of here. I spent a lot of time in Gratiot County and one of the things I found out was that the increase in their tax base between 2011-2015 was 38 percent, he said. This means they can have better roads, better infrastructure, better schools. Various speakers talked about living in Ingersoll for the views, peacefulness and wildlife, including Dee Horn, who has lived in Ingersoll for about 30 years. We picked this area because we wanted to live in a quiet, residential, farming-type of setting, she said. Horn grew up Gratiot County, where her father still has a large farm and DTE installed wind turbines in 2012. DTE courts my father as well as the other farmers in that area heavily. Because my dad is a farmer there, I know how lucrative it is for farmers, she said. There are some farmers this will be lucrative for, but the rest of us will lose. Trips back to her homestead dont bring the love of wind turbines that Sinclair feels. Last week I went over to my dads and all I could see was synchronized red lights flashing on the turbines, Horn said. You didnt see the dark sky with the stars, nor the sunset. All you see are the turbines, not the peaceful sunset. DTE also is considering placing wind turbines in Mount Haley and Porter townships, which brought out Larry Feusse from the Mount Haley Planning Commission. One of the things were interested in is light flicker. Thats when the generators are running and there is a certain light condition that can reflect off the blades and will cause a flicker, Feusse said. The other thing is what happens when this thing is all done? One of the things weve looked at is getting a bond that can provide clean-up after something has been abandoned or shut down. Russ Darby of Tittabawassee Township encouraged each person to diligently look over the lease agreement and ask all the pertinent questions before signing. Heading into Wednesdays meeting, Tabb was concerned the issue might possibly divide the township or even families. I value what we have in this community with peacefulness, quietness and neighbors, said Glenn Linton, 76, who has resided in the township for his entire life. We dont need to divide our township, our neighborhoods over wind towers. We need to come together in this thing and have an agreement whether it is for or against. Fighting one another accomplishes nothing. The township board voted on a one-year moratorium on the issuance of special use permits for wind energy. Three trustees, Tabb, Mary Keel and Curtis Shaffner voted in favor of the motion while Jacob Terwillegar opposed. When asked his reason for voting against the motion, Terwillegar declined comment. Fellow trustee James Terwillegar was absent from the meeting. WESTPORT Dana McCreesh and her husband, Mike, practically lived in a cancer ward for two years while their two-year-old son, Brent, battled stage 4 neuroblastoma a disease that, at the time, had only a 15-20 percent cure rate. Now a healthy 14-year-old eighth grader at Greens Farms Academy, Brent will return on March 26 to volunteer at the Westport YMCA and sweep up hair for the TeamBrent fundraiser, the top St. Baldricks-sponsored event in Connecticut with $3.8 million raised. Since Brent won his battle with cancer, the same disease, stage 4 neuroblastoma, now has a 50 percent cure rate. Thats why we do this because it actually matters, his mother said. The numbers change. Dana and Mike, who live in Southport, started TeamBrent 12 years ago and held their first fundraiser at a bar in Bridgeport, but it has since become a family event and is now in its third year at the YMCA. In the intervening years, Mike has also become chairman of the board of directors for St. Baldricks. Anyone can show up and get their head shaved. We have a DJ, free face painting and a bake sale, Dana said. Everyone is a volunteer and every cent goes to St. Baldricks. As of Thursday, 126 people had signed up with about $80,000 pledged. Dana hopes by the end of the fundraiser to have brought in $150,000. The event runs from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. and is open to all. The stylists who shave the heads are volunteers and one of them, Margie Branca, is in her eighth year. Brancas son had the same type of cancer at the same time as Brent and played with him through a glass wall in the hospital. The playful nature that showed at the hospital is still present at the annual fundraiser. Its so much fun to see Brent and his friends giggling, Dana said.All these fathers and sons who come together and do this. This is a big part of their life. This is who they are and this is something that they are proud of. And they know that what theyve been doing, whether its their first or tenth year, that it really, really matters. And the hair grows back, she added. I always wonder what year it will stop growing back on my husband. @chrismmarquette; cmarquette@bcnnew.com WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - March 22, 2017) - Each year, the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) is honored to pay special recognition to a Congressional Legislative Assistant who best demonstrates exemplary service to our Nation's Veterans. On March 22, 2017, National Commander Hershel Gober was honored to present David R. Shearman, a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, with the Exemplary Service Award. In this position, Shearman is responsible for coordinating both policy and strategy with the Senate and House Veterans' Affairs Committees, Veterans' Service Organizations, and the Departments of Defense and Veterans' Affairs, assisting Chairman Johnny Isakson on matters related to Veteran's education, employment, transition, and memorial benefits. Prior to his work on Capitol Hill, David served as an Infantryman in the U.S. Army for six years, with deployments to both Kosovo and Iraq. In recognition of his service and sacrifice, he was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Purple Heart. The experience he gained through his distinguished military service is a consistent asset to Chairman Isakson and the Committee as they continue to address issues facing our Nation's Veterans. In the Senate, David's recent accomplishments include his work on the "Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016," which became law before the end of the 114th Congress. Through superb coordination with his counterparts in both the House and the Senate, his invaluable assistance to the Chairman helped ensure that key improvements to the Post-9/11 GI Bill and veterans employment opportunities were included in the final bill. Additionally, Shearman's stewardship on behalf of the Committee resulted in passage of the "Charles Duncan Buried With Honor Act of 2016," ensuring that Veterans who could not otherwise afford it are able to be buried in state cemeteries that are closest to their surviving family members. Story continues David Shearman's unwavering dedication to his fellow Purple Heart recipients and his support of America's Armed Forces and veterans serves as a shining example for others to follow. His service, both in uniform and in the U.S. Senate, is in keeping with the highest ideals of the Congress and reflects most favorably upon himself, the U.S. Senate, and the United States of America. MOPH on the Web MOPH on Facebook Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/3/22/11G133892/Images/purple.hearrt-84467671c1409e0f9f2c3a01edc19f1c.jpg It cant be easy to sell a show with the name Urinetown. Despite a run on Broadway, its not exactly South Pacific or Fiddler on the Roof. But if Ive learned one thing over the years, its to never underestimate Staples Players. Twice a year, directors David Roth and Kerry Long work magic. Sets, costumes, lighting, choreography, pit orchestra it all comes together. Capped by magnificent acting, dancing and singing, audiences forget theyre watching high school students. And not students at a performing arts school. Just a public high school with a long, strong commitment to the arts. Urinetown is a fantastic show one of Players best ever. Its pee-in-your-pants funny. The final performances are this Friday and Saturday nights. You have to go. But this is not a column about our high school troupe. Its about the arts in general, what they mean to Westport and what lies ahead. Boys and girls dont suddenly start acting, singing and dancing in ninth grade. Those talents have been nurtured by our school system, starting in elementary school and continuing at Bedford and Coleytown Middle Schools. Their arts programs are robust, longstanding, and as vital to the development of young minds, bodies and hearts as any science, math, language arts, social studies or phys ed. class they take. Those arts programs including field trips, visits by famous artists and more build upon Westports personal support of theater, music and dance. We are fortunate to live a train ride away from New York City. From a young age Westport parents introduce their kids to Broadway, the Philharmonic, museums and more. We are also lucky that we do not have to travel an hour for cultural options. For nearly 90 years weve enjoyed one of Americas best regional theaters, right in our back yard. The Westport Country Playhouse is a treasure, bringing productions old and new to a handsome building just a few steps from downtown. Generations of Westporters were introduced to the magic of theater in those famed red seats. Many worked there as apprentices (before that word took on a different, reality-TV meaning). Towns across the country would kill for a Westport Country Playhouse like ours. Around the corner, the Westport Community Theater thrives. Its a true local production, and its stage in the basement of Town Hall can be hard to find. But its shows are impressive, its audiences loyal, and its contributions to the artistic life of this place are important. You pay a lot less than Broadway prices for the Playhouse, and a lot less than Playhouse prices for the WCT. You pay nothing at the Levitt Pavilion. Six nights a week, all summer long were entertained for free, under the stars at a beautiful riverside site. Theres something for everyone: classical music, rock, jazz, big bands, salsa, bluegrass. Its Ed Sullivan, minus Topo Gigio. The other day right before Urinetown I visited the studio of a different kind of artist. Sherri Wolfgang is preparing for a one-woman show in June. Full-size paintings fill her warm, sunny studio off Kings Highway South. Shes one of many Westporters keeping our towns arts heritage alive. Another in Nina Bentley. I saw her in the lobby before the Urinetown curtain. She was there not as an artist though, but as the grandmother of Charlie Zuckerman, one of the shows stars. The walls behind us were filled with photos from past shows. Dating back nearly 60 years, to Players founding in 1958, they highlight countless teenagers who went on to amazing careers of their own. Staples alumni have become noted actors, directors, playwrights, stage managers, lighting and set designers. One of the most recent is Justin Paul. You may have seen the 2003 grad last month accepting an Oscar for the lyrics of La La Land. Perhaps you also loved Dear Evan Hansen, the Broadway smash for which he wrote the music. It is clear that Westport was and still is a community that supports arts of all kinds. I have never doubted that support. But two clouds loom on the horizon. One is a state mandate that raises requirements for students in areas like math and science. Those are vitally important. But arts educators and parents worry that because of limited time and financial resources, art and music education may suffer as a result. My other fear lies in President Trumps budget. The evisceration of the National Endowment for the Arts would not hurt Westport financially. But the message it sends to many other cities and towns for whom funding is vital is brutal. Supposedly, when Winston Churchill was asked to cut funding for the arts in favor of war supplies, he replied, Then what are we fighting for? Westport needs the arts. America does too. In the meantime: Go see Urinetown. Its rated pee-gee. Dan Woog is a Westport writer, and his Woogs World appears each Friday. He can be reached at dwoog@optonline.net. His personal blog is www.danwoog06880.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Ahead of the U.S. House vote to pass legislation to replace Obamacare, wheelchair-using advocates condemned the GOP health care proposal at the state Capitol on Wednesday in front of Gov. Greg Abbotts public reception room. Activists from ADAPT of Texas, which aims to provide affordable housing, transportation and public accommodations to people with disabilities, demanded Abbott tell the Texas congressional delegation that the American Health Care Act, the new bill pushed by the Trump administration, will harm all Texans who need and use health care. A vote on the AHCA could come as early as Thursday. Among the groups main concerns are block grants or per capita caps that would be implemented under the new legislation. Under these two options for states, Congress would predetermine the amount of money that each state receives, basing the cap on historic Medicaid enrollment and spending. Per capita caps provide states with a set amount of funding per beneficiary, and if costs exceed the per capita cap, the state would have to pay for them or individuals would have to forgo needed care, advocates said. AHCA breaks the relationship between federal and state government in the provision of insurance of long-term services and supports, said Bob Kafka, ADAPT of Texas community organizer. The people most affected are low-income people receiving insurance under Obamacare. The most vulnerable folks are low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities of all incomes. Nationally, Kafka said, Medicaid would lose more than $370 billion if AHCA is passed and that the proposal would result in a massive loss of health care jobs. According to a study by Manatt Health for the Texas Alliance for Health Care, Texas would likely take a worse hit than other states under block grants since it did not expand Medicaid to cover parents with incomes below 15 percent of the federal poverty level and childless adults. Since Texas spends less per beneficiary compared with other states, Congress would give the state a smaller share of health care funding. Aside from AHCA, Kafka said the Senate Finance Committees two-year budget proposal, unanimously approved Wednesday, would give no increase in salaries which can be as low as $8 per hour for community attendants who help people with disabilities bathe, dress and eat. It also would not do anything to end the waiting lists for people that need community services, he said. Stephanie Thomas, another ADAPT of Texas community organizer, said there is a shortage of attendants now and that no increase in salaries could lead to abuse and neglect in a growing disabled population. Theres money in the Rainy Day Fund that could be used, but they dont want to use it, Thomas said. Its very disturbing to see this and to know that the state is going along with cuts. elutz@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In his bid for a second full term in office, District 2 Councilman Alan Warrick has tried to portray himself as a forward-thinking leader who can up the pace of redevelopment in his East Side district. But the councilmans three challengers Dori Lee Brown, William Cruz Shaw and Keith Toney, all of whom have had previous run-ins with Warrick say he is difficult to reach and disconnected from his constituents. In particular, they point to his bungled handling of his 2015 proposal to change the annual Martin Luther King Jr. march route. The 30-year-old march, which is held on MLK Day and draws crowds estimated at more than 100,000 people, starts and ends on the East Side. Warrick suggested that it begin at several points across the city and converge downtown. The councilman later apologized for the idea, saying it was only a proposal. Warrick has twice faced off against, and twice defeated, Toney, a former Fort Sam Independent School District board president who was appointed District 2 councilman in 2014 but has never been elected to the seat. Last year, Warrick sparred with Shaw, an attorney and former chair of the citys zoning commission. Warrick called for his resignation from the commission once he learned Shaw might challenge him for office. Another challenger Dori, Lee Brown, a tax preparer, served on the citys MLK Commission for a decade but was ousted by the man Warrick selected to chair that board. More Information District 2 candidates Alan Warrick Age: 36 Education: bachelor's degree, Florida A&M University Occupation: CEO, World Technical Services Inc. Family: Married, with two children (second child is due this spring) Offices held: District 2 City Councilman, December 2014-present Dori Lee Brown Age: 48 Education: bachelor's degree, Our Lady of the Lake University Occupation: office manager and tax preparer; part-time gospel disc jockey Family: Divorced; one son Offices held: former commissioner with San Antonio's MLK Jr. Commission William "Cruz" Shaw Age: 39 Education: bachelor's degree, University of Texas at San Antonio, and law degree, Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University Occupation: attorney Family: Married Offices held: former San Antonio Zoning Commission chairman Keith Toney Age: 65 Education: associate's degree, Monterey Peninsula College; bachelor's degree, Chapman University; master's degree, Pepperdine University Occupation: school liaison officer, Fort Sam Independent School District Family: Married, with four grown children. Offices held: District 2 City Councilman, August-December 2014 (appointment); former Fort Sam ISD board president See More Collapse Whoever wins the seat will represent a district facing a wide spectrum of challenges, including the most homicides in the city last year and chronic poverty. But District 2 neighborhoods just east of downtown are experiencing a revival, as new residents and investors snatch up historic properties. Thats raised hope that economic development is finally happening but also sparked concerns about gentrification, as property values soar. Alan Warrick Warrick focuses on the fact that hes the only candidate born in District 2 as a sign of his roots and commitment to the area. I think the people of District 2 know the work that I have done, and Im so proud and glad to have served them for these two years, he said. Warrick touts funding for ShotSpotter, a $280,000 gunshot-detection system the councilman says has significantly reduced police response times. But his opponents repeatedly question ShotSpotters cost and effectiveness. The councilman said hes helped jump start development in the district, giving more money to San Antonio for Growth on the East Side to help small businesses with facade improvements. He says the number of vacant lots in his district has gone from about 2,700 to 1,900 since hes been in office. But Warrick has had missteps, too. Recently, it was discovered the councilmans campaign lent $15,000 to his nonprofit business, World Technical Services Inc., in 2015. Warrick said the money was bridge funding so the company, which employs people with disabilities, could pay back vendors. The money has since been returned. There is currently a lien on the nonprofit, Warrick said, because his grandfather, who started the company, failed to pay taxes for many years, a debt that is gradually being paid off. Warrick also recently got into hot water over his suggestion that the Ella Austin Community Center, operating out of a historic property in District 2, might have to relocate because the nonprofit cant afford to pay for needed building upgrades. Warrick pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated twice, in 2002 and 2004, while living in Tallahassee, Florida, where he went to college. A police report detailing the 2004 incident said Warrick fled the crash scene (no one was hurt). The councilman said he does not recall leaving. A Bexar County jury found him not guilty of DWI in 2007. Warrick says he was diagnosed with a sleep disorder called upper airway restrictive syndrome that causes him to fall asleep at the wheel and is exacerbated by alcohol. Dori Lee Brown Brown moved with her family to San Antonio at age 10 but moved to District 2 in 1995, in the Lakeside neighborhood on the far eastern edge of the district. A tax preparer and office manager, Brown has previously worked for former state Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon and the former District 2 Councilwoman Sheila McNeil. If elected, Brown wants to try to bring more attention to the outer edges of the district, around Loop 410. She wants to focus on programs for young people and has suggested the city work with area school districts to create magnet programs for high school students in District 2 aimed at careers in law enforcement or emergency services. I just want to be of service to the community, Brown said. She is the only District 2 candidate who indicated she might support Texas Senate Bill 6, the so-called bathroom bill, which would force transgender people to use bathrooms in government buildings that correspond to the gender on their birth certificates. Brown, in an Express-News editorial board meeting, said she has nothing against the LGBT community but feels people could try to identify as a different gender for nefarious reasons, like abusing children. Brown has continued to work with the MLK Jr. Commission, even after Brandon Logan, the man Warrick selected as chairman, abruptly dismissed her and several other sitting chairs. She has previously filed for bankruptcy and had tax liens on her business, but those have been paid. William Cruz Shaw Shaw was raised in Houston but grew up visiting San Antonio, where his mother was born (Cruz is her maiden name). He graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1999 and later law school in Houston. Shaw returned to San Antonio and opened his law practice in District 2 in 2010. In 2013, then-councilwoman Ivy Taylor appointed Shaw to represent District 2 on the citys zoning commission, and he later became chairman. If elected, Shaw says his office will have a policy that all constituent calls and emails must be answered within 24 to 48 hours. To ensure people arent pushed out of their homes, hes proposed providing grant money to elderly residents so they can better maintain them. He thinks the city needs to focus on education and economic development opportunities to combat crime, and he hopes to develop an entrepreneur incubator in the district. He also wants to implement a strong community policing strategy and organize Cellular on Patrol, in which residents monitor their neighborhoods. He has concerns about the new police union contract that Warrick voted to support last year, saying the community wanted more officer accountability. Shaw and his wife currently rent in Mahncke Park, on the northern end of the district, but are buildling a home on a lot in Dignowity Hill, closer to the East Sides historic center. Shaw was arrested for a DWI in Houston in 1999, while he was home from college. He was convicted and given probation. Keith Toney Toney moved to San Antonio about 25 years ago and has lived in District 2 since 2004. He will retire by the end of April, which he says makes him more equipped than his opponents to serve on council, because all three of them work. My fixation will be on District 2, said Toney, who has called himself the most experienced of the bunch. He said the districts biggest concerns are crime and gentrification. Hed like to see a program developed so single parents who are receiving some kind of government aid can attend St. Philips College, in District 2, at no cost. Hed also like to see more help for the formerly incarcerated so they can develop a trade. He has run for council several times over the years but has never won an election. City Council appointed him to the District 2 seat in August 2014, after Taylor was selected to finish Julian Castros term as mayor. He lost to Warrick in a December 2014 special election and then again in the regular election in May 2015. While in office, he supported an ordinance to regulate ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft,while he received contributions from the taxi industry. Toney said he is proud of fighting acquiescence to Uber and Lyft. Of the candidates, Toney is the most combative in his criticism of Warrick, portraying the sitting councilman as too young and naive for the job. At the District 2 candidates forum, Toney threw repeated verbal punches at Warrick, calling the councilman a kitten in office. vdavila@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A woman was injured Wednesday night when a fight broke out among family members during a vigil for a man who died early Saturday on U.S. 281 near downtown. San Antonio Police Department Sgt. Elias Tobias said police were still trying to sort out how the woman was injured during the confrontation at about 8 p.m. on the highway beneath East Hildebrand Avenue. This is where the story gets fuzzy, Tobias said. The vigil was for Luis Alberto Arista, 36, who died when his SUV slammed into a wall and erupted in flames at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. RELATED: Driver killed after SUV slams into wall, catches fire Friends and family were at the vigil since about 3 p.m., and others arrived throughout the evening, police said. "There was tension between them," Tobias said. At some point, one relative shot into the crowd or threatened to shoot himself or herself, police said. "We don't know," Tobias said. The gun was either dropped or taken and then used, investigators said. The woman was either "shot in the head or hit in the head with a stick,' Tobias said. She was initially taken to San Antonio Military Medical Center in critical condition, police said. En route, she was redirected to another hospital as her injuries were being examined. Police were looking for a black truck that possibly fled the scene. U.S. 281 North was closed from St. Mary's Street north to Hildebrand Ave., as police investigated the scene. This story will be updated as more information is available. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A federal judge issued an order to arrest a key witness in the Marquise Jones case after determining the witness was in contempt of the court for continually avoiding being served a subpoeana. If arrested, James Brantley, who told investigators last year that he saw the fatal 2014 shooting, will likely be deposed by city lawyers and will serve as a witness in the case next week. A lawyer representing the family of Jones, who was shot in the back by an off-duty San Antonio police officer, said the witness was avoiding a subpoena because he was intimidated by employees of the Bexar County District Attorneys Office and the San Antonio Police Department. He encountered a large level of intimidation and harassment, said Daryl Washington, a lawyer for the family, in a pretrial conference. He and his family have talked about leaving San Antonio. RELATED: 'It's been hell,' Marquise Jones' aunt says as she awaits trial in suit against City of San Antonio Specifically, Washington said James Brantley was apprehended by police officers and taken to a police station. On other occasions, Washington said employees of the Bexar County District Attorneys visited Brantleys home. He did not make clear when the alleged harassment occurred. This has caused Brantley to experience fear of retaliation if he continued to stay involved, Washington wrote in court documents. City officials said Tuesday they were not aware of any intimidation by the San Antonio Police Department. In a statement, the district attorneys office said that Washingtons characterization of the facts is completely false. At no time ever has this Office harassed James Brantley in any shape form or fashion, the office said in the statement. To say otherwise, is completely false. We are happy to provide the audio and text message evidence to substantiate our position. RELATED: New evidence emerges in case of San Antonio man killed by police officer The Jones family filed a civil suit against the city and the officer for wrongful death. It is supposed to go to trial next week. The judge also strongly questioned city lawyers on Tuesday about a new revelation that San Antonio police detectives did, in fact, test the handgun police say Jones was carrying for fingerprints. Read the judges comments about another controversy in the case and Brantleys account of the fatal 2014 shooting at ExpressNews.com. eeaton@express-news.net Twitter: @emilieeaton Add this creepy, crawly accolade to San Antonio's resume the Alamo City had the second-most termite infestations in 2016, Terminix announced earlier this week. Texas is a popular spot for termites Dallas and Houston also made the Terminix top 10 list. HOUSTON U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry is suggesting that the election that gave his alma mater, Texas A&M, its first openly gay student body president was "stolen." Perry was Texas' longest serving governor until leaving office in 2015. He was also an A&M yell leader, or cheerleader. In order to build President Donald Trumps promised wall, the federal government is proposing to take money from the U.S. Coast Guard which could further increase the flow of drugs offshore, according to lawmakers. The federal Office of Management and Budgets proposed budget for 2018 includes a $1.3 billion cut to the Coast Guard, which prompted more than 60 lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to send a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security earlier this week. Given the Administrations efforts to strengthen our southern land border, its likely that the flow of illegal drugs and immigrants offshore will increase, reads the letter addressed to Congressmen John Carter, (R-Houston) and Lucille Royball-Allard (CA-40). In this respect, the Coast Guard should see a sizeable budget increase to meet the Presidents goal of eliminating the flood of illegal drugs. RELATED: See what the U.S-Mexico border really looks like Congressman Filemon Vela (D-Brownsville), one of the 60 lawmakers who signed the letter, said the more than 14-percent cut to the Coast Guards budget would also cancel or delay new equipment purchases including a $500 million new ship that was under construction in a U.S. shipyard. Each and every day, the Coast Guard combats the illicit drug trade in a six-million square-mile area, including the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Pacific, according to a news article from the Coast Guards official blog. In addition to deterrence, Coast Guard drug interdiction accounts for nearly 52 percent of all U.S. government seizures of cocaine each year. In 2014 more than 90 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the U.S. came from maritime routes, the rest by aircraft. Most of the smuggling is done via pangas, which are commonly referred to as go-fasts boats, or self-propelled semi-submersible homemade vessels also known as narco-subs, according to the article. Transnational organized criminal networks and the cartels have mastered do-it-yourself engineering. U.S. authorities have captured narco-subs with as much as 7.5 tons of cocaine onboard, reads the 2015 article. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime estimates that seizures by U.S. Coast Guard, the Drug Enforcement Administration and naval operation of other countries only account for eight percent of the total number of seizures, but those seizures make up more than 30 percent of total drugs seized, according to data compiled by drugabuse.com a subsidiary of the American Addiction Centers. The majority of drugs appear to travel by land, with 59% of total drugs seized attributed to Border Patrol efforts in the U.S. and abroad. Over the years these efforts have forced smugglers to turn to maritime routes to move illicit drugs around the globe, states their latest report. President Trumps 2018 budget proposal would take $2.6 billion from the U.S. Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to use for the building of a border wall, which some say would make America less secure, J. David Cox Sr., head of the of the largest federal employee union said the cuts will endanger the lives of the public and our public servants. These budget cuts will make a difficult job even harder for women and men who protect our skies, patrol our waters, and help us prepare for and respond to emergencies, stated the president of the American Federation of Government Employees in a news release. Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) echoed many of the concerns from the 60 lawmakers who signed the letter to the Subcommittee on Homeland Security stating the wall will not make anyone safer. Homeland security experts agree that it will do more harm than good, Cuellar wrote in an email. Our border security is too important to sacrifice to a symbolic political gesture. To pay for his expensive, ineffective side project, he wants to cut funding to our education, rural water infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, and support for agriculture. khernandez@themonitor.com By Marton Dunai BUDAPEST (Reuters) - When his government lost a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights last week over its detention and expulsion of two migrants from Bangladesh, Hungary's rightwing prime minister blamed the usual suspect: a billionaire in New York. "It is a collusion of human traffickers, Brussels bureaucrats and the organisations that work in Hungary financed by foreign money," Viktor Orban told public radio on Friday. "Let's call a spade a spade: George Soros finances them." Across former Communist states of east and central Europe, leaders with a hardline bent have turned their wrath in recent months against Soros, a Hungarian-American financier who funds liberal charities and non-governmental organisations worldwide through his Open Society Foundations (OSF). The campaign against Soros in countries formerly dominated by Moscow appears to follow a template set by Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose own crackdown on foreign-funded charities drove Soros's foundation out of Russia two years ago. And now, with President Donald Trump in the White House, anti-Soros campaigners in Eastern Europe say they have also drawn inspiration from the United States, particularly from rightwing U.S. media like the website Breitbart, which has long vilified Soros as a liberal hate figure. Breitbart's former chairman Steve Bannon now serves as a senior White House adviser to Trump. "Our inspiration comes from the United States, from the American conservative organisations, media and congressmen with the same views, especially the new administration of President Trump," said Cvetlin Cilimanov, the editor of the main state news agency in Macedonia, who co-founded a group called Operation Stop Soros in January. "THEY CRUSH YOU" Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic north of Greece, has been embroiled in a political crisis that began two years ago with street demonstrations and forced nationalist prime minister Nikola Gruevski to resign last year after a decade in power. Gruevski, who still controls the biggest bloc in parliament and is expected to return to power, blames Soros for his downfall. "Soros turns Macedonian NGOs into a modern army," he told local magazine Republika in January. "They crush you. They make you a criminal, a thief, traitor, idiot, a monster, whatever they want. Then you have to go to elections." "He doesn't only do that in Macedonia but in a great number of countries." In Romania, ruling Social Democrat party leader Liviu Dragnea told a TV interviewer in January that Soros and "the foundations and structures that he has funded since 1990 have financed evil in Romania". Soros has also been attacked by members of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party and politicians elsewhere in the region. His charity says it is undaunted and has no intention of quitting his native Eastern Europe. "You cannot export democracy, you can only import it and build it locally," Chris Stone, who runs Soros's charitable enterprises from New York as president of the OSF, told Reuters, explaining the need to keep a presence on the ground. "We see our work (in Eastern Europe) continuing for decades. That work will ebb and flow." The OSF said Soros was not available to comment. THE MAN WHO BROKE THE BANK Soros, born in Hungary to a Jewish family that survived the Nazi occupation with fake documents, emigrated to Britain after World War Two and then to the United States. As a financier, he is best known for "breaking the Bank of England" with a huge bet against the British pound that forced London to abandon a fixed trading range with other European currencies in 1992, earning Soros more than $1 billion. The Open Society Foundations website says he has given away more than $12 billion as a philanthropist, with activities in more than 100 countries in a vast array of policy areas linked to democracy, free speech, human rights and the rule of law. The OSF mostly gives its money in the form of a large number of small grants to other charities, organisations or individuals for specific projects. That means hundreds of groups worldwide have accepted its money over the years, allowing conspiracy theorists and other foes to paint Soros as the centre of a vast web. In countries like Hungary, so many human rights groups have sought OSF grants at some point that politicians can use the association with Soros to attack whole swathes of civil society. "Fake NGOs of the Soros empire are sustained to suppress national governments in favour of global capital and the world of political correctness," Szilard Nemeth, a deputy leader of Orban's ruling Fidesz party, said in January. "These organisations must be repressed by all means and I think they must be culled altogether. I think there is an international opportunity to do that now." "PRETTY HUMAN RIGHTS NONSENSE" Veterans of the dissident movements of Eastern Europe's Communist-era, when dictatorships repressed all organisations outside state control, say the tactics are familiar. "The fact that NGOs are called the enemy of the government shows these are no longer democracies," said Maria Vasarhelyi, an opposition figure in Hungary whose father Miklos, a prominent Communist-era dissident, ran Soros's foundation in the 1990s. Bojan Maricik, head of Macedonia's Centre for European Strategies - Eurothink, a pro-EU think tank which has received Soros grants, said prosecutors, tax inspectors and police in Macedonia had launched investigations into the funding of charities since an anti-Soros speech by Gruevski in December. A "de-Sorosization purge" aims to bar civil society groups from participating in public life by delegitmising them, Maricik said. "There is no dialogue in a context where the government marks you as an enemy of the state," he said. The crackdown is particularly acute in Soros's native Hungary, where Orban has consolidated his grip on the media and judiciary, and regularly accuses liberals of trying to destroy Europe by flooding the continent with migrants. A new law proposed by Orban would require groups that receive foreign funding to register, a measure that critics say is drawn straight out of the Putin playbook. Opposition to immigration has been the core of Orban's political message since 2015, when more than a million migrants and refugees entered the EU through the Balkans. Hungary was initially their main entry point into the bloc's border-free zone, although nearly all proceeded on to Germany and other countries further north. Orban built a fence to keep them out. Meanwhile, Soros prioritised support for charities that help migrants and asylum seekers. At the height of the flow in 2015, his OSF put out a statement saying: "The Hungarian crisis demonstrates the dangers radical populist regimes pose not only to the hundreds of thousands of refugees, but also to the values of Europe and to the humanity of the local populations." The Balkan immigration route has since largely been shut, following an agreement secured by the EU for Turkey to take migrants back. But Orban's message still hammers home the need to keep out migrants, and he portrays rights groups as part of a plot to abolish nation states and flood Europe with foreigners. Hungary's Helsinki Committee, a rights group founded in 1989 that has accepted Soros funding, helped defeat the government in court in Strasbourg. It argued that two Bangladeshi migrants had been unlawfully detained at a makeshift transit zone on the Hungarian-Serbian border and expelled with no regard to their future safety, in violation of their rights. Orban has proposed new rules governing asylum due to take effect in coming days that his opponents say ignore the principles of the Strasbourg ruling. Helsinki co-Chair Marta Pardavi says she expects to file many more cases on behalf of migrants who are in similar positions, which could generate a systemic intervention by Strasbourg and a tooth-and-nail fight with the government. "Our position, which Orban has called 'pretty human rights nonsense' has just won in Strasbourg," she said. "If I were the Hungarian government I would be considering the necessary legislative amendments now." Pardavi said her organisation, made up mainly of lawyers, would not be intimidated by a government crackdown, but other groups were likely to be less resilient, and the crackdown could deter activism in the country more broadly. "Helping refugees has become stigmatised," she said. "Many organisations decide to keep it in the background. Old, trusted, large organisations are afraid to step up publicly to avoid the backlash on their other activities," she said. "If people feel there is going to be retaliation, negative consequences for their private lives, then this potentially could have a chilling effect, reduce the number of people interested not only taking part in civil society organisations but in general public affairs." (Additional reporting by Christian Lowe in MOSCOW, Luiza Ilie in BUCHAREST, Kole Casule in SKOPJE, Robert Muller in PRAGUE and Tatjana Tancarikova in BRATISLAVA; Editing by Matt Robinson and Peter Graff) Earlier this month, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to declare that former President Barack Obama had tapped his phones, providing no evidence for such an explosive allegation. Obama and intelligence officials flatly denied the claim. Fast forward to Monday, when FBI Director James Comey, appearing before the House Intelligence Committee said, I have no information that supports those tweets. The president should be embarrassed but wont be. And his claim of wiretapping is still unsupported by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes comments Wednesday that monitoring of foreign officials may have incidentally picked up Trump aides. Such routine monitoring of foreign officials does not amount to wiretapping of Trump. Comeys testimony represented direct refutation that such wiretapping took place. Comey also made plain that his agency is conducting an investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election and whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. This is a big deal. Before the hearing, Trump accused Democrats of fabricating allegations of Russian contacts and also tweeted, The real story that Congress, the FBI and all others should be looking into is the leaking of classified information. Must find leaker now. And this is just another indication that when the president is under intense scrutiny, his first instinct is to attempt diversion. But the way members of the committee mimicked this theme in their questions, attempting to put the spotlight on leaks rather than possible crimes, reveals somthing else: The public cannot reasonably expect a nonpartisan look at the central issue in all this controvery. Thats whether a foreign power Russia interfered in a U.S. election to favor a particular candidate and whether that candidates campaign colluded with that country. This speaks to the need for an independent counsel or an independent commission, such as the one that investigated the 9/11 attacks. But as for Trumps other diversion claiming an Obama wiretap it is clear there is no credible evidence. Matters neednt have gotten this far. All he has to do is pick up the phone, call the director of the CIA, director of national intelligence and say, OK, what happened? Arizona Sen. John McCain correctly said on CNN recently. Comeys testimony Monday is proof again that Trump should either provide the American people with evidence or he should retract his claim. And the committees conduct is a sign that only an independent counsel or commission can get to the bottom of this issue. Wanted: More clarity on whether wastewater injection wells are creating more Texas earthquakes. The answers should come via TexNet, a network of 73 earthquake sensors that should pinpoint earthquake epicenters and tell how close they are to wells. The University of Texas-led research effort is funded through $4.5 million from the state and $600,000 from the oil and gas industry. Traditionally, Texas has averaged about one earthquake a year with a magnitude of at least 3.0. Since 2008, right around the last oil boom, that number has surged to 12 earthquakes a year with magnitudes of at least 3.0. This includes 22 such earthquakes in 2015. The Houston Chronicles David Hunn and Lydia DePillis recently reported that between 2007 and 2015, U.S. oil production doubled. With it came a surge in wastewater injections. During that time, the amount of wastewater injected into Texas disposal wells surged 50 percent to 12 million barrels a day. The TexNet program should aid industry and policymakers with crafting potential solutions if the researchers can prove more than a correlation. Thats not the only question mark hanging over this endeavor. Funding beyond this year is not assured. State lawmakers would be wise to grant UTs request for $3.4 million to support research for the next two years. Cooperation with industry is also no sure thing since this could raise the cost of production. But ignoring the issue is not a solution. The public must know if there is a true connection here. Our airports, hospitals and other crucial infrastructure are not designed to withstand earthquakes. Better data will lead to better policy and informed decisions. Lets keep TexNet properly funded. Re: Nuke waste can be safely transported, Editorial, Sunday: Thank you, thank you, thank you for the editorial. It was accurate and thoughtful, with a clarity that seldom makes its way into the media about the facts in this issue. Well done. Jude McMurry Alternative facts Re: District 9 candidate alters residency claim, front page, March 17: Lynlie Wallace, who is running illegally for City Council District 9 due to failure to meet residency requirements, should change her first name from Lynlie to Lynalternative facts. She lives and has a homestead exemption in Austin, and a rent house in San Antonio in District 9. She is not a resident of District 9. She is chief of staff for Lyle Larson and is dating Will Hurd. She and they know the rules. Please dont treat us like total idiots, and get out of the race. Steve Hixon Disney tone-deaf When I first heard Disney was going to have a major gay character in the new Beauty and the Beast, I was intrigued and excited, until I found out it was the buffoon. Instead of a hero, the gays get a zero. They get a weight-challenged, pathetic, self-loathing villain who idolizes a misogynistic jerk who treats him like dirt. Wait, what? Its insulting beyond belief. Its like releasing Uncle Remus again and acting as if youre championing African-Americans with this authentic portrait of a black man. Is Disney really this stupid and tone-deaf? Apparently. What kind of role model for young gays is this complete idiot, LeFou? Now they will be ridiculed for being a LeFou. Its disgusting. No, thank you, Disney, Ill boycott this film with the alt-right for different reasons. Call me when you make Simba or Prince Charming gay. Shannon Deason These needs, too? Re: Revamp health insurance, Your Turn, Sunday: I see you saw fit to print a letter from one of your more cerebral readers who thinks individuals and businesses should not be allowed to profit from illness since illness is not a choice. Insurers should be eliminated from health care, and the government should fund everything from taxes. By this logic, homes should be provided by the government, and architects, builders, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and roofers should be prevented from making a profit since the need for shelter is not a choice. While we are at it, lets keep farmers, cattle ranchers, farm equipment suppliers and manufacturers, and chemical companies that make fertilizer, insecticides and herbicides from making a profit since the need for food is also a necessity and not a choice. We must let the government provide that through taxes also. Apparently, this writer has either never heard of or doesnt understand communism, and we have all seen how well that works out for everyone in the countries that have it, including the repression of the citizens, poor quality of life and lack of incentive for individuals to improve. Louis Levy (Fixes formatting; no changes to headlline or text) By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., March 23 (Reuters) - Space Systems/Loral is suing rival Orbital ATK over an alleged theft of proprietary data and business plans for an in-space satellite servicing technology, according to a complaint filed on Thursday. The lawsuit is the second in six weeks involving the companies and their efforts to start a new industry servicing and repairing satellites in orbit. At least four confidential SSL documents were viewed and distributed by an Orbital ATK employee working at NASAs Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where the data is stored as part of an ongoing SSL partnership with the U.S. space agency, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Orbital could not immediately be reached for comment. SSL, a subsidiary of Canada-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., said it was informed of the data breach by NASA in December 2016. Orbital acknowledged the unauthorized access of SSLs data and fired the employee, but did not respond to questions about the scope of the breach or about five other Orbital employees whom NASA said may have read the SSL documents, the lawsuit said. With knowledge of this confidential information, competitors can modify their proposals to undercut any and all of SSLs potential advantages, the suit said. The documents contain information about SSLs technology for robotic satellite assembly, repair and servicing; research and development efforts; financing and business plans; procurement and performance strategies; customer development; and subcontractor and vendor relationships, the suit said. SSL seeks a jury trial and economic damages in an amount to be determined. NASA said it was informed by Orbital of the data breech in November and took immediate action to restrict access. An investigation is underway, NASA spokesman Allard Beutel told Reuters in an email. Story continues Orbital last month filed suit in the Eastern District of Virginia to stop the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from awarding a contract to SSL to build the agency a satellite that can make service calls to other spacecraft. Orbital says it unveiled a similar business last year and the DARPA program violates U.S. policy precluding the government from competing with commercial systems. SSL, which in December won a NASA contract for another satellite servicing technology demonstration, says its system is different from the service Orbital is planning. (Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Peter Henderson and Dan Grebler) Musician Holy Tens crew was involved in a fatal car accident last Friday, 20kms outside of Gweru that claimed the life of one of the backing vocalists, Seredzai Kuganza who was known as Jay D. In pictures that have gone viral on social media, one of the two vehicles that Holy Tens band were travelling in, apparently to Bulawayo, is seen crushed near a tree. The accident is said to have happened 20kms outside Gweru (along Harare road) on Friday at around 4pm. Following the fatal accident, close sources said Holy Tens manager is still admitted in hospital with indications that he will be discharged tomorrow. Another band member is said to be in a critical state with head injuries. Another member, Monrolve is said to have suffered minor injuries. It is not clear whether Holy Ten was travelling in the vehicle that was involved in the accident, but according to rumours, he is admitted at an undisclosed hospital. Reached for comment, Holy Tens girlfriend Kimberly Richard confirmed the incident, but however, refused to share further details. Yes, its true that he was involved in an accident, but Im not in a position to talk to the media, she said. This is a developing story Herald Breaking News via Email President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been awarded an Honourary Doctor of Laws Degree by the Midlands State University (MSU), before capping 6,612 graduates at the university campus in Gweru today. Speaking at the occasion, Mnangagwa, who is now the MSU Chancellor, said Zimbabwe is in need of a graduate who is a goal getter, one who can unlock value in lots of resources for the betterment of all Zimbabweans. He also said agriculture has always been a key driver of the Zimbabwean economy, hence the need to produce more and add value to the products. Prior to the graduation ceremony, President Mnangagwa was installed as Chancellor of the institution by MSU Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Victor Muzvidziwa. In his acceptance speech, Mnangagwa reiterated governments commitment in addressing challenges facing the countrys institutions of higher learning and implored the private sector to partner with government in supporting tertiary education in areas of research, which he said were an integral component that can drive the countrys development trajectory. He said education at whatever level is a fundamental human right that should be accessed by every Zimbabwean. On those who would want to emulate him, President Mnangagwa said the road he has travelled was filled of thorns, gnashing of teeth and death. The graduation ceremony was the 17th for the university and was held under the theme: Transforming Dreams into Reality. Breaking News via Email How to hunt for a black hole with a telescope the size of Earth Nature News (furzy) The Meaning of Life (Part I) Independent Science News Scientists evade the Heisenberg uncertainty principle ScienceDaily (Chuck L) With Astronomy Rewind, citizen scientists bring zombie astrophotos back to life PhysOrg. Chuck L: A new citizen-science project; this one for astronomy aficionados. Dig once bill could bring fiber Internet to much of the US ars technica (Chuck L) Teslas the target of a law firm that claims it overplayed its self-driving capabilities and it could wind up in court Business Insider (David L) Its happening! Its happening! W3C erects DRM as web standard The Register (Chuck L). Important. When CVS stopped selling cigarettes, some customers quit smoking Reuters Children understand far more about other minds than long believed PsyPost (Chuck L) Researchers create self-sustaining bacteria-fueled power cell PhysOrg (Chuck L) Who Has The Healthiest Hearts In The World? NPR China? U.S. Preparing Cases Linking North Korea to Theft at N.Y. Fed Wall Street Journal Five dead, around 40 injured in UK parliament terrorist attack Reuters (furzy) Brexit Gesine Schwan: Schauble wanted and wants to overthrow SYRIZA failed evolution Syraqistan New Cold War Trump Transition Supreme Court reins in presidents appointment powers Reuters. EM: Specific case involved the Obama administration, not the Trump one, though the precedent will clearly apply going forwad. Whats In President Trumps Tax Returns? Lee Sheppard, Forbes. Lots of useful detail, to wit: Purchasing US real estate is a favorite way for Russians, Chinese and other newly rich to move money of dubious origin or just beat the capital controls in their own countries. Being at the receiving end of money whose movement at least violated capital controls in its country of origin isnt money laundering. Under the statute, the launderer is the financial intermediary that enabled the transfers. Actual knowledge of concealment or unlawful activity is required (18 USC section 1956). Muslims inside FBI describe culture of suspicion and fear: It is cancer Guardian. Note Comey was already trying to address this before Trump won. This is not a new issue. Obamacare Exclusive: Lead poisoning afflicts neighborhoods across California Reuters (EM) Regulators Seek Rare Lifetime Ban for Two Bankers National Law Journal (Mark H) Two Ohio coal-fired plants to close, deepening industry decline Reuters. EM: I am skeptical of the a victory for environmental activists claim, since swapping coal for natgas may prove a dubious proposition, global-warming wise, methane being a far more potent albeit shorter-lived greenhouse gas than CO2. Sure, natgas-fired plants burn nearly 100% of the fuel, but Im thinking of the upstream methane leaks associated with natgas fields. Trump Tantrum looms on Wall Street if healthcare effort stalls Reuters (furzy) Class Warfare Antidote du jour. Steve M: The new cat makes himself at home. See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. The Supreme Court ruling for Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corp. is just in, and its a rare and important ruling against bankruptcy-court-enabled private equity chicanery. Weve attached the short and readable ruling at the end of this post. A ruse that private equity firms have increasingly used when companies they own are about to go bust is to fire workers upon failure of the company, as opposed to giving them a 60 day notice as required by state and federal state and federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Acts. The failure to make the WARN Act mandated payments makes workers creditors to the bankrupt estate, sitting below secured creditors but above unsecured creditors in the order of priority of payment stipulated in the Bankruptcy Code. It also potentially sets up a fraudulent conveyance suit against the former company owners. Fraudulent conveyance occurs when an owners pulls money out of a business even though they knows is it going to go bust. Since the owners are at the very bottom of the bankruptcy priority hierarchy, they have ripped off the creditors to their benefit. Its not hard to see how this regularly happens with private equity owned firms, since they will often have paid monitoring and other fees to themselves even as the company is on deaths door.1 Needless to say, as private equity expert Eileen Appelbaum pointed out by e-mail, Many workers have been cheated out of their WARN Act payments when PE-owned companies enter bankruptcy. In the Jevic case, the Supreme Court ruling reversed Bankruptcy Court and appeals court decisions that would have stiffed the former Jevic employees entirely with respect to their WARN Act payments. The Supreme Court nixed the mechanism by which that happened: by upending the stipulated creditor hierarchy and putting the workers below unsecured creditors, when they should have priority over them instead. Jevics owner was Sun Capital, which has been a particularly aggressive player in pre-bankruptcy strategies. As we noted last year: Cases based on arguing fraudulent comparatively rare; one of the largest in recent years that involved similar claims, namely fraudulent conveyance and breach of fiduciary duty, was by Mervyns against the consortium of private equity firms that bought it, which included Cerberus and Sun Capital, as well as other parties, was settled in 2012 $166 million. One reason for the dearth of suits is that parties that were on the short stick of a bankruptcy settlement are already in the hole; many would rather cap their loss and move on rather than potentially increase it with a failed lawsuit. And as the twists and turns of the Mervyns case illustrated, even when their conduct is egregious, private equity firms have the means and motivation to turn a court fight into a war of attrition. And Sun has been pushing the envelope in not a good way on other fronts. In an important case last year, Scott Brass, the court slapped down Suns scheme to evade the status of being a controlled group (an 80% or greater owner), which meant they were liable for the underfunded pension of a company they drove into the ditch. With Jarvis, the company did not give workers the required WARN Act payments. That gave them an $8.3 million claim against the estate. The backstory has more twists and turns, but the simple version is that the company and its creditors tried restructuring under Chapter 11. That effort failed. The court then entered into a structured dismissal, which it described: There are three possible conclusions to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. First, debtor and creditors may negotiate a plan to govern the distribution of the estates value. See, e.g., 11 U. S. C. 1121, 1123, 1129, 1141. Second, the bankruptcy court may convert the case to Chapter 7 for liquidation of the business and distribution of its assets to creditors.1112(a), (b), 726. Finally, the bankruptcy court may dismiss the case. 1112(b). A court ordering a dismissal ordinarily attempts to restore the prepetition financial status quo. 349(b)(3). Yet if perfect restoration proves difficult or impossible, the court may, for cause, alter the dismissals normal restorative consequences, 349(b) i.e., it may order a structured dismissal. Note that in Chapter 7 bankruptcies (liquidations), the creditor hierarchy is observed strictly. Chapter 11 allows more latitude, but a court cannot approve a plan if a creditor class than has had its rights impaired, meaning is not being paid in accordance to the priority of payment, objects to the deal. The Court made clear it took a very dim view of lower courts upending of the well-established creditor rights: The importance of the priority system leads us to expect more than simple statutory silence if, and when, Congress were to intend a major departure. See Whitman v. American Trucking Assns., Inc., 531 U. S. 457, 468 (2001) (Congress . . . does not, one might say,hide elephants in mouseholes). Put somewhat more directly, we would expect to see some affirmative indication of intent if Congress actually meant to make structured dismissals a backdoor means to achieve the exact kind of nonconsensual priority-violating final distributions that the Code prohibits in Chapter 7 liquidations and Chapter 11 plans. We can find nothing in the statute that evinces this intent. The Code gives a bankruptcy court the power to dismiss a Chapter 11 case. 1112(b). But the word dismiss itself says nothing about the power to make nonconsensual priority-violating distributions of estate value. Neither the word structured, nor the word conditions, nor anything else about distributing estate value to creditors pursuant to a dismissal appears in any relevant part of the Code Section 349(b), we concede, also says that a bankruptcy judge may, for cause, orde[r] otherwise. But, read in context, this provision appears designed to give courts the flexibility to make the appropriate orders to protect rights acquired in reliance on the bankruptcy case. H. R. Rep. No. 95595, at 338; cf., e.g., Wiese v. Community Bank of Central Wis., 552 F. 3d 584, 590 (CA7 2009) (upholding, under 349(b), a Bankruptcy Courts decision not to rein- state a debtors claim against a bank that gave up a lien in reliance on the claim being released in the debtors reorganization plan). Nothing else in the Code authorizes a court ordering a dismissal to make general end-of-case distributions of estate assets to creditors of the kind that normally take place in a Chapter 7 liquidation or Chapter 11 planlet alone final distributions that do not help to restore the status quo ante or protect reliance interests acquired in the bankruptcy, and that would be flatly impermissible in a Chapter 7 liquidation or a Chapter 11 plan because they violate priority without the impaired creditors consent. That being so, the word cause is too weak a reed upon which to rest so weighty a power We have found no contrary precedent, either from this Court, or, for that matter, from lower court decisions reflecting common bankruptcy practice. Ouch. This would seem to throw a lot of cold water on structured dismissals, since reading between the lines, they may have evolved into bankruptcy courts upon occasion trying Solomonic remedies to avoid Chapter 7 liquidations. The ruling is so fresh that I have yet to see any bankruptcy maven commentary, so it will be instructive to see them weigh in on the implications for structured dismissals and private equity bankruptcy looting, um, strategies. ____ 1 While monitoring fee agreements often provide for the private equity firms fee payments to accrue but not be paid on a current basis if profits fall below certain levels, those provisions are commonly at the option of the general partner. Researchers discover new type of memory effect in Transition Metal Oxides (Nanowerk News) Transition metal oxides (TMO) are extensively studied, technologically important materials, due to their complex electronic interactions, resulting in a large variety of collective phenomena. Memory effects in TMO's have garnered a huge amount of interest, being both of fundamental scientific interest and technological significance. Dr. Amos Sharoni of Bar-Ilan University's Department of Physics, and Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials (BINA), has now uncovered a new kind of memory effect, unrelated to memory effects previously reported. Dr. Sharoni, together with his student Naor Vardi, and supported by theoretical modelling by Yonatan Dubi of Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, utilized a simple experimental design to study changes in the properties of two TMOs, VO 2 and NdNiO 3 , which undergo a metal-insulator phase-transition. Their results, just published in the journal Advanced Materials ("Ramp-Reversal Memory and Phase-Boundary Scarring in Transition Metal Oxides"), not only demonstrate a new phenomenon but, importantly, also provide an explanation of its origin. Ramp reversal memory Metal-insulator transitions are transitions from a metal (material with good electrical conductivity of electric charges) to an insulator (material where conductivity of charges is quickly suppressed). These transitions can be achieved by a small variation of external parameters such as pressure or temperature. In Sharoni's experiment, when heated the studied TMOs transit from one state to another, and their properties undergo a change, beginning in a small area where "islands" develop and then grow, and vice-versa during cooling, similar to the coexistence of ice and water during melting. Sharoni cooled his samples while transition was in process, and then examined what happened when they were reheated. He found that when the reheated metal-oxide reached the temperature point at which re-cooling had occurred, that is, in the phase coexistence state - an increase in resistance was measured. And this increase in resistance was observed at each different point at which cooling was initiated. This previously unknown and surprising phenomenon demonstrates the creation of a "memory". Sharoni explains: "When the temperature ramp is reversed, and the sample is cooled rather than heated, the direction change creates a "scar" wherever there is a phase-boundary between the conducting and insulating islands. The ramp reversal sequence "encrypts" in the TMO a "memory" of the reversal temperature, which is manifested as increased resistance". Moreover, it is possible to create and store more than one "memory" in the same physical space. Sharoni likens the creation of a "scar" to the motion of waves on the seashore. A wave rushes up the beach and as it recedes it leaves a small sandy mound at the furthest point that it reached. When the wave returns it slows and brakes as it reaches the mound obstacle in its path. However, if a strong wave follows, it rushes over the mound and destroys it. Similarly, Sharoni found that further heating the TMO enables it to complete transition and to cross the scarred boundaries, "healing" the scars and immediately erasing the memory. In contrast cooling does not erase them. Technology and Security The results of Sharoni's work will have important impact on additional research, both experimental and theoretical, and the simplicity of the experimental design will enable other groups studying relevant systems to perform similar measurements with ease. Researchers create self-sustaining bacteria-fueled power cell (w/video) (Nanowerk News) Instead of oil, coal, or even solar energy, self-sustaining bacterial fuel cells may power the future. Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have developed the next step in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with the first micro-scale self-sustaining cell, which generated power for 13 straight days through symbiotic interactions of two types of bacteria. "This concept of creating electricity through synergistic cooperation is not new. However, much of this work is still in its nascent stages," said Binghamton University Electrical and Computer Science Assistant Professor Seokheun Choi, who is one of the co-authors along with PhD candidate Lin Liu of a paper in Journal of Power Sources, ("Self-sustaining, solar-driven bioelectricity generation in micro-sized microbial fuel cell using co-culture of heterotrophic and photosynthetic bacteria").. "The evolution of this technology will require additional exploration, but we, for the first time, realized this conceptual idea in a micro-scale device," Choi said. Binghamton University researcher Seokheun 'Sean' Choi is developing new ways to create electricity using bacteria. His small, paper-based batteries and microbial fuel cells could one day replace oil, coal or even solar energy. In a cell chamber about one-fifth the size of a teaspoon--90 microliters--researchers placed a mixed culture of phototrophic and heterotrophic bacteria. Phototrophic bacteria uses sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to make its own energy, while heterotrophic bacteria must "feed" on provided organic matter or phototrophic bacteria to survive - think of cows grazing in a grassy field. While the cell was exposed to sunlight, an initial dose of "food" was added to the chamber to stimulate growth of the heterotrophic bacteria. Through cellular respiration, the heterotrophic bacteria produced carbon dioxide waste, which was used by the phototrophic bacteria to kickstart the symbiotic cycle. After that cycle was established, researchers stopped adding additional "food" sources for the heterophic bacteria, and there was enough phototrophic bacteria to sustain the metabolic processes of the heterophic bacteria. Those metabolic processes generated an electrical current--8 microamps per square centimeter of cell--for 13 straight days. The power was about 70 times greater than current produced by phototrophic bacteria alone. "Heterotrophic bacteria-based fuel cells generate higher power, while photosynthetic microbial fuel cells provide self-sustainability. This is the best of both worlds, thus far," Choi said. The breakthrough is promising, but it is an early step in the development of bacteria-generated power. Overall, the miniature size of the cells allows for a short start-up time and small electrical resistances to overcome. However, a common 42" high-definition television takes about half an amp of electrical current to function which would, theoretically, require roughly 62,500 cells from the experiment. In reality, these cells will be used to provide power in remote or dangerous locations for low-power items like health monitors and infrastructure diagnostic sensors. "There are some challenges of using this technique," Choi said. "Balancing both microorganisms' growth to maximize the device performance and the need to make sure that this closed system will permanently generate power without additional maintenance are two we have found. Long-term experiments are needed." Energy from toilet wastewater (Nanowerk News) Wastewater is considered to be of no use quite wrongly! Washing water has an average temperature of 30C. Toilet water might not only be used to produce biogas or fertilizers, but also valuable resources that otherwise would enter the sewer system unused. And even worse: Annually, more than 2 million people die from diarrheal diseases due to the wrong use of wastewater. Experts of the Water-Energy Group of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) study possibilities to eliminate these problems. Caution, no drinking water. Only 0.3 percent of the water on the Earths surface is suited for use as drinking water. KIT scientists study possibilities of improving wastewater use. (Photo: KIT) Although about 72% of the Earths surface are covered by water, only 0.3% are suited for use as drinking water. With that in mind, wastewater is no waste. It contains thermal energy, chemical energy in the form of carbon compounds, and valuable plant nutrients. Now, we have to develop processes for the use of these resources, Helmut Lehn of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) says. Waste heat of domestic wastewater, for instance, might be used with the help of heat exchangers in sewage pipes. And it is even more effective to use the warm wastewater from the washing machine and the bathroom directly in the house for preheating fresh water for the shower, Witold Poganietz adds, who heads the research group together with Lehn. Such a system already is in operation in a housing block in Berlin. A major prerequisite for the intelligent use of wastewater is the separation of wastewater flows from the toilet (black water) and from the bathroom and kitchen (grey water), Lehn continues. If feces were removed separately and undiluted by using e.g. vacuum toilets as on airplanes or ICEs three liters of biogas might be produced from one liter of wastewater. Adding biowaste might even increase the energy yield and the organic waste bin would no longer be required, Lehn says. And he adds: Urine is an ideal fertilizer, as it contains nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. As the latter is considered a non-renewable resource that is supposed to run short even before coal and petroleum, studies concentrate on recovering it from municipal wastewater and sewage sludge. This might also help reduce the demand for artificial fertilizers, whose production requires much energy. According to Franka Steiner, ITAS, the existing infrastructure will continue to require complex cleaning of mixed wastewaters, whereas separation of wastewater flows might be implemented easily in development areas, where new houses are built. This also applies to growing metropolitan areas in threshold and developing countries. Here, sanitary systems are often lacking completely, the geoecologist says. All over world, she advises municipal administrations in the planning of wastewater systems. A separation system that produces both energy and nutrients from the wastewater of several thousand inhabitants is being tested by the city of Hamburg in a conversion area. This project is observed by ITAS researchers with high interest. UN World Water Day Commemorates the Millions of Deaths Due to Wrong Use of Wastewater To attract attention to the worldwide wastewater problem, the motto Wastewater was chosen for this years United Nations World Water Day on March 22. With good reason: According to the World Health Organization WHO, diarrheal diseases due to the improper use of wastewater cause 4% of all deaths worldwide, with increasing tendency. Many of the more than 2 million victims per year are children living in developing countries, Lehn says. For comparison: In 2015, about 440,000 people died from malaria (half as many as 15 years before) and 1.1 million people died from AIDS. ITAS researcher Lehn thinks that one reason of the increase in fatal diarrheal diseases is progressing urbanization with more and more people living in densely packed urban slums without hygienic wastewater treatment. ITAS Informs Citizens about Potential Uses of Wastewater On Thursday, May 11, 6 to 9 p.m., visitors can inform themselves about potential uses of wastewater at the ITAS building (Karlstrae 11, 76021 Karlsruhe). Experts of the Water-Energy Group and practitioners in the wastewater and development aid sectors are invited to give advice. Citizens will be informed about our current wastewater treatment system, potential alternative uses of wastewater, and the steps that have to be taken by house owners and municipalities, Helmut Lehn says. Relationships of Water, Energy, and Waste: ITAS Simulation at the World Water Week At the World Water Week in Stockholm from August 27 to September 01, 2017, the Water-Energy Group of ITAS will present a simulation. More than 3000 visitors from all over the world are expected to come to the event under the motto of Water and waste reduce and reuse. Our simulation will highlight technoeconomic, sociocultural and ecological relationships of water, energy, and waste and we plan to design concepts for various urban contexts, Jasmin Friedrich says, whose studies focus on the waterenergy nexus. KIT Educates Specialists for the Sustainable Use of Water Toward printable, sensor-laden 'skin' for robots (Nanowerk News) In this age of smartphones and tablet computers, touch-sensitive surfaces are everywhere. Theyre also brittle, as people with cracked phone screens everywhere can attest. Covering a robot or an airplane or a bridge with sensors will require a technology that is both flexible and cost-effective to manufacture in bulk. A team of researchers at MITs Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory thinks that 3-D printing could be the answer. In an attempt to demonstrate the feasibility of flexible, printable electronics that combine sensors and processing circuitry and can act on their environments, the researchers have designed and built a device that responds to mechanical stresses by changing the color of a spot on its surface. Photograph of the fully 3D-printed autonomous sensory composite. (Image: MIT) The device was inspired by the golden tortoise beetle, or goldbug, an insect whose exterior usually appears golden but turns reddish orange if the insect is poked or prodded that is, mechanically stressed. In nature, networks of sensors and interconnects are called sensorimotor pathways, says Subramanian Sundaram, an MIT graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science (EECS), who led the project. We were trying to see whether we could replicate sensorimotor pathways inside a 3-D-printed object. So we considered the simplest organism we could find. The researchers present their new design in the latest issue of the journal Advanced Materials Technologies ("3D-Printed Autonomous Sensory Composites"). Sundaram is the first author on the paper, and the senior authors are Sundarams advisor, Wojciech Matusik, an associate professor of EECS; and Marc Baldo, a professor of EECS and director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics. Joining them on the paper are Pitchaya Sitthi-Amorn, a former postdoc in Matusiks lab; Ziwen Jiang, an undergraduate EECS student; and David Kim, a technical assistant in Matusiks Computational Fabrication Group. Bottom up Printable electronics, in which flexible circuitry is deposited on some type of plastic substrate, has been a major area of research for decades. But Sundaram says that the ability to print the substrate itself greatly increases the range of devices the technique can yield. For one thing, the choice of substrate limits the types of materials that can be deposited on top of it. Because a printed substrate could consist of many materials, interlocked in intricate but regular patterns, it broadens the range of functional materials that printable electronics can use. Printed substrates also open the possibility of devices that, although printed as flat sheets, can fold themselves up into more complex, three-dimensional shapes. Printable robots that spontaneously self-assemble when heated, for instance, are a topic of ongoing research at the CSAIL Distributed Robotics Laboratory, led by Daniela Rus, the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. We believe that only if youre able to print the underlying substrate can you begin to think about printing a more complex shape, Sundaram says. Selective signaling The MIT researchers new device is approximately T-shaped, but with a wide, squat base and an elongated crossbar. The crossbar is made from an elastic plastic, with a strip of silver running its length; in the researchers experiments, electrodes were connected to the crossbars ends. The base of the T is made from a more rigid plastic. It includes two printed transistors and what the researchers call a pixel, a circle of semiconducting polymer whose color changes when the crossbars stretch, modifying the electrical resistance of the silver strip. In fact, the transistors and the pixel are made from the same material; the transistors also change color slightly when the crossbars stretch. The effect is more dramatic in the pixel, however, because the transistors amplify the electrical signal from the crossbar. Demonstrating working transistors was essential, Sundaram says, because large, dense sensor arrays require some capacity for onboard signal processing. You wouldnt want to connect all the sensors to your main computer, because then you would have tons of data coming in, he says. You want to be able to make clever connections and to select just the relevant signals. To build the device, the researchers used the MultiFab, a custom 3-D printer developed by Matusiks group. The MultiFab already included two different print heads, one for emitting hot materials and one for cool, and an array of ultraviolet light-emitting diodes. Using ultraviolet radiation to cure fluids deposited by the print heads produces the devices substrate. Sundaram added a copper-and-ceramic heater, which was necessary to deposit the semiconducting plastic: The plastic is suspended in a fluid thats sprayed onto the device surface, and the heater evaporates the fluid, leaving behind a layer of plastic only 200 nanometers thick. Fluid boundaries A transistor consists of semiconductor channel on top of which sits a gate, a metal wire that, when charged, generates an electric field that switches the semiconductor between its electrically conductive and nonconductive states. In a standard transistor, theres an insulator between the gate and the semiconductor, to prevent the gate current from leaking into the semiconductor channel. The transistors in the MIT researchers device instead separate the gate and the semiconductor with a layer of water containing a potassium salt. Charging the gate drives potassium ions into the semiconductor, changing its conductivity. The layer of saltwater lowers the devices operational voltage, so that it can be powered with an ordinary 1.5-volt battery. But it does render the device less durable. I think we can probably get it to work stably for two months, maybe, Sundaram says. One option is to replace that liquid with something between a solid and a liquid, like a hydrogel, perhaps. But thats something we would work on later. This is an initial demonstration. 'It wasn't meant to be': Chandler Smith comes up short in third Chandler Smith talks about what more was needed tonight and what could've been done differently as he puts a cap on the season. Tipperary Gardai will hold their annual Community Policing Seminar in Cashel next month. It will take place in Halla na Feile on Thursday, April 27, at 7pm. The Seminar, which is free, is open to all members of the community across Tipperary. It will provide the public with an opportunity to receive crime prevention advice and hear from a number of speakers on areas of crime, traffic and community policing. Commenting on this years Community Policing Seminar, Chief Superintendent Catherine Kehoe said - "Building on the valuable insights from previous community seminars, this year we will focus on a number of key objectives for 2017 and give an opportunity for engagement and discussion in a workshop setting. "In recognition of the outstanding contribution to the local community a number of community awards will be presented to nominated recipients on the night. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Tipperary for their very valuable support and assistance to the Gardai in this county over the past year and I look forward to meeting them on the night". Community Crime Prevention programmes incorporating Neighbourhood Watch and Community Alert schemes were established in Ireland in 1985 and have enjoyed widespread support and appeal amongst all communities. Following a review in 2013 by An Garda Siochana and Munitir Na Tire a number of proposals emerged to assist in promoting and supporting Neighbourhood Watch and Community Alert Schemes including the launch of text alert and business watch schemes. An Garda Siochana Policing Plan for 2017 has identified as a key objective under Community Engagement & Public Safety our commitment to work with and protect communities. In 2017 community policing will be enhanced to deliver the style and type of policing that shows An Garda Siochanas commitment to prevent crime, making communities safer, and addressing the policing challenges of each community. The seminar will be open and interactive and will offer an opportunity for anyone who wishes to discuss their concerns and share their information in a community setting. All are welcome. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had talks in Budapest on Thursday (23 March) with the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban. The two leaders discussed the current security situation and the Secretary General thanked the Prime Minister for Hungarys significant contributions to NATOs collective defence. Later this year Hungarian troops will deploy to the Baltics as part of NATOs Forward Presence in the eastern part of the Alliance. Hungary is also one of the largest contributors to NATOs KFOR peace keeping mission in Kosovo and in Afghanistan, Hungarian forces have also served as part of NATOs Resolute Support Mission. The mission is to train, assist and advise the Afghan security forces to ensure the country never again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists. The Secretary General thanked the Prime Minister for Hungarys commitment to increased defence spending. Since 2014, Hungary has stopped the cuts in defence spending and has increased it in real terms. Mr. Stoltenberg and Mr. Orban also discussed preparations for the meeting of Allied leaders in Brussels on 25 May. During his visit the Secretary General also met with the Hungarian Minister of Defence, Istvan Simicsko. (Natural News) Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of a number of GOP lawmakers opposed to the American Health Care Act, has predicted there wont be enough votes to pass it, causing it to be withdrawn and forcing Republican leaders to start over. The AHCA is the bill touted by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and backed by President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, that has been proposed as the Republican alternative to the Affordable Care Act. In an interview with Breitbart News, Paul who has dubbed the AHCA Obamacare Lite, while other conservatives have dubbed it RyanCare, RINO-Care, and Obamacare 2.0 has been vocally critical of the legislation. The senator notes it does not fully repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which is what Republicans and the president promised voters. He has said that the AHCA, which Ryan has said is merely the first in a three-phase repeal-and-replace effort, leaves in place many of the worst elements of Obamacare. The Ryan-led effort has come under severe criticism from the most conservative lawmakers, many of whom have vowed to oppose it unless major changes are made first. (RELATED: Are #NeverTrump Lawmakers Working To Sabotage Obamacare Repeal So Trump Cant Take Credit?) I think theres easily 35 no votes right now so unless something happens in the next 24 hours, I would predict they pull the bill and start over, Paul told Breitbart, regarding Republican votes in the House. Currently, there are 237 Republicans in the House compared with 193 Democrats and five vacancies (four of the GOP seats of lawmakers who left to join the Trump administration). In a full House (435 members), a 218-vote majority is needed to advance legislation to the Senate. Breitbart noted that in order to kill the legislation, just 21 Republican no votes are needed. I think if conservatives stick together, they will have earned a seat at the table where real negotiation to make this bill an acceptable bill will happen. But its interesting what conservatives are doing to change the debate, said Paul. We went from keeping the Obamacare taxes for a yearhundreds of billions of dollarsbut theyre coming towards us because were standing firm. So we have to stick together, and if we do stick together there will be a real negotiation on this. The main goal I have is not to pass something that does not fix the situation. If a year from now, insurance rates and premiums are still going through the roof and its now a Republican plan it will be a disservice to the president and all of us if we pass something that doesnt work, he said. Earlier, Paul openly questioned whether House Republican leaders were intentionally trying to fool President Trump. Some changes have been made to the bill, though House conservatives are still not pleased. One such change angered conservatives anew on Tuesday when a provision meant to crack down on illegal aliens receiving federal health benefits was taken out, Reuters reported, adding: The provision would have allowed the Treasury Department to access data at the Department of Homeland Security to verify that healthcare tax credits went only to U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, not to illegal immigrants. I am concerned that the bill lacks sufficient safeguards for verifying whether or not an individual applying for health care tax credits is lawfully in this country and eligible to receive them, said Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., in a statement in which he said he could no longer support the bill. In the Senate, moderate Republicans like Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have said they are concerned about provisions in the AHCA that would rescind Obamacares Medicaid expansion, though pulling it would save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year, according to a recent Congressional Budget Office analysis. (RELATED: CBO was wrong over Obamacare sign-ups or half-right, depending on how you look at it) Among other issues that have been raised: Under the AHCA, millions of veterans would become ineligible to receive tax credits, the Washington Examiner reported, something that will also likely cause many Republicans who otherwise support the military to vote no. Under the original bill, veterans could get tax credits to help pay for insurance coverage so long as they werent already enrolled in a Veterans Affairs health program. But either by design or by accident, staffers struck that language in making changes that say service members could now only qualify for tax credits if theyre not eligible for other government healthcare programs. Chris Jacobs, a healthcare analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told the Washington Examiner that change means individuals eligible for, but not enrolled in, VA coverage would not qualify for new insurance subsidies. With just the stroke of a pen, some legislative staffer would force millions of veterans to rely on the VA for their healthcare whether they want it or not, the Washington Examiner reported. J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel. Sources: WashingtonExaminer.com Reuters.com Breitbart.com NaturalNews.com Amid a new Al-Qaeda terror threat, the British government announces it will ban electronic devices on flights from six Middle Eastern nations -- Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. The move was ordered by Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday at the meeting on aviation security. The rule said passengers who have with them any electronic gadgets larger than a smartphone would have to put it in their hold luggage, despite concerns that they could be stolen or damaged. Normal smartphones are specified as 16cm x 9.3cm x 1.5cm (6.2in x 3.6in x 0.5in). Meanwhile, The Guardian reported that the ban will not apply to flights where U.K. travelers change planes in European airports. Although, other European countries are also considering to implement similar restrictions. "We understand the frustration that these measures may cause and we are working with the aviation industry to minimise any impact," transport secretary Chris Grayling said in a written statement cited by The Guardian. "Our top priority will always be to maintain the safety of British nationals." The restrictions affect 14 airlines: British Airways, Easyjet, Jet 2, Monarch, Thomas Cook and Thomson, Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airways, Atlas-Global, Egyptair, Tunisair, Royal Jordanian, Saudi and Middle East Airlines. In an interview with BBC, Simon Calder, travel editor of The Independent, said the ban would particularly affect passengers who only booked hand luggage-only tickets. Since they would now have to pay to check a bag in. Meanwhile, air industry consultant John Strickland told the Standard that the new restriction will bring forth a new challenge not only for passengers but for airline companies as well. "One unexpected consequence will be the challenge of additional devices with lithium batteries being stowed in the holds which bring its own challenges to safety," he said. UK has not announced when exactly will the cabin ban be put into practice, but it said that they have a few days to fully implement it. A dead cane toad (Bufo marinus) found by the side of the road at Charlotte Pass, near Mount Kosciuszko in southern New South Wales a few days ago is prompting disease fears. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Officer (NPWS) Dave Woods told ABC Radio Canberra said the amphibian was probably accidentally brought by a tourist. "It [the toad] either died in transit or it's fallen out and survived for a few days," Woods said. "We strongly suspect given the [area] has high visitation, that it was a tourist that brought it in." While there was no other evidence of cane toad frogs in the area except for the carcass, rangers said it should still be a concern because the cane toad might have carried a Chytrid fungus and might have infected local frogs. Cane toads carry body fluids that are highly toxic if ingested by other animals and humans. They have a bony head, with a dry and skin full of warts. Read Also: Poisonous Asian Toads: Madagascar Must Eradicate Them [VIDEO] According to National Geographic, cane toads were considered as pests after they were released in Australian ecology in 1935, hoping that they would eliminate the cane beetle population. However, instead of preventing the spread of the cane beetles, they began invading the area itself, eventually reaching millions. But more than their booming population, one particular concern is that their venom have depleted the native species and poisoned animals and even humans. The venom of cane toad is a mix of toxins that primarily affects the functioning of the heart. It also limits the ability to breathe from the skin. Because they are highly adaptable, they have managed to move from north of Queensland to other parts of Australia. "They probably have moved about halfway through that tropical region of Western Australia," Rick Shine, a professor in biology at the University of Sydney, told BBC. "They are in very inaccessible country now in the Kimberley. It is very hard to get detailed information on exactly where the front is but it seems to be moving at 50 to 60km (31 to 37 miles) per annum." Read Also: Australia's Cane Toads May Soon Be Treating Cancer Facebook is now making a bold move towards the prevention of suicide among its users using artificial intelligence and by updating a lot of its other tools. This news is courtesy from Facebook itself, which said it will use artificial intelligence and integrate its new set of suicide prevention protocols on its many tools. This involves live-streams on Facebook Live and its built-in Messenger feature. The network's blog post made particular mention of artificial intelligence. They said AI will be used in order to spot behavior from people with suicidal tendencies. Facebook said its new and updated tools will give users watching a live video to help reach out to the person directly, or even report the video to Facebook. This includes other tools such as reporting the live video, reaching out to said friend, and giving them direct access to a nearby help line. While the system is currently out, Futurism said contacting crises counselors is currently only available in the U.S. Facebook has also yet to reveal a "release" date for the feature in other countries. This could be in response to a 14-year-old foster child from Florida, who allegedly broadcasted her suicide on Facebook Live. This is alarming news as suicide appears to be the second-leading cause of death among 15 to 29 year olds. Considering how many teens are looking to delete their Facebook accounts because of this and other issues, Facebook is smart to look for ways to retain their initial user base. In U.S., suicide rates have increased by 24 percent from 1999 to 2014 after what appeared to be a period of consistent decline. Facebook's move is a bold one, but can be a helpful one as well. Facebook has grown into an almost everyday essential with a user base of 1.86 million. Its new Facebook Live service, which allows people to broadcast real-time videos to followers has slowly been a growing popular feature that might help save lives. Although dinosaurs have been extinct for millions and millions of years, we continue to be fascinated by these ancient reptiles. Now, some of the most basic and widely accepted "facts" about dinosaurs are being challenged in light of a new research published in the journal Nature. According to a report from New Scientist, H.G. Seeley divided dinosaurs into two different categories based on their pelvic bones: bird-hipped ornithischians like the herbivorous Stegosaurus and Triceratops, and lizard-hipped saurischians that includes carnivorous theropods like the Tyrannosaurus rex and long-necked herbivorous sauropodomorphs like the Apatosaurus. Instead of following this long-accepted family tree, Matthew Baron of the University of Cambridge and his colleagues studied 74 different species, noting 457 physical characteristics and identifying 21 specific anatomical traits that categorize dinosaurs in a different way. This is a major shake-up in the dinosaur family tree. As Ed Yong puts it in his piece published in The Atlantic, "This is like someone telling you that neither cats nor dogs are what you thought they were, and some of the animals you call 'cats' are actually dogs." Using the 21 traits, the team created a new dinosaur family tree, placing the T. rex and other theropods with the bird-hipped ornithischians, this category now dubbed as the ornithoscelidans. Left in the saurichians category are the sauropods. Now, both categories include carnivores and herbivores, suggesting the ancestor of all dinosaurs are likely omnivorous. Another well-known detail about dinosaurs that the group challenged was their place of origin. While the cradle of dinosaur evolution was believed to be South America, Baron and his team said it could have been the northern hemisphere because the fossils of the oldest dinosaurs in the newly classified branches were found there, possibly in the region that is now the United Kingdom, BBC reports. Now that NASA has an approved budget supporting the journey to Mars, it is more likely for the mission to push through. This means any obstacle is crucial to the completion of the mission. Recently, engineers observed breaks on Mars rover's wheels. Will it impede operations and slow down the progress of the manned mission to Mars? Traversing Mars is not a walk in the park. The unforgiving terrain is now taking its tall on the agency's Mars Curiosity rover. Two small breaks were discovered on the aluminum wheels of the rover during a routine check. The breaks indicate wear and tear as the rover performs its tasks. Engineers said the breaks were discovered on raised treads called grousers on March 19. "All six wheels have more than enough working lifespan remaining to get the vehicle to all destinations planned for the mission," Curiosity Project Manager Jim Erickson at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, said in a statement. "While not unexpected, this damage is the first sign that the left middle wheel is nearing a wheel-wear milestone." The breaks were observed on one side of the Mars rover's wheels, according to Space.com. The new breaks add to the already existing damages to the battered wheels of Curiosity. Breaks on the wheels were first investigated in 2013 when the wheel-longevity testing was performed on Earth. Based on the tests, when three grousers on the wheels show break, it means that they have passed 60 percent of their life. During the time of the testing, Curiosity has already driven over that fraction and of the total distance needed to explore key regions of Mount Sharp. Although signs of wear and tear on the Martian rover's wheels are now evident, engineers and Curiosity Project scientists Ashwin Vasavada are not worried for they have already anticipated such incident. They said that the breaks are expected in wheels and that it won't affect any scientific plans and scientific objectives on Mount Sharp. The rover is scheduled to visit "Vera Rubin Ridge" to analyze hematite and sulfate contents. Engineers assured the public that the rover can still drive around the surface of Mars to perform its planned tasks. This is not the first time the rover has encountered glitches. A few times last year, it entered "safe mode" due to different technical problems which rover engineers managed to troubleshoot from Earth. A sniffer dog in New Zealand was shot dead in Auckland airport after it went berserk. Grizz is a 10-month-old bearded collie who was training to be a bomb sniffing dog. According to CNN, the dog ran from his handler on the airfield, causing delay to more than a dozen flight. He was supposed to graduate in six months time. An update on the Auckland Airport's official Twitter account said they had already captured the dog and contained the situation. However hours later, they posted another update saying the dog had been killed. In a statement, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman said they had tried everything to lure Grizz back to his handler, but all tricks have failed and they had no choice but to order the police to him dead. They reportedly chased Grizz for three hours. "We tried everything, food, toys, other dogs, but nothing would work ... In these difficult circumstances the Airport's Emergency Operations Center team decided to have the dog destroyed," the statement read. Read Also: 'I Heard at Least Ten Gunshots': Police Fatally Shoots Pit Bulls Chomping on a Man Meanwhile, The Guardian quoted Inspector Tracy Phillips of Counties Manukau District Police who said the Aviation Security Service (Avsec) had made "considerable efforts" to catch Grizz. "Our thoughts are with the Avsec dog handler involved. This is not an outcome which anyone wanted, and police were only asked to be involved as a last resort," he said. The decision of the authorities to shoot the dog as last resort fueled ire all around the globe. "Auckland Airport" became a trending topic on Twitter. Many of the commenters asked why they did not opt for a tranquilizer or why did they not shoot the poor dog on his legs instead. Sydney Morning Herald notes that Aviation Security's explosive detector dogs (EDD) have different jobs than the customs and MPI pups. Each EDD has a human partner, which is supposed to train him to have the qualities of an EDD such as being friendly, sociable and non-aggressive. He is also supposed to love toys. They are considered to be important in airports as their presence could deter possible explosives being smuggled in the area. Read Also: Cute! Stray Dog Adopted by Monastery, Made an Honorary Friar Space communication is vital, and NASA is taking steps towards high-speed Internet connectivity for the sky. The space agency is currently developing a "trailblazing" and long-term technology geared towards improving Internet connectivity and space communication systems. The project is called the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and it's designed to help NASA discover ways to improve laser communications systems in space. Part of the technology is to enable higher data rates for a high-speed connection between the Earth and certain spacecraft. This will result in faster scientific data transfer from space to Earth and vice versa. "LCRD is the next step in implementing NASA's vision of using optical communications for both near-Earth and deep space missions," Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, and team lead of the LCRD project said in a press release. This means that the project includes an innovative Internet technology that is not yet available here on Earth. Laser communications, called optical communications uses, the beam of light to transmit data. Optical communications yield 10 to 100 times better results compared to radio-frequency (RF) technology. The new laser communications are also smaller and lighter in weight, which also requires lesser power to operate. The advancements are deemed necessary for future deeper space explorations to Mars and even beyond. "We are also designing a laser terminal for the International Space Station that will use LCRD to relay data from the station to the ground at gigabit-per-second data rates," Don Cornwell, the director of Advanced Communication and Navigation division of the Space Communications and Navigation program at NASA, said in a statement. Cornwell said they're planning to operate the new terminal by 2021. They hope that the new technology will also be used in other NASA missions that orbit the Earth. The new project LCRD aims to demonstrate the longevity and reliability of laser connectivity and its ability to adapt to different weather conditions. The LCRD is designed to work for a maximum of five years. There are two ground terminals each with laser modems located in Table Mountain, California and another one in Hawaii. Starbucks CEO (SBUX) Howard Schultz said the coffee giant isnt actively trying to be political. On Jan. 29, Schultz sent out a company-wide letter following President Donald Trumps decision to sign an executive order temporarily halted citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the US. (That order has been stymied in court. Earlier this month, Trump signed a new travel ban executive order that excludes Iraq.) In the letter, Schultz detailed plans to hire 10,000 refugees in the 75 countries where the coffee chain operates by 2022. This was met with backlash on social media, with some users calling for a boycott of Starbucks. Let me explain that if I can, Schultz said Yahoo Finance on Wednesday. First off, the history of the company has not been taking on things that are political that people are trying to politicize. We were not trying to do anything that was against the president or the administration. And what were trying to do is maintain our principles and core values. Starbucks has a history of hiring people in demographics that are often in need of an opportunity, including military and military spouses. So hiring of veterans, opportunity youth, free college for our partners, and now the hiring of 10,000 refugees globally are all things that we believe are highly principled and consistent with the humanity of the company. And from time to time if we think its important we will speak out, but Kevin [Johnson] is the CEO on April 3rd, and that will be up to him. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz (Photo: Ted S. Warren/AP) When asked about what Schultz will do next, he reiterated that he has a full-time job at the company. He also plans to use his platform for good. I want to do everything I can to help Kevin, but at the same time build these roasteries globally and extend the new Starbucks Reserve brand, Schultz said. And then I want to use the platform I have for good, working with like-minded CEOs, elected officials, to try and do everything I can, as a private citizen, to help those people who dont have a voice, to help those people who are being left behind, and to try and elevate the conscience of the country, and I think, I would hope that we would become a more compassionate society and the government becomes more compassionate. Story continues Schultz wouldnt comment on President Trump when asked about what a business person would bring to the White House and what they might lack. What I would say is what the country does need is authentic leadership and I think truthfulness, and above all else I think were longing for a level of trust and confidence in all of our leaders, not only in Washington but in business. Schultz will step down as CEO on April 3. Kevin Johnson, the companys president and COO, will take the helm, while Schultz will remain executive chairman. Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter. Read more: Blind people may not be able to see, but many develop impressive ultra-heightened sense of hearing, smell and touch. Maybe not to the extent of the fictional superhero Daredevil, but some can come pretty close. According to a report from Medical Xpress, it's not a coincidence that visually impaired people can rely on their other impressive senses. Deprived of visual information, the brain is able to make new connections that result in heightening other senses and even cognitive functions. Researchers from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear, an affiliate of Harvard University, released a report that revealed the structural, functional and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of people born blind. Using MRI multimodal brain imaging techniques, the team studied 12 participants who were either born blind or acquired blindness before turning three years old. They then compared the results to 16 other subjects with normal sight. In the previous group, there were structural and functional connectivity changes. Information were traveling between areas of the brain that aren't visible in the normally sighted participants. "Similar to previous studies, decreases in connectivity were observed which often involved the occipital visual processing areas," lead author Corinna M. Bauer, Ph.D., a scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass. Eye and Ear and an instructor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, explained in an interview with Gizmodo. Bauer further revealed that they observed increased connectivity in certain areas among blind people. These areas are those connected with motor, auditory and language processing skills. With this study, the team was able to exhibit the neuroplasticity of the brains, also known as its ability to adapt to an individual's experiences. While the team didn't perform tests on their subjects that actually showed enhanced senses of touch, hearing and smell, but they were able to show how the brain achieves these boosted abilities through new connections. The full study is published in the journal PLOS One. The burial site of Jesus Christ's body, where he's believed to have been lain to rest and then resurrected after his crucifixion, is now open to the public at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. One of the holiest places in Christianity, the tomb was unveiled in a ceremony on Wednesday after nearly one year of restoration efforts that cost up to $4 million. In an exclusive report from National Geographic, it was revealed that a team of scientists from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) believes the shrine is still in danger of significant structural failure. The small structure called the Edicule ("little house" in Latin), which houses the remains of a cave believed to be the tomb of Christ, reportedly sits on unstable foundation. The history of this holy ground contributes significantly to its instability. Two thousand years ago, the site was a limestone quarry, then hosted tombs of Jewish upper class. Since then it has been the site of temples and shrines destroyed and rebuilt repeatedly over the centuries. Read Also: Here's What Experts Discovered After Opening Jesus Christ's Burial Tomb During a recent survey, modern technology revealed that parts of the Edicule sit on the debris of previous structures and the rest are on the edge of sloped and quarried bedrock. The mortar of the foundation has deteriorated from moisture and age. Tunnels and trenches snake directly beneath the Edicule, while pillars holding up the shrine stand on unconsolidated rubble. NTUA warns that the dangers of the area should not be taken lightly. Additional work is necessary to make the Edicule and its surrounding church safer for public viewing. "When it fails, the failure will not be a slow process, but catastrophic," Antonia Moropoulou, NTUA's chief scientific supervisor, told National Geographic. Efforts for additional renovation are being led by NTUA, who are proposing a 10-month, six-million-euro project to fix the structural concerns over the holy site. The work will be done with minimal interruption to tourists visiting the Edicule. According to a report from The Guardian, six separate denominations currently share custodianship of the church: Latin (Roman Catholic), Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Syrian Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox and Copts. Part of the challenge of restoring the sacred shrine was disputes among the different groups. Read Also: Archaeologists Uncover First Church Built In the Tropics and History Of Atlantic Slave Trade Just recently, Cheerios removed Buzz the Bee form their cereal boxes to promote their Bring Back the Bees Campaign. Cheerios' campaign is quite straightforward. They plan to send out 100 million wildflower seeds and urge people across the nation to plant them. However, some experts warn that the company's wildflower initiative might actually do more harm in some areas. According a report from My Central Oregon, some of the wildflower seeds being distributed by Cheerios could grow into a highly invasive plant that is not helpful to native bee species. Read Also: Where Is Buzz the Bee? Why Cheerios' Beloved Bee Mascot Dissappeared From the Cereal Box "No plant is inherently 'bad', but many species can and has caused a great deal of damage when they are introduced into locations outside of their native range," ecologist Kathryn Turner told Life Hacker. "Invasive species can out-compete the natives they encounter, they can take up all the space and use up all the resources, they can spread disease, and cause other physical changes to their new homes, all of which can have detrimental effects on native species, and on humans," she added. Other experts also expressed their concern about the potential of the some of the wildflower seeds distributed by Cheerios could grow into a highly invasive weed, choking local native species of plant. Experts also warn that the seed mix that is good for one area can be destructive in another. Cheerios seed mix is said to contain a bad combination of different wildflower seeds. Eric Mader, a native plant specialist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, revealed that the mix seed packets of Cheerios contain both aggressive annuals and perennials, which do not play well together. "When you mix them together in a packet, you are not going to end up with a cohesive plant community," Mader said in a report from Star Tribune. "Some might thrive, some might fail." Read Also: Conservation Win: Rusty Patched Bumblebees Now Officially Listed as Endangered People traveling to and from London at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday were talking about the terrorist attack that killed four people and injured 40. And while no one spoke about changing their travel plans, several did say they would be more cautious. Using a car as a weapon, a man plowed into people on a crowded sidewalk on Westminster Bridge in London before crashing. The suspect then ran through the Parliament gates and stabbed a police officer to death before police shot and killed him. Sean Baker was flying to SFO when the attack happened. He said his friends were checking in on Facebook, saying they were safe. For Baker, the attack hits close to home. "It's scary," he said. "That could have been me or anyone of my friends and family on that bridge." Stanford student Sonia Doshi said family in London called to let her know they are OK. "It was sad to hear," she said. On spring break, Doshi was set to take off for London on Wednesday night. She said canceling didn't cross her mind. "It was a bit nerve-racking, I think. I feel OK, especially after being able to talk about it with my family," she said. "It is scary it's happening a bit more." Parliament was locked down during the attack but will meet Thursday in a show of defiance against terrorism. Meanwhile, adminstrators at SFO say they are increasing police patrols. Abandoning negotiations, President Donald Trump demanded a make-or-break vote on health care legislation in the House, threatening to leave "Obamacare" in place and move on to other issues if Friday's vote fails. The risky move, part gamble and part threat, was presented to GOP lawmakers behind closed doors Thursday night after a long and intense day that saw a planned vote on the health care bill scrapped as the legislation remained short of votes amid cascading negotiations among conservative lawmakers, moderates and others. At the end of it the president had had enough and was ready to vote and move on, whatever the result, Trump's budget director Mick Mulvaney told lawmakers. "'Negotiations are over, we'd like to vote tomorrow and let's get this done for the American people.' That was it," Rep. Duncan Hunter of California said as he left the meeting, summarizing Mulvaney's message to lawmakers. "Let's vote," White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said as he walked out. "For seven and a half years we have been promising the American people that we will repeal and replace this broken law because it's collapsing and it's failing families, and tomorrow we're proceeding," House Speaker Paul Ryan said, then walked off without answering as reporters demanded to know whether the bill had the votes to pass. The outcome of Friday's vote was impossible to predict. Both conservative and moderate lawmakers had claimed the bill lacked votes after a long day of talks. But the White House appeared ready to gamble that the prospect of failing to repeal former President Barack Obama's health law, after seven years of promising to do exactly that, would force lawmakers into the "yes" column. "It's done tomorrow. Or 'Obamacare' stays," said Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., a top Trump ally in the House. Collins was among those predicting success on Friday, but others didn't hide their anxiety about the outcome. Asked whether Republicans would be unified on Friday's vote, freshman Rep Matt Gaetz of Florida said, "I sure hope so, or we'll have the opportunity to watch a unified Democratic caucus impeach Donald Trump in two years when we lose the majority." Thursday's maneuvers added up to high drama on Capitol Hill, but Friday promised even more suspense with the prospect of leadership putting a major bill on the floor uncertain about whether it would pass or fail. The Republican legislation would halt Obama's tax penalties against people who don't buy coverage and cut the federal-state Medicaid program for low earners, which the Obama statute had expanded. It would provide tax credits to help people pay medical bills, though generally skimpier than Obama's statute provides. It also would allow insurers to charge older Americans more and repeal tax boosts the law imposed on high-income people and health industry companies. The measure would also block federal payments to Planned Parenthood for a year, another stumbling block for GOP moderates. In a concession to the conservative House Freedom Caucus, many of whose members have withheld support, the legislation would repeal requirements for insurers to cover "essential health benefits" such as maternity care and substance abuse treatment. The drama unfolded seven years to the day after Obama signed his landmark law, an anniversary GOP leaders meant to celebrate with a vote to undo the divisive legislation. "Obamacare" gave birth to the tea party movement and helped Republicans win and keep control of Congress and then take the White House. Instead, as GOP leaders were forced to delay the vote Thursday, C-SPAN filled up the time playing footage of Obama signing the Affordable Care Act. "In the final analysis, this bill falls short," GOP Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state said in a statement Thursday as she became the latest rank-and-file Republican, normally loyal to leadership, to declare her opposition. "The difficulties this bill would create for millions of children were left unaddressed," she said, citing the unraveling of Medicaid. In a danger sign for Republicans, a Quinnipiac University poll found that people disapprove of the GOP legislation by 56 percent to 17 percent, with 26 percent undecided. Trump's handling of health care was viewed unfavorably by 6 in 10. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who as speaker was Obama's crucial lieutenant in passing the Democratic bill in the first place, couldn't resist a dig at the GOP disarray. "You may be a great negotiator," she said of Trump. "Rookie's error for bringing this up on a day when clearly you're not ready." Obama declared in a statement that "America is stronger" because of the current law and said Democrats must make sure "any changes will make our health care system better, not worse for hardworking Americans." Trump tweeted to supporters, "Go with our plan! Call your Rep & let them know." Unlike Obama and Pelosi when they passed Obamacare, the Republicans had failed to build an outside constituency or coalition to support their bill. Instead, medical professionals, doctors and hospitals major employers in some districts as well as the AARP and other influential consumer groups were nearly unanimously opposed. So were outside conservative groups who argued the bill didn't go far enough. The Chamber of Commerce was in favor. Moderates were given pause by projections of 24 million Americans losing coverage in a decade and higher out-of-pocket costs for many low-income and older people, as predicted by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In an updated analysis Thursday, the CBO said late changes to the bill meant to win over reluctant lawmakers would cut beneficial deficit reduction in half, while failing to cover more people. And, House members were mindful that the bill, even if passed by the House, faces a tough climb in the Senate. A man from Utah on vacation to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary was among those killed in Wednesday's terrorist attack outside of U.K.'s Parliament in London, the victim's family said in a statement. Kurt W. Cochran was killed by the attacker, 52-year-old Khalid Masood, who killed one other person with his car on Westminster Bridge and then stabbed a police officer to death outside of Parliament Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. Cochran's wife was injured in the attack. "Our family is heartbroken to learn of the death of our son-in-law, Kurt W. Cochran, who was a victim of Wednesday's terrorist attack in London," the statement said. "Kurt was a good man and a loving husband to our daughter and sister, Melissa." They were in Europe to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, and were scheduled to return to the United States on Thursday. Jared Polis no quiere divisiones en Colorado bajo su mandato de gobierno. Polis es el primer gobernador abiertamente homosexual del pais. President Donald Trump offered his condolences in a tweet Thursday, writing: "A great American, Kurt Cochran, was killed in the London terror attack. My prayers and condolences are with his family and friends." A great American, Kurt Cochran, was killed in the London terror attack. My prayers and condolences are with his family and friends. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2017 The news of Cochran's death was first reported by KSL TV, an NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition to the dead, at least 30 people from 12 countries were injured. Prime Minister Theresa May said that, of those who required hospital treatment, 12 were British, three were French, two were Romanian, four were South Korean, two were Greek, and one each were from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China and Italy. The U.S. State Department said it had reports of two U.S. citizens injured. Portuguese officials also said one person from Portugal was injured. Police earlier said that seven people were in critical condition. The top Senate Democrat said Thursday he will oppose President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee and lead a filibuster of the choice, setting up a politically charged showdown with Republicans with far-reaching implications for future judicial nominees. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer criticized Judge Neil Gorsuch, saying he "almost instinctively favors the powerful over the weak" and would not serve as a check on Trump or be a mainstream justice. "I have concluded that I cannot support Neil Gorsuch's nomination," Schumer said on the Senate floor. "My vote will be no and I urge my colleagues to do the same." Shortly before Schumer's announcement, Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, who faces re-election next year in a state Trump won, also announced his opposition. Casey said he had "serious concerns about Judge Gorsuch's rigid and restrictive judicial philosophy, manifest in a number of opinions he has written on the 10th Circuit." Democrats are still furious that Republicans blocked former President Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, and the seat on the high court has remained vacant for 13 months and counting. The GOP insisted that the next president make the nomination. Liberals have pressured Democrats to resist all things Trump, including his nominees, although Gorsuch emerged unscathed from two days of testifying. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., now must decide whether to take the same step his Democratic predecessor did and change Senate rules to confirm Gorsuch and other Supreme Court nominees with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes now required to move forward. "Gorsuch will be confirmed; I just can't tell you exactly how that will happen, yet," McConnell said in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this week. The Judiciary panel is expected to vote in the next two weeks to recommend Gorsuch favorably to the full Senate. Democrats Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ed Markey of Massachusetts have declared their opposition. No Democrat has yet pledged to support the judge, but Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said Wednesday he is open to voting for him. Hearings for a Supreme Court nominee usually dominate Congress, but that's not been the case over the four days of hearings. The Republican push to dismantle Obama's Affordable Care Act and the controversy surrounding the investigation into contact between Trump associates and Russia overshadowed the hearings. On Thursday, lawyers, advocacy groups and former colleagues got their say on Gorsuch during the third and likely final hearing examining his qualifications. The American Bar Association's Nancy Scott Degan explained how a committee evaluating Gorsuch came up with its highest rating of well qualified. She said the committee contacted almost 5,000 people nationwide who might have knowledge of his qualifications. They examined his qualifications based on integrity, professional competence and temperament. "The scope of our investigation was deep and broad," Degan said. "We do not give the well-qualified rating lightly." Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also noted that Garland received the ABA's well-qualified rating, but didn't get a hearing. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said he agreed that Garland is a wonderful person and well qualified. The panel heard from several supporters and critics of Gorsuch. Retired U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Deanell Reece Tacha served with Gorsuch and said he brings to the bench a powerful intellect and does not use his role as judge for anything other than deciding the case before him. Some witnesses who were critical of Gorsuch worried that he would not be a strong check on executive overreach. Elisa Massimino, president and CEO of Human Rights First, described him as someone "who wouldn't stand up against a presidential power grab," stemming from his service in the Justice Department during the Bush administration. ____ Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report. * Ageing population will shrink surplus, ministry says * FinMin says govt has no control over current account * More investments would make argument more convincing * Jaws of Contention: http://bit.ly/2mXdIUv (Adds background and analysts on demographical factor) By Joseph Nasr BERLIN, March 23 (Reuters) - Germany has launched a two-pronged attack on U.S. President Donald Trump's charge that its current account surplus is too high -- don't blame us for being good at what we do, and our ageing population is going to eat it all up anyway. The finance ministry said in its monthly report on Thursday that as Germany's society ages fast, its swelling senior population will be more inclined to spend at home rather than save abroad, boosting consumption and shrinking the surplus. "In a society where ageing is growing, savings -- including capital invested abroad - will fall as pensioners use that to finance their consumption in Germany," it said. "This will probably reduce the current account surplus and could even turn it into a deficit." At the same time, it said that the surplus -- which irks the International Monetary Fund and many in Europe as well -- was the result, frankly, of Germany being better than others at business. It said it was down to the competitiveness of the German economy over which the government had no influence. "The current account in Germany is not controlled by the state," the ministry said. The new U.S. administration has accused Germany of exploiting a weak euro to gain a trade advantage and has called for bilateral discussions to reduce the $65 billion U.S. trade deficit with Germany. Many Europeans, meanwhile, reckon Germany's surplus epitomises the imbalances of the euro zone, in which productive Germany drives ahead of less competitive, primarily southern countries in the bloc. Graphed over the past 20 years, the U.S.-German gap indeed looks like the open jaw of an alligator. http://bit.ly/2mXdIUv But Germany's main new pitch is that the jaw will snap shut when demographics kick in. Story continues OLD AND WEALTHY Economists say there is some truth -- at least in theory -- to Germany's claim that demographics will put negative pressure on the current account surplus. Some 21 percent of Germany's 82-million population is aged 65 or more, a figure projected to rise to 27 percent by 2030. But more active measures like boosting government and corporate spending would give more credibility to German efforts to counter the criticism of its disproportionately strong exports sector. "All in all, it is a valid argument but falls short explaining the entire story. More investments, both by the private and public sector would make the story much more convincing," said ING-Diba economist Carsten Brzeski. He added: "Not only for the U.S. administration but also for the German economy, which would be the main beneficiary from such a policy change." Brzeski said that Japan, whose population is older than Germany's, still has a high current account surplus. This doesn't bode well for German arguments that demographics will depress the surplus. The finance ministry said that in addition to demographics, increased private consumption and an eventual normalisation of the European Central Bank's expansionary monetary policy were also likely to narrow the surplus. But economists say the government could spend more on education and digital infrastructure, which would in turn prod German companies sitting on billions of euros in savings to invest in factory modernisations and new machineries. "Raising public spending is one measure to encourage companies to raise investments. We are on the right path but more needs to be done to get companies to invest," said Simon Junker of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). The finance ministry said the current account, which stood at 8.3 percent of output in 2016, would fall to 8 percent by 2018. It stood at 8.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2015. In 2016, the German trade surplus hit a fresh record at 252.2 billion euros ($272 billion), according to the Federal Statistics Office. The wider current account surplus, which measures the flow of goods, services and investments into and out of a country, rose to an all-time high of 261.4 billion euros, Bundesbank data showed. ($1 = 0.9270 euros) (Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber and Daniel Felleiter; Editing and graphic by Jeremy Gaunt) She's landed triple axles better than this tweet. Former Olympian and Dancing with the Stars champion Kristi Yamaguchi was ridiculed across social media earlier this week after offering well wishes to current contestant and former Olympian Nancy Kerrigan. Yamaguchi's intent may have been well intended. But her choice of words landed with a thud. So excited for you @NancyAKerrigan ! Can't wait to see you grace that ballroom floor, break a leg! #DWTS Kristi Yamaguchi (@kristiyamaguchi) March 20, 2017 As pretty much everyone is aware, Kerrigan was assaulted in the back of the knee by a club-wielding attacker in 1993. That attacker was revealed to be working on behalf of skating rival Tonya Harding and her then-husband who were plotting to knock Kerrigan out of the Olympics. [NATL] Top Entertainment Photos: Best of the American Music Awards, and More If Kerrigan noted the faux pas she didn't mention it on Twitter. Instead she thanked Yamaguchi for the well wishes. [[ 416926013, C]] The rest of the Twitterverse wasn't as gracious, throttling Yamaguchi for the blunder with an emoji-laden assault of their own. [[ 416926833, C]] An inmate who was found unresponsive on a transport bus to Stateville Correctional Center last month died of a drug overdose, the coroners office announced Wednesday. Clifford V. Nelson, 49, was being transferred from the Cook County Jail and was found unresponsive on the bus about 9:50 a.m. Feb. 27 at Stateville in Crest Hill, according to the Will County coroners office. Autopsy and toxicological reports revealed Nelson died from heroin, fentanyl and fentanyl analog overdose, the coroners office said. His death was classified as an accident. At the time, Nelson was being transferred to Illinois Department of Corrections custody from the Cook County Jail on a parole violation, according to IDOC spokeswoman Nicole Wilson. When the bus arrived, Cook County staff informed IDOC staff that Nelson was unresponsive on the bus, Wilson said. He remained in the custody of the sheriffs office. He was taken to Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, where he was pronounced dead at 10:53 a.m. that day, the coroners office said. There were no signs of foul play. He had come into our custody about a day-and-a-half earlier and there was no indication of distress or ingestion of any drugs at that time, Cook County sheriffs spokeswoman Cara Smith said. His death is unfortunate and the Illinois State Police are handling the investigation. In April 2016, Nelson was sentenced by Cook County Judge Ramon Ocasio III to 18 months in prison for a charge of retail theft, court records show. He lived in Chicagos Ashburn neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Law enforcement agencies around the country are warning iPhone users about a potentially deadly prank involving the Apple iPhone's "virtual assistant" Siri. According to police, social media posts have been encouraging users to ask Siri about the number "108 if you want laugh." "The Harris County Sheriff's Office, along with Texas NENA, are encouraging iPhone users NOT to test the '108' command," the Texas department urged in a Facebook post. "The command, in fact, will instruct Siri to call emergency services, which could potentially tie up emergency lines." That's because the Apple designed Siri to recognize emergency service numbers from anywhere in the world. In India, the number 108 is the equivalent of dialing 9-1-1, so saying it will connect a caller to the nearest 911 dispatch center. The same feature was also used in the U.K. this month by a boy who asked Siri to call 999 to help his unconscious mother. Using the code will give someone five seconds to cancel before the call goes through to emergency officials. Sheriff officials warned that pranks taking advantage of the feature tie up emergency lines and delay response time which could mean the difference between life or death for people who are in actually need of help. Other numbers officials said users should avoid are 112, 110, and 000. "The 9-1-1 Communications Division tested these numbers and can confirm that dialing or asking Siri about any of these numbers will result in a call being placed to the emergency communications center," an Oregon sheriff's department said in a statement. Officials say the prank is very dangerous and even criminal in some states. "Help us spread the word and make our community safe by ensuring those who need the life or death assistance of police, fire or EMS have access to them quickly when they call for help," the Douglas County Sheriff's Office wrote on Facebook. An Apple representative declined comment. The U.S. Secret Service says a woman who tried to climb over the White House fence was found dangling from it by her shoelaces. The agency said in a statement that Uniformed Division Officers saw the woman late Tuesday walking around the White House. Agents say she tried to climb over the fence adjacent to E Street. The woman's shoelaces got entangled at the top of the fence and she was suspended inside the fence, authorities said. The agency said officers helped the woman down and arrested her. Court records showed that 38-year-old Marci Wahl of Everett, Washington, was charged with unlawful entry. At a hearing in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday, Wahl pleaded not guilty and was released pending a hearing next month. The shoelace incident follows two other recent cases of people trying to gain entry to the White House grounds. Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on Twitter Saturday that an individual was apprehended after jumping a low metal barrier just outside the White House fence. One week earlier, a man breached a 5-foot outer perimeter fence and scaled an 8-foot vehicle gate to gain entry to the White House grounds. Video surveillance footage showed Jonathan Tuan Tran, 26, of Milpitas, California, climbing the fence near the Treasury Department adjacent to the White House security fence and making his way to a south entrance, a criminal complaint said. Tran, who the Secret Service said was carrying two cans of Mace, was charged with entering restricted grounds while carrying a dangerous weapon and faces up to 10 years in prison. Trump was inside the executive mansion at the time. He praised the Secret Service for doing a "fantastic job" apprehending a "troubled person." Similar lapses occurred during the eight years that Barack Obama was president. In September 2014, an Army veteran with mental health issues scaled a fence on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House and made it deep inside the building, to the East Room, before the Secret Service could detain him. The Obamas were not at home at the time. That incident was one of several breakdowns by the Secret Service that ultimately led to the resignation of the agency's director, Julia Pierson, the following month. Trump has to find someone new to lead the agency. Joseph Clancy, a former agent who came out of retirement to succeed Pierson, announced his second retirement last month. The mother of a baby found dead at a reservoir in Harwinton Tuesday has come forward, Connecticut State Police said. According to police, the baby boy was born a week or two ago. Workers at the Bristol Reservoir #4 found the remains of a newborn in a bag along Route 72 and Route 4. State police said Thursday the mother, a Connecticut resident, has come forward. Her name is being withheld. The mother is receiving medical care at a local hospital and working with detectives investigating the case, according to state police. Detectives from Western District Major Crime responded to the scene and began investigating around 10:40 a.m. Tuesday after workers at the reservoir found the body. The medical examiner's office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death. The City of Bristol Water Department maintains the reservoir and has consulted with the Connecticut Department of Health to ensure the water has not been contaminated. Police said the reservoir has not been used in a few days and will remain offline. "On behalf of the Bristol Water Department I would like to assure all of our customers that the water in Bristol is completely safe. The reservoir where this unfortunate event occurred has been off line for the past few days due to the drought and will remain off line. We have been in consultation with the Department of Public Health and local Health Director through out the day. We are confident that the drinking water is completely safe in the City of Bristol," Robert Longo, superintendent of the Bristol Water Department, said in a statement on the Bristol Water Department website. The bitter cold continues after a cold front moved in Tuesday and the temperature will only get to around 37 today, despite normal temperatures for this time of year being 50 or 51. Connecticut residents who were hopeful that the beginning of spring would come with spring-like weather are not enjoying the cold, but they are trying to make the best of it. Latoya, of New Britain, is a teacher and said her students feel like it should feel like spring. But this is New England and the weather does not always reflect what we expect from a season. "Bundle up guys, and you have to check the weather before you leave the house. Just because the day before it was really awesome doesn't mean you can assume it's going to be the same temperature the next day. We live in New England. That's just how it is," she said. Ivonne Vega, of Hartford, got up early to drive her husband to work and said its too cold. Its spring already. It should be warming up at least a little bit, Vega said. But you have to do what you have to do -- get up, go to work. So here we are. The cold air recedes as we head into Friday when high temperatures will be in the low- to mid-40s with afternoon rain showers. Some spring weather is on the forecast for next week. A gang member pleaded guilty to a federal murder charged for the death of a man in September 2011, according to federal officials. Robert Short, 30, of New Haven, pleaded guilty Tuesday, according to federal authorities. They said leaders of the Red Side Guerilla Brims, a sect of the Bloods street gang based in New Haven, ordered Short to murder Darrick Cooper, who was a leader of a rival gang and seen as a threat. On Sept. 19, 2011, Short lured Cooper to a location in Hamden and shot him in the back of the head as Cooper walked up a staircase, federal officials said. The Red Side Guerilla Brims were a violent and ruthless gang that created a climate of terror throughout neighborhoods in New Haven in 2011 and 2012, said U.S. Attorney Deidre Daly said in a statement. Her office said 21 members and associates of RSGB have been convicted on federal charges in Connecticut in Maine and investigators have solved seven murder cases, four attempted murders and four armed robberies that occurred in 2011 and 2012. We hope and pray that the resolution of these homicides and shootings brings some sense of solace to the families of the victims and the communities where this violence occurred, Daly said. Short is scheduled to be sentenced on July 5. An Oklahoma prisoner who authorities say masterminded a scheme to extort about $674,000 from a retired Connecticut school teacher has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison. Darrik Forsythe, 37, and other inmates, using cellphones smuggled into Lawton Correctional Facility, befriended the victim through an phone-based chat lines and extorted money from him by threatening to reveal that he was gay or threatening to harm relatives, according to federal authorities. Federal officials said the victim contacted law enforcement after depleting his familys $670,000 inheritance, for which he served as the custodian, and he committed suicide in 2014. Forsythe pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on April 30, 2014 and he was sentenced on March 13. A spokesman for the Connecticut U.S. attorney's office says the federal sentence will be served when Forsythe's 20-year state sentence ends in 2020. Syrian activists said Wednesday that dozens of people were killed or missing after an airstrike the day before leveled a school near the Islamic State-held city of Raqqa where displaced families had sought refuge. The activist-run group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently said some 50 families had been sheltering at the school in the northern Syrian village of Mansoura and that their fate was still unknown. Mansoura is 26 kilometers (16 miles) west of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremists' self-described caliphate, and is under their control. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 33 bodies had been pulled from the rubble. The two organizations rely on local contacts to smuggle news out of Islamic State-held territory. It was not immediately clear who carried out the airstrike. Syrian Kurdish forces have been advancing on Raqqa under the cover of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and are now 8 kilometers (5 miles) north of the city. Syrian and Russian aircraft have also carried out strikes against the ISIS group. Elsewhere in Syria, insurgents advanced on government-held towns and positions north of the central city of Hama. An al-Qaida-linked group spearheaded the assault, launched Tuesday, by detonating a car bomb in the nearby town of Souran. The activist-run Hama Media Center said the rebels had reached the village of Khatab, 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of government-held Hama. State media reported fighting on the outskirts of the village and Souran. The offensive coincides with a concentrated effort by opposition forces to breach government lines in the eastern neighborhoods of the capital, Damascus. That operation is also spearheaded by the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee. In Damascus, the insurgents were pinned down in industrial zones in the city's east. Government airstrikes and artillery fire echoed through the capital, and smoke could be seen rising above the opposition-held Jobar neighborhood. Residents close to the front lines on the government side were seen leaving their buildings with whatever belongings they could pack in their suitcases. The uptick in fighting precedes the resumption of U.N.-mediated talks between the government and the opposition in Geneva, slated for Thursday. U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Staffan De Mistura called the developments "alarming," but said the invited delegations would be in attendance "with, I hope, serious intentions to follow up the political process." He spoke to reporters in Moscow, following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Lavrov accused militants of carrying out more "terrorist attacks," which he said were "aimed at disrupting or complicating the Geneva talks." Russia is a steadfast ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. ___ Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria and James Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report. A 19-year-old American-Israeli Jewish man was arrested Thursday as the prime suspect in a wave of bomb threats against U.S. Jewish community centers, a startling turn in a case that had stoked fears of rising anti-Semitism in the United States. The surprising arrest of the man, a hacker who holds dual Israeli and American citizenship, came after a trans-Atlantic investigation with the FBI and other international law enforcement agencies. U.S. Jewish groups welcomed the breakthrough in the case, which drawn condemnation from President Donald Trump. A spokesman for Israel's public defender's office told NBC New York that the suspect suffered from a brain tumor and police have been ordered to have a medical expert evaluate him. Israeli police described the suspect as a hacker, but said his motives were still unclear. "He's the guy who was behind the JCC threats," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, referring to the scores of anonymous threats phoned in to Jewish community centers in the U.S. over the past two months. Police banned publication of his name, but said he was a dual citizen and would remain in custody until at least March 30. During the arrest raid, they said he tried to grab an officer's gun but was stopped by another officer. The young man appeared briefly in court in the central Israeli city of Rishon Letzion. He wore khaki pants and a blue sweater that he used to cover his face as he walked past reporters. He made no comment. "The suspect is a young man without a criminal record," Galit Bash from the Israeli public defender's office told NBC New York. "He suffers from a brain tumor that may have had an effect on his cognitive functions." She said the condition had prevented him from attending elementary school, high school or enlisting in the army, which is compulsory for most Jewish men. "That's why the medical condition can actually affect the investigation," she said. "This is one of the things the judge told the police to check, to talk to his doctors, to get more documents and to investigate him according to his medical situation." Channel 10 TV showed images of a large antenna outside the suspect's house in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Police said the suspect's father was also detained, apparently because of the equipment. Late Thursday, police said the father's detention had been extended by eight days. In Washington, the FBI confirmed the arrest of the main suspect. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department "will not tolerate the targeting of any community in the country on the basis of their religious beliefs." He called work by the FBI and Israeli police "outstanding." Since Jan. 9, there have been more than 150 bomb threats against Jewish community centers and day schools in 37 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish group that battles anti-Semitism. Jordan Shenker, the head of one of the targeted community centers, said he was relieved to hear of the arrest, and was hopeful that the suspect had acted alone. "Certainly if that is confirmed, there will be a far greater sense of relief and comfort on behalf of all of our members," said Shenker, head of the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, New Jersey, a New York suburb. The threats led to evacuations, sent a chill through local Jewish communities and raised fears of rising anti-Semitism. Acts of vandalism on Jewish targets, including cemeteries, have added to those concerns. As the number of threats grew, Trump was criticized for not speaking out. Then, late last month, he opened a speech to Congress by denouncing anti-Semitism. There was no immediate reaction from the White House to Thursday's arrest. The ADL, JCC Association of America and Jewish Federations of North America all welcomed news of the arrest. But Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the ADL, said anti-Semitism in the U.S. remains a "very serious concern." "JCCs and other institutions should not relax security measures or become less vigilant," he said. U.S. authorities have also arrested a former journalist from St. Louis, Juan Thompson, for allegedly threatening Jewish organizations and charged him with one count of cyberstalking. But Israeli police described the local man as the primary suspect in the wave of threats. Police said he used sophisticated "camouflage technologies" to disguise his voice and mask his location. They said a search of the teen's home uncovered antennas and satellite equipment. "In sophisticated cyber activity that I cannot detail, we obtained what we obtained and of course exposed him and his equipment," national police chief Roni Alsheich told reporters. "This does not bring honor to the state of Israel of course. But I think it does bring respect to Israel's police." Police said the threats had caused panic, "significant economic damage" and disrupted public order at locations around the world. The man is also suspected of placing threatening phone calls to Australia, New Zealand and within Israel. They also said he had disrupted a Delta Airlines flight at New York's JFK airport in early 2015. Harel Menashri, a former cyber expert with Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency, said it was not "too complicated" for the suspect to do what he did. He said it appeared the suspect had penetrated neighbors' Wi-Fi systems to create multiple computer addresses. "One of the things that helped him evade capture was he apparently took control over additional computers on the way and created a kind of computer chain," he said. Nimrod Vax, a co-founder of the U.S.-Israeli cybersecurity firm BigID, said catching the suspect was a more complicated task. He said authorities would have had to sift through "billions, if not trillions" of pieces of data, including phone records, routing logs and IP connections. "It requires a lot of resources," he said. Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story misstated the suspect's age. He is 19. Visitors walk past the exhibition stand of Swiss watch manufacturer Zenith at the Baselworld Watch and Jewellery Show in Basel, Switzerland March 23, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann By Silke Koltrowitz BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Swiss watchmakers expect the market to stay challenging this year with the United States, their second-biggest market, showing no signs of recovering, executives told Reuters at an industry fair in Basel. Swiss watchmakers are grappling with declining sales in their biggest markets -- Hong Kong and the United States -- and have been hit by tourist shoppers avoiding Europe for fear of extremist attacks. The trend for shopping online has also kept buyers out of stores, said Efraim Grinberg, chairman and chief executive of Movado Group Inc. (MGI) (MOV.N). "We see a significant retail shift, especially in the U.S. The acceleration of the digital shift over the last five years has led to less traffic to retailers," he told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. "You're seeing some adjustments, but they'll take time to materialize. Retailers have to up their game to make venues more exciting and there's also a shift to online sales," he said, adding he didn't see that resolving very quickly. Shipments of Swiss watches fell 8 percent in January and February, dragged down notably by a 12.4 percent decline in the United States, where shipments also dropped 9 percent last year. U.S.-based MGI, whose brands include Swiss labels Movado and Ebel, on Monday reported a decline in sales and profits for the fiscal year to Jan. 31 and said it expected a mid single-digit drop in sales this year. Ricardo Guadalupe, head of LVMH's (LVMH.PA) Hublot brand, said U.S. sales were flat for the brand so far this year. "The Americans don't have the same luxury watch culture, it's not like in China where people love mechanical watches," he said. Laurent Dordet, at the helm of Hermes' (HRMS.PA) watch business, said sales were improving at Hermes boutiques, but multibrand retailers were still facing difficulties in many markets, notably the United States, due to excess stock. Industry major Swatch Group (UHR.S) gave a more optimistic forecast last week, forecasting a 7-9 percent rise in sales for 2017. (Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Victoria Bryan) A Texas police chief has been arrested following an exchange of gunfire and a standoff at his home northeast of College Station. Normangee Mayor Gary Dawkins tells KBTX-TV in Bryan that police Chief Charles Herford was taken into custody more than four hours after the standoff began early Wednesday. The incident prompted a broad response by law enforcement officers, including local police, sheriff's deputies and state troopers. Dawkins says no one was injured. It's not clear if the gunfire occurred at the home prior to the standoff or during it. The Eagle newspaper reports that the incident began with a dispute between Herford and a family member. The Normangee school district cancelled classes for the day because the standoff was in proximity to a school. The U.S. House of Representatives votes on H.R. 277, otherwise known as the American Health Care Reform Act of 2017, on Thursday. The bill needs 216 votes to pass, in which case it would move to the Senate. It aims to fix perceived issues with the Affordable Care Act passed by the Obama Administration in 2010. Dallas Congressman Pete Sessions, Chair of the House Rules Committee, opened a hearing Wednesday to say he believe the Obamacare system failed the American people. Former Vice President Joe Biden was in Washington D.C. the same day to advocate for Obamacare and encourage congressmen to vote against the new bill. With 237 Republican members in the House for the 155th Congress, the bill can only afford 21 of their votes against it and still pass. Preliminary numbers report 27 Republicans plan to vote no on Thursday. Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert joins NBC 5 live via satellite to discuss why he intends to vote against the American Health Care Act Thursday. NBC 5 political reporter Julie Fine is reaching out to North Texas congressmen and congresswomen to see how they plan to vote. See the updated list of responses below. Twenty years after a 14-year-old girl was dragged into a van and raped by three strangers, one of the men believed to be responsible has been arrested with the help of DNA, deputies said. Florida authorities said Robert Sheridan Haar, 42, was arrested on suspicion of sexual battery in the 1997 crime, NBC affiliate WESH reported. An untested rape kit that was revisited 20 years later led to Haar, WESH reported. The 14-year-old victim was with her friends when they were stranded with a broken-down car. After an argument, the victims friends left her and she began walking alone. Thats when three men in a van grabbed her, and told her she would be killed if she screamed or resisted, according to an affidavit. The girl was repeatedly raped and then dropped of the next morning, Volusia County Sheriffs Office deputies said. Her grandmother took her into the police station and a DNA sample was taken. Volusia County Sheriffs Office Lt. Pat Thoman said the rape kit was never tested due to what he calls an oversight. There was a recent initiative to re-visit untested rape kits, Thoman said. That when the victim's DNA was tested and led authorities to Haar in Wisconsin. Thoman said Haar's DNA was not in the system until last year, so even if the kit had been tested earlier it would not have led to Haar before this, WESH reported. The victim still lives in Volusia County where the crime took place, and wants to press charges. She was very emotional after hearing the news, and recalled the incident well, Thoman said. Read more at WESH. Authorities on Friday identified the birth name of the 52-year-old British man who mowed down pedestrians and stabbed a policeman to death outside Parliament, adding he had a long criminal record and once was investigated for extremism but was not currently on a terrorism watch list. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack, which police said was carried out by Khalid Masood, a U.K.-born resident of the West Midlands in central England. London's top counterterror office said Masood's birth name was Adrian Russell Ajao. Masood plowed a rented SUV into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge, killing three people, including an American tourist and a British school administrator. A 75-year-old man died of his injuries later on Thursday. At least 50 people of almost a dozen nationalities were injured in the attack and two people remain in the hospital in critical condition. The attacker fatally stabbed a policeman inside the gates of Parliament before being shot to death by an armed officer. As lawmakers returned to work a day after the rampage, British Prime Minister Theresa May vowed: "We are not afraid." "Today we meet as normal as generations have done before us, and as future generations will continue to do," she said to cheers in the House of Commons. Vincenzo Mangiacarpe, an Italian boxer visiting Parliament, said he saw the attacker get out of the car wielding two knives. "You can imagine if someone was playing a drum on your back with two knives he gave him around 10 stabs in the back, then he left the policeman and he came toward us," Mangiacarpe said. The dead were identified as Kurt Cochran, 54, of Utah; 43-year-old British school administrator Aysha Frade and 48-year-old Constable Keith Palmer, a 15-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department. The 75-year-old man who died, named Leslie Rhodes, sustained injuries on the Westminster Bridge. Rhodes was from South London. Police arrested eight people initially three women and five men on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts as authorities sought Masood's motive and possible support network. One arrest was in London, while the others were in the city of Birmingham. Police said they were searching properties in Birmingham, London and Wales. Early Friday, authorities said they made two more "significant" arrests. Masood's convictions between 1983 and 2003 included assault, weapons possession and public order offenses, London police said. He "was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack," police added. Many suspects in British terrorist attacks and plots have had roots in Birmingham, England's second-largest city, and several local mosques have been linked to extremist clerics. A home raided in Birmingham was one where Masood lived until late last year, a neighbor said. Shown a photo of him, Iwona Romek said "that is 100 percent" the man who lived next door to her for about five months. Romek said he had a wife and child of about 6, and would walk the child to school. He rarely left in the evening. "He seemed like a normal family man who liked to take care of his garden," she said. But one day she saw him packing their belongings in a black van he bought to replace a red Fiat, and then they were gone. As police investigated, Parliament got back to business, opening the day with a minute's silence for the victims. May set the tone in the House of Commons, saluting the heroism of police and the ordinary actions of everyone who went about their lives in the aftermath. "As I speak, millions will be boarding trains and airplanes to travel to London and to see for themselves the greatest city on Earth," she said. "It is in these actions millions of acts of normality that we find the best response to terrorism. A response that denies our enemies their victory, that refuses to let them win." In 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest part of Parliament's buildings, politicians, journalists and parliamentary staff lined up to sign a book of condolences. One uniformed policeman wrote: "Keith, my friend, will miss you." The rampage was the first deadly incident at Parliament since 1979, when Conservative lawmaker Airey Neave was killed in a car bombing by Irish militants. Some parliamentarians said they were shaken by Wednesday's attack, and all were somber. But they also were determined. "There is no such thing as 100 percent security," said Menzies Campbell, a member of the House of Lords. "We have to learn to live with that." The attack echoed deadly vehicle rampages in Nice, France and Berlin last year that were claimed by the Islamic State group. ISIS said through its Aamaq News Agency that the London attacker whom it did not name was "a soldier of the Islamic State" who "carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of the coalition" fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq. ISIS has been responsible for violence around the globe and has called for Western followers to carry out bloodshed in their own countries, although the group has also claimed events later found to have no clear links to it. Police believe the attacker acted alone, May told lawmakers, with no reason to believe "imminent further attacks" are planned. Britain's threat level from terrorism stands at "severe," the second-highest on a five-point scale, meaning an attack is highly likely. Years ago, Khalid was "investigated in relation to concerns about violent extremism," she said, but called him "a peripheral figure." Home Secretary Amber Rudd denied there had been an intelligence failure because the attacker had been known to police. "I think that would be absolutely the wrong judgment to make," Rudd told the BBC. "I'm confident that as we get more information ... that we will learn more and take comfort from the information that we have and the work that the intelligence services do." British security forces say they have foiled 13 plots in the past four years. There are thousands of extremists in the U.K. who are known to officials, but only a fraction are under surveillance, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about ongoing security operations. It takes dozens of officers to watch just one suspect. London has been a terrorism target many times. Last weekend, hundreds of police simulated a "marauding" attack on a tourist boat on the River Thames. Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley revised Wednesday's death toll from five to four, including the attacker. He said 29 people were hospitalized, seven in critical condition, and there were a number of "walking wounded." The victims were from 11 countries, May said. They included 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, two Irish, one Chinese, one Italian, one American and two Greeks. Cochran, who was visiting London with his wife, Melissa, for their 25th anniversary, was listed among the dead by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His wife was seriously injured and hospitalized. Nigel Farage, former leader of the right-wing U.K. Independence Party, blamed the attack on "multiculturalism," which he said "leads to divided communities." But most politicians said the violence should not divide Britain, and May called the rampage "a perversion of a great faith." As dusk fell, another silent vigil was held by several thousand people in Trafalgar Square, where the bongs of Big Ben could be heard in the distance. "Those evil and tortured individuals who try to destroy our shared way of life will never succeed," Mayor Sadiq Khan told the crowd. Sughra Ahmed, a Muslim who traveled from northwest England for the vigil, said she'd been reduced to tears on the square by a woman who embraced her. "Britain is one," she said. "An attack on one is an attack on us all." From the main road, it looks like just another non-descript office park building amid the suburban sprawl of Miramar. But a closer look reveals signs advising against trespassing on US government property, or carrying weapons or drugs, noting all who enter are subject to search. Outside, you can also see anxiety. Its etched in the faces of family members, waiting to see if loved ones who entered the building will emerge in freedom. Each week, hundreds of immigrants in South Florida who are subject to possible deportation check in here with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. For various reasons, they have not been detained and returned to their countries of origin. Instead, many are free on orders of supervision essentially their word that they will stay in touch with ICE while their immigration issues play out. But since President Donald Trump took office having vowed to create a deportation force to remove 11 million undocumented people -- the legal and political landscape that determines their fate is shifting. That has led to rumors in the immigrant community in South Florida, which is home to an estimated half million undocumented persons. Many have heard unfounded claims of checkpoints and raids, of ID checks for anyone who likes like he or she may be undocumented. In fact, ICE reports, the 616 people it removed each day from the US in February 2017 Trumps first full month in office is not significantly different from the 607 removed each day in February 2016. But try telling that to clients of immigration attorney Jessica Martinez. "Thats the big hysteria thats happening now," she said of the rampant rumors of roundups. "When people are speaking to each other, thats whats getting everyone excited." Still, since Trump ordered ICE to cast a broader, less discerning net nationwide for people subject to deportation, lawyers here say they have seen a difference, but so far a slight one. The share of people who enter the building and do not come out, Martinez said, is "just a little bit more than before, but not as much as people are scared of." Ashley Hall was scared this month when she dropped off the father of her 9-year-old son for his annual meeting. Hours later, she was downright distraught, collapsing on the sidewalk when, she told NBC 6 Investigators, she got the dreaded word: 38-year-old Kendy Louis-Jean was being taken to Krome detention center for deportation back to Haiti. Louis-Jean was convicted of a felony, carrying a concealed firearm, in 2007. Other than arrests for driving without a valid license, his felony record appears to be clean since then. And, Hall said, he has repeatedly shown up for his ICE interviews and been released with a promise to re-appear. Until this month. "They want to deport Haitians and anyone whos not a US citizen," Hall said. Asked whats changed, she added, "Honestly, probably the president." Jimmy Carter was president when Wadim Pinchasov, then three years old, was brought to the US from Uzbekistan, then part of the Soviet Union. On this day he is 43, and he said things did not look good during his annual visit to the ICE building in Miramar. Twenty years ago, in New Jersey, he was sentenced to four years for robbery. "I was a kid. I made a mistake," he said. That led to a deportation order, but he has raised fears of religious persecution if, as a Jew, he were sent back to what is now the Republic of Uzbekistan. ICE has let him stay and work in the US, knowing that another felony conviction or other misstep could put him in custody and so far he has avoided that trouble. But during this years interview, he sensed ICEs attitude was hardened, as they questioned his planned travels and kept his supervision document, prompting him to walk outside exasperated, searching for a cigarette. You know what their excuse was? he asked in an interview. They said, Oh, Trump is in right now. Trump is in. Trump is in. Theres different laws. But while policies and priorities have changed under Trumps order, the laws have not yet. And, after going back into the offices, Pinchasov emerged with his documentation and another appointment in three months, instead of the usual one year. He walked away relieved, saying to NBC 6, God bless you guys. God bless America. Amen. A Florida girl is safe after some quick thinking when she says a man tried to abduct her in the parking lot of a Walmart in Poinciana. Now, the girl's family and police want the man caught. Surveillance video shows the 10-year-old outside the store on Sunday. A man tells her to get into his car. Thats when she runs back inside the store. "I was very proud of her because her intuition came out right away oh I don't know you," said Noibis Jaquez. Jaquez said she taught her granddaughter to defend herself. She says Nana, somebody tried to snatch me. I said what do you mean they tried to snatch you? So, when she saw me I hugged her and I said who? She said this red car, he had a red shirt." Authorities released a composite sketch of what the suspect looks like. [[416863613, C]] Osceola County deputies believe the man was driving a Red Pontiac, possibly a 2008 Grand Prix with a yellow or gold stripe. Jaquez says she was shaking when her granddaughter told her what happened. "She knows she supposed to don't go with anyone, don't talk to anyone and if you feel threatened yell scream and run," said the grandmother. Jaquez said the thought of the suspect going after children breaks her heart and she hopes he is caught soon. A Florida woman who worked at an assisted living facility was arrested Wednesday for allegedly filming two residents having sex. Police said she posted the sexually explicit video to SnapChat. Alexis Williams, 20, is accused of recording an 81-year-old woman and a 59-year-old man having consensual sex without their knowledge. The incident happened at the Bristol Court Assisted Living Facility in St. Petersburg on August 1, 2016, police said. On August 5, 2016, detectives said a person called told police he or she saw the video on a social media website and contacted the assisted living facility to inform the staff. Williams was employed as a medical assistant at the facility at the time the video surfaced online. Detectives said through "various investigative techniques" they determined Williams secretly recorded the seniors having sex and posting the video to SnapChat. The 20-year-old was fired. Police said when she was arrested, Williams admitted to the allegations. Williams is charged with one count of video voyeurism and one count of video voyeurism dissemination. As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares Thursday to vote on a potential replacement for what is commonly called Obamacare, plenty of people across Florida are paying close attention to what the future of health care in the country may be. According to the Congressional Budget Office, most of the 1.74 million people in the state who signed up for the Affordable Care Act which was a signature piece of former President Barack Obamas time in office will not be able to afford their current plans under a Republican proposal being voted on. Estimates say over four million people including children, pregnant woman, low income elderly and the disabled would see reductions in care and access to Medicaid programs. Hospitals with a large number of Medicaid patients and uninsured patients would also cut services. Florida legislative leaders and Gov. Rick Scott did not allow for the expansion of Medicaid under the Obama administrations plan. The GOP has made it a top priority to get rid of the current health care program as President Trump and many congressional Republicans campaigned for its repeal. Their proposal is not a sure thing, however, as dozens of party members have either said they will not vote for the measure Thursday or remain undecided. Some of those included South Florida representatives with Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen confirming she will not vote for the GOP measure while Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Curbelo saying they were reviewing changes and evaluating the bill before making a decision. Residents in North Florida are raising money for a therapy ranch whose horses were killed by dogs. The incident happened on March 4 in Columbia County at the Gentle Carousel Pastures. Officials say two dogs that belong to a neighbor got lose and attacked horses Mozart and Catherine. Mozart died in his pasture. Catherine died from her injures ten days later, according to the non-profit charity. Both miniature animals were used for therapy for victims involved with the Sandy Hook and Pulse Nightclub shootings. Authorities are investigating the incident. The dogs have since been euthanized and the owners fined. The owners of the horses are in mourning. "It's been very difficult, very tragic. These horses did such good work. They didn't deserve this to happen to them," said owner George Garcia-Bengochea. The non-profit charity estimates the veterinarian bills to be more than $15,000. The charity says it relies heavily on donations. A Go Fund Me page has been created to raise money for Gentle Pastures. A Florida woman accused of stealing someone's identity to pay for thousands of dollars in plastic surgery is on the run. Lakeland Police said they are looking for 20-year-old Nyaira Thomas for allegedly stealing a woman's identity and personal information to pay for breast implants, butt lift and lip injection. Detectives said Thomas opened a credit application at Watson Clinic in Lakeland using the identity of a woman living in Illinois. Police said the suspect had a fraudulent Illinois ID with her picture on it. Thomas had two procedures done on separate occasions. On Feb. 20, Thomas underwent surgery for breast implants, liposuction of her flanks, and the fat from the flanks were placed in her buttocks, according to a police report. Detectives said the suspect also received one CC of Juvederm in her lips on Feb. 27. The total cost for the procedures is $11,025. Detectives said they located a Lake Wales address off of a credit application report and identified Thomas as the culprit. Police are currently looking for the suspect. She faces a slew of charges including grand theft, forgery and criminal use of personal ID. Anyone with information on Thomas' whereabouts is urged to call the Lakeland Police Department at 863-834-8993. Two women were hospitalized undergoing the same popular cosmetic surgery at the same hospital, on the same day, with the same doctor. Now, one of the women is trying to figure out what went wrong. After six long days, Crystal Call still isnt well enough to travel back home, but has traded a hospital bed for a motel bed. Call went to Seduction Cosmetic in Aventura to undergo a Brazilian Butt Lift last Wednesday. Hours later, paramedics rushed her to the emergency room. "I went into septic shock. My liver and kidneys failed," remembered Call after receiving four blood transfusions. "They said if I wasn't brought to the hospital in a matter of one to two hours, I wouldve died." While inside the E.R., Call learned another woman undergoing to the same cosmetic surgery was rushed to the same hospital she was in. "I said mom they just called for another ambulance at Seduction," Call said. Both women say they had similar infections, and both have now been released. The attorney for the doctor who performed the procedures saying: "Dr. McAdoo takes every possible precaution medically necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of patients. Every cosmetic procedure carries with it certain risks and possible complications." Call says that if the doctor was sympathetic, then he wouldve reached out to see if both women were okay. Call is now waiting to get cleared by another doctor before she could go home, and wishing she never traveled to South Florida in the first place. "Dont go off of the cost. Just because they reel you in with these deals and how great it is, just dont do it. It's not worth it," advised Call. The owner of the clinic says he has no comment about what happened. Calls family has set up a gofundme page to help cover the unexpected medical expenses. What to Know James Harris Jackson turned himself in at a Times Square police station and allegedly told cops he killed Timothy Caughman Jackson, arrested on suspicion of murder, told police he'd harbored feelings of hatred toward black men for at least 10 years, cops said He traveled to NY on March 17 and had been staying in a Manhattan hotel and cops say may have attacked more had his photo not been put out One was a neighborly black man who lived in a rooming house in New York's Garment District, liked to collect autographs outside Broadway's theaters, struck up a Twitter friendship with a Hollywood actress and took photos of himself with Oprah Winfrey and Beyonce. The other was a white Army veteran from outside Baltimore who was raised in what was described as a churchgoing and liberal family and served in Afghanistan. Late Monday night, officials say, their paths crossed tragically on the streets of New York in a cold-bloodedly random act of racist violence by the white man. As 66-year-old Timothy Caughman bent over a trash bin around the corner from his home, gathering bottles to recycle, James Harris Jackson attacked him from behind with a 2-foot sword and walked off, prosecutors say. A bleeding Caughman staggered into a police station and later died at a hospital. On Thursday, Jackson, 28, was charged with murder as a hate crime. He said nothing in court. "The defendant was motivated purely by hatred," said Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi, who added that the charges could be upgraded, "as this was an act most likely of terrorism." Prosecutors said Jackson hated black men, especially those who dated white women. He came to New York last week to make a splash in the media capital of the world by killing as many black men as possible, authorities said. He saw Caughman on the street and thought he would make good practice for a larger attack in Times Square, they said. But Caughman wound up the only victim. After seeing his picture in the news, Jackson turned himself in at a police station. He was armed with two knives and told officers he had tossed the sword in a trash bin in Washington Square Park, officials said. It was later recovered. Investigators said they were trying to determine exactly what drove Jackson to violence. They planned to search his laptop and phone and interviewed friends and family. His attorney, Sam Talkin, said if the allegations are anywhere close to being true, "then we're going to address the obvious psychological issues that are present in this case." Jackson was in the Army from 2009 to 2012 and worked as an intelligence analyst, the Army said. Deployed in Afghanistan in 2010-11, he earned several medals and attained the rank of specialist. Dr. Scott Krugman, chairman of pediatrics at Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore and a friend of the family, said the allegations were out of character with his family's beliefs and the way he was raised. Jackson's parents, David and Patricia Jackson, are active members of Towson Presbyterian Church and have two other sons. Patricia Jackson is a former teacher of English-language students in the Baltimore County school system and worked for Well for the Journey, a Christian nonprofit organization that helps people "integrate spirituality into their daily lives in a safe, inclusive space." "They're liberal as liberal can be," Krugman said. "We were at a dinner party with them and everybody was complaining about the current administration and very open about rights for everybody and making sure we're not excluding immigrants, everything like that. I'm just beyond shocked right now." In a statement, the Jackson family extended condolences to Caughman's family and said it was "shocked, horrified and heartbroken by this tragedy." Caughman had lived for 18 years in a former hotel in Manhattan, sharing the building with tenants who were part of a temporary-housing program. Caughman was not part of the program; he was a tenant already living in the century-old, seven-story building. He was "extremely respectful" of his neighbors and building workers, said Svein Jorgensen, the program's executive director. "He was a great tenant and someone that anyone would be glad to have as a neighbor." He added: "He was a gentleman." Caughman displayed photos of himself with celebrities on his Twitter page, where he also showed that he was proud to have voted in the election. He struck up a longtime Twitter relationship with Shari Headley, the actress who played Eddie Murphy's love interest in "Coming to America." After his death, she tweeted: "My heart is heavy typing this. Timothy Caughman was a fan of mine since 1991. He only spread LOVE. His murder was senseless." His family was upset that he was initially portrayed in some news reports as a homeless man with a criminal past. He had a criminal history, but the most recent offense was a low-level pot arrest in 2002. His cousin Seth Peek told The New York Times that in the 1970s and '80s, Caughman worked with young people in Queens as part of a youth program. "He wasn't just a vagrant person collecting bottles," Peek said. "That was not just what his life was. He went to college, and he was concerned with young people in the neighborhood." ___ Associated Press researcher Jennifer Farrar and writers Karen Matthews in New York and Jessica Gresko and Ben Nuckols in Washington contributed to this report. Police have arrested two more people after finding the body of an 89-year-old World War II veteran from New York in a suitcase on an Arkansas farm. Thirty-four-year-old Leeann Naomi Sager and 25-year-old Aaron Rulison were arrested Tuesday in New York, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Both are charged with concealment of a human corpse. Authorities say Sager was a caregiver to Robert Brooks. Investigators believe the veteran died of natural causes at his home in upstate New York about a month before his body was found on March 5. Authorities are still investigating why his body was taken to Arkansas. Two other caregivers, Michael Stivers and Virginia Colvin, were arrested earlier this month. They're being held in Arkansas on $100,000 bond on charges of abusing a corpse. New York City ice cream institution Big Gay Ice Cream is releasing pints of its soft serve. Seven pint-sized flavors have been posted on Amazon.com, including American Globs, Birthday Cake, Dorothy, Blueberry Gobbler, Rocky Roadhouse, Lunchbox, and fan favorite Salty Pimp. Big Gay Ice Cream's website has also added a where to buy section, which will be accessible on Tuesday at http://biggayicecream.com/wheretobuy. Big Gay Ice Cream started as a seasonal food truck in 2009 before opening a brick-and-mortar location in the East Village in 2011 and the West Village in 2012. According to the shops website, founders Douglas Quint and Bryan Petroff have been focusing on growing the Big Gay Ice Cream brand as of late. It appears supermarket pints are a part of that expansion. Another New York City-born ice cream shop, Van Leeuwen, also started as a food truck before opening storefronts in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Los Angeles. Van Leeuwen, which describes itself as a mini ice cream empire, has already made the move to pints. New charges have been filed against the Chicago police officer who fatally shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014, according to court documents released Thursday. Officer Jason Van Dyke is now facing 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, one charge for each shot fired at the teenager. Van Dyke has already been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of McDonald, which sparked nationwide protests after dashcam video appeared to show the teen walking away from authorities when he was killed. Attorneys for Van Dyke have previously filed motions to dismiss murder charges against the officer, saying a grand jury "hastily" indicted him based on false information and that the shooting was in fact "justified." Van Dykes partner, Joseph Walsh, and Detective David March, whose account of McDonalds shooting conflicted with the graphic dashcam video, were placed on administrative status in mid-December. The case has lead to the suspension of numerous Chicago officers and the firing of Chicago's former police Supt. Garry McCarthy. State officials are proposing revisions to Delaware's insurance code to ensure that people struggling with opioid addiction get the treatment they need. Attorney General Matt Denn on Wednesday also called for the creation of a new oversight committee to help identify and target medical providers who are overprescribing prescription painkillers. One bill requires insurers to provide at least 14 days of coverage for medically necessary inpatient treatment for substance abuse, without requiring prescreening, referrals or prior authorization. "In other words, it ensures the patient gets in the front door," Denn said. Another bill would allow the attorney general's office to use consumer protection funds to provide legal assistance to people challenging claim denials. "Treatment works and recovery is possible, but we have to make treatment available for people," said Delaware Public Health Director Dr. Karyl Rattay. "Insurance coverage is critically important." Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro also expressed support for the package of bipartisan legislation, saying insurance companies need to pay for substance abuse treatment, just as they cover treatment for other medical conditions. "It comes down to pay now, or pay later," said Navarro, suggesting that efforts to avoid paying for inpatient or residential treatment, often results in people struggling with addiction to relapse, prolonging their struggle and often resulting in the need for more intensive treatment. Matt Guthrie, 28, of Wilmington recounted how he first sought treatment for his drug abuse problem in 2007, but wasn't able to get the help he needed, including detox and inpatient treatment, until 2011. "In 2007, the treatment facility told me I wasn't sick enough yet," he said. Denn noted that Delaware's drug overdose rate was the 12th-highest in the country in 2015. "Since then, our death rate has spiraled even more, thanks in large part to the emergence of fentanyl," he said. According to Denn, 228 Delawareans died of overdoses in 2015, up from 224 in 2014. Last year, he said, Delaware recorded 308 overdose deaths, an increase of 38 percent. "Behind those staggering numbers are real people," he said. In addition to insurance reforms aimed at better treatment, Denn also is proposing a new advisory committee to help oversee Delaware's prescription drug database. Using a formula developed with the committee, the Office of Controlled Substances, which oversees Delaware's Prescription Monitoring Program, will provide the committee with data on doctors with unusual opiate prescription patterns. The committee would review the data for possible referrals to licensing or law enforcement authorities. The committee would have authority to make direct referrals to licensing authorities, but any referrals to law enforcement would be made by professional staff. "We need to get a better handle on the prescription of opiate drugs in this state," said Denn, adding that a handful of providers are prescribing an "enormous percentage" of opiates, which he said are a gateway to heroin and fentanyl. A woman severely beat her daughter, tried to strangle her and kicked her out of their house for incorrectly reciting Bible verses, police say. Rhonda Kemp Shoffner's daughter, who is under the age of 13, was forced to kneel on the bathroom floor at their Middletown home and repeat Bible verses, police told Pennlive.com. The girl told police her mother had been drunk for three days. Shoffner, police say, asked her daughter, "What did God tell the man to do with his son?" When the girl said she didn't know, police say, Shoffner said, "God told the man to kill his son." Police say the girl told them she replied, "God said to forgive his son," and Shoffner grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into the bathroom wall. They say each time the daughter made a mistake Shoffner slammed her head into the wall, about five times. They allege Shoffner told the girl to lie down because she was going to kill her and then tried to strangle her. When the girl tried to fight off her mother, the mother bit her on the left shoulder and forearm, police say. Eventually Shoffner told her daughter to leave the house and never return, police say. The girl fled and called her father, who drove her to a police station. Shoffner faces charges including aggravated assault and terroristic threats over the March 14 incident, online court documents show. She was being held Thursday in a jail, unable to post $100,000 bail, and couldn't be reached for comment. There was no lawyer listed for her in online court documents. A preliminary hearing is set for March 29. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania said Thursday that he will vote against federal appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court. Gorsuch is currently in the fourth day of weeklong testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. His confirmation vote is scheduled to go before the full Senate for a vote in mid-April. "I have serious concerns about Judge Gorsuchs rigid and restrictive judicial philosophy, manifest in a number of opinions he has written on the 10th Circuit," Casey said. "Judge Gorsuch opinions often reflect a commitment to satisfy his judicial philosophy more than to grapple with the complex circumstances faced by ordinary Americans. Disproportionately, powerful interests are the beneficiaries while workers, consumers and those with disabilities are the losers of this approach." His remarks echo fellow Democrats' concerns throughout the confirmation hearings this week that Gorsuch's record shows a disproportionate lean away from the individuals in favor of corporate interests. Casey and the Democrats are outnumbered 52-48 in the Senate, meaning that they would need to filibuster the confirmation vote in order to hold up the nomination. Republicans in turn have one pass-around to a filibuster. That option has been referred to as "the nuclear option" because of the filibuster's long-honored tradition in the Senate as a tool of the minority part. A filibuster requires 60 votes to overcome, while the nuclear option would use what is known as "cloture" to bypass the 60-vote requirement and require a simple majority vote for passage. A notorious Florida conman will serve his 20-year sentence in solitary at the infamous federal Supermax prison -- at his request. A vaquita porpoise - a critically endangered species of porpoise - was found dead in the waters off Baja California on Sunday, according to Sea Shepherd, the organization known for battling illegal fishing and poaching in the oceans. The carcass was found by one of the Sea Shepherd's anti-poaching ships, the Farley Mowat, in the Gulf of California. The crew then notified Mexican authorities to retrieve the body. The frozen carcass is in San Felipe, where it will be examined to determine its cause of death. The discovery comes a week after the organization found another vaquita dead in the Bay. The body of the vaquita, believed to be a newborn, was found floating in the Gulf of California just south of San Felipe on Sunday, March 12. More than half of the population has been lost in the last three years, according to the World Wildlife Fund. [NATL-LA]Meet the Vaquita, the Endangered Sea Mammal With 30 Members Left Now, with only 30 vaquita porpoises left in the world, Rep. Todd Gloria (D-78th District) has introduced a bill in California to help save the rare sea mammal from extinction. The bill would make it illegal to possess or sell fish products caught in the northern Gulf of California with a gillnet. More often than not, vaquitas get entangled in nets meant for a fish known as the totoaba, which inhabits the same territory. The vaquitas are unable to surface to breathe and drown as a result. The gillnets have led to a 90 percent decline in the vaquitas' numbers over the last five years, according a study by an international committee of experts. In 2016, 31 illegal fishing nets for the totoaba were pulled from the Gulf of California. Mexico has temporarily banned the use of gillnets for fishing of shrimp and other sea creatures in an effort to protect the vaquita. However, there is a loophole that allows for the use of gillnets for fishing of Gulf corvina, a practice used to capture the totoaba fish. Considered "aquatic cocaine," the fishing for totoaba is highly lucrative. Sea Shepherd estimates the fish is worth $20,000 per kilo. D.C. police have released a photo of a person of interest after a woman was found bound and stabbed to death inside a rowhouse in Northeast Washington Tuesday afternoon. Corrina Mehiel, 34, was found dead in a basement apartment on the 600 block of 14th Street NE, near the busy H Street corridor, about 4 p.m. Tuesday. A photo released Wednesday night shows the person of interest, a man, walking into a convenience store in the 5000 block of Garrett Avenue in Beltsville, Maryland. Metropolitan Police Department Acting Police Chief Peter Newsham said at a news conference that police found no signs of forced entry in the apartment where her body was found. Mehiel was an artist and art teacher who was working at the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design. She was last seen at the school Sunday night. She talked with her father by phone that night, too, her stepmother said Wednesday. "She was full of life, full of plans," Mehiel's stepmother, Lari Mehiel, said by phone. Getty She sobbed as she spoke about the artist's murder. "I think some heinous, hate-filled, evil person killed her. I don't know why. Why would he kill her?" she said. Mehiel, who originally was from Burnsville, North Carolina, was living in D.C. temporarily. She specialized in art that engaged communities and was working with the artist Mel Chin. "Corrina was a vibrant and talented individual who will be dearly missed," a George Washington University spokesman said in an email to Corcoran School members. The apartment in which Mehiel was staying was one that Chin kept for people who were helping him on projects. Anyone who can identify the person of interest or sees Mehiel's car is asked to call police. Metropolitan Police Department It's a blue four-door 2004 Toyota Prius. The car has the Kentucky license plate 722RMY. A yellow, diamond-shaped bumper sticker about looking out for motorcycles is on the rear bumper. No information on a suspect or possible motive was released immediately. On Wednesday, Newsham also talked about the murder of Ayana McAllister. As News4 reported, the 18-year-old college freshman was shot and killed while watching the filming of a music video Monday evening. McAllister was home on spring break from Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh, North Carolina, her father, Anthony McAllister, said. Police did not immediately release any information on the gunman or a possible motive in McAllister's death. "By all accounts, these were bright, promising women whose lives were cut short," Newsham said. A 10-month-old baby born with four legs and two spines is recovering well after undergoing a complex and risky medical procedure in Chicago, doctors say. Young Dominique came to Chicago from the Ivory Coast in West Africa with an extremely rare parasitic conjoined twin. Doctors say the bottom half of her not-fully-developed twins body was protruding from the infants neck and back. Its very rare because it was attached at the back of her spine, said Dr. John Ruge, a pediatric neurosurgeon. It was as if the twin from the waist down had been attached to the back of Dominiques neck and there was a pelvis and bladder and functional legs that moved and feet coming out the back of Dominiques neck. This was very dangerous for Dominique. Ruge said the parasitic twin caused Dominiques heart and lungs to do the work for two bodies and could have ultimately paralyzed her. Advocate Children's Hospital The child was brought to Chicago in February with the help of an organization called Childrens Medical Missions West and has been living with a host family while doctors at Advocate Childrens Hospital meticulously studied her case. Its really hard to even put a number on how rare it is, said Dr. Robert Kellogg. Despite her condition, her host family said the child had a bubbly personality and was a very happy baby when she arrived in the U.S. A woman was killed and a man injured when gunfire erupted at a party on Chicagos Far South Side late Saturday, according to police. NBC 5s Emily Florez reports. If you can say love at first sight I think thats true for us, said Nancy Swabb, who has been caring for Dominique since her arrival. The Swabbs said the decision to take in the child was made quickly, with Dominique arriving at their home about a week after they learned of her case. I saw a picture of Dominique with her extra limbs and one concern that we had before we met her was what can she wear? Swabb said. The family later learned Dominique had difficulties balancing and sitting up because of the added weight from the extra limbs. After weeks of planning, on March 8, Dominique underwent a six-hour surgery that involved five surgeons and 50 clinicians. Advocate Children's Hospital The surgery went very well, said Kellogg. There were no complications. We expect her to make a full recovery and live an essentially normal life from here on. Dominique continues to recover at her host familys Edgebrook home. Doctors say once the recovery process is complete, the infant can return home to her family in Africa. She is about 2 pounds lighter and she sits up and shes raising her hands and she reaches for things and shes doing really well, Swabb said. Doctors said Dominique is now essentially a normal baby and are confident she can go on to live a healthy life. I think it is very unique but it was a unique child that brought us together, Kellogg said. Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez's face was a mix of glares, stares and yawns on Thursday. Hernandez was particularly expressive in court as his former best friend Alexander Bradley took the witness stand for the fourth consecutive day, glaring at him on several occasions. It wasn't the first time Hernandez has given Bradley a death stare. Following an intense stare down earlier in Bradley's testimony, several court officers have formed a human barrier anytime the two pass by each other. Later in the day Thursday, during testimony about his internet search history, Hernandez could also be seen yawning and even holding his head in his hands. [NECN-NATL]Aaron Hernandez Double Murder Trial: Key Players Overall, it was another emotional day of testimony in the double-murder trial. After Bradley finished his testimony, the jury heard from Brooke Wilcox, the mother of Bradley's daughter, whose Connecticut home Hernandez and Bradley allegedly ran to right after the murders. Wilcox said Bradley sounded panicked when he called in the middle of the night of July 16, 2012 to see if he and Hernandez could come over. "He just seemed like he was in a panic type of manner," she said of Bradley. "He didn't seem like himself at all." She said Bradley referred to Hernandez as a "crazy (expletive)" who "just did some stupid (expletive)." Regular service has resumed on the MBTA's Green Line after a tree disrupted travel. Earlier this week, Bradley described how Hernandez killed two men after one of them accidentally spilled his drink at a Boston nightclub in July 2012. Bradley said Hernandez opened fire while Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado waited at a stoplight. Under cross-examination, Bradley acknowledged that he has sold drugs for about 17 years. The defense team argued during opening statements that Bradley - not Hernandez - shot the men over a drug deal. Bradley also described how he and Hernandez were once close friends. Hernandez has also been charged with witness intimidation and is accused of shooting Bradley in the face because he feared Bradley would tell authorities about the slayings. Hernandez's defense team has argued that Bradley doesn't deserve immunity from prosecution because his eyewitness account is not trustworthy and there are too many discrepancies in his story. Testimony is expected to resume Monday after the judge suspended the trial after trial teams on both sides and court staff came down with an illness. A Boston firefighter and foster parent who lives on Cape Cod is facing child rape charges. Edward Kulik Jr., a 56, of the Centerville section of Barnstable, Massachusetts, is charged with three counts of rape of a child with force, three counts of rape and one count of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older. A court clerk said the alleged assaults occurred in 2010 and 2012. Kulik has been with the Boston Fire Department for 31 years, but the department said he has been going through the retirement process and has not been an active firefighter for the past several months. According to a Boston Herald city payroll database, he is a fire lieutenant and earned $130,000 in 2016 - almost all of which was injury pay. According to social services program Massachusetts Mentor, Kulik was a foster parent with the organization from 2011 to 2013, taking in children. In a statement, Massachusetts Mentor said that children's safety is the "highest priority," adding that background checks, as required, were conducted annually on Kulik. The Boston Fire Department issued a statement Wednesday saying, "These disturbing, serious allegations warrant our full attention and the Boston Fire Department will monitor and take swift appropriate action if and when it's necessary." The department said it works hard to earn the trust of Boston residents, and the allegations against Kulik "gravely contradict our values." Kulik did not answer his door, but one neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said he lives alone. "I consider him a very nice guy, a very solid guy," she said. He was arraigned Wednesday morning in Barnstable District Court and bail was set at $3,500. Conditions of release include GPS monitoring, staying away from all persons under 16, staying away from schools with students under 16 and having no contact with the alleged victim. Kulik is scheduled to return to court on April 24 for a pre-trial hearing. Daniel LaPlante, convicted 30 years ago of murdering a pregnant Massachusetts mother and her two children, is now hoping for a new sentence. "I do not have the words to fully express my profound sorrow," LaPlante told a judge on Wednesday. "But I am truly sorry for the harm that I have caused." LaPlante was 17 when he shot and killed Priscilla Gustafson in her Townsend home in 1987. He drowned her two young children, as well. Gustafson's two sisters and her brother pleaded with the judge not to grant LaPlante parole. "That day that fractured all of our lives," said Gustafson's sister, Christine Morgan. "How unfair and faith-shaking this was," said her other sister, Elizabeth Morgan Williams. "The loving goodness embodied in all three of them taken by such evil." LaPlante was sentenced to three life terms in prison, but the courts in recent years have ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life in prison without parole, and so now, he has a chance for a new sentence. His attorneys say he has been a model prisoner, was abused as a child, and had learning disabilities, as well. "I do not believe Daniel LaPlante is repentant," said Priscilla's brother, Rev. William Morgan Jr. "I believe he will always be a danger to society and to our children." Carole Gustafson, who later married Priscilla's husband, Andy, says the nightmare of losing his first wife and their kids haunted him the rest of his life. He died of cancer three years ago. The judge could make a decision on a new sentence on Thursday. New details are being revealed about the case against a Boston firefighter accused of raping a teen. Edward Kulik, a 56-year-old resident of the Centerville section of Barnstable, Massachusetts, was arraigned Wednesday on three counts of rape of a child with force, three counts of rape and one count of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 years or older. Court documents show that Kulik, who is also a former foster parent, is accused of raping a teen boy between 2010 and 2012. Investigators said it doesn't appear the alleged victim was part of the foster care program. Barnstable police said the alleged victim came forward last week - years later - because he feared there could be more potential victims. The initial investigation took three to four days, and Kulik came to the station to turn himself in. Kulik, who has been a member of the Boston Fire Department for 31 years, lives on Cape Cod. He was hired in the 1980s, before public servants were required to live in the city. His neighbors described him as a good guy, helpful and quiet. One neighbor who didn't want to be identified said Kulik "comes across as a caring person, that's how I know him. I don't know him as someone who might have abused a teenager." Kulik spent 2011 to 2013 being a foster parent through the organization Massachusetts Mentor and had to pass annual background checks. That's why those who know him say they're shocked by the charges. Fire officials in Nashua, New Hampshire, say a dog is safe and back with its owner after falling through an icy pond. Nashua Fire Rescue responded to Sandy Pond around 11:25 a.m. Wednesday for a report of a dog that had fallen through ice. Firefighters reported the dog was about 50 to 60 feet from shore. Firefighters in water rescue suits waded into the pond, and one who was tied with a rope made his way to the dog. The rescuer grabbed the dog named Whiskey and secured him as crew members on shore pulled them back. Officials say the dog didn't appear to suffer any injuries. Massachusetts State Police troopers are mourning the sudden death of one of their own Wednesday. Trooper Matthew Daigle, 31, suddenly collapsed while off-duty on physical training. Doctors could not resuscitate him. "Most of all, our thoughts at this time, and our prayers, are with his family," state police spokesperson said in a statement. "He is survived by his wife, father, sister and in-laws." Trooper Daigle was a five year state police veteran. He was also a U.S. Air Force veteran. The wake takes place on Sunday afternoon, March 26, at John Everett & Sons Funeral Home in Natick. The funeral is Monday, March 27, at 10 a.m., St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Natick. House Republicans are carefully counting their votes, approaching a critical health care debate. But one Congressman from Maine hasnt said how hell vote on the American Health Care Act, the House GOP proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare. Rep. Bruce Poliquins spokesperson issued a statement Thursday, explaining that Poliquin is continuing to carefully study and push for changes in this health care relief proposal. Thursday afternoon, House leadership announced it would be delaying the vote on the AHCA, allowing more time to apply pressure to undecided lawmakers. As Poliquin decides, constituents are speaking out. A group gathered outside his office in Lewiston Thursday morning, rallying for their Congressman to oppose changes to the Affordable Care Act. Hes thinking about his party, and about his re-election, said protester Lisa Wesel. I dont know that hes thinking about the people who live here, who would suffer a lot if he votes in favor of this. Republican Senator Susan Collins has already announced her opposition to the bill, but womens group UltraViolet wants her to do more to ensure funding for Planned Parenthood. They delivered an ice sculpture to her Portland office, asking her not to leave Planned Parenthood out in the cold. The other two members of Maines Congressional delegation have come out against the House healthcare bill, and Thursday afternoon, Maine Governor Paul LePage wrote a letter asking lawmakers to reverse their positions, and support the GOP proposal. Maine GOP Executive Director Jason Savage called the AHCA a first step in addressing a collapsing Obamacare. In a statement, Rep. Poliquin said he is concerned about any potential impact on those nearing retirement who are not yet on Medicare, adding that he was encouraged by provisions to retain coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and let young adults stay on their parents policies. Police say a man who fatally ran over his ex-wife in the driveway of their Quincy, Massachusetts, home last year has been indicted for murder. Yan Long Chow, 55, was arraigned Thursday at Norfolk Superior Court for the murder of his ex-wife, Zhen Li, who was 52. Chow pleaded not guilty. According to Quincy Police, in September, Chow was backing out of the driveway on Phillips St. when he struck Li. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Chow did not originally face charges in her death, but after a six-month investigation, a grand jury indicted Chow Wednesday. Prosecutors say Chow initially claimed Li's death was an accident, and he was even transported to the hospital for "stress-related issues." The defense argued Chow knew the grand jury was convened and didn't leave the state, arguing the incident was just an accident. They added he turned himself in to police. Chow was ordered held without bail. He's due back in court on May 8. There are many intersections in Massachusetts where drivers and pedestrians feel they are in danger. We asked our viewers to share some of the intersections they felt were the most dangerous in the state. Many said the most dangerous intersections are in Boston. Jocelyn told us the intersection of Bennington and Saratoga in East Boston is one of the worst. "I've seen multiple cars and people hit there," she added. The Zakim Bridge on Interstate 93 south also made the list. Brian Golden posted, "four lanes of 'merging madness' then add in carpool lane and Tobin merge." Dave Falvey agreed and said, "on-ramp to I-93 S by Assembly in Somerville where pedestrians are crossing to get to Assembly Square. Very dangerous for pedestrians." Jim Powers said, "the intersection at Newton Corner is horrible" and added, "also the Pike off-ramp to Storrow Drive!" Katherine Barton also agreed about Newton Corner being dangerous. She said, "it's not called the circle of death for nothing." "Cambridge Street at Charles Circle near MGH just before the bridge is a deathtrap," Ren Jender posted. Viewers also shared dangerous intersections that were outside the city. Medford was a hot spot for complaints. Toni said the intersection where 16 and 28 meets is a rough one. Christine Lewis said the intersection of South Street and Mystic Valley Parkway is dangerous too. Dana Mayhew was concerned about the intersection where South Main Street, North Main Street, Elm Street, and Water Street meet in Assonet. Do you know of a dangerous intersection? Tell us about it by emailing shareit@nbcboston.com. Hear from Far East missionaries in Cromer 2017: There will be an opportunity to hear from missionaries working with OMF in Japan, Cambodia and Thailand at Cromer Baptist Church from 10am to 1pm on Saturday April 1. Tony Rothe reports. The theme of the morning will be: A Task Unfinished From the UK Far-East to the Global Far-East! The event is organised by the North Norfolk OMF prayer group, and will provide an opportunity to hear about Gods work in three countries in the Far East: Japan, Thailand and Cambodia. The speakers will be Peter and Janet, pictured above, working in Japan, Andrew (tribal work in Thailand) and Alex and Marguerite (Cambodia). Tim Jenkins from OMF says All are invited to an event looking at the 'Unfinished Task' of the Great Commission. We will consider why the task remains unfinished and what can be done to finish the task. You'll also meet new candidates and be able to catch up with old friends. There's no need to book - just turn up with a packed lunch and enjoy fellowship together. Packed lunches may be eaten in the church at the end of the session (coffee/ tea/ fruit juice provided) giving an opportunity for informal conversation with the speakers and other missionaries who will be present. Cromer Baptist Church is in Church Street, in the centre of the town, about ten minutes walk from Cromer rail station. There are pay and display carparks in the town or on-street parking about five to ten minutes walk away. Postcode NR27 9ES. The North Norfolk OMF prayer group meets on Monday afternoons at roughly six-week intervals in a home in Cromer. The group, relaunched in July 2013, currently has ten members and they pray for the missionaries who will be speaking at the meeting on April 1. New members welcome. Details from 01263 517086 or janetandderekhann@gmail.com OMF seeks to mobilise people, prayer and resources for mission to East Asians both here and overseas, in fellowship with UK churches and other organisations. Their vision is to see the church encourage and support the establishing of reproducing communities of believers in East Asia. For more information about OMF, contact Tim on Tim.Jenkins@omfmail.com Visit https://omf.org/uk/events/norfolk-facing-a-task-unfinished/ Three minutes to learn why the task is still unfinished: https://vimeo.com/186400532 Do you have a news story or forthcoming event relating to Christians or a church in North Norfolk? Earlier this month, the notorious info leaker WikiLeaks published a batch of documents from the CIA detailing how the CIA has developed several tools to crack, break into or infect all kinds of devicesfrom PCs to Smart TVseven if they are not connected to the internet. At the time, WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange promised that the site would work with the affected tech companies to give them exclusive access to the technical details of those exploits and would not go public with the exploits and back doors. However, it wasn't until this week that WikiLeaks got in contact with the listed tech companies, such as Microsoft, Apple and Google, according to Motherboard, the tech site run by Vice. Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Motherboard said WikiLeaks has made demands on the initial contact with firms but didn't share any of the alleged CIA codes. Instead WikiLeaks sent a series of undisclosed conditions that it wants the firms to sign off on before receiving further information from WikiLeaks. The only condition revealed to the press until now was a 90-day disclosure deadline to compel companies to issue patches. This is reminiscent of Google's Project Zero, which has been a major thorn in the side of Microsoft by publicly disclosing at least two Windows vulnerabilities after the 90-day period from its initial warning to Microsoft had expired. The question remains of Assange's demands. He's no fan of Google and made that clear in his book When Google Met WikiLeaks. I can't imagine he likes Microsoft much, either. Then again, the tech companies may want nothing to do with WikiLeaks. Due to the illegal origin of those fileswhich are considered classifiedand the way they were obtained, receiving that information may be illegal for the companies. A Top News tweet from TechCrunch, pictured above, informs me that Alaska Airlines is killing off Virgin America and Richard Branson? Clicking through reveals a less gruesome reality. If youre interested in Alaska Airlines reasoning, which does not threaten Richard Branson, here is a company blog post. And Bransons reaction here. By Jeffrey Heller and Joseph Ax JERUSALEM/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A teenager with dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship was arrested in Israel on Thursday on suspicion of making dozens of hoax bomb threats against Jewish community centres in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The suspect, whose identity remains sealed pursuant to a court order, is 18, Jewish and a dual U.S.-Israeli national, a police spokesman said. The teenager's alleged motives were not immediately clear. At a court hearing near Tel Aviv, the suspect's defence attorney, Galit Bash, said the young man has a growth in his head that causes behavioural problems. She later told Reuters he has a brain tumour, which "may affect his behaviour, his ability to understand right and wrong," and said the teen's father had also been held in connection with the case. U.S. federal authorities have been investigating a surge of threats against Jewish organizations, including more than 100 bomb threats in separate waves over the past three months targeting Jewish community centres (JCCs) in dozens of states. The threats prompted criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump for what some Jewish groups saw as an inadequate response from his administration. He condemned the incidents in a major speech to Congress in February. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday said the arrest reflected the government's determination to prosecute those who perpetrate hate crimes. "... we will not tolerate the targeting of any community in this country on the basis of their religious beliefs," Sessions said in a statement. Israeli police said the teenager is believed to be responsible for most of the threats, though the precise number was not immediately clear. The suspect, who is accused of targeting centres in Australia and New Zealand as well as the United States, began making the calls in January using advanced masking technologies to hide his identity, police said. Authorities also said he was responsible for a previous bomb threat against a Delta Airlines flight in January 2015 at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which took part in the probe, confirmed the arrest but declined to offer further details. The threats forced the evacuation of many JCCs, including some with day care and school facilities for infants and young children. Coupled with other incidents such as the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, they have stoked fears of a resurgence in anti-Semitism in the United States. In a statement, the president of the JCC Association of North America said JCC leaders were "troubled" the teenager appears to be Jewish. The Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-Semitism in the United States, said the alleged perpetrator's actions mattered more than his background. "While the details of this crime remain unclear, the impact of this individual's actions is crystal clear: these were acts of anti-Semitism," the organization said in a statement. Bash said her client was home-schooled and incapable of holding down a job. She added he had been found medically unfit for Israel's compulsory military service. A judge ruled that he be held for at least eight more days. U.S. authorities previously made one other arrest in connection with the threats. Juan Thompson, a former journalist from St. Louis, is accused of making several threats to Jewish organizations while posing as an ex-girlfriend as part of a revenge plot against her. (Reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem and Joseph Ax in New York; Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Baz Ratner and Rami Amichay in Rishon Lezion; Editing by Daniel Wallis and James Dalgleish) 'I'm going robbing now,' thief tells magistrates A CONVICTED shoplifter mocked magistrates when they fined him, telling them: I dont care. Im going out robbing now. In the dock at Reading Magistrates Court on Thursday, March 9, was Aaron William Wallin of Ewing Way, Newbury. Anne Sawyer-Brandish, prosecuting, said officers arrested the 23-year-old after he walked from a Poundstretcher store without paying for the goods. He admitted stealing household items together worth 10.98 in Newbury on December 23 last year. He further admitted breaching a conditional discharge imposed for a public order offence in which he abused a customer of the Snooty Fox pub in Newbury and told them he had a knife. He also has other previous convictions. Mike Davis, defending, said: It was a couple of days before Christmas and this was a misguided attempt to get his mother a present. I accept he doesnt come out of this well on any viewing. However, he did co-operate fully with the officers and has pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. Magistrates revoked the conditional discharge and fined Mr Wallin a total of 100. In addition he was ordered to pay 85 costs plus a statutory victim services surcharge of 30. AMSTERDAM, March 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc said on Wednesday it will move its international headquarters in Amsterdam to a larger building ahead of plans to increase staff to 1,000 from 400. Uber came to Amsterdam in October 2012 and it houses various parts of its operations, research, marketing and sales departments in the Dutch capital city. Amsterdam also hosts a team of engineers working on UberEATS food delivery software. (Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by David Clarke) By Express News Service CHENNAI: Import of cars built in the UK has surged over the past few years, with volumes growing 16 per cent in 2016, according to British automakers association SMMT. While volumes continue to remain small, the past seven years have seen British car exports to India rise 11-fold. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Landrover was the leading exporter. In 2016, Indian motorists bought 3,372 British-built cars, up from 309 in 2009, said the automotive industry body, adding that demand rose 15.8 per cent in 2016 compared to the previous year. On the other hand, Indian-built models accounted for 31,535 new car registrations in the UK last year a growth of 12.6 per cent from 2015. The top five British bestsellers in India are Discovery Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Jaguar XF, Jaguar XE and the Jaguar F-Pace. Tamzen Isacsson, Director of Communications and International, pointed out that the Indian market understands British brands and growing prosperity in Asian markets in recent years has seen a surge in demand for premium cars, despite the high import duties. Spare parts made in Britain are also seeing steady demand. CHENNAI: Import of cars built in the UK has surged over the past few years, with volumes growing 16 per cent in 2016, according to British automakers association SMMT. While volumes continue to remain small, the past seven years have seen British car exports to India rise 11-fold. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Landrover was the leading exporter. In 2016, Indian motorists bought 3,372 British-built cars, up from 309 in 2009, said the automotive industry body, adding that demand rose 15.8 per cent in 2016 compared to the previous year. On the other hand, Indian-built models accounted for 31,535 new car registrations in the UK last year a growth of 12.6 per cent from 2015. The top five British bestsellers in India are Discovery Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Jaguar XF, Jaguar XE and the Jaguar F-Pace. Tamzen Isacsson, Director of Communications and International, pointed out that the Indian market understands British brands and growing prosperity in Asian markets in recent years has seen a surge in demand for premium cars, despite the high import duties. Spare parts made in Britain are also seeing steady demand. Swathi Nair By BENGALURU: Bengaluru-based digital marketer Karthik Srinivasan has launched an online satyagraha with a tweet a day against HDFC bank, who he claims has been curtailing his freedom to choose. I received an email for their new Virtual Relationship Management Programme. However, I was automatically enrolled in the programme and was never asked if I wish to be a part of it, says Karthik. The mail also has a line that states: If you wish to opt out of the Virtual Relationship Management Programme, Click here. But Karthik says the font is such that the message can be easily missed. The bank offers a free trial of this programme for a year and then charges its customer around `400 plus taxes every year. However, the bank does not ask the customer, if he or she wants to be part of the programme and charges for the next quarter after the free trial ends. After writing mails to the bank for over a week, Karthik took to Twitter on February 1. He started tweeting to the bank, asking them to act on his concern. His first tweet was: This invite-only program from @HDFC_Bank unethically assumes you are already in and are willing to pay for it. It also carried a link to his blog post that explains his concern. Every day since, Karthik has tweeted to the bank pressing on a response. For example one of his tweets reads: Day 7: Good morning, @HDFC_Bank - you havent reverted yet. Could you please apologize to *all* your customers? Karthik had opened his HDFC account in Delhi in 1998. He has since had his salary account, joint account with his wife, two home loans and a car loan with the bank for over two decades. I don't want to close my account with a bank, but I wish to tweet to them every day of this year and if they still dont respond, I will consider closing it, he says. Closing the account will be a hassle, says Karthik, in terms of extra charges and time expended on the procedures. Meanwhile, close to 500 people, he says have responded to his satyagraha on Twitter and have thanked him for letting them know of such a programme. They tell me they have followed my tweets and have now goneback to their mails from the bank and opted out of it, he adds. Every customer of the bank has been offered a free trial of this programme. The fee becomes payable only after one year of free trial. The customer is intimated several times through different means and given the option to opt out, if he chooses to during the period, informs Neeraj Jha, Head, Corporate Communication, HDFC Bank Limited. Karthik notes that his freedom of choice is being compromised as he is never asked if he would wish to be charged for the service after the trial period. Neeraj says that the bank presumes that the customer would like to be part of the programme, unless they opt out of it. Consumer rights activist Muralidharan Y G calls it an unfair trade practice but adds that a case cannot be filed in court unless a damage (financial or otherwise) has been suffered by either of the two parties. BENGALURU: Bengaluru-based digital marketer Karthik Srinivasan has launched an online satyagraha with a tweet a day against HDFC bank, who he claims has been curtailing his freedom to choose. I received an email for their new Virtual Relationship Management Programme. However, I was automatically enrolled in the programme and was never asked if I wish to be a part of it, says Karthik. The mail also has a line that states: If you wish to opt out of the Virtual Relationship Management Programme, Click here. But Karthik says the font is such that the message can be easily missed. The bank offers a free trial of this programme for a year and then charges its customer around `400 plus taxes every year. However, the bank does not ask the customer, if he or she wants to be part of the programme and charges for the next quarter after the free trial ends. After writing mails to the bank for over a week, Karthik took to Twitter on February 1. He started tweeting to the bank, asking them to act on his concern. His first tweet was: This invite-only program from @HDFC_Bank unethically assumes you are already in and are willing to pay for it. It also carried a link to his blog post that explains his concern. Every day since, Karthik has tweeted to the bank pressing on a response. For example one of his tweets reads: Day 7: Good morning, @HDFC_Bank - you havent reverted yet. Could you please apologize to *all* your customers? Karthik had opened his HDFC account in Delhi in 1998. He has since had his salary account, joint account with his wife, two home loans and a car loan with the bank for over two decades. I don't want to close my account with a bank, but I wish to tweet to them every day of this year and if they still dont respond, I will consider closing it, he says. Closing the account will be a hassle, says Karthik, in terms of extra charges and time expended on the procedures. Meanwhile, close to 500 people, he says have responded to his satyagraha on Twitter and have thanked him for letting them know of such a programme. They tell me they have followed my tweets and have now goneback to their mails from the bank and opted out of it, he adds. Every customer of the bank has been offered a free trial of this programme. The fee becomes payable only after one year of free trial. The customer is intimated several times through different means and given the option to opt out, if he chooses to during the period, informs Neeraj Jha, Head, Corporate Communication, HDFC Bank Limited. Karthik notes that his freedom of choice is being compromised as he is never asked if he would wish to be charged for the service after the trial period. Neeraj says that the bank presumes that the customer would like to be part of the programme, unless they opt out of it. Consumer rights activist Muralidharan Y G calls it an unfair trade practice but adds that a case cannot be filed in court unless a damage (financial or otherwise) has been suffered by either of the two parties. By Express News Service An eager crowd of architects, students and cultural practitioners were in for a delightful evening as renowned architect P T Krishnan fondly known as PTK to his peers shared insights on the profession and his life at Spaces, Besant Nagar recently, in an event hosted by the Chennai Architecture Foundation. A doyen among pioneering architects of the 1970s and 80s, P T Krishnan is an architecture graduate from the University of Madras, who also has a post-graduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley (1969). He returned to India in 1971 after working with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (New York City), and set up his own firm in 1983. He is the architect of many iconic buildings such as the SPIC House in Guindy, IIM Kozhikode, and several overseas projects such as the buildings at the University of Mauritius. Explaining why he was initially reluctant to talk about his work, Krishnan said, Nowadays, architects are always talking about themselves and the projects theyve done but at the same time what is lacking is informed criticism from the peers. The values that need to be discussed arent the peripheral aspects but what was the architects intent when he designed a building. The host urged Krishnan to enlighten the audience about his life and work, detailing the rigours of education and the time he spent learning under architect K N Iyengar. We went on a two-week tour to areas in and around Chennai and spent time making drawings of temples and buildings. It was less of theory and more practice, he recalled. It also helped that he was good at solid geometry, the projection and drawing of complex shapes and figures. His was one of the earliest batches of architecture students (the sixth, in fact) to graduate from the university. Architecture is a process of negotiation between your values and those of your client, which tests your skills as a negotiator, communicator and a designer, Krishnan explained. My perception about the profession was moulded at Berkley; it was a radical school. It was one of the few schools of the time that emphasised less on design and more on sociological impact. It was about creating patterns that enabled man to create communities on his own. That pushed me to work more on squatter resettlement and affordable housing for my thesis. Later on in his career, he worked with squatter communities on how to use the available space effectively in a city. In his career, Krishnan also worked on the SPIC Township, Thoothukudi and the ISRO Township at Sriharikota. Satish Dhawan (chairman of ISRO) was very open-minded and he gave me a free reign to design the township, he said. The result is that the city is very pedestrian-oriented, and children can walk to school. The market was very near the school; so parents could club both activities together, and the entire city was designed sector-wise for future expansion. He also had the opportunity to design buildings in the University of Mauritius, in a French-colonial style after seeing the innate connection they had to that style of architecture. Through these examples, Krishnan stated that architecture is more about connecting the dots between several disciplines such as engineering, design, sociology and resettlement. Ninety per cent of the buildings those days were built by engineers, not architects! he said. That was because not everyone could afford a design like those of Corbusier or Correa, so we architects had to work cheap, and work smart vis-a-vis the choice of materials and design. Today, you are spoilt for choices and you do not know what will work, and where! However, Krishnan enccouraged working architects to imbibe value engineering in their projects. Altruism and ethics should govern an architects actions. Unfortunately, nowadays more often than not, developers dictate terms to architects, he rued. You should take your idealism to the market, not let the market invade your idealism! Profit-motive must always be tempered with altruism, and it is important for architects to take an ideological stand. An eager crowd of architects, students and cultural practitioners were in for a delightful evening as renowned architect P T Krishnan fondly known as PTK to his peers shared insights on the profession and his life at Spaces, Besant Nagar recently, in an event hosted by the Chennai Architecture Foundation. A doyen among pioneering architects of the 1970s and 80s, P T Krishnan is an architecture graduate from the University of Madras, who also has a post-graduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley (1969). He returned to India in 1971 after working with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (New York City), and set up his own firm in 1983. He is the architect of many iconic buildings such as the SPIC House in Guindy, IIM Kozhikode, and several overseas projects such as the buildings at the University of Mauritius. Explaining why he was initially reluctant to talk about his work, Krishnan said, Nowadays, architects are always talking about themselves and the projects theyve done but at the same time what is lacking is informed criticism from the peers. The values that need to be discussed arent the peripheral aspects but what was the architects intent when he designed a building. The host urged Krishnan to enlighten the audience about his life and work, detailing the rigours of education and the time he spent learning under architect K N Iyengar. We went on a two-week tour to areas in and around Chennai and spent time making drawings of temples and buildings. It was less of theory and more practice, he recalled. It also helped that he was good at solid geometry, the projection and drawing of complex shapes and figures. His was one of the earliest batches of architecture students (the sixth, in fact) to graduate from the university. Architecture is a process of negotiation between your values and those of your client, which tests your skills as a negotiator, communicator and a designer, Krishnan explained. My perception about the profession was moulded at Berkley; it was a radical school. It was one of the few schools of the time that emphasised less on design and more on sociological impact. It was about creating patterns that enabled man to create communities on his own. That pushed me to work more on squatter resettlement and affordable housing for my thesis. Later on in his career, he worked with squatter communities on how to use the available space effectively in a city. In his career, Krishnan also worked on the SPIC Township, Thoothukudi and the ISRO Township at Sriharikota. Satish Dhawan (chairman of ISRO) was very open-minded and he gave me a free reign to design the township, he said. The result is that the city is very pedestrian-oriented, and children can walk to school. The market was very near the school; so parents could club both activities together, and the entire city was designed sector-wise for future expansion. He also had the opportunity to design buildings in the University of Mauritius, in a French-colonial style after seeing the innate connection they had to that style of architecture. Through these examples, Krishnan stated that architecture is more about connecting the dots between several disciplines such as engineering, design, sociology and resettlement. Ninety per cent of the buildings those days were built by engineers, not architects! he said. That was because not everyone could afford a design like those of Corbusier or Correa, so we architects had to work cheap, and work smart vis-a-vis the choice of materials and design. Today, you are spoilt for choices and you do not know what will work, and where! However, Krishnan enccouraged working architects to imbibe value engineering in their projects. Altruism and ethics should govern an architects actions. Unfortunately, nowadays more often than not, developers dictate terms to architects, he rued. You should take your idealism to the market, not let the market invade your idealism! Profit-motive must always be tempered with altruism, and it is important for architects to take an ideological stand. By Express News Service CHENNAI: In yet another attack on a working woman by a man known to her, a 31-year-old staff of Ashok Leyland was stabbed by a former colleague on Wednesday. While she survived the attack and is undergoing treatment, the man was caught by the public after being chased by two dogs owned by a local. The woman, Suchismitha, from Kolkata, was heading to the bus stop from her hostel in West Mambalam when she was intercepted by Raghunath (23), a mechanical engineer from Sivakasi, around 6.30 am. They began to argue and the man pulled out a small knife and stabbed her in the stomach more than once, leaving her bleeding on the ground, said Ram, an auto-rickshaw driver who helped nab Raghunath. Though Raghunath initially tried to flee on his motorbike, on noticing that Ram witnessed the incident, he got off the vehicle and hurled a stone at him. As he was walking towards Ram, threatening to stab him, the latters dogs charged at Raghunath. They chased him, making him trip on his bike. We then caught him and handed over to the police, said Ram. Raghunath During an inquiry, it was learnt that Raghunath had lost his job at Ashok Leyland in Minjur after a quarrel with Suchismitha in the staff bus last July. Following the incident, Suchismitha complained to her father, a senior staff in the company, and Raghunath was sacked. He has been unemployed since, said an investigating officer. The attacker was a not an employee of Ashok Leyland. He was a sub-contract employee, Ashok Leyland said in a statement here. A case has been registered and further investigations are on. Half an hour after they had helped nab the man who stabbed his former colleague, the two heroes of the day were seen busy playing with the neighbours while the media persons thronged the streets to click photos of them. They are fond of Ram and wouldnt let anybody near him. They accompany him every morning when he goes to drink tea at around 6 am. It was the same on Wednesday, when both the dogs followed him to the tea stall at the end of the road, and turned out to be in the spot light when they nabbed the suspect, said Revathy, Rams wife. The incident occurred on a busy road right next to a school, working womens hostel and opposite a famous temple. However, he could have escaped easily on his bike. The public threw stones at him, but were scared of the knife he had. If the dogs were not present, he would have fled the scene, said Lakshmi, a vendor. CHENNAI: In yet another attack on a working woman by a man known to her, a 31-year-old staff of Ashok Leyland was stabbed by a former colleague on Wednesday. While she survived the attack and is undergoing treatment, the man was caught by the public after being chased by two dogs owned by a local. The woman, Suchismitha, from Kolkata, was heading to the bus stop from her hostel in West Mambalam when she was intercepted by Raghunath (23), a mechanical engineer from Sivakasi, around 6.30 am. They began to argue and the man pulled out a small knife and stabbed her in the stomach more than once, leaving her bleeding on the ground, said Ram, an auto-rickshaw driver who helped nab Raghunath. Though Raghunath initially tried to flee on his motorbike, on noticing that Ram witnessed the incident, he got off the vehicle and hurled a stone at him. As he was walking towards Ram, threatening to stab him, the latters dogs charged at Raghunath. They chased him, making him trip on his bike. We then caught him and handed over to the police, said Ram. RaghunathDuring an inquiry, it was learnt that Raghunath had lost his job at Ashok Leyland in Minjur after a quarrel with Suchismitha in the staff bus last July. Following the incident, Suchismitha complained to her father, a senior staff in the company, and Raghunath was sacked. He has been unemployed since, said an investigating officer. The attacker was a not an employee of Ashok Leyland. He was a sub-contract employee, Ashok Leyland said in a statement here. A case has been registered and further investigations are on. Half an hour after they had helped nab the man who stabbed his former colleague, the two heroes of the day were seen busy playing with the neighbours while the media persons thronged the streets to click photos of them. They are fond of Ram and wouldnt let anybody near him. They accompany him every morning when he goes to drink tea at around 6 am. It was the same on Wednesday, when both the dogs followed him to the tea stall at the end of the road, and turned out to be in the spot light when they nabbed the suspect, said Revathy, Rams wife. The incident occurred on a busy road right next to a school, working womens hostel and opposite a famous temple. However, he could have escaped easily on his bike. The public threw stones at him, but were scared of the knife he had. If the dogs were not present, he would have fled the scene, said Lakshmi, a vendor. By PTI NEW DELHI: Around 20,000 resident doctors of government hospitals here, except AIIMS, went on casual leave en masse today in support of their counterparts in Maharashtra who are on strike. Healthcare services were hampered in the national capital because of the mass leave, but the resident doctors on emergency duty turned up for work. Residents doctors from around 40 government hospitals, including RML, Lady Hardinge Medical College, Safdarjung Hospital stayed away from work, while those at AIIMS continued with their protest against assaults on doctors by wearing helmets at work for the second day. "The action (mass causal leave) was taken in view assaults on doctors and also to show solidarity to our colleagues in Maharashtra who have been threatened with salary cuts for not joining duty," Dr Pankaj Solanki, president of The Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) said. FORDA is an umbrella body of all residents doctors in Delhi. The Indian Medical Association (IMA), which has around 2.7 lakh members across the country, has extended support to the strike while the doctors associated with Delhi Medical Association (DMA) have called for an Out Patient Department (OPD) bandh tomorrow. Dr Rakesh Kumar Gupta, president of DMA, however, said indoor patients and emergency services at hospitals will not be affected. "The incidents of assault on doctors is rising everyday. It is occurring both in government as well as private hospitals. Patients and their relatives are taking law into their hands which is not acceptable," state secretary of DMA Dr Ashwani Goyal said. Unfazed by the Maharashtra government's warning of suspension and cutting their pay, around 4,000 resident doctors abstained from work for the fourth day today demanding enhanced security, in the wake of a string of attacks on doctors by patients' kin at government hospitals in the state. The Bombay High Court stepped in to end the stir and directed the resident doctors to resume work immediately even as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis mooted a panel to resolve security issues in state-run hospitals. The HC observed that "medical attention" cannot wait, adding the profession of doctors is so "sacred" that they cannot afford to go on strike. Union Health Minister J P Nadda also joined Fadnavis in appealing to the resident doctors to get back to work and asked states to take measures to improve security of doctors. NEW DELHI: Around 20,000 resident doctors of government hospitals here, except AIIMS, went on casual leave en masse today in support of their counterparts in Maharashtra who are on strike. Healthcare services were hampered in the national capital because of the mass leave, but the resident doctors on emergency duty turned up for work. Residents doctors from around 40 government hospitals, including RML, Lady Hardinge Medical College, Safdarjung Hospital stayed away from work, while those at AIIMS continued with their protest against assaults on doctors by wearing helmets at work for the second day. "The action (mass causal leave) was taken in view assaults on doctors and also to show solidarity to our colleagues in Maharashtra who have been threatened with salary cuts for not joining duty," Dr Pankaj Solanki, president of The Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) said. FORDA is an umbrella body of all residents doctors in Delhi. The Indian Medical Association (IMA), which has around 2.7 lakh members across the country, has extended support to the strike while the doctors associated with Delhi Medical Association (DMA) have called for an Out Patient Department (OPD) bandh tomorrow. Dr Rakesh Kumar Gupta, president of DMA, however, said indoor patients and emergency services at hospitals will not be affected. "The incidents of assault on doctors is rising everyday. It is occurring both in government as well as private hospitals. Patients and their relatives are taking law into their hands which is not acceptable," state secretary of DMA Dr Ashwani Goyal said. Unfazed by the Maharashtra government's warning of suspension and cutting their pay, around 4,000 resident doctors abstained from work for the fourth day today demanding enhanced security, in the wake of a string of attacks on doctors by patients' kin at government hospitals in the state. The Bombay High Court stepped in to end the stir and directed the resident doctors to resume work immediately even as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis mooted a panel to resolve security issues in state-run hospitals. The HC observed that "medical attention" cannot wait, adding the profession of doctors is so "sacred" that they cannot afford to go on strike. Union Health Minister J P Nadda also joined Fadnavis in appealing to the resident doctors to get back to work and asked states to take measures to improve security of doctors. By PTI MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court today asked striking resident doctors in Maharashtra to resume work immediately while Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis appealed to them to call of the four-day stir, assuring security in hospitals. In Delhi, Union Health Minister J P Nadda asked states to take measures to improve security of doctors. After the HC's direction and the CM's appeal, the representatives of the protesting doctors went into a huddle to discuss the directive and the steps to be taken thereof. According to Dr Sagar Mundada, the chairman of the Indian Medical Association's youth wing, a decision on the matter will be taken soon. Nearly 4,000 resident doctors have been striking since Monday, demanding enhanced security in the wake of a string of attacks on doctors by patients' relatives at government hospitals across the state. The protests have been hampering the services of Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) in various hospitals. The HC asked the doctors to get back to work and resolve their issues and demands amicably with the government. A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice G S Kulkarni gave the directive while hearing a petition filed by activist Afak Mandaviya seeking action against the protesting doctors. The HC also directed the government and management of various hospitals not to take any punitive action against the doctors who were served notice yesterday for not resuming their duties. "The doctors will have to first go and resume their duty. All other issues can be amicably sorted out gradually," Chief Justice Chellur said. "We understand that the doctors are working in strained and horrible conditions sometimes, but we request them to resume work immediately," she said. Chief Minister Fadnavis, while making a statement in the state Legislative Assembly on the ongoing strike and its fallout on the public healthcare system, urged the doctors to follow their professional ethics by serving the people. "Because of the acts of a few irresponsible people of attacking doctors, it is not right to deny the poor their right to access to the medical facilities. I appeal to the doctors and their organisations to call off the strike and return to work," he said. The government had spoken to representatives of the striking doctors and accepted all their demands, he said. "The state has enacted special laws to protect doctors. The quantum of punishment has been increased and attacks on doctors made a non-bailable offence," the CM said. State Advocate General Rohit Deo informed the high court today that the government has decided to deploy an additional 1,100 armed police personnel from Maharashtra State Security Corporation in all the state and civic-run hospitals. "The first lot of 500 police personnel will be deployed at hospitals in Mumbai on April 5. The remaining 600 will be deployed at hospitals across the state by April 30," he said. "This will be in addition to the already deployed policemen at the hospitals," Deo said. The court accepted this statement and asked the doctors to resume work. "You (doctors) resume work and see if everything is done as assured by the government. We will hear the matter every fortnight and supervise the issue," the judges said. Fadnavis, while appealing to the doctors to resume work, said, "The laws need continuous upgradation and the government is open to discussion." "We will try to see that attacks on doctors do not happen and if it happens the perpetrators will be punished severely," the CM said. State Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan had earlier warned the protesting resident doctors that they would lose six months' pay and face suspension if they did not resume work by 8 PM yesterday. However, the doctors continued with their protest. The Indian Medical Association -- which has some 40,000 members in Maharashtra -- had yesterday extended support to the agitation. The protest also got support from various other organisations of medical consultants, orthopaedics, general practitioners, Mumbai Obstetric and Gynaecological Society, Association of Surgeons of India-Mumbai chapter, among others. A representative of the protesting doctors earlier said, "The resident doctors also need armed security personnel at sensitive places on the hospital premises. There should be an alarm system so that the doctors can call the security." "The pass system, commonly practised in private hospitals, should be implemented to restrict the number of relatives visiting a patient," he said. "There is also a need to make the attack on doctors a non-bailable offence and cases should be heard before fast track courts. These are our demands and we are not asking for the moon, still the state is not addressing it on priority," he said. MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court today asked striking resident doctors in Maharashtra to resume work immediately while Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis appealed to them to call of the four-day stir, assuring security in hospitals. In Delhi, Union Health Minister J P Nadda asked states to take measures to improve security of doctors. After the HC's direction and the CM's appeal, the representatives of the protesting doctors went into a huddle to discuss the directive and the steps to be taken thereof. According to Dr Sagar Mundada, the chairman of the Indian Medical Association's youth wing, a decision on the matter will be taken soon. Nearly 4,000 resident doctors have been striking since Monday, demanding enhanced security in the wake of a string of attacks on doctors by patients' relatives at government hospitals across the state. The protests have been hampering the services of Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) in various hospitals. The HC asked the doctors to get back to work and resolve their issues and demands amicably with the government. A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice G S Kulkarni gave the directive while hearing a petition filed by activist Afak Mandaviya seeking action against the protesting doctors. The HC also directed the government and management of various hospitals not to take any punitive action against the doctors who were served notice yesterday for not resuming their duties. "The doctors will have to first go and resume their duty. All other issues can be amicably sorted out gradually," Chief Justice Chellur said. "We understand that the doctors are working in strained and horrible conditions sometimes, but we request them to resume work immediately," she said. Chief Minister Fadnavis, while making a statement in the state Legislative Assembly on the ongoing strike and its fallout on the public healthcare system, urged the doctors to follow their professional ethics by serving the people. "Because of the acts of a few irresponsible people of attacking doctors, it is not right to deny the poor their right to access to the medical facilities. I appeal to the doctors and their organisations to call off the strike and return to work," he said. The government had spoken to representatives of the striking doctors and accepted all their demands, he said. "The state has enacted special laws to protect doctors. The quantum of punishment has been increased and attacks on doctors made a non-bailable offence," the CM said. State Advocate General Rohit Deo informed the high court today that the government has decided to deploy an additional 1,100 armed police personnel from Maharashtra State Security Corporation in all the state and civic-run hospitals. "The first lot of 500 police personnel will be deployed at hospitals in Mumbai on April 5. The remaining 600 will be deployed at hospitals across the state by April 30," he said. "This will be in addition to the already deployed policemen at the hospitals," Deo said. The court accepted this statement and asked the doctors to resume work. "You (doctors) resume work and see if everything is done as assured by the government. We will hear the matter every fortnight and supervise the issue," the judges said. Fadnavis, while appealing to the doctors to resume work, said, "The laws need continuous upgradation and the government is open to discussion." "We will try to see that attacks on doctors do not happen and if it happens the perpetrators will be punished severely," the CM said. State Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan had earlier warned the protesting resident doctors that they would lose six months' pay and face suspension if they did not resume work by 8 PM yesterday. However, the doctors continued with their protest. The Indian Medical Association -- which has some 40,000 members in Maharashtra -- had yesterday extended support to the agitation. The protest also got support from various other organisations of medical consultants, orthopaedics, general practitioners, Mumbai Obstetric and Gynaecological Society, Association of Surgeons of India-Mumbai chapter, among others. A representative of the protesting doctors earlier said, "The resident doctors also need armed security personnel at sensitive places on the hospital premises. There should be an alarm system so that the doctors can call the security." "The pass system, commonly practised in private hospitals, should be implemented to restrict the number of relatives visiting a patient," he said. "There is also a need to make the attack on doctors a non-bailable offence and cases should be heard before fast track courts. These are our demands and we are not asking for the moon, still the state is not addressing it on priority," he said. DailyFX.com - Talking Points: Aussie Dollar falls as bond yield drop hints RBA outlook eroding Yen edges lower as Asian stocks recover after blistering selloff US Dollar may extend decline on Yellen, Kashkari commentary The Australian Dollar underperformed in overnight trade, falling alongside local front-end bond yields. That speaks to a dovish shift in RBA monetary policy bets, though a standalone catalyst triggering it is not immediately apparent. The Yen declined as Asian stocks recovered a bit of lost ground following yesterdays blood-letting. The MSCI Asia Pacific regional benchmark equity index fell 1.25 percent, the most in over three months. The slight improvement in sentiment put pressure on the perennially anti-riskJapanese unit. A lackluster European data docket will probably see the markets looking ahead to Fed commentary for direction. Remarks from Chair Janet Yellen and Minneapolis branch President Neel Kashkari the sole FOMC vote against this months rate hike are due to cross the wires. Yellens pronouncements are famously measured and Kashkari is emerging as a prominent dove. That means their words are unlikely to change the minds of investors questioning the Feds hawkish conviction since last weeks meeting. Another timid showing may compound recent pressure on the US Dollar. Retail traders are long the US Dollar. What does that say about the trend? Find out here! Asia Session US Dollar May Fall Further on Cautious Fed Commentary European Session US Dollar May Fall Further on Cautious Fed Commentary ** All times listed in GMT. See the full DailyFX economic calendar here. --- Written by Ilya Spivak, Currency Strategist for DailyFX.com To receive Ilya's analysis directly via email, please SIGN UP HERE Contact and follow Ilya on Twitter: @IlyaSpivak original source DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets. Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from IG. By BNS The Superstars charm has earned him love from his female fans. But at times these fans end up scratching him in s bid to touch him. Recently at an event Shah Rukh announced in jest that he has hired lady bodyguards to protect himself. . I have appointed female bodyguards now; because I have a number of female fans which are uncountable. It was getting very rude when men (male bodyguard) were pushing women. Women have lovely long nails and their love hurts, he jokingly said in his trademark style, Its very difficult to explain about the nail scratches on my body to my wife and children at home. The Superstars charm has earned him love from his female fans. But at times these fans end up scratching him in s bid to touch him. Recently at an event Shah Rukh announced in jest that he has hired lady bodyguards to protect himself. . I have appointed female bodyguards now; because I have a number of female fans which are uncountable. It was getting very rude when men (male bodyguard) were pushing women. Women have lovely long nails and their love hurts, he jokingly said in his trademark style, Its very difficult to explain about the nail scratches on my body to my wife and children at home. By Express News Service The blue-coloured adorable little things The Smurfs have been the first movie characters to be declared as the brand ambassadors of Happiness by the UN, and with good reason. On International Happiness Day, to spread their joy, the Smurfs visited the sets of Golmaal Again. The Smurfs decided to bestow the Golmaal team as the Happiest in Bollywood and exclusively met the people behind the film! The cast and crew of Golmaal Again Ajay Devgn, Director Rohit Shetty, Parineeti Chopra, Arshad Warsi, Kunal Khemmu and Tusshar Kapoor were pleasantly surprised and extremely excited to meet the most loved characters Brainy Smurf and Smurfette. Smurfs - The Lost Village will release on April 21. The blue-coloured adorable little things The Smurfs have been the first movie characters to be declared as the brand ambassadors of Happiness by the UN, and with good reason. On International Happiness Day, to spread their joy, the Smurfs visited the sets of Golmaal Again. The Smurfs decided to bestow the Golmaal team as the Happiest in Bollywood and exclusively met the people behind the film! The cast and crew of Golmaal Again Ajay Devgn, Director Rohit Shetty, Parineeti Chopra, Arshad Warsi, Kunal Khemmu and Tusshar Kapoor were pleasantly surprised and extremely excited to meet the most loved characters Brainy Smurf and Smurfette. Smurfs - The Lost Village will release on April 21. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: While pushing for fast track mode of military acquisitions, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has said that the armed forces, in the present complex environment, should be well prepared for conventional warfare along the countrys borders. However, after the last Septembers surgical strike, ministry of defence has put several defence acquisitions on fast track mode. While at an event in national Army Chief maintained that in the present complex environment, technology is imbibed by the Armed Forces in a manner that will rapidly keep pace with the changing technologies before they become obsolete. But for that to happen it is important that we are able to identify the correct type of technology and equipment that is to be inducted into the Armed Forces, he stated. Gen. Rawat further emphasized that the Army has to keep pace with the digitized world and ensure that most of its systems are digitised as early as possible. At the same time it has to be remembered that war will be fought on the border and therefore the technology to be incorporated into the Armys communication system has to be ruggedized and light weight. Army chief, while avoiding to name any immediate enemy for the nation, has said that India will continue to face conventional or non-traditional forms of warfare and the armed forces will have to be ready to deal with any such challenge. He also said that communication technology for the armed forces must be simple, light-weight and easy to maintain as they will be required for wars on the borders, he said adding the technology must work in extreme weather conditions. Referring to social media, the army chief said the "adversaries" appeared to be taking advantage of it. He also talked about the need for having proper encryption mechanism, both for voice and data, for communication network for the armed forces. Addressing armed forces concerns, junior minister in the defence ministry Subhash Bhamre said the government was committed to fulfil requirements of the armed forces and that information technology can act as a force multiplier. NEW DELHI: While pushing for fast track mode of military acquisitions, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has said that the armed forces, in the present complex environment, should be well prepared for conventional warfare along the countrys borders. However, after the last Septembers surgical strike, ministry of defence has put several defence acquisitions on fast track mode. While at an event in national Army Chief maintained that in the present complex environment, technology is imbibed by the Armed Forces in a manner that will rapidly keep pace with the changing technologies before they become obsolete. But for that to happen it is important that we are able to identify the correct type of technology and equipment that is to be inducted into the Armed Forces, he stated. Gen. Rawat further emphasized that the Army has to keep pace with the digitized world and ensure that most of its systems are digitised as early as possible. At the same time it has to be remembered that war will be fought on the border and therefore the technology to be incorporated into the Armys communication system has to be ruggedized and light weight. Army chief, while avoiding to name any immediate enemy for the nation, has said that India will continue to face conventional or non-traditional forms of warfare and the armed forces will have to be ready to deal with any such challenge. He also said that communication technology for the armed forces must be simple, light-weight and easy to maintain as they will be required for wars on the borders, he said adding the technology must work in extreme weather conditions. Referring to social media, the army chief said the "adversaries" appeared to be taking advantage of it. He also talked about the need for having proper encryption mechanism, both for voice and data, for communication network for the armed forces. Addressing armed forces concerns, junior minister in the defence ministry Subhash Bhamre said the government was committed to fulfil requirements of the armed forces and that information technology can act as a force multiplier. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: The Centre evaded any direct reply on not allotting Rs 3100 crore sought by the Election Commission to have electronic voting machines with paper trail while it assured the Rajya Sabha that it will ensure increasing use of such machines in a phased manner as there are logistical issue. Speaking in Rajya Sabha on electoral reforms, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that electronic voting machines (EVMs) cannot be tempered with and targeted the Opposition that EVMs are correct when they win but are tempered with when the BJP wins. When we (BJP) lost Bihar and Delhi elections, we never questioned that there was problem with the EVMs but the entire opposition now (post elections in five states) is raising the issues that EVMs can be tempered, he said. The minister further said that it is not because of EVMs that the BSP, SP, Congress and other parties have lost in elections but because the people are convinced that Prime Minister Narendra Modis government will ensure development. They should accept peoples mandate with humility. People of India have shown faith in BJP ruled government and the opposition is troubled by the massive mandate we have got in elections, said Prasad. There were hot exchange of words between the minister and the opposition while BSP leader S C Mishra alleging that the people of Uttar Pradesh feel cheated after the election results as their votes went to some other party. The opposition said that the Supreme Court in a 2013 ruling has made it mandatory to have EVMs with Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) but the central government has not done anything to implement it in last four year. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the Centre doesnt want to allocate the money for the machines. The Election Commission has written 12 times to the Centre, including an SOS letter to Prime Minister by Chief Election Commissioner to allocate required Rs 3100 for acquiring the machines but money has not been allocated, he said. With the minister giving logistics reason like security and safety issues with the machines for delay, Azad said: When the government cannot secure the machines, how can they ensure safety of the nation. The minister said that in 2015, 67000 VVPATs were ordered but only 33000 have been received as there are only two PSUs which manufacture it. Some members demanded that VVPATs should be used in next assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Prasad said that the decision on this will be taken by the Election Commission. Not satisfied with the reply of the minister, the entire opposition walked out of the house. NEW DELHI: The Centre evaded any direct reply on not allotting Rs 3100 crore sought by the Election Commission to have electronic voting machines with paper trail while it assured the Rajya Sabha that it will ensure increasing use of such machines in a phased manner as there are logistical issue. Speaking in Rajya Sabha on electoral reforms, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that electronic voting machines (EVMs) cannot be tempered with and targeted the Opposition that EVMs are correct when they win but are tempered with when the BJP wins. When we (BJP) lost Bihar and Delhi elections, we never questioned that there was problem with the EVMs but the entire opposition now (post elections in five states) is raising the issues that EVMs can be tempered, he said. The minister further said that it is not because of EVMs that the BSP, SP, Congress and other parties have lost in elections but because the people are convinced that Prime Minister Narendra Modis government will ensure development. They should accept peoples mandate with humility. People of India have shown faith in BJP ruled government and the opposition is troubled by the massive mandate we have got in elections, said Prasad. There were hot exchange of words between the minister and the opposition while BSP leader S C Mishra alleging that the people of Uttar Pradesh feel cheated after the election results as their votes went to some other party. The opposition said that the Supreme Court in a 2013 ruling has made it mandatory to have EVMs with Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) but the central government has not done anything to implement it in last four year. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the Centre doesnt want to allocate the money for the machines. The Election Commission has written 12 times to the Centre, including an SOS letter to Prime Minister by Chief Election Commissioner to allocate required Rs 3100 for acquiring the machines but money has not been allocated, he said. With the minister giving logistics reason like security and safety issues with the machines for delay, Azad said: When the government cannot secure the machines, how can they ensure safety of the nation. The minister said that in 2015, 67000 VVPATs were ordered but only 33000 have been received as there are only two PSUs which manufacture it. Some members demanded that VVPATs should be used in next assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Prasad said that the decision on this will be taken by the Election Commission. Not satisfied with the reply of the minister, the entire opposition walked out of the house. By ANI MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said if a doctor is attacked on duty, he will be given medical aid borne by the government. The Chief Minister directed to provide security to sensitive hospitals with armed policeman and work for a long-term plan like monitored CCTV network. Fadnavis proposed setting up of an apex council with the government representatives and doctors and its interaction every three months to solve the issues time to time. The representatives of MARD met Fadnavis to discuss their issues. Ministers Girish Mahajan, Dr Deepak Sawant, DGP Satish were also Mathur present. Meanwhile, the Medical Teachers Association gave ultimatum of 48 hours, and said that they want their demands to be met otherwise they would go on mass resignation. Fadnavis earlier in the day requested the resident doctors to withdraw their strike immediately and ensured them security. We will take strong legal action against those who attack doctors and will ensure security to the doctors, he said. Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court has ordered the doctors on strike to resume their duties and give some time to the government for providing them proper security. The court also ordered the state government to provide security at all government hospitals so that the doctors can work without fear. More than a thousand doctors in Maharashtra have been protesting since Monday, demanding better security at hospitals with the increase in incidents of attacks by patients' relatives. MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said if a doctor is attacked on duty, he will be given medical aid borne by the government. The Chief Minister directed to provide security to sensitive hospitals with armed policeman and work for a long-term plan like monitored CCTV network. Fadnavis proposed setting up of an apex council with the government representatives and doctors and its interaction every three months to solve the issues time to time. The representatives of MARD met Fadnavis to discuss their issues. Ministers Girish Mahajan, Dr Deepak Sawant, DGP Satish were also Mathur present. Meanwhile, the Medical Teachers Association gave ultimatum of 48 hours, and said that they want their demands to be met otherwise they would go on mass resignation. Fadnavis earlier in the day requested the resident doctors to withdraw their strike immediately and ensured them security. We will take strong legal action against those who attack doctors and will ensure security to the doctors, he said. Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court has ordered the doctors on strike to resume their duties and give some time to the government for providing them proper security. The court also ordered the state government to provide security at all government hospitals so that the doctors can work without fear. More than a thousand doctors in Maharashtra have been protesting since Monday, demanding better security at hospitals with the increase in incidents of attacks by patients' relatives. Anuraag Singh By Express News Service BHOPAL: The ISIS inspired terror suspects from Uttar Pradesh behind the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train blast in Madhya Pradesh on March 7 had tried to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Dussehra rally in Lucknow in October 2016, but failed. Ten passengers had suffered injuries in the incident. Not only did they plan the blast with a pipe based IED at Aishbag Ramlila Ground to trigger panic, but also tried to plant it at the venue on October 10 night, hours before the PM's rally was slated for next evening, sources privy to investigators told The New Indian Express. The group comprising Mohd Saifullah (gunned down by UP ATS in encounter on March 7 late night), Danish Akhtar alias Jafar, Syed Mir Hussain alias Hamza and their leader Atif Muzaffar alias Al Qasim went with the bomb to the rally venue on October 10 night. After finding massive security at Aishbag ground, the ISIS suspects planted the IED at another ground close to PM's rally venue. The PM had addressed the Dussehra rally at Aishbag Ramlila Ground in Lucknow on October 11, 2016 evening. "Unable to find in media any news about any blast near PM's rally venue on October 12, 2016, the ISIS inspired men returned to the spot three days later, but found embers of exploded preparatory IED and it's subtle impact on the grassy ground adjacent to Aishbag Ramlila Ground," a key interrogator of the arrested trio claimed. Three of these men identified as Atif, Danish and Syed Mir Hussain were arrested by MP ATS from Pipariya in Hoshangabad district of MP a few hours after the train blast near Jabdi in Shajapur district (around 150 km from Bhopal) on March 7, 2017. The three men who are in NIA custody till March 27 were taken to Lucknow on Wednesday. The NIA team is likely to take them to those spots where they had tested 4-5 preparatory bombs in Lucknow and Kanpur months before carrying out the IED blast in the train in MP on March 7 morning, which is being seen as first terror act by ISIS inspired terror suspects anywhere in India, added sources. While one of the bombs was planted at the ground in vicinity of PM's Dussehra rally in Lucknow, another bomb prepared in a cold drink bottle was planted at railway tracks near Ghatampur Road in Kanpur district also in 2016, but it failed to give desired results. Another bomb in a small bottle was tested close to their rented hideout in Haji Colony (Thakurganj) in Lucknow last year where Saifullah was gunned down in encounter on March 7 night. According to the sources, the four men who drew inspiration for their acts from ISIS videos on the internet prepared the bombs based on al Qaeda literature available online. "Their first brush with crime, however, came when they gunned down a retired school headmaster in rural Kanpur in October 2016," said a senior state police official in Bhopal. They filmed their acts of crime and kept with them the newspaper clips of the headmaster's murder to prove their credentials for apparently furthering their dream of joining ISIS in Khorasen on Pak-Afghan border. They also conducted a recce of Sufi shrine Dewa Sharif in Barabanki, besides two other places of worship of Shia Muslims in Lucknow and Rae Bareli, all in UP. They also planned to kill a Muslim scholar in Lucknow for having issued statements against the Islamic State (IS. Sources told that the accused travelled across the country, spanning from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and Amritsar in Punjab to Kashmir just to sneak into Pakistan, but failed in their endeavour due to lack of local support. Failing to go to Pak-Afghan border, the four stayed in a village in Kozhikode (Kerala) for a few weeks to fly to the Middle East to join ISIS in Syria or Iraq, but failed. Prior to it they were holed up in jungles of Panna district in Madhya Pradesh. BHOPAL: The ISIS inspired terror suspects from Uttar Pradesh behind the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train blast in Madhya Pradesh on March 7 had tried to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Dussehra rally in Lucknow in October 2016, but failed. Ten passengers had suffered injuries in the incident. Not only did they plan the blast with a pipe based IED at Aishbag Ramlila Ground to trigger panic, but also tried to plant it at the venue on October 10 night, hours before the PM's rally was slated for next evening, sources privy to investigators told The New Indian Express. The group comprising Mohd Saifullah (gunned down by UP ATS in encounter on March 7 late night), Danish Akhtar alias Jafar, Syed Mir Hussain alias Hamza and their leader Atif Muzaffar alias Al Qasim went with the bomb to the rally venue on October 10 night. After finding massive security at Aishbag ground, the ISIS suspects planted the IED at another ground close to PM's rally venue. The PM had addressed the Dussehra rally at Aishbag Ramlila Ground in Lucknow on October 11, 2016 evening. "Unable to find in media any news about any blast near PM's rally venue on October 12, 2016, the ISIS inspired men returned to the spot three days later, but found embers of exploded preparatory IED and it's subtle impact on the grassy ground adjacent to Aishbag Ramlila Ground," a key interrogator of the arrested trio claimed. Three of these men identified as Atif, Danish and Syed Mir Hussain were arrested by MP ATS from Pipariya in Hoshangabad district of MP a few hours after the train blast near Jabdi in Shajapur district (around 150 km from Bhopal) on March 7, 2017. The three men who are in NIA custody till March 27 were taken to Lucknow on Wednesday. The NIA team is likely to take them to those spots where they had tested 4-5 preparatory bombs in Lucknow and Kanpur months before carrying out the IED blast in the train in MP on March 7 morning, which is being seen as first terror act by ISIS inspired terror suspects anywhere in India, added sources. While one of the bombs was planted at the ground in vicinity of PM's Dussehra rally in Lucknow, another bomb prepared in a cold drink bottle was planted at railway tracks near Ghatampur Road in Kanpur district also in 2016, but it failed to give desired results. Another bomb in a small bottle was tested close to their rented hideout in Haji Colony (Thakurganj) in Lucknow last year where Saifullah was gunned down in encounter on March 7 night. According to the sources, the four men who drew inspiration for their acts from ISIS videos on the internet prepared the bombs based on al Qaeda literature available online. "Their first brush with crime, however, came when they gunned down a retired school headmaster in rural Kanpur in October 2016," said a senior state police official in Bhopal. They filmed their acts of crime and kept with them the newspaper clips of the headmaster's murder to prove their credentials for apparently furthering their dream of joining ISIS in Khorasen on Pak-Afghan border. They also conducted a recce of Sufi shrine Dewa Sharif in Barabanki, besides two other places of worship of Shia Muslims in Lucknow and Rae Bareli, all in UP. They also planned to kill a Muslim scholar in Lucknow for having issued statements against the Islamic State (IS. Sources told that the accused travelled across the country, spanning from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and Amritsar in Punjab to Kashmir just to sneak into Pakistan, but failed in their endeavour due to lack of local support. Failing to go to Pak-Afghan border, the four stayed in a village in Kozhikode (Kerala) for a few weeks to fly to the Middle East to join ISIS in Syria or Iraq, but failed. Prior to it they were holed up in jungles of Panna district in Madhya Pradesh. By Online Desk One of Lucknow's oldest and legendary Lucknow Wale Tunday Kababi, founded in 1905, has been the go-to place for the famous Tunday Kebabs. This iconic eatery had shut shop on Wednesday because of a scarcity of meat. According to a Scroll.in report, Tunday Kababi had its four slaughterhouses sealed between 2013 and 2015. The report further elaborated that the buffalo meat serving outlet in Akbari Gate was shut, but the one serving chicken and mutton in Aminabad remained open. It is to be noted that UP is a state where cow, bullock and ox slaughter is banned, but buffaloes can be killed. Mohammad Usman, the owner, was quoted in the report saying that the supply of mutton and chicken had not been affected so far, but expressed apprehension about the overall meat shortage in the state. With large quantities of kababs that get produced every single day in Lucknow (estimated to be in tonnes), goat meat or chicken alone can't fulfil the demand. Buffalo meat has been traditionally used to make this Awadhi cuisine. Meat shortage has been the growing worry in Uttar Pradesh, a state which has an estimated 52.9% non-vegetarians, due to the new chief minister Yogi Adityanath's directives of shutting down of illegal abattoirs. Lucknow has already begun to face the heat of this with the civic body sealing nine meat shops so far. Lucknow is well known for its Mughlai -Awadhi cuisine, with non-veg kebabs dominating the recommended eatery list in the lanes and bylanes of the City of Nawabs. The city's tourism, in fact, thrives on this rich gourmet. According to National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data findings, the total quantity of buffalo meat consumed per month had decreased from 1.25 crore kg in 1999-2000 to 90.5 lakh kg in 2011-12. It also reveals that the state where Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched in 2015 when suspected of storing beef at his home, has the highest number of Muslims eating buffalo meat 1.73 crore followed by West Bengal (1.5 crore) and Assam (57 lakh). In a media interview last year, Chaudhary Ahleh Umar Qureshi, the U.P. secretary of All India Jamiatul Quresh, which has traditionally been engaged as butchers was quoted saying, 60-70 per cent of those who eat buffalo meat in the form of Lucknows famous kababs, may not get recorded in the above data since they are not consumed at home. Despite NSSO recording a decline in beef and buffalo meat consumption over the last decade in UP, Lucknow's kababs still require meat. Ever since Yogi Adityanath's swearing-in on March 19, the state has carried out several raids and began the process of shutting down slaughterhouses. According to Lucknow Municipal Corporation, this drive has been launched across 11 districts so far. The mouth-watering Tunday kebabs incorporate 160 spices. Ingredients include finely minced lamb or buffalo meat, plain yogurt, garam masala, grated ginger, crushed garlic, ground cardamom, powdered cloves, melted ghee, dried mint, small onions cut into rings, vinegar, sugar, lime. Does this make your mouth water? One of Lucknow's oldest and legendary Lucknow Wale Tunday Kababi, founded in 1905, has been the go-to place for the famous Tunday Kebabs. This iconic eatery had shut shop on Wednesday because of a scarcity of meat. According to a Scroll.in report, Tunday Kababi had its four slaughterhouses sealed between 2013 and 2015. The report further elaborated that the buffalo meat serving outlet in Akbari Gate was shut, but the one serving chicken and mutton in Aminabad remained open. It is to be noted that UP is a state where cow, bullock and ox slaughter is banned, but buffaloes can be killed. Mohammad Usman, the owner, was quoted in the report saying that the supply of mutton and chicken had not been affected so far, but expressed apprehension about the overall meat shortage in the state. With large quantities of kababs that get produced every single day in Lucknow (estimated to be in tonnes), goat meat or chicken alone can't fulfil the demand. Buffalo meat has been traditionally used to make this Awadhi cuisine. Meat shortage has been the growing worry in Uttar Pradesh, a state which has an estimated 52.9% non-vegetarians, due to the new chief minister Yogi Adityanath's directives of shutting down of illegal abattoirs. Lucknow has already begun to face the heat of this with the civic body sealing nine meat shops so far. Lucknow is well known for its Mughlai -Awadhi cuisine, with non-veg kebabs dominating the recommended eatery list in the lanes and bylanes of the City of Nawabs. The city's tourism, in fact, thrives on this rich gourmet. According to National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data findings, the total quantity of buffalo meat consumed per month had decreased from 1.25 crore kg in 1999-2000 to 90.5 lakh kg in 2011-12. It also reveals that the state where Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched in 2015 when suspected of storing beef at his home, has the highest number of Muslims eating buffalo meat 1.73 crore followed by West Bengal (1.5 crore) and Assam (57 lakh). In a media interview last year, Chaudhary Ahleh Umar Qureshi, the U.P. secretary of All India Jamiatul Quresh, which has traditionally been engaged as butchers was quoted saying, 60-70 per cent of those who eat buffalo meat in the form of Lucknows famous kababs, may not get recorded in the above data since they are not consumed at home. Despite NSSO recording a decline in beef and buffalo meat consumption over the last decade in UP, Lucknow's kababs still require meat. Ever since Yogi Adityanath's swearing-in on March 19, the state has carried out several raids and began the process of shutting down slaughterhouses. According to Lucknow Municipal Corporation, this drive has been launched across 11 districts so far. The mouth-watering Tunday kebabs incorporate 160 spices. Ingredients include finely minced lamb or buffalo meat, plain yogurt, garam masala, grated ginger, crushed garlic, ground cardamom, powdered cloves, melted ghee, dried mint, small onions cut into rings, vinegar, sugar, lime. Does this make your mouth water? Aishik Chanda By Express News Service KOLKATA: Five days after Calcutta High Court ordered the West Bengal government to take disciplinary action against former Burdwan Superintendent of Police (SP) S M H Mirza, who was caught accepting bribe in the Narada sting, the State government on Thursday issued a showcause notice to the officer who is at present the commandant of the Special Strike Force of West Bengal Police. Sources revealed that a departmental inquiry would be initiated against Mirza after which he may be suspended following solid evidence available against him. The IPS officer was the Burdwan SP when the sting operation was conducted in 2012 and was transferred to Barackpore to his current post in 2015. Meanwhile, Calcutta Police has booked a case of cheating against Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kanwar Deep Singh and his son Karandeep Singh and Pawan Verma of Alchemist company, based on a complaint filed by an employee alleging cheating of around Rs 2.5 crore. "Cases under Section 420 (cheating), 406 (breach of trust), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) of IPC at Bowbazaar Police Station in Kolkata," a police official told The New Indian Express. An FIR was filed by the Alchemist employee -- complainant in the case -- in the same police station on March 16. Incidentally, Narada TV CEO Matthew Samuel had alleged that the sting operation was conducted on the direction and sponsorship of Kanwar Deep Singh. KOLKATA: Five days after Calcutta High Court ordered the West Bengal government to take disciplinary action against former Burdwan Superintendent of Police (SP) S M H Mirza, who was caught accepting bribe in the Narada sting, the State government on Thursday issued a showcause notice to the officer who is at present the commandant of the Special Strike Force of West Bengal Police. Sources revealed that a departmental inquiry would be initiated against Mirza after which he may be suspended following solid evidence available against him. The IPS officer was the Burdwan SP when the sting operation was conducted in 2012 and was transferred to Barackpore to his current post in 2015. Meanwhile, Calcutta Police has booked a case of cheating against Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kanwar Deep Singh and his son Karandeep Singh and Pawan Verma of Alchemist company, based on a complaint filed by an employee alleging cheating of around Rs 2.5 crore. "Cases under Section 420 (cheating), 406 (breach of trust), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) of IPC at Bowbazaar Police Station in Kolkata," a police official told The New Indian Express. An FIR was filed by the Alchemist employee -- complainant in the case -- in the same police station on March 16. Incidentally, Narada TV CEO Matthew Samuel had alleged that the sting operation was conducted on the direction and sponsorship of Kanwar Deep Singh. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Pakistan on its national day on Thursday upped its Kashmir rhetoric with its High Commissioner in Delhi Abdul Basit commenting on the aspirations of the denizens of the Valley. This has not gone down well with the Indian establishment that termed the statement beyond the diplomatic niceties. In response to Basits statement, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Gopal Baglay said: They (Basits statement on Kashmir) are not in keeping with diplomatic niceties and this is tantamount to interference in our internal affairs. The MEA spokesperson tersely advised Pakistan to effectively address the challenge of terrorism emanating from the country that has adversely affected peace and stability in the entire neighbourhood as well as Pakistan's relations with other countries. Basit in his National Day speech at the Pakistan embassy contended that the solution to the Jammu and Kashmir issue needs to take the aspirations of the Kashmiris into account and wished that one day the struggle will prove successful. "As far as the Jammu and Kashmir issue is concerned, it should be resolved as per the aspirations of Kashmiris and hopefully it will be. We hope that we will resolve the issue but as per the aspirations of Kashmiris, Basit said. "And, I hope the struggle of the Kashmiris will, god willing, prove successful," he said, without elaborating what he meant by being successful. The year 2016 has been annus horribilis for the Indo-Pak ties. India has been time and again conveying its concerns regarding intensified series of infiltration and terrorist attacks from across the Line of Control (LOC) and International Border (IB). Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar met with Pakistans Foreign Secretary in New Delhi on April 26, 2016 and conveyed that Pakistan cannot be in denial on the impact of terrorism on the bilateral relationship. In the aftermath of Uri terrorist attack on September 18, 2016, the Pakistan High Commissioner was demarched by the Foreign Secretary twice on September 21 and September 27. NEW DELHI: Pakistan on its national day on Thursday upped its Kashmir rhetoric with its High Commissioner in Delhi Abdul Basit commenting on the aspirations of the denizens of the Valley. This has not gone down well with the Indian establishment that termed the statement beyond the diplomatic niceties. In response to Basits statement, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Gopal Baglay said: They (Basits statement on Kashmir) are not in keeping with diplomatic niceties and this is tantamount to interference in our internal affairs. The MEA spokesperson tersely advised Pakistan to effectively address the challenge of terrorism emanating from the country that has adversely affected peace and stability in the entire neighbourhood as well as Pakistan's relations with other countries. Basit in his National Day speech at the Pakistan embassy contended that the solution to the Jammu and Kashmir issue needs to take the aspirations of the Kashmiris into account and wished that one day the struggle will prove successful. "As far as the Jammu and Kashmir issue is concerned, it should be resolved as per the aspirations of Kashmiris and hopefully it will be. We hope that we will resolve the issue but as per the aspirations of Kashmiris, Basit said. "And, I hope the struggle of the Kashmiris will, god willing, prove successful," he said, without elaborating what he meant by being successful. The year 2016 has been annus horribilis for the Indo-Pak ties. India has been time and again conveying its concerns regarding intensified series of infiltration and terrorist attacks from across the Line of Control (LOC) and International Border (IB). Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar met with Pakistans Foreign Secretary in New Delhi on April 26, 2016 and conveyed that Pakistan cannot be in denial on the impact of terrorism on the bilateral relationship. In the aftermath of Uri terrorist attack on September 18, 2016, the Pakistan High Commissioner was demarched by the Foreign Secretary twice on September 21 and September 27. By PTI AGARTALA: The Railway ministry was exploring the possibility of connecting Tripura with Bangladesh from three sides, Minister of State for Railways, Rajen Gohain, said today. We have a sanctioned project to connect the Tripura state capital, Agartala, with Akhaura in Bangladesh. We are now exploring the possibility of connecting Belonia, the southernmost town in Tripura with Chittagong Port of Bangladesh through Feni district of the neighbouring country. Another route will be connecting Sabroom, the southernmost town in Tripura, with Chittagong port, Gohain told reporters here. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and Governor Tathagata Roy, in separate meetings with the Union minister, today urged Gohain to expedite the ongoing Railway projects in the state. Both of them also requested the Centre to introduce a Rajdhani Express from here, he said. Stating that the Railway ministry was trying to introduce the train from here, he did not give any time frame for it. The process of laying the 15.054 km long railway tracks to connect Agartala with Akhaura in Bangladesh will be completed in two years, Gohain said. Of the total 15 km long track, a stretch of five km will be on the Indian side and the rest in Bangladesh. The total project cost of Rs 972.52 crore would be borne by the Indian government", he said. Work on the Indian side was being funded by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region while the MEA was financing the work on the Bangladesh side, Gohain said. "Acquisition of land on the Indian soil has already begun and is likely to be completed by May this year and acquisition of land on the Bangladesh side is likely to be completed by July this year", Gohain said The construction for laying the Railway tracks would begin immediately after acquisition of lands on both sides, he said. The state government, he said, has also demanded linking of Jawharnagar in Dhalai district of Tripura with Kalay in Mizoram and Myanmar to bring Tripura in the Trans-Asian railway map. We have kept all the proposals of the state government in our consideration, but are yet to fix up any target for the trans-Asian railway or connecting the two southernmost towns with Chittagong, Gohain said. New Delhi, the minister said, was keen to establish the Railway link which will connect West Bengal and Tripura through Bangladesh. The Agartala-Akhaura railway route will connect Indian Railways with Bangladesh Railways to improve connectivity and boost trade between the two countries. The neighbouring country had agreed to lay the tracks between Akhaura and Agartala during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas visit to New Delhi in January 2010. AGARTALA: The Railway ministry was exploring the possibility of connecting Tripura with Bangladesh from three sides, Minister of State for Railways, Rajen Gohain, said today. We have a sanctioned project to connect the Tripura state capital, Agartala, with Akhaura in Bangladesh. We are now exploring the possibility of connecting Belonia, the southernmost town in Tripura with Chittagong Port of Bangladesh through Feni district of the neighbouring country. Another route will be connecting Sabroom, the southernmost town in Tripura, with Chittagong port, Gohain told reporters here. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and Governor Tathagata Roy, in separate meetings with the Union minister, today urged Gohain to expedite the ongoing Railway projects in the state. Both of them also requested the Centre to introduce a Rajdhani Express from here, he said. Stating that the Railway ministry was trying to introduce the train from here, he did not give any time frame for it. The process of laying the 15.054 km long railway tracks to connect Agartala with Akhaura in Bangladesh will be completed in two years, Gohain said. Of the total 15 km long track, a stretch of five km will be on the Indian side and the rest in Bangladesh. The total project cost of Rs 972.52 crore would be borne by the Indian government", he said. Work on the Indian side was being funded by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region while the MEA was financing the work on the Bangladesh side, Gohain said. "Acquisition of land on the Indian soil has already begun and is likely to be completed by May this year and acquisition of land on the Bangladesh side is likely to be completed by July this year", Gohain said The construction for laying the Railway tracks would begin immediately after acquisition of lands on both sides, he said. The state government, he said, has also demanded linking of Jawharnagar in Dhalai district of Tripura with Kalay in Mizoram and Myanmar to bring Tripura in the Trans-Asian railway map. We have kept all the proposals of the state government in our consideration, but are yet to fix up any target for the trans-Asian railway or connecting the two southernmost towns with Chittagong, Gohain said. New Delhi, the minister said, was keen to establish the Railway link which will connect West Bengal and Tripura through Bangladesh. The Agartala-Akhaura railway route will connect Indian Railways with Bangladesh Railways to improve connectivity and boost trade between the two countries. The neighbouring country had agreed to lay the tracks between Akhaura and Agartala during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas visit to New Delhi in January 2010. By Anjali Athavaley, Jessica Toonkel and Julia Love (Reuters) - U.S. wireless carriers Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Wednesday they have suspended digital advertising on Google's YouTube and other advertising platforms not related to search over concerns that their ads may have run next to extremist videos. Verizon and AT&T joined a list of well-known British brands such as retailer Marks and Spencer Group Plc (MKS.L) deserting Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google. Google is under fire in Europe from politicians and brands angered by ads appearing alongside videos on its YouTube platform carrying homophobic or anti-Semitic messages. Google on Tuesday vowed an overhaul of its practices. The company must act swiftly to ensure that more advertisers do not pile on, analysts say. As advertisers revolt, the search giant faces both a short-term loss of revenue and a long-term danger that companies will lose faith in the automated placement of ads upon which Google has built its empire, said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research. "The bigger risk is this seems to be a backlash against programmatic advertising in general," Dawson said. "There's this worry that you no longer have control over where ads appear." AT&T is removing ads from the non-search inventory on Google because its "ads may have appeared alongside YouTube content promoting terrorism and hate," the company wrote in an email. Verizon said it had suspended all digital advertising not related to search after saying earlier on Wednesday that it had only suspended advertising on Google's non-search platforms. It took the action after its ads were appearing on "non-sanctioned websites," a spokeswoman wrote in an email. "We are working with all of our digital advertising partners to understand the weak links so we can prevent this from happening in the future," the spokeswoman said. Google declined to comment on individual customers but said it has begun a review of its advertising policies. The news that AT&T and Verizon were suspending Google ads was first reported by Britain's Times newspaper. Story continues Other big brands, such as Mondelez International Inc (MDLZ.O), were keeping an eye on the situation. While Mondelez has not seen evidence that its ads have appeared alongside inappropriate content, it is in constant discussion with both Google and YouTube and will be monitoring the issue closely, a spokeswoman said. YouTube has been a key driver of growth for Google as its traditional business of search advertising matures. Googles net ad revenue worldwide from YouTube was $5.58 billion last year, according to New York-based research firm eMarketer. It is expected to hit $7 billion in 2017, according to a forecast by eMarketer made before the recent controversy. One question many people are asking is whether advertisers will reallocate the marketing dollars they have devoted to YouTube to other platforms, said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research. Wieser, however, thinks that if the boycott is widespread enough, no one else will benefit. If you know all of your competitors are reducing their spending too, then you dont need to spend more, he said. Google must walk a fine line between giving advertisers more control and alienating the massive community of content creators who have made the site a top destination for coveted young viewers. One likely path forward for Google is to tighten controls on which videos are eligible for advertising, perhaps by the channel's track record or number of viewers, said Dawson. But any such restrictions risk hurting artists with small followings. "Google is caught between a rock and a hard place here between its creators and its advertisers," Dawson said. (Reporting by Anjali Athavaley and Jessica Toonkel in New York and Julia Love in San Francisco.; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Lisa Shumaker) By ANI NEW DELHI: Veteran politician S.M. Krishna, who yesterday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has clearly blamed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his exit from the grand old party, stating that one should be serious if one has to rebuild the party from grass root level to the paramount level. "I have been watching from past two and a half years that the leader of the Congress, excluding Sonia Gandhi the party is least concerned about the party. There is no seriousness at all. If one has to re-build the party from grass root level to the paramount level, one should be serious." Krishna told ANI. "But I did not find neither commitment nor that capacity to sweat it out," he added. Citing example of the recent elections in the Uttar Pradesh, Krishna stated that unfortunately the grand old party is leading towards a Congress Mukt Bharat. In the Uttar Pradesh elections, the smaller parties which were given 30 seats, won at least nine seats. On the other hand, here a national party who ruled for so many years took 100 seats from the other party and in return gave six or seven seats, he added. Hailing Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her leadership quality, Krishna said, "She used to address so many public meetings and how she used to act with workers. She used to identify workers by nameS. Here at the present time there is no concern at all. Krishna joined the BJP on Wednesday, almost a year before the assembly electionS in Karnataka. The 84-year-old joined the BJP in the presence of party president Amit Shah and union ministers Ananth Kumar and D.V. Sadananda Gowda. NEW DELHI: Veteran politician S.M. Krishna, who yesterday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has clearly blamed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his exit from the grand old party, stating that one should be serious if one has to rebuild the party from grass root level to the paramount level. "I have been watching from past two and a half years that the leader of the Congress, excluding Sonia Gandhi the party is least concerned about the party. There is no seriousness at all. If one has to re-build the party from grass root level to the paramount level, one should be serious." Krishna told ANI. "But I did not find neither commitment nor that capacity to sweat it out," he added. Citing example of the recent elections in the Uttar Pradesh, Krishna stated that unfortunately the grand old party is leading towards a Congress Mukt Bharat. In the Uttar Pradesh elections, the smaller parties which were given 30 seats, won at least nine seats. On the other hand, here a national party who ruled for so many years took 100 seats from the other party and in return gave six or seven seats, he added. Hailing Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her leadership quality, Krishna said, "She used to address so many public meetings and how she used to act with workers. She used to identify workers by nameS. Here at the present time there is no concern at all. Krishna joined the BJP on Wednesday, almost a year before the assembly electionS in Karnataka. The 84-year-old joined the BJP in the presence of party president Amit Shah and union ministers Ananth Kumar and D.V. Sadananda Gowda. By PTI PATNA: Two entrepreneurs, detained for creating ruckus in the presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a start up meet here, have alleged that they were "treated as criminals and not entrepreneurs" by the police. The police, however, denied the allegation and said that they were released after normal questioning. The two entrepreneurs, who were frequently speaking without the chief minister's permission at the programme held last Tuesday, were detained by the Patna police and questioned at Gandhi Maidan police station for a personal background check. The two persons today appeared before the media and alleged that the police kept them at Gandhi Maidan police station for over seven hours and did not allow them to have food or tea. The duo, who identified themselves as Nemi Kumar and Suresh Kumar Sharma, complained that they were "treated like criminals and not entrepreneurs" during their detention. Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj told PTI today that he had got the matter inquired by Probationer Additional Superintendent of Police, Yogendra Kumar, who said there was no case of torture of the two. "Still if the entrepreneurs have any complaint against the police I will look into it," the SSP said. The two were released after normal questioning, the SSP said. When the reaction of state industries minister Jai Kumar Singh was sought on the matter, he told reporters that he was not aware of police action. PATNA: Two entrepreneurs, detained for creating ruckus in the presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a start up meet here, have alleged that they were "treated as criminals and not entrepreneurs" by the police. The police, however, denied the allegation and said that they were released after normal questioning. The two entrepreneurs, who were frequently speaking without the chief minister's permission at the programme held last Tuesday, were detained by the Patna police and questioned at Gandhi Maidan police station for a personal background check. The two persons today appeared before the media and alleged that the police kept them at Gandhi Maidan police station for over seven hours and did not allow them to have food or tea. The duo, who identified themselves as Nemi Kumar and Suresh Kumar Sharma, complained that they were "treated like criminals and not entrepreneurs" during their detention. Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj told PTI today that he had got the matter inquired by Probationer Additional Superintendent of Police, Yogendra Kumar, who said there was no case of torture of the two. "Still if the entrepreneurs have any complaint against the police I will look into it," the SSP said. The two were released after normal questioning, the SSP said. When the reaction of state industries minister Jai Kumar Singh was sought on the matter, he told reporters that he was not aware of police action. Fayaz Wani By Express News Service SRINAGAR: The woman separatist group in Kashmir, Dukhtaran-e-Millat (daughters of nation) Thursday celebrated Pakistan National Day in Srinagar by singing countrys national anthem and waving the flags. The Dukhtaran-e-Milltat (DeM) chairperson and hardline separatist leader Asiya Andrabi alongwith other women activists of the group assembled somewhere in Srinagar and celebrated the Pakistan National day. In the video, which has gone viral on social media, the burqa clad activists of DeM are seen singing Pakistan national anthem and waving the flags of the country to celebrate countrys National Day. A spokesman of DeM said the function to celebrate Pakistan Day was chaired by party chairperson, Asiya Andrabi and attended by hundreds of party members. She said the party members and women participated in the progarmmes and celebrated the Pakistan Day with great zeal and enthusiasm. The Pakistani flags were waved and countrys national anthem sung to express love and solidarity with Pakistan, she said. Asiya in her address to the participants said they were celebrating the day on a land that belongs to them. We are not celebrating this day on someone elses land but we are celebrating this great day on the land which has been occupied by India and is destined to become part of Pakistan, she said adding, Though J&K is disputed territory, the celebrations is a clear message that we want to end all forcible, illegal and sinister relations with India and want to join Pakistan. The PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir barred the separatist leaders from visiting Pakistan embassy in New Delhi to attend the Pakistan Day function there. All the top separatist leaders including Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mohammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, were either placed under house arrest or detained to prevent them from reaching Delhi to attend the Pakistan Day function. The Pakistan envoy to India had invited all top separatist leaders in the Valley to attend Pakistan Day function at its embassy in New Delhi today. It was for the first time in over 27 years of turmoil in the Valley that the government barred all separatist leaders from attending the Pakistan Day function at Pakistan embassy. The separatist leaders have slammed the government for curbs on them and said such tactics was reflection of repressive mindset of rulers in Jammu and Kashmir. SRINAGAR: The woman separatist group in Kashmir, Dukhtaran-e-Millat (daughters of nation) Thursday celebrated Pakistan National Day in Srinagar by singing countrys national anthem and waving the flags. The Dukhtaran-e-Milltat (DeM) chairperson and hardline separatist leader Asiya Andrabi alongwith other women activists of the group assembled somewhere in Srinagar and celebrated the Pakistan National day. In the video, which has gone viral on social media, the burqa clad activists of DeM are seen singing Pakistan national anthem and waving the flags of the country to celebrate countrys National Day. A spokesman of DeM said the function to celebrate Pakistan Day was chaired by party chairperson, Asiya Andrabi and attended by hundreds of party members. She said the party members and women participated in the progarmmes and celebrated the Pakistan Day with great zeal and enthusiasm. The Pakistani flags were waved and countrys national anthem sung to express love and solidarity with Pakistan, she said. Asiya in her address to the participants said they were celebrating the day on a land that belongs to them. We are not celebrating this day on someone elses land but we are celebrating this great day on the land which has been occupied by India and is destined to become part of Pakistan, she said adding, Though J&K is disputed territory, the celebrations is a clear message that we want to end all forcible, illegal and sinister relations with India and want to join Pakistan. The PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir barred the separatist leaders from visiting Pakistan embassy in New Delhi to attend the Pakistan Day function there. All the top separatist leaders including Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mohammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, were either placed under house arrest or detained to prevent them from reaching Delhi to attend the Pakistan Day function. The Pakistan envoy to India had invited all top separatist leaders in the Valley to attend Pakistan Day function at its embassy in New Delhi today. It was for the first time in over 27 years of turmoil in the Valley that the government barred all separatist leaders from attending the Pakistan Day function at Pakistan embassy. The separatist leaders have slammed the government for curbs on them and said such tactics was reflection of repressive mindset of rulers in Jammu and Kashmir. By Express News Service Even as the Supreme Court on Wednesday constituted a committee of representatives to explore technical solutions and block videos of rape and child pornography from being circulated on social media, a married woman from East Champaran district of Bihar filed a complaint against five men of her village who raped her, filmed the incident and circulated the video on WhatsApp. While the discourse over the rising rape culture has made significant progress since the infamous Delhi gang-rape of 2012, the discussion about its digital manifestation is minimal and the number of rape and child pornographic videos being shared online only rises. The SC constituted a committee, including members from the Central government and Internet majors, to explore technical solutions and block videos of such sexual offences in the digital world. The committee, comprising nominees of Google India, Microsoft India, Yahoo India, Facebook and others, have been given 15 days time to come up with a concrete solution. The court took suo motu cognizance of the issue based on a letter sent by a Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala. The organisation had also sent two such rape videos that were circulated on WhatsApp. According to media reports, such videos are also sold with the price ranging between Rs 20 and Rs 200. While experts and activists have welcomed the SCs action, technical limitations and lack of a sturdy reporting system, they claim, remain issues of concern. Years after internet made its way into homes and phones, India is yet to comprehensively collate data on the prevalence of child pornography. In 2015, only 96 cases of child pornography were reported, which was a whopping 135 per cent increase from the previous year. However, independent studies peg the numbers to be much higher. A study conducted by ChildLine India Foundation, way back in 2007, claimed that over 48 per cent of children below 12 years of age surveyed admitted to have being photographed nude. Grappling with the issue, the local authorities recently sought the help of the international police agency Interpol to crack down on websites posting such content. Experts claim the biggest challenge in restricting content is that most of it is hosted from other countries. According to data compiled by UK-based Internet Watch Foundation, only 2 per cent of all child pornography material was produced in Asia in 2015, while a whopping 57 per cent came from North America and 41% from Europe. Activists argue that there is a lack of immediacy in dealing with such cases and taking action. Vidya Reddy of Tulir Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse cites the example of a case her organisation has been dealing with. Tulir filed a case in 2015 regarding child abuse images being shared on Facebook. While the pages were taken down and a case was registered, not a single hearing has taken place, she says. The impact of the content on a disturbed audience could lead to further cases of child abuse and violence, say psychologists. When a psychologically deviant population is exposed to such wild and weird forms of sex through pornography, they crave to imitate the activities they see on-screen, says noted Kochi-based psychiatrist Dr P N Sureshkumar. Even as the Supreme Court on Wednesday constituted a committee of representatives to explore technical solutions and block videos of rape and child pornography from being circulated on social media, a married woman from East Champaran district of Bihar filed a complaint against five men of her village who raped her, filmed the incident and circulated the video on WhatsApp. While the discourse over the rising rape culture has made significant progress since the infamous Delhi gang-rape of 2012, the discussion about its digital manifestation is minimal and the number of rape and child pornographic videos being shared online only rises. The SC constituted a committee, including members from the Central government and Internet majors, to explore technical solutions and block videos of such sexual offences in the digital world. The committee, comprising nominees of Google India, Microsoft India, Yahoo India, Facebook and others, have been given 15 days time to come up with a concrete solution. The court took suo motu cognizance of the issue based on a letter sent by a Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala. The organisation had also sent two such rape videos that were circulated on WhatsApp. According to media reports, such videos are also sold with the price ranging between Rs 20 and Rs 200. While experts and activists have welcomed the SCs action, technical limitations and lack of a sturdy reporting system, they claim, remain issues of concern. Years after internet made its way into homes and phones, India is yet to comprehensively collate data on the prevalence of child pornography. In 2015, only 96 cases of child pornography were reported, which was a whopping 135 per cent increase from the previous year. However, independent studies peg the numbers to be much higher. A study conducted by ChildLine India Foundation, way back in 2007, claimed that over 48 per cent of children below 12 years of age surveyed admitted to have being photographed nude. Grappling with the issue, the local authorities recently sought the help of the international police agency Interpol to crack down on websites posting such content. Experts claim the biggest challenge in restricting content is that most of it is hosted from other countries. According to data compiled by UK-based Internet Watch Foundation, only 2 per cent of all child pornography material was produced in Asia in 2015, while a whopping 57 per cent came from North America and 41% from Europe. Activists argue that there is a lack of immediacy in dealing with such cases and taking action. Vidya Reddy of Tulir Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse cites the example of a case her organisation has been dealing with. Tulir filed a case in 2015 regarding child abuse images being shared on Facebook. While the pages were taken down and a case was registered, not a single hearing has taken place, she says. The impact of the content on a disturbed audience could lead to further cases of child abuse and violence, say psychologists. When a psychologically deviant population is exposed to such wild and weird forms of sex through pornography, they crave to imitate the activities they see on-screen, says noted Kochi-based psychiatrist Dr P N Sureshkumar. Padmaja Shaw By A constitutional democracy like India subsumes a diversity of voices in its political process. A wide spectrum of ideas competing for popular acceptance should be at the core of a democracy. The Indian version of democracy, however, violates this basic idea by banning some political ideologies. The ban then leads to criminalising people associated with those ideologies. By defining some political views out of the democratic process, the state sets up the first basis for undermining its own democratic credentials. The so-called three pillar conception of democracythe legislative, executive and judiciary is expected to provide checks and balances to guard against abuse of power by any one of the three arms. The very idea implies that each of the arms is prone to excess. Over the last several decades, in the name of combating terror or insurgencies, the Indian state has sought to meet political challenges to its legitimacy by empowering itself with arbitrary powers. With the promulgation of public security acts in various states, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the executive arm has empowered itself disproportionately. As Giorgio Agamben explains in his seminal book State of Exception, when the military authoritys wartime powers are extended to the civilian sphere, it soon leads to suspension of the constitution. Law encompasses living beings by means of its own suspension and soon exception becomes the rule. In Kashmir, North East and Central India, we are witnessing the abuse of such acts with great impunity. The way lower courts in India operate, they strengthen the impunity and lawlessness that has characterised Indian law enforcement agencies. A fact-finding team from Telangana comprising high court lawyers, Dalit and Adivasi rights activists, research scholars, and a journalist was picked up from the State by plainclothes policemen from Chhattisgarh on December 25, 2016 and booked under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA). When their second bail petition came up for hearing in the Dantewada District Court, neither the public prosecutor assigned to argue the case, nor the police who filed the case ensured the documentation required was presented to the court and the defence lawyers. The case diary itself was not presented. They had to be given several hours to fetch the case diary and the panchnama reports. The prosecutors refused to share any of the records including the seizure reports. The defence lawyers were supposed to defend their clients flying blind, without any information about what they are being accused of. The charges were filed under the CSPSA without following due process prescribed under that Act. The accused were caught in Telangana but the police claimed the arrest was made in Chhattisgarh. The public prosecutor even accused them of entering Chhattisgarh without permission. Now, for the lower courts, neither the patently false charges, nor the violation of the Act itself matter. The judge listens to the arguments and rejects bail because they have been charged under serious provisions of CSPSA. It is rare for a judge to question the need to invoke CSPSA in the first place. To be charged under the Act itself becomes the justification. No further fact or proof is necessary. Additionally, the system was under severe political pressure to refuse bail as, for the first time, lawyers and civil society activists were going on a factfinding mission to investigate the atrocities perpetrated on Adivasis by the state agencies. People who speak for the rights of Adivasi and against rights violations perpetrated by state agencies have to be silenced with threat s o f long incarceration. In Binayak Sens case, reminding the lower courts that India is a democracy, the Supreme Court said mere possession of literature or being a sympathiser of a banned organisation is not a crime. In Anup Bhuyans case, the apex court said membership of a banned organisation is not a crime, unless the individual directly incites violence or participates in violent activities. Recently, Prof. G N Sai Baba and four others have been handed life sentence for their association with Maoists by a sessions court in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. The UAPA was invoked. Again, the state is not obliged to prove what has been seized from the accused. And whether such seizures prove any violent crime was committed by them is not even debated at the lower rungs of the judicial process. Earlier judgments of the apex court do not seem to matter. Invocation of the UAPA itself appears sufficient to justify denial of bail. Special police forces have complete freedom to detain anyone and charge them under these Orwellian laws that are supposed to protect public security. They are under no obligation to follow either the norms set out by the Supreme Court for invoking these laws, nor are they obliged to prove anything at the lower courts. The victims have to wade through this insensitive legal system for years and give up several years of their lives before their case reaches the apex court. Neither the police who have falsely charged people under these laws, nor the judges who play along with the local police and the politicians have ever received more than a rebuke from the apex court. So it is imperative that such acts which confer wartime military powers in perpetuity to civilian governments are revoked to stop this erosion of the moral core of our democracy. Though in the name of law and order, exceptionally broad regulatory power granted to the executive may be compatible with democracies in the short-term, Agamben says systematic use of such practice will necessarily lead to the liquidation of democracy. Padmaja Shaw A retired journalism professor, Osmania University Email: padmajashaw@gmail.com A constitutional democracy like India subsumes a diversity of voices in its political process. A wide spectrum of ideas competing for popular acceptance should be at the core of a democracy. The Indian version of democracy, however, violates this basic idea by banning some political ideologies. The ban then leads to criminalising people associated with those ideologies. By defining some political views out of the democratic process, the state sets up the first basis for undermining its own democratic credentials. The so-called three pillar conception of democracythe legislative, executive and judiciary is expected to provide checks and balances to guard against abuse of power by any one of the three arms. The very idea implies that each of the arms is prone to excess. Over the last several decades, in the name of combating terror or insurgencies, the Indian state has sought to meet political challenges to its legitimacy by empowering itself with arbitrary powers. With the promulgation of public security acts in various states, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the executive arm has empowered itself disproportionately. As Giorgio Agamben explains in his seminal book State of Exception, when the military authoritys wartime powers are extended to the civilian sphere, it soon leads to suspension of the constitution. Law encompasses living beings by means of its own suspension and soon exception becomes the rule. In Kashmir, North East and Central India, we are witnessing the abuse of such acts with great impunity. The way lower courts in India operate, they strengthen the impunity and lawlessness that has characterised Indian law enforcement agencies. A fact-finding team from Telangana comprising high court lawyers, Dalit and Adivasi rights activists, research scholars, and a journalist was picked up from the State by plainclothes policemen from Chhattisgarh on December 25, 2016 and booked under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA). When their second bail petition came up for hearing in the Dantewada District Court, neither the public prosecutor assigned to argue the case, nor the police who filed the case ensured the documentation required was presented to the court and the defence lawyers. The case diary itself was not presented. They had to be given several hours to fetch the case diary and the panchnama reports. The prosecutors refused to share any of the records including the seizure reports. The defence lawyers were supposed to defend their clients flying blind, without any information about what they are being accused of. The charges were filed under the CSPSA without following due process prescribed under that Act. The accused were caught in Telangana but the police claimed the arrest was made in Chhattisgarh. The public prosecutor even accused them of entering Chhattisgarh without permission. Now, for the lower courts, neither the patently false charges, nor the violation of the Act itself matter. The judge listens to the arguments and rejects bail because they have been charged under serious provisions of CSPSA. It is rare for a judge to question the need to invoke CSPSA in the first place. To be charged under the Act itself becomes the justification. No further fact or proof is necessary. Additionally, the system was under severe political pressure to refuse bail as, for the first time, lawyers and civil society activists were going on a factfinding mission to investigate the atrocities perpetrated on Adivasis by the state agencies. People who speak for the rights of Adivasi and against rights violations perpetrated by state agencies have to be silenced with threat s o f long incarceration. In Binayak Sens case, reminding the lower courts that India is a democracy, the Supreme Court said mere possession of literature or being a sympathiser of a banned organisation is not a crime. In Anup Bhuyans case, the apex court said membership of a banned organisation is not a crime, unless the individual directly incites violence or participates in violent activities. Recently, Prof. G N Sai Baba and four others have been handed life sentence for their association with Maoists by a sessions court in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. The UAPA was invoked. Again, the state is not obliged to prove what has been seized from the accused. And whether such seizures prove any violent crime was committed by them is not even debated at the lower rungs of the judicial process. Earlier judgments of the apex court do not seem to matter. Invocation of the UAPA itself appears sufficient to justify denial of bail. Special police forces have complete freedom to detain anyone and charge them under these Orwellian laws that are supposed to protect public security. They are under no obligation to follow either the norms set out by the Supreme Court for invoking these laws, nor are they obliged to prove anything at the lower courts. The victims have to wade through this insensitive legal system for years and give up several years of their lives before their case reaches the apex court. Neither the police who have falsely charged people under these laws, nor the judges who play along with the local police and the politicians have ever received more than a rebuke from the apex court. So it is imperative that such acts which confer wartime military powers in perpetuity to civilian governments are revoked to stop this erosion of the moral core of our democracy. Though in the name of law and order, exceptionally broad regulatory power granted to the executive may be compatible with democracies in the short-term, Agamben says systematic use of such practice will necessarily lead to the liquidation of democracy. Padmaja Shaw A retired journalism professor, Osmania University Email: padmajashaw@gmail.com Shiva Prasad Dora By Express News Service RAYAGADA: The Dongria Kondhs of the Niyamgiri hills in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts, a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) which shot into limelight for their fight against bauxite mining, are caught in the crossfire between the security forces and the Maoists. Constantly under watch of the Left Wing Extremists who hold sway over Rayagada-Kalahandi-Balangir axis, the tribals have become soft targets. Some of the Dongrias, who have leaned towards the civic action programmes (or Maitri Mela) frequently conducted by the police, have faced death. The killing of Mali Pushika by the Maoists on Tuesday has further exposed the reign of terror unleashed in the hills. The police had planned a Maitri Mela in the Niyamgiri hills on Tuesday but called it off following a tip-off about the presence of the rebels. The body of Pushika of Salphajhola village was lying deserted for five to six hours and later cremated by the Dongrias in the evening. Police could not reach the place to recover the body or conduct a post-mortem. Police said Pushika was targeted because he had refused to withdraw a rape case which he had registered against one Bari Pidikaka of Tahali village, reportedly a member of Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti. This is not a solitary case. Earlier, Dadhi Sikaka of Ambodhuni village, Tahalu Sikaka of Dangamati village, Manu Sikaka of Phakeri village and Syam Kadraka of Nirgundi village fell prey to the Maoists after being branded as police informers. In all the cases, no post-mortem was done as the bodies were cremated by the Dongrias before the police could reach the spot. Despite being troubled, the Dongrias are reluctant to accept the presence of Maoists in Niyamgiri. On the other hand, not willing to give up, the security forces are constantly holding camps around Niyamgiri and launching anti-Maoist operations leaving the Red rebels fuming. The tribals, who look to police for security, do not find much solace. One Dongria Kondh youth was killed in an alleged encounter in February last year. While the police are claiming Manda Sikaka of Dangamati was in the Maoist camp, Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti claims it to be a fake encounter. On the other hand, one of the reasons why Pushika was killed is stated to be his defiance to the Maoists and the other outfit. Such is the situation in the hills that villagers are scared to use mobile phones as it brings them under the scanner of the Red rebels. Sources said about five Dongria youths are on the hit list of Maoists for which they fear to return to their home land. The frequent warnings to Dongria youths by the Maoists through posters and banners asking them to desist from being police informers have spread panic in the area. RAYAGADA: The Dongria Kondhs of the Niyamgiri hills in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts, a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) which shot into limelight for their fight against bauxite mining, are caught in the crossfire between the security forces and the Maoists. Constantly under watch of the Left Wing Extremists who hold sway over Rayagada-Kalahandi-Balangir axis, the tribals have become soft targets. Some of the Dongrias, who have leaned towards the civic action programmes (or Maitri Mela) frequently conducted by the police, have faced death. The killing of Mali Pushika by the Maoists on Tuesday has further exposed the reign of terror unleashed in the hills. The police had planned a Maitri Mela in the Niyamgiri hills on Tuesday but called it off following a tip-off about the presence of the rebels. The body of Pushika of Salphajhola village was lying deserted for five to six hours and later cremated by the Dongrias in the evening. Police could not reach the place to recover the body or conduct a post-mortem. Police said Pushika was targeted because he had refused to withdraw a rape case which he had registered against one Bari Pidikaka of Tahali village, reportedly a member of Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti. This is not a solitary case. Earlier, Dadhi Sikaka of Ambodhuni village, Tahalu Sikaka of Dangamati village, Manu Sikaka of Phakeri village and Syam Kadraka of Nirgundi village fell prey to the Maoists after being branded as police informers. In all the cases, no post-mortem was done as the bodies were cremated by the Dongrias before the police could reach the spot. Despite being troubled, the Dongrias are reluctant to accept the presence of Maoists in Niyamgiri. On the other hand, not willing to give up, the security forces are constantly holding camps around Niyamgiri and launching anti-Maoist operations leaving the Red rebels fuming. The tribals, who look to police for security, do not find much solace. One Dongria Kondh youth was killed in an alleged encounter in February last year. While the police are claiming Manda Sikaka of Dangamati was in the Maoist camp, Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti claims it to be a fake encounter. On the other hand, one of the reasons why Pushika was killed is stated to be his defiance to the Maoists and the other outfit. Such is the situation in the hills that villagers are scared to use mobile phones as it brings them under the scanner of the Red rebels. Sources said about five Dongria youths are on the hit list of Maoists for which they fear to return to their home land. The frequent warnings to Dongria youths by the Maoists through posters and banners asking them to desist from being police informers have spread panic in the area. By Express News Service BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to tide over the shortage of specialists in healthcare institutions in the State, Odisha Government is considering to start Post Graduate Diploma course in different disciplines through College of Physicians and Surgeons at Mumbai. Sources said 30 courses will be offered which include PG Diploma in ophthalmic medicine and surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, child health, pathology and bacteriology, dermatology, anaesthesia, Oto-rhino-laryngology, orthopaedics, medical radiology and electrology, diabetology, infertility, neurology, urology, cardiology, nephrology, neonatology, hemato-oncology, immunology and intensive care. The diploma courses guarantee that persons having such qualification would possess requisite knowledge and skill for practice of medicine. The PG Diploma courses to be started in consonance with National Health Policy-2017 are of two-year duration. The Government has also notified to recognise these courses offered through the Mumbai-based college. Accordingly, it has been included in the schedule of Odisha Medical Council Act. The courses will be offered in selected district headquarters hospitals and Capital Hospital after due inspection and approval of the college. BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to tide over the shortage of specialists in healthcare institutions in the State, Odisha Government is considering to start Post Graduate Diploma course in different disciplines through College of Physicians and Surgeons at Mumbai. Sources said 30 courses will be offered which include PG Diploma in ophthalmic medicine and surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, child health, pathology and bacteriology, dermatology, anaesthesia, Oto-rhino-laryngology, orthopaedics, medical radiology and electrology, diabetology, infertility, neurology, urology, cardiology, nephrology, neonatology, hemato-oncology, immunology and intensive care. The diploma courses guarantee that persons having such qualification would possess requisite knowledge and skill for practice of medicine. The PG Diploma courses to be started in consonance with National Health Policy-2017 are of two-year duration. The Government has also notified to recognise these courses offered through the Mumbai-based college. Accordingly, it has been included in the schedule of Odisha Medical Council Act. The courses will be offered in selected district headquarters hospitals and Capital Hospital after due inspection and approval of the college. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday wrote two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the problems faced by fishermen from Tamil Nadu who had gone to Saudi Arabia for eking out their livelihood. One letter was regarding the death of two fishermen from Kanyakumari district while the other dealt with the continued imprisonment of 35 fishermen even after payment of fine for inadvertently straying into Iranian waters. Two of three fishermen from Kanyakumari district, J George and V Joseph, died in an accident in the seas off the coast of Saudi Arabia while fishing on March 18. While the bodies of George and Joseph have been recovered, the search is on for the third person, P Nevil. All three were working in Saudi Arabia on contract basis. The chief minister urged the prime minister to direct the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to take urgent steps to trace the missing fisherman and for the transportation of the mortal remains of the deceased. He also said the Indian Embassy there should ensure that the monetary benefits due to all the three fishermen were released to their families without delay. The second letter was about the plight of 35 fishermen from the districts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram who were arrested and detained by the Iranian Coast Guard in three separate incidents. They were engaged in fishing in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on contract basis under the sponsorship of local employers. The Iranian court imposed a fine, which has also been paid by these fishermen. Yet, the Indians have not been released by the Iranian authorities. The chief minister sought immediate intervention of the prime minister in this regard and to instruct the embassies in those countries to take legal recourse to secure the immediate release of the fishermen. CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday wrote two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the problems faced by fishermen from Tamil Nadu who had gone to Saudi Arabia for eking out their livelihood. One letter was regarding the death of two fishermen from Kanyakumari district while the other dealt with the continued imprisonment of 35 fishermen even after payment of fine for inadvertently straying into Iranian waters. Two of three fishermen from Kanyakumari district, J George and V Joseph, died in an accident in the seas off the coast of Saudi Arabia while fishing on March 18. While the bodies of George and Joseph have been recovered, the search is on for the third person, P Nevil. All three were working in Saudi Arabia on contract basis. The chief minister urged the prime minister to direct the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to take urgent steps to trace the missing fisherman and for the transportation of the mortal remains of the deceased. He also said the Indian Embassy there should ensure that the monetary benefits due to all the three fishermen were released to their families without delay. The second letter was about the plight of 35 fishermen from the districts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram who were arrested and detained by the Iranian Coast Guard in three separate incidents. They were engaged in fishing in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on contract basis under the sponsorship of local employers. The Iranian court imposed a fine, which has also been paid by these fishermen. Yet, the Indians have not been released by the Iranian authorities. The chief minister sought immediate intervention of the prime minister in this regard and to instruct the embassies in those countries to take legal recourse to secure the immediate release of the fishermen. By Associated Press DAKAR: The armed group took over the school little by little. One day when a fighter came to collect and burn the students' desks, teacher Thiernd Ouronfei decided he'd had enough. "I said he must put the kids' desks down. They hit me in the head with a knife and I was sent to the hospital for at least a week," he said. Even now, after the school in the Central African Republic was liberated, parents are scared to send their children, he told The Associated Press. Some 20 percent of schools in the Central African Republic are not functioning, and students' and teachers' lives are threatened as armed groups have looted, occupied and damaged the properties in the conflict-torn country, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Thursday. An education is a rare opportunity for children in the impoverished country to get ahead. "We're talking about a lost generation. These are students who aren't going to get those years back," said Lewis Mudge, the group's Africa researcher and co-author of the report. "Many rebels have also been quite open that they are going to reoccupy schools during the upcoming rainy season." The Central African Republic descended into conflict in 2013 when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew the Christian president. The Christian anti-Balaka militia retaliated with a backlash against Muslim civilians. While the country held successful democratic elections last year, many remote areas remain outside the government's control. Violence by armed groups has risen sharply since October. Various armed groups have used the schools as bases for years. Human Rights Watch, which visited schools between November and January and interviewed children and teachers as well as fighters, has called on the country's government and the United Nations to do more to ensure that armed groups stay far away from classrooms. In some cases, fighters may vacate a school, but still operate meters away. One student in Ngadja in Ouaka province told Human Rights Watch that he feared for his life after Seleka fighters occupied a nearby school on and off for more than two years. "I often ask myself, 'Should I even bother to go to school? Is it worth the risk?'" he said. The Seleka rebels for months used the school director's office as a prison, teachers in Ngadja told the rights group. "I'm afraid of the Seleka hanging around the school. So I can't go, and that makes me just as uneducated as an animal," a 15-year-old student in Mbres, Nana Grebizi province, told the rights group. In Mbali, Ouham province, a 16-year-old said classes finally started again in November after three years, "but they had burned all the books, and we don't have any left." An 18-year-old student said he had lost four years of his life because he wasn't able to study. "I want to be a doctor, but the Seleka are blocking my future." In November, the U.N. humanitarian office estimated that while 2,336 schools in the Central African Republic were operational, at least 461 were not because of insecurity, destruction, occupation and lack of teachers. Central African Republic's government in 2015 committed to protecting schools from attack and military use and permitted U.N. forces to clear them. Progress was made but then undermined when U.N., African Union and French forces in some cases occupied schools themselves, Human Rights Watch said. Once U.N. officials were informed, they left, the group said. "If there are to be any meaningful attempts at peace or at reconciliation, it's important to restart these structures that provide a degree of normalcy," Mudge said. DAKAR: The armed group took over the school little by little. One day when a fighter came to collect and burn the students' desks, teacher Thiernd Ouronfei decided he'd had enough. "I said he must put the kids' desks down. They hit me in the head with a knife and I was sent to the hospital for at least a week," he said. Even now, after the school in the Central African Republic was liberated, parents are scared to send their children, he told The Associated Press. Some 20 percent of schools in the Central African Republic are not functioning, and students' and teachers' lives are threatened as armed groups have looted, occupied and damaged the properties in the conflict-torn country, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Thursday. An education is a rare opportunity for children in the impoverished country to get ahead. "We're talking about a lost generation. These are students who aren't going to get those years back," said Lewis Mudge, the group's Africa researcher and co-author of the report. "Many rebels have also been quite open that they are going to reoccupy schools during the upcoming rainy season." The Central African Republic descended into conflict in 2013 when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew the Christian president. The Christian anti-Balaka militia retaliated with a backlash against Muslim civilians. While the country held successful democratic elections last year, many remote areas remain outside the government's control. Violence by armed groups has risen sharply since October. Various armed groups have used the schools as bases for years. Human Rights Watch, which visited schools between November and January and interviewed children and teachers as well as fighters, has called on the country's government and the United Nations to do more to ensure that armed groups stay far away from classrooms. In some cases, fighters may vacate a school, but still operate meters away. One student in Ngadja in Ouaka province told Human Rights Watch that he feared for his life after Seleka fighters occupied a nearby school on and off for more than two years. "I often ask myself, 'Should I even bother to go to school? Is it worth the risk?'" he said. The Seleka rebels for months used the school director's office as a prison, teachers in Ngadja told the rights group. "I'm afraid of the Seleka hanging around the school. So I can't go, and that makes me just as uneducated as an animal," a 15-year-old student in Mbres, Nana Grebizi province, told the rights group. In Mbali, Ouham province, a 16-year-old said classes finally started again in November after three years, "but they had burned all the books, and we don't have any left." An 18-year-old student said he had lost four years of his life because he wasn't able to study. "I want to be a doctor, but the Seleka are blocking my future." In November, the U.N. humanitarian office estimated that while 2,336 schools in the Central African Republic were operational, at least 461 were not because of insecurity, destruction, occupation and lack of teachers. Central African Republic's government in 2015 committed to protecting schools from attack and military use and permitted U.N. forces to clear them. Progress was made but then undermined when U.N., African Union and French forces in some cases occupied schools themselves, Human Rights Watch said. Once U.N. officials were informed, they left, the group said. "If there are to be any meaningful attempts at peace or at reconciliation, it's important to restart these structures that provide a degree of normalcy," Mudge said. By PTI DHAKA: Bangladesh today said it would reach out to the UN to declare March 25 as Genocide Day globally, in remembrance of the atrocities carried out by the Pakistan Army on the same day in 1971. "The letter is ready...it will be sent to the United Nations by this month," Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq told reporters. "A delegation will go to the UN this month with a proposal to observe March 25 as Genocide Day globally while the foreign ministry, through the Bangladesh embassies and high commissions across the world, will campaign to get support from other countries in favour of our proposal." The UN General Assembly in 2015 declared December 9 as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. The minister said no genocide took place on December 9 "but here in Bangladesh we witnessed one in March 25, 1971". "So, we will propose the UN to shift the Genocide Day to March 25," Huq said. Bangladesh Parliament earlier this month unanimously adopted a resolution declaring March 25 as the Genocide Day. The Pakistani army launched their infamous 'Operation Searchlight' on March 25 to suppress Bengali people's calls for self-determination, killing over 20,000 people alone in Dhaka. Officially three million people were killed in the subsequent nine-month Liberation War. DHAKA: Bangladesh today said it would reach out to the UN to declare March 25 as Genocide Day globally, in remembrance of the atrocities carried out by the Pakistan Army on the same day in 1971. "The letter is ready...it will be sent to the United Nations by this month," Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq told reporters. "A delegation will go to the UN this month with a proposal to observe March 25 as Genocide Day globally while the foreign ministry, through the Bangladesh embassies and high commissions across the world, will campaign to get support from other countries in favour of our proposal." The UN General Assembly in 2015 declared December 9 as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. The minister said no genocide took place on December 9 "but here in Bangladesh we witnessed one in March 25, 1971". "So, we will propose the UN to shift the Genocide Day to March 25," Huq said. Bangladesh Parliament earlier this month unanimously adopted a resolution declaring March 25 as the Genocide Day. The Pakistani army launched their infamous 'Operation Searchlight' on March 25 to suppress Bengali people's calls for self-determination, killing over 20,000 people alone in Dhaka. Officially three million people were killed in the subsequent nine-month Liberation War. LONDON: A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage in the heart of Britain's seat of power Wednesday, plowing a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Five people were killed, including the assailant, and 40 others were injured in what Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack." Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down after the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament, just yards (meters) from entrances to the building itself and in the shadow of the iconic Big Ben clock tower. He died, as did three pedestrians on the bridge, and the police officer. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had "catastrophic" injuries. Three police officers, several French teenagers on a school trip, two Romanian tourists and five South Korean visitors were among the injured. Police said they were treating the attack as terrorism. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley said police believed there was only one attacker, "but it would be foolish to be overconfident early on." He said an unarmed policeman, three civilians and the attacker died. Forty others, including three police officers, were injured. Islamic extremism was suspected in the attack, Rowley said, adding that authorities believe they know the assailant's identity but would not reveal it while the investigation was ongoing. The threat level for international terrorism in the U.K. was already listed at severe, meaning an attack was "highly likely." Speaking outside 10 Downing St. after chairing a meeting of government's emergency committee, COBRA, May said that level would not change. She said attempts to defeat British values of democracy and freedom through terrorism would fail. "Tomorrow morning, Parliament will meet as normal," she said. Londoners and visitors "will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart." U.S. President Donald Trump was among world leaders offering condolences, and in Paris, the lights of the Eiffel Tower were to be dimmed in solidarity with London. London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames. Wednesday was the anniversary of suicide bombings in the Brussels airport and subway that killed 32 people last year, and the latest events echoed recent vehicle attacks in Berlin and Nice, France. In the House of Commons, legislators were holding a series of votes on pensions when deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle announced that the sitting was being suspended and told lawmakers not to leave. Parliament was locked down for several hours, and the adjoining Westminster subway station was shuttered. Conservative lawmaker Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was killed in the Bali terror attack in 2002, performed first aid on the wounded police officer, who later died. About 10 yards away lay the assailant. "I tried to stem the flow of blood and give mouth to mouth while waiting for the medics to arrive but I think he had lost too much blood," Ellwood said. "He had multiple wounds, under the arm and in the back." The attack began early Wednesday afternoon as a driver in a gray SUV slammed into pedestrians on the bridge linking Parliament to the south bank of the River Thames. Former Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski was in a car crossing the bridge when he heard "something like a car hitting metal sheet" and then saw people lying on the pavement. "I saw one person who gave no signs of life. One man was bleeding from his head. I saw five people who were at least seriously injured," Sikorski told Poland's TVN24. Ambulances arrived within minutes to treat people who lay scattered along the length of the bridge. One bloodied woman lay surrounded by a scattering of postcards. Police said one injured woman was pulled from the river. The car crashed into railings on the north side of the bridge, less than 200 yards (meters) from the entrance to Parliament. As people scattered in panic, witnesses saw a man holding a knife run toward the building. "The whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben," said witness Rick Longley. "A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. I have never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw." The attacker managed to get past a gate into Parliament's fenced-in New Palace Yard, a cobbled courtyard in the shadow of the Big Ben clock tower. Daily Mail journalist Quentin Letts said a man in black attacked the police officer before being shot two or three times as he tried to storm into the building. "As this attacker was running towards the entrance two plain-clothed guys with guns shouted at him what sounded like a warning, he ignored it and they shot two or three times and he fell," Letts told the BBC. The attacker fell to the cobbles just yards from the entrance to 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the parliamentary complex, busy with visitors and school groups. Beyond that, a corridor leads to the building's Central Lobby, flanked by House of Commons and House of Lords chambers. The prime minister was among lawmakers near the Commons at the time of the attack, and was quickly ushered away by security officers and driven back to Downing Street. To get that far, the attacker would have had to evade the armed officers who patrol the Parliament complex in pairs, as well as Parliament's own security staff, who don't carry guns. The attack unfolded near some of the city's most famous tourist sites, including the London Eye, a large Ferris wheel with pods that overlook the capital. It was halted after the attack, stranding visitors in the pods, with an aerial view of the attack scene. London Ambulance Service said medics treated 12 people for serious injuries and eight who were less seriously hurt. Dr. Colleen Anderson of St. Thomas' Hospital said some of the wounded had "catastrophic" injuries. The French Foreign Ministry said that three students on a school trip from Saint-Joseph in the Brittany town of Concarneau were among the injured. Two Romanians were also among the injured, the country's Foreign Ministry said. U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with May by telephone and applauded "the quick response of British police and first responders," spokesman Sean Spicer said. London has often been the target of terrorist attacks, from IRA campaigns in the 1970s and 80s to more recent Islamist plots. On July 7, 2005, four al-Qaida-inspired British bombers blew themselves up on three subway trains and a bus in London, killing 52 people. British security forces say they have thwarted some 13 terror plots over the past four years, but in recent years the U.K. has largely been spared major international terror attacks such as the ones seen in Belgium and France. Last year, a far-right supporter shot and killed British lawmaker Jo Cox, who had campaigned for the U.K. to remain in the European Union. Prior to that, an attacker claiming to be motivated by Syria stabbed three people at a London subway station. The most gruesome recent attack occurred in 2013 when two Muslim converts of Nigerian descent attacked Lee Rigby, a British soldier who was walking down the street. The men ran Rigby down with their vehicle and then used a cleaver to hack him to death as bystanders watched in horror. LONDON: A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage in the heart of Britain's seat of power Wednesday, plowing a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Five people were killed, including the assailant, and 40 others were injured in what Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack." Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down after the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament, just yards (meters) from entrances to the building itself and in the shadow of the iconic Big Ben clock tower. He died, as did three pedestrians on the bridge, and the police officer. A doctor who treated the wounded from the bridge said some had "catastrophic" injuries. Three police officers, several French teenagers on a school trip, two Romanian tourists and five South Korean visitors were among the injured. Police said they were treating the attack as terrorism. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley said police believed there was only one attacker, "but it would be foolish to be overconfident early on." He said an unarmed policeman, three civilians and the attacker died. Forty others, including three police officers, were injured. Islamic extremism was suspected in the attack, Rowley said, adding that authorities believe they know the assailant's identity but would not reveal it while the investigation was ongoing. The threat level for international terrorism in the U.K. was already listed at severe, meaning an attack was "highly likely." Speaking outside 10 Downing St. after chairing a meeting of government's emergency committee, COBRA, May said that level would not change. She said attempts to defeat British values of democracy and freedom through terrorism would fail. "Tomorrow morning, Parliament will meet as normal," she said. Londoners and visitors "will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart." U.S. President Donald Trump was among world leaders offering condolences, and in Paris, the lights of the Eiffel Tower were to be dimmed in solidarity with London. London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames. Wednesday was the anniversary of suicide bombings in the Brussels airport and subway that killed 32 people last year, and the latest events echoed recent vehicle attacks in Berlin and Nice, France. In the House of Commons, legislators were holding a series of votes on pensions when deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle announced that the sitting was being suspended and told lawmakers not to leave. Parliament was locked down for several hours, and the adjoining Westminster subway station was shuttered. Conservative lawmaker Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was killed in the Bali terror attack in 2002, performed first aid on the wounded police officer, who later died. About 10 yards away lay the assailant. "I tried to stem the flow of blood and give mouth to mouth while waiting for the medics to arrive but I think he had lost too much blood," Ellwood said. "He had multiple wounds, under the arm and in the back." The attack began early Wednesday afternoon as a driver in a gray SUV slammed into pedestrians on the bridge linking Parliament to the south bank of the River Thames. Former Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski was in a car crossing the bridge when he heard "something like a car hitting metal sheet" and then saw people lying on the pavement. "I saw one person who gave no signs of life. One man was bleeding from his head. I saw five people who were at least seriously injured," Sikorski told Poland's TVN24. Ambulances arrived within minutes to treat people who lay scattered along the length of the bridge. One bloodied woman lay surrounded by a scattering of postcards. Police said one injured woman was pulled from the river. The car crashed into railings on the north side of the bridge, less than 200 yards (meters) from the entrance to Parliament. As people scattered in panic, witnesses saw a man holding a knife run toward the building. "The whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben," said witness Rick Longley. "A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. I have never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw." The attacker managed to get past a gate into Parliament's fenced-in New Palace Yard, a cobbled courtyard in the shadow of the Big Ben clock tower. Daily Mail journalist Quentin Letts said a man in black attacked the police officer before being shot two or three times as he tried to storm into the building. "As this attacker was running towards the entrance two plain-clothed guys with guns shouted at him what sounded like a warning, he ignored it and they shot two or three times and he fell," Letts told the BBC. The attacker fell to the cobbles just yards from the entrance to 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the parliamentary complex, busy with visitors and school groups. Beyond that, a corridor leads to the building's Central Lobby, flanked by House of Commons and House of Lords chambers. The prime minister was among lawmakers near the Commons at the time of the attack, and was quickly ushered away by security officers and driven back to Downing Street. To get that far, the attacker would have had to evade the armed officers who patrol the Parliament complex in pairs, as well as Parliament's own security staff, who don't carry guns. The attack unfolded near some of the city's most famous tourist sites, including the London Eye, a large Ferris wheel with pods that overlook the capital. It was halted after the attack, stranding visitors in the pods, with an aerial view of the attack scene. London Ambulance Service said medics treated 12 people for serious injuries and eight who were less seriously hurt. Dr. Colleen Anderson of St. Thomas' Hospital said some of the wounded had "catastrophic" injuries. The French Foreign Ministry said that three students on a school trip from Saint-Joseph in the Brittany town of Concarneau were among the injured. Two Romanians were also among the injured, the country's Foreign Ministry said. U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with May by telephone and applauded "the quick response of British police and first responders," spokesman Sean Spicer said. London has often been the target of terrorist attacks, from IRA campaigns in the 1970s and 80s to more recent Islamist plots. On July 7, 2005, four al-Qaida-inspired British bombers blew themselves up on three subway trains and a bus in London, killing 52 people. British security forces say they have thwarted some 13 terror plots over the past four years, but in recent years the U.K. has largely been spared major international terror attacks such as the ones seen in Belgium and France. Last year, a far-right supporter shot and killed British lawmaker Jo Cox, who had campaigned for the U.K. to remain in the European Union. Prior to that, an attacker claiming to be motivated by Syria stabbed three people at a London subway station. The most gruesome recent attack occurred in 2013 when two Muslim converts of Nigerian descent attacked Lee Rigby, a British soldier who was walking down the street. The men ran Rigby down with their vehicle and then used a cleaver to hack him to death as bystanders watched in horror. By PTI SEOUL: Five South Korean tourists were injured in a terror attack outside Britain's parliament, Seoul's foreign ministry said today. The tourists -- four women and a man in their 50s or 60s -- were knocked to the ground by people trying to flee as an assailant mowed down pedestrians in a car, the ministry said. While four of them suffered relatively light injuries including a fracture, one -- a woman in her late 60s -- suffered a head injury and was going through surgery, it said. They were being treated in two local hospitals, it added. The assault began when a car was driven over Westminster Bridge next to London's parliament building -- a major tourist attraction -- hitting and injuring several members of the public. Three, including a police officer, were killed in the attack by the assailant who was subsequently shot dead by armed police. SEOUL: Five South Korean tourists were injured in a terror attack outside Britain's parliament, Seoul's foreign ministry said today. The tourists -- four women and a man in their 50s or 60s -- were knocked to the ground by people trying to flee as an assailant mowed down pedestrians in a car, the ministry said. While four of them suffered relatively light injuries including a fracture, one -- a woman in her late 60s -- suffered a head injury and was going through surgery, it said. They were being treated in two local hospitals, it added. The assault began when a car was driven over Westminster Bridge next to London's parliament building -- a major tourist attraction -- hitting and injuring several members of the public. Three, including a police officer, were killed in the attack by the assailant who was subsequently shot dead by armed police. By AFP BEIRUT: Syrian jihadists and allied rebels advanced against government forces in central Hama province today, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. The Britain-based group said the jihadists and allied fighters have taken 11 towns and villages from government troops since they began the surprise offensive on Tuesday. It reported heavy fighting in the north and northeast of the province, with government air strikes targeting areas captured in recent days. Overnight and into this morning, three villages fell from government control, with the advancing forces nearing the town of Maan. Syrian government forces seized Maan in 2014, after Islamist fighters killed at least 25 members of the Alawite sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs. Hama province is of strategic importance to Assad's government, separating opposition forces in Idlib from Damascus to the south and the regime's coastal heartlands to the west. The offensive is being spearheaded by the Tahrir al-Sham alliance, which is dominated by jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate. In addition to 11 villages and towns, rebels and jihadists have captured several government checkpoints and part of the road between provincial capital Hama and the town of Mhardeh, the Observatory said. The monitor said the opposition forces were now around four kilometres (2.5 miles) from government-held Hama city. An AFP correspondent in northern Hama said government warplanes were circling overhead and carrying out strikes on areas captured during the offensive. He said the sound of fighting could be heard even at a distance, and small groups of people could be seen fleeing the violence, most of them travelling in cars. Aid group Save the Children said Wednesday at least 10,000 people had fled their homes in the Hama area in the past 24 hours. The violence comes as UN-brokered peace talks are set to resume in Switzerland between government officials and opposition representatives. More than 320,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced by Syria's conflict since it began in March 2011. BEIRUT: Syrian jihadists and allied rebels advanced against government forces in central Hama province today, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. The Britain-based group said the jihadists and allied fighters have taken 11 towns and villages from government troops since they began the surprise offensive on Tuesday. It reported heavy fighting in the north and northeast of the province, with government air strikes targeting areas captured in recent days. Overnight and into this morning, three villages fell from government control, with the advancing forces nearing the town of Maan. Syrian government forces seized Maan in 2014, after Islamist fighters killed at least 25 members of the Alawite sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs. Hama province is of strategic importance to Assad's government, separating opposition forces in Idlib from Damascus to the south and the regime's coastal heartlands to the west. The offensive is being spearheaded by the Tahrir al-Sham alliance, which is dominated by jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate. In addition to 11 villages and towns, rebels and jihadists have captured several government checkpoints and part of the road between provincial capital Hama and the town of Mhardeh, the Observatory said. The monitor said the opposition forces were now around four kilometres (2.5 miles) from government-held Hama city. An AFP correspondent in northern Hama said government warplanes were circling overhead and carrying out strikes on areas captured during the offensive. He said the sound of fighting could be heard even at a distance, and small groups of people could be seen fleeing the violence, most of them travelling in cars. Aid group Save the Children said Wednesday at least 10,000 people had fled their homes in the Hama area in the past 24 hours. The violence comes as UN-brokered peace talks are set to resume in Switzerland between government officials and opposition representatives. More than 320,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced by Syria's conflict since it began in March 2011. By PTI WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will be killed as nearly all of his deputies are now dead and it is "only a matter of time" that he meets the same fate. "Nearly all of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's deputies are now dead, including the mastermind behind the attacks in Brussels, Paris, and elsewhere. It is only a matter of time before Baghdadi himself meets the same fate," Tillerson said yesterday at a ministerial plenary for the 68-nation Global Coalition to defeat Islamic State (ISIS). The coalition, of which India is not a part, has made significant progress in the fight against ISIS. In addition to the latest meaningful financial contributions, the flow of foreign terrorist fighters into Syria and Iraq is down 90 per cent over the past year. It is harder for terrorists to get in, and more importantly, harder for them to get out to threaten these countries, he said. Tillerson said the ongoing Iraqi-led retaking of Mosul is pushing ISIS out of a key stronghold and liberating more than a million civilians. "This Mosul campaign could not have succeeded without the cooperation between the Iraqi Security Forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga," he said. Noting that the expansion of ISIS has necessitated a large-scale military response, Tillerson said the offensive measures are reclaiming areas in Iraq and Syria in which ISIS has had a large and destructive footprint. "Our end goal in this phase is the regional elimination of ISIS through military force. The military power of the coalition will remain where this fraudulent caliphate has existed in order to set the conditions for a full recovery from the tyranny of ISIS," he said. "Under President Trump's leadership and with the strength of this historic coalition, our common enemy will remain under intense pressure," he said. Tillerson said the military strength will stop ISIS on a battlefield, but it is the combined strength of the coalition that will be the final blow to ISIS. In order to stay ahead of a global outbreak, the Secretary of State called for adoption of several countermeasures. "First, continue to persist with in-country counterterrorism and law enforcement operations. All of us must maintain pressure on ISIS's networks within our own countries and take decisive law enforcement action to stop its growth. ISIS is connected across every continent, and we must work to break every link in its chain," he said. "INTERPOL is the newest member of our coalition and is critical to closing all routes through which ISIS terrorists seek to travel and threaten our homelands," he added. "Second, we need greater intelligence and information sharing within our own domestic intelligence agencies and among our nations," Tillerson said. WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will be killed as nearly all of his deputies are now dead and it is "only a matter of time" that he meets the same fate. "Nearly all of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's deputies are now dead, including the mastermind behind the attacks in Brussels, Paris, and elsewhere. It is only a matter of time before Baghdadi himself meets the same fate," Tillerson said yesterday at a ministerial plenary for the 68-nation Global Coalition to defeat Islamic State (ISIS). The coalition, of which India is not a part, has made significant progress in the fight against ISIS. In addition to the latest meaningful financial contributions, the flow of foreign terrorist fighters into Syria and Iraq is down 90 per cent over the past year. It is harder for terrorists to get in, and more importantly, harder for them to get out to threaten these countries, he said. Tillerson said the ongoing Iraqi-led retaking of Mosul is pushing ISIS out of a key stronghold and liberating more than a million civilians. "This Mosul campaign could not have succeeded without the cooperation between the Iraqi Security Forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga," he said. Noting that the expansion of ISIS has necessitated a large-scale military response, Tillerson said the offensive measures are reclaiming areas in Iraq and Syria in which ISIS has had a large and destructive footprint. "Our end goal in this phase is the regional elimination of ISIS through military force. The military power of the coalition will remain where this fraudulent caliphate has existed in order to set the conditions for a full recovery from the tyranny of ISIS," he said. "Under President Trump's leadership and with the strength of this historic coalition, our common enemy will remain under intense pressure," he said. Tillerson said the military strength will stop ISIS on a battlefield, but it is the combined strength of the coalition that will be the final blow to ISIS. In order to stay ahead of a global outbreak, the Secretary of State called for adoption of several countermeasures. "First, continue to persist with in-country counterterrorism and law enforcement operations. All of us must maintain pressure on ISIS's networks within our own countries and take decisive law enforcement action to stop its growth. ISIS is connected across every continent, and we must work to break every link in its chain," he said. "INTERPOL is the newest member of our coalition and is critical to closing all routes through which ISIS terrorists seek to travel and threaten our homelands," he added. "Second, we need greater intelligence and information sharing within our own domestic intelligence agencies and among our nations," Tillerson said. By PTI NEW DELHI: There is no report of any Indian casualty so far in the terror attack near the UK Parliament, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said tonight. India has condemned the attack in London in which three people were killed and more than 20 injured. London's Metropolitan Police said a man mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed a police officer with a knife outside the British parliament before being shot dead. "I am in constant touch with Indian High Commission in London. There is no Indian casualty reported so far. #LondonAttack @HCI_London (sic)," she wrote on Twitter. "Indian High Commission is there to help all Indian nationals in London. Please note the Telephone nos: 020 8629 5950 & 020 7632 3035 (sic)," Swaraj wrote. The minister advised people to avoid going to Parliament Square. "All are advised strongly to avoid Parliament Square and check Met Police website for further details on the attack. Stay safe! (sic)," she tweeted. "India strongly condemns Westminster terrorist incident & condoles loss of life. No place in democracies & civilised societies for terrorism (sic)," Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, Gopal Baglay tweeted. NEW DELHI: There is no report of any Indian casualty so far in the terror attack near the UK Parliament, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said tonight. India has condemned the attack in London in which three people were killed and more than 20 injured. London's Metropolitan Police said a man mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed a police officer with a knife outside the British parliament before being shot dead. "I am in constant touch with Indian High Commission in London. There is no Indian casualty reported so far. #LondonAttack @HCI_London (sic)," she wrote on Twitter. "Indian High Commission is there to help all Indian nationals in London. Please note the Telephone nos: 020 8629 5950 & 020 7632 3035 (sic)," Swaraj wrote. The minister advised people to avoid going to Parliament Square. "All are advised strongly to avoid Parliament Square and check Met Police website for further details on the attack. Stay safe! (sic)," she tweeted. "India strongly condemns Westminster terrorist incident & condoles loss of life. No place in democracies & civilised societies for terrorism (sic)," Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, Gopal Baglay tweeted. By AFP ISLAMABAD: The Taliban say Pakistani officials have hosted a meeting with their leadership to try and press the insurgents into peace talks ahead of a multi-nation meeting in April in Moscow. Islamabad has been under international pressure to try and bring Taliban leaders, who have been based in Pakistan since their rule in Afghanistan was overthrown in the 2001 U.S. invasion, into some form of negotiations with Kabul. Two Taliban officials familiar with the Islamabad meeting say the Taliban used it to issue their own demands. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity on Thursday, fearing reprisals by Pakistani authorities who have not confirmed the meeting. China, Afghanistan and Pakistan are among nations attending the April meeting aimed at reviving peace talks. Washington has not said whether it will attend. ISLAMABAD: The Taliban say Pakistani officials have hosted a meeting with their leadership to try and press the insurgents into peace talks ahead of a multi-nation meeting in April in Moscow. Islamabad has been under international pressure to try and bring Taliban leaders, who have been based in Pakistan since their rule in Afghanistan was overthrown in the 2001 U.S. invasion, into some form of negotiations with Kabul. Two Taliban officials familiar with the Islamabad meeting say the Taliban used it to issue their own demands. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity on Thursday, fearing reprisals by Pakistani authorities who have not confirmed the meeting. China, Afghanistan and Pakistan are among nations attending the April meeting aimed at reviving peace talks. Washington has not said whether it will attend. By PTI LONDON: Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak out for the rights of muhajirs or refugees in Karachi, Altaf Hussain, the leader of Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), said today. The Pakistani politician who lives in London in exile said while India was vocal about the brutality of Pakistan Army against people of Baluchistan, Modi had failed to speak out for the people who lived in India for centuries. "I would like to register my complaint with Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, as Mr Modi, I regret to say, you are raising voice over the brutality of Pakistan Army against people of Baluchistan...never raise your voice for your own people who lived in India for centuries," he said. "Our forefathers made a big mistake and migrated to Pakistan, but we were born here, and never accepted as Pakistani or sons of the soil. Mr Prime Minister you should have raised your voice against the atrocities, discrimination and brutality of Pakistani establishment, Army and para military forces against Urdu speaking muhajirs, your own people in Karachi, Pakistan," he added. The MQM leader called on India to raise MQMs issues at all international and human rights fora. The MQM is the fourth largest political party in Pakistan. LONDON: Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak out for the rights of muhajirs or refugees in Karachi, Altaf Hussain, the leader of Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), said today. The Pakistani politician who lives in London in exile said while India was vocal about the brutality of Pakistan Army against people of Baluchistan, Modi had failed to speak out for the people who lived in India for centuries. "I would like to register my complaint with Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, as Mr Modi, I regret to say, you are raising voice over the brutality of Pakistan Army against people of Baluchistan...never raise your voice for your own people who lived in India for centuries," he said. "Our forefathers made a big mistake and migrated to Pakistan, but we were born here, and never accepted as Pakistani or sons of the soil. Mr Prime Minister you should have raised your voice against the atrocities, discrimination and brutality of Pakistani establishment, Army and para military forces against Urdu speaking muhajirs, your own people in Karachi, Pakistan," he added. The MQM leader called on India to raise MQMs issues at all international and human rights fora. The MQM is the fourth largest political party in Pakistan. By AFP BRUSSELS: Belgian police arrested a man today after he tried to drive into a crowd at high-speed in a shopping area in the port city of Antwerp, a police chief said. The man was of north African origin and used a car with French registration plates, Antwerp police chief Serge Muyters said. The incident came a day after an attack on the British parliament killed three people plus the attacker, as well as after the first anniversary of the Brussels attacks in which 32 people died. "A vehicle with French plates has tried to drive at high speed into the Meir (shopping street). A man in camouflage was taken away," Muyters told a news conference. "The pedestrians had to jump aside," he said. "My gratitude on behalf of all Antwerp to the soldiers who have intervened, the police services and the special intervention force," Antwerp mayor Bart de Wever tweeted. Prime Minister Charles Michel said the government was "following this situation as it develops" in the Flemish- speaking northern city. "We continue to be vigilant. Our security services did an excellent job in Antwerp, thanks," he tweeted. Meir is the main shopping street in Antwerp's historic centre and is mostly pedestrianised. It is one of the most important shopping areas in the country. With soldiers deployed at key sites, Belgium has been on high alert since March 22 last year when suicide bombers attacked Zaventem airport and Maalbeek metro station that left 32 people dead and more than 320 wounded. Belgium suffered a further shock in August when a machete-wielding man attacked two policewomen in the industrial town of Charleroi. He badly injured one in the face, before a third officer shot him dead. Islamic State Jihadists have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks using vehicles in Europe in recent months, including yesterday's carnage in London. Attackers rammed lorries into crowds in the French city of Nice in July last year killing 86 people and a Christmas market in the German capital Berlin last year. Yesterday, Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde led ceremonies commemorating the Brussels bombings, which were also claimed by IS. Interior Minister Jan Jambon told AFP in the runup to the anniversary that tighter security had made Belgium safer safer than it was a year ago. However he said it faced the threat of continuing radicalisation at home and from battle-hardened fighters returning from Middle East battle fields. BRUSSELS: Belgian police arrested a man today after he tried to drive into a crowd at high-speed in a shopping area in the port city of Antwerp, a police chief said. The man was of north African origin and used a car with French registration plates, Antwerp police chief Serge Muyters said. The incident came a day after an attack on the British parliament killed three people plus the attacker, as well as after the first anniversary of the Brussels attacks in which 32 people died. "A vehicle with French plates has tried to drive at high speed into the Meir (shopping street). A man in camouflage was taken away," Muyters told a news conference. "The pedestrians had to jump aside," he said. "My gratitude on behalf of all Antwerp to the soldiers who have intervened, the police services and the special intervention force," Antwerp mayor Bart de Wever tweeted. Prime Minister Charles Michel said the government was "following this situation as it develops" in the Flemish- speaking northern city. "We continue to be vigilant. Our security services did an excellent job in Antwerp, thanks," he tweeted. Meir is the main shopping street in Antwerp's historic centre and is mostly pedestrianised. It is one of the most important shopping areas in the country. With soldiers deployed at key sites, Belgium has been on high alert since March 22 last year when suicide bombers attacked Zaventem airport and Maalbeek metro station that left 32 people dead and more than 320 wounded. Belgium suffered a further shock in August when a machete-wielding man attacked two policewomen in the industrial town of Charleroi. He badly injured one in the face, before a third officer shot him dead. Islamic State Jihadists have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks using vehicles in Europe in recent months, including yesterday's carnage in London. Attackers rammed lorries into crowds in the French city of Nice in July last year killing 86 people and a Christmas market in the German capital Berlin last year. Yesterday, Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde led ceremonies commemorating the Brussels bombings, which were also claimed by IS. Interior Minister Jan Jambon told AFP in the runup to the anniversary that tighter security had made Belgium safer safer than it was a year ago. However he said it faced the threat of continuing radicalisation at home and from battle-hardened fighters returning from Middle East battle fields. By Associated Press ANKARA: A senior official says Turkey is taking steps to keep Istanbul's main airport and its national carrier, Turkish Airlines, outside of the scope of new aviation restrictions imposed by the United States and Britain. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu on Thursday criticized the two countries for not consulting with Turkey before deciding to ban some electronics, including laptops, on board flights from some airports in the Middle East and north Africa, including Istanbul. Muftuoglu said taking measures "against people that pose a threat instead of punishing normal passengers would be more effective." The spokesman also claimed Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was one of the safest in the world. More than 40 people were killed last year in an attack on the airport that was blamed on the Islamic State group. ANKARA: A senior official says Turkey is taking steps to keep Istanbul's main airport and its national carrier, Turkish Airlines, outside of the scope of new aviation restrictions imposed by the United States and Britain. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu on Thursday criticized the two countries for not consulting with Turkey before deciding to ban some electronics, including laptops, on board flights from some airports in the Middle East and north Africa, including Istanbul. Muftuoglu said taking measures "against people that pose a threat instead of punishing normal passengers would be more effective." The spokesman also claimed Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was one of the safest in the world. More than 40 people were killed last year in an attack on the airport that was blamed on the Islamic State group. By Associated Press LONDON (AP) The latest on the attack outside Britain's Parliament (all times local): 4:10 a.m. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says the terrorist attack outside the British Parliament in London was the first subject of discussion when he met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia on Thursday morning in Canberra. Li says that "together, we send our condolences to the prime minister of the U.K. and together we condemn terrorism and we stand against all forms of terrorism." The Chinese leader says that "there cannot be continued instability in the world," adding: "We must cherish peace and stability." ___ 1:35 a.m. New Zealand's prime minister is condemning the attack outside Britain's Parliament that resulted in five deaths, including the assailant. Prime Minister Bill English told reporters in Rotorua that he has written to British Prime Minister Theresa May to express support for her government and to offer his country's condolences to the victim's families. A knife-wielding man went on the deadly rampage in the heart of Britain's seat of power Wednesday, plowing a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Other officers fatally shot the attacker. In addition to the dead, 40 people have injuries. May has condemned the incident as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack." ___ 12:15 a.m. South Korea's Foreign Ministry says five South Koreans in their 50s and 60s were among the 40 people injured in London during the terror attack outside Parliament. The ministry says the five were hurt when they were caught up in a stampede of people trying to escape the attack. It says four of the South Koreans suffered broken bones and other injuries and a woman in her late 60s needed an operation to treat a head injury. 10:20 p.m. Buckingham Palace officials say Queen Elizabeth II will postpone plans to open the new Scotland Yard headquarters. The palace said on Wednesday night that the queen's visit, which had been set for Thursday, will be postponed. The change is due to security concerns raised by the terror attack on Parliament. It is also expected that police will be involved with a major investigation that will occupy many officers. The queen was to have been joined by her husband Prince Philip at the official opening of the new building. Watch: UK Parliament Attack: How terrorism unleashed outside Westminister ___ 10:15 p.m. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the police presence at the Australian Parliament House has been increased in response to the London attacks. "Australia's heartfelt sympathy and resolute solidarity is with the people of the United Kingdom with whom we stand today as we always have in freedom's cause. Staunch allies in the war against terrorism," Turnbull told reporters on Thursday. "The attack on the British Parliament is an attack on parliaments, freedom and democracy everywhere," he added. READ: British parliament attack: What we know ___ 10:05 p.m. The Eiffel Tower is going dark in mourning and solidarity with Britain after an attack around the British Parliament in which four people, including the attacker, were killed. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, whose city has suffered deadly extremist attacks in recent years, announced that the tower is turning off its twinkling lights at midnight (2300 GMT). Three French teenagers on a school trip were among those injured in Wednesday's attack targeting pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge and a police officer on the nearby Parliament grounds. French President Francois Hollande offered support for Britain and the investigation. ___ 9 p.m. Prime Minister Theresa May has condemned the "sick and depraved terrorist attack" in London and says the targeting Parliament was no accident. In a late-night statement outside her Downing Street office Wednesday, a defiant May said the nation will not give in to terror and those who targeted the seat of power in Britain. She insisted that "tomorrow morning Parliament will meet as normal," and urged the country to move on and behave as normal on Thursday. May says "we will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart." The prime minister confirmed that four people died in the attack and praised the security services who ran toward danger. ___ 8 p.m. A French government plane is set to fly to London Wednesday evening to bring the families of three French students wounded in the attacks at the British Parliament to their loved ones. French President Francois Hollande announced the move in a statement Wednesday night after speaking with British Prime Minister Theresa May. May confirmed to Hollande that three French high school students from France's western Britanny region were wounded in the attacks, the statement said. Hollande offered his condolences to May for those who died in the attacks and expressed France's solidarity with Britain "in this tragic ordeal." "The British and French services are in close contact to conduct the investigation," Hollande added. London is a common destination for French school trips. ___ 7:55 p.m. Romania's foreign ministry says two Romanians were wounded in a deadly attack in London's Westminster that left four dead. The ministry said the two had been taken to a hospital for treatment. There were no further details on the identity of the two or how seriously they were injured. The ministry said it had been informed by authorities in London. A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage near the Parliament, mowing down pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing an armed police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Four people were killed, including the attacker. About 20 others were injured. ___ 7:20 p.m. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy condemned the deadly attack in London's Westminster on Wednesday and offered condolences to the British people in a telegram sent to his British counterpart Theresa May. "An execrable terrorist act like the one that took place today is a reminder that we face complex challenges for the security of our societies," said Rajoy in a transcript of the telegram distributed by Moncloa, the prime minister's palace. "We must remain united against these type of threats that affect all of us equally and that know no barriers," Rajoy wrote, offering Spain's support to the UK. Israel, which that has faced a wave of Palestinian car ramming, stabbing and shooting assaults since 2015, also expressed solidarity with the victims of the London attack. Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said in a statement. "Israel expresses its deep shock at the terror attack in London today and its solidarity with the victims and with the people and government of Great Britain. Terror is terror wherever it occurs and we will fight it relentlessly." ___ 6:50 p.m. One British lawmaker was hailed by some as a hero in Wednesday's attack on the British Parliament. Conservative parliamentarian and Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was killed in the Bali terror attack in 2002, performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the police officer who was stabbed and later died. About 10 yards away was the attacker who was shot dead by police after scaling the security wall toward Parliament's grounds. Ellwood, who served in the British military, applied pressure to the police officer's multiple lacerations. Photographs showed Ellwood's bloodied hands and face from the police officer's wounds while the alleged attacker was seen nearby. ___ 6:20 p.m. The White House is condemning the attacks in London involving a car rampage and knife attack. President Donald Trump is said to be monitoring developments. Spokesman Sean Spicer said Wednesday Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May and said that the White House applauds "the quick response of British police and first responders" and condemns the attacks. A vehicle mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and the attacker then stabbed a police officer outside the British Parliament. At least four people died, including the attacker and a police officer. Spicer says that the city of London and the British government have the "full support" of the U.S. as they investigate the attack. The U.S. Homeland Security Department says the security posture in the United States has not changed in the wake of the attack. ___ 6:15 p.m. The Italian interior ministry says the nation's top security and intelligence officials will huddle in Rome on Thursday for "an evaluation of the terrorist threat" after the attacks in London. The ministry said minister Marco Minniti convened the Committee of Strategic Anti-terrorism Analyses following "the tragic facts in London," in which a vehicle mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and the attacker then stabbed a police officer outside the British Parliament. At least four people died, including the attacker and a police officer. Italian security was already on high alert for a European Union summit bringing EU nation leaders to Rome Friday for a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, and a ceremony in the Italian capital Saturday. Authorities are bracing for possible violence during several marches Saturday, drawing thousands of both pro-and anti-EU participants. ___ 6:05 p.m. The head of counterterrorism at London's Metropolitan Police, says four people have died in the terror incident in London, including an attacker and a police officer. Mark Rowley says some 20 people have been wounded and Parliament was locked down. A search is underway to make certain no other attackers are in the area though police believe there was only one attacker. Rowley said the dead policeman was one of the armed officers who guard Parliament. The other victims were on Westminster Bridge. Rowley says "We are satisfied at this stage that it looks like there was only one attacker. But it would be foolish to be overconfident early on." ___ 5:50 p.m. French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both expressed their support and solidarity with Britain after the attacks at the British Parliament in London. "We are all concerned with terrorism," Hollande told reporters Wednesday during a visit in Villepinte, outside Paris. "France, which has been struck so hard lately, knows what the British people are suffering today." Hollande added that countries "must bring all the conditions to answer these attacks" and that "it is clear that it is at the European level, and even beyond that, that we must organize ourselves." French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said "it is a high place of democracy that has been attacked" and that France is "obviously ready to help." Merkel said in a statement Wednesday that she learned "with sorrow" of Wednesday's incident and her thoughts were "with our British friends and all of the people of London," in particular those who were injured. While the circumstances of the attack were still unclear, "I want to say for Germany and its citizens: we stand firmly and resolutely by Great Britain's side in the fight against all forms of terrorism," she said. ___ 5:45 p.m. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has expressed sympathy to those injured and condolences to the relatives of those who died in the incident at Britain's parliament, and has underlined the need for global cooperation in the fight against terrorism. "We don't split terrorism into categories; we consider it as absolute evil. At this moment, as always, our hearts are together with the British people, we feel their pain and speak again about the need to confront that evil," she said. ___ 5:40 p.m. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was absent from a "family photo" of officials attending a conference on the Islamic State group in Washington, D.C. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was also at the meeting, issued a statement offering his condolences to the victims. "The American people send their thoughts and prayers to the people of the United Kingdom. We condemn these horrific acts of violence, and whether they were carried out by troubled individuals or by terrorists, the victims know no difference," he said. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. was ready to assist in any way. "The safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas is one of our highest priorities. Our embassy in London is monitoring the situation closely," he added. ___ 5:30 p.m. Three students on a school trip from Saint-Joseph high school in the Brittany town of Concarneau were among the injured, according to the French foreign ministry. The ministry said it is in contact with British authorities. ___ 5:25 p.m. French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says that French high school students are among the wounded in the attack in London. In a tweet Wednesday, Cazeneuve offered support to the British as well as to "the French students wounded, their families and their schoolmates." London is a common destination for French school trips. ___ 5:15 p.m. British port officials say they pulled a woman from the Thames River following the incident on Westminster Bridge. The Port of London Authority says a female member of the public was recovered from the river, injured but alive. The authority says it has closed the river between Vauxhall Bridge and Embankment while a major security operation is under way after a suspected terror attack at the Houses of Parliament in London. ___ 5:10 p.m. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May will chair a meeting of the government emergency committee to discuss the response to the terror incident in London. The emergency committee known as Cobra coordinates the high-level response to serious incidents. It brings together government ministers with senior officials of the emergency services and security and intelligence agencies. Such meetings are held after serious incidents such at the July 7, 2005, attack on London transport services. The Wednesday meeting is held in the briefing room of the Cabinet Office on Whitehall. ___ 5 p.m. The London Ambulance Service says it has treated at least 10 injured people on Westminster Bridge after a vehicle hit pedestrians. It says the first ambulance arrived within six minutes of the first call at 2:40 p.m. (1440GMT). Ambulances, an air ambulance and a Hazardous Area Response Team were all sent to the scene. One woman has been confirmed dead, and a body was seen lying in the yard of Parliament, where a knifeman stabbed a police officer and was shot by police. People began leaving the Houses of Parliament about two hours after the incident. ___ 4:50 p.m. A senior police commander says the attack at London's Parliament has been declared a terrorist incident and "a full counterterrorism investigation is underway." Commander B.J. Harrington says "a number" of people have been injured, including police officers. He says additional police officers, armed and unarmed, will be deployed across London during the evening rush hour as part of efforts to keep people safe. ___ 4:35 p.m. The Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh suspended its debate on a second independence referendum after the incident outside the British Parliament in London. Scottish lawmakers had been planning to vote after two days of debate on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's call for another referendum on leaving the United Kingdom. The debate was suspended after some members said it should be halted out of respect after a policeman was stabbed and his attacker shot in London. Sturgeon tweeted that her thoughts were with everyone in Westminster "caught up in this dreadful incident." ___ 4:30 p.m. A doctor says a woman has died and about a dozen people are hurt, some with "catastrophic" injuries, after a vehicle apparently hit pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, near Parliament. Colleen Anderson of St Thomas' Hospital says a female pedestrian has died. Anderson said: "There were people across the bridge. There were some with minor injuries, some catastrophic. Some had injuries they could walk away from or who have life-changing injuries." She said there might be a dozen injured in all. ___ 4:20 p.m. Poland's former foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, says he was in a taxi leaving Westminster and was checking his email when he heard something like a car crash, "something like a car hitting metal sheet." "I look up and I see that a person is lying on the pavement. I started my camera and I saw more people lying on the street and on the pavement," Sikorski said on Poland's TVN24. "People started running up to them. I saw one person who gave no sign of life, another man was bleeding from his head. In all, I saw five people who were at least seriously injured," he said. "The taxi driver immediately called the emergency number. I heard ambulances within two or three minutes, so the rescue action was really very quick. There is a hospital near there." "It all happened so fast that there was no time to get scared," said Sikorski who posted his video on Twitter. ___ 4:05 p.m. The U.S. State Department says it is closely monitoring the incident outside London's Parliament and urged Americans in London to avoid the area. Spokesman Mark Toner said Wednesday: "We stand ready to assist in any way the U.K. authorities would find helpful." He added that the U.S. Embassy in London is closely following the news and stands ready to help any affected Americans. He said: "Our hearts go out to those affected." LONDON (AP) The latest on the attack outside Britain's Parliament (all times local): 4:10 a.m. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says the terrorist attack outside the British Parliament in London was the first subject of discussion when he met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia on Thursday morning in Canberra. Li says that "together, we send our condolences to the prime minister of the U.K. and together we condemn terrorism and we stand against all forms of terrorism." The Chinese leader says that "there cannot be continued instability in the world," adding: "We must cherish peace and stability." ___ 1:35 a.m. New Zealand's prime minister is condemning the attack outside Britain's Parliament that resulted in five deaths, including the assailant. Prime Minister Bill English told reporters in Rotorua that he has written to British Prime Minister Theresa May to express support for her government and to offer his country's condolences to the victim's families. A knife-wielding man went on the deadly rampage in the heart of Britain's seat of power Wednesday, plowing a car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Other officers fatally shot the attacker. In addition to the dead, 40 people have injuries. May has condemned the incident as a "sick and depraved terrorist attack." ___ 12:15 a.m. South Korea's Foreign Ministry says five South Koreans in their 50s and 60s were among the 40 people injured in London during the terror attack outside Parliament. The ministry says the five were hurt when they were caught up in a stampede of people trying to escape the attack. It says four of the South Koreans suffered broken bones and other injuries and a woman in her late 60s needed an operation to treat a head injury. 10:20 p.m. Buckingham Palace officials say Queen Elizabeth II will postpone plans to open the new Scotland Yard headquarters. The palace said on Wednesday night that the queen's visit, which had been set for Thursday, will be postponed. The change is due to security concerns raised by the terror attack on Parliament. It is also expected that police will be involved with a major investigation that will occupy many officers. The queen was to have been joined by her husband Prince Philip at the official opening of the new building. Watch: UK Parliament Attack: How terrorism unleashed outside Westminister ___ 10:15 p.m. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the police presence at the Australian Parliament House has been increased in response to the London attacks. "Australia's heartfelt sympathy and resolute solidarity is with the people of the United Kingdom with whom we stand today as we always have in freedom's cause. Staunch allies in the war against terrorism," Turnbull told reporters on Thursday. "The attack on the British Parliament is an attack on parliaments, freedom and democracy everywhere," he added. READ: British parliament attack: What we know ___ 10:05 p.m. The Eiffel Tower is going dark in mourning and solidarity with Britain after an attack around the British Parliament in which four people, including the attacker, were killed. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, whose city has suffered deadly extremist attacks in recent years, announced that the tower is turning off its twinkling lights at midnight (2300 GMT). Three French teenagers on a school trip were among those injured in Wednesday's attack targeting pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge and a police officer on the nearby Parliament grounds. French President Francois Hollande offered support for Britain and the investigation. ___ 9 p.m. Prime Minister Theresa May has condemned the "sick and depraved terrorist attack" in London and says the targeting Parliament was no accident. In a late-night statement outside her Downing Street office Wednesday, a defiant May said the nation will not give in to terror and those who targeted the seat of power in Britain. She insisted that "tomorrow morning Parliament will meet as normal," and urged the country to move on and behave as normal on Thursday. May says "we will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart." The prime minister confirmed that four people died in the attack and praised the security services who ran toward danger. ___ 8 p.m. A French government plane is set to fly to London Wednesday evening to bring the families of three French students wounded in the attacks at the British Parliament to their loved ones. French President Francois Hollande announced the move in a statement Wednesday night after speaking with British Prime Minister Theresa May. May confirmed to Hollande that three French high school students from France's western Britanny region were wounded in the attacks, the statement said. Hollande offered his condolences to May for those who died in the attacks and expressed France's solidarity with Britain "in this tragic ordeal." "The British and French services are in close contact to conduct the investigation," Hollande added. London is a common destination for French school trips. ___ 7:55 p.m. Romania's foreign ministry says two Romanians were wounded in a deadly attack in London's Westminster that left four dead. The ministry said the two had been taken to a hospital for treatment. There were no further details on the identity of the two or how seriously they were injured. The ministry said it had been informed by authorities in London. A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage near the Parliament, mowing down pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing an armed police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Four people were killed, including the attacker. About 20 others were injured. ___ 7:20 p.m. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy condemned the deadly attack in London's Westminster on Wednesday and offered condolences to the British people in a telegram sent to his British counterpart Theresa May. "An execrable terrorist act like the one that took place today is a reminder that we face complex challenges for the security of our societies," said Rajoy in a transcript of the telegram distributed by Moncloa, the prime minister's palace. "We must remain united against these type of threats that affect all of us equally and that know no barriers," Rajoy wrote, offering Spain's support to the UK. Israel, which that has faced a wave of Palestinian car ramming, stabbing and shooting assaults since 2015, also expressed solidarity with the victims of the London attack. Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said in a statement. "Israel expresses its deep shock at the terror attack in London today and its solidarity with the victims and with the people and government of Great Britain. Terror is terror wherever it occurs and we will fight it relentlessly." ___ 6:50 p.m. One British lawmaker was hailed by some as a hero in Wednesday's attack on the British Parliament. Conservative parliamentarian and Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was killed in the Bali terror attack in 2002, performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the police officer who was stabbed and later died. About 10 yards away was the attacker who was shot dead by police after scaling the security wall toward Parliament's grounds. Ellwood, who served in the British military, applied pressure to the police officer's multiple lacerations. Photographs showed Ellwood's bloodied hands and face from the police officer's wounds while the alleged attacker was seen nearby. ___ 6:20 p.m. The White House is condemning the attacks in London involving a car rampage and knife attack. President Donald Trump is said to be monitoring developments. Spokesman Sean Spicer said Wednesday Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May and said that the White House applauds "the quick response of British police and first responders" and condemns the attacks. A vehicle mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and the attacker then stabbed a police officer outside the British Parliament. At least four people died, including the attacker and a police officer. Spicer says that the city of London and the British government have the "full support" of the U.S. as they investigate the attack. The U.S. Homeland Security Department says the security posture in the United States has not changed in the wake of the attack. ___ 6:15 p.m. The Italian interior ministry says the nation's top security and intelligence officials will huddle in Rome on Thursday for "an evaluation of the terrorist threat" after the attacks in London. The ministry said minister Marco Minniti convened the Committee of Strategic Anti-terrorism Analyses following "the tragic facts in London," in which a vehicle mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and the attacker then stabbed a police officer outside the British Parliament. At least four people died, including the attacker and a police officer. Italian security was already on high alert for a European Union summit bringing EU nation leaders to Rome Friday for a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, and a ceremony in the Italian capital Saturday. Authorities are bracing for possible violence during several marches Saturday, drawing thousands of both pro-and anti-EU participants. ___ 6:05 p.m. The head of counterterrorism at London's Metropolitan Police, says four people have died in the terror incident in London, including an attacker and a police officer. Mark Rowley says some 20 people have been wounded and Parliament was locked down. A search is underway to make certain no other attackers are in the area though police believe there was only one attacker. Rowley said the dead policeman was one of the armed officers who guard Parliament. The other victims were on Westminster Bridge. Rowley says "We are satisfied at this stage that it looks like there was only one attacker. But it would be foolish to be overconfident early on." ___ 5:50 p.m. French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both expressed their support and solidarity with Britain after the attacks at the British Parliament in London. "We are all concerned with terrorism," Hollande told reporters Wednesday during a visit in Villepinte, outside Paris. "France, which has been struck so hard lately, knows what the British people are suffering today." Hollande added that countries "must bring all the conditions to answer these attacks" and that "it is clear that it is at the European level, and even beyond that, that we must organize ourselves." French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said "it is a high place of democracy that has been attacked" and that France is "obviously ready to help." Merkel said in a statement Wednesday that she learned "with sorrow" of Wednesday's incident and her thoughts were "with our British friends and all of the people of London," in particular those who were injured. While the circumstances of the attack were still unclear, "I want to say for Germany and its citizens: we stand firmly and resolutely by Great Britain's side in the fight against all forms of terrorism," she said. ___ 5:45 p.m. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has expressed sympathy to those injured and condolences to the relatives of those who died in the incident at Britain's parliament, and has underlined the need for global cooperation in the fight against terrorism. "We don't split terrorism into categories; we consider it as absolute evil. At this moment, as always, our hearts are together with the British people, we feel their pain and speak again about the need to confront that evil," she said. ___ 5:40 p.m. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was absent from a "family photo" of officials attending a conference on the Islamic State group in Washington, D.C. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was also at the meeting, issued a statement offering his condolences to the victims. "The American people send their thoughts and prayers to the people of the United Kingdom. We condemn these horrific acts of violence, and whether they were carried out by troubled individuals or by terrorists, the victims know no difference," he said. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. was ready to assist in any way. "The safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas is one of our highest priorities. Our embassy in London is monitoring the situation closely," he added. ___ 5:30 p.m. Three students on a school trip from Saint-Joseph high school in the Brittany town of Concarneau were among the injured, according to the French foreign ministry. The ministry said it is in contact with British authorities. ___ 5:25 p.m. French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says that French high school students are among the wounded in the attack in London. In a tweet Wednesday, Cazeneuve offered support to the British as well as to "the French students wounded, their families and their schoolmates." London is a common destination for French school trips. ___ 5:15 p.m. British port officials say they pulled a woman from the Thames River following the incident on Westminster Bridge. The Port of London Authority says a female member of the public was recovered from the river, injured but alive. The authority says it has closed the river between Vauxhall Bridge and Embankment while a major security operation is under way after a suspected terror attack at the Houses of Parliament in London. ___ 5:10 p.m. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May will chair a meeting of the government emergency committee to discuss the response to the terror incident in London. The emergency committee known as Cobra coordinates the high-level response to serious incidents. It brings together government ministers with senior officials of the emergency services and security and intelligence agencies. Such meetings are held after serious incidents such at the July 7, 2005, attack on London transport services. The Wednesday meeting is held in the briefing room of the Cabinet Office on Whitehall. ___ 5 p.m. The London Ambulance Service says it has treated at least 10 injured people on Westminster Bridge after a vehicle hit pedestrians. It says the first ambulance arrived within six minutes of the first call at 2:40 p.m. (1440GMT). Ambulances, an air ambulance and a Hazardous Area Response Team were all sent to the scene. One woman has been confirmed dead, and a body was seen lying in the yard of Parliament, where a knifeman stabbed a police officer and was shot by police. People began leaving the Houses of Parliament about two hours after the incident. ___ 4:50 p.m. A senior police commander says the attack at London's Parliament has been declared a terrorist incident and "a full counterterrorism investigation is underway." Commander B.J. Harrington says "a number" of people have been injured, including police officers. He says additional police officers, armed and unarmed, will be deployed across London during the evening rush hour as part of efforts to keep people safe. ___ 4:35 p.m. The Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh suspended its debate on a second independence referendum after the incident outside the British Parliament in London. Scottish lawmakers had been planning to vote after two days of debate on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's call for another referendum on leaving the United Kingdom. The debate was suspended after some members said it should be halted out of respect after a policeman was stabbed and his attacker shot in London. Sturgeon tweeted that her thoughts were with everyone in Westminster "caught up in this dreadful incident." ___ 4:30 p.m. A doctor says a woman has died and about a dozen people are hurt, some with "catastrophic" injuries, after a vehicle apparently hit pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, near Parliament. Colleen Anderson of St Thomas' Hospital says a female pedestrian has died. Anderson said: "There were people across the bridge. There were some with minor injuries, some catastrophic. Some had injuries they could walk away from or who have life-changing injuries." She said there might be a dozen injured in all. ___ 4:20 p.m. Poland's former foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, says he was in a taxi leaving Westminster and was checking his email when he heard something like a car crash, "something like a car hitting metal sheet." "I look up and I see that a person is lying on the pavement. I started my camera and I saw more people lying on the street and on the pavement," Sikorski said on Poland's TVN24. "People started running up to them. I saw one person who gave no sign of life, another man was bleeding from his head. In all, I saw five people who were at least seriously injured," he said. "The taxi driver immediately called the emergency number. I heard ambulances within two or three minutes, so the rescue action was really very quick. There is a hospital near there." "It all happened so fast that there was no time to get scared," said Sikorski who posted his video on Twitter. ___ 4:05 p.m. The U.S. State Department says it is closely monitoring the incident outside London's Parliament and urged Americans in London to avoid the area. Spokesman Mark Toner said Wednesday: "We stand ready to assist in any way the U.K. authorities would find helpful." He added that the U.S. Embassy in London is closely following the news and stands ready to help any affected Americans. He said: "Our hearts go out to those affected." By PTI NEW DELHI: A day after the terror strike on the UK Parliament, the British envoy to India today said it was an attack on the values shared by Britain, India and many other countries, and pitched for greater cooperation to defeat the menace. British High Commissioner Dominic Asquith said counter-terrorism measures are an important part of Britain's engagement with India. The envoy also lauded the "extraordinary strength" of the British people and said they showed courage to deal with the situation. "It's a very emotional reminder of the extraordinary strength that lies in society. The response from individuals was really heartwarming... "As London will return to ordinary life, Parliament will go on today. The business will survive and carry on. We will do our bit to ensure that people can continue on doing that with confidence and safety," he said. Yesterday a knife-wielding man rampaged through a street in his car and tried to storm the UK Parliament, in which five people died and nearly 40 others were injured. Seven people were today arrested in raids by anti-terror officers across London and Birmingham after the "Islamist-related terrorism" attack. Asquith said the strike was an attack on the "values shared" by the UK with other countries including India and reminds us of our "vulnerability". On counter-terror cooperation with India, he said, "It is a very important part" of British collaboration with the country and added that it is at a "very high level". "It covers a variety of strands of activity - sharing analysis, policy, intelligence about what's happening and sharing capability to respond to incidents when they do happen," said Asquith on the sidelines of an event here. "The attack case is still being investigated. But it's a reminder that we are vulnerable to people who are out there to attack values that we all here in India, UK, across Europe and everywhere in the world value. So it's a reminder of our vulnerability," Asquith added. The envoy also thanked people who had sent messages of support following the attack. "I would like to thank people who have offered wishes of condolence and support from here in India. It is a reminder of the links that the two countries have and the values that we share," he added. NEW DELHI: A day after the terror strike on the UK Parliament, the British envoy to India today said it was an attack on the values shared by Britain, India and many other countries, and pitched for greater cooperation to defeat the menace. British High Commissioner Dominic Asquith said counter-terrorism measures are an important part of Britain's engagement with India. The envoy also lauded the "extraordinary strength" of the British people and said they showed courage to deal with the situation. "It's a very emotional reminder of the extraordinary strength that lies in society. The response from individuals was really heartwarming... "As London will return to ordinary life, Parliament will go on today. The business will survive and carry on. We will do our bit to ensure that people can continue on doing that with confidence and safety," he said. Yesterday a knife-wielding man rampaged through a street in his car and tried to storm the UK Parliament, in which five people died and nearly 40 others were injured. Seven people were today arrested in raids by anti-terror officers across London and Birmingham after the "Islamist-related terrorism" attack. Asquith said the strike was an attack on the "values shared" by the UK with other countries including India and reminds us of our "vulnerability". On counter-terror cooperation with India, he said, "It is a very important part" of British collaboration with the country and added that it is at a "very high level". "It covers a variety of strands of activity - sharing analysis, policy, intelligence about what's happening and sharing capability to respond to incidents when they do happen," said Asquith on the sidelines of an event here. "The attack case is still being investigated. But it's a reminder that we are vulnerable to people who are out there to attack values that we all here in India, UK, across Europe and everywhere in the world value. So it's a reminder of our vulnerability," Asquith added. The envoy also thanked people who had sent messages of support following the attack. "I would like to thank people who have offered wishes of condolence and support from here in India. It is a reminder of the links that the two countries have and the values that we share," he added. By AFP GENEVA: UN-backed Syria peace talks resumed in Geneva on Thursday, with little hope of a breakthrough and the emboldened regime seen as unlikely to make concessions. UN deputy special envoy Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy met separately with government negotiators and the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) at hotels in the Swiss city. "We have started today preliminary talks," Ramzy told reporters after his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's representatives. "We hope we will be starting substantive discussions tomorrow." Ramzy's boss, UN mediator Staffan de Mistura, was wrapping up a diplomatic tour of the key powers shaping the conflict, which included trips to Moscow, Riyadh and Ankara. De Mistura is due back in Geneva on Thursday evening to take charge of the negotiations which have yielded little in four previous rounds. A stalemate persists over most of the toughest issues, notably Assad's fate, with the opposition insisting he quit power and the government declaring the president's future off limits for discussion. HNC delegation chief Nasr al-Hariri told reporters after meeting Ramzy that his camp was in Geneva to "guarantee the departure of Bashar al-Assad and his clique". The UN is aiming for a political deal to end a six-year conflict that has killed more than 320,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with protests against Assad's regime. On the agenda for this round is governance -- a political transition, the constitution and elections -- as well as counter-terrorism at the request of Damascus. De Mistura tried to strike an optimistic note when the previous round ended last month, insisting that "everything is ready" for the talks to move forward while reiterating his view that there is no military solution to Syria's devastating civil war. 'Waste of time'? But analysts disagree with the UN envoy, putting the chances of compromise at an all-time low, due in part the regime's increasingly strong position on the ground. "My assessment is that there will not be a formal political settlement at all," Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at Carnegie Middle East Center, told AFP. "Regime advances make this almost a certainty," he added. Since Russia's military intervention in support of Assad in 2015, the regime has gained the upper hand, retaking the former rebel bastion of Aleppo late last year. For Syria specialist Thomas Pierret, as "the regime continues to gain ground ... there's no reason for it to make the slightest concession." But HNC spokesman Salem al-Meslet told journalists late Wednesday that he hoped this round would "see real talks, not only a waste of time." Fresh fighting An already-fragile ceasefire has deteriorated further in recent days after rebels and allied jihadists launched two surprise offensives on government positions in Damascus and central Hama province. Assad's air force has responded with raids on rebel targets. The pro-government Al Watan newspaper quoted an unnamed government negotiator as saying that the Damascus and Hama violence "make it clear and without any doubt that these groups and the countries who operate them want to... undermine any chance of finding a solution." Hariri described the escalation of violence around Damascus as "self-defence." So far, there is no plan for the government and rebels to meet face-to-face. De Mistura has said he wants to unify the HNC with two smaller opposition camps -- known as the Moscow and Cairo platforms -- before presenting the government with a single rebel delegation. Ramzy was scheduled to meet the Moscow and Cairo groups later Thursday, but uniting them with the HNC could be tough due to disagreements over core issues, including Assad's future. "We still insist on direct negotiations", Meslet told reporters. GENEVA: UN-backed Syria peace talks resumed in Geneva on Thursday, with little hope of a breakthrough and the emboldened regime seen as unlikely to make concessions. UN deputy special envoy Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy met separately with government negotiators and the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) at hotels in the Swiss city. "We have started today preliminary talks," Ramzy told reporters after his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's representatives. "We hope we will be starting substantive discussions tomorrow." Ramzy's boss, UN mediator Staffan de Mistura, was wrapping up a diplomatic tour of the key powers shaping the conflict, which included trips to Moscow, Riyadh and Ankara. De Mistura is due back in Geneva on Thursday evening to take charge of the negotiations which have yielded little in four previous rounds. A stalemate persists over most of the toughest issues, notably Assad's fate, with the opposition insisting he quit power and the government declaring the president's future off limits for discussion. HNC delegation chief Nasr al-Hariri told reporters after meeting Ramzy that his camp was in Geneva to "guarantee the departure of Bashar al-Assad and his clique". The UN is aiming for a political deal to end a six-year conflict that has killed more than 320,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with protests against Assad's regime. On the agenda for this round is governance -- a political transition, the constitution and elections -- as well as counter-terrorism at the request of Damascus. De Mistura tried to strike an optimistic note when the previous round ended last month, insisting that "everything is ready" for the talks to move forward while reiterating his view that there is no military solution to Syria's devastating civil war. 'Waste of time'? But analysts disagree with the UN envoy, putting the chances of compromise at an all-time low, due in part the regime's increasingly strong position on the ground. "My assessment is that there will not be a formal political settlement at all," Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at Carnegie Middle East Center, told AFP. "Regime advances make this almost a certainty," he added. Since Russia's military intervention in support of Assad in 2015, the regime has gained the upper hand, retaking the former rebel bastion of Aleppo late last year. For Syria specialist Thomas Pierret, as "the regime continues to gain ground ... there's no reason for it to make the slightest concession." But HNC spokesman Salem al-Meslet told journalists late Wednesday that he hoped this round would "see real talks, not only a waste of time." Fresh fighting An already-fragile ceasefire has deteriorated further in recent days after rebels and allied jihadists launched two surprise offensives on government positions in Damascus and central Hama province. Assad's air force has responded with raids on rebel targets. The pro-government Al Watan newspaper quoted an unnamed government negotiator as saying that the Damascus and Hama violence "make it clear and without any doubt that these groups and the countries who operate them want to... undermine any chance of finding a solution." Hariri described the escalation of violence around Damascus as "self-defence." So far, there is no plan for the government and rebels to meet face-to-face. De Mistura has said he wants to unify the HNC with two smaller opposition camps -- known as the Moscow and Cairo platforms -- before presenting the government with a single rebel delegation. Ramzy was scheduled to meet the Moscow and Cairo groups later Thursday, but uniting them with the HNC could be tough due to disagreements over core issues, including Assad's future. "We still insist on direct negotiations", Meslet told reporters. By PTI PARIS: World leaders today unanimously condemned the suspected terrorist attack in the heart of London by an attacker who was shot dead by armed police, with many saying they "stand" with Britain. At least three people were killed and 20 injured in the attack outside parliament when a man mowed down pedestrians with a car then stabbed a police officer outside parliament before being shot dead. British Prime Minister Theresa May responded to the "appalling incident" by saying her thoughts "are with those killed and injured" and "with their families," her Downing Street office said in a statement. Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany stood by Britain "firmly and resolutely". "Although the background to these acts are not yet clear, I reaffirm that Germany and its citizens stand firmly and resolutely alongside Britons in the struggle against all forms of terrorism," Merkel said in a statement. "In these grave moments, we Germans feel very close to the British people," President Frank-Walter Steinmeier added. French President Francois Hollande sent a message of "solidarity" and "support" for Britons and May. "France, which has been hit so hard in recent times, knows what the British people are suffering today," Hollande said in a statement. French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve tweeted: "Solidarity with our British friends, horribly attacked, full support for the injured French students, their families and their friends." US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressed his "condolences to the victims and their families" in a statement, adding: "The American people send their thoughts and prayers to the people of the United Kingdom." "We condemn these horrific acts of violence, and whether they were carried out by troubled individuals or by terrorists, the victims know no difference," he said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: "Our thoughts are with the victims of today's attack in London and their families. Canadians remain united with the people of the UK. " European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the attack left him "highly emotional". In Brussels to commemorate the one-year anniversary of attacks on the main airport and a metro station, Juncker said "the fact that exactly on the same day something similar happened in London, and to London, is really putting me in the situation of someone who does not have...enough words to express how I am deeply feeling." European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted: "My thoughts are with the victims of the Westminster attack. Europe stands firm with the UK against terror and ready to help". Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, expressed the country's "condolences" and said on Russian television: "We do not and will never support terrorism." "We consider it an evil to which it is necessary to fight collectively. In this moment, as always, our hearts are with Britons and we share their pain". Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Dutch television he was shocked by the "horrific" news from London and said: "The city is in our hearts. We are following the situation closely, and are in contact with the British authorities." Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who observed a moment of silence at the start of a meeting with Social Democratic lawmakers, expressed his "condolences" and said: "Italy and the United Kingdom remain side-by-side in our condemnation and firm response to all forms of terrorism". In a message addressed to Queen Elizabeth, Italian President Sergio Mattarella expressed his "deep sadness" and said that "the United Kingdom will be able to count on Italy's firm commitment" in the fight against terrorism. "Our condolences are with those who mourn and all who are affected in London," Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted. "Belgium stands with UK in fight against terror." Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called terrorism "a global catastrophe" on Turkish television, adding: "All countries should come together on the terror issue and fight together against" it. "We express our solidarity with the British people on today's indiscriminate attack," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tweeted. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tweeted: "Spain stands with the British people. I condemn the attack in the vicinity of Westminster, London. Solidarity with the victims." Norwegian Prime minister Erna Solberg tweeted: "Terrible to see an attack in the heart of the British democracy. My thoughts with the victims." PARIS: World leaders today unanimously condemned the suspected terrorist attack in the heart of London by an attacker who was shot dead by armed police, with many saying they "stand" with Britain. At least three people were killed and 20 injured in the attack outside parliament when a man mowed down pedestrians with a car then stabbed a police officer outside parliament before being shot dead. British Prime Minister Theresa May responded to the "appalling incident" by saying her thoughts "are with those killed and injured" and "with their families," her Downing Street office said in a statement. Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany stood by Britain "firmly and resolutely". "Although the background to these acts are not yet clear, I reaffirm that Germany and its citizens stand firmly and resolutely alongside Britons in the struggle against all forms of terrorism," Merkel said in a statement. "In these grave moments, we Germans feel very close to the British people," President Frank-Walter Steinmeier added. French President Francois Hollande sent a message of "solidarity" and "support" for Britons and May. "France, which has been hit so hard in recent times, knows what the British people are suffering today," Hollande said in a statement. French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve tweeted: "Solidarity with our British friends, horribly attacked, full support for the injured French students, their families and their friends." US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressed his "condolences to the victims and their families" in a statement, adding: "The American people send their thoughts and prayers to the people of the United Kingdom." "We condemn these horrific acts of violence, and whether they were carried out by troubled individuals or by terrorists, the victims know no difference," he said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: "Our thoughts are with the victims of today's attack in London and their families. Canadians remain united with the people of the UK. " European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the attack left him "highly emotional". In Brussels to commemorate the one-year anniversary of attacks on the main airport and a metro station, Juncker said "the fact that exactly on the same day something similar happened in London, and to London, is really putting me in the situation of someone who does not have...enough words to express how I am deeply feeling." European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted: "My thoughts are with the victims of the Westminster attack. Europe stands firm with the UK against terror and ready to help". Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, expressed the country's "condolences" and said on Russian television: "We do not and will never support terrorism." "We consider it an evil to which it is necessary to fight collectively. In this moment, as always, our hearts are with Britons and we share their pain". Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Dutch television he was shocked by the "horrific" news from London and said: "The city is in our hearts. We are following the situation closely, and are in contact with the British authorities." Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who observed a moment of silence at the start of a meeting with Social Democratic lawmakers, expressed his "condolences" and said: "Italy and the United Kingdom remain side-by-side in our condemnation and firm response to all forms of terrorism". In a message addressed to Queen Elizabeth, Italian President Sergio Mattarella expressed his "deep sadness" and said that "the United Kingdom will be able to count on Italy's firm commitment" in the fight against terrorism. "Our condolences are with those who mourn and all who are affected in London," Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted. "Belgium stands with UK in fight against terror." Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called terrorism "a global catastrophe" on Turkish television, adding: "All countries should come together on the terror issue and fight together against" it. "We express our solidarity with the British people on today's indiscriminate attack," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tweeted. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tweeted: "Spain stands with the British people. I condemn the attack in the vicinity of Westminster, London. Solidarity with the victims." Norwegian Prime minister Erna Solberg tweeted: "Terrible to see an attack in the heart of the British democracy. My thoughts with the victims." By Express News Service COLOMBO: Womens Action Network (WAN), an amalgam of eight womens organization working in the Tamil-speaking North and East of Sri Lanka, has said that it is appalled and deeply disappointed by the statement of Rizwe Mufthi, President of the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulama (ACJU), that the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) is "perfect in the present state" and does not require changes. With religious leaders invoking tradition to block fundamental rights, WAN calls on the State to step in and ensure that Muslim women and children are not second-class rights holders in Sri Lanka, WAN said in a statement on Wednesday. WAN noted that Rizwe Mufthi is a member of the Committee on Muslim Personal Law Reforms headed by Justice Saleem Marsoof. The committee was appointed by the Rajapaksa government in 2009 to reform the Muslim Marriage and Divorce. But till date it has not submitted its report. Mufthi's recent statements raise concerns about the role of the ACJU. The ACJU has misled the Marsoof Committee and the Muslim community into believing that substantive legal reforms to the MMDA are being deliberated, WAN said. Rizwe Mufthis statement also does disservice to the expectations of Muslim women and girls who have faced and continue to face injustice due to the MMDA. WAN is of the firm belief that it is the MMDA and its implementation which allow unequal and unjust treatment of Muslim women and girls, such as allowing child marriage; treating adult women as minors to strip them of their autonomy; restricting women from state-salaried positions such as Quazis; setting forth unequal divorce provisions for men and women; and allowing unconditional polygamy. Contrary to the ACJU's statements, the problem is not merely one of implementation, but problems with the law itself, WAN said. WAN has met with ACJU on multiple occasions to share these concerns, alongside Muslim womens groups and directly affected women, including survivors of child marriage. At each of these meetings, ACJU representatives expressed concern and vocalized their commitment for reforms of the MMDA. Rizwe Mufthis recent statement runs counter to previous commitments, raising a doubt as to whether ACJU's commitment to reforms is genuine. Mufthi's comments do not reflect the views of affected Muslim women. The recent statement coupled with ACJUs inaction towards reforms are a clear indicator that ACJU cannot claim to represent the interests of the entire Muslim community, which is diverse in ethnicity and religious ideologies. The ACJUs views justify attacks on reformist Muslim women. The ACJUs extreme and rigid position has also radicalized Muslim youth, making them believe that the MMDA reflects Sharia law and therefore cannot be touched. Given this reality, WAN calls on the government to intervene and lay down non-negotiable conditions for reform, such as setting a minimum age of marriage for all citizens at 18, and ensuring state-salaried positions are open to women. It is time that the State acted like a State and protected the rights of all Sri Lankans, including Muslim women and girls, from those who seek to allow injustice in the name of religion, WAN said. COLOMBO: Womens Action Network (WAN), an amalgam of eight womens organization working in the Tamil-speaking North and East of Sri Lanka, has said that it is appalled and deeply disappointed by the statement of Rizwe Mufthi, President of the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulama (ACJU), that the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) is "perfect in the present state" and does not require changes. With religious leaders invoking tradition to block fundamental rights, WAN calls on the State to step in and ensure that Muslim women and children are not second-class rights holders in Sri Lanka, WAN said in a statement on Wednesday. WAN noted that Rizwe Mufthi is a member of the Committee on Muslim Personal Law Reforms headed by Justice Saleem Marsoof. The committee was appointed by the Rajapaksa government in 2009 to reform the Muslim Marriage and Divorce. But till date it has not submitted its report. Mufthi's recent statements raise concerns about the role of the ACJU. The ACJU has misled the Marsoof Committee and the Muslim community into believing that substantive legal reforms to the MMDA are being deliberated, WAN said. Rizwe Mufthis statement also does disservice to the expectations of Muslim women and girls who have faced and continue to face injustice due to the MMDA. WAN is of the firm belief that it is the MMDA and its implementation which allow unequal and unjust treatment of Muslim women and girls, such as allowing child marriage; treating adult women as minors to strip them of their autonomy; restricting women from state-salaried positions such as Quazis; setting forth unequal divorce provisions for men and women; and allowing unconditional polygamy. Contrary to the ACJU's statements, the problem is not merely one of implementation, but problems with the law itself, WAN said. WAN has met with ACJU on multiple occasions to share these concerns, alongside Muslim womens groups and directly affected women, including survivors of child marriage. At each of these meetings, ACJU representatives expressed concern and vocalized their commitment for reforms of the MMDA. Rizwe Mufthis recent statement runs counter to previous commitments, raising a doubt as to whether ACJU's commitment to reforms is genuine. Mufthi's comments do not reflect the views of affected Muslim women. The recent statement coupled with ACJUs inaction towards reforms are a clear indicator that ACJU cannot claim to represent the interests of the entire Muslim community, which is diverse in ethnicity and religious ideologies. The ACJUs views justify attacks on reformist Muslim women. The ACJUs extreme and rigid position has also radicalized Muslim youth, making them believe that the MMDA reflects Sharia law and therefore cannot be touched. Given this reality, WAN calls on the government to intervene and lay down non-negotiable conditions for reform, such as setting a minimum age of marriage for all citizens at 18, and ensuring state-salaried positions are open to women. It is time that the State acted like a State and protected the rights of all Sri Lankans, including Muslim women and girls, from those who seek to allow injustice in the name of religion, WAN said. Huang Xiaoshuai and his wife Wei Mengyuan are part of a growing young clique of affluent, jet-setting Chinese art enthusiasts who are building their own personal high-end collections (AFP Photo/ANTHONY WALLACE) Huang Xiaoshuai and his wife last year splashed out $70,000 for a large painting of fish by Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody -- part of a growing clique of young, affluent Chinese art enthusiasts building their own high-end collections. The picture now hangs in their Shanghai home and the couple, along with other mainland collectors, have flown in to attend VIP events at this week's Art Basel in Hong Kong where they are hoping to indulge their taste for contemporary Asian and European art. Each year Huang and Wei Mengyuan set aside $1.5 million to spend on art -- half from Huang's salary and the rest from family funds. Huang, an investment banker, says he and his wife first got into collecting when they were deciding how to decorate their new home. "We have friends who deal art. They gave me some advice (on how) to buy some paintings or sculptures to put in our house," says Huang. A hobby turned into a passion -- now the couple say they buy art not only as decoration but also as an investment. Wei says that, unlike jewellery or real estate, art allows her to form an emotional connection and both say they like to meet the artists who create the works they buy. This year at Art Basel, the couple will be looking out for pieces by Sweden-based sculptor Klara Kristalova and Chinese artist Sun Xun. "I want to see (the artworks) in person, otherwise I can't get the feeling," Huang said, adding that he hoped friends and family would enjoy viewing his latest purchases when they visit his home. "It's not to sell but to share," he said. - Stylish collections - China is the third-largest art-buying market in the world and leads the auction sales segment, according to a new report by Art Basel and UBS. Although sales have been dampened by an economic slowdown there have been some stellar purchases in recent years. Taxi-driver-turned-tycoon Liu Yiqian has made the biggest headlines, buying a tiny Ming Dynasty "Chicken Cup" for $36 million at Sotheby's in 2014 before drinking tea from it. Story continues Liu, who founded the Long Museum in Shanghai, then branched out into Western art, bagging a Modigliani for $170.4 million at a Christie's New York auction in 2015. But gallerists and art dealers say the growing band of well-travelled, wealthy young buyers are also now making their mark, albeit with lower budgets and sometimes using their parents' money. With a critical eye and in-depth knowledge, they are departing from the more traditional tastes of established Chinese collectors and are building collections in their own edgier style. Hong Kong-based gallerist Pascal de Sarthe says their passion and know-how has created a "much broader market" which has impacted dealers. "Now we have more requests about Western art than we used to," thanks to young Chinese collectors, he said. - Adventurous taste - Another Hong Kong gallerist, Pearl Lam, said the market in China was generally becoming more adventurous. "Chinese collectors, as well as artists, are becoming more exposed to art from different parts of the world and are becoming more accepting of works from emerging countries or by emerging artists," she told AFP. Some contemporary artists in China are themselves also turning to collecting. Beijing-based artist and poet Wang Ai, 46, says he gathers works to document the times. He and a friend are currently building an exhibition space in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang so that they can share their collection with the public. The pair focus on works by Chinese contemporary artists and Wang says they prioritise the intellectual merit of the art when purchasing, while also considering their market value. They have spent from $3,000 to more than $70,000 on individual pieces. "Collecting... has to do with my understanding of my own culture," Wang told AFP. "Contemporary art is a part of history -- you can't buy history, but you can form a relationship with it." French Interior Minister resigns over holiday jobs for daughters Paris [France], Mar. 22 : French Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux has confirmed his resignation, hours after the financial prosecutor's office announced they were putting him under preliminary investigation for parliamentary jobs he secured for his daughters during their school holidays. (Posted on 22 March 2017, 1667856992 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 22 March 2017, 1667856992 173O212O198O32) Le Roux said he is stepping down so as to not distract from the work of the government, reports the Guardian.He had offered his resignation earlier in the day to President Francois Hollande, who had accepted it.The scandal broke a week after presidential candidate Francois Fillon was mise-en-examen - the French equivalent of being charged - over allegations he paid family members from public funds for "fake" jobs.51-year-old Le Roux has admitted that he paid his daughters a55,000 (A48,000) of public money over seven years.They were given 24 short-term contracts, known as CDDs, between 2009 and 2016 while he sat in the national assembly. Sorry, that page not found! Please visit our Home Page for latest updates Amit Shah welcomes Congress veteran S.M. Krishna, says BJP will now be stronger in Karnataka New Delhi , March, 22 : Veteran Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday and stated that he would like to rededicate himself to the cause of the nation under the saffron party's banner. (Posted on 22 March 2017, 1667856994 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/karnataka-news.php (Posted on 22 March 2017, 1667856994 173O212O198O32) "I am deeply humbled that I am joining a political set-up which has given a great glory to the country and I would like to rededicate myself to the cause of the nation under the banner of the Bharatiya Janata Party," Krishna told the media here.Meanwhile, BJP president Amit Shah while welcoming Krishna in the party said that his contribution is appreciable and that the former Congress stalwart is a great asset of the nation."On behalf of BJP I welcome him. His contribution will make our position strong in Karnataka," he said.Krishna who joined BJP in presence of Amit Shah had put off his plan last week after the death of his sister.Though he had reached New Delhi to hold consultations with Shah and to join the party, he had to rush back to Bengaluru after hearing the news of her death.84-year-old Krishna had announced his resignation from the Congress on January 29, saying the party was in a "state of confusion" on whether it needed mass leaders or not.Krishna, who was the chief minister Karnataka from 1999 to 2004, had returned to state politics after stepping down as then External Affairs Minister in 2012.A trusted aide of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, Krishna is credited with setting up Bengaluru as the nation's IT hub. Later, he returned to Karnataka, hoping to play a role in state politics.He has also served as the Governor of Maharashtra. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh meets PM Modi, stresses on farmer loan waiver issue New Delhi , Mar. 22 : Punjab's newly-elected Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and put forward the loan waiver issue of farmers in the state. (Posted on 22 March 2017, 1667856995 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/punjab-news.php (Posted on 22 March 2017, 1667856995 173O212O198O32) "I mentioned the debt waiver issue to the Prime Minister. It was an extension of the demand we made earlier when we had gone to meet the Prime Minister as part of a Congress delegation led by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi. I said the debt loan waiver should be extended to Punjab farmers along the lines of Uttar Pradesh," Singh said after his meeting.This was Singh's first meeting with the Prime Minister after becoming the Chief Minister.Talking about cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu's decision to continue with his regular appearance in a comedy television show, Singh said the latter is a very intelligent man and is earning his own keep."He is earning his own keep. What objection can we have to someone earning his own money by his own means? People can have professions and run businesses. However, we have asked the Punjab Advocate General Ashok Aggarwal for an opinion and may change Sidhu's portfolio as Culture and Tourism Minister, if we are advised to," he said.He further said if it is constitutionally fine for people to earn their own money, then there should be no objections.Over who would be the next chief of Punjab Congress, he said, "Let Congress president Sonia Gandhi return. I will request her to choose someone else since I, as the Chief Minister of Punjab, cannot handle both the positions."Singh is in the national capital for holding a series of meetings with government's top brass during his first visit to the national capital after taking over as the state Chief Minister. MILWAUKEE (AP) Curious toddlers find the drugs in a mother's purse or accidentally dropped on the floor. Sometimes a parent fails to secure the child-resistant cap on a bottle of painkillers. No matter how it happens, if a 35-pound toddler grabs just one opioid pill, chews it and releases the full concentration of a time-released adult drug into their small bodies, death can come swiftly. These are some of the youngest victims of the nation's opioid epidemic children under age 5 who die after swallowing opioids. The number of children's deaths is still small relative to the overall toll from opioids, but toddler fatalities have climbed steadily over the last 10 years. In 2000, 14 children in the U.S. under age 5 died after ingesting opioids. By 2015, that number climbed to 51, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, alone, four children died last year of accidental overdoses. Another 2-year-old perished in January. Each family who loses a toddler to opioids confronts a death that probably could have been prevented. Here are a few of their stories: ___ AN ENERGETIC BIRTHDAY GIRL, A METHADONE MYSTERY Cataleya Tamekia-Damiah Wimberly couldn't sit still. She spent most of her first birthday party in Milwaukee dancing and diving into the cake. But her first birthday party was also her last. Nearly three weeks later, she was found dead of a cause her mother never suspected a methadone overdose. Helen Jackson, 24, was styling her older daughter's hair when she got a call from Cataleya's father, who shared custody of the little girl. He sobbed on the phone as he explained how he found their daughter unresponsive the morning of Feb. 16, 2016. "I screamed so hard and so loud," Jackson said. "The screams that came out of me took all my strength, all my wind. It was just terrible." Police were puzzled. They looked into whether the toddler was smothered while co-sleeping with her father and his girlfriend. They also investigated carbon monoxide poisoning because of a gas smell. Toxicology tests eventually revealed the methadone in her system. Story continues Jackson said her daughter, while in the care of her father, was at a relative's house when she swallowed the methadone that took her life. Police are still investigating how Cataleya got the methadone. The case could be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office for consideration of criminal charges, said Sgt. Timothy Gauerke. Since Cataleya's death, friends and family have commented on what they perceive as Jackson's strength in dealing with her loss. In reality, she said, she feels fragile and weak. "I don't know when I'm going to fall apart," she said. "I don't know when I'm going to explode. It's all still in there." ___ MOTHER'S PRESCRIPTION PROVES FATAL FOR DAUGHTER At just 2 years old, Londyn Raine Robinson Sack was protective of her baby brother, Liam. "She thought she was his mother," said Londyn's grandmother, Shauna Etheredge. "She liked to be the boss of her little brother." Londyn's own mother was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and risk of injury to a child in connection with the Oct. 19, 2014, death of her daughter, who ingested an opioid known as Suboxone that was packaged in the form of a dissolving strip. Prosecutors in New Britain, Connecticut, said the drug was obtained illegally by her mother and was dispensed in a box, not a child-resistant container. Rebekah Robinson entered a plea in which she did not accept or deny responsibility for the charges but agreed to accept punishment. In June 2016, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 10 years of probation. Robinson apparently knew Londyn had ingested the opioid but did not call for medical help, according to prosecutors. It was an older sibling who called 911 to say her little sister was not breathing. The Connecticut Department of Children and Families was cited in a 2015 report for failing to adequately identify risks to Londyn and Robinson's three other children, given her history of mental health, substance abuse and child-welfare complaints. Besides her protective nature, Londyn loved making people laugh, Etheredge said. "She would put underwear on her head and act goofy and silly," her grandmother said. "She loved to explore." Etheredge, of Indian Trail, North Carolina, said one of her lasting memories of her grandchild was a visit to the local park. "The last time I saw her, she was running around and trying to catch up with the birds," she said. ___ PRECOCIOUS "LIL' REG" DIES, UNCLE STANDS ACCUSED Curious and energetic, Reginald Kendall Harris Jr. would hold conversations beyond those of a typical toddler. "If he was talking to his mom, you would think he was five or six years old," said his great-uncle Calvin Harris, of Portland, Oregon. "If you would talk to him, you would engage in a full conversation. It was hilarious for his age," Harris said. The boy died on Oct. 10, 2016, after swallowing methadone. Portland police soon issued a warning, saying the case was a reminder to keep all prescription drugs away from children. Reginald's uncle, Willie Lee Harris Jr., is behind bars, accused of leaving methadone in a place accessible to his nephew. He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter. Harris' mother, Pamela Harris, of Vancouver, Washington, said her grandson got hold of the drug while riding in her son's car. "Lil' Reg was so touchy and curious," she recalled. The methadone was in a cup. The boy whose family affectionately called him "Lil' Reg" would "say some crazy stuff sometimes, somethings you wouldn't expect a 2-year-old to say," great-grandmother Lucy Lee Harris recalled. "He would answer the door: 'What up, dawg?'" Instead of the way he died, Pamela Harris chooses to remember how her grandson lived, such as his joy when the family made plans to visit his favorite hangout, a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant with a kid-friendly menu and games. Harris said his death was almost too much to bear after losing her home in Hurricane Katrina and receiving a breast cancer diagnosis. "Now I've got a grandson that's not here and a son that's being charged," Harris said. "I couldn't breathe. It was like I was being smothered." _____ AP videojournalist Carrie Antlfinger contributed to this story. Follow AP's Gretchen Ehlke on Twitter at https://twitter.com/gehlke . Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and @YahooBeauty. FEATURE: Humanity at the core as UN readies for first-ever Ocean Conference New York, Mar 23 : Over a year ago, on 20 February 2016, Tropical Cyclone Winston made a category 5 landfall along the north coast of Fiji's largest, most populous island, Viti Levu, killing at least 44 people, and grounding flights to and from the Pacific Island nation. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857000 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857000 173O212O198O32) It was one of the strongest cyclones to have hit any country in the Southern Hemisphere, recalls Semi Koroilavesau, Fijian Minister for Fisheries. That was quite catastrophic for Fiji and we are still recovering from it, he adds, sombrely.Koroilavesau was speaking recently at a panel discussion on the margins of the first preparatory meeting convened by the President of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York for the first-ever UN Ocean Conference, to be co-hosted by the Governments of Fiji and Sweden, from 5 June to 9 June 2017.Our ocean is warming up and changing the pattern of our main product, which is tuna, said Koroilavesau underlining the significance of the ocean to the Fijian people.The migratory pattern has changed because of the conditions of the water. The degradation of the water is also depleting our resources and creating a lot of havoc in our ocean, he told the high-level panel, which included Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly, Isabella Lvin, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, and Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General and head of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).Fiji has about 320 islands. Ocean is quite an important item to us both in our daily lives and also as transportation between the islands, said Koroilavesau.In the run-up to the June Conference, four themes will shape the focus of the preparations discussions, networks and partnerships which, according to the President of the UN General Assembly, will lay the foundations upon which the Oceans Conference will stand.Our efforts at this time and in the years ahead, will determine whether our children, and those who come after them, will know the joy and the sustenance of the oceans bounty that was provided to us in our youth. Lets not deny them that bounty, Thomson had said earlier, in a message that resonated strongly with the theme for the month of February, which is People and Oceans, with a focus on livelihoods, tourism, food security, maritime transport and trade.Whether you look at the declining fish stocks that are reaching a tipping point, or the ocean acidification level or whether you look at the level of plastics in our oceans, I think any sensible person can conclude that time is running out fast and we need to take action fast, said Thomson, during the preparatory meeting.SDG14 and the whole development agendaUnder-Secretary-General Wu Hongbo underlined the nexus between oceans and people, especially in the context of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, which has to do with conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.When we talk about SDG 14, we are thinking about navigation in the sea, we think about catching fish in the sea for food, we are thinking about doing tourism, but that is not all. Health of the sea and sustainable use of marine resources have a direct impact in the implementation of the many SDGs, noted Wu, calling for voluntary commitments to implement Goal 14.Noting that SDG 14 is one of the vanguards for the whole Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, Wu also makes the connection between oceans and the goal to eliminate hunger. We are actually receiving a lot of nutrition and the food from the sea so we have to protect the sea, said Wu.Besides food and nutrition, Wu pointed out the significant contribution of the ocean to peoples overall wellbeing and in mitigating the effects of climate change.The ocean and the sea are the natural regulator of our climate and they are good for sanitation, noted the UN Under-Secretary-General. People are saying that the oceans sink one third of greenhouse gas emission. If we lose the sea and oceans, just imagine what kind of situation we are going to have, warned Wu, who also made a connection between oceans, employment and economic growth.I think the best or sustainable use of marine resources would really have a big boost to the economic growth and create a lot of jobs, said Wu.Transformative commitments to drive Conference outcomesThe outcomes of the Oceans Conference will, according to the President of the UN General Assembly, include a call to action and a conference report that will constitute the global bodys work plan for implementing the SDG 14.We must keep our vision clear. We must universalise our efforts. We must maintain the momentum towards the transformative commitments that will emerge from the Oceans Conference in June, underscored Thomson during the first preparatory meeting.Thomson places particular significance to the outcomes of the Ocean Conference which, he noted, would constitute a turning point in history.This is the opportunity for any human being to be a part of the recovery of the ocean. For any human being who cares about the health of the ocean, said Thomson, during the meeting.Swedens Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lvin sees the Ocean Conference as an opportunity to share experiences, share best practices, she told the high-level panel. This Ocean Conference will be the hub where we can actually share this knowledge, also transfer technology, and support developing countries so they will have access and the capacity to share the way that is needed for the oceans because the oceans connect us all, she said.Lvin also expressed concerns about unsustainable exploitation of ocean resources and pollution, warning, If these trends continue, with the overfishing, with more and more plastic pollution in our oceans, we will have more plastics than fish in our oceans by 2050.Like her fellow panellists, she made an urgent call to action. Its really, really serious so this is what we have to do now in order to leave our planet with good conscious to our children and grandchildren, she said, adding, We need to take action now and we can do it. We dont have any excuses for not doing it.The UN has called for voluntary commitments to implement Goal 14 and established an online commitment registry. The voluntary commitments, according to Under-Secretary-General Wu, underscore the urgency for action and for solutions.Other themes in focus every month ahead of the Ocean conference include: Ocean Pollution (marine litter, land-based water pollutants, shipping waste, oil spills); Marine Biodiversity (overfishing, marine habitat loss, species loss); and Oceans and Climate Change (sea-level rise, ocean warming, ocean acidification, coral bleaching).Photo: UNICEF/SokhinSource: www.justearthnews.com PM Modi pays tribute to Ram Manohar Lohia New Delhi, Mar 23 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid tributes to Ram Manohar Lohia on the latter's birth anniversary. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857001 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857001 173O212O198O32) Tributes to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia on his birth anniversary. His thoughts on social empowerment service continue to inspire us, the Prime Ministers tweet read.Lohia was an activist for Indian independence and a political leader.He died in 1967. Suresh Prabhu greets Smriti Irani on birthday New Delhi, Mar 23 : Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday greeted Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani on her birthday. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857001 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857001 173O212O198O32) Praying for her long and healthy life, the Railway Minister tweeted, Warm birthday wishes to my colleague @smritiirani. May God bless you with a long and healthy life.Irani, who turned 41 on Thursday, is an actress-turned-politician.She was earlier sworn-in as the Human Resource and Development Minister.She was later handed over the Textile Ministry portfolio following a cabinet reshuffle. Rowan Atkinson plays Mr Bean in a Chinese movie London [UK], Mar.23 : Mr Bean is back! But, there is a catch. People can only see him in China. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857002 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/hollywood-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857002 173O212O198O32) In a surprising cameo in the Chinese flick 'Top Funny Comedian: The Movie,' actor Rowan Atkinson reprised his role of Mr Bean, reports The Independent.Known as Mr Foolish Bean in China, his latest vacation takes him to China, where he is using his iPhone to click ornate sculptures.Atkinson's co-star in the movie, said in an interview with The Beijinger, that we used body language to talk to each other.He said, "[We communicated] just with facial expressions and gestures. We seemed to understand each other. It was a really interesting experience, which proves that comedy can cross boundaries."'Top Funny Comedian: The Movie' is a Chinese answer to hit Hollywood comedy 'The Hangover'.The story focuses on a group of four men and a woman, venturing to Macau where one of them gets lost, requiring the other four to save them.Maybe sometime in the future, the world also gets to see a glimpse of 'Mr Bean'. No deals will be signed during PM Dahal's China visit: Nepal Kathmandu [Nepal], Mar. 23 : Nepalese Minister for Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat has said that no pacts or MoUs will be signed with Beijing during Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's visit to China starting today. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857003 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857003 173O212O198O32) "Some crucial bilateral issues, however, will be discussed," the Kathmandu Post quoted Mahat as saying while announcing Dahal's week-long visit to China.According to Mahat, the government has prepared some MoUs but Prime Minister Dahal will not be signing any pacts during his visit due to "some technical reasons"."The government is fully committed to implementing the past pacts reached with China. We have completed all the groundwork on our part; we hope the deals reached in the past will be signed in near future," added Mahat as he tried to dispel criticisms that the Dahal government has failed to take forward any of the agreements signed during former prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli's visit to Beijing in March last year.Earlier, there were expectations that Dahal's visit could pave the way for Nepal's participation in the "One Road One Belt" initiative.Similarly, there were talks about signing of a protocol on the Transit Transportation Agreement (TTA), which would allow Nepal to use Chinese ports and land routes for third-country trade and Free Trade Agreement (FTA). R K Nagar bypoll: I support no one, Rajinikanth tweets Chennai, Mar 23 : Tamil superstar Rajinikanth has preferred a role of a mute spectator in the upcoming R K Nagar bypoll. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857005 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/tamil-nadu-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857005 173O212O198O32) Posting a tweet on Thursday, the actor said that he wont be supporting anyone.My support is for no one in the coming elections, his tweet read.Meanwhile the Election Commission has barred both factions of AIADMK from using either the party name or the symbol in the bypoll, scheduled for Apr 12, a report in The Hindu read.Both the groups shall be known by such names as they may choose for their respective groups, showing, if they so desire, linkage with their parent party ... and both the groups shall also be allotted different symbols as they may choose from the list of free symbols notified by the Election Commission for the purpose of the byelection, the EC order read.The Election Commission has also ordered both the factions to come up with new names and symbols for the bypoll. A new species of terrestrial crab found in Hong Kong Washington D.C. [USA], Mar.23 : What the CRAB! (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857005 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857005 173O212O198O32) The scientists have found a new species of terrestrial crab, climbing trees on the eastern coast of Hong Kong.The species is described in the open access journal ZooKeys.All specimens spotted during the survey have been collected at a height of approximately 1.5 - 1.8 m, walking on the bark of the branches at ebbing and low tides.The characteristics of the newly found species are squarish predominantly dark brown carapace, very long legs and orange chelipeds.The species is less than a centimetre long, with the studied specimens measuring between eight and nine millimetres, irrespective of their sex.The chelipeds of the males appear stout, while in females they are distinctly leaner.Dr. Stefano Cannicci, the Swire Institute of Marine Science at the University of Hong Kong, and Dr. Peter Ng, National University of Singapore, the scientists who found the new species have placed them in a small genus.In fact, Dr. Peter Ng has been involved in the discovery of all of them. He also led the team that established the genus 15 years ago, having collected a small previously undescribed species of mangrove crab from Singapore.The discovery of these tiny crustaceans, proves how little is known about the diversity of these crabs.Earlier this year, Dr. Peter Ng teamed up with Dr. Jose Christopher Mendoza to describe another new species of crab, collected from the rubble at the island of Guam and named after two of the main characters in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter fantasy series.Furthermore, the mangroves that make for the habitat of the new species are under severe impact by both pollution and land reclamation, which underlines the urgent need for their conservation. Chicken pox strikes seven Bihar districts, vaccine not available in govt hospitals Patna, March 23 (TheBiharPost/IBNS): Chicken pox, a highly contagious disease caused by the initial infection with varicella zoster virus, has struck Bihar in a virulent form at this time. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857006 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857006 173O212O198O32) The period behind January to March is considered quite ideal for the spread of the chicken pox virus.As per an official report, currently a total of seven districts are in the grip of this disease with Nalanda being the worst affected. Nalanda is home district of chief minister Nitish Kumar.Reports said around 250 people are infected with the disease in the state.A doctor at the medicine department in Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) Dr BP Sinha told a local media that average five persons are reaching the hospital for treatment.However, the lack of varicella vaccine from the government hospitals has added to the woes of the pox victims.Chicken pox vaccines are not available in government hospitals since it is not included in the list of national immunization campaign, a local immunization official Dr SP Vinayak told a local Hindi daily on Thursday.According to health experts, Chickenpox is an airborne disease which spreads easily through the coughs and sneezes of an infected person. It may be spread from one to two days before the rash appears until all lesions have crusted over.It usually starts on the chest, back, and face then spreads to the rest of the body. Other symptoms may include fever, feeling tired, and headaches. Symptoms usually last for five to ten days.(thebiharpost.com) Gemalto's HSM enables Microsoft Azure Information Protection customers to maintain full control of encryption keys New Delhi , Mar 23 : World leader in digital security Gemalto on Thursday announced that Microsoft Azure Information Protection customers can now take advantage of the new Hold Your Own Key (HYOK) functionality using Gemalto's SafeNet Luna Hardware Security Modules (HSMs). (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857007 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/business-india-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667857007 173O212O198O32) The integration allows organizations in highly regulated scenarios to manage, own and store their encryption keys in on-premises HSMs and securely share data with complete control over their keys.With this solution, enterprises can easily align data protection policies and business processes without compromising the integrity and security of their data.The SafeNet Luna HSM enables HYOK functionality via native support for Microsoft's Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS).Companies have the option to use AD RMS protection policies for 'top-secret' data and Azure RMS protection policies for sensitive data.Enterprises can use the Azure Information Protection to enable secure internal and external collaboration. The SafeNet Luna HSM integration with the Azure Information Protection's HYOK feature requires no change to the user experience or deployments.Customers control access to sensitive data by defining protection policies and use rights. All of the other information protection features, like document tracking and revocation, are preserved."Organizations using Microsoft Azure Information Protection services now have access to the convenient security features they're used to, without having to hand over ownership and control of their encryption keys to their cloud provider," said SVP of Encryption Products at Gemalto, Todd Moore."Combining the SafeNet Luna HSM with the Azure Information Protection's HYOK functionality, customers can continue to deploy customized data protection controls without compromising security or operational transparency of a user's applications," added Todd Moore."Microsoft Azure Information Protection enables selective use of on-premises AD RMS services in a Hold-Your-Own-Key configuration (HYOK) for customers with deeply regulated data. Gemalto's SafeNet Luna HSMs seamlessly integrate with this hybrid Azure Information Protection configuration providing customers the full spectrum of specialized protection they need," said partner director Information and Threat Protection at Microsoft Corp., Dan Plastina.Gemalto's SafeNet Luna HSMs are among the highest-performing, most secure and easiest-to-integrate HSM solutions available on the market today, facilitating regulatory compliance and delivering the highest data protection for enterprise, financial and government organizations. Unlike other methods of key storage, which move keys outside of the HSM into a "trusted layer," SafeNet Luna HSMs store the keys in hardware to protect the entire key lifecycle. Google India, Ministry of IT launch initiatives for PM Modi's 'New India' New Delhi , Mar. 23 : In keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a 'New India', Google India and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) announced a set of initiatives aimed at empowering citizens and creating abundant opportunities for all. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856010 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/business-india-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856010 173O212O198O32) Some key areas outlined as part of this initiative include enabling a safe and secure digital payments experience, imparting digital skills for artisans and Android skills training for students and developers. The announcements were made at an event, here, by Aruna Sundarajan, MEITY Secretary, and Rajan Anandan, VP SouthEast Asia and India, Google.Speaking at the event, Aruna Sundarajan, Secretary, MEITY said, "The Ministry of Electronics and IT intends to give impetus to Prime Minister's recent call for a 'New India'. Collaboration with Google will be hugely beneficial in harnessing the capabilities of technology for the "India growth" story."Making the announcements, Rajan Anandan, VP, SouthEast Asia and India, Google said, "We are delighted to support PM Modi's vision of creating a 'New india' where technology unleashes a wave of new opportunities. We are committed to and look forward to working with MEITY across these broad range of initiatives and help every Indian to leverage the power of the Internet."Digital PaymentsAs India moves to a less cash society through adoption of digital payments, Google India and MEITY will support the launch of a 'Digital Payments Security Alliance' in collaboration with the Data Security Council of India (DSCI).The Alliance will bring together several stakeholders from the ecosystem including Banks, Fintech Companies and Government. The Alliance will enable key initiatives to make security a foundation for India's twin pronged Digital and Financial Inclusion Programs.A campaign to create community awareness on safe and secure practices, as users adopt digital/mobile payments, capacity building through appropriate Train the Trainer Programs for CSCs, Financial Inclusion Agencies, will be some of the key priorities."Digital Unlocked" for ArtisansHandicrafts industry with over seven million artisans provides the second largest source of employment in India, after agriculture. Further, it has a huge impact on export and foreign exchange earnings for the country.Google India which had announced Digital Unlocked, a program to impart training to SMBs earlier this year will extend this training in partnership with MEITY to over 100,000 artisans per year across India. The aim is to enable them to tap into newer markets through improved visibility and discoverability of their products through the internet.The training will be delivered by National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT). Google India will equip the National Institute trainers with training modules and content. And they will in turn do the outreach by leveraging the 10,000 NIELIT centres across the country. Additionally, Google India will also provide mobile training labs to reach artisan clusters across India.Skills developmentThe majority of India's Internet user base today accesses the Internet from their mobile phones and almost all the future Internet users in India and many of the world's emerging countries will be mobile only.There is a huge opportunity for India to become a global leader in mobile app development. Towards this, Google had announced the launch of its Android Skilling program with an aim of training two million developers in India. This included developing a specially-designed instructor-led training program course curriculum.Google will extend this course curriculum to the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) who will in turn train over 100K developers and students through its network of centres.Other initiatives that Google India and MEITY will undertake in India include: proliferating the Indic web; enhancing government's online presence especially on mobile platforms to enable citizen engagement and training and capacity building programs on digital tools.Google India with its mission of Internet for every Indian has been very focussed on solving for the next billion users who're not online. Bringing fast, high quality Internet access; building products that perform even when there is low connectivity; make the web more accessible and useful for Indic language speakers; increasing internet usage amongst women in rural India and skills development for developers and SMBs are some of its key initiatives. PM Modi breaks new ground; launches Op-Ed section on his App New Delhi , Mar. 23 : Users of the Narendra Modi App recently received a comprehensive update on their smartphones. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856011 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856011 173O212O198O32) A prominent feature of this update is the addition of the "Reflections" section on the App. This will feature opinion pieces and writings by top policy-makers and distinguished analysts.Prime Minister Modi, who has one of the world's largest cumulative followings on social media, is already a significant influencer on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.According to Union Minister Piyush Goyal, "Reflections" on the Narendra Modi App is a bold attempt to extend this influence to the longer form of Op-Eds and editorial writings. In doing so, it is also expected to drive the ideation effort towards a new India.The Narendra Modi App has seen 80 lakh downloads till date on the Android, iOS and Windows platforms.The early contributors to the "Reflections" section on this App include Union Ministers, parliamentarians and sectoral experts.Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha speaks of India's development model in an article titled "It's India's Turn Now." Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda talks about "Putting PM's Vision into Action" as he outlines governance priorities in the health sector.Talking about "India's Cash Deliverance," Infosys co-founder and Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani says that the financial sector in India is currently experiencing a golden age and its biggest driver is the effort to move toward a less-cash economy.Samir Saran, vice-president of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), describes efforts towards "Building a New Delhi Consensus," as "India has just over 15 years to discover some key aspects of its own national identity as it makes its journey to the 10 trillion GDP mark." He goes on to add that "Renewed attention towards India's development partnership programme, its leadership role on matters of global governance (such as climate and internet regimes) and the government's "Neighbourhood First" policy emphasise the desire to cultivate a New Delhi Consensus."The initial response to "Reflections" has been encouraging, with over 5,700 shares and over 8,000 "likes" being recorded in the first ten days since the launch of the section. Goa Tourism Development Corporation, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India host Honda NAVi Goa Hunt 2017 Panjim, Mar 23 : Goa Tourism Development Corporation in association with Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. announced the first edition of Honda NAVi Goa Hunt 2017. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856012 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/business-india-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856012 173O212O198O32) Honda NAVi Goa Hunt is a fun and adventure activity aimed at exploring the unexplored side of Goa on youths most loved and favorite Honda NAVi. With its unique design and vibrant color options, NAVi promises a FUNtastsic experience for the customers.The Honda NAVi Goa Hunt is a 2 day activity to be flagged off on Mar 23 by the Hon. Minister for Tourism, Govt. of Goa, Manohar Azgaonkar.The objective of this activity is to explore Goa having fun riding the Honda NAVi and reaching the final destination after surprise tasks at each location. The event will conclude with an award ceremony by felicitating its winners on Mar 24. Delegates participating in the Commonwealth Auditors General Conference call on the President New Delhi, Mar 23 : The delegates participating in the Commonwealth Auditors General Conference called on the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday at Rashtrapati Bhavan here. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856013 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856013 173O212O198O32) Speaking on the occasion, the President expressed happiness that the multilateral forum of Auditors General of Commonwealth countries has met in India this year to discuss contemporary issues of relevance to the member Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs).He said that audit being a knowledge based activity, such interactions, sharing of knowledge, experiences, best practices would be mutually beneficial to all members of SAI.The President said that in India, the office of the CAG has been established by the Constitution of India. Government Audit plays an important role in the scheme of parliamentary financial control.The President said that it is praiseworthy that the delegates are engaging in fruitful deliberations on two very relevant contemporary themes, chosen for this Conference i.e. leveraging technology and environment audit.On global and national level technology and environment have become the key drivers for formulating strategies to address a host of issues. Technology has enabled faster communication, easy access to knowledge and information and facilitated efficient delivery of public services to citizens. Environment degradation and climate change along with their debilitating impact on our well being and of future generations are global concerns. Such concerns have led to positive action in the nature of Paris Agreement and other global treaties. Environment not only affects our well-being, its degradation threatens the very existence of several small island nations. Given the importance of technology and environment in todays world, the SAIs will have to remain in the forefront in these fields. They have an important role to play in ensuring that the nations meet their commitments on environment treaties and leverage technology to provide high quality services to the citizens.The President hoped that the exchange of views and sharing of experiences at the Conference would help in providing future guidance not just to Commonwealth Countries but many other countries of the world. Ashoka University hosts its First International Educators conference New Delhi , Mar 23 : Ashoka University, a Liberal Arts University in India, hosted its first International Educators Conference 2017 on March 17, 2017. In line with the University's vision to emerge as a global institution and put India on the world education map, the focus of the conference was on India as a global higher education destination. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856013 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/education-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856013 173O212O198O32) H.E. Major General VetsopNamgyel, Ambassador of Bhutan and H.E. Niankoro Yeah Samake, Ambassador of Mali graced the occasion as the guests of honour for the event. Dalton Sembiring, Deputy Chief in Mission and Charge d'affaires of Indonesian Embassy also graced the occasion. The event saw participation by educators from over ten countries and diplomats from five embassies."Today, participants from 15 countries have come here because of our interest in India as an important education destination. Individually, all the countries want the best education for their students. We want to create high quality schools and for the universities to educate these students and make them responsible youth. If we are unable to provide this in our own countries, we would like to send them abroad to study. But the cost of an international education in schools and colleges abroad is very high. Ashoka University is promoting a high quality education at an affordable cost and I believe that such an education will make India a highly desirable destination for education." H.E. Niankoro Yeah Samake, Ambassador of Mali also spoke about the rising collaboration between India and Africa in the education sector and a growing interest in African students to study in India. Mr. Dalton Sembiring of Indonesia spoke about the shared cultural history between Indonesia and India which makes for a natural bond between the two nations," said H.E. Major General VetsopNamgyel, Ambassador of Bhutan.Until recently, India had been recognized as a hub for international universities with several Indian students going abroad for higher education. However, over the past few years there has been an impressive growth in the number of international students coming to India for higher studies as well. As per latest industry figures, from a measly 6,988 in 2000, the number of international students in India has grown to a healthy 33,156 students in 2014.Vineet Gupta, Founder and Pro-Vice Chancellor, Ashoka University said, "Over the past decade, India has cemented a unique place in the world and has become the nerve-center of indigenous innovation. With a fast growing economy, exciting career opportunities and attractive study options, India is emerging as a preferred higher education destination at a global level. We are confident that the conference will go a long way in encouraging more international students to choose India for higher studies."Aspiring to bring positive change to the higher education sector in India, Ashoka University has attracted students from international markets from the very beginning. The University at present hosts students from over fifteen countries across three batches of the undergraduate programme. These students have come from places near and far such as Nepal, Dhaka and Dubai to Ethiopia, Nigeria and California.Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder and Trustee, Ashoka University spoke on the genesis of Ashoka. He said, "Universities across the world are driven by a desire to be and produce the best in the world. They want to produce toppers who get the best salaries and so on. However, the world and India today needs a very different kind of graduate. Graduates who feel confident in the fact that they can be the best in what they can be and are good citizens who influence the lives of others in a positive way. Therefore, we want the Ashoka graduate to not just be the best 'in the world' but also be the best 'for the world' and in being the best for the world they will indeed be the best in the world. We aspire to have best students for the world and not just best in India."The conference saw knowledge sharing by country representatives on Opportunities and challenges in promoting India as an education destination followed by stimulating sessions such as Shakespeare in Bollywood by Jonathan Gil Harris, Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of English at Ashoka University. Audit is knowledge-based activity: President Mukherjee New Delhi , Mar.23 : President Pranab Mukherjee has asserted that audit being knowledge based activity, such interactions, sharing of knowledge, experiences, and best practices would be mutually beneficial to all members of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs). (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856016 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856016 173O212O198O32) "It is praiseworthy that the delegates are engaging in fruitful deliberations on two very relevant contemporary themes, chosen for this Conference i.e. leveraging technology and environment audit," President Mukherjee said while addressing the Commonwealth Auditors General Conference at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.He expressed happiness that the multilateral forum of Auditors General of Commonwealth countries have met in India this year to discuss contemporary issues of relevance to the members of SAI."SAIs have an important role to play in ensuring that the nations meet their commitments on environment treaties and leverage technology to provide high quality services to the citizens. Technology has enabled faster communication, easy access to knowledge and information and facilitated efficient delivery of public services to citizens," President Mukherjee added.He further said that technology and environment have become key drivers for formulating strategies to address a host of issues. Trump administration to approve Keystone XL pipeline Washington D.C. [U.S.], Mar. 23 : The U.S. State Department is set to approve the Keystone XL pipeline by Monday, reversing the Obama administration's decision to block the controversial oil pipeline. (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856017 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 23 March 2017, 1667856017 173O212O198O32) Tom Shannon, the State Department's undersecretary for political affairs, will sign TransCanada's permit, making good on one of U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign promises.It will greenlight the Canadian company to complete construction on the pipeline that will funnel crude oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast, the senior US official said, the CNN reported.Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, recused himself from the case earlier this month.Trump earlier in January signed an executive order to advance the pipeline's approval.The approval follows years of intense debate over the pipeline amid hefty opposition from environmental groups, who argued that the pipeline supports the extraction of crude oil from oil sands, which pumps about 17 percent more greenhouse gases than standard crude oil extraction. A new restaurant has plans to move into the former Carmella's Pizzeria Treatment in the nation's Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) save millions of infants born prematurely every year. But this treatment is not without cost. Painful procedures such as needle pricks can impact early brain development. In a multi-institution study conducted researchers for the first time have quantified a reduction in electrical activity in the part of the brain that responds to light touch in premature infants in the NICU compared with infants born full-term. But when premature infants were given more "supportive touch" experiences, including skin-to-skin care and breastfeeding, their brains responded more strongly to light touch, according to an international research team from Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, Monroe Carell's Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee, and Lausanne University in Switzerland. Their findings, published in the journal Current Biology, suggest ways to support healthy brain development in premature infants in the NICU. "Parents should know that every minute they hold their baby counts," said first author Nathalie Maitre, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Pediatrics, medical director of the NICU Follow-up Program and a principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital. In addition, "it is absolutely essential to minimize exposure to painful procedures that infants can often experience during hospitalizations," added Mark Wallace, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School at Vanderbilt and the study's co-senior author with Micah Murray, Ph.D., of the University of Lausanne. Exposure to painful procedures can impact brain development even when sedatives and analgesics are used. "Until new research can prove which medications work at preventing these changes in brain function, we need to focus on effective non-pharmacological alternatives," Wallace said. Wallace, an internationally known authority on how the brain processes multi-sensory information, is the Louise B. McGavock Professor in the departments of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Psychiatry and Psychology in the School of Medicine and an investigator of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. Sensory processing enables young children to learn from their experiences, and provides the foundation for developing higher-level perceptual and cognitive abilities. The somatosensory system perceives temperature, the body's position in space, movement and all degrees of touch, from the lightest to most painful. It develops before all other senses. Disruptions in the normal trajectory of somatosensory development including painful experiences can affect socio-emotional development. "Touch is a critical building block of infant learning," explained Maitre, adjunct professor of Hearing and Speech Sciences and former assistant professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt. "It helps babies learn how to move their bodies, how to discover the world around them and how to communicate with their families." She and her colleagues have applied methods for objectively measuring sensory processing, including event-related potential (ERP), a type of electroencephalography (EEG), to predict cognitive and communication functioning during early childhood. In the current study the researchers compared the cortical responses to light touch among 125 premature and full-term infants at Vanderbilt. They found that preterm infants exhibited decreased responses to light touch when they were discharged from the NICU compared to full-term infants and that the decreases were greatest among the most premature. Promoting optimal development and function may help keep these newborns' brains on track to establish the sensory building blocks of cognition, behavior and communication, the researchers concluded. A medical team has developed a way to effectively provide a large group of people with basic knowledge and skills to locate and use bleeding control equipment to stop life-threatening bleeding in severely injured people. This effort comes amid the national push to train the U.S. civilian population in hemorrhage control techniques. The research team from UnityPoint Health, Des Moines, Iowa, reported their results in an "article in press" appearing on the Journal of the American College of Surgeons website in advance of print publication. In response to active shooter and mass casualty incidents such as the one at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, the Hartford Consensus and the White House's Stop the Bleed campaign have sought to train civilians in hemorrhage control techniques so that bystanders can serve as immediate responders in the case of uncontrolled hemorrhage. One result of these efforts is the Bleeding Control (B-Con) course, a joint product of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians' Prehospital Trauma Life Support. The B-Con course consists of a two-and-a-half hour educational course with didactic lectures and hands-on training. In line with the efforts of the B-Con course, the researchers at UnityPoint Health wanted to see if they could take the important information from the course and make it available to a wider population that may not otherwise have the time or resources to undergo a full B-Con course. "We are trying to take the principles from B-Con and get that knowledge in a package that is efficient for a larger scale," said Richard A. Sidwell, MD, FACS, lead author and a trauma surgeon at UnityPoint Health. In May 2016, the research team launched an educational module to train 5,800 full-time employees of a city-wide health system in hemorrhage control techniques. The eight-minute module was developed to inform staff members where bleeding control bags were located and demonstrated how to apply direct pressure to a wound and how to apply a tourniquet. Participants were administered a pre-test to assess their knowledge of hemorrhage control techniques. The same test was then administered after the module to gauge the effectiveness of the training. Dr. Sidwell and his fellow researchers noted that although there is emerging attention on efforts to educate the public in hemorrhage control techniques, this effort is the first attempt to assess whether an electronic module can be effective in educating a workforce. Fifty-seven percent of the questions on the pre-test were answered correctly by the 4,845 participants who completed the module and answered all of the questions, and 98 percent of the questions were answered correctly on the post-test. "Results suggest that we were able to successfully and efficiently provide basic knowledge of hemorrhage control to more than 4,800 hospital employees," the researchers wrote in the article. "Notably, the module was equally effective for clinical and nonclinical staff." Of the 4,845 employees who responded, 55 percent had direct patient care responsibilities, 20 percent provided ancillary care service, and 25 percent had nonclinical roles. Further, 30 percent of respondents had no first aid training and 17 percent held a high school degree or lower. Dr. Sidwell said the people who participated in the module found it interesting and engaging, and the overall feedback in the hospital has been very positive. Because of their success at UnityPoint Health in this regard, Dr. Sidwell said that they believe this sort of module can be easily adapted to large groups in other settings. "It is imperative that the general public is knowledgeable in the basic tenets of hemorrhage control. These results demonstrate that a brief electronic educational module could effectively educate employees in a large workplace on the basics of hemorrhage control," according to researchers. Dr. Sidwell and his team acknowledged certain limitations of the study, noting that it is unclear how much of the information is retained by respondents over time, and that the module does not include hands-on training, meaning they were not able to verify the skills of respondents in hemorrhage control techniques. To address this issue, Dr. Sidwell said that the next step they are working on is to reinforce knowledge, assess retention, and add in a skills component beyond the computer module. Guidelines to help paramedics make the right decision for older people who have fallen are safe, cost-effective and help reduce further 999 calls, according to new research led by a team at Swansea University Medical School. Falls are a very common problem in older people, with severe consequences. Many 999 calls are made for older people who fall. Many callers fall more than once. Approximately 30% of people over 65 living at home fall every year In the UK, falls account for almost 1 billion of the NHS budget Around 8% of 999 calls in the UK are for falls If the person who has fallen is not injured they may be left at home by the ambulance crew, rather than taken to hospital. On average this happens in around 40% of cases currently. In some places ambulance services have made local links with community falls services. However, there is not enough evidence to show whether this is safe, effective for patients or worth the cost. This is where the Swansea research comes in, part of a project called SAFER 2 (Support and Assessment for Fall Emergency Referrals). The team carried out a large-scale trial to test new guidelines - known as a protocol - for paramedics to use to assess people following a 999 call for a fall. The protocol helps them decide whether they should take the patient to hospital, or leave them at home with a referral to a community-based falls service if appropriate The trial involved105 paramedics based at 14 ambulance stations, across three UK ambulance services. The team monitored over 4000 people who called for an ambulance after falling. The research showed that the new protocol: Was safe and inexpensive Led to an 11% decrease in further 999 calls by people who have fallen - so there would now be 8 calls for every 9 made previously Left fewer people without continuing care after their fall Did not have any wider effects on Accident and Emergency admissions or death rates Had limited effects on patients' quality of life or satisfaction Was not used as much or as consistently by paramedics as expected Professor Helen Snooks of Swansea University Medical School, who led the project, said: "The findings show that this new way of assessing patients who fall is safe. Ambulance services can introduce it knowing that it does not increase the risk of harm to patients. We also showed that the protocol was associated with a small reduction in 999 calls from patients who had fallen previously. As costs and pressures are so high in emergency care, even a small reduction can make a big difference." Source: http://www.swansea.ac.uk/media-centre/latest-research/hospitalorhomeguidelinestoassessolderpeoplewhohavefallenaresafeinexpensiveandcut999calls.php Children of older mothers experience fewer behavioral, social and emotional problems, according to a new study. The findings suggest that the benefits of being born to an older mother can be seen all the way up to starting school and even into the early teens. In developed countries such as the UK, the average age at which people have children has been rising since the 1970s. In 2015, more than half of births in the UK were to mothers aged 30 and over and the average age of women having children was 30.3 years. Women are often warned about advanced maternal age being associated with an increased risk of complications during pregnancy and during birth. The risk of miscarriage, premature birth and birth defects is increased. However, studies have also shown that older mothers worry less during pregnancy and are more positive about becoming parents and towards their children in general. They have also shown that, irrespective of parents finances, education and background, children born to older mothers have better language ability and fewer behavioural, social and emotional difficulties. The current study, which tracked Danish children of school age, showed that those born to older mothers did indeed have less behavioural, social and emotional problems at age 7 and 11, although the effect appeared to level off at age 15. Older mothers tend to have more stable relationships, a better education and greater access to material resources. However, this study looked at the effect of age alone, after accounting for these factors, and it seems that older age can be interpreted as an indicator of psychological maturity. As reported in the European Journal of Developmental Psychology, older mothers were less likely to scold or physically discipline their children, compared with younger mothers. This can have a beneficial effect on children well into their teens, say the authors from Aarhus University in Denmark. "We know that people become more mentally flexible with age, are more tolerant of other people and thrive better emotionally themselves. That's why psychological maturity may explain why older mothers do not scold and physically discipline their children as much," says lead author Dion Sommer. "This style of parenting can thereby contribute to a positive psychosocial environment which affects the children's upbringing," he concludes. Marie Curie and the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association have today announced the funding of three new research studies that aim to improve the quality of palliative and end of life care received by people with MND. The two charities believe that the studies will address a crucial research gap in terms of identifying and addressing the palliative care needs of people with MND and their carers, which have been relatively neglected until now. While palliative care which addresses the holistic needs of patients with terminal illnesses has been more routinely adopted for the care of patients with cancer, it has traditionally been less recognised as an approach relevant for patients with MND and other neurodegenerative diseases. This may be surprising, bearing in mind that there is currently no cure for MND and more than half of those with condition will die within two years of diagnosis. But, with a growing recognition that palliative care for people with MND should begin as early as possible, the research stands to improve the lives of the 5,000 adults affected by MND in the UK at any one time. Studies will look at various aspects of palliative care for MND. One, being conducted at the University of York, aims to identify gaps in existing research and develop a more complete picture of the needs of patients and carers. Another, at the University of Manchester, recognising the central role that carers play in palliative care, aims to develop a tool that will empower them to better coordinate support for themselves and the patient. A third study at the University of Sheffield looks at the specific burden of excessive saliva affecting some people with MND - a particularly distressing symptom, which doctors currently consider to be poorly treated. Sarah Ezekiel, who was diagnosed with MND at the age of 34, has received palliative care at the Marie Curie hospice in Hampstead where she attends the day therapy centre and has also been an in-patient. Speaking about the care shes received at the hospice, she said: Palliative care has been so important to me personally, so I do think that its crucial that research is done to ensure that palliative care is available for those with MND. I find hospitals frightening, especially since my speech is so badly impaired. There are no specialist centres for MND sufferers, so hospices really do offer us a very important service. I think that many people believe that palliative care can only help cancer sufferers, but it can do a great deal to help patients with MND too. End of life care is also important when you have a terminal illness. It's good to know that, when the time comes, I'll be supported to pass away with dignity and peace. Dr Sabine Best, Head of Research for Marie Curie, said: Bearing in mind the poor prognosis associated with MND, we believe that research in this area is of great importance to those living with the condition. We are therefore delighted to be working with the MND Association such partnerships are key to ensuring that we are making the research advances that we so desperately need to. Belinda Cupid, Head of Research at the MND Association, said: The MND Association is dedicated to ensuring quality health and care so Im delighted we are partnering with Marie Curie on upcoming research focused on this area. The need for more research into the management of excess saliva was highlighted by the MND NICE guideline. This funding is the first step in work that could make a huge difference to so many people. Professor Christopher McDermott, Professor of Translational Neurology and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at the University of Sheffield, said: As a doctor caring for individuals living with MND common and difficult problems I see people struggling with excess saliva from the mouth and thick sticky secretions at the back of the throat. Unfortunately the best way to help people with these problems is unproven. There are lots of different approaches currently used and the aim of the ProSec (a prospective observation of secretion problems in motor neurone disease) project is to begin to explore which approach may give the best results for people living with MND. Source: https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/media/press-releases/new-partnership-will-plug-research-gap-by-addressing-the-palliative-care-needs-of-people-with-motor-neurone-disease/153181 Bhopal: Weeks after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged there were cheating mafias in the Samajwadi Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh, it found itself in a spot of bother, after failing to curtail paper leak cases under its rule in Madhya Pradesh. The class XII chemistry question paper was the latest example of MP Board of Secondary Educations botched up exam preparations. The paper leak was reported from Morena on Thursday morning, followed by the arrest of three students. Prior to this leak, class X question papers of English, Hindi, Mathematics, and Science, too, were leaked on WhatsApp groups. On Thursday, the police arrested three students, including Vaishnavi Yadav and Anshul Yadav, on charges of conniving to leak the question paper. Upping the ante on the issue in Madhya Pradesh assembly, Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh and senior leader Govind Singh levelled serious allegations against the ruling BJP. The two accused the state government of being hand in glove with the paper leaking middlemen and also accused the state government of patronising mass cheaters in schools across the state. Interestingly, the question papers are not only leaked in the infamous Gwalior-Chambal region but at other places as well. Under pressure, following the repeated paper leak cases, the officials of MPBSE avoided commenting on the matter. Sources in MPBSE said that these days the board is busy preparing fresh question papers for class IX and XI exams, and this could delay the announcement of class X and XII results. Interestingly, Bhind and Morena districts are already infamous as cheating hubs of the state, but in the last couple of years, the administration had clamped down heavily on the cheating mafias, bringing a drastic decline in the number of cheating cases. Former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna has formally joined the BJP, two months after resigning from the Congress party.spoke exclusively to'sabout why he left the Congress party and why he thinks the party now lacks an effective leadership. Read the full transcript here.: Well, I did explain that when I quit the Congress in Bengaluru. I had a long interaction with the media and I did spell out why I had to go out of the party, and well to put it in a nutshell I didn't think that Congress is being lead by any person with the needed credibility and who would be acceptable to the majority of countrymen today. Dynastic succession has been a curse to the Congress party. For example, after Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi became the prime minister. There was instantaneous acceptance of Rajiv Gandhi because he had the intellect, he had the educational background. Though he was a pilot, but the switch over to public life was very smooth and was applauded by the people of this country. Later what happened was a totally different story. So the limited comparison that I am trying is, that if led by a competent person who means well, one who is serious then only can one succeed. And I didn't find anybody in the Congress party, who could have done the job because there are no opportunities available to the other Congressmen because of this dynastic "stranglehold" Congress party.: Well, I was unhappy for a number of reasons. I didn't expect any position from the Congress party but they gave me what I wanted and I am grateful to that party for the leadership, particularly to Indira ji and Sonia ji. Sonia ji to a certain extent had the pulse of the Congressmen, but subsequently when in 2014 we accepted Mr. Rahul Gandhi as the leader in his capacity of Vice President of the Congress party, I think we ran into rough weather. My relationship with him has never been cordial.: It should not look as if that Congress party gave me everything. I did work for the party for last 46 years. I am one of those who came against the current, in 1962 when I fought my election, the first election, I had to fight against a powerful minister in the state cabinet who was expected to become the CM if the Congress won but they didn't win. But I defeated him; I didn't chose the easy way out into the political arena. I always took the hard road and after 55 years I can look back with a sense of satisfaction.: Both Indira ji and Rajiv Gandhi ji were very considerate. They was a personal rapport with them, I didn't find that kind of a personal rapport with the successor.: Well, that is a big question. Congress doesn't have a leader, forget about matching the present prime minister Narendra Modi ji. Even to hold the party together they do not have a serious minded leader. Unless they discard the dynastic stranglehold and choose somebody who is accepted by the Congressmen. I think Congress will continue to be relevant. Both PM Narendra Modi ji and BJP president Amit Shah, they have assured the nation that they will continue to take the country forward. And the most impressive thing is that there is zero tolerance to corruption. I think it is one quality that attracted me to Narendra Modi ji and Amit Shah ji.File photo of former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna.: Yeddyurappa is the president of BJP Karnataka unit, elections are still a year away. And he has been absolved by the court of law of all cases against him, perhaps there will be one or two small cases. Hence, I do not see problem about that.: My joining the BJP has been unconditional; we have not talked about how they are gonna use me or my services and how they are going to use my experience. All that I can say today is that I have accepted Narendra Modi ji and Amit Shah ji as the leaders who will take India to new heights.: Now I am out of the Congress, I don't think that it would be fair for me to offer any advice.: I have already said about this dynastic succession and I am not very comfortable with it unless the competence, the intelligence and the involvement and commitment of the person to the ideals of taking the country forward is proved.: Well, I have said about zero tolerance to corruption but in the last three years we have not heard about corruption. I also see that Shri Narendra Modi ji has taken the country to a higher league than when Congress was running the country. Narendra Modi, as shown by the recent results in the Assembly elections, has shown that he is capable for dealing with the people.: I have been a member of Parliament with Yogi Adityanath ji. I think in the last three days, whatever we have heard about the way he has been going about running the state of Uttar Pradesh, I think I am "maha-impressed", not simply impressed I am maha-impressed. And he has no dynasty and nothing, except his cattle, goats and various other things. He is a great lover of environment, he is a lover of animals and he is a great lover of the people; so, I think he will make a very successful chief minister. I saw some clips during Uttar Pradesh election, a number of Muslim with Narendra Modi ji's placards in their hands.: Well, I said that he has come to power in his own right; he has been able to impress the people of this country with his successful tenure as chief minister of Gujarat for almost 13 years. I am impressed with his concern for the people; I am impressed with the way he has carries himself. I think he makes a wonderful prime minister. He will be of tremendous utility for 125-crore people. New Delhi: Shiv Sena Ravindra Gaikwad has attacked an Air India staffer with a slipper and even gone on to justify his act saying the staffer misbehaved with him. Gaikwad also said he got into an altercation with the staff of Air India as he was given a business class ticket despite having an economy class seat. This is not the first time an elected representative has acted in such a boorish manner. Here are some previously reported instances where our MLAs and MPs have displayed such arrogant behaviour. July 2015: DMK leader MK Stalin slapped a co-passenger on Chennai metro train. November 2015: YSR Congress MP Mithun Reddy slapped Air India officer as he fails to board flight on time. June 2016: Shiv Sena MLA Sada Sarvankar slapped a person filming him attending peoples queries. February 2016: Shiv Sena leader Shashikant Kalgude beat a woman traffic constable as he was asked to halt for speaking on phone while driving. June 2016: Shiv Sena leader Praveen Shinde slapped an employee of Central Bank of India New Delhi: Two women locked in their house for nearly four years were rescued by the police on Wednesday. Kalavati (42) and Deepa (20) were rescued from a first-floor room of their house in southwest Delhi's Mahavir Enclave area. Their father-in-law Mahaveer Mishra, who was living in the house, told the police that he gave them food once a day whenever they asked for it. He that his wife passed away in 2000 and his two sons were killed in a road accident four years ago, after which Kalavati and Deepa had locked themselves up in the room. An officer said that when police reached the spot, they found that the door of their room was open. The women were malnourished and staying in an unhygienic condition, he added. They even refused to go to the hospital with police. The duo are apparently suffering from a mental disorder and hallucinations, he said. The police discovered the two women after a call from a neighbour. They are apparently suffering from depression. Mishra said the women often claimed they spoke to his sons in the room and survived days without food. He used to work as a linesman with MTNL and the family was surviving on his meagre pension, the officer said. He said a local doctor was treating them as he did not have enough savings to admit them to a hospital. The Bombay High Court on Thursday ordered protesting doctors in the state to call off their strike and resume duties and give the government some time to provide them proper security. This comes as Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis appealed to the doctors to call off their strike as well and assured them that the government would ensure their security in hospitals. Meanwhile, the doctor agitation has spread to Delhi as well with more than 20,000 resident doctors in 40 hospitals going on casual mass leave. The HC also ordered the government to provide adequate security at government hospitals for the doctors, so that they could go to work without fear. The High Court further said that it would hear the matter again after 15 days. The High Court Chief Justice further asked the government that no punitive action was to be taken against the protesting doctors once they resume their duty. Nearly 4,000 resident doctors have been striking since Monday, demanding enhanced security in the wake of a string of attacks on doctors by patients' relatives at government hospitals across the state. The protests have been hampering the services of Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) in various hospitals. Last night, a woman doctor of the civic-run Sion hospital here was allegedly beaten up by the relatives of a patient, which made the stand of the protesting medicos more aggressive. The civic-run KEM Hospital in Mumbai has started issuing suspension notices to the doctors who did not report to duty despite state Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan asking them to resume work by last evening. The Indian Medical Association -- which has some 40,000 members in Maharashtra -- had yesterday also extended support to the agitation. The Full Time Medical Teachers' Association attached to Thane Municipal Corporation-run Rajiv Gandhi Medical College in the neighbouring district also issued a written letter extending support to the doctors' protest. Meanwhile, three persons have been booked for allegedly beating up the woman doctor in Sion hospital last night, police said today. The doctor was allegedly slapped and beaten up by the relatives of a four-month-old girl, who was admitted in the hospital for treatment of pneumonia, they said. The patient's mother and her other relatives alleged that the doctor was not providing proper medical treatment to the child, a police official said. After the incident, the doctors present in the hospital gathered and protested in the premises, he said. Later, the hospital administration called the police and the patient's mother was taken into custody, he said. The woman doctor also complained to the hospital administration about the incident, he said. The Sion police today registered an offence against the patient's mother and her two relatives under IPC section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), the official said. According to the data of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's medical department, the present strength of security personnel in KEM hospital is 210 and there is an additional requirement of 306 guards. The current strength of security staff in Sion hospital is 180 and there is an additional requirement of 206. In the Nair hospital, which is also run by the BMC, presently 97 security personnel are deployed and there is an additional need of 133. The Maharashtra government has already promised to deploy 500 security personnel from Maharashtra State Security Corporation in the hospitals by April 1. The Medical Education Minister yesterday said that by April-end, 1,130 guards will be recruited in government hospitals to prevent attacks. He also said that Rs 33 crore has been sanctioned for the recruitment of guards. (With inputs from PTI) Lucknow: As the Adityanath Yogi government goes after mechanised slaughterhouses, meat producers in Uttar Pradesh say the action conflicts with the Centres policy of encouraging the meat industry and are considering going to court against it. "The Centre has been encouraging the meat industry and the food processing ministry too provides aid of upto 50 per cent to support them. But the UP government has ordered a ban on all mechanised slaughter houses," a senior functionary of the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association said. "It is in contravention to the central government policy", the functionary, who wished not to be named, said. He said that Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly 50 per cent of Indias total meat exports and such a decision would affect the livelihood 25 lakh people directly or indirectly. The Association "supports banning illegal abattoirs" but opposes the move to shut down all the mechanised ones, he said. If the state government brings an ordinance in this regard, the Association would approach the court, he said. "We are keeping a close watch on the developments and will wait. An organised industry should not be dealt with in this manner," he said. In the past three months the industry has suffered huge losses due to demonetisation and the closure of mechanised slaughter houses will add to the woes, he added. As per estimates, the country exports meat products worth Rs 26,685 crore annually and with the closure of slaughter houses in UP it will come down to half, the association functionary lamented. In its pre-poll manifesto, the BJP had said that if voted to power, it would shut all the illegal slaughterhouses and impose a blanket ban on mechanised abattoirs. And immediately after assuming office, Adityanath government has gone after such abattoirs with full gusto. New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat will be speaking at a seminar at Delhi University to discuss ways to develop an Indian point of view on the social and educational milieu. The event is scheduled to take place over the weekend. Gyan Sangam, the two-day conclave to be held at Hans Raj College, will also debate the alternative 'vantage point' to assess and seek solutions to problems confronting the society. Two other senior RSS functionaries, Joint General Secretaries Dr Krishna Gopal and Suresh Soni would also be participating in the seminar. An introductory paper circulated before the conclave laments the loss of Indian knowledge system in the last millennia and a half to invading and imperialist forces. The paper further underscores the need for corrective measures aimed at establishing an intellectual eco-system which is representative of India's culture and history. Since the ascension of BJP at the centre, its ideological fount- the RSS- has been engaged in a pitched battle with the liberal Left for space in both cultural and academic circles. From award vaapasi, to intolerence to JNU Student agitation, the two sides have clashed on many occasion in the last two years as the Indian Right attempts to appropriate a larger space for itself once dominated by the Left. At its General Body meeting recently concluded at Coimbatore, the RSS among other important changes has appointed J Nandkumar as the convenor of Pragya Pravah. Nandkumar was earlier deputy to RSS Prachar Pramukh Dr Manmoha Vaidya. The RSS pracharak from Kerala was earlier posted to Bhopal before shifting base to Delhi last year. New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday cautioned BJP MPs from Uttar Pradesh to refrain from pressurising state officials and also asked them to focus on development of their region, sources said. Modi's remarks came during his meeting with parliamentarians from the state at his official residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah also attended the meeting. "Prime Minister suggested us to refrain from transfer and posting of officials. This causes unnecessary pressure on state government," a BJP pariamentarian who was present in the meeting told IANS on the condition of anonymity. The BJP leader said that the Prime Minister also asked the MPs to focus on development of their region. "The mandate is for development. We have to focus on development only. Good governance is mantra of development," the BJP leader quoted Modi as saying. The BJP won 312 seats in the just concluded elections to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly. The party has promised all round development in the state. "In case a claim of harassment is found to be true, strict action will be taken against anti-Romeo squads. There is a departmental way of taking action," Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Daljeet Chaudhary told PTI. Safety of girls/ladies is the sole intent of the anti Romeo squads. No moral policing: UP DGP Javeed Ahmed (File pic) pic.twitter.com/mYikaNFMa0 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 22, 2017 Amid some reports of harassment of innocent youths by 'anti-Romeo' squads of policemen, the UP Police on Wednesday warned of strict action against personnel found guilty of troubling anyone in the name of curbing eve-teasing.In an official statement issued by the UP Police, UP DGP Javeed Ahmed said that while acting against the Romeos, efforts should be made that their hair is not cut, faces are not defaced and they are not asked to do squats folding their ears."Any action, which has no legal basis should not be taken. In case of a repeat offender, the option of humiliating him publically may be explored," he said.The UP Police also made it clear that the sole aim of the anti-Romeo squads is to act against those who indulge in eve teasing."Under any circumstances, action would not be initiated against couples and people who interact with each other, while remaining within the social fabric and tradition at parks, malls, cinema halls and coffee house," it said. I am in constant touch with Indian High Commission in London. There is no Indian casualty reported so far. #LondonAttack @HCI_London Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 22, 2017 Indian High Commission is there to help all Indian nationals in London. Please note theTelephone no.s : 020 8629 5950 & 020 7632 3035. Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 22, 2017 There is no report of any Indian casualty so far in the terror attack near the UK Parliament, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday.India has condemned the attack in London in which three people were killed and more than 20 injured.London's Metropolitan Police said a man mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed a police officer with a knife outside the British parliament before being shot dead."I am in constant touch with Indian High Commission in London. There is no Indian casualty reported so far. #LondonAttack @HCI_London(sic)," she wrote on Twitter."Indian High Commission is there to help all Indian nationals in London. Please note the Telephone nos: 020 8629 5950 & 020 7632 3035 (sic)," Swaraj wrote.The minister advised people to avoid going to Parliament Square."All are advised strongly to avoid Parliament Square and check Met Police website for further details on the attack. Stay safe! (sic)," she tweeted."India strongly condemns Westminster terrorist incident & condoles loss of life. No place in democracies & civilised societies for terrorism (sic)," Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, Gopal Baglay tweeted. God save our country if this is the culture & behavior of our MPs: AI Staff who was assulted by Shiv Sena MP R.Gaikwad in complaint letter ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 Yes he misbehaved with me,broke my glasses. I never expected this: Sukumar,Air India staff member beaten up by Shiv Sena MP R Gaikwad pic.twitter.com/FbJmFDtPNK ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 When I told him what he's asking isn't possible he(Shiv Sena MP R.Gaikwad)became abusive, used foul language:AI staff who was hit by Gaikwad ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad assaulted an Air India staffer after he was forced to travel economy class though he had an open business class ticket, official sources said on Thursday.An FIR has been lodged by Air India in this incident. Air India is also examining the creation of no fly list of unruly passengers on the lines of other carriers.The incident happened when flight AI852 from Pune landed at New Delhi airport around 10.30 a.m. on Thursday.Apparently nursing a grouse, Gaikwad - who represents Osmanabad (Maharashtra) in Lok Sabha - refused to get off the flight, causing inconvenience to other passengers and crew on board.Justifying his act, Gaikwad said, Yes I hit him, he misbehaved with me. I had paid for a business class ticket. This is not the first time it has happened.""I have complained several times but no action has been taken. So this time I lost my cool," he further added.Sukumar, the Air India staffer hit by the Sena MP, alleged that not only Gaikwad not broke his spectacles but humiliated him in front of the whole crew.Aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, taking note of the incident, told CNN-News18: "This is wrong and shouldn't have happened."Air India sent some officials to enquire the matter and learnt that he was forced to travel economy class though he held an open executive class ticket.Upon landing, when the staff requested the MP to leave the aircraft, Gaikwad reportedly flared up and assaulted them with his slipper, the sources said.The sources said the flight was operated by an old ATR aircraft which has only economy class configuration. So he could not have been allotted a business class seat.Air India has set up a panel to probe the incident before taking any further steps.Former Air India executive director and aviation expert Jitendra Bhargava condemned attack on the Air India staffer."This is how Shiv Sena members generally behave. Slapping a person with slipper is a criminal act," says Former Air India executive director and aviation expert Jitendra Bhargava.Meanwhile, Shiv Sena party spokesperson Manisha Kayande said, "Whatever happened was very unfortunate. We will speak to him and will try to find out what went wrong. The matter will be taken up by our party chief Uddhav Thackeray."BJP leader Shaina NC said, Such act should be condemned. One should not take law in their hand. The unfortunate part is the MP is unapologetic.Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said an FIR should be registered against the MP so that his followers do not take his behaviour as an example. New Delhi:A court on Thursday granted bail to Swami Aseemanand in the Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blast case. Following the bail hearing, the controversial former member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will be released sometime on Thursday. The court has already granted bail to three others in the case. The court of Fourth Metropolitan Sessions Judge also granted bail to Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai, a co-accused in the case. Special Judge Ravinder Reddy granted bail to both Aseemanand and Rateshwar with the direction to produce two local sureties of Rs 50,000 each. Aseemanand shall not leave Hyderabad without court's permission and remain present for the trial when required, the judge said. On March 8 this year, Aseemanand and six others were acquitted in the 2007 Ajmer blast case by a court in Jaipur. He was then brought from Jaipur and lodged in a prison in Hyderabad. Seeking bail, the defence pointed out that Aseemanand had been acquitted in the Ajmer case while an Ambala court had granted him bail in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case. A total of 166 witnesses have been examined in the trial of the Mecca Masjid case and over 100 are yet to be examined. Three of the eight accused in the case are already on bail. Swami Aseemanand, whose real name is Naba Kumar Sarkar, was arrested on November 19, 2010, from Haridwar in connection with the blast at the Mecca Masjid here on May 18, 2007, which had killed nine persons. Initially, the role of terror outfits such as LeT was suspected. In May 2011, NIA officials had chargesheeted Aseemanand, who after confessing to having the role of right-wing activists, retracted his statement. Earlier this month, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court had acquitted Aseemanand and six others, while convicting three persons in the Ajmer dargah blast case. Lucknow: Lucknows legendary Tunday Kebabs had to shutdown for a day citing lack of buffalo meat on Wednesday. This is perhaps the first time this has happened in more than a century since the shop was established in the Chowk area of Lucknow. Now, the shop is open but it is no longer selling their trademark kebab. This comes as the new Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government took oath in Uttar Pradesh. The government has launched a crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses and meat shops which has led to shortage of buffalo, goat and chicken meat all over the city. If the situation worsens, the secret-recipe of sumptuous kebabs might disappear. The current owner of Tunday Kebabs, Abu Bakr, said, This is for the first time that we have to shut down our shop as we had no beef (buffalo meat). Our specialty is beef (Buffalo meat) kebabs and people come here from all over the world to taste it. Yesterday, our shop was closed and today we have opened it with a change. Today, we are selling kebabs made out of chicken and mutton for the first time from this shop. Though our Aminabad sells mutton kebabs too but here in Chowk we were selling beef (buffalo meat) kebabs. We have put stickers all over the place today; if this situation continues then we might be never able to sell original Tunday kebabs again. He adds, If the meat selling shops go on a strike as we are coming across to such rumours then we might have to face problems at a different level. The business is getting directly affected because of this slaughterhouse crackdown. The usually over-crowded Tunday Kebabs where one had to wait for their turn to get a seat wore a deserted look on Thursday. A customer at the shop was quick to point out the taste and said, Isme me maza nahi, jo beef (Buffalo meat) ke kebab me hai. (The taste of beef (buffalo meat) kebabs is better than mutton or chicken kebabs.) Meanwhile, there is a rumour doing the rounds of all meat sellers going on a strike, which might lead to a panic among the small shops and restaurants who are thriving on non-vegetarian food business. Also, there is confusion among the meat-sellers regarding the crackdown as many fail to understand the difference between legal and illegal meat shops. Opposite to the world famous kebab outlet is Rahims shop which is known for its sumptuous Nihari and Kulche. Owner of Rahims, Mohammad Osama, said, Yesterday was bad we did not have enough beef (buffalo meat) to meet the customer demand. We do sell mutton Nihari also but people prefer Paaye (buffalo meat) Nihari with hot Kulchas. Ive heard meat sellers are going on a strike, if this happens it will take a direct hit to the food business. Another outlet known for its non-veg delicacies in Lucknow, Alishma Foods, is also facing same problems since the crackdown on slaughterhouses and meat selling shops started post the formation of the new government. The owner said, Its not just the beef (buffalo meat) that is in shortage but also we are facing trouble in procuring goat meat from the market. As many meat shop owners have closed their shops due to fear of a crackdown by municipal authorities or the police. : An Air India staffer on Thursday complained that a Sena MP not only tore his shirt but also broke his glasses upon being asked to deplane.Shiv Sena has sought an explanation from its Lok Sabha MP Ravindra Gaikwad , who allegedly hit an Air India staffer at IGI airport in Delhi with a slipper, and remained defiant over the incident."The party has sought an explanation from Gaikwad over the incident. The Sena does not condone violence of any kind," Harshal Pradhan, media adviser to Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, said.Gaikwad, who was flying on an Air India flight from Pune to Delhi, hit airline's duty manager Sukumar with his slipper several times when the latter urged him to deplane after the lawmaker refused to do so once the plane landed at Delhi airport."The MP turned violent, broke the duty manager's spectacles, tore his shirt and hit him with slippers several times," airline sources said.A TV grab of Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad. (The MP, carrying a business class ticket, insisted on taking the airline's early morning flight AI-852 from Pune to Delhi, which is an all-economy class. This led to an argument with the airline employees in Pune and an assault on the manager by the MP when the aircraft landed in Delhi.There have been several reported incidents of unruly behaviour by the fliers onboard various airlines in the recent times.Last month, AirAsia India filed a police complaint in Bangalore against two drunk fliers for creating "nuisance" onboard one of its flights.In January, IndiGo was forced to tie down a passenger to his seat for being violent onboard one of its flight from Dubai for New Delhi.According to the officials, between July 2016 and February 2017, 53 incidents of unruly behaviour by the passengers have been reported by the domestic airlines.According to the global aviation body, International Air Transport Association (IATA), "unruly passengers" are one of the top three safety issues that concern cabin crew.As per the IATA, in 2015, there were 10,854 reported cases of unruly behaviour by the passengers across airlines worldwide, which translate into one incident for every 1,205 flights. She may be hated for her honest opinions on matters. She may be envied for the kind of films that are offered to her, but there is no denying that Kangana Ranaut is the new poster girl from Bollywood who is loved and speculated in equal measures.Her best actress national award win (second year in a row) for Tanu Weds Manu Returns couldnt have been better timed. The country was still discussing her legal battle with Hrithik Roshan and their hush-hush affair that went awry when the awards were announced. Their were reports on how most actors were distancing themselves from working with her because of her blunt, outspoken nature. But the award changed dynamics within the industry.Her success story is almost like a plot from a Bollywood film. Born in a small town of Himachal Pradesh to a teacher mother and a businessman father, Kangana made her debut in Anurag Basus Gangster at the age of seventeen- much to the discomfort of her conservative family. The family, like many other middle-class families in India, wanted the daughter to study and become a doctor. But the actress had other plans.The success of Gangster not only brought more film offers for Kangana but also established her as a fresh face who could act well. She took up roles that most wouldnt dare to do right at the beginning of their career. From playing a schizophrenic actress in Who Lamhe to the supermodel who loses her sheen due to addiction in Fashion, the actress has done roles which may not be too idealistic yet create impact in the films narrative.While she was lauded for her performances right from the beginning of her career she was never considered an A lister in Bollywood. Despite winning a National Award for Fashion Kangana was discussed more for personal life and the men she was dating at that time. Breakthrough role in her career came almost 8 years after making her debut, in Queen. A beautiful tale of a woman traveling to Europe alone on her honeymoon after her fiance called off their wedding, the film gave many hope to live life on their own terms. It inspired people to take solo trips and more importantly, Kanganas portrayal inspired people to break free of unnecessary rules and obligations.The world was still marveling about Ranauts Queen act when she came up with the hilarious Tanu Weds Manu Returns. On paper, the film was a romantic-comedy but somehow Kanganas glorious performance made the film a women-centric film. Such was the impact of the 30-year-old actress as the rebellious Tanu and the earnest DU athlete Kusum Sangwan- both characters diametrically opposite to each other and both played with absolute conviction by the same actress.While we cant get enough of her in films- and are always very curious about what exciting character would she take up next- her personal life continues to be widely discussed. She was in news last year for the legal battle that she and her reported ex Hrithik Roshan have gotten involved in. Kanganas personal life has always been in the glare of public eye. Affairs with much older and married actors, speaking out bluntly about the gender inequality that exists in the film industry and the her recent remark on Koffee With Karan on nepotism that exists in the film industry have ensured that many keep her at a distance. The actress has ruffled a lot of influential people in the industry but that never has deterred her from speaking her mind and taking a stand wherever it is needed. The legal battle also highlighted a very simple fact. That Kangana cannot be easily intimidated. You can be a superstar with a lot of clout but Kangana will not shy away from speaking the truth and fighting it out. Neither would she shy away from showing Bollywood's most influential filmmaker the mirror on how the film industry is unnecessarily biased.Time and again, the actress has spoken against what she thought was wrong. She refused to be a face of fairness cream because she was against the idea of promoting fairness products and also because it would be a direct insult to her elder sister Rangoli whom she called dusky, yet beautiful.Kangana continues to break stereotypes and challenge the conventions of the society. The family who admittedly were not happy to welcome the birth of a second daughter in the house would have never envisioned how the wild child would pave her own path and create her own success story. For every small town girl harbouring a dream to make it big in the film industry, there is Kanganas story to draw inspiration from. For every girl who has been told that she wasnt wanted in the family, there is Kangana to look up to. For every woman who feels she deserves to be paid more for her work, there is Kanganas stance on wage gap to refer to. She has fought tooth and nail to get where she is right now and she isnt apologetic about it.She continues to learn, make mistakes and admitting to them later on and thats why she remains one of her kind in an industry where most people speak textbook language.Shine on you crazy diamond! The Delhi-based Taapsee Pannu hasn't had a smooth sail in Bollywood from the beginning as many would think. She made her debut with Chashme Baddooor and up until Pink didn't really receive her share of plaudits. She's a woman of performance, that we know, but the fact that she hasn't been credited enough - both prestige and monetary wise remains the stark truth. The actress, in a moving post on a Facebook page called Humans of Bombay, bared it all. She spoke at length about film industry's deep-rooted sexism and failure blame games - which highlights the less glamorous side of Bollywood. I got into modelling during my college days, just to make some extra pocket money. I had scored 88% in my CAT exams and was enroute to pursuing my MBA when I got an offer for a film it happened as organically as that. Thereafter, three of the films I worked in didnt work and I got the label of iron leg I was rumoured to bring bad luck to films." "Mind you, all of these films had huge male co-stars and directors, but the failure of movies was blamed upon my bad luck," the post read. She further highlighted how she was asked to reduce her pay to accommodate the producers' financial interests. "Thereafter, Ive been asked to reduce my pay, Ive been thrown out of films because the producer was having financial issues. This was all before I did the movie Pink, but believe it or not even after that theres stigma Ive had to deal with." Not just monetary scuffles but the actress had to fight for her rights as a performer too. The actors, in Bollywood, refused to work with her "because Im not an A list actress". "Actors have refused to work with me in Bollywood, because Im not an A list actress. Producers have finalised me, locked my dates and then randomly backed out at the last minute because they got a bigger name. Expecting equal pay is far off, even the basic amount is something I have to fight for but Im not complaining." Despite all odds, Taapsee is still very much at it - fighting for what she loves - not just for herself but probably for other female actors in the industry too. "Im here because I love acting I may not be the most glamorous, or have the perfect body but I believe in my art. I dont like indulging in self pityI enjoy being strong and independent." The actress also cited a personal incident to encourage others to stay at it and to not give up something that you've have your heart and soul in. "Just a few weeks ago, I was going to a Keertan in Delhi where in the middle of the crowd I felt a guy trying to poke me from behind. I didnt even turn to look at him, I grabbed his finger and twisted it so hard that he winced in pain.Truth is, Im less heroine and more the hero in my story and for some thats a bitter pill to swallow, but then thats toughbecause Im not going anywhere." New Delhi: The BJP does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or religion, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, strongly refuting allegations that certain communities were facing discrimination in Uttar Pradesh. The statement came after Congress member Ranjeet Ranjan expressed concern in Lok Sabha over incidents involving 'anti-Romeo' squads and alleged discrimination against people of certain communities in the state. The UP government has set up such squads in the police to keep a tab on eve-teasing incidents in the state. Touching upon the issue during Zero Hour, Ranjan wondered whether it was wrong to fall in love. She also asked whether it was wrong to have a boy friend or a girl friend. Taking a swipe at the 'anti-Romeo' squads, she wanted to know whether the government would be telling boys and girls on how to sit in parks. In response, Singh, who has also served as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, said "the BJP does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or religion." Stating that it is only a few days since BJP government has come to power in Uttar Pradesh, he said if there is any specific incident, the government would look into it. After registering a landslide victory in the polls, BJP government headed by Yogi Adityanath took charge on March 19. Singh also said the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has said the focus would be on "sab ka saath, sab ka vikas". New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerejee should start building jails for her ministers and party leaders following the Supreme Court decision in the Narada sting case, BJP MP Roopa Ganguly today said. "Chief Minister has given a statement saying she welcomes the decision. What will happen by merely welcoming it. Construct jails for 30-40 people. Let us start with the 12 (allegedly caught on camera acepting money). "Slowly everything will come out and the space in jail too will not be sufficient. Jails (will be meant for) their big ministers and leaders. So five star jails too need to be constructed," Ganguly said sarcastically outside Parliament. The Supreme Court had yesterday refused to stay the CBI probe into the Narada sting operation, which was ordered by the Calcutta High Court. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee yesterday termed the apex court ruling on the matter as a "positive" one. CPM's Lok Sabha MP Mohammed Salim said that the Supreme Court decision will help CBI investigate the matter and bring out the truth. The Narada sting operation had allegedly caught some TMC leaders taking money. New Delhi/Meerut: Politicians accusing each other of discrimination on the basis of religion, caste or ethnic identities during election season would hardly attract anyones attention. But a month ago, on February 21, in middle of assembly election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modis choice of example to highlight bhedbhaav by erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav government raised many eyebrows. Modi said if there is a kabristan (graveyard) in a village, then it must have a shamshan ghat (cremation ground) too. The statement led to protests by other political parties, which were quick to term it an attempt to polarise the voters. Newspaper editorials also said the remark was troubling and in poor taste for the prime minister. A month down the line, when dust has begun to settle in UP, a closer look reveals that Modis speech evoked an everyday issue among ordinary people in the hinterland. A graveyard or a cremation ground is as much a part of civic life as other public utilities. Regardless of whether the alleged discrimination took place or not, the issue has an immediate connect with the people. Shivnagar Katai Mill, ten kilometres from Meerut city, derives its name from a textile mill inaugurated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1977. For the past twenty years, the mill has remained shut and the villages fortunes have plummeted. Drains here are choked and locals are susceptible to diseases. Electricity supply is patchy at best. Yet, Sandeep Kumar, a resident, believes the biggest problem here is a lack of space to cremate the dead. While we never had a formal cremation ground, there was a lot of unused land in the vicinity earlier. Now there is only a small patch of vacant land which is being used as a makeshift cremation ground. The land belongs to a Muslim farmer from a nearby village. He has been objecting to the practice, said Sandeep. While rich and upper caste villagers prefer travelling to the banks of Ganga for cremation, most cant afford it. Gilles Vernier from the department of political science at Ashoka University says, By mixing signals to the Hindu base with a generalist discourse on development, the Prime Minister creates a perception that certain groups, defined by their religion or by their association with other parties, have unduly benefited from the state attention and generosity. Thus, the communalisation of the campaign becomes part of the whole development discourse. Social justice gets, in the process, equated with the exclusion of those who benefited from the system in place, regardless of whether this assertion is borne by facts or not. The popularity of the issue can also be understood by the budgetary allocations of the UP government. In 2016-17, Akhilesh Yadav government allocated Rs 400 crore to construct boundary walls around graveyards. However, it could not spend the entire amount. Between 2012 and 2017, the UP governments expenditure on graveyards went up by Rs 200 crore. Similarly, in neighbouring Bihar, Nitish Kumar government allocated Rs 400 crore in 2013 to erect fences around 8,000 graveyards. In West Bengal, Mohammed Salim of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) spends lakhs of rupees every year from his Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds to construct amenities in crematoriums and graveyards across the Raiganj constituency. Building walls around graveyards and crematoriums is a civic service to be rendered by the municipality and panchayat. After death, a citizens last rites should be done peacefully and graciously. In some cases, it becomes a necessity to prevent skirmishes. For example, one shamshan ghat in my constituency is next to a playground, he said. Salim, however, said the Prime Minister should not have raised the issue of kabristan and shamshan. It should be left to the village heads. In rural areas, communal violence is usually stoked over land rights disputes or access. Even in parts of rural Bengal, the BJP raised this issue. For centuries, people have had shared ownership of land, he added. A Trinamool Congress MP from a predominantly Muslim area in West Bengal supported Salims views. This issue is very important to people. I get requests from my constituents to use some of the money from my MPLAD funds for construction of boundary walls. When asked, BJP MP Jagdambika Pal said the politicisation of death in UP was started by the Samajwadi Party-led government. As far as development is concerned, the priorities should be roads, electrification, schools, institutions, drinking water, solar lights etc. Graveyards and crematoriums are managed by communities. However, the UP government started giving money for graveyards. In some cases, two sides of the same community are at loggerheads over the right to property. For example, two groups clashed after a land dispute at Karbala in Delhis Jor Bagh area in November 2016. According to Mahmood Pracha, a senior lawyer who is fighting the case, nobody should object to boundary walls being constructed. Often, a simple land rights issue and law and order issue is conflated into a communal issue. That does not mean the issue is not genuine. In my opinion, nobody should have any objection to boundary walls being constructed around either the kabristan or the shamshan. In Karbala, the dispute over the land is not communal in nature. It is the fight of local people against a corrupt politician who is trying to usurp land worth thousands of crores of rupees. The purpose of boundary walls and fences is to prevent encroachment of land. A 48-year old man from Lithuania was arrested last week by authorities in the country for duping two major American internet companies through phishing scheme. The man named Evaldas Rimasauskas was successful in making the companies wire a total amount of $100 million over two years. According to the Department of Justice, the incident took place from at least in or around 2013 through in or about 2015. From half a world away, Evaldas Rimasauskas allegedly targeted multinational internet companies and tricked their agents and employees into wiring over $100 million to overseas bank accounts under his control. This case should serve as a wake-up call to all companies even the most sophisticated that they too can be victim s of phishing attacks by cyber criminals, said Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim in a release. Here is how he did it according to the Department of Justice: 1) Rimasauskas registered and incorporated a company in Latvia (Company-2) which bore the same name as an Asian-based computer hardware manufacturer (Company-1), and opened, maintained, and controlled various accounts at banks located in Latvia and Cyprus in the name of Company-2. 2) Thereafter, fraudulent phishing emails were sent to employees and agents of the Victim Companies, which regularly conducted multimillion-dollar transactions with Company-1, directing that money the Victim Companies owed Company-1 for legitimate goods and services be sent to Company-2s bank accounts in Latvia and Cyprus, which were controlled by him. 3) These emails purported to be from employees and agents of Company-1, and were sent from email accounts that were designed to create the false appearance that they were sent by employees and agents of Company-1, but in truth and in fact, were neither sent nor authorised by Company-1. This scheme succeeded in deceiving the Victim Companies into complying with the fraudulent wiring instructions. After the Victim Companies wired funds intended for Company-1 to Company-2s bank accounts in Latvia and Cyprus, Rimasauskas caused the stolen funds to be quickly wired into different bank accounts in various locations throughout the world, including Latvia, Cyprus, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, and Hong Kong. He also caused forged invoices, contracts, and letters that falsely appeared to have been executed and signed by executives and agents of the Victim Companies, and which bore false corporate stamps embossed with the Victim Companies names, to be submitted to banks in support of the large volume of funds that were fraudulently transmitted via wire transfer. Oppo F3 Plus launched in India at Rs 30,990. (Image: Siddharth Safaya/News18.com) (Image: Siddharth Safaya/News18.com) (Image: Siddharth Safaya/News18.com) Chinese smartphone major Oppo advertises itself as the Camera Phone brand and is on mission to deliver the best front camera to selfie lovers. While Apple introduced the blur effect with the Portrait mode and rear dual lens in the iPhone 7 Plus, Oppo wants to deliver the same bokeh effect on the front camera.The major highlight of the Oppo F3 Plus is its dual front camera (16MP + 8MP, 120-degree wide-angle) along with the rear Camera (16 MP, f/1.7) with a customized IMX 398 sensor co-developed with Sony.While the device is poised to be a selfie lovers delight is the Oppo F3 Plus a good overall smartphone for the price of Rs 30,990? Lets find out.The Oppo F3 plus offers a good metal build along with a simplistic design. While the rear of the device will remind of the iPhone 6S Plus, the front looks very similar to the Google Pixel XL. But none of these top-end smartphone have got dual lens front camera which tries to offer D-SLR-like selfies.Oppo has done a good job in making the 6-inch F3 Plus smartphone look compact. There is a fingerprint sensor on the front of the device which is pretty quick. There is decent single speaker arrangement at the bottom along with a 3.5mm headphone jack.The Oppo F3 Plus comes with a 6-inch JDI incell display with Full HD resolution, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The display quality is good and offers decent sunlight readability. Also, the screen doesnt attract smudges or fingerprints easily.Coming to the camera quality of the Oppo F3 Plus, the device offers excellent selfies under good lighting conditions. It also comes with a screen flash feature (first introduced in iPhone 6S) to brighten selfies taken under low light. Overall, this is no doubt one of the best selfie phones. It would have been great if Oppo would have added a LED Flash in the front as well.The 16MP rear camera is capable of producing good images. With Expert Mode users have the flexibility to shoot as per their requirements.The 4,000mAh battery easily lasts a day and most average users can squeeze 36 hours of battery life. Also, VOOC Flash Charge helps in charging the mammoth 4,000mAh battery quickly.The Oppo F3 Plus smartphone is powered by a 1.95 GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor with 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The device supports microSD cards of up to 256GB. It runs Android 6.0-based ColorOS 3.0 interface. Overall, the phone is made to cater to the needs of power users and delivers well on multitasking front as well.The handsets supports Reliance Jio VoLTE for both voice and data.While the Oppo F3 Plus looks compact, it is heavy at 185 grams. Users with small hands will find it difficult to tackle the device. While the camera of the Oppo F3 Plus is one of the best in the Rs 30,000 segment, the interface is heavily borrowed from iOS. Oppo already has enough to flaunt and it really shouldnt aim to be an iPhone look-alike from the inside.If you are into a lot of selfies and want a perfect smartphone to flaunt yourself on social media than the Oppo F3 Plus is ideal choice. While smartphone brands mostly focus on the rear camera, the Oppo F3 Plus differs with dual lens front camera for providing D-SLR-like selfies. It is no doubt one of the best selfie camera smartphones for Rs 30,990. Apart from the camera performance, the Oppo F3 Plus manages to offer a pleasing overall experience. However, when it comes to flaunting a smartphone for the price of Rs 30,000, the Honor 8 or OnePlus 3T is definitely more appealing. The impressive Dettifoss waterfall in north-east Iceland. (Photo courtesy: AFP Relaxnews/ Colin13362 / Istock.com) The Nothern Lights over Jokulsarlon. (Photo courtesy: AFP Relaxnews/ Colin13362 / Istock.com) The Strokkur geyser is an impressive sight. (Photo courtesy: AFP Relaxnews/ Colin13362 / Istock.com) Visiting the inside of the Thrihnukagigur volcano. (Photo courtesy: AFP Relaxnews/ Colin13362 / Istock.com) As widely predicted, Iceland was one of the top travel trends of 2016. In fact, the Icelandair airline carried 3.7 million passengers, a 20% increase. The country is above all popular with adventurous travelers in search of rugged and spectacular natural landscapes. Here are five must-see sights for visitors heading to the island country.Travelers in search of relaxation and stunning scenery shouldn't miss the Blue Lagoon, a popular attraction where visitors can bathe in milky waters at temperatures of 36 to 39C. The lagoon is set among the breathtaking scenery of a lava field, making the turquoise blue of the lagoon even more striking. A 40-minute drive from Reykjavik, the lagoon is fed by the water output of a nearby geothermal power plant and has a rich mineral content.Dettifoss is the most powerful waterfall in Europe. Located in the north-east of the country, it is 44 meters high and 100 meters wide. When nearing the site, visitors are often surprised by the deafening sound of the 500 cubic meters of water towering over the falls every second. The waterfall is accessed via the Jokulsa a Fjollum canyon, which can be reached by road. A 4x4 vehicle is highly recommended to ensure visitors reach the waterfall without running into trouble.The Jokulsarlon glacial lake, in the south of the country, is formed from melted glacier water and is the largest in the country. It's also 200 meters deep. The lake is home to various icebergs that have detached from the glacier, casting blue and black reflections and creating a breathtaking polar landscape. Try to visit the site at the end of the day to enjoy the spectacular dusky light. You could even stay until nightfall in the hope of catching the Northern Lights, another great reason to visit Jokulsarlon.No trip to Iceland would be complete without seeing a geyser. Around 100km from the capital, the Strokkur geyser promises an impressive natural sight, ejecting a 20-meter high column of water and steam every five minutes. Head to the island's Geysir geothermal area, which is the origin of the English word "geyser." Lucky visitors might even catch sight of The Great Geysir which, although generally dormant, can have a few episodes of activity during the year. The Great Geysir was regularly active in the early 1990s, with an impressive jet of superheated water and steam reaching up to 60 meters in height.Iceland is a highly volcanic country, which is why it has so many geysers. The country's Eyjafjallajokull volcano also caused widespread disruption to air travel with its 2010 eruption. The country offers curious travelers the unusual experience of visiting the inside of a volcano (an extinct volcano, of course). Organized tours take visitors inside the Thrihnukagigur volcano, which last erupted more than 4,000 years ago. Groups descend into the volcano via the crater and are taken to admire the magma chamber. Although tours can be expensive, Thrihnukagigur is an easy-to-access site that's around 20km from Reykjavik. With urbanisation gaining pace and air pollution clouding the view in major cities, contemplating the stars in a pitch-black sky is fast becoming a rarity that tour operators are banking on as a new selling-point. From a total solar eclipse to the Milky Way to the Northern Lights, many experts at Berlin's ITB, marketed as the world's leading travel trade show, were making the case for astronomical experiences this year. "Astro-tourism is really an increasing business. We now see a lot of travel agencies which offer this kind of tourism," Andreas Haenel, an astronomer and director of the planetarium museum in north-western Germany's Osnabrueck, told AFP. While space tourism may be the holy grail for the most committed of stargazers, its astronomical price tag puts it out of reach for most, not to mention health and safety concerns over forays beyond the atmosphere. Enter astro-tourism, which allows enthusiasts of celestial movements to experience the natural phenomena with both feet firmly on planet Earth. With few places sufficiently dark for observations, some European and US national parks have now classed certain areas as "dark sky preserves". Meanwhile, deserts in Namibia, Botswana and Iran are marketed as ideal stargazing sites that also offer the exoticism of sandy dunes. Keyvan Lankarani, the European representative of an Iranian tour company, said the sector started developing in his country due to domestic demand. "It really started within the Iranian market itself because of the vast central desert, we have pretty big spaces of darkness," he said,. Northern Lights But beyond just searching for familiar favourites like Orion's belt or the Big Dipper, Haenel says recent years have seen a boom in "event astro-tourism" -- travel to witness an eclipse, a meteor shower, or the Northern Lights. At the ITB show, the brochure promoting Canada's Yukon sold the moment that "you will never forget" when skies suddenly light up with colourful streaks as a result of gaseous particle collisions. Known commonly as the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis has become a major selling point for towns around the Arctic Circle. "There has been an increasing interest since the last four years. It has to do our marketing of course and an awakening," said Ellen Kachel of the Northern Norway Tourist Board, noting that demand has grown in particular among Asian clients. The northern Norwegian city of Tromso has seen the number of visitors explode, and every photo shared on social networks only serves to fuel further interest for the region. But this year, the big astro-tourism seller is the August 21 total eclipse of the sun, which will only be visible along a stretch running from Oregon to South Carolina, cutting diagonally across the United States. "Nobody knows how many tourists are going there, the estimations go from several hundred thousands to several million people. But it seems to be becoming a great event," said Haenel. In Idaho, the tourism sector is already in full gear to welcome an influx. "We are almost sold out," said Nancy Richardson of Idaho Tourism, adding that "we've been selling this product (the solar eclipse) for two years already." Be patient with the 'diva' Illustrating how magical such experiences can be, Richardson recounted the story of a tourist from a polluted Chinese city who had tears in his eyes when he saw the Milky Way from the dark Idaho mountains for the first time. After all for some on the planet, starry skies are already a thing of the past. Defenders of the "dark sky" warn that the space available is shrinking faster and faster due to light pollution, not just for star gazing, but also for nocturnal animals that thrive in the dark. Harald Bardenhagen, an astronomer and director of the Stars without Borders workshop, noted that "many Europeans have never seen properly the Milky Way". "In 2024 you won't be able to see the stars anymore if nothing is done against the light pollution," he said. As the sector's popularity grows, some warn that it should be careful not to fall victim to its own success. For Kachel, the sector will have to find a balance of moderate growth that respects nature. At the same time, astro-tourism may not be for everyone as it not only calls for patience, but also the acceptance that tonight may just not be the night. "We never promise, that's why we call it 'hunting the Lights', you are looking for it but you don't know if you'll see it," said Kachel. After all, she went on, the Aurora Borealis "is a diva" -- sometimes just not in the mood to perform. You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan https://t.co/uSm2pwRTjO Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 22, 2017 @DonaldJTrumpJr You use a terrorist attack on our city to attack London's Mayor for your own political gain. You're a disgrace. Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) March 22, 2017 Donald Trump Jr is facing backlash for criticizing London mayor Sadiq Khan with a tweet sent hours after an attack at the houses which left five dead and 40 injured.A few hours after the Westminster terror attack , Donald Trump Jr posted a tweet attacking London Mayor Sadiq Khan for his comment on terror attacks in the city.Trump Jr tweeted a link to a 2016 article of the Independent where Khan had been quoted as saying terror attacks were part and parcel of living in a big city. You have to be kidding me, Trump Jr said in the tweet that went viral.Its unclear if the presidents son read the article or understood that the quote was from six months ago and not a response to the Wednesday attack, which police are treating as a terrorist incident Authorities said four people died, including a police officer stabbed by a lone attacker trying to enter the House of Commons. The suspect was then fatally shot, and at least 40 people have been injured.The tweet earned strong criticism from across US and the UK from various figures including from Wes Streeting, the MP for Ilford North and former president of the National Union of Students.On Wednesday, five people were killed and about 40 injured in London after a car ploughed into pedestrians and a suspected Islamist-inspired attacker stabbed a policeman close to Britain's parliament.(Inputs from IANS) Paris: Far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Thursday said the lone-wolf attack outside parliament in London underscored the need for tighter border controls, as France shuddered at an incident that reopened wounds inflicted by similar assaults at home. Security is a major campaign issue ahead of next month's close-fought presidential election, in which Le Pen is seen reaching the second round on a nationalist, anti-immigration platform. Wednesday's attack has dominated French news coverage and served as a poignant reminder of militant attacks on French soil that have killed more 230 people since the start of 2015. "The problem we have nowadays is this form of low-cost terrorism," the National Front leader told BFM TV and RMC radio, adding "we must control our borders". Three French schoolchildren were among those hurt by the London attacker who ploughed into pedestrians as he sped along Westminster bridge towards the British parliament. British Prime Minister Theresa May said the assailant who killed three people and injured dozens before being shot dead was British-born. Police arrested eight people in a series of raids in London, Birmingham and other parts of the country. The deadliest attacks in France over the past two years have been claimed by Islamic State, the hardline militant group that controls swathes of Iraq and Syria. In one of those attacks, a Tunisian-born devotee of Islamic State killed 86 people in the southern city of Nice when he drove his truck along a seafront promenade. British investigators say the London assault was an act of terrorism that Prime Minister May said had been sparked by a warped Islamist ideology. Le Pen, who has the backing of about a quarter of the electorate and is running second in opinion polls behind centrist Emmanuel Macron, said countries needed to co-operate more with each other on sharing intelligence. She advocated closing down mosques with links to extremism and revoking the French nationality of those with more than one passport who were guilty of committing attacks. Socialist Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who was in London to meet British ministers and the injured schoolchildren's families, said knee-jerk measures were not the answer. "We won't put up a wall that would stop life from continuing," he told reporters. France is a member of the open-border Schengen agreement that operates among several European countries. French anti-terrorist police opened an inquiry into the incident on Thursday - an automatic move that was due to the involvement of French victims. Abu Dhabi: An Indian in the UAE was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by deportation for spying for a foreign nation, a media report said on Thursday. The Abu Dhabi Federal Appeals Court convicted the man, identified as SSM, for "sharing sensitive information about movements of military ships" at the Zayed Port in Abu Dhabi where he worked as an employee, Gulf News reported. The court ordered to confiscate his electronic equipment used in the crime, such as laptop, mobile phone, camera among others, the report said. He will be deported after serving 10 years in jail. In a separate case, the court exonerated an Indian who was charged with taking pictures of sensitive buildings in Abu Dhabi. Last year in January, the Federal Supreme Court had sentenced an Indian, Manar T Abbas, to five years in jail to be followed by deportation for spying for the Indian intelligence services, Gulf News reported last year. Brussels: Belgian police arrested a man on Thursday after he tried to drive into a crowd at high-speed in a shopping area in the port city of Antwerp, a police chief said. The man was of north African origin and used a car with French registration plates, Antwerp police chief Serge Muyters said. The incident came a day after an attack on the British parliament killed three people plus the attacker, as well as after the first anniversary of the Brussels attacks in which 32 people died. "A vehicle with French plates has tried to drive at high speed into the Meir (shopping street). A man in camouflage was taken away," Muyters told a news conference. "The pedestrians had to jump aside," he said. "My gratitude on behalf of all Antwerp to the soldiers who have intervened, the police services and the special intervention force," Antwerp mayor Bart de Wever tweeted. 'Continue to be vigilant' Prime Minister Charles Michel said the government was "following this situation as it develops" in the Flemish-speaking northern city. "We continue to be vigilant. Our security services did an excellent job in Antwerp, thanks," he tweeted. Meir is the main shopping street in Antwerp's historic centre and is mostly pedestrianised. It is one of the most important shopping areas in the country. With soldiers deployed at key sites, Belgium has been on high alert since March 22 last year when suicide bombers attacked Zaventem airport and Maalbeek metro station that left 32 people dead and more than 320 wounded. Belgium suffered a further shock in August when a machete-wielding man shouting "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) attacked two policewomen in the industrial town of Charleroi. He badly injured one in the face, before a third officer shot him dead. IS fighters coming home Islamic State Jihadists have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks using vehicles in Europe in recent months, including Wednesday's carnage in London. Attackers rammed lorries into crowds in the French city of Nice in July last year killing 86 people and a Christmas market in the German capital Berlin last year. On Wednesday, Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde led ceremonies commemorating the Brussels bombings, which were also claimed by IS. Interior Minister Jan Jambon told AFP in the runup to the anniversary that tighter security had made Belgium safer safer than it was a year ago. However he said it faced the threat of continuing radicalisation at home and from battle-hardened fighters returning from Middle East battle fields. Belgium's federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw told AFP in November that the cell that carried out the Brussels bombings, and was involved in the Paris attacks, had got its orders from high up in the IS command. Numbering around 500, Belgium is the European Union's largest per capita source of so-called foreign jihadist fighters, but Jambon said none had left the country for the Middle East since January 2016. Washington: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will be killed as nearly all of his deputies are now dead and it is "only a matter of time" that he meets the same fate. "Nearly all of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's deputies are now dead, including the mastermind behind the attacks in Brussels, Paris, and elsewhere. It is only a matter of time before Baghdadi himself meets the same fate," Tillerson said on Wednesday at a ministerial plenary for the 68-nation Global Coalition to defeat Islamic State (ISIS). The coalition, of which India is not a part, has made significant progress in the fight against ISIS. In addition to the latest meaningful financial contributions, the flow of foreign terrorist fighters into Syria and Iraq is down 90 percent over the past year. It is harder for terrorists to get in, and more importantly, harder for them to get out to threaten these countries, he said. Tillerson said the ongoing Iraqi-led retaking of Mosul is pushing ISIS out of a key stronghold and liberating more than a million civilians. "This Mosul campaign could not have succeeded without the cooperation between the Iraqi Security Forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga," he said. Noting that the expansion of ISIS has necessitated a large-scale military response, Tillerson said the offensive measures are reclaiming areas in Iraq and Syria in which ISIS has had a large and destructive footprint. "Our end goal in this phase is the regional elimination of ISIS through military force. The military power of the coalition will remain where this fraudulent caliphate has existed in order to set the conditions for a full recovery from the tyranny of ISIS," he said. "Under President Trump's leadership and with the strength of this historic coalition, our common enemy will remain under intense pressure," he said. Tillerson said the military strength will stop ISIS on a battlefield, but it is the combined strength of the coalition that will be the final blow to ISIS. In order to stay ahead of a global outbreak, the Secretary of State called for adoption of several countermeasures. "First, continue to persist with in-country counterterrorism and law enforcement operations. All of us must maintain pressure on ISIS's networks within our own countries and take decisive law enforcement action to stop its growth. ISIS is connected across every continent, and we must work to break every link in its chain," he said. "INTERPOL is the newest member of our coalition and is critical to closing all routes through which ISIS terrorists seek to travel and threaten our homelands," he added. "Second, we need greater intelligence and information sharing within our own domestic intelligence agencies and among our nations," Tillerson said. "We also must look this enemy's ideology in the eyes for what it is: a warped interpretation of Islam that threatens all of our people...Lastly, in tandem with our aggressive push-back on the ground in multiple countries, we must break ISIS's ability to spread its message and recruit new followers online," Tillerson said. "A "digital caliphate" must not flourish in the place of a physical one, Tillerson said adding that ISIS's handlers around the world spend their days at keyboards communicating with a would-be terrorist, methodically feeding a recruit's deranged desire to develop local networks or carry out attacks in their own countries. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abidi said his forces have given final blow to ISIS. "Our fight on Daesh and against Daesh is a major victory. Today, we are in the stage of completely decimating Daesh and not containing it," he said. "We are not containing it. This is a terrorist group. It cannot be trusted. We cannot deal with it, it's organizing, killing, and chaos and destruction; a very corrupted ideology," he said. "There is no humanity to ISIS, and today is trying to oppress the human being in our modern world. Today, they're trying to sell women, sell children. This is a very heinous crime that they do sell women and children in Iraq and Syria," al-Abidi said. Islamabad: The Taliban say Pakistani officials have hosted a meeting with their leadership to try and press the insurgents into peace talks ahead of a multi-nation meeting in April in Moscow. Islamabad has been under international pressure to try and bring Taliban leaders, who have been based in Pakistan since their rule in Afghanistan was overthrown in the 2001 US invasion, into some form of negotiations with Kabul. Two Taliban officials familiar with the Islamabad meeting say the Taliban used it to issue their own demands. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity on Thursday, fearing reprisals by Pakistani authorities who have not confirmed the meeting. China, Afghanistan and Pakistan are among nations attending the April meeting aimed at reviving peace talks. Washington has not said whether it will attend. Islamabad: Raking up the Kashmir issue as an "unfinished agenda" of partition, Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday accused India of "jeopardising" regional peace through "consistent" ceasefire violations. Speaking at the annual Republic Day military parade attended for the first time by troops from China and Saudi Arabia, Hussain said: "Pakistan is ready for dialogue with India and wants resolution of the Kashmir dispute, which is the unfinished agenda of the partition." "We want peace and friendship with the whole world specially the neighbours. But India's irresponsible attitude and consistent violations of Line of Control and Working Boundary have jeopardised peace of the region," he said at the annual parade during which Pakistan's indigenously-developed missiles and air-defence systems were showcased. Hussain said Pakistan's defence was impregnable and its nuclear capabilities were meant to ensure global and regional peace, adding the country was strong emerging economy in the region. The parade was for the first time attended by Chinese and Saudi troops, apart from military band 'Meher' from Turkey. Pakistan showcased its military capabilities during the parade with F-16s, JF-17 thunders, Mirage, AWACs, P3-C Orion and F-7 presenting salute to Hussain, the event's chief guest. Apart from Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, federal ministers, politicians, diplomats, chairman joint chiefs of staff committee and services chiefs attended the parade. Regiments of the Pakistan's three forces, Rangers, Police, and Commandos marched during the military parade. Special security arrangements were put in place to avert any untoward incident. Mobile telephone services were suspended and roads leading to the venue were heavily guarded. The Republic Day marks the adoption of the historic lahore Resolution in 1940 that spurred efforts to create a separate homeland for Muslims of South Asia. Ankara: A senior Turkish official says his country has warned Russia that Ankara will retaliate against any new cross-border attack on Turkish troops from Syrian Kurdish-held areas in Syria. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu said it had summoned Russia's top diplomat in Ankara soon after a Turkish soldier on guard duty at a border post in Turkey was shot dead by sniper fire. Muftuoglu told reporters today that Turkey had summoned the diplomat because Moscow was in charge of monitoring a cease-fire in the border area controlled by the Syrian Kurdish forces. Turkey considers those Syrian Kurdish forces an extension of outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting Turkey. The spokesman said Ankara also conveyed Turkey's concerns over Russia's military presence in Syrian Kurdish-controlled areas and demanded the closure of the group's Moscow office. Chicago: Chicago police said on Wednesday they were looking for up to six suspects who allegedly raped a teenage girl and broadcast the assault on Facebook Live. The victim was a 15-year-old girl, who went missing on Sunday in the crime-plagued city in the US Midwest. She was only found on Tuesday and taken to a children's hospital for treatment. It was the latest in a series of troubling incidents in which violent acts have been streamed live on Facebook, including two fatal shootings and the kidnapping and torture of a disabled 18-year-old. "It's disgusting. As a father of two daughters, I can't imagine what that mom is going through," Chicago's police chief Eddie Johnson said Tuesday. Johnson became personally involved in the case after the girl's mother approached him Monday with graphic photos taken from a Facebook Live video, showing several young men assaulting the teen, according to US media. Authorities said on Wednesday they were investigating the incident as a criminal sexual assault and told AFP that no suspects were in custody. Police would not confirm details of the video, citing the ongoing investigation. The social networking site declined to comment specifically on the incident, but said in a statement that the company took seriously its "responsibility to keep people safe on Facebook." "Crimes like this are hideous and we do not allow that kind of content on Facebook," the company said. A man identified as the girl's uncle told US media that the young men involved, some possibly under the age of 18, were known in the local community. "They are terrorizing that entire neighborhood," Reginald King told TV station WGN. The live online video of the alleged gang rape attracted as many as 40 viewers at one time, but no one contacted police, according to reports. The video was later taken down. Chicago has been grappling with a surge in violent crime. Last year, the city endured its highest number of shootings and murders in nearly two decades. Much of the violence is concentrated in a few impoverished areas, including the one where the teenage girl lives. Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany stood by Britain "firmly and resolutely". French President Francois Hollande sent a message of "solidarity" and "support" for Britons and May. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressed his "condolences to the victims and their families" in a statement, adding: "The American people send their thoughts and prayers to the people of the United Kingdom." Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Dutch television he was shocked by the "horrific" news from London and said: "The city is in our hearts. We are following the situation closely, and are in contact with the British authorities." World leaders on Thursday unanimously condemned the suspected terrorist attack in the heart of London by an attacker who was shot dead by armed police, with many saying they "stand" with Britain.At least three people were killed and 20 injured in the attack outside parliament when a man mowed down pedestrians with a car then stabbed a police officer outside parliament before being shot dead.British Prime Minister Theresa May responded to the "appalling incident" by saying her thoughts "are with those killed and injured" and "with their families," her Downing Street office said in a statement."Although the background to these acts are not yet clear, I reaffirm that Germany and its citizens stand firmly and resolutely alongside Britons in the struggle against all forms of terrorism," Merkel said in a statement."In these grave moments, we Germans feel very close to the British people," President Frank-Walter Steinmeier added."France, which has been hit so hard in recent times, knows what the British people are suffering today," Hollande said in a statement.French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve tweeted: "Solidarity with our British friends, horribly attacked, full support for the injured French students, their families and their friends.""We condemn these horrific acts of violence, and whether they were carried out by troubled individuals or by terrorists, the victims know no difference," he said.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: "Our thoughts are with the victims of today's attack in London and their families. Canadians remain united with the people of the UK. "European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the attack left him "highly emotional".In Brussels to commemorate the one-year anniversary of attacks on the main airport and a metro station, Juncker said "the fact that exactly on the same day something similar happened in London, and to London, is really putting me in the situation of someone who does not have...enough words to express how I am deeply feeling."European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted: "My thoughts are with the victims of the Westminster attack.Europe stands firm with the UK against terror and ready to help".Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, expressed the country's "condolences" and said on Russian television: "We do not and will never support terrorism.""We consider it an evil to which it is necessary to fight collectively. In this moment, as always, our hearts are with Britons and we share their pain".Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who observed a moment of silence at the start of a meeting with Social Democratic lawmakers, expressed his "condolences" and said: "Italy and the United Kingdom remain side-by-side in our condemnation and firm response to all forms of terrorism".In a message addressed to Queen Elizabeth, Italian President Sergio Mattarella expressed his "deep sadness" and said that "the United Kingdom will be able to count on Italy's firm commitment" in the fight against terrorism."Our condolences are with those who mourn and all who are affected in London," Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted. "Belgium stands with UK in fight against terror."Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called terrorism "a global catastrophe" on Turkish television, adding: "All countries should come together on the terror issue and fight together against" it."We express our solidarity with the British people on today's indiscriminate attack," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tweeted.Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tweeted: "Spain stands with the British people. I condemn the attack in the vicinity of Westminster, London. Solidarity with the victims."Norwegian Prime minister Erna Solberg tweeted: "Terrible to see an attack in the heart of the British democracy. My thoughts with the victims." Lynchburg Symphony Orchestras collaboration with Richmond Ballet II has been several years in the making. LSO first reached out to the troupe, a group of 10 professional dancers who travel around the state as ambassadors for Richmond Ballets educational program, about working together two and a half years ago. After receiving a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts to help fund the performance and coordinating busy schedules, a date was set for this spring. Radiant Dances, which will be performed at 7 p.m. Saturday in Liberty Universitys School of Music and Performing Arts Concert Hall, concludes LSOs 2016-17 season. It also marks the first time conductor Christopher Swanson has worked with a ballet company, though he said hes always been fascinated by dance. This is a new experience for me, and I am grateful for the opportunity to learn about ballet from experts, he said in an email interview last week. I believe that the goal of all performing arts is to tell stories and to convey emotions. The symphony orchestra does this with sound while a ballet company uses movement. A ballet conductor, Swanson said, must be aware of the movement that the music is accompanying and the physical preparations for each of those movements. Dance doesnt change the music, but rather it enhances the music, he said. All music is essentially dance music, and all musicians perform music with a sense of movement and breath. Performing to a live score is also something of an anomaly for the dancers of Richmond Ballet II (RBII), said company manager Tracie Morin. When the group is back home with the larger company of Richmond Ballet, the state ballet of Virginia, they are accompanied by an orchestra, but they rarely get to experience it while out on tour. Its a whole [new] level of experience, having to work with a conductor, she said. With [recorded] music, youre just kind of timing it. Its a great opportunity to build a relationship with a conductor. Live music, it just adds something extra special to a performance. Theres something about live music that just brings it alive. RBIIs tours usually consist of performances at schools and in smaller communities that might not otherwise experience ballet. Its why the group, which is led by Igor Antonov, Richmond Ballets resident artist and a former dancer with the company, was originally founded during the 2012-13 season, Morin said: To reach out into the community. Its a chance to go to places the [larger] company couldnt necessarily tour to. During Saturdays concert, LSO and Richmond Ballet II will perform two pieces together from the ballet companys regular repertoire. A Tribute (To Marcel Marceau and Bip) is a comedic piece based on French mime Marceaus character Bip, while Stolen Moments, which is set to music by French Baroque composer Jean-Phillippe Rameau, features more elegant ballet work, high-energy jumps and intricate footwork. Its a beautiful movement to the music, Morin said. The concert also will include James Naigus Radiant Dances, a concerto for horn and strings featuring soloist Drew Phillips, and what Swanson described as two famous and utterly wild dances from operas: Saint-Saens Danse bacchanale from Samson et Dalila and "Polovtsian Dances" from Prince Igor by Borodin. I knew [the ballet] would make up about half of the concert, Swanson said, so I decided to fill the rest of the program with different kinds of dances. Lynchburg-area Libertarians expect to nominate a candidate Saturday to challenge longtime Republican Del. Kathy Byron in the 22nd House of Delegates district. About 15 to 20 Libertarians plan to nominate Michael C. Millner Jr., of Campbell County, a water restoration technician, in hopes of building the party locally and eventually rising from minor party status, according to Michael Sale, the the local chapters president. The candidate, though, said hes running because the district needs a choice other than the two-decade Republican incumbent. You know, usually its a Democrat, and I think people in this area are more conservative, more small government, so I think there needs to be another option in a different direction, Millner said. Byron first took the seat in 1998 and has won nine subsequent re-election campaigns, three of which were contested. Her last challenge came in 2013, when she defeated now-Lynchburg Democratic Committee Chairwoman Katie Webb Cyphert with 66 percent of the districts vote. The 1999 and 2001 contenders were a Democrat and Independent, respectively. The district includes slivers of Lynchburg and Campbell County, a chunk of Bedford County and a piece of Franklin County. Millner, 34, worked in his familys upholstery business and graduated from Rustburg High School in 2001, he said. He works at Servpro Industries restoring homes damaged by fire-triggered sprinkler systems. After graduating from Miller-Motte Technical Colleges massage therapy program in 2005, he worked at the Central Virginia Chiropractic Center for two years, he said. He also has worked as a machinist, he said. The Campbell County resident is married to Tina Millner and has three children. One responsibility for a third-party candidate is communicating the partys ideals to people who know little about it. Overall, just generally, it means reducing the size of government, Millner said, referring to Libertarianism. My end of it would be just do it slowly. At some point, maybe it would be too harmful. You could go too small. Virginias alcohol should be sold by private businesses, rather than through the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Millner said, referring to Nelson County distiller Denver Rigglemans call for liquor deregulation during his recently discontinued gubernatorial campaign. Education, too, could be fully privatized eventually, Millner said. In the current system, the government interferes far too much with teachers, he said. While many Republicans talk about small government ideology, Millner said the party is inconsistent. Republicans, they like to grow government in a certain direction, too. They like to put restrictions on people, Millner said. There shouldnt be a law that states who can use a public restroom. The government should be completely out of marriage but should allow a legal agreement for any couple addressing finances and children. Millner called himself a Christian without a home church that makes rounds at different ones. Byron, R-Bedford County, told The News & Advance on Thursday she will announce a campaign kickoff after the primary filing deadline March 30. Having already filed for reelection, I am looking forward to taking my record of accomplishment on workforce development, healthcare reform and accountability, and fiscal responsibility directly to the voters, Byron said in a text message Thursday. Millner said hes been a Libertarian since I graduated high school, but the party hasnt had many candidates, one reason hes running. The Lynchburg Libertarians hope the local candidate will help them grow their footprint, just after they expanded and rebranded the chapter as the Libertarian Party of South Central Virginia. The group plans to elect officers and nominate the candidate Saturday at the Hampton Inn in Gretna at noon. Sale, the chapter president from Lynchburg, hopes Millners candidacy will help build the party in the region following national recognition received by Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson last year. Wed like to run some smaller elections in the area. That way, we can learn the neighborhoods in the area. We want to keep our volunteers working, so they dont disappear, Sale said. The group hopes to use the extended chapter, including reaching into nearby counties and down to Danville, as an apparatus through which local units can develop and eventually split off on their own. Instead of them starting from scratch, we already have some type of organization in place, Sale said. Those interested in joining the Libertarian Party are welcome to attend the Saturday meeting and convention, Sale said. While the party generally has a 30-day period between when someone registers with the party and when they may vote, that gap may be waived, Sale said. In 1852, Andrew Holt dedicated property on Alum Springs Road in New London to both free and enslaved blacks where he envisioned a church would stand for African-Americans. Holt was a free man of color and baker who lived in the New London community. In 1930, some 70 years after Holt died, an African-American church, New London United Methodist, was built on the land. Now, after almost another 90 years, students are taking in every detail of the historic church as preservationists begin raising funds to restore it to its former glory. The church, which actually was the third African-American church built on the land, stands just kitty-corner to Meads Tavern, a Revolutionary-era tavern Friends of New London sold to Liberty University for $120,000 in 2015 because the school wanted to integrate the tavern into classroom activities and provide new curriculum. Friends of New London, a group that works to preserve historical buildings in its community, continues to help Liberty University offer tours of the tavern, and with archaeology and research as part of a mutually beneficial partnership. The group recently acquired the deed to the church in February, just as another group was about to demolish it. Friends of New London is now launching a fundraising campaign to pay for its restoration. We came and said if you dont want the building, we would love to have it to restore the building, said Chairman of the group and archaeologist Randy Lichtenberger, explaining that already some boards had been pulled off the walls and the pews removed. Thankfully, he said, much of the original wood is stored in the basement of the church to be used again. Until restoration begins, the site is being used as a classroom for LU students who showed up to the church Wednesday, flashlights, notebooks, cameras and measuring tapes in hand, to do some preliminary measurements of the church for their class. They are doing an initial survey of the building, said Donna Donald, instructor of Introduction into Historic Preservation, a 15-student class. They are measuring all features on the interior and exterior, and then they will fill in the blanks with descriptions and from there develop a fairly detailed account of what the church looks like now before restoration. This new class was created around the church and tavern, said Roger Schultz, dean of Libertys College of Arts and Sciences. Donald contacted Travis McDonald, director of restoration at Poplar Forest, to conduct a few case studies with her students at both the tavern and the church. Luke Dixon, a sophomore, said he is taking the class because he wants to pursue something with public history as a career. We are studying how buildings are constructed, and when you do that, youre learning about the people who built them, and thats fascinating to me, to kind of get a window into their lives and see some of the methods they used, he said. On Wednesday, McDonald who helped teach the class asked students to look for details that indicated how the structure had changed over time. See what kind of mysteries we can or cant figure out, he told them. Look for things that looked like they were reused from something else. Look at wood to find out its former life. Donald said the tavern and the church have created a new sense of collaboration between the university, the community and preservation professionals like McDonald and Lichtenberger. That was an unexpected benefit, she said. Its in the hands of the community who take an interest in the history around them. And then they come together and try to preserve that. Lichtenberger said acquiring the New London United Methodist Church has been in the works for more than a decade now. Initially the organization couldnt find the deed. In February, the church was transferred to the organization, which paid between $1,200 and $1,500 for legal costs of the deed, deed research, recording fees and for a plat. Delores Nash Hicks, Friends of New London board member and a member of the church for more than 30 years, is dedicated to seeing the church renovated. If its not preserved, a great portion of New Londons history will be gone, she said. There will be no information about the African-American community. Now 72, Hicks said she attended the church from the time she was 12 years old until its closing in 1990. She served as a Sunday school teacher and clerk. In its heyday, the church held annual homecomings, lawn parties and revivals and had about 30 members. By the time the church closed, Hicks said there were only four members, herself included. This is home, she said of the church that she still lives down the road from. Ive been the person who has done the upkeep. I cut the grass and trimmed the bushes. The Friends have set aside about $5,000 for the first phase of work. Restoration will include work on the exterior and interior such as fixing and replacing shutters, windows and some boards near the roof, Lichtenberger said. Two stairwells will be built as well. He said the roof is most likely in good shape. Inside, light fixtures will be installed as well as a few church pews. When the church was operational, there was a potbelly stove that now belongs to someone in the community. Lichtenberger said he hopes that will be returned to the church. Friends of New London is working with Custom Structures Inc. to create a preliminary design proposal to restore the church to its original state so it can be used for meeting space, tours and museum exhibits. Lichtenberger said its completion date will depend on funding, and he wont know how much needs to raised until a final proposal is made by Custom Structures, which is creating renderings of the building to determine what work needs to be done. Lichtenberger said those design proposals should be complete any day now. A House Intelligence Committee hearing on Monday heard two bombshells dropped in testimony. One, FBI Director James Comey asserted what other national intelligence leaders have now said: There is no evidence to back up President Donald Trumps outlandish and slanderous allegation that President Barack Obama ordered a wiretapping of Trump Tower. Yet we see lots of defiance and no contrition coming from Team Trump on this matter. We have grown perhaps too accustomed to President Trumps casual attitude toward facts. We should be shocked and dismayed by his eagerness to believe off-the-wall allegations that he has heard on Fox News, as was the case here, yet eagerly disbelieve uncomfortable news from the nations intelligence agencies. Two, the bureau is investigating possible cooperation between President Trumps campaign and Russian officials to make Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton lose the election and help Republican nominee Trump to win. Thats a big deal. As Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and ranking committee member, observed, Russian meddling in our November election would be a serious crime and one of the most shocking betrayals of our democracy in history. Yet we have seen and heard so many shocks to our political norms with the rise of President Trump, who still apparently believes among other fables that he had a million-and-a-half people at his inauguration ceremony, that we run the risk in this instance of failure to be shocked enough. Fox News benched its senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge, amid backlash over his unfounded and now-discredited allegations that British intelligence last fall provided then-President Obama wiretapped conversations from Trump Tower, according to the Los Angeles Times. Fox News knows of no evidence of any kind that the now-president of the United States was surveilled at any time, in any way, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith told viewers Friday. Neither, Director Comey told Congress, did the FBI. But Comey did confirm long-running media reports that the FBI has been investigating possible coordination by the Trump campaign with dedicated and dangerous Russian adversaries. Yet Chairman Devin Nunes of California and the Grand Old Partys other members on the Intelligence Committee sounded much less interested in Russias actions than with exposing the leakers and journalists who enabled us, the public, to learn about those actions. Compared to the Benghazi investigation, which House Republicans did not want to let go, the Russia mystery is one the GOP doesnt seem to want to touch. Yet, Rep. Schiff, mustering up all the oratorical power he could as a member of the minority party (and hinting at further classified details without disclosing them), delivered a devastating litany of suspicious coincidences that, heard together, present a damning portrait of possible collusion. His nine-minute monologue is worth watching on the Web. Among other issues, Schiff speaks of payments on behalf of Russian leader Vladimir Putin to Michael Flynn, who briefly became Trumps national security adviser until disclosure of his conversations with the Russian ambassador and his other Russian ties. There also was a deletion from the Republican Party platform of a section that supports the provision of lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, an action that would be contrary to Russian interests. Paul Manafort, Trumps campaign manager in midsummer and formerly on the payroll of pro-Russian Ukrainian interests, categorically denies involvement by the Trump campaign in altering the platform. But the Republican Party delegate who offered the language in support of providing defensive weapons to Ukraine said that it was removed at the insistence of the Trump campaign, Schiff pointed out. Could these and other suspicious events be mere coincidence? Sure, Schiff allowed, but it is also possible, maybe more than possible, that they are not coincidental, not disconnected and not unrelated, and that the Russians used the same techniques to corrupt U.S. persons that they have employed in Europe and elsewhere. We simply dont know, not yet, and we owe it to the country to find out. Indeed, we do. It has long been known that Russia has interfered in elections in Ukraine and elsewhere, including ours. Whether they changed any votes, which is doubtful, or not, we owe it to ourselves to have serious and thorough investigations, preferably by a special prosecutor, not a political circus. The future of our democracy depends on it. Page is a Chicago Tribune columnist. Email him at cpage@chicagotribune.com. In almost every family of Holocaust survivors, John Guzlowski has observed, one person tends to emerge as the storyteller. "With our family, that was my father," he said. Now, with both parents gone, it is him. "When I was growing up, I wanted to be a science fiction writer," said Guzlowski, a Lynchburg resident who will be reading from his latest book of poetry, "Echoes of Tattered Tongues: Memory Unfolded," on Thursday at the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville. "I didn't start writing about my parents' experience until after my mother died." Guzlowski and Caroline Heller ("Reading Claudius: A Memoir in Two Parts") will appear at Charlottesville's CitySpace at 2 p.m., for a program titled "Literary Memoirs of Lost Worlds." Born in a German displaced person's camp in 1948, Guzlowski grew up in Chicago, earned a Ph.D. from Purdue University and retired from Eastern Illinois University after a lengthy tenure teaching literature and poetry. He and his wife, Linda Calendrillo, moved to Lynchburg two years ago when their daughter Lillian took a job as an assistant principal at E.C. Glass High School. "There is some question about whether gentiles should use the word 'Holocaust,' so I'll use it advisedly," said Guzlowski. "My parents were not Jewish, but Polish Catholics who were taken back to Germany by the Nazis to slave labor camps." While not created for the specific purpose of extermination, these camps were harsh in their own right, and many of the prisoners did not survive them. "When you're out trying to conquer the world, you don't have time to milk the cows," Guzlowski has said. "Since so many of the male Germans were off fighting, they needed slave labor to work on the farms and factories. My father was at Buchenwald, assigned to a farm connected to the camp." As the war moved into its endgame, the SS guards gathered many of the Buchenwald inmates and ordered them on a "death march" to avoid discovery by the Allies. "These were all men," Guzlowski said, "and at one point they reached a women's camp where my mother was imprisoned. The guards there decided to run away to save themselves, leaving the prisoners behind. Seeing that, the men guarding my father's group did the same. So there was this group of men and a group of women, just staring at each other." From that surreal first meeting, Tekla Hanczarek and Jan Guzlowski formed a relationship and were later married. It took more than six years, however, before they could find their way to the United States first to Buffalo, New York, and then to Chicago. "All they had when they came over was inside a wooden trunk that my father had built in Buchenwald," Guzlowski said. "Within three years, they owned a small apartment building in Chicago." In order to accomplish that, Jan Guzlowski worked three shifts in a factory. "He worked all the time," John Guzlowski said. "He used to sleep in a small room under the stairs at the factory, and we would bring him food." It's not surprising, then, that John Guzlowski takes exception to current anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. "It has been shown that 40 percent of American factories are owned by immigrants," he pointed out. His father, he said, was tormented by memories of the Buchenwald camp. "He really had no filter about it. He would approach strangers on the street and tell his stories. He had a photograph of several men being hanged at Buchenwald, and he would walk into bars and show it to people." Now, Guzlowski feels a responsibility not only to keep alive the voices of his parents and other survivors, but to remind his reader that the ghastly net cast by the Nazis enveloped a wide range of victims. He is, first and foremost, a storyteller, although those stories distilled into poems are made even more memorable by his adroit command of the English language. "Echoes of Tattered Tongues: Memory Unfolded," published by Aquila Polonica Press, is his fourth book, following "Language of Mules," "Lightning and Ashes," and a novel, "Suitcase Charlie." It is one of three finalists for the Benjamin Franklin Poetry Prize given by the Independent Book Publishers Association, and also a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Montaigne Prize for Thoughtful Books. Revisit the founding of the JSA and foreshadow its future in The New Golden Age #1 preview And see what lies ahead in the future of the DC Universe GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. Economist tells government to watch expenditure Last Thursday, Finance Minister, Colm Imbert announced that government intended to withdraw TT $1.7 billion from the Heritage and Stabilisation for the purposes of financing the 2017 budget, particularly the Public Sector Investment Programme or PSIP. Hosein acknowledged that after successive years of negative growth, government had to find ways to jump start the economy. He suggested some methods by which this could be done, including creating backward and forward linkages within different sectors of the economy and increasing its productive capacity. However, he was uncertain that use of the HSF to fund the PSIP would lead to the kind of economic growth the country needed. Hosein noted that government remained unclear as to what parts of the PSIP they intended to invest the money in, and until he had that data, he preferred to take the wait and see approach. The economist also was also concerned about the continued gap between TTs income and expenditure, caused largely by low prices for oil and gas in the global market. Government revenues fell, as did government expenditure. But they are not falling in the same proportion, said Hosein. Providing figures, the economist noted that energy and non-energy sector revenue declined between the first quarter of FY 2015/2016 and the first quarter of FY 2016/2017 from $11.2 billion to $7.9 billion. The state has projected revenues for 2016/17 at $47.4 billion. With only TT$7.9 billion collected in the first quarter of fiscal year 2016/2017, there is the likelihood of a higher than expected fiscal deficit for 2016/2017, said Dr Hosein. The economist said that while the finance minister had done a good job in containing expenditure in his first year, it was gradually creeping back up. He also said that governments wage bill had increased by $55.9 million, even though its overall expenditure had fallen. This is a trend the government would want to reverse, said the economist, In fact, the time has come in the economy as a whole to provide a better alignment between wage increases and changes in worker productivity. Hosein noted the contraction in the labour market, saying that more than 8,000 workers have left it, something he termed a significant fall. Moreover, the economist said that over time data suggested that TTs labour market was contracting and may reach a point where the unavailability of labour might become a problem to the economy. He said the labour market has not been adjusting to this reality. One of these steps Hosein suggested, was keeping workers in the labour pool longer by increasing the retirement age from 60 to 65 in the public service. The UWI lecturer said the time has also come for government to consider novel ways to raise non energy tax revenues. As it did in the context in the early 1990s on the intervention of the IMF, the state may have to become less involved with various state enterprises and push for each to be more cost efficient, said Hosein. At some point, government has to consider living more within its non-energy sector means. Budgets closer to TT$40bn must become the new norm and just as we escalated government expenditure we now need to find ways to reduce it. Hosein warned that the country was headed down a dangerous road with a debt to GDP ratio of around 62 per cent. It cannot be business as usual or else the informal IMF program we are currently practicing would become more formal, said Hosein. Given the decline in revenues, the UWI lecturer again made a call for government to depreciate the value of TT currency versus the US dollar to preserve stock of foreign exchange. He told Business Day that government allowed a depreciation to around $9:30 to $1, several bidders would leave the market, leaving only those who could afford to purchase. Doing business in Singapore Preparation to visit Singapore requires some knowledge of the laws as they apply to both natives and visitors. A few include: no littering, no chewing of gum, no illegal drugs [which is clearly visible on signs from the airport throughout], no weapons, pornographic material, jaywalking, spitting and smoking in public places. These are but a few of the more general laws. However, it would help to undertake a quick review. Singapore is a very safe nation, with the authorities ensuring it remains that way. In many western countries, eye contact is a barometer for trustworthiness. It is important to appreciate that the Singaporean culture prefers intermittent eye contact, meaning you may not have business partners looking at you directly in the eye always. Please understand this has nothing to do with a lack of trustworthiness, but sustained eye contact is considered hostile and aggressive. If you are to present a proposal for consideration to your business partners, ensure it is heavily technical, and the most advanced you can present, as this is a country where they are extremely focussed on innovation and technology. With respect to greetings, if you are interacting with the younger, foreign trained Singaporean, a handshake is the most common form of greeting. For the more mature, more of a hand clasp may be welcome, where both hands are used and this lasts for around ten to twelve seconds. Westernized women usually shake hands with both women and men, whereas Singaporean men usually wait for a woman to offer her hand. It is important to note that too-frequent handshaking is easily misinterpreted as an amorous advance. The traditional Malay greeting is the salaam where both parties stretch out one or both hands, touch each others hand[s] lightly, then place their hand[s] back to rest over their heart. This greeting is done only between people of the same sex. When meeting persons, ensure they are addressed by their title and name. If a person does not have a professional title [Doctor, Engineer etc], use Mr or Madam, Mrs, or Miss, plus their name. If you do not understand the pronunciation of a name, simply ask for guidance and repeat to confirm your pronunciation is correct. Singapore prides itself on being the most corruption free country in Asia. As a result, there are very strict laws pertaining to bribery. Government employees may not accept gifts at all. Do not present a gift to anyone unless you have established a personal relationship with that person. If, however, you have established such a friendship, note the following: Malays consider dogs unclean, therefore do not present a toy dog, or pictures of dogs. Among the Indian population, the frangipani flower is used only for funeral wreaths, please be aware. Remember to stay away from giving leather products to observant Hindus, out of respect for their beliefs. Likewise, do not present pork or alcohol products to observing Muslims. As a visitor, you should dress more conservatively until you know what degree of formality is expected. Men should be prepared to wear a business suit, which can easily be adjusted accordingly. Women should wear the traditional business suit, inclusive of a pant suit. In some circumstances, and as a result of the heat, the dress code can be less formal however, follow the lead of your host. TSTT unveils technology for boosting business The CEO was speaking at TSTTs Connect @ bmobile Technology Exposition 2017, a forum the company hosted for local businesses for discussion and a rich exchange of ideas around the various new hi-tech solutions in the market. Following closely on the heels of bmobile being the first and only local mobile operator to deliver 4G LTE very high speed mobile data, it was recognised that dynamic change was increasingly guiding the future of work and life via disruptive technologies. The technology experts presenting at the forum showed how TSTT in fact can create massive new opportunities for business innovation and industry and economic transformation to drive national prosperity. At the Thought Leadership forum on January 17, executive leaders from among TSTTs business, enterprise and government clientele heard from TSTTs EVP, Strategic Alliance, Enterprise and Tobago Operations, Rakesh Goswami about the latest cutting-edge technologies being reviewed by Singularity University inclusive of neo-science, hand-held devices to perform medical diagnosis and bitcoin economy. They also heard perspectives from three Trinidadian technology leaders based at internationally renowned organisations. Senior Technical Director, Product Innovation at AT&T- Big Data, Lerrie Hercules presented on current global trends of Big Data/Analytics being utilized by successful firms and noted TSTTs new role in enabling Big Data analytics because of their Data Centre Services inclusive of Disaster Recovery; Analytics; and Managed Services. Trevor Maison, Lead Enterprise Architect for Buy Technology at Nielsen and Dr Colin Parris, Vice President Software Research Software Science & Analytics Organisation, GE Global Research Center also gave their unique insights of data-driven organisations. They both gave testimony to TSTTs position as a service provider ideally equipped with the technology, infrastructure and services to support local businesses adopting their own data-driven strategies. The Technology Exposition continued on January 18 with workshops on: Mobility and illustration of automated call transition from mobile to office hand-set by Mitel Latest in SDDC (Software-Defined Data Centre) technology and VMware Intelligence gathering from CCTV (Closed Circuit TV) via facial recognition and analytics by Aimetis World renowned Googles Culture of Innovation Business to Business transactions, the next Success presented by Huawei LTE (Long Term Evolution) & New Technology presented by TSTT Attendees were able to also network with subject matter experts at the various booths inclusive of Hosted PBX, Video Collaboration Cloud, Pete The Pan Stick VDI (Virtual Desktop) application, Data Centre Services, E-Tender application, mobile LTE, CCTV, Google Suite and Big Data Analytics. The Connect @ bmobile Exposition & Technology Conference 2017 was truly a new experience, via engagement, with multiple industry specialists - focused on how to stimulate innovation, increase collaboration and drive growth and productivity through investment in technology. For more information on how any of these services can boost your business contact your TSTT Account Manager or TSTTs Rolph Young, Senior Manager Enterprise Marketing via email at royoung@tstt.co.tt Madamas River exploration this weekend The river sources flow from undisturbed tributaries situated on the northern foothills of El Cerro Del Aripo and El Chiquero Forest. Along the course, a favourite destination is Macajuel Pond where a confluence of the Brasso Seco and El Chiquero River occurs. Further upstream is a picturesque 30-foot cascade known as Madamas Falls. Exploring the Madamas is filled with striking sceneries, extraordinary adventure, and stunning beauty. As it reaches the coast, the river loses its turbulence and turns into a scenic lagoon. It is a temptation for every traveller to take a dip in the revitalising crystal clear water. The mouth is also a good place to camp and tranquillise the mind with the serenity of the river and the crashing sound of the waves. Madamas means madam, and its name is justified by the exquisite and romantic ambiance. The beach, which remains uninhabited, is a favourite nesting ground for the leatherback turtles.The floods at the end of November 2017 caused severe changes to the landscape and the river was filled with fallen debris. The expedition trekking from Brasso Village, down the Madamas with an onward hike to camp at Paria Bay can take eight to 12 hours and is not for the faint-hearted or novice hiker. However, despite its difficulty, it remains one of Trinidads secret gems. On Saturday and Sunday Fitness Walkers explore the Madamas River. The expedition consists of four legs and includes overnighting at Paria Bay. Assembly: 4.30 am at the Brasso Seco Visitors Centre Leg 1: Depart 5.30 am Brasso Seco Village to Macajuel Pond (two hours) Leg 2: Exploration down the Madamas River to the Bay (six to eight hours) Leg 3: Hiking from Madamas Bay to overnight at Paria Bay (three to four hours) Leg 4: Return on Sunday morning from Paria Bay to Brasso Seco Village (three hours) Pre-registration required. Suggested items needed for the river expedition are a life jacket, torchlight, waterproof bag and refreshments. Note: Personal camp essentials will be transported by boat to Paria, which should include: a small tent and a small bag with a change of clothing. Includes boat and vehicle transportation to Paria and Blanchisseuse, along with dinner and breakfast. Please bring your eating and drinking utensils (not provided). Rated: 8 Very challenging includes long hours of hiking and swimming. To attempt must be an experienced hiker. Note: Pre -registration required. For more info: islandhikers@ gmail.com International Day of Forests The theme for this years iconic environmental event focused on Forests and Energy, namely biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels. Leveraging from this theme, the EMAs National Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, Wildlife and Livelihoods Project (NRCSWLP) initiated a call to action through a tree planting and distribution exercise with the staff at the EMA, schools and community groups affiliated with the project. This activity underscores the need for increasing forested areas/spaces, and calls for people to take action by planting trees in their communities, homes, or other public spaces. Fruit trees were distributed with a dual purpose in mind a reminder of our need to equally increase our local food production, as well as, to increase our green spaces, said a media release. In addition to this activity, on March 10 the NRCSWLP facilitated a community exchange session between the Fondes Amandes Community Restoration Project, and pupils of the Biche RC Primary School and Plum Mitan Presbyterian School. One of the tenets of this project includes sharing experiences, and this partnership will increase awareness on forestry practices among these pupils. EMAs managing director Hayden Romano called for citizens to become more proactive in forest conservation efforts, through educational and advocacy avenues. Romano said in the release: Planting trees is a symbol of our commitment to our future generations. We must secure the continuity of our forested and green spaces and the EMA will continue to work with our strong network of environmentalists and non-governmental organisations to fulfil this commitment. MISSING SCHOOLBOY MURDERED Police said the killers used a cradle (a metal car part) and pig foot (a tool used in masonry or carpentry) to commit the gruesome crime. Police recovered both weapons yesterday behind the school compound which is surrounded by bushes. Investigators further believe the Form Four student was killed elsewhere and his body dumped in the drain still clad in school uniform. The body was lying face-up and his school bag nearby in the drain. The school is located at Raymond Jurawan Street off the Waterloo Main Road in Carapichaima. On Monday at 8.45 pm, his mother Sharon Bickaroo reported him missing to the Freeport Police Station. Reports are that he left the school around midday that day and schoolmates last saw him alive standing at St Marys Junction at 2 pm. Beephan lived at Heliconia Drive in Roystonia, Couva with his parents and younger sister. Jesses father Shakar Beephan has a construction business. Relatives made the discovery at about 11 am, 300 feet away from the school where classes were in session. A party of officers from the Freeport Police Station, Homicide Bureau (Region III) and the Anti Kidnapping Unit visited the scene. The officers included Cpls Smith, Williams and Gordon together with PCs Mohammed, Katray, Hall, Morgan and Boxill. Although classes continued as normal while police processed the scene, staff members later addressed students telling of an early dismissal at 1.30 pm without offering any further explanation. No mention was made about the discovery but word spread among the students thanks to social media posts which they read on their cellular phones. A student told Newsday that Beephan was not supposed to be in school on Monday because examinations were in progress for subjects he did not take as part of his study course. The teens uncle, Sieuchan Beephan, 41, said the entire family was left in a state of shock and deep sorrow over Beephans death. Since Jesse went missing, the family never received any calls from him or anyone concerning his whereabouts. The parents are in a state right now, Beephan said. Other relatives described Beephan as a quiet boy. Beephan is the second 16-year-old school pupil to be killed while in uniform this year. On January 13, Rachael Ramkissoon of North Eastern College in Sangre Grande was found dead in bushes still clad in her school uniform. A hunter stumbled upon her body at Balata Trace in San Raphael. An autopsy revealed she was strangled. Member of Parliament for Couva South Rudranath Indarsingh, in extending condolences to Beephans family, said blame for the pain, trauma and suffering they are feeling lies squarely on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. In a press release, the Opposition MP accused Government of failing to arrest the spiralling crime situation since attaining office in September, 2015. He added that yet another young citizens life has been violently snuffed out and asked, How many more of our young sons and daughters must die before this Government institutes joint police/army patrols in Couva and the rest of the country? Missing woman found Kizzia Luann Charles was immediately taken to hospital for medical treatment shortly after being found. Though in a dazed state, the woman told police that sometime on Sunday she was approached by a woman driving a black Nissan Xtrail SUV near the Arima market. The driver asked for directions to the Licensing Office in Arima. Charles said she gave the woman directions but the driver asked if she (Charles) would accompany her to Licensing. Not suspecting anything, Charles agreed to go with the woman in her vehicle but on entering it, she was overpowered by a man who sat in the back and was brandishing a gun. What happened next was all a blur. Charles, police sources said, recalled that sometime on Tuesday night she was taken to the Manzanilla beach by her abductors who attempted to put her in a boat which contained men speaking Spanish. The boats engine stalled and after failing to get it to work, the abductors took Charles to another area of the beach. Charles believes she was again drugged and then abandoned. When she came to her senses at 10 am yesterday, Charles alerted a passerby who contacted the Manzanilla police. Officers of the Counter Trafficking Unit were also alerted and the victim is expected to be interviewed today. Relatives of the woman were yesterday contacted and hurried to the Manzanilla police station bringing with them food and clean clothing. Investigations are ongoing. WHERE IS SHARLENE? While Charles relatives are today breathing a sigh of relief, now that she has been found alive, relatives of another woman are continuing their search for her and praying they will find her unharmed. Police said that Sharlene Somai, 23, was last seen on Tuesday at 8 pm in front her Petersfield, Chaguanas home. At the time, she was wearing a brown vest, short pants and brown slippers. Newsday understands that her cell phone was left behind on the front porch of her home. Checks later for the missing young women proved futile and a Missing Person report was filed at the Chaguanas Police Station. Anyone with information on Somais whereabouts is asked to contact the nearest police station. Investigations are continuing. 300 teachers persistently late He said the errant teachers were identified based on a method of progressive discipline. Progressive discipline includes counselling, verbal and written warnings and then referral (of a complaint) to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education for transfer to the TSC. Deoraj said his office meets regularly with the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) about the unpunctuality and irregularity issues. TSC chairman Dr Fazal Ali said unpunctuality and irregularity resulted in a number of schools failing students in their Caribbean Examinations Council exams. Without naming them, he said, in two schools, 47 percent of students did not pass even one subject at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE). The failure rate ranged from 31 percent to 56.3 percent between 2009 to 2015. JSC member Khadijah Ameen said the failing rates were an indication that, the TSC is failing the children, teachers were frustrated, many children do not have teachers, and the criteria for appointing deans were cumbersome. In response, Ali said the TSC was not in charge of schools and it was not failing the children. The TSC, he said, cannot appoint deans if they do not pass the criteria. Fiery protest over boy, 11 Saying the ministrys decision to appoint a personal aide to work one on one with this child, in an effort to modify his alleged deviant behaviour is not enough - since similar attempts had failed in the past - parents insist either he is transferred or their protests will continue. The decision to have a personal aide work with the student was made on Tuesday following a protest outside the school in San Pedro. But this did not go down well with the schools PTA and a decision was made on Tuesday to stage a second protest yesterday. Told of the parents concern with this student for his alleged beating up of students at the school, causing two teachers to transfer out after assaulting them and sexually harrassing female students, Minister Garcia said he doubted these allegations as being hard to believe. His comments enraged the parents who said their children are afraid to attend school because of this one boy. Yesterday, they placed derelict tyres across the Tabaquite Main Road which they then set on fire along with other debris. You are a very disrespectful Minister and you need to get out of office, interim PTA President Savitri Persad said. I mean that and we are going to continue this until you come and visit our school. The parents of Santa Rita RC demand an apology from you Mr Garcia because you are very disrespectful for such a big, educated man, she added. Asked earlier this week whether he would visit Santa Rita RC, Garcia said he cant be expected to out every fire. The PTA is calling for the boy to be placed in a specialized institution to receive the professional help they believe he need. Asked if such facilities exist for primary school students, Minister in the Education Ministry Lovell Francis said yes. Secondary school students who are suspended or expelled are enrolled at learning enhancement centres geared toward behaviour modification. TTUTA President Lynsley Doodhai said that not every education district has such centres and further, there are no institutions to specifically target primary school students with behavioural problems. Chief executive officer of the Catholic Education Board Sharon Mangroo said she was concerned about this student who has been the target of protests. We are very concerned about him and want him to get the help he needs. Just today we were having a conversation about what we can do to deal with students who are suspended. We will be looking to see what we can do to offer whatever resources we have in this regard, perhaps through our parishes or elsewhere, Mangroo said. When Newsday visited the school yesterday, the boy was not at school and attempts to reach his parents were unsuccessful. Tamarind Square to remain open for now Stapleton-Seaforth gave the assurance yesterday during her testimony in a lawsuit brought against the corporation by a homeless man who is challenging a decision to lock him and other homeless people out of Tamarind Square at nights. Hugh Bernard has taken issue with the corporation for implementing the measure without providing alternative facilities. The city corporation had also given assurances that the final gate to the square will not be locked until the matter is resolved in the courts. In her testimony, Stapleton- Seaforth said it was never the intention to lock any of the gates at the square, including the fifth one. She also said the corporation did not place the locks or locked the four of the five gates but had received it that way when the contractor hired to erect the fences handed over the square. Stapleton-Seaforth was also adamant that it was never the POSCC intention to restrict access to Bernard or the homeless at the square. In her affidavit, she said the action taken to lock the gates was to protect the public from grossly unsanitary conditions and due to health, safety and environment concerns. She, however, could not say if keeping the four gates locked addressed the public health concerns of the corporation. The trial, which is being presided over by Justice Eleanor Donaldson- Honeywell, will continue on April 3, with the testimony of the Public Health Inspector Of the POSCC. Representing Bernard are Christopher Hamel Smith SC, Imran Ali and Krystal Richardson while Senior Counsel John Jeremie and Kerwyn Garcia appear for the Corporation. Increased enrolment in Science and Technology at UWI This is quite phenomenal in terms of the innovation culture, he said at the opening of the UWI St Augustine Campus Council Meeting on Monday at St Augustine. Economic historians like himself, he said, know that this period is the innovation age of the Caribbean economy. The only way we are going to become more competitive in our industries, reduce costs to become globally competitive, and diversify existing industries to maximise export potential, he said, is by reducing costs and increasing productivity through innovation. In many instances, he said, it would mean an application of technology but in some instances it means a redesigning of existing strategies. The main reason why the Caribbean economy appears so sluggish in its recovery from the current economic recession, Beckles said, is precisely because of the low levels of innovation within our industries, and our private sectors needing to bring more innovation on board. The UWI, he said, has to be seen to be in the trenches with its sleeves rolled up pushing the economies out of the doldrums. Noting that the Faculty of Social Sciences at St Augustine Campus was seeing an expansion and growth in graduate studies outstripping the growth in undergraduate studies, he said, This is where we want to go in the long term. The future of the UWI, he said, must be a network of university colleges of national universities operating seamlessly allowing UWI to divest a larger percentage of its undergraduate programmes to its affiliate colleges and institutions, and enabling a transition to the research and graduate level. The Faculty of Social Sciences, he said, is already leading that way with its magnificent increase in research and graduate programmes. Noting also that the United Nations Development Programme report for 2016 has observed that the greatest challenge holding back economic development for the region is the extreme levels of inequality in its societies, Beckles said, As we pursue economic growth a top priority for our societies it is vital and equal to deal with the concept of social proof. He said, We cannot allow the social growth agenda to slip behind any other priority. We have to build societies that are stable, sophisticated, elegant, and civil because we have a very difficult Install the Newser News app in two easy steps: 1. Tap in your navigation bar. 2. Tap to Add to Home Screen. Parents at a New Jersey school are outraged after white students held a reenactment of a slave auction of a black child during class, the AP reports. A spokesperson for the South Orange Maplewood school district outside New York says the assignment was not authorized by the district. Spokesperson Suzanne Turner says a substitute teacher was in charge of the class at the time. She says the district is looking into training and improved supervisory protocols for substitute teachers. The mock slave auction happened in the same district where students created posters for slave auctions as part of a curriculum about the colonial era. Superintendent John Ramos said at a board meeting Monday night that there was no intent to be demeaning in either assignment. (This has been a problem more than once in the past.) Investigators initially suspected the hackers who stole $81 million from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last year while posing as Bangladeshi bankers weren't actually from Bangladesh. Now, they're apparently pointing the finger at North Korea. While investigators believe Chinese individuals or businesses carried out the attack, they suspect North Korea directed "one of the biggest bank robberies of modern times," sources tell the Wall Street Journal. Officials confirmed that theory, per Reuters. Sources say investigators have linked the code used in the robbery to the 2014 Sony hack, which the FBI previously blamed on North Korea. Private security researchers have also said both attacks used similar code and techniques. "If that linkage is true, that means a nation-state is robbing banks," says Richard Ledgett, the deputy director of the National Security Agency. "That is a big deal; it's different." Some, however, say the hackers of the New York Fedwho may be responsible for similar attacks against banks in Ecuador and Vietnamcould have altered code from the Sony attack, which the US government later released, meaning there may be no link to North Korea at all. Charges against the Chinese suspects are possible, while Treasury authorities are also considering sanctions, reports the Journal. (Read more North Korea stories.) Two 16-year-old boys accused of shooting a 14-year-old girl in the back of the head and leaving her for dead plotted to kill her because one of them was sick of her messages on Snapchat, a court heard this week. A sheriff's deputy testified at a preliminary hearing for one of the boys accused of trying to kill Deserae Turner in a small Utah town that the teen said the plot started as a joke, but his friend told him it "would be pretty easy to get rid of her," People reports. The deputy testified that before the attack, one boy texted, "Lets get this done, bro," to his friend, who responded: "Yeah man, hold on. Are we clear?" Prosecutors want both boys to be tried as adults for attempted murder, KUTV reports. Deserae has been in the hospital since Feb. 16, when searchers in Smithfield found her in the dry canal bed she was allegedly lured to by the boys, who are also accused of stealing $55 from the girl's purse and destroying her cellphone. In a March 10 video shown in court, Deserae said she couldn't recall much, but she remembered being in a muddy canal with the boys, the Deseret News reports. Police say she was shocked to discover her supposed friends allegedly tried to kill her. The preliminary hearing for the boy accused of pulling the trigger was held on Tuesday and the second boy's was on Wednesday, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The judge ruled for both cases to move forward and will decide later on whether to move the cases to adult court. (Read more attempted murder stories.) A Jewish teen with American-Israeli citizenship is behind dozens of threats made against Jewish community centers in the US, Israeli police say. The 19-year-old male living in the Ashkelon area of Israel was arrested Thursday after a months-long investigation involving the FBI, Israeli police rep Micky Rosenfeld tells CNN. Police say the teen used neighbors' internet connections, voice manipulation, and other "advanced camouflage technologies" to hide his identity while making threats against Jewish centers in the US, Australia, and New Zealand, the New York Times reports, via Israel Radio. However, police believe he's also responsible for hundreds of other threats around the world over two or three years, reports Haaretz. Those include threats against shopping malls and airports. In one case, he forced a Delta flight to make an emergency landing, police say. Authorities say five computers, antennas, and other equipment were seized from his residence. Per Haaretz, the teen tried to grab the gun of an officer who arrived to arrest him; he was previously found unfit for military service in Israel. Police had previously said they were searching for a single individual believed to be behind the majority of more than 100 bomb threats made against Jewish centers in the US this year. "This is the guy we are talking about," Rosenfeld says. The teen appeared in court on Thursday. (Federal officials have also traced some of the bomb threats to a jilted ex-boyfriend.) The top Democrat in the Senate said Thursday he will oppose the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to serve on the Supreme Court and encouraged other Democrats to reject President Trump's choice, the AP reports. Republicans will need 60 votes to break the Democratic filibuster, the Washington Post reports, and it's not clear whether the necessary eight Democratic senators will vote with the GOP. Republicans have said they'll change the rules if need be so that a simple majority would confirm Gorsuch, but Schumer said, "If this nominee cannot earn 60 votesa bar met by each of President Obamas nominees, and George Bushs last two nomineesthe answer isnt to change the rules. Its to change the nominee." Shortly before the Senate minority leader's announcement, Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, who faces re-election next year in a state Trump won, also announced his opposition. Casey said he had "serious concerns about Judge Gorsuch's rigid and restrictive judicial philosophy, manifest in a number of opinions he has written on the 10th Circuit." The opposition from the two Democrats came after two days of hearings in which Gorsuch emerged unscathed and with solid Republican support in the GOP-led Senate. The Judiciary panel is expected to vote in the next two weeks to recommend Gorsuch favorably to the full Senate. A number of other Democrats have also announced their opposition. No Democrat has yet pledged to support the judge, but Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said Wednesday he is open to voting for him. (Read more Neil Gorsuch stories.) Not much was initially revealed about the two civilians killed in Wednesday's terror attack in London, which also ended in the death of a British cop and the attacker being gunned down by police, but now there are a few details on at least one of the deceased: a Utah man celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary with his wife in the British capital. The Salt Lake Tribune identifies the man as 54-year-old Bountiful resident Kurt Cochran, who reportedly plummeted off the Westminster Bridge onto a concrete surface below when the attacker plowed his vehicle into pedestrians. Cochran's wife, Melissa Payne Cochran, is said to be one of the dozens of others who were injured, with a head cut and broken rib, though she's expected to be OK. In a message on Facebook, Shantell Payne, whom the Tribune says is Cochran's sister-in-law, called the tragedy "heart wrenching and raw" and said it had "rocked our family." She also posted a link to a GoFundMe account to raise money to help Melissa Cochranwho the Tribune says ran a music and rehearsal studio with her husbandpay her bills while she's recuperating. The GoFundMe, which has so far raised more than $13,000 of a $50,000 goal, notes that the couple were spending their last day on a European tour visiting Melissa's parents, who are members of London's Mormon temple. President Trump called Cochran "a great American" in a Thursday morning tweet, sending "prayers and condolences" to the Utah man's loved ones. (The attacker has been identified.) A cab driver transporting a college student in Maine discovered he had five other surprise passengers: a handful of baby alligators. Per CentralMaine.com, Frank Folsom says on Tuesday he picked up a 20-year-old IDed as Yifan Sun, a student from China who's studying at the University of Maine at Augusta, and when they stopped at a convenience store, an open box Sun was carrying tipped over and the tiny gators started scurrying around the taxi. After helping Sun get the reptiles back into the box, Folsom stopped at a store to get a closed plastic container for them, then drove Sun to his destination: a local bus station. Cops were waiting for the taxi by the time they arrivedFolsom speculates someone at the convenience store saw the creatures, which are a restricted species in Maine, per WGMEand Sun, via an interpreter, told police a pal in Alabama had sent him the alligators a couple of months earlier, in exchange for which Sun sent his friend a turtle. He added he was on his way from Augusta to Waterville to visit another friend, who he revealed was a UPS worker he hoped could help him ship the gators to Texas in a swap for a tegu lizard. Animal Game wardens took custody of the gators, while Sun was hit with a charge of importing or possessing wildlife without a permit. (It would've been harder to hide this 800-pound gator in a cab.) A man burning books in his Florida backyard sparked a wildfire that burned 400 acres and destroyed at least 10 homes in Nassau County, UPI reports. "It was an illegal burn. It was paper. It got away from him," says a Florida Fire Service rep. Dry, windy conditions helped the fire to spread Wednesday afternoon, and 150 residents were ordered to evacuate the area near Bryceville, 20 miles west of Jacksonville. As of Thursday morning, the fire was no longer spreading, but was not expected to be fully contained by the end of the day. The unidentified book burner will be billed for the personnel and equipment needed to fight the fire, and could be held civilly liable for property damage. (Read more weird crimes stories.) The 50-year-old former high-school teacher suspected of abducting his 15-year-old student may have been spotted Thursday in Texas, the Tennessean reports. Elizabeth Thomas was reported missing from Tennessee on March 13. Authorities say Tad Cummins, who has since been fired, appears to have planned the abduction and may have been grooming Thomas, according to WTVF. Authorities believe he's driving a silver Nissan Rogue with license plate 976ZPT. Someone called to report seeing a possible match for the vehicle traveling in Corpus Christi. Police were dispatched around 12:30pm, but no other details have been released. Authorities say Cummins and Thomas could be anywhere in the US. (Read more abduction stories.) London has been attacked and the recent tragedy has left at least four dead and 40 injured. The terror attack happened at the Westminster Bridge just outside the UK House of Parliament. Two of the people who died includes the attacker and a police officer. Three police officers are part of the 40 that was wounded. Wednesday afternoon, the suspect ran over pedestrians at the Westminster Bridge before ramming the fence at the House of Parliament. He then killed PC Keith Palmer, a police officer, using a knife. Palmer has been in the service for 15 years. Police that was guarding the Palace of Westminster shot the attacker killing him as a result. The Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley has reassured the public that they are doing their best to protect them in every possible way. They are also investigating the "horrific events" and are enhancing their operations to make sure that the country is protected and safe. He adds that the alert level has been labeled as severe for some time already and it will apparently stay the same, especially after the recent terror attack. Prime Minister Theresa Mary May went out of Downing Street and issued a statement saying that any terror attack done against the country is "doomed to failure" as the Parliament will not be defeated. She praised the police for how they displayed their bravery in protecting the people even if they lost one of their own. A number of tourists and school children suffered from the attack as well as they were on site when the attack happened. Emergency services were immediately on site as medics attended to the wounded. Westminster was immediately locked down and the MPs were moved to safety. The world is one in condemning the recent terror attack. Scientists recently discovered a shrimp fossil and named it after Sir David Attenborough. The fossil is a 430-million-year old crustacean. According to a report, the fossil that had been discovered by scientists recently is of a 430-million-year old crustacean. This has been unknown to science before. The scientists are naming the proto-shrimp after the British naturalist and TV personality David Attenborough. This latest discovery of the shrimp fossil can be a start to understanding better on the evolution of crustacean. It has been named in honor of Attenborough because of the meaning of the personality's surname. Cascolus Ravitis is the name of the shrimp fossil discovered. It is indicated that Cascolus is a Latin word with a combination of castro which means stronghold and colus that means dwelling in. The meaning of these words also inspires the naturalist's surname. Ravitis also is an inspiration of the campus where Attenborough grew up. The University of Leicester had been the campus where Attenborough spent most of his childhood years. This has been when his father served as principal of the university. Ravitis is a combination of the Latin words Ratae which is the Roman name for Leicester and Vitae meaning life. In the meantime, a polar research vessel was also named in honor of Attenborough before. This is another discovery that has been named in honor after the naturalist. The shrimp fossil named after Attenborough has also been in honor of his 90th birthday. The shrimp fossil has been preserved enough to know that this new discovery is another study to find out about the crustacean species. This new fossil discovered is also an indication that the fossil has been from a new species. Meanwhile, there have been several discoveries that have been named in honor of Attenborough. The fossil shrimp that has recently been discovered is the latest one added to the list. New Delhi : India, the US, France, the European Union on Wednesday strongly condemned the deadly attack in London that killed at least four and injured 20 people. "India strongly condemns Westminster terrorist incident and condoles the loss of life. No place in democracies and civilised societies for terrorism," Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. The White House said President Donald Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May and condemned the attack and applauded the quick response of British police and first responders. French President Francois Hollande expressed solidarity with British authorities and said: "We express our solidarity and support to the British people and the Prime Minister, Theresa May..." "We have to understand that terrorism concerns all of us, and France, which has been struck many times, can know what the British people are suffering today," he added. Hollande also called for a European plan to set "all the conditions to respond to these attacks". European Council President Donald Tusk offered sympathy to Britain: "My thoughts are with the victims of the Westminster attack. Europe stands firm with the UK against terror and ready to help," . European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement "Today marks one year since the people of Brussels and Belgium suffered a similar pain and felt the support of your sympathy and solidarity. At this emotional time, we at the European Commission can only send that sympathy back twofold." "The United Kingdom will always remain a partner and a friend and one we will continue to work hand in hand with in the fight against terror," Juncker said. "Together, Europeans will never cease to prove that love will always triumph over hate and that tolerance will always triumph over fear," he added. In a statement released by the US State Department, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also condemned the "horrific acts of violence". In an attack, described as a "terrorist" assault, a car was driven over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injuring a number of people and three police officers. London police say the car then crashed near the Parliament and at least one man, armed with a knife, continued the attack, trying to enter the Parliament before being shot dead. Four people have been killed, including the male attacker, and at least 20 injured in the attack. Sorry! This content is not available in your region New Delhi: A woman on Thursday allegedly committed suicide at Kashmere Gate metro station in Delhi. According to officials, the incident was reported at about 8:30 AM when a worker of cleaning department at the Kashmere Gate Metro station informed authorities of a woman hanging near the water supply pipe at the end of platform no 2. They said the unidentified woman, aged about 28 years, had allegedly hanged herself using her dupatta or stall. Metro and CISF officials soon reached the spot and an investigation is on as to how and when the woman attempted the alleged suicide. The police are scanning the CCTV recording of the station, they said. (With Inputs from PTI) Araria: Police has ordered an investigation in an incident where group of party workers hoisted BJP flag at a government school in Araria district of Bihar. They did it to celebrate the party's win in Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. The incident took place at Dak Haripur Kanya Madhya Vidyalaya in Forebesganj on March 18, while results of UP election were announced on March 11. When students and teachers were leaving the school on March 18, some BJP workers barged into the campus and hoisted the party's flag there to celebrate the party's victory in UP, the school's headmaster told District Education Officer Faizul Rahman. Also Read | From 'Cycle' to 'Lotus': UP streets flooded with vehicles flaunting BJP flags after Yogi Adityanath takes over as CM | Video Headmaster Jagdish Mehta said he tried to stop them but they outnumber the staff and hoisted the flag, Rahman told PTI on Thursday. The District Education Officer said he has instructed the Block Education Officer concerned to investigate the matter. Action would be initiated based on the probe report, Rahman said. Araria district BJP president Babban Singh expressed regret over the incident and said it was caused by over-excitement of some local party workers. Also Read | Who is Adityanath Yogi: Hindutva mascot, controversy's favourite child, five-term MP from Gorakhpur and now 21st CM of Uttar Pradesh Those party workers did not find a suitable place to hoist the party flag to celebrate the win and did it in the school, Singh told PTI. Sub-Divisional Police Officer Ajit Singh said that the matter was related to Education department and if the police were approached, it would investigate the incident. The school is located around 35 km from Araria district headquarter. Hyderabad: A court in Hyderabad on Thursday granted bail to Swami Aseemanand, the controversial former member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case. At least nine persons were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated inside Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on May 18, 2007. Initially, it was suspected that terror outfits such as LeT was involved in the blast. NIA officials had in May 2011 chargesheeted Swami Aseemanand, who retracted his statement after confessing to having the role of right-wing activists, retracted his statement. Aseemanand is also a co-accused in the Malegaon and Samjhauta Express blast cases. ALSO READ: Ajmer blast 2007: Swami Aseemanand acquitted, 3 others found guilty by special NIA court Earlier this month, Swami Aseemanand and six others were acquitted in the Ajmer dargah blast case by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court, while three persons were convicted. ALSO READ: Samjhauta Express blast case: Prime accused Swami Aseemanand gets bail For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Supreme Court suggested resolving the contentious issue of Ram temple through talks, saying that it should be settled amicably. The apex court said that it is ready to mediate, if necessary. The Chief Justice of India J S Khehar had offered to mediate even as the bench headed by him suggested that the parties to the dispute adopt a "give a bit and take a bit" approach for a meaningful and sincere negotiations to resolve the vexatious issue. Here is the timeline displaying the long-standing dispute- 1853: The year saw first religious violence at the site. 1855: A dispute over the possession of the mosque between Hindus and Muslims started. It is said that Sita Rasoi and Ram Chabootara was constructed around this time. 1859: British Colonial administration constructed railings to split the places of worship, allowing the inner area for Muslims and outer for Hindus. This was practised for 90 years. 1949: Lord Ramas idol surprisingly appears inside mosque. Hindus claim it to be a miracle while Muslims protest against it, resulting in both filing civil suits. Later, the government declares the area a heated one and shuts the gate. 1950: A suit is file in Faizabad by Mahant Paramhand Ramchandra Das and Gopal Singh Visharad to seek permission for offering prayers in Asthan Janmabhoomi. Though the gates are shut performing puja is allowed. 1961: Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board claims the mosque and the surrounding area is a graveyard and files a case. 1984: A committee is formed spearheaded by Vishwa Hindu Parishad party (VHP) under the leadership of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani. The aim of the committee was to set free the birth-place of Lord Rama by constructing a temple in honour of the lord. 1986: After almost five decades, a district judge orders to open the gate and allow Hindus to worship inside the mosque which was once announced as the disputed structure. In less than 60 minutes of the courts order the gates are opened. In protest of the order, Babri Mosque Action Committee is formed. 1989: Vishwa Hindu Parishad starts a campaign and lays foundation stone to construct a Ramas temple on the area next to the disputed area. Former Vishwa Hindu Parishads vice-president Justice Deoki Nandan Agarwal, files a case asking to shift the mosque elsewhere. 1990: The mosque is partially damage by the volunteers of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The then Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar tries to settle the issue through negotiations but gets no success. 1991: BJP comes in power in Uttar Pradesh. The power of the centre is Congress. Also Read | Live updates | Babri issue: SC to hear today reviving conspiracy charges against L K Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti, others 1992: The mosque is demolished by supporters of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shiv Sena and Bhartiya Janata Party. This act prompted nationwide disputes bet Also Read: Muslim outfits sceptical about apex courts suggestion for talks to resolve Ayodhya dispute For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Indore: The Border Security Force (BSF) is planning to put on display the pistol used by the freedom fighter Bhagat Singh to kill British officer John Saunders in 1928, at its new arms museum. At present, the historic semi-automatic .32-bore Colt-make pistol is on display at the old museum of the city-based Central School of Weapon Central School of Weapons and Tactics (CSWT). The pistol used by Bhagat Singh to kill the British police officer John Saunders is currently on display at CSWTs old museum. We are planning to display this pistol with special importance at new arms museum, construction of which would be completed within a couple of months, the Border Security Force Inspector General, Pankaj Goomar told PTI. He said that besides the firearm, the life saga of the Shaheed-e-Azam would also be on the display. The pistol was brought to the CSWT on October 7, 1969, along with seven other firearms from the Police Academy based at Phillaur in Punjab. The firearm could have been sent from Lahore to the Police Academy during the British rule, the IG said. Also Read: Pak group seeks protection from Lahore HC to mark Bhagat Singh death anniversary A research team studying the legacy of Bhagat Singh has informed about this pistol. An examination of the historic documents has proved that this was the same pistol which was recovered from the possession of Bhagat Singh. It was established by the documents that this pistol was used for killing British police officer John Saunders, the officer said. Saunders was fatally shot on December 17, 1928, in Lahore, in what was described as the Lahore Conspiracy Case. Bhagat Singh along with fellow freedom fighters Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged to death on March 23, 1931, in the Lahore Central Jail. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. PTI: The militants attacked a police vehicle on Thursday in Behbagh of Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir. As per initial reports, no loss of life was reported in the incident. The vehicles tyre got burst in the incident. The area has been cordoned off and a search is on. A brief exchange of fire had taken place place on last Friday between militants and security forces in Pulwamadistrict of Kashmir. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation inBatnoor village of Shopian district at around 2 AM following information about presence of militants in the area, a police official had said. Also Read | Police play significant role in maintaining peace: J&K minister For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. London: Altaf Hussain, the leader of Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stand up for the rights of muhajirs or refugees in Karachi. The Pakistani politician who lives in London in exile said while India was vocal about the brutality of Pakistan Army against people of Baluchistan, Modi had failed to speak out for the people who lived in India for centuries. "I would like to register my complaint with Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, as Mr Modi, I regret to say, you are raising voice over the brutality of Pakistan Army against people of Baluchistan...never raise your voice for your own people who lived in India for centuries", he said. Also read: Shaheed Diwas: PM Modi pays tributes to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru "Our forefathers made a big mistake and migrated to Pakistan, but we were born here, and never accepted as Pakistani or sons of soil. Mr Prime Minister you should have raised your voice against the atrocities, discrimination and brutality of Pakistani establishment, Army and paramilitary forces against Urdu speaking muhajirs, your own people in Karachi, Pakistan", he added. The MQM leader called on India to raise MQM's issues at all international and human rights fora. The MQM is the fourth largest political party of Pakistan. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: Patients wait outside Sion Hospital in Mumbai as resident doctors continued with their strike on Thursday. Resident doctor at Sion Hospital allegedly attacked by a patient's relatives last night on Wednesday. After the incident police registered a complaint against 3 women. Nearly 40,000 Maharashtra doctors decided on Wednesday to go on an indefinite strike to support their colleagues agitating over the lack of security to them in the government hospitals. The 40,000-odd doctors, all members of the Maharashtra chapter of the Indian Medical Association, decided to shun work and join over 4,500 resident doctors in the state, who have been staying away from the duty for the last three days. Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors is holding a meeting with Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis at Mantralaya in Mumbai . Maharashtra: Resident doctors on strike to meet CM Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai, today (earlier picture) pic.twitter.com/s9CyMia1Mr ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 Speaking on the matter in the state legislative Assembly, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis said we will take strong legal action against those who attack doctors & will ensure doctors' security. We are protesting the Maharashtra governments decision to ignore our demand. We are only seeking immediate deployment of the security personnels at all the government hospitals and restrict the entry of patients relatives to only two (per patient). Instead of implementing it, the government is issuing warnings to us. Hence, the IMA has decided to extend its support to the resident doctors and go on the indefinite strike, said Dr Sagar Mundada, the chairman of IMAs youth wing. Also Read: Resident doctors asked to report to work or lose six months salary Showing solidarity with the protest of the resident doctors in Maharashtra, about 40,000 doctors in Delhi also went on a mass leave on Thursday. Doctors of hospitals such as AIIMS, Safdargunj and RML are protesting. The protest in Delhi is reported to affect the medical services of about 40 hospitals and 2000 surgeries are likely to be postponed. Mumbai: Patients wait outside Sion Hospital as resident doctors continue with their strike. pic.twitter.com/rSlUrSq917 Meanwhile, Bombay HC orders doctors on strike to resume duties and give some time to Govt for providing them proper security. #FLASH Bombay HC orders doctors on strike to resume duties & give some time to Govt for providing them proper security pic.twitter.com/6clKcQzDfB Bombay HC also orders govt to provide security at government hospitals for doctors, so they can work without fear. HC will hear matter after 15 days. MARD (Maha Assoc of Resident Doctors) files affidavit in court saying they're ready to for duty but want surety of safety from government and administration. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Muslim organisations, including Babri Masjid Action Committee were on Tuesday sceptical about the Supreme Courts suggestion for talks to resolve the Ayodhya dispute, saying attempts at out-of-court settlement in the past have been unsuccessful. We are ready with Chief Justice (of India) mediating... we trust him. We are also ready we if he nominates a team for hearing the matter. But out of court settlement is not possible. If SC passes an order in this regard, we will look into it, said Zafaryab Jilani, Convenor of the Committee which is a party to the case. His comments came against the backdrop of the apex court earlier in the day asking parties concerned to sit together to arrive at a consensus on Ayodhya issue, which has been dragging for decades. ALSO READ | Ayodhya Ram Temple dispute: Modi Govt, BJP, RSS welcome SC's observations; Owaisi says Babri Masjid case is about title It is a sensitive and sentimental issue and its best that it is settled amicably, the SC observed. Jilani said that going by his experience of last three decades, he feels that the matter cannot be settled outside the court and referred to unsuccessful negotiation attempts made during the tenures of former Prime Ministers Chandrashekhar and P V Narasimha Rao. Let them hear us, we are prepared. But we are not ready for out of court settlement, Jilani said. In 1986, talks started between the then Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamkoti and President Muslim Personal Law Board Ali Miyan Nadvi but it failed. Later in 1990, Prime Minister Chandrashekhar, UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat talked but no results came. PM Narasimha Rao also constituted a committee and attempts of talks were made through Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahai but in 1992 the mosque was demolished, he said. He said after the demolition, the then Muslim Personal Law Board President Rabe Hasan Nadvi had sought a written proposal from Shankaracharya of Kanchi in which he said Muslims should leave claim on three mosques, which was not acceptable. The Secretary General of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Maulana Wali Rahmani, said, We have trust in the Chief Justice and if he is there we are ready for talks. Talks were held earlier also but it can be initiated again. But talks should not be long, he added. Maulana Khalid Rashid of the AIMPLB alleged that the attempts in the past to resolve the issue were foiled by political parties. Negotiation have been made in the past a number of times between the two parties. But each time, political parties foiled our attempts...(So), we are of the view that let the Supreme Court decide once and for all, Maulana Khalid Rashid of the AIMPLB said. Rashid, however, said the Board respects the gesture of the CJI and the sentiments of Hindus. If the parties wants me to sit with mediators chosen by both the sides for negotiations, am ready to take up the task. Even the services of my brother judges can be availed for the purpose, Chief Justice J S Khehar, who headed the SC bench, said today. The Allahabad High Court, had in its verdict on September 30, 2010, directed three-way division of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya. The verdict was challenged in the apex court. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Pakistan envoy Abdul Basit on Thursday once again raised the Kashmir issue which has been a never ending matter of dispute between India and Pakistan. Speaking on Pakistan Day, he hoped that Kashmir issue will be resolved. Championing the cause of Kashmiri sympathisers, he lauded Azadi League, saying their struggle is for the freedom. He further said that history has shown that struggle for the freedom can never be finished. Struggle for freedom of Kashmiri people will one day succeed by the grace of god, he was quoted to have said by the channel. His statement may evoke the strong sentiments in the country. Earlier this month, India had made it very clear at the United Nations (UN) that Kashmir is an integral part of the country. It had also pointed out that Pakistan continues to be an illegal occupant of its territory. UI had also said that the state has a democratically elected government which represents all section of the people unlike in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad on Thursday assaulted an elderly Air India officer with his slippers in a brazen burst of fury over being unable to travel business class despite having insisted on boarding an all-economy flight. Ravindra Gaikwad slapped and, by his own claim, hit 60-year-old duty manager Sukumar 25 times with his slippers when the official went to persuade him to disembark after he refused to alight, holding up the aircraft for over 40 minutes. The national carrier has filed two FIRs against the MP, known for his strong-arm tactics, while Shiv Sena has sought an explanation from him. While one FIR relates to assault, the other is for holding up the aircraft. Police said the officer, Sukumar, has been sent for medical examination and based on its report a case will be registered. According to an Air India spokesperson, its duty manager at Delhi airport was hit with slippers several times by Gaikwad, who complained about having to travel economy - on an all-economy flight - even though he had a business class ticket. ALSO READ | Who is Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad who punched 60-yr-old Air India Duty Manager The MP turned violent, broke the duty managers spectacles, tore his shirt, hit him with slippers 16-17 times, Air India sources said. Gaikwad had heated argument with AI officials at the time of boarding the plane in Pune for the national capital too over the flight not having business class seats. According to the airline, Gaikwad was booked on an open ticket in business class with Air India which allows a passenger to take a flight on any date. But Gaikwad insisted on taking the 7:35 AM AI 852 this morning from Pune to Delhi. When the aircraft landed in Delhi, he refused to disembark despite attempts at persuading him to do so. Sukumar also tried to pacify the MP, who vociferously complained about the morning flight to Delhi from Pune not having business class. ALSO READ | 'I hit him 25 times with my sandals, says Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad after assaulting Air India manager Ravindra Gaikwad unapologetic: The MP, who was unapologetic about his actions, even boasting about it on national TV, claimed it was the officers threat to complain about it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that made him lose his cool. I first asked him to lower his voice as his blood pressure would shoot up. He then said he would complain to Modi. Then I slapped him. I hit him 25 times with my sandal. I am Shiv Sena MP, not of BJP, to tolerate abuses, he said. Gaikwad, bragging about the incident, said, I was about to throw him off the plane. He boastfully claimed he held up the plane for full one hour and did not allow the maintenance staff to clean the aircraft. When asked whether he had any regret for his actions and if he would apologise, a defiant Gaikwad, who was once in news for having shoved down the throat an allegedly stale chapati to a fasting Muslim caterer while complaining about the quality of food served at the Maharashtra Sadan here, remained defiant. Reactions to the incident: Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said, Shiv Sena does not subscribe to any such reaction by any of our party members. Civil Aviation Minister, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, who is a TDP MP from Andhra Pradesh, condemned the incident, saying physical assaults will not be encouraged. Physical assault wont be encouraged and will always be condemned. (This) Should never have happened...attacking an airline staffer doesnt make sense, Raju said. Unruly behaviour and violence on our aviation network is regrettable. Each such incident will be investigated and appropriate action taken, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha tweeted. In a message to employees, Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani said, The management is with the employees, always. He became very abusive and used foul language and abused me with all bad words and adjectives in Hindi, Sukumar told police in his complaint. Sena seeks explanation from MP: Shiv Sena has sought an explanation from its Lok Sabha MP Ravindra Gaikwad. The party has sought an explanation from Gaikwad over the incident. The Sena does not condone violence of any kind, Harshal Pradhan, media adviser to Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, said. We have also sought a version of the incident from the AirIndia (AI) staffer. The Sena has a workers union in Air India, he said. Ravindra Gaikwad no stranger to controversies: Ravindra Gaikwad was in the eye of a row in 2014 for allegedly trying to force-feed a Muslim caterer during the fasting month of Ramzan over the quality of chapatis served at the Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi. He has various criminal charges against him which include voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servants from duty, criminal intimidation and rioting among others. Leaders demand action against Sena MP: Leaders across party lines reacted sharply to the incident where a Shiv Sena MP thrashed an Air India staffer and demanded strict penal action against the legislator, terming the incident as sad and unfortunate. Although Shiv Sena supported its legislator, saying he is not the kind of person who loses his temper, the Congress threatened to rake up the issue in Parliament demanding strict action against Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad. This is unacceptable and some kind of action needs to be taken. It should be coming from his party as well as all the MPs when they speak in one voice in regards to privileges accorded to them. They should also be speaking in one voice to seek accountability when this privilege is misused. It is not only Shiv Senas responsibility, it is also the responsibility of the government which is in power. Aviation minister should take action because it is a government employee who has been attacked by this MP, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said. Gaikwad punched and hit a 60-year-old Air India Duty Manager with his slippers nearly 20 times and tore his shirt at IGI airport here today just because he could not travel business class in an all-economy flight. Chaturvedi said elected representatives should not be allowed to get away with such behaviour. We will raise this issue in Parliament and not only this, lots of BJP MPs have been found guilty of misusing their power like this and using their position of authority to get away with this kind of behaviour. It needs to be condemned, she said. BJP MP Kirit Somaiya maintained that Members of Parliament need to behave in a more mature manner. We the MPs are more responsible persons and we have to behave in more mature manner. Anybody, particularly MPs like me has to take the responsibility and not beat anybody whether Air India crew or common man. If my colleague MP has done some error, I feel I can apologise on behalf of MPs who are sitting here in Delhi, he said. Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande however said that there should be a probe into the entire incident. Ravi Gaikwad is our MP and as far as we know him, he is not the kind of person, who loses his temper so soon. He is a good MP. If you go to his constituency, you will find people talk good things about him. He has worked for the people. But what happened here, what was the mistake of the airline official and what was the instigation which led to him taking such an extreme step, it should be probed, she said. Congress leader Oscar Fernandes said that whether it is a MP or a citizen, nobody has the right to beat anybody. We have great responsibility as Members of Parliament to support the staff who work in difficult conditions. I appeal to all people to treat our workers or public servants with all kindness and humility, he said. Air India is also examining whether to create a no-fly list for unruly passengers. No airline in India currently has such a list. Shaina NC of BJP said that the incident should be condemned in totality in one voice. This is not about Shiv Sena, Congress, BJP or any party, it is about a conduct of an elected representative especially when you are in a position of power. Assuming there is somebody who is not polite to you, the least one expects from elected representative is to show restraint in a situation where you have not just public watching but the entire aircraft wondering if this is going to be the conduct of a politician, she said. She wondered how will ever people have respect for the political class which chooses only VIP oneupmanship and one cannot justify this. When we talk about probity in public life, or certain kind of restrain, it stems from your leadership, and if you are MP, MLA, corporator, even a Panchayat Samiti member, you should show some kind of restrain to your position and your electorate, she said. NCP leader Majeed Memom termed the incident as sad and distressing where one finds people holding important positions and those are supposed to be leaders involved in such incidents. If such peoples misdemeanour is to the extent of turning violent for smallest provocation and reacting with physical assault, it is a matter of great disgrace. Their bosses should take serious action against erring legislators and law must take its own course. What was the provocation for raising hand on a government employee? These things are happening often in our country and needs to be seriously examined and we must have some kind of provision, ethically, legally or politically, whereby, if such incidents occur, political bosses will swing into action and punish the person appropriately, he said. Another NCP leader Rahul Narvekar termed the incident as that of extreme highhandedness and unfortunate. The MP has forgotten that he is here to serve the people and not to rule them. Strict action should be initiated against such erring public representatives. We demand that necessary penal action should be taken. He has not only done disservice to the people, but he has brought complete disrepute to the office of an MP, if this continues, people will lose faith in public representatives, he said. (With inputs from PTI) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Twitter is buzzing with news alerts from India and rest of the world. Here are the latest updates from the micro-blogging site in one scroll: #11:00 PM Chile workers end strike at world's biggest copper mine #9:20 PM Received report from AI on incident of unruly behaviour today morning. FIRs have been filed for assault & causing flight delay: Ashok G Raju #9:03 PM Parliament attacker was Khalid Masood, 52 reports British police #8:50 PM Trump says 'great American' killed in London attack- AFP # 8:20 PM MARD (Maha Assoc of Resident Doctors) to continue with their strike as they haven't received a certified copy of Bombay HC order #7:56 PM PM Modi sends greetings to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif on Pakistan's National Day via a letter - ANI #7:46 PM Rifle and bladed weapons found in Antwerp car - AFP #7:35 PM GST legislations likely to be presented in Parliament early next week, rate structure to be worked out after March 31: Arun Jaitley. - PTI #7:32 PM Want cabin crew to directly inform me and my office about any passenger misbehaviour cases on board: Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani - ANI #7:30 PM RSS resolution on Bengal an act of frustration as it has failed to expand its base in the state: Mamata Banerjee - PTI #7:10 PM Antwerp Belgium police says a car tried to enter a shopping street at high speed; one person detained - Reuters #7:08 PM Saying DMK will gain after AIADMK symbol is frozen is propaganda, we defeated them when MGR was there&when Jayalalithaa was there: MK Stalin - ANI #7:05 PM It's a very painful incident, we'll address the issue immediately: K R Ramesh Kumar, Karnataka, Minister of Health and Family Welfare. - ANI #7:00 PM Michael was arrested in 2014 with 25 grams Cocaine and 1.5 lakh rupees. - ANI #6:58 PM A special NDPS court in Mumbai convicted Nigerian national Michael Oti Nicholas for 4 years imprisonment & imposed Rs.50,000 fine. - ANI #6:49 PM UP Minister Mohsin Raza questions officials after seeing photograph of Mulayam Singh Yadav & Azam Khan in his office. - ANI #WATCH: UP Minister Mohsin Raza questions officials after seeing photograph of Mulayam Singh Yadav & Azam Khan in his office. pic.twitter.com/3TGC5KjM60 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 23, 2017 #6:39 PM Unruly behaviour & violence on our aviation network regrettable. Each such incident will be investigated and appropriate action taken: Jayant Sinha #6:28 PM Four #pregnant women carried on a single stretcher in a state government hospital in Hubli, Karnataka #5:48 PM Islamic State group claims London attack #5:35 PM We have seen media reports of Pakistan High Commissioner's remarks today regarding Indian state of J-K: MEA #5:23 PM Air India is registering another FIR against Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad for forcibly holding the flight,delaying it for 40 minutes #5:21 PM Congress stages walk out from Rajya Sabha during reply by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on a discussion on Election reforms #4:57 PM The man behind the London attack was born in Britain and had been investigated for violent extremism "some years ago": PM May #4:54 PM 2007 Mecca Masjid blast: Hyderabad court grants bail to accused Aseemanand #4:26 PM Ukraine police says ex-Russian lawmaker shot dead in Kiev : agency #3:10 PM Afghan Taliban signal growing strength with capture of key southern district: Reuters India #3:09 PM British Parliament reopens a day after terror attack- AFP #2:52 PM PM Modi has zero tolerance towards corruption, I was impressed with this. I also supported the demonetisation move : SM Krishna #2:50 PM All that I needed was respect and periodical consultations, I never demanded any position: SM Krishna - ANI Also Read: Former Congress veteran SM Krishna formally joins BJP #2:50 PM There is no connect between the Congress leadership and the rank & file of the party: SM Krishna - ANI #2:49 PM Congress needs to be rebuilt from the ground to the top, but I see no seriousness in the leadership: SM Krishna - ANI #2:48 PM 10 Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai roadside bombing: army - AFP #2:40 PM I am going to submit my detailed report to Punjab government in the evening: Atul Nanda, Punjab AG on Navjot Singh Sidhu - ANI #2:15 PM Those who use violence against doctors should leave the country, their place is only in jail: Rajesh Gupta, Delhi Medical Association - ANI #2:05 PM Two injured after clash between two groups of prisoners inside Kapurthala jail in Punjab - ANI #2:01 PM Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad hit an Air India staff member with his slipper over seating issues: Air India Spokesperson - ANI #1:59 PM There will be meeting of resident doctors after written courtorders come.Presently its status quo: Maharashtra Resident Doctors Association:ANI #1:51 PM Srinagar (J&K):Protesters (Dept of Education& Literacy)demonstrate over non payment of salary from last 5 years; Police tear gas them: ANI #1:38 PM Mumbai: CM Devendra Fadnavis meeting with Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors begins at Mantralaya: ANI #1:36 PM Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation tells Bombay HC it has withdrawn all litigation against comedian Kapil Sharma: PTI #1:35 PM Bombay High Court stays FIR against comedian Kapil Sharma over alleged illegal construction in his flat in suburban Goregaon: PTI #1:34 PM HP: Border Roads Organisation begins road clearing from Gulaba to Sissu on a stretch of over 200 Km deeply covered in snow: ANI #1:34 PM British police say they believe attacker acted alone, was 'inspired by international terrorism: AP #1:24 PM Seven arrests over British Parliament terror attack: police: AFP #1:12 PM Black buck poaching case: Hearing over the case involving actor Salman Khan & others in Jodhpur CJM court adjourned till 1 April: ANI #1:11 PM Maharashtra: Resident doctors on strike to meet CM Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai on Thursday: ANI #1:08 PM Bengaluru: 1.6 kg of contraband drugs worth Rs 64 lakh concealed in fertilizer sachets seized by Airport Customs, from a Sri Lankan national: ANI #12:55 PM DMK's no confidence motion against speaker in Tamil Nadu Assembly, defeated by voice vote: ANI #12:52 PM Bengaluru (Karnataka): Police recovers demonetised notes worth Rs 1.28 crore; two people arrested: ANI #12:29 PM Police raid in Birmingham following London attack: AFP #12:28 PM We have to free POK and Gilgit-Baltistan from Pakistan and add them to the Indian state of Jammu and kashmir: Jaswant Singh: ANI #12:24 PM Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis has requested #doctors to withdraw their strike immediately: ANI # 12:15 PM Business of life will carry on.Will do utmost so people go on doing that in confidence & safety:D Asquith, UK HC to India on London attack:ANI Also Read: UK Parliament attack: Death toll rises to 5, nearly 40 injured; PM Modi condemns incident UK Parliament shooting: Here's how world leaders express shock and grief UK Parliament shooting:Five people dead including cop, attacker; 40 injured; PM May calls emergency meeting #12:07 PM I want to thank those who hv offered wishes of condolence & support from here in India:D Asquith,UK High Commissioner to India on London attack - ANI #11:57 AM MARD (Maha Assoc of Resident Doctors) files affidavit in court saying they're ready to for duty but want surety of safety from govt: ANI #11:55 AM Bombay HC orders doctors on strike to resume duties & give some time to Govt for providing them proper security: ANI Also Read: Video | Maharashtra doctors continue strike, 40,000 Delhi docs join protest #11:48 AM Sasikala faction allotted 'hat' symbol with the name AIADMK Amma by Election Commission: ANI #11:47 AM Lucknow: Dy CM & PWD Minister of UP Keshav Prasad Maurya administers oath of cleanliness & punctuality to PWD officials in the state: ANI #11:29 AM EC has given the symbol of auto rikshaw to Sasikala camp with name AIADMK Amma, however they are asking for hat symbol, instead: ANI #11:48 AM PC Keith Palmer was killed doing his duty - protecting our city and our democracy from those who want to destroy our way of life: London mayor Sadiq Khan #PCKeithPalmer was killed doing his duty - protecting our city and our democracy from those who want to destroy our way of life @SadiqKhan pic.twitter.com/ZSYMKsE48T News Nation (@NewsNationTV) March 23, 2017 #11:25 AM OPS camp named AIADMK Puratchi Thalavai Amma with symbol of electricity pole; Sasikala camp named AIADMK Amma with auto rikshaw symbol:ANI #11:13 AM E Madhusudhanan the only qualified candidate to carry forward Ammas legacy; to file nomination soon: M Pandiarajan on RK Nagar by poll:ANI #11:08 AM Cabinet approves setting up of National Commission for Socially & Educationally Backward Classes (NSEBC) as a Constitutional body: ANI #11:00 AM VK Sasikala's faction submits party name "ADMK Amma" along with 3 options of symbols- Auto, Bat and Cap, to Election Commission: ANI #10:53 AM Babri issue: SC bench added that the matter will be heard after two weeks #10:47 AM Babri issue: Supreme Court bench asks all the parties to file their respective written submissions in the case #10:44 AM Babri issue: Case hearing in SC about to begin; Bench of justice PC Ghose & justice Rohinton Nariman to hear the matter #10:51 AM Militant attack on Police vehicle took place in Behbagh located in Shopian, Jammu and Kashmir: ANI #10:47 AM GST Bills to be tabled in Lok Sabha on March 24: Finance Ministry sources - ANI # 10:35 AM Issue of Jammu and Kashmir must be resolved as per aspirations of Kashmiris: Abdul Basit in his Pakistan Day speech: PTI #10:34 AM We want to have good relationship with India & resolve all issues: Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit: PTI #10:22 AM Air Intelligence Unit(AIU) of Chennai Customs seized 2.3Kg crude gold worth Rs 68.73 Iakh from Canadian passport holder of Sri Lankan origin: ANI #10: 09 AM J&K: Militants attack a police vehicle in Shopian's Behbagh. No loss of life or injuries reported. More details awaited: ANI #10:07 AM Delhi: Body of a lady found at Kashmiri Gate metro station by CISF: ANI #9:38 AM Banners put up by Maoists calling for Bharat Bandh on 29 March in Bastar, Chattisgarh: ANI #9:38 AM Tributes to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia on his birth anniversary. His thoughts on social empowerment & service continue to inspire us: PM Modi #9:36 AM Remembering Bhagat Singh, Rajguru & Sukhdev on the day of their martyrdom. India will never forget their courage & sacrifice: PM Modi #9:29 AM DMK to move no confidence motion against speaker on Thursday in Tamil Nadu assembly: ANI #9:22 AM I was confident that PM will respond but did not expect it to be so fast,I got reply in just 10 days: Sara, girl who wrote to PM: ANI #9:15 AM Applied for loan but bank refused despite my good score, saying how will you repay your father works at sugar factory: #Sara Karnataka: ANI Applied for loan but bank refused despite my good score, saying how will you repay your father works at sugar factory: #Sara Karnataka: ANI pic.twitter.com/jnlrOxLaHE News Nation (@NewsNationTV) March 23, 2017 #9:08 AM Karnataka: Unable to get loan for MBA, 21-year old Sara from Mandya, writes to #PM asking for help; PM responded & she got loan: ANI #9:07 AM Bastar (Chattisgarh): Fire broke out in Bhagwati Saw Mill in Jagdalpur area. Fire tenders on spot, situation under control: ANI #8:59 AM Maharashtra: To escape police, illegal liquor manufacturers in Thane dumped raw material in a nearby river, killing hundreds of fish: ANI #8:54 AM Chennai: C Ponnaiyan, V Maitherayan and other AIADMK leaders of OPS faction at former TN CM Jayalalithaa's memorial at Marina Beach: ANI Also Read: AIADMK row: Both Sasikala and OPS factions express shock over EC decision, vow to get 'two leaves' symbol back #8:52 AM Mumbai: Patients wait outside Sion Hospital as resident doctors continue with their strike: ANI #8:51 AM J&K: Large number of youth from North Kashmir participated in army recruitment rally held in Baramulla's Pattan on Wednesday: ANI #8:50 AM Mumbai:Resident doctor at Sion Hospital allegedly attacked by a patient's relatives last night; Police complaint registered against 3 women #8:14 AM At this difficult moment, India stands with UK in fight against terrorism PM NarendraModi on UK Parliamentattack - ANI Also Read: UK Parliament shooting: Death toll rises to 5, 40 injured; PM Theresa May condemns attack # 7:52 AM Deeply saddened by the terror attack in UK Parliament in London. Our thoughts & prayers are with the victims and their families: PM Modi :ANI #7:36 AM Police Officer, 3 others killed in Wisconsin shootings; suspect in custody: USA - ANI #7:33 AM We are disappointed by the EC verdict. We will continue to raise voice legally to get back our symbol: O Panneerselvam on AIADMK symbol For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Union External Affairs Minister Sushsma Swaraj informed on Wednesday that there is no Indian causality took place so far near UK Parliament. The External Affairs Minister said that she is in regular touch with Indian high commission and would extend all possible help to Indians in London. "Indian High Commission is there to help all Indian nationals in London. Please note the Telephone nos: 020 8629 5950 & 020 7632 3035 (sic)," Swaraj wrote on social media. I am in constant touch with Indian High Commission in London. There is no Indian casualty reported so far. #LondonAttack @HCI_London Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 22, 2017 India has condemned the attack in London in which five people were killed and 40 injured in the incident. Indian High Commission is there to help all Indian nationals in London. Tel. no.s : 020 8629 5950 & 020 7632 3035 (London) Pl RT Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 22, 2017 London's Metropolitan Police said a man mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed a police officer with a knife outside the British parliament before being shot dead. The minister advised people to avoid going to Parliament Square. "All are advised strongly to avoid Parliament Square and check Met Police website for further details on the attack. Stay safe! (sic)," she tweeted. Also Read | UK Parliament shooting: Five people dead including cop, attacker; 40 injured; PM May calls emergency meeting "India strongly condemns Westminster terrorist incident &condoles loss of life. No place in democracies & civilisedsocieties for terrorism (sic)," Spokesperson, Ministry ofExternal Affairs, Gopal Baglay tweeted. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Islamic State group on Thursday claimed responsibility for the terror attack outside the British Parliament in London on Wednesday which killed five people and left 40 others injured, AFP reported. A terrorist suspect mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed a police officer outside parliament complex before being shot dead by Scotland Yard officers in an incident inspired by international terrorism. This report comes soon after Prime Minister Theresa May said the assailant who had carried out the attacks was born in Britain and had been investigated for violent extremism a couple of years ago. She made the statement in the House of Commons after the London Metropolitan Police arrested seven suspects during raids in connection with the incidents. The knife-man behind the attack in the heart of London was shot dead by armed Scotland Yard officers. The Metropolitan Police named the police officer killed as 48-year-old Keith Palmer and also confirmed that the attacker was known to the police. The incident prompted lockdown within the House of Commons chamber. Prime Minister Theresa May was seen being ushered into a car as what sounded like gunfire rang out at Parliament during the incident, the BBC reported. Commons Leader David Lidington told MPs the alleged assailant was shot by armed police. There are also reports of as many as five people being mowed down on nearby Westminster Bridge. MPs said they had heard three or four gunshots. Staff inside Parliament were told to stay inside their offices. Transport for London said Westminster underground station has been shut at the polices request, and buses diverted. Also Read: UK Parliament shooting: Five people dead including cop, attacker; 40 injured; PM May calls emergency meeting For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: The head of NATO has said he is certain a semiannual meeting of the alliances foreign ministers can be rescheduled so Secretary of State Rex Tillerson can attend. US officials said this week that Tillerson was planning to skip next months meeting in Brussels. Shortly after, he plans to visit Moscow. The decisions led some European officials to worry about the Trump administrations commitment to the alliance. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told The Associated Press in an interview that he met with Tillerson on Wednesday and they agreed to have their staffs work out an alternative schedule that works for all 28 members of the security alliance. This has been a scheduling issue and that kind of issue is possible to resolve. So Im absolutely certain we will be able to find a date that works for everyone so we will have all the ministers present, he said. Stoltenberg was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting in Washington of the 68-nation coalition fighting the Islamic State group. The State Department has not specified what the clash is in Tillersons schedule, but President Donald Trump is expected to host Chinese President Xi Jinping for a highly anticipated meeting around the same time. During last years election campaign, Trump called the alliance obsolete and criticised allies whom he said were not paying enough for their own defense. But since taking office, Stoltenberg said Trump had sent a very clear message about his commitment to NATO. The NATO chief said he agreed on the need for more defense spending across Europe and Canada and for the alliance to step up contributions in fighting terrorism. He said NATO has an untapped potential to help train local forces as it has in Afghanistan and has just started doing in Iraq. It is also providing surveillance aircraft support there. Stoltenberg said he would discuss with Trump how NATO can help further when they meet at the White House April 12, and when Trump attends a meeting of NATO heads of state in Brussels on May 25. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. LAHORE: Pakistan's Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation has filed a petition in the Lahore High Court seeking security to mark the death anniversary of Indian freedom fighter, citing threats from "religious extremists". The foundation's chairman advocate Imtiaz Rasheed Qureshi filed a written petition on Wednesday contending that the organizers of the March 23 event should be provided with security. Qureshi said threats had been received from "religious extremists" for the event. "We had requested the provincial government and police high-ups to ensure security for the function but they did not respond positively," Qureshi said. He said the Punjab chief secretary, inspector general of police and DIG operations Lahore have been denying protection and security at public place which is a fundamental right of every citizen of the country. Advocate Qureshi requested the court to order the respondent authorities to take security measures for the upcoming event in order to protect the lives of the participants and public at large. Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh would take up the petition tomorrow. March 23 marks the death anniversary of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh who was hanged along with his comrades Raj Guru and Sukhdev in 1931 at Fawara Chowk in Shadman Lahore. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kabul: Taliban have reportedly captured a key district in southern Helman province, claimed Afghan officials on Thursday. In the countrys north, an Afghan officer turned his rifle on sleeping colleagues, taking nine lives. The fall of Sangin district, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and US troops in Afghanistan, comes amid the insurgents year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland of Helmand. ALSO READ | UNSC resolution asks Afghanistan to tackle threats posed by terror groups Sangin police chief Mohammad Rasoul says Taliban fighters overran the district center early on Thursday morning. In northern Kunduz province, police spokesman Mafuz Akbari says the insider attack on Thursday that claimed the lives on nine policemen took place at a security post. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack. Afghan forces have come under intensified pressure by insurgents in both Helmand and Kunduz. ALSO READ | Militants disguised as doctors storm Afghan military hospital, casualties feared For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. London: Five people were killed and 40 others injured when a terrorist suspect mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed a police officer outside parliament complex before being shot dead by Scotland Yard officers in an incident inspired by international terrorism. The knife-man behind the attack in the heart of London was shot dead by armed Scotland Yard officers. The Metropolitan Police named the police officer killed as 48-year-old Keith Palmer and also confirmed that the attacker was known to the police. I can also now confirm three members of the public also lost their lives in this attack. And I confirmed earlier, the suspected attacker was shot dead by an armed officer - therefore meaning we now have five people in total who have died, said Mark Rowley, national lead for Counter Terrorism Policing and the Acting Deputy Commissioner. I will not comment at this stage on the identity of the attacker, but our working assumption that he was inspired by international terrorism, Rowley said. Also, at this stage, but it may change - we believe approximately 40 people were injured, some with serious injuries, including three police officers, two of whom are in a serious condition, he said. Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the terror strike as sick and depraved attack on democratic values, which was doomed to failure. May also paid tributes to the exceptional men and women of the police force who responded to the attack. We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart, she said. Scotland Yard had earlier called on the public to remain vigilant and said a review of policing strategy across the city was underway, with additional police officers being deployed across London. Also Read: UK Parliament shooting: No Indian casualty so far, says Sushma Swaraj Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed sadness for London attack through his official Twitter handle. Deeply saddened by the terror attack in London. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2017 The Indian High Commission in London has set up a special Public Response Unit for any Indians caught up in the terror attack. The incident unfolded on Wednesday afternoon as a man tried to gain entry into the British Parliament via the main entrance and stabbed a police officer. Plainclothes armed officers shouted warnings at him before shooting a number of rounds. He was later seen being covered by blankets, presumed dead. UK Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the stabbed police officer but said he died at the scene. In an incident just minutes earlier, a speeding grey Hyundai i40 mowed down several pedestrians on Westminster Bridge nearby before ramming into the iron railings of the side of the House of Commons building. The driver of this vehicle then ran out of the vehicle to try and enter the Parliament building, where he attacked the police officer and was eventually shot dead. Dozens of injured people were rushed to hospital from the scene and one woman was confirmed dead by doctors at St Thomas Hospital near Parliament hours later. Also Read: UK Parliament shooting:Five people dead including cop, attacker; 40 injured; PM May calls emergency meeting For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: World leaders have expressed grief and shock on the deadly UK Parliament attack in which five people were killed and 40 others injured. The tragic incident occured when a terrorist suspect mowed down pedestrians on a bridge apart from stabbing a police officer outside parliament complex before being shot dead by Scotland Yard officers. Indian PM Narendra Modi said that India is deeply saddened by the attack and promised that India stands with UK in these troubled times. Deeply saddened by the terror attack in London. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2017 He also offered thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families. At this difficult moment, India stands with UK in the fight against terrorism. @theresa_may @Number10Gov Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2017 UK Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the terror attack and said that a sick and depraved terrorist took precious lives. French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel both expressed their support and solidarity with Britain after today's attack. 'We are all concerned with terrorism,' Hollande told reporters during a visit in Villepinte, outside Paris. The lights of the Eiffel Tower were turned off at midnight in solidarity with the victims of Wednesday's horrific events. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a statement that her city shares with London 'a common love of freedom and an attachment to democracy'. US President Donald Trump too expressed his support to UK Prime Minster Theresa May apart from condemning the terror attack. Spoke to U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May today to offer condolences on the terrorist attack in London. She is strong and doing very well. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2017 Indian President Pranab Mukherjee siad that India stands united with UK in this hour of grief. India stands by UK ; terrorism must be met through collective action by international community # PresidentMukherjee President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) March 23, 2017 President Pranab Mukherjee said that India is hugely saddened by the tragedy that has befallen United Kingdom. Shocked to hear of terrorist attack in London ; condolences to bereaved families & prayers for recovery of injured # PresidentMukherjee President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) March 23, 2017 Indian Union External Affairs Minister Sushsma Swaraj informed on Wednesday that there is no Indian causality took place so far near UK Parliament. I am in constant touch with Indian High Commission in London. There is no Indian casualty reported so far. #LondonAttack @HCI_London Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 22, 2017 The External Affairs Minister said that she is in regular touch with Indian high commission and would extend all possible help to Indians in London. Indian High Commission is there to help all Indian nationals in London. Please note theTelephone no.s : 020 8629 5950 & 020 7632 3035. Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 22, 2017 Piyush Goyal, Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines in Government of India also condemned the UK Parliament attack. The terror attack on #UKParliament is highly condemnable. India stands with the people of the UK, the victims and their families. Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) March 23, 2017 London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that Londoners will never bow down to terrorism. He also praised martyred police officer PC Keith Palmer for his brave act. PC Keith Palmer was killed doing his duty - protecting our city and our democracy from those who want to destroy our way of life. pic.twitter.com/p6igkEJoGY Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) March 22, 2017 For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A police officer and three other people were killed in a series of shootings Wednesday in northern Wisconsin, USA that apparently began as a domestic dispute in a bank, officials said. Everest Metro Police Chief Wally Sparks said at a news conference the slain officer was from his department and that a suspect was in custody. Sparks did not release the officer's name or the names of the other three dead. Also Read: UK Parliament shooting: Death toll rises to 5, 40 injured; PM Theresa May condemns attack The shootings occured at a bank, a law firm and an apartment complex, where officers, including a SWAT team, had a standoff with the suspect for several hours before ending in a volley of gunfire around 5 p.m., police said. The violence took place in a cluster of small towns south of Wausau, about 90 miles west of Green Bay. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. What to watch in the high-stakes 2022 midterm elections As the American 2022 midterm elections unfold nationwide, voters will be deciding whether the Democrats will keep their majority in congress or the Republicans... Former Sask. Christian school students decry lack of action on assault, abuse allegations Former students who told police a year and a half ago they suffered criminal assault and abuse while attending a private Saskatoon Christian school say they are... Paradise Gardens farmers face uncertain future due to fears of more spring flooding in southern N.W.T. Devastating flooding last spring has farmers in the Paradise Gardens valley near Hay River contemplating their future. Military investigating after Canadian soldier dies in Iraq The Canadian Armed Forces says it is investigating the death of a Winnipeg-based soldier who was serving in Iraq. Canadian soldier dies in Iraq under 'non-operational related circumstances' The Canadian Armed Forces is investigating the death of a Winnipeg-based soldier who was stationed in Iraq. Windsor mayor, police testify about Ambassador Bridge blockade The commission is looking at the events leading up to the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act on February 14, hours after the nearly week-long... Judge rules Doug Ford immune from testifying at Emergencies Act inquiry A Federal Court judge has ruled that Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Deputy Premier Sylvia Jones will not have to testify at the Emergencies Act inquiry in... Crime family stole army guns and lived lavish life from peddling heroin and crack Gang members were jailed for a combined total of 82 years for running a drugs 'cash and carry'. Body discovered at disused Scots quarry as cops launch probe Police Scotland say the body was discovered in Edinburgh just after midnight on Sunday, November 6. Police officer drove at 80mph to catch up with Taverniers Porsche, court told A police officer has told a court he had to drive at 80mph to catch up with a Porsche 911 being driven by Rangers captain James Tavernier. David Tennant recreates photo of poisoned Alexander Litvinenko lying in hospital David Tennant has recreated the famous photo of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko lying in a hospital bed before his death from poisoning. Windsor mayor, Mendicino texted about Emergencies Act before it was invoked: document A new piece of evidence at a public inquiry into the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act shows Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens exchanged texts with Public... Apple Says iPhone Supplies Hurt By Anti-Virus Curbs In China Watch Video Apple Inc. is warning customers they'll have to wait longer to get its latest iPhone models after anti-virus restrictions were imposed on a... President Biden, Trump To Make Final Appeals Ahead Of Crucial Midterms Watch Video An election year that unfolded against the backdrop of economic turmoil, the elimination of federal abortion rights and broad concerns about... 'Defeating Israel means defeating the US,' Canada, EU -Brussels activists The protest in Brussels was organized by two organizations that have fallen under scrutiny in Canada for terrorism links. Bob Mortimer health update after being forced to give up hobby The comedian discussed his health while appearing on a Channel 4 show to promote his new book Amy Schumer's 3-Year-Old Son Gene Hospitalized With RSV Amy Schumer's son is recovering at home after a health scare. On Nov. 6, hours after taking the stage to host Saturday Night Live, the comedian shared that... Dubai fire races up high-rise near world's tallest building A fire broke out early Monday morning at a 35-storey high-rise building in Dubai near the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. Western University student hosts stem cell drive to ethnically diversify Canada's blood supply For Lauren Sano, a stem cell transplant is "the gift of life," one that her father Mark was unable to get because no donor in the Canadian Blood Services... Former Wales international slams 'dreadful' atmosphere at Wales v New Zealand Wales suffered a heavy defeat and one former player says the atmosphere wasn't up to much either New World Rugby rankings see Wales drop into third tier despite being World Cup top seeds Wales' heavy defeat to the All Blacks has done them no favours when it comes to the world rankings Grandmother goes 5 weeks without visits amid COVID lockdown at Dartmouth General A Dartmouth woman is raising concerns and calling for change after she was unable to visit her grandmother at the hospital for five weeks because of a COVID-19... Rand Paul predicts Ryan-backed Obamacare replacement legislation will be pulled before Thursday vote Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of a number of GOP lawmakers opposed to the American Health Care Act, has predicted there wont be enough votes to pass it, causing it to be withdrawn and forcing Republican leaders to start over. The AHCA is the bill touted by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and backed by President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, that has been proposed as the Republican alternative to the Affordable Care Act. In an interview with Breitbart News, Paul who has dubbed the AHCA Obamacare Lite, while other conservatives have dubbed it RyanCare, RINO-Care, and Obamacare 2.0 has been vocally critical of the legislation. The senator notes it does not fully repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which is what Republicans and the president promised voters. He has said that the AHCA, which Ryan has said is merely the first in a three-phase repeal-and-replace effort, leaves in place many of the worst elements of Obamacare. The Ryan-led effort has come under severe criticism from the most conservative lawmakers, many of whom have vowed to oppose it unless major changes are made first. (RELATED: Are #NeverTrump Lawmakers Working To Sabotage Obamacare Repeal So Trump Cant Take Credit?) I think theres easily 35 no votes right now so unless something happens in the next 24 hours, I would predict they pull the bill and start over, Paul told Breitbart, regarding Republican votes in the House. Currently, there are 237 Republicans in the House compared with 193 Democrats and five vacancies (four of the GOP seats of lawmakers who left to join the Trump administration). In a full House (435 members), a 218-vote majority is needed to advance legislation to the Senate. Breitbart noted that in order to kill the legislation, just 21 Republican no votes are needed. I think if conservatives stick together, they will have earned a seat at the table where real negotiation to make this bill an acceptable bill will happen. But its interesting what conservatives are doing to change the debate, said Paul. We went from keeping the Obamacare taxes for a yearhundreds of billions of dollarsbut theyre coming towards us because were standing firm. So we have to stick together, and if we do stick together there will be a real negotiation on this. The main goal I have is not to pass something that does not fix the situation. If a year from now, insurance rates and premiums are still going through the roof and its now a Republican plan it will be a disservice to the president and all of us if we pass something that doesnt work, he said. Earlier, Paul openly questioned whether House Republican leaders were intentionally trying to fool President Trump. Some changes have been made to the bill, though House conservatives are still not pleased. One such change angered conservatives anew on Tuesday when a provision meant to crack down on illegal aliens receiving federal health benefits was taken out, Reuters reported, adding: The provision would have allowed the Treasury Department to access data at the Department of Homeland Security to verify that healthcare tax credits went only to U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, not to illegal immigrants. I am concerned that the bill lacks sufficient safeguards for verifying whether or not an individual applying for health care tax credits is lawfully in this country and eligible to receive them, said Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., in a statement in which he said he could no longer support the bill. In the Senate, moderate Republicans like Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have said they are concerned about provisions in the AHCA that would rescind Obamacares Medicaid expansion, though pulling it would save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year, according to a recent Congressional Budget Office analysis. (RELATED: CBO was wrong over Obamacare sign-ups or half-right, depending on how you look at it) Among other issues that have been raised: Under the AHCA, millions of veterans would become ineligible to receive tax credits, the Washington Examiner reported, something that will also likely cause many Republicans who otherwise support the military to vote no. Under the original bill, veterans could get tax credits to help pay for insurance coverage so long as they werent already enrolled in a Veterans Affairs health program. But either by design or by accident, staffers struck that language in making changes that say service members could now only qualify for tax credits if theyre not eligible for other government healthcare programs. Chris Jacobs, a healthcare analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told the Washington Examiner that change means individuals eligible for, but not enrolled in, VA coverage would not qualify for new insurance subsidies. With just the stroke of a pen, some legislative staffer would force millions of veterans to rely on the VA for their healthcare whether they want it or not, the Washington Examiner reported. J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel. Sources: WashingtonExaminer.com Reuters.com Breitbart.com NaturalNews.com Submit a correction >> Two South Carolina lawmakers pushing Americans to form like-minded communities in preparation for coming societal collapse A couple of state lawmakers from South Carolina are pushing a concept for Americans concerned about a future societal collapse that centers around the formation of like-minded prepping outposts that feature community ammunition depots and tactical weapons training. As reported by the Post and Courier, the lawmakers State Reps. Josiah Magnuson and Jonathan Hill, both Republicans and both from very small towns upstate are currently establishing what they have called the Virtue Solution Project, a group that wants to save the U.S. or survive a societal collapse they both see on the horizon. (RELATED: Dont Stop Prepping Just Because Trump Won Get Ready For The Massive Financial Crash Of 2017) The paper noted further: The organization is a mixture of religious ministry, grassroots political organizing and disaster prepping. At its core, their movement hopes to save the country by reshaping it to their interpretation of the Founding Fathers ideals. The pair is asking supporters and followers, as well as aligned groups, to begin forming their own communities of like-minded individuals and families in a way they will no longer have to depend on corporations or the tyrannical federal government. They advocate for the support of principled men similar to themselves who are ready to ignore laws and court decisions they dont agree with (kind of like all sanctuary cities and most of California). They are also asking supporters to get involved in existing structures of the civil society. They dont expect everyone to run for elective office. Instead, they are asking people to serve as jurors so they can acquit people charged with crimes they fell are unjust. Should these tactics fail to bring about the desired changes, the two state lawmakers recommend establishing community preparedness centers containing reading material, tools, food storage, ammo and more. The purpose of the centers is to serve as survival mechanisms in the event of a societal or economic collapse, a major natural disaster, war with a foreign invader, massive cyber attack or an electromagnetic pulse event (nuclear explosion or a huge solar flare). These micro hubs, as they are called, will serve as platforms for religious teaching, first aid instruction, farming, learning how to create and maintain renewable energy, military movement and additional tactical defense training. Theres probably going to be a lot of little crises, but there will eventually come a point where there is a major disaster of some sort in our country, in all likelihood, Magnuson said in a lecture he gave last year that was uploaded to YouTube. We need to be ready for that, and that will give us an opportunity to have a fresh beginning. Magnuson, who was first elected to office last year, is already at work establishing what he calls a lighthouse or island of refuge near the town of Campobello, on about one acre of land. So far, he says about a handful of people are involved, and they are working to create additional islands of refuge in nearby towns, as well as in the neighboring state of Georgia. (RELATED: Debt Collapse Perfect Storm Shaping Up That Will Almost Instantly Wipe Out Pension Funds Nationwide) Documents the group has posted online say that the long-term goal is to train and equip one million neighborhood leaders who are all-in to build a fresh beginning for America. For now, Magnuson said his Campobello center, which is an old barn he purchased through an LLC established last year, will become a coffee shop. However, later he hopes to grow it into the vision that he and Hill have devised. Its serving two purposes, Magnuson told the paper, regarding the land and coffee shop. As we build that strength, it prevents doomsday, and on the other hand, if we dont succeed, then this provides, like, lifeboats. The election of Donald J. Trump has given tens of millions of Americans renewed hope that the country will not only survive but thrive once again. Still, there are others who believe that the globalists in the U.S. and around the world who oppose the president and his America First plan are setting him up for failure, either by crashing the U.S. economy or through some political action against him at home. J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel. Sources: NationalDebt.news PostAndCourier.com Submit a correction >> A Danbury woman studying in London was on the phone with her boyfriend in the United States when a lone terrorist attacked Parliament Wednesday. We really didnt know exactly what had happened except that a police officer had been stabbed, said Kassie Mendes,19, a graduate of Danbury High School and Quinnipiac University student who his studying abroad. My boyfriends mother, shes always watching the news, screamed from the background. Im lucky I decided to stay in for the day and catch up on my laundry. Mendes said her friends and relatives were concerned about potential terrorist attacks when she left for London in January, and protocols with the university had been put into place in the event an attack occurred. Mendes, a sophomore studying psychology, is amount 13 students from Quinnipiac studying in London this semester. My mother told me to stay away from big crowds Mendes said. I guess she was right. Mendes had yet to venture outside of her dorm on Thursday, but said others who had walked through London said everyone was in a very somber mood after the attacks. Londoners are known for keeping to themselves anyway, she said. But today friends are walking down the street just looking down at the sidewalk and not even talking to each other. While Mendes was about 20 minutes away from the Parliament building when the attack broke out, she said the sounds of sirens and helicopters began to fill the air. Low lying helicopters continued to fly through the neighborhood Thursday. But the chaotic scene, the confusion and sadness that followed wasnt really new for Mendes, who was in her geography class in Danbury four years ago when a lone gunman attacked Sandy Hook Elementary School. I knew that I needed to stay calm and not to panic before we got more information about what was happening, she said. Her experiences growing up in the United States has also helped her deal with the increased police presence in London after the attacks. Most of the police officers today are carrying guns, which they dont normally do and its putting a lot of locals on edge, but Im used to cops carrying guns. While Mendes and some of her friends considered going to a candlelight vigil Thursday night, some were concerned about the potential for additional attacks. There have been a lot of raids in the city but the Prime Minister just said not to worry about additional attacks and Im going to trust her, Mendes said. Weve all decided that we are going to stay. Were not going to let something like this ruin a once in a lifetime opportunity. Mendes said she always knew that she wanted to study abroad, having spent two weeks in Europe during an educational program in high school. It opens your mind to different cultures and the different ways that people think and go about their daily lives, she said. I think it helps to complete someone by venturing outside their comfort zone. I just want everyone at home to know that Im safe. dperrefort@newstimes.com NEW FAIRFIELD When a proposal is made to use hungry grass carp as a way to rid lakes of invasive weeds, it doesnt take long before the experience of Ball Pond enters the conversation. Sterile grass carp were introduced into the pond in the 1990s to battle the spread of Eurasian watermilfoil, which also plagues nearby Candlewood Lake and other bodies of water around the state. And according to a study to be published in the April edition of Lake and Reservoir Management, that effort was a solid success. Within 10 years of the carps introduction, the milfoil was essentially eradicated, said Cynthia Stevens, chairwoman of the Ball Pond Advisory Committee, which was established in 1995 to find a solution to the growing milfoil problem. Today only a few strands of the once-abundant weed remain.. The report was posted online this month. One of our main conclusions is that a well-managed program can tackle the milfoil in a northern lake in this climate, Stevens said. The report, entitled Seventeen years of grass carp: an examination of vegetation management and collateral impacts in Ball Pond, New Fairfield, Connecticut, also shows that introduction of the carp had no effect on water quality, other fish or other plants. Were very pleased with the study, Stevens said. The study began in 1997 as part of the states permit to allow introduction of 400 carp to eat the milfoil, which infested 32 percent of the 80-acre pond. Homeowners around the pond were worried that milfoil would reduce recreational opportunities and hurt property values. In 1997, many unanswered questions remained about the long-term ecological impacts of grass carp in a deep northern lake system, according to the published report. As part of the 17-year study, data was collected on water quality, water chemistry and the ponds vegetation to examine the long-term effects of carp introduction and test it as a model for future permitting. This has been a labor of love, Stevens said. We're hoping it will be an educational tool so other lake managers can learn about it and consider it. The study was conducted by several limnologists lake scientists members of the Ball Pond Advisory Committee and the director of the states Inland Fisheries Division. Grass carp were introduced into Candlewood Lake in 2015 and will be introduced into Squantz Pond this year. When Stevens spoke about the program at a Connecticut Federation of Lakes meeting in 2015, attendees were keenly interested in the results and clamoring for information. Although many lake organizations are considering use of the carp, some are still wary of the idea, she said. So was the Ball Pond committee, at the beginning. At first it was frightening, because youre introducing a foreign species and you dont know what can happen," she said. Some of the biggest concerns were whether carp waste would promote the growth of another problem organism, blue-green algae, and whether the fish would eat endangered native plants or compete with other fish. But those worries eventually faded, while the milfoil diminished visibly in three years and was nearly gone in 10. She said the program cost $6,000 during the time of the study and $8,000 over the entire 20 years carp have been used at the pond. The pond still has about 350 carp and the committee hopes to add more to eat the coontail, a native species that returned when the milfoil was removed but presents its own challenges. kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345 SAINT JOHN, NB, March 23, 2017 /CNW/ - Budget 2017 is the next step in the Government's long-term plan to create jobs and strengthen the middle class. It places Canada's skilled, talented and creative people at the heart of a more innovative economy. As the demands of the workplace change, so too must the education and skills that workers bring to their jobs. The changes in the economyboth here at home and around the worldpresent incredible opportunities for the middle class and those working hard to join it. With its strong focus on innovation, skills, partnerships and fairness, Budget 2017 takes the next steps in securing a more prosperous future for all Canadians. It helps hard-working, talented and creative people develop the skills they need to drive our most successful industries and high-growth companies forward. Today, the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour was in Saint John to address the Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce members to highlight Budget 2017, the Government's ambitious agenda to support middle class Canadians at every stage of their lives, transform our neighbourhoods and communities, and give every Canadian a real and fair chance at success. Minister Hajdu spoke about how Budget 2017 will: Equip Canada's workers with the skills and tools they need to succeed in a changing economy. It makes smart investments to help adult workers retrain or upgrade their skills to adapt to changes in the new economy, and to help young people get the skills and work experience they need to start their careers. workers with the skills and tools they need to succeed in a changing economy. It makes smart investments to help adult workers retrain or upgrade their skills to adapt to changes in the new economy, and to help young people get the skills and work experience they need to start their careers. Position Canada at the leading edge of a changing economy, by helping to ensure that Canadians are able to access the jobs of the future. Budget 2017 helps connect companies on a global scale, takes an innovative and collaborative approach to solving modern challenges and helps businesses get what they need to grow. at the leading edge of a changing economy, by helping to ensure that Canadians are able to access the jobs of the future. Budget 2017 helps connect companies on a global scale, takes an innovative and collaborative approach to solving modern challenges and helps businesses get what they need to grow. Keep Canada on the path to building a fairer, more inclusive country that reflects the priorities of Canadians. The Government understands that change must result in the kind of growth that benefits all Canadians, at every stage of their livesyoung Canadians, newcomers to Canada , working Canadians, seniors, Veterans and Indigenous people. The Government also takes an important step towards gender equality, with Canada's first ever Gender Statement, which will serve as a basis for ongoing, open and transparent discussions about the role gender plays in policy development. on the path to building a fairer, more inclusive country that reflects the priorities of Canadians. The Government understands that change must result in the kind of growth that benefits all Canadians, at every stage of their livesyoung Canadians, newcomers to , working Canadians, seniors, Veterans and Indigenous people. The Government also takes an important step towards gender equality, with first ever Gender Statement, which will serve as a basis for ongoing, open and transparent discussions about the role gender plays in policy development. Advance Canada's efforts to build a clean growth economy, by investing in green infrastructure that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, delivers clean air and safe drinking water and promotes renewable power. Budget 2017 also takes important steps to support the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. efforts to build a clean growth economy, by investing in green infrastructure that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, delivers clean air and safe drinking water and promotes renewable power. Budget 2017 also takes important steps to support the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. Advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through investments in infrastructure and First Nations and Inuit health, actions to strengthen Indigenous communities, funding to support education and training, and measures to promote language and culture revitalization. Make the tax system fairer for the middle class. Budget 2017 will close tax loopholes, crack down on tax evasion, improve existing tax measures for individuals and families, and eliminate measures that are inefficient or no longer effective. Through Budget 2017, the Government will also be taking steps toward eliminating tax measures that disproportionately benefit the wealthy. Build stronger communities by improving access to early learning, child care and affordable housing. Budget 2017 takes concrete action to improve the quality of life of all Canadians, with more cultural and recreational centres, as well as safe and accessible public spaces. By taking action todayinvesting in the things that Canadians need to succeed now and well into the futureBudget 2017 will help deliver a growing economy that works for every Canadian. Quote "Budget 2017 continues our plan to strengthen the middle classthe heart of Canada's economy. It makes smart and responsible investments that will provide Canadians with good, well-paying jobs and opportunities in the new, innovative economy." The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour Related Products SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada For further information: Media may contact: Annie Donolo, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Finance, [email protected], 613-769-7187; Media Relations, Department of Finance Canada, [email protected], 613-369-4000; Matt Pascuzzo, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, [email protected], 819-654-4183; General Enquiries, Phone: 613-369-3710, Facsimile: 613-369-4065, TTY: 613-369-3230, E-mail: [email protected] OTTAWA, March 22, 2017 /CNW/ - United Steelworkers' National Director Ken Neumann says that while the federal budget commits to strengthening Canada's trade remedy system, more must be done to protect jobs in vital economic sectors facing crisis in the industrial heartland and small communities across the country. "We welcome the government's commitment to modernize Canada's trade remedy system and enhance the right of trade unions to participate in the trade remedy process. But unions must also be able to file anti-dumping and countervailing duty complaints, a right that unions have in other countries such as the United States," Neumann said. "In the steel industry in particular, by providing unions with the right to both file and participate in trade remedy complaints, Canadian producers will benefit in any trade case they may file." At the same time, "the government's plan to amend the Investment Canada Act by increasing the net benefit review threshold to $1 billion, two years earlier than planned, does not address the damage already done to the Canadian steel industry," Neumann said. "The steel crisis has resulted in thousands of lost jobs and retirees being robbed of benefits due to poor public policy on foreign investment and the secret deal between the previous federal government and U.S. Steel." The looming crisis in softwood lumber should also have been addressed in the budget, Neumann said. "In the absence of a Softwood Lumber Agreement, forestry-dependent communities could well be decimated as a result of government inaction," he said. "This budget could have taken concrete steps to put communities first by committing to provide federal loan guarantees to industry in the face of potentially punishing tariffs from the United States. It could have committed to forest community restoration funds, to ease the terrible uncertainty being felt across Canada." SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW) For further information: Ken Neumann, USW National Director, 416-544-5991; Bob Gallagher, USW Communications, 416-544-5966, 416-434-2221, [email protected] Related Links http://www.usw.ca OTTAWA, March 23, 2017 /CNW/ - Canada's Building Trades Unions are pleased with the continued support this government has demonstrated for middle class families in the 2017 budget, "Building a Strong Middle Class." Programs supported in this budget will facilitate the inclusion of under-represented demographics in the workforce will, in turn, benefit all of Canada. Bob Blakely, the Canadian Operating Officer for Canada's Building Trades Unions said "Providing for the training of young people as well as those that are returning to the workforce, providing support for childcare that will allow the parents of young children to build their skills, will bring new faces onto job sites around Canada." The ongoing commitment to infrastructure funding is fundamental to the growth of the economy and middle class jobs. This government continues to see the potential in using infrastructure spending to support the middle class, build more sustainable environments, and create a built environment that will last us generations into the future. Darrell Laboucan, the Ironworkers Canadian Vice-president stated "We stand ready to build the Canada of tomorrow, building by building, road by road, bridge by bridge. Our workers are Canada, and their success is Canada's success." About CBTU The North America-wide Building Trades coordinates activities and provides resources to 15 affiliated trade unions in the construction, maintenance and fabrication industries. In Canada, CBTU represents 500,000 skilled trades workers. SOURCE Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO For further information: Bob Blakely, CBTU Chief Operating Officer, Office: (613) 236-0653, [email protected] Related Links www.buildingtrades.ca Mitacs research internships to grow to 10,000 annually OTTAWA, March 22, 2017 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada announced $221 million in funding over five years to renew and expand Mitacs programs. This investment in Mitacs' work-integrated learning programs will help deliver 10,000 internships per year to post-secondary students. The funding will deploy top talent from Canadian post-secondary institutions to businesses and not-for-profit organizations helping students develop skills to launch their careers, while also helping companies innovate and compete globally. Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that provides post-secondary researchers with innovation-focused internships. Through these work-integrated learning opportunities, students transfer their research skills from academia to industry. Companies, in turn, gain competitive advantages by accessing research expertise and developing talent pipelines in partnership with post-secondary institutions. Based on proven outcomes, such as job creation, commercialization, and skills development, Mitacs programs have experienced an increase in demand from post-secondary institutions, as well as from the private and not-for-profit sectors. Mitacs internships are supported financially by the Government of Canada, provincial governments, and industry, in partnership with Canadian universities. Quotes: Alejandro Adem, CEO and Scientific Director, Mitacs "This investment by the Government of Canada is a move to support people, technologies, and companies a commitment that will improve Canada's innovation performance. Mitacs programs help achieve this goal by providing students with work-integrated learning experiences and promoting innovation across all sectors of the economy." Meric Gertler, President, University of Toronto "The Government of Canada is to be commended for this investment in Canadian talent through Mitacs. It will provide career-building opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and top-quality expertise for businesses and other organizations. These are key factors in building our country's capacity for innovation and in driving our long-term prosperity." Caroline R. Cloutier, Business Process and Manufacturing Engineer, Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc., Fuel Cell Division "Working with Mitacs and Queen's University has given us a tremendous return on investment. At the end of the day, students are getting important experience to meet industrial demands, while we tap into their expertise to advance our own objectives." Impact stories: Quick facts: Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for 17 years. for 17 years. Working with 60+ universities, thousands of companies, and both federal and provincial governments, Mitacs builds partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada . . Open to all disciplines and all industry sectors, projects can span a wide range of areas, including manufacturing, business processes, IT, social sciences, and design. Mitacs is funded by the Government of Canada , along with Alberta Innovates, the Government of British Columbia , Research Manitoba, the Government of New Brunswick , the Research & Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador , the Government of Nova Scotia , the Government of Prince Edward Island , the Government of Quebec , and the Government of Saskatchewan . Links: SOURCE Mitacs For further information: Heather Young, Director, Communications, Mitacs, 604-818-0020, [email protected] Renewable-energy deployment fund a big win for Arctic communities TORONTO, March 22, 2017 /CNW/ - In response to the federal budget released today, WWF-Canada president and CEO David Miller issued the following statement: "Building on the progress of last year's budget in prioritizing climate change and marine protected areas, Budget 2017 includes a variety of tools that will make meaningful climate action possible. The emphasis on clean energy and technology is encouraging, particularly if that shift is done in a habitat-friendly way. For Arctic communities, the announcement of $400 million to support the deployment of renewable energy is a major step forward in the transition away from diesel power generation. "WWF-Canada has repeatedly made the case for such a fund to make meaningful progress on the transition to a low-carbon energy source, including at the Arctic Renewable Energy Summit in Iqaluit last fall. The federal government listened. "For Arctic communities, this will prove to be a key development in reducing reliance on diesel from the south, and in increasing their independence. Habitat-friendly renewable energy will lead to millions in savings in electricity costs in the North, and will benefit the Arctic environment. This is a big win for the North. And if it can be done in the Arctic, it can be done throughout Canada. Reaching 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050 is a realistic goal. "Though we're happy about these developments, and for funds to protect the Great Lakes and manage the threat of invasive species across Canada, we are still waiting for more meaningful actions to address the degradation of nature. Canada has yet to make the urgently needed shift to an economy that is sustainably managed and values nature. "We had hoped this budget would address the need for: Protecting species at risk; Monitoring freshwater, our most precious resource; Nature-based infrastructure solutions for climate-change mitigation and adaptation; Conservation science to protect the ecological integrity of our national parks; A comprehensive plan to achieve our international Aichi terrestrial protected area target of 17 per cent; Science-based regional planning for resilient ecosystems that deliver vital ecological goods and services to wildlife and people." About World Wildlife Fund Canada WWF-Canada creates solutions to the environmental challenges that matter most for Canadians. We work in places that are unique and ecologically important, so that nature, wildlife and people thrive together. Because we are all wildlife. For more information, visit wwf.ca. SOURCE WWF-Canada For further information: Sarah MacWhirter, senior manager, strategic communications, [email protected], +1 416-347-1894 Related Links www.wwf.ca TORONTO, March 23, 2017 /CNW/ - The federal government has confirmed its commitment to improve the health of Canadians through digital health innovation by announcing a $300 million investment in Canada Health Infoway in Budget 2017, said Michael Green, Infoway's President and CEO. "We appreciate the government's continued support and confidence in Infoway and the transformative power of digital health innovation," Green said. "This funding will enable us to continue our commitment to deliver better quality and access to care for all Canadians." The new funding will enable Infoway to continue to move forward with initiatives to help transform the health care system by "expanding e-prescribing and virtual care initiatives, supporting the continued adoption and use of electronic medical records, helping patients to access their own health records electronically, and better linking electronic health record systems to improve access by all providers and institutions." "This funding announcement underscores the tremendous opportunity we have to transform health care in Canada," added Dr. Peter Vaughan, Board Chair, Canada Health Infoway. "We look forward to continued collaboration with all of our partners, including the federal government, the provinces and territories, patients and their families, and health care providers from across Canada as we continue to innovate together." About Canada Health Infoway Infoway helps to improve the health of Canadians by working with partners to accelerate the development, adoption and effective use of digital health across Canada. Through our investments, we help deliver better quality and access to care and more efficient delivery of health services for patients and clinicians. Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government. SOURCE Canada Health Infoway For further information: Dan Strasbourg, Director, Media Relations, Canada Health Infoway, Tel: (416) 595-3424, Email Us [https://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/en/contact-us?subject=Media_Inquiries], Twitter: @Infoway Related Links www.infoway-inforoute.ca OTTAWA, March 23, 2017 /CNW/ - In honour of the 150th anniversary of Confederation, Imperial announced the launch of its largest-ever philanthropic art donation program at an event at the National Gallery of Canada. Forty-three paintings by prominent Canadian artists, worth an estimated $6 million, are being donated to 15 museums across the country. The Gallery received five paintings, which were unveiled this morning. Imperial's gift includes Billboard (Jazz) (1921) by Lawren S. Harris, a member of the Group of Seven painters; Paul Peel's Idle Dreams (1887); Prudence Heward's Miss Anne Grafftey (1944); Kathleen M. Morris's Birds Feeding (c. 1945); and A.J. Casson's Twilight Near Britt (1960). These paintings are now part of the Gallery's collection of Later Canadian Art. The paintings will be available for public viewing at the NGC from March 23 - March 26, 2017. It will be the only occasion where all five paintings will be displayed together in the same room, before entering the national collection. Billboard (Jazz) will also be on view in the new Canadian and Indigenous Galleries, an exhibition space set to open within the Gallery on June 15. "Imperial was founded in Canada 137 years ago, and our art collection reflects our long history. We've collected Canadian art for more than 70 years and are now sharing many of our extraordinary works at galleries from coast to coast in honour of the country's sesquicentennial celebration," said Rich Kruger, Chairman, President and CEO of Imperial. "We are grateful to Imperial for its generous donation to Canada's national collection," said Marc Mayer, Director and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada. "These are remarkable paintings by some of Canada's most celebrated artists. They will deepen our understanding of their art and will certainly be appreciated by visitors to the Gallery." Thomas d'Aquino, Chair of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation, congratulated Imperial on its philanthropic initiative. "During this monumental year for Canada, we are honoured to salute one of our country's flagship companies, Imperial, and its gesture in service to our nation. The generous gift of these works of art to the National Gallery of Canada is symbolic of the close connection we have with one of our great corporate philanthropists." In addition to the five paintings donated to the National Gallery of Canada, Imperial has also donated 38 artworks to 14 museums across the country, including: Judith and Norman Alix Gallery ( Sarnia, ON ) ( ) Art Gallery of Alberta ( Edmonton, AB ) of ( ) McIntosh Gallery at the University of Western Ontario ( London, ON ) ( ) Alberta Foundation for the Arts ( Edmonton, AB ) ) Dalhousie Art Gallery ( Halifax, NS ) ) Musee National des beaux-arts de Quebec ( Quebec City, QC ) ( ) Cold Lake Museums ( Cold Lake, AB ) ) Leduc #1 Energy Discovery Centre ( Leduc, AB ) #1 Energy Discovery Centre ( ) Glenbow Museum ( Calgary, AB ) ) Nickle Galleries at the University of Calgary ( Calgary, AB ) ( ) Vancouver Art Gallery ( Vancouver, BC ) ( ) The McMichael Canadian Art Collection ( Kleinburg, ON ) ( ) New Brunswick Museum ( Saint John, NB ) ) Norman Wells Historical Society ( Norman Wells, NT ) About Imperial After more than 135 years, Imperial continues to be an industry leader in applying technology and innovation to responsibly develop Canada's energy resources. The company's story began in 1880, when 16 refiners in southwestern Ontario created The Imperial Oil Company, Limited. As one of Canada's largest petroleum refiners, a major producer of crude oil and natural gas, a key petrochemical producer and a leading fuels marketer from coast to coast, Imperial remains committed to high standards across all areas of its business. This includes exploration, development and production of the products that drive modern transportation, power cities, lubricate industries and provide petrochemical building blocks for thousands of consumer goods that people enjoy every day including the familiar brands, Esso and Mobil. About the National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada is home to the most important collections of historical and contemporary Canadian art. The Gallery also maintains Canada's premier collection of European Art from the 14th to the 21st centuries, as well as important works of American, Asian and Indigenous Art and renowned international collections of prints, drawings and photographs. In 2015, the National Gallery of Canada established the Canadian Photography Institute, a global multidisciplinary research center dedicated to the history, evolution and future of photography. Created in 1880, the National Gallery of Canada has played a key role in Canadian culture for well over a century. Among its principal missions is to increase access to excellent works of art for all Canadians. For more information, visit gallery.ca and follow us on Twitter @gallerydotca. About the National Gallery of Canada Foundation The National Gallery of Canada Foundation is dedicated to supporting the National Gallery of Canada in fulfilling its mandate. By fostering strong philanthropic partnerships, the Foundation provides the Gallery with the additional financial support required to lead Canada's visual arts community locally, nationally and internationally. The blend of public support and private philanthropy empowers the Gallery to preserve and interpret Canada's visual arts heritage. The Foundation welcomes present and deferred gifts for special projects and endowments. To learn more about the National Gallery of Canada Foundation, visit ngcfoundation.ca. SOURCE National Gallery of Canada For further information: For media only: Josee-Britanie Mallet, Senior Media and Public Relations Officer, National Gallery of Canada, 613.990.6835, [email protected]; Media Relations, Imperial, 587.476.7010; Other Contacts/Resources, Kathryn Minard, ISA CAPP, Art Advisor & Certified Appraiser, 416.366.9770, [email protected] LONGUEUIL, QC, March 23, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (FPAQ) started a new maple industry tradition in Quebec by holding an official ceremony to launch the 2017 sugar season. As the world's leading source of maple syrup, Quebec producers can count on the support of their provincial government. At FPAQ president Serge Beaulieu's invitation, Quebec Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Laurent Lessard, and several MNAs from maple syrup regions got together to officially launch the 2017 sugar season by tapping a maple tree. The ceremony was held in the early afternoon at Erabliere du Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge, in the heart of Quebec City. "The maple syrup industry is an integral part of our heritage in Quebec. All Quebecers should be aware and proud of it," said Serge Beaulieu, FPAQ President. "Every year, this $600 million industry contributes to the wealth and prosperity of Quebec's rural areas. It's an important industry and should be a source of pride. That's why we're starting this new tradition today! We're very pleased to have the support of our MNAs and Minister of Agriculture." An industry with the wind at its back 2016 was a banner year for Quebec maple syrup producers, with a record 111 million-plus pounds of syrup sold, a 38% five-year increase. It should also be noted that 85% of Quebec's maple syrup production is exported to 53 different countries. Canadian maple product exports also hit a new high of 99 million pounds in 2016, an increase of 30% (23 million pounds) over 2012. These outstanding results were made possible by the efforts of Quebec's maple syrup producers, who have been investing in market research, promotion, and development since 2005 to build a global maple syrup market and get local exporters interested in new markets. Quebec's maple syrup industry at a glance: 13,700 maple syrup producers, including 282 new producers 44 million taps 12 maple syrup regions 10,000 full-time jobs $600 million in value for the Quebec economy in value for the economy Only existing global strategic maple syrup reserve 250,000 barrels of maple syrup produced annually Record sales totaling 111 million pounds of maple syrup A sugar shack with a special purpose The Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge sugar shack opens its doors for three weekends during sugar season so guests can enjoy some maple taffy and learn the basics of maple syrup production. FPAQ has financially supported the project since 2004. The shack is operated by a team of passionate volunteers who want to breathe new life into the park's small sugar bush and authentic sugar shack dating from the early 1900s. All proceeds go to Fondation de l'ecole St-Michel de Quebec, a school that welcomes autistic children. So far, $300,000 has been raised over 13 years. About FPAQ The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers was founded in 1966 with the mission of defending and promoting the economic, social, and moral interests of 7,500 maple producers, as well as developing initiatives to collectively market maple products. The quality work of these maple producers has made Quebec the proud source of 72% of the world's maple syrup. fpaq.ca @AcericoleQc SOURCE Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers For further information: Caroline Cyr, Communications Advisor, Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, 450-679-7021, ext. 8609 -- [email protected] Related Links http://fpaq.ca/ OHSWEKEN, ON, March 23, 2017 /CNW/ - Roberta Jamieson, President and CEO of Indspire, applauds the Government of Canada's announcement that it will invest $5 million per year for the next 5 years in Indspire's Building Brighter Futures: Bursaries, Scholarships and Awards program. The funds will total $40 million, which includes $3 million annually for matching contributions from the private and non-government sectors. The Budget details plans for the partnership with Indspire, an Indigenous-led registered charity that assists First Nations, Inuit and Metis students with financial support to complete their education and contribute to the economy. "The Government of Canada's increased investment in education for Indigenous people is welcome support to enable the country's fastest growing demographic to obtain education and training so they can realize their full potential and contribute to their communities, to Canada and to the world," said Roberta Jamieson, President and CEO of Indspire. Indspire's research shows that the primary barrier for Indigenous students in completing their post-secondary education is a lack of financial resources. On the other hand, where there is financial support, there is success -- as shown by Indspire's report on graduation rates, 93% of post-secondary students funded by Indspire have graduated. The report entitled Creating Positive Outcomes also revealed that 82% of graduates are gainfully employed and 84% are working in roles that directly serve Indigenous populations. Indspire raises money from corporations, governments, philanthropies and individuals for its work. Indspire then disburses financial awards, delivers programs, and shares resources with the goal of closing the gap in Indigenous education as compared with Canadians generally. In 2015-16, Indspire disbursed over $12.2 million through 3,792 bursaries and scholarships to First Nations, Inuit and Metis students across Canada. Through its K-12 Institute, Indspire provides resources to educators, communities, and other stakeholders who are committed to improving kindergarten to grade 12 success and a better Indigenous education for Indigenous youth. Representing the highest honour the Indigenous community bestows upon its own achievers, the Indspire Awards were created in 1993 in conjunction with the United Nation's International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples. The Awards recognize Indigenous people who have used their potential to achieve. The awards promote self-esteem and pride for Indigenous communities and provide outstanding role models for Indigenous youth. www.indspire.ca SOURCE Indspire For further information: Anne Marie Gabriel, CAE, Vice President, Communications and Marketing, [email protected] | C: 226.920.5928; Pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez communiquer avec Anne Marie Gabriel, FGA au [email protected] | C: 226.920.5928 Related Links https://indspire.ca/ OTTAWA, March 23, 2017 /CNW/ - The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, will address Economic Development Winnipeg to highlight Budget 2017. Please note that all details are subject to change. All times are local. DATE: Friday, March 24, 2017 TIME: Minister's speech: 8:15 a.m. Media availability: 9:15 a.m. PLACE: RBC Convention Centre York Ballroom 375 York Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba Follow us on Twitter SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada For further information: (media only): Media Relations Office, Employment and Social Development Canada, 819-994-5559, [email protected] OTTAWA, March 23, 2017 /CNW/ - The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, will speak to the Regina and District Chamber of Commerce about key elements of Budget 2017 and the next steps in the federal government's economic plan to support Canada's middle class. Minister Bains will also discuss how Budget 2017 will prepare Canadians for a rapidly changing economy. Date: Friday, March 24, 2017 Time: Noon (CST) Location: Executive Royal Hotel 4025 Albert Street Regina, Saskatchewan Follow Minister Bains on Twitter: @MinisterISED SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada For further information: Karl W. Sasseville, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, 343-291-2500; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, 343-291-1777, [email protected] Related Links http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/home OTTAWA, March 23, 2017 /CNW/ - Metis Nation of Ontario President Margaret Froh welcomed the announcements in yesterday's federal budget that will provide greater support for Metis families, communities and government within the Metis Nation of Ontario (MNO). The 2017 budget commits significant funding to build the governance capacity of the Metis National Council (MNC), the MNO, and the other four Metis governments that constitute the MNC from Manitoba to British Columbia. The funding will include $84.9 million over the next five years as well as ongoing annual funding of $28.3 million. "We are extremely encouraged," said President Froh, "to see a significant commitment of funding towards strengthening our governance and the foundation for a new relationship between Metis Nation governments and Canada. We look forward to working with the federal government as we move forward on our path of Metis self-governance and self-determination." Other highlights for Metis and other Indigenous peoples in the budget included an overall 27% increase in spending for Indigenous peoples with investments in Indigenous languages, youth, sports, restorative justice practices, Indigenous fisheries and environmental stewardship programs. "Metis have played a pivotal role in establishing this country yet time and again over the last 150 years Canada has failed to acknowledge Metis peoples for our contributions. These investments in Metis youth, justice programs, ending violence against women, housing and the environment, and in Metis Nation governance, mark a new beginning in that relationship and will provide a better and brighter future for Metis people and for all our fellow Canadians," stated President Froh. In addition to investments that specifically target Metis and Indigenous peoples, there are several other elements in the budget related to education, skills development, tourism, housing and child care that include programs and services that will benefit Metis in Ontario. "There is much work that remains to be done to correct the historic wrongs in this country and to build that respectful relationship that the Trudeau Government has committed to with the Metis Nation, and this budget helps move us in that direction. The Metis Nation of Ontario is committed to doing its part to move this relationship forward, and we welcome the commitments made in this budget to support strong Metis families and communities, and stronger Metis governments to support our citizens. Building from this solid foundation, we look forward to the next 150 years, and to a brighter future for the Metis Nation and for all Canadians," concluded President Froh. SOURCE Metis Nation of Ontario For further information: Todd Ross, Special Advisor on Tripartite, Metis Nation of Ontario, 416-505-4740, [email protected]; Mike Fedyk, Director of Communications, Metis Nation of Ontario, 613-798-1488 ext. 108, [email protected] Related Links http://www.metisnation.org/ To activate the text-to-speech service, please first agree to the privacy policy below. Taipei, March 23 (CNA) The Foreign Ministry will seek the help of the Nepalese authorities to search for a Taiwanese couple who have been missing since March 3 while hiking in the Himalayas in Nepal and will help their families travel to the country, a ministry spokesman said Thursday. CALGARY, March 23, 2017 /CNW/ - For this year's Earth Hour (Saturday, March 25), Bullfrog Power, Canada's leading green energy provider, and CrossIron Mills Shopping Centre are teaming up to provide enough renewable energy to bullfrogpower every home in Airdrie and Calgary for one hour. Through the agreement, CrossIron Mills will purchase 481 MWh of green electricity from Bullfrog Powerequivalent to what 469,025 households in Airdrie and Calgary would use in one hour.1 CrossIron Mills is one of seven Ivanhoe Cambridge shopping centres participating in Earth Hour events with Bullfrog Power. Together, they are bullfrogpowering the equivalent of more than 1.9 million households across Canada during Earth Hour. "At CrossIron Mills, we are always investigating several community based programs and initiatives that will reflect our core values and beliefsand those of the community we call home," said James Moller, General Manager, CrossIron Mills. "This Earth Hour, we're proud to be partnering with Bullfrog Power to ensure that an equivalent amount of green electricity goes onto the grid to match what every household in Airdrie and Calgary would use in an hour." CrossIron Mills also bullfrogpowers 35 per cent of its common areas with green electricity. That means that Bullfrog Power's generators put clean, pollution-free electricity onto the grid to match the amount of conventional power used by 35 per cent of CrossIron Mills' common areas. Across Canada, Bullfrog Power's green electricity comes from a blend of wind and low-impact hydro power sourced from new Canadian renewable energy facilities. "By bullfrogpowering the equivalent of every Airdrie and Calgary household for Earth Hour, CrossIron Mills is demonstrating an action we can all take to address climate change: choosing green energy," said Anthony Santilli, VP Sales and Marketing, Bullfrog Power. "As a result of its green energy commitment, CrossIron Mills is both supporting renewable energy and the development of new community-based renewable energy projects across Canada." Earth Hour is WWF's global environmental movement. Born in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has grown to become the world's largest grassroots movement for the environment, inspiring individuals, communities, businesses and organizations in more than 170 countries and territories to take tangible climate action for over a decade. The movement recognizes the role of individuals in changing climate change and harnesses the collective power of its millions of supporters to shine a light on climate action. "Earth Hour is meant to spark meaningful changes to tackle climate change, including in our own homes," says David Miller, President and CEO, WWF-Canada. "It's an opportunity to focus on solutions and making the transition to renewable energy is something we must and can do." In addition to Earth Hour activities and choosing Bullfrog Power's green energy, CrossIron Mills' sustainability accomplishments include: Three cisterns have been constructed underneath the parking lot to store one million litres of the harvested rainwater. More than 620,000-square-feet of landscaped area has been irrigated by our three storm management cisterns that harvest up to one million liters of rainwater at a time. CrossIron Mills has a white membrane roof which reflects heat and reduces interior cooling requirements. Over 40 per cent of CrossIron Mills' waste is diverted from the landfill by way of recycling cans, cardboard, and plastics throughout the mall. CrossIron Mills has diverted 23 tonnes of organic materials from going to the landfill through its Organics Recycling program. About Bullfrog Power Bullfrog Power, Canada's leading green energy provider, offers renewable energy solutions that enable individuals and businesses to reduce their environmental impact, support the development of green energy projects in Canada and help create a cleaner, healthier world. As a Certified B Corporation, Bullfrog Power meets higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Thousands of individuals and businesses in Canada are doing their part to address climate change and air pollution by choosing green energy with Bullfrog Power. Sign up easily, quickly and affordably at bullfrogpower.com. Join the bullfrogpowered community online on Facebook (facebook.com/BullfrogPower), Instagram (@bullfrogpower) and Twitter (@bullfrogpower). About CrossIron Mills CrossIron Mills, the first enclosed shopping centre built in Alberta in 20 years, opened in August 2009, just 1.5 km north of Calgary in Rocky View County and less than 10 minutes from the Calgary International Airport. Ideally situated on the busiest transportation corridor in the province of Alberta, the Queen Elizabeth II Highway, the innovative 1.2 million-square-foot shopping centre is the largest single level shopping centre in Alberta, with 17 large format anchors and more than 200 specialty stores and premium brand outlets. Developed in the Mills concept, combining the best attributes of a traditional shopping centre, power centre and exciting architecture under one roof, CrossIron Mills is the only true outlet concept shopping centre in Western Canada. 1Estimates are based on Statistics Canada's census data. SOURCE Bullfrog Power For further information: Contact Bullfrog Power: Jon McKay, Corporate Communications Manager, 416.360.3464 ext. 239, jo[email protected]; Contact CrossIron Mills: James Moller, General Manager, 403.984.6810, [email protected] Related Links www.bullfrogpower.com 021804 SUHOUSE FO.JPG Affordable housing was hard to come by for New Yorkers even before the Trump budget plan proposed deep cuts. Frank Ordonez/Staff Photographer A for rent sign infront of house on Lancaster St. Jolie Milstein is president and CEO of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing. By Jolie Milstein New York state is facing an affordable housing crisis and the Trump administration's budget plan would make it even worse. The proposed $6 billion cut to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) would take more than $400 million away from affordable and public housing in our state next year - on top of more than $75 million already cut this year. Leaders in Albany are considering $2.5 billion in new state housing funds that could help right this wrong and provide a lifeline to millions of families statewide. Albany must ensure all of these funds are included in the budget currently being negotiated. What is the scope and impact of New York's housing crisis? Around half of all statewide renters - more than 1.7 million households - are rent-burdened, meaning they pay more than 30 percent of income on housing costs. When families are rent-burdened, it becomes even harder to make ends meet and pay for other necessities like food, health care and child care. Additionally, more than 88,000 New Yorkers are still homeless across the state and around 23,000 children are forced to live in New York City shelters. Gov. Andrew Cuomo took a step in the right direction in January - even before federal cuts loomed large - when he proposed $2.5 billion in new funds for low- and middle-income housing preservation and production, including initiatives for senior, supportive and public housing. Advocates are pushing for all of those funds to be approved in the state budget, which is due by April 1. But last week the Senate and Assembly proposed budgets that would underfund some of these crucial programs. If state leaders fail to approve the full slate of proposed housing funds, New Yorkers will be forced to deal with three deeply negative impacts across the state. First, thousands of affordable homes that are currently in the pipeline - both upstate and downstate - could be delayed or lost forever. New Yorkers will continue struggling to pay rent and it will be harder to provide support for homeless individuals and families. Second, our communities will miss out on huge economic and job creation benefits. A recent NYSAFAH report found that affordable housing production generated more than $54 billion in statewide economic impact from 2011 to 2015, as well as more than 65,000 construction-related jobs each year. Last, but not least, a failure to provide more state funds will exacerbate the impact of current and future cuts in federal funding. Vital services will be lost and low-income families will suffer the consequences. At a time of such great uncertainty in Washington, we can't afford to let an Albany stalemate deepen New York's housing crisis. The governor and legislature must reach a deal on the full $2.5 billion in new housing funds - and it must do so now. China is developing a rocket stage and engine recovery system at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in Beijing. It uses using a set of multiple parachutes, which are stored in the first stage of the rocket, which is released from the rest of the craft before it burns its way through the Earths atmosphere. An airbag inflates under the discarded part of the rocket, which cushions impact when it finally hits the ground. In 2011, Spacex tried to use parachutes for a stage recovery. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceXs president, admitted in 2011: We have recovered pieces of the first stages. The first stages werent even getting as far as deploying their parachutes they were breaking up during atmospheric re-entry. A similar program was announced by Roscosmos in mid-2016 when they formed a department dealing with the returned systems. China and Russia may cooperate on recoverable and reusable rocket stage development. The initial miniparachute system has to prevent the stage from breaking up and needs to stabilize it for re-entry. SpaceX has performed a series of successful vertical landings (rockets used to slow down and land the stage) which demonstrate the technology the feasibility, but Chinese paper has rejected the approach. Deng wrote that the vertical landing system needed additional fuel for landing, which icons rockets could only carry smaller payloads into space. The Falcon rocket development is to increase the thrust and reduce the number of rocket engine. That is also why China, As well as airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin did not use the technology, Deng said. China has yet to the official rule out the vertical landing technology to recover rockets, according to Xinhua. A final decision will be made before 2020, the report said. The final goal was to hit a small recovery zone as exactly as the vertical landing zone, which will be assisted by multiple sensors and a sophisticated flight control system to guide the descent. Professor Sun Yi, the director of the aerospace science and mechanics department at the Harbin Institute of Technology, said he had concerns about the parachute-assisted landing system as it could have a miss a target area in high winds. Falcon 9 can be brought back to the launch pad, or even land on a ship. With a parachute you may hit a mountain top or end up in thick forest on a tropical island, he said. Sun also doubted whether the air bag could significantly adequate impact during the landing of a heavy rocket. Even a mild shock can cause damage to the components in rocket engines, he said. Statistics released by the China Population Association (CPA) in 2013 revealed that the infertile population of the country has surpassed 40 million, making up 12.5 percent of the total population of childbearing age. Some forecast that the Chinese baby boom by going to a full two child policy will fade after pent up demand is satisfied. Then the aging out of women of child bearing age will prevent policy from effecting birthrates. IVF rates of 2000 to 3000 per million exist in developed countries. China was at 30,000 per year in 2013 but there has been an IVF boom with the increased wealth and with the two child policy. IVF rates are still increasing worldwide and costs for IVF procedures are going down. There is also the freezing of eggs and embryos by younger women who would have eggs that would have higher success rates. The success rate of IVF procedures in Thailand is around 10 percent higher than that in China, the Guangzhou Daily reported. The success rate could reach 75 percent for female clients aged between 25 and 28. Although the rate drops over time, it is still higher than other Asian countries, medical staff at Jatanin institute were quoted as saying by Xinhua. Meanwhile, IVF fees in Thailand are a mere between 80,000 and 100,000 yuan each time much less than in the West. IVF fees can reach 160,000 yuan in the US. The size of the upper middle class in urban settings was 14% of the overall urban population in 2012. Lower cost IVF procedures and a larger middle class could enable 50-60% of infertile population to afford IVF. A new Invitro fertilization method lowers the cost by 30 times to $250 (1700 yuan). A more recent Boston Consulting Group estimate is that the number of upper middle-class and affluent households is forecast to double to 100 million by 2020. That will account for 30 percent of all urban households, compared to 17 percent today and 7 percent in 2010, according to BCG data. Upper middle-class households have an annual disposable income of between roughly $24,000 and $46,000. Child benefits have also been shown to affect fertility rates. In 1988 Quebec introduced the Allowance for Newborn Children, which paid up to C$8,000 to families after the birth of a child. The incentive was large and rose with family size. Because the other provinces did not have similar policies, the study could compare people eligible for the benefit in Quebec with a control group of Canadians outside Quebec with similar characteristics who were not eligible for payments. Fertility rose an average of 12% among those eligible for the program and rose to 25% for those eligible for the maximum benefit. Policies that change the cost of having an additional child have also been shown to have a causal effect on childbearing. Israel changed its child subsidy over 19992005, raising and lowering it and adjusting it according to the number of children. Nextbigfuture predicts the following for China, China fertility policy, birthrates and IVF usage. China will lift all child restrictions within 5 years China will introduce subsidies or coverage for IVF within 8 years China will introduce bonuses and financial incentives for children and for reducing childbearing costs within ten years China will use these policies to increase the overall level of annual births to over 20 million per year from about 17 million per year now. Molecular Psychiatry Genetic contributions to variation in general cognitive function: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in the CHARGE consortium General cognitive function is substantially heritable across the human life course from adolescence to old age. We investigated the genetic contribution to variation in this important, health- and well-being-related trait in middle-aged and older adults. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of 31 cohorts (N=53 949) in which the participants had undertaken multiple, diverse cognitive tests. A general cognitive function phenotype was tested for, and created in each cohort by principal component analysis. We report 13 genome-wide significant single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associations in three genomic regions, 6q16.1, 14q12 and 19q13.32. The proportion of phenotypic variation accounted for by all genotyped common SNPs was 29% (s.e.=5%) and 28% (s.e.=7%), respectively. Using polygenic prediction analysis, ~1.2% of the variance in general cognitive function was predicted in the Generation Scotland cohort (N=5487; P=1.5 1017). In hypothesis-driven tests, there was significant association between general cognitive function and four genes previously associated with Alzheimers disease: TOMM40, APOE, ABCG1 and MEF2C. Stephen Hsu posted on the main genetic findings on intelligence. Stephen Hsu has written extensively on the genetic basis on intelligence and the near future of embryo selection. Stephen advises BGI the main genomics company of China. There was a review of five years of genome-wide association studies in 2011. Scientists looking for the genes underlying intelligence are in for a slog. One of the largest, most rigorous genetic studies of human cognition1 has turned up inconclusive findings, and experts concede that they will probably need to scour the genomes of more than 1 million people to confidently identify even a small genetic influence on intelligence and other behavioural traits. The results were published in the Journal Nature. In a 2013 study comparing the genomes of more than 126,000 people, the group identified three gene variants associated with with how many years of schooling a person had gone through or whether they had attended university. But the effect of these variants was small each variant correlated with roughly one additional month of schooling in people who had it compared with people who did not. In another study of 106,000 people, researchers picked out 69 gene variants most strongly linked to education level. To establish a more direct link with IQ, they cross-checked this list with genetic variants in a second sample of 24,000 people who also had taken tests of cognitive ability. Three gene variants were found to be associated with both educational attainment and higher IQ scores. The three variants the researchers identified were each responsible for an average of 0.3 points on an IQ test. (About two-thirds of the population score between 85 and 115.) That means that a person with two copies of each variant would score 1.8 points higher on an intelligence test than a person with none of them. To put those figures in perspective, those variants have about one-twentieth the influence on intelligence as do gene variants linked to other complex traits such as height, says Daniel Benjamin, a social scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who co-led the study. Benjamin says that studies of more than 1 million people will be needed to find enough common gene variants to explain 15% of the variation across people in IQ scores, educational attainment and other behavioral traits. Selecting for intelligence or genetically engineering for intelligence will require larger studies to identify the genes and more genes will need to be altered to achieve the enhancement I gave a talk at Transhuman Visions early in 2014. In my look at near term transhumanism, I see older Tiger Moms as being the driver of early adoption of genetic intelligence enhancement and the lifting of the One child policy in China. IVF will go from 400,000 per year worldwide to 2-8 million per year over the next 10 years. IVF babies are more easily embryo selected and accessible for genetic modification. This would provide an economic boost to China in 20-30 years and the beginnings of a significant societal shift. * Older women use IVF more than younger women. * Societal shifts that cause more older women to use IVF to have children means more opportunity for embryo selection and genetic intelligence enhancement. * Countries that permit embyro selection and genetic intelligence enhancement provide the opportunity for IVF to be used for enhancement * Medical tourism to permissive countries is another means for older women to use IVF in combination with embryo selection or genetic enhancement. In my talk I first summarized enhancement of human capabilities via products that we can buy. (Smartphones, Google Glass, Apple Siri, IBM Watson, forklifts, cars etc) As those things get better, anyone can adopt them by buying the latest versions. Steroids do enhance performance. They work. About 10 million people use them and it is primarily because of vanity. However, we do not live in the wild west or have to compete as Gladiators in Rome. The more powerful people in the world are the billionaires. In the real world the equivalent of Montgomery Burns from the Simpsons has more power than the equivalent of Captain America. Burns can hire his own police force or mercenaries. It is his lawyers and lobbyists who do his work. 100 years ago it was vaccines that began altering the physical attributes of people in a meaningful way. It extended lifespans and improved health. Health improvement boosted productivity and GDP. I make the case that studies show that more intelligence leads to better lives for people. They go to jail less. Their jobs are better and they divorce less. Each one-point increase in a countrys average IQ, the per capita GDP was $229 higher. It made an even bigger difference if the smartest 5 percent of the population got smarter; for every additional IQ point in that group, a countrys per capita GDP was $468 higher. This is according to Are the Wealthiest Countries the Smartest Countries? (Heiner Rindermann, of the Chemnitz University of Technology, Psychological Science ) However, we can see the damage when intelligence is lower across large national populations. 48% of children in India are stunted. Diseases can leave brain damage when they do not kill. This reduces IQ points by 11-20 on average across the country. This makes India more poor. Embryo Selection * In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) currently is used for 400,000 babies each year. * A new Alka Seltzer method for controlling PH reduces costs from $10K-20K in developed world to about $1K * Developing world was $2-4K and can be $200 * Comprehensive Chromosome Screening (about $6000) can boost successful IVF by 10-20% > Lower costs for IVF means more adoption and widespread basic genetic screening via chromosome screening will already be used for high IVF success rate * China lifting one child ban * This will mean annual birthrates will go from about 16 million ==> 25.5 million * 23-42 normal child bearing age * IVF at older ages up to 50-55 now at about 5-15% but improving * More older women in China will use IVF * China is not culturally against enhancing children (a lot of tiger moms and cultural differences) * Lower cost and more effective IVF with standard chromosome screening, easy step to gene screening * Maybe 4 million IVF/year with gene screening Children tend to fall within a spread of 13 IQ points above and below the average IQ of their parents. Positive outlier at around 2 or 3 percent where child is two standard deviations above parents Pick the smartest genome from a batch of, say, 20 embryos (but it could 50 or more embryos) to get 20-30 IQ points higher We are technologically close to non-destructive sequencing of human gametes and zygotes by sequencing 10-20 cells. Genetic Engineering for Intelligence BGI (Beijing Genomics institute has a large intelligence study of thousands of geniuses Various studies finding genes with up to 0.5% impact on intelligence Intelligence is 40-80% inheritable There are likely hundreds to a thousand thousands to tens of thousands of genes that genetically determine intelligence This is twenty times more complex than height. According to Steve Hsus estimates (based on actual data) most humans have (order of magnitude) 1000 rare (-) alleles for height. So about 20,000 rare alleles for intelligence. One standard deviation above average has (very roughly) 30 fewer (-) variants. No negative alleles might be 30 SD above average! Such a person has yet to exist in human history Each standard deviation (SD) up or down are defined as 15 IQ points greater or less, 95 percent of the population scores an IQ between 70 and 130, which is within two standard deviations of the mean. 30 SD above average would be and IQ of 550. Maybe IQ 550 is Impossible or Meaningless 550 IQ would be like a 13 foot tall person Physiology limits practical height What are intelligence limits ? Brain structure Average human height is 70 inches and 3 inch SD (standard deviation) 8 feet 1 inch 97 inches this is 9 Standard Deviations over average 235 IQ is the equivalent in intelligence of a 8 foot 1 inch person Geniuses and Society 5% of population with 30 points higher intelligence might be about $14000 more GDP per capita 5% of population with 120 points higher intelligence might be about $56000 more GDP per capita What would a society with tens of millions of Edisons, Einsteins, Steve Jobs and Elon Musks be like ? Could we get beyond them in capability? 5% of population significantly intelligence enhanced would be possible if IVF takes off and embryo selection and genetic engineering with it over the next 10-20 years. Researchers have rejuvenated old mice to restore their stamina, coat of fur and even some organ function. The team at Erasmus University Medical Center, in the Netherlands, are planning human trials for what they hope is a treatment for old age. A UK scientist said the findings were impossible to dismiss, but that unanswered questions remained. The approach works by flushing out retired or senescent cells in the body that have stopped dividing. They tested it on mice that were just old (the equivalent of 90 in mouse years), those genetically programmed to age very rapidly and those aged by chemotherapy. The findings, published in the journal Cell, showed liver function was easily restored and the animals doubled the distance they would run in a wheel. Dr de Keizer said: We werent planning to look at their hair, but it was too obvious to miss. The drug was given three times a week and the experiments have been taking place for nearly a year. With life expectancy projected to increase in the foreseeable future, it is important to develop strategies to extend and restore healthspan. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are relatively understudied in aging research. Further analysis of their use is warranted as they serve several major advantages. Counter to broad-range inhibitors, CPPs can in theory target any surface-exposed stretch of amino acids to block specific protein-protein interactions and, in doing so, they can selectively modulate very specific downstream signaling events (discussed in de Keizer (2017))). Other compounds, classified as senolytics, have been described to influence senescent cell viability. As a CPP, FOXO4-DRI differs from these by being designed around a specific amino acid sequence in a molecular target only mildly expressed in most normal tissues (see e.g., Figures S2J and S2K). Though a more thorough analysis is required, at least as far as tested here FOXO4-DRI appears to be well tolerated, which is an absolutely critical milestone to pass when aiming to treat relatively healthy aged individuals. FOXO4-DRI effectively disrupts the p53-FOXO4 interaction, but the importance of the FOXO4 protein itself is more complicated in DNA damage and senescence. As FOXO4-DRI causes nuclear exclusion of active p53, the levels of p21Cip1 decline. However, the loss of p21Cip1 alone is insufficient to induce apoptosis and was actually shown to induce a senescence-escape instead (Brown et al., 1997). Rather, the exclusion of p53 itself has been reported to induce apoptosis directly when relocated to mitochondria (Mihara et al., 2003), thereby explaining the FOXO4-DRI effects. FOXO4 shRNAs induce apoptosis in senescent IMR90, arguing that full FOXO4 inhibition might also be of use against senescence. True as this may be, chronic FOXO4 reduction is not advisable as FOXOs play a role in DNA-damage repair and Foxo4/ mice are susceptible to acute damage (Zhou et al., 2009). In contrast to loss of FOXO4, FOXO4-DRI does not sensitize healthy cells to acute DNA damage (Figure 4G). Thus, while permanent FOXO4 inhibition is inapplicable, the fact that as a CPP it can block a specific protein-protein interaction makes FOXO4-DRI selective and thereby well tolerated and effective. Based on these positive effects, it is now possible to envision a point on the horizon where the disease indications are identified that could benefit most from FOXO4-DRI therapy. High SASP-secreting cells are likely to play a much larger role in disease development than more sterile senescent cells. Through SASP, senescent cells may permanently confer a state of stemness in neighboring cells and thereby impair tissue function and renewal, an effect that we recently described in the senescence-stem lock model for aging (de Keizer, 2017). FOXO4-DRI has a strong preference for targeting high-SASP subpopulations of senescent cells, but it is unclear what causes heterogeneity in the SASP. It will be a major achievement to unravel those mechanisms and to steer these such that therapeutic targeting is most beneficial. In that sense, identification of senescence-driven pathologies that rely on SASP may help in optimizing candidates for therapy. XpdTTD/TTD is a pleiotropic model for aging that can be effectively used as a basis for such research. It is a well-established model for osteoarthritis, especially in cohorts of older age than we used here (52 weeks) (Botter et al., 2011) and for the unhealthy loss in muscle (sarcopenia) and fat mass. Last, it is relevant to note that independent of aging and age-related diseases, FOXO4-DRI may be of use against the progression, stemness, and migration of malignant cancer. Given that SASP factors influence these (Campisi, 2013), it will be particularly interesting to determine whether FOXO4-DRI affects those p53-wt cancer cells that have adopted a more migratory and stem-like state due to reprogramming by chronic SASP exposure. In any case, the here reported beneficial effects of FOXO4-DRI provide a wide range of possibilities for studying the potential of therapeutic removal of senescence against diseases for which few options are available. Fightaging points out we really have little idea as to how the life extension observed in mice lacking senescent cells will scale in humans. Near all methods of extending life in mice to date have been based on modestly slowing aging, changing the operation of metabolism to reduce the rate at which molecular damage accrues. Short-lived species like mice have a much greater response to this sort of thing than do humans, demonstrated when we compare the effects of calorie restriction and growth hormone receptor loss of function mutations. In mice these can extend life by as much as half again, but if that was the case in humans, wed have certainly noticed by now. Clearing senescent cells is a completely different form of therapy, however, a type of damage repair carried out intermittently rather than an ongoing slowing of damage. I know of no such approach that has been tried in both mice and humans, and thus there is no basis for comparison. Highlights A modified FOXO4-p53 interfering peptide causes p53 nuclear exclusion in senescent cells This FOXO4 peptide induces targeted apoptosis of senescent cells (TASC) TASC neutralizes murine liver chemotoxicity from doxorubicin treatment TASC restores fitness, hair density, and renal function in fast and naturally aged mice Summary The accumulation of irreparable cellular damage restricts healthspan after acute stress or natural aging. Senescent cells are thought to impair tissue function, and their genetic clearance can delay features of aging. Identifying how senescent cells avoid apoptosis allows for the prospective design of anti-senescence compounds to address whether homeostasis can also be restored. Here, we identify FOXO4 as a pivot in senescent cell viability. We designed a FOXO4 peptide that perturbs the FOXO4 interaction with p53. In senescent cells, this selectively causes p53 nuclear exclusion and cell-intrinsic apoptosis. Under conditions where it was well tolerated in vivo, this FOXO4 peptide neutralized doxorubicin-induced chemotoxicity. Moreover, it restored fitness, fur density, and renal function in both fast aging XpdTTD/TTD and naturally aged mice. Thus, therapeutic targeting of senescent cells is feasible under conditions where loss of health has already occurred, and in doing so tissue homeostasis can effectively be restored. Cell Targeted Apoptosis of Senescent Cells Restores Tissue Homeostasis in Response to Chemotoxicity and Aging Positive outcome of trials in Niger fuels hope that vaccine can protect children in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond from infection that causes often fatal diarrhoea. A vaccine capable of enduring scorching temperatures for months at a time could strike a decisive blow in the fight against rotavirus, preventing nearly half a million children around the world from dying of diarrhoea each year. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has hailed successful trials of the BRV-PV vaccine in Niger as a game changer in tackling rotavirus infection, which is the leading cause of severe diarrhoea globally and claims the lives of an estimated 1,300 children daily, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. According to results published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the vaccine has proven as effective as those currently used to treat severe gastroenteritis. Trials in Nigers Maradi region successfully treated 4,000 children under the age of two. Unlike existing vaccines, the BRV-PV vaccine does not require refrigeration and can remain stable for up to one year at 37C or six months at 40C. It is particularly effective against the strains of rotavirus found in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as affordable: at only $2.50 (2), the vaccine could potentially be rolled out quickly in routine immunisation programmes. This is a game-changer, said Dr Micaela Serafini, MSFs medical director. We believe that the new vaccine can bring protection against rotavirus to the children who need it most. Diarrhoea is the second largest cause of death in infants and children worldwide, primarily in low-income countries where access to clean water and sanitation is limited. Rotavirus is highly contagious, particularly among babies and young children, and can be spread by contaminated hands, objects such as toys and surfaces, and water and food. Children in the worlds poorest countries account for 82% of rotavirus deaths, but vaccines make a significant difference. In Mexico, diarrhoeal deaths among children under five declined by as much as 50% after rotavirus vaccines were introduced. A nurse administers a rotavirus vaccine to a baby in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, as part of a 2014 public health initiative. Photograph: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images The World Health Organization recommends that rotavirus vaccines should be included in all national immunisation programmes, and considered a priority in south and south-east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The BRV-PV vaccine is awaiting pre-qualification from the WHO before it can be rolled out. Licensing the product could take up to 18 months, said Anna-Lea Kahn, a WHO technical officer looking at innovations for facilitating vaccine supply and delivery. During that period, WHO scientists evaluate data supporting the vaccines quality and safety, drawing on independent specialist help when needed. Most difficulties with vaccine delivery tend to arise during the last mile of the vaccine supply chain, said Kahn. Thats where it goes wrong the most: where being able to maintain the cold chain is hardest; where constraints are most pronounced, be it due to lack of electricity or lack of resources, or inability to maintain a cold fridge. There may be geographical barriers, too, presenting a logistical challenge. In these scenarios, not having to depend on the cold chain can make a valuable difference in getting vaccines to those who otherwise might not receive it. By GMM 23 March 2017 - 07:01 F1 doctors on Thursday gave Pascal Wehrlein the green light to race in Australia, following a back injury that marred his pre-season. "The back is all good now," the Sauber driver is quoted by Germanys Auto Motor und Sport in Melbourne. Wehrlein missed the first Barcelona test but returned without major issue for the final days of running before Melbourne. The German said: "I was in Austria again after the tests and got back to full training." However, Wehrlein admits his winter programme was affected, conceding recently that he could be behind the eight ball for the opening races of 2017. "The situation is how it is," he said on Thursday. "I have to cope with that. But it should not be an excuse that I missed the first test week because it was my fault. The laps from the second test week must be enough." A former President of Chemical Society of Nigeria, CSN, Prof Oladele Osibanjo, has blamed the increased cases of cancer and other harmful diseases on the abuse of chemicals.The university teacher who was the guest lecturer at the 22nd Annual lecture, award of honours and postgraduate scholarships of Stephen Oluwole Awokoya Foundation for Science Education (SOAFSE) said major global environmental problems are caused by chemicals.The erudite professor of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry said although chemicals are important in our daily lives as we are exposed to it, he however lamented that a lot of people are exposed to danger through abuse and ignorance.Chemicals are important in our daily lives, it has both good and bad sides; for instance, we have chemicals in cosmetics, food and water as well as communication gadgets like mobile phones and computers but improper regulation and exposure can cause cancer, reduced fertility, brain disorder and early puberty in children.We lack management structure for chemical safety, government must put in place a regulation to protect the public, Prof Osibanjo added. At the event, which took place at the MUSON Centre were eminent personalities including Sir Steve Omojafor who chaired the occasion, Bashorun J. K. Randle who was the special guest of honour, Dr. Sunny Kuku, Prof. Ayo Ogunye, Chief Nike Akande and Chief Dele Onabule.The occasion also provided an avenue to honour two distinguished Nigerians for their exemplary service to humanity.These are the Chairman/Publisher of The Guardian, Lady Maiden Alex-Ibru and Chairman, Continental Reinsurance Company, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola.According to Dr. Omolaraeni Awokoya-Adadevoh, who is the executive director of the foundation, eminent Nigerians, who had made remarkable achievements in their various fields and impacted lives, are annually honoured by the foundation.An elated Mrs. Alex Ibru, who commended the foundation for its lofty objectives said although her background is largely art-based, everything in the society revolves around science.She said, I am more of a literary person. But I later developed interest in science, particularly human anatomy. Everything is about science. Science derives from nature.On his part, Chief Ogunshola, who was accompanied by his wife, Chief Iyabo Ogunshola, expressed appreciation to the foundation for the honour.Ogunshola extolled the virtues of the late Awokoya particularly his contribution to the development of education in the western region as well as the nation at large.Another highpoint of the event was the award of postgraduate scholarships to six candidates who have excelled in their academic pursuits.A member of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Folarin Awokoya said 120 postgraduate students from 31 universities applied for the 2017 scholarship scheme, which covers primarily tuition and board, out of which six candidates were picked.The six, who are first class science graduates include Olajide Ezekiel Bamidele who studied Chemical Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ife, Eziolu Stella Ilozuma a Civil Engineering graduate of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Nkenna Ozofor Henry, a Chemical Engineering graduate also from NAU, Oyindamola Badejo, a graduate ofBiomedical Engineering from Bells University, Mololuwa Josiah, a Computer Science graduate from Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo and Mariam Orhierhor, a graduate of Animal and Environmental Biology from the University of Benin.Orhierhor, who spoke on behalf of her colleagues lauded the foundation for the initiative and assured that they would be role models to their generation.Omojafor commended the foundation for its objectives and contribution to the development of science education in the country. He disclosed that he is a beneficiary of the free education that the likes of Awokoya and the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo introduced in the defunct western region.While restating the importance of science to the development of any nation, Omojafor noted that technological development in all aspects is derived from science education.On his part, Randle, who commended the foundation for keeping the memory of Awokoya alive lamented that science is not being given priority attention and blamed this on ignorance.Other members of the Board of Trustees of the foundation are Prof. Ogunye, Dr. Kuku, Mrs. Modupe Ogunwale, Dr. Folarin Awokoya, Chief Joe Anyigbo, Dr. Olutayo Martins and Miss Similola Awokoya. World leaders on Wednesday unanimously condemned the attack in the heart of London by a man who was shot dead by armed police, with many... World leaders on Wednesday unanimously condemned the attack in the heart of London by a man who was shot dead by armed police, with many saying they stand with Britain.At least three people were killed and more than 20 injured in the attack outside parliament when a man mowed down pedestrians with a car then leapt out and stabbed a police officer. In an address outside her Downing Street office, Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as sick and depraved saying the assailant chose the site as an assault on Britains democratic values.President Muhammad Buhari condemned terrorist attack near the United Kingdom Parliament Building at Westminster, London. This was contained in a statement by his spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina. The President, who sympathized with the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, assured her that the government and people of Nigeria stand with Britons at this sad and trying moment in their country. According to President Buhari, terror attack anywhere in the world is condemnable, adding that the whole world must join hands to defeat the perpetrators of terrorism. He prayed that God Almighty will comfort the grieving families and heal the injured. Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany stood firmly and resolutely alongside Britons in the struggle against all forms of terrorism while President Frank-Walter Steinmeier added: In these grave moments, we Germans feel very close to the British people. France President Francois Hollande sent a message of solidarity and support to the British people saying France could identify with their pain after the attack, in which three French high school students were also wounded. France, which has been hit so hard in recent times, knows what the British people are suffering today, he said. And Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve tweeted: Solidarity with our British friends, horribly attacked, full support for the injured French students, their families and their friends. United States The White House condemned the attack and pledged the full support of the US government in responding to the attack and bringing those to justice who are responsible, spokesman Sean Spicer said at a briefing. Canada Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: Our thoughts are with the victims of todays attack in London and their families. Canadians remain united with the people of the UK. European Union European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the attack left him highly emotional. In Brussels to commemorate the one-year anniversary of attacks on the main airport and a metro station, Juncker said the fact that exactly on the same day something similar happened in London, and to London, is really putting me in the situation of someone who does not have enough words to express how I am deeply feeling. European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted: My thoughts are with the victims of the Westminster attack. Europe stands firm with the UK against terror and ready to help. Russia Speaking on Russian television, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sent Moscows condolences and said Russia felt Britains pain. We consider it an evil to which it is necessary to fight collectively. In this moment, as always, our hearts are with Britons and we share their pain. The Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Dutch television he was shocked by the horrific news and said: The city is in our hearts. We are following the situation closely, and are in contact with the British authorities. Italy Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who observed a moment of silence at the start of a meeting with Social Democratic lawmakers, expressed his condolences and said: Italy and the United Kingdom remain side-by-side in our condemnation and firm response to all forms of terrorism. Belgium Our condolences are with those who mourn and all who are affected in London, Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted. Belgium stands with U.K. in fight against terror. Turkey Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasised that Turkey feels and shares deeply in the United Kingdoms pain and that it stood in solidarity with Britain in the fight against terrorism. Erdogan had earlier warned Europeans in a speech on Wednesday that no European, no Westerner will be able to take steps on the street safely and peacefully, as a crisis between Ankara and the EU showed no signs of abating. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called terrorism a global catastrophe on Turkish television, adding: All countries should come together on the terror issue and fight together against it. Greece We express our solidarity with the British people on todays indiscriminate attack, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tweeted. Spain Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tweeted: Spain stands with the British people. I condemn the attack in the vicinity of Westminster, London. Solidarity with the victims. Australia Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the assault was an attack on freedom and democracy everywhere. But we will never, ever let the terrorists win. We will defeat and destroy them on the battlefield, we will defeat and defy them at home, he said. We will never change the way we live. We will never let them divide us. Qatar Qatar stressed its rejection of violence in all its forms and its support for the UK government in all the measures it takes to maintain the countrys security. Venezuela socialist President Nicola Maduro expressed full support for the people of London and our absolute rejection of all forms of terrorism. Enough terrorism, enough war, enough violence. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and support the victims and their families, he said in televised comments. The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has cautioned the police over the handling of investigation on the recent crisis in Ile-Ife, Osu... The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has cautioned the police over the handling of investigation on the recent crisis in Ile-Ife, Osun State that led to the death of more than 40 people.He accused the police of displaying ethnic bias in its investigation and this is not good for the unity of Nigeria and its people.The governor, who condemned the killing of innocent people and destruction of properties in Ile-Ife, said crime must be treated as crime; whether committed by Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa or any tribe. However, handling of crime must be without ethnic bias.Fayose said it was strange that in a clash involving the people of Ile-Ife, who are Yorubas and Hausa, who are settlers in the ancient town, only Yorubas were arrested, taken to Abuja and paraded before the press.The governor, in a statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, condemned the mayhem and described the loss of innocent souls as unfortunate.He argued that there was no way the Police can convince Nigerians that only those 20 Yorubas that were paraded in Abuja were involved in the crisis.The governor wondered that the same police that intervened promptly in the Ile-Ife crisis, made arrests and paraded 20 people as alleged masterminds of the mayhem had not been able to arrest and parade any of the killer Fulani herdsmen that had wasted and still wasting the lives of thousands of Nigerians across the country.The statement said, If there was a clash between Yoruba people and Hausas in Ile-Ife, are the police now saying that only the Yorubas took part in the crisis?Both Yorubas and Hausa were attacked. Properties belonging to both Yorubas and Hausas were destroyed. Are the police sayings that those 20 Yorubas that they paraded in Abuja were the ones who attacked the Yoruba people that were also victims of the crisis and destroyed those houses belonging to the indigenes of Ile-Ife that were destroyed?In my own opinion, the investigation so far conducted by the police was done with ethnic bias and I demand a thorough investigation that is devoid of ethnic sentiments.Also, to prevent future reoccurrence of such crisis, I call on the Osun State Government to set up a judicial panel of inquiry to ascertain the remote and immediate causes of the crisis, as well as identify the masterminds of the crisis.Most importantly, security agencies in the country must treat all crimes as the same, irrespective of those perpetrating them. As it appears, crimes committed by Fulani herdsmen against other Nigerians are not being treated as crimes that should be given attention by the security agencies and this is worrisome. Governor of Niger state, Abubakar Sani Bello, has admitted his failure in managing the size of his staff, despite the challenges the state... Governor of Niger state, Abubakar Sani Bello, has admitted his failure in managing the size of his staff, despite the challenges the state is currently facing.Bello made the confession when he received the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright at the Government House in Minna on Thursday.According to him, there are so many staff in the Niger state civil service to the point that most of them are redundant and idle.He added that every measure he had put in place to cut down on the staff both at the civil service and appointed staff has yielded poor results..Bello lamented: Already, we have so many staff and it has been difficult to cut down on the staff.Even politically, it is difficult to cut down on the staff. I have tried to cut down on the staff in so many ways but I have failed, he lamented.The Governor then asked that the British High Commission partners with the state in the area of building of technical and vocational institutions in a bid to reduce youth restiveness and the search for blue collared jobs.He appealed for a long term relationship with the British government, adding that it will be beneficial to the state and the United Kingdom.Earlier, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright had expressed the interest of the United Kingdom in partnering with the state government in the area of mining and agriculture.He said that Niger state have a large potential in agriculture if the potentials are properly harnessed, pointing out that the agricultural sector can take the state out of its current economic challenges. The Ondo State Chapter of Yoruba Youth Council, YYC, the youth arm of Yoruba Elders Group, has expressed displeasure over police handling ... The Ondo State Chapter of Yoruba Youth Council, YYC, the youth arm of Yoruba Elders Group, has expressed displeasure over police handling of the recent communal clash between Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba in Ile-Ife, Osun State.Police paraded suspects responsible for the clash, disturbance of public peace and mayhem in Ile-Ife during the week.Some notable Yoruba persons have before now, lamented that no Hausa/Fulani origin was paraded among the suspects, describing the arrest of suspected persons as onesided.In a communique issued at the end of its inaugural meeting and read to newsmen in Akure on Thursday by its Ondo State Chairperson, Miss Ewatomilola Owoeye, YYC condemned the action of the police.YYC also noted that the recent arrests by the police was one sided.It said, We observed those paraded at the force headquarters are Yoruba; there was no Hausa /Fulani among those who were paraded.We are urging the police to with immediate effect transfer those who were arrested to Osun where the incident occurred.We are also urging the police to conduct proper investigation so as not to arrest innocent Nigerians, she said. A MEMBER of the legal team of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Johnmary Jideobi has wri... A MEMBER of the legal team of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Johnmary Jideobi has written President Muhammadu Buhari on the continued disobedience of court order as it concerned the release of the IPOB leader, Jideobi, in the letter, said that by constitutional structuring and operation of Nigerian laws, the Department of State Security (DSS) and all military and para-military agencies were under the presidents ultimate control and command as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and should therefore react when laws were flouted.He recalled that the Federal High Court had, on the 17th December, 2015, delivered a ruling on the application brought by Kanu, adding that in the said ruling, a sacred order was solemnly pronounced against the DSS to the effect that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should be released unconditionally, having been admitted to bail.Jideobi said: The decisions of the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court, a High Court and of all other courts established by the Nigerian Constitution shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by other courts of law with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court, a High Court and those other Courts.The discernible Constitutional duty that has crystallized on your shoulders as eventuating from the provision of the law is to enforce the decisions of the Federal High Court, such as the one made by Justice Ademola J. on the 17th December, 2015Obedience to orders of courts is fundamental to the peace and stability of the Nigerian nation. The ugly alternative is a painful recrudescence of triumph of brute force or anarchy, a resort to our old system of settlement by means of bow and arrows, machetes and guns.Disobedience to an order of court should, therefore, be seen as an offence directed not against the personality of the Judge who made the order, but as a calculated act of subversion of peace, law, and order in Nigeria. Determined to prove that he was awarded a Bachelors Degree by the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Senator Dino Melaye, on Thursday, pledge... Determined to prove that he was awarded a Bachelors Degree by the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Senator Dino Melaye, on Thursday, pledged to tender his certificate before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Maitama.Melaye, who is representing Kogi West in the Senate, said he would tender the certificate during hearing of a N5billion libel suit he slammed against an online media outlet, Sahara Reporters, which alleged that he never graduated from the Geography Department of ABU Zaria.In the suit he filed through his lawyer, Mr. Mark Ikongbeh, Senator Melaye, insisted that he indeed bagged a B. Sc in Geography from the University. He told the court that the certificate scandal has exposed him to great psychological stress and emotional trauma, saying he has been abandoned by his friends and associates owing to the defamatory publication by the defendants.Cited as 1st to 4th defendants in the suit marked M/4812/17, were, the Incorporated Trustees of Sahara Reporters Media Foundation, Omoyele Sowore, Temitope Olumuyide and Sahara Reporters Media Group Inc. Aside praying the court to award him N5billion as aggravate and exemplary damages for libel, the plaintiff also applied for an injunction restraining the defendants, by themselves or by their servants or agents, from making further publications on the issue.He is equally seeking N10million as cost of the legal action. In the statement of claim, the plaintiff told the court that a great number of his constituents, friends, associates, foreign acquaintances have felt so betrayed and let down by conducts maliciously and falsely alleged against him by the defendants, to an extent that they have ostracised him and have currently given him a wide berth.He said: Many invitations to honourable events have been withdrawn and attempts to reach out to several people who had very cordial relations with the plaintiff has been met with a cold shoulder.The plaintiff has suffered great psychological stress and emotional trauma by reason of the defamatory publications arising from the loss of company he has suffered from friends and associates.This precarious psychology state has been exacerbated by the number of people whom the plaintiff has had to reach out to or who have reached out to him for explanation and reassurance of the truth in the situation. The plaintiff has greatly been weighed down emotionally by the sudden loss of huge public goodwill which he enjoyed prior to the publication of the defamatory publication.Further, the defendants published the defamatory words out of malevolence and spite towards the plaintiff and with a view to cower the plaintiff into soft pedalling on his stance in several issues ongoing in the Senate chambers.In a 15-paragraphed affidavit that was personally deposed by the plaintiff, he averred: That I am a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing Kogi West Senatorial District of Kogi State and I was once the honourable member of the House of Representatives representing the Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency. Amongst other duties; I currently serve as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the FCT.The 1st defendant is an organisation setup under Part C of the companies and Allied Matters Act as a non-profit organisation ostensibly dedicated to promoting a brand of investigative journalism pioneered by the 4th defendant. The 1st defendant is the Nigerian arm of the 4th defendant. The 1st defendant by its official filings at the Corporate Affairs Commission is based in Lagos.The 2nd and 3rd defendants are the Trustees of the 1st defendant and also the promoters of the 4th defendant. They are self-styled investigative journalists who are not visibly known to be accredited by or affiliated to any registered media outfit.They operate under the popular Sahara Reporters brand. The 2nd and 3rd defendants operate all over Nigeria but have listed addresses located in Lagos in their corporate filings.The 4th defendant is a business Corporation organised under the laws of New York State in the United States of America and is the proprietor of a website and other online channels through which it disseminates news items predominantly about governance issues in Nigeria.The 2nd defendant is listed as the Chief Executive Officer of the 4th defendant. That the 4th defendant is based in New York, United States of America but is represented in the country by the 2nd defendant who is also its alter ego and service of court process on the 2nd defendant will definitely bring the suit to the 4th defendants attention.On the 19th and 20th March 2017, the defendants falsely and maliciously wrote, posted, and published or caused to be written on their verified Twitter handle identified as @SaharaReporters hosted online at the web address of and concerning me by directly mentioning and linking it to my Twitter handle identified as @dino_melaye hosted online at the web address ; the following words: FLASH: University teachers at the Geography Department of Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria insists that @dino_melaye did not graduate, bribed his HOD/1 (posted at 4:09 PM- 19th March 2017. FLASH: University teachers at the Geography Dept of ABU, Zaria insists that @dino_melaye never graduated, DG DSS informed but covered it up. (posted at 4:11 PM- 19th March 2017.FLASH: At least 3 Exam Officers at ABU, Zaria insists that @dino_melaye never graduated from Geography Dept, DG DSS alerted but covered it up (posted at 4:14PM 19th March 2017). FLASH: Exam Officers at ABU, Zaria insists that @dino_melaye never graduated from Geography Dept, they said Dinos name was not on graduation list (posted at 4:16 PM -19th March 2017).He said the online media outfit equally posted that his HOD, Prof. David Okoro Ogbonna, assisted him to forge his transcript and that he applied for a Post Graduate program at UNIJOS, went to ABU for transcript and none could be provided. Melaye said the defendants further posted that he went ahead to do a PG at UNIJOS without any transcript from ABU, Geography Dept.By the said words in their natural and ordinary meaning, the defendants meant and were understood to mean: That I am dishonest and have deceived the public about the state of my academic qualifications.That my academic credentials are shady and questionable. That I am guilty of bribery and corruption. That I have corruptly influenced investigation against me.That I am guilty of forgery. That I am guilty of corruptly influencing public officers in the performance of their duties. That my educational qualifications are false and fake.That I am guilty of the criminal conduct of collusion and falsification of official records. That I am unworthy of the credit and trust of the society. That I am unworthy to hold the office of the Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.The above publication received instant widespread publicity both within and outside Nigeria as the defendants website and their electronic channels enjoy huge popularity globally. The verified twitter handle of the defendants @saharaReporters has over 1, 390, 000 followers to whom the publication was immediate made available upon publication.He said the scale of the publication was further enlarged by the sheer number of people that were drawn by his popularity and reputation, adding, the greatest impact of this publication is here in Abuja. According to him, The result of the publication of the defamatory words by the defendants has been devastating to my image and has greatly injured my credit and reputation and brought me into public scandal, odium and contempt.In his statement of claim, Melaye further told the court that the defendants, propagate a style of unconventional and unregulated journalism which they term advocacy journalism that encourages citizen journalist (essentially untrained and unregulated individuals) to report news items which are not subject to verification before publication.The plaintiff is a graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, where he bagged a B. Sc in Geography. The Plaintiffs certificates are pleaded. The plaintiff at all times material to this suit is a highly visible politician who is well known through the length and breadth of Nigeria and globally.He ranks high amongst the most well-known public office holders currently in Nigeria having served in several capacities over the years.The plaintiff has particularly become a beacon and a model to the youths of the world due to the roots of his political life which begun with his active participation in student union affairs at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.By dint of selfless stewardship, the plaintiff successfully transformed from a youth leader into a National leader in Nigeria reputed for frankness, forthrightness and principled leadership.Meantime, the suit is yet to be assigned to any judge for hearing. To activate the text-to-speech service, please first agree to the privacy policy below. Taipei, March 23 (CNA) Coast Guard officers on the offshore island county of Kinmen met with a runaway Vietnamese worker in Miaoli County on Thursday and arranged for him to surrender to agents from the Miaoli branch of the National Immigration Agency (NIA) after the migrant worker said he left his place of employment due to homesickness. An 81st-minute penalty from Kelechi Iheanacho helped Nigeria secure a 1-1 draw against Senegal in their friendly encounter at the Hives S... An 81st-minute penalty from Kelechi Iheanacho helped Nigeria secure a 1-1 draw against Senegal in their friendly encounter at the Hives Stadium in London.Moussa Sow had given the Teranga Lions an early second half lead but they could not for a victory over the Super Eagles.The Senegalese started the brighter of both sides in the opening 20 minutes with Idrissa Gueye exerting his influence. And their best chance of the half fell to Sow who rattled the woodwork from close range.Halfway into the match, Super Eagles skipper for the night, Ogenyi Onazi was stretched off after collision with the Teranga Lions striker, Mame Diouf. The Trabzonspor midfielder was replaced by John Ogu.And Ogus combination with Wilfred Ndidi at the heart of the midfield shifted the momentum to the Rohrs men.Nigeria could have gone ahead on two occasions, both opportunities falling to Iheanacho. The Manchester City man fizzled a low shot across the face of the Senegalese goal before missing a point blank effort after some good work from Alex Iwobi and Moses Simon. The first half ended goalless.After the interval, the Senegalese regained dominance and were rewarded nine minutes into the half after Sow benefitted from poor defending to get the curtain raiser.Rohr rang the changes with Ogenekaro Etebo and debutant, Isaac Success coming on for Iwobi and Moses respectively.Etebo almost had an instant impact after an Eagles' breakaway saw Iheanacho release the Feirense attacker whose effort was parried.However, the Eagles would have the final say in the match after Iheanacho was tripped in the area by goalkeeper Pape Ndiaye and the youngster made no mistake from 12-yard out to rescue Nigeria from their first loss under Rohr. The strike also marked his fifth in his last six games for the national team.The Super Eagles will now play their second friendly encounter against Burkina Faso at the same venue on March 27. Senators yesterday told Customs chief Col. Hameed Ali to resign. Senators yesterday told Customs chief Col. Hameed Ali to resign. The upper chamber declared the Customs Comptroller-General unfit to hold public office.The lawmakers resolved to ask Col. Ali to immediately throw in the towel in the interest of good governance and rule of law.The Senate also came down hard on the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, for allegedly advising Col. Ali to shun its invitation.The resolutions were made after about one hour 30 minutes closed session where issues concerning Col. Alis appearance in uniform were discussed.It was a charged session where senators took turns to criticise Col. Ali for not honouring the Senates invitation.The lawmakers concluded that Col. Ali deliberately refused to honour the invitation to appear at the Senate using an orchestrated pending suit as a cover.Briefing by the Comptroller General of Customs and Excise in line with Senate resolution was listed in Order Paper as one of the businesses of the day.Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu told the Senate after the closed session that a letter was received on Tuesday from the AGF, asking the Senate to stay action on Col. Alis invitation due to a court process on the subject matter of the invitation.Ekweremadu asked the Clerk, Nelson Ayewoh, to read the letter.The letter reads: Re: Suit Number FHC/ABJ/CS/207/2017. Mohammed Ibrahim (ESQ) Versus Col.Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) and four othersI wish to formally intimate you that I am in receipt of a letter dated 20th March 2017 wherein I have been served with an originating summons in respect of the above subject matter (copy attached).The originating summons is seeking among other declarations whether the oversight functions of the National Assembly extends to compelling and/ or giving directive to the first defendant to wear uniform.In line with the principles of rule of law, Court decisions or most importantly, the declarations sought have been deeply rooted in the constitutional provisions; I hold the view that this matter is sub-judice.In view of the above, it is the interest of justice and rule of law to stay all actions in this case until the constitutional issues raised in the matters are resolved by the law courts. I wish to further intimate you that as a defendant in the said suit, I intend to file processes and pursue it to a logical conclusion.Accept my warm regards. Signed, Abubakar Malami, SAN Hon. Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.Ekweremadu threw the matter open for contributions.Senator Jude Uwajimogu, (Imo North) who was the first to contribute, noted that Nigeria operates a democracy and no arm of government could not stop another from doing its duty.He said that the matter had been laid to rest by the Supreme Court that no arm of government had the authority to stop the other from performing its constitutional duty.Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) said President Muhammadu Buhari should choose between rule of law and Col. Ali.Melaye said: What we have from the AGF is an insult on the institution of the National assembly, especially on the Senate. Where did he derive his power to suggest to us or direct us on how we should carry out our function. This is the first time that any AGF will have the temerity to do so.What we have is not a court order or injunction; it is a mere process. The integrity and the independence of the legislature is at stake. We have a rule which says that a matter already in court cannot be treated here, but not a matter that we are already treating and somebody went to court.The CG is not even fit to be the CG of Customs. The position of the CG is a rank and anybody holding that office is a public servant. The compulsory retirement age for the service is 60 years and Hameed Ali is far above 60 and therefore not qualified to hold that office.The President has a choice to choose between the rule of law and the CG.If we begin to have interference with our rules it will not work and, therefore, no amount of blackmail will deter us from carrying out our duty.Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South) said the advice of the AGF to Col. Ali not to honour the Senate invitation showed abysmal understanding of the law.Abaribe said: The fact of the matter was the obnoxious policy which was introduced by the CG; this is what brought us to the matter of asking the CG to come and explain to Nigerians that policy. I dont want Nigerians to forget that. I want to question the knowledge of the AGF on Nigeria law. His action shows an abysmal knowledge and understanding of the law. I leave it to those who appointed him to tell us why he advised the Customs CG to disobey and disrespect the Senate.I suggest we ignore him.and for the CG we must declare him totally unfit for the office to teach him a lesson.Abaribe who quoted Order 53(5) of the Senate Standing Rules, said: No other person is important in this matter order than the Senate President.I want to question the understanding of the AGF of the laws of Nigeria. By going ahead to write to the Clerk to the Senate, it shows an abysmal lack of understanding of how things work here.We have an AGF who does not understand the provisions of the law. Finally, there is a decided case by the Supreme Court that no arm of government can stop another arm from doing its work.I am sure that the AGF has not seen the judgment in question. The CG has deliberately refused to come here. Let us declare the CG of Customs unfit to head the agency. We need to send a strong signal.Senator Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto East) suggested that the Senate should write the President to urge him to stop the AGF from interfering in the activity of the National Assembly.He said that the AGF had formed the habit of unduly interfering in the affairs of the National Assembly.Senator Biodun Olujimi described the position of the Customs CG as gross impunity and arrogant display of ignorance.She said This is gross impunity. There is arrogant display of the ignorance by the CG who believes that he is bigger than the law and the CG who is ignorant of his duties.There is separation of power and he has refused to understand it, forgetting that he is a mere appointee.Senator Isa Hamma Misau (Bauchi Central) noted that when President Buhari was away on medial ground there was no tension or killings in the country.Misau said: The enemies of this government are within the Presidency. They are trying as much as possible to distract the President from performing.The people surrounding the President are creating tension to destroy him from concentrating to do good for the people..It is, therefore, time for Nigerians to pray for the President. The letter from the AGF is trying to create problem between the President and the National Assembly.For the 59 days the President was away did you hear about any killings, did you hear about any herdsmen attack, did you hear about Niger Delta Avengers. On the return of the President people in government are creating tension every where. The people surrounding the president are his enemies.Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (Niger) said that when they intervened it was on the basis of the outcry by Nigerians over the retrospective payment of duty on vehicles.Abaribe moved that the Senate should declare the Customs CG unfit to hold any public office and that he should resign as Customs CG.Senator Francis Alimikhena (Edo North) seconded the prayer.The two prayers were unanimously adopted.Senator George Thompson Sekibo (Rivers East) moved that the Senate should resolve to condemn the AGF for attempting to derail the Senate from carrying out its functions and to write President Buhari to restrain the AGF from the unconstitutional interference in the work of the Senate.The two prayers were also unanimously adopted.payment of customs duty on old vehicle.It said that the service should perfect ways and means to collect customs duty on border and entry points instead of harassing innocent Nigerians on the hinter roads.The Senate resolved to write President Buhari to intimate him about all the resolutions.Ekweremadu who summed up the contributions insisted that the integrity of all arms of government should be respected at all times.He said that all arms of government are serving the same people.Ekweremadu said that Ali was invited because the Senate wanted him to explain a policy majority of Nigerians opposed. The National Caretaker Committee of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday said in spite of the lingering crisis in the party, it rema... The National Caretaker Committee of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday said in spite of the lingering crisis in the party, it remained a vehicle God would use to reposition Nigeria.Publicity Secretary of the committee, Mr Dayo Adeyeye, stated this in an interview in Abuja.Adeyeye urged Nigerians not to lose hope in the PDP because of its present challenges, but should have faith in God and see how He would use the party to restore the countrys glory.He said that the crisis in the party was not unexpected, adding, however, that it would overcome it and come out strong and better to take its rightful position in the countrys political space.I believe that the present crisis we are having in PDP is not completely unexpected given the fact that the party was in power for 16 years.Being out of power will necessarily create its own problem and unfortunately, we have the introduction of a foreign agent into the party, which has complicated all matters.I believe the matter will be resolved one way or the other soonest and from this present crisis, we may even have a strong party, Adeyeye said. He expressed optimism that the forces fuelling PDP crisis would soon encounter their own internal crisis.Those who seem to be in comfort today causing trouble, their own problem would soon visit them. I am not worried; I put my faith and hope in God and I know that this matter would soon be resolved in a manner that would favour us and majority of Nigerians, by the grace of God.So, Nigerians should not lose hope as the crisis would soon be resolved. Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has accused the Senate of being on a vengeance mission against Comptroller General of Customs Hameed Ali. Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has accused the Senate of being on a vengeance mission against Comptroller General of Customs Hameed Ali.Senate President Bukola Saraki was said to have imported a bullet-proof Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) which was impounded by the Customs.This is believed to be the hidden reason behind the summoning of the Customs CG.But clearing the air on Tuesday, Senate Presidents spokesman Yusuph Olaniyonu, said: A supplier was engaged by the Senate to supply a vehicle while tranfering the vehicle between Lagos and Abuja, it was impounded by the Customs. We believe that it is an issue between the supplier and the Customs because the Senate had not taken delivery.Yesterday, Falana said: The statement credited to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki is not a denial of the criminal allegation but an attempt to pull wool over the eyes of Nigerians.Even If we accept the explanation it means that the Senate leadership bought a vehicle that was imported to the country with forged documents.That has confirmed that the planned humiliation of the customs boss was borne out of vengeance. So it is no longer a case of individual liability but that of institutional criminal negligence.These guys have to invent more lies because the limousine was not budgeted for by the National Assembly.Or is it another case of padding of the budget? Why is the leadership always associated with forgery and fraud? Did the senate leader not distance himself from the controversial vehicle? So why did the leader of the senate allow the matter to be investigated by the ethics committee of the upper chamber if he was planning to wash off his hands like Pontius Pilate? Since there are many unanswered questions, the Nigeria Customs Service should go ahead and get to the root of the criminality with a view to prosecuting the culprits. Nigerian gay activist, Bisi Alimi, has expressed resentment over the adoption of Christianity and Islamic religion by Africa. Nigerian gay activist, Bisi Alimi, has expressed resentment over the adoption of Christianity and Islamic religion by Africa.In a post on his Instagram page, the gay activist noted that he was looking forward to the day Africans will gather their Bibles and Qurans and burn them in a market place.Alimi, in his post, maintained that Europeans used the bible to enslave Africans and as such the black race should reject Christianity and Islam.The post reads, I look forward to the day Africans across the continent will gather their Bible and Quran and burn them at the market place, while we go in search of who and what our authentic selves are.It is the responsibility of Africans both young and old to make sure the continent regains its glory. We should remember the Europeans that used the bible to enslave us have turned their back against it. A civil society group, Enough is Enough, EiE, has revealed popular US trained journalist, Kemi Olunloyo, is still being held in prison because she is unable to meet her bail conditions.Recall that Kemi had announced that she had been locked up in the Port Harcourt prison for allegedly defaming Pastor David Ibiyeomie of Salvation Ministries.However, days after she was arrested and charged with cyber crime for her post about the Pastor, the group has tweeted that they confirmed why the Snitch Lady was still being held in detention.In a series of tweets, EIE said, KemiOlunloyo: Weve confirmed that she was arrested in Ibadan & brought to PH. Shes unable to meet bail conditions & is in prison.Shes not with @PoliceNG but the Prison Service.Unable to confirm the nature of the charges or her court date.We continue to explore all leads for more information.Meanwhile, Ms. Olunloyo, says her fans need not meet her at the airport on her release on bail.She said her arrest was not unconnected with a post she published alleging the pastor was having an affair with actress Iyabo Ojo and gave her the Range Rover she is driving. MAHWAH-- A Queens, N.Y., woman who worked as a nanny for a Connecticut family has been charged with stealing $100,000 worth of jewelry from a local home, Chief of Police James Batelli said in a statement Thursday. Chandroutie Gurudat, 34, was employed as a nanny for the Westport, Ct., family when she was asked to work at the home of a seriously ill relative in Mahwah. Because of the family member's illness, the theft was not immediately discovered, Batelli said. Gurudat allegedly took items from several locations in the home. Police in New York City helped recover about $30,000 of the jewelry from a pawnshop in Queens. Police are now trying to find the rest of the jewelry, Batelli said. Gurudat was arrested when she returned to the home earlier this week and charged with theft following an interview. Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook. By Rebecca Everett | For NJ.com Burlington County's next prosecutor has worked in the White House and consulted on cases around the country, but now he's taking a job closer to home. Scott Coffina, 49, of Marlton, was confirmed as the replacement for Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi at a Senate hearing March 13. Bernardi has held the job since 1999, making him the longest-serving prosecutor in the state. He still holds the post, earning a salary of $165,000 though his five-year term expired in December. Coffina, who was not available for an interview with NJ Advance Media, is still serving as senior deputy chief counsel to Gov. Chris Christie. It's not clear when he'll be sworn into his new job. Don't Edit Photo: Tim Larsen Don't Edit Here are five things to know about Coffina before he takes the county's top law enforcement position. Don't Edit 1. He's not new to public office Two former colleagues of Coffina said there's no doubt he could have gone back into the private sector and made a lot more money than he will earn as a prosecutor. "The county prosecutor role is an important role in the New Jersey system and it's an incredible opportunity to do good and do justice. I think that's what motivated Scott to do this," said Paul Zoubek, a partner in Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads. "He's an absolutely committed civil servant," said Marc Raspanti, who gave Coffina his second job as an attorney back in 1995. "He had many positions open to him and this is the one he gravitated to." Don't Edit Coffina was a staff assistant in the White House Office of Political Affairs under President Ronald Reagan. He served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia from 1997 to 2001. He served as President George W. Bush's associate counsel from 2007 to 2009, working to represent members of Bush's administration in lawsuits and other legal matters, Raspanti said. He became Christie's senior deputy chief counsel in August 2015, earning $140,000. Asked about Coffina's interest in public service, Raspanti said he doesn't think Coffina is interested in getting involved in politics. "I don't see him running for a political position," he said. Don't Edit Don't Edit 2. He's done the corporate thing, too While Coffina has spent much of his career in public office, he has also worked defending white collar clients and other powerful parties. He was a partner in Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP's white collar defense and corporate investigations practice group. According to the firm's website, he focused on "representing corporate, university and individual clients in internal investigations, False Claims Act litigation, political-legal controversies, and additional civil, criminal or regulatory enforcement actions." He worked as a member of the firm's lobbying unit, District Policy Group, which worked to lobby for and otherwise assist health care companies, according to a 2014 Washington Post article. His work at Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads also included white collar defense and corporate investigations. Don't Edit Please enjoy my latest piece for the @thelegalintel/ Pa. Law Weekly, analyzing the Senator Bob Menendez case http://t.co/E3q60mHfMz Scott Coffina (@ScottCoffina) June 1, 2015 3. He's considered an expert in government ethics and corruption Coffina has written on and been interviewed many times about government ethics, corruption, and the prosecution of politicians. On the national stage, he has testified before congress on the the Hatch Act, which restricts public officials political activities to prevent corruption. He also opined to Politico in 2015 thatHillary Clinton was incorrectwhen she claimed during her presidential campaign that her overseas speaker fees did not have to be disclosed. During his time at Drinker Biddle & Reath, Coffina also became an authority on the issue of sexual assault on college campuses, publishing articlesadvising institutions on what to doand examining various colleges' responses to alleged assaults. Don't Edit 4. His former colleagues say he's the right man for the job "He's probably one of the most qualified candidates you could have for any prosecutor position," said Raspanti, of Pietragallo, Gordon, Alfano, Bosick & Raspanti LLP. Coffina is intelligent, and tough yet also congenial and courteous, Raspanti said. "He's ethical to the core. There's not even any gray lines with him." As a manager, he doesn't shy away from doing the hard work himself, Raspanti said. "He rolls up his sleeves," he said. "If you're in the office at 7 a.m., Scott is there too and he's bringing you coffee." Don't Edit Zoubek said Coffina is dedicated to Burlington County, where he lives with his wife and three kids. He knows the issues facing the county, including the opioid epidemic, Zoubek said. "Part of being the prosecutor is identifying and highlighting issues and looking at the method of it, not just charging people," he said. Zoubek said Coffina's personality "will help in establishing relationships with the community and the police departments, at a time when those relationships are important." As the top law enforcer, he can help promote the importance of community policing, Zoubek said. Don't Edit 5. Here's what he hopes to accomplish: At his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Coffina identified five priorities that will guide him when he becomes prosecutor, according to Brian Murray, a spokesman for the governor's office. The first is working to address the "rash of violent crime" that has affected parts of the county in recent months, and focusing resources in those areas. A spike in Burlington County's homicide rate 19 killed in 2016 has been blamed on a rise in fatal shootings. Willingboro, which usually has one or two homicides in a year, had three fatal shootings in just over a month. Don't Edit Don't Edit Coffina said he plans to fight the opioid epidemic by collaborating with police, treatment providers, and community members, as well as other government officials and prosecutors. According to the New Jersey Substance Abuse Monitoring System, nearly half of county residents who sought addiction treatment in 2015 were using heroin or other opioids. He also said he will work to protect victims and witnesses, including aggressive prosecution of anyone who intimidates witnesses; to recruit the best staff and help them develop their skills, and to continue the implementation of New Jersey's criminal justice reform. Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook. The column that is becoming a cat person -- Good morning! -- It is with a great honor that I introduce you all to Stanley, a cat I adopted with my girlfriend Kathleen from the Gloucester County Humane Society. He's 7 and a little on the chubby side but so far he's been very charming. As someone who has grown up with dogs and only dogs, it's definitely an adventure getting Stanley. But we're glad we adopted him. Remember, if you're thinking of getting a cat -- or any animal -- try the local shelters first. Stanley is a rescue and all the dogs I've had growing up were rescues. -- "It's that time again! The first meeting to begin planning the Bridgeton High School Class of '73 45-year reunion is scheduled for Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. at the Towne Tavern, 694 N. Pearl St., Bridgeton. All classmates are welcome and encouraged to attend!" - Susan Robostello -- "The Cumberland Regional School District Board of Education will be recognizing 2017 Cumberland Regional High School Teacher of the Year Lauren Tompkins and Educational Services Professional of the Year Susan Hickey at the BOE meeting taking place this Thursday, March 23, at 6 p.m. at the Cumberland Regional Business Office, 65 Love Lane, Bridgeton." - Lauren Taniguchi -- Submitted photo "On Tuesday, Feb. 21, the annual excursion to New Sweden sites in Wilmington, Delaware, was taken by the 2017 class of the Eskilstuna, Sweden-Bridgeton NJ exchange student program. Standing at the altar of Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church are (from left to right) Rebecca Wilson, Executive Director of Old Swedes historic site; Aiyahna McCoy, Bridgeton student; Ellen Eriksson and Johanna Rosenkvist, both Swedish students; George Linen, Bridgeton faculty; Dyanna Magee, Bridgeton student; and Karin Grenabo, Swedish faculty. Each American hosts their Swedish counterpart and the favor is returned when the Americans go to visit Eskilstuna, Bridgeton's sister city in Sweden. This exemplary program has been running at Bridgeton High since the 1980's. The group also visited two other New Sweden sites nearby: the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation and Fort Christina National Park. The visitors were delighted when KNF Education Director Sam Heed showed an excerpt from the new film on the 1638 voyage by the Kalmar Nyckel ship, 'The Forgotten Journey.' Kudos to KNF for this fascinating film and kudos as well to both schools for keeping the exchange student program alive and well!" - Joseph Matthews -- Bridgeton Police Department is hosting Coffee with a Cop on March 28 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Bridgeton McDonald's. "We see programs like Coffee with a Cop as an important part of our work in the community- being accessible to residents and building relationships. Sometimes it starts with something as simple as a little time and a good cup of coffee," said Chief Michael Gaimari. -- MY KIND OF TOWN: Where you don't need to drink coffee to come connect with a cop Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Update: This post has been amended to include comment from HBO and Judd Apatow and tweets from Artie Lange. Comedian Artie Lange said he's been fired from the HBO show "Crashing" following his recent arrest in Hoboken. But shortly after Lange asserted he would no longer be working on the show, HBO said it hadn't fired the comedian. Lange, 49, who grew up in Union Township, was arrested on charges of drug possession on March 12 in the parking garage of his Hoboken building. Hoboken police said officers found Lange with cocaine, heroin and drug paraphernalia. Playing himself, Lange has been a memorable recurring character on "Crashing," the comedy currently airing on HBO created by and starring comedian Pete Holmes. Lange serves as a kind of unruly mentor to Holmes' aspiring comedian, and Holmes' character tries to keep Lange away from drugs and alcohol (at his instruction). When the series was picked up for a second season, Lange seemed overjoyed, calling his work with the show "another amazing chapter" for him. The comedian, who has long wrestled with addiction, claimed he would no longer be working on the HBO series during radio interviews on Thursday with WOR's "Len Berman and Todd Schnitt in the Morning" and 77 WABC's "The Bernie and Sid Show" with Bernard McGuirk and Sid Rosenberg. He had been promoting his stand-up show this Friday at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair. McGuirk and Rosenberg made mention that Judd Apatow, executive producer of "Crashing," had expressed support for Lange. "We would never give up on Artie or anyone struggling with addiction," Apatow tweeted on March 17, a sentiment later retweeted by Holmes. We would never give up on Artie or anyone struggling with addiction. https://t.co/zhm8VBwdnR -- Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) March 17, 2017 "Well that sets me up perfectly," Lange told the radio hosts. "I was fired today." "It's not Judd, it's the insurance company," Lange said. The hosts tried him again, to see if he was kidding. No, Lange said, he's definitely off the show. "I just got a text from show business," he later joked. "It says 'bye.'" But in a statement published by The Wrap later the same day, the cable network said Lange was not fired. "HBO has not fired Artie Lange," it read. "'Crashing' has completed production for season one and has been recently renewed for a second season." The statement also said the scripts for the second season hadn't been written. Apatow backed up this statement by simply tweeting that Lange was not fired. Artie was not fired from the show. https://t.co/fXCQAWreFb -- Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) March 23, 2017 After news broke of his arrest on March 17, Lange tweeted at length about the incident, thanking Hoboken police. "To u worried fans pls know I love u," Lange said. "Also know I've never wanted to live more! If HBO has to let me go Its my bad! Judd, Pete & u. Thx!" When asked on the ABC radio show if any famous faces had reached out to the former "Howard Stern Show" sidekick after his arrest, Lange, who added that he was sure he'd get more work, mentioned that he'd been in touch with Bruce Springsteen, though maybe not after the arrest. "He called again recently," Lange said. "He called and said 'I'm glad you're on that show.'" But in keeping with his history of ups and downs as an addict, Lange added that he went to see Springsteen perform in Paris and told him he'd beaten "heroin and booze." "Literally 20 hours later I was in a Paris jail for public drunkenness," he said. On Thursday night, after Apatow and HBO denied Lange had been fired, the comedian fired off two quizzical tweets referencing the matter. Hold on. I am not Fired. Artie Lange tells the broad who produces Len Bermans radio show he has not been fired -- Artie Lange (@artiequitter) March 23, 2017 Lange documented his experiences with drugs and rehab in his 2008 memoir "Too Fat to Fish" and his 2013 memoir "Crash and Burn," and has spoken openly about using. In 2010, the comedian was hospitalized after a suicide attempt. He has said his problems with drugs cost him his relationship with Howard Stern. "It was nothing but my fault," Lange told NJ Advance Media before his arrest. "Howard tried to help me." On Thursday morning, Lange, who hosts a podcast called "Artie Quitter," told "Len Berman and Todd Schnitt in the Morning" that he's been in rehab and has been clean for the last two weeks. "There's a reason why people get addicted to (heroin)," Lange said. "I don't want kids to hear this, but it feels amazing. That's why you get addicted to it and then it becomes a living hell after a while. That's the problem." Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. By Derek Hawkins March 22The 2016 election was just a month away when Steve Curtis, a conservative radio host and former Colorado Republican Party chairman, devoted an entire episode of his morning talk show to the heated topic of voter fraud.It seems to me, Curtis said in the 42-minute segment, that virtually every case of voter fraud I can remember in my lifetime was committed by Democrats.On Tuesday, Colorado prosecutors threw a wrench into that already dubious theory, accusing Curtis of voter fraud for allegedly filling out and mailing in his ex-wifes 2016 ballot for president, Denvers Fox affiliate reported.Curtis, 57, was charged in Weld County District Court with one count of misdemeanor voter fraud and one count of forgery, a Class 5 felony, according to local media.The case is the only voter fraud investigation related to the 2016 election that has resulted in criminal charges in the state, the Colorado secretary of states office told Denvers ABC affiliate. Introduction I. General Interpretive Approach II. Specific Doctrinal Views Conclusion Whatever openness to the claims of criminal defendants Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch may have displayed in his Fourth Amendment decisions,, United States v. Ackerman, 831 F.3d 1292, 1307-08 (10th Cir. 2016); United States v. Carloss, 818 F.3d 988, 1003, 1005-06 (10th Cir. 2016) (Gorsuch, J., dissenting). finds no counterpart in his opinions touching on Sixth Amendment rights. In each of the four cases in which Judge Gorsuch has dissented on Sixth Amendment grounds, his desired holding would have been more favorable for the government.Hooks v. Workman, 689 F.3d 1148, 1208, 1211 (10th Cir. 2012) (Gorsuch, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part); Williams v. Jones, 583 F.3d 1254, 1260 (10th Cir. 2009) (Gorsuch, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc); Wilson v. Workman, 577 F.3d 1284, 1316-17 (10th Cir. 2009) (en banc) (Gorsuch, J., dissenting); Williams v. Jones, 571 F.3d 1086, 1110 (10th Cir. 2009) (Gorsuch, J., dissenting). Defendants who find him writing for the majority are no better offout of fifty-two opinions the Judge has authored that discuss the Sixth Amendment, Searches of Tenth Circuit cases on the Sixth Amendment in which Judge Gorsuch wrote an opinion yielded fifty-five results in Westlaw and fifty-eight in Lexis. Reconciling the two searches revealed fifty-two unique majority opinions. only two granted relief on this basis. United States v. Farr, 536 F.3d 1174, 1176 (10th Cir. 2008) (granting relief on a claim based on the constructive amendment of the indictment); United States v. Golden, 255 F. Appx 319, 320 (10th Cir. 2007) (ruling for a defendant who claimed her counsel was ineffective). This Essay offers an overview of Judge Gorsuchs interpretive approach to the Sixth Amendment in Part I, followed in Part II by an assessment of his likely future holdings in two specific areas: ineffective assistance of counsel and the Confrontation Clause.A. Judicial RestraintThe hallmark of Judge Gorsuchs writings on the Sixth Amendment has been a restrained approach to adjudication. Granted, Sixth Amendment claims are generally raised on federal habeas, where the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) entitles the decision below to doubly deferential review.Knowles v. Mirzayance, 556 U.S. 111, 123 (2009);Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (codified as amended in scattered sections of the U.S. Code). AEDPA permits federal courts to provide habeas relief to prisoners in state custody if, among other narrow circumstances, the state court decision under review was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States. 28 U.S.C. 2254(d) (2015). But even on top of this baseline deference, Judge Gorsuch has urged judicial restraint in several ways, including by invoking the constitutional avoidance canon,, 689 F.3d at 1208 (Gorsuch, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (counseling courts to avoid reaching constitutional questions in advance of the necessity of deciding them (quoting Lyng v. Nw. Indian Cemetery Protective Assn, 485 U.S. 439, 445 (1988)));, 583 F.3d at 1256 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc) (Its not every day we exacerbate a split of authority over the recognition of a new constitutional right . . . .). and exhorting deference to state courts., 583 F.3d at 1258 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc) ([W]e are not here to grade state court opinions . . . .);, 557 F.3d at 1316 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting) (We could and should have just asked the [Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA)] what its Rule means. After all, the OCCA, not this court, is the authoritative expositor of its own rules.). In one dissent, the Judge criticized the majority for reaching an unnecessary constitutional question, emphasizing that nothing turns on it and its answer does not matter., 689 F.3d at 1208, 1211 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting). In another, he expressed frustration with the majority for treating the state courts decision as less than the,, 577 F.3d at 1315 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting). suggesting that a confirmed Justice Gorsuch would be similarly reluctant to aggrandize the role of federal courts vis-a-vis the states. It is not clear, however, that this reluctance reflects special reverence for state court findings. In at least one case, Judge Gorsuchs preference for deferring to the state courts remedy would have simultaneously undermined that courts rationale., 583 F.3d at 1255 (Kelly, J., concurring in the denial of rehearing en banc) (pointing out that Judge Gorsuchs suggestion that the OCCAs decision deserved more deference from us is strange given that [his] approach is totally at odds with the OCCAs finding of prejudice, particularly when Judge Gorsuchs desired holding would have deemed the state court finding contrary to federal law (quotingat 1258 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc))). The Judges preference for judicial restraint also seems tied to preserving the finality of criminal proceedings.at 1256 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc) (Its not every day we overturn a state jury verdict for first-degree murder when the defendant admits he received a fair trial and no one questions that his conviction is supported by overwhelming evidence.). For example, his dissent from a decision recognizing a right to counsel inproceedings rested, in part, on the fact that the petitionershearing would occur after his conviction., 689 F.3d at 1209 (Gorsuch, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) ([W]hen it comes toconviction habeas proceedings, the Supreme Courts teachings have been consistent, clear, and categoricalholding that a constitutional right to counsel doesexist.);Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 321 (2002) (holding that the execution of intellectually disabled individuals is unconstitutional). When the petitioner pointed out thatwas decided after he had already been convictedmaking collateral review his first opportunity to pursue anclaimJudge Gorsuch scoffed at what he considered an attempt to transmogrify a habeas proceeding back into a pre-conviction criminal proceeding., 689 F.3d at 1210 (Gorsuch, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).B. Judicial PragmatismJudge Gorsuchs Sixth Amendment decisions also reveal a tendency toward judicial pragmatism, taking into account the scope and severity of potential constitutional violations to assess the likely practical consequences of the courts holding.When asked to grant relief to criminal defendants, the Judge is sensitive to the floodgates principle, and is thus hesitant to open wide the courthouse doors. Dissenting from a decision about ineffective assistance in plea bargaining, he complained that defendants in our circuit who are offered pre-trial plea agreements () can now take a shot at trial knowing . . . they will still have a chance at reviving the forgone plea offer., 583 F.3d at 1257 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc) (emphasis added). Likewise, he rested hisdissent in part on the fear that fashioning anproceeding as part of [the petitioners] original criminal prosecution would extend the right to counsel to a large number of substantive claims that, like Mr. Hookssclaim, could only be brought after conviction for reasons beyond the petitioners control.689 F.3d at 1210 ([H]abeas petitioners would have a constitutional right to post-conviction counsel not just forclaims but also forclaims aimed at appellate counsel or forclaims based on newly discovered evidence. . . . [T]hat, of course, is not the law.). Yet in the same case, the Judge also emphasized thenumber of potential litigants who stood to gain from the majoritys holding given the limited scope ofretroactivity.at 1209 ([T]he number of cases like Mr. Hookssapplyingin collateral proceedings and still working their way through the federal courts a decade latersurely isnt overwhelming.). Rather than concluding that little would be lost by ensuring the right to counsel for this small group, he cited the fact that only a few defendants would benefit as a reason to reject it.(Adding caution to caution to my mind is the fact its not obvious an opinion on the question Mr. Hooks poses willbe necessary.). Judge Gorsuchs pragmatism also incorporates his sense of the severity of the underlying Sixth Amendment violation; in at least one case, he has minimized the practical impact of the infringement while denying the petitioners requested relief. United States v. Jackson, 493 F.3d 1179, 1180, 1185 (10th Cir. 2007). That defendant sought to prevent a prior uncounseled misdemeanor conviction from affecting his sentence for a new crime.at 1179-80. He argued that because he had been sentenced without counsel to a suspended jail term, the prior conviction could not be used to enhance his new sentence.at 1182-83 (citing Alabama v. Shelton, 535 U.S. 654, 662 (2002)). While Judge Gorsuch acknowledged that the prior jail sentence violated the Sixth Amendment, he struck down only that portion of the sentence involving incarcerationaffirming the conviction itself and leaving the defendant ineligible for leniency.at 1180, 1185. In so doing, he outlined the relatively minor role prior misdemeanor convictions play in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the ways federal judges may circumvent the guidelines altogethersuggesting that a confirmed Justice Gorsuch may look to real-world practices when weighing constitutional harms.at 1185.With a sense of how Judge Gorsuch has approached the Sixth Amendment thus far, we can consider whathe might say about its substantive guarantees if confirmed. The Judge has written extensively on ineffective assistance of counsel claims, with only periodic explication of his views on other Sixth Amendment topics. And he has been relatively silent on the area of Sixth Amendment jurisprudence in the most acute state of flux: the Confrontation Clause.A. On Ineffective Assistance of CounselTo prove his counsel constitutionally ineffective under, a defendant must show not only that counsels performance was deficient but also that this deficiency prejudiced his defense.466 U.S. 668, 687 (1984). Prejudice exists where there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsels unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. 24at 694. Judge Gorsuch has advocated a restrictive approach to ineffectiveness claims, narrowing this definition of prejudice in two ways. First, he has insisted that a defendant cannot establishprejudice unless his attorneys deficient performance has deprived him of some legal entitlement.Williams v. Jones, 583 F.3d 1254, 1259 (10th Cir. 2009) (Gorsuch, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc). Second, he has vividly recounted the gruesome details of a defendants crime as support for his conclusion that counsels ineffectiveness was not prejudicial.Hooks v. Workman, 689 F.3d 1148, 1212 (10th Cir. 2012) (Gorsuch, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Judge Gorsuch articulated his stance on ineffectiveness relatively early in his tenure in. He wrote twice in the case, dissenting from both the panel decision and the denial of rehearing en banc., 583 F.3d at 1256 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc); Williams v. Jones, 571 F.3d 1086, 1094 (10th Cir. 2009) (Gorsuch, J., dissenting). Judge Gorsuch agreed with the majority that the petitioner was entitled to effective representation during plea negotiations and assumed for arguments sake that petitioners counsel had performed deficiently by threatening to withdraw unless the client rejected the prosecutions plea offer., 571 F.3d at 1095 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting). Mr. Williamss counsel, apparently acting on a good faith belief in his clients innocence, erroneously advised him that entering the plea would be perjury.at 1096;at 1091 (majority opinion). But unlike the majority, Judge Gorsuch did not believe that the loss of a plea bargain could prejudice a defendant who was subsequently convicted at trial.at 1099 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting). The Supreme Court has long held that a defendant who pleads guilty based on bad advice can show prejudice by demonstrating a reasonable probability that, but for counsels errors, he . . . would have insisted on going to trial. Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 59 (1985). Although other members of the panel believedmerely present[ed] the converse of,, 583 F.3d at 1255 (Kelly, J., concurring in the denial of rehearing en banc). Judge Gorsuch was unwilling to accept that the loss of a pretrial plea offer could constitute prejudice., 571 F.3d at 1098 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting). Such an offer is merely a matter of executive grace in Judge Gorsuchs view, and a defendant has no legal entitlement to it, 583 F.3d at 1259 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc);, 571 F.3d at 1103 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting). hence the Judges unwillingness to extend. While he admitted that counsel can be ineffective at the plea bargaining phase, Judge Gorsuch would only find a Sixth Amendment infringement where that ineffectiveness denied the defendant his constitutional entitlement., 583 F.3d at 1260 n.4 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc) (emphasis added);, 571 F.3d at 1094 (Gorsuch, J., dissenting) ([D]ue process guarantees a fair trial, not a good bargain.). Judge Gorsuch has also denied that a defendant sufferedprejudice by dwelling on the bad facts of his crime. In, the majority held that a defense attorney was constitutionally ineffective for failing to present sufficient mitigating evidence at the sentencing phase of his clients capital trial. Hooks v. Workman, 689 F.3d 1148, 1207 (10th Cir. 2012). But Judge Gorsuch was unconvinced that this behavior, even if deficient, had actually prejudiced the petitioner.at 1211 (Gorsuch, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). In his view, there was no reasonable probability that a more developed mitigation presentation would have convinced the jury not to recommend a death sentence.at 1211 (Gorsuch, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Judge Gorsuch expressed particular doubt that the jury would have considered evidence of childhood trauma mitigating given that the petitioner brutally beat his pregnant wife to death over the course of approximately two hours, leaving her body barely recognizable and his unborn child dead.In light of this charged description, it appears that if the details of a crime are highly disturbing, a confirmed Justice Gorsuch will likely be reluctant to find prejudice in counsels failure to offer mitigation at sentencing. At the very least, litigants in criminal cases can expect him to remain sensitive to the facts of the underlying offense.B. On the Confrontation ClauseIn contrast to his opinions applying, Judge Gorsuch has said little about his views on perhapsthe most heated question of Sixth Amendment jurisprudence: the scope of the Confrontation Clause. The challenge of pinning down the Judges likely approach here is notable in light of the questions Justice Scalias passing raises about the future of that clause.Justice Scalia engineered current Confrontation Clause jurisprudence in his majority opinion in541 U.S. 36 (2004). He forcefully rejected the Courts prior test, under which hearsay statements could surmount the confrontation bar if they bore adequate indicia of reliability.at 42 (citing Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66 (1980));at 61.established that out-of-court statements that qualify as testimonial may not be admittedeven under existing exceptions to the hearsay ruleunless the accused has an opportunity to confront the declarant.at 68-69. Other Justices, however, have criticized the confusion Justice Scalias opinion created surrounding what counts as testimonial.at 69 (Rehnquist, C.J., concurring in the judgment) ([The Courts] decision casts a mantle of uncertainty over future criminal trials in both federal and state courts, and is by no means necessary to decide the present case.). By 2015, the Court seemed to be creeping back toward a reliability standard: when determining whether a statement is testimonial, standard rules of hearsay, designed to identify some statements as reliable, will be relevant. Ohio v. Clark, 135 S. Ct. 2173, 2180 (2015) (quoting Michigan v. Bryant, 562 U.S. 344, 358-59 (2011)). Justice Scalia condemned this perceived doctrinal backsliding, accusing Justice Alito, the author of the Courts opinion in, of unabashedly display[ing] his hostility toand its progeny and being aggravated by inability to muster the votes to overrule them.at 2184 (Scalia, J., concurring in the judgment).Advocates are no doubt wondering whether Justice Scalias replacement will take up the banner of the testimonial approach, or whether his will be the vote that putsto rest. Unfortunately, Judge Gorsuchs Confrontation Clause decisions offer little insight. During his time on the Tenth Circuit, he never authored an opinion addressing the validity of the testimonial approach. It is clear, however, that even if he is inclined to defend, a Justice Gorsuch would be unlikely to match Justice Scalias zeal for this particular Sixth Amendment protection.Judge Gorsuchs interpretive approach to the Sixth Amendment has been defined by restraint and informed by pragmatism. Guided by these principles, his opinions have articulated a well-developed position on at least one aspect of the Sixth Amendment: ineffective assistance of counsel claims. Meanwhile, he has yet to weigh in on the ongoing debate about the reach of Confrontation Clause.Much uncertainty exists: whether Judge Gorsuch will become Justice Gorsuch at all; whether his views ofprejudice will carry the day; whether he will take up Justice Scalias mantle of pathbreaking Sixth Amendment doctrine development; and whether he will continue to profess judicial restraint as he does. But if there is a Justice Gorsuch, a criminal defendant with Sixth Amendment claims can fairly expect an uphill battle to win his vote. Two married men from the Houston area pleaded guilty in federal court this month to supplying the ketamine that led to the death of a Slidell Prairie Piecemakers Needlework Guild will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1544 E. Military Ave., in Fremont. The social hour will begin at 6:30 p.m. The program, The Beauty of Scrap Quilting, will be given by Vicky Beasley. Her passion is scrap quilting. Ninety percent of the quilts she makes are made from leftover fabrics. Beasley organizes her scraps by sorting by genre, color, then size. She looks at her stash to determine her next project. When a pattern captures her attention, having her scraps organized enables her to start a new quilt whenever she is ready. The greeters will be Marilyn Freeman and Marge Porter. Hostesses will be Jan Larsen, Linda Kincannon, Sharon Larsen, Marilyn Young, Bonnie LaMonte and Edith Andreasen. The community service project this month is fleece blankets and kid-size quilts for Project Harmony at The Bridge. Guests are welcome. The strangest classical music concert you'll have to see (and it's free) South Dakota's service animal law does not cover dogs trained to help people with mental disabilities. Under South Dakota's service law and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people with disabilities may bring service dogs to all "public accommodations," including grocery stores, motels, restaurants, schools, and more. Learn below which animals qualify as service animals, which public accommodations must allow them, and rules you may need to follow with your service animal. Which Animals Are Covered by the Law in South Dakota? Under the ADA, a service animal is a dog that has been individually trained to perform disability-related tasks or work for the benefit of a person with a disability. (In some cases, a miniature horse may also qualify as a service animal.) Examples of service animals that must be allowed into public accommodations under the ADA include: hearing dogs guide dogs ("seeing eye" dogs) psychiatric service animals (for example, dogs that can interrupt self-harming behaviors, remind handlers to take medication, check spaces for intruders, or provide calming pressure during panic attacks) seizure alert animals, and allergen alert animals (for example, dogs that can alter handlers to foods with peanuts. South Dakota's service animal law doesn't explain what types of animals qualify. The law states only that public accommodations must allow those who are blind, deaf, or otherwise physically disabled to be accompanied by their specially trained service animals. Based on this definition, psychiatric service animals and other animals who are trained to assist those with mental disabilities do not appear to be covered. While South Dakota law is not as broad as the ADA, public accommodations in South Dakota must comply with both state and federal law. Neither the ADA nor South Dakota's service animal law covers what some people call therapy dogs or "emotional support animals": animals that provide a sense of safety, companionship, and comfort to those with psychiatric or emotional disabilities or conditions. Although these animals often have therapeutic benefits, they are not individually trained to perform specific tasks for their handlers. Under the ADA and South Dakota law, owners of public accommodations are not required to allow emotional support animals, only service animals. These laws also don't apply to pets. Which Public Accommodations Are Covered Under the ADA, the definition of public accommodations is very broad. It includes: hotels and other lodging establishments public transportation and terminals, depots, and stations restaurants sales or rental establishments and service establishments any place of public gathering, such as an convention center, theater, stadium, gym, park or zoo museums and educational institutions, and social service centers, like senior centers, homeless shelters, and food banks. South Dakota law defines public accommodation as hotels and other lodging places; places of public amusement, accommodation, or resort; and all other places to which the public is invited. Rules for Your Service Animal Under the ADA, a public accommodation may not ask you questions about your disability or demand to see certification, identification, or other proof of your animal's training or status. If it is not apparent what your service animal does, the establishment may ask you only whether it is a service animal, and what tasks it performs for you. The ADA and South Dakota law prohibit public accommodations from charging a special admission fee or requiring you to pay any other extra cost to have your service animal with you. However, you may have to pay for any damage your animal causes. Under the ADA, your service animal can be excluded from a public accommodation if it poses a direct threat to health and safety, cannot be controlled, or if it isn't housebroken. Service Animals in South Dakota Housing Both the federal Fair Housing Act and South Dakota law prohibit discrimination in rental housing accommodations against those who use service animals. This means that you must be allowed full and equal access to all housing facilities and you may not be charged extra for having a service animal (although you may have to pay for damage your animal causes). If your lease or rental agreement includes a "no pets" provision, it does not apply to your service animal. Pursuant to the federal Fair Housing Act, landlords and housing facilities must allow service dogs and emotional support animals, if necessary for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home. To fall under this provision, you must have a physical or mental disability and you must have a disability-related need for the animal. In other words, the animal must work, perform tasks or services, or alleviate the emotional effects of your disability in order to qualify. (For more information, see the Department of Housing and Urban Development's guidance on service animals.) Like its public accommodation law, South Dakota's housing law covers only service animals specially trained to assist those who are blind, deaf, or have another physical disability. The law does not extend to those who use service animals for a mental disability. Learn more at the South Dakota Human Rights Division's service animal page. Service dogs must be allowed in all housing and public places in Wyoming. Under Wyoming's disability rights law and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people with disabilities may bring their service animals to all public accommodations, including grocery stores, restaurants, theaters, schools, and more. Learn below which animals qualify as service animals, which public accommodations must allow them, and rules you may need to follow with your service animal. Which Service Animals Are Covered in Wyoming? Under the ADA, a service animal is a dog that has been individually trained to perform disability-related tasks or work for the benefit of a person with a disability. (In some cases, a miniature horse may also qualify as a service animal.) Examples of service animals that must be allowed into public accommodations under the ADA include: hearing dogs, which alert their handlers to sounds such as doorbells guide dogs, which help those who are visually impaired to navigate safely psychiatric service animals, which can interrupt self-harming behaviors, remind handlers to take medication, or provide calming pressure during panic attacks seizure alert animals, which let their handlers know of impending seizures, and may also guard their handlers during seizure activity, and allergen alert animals, which let their handlers know of foods that contain allergens such as peanuts. Wyoming's disability rights law uses the same definition as the ADA. Neither the ADA nor Wyoming's service animal law includes what some people call "emotional support animals": animals that provide a sense of safety, companionship, and comfort to those with psychiatric or emotional disabilities or conditions. Although these animals often have therapeutic benefits, they are not individually trained to perform specific tasks for their handlers. Under the ADA and Wyoming law, owners of public accommodations are not required to allow emotional support animals, only service animals. These laws also don't apply to pets. Which Public Accommodations Are Covered? Under the ADA, the definition of public accommodations is very broad. It includes: motels and other lodging establishments public transportation and terminals, depots, and stations restaurants service establishments any place of public gathering, such as an convention center, museum, theater, bowling alley, or zoo libraries and educational institutions, and social service centers, like senior centers, homeless shelters, and food banks. In Wyoming, you may bring your service animal into any place of public accommodation and any place to which the public is invited. Wyoming uses the same definition of public accommodation as the ADA. Rules for Your Service Animal Under the ADA, a public accommodation may not ask you questions about your disability or demand to see certification, identification, or other proof of your animal's training or status. If it is not apparent what your service animal does, the establishment may ask you only whether it is a service animal, and what tasks it performs for you. The ADA and Wyoming law prohibit public accommodations from charging a special admission fee or requiring you to pay any other extra cost to have your service animal with you. However, you may have to pay for any damage your animal causes. Under the ADA, your service animal can be excluded from a public accommodation if it poses a direct threat to health and safety, if it is not housebroken, or if it is out of control. Service Animals in Wyoming Housing Under Wyoming law, you may not be discriminated against in rental housing because you use an assistance animal: an animal that works, performs tasks, or provides assistance to a person with a disability or an animal that provides emotional support that alleviates one or more identified effects or symptoms of a person's disability. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in rental housing accommodations against those who use service animals. This means that you must be allowed full and equal access to all housing facilities, and your landlord or property manager may not charge extra for having a service animal (although you may have to pay for damage your animal causes). If your lease or rental agreement includes a "no pets" provision, it does not apply to your service animal. Pursuant to the federal Fair Housing Act, housing facilities must allow service dogs and emotional support animals, if necessary for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home. To fall under this provision, you must have a disability and you must have a disability-related need for the animal. In other words, the animal must work, perform tasks or services, or alleviate the emotional effects of your disability in order to qualify. (For more information, see the Department of Housing and Urban Development's guidance on service animals.) Welcome to nonleaguedaily.coms news provision, your go-to source for all non league updates, rumours, interviews, and much more besides. Founded by a team with a genuine passion for the world of non league football, nonleaguedaily.com understands exactly what supporters of the so-called lower leagues are looking for. You want the high-quality reporting, in-depth analysis, and match reporting that matches that is more commonly found in the journalism for the top flights, but with the focus firmly fixed on the national leagues. We understand that your passion, interest, and dedication is constant, and we believe you need a news service that matches that commitment with its own dedication and thoroughness so thats what you can expect from our site. The latest non league news, as and when it happens Conventionally, non league news has always travelled fairly slowly, especially when compared to the instantaneous, constant breaking news cycles found in the upper leagues. Tales are told on terraces, rumours passed between pub patrons and circled between supporters at the latest game, often forced to remain somewhat local initially before word eventually spreads to other locales. For us, this slow spread may be fairly organic in nature, but it simply isnt compatible with the modern football environment. Its also not conducive to the current fast-paced, always-available media landscape, nor the way that people tend to consume news nowadays. Thats why we have put together a non league news source that fans can turn to for the latest updates, as and when they happen, and as and when you want to read them. Non-league news now is the only acceptable speed at Betting.co.uk. We update our non-league football news coverage constantly, bringing you all the latest developments and seeking to spread the word as quickly and accurately as possible. So if youre wondering whats happening both with your local team and with the lower leagues as a whole, you can visit us for non league news now, and be confident the stories you find are completely up to date. News reported by passionate fans Our efforts to bring you the very best non league football news are undeniably a professional concern, and one that we take seriously. We are if youll excuse the uncharacteristic tooting of our own horns good at what we do, and we know that the efforts we make in this regard are one of the reasons our site has enjoyed such success thus far. However, everyone who writes for us also shares our readers enthusiasm for non league football. Were not just churning out content in the hopes of cashing in on a professional dream; were here because we want to be, and will always be dedicated and committed to non league football as an entity and thriving in the experience of being able to talk about our favourite subject whenever we can. We create non-league news now that is written by genuine fans and enthusiasts, for fans. We know what you want to know and what matters most to an ardent non league supporter, and we always ensure that focusing on these elements is our guiding principle as we seek to solidify our status as an online non league paper fans can always rely on. When compiling non league news, we think with the mind of a fan first and foremost. We cover the angles and stories that we find compelling and that we know our fellow non league enthusiasts also care about. News doesnt have to be dry and formulaic, in our opinion. When its written by people who are genuinely as fascinated by the stories they are reporting on as their readership will be, we believe news can be interesting, compelling, and even have a sense of personality and humour. News content written with passion and expertise We believe that thanks to our dedication, insightfulness, and commitment to our subject matter of non league today, we are offering the best of both worlds to those searching for an online non league paper. We give you the professional approach we feel is appropriate for news about one of the most intriguing aspects of UK football; an aspect that we genuinely feel does not receive the interest and plaudits that it should be generating. Nevertheless, we dont let that professionalism take over everything we do: we remain committed fans, nurturing our own personal interest in non league football and ensuring every word we compose is infused with a sense of passion and dedication that enhances the posts we create. Its therefore obvious that our non-league content today isnt ever going to be dry, basic, or put together by a tired staff writer who has never heard of any team below the Championship before they rush off to the pub for the evening. Our writers are genuine experts: were covering non league football because we want to, because we believe in it, and because its where our strengths lie. The result is informed content that capitalises on our deep knowledge of the history, as well as the present-day realities, of non league football in the UK. Beyond news: the nonleaguedaily.com interview series One of our goals with nonleaguedaily.com is to not just dryly report the news from an outsiders perspective, effectively regurgitating press releases that are devoid of genuinely illuminating information. We also go right to the source of the stories: the managers and club insiders who have direct experience, and often influence, on the sport and how it is managed. We regularly conduct interviews as part of our news provision, asking the questions that are on everyones lips and providing the best possible view into the non league world. We have reporters pitchside at matches, microphone to hand and plentiful questions ready to be asked. The end result for you, the reader, is the kind of information and close-up looks into the non league world that just cant be found anywhere else. As our commitment to providing interesting interviews amply demonstrates, we want to be involved in breaking the stories that everyone then talks about, rather than following along and focusing solely on what everyone already knows. If youre looking for leading content that you cant find anywhere else, and that goes right to the centre of the non league world, then you can turn to nonleaguedaily.com for all the benefits of a conventional non league paper, but in electronic, easily-accessed form. A host of other content to enjoy alongside the non league today Our focus on providing non league news will always be maintained: we consider this aspect the most important of what we do, and it will always be the recipient of our time, dedication, and interest. Well be here, a consistent and trustworthy news portal, for as long as non league football news exists. With that said, when you have read up on the latest goings-on, were here with further content for you to enjoy. Naturally, given our partnership with leading brand Betting.co.uk, we provide guidelines for those interested in the world of sports betting. Well help you find the best UK bookmaker with our plentiful coverage of existing brands; ideal if youre looking to put your newfound knowledge, courtesy of us, about non league to use and place a few bets. Furthermore, we also provide highlights of all the latest UK betting offers, so you can ensure youre achieving the best value with all the latest betting deals whenever youre betting on the latest non league matches. Youll find all of this coverage is as consistent and reliable as our non league news provision, Non league features and deep dives Returning to the world of non league football, we also provide a range of feature content that goes deeper and further into the non league world than ever before. Less instantaneously topical but still hugely relevant to the modern game, our features are the dream deep dives that we feel non league fans deserve. Were always striving to do better, offer more, and ensure that non league fans can enjoy the same wealth of content as followers of the top tiers, so you can expect top-flight content with the same commitment and dedication as found throughout the upper echelons of the sport. So whether youre looking to find the most recent non league football news, seeking a new bookmaker for your non league bets, or hoping to delve deep into a niche non league-related topic, nonleaguedaily.com is always going to be worth a visit. Return to nonleaguedaily.com for all your non league news needs Weve told you what you can expect from nonleaguedaily.coms news; now we need to put our confidence where our promises are, make sure we deliver on those promises, and establish trust as an online non league paper you can trust. We look forward to welcoming you back to our news section and showcasing the best we have to offer, from exciting new non league interviews to cutting-edge news to transfer speculation. If you want to truly have your finger on the non league pulse, then nonleaguedaily.com is always going to be here for you. A controversial Council Bluffs apartment complex for senior citizens thats been in the works for years should be completed by mid- to late April, an official of the Omaha-based Seldin Co. said Wednesday. Phyllis Peterson, director of affordable housing for Seldin Co., said the complex will include 36 one-and two-bedroom apartments for area residents ages 55 and older. Sixteen of the 36 apartments will be located in the renovated Gunn Elementary School building, with the remaining 20 units in a new two-story addition that was built south of the former school building in what was once the schools playground area. Gunn Elementary, built in 1924, was closed at the end of the 2010-11 school year because of declining enrollment and the cost that would have been involved in renovating the aging building to modern standards. The building was sold to the Seldin Co. in September 2012 for $246,500, with Seldin officials announcing plans to renovate the existing building into one- and two-bedroom apartments for senior citizens and construct a new building to the south to provide additional one- and two-bedroom apartments for seniors. Neighbors who lived around the closed school building at 1735 N. Broadway came together to object to Seldins plan to use the property for senior apartments. Neighbors argued that the school building should be demolished to make room for three single-family homes on the property. Financial problems plagued the project after it won the initial approval of the Council Bluffs City Council. In March 2015, the city council approved allocation of $3 million in Community Development Block Grant funds. At that time, the project carried an estimated cost of $5.5 million, and allocation of block grant funding was termed critical to the project moving forward. The following month, the Iowa Economic Development Authority awarded the Seldin Co. an additional $509,030 in Workforce Housing Tax Credits for the project. In November 2015, bids for what was then being termed a $7 million project came in about $1.8 million above the estimated project cost. At that time, Seldin officials announced that various cost-saving measures had been incorporated into the plans, reducing the estimated cost by $740,000. In February 2016, Seldin officials asked the city for an additional $440,000 in federal funds to help fill the financial gap. The $440,000 came from the HOME program, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to aid local housing projects. The citys Community Development Department requested that the council approve the added funding assistance. Then-Planning Director Don Gross said the $440,000 was to have been used for a project in the 100 block of West Broadway that had been delayed and would be lost if the money was not by Dec. 31, 2016. The council voted to approve the added funding for the project was unanimous. Seldins Peterson said Darland Construction, the general contractor hired by the Seldin Co., started construction of what has been named the Linden Place Apartments complex on May 2, 2016. She said 13 one-bedroom and three two-bedroom apartments are located in the renovated elementary school building. The newly constructed two-story addition to the south contains eight one-bedroom units and 12 two-bedroom apartments. Though rent prices have not yet been established, Peterson said 27 of the 36 units will be set aside for low-income seniors. Two of those units will be available to individuals or families whose income is at or below 50 percent of the area median income. The remaining 25 units will be home to individuals or families whose income is at or below 80 percent of the area median income. The remaining nine apartments will be available at market rate for seniors 55 and older. Original plans for the project had included optional garage parking for residents willing to pay an additional fee. Peterson said construction of the garages was one of the areas cut from the initial plans to reduce project construction cost to $6.8 million, but there is space available for the garages and they could be added in the future. DES MOINES (AP) The Iowa House is considering a bill to establish mandatory minimum sentences for some people convicted of domestic abuse. The Republican-controlled House is expected to vote on the legislation Thursday or Monday, according to Rep. Mary Ann Hanusa of Council Bluffs. The bill would create mandatory minimums for some abuse, harassment and stalking convictions. Individuals convicted of domestic abuse three or more times would be required to serve 20 percent of the maximum sentence before eligibility for parole. The bill also requires risk assessments for some individuals before release and expands GPS tracking. Supporters of the legislation say it would reassure abuse survivors. Groups opposing the bill say lengthening prison sentences will only increase Iowas incarceration rate and not address roots of domestic violence. When reached Wednesday afternoon Hanusa discussed the timeline for the vote but declined to comment on the bill itself, noting the legislation didnt pass through a committee shes on and shed need more time to examine it. The House voted Monday in favor of sentencing reform for non-violent drug crimes to reduce prison crowding. News Editor Mike Brownlee contributed to this report. An Omaha man appeared in court Wednesday for a felony eluding charge after he flipped off an Iowa State Patrol trooper and led authorities on a chase across the Iowa-Nebraska state line last August, according to authorities. Terry Bates, 43, is charged with eluding while participating in a felony. If convicted, he could receive a sentence of up to five years in prison. He has since posted $5,000 bond. According to authorities, a trooper saw Bates riding a motorcycle on Aug. 25, 2016, northbound on Interstate 29 near the 57-mile marker. As the male approached, he gave me a hand gesture with his middle finger then continued to accelerate, the trooper said in the report. Bates was traveling 100 mph in a 65 mph zone, the trooper said. As he pursued Bates with his lights and siren on, Bates traveled westbound onto Interstate 680 and across the Nebraska line. The trooper terminated the pursuit, but continued to follow Bates, who slowed down and began to obey all traffic laws. Eventually, Bates and the trooper reached a residence near North 37th Street and Fontanelle Boulevard. I spoke with the male, who identified himself as the defendant, the trooper said. The two spoke while waiting for Omaha police, who arrested Bates and charged him with operating while intoxicated. Bates arraignment is scheduled for April 24. The Iowa West Foundation has paused the majority of its $9 million commitment to the renovation of West Broadway in the wake of a change to the renovations master plan. The foundations Board of Directors voted to continue to fund the first phase of the five-phase West Broadway project but said it couldnt reach a decision on funding the remaining phases. The board has asked the Council Bluffs City Council to work with Iowa West on the next step in the process and did not rule out revisiting the matter. At its March 13 meeting, the council voted 3-2 to approve an amendment to the West Broadway master plan that would remove all medians from the project. Council members Al Ringgenberg, Roger Sandau and Melissa Head voted in favor of the amendment, while Nate Watson and Sharon White were opposed. The Iowa West board made its decision regarding beautification funding at a meeting on Tuesday and informed the city in a letter. The board unanimously approved continued funding of phase one, which was not materially changed by the amendment. But the board said it was unable at the present time to reach a decision on whether to make a funding commitment on phases two through five. Over the next five years, each phase is slated to begin in the spring by April 1 and finish by Nov. 1, with the roads reopening fully during the winter. Work on phase one has already started. The amount committed to the first phase is about $1.1 million, according to Iowa West. So that leaves about $7.9 million in funding in limbo. Ive been concerned thatd be the case, Mayor Matt Walsh said of the Iowa West boards decision. They were about a 25 percent partner on a $36 million project. The letter they gave the city clearly specified that if the master plan was approved theyd be in and, if it changed, theyd reconsider. When you are a partner in a project, you assume youre going to be a part of the decision-making process, he said. I guess the council members that decided to bring up the master plan and change the master plan didnt bother to talk to them, Walsh said. In its letter, the board said the beautification of West Broadway is vital to the future of the City of Council Bluffs. The body noted that the amended plans for the remaining phases of the West Broadway project do not match the conditions stipulated when the council approved the master plan at its Oct. 10, 2016, meeting. We are committed to the $9 million grant based upon the original design. We will continue to honor that commitment, the board said in the letter. One of the council members opposed to the medians is hopeful the funding will be restored. I hope Iowa West will fund the entire project, Sandau said, and trust the elected officials that the citizens put in place to make decisions like this. Sandau said he made contact with Iowa West before the median amendment, and he was told the board would revisit the commitment if the amendment passed. He said the plan is changed only slightly by the removal of medians and would be a continuance of phase one. I dont understand what the uncertainty is, he said. I would hope Iowa West ... maybe theyll talk about it and they will decide to fund the whole thing. Sandau said he hopes to avoid regrets for the project. I would hate to say 20 years from now, I really wish we wouldve made West Broadway as beautiful as we could and we didnt. I truly believe the community as a whole is 100 percent behind the beautification of West Broadway and moving forward with the project. The board noted the master plan was the product of a yearlong planning process that involved extensive study and the input of professional engineers and architects. After feedback from business owners and residents, the amount of median coverage in the plan was scaled back from around 80 percent to 20 percent. The council approved the master plan in October, with Sandau casting the only no vote. Iowa West said it approved its contribution based on the plan approved in October. The board said the council made a one-sided, material change to the scope of the project with the passing of the amendment. We believed we had an agreement between partners on the scope of this project. If the city is allowed to make material and substantial changes to the West Broadway beautification project unilaterally and mid-way through the project, that creates a situation where the foundation has funded the project without knowing the ultimate outcome of the project, the board said in the letter. You would never allow us to do that, and you can certainly understand that we cant go forward on that basis, Iowa Wests board observed. Watson, who voted to keep the medians last week, said hed like to see the council restore the original compromise agreed upon in the fall of 2016, which resulted in the plan with a limited amount of medians. It is a fair deal. Id hate to see the west end get shorted again, he said. We need to return to the compromise that we agreed to last October. Both Sandau and Jeff Ballenger a local business owner who was a vocal opponent of the medians shared a similar sentiment that the board had acted unilaterally in withholding the funds. Id encourage them to fund the project less the cost of the medians. The commitment would be less, maybe those dollars could be used elsewhere, said Ballenger, who owns the Gorilla Wash car wash chain. Whats the alternative? The alternative is to not fund it. Im not sure what they accomplish. Because five medians werent in it, theyre not going to fund the rest? Ringgenberg said he was concerned about the language of the letter, noting the boards issue with the council deciding on the median amendment without Iowa West input. Im a little concerned by the wording of the letter, where they suggest they have ultimate veto power over all decisions on the corridor project, he said. They said that we had no right to act unilaterally; I have an issue with that. Ballenger lauded Iowa West for its contributions in the community over its existence. He noted the public outcry against the medians helped lead to the amendment. The City Councils job is to represent the people, thats what theyre elected to do. Thats not the job of Iowa West. Their job is to distribute money to projects they deem worthy, he said. The community spoke loud and clear on the medians, and the council responded. It sounds like because the board or (Iowa West President and CEO) Pete (Tulipana) doesnt like that decision, they are going to withhold the funds. I dont see the logic in that. John Nelson, chairman of the SilverStone Group and a proponent of the compromise plan agreed to in October, said, I dont blame Iowa West for what theyve done. When you have a legal agreement between two parties, you need to have a discussion, you cant unilaterally change the agreement, he said. I would hope there can be a resolution to this for the sake of the town. I have no idea whether thats possible. In the letter, the board said, ... we stand ready, willing and able to fund the streetscape beautification for West Broadway. Based upon this letter, we would like the City Council to respond to Pete Tulipana on how you wish to proceed. Iowa West spokeswoman Nicole Lindquist said the foundation wouldnt comment beyond what the letter says. Rick Crowl, president of the Iowa West board, declined to comment when reached. On Thursday, Walsh said he had not spoken with Tulipana about the issue yet. My game plan is this was an issue pushed by three council members. I did my job lining up the financing originally. I think its up to these three council members, Walsh said referring to Sandau, Ringgenberg and Head. Im not going to play the role of intermediary. Im stepping out and will see what well do. White, the other median proponent, acknowledged the possible fallout of the median decision. I knew this was a potential consequence of the vote the council made, White said. Im appreciative that theyre willing to continue on with the funding of segment one. Im hopeful this can be resolved before the start of segment two. Asking about the path forward, White said, I think itll be up to the council members that wanted to see a change to reach out according to the letter. Without the money, Walsh lamented West Broadway would look the same as it is today, other than a new sewer system in there. Head said shes hopeful the council will be able to meet with Iowa West. She said she expected the issue to be discussed at the council meeting on Monday, as the body decides what to do next. Head floated the idea of a public meeting between the council and Iowa West representatives that would allow the council to explain why it made the changes to the plan. Hopefully, after that, theyll still be willing to move forward with the project, she said. A travel stop and country store company is showing some Love to southwest Iowa. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Wednesday for a Loves Travel Stops store just south of the junction of Interstate 29 and U.S. Highway 34. Loves Travel Stops & Country Stores, commonly referred to simply as Loves, employs 17,000 people in its family-owned chain of more than 420 truck stop and convenience stores in 40 states, including Iowa. The Mills County location will be the eighth Loves store in the state, said Dewayne Porter, the companys regional manager. The 9,000-square-foot travel center will create up to 50 new jobs and should begin operations this fall. The company is investing between $8 to $12 million into this new location, Porter added. Once its opened, the travel center will serve the public 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Motorists will be able to gas up from among six bays with two pumps per bay or from six diesel pumps. For truckers, the center will offer 88 parking stalls for overnight rest, along with five showers. A tire shop is also part of the project, Porter said, along with a Subways Sandwich Shop with seating for up to 60 patrons. Our goal is to be that one-place stop, Porter said during the ceremony. The travel center will be located in the heart of an area county officials had been considering for potential business development, Mills County Supervisor Richard Crouch said. Utilities were even extended there from Pacific Junction to encourage new growth. This is what weve been working on for a long time, said Larry Winum of the Mills County Economic Development Foundation. Crouch had similar thoughts. This is a stepping stone for us, he said. The future is what you make it. The company is privately owned and headquartered in The Village, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City. Loves is currently ranked No. 14 on the Forbes list of Americas largest private companies. Its a good company and were happy to have them in Mills County, said Rick Allely, director of the Mills County Economic Development Foundation. A Carter Lake man was arrested in Council Bluffs on Tuesday afternoon after police said he stole a car. An Omaha woman was also arrested for a separate incident. Ryan Deneveu, 41, of Omaha, and David Wagner, 43, of Carter Lake, were arrested outside of the Woodspring Suites hotel, 3541 14th Ave. According to police, officers were checking the parking lot of the hotel when they found a vehicle reported as stolen. During the investigation, police discovered the room Deneveu was staying in. Wagner was a visitor at the time. Wagner attempted to run from officers to a vehicle waiting outside, reports stated. After noticing officers in pursuit, the driver left the area and Wagner behind. Wagner was tasered and taken into custody. Deneveu was interviewed by investigators at the scene, and was unable to provide identification, police said. A search warrant was eventually obtained for the room, where police found drugs, cash and keys to the stolen vehicle. Deneveu is charged as a fugitive from justice for a Nebraska warrant, possession of marijuana, providing false information to officers and unlawful possession of prescription drugs. Wagner is charged with first-degree theft, eluding and interference with official acts. Both Wagner and Deneveu are being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail without bond. COLUMBIA, Mo. Each year, one of the nations most revered film festivals takes place during the sleepy, late stretches of winter in the charming town of Columbia, Missouri. I know what youre thinking Missouri, a cultural hotspot of international reverie? Charming? But its true. The True/False Film Fest began in 2004 as a way to give documentarists a festival of their own to share new work, promote screenings, find sponsors to buy and show films and for audiences to meet the minds behind (and often, the subjects of) the films. I love True/False. To anyone willing to spend a few hundred dollars on film passes and see 10 to 20 films in four days on documentaries: Go. Its a ton of fun. The whole town turns out for True/False, which includes art and movie theaters, a University of Missouri theater and even a First Presbyterian Church theater. True/False, in my mind, is worth supporting because of the connections you make. You get to meet subjects of documentaries who were filmed for years. You get to ask deeply personal questions and explore the cultural influence of films with directors and producers. Unlike other festivals, the line between the film and the audience is blurred. Some of these films are works in progress, some are quite old and recently discovered, and some are debuting for the first time. Musicians play between acts and you get to meet them, too. You are a part of the process. People fly in from around the world and walk away friends. This feeling is intentional, and why the fest promotes a True Life Fund each year a fundraising program established to directly give audiences at the fest a way to donate money to real-life subjects of a new-nonfiction documentary each year. True/False reminds us that we can be active audiences bystanders can make a difference. A handful of people have begged me not to write about True/False. Noooooo (emphasis on the extra Os), youll ruin it! Please! This needs to stay the best-kept secret of the Midwest! Yes, of course we want more people to come and have fun, but then itll get bigger! This isnt Sundance, this is much better lets keep it that way. All of which I agree. I counter-argue that precisely the way to keep our little fest popular but moderately sized is to write about the films I see and enjoy. Then you can find them in theaters, on Netflix, on HBO or on your streaming service of choice and I get to keep my social anxiety in check with reasonably sized crowds and faster food service in between films. However, if sitting in the dark for days on end snarfing down quick meals in between films is not your thing, thats fine by me. You can still donate to the True Life Fund by texting your amount to 573-818-2151. Last year, the funds went to help an Afghani girl, Sonita Alizadeh, who escaped a child bride arranged marriage to pursue a musical education in the United States. This year, the fund is supporting a north Philadelphia family Christopher Quest Rainey and his wife, Chistinea, and daughter, PJ as PJ follows her musical ambitions from her fathers basement recording studio and the family tries to bring community changes to north Philly. Here are my top picks of this years fest. This isnt a complete list I havent yet tracked down all the films but its a pretty good start to what will be some of these years most anticipated documentaries: 1. Quest As the fests chosen recipient of the True Life Fund, that should indicate to you this is a film you need to see. First-time director Jonathan Olshlefski caught wind of a married couple, Christopher and Christinea Quest Rainey, making a difference for north Philly and decided to follow them around to see how one family can make a difference. After a tragic accident befell their daughter, PJ, the crew returned from post-filming and wound up spending a decade with the family. Growing up with PJ and her parents, youll feel a greater understanding of urban poverty, community connection, family strength and how all the little moments matter, each day. 2. The Force Director Pete Nicks returns from his emergency room drama The Waiting Room to give us the next installment of his trilogy. The Force follows the Oakland Police Department, injecting itself into the middle of a 13-year federally-mandated police reform program. Through rising optimism, constant tension, fraught communication and crushing scandal, we witness one citys determination to have a force riddled with corruption answer to its community. How can officers rebuild community trust and support, while standing up to internal misconduct? Is reform an unachievable goal, or a lifelong challenge? 3. Whose Streets? Director Sabaah Folayan and co-director Damon Davis take you straight to the heart of the events that unfolded after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Slipping past national headlines about rioting and looting, the directors focus on the history of area police brutality and racism in day-to-day life. A few community leaders intent on taking the pain, grief and anger and molding it into positive social change for Ferguson take you through what the Black Lives Matter movement means to them. Urban civic reform, city council meetings, candlelight vigils and more seek to define our understanding of justice, and if its good enough. 4. Brimstone & Glory Years ago, director Viktor Jakovleski realized hed never seen satisfying documentation of a firework. He went down a dangerous, majestic and transcendent path to make one. Tultepec, Mexico, invests its entire industry into the birth, life and death of fireworks, all in homage and preparation for its annual festival for San Juan de Dios. As much as a religious observance as a cultural wonder, the dedication of Tultepec through music, art, fire and grace will steal your breath away. Scored by the symphonic geniuses behind Beasts of the Southern Wild, need I say more? A visual tour de force, youll walk away scarred by San Juan and blessed beyond words. 5. Abacus: Small Enough to Jail It would be out of character for me to not make note of this financial film, which follows the journey of a New York family-owned Chinatown bank named Abacus. Caught up in fraud charges during the subprime mortgage scandal, a first- and second-generation American immigrant family tries to salvage its financial and community reputation from the ashes of drawn-out court battle. Is the Sung family guilty of the more than a hundred charges filed against them, and, if so, of which ones? Beyond experiencing the odd feeling of rooting for bankers, youll get an intimate portrait of Chinese-American life and an emotive and even entertaining window into finance. 6. I Am Not Your Negro After hearing this film heavily lauded by many, I was thrilled to see it. I was not disappointed. If you havent already read James Baldwin, go. Ill wait. Director Raoul Peck has captured the heart of Baldwins work and legacy, transcribing it unapologetically to an America often in need of historical context and emotional guidance in race relations. I Am Not Your Negro is an epistle to white America, but does not emotionally pander to those not facing stark societal patterns and messages. Producer Hebert Peck spoke with me about Ralph Ellison, Baldwin and the importance of black history in the fight against continuing white supremacy in our world. Do yourself a favor: See this film. Special mentions For those I love that wont fit in this article: Step, The War Show, Rat Film, Venus and HyperNormalisation. Each are an essential works of filmmaking and historical record. Grab your popcorn and beer. Travel writers take part in reenactment of Louisa Cody kidnapping A group of travel writers from across the United States faced some rough riders on Wednesday at the Lincoln County Historical Museum. The Ride with the Wild Bunch kidnapped William F. Buffalo Bill Codys wife, Louisa, from a wagon as the travel writers were taking a tour of Buffalo Bills Scouts Rest Ranch and the museum. The gunfire and shouts were heard across the historic village as horses galloped away with Louisa. Youll get her back when I see the deed to the ranch, shouted one of the bad guys. Cody shouted back that this act would not go unpunished and he would rescue his wife, who hollered back at him, You better! The North Platte/Lincoln County Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted the group of more than 20 writers as they traveled across the state. The coverage they give us is invaluable, said Lisa Burke, the bureaus executive director. When a writer can write from their heart about something theyve experienced, its better than any advertising that we can buy. The Nebraska Tourism Commission is sponsoring the tour showing off the states central Platte River region. Christine Sarkis, deputy executive editor at Smartertravel.com in Boston, participated in the tour. Initially I was drawn to this trip because of the crane migration, Sarkis said. But I think the story that is emerging is that theres a lot more. She said travel writers try to think like the travelers they write for. I think that the really cool thing is that people can come for the crane migration and see all the other stuff as well, Sarkis said. It can be more than just a go out, see it and come back its a full Nebraska road trip. She said the cranes were incredible. A lot of people say about the cranes, You just have to be there and have to see it, its indescribable, Sarkis said. But as writers, its our job to try to find a way to describe it. Its going to be a challenge, but I hope I can do it. Jenn Gjerde, public information officer for the Nebraska Tourism Commission, traveled with the group. This is one of three media tours were doing over the next three months, Gjerde said. They started earlier this week in Grand Island viewing the cranes. They have been at Red Cloud, Henderson and York and stopped in McCook to see the prairie chickens. In North Platte, they toured the Golden Spike Tower and Scouts Rest Ranch. Wednesday evening, the group went to Kearney to see the cranes one more time. We bring the writers in with the hope that we inspire them to go home and inspire their readers, Gjerde said. A lot of these writers travel all over the world, and Nebraska is a hidden gem to them. A lot of them leave saying, I didnt know Nebraska had this much to offer. Burke said getting the writers out to North Platte to experience it hands-on is good for the tourism industry in the state. Were very thankful for the tourism commission that they see the value of these travel writers, Burke said. We Nebraskans are a little bit quiet about sharing what treasures we have here, so this is a great opportunity to show what Nebraska has to offer. The visiting journalists write for a wide variety of publications including Time, Vanity Fair, National Geographic Traveler, Conde Nast Traveler, USA Today, Audubon Magazine, AARP, AAA Midwest Traveler, AAA World, AAA Living, Birdwatchers Digest, Nature Travel Network, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Washington Post. The Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs Lincolns Regional Benefits Office hosted a claims clinic at North Platte Community College on Wednesday. The clinic partnered with the college, Disabled American Veterans and the Military Order of the Purple Heart. At the clinic, veterans, their families and descendants could file disability claims, speak with claims processors and submit evidence for their claims, with the help of service officers and other professionals. From noon to 1 p.m., Kerrie Witty, director at Lincolns Regional Benefits Office, hosted a town hall for veterans. Witty began by giving an overview of the VAs benefits, such as pension benefits based on need, benefits for education and help to find employment as well as independent living. Tim Walsh, an attendee, said several surgeries left him disabled in his legs. A form for disability benefits was denied, and those at the local office told him they were unable to fill out the form, he said. Witty was visibly surprised at Walshs story and said officials would talk to local personnel about Walshs case after the forum. Walsh said he hadnt realized that a veteran has to be at least 10 percent disabled from service to receive benefits. It basically feels like Im falling between every crack there is, he said. Another attending veteran encouraged Walsh not to give up, and another said he had been working to be approved for benefits for nine years. One attendee commended Witty for the clinic, describing grueling trips to Omaha for appointments, and asked for more such events. Witty said that similar clinics are hosted a few times each year, but this was the first time the departments came this far out west. She told the attendees it obviously takes some effort to travel the distance and set up shop. Witty also spoke about vocational rehabilitation for disabled veterans, which offers veterans help finding employment based on their interests and their abilities. You are clearly a super-user of NUVO.net. Thats a good thing. It means you depend on independent and local news sources to keep you informed. You are a smart person. Coincidentally, independent and local news sources depend on you too. Youve read 25 articles this month and now, wed like you to be join our mission and become a NUVO Supporter. For as little as $4 a month, you can keep us alive and fighting -- and can have unlimited access to the independent news that cant be found anywhere else. Anyone who's been to Navy Pier has likely at least passed by America's Dog & Burgers. The small chain, which also has locations in the Loop and O'Hare Airport, is now hunting for franchisees in the Merrillville area. Owners Manolis and George Alpogianis want to add 30 more franchises across Chicagoland, from Southeast Wisconsin through Northwest Indiana. After 23 years of proven success in the worlds culinary epicenter, it is clear that Americas Dog & Burger is in position for growth, Manolis Alpogianis said. Were franchising our distinctive concept into neighborhoods with a strong sense of community and a love for fresh, indulgent meals and Merrillville fits that mold perfectly. America's Dog & Burgers sells different regional styles of hot dogs from around the country, such as the Santa Fe Hot Dog that features bacon, cotija cheese, chipotle aioli, caramelized onions and beer-battered jalapeno caps on a Texas toast roll. The owners hope to grow the brand that's known for its Taste the Best from East to West slogan nationally. They are searching for franchisees who can invest $289,800 in a location. Weve pursued a dream, and it means the world to us to connect with passionate entrepreneurs throughout Merrillville that want to be a part of a cutting-edge concept like ours that is redefining its segment, George Alpogianis said. Our processes and systems are fine-tuned and we have developed training programs that will allow our AD&B franchisees to effectively execute everything from marketing to restaurant management, build-out and design. For more information, visit adbfranchise.com. The long-awaited Nelson Algren Museum opens Sunday in Gary's Miller neighborhood, where the legendary scribe once resided. The museum at 541 S. Lake St. in the 1928 Illinois Bell Telephone building will have a grand opening celebration with 18th Street craft beer, wine and birthday cake at 3 p.m. Sunday, a few days before what would have been Algren's 108th birthday. Chicago Tribune writer Mary Wisniewski will appear to discuss her new Nelson Algren biography, "Algren: A Life," and museum founders Sue Rutsen and George Rogge plan to make major announcements about donated collections. "We have a major contribution that puts us on the map," she said. Rutsen and Rogge transformed the building into a replica of Algren's Chicago writing space with his desk, chair and the typewriter he used to write the classics "The Man with the Golden Arm" and "A Walk on the Wild Side." There's also a facsimile of the bicycle he rode around, including in Miller and took on the South Shore Line back to Chicago. They're already drawing attention to the museum with a huge 8-foot-by-10-foot photo of Algren leaving a Gary liquor store with a six-pack, which they've posted nearby on Lake Street, downtown Miller's main drag. Rogge said the hope was that the life-sized poster would become an attraction all its own, and draw photographers and selfie-takers the way Felix "Flex" Maldonado's nearby Jackson 5 mural has. The museum will be an affiliate of the American Writers Museum that will open soon in downtown Chicago, and it's hoped that will drive visitors to Gary. "It should bring tourism to Miller," Rutsen said. "You can go there and learn about Nelson Algren, then take a South Shore Line ride here and take a custom tour of his cabin, museum and the pocket park." Upcoming exhibits will focus on his longtime lover Simone de Beauvoir and colleague Richard Wright, who he gave the title "Native Son" to. Organizers hope to educate visitors about long-reaching influence Algren had on an array of artists, including Bob Dylan. "We transformed a 100-year-old building in Miller into a cool little spot, and hope people will come and see what we've done in Miller," Rogge said. They also established an annual Nelson Algren Festival and a pocket park off Lake Street with photos of and quotes from the author. Tickets Sunday cost $10. The museum will be open on First Fridays and by appointment. A soap opera of sorts is unraveling on stage at The Goodman Theatre in Chicago. "Destiny of Desire," which centers around the world of Latin American telenovelas, or soap operas, runs through April 16 at The Goodman Theatre. "It's a very entertaining production," said actress Evelina Fernandez. "It's fun, but at the same time it discusses (some important) issues." "Destiny of Desire," written by popular writer Karen Zacarias, is not only a parody of telenovelas but also is a commentary on culture, social issues and women who handle their own destinies. Fernandez, a native of East Los Angeles, said she admires the work of Zacarias. The actress' husband, director Jose Luis Valenzuela, is the director of Goodman's production of "Destiny of Desire." "He's also a fan of Karen's," Fernandez said, about her husband's interest in Zacarias' work. In a press release from The Goodman Theatre, director Valenzuela states "Karen has masterfully created a raucous piece that combines music, humor, and a political edge that culminates in a night of beauty and provocation of what happens when women decide to take over their own destiny." Fernandez said Zacarias, who has been called one of the most produced playwrights in the United States by American Theater Magazine, has a great cultural sensibility as a playwright. "Her roots are very Mexican. That's her sensibility and core as a writer," the actress said. According to Fernandez, Zacarias brings "beautiful nuances of tradition and culture" to her works. "I think he (Jose Luis) was very influenced by that," Fernandez said. The actress said Zacarias was in Chicago to work with and meet with the cast while they were rehearsing for the Chicago premiere of "Destiny of Desire." Fernandez hopes audience members take away a few messages from the production. "I want people to take away a different image of what we are ase Latinas in the United States," she said, adding there's often too many stereotypes in society. Fernandez stresses "Destiny of Desire" is definitely not a work just for a Latin audience but attracts audience members of all backgrounds. Fernandez, a founding member of the Latino Theater Company in Los Angeles, has won various film and theater awards. Her husband, Valenzuela, is the artistic director of the Latino Theater Company as well as The Los Angeles Theatre Center. FYI: "Destiny of Desire" continues through April 16 at The Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, Chicago. Tickets are $20 to $75. Call (312) 443-3800 or visit GoodmanTheatre.org A slew of literary events are planned across the Region, including a poetry slam and live-lit storytelling. The Gary Poetry Project will celebrate National Poetry Month with a free public writing workshop from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday on the second floor of the Indiana University Northwest library. Then on March 28, The First Friday Wordsmiths will share pieces about the empowerment of women from 6 to 8 p.m. in Room 321 of the Student Union & Library at the Hammond campus. Writers will discuss the major contributions women have made to literature at the event, which includes an open mic at the end. And then on April 7, the Lubeznik Center for the Arts at 101 W. Second St. will host its First Friday Poetry Slam. Chicago Slam Works Executive Director J.W. Baz will host the "raucous audience-juried event" in which poets will be eliminated tournament-style until a champion is crowned. Baz has been a National World Poetry Slam finalist, has appeared on NPR and CBS, and comprises half of the poetry/comedy duo Beard Fight. Anyone who's interested in competing should have three pieces to perform and must register with Hannah Hammond-Hagman by calling 219.874.4900, ext. 203 or emailing hhammond@lubeznikcenter.org. The poetry slam will be followed with Michiana Stories Presents: Truly Touching Tales About Love and Marriage at 8 p.m. April 7 just down the street at Artspace, 717 Franklin St. in Michigan City. Performers include Michiga Stories founders Mary Dean Cason and Gregg Fraley, Second City alum Holly Schroeder, Prairie Home Companion performer Jack Zimmerman, radio playwright Gail Isaacson, musician/writer Debra Sawyer, memoirist and performer Joanna Trotter, poet Michele McDannold and the poetry slam winner from earlier that night. "Co-founding members of Indigan Storytellers, both Gregg Fraley and Mary Dean Cason have taught the art and craft of storytelling in addition to performing their own works throughout the Michiana and Chicagoland areas," Michiana Stories said in a news release. "A keynote speaker and innovation consultant, Gregg Fraley is the author of Jack's Notebook, a business fable about problem solving through creativity. Mary Dean Cason is the author of 'What Solomon Saw and Other Stories' and the founder of Wine, Women & Stories, a moveable literary salon featuring stories about women and usually enough wine to make for a great evening." The live-lit event includes a cash bar and is free to the public. However, donations to ArtSpace and Michigan Stories are encouraged. As college students work their way through classes and focus on their goals, it's important to gain experience in their future career field. Like those across the country, local colleges and universities offer students an opportunity to do internships, also called experiential learning, that give them an idea of what it will be like to work in a particular career field. Sharese Dudley-Mora, director of Career Services at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, says internships are critical to a student's success, and make them more marketable. "We encourage students to participate in internships and experiential learning activities so they can get experience outside of the classroom," Dudley-Mora says. "It keeps them motivated about their ultimate goal of finding the ideal career to suit their needs based on their interests. It also allows students to begin doing professional networking, also making them marketable and possibly securing employment prior to graduation." Calumet College of St. Joseph in Hammond established the Enterprise Expansion Opportunity Network (EEON) to support the growth of Northwest Indiana businesses and other organizational partners while improving the job prospects of Indiana college graduates as well as students pursuing a range of higher education credentials and degrees. Calumet College Career Services coordinator Kelli Watson says there are currently 27 students in the EEON program and they hope to increase the number even more by the fall. She says they have developed great relationships with employers and have been able to provide human capital. "Our main goal is to provide a positive experience with the organization throughout the process in case they'd consider hiring or keeping the intern following graduation," she says. "The best part for employers is that the program comes at no cost to them." Through a grant from the Lilly Endowment, the college pays interns a stipend. Watson says students work about 10 to 25 hours per week. Matthew Baker, owner of Matthew Baker Inc., a financial service firm in Highland, says he thinks the EEON program is a great avenue for students to get the work experience they need. Baker, also a Calumet College grad, says the financial service industry can be complicated and it takes two or three years to understand the industry and become productive. "In an internship, you can see if someone has the ability to move forward," he says. Calumet College junior Renee Romero, 20, of Chicago, is majoring in accounting, and has been working for Matthew Baker Inc. for a little more than a month. She works in billing, and plans corporate events for the company. "Part of the internship is communicating with the clients and getting to know their lifestyle and needs," she says. "I really enjoy that aspect which makes me lean away from my accounting major and more into finance. I believe every student should look into an internship, because it really is the stepping stone to a good start in your career. You get to know if that's the field you see yourself in, and if it is, you gain the much needed experience to pursue the career." Joshua Long, executive director of the Hammond Education Foundation, says he has two interns from Calumet College. He says a previous intern was hired on, but later secured a job as a Clark Middle-High School teacher. "We're a small shop," he says. "We have two interns. One of them is a computer science major and he's doing a lot of data based work. The other intern is on the administrative side and he's managing our donor program and teacher programs. He'll be here another year, but we hope to get him working in a classroom setting next year." Valparaiso University offers the CAPS Fellows Program, a signature offering of the Institute for Leadership and Service. It helps students develop their sense of Calling And Purpose in Society (CAPS) by reimagining the traditional internship as a communal and reflective experience. Fellows complete intensive summer internships that offer relevant real-world experience, accompanied by significant reflection in community with other Fellows. CAPS Fellows are placed with a broad range of regional and national organizations engaged in important forms of service and leadership, and intern with these organization for 9 to 10 weeks in the summer, for a minimum of 300 hours. One of the organizations where CAPS Fellows work is at Lutheran Services in America. Charlotte Haberaecker, president and CEO, Lutheran Services in America, says it is one of the countrys largest nonprofit organizations. It is a network of more than 300 local health and human services nonprofitseach affiliated with either the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), the Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod, or both. She says through the network, it serves one in 50 Americans each year from children to seniors in rural and urban communities. Haberaecker says it has hosted a number of CAPS Fellows from Valparaiso University over the years, who have worked in the marketing and communications, development and member engagement departments. "We hired one of the Fellows who interned with us into a full-time positionCaleb Rollinsbased on his strong performance as an intern," Haberaecker says. "We look for interns who are bright and inquisitive. We seek individuals with a strong work ethic, good time management skills and a sense of humor. The most important skills for interns are strong writing and organizational abilities." Rollins, a 2015 graduate, has a Bachelor of Arts from Valparaiso University with a double major in International Service and the Humanities and a minor in Philanthropic Leadership and Service. "My job as an intern was to analyze fundraising data. I was also involved in developing criteria for a new Lutheran Services in America membership category," he says. "My internship at Lutheran Services in America was a great experience. The internship gave me a unique insight into the workand impactof a national nonprofit. Through my work there I developed valuable skills and knowledge that helped create a foundation for a career in the nonprofit sector." Jessica Ramos graduated from Ivy Tech Community College in December 2016 with an AAS Industrial Technology, TC Industrial Electrical Maintenance degree. She took a part-time internship with Southlake Automation in Merrillville last year while finishing her degree and was hired full time upon graduation. Ivy Tech officials say Southlake Automation is a small, newer company that is in a high-growth niche market providing industrial automation and controls. Stephen Eastridge, a 2009 Portage High School grad, earned his degree from Purdue University Northwest, Westville campus, in 2015. He turned an independent study project into an internship that led to a local job that led to another job in the planning department in Cincinnati, Ohio. Eastridge is the development analyst for the Department of Community and Economic Development. Eastridge says he wanted to work in economics but wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do, and approached Professor Derek Bjonback for some guidance. He says the professor suggested Eastridge assist him in the summer with a study the professor was doing that looked at the cluster of air and gas compressor firms in LaPorte County. "We spent the summer working on the study together, which meant I had to get familiar with local and regional economic development," he says. "The study we worked on was for the Economic Development Corporation Michigan City (EDCMC). "The following spring I was able to leverage that connection into a summer internship at the EDCMC and was then offered a position at the end of the summer. I worked at the EDCMC for nine months until I accepted a position with the City of Cincinnatis Department of Community and Economic Development. I work as a member of the Major Projects team, which specializes in the Downtown, Over-the-Rhine, and Pendleton neighborhoods. The majority of my work deals with commercial real estate development, business recruitment, and business retention and expansion." Eastridge says he thinks internships are immensely important to being successful in life after obtaining the degree. He says they are great for exposure to how things work beyond the classroom, the dynamics of self-networking and allow people an opportunity to decide if they like their plan of study when it's applied to the real world. "I look at my time at PNC and I see the time I spent interning and studying with Dr. Bjonback being a pivotal time for my development as a student and young professional," he says. "It was like a light bulb moment: 'Hey, this stuff is important and there is a real world application.' Even if you decide after an internship you dont like something, thats valuable information to have as well." EAST CHICAGO Nine months ago, more than 300 families living at the West Calumet Housing Complex were told by the citys mayor they need to leave, following the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys discovery of dangerously high levels of lead in the soil. Some families left immediately. Others eventually packed up their things and moved on with financial assistance from HUD and the local housing authority. But the residents who remain now are asking housing officials for even more time to find new, permanent homes after the East Chicago Housing Authority this week assigned them temporary housing elsewhere in town and as far as Chicago to make way for the West Calumet propertys demolition. The complex, built in the early 1970s on the footprint of a former lead smelter, is located within the EPAs USS Lead Superfund site. Community members say they hope added public pressure beginning with a Friday campaign to flood the phones of local, state and federal politicians, and ending with a 1 p.m. protest at City Hall and the East Chicago Housing Authority will allow families to stay put while they seek housing. 'I will not let them' As of Thursday, about 67 families remain. Of those, 17 are in the process of moving into a new place, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Federal and local housing officials have said its becoming an issue of health and public safety due to the lead in the soil and the high vacancy rates at the 346-unit complex. East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland said in a statement he would never advocate moving residents involuntarily "unless we faced an issue of public safety." "Waiting is not a feasible option, because each day that passes results in a delay in our ability to make the changes needed to improve the neighborhood and to remove any environmental hazards," he said. But mothers like Demetra Turner, 44, say her familys displacement to Chicagos South Side, even temporarily, is a more serious threat to safety. Turner said she moved from Chicago about a decade ago with her son and daughter to escape gang violence. I didnt want that kind of life for my boys. I will not take my kids back to Chicago, a visibly upset Turner said Wednesday during a community meeting in East Chicago. I have a son. He is a good kid. I aint never had to get him out of jail. No drug selling. No gang bangin. And I plan on keeping them that way I will not let them send me back to Chicago. Moving across state lines will force Turner to pull her 11-year-old daughter with learning disabilities out of school. Turner herself would lose her job at Lukoil in East Chicago, she said. Turner said she moved to West Calumet just two months before learning about the lead in the soil. Quickly finding housing thats safe and suitable for her family is easier said than done, she said. They dont care. They dont have to live in these places ... I saw a place (Wednesday) morning in Hammond. Its not livable. I contacted 11 places last week in Hammond. Not one of them accepted Section 8. This is the problem Ive been encountering, Turner said. The East Chicago Housing Authority plans to move families April 3 through 7. Rent abatement ends March 31. The Times filed a public records request this week with the ECHA to obtain a copy of the moving company contract. A civil rights agreement reached last year with the Chicago-based Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law requires the local housing authority to test units for lead hazards prior to moving families in. About 30 families have been assigned to units in East Chicago. The Times this week filed a public records request seeking lead inspection documents that show ECHA properly tested those properties for lead contamination. A Chicago-based housing justice watchdog group said other placements are in Chicago at least one as far north as East Garfield Park. Claudette Jackson, 68, said she fears moving to East Chicago's Harborside area due to the ongoing gang feuds with the Calumet neighborhood. "My 18-year-old grandson would be out there every day. I don't want him in that kind of environment," Jackson said. HUD said Thursday the emergency transfers should be considered as "a last resort," but Sherry Hunter, a community activist with family at West Calumet, said the notice letters handed out Tuesday will scare families into settling for the first place they find. They trying to put fear into you guys, making it seem like you have no hope, that you have to take the first place they give you because you have nowhere else to go, Hunter told families Wednesday. The main thing is let them know you have kids in school, and as long as you have children in school, youre not moving anywhere. HUD said Thursday the situation is fluid, and as families continue to find permanent units, more families assigned to places in Illinois may instead be relocated to units available in East Chicago or in Indiana. HUD on Thursday told The Times ECHA now will provide free transportation to and from school for families with children in East Chicago schools who end up having to move to Illinois temporarily. That offer of transportation was not included in letters delivered to households on Tuesday. Filing a grievance Emily Coffey, a staff attorney with the Shriver Center, said the ECHA can potentially place residents into eviction proceedings if they refuse the unit without filing a grievance within the 10-day window. HUD said residents have 10 business days from Monday, the day the letter was dated and mailed. Residents could file a grievance if they can demonstrate the temporary unit is not accessible to a persons source of employment, education, job training, day care or an educational program for children with disabilities, according to the Shriver Center. They also could file a grievance if a household member has a disability and the unit is not accessible or if they have a child younger than 6 and the unit contains lead-based paint. The family also must demonstrate that accepting the offer will place a family members life, health or safety in jeopardy, according to the Shriver Center. We dont want any of you to end up homeless over this. That is not the outcome that weve been fighting for this entire time, Coffey told residents. HAMMOND Smoke filled the second floor of Eggers Middle School on Wednesday after someone lit a toilet paper roll on fire and a plastic dispenser burned, officials said. A Hammond police officer working security at the school, 5825 Blaine St., was notified about 11:20 a.m. of a small fire in the sixth-grade boys bathroom, police Lt. Steven Kellogg said. "The fire alarm was activated and the building was evacuated," Kellogg said. Hammond firefighters arrived to find the school's 500 to 600 students already outside, officials said. A school employee used an extinguisher to beat back the flames, and firefighters used several more to put the fire out, Fire Chief Jeff Smith said. The toilet paper roll quickly burned and fell on the floor, and the burning plastic dispenser caused all the smoke, Smith said. Firefighters spent more than an hour clearing the smoke, Smith said. In the meantime, most of the students were allowed back into areas of the school that weren't affected, including the cafeteria and gymnasium, School City of Hammond Superintendent Walter Watkins said. The school district took a small group of students to Hammond High School, but returned them to Eggers a short time later after the smoke was cleared from the building, Watkins said. No injuries were reported, police said. Eggers Middle School houses sixth, seventh and eighth grade students, officials said. The fire remains under investigation by school and fire officials, police said. CROWN POINT One of the two men accused in the fatal shooting of Thaddeus Rodriguez Jr., a 25-year-old man allegedly targeted for killing by an East Chicago street gang, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, felony battery and criminal gang activity. Angel Garcia-Berrios, 23, appeared Wednesday morning in Lake Criminal Court for a formal appearance with defense attorney Robert J. Varga. Varga said his client would plead not guilty to charges and told the court he intended to file a petition to let bail. A new court date is set for May 10. Rolando M. Leal Jr., a 27-year-old co-defendant, is scheduled to make a formal appearance in court Thursday. Garcia-Berrios and Leal are accused of shooting Rodriguez on Jan. 25, 2016, outside his girlfriend's apartment near the 4800 block of Tod Avenue in East Chicago, according to a probable cause affidavit. Police learned from confidential informants that members of the Dark Side Two-Six street gang were told to shoot Rodriguez on sight, the affidavit states. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy GARY Police took a 21-year-old Gary man into custody in connection with a shooting Tuesday that left an 18-year-old Indianapolis man dead, officials said. Corey Brazelton, 18, and his cousin were outside a home in the 2500 block of Tyler Street at 7:30 p.m when Brazelton was shot in the chest, officials said.* Gary police responded to the home, where a woman told police her son Brazelton's cousin had taken him to a local hospital, Lt. Thomas Pawlak said. Brazelton was pronounced dead at 8:10 p.m. at Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus, according to the Lake County coroner's office. Police were investigating the shooting as a homicide, Pawlak said. The Lake County coroner's office said Brazelton died from a gunshot wound, but the manner of death was pending. Pawlak described the man in custody as a person of interest. The Lake County sheriff's Crime Scene Investigation Unit is assisting in the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Sgt. Jeremy Ogden, of the Lake County/Gary Metro Homicide Unit, at 219-755-3852. To remain anonymous, call 866-CRIME-GP. *Correction: An earlier version of this story inaccurately described the events surrounding the shooting. The inaccurate information was provided by authorities. INDIANAPOLIS Hoosier lawmakers are continuing to work on legislation that would cut the amount of state gaming taxes distributed to Northwest Indiana cities, counties and other entities. On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee revised House Bill 1350 to reduce the $48 million a year in supplemental admission tax paid to casino communities across Indiana by a rate equal to the annual decline in state gaming revenue compared to 2016. State Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, the committee chairman, said the state can't be expected to continue paying on a 2002 guarantee of $48 million a year when its gaming tax collections have shrunk dramatically since then, due to out-of-state competition. "If the revenues go down, then the local units of government would share proportionally in the vibrancy and activity in the industry, and their share would go down by the same percentage as the state," Kenley said. The legislation specifies that the proportional drop also would apply to the $33 million a year provided in revenue sharing to non-casino communities statewide. State gaming tax revenue through February is down about 6 percent compared to 2016. House Bill 1350 also would replace the $3 admission tax with an additional wagering tax of up to 3.5 percent, so casinos that move on land, or add non-gaming amenities, don't repeatedly have to pay admission tax every time a patron enters the gaming floor. The change to an additional wagering tax is expected to reduce revenue to Northwest Indiana local governments by a total of $4.5 million between 2018 and 2022, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency. The full Senate is expected to consider additional changes and possibly vote on the proposal next week. INDIANAPOLIS Attorney Jaime Oss, of LaPorte, will not succeed Justice Robert Rucker, a Gary native, on the Indiana Supreme Court. After two days of interviews, the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission on Wednesday eliminated Oss, and eight other applicants, from the state's merit selection process for appellate judges. Eleven candidates none living in Northwest Indiana were invited to participate next month in a second round of interviews as the commission works to identify three potential justices to recommend to Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb. The semifinalists include St. Joseph Superior Judge Steven Hostetler and Boone Superior Judge Matthew Kincaid, both of whom the commission recommended last year to Republican Gov. Mike Pence for the vacancy that he filled with Justice Geoffrey Slaughter, a Crown Point native. Altogether, six of this year's semifinalists are judges and five are attorneys, including state Rep. Thomas Washburne, R-Evansville. Four of the semifinalists are women out of six total female applicants. Rucker, 70, is retiring from the state's five-member high court May 12 after serving nearly 18 years. INDIANAPOLIS The directors of the state housing agency unanimously agreed Thursday to contribute $2.08 million for the security and demolition of the lead-affected West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago. The money will be provided to the Managed East Chicago Housing Authority, the nonprofit development arm of the East Chicago Housing Authority, which plans to secure the 346-unit community after the remaining residents depart on or before April 3. "Once they have each been safely relocated, these funds will go toward boarding up windows and doors, securing the property and demolition once it can begin," said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, chairwoman of the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority board. The agency projects that demolition will be completed by Sept. 28. However, any timeline for redevelopment largely depends on the speed at which lead-contaminated soil and water pipes on the property, and adjacent lands also formerly occupied by lead manufacturing operations, can be removed or remediated. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb last month declared the USS Lead Superfund site in East Chicago, which includes the West Calumet Housing Complex, a state disaster emergency. He directed all state agencies to assist area residents with relocation and to speed demolition of the complex. EAST CHICAGO Lt. Abraham Marin of The Salvation Army extolled the virtue of Christ and El Cristo in a rat-a-tat pidgin of English and Spanish Wednesday night at the church's community center in East Chicago. Though God confounded man's language after he built the Tower of Babel, Marin clarifies for his multicultural congregants, providing a simultaneous translation as the more than half-dozen Salvationists discussed at Bible study class the role of Jesus in their life. Marin, a native of Chile, also delivers bilingual sermons one sentence in Spanish and then repeated in English a Sunday tradition he said predated he and his wife's arrival in East Chicago in June 2015. Lt. Leta Marin, Abraham's wife, said The Salvation Army East Chicago Corps has offered bilingual services to its 60-some congregants, more than half of whom are Spanish speakers, for about four or five years, though she was not certain how the tradition started. The practice is unusual most churches offer separate services in Spanish and English but Leta Marin said the congregants enjoyed it. I think it's just a beautiful thing to see people kind of trying to understand the other culture and talk to each other, Leta Marin said. Having bilingual service really facilitates that, rather than having two congregations. East Chicago is one of the most diverse cities in Lake County. More than half the city's population is Hispanic or Latino, compared to 18.3 percent in the surrounding county, and 41 percent of residents in East Chicago speak a language other than English at home, according to U.S. Census data. Abraham Marin, who did not learn English until he arrived 12 years ago in the United States, said he tried to implement bilingual services at prior churches, but other communities did not accept it. We tried before, but, let me tell you, this community is special in that way, he said. It's unique. Abraham Marin said the practice required significant preparation. He writes his sermons in Spanish and then translates them to English while at the pulpit. But he needs to be aware what words will not translate easily into English, and mindful that the sermon will be twice as long when spoken. Leta Marin, who is also fluent in Spanish, said there are occasional misunderstandings, "but for the most part everyone tries to understand. Angela Cortez, a 34-year-old East Chicago resident who attended Wednesday night's Bible study class, offered one possible explanation for why bilingual services are so popular at the church. I speak Spanish, the native of Mexico said. But it helps me with English because everything is both. Carmelo Camacho, 85, agreed that the bilingual services were a good way to maintain his English-language skills. I speak both, but it's a better way to learn, he said. Northwest Indiana residents "braved the shave" to raise money for childhood cancer research through a dozen different St. Baldrick's fundraising events in 2017. As of late last week, people willing to have their heads shaved raised $172,868 through these combined Region events all money pledged to seeking cures for one of our Region and nation's biggest child killers. We asked for Region St. Baldrick's shavees to share selfies of their shearings to help bring more attention to the cause. Today, we share some of those photos, combined with Times staff photography of various Northwest Indiana St. Baldrick's events. These photos, and others, also are available in a special online gallery at http://www.nwitimes.com/digital/photos/gallery-st-baldrick-s-selfies-in-the-region/collection_3d798761-e8ed-500e-8721-2e9b9eef2d26.html We hope you enjoy this image collection of Region men, women and children "Rocking the Bald" in 2017. NEW YORK - NY1 and the New York Post have won their Freedom of Information lawsuit against the de Blasio administration, arguing that emails between City Hall and a private consultant, Jonathan Rosen, should be made public. The decision came Thursday morning from a state Supreme Court judge. For more than two years, the station has been seeking emails between the mayor and Jonathan Rosen, one of his "Agents of the City." Rosen runs the public relations firm BerlinRosen, which represents real estate developers, unions and nonprofit groups, clients with business before the city. READ THE FULL DECISION IN PDF FORM Emails the mayor exchanges with people outside of government are normally subject to the Freedom of Information Act, known as FOIL, but in this case, the city was saying no. Rosen was one of five outside advisers that the mayor's former counsel, Maya Wiley, dubbed an agent of the city. The mayor's legal team has been arguing that Rosen is a consultant to de Blasio, despite the fact that there was no formal consulting agreement. In court, the city tried to take the conflicts of interest question off the table by arguing they attempted to eliminate it by releasing emails in which Rosen's clients were discussed. But the station, in particular NY1 political reporter Grace Rauh, wanted more and the law is on her side, a State Supreme Court judge agrees. The mayor refused to comment on the ruling when NY1 asked him about it. Guys, guys you can ask all you want. Heres what were here to talk about. Last call, anyone want to talk about mansion tax? About mansion tax?" de Blasio said. "Everything else you want to talk about, you will get answers to through our press office. If someone has a question on this, ask about this. If you dont, thats cool. The mayor held that event to talk about his mansion tax proposal, a tax on property sales of more than $2 million. NY1 reached out to the city and was told that the de Blasio administration intends to appeal the decision. Residents of Crown Heights are already taking the mayor to court over his plan to open a homeless shelter in the community. NY1's Courtney Gross filed the following report. A Crown Heights building is almost ready to become a homeless shelter. It smells like fresh paint inside. There are colorful murals on the wall. Signs are on already the doors. The rooms are full of beds. "We plan on opening soon," said Jack Brown, CEO and president of Core Services Group. "There is no specific date. We are not really in a rush to open up. We want to make sure we get it right." The already-controversial Bergen Street shelter in Crown Heights will house more than 100 homeless men. The city plans to open it next week. But that is now the subject of a lawsuit from the community. "The residents, old-timers, new-timers, new people like me, we are all united in opposition to the opening of 1173 Bergen," said Jennifer Catto of the Dean Street Block Association. "How as a mayor can you give people just 30 days' notice to open up a homeless facility in a community that is already saturated?" said Fior Ortiz-Joyner of the Rebirth of Bergen Street Block Association. "All we are asking for is equal distribution, and we don't have that now. " Members of the community are trying to block the opening, saying they have their fair share of homeless shelters. As of this month, this community distr ict has room for more than 1,200 homeless individuals spread across 15 buildings. "We have a situation of incredible oversaturation, and I think this particular shelter at this particular time really flies in the face of us being able to not have a tale of two cities," said Robert Cornegy, the local city councilman. He says he is supporting the community's lawsuit. While the city is committed to open this homeless shelter, it is also promising to close five other sites in the district this year. That includes a commercial hotel that houses the homeless. This is just one of the first shelters to be proposed under the mayor's new homeless plan. Eventually, the city will open up 90, hoping to keep homeless individuals closer to their home community. Clearly, that is not going to happen without a fight. "There is a stigma associated with the homeless population. But at the end of the day, everyone deserves a place to live," Brown said. We will see if it is on Bergen Street. York College in Jamaica is doing its part to help the city destigmatize mental health issues. First Lady Chirlaine McCray joined NY1's own Cheryl Wills Wednesday at York College to talk about Thrive NYC. The first lady launched the initiative in November 2015 to improve access to mental health care . At Wednesday's talk, McCray touted last year's Weekend of Faith -- which encouraged religious leaders to speak about mental health with their communities -- and the importance of training people to help others with mental health issues. "We didn't have the resources back in the day, like for your brother and my parents. We just didn't have the resources. We also didn't have the words .And now we do. "Now we have to educate people so that they can become aware and they can actually get people to the help that is available," said McCray. To learn more about mental health in the city -- head to www.nyc.gov/thrivenyc William Golden, M.D. has joined the senior leadership team at East Alabama Medical Center where he will serve as the chief medical officer. Golden, who has helped deliver more than 9,000 babies in his 30 years with Lee Obstetrics and Gynecology, is splitting time between EAMC and Lee OB/GYN. He will discontinue the obstetrics portion of his practice in June, but will still see gynecology patients on a limited schedule. A graduate of Auburn University and UAB Medical School, Golden says he is looking forward to the new challenge. I have committed to the hospital for the next three years, states Golden. We will try to develop more collaboration between the hospital and the medical staff. One tangible effort will be to get a CIN (clinically integrated network) up and running, which will stabilize, coordinate and enhance the delivery of health care locally. Golden also describes what he sees as his top priorities. I see my main function as representing physician interests to administration and aiding in communication between them. Health care is transitioning and physicians need to be involved in deciding the direction. "More insurers are reimbursing based on quality measures, so I will be involved in demonstrating the quality care we already provide, and will work toward continuing to improve on the quality of care here. Regarding health care in our region, Golden says We are blessed with an outstanding medical community in east Alabama and we have an excellent organization that is financially sound. We have to continue to recruit quality physicians to the area and, as a health care system, to adapt to the changes ahead. Golden added, Our community is growing rapidly and we have to anticipate this so we can maintain the quality of care and the accessibility to care that is needed. Golden says he appreciates the vote of confidence that EAMCs administration has placed in me with this position; I will need the help of our medical community to be successful. For the first time in years, the parking lot in front of the southwest corner of the Auburn Mall was filled Thursday morning as Stein Mart opened to the public. After closing in December 2012, Sears left an anchor store vacancy that persisted until Hull Property Group, owner of the mall, announced Stein Mart would be coming last August. Construction began in September, and the store held its grand opening Wednesday. Workers have been preparing for opening since Feb. 27. The store has about 30 employees and is looking to add between eight and 10 more, said General Manager Maury Ross. I think just our name on the building has brought in so much excitement. Weve had people the last week trying to get in, Ross said. About 100 customers came through the doors within the first 30 minutes of opening. The first 200 received door prizes, and sales will be ongoing through the weekend. CEO Hunt Hawkins said he is looking forward to rounding out the companys offerings in the area with Auburn as its ninth Alabama location. It was a good opportunity for us with them redeveloping the center, Hawkins said. The Auburn Malls location will add to the nearly 300 stores the retailer operates in 31 states. The addition of Stein Mart is part of the Hull Property Group, owner of the Auburn Mall, redevelopment plan for the mall, which was approved by the Auburn City Council in July 2015. Additional plans are in the works for the remainder of the former Sears space, including potential restaurant and retail occupants. We have a lot of other announcements in the pipeline, and this really helps us to attract and bring others there, John Mulherin, vice president of governmental affairs for Hull Property Group told the council in August. I think youll be very pleased with what we have coming up here in the next six months or so. However, another vacancy is in the malls future. J.C. Penney announced on March 17 that it will begin liquidation sales in about a month at 138 stores, including its Auburn location. J.C. Penney and other retailers, such as Sears, which said this week there is substantial doubt it will be able to keep its doors open, have struggled to stay afloat. Sears left the Auburn Mall in 2012 after 61 years of a presence in Auburn. The only remaining one in the area is the Sears Hometown Store in Opelika. Property owners have different plans in the works for the space, including reconfiguring the space to accommodate smaller shop or demolishing part of the building to redevelop. The new Stein Mart is opening at the end of March, and we have seen increasing interest in this property, said Jim Hull, managing principal of Hull Property Group. The Auburn community leadership has led an effort to revitalize the entire retail corridor and because of their investments and ongoing work to promote this area, we are confident the Auburn Mall has a bright future ahead. Twenty-six lobbyists have been hired to oppose the bill allowing Opelika to expand its municipal broadband internet service outside of its city limits, according to Sen. Tom Whatley, R-Auburn. Whatley spoke to the editorial board of the Opelika-Auburn News on Wednesday about several issues facing the Alabama Legislature. The editorial board, which is made up of the Opelika-Auburn News publisher, editors and members of the local community, develops a consensus opinion reflected in each weeks Our View editorials in the Opinion Page of the newspaper. Broadband Whatley has proposed three separate bills that use different approaches to allow Opelika to offer its internet service outside of its city limits. A lot of people are against that bill, Whatley said. AT&T has hired 26 lobbyists to work against me on that bill. Despite the opposition, Whatley said he continues to fight to pass the bill. I want private industry to do what they do and serve the people of Alabama, Whatley said. But if they make a business decision to not do it, then they should not be able to tell somebody in Beauregard or somebody in north Auburn or south Auburn that we're not going to serve you because it doesn't make financial sense for us to do it right now, and I know you have somebody that wants to do it, but we're not going to let them do it either. AT&T did not respond to a request for comment by deadline. We've got a lot of folks working against us, said Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller. And AT&T is a big, big, huge, rich, rich company, and we're just a little old city just scratching and clawing and trying to do the right thing for other folks in Lee County that are lost in the digital desert. Concealed carry After the Opelika-Auburn News ran an editorial against a bill Whatley supported which would allow people to carry a concealed handgun without a permit, Whatley said he went back to look at the issue. I asked our guys to take another look at it, Whatley said. ...My hometown paper is taking a different approach than I'm taking on it and just see if I'm missing something. He said what he found reinforced that he made the right decision to support the bill. In states that have adopted permit-less concealed carry, Whatley said the number of people who still apply for concealed carry permits actually increases. Whatley said he believes under the bill police will still have the ability to do their jobs. I don't think second amendment rights are at conflict with law enforcement at any time, nor do they never need to be, he said. As somebody who wears the uniform and has worn the military uniform for 28 years, I just don't think that's in conflict. Education Whatley said some bills can get more attention in the media than other bills that will have more of an impact on Alabamians. I think the gun bill has probably gotten more coverage than the education budget's gotten, and the education budget is the largest employer in my district, he said. I've got Auburn University. I've got Troy-Phenix City. I've got Central Alabama Community College. I've got Southern Union and Chattahoochee Valley. So three two-years and two four-years... And then I've got 10 school systems in my district that take from the education budget. The Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee, which Whatley is a member, passed a mostly flat education budget which is pending approval of the whole Senate. The budget keeps higher education funding at the same level as 2016 with a $24 million increase to keep up with growth of the veterans scholarship program and a $15 million increase for Alabamas Pre-K program. I spend my time on the education budget, Whatley said. That's what makes this area go. Whatever might have inspired James M. Barrie to write Peter Pan, Finding Neverland has devised some pretty good guesses first as the 2004 movie written by David Magee based on Allan Knees 1998 play The Man Who Was Peter Pan, then as a 2012 stage musical that hit Broadway in 2015. Cannily directed by Diane Paulus, the 2016 U.S. touring production may be too sticky-sweet for some, but it pleasingly evokes the sense of wonder we feel as children yet often lose after growing into ordinary, unimaginative adults. James Grahams book and Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedys songs make Finding Neverland the kind of musical kids will take to without getting restive, yet that teens and adults will also enjoy, neatly spelling out the value play, fun and imagination have for everyone, grown-ups included, but without hitting us over the head with this fact. Billy Harrigan Tighe depicts the character of novelist and playwright Barrie as a clean-cut, decent, hard-working professional with just one hang-up: hes so lacking in inspiration that his plays have become predictable. As a child, the show relates, Barrie invented Neverland as a place where you never grow old. The show then traces the path his life took that led to the creation of his hit 1904 play Peter Pan. That path begins when Barrie meets the four sons of young widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Christine Dwyer) as they play in a park near his home. Barrie enjoys the fun generated by the boys, but he forms a special bond with the solemn, thoughtful Peter (Ben Krieger in the performance reviewed). Barries mismatch marriage to social butterfly Mary (Crystal Kellogg) leads him to a solid platonic friendship and an emotional connection with Sylvia as he gradually becomes a surrogate father to her sons. The crux of Finding Neverland is Barries journey of self-discovery through his reshaping of a wide range of influences: His producer, Charles Frohman (Tom Hewitt), hounds him for a new play by saying the clock is ticking tick-tock, tick-tock. Sylvias battle-ax mother, Emma du Maurier (Karen Murphy), reminds Barrie of a voracious crocodile, while Sylvias sons love to play pirate. And so on. Most of Act Ones songs document the despair Barrie feels in his life and career and the contrasting joy he finds with Sylvia and her children. Things come to a head when Frohman, Mary and Emma castigate the writer in the song Circus of Your Mind. Act One closes with a barrage of powerfully surreal visuals, capped by Jon Driscolls spinning, cinematic projections. During the songs Stronger and Hook, the character of Captain James Hook (a double-cast Hewitt) introduces himself to Barrie as his darker alter-ego, daring him to summon the courage to tell the story he has spent a lifetime avoiding. After these dazzling sequences, most of what follows in Act Two is anticlimactic yet theres no denying the satisfaction we feel when Barrie finally takes up the gauntlet thrown down by Hook, as he creates a Neverland populated by pirates, Indian braves, ageless little boys and one flying spot of bright light, the mischievous sprite eventually dubbed Tinker Bell. Despite its many uplifting elements, Neverland veers, in Act Two, toward the darker aspects of reality when Sylvia is stricken with a grave illness. A more conventional play would peak at the opening night of Peter Pan, but Neverland skips past it to the special performance Frohmans cast creates in the nursery of the Davies home just for the bedridden Sylvia. Excepting the crass American Frohman, the characters are all deliciously British. Tighe and Dwyer nicely modulate Barrie and Sylvias romantic caution, and while Hewitt is pleasingly pompous as Frohman, hes a wonderfully, vividly over-the-top Hook who may remind some of actor Tim Curry. The boys are engagingly bright and polite, from Kriegers Peter and Finn Faulconers surprisingly mature George to Jordan Cole and Mitchell Wray, who each are out-and-out adorable as little tykes Michael and Jack, while Murphy tempers Emmas forbidding exterior with her genuine affection for her four grandsons. In concert with Mia Michaels choreography, the design work Scott Pasks scenery, Suttirat Ann Larlarbs costumes, Kenneth Posners lighting, Jonathan Deans sound, Paul Kieves illusions and Driscolls fantastic projections masterfully creates the colorful sights and sounds of early 20th-century London, making this Neverland well worth visiting. Contact the writer: emarchesewriter@gmail.com With the sale of the burger company still pending, the new leadership of Orange Countys Slaters 50/50 announced plans Thursday to open a franchise location in Dallas. The Texas restaurant, slated to open in May, is the chains first franchise location. Company president Michael Nakleh said he intends to expand the burger brand across the country. Were eager to introduce new markets to our innovative and expansive menu, Nakleh said in a statement. In mid-December Slaters 50/50, known for its bacon-infused burgers, said it would be selling its six restaurants. Founder Scott Slater said he was stepping down as president. He said the new owners, including Nakleh, would take my baby to the next level. Franchising appears to be the next step. The Dallas restaurant is slated to open in May at 2817 Greenville Ave. The Lone Star State is a natural fit as our first franchised Slaters 50/50 location outside of California and its a testament to the brand that we feel foodies and bacon connoisseurs will embrace, said Nakleh said in a statement. Texans know a good burger when they taste one and were confident that Slaters 50/50 will make a lasting impression. Slaters 50/50 is known for its bacon-centric menu, which includes a line of gourmet burgers made with 50 percent ground bacon and 50 percent ground beef. The menu also sells bacon brownies, bacon cheese fries and Bacon mac n cheese. Slater founded the first Slaters 50/50 in Anaheim Hills in the summer of 2009. Other locations are in Huntington Beach, San Diego, Rancho Cucamonga, Pasadena and San Marcos. A restaurant in Lake Forest closed in 2015. Stay tuned next week for more details about changes coming to the Orange County born brand. THROUGH MARCH South Coast Plaza 50th Anniversary Restaurateur Antonio Cagnolo will honor the late retail magnate Henry Segerstrom by serving his favorite meal, Gamberi alla Pizzaiola, large prawns cooked in a light San Marzano tomato sauce with Sicilian olive oil and oregano. The dish will be prepared tableside for guests who want to taste the entree that brought the two men together 40 years ago. Served with toasted rustic bread, it will be available at Antonello Ristorante, 3800 South Plaza Drive, Santa Ana, at South Coast Plaza Village during lunch and dinner for $28. Reservations: 714-751-7153. Info: antonello.com THROUGH APRIL 16 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival Each day, guests are invited to celebrate California cuisine throughout Disney California Adventure park, 1313 Disneyland Drive, Anaheim. The event has added Festival Marketplaces, plus menu items at restaurants and concessions, where guests can sip and savor flavors from across the Golden State. There will be culinary experiences for the whole family, including a variety of food, beverage and lifestyle seminars, demonstrations and presentations. Info: disneyparks.disney.go.com FRIDAY California Wine Night Fresh, farm-to-table cuisine will be served in a four-course dinner with wines from Claiborne & Churchill Vintners. 6:30-9 p.m. at EATS Kitchen & Bar at Hotel Irvine, 17900 Jamboree Road. $60. Reservations: 949-225-6780 or eatskitchen.com/#events APRIL 8 KLOS presents Sabroso Craft Beer, Taco & Music Festival Gringo Bandito hot sauce sponsors the fourth annual taco and craft beer celebration. Featuring live music, lucha libre-style wrestling , games, contests, complimentary craft beer tastings (until 4 p.m.) and $3 tacos from the regions top chefs and restaurants. 1-9 p.m. at Doheny State Beach, Dana Point. Tickets start at $60, and VIP Lounge + early entry tickets are $99. General admission, if available, at the gate will be $75. Info: sabrosotacofest.com Consider repeal impacts The Affordable Care Act enabled millions of Californians to gain access to health care. Since 2014, more than 3.5 million obtained coverage through an expansion of Medi-Cal, the states health care program for the poor. These people live slightly above the poverty line, but do not make enough to afford health insurance on their own and cannot obtain it through their jobs. Orange County has more than 230,000 residents in this category. It is exactly these adults who are at risk of losing their insurance if the ACA is repealed and replaced with a plan that fails to consider the impact on this segment of our population. As a board member of CalOptima Orange Countys Medi-Cal plan I am deeply concerned about this possibility. If nearly a quarter million CalOptima members lose their health coverage, we can expect tremendous fiscal and health impacts. Since 2014, CalOptima has greatly increased payments to private-sector hospitals and health networks by $227 million and $565 million respectively. This has contributed to a 44 percent reduction in the amount of bad debt and charity care that hospitals deal with each year. Furthermore, the countys uninsured population has decreased by 45 percent, going from 505,000 in 2013 to 276,000 in 2015. When more residents have insurance, everyone benefits because our community is healthier overall. If Medi-Cal expansion is rolled back, the countys local economy faces a drastic reduction in dollars coming in. According to the UCLA Center for Health Policy and Research, O.C. could lose 15,000 jobs in health care and related industries. It would also devastate the lives of 230,000 individuals who are now getting healthier and learning to thrive. That being said, the new administration and congressional landscape has the potential to fundamentally change Medi-Cal. In this environment, O.C. can benefit by amplifying our longstanding strength the public-private partnership between CalOptima and private-sector providers to ensure that low-income residents have guaranteed access to high-quality care. Our local health providers would much rather focus on health instead of compliance with bureaucratic processes that are costly and have limited impact on improving our community. We hope that the countys legislative delegation will take this into account as they deliberate and debate the future of the ACA. Dr. Nikan Khatibi, physician, CalOptima board member and O.C. Medical Association member, Orange TUSTIN Vintage, a 140-unit condominium complex originally slated to break ground this spring, has been delayed by a lawsuit filed against the developer and the city. The City Council approved the development in November after rezoning the property from industrial to planned community. A combination of Craftsman, farmhouse, cottage and Spanish facades, Vintage is part of the citys larger strategy to revitalize Old Town with mixed-use developments. In December, a group calling itself Citizens for Tustins History filed a petition against residential developer Intracorp and Tustin, claiming the city violated the state Environmental Quality Act when it determined that no Environmental Impact Report was required. The project may have a significant effect on the environment, the complaint says, listing hazardous materials, noise and traffic. Elizabeth Binsack, director of community development for Tustin, said that financing for the project has been held up due to the lawsuit. The developer has entitlements with the city to proceed, Binsack said. But lenders tend to wait until pending litigation is resolved. However, attorneys on both sides predicted the complaint would be settled out of court by summer. We have had very positive discussions, said Gregory Woodard, who represents the petitioners. I expect the matter to be resolved within the next few months. Ricia Hager, the attorney representing Tustin, said Vintage will get back on track after negotiations conclude, Vintage would replace a 7-acre industrial park wedged between Old Town and the I-5 at the intersection of Sixth and B streets. Currently, the site has 11 buildings and a cellphone tower. Speakers lined up at council meetings last fall to express concerns about the development. Displaced tenants denounced the 30-day quit notice they received from their landlord, who had gradually converted their leases to month-to-month contracts. Additionally, some Old Town residents said the condos would further exacerbate parking problems and would not aesthetically fit their historic neighborhood. Lyann Courant, a 22-year tenant at the 1950s era industrial park, is the only petitioner identified in the complaint. She and her husband Michael Collins moved their pool filtration equipment business, Advantage Manufacturing, to Santa Ana in December. Courant, who has been a vocal critic of the condo development, declined to comment about the lawsuit. Woodward said that other clients joining the complaint do not want to be disclosed. In a previous interview, Courant said the move to a new location would cost around $150,000. But the lawsuit states that no monetary recovery is sought except for attorney fees. Andrew Fogg, the attorney representing Intracorp, declined to discuss whether the city has agreed to conduct an Environmental Impact Report as part of the settlement. Details are still being worked out, Fogg said. Were hoping to wrap this up sooner rather than later. Contact the writer: sgoulding@scng.com SANTA ANA As time ticks away on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract at Santa Ana Jail, a city councilman took a second swing at negotiations for a new agreement with the federal agency and fell short again. Councilman Jose Solorios agenda item to direct city staff to negotiate and execute a contract with ICE consistent with the terms of the 2006 contract failed on a 3-3 vote, Tuesday night, with councilmen David Benavides, Sal Tinajero and Vincent Sarmiento opposing and Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez absent. In his request, Solorio cited an objective to reduce the likelihood that families and immigration attorneys would have to travel to faraway facilities after detainees are relocated and emphasized that the Consulate of Mexico in Santa Ana recently increased legal service options for immigrants. The item failed on the same vote count as his similar motion two weeks ago. However, the absent council member at the previous meeting was Sarmiento. Sarmiento said he visited Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Congressman Lou Correas offices in Washington, D.C., last week, to gauge where the federal government stands since February, when ICE gave Santa Ana a 90-day notice to end the existing jail contract. Theres nothing that explained to me or expressed to me that they would invite us back to reinstate this contract, Sarmiento said. In fact, to the contrary, theyve been expanding ICE contracts in existing facilities and looking for new facilities as well. Sarmiento made a substitute motion to axe ICE references in Solorios item and replace them with the U.S. Marshals Service, which also has a contract at the jail. The jail has a 500-bed capacity thats being unmet. But Sarmientos motion also failed on a split 3-3 vote, with Solorio, Mayor Miguel Pulido and Councilman Juan Villegas opposing. When ICE served its termination notice Feb. 23, citing a recent decision by the city council to reduce the number of beds available, there were 74 detainees. Police Chief Carlos Rojas said that as of Tuesday morning, only 17 immigration detainees remained, and only one of them was from Santa Ana. The existing contract calls for 128 detainees. So this argument, Oh, (families) are going to have to travel to far distances, falls flat on its face, Tinajero said of Solorios rationale. Solorio said many immigration detainees at the jail are from the region or the western U.S., so families would have to travel farther if they are transferred to other ICE facilities, which Rojas said appears to be occurring. We believe they may go to the state of New Mexico and then possibly Adelanto in San Bernardino County, Rojas said. But please bear in mind that we dont control any of that, but thats what weve been told. Several Santa Ana Jail correctional officers and supporters asked the council for a new contract, Tuesday, calling services high quality and humane, and preserving jobs important. We dont know until we ask, Santa Ana Police Officers Association President Gerry Serrano said. So just because we dont know, I think its irresponsible to not try, not try to save the revenue, to save the jobs of the people that are sitting here. Though dozens supporting the police union sat in the council chambers, they were outnumbered in public comment by immigration rights activists who spoke against the proposal. Weve led becoming a sanctuary city. We need to lead again against Trump, Latino Trump, said Resilience OCs community engagement advocate Roberto Herrera, referring to Solorio, and everyone else that wants to profit off of immigration detention. Santa Ana faces a $3 million debt annually through 2024 for building the jail it opened in 1997. It receives about $340,000 in monthly revenue from the ICE contract. If Solorio brings the matter back for a vote a third time, he would have to sway at least one council member to succeed. Like I said last time, I think this conversation is going to continue, Solorio said. Its not just about the ICE contract, but the overall need for the city to continue to have a jail and have a strong public safety system. Contact the writer: 714-796-7762 or jkwong@ocregister.com or on Twitter: @JessicaGKwong GUATEMALA CITY When firefighters entered the home for troubled youth, they discovered more than two dozen girls on the floor of a locked room, most of them dead. A moan rose from one of the bodies, piled on top of each other. When firefighter Danial Perpuac turned the girl over, flames came out of her mouth she was burning up inside. That is something you cannot forget, Perpuac said helplessly. I know I will have the smell of grilled meat and hair in my nose and throat for life. The fire on March 8 that killed 40 girls at the Virgen de la Asuncion Safe Home started when ringleaders took a match to a foam mattress to protest the abuse they had suffered there. Their hell at the government-run shelter began long before the inferno, as documented in several warnings and at least two orders for closure. The Virgen de la Asuncion home is on a hill 14 miles east of Guatemala City, protected by high walls and barbed wire. About 700 children nobody knew exactly how many lived in a home with a maximum capacity for 500. The majority had committed no crime. They were sent there by the courts for various reasons they had run away, they were abused, they were migrants. Most came from families so poor they could not afford the $50 in lawyers fees to get their children out. The abuse at Virgen de la Asuncion was no secret. Teacher Edgar Rolando Diguez Ispache has been in prison since 2013 and is on trial for alleged rape. Another employee, mason Jos Roberto Arias Prez, has been in prison since 2014 for raping a mentally disabled girl. Several reports criticizing the shelter were put out by the countrys attorney general and the National Adoption System in 2015 and 2016. One recommended the gradual closure of the facility, and another its immediate closure. Yet the abuse continued. The story of one girl who escaped the shelter on Oct. 30, after six weeks inside, was told in a case file seen by The Associated Press. The girl, 16, is not named because she is an alleged victim of rape. She fled from her own house in August to escape extortion demands from a gang. On Aug. 22, police located the girl, and a youth court sent her to Virgen de la Asuncion. Officials separated mother and daughter as they cried. Mama, get me out of here, the girl begged, according to her mother. By the time of a hearing on Sept. 13, the girl had been beaten, forced to get a tattoo with the name of a female staffer, and repeatedly raped, her mother said. The first time, the female staff called her in for a physical exam and sedated her. She woke up and her whole body hurt, and she realized what they had done, according to the case file. Several days later, they took her to the same place. This time, she was awake and tied to a gurney. The young man who raped her had his face covered. The third time, it was several men, she said. They raped her and beat her. A little more than two months after she was sent to the shelter, the daughter escaped along with three others. On Nov. 11, the state attorney requested that the center be closed. He asked that areas known as the cage and the chicken coop be closed within 48 hours. Both facilities looked like punishment cells, with metal doors and no windows. Also in November, a state human rights prosecutor filed a complaint with the Inter American Human Rights Commission, with charges as serious as forced recruitment for human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution. There were complaints about sexual abuse by male residents against female residents, including some under 13. One girl was killed in 2013, hanged with a scarf by two other girls. On Dec. 12, a court condemned the state of Guatemala for violations committed against the rights of minors guarded in the home. It also gave 48 hours to clarify the legal situation of a number of minors inside the home. Nothing happened. The secretary of social welfare, Carlos Rodas, who was responsible for the home, appealed the judicial decision. Rodas, who has since been arrested, has denied negligence and refused to resign. The problem is that judges mix children who have committed crimes with children abandoned by their families, he said. On March 7, about 60 girls escaped from the shelter. They rebelled because shelter staff had tried to beat them, said a 14-year-old survivor, whose family did not want her name used out of fear for her safety. Riot police caught them and returned them to the shelter by force. The escapees eventually were locked in a 500-square-foot classroom as punishment. It is as yet unclear who locked them in and who held the key. By 7:30 the next morning, they had been held for about six hours. They were not let out even to use the bathroom, the girl told the AP. Four girls who were ringleaders at the home had managed to get matches to smoke cigarettes during their brief escape. In an attempt to protest the lockup and force somebody to open the doors, they set fire to a mattress propped against a window. The burning mattress fell onto other mattresses, and the flames quickly spread. The girls shouted, Help me! Help me! the 14-year-old said. Nobody did. I saw how they burned, how they screamed, how they died, she said. She fainted. When she came to, somebody had finally opened the door. She ran out. The girl suffered burns on both arms, a shoulder and part of her face. By 9 a.m., 19 of the girls were dead, burned and asphyxiated. Twenty-one more between the ages of 13 and 17 would die at local hospitals over the next few days. Kimberly Palencia Ortiz was one of the dead. The 17-year-old had been a ward of the state for nearly a year. Her father was in prison, her mother had disappeared, and her grandmother did not have the means to take care of her. It is an injustice, Valeria Yojero said tearfully at her granddaughters burial. Nobody should die for being poor. The American Health Care Act could prove hazardous to the political well-being of Southern Californias House Republicans. GOP members of Congress who vote for the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, may end up energizing opposition groups and providing a talking point for Democrats determined to oust them. But if they vote no and the GOP effort fails, Republicans in Congress could embarrass their party and party leaders. For years, Republicans have sought to dismantle Obamacare. Now that their party controls the presidency and both houses of Congress, this seems to be their best chance. A vote is expected Thursday, March 23. I honestly think many of you will lose your seats in 2018 if you dont get this done, President Donald Trump warned House Republicans this week. The prospect of a primary challenge looms large. Thats sobering because Trump supporters are zealous and Trump is vindictive, said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. If they support the bill, they will alienate many of those who are not Trump supporters. Public opposition to the bill is likely to grow as more people learn about its effects. Democrats plan to make Republican yes votes a campaign issue. They can either stand with the people who sent them to Washington, D.C., and protect health care for the sick and vulnerable and those who need it most, or we will hold them accountable on Election Day, California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton said in a statement. TABLES TURNED The quandary facing Republicans is similar to the dilemma Democrats wrestled with prior to the Affordable Care Acts passage in 2010. The GOP capitalized on the public backlash against Obamacare to pick up 63 seats and seize control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 mid-term elections. The GOP plan, referred to as Trumpcare or Ryancare after House Speaker Paul Ryan, continues some Obamacare provisions, such as barring insurers from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions. The plan replaces income-based tax credits to make insurance affordable with credits based on age. Instead of a financial penalty for not having health insurance, the GOP bill allows for 30 percent surcharges on those who let their coverage lapse for more than 63 days. Also, the bill caps federal funding to states for Medicaid, a health insurance program for the poor. Enhanced funding for states expanding Medicaid coverage, such as California, would be phased out. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that 18 million Americans would lose health coverage under the bill next year. As many as 24 million people could lose insurance by 2026. The Medicaid changes would cut $880 million from the program from 2017 to 2026, according to the CBO. The bill has been condemned by liberals who say it will cause people to die for lack of insurance and rejected by conservatives who see it as Obamacare under a different name. Public support for the bill measured by a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll fell from 46 percent March 9 to 13 to 40 percent from March 16 to 19. Even if it passes the House, the bill faces an uncertain fate in the Senate. A number of GOP senators have said the legislation cant pass their chamber without significant changes. OC SQUEEZE With Democrats united against the bill, no more than 21 Republicans can vote no for the legislation to pass the House. More than 25 Republicans in the conservative House Freedom Caucus oppose the bill, according to Wednesday news reports. Orange Countys four Republican members of Congress are particularly feeling pressure to vote against the bill. All four saw their districts voters favor Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in November four of just 23 GOP-held districts preferring Clinton nationwide. The OC Republicans have been targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has already provided funding for organizers in two of those districts. And they have seen anti-Trump demonstrators rally at their offices weekly. The sole unequivocal supporter in the Orange County delegation is second-term Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Beach, who voted for an earlier version as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. She has been targeted by newspaper and internet ads funded by the anti-Trump group, Working Americans for Affordable Health Care. In an email Wednesday, Walters said: The AHCA is a rare opportunity to provide Americans access to the low cost, high quality, patient-centered health care that they deserve. This bill will lead to lower premiums, greater choice in coverage options and large reductions in the federal deficit. Such major entitlement reform does right by Americans from all walks of life and delivers the type of change demanded by my constituents. Also expected to support the measure is Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa. One consideration is that he wants assurances that illegal immigrants will not have access to tax-supported healthcare, said Rohrabacher spokesman Ken Grubbs. He also noted that his boss is concerned that the Republican opposition, many of them comparatively new to Congress, havent learned that the perfect is often the enemy of the good. Grubbs said that phone calls to the congressmans offices are overwhelmingly opposed to the GOP plan, estimating the tally was 2,000 against, five in favor. But we recognize such tallies are strongly influenced by mobilized campaigns and are therefore unreliable, he said. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, won re-election by a razor-thin 0.7 percentage points in a district that straddles the Orange-San Diego county line and is considered one the most vulnerable House members in the 2018 election. Hes getting pressure not only from those who prefer the existing health care plan but also from the conservative Club for Growth. The free-market advocacy group complains the GOP plan doesnt go far enough and has targeted Issa as one of 10 Republicans theyre pushing to vote against the plan. Issa said last week that the reform wasnt in a plan he could support, but subsequently said the amendments this week addressed some of his concerns. CNN reported that he said he was leaning yes, but Issa spokesman Calvin Moore subsequently said that the congressman continued to have reservations and remained undecided. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, also was undecided. I remain concerned about the rising cost of healthcare for Southern Californians and am listening to the feedback Ive received from my constituents on this bill, Royce said in an email. OTHER REPUBLICANS Among other Southern California members of Congress, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, also has been targeted in ads funded by Working Americans for Affordable Health Care. Hunter supports the bill. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, plans to support the bill in its current form. The American Health Care Act lays the groundwork for delivering the free-market, competitive health care system Americans deserve by replacing a government-mandated system with patient-focused health care plans that people actually want to buy, he said in an emailed statement. Rep. Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, represents a district spanning Los Angeles and Ventura counties in which Democrats have a narrow voter registration advantage. He also is on the Democrats target list for 2018. In an emailed statement Tuesday, Knight said: The future of our nations healthcare is extremely important and warrants thorough examination and discussion, which is why we will continue to carefully review the recent proposed changes to the bill and discuss its impacts with members of our community. Asked to clarify Wednesday morning, a Knight spokesman said the congressman does not have a position on the bill at this point. Here we go again. The California State Legislature is considering yet another bill to impose a so-called single-payer, government monopoly, health care system. This has long been an obsession of the Californias nurses unions, because a health system under total government control would suit the narrow interests of union leaders. They would accrue power similar to that wielded by other public-sector unions and might even be able to negotiate contracts similar to those enjoyed by state and local employees, which are driving public finances across the state into the ditch. However, a government take-over would not be good for California patients. The single-payer ideology overwhelmed Canadian health care decades ago, where militant unions invest significant resources in preventing reforms patients need to improve their access to health services. Our northern neighbors suffer unacceptable delays in getting medically necessary treatment. According to a 2016 study by the Fraser Institute, it took an average of 20 weeks for a patient to receive treatment from a specialist after referral by a primary-care doctor. This has deteriorated significantly from 9.3 weeks in 1993, the first year the study was published. The worst delay is for neurosurgery, for which the average wait was 46.9 weeks last year. Those waiting times are after a patients primary-care doctor refers them to a specialist. Meanwhile, about one in seven Canadians does not even have a family doctor. Access to lifesaving medicines is similarly poor. According to a recently published study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved 45 anticancer drugs from 2009 through 2013, while only 34 were approved in Canada. While Medicare covered all 45 drugs, government programs in Canada covered only 15. Californias single-payer advocates argue government monopoly would be Medicare for all, but that is not the case. Medicare beneficiaries do not (yet) suffer limited access to specialists because it is paid for by working-age people who finance Medicares spending on people aged 65 and older. As the baby boomers retire, this financing mechanism will fail and more Americans will recognize the need for significant reforms to Medicare. Medicare Part D, which covers prescription drugs, is offered by private insurers which submit bids to the federal government for the privilege of offering the benefit to Medicare beneficiaries. This element of competition protects seniors from direct government rationing of innovative new medicines. It would disappear under Californias single-payer proposal. Economic growth in California would also suffer, because investment in medical innovation flees when government rations patients access to new therapies. According to another Fraser Institute study, investment in pharmaceutical research and development in Canada shrank 20 percent between 2001 and 2015. In California, on the other hand, the life sciences industry has grown so dramatically it employs more workers than traditional California industries such as aerospace, electronic-equipment manufacturing, or telecommunications, according to a 2014 report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Many of these high-paying jobs would disappear if California adopted a single-payer system. A single-payer health system would not look like Medicare for all, but Medi-Cal, the states welfare program for low-income residents health care. A 2013 study found only 54 percent of office-based physicians accepted Medi-Cal patients. Another found only 36 percent of psychiatrists would accept Medi-Cal patients. Rewarding failure, Obamacare increased federal funds to enroll newly-eligible people in state Medicaid programs, which has resulted in almost one-third of Californias 39 million people becoming dependent on Medi-Cal. The number increased from 7.8 million in 2013 to 12.1 million last November. However, the federal handouts are not free. In his 2016-2017 budget, Gov. Brown asked for an 8 percent increase in Medi-Cal funding over 2015-2016. This $19.1 billion would cover a caseload now estimated at 13.5 million people. This bloated Medi-Cal program is living on borrowed time. Whatever health care reform legislation emerges from Washington to repeal and replace Obamacare will surely give states more flexibility in how they deliver Medicaid to low-income households. This will include a cut in federal payments, but also unprecedented options to explore better ways to deliver care to the least advantaged patients with less bureaucracy. One example is Health Opportunity Accounts, which would allow Medi-Cal patients themselves to decide which health services should be paid for. Instead of wasting time fantasizing about imposing a single-payer government monopoly over Californians access to health care, California politicians should look forward to taking advantage of these new ways to deliver care within reasonable budget constraints. John R. Graham is a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute and the National Center for Policy Analysis. Every so often a new liberal radio talker takes to the mic and is declared to be the lefts answer to Rush Limbaugh! At first it was former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, or California Gov. Jerry Brown or former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower. After those shows bombed, investors created an entire network devoted to left-leaning chat shows, called Air America. This line-up featured now-Sen. Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo and Rachel Maddow, and collapsed in less than 6 years. Why doesnt left-wing talk work? Because it already exists, and its very popular with liberal listeners its called National Public Radio. To give you an idea of how popular NPR is, their flagship afternoon drive program All Things Considered generates just over 13 million weekly listeners, about the same as Rush Limbaugh. If conservatives like listening to guys in suits screaming about politics, liberals seem to love a sound track of government-subsidized left-wing polemics delivered in a whisper, with the occasional wind chime in the background. Because NPR would dispute the assertion that theyre biased, lets take a quick stroll down memory lane so you can make up your own mind. On Nov. 15, 2016, NPR ran an article saying that the election of Donald Trump made official, a nostalgia for a whiter America. A day later NPRs ombudsman/public editor Elizabeth Jensen didnt like what she heard in an interview with Breitbarts Joel Pollack, so she insisted that public radio stop airing live interviews with conservatives who normalize hate speech. Jensen declared that guests with a right-of-center point of view should have their interviews pre-taped and edited so that they can be better contextualized. Uh huh. And then you have NPRs legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, who famously said in 1995 that if there was retributive justice, former North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms would get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will get it. Totenberg still works at NPR and her contributions are aired prominently and regularly. But if thats the editorial point of view they want, theyre entitled to have it they just shouldnt be doing it with my tax dollars. Thankfully, President Trump has proposed a federal budget that would eliminate all federal funding from public broadcasting a move that would save taxpayers some $445 million annually. Because NPR stations rely on a mix of tax dollars and private donations and endowments these changes mean different things for different stations. According to some estimates, the larger market stations could be looking at cuts of between 2 and 7 percent and the smaller stations could see 30 percent of their budgets trimmed. Bill Davis, the president of the Southern California Public Radio, told the left-wing website Media Matters, At smaller radio stations, there is no question the cuts would be more significant, for stations in rural areas particularly where there are strong constituents for Donald Trump, one of the ironies. He estimated that his stations would lose out on an estimated $1.2 to $1.4 million annually and would be forced to lay off 12 employees. Now we finally know what it takes to get liberal journalists worried about the plight of rural America laying off liberal journalists in rural America! We now live in a world where people have more access to information than ever before. There may have been a time when small-town America had limited access to the outside world, but thanks to the internet, cable television and the proliferation of smartphones, a potato farmer in rural Idaho has access to the same television shows, websites and newspapers as a tech industry executive in Irvine. The fact of the matter is, there is no longer a need for public radio. People may enjoy listening to the programming, but tax dollars arent meant to fund our hobbies. Or our political biases. NPR listeners should pony up for their own privately funded wind chimes. John Phillips is a CNN political commentator and can be heard weekdays at 3 p.m. on The Drive Home with Jillian Barberie and John Phillips on KABC/AM 790. WASHINGTON The House intelligence committee chairman privately apologized to his Democratic colleagues on Thursday, yet publicly defended his decision to openly discuss and brief President Donald Trump on typically secret intercepts that he says swept up communications of the presidents transition team in the final days of the Obama administration. GOP Rep. Devin Nunes decision to disclose the information before talking to committee members outraged Democrats and raised questions about the independence of the panels probe of Russian interference into the 2016 election and possible contacts between Trump associates and Russia. It was a judgment call on my part, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told reporters Thursday morning. Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make wrong decision. A congressional aide familiar with Nunes meeting said the chairman apologized to Democrats and pledged to work with them and share information related to the investigation. A credible investigation cannot be conducted this way, said Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House panel. The White House quickly embraced Nunes revelations and the president said they somewhat validated his wiretapping allegations. Nunes critics also questioned whether the San Joaquin Valley congressman was coordinating with the White House in order to give the president cover for his explosive claims that Barack Obama wire tapped Trumps New York skyscraper. Nunes, who served on Trumps transition team, ducked questions about whether he was parroting information given to him by the White House, saying only that he was not going to ever reveal sources. He maintained that Trumps explosive wiretapping allegations against Obama were false. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer dismissed questions about whether the White House planted information with Nunes, saying I believe that the information he shared with the president was new. Some Democrats on the House intelligence committee remained unconvinced. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., told reporters on Capitol Hill that she doesnt know where the information came from, but recalled a comment Trump made in a Fox News interview earlier this month where he said the White House will be submitting things before the committee very soon that hasnt been submitted as of yet. Obama administration officials disputed the suggestion that the outgoing administration was improperly monitoring its successors. Former Vice President Joe Biden weighed in on Twitter, saying the chairman of a committee investigating the White House cant share information with that White House. Need select committee! he wrote. Nunes disclosure came two days after FBI Director James Comey publicly confirmed the bureaus own investigation into the Trump campaigns connections with Russia. Comeys comments came during the intelligence committees first public hearing on Russias election interference, an investigation being overseen by Nunes. Nunes said he received the new intelligence information after that hearing. He said it revealed that Trumps transition associates and perhaps Trump himself had their communications picked up through legal surveillance. The surveillance was conducted legally, Nunes said, and did not appear to be related to the FBIs Russia investigation. He said his concern was that the identities of the Trump officials were improperly revealed and the contents of their communications were widely disseminated in intelligence reports. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Nunes said, What Ive read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team. Nunes briefed reporters on the new information without consulting with Schiff or other Democrats on the committee. Speier said Nunes disclosure could be a weapon of mass distraction in light of allegations of coordination between Russians and the Trump campaign during the 2016 campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton. This could be a lot of theatrics, said Speier. This is a bizarre situation, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said in an interview on MSNBC. Im calling for a select committee because I think this back-and-forth shows that Congress no longer has the credibility to handle this alone. Later, in an interview with MSNBC, Schiff said evidence that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of an investigation exists of Trump associates colluding with Russia as it interfered in last years election. He did not outline that evidence. Its common for Americans to get caught up in U.S. surveillance of foreigners, such as foreign diplomats in the U.S. talking to an American. Typically, the Americans name would not be revealed in a report about the intercepted communications. However, if there is a foreign intelligence value to revealing the Americans name, it is unmasked and shared with other intelligence analysts who are working on related foreign intelligence surveillance. Schiff disputed Nunes suggestions that there was improper unmasking. He said that after speaking with Nunes, it appeared that the names of Americans were still guarded in the intercepts though their identities could be gleaned from the materials. Matthew Waxman, a national security law professor at Columbia University, said Nunes actions in this case are contributing to, rather than alleviating concerns, about politicization of intelligence. Nunes said the information on the Trump team was collected in November, December and January, the period after the election when Trump was holding calls with foreign leaders, interviewing potential Cabinet secretaries and beginning to sketch out administration policy. He said the monitored material was widely disseminated in intelligence reports. Asked whether he believed the transition team had been spied on, Nunes said: It all depends on ones definition of spying. Nunes did not identify any of the Trump associates he said were unmasked, but they are believed to include Michael Flynn, who was fired as White House national security adviser after misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other top officials about his contacts with Russias ambassador to the United States. AP writers Eileen Sullivan and Eric Tucker contributed to this report. Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Deb Riechmann at http://twitter.com/debriechmann A majority of Southern California residents oppose President Donald Trumps key immigration policies including his travel ban, plan for a border wall and calls to increase deportations according to a survey released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California. That opposition, while differing in intensity around the region, spans Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties and the Inland Empire an area home to the states largest population of undocumented immigrants. Today, a strong majority of Californians say that undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. should be allowed to stay and eventually apply for citizenship, the surveys authors wrote. The survey, for which 1,706 California adults were interviewed, found: More than 70 percent of Los Angeles-area and Inland Empire adults and 60 percent of Orange County and San Diego County adults said that undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States should be allowed to stay and eventually apply for citizenship. Statewide, the number was 68 percent. Around 12 percent in the Los Angeles area and the Inland Empire, and 15 percent in Orange and San Diego counties, thought undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay but not be allowed citizenship. Nearly than three in four adults in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties oppose constructing a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, while that opposition drops to 63 percent in the Inland Empire. Almost 63 percent of Los Angeles-area adults and 57 percent of Orange and San Diego counties adults disapprove of Trumps revised executive order banning most people entering the U.S. from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. While party affiliation seemed to impact how people responded to the survey, a majority of Republicans (56 percent) agreed that undocumented immigrants should be allowed to remain in the United States, compared to 92 percent of Democrats. The partisanship was more pronounced for the other immigration-related questions about the border wall (92 percent of Democrats opposed, 68 percent of Republicans supported) and the travel ban (81 percent of Democrats opposed, 85 percent of Republicans supported). Californias elected officials have largely vowed to fight Trumps immigration policies, which seek to focus deportation efforts on a broad range of undocumented immigrants beyond convicted violent criminals, including people who have simply been charged with a crime, people who have sought public benefits and anyone immigration officers believe poses a risk to public safety or national security. On Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait joined other municipal leaders from around the country in calling for immigration reform. Zeke Hernandez, president of the Santa Ana chapter of League of United Latin American Citizens, said he was surprised at the overwhelming support Southern Californians had for providing undocumented immigrants with a path to citizenship, and called on the federal government to provide more support to help immigrants take that step. I think he ought to throw out any actions that are punitive, Hernandez. Most folks arent in tune with the presidents actions. Robin Hvidston, executive director of We the People Rising, an anti-illegal immigration group based in Claremont, said that the 4.5 million Californians who voted for Trump did so largely because of his immigration policies, arguing that those people had valid concerns, even if they were outvoted by Hillary Clinton supporters. Trump is focused on deporting criminal aliens, and the American public is behind the removal of criminal aliens, Hvidston said. She also questioned the reliability of the survey but didnt point to a specific problem with the way it was conducted. The Public Policy Institute of California describes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. Past years surveys by the nonprofit show that Californians supported immigration reform even before Trump took office. In 2012, nearly 70 percent of Californians thought employed undocumented immigrants who have lived in the country for two years should be given a path to citizenship, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. This year, despite the states strong opposition to Trumps immigration policies, only 16 percent of survey takers said the issue was the most important that the state faced. Nearly 20 percent said jobs and the economy were most important, while others were most concerned about schools, health care and the environment. California was home to more than 2.6 million undocumented immigrants in 2013, including 814,000 in Los Angeles County, 247,000 in Orange County, 170,000 in San Diego County, 124,000 in Riverside County and 118,000 in San Bernardino County, according to a Public Policy Institute of California report released this month. A February CBS poll found 58 percent of Americans opposed Trumps border wall. The same poll found 60 percent of Americans thought undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay in the country and apply for citizenship, 13 percent said they should stay but without citizenship and 23 percent said they should be required to leave. Contact the writer: jgraham@scng.com or 714-796-7960 President Donald Trumps proposal to eliminate federal funding for legal aid for the poor is unconscionable. Everyone rich and poor alike should have access to justice. That should not be a partisan issue. Yet, President Trumps proposed budget would completely eliminate funding for the Legal Services Corporation, which is the largest source of legal aid funding in the United States. The Legal Services Corporation was created in 1974 with strong bipartisan support, including from then-President Richard Nixon. The Legal Services Corporation distributes its funding to 133 independent nonprofit legal aid programs with more than 800 offices. These legal aid offices provide legal assistance in non-criminal cases to people who live in households with annual incomes at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, a category that includes almost one in five Americans or about 65 million people. In 2015, funding from the Legal Services Corporation provided legal assistance to 1.9 million people who otherwise would not have been able to afford an attorney. Those receiving assistance are often facing crises in their lives that urgently require legal help. Among the most frequently aided are women who are victims of domestic violence whose lives, and the lives of their children, may be endangered without the assistance of lawyers and the intervention of the courts. Many years ago, when I was working in a legal aid clinic as a law student, I represented a number of women who were seriously abused, but who would receive no protection from the police until they obtained a restraining order against their abuser from a court. I saw first-hand how having legal representation provided them essential protection and dramatically changed their lives. Children in foster care need lawyers to protect their rights and to ensure that they are placed in safe and caring homes. Without attorneys, these children often get lost in the system, being shuttled from one foster home to another. Those facing eviction or foreclosure desperately need a lawyer, including to prevent unscrupulous practices by landlords and lenders. Until recently, 90 percent of landlords were represented in court by lawyers, but 90 percent of tenants across the country were unrepresented. Legal aid offices across the country have been especially important in protecting the elderly against unscrupulous lenders. Legal aid offices provide crucial assistance to those returning from military service who often face a myriad of legal problems and to military families. Likewise, victims of natural disasters often have great legal needs and nowhere else to turn except to legal services offices. The benefits in peoples lives are enormous and often results in savings to state and local governments. For example, civil legal aid reduces repeat occurrences of domestic violence, helps children leave foster care more quickly, and reduces homelessness by guarding against unjust foreclosures and unnecessary evictions. All of these save the government money. The current funding levels of $385 million is seriously inadequate to meet the legal needs of the poor. A recent study has shown that 80 percent of the civil legal needs of the eligible population are still not being met. In fact, from 2007 to 2016, funding per eligible person decreased from $7.54 to $5.85. According to the World Justice Project, the United States ranks dead last (36th out of 36th) among high-income countries on the question of whether people can access and afford civil justice. Although the $385 million is enormously important to those who are provided legal services, it is miniscule in terms of the federal budget. It is actually less than one-ten-thousandth of the federal budget. The $385 million is less than $1.20 per person when divided across the population. There is no other source of funding that can make up this difference. Women in domestic violence situations will lack judicial protection from their abusers. Those facing wrongful eviction or foreclosure will have nowhere to turn. Children in foster care will have no one to represent them. Military families dealing with creditors or foreclosures will go without assistance. The legal system is complex and having a lawyer often can make all of the difference in a persons life. For over 40 years, this has been acknowledged by both Democratic and Republican presidents and by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Access to the courts and to justice should not depend on income and it should not be a partisan issue. It is essential that Congress reject President Trumps proposal to eliminate funding for the Legal Services Corporation. Peoples lives truly depend on this. Fairness and justice depend on this. Erwin Chemerinsky is dean of the UC Irvine School of Law. WASHINGTON Private communications of Donald Trump and his presidential transition team may have been scooped up by American intelligence officials monitoring other targets and improperly distributed throughout spy agencies, the chairman of the House intelligence committee said Wednesday an extraordinary public airing of often-secret information that brought swift protests from Democrats. Republican Rep. Devin Nunes comments led the committees ranking Democrat, Adam Schiff, to renew his partys calls for an independent probe of Trump campaign links to Russia in addition to the GOP-led panels investigation. Schiff also said he had seen more than circumstantial evidence that Trump associates colluded with Russia. In back-to-back news conferences at the Capitol and then the White House where he had privately briefed the president Nunes said he was concerned by officials handling of the communications in the waning days of the Obama administration. He said the surveillance was conducted legally and did not appear to be related to the current FBI investigation into Trump associates contacts with Russia or with any criminal warrants. And the revelations, he said, did nothing to change his assessment that Trumps explosive allegations about wiretaps at Trump Tower were false. Still, the White House immediately seized on his statements in what appeared to be a coordinated public display. Moments after Nunes spoke on Capitol Hill, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer read his statements from the White House briefing room podium. The California congressman quickly headed up Pennsylvania Avenue to personally brief the president and to address reporters outside the West Wing. Nunes decision to brief the president was particularly unusual, given Trump almost certainly has access to the information from his intelligence agencies. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said Nunes disclosure could be a weapon of mass distraction in light of allegations of coordination between Russians and the Trump campaign during the 2016 campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton. This could be a lot of theatrics, said Speier, also a member of the House intelligence committee. This is a bizarre situation, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said in an interview on MSNBC. Im calling for a select committee because I think this back-and-forth shows that Congress no longer has the credibility handle this alone. Outside the White House, Nunes said, What Ive read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team. Trump said he felt somewhat vindicated by the Republicans revelations. I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found, he said. The disclosure came two days after FBI Director James Comey publicly confirmed the bureaus own investigation into the Trump campaigns connections with Russia and rejected Trumps explosive claims that President Barack Obama wiretapped his New York skyscraper during the election. Comeys comments came during the intelligence committees first public hearing on Russias election interference, an investigation being overseen by Nunes. Nunes briefed reporters on the new information without consulting with Schiff, and that did not sit well with the top Democrat on the committee. Schiff declared he now has profound doubt about the integrity and independence of the committees probe. He said that a credible investigation cannot be conducted this way. Later, in an interview with MSNBC, Schiff said evidence that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of an investigation exists of Trump associates colluding with Russia as it interfered in last years election. He did not outline that evidence. Nunes said he believed the Trump teams communications were caught incidentally. But he suggested the contents may have been inappropriately disseminated in intelligence reports. He left open the possibility the communications were spread for political reasons. Nunes would not disclose how he received the new information. It was unclear whether Trumps own communications were monitored. Nunes initially said yes when asked if Trump was among those swept up in the intelligence monitoring, but then said it was only possible. Its common for Americans to get caught up in U.S. surveillance of foreigners, such as foreign diplomats in the U.S. talking to an American. Typically, the Americans name would not be revealed in a report about the intercepted communications. However, if there is a foreign intelligence value to revealing the Americans name, it is unmasked and shared with other intelligence analysts who are working on related foreign intelligence surveillance. Schiff disputed Nunes suggestions that there was improper unmasking. He said that after speaking with Nunes, it appeared that the names of Americans were still guarded in the intercepts though their identities could be gleaned from the materials. Obama administration officials disputed the suggestion that the outgoing administration was improperly monitoring its successors. Ned Price, who served as spokesman for Obamas National Security Council, said Nunes assertions were nothing more than an attempt to offer a lifeline to a White House caught in its own netting following President Trumps baseless tweets. Matthew Waxman, a national security law professor at Columbia University, said Nunes actions in this case are contributing to, rather than alleviating concerns, about politicization of intelligence. Nunes said the information on the Trump team was collected in November, December and January, the period after the election when Trump was holding calls with foreign leaders, interviewing potential Cabinet secretaries and beginning to sketch out administration policy. He said the monitored material was widely disseminated in intelligence reports. Asked whether he believed the transition team had been spied on, Nunes said: It all depends on ones definition of spying. Nunes did not identify any of the Trump associates he said were unmasked, but they are believed to include Michael Flynn, who was fired as White House national security adviser after misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other top officials about his contacts with Russias ambassador to the United States. AP writers Eileen Sullivan and Eric Tucker contributed to this report. Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Deb Riechmann at http://twitter.com/debriechmann If youre looking for a way to to make your property stand out on a real-estate website, dressing up as a colorful parrot and posing for photos seems to work wonders. At least it worked for the owner of a house in Blackrod, UK, who had asked his estate agent to come up with a way of selling his home faster. Steve Laycock, of Platinum Properties, claims that he came up with the idea while talking with the unnamed property owner. We came up with the idea as the owner asked us what are you going to do to help sell the property? he told The Bolton News. I said are you up for a laugh? What about a parrot in fancy dress?' He wasnt kidding one bit, as you can clearly see in the photos below. They actually took someone Laycock wont say if its actually the owner or another Platinum Properties employee dressed him up in a parrot outfit and had him show off the 3-bedroom semi-detached house on Boardman Street, in Blackrod, in a series of funny photos. The colorful character can be seen stepping out of the shower cabin, getting ready for dinner in the living room, chilling on the bed, working at a desk or tending to the barbecue in the backyard. We have had several other estate agents ring up and tell us its put a smile on their face and weve even had a few bags of bird seed sent in, Laycock said. But the unusual protagonist of the photo shoot did more than amuse agents, he actually drew the attention of potential buyers. We have had nearly 100,000 hits on Right Move, which isnt bad considering the house has only been on the market for one week, the estate agent said. They also had a couple of viewings in the first few days, and the house was eventually sold STC for 225,000 ($281,000). You would think that someone dressed as a parrot would distract potential buyers, but in this particular case, the parrot seems to have helped quite a bit. Following the success of this gimmick, we may see the mysterious parrot man showing off his house selling skills in the very near future. Photos: Platinum Properties Sources: The Bolton News Miami-based lifestyle and fashion agency TARA, Ink. has expanded to the East Coast, with the addition of a New York City office. Pan Ams Kriendler Dies at 76 Mon., Sep. 19, 2022 Jeff Kriendler, the public voice of Pan American World Airlines during its last turbulent ten years of existence, died Sept. 3 after suffering from several serious illnesses over the years. He was 76. 17/03/2017 - As part of efforts to deepen co-operation between the OECD and Argentina and contribute to the countrys public policy and reform agenda, Argentinas Finance Minister Nicolas Dujovne has presented an Action Plan to OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria. The Argentina Action Plan opens the path for greater participation in a range of OECD work and identifies a number of policy areas where OECD experts will interact with Argentine officials to strengthen public policy and the drive for successful reforms. Mr Dujovne delivered the Action Plan during a bilateral meeting with Mr Gurria in Baden Baden, Germany, in the margins of the 17-18 March Meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. This Action Plan is an ambitious combination of public policy priorities that the OECD will work on with Argentina, over the coming year, to strengthen economic growth, competitiveness and institutions and add momentum to President Mauricio Macris reform agenda. Mr Gurria said. This is an Argentine plan, based on Argentine priorities. We are committed to leveraging OECD expertise and sharing best practices to help Argentina advance its reform agenda and move closer to international standards. The Action Plan consists of 16 policy areas that will support Argentinas key reform priorities: economic policy, statistics, competition, investment, public management and modernisation of the state, federalism, regional development and multi-level governance, fight against corruption, education and skills and digital economy. It also provides the basis for expanding Argentinas strong engagement with the G20 in the lead up to its upcoming 2018 Presidency. During implementation of the Action Plan, the OECD will conduct a number of policy reviews in various areas of the Argentine economy, to provide specific recommendations drawing on OECD best practices. This will include a Multi-Dimensional Economic Survey, to be presented in mid-2017, and a Statistics Review. In addition, Argentina is expected to adopt and implement several international standards, including the OECD Codes of Liberalisation of Capital Movements and of Current Invisible Operations, while enhancing its participation in OECD committees on education, competition and public governance, amongst other. We are convinced that the set of activities outlined in the Action Plan will give Argentina access to key information and recommendations to develop and bolster its reform agenda over the coming years in order to support achievement of strong, inclusive and sustainable growth, Mr Gurria said. For further information on OECD-Argentina cooperation, please contact the OECD Global Relations Secretariat (GRS) - GRS.LAC@oecd.org. Note to Editors: The Paris-based OECD is an international organisation that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people worldwide. It provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to the economic, social and governance challenges they face. The OECDs 35 members are: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. Three countries Colombia, Costa Rica and Lithuania have been formally invited to become members of the Organisation, and are currently in the process of accession. Argentina has a longstanding relationship with the OECD, dating back to the early 1990s. It was among the first countries in Latin America to adhere to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and to the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprise. It is a member of the OECD Development Centre and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. Its broad engagement with the OECD also includes participation in official bodies and/or adherence to legal instruments in areas including development, science and technology, chemicals, corporate governance, transport, fiscal affairs and transparency and exchange of information. Further information on Argentina and the OECD is available at: http://www.oecd.org/countries/argentina/ Related Documents I met the award-winning journalist Evan Osnos on a flight from his town, Washington, D.C., to mine. I was returning home after a harried weekend of travel, and I was tired, anxious about the general national mood and super-anxious about flying, which I do not enjoy because of my firm, albeit irrational, belief that the plane will go down. My $9 airport purchase of The New Yorker would be my in-flight therapy, and Osnos would be my distracting relief. However, his piece Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich an examination of how the wealthy have their gassed-up helicopters, underground hideaways and cache of weaponry for the End Times was so unsettling that I had to stop reading, order a cabernet and engage a willing talker to my left. On Wednesday, I got to ask the real Evan Osnos how he could ruin my flight like that. Then I got to ask how he got onto that story, along with a host of other questions related to his admirable career, which includes a Pulitzer Prize he won in 2008 as part of a Chicago Tribune team investigating defective products like car seats. He also won the National Book Award in 2014 for his book, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China. It was this book and this topic China that had brought Osnos to Omaha as part of a world-class speaker series. Every year, Omaha Town Hall brings interesting people to town and packs a local church, St. Andrews United Methodist at 150th Street and West Maple Road, with so many members that there is never an empty seat. Omaha Town Hall Lecture Series has 1,000 people on its rolls with 400 on a wait list. And if you could hear the speakers that come about four each year youd put your name on a wait list too. Osnos spent a half-hour on the church altar talking about what his eight years living in China had taught him about Chinas place in the world today. He used a slideshow to illustrate Chinas lurch out of 20th century poverty into 21st century powerhouse and the paradox of a culture that, after centuries of repressing the individual, now has school children reciting a pledge that says: I am the biggest miracle of nature. The individual is rising in communal China, which presents both opportunities and conundrums for a place still ruled by the Communist Party. You might think a 403-page book on the countrys current political and cultural milieu might be a bit dry. But when I cracked it around midnight Friday, bone-tired after a long day at work, I found a narrative that much like Doomsday Prep was so compelling that I soon was lost in the stories of people like Lin Zhengyi, a celebrated army captain in Taiwan who defected and swam to the Chinese mainland to live his dream, and in entrepreneur Gong Haiyan, who created the Chinese version of Match.com, earning herself a fortune and a husband. In focusing on individuals stories, Osnos could paint a portrait of larger trends and put the reader squarely into present-day China, a fascinating place to be. The audience Wednesday was riveted to these personal stories and what they said about the bigger picture, which inevitably includes we Americans. President Donald Trump campaigned on getting tough on China. What will that mean inside that country, which, according to Osnos, is the worlds largest consumer of energy, movies, beer and platinum, a place that is building more airports and high-speed railroads than the rest of the world combined? You might say Osnos came by his profession and interest in the world genetically. His father was the son of Polish Jews who fled Poland in 1939. Peter Osnos was a correspondent for the Washington Post and was based in Russia. Evan Osnos was born in London and graduated from Harvard University. He said a class in contemporary Chinese politics mesmerized and electrified him. He studied Mandarin, went to China as a student and wrote about China for the Chicago Tribune and The New Yorker. Before China, he covered the Middle East and was embedded with a U.S. Marine Corps unit during the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. He won an Overseas Press Club Award for his coverage of the Fukushima, Japan, nuclear catastrophe. He contributes to National Public Radios This American Life, and for Frontline. He won the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. Osnos is currently covering politics and foreign affairs for The New Yorker and living in Washington. His most recent piece was a blog post on Monday for The New Yorker on FBI Director James Comeys testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on an investigation of Russian ties to the Trump campaign. During our interview, I asked him what place in the world was being overlooked where should our attention be? The refugee crisis, he said, explaining that we are living in the largest movement of people from life-death situations in hotspots around the world since World War II. He said this crisis is connected to a political transformation in Europe, the rise of populism in the United States and debates on immigration and climate change. In other words, you dont have to be in a far corner of the world to be experiencing the effects of whats happening in these places. Im the son of a refugee, Osnos said. It matters to me. To lighten the interview, we returned to his report on rich peoples worries that all these global crises will create anarchy against which they will need protection. What Plan B had Osnos lined up? He laughed and said hed flunk doomsday prep at home. We have a bottle of water and a bag of chips, he said, an admission that actually made me feel better and brave enough to peer deeper into this Pandoras box. Whered he get the idea? Dumb luck, Osnos said, in the sense that I was sitting on a plane next to a guy ... And started talking. Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center have reached a new milestone in their efforts to harness the immune system to slow or halt the progression of Parkinsons disease. In an early clinical trial in humans, the researchers used an existing drug to shift a population of white blood cells from a destructive mode to a protective state that can help defend against brain injury. While the drug is sometimes used in patients receiving chemotherapy, it has not been used previously in Parkinsons. Not only did the researchers document the shift through blood tests, molecular studies and brain imaging, but they also saw preliminary evidence of improved motor skills in several patients who received the treatment, including a reduction in the diseases characteristic tremors and improvements in tasks such as buttoning a shirt. Currently, drugs and other treatments can be used to fight symptoms, but the effects generally give way to the disease in the long run. The results of the trial indicate that researchers, for the first time, may be able to go beyond treating symptoms to slowing or halting the disease itself. Its new, its exciting, and the mechanism is designed to affect the disease rather than treat symptoms, said Dr. Howard Gendelman, chairman of UNMCs pharmacology and experimental neuroscience department. Gendelman and R. Lee Mosley, a professor of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience and head of UNMCs movement disorders research laboratory, led the study, a report on which appeared Thursday in the Nature Research journal npj Parkinsons disease. They announced the findings at a press conference Thursday. Dr. Pamela Santamaria, a neurologist with Nebraska Medicine and founder of Neurology Consultants of Nebraska, said the results offer hope for patients and their families. Our study breaks out into a new avenue where its actually working to try to either halt the progression of the disease, or reduce it, said Santamaria, who treated a little more than half of the patients enrolled in the study. That work wrapped up in January 2016. Parkinsons is of particular interest to Nebraskans and Iowans because Midwestern states have a high prevalence of the progressive neurodegenerative condition. An estimated one million Americans are living with the disease. More than 15,000 Nebraskans have been diagnosed with it, according to the Nebraska Parkinsons Disease Registry. Still, both Santamaria and Gendelman cautioned that the study involved a small number of patients and would need to be repeated in a larger number of patients to confirm their findings. The drug, whose trade name is Sargramostim, currently is not available for use by Parkinsons patients. Gendelman said the researchers wouldnt start a new study for a year or more, after theyve reviewed data and improved drug formulation and administration. Such a study likely would involve about 100 patients in Omaha and two other centers. This is the first inning of a nine-inning game, he said. The research also represents a new approach modulating the immune system to treating Parkinsons, one that may hold promise for other neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimers disease, stroke and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrigs disease. Mosley said the study represents the first time, to the researchers knowledge, that immune transformation was performed on any patient with neurodegenerative disease. Gendelman said a group of researchers from Taiwan published similar results last week, further validating the Nebraska teams work. The Taiwanese group studied four patients but followed them for two years. At least eight other research groups around the world are pursuing the pathway in a variety of conditions. Malu Tansey, an associate professor of physiology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, said the Nebraska study could potentially change the way Parkinsons is treated if it can be replicated in a larger study. Its promising, and certainly it may open up some avenues for immunomodulation, in which you boost the persons own immune system to change a certain population of T cells, or white blood cells, that can change the course of the disease, said Tansey, who is familiar with Gendelmans work but isnt involved in it. Scott Shandler, chief executive officer of Longevity Biotech in Philadelphia, said there has been a lot of talk in recent years about harnessing the immune system in neurological disorders. This is a proof-of-purpose study that bears out whats been talked about for a long time, which is really exciting, said Shandler, who was not involved in the current study. Shandlers firm has collaborated with Gendelman and his team for about three years. The collaborators recently received renewed funding from the Michael J. Fox Foundation to further the work, focusing on a second-generation product that offers an improvement in the drug and a more patient-friendly route of administration oral, rather than injection. But Gendelman stressed that the basic work is homegrown in Nebraska, dating back roughly 20 years, and has been helped along by funding from local individuals and groups. Several attended Thursdays press conference. The researchers first tested the idea of transforming disease-inciting white blood cells called effector T cells to protective regulatory T cells in cell studies and then validated it in animals. The results of the human trial are consistent with what they found in mice. Potential therapies often dont make the jump. Gendelman said that roughly 80 percent of what works in mice does not work in humans. The study involved 20 Parkinsons patients 10 received the drug, 10 got a placebo. Neither the patients nor the researchers knew who was receiving the drug and who was not. The researchers also studied 17 people who did not have Parkinsons, known as controls, for comparison. The researchers followed the patients for six months two months before starting treatment, two months on treatment and two months after treatment ended. Patients generally tolerated the drug well, although some had mild to moderate side effects. The researchers saw increases in protective regulatory T cells in the blood of patients who received the drug. They did not see the same increases in those who got the placebo. A research team headed by Tony Wilson, an associate professor of basic and translational research at UNMC, also recorded physiological improvements in specific motor areas of the brains of patients who received the drug using a brain-imaging technique called magnetoencephalography. In addition, blood metabolites associated with an increased number of T regulatory cells were seen in biochemical studies performed at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. A total of 19 scientists and physicians in three locations, including Omaha, participated in the study. Tim Hoffman, who was diagnosed with Parkinsons in 2007, said he didnt know hed received the drug until after the trial. But he did notice that he felt quite a bit better. He could walk better, and his posture and flexibility improved. A home woodworker, he also noticed that his fine motor skills seemed to improve, which he told Santamaria at the end of the study. I know I was giving her a bad time about, Can I get this stuff? because it did appear to give me a positive result, said Hoffman, who retired in 2016 after a long career as a teacher and school administrator. He said he feels fortunate that his symptoms have progressed fairly slowly, and hes focused on doing what he can, including keeping active and maintaining a positive attitude, to keep it that way. He said he was happy to help with the study. Any progress we can make, the better off all their efforts will make us, he said. WASHINGTON A pair of Iowa congressmen vividly illustrated the Republican dilemma Wednesday as leaders scrambled to pick up enough support for their health care bill. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, walked into the Oval Office in the morning with about 20 of his colleagues to hear a personal sales pitch from President Donald Trump and walked out a yes vote. In the end we have the best chance to get a package that is the closest thing to the full repeal that we can get within this political environment, King said later in a video posted online. On the other side of the ledger, Kings home-state colleague and fellow Republican Rep. David Young issued a statement signaling his opposition to the proposal. House GOP leaders plan to bring the legislation to the House floor today, but its not clear whether even they know whether they will have enough votes. Key lawmakers were swarmed with reporters in Capitol hallways Wednesday as congressional observers compared whip lists, counted votes and parsed every utterance by the various fence-sitters. In short, it looks to be a coin flip whether the legislation can muster a majority when the votes are tallied today. Since it was unveiled a couple of weeks ago, the measures biggest obstacle appeared to be opposition from hard-liners on the right who denounce it as Obamacare Lite. So bringing the outspoken conservative King on board represents a boost for its prospects. But leaders also have to worry about losing more moderate members who are concerned about projections that millions stand to lose their coverage under the proposal and that costs could skyrocket, particularly for those who are older and have lower incomes. In his statement, Young did not detail what changes hed like to see in the legislation but made clear hes not ready to cast his vote for it. While the American Health Care Act, legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, is a very good start, it does not yet get it right and therefore I cannot support it in its present form, Young said. Meanwhile, a couple of Nebraskans, Republican Reps. Adrian Smith and Don Bacon, stand by their support for the bill. Smith told The World-Herald that GOP leaders had shown flexibility and said he expects the bill to pass today. I think were headed in the right direction of undoing Obamacare in a way that brings more choices to consumers, Smith said. But many members have been torn on whether to support the proposal. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., who has not announced a position on the bill, recently faced an angry town hall crowd in Lincoln animated largely by opposition to the health care bill. Fortenberry told The World-Herald that he was on the phone throughout this past weekend with Gov. Pete Ricketts and his staff sorting through the bills impact on Nebraska. The bill is headed the right direction, he said, noting with approval that leaders have been tweaking the bill to provide more support to low-income people in their 50s and 60s who were identified as particularly hard-hit in a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. He said they also have been working on improving Medicaid formulas to protect the disabled. The idea, he said, is to stabilize insurance markets, provide consumers choice and shift case management with subsidies back to the states to foster innovation and lower costs. That potentially could draw back into the system those younger people who departed in the face of rising premiums under the Affordable Care Act, he said. Its not going to be a perfect bill, he said. Its unclear whether the markets will be totally reformed and vibrant once again with lower costs. Thats the hope. And that may take some time. But, again, doing what were doing and letting it drift is not sustainable. He also said that health care is more than just financing and insurance, and the system needs to be less fragmented. The complicated calculus facing politicians was evident in Kings conversion Wednesday. He bragged for years that he wrote the original proposal to completely repeal the ACA as soon as it was signed into law. Obamacare must be ripped out completely, lock, stock and barrel root and branch no vestige left behind not a DNA particle of Obamacare retained, King wrote back in 2010. At the time his position was that the law was a toxic stew that would taint any effort at reform and that Republicans must stand united behind 100 percent repeal or be defeated. On Wednesday, he acknowledged his past stance but said he had garnered promises that after the legislation goes to the Senate, leaders there will move to strip out the provisions of the ACA that require insurance plans to include a certain core set of benefits. Proponents say those requirements ensure that everyone is treated fairly and has adequate coverage. Critics such as King say that they drive up premium costs and represent an obstacle to other desired Republican changes such as making it easier to sell health insurance across state lines and promoting health savings accounts. King said Trump himself promised to use his leverage to eliminate those essential benefits provisions, which he said will prove key to undoing the ACA. A deluge of comments on the video from Iowans, however, angrily criticized King as a sell-out and the bill as an affront to conservative values. Others defended the move. Either way, King said he takes responsibility for his decision. Im not going to wash my hands of this I know I own it, King said. State health officials, as well as those in Douglas and Sarpy Counties, on Thursday urged residents and health care providers to be on alert for measles after a case of the highly infectious illness was confirmed in a visitor who arrived in Omaha by airplane March 12. All people known to have been exposed to the ill traveler have been notified, officials said. But a joint investigation by state health officials and those from the Douglas County and Sarpy/Cass health departments has identified several places and times in Omaha, Papillion and La Vista where exposures may have occurred: Delta flight 798 from Minneapolis to Omaha on March 12, 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Eppley Airfield South Terminal, March 12, 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Eppley Airfield South baggage claim, March 12, 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Hampton Inn, 12331 Southport Parkway, La Vista, March 12 to March 17. Urgent Care of Papillion, S. 73rd Plaza, March 15, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. CHI Urgent Care, S. 96th St., La Vista, March 15, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Bergan Mercy Medical Center emergency department, March 15, 8:30 p.m. to midnight. Those who have visited the above locations at the listed times and who develop a fever and rash should see a health-care provider, officials said. Health care providers should immediately report such patients to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services or their local health department. However, those who have received two doses of measles vaccine or were born before 1957 are considered immune to the disease. A 41-year-old Omaha woman and a 43-year-old Clear Lake, Iowa, man were arrested Tuesday in Council Bluffs in connection with a case that grew out of the discovery of a stolen vehicle. Bluffs police said they found the stolen vehicle in the parking lot at 3541 14th Ave., and their investigation led to a hotel room where the man and woman were staying. Police said the man fled from officers on foot and attempted to get into a vehicle that was waiting for him. As officers approached, the driver fled from the area, police said. The man who fled on foot was taken into custody, police said. He was charged with theft, eluding arrest and interference with official acts, police said. The woman was unable to produce identification and the information she did provide was false, police said. She refused to allow police into her hotel room, police said, and she was taken into custody, police said. A search of the hotel room turned up her true identity, and police said there was an arrest warrant for her out of Nebraska. She was charged with possession of marijuana, providing false information and unlawful possession of prescription drugs, police said. The hotel room search also led to cash and keys to the stolen vehicle, police said. One of the former candidates for Omaha Public Schools superintendent cited the "overall dysfunctionality" of the search process as part of his decision to withdraw from consideration. Khalid Mumin, the superintendent of Reading School District in Pennsylvania, sent an email to Reading district staff members Saturday evening explaining his decision. "The uncertainty, that's what it was," Mumin later said to the Reading Eagle. "Here in Reading, there's no uncertainty. We work together. It's not an atmosphere of aggression or political grandstanding, and that's important to me." In his email, Mumin said he didn't believe OPS leaders "have the best interest of kids in their actions." Mumin and Paul Gausman, the superintendent of Sioux City Community Schools in Iowa, issued a joint statement Saturday night announcing their decisions to withdraw from consideration. It is evident that neither of us have engendered ... support with the Omaha Public Schools Board of Education, Gausman and Mumin wrote. As experienced educators, we understand the need for a supportive relationship between any board and its chief executive, as that team must work together to move a district forward; students, staff, parents, and the greater community deserve no less, they wrote. A third finalist, Jane Stavem, the associate superintendent for instruction at Lincoln Public Schools, dropped out earlier this month, saying the job wasnt a good fit. In the wake of the withdrawals, parents, teachers and community members turned out en masse Monday night for the OPS board's meeting. And they gave board members and earful. We shouldnt be here discussing any of this because you guys couldnt come to a decision, community member and former OPS parent Kay Wainwright said. I am upset with you, I came out to tell you I am upset with you, and if you all got replaced this year, I would be happy. Board members shared their own anger and frustration about the outcome of the search. Im ashamed right now, I really am, board member Yolanda Williams said. The failed search has made OPS the laughingstock of the education community, she said. What's next? The search likely will have to be rebooted and an interim superintendent hired. The school board could call a special meeting next week to talk through its options. The boards accountability subcommittee, which has been involved heavily in the superintendent search, met Tuesday night behind closed doors to discuss how the board will proceed. ***** More coverage Theres no new high school proposed in the 10-year plan being unveiled tonight by officials with Papillion-La Vista Community Schools. The plan, instead, calls for adding space to the two existing high schools to accommodate enrollment growth. High school students would get new academic options under the plan, including courses in the construction trades, expanded STEM offerings and the Advanced Placement Capstone program. The capstone is a pair of courses AP Seminar and AP Research that officials said would complement existing AP courses and build skills for college. The plan is part of the legwork for a bond-issue campaign that could kick off next year. Officials will brief residents and take input during a 7 p.m. public forum today at Papillion-La Vista South High School. I am incredibly excited about the vision and the ideas that were going to share with the community, Superintendent Andy Rikli said. But the next critical step, of course, is to solicit some community feedback: Tell us, Yes, we agree or Hey, have you thought about this? Adding space to Papillion-La Vista and Papillion-La Vista South High Schools would accommodate projected enrollment growth as well as provide room for the new programs, officials said. According to district projections, enrollment at Papio South High will outpace Papio High over the next five to 10 years because of development in the west and south reaches of the district. The current enrollment at Papio High is 1,713; Papio South is 1,716. Without adjusting attendance boundaries, Papio Highs enrollment is expected to hit about 1,860 while Papio South should top 2,250. The plan calls for keeping enrollment balanced for the next 10 years. Rikli said he wants to keep the two high schools within one or two hundred students of each other. He said he and members of the board also want to balance the schools socioeconomics. I dont believe, and this board doesnt believe, that having one building with, for example, 50 percent poverty and another building with 10 percent poverty, is advantageous for the district or for the community, he said. A boundary change that district officials proposed earlier this year drew criticism from residents of the North Shore housing development. That development and other land would be switched from Papio South to Papio High. District officials offered to grandfather North Shore children so they could attend either high school. School board members have yet to vote on the boundary change. Rikli said the proposed academic programming would take the district to the next level. The district currently offers 18 AP courses, said John Schwartz, the districts assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. Students who complete four AP courses plus AP Seminar and AP Research would have a chance to earn an AP Capstone diploma, he said. Plans are in the works to add AP Spanish in a few years, he said, which would enable future students to earn the AP International Diploma. Schwartz said a committee of district and community members who helped shape the plan felt students would benefit from authentic real-world learning. To that end, district officials want to add courses in skilled trades, particularly in the construction industry, such as electrical work, carpentry, welding and plumbing, he said. Students today dont always get exposed to trades that pay well and are in demand, he said. Growing up, if you didnt have family, friends or neighbors in the trades, how else might you know what career opportunities exist, if theres not course work in your high school giving you a chance to explore it? Schwartz said. The district has a STEM academy, which currently focuses on pre-engineering and some robotics, he said. Officials want to add a computer science program, where students would learn code and apply it to real-life scenarios, and biomedical research, which would complement the existing health sciences academy at Midlands Hospital. The academy serves about 80 to 90 students a year, focused on personal care. Having those two together on the same campus, learning from each other, is truly how the health care industry functions, Schwartz said. The plan calls for forging greater partnerships with businesses and post-secondary institutions, including opportunities for internships and for taking college classes while in high school. It also calls for adding online high school courses that look and feel like the ones most college students encounter. LINCOLN She spent what would have been her mothers 52nd birthday asking Nebraska lawmakers not to stand in the way of executing her mothers killers. Christine Tuttle urged members of the Legislatures Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to reject a bill that would pull their colleagues into yet another debate over abolishing the death penalty. Rather, listen to the 61 percent of voters who went to the polls in November and reinstated capital punishment, she said. Further, she told senators on the committee that they should feel ashamed for celebrating on the legislative floor two years ago when a different repeal bill passed. Her mother, Evonne Tuttle, was one of five people killed in the 2002 bank shooting in Norfolk. I watched you laugh and hug and high-five, she said. You celebrated on the pain and sorrow of my family, and we have heard enough. This behavior hurt me and it angered me and its not becoming of state senators, and I hope and pray that you do not make the same mistake again. For State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, there was no mistake in championing the repeal, no shame in celebrating a victory that seemed unattainable in a conservative state like Nebraska. Instead, he only sounded resolved to take up the old battle once again. As long as I have breath in my body and Im in this Legislature, Im going to do what I think is right, Chambers said. And I dont think the state should kill anybody. Even as Chambers renewed the signature cause of his four decades in public office, some of his colleagues took another step to return capital punishment to viability. Members of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee advanced Legislative Bill 661, which would allow the Department of Correctional Services to hide the identities of lethal injection suppliers. Secrecy laws in other death penalty states are credited with making it easier to carry out executions. LB 661 has a priority designation, which means it almost certainly will be scheduled for floor debate this session. Legislative Bill 446, Chambers repeal proposal, has not been prioritized. So even if the Judiciary Committee votes to advance it, the bill probably would not be debated before the session concludes June 2. Despite losing last years ballot referendum, about a dozen death penalty opponents lined up to testify in support of the Chambers bill. They used familiar arguments: The death penalty costs the state more than life in prison; it does not significantly deter crime; it risks executing the wrong person; it conflicts with pro-life beliefs. I dont trust the government to deliver the mail on time or fix potholes. How could I trust them to make life-or-death decisions, said Matt Maly with Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. Mark Metcalf urged senators not to be deterred by the referendum vote, arguing that lawmakers who carefully studied and considered both sides of the argument gained a better understanding of the death penalty. It should not be surprising that our senators could be right about something and we the people could be wrong, he said. Testifying against the bill was Assistant Attorney General Corey OBrien, who said the death penalty is intentionally reserved for a small percentage of the most heinous killers. Also speaking in opposition was Pierce County Sheriff Rick Eberhardt, who passed out photos and video of the celebratory scene in 2015 when the repeal bill passed. He said voters sent a clear message that Nebraska is a death penalty state and their elected officials should act accordingly. The most compelling testimony was delivered by Tuttle, who described what it was like to see her mother on the bank surveillance video as three masked men walked in with guns. You want to yell, theyre coming, but you cant, she said. Before the robbery even starts, its done and all five people are dead. She listed the names of the others gunned down in less than a minute: Samuel Sun, Jo Mausbach, Lisa Bryant and Lola Elwood. The three gunmen are among the 10 currently on death row. And she gave a glimpse of the agonizing conversation she had that day with her two young sisters. Has anyone ever told a 3- and 5-year-old that their mother is dead? she asked. The goodbye hugs and kisses that morning were the last they would ever receive from my mom. Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha and Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln apologized, saying any displays of emotion on the floor of the Legislature were not intended as an insult to the families of murder victims. Rather, they said the scene reflected the kind of outpouring that naturally follows any difficult struggle over an issue people care deeply about. Pansing Brooks also said that she resented the implication by the sheriff that she and other death penalty opponents were being intentionally disrespectful. And Chambers told the sheriff the story of a favorite nephew, the victim of an unsolved homicide. He told how death penalty supporters wanted to know if he felt differently about capital punishment after death had struck such a blow to his family. No, he said he told them, he never for a moment felt differently. LINCOLN Lobbyists wont provide Nebraska lawmakers free meals at the State Capitol later this session, the legislative speaker announced Thursday. Lobbyists have traditionally picked up catering bills during late-night debates. But Speaker of the Legislature Jim Scheer of Norfolk said his office will coordinate food provided to senators, and suggested lawmakers help pay for the meals. State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha introduced a bill this year to end meals and drinks paid for by lobbyists and served to senators in the Capitol during the session. The measure wasnt advanced by the Legislatures Executive Board. Lawmakers are set to begin full-day debate Tuesday. A Cass County sheriffs deputy returned to work Monday, days after a grand jury cleared him in a fatal shooting. Tyler Reiff, 25, had been on paid administrative leave since Sept. 21, when he shot and killed 23-year-old Austin Baier. Baier ran at Reiff during a traffic stop, officials have said. The grand jury last week declined to indict Reiff. According to the grand jury report, jurors made two recommendations for the Cass County Sheriffs Office: Equip deputies with Tasers and hire one or two more officers per shift because there was no reasonable backup for Deputy Reiff. Cass County Sheriff William Brueggemann declined to comment on whether he would implement the recommendations. The grand jury met for two days, heard witness testimony and reviewed evidence. A transcript of the proceedings is not yet publicly available. Jurors found that during a Sept. 21 traffic stop in Louisville, Baier aggressively walked, then ran at Reiff. Reiff drew his gun and repeatedly ordered Baier to get down as he moved away from the advancing Baier. Reiff shot at Baier, who died from a gunshot to his pulmonary artery, which led to a hemorrhage. Under the circumstances as they existed at the time, there was a reasonable basis for Deputy Reiff to believe that the use of deadly force was immediately necessary to protect himself from death or serious bodily injury, according to the jury report. Cass County Attorney Nathan Cox has said that a hunting knife was found on the dashboard of Baiers vehicle, but it doesnt appear Baier had brandished it at the deputy. Cox declined to comment Monday. Reiff was unable to be reached. Baiers relatives declined to comment. Two men were taken Wednesday night to the Nebraska Medical Center with what police said were life-threatening injuries after a shooting near 90th and Emmet Streets. About 9:45 p.m., Omaha police responded to a call of a felony assault near 3433 N. 90th St. Witnesses told officers that a shooting had taken place there. Officers found a shooting victim, 20-year-old Anthony Boone, at the scene. Armand Rauhauser, also 20, was found in a vehicle near 87th Avenue and Boyd Street. Both were taken to the hospital in critical condition. Updated information on their conditions wasn't available Thursday. Omaha police ask that people with information about the shooting contact Omaha Crime Stoppers at 402-444-STOP or at www.omahacrimestoppers.org. Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again Ask Nitish Kumar a question and get detained by the police India oi-Vicky By Vicky Two young businessmen were detained after they tried asked Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar a question at a summit in Patna. The duo were detained and questioned for nearly six hours. A summit was organised for young entrepreneurs. During the summit, Nitish Kumar said that his government had created a Rs 500 crore fund to help innovative new businesses. However Suresh Sharma who was present at the event tried to interrupt the speech made by Kumar. Nemi Kumar also in the audience argued that the government does not transparently declare which start-up it has backed. The CM however assured it would be looked into and strict action would be taken by the government in this matter. A few minutes after the event, the two men were detained by the police. The JD(U) was critical of the police action and said that the incident was being looked into. The BJP demanded an explanation from the government while alleging harassment. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, March 23, 2017, 18:49 [IST] Coded matrix sheets: How terror groups use it differently India oi-Vicky By Vicky Following the Uri attack in which 19 soldiers were martyred, there were questions asked if the terror strike was carried out by the Jaish-e-Mohammad or the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. The National Investigation Agency had been handed over the probe and now based on the coded matrix sheets that it has analysed, it has been concluded that it was the handiwork of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. While decoding the matrix sheets, the NIA learnt that it was similar to the one which was found on Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Bahadur Ali who was caught alive in Kashmir. "The coded matrix sheets of the Jaish and the Lashkar are different," NIA officials explain. Each group has a signature style of attack. "The manner in which it is planned and executed can be found out from these sheets," the NIA officer explained. The Jaish's coded matrix sheets would comprise a total of 672 boxed. They would have 28 rows and 24 columns. The LeT, on the other hand, has a matrix sheet with 357 boxes. It would also contain 17 columns and 21 rows. Technology savvy: Terrorists of the LeT, as well as the Jaish are tech savvy. There is a full-fledged course that these terrorists undergo before they become ready for an attack. Studying the coded matrix sheets is one part of the training. They are also trained in using radio sets and are taught on how to modify it. For instance, engineering modifications done on ICOM RT sets (made in Japan) to cover whole range of VHF frequencies, requires high degree of precision engineering in electronics. Providing the terrorists with specific grid references for the route to be followed and use of GPS, compass and topographical sheets during movement also establish that these LeT terrorists were trained and mentored by military experts, the National Investigation Agency says. The terrorists are constantly guided and directed by the LeT control centre Alpha-3, which was available on a prefixed frequency on ICOM handsets, being carried by the terrorists. Control centre Alpha-3 is a fixed communication centre, established at a high altitude peak in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which is operated with support from Pakistani forces. Once the terrorists are inside Indian territory, Alpha-3 guides, directs and controls their operations. Writing their own codes: Ali had told the NIA that his group of terrorists were launched after being staged forward at their Dett (detachment) near the line of control between India and Pakistan. This Dett is headed by a senior member of LeT who provides arms and ammunition as well as other accessories such as GPS, night vision devices, compass, grenades, grenade launchers, maps, matrix sheets, food packets, dry ration, medicines etc. Ali was launched from Mandakuli Dett. Abu Haider was the commander at the Dett. They were repeatedly shown the infiltration route on Google maps on a LCD TV. Simultaneously, they were shown videos of landmarks available on the route. They were also made to write their own communication codes for communicating with the control centre (Alpha-3). Ali said that a few army officers in civilian clothes visited the Dett and briefed them and checked their preparedness. Ali said that officers were referred as 'Major sahib' and 'Captain sahib'. This corroborates the statement made by Md. Naveed, another Pakistani national, who was arrested in the BSF convoy attack at Udhampur in August 2015. OneIndia News Who is V G Siddhartha? Here's all you need to know about India's coffee king Congress leadership has no seriousness: SM Krishna India oi-Anusha A day after he joined the BJP, former external affairs minister and Congressman S M Krishna criticised his former party. Krishna, who had been a member of the Congress for more than four decades, said that the senior leadership of the Grand Old Party had no seriousness. "The Congress needs to be rebuilt from the ground to the top, but I see no seriousness in the leadership. There is no connect between the Congress leadership and the rank and file of the party," Krishna told the media in a series of interviews he gave on Thursday. The 84-year-old veteran, when asked why he jumped to the BJP, said that the Congress party had sidelined him and disrespected his presence. "All that I wanted was respect and periodical consultations. I had never demanded any position," he added. While criticising the Congress, Krishna did not forget to shower praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Modi ji has zero tolerance towards corruption, and I was impressed with this. I also supported his demonetisation move," Krishna said. Krishna joined the BJP in New Delhi on Wednesday in the presence of BJP president Amit Shah. Speculations are rife that his family members, including daughter Shambhavi Siddhartha will follow suit. OneIndia News In last letter to Coffee Day family, Siddhartha speaks about harassment by IT dept: Full text here Didn't expect PM would respond so fast, says Muslim girl after getting education loan India oi-Madhuri Prime Minister Narendra Modi helped a Muslim girl from Karnataka's Mandya district to continue her education. B B Sara, an MBA student from Karnataka had written to Modi for financial assistance to continue her studies. A reply from the PMO ensured that she received an education loan within 10 days of her request. Applied for loan but bank refused in spite of my good score, saying how will you repay your father works at sugar factory: Sara #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/T0SyYytrct ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 [Also read: PM Modi's letter ensures education to Muslim girl in Karnataka] 'I was confident that PM will respond but did not expect it to be so fast, I got a reply in just 10 days,' Sara said. Sara said that she had approached for an education loan in Central bank of India but the bank had refused to approve her loan despite she scored good percentage. The bank authorities even questioned her whether she be able to repay the loan because her father who works at sugar factory had not received salary for eight months. However, her repeated request to the bank authorities had fallen on deaf ears. Tired of bank authorities delaying the loan approval process, Sara along with her father Abdul Ilyas wrote to the prime minister, seeking assistance. Within 10 days of receiving an acknowledgement, the girl was given a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh from Vijaya bank after they found her eligible for education loan. Sara in her letter had urged the prime minister that if he would help him under his Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao scheme, she would be able to complete her studies. OneIndia News Drought-hit farmers of Tamil Nadu protest with skulls demanding relief in Delhi India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer New Delhi, March 23: Since March 14, a group of 80-odd farmers from Tamil Nadu are protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi demanding financial relief as they have lost their crops and savings in the ongoing drought in the state. The peaceful agitation has brought a lot of attention as the farmers are protesting with skulls. The skulls are the remains of Tamil farmers who committed suicide due to severe drought in the state, say protesters. There are at least eight skulls at the protest site, reminding onlookers how drought forced several farmers in Tamil Nadu to commit suicide as they failed to pay back their loans taken from the banks and private money lenders. According to an estimate, the crisis in the agriculture sector in Tamil Nadu has reached a mammoth proportion. Since October last year, every day, two farmers are committing suicide in the state, say reports. The protesters clad in green dhotis and white shirts look distraught and tired as their agitation is continuing for the last 10 days. But they are adamant to sit in dharna till all their demands are met by the Centre. Speaking to reporters, an elderly farmer said, "Our main demand is financial relief. We also want our loans to be waived off as we have lost all our crops and savings in the drought." "We are going to continue the protest indefinitely until the Centre fulfils all our demands. The state government has sought Rs 39,565 crore as drought relief from the National Disaster Response Fund. But the central team has recommended a paltry sum of Rs 2,096.80 crore as drought relief. It is grossly inadequate. The state has witnessed an unprecedented drought in the last 150 years and the whole state has been declared drought-hit," South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association president P Ayyakannu who is leading the protest, told DNA. OneIndia News Forget drought, Karnataka lawmakers more interested in gagging media India oi-Vicky By Vicky Issues such as drought in Karnataka or how to tackle the Supreme Court's verdict ordering release of Cauvery water were clearly not important enough for the lawmakers in Karnataka. Instead, lawmakers spent most of their time discussing how to gag the media which according to them paints them in poor light. Lawmakers were clearly not interested in discussing the state budget which was presented a week ago. The lawmakers went ahead and set up a house panel which would suggest ways to keep the media -- both print and electronic -- in check. Both the upper and lower houses were scheduled to discuss the state budget. There are more pressing issues such as drought and how to tackle it this summer. The infrastructure in Bengaluru is a mess, but the lawmakers found no time to discuss the same. Both houses spent a considerable amount of time criticising the media instead. The house panel would now look into the issue in a detailed manner on how to restrain the media. Once the report is submitted there is bound to be more discussion on this issue. The Speaker K Koliwad announced the setting up of a house panel to proposes methods to govern the media. OneIndia News Married woman asked to do household work for family not cruelty, says HC HC orders doctors to call off strike, directs govt to provide security India oi-Vikas By Vikas The Bombay high court on Thursday ordered the Maharashtra government to provide security to the resident doctors, who have been striking for the last four days in protest against the attack on their colleagues. The high court has reportedly directed the doctors to call off the strike and set the next date of hearing after 15 days. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors has said that they would resume work provided they are given surety of security from the state government. According to reports, there have been at least five attacks on resident doctors in the last one week by the disgruntled relatives of the patients. The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the management of government hospitals to take disciplinary action against the striking doctors. The court said contempt action should be taken against the striking doctors. Maharashtra Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan on Wednesday warned the doctors of six month's salary cut if they do not resume work. [Maha minister warns striking doctors of 6-month pay cut] On Monday, Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors office-bearers had met Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar and the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation announced some tough measures to curb violence against medicos, including limiting the number of relatives who will be permitted to accompany patients. OneIndia News History repeats itself: When AIADMK fought with a 'cock' and 'two pigeons' India oi-Vicky By Vicky History repeated for the AIADMK on Wednesday when the Election Commission froze the party's symbol while hearing a case between the Sasikala and O Panneerselvam camp. The EC observed that it was freezing the symbol as it was unable to finish reading the 20,000 pages of argument between the two sides staking a claim for the two leaves. [Read: Election Commission's order on AIADMK symbol row] Rewind to 1988: A similar issue had cropped up and the war was between Jayalalithaa and M G Ramachandran's wife Janaki. MGR's widow was in a direct fight with Jayalalithaa who was then the propaganda secretary of the AIADMK. The battle before the Election Commission went on for nine months. Elections were due in 1989 and the EC decided to freeze the symbol. The Jayalalithaa faction got the 'cock' symbol while Janaki fought the polls with a 'pair of pigeons.' The fight between the two factions began in 1988 after the Tamil Nadu assembly was dissolved. The police sealed the AIADMK headquarters on Lloyds Road in Chennai. In March Jayalalithaa staked a claim for the symbol. Before the EC, the Janaki faction claimed that it had a majority of the support in the party. Jayalalithaa countered the claim by saying that these just attendance registers and not original membership registers. The EC then headed by R V S Peri Sastry passed an interim order freezing the symbol. The elections that followed saw Jayalalithaa winning 27 seats. Janaki's faction however managed just one seat. By February 1989, the two factions buried their differences and merged with each other. The EC then restored the two leaves to the AIADMK. Following this order elections were held at Madurai East and Marungapuri which the AIADMK won comfortably. OneIndia News IISC attack: Why people did not want to let go of this terror suspect India oi-Vicky By Vicky When Habib Miyan an accused in the Indian Institute of Science terror attack at Bengaluru was produced before a court at Agartala, there was palpable tension. Scores of people had gathered in protest outside the court premises to ask the police why their favourite handyman was being taken away. Miyan was a popular handyman at Jogender Nagar in Agartala. His services as a plumber were an instant hit with the locals. On the day he was produced before the court, at least 60 residents of the area landed up and demanded answers from the police. [10 years since IISC attack: How Bengaluru's traffic saved the day] The Bengaluru police which was seeking a transit remand was taken aback. Finally, it was the Triupura police who showed the relevant documents to the mob. The tension was defused and Miyan's transit remand was granted. Miyan is the seventh accused in the 2005 IISC case in which one person died. The Bengaluru police say that investigations led them up to Miyan. He had a valid voter's identification card. He is also said to have a close connection to Bangladesh as his grandmother hailed from that country. OneIndia News The joy of our lives: Sushma Swaraj's husband warm birthday wishes for late leader Remembering Sushma Swaraj on her death anniversary: Facts about Iron Lady of India India condemns London terror attack: Ministry of External Affairs India pti-PTI New Delhi, Mar 22: India on Wednesday condemned the terror strike in Westminster near the Brirtish Parliament, saying there is no place for terrorism in democracies and civilised societies. "India strongly condemns Westminster terrorist incident & condoles loss of life. No place in democracies & civilised societies for terrorism (sic)," spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, Gopal Baglay tweeted. A British police officer was stabbed and his attacker shot dead near the British Parliament complex, in what Scotland Yard are describing as a 'terrorist incident'. In a related incident, a woman was killed when a speeding grey Hyundai i40 mowed down several pedestrians on Westminster Bridge nearby before ramming into the iron railings on the side of the Palace of Westminster -- which houses the House of Commons and Lords as well as the iconic Big Ben. The Indian high commission in the UK said: "Any Indians injured during the Westminster incident may reach Public Response Unit of HCI ASAP: info.london@hcilondon.in; 02086295950." PTI In Tripura, liquor shops and bars to remain closed during Durga Puja, Diwali India to survey new rail line with Bangladesh India ians-IANS By Ians English Agartala, March 23: New Delhi will carry out a survey to lay one more new railway line between India and Bangladesh to access the Chittagong international sea port and ease connectivity with the landlocked northeast region, a minister said here on Thursday. "Indian railway would soon conduct a survey to obtain basic details to lay a 125-km new railway line from southern Tripura's border town Belonia to Chittagong international sea port in (southeast) Bangladesh," Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain told reporters. "Of the 125-km line, five km falls in India and the rest in Bangladesh. The proposed railway line via (Bangladesh's) Feni town aims to access the Chittagong international sea port for the benefit of the mountainous northeast India," Gohain said. After meeting Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy and Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, the minister said New Delhi is now in consultation with Bangladesh to finalise the modalities of the survey. The Belonia-Chittagong proposed railway line would be the second railway project in northeast India connecting Bangladesh after the Agartala-Akhaura railway line. The minister, who came here on Wednesday and visited various under-construction railway projects in Tripura, said the actual work for the 15-km-long Agartala-Akhaura railway line would start from May this year and would be completed within 30 months. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Bangladesh Rail Minister Majibul Haque jointly laid the foundation stone here on July 31 last year for the Rs 973-crore Agartala-Akhaura railway project. Gohain said the government-owned Indian Railway Construction Company would lay he 5-km railway track on the Indian side (in Tripura) while the remaining 10 km on the Bangladesh side would be laid by the Bangladesh railway. However, IRCON would be project management consultant of the Bangladesh railway board. The minister said the 1,613-km mountainous distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Guwahati-New Jalpaiguri-Kishanganj (Bihar)-Malda would be reduced to 514 km through Bangladesh once the Agartala-Akhaura rail track is established. Currently, India and Bangladesh have four rail links with West Bengal. According to the official, 123.5 acres of land, including 56.5 acres in India, will be acquired to execute the project to facilitate carriage of goods to and from both countries. The Agartala-Akhaura railway project, which was sanctioned in the 2012-13 railway budget, would be part of the Trans-Asian Railway network and provide a much shorter connectivity from northeastern states to Kolkata via Bangladesh. The Indian government would bear the entire expenditure of the project, which also figured during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina during his visit to Dhaka in June 2015. Northeast Frontier Railway General Manager (Construction) H.K. Jaggi said the Development of North Eastern Region Ministry has released funds to the Tripura government to acquire land in Tripura and the land acquisition would be completed by April. "The land acquisition would also be completed in Bangladesh by July this year," said Jaggi, who accompanied the minister. The existing railway line from Guwahati passes through Lumding in Nagaon district (in central Assam) and southern Assam connecting Agartala and parts of Manipur and Mizoram with the rest of the country. IANS J&K issue must be resolved as per Kashmiris' aspirations: Pak India pti-PTI New Delhi, Mar 23: Pakistan on Thursday asserted that the Jammu and Kashmir issue must be resolved as per the "aspirations of Kashmiris", saying it can be suppressed but not quelled. Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit in his Pakistan Day speech at the Embassy here also said that Islamabad wants to have a good and peaceful relationship with New Delhi and resolve all issues. "Our policy is to promote peace, especially in Asia, where we have tried to have better ties with all our neighbours. These ties must be based on equal footing and loyalty and our efforts have been in that direction," he said. "As far as the Jammu and Kashmir issue is concerned, it should be resolved as per the aspirations of Kashmiris and hopefully it will be. "We hope that we will resolve the issue but as per the aspirations of Kashmiris ('unki umangon ke mutabik ho')," he said. Kashmir has remained a long-standing unresolved issue between the countries causing acrimony on both sides. Basit went to to say that the aspirations of people "can be suppressed but not quelled ('tarikh gawah hay ki azadi ki tehrik huyin hain unko waqti taur pe dabaya ja sakta lekin...khatam nahin kiya ja sakta')". "And, I hope the struggle of the Kashmiris will, god willing, prove successful ('jo jaddo jehat Kashmiri kar rahen hayn, wo inshallah kamyab ho')," he said, but did not elaborate. When later asked as to what he meant by "aspirations", Basit just said, "Whatever people of the Valley want, we should go by that." Pakistan Day or Pakistan Resolution Day is a national holiday in Pakistan that commemorates the Lahore Resolution passed on March 23, 1940. Basit spoke in Urdu at the ceremony held at the embassy premises to mark the day, which also coincides with the adoption of the first constitution of that country during its transition as a Dominion to an Islamic Republic in 1956. "Pakistan since its inception has faced a lot of troubles, both internally and externally, but as a nation we are resolved to rise together," he said. Before Basit's speech, messages of President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were also read out by the deputy high commissioner Syed Haider Shah. Auditor-General of Pakistan Rana Assad Amin was among the guests invited for the occasion. PTI FM Nirmala Sitharaman hints at possibility of Centre considering restoration of state status to J&K J-K: Terrorists attack police vehicle in Shopian, no casualities reported India oi-Vikas By Vikas Terrorists on Thursday attacked a police vehicle in Behbagh area of Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district, said reports. There are no reports of any casualities so far. On March 17, a brief encounter took place between the security forces and the terrorists at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir following which the latter fled. The encounter broke out after terrorists opened fire at the security forces. Hizbul Mujahideen operatives were suspected to behind March 17 attack. On March 15, three terrorists were killed in an encounter at Kupwara while one police personnel was injured. The incident took place in the Kalroos area of Kupwara. The presence of the terrorists came to light when the security forces were conducting a house to house search. The militants were believed to be part of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. OneIndia News Now resident docs in Delhi go on mass casual leave India pti-PTI New Delhi, March 22: Over 40,000 resident doctors of government hospitals in the national capital will go on casual leave en masse on Thursday in support of their counterparts in Maharashtra who are on strike. Residents doctors from around 40 government hospitals, including those run by civic bodies, will go on mass leave, but those on emergency duty will work. "The decision has been taken in view of increasing incidents of assaults on doctors and also to show solidarity towards our colleagues in Maharashtra. We also condemn the action taken by Maharashtra government against the doctors," Dr Pankaj Solanki, president of The Federation of Resident Doctors' Association said. FORDA is an umbrella body of all residents doctors in Delhi. In AIIMS, around 1,200 resident doctors today turned up on duty expressing solidarity with their striking counterparts in Maharashtra. They have decided to continue this novel protest tomorrow as well. "Nobody bothers about resident doctors who were brutally beaten up. Instead of providing security to resident doctors at their workplace, the Maharashtra government is threatening them of deducting their salaries and throwing them out of their hostels," president of Resident doctors' Association of AIIMS Dr Vijay Gurjar said. "We, the resident doctors at AIIMS, will work with helmets on in the emergency department tomorrow as well," he said. Over 4,000 resident doctors in Maharashtra have been staying away from work since Monday demanding better security at hospitals in the wake of a string of attacks on their colleagues in the state. Nearly 40,000 doctors, all members of the Maharashtra chapter of the Indian Medical Association, too decided to shun work and join the resident doctors in their strike. Today, the Maharashtra government has ordered the striking doctors to report to duty by this evening or lose six months' salary. Bombay High Court Chief Justice Manjula Chellur had onTuesday said, "If you (doctors) do not want to work, then resign. You are not factory workers that you will resort to such protests. Shame on you. How can doctors behave in such a manner?" PTI Maharashtra: As doctors strike enters 4th day, patients suffer the most India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Mumbai, March 23: Poor patients, who can't afford expensive healthcare facilities in private hospitals, are in deep anguish these days, as doctors of public hospitals across Maharashtra are on a strike. The doctors' protest entered the fourth day on Thursday. The striking doctors are demanding better security measures for them in hospitals after some of their colleagues were brutally attacked by relatives of patients in a couple of hospitals in the state in recent times. Hundreds of patients and their relatives were seen in front of gates of several hospitals across the state, waiting in hope for doctors to attend them. Many of these untreated patients are suffering from life-threatening diseases with no one to take care of them. In such a situation, the state is facing an emergency health crisis. Several patients were seen waiting outside Sion Hospital in Mumbai on Thursday, reported ANI. "I come from a poor family. Where should I go from here? If my child will die, what I will do," relative of one of the patients outside Sion Hospital told ANI. "The doctors are on leave from Monday. There is no one to treat me. I am suffering from severe pain" said one of the cancer patients outside the hospital. Media reports say, one more doctor was attacked by a patient's relatives at Sion Hospital, Mumbai, on Wednesday night. The latest attack was the second such case at the hospital in the last four days. The situation is going out of control as over 40,000 junior doctors joined 4,000 colleagues who are already on strike in the state on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Maharashtra Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan warned that the agitating doctors would lose six months' pay if they did not resume their duties by 8 pm. However, doctors are not ready to budge an inch till their demands are met. OneIndia News Mamata's party has replaced 'Rule of Law' by 'Rule by TMC law': Rijiju My blunder that I gave KD Singh a ticket says Mamata Banerjee India ians-IANS By Ians English Kolkata, March 23: After police initiated a case against the Alchemist Chief and Trinamool Congress MP K.D. Singh for allegedly cheating investors, West Bengal Chief Minister and party's supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said giving him a ticket was a blunder. "Giving a ticket to K.D. Singh was my blunder. We did make a mistake," She told Bengali TV channel - ABP Ananda in an interview. A suo-moto case was started by the Kolkata police against the Group's chit fund arm and its owners including K.D. Singh for alleged cheating on the basis of a complaint lodged by 69 investors on March 16 in city's Bowbazar police station, police said on Thursday. "Police started a suo moto case against the company owners including K.D. Singh, his son Kumarjit Singh and others on the charges of cheating (IPC 420), criminal breach of trust by banker, merchant or agent (IPC 409) and criminal conspiracy (IPC 120b)," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Vishal Garg said. "Public lodged complaint against his company and the police takes action. A Law will take its own course," Banerjee said. Incidentally, Narada News chief Mathew Samuel, who conducted a sting operation purportedly showing Trinamool Congress leaders accepting bribes, reportedly claimed that the sting operation was sponsored by Alchemist chief K.D. Singh. "Narada issue is a case of political conspiracy. BJP has good relation with K.D.Singh and it may be the case that he was forced to do it (fund the Narada sting operation). I do not know," Banerjee said when asked about the sponsorship of the sting operation. "The conspiracy angle of the Narada sting must be investigated. Why were 2014 tapes published in 2016?" she asked. IANS Mamata's party has replaced 'Rule of Law' by 'Rule by TMC law': Rijiju Mamata: Will be happy if Advani becomes president India ians-IANS By Ians English Kolkata, March 23: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she would be happy if BJP's veteran leader and Lok Sabha member L.K. Advani is elected as President of India. She, however, declined to make comment whether her party will support Advani, if he contests the presidential election at all. "I respect Advaniji. I respect him as a senior politician. I will be happy if he becomes the President of India. "I will also be happy if Sushma Swaraj becomes the President or Pranab Mukherjee is re-elected," she said. "It depends on the political scenario. We have to see who will be the best for the country," she said when asked about whether her party would support Advani. Banerjee, however, said it was too early to comment on who would become the India's next President. Presidential election is due in July. IANS In UP 166 criminals killed in encounters in past five years: Yogi This Diwali, UP CM Yogi asks govt employees to celebrate festival with needy, deprived families Modernisation of police force helped in controlling crime in UP: CM Yogi Yogi govt orders demotion of DySP to inspector for taking bribes in rape case Modi to BJP MPs from UP: Focus on development of your regions India ians-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, March 23: Days after the BJP installed its government under Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday cautioned party MPs from the state to refrain from pressurising state officials and asked them to focus on development of their region, sources said. Modi's remarks came during his meeting with parliamentarians from the state over breakfast at his official residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg here. Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and party veteran Murali Manohar Joshi also attended the meeting. Union Parliamentary Affairs Ministers Ananth Kumar refused to divulge details of the meeting but said the Prime Minister meets with MPs from different states during the Parliament session. "Prime Minister asked us to refrain from transferring and posting of officials. This causes unnecessary pressure on the state government," a BJP parliamentarian who was present at the meeting quoted Modi as saying. The MP spoke to IANS on condition of anonymity. The BJP leader said the Prime Minister also asked the MPs to focus on development of their region. "The mandate is for development. We have to focus on development only. Good governance is mantra of development," the BJP leader quoted Modi as saying. Sources said the Prime Minister said that the MPs have a good opportunity to develop their region as there is a BJP government in the state as well as at the Centre. He also asked party MPs to work in coordination with the state government. This was the first such meeting after BJP leader Yogi Adityanath took over as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The Prime Minister hailed the MPs for their hard work during the assembly elections and urged them to continue their work. Sultanpur MP Varun Gandhi and Mathura MP Hema Malini attended the meeting, among others. The BJP won 312 seats in the just-concluded elections to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly. The party has promised all-round development in the state. Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha, is crucial for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in view of the 2019 general elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party has 71 MPs from Uttar Pradesh, including Modi. IANS New IT rules will make sure no unlawful content is posted online: Minister Modi govt legalises political corruption, alleges CPI-M India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, March 23: The CPI-M on Thursday accused the Modi government of creating "new avenues for large-scale money laundering" while claiming to be fighting corruption in public life. "The Modi government has indulged in the height of duplicity to hoodwink the people of this country with its loud pronouncements to cleanse corruption, particularly in the electoral process," the CPI-M said. It said this was clear from the amendment slipped into the provisions of the Finance Bill 2017 where the "limit of 7.5 per cent of net profit of the last three financial years" and "the requirements of a company to disclose the name of the political parties to which a contribution has been made" has been deleted. The Companies Act as amended now allows corporates to pay political parties an unlimited amount through the Election Bonds Scheme without disclosing the beneficiaries name, the Communist Party of India-Marxist pointed out. The CPI-M said it had consistently demanded the banning of corporate funding to political parties as this constituted the fountainhead for corruption at high places. "This Modi government has not only widened the process of corporate funding to political parties but has also created new avenues for large-scale money laundering." The CPI-M urged all political parties, social movements and individuals to unitedly oppose "these moves which allow new obnoxious levels of political corruption". IANS \"We have made this Gujarat\": PM Modi's new election slogan PM Modi to unveil logo, theme and website of Indias G20 Presidency on Nov 8 Modi pays tribute to Lohia on his birth anniversary India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, March 23: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid his tributes to nationalist leader Ram Manohar Lohia on his birth anniversary, calling him a constant source of inspiration. "Tributes to Ram Manohar Lohia on his birth anniversary. His thoughts on social empowerment and service continue to inspire us," Modi said in a tweet. Lohia was born on March 23, 1910 in Akbarpur, Uttar Pradesh and had joined the struggle for Indian independence during the last decade of the British rule. During the last phase of British rule, he worked with the Congress Radio which was broadcast secretly from various places in Bombay city till 1942. IANS Nanjangud by-poll: How will BJP balance the Lingayat and Dalit votes India oi-Vicky By Vicky The Bharatiya Janata Party is focussing all its resources on the Nanjangud by-poll which is considered to be a stronghold of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Srinivas Prasad, who resigned from the Congress to contest on a BJP ticket may be a trump card for the saffron party, but looking at the report from the ground, it may not be as easy as it is made out to be. The polls will be held on April 9. Prasad is no doubt a strong candidate and he is up against Kalale Keshavamurthy of the Congress. The Nanjangud constituency comprises both Lingayats and Dalits in large numbers. In fact, they make up for more than half the electorate. Prasad is a senior Dalit leader and the BJP has a major Lingayat following. Will this combination be enough to take the BJP through? For the BJP, the worry is the recent Supreme Court on the 1993 Badanavalu Dalit case. Most of the accused persons were Lingayats and were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. This could put the BJP in a spot of bother. Will the Dalits back the BJP considering that the party is considered to be pro-Lingayats? Will the Lingayats back Prasad considering he is a Dalit? Change in plan: The BJP is aiming to strike a balance between the Lingayats and Dalits who can sway the election in any party's favour. Prasad is suspected to be anti-Lingayat by the Dalits. To iron out the differences, the BJP's think-tank in Karnataka has decided to send in former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, considered to be the tallest Lingayat leader in the state. Yeddyurappa, according to the BJP is the only one who can pacify the Lingayats to vote in favour of Prasad. On the other hand, Prasad would focus only on getting in the Dalit votes. Moreover, the BJP has also decided that it would directly target the Congress candidate from Nanjangud. The target would be Siddaramaiah and his failures, BJP leaders say. The strategy apart from targetting the CM would also involve balancing the Dalit and Lingayat votes. For Siddaramaiah, this is a crucial election. First and foremost it is a battle of egos with Prasad who resigned from his government after being denied a cabinet berth. Second, Nanjangud is considered to be a strong Siddaramaiah belt, and losing an election there would mean loss of face. OneIndia News On Bhagat Singh's death anniversary, his gun to be displayed at BSF museum India oi-Madhuri The 23rd of March will mark the 86th martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh, one of the most revered figures of the anti-colonial movement. On this day, Indians pay homage to three martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country. Freedom fighter Bhagat Singh who was hanged along with his comrades Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru for revolting against a British colonel are remembered on this day and homages are paid to the freedom fighters for the contribution to the freedom struggle of India. [Also read: Bhagat Singh & Valentine's Day: What's the controversy?] On March 23, 1931, Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged by the British Raj for their involvement in the killing of John Saunders, who they mistook for British police superintendent, James Scott. The Border Security Force is also planning to put on display the pistol used by the freedom fighter Singh to kill British officer John Saunders in 1928, at its new arms museum in Indore. At present, the historic semi-automatic 32-bore Colt-make pistol is on display at the old museum of the city-based Central School of Weapon Central School of Weapons and Tactics. While in Pakistan, the Lahore high court on Tuesday directed to ensure security for those who want to observe martyrdom day of Indian freedom fighters Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on March 23. Every year, people assemble at Shadman Chowk to raise the demand for naming it after Singh. In 2015, some religious groups had threatened Singh's followers and told them not to observe his martyrdom day. OneIndia News (With inputs from agencies) Over breakfast, PM Modi, Shah discuss UP politics with BJP MPs India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer New Delhi, March 23: On Thursday, Uttar Pradesh members of Parliament from them Bharatiya Janata Party met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah in Delhi. "PM Modi and BJP president Shah met MPs from Uttar Pradesh at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg in Delhi," reported ANI. The saffron party has 71 MPs from the state. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 71 seats out of 80 that helped the party to come to power in the Centre. Some of the BJP MPs from Uttar Pradesh who attended the meeting were veteran Murli Manohar Joshi, Hema Malini and Varun Gandhi, to name a few. After registering a massive victory in the recently concluded assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the special session of the BJP MPs from the state with PM Modi and Shah caught the attention of all. Although till now, no official statement has been issued by the BJP regarding what transpired in the meeting, sources say the meeting was held to discuss the formation of the BJP government in the state, upcoming Lok Sabha polls in 2019 and various issues confronting Uttar Pradesh, to name a few. Media reports say PM Modi and Shah had breakfast with the MPs and thanked them for working hard to help the party come to power in Uttar Pradesh. Two days ago, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath came to Delhi. He addressed a session of Parliament and met all the top Union ministers from BJP in the national capital. OneIndia News Almost a miracle: This doctor writes so neatly that everyone's surprised! MTP Act: SC says doctors don't need to disclose minors' identity to cops Patients' woes continues as doctors refuse to relent India oi-Vikas By Vikas Medical services continued to remain disrupted in Maharashtra even after the Bombay High Court ordered resident doctors to call off the strike. The high court on Thursday ordered Maharashtra government to provide security to the doctors, who are protesting against recent assaults on their colleagues by patients' relatives. Maharashtra Resident Doctors Association has said that it is waiting for the written order by the court, following which they will hold a meeting to take the final call on strike. The MARD had earlier said that they would resume work provided they are given surety of security from the state government. Amid all this, it was the patients who had to suffer because of long queues at the government hospitals across Maharashtra. Patients outside KEM hospital in Mumbai The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the management of government hospitals to take disciplinary action against the striking doctors. The court said contempt action should be taken against the striking doctors. Resident doctors protesting at Dhule Civil Hospital Maharashtra Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan on Wednesday warned the doctors of six month's salary cut if they do not resume work. Docs angered by attack on their collegue Members of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) during the second day of their protest against the attack on a doctor in Dhule Civil Hospital, in Nagpur on Tuesday. Doctors strike at KEM hospital in Mumbai MARD had demandedtough measures to curb violence against medicos, including limiting the number of relatives who will be permitted to accompany patients. Agitating doctors at Azad Maidan in Mumbai Resident doctors protest at the Azad Maidan demanding security after an intern was assaulted by patient's relatives on Tuesday. (All pics - PTI) OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, March 23, 2017, 16:37 [IST] 180 Hindu organisations write to UK PM, say they are living in a state of fear Prayers for peace and candles in UK Parliament to celebrate Diwali 'Want to fix economy, unite country': Rishi Sunak to run for Britain's PM again PM Modi condemns London terror attack; vows to fight terrorism India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer New Delhi, March 23: Hours after terror hit London, Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack in strong words on Thursday. The Prime Minister in a series of tweets said that "India stands with UK in the fight against terrorism." "Deeply saddened by the terror attack in London. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," the PM tweeted. He added, "At this difficult moment, India stands with UK in the fight against terrorism." Deeply saddened by the terror attack in London. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2017 At this difficult moment, India stands with UK in the fight against terrorism. @theresa_may @Number10Gov Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2017 Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said no Indians were among the killed or the wounded. She also ensured all help to Indians currently in London. I am in constant touch with Indian High Commission in London. There is no Indian casualty reported so far. #LondonAttack @HCI_London Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 22, 2017 Indian High Commission is there to help all Indian nationals in London. Please note theTelephone no.s : 020 8629 5950 & 020 7632 3035. Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 22, 2017 The world is in shock as terror hit in the heart of London on Wednesday. According to latest reports, five people were killed and about 40 injured in the terror attack after a car ploughed into pedestrians and a suspected Islamist-inspired attacker stabbed a policeman close to Britain's parliament. "India strongly condemns Westminster terrorist incident and condoles the loss of life. No place in democracies and civilised societies for terrorism," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, March 23, 2017, 9:37 [IST] Villages have been partially relocated The government also said that arrangements of safety and monitoring of tigers has been done. LPG connections have been given in villages located near the reserve to reduce the dependency on forests whereas villages Kathuli (151 families) and Bhid (139) have been completely relocated from the forest area. Bhimpura, Dangra, Unchi Gawadi and Kalibhaat villages have been partially relocated and the work is still going on and the procedure to relocate three villages of Kala Khorra, Talda Khet and Gadhi on priority basis is also proposed. All images courtesy: ranthamborenationalpark.in Park spread over 932 square kilometers The Ranthambore reserve is spread over 932 square kilometers. The government also informed that 105 families from Kankwadi, Umri, Sukola, Dabli, Haripura, Kraska and Devari villages, which were located in the critical tiger habitat, have been completely relocated from the Sariska tiger project. Sariska is located in Alwar district. A major wildlife tourist attraction spot Being considered as one of the famous and former hunting grounds of the Maharajas of Jaipur, today the Ranthambore National Park terrain is major wildlife tourist attraction spot that has pulled the attention of many wildlife photographers and lovers in this destination. The best times for tiger sightings at Ranthambore National Park are in November and May. The park's deciduous forests are characteristic examples of the type of jungle found in Central India. Other major wild animals include leopard, nilgai, wild boar, sambar, striped hyena, sloth bear, southern plains gray langur, rhesus macaque and chital. The sanctuary is home to a wide variety of trees, plants, birds and reptiles, as well as one of the largest banyan trees in India. Lady of lakes Last year in August, 19-year-old tigress Machli (fish), the oldest big cat ever known to have walked the wilderness and the most photographed big cat at the reserve died. Often seen hunting and playing around water bodies, which earned her the name Machli and titles like Lady of lakes' or Queen Mother', experts said her life was a distinct case of evolution' in the behaviour of tigers, especially those in Ranthambore. The Sultanpur female Another popular tigress from Ranthambore is tigress T39, also known as Mala or Noor or the Sultanpur female. Her name comes from the decorative bead-like stripes on her body. She was born to tigress T-13 and fathered by T-12. In March and April 2014, she was seen with her second litter of three cubs. Noor is 6 years old and her son, T72, or Sultan, is from her first litter and is approximately three years old. Rs 1.28 crore demonetised notes seized in Bengaluru India oi-Anusha The Bengaluru police on Thursday arrested two people for possessing Rs 1.28 crore in demonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes. The duo identified as Ajay and Rahul has been arrested for illegally possessing huge amounts of demonetised currency notes. "The duo ran a jewellery business and engaged in note exchange on a commission basis. They are also accused of cheating people with fake notes. We suspect the involvement of more people and further investigations are underway. We expect to make more arrests in this regard," said Additional Commissioner of Police, (crime), S Ravi. The city crime branch police arrested the duo and seized the cash from an apartment in Bengaluru's Sheshadripuram. The duo would promise to exchange old demonetised notes with new currency notes on a commission basis but would end up cheating people by supplying fake notes. The duo would flaunt the money they possessed to lure those who wanted to exchange notes illegally. After receiving the money from them, the duo would either supply fake notes or vanish. Police suspect them to be part of a larger racket and hope to arrest others involved. Further investigations are underway. OneIndia News RS members to bid farewell to Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Monday 'It's an affront to sacred institution of Parliament': Congress on ED summoning Kharge PM Modi bids farewell to VP Naidu, hails new leadership born in 'Independent India' Rs 490 cr allotted for SC/ST hub: RS informed India oi-PTI New Delhi, Mar 23: An amount of Rs 490 crore has been earmarked for the National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Hub from 2016-17 to 2018-20, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. Responding to queries during the Question Hour, Social Justice & Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot said that the hub has started various activities across the country, including in Punjab. The hub provides professional support to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs to adopt applicable business practices. Gehlot said that 8 units owned by SCs and STs from Punjab have applied for registration under single point registration scheme of National Small Industries Corporation. 27 units owned by SCs in Punjab have also applied for subsidy to obtain performance and credit rating. PTI Trishul, rising sun, mashaal: Uddhav faction proposes three poll symbols after EC order Explained: Why did the ECI freeze the symbol of the Shiv Sena Unfortunate says NCP on freezing of Shiv Sena symbol Not just future of Sena but democracy at stake, says Uddhav VIP high-handedness: Shiv Sena MP assaults Air India staff India oi-Vikas By Vikas In a shocking incident highlighting VVIP highhandedness, Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad has allegedly manhandled an Air India staff member over seating issues. Air India has reportedly constituted a team to probe the incident. ANI reported that Gaikwad hit the staff with his footwear after an argument over seating related issue. Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad hit an Air India staff member with his slipper over seating issues: Air India Spokesperson ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 In his admission, Gaikwad stated that he indeed assaulted the Air India staff, saying that the staff misbehaved with him, said reports. Haan maine usko maara tha,usne badtameezi ki thi:Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad on hitting Air India staff member with his slipper (file pic) pic.twitter.com/26IV8V8eGq ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2017 OneIndia News Stayzilla: What is the controversy all about? India oi-Vicky By Vicky Co-founder of Stayzilla Yogendra Vasupal was arrested on March 14 in Chennai on charges that he had defaulted on a payment of Rs 1.7 crore that it owed to an advertising agency. The arrest has evoked a serious response with many saying that no hearing on the bail has taken place as yet. Stayzilla was founded in 2005. It was an online marketplace for homestays. After raising $34 million from private investors, it announced last month that it had run out of funds and hence, was shutting down. Reports state the Vasupal, also known as Yogi was taking a walk in Chennai when he was approached by two cops who took him for questioning. There have been questions asked about the manner in which the arrest was carried out and why he has not been accorded a bail hearing as yet. Accusations are being made against the advertisement agency stating that the arrest was carried out under immense political pressure. An open letter has now been written to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking his intervention in the matter. The signatories of the letter include Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm and Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola Cabs. Questions have been raised about the fate of start-ups which are able to raise money quickly but are unable to sustain. Here is the letter written to the Home ministry: Open Letter From Founders on Stayzilla Issue To, Shri. Rajnath Singh Ji Hon'ble Home Minister North Block, Central Secretariat , New Delhi-110001 Dear Sir, We would like to express our concern and draw your attention towards the manner in which Yogendra Vasupal (Yogi), Founder and CEO, Stayzilla was arrested with regard to the matter registered as FIR 71/2017 CCB Chennai and the alleged influence including harassment by the concerned officials in Chennai, Tamilnadu. Although we do not wish to prejudge to the matter, the Stayzilla case and it's locked up founder underscore the hardships of being an entrepreneur in India. If ever there's a right to be an entrepreneur, that's clearly been violated. Period. The question is not how this will affect entrepreneurship today, but how young Indians looking to become entrepreneurs in the future will give up even before starting up. You can find as many technical flaws and loopholes about a client-vendor contract (which by the way can be contested in the long term), and go roundabouts regarding how "an innocent" vendor was forced to abuse, intimidate and even send voodoo dolls with the picture of entrepreneur's kids. The point is, all this appears to be a Bollywood nightmare, and unlike the movies, there are no real life superheroes to fight the battle. How you wish there actually was a superman who could stop it then and there. This doesn't necessarily wipe out the faith in judiciary. If anything, a fair judicial probe and hearing, is the only hope from hereon. But all this does shake the faith when it comes to starting up in India, building a company from scratch. As a founder, we already have enough battlefronts, from acquiring customers to funding growth and ensuring the startup doesn't die. You add a disgruntled vendor using position of power and influential network to make you go through hell, and suddenly, it becomes a battle lost. When Yogi was walking on a Chennai street, couple of cops in plain clothes drove past, snatched his mobile phone and asked him to come to the police station. they assured him they were aware of all the intimidations from Aditya. By the time he reached the police station, things changed. He started getting pressurised to confess to 'a crime" he never committed. His refusal to confess to a crime he never committed only made the things worse for him. Has Yogi siphoned away money? Was he running away from any enforcement agencies or the debtors? Has he ever threatened and visibly intimidated the vendor and his family? How will he protect his own family when he is locked inside the jail, and those announcing ways to intimidate his wife and kids (on Facebook) are out in the open? If the answer is none of the above, then why on earth has he been locked up in jail for a week, away from his wife and two children? Of course, the judiciary will eventually get to the bottom of this case after a fair trial, and God willing, Yogi will walk out of the jail. But what Yogi and his family are going through now make India look like the worst place, a nightmarish choice to become an entrepreneur. He has not had a bail hearing despite being jailed for 7 days. This is already had global repercussions and besmirched India's reputation in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. We are standing up together as a community and believers in the vision of Honble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi for 'Startup India. Stand-up India' to call for a free and fair investigation into the dispute and strongly oppose any abuse of power to subvert the law of land. We humbly request you to look into this matter and ensure that expeditious justice is provided to Yogi. OneIndia News Swami Aseemanand to walk out of jail: Gets bail in Mecca Masjid case India oi-Vicky By Vicky Swami Aseemanand has been granted bail in the Mecca Masjid blast case. As a result of this order, he can walk free. The bail order comes a week after he was acquitted of all charges in the Ajmer blasts case. He is likely to be released on Thursday. Nine persons had died after an improvised explosive device was detonated inside the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad. Aseemanand was chargesheeted by the National Investigation Agency. He had given a confession statement admitting to his role in the blasts, but the same was retracted later on. Aseemanand is also a co-accused in the Malegaon and Samjautha blasts case. In the Samjautha case, he was granted bail in September. Aseemanand's arrest had created a furore. His confessional statement too had become a subject matter of debate. He had however retracted his statements before the court. OneIndia News UK envoy calls for deeper cooperation to defeat terror following London attack India pti-PTI New Delhi, Mar 23: A day after the terror strike on the UK Parliament, the British envoy to India on Thursday said it was an attack on the values shared by Britain, India and many other countries, and pitched for greater cooperation to defeat the menace. British High Commissioner Dominic Asquith said counter-terrorism measures are an important part of Britain's engagement with India. The envoy also lauded the 'extraordinary strength' of the British people and said they showed courage to deal with the situation. "It's a very emotional reminder of the extraordinary strength that lies in society. The response from individuals was really heartwarming...As London will return to ordinary life, Parliament will go on today. The business will survive and carry on. We will do our bit to ensure that people can continue on doing that with confidence and safety," he said. On Wednesday, a knife-wielding man rampaged through a street in his car and tried to storm the UK Parliament, in which five people died and nearly 40 others were injured. Seven people were on Thursday arrested in raids by anti-terror officers across London and Birmingham after the 'Islamist-related terrorism' attack. Asquith said the strike was an attack on the 'values shared' by the UK with other countries including India and reminds us of our 'vulnerability'. On counter-terror cooperation with India, he said, "It is a very important part" of British collaboration with the country and added that it is at a 'very high level'. "It covers a variety of strands of activity - sharing analysis, policy, intelligence about what's happening and sharing capability to respond to incidents when they do happen," said Asquith on the sidelines of an event in the national capital. "The attack case is still being investigated. But it's a reminder that we are vulnerable to people who are out there to attack values that we all here in India, UK, across Europe and everywhere in the world value. So it's a reminder of our vulnerability," Asquith added. The envoy also thanked people who had sent messages of support following the attack. "I would like to thank people who have offered wishes of condolence and support from here in India. It is a reminder of the links that the two countries have and the values that we share," he added. PTI Why OPS chose the 'electric pole' and Sasikala the 'hat' India oi-Anusha The two factions of the AIADMK led by party's interim general secretary Sasikala Natarajan and former chief minister O Panneerselvam will contest the R K Nagar bypoll under new symbols. In the fight for Jayalalithaa's constituency and legacy, her party's symbol, the 'two leaves', has no place thanks to the rival camps in the AIADMK. The Election Commission on Thursday allotted 'electric pole' to Panneerselvam's camp and 'hat' to Sasikala's camp to contest the polls but is the absence of the 'two leaves' symbol going to cost both factions dearly? Why did the factions pick the symbols that they did? A generation of AIADMK supporters has come to associate the party with the 'two leaves' symbol. While the split camps of the party already face a challenge of divided votes, the compulsion to contest on different symbols comes as an even bigger challenge. OPS camp gets Two leaves symbol's lookalike With the 'electric pole' symbol that looks similar to the 'two leaves' symbol of the AIADMK, senior leader from the Panneerselvam camp E Madhusudhanan hopes that he is able to convince the voter to choose the symbol that bears the closest resemblance to the mother party symbol's. He was also the first to begin campaigning in the R K Nagar constituency. Most online polls by media outlets, individuals alike have yielded favourable results to Madhusudhanan in comparison to TTV Dinakaran. Madhusudhanan is also heavily backed by the cadres. Madhusudhanan is a known face in the R K Nagar constituency. He has been elected from the constituency previously just as his brother P K Sekhar Babu. The presidium chairman of the AIADMK is a force to reckon with in the bypoll with the massive popularity he enjoys among the voters. 'Hat' for Sasikala's camp, what is the MGR link? Sasikala Natarajan's camp was a house of confusion on Thursday morning. While they first accepted the auto rickshaw symbol from the Election Commission, their plans changed after Panneerselvam's camp was allotted the 'electric pole' symbol that resembled the two leaves symbol. They soon sought a change and were allotted the 'hat'. Most political observers believe that this was an attempt by the Sasikala camp to strike up an association with party founder M G Ramachandran's hat that he has donned time and again in his films. MGR's iconic hat, the Sasikala camp hopes, will help them strike a chord with the voters. While money and muscle power are their strengths, the palpable anger among the people of R K Nagar against Sasikala is the real challenge. Dinakaran has been an elected representative of the party but his ouster from the party by Jayalalithaa is fresh in the memory of many. Even if the voters forget, the OPS camp is ensuring that the fact doesn't fade from memories. The lack of the 'two leaves' symbol is a huge setback for Dinakaran, who is already fighting a perception battle ahead of the bypoll. Dinakaran is yet to even set foot in the constituency to campaign. The infighting in the AIADMK has led the party to lose its symbol and cadre will it now extend to the loss of Jayalalithaa's constituency is the question. OneIndia News Baghdadi would be killed soon: US International pti-PTI Washington, Mar 22: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will be killed as nearly all of his deputies are now dead and it is 'only a matter of time' that he meets the same fate. "Nearly all of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's deputies are now dead, including the mastermind behind the attacks in Brussels, Paris, and elsewhere. It is only a matter of time before Baghdadi himself meets the same fate," Tillerson said on Wednesday at a ministerial plenary for the 68-nation Global Coalition to defeat the Islamic State. The coalition, of which India is not a part, has made significant progress in the fight against ISIS. In addition to the latest meaningful financial contributions, the flow of foreign terrorist fighters into Syria and Iraq is down 90 per cent over the past year. It is harder for terrorists to get in, and more importantly, harder for them to get out to threaten these countries, he said. Tillerson said the ongoing Iraqi-led retaking of Mosul is pushing ISIS out of a key stronghold and liberating more than a million civilians. "This Mosul campaign could not have succeeded without the cooperation between the Iraqi Security Forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga," he said. Noting that the expansion of ISIS has necessitated a large-scale military response, Tillerson said the offensive measures are reclaiming areas in Iraq and Syria in which ISIS has had a large and destructive footprint. "Our end goal in this phase is the regional elimination of ISIS through military force. The military power of the coalition will remain where this fraudulent caliphate has existed in order to set the conditions for a full recovery from the tyranny of ISIS," he said. "Under President Trump's leadership and with the strength of this historic coalition, our common enemy will remain under intense pressure," he said. Tillerson said the military strength will stop ISIS on a battlefield, but it is the combined strength of the coalition that will be the final blow to ISIS. In order to stay ahead of a global outbreak, the Secretary of State called for adoption of several countermeasures. "First, continue to persist with in-country counterterrorism and law enforcement operations. All of us must maintain pressure on ISIS's networks within our own countries and take decisive law enforcement action to stop its growth. ISIS is connected across every continent, and we must work to break every link in its chain," he said. "Interpol is the newest member of our coalition and is critical to closing all routes through which ISIS terrorists seek to travel and threaten our homelands," he added. "Second, we need greater intelligence and information sharing within our own domestic intelligence agencies and among our nations," Tillerson said. PTI Eiffel Tower goes dark at midnight for London victims International pti-PTI Paris, Mar 22: Lights on the Eiffel Tower was switched off at midnight (2300 GMT) in solidarity with those killed and injured in a terror attack outside Britain's parliament. The decision was taken by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo following the deadly attack in which a man ploughed his car into pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge then leapt out and stabbed a policeman, killing three people and wounding more than 20. PTI Islamic State claims responsibility for London attack International oi-Vicky By Vicky The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the London attack. The IS through its various channels has claimed that the attacker was their soldier. The claim was made through their mouthpiece Amaq. The London attacker who killed four and injured over 40 persons on Wednesday outside the UK Parliament appeared to have derived the style of attack from the Islamic State. The attack was in many ways similar to the ones that took place in Nice and Berlin. [London attack was Islamist-related terrorism] The attacker plowed his car through a crowd of people on a bridge over the River Thames before getting out and stabbing a police officer. In both the Nice and Berlin attacks, the terrorist had used a vehicle to kill people. The use of a vehicle in an act of terror is part of a text book that the Islamic State has released. There are several methods suggested to kill people and one of them is using a vehicle. The London police have made it clear that it was an act of terror. It was an Islamist-related terror incident, they also said. The IS has not yet claimed credit for the attack, but going by past instances they are bound to very soon. The IS has several fighters from the UK. In fact the fighters from the UK form the largest part of the IS camp in Syria and Iraq. It was only recently that the chief of the IS, Abu Bakr-al Bhagdadi had ordered his fighters to return to their home countries and stage terror strikes. An Intelligence Bureau official in India tracking the developments in London says that there is no doubt that it is an Islamist inspired attack. The attacker may have been inspired by the IS or al-Qaeda. It was clearly a lone wolf attack, the officer also informed. OneIndia News Japan PM denies claim he donated to scandal-hit school International oi-PTI Tokyo, Mar 23: The head of an ultra-nationalistic Japanese school operator at the centre of a land and political scandal has testified in parliament that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen (approximately Rs 6 lakh) through his wife for an elementary school where she once was honorary principal. Yasunori Kagoike, head of the Moritomo Gakuen group, said First Lady Akie Abe handed him the cash in an envelope on behalf of her husband during her September 2015 visit to Kagoike's kindergarten in Osaka. Abe has denied the donation or any influence in the scandal stemming from a 2016 state property sale to Kagoike at one-seventh of its appraised price. Such a donation is not illegal. Kagoike's school is known for a curriculum that resembles that of pre-World War II militaristic Japan. PTI London attack reminds us of terror at Nice, Berlin International oi-Vicky By Vicky The London attacker who killed four and injured over 40 persons on Wednesday outside the UK Parliament appeared to have derived the style of attack from the Islamic State. The attack was in many ways similar to the ones that took place in Nice and Berlin. The attacker plowed his car through a crowd of people on a bridge over the River Thames before getting out and stabbing a police officer. In both the Nice and Berlin attacks, the terrorist had used a vehicle to kill people. [Is India prepared to deal with lone-wolf attacks?] The use of a vehicle in an act of terror is part of a text book that the Islamic State has released. There are several methods suggested to kill people and one of them is using a vehicle. The London police have made it clear that it was an act of terror. It was an Islamist-related terror incident, they also said. The IS has not yet claimed credit for the attack, but going by past instances they are bound to very soon. [Violent lone-wolf attacks in Europe likely to rise, say terrorism experts] The IS has several fighters from the UK. In fact, the fighters from the UK form the largest part of the IS camp in Syria and Iraq. It was only recently that the chief of the IS, Abu Bakr-al Bhagdadi had ordered his fighters to return to their home countries and stage terror strikes. An Intelligence Bureau official in India tracking the developments in London says that there is no doubt that it is an Islamist-inspired attack. The attacker may have been inspired by the IS or al-Qaeda. It was clearly a lone-wolf attack, the officer also informed. OneIndia News London attack was Islamist-related terrorism International oi-Vicky By Vicky The police in UK say that they believe that the Parliament attack was Islamist-related terrorism. While several media outlets had claimed that the attacker who was also killed in the incident was Trevor Brook alias Abu Izzadeen, they later retracted the report. [2017 will be a year of massacre for Europe?] Five people were killed and almost 40 injured in a terror attack near the Houses of Parliament in London on Wednesday. The attacker was also killed in the incident. British Prime Minister Theresa May said that the location of the attack was no accident. No terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. It was clearly a lone-wolf attack. The attacker plowed his car through a crowd of people on a bridge over the River Thames. He then got out of his vehicle and fatally stabbed a police officer, Keith Palmer. The attacker was shot dead. The security officials have said that it was an Islamist-related terror incident but refused to name any group. OneIndia News MQM leader urges Modi to speak out for muhajirs International pti-PTI London, Mar 23: Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak out for the rights of muhajirs or refugees in Karachi, Altaf Hussain, the leader of Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement, said on Thursday. The Pakistani politician who lives in London in exile said while India was vocal about the brutality of Pakistan Army against people of Baluchistan, Modi had failed to speak out for the people who lived in India for centuries. "I would like to register my complaint with Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, as Mr Modi, I regret to say, you are raising voice over the brutality of Pakistan Army against people of Baluchistan...never raise your voice for your own people who lived in India for centuries," he said. "Our forefathers made a big mistake and migrated to Pakistan, but we were born here, and never accepted as Pakistani or sons of soil. Mr Prime Minister you should have raised your voice against the atrocities, discrimination and brutality of Pakistani establishment, Army and para military forces against Urdu speaking muhajirs, your own people in Karachi, Pakistan," he added. The MQM leader called on India to raise MQMs issues at all international and human rights fora. The MQM is the fourth largest political party of Pakistan. PTI Fact Check: Old images of Imran Khan shared as ones from recent shooting incident Imran Khan discharged from hospital, to resume long march from same point where he was shot This cop from Pakistan became a millionaire overnight: Here is how Days after attack, Imran Khan's party to resume long march on Nov 10 Pak President offers dialogue, slams India for ceasefire violations International ians-IANS By Ians English Islamabad, March 23: Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday offered a dialogue with India to peacefully resolve the Kashmir dispute. Hussain addressed a military parade in Islamabad on the occasion of Republic Day, Xinhua news agency reported. He slammed India for what he said were its 'irresponsible actions and violation of the ceasefire' which he claimed posed threats to Pakistan's security. "We are ready for a dialogue with India to find out a solution to the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions," he said. He reiterated that Pakistan will continue moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their right to self-determination. The President also urged the international community to play its role for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Pakistan, he said, had no 'aggressive designs' against any country but maintained minimum deterrence for regional peace and stability. "Pakistan is now much secure than the past because of the unprecedented sacrifices of our armed forces and the people," he said. IANS 180 Hindu organisations write to UK PM, say they are living in a state of fear 'Want to fix economy, unite country': Rishi Sunak to run for Britain's PM again Terror bleeds London: Minute-by-minute details of how the horror unfolded International oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer The world is in shock as terror hit in the heart of London on Wednesday. According to latest reports, five people were killed and about 40 injured in the terror attack after a car ploughed into pedestrians and a suspected Islamist-inspired attacker stabbed a policeman close to Britain's parliament. The terror attack unfolded in front of daily commuters, tourists and security officials in two prime locations of central London-- Westminster Bridge and Houses of Parliament. The eyewitnesses recalled the incident with vivid details. An eyewitness Jayne Wilkinson told media persons, "We were taking photos of Big Ben and we saw all the people running towards us, and then there was an Asian guy in about his 40s carrying a knife about seven or eight inches long. "And then there were three shots fired, and then we crossed the road and looked over. The man was on the floor with blood. "He had a lightweight jacket on, dark trousers and a shirt. He was running through those gates, towards Parliament, and the police were chasing him." One more account of an eyewitness. "I just saw a car go out of control and just go into pedestrians on the bridge," said Bernadette Kerrigan, who had been on a tour bus on the bridge, in an interview with Sky News. "As we were going across the bridge, we saw people lying on the floor, they were obviously injured. I saw about 10 people maybe. And then the emergency services started to arrive. Everyone was just running everywhere." This is how the entire terror episode unfolded... Emergency declared in London Emergency services on Westminister Bridge after a policeman was stabbed and his apparent attacker shot by officers, and in a separate incident a car drove into a pedestrian on nearby Westminster Bridge, in a major security incident near to the Houses of Parliament in London. Picture credit: PTI This is how London immediately reacted An air ambulance on the scene after gunfire was heard close to the Houses of Parliament, London. Picture credit: PTI Security personnel at work Armed police officers entered the Houses of Parliament in London after the House of Commons sitting was suspended as witnesses reported sounds like gunfire outside. Picture credit: PTI Security personnel take control of the situation Emergency services work at the scene of a crashed car close to the Houses of Parliament, London. Picture credit: PTI London comes to a standstill In this image taken from video, police officers gather around a car adjacent to Houses of Parliament in London. Picture credit: PTI Chaos at terror site As police officials investigated the incident, instructions were issued to keep commuters away from the terror sites. Picture credit: PTI Medical aid for the victims Conservative Member of Parliament Tobias Ellwood (centre) helps emergency services attend to an injured person outside the Houses of Parliament, London. Picture credit: PTI Air ambulance provides medical help An air ambulance comes in to land as emergency services attend to injured persons outside the Houses of Parliament, London. Picture credit: PTI OneIndia News 50 nations express grave concern over atrocities against Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang No one has guts...: Junior defence minister's reply to China question US bomber warned by Beijing for flying over East China Sea International ians-IANS By Ians English Washington, March 23: Beijing officials warned a US military aircraft during a routine East China Sea flyover telling the pilots that they were illegally operating in its airspace, a top official said. The pilots of the US Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber aircraft on Sunday responded to the Chinese air traffic controllers, saying that they were conducting routine operations in international airspace and did not deviate from their flight path, US Pacific Air Forces spokesman Major Phil Ventura told CNN on Wednesday. The bomber had entered the Chinese Air Defence Identification Zone in the East China Sea, which covers airspace and islands that are also claimed by Japan. "Pacific Air Forces ... did not recognise the ADIZ when was announced in November 2013, and neither does not recognise it today," Ventura said. "The ADIZ has not changed our operations," he added. The US plane was flying 70 nautical miles southwest of South Korea's Jeju Island. The ADIZ declaration required airlines flying over the designated waters to first notify Chinese authorities before transiting, reports CNN. The US and Japanese governments do not recognise China's claim on the area. According to the US Air Force, the Guam-based B-1 bomber was conducting a series of training missions with Japanese and South Korean military aircraft. IANS 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Antwerp is the largest city in Belgium by area at 204.51 square kilometres (78.96 sq mi) and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, it is the most populous city center in Belgium, and with a metropolitan population of around 1,200,000 people, it is the second-largest metropolitan region in Belgium, after only Brussels. Rumble 05 Aug 2022 The British Establishment have existed since 1706/7 via the Acts of union. This was never put to a referendum and at no point were.. Their independence has at times unnerved conservatives who cheered Gorsuch's nomination in 2017 and were optimistic about.. USATODAY.com 17 Jul 2020 Rumble 27 Sep 2022 If you find it difficult to get the intel you can choose the easiest difficulty in this level (Recruit) 22-branch mission 2 after.. Rumble 18 Aug 2022 Sergeant Kyle Garrick decides to get to the bottom of the incident, and Alex and militia commander Kareem team up to track down the.. Terra Daily 03 Nov 2022 Berlin (AFP) Nov 2, 2022 Germany said Wednesday it was ready to resume sending financial aid to Brazil to combat.. Jerusalem Post 27 Sep 2022 Antisemitic flyers were distributed at University of Michigan, and eggs were thrown at a Jewish fraternity house at Rutgers.. Global Diesel Generators Market Research Report 2017 analysis and forecast 2022 Diesel Generators https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1109176-global-diesel-generators-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1109176-global-diesel-generators-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1109176 https://www.linkedin.com/company/wise-guy-research-consultants-pvt-ltd-?trk=biz-companies-cym https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEGrh5nnB7C6Vg4CgpuzBPw https://www.wiseguyreports.com/ Diesel GeneratorsCovered in this Report:Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Diesel Generators in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Diesel Generators market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingCaterpillarCumminsAggreko PLCMitsubishi MGS seriesHIMOINSAKohlerMTU Onsite EnergyKirloskar Electric CompanyYANMAR Co., LtdFG WilsonBroadcrownLEROY-SOMERSDECTigerTellhowBaifaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoHigh SpeedMedium SpeedLow SpeedOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Diesel Generators for each application, includingLandMarine UseTrailer and VehicleTo get complete copy of report visit @Key Points in Table Of ContentGlobal Diesel Generators Market Research Report 20171 Diesel Generators Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Diesel Generators1.2 Diesel Generators Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Diesel Generators Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Diesel Generators Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 High Speed1.2.4 Medium Speed1.2.5 Low Speed1.3 Global Diesel Generators Segment by Application1.3.1 Diesel Generators Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Land1.3.3 Marine Use1.3.4 Trailer and Vehicle1.4 Global Diesel Generators Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Diesel Generators Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Diesel Generators (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Diesel Generators Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Diesel Generators Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)2 Global Diesel Generators Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Diesel Generators Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Diesel Generators Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Diesel Generators Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Diesel Generators Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Diesel Generators Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Diesel Generators Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Diesel Generators Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Diesel Generators Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Diesel Generators Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Diesel Generators Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Diesel Generators Capacity and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Diesel Generators Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Diesel Generators Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Diesel Generators Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Diesel Generators Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Diesel Generators Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Diesel Generators Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Japan Diesel Generators Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.9 Southeast Asia Diesel Generators Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.10 India Diesel Generators Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)...... Continued...To Purchase Report visit @Contact Us:Norah TrentPartner Relations & Marketing ManagerSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Follow on LinkedIn:Subscribe Our YouTube Channel @Click Here For More DetailsABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Object Storage 2017 Global Key Players - Basho, CloudFounders, ETegro, Hyve, Newisys, Nexenta Market Analysis and Forecast to 2022 Object Storage https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1107538-global-object-storage-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1107538-global-object-storage-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1107538 www.wiseguyreports.com Object StorageReport Details:Global Object Storage market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingBashoCloudFoundersETegroHyveNewisysNexentaSupermicroSwiftStackSeagate.Click here for sample report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Object Storage in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesEUChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Object Storage for each application, includingManipulate DataMemoryMobile AppsGraphics FilesSensor DataUsing Network to Work......Some Major Points from Table of content:Global Object Storage Market Research Report 20171 Object Storage Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Object Storage1.2 Object Storage Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Object Storage Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Object Storage Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Object-based Storage Device1.2.4 Metadata Server1.2.5 Others1.3 Global Object Storage Segment by Application1.3.1 Object Storage Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Manipulate Data1.3.3 Memory1.3.4 Mobile Apps1.3.5 Graphics Files1.3.6 Sensor Data1.3.7 Using Network to Work1.4 Global Object Storage Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Object Storage Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 EU Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 South Korea Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Object Storage (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Object Storage Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Object Storage Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)For Detailed Reading Please visit @7 Global Object Storage Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Basho7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Object Storage Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Basho Object Storage Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 CloudFounders7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Object Storage Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 CloudFounders Object Storage Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 ETegro7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Object Storage Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 ETegro Object Storage Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Hyve7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Object Storage Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Hyve Object Storage Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Newisys7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Object Storage Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Newisys Object Storage Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Nexenta7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Object Storage Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Nexenta Object Storage Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Supermicro7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Object Storage Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Supermicro Object Storage Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 SwiftStack7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Object Storage Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 SwiftStack Object Storage Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Seagate7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Object Storage Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Seagate Object Storage Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview..ContinuedBuy now @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPh: +91 841 198 5042info@wiseguyreports.com Growing Demand for Minimally Invasive Surgeries is Likely to Drive the Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Management Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/csf-management-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=2590 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Hydrocephalus is defined as an imbalance between the production and absorption of CSF. This increase in CSF may be due to numerous reasons such as defective absorption, over production of CSF, brain atrophy, or obstruction of circulation. The additional CSF is stored in subarachnoid spaces of the brain or within the ventricles. This condition is also termed as hydrodynamic CSF disorder. Hydrocephalus majorly occurs in babies during birth. It also occurs in elderly people.If hydrocephalus happens in a newborn, it can physically deform the child as CSF continues to build up, causes the childs head to expand to accommodate the excessive CSF. However, unlike an older child or adult, the infant head is able to expand since their fontanels are not yet closed. If hydrocephalus is left untreated, it can lead to mental retardation due to extreme pressure being exerted on surrounding cerebral tissue causing the brain to atrophy.Obtain Report Details @Higher rates of neural tube defects and neonatal infection in emerging countries are related to advanced rates of hydrocephalus. Around 1% to 2% of the population of the U.S. was affected by hydrocephalus and over 350,000 procedures were performed to treat hydrocephalus in the country in 2014. Moreover, in Canada, one in every 1547 people suffers from hydrocephalus.Based on type of product, the CSF management market has been classified into CSF shunts and CSF drainage systems. CSF drainage system has been further classified into ventricular drainage system and lumbar drainage system. The CSF shunts segment held the largest market share of the CSF management market in 2014. The segment is likely to continue to dominate the market during the forecast period. However, the CSF drainage systems segment is projected to expand at the highest growth rate during the forecast period.The overall rise in incidence of neurological diseases among the general population, increasing geriatric population diagnosed with neurological disease such as Alzheimers and Parkinson's diseases, high funding by the government and private organizations, and growing demand for minimally invasive surgeries are likely to drive the CSF management market. However, risk of infection during the time of surgery is expected to limit the usage of CSF shunts.Geographically, the CSF management market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Rest of the World. North America accounted for the largest share of the CSF management market in 2014. The region is likely to continue its dominance of the market during the forecast period due to increasing geriatric population and rapid technological innovations.For more information on this report, fill the form @However, the CSF management market in Asia-Pacific is anticipated to witness the fastest growth rate from 2015 to 2023 due to increasing demand for minimally invasive surgeries, rise in the geriatric population, and growing medical tourism in emerging nations. However, factors such as cost of surgical procedures and availability of shunts in developing countries can hinder the growth of the CSF management market.Economic development and improving health care infrastructure in emerging economies such as China, India, and Brazil have led to increase in disposable income of people, thereby enhancing their purchasing power. In addition, increase in medical expenditure by governments creates an opportunity in the CSF management market in emerging countries.Major players in the CSF Management Market consist of DePuy Synthes (a J & J Company), Medtronic plc, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Sophysa S.A., Spiegelberg GmbH & Co. KG, Integra LifeSciences Holding Corporation, BeckerSmith Medical, Inc., and Moller Medical GmbH.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Reciprocating Pumps Market Manufacturers, Share, Trends and Forecast by 2022- Market Research Report 2017 Reciprocating Pumps Manufacturers https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1109187-global-reciprocating-pumps-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1109187-global-reciprocating-pumps-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/check-discount/1109187-global-reciprocating-pumps-market-research-report-2017 www.wiseguyreports.com Reciprocating Pumps ManufacturersThe Reciprocating Pumps market provides detailed market segment level data on the international market. The Reciprocating Pumps market report addresses forecast and growth patterns by company, regions and type or application from 2017 to 2021.Browse Detailed TOC, Tables, Figures, Charts and Companies Mentioned in Reciprocating Pumps Market Research Report@Description:In this report, the global Reciprocating Pumps market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Reciprocating Pumps in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Reciprocating Pumps market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingMoogGrundfosParkerFlowserveProminentEatonGardner DenverAtosCat pumpKawasakiToshiba MachineAtlas copcoMaruyamaGracoIngersoll RandHengyuan hydraulicHilead HydraulicCNPC EquipShanggaoAoviteJinhu FudaHyetoneShenzhen DeyuxinOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPiston PumpPlunger PumpDiaphragm PumpOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Reciprocating Pumps for each application, includingPetroleum Chemical IndustryMachinery Manufacturing IndustryFood ProcessingPharmaceutical ProductionOtherSample Report Request of Reciprocating Pumps Market Research Report@Table of ContentsGlobal Reciprocating Pumps Market Research Report 20171 Reciprocating Pumps Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Reciprocating Pumps1.2 Reciprocating Pumps Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Reciprocating Pumps Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Reciprocating Pumps Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Piston Pump1.2.4 Plunger Pump1.2.5 Diaphragm Pump1.3 Global Reciprocating Pumps Segment by Application1.3.1 Reciprocating Pumps Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Petroleum Chemical Industry1.3.3 Machinery Manufacturing Industry1.3.4 Food Processing1.3.5 Pharmaceutical Production1.3.6 Other1.4 Global Reciprocating Pumps Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Reciprocating Pumps Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Reciprocating Pumps (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Reciprocating Pumps Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)2 Global Reciprocating Pumps Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Reciprocating Pumps Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Reciprocating Pumps Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Reciprocating Pumps Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Reciprocating Pumps Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Reciprocating Pumps Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Reciprocating Pumps Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Reciprocating Pumps Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Reciprocating Pumps Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion7 Global Reciprocating Pumps Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Moog7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Reciprocating Pumps Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Moog Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Grundfos7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Reciprocating Pumps Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Grundfos Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Parker7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Reciprocating Pumps Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Parker Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Flowserve7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Reciprocating Pumps Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Flowserve Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Prominent7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Reciprocating Pumps Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Prominent Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Eaton7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Reciprocating Pumps Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Eaton Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Gardner Denver7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Reciprocating Pumps Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Gardner Denver Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Atos7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Reciprocating Pumps Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Atos Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Cat pump7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Reciprocating Pumps Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Cat pump Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Kawasaki7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Reciprocating Pumps Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Kawasaki Reciprocating Pumps Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Toshiba Machine7.12 Atlas copco7.13 Maruyama7.14 Graco7.15 Ingersoll Rand7.16 Hengyuan hydraulic7.17 Hilead Hydraulic7.18 CNPC Equip7.19 Shanggao7.20 Aovite7.21 Jinhu Fuda7.22 Hyetone7.23 Shenzhen Deyuxin..CONTINUEDAsk for Discount @CONTACT US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations and Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Pune, India Technology Spending on Core Administration in Healthcare Market: Rising Investments in Administrative Systems Slated to Reduce Healthcare Delivery Costs http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/technology-spending-administration-healthcare-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=16961 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The field of core administration solutions for the healthcare industry is highly fragmented owing to the presence of a large number of established players offering hardware, software, and services, says Transparency Market Research in a recent report. Considering the vast growth opportunities in developing regions such as India, Brazil, and China, players are focusing on diversification opportunities across these countries through mergers, acquisitions, and consolidation practices. To encash the vast growth opportunities in the core administration segment in the healthcare industry, owing to various government norms like Obamacare or Affordable Care Act (ACA), competitors are also focusing on extensive product development to offer differentiated services.Browse Market Research Report @According to Transparency Market Research, the global technology spending on core administration in healthcare market sector will exhibit a 5.7% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024, rising from US$25,900 mn in 2015 to US$42,317 mn by 2024.Of the key end users of core administration solutions in the healthcare industry, the payers segment accounted for over 88% of the overall market in 2015 and is expected to remain the key driver of technology spending on core administration in the healthcare industry throughout the forecast period. Geographically, North America dominated, accounted for over 50% of the overall funds spent on enabling technologically advanced core administration solutions in the healthcare industry in 2015. The trend is expected to remain strong over the forecast period as well.Rising Demand for Value-based Reimbursement Modules to Drive adoption of IT Solutions in HealthcareRising convergence of a variety of digital platforms for managing and processing the ever-expanding healthcare data, continuously changing healthcare reimbursement reforms and regulations, and digitally empowered consumers are collectively making the healthcare administration space increasingly complex. While at one point cost competition is at the peak in the healthcare industry, payers (insurance agencies) are pressing healthcare providers to switch from a volume-based (payment for service) to a value-based reimbursement module (payment for value).By requiring that healthcare providers deliver services at lowest costs to patients, value-based reimbursement modules entail more financial risks for providers and critically necessitate the effective management of core administrative processes to cut costs. The situation demands a robust IT infrastructure and an integrated platform wherein the payers can streamline workflows for provider contracting and engagement. In the next few years, the increased need for such platforms will emerge as one of the key drivers of technology spending on core administration in the healthcare sector.Outdated Technology and Applications Discourage Technological Advancements in Healthcare IT InfrastructureHowever, the overall global spending on technology for core administration in the healthcare sector is expected to be negatively impacted due to factors such as the presence of outdated technology and applications across several data collection and delivery nodes, continuously changing healthcare reforms, and ever-changing ways of financial transactions.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @The inability of healthcare professionals in using complex or time-consuming features in technologically advanced digital healthcare applications is another key factor deterring the adoption of IT solutions for managing core administrative processes in the healthcare sector. The use of IT solutions by health professionals is growing at a steady pace globally, but it is not uniform. A substantial gap exists between the numbers of providers, which is relatively small presently, the number of consumers who actively use the Internet for any purpose, which is on rise at a rapid pace, and the much larger group of patients and healthcare providers that has not used it or cannot use it.This review of the present and future scope of technology spending on core administration in healthcare is based on a recent report by Transparency Market Research, titled Technology Spending on Core Administration in Healthcare Market - Global Industry, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Multiplexed Diagnostics Market: Bolstered Funding for Genomics to Bode Well for Growth, predicts TMR http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/multiplexed-diagnostics-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1719 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com A handful of players dominated the otherwise fragmented global multiplexed diagnostics market in 2015. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Abbott Laboratories, and Agilent Technologies were the leaders of this market for 2015, with a collective share of 59.5% in terms of value. The market is defined by the presence of these few leaders and then the presence of a large number of small-scale and medium-scale enterprises that hold minor shares. The leaders of the global multiplexed diagnostics market in 2015 all showed a diverse product portfolio, the possession of advanced tech, and a wide area of regional presence.In a research report recently published by Transparency Market Research, the global multiplexed diagnostics market is expected to witness a high degree of competition over the coming years. This fact is primarily concluded from the high volume of smaller players in the market that are eyed by the fewer, larger ones in terms of partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions.Browse Market Research Report @Although the volume of smaller players in the global multiplexed diagnostics market currently is very high, the scope for new entrants is much lower than expected, due to the need for acquiring patented technologies and the establishment of sizeable manufacturing facilities, both of which can eat up a large contingent of a companys capital, leaving very little to spend on building feasible distribution networks. The global multiplexed diagnostics market is expected to be valued a little over US$6.0 bn by the end of 2016. After showing a consistently optimistic CAGR of 20.3% on its revenue from 2016 to 2024, the market is expected to reach US$26.36 bn by the end of 2024.Equipment Automation in Full Swing, Drives Demand for Multiplexed DiagnosticsTech automation using multiplexed diagnostics has so far been a blessing for scientists trying to generate a larger volume of sample results at lower costs. This forms the primary driver for the global multiplexed diagnostics market today. Players in the market are involved in multiple aspects of the healthcare industry in a similar manner.For instance, the automation of PCR amplification can be done using multiplexed diagnostic technologies, and can help users lower the rate of user-intervention required and the cuts down the overall hands-on efforts needed to get the program to execute. At the same time, this equipment automation can also allow a higher throughput, save time in processing and considerably reduce manual labor required, consequently cutting down the chances for errors, states a TMR analyst.The global multiplexed diagnostics market also finds a significant growth rate from the high priority funding that the field of genomics is currently receiving. The research community for multiplexed diagnostics has been able to avail this funding storm.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @Multiplexed Diagnostics Assay a Costly Affair for ManyMultiplexed diagnostics is still a new concept for the healthcare industry and as with many nascent stage markets, solutions and products from it can be unaffordable for several small-scale and medium-scale clients. Multiplexed diagnostics assay tests are relatively very expensive when compared to single-plex assays tests, especially in terms of the initial investment required for the equipment.Despite its high costs, players in the global multiplexed diagnostics market can expect a booming demand in research and development efforts on the current applications for multiplexed diagnostics, thus providing them with ample opportunities over the coming years, adds the analyst.The information presented in this review is based on a Transparency Market Research report, titled, Multiplexed Diagnostics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Nitrile Butadiene Rubber Market will Reach USD 485.0 Million By 2020 Nitrile Butadiene Rubber Market https://goo.gl/rQ7wlU http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/nitrile-butadiene-rubber-market-z48039 http://www.marketresearchstore.com Zion Research has published a new report titled Nitrile Butadiene Rubber Market for Hose, Cable & Belting, Medical & Industrial Gloves, Adhesives & Sealants, O-Rings & Seals, Molded & Extruded Products and Other Applications: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Segment, Trends and Forecast, 2014 2020 According to the report, the global nitrile-butadiene rubber market was valued at approximately USD 300.0 million in 2014 and is expected to reach approximately USD 485.0 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of slightly above 6.0% between 2015 and 2020. In terms of volume, global nitrile-butadiene rubber market stood at 75.0 kilo tons in 2014.Nitrile-butadiene rubber is a complex family of various butadiene monomers and unsaturated copolymers. Its chemical and physical properties vary based on the polymers composition of nitrile. This form of synthetic rubber is usually resistant to oil, fuel and other chemicals. Some nitrile-butadiene rubbers are hydrogenated to decrease the chemical reactivity of the polymer backbone to enhance heat resistance. NBR finds wide range of application in fuel hoses, gaskets, rollers, and other products which requires oil resistance. Different types of NBR include Cold NBR, hot NBR, cross-linked hot NBR, carboxylate nitrile and bound antioxidant NBR.Get a copy of Sample Report:The nitrile butadiene rubber market is classified on the basis of various applications such as medical & industrial gloves, hose, cable & belting, adhesive & sealants, molded & extruded products, o rings & seals and others. Hose, cable & belting was one of the leading application segments for nitrile butadiene market in 2014. It accounted for over 25.0% market share of the total volume consumed in 2014. It is expected to exhibit rapid growth with significant CAGR between 2015 and 2020. This growth can be attributed to rising demand for hose, belts & cable from manufacturing industries. Adhesives & sealants, o-rings & seals are other important segments for nitrile-butadiene rubber. Medical & industrial gloves segment is also expected to exhibit fastest growth during the forecast period.Browse the full report atGeographically, Asia Pacific was the leading regional market for nitrile-butadiene rubber and accounted for largest market share in 2014. This region was followed by Asia pacific. The growth can be attributed to increasing demand from automotive industry in this region. North America is expected to grow at moderate rate as compared to Asia pacific and Europe.Some of the key -participants in nitrile butadiene rubber market includes Lanxess AG, KOSSAN RUBBER INDUSTRIES BERHAD, Zeon Chemicals, Synthos S.A., Adventa, Kumho Petrochemical Co., JSR Corporation, Sibur Holding and Versalis among others.This report segments the global nitrile butadiene rubber market as follows:Global Nitrile Butadiene Rubber Market: Application Segment AnalysisHose, Cable & BeltingMedical & Industrial GlovesAdhesives & SealantsO-Rings & SealsMolded & Extruded ProductsOthersGlobal Nitrile Butadiene Rubber Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaAbout UsZion Research is a market intelligence company providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Zion Research experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants uses proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@marketresearchstore.comWebsite: Global Autonomous Vehicle Sensors Market 2017 : Valeo, Hella, Novariant, Proxel & Trilumina Autonomous Vehicle Sensors https://goo.gl/G4y641 http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-autonomous-vehicle-sensors-sales-market-report-2017-115122 http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-autonomous-vehicle-sensors-sales-market-report-2017-115122#InquiryForBuying Global Autonomous Vehicle Sensors market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Autonomous Vehicle Sensors sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingRobert BoschContinentalDelphi AutomotiveDENSONXP SemiconductorsValeoFujitsu TenHellaAsahi KaseiBrigade ElectronicsThe survey report by Market Research Store is an overview of the global Autonomous Vehicle Sensors market. It covers all the recent trends including key developments in the global market in present and in future. Analyses of the global Autonomous Vehicle Sensors market trends along with the projections of CAGRs (compound annual growth rates) are provided in the research report.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Further, an evaluation of the history of the global market and the basic information of the global market is included in the report. A developmental perspective of the industry is also documented in the report. Competitive profiles of the key players in the industry are also discussed.The research report provides both an assessment of recent developments in the industry along with forecasts examining the industry from the perspective of major competitors, present players and prospective end users in the Autonomous Vehicle Sensors market.To Complete Report With TOC @Forecasts are generated on the basis of region, type, product, supply, demand, and other vital factors of the global market. The research report analyzed the major factors driving the global Autonomous Vehicle Sensors market in various countries with a satisfactory and manufacturing and structure of the global market. Forecasts are also provided region-wise in the research report.The research report comprises several chapters, tables, figures, graphs, and various other presentations formats so as to provide a precise overview of the market. The sequence of the report is maintained in such a way that highlights the overall flow of the global market. Recent developments in the global market are further described in the research report. The report also summarizes latest trends along with abstracts of the Autonomous Vehicle Sensors market. Major competitors of the global market including commercial and non-commercial participants in the global market are also covered in the report.Inquiry For Buying @Thus, the research report provides in-depth analysis covering all the major regions, competitors, and vital aspects of the Autonomous Vehicle Sensors industry.About Us:MarketResearchStore.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact US:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803 Microwavable Foods Market explores New Growth Opportunities by 2015-2021 https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/microwavable-foods-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/toc/microwavable-foods-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/microwavable-foods-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com Zion Market Research, the market research group announced the analysis report titled Microwavable Foods Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecasts 20152021Microwavable food is packed food that is ready to eat. Microwavable food is easily available and can be preserved for the long period. Several technologies and preservatives are used for the production of packaged microwavable foods. Microwavable foods contain preservatives that store the food for the longer time. Changing lifestyle and attraction towards the junk food has increased the production and sales of microwavable food items.Request Free Sample Report @In order to give the comprehensive view on the microwavable foods market, we have included a detailed value chain analysis. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the microwavable foods market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein product segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and general attractiveness. The report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period.The increase in working women population along with the shift in lifestyle and easy availability of a number of microwavable foods acts as major driving factors for the microwavable foods market. Moreover, rising adoption for convenience food is expected to trigger the growth of microwavable food market in future. However, growing awareness about the adverse effect of microwavable foods among the consumers may slow down the growth of this market. Nevertheless, ongoing research based on nutritional microwavable packaged food for infants is likely to open new avenues for the microwavable food market in the years to come.Request Report TOC (Table of Contents) @On the basis of type, the microwavable foods market can be segmented as chilled microwavable foods, shelf-stable microwavable foods, and frozen microwavable foods. Frozen microwavable foods are the leading segment and expected to remain the largest market segment in the coming years. This growth is attributed to huge utilization of frozen microwavable foods in developed and developing economies owing to innovative techniques and procedures used for preservation of frozen foods.North America and Europe dominated the microwavable foods market owing to dual and high disposable income. U.S. emerged as the potential region due to the advance meal solutions and a reluctance of consumers to cook fresh meals on a daily basis. Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth due to an increasing number of working women and rising attraction towards the frozen food. The Middle East and Africa is likely to experience sluggish growth due to low discretional income and lack of introduction of microwavable food items in these regions.Browse detail report @Campbell Soup Company, General Mills Inc., Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation, McCain Foods, Kellogg Company, ConAgra Foods Inc., Kraft Foods Inc., Pinnacle Foods Group LLC, Bellisio Foods Inc. and Nestle SA among others are some of the key players in the microwavable foods market.About Us:Zion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristically, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, a company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.Contact Us:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll-Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Ash Fusion Testers Market 2017 : IMP Scientific, CKIC & Leco Corporation Ash Fusion Testers https://goo.gl/GRZtHK http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-ash-fusion-testers-sales-market-report-2017-115132 http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-ash-fusion-testers-sales-market-report-2017-115132#InquiryForBuying Global Ash Fusion Testers market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Ash Fusion Testers sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingSundy ScientificIMP ScientificCKICLeco CorporationThe survey report by Market Research Store is an overview of the global Ash Fusion Testers market. It covers all the recent trends including key developments in the global market in present and in future. Analyses of the global Ash Fusion Testers market trends along with the projections of CAGRs (compound annual growth rates) are provided in the research report.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Further, an evaluation of the history of the global market and the basic information of the global market is included in the report. A developmental perspective of the industry is also documented in the report. Competitive profiles of the key players in the industry are also discussed.The research report provides both an assessment of recent developments in the industry along with forecasts examining the industry from the perspective of major competitors, present players and prospective end users in the Ash Fusion Testers market.To Complete Report With TOC @Forecasts are generated on the basis of region, type, product, supply, demand, and other vital factors of the global market. The research report analyzed the major factors driving the global Ash Fusion Testers market in various countries with a satisfactory and manufacturing and structure of the global market. Forecasts are also provided region-wise in the research report.The research report comprises several chapters, tables, figures, graphs, and various other presentations formats so as to provide a precise overview of the market. The sequence of the report is maintained in such a way that highlights the overall flow of the global market. Recent developments in the global market are further described in the research report. The report also summarizes latest trends along with abstracts of the Ash Fusion Testers market. Major competitors of the global market including commercial and non-commercial participants in the global market are also covered in the report.Inquiry For Buying @Thus, the research report provides in-depth analysis covering all the major regions, competitors, and vital aspects of the Ash Fusion Testers industry.About Us:MarketResearchStore.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact US:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803 Orthopaedic Prosthetics Market Analysis Will Expand at a CAGR of 5% from 2016 - 2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1443 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1443 www.futuremarketinsights.com Global demand for orthopaedic prosthetics devices market is projected to reach US$ 1.76 Bn in 2017, up from US$ 1.69 Bn in 2016. Demand for orthopaedic prosthetics devices will be fuelled by increasing baby boomers & geriatric population. Availability of advanced prosthetics that offer customisation and enhanced functionality will continue to witness increasing demand in developed markets. However, high cost and lack of favourable reimbursement policies will continue to pose challenges to wider adoption. North America will continue to remain the largest market for orthopaedic prosthetics devices, owing to strong demand in the U.S. Sales of orthopaedic prosthetics devices in the Western Europe the second largest market globally will remain concentrated in EU5.Other key factors expected to fuel demand for orthopaedic prosthetic devices include increase in the number of accidents, higher emphasis on physical sports, and increase in prevalence of conditions that require amputation. Replacement of older prosthetics with lighter, durable materials is also expected to complement demand during the forecast period.FMIs report offers insights on the regulations on orthopaedic prosthetics devices in key markets of the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. In the U.S., orthopaedic prosthetics devices are regulated by U.S. FDA and Centre for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). In Europe, a majority of prosthetic and orthotic devices are class I with CE marking.To provide a detailed analysis on the orthopaedic prosthetic market, FMIs report offers forecast and analysis on the basis of product type, technology, end-use, and region.Request For Sample@Prosthetics Devices Market SegmentationBy product type, the key segments include lower extremity prosthetics, upper extremity prosthetics, liners, sockets, and modular components. Among these, lower extremity prosthetics account for the highest demand, followed by upper extremity prosthetics. All the aforementioned product types will lose market share to lower extremity prosthetics during the forecast period.By technology, electric powered prosthetic devices account for the highest demand and the trend is projected to remain unchanged during the forecast period. Electric powered prosthetic devices are expected to gain 467 BPS during the forecast period and account for over 50% revenue share of the market by 2026. Ease of operation is one of the key factors for high adoption of electric powered prosthetics devices.By end-use, prosthetic clinics accounted for the highest revenue share of the global market, followed by hospitals and rehabilitation centres. Prosthetic clinics will continue to remain the largest end-user segment during the forecast period, gaining 293 BPS between 2016 and 2026.Send An Enquiry@North America is the largest market for prosthetics devices market, accounting for a significant share of global revenues. The U.S. is the leading market for prosthetics devices, accounting for over 78% share of the global market in 2016. The U.S. will continue to be the largest market for prosthetics devices during the forecast period.Leading players in the global prosthetics devices market include Hanger Inc., Blatchford Ltd., Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH Ossur, Touch Bionics Inc., and The Ohio Willow Wood Co.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: World Prednisolone Acetate Market 2017 - Schering AG, Pfizer Inc, Shreeji Pharma International, CRYSTAL PHARMA,S.A.U http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/27867/request-sample http://www.fiormarkets.com/report/world-prednisolone-acetate-market-research-report-2021-27867.html www.fiormarkets.com The report offers a holistic overview of the Prednisolone Acetate market with the help of application segments and geographical regions that govern the market currently. Further, the report delves deep into the value chain of the Prednisolone Acetate market so as to emerge with information specific areas that hold high revenue-generating potential. With the Prednisolone Acetate market having undergone certain inherent shifts in the past decades, the report discusses how these changes will impact the future.Get Free Report Sample @Moreover, the report also provides a realistic picture of the state of both traditional and emerging markets. The advantages and disadvantages of investing in these markets are discussed at length in the Prednisolone Acetate market report. Companies in the Prednisolone Acetate market have realized that innovation is of utmost importance for sustained growth. In keeping with this pressing need for innovation, the report tracks latest developments and analysts have dedicated substantial efforts toward spotting new business opportunities.Which application segments will perform well in the Prednisolone Acetate over the next few years? Which are the markets where companies should establish a presence? What are the restraints that will threaten growth rate? What are the forecasted growth rates for the Prednisolone Acetate market as a whole and for each segment within it? All of these questions are answered using industry-leading techniques and tools as well as a vast amount of qualitative research.Browse Full Report @The report further focuses on the leading industry players that will steer the course of the Prednisolone Acetate market through the forecast period. Each of these players is analyzed in detail so as to obtain details pertaining to their product/services, recent announcements and partnerships, investment strategies and so on. A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Prednisolone Acetate market has been provided in the report. Detailed information about the key segments of the market and their growth prospects are available in the report. The detailed analysis of their sub-segments is also available in the report. The revenue forecasts and volume shares along with market estimates are available in the report.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb: eDiscovery Market to expand at a CAGR of 16.5% through 2015 - 2022 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1671 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1671 www.futuremarketinsights.com Increasing dependence on digital information management for efficiencies and accuracy has led towards adoption of solutions such as eDiscovery especially among legal firms and enterprises.Computer forensics, also known as cyber forensics, is a specific form of eDiscovery. Cyber forensics is carried out on contents stored in the hard drive of a particular computer system for the purpose of investigation. This enables investigators to make a digital copy of contents that can be produced in a law suit in response to a request. The global eDiscovery market is forecast to grow from US$ 7,230.6 Mn in 2015 to US$ 21,089.1Mn by 2022, at a CAGR of 16.5% from 2015 to 2022. eDiscovery solutions find widespread applications in government and regulatory agencies, small, mid and large-sized enterprises, and law firms.Government and regulatory agencies, enterprises (small, mid and large), and law firms are the end-users of eDiscovery solutions. Among these end user segments, government and regulatory agencies was the largest segment in 2015 which accounted for around 51% revenue share of global eDiscovery market. Use of eDiscovery solutions by government agencies is increasing due to rise in the number of civil cases. Moreover, these solutions enable government agencies to achieve significant cost savings. Major players in the global eDiscovery services market are emphasizing on the development of solutions and services to address the end to end eDiscovery needs of government agencies and organizations. Further, players are focusing on developing their capabilities to sell directly to government and law agencies. In North America, growing volume of ESI in organizations and increasing volume of government investigations due to rise in criminal cases has resulted in increased utilization of eDiscovery solutions in the region. In 2015, the government and regulatory agencies segment was the largest end-user in the North American eDiscovery market. In the U.S. and Canada, agencies such as CIA and FTC are using eDiscovery software and services for the purpose of investigation. However, the enterprise segment is likely to dominate the market by 2022, due to increasing adoption of eDiscovery solutions in organizations to meet increasing compliance requirements imposed by Federal Government agencies.Request For Sample@Enterprises was the second largest segment with around 40% share in 2015. Different enterprises including small, medium and large-sized enterprises use eDiscovery software and services to maintain eDiscovery documents with data mapping. In addition, organizations use eDiscovery solutions to mitigate risks associated with legal actions. Increase in adoption of eDiscovery solutions in organizations has been seen in recent years due to increasing electronically stored information (ESI) volume every year. Furthermore, regulations imposed by governments to preserve ESI in organizations for discovery of digital data are expected to drive growth of this market in the enterprise segment. Growing use of social media is creating huge amount of metadata (hidden data), which contains creation date, modification date, and name of author. This type of data is only discovered through eDiscovery solutions. In addition, increasing use of mobile devices for organizational operations is creating need of mobile eDiscovery, which will further drive the growth of the eDiscovery market over the forecast period. Enterprise segment is expected to exhibit fastest growth owing to the rising adoption of eDiscovery solutions across all sizes of organizations in countries such as the U.S., UK, South Africa, Brazil, China and South Korea. These organizations are implementing eDiscovery solutions to ensure efficient internal investigation related to corporate and human resource policies.Send An Enquiry@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Global Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer Market Research Report 2017 - 2021 Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer Market http://www.9dresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-liquid-phase-chromatographic-analyzer-market-2017-industry.html http://www.9dresearchgroup.com/report/113572/request-sample The report titled Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer Market 2017 is an in-depth and a professional document that provides a comprehensive overview of the global Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer market.Read Complete Report @The report provides an executive-level blueprint of the Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer market beginning with the definition of the market dynamics. The analysis classifies the Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer market in terms of products, application, and key geographic regions. With focus on presenting a detailed value chain analysis, the study evaluates the set of region-specific approaches forged by the industry. To determine the market potential for Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer in the international scenario, the study delves into the competitive landscape and development landscape exhibited by the key geographic regions.Development plans and policies significantly impact the market dynamic. The report therefore studies in detail the impact of the strategies, plans, and policies adopted by leading vendors of the Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer market. Manufacturing cost of products and the pricing structure adopted by the market is also evaluated in the report. Other parameters crucial in determining trends in the market such as consumption demand and supply figures, cost of production, gross profit margins, and selling price of product and services is also included within the ambit of the report.To provide a detailed analysis on the competitive landscape, the report profiles the key players in the Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer industry. Information present in these chapters includes details of products manufactured by the leading companies, product specification and price, and production capacity. Using reliable analytical tools, the report evaluates the information sourced from both primary and secondary research. Results obtained through the detailed analysis helps in presenting refined forecasts regarding growth prospects of the Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer market. Apart from this, the analysts have also conducted upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis to compile and present an exhaustive study on the Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer market.Request for Sample Report @A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Liquid Phase Chromatographic Analyzer market has been provided in the report. Detailed information about the key segments of the market and their growth prospects are available in the report. The detailed analysis of their sub-segments is also available in the report. The revenue forecasts and volume shares along with market estimates are available in the report.9D Research Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442, USA Europe Cordless Impact Drill Market Research Report Forecast 2017-2021 Cordless Impact Drill Market http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/europe-cordless-impact-drill-market-research-report-forecast-113334 https://goo.gl/AKTthH The Cordless Impact Drill Market Research Report 2017 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Cordless Impact Drill industry.Read Complete Report @The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Cordless Impact Drill market analysis is provided for the markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.The report studies the Cordless Impact Drill market by evaluating the market chain, prevalent policies, and regulations as well as the manufacturers, their manufacturing chain, cost structures, and contribution in the industry. The regional markets for the global Cordless Impact Drill market are examined by analyzing the pricing of products in the region compared to the profit generated. The production capacity, demand and supply, logistics, and the historical performance of the market in the given region is also evaluated in this market report.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and Bill of Materials cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.Global Cordless Impact Drill Market : Top ManufacturesBoschDewaltMakitaFacomMilwaukee Electric ToolSuntolEinkellSparkyIngersoll RandGlobal Cordless Impact Drill Market : Regional Segment AnalysisGermanyFranceUKRussiaItalySpainBeneluxRequest for Sample Report @The report focuses on major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Cordless Impact Drill industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.About Us:MarketResearchStore is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact UsJoel JohnTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com China Refractory Ceramic Fiber (RCF) Market Research Report Forecast 2017-2021 Refractory Ceramic Fiber (RCF) Market http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/china-refractory-ceramic-fiber-rcf-market-research-report-113317 https://goo.gl/P3cavL The Refractory Ceramic Fiber (RCF) Market Research Report 2017 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Refractory Ceramic Fiber (RCF) industry.Read Complete Report @The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Refractory Ceramic Fiber (RCF) market analysis is provided for the markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.The report studies the Refractory Ceramic Fiber (RCF) market by evaluating the market chain, prevalent policies, and regulations as well as the manufacturers, their manufacturing chain, cost structures, and contribution in the industry. The regional markets for the global Refractory Ceramic Fiber (RCF) market are examined by analyzing the pricing of products in the region compared to the profit generated. The production capacity, demand and supply, logistics, and the historical performance of the market in the given region is also evaluated in this market report.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and Bill of Materials cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.Global Refractory Ceramic Fiber (RCF) Market : Top ManufacturesIbidenMorgan Thermal CeramicsShandong Luyang ShareIsolite Insulating ProductsNutec FibratecRathUnifrax I LLCYeso Insulating Products Co. Ltd.Global Refractory Ceramic Fiber (RCF) Market : Regional Segment AnalysisGermanyFranceUKRussiaItalySpainBeneluxRequest for Sample Report @The report focuses on major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Refractory Ceramic Fiber (RCF) industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.About Us:MarketResearchStore is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact UsJoel JohnTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Global Recruitment Market Report: 2016 Edition http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/605185 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketresearchreports-biz Recruitment is the process of attracting, screening, and selecting a qualified person (from within or outside of an organization) for a job opening. The global recruitment/staffing industry comprises of recruitment or employment agencies providing for services of recruiting staff/employees for various business enterprises in different sectors. Such companies hire these employment agencies to recruit personnel to carry out their business operations. The recruitment market can be segmented into temporary and permanent staffing markets on the basis of job duration.The temporary staffing market is cyclical in nature and establishes high correlation with the global GDP. Permanent staffing market also maintains a positive relation with economic conditions. Both permanent and temporary staffing markets have a positive relation with the deregulation of labor market. The staffing market varies considerably from one country to another with the U.S., Japan and the UK showing the highest degree of fragmentation. North America represented the single largest market measured in terms of revenues followed by Japan, the UK, France and Germany.Download Sample Copy of This Report at:The EU region continues to struggle with its economic revival, especially France, Spain, Greece, among others. Income growth has also come under pressure from rising unemployment, putting downward pressure on real wages in many advanced economies. With the economic revival in the coming years, sources of new employment opportunities can be expected; however, the continuing challenge in overcoming the problem of skill gap in both advanced and emerging economies will continue to affect the revenue growth of the staffing industry.Most of the mergers and acquisitions that took place in the IT & Healthcare segment and involved middle sized staffing firms as they proved to be attractive acquisition targets, offering geographic coverage and differentiated services. The staffing industry acquisition activities remain primarily driven by privately held strategic buyers, as the larger and better known public staffing companiesAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports.MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients.We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated researchreports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and typesof companies spanning across various industries.ContactState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.bizFollow us on LinkedIn: Global Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market- Albemarle , ICL Industrial Products , Suli Chemical, Chemtura , Weidong Chemical Global Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market http://bit.ly/2mXaBfr http://bit.ly/2nFr9vX https://market.biz/ http://emarketresearch.us/ Global Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market report 2017 is an in-depth research on the current situation of the Decabromodiphenyl Ethane industry.The Scope of the Decabromodiphenyl Ethane research report:The Global Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market primarily includes a basic overview of the Decabromodiphenyl Ethane industry. It also includes Decabromodiphenyl Ethane definitions, classifications and applications. It segments the market by applications, types, regions, competitive players and also analyzes Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market size, business share and Decabromodiphenyl Ethane revenue, price and sales. The report mainly covers the Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market in North America, the Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market in Europe, the Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market in Asia-Pacific, the Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market in Latin America, Middle as well as Africa.Enquire Here Before Purchasing The Global Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market Report with TOC:Global Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market Segment By Key Players/Manufacturers Albemarle ICL Industrial Products Chemtura Weidong Chemical Suli Chemical Haiwang Chem Tianyi Chem Runke Novista Oceanchem Group Unibrom Corp Luyuan Salt Chemical Hongkun Group Shandong BrotherGlobal Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market Segment By Type Bromine Method Preparation Dichloroethane Solvent Method Preparation OthersGlobal Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market Segment By Applications Styrenic Polymers Thermoplastic Thermosetting Plastics OthersMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis cover up North America Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market (Canada, Mexico and USA). Latin America Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market (Middle and Africa). Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market in Europe (Germany, France, Italy, UK and Russia). Asia-Pacific Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market (South-east Asia, China, India, Korea, and Japan).Request Sample Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market Research Report atThe report (Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market) focuses on worldwide major leading Decabromodiphenyl Ethane industry players, which further includes information like company profiles, Decabromodiphenyl Ethane price, Companys Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market revenue etc. Growth prospects of the overall Decabromodiphenyl Ethane industry have been presented in the report. However, to give a detailed view of the readers, detailed geographical segmentation within the globe Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market has been covered in this study. The key regions along with their revenue forecasts are included in the report.Report on (Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Market Report) mainly covers 15 Topics acutely display the global Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market.Topic 1, to describe Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market Introduction, Scope of the product, Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market overview and market opportunities, Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market risk, market driving force;Topic 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market share by key countries in these regions;Topic 7, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Decabromodiphenyl Ethane, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Topic 8, analyzes the top manufacturers of Decabromodiphenyl Ethane, with sales, revenue, and price of Decabromodiphenyl Ethane, in 2016 and 2017;Topic 9 and 10, shows the Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market by type and application, Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market share, with sales and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Topic 11, Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market forecast, by regions, application and type, with revenue and sales, from 2017 to 2022;Topic 12, to display the competitive situation among the top leading manufacturers, with sales, revenue and Decabromodiphenyl Ethane market share in 2016 and 2017;Topic 13, 14 and 15, to describe Decabromodiphenyl Ethane sales channel, distributors, dealers, traders, Conclusion and Research Findings, data source and appendix;About Us:Market.Biz is designed to provide the best and most penetrating research required to all commercial, industrial and profit-making ventures in any sector of online business. We take pride in our ability to satisfy the market research needs of both domestic and international businesses.Market.Biz has access to the worlds most comprehensive and up-to-date databases in your business sector, including countless market reports that can provide you with valuable data relating to your business. We understand the needs of our clients, and keep our reports updated as market requirement changes.Contact Us:James JohnsonS no. 51/14 First Floor,Office No. 4, Vishwa Arcade,Near Navale Lawns, Pune.Tel: +1(857)2390696Email: inquiry@market.bizWebsite:Blog: Peripheral Intravenous Catheters Market is Anticipated to Grow US$ 5,224.7 Million by 2021 www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3324 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/3324 Persistence Market Research delivers key insights on the Global Peripheral Intravenous Catheters Market in its latest report titled Global Market Study on Peripheral Intravenous Catheter: Increasing Use of Safety I.V Catheters to Drive the Market for Peripheral I.V. Catheters . The global peripheral intravenous catheters market is anticipated to expand at a healthy CAGR during the forecast period.By product type, the global peripheral intravenous catheters market is segmented into short PIVC and integrated/closed PIVC. Among these, integrated/closed PIVC segment is expected to register fastest CAGR of 8.9% during the forecast period. Short PIVC segment is expected to contribute a maximum share to the global peripheral intravenous catheters market. Non-ported PIVC product type sub-segment is expected to register fastest CAGR over the forecast period.By technology, the global peripheral intravenous catheters market is segmented into conventional and safety. Among these, safety segment is anticipated to be dominant throughout the forecast period and projected to account for around 66% share of the total global peripheral intravenous catheters market revenue by 2021.By end-user, the peripheral intravenous catheters market is segmented into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, clinics, home use, and others. Among these, hospitals segment is estimated to be the largest segment in terms of share, at 60% of the total global peripheral intravenous catheters market revenue by 2015 end. Hospital segment is expected to register fastest CAGR over the forecast period. Ambulatory surgical centers segment is estimated to be the second most attractive segment of the global peripheral intravenous catheters market by 2015 end.Global peripheral intravenous catheter market growth is mainly driven by factors such as an increase in hospitalization rate in emerging countries such as India, China, Brazil, etc., enhancement in peripheral IV catheter technology, increasing the prevalence of diseases among the population, and increase in per capita healthcare expenditure across the globe. Technological advancements and increase in usage of non-irritant material in the manufacturing of peripheral intravenous catheters to avoid associated side effects are also expected to drive demand for peripheral intravenous catheters. However, complications associated with peripheral intravenous catheters such as venous puncture, blood exposure, and needle-related injuries, and the high price of safety peripheral IV catheter in developing regions such as APEJ, MEA, and Latin America are expected to hamper the growth of the global peripheral intravenous catheter market.This report covers the trend of each segment and its sub-segments along with an analysis of the potential of peripheral intravenous catheters market in these regions. North America and Asia-Pacific regions are estimated to collectively account for over 60% revenue share of the total peripheral intravenous catheters market by 2015 end. North America is estimated to contribute a maximum share to the global peripheral intravenous catheters market. Asia-Pacific is projected to be the fastest growing market due to increase in hospitalization rate along with improvement in healthcare facilities in the region.A Sample of this report is available upon request @Key players in the global peripheral intravenous catheter market include B. Braun Melsungen AG, Smith Medical, Terumo Corporation, Inc., Becton Dickinson and Company, Tangent Medical, Vygon Group, C. R. Bard, etc. Manufacturers of peripheral intravenous catheters are working in partnership with other key healthcare solutions and services providers in order to gain maximum market share.You can now buy a single user license of the report atAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Global Aviation Cyber Security Market to grow at a CAGR of 4.74% during Forecast till 2018 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=879249 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=879249 http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Albany, NY, March 23, 2017: The Aviation industry faces threats from multiple dimensions considering the various stakeholders in the industry. The threat is targeted to airports, service providers, and air traffic control systems. The global aviation system is targeted by attackers focusing on cyber terrorism, information theft, and other similar objectives on a larger scale.The Global Aviation Cyber Security market to grow at a CAGR of 4.74 percent over the period 2013-2018. This report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the Global Aviation Cyber Security market for the period 2014-2018. The market size is based on deployment of cyber security in airports, airlines, and air traffic management. The report also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the top five vendors in the Global Aviation Cyber Security market. In addition, the report discusses the major drivers that influence the growth of the market. It also outlines the challenges faced by the vendors and the market at large, as well as the key trends that are emerging in the market.Get a Sample Research PDF with TOC:TechNavio's report, the Global Aviation Cyber Security Market 2014-2018, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the Americas, and the EMEA and APAC regions; it also covers the Global Aviation Cyber Security market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key Vendors- Boeing Co. (Defense, Space, and Security (BDS))- Harris Corp.- IBM Corp.- Intel Corp. (incl. McAfee Inc.)- Symantec Corp.Other Prominent Vendors- Airbus Defence and Space- Aeronautical Radio- SITA Information Networking Computing- UnisysKey Market Driver- Increased Connectivity of Aviation Services.- For a full, detailed list, view our report.Key Market Challenge- Control Measures are Expensive to Adopt.- For a full, detailed list, view our report.Key Market Trend- Establishing a Cyber Security Framework for Aviation Industry.- For a full, detailed list, view our report.Enquiry at:Key Questions Answered in this Report- What will the market size be in 2018 and what will the growth rate be?- What are the key market trends?- What is driving this market?- What are the challenges to market growth?- Who are the key vendors in this market space?- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at: Global Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector Consumption 2016 Market Research Report http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=734901&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-big-data-in-the-oil-and-gas-sector-consumption-2016-market-research-report.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com The Global Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector Consumption 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector market.First, the report provides a basic overview of the Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. And development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Secondly, the report states the global Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector market size (volume and value), and the segment markets by regions, types, applications and companies are also discussed.Third, the Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector market analysis is provided for major regions including USA, Europe, China and Japan, and other regions can be added. For each region, market size and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information. Whats more, the Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector1.1 Definition and Specifications of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector1.1.1 Definition of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector1.1.2 Specifications of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector1.2 Classification of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector1.3 Applications of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector1.5.1 Industry Overview of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector1.7 Industry News Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector2.4 Other Costs Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector3 3 Global Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales and Sale Price Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector3.1 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) and Growth Rate of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector 2011-20163.2 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Regions 2011-20163.3 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Types 2011-20163.4 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Applications 2011-20163.5 Global Sales Volume and Sales Revenue of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Companies 2011-20163.6 Global Sale Price of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Regions 2011-20163.7 Global Sale Price of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Types 2011-20163.8 Global Sale Price of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Applications 2011-20163.9 Global Sale Price of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Companies 2011-20164 USA Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales, Sale Price and End Users Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector4.1 USA Market Size (Volume and Value) and Growth Rate of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector 2011-20164.2 USA Market Size (Volume and Value) of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Types 2011-20164.3 USA Market Size (Volume and Value) of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Applications 2011-20164.4 USA Sales Volume and Sales Revenue of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Companies 2011-20164.5 USA Sale Price of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Types 2011-20164.6 USA Sale Price of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Applications 2011-20164.7 USA Sale Price of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Companies 2011-20164.8 USA Regional Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector 2011-20164.9 USA End Users with Contact Information and Consumption Volume of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Applications5 Europe Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales, Sale Price and End Users Analysis of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector5.1 Europe Market Size (Volume and Value) and Growth Rate of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector 2011-20165.2 Europe Market Size (Volume and Value) of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Types 2011-20165.3 Europe Market Size (Volume and Value) of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Applications 2011-20165.4 Europe Sales Volume and Sales Revenue of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Companies 2011-20165.5 Europe Sale Price of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Types 2011-20165.6 Europe Sale Price of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Applications 2011-20165.7 Europe Sale Price of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by Companies 2011-20165.8 Europe Regional Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector 2011-20165.9 Europe End Users with Contact Information and Consumption Volume of Big Data in the Oil and Gas Sector by ApplicationsQYResearchReports.com is an unimpeachable source of market research data for clients that comprise acclaimed SMEs, Chinese companies, private equity firms, and MNCs. We provide market research reports on various categories such as Energy, Chemicals, Alternative and Green Energy, Manufacturing, Machinery, Pharmaceuticals and Materials, and Glass.QYResearchReportsContact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Hearing Protection Devices Market is Projected to Register at a Healthy CAGR of 12.4% by 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3036 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/3036 According to the latest market report published by Persistence Market Research titled Global Market Study on Hearing Protection Devices: Stringent Safety Regulations and Increasing Demand for Reusable Earplugs to Drive the Market, the hearing protection devices market is estimated to be valued at US$ 951.3 Mn by the end of 2015, and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 12.4% during the forecast period (20152021) to account for US$ 1,943.8 Mn by 2021.Global demand for hearing protection devices is increasing mainly driven by rapid growth of the construction, manufacturing and military weapons industries. An increasing number of regulations to reduce noise-induced hearing loss across various industries along with a rise in employment in manufacturing and construction sectors is expected to further drive overall growth of the hearing protection devices market over the forecast period. Moreover, some other factors that help to drive the growth of the market are increasing demand for next-generation HPD in military sectors, increasing urbanization and development activities, low-cost earplugs to boost demand in developing regions. However, lack of awareness and improper hearing attenuation are some of the major factors that restrict the growth of the market.Rising emphasis on custom-tailored hearing protection devices, mergers, and acquisitions, technology shift towards ear plugs with acoustic filters, increasing demand for uniform attenuation earplugs, growing market share of regional players and increasing investment in North America HPD market are some of the trends observed in the global HPD market.By region, North America is estimated to dominate the hearing protection devices market with over 34.4% share by 2015 end and is expected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period. Earplug is the largest segment in global hearing protection devices market. The global earplug segment is expected to increase at a CAGR of 13.6% in terms of value during the forecast period. Earmuffs is the second-largest segment in the global hearing protection devices market and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 10.2% in terms of value during the forecast period.Asia-Pacific represents the most lucrative market, followed by Europe for hearing protection devices. This is primarily due to rise demand for hearing protection devices in India, China, Bangladesh, Philippines and Indonesia. Asia-Pacific is expected to account for 20.4% market share in the global hearing protection devices market by 2015 end, which is expected to increase to 20.9% market share by 2021.A Sample of this report is available upon request @Key market players covered in this report are 3M, Honeywell International Inc., Amplifon, Hellberg Safety AB, Dynamic Ear Company, Centurion Safety Products Ltd, Sonomax Technologies Inc, Siemens Healthcare GmbH, ADCO Hearing Products Inc., Elvex Corporation and Moldex-Metric Inc. These players have been profiled on the basis of various attributes such as company overview, recent developments, growth strategies, SWOT analysis and sustainability.To Buy Full Report for a Single User @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Global Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022: Microsoft, Dell http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1000981&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-enterprise-cloud-storage-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com This report studies the global Enterprise Cloud Storage market, analyzes and researches the Enterprise Cloud Storage development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeAWSGoogleIBMMicrosoftDellBaiduALIBABATencentAkamai TechnologiesCA TechnologiesCisco SystemsENKIHuaweiHPILandJoyentNetsuiteOracleSAPRequest for Sample of Premium Research Report @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, Enterprise Cloud Storage can be split intoSaaSIaaSPaaSMarket segment by Application, Enterprise Cloud Storage can be split intoEnterpriseGovernmentOtherBrowse full table of contents and data tables of Report @Table of ContentsGlobal Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Enterprise Cloud Storage1.1 Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Overview1.1.1 Enterprise Cloud Storage Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Enterprise Cloud Storage Market by Type1.3.1 SaaS1.3.2 IaaS1.3.3 PaaS1.4 Enterprise Cloud Storage Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Enterprise1.4.2 Government1.4.3 Other2 Global Enterprise Cloud Storage Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 AWS3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Enterprise Cloud Storage Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Google3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Enterprise Cloud Storage Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments4 Global Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Enterprise Cloud Storage in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Enterprise Cloud Storage5 United States Enterprise Cloud Storage Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)6 EU Enterprise Cloud Storage Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Enterprise Cloud Storage Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)QYResearchReports.com is an unimpeachable source of market research data for clients that comprise acclaimed SMEs, Chinese companies, private equity firms, and MNCs. We provide market research reports on various categories such as Energy, Chemicals, Alternative and Green Energy, Manufacturing, Machinery, Pharmaceuticals and Materials, and Glass.QYResearchReportsContact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Global Orphan Drugs Market Report: 2016 Edition http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/548106 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ A rare disease is the one that occurs uncommonly or rarely in the general population.However, there exists no clear definition for categorizing rare diseases and is usually defined on the basis of the prevalence, and some other factors including the severity of disease and availability of treatment options. Rare diseases are often serious, chronic and progressive. Orphan drugs are medicinal products intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of rare diseases. These drugs are referred to be orphan as under normal conditions because these drugs are not cost effective to be developed by the pharmaceuticals industry, intended for a small number of patients suffering from rare conditions.Increasing sales of prescription drugs, substantial benefits for new entrants in rare disease drug market, increased spending on medicines, rising healthcare expenditure and improving economic conditions of nations are some of the significant factors driving growth of the Orphan drugs market. However, the growth of the market is hindered by certain challenges including tougher regulatory approvals, limitation on charging higher prices and no approved drugs for several rare diseases including Polychethemia Vera (PV).Download Sample Copy of This Report at:The global orphan drugs market is expected to see numerous developments including approval of several Ultra-Rare drugs, increasing scope of Gene therapy, development of drugs for rare blood disease, higher success prospects for Hematology compared to Solid Tumors, attractive pricing option for orphan drug competitors and striking opportunities in developing orphan drugs.The report, Global Orphan Drugs Market analyzes the current prevailing condition of the market along with its future scope of development. The global market along with specific market of the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan, is being discussed in the report. The major trends, growth drivers as well as issues being faced by the industry are being presented in this report. The major players in the industry are being profiled, along with their key financials and strategies for growth.About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports.MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients.We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated researchreports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and typesof companies spanning across various industries.ContactState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales Market Report 2017 http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=925536&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-specific-cancer-immunotherapy-drugs-sales-market-report-2017.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com/category/pharmaceutical-market-reports-38.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs to its huge collection of research reports.The Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs is the target of analysis presented in this research report which is a highly descriptive and insightful publication. It chalks out a detailed, all-inclusive, and logical perspective of the market, casing all crucial categories and their pieces, along with the aspects that have so far shown the potential of having a deep influence on the market over the coming years. The report is therefore a 360-degree representation of the analysis of the current state of market.The market has been quarried to its microscopic nuances, where rudimentary data and key, industry-specific classifications of the market and its elements that are being defined in the overview. The report then moves ahead into a 360 degree analysis of the Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs, while sticking to phrases of the market, such as specific definitions, applications, industry chain structures, government policies, and recent developments.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The large volumes of data presented in this report, on the Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs, have been garnered with the aid of different research methodologies, both primary and secondary. This data is further concentrated by means of standard analytical processes based on industry practices, and therefore only the significant sections of information are provided to the readers of this report.The governing and competitive landscape of the Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs are studied in this research report. The different stages and their details, such as rules, protocols, procedures, and strategies are also included in addition to an analysis of their effect on the overall growth rate of the market. The report also contains a comprehensive analysis of the business profiles of the most influential vendors in the Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of ContentsGlobal Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales Market Report 20171 Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs1.2 Classification of Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs1.2.1 Tablet1.2.2 Injection1.3 Application of Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs1.3.1 Leukemia Treatment1.3.2 Colorectal Cancer Treatment1.3.3 Other Cancer Treatment1.4 Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Market by Regions1.4.1 United States Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs (2011-2021)1.5.1 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.2 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Competition by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.1.2 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.2 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.2.2 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.3 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs (Volume and Value) by Regions2.3.1 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.3.2 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.4 Global Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs (Volume) by Application3 United States Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Value (2011-2016)3.1.1 United States Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.2 United States Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.3 United States Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)3.2 United States Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers3.3 United States Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Application4 China Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Value (2011-2016)4.1.1 China Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.2 China Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.3 China Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)4.2 China Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers4.3 China Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Type4.4 China Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Application5 Europe Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Value (2011-2016)5.1.1 Europe Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.2 Europe Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.3 Europe Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)5.2 Europe Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers5.3 Europe Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Application6 Japan Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6.1 Japan Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Value (2011-2016)6.1.1 Japan Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)6.1.2 Japan Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)6.1.3 Japan Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)6.2 Japan Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers6.3 Japan Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Type6.4 Japan Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Application7 Southeast Asia Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs (Volume, Value and Sales Price)7.1 Southeast Asia Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Value (2011-2016)7.1.1 Southeast Asia Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)7.1.2 Southeast Asia Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)7.1.3 Southeast Asia Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)7.2 Southeast Asia Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers7.3 Southeast Asia Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Type7.4 Southeast Asia Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Application8 India Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs (Volume, Value and Sales Price)8.1 India Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Value (2011-2016)8.1.1 India Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)8.1.2 India Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)8.1.3 India Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)8.2 India Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers8.3 India Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by Type8.4 India Specific Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs Sales and Market Share by ApplicationRead More @About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Global Prefilled Syringes Market: Urgent Need To Address Concerns Over Needle Stick Injuries A Key Growth Booster http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/prefilled-syringes-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1131 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Becton Dickinson and Company Group plc., Baxter International Inc., Terumo Medical Corporation, and Medtronic are the top four players that dominate over half the prefilled syringes market. Transparency Market Research has noted that the global prefilled syringes market is highly dynamic and competitive and while the nature of the market is consolidated in developed regions owing to the presence of large players, it remains fragmented in most of the emerging markets with many small regional players.The global sales of prefilled syringes amounted to US$3.5 bn in 2015 and is projected to reach US$7.9 bn, expanding at a CAGR of 9.3% over the period of 2016 to 2024. In terms of prefilled syringes consumption, the market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.0% during the forecast period.Obtain Report Details @Ambulatory Surgical Centers to Show Promising Growth over Forecast PeriodBy application, the vaccines segment dominated the global prefilled syringes market, accounting for a collective share of 34.3% in 2015. The segment is also projected to exhibit a strong growth rate from 2016 to 2024. In terms of percentage share contribution, the polymer-based prefilled syringes segment is expected to continue its lead in the global market through 2024. It will also register the highest growth in the coming years. By distribution channel, the hospitals segment is projected to account for the major share by the end of the forecast period. On the other hand, ambulatory surgical centers are likely to register a high growth rate by 2024.North America dominates the global market, while Asia Pacific is expected to witness strong growth. The U.S. is the largest market for prefilled syringes, accounting for around 35.5% share of the global marketImproving Safety Standards Driving Innovation among Product ManufacturersThe incidence of needle stick injuries has been a cause for concern over the years. According to the World Health Organization, almost two million healthcare professionals suffer from infectious diseases resulting from needle stick injuries each year.Various needle safety devices such as passive needle guarding caps with a polymer shield and a retractable needle system as well as advanced technologies such as advanced barrel technology and multi-chamber syringes are being developed to cope with this problem, the author of the study finds. Therefore, improving safety standards and technological advancements have been primarily driving the global prefilled syringes market.Fill The Form To Gain Deeper Insights On This Market @High Costs Associated with Prefilled Syringes Inhibiting widespread AdoptionThere are several factors that pose a severe challenge to the growth of the global prefilled syringes market, the primary one being the high costs associated with temperature controlled packaging required for temperature-sensitive drugs. In order to maintain specified temperatures and conditions throughout the shelf life of a drug, drug manufacturing companies require several complex machineries that need to be maintained regularly, the TMR analyst states. This is a costly affair and as a result, restricts companies from manufacturing prefilled syringes.Other factors inhibiting the market include product recalls due to breakages and leachables, the potential risk of interaction between prefilled syringes and drugs, and the availability of alternative drug delivery methods.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Market Research Report 2017 http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=909727&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-laser-treatment-devices-of-varicose-veins-market-research-report-2017.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com This report studies Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringAngioDynamicsLumenisSyneronBiolitecDornier MedTechEnergist GroupEUFOTON S.R.LVascular SolutionsQuanta System S.p.A.WON TECH Co., Ltd.INTERmedicLSOALNAGIGAA LASERLingyun Photoelectronic SystemTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Market Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaSplit by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided into0.1-15W15-30W>30WSplit by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins in each application, can be divided intoHospitalsClinicsOtherBrowse Complete Report with TOC @Table of ContentsGlobal Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Market Research Report 20171 Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins1.2 Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins by Type in 20151.2.2 0.1-15W1.2.3 15-30W1.2.4 >30W1.3 Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Segment by Application1.3.1 Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Hospitals1.3.3 Clinics1.3.4 Other1.4 Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins (2011-2021)2 Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2011-2016)3.1 Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production by Region (2011-2016)3.2 Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.3 Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.4 Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.5 North America Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.6 Europe Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.7 China Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.8 Japan Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.9 Southeast Asia Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.10 India Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)4 Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.1 Global Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Consumption by Regions (2011-2016)4.2 North America Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2011-2016)4.3 Europe Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2011-2016)4.4 China Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2011-2016)4.5 Japan Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2011-2016)4.6 Southeast Asia Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2011-2016)4.7 India Laser Treatment Devices of Varicose Veins Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2011-2016)QYResearchReports.com is an unimpeachable source of market research data for clients that comprise acclaimed SMEs, Chinese companies, private equity firms, and MNCs. We provide market research reports on various categories such as Energy, Chemicals, Alternative and Green Energy, Manufacturing, Machinery, Pharmaceuticals and Materials, and Glass.QYResearchReportsContact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Homeopathy Product Market : Global Industry Analysis By 2024 & Key Players By Boiron Group, GMP Laboratories of America http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/homeopathy-product-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=16460 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ The global market for homeopathy products features the presence of a large number of small and medium enterprises, with the top five companies cumulatively accounting for merely over 27% of the overall market in 2015, observes Transparency Market Research (TMR) in a recent report. Despite this, the company Boiron Group held over 17.3% of the market in the said year, a share large enough to have a key influence on the markets direction. Strong presence across regions such as Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East and Africa (MEA) has allowed the company to command a prominent position in the global homeopathy products market so far.Obtain Report Details @However, other notable vendors such as Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH, A Nelson & Co Ltd, GMP Laboratories of America, Inc., Standard Homeopathic Company (Hyland's, Inc.), Washington Homeopathic Products, Inc., and Homeocan inc., struggle to strengthen their hold on the market amid harsh competition. Strategies such as increased focus on robust marketing and promotion activities, proper usage of the highly influential e-commerce marketplace, and expansion across promising regional markets such as Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa (MEA) could help companies gain more traction in the global market.Middle East and Africa to Provide Promising Growth OpportunitiesTMR estimates that the global homeopathy product market, which valued at US$3,867.7 mn in 2015, is expected to reach US$17,486.2 mn by the end of 2024, exhibiting a CAGR of 18.2% over the period between 2016 and 2024. Of the key product varieties in the market, the segment of dilutions is expected to achieve the most promising share in the markets valuation by the end of forecast period, retaining its dominant position with over 35% of the market by 2024. The segment will also register a strong 17.8% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024.In terms of geography, Europe will continue to account for the most significant share in the market throughout the forecast period but will lose prominence to the Middle East and Africa region in terms of growth rate. Over the period between 2016 and 2024, the Europe market for homeopathy products will exhibit an 18.2% CAGR while the MEA market will expand at a 21.1% CAGR.Aversion to Allopathic Medicine Expected to Increase Homeopathic Medicine SalesOne of the leading factors augmenting the growth of the global homeopathy products market is the growing concern regarding the high usage of allopathic medicine. People are becoming increasingly aware of the cumulative side-effects that they may contract after prolonged use of allopathic medicine. This is leading consumers towards alternative treatments, including homeopathy. An independent survey had revealed that US$3 bn was spent on homeopathic medicine within North America alone, in 2007. The market has skyrocketed since then and is on the brink of becoming a mainstay in all key regions, states a TMR analyst.Fill The Form To Gain Deeper Insights On This Market @Quality Standardization Still Lacking in Homeopathic Medicine ManufactureThere is a considerable lack of quality control within the global homeopathy products market and suppliers are suffering because of it. A massive chunk of the market revenue is gathered by small and medium sized business that are scattered over the key regions, making it very difficult to hold a consolidated effort for quality assurance standards implementation. Every manufacturing industry needs to adhere to good manufacturing practices and so far, the global homeopathy products market is not playing its part to the fullest extent. This is compromising the quality of medicines and products to a great extent, creating negative consumer experiences and reducing demand.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Cardiovascular Information System Market Research Report 2016 http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=905118&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-cardiovascular-information-system-market-research-report-2016.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com/category/pharmaceutical-market-reports-38.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Cardiovascular Information System to its huge collection of research reports.The global market for Cardiovascular Information System is going through a phase of a significant change in its dynamics since the past few years. In this research report, analysts attempt to understand these changes on the basis of the historical performance and the current status of this market and present an all-inclusive market assessment. Researchers also determine the markets attractiveness with the help of several analytical tools, such as investment return and market feasibility analysis, and make future projections on this market on the basis of the results attained by performing this research.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @This research report offers a holistic overview of the global Cardiovascular Information System market to the readers, enabling them to realize the opportunities offered by this market and create rewarding business strategies. The report also helps the market players in understanding the key trends in this market in a better fashion, in order to support them in seizing lucrative opportunities.Further, the market report assesses the global market for Cardiovascular Information System on the basis of the current industry chain, latest developments in import and export, and the dynamics of the demand, supply, and sales of Cardiovascular Information System across the world.At the end, the market report offers an analysis of the competitive landscape of the worldwide market for Cardiovascular Information System and the existing hierarchy prevalent in it by evaluating the profiles of the leading players operating in this market. The product portfolio, manufacturing capacity, and the revenue generated by each of the producers in this market have been reviewed thoroughly in this research report.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of ContentsGlobal Cardiovascular Information System Market Research Report 20161 Cardiovascular Information System Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Cardiovascular Information System1.2 Cardiovascular Information System Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Cardiovascular Information System by Type in 20151.2.2 CVIS1.2.3 C-PACS1.3 Cardiovascular Information System Segment by Application1.3.1 Cardiovascular Information System Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Hospitals1.3.3 Diagnostic Centers1.3.4 Other1.4 Cardiovascular Information System Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Cardiovascular Information System (2011-2021)2 Global Cardiovascular Information System Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Cardiovascular Information System Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Cardiovascular Information System Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Cardiovascular Information System Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Cardiovascular Information System Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Cardiovascular Information System Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Cardiovascular Information System Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Cardiovascular Information System Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Cardiovascular Information System Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2011-2016)3.1 Global Cardiovascular Information System Capacity and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.2 Global Cardiovascular Information System Production and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.3 Global Cardiovascular Information System Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.4 Global Cardiovascular Information System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.5 North America Cardiovascular Information System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.6 Europe Cardiovascular Information System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.7 China Cardiovascular Information System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.8 Japan Cardiovascular Information System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.9 Southeast Asia Cardiovascular Information System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.10 India Cardiovascular Information System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)4 Global Cardiovascular Information System Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.1 Global Cardiovascular Information System Consumption by Regions (2011-2016)4.2 North America Cardiovascular Information System Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.3 Europe Cardiovascular Information System Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.4 China Cardiovascular Information System Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.5 Japan Cardiovascular Information System Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.6 Southeast Asia Cardiovascular Information System Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.7 India Cardiovascular Information System Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)5 Global Cardiovascular Information System Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Cardiovascular Information System Production and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)5.2 Global Cardiovascular Information System Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)5.3 Global Cardiovascular Information System Price by Type (2011-2016)5.4 Global Cardiovascular Information System Production Growth by Type (2011-2016)6 Global Cardiovascular Information System Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Cardiovascular Information System Consumption and Market Share by Application (2011-2016)6.2 Global Cardiovascular Information System Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2011-2016)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/CountriesRead More @About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com North America Emerges as Largest Nerve Repair and Regeneration Market www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/nerve-repair-and-regeneration-market www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/nerve-repair-and-regeneration-market/report-sample www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/medical-devices www.psmarketresearch.com The global nerve repair and regeneration market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.9% during 2017 - 2023.Increasing geriatric population drives the global marketAccording to the study, the global nerve repair and regeneration market is likely to grow significantly during the forecast period, due to increasing geriatric population, rising prevalence of chronic pain and increasing incidence of neurological disorders. In addition, the awareness about mental diseases and their treatment and technological advancement in nerve repair and regeneration products is also increasing globally, which contributes to the growth of the market. Lack of skilled professionals, high cost and side effects associated with the usage of neurostimulation and neuromodulation devices are the key factors restraining the global market growth.Access Report Overview:Insights on market segmentsAs per the findings of the research, the market for neurostimulation and neuromodulation devices was larger than the market for biomaterials. Internal devices form the larger part of the global neurostimulation and neuromodulation devices market. Within internal neurostimulation and neuromodulation devices, spinal cord stimulation devices generate the largest revenue in the global market. Based on application, neurostimulation and neuromodulation surgeries has been the largest application area of the global nerve repair and regeneration market, followed by direct nerve repair/neurorrhaphy, nerve grafting and stem cell therapy.Request for Report Sample at:North America stands as the largest nerve repair and regeneration marketGeographically, North America has been the largest market for nerve repair and regeneration, with the U.S. being the largest contributor to the regional market. Increasing incidence of peripheral nerve injuries and presence of technological advanced products has been driving the growth of the North American market. In Europe, Germany has been the largest contributor to the nerve repair and regeneration market, followed by the U.K. and France. The market is expected to witness highest growth in Asia-Pacific, during 2017 - 2023, owing to increasing cases of neurological disorders and increasing geriatric population.Browse Other Related Report at:Key players in the nerve repair and regeneration marketSome of the key players in the global nerve repair and regeneration market include Boston Scientific Corporation, Axogen, Inc., Cyberonics, Inc., Medtronic, PLC, Baxter International Inc., St. Jude Medical, Inc., Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corporation, Inc., Stryker Corporation, Orthomed S.A.S. and Polyganics B.V.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:AbhishekExecutive Client Partner347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-Free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016 Point-Of-Care Diagnostics Market: North America Emerges As Key Consumer As Demand For Automation Grows http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/care-diagnostics-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1128 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ The top four players operating in the global point-of-care (POC) diagnostic market held a massive chunk of 78.8% in the overall market in 2015. Alere Inc., Becton Dickinson & Co., Abbott Inc., and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. dominated with their strong product portfolio, observes Transparency Market Research. Innovation and technological advancement will remain imperative to all the companies in the global market, states the lead author of this research report. In the coming years, these companies are expected to strengthen their positions in developing countries of China, India, Latin America, and Africa to tap into their gigantic scope of unmet medical needs.Obtain Report Details @According to the research report, the global point-of-care diagnostics market is expected to reach a valuation of US$ 11.7 bn by the end of 2024 as the market promises to progress at a CAGR of 6.9% between 2016 and 2024.North America Retains Dominant Position in Global Market due to Automation in DiagnosticsOn the basis of product, this market is segmented into lateral flow assay test, flow-through test, solid phase assay test, and agglutination assay test. Of these, the lateral slow assay test is expected to stand out amongst the others as the segment is estimated to acquire a share of 38.3% in the global market by 2024. The demand for these test will continue to remain high due to their decentralized availability. These tests are also likely to replace laboratory-based immunoassays in decentralized POC testing locations. The lateral flow tests include a sample pad, detection conjugate, reagent pad, test and control reagent lines, nitro-cellulose membrane, and absorbent pad and plastic-adhesive backing card. The demand for these tests will also be backed by booming geriatric population, the high prevalence of chronic disorders, and a rising demand for home-based testing.In terms of geography, the global market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Out of these, North America is poised to account for a share of 38.0% in the global market by the end of 2024. The regional market will be driven by the booming demand for automated diagnostics, strategic collaborations and mergers and acquisitions, and some remarkable technological innovations. Furthermore, design and development of point-of-care diagnostic testing kits to simplify patient demands are also expected to spell a positive spell for the North America point-of-care diagnostics market. Analysts anticipate that Asia Pacific will also be an emerging region in the global market due to a huge population base that has a plethora of unmet medical needs.Fill The Form To Gain Deeper Insights On This Market @Inability of Multiple Screening Impedes Market GrowthSeveral diseases or infections show similar symptoms, which demands accurate testing by screening the patient for multiple diseases. The inability of point-of-care testing to screen for multiple purposes is its biggest drawback. Thus, patients are still opting for laboratory testing to ensure they get accurate results for serious infections. Additionally, the inability to interpret the diagnostic tests is also dissuading many from using homecare kits. Currently, rapid medical diagnostics kits only offer qualitative results without providing any quantification of data. This results in inaccuracy of interpretation and can hamper the treatment. Despite the prolific amount of research and development and marketing of point-of-care testing, these kits provide approximation and can lead to a misdiagnosis. All of these factors are collectively hampering the growth of the global market to a large extent.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Bovine Respiratory Disease Treatment Market Key Trends & Industry Forecast 2016 - 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/bovine-respiratory-disease-treatment-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=13700 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com https://tmrresearch.blogspot.com/ Treading along a strong growth tract, the global bovine respiratory disease treatment market is likely to witness promising growth over the coming years as well. Bovine respiratory disease or BRD is a complex and multifactorial disorder which is caused due to the amalgamation of one or more microbial pathogens, environmental factors, inadequate housing conditions, and impaired immunity of the host. The prime factors leading to bovine respiratory diseases are basically environmental factors, host factors, and direct impact of contagious agents such as parasites, a bacteria, and virus. According to a study conducted by the World Bank Group in 2016, it has been estimate that the global human population will cross 7 billion by the end of 2016 with a growth rate of 1.8% per year. Thus, the demand for beef has intensified owing to the growing population and rising disposable income of consumers.The global bovine respiratory disease treatment market is likely to witness a CAGR of 7.6% between 2016 and 2024. The market is expected to rise to US$1,543.9 mn by the end of 2024 from a valuation of US$805.9 mn in 2015.Obtain Report Details @Which factor is likely to have the maximum positive impact on the market?The key factor that is expected to drive the growth of the global bovine respiratory disease treatment market is the mounting consumption of beef across the globe. This trend is expected to gain traction with time. With the world population reaching skyrocketing limits, the demand for beef and other animal products is gaining momentum. This expected to trigger the cattle population. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the global cattle population is expected to rise to approximately 2.6 billion by 2050. As a result of this, the risk of bovine respiratory diseases is also expected to rise among the livestock population as bovine respiratory diseases hold 45% to 75% in the mortality rate and 65% to 80% of morbidity in the livestock population.Thus, many leading companies are focusing on rigorous innovation. Bayer announced the introduction of innovative key products in the animal health category to combat ecto-parasites and bovine respiratory diseases.How is government regulation a bottleneck in the growth of the market?Several studies suggest that bovine antibiotics can have a high negative effect on human health. Concerns such as disturbance in the normal human intestinal working and introduction of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria are found in people who consume animal food products that have excess antibiotics. As a result of this, governments have imposed stringent regulations regulating the amount of antibiotics being fed to livestock in order to cure diseases. This is expected to hinder the adoption of bovine respiratory disease treatment medications.Which regions should be the key focus of manufacturers?North America accounted for the leading share of 35% in 2015 and is expected to retain a high rank over the coming years. Nevertheless, with an exploding population base and rise in beef consumption, Asia Pacific is expected to present manufacturers with lucrative growth opportunities in the near future.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Browse market research blog: Global Stearyl Alcohol Market 2017 - Godrej, Arizona Chemical, PT SMART Tbk, Vegetable Vitamin Foods Company, Basf http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/32455/request-sample https://goo.gl/PWoUHB www.fiormarkets.com www.9dimenreports.com Global Stearyl Alcohol Market 2017, presents a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Stearyl Alcohol market globally, providing basic overview of Stearyl Alcohol market including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure, Stearyl Alcohol Market report provides development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. Stearyl Alcohol market size, share and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies. The Current global Stearyl Alcohol Analysis and opportunities are also taken into consideration in Stearyl Alcohol industry study. Stearyl Alcohol market report provides the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.Download Sample Report @The Global Stearyl Alcohol Industry report delivers en executive-level blueprint of the Stearyl Alcohol market that will help clients to build strategies to expand their market operations. The report on the Global Stearyl Alcohol market is an in-depth study that covers all the aspects of the industry. Extensive primary and secondary research has been used to carefully prepare this report. In addition to this, the report features insights from industry experts. Correlation, regression, and time-series models are included in the report so that it may provide insightful analysis of the key industry trends.The report begins with a brief overview of the Global Stearyl Alcohol market and then moves on to evaluate the key trends of the market. The key trends shaping the dynamics of the Global Stearyl Alcohol market have been scrutinized along with the related current events, which is impacting the market. Drivers, restraints, opportunities, and threats of the Global Stearyl Alcohol market have been analyzed in the report. Moreover, the key segments and the sub-segments that constitutes the market is also explained in the report.Request For Full Report With TOC @Current consumer preferences for the new products/services has been listed in the report. Players in the Global Stearyl Alcohol market are focusing on increasing their product/service offering in order to attract more consumers. Additionally, companies are turning their attention to the emerging regions of Asia Pacific and Latin America, as these regions present untapped opportunities.The strategies of the key vendors operating in the Global Stearyl Alcohol market along with their business overview and revenue shares has been mentioned in this report. An in-depth analysis of the strategies determined and implemented by the market players and their impact on the companys revenue has been covered in this research report. SMBs and MNCs in the Global Stearyl Alcohol market can form informed decisions to get a competitive advantage in the market using the forecasts and estimates presented in the report.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog: E-bike Market in Europe 2015-2019 - Report Presents Analysis of Key Vendors ( Derby Cycle, e-Moto, Royal Dutch Gazelle, Zhejiang Luyuan Electric Vehicle ) http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=879241 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=879241 http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Albany, NY, March 23, 2017: An e-bike, commonly known as an electric bicycle or booster bicycle, has an integrated electric motor that helps in the propulsion of the bike. E-bikes can be classified according to the power capacity of electric motor and the control system as pedal-assist only, with power-on-demand and pedal-assist, or with power-on-demand only. The classification of e-bikes vary in different countries, in some they are referred to as bicycles than mopeds or motorcycles to be exempt from stringent laws applicable for other vehicles. E-bikes are treated as a special vehicle type in many areas of legal jurisdiction.The E-bike market in Europe to grow at a CAGR of 7.09 percent over the period 2014-2019. This report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the E-bike market in Europe for the period 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, the report considers the unit shipments of e-bikes in Europe.The E-bike Market in Europe 2015-2019, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report focusses on Europe; it also covers the E-bike market in Europe market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Get a Sample Research PDF with TOC:Key Vendors- Derby Cycle- e-Moto- Royal Dutch Gazelle- Zhejiang Luyuan Electric VehicleOther Prominent Vendors- Accell Group- eZee Kinetics- Geoby- Giant Bicycles- Grace- Jiangsu Xinri- Pedego- Prodeco Technologies- Sparta- Stromer Bicycles- Trek Bicycles- Yadea Technology GroupMarket Driver- Increased Disposable Income- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket Challenge- Immature Technology- For a full, detailed list, view our reportEnquiry at:Key Questions Answered in this Report- What will the market size be in 2019 and what will the growth rate be?- What are the key market trends?- What is driving this market?- What are the challenges to market growth?- Who are the key vendors in this market space?- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at: Global Gelcoat Market is Expected to Reach USD 1450 Million in the Year 2022 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/Gelcoat-Market-2369 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/Gelcoat-Market-2369 Market HighlightsGelcoats are developed materials and produced as in-mold surface coatings used for protecting substrate from diverse conditions. These materials are coated to provide aesthetic look for the fiber reinforced materials. It is available both in brush and spray form so that gelcoat can easily be laminated and is not susceptible to any damage. Gelcoat provides following properties as such UV degradation, resistant to corrosion and water absorption.Gelcoat resins are used across various end user industries such as construction, wind, marine, transportation, others. Marine applications like decks, ship hulls, motor yachts, and power boats are using large quantity of gelcoats to protect it. The increasing demand for light weight vehicles especially power racing boats are expanding the need for gelcoat in these markets. Along with light weight power boats, there is increase in demand for composites that provide better fuel efficiency in transportation vehicles such as railways, buses and leisure vehicles. Thus, gelcoat demand is expected to grow at higher rate. Rise in government spending in construction and infrastructure activities has ultimately drive the demand of gelcoat in construction industry owing to its use in fiber glass materials and others. Automobile companies are also looking to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency of vehicles by using composites that can provide such features. Thus, transportation industry will drive the gelcoat demand in coming years.Request a Sample Copy of Report @Competitive Analysis-Major Key Players in Gelcoat Market are:The major Key Players of this Market are: HK Research Corporation (U.S.), Ashland Inc. (U.S.), Bufa Composite Systems GmbH & Co. KG. (Germany), Interplastic Corporation (U.S.), Scott Bader Company Limited (U.K.), Polynt S.p.A (Europe), Reichhold LLC (U.S.), Synergys Technologies (France), Fibre Glass Development Corporation (U.S), Bang & Bonsomer Group Ab (Europe) and OthersRegional Analysis:North America region represents highest market share holder in Global Gelcoat Market followed closely by Europe. The rising production of boats in U.S using gelcoats to reduce weight of boats especially for racing purpose has driven the gelcoat market to North America. The dominance of Europe in gelcoat is due to strong marine and automobile industry. U.S is also a largest consumer of gelcoat owing to use of polyester in marine and transportation industry. Along with racing boats, companies are pushing their focus on leisure boats for high class people. Thus, light weight boats with higher demand of gelcoats are driving the demand to next level in these regions. Asia-pacific witnessed a moderate growth owing to growing construction and transportation industry.Access Report Details @Competitive AnalysisFluctuating prices of resins according to end user industries in various regions are restricting the market growth. High competition owing to easy availability of composite materials can lower down the market demand over the forecasted period. Green based coatings are being developed by many companies. These drive opportunities for small and medium enterprises in emerging economies.Access the market data and market information presented through more than 25 market data tables and 25 Figures spread over 130 numbers of pages of the project report Global Gelcoat Market - Forecast to 2022Market Segmentation:Global Gelcoat Market is majorly segmented on the basis of Resin Type and End User Industry. Based on resin type, Gelcoat market is segmented into epoxy, polyester, vinyl ester, others. Based on end user industry of Gelcoat, the market is segmented into construction, wind, marine, transportation, others.On basis of Resin Type, Gelcoat is segmented as epoxy, polyester, vinyl ester, others. Polyester resins drive the global gelcoat market. Owing to high UV degradation of polyester compared to vinyl ester and epoxy resins, polyester resin is highly preferable in marine and transportation industry. Vinyl ester resins hold good market share owing to growing marine industry in North America. The demand for gelcoats which are durable, water retention and blister resistance has driven the market growth in wind and transportation industry. Further with growing polyester prices across the globe can restrain the market demand over the Forecasted Period.About Market Research FutureAt Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.ContactAkash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com 2017 Global Vacuum Valves Market Industry Trend and Forecast to 2022 Insights shared in Detailed Report Vacuum Valves Market http://www.orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/234843 http://www.orbisresearch.com/reports/index/2017-market-research-report-on-global-vacuum-valves-industry http://www.orbisresearch.com/contact/purchase/234843 https://www.linkedin.com/company/orbis-research https://twitter.com/orbisresearch https://www.facebook.com/OrbisResearch Orbisresearch.com a leading business Intelligence Provider, released its latest Research report on Global Vacuum Valves IndustryIn our aim to provide our erudite clients with the best research material with absolute in-depth information of the market, our new report on Global Vacuum Valves Market is confident in meeting their needs and expectations. The 2017 market research report on Global Vacuum Valves Market is an in-depth study and analysis of the market by our industry experts with unparalleled domain knowledge. The report will shed light on many critical points and trends of the industry which are useful for our esteemed clients. The report covers a vast expanse of information including an overview, comprehensive analysis, definitions and classifications, applications, and expert opinions, among others. With the extent of information filled in the report, the presentation and style of the Global Vacuum Valves Market report is a noteworthy.Request a sample of this report @The Global Vacuum Valves Industry report provides key information about the industry, including invaluable facts and figures, expert opinions, and the latest developments across the globe. Not only does the report cover a holistic view of the industry from a global standpoint, but it also covers individual regions and their development. The Global Vacuum Valves Industry report showcases the latest trends in the global and regional markets on all critical parameters which include technology, supplies, capacity, production, profit, price, and competition. The key players covered in the report provide a detailed analysis of the competition and their developments in the Global Vacuum Valves Industry. Accurate forecasts and expert opinion from credible sources, and the recent R&D development in the industry is also a mainstay of the Vacuum Valves Market report.Browse the full report @The report also focuses on the significance of industry chain analysis and all variables, both upstream and downstream. These include equipment and raw materials, client surveys, marketing channels, and industry trends and proposals. Other significant information covering consumption, key regions and distributors, and raw material suppliers are also a covered in this report.Purchase a copy of this report @Finally, the Vacuum Valves Market report ends with a detailed SWOT analysis of the market, investment feasibility and returns, and development trends and forecasts. As with every report on Orbis Research, the Vacuum Valves Industry is the holy grail of information which serious knowledge seekers can benefit from. The report which is the result of ultimate dedication of pedigree professionals has a wealth of information which can benefit anyone, irrespective of their commercial or academic interest.Some Points From Table of ContentsChapter One: Vacuum Valves Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Vacuum Valves1.2 Vacuum Valves Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Vacuum Valves Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Vacuum Valves Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Wet Grinding Vacuum Valves1.2.4 Dry Grinding Vacuum Valves1.3 Global Vacuum Valves Segment by Application1.3.1 Vacuum Valves Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Metal Mining1.3.3 Mineral Mining1.3.4 Others1.4 Global Vacuum Valves Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Vacuum Valves Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Vacuum Valves (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Vacuum Valves Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Vacuum Valves Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)For any enquires before buying, connect with us @ enquiry@orbisresearch.comAbout Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Us:Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019Follow Us on LinkedIn:Follow us on Twitter:Like us on Facebook: Advanced Combat Helmet Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Analysis For 2016 - 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=19238 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/advanced-combat-helmet-market.html Global Advanced Combat Helmet Market: SnapshotThe global advanced combat helmet market is largely driven by the growing need of governments and defense agencies to provide better standards of soldier safety and combat tactical advantage in the face of growing global security threats such as terrorist attacks, border insurgencies, and internal conflicts. The defense sector is heavily adopting advanced combat helmets in order to protect their soldiers and law enforcement officers from head injuries caused from gunshots, IED explosions, and shrapnel. In addition, the demand for helmets integrated with the best vision and communication technologies is also increasing. Features such as night vision cameras that offer better situational awareness in the dark or in any difficult situations are becoming more of a necessity. The demand for these integrated technologies is also boosting the global market for advanced combat helmet.In terms of revenue, the global advanced combat helmet market was valued at US$1.7 bn in 2015, and is expected to reach US$3.0 bn by 2024, after expanding at a CAGR of 6.3% from 2016 to 2024.Get Details Information for Industry Research, Download PDF Brochure@North America Bags Top Demand Volume for Advanced Combat HelmetsGeographically, the global advanced combat helmet market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Of these key regions, North America held the leading share in the global advanced combat helmet market: more than 25% of the total market revenue, in 2015. The U.S. was estimated to hold the top market volume with more than 60% of the overall revenue of North America market for advanced combat helmet for the same year. The research and development effort undertaken by manufacturers in the U.S. is continuously focusing on the safety of the soldiers and law enforcement officers during any combat operations. It is allowing players to manufacture lightweight and increasingly tactile helmets. Mexico is predicted to grow at an exceptionally fast pace in North America as the country is increasingly focusing on strengthening its military and defense forces with better technologies in general. Owing to these facts, the market for advanced combat helmet in North America is estimated to propel over the forecast period.The advanced combat helmet market in Europe is estimated to grow at a substantial pace through Germany, France and the U.K. and their expansive activities in military and defense. Asia Pacific, on the other hand, is estimated to be the leading region in terms of growth rate in the advanced combat helmet market over the coming years. China, Japan, and India above all are investing substantially in the procurement of advanced combat helmets that can offer enhanced safety to the soldiers. China lead the Asia Pacific advanced combat helmet market share in 2015 and India is estimated to be the faster growing country in terms of demand. The increase in investments in the defense sector and law enforcement agencies are expected to boost the market for advanced combat helmet in Asia Pacific during the forecast period from 2016 to 2024.Military and Defense Applications of Advanced Combat Helmets at All-time HighBased on applications, the global advanced combat helmet market can be segmented into military and defense, and law enforcement agencies. The military and defense segment us the leading consumer of advanced combat helmets, due to the growing global warfare and terrorist activities and borders insurgencies, while the law enforcement agencies are also adopting advanced combat helmets at a fast pace. Due their rapid adaptation rates, the law enforcement agencies are estimated to be growing swiftly in their demand within the global advanced combat helmet market.The key players in the global advanced combat helmet market so far, have been ArmorSource LLC, BAE Systems, Gentex Corporation, Morgan Advanced Material PLC, Revision Military, Ceradyne Inc., MKU Limited, Honeywell International Inc., Point Blank Enterprises Inc., and DuPont.Browse Full Report@About Us:-Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact Us:-Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Investment potential of the Lipetsk region was presented to the Dutch businessmen Lipetsk The presentation of the Lipetsk region took place in the trade mission of the Russian Federation in the Netherlands. The head of department of investments and international relations of area Igor Malenko told about the investment potential of our region to representatives of the Dutch business community. Also possibilities of technological cooperation in the sphere of road construction were studied.The enterprises and the organizations of the Lipetsk region develop actively trade and economic and investment cooperation with the Dutch partners. The mutual foreign trade turnover has made 48,9 million US dollars in 2016. An export basis production of ferrous metallurgy. Food, chemical and machine-building products are imported from the Netherlands.The enterprise for processing of potatoes "Belaya Dacha", to the value of 120 million euros, which will be put into operation by 2018 is under construction with participation of the Dutch company Lamb Weston in the Lipetsk special economic zone.The Lipetsk region is distinguished by favorable investment climate, the three-level system of attraction of capital investments, unique for Russia, works. The regional authorities guarantee to investors the most comfortable conditions of placement and business.JSC Management Company "Investment Projects Fund" acts as the strategic tool for increasing of enterprise and investment activity in the Lipetsk region. Among our main goals are creation of new approach to development of territories and as a result improvement of investment climate of our region.We invite projects initiators and investors from all Russian regions and from abroad to mutually beneficial cooperation.JSC Managing company Investment Projects FundPhone: +7 (4742) 39-32-43E-mail: invest-lip@mail.ruAddress: 2 Slavyanova Street, Room 2, LipetskPresscontact: AnastasiaPhone: +7 980 262 32 46 Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Market information by Components and Technology Industry Trends and Forecast to 2027 Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1087 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/wireless-electric-vehicle-charger-market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/request-toc/1087 Synopsis of Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Market:Market Overview:The major growth driver of Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Market includes growing production and adoption of electric passenger car, growing investment on smart city technologies and financial incentives provided by government among others.However, lack of standardization of product is one of the major factors which are hindering the growth of Wireless electric vehicle charger Market.Industry News: Oak Ridge National Labs (ORNL) has announced in April 2016 that it has developed a wireless electric vehicle charger of having 20 kW capacities. The device would provide 90 % efficiency. Leviton has launched mini electric vehicle charging station in 2015. The station consists of feature which includes ground monitor interrupter circuit, and over temperature protection among others.Request a Sample Report @Key Players:Some of the major players in Global Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Market include: ABB (Switzerland) Leviton (U.S.) WiTricity Corporation (U.S) Convenient Power HK Limited (Hong Kong) Siemens (Germany) Delphi Automotive (U.K.) Qualcomm (U.S.) Bosch Group (Germany)Market SegmentsGlobal Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Market can be segmented as follows: Segmentation by Technology: inductive charging, conductive charging, dynamic charging, magnetic resonance, among others. Segmentation by Component: Electromagnetic induction, wireless power receiver, rectifies, power distribution box, vehicle receiver unit, ground transmission unit, and battery, among othersBrowse Report Details @Regional Analysis of Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Market:North-America is expected to dominate the Global Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Market with the largest market share due to government initiatives of reducing dependency on oil related product in the region which is creating profitable market for electric vehicle charging. Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Market in Asia-pacific and Europe is expected to grow at a Healthy CAGR in forecasted period.The reports also cover brief analysis of Geographical Region including:Americas North America US Canada Latin AmericaEurope Western Europe Germany France U.K Rest of Western Europe Eastern EuropeAsia Pacific Asia China India Japan South Korea Rest of Asia PacificThe Middle East & AfricaRequest Table of Contents for this Report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com Wireless Chipsets Market Size, Share, Trends & Forecast 2022 Wireless Chipsets https://goo.gl/qkJJYN http://bit.ly/2mSSfvq http://www.bigmarketresearch.com bigmarketresearch.com include new market research report "Global Wireless Chipsets Market Status, 2011-2022 Market Historical and Forecasts, Professional Market Research ReportThis New Version Wireless Chipsets Market Research Report is a deep market research report in this market. This report focused on global and regional market, major manufacturers, as well as the segment market details on different classifications and applications. First, this report analyzed the basic scope of this industry like definition, specification, classification, application, industry policy and news in Chapter 1. Second, the analysis on industry chain is provided including the up and down stream industry also with the major market players. And the analysis on manufacturing including process, cost structure and major plants distribution is conducted in Chapter 2.Then the global and regional market is analyzed. In these chapters, this report analyzed major market data like capacity, production, capacity utilization rate, price, revenue, cost, gross, gross margin, supply, import, export, consumption, market share, growth rate and etc. For regional market, this report analyzed major regions like Europe, North America, South America, Asia (Excluding China), China and ROW. These analysis are conducted in Chapter 3 and 4.In Chapter 5, the performance of major manufacturers are analyzed and then in Chapter 6 and 7 the analysis on major classification and application. Then the marketing channel analysis is provided including the major distributors in Chapter 8. Then this report analyzed the market forecast from 2017 to 2022 for global and regional market in Chapter 9 and the new project investment feasibility analysis in Chapter 10. At last, this report provided the conclusions of this research in Chapter 11. This report is a valuable source of guidance for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, customers, investors and individuals who have interest in this market.Request Sample Copy Here @Fundamentals Of Table Of Content :5 Major Manufacturers Analysis5.1 Altair Semiconductor, Inc. (Israel)5.1.1 Company Profile5.1.2 Product Specification5.1.3 2011-2016 Global Market Performance5.1.4 2015 Regional Market Performance5.1.5 Contact Information5.2 Apple Inc. (US)5.2.1 Company Profile5.2.2 Product Specification5.2.3 2011-2016 Global Market Performance5.2.4 2015 Regional Market Performance5.2.5 Contact Information5.3 Intel Corporation (US)5.3.1 Company Profile5.3.2 Product Specification5.3.3 2011-2016 Global Market Performance5.3.4 2015 Regional Market Performance5.3.5 Contact Information5.4 Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (Bermuda)5.4.1 Company Profile5.4.2 Product Specification5.4.3 2011-2016 Global Market Performance5.4.4 2015 Regional Market Performance5.4.5 Contact Information5.5 MediaTek Inc. (Taiwan)5.5.1 Company Profile5.5.2 Product Specification5.5.3 2011-2016 Global Market Performance5.5.4 2015 Regional Market Performance5.5.5 Contact InformationAsk For Discount Here @About Company :Big Market Research uniqueness lies in its highly ethical reports at economical rates because we value your relationship and growth more than money. Your growth is our aim. With the arsenal of different search reports, we help you here to look and buy research reports that will be helpful to you and your organization. Our research reports have the capability and authenticity to support your organization for growth and consistency.Contact Us :5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesDirect :+ 1-503-894-6022Toll Free : + 1-800-910-6452Email: help@bigmarketresearch.comWeb: Personal Emergency Response Systems Market Accounting for US$ 6,572.6 Mn by 2024 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/6403 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/personal-emergency-response-systems-market/toc http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/6403 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com According to the latest market report published by Persistence Market Research titled, Global Market Study on Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS): Increasing Geriatric Population and Increasing Prevalence of Neurological Disorders are Factors Expected to Drive Market Growth Over 2016 - 2024, the global personal emergency response systems market is expected to increase at a healthy CAGR of over 8.0% over the forecast period (20162024).Personal emergency response systems are devices used to alert emergency services in the event of a fall or any emergency situation for immediate medical assistance. Such devices have the potential to mitigate some adverse consequences of an emergency or any risk situations. The personal emergency response systems market was valued at US$ 3,191.5 Mn in 2015 and is expected to increase at a CAGR of over 8.0% during the forecast period.In this report, the global personal emergency response systems market has been segmented on the basis of product type, end use, and region. The report also provides information regarding market dynamics, value chain, competitive landscape, current trends, market estimations and forecast.By region, North America is expected to dominate the global personal emergency response systems market throughout the forecast period, driven by increasing number of geriatric population, rising prevalence of chronic diseases, proliferation of smartphones, and adoption of personal emergency response systems as supportive tool for assisted living facilities. The U.S. is the largest market for personal emergency response systems in North America. The personal emergency response systems market in the U.S. is expected to increase at a CAGR of 9.2% over the forecast period.By product type, the personal emergency response systems market has been segmented into landline devices, mobile devices, standalone devices, and mobile applications. The landline devices segment is expected to dominate the overall personal emergency response systems market by the end of 2024. The segment is projected to register an above average growth rate over the forecast period. Mobile devices segment is one of the most attractive segments and is anticipated to show significant growth in revenue over 20162024.A Sample of this Report is Available Upon Request @By end user, the global personal emergency response systems market has been segmented into home-based users, assisted living facilities, and hospitals. Among these, home-based users segment is expected to dominate the overall market by 2024, owing to wide acceptance of personal emergency response systems such as landline devices and mobile devices among the aging population who are staying at home. Factors such as ease of use and portability of these devices and rising number of falls among the aging population are expected to fuel growth of the overall personal emergency response systems market during forecast period.Request to View Tables of Content @Key market participants included in the report are Koninklijke Philips N.V, LifeWatch USA, Tunstall, ADT Security Services, Medical Guardian LLC, MobileHelp, Bay Alarm Company, and MariCare Oy.To Buy Full Report for a Single User @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Con-sumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs en-gagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global Holter Monitoring Systems Market Worth US$ 172.95 Bn by 2024 End http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3886 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/holter-monitoring-systems-market/toc http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/3886 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com ECG monitoring devices are experiencing a paradigm technological shift from resting ECG systems to portable Holter monitoring systems. According to a new report by Persistence Market Research (PMR), titled, Holter Monitoring Systems Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016-2024, this is attributed to advantages such as patient mobility, low prices, and longer period of patient monitoring. Holter monitoring systems are proving to be more efficient in ECG monitoring due to advancements in technology, thereby allowing healthcare providers to monitor recorded data remotely, and enhancements in Holter monitoring software, which enable better analysis of data. These factors are expected to promote drive growth of the global Holter monitoring systems market at a CAGR of 4.5 % between 2016 and 2026.PMRs report offers market forecast and analysis on the global Holter monitoring systems market. The global market has been segmented on the basis of product, enduser, and region. On the basis of region, the market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Asia Pacific (APAC). As per regional analysis, North America (the U.S. and Canada) is the most lucrative market for Holter monitoring systems globally. This region is expected to hold highest market share over the forecast period (20162026) and is expected to exhibit more than average growth rate. The market in Asia Pacific is expected to witness fastest growth owing to high population and increasing incidence rate of cardiovascular diseases. APAC market is estimated to account for around 27 % revenue share by end of 2016 in the global Holter monitoring systems market. The market in MEA is also expected to expand significantly in revenue terms over the forecast period, owing to high public healthcare expenditure in countries in the region. Revenue from the market in the region is expected to expand at CAGR of 5.2% over the forecast period.On the basis of product, the global Holter monitoring systems market has been segmented into Holter monitoring devices, event monitoring devices, and Holter monitoring software segments. Holter monitoring devices segment is expected to remain the dominant segment in the global market throughout the forecast period. This is attributed to high adoption rate of these devices globally.On the basis of end user, the Holter monitoring systems market has been segmented into hospitals, diagnostic centers, clinics, and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). PMR estimated the hospitals segment to account for highest revenue share among other end user segments, and it is expected to witness fastest growth over the forecast period. Factors such as increasing number of private hospitals in developing countries is expected to boost revenue share of the hospitals segment. Diagnostic centers segment is also expected to gain significant market share during the forecast period.A Sample of this Report is Available Upon Request @The report discusses various factors positively impacting growth of the global Holter monitoring systems market such as increasing healthcare expenditure, key strategies of market players, regional reimbursement policies, and others.Request to View Tables of Content @Some key market participants included in the report are GE Healthcare, Koninklijke Philips N.V, Welch Allyn (Hill-rom Company, Inc.), Schiller AG, Fukuda Denshi Co. Ltd., Nihon Kohden Corporation, Mortara Instrument Inc., and Spacelabs Healthcare Inc.To Buy Full Report for a Single User @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Con-sumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs en-gagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Plastic Fencing Market to grow at CAGR of 5% from 2016 to 2023: Global Market Insights Inc. https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/385 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/385 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/north-america-metal-fencing-market https://www.gminsights.com https://gminsights.wordpress.com Global fencing market size was around USD 24 billion in 2015, and is estimated to surpass USD 32 billion by 2023.Plastic fencing market size was valued at over USD 2.5 billion in 2015, with growth prospects of more than 5% from 2016 to 2023. Mounting demand for these products from numerous sectors such as commercial, residential, agricultural, and construction is likely to drive industry over the forecast period.Escalating demand for these products for enhancing the aesthetic appeal of buildings as well as construction sites is anticipated to propel global plastic fencing market size growth over the next seven years. In addition, rising safety and security concerns among people is also expected to fuel growth over the forecast period.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @The industry has witnessed growing customer interest in home improvement and home decor. Factors such as low cost, high durability and low maintenance have driven consumption.Use of inferior products by unlicensed contractors may pose a challenge to companies operating in the industry. Low plastic fencing market price trend has encouraged adoption among consumers.Based on end-use, the plastic fencing industry can be segmented into residential, commercial as well as agricultural. On the basis of product, the industry can be segregated into vinyl, HDPE, wood-plastic composites (WPC), polystyrene, and polyethylene.Residential segment is predicted to witness substantial growth over the forecast period. Surging remodeling product and construction activity justifies residential demand over the forecast period.Rising need to safeguard crops, farm animals as well as farm areas from wild animals and potential theft is expected to drive vinyl fencing market demand in the agricultural sector. Commercial or industrial segment is predicted to experience considerable growth due to growing demand from colleges, industrial premises and schools over the forecast period.Escalating institutional construction as well as government spending for enhancement of parks, government premises and public places may boost demand. Attributes such as quality, cost, aesthetic value and design are forecast to be the key buying factors.Make an inquiry for buying this report @Vinyl and wood-plastic products are expected to witness high growth prospects and are likely to replace wood products. Various plastic fence manufacturers are now developing products with earth tone colors, low gloss, and embossed wood grains to mimic wood. WPC fencing is predicted to have an edge over vinyl counterparts due to the availability of a wide range of darker colors.Privacy fence is predicted to be the most popular type installed in residential applications. Chain link fence is one of the lowest priced products and is a preferred choice for homeowners owing to its high effectiveness for security as well as low cost.North America plastic fencing market size is forecast to continue its dominance owing to presence of large number of production units across the region. Asia Pacific PVC fencing market is expected to experience high growth prospects over the forecast period.Industry participants comprising plastic fencing market share include CertainTeed, Associated Materials, Long Fence Company, Bufftech, Fox Fence Company, Poly Vinyl Creations, etc. Other players are Deqing Huazhijie Railing & Fencing, Chengdu Geelian Safety and Linan Fentech Fence Products.End users differentiate products from various manufacturers on the basis of quality and requirements. The industry is primarily influenced by local manufacturers, therefore branding, quality maintenance, and customer service is an important aspect for success. Innovation in product design is another important factor to gain competitive advantage and reduce operating cost.Browse Related Reports: North America Metal Fencing Market Size, Industry Outlook Report, Regional Analysis, Application Development, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2023About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:Connect with us: Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter Energy Efficiency Construction Market share in Commercial sector to exceed 590 GW by 2023 : Global Market Insights Inc. https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/384 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/384 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/building-energy-management-systems-bems-market https://www.gminsights.com https://gminsights.wordpress.com The research report,Energy Efficient Construction Market having LED lights, HVAC systems, and solar power are the key product types. HVAC systems are expected to witness significant demand due to increase in trend for green technology and reducing operational cost. Energy efficient market size for these products is expected to surpass USD 7 billion during the forecast period.Energy efficient construction market size is forecast to grow owing to support from regional governments in the form of incentives and promoting the technology through prescriptive measures and building codes. Rise in electricity prices is driving organizations and governments to install new technologies to control & monitor electricity usage in buildings.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @Increase in need to reduce carbon emissions and mange capital in a strategic way among government and corporate sectors were among the key driving factors for energy efficient construction market size growth. This technology is the most suitable way to reduce greenhouse gas emission & pollution and allows individuals and organizations to reduce operational cost and attain long term benefits.LED lights are the most appropriate substitute for fluorescent lights & bulbs as they consumes less electricity and have longer life. Increase in electricity prices and growth in power consumption in offices and homes is expected to propel product demand.In the commercial sector, major solar power installations were observed in hospitals, hotels, and offices. Batteries & chargers, attic fans, water heaters, and pool heaters are some residential applications. Cumulatively, over 175 GW of power was installed in 2015; it is predicted to exceed more than 590 GW by 2023, including both concentrated thermal power and photovoltaic.Asia Pacific energy efficient building technologies market is anticipated to witness high growth owing to rapid industrialization and increase in power consumption. China and India is likely to be key contributing countries due to high population growth and large manufacturing plant set up.Rapid industrialization and increase in trend for green technology is anticipated to provide a fillip to U.S. energy efficient construction market size. Europe energy efficient building market size is expected to witness notable growth; Germany, UK, and France are among key contributing countries owing to government regulations pertaining to control gas emissions and environment consciousness among end-users.Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar are predicted to positively influence Middle East & Africa energy efficient construction market growth owing to increase in regional infrastructure spending. Countries with low capital such as Nigeria and Zimbabwe may witness sluggish growth due to high plant set up cost.Applications can be bifurcated into homes, offices, institutional, and retail. Increase in consumer awareness pertaining to reducing electricity cost coupled with supportive government policies is likely to positively influence growth.Make an inquiry for buying this report @Major power consumption is noticed in offices owing to presence of electronic equipment. Need to reduce operational cost accompanied by long term benefits from energy efficient building technologies market products are anticipated to fuel demand.Institutional segment consists of hospitals, hotels, and colleges. Urgency to attain sustainable power products coupled with supportive government subsidies and rebates is likely to drive application demand.The retail sector requires more electricity in order to execute marketing techniques for better product visibility and to make the store more attractive. Growth in the retail segment owing to shift in consumer shopping behavior is likely to propel demand.Rebates, tax credits, and incentives from governments is likely to encourage architects and infrastructure companies to install and purchases new and energy efficient construction materials. However, high initial investment cost and lengthy payback period is likely to hamper growth.Energy efficient construction market share is competitive and fairly consolidated; major players include Daikin, Honeywell, Hitachi Group, Mitsubishi Electric, Johnson Controls, Philips, OSRAM, Schneider Electric, Trane, and Siemens. Other companies include Ameresco, CBRE, Azbil, Danfoss, Cofely (GDF Suez), JLL, E.ON, NTT Facilities, and LG Electronics.Browse Related Reports: Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Potential, Price Trend, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2023About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:Connect with us: Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter Latest Report on Global Elevators Market Analysis, Trends, Size, Share, Growth and Forecast 2016 - 2023 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=869141 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=869141 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Elevators Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.Elevators and escalators, which have become an integral part of the urban landscape, are installed in various public and private places such as retail outlets, hotels, IT parks, mixed-used buildings, residential buildings, commercial buildings and restaurants for the movement of people and good within the premises. All these public and private places with long walking distances and multiple floors make use of elevators to improve customer experience. The elevators are also installed in airports and vehicle parking. The vendors in the global elevator market compete on the basis of the installation, maintenance and modernization services for gaining prominence in the market. The global elevators market has been segmented on the basis of its types, application areas and geography.Rapid urbanization and an increase in geriatric population globally coupled with the maintenance and modernization of the existing elevators are strongly driving the growth of the global elevators market. Furthermore, growing green building market facilitating the installation of energy-efficient elevators is steadily boosting the market growth. As buildings become more intelligent and rise higher, efficient elevator and escalator systems are having a significant impact by considerably driving down the costs of operating a building and allowing people to travel farther, more efficiently. New technologies adopted by the key players in the elevator market, such as coated steel belts which are helping to replace the conventional cable ropes in a few elevators are allowing for more efficient operation. The conjoint effect of all these drivers is thus set to bolster the growth of the global elevators market during the forecast period.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The continuing evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the elevators market is offering a substantial growth opportunity to the growth of the global market. Internet of Things (IoT) is the interconnection of various devices and equipment which deliver a large amount of data over the internet. IoT makes it possible for a product to collect, exchange and analyse data with its operator, manufacturer and other devices, which is highly relevant to the elevator industry. IoT enables modern elevators to anticipate traffic and respond in real-time intelligently, communicate with service teams and allow passengers to summon the elevators via a mobile application. Further, by using a connected sensor in an elevator, the flow of passengers can be better managed by alleviating wait time. Dominant players in the elevator market such as ThyssenKruup Elevators, Otis Elevator Company and KONE Corporation are joining forces with Microsoft and IBM respectively for augmenting their operations and technological capabilities with IoT cloud services and advanced analytics technologies.The competitive profiling of the key players in the global elevators which is inclusive of the different business strategies adopted by them and their recent developments, market across the geographic regions of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (including Latin America and Middle East and Africa) is covered under the scope of the study. The market attractive analysis of the major application areas has been included in the report, in order to provide a deep insight into the global elevators market.The global elevators market report is inclusive of the market dynamics, i.e. market drivers, restraints and opportunities which are the distinct that help to understand the trends of the global market. Thus, the report provides exhaustive study of the global elevators market and offers the forecast of the market for the period from 2016 to 2023.Some of the major players in the global elevators market include, Toshiba Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Otis Elevator Company, Schindler Holding Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., ThyssenKrupp AG, Kone Corporation, Kleemann Hellas SA, Hyundai Elevator Co., Ltd and Fujitec Co., Ltd. among others.The global elevators market has been segmented into:Global Elevators Market, by Type:- Smart Elevators- Conventional ElevatorsGlobal Elevators Market, by Application:- Commercial- Hotels- Retail- Residential- Transportation- Hospitals- Parking Building- OthersGlobal Elevators Market, by Geography: The market is broadly segmented on the basis of geography into:- North America- U.S.- Canada- Mexico- Europe- U.K.- Germany- Italy- France- Rest of Europe- Asia Pacific- China- India- Japan- Rest of APAC- Rest of the World- Middle East- Latin America- AfricaMake an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Global Pet Wearable Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Research Report 2016 - 2024 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=869139 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=869139 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Pet Wearable Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024" to its huge collection of research reports.This market research study analyses the Pet Wearable market on a global level and provides estimate in terms of revenue (USD million) from 2016 to 2024. The report segments the market based on the technologies which include Sensors, GPS and RFID. All these segments have been estimated on the basis of geography in terms of revenue (USD million). In addition, the market is segmented by applications such as medical diagnosis & treatment, behaviour monitoring & control, facilitation, safety & security, identification and tracking.Pet wearables essentially refer to devices designed for pets, which perform crucial functions including but not limited to identification, tracking, controlling and monitoring of pets. Furthermore, with the advancementof technology pet wearable devices for enabling medical diagnosis & treatment and facilitation, safety and security is fast emerging as a popular product segment globally. These devices are designed specifically for dogs, cats and other pets and pet owners use the information generated to gauge their pets health conditions and whereabouts in real time. Additionally, innovative features such as setting up geo fencing for pets, setting up an alert mechanism if a pet crosses the designated geo fence, gauging the amount of rest and activity of pets have become essential features to pet wearable devices.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report elaborates on the type of technologies based on which pet wearable devices are designed. Primarily technologies used in the devices include (GPS) Global Positioning Systems, (RFID) Radio Frequency Identification and sensors. Moving along the study highlights the share of these technologies of the global pet wearable market. The report features the growth rate and market size of these technology segments along with the projected market sizes for the forecast period. The study also explains the factors driving or hindering the growth of individual technology segments. The study finds that the market is mainly dominated by GPS based trackers and RFID receivers however, devices equipped with temperature sensors, motion sensors and accelerometers among others, which monitor heat patterns of the animals body and environment and daily activity patterns such as playtime, walks, and rest duration are gaining significant demand in the global market.The research further segments the market in terms of application areas of pet wearable devices. It is segmented into identification & tracking, facilitation, safety & security, behaviour monitoring & control and medical diagnosis & treatment. So far, majority of the demand in the market has been in the form of products capable of providing identification and tracking of pets and dairy animals. However, the adoption of these devices is expected to decline over the next couple of years, primarily due to the availability of other feature rich products capable of providing same benefits along with other advanced features. It is anticipated that the demand for devices providing medical diagnosis will experience the strongest demand mainly because of the rising awareness about pet health and fitness among pet owners especially in the mature and developed markets of North America and Europe region.The report segments the market on the basis of geography into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), MEA and Latin America, and these have been estimated in terms of revenue (USD million).For a better understanding of the pet wearable market, we have provided a detailed analysis of the supply chain. A comprehensive analysis of the market dynamics that is inclusive of market drivers, restraints and opportunities is included in the purview of the report. Market dynamics are the distinctive factors which impact the market growth, thereby helping to understand the ongoing trends of the global market. Therefore, the report provides the forecast of the global market for the period from 2016 to 2024, along with offering an inclusive study of the pet wearable market.The report offers company market share analysis of the various industry participants. Key players have also been profiled based on company overview, financial overview, business strategies, SWOT analysis, and recent developments in the field of Pet Wearable. Major market participants profiled in this report include DeLaval Inc. (Sweden), Loc8tor Ltd. (United Kingdom), Nedap N.V. (Netherlands), PetPace Ltd. (Burlington), Whistle Labs Inc. (United States) and IceRobotics Ltd (United Kingdom) among others.The pet wearablemarket has been segmented into:Global Pet Wearable Market, by Technology Type- GPS- RFID- SensorsGlobal Pet Wearable Market, by Application- Medical diagnosis & treatment- Behavior monitoring & control- Facilitation, safety & security- Identification and trackingGlobal Pet Wearable Market, by Geography: The market is broadly segmented on the basis of geography into:- North America- U.S.- Rest of North America- Europe- U.K- Germany- France- Rest of Europe- Asia Pacific- Japan- India- China- Rest of APAC- Middle East and Africa- U.A.E- Qatar- South Africa- Rest of Middle East & Africa- Latin America- Brazil- Argentina- Rest of Latin AmericaMake an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Global MBR Market To Grow At A CAGR Of 15.21% Over The Period 2013-2018 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=879264 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=879264 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Market 2014-2018" to its huge collection of research reports.MBR is a process that combines membrane filtration with biological treatment. An MBR system is an advanced version of CAS system. MBR finds various applications in the Wastewater Treatment industry as it assists in the separation of algae, bacteria, and suspended particles from wastewater.TechNavio's analysts forecast the Global MBR market to grow at a CAGR of 15.21 percent over the period 2013-2018.Covered in this ReportThis report covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the Global MBR market for the period 2014-2018. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the sales of MBRs by vendors. It also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the top seven vendors in the market. The report also provides data on different segments of the Global MBR market based on the following criteria: application, configuration, product type, end-user and geography.In addition, the report discusses the major drivers that influence the growth of the market. It also outlines the challenges faced by vendors and the market at large, as well as the key trends emerging in the market.TechNavio's report, the Global MBR Market 2014-2018, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Key GeographiesAmericasMEAAPACEuropeKey VendorsAsahi Kasei Chemicals Co.GE water & Process TechnologiesKoch Membrane SystemKubota Corp.Mitsubishi Rayon Co. LtdSiemens Water TechnologiesToray Corp.Other Prominent VendorsADI SystemsAnuaAqua-Aerobic SystemsBeijing Origin water TechnologyBio-MicrobicsBioprocessh2oDegremontEvoqua Water TechnologiesGLVGroupe NovasepHans HuberHuberKeppel SeghersLayne Christensen CompanyMicrodyn NadirOndeo Industrial SolutionsPallSuzhou Litree UF Membrane TechnologyTianjin MotimoUnited EnvirotechVeolia Water Solutions & TechnologiesWehrle UmweltWesTech EngineeringWOG technologiesTechnology LicensorsACWA ServicesADI SystemsAlfa LavalAmerican WaterApex EnvironmentalAqua-Aerobic SystemsAquabioBeijing Origin Water Technology CompanyBerghof Membrane TechnologyBioprocess H2OBusse Green TechnologiesEcologix TechnologiesEconityEnvironze GlobalEvacF.L.I.WaterGrundfos HoldingH2O InnovationHangzhou H-Filtration Membrane Technology and EngineeringHERA GroupHUBERHyfluxKERAFOL Keramische FolienKolon IndustriesLayne Water TechnologiesLikuid NanotekLitree Purifying TechnologyMARTIN Membrane SystemsMaxFlow Membran FiltrationMemconMemos Membranes Modules SystemsMemstar TechnologyMICRODYN-NADIRNewterraNovasepOvivoPolymemSanithermShanghai MegaVision Engineering and TechnologyShanghai SINAP Membrane TechnologySmith and LovelessSuperstring MBR TechnologySupratec Filtration SystemSuzhou Vina FilterTianjin Motimo Membrane TechnologyTriqua InternationalVeolia Water Solutions & TechnologiesWEHRLE UmweltWOG TechnologiesMarket DriverStringent Government Water RegulationsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket ChallengeHigh Initial InvestmentFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket TrendIncrease in Demand for G-MBR ProcessFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey Questions Answered in this ReportWhat will the market size be in 2018 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Global Fire-resistant Power Cable Industry 2015 Market Research Report | Now Available at Researchmoz.us http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=430423 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=430423 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Fire-resistant Power Cable Industry 2015 Market Research Report" to its huge collection of research reports.The Global Fire-resistant Power Cable Industry Report 2015 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Fire-resistant Power Cable industry.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Fire-resistant Power Cable market analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report focuses on global major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Fire-resistant Power Cable industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.With 158 tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview1.1 Definition and Specifications of Fire-resistant Power Cable1.2 Classification of Fire-resistant Power Cable1.2.1 XLPE insulated and PVC sheathed B(A)type fire-resistant cable1.2.2 PVC insulated and PVC sheathed B(A)type fire-resistant cable1.2.3 PVC insulated and PVC sheathed steel tape armored B(A)type fire-resistant cable1.2.4 XLPE insulated PVC sheathed B (A) fire-resistant power cable1.3 Applications of Fire-resistant Power Cable1.3.1 Power Systems1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Fire-resistant Power Cable1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regjions Status of Fire-resistant Power Cable1.5.1 Industry Overview of Fire-resistant Power Cable1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Fire-resistant Power Cable1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Fire-resistant Power Cable1.7 Industry News Analysis of Fire-resistant Power Cable2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Fire-resistant Power Cable2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Fire-resistant Power Cable2.2 Labor Cost Analysis of Fire-resistant Power Cable2.3 Other Costs Analysis of Fire-resistant Power Cable2.4 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Fire-resistant Power Cable2.5 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Fire-resistant Power Cable3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Key Manufacturers in 20143.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Key Fire-resistant Power Cable Manufacturers in 20143.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Fire-resistant Power Cable Key Manufacturers in 20143.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Fire-resistant Power Cable Key Manufacturers in 20144 Production Analysis of Fire-resistant Power Cable by Regions, Technology, and Applications4.1 Global Production of Fire-resistant Power Cable by Regions (US, EU, China, Japan, etc.) 2010-20154.2 Global Production of Fire-resistant Power Cable by Type in 2010-20154.3 Global Production of Fire-resistant Power Cable by Applications 2010-20154.4 Price Analysis of Global Fire-resistant Power Cable Key Manufacturers in 20154.5 US Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Fire-resistant Power Cable 2010-20154.6 EU Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Fire-resistant Power Cable 2010-20154.7 Japan Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Fire-resistant Power Cable 2010-20154.8 China Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Fire-resistant Power Cable 2010-2015Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Cleanroom Technologies Market Forecast to 2022 https://www.scalarmarketresearch.com/request-sample.php?id=262 https://www.scalarmarketresearch.com/market-reports/cleanroom-technologies-market The objective of this report is to describe the market trends and revenue forecasts for the cleanroom technologies market for the next five years. The report focuses on defining and describing the key influencing factors for the growth of the market. It also offers an in-depth analysis of the market size (revenue), market share, major market segments, different geographic regions, key market players, and premium industry trends.The report tracks the major market events including product launches, technological developments, mergers & acquisitions, and the innovative business strategies opted by key market players. Along with strategically analyzing the key micro markets, the report also focuses on industry-specific drivers, restraints, opportunities and challenges in the cleanroom technologies market. The scope of this report covers the cleanroom technologies market by its major segments, which include the products, end-users, and the major geographic regions.Download Free Sample:KEY PREMIUM INDUSTRY INSIGHTS1. The rapid increase in life science research funding is one of the major driving factors for the global cleanroom technologies market.2. The rapid increase in healthcare spending is improving access to the quality healthcare, which is also driving the global market.3. The rising incidence of diseases like diabetes and cancer and the rapidly aging population that is increasing the demand for research and innovation for the new therapeutic and diagnostic products with cleanroom technologies are also expected to boost the growth opportunities for this market.Browse Full Report:KEY MARKET PLAYERSKey players in the cleanroom technologies market include:1. Alpiq Group2. Ardmac, Ltd.3. Azbil Corporation4. Clean Air Products5. E.I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company6. Illinois Tool Works, Inc.7. Kimberley-Clark Corporation8. M+W Group9. Royal Imtech N.V.10. Talkisha Ltd.ABOUT US:Scalar Market Research Inc. aspires to assist organizations from around the world to achieve their business goal with premium market research reports and consulting services. Our real-time industry tracking with the help of advanced analytics offers a crystal clear view of all the activities in niche markets. Our team, with thorough global understanding, works relentlessly to gather the necessary market insights, including customer analysis, competitions and global forecast.CONTACT:Moses Nakka8770 W Bryn Mawr Ave.,Suite 1300Chicago, IL 60631Tel.: +1-800-213-5170 (U.S./Canada Toll-free)Email: sales@scalarmarketresearch.com Cystic Acne Market Estimated to Grow at a CAGR of 10% from 2016 to 2022 Cystic Acne Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1723 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/cystic-acne-market Market Overview and HighlightsMarket Forecast:Market Research Future published a half - cooked research report on Cystic Acne Market. The global market is expected to grow over the CAGR of around 10% during the period 2016 to 2022.The Cystic Acne Market has been a growing market and it has been expected that the market will touch high growth figures. The demand for laser treatment due to the increasing cases of the condition is expected to drive the laser devices and medications market for Cystic Acne.Market Segmentation: On the basis of Causes, the market is segmented as segmented as Hormonal Imbalances, occlusive skin products, drugs/chemical side effects and others. On the basis of Long Term Effects the market is segmented as ice pick scars, larger pits on skin, shallow depressions, hypertrophic scarring and others. On the basis of Treatment Type the market is segmented as Topical medications, Drainage & Extraction procedure, Laser Therapy, Microdermabrasion and others.Request Sample Copy of Report @Key Players for Cystic Acne Market:Some of the key players in this market are: GlaxoSmithKline Pfizer Abbott Laboratories Hexal Roche Pharmaceuticals Alma Lasers Inc. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company GE Healthcare National Biological Corp., Herbert Waldmann GmbH & Co. KG, Sylvan Company DUSA Pharmaceuticals Inc.Access the market data and market information presented through more than 40 market data tables and figures spread over 80 numbers of pages of the project report Cystic Acne MarketBrowse Report Details @Market Research Analysis:Cystic Acne is one of the painful acne types among others, more than 10 million Americans suffer from this condition annually. In the coming years, it is expected that the market will advance with higher growth rate as compared to previous years. The current challenges for the market are the medications segment which needs a lot of research and clinical trials for effective results over treatment of this condition.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com Global Hydronic Underfloor Heating Market forecast to grow 8% CAGR from 2016 to 2023 https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/268 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/268 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/hydropower-turbine-market https://www.gminsights.com https://gminsights.wordpress.com Hydronic Underfloor Heating Market provides comfort to the consumers as the radiant heat is uniformly distributed throughout the area. Increasing concerns related to energy efficiency and environment is anticipated to drive industry demand. In addition, rising awareness regarding benefits offered is also expected to fuel the demand growth over the forecast period.Europe hydronic underfloor heating market size is anticipated to remain the leading segment up to 2023. Asia Pacific and North America are expected to observe significant gains over the forecast period. Latin America and Middle East & Africa (MEA) are also expected to witness high demand owing to growing adoption.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @Proliferating deployment of concrete floor surfaces is expected to drive the demand for this product. It occupies less space and can be installed in little or no wall space. It employs air to water heat pumps, boilers fuelled by gas and diesel or wood in order to provide warm air. In addition, the floor can also be heated by electric elements under the floor covering as well as by warm or hot water being pumped through pipes inside the floor. The aforementioned factors are expected to propel growth over the coming few years.These systems can function at reduced temperatures as compared to other radiator systems, thus increasing the efficiency of heat pumps and boilers that are being deployed to supply heat. This is expected to drive the global hydronic underfloor heating market size over the forecast period. The industry has been gaining momentum owing to mounting adoption in developing residential and commercial sectors.Several regulations by the regulatory authorities of developed countries for the usage of energy efficient technologies in residential, industrial, and commercial buildings are anticipated to foster the global demand. Increasing emphasis on design and aesthetics coupled with growing number of heat pump installations are expected to propel the industry growth. In addition, rising demand owing to high level of flexibility and comfort is also likely to augment demand over the forecast period. However, high initial cost of retrofitting heating systems in existing buildings along with slow response time is anticipated to hinder the demand growth over the coming few years.Increasing environmental awareness and energy efficiency standards is expected to offer potential growth opportunities to the global hydronic underfloor heating market. Uplifting flexibility of heating system and its operational cost effectiveness is also likely to act as future growth prospects over the forecast period. Design and maintenance is likely to challenge the demand growth from 2016 to 2023.The global hydronic underfloor heating market can be segmented on the basis of facility, application and region. By facility, heating in new buildings and heating in existing buildings are the prime segments. Industrial, commercial as well as residential sectors are the key applications for this industry.Make an inquiry for buying this report @Residential is the leading application sector owing to increasing growth of refurbishment activity in various developed nations. These systems are considered to be supreme heating devices for new buildings. In addition, it is also gaining recognition due to new product development and technology innovations in this sector. Rising development towards existing design has also motivated the users to create an uncluttered and clean look all over their residence.Key players in the hydronic underfloor heating market share include Robert Bosch, Uponor Corporation, Emerson Electric, Honeywell International, Danfos,s and Pentair. Other participants involved are Nexans, Schneider Electric, Siemens, and Mitsubishi Electric. The providers are focusing on new product development and mergers & acquisitions in order to gain competitive edge.Browse Related Reports: Hydropower Turbine Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Development, Price Trend, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2023About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Global Outlook for Glaucoma Therapeutics Market By Key Trends and Analysis 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/glaucoma-therapeutics-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=16406 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com https://tmrresearch.blogspot.com/ Global Glaucoma Therapeutics Market: SnapshotHealthcare providers, across the globe are making notable efforts to offer improved eye care products and services in order to preserve the vision of patients. This has resulted in a significant growth of the glaucoma therapeutics market worldwide. The key players in the global market are focusing on strengthening their drug pipeline of combination drugs is predicted to encourage the growth of the global glaucoma therapeutics market throughout the forecast period. Moreover, the increasing spending capacity of patients and the availability of advanced healthcare infrastructure are projected to supplement the growth of the market in the near future.According to the research study, in 2015, the global market for glaucoma therapeutics was worth US$5.7 bn. The market is anticipated to reach a value of US$7.6 bn by the end of 2024, registering a healthy 3.40% CAGR between 2016 and 2024.Obtain Report Details @Rising Demand for Combination Glaucoma Drugs to Encourage GrowthThe increasing number of cases of glaucoma and the rising demand for combination glaucoma drugs are some of the vital factors that are likely to encourage the growth of the global market in the next few years. The easy availability of medical insurance coverage for treatment and diagnosis is estimated to create lucrative opportunities for the prominent players operating in the global glaucoma therapeutics market in the coming years. Furthermore, the increasing geriatric population and the rising healthcare expenditure are predicted to fuel the growth of the market. On the contrary, stringent government regulations concerning marketing and approvals and the side effects of glaucoma medications are predicted to restrict the growth of the market in the near future.On the basis of end use, the hospital segment is estimated to lead the global glaucoma therapeutics market and account for a key share of the overall market in the near future. The rising preference of patients for visiting hospitals as the cost of therapies is comparatively lower is one of the major factors expected to bolster hospital segment in the coming years. The ambulatory surgical center segment is projected to hold a small share of the global glaucoma therapeutics market throughout the forecast period.Advent of Favorable Reimbursement Policies to Bolster North America MarketFrom a geographical perspective, in 2015, Europe and North America collectively accounted for a share of 75% of the global glaucoma therapeutics market. According to the research report, the North America is expected to witness a strong growth in the next few years, owing to the rising geriatric population and the availability of several treatment options. In addition, the rising awareness among patients regarding glaucoma and the introduction of favorable reimbursement policies are some of the major factors anticipated to fuel the growth of the North America glaucoma therapeutics market in the next few years.Furthermore, Europe is anticipated to exhibit a healthy growth rate throughout the forecast period. The substantial growth of this region can be attributed to the growing demand for topical eye drops and the expected launch of the combined medication products. With booming medical tourism, Asia Pacific is projected to grow significantly in the coming few years. On the other hand, the Middle East and Africa and Latin America are estimated to witness sluggish growth in the next few years.Some of the prominent players operating in the glaucoma therapeutics market across the globe are Allergan Inc., Aristo Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., Fera Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Inc., Santen Pharmaceuticals, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Aerie Pharmaceuticals, and Novartis AG. The presence of a strong drugs pipeline for glaucoma therapeutics is anticipated to encourage the growth of the global market in the next few years.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Browse market research blog: Global Concentrated Solar Power Markets is expected to be more than USD 53.7 Bn till year 2020 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/192939 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ Latest industry research report on: Global Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Systems Market | Industry Size, Share, Research, Reviews, Analysis, Strategies, Demand, Growth, Segmentation, Parameters, ForecastsResearch announces that it has published a new study Concentrated Solar Power (CSP): Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2014 to 2020. The 2014 study has 436 pages, 190 tables and figures. Worldwide markets are poised to achieve significant growth as the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) integrates molten salt storage technologies and leverages the existing steam electrical power generating capacity.Request Sample Copy of Report @The concentrated solar power market is set to explode despite environmental objections to the technology. The latest CSP launch, Ivanpah solar electric generating system is an engineering marvel that delivers on the full promise of solar energy. Ivanpah has 347,000 garage door-sized mirrors distributed across 173,500 heliostats. The heliostats track with the sun so that the mirrors can efficiently reflect its rays up to boilers that sit on top of the facility's three towers. The system uses solar field integration software and a solar receiver steam generator.Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) solar energy is the most promising and sustainable renewable energy; rolling out CSP systems offers both performance and competitive energy prices. CSP Solar provides a crucial energy solution that is utility scale and works 24 x 7 in combination with back-up stationary fuel cells.Concentrating solar power is one of several preferred methods of solar electricity production. In most places it has achieved 'grid-parity' when considering ROI over 35 years. The mainstream cost of electricity from the grid can be complemented by solar systems. The solar industry in China is funded by the government. This unrelenting investment in energy efficiency has thrust the Chinese companies into the forefront of the industry.Other countries rely on tax incentives and special tariffs to sustain further investment in solar electricity generation. This has enabled the industry to develop and provides very attractive investment opportunities, and is expected to do so for some time to come.There is a move in the solar industry to achieve grid-parity. Once this is secure, the solar market can expand very rapidly achieving penetration growth calculations that exceed any growth rate per se. A step-change in system costs is being achieved, putting the industry on the cusp of a major growth spurt.Concentrating solar technology uses traditional electricity steam generators to make power fueled by solar heat.The decrease in the costs of implementing CSP solar energy will continue. The competitiveness of concentrated solar power (CSP) will increase. Ultimately the ability to run a utility scale system that provides 24 x 7 electricity, is able to store energy and use it during the night when the sum is down provides competitive advantage to the CSP.Concentrated Solar power markets at $1.3 billion in 2013 are anticipated to reach $53.7 billion by 2020 because the systems are able to be built at utility scale and to provide 24 x 7 solar renewable energy power. Campus stationary fuel cell power is mature and available to act as a backup power source for CSP, creating greater capabilities and a better story for justifying the build out of CSP.Companies ProfiledMarket LeadersAbengoaAccionaBrightSource EnergySolar Millennium AGSolFocusUnited Technologies / SolarReserveMarket ParticipantsAmonixAORAAreva / AusraEntech SolareSolarNextEra EnergySoitecSolarReserveTooele Army DepotUS SilicaAbout UsMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Light Therapy Market revenue valued over $980mn by 2024 Global Market Insights, Inc. https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/740 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/light-therapy-market https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/740 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/cancer-biological-therapy-market https://www.gminsights.com https://gminsights.wordpress.com Global Light Therapy Market size is largely driven by increased prevalence of skin disease and growing adoption of therapy to treat psoriasis, cancer, acne, seasonal affective disorder, and neonatal jaundice. According to WHO, Psoriasis affects approximately 2% of the world population with nearly two thirds of people have mild form while others have extensive involvement of skin. Psoriasis prevalence among the developed countries ranges between 1.5% to 5.0%.This therapy is used to treat Seasonal Effective Disorder (SAD) and other specific disorders by making use of artificial light. SAD is a type of depression that is linked to changes in seasons. Brightness in this therapy is more than indoor lighting but less than sunlight. It is a specific wavelength which uses LED, fluorescent lamps, polychromatic polarized or full-spectrum administered for a certain amount of time during a specific time of the day. Light Therapy Market Size is forecast to grow above 4.5% CAGR from 2016 to 2024 and reach over USD 980 million by 2024.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @Increased adoption of boxes to treat SAD has accelerated light therapy market growth. It is the primary treatment method to treat neonatal jaundice, eczema and psoriasis. Photo oxidation is believed to provide these beneficial effects. Narrow band ultraviolet (UVB) and broad band UVB phototherapy is used to treat various skin disorders. Increased applications, favorable reimbursement policies, and insurance for such treatments will boost demand.Based on the products, light therapy boxes market share is expected to dominate sales due to its application in various sleep disorders. Visor market is gaining traction due to its applications in treatment of SAD. The head-mounted portable lighting devices intended to increase convenience and flexibility of use, are suited for novel applications such as in-flight treatment.LED has become popular due to its various applications on aging epidermis. It enables healthy blood circulation which augments the skins natural radiance and improves skin elasticity and surface. Infrared LED is used to treat acne vulgaris. These factors will drive growth.Browse key industry insights from the report, Light Therapy Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Potential, Competitive Market Share& Forecast, 2016 2024 in detail along with the table of contents:Blue fluorescent products are widely across the light therapy market. Rising demand for blue therapy for treatment of skin disorders such as psoriasis, eczema and SAD will maintain industry growth with blue light therapy market share expected to dominate by 2024.Increase in the incidence of various types of depression, rapid technological advancement, and increasing awareness of therapy is anticipated to accelerate the global industry growth through the forecast timeframe.U.S. light therapy market size contributed to majority of North America revenue in 2015, and is anticipated to increase owing to growing prevalence of psoriasis and other dermatological diseases. According to American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), psoriasis remains a common skin ailment in U.S. affecting 7.5 million people.Make an inquiry for buying this report @Germany contributed considerably to European revenue in 2015, mainly due to the adoption of innovative technologies to treat skin diseases. Favorable public and private reimbursement policies are encouraging patients to access novel therapies to treat dermatological diseases.Asia Pacific is expected to grow rapidly during the forecast period mainly due to steady economic development in the region. As per IFPA, more than 43 million people living with psoriasis in Asia Pacific. China light therapy market size is anticipated to hold majority regional share due to high geriatric population and rise in prevalence of dermatological diseases.Key operating participants in the global light therapy market share include Northern Light Technology, Verilux, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Photomedex Inc, Zepter International, Beurer, Nature Bright, Chal-Tec-GmbH, Lucimed SA, Lumie, Aura Daylight, Sphere Gadget Technologies. Major strategies adopted by these players include agreements, contracts, strategic partnerships, R&D investment, and mergers and acquisitions to consolidate market share.Browse Related Reports: Cancer Biological Therapy Market Size By Product (Monoclonal Antibodies [Naked Monoclonal Antibodies, Conjugated Monoclonal Antibodies, Bi-Specific Monoclonal Antibodies], Vaccines [Preventive, Therapeutic], Cancer Growth Blockers [Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors, Proteasome Inhibitors, mTOR Inhibitors], Blood Cell Growth Factors [Lenograstim, Filgrastim], Cytokines [Interferons, Interleukins]), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2023About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Automotive Connectors Market Estimated to Grow at a CAGR of 8% from 2016 to 2022 Automotive Connectors Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2365 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/automotive-connectors-market-2365 Market HighlightsMarket Research Future published a half cooked research report on Automotive Connectors Market. The Global Automotive Connectors Market is expected to grow over the CAGR of around 8% during the period 2016 to 2022.The Global Automotive Connectors Market will be driven by the increasing demand for reliable-fail safe electronics in the automotive industry. Specialized connectors used in automotive with ability to withstand extreme temperatures are expected to be adopted rapidly by the automotive manufacturers, thereby leading to the growth of the market. The penetration of connected cars and increase in electronic content per car is also expected to contribute for the demand of the high performance automotive connectors. The increase in need of safety and security in the automotive enhance the use of connectors used in anti-skid braking systems, vehicle immobilizers and airbags among others. The increase in vehicle thefts is leading to use of safety systems used in automotive industry, leading to increase in number of connectors used in safety of automotive.Request a Sample Report @Key PlayersThe key players of Automotive connectors market are TE Connectivity (Switzerland), Delphi Automotive (U.K.), Yazaki Corporation (Japan), Sumitomo Electric (Japan), Japan Aviation Electronics Industry (Japan), Amphenol Corporation (U.S.), Hirose Electric Co., Ltd. (Japan), Hu Lane Associates Inc. (Taiwan), Korea Electric Terminal Co. Ltd. (South Korea), Kyocera Corporation (Japan) and others.Market Research AnalysisAmongst all applications, the engine control and cooling system is expected to grow rapidly. The engine control system is an electronic control unit which controls a series of actuators on internal combustion engine, with the help of connectors, for ensuring optimal engine performance.Asia-Pacific region is expected to dominate the automotive connectors market with highest CAGR due to the positive macro-economic cues and expanding industrial and commercial markets. The booming consumer electronics industry and the increase in demand of high quality electronic interconnect solutions is further expected to drive the growth of the market in the Asia-pacific region.Access Report Details @Scope of the ReportThis study provides an overview of the Global Automotive connectors market, tracking three market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the Global Automotive connectors market by its connection type, system type, application and region. By connection Typeo Wire to Wireo Wire to Boardo Board to Board By System Typeo Sealedo Unsealed By Applicationo Body Control & Interiorso Engine Control & Cooling Systemo Others By Regiono North Americao Asia Pacifico Europeo Rest of the WorldAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com Global Semiconductor Chip Packaging Market to grow at a CAGR of 31.1% during the period 2017-2021 http://www.orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/228129 http://www.orbisresearch.com/contact/purchase/228129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/orbis-research SummaryOrbis Research add's New Report Global Semiconductor Chip Packaging Market 2017-2021 which has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts.DescriptionAbout Semiconductor Chip PackagingThe Global Semiconductor Chip Packaging Market to grow at a CAGR of 31.1% during the period 2017-2021.The growth in the applications of semiconductor chips in industries such as the power, energy, medical, electric vehicles, automobiles, networking and telecommunications, consumer applications, military, aerospace and defense, motor control applications, and robotics is driving the market. Thus, the market for packaging equipment is expected to gain substantial ground during the forecast period, as packaged chips are used to improve functionality and performance of the devices in which they are applied.Get a PDF Sample of Global Semiconductor Chip Packaging Market Report at:Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global semiconductor chip packaging market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from semiconductor chip packaging.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEAGlobal Semiconductor Chip Packaging Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Place a Purchase Order for Global Semiconductor Chip Packaging Market Report at:Key vendorsApplied MaterialsASM Pacific TechnologyKulicke & Soffa IndustriesTELTokyo SeimitsuMarket driverGrowing number of fabsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeIncreasing complexity of semiconductor IC designsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendDevelopment of 3D chip packagingFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +9164101019Follow Us on LinkedIn: Global Sapphire Substrate Material Market 2017 : Meller Optics, Hansol Technics, Rubicon Technology, Precision Micro-Optics, Saint-Gobain Group Sapphire Substrate Material https://goo.gl/rSYnMX http://www.marketnreports.com/global-sapphire-substrate-material-market-2017-industry-analysis.html http://www.marketnreports.com The market study on Global Sapphire Substrate Material Market 2017 Research Report studies current as well as future aspects of the Sapphire Substrate Material Market primarily based upon factors on that the businesses contend within the market, key trends and segmentation analysis. This report covers each side of the worldwide market, ranging from the fundamental market info and advancing more to varied important criteria, based on that, the Sapphire Substrate Material market is segmented.Request for FREE Sample Report of Sapphire Substrate Material Market @The study world Sapphire Substrate Material Industry Research Report 2017 may be a elaborate report scrutinising statistical knowledge concerning the worldwide market.Global Sapphire Substrate Material market competition by top manufacturers/players : Precision Micro-Optics Hansol Technics Semiconductor Wafer Rubicon Technology Meller Optics KYOCERA Corporation Saint-Gobain GroupThe report offers an in depth outline of the key segments at intervals the market. Analysis additionally covers upstream raw materials, equipment, downstream client survey, selling channels, industry development trend and proposals.The Sapphire Substrate Material report offers a close summary of the key segments within the market. The quickest & slowest growing market segments ar lined during this report. This analysis report covers the expansion prospects of the worldwide market based on end-users. It outlines the market shares of key regions in prime ten countries, it also includes analysis of the leading vendors during this market.The Global Sapphire Substrate Material Market report has Forecasted Compound Annual rate of growth (CAGR) differently price for explicit amount, which will facilitate user to require decision supported futuristic chart. Report additionally includes key players in world Sapphire Substrate Material market. The Sapphire Substrate Material market size is estimated in terms of revenue (US$) and production volume during this report.Click Here To Access Complete Report on Sapphire Substrate Material Market:In the end, the report includes Sapphire Substrate Material new project SWOT analysis, investment practicableness analysis, investment come analysis, and development trend analysis. The key rising opportunities of the fastest growing international Sapphire Substrate Material market segments are coated throughout this report. This report additionally presents product specification, producing method, and products cost structure. Production is separated by regions, technology and applications.About Us:Market and Reports provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Market N Reports cover more than 30 industries includsing energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Contact US:Market N Reports3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651Web:Email: sales@marketnreports.com Top Drivers for Anthocyanins Market help it Witness Healthy Growth http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/anthocyanin-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=2198 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Anthocyanins Market: SnapshotThe global market for anthocyanins has witnessed significant rise in the past few years owing to the rising awareness regarding the health benefits of anthocyanins and their rising set of applications across a number of industries. The strengthening economic conditions of developing countries such as India, China, Brazil, and Argentina in the past years and the resultant rise in purchasing power of consumers have helped increase the consumption of anthocyanin-rich foods across these countries. The consumption of anthocyanin rich products is also attributed to the changing lifestyle of the consumers, which, in turn, is fuelled by the rising awareness about health and wellness among consumers.Obtain Report Details @Transparency Market Research states that the global anthocyanins market was valued at US$300 mn in 2015 and will reach US$387.4 mn by 2021, expanding at a CAGR of 4.4% from 2015 to 2021.Applications across Food and Beverages Industry Continue to Accelerate Market GrowthIn terms of applications, the global anthocyanins market has been segmented into food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, and personal care. Of these, applications across the food and beverages industry contributed the maximum chunk of revenues to the global market in 2015, worth US$143.5 mn in 2015. The food and beverages industry is expected to retain market dominance throughout the forecast period, although a minor decline is anticipated by the end. The set of applications of anthocyanins in a variety of food and beverage products is enormous as compared to applications in other key end-use industries.Enter your information below to receive a sample copy of this report @However, therapeutic effects of anthocyanins, owing to their anti-oxidative, neuroprotective, and anti-cancer nature, have made them suitable for application in pharmaceutical products as well. Thus, the demand for anthocyanins in the healthcare sector has witnessed a huge rise in the past few years, making the pharmaceutical industry one of the key contributors to the global anthocyanin markets growth. Therefore, the pharmaceutical segment is the considered to be the most attractive application segment of the global anthocyanins market over the next few years, expected to register the most promising 4.9% CAGR from 2015 through 2021.Strict Regulations Related to Synthetic Food Colors to Hamper Anthocyanins Consumption in EuropeEurope is presently the market leader for anthocyanins in terms of contribution of revenue to the global market, valued at nearly US$106 mn in 2015 and is expected to retain market dominance throughout the forecast period. U.K. is the frontrunner for the regional market. However, the consumption of anthocyanins in the region has suffered a decline post the enforcement of stringent rules and regulations regarding the usage of synthetic food colors in various products.In Europe, every natural food color that has been approved for use is evaluated by the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF), which consists of a group of scientific experts from every member state appointed by the European Commission. This is expected to result in a slight decline in the regions share in the global anthocyanins market by 2021, with Asia Pacific emerging as the next high-potential consumer over the period between 2015 and 2021. The Asia Pacific anthocyanins market is expected to exhibit a highly promising and the most significant 8.73% CAGR over the said period.North America is also one of the key regional markets for anthocyanins, with U.S. and Canada being the major contributors to the vast demand for the same. Furthermore, several companies operating in the field of anthocyanins have strong presence in the region as well. Additionally, owing the heavy presence of the food and beverage, personal care, and pharmaceutical industries in the U.S., consumers have a wide access to a variety anthocyanin infused products. The demand for anthocyanins in North America is expected to witness a significant surge during the forecast period.Some of the key companies operating in the global anthocyanins market are Archer Daniels Midlands Co, Symrise A.G., Naturex S.A., CHR Hansen A/S, Sensient Technologies Corp, D.D. Williamson and Co. Inc., Kalsec Inc., FMC Corporation, Synthite Industries, and GNT Group.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Caps and Closures Market to Progress at a Healthy CAGR between 2015 and 2021 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/caps-closures-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=2275 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The increasing demand for effective packaging to ensure the longer shelf life of food and beverages is the key factor driving the global caps and closures market. The market is currently witnessing impressive demand from Asia Pacific. As per Transparency Market Research (TMR), a paradigm shift in consumer preference from unpackaged to more convenient and packaged food products is fuelling the demand for caps and closures from the regions packaging industry. The market is also gaining from the rising use of caps and closures in the alcoholic beverages segment.Obtain Report Details @Despite witnessing favorable growth opportunities, the advent of flexible packaging is likely to dampen the markets growth to an extent. Nevertheless, the increasing investment by manufacturers in novel technologies, designs, and materials is expected to boost the market in the near future.According to TMR, the global caps and closures market, which stood at US$36.23 bn in 2014, is expected to reach US$51.57 bn by the end of 2021. If these figures hold true, the global caps and closures market will exhibit a CAGR of 5.2% between 2015 and 2021.Enter your information below to receive a sample copy of this report @Rising Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages to Fuel Demand for Caps and ClosuresIn terms of revenue, the alcoholic beverages segment held over 57.35% of the overall caps and closures market in 2014. The rising consumption of beer around the world has been fuelling demand from the alcoholic beverages segment. While this has led to the increasing use of metal crowns for beer bottles, metal screw closures are fast replacing corks used in wine bottles. The segment is also expected to gain impetus from the rising consumption of wine across emerging economies.The non-alcoholic segment includes caps and closures manufactured for the packaging of bottled water and carbonated soft-drinks. The shifting demand of consumers from carbonated soft drinks to bottled water is expected to fuel the demand for caps and closures in this segment. Bottled water is calorie-free, which is the key factor boosting its sales worldwide. This will, in turn, fuel the demand for caps and closures.Increasing Purchasing Power of Consumers Puts Asia Pacific at the ForeRegionally, Asia Pacific led the global caps and closure market in 2014, with China and India emerging as lucrative markets. The rising demand for canned food and beverages is the primary factor driving the Asia Pacific caps and closures market. Furthermore, due to rising purchasing power and improving living standards, consumers in this region have become more willing to spend on packaged products and convenient foods. The consumption of alcoholic beverages has increased as well. Spurred by these factors, the market for caps and closures in Asia Pacific is expected to reach US$18.75 bn by the end of 2021.Besides this, TMR also projects that the market will witness considerable growth in developed economies across Europe and North America. The rising demand for plastic packaging in these regions is fuelling the demand for plastic screw caps, which in turn, boosts sales opportunities for caps and closures manufacturers.Some of the leading companies operating in the global caps and closures market are Silgan Holdings, Plastics Corporation, Crown Holdings, Closure Systems International, Aptar Group, and Pact Group Holdings.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Commercial Drones Market: Technology Advancement, Industry Size, Share, Analysis, Overview, Forecasts To 2020 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/240188 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ Latest industry research report on: Global Commercial Drones Market | Industry Size, Share, Research, Reviews, Analysis, Strategies, Demand, Growth, Segmentation, Parameters, ForecastsWinterGreen Research announces that it has published a new study Commercial Drones: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021. Next generation commercial drones achieve a complete replacement of existing commercial airfreight delivery systems, they are used for 3D mapping, commercial pipeline observation, border patrol, package delivery, photography, and agriculture are more energy efficient, last longer and have a significantly lower cost of operation than manned aircraft.Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) markets at $609 million in 2014 are forecast to reach $4.8 billion dollars, worldwide by 2021. This is a sizable market growth with oil and gas mapping, utility line inspection, package delivery, and agricultural applications accounting for virtually all the unit sales. Drones can provide more information at less cost than a human inspection team can.Request Sample Copy of Report @Drones markets promise to grow significantly because of the more economical visualization and navigation provided by systems. Visualization includes mapping from the air, inspection from the air, surveillance from the air, and package delivery from the air. The unmanned aircraft equipped with cameras are able to do things that cannot be done in any other way. This bodes well for market development.Unmanned aircraft systems promise to achieve a more significant aspect of commercial market presence. Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems flying of 3 million flight hours gives drones market credibility. Eighty eight percent of those hours were logged in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, paving the way for commercial drone markets to develop.Quantities of fielded systems increase as application usefulness increases. Police departments, the oil and gas industry, border patrol, and utilities are all using commercial drones. Units are used for agriculture. Vendors continue to improve the capabilities of these drone aircraft as more air miles are logged. Their ability to support the commercial endeavors is increasing. Unmanned aircraft have fundamentally changed the accuracy of utility and oil and gas inspections. They are set to fundamentally change how agriculture is conducted.Japan and Australia have been using drones in agriculture since the 1980s. Worldwide markets are evolving for several compelling applications. High value crops are a target of agricultural robotic development. What could be tastier than a strawberry, perfectly formed, and perfectly ripened? New agricultural robots are able to improve the delivery of consistent quality food, and to implement efficiency in managing food production.Strawberries are a high profit crop. A new generation of drones has just been born. Strawberry spraying with the world's most advanced technology is able to give maximum performance to a farm. Harvesting robots can use pictures from drones to optimize the productivity of the farming business by determining fruit ripeness from the air. Growers can get the best results in a berry farm using automated process. Automated picking collection systems improve labor productivity, give speed and agility to harvest operations.The robotic platforms are capable of site-specific spraying. The capability is targeted spraying only on foliage and selected targets. It can be used for selective harvesting of fruit. The robots detect the fruit, sense its ripeness, then move to grasp and softly detach only ripe fruit.Drone commercial uses will provide billions of dollars in economic growth. Centers of excellence are evolving worldwide. For the most part, open-use policies are in effect worldwide. Except in the US, Drones are currently mostly banned in the US. The US is more restrictive, it could take months, even years before the FAA offers preliminary guidelines on the commercial use of unmanned aircraft systemsCommercial drones are set to build highways in the sky. The market will only evolve past the early adopter stage after the industry finds ways to build navigation infrastructure that is safe and that works. Roads in the sky will create altitude differences that function as bridges to separate the drones from each other when they are flying at angles to each other.This type of navigation needs to be defined by industry standards groups, much as the software industry has been able to develop industry stands that provide the base for a market, so also, the commercial drone manufacturers need to come together with representatives from each company and from all the governments to decide on the highways in the sky.Another aspect of commercial drone markets is the safety issue. If drones become so prevalent that they fall out of the sky on people or homes, this becomes a problem for the people hit or the people who own the homes that are destroyed. As the air crashes from so long ago in the 1920s to yesterday illustrate, people are deterred from commercial drone use by air crashes. Crashes can virtually destroy what is promising to be a burgeoning industry of commercial drones.The drone industry is going to need to find a way to prevent injuries on the ground before anyone will support the burgeoning industry in any significant way.In unpopulated areas like to Alaskan oil fields oil pipelines, and utility high wires, there is plenty of space for the drones to make a market. In vast agricultural land areas, drones promise to be able to be used without any danger to humans. The drones create new uses for automated process. The drones are less expensive than manned vehicles and more useful. They are useful in agricultural applications where the cameras are able to do spotting in a manner that is more efficient than the humans can do.Unmanned aircraft systems are achieving a level of relatively early maturity. Fleets of unmanned aircraft systems have begun to evolve. The U.S. Army has achieved one million flight hours for its unmanned aircraft systems fleet. Unmanned aerial systems have good handling characteristics. UAS units are designed to perform high-speed, longendurance, more covert, multi-mission intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and precision-strike missions over land or sea.Drone units feature a variety of internal loads, including 2,000 lb payload, an Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor, and an all-weather GA-ASI Lynx synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator (SAR/GMTI), maximizing long loiter capabilities.UAS offers the business persistent situational awareness and mission affordability. For the cost of one manned fighter aircraft, multiple-swarm configured units can cover an area of interest, providing 24/7 ISR coverage, target identification, neutralization, mission flexibility, and attrition tolerance. Some drone UAS have the capability to support manned aircraft missions if desired.Drones markets promise to grow significantly because of the better visualization provided by systems. Visualization includes mapping from the air, inspection from the air, surveillance from the air, and package delivery from the air. The unmanned aircraft equipped with cameras are able to do things that cannot be done in any other way. This bodes well for market development.Unmanned aircraft systems promise to achieve a more significant aspect of commercial market presence. Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems flying of 3 million flight hours gives drones market credibility. Eighty eight percent of those hours were logged in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan.According to Susan Eustis, leader of the team that prepared the study, Quantities of fielded systems increase. Police departments, the oil and gas industry, border patrol, and utilities are all using commercial drones. Units are used for agriculture. Vendors continue to improve the capabilities of these drone aircraft. Their ability to support the commercial endeavors is increasing. Unmanned aircraft have fundamentally changed the accuracy of utility and oil and gas inspections. They are set to fundamentally change how agriculture is conducted.WinterGreen Research is an independent research organization funded by the sale of market research studies all over the world and by the implementation of ROI models that are used to calculate the total cost of ownership of equipment, services, and software. The company has 35 distributors worldwide, including Global Information Info Shop, Market Research.com, Research and Markets, Bloomberg, electronics.ca, and Thompson Financial. WinterGreen Research is positioned to help customers facing challenges that define the modern enterprises. The increasingly global nature of science, technology and engineering is a reflection of the implementation of the globally integrated enterprise. Customers trust wintergreen research to work alongside them to ensure the success of the participation in a particular market segment.WinterGreen Research supports various market segment programs; provides trusted technical services to the marketing departments. It carries out accurate market share and forecast analysis services for a range of commercial and government customers globally. These are all vital market research support solutions requiring trust and integrity.About UsMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Animal Healthcare Market to grow at 7% CAGR from 2016 to 2024 Global Market Insights, Inc. https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/735 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/animal-healthcare-market https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/735 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/companion-animal-vaccines-market https://www.gminsights.com https://gminsights.wordpress.com Global Animal Healthcare Market size is driven by increase in trend of adopting a companion animal. Pets such as cats and dogs are adopted for various therapeutic and psychological benefits. Adoption of pet animals has increased in the developing countries such as China and India due increased imitation of western culture and other lifestyle changes. Animal Healthcare Market size is forecast to grow over 7% CAGR from 2016 to 2024 and reach over USD 45 billion.Growing prevalence of food borne and zoonotic diseases will be a potential concern to the health of pet animals. In several countries such as U.S., brucellosis is increasing and it can cause still birth or abortion in animals. The bacterial infection generally affects goats and other livestock animals, thus leading to the growth in the industry.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @With the increase in pet population, animal bite cases have gone up, leading to increased chance of disease transmission to human population. This concern is acted upon by the regulatory authorities and the effect is expected to drive industry growth.Based on products, market can be segmented into feed additives, vaccines and pharmaceuticals. Animal feed additives market can be further segmented into nutritional and medicinal additives. Nutritional products include vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Medicinal feed additives include amino acids, probiotics, prebiotics, immune modulators and enzymes. Pharmaceuticals include antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, endo-parasiticides, ecto-parasiticides, and medicines for reproductive problems.U.S. animal healthcare market size contributed to majority of North American industry in 2015, and is anticipated to increase its share owing to increased adoption of companion animals and growing consumer focus on their health and feed additives. Increasing importance of livestock animals will further accelerate the market growth.Browse key industry insights from the report, Animal Healthcare Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Development, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2024 in detail along with the table of contents:UK contributed to majority of Europe animal healthcare market share in 2015.It was due to increase in the zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza, anthrax, tularemia among others. Germany veterinary health care market is the second largest in Europe. This has been due to the increased spending on vaccinations by the pet owners. The pharmaceuticals are anticipated to account for majority of Germany revenue share.Animal healthcare market plays a significant role in safeguarding the animal husbandry industry in India. Feed additives accounted for a majority of market share in 2015. The increased adoption of innovative technologies for prevention and cure of various diseases of farm and companion animals is expected to drive the industry.Brazil expects to explore the industry potential in coming years owing to increased pets humanization trend and rising awareness of animal healthcare.Make an inquiry for buying this report @Major players in global animal healthcare market share include Merck & Co. Inc., Zoetis Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH., Elanco Products Company., Bayer AG, MERIAL Limited, Novartis Animal Health Inc. Virbac SA. Ceva Sante Animale., Vetoquinol SA. Major strategies include strategic collaborations such as merger and acquisitions, contracts, R&D investment to consolidate market share.Browse Related Reports: Companion Animal Vaccines Market, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Potential, Competitive Market Share and Forecast, 2016-2024About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Major corn exporters appear in green, major importers in red. The U.S. is the top exporter, and Mexico the largest importer. The United States is still the king of corn. But there are others looking to knock it off its throne. It probably comes as no surprise to many corn producers here that the greatest rival is Brazil. From my standpoint, when you look at our big competitor in corn, its Brazil, said Paul Bertels, vice president of production and sustainability with the National Corn Growers Association. Brazil isnt the second-largest producer China is. But China consumes most of its corn, and is not a major player in export markets. Meanwhile, Brazil continues to challenge the top dog in world corn marketing. And its neighbor, Argentina, isnt far behind. While still the worlds largest producer and exporter of corn, the U.S. has slipped recently, falling from 40 percent of world production to about 37 percent. U.S. corn exports are estimated to hit 56.5 million tons this year. The pile of corn is growing, and everyone is looking for a place to dump it. In the coming months, were seeing U.S. sales and shipments slow down. And this is mainly due to increased competition from Brazil and Argentina, said USDA economist Thomas Capehart. The reason is their upcoming corn harvest will be swinging into play very shortly, and that will pose a real challenge to U.S. exports, because their corn is competitively priced. Forward export prices show that Argentina, especially, will be competitive relative to the United States, probably starting in March. The early planted corn crop in Argentina will be marketed at that point. Theres going to be, basically, a glut of corn on the market. Development of better hybrids, genetic engineering and superior cropping techniques have improved yields worldwide. A growing population and expanding middle class across the globe have opened demand, but there are plenty of suppliers waiting to meet it. Average world corn yield increased 1.3 percent per year from 1990 to 2016, according to the USDAs Foreign Agricultural Service. The United States has consistently produced the highest-yielding corn crop in the world. However, some countries have made significant progress toward achieving U.S. level yields. China produced 220 million metric tons of corn last year, second to the 385 million tons grown in the U.S. That places the country second in percentage of world production, at 21 percent. And while it holds onto much of its corn, the gates are occasionally flung open. The Black Sea region is also a major mover and shaker in the corn business. Ukraine ranks sixth in production, and Russia is not far behind. But the immediate challenge to the U.S. in corn dominance continues to be South America. One reason is climate. In some areas of Brazil and Argentina, farmers are able to grow two crops in a single year. According to the USDA, 55 percent of the increase in global corn production has been achieved from increased yields, but 45 percent is from expanded acreage. And many countries outside the U.S. have much more arable land still untapped. Global Packaged Wastewater Treatment Market 2017 : Veolia, Enviroquip, Global Treat, Smith & Loveless, Corix Water System Packaged Wastewater Treatment http://bit.ly/2mvJKuP http://bit.ly/2mTQEpb A market study based on the "Packaged Wastewater Treatment Market" across the globe, recently added to the repository of Market Research, is titled Global Packaged Wastewater Treatment Market 2017. The research report analyses the historical as well as present performance of the worldwide Packaged Wastewater Treatment industry, and makes predictions on the future status of Packaged Wastewater Treatment market on the basis of this analysis.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here :Top Manufacturers Analysis Of This Research ReportPollution Control SystemRWLSmith & LovelessVeoliaCorix Water SystemCST Wastewater SolutionsDynamic Aqua ScienceEnviroquipGlobal TreatThe report studies the industry for Packaged Wastewater Treatment across the globe taking the existing industry chain, the import and export statistics in Packaged Wastewater Treatment market & dynamics of demand and supply of Packaged Wastewater Treatment into consideration. The 'Packaged Wastewater Treatment' research study covers each and every aspect of the Packaged Wastewater Treatment market globally, which starts from the definition of the Packaged Wastewater Treatment industry and develops towards Packaged Wastewater Treatment market segmentations. Further, every segment of the Packaged Wastewater Treatment market is classified and analyzed on the basis of product types, application, and the end-use industries of the Packaged Wastewater Treatment market. The geographical segmentation of the Packaged Wastewater Treatment industry has also been covered at length in this report.The competitive landscape of the worldwide market for Packaged Wastewater Treatment is determined by evaluating the various industry participants, production capacity, Packaged Wastewater Treatment market's production chain, and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Packaged Wastewater Treatment market worldwide.Enquire Here :The global Packaged Wastewater Treatment market 2017 is also analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Packaged Wastewater Treatment production volume, data regarding demand and Packaged Wastewater Treatment supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, and market attractiveness analysis has been used in the research to present a comprehensive study of the industry for Packaged Wastewater Treatment across the globe.About Us :Business Worldwide are a trusted brand in the research industry with capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with high level of accuracy. At Business Worldwide, we believe in building long term relations with our clients. Our services cover a broad spectrum of industries such as Automotive and Aerospace, Medical Devices, Technology, Machinery & Manufacturing.Contact Us :Business WorldwideUnited States Aquaculture Market Outlook 2022: Top Companies, Trends and Growth Factors Details for Business Development https://marketsizeforecasters.com/get-sample/14738 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/enquire-for-discount/14738 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/global-and-chinese-aquaculture-industry-2017-market https://marketsizeforecasters.com/north-america-aquarium-market http://marketsizeforecasters.com/ Worldwide Aquaculture market report of 2017 provides a detailed market overview as well as industry analysis for / of companies, manufacturers and distributors covering data on gross margin, cost structure, consumption value, sale price and more.The 'Global and Chinese Aquaculture Industry, 2012-2022 Market Research Report' is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Aquaculture industry with a focus on the Chinese market. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Aquaculture manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international and Chinese major industry players in detail. In this part, the report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and 2012-2017 market shares for each company.Request a sample copy of Aquaculture Market Research Report @Through the statistical analysis, the report depicts the global and Chinese total market of Aquaculture industry including capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand and Chinese import/export. The total market is further divided by company, by country, and by application/type for the competitive landscape analysis. The report then estimates 2017-2022 market development trends of Aquaculture industry. Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand, and current market dynamics is also carried out. In the end, the report makes some important proposals for a new project of Aquaculture Industry before evaluating its feasibility. Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2012-2022 global and Chinese Aquaculture industry covering all important parameters.The listed pricing for this Aquaculture Market report starts at $ 3000. Request Discount for Aquaculture Market Research Report @Major Points Covers in Table of ContentsChapter One Introduction of Aquaculture Industry1.1 Brief Introduction of Aquaculture1.2 Development of Aquaculture Industry1.3 Status of Aquaculture IndustryChapter Two Manufacturing Technology of Aquaculture2.1 Development of Aquaculture Manufacturing Technology2.2 Analysis of Aquaculture Manufacturing Technology2.3 Trends of Aquaculture Manufacturing TechnologyBrowse full table of contents and data tables For Aquaculture Market Report @Related Reports: -North America Aquarium Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022This report analyzes the aquarium equipment. Aquarium equipment doesn?t refer to a single kind of tool or equipment. Generally, it refers to a series of tools including aquarium (fish tank), air pump, water pump, filter, feeder, heater, chiller, decorations and etc. used for the keeping or breeding of water-dwelling animals (ornamental fish, shrimp, turtle and so on) or plants.MarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market size forecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite:Connect with us: LinkedIn | Twitter Porcine Vaccine Market will rise to US$926.2 million by 2024 Porcine Vaccine Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/north-america-porcine-vaccine-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=16976 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ For several decades, vaccination has remained one of the most important interventions for disease prevention among humans and animals. In veterinary medicine, vaccination has proven to be a boon for animal health. Diseases such as diarrhoea, swine influenza, porcine reproductive and respiratory virus (PRRSV), porcine circovirus associated disease (PCVAD), have been greatly reduced from spreading endemic in several cases. Some diseases such as foot and mouth disease and cholera high fever in swines have been significantly eliminated in North America with the help of vaccination.The market for porcine vaccine in the region is expected to exhibit healthy growth in the next few years as well. The rising demand for meat and gelatin and concerns regarding the rising pace of occurrence of zoonotic diseases will be the key factors driving the market in the near future. Transparency Market Research estimates that the North America porcine vaccine market will expand at a 5.3% CAGR from 2016 to 2024. As a result, the market, which valued at US$540.9 mn in 2015, will rise to US$926.2 mn by 2024.Read Full Report:In terms of the technology used to develop vaccines, the North America porcine vaccines market has been segmented into inactivated vaccines, live attenuated vaccines, recombinant vaccines, toxoid vaccines, DNA vaccines, and conjugate vaccines. Of these, the segment of inactivated vaccines dominated the market in 2015 and is expected to account for a 53.3% of the North America veterinary vaccine market in 2016. The segment is also expected to exhibit the most promising growth in the near future, expanding at a 6.7% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024.The segment of live attenuated vaccines will exhibit a strong 5.9% CAGR over the said period. Rise in the number of swine farms, rising prevalence of zoonotic disease, and increase in investments by key players are likely to drive the live attenuated vaccine segment. The DNA vaccine segment is projected to emerge as a high-growth segment owing to rise in demand and increase in R&D investments. DNA vaccines have shown excellent results in granting strong immunity against homologous infections and have a good score in terms of approval from regulatory bodies in the region. As a result, the demand for these vaccines is expected to rise at a healthy pace in the region over the forecast period.Download exclusive Sample of this report:The North America porcine vaccine market has been examined for two countries in the region: the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. market for porcine vaccines accounted for a larger 63% share in the North America market in 2015. The U.S. porcine vaccine market is expected to exhibit the most lucrative 6.6% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024. Factors such as well-established infrastructure in immunological research, high concentration of key players, highly organized farming structure, increased demand for animal protein, and rising expenditure on animal health by farm owners are attributed to the dominant share of the country in the North America market.The market in Canada is also anticipated to expand at a healthy, but comparatively lower CAGR of 5.8% from 2016 to 2024. Factors such as the rising prevalence of PRRS virus and PCV2 among herds and rising focus of key players on R&D activities for the development of effective vaccines will contribute to the growth prospects of the Canada porcine vaccines market in the near future. Moreover, export and import permits among contract manufacturers or distributer firms and low estimated cost of products are also expected to make the porcine vaccine market more popular in Canada.Some of the key players in the market are Bayer AG., Bimeda Animal Health, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Ceva Sante Animale, Merck & Co., Inc., Merial (Sanofi), Vetoquinol, Zoetis, Inc., Elanco (Eli Lilly and Company).About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Online Food Delivery and Takeaway Market Future Trends and Forecast by 2021 Orbis Research http://www.orbisresearch.com/reports/index/global-online-food-delivery-and-takeaway-market-analysis-by-order-type-by-region-by-country-trends-opportunities-and-forecasts-2016-2021 http://www.orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/226637 http://www.orbisresearch.com/contact/purchase/226637 A comprehensive research report created through extensive primary research (inputs from industry experts, companies, stakeholders) and secondary research, the report aims to present the analysis of global online food delivery and takeaway market on the basis of Order Type (Delivery and Takeaway); By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and MEA) and By Country (U.S., Canada, U.K., Italy, Spain, France, Netherland, China, Japan, India, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E and South Africa).Browse the report:Global Food Delivery and Takeaway Market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 15.25% during 2016 2021. The strong growth in Global Food Delivery and Takeaway market is driven by Convenience that these online food ordering platforms provide in food ordering, access to variety of food at one virtual marketplace and option to pay online. Apart from that, the increasing hectic work schedule, congested metropolitan cities, easy access to internet and increasing smartphone penetration has been impelling growth in the Online food ordering and takeaway market.The orders placed for delivery hold the major percentage share in the total food delivery and takeaway market, and is projected to grow at a faster growth in the future owing to the rise in busy work schedules in the metropolitan cities. The online food ordering is expected to rise in the forecasted period as it easy to use and avoid any ambiguity in food order placement. Among the regions, North America is predicted to advance at the highest rate, mainly driven by the presence of large and well organized food service sector and continuous innovation in the food ordering and delivery segment, Economic growth and high urbanization rate with higher disposable income.Request a sample of the report:According to Azoth Analytics research report, Global Online Food Delivery and Takeaway Market Analysis By Order Type, By Region, By Country: Trends, Opportunities and Forecasts (2016-2021), Global Online Food Delivery and Takeaway Market market is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 15.25% during 2016 - 2021. Global Online Food Delivery and Takeaway Market have been segmented on basis of Order Type (Delivery and Takeaway); By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and MEA) and By Country (U.S., Canada, U.K., Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, China, Japan, India, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E and South Africa).Scope of the ReportThe report provides coverage by Order Type, By Region and By Country:By Order TypeDeliveryTakeawayBy RegionNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMEABuy the report@By CountryUSCanadaU.KItalySpainFranceNetherlandsChinaJapanIndiaAustraliaBrazilMexicoSaudi ArabiaU.A.ESouth AfricaCustomization of the ReportThe report could be customized according to the clients specific research requirements. No additional cost will be required to pay for limited additional research.About Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Information:Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +9164101019Email: sales@orbisresearch.com Limited Slip Differential (LSD) Market Research Report by Supply, Demand and Pricing Outlook to 2022 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/get-sample/18077 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/enquire-for-discount/18077 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/global-limited-slip-differential-lsd-market https://marketsizeforecasters.com/2017-2022-india-truck-mounted-concrete-pump-market http://marketsizeforecasters.com/ In automotive applications, a limited slip differential (LSD) is a modified or derived type of differential gear arrangement that allows for some difference in rotational velocity of the output shafts, but does not allow the difference in speed to increase beyond a preset amount. In an automobile, such limited slip differentials are sometimes used in place of a standard differential, where they convey certain dynamic advantages, at the expense of greater complexity.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Limited Slip Differential (LSD) in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a sample copy of Limited Slip Differential (LSD) Market Research Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversGKNJTEKTEatonBorgWarnerMagnaDANAAAMKAAZCUSCOQuaifeTANHASMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversMechanical LSDElectronic LSDOtherMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoSUV & Pickup TruckSedan & HatchbackOtherThe listed pricing for this Limited Slip Differential (LSD) Market report starts at $ 3480. Request Discount for Limited Slip Differential (LSD) Industry Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Limited Slip Differential (LSD) market.Chapter 1, to describe Limited Slip Differential (LSD) Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Lawn Mower, with sales, revenue, and price of Lawn Mower, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Lawn Mower, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Limited Slip Differential (LSD) market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Limited Slip Differential (LSD) sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceBrowse full table of contents and data tables For Limited Slip Differential (LSD) Market Research Report @Related Reports: -2017-2022 India Truck-mounted Concrete Pump Market Report (Status and Outlook)The Truck-mounted Concrete Pump market size will be XX million (USD) in 2022 in India, from the XX million (USD) in 2016, with a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) XX% from 2016 to 2022.In India market, the top players include many company. With key sales data like sales (volume), revenue, market share for top players.such asJunjinLiebherrSermacKyokuto Kaihatsu KogyoSANYZoomlionXCMGLiuGongMarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market size forecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite:Connect with us: LinkedIn | Twitter Intracranial Pressure Monitors Market Outlook Key Analysis and Forecast by 2023 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/intracranial-pressure-monitors-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=6445 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Upswing in Brain injuries Demands Increased Application of Intracranial Pressure MonitorsThe increased prevalence of traumatic injuries and strokes has laid the ground for the immense rise of the global intracranial pressure monitors market. The upswing in the cases of brain injuries in children as well as adults has also boosted the demand for intracranial pressure monitoring remarkably across the world. However, the biggest influence on this market, which stood at US$0.94 bn in 2014, has been accredited to the substantial shift from invasive pressure monitors to non-invasive pressure monitors. This trend is expected to have an enduring effect on the dynamics of demand and supply of these monitors.Transparency Market Research expects this market to rise at a CAGR of 6.30% between 2015 and 2023, with business opportunity reaching US$1.63 bn by the end of 2023. Untapped developing countries are anticipated to present opportunity-rich market for participants in the global market for intracranial pressure monitors.Obtain Report Details:A significant growth can be witnessed in the demand for intracranial pressure monitors with their increasing application in the detection and management of various cerebrovascular disorders such as meningitis, traumatic brain injury, brain tumor, and intracerebral hemorrhage.Growing Prevalence of Traumatic Injuries Fuels Demand for Intracranial Pressure Monitors in North AmericaThe market for intracranial pressure monitors stretches across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. North America has surfaced as the biggest contributor to the intracranial monitor consumption since the past few years. The increasing prevalence of neurological disorders and traumatic injuries have amplified the application of these monitors in this region. Additionally, technical advancements in the field of pressure monitoring are expected to influence the sales volume of these monitors considerably in North America over the coming years.Although North America will remain the leading regional market for intracranial pressure monitors during the forecast period, Asia Pacific will offer the most profitable opportunities to market players, on account of the presence of a large number of untapped markets.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report:Apart from this, the augmenting incidence of cerebrovascular disorders, fuelled by the increasing base of geriatric population, and the rising expenditure on healthcare, owing to surging disposable income, are also projected to boost the demand for these monitors in the near future. Europe holds the second position in the worldwide intracranial pressure monitors market.Integra LifeSciences Corp., Medtronic Inc., and Codman & Shurtleff Inc. are leading the global intracranial pressure monitors market. The collective share of these three companies in the overall market is 53.4%. Other prominent manufacturers of intracranial pressure monitors are Haiying Medical, HeadSense Medical Inc., Raumedic AG, Spiegelberg GmbH & Co. KG., and SOPHYSA.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global High-Purity Gold Market Opportunities, Sales, Growth and Regional Analysis By 2022 High-Purity Gold https://goo.gl/0b5z7e http://www.qyresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-high-purity-gold-market-2017-industry-trends.html This report studies sales (consumption) of High-Purity Gold in Global market, especially in United States, China, Europe and Japan, focuses on top players in these regions/countries, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player in these regionsThe market research report by QY Research provides detailed study on the overall High-Purity Gold market size, its financial positions, its unique selling points, key products, and key developments. This research report has segmented the High-Purity Gold market based on the segments covering all the domains in terms of type, country, region, forecasting revenues, and market share, along with analysis of latest trends in every sub-segment.Click Here to Request Sample Report @The qualitative segmentation of High-Purity Gold market covered in the report gives in-depth information of the overall market. Furthermore, the market size, share, forecast trends, analysis, sales, supply, production, demand, major manufacturers, end-users, and many other vital factors are comprised in the Market Research High-Purity Gold report by QY Research. By these comprehensive data, it is simple to take and make precise and accurate decisions taking into consideration the present market situation and the forecasts of the global market, which in turn may result into profitable step for our clients.A competitive landscape that identifies the major competitors of the global market and their market share are further highlighted in the research report. A deliberate profiling of major competitors of the High-Purity Gold market as well as a inclusive analysis of their current developments, core competencies, and investments in each segment are also elaborated in the research report.Browse Full Report @The overall information of the High-Purity Gold market provided in the report helps our client to make precise and accurate decisions in order to gain maximum profit in this cutthroat competition in the global market. The report comprises various elements such as table, figure, charts, TOCs, chapters, and so on so as to provide a crystal clear data to the client giving a brief of the market and its trends. Thus, the report provides in-depth information of the High-Purity Gold market in terms of revenue, value, volume, region, and many more.About Us:QYResearch Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. QYResearch Group also carries the capability to assist you with your customized market research requirements including in-depth market surveys, primary interviews, competitive landscaping, and company profiles. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics. QYResearch Group is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Asian Food Market Size, Trends, Scope and Competitive Landscape Outlook to 2015-2021 https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/asian-food-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/toc/asian-food-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/asian-food-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com Asian foods comprise Thai, Chinese, and Indian foods. Asia food has marked its presence in the fast food segment in Western countries. It is also considered to be more nutritious than conventional fast foods such as pizza, burgers, pasta, taco, burritos, and sandwiches. The Asian food market is extremely fragmented worldwide and many small players operate as exclusive restaurants or as chained restaurants. Asian foods have marked their presence around the globe in a very short time owing to their acceptance by people who taste lovers and opt for such foods.Request Free Sample Report @The Asian food market around the world is anticipated to witness a considerable growth in the near future. People opt for exotic ethnic food owing to its superior taste and affordable prices. One of the major factors driving the growth of Asian food market includes constantly changing food habits in various region of the world. These factors may vary from region to region; however, rising disposable income and growing culture of eating non-home-made food as a change are other factors impacting the demand for Asian food in emerging countries in a positive way. Western countries are inclined towards variety and novel taste. Thus, quick service and full-service restaurants have been established which include Asian food in their main stream menu in order to fulfill the growing demand for Asian food. On the other hand, improper advertising and distribution channel as the market involves a great number of small players in the competition may hamper the growth of the global Asian food market.Request Report TOC (Table of Contents) @On the basis of product type, the global Asian food market is segmented as oriental styles, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Thai, and Indian. Geographically, the global market is further segmented as Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World (RoW).North America is anticipated to witness high demand for Asian food owing to a considerable increase in the consumption of Asian food in this region. In addition, there is a high demand for spicy food with various sauces in Europe as well. This in turn also impacts the growth of the market in Europe in a positive way. Europe is expected to be the largest market for Asian food in the near future.Browse detail report @Some of the key players dominating the global Asian food market are Pei Wei Asian Diner, Panda Express, and Moods Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. Other key players influencing the global market are Inns Bruck and Euro food Group Plc.About UsZion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, a company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.Contact Us:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll-Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite: Specialty Feed Additives Market Global Industry Analysis Forecast 2016 - 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/specialty-feed-additives-market.html# http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=21476 Specialty feed additives are food supplements that are primarily used for farm animals. Specialty feed additives make up for the lack of nutrients animals get through other food that farmers provide. Important nutrients that farm animals require are amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals. The nutritional value of animal feed is not only influenced by nutrition content but also depends on hygiene, digestibility, and its effect on intestinal health. Hence, specialty feed additives are gaining importance.Browse Market Research Report @ :Based on type, the specialty feed additives market is classified into minerals, binders, vitamins, acidifiers, flavors & sweeteners, antioxidants, and others (complex carbohydrates, enzymes etc.). In terms of livestock, the specialty feed additives market is divided into poultry, ruminants, swine, and aquatic animals. Specialty feed additives are available in liquid and dry forms. Dry form can be available in pellets or powder. Rise in eruption of diseases in livestock and increase in consumption of animal products are the major factors driving the specialty feed additives market. Lack of awareness about the advantages of specialty feed additives among small scale farmers and rise in raw material and operational costs may hamper the demand for specialty feed additives in the near future. Global feed markets increasingly driven by knowledge of animal genetics and improvement in nutrition efficiency due to higher focus on productivity improvements.The poultry segment is anticipated to expand at significant pace during the forecast period, followed by swine and ruminant segments. Increase in poultry trade and rise in concerns about food security are the major factors projected to boost the specialty feed additives market during the forecast period.In terms of types of specialty feed additives, the acidifiers segment is anticipated to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period. The flavors & sweeteners segment accounted for key share in 2015. It was followed by the minerals segment in the same year.Based on form, the specialty feed additives market is segmented into liquid and dry. The liquid segment is expected to expand at a high CAGR compared to the dry form during the forecast period. Liquid specialty additives are gaining popularity due to their low cost vis-a-vis the dry form.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @ :Based on function, the specialty feed additives market is segmented into mycotoxin management, palatability enhancement, preservation of functional ingredients, and others (greater dry matter intake and increased capacity for nutrient absorption). Palatability enhancement is projected to be the rapidly growing segment during the forecast period. Palatability enhancement of the feed leads to high feed intake by livestock. Thus, the segment is expanding substantially in the specialty feed additives market.Asia Pacific is anticipated to be a rapidly growing market for specialty feed additives. It is expected to be followed by Europe and North America during the forecast period. Increase in population, rise in disposable income, and growth in urbanization are estimated to propel the demand for specialty feed additives during the forecast period. The specialty feed additives market in China, India, and Japan is likely to expand at a high rate, led by the increase in purchasing power of consumers in these countries.Key players operating in the specialty feed additives market include BASF SE, Evonik Industries, Novus International, Akzo Nobel Surface Chemistry AB, DSM, Novozymes A/S, Nutreco N.V., Brookside Agra, Kemin Industries Inc., Biomin Holding GmbH, Invivo NSA, and Chr. Hansen Holdings A/S.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207 Asia Pacific Endoscopy Devices Market 2016 - Industry Perspective and Comprehensive Analysis 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/asia-pacific-endoscopy-devices-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=488 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Countries in Asia Pacific have witnessed a massive change in their respective healthcare infrastructures and number of resources trained in the use of technologically advanced medical devices in the past few years, leading to the vast rise in the usage of advanced endoscopy devices. The rising geriatric population, rising disposable incomes, increased healthcare infrastructure, and an increased awareness regarding the benefits of minimally invasive devices has also accelerated demand for endoscopy devices in Asia Pacific in the recent past.Transparency Market Research estimates that the market will tread along a healthy growth path and exhibit a 7.6% CAGR from 2016 through 2024. The market, which had a valuation of US$7.76 bn in 2015, is expected to rise to US$14.8 bn by 2024.Obtain Report Details:Endoscopy Visualization Systems to Remain Dominant Product VarietyA variety of endoscopes, endoscopic operating devices, and visualization systems required for endoscopy procedures come under the purview of the endoscopy devices market. Of these, the segment of visualization systems presently leads the Asia Pacific endoscopy devices market in terms of revenue, accounting for over 46% of the markets overall revenues in 2015. Factors such as strengthening economies, rising population of affluent patients, and rising expenditure on health and wellness have enabled the increased adoption of costly and technologically advanced endoscopy visualization products across healthcare settings in the region in the past few years. The segment is expected to expand at an excellent pace over the forecasting horizon as well, retaining its dominant stance across key product varieties.Of the key types of endoscopy visualization systems available in the Asia Pacific endoscopy devices market, the segment of high definition (HD) visualization systems is the leading product variety. The segment accounted for nearly 73% of the overall endoscopy visualization systems market in Asia Pacific in 2015.Laparoscopy Surgeries Lead to Highest Demand for Endoscopy DevicesCollectively, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and arthroscopy surgeries accounted for the leading share in the Asia Pacific endoscopy devices market in 2015. On an individual level, however, the segment of laparoscopy surgeries leads in terms of revenue in the Asia Pacific endoscopy devices market. The segment accounted for a 33% share in the overall market in 2015.The vast rise in the number of surgeries such as hernia repairs, antireflux, cholecystectomy, and appendectomy and the emphasis on noninvasive surgical procedures are key to the high contribution of laparoscopy surgeries to the markets revenues. Expanding at a 9.1% CAGR, the laparoscopy surgeries segment is expected to remain one of the leading individual contributors to the markets revenues from 2016 through 2024 as well.Despite Low Population, Japan Emerges as Most Lucrative Market for Endoscopy DevicesFill the form for an exclusive sample of this report:Japan was a key revenue contributor to the Asia Pacific endoscopy devices market in 2015, accounting for a more than 35% of revenue. High disposable incomes, rapidly rising geriatric population, and increased adoption of minimally invasive devices were the key forces driving the endoscopy devices market in Japan in the past few years. However, the mature market is expected to witness stagnant growth in the near future and lose its prominence to countries such as India and China.The market for endoscopy devices is expected to witness expansion at a strong pace in China, at an estimated CAGR of 9.9% over the period between 2016 and 2024, among the most prominent countrywide markets for endoscopy devices in Asia Pacific. The China endoscopy devices market is expected to rise to a valuation of US$5.58 bn by 2024.Some of the leading vendors in the highly fragmented market are Boston Scientific Corporation, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., Arthrex, Inc., Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Cook Medical, Inc., KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG, HOYA Corporation, Stryker Corporation, Olympus Corporation, Medtronic plc, and Smith & Nephew plc.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: An Indianola man was sentenced Wednesday to up to 25 years in prison for sexually abusing two girls in Davenport in 2013. Christopher J. Myers, 32, must serve 70 percent, or 17.5 years, before he is eligible for parole. I understand that this court has found me guilty on the counts that I had plead out to and I further agree to become a better citizen and learn from my mistakes, Myers said before District Court Judge Paul Macek handed down the sentence. Earlier in the hearing, he proclaimed his innocence and asked Macek to allow him to take back his guilty plea to two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, a Class B felony. The motion was denied. On March 17, 2016, the Indianola Police Department received a complaint claiming sexual abuse, according to arrest affidavits filed by the Davenport Police Department. Myers and co-defendant April Mae Lincoln repeatedly sexually abused the girls, ages 6 and 7, while they were staying in the 100 block of South Howell Street in Davenport, according to the arrest affidavits. The couple then told the girls not to tell anyone about what was happening, according to the arrest affidavits. According to Scott County District Court electronic records, the abuse began taking place in 2013. Lincoln pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual abuse and was sentenced Jan. 5 to up to 25 years in prison. Myers pleaded guilty Jan. 13. He filed a motion to take back his plea through his former attorney, Harlan Giese Jr., a month later. Giese withdrew from the case the same day, and attorney Randall McNaughton was appointed. Myers testified Wednesday that he is innocent of all the charges that is currently here in Davenport and that Giese urged him to plead guilty. He also claimed that the statements of the two victims do not coincide with being up here in Davenport and that he was not being charged in the right jurisdiction. Under questioning from Assistant Scott County Attorney Amy Devine, Myers testified that he told police that he sexually abused the two girls in Davenport but said that he had lied about it. He also said he lied when he admitted to the judge at his plea hearing that he abused the girls and that he was satisfied with Gieses representation. Giese, who has practiced law for 41 years, testified that he thought a plea deal was in Myers' best interest based on the evidence in the case. That evidence, according to Devine, included a written and audio-recorded confession from Myers and statements from Lincoln and the two girls. Macek denied the motion and said he found Giese's testimony extremely credible and Myers testimony incredible. Macek said that based on the age of the victims, nature of the crime and Myers' criminal history, a prison sentence was necessary and that he would regrettably accept the recommendation laid in the plea agreement and run the sentences on the two sex abuse charge concurrently, or at the same time. If I had the option to put you in prison for 50 years without allowing you to withdraw your plea, Id do that in a heartbeat, he said. White Biotechnology Market 2024; Report scope and market segmentation http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/white-biotechnology-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=2317 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ The rising awareness regarding the enormous benefits of the eco-friendly products manufactured through the application of white biotechnology principles has paved the way for the development of the global white biotechnology market in the past few years. Government bodies are increasingly focusing on raising awareness regarding the need for adopting greener technologies such as white biotechnology across the industrial segment. Funds allocated for increasing R&D activities in the field and instigation of strict emission regulations are compelling industries to increasingly adopt white biotechnology principles and products.Transparency Market Research states that the global white biotechnology market will expand at a healthy CAGR of 4.5% over the period between 2016 and 2024. Rising at this pace, the market, which held an opportunity of US$178.1 bn in 2015, will reach US$262.3 bn by 2024.Obtain Report Details:Applications across Energy Industry to Offer Favorable ReturnsApplication-wise, the energy segment is presently the largest contributor to the global white biotechnology market. In 2015, the segment accounted for a share of over 32% of the global market, which is expected to rise moderately by 2024. The pharmaceutical industry is the second-largest application area, accounting for a nearly 29% share in the global market in 2015. The energy segment held the most prominent position in the global white biotechnology market owing to the increased demand for bioenergy in developed economies.The increased ease of application of white biotechnology has also made it more easily replaceable across applications that prominently used non-renewable energy sources. Additionally, the increased awareness regarding the cleaner nature of white biotechnology products have also increased their adoption across the energy industry in the past few years. Over the period between 2016 and 2024, the segment is expected to retain its dominance and expand at a healthy 4.8% CAGR.North America to Retain Dominance but Asia Pacific to Present Most Promising Growth OpportunitiesFill the form for an exclusive sample of this report:North America is presently the largest regional market for white technology, accounting for a dominant share of over 35% of the overall market in 2015. Substantial funds provided by the government for research and development in the field and increase in demand for green products from consumers are the key factors strengthening North Americas position in the global market. In the next few years as well, the North America market for white biotechnology is expected to remain the largest contributor to the markets overall revenues, chiefly owing to an increase set of applications across industries such as pharmaceuticals, food, energy, and feed.Nevertheless, the market for white biotechnology in Asia Pacific is expected to exhibit the highest CAGR of 5% in terms of revenue contribution to the global market over the period of 2016 and 2024. The Asia Pacific market will be driven primarily by the rising demand for renewable resources across developing countries in the region. The abundance of raw materials that can be used for producing white technology products will also enable the regional market to emerge as the most promising region for investments.Some of the key vendors operating in the global white biotechnology market are Archer Daniels Midland Company, Novozymes, BASF SE, Cargill, Inc., DuPont, Corbion, and Lesaffre.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Thalassemia Market Report: 2016 Edition http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/725246 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketresearchreports-biz Thalassemia is a hereditary blood disorder in which a persons body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin, which is the protein molecule in red blood cells (RBCs), which carries oxygen. The disorder results in unwarranted damage of red blood cells, which leads to anemia. Anemia is a condition in which the body doesnt have adequate amount of normal and healthy red blood cells. There are majorly two types of thalassemia based on these proteins known as the Alpha thalassemia and the Beta thalassemia. There is also a third type viz. Sickle beta thalassemia, which is like a combination of sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia.Even though it is a rare genetic disorder, the number of people affected by it has been growing with time. While those with thalassemia minor have hardly any threat to their life and only require occasional blood transfusion to sustain, thalassemia major patients need to go for periodic transfusions for a sustained life. In case of infants, thalassemia major often leads to still birth or cause death shortly after the babys birth. Presently the only cure for thalassemia is a bone marrow transplantation therapy, which is done mostly for severe cases of thalassemia.Download Sample Copy of This Report at:The key factors which are anticipated to drive this market include rising healthcare expenditure, rising spending on stem cell therapy research and development and rising population in the East-Asia and Pacific region of the world. Some of the noteworthy developments of this industry include the advances in the iron chelation therapy, development of gene therapy and fetal hemoglobin inducers as potential curatives for thalassemia. However, the growth of respective industry is challenged by the high cost of treatments, lack of alternative treatments and unmet market of the Asia-Pacific.The report provides a comprehensive study of global thalassemia market and also major regional markets. Furthermore, market dynamics such as key trends and development; and challenges are analyzed in depth. The global thalassemia industry is highly competitive consisting of several companies including the Lonza group, Acceleron Pharma, BlueBird Bio and Sangamo Biosciences etc. The competitive landscape of the respective market, along with the company profiles of the leading players are also discussed in detail.About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports.MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients.We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated researchreports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and typesof companies spanning across various industries.ContactState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.bizFollow us on LinkedIn: Prefilled Syringes Market 2024: Analysis, Growth, Drivers, Vendors Landscape, Shares, Size, Trends, Challenges, Segmentation with Forecast http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/prefilled-syringes-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1131 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Becton Dickinson and Company Group plc., Baxter International Inc., Terumo Medical Corporation, and Medtronic are the top four players that dominate over half the prefilled syringes market. Transparency Market Research has noted that the global prefilled syringes market is highly dynamic and competitive and while the nature of the market is consolidated in developed regions owing to the presence of large players, it remains fragmented in most of the emerging markets with many small regional players.The global sales of prefilled syringes amounted to US$3.5 bn in 2015 and is projected to reach US$7.9 bn, expanding at a CAGR of 9.3% over the period of 2016 to 2024. In terms of prefilled syringes consumption, the market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.0% during the forecast period.Ambulatory Surgical Centers to Show Promising Growth over Forecast PeriodRead Full Report:By application, the vaccines segment dominated the global prefilled syringes market, accounting for a collective share of 34.3% in 2015. The segment is also projected to exhibit a strong growth rate from 2016 to 2024. In terms of percentage share contribution, the polymer-based prefilled syringes segment is expected to continue its lead in the global market through 2024. It will also register the highest growth in the coming years. By distribution channel, the hospitals segment is projected to account for the major share by the end of the forecast period. On the other hand, ambulatory surgical centers are likely to register a high growth rate by 2024.North America dominates the global market, while Asia Pacific is expected to witness strong growth. The U.S. is the largest market for prefilled syringes, accounting for around 35.5% share of the global marketImproving Safety Standards Driving Innovation among Product ManufacturersThe incidence of needle stick injuries has been a cause for concern over the years. According to the World Health Organization, almost two million healthcare professionals suffer from infectious diseases resulting from needle stick injuries each year.Various needle safety devices such as passive needle guarding caps with a polymer shield and a retractable needle system as well as advanced technologies such as advanced barrel technology and multi-chamber syringes are being developed to cope with this problem, the author of the study finds. Therefore, improving safety standards and technological advancements have been primarily driving the global prefilled syringes market.View exclusive Global strategic Business Report :High Costs Associated with Prefilled Syringes Inhibiting widespread AdoptionThere are several factors that pose a severe challenge to the growth of the global prefilled syringes market, the primary one being the high costs associated with temperature controlled packaging required for temperature-sensitive drugs. In order to maintain specified temperatures and conditions throughout the shelf life of a drug, drug manufacturing companies require several complex machineries that need to be maintained regularly, the TMR analyst states. This is a costly affair and as a result, restricts companies from manufacturing prefilled syringes.Other factors inhibiting the market include product recalls due to breakages and leachables, the potential risk of interaction between prefilled syringes and drugs, and the availability of alternative drug delivery methods.This review is based on the findings of a TMR report titled Prefilled Syringes Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2016 - 2024.Global Prefilled Syringes Market By MaterialGlass based prefilled syringesPolymer based prefilled syringesGlobal Prefilled Syringes Market By ApplicationMonoclonal AntibodiesVaccinesOthersGlobal Prefilled Syringes Market By Distribution ChannelHospitalsAmbulatory Surgical CentersMail order pharmaciesGlobal Prefilled Syringes Market By RegionNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaEuropeGermanyU.KFranceItalySpainRest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)ChinaIndiaJapanAustraliaNew ZealandRest of Asia PacificMiddle East and Africa (MEA)Saudi ArabiaUAERSARest of MEATransparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Isobutanol Market will grasp USD 1,085.00 Million By 2020 Isobutanol Market https://goo.gl/2hgDLN http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/isobutanol-market-z50845 http://www.marketresearchstore.com Zion Research has published a new report titled Isobutanol Market for Paints and Coating, Automobiles, Building & Construction Industry, Pharmaceutical Oil & Gas, Chemical Intermediate and Other Applications: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2014 2020. According to the report, global demand for isobutanol was valued at USD 775.0 million in 2014, is expected to reach approximately USD 1,085.0 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of slightly above 6% between 2015 and 2020. In terms of volume, the global isobutanol market stood at around 550.0 kilo tons in 2014.Isobutanol is an organic compound with the formula (CH3)2CHCH2OH. It is a colorless, flammable liquid, and low boiling isomer of butanol with a characteristic smell is mainly used as a solvent. Isobutanol is produced by the carbonylation of propylene. Isobutanol is used as a raw material for isobutyl acrylate, coating resins, isobutyl acetate, and paint thinners. Isobutanol has offers a range of technical and industrial applications such as precursor of various isobutyl esters, chemical intermediate, solvents for paints & coating, production of pharmaceutical, oil and gas, automotive paint cleaner additive and building & construction industry. Isobutanol is very soluble in water and miscible with alcohols and ketones.Get a copy of Sample Report:Global isobutanol market is mainly driven by increasing demand from chemical intermediate and automobile industry. Further, rising building & construction industry, and increasing demand from paints and coatings industry is expected to boost the growth of the market Increasing pharmaceutical industry in developed and developing countries due to improving health standards is also acting as key driver for the market. However, crude oil cost and supply fluctuations are expected to hinder the isobutanol market growth.On the basis of applications, isobutanol market has been classified into Paints and coating, automobiles, building & construction industry, pharmaceutical oil & gas, chemical intermediate and other. Chemical intermediate application segment dominated the market with 40% share of the total market in 2014. In addition, paints and coating and oil and gas industry is expected to become fastest growing applications of isobutanol during the forecast period.Browse the full report atGeographically, global isobutanol market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America regions. Asia Pacific region was the major user of the Isobutanol in term of consumption. Increasing demand from automobiles, construction, and paints & coating industries is likely to boost the demand for isobutanol in the region during the years to come. Asia pacific was followed by Europe. Europe is anticipated to observer grow at moderate rate in the years to come. North America is also expected to grow at modest rate due to rapidly growing automobile and pharmaceutical industry.Some of the major industry participants in global isobutanol market include BASF SE, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Formosa Plastics Corp., The Dow Chemical Company, Oxea GmbH, Eastman Chemical Company, Sasol Ltd., Ineos Oxide Ltd. and Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company.Global Isobutanol Market: Application Segment AnalysisPaints And CoatingAutomobilesBuilding & Construction IndustryPharmaceuticalOil & GasChemical IntermediateOthersGlobal Isobutanol Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaAbout UsZion Research is a market intelligence company providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Zion Research experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants uses proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@marketresearchstore.comWebsite: Solar Trackers (Single Axis And Dual Axis) Market Report For Solar PV, CPV, CSP Technology In Utility And Non Utility Applications - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast 2020 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/175965 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/category/26 Solar trackers are the devices used to orient photovoltaic panels toward the sun to harness more sunlight. They enable solar modules to remain in the best position to accumulate maximum energy from the sun. These trackers are installed in residential, commercial and utility scale solar projects. Solar tracker comprises of numerous components and parts including sun tracking algorithm, control unit, positioning system, drive mechanism system, sensing devices, wind guard, tubes, and rods.This research study analyzes the market size of solar trackers, both in terms of volume (annual installation capacity) and revenue. The solar tracker market has been segmented on the basis of technology, product, application, and geography, in order to provide a holistic picture of the market. Market data for all segments has been provided on a regional level for the period 2010 to 2020. A comprehensive competitive landscape of key companies has also been provided in this report.Download Sample Copy Of This report:Key technologies analyzed in the report include solar photovoltaic, concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) and concentrated solar power (CSP). Solar tracker product segments estimated in this study include single axis and dual axis solar trackers. Major applications analyzed in this report include utility and non-utility. Regional data has been provided for North America (U.S. and Canada), Europe (Spain, Italy, Germany and Greece), Asia Pacific (China, India and Japan), and Latin America (Brazil and Chile).This report also includes Porters five forces model analysis, value chain analysis, and market attractiveness analysis by technology. Some of the key market participants that deal in solar trackers include Abengoa Solar, AllEarth Renewables, Array Technologies, DEGERenergie, Ecosun Ltd, Energia Ercam, Mecasolar, Titan Tracker, Mechatron, SmartTrak, and Soitec. The report provides an overview of these companies followed by their financial revenue, business strategies, and recent developments.Browse More Published Reports:The research provides detailed analysis of companies dealing in solar trackers, trend analysis and demand forecast by geography. Various levels of market segmentation for which estimates and forecasts have been provided are as follows:Solar Tracker Market: Technology AnalysisSolar PVConcentrated Photovoltaic (CPV)Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)Solar Tracker Market: Product AnalysisSingle AxisDual AxisSolar Tracker Market: Application AnalysisUtilityNon UtilitySolar Tracker Market: Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeSpainGermanyGreeceItalyAsia PacificChinaIndiaJapanLatin AmericaBrazilChileMarketResearchReports.biz supports your business intelligence needs with over 100,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable Industry Research Report 2015 | Researchmoz.us http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=430411 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=430411 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable Industry 2015 Market Research Report" to its huge collection of research reports.The Global Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable Industry Report 2015 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable industry.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable market analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report focuses on global major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.With 158 tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview1.1 Definition and Specifications of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable1.2 Classification of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable1.2.1 Copper(aluminum)conductor,XLPE insulated and PVC sheathed cable1.2.2 Copper(aluminum)conductor,XLPE1.2.3 Copper(aluminum)conductor,XLPE1.3 Applications of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable1.3.1 Power Systems1.3.2 Machinery Systems1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regjions Status of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable1.5.1 Industry Overview of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable1.7 Industry News Analysis of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable2.2 Labor Cost Analysis of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable2.3 Other Costs Analysis of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable2.4 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable2.5 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Key Manufacturers in 20143.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Key Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable Manufacturers in 20143.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable Key Manufacturers in 20143.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable Key Manufacturers in 20144 Production Analysis of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable by Regions, Technology, and Applications4.1 Global Production of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable by Regions (US, EU, China, Japan, etc.) 2010-20154.2 Global Production of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable by Type in 2010-20154.3 Global Production of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable by Applications 2010-20154.4 Price Analysis of Global Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable Key Manufacturers in 20154.5 US Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable 2010-20154.6 EU Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable 2010-20154.7 Japan Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable 2010-20154.8 China Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable 2010-20155 Sales and Revenue Analysis of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable by Regions5.1 Global Sales of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable by Regions (US, EU, China, Japan, etc.) 2010-20155.2 Global Revenue of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable by Regions (US, EU, China, Japan, etc.) 2010-20155.3 Global Price Analysis of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable Sales by Regions (US, EU, China, Japan, etc.) 2010-20155.4 Global Price, Cost and Gross of Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Cable 2010-2015Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ EEG-EMG Equipment Market Expected to Grow due to their Innumerable Benefits http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/eeg-emg-equipment-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=2872 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Global EEG and EMG Equipment Market: SnapshotElectroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) are neurophysiology devices that are designed to help physicians assess the functions of the central and peripheral nervous system such as the muscular system. These analytical tools are used for understanding the progression of diseases and disorders such as epilepsy, sleep disorders, neurological critical care, and cognitive alterations. Therefore, the rising pool of geriatric population that is prone to these conditions is expected to drive the growth of the global EEG-EMG equipment market in the coming years. Owing to these reasons, the global market is expected to be worth US$2.4 bn by the end of 2024 from US$1.3 bn in 2015. Between the forecast period of 2016 and 2024, the global market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 7.4%.Obtain Report Details:The market is also likely to be driven by the high prevalence of brain disorders among elderly population such as Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease. Furthermore, remarkable innovations in the technologies used in the overall market for developing devices to treat sleep disorders are expected to accelerate the growth of the global EEG-EMG equipment market. The increasing number of pediatric neurological disorder cases are also expected to augment the demand for EEG-EMG equipment in the near future. The commonly seen pediatric neurological disorders are brain tumors, spinal degenerative diseases, neuropathies, movement disorders, and epilepsy.Electroencephalography to Lead the Pack as their Adoption in Hospitals and Research Institutes IncreasesOn the basis of product, the global EEG-EMG equipment market is divided into electroencephalography and electromyography. Of these, the EEG segment led the pack, accounting for nearly 61.6% share in the global market in 2015. This segment is expected to continue its dominance throughout the forecast period as they are used in neurodiagnostic centers, hospitals, and research institutes in order to gain accurate and effective diagnostic results.The report also indicates that the EMG segment is also anticipated to grow at a phenomenal pace during the forecast period as the cases of spinal cord or neural diseases among geriatric population continue to be on the rise. The innovation in technologies and software to enhance the quality of EEG equipment required for treating Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease are also projected to drive the global market.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report:North America Emerges as Key Regional Market with Robust Healthcare ProgramsIn terms of geography, the global EEG-EMG equipment market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. North America held a leading position in the global EEG-EMG equipment market in 2015, accounting for a share of 35.1% in the overall market. The region is expected to continue its dominance in the coming few years due to the high prevalence of neural diseases and presence of healthcare awareness program for the aging population. Additionally, technological developments and growing demand for neurophysiology devices from both physicians and researchers are also anticipated to impact the regional market in a positive way.The key players operating in the global EEG-EMG equipment market are Nihon Kohden Corporation, Cadwell Industries, Inc., Compumedics Limited, Medtronic, Natus Medical Incorporated, Electrical Geodesics Inc., Masimo Corporation, Zynex Inc., Allengers Medical Systems Limited and others. As of 2016, Nihon Kohden Corporation held a dominant share in the global EEG-EMG equipment market.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: China Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Industry Key Trends, Size, Growth, Shares And Forecast Research Report 2015 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=430405 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=430405 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "China Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Industry 2015 Market Research Report" to its huge collection of research reports.The China Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Industry Report 2015 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) industry.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) market analysis is provided for the China markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and Bill of Materials cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report focuses on China major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.With 188 tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Table of ContentsChapter One Industry Overview1.1 Definition and Specifications of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)1.2 Classification of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)1.2.1 Crystal-Silicon1.2.2 Thin Film1.2.3 OPV&DSC1.3 Applications of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)1.3.1 Roofs1.3.2 Curtain wall1.3.3 Windows1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)1.5 Industry Overview of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)1.7 Industry News Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)Chapter Two Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)2.1 Bill of Materials (BOM) of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)2.2 BOM Price Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)2.4 Depreciation Cost Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)Chapter Three Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of China Key Manufacturers in 20143.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of China Key Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Manufacturers in 20143.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of China Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Key Manufacturers in 20143.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of China Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Key Manufacturers in 2014Chapter Four Production Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) by Regions, Technology, and Applications4.1 China Production of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) by Regions (Key Province) 2010-20154.2 China Production of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) by Product Types 2010-20154.3 China Sales of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) by Applications 2010-20154.4 Price Analysis of China Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Key Manufacturers in 20154.5 China Capacity, Production, Import, Export, Sales, Price, Cost and Revenue of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) 2010-2015Chapter Five Sales and Revenue Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) by Regions5.1 China Sales of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) by Regions 2010-20155.2 China Revenue of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) by Regions 2010-20155.3 China Price Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Sales by Regions 2010-20155.4 China Price, Cost and Gross of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) 2010-2015Chapter Six Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Production, Supply, Sales and Market Status 2010-20156.1 Capacity Production Sales Revenue of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) 2010-20156.2 Production Sales Market Share Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) 2014-20156.3 Import, Export and Consumption of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) 2010-20156.4 Supply, Consumption and Gap of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) 2010-20156.5 Import, Export and Consumption of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) 2010-20156.6 Cost, Price, Revenue and Gross Margin of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) 2010-2015Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Worldwide Analysis on Blood Glucose Device Market & Forecast (SMBG) | Researchmoz.us http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=910647 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=910647 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Blood Glucose Device Market & Forecast (SMBG) (Test Strips, Lancet, Meter) Worldwide Analysis" to its huge collection of research reports.Blood Glucose Device Market & Forecast (SMBG) (Test Strips, Lancet, Meter) Worldwide Analysis analyzes the worldwide market for, blood glucose test strips market, blood glucose lancet market and blood glucose meter market. This is the 3rd publication on Glucose Device Market by Renub Research. This report studies separate comprehensive analytics for the 15 countries: United States, European Countries (United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland), BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China), Australia and Kuwait. Annual estimates and forecast are provided for the period of 2016 through 2020. A nine year historic analysis is also provided for these markets. This 269 page report with 257 Figures and 12 Tables provides a complete analysis of top 15 countries of worldwide self-monitoring blood glucose (SMBG) market.Self-Monitoring Blood Glucose (SMBG) Device Market is expected to cross over US$ 16 Billion by 2020 as incidence of diabetes is increasing dramatically. It is estimated that 642 Million people will develop the disease by 2040. This is putting pressure on governments and social institutions to take necessary steps to keep the disease in check and avoid complications in order to ensure that diabetic impact is kept to a minimum. United States is the single largest market for SMBG devices market followed by Russia and United Kingdom. However, China has the highest self-monitoring of blood glucose users compared to other countries.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @United States, Russia and United Kingdom together hold more than 63 percent of the total test strips market share whereas in blood glucose meter market China is the dominating country. All big players such as Roche, Bayer and Abbott Laboratories are continuously losing their market share.- Test Strip, Lancet, Glucose Meter Market, Diabetes Population of 15 Countries- Diabetes Population Scenario and Forecast in all 15 countries- Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Scenario and Forecast in all 15 countries- Self-Monitoring Blood Glucose (SMBG) Devices Users and Forecast in all 15 countries- Self-Monitoring Blood Glucose Devices (SMBG) Market and Forecast in all 15 countries- Blood Glucose Test Strips Market and Forecast in all 15 countries- Blood Glucose Lancet Market and Forecast in all 15 countries- Blood Glucose Meter Market and Forecast in all 15 countriesCountries Covered in this Report:- United States- United Kingdom- Germany- Spain- Italy- Netherlands- Norway- Sweden- Switzerland- Brazil- Russia- India- China- Australia- Kuwait4 Companies Revenue (Sales) from Self-Monitoring Blood Glucose (SMBG) devices have been analyzed in this report.- Roche Diagnostic- LifeScan Inc.,- Bayer HealthCare- Abbott LaboratoriesData Sources This report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research and inhouse analysis by Renub Research team of industry experts.Primary sources include industry surveys and telephone interviews with industry experts.Secondary sources information and data has been collected from various printable and nonprintable sources like search engines, News websites, Government Websites, Trade Journals, White papers, Government Agencies, Magazines, Newspapers, Trade associations, Books, Industry Portals, Industry Associations and access to more than 500 paid databases.Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Gynecological Devices Market Trends, Regulatory Landscape and Operational Strategies 2023 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/gynecological-devices-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=613 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Global Gynecology Devices Market: An OverviewThe globally increasing prevalence of diseases such as cervical cancer, uterine fibroids, menorrhagia, and a number of other minor ailments is the key factor boosting the growth and market penetration of gynecology devices. Adding to this is the negative effects of the modern lifestyle on the female body and organs. These changes have imparted a greater deal of social and financial stress, creating a wider scope of women falling prey to gynecological disorders. Another major driver that gynecology devices players can refer to is the growing population of elderly women.At the same time, expenditures in healthcare are increasing, further improving the research and development investments and therefore, improving the chances of diagnostic success. Owing to these factors, the global gynecology devices revenue generated is expected to increase at a CAGR of 4.8% between 2015 and 2023. This markets overall revenue generated is expected to increase from US$14.9 bn in 2014 to US$22.5 bn in 2023. Key players absorbing major portions of this revenue include CooperSurgical, Inc., Medtronic PLC, Olympus Corporation, Stryker Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation, and Hologic, Inc.Obtain Report Details:Currently, the market for gynecology devices is extremely scattered, as most of the top players in the market are still only regionally dominant. This leaves a large vacancy for new entrants to take up a share in the revenue through innovative efforts and focus on specific market segments.Major Players Move From North America to Other Regions for Greater OpportunitiesThe U.S. and Canada have consistently provided major opportunities for players in the gynecology devices to flourish. Ample investment support, large patient pool, high awareness, and an advanced healthcare infrastructure have led to North America housing some of the biggest names in gynecology devices. While these regions will continue to remain strong in terms of growth, players operating here are rapidly looking to expand their base towards Europe and Asia Pacific, especially the former. Key reasons for this need to shift regional focus include increasing regulatory pressure and macroeconomic complications. As a result, manufacturers are expected to establish their presence in other regions, including the E.U. and emerging economies.North America has been the leading regional consumer of gynecology devices in 2014, holding 41.1% of the total revenue. This region is expected to retain its dominance till 2023, owing to a number of major advancements in technologies that will be incorporated here first. The second-largest region in terms of gynecology devices revenue generation is Asia Pacific. It is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.3% from 2015 to 2023, which is the fastest growth rate among all regions.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report:Gynecology Surgical Devices Show Highest Demand GloballyGynecological chairs, diagnostic imaging systems, surgical devices, and hand instruments are the four key product gynecology devices product types. Of these, surgical devices are currently undergoing a spike in demand, primarily owing to a rise in the number of minimally invasive surgical devices. Key innovations in surgical devices include the introduction of single port laparoscopic surgery and the Da Vinci robotic platform.The benefits of minimally invasive surgery go a long way in gynecology. The removal of anesthesia as a necessity, smaller incision scars, smaller hospital stay durations, and faster healing rates are widely welcome benefits and are therefore leading the massive opportunities on a global scale.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for having sex with a 13-year-old girl who became pregnant and had a baby boy. Anthony Plunkett, 19, had pleaded guilty in January in Woodbury County District Court to one count of lascivious acts with a child. In addition to the prison sentence, District Judge Jeffrey Poulson ordered Plunkett to register with the Iowa Sex Offender Registry for life and also serve a special sex offender sentence in which he will be on lifetime parole after completing his prison sentence. If he were to violate terms of the special sentence, he could be sent to prison. The victim, then seven months pregnant and 13 years old at the time, told authorities in March 2015 that she'd had sex with Plunkett from about June 1, 2014, to July 31, 2014, when Plunkett would have been 17. She told authorities that Plunkett had told her he was 15, and she stopped seeing him after learning he was older. Plunkett admitted to police that he had sex with the girl more than 10 times, court documents said. Recent Study Revals Global Biologics and Biosimilars Industry Trends and Forecast Report 2017 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=998582 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=998582 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Biologics and Biosimilars Industry 2017, Trends and Forecast Report" to its huge collection of research reports.Biologics and Biosimilars Report by Material, Application, and Geography Global Forecast to 2021 is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, united Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and China).The report firstly introduced the Biologics and Biosimilars basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the world's main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.The report includes six parts, dealing with:1.) basic information;2.) the Asia Biologics and Biosimilars Market;3.) the North American Biologics and Biosimilars Market;4.) the European Biologics and Biosimilars Market;5.) market entry and investment feasibility;6.) the report conclusion.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Table of ContentsPart I Biologics and Biosimilars Industry OverviewChapter One Biologics and Biosimilars Industry Overview1.1 Biologics and Biosimilars Definition1.2 Biologics and Biosimilars Classification Analysis1.2.1 Biologics and Biosimilars Main Classification Analysis1.2.2 Biologics and Biosimilars Main Classification Share Analysis1.3 Biologics and Biosimilars Application Analysis1.3.1 Biologics and Biosimilars Main Application Analysis1.3.2 Biologics and Biosimilars Main Application Share Analysis1.4 Biologics and Biosimilars Industry Chain Structure Analysis1.5 Biologics and Biosimilars Industry Development Overview1.5.1 Biologics and Biosimilars Product History Development Overview1.5.1 Biologics and Biosimilars Product Market Development Overview1.6 Biologics and Biosimilars Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.1 Biologics and Biosimilars Global Import Market Analysis1.6.2 Biologics and Biosimilars Global Export Market Analysis1.6.3 Biologics and Biosimilars Global Main Region Market Analysis1.6.4 Biologics and Biosimilars Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.5 Biologics and Biosimilars Global Market Development Trend AnalysisChapter Two Biologics and Biosimilars Up and Down Stream Industry Analysis2.1 Upstream Raw Materials Analysis2.1.1 Upstream Raw Materials Price Analysis2.1.2 Upstream Raw Materials Market Analysis2.1.3 Upstream Raw Materials Market Trend2.2 Down Stream Market Analysis2.1.1 Down Stream Market Analysis2.2.2 Down Stream Demand Analysis2.2.3 Down Stream Market Trend AnalysisPart II Asia Biologics and Biosimilars Industry (The Report Company Including the Below Listed But Not All)Chapter Three Asia Biologics and Biosimilars Market Analysis3.1 Asia Biologics and Biosimilars Product Development History3.2 Asia Biologics and Biosimilars Competitive Landscape Analysis3.3 Asia Biologics and Biosimilars Market Development TrendChapter Four 2012-2017 Asia Biologics and Biosimilars Productions Supply Sales Demand Market Status and Forecast4.1 2012-2017 Biologics and Biosimilars Capacity Production Overview4.2 2012-2017 Biologics and Biosimilars Production Market Share Analysis4.3 2012-2017 Biologics and Biosimilars Demand Overview4.4 2012-2017 Biologics and Biosimilars Supply Demand and Shortage4.5 2012-2017 Biologics and Biosimilars Import Export Consumption4.6 2012-2017 Biologics and Biosimilars Cost Price Production Value Gross MarginChapter Five Asia Biologics and Biosimilars Key Manufacturers Analysis5.1 Company A5.1.1 Company Profile5.1.2 Product Picture and Specification5.1.3 Product Application Analysis5.1.4 Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value5.1.5 Contact Information5.2 Company B5.2.1 Company Profile5.2.2 Product Picture and Specification5.2.3 Product Application Analysis5.2.4 Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value5.2.5 Contact Information5.3 Company C5.3.1 Company Profile5.3.2 Product Picture and Specification5.3.3 Product Application Analysis5.3.4 Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value5.3.5 Contact Information5.4 Company D5.4.1 Company Profile5.4.2 Product Picture and Specification5.4.3 Product Application Analysis5.4.4 Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value5.4.5 Contact Information......Chapter Six Asia Biologics and Biosimilars Industry Development Trend6.1 2017-2021 Biologics and Biosimilars Capacity Production Overview6.2 2017-2021 Biologics and Biosimilars Production Market Share Analysis6.3 2017-2021 Biologics and Biosimilars Demand Overview6.4 2017-2021 Biologics and Biosimilars Supply Demand and Shortage6.5 2017-2021 Biologics and Biosimilars Import Export Consumption6.6 2017-2021 Biologics and Biosimilars Cost Price Production Value Gross MarginMake an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Global Telemedicine Industry Trends and Forecast Report 2017 | New Release http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=985891 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=985891 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Telemedicine Industry 2017, Trends and Forecast Report" to its huge collection of research reports.Telemedicine Report by Material, Application, and Geography Global Forecast to 2021 is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, united Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and China).The report firstly introduced the Telemedicine basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the world's main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.The report includes six parts, dealing with:1.) basic information;2.) the Asia Telemedicine Market;3.) the North American Telemedicine Market;4.) the European Telemedicine Market;5.) market entry and investment feasibility;6.) the report conclusion.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Table of ContentsPart I Telemedicine Industry OverviewChapter One Telemedicine Industry Overview1.1 Telemedicine Definition1.2 Telemedicine Classification Analysis1.2.1 Telemedicine Main Classification Analysis1.2.2 Telemedicine Main Classification Share Analysis1.3 Telemedicine Application Analysis1.3.1 Telemedicine Main Application Analysis1.3.2 Telemedicine Main Application Share Analysis1.4 Telemedicine Industry Chain Structure Analysis1.5 Telemedicine Industry Development Overview1.5.1 Telemedicine Product History Development Overview1.5.1 Telemedicine Product Market Development Overview1.6 Telemedicine Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.1 Telemedicine Global Import Market Analysis1.6.2 Telemedicine Global Export Market Analysis1.6.3 Telemedicine Global Main Region Market Analysis1.6.4 Telemedicine Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.5 Telemedicine Global Market Development Trend AnalysisChapter Two Telemedicine Up and Down Stream Industry Analysis2.1 Upstream Raw Materials Analysis2.1.1 Upstream Raw Materials Price Analysis2.1.2 Upstream Raw Materials Market Analysis2.1.3 Upstream Raw Materials Market Trend2.2 Down Stream Market Analysis2.1.1 Down Stream Market Analysis2.2.2 Down Stream Demand Analysis2.2.3 Down Stream Market Trend AnalysisPart II Asia Telemedicine Industry (The Report Company Including the Below Listed But Not All)Chapter Three Asia Telemedicine Market Analysis3.1 Asia Telemedicine Product Development History3.2 Asia Telemedicine Competitive Landscape Analysis3.3 Asia Telemedicine Market Development TrendChapter Four 2012-2017 Asia Telemedicine Productions Supply Sales Demand Market Status and Forecast4.1 2012-2017 Telemedicine Capacity Production Overview4.2 2012-2017 Telemedicine Production Market Share Analysis4.3 2012-2017 Telemedicine Demand Overview4.4 2012-2017 Telemedicine Supply Demand and Shortage4.5 2012-2017 Telemedicine Import Export Consumption4.6 2012-2017 Telemedicine Cost Price Production Value Gross MarginChapter Five Asia Telemedicine Key Manufacturers Analysis5.1 Company A5.1.1 Company Profile5.1.2 Product Picture and Specification5.1.3 Product Application Analysis5.1.4 Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value5.1.5 Contact Information5.2 Company B5.2.1 Company Profile5.2.2 Product Picture and Specification5.2.3 Product Application Analysis5.2.4 Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value5.2.5 Contact Information5.3 Company C5.3.1 Company Profile5.3.2 Product Picture and Specification5.3.3 Product Application Analysis5.3.4 Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value5.3.5 Contact Information5.4 Company D5.4.1 Company Profile5.4.2 Product Picture and Specification5.4.3 Product Application Analysis5.4.4 Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value5.4.5 Contact Information......Chapter Six Asia Telemedicine Industry Development Trend6.1 2017-2021 Telemedicine Capacity Production Overview6.2 2017-2021 Telemedicine Production Market Share Analysis6.3 2017-2021 Telemedicine Demand Overview6.4 2017-2021 Telemedicine Supply Demand and Shortage6.5 2017-2021 Telemedicine Import Export Consumption6.6 2017-2021 Telemedicine Cost Price Production Value Gross MarginMake an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Key Driving Factors of Tomato Ketchup Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=524 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/tomato-ketchup-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Tomato ketchup is a widely popular condiment made from tomatoes, vinegar, sweeteners, and salt. The simple yet versatile formulation of tomato ketchup has made it popular in various cuisines, with the growing demand for fast food enabling smooth expansion of the tomato ketchup market. Tomato ketchup is commonly served with fast food items such as sandwiches, burgers, fries, and grilled or fried meat. It is also commonly used as a base for other sauces, since its flavor is popular and agreeable.More Information:The report examines the historical development trajectory of the global tomato ketchup market. The historical data is combined with detailed information about the present condition of the market in order to derive useful insights into the probable growth trajectory of the global tomato ketchup market in the coming years. The various factors affecting the trajectory of the tomato ketchup market are examined in detail in the report, with detailed analysis given for each notable driver and restraint acting on the market.Global Tomato Ketchup Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global tomato ketchup market is primarily driven by the growing demand for fast food across the world. While North America is the prime market for fast food, the growing adoption of the Western culture across the world is leading to significant demand for fast food in Asia Pacific and Latin America, where the market stands to grow rapidly owing to the increasing disposable income of urban consumers. The convenience of fast food means the burgeoning middle class is likely to remain a key consumer demographic for the fast food industry in the coming years, leading to strong growth prospects for the global tomato ketchup market.Browse Market Research Report @Ketchup is a staple with traditional fast food items, but the agreeable flavor of tomato ketchup has also boosted its use with local fast food items in emerging regions. As a result, leading producers of tomato ketchup have been able to successfully create regional variants of their products based on the cultural preferences and compatibility with the local cuisines. This is a key driver for the global tomato ketchup market, especially given the rising demand for ketchup in Southeast Asia and the Far East, where local street food remains widely popular.While tomato ketchup is primarily used in commercially sold fast food, a significant part of the total demand for tomato ketchup comes from families. As tomato ketchup is a versatile condiment and works with a wide range of flavors, the demand for tomato ketchup from the residential sector is growing rapidly.On the other hand, the rising use of other condiments such as mustard and barbecue sauce is a key restraint on the tomato ketchup market. The success of the tomato ketchup market has also encouraged the commercial production of local condiments and sauces, which have emerged as alternatives to tomato ketchup in many regions. Many tomato ketchup manufacturers have thus diversified their product catalog to compensate for the possible reduction in the demand for tomato ketchup.Global Tomato Ketchup Market: Geographical SegmentationDue to the widespread prevalence of fast food joints and quick service restaurants in North America and Europe, these two are the leading contributors to the global tomato ketchup market and are likely to retain a dominant share in the coming years. However, the Asia Pacific and Middle East markets for tomato ketchup have exhibited promise in the last few decade, and with many countries in this region steadily climbing the rungs of economic progress, the fast food industry is also growing smoothly in these regions. This is likely to present promising growth prospects for manufacturers of tomato ketchup in the coming years.The report also profiles the leading companies in the global tomato ketchup market in order to provide an overview of the markets competitive landscape. Key players profiled in the report include Nestle India Ltd., H. J. Heinz Company, Campbell Soup Company, Tate & Lyle plc, ConAgra Foods Inc., Lee Kum Kee, General Mills Inc., and Premier Foods Plc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Drivers for Alcoholic Beverage Market help it Witness Healthy Growth http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/alcoholic-beverages-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=33 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global alcoholic beverages market has been witnessing consistent growth over the years, despite fluctuating economic conditions around the world. Transparency Market Research, in a report titled Alcoholic Beverage Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 20152021, notes that sales are likely to remain steady in the coming years as well. The growing economic prosperity in developing countries, strengthening distribution channels and purchase channels, and evolving consumer lifestyles are responsible for the expansion of the alcoholic beverages market.Obtain Report Details @The key product categories of alcoholic beverages are beer, wine, and spirits, which include vodka, whiskey, and rum. Beer is by far the most commonly consumed alcoholic beverage, driven mainly by aggressive advertising and marketing activities and constant improvement in quality. TMR finds that the top six beer makers account for over half the global market for alcoholic beverages, hinting at the considerable growth of this product segment.On the basis of geography, the report studies North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Rest of the World as the key segments of the global alcoholic beverages market. Although Europe and North America are mature markets, they continue to be major revenue generators in the market. However, companies are looking to invest in markets where the unmet need is higher and where there is immense scope for growth. Asia Pacific is one of the most lucrative markets in this respect, owing mainly to the rising consumption of alcohol among the urban youth in countries such as China and India. Eastern Europe and Africa are also blossoming markets for alcoholic beverages thanks to a steady pace of Westernization and an increase in the youth population.Enter your information below to receive a sample copy of this report @There are several international and local players operating in the global alcoholic beverages market, making it a highly competitive and lucrative one. Product differentiation and competitive pricing are two of the key strategies adopted by companies to stay on top and garner a larger share of the consumer base. The launch of new products to cater to the health-conscious consumer is a recent trend noted in the alcoholic beverages market. Heineken, Constellation Brands, Bacardi, Treasury Wine Estates, Carlsberg, Accolade Wines, Diageo, Beam Suntory, E. & J. Gallo Winery, Anheuser-Busch, SABMiller, China Resource Enterprise, The Wine Group, Torres, and Pernod Ricard are some of the more prominent names in the alcoholic beverages market.These players are studied in depth, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses in addition to the threats and opportunities in store. The key strategies and collaborations in the recent past have been evaluated to understand their impact on the performance of a company and its financial standing. The latest product portfolio of a given company has also been studied to offer readers a clear picture of the competition in the alcoholic beverages market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Major Opportunities for the Food Allergy and Intolerance Products Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/food-allergy-intolerance-products-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=11999 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com A new market research report by Transparency Market Research, titled Food Allergens and Intolerance Testing Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2016 - 2024, presents an extensive evaluation of the market for food allergens and intolerance testing. The growth potential in this market and the top opportunities and trends prevalent in the market have also been encapsulated. The prime product introductions and the likely innovations predicted to take place in this market have also been presented in detail. The top strategies and market shares of the leading players have been included in the competitive landscape section of this report.Obtain Report Details @As per the report, the increasing count of individuals having intolerance to particular kind of ingredients and food allergies will boost the development of the food allergens and intolerance testing market. In addition, big multi-retail companies are introducing their specific brands and are commercializing gluten-free foods such as cereals, bakery items, meat items, sauces, and pizzas, thus positively impacting the development of this market. Furthermore, numerous supermarkets globally have started advertising intolerance foods with the help of the internet for gaining new customers, hence positively impacting the development of the market.The segmentation of the market comes next in the study. In terms of test type, the market is segmented into in vitro and in vivo methodologies. The segment of in vivo tests is further segmented into intradermal tests, patch tests, and prick tests. In vivo tests are utilized for testing food allergies include elimination test and food challenge test.Enter your information below to receive a sample copy of this report @In terms of geography, the report categorizes the food allergens and intolerance testing market into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and Rest of the World (RoW). Amongst these, the U.S in the region of North America dominates the market and the market has grown to approximately 18% in the past few years in this nation. There are approximately 34.5 mn to 45mn individuals that are lactose allergic in the U.S. and this has resulted in the increasing proliferation of gluten-free products within this nation.On the other hand, the present share of Asia Pacific nations remains low due to the absence of awareness regarding intolerance testing and food allergens in Asia Pacific. However, the growth of the market in this region may rise in the coming years.As per the study, the global food allergens and intolerance testing market has a number of key players such as Alpro UK Ltd, General Mills, Pamelas Goods, Nutrition Point Ltd, Amys Kitchen, Dr Schar, Livwell Ltd, Enjoy Life Natural Brands LLC, Gluten Totally Free Foods Ltd, Glutino Food Group, and Semper AB, among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: 2017-2022 Research Report on Global and United States Compound Chocolate Market, Industry Griowth Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1037647&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com This report studies the Compound Chocolate market status and outlook of global and United States, from angles of players, regions, product types and end industries; this report analyzes the top players in global and United States market, and splits the Compound Chocolate market by product type and applications/end industries.The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast growing India and Southeast Asia regions.North America, especially The United States, will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Compound Chocolate. United States plays an important role in global market, with market size of xx million USD in 2016 and will be xx million USD in 2022, with a CAGR of XX.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share (%) and growth Rate (%) of Compound Chocolate in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East and AfricaThe major players in global and United States Compound Chocolate market, including Mars, Mondelez International, Nestle, Ferrero Group, Meiji Co Ltd, Hershey Co, Chocoladenfabriken Lindt & Sprgli AG, Arcor, Ezaki Glico Co Ltd, Yildiz Holding, Cadbury, Guy Foubert.The On the basis of product, the Compound Chocolate market is primarily split intoMilk ChocolateDark ChocolateWhite ChocolateOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report coversFor RetailerFor Food ServicesFor Food ProcessOthersGet a Free Sample Copy of this Report here @QYresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations.QYResearchReports1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com 2016 Market Research Report on Global Contact Lenses Industry - Novartis, CooperVision, Bausch + Lomb, Hydron, Weicon, Bescon http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1037659&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com In the last several years, global market of contact lenses developed rapidly, with an average growth rate of 6%. In 2016, global capacity of Contact Lenses is nearly 17100 Million Unit, and the actual production is about 15700 Million Unit.USA is the largest supplier of Contact Lenses, with a production market share nearly 56% and sales market share nearly 33%. That is to say, there are a large number of exports in USA, while USA also is the largest consumption region.This report studies contact lenses in Global market, especially in USA, Europe, China, JapanAnd Asia (Ex. China & Japan), focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringJohnson &Johnson Vision CareNovartisCooperVisionBausch + LombSt.Shine OpticalMeniconHydronWeiconBesconNEO VisionClearlabOculusCamaxSeedHoya CorpMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of contact lenses in these regions, from 2012 to 2023 (forecast), likeUSAEuropeChinaJapanAsia (Ex. China & Japan)Split by Product Types, with production, revenue, price, and market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoRigid Contact LensesHybrid Contact LensesSoft Contact LensesSplit by applications, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of contact lenses in each application, can be divided intoCorrective LensesTherapeutic LensesCosmetic Lenses and Lifestyle-Oriented LensesOthersGet a Free Sample Copy of this Report here @QYresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations.QYResearchReports1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Global Sesame Oil Market Report Overview by Size, Share, Trend, Growth, Analysis and Forecast Report 2021 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/get-sample/18083 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/enquire-for-discount/18083 https://marketsizeforecasters.com/global-sesame-oil-market https://marketsizeforecasters.com/global-and-chinese-sesame-oil-industry-2017-market http://marketsizeforecasters.com/ Sesame oil is derived from a plant species called Sesamum indicum, which is an herbaceous annual belonging to the Pedaliaceae family that reaches about 6 ft (1.8 m) in height. In modern times, sesame has been embraced by Western herbalists for a variety of therapeutic purposes. The oil is also used in cooking and as an ingredient in margarine and salad dressings as well as in certain cosmetics and skin softening products. Native to Asia and Africa, sesame is primarily cultivated in India, China, etc.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Sesame Oil in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a sample copy of Sesame Oil Market Research Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversKadoyaTAKEMOTO OIL & FATKuki SangyoFlavor FullDipasaIwai Sesame OilHenan DingzhiChee SengEng Hup SengWilmarHunan Cheer COMEBGGSastha OilAnhui YanzhuangShandong RuifuMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversWhite Sesame OilBlack Sesame OilOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoFood and Health IndustryPharmaceutical IndustryCosmetic and Skin Care IndustryOthersThe listed pricing for this Sesame Oil Market report starts at $ 3480. Request Discount for Sesame Oil Industry Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the Global Sesame Oil market.Chapter 1, to describe Sesame Oil Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Lawn Mower, with sales, revenue, and price of Sesame Oil, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Sesame Oil, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Sesame Oil market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Sesame Oil sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceBrowse full table of contents and data tables For Sesame Oil Market Research Report @Related Reports: -Global and Chinese Sesame Oil Industry, 2017 Market Research ReportThe 'Global and Chinese Sesame Oil Industry, 2012-2022 Market Research Report' is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Sesame Oil industry with a focus on the Chinese market. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Sesame Oil manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry. Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology.MarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market size forecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite:Connect with us: LinkedIn | Twitter Compound Chocolate 2017 Global Key Players Mars, Nestle, Ferrero Group, Cadbury, Arcor Market Analysis and Forecast to 2022 Compound Chocolate Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1115869-2017-2022-compound-chocolate-report-on-global-and-united-states-market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1115869-2017-2022-compound-chocolate-report-on-global-and-united-states-market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1115869 https://www.linkedin.com/company/wise-guy-research-consultants-pvt-ltd-?trk=biz-companies-cym Compound Chocolate Market 2017This report studies the Compound Chocolate market status and outlook of global and United States, from angles of players, regions, product types and end industries; this report analyzes the top players in global and United States market, and splits the Compound Chocolate market by product type and applications/end industries.The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast growing India and Southeast Asia regions.North America, especially The United States, will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Compound Chocolate.Request for Sample report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share (%) and growth Rate (%) of Compound Chocolate in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East and AfricaThe major players in global and United States Compound Chocolate market, including Mars, Mondelez International, Nestle, Ferrero Group, Meiji Co Ltd, Hershey Co, Chocoladenfabriken Lindt & Sprgli AG, Arcor, Ezaki Glico Co Ltd, Yildiz Holding, Cadbury, Guy Foubert.The On the basis of product, the Compound Chocolate market is primarily split intoMilk ChocolateDark ChocolateWhite ChocolateOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report coversFor RetailerFor Food ServicesFor Food ProcessOthersTo get complete report visit@Key Points in Table of Content:2017-2022 Compound Chocolate Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications1 Methodology and Data Source1.1 Methodology/Research Approach1.1.1 Research Programs/Design1.1.2 Market Size Estimation1.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation1.2 Data Source2.1.1 Secondary Sources2.1.2 Primary Sources1.3 Disclaimer2 Compound Chocolate Market Overview2.1 Compound Chocolate Product Overview2.2 Compound Chocolate Market Segment by Type2.2.1 Milk Chocolate2.2.2 Dark Chocolate2.2.3 White Chocolate2.2.4 Others2.3 Global Compound Chocolate Product Segment by Type2.3.1 Global Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units) and Growth (%) by Types (2012, 2016 and 2022)2.3.2 Global Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Types (2012-2017)2.3.3 Global Compound Chocolate Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Types (2012-2017)2.3.4 Global Compound Chocolate Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2012-2017)2.4 United States Compound Chocolate Product Segment by Type2.4.1 United States Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units) and Growth by Types (2012, 2016 and 2022)2.4.2 United States Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units) and Market Share by Types (2012-2017)2.4.3 United States Compound Chocolate Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share by Types (2012-2017)2.4.4 United States Compound Chocolate Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2012-2017)2 Global Compound Chocolate Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Compound Chocolate Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Compound Chocolate Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Compound Chocolate Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Compound Chocolate Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Compound Chocolate Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Compound Chocolate Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Compound Chocolate Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Compound Chocolate Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Compound Chocolate Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion.7 Compound Chocolate Players/Manufacturers Profiles and Sales Data7.1 Mars7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.1.2 Compound Chocolate Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Mars Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Mondelez International7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.2.2 Compound Chocolate Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Mondelez International Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Nestle7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.3.2 Compound Chocolate Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Nestle Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Ferrero Group7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.4.2 Compound Chocolate Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Ferrero Group Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Meiji Co Ltd7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.5.2 Compound Chocolate Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Meiji Co Ltd Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Hershey Co7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.6.2 Compound Chocolate Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Hershey Co Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Chocoladenfabriken Lindt & Sprgli AG7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.7.2 Compound Chocolate Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Chocoladenfabriken Lindt & Sprgli AG Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Arcor7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.8.2 Compound Chocolate Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Arcor Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Ezaki Glico Co Ltd7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.9.2 Compound Chocolate Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Ezaki Glico Co Ltd Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Yildiz Holding7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.10.2 Compound Chocolate Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Yildiz Holding Compound Chocolate Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Cadbury7.12 Guy Foubert....Continued...Buy this report @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Follow on LinkedIn @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Small Diameter Pipe Global Market 2017 Production,Analysis,Trends and Industry Overview Report and Forecast to 2022 Small Diameter Pipe https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1115929-global-small-diameter-pipe-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1115929-global-small-diameter-pipe-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1115929 www.wiseguyreports.com Small Diameter PipeReport DetailsGlobal Small Diameter Pipe market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingU.S. StubularPittsburgh PipeVinidexPetersenOmksteelLeap LimitedMPC IndustriesClick here for sample report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Small Diameter Pipe in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoMetal PipePlastic PipeConcrete PipeFRP PipeOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Small Diameter Pipe for each application, includingWastewater PipeOil and Gas PipeIndustrial PipeOthersSome Major Points from Table of content:Global Small Diameter Pipe Market Research Report 20171 Small Diameter Pipe Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Small Diameter Pipe1.2 Small Diameter Pipe Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Small Diameter Pipe Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Small Diameter Pipe Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Metal Pipe1.2.4 Plastic Pipe1.2.5 Concrete Pipe1.2.6 FRP Pipe1.2.7 Others1.3 Global Small Diameter Pipe Segment by Application1.3.1 Small Diameter Pipe Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Wastewater Pipe1.3.3 Oil and Gas Pipe1.3.4 Industrial Pipe1.3.5 Others1.4 Global Small Diameter Pipe Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Small Diameter Pipe Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Small Diameter Pipe (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Small Diameter Pipe Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Small Diameter Pipe Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)For Detailed Reading Please visit @7 Global Small Diameter Pipe Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 U.S. Stubular7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Small Diameter Pipe Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 U.S. Stubular Small Diameter Pipe Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Pittsburgh Pipe7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Small Diameter Pipe Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Pittsburgh Pipe Small Diameter Pipe Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Vinidex7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Small Diameter Pipe Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Vinidex Small Diameter Pipe Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Petersen7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Small Diameter Pipe Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Petersen Small Diameter Pipe Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Omksteel7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Small Diameter Pipe Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Omksteel Small Diameter Pipe Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Leap Limited7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Small Diameter Pipe Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Leap Limited Small Diameter Pipe Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 MPC Industries7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Small Diameter Pipe Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 MPC Industries Small Diameter Pipe Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview..ContinuedBuy now @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPh: +91 841 198 5042info@wiseguyreports.com WATERLOO A Waterloo police officer has been placed on administrative leave after she was arrested in an alleged off-duty drunken driving crash. Diana Del Valle, 32, was arrested for first-offense operating while intoxicated following a collision on West Third Street. She was also ticketed for failure to maintain control. Although the crash happened inside Waterloo, the Black Hawk County Sheriffs Office was called to investigate, which is standard procedure for incidents involving law enforcement officers. Also, prosecution of the case has been assigned to the Dubuque County Attorneys Office to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest with local prosecutors. The crash happened at about 11:10 p.m. March 16 on West Third Street when Del Valle was off duty in her private vehicle. Her 2012 BMW was traveling west on West Third and struck a parked Dodge Ram pickup on the north side of the street and then darted to the south, traveling across a lawn and hitting steps to a home at 1721 W. Third St., according to the accident report. Authorities who responded noticed bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, according to court records. Field sobriety tests indicated intoxication, and a breath test showed a .154 blood-alcohol level, court records state. Paramedics checked her for possible facial injuries, according to the accident report. Global LED Light Pipes Market Research Report 2017 Analysis and Forecast to 2022 LED Light Pipes Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1115964-global-led-light-pipes-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1115964-global-led-light-pipes-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1115964 https://www.linkedin.com/company/wise-guy-research-consultants-pvt-ltd-?trk=biz-companies-cym LED Light Pipes Market 2017In this Reports, Global LED Light Pipes Market 2017 Market Research In-Depth Analysis, Applications, Forecasts To 2022Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of LED Light Pipes in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesEUChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanRequest for Sample report @Global LED Light Pipes market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer;the top players includingBivarDialightVisual CommunicationsLumexKingbright3MPhoenix ContactTE ConnectivityCarclo Technical PlasticsFischer ElektronikChicago MiniatureCML Innobative TechnologiesOSRAMOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoRigid LED Light PipesFlexible LED Light PipesOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of LED Light Pipes for each application, includingCommericalResidentialIndustrialTo get complete report visit@Key Points in Table of Content:Global LED Light Pipes Market Research Report 20171 LED Light Pipes Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of LED Light Pipes1.2 LED Light Pipes Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global LED Light Pipes Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global LED Light Pipes Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Rigid LED Light Pipes1.2.4 Flexible LED Light Pipes1.3 Global LED Light Pipes Segment by Application1.3.1 LED Light Pipes Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Commerical1.3.3 Residential1.3.4 Industrial1.4 Global LED Light Pipes Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global LED Light Pipes Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 EU Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 South Korea Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of LED Light Pipes (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global LED Light Pipes Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global LED Light Pipes Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022).2 Global LED Light Pipes Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global LED Light Pipes Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global LED Light Pipes Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global LED Light Pipes Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global LED Light Pipes Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global LED Light Pipes Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers LED Light Pipes Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 LED Light Pipes Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 LED Light Pipes Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 LED Light Pipes Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global LED Light Pipes Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global LED Light Pipes Capacity and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global LED Light Pipes Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global LED Light Pipes Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global LED Light Pipes Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 United States LED Light Pipes Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 EU LED Light Pipes Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China LED Light Pipes Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Japan LED Light Pipes Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.9 South Korea LED Light Pipes Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.10 Taiwan LED Light Pipes Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global LED Light Pipes Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)4.1 Global LED Light Pipes Consumption by Region (2012-2017)4.2 United States LED Light Pipes Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 EU LED Light Pipes Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China LED Light Pipes Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.5 Japan LED Light Pipes Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.6 South Korea LED Light Pipes Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.7 Taiwan LED Light Pipes Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)5 Global LED Light Pipes Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global LED Light Pipes Production and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.2 Global LED Light Pipes Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.3 Global LED Light Pipes Price by Type (2012-2017)5.4 Global LED Light Pipes Production Growth by Type (2012-2017)...Continued...Buy this report @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Follow on LinkedIn @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Electronic Shutter Technology Industry Dynamics, Segment Analysis and CAGR Growth Analysis Research Report to 2022 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1161 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/electronic-shutter-technology-market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/request-toc/1161 Market SegmentsGlobal Electronic Global Shutter Technology Market can be segmented as follows: Segmentation by Technology: CMOS sensors, and CCD sensors among others. Segmentation by Application: Consumer electronics, broadcast, automotive, retail, government, and surveillance among others.Market Highlights:The major growth driver of Electronic Global Shutter Technology Market includes growing market of smartphones and tablets, growing demand for high resolution in digital cameras and growing usage of image sensors in biometric systems among others. However, presence of competent technology and technical limitation are some of the major factors which are hindering the growth of Electronic Global Shutter Technology Market.Request a Sample Report @Key PlayersSome of the major players in Global Electronic Global Shutter Technology Market include; Sony Corporation (Japan) Himax Imaging Inc. (Taiwan) Galaxy Core Inc. (China) SK Hynix Inc. (South Korea) Omni Vision Technologies Inc. (U.S.) Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. (U.S.) Toshiba corporation (Japan) Canon Inc. (Japan) Panasonic Corporation (Japan) Apple (U.S.) among othersIndustry News: Himax Imaging Inc. has announced in January, 2016 about its new development always on image sensors. These sensors have various computer vision capabilities such as feature extraction, sensing, gesture recognition and object tracking among others. Panasonic Corporation has done an announcement in February, 2016 about its new CMOS sensors with a global shutter which provides dynamic range and efficient light sensitivity.Browse Report Details @Objective of Electronic Global Shutter Technology Market Study: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 10 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Global Electronic Global Shutter Technology market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the Electronic Global Shutter Technology Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW). To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by technology, by application and sub-segments. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Electronic Global Shutter Technology market.Request Table of Contents for this Report @Regional Analysis of Electronic Global Shutter Technology Market:North America is expected to dominate the Global Electronic Global Shutter Technology Market with the largest market share, and therefore accounting for millions and is expected to grow over billions by 2022. Electronic Global Shutter Technology Market in Asia-Pacific market is expected to generate high growth rate of CAGR from millions in 2016 to millions by 2022. The Europe market for Electronic Global Shutter Technology Market is expected to grow at CAGR (2016-2022).The reports also cover brief analysis of geographical region including:Americas North Americao USo Canada Latin AmericaEurope Western Europeo Germanyo Franceo U.Ko Rest of Western Europe Eastern EuropeAsia Pacific Asiao Chinao Indiao Japano South Koreao Rest of Asia PacificThe Middle East & AfricaAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com Research Report on Global Fuel Cell Technology Market 2016 Share and Size to 2020 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/786 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/global-fuel-cell-technology-market Global Fuel Cell Technology Market Outlook research report, by types (PEMFC, MCFC, SOFC, DMFC, PAFC, OTHERS) and by packaging (Stationary, Portable, Transportation) forecast to 2027.About Fuel Cell Technology System:A fuel cell is a gadget that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction of positively charged hydrogen particles of oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Fuel cells can be of different types such as, Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM), Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC), Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC), and many more differentiated ones on the basis of components used and type of reaction taking place within the cell. The Fuel Cell Technology Market is expected to register a CAGR of almost XX% in the forecasted period of 2027.Request a Sample Report @Fuel Cell Technology Market: Growth InfluencersWith the increasing demand for clean and green energy due to continuous depletion of renewable resources such as oil and gas the demand for Fuel Cell Technology is bound to increase even further. Favorable policies and regulations towards such renewable energy sources is another reason which can boost the demand for the fuel cell technology market.Increasing Awareness among individuals is another factor which provides the Fuel Cell Technology with a platform which can result in generation of significant revenue from this segment.Fuel Cell Technology Market: SegmentationThe Fuel Cell Technology market can be segmented on the basis of-Application: Stationary Portable TransportationTypes: PEMFC MCFC SOFC DMFC PAFC OthersGlobal Fuel Cell Technology Market: Key Players FuelCell Energy Hydrogenics Plug Power Ballard Ceramic Fuel CellGlobal Fuel Cell Technology Market: Regional AnalysisEurope:Europe has created a roadmap of reducing XX% CO2 emission by 2050. The EU2020 (Europe 2020 a strategy proposed by EU) focuses on improving the demand for the fuel cell by improving the infrastructure and decreasing the cost of the fuel cells. Germany has a strong value chain with a number of small and large companies like Siemens Westinghouse, Heliocentirs and SFC Energy, and represents around 75% of all European demonstration activities. Increasing awareness among European Individuals has also increased the demand for Fuel Cell Technology the European region provides a big scope for the Fuel Cell Technology to grow.Access Report Details @Asia Pacific:The Asia Pacific region is one of the leading revenue generation for Fuel Cell Technology with Japan and South Korea being the major chunk of the revenue generation regions. Increase awareness among individuals in the Asia Pacific region has also induced a significant amount of demand for the Fuel Cell Technology. Favorable government policies and regulations is another factor that the Fuel Cell Technology market is expected to have tremendous growth in this region.Market Research Future introduces about the Global Fuel Cell Technology during the forecast period 2017-2027 which mainly includes the growth drivers, trends and restraints and how the market will grow in the future across the globe. In this report, Market Research Future has focused on the current market scenario which includes market segmentation, market dynamics, and competitive landscape along with company profiles.Every report of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.comAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Healthcare API Market Worth US$ 234 Million Globally by 2024 https://www.marketresearchengine.com/reportdetails/healthcare-api-market-report https://www.marketresearchengine.com/requestsample/healthcare-api-market-report https://www.marketresearchengine.com/ New York, March 23 Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Healthcare API Market By Services (Remote Patient Monitoring, Electronic Health Record Access, Payment, Medical Device (Wearable), Appointments,); By Deployment Model (On-premise, Cloud-based); By End-Users (Healthcare Providers, Patients, Healthcare Payers, Vendors) - Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2016 - 2024How Big is the Healthcare API Market?The healthcare API market is expected to exceed more than US$ 234 million by 2024; Growing at a CAGR of more than 4% in the given forecast period.Browse Full Report:Patient centric health care is a rising value based model for health care deliverance, which has resulted in an enhancement in greater patient satisfaction, better outcomes and care quality. Increasing center of attention on patient centric health care delivery by application programming interfaces (APIs) has been well-known over the current past and the appearance of a host of services includes remote patient monitoring and wearable medical devices has driven the need for healthcare application programming interfaces solutions. It is not all the time easy to choose which new doctor to consult. With the help of healthcare API, patients can get details such as specialty, experience and timing of a doctor before consulting them.Patients can now follow their appointment indication and go only when essential. Additionally, healthcare API also enable remote monitoring and consultancy which in turn is carrying high quality medical aid to general people and rising in demand particularly in economies under progress. Payment processes are also being made quickly by these APIs.The healthcare API market is segmented on the lines of its services, deployment model, and end user and on regional basis. Based on services segmentation it covers medical device (wearable), payment, remote patient monitoring, appointments and electronic health record access. Under deployment model segmentation it covers cloud based and on premise. End user segmentation covers vendors, patients, healthcare providers and healthcare payers. The healthcare API markets geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geographic market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.Download Free Sample Report:This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for healthcare API and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2024.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for healthcare API.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.REPORT SCOPE:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for various Healthcare API market for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Apple, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Greenway Health, LLC, MuleSoft, Inc., General Electric Company, Practice Fusion, Inc., Epic Systems Corporation, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., eClinicalWorks LLC, and Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.The Top Companies Report is intended to provide our buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players.The Healthcare API Market has been segmented as below:By Services AnalysisMedical device (wearable)PaymentRemote patient monitoringAppointmentsElectronic health record accessBy Deployment Model AnalysisCloud basedOn premiseBy End User AnalysisVendorsPatientsHealthcare providersHealthcare payersBy Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldReasons to Buy this Report:1) Obtain the most up to date information available on all healthcare API market.2) Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry.3) Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of healthcare API data.4) Assess your competitors refining portfolio and its evolution.About MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States Hearable Devices Market is the Next Multi-Billion Dollar industry by 2022 https://www.marketresearchengine.com/upcommingreport/hearable-devices-market https://www.marketresearchengine.com/ New York, March 23: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Hearable Devices Market By Technology (Headphones or Earbuds, Personal Sound Amplifiers (PSAPs) and Hearing aids) Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2016 - 2022Hearable Devices Market is the next Multi-Billion Dollar industry. Many technology companies are heavily investing in this sector.Browse Full Report:The hearable is as yet being created in light of the fact that while some do exist in the commercial center, we are a long way from immersion. In this manner, to a few people hearables may simply be remote earbuds with cutting edge highlights, however to others it might be much more the same as a listening device. A hearable is a remote in-ear computational earpiece. Basically you have a smaller scale PC that fits in your ear trench and uses remote innovation to supplement and improve your listening knowledge. Numerous hearables will likewise include extra components, for example, heart rate observing.To start with, amplifier organizations are starting to perceive that clients need a gadget that accomplishes more than right and enhance sound. They need to have the capacity to adjust flawlessly with remote gadgets, for example, their cell phone, for phone calls, music, recreations, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Second, business gadgets organizations (all the more particularly earphone makers) are understanding the capability of "bionics," or making in-ear buds that measure biometrics, yield incredible quality sounding music, and (this is the most current part) can possibly increase sound.The hearable devices market is segmented on the lines of its technology like headphones or Earbuds, personal sound amplifers (PSAPs) and hearing aids. The hearable devices market covers the geographic segmentation in various regions such as North America, Latin America, Middle East and Africa Europe & APAC. Each geographic market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, China, Japan, India, Brazil, U.K. Germany, and GCC countries.This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for hearable devices and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2022.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for hearable devices.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.REPORT SCOPE:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for Hearable Devices with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers information regarding competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Apple, Zen Sensor, Valencell, Sony, BitBit, Samsung, Bose, Skullcandy, Panasonic, Apply, Koss, Harman Kardon, LG, Doppler Labs, Huawei and Invensense etc. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, SWOT analysis and current developments, financial summary, business strategy and planning.The Top Companies Report is intended to provide buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players.The Hearable Devices Market has been segmented as below:By Technology AnalysisHeadphones or EarbudsPersonal sound amplifiers (PSAPs)Hearing aidsBy Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldReasons to Buy this Report:1) Obtain the most up to date information available on all hearable devices.2) Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry.3) Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of hearable devices data.4) Assess your competitors refining portfolio and its evolution.About MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States Hydraulic Fluid Connectors Market IN North America is Expected to Cross US$ 6 Billion by 2022 https://www.marketresearchengine.com/reportdetails/hydraulic-fluid-connectors-market https://www.marketresearchengine.com/requestsample/hydraulic-fluid-connectors-market https://www.marketresearchengine.com/ New York, March 23: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Hydraulic Fluid Connectors Market - North America Analysis by Service, End User, Size, Share, Geography, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2022The North America Hydraulic Fluid Connectors Market business sector is required to achieve an estimation of US$ 5.51 billion in 2020. The business sector was worth US$ 2.84 billion in 2013 and is relied upon to develop at a CAGR of 7.9% from 2014 to 2020.Browse Full Report here:Hydraulic fluid connectors are transport hardware which are utilized as a part of the liquid force industry for force transmission and different purposes. Different gear, for example, hoses, tubing, fittings, manifolds and their congregations are utilized as a part of an extensive variety of pressure driven applications in commercial ventures including aviation, agribusiness hardware, development gear, marine, mining, and material taking care of.For research, we have directed inside and out meetings and exchanges with various key industry members and sentiment pioneers. Essential research speaks to the majority of the exploration exertion combined with a broad optional exploration. We assessed the key players' yearly reports, item portfolio, official statements and applicable records for focused research and better comprehension of the business sector. Optional research incorporates into profundity research on ebb and flow patterns, specialized composition, late exchanges, web sources, exchange affiliations, measurable information from government sites and related approved office sites. This has ended up being the best, successful and dependable methodology for getting brief information, catching industry members' bits of knowledge and perceiving opportunities and development.Auxiliary exploration sources that are regularly alluded to incorporate, yet are not restricted to organization sites, yearly reports, money related reports, agent reports, speculator presentations and SEC filings. It likewise incorporates inward and outside exclusive databases, and applicable patent and administrative databases, national government records, measurable databases and market reports. News articles, public statements and web-throws particular to the organizations working in the business sector likewise serve as a piece of auxiliary sources.Download Free Sample Report:We lead essential meetings on an on-running premise with industry members and analysts to accept information and investigation. A common research meeting satisfies different capacities. Direct data is acquired available size, market patterns, development patterns, focused scene, future standpoint, and so forth. It additionally helps in approving and fortifying the optional exploration discoveries, and further builds up the investigation group's mastery and market understanding. The essential exploration includes email communications, telephonic meetings and in addition up close and personal meetings for every business sector, class, portion and sub-fragment crosswise over topographiesThe report on North America Hydraulic fluid connectors gives an itemized investigation and estimate of the business sector from 2014 to 2022. At a local level, the business sector has been divided on the premise of income (USD million) from 2014 to 2022. For an inside and out comprehension of the business sector in North America, the interest has been figure in view of income (USD million) for a period running somewhere around 2014 and 2022. The report incorporates drivers and in addition restrictions and their effect on the development of the business sector inside of the estimate period. Moreover, the report envelops opportunities accessible for the development of this business sector, on a worldwide and territorial level.To offer an itemized comprehension of the business sector, we have given an intensive research of the quality chain. Also, we have secured the Porter's five powers model, which gives a top to bottom understanding into the force of rivalry in this business sector. Besides, the study contains a business sector engaging quality research, where various applications are benchmarked in view of business sector size, development rate, and general appeal.The business sector has been portioned in view of items and applications. The portions have been dissected and conjecture taking into account income (USD million) from 2014 to 2022. Furthermore, the fragments have been dissected and estimate in light of current patterns at a territorial level, over the given time period. The interest has been broke down and figure in light of current patterns for a time of six years.Profiles of certain driving organizations have been secured in this report alongside a nitty gritty investigation of their piece of the pie. The study highlights organizations, for example, Eaton Corporation, Parker Hannifin Corporation, Gates Corporation, Manuli Hydraulics, Kurt Hydraulics and SPX Corporation.The market has been divided as beneath:North America Hydraulic Fluid Connectors Market - Product Segment AnalysisMobile hydraulic fluid connectorsIndustrial hydraulic fluid connectorsNorth America Hydraulic Fluid Connectors Market - Application AnalysisAerospaceAgricultureConstruction equipmentMaterial handlingOthers (Marine, heavy truck, mining, etc.)About MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States Cloud-based Database Market Global Segmentation and Major Players Analysis Research Report to 2022 Cloud-based Database Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1103977-global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1103977-global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1103977 WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On Cloud-based Database Market Global Segmentation and Major Players Analysis Research Report to 2022.A cloud-based database is a database, as the name suggests, resides on a cloud computing platform. Databases are used to store and manage various forms of data generated by a company. Database services can be provided on-premises or on-demand. On-demand services are known as cloud-based databases, which is gaining increasing acceptance among several organizations. A cloud-based database is suitable for organizations that require immediate access to database services, easy scalability options, low cost, and low maintenance. Service providers offer end-to-end solutions, which help organizations focus on their core business areas.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comScope of the Report:This report focuses on the Cloud-based Database in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversAmazon Web ServicesGoogleIBMMicrosoftOracleRackspace HostingSalesforceCassandraCouchbaseMongoDBSAPTeradataAlibabaTencentMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversSQL DatabaseNoSQL DatabaseMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoSmall and Medium BusinessLarge EnterprisesComplete Report Details @Table Of Contents Major Key Points1 Market Overview1.1 Cloud-based Database Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 SQL Database1.2.2 NoSQL Database1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Small and Medium Business1.3.2 Large Enterprises1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 USA Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Amazon Web Services2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Cloud-based Database Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Amazon Web Services Cloud-based Database Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Google2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Cloud-based Database Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Google Cloud-based Database Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 IBM2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Cloud-based Database Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 IBM Cloud-based Database Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Microsoft2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Cloud-based Database Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Microsoft Cloud-based Database Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 Oracle2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Cloud-based Database Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Oracle Cloud-based Database Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 Rackspace Hosting2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Cloud-based Database Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 Rackspace Hosting Cloud-based Database Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)..CONTINUEDFor more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comBuy 1-User PDF @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of rmaket research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Pune,India Garbage Bag Market - Segment, Forecasts, Trends, Size 2023 Global Garbage Bag Market Industry, Garbage Bag Market Analysis http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/garbage-bag-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=10952 A garbage bag is a flexible material used for the collection, storage, disposal, and handling of garbage. In addition, it has a very wide application in the transportation and distribution of garbage.It has variety of names such as bin bag, trash bag, rubbish bag, can line, etc. Three Canadians, Harry Wasylyk, Larry Hansen, and Frank Plomp, produced the first garbage plastic bag in 1950. In the 21st Century, there are different materials available for the production of a garbage bag.Those materials include Low-Density Polythene (LDPE), High-Density Polythene (HDPE), recycled polythene, liner blend polythene, Medium Density Polythene (MDPE), Metallocene Polythene (mPE), degradable polythene, woven polypropylene, biodegradable polythene, and co-extruded plastic bags.Garbage bags produced from these materials are low cost, hygienic, leak proof, lightweight, durable, portable, offer resistance to air & water, meet FDA and USDA specifications, and can be recycled. These bags come in a variety of colors, such as black, pink, green, white, transparent, etc.Obtain Report Details @They are also available in variety of sizes, depending on their end uses. Garbage bags find a wide range of applications in day to day life and are widely used in households, colleges, offices, shops, restaurants, hospitals, industries, etc.The global garbage bag market is segmented based on: its material of construction, available sizes, and end users. By material of manufacturing, the global garbage bags market is segmented into HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, linear blend polythene, degradable polythene, biodegradable polythene, and woven polypropylene. By size, the market is segmented into 25 liters, 35 liters, and 50 liters & above. By end user, the global garbage bag market is segmented into consumer and industrial.By geography, the global garbage bags market has been classified into seven key regions, namely North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, the Middle East & Africa, and Japan. The global garbage bags market is anticipated to expand at a double digit CAGR over the forecast period.Make an Enquiry @Asia Pacific market is expected to be the most attractive market for garbage bag packaging due to large volumes of produced garbage from urban agglomerations. As of 2016, China is the largest garbage bags market in Asia Pacific, followed by India, and the market in these countries is expected to grow rapidly in the near future. North America, followed by Western Europe, are the other prominent regions projected to hold a promising future growth potential in the garbage bags market by the end of 2026.Some of the key players in the global garbage bag market are Allied Plastics, Berry Plastic Corporation, Clorox Australia Pty Limited, Cosmoplast, Heyuan Ruijian Plastic Products Co., Ltd., International Plastics, Kemii Garbage Bag Co. Ltd., Luban Pack, Novplasta, S.R.O., and Terdex.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Global Steam Water Heater Sales Market Report 2017 http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=909180&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-steam-water-heater-sales-market-report-2017.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com/category/consumer-electronics-market-reports-98.htm Qyresearchreports include new market research reportGlobal Steam Water Heater Sales Market Report 2017 to its huge collection of research reports.This report on global Steam Water Heater market is a research study that answers pertinent questions about the emerging trends and growth opportunities in this industry. It also identifies each of the prominent barriers to growth, apart from identifying the regional trends and trends within various application segments of the global market . Collecting historical and recent data from authentic resources, and based on all the factors and trends, the report presents a figurative estimation of the future of the market, along with compound annual growth rate (CAGR).To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The study segments the market by geography into: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. It provides forecasts of revenue of the market as a whole as well as each application segment. The competitive landscape is mapped based on product and technology. This study also offers an overview of pricing trends and ancillary factors that will influence pricing in the global Steam Water Heater market. The market study, estimation, and market sizing have been done utilizing a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches.Of special value are the key recommendations and predictions by our analysts, intended to steer your strategic business decisions. The company profiles section of this research service is a compilation of the growth strategies, product portfolio, financial status, and recent developments of key market participants. The report provides detailed industry analysis of the global Steam Water Heater market with the help of proven research methodologies such as Porters five forces. The forces analyzed are bargaining power of the buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and the degree of competition.Table of Contents1 Steam Water Heater Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Steam Water Heater1.2 Classification of Steam Water Heater1.2.1 External Modulation1.2.2 Saturated Steam1.2.3 Unsaturated Steam1.2.4 Super-critical Water1.2.5 Various States of Water1.2.6 Internal Modulation1.2.7 Saturated Steam1.2.8 Unsaturated Steam1.2.9 Super-critical Water1.2.10 Various States of Water1.3 Application of Steam Water Heater1.3.1 Heating1.3.2 Propulsion/Drive1.3.3 Motive Fluid1.3.4 Atomization1.3.5 Cleaning1.3.6 Moisturization1.3.7 Humidification1.3.8 Others1.4 Steam Water Heater Market by Regions1.4.1 United States Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Steam Water Heater (2011-2021)1.5.1 Global Steam Water Heater Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.2 Global Steam Water Heater Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)Browse Complete Report with TOC @2 Global Steam Water Heater Competition by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Global Steam Water Heater Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Global Steam Water Heater Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.1.2 Global Steam Water Heater Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2011-2016)2.2 Global Steam Water Heater (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Steam Water Heater Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.2.2 Global Steam Water Heater Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.3 Global Steam Water Heater (Volume and Value) by Regions2.3.1 Global Steam Water Heater Sales and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.3.2 Global Steam Water Heater Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)2.4 Global Steam Water Heater (Volume) by Application3 United States Steam Water Heater (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Steam Water Heater Sales and Value (2011-2016)3.1.1 United States Steam Water Heater Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.2 United States Steam Water Heater Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.3 United States Steam Water Heater Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)3.2 United States Steam Water Heater Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers3.3 United States Steam Water Heater Sales and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Steam Water Heater Sales and Market Share by Application4 China Steam Water Heater (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Steam Water Heater Sales and Value (2011-2016)4.1.1 China Steam Water Heater Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.2 China Steam Water Heater Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.3 China Steam Water Heater Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)4.2 China Steam Water Heater Sales and Market Share by ManufactureRead More @QYResearchReports.com is an unimpeachable source of market research data for clients that comprise acclaimed SMEs, Chinese companies, private equity firms, and MNCs. We provide market research reports on various categories such as Energy, Chemicals, Alternative and Green Energy, Manufacturing, Machinery, Pharmaceuticals and Materials, and Glass.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United States Global Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2021 Enterprise Wide License http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=909262&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-unmanned-aircraft-systems-uas-market-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2021-enterprise-wide-license.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com/category/defense-and-security-market-reports-139.htm The report offers a comprehensive overview of the global Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) market. With data covering all important aspects of the market, the report makes it easier for existing and new players to understand the market condition by compiling accurate historical data regarding and verifiable forecast regarding the potential growth prospects of the market over the period between 2016 And 2021. The vast market data in the report has been gathered with the help of primary and secondary research methods. The major factors affecting the growth of the global Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) market have been examined and the valuation of the market over the reports forecast period have been projected in the report. Case studies as well as insightful views from industry experts make the report helpful for market players.For more info, get a Sample PDF with TOC:The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) market has been studied in terms of various parameters such as products and applications. The growth of each of the product segments has been projected in the report. The entire supply chain of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) market has been described in the report, with focus on the various upstream and downstream components. The present demand and supply trends in the market have been mentioned to offer a complete picture of the market.The report also presents detailed insights into the vendor and competitive landscape of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) market with the help of detailed business profiles some of the key players operating in the global Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) market. Data about companies profiled in the report includes specification of their products and services portfolios, financial overview, revenue generation prospects in the future years, and recent developments such as mergers and acquisitions. Through SWOT analysis, the report analyzes the various growth opportunities for the market players. By examining the global Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) market and tracing historical statistics, the future outlook of the market has been defined.Table of Contents1 Market Overview 11.1 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Introduction 11.2 Market Analysis by Type 21.2.1 Fixed Wing 41.2.2 Rotary Wing 51.3 Market Analysis by Applications 71.3.1 Commercial 71.3.2 Military 81.3.3 Consumer 91.3.4 Others 101.4 Market Analysis by Regions 121.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) 121.4.1.1 USA 121.4.1.2 Canada 141.4.1.3 Mexico 151.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) 151.4.2.1 Germany 161.4.2.2 France 171.4.2.3 UK 171.4.2.4 Russia 181.4.2.5 Italy 191.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) 191.4.3.1 China 191.4.3.2 Japan 201.4.3.3 Korea 211.4.3.4 India 221.4.3.5 Southeast Asia 221.4.4 Latin America, Middle East and Africa 221.4.4.1 Brazil 231.4.4.2 Egypt 241.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia 241.4.4.4 South Africa 241.4.4.5 Nigeria 241.5 Market Dynamics 251.5.1 Market Opportunities 251.5.2 Market Risk 261.5.2.1 Technology Progress/Risk 261.5.2.2 Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Change 271.5.2.3 Economic/Political Environmental Change 271.5.3 Market Driving Force 29To Browse a Complete Report with TOC Visit @2 Manufacturers Profiles 302.1 Lockheed Martin Science and Technology Co., Ltd 302.1.1 Business Overview 302.1.2 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Type and Applications 312.1.2.1 Fixed Wing 312.1.2.2 Rotary Wing 322.1.3 Lockheed Martin Science and Technology Co., Ltd Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share 342.2 Northrop Grumman 342.2.1 Business Overview 342.2.2 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Type and Applications 352.2.2.1 Fixed Wing 362.2.2.2 Rotary Wing 362.2.3 Northrop Grumman Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share 382.3 Boeing 382.3.1 Business Overview 382.3.2 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Type and Applications 402.3.2.1 Fixed Wing 402.3.2.2 Rotary Wing 402.3.3 Boeing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share 41Read More @QYResearchReports.com is an unimpeachable source of market research data for clients that comprise acclaimed SMEs, Chinese companies, private equity firms, and MNCs. We provide market research reports on various categories such as Energy, Chemicals, Alternative and Green Energy, Manufacturing, Machinery, Pharmaceuticals and Materials, and Glass.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United States CEDAR RAPIDS A judge has accepted the guilty plea of a Cedar Falls man charged in connection with a methamphetamine operation that spanned northeast Iowa. On Friday, Chief District Court Judge Leonard Strand formally accepted Chad Ellis Weylands guilty pleas to charges of conspiracy to distribute meth and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Weyland appeared in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids in February and entered the pleas before a magistrate. Sentencing will be at a later date, and the terms of the plea agreement remain sealed. Mason City man accused of hiding meth, glass pipe between legs MASON CITY | A Mason City man who allegedly hid bags of methamphetamine and a glass pipe bet The plea stems from a federal investigation into meth trafficking that stretched from Des Moines to Dubuque with searches and arrests in Marshalltown and the Waterloo area. Dubbed Operation Ice Pirates, the probe lead to more than 20 arrests and the seizure of more than $200,000 in cash and several firearms and vehicles. The investigation included phone taps and GPS tracking. Court records allege Des Moines-area drug traffickers supplied Weyland, 39, with meth, and he distributed it to others in the network. Authorities caught Weyland with large amounts of cash in 2013 and 2014, court records state. Three other area residents who were indicted with Weyland pleaded to conspiracy to distribute meth in recent months and include Deis Ray, of Waterloo, Jay Seehase and Kevin Hemmer. They are awaiting sentencing. In a separate indictment connected with the Ice Pirates investigation, Michael Vincent Woodbury Bent, 38, of Denver, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute meth and conspiracy to commit money laundering and is awaiting sentencing. Court records allege Bent obtained meth from Weyland and distributed the drugs. Others indicted with Bent include: Meth, loaded handgun found in Mason City chase suspect's SUV MASON CITY Methamphetamine, a loaded handgun and cash were allegedly found in an SUV that Denis Sharkey II, 51, of Dubuque, pleaded to conspiracy to distribute meth and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in February. Edward Behrens, 51, of Benton, Wis., pleaded to conspiracy to distribute meth in December and is awaiting sentencing. Adam Michael Fullbright, 38, of Dubuque, pleaded to conspiracy to distribute meth and conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced to four years March 16. Chris Nauman, 31, of Dubuque, pleaded to conspiracy to distribute meth and was sentenced to seven years in January. John Husemann, of Dubuque, pleaded to conspiracy to distribute meth in December and is awaiting sentencing. Mason City Police point to drugs behind surge in 'bicycle chop shops' MASON CITY Adam Ochoa thought his son was joking when the boy walked through the door of t Heather Harris, 38, of Waterloo, pleaded to conspiracy to distribute meth and was sentenced to three and a half years March 9. Zachary Matthew Miller, 28, of Waterloo, pleaded to conspiracy to distribute meth and was sentenced to seven and a half years in February. Jacob Burton, 35, of Waterloo, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute meth in December and is awaiting sentencing. Global Acetyl Chloride Market 2016 Industry, Analysis, Research, Share, Growth, Sales, Trends, Supply, Forecast to 2021 http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=906631&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-acetyl-chloride-industry-2016-market-research-report.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com/category/chemicals-market-reports-57.htm The report provides a thorough overview of the present growth dynamics of the global Acetyl Chloride with the help of vast market data covering all important aspects and market segments. The report presents a birds eye view of the past and present trends as well the various factors expected to drive or impede the growth prospects of the Acetyl Chloride market in the near future.The study comprises a mix of data pertaining to the key drivers, restraints, regulatory forces, competitive landscape, key strategies implemented by the key players, and opportunities, expected to have a profound impact on the future scope of growth of the market. A detailed analysis of these factors allows the report to present a reliable forecast regarding the future growth dynamics of the Acetyl Chloride market.For more info, get a Sample PDF with TOC:The report also employs primary and secondary research techniques for gathering the most crucial pieces of professional information, and applies a number of industry-best analytical techniques upon the data for projecting the future state of the global Acetyl Chloride market. Based on current market development, the report includes an analysis of how activities such as mergers and acquisitions will shape markets future.A section containing detailed data about the most influential players operating in the market has also been included in the report, giving readers and enterprises access to information such as challenges faced by the companies, the recent developments reported by them, the growth strategies implemented, and the financial and business overview of the company.Service offerings, revenue shares, and contact information of each of the companies has also been given. With the help of these details, a detailed overview of the competitive landscape of the market is covered in the report, expected to give readers a clear idea of strategies that are providing most promising returns to companies.Table of Contents1 Acetyl Chloride Market Overview 11.1 Product Overview and Scope of Acetyl Chloride 11.2 Acetyl Chloride Segment by Types 21.3 Acetyl Chloride Segment by Applications 21.3.1 Acetyl Chloride Consumption Market Share by Applications in 2015 21.3.2 Pharmaceutical Industry 31.3.3 Agriculture Industry 41.3.4 Dye Industry 41.3.5 Liquid Crystal Material 51.4 Acetyl Chloride Market by Regions 61.4.1 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021) 61.4.2 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021) 71.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021) 71.4.4 North America Status and Prospect (2011-2021) 81.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Acetyl Chloride (2011-2021) 8Browse Complete Report with TOC @2 Global Acetyl Chloride Market Competition by Manufacturers 92.1 Global Acetyl Chloride Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016) 92.2 Global Acetyl Chloride Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016) 142.3 Global Acetyl Chloride Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016) 182.4 Manufacturers Acetyl Chloride Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area 192.5 Acetyl Chloride Market Competitive Situation and Trends 202.5.1 Acetyl Chloride Market Concentration Rate 202.5.2 Acetyl Chloride Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers 213 Global Acetyl Chloride Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Regions (2011-2016) 223.1 Global Acetyl Chloride Capacity and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016) 223.2 Global Acetyl Chloride Production and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016) 243.3 Global Acetyl Chloride Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016) 253.4 Global Acetyl Chloride Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016) 263.5 China Acetyl Chloride Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016) 273.6 India Acetyl Chloride Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016) 273.7 Europe Acetyl Chloride Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016) 283.8 North America Acetyl Chloride Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016) 284 Global Acetyl Chloride Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016) 294.1 Global Acetyl Chloride Consumption by Regions (2011-2016) 294.2 China Acetyl Chloride Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016) 314.3 India Acetyl Chloride Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016) 314.4 Europe Acetyl Chloride Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016) 314.5 North America Acetyl Chloride Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016) 32Read More @QYResearchReports.com is an unimpeachable source of market research data for clients that comprise acclaimed SMEs, Chinese companies, private equity firms, and MNCs. We provide market research reports on various categories such as Energy, Chemicals, Alternative and Green Energy, Manufacturing, Machinery, Pharmaceuticals and Materials, and Glass.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United States Yale Robotic Lift Truck Honored by Plant Engineering for Innovation GREENVILLE, N.C. (March 23, 2017) As supply chain operations are pressured with increasingly rigorous fulfillment requirements and problems with labor availability and turnover, they need solutions capable of delivering productivity, dependability and reduced total cost of operations. Plant Engineering has honored the Yale MPE080VG end rider with Driven by Balyo technology as one such solution, naming it a Product of the Year finalist. It operates as a robotic lift truck using Driven by Balyo technology, independently picking up, transporting and dropping off pallets anywhere on the floor using existing structural features to navigate no installation of tape, wire or other extra infrastructure required.The infrastructure-free navigation enables quick start up and the Balyo architecture can scale according to operational demands, offering the flexibility to manage a single truck or an entire fleet. The truck also offers manual and automatic modes for efficient operation alongside employees and manually operated trucks. An advanced obstacle detection feature controls truck speed and affords smooth, efficient movement, minimizing unnecessary stops and shocks to allow for up to 20,000 hours of use. This makes it ideal for a wide range of load transportation applications, improving labor productivity by freeing employees to focus on higher-value tasks.This recognition highlights the critical need in the market place that the relationship between Yale and Balyo addresses, said Lou Micheletto, Manager of Integrated Solutions, Yale Materials Handling Corporation. Yale lift trucks equipped with Driven by Balyo technology enable end-users to take advantage of the latest, most advanced robotic technology with the dependability of Yale lift trucks and security of local dealer support.In its 29th year, the Plant Engineering 2016 Product of the Year reader-choice program celebrates new products in the manufacturing industries. Product of the Year Award winners are honored at the annual Engineering Awards in Manufacturing dinner in Chicago.Yale Materials Handling Corporation markets a full line of materials handling lift truck products and services, including electric, gas, LP-gas and diesel powered lift trucks; narrow aisle, very narrow aisle and motorized hand trucks. Yale has a comprehensive service offering including Yale Vision wireless asset management, fleet management, Yale service, parts, financing and training. Yale trucks are manufactured in an ISO 9001:2008 registered facility and range in capacity from 2,000 to 36,000 lbs.Yale Materials Handling Corporation is a division of Hyster-Yale Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. (NYSE:HY). Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. and its subsidiaries, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, employ approximately 6,500 people world-wide.Yale truck and PEOPLE. PRODUCTS. PRODUCTIVITY. are trademarks, service marks or registered marks in the United States and certain other jurisdictions.Company Contact:Jennifer TimblinYale Materials Handling Corporation1400 Sullivan DrGreenville, NC 27834252-931-5747jennifer.timblin@hyster-yale.comMedia Contact:Dan GaussKoroberi202-588-0393dan@koroberi.com Corrugated Packaging Market: Dynamics, Segmentation, Regional Outlook and Market Players 2024 Corrugated Packaging Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/corrugated-packaging-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=15248 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com https://tmrresearch.blogspot.com/ Product packaging is an essential part of a product life cycle. Consumers need for convenient, light weight product packaging has driven the packaging industry to manufacture organized paperboard product packaging solutions with the aim to meet the consumer demands and tap the organized retail industry.The ongoing penetration of e-commerce and retail industry boom have resulted in the increased manufacture of innovative corrugated packaging solutions that contribute significantly to the global corrugated packaging market. Corrugated packaging materials are manufactured from recyclable card board boxes that are eco-friendly.Corrugated packaging market is expected to grow significantly owing to the rapid development of manufacturing sector during the forecast period.Corrugated Packaging Market: Market DynamicsGrowth of processed food industry owing to increasing consumer demand have resulted into a growth of corrugated packaging market. Corrugated packaging market is majorly driven by the growing e-commerce business. Changing consumer lifestyle patterns have boosted up the growth of e-commerce business wherein, the manufacturers have widely adopted the use of corrugated packaging to ensure safe product delivery, thereby escalating the growth of global corrugated packaging market.Obtain Report Details @Moreover, the organized retailing have a significant contribution to the increasing demand for global corrugated packaging market. The need for preserving the product shelf life, retailers store products in corrugated boxes thereby fueling up the demand for corrugate packaging market.However, corrugated packaging market witnesses few restraints that hinders the market growth. The major drawback of corrugated packaging is its durability factor. Corrugated packaging is incapable of withstanding harsh indoor and outdoor conditions and might cause damage to delicate products such as electronics, or fragile products made of glass and others.Corrugated Packaging Market: Regional OutlookRegional coverage for corrugated packaging market includes North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and China (APAC) and Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America accounts for a higher market share in corrugated packaging market as compared to other regions owing to the prominence of e-commerce business and retail sector, followed by Latin America and Europe which contributes significantly to the global corrugated packaging market growth.Make an Enquiry @Steady growth in e-commerce business and food and beverage industry in APAC offers a potential opportunity for the corrugated packaging market to boom during the forecast period. MEA region is expected to grow significantly in terms of global corrugated packaging market.Corrugated Packaging Market: Market PlayersPlayers operating in the global corrugated packaging market include U.S Corrugated Inc., Georgia- Pacific, Smurfit Kappa Group, DS Smith, Mondi Group and others.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Browse market research blog: Medical Nonwoven Disposables Market to Reach US$ 10.0 Billion Globally by 2020 New York, March 23: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Medical Nonwoven Disposables Market - Global Industry Analysis,Trends and Forecast, 2015 - 2023 How Big is the Global Medical Non-woven Disposable market? Global Medical non-woven disposable market will cross US$ 10.0 Billion by 2020. The revenue of this market is anticipated to increase at CAGR of 7.9% during the forecast period. North America is the leading market for medical non-woven disposable industry by revenue which accounted largest share worldwide. Asia Pacific will grow with highest growth rate owing to increase in demand for disposable medical equipment and products. Browse Full Report: https://www.marketresearchengine.com/reportdetails/medical-nonwoven-disposable-market Medical non-woven disposables provide better hygiene and protection to the patients as well as doctors from the infection.They eliminates the risk of cross contamination and deliver great bacterial filtration. The growing demand of medical non-woven disposables owing to its increasing use of disposables in hospitals is a major driving factor. Rising awareness of medical disposables is triggering the demand and hence boosting the market growth.Owing to better bacteria filtration and eliminated cross contamination is driving the market. Increasing rates of bacterial infection spread owing to airborne diseases is increasing the demand for disposables which is driving the market. The global medical non-woven disposable market by product is segmented as hygiene products and non-woven medical supplies. The market segments in terms of geographical regions include North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World(ROW). Download Free Sample Report: https://www.marketresearchengine.com/requestsample/medical-nonwoven-disposable-market This report provides: 1) An overview of the global market for Medical Non-woven Disposable and related technologies. 2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2020. 3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for Medical Non-woven Disposable market. 4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications. 5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry. REPORT SCOPE: The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for various types of coatings with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions. The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report are as below: Covidien Domtar Corp. Kimverly-Clerk Corporation Molnlycke Health Care AB Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget First Quality Enterprises, Inc. Medline Industries Inc. UniCharm Corporation Ahlstrom Corporation Freudenberg Nonwovens Georgia-Pacific LLC MRK healthcare Pvt. Ltd Polymer Group, Inc. Asahi Kasei Corporation Cypress Medical Products Abena Group Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments. The Top Companies Report is intended to provide our buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players. The Medical Non-woven Disposable Market has been segmented as below: By Product Hygiene products o Disposable Incontinence Pads & Ostomy Liners o Disposable Panty Shields o Disposable Underwear o Disposable Diapers o Ultra-Absorbent Disposable Diapers o Super-Absorbent Disposable Diapers o Gender-Specific Disposable Diapers o Biodegradable Disposable Diapers o Regular Disposable Diapers Nonwoven Medical Supplies o Disposable Surgical Masks o Disposable Surgical Drapes o Disposable Surgical Caps o Disposable Surgical Gowns o Disposable Sterile Nonwoven Swabs By Region North America Europe Asia Pacific Rest of the World (RoW) Reasons to buy this Report: 1) Obtains the most up to date information available on all active and planned Medical Non-woven Disposable industry globally. 2) Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry. 3) Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of Medical Non-woven Disposable industry and unit capacity data. 4) Assess your competitors refining portfolio and its evolution. About MarketResearchEngine.com Market Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies. Media Contact Company Name: Market Research Engine Contact Person: John Bay Email: john@marketresearchengine.com Phone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204 Country: United States Website: https://www.marketresearchengine.com/ Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States This release was published on openPR. Permanent link to this press release: Copy Please set a link in the press area of your homepage to this press release on openPR. openPR disclaims liability for any content contained in this release. Steam Turbogenerator 2017 Global Key Players Kirloskar, Cummins, Caterpillar, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Market Analysis and Forecast to 2022 Steam Turbogenerator Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1115992-global-steam-turbogenerator-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1115992-global-steam-turbogenerator-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1115992 https://www.linkedin.com/company/wise-guy-research-consultants-pvt-ltd-?trk=biz-companies-cym Steam Turbogenerator Market 2017In this Reports, Global Steam Turbogenerator Market 2017 Market Research In-Depth Analysis, Applications, Forecasts To 2022Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Steam Turbogenerator in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaRequest for Sample report @Global Steam Turbogenerator market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer;the top players includingCaterpillarCumminsMitsubishi Heavy IndustriesAPR EnergyKohlerCASCHimoinsaKirloskarBeijing Beizhong Steam Turbine GeneratorHarbin ElectricZibo Renao Steam TurbineOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSingle CylinderDouble CylinderMultiple CylinderOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Steam Turbogenerator for each application, includingPower StationMarineOthersTo get complete report visit@Key Points in Table of Content:Global Steam Turbogenerator Market Research Report 20171 Steam Turbogenerator Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Steam Turbogenerator1.2 Steam Turbogenerator Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Steam Turbogenerator Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Steam Turbogenerator Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Single Cylinder1.2.4 Double Cylinder1.2.5 Multiple Cylinder1.3 Global Steam Turbogenerator Segment by Application1.3.1 Steam Turbogenerator Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Power Station1.3.3 Marine1.3.4 Others1.4 Global Steam Turbogenerator Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Steam Turbogenerator Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Steam Turbogenerator (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Steam Turbogenerator Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Steam Turbogenerator Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022).7 Global Steam Turbogenerator Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Caterpillar7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Steam Turbogenerator Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Caterpillar Steam Turbogenerator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Cummins7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Steam Turbogenerator Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Cummins Steam Turbogenerator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Steam Turbogenerator Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Steam Turbogenerator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 APR Energy7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Steam Turbogenerator Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 APR Energy Steam Turbogenerator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Kohler7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Steam Turbogenerator Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Kohler Steam Turbogenerator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 CASC7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Steam Turbogenerator Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 CASC Steam Turbogenerator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Himoinsa7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Steam Turbogenerator Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Himoinsa Steam Turbogenerator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Kirloskar7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Steam Turbogenerator Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Kirloskar Steam Turbogenerator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Beijing Beizhong Steam Turbine Generator7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Steam Turbogenerator Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Beijing Beizhong Steam Turbine Generator Steam Turbogenerator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Harbin Electric7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Steam Turbogenerator Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Harbin Electric Steam Turbogenerator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Zibo Renao Steam Turbine...Continued...Buy this report @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Follow on LinkedIn @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Industry 2017 Global Market By Segment, Types, Regions, Applications And Forecast To 2022 Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1115884-global-continuously-variable-transmissions-cvt-market-2017-industry-research-report https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/1115884-global-continuously-variable-transmissions-cvt-market-2017-industry-research-report https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1115884 Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) MarketDescriptionIn the last several years, Global market of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) developed rapidly, with an average growth rate of 6.84%. In 2016, Global Revenue of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) is nearly 16975.59 M USD; the actual production is about 11581.6 K Unit.This report studies Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringJATCOAisin AWHondaFuji Heavy IndustriesPunchWanliyangJianglu & RongdaFallbrookMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeNorth AmericaChinaEuropeJapanRequest for Sample Report @Split by Product Types, with production, revenue, price, and market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoChain-DrivenPlanetarySplit by applications, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) in each application, can be divided intoBelow 1.5 L1.5 L - 3 LAbove 3 LEnquiry before Buying @Table of Contents:1 Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Market Overview 11.1 Product Overview and Scope of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) 11.2 Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Segment by Types 21.2.1 Classification of Continuously Variable Transmissions 21.2.2 Chain-Driven 31.2.3 Planetary 41.3 Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Segment by Applications 41.3.1 Applications of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) 41.3.2 Below 1.5 L 61.3.3 1.5 L - 3 L 61.3.4 Above 3 L 71.4 Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Market by Regions 81.4.1 North America Status and Prospect 2012-2022 81.4.2 China Status and Prospect 2012-2022 91.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect 2012-2022 101.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect 2012-2022 111.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) 2012-2022 122 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Market Competition by Manufacturers 132.1 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production and Share by Manufacturers 2015 and 2016 132.2 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Revenue and Share by Manufacturers 2015 and 2016 152.3 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Average Price by Manufacturers 2015 and 2016 182.4 Manufacturers Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Headquarters, Sales Area, Product Types 192.5 Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Market Competitive Situation and Trends 212.5.1 Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Market Concentration Rate 212.5.2 Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers 222.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion 233 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production, Revenue (Value) by Regions 2012-2017 263.1 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production and Market Share by Regions 2012-2017 263.2 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Regions 2012-2017 283.3 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin 2012-2017 303.4 North America Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin 2012-2017 313.5 Europe Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin 2012-2017 313.6 China Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin 2012-2017 323.7 Japan Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin 2012-2017 324 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions 2012-2017 334.1 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Consumption by Regions 2012-2017 334.2 North America Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions 2012-2017 354.3 Europe Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions 2012-2017 364.4 China Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions 2012-2017 364.5 Japan Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions 2012-2017 365 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Types 385.1 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production and Market Share by Types 2012-2017 385.2 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Revenue and Market Share by Types 2012-2017 405.3 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Price by Type 2012-2017 425.4 Global Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Production Growth by Type 2012-2017 438 Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Manufacturing Cost Analysis 668.1 Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Key Raw Materials Analysis 668.1.1 Key Raw Materials 668.1.2 Price Trend of Key Raw Materials 678.1.3 Market Concentration Rate of Raw Materials 688.2 Proportion of Manufacturing Cost Structure 698.2.1 Raw Materials 698.2.2 Labor Cost 698.2.3 Other Costs Analysis 768.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) 81Tables and Figures:Figure Picture of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) 1Table Classification of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) 2Figure Global Production Market Share of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) by Types in 2016 3Figure Product Picture of Chain-Driven 3Figure Product Picture of Planetary 4Table Applications of Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) 5Figure Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) Consumption Market Share by Applications in 2016 5Figure Below 1.5 L Examples 6Figure 1.5 L - 3 L Examples 6Figure Above 3 L Examples 7Continued...Buy now @Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune 411028: Maharashtra, India: Ph: +91 841 198 5042 Global Solar Cells Market Research Report 2017 analysis and forecast 2022 Solar Cells https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1115629-global-solar-cells-sales-market-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1115629-global-solar-cells-sales-market-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1115629 https://www.linkedin.com/company/wise-guy-research-consultants-pvt-ltd-?trk=biz-companies-cym https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEGrh5nnB7C6Vg4CgpuzBPw https://www.wiseguyreports.com/ Solar CellsCovered in this Report:Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (MW), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Solar Cells for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Solar Cells market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Solar Cells sales volume, Price (USD/KW), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingSanyo SolarKyocera SolarSharpMotechSunPowerSolarWorldCanadian SolarHanhuaBoschIsofotonRECNeo Solar PowerGintech EnergyE-Ton Solar TechTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @On the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume (MW), revenue (Million USD), product price (USD/KW), market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoAmorphous Solar CellsCrystalline Solar CellsOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Solar Cells for each application, includingMilitary FieldAerospace FieldIndustryOtherTo get complete copy of report visit @Key Points in Table Of ContentGlobal Solar Cells Sales Market Report 20171 Solar Cells Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Solar Cells1.2 Classification of Solar Cells by Product Category1.2.1 Global Solar Cells Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Solar Cells Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Amorphous Solar Cells1.2.4 Crystalline Solar Cells1.3 Global Solar Cells Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Solar Cells Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Military Field1.3.3 Aerospace Field1.3.4 Industry1.3.5 Other1.4 Global Solar Cells Market by Region1.4.1 Global Solar Cells Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Solar Cells Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Solar Cells Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Solar Cells Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Solar Cells Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Solar Cells Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Solar Cells Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Solar Cells (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Solar Cells Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Solar Cells Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 Global Solar Cells Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Solar Cells Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Solar Cells Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Solar Cells Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Solar Cells (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Solar Cells Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Solar Cells Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Solar Cells (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Solar Cells Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.3.2 Global Solar Cells Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4 Global Solar Cells (Volume) by Application3 United States Solar Cells (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Solar Cells Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Solar Cells Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Solar Cells Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Solar Cells Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Solar Cells Sales Volume and Market Share by Players3.3 United States Solar Cells Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Solar Cells Sales Volume and Market Share by Application...... Continued...To Purchase Report visit @Contact Us:Norah TrentPartner Relations & Marketing ManagerSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Follow on LinkedIn:Subscribe Our YouTube Channel @Click Here For More DetailsABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Contact Lenses Global Key Players Johnson &Johnson Vision Care, Novartis, CooperVision, Menicon, Clearlab Market Analysis and Forecast to 2022 Contact Lenses Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/662047-2016-market-research-report-on-global-contact-lenses-industry https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/662047-2016-market-research-report-on-global-contact-lenses-industry https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=662047 https://www.linkedin.com/company/wise-guy-research-consultants-pvt-ltd-?trk=biz-companies-cym Contact Lenses Market 2017In the last several years, global market of contact lenses developed rapidly, with an average growth rate of 6%. In 2016, global capacity of Contact Lenses is nearly 17100 Million Unit, and the actual production is about 15700 Million Unit.USA is the largest supplier of Contact Lenses, with a production market share nearly 56% and sales market share nearly 33%. That is to say, there are a large number of exports in USA, while USA also is the largest consumption region.Request for Sample report @This report studies contact lenses in Global market, especially in USA, Europe, China, Japan And Asia (Ex. China & Japan), focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer,coveringJohnson &Johnson Vision CareNovartisCooperVisionBausch + LombSt.Shine OpticalMeniconHydronWeiconBesconNEO VisionClearlabOculusCamaxSeedHoya CorpMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of contact lenses in these regions, from 2012 to 2023 (forecast), likeUSAEuropeChinaJapanAsia (Ex. China & Japan)Split by Product Types, with production, revenue, price, and market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoRigid Contact LensesHybrid Contact LensesSoft Contact LensesSplit by applications, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of contact lenses in each application, can be divided intoCorrective LensesTherapeutic LensesCosmetic Lenses and Lifestyle-Oriented LensesOthersTo get complete report visit@Key Points in Table of Content:1 Industry Overview of Contact Lenses 11.1 Definition and Specifications of Contact Lenses 11.1.1 Definition of Contact Lenses 11.1.2 Specifications of Contact Lenses 11.2 Classification of Contact Lenses 31.2.1 Rigid Contact Lenses 41.2.2 Soft Contact Lenses 51.2.3 Hybrid Contact Lenses 61.3 Applications of Contact Lenses 71.3.1 Corrective Lenses 71.3.2 Therapeutic Lenses 81.3.3 Cosmetic Lenses and Lifestyle-Oriented Lenses 91.4 Industry Chain Structure of Contact Lenses 101.5 Contact Lenses Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Contact Lenses 101.5.1 Contact Lenses International Market Development History 101.5.2 Industry Overview of Contact Lenses 111.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Contact Lenses 111.7 Industry News Analysis of Contact Lenses 12.8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Contact Lenses 768.1 Johnson &Johnson Vision Care 768.1.1 Company Profile 768.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications 778.1.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue 788.1.4 Contact Information 798.2 Novartis 798.2.1 Company Profile 798.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications 808.2.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue 818.2.4 Contact Information 838.3 CooperVision 838.3.1 Company Profile 838.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications 848.3.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue 858.3.4 Contact Information 878.4 Bausch + Lomb 878.4.1 Company Profile 878.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications 888.4.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue 898.4.4 Contact Information 918.5 St.Shine Optical 918.5.1 Company Profile 918.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications 928.5.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue 938.5.4 Contact Information 958.6 Menicon 958.6.1 Company Profile 958.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications 968.6.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue 978.6.4 Contact Information 998.7 Hydron 998.7.1 Company Profile 998.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications 1008.7.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue 1008.7.4 Contact Information 1028.8 Weicon 1028.8.1 Company Profile 1028.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications 1028.8.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue 1038.8.4 Contact Information 1058.9 Bescon 1058.9.1 Company Profile 1058.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications 1058.9.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue 1068.9.4 Contact Information 1088.10 NEO Vision 1088.10.1 Company Profile 1088.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications 1088.10.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue 1098.10.4 Contact Information 1118.11 Clearlab 1118.11.1 Clearlab Profile 1118.11.2 Product Picture and Specifications 1128.11.3 2012-2017 Clearlab Contact Lenses Sales, Sales Revenue, Sales Price, Gross Margin Analysis 1128.11.4 Contact Information 1148.12 Oculus 1148.12.1 Oculus Profile 1148.12.2 Product Picture and Specifications 1158.12.3 2012-2017 Oculus Contact Lenses Sales, Sales Revenue, Sales Price, Gross Margin Analysis 1158.12.4 Contact Information 1178.13 Camax 1178.13.1 Camax Profile 1178.13.2 Product Picture and Specifications 1188.13.3 2012-2017 Camax Contact Lenses Sales, Sales Revenue, Sales Price, Gross Margin Analysis 1188.13.4 Contact Information 1208.14 Seed 1208.14.1 Seed Profile 1208.14.2 Product Picture and Specifications 1218.14.3 2012-2017 Seed Contact Lenses Sales, Sales Revenue, Sales Price, Gross Margin Analysis 1218.14.4 Contact Information 1238.15 Hoya Corp 1238.15.1 Hoya Corp Profile 1238.15.2 Product Picture and Specifications 1248.15.3 2012-2017 Hoya Corp Contact Lenses Sales, Sales Revenue, Sales Price, Gross Margin Analysis 1248.15.4 Contact Information 126...Continued...Buy this report @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Follow on LinkedIn @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Her2 Antibodies Market: Evolving Technology, Trends and industry Analysis 2023 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/her2-antibodies-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=7301 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2) is an oncogene whose amplification or over-expression is observed to be associated with an aggressive type of breast cancer. Patients with amplified Her2 receptors are identified by tests such as Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Fluorescent In-Situ Hybridization (FISH). According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 15% - 30% of breast cancers over-express the Her2 gene, whereas the Breast Cancer Society of Canada estimates the prevalence to be approximately 25%.Browse Global Strategic Business Report:The global Her2 antibodies market is analyzed based on the type of treatment drugs which includes tratuzumab (Herceptin), lapatinib (Tykerb), Ado-trastuzumab emtansine (TDM-1, Kadcyla), Pertuzumab (Perjeta) and Everolimus (Afinitor). Tratuzumab (Herceptin) is the most widely prescribed drug for Her2 breast cancer. Tratuzumab is a targeted drug therapy attaching directly to the Her2 protein and slowing the growth of cancer cells. Expiry of its European patent in July 28, 2014, led to the advent of biosimilars primarily launched by Hospira, Inc. Roche still holds patent in the U.S. market till 2019 which will continue infusing revenue for the company until its new drugs Ado-trastuzumab emtansine (TDM-1, Kadcyla) and Pertuzumab (Perjeta) gains substantial share in the global Her2 antibodies market. Kadcyla is the first U.S. FDA approved antibody-drug conjugate for the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (mBC). Genentech has submitted a marketing authorization application for Kadcyla in various countries including Europe. Approval of this drug would improve the effectiveness of the therapy and lead to market growth during the forecast period.The global Her2 antibodies market is also analyzed based on geography North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World. North America dominates the global Her2 antibodies as the prevalence of breast cancer is high in this region coupled with higher patient affordability and the wide presence of insurance coverage. This attracts market players to primarily market their product in U.S. The market in developed regions is expected to grow further with introduction of novel drugs and the advent of biosimilars which will cater the demand of poor patients deprived of the treatment due to lack of insurance coverage and poor economic condition. The Asia Pacific and Rest of the World market would be driven by regulatory support and increasing demand for chemotherapy of breast cancer with rising prevalence of the disease in this region.The growth of global Her2 antibodies market will be fueled by increasing incidence of breast cancer coupled with rising investment and support from the cancer associations. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2014, about 232,670 of new cases of breast cancer would be diagnosed in the U.S. and about 40,000 women are expected to die from this cancer this year. Moreover, it estimates that currently there are 2.8 million women surviving with breast cancer in the U.S. In order to decrease the mortality rate of breast cancer, the American Cancer Society has granted more than 200 breast cancer research grants with USD 114 million of funding for research activities.The Breast Cancer Society of Canada estimates diagnosis of 24,400 women with breast cancer in Canada and 5,000 women would die because of breast cancer in 2014. Such high mortality rate stimulates the need for effective therapy for patients at an economic cost. This would fuel increase in investment by various market players to capitalize on the available market opportunity. Some of the key market players present in the global Her2 antibodies market include Genentech Inc., Hospira, Inc., Epirus Biopharmaceuticals, Avesthagen Pharma, Celltrion, Inc., Biocon Limited and Mylan Pharmaceuticals.Download Exclusive Brochure of This Report :This research report analyzes this market on the basis of its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. This report provides comprehensive analysis ofMarket growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for upcoming yearsAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Plasma Protein Therapeutics Market to Exceed US$ 31 Billion Globally by 2024 https://www.marketresearchengine.com/reportdetails/plasma-protein-therapeutics-market-report https://www.marketresearchengine.com/requestsample/plasma-protein-therapeutics-market-report https://www.marketresearchengine.com/ Florida, March 23: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Plasma Protein Therapeutics Market by Product Type (C1 esterase Inhibitors, Albumins, Immunoglobulins & Coagulation Factors), by Application Type (Hereditary Angioedema, Hemophilia, Primary Immunodeficiency Disorder) - Global Industry Analysis, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024The Plasma Protein Therapeutics Market is expected to exceed more than USD 31 Billion by 2024; Growing at a CAGR of more than 7.5% in the given forecast period.Browse Full Report here:Plasma is the liquid parts of blood that residue once platelets, white and red blood cells and various other cellular components are detached. In human blood only plasma is largest component and contains proteins, antibodies, enzymes, salts and water. Plasma is the protein rich fluids that defer cells in human blood and achieves various essential transport functions. The proteins that originate in plasma plays important function in clotting and provide immunity to diseases. Plasma proteins are used in many conditions for treatment such as shocks & burns, neurological & bleeding disorders, autoimmune and immune deficiencies.Plasma protein therapies is a unique biological medicine which contains biological starting material called plasma which have unique bio chemical profile which differs in processing methods and production methods. Plasma protein therapies are used to treat various genetic, chronic, life threatening and rare diseases.The plasma protein therapeutics market is segmented on the lines of its product type, application and regional. Under product type segmentation it covers C1 esterase inhibitors, albumins, immunoglobulins and coagulation factors. Based on application segmentation the plasma protein therapeutics covers hereditary angioedema, hemophilia, primary immune deficiency disorder, secondary immune deficiency, idiopathic thrombocytopenic and others such as Kawasaki disease, GBS, CIDP etc.The plasma protein therapeutics market's geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geographical region market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.Download Free Sample Report:This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for plasma protein therapeutics and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2020.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for plasma protein therapeutics.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.REPORT SCOPE:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets .The reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Baxter International, Biotest, CSL Behring, Grifols, S.A., Kedrion, Octapharma USA, Inc., Shire Plc. and China Biologics. CSL Behring is the market leader in the plasma protein therapeutics market, while GRIFOLS, S.A leads the global market for IVIG and Alpha 1 antitrypsin. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.The Top Companies Report is intended to provide our buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players.The Plasma Protein Therapeutics Market has been segmented as below:By Product Type AnalysisC1 esterase InhibitorsAlbuminsImmunoglobulinsCoagulation FactorsOthersBy Application AnalysisHereditary AngioedemaHemophiliaPrimary Immunodeficiency DisorderSecondary ImmunodeficiencyIdiopathic ThrombocytopenicOthers (Kawasaki disease, GBS, CIDP etc)By Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldReasons to Buy this Report:1) Obtain the most up to date information available on all plasma protein therapeutics market .2) Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry.3) Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of plasma protein therapeutics market data.4) Assess your competitors refining portfolio and its evolution.About MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Website:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States DES MOINES Majority GOP senators advanced a bill Wednesday prohibiting local governments from setting minimum wages higher than the states $7.25 hourly rate, but did not rule out addressing the statewide pay threshold separately yet this session. Sen. Randy Feenstra, R-Hull, said subcommittee testimony had made clear Iowans see a need to raise the state minimum wage, but he noted it would be dealt with separately from House-passed legislation asserting the states sole authority in setting business and employment standards for Iowa. I do suggest that at some point we do look at another bill that would increase our minimum wage in this state, Feenstra told members of the Senate State Government Committee, who voted 9-6 to approve House File 295. However, were not there at this time. Provisions of the House bill would immediately bar cities and counties from usurping state authority in business and employment matters and the sale or marketing of consumer merchandise, something Feenstra said is needed to ensure uniformity and prevent a patchwork quilt of regulations. Minority Democrats who opposed the bill and independent Sen. David Johnson of Ocheyedan questioned whether legislation dealing with a minimum-wage increase would actually surface this year, with about a month left before lawmakers per-diem expense money ends April 18 usually a harbinger of adjournment. That there is going to be a minimum-wage increase is laughable on its face. It really is. Not with this Legislature and people who are here and the people who will come back next year, Johnson said. If were going to talk local control here, lets get it right. We really should. This is an identity crisis. Sen. Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, said costs of living vary among Iowa communities and they should be able to adjust to their local needs. Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, questioned the propriety of a ridiculous bill loaded up with a crazy combination of issues that ranged from plastics to paychecks. Petersen also worried the legislation would roll back pay increases for workers in Johnson, Linn, Polk and Wapello counties where supervisors have voted to raise the minimum levels following years of legislative inaction. The wage issue was last addressed by the 2007 session. Were moving at a snails pace here. Its impacting peoples daily lives, Petersen said. I would imagine that if this bill passes, the employers in the counties where they have raised the minimum wage will not do a darn thing for the people who work for them, she said. This will be a huge hit, to women in particular working minimum wage jobs. However, committee Chairman Sen. Roby Smith, R-Davenport, said there was nothing in the pre-emption bill that would prevent employers from paying more than the $7.25 an hour. He also noted that many low-payscale employees actually make more than $10 an hour with the help of federal and state earned income tax credits. Theres nothing in this bill that lowers the minimum wage for anybody. Employers can still choose to pay the higher minimum wage if they like, Smith said. Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, said he suspected majority Republicans were pressing ahead with the pre-emption bill to beat Polk Countys April 1 implementation date in boosting the minimum wage there to $8.75 an hour. That and other county wage rates higher than the states $7.25 hourly minimum would be nullified once the bill clears the Legislature and is signed by the governor. These communities that waited and waited and waited nine, 10 years and havent seen any increase have finally taken some action, he said. These cities and counties, theyre desperate because they see the poverty and they see the need. Neurofibromatosis Treatment Market Research Report by Regional Analysis, Key Players, Share, Size and forecast 2023 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/neurofibromatosis-treatment-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=7156 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Neurofibromatosis is a genetic condition that disrupts the cell growth in your nervous system, causing formation of tumors on nerve tissue. These formed tumors may develop anywhere in the nervous system of the victim, which may include the brain, spinal cord and nerves. Neurofibromatosis is usually diagnosed in childhood or early adulthood.The tumors are noncancerous (benign) in most of the cases, but in some cases these tumors become cancerous (malignant) tumors. People suffering with neurofibromatosis often experience only mild symptom and effects may range from hearing loss, learning impairment, and heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) complications to severe disability due to nerve compression by tumors, loss of vision and severe pain. There is no specific treatment for neurofibromatosis, but treatment aims to maximize healthy growth and development and to manage complications as soon as they arise. When neurofibromatosis causes large tumors or tumors that press on a nerve, surgery may help ease symptoms. Other therapies such as stereotactic radiosurgery, medications to control pain or physical therapy are proved to be beneficial for the affected people.There are three types of neurofibromatosis, known as neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), the most common one, and neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). One more type of neurofibromatosis which has been identified recently is known as Schwannomatosis, is a rare type and little is known about it. The factors that would drive the neurofibromatosis treatment market includes the drugs which are in the clinical trials and are anticipated to be a break through treatment for neurofibromatosis cases.Browse full report on Neurofibromatosis Treatment Market -The neurofibromatosis treatment market can be segmented into drug therapy, surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Surgery is the most preferred option for the removal of the tumors. Other treatments like radiation therapy and chemotherapy are also recommended in the neurofibromatosis treatments market. In case of NF2 tumors, MRI can felicitate the early treatment of the tumors by revealing the size of the tumors. Surgery to remove tumors completely is one option but may result in hearing loss. Surgery also can correct cataracts and retinal abnormalities. There is no currently accepted medical treatment or drug for schwanomatosis, but surgical management is often effective. Pain usually subsides when tumors are removed completely.There are currently no drugs in the market for neurofibromatosis treatment, however ever certain drugs in the phase III of the clinical trials include Lamotrigine (Erasmus Medical Center), and Tamsulosin HCL (GL Pharm Tech Corporation). The drugs in the phase II of the clinical trials include Cabozantinib (University of Alabama at Birmingham), RAD001 (Assistance Publique - Hopitaux de Paris), Gleevec (Indiana University), Everolimus (Texas Neurofibromatosis Foundation) and others.Geographically, Neurofibromatosis is an orphan disease, and the prevalence rate of neurofibromatosis is low. According to oxford journals the prevalence rate defers from region to region. The prevalence in the U.S. is 1 in 3,000, in Eastern Europe is 1 in 15,000, in Oceania is 1 in 10,000 and in Western Europe and Middle East is 1 in 10,000.The organization and institutes participating in the neurofibromatosis treatment market include Erasmus Medical Center, GL Pharm Tech Corporation, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Assistance Publique - Hopitaux de Paris, Indiana University, Texas Neurofibromatosis Foundation and others. The institutes and organization are involved in discovering of novel drug therapy for the treatment of Neurofibromatosis.Request for brochure of this report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Solid Tumor Market Research Report by Geographical Analysis and Forecast upto 2023 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/solid-tumor-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=8209 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Solid tumors are formed due to aggregation of a group of abnormal tissues that do not comprise of any cyst or liquid areas within. Solid tumors can be of both types, i.e. benign (non-cancerous) as well as malignant (cancerous) in nature. Solid tumors majorly comprise of lymphomas, carcinomas, sarcomas and melanomas; whereas, all forms of leukemias usually do not cause solid tumor formation. The treatment of these solid tumors is a complex task and it requires coordinated actions of many healthcare professionals, such as, radiologists, surgeons, oncologists, radiation specialists, nurses and other professionals.Hence, most of the solid tumors are treated via radiotherapy, chemotherapy and/or surgery. However, at present, surgery is the most preferred choice of treatment for cancerous solid tumors. Chemotherapy is often utilized along with other modes of solid tumor treatment i.e. radiation and/or surgery. Several chemotherapeutic drugs are available along with a ripe pipeline of drugs that will soon be commercialized in the global market. Solid tumor market can be classified into five major segments, based on the site of origin, namely, prostrate cancer, ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer and other cancers.Some of the major driving factors for the growth of this market include increasing incidences of several cases of solid tumors, rising prevalence of different forms of metastatic cancers, increasing demand for highly effective chemotherapeutic agents and ripe pipeline of drugs which is available in the global market. According to World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 8.2 million people died due to different types of cancers worldwide in 2012. Among them lung, colorectal, breast and liver cancers were among the leading causes of cancer deaths. Most common forms of solid tumors include brain tumors (medulloblastoma and glioma) and neuroblastoma; other less common solid tumors include rhabdomyosarcoma and osteosarcoma.Browse full report on Solid Tumor Market -Some of the major drugs that available in the global market are Avastin (bevacizumab), Afinitor (everolimus), Jevtana (cabazitaxel), Sutent (sunitinib), Tarceva (erlotinib), Taxotere (docetaxel), Zytiga (abiraterone acetate), Carboplatin, Cisplatin, Doxorubicin, Gemcitabine and Paclitaxel among others. Also, major promising drugs that are in different stages of clinical trials include Abraxane (albumin-bound paclitaxel), AMG 386 (trebananib), Votrient (pazopanib) and Xtandi (enzalutamide) among others. These drugs will soon be commercialized in the global market, which will further boost this market in future.Geographically, North America holds the leading position in solid tumor market followed by Europe. Major factors responsible for their dominance in this market include high incidence rate of various solid tumor cases along with very well developed healthcare infrastructure of these regions. These regions also comprise of high geriatric population, which contribute heavily towards the solid tumor patient population in the region. However, Asia Pacific is considered to be the most lucrative market for solid tumor market due to recent advancements in healthcare infrastructure and growing medical tourism in these regions. The region also accounts for high cancer patient population and increasing awareness and affordability of the people of this region will contribute heavily towards the future growth of this market in the region.Some of the major players operating in this market are AstraZeneca plc, Abbott Laboratories, Inc., Amgen, Inc., Biogen Idec, Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Baxter International, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Eli Lilly and Company, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd., and Sanofi among others.This research report analyzes this market on the basis of its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeMiddle East and AfricaLatin AmericaRequest for brochure of this report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Hospital Asset Management Market: A Booming trend in Healthcare Analytics Industry http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/hospital-asset-management-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1926 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Hospital Asset Management MarketIn hospitals, the key assets include people, devices, and medication. However, the management of thousands of expensive mobile equipment is labor-intensive and challenging. Asset management is thus of prime importance across hospitals owing to its significant impact on staff productivity, assets performance, operations, and lifestyle costs. Asset tracking is a potential area of improvement for hospitals that can be achieved with quantitative results. With the help of asset management solutions, hospitals are able to improve service quality while reducing managing costs and risk of non-compliance.Browse Global Strategic Business Report:Hospital asset management solutions are equipped with various technologies such as radio-frequency identification (RFID), infrared, ultrasound, and Wi-Fi based real-time location systems (RTLS). The RFID technology is extensively used across the pharmaceutical sector where manufacturers and distributors are able to precisely track drug products through the supply chain. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced guidelines for the implementation of RFID technology in November 2004 to ensure the safety and security of drug supply across the health care industry. For staff management and to provide better service to patients, RTLS is widely used for nurse call automation and real-time locating of patients. RTLS tags are also implemented to monitor, track, and manage strategic assets such as ventilators for critical care, cardiac monitoring devices, machinery for ultrasound diagnostics, and others.Global Hospital Asset Management Market: OverviewThe increasing number of complex equipment in modern-day hospitals, along with the growing incidences of drug counterfeiting and supply chain issues have boosted the demand for hospital asset management solutions. The declining cost of hardware utilized in various systems such as RTLS and their extensive usage across the health care industry have also augmented the growth of the global hospital asset management market. However, initial investment requirements, operational and technical issues, and privacy and ethical concerns will hamper the growth of the global hospital asset management market. Various initiatives taken by government institutions to decrease operational costs at government-run hospitals are expected to define the future outlook of the global hospital asset management market.Hospital asset management includes staff management, patient management, temperature and humidity monitoring, and equipment management. With the growing demand to manage vast supplies of medical equipment across hospitals, equipment management has emerged as one of the largest application segments in the global hospital asset management market.Global Hospital Asset Management Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global hospital asset management market has been segmented into four key regions: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. In North America, the robust health care infrastructure has propelled the demand for hospital asset management solutions. North America and Europe are the leading regions in the global hospital asset management market. Various government initiatives to boost the health care industry and rising demand for efficient supply chain management in Asia Pacific will fuel the demand for hospital asset management software in the region in the coming years. India and China will significantly contribute toward the growth of the market in the region owing to the standardization of RFID technology through various government initiatives.Some of the prominent players in the global hospital asset management market are GE Healthcare, IBM Corporation, Tyco International Ltd., AeroScout Inc., Vizbee RFID Systems Ltd., Infor, Awarepoint Corporation, Motorola Solutions Inc., Trimble Navigation Ltd., Ekahau Inc., Siemens Healthcare, Versus Technology Inc., Sonitor Technologies Inc., and Zebra Technologies Corporation.Download Exclusive Brochure of This Report :This research report analyzes this market on the basis of its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeMiddle East and AfricaLatin AmericaThis report provides comprehensive analysis ofMarket growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for upcoming yearsAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Healthcare Information Systems Market: Efforts to Digitize Records Spark Demand, notes TMR http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/healthcare-information-system.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1457 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The leading players in the global healthcare information systems market are Cerner Corporation, McKesson, and All Scripts. Collectively, these players held a share of 26% in the global market in 2015, states Transparency Market Research. The diversified portfolio of these companies is expected to help them maintain a lead in the coming years. Several companies in the global healthcare information systems market are expected to focus on increasing geographical presence through mergers and acquisitions to increase their revenues.According to the research report, the global healthcare information systems market is expected to reach a valuation of US$44.8 bn by the end of 2024 as compared to US$19.2 bn in 2015. During the forecast years of 2016 and 2024, the global market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 10.1%.Browse Global Strategic Business Report:North America Poised to Acquire a Share of 36.6% by 2024The end users in the global market are hospitals, academic and research centers, and diagnostic centers. The report indicates that hospitals are expected to key users of healthcare information systems by the end of 2024. This end-user segment is projected to expand at a CAGR of 11.1% between 2016 and 2024. The increasing adoption of healthcare information systems in hospitals for storing a large amount of information and making it easily accessible to physicians is expected to boost the demand.In terms of geography, the global healthcare information systems market is segmented into North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, and Europe. Of all these regions, North America is expected to dominate the global market in the coming years. This regional market is slated to acquire a share of 36.6% in the overall market by the end of 2024. Asia Pacific too is expected to offer the healthcare information systems market a significant boost in the near future.Need to Reduce Errors and Costs Ensures Swift Uptake of Healthcare Information SystemsGrowing number of government initiatives to digitize healthcare systems has led to the adoption of healthcare information systems. These systems are aimed at achieving an accurate analysis of the health of the patient by maintaining the records about patients disorders or diseases in an organized manner. Over the years, the usage of healthcare information systems has allowed improved the quality of medical assistance provided to the patients along with improving disease surveillance. These systems have also enabled reduction of medication error. The market for healthcare information systems is also expected to be fueled by the growing need to cut down on healthcare costs that are associated with paperwork and maintenance of physical records.High Cost of Investments and Maintenance Likely to Discourage Growth of Global MarketThe high cost of investments in such as purchasing the systems, installing them, and the cost training labor to use them is discouraging many end users from adoption the new-age healthcare information systems. The maintenance cost of these systems includes software upgradation, hardware replacement, and support. Thus, all of these factors are acting as a major restraint for the global market. The report also points that concerns pertaining to cyber security are also likely to hamper the growth of the overall market in the coming years. Lastly, issues related to integration and interoperability are also likely to hold the market back to a noticeable extent.This review is based on Transparency Market Researchs report, titled Healthcare Information Systems Market - Global & North America Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024.Download Exclusive Brochure of This Report :The global healthcare information systems market has been segmented as follows:Global Healthcare information Systems Market, by ApplicationHospital Information SystemsElectronic Health RecordElectronic Medical RecordReal-time HealthcarePatient Engagement SolutionsPopulation Health managementOthersPharmacy Information systemsPrescription ManagementAutomated Dispensing SystemsInventory ManagementOthersLaboratory Information systemsMedical Imaging Information SystemRadiology Information systemsMonitoring Analysis SoftwarePicture Archiving & Communication SystemsOthersRevenue Cycle ManagementGlobal Healthcare information Systems Market, by End-userHospitalsDiagnostics CentreAcademic and Research InstitutionOthersGlobal Healthcare information Systems Market, by ComponentSoftwareHardwareServicesGlobal Healthcare information Systems Market, by DeploymentWeb-basedOn PremiseCloud-basedGlobal Healthcare information Systems Market, by GeographyNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaAsia PacificChinaJapanAustralia & New ZealandRest of APACEuropeU.K.GermanyFranceItalyRest of EuropeLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaMiddle East & AfricaUAESouth AfricaRest of Middle East & AfricaAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Research Explore Global Octylphenol Ethoxylates http://www.reporthive.com/request-sample.php?id=815707 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Report by Material, Application, and Geography Global Forecast to 2021 is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, united Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and China).The report firstly introduced the Octylphenol Ethoxylates basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the world's main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.The report includes six parts, dealing with:1.) basic information;2.) the Asia Octylphenol Ethoxylates Market;3.) the North American Octylphenol Ethoxylates Market;4.) the European Octylphenol Ethoxylates Market;5.) market entry and investment feasibility;6.) the report conclusion.For Sample Report Request:Table Of Content:Chapter One Octylphenol Ethoxylates Industry Overview1.1 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Definition1.2 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Classification Analysis1.2.1 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Main Classification Analysis1.2.2 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Main Classification Share Analysis1.3 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Application Analysis1.3.1 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Main Application Analysis1.3.2 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Main Application Share Analysis1.4 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Industry Chain Structure Analysis1.5 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Industry Development Overview1.5.1 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Product History Development Overview1.5.1 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Product Market Development Overview1.6 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.1 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Global Import Market Analysis1.6.2 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Global Export Market Analysis1.6.3 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Global Main Region Market Analysis1.6.4 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.5 Octylphenol Ethoxylates Global Market Development Trend AnalysisChapter Two Octylphenol Ethoxylates Up and Down Stream Industry Analysis2.1 Upstream Raw Materials Analysis2.1.1 Upstream Raw Materials Price Analysis2.1.2 Upstream Raw Materials Market Analysis2.1.3 Upstream Raw Materials Market Trend2.2 Down Stream Market Analysis2.1.1 Down Stream Market Analysis2.2.2 Down Stream Demand Analysis2.2.3 Down Stream Market Trend AnalysisPart II Asia Octylphenol Ethoxylates Industry (The Report Company Including the Below Listed But Not All)Chapter Three Asia Octylphenol Ethoxylates Market Analysis3.1 Asia Octylphenol Ethoxylates Product Development History3.2 Asia Octylphenol Ethoxylates Competitive Landscape Analysis3.3 Asia Octylphenol Ethoxylates Market Development TrendAbout Us:We are a leading repository of market research reports and solutions from the top publishers and market research companies across globe, catering to various industries. This large collection of reports assists organizations in decision-making on aspects such as market entry strategies, market sizing, market share analysis, competitive analysis, product portfolio analysis andopportunity analysis among others. We also assist in determining the best suited and targeted report from our large repository of global reports, company-specific reports and country-level reports.Our custom research services help clients to meet specific market research requirements by coordinating with our esteemed research partners. Our experienced analysts are always available to cater to your queries pre- and post-purchase. We believe in providing best-in-class after-sales service to our clients and wish to build a long-term and a mutually fruitful relationship.Contact Us:Pune, Maharashtra - 411 014IndiaEmail: sales@reporthive.comCall: +1-312-604-7084 Linear Actuators Market Flourishing Aerospace and Defense industry http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/north-america-linear-actuators-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=16130 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The North America market for linear actuators is chiefly driven by the rising adoption of automation across a number of industries, an increased focus on wastewater management, and the flourishing aerospace and defense industry.An exponential rise in shale gas exploration activities in the region is also expected to levy a significant positive impact on the markets overall development in the next few years.Browse Market Research Report:Transparency Market Research estimates that the market will exhibit a promising 6.9% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024. At this rate, the market, which valued at US$2,893.5 mn in 2015, will reach a valuation of US$5,236.6 mn by 2024.Of the key varieties of linear actuators available in the North America market, the report examines hydraulic, pneumatic, electric, and mechanical linear actuators. Of these, the segment of electric linear actuators emerged as the most attractive segment, accounting for a 24% of the market in 2015.The rising adoption across industrial automation practices, better flexibility options, and the lower cost of ownership are some of the key factors that helped boost the consumption of electric linear actuators in the North America market. In the near future, the demand for actuators with high power efficiency and low weight will drive the demand for electric actuators.The demand for electric actuators has also considerably increased in the region owing to the several limitations of mechanical actuators. The rate of replacement of mechanical actuators has considerably increased in the past few years, stimulating the uptake of electric actuators in the region.The segment is also expected to remain the most promising product variety in the North America market in the near future, exhibiting a 7.2% CAGR from 2016 through 2024. Electric actuators are expected to account for a nearly 25% of the overall market by 2024.From a geographical perspective, the North America linear actuators market is examined for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Of these, the U.S. accounted for over two-thirds of the markets overall revenue in 2015 and is expected to retain its top spot through 2024 as well.The high rate of adoption of industrial automation, the rising demand for wastewater management, and the boom in the shale gas and food and beverages industries have been boosting the application of linear actuators in the U.S. market.These factors will continue to drive the increased demand for linear actuators in the U.S., keeping the country at the top spot in the North America market.Make an Enquiry:However, the market in Mexico will exhibit the most promising growth over the forecast period, registering a more than 8% CAGR. The rapid growth across the construction and manufacturing sectors witnessed over the past few years is expected to remain one of the key factors responsible for the robust development of the linear actuators market in the country in the near future.Furthermore, rising government investment aimed at improving power supply infrastructure, airports, and pipelines is also expected to boost the demand for linear actuators in Mexico over the forecast period.About TMRTMR is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Bills release multiple artist renderings of new stadium The morning of Oct. 27 was a day Buffalo Bills fans have been patiently waiting for a reveal of what the new stadium will potentially look like. The team... County officials, law firm representatives host public hearing on new stadium SEQR Erie County officials, representatives from Phillips Lytle LLP, power players for a new stadium and interested Buffalo Bills fans packed into one of the community rooms of the Brush Mountain... CHARLES CITY | State Rep. Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, has filed paperwork to explore a possible run for governor. I know Iowa can do better than what we have seen during this legislative session, Prichard said in a news release Thursday. The current administration appears to have given up on creating quality jobs and growing wages in communities like Charles City, and we need a new vision for Iowa. "I am considering a run for governor because Iowa needs fresh leadership with the vision to drive meaningful economic growth across the entire state, and I look forward to offering some new ideas as well as a new approach to getting things done for all Iowans," he said. Prichard, who was first elected to the state legislature in 2013, is a lifelong Iowa resident. Following graduation from Davenport Schools, he attended the University of Iowa and enlisted in the Army Reserve to fulfill a desire to serve his country. After his college graduation, Prichard served four tours overseas including a deployment to Iraq as a company commander in the Iowa National Guards 1-133 Infantry Battalion. Upon returning home, he worked for more than a decade as a prosecutor, defender and litigator. Prichard and his wife, Ann, a teacher at Charles City Schools, live in Charles City with their three children, Kate, Emma and Owen. The family attends St. John Lutheran Church in Charles City. Prichard has formed a leadership team to provide advice as he considers running for governor. Members of the committee include: Marcia Nichols, former political director of AFSCME Council 61 and a leading advocate for working Iowa families. David Dawson, a former two-term state representative from Sioux City currently working as an assistant Woodbury County attorney. Brad Anderson, the Democratic secretary of state nominee in 2014. Anderson also served as Iowa state director for the Obama-Biden re-election campaign in 2012. Sue Dvorsky, former chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, co-chair of the Johnson County Obama campaign and a special education teacher for 30 years. Bob Dvorsky, a state senator representing parts of Johnson, Cedar and Muscatine counties. Dvorsky serves as ranking member of the Senate Natural Resources and the Environment Committee. Keisha Cunnings, who has partnered with Prichard through two nonprofit organizations serving Charles City Proud Parents Association and Be the Bridge. The Branstad-Reynolds administration has mismanaged the state budget and prioritized the needs of the largest corporations in the states largest cities, Nichols said in the news release. I support Todd Prichard because I believe Democrats need a candidate who understands the needs of those struggling in every corner of the state. "Throughout his career and in the legislature, Todd has brought Main Street sensibilities to address the real challenges facing middle class families, such as low wages and access to higher education," Nichols said. On the eve of a historic House of Representatives vote, the estimated 299,000 to 465,000 Oregonians expected to lose coverage under the Republican health care plan can only wait and watch. No one has fought harder for the GOP vision of health care reform than U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon. Even when the American Health Care Act was pilloried by both left and right, Walden kept the faith and helped with last-minute changes intended to win over the skeptics. Walden and other Republican leaders issued a statement earlier this week saying they were "confident these changes will set AHCA up for success in the House." Walden's constituents in rural Oregon could get hit harder by the Republican plan than any other part of the state. The Center for American Progress issued a report Tuesday breaking down the loss of coverage by congressional district: About 64,300 people -- 8 percent of the population -- in Walden's 2nd district could lose health care coverage by 2026. All five of the state's congressional districts would see the ranks of uninsured grow by at least 56,000 each, at least 6.8 percent, according to the report. President Donald Trump made the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act his top priority after the November election. Citing repeated double-digit premium increases, insurance companies pulling out of certain geographies and other problems, Trump argued that Obamacare should go down in flames. With Republicans enjoying a majority in both houses of Congress, repeal was considered a slam dunk. But the reception to the bill has been intensely hostile, particularly after the Congressional Budget Office last week predicted the number of uninsured Americans would skyrocket by 24 million by 2026 and health insurance premiums would increase as much as 20 percent in 2018 if the legislation becomes law. The state predicts an even more harsh impact. Gov. Kate Brown released a study last Thursday pegging the number of newly uninsured at 465,000 by 2026. Much of that reduction would come through the rollback of the Medicaid expansion. The Affordable Care Act liberalized the income qualifying standards for Medicaid, which resulted in about 400,000 additional Oregonians getting coverage. The Republican legislation doesn't immediately cut funding for the Medicaid expansion population. But by 2020, it reduces the federal share of the cost of new Medicaid members. If states want to maintain the current coverage, it will be up to them to fill the financial gap, a multibillion-dollar sum that Oregon doesn't have. The lobbying is continuing right down to the zero hour. Brown traveled to Washington, D.C. and will meet with Oregon's congressional delegation Thursday. Chris Pair, Brown's spokesman, said the governor "will share the results of the state analysis, and she will be urging them to vote no." -- Jeff Manning 503-294-7606, jmanning@oregonian.com Erickson The Portland-based aviation firm Erickson Inc., best known for its S-64 aircranes and helitankers, filed for Chapter 11 protection in November 2016. A Texas judge approved its reorganization plan on Tuesday, March 21, 2017. (The Oreognian/OregonLive/file) Erickson took a step toward emerging from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday when a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas approved its reorganization plan. The Portland-based aviation firm, best known for its S-64 aircranes and helitankers, houses its manufacturing, maintenance, research and development operations in Jackson County, where more than 700 employees work. Judge Harlin D. Hale of the Northern District of Texas bankruptcy court in Dallas confirmed the plan less than five months after Erickson entered court protection in November, listing $561 million in debt. The company went public in 2012 and acquired Evergreen Helicopters and Air Amazonia in 2013, which left Erickson with $355 million in debt just as the global oil-and-gas market was collapsing. "For all intents and purposes this gives us clear path to emerge from bankruptcy in the next couple of weeks," Erickson president and CEO Jeff Roberts said in a telephone interview Wednesday from Dallas. Roberts, CFO David Lancelot, and commercial aviation vice president Andy Mills were approved as board members for the reconstituted privately held company. Roberts said the board may eventually grow to seven members, including some independent directors. "We have a good vetting process in place to help guide our business in a positive fashion," Roberts said. Under the plan, Erickson's pre-bankruptcy debt will be reduced by more than $400 million. Erickson said it obtained commitments to borrow up to $150 million from a consortium led by MidCap Financial Trust; reached an agreement on noncash repayment of $69.8 million in financing obtained during the bankruptcy; and secured a backstopped $20 million rights offering. Roberts said the structural changes will reinforce the direction the company has moved to leverage its helicopter fleet's unique capabilities. "There's cautious enthusiasm about what we're hearing out of Washington," Roberts said. "I don't know what will happen, but the words sound good." Roberts is also optimistic about hefty defense spending increases planned by the Trump Administration. "There's a lot of conversation about expeditionary aviation being a focus of new defense spending," he said. "It's way too early to tell if it manifests itself, but the words are good." Earlier this month, Erickson announced it is building a S-64 Aircrane for Korea Forest Service, its first such order in eight years. It also announced new service contracts in South America and Africa. "It's astonishing how supportive our customers and prospects have been through the process," Roberts said. "It's enabled us to secure new business during restructuring. As we emerge, any and all concerns they may have will go away." Lancelot attributed the company's swift movement through reorganization to the support of its debtholders and the entities leasing their aircraft. "The financial impact of this approved plan is very positive and allows us to be far more strategic to compete in the competitive landscape," Lancelot said. -- Greg Stiles, Medford Mail Tribune graduation Oregon currently has a goal to get all its young people to finish high school and 80 percent to earn college degrees by 2025. But many lawmakers say Oregon should ditch that goal, in large part because the state is far from accomplishing them. (The Associated Press) In 2011, Oregon lawmakers agreed on an ambitious goal: By 2025, the state should get all its young people to graduate from high school and 80 percent to earn a two- or four-year college degree. Now, largely at the urging of the state's teachers union, a group of mostly Democratic lawmakers want the state to drop those goals, largely as an admission the state's schools and colleges won't come close to accomplishing them. "It is not realistic," Rep. Paul Evans, D-Salem, a community college instructor and the primary sponsor of the bill to end the numeric goals, said Wednesday as he unveiled his plan. Unless the state were to spend $1 billion more a year on education, a drive to get all young people to complete high schools and 80 percent to earn a college credential is just "a fantasy we tell ourselves," he said. Other lawmakers, community colleges, the state's higher education commission and Oregon businesses are pushing back, however. They say it's essential that the state set measurable education goals and doing so has had a big impact on students. "Clear goals make a drastic difference," said Rep. Jeff Reardon, D-Happy Valley. To "pull the rug out" from under the goals, said Rep. Mark Johnson, R-Hood River, "would reinforce that the state can't get serious" about improving its education system and work force. The goal is widely shorthanded as "40-40-20," signifying the percentage of young Oregonians it says should hold, by 2025, four year degrees, two-year degree and high school diplomas respectively. Supporters of publicly announcing the goal and measuring progress toward it say the impact has been seen most clearly in community colleges. They were called out by the goal as needing to propel 40 percent of young adults to earn two-year degrees or industry certification. As a result, the importance of getting more students to enroll in community college got new-found attention in Oregon, and community colleges switched their emphasis from getting students in the door to getting them to earn a credential, said Andrea Henderson, executive director of the Oregon Community College Association. Most of the supporters of dismantling the 40-40-20 goal, as would happen under House Bill 2587, focused their criticisms on K-12 education. They said the system is so underfunded and lacking in resources it can't be expected to graduate every student. The most recent graduation statistics, for the class of 2015, show that 78 percent of Oregon high school students earned a diploma within five years of starting high school. Another 4 percent earned a GED, which lawmakers also count toward the goal. Oregon's graduation rates rank among the very lowest in the nation. The most recent school funding statistics available from the U.S. Census Bureau, for 2014, showed Oregon's per-student spending was about $10,000, which was 10 percent below the national average. Evans, leaders of the Oregon Education Association and others say Oregon schools should be funded at a level estimated by the state's Quality Education Commission to cover all the costs needed to ensure near-universal student success. That would mean spending $10 billion on K-12 schools in the state's next two-year budget, compared to around $8 billion as Gov. Kate Brown proposed. Adding the extra $1 billion a year would put Oregon's per-student funding about 20 percent above the national average. Evans told fellow lawmakers that Oregon voters and business leaders aren't willing to pay for schools and colleges that can deliver a 40-40-20-caliber performance. He compared the mismatch between those aspirational goals and education funding to aiming to put humans on the moon and only paying their way to Texas. But Sen. Mark Hass and other supporters of the goals said they prompted college and K-12 schools to spend money differently to better serve students. Community colleges started checking students' transcripts and notifying them if they were just a course or two from qualifying for a two-year degree, he said. Schools in his Beaverton district did more to help students earn college credits while still in high school so it would be easier and less expensive for them to earn a college credential, he said. The goals made a difference "after 10 years of inertia" in Oregon, he said. -- Betsy Hammond betsyhammond@oregonian.com @chalkup President Trump isn't just dominating every news cycle, he's fueling therapy sessions across the country. From blue states in the West to red states in the South, the divisive partisanship that defined the campaign and then the Trump administration's turbulent first two months appear to have created a collective angst, psychologists say. Therapists say clients are focused on politics in a way they've never seen before. Some people are worried about losing their health care. Others are angry about Trump's travel ban, with the latest barring nationals of six largely Muslim countries. Those who are gay, lesbian or transgender fear hate crimes. Then there are the people concerned about getting labeled as anti-immigrant or anti-women simply because they support Trump. They feel misjudged and unfairly pigeonholed. "Post-election stress is real," said Vaile Wright, director of research at the American Psychological Association. "People are really fearful about what's going on in the country and are reporting concern about the political climate." On behalf of the national association, Harris Poll surveyed about 3,500 people last August in an annual survey about stress. The questionnaire asked for the first time about stress related to politics after hearing from therapists that many of their clients were anxious about the campaign. More than half said the U.S. presidential election was stressing them out. The researchers wondered if the findings were an anomaly so it had Harris survey about 1,000 people in January after the election, asking more detailed questions. Nearly 70 percent said they were on edge about the future of the country and nearly 60 percent cited the current political climate as a source of stress. Also, overall stress levels were up - from 4.8 in August to 5.1 in January on a 10-point scale. Wright said the increase, even though it appears small, is statistically significant. The rise in overall stress also marked a change. In the 10 years that the association has conducted the poll through Harris, stress levels have trended downward. "We were surprised," Wright said. "Clearly, people are worried about their security." If left untreated, stress can lead to chronic conditions like obesity, hypertension and heart disease. That, in turn, could affect the national health profile depending on how long the heightened stress lasts, Wright said. No one knows what will happen because the country is in uncharted territory. "I've been in practice for 30 years," said Esther Lerman Freeman, clinical psychologist at Oregon Health & Science University. "I've never seen people this upset about an election." Many people don't know what to expect from Trump, she said. He has signed more than 30 executive orders since taking office Jan. 20 and is a prolific tweeter. He's even roiled the security community with unsubstantiated accusations that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the campaign. "When something is not predictable, it makes people more anxious," Lerman Freeman said. Even Trump supporters have been affected. "They feel that people on the other side are not understanding them," said Angela Londono-McConnell, a psychologist and co-owner of a private practice near Athens, Georgia. Clients preoccupied with politics can't shake their concerns. "Even all these weeks after the election, people are still talking about it," Londono-McConnell said. "They're still very distressed about what is happening." *** Patients report nights of shattered sleep. Some avoid going out or no longer frequent places where they fear bullying or confrontation. Others, glued to news shows, forget to eat or take their medication. "I think about World War II," said Philip Hartman, a 26-year-old Tigard resident who's in therapy. "I think about the Holocaust. It could happen here. Like the Japanese internment camps." Hartman worries about being assaulted for having olive skin after being punched and called racist slurs at a bus stop in Portland in mid-December. He didn't report the incident to police, but now carries his U.S. passport everywhere, fearing arrest and deportation. He avoids going out at night alone and doesn't venture into areas where he might be bullied. "Everyone is stressed but for different reasons," said Mary Alvord, a psychologist who owns a two-office practice in Maryland near Washington, D.C., that serves 300 clients a week. Alvord hasn't seen this kind of mass anxiety since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, she said. But back then people were united. Ryan Dix, a psychologist with Providence Medical Group in Northeast Portland, counsels patients with chronic health conditions like diabetes. Since the election, he's had clients that spend hours reading news stories online or watching TV news to try to gain a sense of control. It only makes things worse. They skip meals, become isolated, lose sleep. "They forget to eat breakfast and maybe forget their morning medication," Dix said. "It just snowballs from there." Others who have suffered trauma are also struggling. An item in the news can trigger memories. They relive past trauma and re-experience old sensations. They might feel lightheaded, dizzy or have panic attacks. "It's particularly difficult with people with a history of sexual abuse," said Joel Lane, president-elect of the Oregon Counseling Association. "There seems to be a sentiment that the country is OK with a leader who has seemed to brag about sexual assaults and has had sexual assault cases brought against him." *** A group of students at Portland State who are studying to become counselors talked about their own worries during a recent informal discussion with classmates. "It's more difficult right now," said Camille Bishop, a 28-year-old graduate student. "As a queer person, I feel like there is a lot of uncertainty about how I will be treated in the future." Danae Brown, 25, worries about deportations. She's worked with many undocumented residents and is half Mexican. Neil Panchmatia, 34, grew up in Kenya, his family is from India and he's gay. He's in Portland on an international student visa. He feels he has to stay on top of the news every day but says it's wearing him down. "I'm so tired of being so alert and so protective and so angry at every single moment of the day," Panchmatia said. He avoids protests and doesn't speak out, keeping a low profile. He feels helpless. "That adds another layer of hurt and disempowerment to my experience," Panchmatia said. The counseling students said they must earn to put their own fears aside to be effective therapists "It can really be a complicated process," said Lane, who also leads Portland State University's clinical counseling program. He said therapists need to focus on what they can control and take care of themselves while urging clients to do the same. Even little things can help: a few moments of meditation, soft breathing, a happy thought. Lerman Freeman encourages clients to exercise or volunteer. Even donating to a good cause can help calm anxiety, she said. "If you take positive action, it not only makes you feel you're making a difference but it also connects you with people with the same values who are moving in the same direction," Lerman Freeman said. -- Lynne Terry John F. Kennedy thought he needed Oregon. That's why the young senator from Massachusetts made five trips to the state in 1959. He showed up at the Oregon Centennial exposition, shaking hands with scantily clad water-follies girls and gamely dodging a gunfighter in a Wild West reenactment. He said the pledge of allegiance with students at a Portland high school, gave speeches in Eugene and Salem, and basked in the sun on Seaside's beach. The advance work paid off. When Kennedy returned to the state for the Oregon Democratic presidential primary in the spring of 1960, he eased to victory -- even though his opponent was Sen. Wayne Morse, Oregon's popular "favorite son" candidate. Morse won only four Oregon counties, the lightly populated Curry, Lincoln, Union and Wheeler. "High Hopes: The Journey of John F. Kennedy," which opens March 25 at the Oregon Historical Society in downtown Portland, includes some memorable images of JFK's Oregon excursions. (You can see some of them in the above gallery, which also includes rare Kennedy photos from The Oregonian's archives.) But the ambitious exhibit certainly doesn't limit itself to the late president's brief time in the Beaver State. In fact, the Oregon Historical Society heralds "High Hopes" as "the largest centennial exhibit outside of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum in Boston." (JFK was born on May 29, 1917.) And it's not just the exhibit's size that makes it stand out. "I think it's the best thing we've done," OHS executive director Kerry Tymchuk said this week. The exhibition sprawls through the Oregon Historical Society building's first floor. Stepping through the entrance, the exhibit-goer is met by legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite emotionally announcing Kennedy's death on national TV. "We start with the assassination, because -- spoiler alert -- you know how it ends," Tymchuk says. "Then we can get into his life and times." "High Hopes" charts Kennedy's entire life, from his privileged childhood and heroic World War II service through his abbreviated presidency. It even includes an interactive Cold War "world crisis" iPad game made exclusively for OHS. "I hope visitors leave the exhibit with an appreciation of how President Kennedy's idealism, optimism and eloquence united our country for a brief shining moment," says Tymchuk, noting that JFK's average approval rating during his presidency was about 70 percent. Among the artifacts that will be on display in the exhibit are Kennedy's famed rocking chair, his traveling "hotline" phone, and a fake White House lease that Kennedy's father sent to him in the spring of 1963 that allowed JFK four more years at the exclusive Washington, D.C., address. There also will be the large CBS news camera that captured Mob-linked nightclub owner Jack Ruby stepping out of the crowd at a Dallas police station and shooting down handcuffed JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, launching a million conspiracy theories that still churn through the collective American psyche. (You might remember that last summer Donald Trump gave credence to the ridiculous notion that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's father was involved in Kennedy's murder.) With his tragic 1963 death at just 46, making Joe Kennedy Sr.'s rental-lease joke especially poignant, JFK's political career has long inspired "what if" questions that have no definitive answers. (Journalist Jeff Greenfield, who will be at OHS in May, wrote a book about what the world might have been like "if Kennedy lived.") But there's at least one what-if that most historians are pretty comfortable offering a strong opinion about: the charismatic president surely would have won his planned 1964 re-election bid. After all, he never lost a vote in his life. Back during those 1960 primaries, his chief rival, Sen. Hubert Humphrey, didn't even make it to the Oregon contest that Kennedy had assumed would be so important. Humphrey withdrew from the race after losing to Kennedy in a series of earlier primaries. He would save his "Vote for Humphrey" buttons so he could use them for his Senate re-election campaign in Minnesota that fall. Offered Humphrey: "That's called planning ahead." -- Douglas Perry Boy Scouts Two former Oregon boy scouts have filed a $14 million lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America and the local Cascade Pacific Council alleging their scout leader sexually abused them in the 1970s and the organizations should have known that his behavior toward children made him likely to abuse them. (The Associated Press/File) Two men are suing the Boy Scouts of America and its local branch, Cascade Pacific Council, for $7 million each, claiming they were sexually abused by a former scout leader in Milwaukie in the 1970s. The men, former scouts and troop mates now in their 50s, accuse both agencies of negligence, fraud, sexual battery of a child, and intentional infliction of emotional distress for abuse they say they endured from Robert Charles Philpott. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Philpott, a scout leader between at least 1970 and 1972, was enabled to groom and abuse the scouts because of his position as their leader, the lawsuit says. One man accuses Philpott of fondling and attempting to rape him in 1971 when he was 11. The other man claims Philpott touched his genitals during the same time period when he was 11 or 12. The Boy Scouts of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The men now live in Vancouver and Tennessee. Philpott was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse in Clackamas County in 1996 for abusing a 14-year-old boy. He was sentenced to two years and three months in prison, followed by 10 years of post-prison supervision, ordered to not be involved with any organization that would put him in contact with children, and other sanctions, court records show. It's unclear if the boy in that case was ever a member of Philpott's troop or affiliated with the organization, said lawyers Peter Janci and Steve Crew, who represent the current plaintiffs. They said their law firm is representing clients in other similar suits against the Boy Scouts in Oregon, Montana, New Mexico and Minnesota. The Boy Scouts knew from at least 1935 that scout leader positions were being used by predators to victimize children, the attorneys said, and Philpott engaged in behavior the organization knew indicated a likelihood of child sexual abuse. Janci and Crew said information on Philpott wasn't released by the Boy Scouts as part of a 2010 civil case that led to the first public disclosure of some of the organization's secret "perversion files" from 1965 to 1985. They said they didn't know for sure if a file on Philpott exists, but they claim to know of more than 2,000 files created between 1996 and 2004 that haven't been released by the Boy Scouts. "There could be thousands of more since then, but only the Boy Scouts know for sure," Crew said. -- Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com 503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey TILLERSON.JPG Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in a file photo. (AP Photo/File) By The Washington Post Editorial Board Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is being faulted for undiplomatic speaking during his tour of Asia over the weekend. Among other things, he parroted official Chinese rhetoric about "mutual respect" and "win-win solutions," which Beijing hailed as deferral to its uncompromising positions on matters such as Taiwan. Perhaps Tillerson was suffering from a lack of seasoned staff. Or perhaps he was offering "face" to Chinese President Xi Jinping to compensate for vigorous private arm-twisting on the principal subject of the tour, North Korea. We are cautiously willing to bet on the latter. Though many of its early foreign policy actions have been inept or incoherent, the Trump administration appears to have properly focused on what may be the biggest single threat it inherited: the manic pursuit by the regime of Kim Jong Un of nuclear warheads and the capacity to launch them at the continental United States. Since President Donald Trump took office, Pyongyang has conducted two tests of missiles and another of a rocket engine that might be used on an intercontinental ballistic missile. It is rapidly stockpiling nuclear warheads. And the 30-something Kim has demonstrated his capacity for reckless aggression by, among other things, reportedly orchestratingthe murder of his half brother at an international airport in Malaysia. The Obama administration's strategy toward North Korea - "strategic patience" - amounted to ignoring the gathering threat. But the outgoing president appears to have warned his successor about the problem in their first post-election meeting - and Trump seems to have listened. During his trip to Japan, South Korea and China, Tillerson bluntly declared that "the policy of strategic patience has ended" and that "we are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security and economic measures" - including possible military action. No doubt the administration is discovering what deterred President Barack Obama: U.S. options range from the very bad to the truly terrible. A military strike on North Korea's nuclear or missile facilities might not succeed while triggering a potentially catastrophic war - though, as Tillerson hinted, further steps by North Korea toward deploying nuclear-armed ICBMs might compel such action. Tougher sanctions might impose terrible hardship on North Korea's people without altering the course of a regime that has allowed millions to starve to death. Renewing negotiations with Pyongyang risks repeating the futile exercises of the past two decades, when North Korea pocketed U.S. aid and political concessions while violating its promises to freeze nuclear work. Judging from Tillerson's public comments, the new administration is starting with the most sensible opening steps - a strong effort to enlist China, as well as other nations, in a new campaign of pressure. He said, "I don't believe we have ever fully achieved the maximum level of action that can be taken" under existing U.N. Security Council resolutions - and he's right. Chinese banks continue to help North Korea trade in U.S. dollars, as do the regime's own shell companies. Chinese companies continue to supply North Korea with not only food and energy, but alsomaterials Pyongyang can use to build bombs. What has not been tried on North Korea is the full-court economic press that was applied to Iran. In this case, it may not succeed in inducing the regime to check its nuclear ambitions. But it is the right place to start. (c) 2017, The Washington Post Senate Holds Confirmation Hearing For Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch If the U.S. Senate confirms Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, he could be the swing vote in a ruling banning Oregon's Death with Dignity Act and similar laws in other states. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) David Grube In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled in Gonzales v. Oregon that the U.S. attorney general could not bar doctors in Oregon like me from prescribing aid-in-dying medication to peacefully end unbearable suffering for terminally ill patients, as authorized by the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. That same year a federal appeals court judge in Colorado, Neil Gorsuch, concluded in his book entitled, The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, "the court's decisions seem to assure that the debate ... is not yet over -- and may have only begun." This statement is chilling to supporters of medical aid-in-dying laws in the District of Columbia and 6 states, as well as bills authorizing this end-of-life care option introduced in 24 other states since January. The reason? If the U.S. Senate confirms Gorsuch, he could be the swing vote in a ruling banning this medical practice nationwide. First, Gorsuch conflates laws authorizing medical aid in dying with assisted suicide and euthanasia. They are three distinctly different things. Medical aid in dying enables a terminally ill adult to obtain medication and administer it to themselves, if they choose, to end a prolonged or agonized dying process. Euthanasia authorizes someone else, a physician or other person, to administer medication to the patient -- and it is illegal throughout the United States. In other words, there is no future for euthanasia in our nation. As for the use of the inflammatory term, "assisted suicide," the American College of Legal Medicine (ACLM) concluded in an amicus brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1996: "Recognizing the Court's long-held commitment to the principles of personal autonomy and free will, prescribing medication intended to end life in the subject context serves -- not destroys or ruins -- a patient's interests ... ACLM rejects the term 'physician-assisted suicide.'" Gorsuch is not alone in misunderstanding this issue. He has not had to tell his patient that there is nothing more that can be done to relieve intolerable suffering. I have. But medical aid in dying is not about Gorsuch or me. It is about the dying person, recognizing their suffering, respecting their autonomy, and listening to their wishes. Let me provide a tragic, vivid example of what can happen when desperate, terminally ill patients do not have this option. I was at home when the phone rang in 1983, long before the Oregon Death with Dignity Act took effect. It was a son of my friend and patient, John, and he sounded very worried. "Please come over to the house. Something is wrong with dad." A few years before, John had been diagnosed with bladder cancer. Aggressive medical treatments and procedures had failed to cure or control it, and his bones were now riddled with painful tumors. John was bedfast at home. His oncologists and hospice physicians had worked hard, but unsuccessfully, to manage his pain and other intolerable physical symptoms of his disease. I rushed over to their house. I entered the bedroom to find John, sitting in a chair, a shotgun between his legs. He had taken his life. The image of this violent memory haunts me to this day. Suffering should never be resolved with a gun, and indeed, this traumatic experience is ongoing because John's family and his family doctor still struggle with what occurred that day. Share your opinion Submit your essay of 500 words or less to commentary@oregonlive.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification. In the last 13 years of my medical practice before I retired in 2012, a number of my patients who were about to die of their incurable disease, and who, in their opinion, were having intolerable suffering, asked me about this end-of-life option. In each instance, I thought about John's tragic death, for I had promised myself that I would not allow it to happen again. In my experience, the intolerable suffering of a dying person is not sacred or redemptive. It is not precious to someone who writhes in pain, loses control of bodily function, or has no pleasure in anything. While we may suffer along with our dying loved one, it is not our suffering; it is theirs. We should act with compassion and love. We should remember stories like John's. Dr. David Grube is the national medical director for the end-of-life choice advocacy organization, Compassion & Choices and former chairman of the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners. He lives in Corvallis. 1elliott.JPG The Elliott State Forest is Oregon's oldest state forest. (Andrew Theen/Staff) The March 16 op-ed by Debra Fromdahl and Timm Slater ("The decision was made, now Oregon should sell the Elliott State Forest," March 9) is a troubling reminder that facts are no obstacle when the goal is selling off priceless publicly-owned resources. Fromdahl and Slater write that because the 93,000-acre Elliott State Forest has not generated substantial economic returns to the state's Common School Fund in the past few years, it should be sold to a private logging firm. However, the $220 million offer by the single bidder, Lone Rock Timber, is only a tiny fraction of the state's education spending for a single year. A legislative fix proposed by Gov. Brown would "buy out" the fund and protect the Elliott permanently. The fact that Fromdahl and Timm -- along with Land Board members Dennis Richardson and Tobias Read -- insist on privatizing the Elliott despite the minuscule financial returns, suggests that what really underlies this effort is an ideological project to sell off publicly-held resources. This approach echoes that of the Trump administration, which seeks to privatize as much of America's public sector as it can, from public schools to roads to air traffic control. Readers should see the push to privatize the Elliott for what it really is: an effort by free-market ideologues to undermine Oregonians' natural heritage. We should resist it vigorously. Contact your state legislators and urge them to support legislation, including SB 847, to keep the Elliott State Forest forever in public hands. Dan Jaffee,Northeast Portland MASON CITY | Two Mason City men caught after a police search through Georgia Hanford Park and the surrounding neighborhood on Thursday face burglary charges. Police say John Adams, 46, and Dylan Mennenga, 21, ran from a burglary scene on the 0 block of 25th Street Southeast. Authorities were called there at 12:48 p.m. Adams was captured in Georgia Hanford Park, a 59-acre park south of 22nd Street Southeast, and Mennenga was found about a half-mile away near South Carolina Terrace and 19th Street Southeast, according to a police statement. They were arrested about 1:30 p.m. Adams was charged with felony first-degree burglary. Mennenga was charged with felony second degree burglary and possession of a controlled substance third of subsequent offense. The Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's Office and the Mason City Recreation Department assisted police with the search. MASON CITY | Investigators don't know if messages left earlier this month at a Mason City synagogue are connected to Thursday's arrest in Israel of a man suspected of sending bomb threats to Jewish centers around the world. Israeli police say the 19-year-old suspect, an alleged hacker with dual Israeli and American citizenship, is the main suspect in a wave of bomb threats phoned in to Jewish community centers across the globe. He was arrested during a raid in southern Israel. Mason City Police Capt. Mike McKelvey said it's not clear if the suspect has anything to do with two anti-Semitic messages phoned in to Adas Israel, a Mason City synagogue, earlier this month. He said agents from the FBI, which Mason City police informed of the Adas Israel messages, have not notified the department that the arrest is linked to the Mason City incidents. And, unlike the threats mentioned in connection with Thursday's arrest, the messages phoned in to Adas Israel were not bomb threats. "There was no bomb threat received here," McKelvey said. On March 5, an anti-Semitic message left on a voicemail affiliated with the Mason City synagogue threatened vandalism and told the congregation to "watch out". A second call answered by Adas Israel Congregation President Alan Steckman on March 15 again used anti-Semitic language, saying the congregation wasn't wanted in town. Steckman said the voice was the same in both calls and that the caller hung up before he was able to speak with him. McKelvey said officers are continuing to investigate the Adas Israel case and, as of Thursday, were working with the telephone company to find the origin of the call. "We're just kind of waiting to see what the phone company is able to find," he said. The threats phoned in to Adas Israel came at a time when Jewish community centers and affiliated businesses across the country were receiving similar threats, including the bomb threats the Israeli hacker is suspected to have made. One hundred and sixty-five bomb threats to Jewish institutions or businesses have been reported since January, according to the Anti-Defamation League. LAKE MILLS | A Lake Mills man police say gave marijuana to two teenage girls and smoked with them has been given a five-year suspended prison sentence. Jack Greenwood, 57, was put on probation for five years this week after pleading guilty last month to felony possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. Lake Mills man accused of giving marijuana to teens LAKE MILLS | A Lake Mills man police say gave marijuana to two teenage girls and smoked with A $750 fine was suspended. Greenwood allegedly gave marijuana to two girls, ages 13 and 14, and smoked it with them on May 6-7, 2016, at his mobile home on North Lake Street in Lake Mills, according to court documents. He also was accused of trying to convince the 14-year-old to go into his bedroom and have sex with him, the documents said. Three counts of felony distribution of marijuana to someone younger than 18, one count of felony enticement of a minor and two counts of misdemeanor sponsoring, promoting or aiding in a gathering where unlawful substances are used filed against Greenwood in connection with the case were dismissed through a plea bargain. Mary Pieper Doug Rozendaal has been flying airplanes for more than four decades, but when he took off from Mason City Airport on Friday it was a first for GREENE | Minnie Margaret Bruns, 92, of Greene, died Wednesday, March 22, at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City. Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 25, at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Greene with Pastor Daniel Flucke officiating. Burial will be in the Rose Hill Cemetery, Greene. Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. Friday, March 24, at Retz Funeral Home, Greene, and will continue one hour before services at the church on Saturday. There will be a public scripture service at 7 p.m. Friday. Those planning an expression of sympathy may direct memorials to the Minnie Bruns Memorial Fund, Box 219, Greene, IA 50636. Retz Funeral Home is in charge of services. KLEMME | Nathan Strayer, 70, of Klemme, formerly of Algona, died Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017, at his home in Klemme. There will be a Celebration of Life from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, March 25, at the Klemme Community Center in Klemme, Iowa. Graveside inurnment services will be held at a later date at East Lawn Cemetery in Algona, Iowa. Oakcrest Funeral Services-Algona. A public meeting at the Alice and Jack Wirt Public Library on April 17 will show how a food coop can benefit local families. A group spearheading efforts to bring a food cooperative to Bay City invited a representative from the GreenTree Cooperative Grocery in Mount Pleasant to explain how co-ops bolster the local economy and support the community. Sarah Christensen, general manager and chief executive grocer at GreenTree, will attend to talk about co-ops and will also lead a Facebook Live tour of the Mount Pleasant co-op. Participants can learn more about cooperatives during the public meeting at 6:15 p.m. April 17 at the Alice and Jack Wirt Public Library, 500 Center Ave. in Bay City. After the meeting, board members will be in the private room at Tavern 101, just down the street at 101 Center, to answer questions. In 2015, a steering committee began working with Michigan State Universitys Product Center to open a cooperative market in Bay City. The aim of the Bay City Cooperative Market is to provide healthy food at a fair price, promote local and regional food production, keep capital and jobs in this region, and provide an equitable and rewarding workplace. A professional market study in 2016 determined that a food co-op is viable in downtown Bay City. The local co-op is conducting a membership drive before it seeks a building or employees. Christensen said that while shes in Bay City, she expects to learn as well from the volunteer committee spearheading efforts here. Cooperation among cooperatives is one of the cooperative principles, so its part of what we do, Christensen said. Co-ops are good for the economy; they help money stay local and they support the community. Any chance we get to collaborate and support the cooperative economic model we take, plus we always learn something too. That collaborative approach was evident in March when the Bay City food cooperative won a $1,500 grant to attend the 2018 Up and Coming Food Co-Op Conference, after receiving a $500 scholarship to attend the recent conference from the Howard Bowers Fund. Representatives from the Bay City Cooperative Market won the grant while attending the 2017 conference. During the event, 40 established co-ops from across the nation donated money to provide seven grants for newer co-ops to attend the 2018 event. To learn more about the Bay City Cooperative Market, visit http://baycityfood.org/ or the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BayCityFoodCoOp MidMichigan Health will launch a single electronic medical record (EMR) system to connect its medical centers in Alma, Clare, Gladwin, Midland and Mount Pleasant, as well as doctor offices and outpatient care facilities, on Saturday, April 1. The new system will enable patients to have one comprehensive medical record shared across MidMichigan Health providers and facilities. The project will also bring MidMichigan Health-owned facilities onto the same platform for registration, scheduling and billing. Following the launch in April, a second phase of the project will connect MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena in September 2017 and MidMichigan Home Care in spring 2018. We are really excited to launch our new EMR. We have had a team of more than 160 MidMichigan and Epic staff that have worked around the clock on the implementation and installation of this system for our patients. When we go live on April 1, well have more than 750 staff designated as super users who will offer support to those using the new system, said Dan Waltz, chief information officer, MidMichigan Health. Our previous system showed us that we had a real opportunity to transform the way patient care is delivered. Weve reviewed and incorporated best practices into the design of the system and have no doubt this EMR will give our patients all that they deserve and more. The software, contracted by Epic Systems Corp., will result in faster, more accurate communication and streamlined processes for safer, higher-quality patient care, the health system stated. The benefits of the new EMR to our patients are numerous, said Dr. Pankaj Jandwani, chief medical information officer, MidMichigan Health. Anywhere the patient goes within our system, a MidMichigan provider will have access to their full medical record. And, when patients travel outside of our system to others with Epic software, such as our partners at University of Michigan, the medical record systems will talk to one another, making the exchange of information much easier and safer for the patient. The new system also will enable patients to do many more things electronically, such as schedule appointments online, self-check-in from home or at on-site kiosks, take advantage of virtual care options such as telemedicine and e-visits, and view and pay all MidMichigan Health bills from one account. When you journey towards a change with a magnitude of this size, bumps and frustrations can be expected from time to time, Waltz said. Our teams are prepared to support one another through the change in workflows. Whats more, we reached out to our patients on how they can prepare for the new system by activating their MyMidMichigan account, which they use to communicate electronically with their providers, view their medical records and manage appointments and prescriptions. The IT framework for this system will be hosted internally at MidMichigan Health. Michigan Medicine, the health care division of the University of Michigan, also uses Epic, and will continue to be a resource for sharing best practices, MidMichigan Health stated. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Over 40 percent of local third-graders are struggling to read at grade level, according to Holly Miller, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Great Lakes Bay Region. Fifty-four volunteers of United Way of Midland Countys Young Leaders United on Wednesday had the important task of helping to reduce that percentage when they read one-on-one with Amanda Lamonts and Katherine Krets second grade students in the Carpenter Street School gym. Whether students are reading at grade level by third grade is a big indicator of success, said Jordan Summers, a Young Leaders executive council member. Theyre 75 percent more apt to graduate high school if reading at grade level by third grade. That one hour a week ranks right up there with gym and recess, Carpenter Principal Jeff Lauer said of Big Brothers Big Sisters Lunchbox Learners program, which receives funding from United Way. Theyre so excited to see you. Wednesday was exciting, too: There were pizza and snacks, a young adult to buddy up with that wasnt a teacher or parent, and a copy of The Hare and the Tortoise on the table. But whats the incentive to get the pages turning? You can learn a lot of things, said Jacob Sanders, 7. Addison Polega, 7, said she likes books because theyre interesting particularly the Star Wars titles, which show lots of stuff about people in ships. No pictures, no problem: When the pages have only words, Addison said she tries to imagine what the story and its characters look like. Her favorite is Darth Vader. Books are also where Addison learns to spell words. The force is strong in this one. Gabriel Larry, 8, reads to explore another world. When you read, you feel like youre actually in the story, he said. He likes exploring this world, too. Nonfiction is his favorite because of the interesting facts he picks up. I love those kinds of books, Gabriel said. James Wiseman, 7, said books are educational, and that he learns very quickly. His favorites: Minecraft and history titles. Shawn Moore, 9, reads so I can get smarter. I read, like, 35 books this year, he said. His favorites are titles in the I Survived series, because they involve humans going through real events. Marshall St. Sauver, 8, said the American Chillers horror novels leave him spellbound. Its sad when it ends because I want it to keep going, he said. Marshall said he takes on books with 40 chapters, and that The Hare and the Tortoise was too small. In third grade, students make the switch from learning to read to reading to learn. That is so important, Summers said, noting students will fall behind if reading skills are not up to par. Reading at grade level by third grade means theyll gain confidence to read more and learn and have healthier relationships with their parents and others. Thats huge, Miller said. Each second-grader was provided a new book to take home. Young Leaders United sponsored the books and Members First Credit Union sponsored the lunch. For March is Reading Month, United Way is partnering with Northwood University to distribute more than 900 books to Midland County students, and members of Student United Way and Young Leaders are volunteering in 10 classrooms at four elementary schools. Delta College is bringing Air Force Major Mary Jennings MJ Hegar to the Great Lakes Bay Region as part of its Presidents Speaker Series. Hegar will speak about Women in Combat: A Soldier on Being a Catalyst for Change, at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 29, in the Delta College Lecture Theater (G160). Hegar filed and won a landmark lawsuit against the Department of Defense that paved the way for women in combat. Before this, on a tour in Afghanistan, the medevac helicopter she piloted was shot down, forcing her to take action that helped save lives and earned her historic recognition. She speaks on leadership, being the catalyst for change and thriving under pressure. She is a member of Foreign Policys 100 Leading Global Thinkers for 2013 and has a new book on her life out this month titled, Shot Like a Girl: One Womans Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front. To the editor: Heres History 101 for Americas political leaders. Why did American colonists rebel against their existing political system? How did an ill-equipped ragtag army defeat the most powerful army in history? They rebelled because their petitions for redress of grievances were spurned and arrogantly ignored by their privileged political leaders. The king and his parliament turned their backs to the peoples grievances. Throughout history angry citizens (slaves, peasants, et al.) have rebelled against their masters. They were pathetically armed, outmatched, with no hope of victory and defeated. Why? All the kings men and all the kings horses brutally crushed them. There were few weapons to fight back with. Why were British troops in Lexington that fateful April day in 1775? They were searching throughout the countryside for the stored weapons of the seditious rebels. The Sons of Liberty were storing armaments for the revolution to come. For them the time for pleading to the powers that be had expired. The Redcoats aim: search and seize the weapons and crush the impending rebellion. So, how was the rebellious army of 1776 able to win? They were weaponized. Many had muskets and firearms. As hunters for food many were already trained to shoot. (Of course, thats only part of the story but they did have weapons!) Today the Constitutions Bill of Rights has allowed us to speak freely and assemble and petition our political leaders. But our complaints fall on deaf ears. Washington, D.C., has sunk into a swamp of putrid political pollution. A revolution is needed to throw the rascals out. But how? The digitized army is here! We, the people, are armed and were weaponized! We have our phones and computers that connect us to social media. Like the Committees of Correspondence in colonial times, we can communicate. Not by snail mail, but instantaneously through the internet. We can hook up with others while sitting in the comfort of a domicile sipping a mocha latte! The Womens March in January and recent town hall meetings symbolize resistance and the shot heard round the world! Thousands of individual committees have been formed and are coalescing. A call to action on social media can be made in the morning and a flash mob of citizens can peacefully assemble within a few hours. A typed in zip code from the organized networks alerts anyone to meetings and plans of action anywhere. In coming elections, those organized and empowered Americans will cast their ballots and cast out the clueless politicians. They will not be able to fend off the tsunami of an organized electorate. No shots need be fired. The only casualty will be the wounded pride of political leaders going down to ignominious defeat after the polls are closed. The results of the 2016 primary and presidential elections were a prescient warning! The ragtag army of unhappy disenfranchised and weaponized citizens will not be deterred by the future. The weapons of choice will be ballots, not bullets. I say to all politicians: Change your harmful thinking or we will change you! Go with the flow because an unstoppable tsunami is coming and will inundate the Middle of the Mitten. Lastly to the voters: Be ready to cast your ballots and to cast out our putrid political politicians. JEAN SARANTOS Midland CLARION | Thelma (Baumgartner) Sanford, 90, of Clarion, died Wednesday, March 22, 2017, at the Clarion Wellness and Rehabilitation Center in Clarion. A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 25, at the United Presbyterian Church in Clarion, with Pastor Bill Kem officiating. There will be no burial at this time. Visitation will be held one hour prior to services at the church on Saturday. Ewing Funeral Home, Clarion. The C-130J Super Hercules completed its first training sortie at Yokota Air Base, Japan, March 20, 2017. The aircraft soared over the skies of Japan, stopped at Misawa AB to for the aircrew to become proficient within the Super Hercules before returning to Yokota. This flight allowed the crew to familiarize themselves with the newest C-130 model. The pilots completed approach, landing and en route procedures training; while also familiarizing themselves with the airspace. The loadmasters received hands-on training inside of the cockpit and became proficient with their new responsibilities of working as a three man crew on the J-model. Being in the Super Hercules has helped us get back into the mindset of flying our new aircraft to help us continue our mission here at Yokota and throughout the Pacific Region, said Staff Sgt. Benjamin Baughman, 36th Airlift Squadron loadmaster instructor. The new aircraft model is great because its bigger and faster than the H-model. Because of this we are able to carry more cargo in less time to locations throughout Japan and other countries in the region. The C-130J incorporates state-of-the-art technology to reduce manpower requirements, lower operation and support costs, thus providing life-cycle cost savings over earlier C-130 models. Yokotas C-130s will also be 15 feet longer, increasing usable space and providing the ability to rapidly transport critical supplies, personnel and equipment around the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. The Super Hercules will continue to arrive at Yokota until the base has received all 14 aircraft to replace the H-models. This flight was the start to an important week because all of the J crew are able to get out and fly the aircraft, said Capt. Chase Hessman, 36 AS pilot. We are progressing from somewhat of a crawl, walk, run phase where we begin with proficiency training to performing tactical sorties and formation flights. Once we are successfully converted to the J-models, the flow of missions will become more regular and we will perform missions throughout the pacific on a more consistent basis. PEORIA Federal drug and weapons charges were filed Wednesday against a Bloomington man jailed in McLean County since a gunfire incident in November. Preston Alexander, 20, was arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Peoria on charges of distribution of a controlled substance and using or carrying a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime. The McLean County state's attorney's office dismissed marijuana delivery and unlawful possession of firearms charges Wednesday after federal indictments were returned. Alexander was arrested by Bloomington police in November after two gunfire incidents in the area near the suspect's home in the 700 block of West Locust Street. A police informant reported seeing weapons in Alexander's home during a drug raid in which marijuana was found, according to police. The McLean County charges alleged that Alexander did not have a firearm owner's identification card for a handgun and assault rifle found in the basement. Jeff Brown, Alexander's defense lawyer on the McLean County charges, said the defendant "is a young man who needs outpatient mental health treatment and life skills training, not a federal record. I'm disappointed and surprised that McLean County couldn't find a way to handle this matter locally." McLean County State's Attorney Jason Chambers said he considers drug cases to be more serious when weapons are involved. "A pound of weed is one thing but a pound of weed with a gun is something very different," said Chambers. Alexander remains in federal custody. A May 22 jury trial is scheduled. BLOOMINGTON U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin will host a town hall meeting Friday in the Twin Cities. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, will lead the meeting at 5:30 p.m. at Illinois Wesleyan University's Westbrook Auditorium, 1210 Park St., Bloomington, according to a Facebook posting by his office. The event has no scheduled end time but is expected to last 90 minutes, including about 10 minutes of prepared statements from Durbin with remarks on the Affordable Care Act and a question-and-answer session. Attendees are asked to register in advance at https://tinyurl.com/kkjs2mw. No signs are allowed, and space is limited; doors open at 4:45. "Please note that while individuals who RSVP first will be given priority and expedited entry into the auditorium, any seats that have not been claimed 15 minutes prior to the event start time will be filled on a first come, first served basis," according to the page. Those with questions are asked to call Durbin's Springfield office at 217-492-4062. Illinois People's Action and other activist groups have held rallies in the Twin Cities to persuade Republican U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis of Taylorville and Darin LaHood of Dunlap to host local town hall meetings, but they've declined and hosted telephone events instead. After House Republicans revealed their plan to replace the ACA, the American Health Care Act last week, Durbin released a statement calling the plan "reckless" because it "will hurt middle class families and seniors." Durbin, the state's senior senator and the Senate minority whip, also has been a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, asking repeatedly for Trump to release his tax returns. He has also called for a special prosecutor to investigate Trump's ties to Russia, including its interference in the presidential election. NORMAL Rowena L. Jordan Koshinski, 90, of Normal, died at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday (March 21, 2017) at Meadows of Mercy Creek, Normal. A graveside service for Rowena will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Fairlawn Cemetery, Decatur. The Rev. Christine McNeal will officiate. Calvert & Metzler Memorial Home, Bloomington, is handling arrangements. Rowena was born April 11, 1926, in Decatur, to B.J. and Gertrude M. Mueller Jordan. Her father owned and operated Jordans Tailors shop in Decatur. She married Richard W. Koshinski on Aug. 14, 1948, in Decatur. He preceded her in death on Feb. 1, 2005. She was also preceded by one brother, Elbert Jordan. She is survived by one son, David (Judith) Koshinski, Decatur; one daughter, Jane (James) Poppe, Bloomington; two grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. For many years, she worked in Decatur at Staleys as an executive secretary. Later she did secretarial work at Illinois State University and also spent many years working for both the IAA Credit Union and Country Companies, working in personnel. She supported her husbands business working with Aid Association for Lutherans. She was a member of St. Johns Lutheran Church, Bloomington. Rowena enjoyed quilting and sewing and was an avid Chicago Cubs fan. She also enjoyed singing and would participate in church choirs. Memorial contributions may be made to Paw Print Ministries, 226 W. Eldorado St., Decatur, IL 62522, or Meadows of Mercy Creek, 1501 Mercy Creek Drive, Normal, IL 61761. Condolences may be left at www.calvertmemorial.com. MASON CITY | One Iowa North, a Mason City affiliate of One Iowa, the states leading LGBTQ organization, will award the $1,000 Craig W. Hickok Memorial Scholarship this spring. Applicants must be self-identified LGBTQ individuals or allies pursuing higher education. They must be 17 years old as of April 15, but there is no upper age limit. Applicants must plan to attend or currently attend a post-secondary trade or educational institution. Applications must be postmarked or received by April 15. The board of One Iowa North established the Craig W. Hickock Scholarship Fund to acknowledge Hickocks lifelong commitment to inclusion, education, support and equality by creating safe, appropriate and individualized educational settings to meet student needs. Potential applicants will find more information and the scholarship application at www.north.oneiowa.org/scholarship. Whew! That was close. I wasn't expecting to be waiting on the edge of my seat for the outcome of this year's Dutch parliamentary elections. But I wasn't expecting Donald Trump to be America's president, either. After "Brexit," Great Britain's vote last year to leave the European Union, and Trump's upset election victory, the whole world has been watching to see whether a wave of anti-immigrant populist upsets would win a trifecta in the Netherlands and keep rolling through upcoming elections in France, Germany and other European elections. In the Netherlands, that movement's champion in last week's parliamentary elections was anti-Muslim firebrand Geert Wilders, a Trump fan with similarly interesting hair (You might even say it glows!) and xenophobic attitudes toward immigrants and refugees. To give you an idea of where he stands politically by American standards, one of our own prominent xenophobes, Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, gave Wilders a shout-out on Twitter as one who "understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies." The backlash against King's remarks was bipartisan. Among King's Republican critics, for example, Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, a child of Cuban immigrants, immediately tweeted back, "Do I qualify as 'somebody else's baby'?" But King also won praise from David Duke. The former KKK leader and former Republican Louisiana gubernatorial nominee praised King's tweet as proof that "sanity reigns supreme" in King's northwest Iowa congressional district. And King doesn't sound far removed from Wilders, who is known for such comments as: "I don't hate Muslims. I hate Islam," and "Islam is not a religion; it's an ideology, the ideology of a retarded culture." And Wilders sounds mightily close to the sentiments of long-experienced French anti-immigrant leader Marine Le Pen. She has been showing higher approval numbers than ever in in the run-up to presidential elections in May, in which she is campaigning for a French exit from the EU. And Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel faces tough challenges in September elections from the right over her generous policies toward refugees. Against that backdrop, Holland's record high turnout that left Wilders in second place offered a hopeful sign that the momentum of Le Pen and others might be stalled and even pushed back. Significantly, a number of experts are saying the chaos and confusion that followed Brexit and the rise of Trump's unorthodox regime may have alarmed Dutch voters enough to raise a counter movement against radical populist change, at least for now. Can we all get along? Until Trump's upset victory, we Americans usually provided a better model of how a vastly diverse society can work, despite our periodic clashes over race and ethnicity. Unlike Europe, our identity as Americans is not tied to our ancestral identity regardless of what kind of outlandish ideas Rep. King may have about who is a "real American." Yet as much as we call ourselves a "nation of immigrants," we are also a nation of immigration debates. The rise of Brexit, Trump and Wilders are not only about racism. Fears, suspicions and resentments about the ethnic future of Western civilization add fuel to the current fervor. This is particularly true in Europe, shaken in recent years by a flood of refugees from the Middle East, and in the U.S., where Trump made immigration and his proposed Mexican border wall his signature campaign issues. But another similarity between Europe and the U.S. is the polarization of politics between left and right, made worse by a near-complete collapse of the center-left. Centrists like Britain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair helped keep the center-left alive in Europe as Bill Clinton did in the United States since the end of the Cold War and the decline of trade unions. Into the power vacuum, some of Europe's disillusioned left-wing voters have drifted toward racial populists is much the same way that some former Barack Obama voters switched to vote for Donald Trump. When things look bad enough, any sort of change looks better than the status quo. Has the West reached peak-Trump? The populist rise in the Netherlands gave a wake-up call to the sensible political center. But traditional politicians in Europe and America can't afford to hit the snooze button. They need to offer better alternatives to those who feel displaced and left behind by industrial and geopolitical change. I write in support of Kiasha Henry for the District 87 school board. Kiasha was appointed to the school board in February 2016 and is now running for her seat. She brings a wealth of experiences to this position, as a District 87 alumna, a proud parent of District 87 students, and an active community and neighborhood leader. Kiasha leads by example in motivating our youth to reach their potential, and she has a strong command of budgeting and the ability to make difficult decisions. Pratt Industries Officially Opens New Corrugated Box Factory in Beloit, Wisconsin Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Pratt Industries Global Chairman Anthony Pratt were both in attendance at the official opening of Pratt's newest corrugated box factory in Beloit, Wsconsin (USA). March 23, 2017 - Pratt Industries on March 20 officially opened its newest corrugated box factory a $60 million investment in Beloit, Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker, who was on hand for the ribbon cutting and a tour of the 350,000 sq. foot facility, hailed the company for creating good paying jobs here and across the United States. We're thrilled at this commitment, the Governor told more than 150 customers and employees. As an international leader in paper and packaging, Pratt Industries had numerous options when it came to establishing operations in the Midwest and their decision to expand here in Wisconsin is another indication that our reforms are working. Chairman Anthony Pratt said putting the new factory in Wisconsin was an easy decision. It's due to Gov. Walker's great leadership that we are located here in this businesslike-friendly, manufacturing area, he said, noting that under Walker's leadership unemployment in the state had fallen from 8 percent to under 4 percent. And this plant is only a punt kick away from the Chicago area, the world's biggest box market. At capacity, the Beloit factory will employ 140 people and produce 600 tons of 100 percent recycled boxes every day. The new investment is part of the company's continued expansion plans into the Midwest and beyond. We currently operate 68 factories and employ 7000 people and we want to continue to grow those numbers, said Anthony. Just here in the Midwest alone we've invested almost $500 million dollars since the beginning of 2015. Pratt is America's 5th largest corrugated packaging company and the world's largest, privately-held 100% recycled paper and packaging company. To learn more, please visit: www.prattindustries.com. SOURCE: Pratt Industries Long gone are the days when Barbies were synonymous with stick-thin pale limbs and sparkly pink lip-gloss smiles now they come in all the different shapes and colors that reflect the world at large--even different religious affiliations. Hello Hijab is a new initiative by a Pittsburgh non-profit that is making tiny headscarves for Barbie dolls to wear in an effort to increase inclusivity in the new generation's consciousness. It's a fun, pertinent, and totally cute way to raise awareness about the hijab while also helping young hijab-wearers feel seen. Started by Gisele Fetterman, Safaa Bokhari and Kristen Michaels -- who are mothers themselves - the initiative is a part of a larger non-profit For Good which aims to uplift the various marginalized people of the country. Gisele Fetterman told RT that by bringing the hijab into the playroom, Hello Hijab is helping bring up a "kinder generation, [that is] used to playing with dolls that look different to them." While we've taken the fight against Islamophobia from the courtrooms to the streets to the Internet, we've yet to bring it into our everyday lives and the lives of our children. Hello Hijab whose Barbie-compatible headscarves are to be made both from new material as well as from repurposed hijabs donated by Muslim women seems to be the way in. Along with the cute 4-inch doll accessories, will come a hand-written note explaining the significance of hijab to the children. Proceeds from each doll hijab priced at $6 will go to the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, Community Blueprint, the ACLU of Pittsburgh, and the Jewish Family & Children's Services of Pittsburgh. [h/t Mashable] Splash Photo via For Good Watch an exclusive clip below by director Sara Jordeno to celebrate the release of Kiki. It's safe to say five years ago felt like a different time. Five years ago we probably felt pretty damn progressive, even prior to the word 'diversity' permeating every corner of the mainstream. Five years ago we couldn't imagine a reality television star as our president. Now we've awakened to a new reality, a reality which proves things were never really as 'chill' as we imagined. In fact we were all so deeply asleep at the wheel that 'woke' is likely even part of your parents vernacular. Five years ago, Swedish filmmaker Sara Jordeno and Twiggy Pucci Garcon co-wrote Kiki, the film about the LGBTQ youth-of-color who come together to form the a scene/haven where young people can find themselves through performance. This year, while trans rights are removed, abortion is on its way to becoming re-criminalized, they released it to the public. While the film has been lauded as Paris is Burning for the millennial generation, it's much more than that. Paris is Burning certainly spotlighted the LGBTQ community, which was at that time a lot less visible, but Kiki teaches us that despite how far we feel we've come, our right to be ourselves is still under threat a reminder that could not be more necessary in Trump's America. Which, in a way, Jordeno and Garcon are extremely grateful for: there's no danger Kiki will fall on deaf ears. "It really shows the vulnerability and how quickly things can turn around," says Jordeno. "I'm upset about that, but it makes the film feel really important." Important it is and it's been well-recognized for as such. The film garnered rave reviews from various outlets and left Sundance Film Festival as one of the hottest films on the docket. However because every minority victory is positioned as a triumph, it's easy to grow complacent about how much work is left to be done, Garcon says. "Even before the current political climate there was a real lack of authentic representation of black and queer people in mainstream media. While there's been progress, but there's definitely not enough. There needs to be projects other than just Moonlight that are reflecting our experience." "Now more than ever with the patriarchal, bigotry-centered, fucked-up system that we're in, it's important for people to see themselves and that there's hope for the marginalized." Although films like Moonlight and Kiki really just affirm what we all should've known from the beginning: there's a mainstream market for these stories, not just the demographic they feature. Contrary to what might have once been popular belief, you don't have to be a young, queer person of color to empathize with those on screen. "The elitism, homophobia, transphobia we're facing as a world, all of those issues the film addresses really well," says Garcon. "This is not just a film for the LGBTQ people, but for all people to see how to set up a system that works for you." Nor should we dismiss these characters in these stories as if they're just part of a very specific subculture. Jordeno says it's important we treat as characters the prominent part of our society that they are. "These kids are facing so may different forms of oppression," she explains. "Even though things are better and people are stronger, they don't want to stay in a subculture. They want recognition for how important they are in the tapestry of New York and the world." "The characters in the film, I asked them if they're upset and they're upset," Jordeno says of Kiki's cast reacting to the current administration. "Trans rights being removed. But they've seen that kind of oppression already. They know all the nuances of this classist, misogynist, racist country that we live in and they know how to fight against it. "I think we all have something to learn from them. They are very important. They're very, very strong." According to Garcon, fighting that oppression, like everything else, starts with spotlighting it. It will take a little money, a lot of dedication and maybe even five years, but the result will be waking audiences up to a whole world they didn't know they were sleeping on. When I ask Garcon the ideal response to a film like Kiki he knows just what he wants. "I hope that people will examine their religion and their power, and redirect resources to the people that need it most." Now that's something we can all relate to. LIVE YOUR TRUTH was produced by The Shop at NeueHouse, all music by MikeQ. Is there something about men in wigs you find mildly sensual? Do you live for telenova-esque drama delivered piping hot and fresh from Mexico? Have you hoped to see Belly flex his acting potential in a dramatic seven-minute epic that also features the evil dude from 2001 smash hit Spy Kids? Glad to hear it, because straight out of the belly of Canadian rap beast Belly comes the new video for 'Consuela' and wow, it's everything one could hope for and so much more. Young Thug and Zack (French Montana's little brother) also star in the Spiff TV-directed visual, which sees the three cross the border in search of mythical goddess 'Consuela', enraging the town jefe and naturally, incurring corn cob chaos. "This is by far my favorite video, and the most fun I ever had filming," he says of 'Consuela'. "This type of chemistry is what you get when you work with people you consider friends/brothers." 'Consuela', like much of Belly's latest offering Inzombia, showcases the best of notoriously difficult-to-define Belly and his versatility. With some serious credits and collaborations to his name, including the success of Inzombia, it should be clear anyone to anyone still sleeping on Belly, now is the time to wake up. Watch the video below and get yourself anything tres leches-flavored stat. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=m992Mqc2wqo expand=1] For your viewing pleasure, here's a behind-the-scenes exclusive from 'Consuela' because no amount of Belly is ever enough Belly. You're welcome. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered school staffers not to allow Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents when they want to enter school buildings without a signed warrant from a judge. No incidents took place regarding agents busting into schools but it is a precautionary measure considering the many cases wherein immigrants get arrested and deported since President Donald Trump ordered the removal of illegal migrants in the country. De Blasio said they want to clarify to parents ICE agents will not be allowed to bust into schools without any warrant and he announced such because he believed parents are very afraid now. Worried parents feared that agents were going to schools and single out children believed to be living in the United States illegally. He added, "I know it sounds outlandish, but we're seeing things that we have not seen before and there's a tremendous amount of fear out there... We have to be ready for anything." If it happens that ICE agents cannot present warrants, the principal and school safety officials will call the New York Police Department as well as city lawyers for assistance while the agents wait outside the building. Reports said the Department of Education will not be required to provide information to ICE agents regarding particular students unless the warrant says so, as per New York Daily News. In cases where ICE agents could present warrants, they are allowed to execute it. However, officials will remain present in order to monitor if the areas searched or the people that they need to talk to are the only ones the agents have contact with in accordance with the warrant issued by the judge, Town Hall reported. De Blasio also talked about programs that will be held in their schools in order to prepare parents regarding the immigration policies of Trump. Schools will also facilitate workshops called Know Your Rights to answer questions from parents regarding their rights and will also offer legal aid. The police recently arrested a Biology teacher from Texas due to accusations of having a sexual intercourse with a teen student. Many people felt she did not regret what she did because she smiled for her mugshot. Reports confirmed the teacher might face jail time due to the charge she received was a second-degree felony. Scallywag & Vagabond reported the student involved is 17-years-old while Fowlkes is 27-years-old. Fowlkes worked as a teacher at Lockhart High School. School officials fired her from her post after reports of the indecent conduct surfaced. Aside from her court appearance, she was also set to appear before the State Board for Educator Certification. School superintendent Susan Bohn said in a statement in part, "Student safety is the district's most important priority. As soon as we learned of the report, we acted swiftly to involve law enforcement and CPS to conduct a thorough investigation." She added the school district does not tolerate any improper communication or contact between a teacher and a student. She worked at the school since 2014. Authorities arrested Fowlkes on Monday and remained in custody at the Caldwell County Jail. Police charged her with engaging in an improper relationship between an educator and a student. A school administrator contacted police officials about the inappropriate relationship between the teacher and the student. The 17-year-old student, who is not named, admitted to officials he and Fowlkes had sexual contact. Fowlkes celebrated her birthday the night before police took her in. She celebrated her birthday with her husband, whom she tied the knot with in 2013, The Sun revealed. It remained unknown when the sexual contact of the teacher and the student started. Police did not say what the parents of the child said or if the contact was consensual. This was not the first time a teacher got involved in an inappropriate student-teacher relationship. Earlier this month, a judge penalized a teacher to 10 years of probation after admitting she had inappropriate sexual relationships with two of her students. OSAGE | An Osage man accused of selling a fake iPhone in Mitchell County was been sentenced to 60 days in jail. Reed Barclay, 35, pleaded guilty earlier this week to misdemeanor fourth-degree theft. A felony charge of ongoing criminal conduct was dismissed through a plea agreement. He was ordered to pay a $315 fine and a $125 surcharge. Victim restitution will be determined at a later date. A woman contacted Osage police in December claiming Barclay sold her a fake iPhone 6S Plus for $300 under the guise that it was a new, legitimate product, according to court documents. Osage man accused of selling fake iPhones OSAGE | An Osage man accused of selling fake iPhones faces criminal charges. Barclay also is accused of selling a woman a fake iPhone 6s Plus in Mason City on Dec. 12. Often built in China, iPhone clones are knockoffs made to look like the real thing. That phone was offered for sale for $350, police say. Reed had his initial appearance this week in Cerro Gordo County in that case. He is charged with with misdemeanor fourth-degree theft and third-degree counterfeiting intellectual property. He has been transferred to Cerro Gordo County Jail, where he is being held on $1,000 cash bond. Barclay, who was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison in April 2016 for selling methamphetamine, was out on appeal at the time he allegedly sold the bogus iPhones. Mason City man loses appeal for meth-related prison sentence MASON CITY | The Iowa Court of Appeals Wednesday upheld a Mason City man's prison sentence f Barclay claimed in the appeal that the district court discriminated against him because of a mental illness and asked the Iowa Court of Appeals to place him on probation instead of prison. His appeal was denied on Jan. 11. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report on Tuesday about infant mortality rates. The report claimed they saw new lows of infant deaths from the years 2005 to 2014. Chief medical officer Dr. Paul Jarris for the March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization centered on the health of mothers and babies, said it is great news that infant mortality rate dropped from 6.86 to 5.82 percent per 1,000 live births from 2005 to 2014. The findings also showed deaths caused by Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) decreased by 29 percent, NBC News revealed. Jarris added that even though infant mortality rate reached new lows, there are still a lot to be concerned of such as inequities between non-Hispanic blacks, American Indians and the Caucasian population. In the study, they found significant drops in infant mortality rates among racial groups such as the Hispanic subgroups, Asians, Cubans, non-Hispanic blacks and Pacific Islander populations. However, they did not see any notable drop from American Indians and Alaska Natives, CNN reported. Even though the researchers saw reductions across racial groups, the drops were not significant enough to close the racial gap. The mortality rate of infants born to non-Hispanic black women was more than double compared to those born to non-Hispanic white women. As to what could have caused the decline, the report's author and a demographer at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics T.J. Mathews said, "I think there was a public health push in the past decade to figure out ways to lower this rate, and it has made an impact." Aside from SIDS, one of the other leading causes of infant mortality was congenital malformations, which dropped by 11 percent. Short gestation and low birthweight also dropped by eight percent while maternal complications dropped by seven percent. Unintentional injuries, however, was considered the fifth leading cause of death in infants and it increased from 26.2 in 2005 to 29.2 in 2014, which is an 11 percent jump. Most of the decline in infant mortality rate came from the District of Columbia, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Thirty-three states recorded decrease in infant mortality rate. The plunge in teen pregnancy rate was also cited as one of the causes of the decline. In the past, researchers said more than 40 percent of the pregnancies in the United States were unplanned, which meant women were not prepared to be mothers, as they usually do not take prenatal vitamins, do not go to their monthly checkups and are not healthy overall to carry a baby. It is really not surprising to learn that parental alienation has gained a lot of mainstream media attention, especially when the children are often caught in between the traumatic feud of the parents involved. Since the children are often the victims, Setfords Solicitors' head of Family Law Joanna Abrahams considers possible approaches to overcome the prevalence of parental alienation issues. According to Abrahams, she sought experts who specialize in parental alienation to learn more about this phenomenon. In the Family Law Week article, Abrahams learned that other jurisdictions include "criminalization when a resident parent has been 'found' to have alienated a child against the other parent." Aside from learning from other jurisdictions and other disciplines, Abrahams stressed that parental alienation is a "cluster of behaviors" often predominant to a "greater or lesser extent in intractable contact cases." But she added that tackling this phenomenon needs time and resources in order to assist the court. Speaking of criminalization or punishment, Rochdale's independent Member of Parliament (MP) Simon Danczuk reportedly urged the government to recognize parental alienation as a form of emotional abuse in the United Kingdom. According to Breaking News, Danczuk warned that kids are often "maliciously used as a weapon" as divorcing parents seek to retaliate after a high conflict separation. "I believe that government and the courts need to recognise parental alienation as a form of emotional abuse and as such they need to step up efforts to prevent it occurring and in some circumstances punish the perpetrators," Danczuk said. Even though he may not be an expert, Danczuk stressed he experience the tragic reality of parental alienation firsthand, saying his mother could be accused of such phenomenon. Moreover, Danczuk highlighted the fact that "manipulation of children" in such cases can turn "nasty" as some parents "poison" the kid's mind with biased thoughts, explanations or details of the failed marriage or divorce. Danczuk said the effect of parental alienation for the target parent can be "unimaginable" but innocent children can suffer long term and usually deal with the negative effects of it. Fortunately, Justice Minister Sir Oliver Heald spoke in behalf of the British government, saying the law takes parental alienation "seriously." In fact, there were measures in place to strongly address the issue during child custody cases in the family court. Heald added the government still follows the current law, which prioritizes the welfare of children. He also emphasized that they "are giving consideration to what further changes may be needed to the family justice system and we'll be seeking views on our proposals in due course later this year." Meanwhile, parental alienation does not only cause negative effects on the children alone. As per The Jewish News, the controversial phenomenon is also a "damaging dynamic" for everyone involved, especially the target parent. Herts Schram law firm family law attorney Richard Victor explained that parental alienation is the "unfortunate result" of the insecurities of parents who care about themselves. These parents seek their child to "love them more" and Victor admitted it's one of the worst things a parent can do to the children. Dr. Dahlia Berkovitz also added parents with alienating behavior usually "have attachment issues that are triggered by the divorce." They most likely have "personality disorders" like narcissism and/or borderline personality disorder. Aside from the children and the parents, grandparents are also affected by parental alienation due to the estrangement part when filing of the divorce begins. Fortunately, a new bill in Florida has finally recognized parental alienation or the use of manipulation as a form of psychological abuse. Despite the fact that parental alienation is a clear example of emotional abuse, experts admitted the court system is often hesitant to get involved. They also believed that the best way to address the issue is through the children, citing the fact that the alienating parent is usually unreasonable. What are your thoughts on parental alienation? Feel free to write your comments below. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions A radicalized British-born Muslim attacks people on or near Westminster Bridge in London, killing three of them and being himself killed by police. According to at least one of my readers, this confirms the need for much more extensive vetting of refugees, if not outright barring them from entry, and demonstrates that Muslims in general pose a serious threat to all Americans. I quote from one article about the tragic incident: Labour Party lawmaker Khalid Mahmood, who represents part of Birmingham, condemned the barbaric attack and urged his fellow Muslims to report concerns about radicalization to the police. We have to condemn this outright, he said. There are no ifs or buts. This is a hugely tragic incident. These people do not belong to any faith. They certainly dont belong to my faith of Islam. Mahmood said the attacker and those like him should be condemned by everybody and this shouldnt serve as a tool for division within our community. And heres an article about the response of Londons Lord Mayor, Sadiq Khan, to the attack: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sadiq-khan-london-mayor-terrorism-attacks-part-and-parcel-major-cities-new-york-bombing-a7322846.html Its simply crazy to suggest that all Muslims which, by definition, would include that member of Parliament as well as the Muslim mayor of London itself pose an existential threat to Britons, Americans, and the West generally. There are roughly three million Muslims in the United Kingdom. What percentage of them committed yesterdays attack? Do the math. Theyve caught the individual believed to be responsible for hoax bomb threats on JCCs, not just in the U.S., but in Australia and New Zealand as well. In Israel. Hes a teenager. And Jewish. We dont know much more, except that this was a multi-nation effort, and that he used very sophisticated technology to disguise the origin of the calls, and the agencies that found him used equally sophisticated technology to find him. Heres a link to the CNN article, which only appeared well after bloggers such as Instapundit and Legal Insurrection had reported this based on Israeli press. What does this mean? Trump hinted that these threats could be a false flag operation. He cant possibly be right, can he? If not, what in the heck is going on? And, incidentally, it seems like something of a relevant fact, that could have been reported on at the time, that these calls were being made to other countries besides the U.S., so much less likely to be a Trump-inspired racist. And heres what CNN reports: While the details of this crime remain unclear, the impact of this individuals actions is crystal clear: These were acts of anti-Semitism, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. These threats targeted Jewish institutions, were calculated to sow fear and anxiety and put the entire Jewish community on high alert. Were very relieved that the person was caught, Rick Zakalik, the executive director of the JCC of Greater Buffalo, told CNN. Its obviously a very disturbed young man, and I pity his parents. Is he disturbed? Did he have an agenda? Was it an anti-Jewish agenda? Can these actions be classified as anti-Semitic if the intention was not to harm Jews as an ethnic/religious group? This makes no sense and, yet, on the other hand, it makes perfect sense for it not to have been the sort of Trump-supporting racist wed all been led to expect it to be. Image: a JCC. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AOsher_marin_jcc.JPG; By Kiddo27 (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons I grew up in an evangelical home, believing (because I was told so) that evangelical Christians were persecuted. Unfortunately, the growing success of the LGBTQ rights movement has given evangelical Christians one more way to see themselves as persecutedbecause, they argue, their religious freedom includes the freedom to discriminate. Even here, though, many evangelicals are so quick to claim that theyre being persecuted that theyll go out of their way to do so. It seems World Magazines editor-in-chief, Marvin Olasky, is a longterm participant on Airbnb. In addition to using the service for themselves when they traveled, they also made their own home available on Airbnb when they were out of town. We made money; Airbnb made money; the city of Austin and the state of Texas made money (15 percent of our gross revenue), Olasky explains. But all of that was about to change. In January, Olaskys wife, the one primarily responsible for preparing their house for Airbnb guests and scheduling, received an email from Airbnb. Were asking all hosts to confirm their commitment to welcoming guests of all backgrounds, the email read. It then asked Olaskys wife to affirm the following pledge: I agree to treat everyone in the Airbnb communityregardless of their race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or agewith respect, and without judgment or bias. As he explains, this pinged Olaskys persecution radar: Hmm. We had heard of a new Airbnb policy, but all Airbnb had sent us before was a vague statement about treating everyone with respect, which we always have done. We probably have had gay and lesbian guests, and maybe transgender guests as well: We havent asked. What gave us pause was the last clause: without judgment or bias. This appears to be a grammatical disagreement. When I read that sentence (I agree to treat everyone in the Airbnb communityregardless of their race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or agewith respect, and without judgment or bias.) its quite clear that the phrase without judgement or bias is attached to the verb treat at the beginning of the sentence. In other words, Airbnb asks its hosts to treat every guest without judgement or bias. But that is not how Olasky read it. Olasky saw criminalization of thoughtcrime. Seeking some clarification, I went to Airbnbs FAQ page and saw this response to inquiries from those with strong religious beliefs: Being an Airbnb host does not require that you endorse all of your guests beliefs, but simply that you respect the fact that such differences exist and be inclusive despite the differences. I respect that fact, but the pledge Airbnb asked us to sign goes beyond it: without judgment or bias. Thats moving from action to thoughtcrime. This is not how words work. The pledge asks hosts to treat guests without judgement or bias. That is not moving from action to thoughtcrime. Its asking hosts not to discriminate against guests in their actions, which Olasky says he and his wife were ok with. And if theyd had questions about the language and meaning, the clarification offered on Airbnbs FAQ page ought to have set them at restAirbnb does not require hosts to endorse or share or approve of their guests beliefs, simply to treat them with respect and in an inclusive manner. Its as though Olasky made a point to read Airnbnbs pledge in the most uncharitable way possible. Which in fact it appears he did. Airbnb is going beyond that to require hosts to police their private thoughts about their guests. Taken literally, this is a nonsensical mandate. Even limiting the no-judgment policy to the stated protected categories, is Airbnb requiring a Ukrainian host not to harbor judgmental thoughts about a Russian guest, or an elderly host not to judge the ethos of a millennial guest? Way to throw some millennial hate in there, but no, no Airbnb is not asking hosts to not harbor judgmental thoughts about guests. Its asking hosts to not treat guests with judgement or bias. Grammar, how does it work? This may not be Airbnbs intent, but language is important. Airbnbs expansive statement requires many across the worldview spectrum either to agree to Airbnbs governance of their personal thoughts and beliefs or leave the platform. Yes, language is important. See above. So we said no to Airbnb, and then received this notice: Declining this commitment means that your Airbnb account will be canceled, and your future reservations will be canceled. Not only did Airbnb cancel our account, but we cannot even make reservations for ourselves through Airbnb, which weve done several times in Florida, Michigan, and California. The Church of Airbnb has now excommunicated us. Maybe they could call customer service about getting their ability to make reservations reinstated? Orits possible that Airbnb doesnt want guests who wont agree to treat other Airbnb participants without judgement or bias either, because that could be awkward for hosts, which Olasky might see if he wasnt so fixated on making Airbnbs pledge into an attempt to police thoughtcrime. Ironically, another FAQ answer states, This commitment is an important step towards creating a global community where everyone can truly belong. Truly belong, I suppose, as long as we dont read the company policy, thoughtfully consider its implications, and answer honestly. Theres an episode in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend where Greg takes Heather to meet his mother and stepfather, and their two children. On the way over, Greg tells Heather that his mother is a terrible person and that the entire family is phony. But to her surprise, Heather finds that Gregs mother is kind and caring and that the entire family is generous and loving, working to include Greg in every way possible. Its Greg who is the problem, reading negative intentions into every action. Gregs mother and stepfather try to clear things up, but Greg refuses to listen, interpreting their every move through his specific lens. Im getting the same vibe here, while reading Olaskys article. Olasky sees persecution because that is the lens through which he views the world, and from that perspective Airbnbs FAQ attempting to assuage his concerns must be nothing but a ruse. I have a Patreon! Please support my writing! for making a little website mocking him (it feature kitten punching Trump). Noting this on Facebook I received in reply the epitaph of the Christian Trumpified Right from a reader who was, I assure you, not speaking ironically: In France, the crime of insulting the president can carry a fine of up to 45,000 euros. A 21 year-old man was arrested for an unspecified insult against President Nicolas Sarkozy during a visit to a rough Paris suburb last year. In Iran, a prominent journalist was recently sentenced to 16 months in prison for calling President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a megalomaniac. In pre-revolutionary Egypt, you could go to jail for four years for insulting Hosni Mubarak. It was even a jailable offence to insult foreign heads of state, as the late author Idris Ali learned when he wrote a novel critical of Muammar al-Qaddafi. In Robert Mugabes Zimbabwe, you can be arrested just for sending an email with pictures of the presidents mansion. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has also used laws against insulting the president to silence his critics in the media. And the list goes on. Our President Trump has every right to abolish a game that encourages making fun of him. Kudos for a well deserving President who is worthy of RESPECT! Patna: 41-year old Ram Suraj Yadav, a Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) worker, was killed on the spot when he was hit by a school bus on Rajendra Nagar over-bridge under Kadam Kuan police station on Wednesday morning. As reported, Yadav was sweeping the road Monday morning when he was hit by a speeding motorcycle. Before he could get up and regain his balance, he was ran over by a school bus full with young students. Yadav died on the spot. While the motorcycle rider managed to escape before being caught, an angry mob crowd caught hold of the school bus driver and restrained him until the police came. As the news of the accident spread, grieving family members arrived at the accident spot and after taking possession of the lifeless body, filled the air with their cries for the loss of their loved one. Meanwhile, the angry mob blocked the road from both sides demanding justice for the victim's family. Anti-social elements in the crowd also clashed with the police forcing them to ask for reinforcement from Bihar State Rapid Action Force. After an assurance by PMC Commissioner Abhishek Singh who promised of monetary compensation and a job in the government to a member of the victim's family, the crowd dispersed and the traffic started to move normally. Kadam Kuan police station in-charge Ghulam Sarwar said the bus driver was in custody and efforts were being made to identify the driver of the motorcycle who hit Yadav in the first place. The victim is survived by his young daughter and a son who is studying Engineering in Bhopal. LAKE MILLS | A man jailed in Forest City is accused of forging a company's check. Andrew Scott Adams, 28, of Lake Mills, was charged with felony forgery. Staff at Farmer's Trust & Savings Bank alerted police on March 7 they suspected a forged check had been passed earlier in the week, according to court documents. Police say Adams presented the $4,000 check purporting to be from a business in Minnesota. Although he reportedly at first told police he hoped the check was good, Adams later admitted that he knew it was not any good, according to court documents. Adams remained incarcerated at the Winnebago County Jail on Thursday. His next court appearance is set for March 30 in District Court in Forest City. Molly Montag Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday at Patna's Gandhi Maidan inaugurated the 9th Bihar Diwas, a tradition he started in 2009 to celebrate the formation of Bihar state on March 22, 1912 and to revive Bihari pride. {gallery}newsimages2017/mar/032217{/gallery}In his speech, the Janata Dal U leader by and large stuck to his oft-repeated talking points with one big difference - he spent a portion of his time justifying his decision to impose liquor prohibition in the state and how it was helping Bihar at domestic front. Rehashing bullet points from the past similar events like Bihar Diwas and Independence Day speeches, Kumar said that he would not sit quiet until he had put Bihar on the top of the best-managed and most developed states in the country. He also checked other points from previous years like the need for promoting secularism and eradicating communalism, spreading a sense of brotherhood and peace across the state. "Bihar's people are very hard working. Wherever they go, they not only never become burden on others but also carry the weight of other people with them. If the entire Bihari population living in Delhi decides to go on strike, the nation's capital will come to a screeching halt without them. Moreover, there is not a single state in the country where Biharis are not working as IAS/IPS or doctors and engineers. Bihar Divas was started by me to honor these people and those working so hard in within the state," the Chief Minister said. Kumar then turned his attention towards prohibition saying the entire population of Bihar was with him on this issue and families were more at peace now than ever before. "The amazing human chain with more than four crore people confirmed that the people of Bihar were in favor of prohibition. Today the money that was being spent in alcohol is being used in buying consumer items and other things that each family needs. However, my goal is to make Bihar completely 'addiction free' and we are working on it in phase-wise campaign," he said. On the occasion, the Chief Minister inaugurated free Wi-Fi facility in all accredited colleges in Bihar. "Today is the Internet age. Using this free Wi-Fi, students will be able to enrich themselves more than ever before. To ensure interruption-free Wi-Fi connectivity in all colleges and universities, the government would offer solar power facilities at these places," Kumar said. The Chief Minister also inaugurated a book written by N Vijaya Laxmi, Secretary, Animal Husbandry Department, dealing with violent and sexual crimes committed against children and the legal provisions to deal with them. Iran to divert water from Gulf of Oman inwards 03/23/17 Source: Press TV Iran says it is implementing a landmark project to divert water from the Gulf of Oman to its central plateau - a project that could not only address the country's surging water crisis but could also help push ahead relevant economic plans in host regions. Dasht-e Loot - a large salt desert that expands over much of Iran's Kerman as well as Sistan-Baluchestan provinces Alireza Razm-Hosseini, the governor general of Iran's southern province of Kerman, told the domestic media that the project - which involved digging a tunnel - was being implemented by Khatam-ul-Anbia Construction Headquarters (KACH) since December 2015. Razm-Hosseini emphasized that that the government of President Hassan Rouhani had allocated the required funds for the project - already described as the biggest water transfer project in the Middle East. He told a meeting held to evaluate the progress of the project - in which Iran's First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri was also present - that addressing the water crisis in Kerman was a key concern of the government, Iran's IRNA news agency reported. Razm-Hosseini said that water would be desalinated at an entry point in Iran's shores before being transferred inland. see interactive map He further described Kerman as one of the most arid provinces of Iran with an average rainfall of only about 129 millimeters per year and an annual water shortage level of 800 million cubic meters. Elsewhere in his remarks, the official said that Kerman mostly used water from underground resources for irrigation - what he said already was a serious threat to the province's environment. Razm-Hosseini said the depletion of underground water resources had already led to the evacuation of many villages. He added that the government had devised serious plans to prevent further depletion of underground water resources by encouraging growing agricultural products that consume less water such as saffron and barberry. Razm-Hosseini also emphasized that irrigation methods of wheat and corn farms in Kerman had also been renovated to increase efficiency. Iran's Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian had earlier announced that Iran is in a critical situation in terms of its water resources. To the same effect, Iran's Energy Ministry - which is in charge of regulating the water sector - had earlier warned that above 500 cities of the country are struggling with the shortage of drinking water. Officials blame Iran's water crisis on the changing climate and frequent droughts. However, they have also warned that reckless consumption is already deteriorating the situation. mSecure password manager review TechRadar Pro Updated In our mSecure password manager review, we take an in-depth look at this password manager to help you decide if its the most secure way to handle your sensitive data. Southern Californias 15-year smog clean-up plan moved forward on Thursday, March 23, but doubts remain about whether it will succeed in cleaning the air. The California Air Resources Board voted unanimously to approve the plan during its meeting in Riverside on Thursday, March 23, but only after adding provisions to make it stronger. State air board members said the plan prepared by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, wasnt ideal but will move Southern California in the right direction. It still needs approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. There is a lot of good there, said CARB chairwoman Mary Nichols. The district deserves praise for going as far as they have. This is an on-going work in progress, but it is progress. If we try to do everything now, it could mean nothing gets done, added Dr. Alex Sherriffs,a physican and CARB member. Yet major concerns raised in about six hours of public testimony and board deliberations included doubts about the plans reliance on voluntary emission cuts from the logistics industry to deal with pollution from vehicles serving the ports, rail yards and warehouses. Some also questioned the need for nearly $1 billion a year in unappropriated public money to pay for industry incentives to reduce pollution. The state air board dealt with those concerns by adding provisions that require regular updates on the status of the pollution cuts, the availability of funds and CARBs ability to take action if interim goals are not met. The board also wants the ports to be using zero-emission equipment by 2030. The CARB board also required its staff to develop rules for ports,rail yards and warehouses to reduce pollution from trucks and other vehicles serving those facilities. Such regulations, known as indirect source rules, are opposed by industry. We will hold the (air) district and ourselves accountable for this plan, Nichols said. Board officials also said that low- and zero-polluting trucks are essential if the plan is to succeed. The EPA needs to work expeditiously to develop standards for much cleaner trucks. Wayne Nastri, the air districts executive officer, said he was pleased with the approval and is OK with the state oversight CARB put into the plan. The air district has always worked with CARB, he said. It will just be on-going communication and coordination, Nastri said after the vote. Philip Fine, deputy executive officer of the air district, said the smog clean-up plan is aggressive in reducing factory pollution and will protect public health. Significantly, it eventually eliminates a pollution-credits marketplace that regulates emissions from oil refineries and other major smokestack polluters. It calls for those facilities to cut nitrogen dioxide emissions by five tons by 2025, and would replace the marketplace with direct pollution control rules as soon as practical. The plan will serve as a blueprint for future regulations designed to meet the federal health standard for ozone, the hallmark pollutant of summer smog. The South Coast district regulates air pollution in the ocean-to-mountains air basin over Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. More than 50 people testified at Thursday meeting, held at the Riverside County administrative building. San Bernardino resident Ericka Flores said economically vulnerable people who live near polluting industries suffer most from the harmful emissions. They move there and they get asthma and cancer, she said. Sadia Khan of San Bernardino spoke through tears as she addressed the air board. Her father, she said, died at 45 because of poor air quality, and she had to bathe him during his last days. How many members of my family have to die before you guys wake up? Kathleen Dale of Moreno Valley said her city is becoming a warehouse district, and the smog plan needs to address the associated air pollution. But business leaders stressed that Southern Californias air quality is improving thanks to industry working collaboratively with regulators to reduce emissions. Rules regulating warehouse operations would stifle innovation, said Chris Shinoda of the California Trucking Association. Trucks are getting cleaner every year, he said. Chris Cannon of the Port of Los Angeles said the ports have made great strides in reducing air pollution without a need for strict rules. Bill Magavern from the Coalition for Clean Air said he doubts the federal and state dollars the plan needs for industry incentives will ever be appropriated. The plan has an empty wallet, he said. Board member Diane Takvorian agreed. If we have shaky funding, we know this wont succeed, she said. The American Health Care Act could prove hazardous to the political well-being of Southern Californias House Republicans. GOP members of Congress who vote for the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, may end up energizing opposition groups and providing a talking point for Democrats determined to oust them. But if they vote no and the GOP effort fails, Republicans in Congress could embarrass their party and party leaders. For years, Republicans have sought to dismantle Obamacare. Now that their party controls the presidency and both houses of Congress, this seems to be their best chance. A vote is expected Thursday, March 23. I honestly think many of you will lose your seats in 2018 if you dont get this done, President Donald Trump warned House Republicans this week. The prospect of a primary challenge looms large. Thats sobering because Trump supporters are zealous and Trump is vindictive, said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. If they support the bill, they will alienate many of those who are not Trump supporters. Public opposition to the bill is likely to grow as more people learn about its effects. Democrats plan to make Republican yes votes a campaign issue. They can either stand with the people who sent them to Washington, D.C., and protect health care for the sick and vulnerable and those who need it most, or we will hold them accountable on Election Day, California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton said in a statement. Tables turned The quandary facing Republicans is similar to the dilemma Democrats wrestled with prior to the Affordable Care Acts passage in 2010. The GOP capitalized on the public backlash against Obamacare to pick up 63 seats and seize control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 mid-term elections. The GOP plan, referred to as Trumpcare or Ryancare after House Speaker Paul Ryan, continues some Obamacare provisions, such as barring insurers from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions. The plan replaces income-based tax credits to make insurance affordable with credits based on age. Instead of a financial penalty for not having health insurance, the GOP bill allows for 30 percent surcharges on those who let their coverage lapse for more than 63 days. Also, the bill caps federal funding to states for Medicaid, a health insurance program for the poor. Enhanced funding for states expanding Medicaid coverage, such as California, would be phased out. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that 18 million Americans would lose health coverage under the bill next year. As many as 24 million people could lose insurance by 2026. The Medicaid changes would cut $880 million from the program from 2017 to 2026, according to the CBO. The bill has been condemned by liberals who say it will cause people to die for lack of insurance and rejected by conservatives who see it as Obamacare under a different name. Public support for the bill measured by a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll fell from 46 percent March 9 to 13 to 40 percent from March 16 to 19. Even if it passes the House, the bill faces an uncertain fate in the Senate. A number of GOP senators have said the legislation cant pass their chamber without significant changes. OC squeeze With Democrats united against the bill, no more than 21 Republicans can vote no for the legislation to pass the House. More than 25 Republicans in the conservative House Freedom Caucus oppose the bill, according to Wednesday news reports. Orange Countys four Republican members of Congress are particularly feeling pressure to vote against the bill. All four saw their districts voters favor Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in November four of just 23 GOP-held districts preferring Clinton nationwide. The OC Republicans have been targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has already provided funding for organizers in two of those districts. And they have seen anti-Trump demonstrators rally at their offices weekly. The sole unequivocal supporter in the Orange County delegation is second-term Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Beach, who voted for an earlier version as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. She has been targeted by newspaper and internet ads funded by the anti-Trump group, Working Americans for Affordable Health Care. In an email Wednesday, Walters said: The AHCA is a rare opportunity to provide Americans access to the low cost, high quality, patient-centered health care that they deserve. This bill will lead to lower premiums, greater choice in coverage options and large reductions in the federal deficit. Such major entitlement reform does right by Americans from all walks of life and delivers the type of change demanded by my constituents. Also expected to support the measure is Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa. One consideration is that he wants assurances that illegal immigrants will not have access to tax-supported healthcare, said Rohrabacher spokesman Ken Grubbs. He also noted that his boss is concerned that the Republican opposition, many of them comparatively new to Congress, havent learned that the perfect is often the enemy of the good. Grubbs said that phone calls to the congressmans offices are overwhelmingly opposed to the GOP plan, estimating the tally was 2,000 against, five in favor. But we recognize such tallies are strongly influenced by mobilized campaigns and are therefore unreliable, he said. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, won re-election by a razor-thin 0.7 percentage points in a district that straddles the Orange-San Diego county line and is considered one the most vulnerable House members in the 2018 election. Hes getting pressure not only from those who prefer the existing health care plan but also from the conservative Club for Growth. The free-market advocacy group complains the GOP plan doesnt go far enough and has targeted Issa as one of 10 Republicans theyre pushing to vote against the plan. Issa said last week that the reform wasnt in a plan he could support, but subsequently said the amendments this week addressed some of his concerns. CNN reported that he said he was leaning yes, but Issa spokesman Calvin Moore subsequently said that the congressman continued to have reservations and remained undecided. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, also was undecided. I remain concerned about the rising cost of healthcare for Southern Californians and am listening to the feedback Ive received from my constituents on this bill, Royce said in an email. Other Republicans Among other Southern California members of Congress, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, also has been targeted in ads funded by Working Americans for Affordable Health Care. Hunter supports the bill. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, plans to support the bill in its current form. The American Health Care Act lays the groundwork for delivering the free-market, competitive health care system Americans deserve by replacing a government-mandated system with patient-focused health care plans that people actually want to buy, he said in an emailed statement. Rep. Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, represents a district spanning Los Angeles and Ventura counties in which Democrats have a narrow voter registration advantage. He also is on the Democrats target list for 2018. In an emailed statement Tuesday, Knight said: The future of our nations healthcare is extremely important and warrants thorough examination and discussion, which is why we will continue to carefully review the recent proposed changes to the bill and discuss its impacts with members of our community. Asked to clarify Wednesday morning, a Knight spokesman said the congressman does not have a position on the bill at this point. Riverside residents concerned about plans for a nearly 1.4-million-square-foot warehouse project next to their neighborhood are challenging the citys approval of the project in court. The Sycamore Highlands Community Action Group and Friends of Riversides Hills, a group that has joined environmental lawsuits across the Inland area, sued March 16 in Riverside County Superior Court. The suit alleges that in the environmental review of the project, the city didnt properly evaluate how 24-hour-a-day operations at the two-building distribution center would affect the Sycamore Highlands neighborhood and the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park. It also says city officials failed to require appropriate measures to reduce noise, traffic and air pollution from the project. The City Council approved the project in February on a 4-2 vote. Riverside Deputy City Attorney Kristi Smith said the city will defend the environmental report, adding that the plaintiffs believe that it wasnt adequate, and we believe that it was adequate. Vice President David Stapley, whose company owns the land on which the warehouses are planned, did not have a comment on the suit Wednesday afternoon. Company officials have said they changed the project based on residents concerns and have touted the jobs it would bring to the city. Residents have been raising concerns for more than a year that the project is too close to homes and would ruin their quality of life with noise and truck traffic and exhaust. The closest building is 100 feet from residents property lines. Richard Block, an officer with the Friends of Riversides Hills, said a proposed steel fence separating the project from the wilderness park wont keep noise and late-night lights from harming the endangered Stephens kangaroo rat and other animals that live in the park. The developer also suggested the impact to some neighbors could only be lessened by putting a wall on their property, a proposal Block likened to extortion. This is an outrageous project, Block said. Smith said it wont be the only lawsuit over the warehouse plans. Last week the city got notice that the Golden State Environmental Justice Alliance, which objected before the February council decision, also plans to challenge the approval of the project. Reach the reporter: 951-368-9461, arobinson@scng.com or @arobinson_pe on Twitter A former Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffuor has advised the government to focus on stabilizing the economy this year rather than pursuing growth, since the economic fundamentals are weak. Although he lauded the governments initiatives introduced in this years budget, he said it was necessary for care to be taken in ensuring that the fiscal and the macroeconomic environments were more conducive. Dr. Duffuor, who is the Founder of policy think tank Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), was sharing his views on the 2017 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in an interview with the Daily Graphic. He was contributing to issues raised at a press briefing organized by the IFS on the 2017 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in Accra. We agree that accelerated growth of the economy is critically needed, but that cannot be achieved in adverse fiscal and macroeconomic environments. Once the economic fundamentals become stabilized and strong, it is easier to achieve growth. In fact, growth becomes automatic, he said. The 2017 Budget Government has announced major tax cuts in its maiden budget presented to Parliament. The tax cuts are in fulfillment of promises made by the Akufo-Addo-led government ahead of the 2016 elections. In some cases the government has completely abolished some taxes introduced by the previous Mahama administration. Among the abolished taxes announced Thursday to Parliament by Mr. Ofori Atta are: The 1 % Special Import Levy ABOLISHED Kayayei Market Tolls ABOLISHED 17.5 % VAT/NHIL on financial services ABOLISHED 17.5 % VAT/NHIL on selected imported medicines, that are not produced locally ABOLISHED 17.5 % VAT/NHIL on domestic airline tickets ABOLISHED 5 % VAT/NHIL on Real Estate sales ABOLISHED Replaced 17.5% VAT/NHIL with 3 % flat rate for traders Tax credits and other incentives for businesses that hire young graduates from tertiary institutions Tax Incentives for Young Entrepreneurs Duty on imported Spare parts Abolished Corporate Income Tax to be progressively reduced from 25% to 20% in 2018 Excise duty on petroleum abolished Special Petroleum Tax Rates reduced from 17.5% to 15% National Electrification Levy reduced from 5% to 3% Public Lighting Levy reduced from 5% to 2% The tax cuts according to the Finance Minister is expected to bring relief to Ghanaians and help transform the economy. The government in its 2017 budget also announced 456 million cedis for the fulfilment of its one district-one factory campaign pledge. The government has also announced a 94 million cedis for the commencement of its one-village one dam campaign pledge expected to take off later this year. Source: starrfmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Minister for Communication, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has paid a familiarization visit to MTN Ghana, a leading telecoms company in the country. The Minister was welcomed by the Chief Executive Officer of the MTN Ghana, Mr. Ebenezer Twum Asante and his team of executives. As part of the visit, the CEO and his team shared insights into MTNs structure, operations, performance, challenges and goals. "Key among the issues discussed were the use of MTNs Mobile Money service to promote financial inclusion and MTN Ghana Foundations commitment to enhancing the welfare of Ghanaian communities in the areas of health, education and economic empowerment." Read full statement below: MEDIA RELEASE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS VISITS MTN Accra March 22, 2017 -The Minister of Communication, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has paid a familiarization visit to MTN Ghana, the leading telecoms company in the country. The Minister was welcomed by the CEO of MTN Ghana, Mr. Ebenezer Twum Asante, together with the Executive Committee of the company. As part of the visit, the CEO and his team shared insights into MTNs structure, operations, performance, challenges and goals. The team also shared information on MTNs contribution to national development. Key among the issues discussed were the use of MTNs Mobile Money service to promote financial inclusion and MTN Ghana Foundations commitment to enhancing the welfare of Ghanaian communities in the areas of health, education and economic empowerment. The Minister commended MTN for the giant strides it has made in Ghana. The Minister also toured the MTN corporate office and commended the company for providing employees facilities such as a creche and gymnasium. End. Cynthia Lumor (Mrs.) Email: [email protected] Tel: 024 4300 000 About MTN Ghana MTN Ghana is the market leader in the increasingly competitive mobile telecommunications industry in Ghana, offering subscribers a range of exciting options under Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go Services. The company has committed itself to delivering reliable and innovative services that provide value for subscribers in Ghanas telecommunications market. MTN has continuously invested in expanding and modernizing its network since its entry into Ghana in 2006. Total investments from 2006-2015 are about US$2.512 billion. MTN has the widest 2G coverage across the length and breadth of Ghana and the widest 3G coverage in 170 districts across the country. The company has also built three modern Switch and Data centres to deliver stable, reliable, efficient and robust Telecom and Data Services to customers. For further information, visit www.mtn.com.gh. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Director General of National Lottery Authority (NLA), Honorable Kofi Osei-Ameyaw says NLA is devising ways to clamp down on illegal lottery operators, popularly called Banker to Banker. Activities by the illegal lottery operators are said to be depriving Ghana of huge revenues for national development. Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw was interacting with members of the Association of Lotto Marketing Companies (ALMC) who called on him to congratulate him on his appointment. Chairman of the ALMC, Dan Mensah pledged the Associations commitment to work closely with Hon. Osei-Ameyaw and support his vision to promote the operations of Authority. Speaking to the NLA Director, the ALMC raised concerns about the activities of the illegal lottery operators and appealed to him to address the challenges hampering their business as a result of such activities. They noted that the illegal lottery operators have been siphoning revenues which should otherwise end up in the Consolidated Fund for national development. The revenues, they added, end up into individuals pockets as a result of the fact that Banker to Banker operators do not pay taxes on their earnings and more often than not also swindle their patrons by refusing to pay up on wins. Members of the Association also decried the tax on lotto wins stating it dissuades players from patronizing NLA products, hence encouraging them to resort to the Banker to Bankers. Director General of NLA, Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw thanked the ALMC for their support and promised to work with them to develop NLA in line with the vision of President Akuffo Addo to generate revenue for the State. Hon. Osei-Ameyaw assured them of plans to address their concerns, some of which he listed are setting up a Lotto Taskforce to hinder illegal lottery operations. Those found flouting the law, he stated, will be prosecuted. He further promised to tackle the issue of taxation regarding lotto and other challenges stifling the business. The Director General promised to hold periodic meetings with the ALMC to update them on progress made. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi /Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Yesterday I spoke at the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development (DIHAD) conference in Dubai. In the past, I have done these speaking engagements in several cities, universities and agencies around the world. But I have always missed the opportunity to share with you what I shared at those global conferences. Today I have decided to share with you excepts of what I told my audience in Dubai. It does not take too long for anyone to know me, at a first contact. For instance you will know that I am from Winneba, even before you say fi. You will know that I went to Winneba Secondary School. You will know that I went to the University of Ghana. You will know that I went to the University of Education, Winneba, and you will know that I am a 12th born of my mother, something I have been very proud of. Amongst all that you will know, you will also know that, like many other children, I had a difficult childhood, and it is because of this difficulty that I founded Challenging Heights. In the last 12 years, my organisation, Challenging Heights, has rescued hundreds of children from trafficking in the fishing industry in Ghana, children who undergo a comprehensive rehabilitation program at our shelter while we work with their families and communities, to build capacity and support, for re-integration to happen. It is also because of this that I accepted to chair the Board of Directors of Family for Every Child, which is a global member-led alliance of organizations from 30 countries, headquartered in UK, working together to improve the lives of vulnerable children. Globally, families face extreme internal and external pressures that challenge their ability to care properly for their children; pressures that push children away from their homes. This is why many children end up living and working on the streets. They are forced into harmful labour or residing in inappropriate institutional care. They are exploited, without access to education or health services or shelter or even food. This is not only about poverty. Natural disasters and armed conflicts and wars make things worse for boys and girls who get separated from their parents. In the middle of the chaos, these children become vulnerable to all sorts of exploitations in their own country or as immigrants in other countries. Imagine the impact on the quality of life of boys and girls, on their development and growth, and overall happiness, imagine the impact if we focused our efforts on investing in families, giving them the skills and resources, helping them protect themselves and their children from vulnerabilities. Imagine the world if we considered the family as essential to childrens lives. Experience, research, and practice, show that healthy and effective parenting have great impact on the success of a child. It provides protection and boosts the emotional development of the child and her ability to contribute meaningfully to society. I know that some families are not always safe or loving environments for children. This is why child protection systems need to be strong, especially to be able to provide temporary or permanent high-quality alternatives to the children who are not well cared for by their families. But the point I want to make here, what I want us all to consider is that there is a disproportionate amount of children that are separated from their families unnecessarily; due to poverty, violence, exploitation, emergencies and conflict. In humanitarian crisis, our focus on essentials is often reduced to basic services. Of course we want children to have food, shelter, safety. These basic services are needed. But they are not enough to prevent children from the many risks they are exposed to. We need to also invest in the family. A strong family is better prepared in times of crisis to protect its children. It is the first line of defence, an informal system of social protection, a source of safety and resilience for children. In a recent research conducted by Family for Every Child across seven countries, with children who were living without parental care, on the street, in institutional care, in detention, with extended families, we asked them: what do you want for your future? Many mentioned health and education. But the overwhelming majority expressed one single desire: to have strong, safe and loving relationships with their parents or caregivers, to be cared for and protected, to be treated fairly and with understanding and kindness. I believe if you strengthen, and protect, the family, then its children have more access to education and health care. Children have more chances to be safe and will engage less in anti-social and criminal behaviours. I believe if you strengthen, and protect, the family, then you will improve the future prospects of its children. And when these children become adults, they will have more chances to access employment, to overcome poverty, to contribute to peace, reconciliation and progress. Of course, solutions are complex, just like the problems. At Family for Every Child, a member-led, grass roots-up alliance, we are 30 organizations from across the planet, including the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, and Challenging Heights. Our members come from very different contexts, very different cultures, but all work hard and in different ways to strengthen and protect families, addressing the challenges they face. In Mexico, our member, JUCONI, carries out an intensive therapy, which is focused on the family, to restore healthy parenting, care-giving capacities, to families facing intergenerational cycles of violence. We are now replicating this innovative approach in eight other countries. In Indonesia, very poor and stigmatized families often place their children in institutions, hoping that they will receive education, food and shelter. Muhammadiyah, our member in that country, is gradually reversing this trend of unnecessary family separation. It connects vulnerable families with needed support and services so as to stop feeling the need to rely on institutional care for their children. In Ghana, Challenging Heights is re-uniting families by rescuing and rehabilitating trafficked children. We are providing emotional, practical, educational, and livelihood support to parents, children and communities to increase awareness and provide families with self-sustaining futures. Our overall aim is to stop family separation from occurring through trafficking, by providing the support to reduce poverty and increase family stability, as well as bringing home the enslaved children. In Rwanda, South Africa and Ghana, Family for Every Childs members conducted a study to understand the impact of cash transfers on the ability of families to care for their children. In each one of these countries, the findings showed that even among the most vulnerable of families, good social protection can help millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa grow up in a safe and caring environment. It enables families to care for children who are not their own; and to improve upon the material and nonmaterial well-being of children. So in the name of Family for Every Child, in the name of Challenging Heights, and in the light of the real progress we can all achieve for children and families, I would like to urge you all, policy makers, decision makers, dream makers and makers of the future, to recognise that a strong family is basic, and essential, for children everywhere. We must therefore invest in families and support them to be safe, effective, and caring for children regardless of poverty, conflict or adversity. Whether it is in the Middle-East, in Africa, in Europe, in America, in Asia, families are the bedrock of our society. We need to work together to strengthen and empower them so that they too can take better care of their children. It is by growing up with the love, care and safety of a family that boys and girls around the world will be able to achieve their full potential, to lead a healthy, fulfilled, socially and politically engaged life. Source: James Kofi Annan/ email: [email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Defence counsel in the Marwako Restaurant assault case has filed an application on notice for prosecution to release documents they intend to rely on for trial. According to Mr Augustine Asarfo-Adjei documents of prosecution including the statement of the victim would enable him conduct an effective cross-examination. Defence counsel said if he was not furnished with those documents it would be difficult for him to proceed with the cross examination of the victim, Evelyn Boakye, a worker of the restaurant. Defence counsel therefore moved a motion before a District Court at Abeka where the victim was continue to answer question under cross-examination. Prosecuting Chief Inspector H.A. Hanson informed the court presided over by Ms Victoria Ghansah that he has just received the application and would need to study and respond to it. The court adjourned the matter to Thursday March 23, for prosecution to respond to the application. Jihad Chaaban, a Lebanese supervisor at Marwako Restaurant, was put before the court for allegedly manhandling a female waitress of the restaurant. Chaaban aged 26, was charged with offensive conduct by calling the victim a prostitute, intentionally and unlawfully causing harm and assault. Chaaban has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was on February 28, this year, alleged to have assaulted the victim Evelyn Boakye for fidgeting with a blender and working slowly. Chaaban, a brother in-law of the owner of Marwako Restaurant at Abelemkpe branch allegedly grabbed the neck of the victim angrily and dipped her face into a blended pepper which poured on the table. 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. Featured Video Amanase Aboabo District Assembly (D/A) Junior High School (JHS) in the Ayensuano District of the Eastern Region, which was established in the 1920s, has now become a death trap. A visit to the school by Today revealed the deplorable nature of the school building which had already seen the Form Three block caved in. Today gathered that the pupils close early from school whenever the rains are about to fall. Speaking to Today in an interview, some of the pupils and staff members expressed fear over the weak nature of the building they occupy. They therefore appealed to government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), corporate entities and individuals to immediately come to their aid. Now under this tree is our Staff Common Room, where all activities such as marking of class exercises and exam papers among others take place, some of the teachers who spoke on conditions of anonymity said. Aside from that, the teachers said their teaching and learning materials were kept in an erected roofing sheet office. We are not happy with the dilapidated structure of the school. Several lives will be lost in the coming days if nothing is done about the situation, the teachers cautioned. A female pupil of the school told Today that there have been several occasions that we the pupils have had to battle with snakes for our lives, she expressed. According to her, they always get frightened whenever it is about to rain. Source: Today Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Security Systems International Limited (3SiL) the parent company of Strategic Power Solutions (SPS), the only solar panel manufacturing plant in West Africa, Mr. Ofori Boateng has lauded plans outlined by government in the 2017 budget statement towards the development of renewable energy. Government has initiated plans to increase access to lighting in deprived off-grid homes by increasing solar lanterns in rural non-electrified households to two million. It has also promised to scale up the Renewable Energy Programme. Mr. Boateng said these are initiatives that can easily be attained with the right private sector partnership. As the preferred developers for the 50 Megawatt solar hybrid Bui Power Authority project, SPS is willing to work with the Government and the Ministry of Energy to complete the project in a timely and cost-effective manner, he stressed. Mr. Ofori Boateng mentioned that even though the Ghana Scaling-up Renewable Energy Programme (SREP) which will see the implementation of 55 mini-grids, 38,000 solar home systems in off-grid communities and 15,000 units of solar rooftop installations can help increase the renewable energy component in Ghanas energy mix, government needed to be more aggressive with its plans for the sector. SPS launched West Africas only solar manufacturing plant in March last year and has since produced at the capacity of 30 Megawatts which will be upgraded to 100 Megawatts by the end of 2017. Its parent company, 3SiL, has under the Solar Lighting Programme, distributed 1.2 million solar torch lights to farmers across cocoa, sheanut and coffee growing areas of the country. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Washman007 Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, on Thursday paid a surprise visit to the Passport Office in Accra and expressed Governments commitment to resource the Centre to render efficient service. He said there had been many complaints from the public regarding undue delay in processing passport applications. The visit, he said, was therefore aimed at familiarising himself with the challenges at the Centre, to make him appreciation the situation better. This is the second time this year that the Vice President had visited a public institution unannounced. On January 18, this year, the Vice President undertook a similar unannounced visit to the Registrar Generals Office to familiarise himself with their operations. The Vice President who spoke to the media after the tour of the various units said in view of what he had witnessed at the Passport Centre, there was an urgent need to improve the facilities. He expressed concern about the long queues at the Centre, coupled with the long period of waiting, saying People have been waiting here since 0200hours last night just to submit a form and this is not good enough, therefore we need to improve the system. Alhaji Dr Bawumia called for an urgent move from the manual processing of passport to online system, adding that, every region must have the capacity to process passport online to ensure quicker delivery of service. People are suffering too much just to get a passport. But the good news is that the Foreign Minister is very much on top of the issues and the directors here are very much interested in the changes we are bringing, which have already started, he said. Mr Samuel Ofosu Boateng, the Deputy Director of the Passport Office, who briefed the Vice President on the operations of the Centre and challenges confronting them, admitted that the manual processing of passport often delayed the delivery of service. He said the Centre started piloting the electronic passport application in November last year and currently processed 150 applicants per day. He expressed the hope to increase to 300 by next week, while doing 200 applicants manually per day. Mr. Boateng noted that although it had started the online application, applicants were supposed to enter their data themselves, and afterwards book appointment to the Passport Office in order to take their biometric data. The Centre, he said, had wanted to phase-out the manual processing of passport by the end of March this year, but per the situation on the ground, it would not be possible because of the high number of people still applying manually. He expressed the hope that the time would be extended to June. Mr Boateng said the electronic processing of passport would be extended to other regional centres including Kumasi, Sunyani, Takoradi, Tamale and Ho. He said when the Centre checked the online registration recently about 2,000 people had booked appointments and would, therefore, create more sheds at the Centre to attend to them. Mr. Boateng said although there were some technical challenges with the online registration, a Committee had been constituted to deal with any unforeseen difficulties, and also help in rolling out the online registration in other regions. Commenting on the long queues at the Centre, he said some applicants travelled from other regions to Accra, and said although their officials had told them to patronise the regional centres, yet some applicants still preferred coming to Accra. To address the menace of middle-men popularly called the Goro Boys Mr. Boateng said currently people who visited the Centre were given special tags while police personnel had been stationed at the entrance to check visitors in order to prevent intruders. The Deputy Director warned that any staff caught dealing with the illegal passport syndicates would be sanctioned and cited a recent incident where a staff of the Centre had been penalised for a similar offence. 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. Featured Video Ghana on Wednesday, joined the world to commemorate the 2017 World Water Day on the theme: Water and Waste Water, with a call on Ghanaians to manage water resources and prevent the wastage of water. Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, who made the call, said untreated wastewater was a threat to public health and the significant cause of pollution in water bodies and therefore the need to pay critical attention to them. He has, therefore, indicated that science and technology would be needed to be employed to help manage and recycle waste water for other useful uses in the country. The growing demand for limited water supplies and their deteriorating quality, put increasing pressure to seek alternative approaches, the Minister said in a speech read on his behalf in Accra on the occasion, which was also marked with the hoisting of Ghana and UN flags and a tour of a biogas treatment facility own by Action Chapel. A United Nations report has indicated that more than 80 per cent of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the ecosystem without being treated and 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with fecal matters, putting them at risk of contracting diseases like cholera. The UN has also projected that by 2050, close to 70 per cent of the worlds population would live in cities, compared to 50 per cent currently, and that most cities currently do not have adequate infrastructure and resources to address wastewater management in an efficient way. Mr Adda said in Ghana, water was increasingly under pressure because of the demand of the growing urban population. However, Ghana was not exempted from the global agenda of ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030, he noted. The Minister said the theme was therefore a clear call on the nation to strive to ensure the production of quality water supply at all times. He said the theme was also in line with the development agenda of the country in addressing the unfairness in the distribution of water to the population living in slums as well as impoverish rural and urban areas. Mr Adda said: The National Water Policy recognises the need to promote partnership between the public and private sectors for the conservation and protection of water resources through the use of cleaner and efficient technologies. He said: It is increasingly being recognised that issues of wastewater and water quality have crossed linkages with a range of other water and non-water issues especially in respect of water, energy and food nexus. The Sector Minister said waste water management played a critical role in achieving future water security in a world where water stress was likely to increase. Dr Osman Ansah Asare, Director of Water Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said improving waste water management meant improvement on all the six target of the SDGs on water because it would ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. He called on all institutions, especially churches, to build biogas treatment plant using fecal and waste water systems for others to follow suit. Mr David Duncan, Chief, in-charge of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programme at UNICEF, said safely managed wastewater was an affordable and sustainable source of water, energy, nutrients and other recoverable materials. He urged stakeholders to work together to ensure that water sources were preserved while waste water was recycled and use for profitable ventures. 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. Featured Video Lawyers for the Abelemkpe Branch Manager of Marwako eatery, Jihad Chaaban, have filed an application for disclosure directed at state prosecutors to furnish the defence team with all documents they intend to rely on for their prosecution. According to Augustine Asafo Adjei, the request if granted, would assist them to put up a more informed defence for their client. Jihad, 26, is before the court over an assault case. The accused person is reported to have dipped the head of Evelyn Boakye, an employee of the facility, into blended pepper on February 26, 2017. According to the prosecution led by Chief Inspector H.A. Hanson, the accused offensively conducted himself when he angrily called the complainant a prostitute. Jihad is facing an additional charge of intentionally and unlawfully causing harm to Evelyn when he reportedly dipped her head in the blended pepper. At the hearing of the case yesterday at the Abeka District Court in Accra, Chief Inspector H.A. Hanson opposed the application. But the trial magistrate, Ms. Victoria Ghansah, ordered the prosecution to file their statement in opposition first thing this morning while both parties are expected to return to court at 1:00 pm today for the determination of the latest twist to the Marwako trial. Meanwhile, the much anticipated further cross-examination of Evelyn Boakye has been shelved. At the last sitting, the defence lawyers had expressed doubt over the actual substance the accused is alleged to have dipped the face of the victim into. Augustine had claimed that the substance for which his client has been dragged before the court is a sauce but not raw pepper. He said the material being a mixture of garlic, pepper, onions, ginger and tomatoes could not be described as pepper. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A former minister of communications in the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, Dr Edward Omane Boamah has discounted rumors of possible plans to contest as flagbearer of the party in 2020. He has also described comments made by Dr Owusu Mensah of the Political Science Department of the University Ghana in that respect as intellectually deficient and procured. The political scientist on Kumasi-based Abusua Fm said the former communications minister is not ripped politically to contest the highest office of the country on the ticket of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). Dr Owusu Mensah admonished the former Communications Minister to plan of contesting and becoming the countrys President in the future. He remarked that the former Minister of Local Government Samuel Ofosu Ampofo will be the best candidate to lead the NDC in 2020. If I look at the list and calibre of people in the NDC, people who have experience and public trust in NDC, Ofosu Ampofo should be one of the crucial candidate for them. I dont want to comment so much on Omane Boamah because I dont think he is qualified. I am not talking about age, but intellectually he is not qualified to be a President of Ghana. There are so many candidates in line who they can look at their advantages and disadvantages, but Omane Boamah has not gotten to that level, he pointed out. But in response to the comments, he said on his facebool wall; Good morning Dr Owusu Mensah of the Political Science Department (UG). I am not interested in contesting for President in 2020. The reason is far from your procured and intellectually deficient submission. Read moreand help yourself Source: mynewsgh.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Member of Parliament for Nhyiaeso Kennedy Kankam has opined that judging by the enormity of challenges confronting the current government, he would have appointed more ministers if he were the President. He also questioned what Ghana and Ghanaians benefited from the lean government under previous governments. If I were the President I would have appointed more ministers and deputies. What is the result of lean government since Kwame Nkrumah as being argued by some? I want someone to tell me the benefits. If the so-called lean governments were successful, would we have the problems that are facing the country currently? We will appoint more ministers to do the work and that is more important than those who feel we are running a bloated government. Criticism greeted President Nana Akufo-Addos appointment of 110 ministers and deputies, with some arguing that the number will put pressure on the national purse. But President Akufo-Addo defended his decision saying he needed that number of ministers to help him govern well. However, the General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has described as senseless the justification of the president. But buttressing the presidents position on Onua FM morning Show Yen Nsem Pa, Kennedy Kankam said Ghana is faced with enormous challenges in all sectors of the economy that needed the number and the expertise to deal with them. So if I hear people especially the NDC making noise about this 110 ministers thing, then I want to ask what have they left the country with?, Look at the challenges even at the EPA, the transport sector, the power issues and the rest, how do we deal with them if we dont have more hands? he asked. The legislator told Bright Kwesi Asempa who hosted the show that those who are arguing that the size of the current government will have a toll on the national treasury, I want to tell them that, if we dont have the money to pay them, even if it takes us to get blood money (Sika duro) to pay them to fix our challenges, we will, whether they like it or not, Nana is here to work. He insisted, If we discover that the NDC has spent all the resources, we will go for blood money to do the work. Source: 3news.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Nemesis appears to be catching up with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as members admit that cracks in the former ruling party were more than the picture being painted about the then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP). With just three months in opposition, the NDC may be heading for implosion as accusations and counter accusations are freely traded. A top member, Yaw Boateng Gyan, yesterday admitted that the cracks in the NDC are wider than what the public perceives. Mr Yaw Boateng Gyan, who was once the NDC national organizer and presidential staffer under President Atta Mills, said the then ruling party was more divided than the then opposition NPP, even before the crucial December 7, 2016 general election although then President John Mahama created the impression that the party was the most united in Ghanas history. The Mahama administration invested heavily in creating divisions in NPP in order to get an electoral advantage reportedly doling out cash and expensive vehicles to leading members through slush funds set aside for that agenda; but it has turned out to be an albatross hanging on his neck. Glaring Pretence Exactly one month before the general election in which the NDC was humiliated thereby confining Mr. Mahama to becoming a one-term president in Ghanas political history, he was in the Ashanti Region pretending all was well with the then ruling party and that the NPP was not ready for power because its then candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was a divisive leader. President Mahama had said at New Edubiase on a campaign tour that also took him to Adansi Asokwa, Adansi Akrofuom, Obuasi West and East Constituencies on November 7, 2016 that he wanted the electorate to continue to keep the NPP in opposition until, as he put it, they put their house in order. The opposition party, he claimed, was more divided than any other political grouping and therefore noted that it could not govern the country when given the mandate. Today, the party that is ready to govern this country is the NDC. Why am I saying so? Today, the NDC is the most united and well organised party than any other party in Ghana. Look at whats going on in the NPP. The NPP is divided into two factions. If that party is rife with these divisions even in opposition, what will happen if we give them power? Then NDC presidential candidate Mahama jabbed. Pure Deceit However, it is now turning out that, then President Mahama was only throwing dust into the eyes of the public in order to make the NDC look presentable to the electorate by condemning the NPP and its candidate, President Akufo-Addo. In just over two months in opposition, utterances of most of the top executives of the party have shown clearly that the NDC is heavily divided and Mr. Boateng Gyans claim lends credence to the facts available. Frank Assessment Speaking on Abusua FM in Kumasi yesterday on a wide range of issues affecting the NDC, Mr Yaw Boateng Gyan said, Kwame, (referring to the host) believe methe NDC was much more divided than the NPP but we pretended as if all was well and decided to talk about the NPPs troubles. People who dared to talk publicly about the partys challenges were vilified and sidelined, how were we going to hear diverging opinions internally? he asked. If we had paid attention to what people, our own party people, were saying, I am telling you the NDC wouldnt have been in opposition by now, he observed. Arrogant Officers The other issue has to do with the way and manner our people were talking to the electoratevery arrogant and disrespectful, how would we have appealed to the voters? Mr. Boateng Gyan added. Kwame, some of us couldnt talk because they said we had been voted out of the executive position of the party and so we shouldnt talka lot of things went wrong. The grassroots of the party were angry because they were not resourced to work for the party, rather outsiders and strangers were enjoying all the partys resources for campaigns. For example, common party billboardsthe party had to send people from Accra to come to my hometown in Sunyani to erect billboards when our own local people could have been engaged, so they felt sidelined and so refused to contribute their energy to the campaign. If you look at all these factors, must you be told that the party was deeply divided? .we were even lucky the grassroots of the party didnt rise up in anger against those sent from Accra to fix campaign materials at the local level, he posited. Small Boys Management Immediately after the NDCs crashing defeat, Mr. Boateng Gyan vowed to ensure that small boys will never manage ex-President Mahama. President Mahama is the most marketed person in NDC and if hell come back as the flag bearer, he will not come with those small boys. Well not allow those small boys to surround and manage him again. Stan Dogbe and the rest who have no political experience but yet managed President Mahama let the NDC down in this election, he said on December 14, last year when the party was reeling under the shock of its election defeat. Mr Boateng Gyan had added, Well not allow them to disgrace Mahama the second time. Weve vowed to let these small boys know that there are elders in NDC with vast political experience and theyll manage our future flag bearer. We have the likes of Kojo Tsikata, Ato Ahwoi, Totobi Quakyi, Iddrisu Mahama and Issifu Ali. These are the people who will work with our next leader. As for these small boys, well fight them. Politics is no childs play. Mills Death Mr. Boateng Gyan was the same man who said if the NDC pushed him to the wall he would spill the beans over who killed President John Evans Atta Mills. His outburst had come in December 2014 when the party was going to congress to elect its national officers. He eventually lost his position to Kofi Iddi Adams in an acrimonious fashion and later blamed the presidency for ensuring his defeat in the partys election. Liability However, the NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Yunyoo in the Northern Region, Joseph Bipoba Naabu Mahama, has stressed that Mahama may not have a second chance because he is a liability to the party. The Yunyoo MP said if the NDC makes the mistake and fields John Mahama for 2020, he will lose more miserably to either Nana Akufo-Addo or Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia; and the party will see more disintegration. Some other top executives like Deputy General Secretary Koku Anyidoho and Anita Desoso, a vice chairperson of the NDC, have made their intentions known by displaying their desire for another candidate for the 2020 presidential election apart from President Mahama. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Actor, David Dontoh, says theatre in Ghana can stand on its feet again if corporate bodies come on board to support it. According to Dontoh, who is also known as Ghana Man, sponsorship is the main reason theatre is almost dead in Ghana. My team and I have been trying to get sponsors for our productions and the response has been very bad. Corporate bodies prefer to sponsor awards ceremonies which are not as important as theatre that helps to promote tourism, he told Showbiz. He pointed out that a good theatrical production is a capital intensive venture, taking into consideration costumes, lighting, props, make-up and set design but due to lack of sponsorship to take adequate care of those elements, theatre has become unattractive for potential patrons. David Dontoh said a consequence of the neglect of theatre is that our entertainers, especially movie actors, will not go far with their chosen professions. Most good actors are products from theatre. Like me, I started starring in stage productions four decades ago. The question I have been trying to ask corporate bodies is: Who should groom the movie stars for them to award? Nigerian movies are doing well because they invest a lot in theatre which produces good actors but unfortunately, this does not happen in Ghana. Once theatre is given the needed push, our movie industry will bounce back. There is no way a tree can stand if you cut its roots and that is what sponsors have done to our theatre, leading to the collapse of our movie industry, he added. However, in an interview with Kwaku Asiedu Korankye, a marketer who specialises in sponsorship for artistic events, the situation is not as David Dontoh presents it. According to him, a well- packaged product will always attract a sponsor. No corporate body will sponsor a product which is not well- packaged because it wants to protect its image, he said He explained that most corporate bodies refuse to sponsor events because organisers tell them different stories after they (sponsors) come on board. You dont promise a sponsor ABC and deliver EFG in the end. The sponsor will definitely not be happy with that and it makes corporate bodies careful of what to sponsor, the marketer said. On his part, playwright Latif Abubakar of Globe Productions told Showbiz a sponsor would always invest in a good product depending on how consistently that product has been in existence. I believe all a sponsor needs is the numbers, a solid brand, trust and consistency, Abubakar said. Meanwhile, David Dontoh has announced he is currently directing a play titled Take Me To The Altar. According to him, the play by the late Efo Kodjo Mawugbe is a brilliant piece and he asked everyone to come see it on March 31 and April 2 at the Oxford Street Mall, Osu at 7.00pm each night. Source: Graphic Showbiz Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Actress cum producer, Tracey Boakye and the cast for her new movie, The Devil Between My Legs are done with shooting for the film. A trailer of the movie has been released and it showcases actor Samuel Ofori removing the a blue underwear of Tracey Boakye in a dark place. What continued after that action is best watched than told in the full movie, The Devil Between My Legs. The Devil Between My Legs directed by actor and movie director Samuel Ofori we hear will be premiered soon in Ghana. Peacefmonline is reliably informed that this intense-filled dramatic film from Shakria Movies will be premiered at Golden Tulip Hotel in Kumasi on Easter Monday, April 17. It features stars like Van Vicker, Tracey Boakye, Samuel Ofori, Kani Gloria, Jessica Williams, Louisa Adinkra and many others. Watch the trailer of The Devil Between My Legs below: Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A British MP has been photographed attempting to save the life of a police officer killed in todays alleged terror attack outside Parliament in London. Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood, who is a former British Army officer, tried to save the mans life after he was stabbed by the attacker, who was allegedly attempting to enter the House of Commons. Tobias Ellwood, who lost his brother in the Bali Bombings, was covered in blood after attempting to resuscitate the stabbed officer. #9Today pic.twitter.com/muQEfrZx5d The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) March 22, 2017 The Conservative MP was seen with blood on his face as he attempted to perform CPR on the injured man, stemming the flow of blood with his hands. Ellwoods brother Jonathan, a teacher, died in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 201 people. Speaking hours after the attack, Ellwood would not divulge much information given that he was a witness. I am a witness, I was the last one on the scene before he died so I am not allowed to say anything, Ellwood told The Sun. Number 10 has been in touch so Ill get into trouble. It is now murder, I was on the scene and as soon as I realised what was going on I headed towards it. Source: News.com.au. Photo: AP. Theres a lot of bad shit going on in the world today, so heres something a bit lighter for you: birdwatchers in Broome have snapped a pic of Australias most mysterious and elusive bird: the NIGHT PARROT. The extremely thicc critter known as the night parrot is so rare that it wasnt even confirmed that it was still alive in Australia until about three years ago. This photo was nabbed an incredible 2,000km away from where the species was last spotted over in Western Queensland. Basically, its the holy grail for birdwatchers. It may look like a fat budgie as the team who spotted it described it but its a prize spot in the community. To the point that the chair of the extremely absurdly named Night Parrot Recovery Team, Allan Burbidge, has literally never even seen one. Its a species that is really hard to detect, he says. Youll get there, mate. Adrian Boyle, from Broome, was part of the team who took the photo. He never thought hed see one. I grew up knowing that the bird was extinct and didnt expect to ever see one in my life. I just knew it was a fairly small green and yellow parrot that used to live in deserts in spinifex countries that was sort of the unseeable, that it was the holy grail if you get to see one. The birds probably dont cover the entire arid interior of Australia, but researchers now have the evidence to prove that theres gotta be at least some of them battling out there away from development and other human-caused degradation. Wanna know more about this chubbo birdo? Fang a listen to the ABCs Off Track podcast, which I can only describe as a bushwalk you dont have to get off your ass to embark on. Oh, that defeats the purpose of a bushwalk, you reckon? Get stuffed. Source: ABC Radio National. Photo: Bruce Greatwich. Incidences like todays terror attack in London which left four people dead, including the suspect, and another 20 injured are ripe for the spread of misinformation as media scramble to identify the facts amidst total chaos. (Remember the whole Boston bomber fiasco?) But uh, this still isnt great: UK television station Channel 4 wrongly identified the suspect as Abu Izzadeen (formerly known as Trevor Brooks), an Islamist militant who was sentenced to two years in January 2016 for breaching the Terrorism Act. .@Channel4News pull the +1 broadcast of their news three mins in after incorrectly naming individual as responsible for Westminster attack pic.twitter.com/dsjDzM6NX2 Chris Stokel-Walker (@stokel) March 22, 2017 During the programme, Channel 4 said that conflicting information came to light about the suspects identity. Statement from Channel 4 News pic.twitter.com/34QLcQasLI Hayley Barlow (@Hayley_Barlow) March 22, 2017 As it turns out, Izzadeen is still very much in jail. Channel 4 news editor Ben de Pear sought to make the correction. 1/2 Tonight our trusted Correspondent @simonisrael made a mistake in naming the wrong person as the suspect in the parliament attack. Ben de Pear (@bendepear) March 22, 2017 2/2 in years of award winning coverage @simonisrael has rarely been wrong; tonight he was. Abu Izzadeen is in prison & not the suspect Ben de Pear (@bendepear) March 22, 2017 Both Channel 4 and Simon Israel, the senior correspondent who made the error, have apologised. The source I trusted, but ultimately I made a mistake. This time I got it wrong. Abu Izzadeen is in prison. simon israel (@simonisrael) March 22, 2017 Further Channel 4 News statement pic.twitter.com/yA3xsCQ9ZU Hayley Barlow (@Hayley_Barlow) March 22, 2017 The suspects name has not been released. Photo: PA. Content warning: this post discusses sexual assault. In the wake of the shocking events concerning a 15-year-old Cranbrook School student whos currently facing charges of raping an unconscious teenage girl while his friend filmed it, the elite Sydney private school is assuring parents of its ongoing moral and emotional education program. PEDESTRIAN.TV has obtained an email sent to Cranbrook parents this afternoon regarding a Sex & Relationships event for parents that will be held tonight. A similar event was held for Year 9 boys during the school day today. The email tells parents that the schools Senior School Student Wellbeing Programme, which covers issues like drinking, pornography and peer pressure, takes place every fortnight, complemented by the Sex & Relationships Day in Year 9 and a Year 11 Conference. We take our responsibility to encourage and develop the moral awareness and generosity of spirit amongst our students very seriously, Principal Nicholas Sampson writes. Single-sex schools have a particular responsibility to promote healthy and respectful relationships with the opposite gender: our boys are addressed on the specific topic of respect for girls and women on a regular basis within a number of forums. The email also confirms that the school will not be offering comment on the ongoing assault case. Reportedly, the alleged offender had only recently transferred to Cranbrook, which costs $41,000 per year, from another school. He no longer attends Cranbrook, and has been charged with aggravated sexual assault. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 to speak to a counsellor. The tube stations in London are quietly famous for their Thought For Today messages: friendly quotes, sayings and aphorisms handwritten on whiteboards that bring a little bit of light into commuters days. In the wake of the terror attack on Westminster Bridge outside the House of Parliament, which killed four people (revised from five) and injured 29 others, the employees of the London Underground are using those message boards to spread hope and solidarity through a shaken city. Love this sentiment at @Claphamnth tube station this morning. pic.twitter.com/PaEU5MQHOM Amit Bali (@amitkbali) March 23, 2017 And many commuters are finding sources of strength wherever they can: I saw this poster in the Tube when I was in London last week seems apt for today. Sending the city much love. pic.twitter.com/wNbcz0coVr Catherine Milne (@catherinefmilne) March 23, 2017 Some light in the darkness from Canary Wharf Tube Station. Standing with my fellow Londoners today. #WeAreLondon pic.twitter.com/ExqXeUyvLk Dr Anna Tippett (@AnzTheLegend) March 22, 2017 Our thoughts are with you, London. Image: Twitter / @TootingAbout. One of the things former President Barack Obama did relatively well was protecting the Great Lakes from pollution and invasive species. That's probably because Obama lived in and represented Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan before moving to the White House. He understood the positive impact this gigantic system of freshwater lakes has on the Midwest's economy and quality of life. President Donald Trump is from the top of a tower in New York City. He spent some time campaigning in the Midwest during his successful presidential campaign, winning the Great Lakes states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. But he clearly doesn't get the priorities of the region. Trump just proposed eliminating $300 million a year in federal funding for ongoing restoration of the Great Lakes. His proposal is a short-sighted and alarming move that Wisconsin's congressional delegation should adamantly oppose. Gov. Scott Walker quickly opposed Trump's punishing cut, which is reassuring. "It makes sense for us to continue to make prudent investments in protecting and improving the Great Lakes," the governor said. "It's one of those where it's a combination of quality of life, certainly in terms of access to the greatest fresh water supply in the world, but also it's an economic impact. Commercial fishing, tourism, so many of those things tie in to a healthy and vibrant Great Lakes system." He's right. And the federal investment leverages far more money from local governments and Canada for lake protection. This cooperation has helped defend the Great Lakes against invasive species including the giant and voracious Asian carp that would decimate native fish and hurt tourism. The federal dollars also help reduce algae blooms that foul shorelines and have created an oxygen-deprived dead zone in Green Bay. Other threats include toxic waste from industrial sites, city sewers and farms. Trump's federal budget doesn't spend less money overall. He's simply prioritizing a massive and unnecessary increase in military spending over dire needs here at home. Trump's budget shows he doesn't care about the Great Lakes. Wisconsin must unite against his reckless budget plan to show him the Midwest most definitely does. This editorial appeared in the March 18 edition of the Wisconsin State Journal, another Lee Enterprises publication. So Pauline Hanson has logged on to the internet today and used the events that transpired in London as a jumping off point for knee-jerk reactionary propaganda. If you didnt see that coming you probably need glasses. Hanson, in a rather wild-eyed video posted to her social media channels, implored people not to pray for the people or London or the families affected, but to instead pray for a Muslim ban, a point she further stamped home by holding a largely blank piece of white paper with the phrase #Pray For Muslim Ban written on it. Observe: Anyone whos been remotely near the internet knows that facing a camera while holding a mostly blank canvas is more or less asking for trouble. Look, we made a totally blank template in Photoshop and it took all of about 10 seconds. Pauline, you have to know this was never gonna go well. yeah wow really glad Pauline spoke up about anything at all pic.twitter.com/oqbbWLRNwX Banksia Burdak?? (@Tezamondo) March 23, 2017 Pauline Hanson has never said a truer thing in her life #auspol #qldpol pic.twitter.com/94LSjgtyBa Tim Byrnes (@timbyrnes89) March 23, 2017 Thats a weird thing for a politician to ask for @PaulineHansonOz #auspol pic.twitter.com/V52dPNpaaq idiot sandwich ? ? (@Jarred1337) March 23, 2017 Hell, weve even been amusing ourselves this afternoon with a few of our own. That last one. Very weird hill to die on, Pauline. But after polling the office and mulling it over for the better part of the last 12 minutes, weve decided we like this one the best. No snark, no negativity, just nice things. Pauline, thank you. Thank you sincerely. Source: Twitter. So sexist job adverts probably arent unheard of or even uncommon in Australia (remember the Nazi sparky with the infamous Gumtree listing?), but this particular sexist job ad has another layer of meta-weirdness to contend with: its apparently been written and distributed by a disgruntled ex-employee in order to exact revenge on the business that fired him. At least, thats what Andrew McNamara, owner of Sydney burger joint The Hanging Ladder alleges. Printed ads seeking female waitstaff for the cafe have appeared on dozens of trees and electricity poles in Balmain and Rozelle this week. More than simply advertising a position at the cafe that does not exist, the ads are like super sexist (not to mention grammatically challenged): Looking for a experienced waitress that could just as easy be in a bikini on beach spinning heads. Must be comfortable around Tradies in a skirt and a top your choice but black. Pay is generous and cool place chilled boss and manager its me hah McNamara has adamantly disavowed having anything to do with the ad, which has drawn a lot of complaints. He says the cafe has already taken a big hit that in fact, thanks to the posters, business has halved in less than a week. He told the Inner West Courier: As a small business it really hurts. Ive taken down all the posters I could find and were pretty much having to go into damage control. Everyone Ive spoken to about it has said thats disgusting, and I agree. As for who the culprit might be, McNamara has no doubts. I know exactly who it is. Its an old staff member who I fired at the start of this week and hes now gone and done this. Its completely sexist and incorrect. I dont know why hes done it but its not the view of this company at all. In a sterling example of how best to deal with this kind of shit, the Hanging Ladder is going to organise a free coffee day for women in the next few weeks, to compensate for what has happened. Waitresses with head-spinning superpowers: sorry to get your hopes up. Source and image: News.com.au. Metropolitan Police in London have confirmed that a fifth person has died as a result of the attack outside UK Parliament earlier this morning. Officials remain at the scene of the incident, which also left as many as 40 people injured when a man drove a car through pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, before exiting the vehicle with a knife reportedly with the intent to enter the House of Commons and attacking a police officer before being shot by authorities. The death toll includes the attacked police officer and the alleged assailant. The incident, which eye-witnesses described as catastrophic, began with the attacker driving a car across the Westminster Bridge, striking pedestrians including a group of school children visiting from France, and forcing at least one person to either fall or jump into the Thames River below. British Prime Minister Theresa May labelled the act sick and depraved and expressed her condolences to the families of those affected. For those of us who were in Parliament at the time of this attack, these events provide a particular reminder of the exceptional bravery of our police and security services who risk their lives to keep us safe. The identity and background of the attacker is yet to be formally confirmed. Earlier information hastily spread by some UK media outlets has been debunked as false and misleading. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has stated she is not aware of any Australians being involved in the attack. London Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Rowley confirmed that the family of the deceased officer had been notified, but would not confirm whether the alleged perpetrator was known to police. This is a day we planned for but hoped would never happen. Sadly its now a reality. We will continue to do all we can to protect the people of London. Authorities have commenced their investigation. Source: The Age. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty. Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers. He made his opening pitch - and you even heard from his mom - now Republican Scott Wagner is making an even more explicit pitch as he tries to his consolidate his position as (at least for now) as the only Republican candidate for governor in 2018. In a new web ad released this week, Wagner, a York County state senator, pitches the progress the GOP-controlled chamber has made (Warning: Humble-brag ahead) since he joined its ranks three years ago. From votes on pension reform and paycheck protection to blocking Gov. Tom Wolf's proposed tax hikes, the small government conservative who makes a decent chunk of his living from big government contracts says he's "played a role in the culture change" that's led to that legislation to get to votes on the Senate and House floor. But, he notes, "we haven't gotten it over the goal line," Wagner says in the 1:40 spot, which shows him giving a speech to an unseen audience as stock footage accompanies some of his words. Wagner tells his audience (and, presumably, the Republican primary electorate) that he's "hit the wall," and "I don't do well when I hit the wall, so I've chosen to take action and become the next governor elected in 2018." Which might be news to Wolf, Wagner's fellow York County rich dude and the Democratic incumbent. Wolf is already revving up his re-election machinery for a bid next year. In an email, Beth Melena, a spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party poured water on Wagner's outsider rep: "Scott Wagner is the ultimate Harrisburg politician, so it shouldn't surprise us that he spends his time defending the legislature and the culture of Harrisburg instead of actually working to fix Harrisburg and get things done for Pennsylvania," she said. Wagner's new vid is also clearly a warning shot to any other Republicans who might be thinking about jumping into the 2018 primary race. Surprising almost no one, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, announced earlier this month that he won't make a bid in 2018. But a crowded field of "likely-to's" remains. They include western Pennsylvania businessman Paul Mango; House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny County; House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana County; former Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley; U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler County; and Pittsburgh area lawyer Laura Ellsworth. The rest of the day's news starts now. Hey? Yinz wanna buy a tahwn an'at? There's one for sale in western Pennsylvania. And for a mere $1.5 million, it can be yours. The Tribune-Review has the story. New Census data shows a continuing population slide for the Pittsburgh region, The Post-Gazette reports. No property taxes? No problem! That's the conclusion of a new study of a property tax abatement program in Philly, The Inky reports. PhillyMag has a little fun at the expense of The New York Times, who quoted some mayor named David Kenney in a recent story. Happens to all of us people, mind the news karma gods. The Feds say recently charged Philly DA Seth Williams took $20k in cash intended for his mom's nursing home, The Inquirer also reports. Here's your #Harrisburg Instagram of the Morning: NewsWorks/WHYY-FM looks at what Delaware is doing to fight opioid abuse. In case you missed it, with the #TrumpCare vote looming today, here's where Pa's GOP members of Congress stand on the bill. U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-15th, is now a solid "No" against the bill, The Morning Call reports. The RNC has launched a new digital ad campaign against U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., PoliticsPA reports. With a vote looming, President Donald Trump is making last-minute concessions on the repeal bill, Politico reports. The so-called 'Nuclear Option' is rearing its head as the Gorsuch confirmation hearings conclude, Roll Call reports. What Goes On (Nakedly Political Edition). For our western Pa. readers, Beaver County Commissioner, Daniel C. Camp, III holds a 6 p.m. reception at The Club at Shadow Lakes in lovely Aliquippa, Pa. Admission is a flat $175. Heavy Rotation. Here's an old favorite from Gorillaz that popped up this moring, it's "Dare." And now you're up to date. See you all back here in a bit. First, a karate instructor in western Pennsylvania was accused of sexually molesting some of the boys he was teaching and jailed on the charges. Now, the same suspect, Michael Scherbanic, 29, is accused of plotting from behind bars to kill the five boys who accused him. According to KDKA, the karate instructor called his alleged plan to kill his young accusers "Order 66 from Star Wars," a jailhouse informant has told police. The informant said Scherbanic would say "Order 66" to avoid using the word "kill" when referring to the alleged plot. It is a reference to one of the 'Star Wars' movies when troops turned on the 'Jedi' and began 'killing them off,'" the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quotes the informant as explaining in court documents. Scherbanic, of South Park, was already in Allegheny County Jail, awaiting trial in five cases of child sexual assault involving five different male victims, who were students at his karate school. According to KDKA, at least some of those charges stem from when the owner of the Tang Soo Do Karate College in North Versailles, Pa., held a student a sleepover at the karate school last year. From behind bars, Scherbanic is accused of asking his cellmate to help him kill the five victim-accusers. But the cellmate went to police, instead, revealing this, according to the KDKA report: Scherbanic knew the layout of one of the victim's homes, including where propane tanks were located. The plot involved using C4 explosives on the tanks, the jailhouse witness told police. In addition, Scherbanic had other detailed plans and documents in the alleged plot, the witness told police. In return, Scherbanic, who was wiretapped in the case, offered the cellmate-turned-witness "thousands of dollars and a lifetime of free karate lessons" to carry out the plan once he got out of jail. Instead, Scherbanic is now facing 27 new counts, including five counts of soliciting homicide, five counts of soliciting causing a catastrophe, and nine counts of soliciting retaliation. Police tell KDKA their investigation "uncovered an elaborate criminal plan to intimidate victims, recruit witnesses to perjure themselves and obstruct the prosecution in five criminal cases." People have been wondering about the Mona Lisa's mysterious smile for centuries. The public fascination with the baffling mugshot grin of Sarah Fowlkes, a married, 27-year-old anatomy teacher from Texas accused of having sex with a 17-year-old male student, might not endure quite as long. That's because the mystery surrounding the teacher's smile is being wiped away, as her attorney reveals what was really behind his client's perplexing grin: "You've got a young lady who was arrested on the statement of a 17-year-old kid with no corroborating evidence," her attorney, Jason Nassour, first told KXAN-TV. "This isn't a guilty person sitting there like they just got caught. When everything's fleshed out, it won't be as it appears," he added. Fowlkes was charged Monday with engaging in "sexual contact with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of" the male student at Lockhart (Texas) High School, where she taught anatomy and physiology and environmental systems. She faces up to 20 years in prison for the second-degree felony, and she has already been suspended from her teaching position. Perhaps all this is why her smiling mugshot images, shot soon after the teacher turned herself in on Monday, went viral on the Internet. As Yahoo News writes, "The pictures released by the Lockhart Police Department show the attractive blonde with a big grin on her face." Now we know. Her lawyer believes the law is ultimately on her side. But a police detective in Texas cautioned that the teacher shouldn't be over-confident about her case, saying this to KXAN: "Seventeen years old is obviously older, but at the same time it doesn't make anything right," Detective Jesse Bell told the station. "If the kid is in school, parents trust the school to take care of their kids so it's definitely not right -- that a teacher in a position of power over a student be able to take advantage of a student," he warned. The Museum of the American Revolution is opening its doors with the help of a few celebrities on April 19. Former Vice President Joe Biden will be joining Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough and journalist Cokie Roberts in speaking at the museum's opening ceremony in Philadelphia. Since leaving the White House, Biden has set-up shop in Philadelphia. He's the chair of the National Constitution Center and is leading the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at University of Pennsylvania. The opening of the Museum of the American Revolution is set to be a grand affair. Even its date is significant. April 19 will be the 242nd anniversary of the "shot heard 'round the world" -- the shot that would, effectively, start the Revolutionary War in 1775. The opening day events start at 8 a.m. and the activities go from Washington Square, through Independence National Historical Park to the plaza in front of the museum. It'll begin at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution with a tribute to those who died during the war and include a Native American blessing, interfaith prayer and spiritual by the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas' choir. The Old Guard will lead participants up to the Independence Hall where, at 9 a.m., Governor Tom Wolf will speak. There will be a Revolutionary War tactical demonstration and a performance by The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. Students from St. Mary's Interparochial School will make a living flag of George Washington's Standard (the flag was used to mark Washington's presence on the Revolutionary War battlefields). At 10:30 a.m. the crowd will come to the Museum for an official dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony. "Hamilton" fans will have a chance to hear Sydney James Harcourt, a member of the original cast and understudy for Aaron Burr, sing songs from the musical. The Philadelphia Boys Choir and a brass quintet from the Curtis Institute of Music will also perform. In addition to Biden, McCullough and Roberts, other speakers include Dr. Vincent Brown (a professor American history), Ray Halbritter (Oneida Nation representative) and Colonel John E. Bircher III (Military Order of the Purple Heart representative). The ceremony is a ticket-only event. Tickets include access to the museum and are only available through an enter-to-win contest on nbc10.com from April 3-14. You can also purchase tickets to the museum on opening day, but not to the ceremony, on amrevmuseum.org. General admission to the museum is $19 for adults, $17 for students, military personnel, AAA and AARP members, $12 for children ages 6 and up. Tickets are good for two consecutive days. Want more Philadelphia stories? Click here for all our coverage on the City of Brotherly Love. You may also enjoy these videos from our Life and Culture team: Norma J. Gotwalt is being remembered this week as "a wonderful class act," "a role model" and "one of our community's finest members." Gotwalt, 86, who had worked for the Margaret Thatcher Foundation and Harrisburg School District, died March 19 at Messiah Lifeways, Mechanicsburg. Gotwalt, who was born in York, received bachelor's and master's degrees in elementary education from Bucknell University and her post master's degree in educational administration from Penn State University. Norma worked for the Office of Presidential Correspondence in the White House, Washington, D.C. and was appointed by Governor Tom Ridge to be the chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Sate Civil Service Commission, Harrisburg. She was appointed by Governor Mark Schweiker to be executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission for Women. She was a receptionist in the office of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, Washington, D.C.; past director for the division of elementary education, Harrisburg School District; and principal at D.A. Marshall Elementary School. Susan Anthony of Susquehanna Township worked with Gotwalt on multiple projects. "I've known Norma since the 80s. She was the director of elementary education at Harrisburg School District, and I was the director of community services with The Patriot-News. We collaborated on projects involving literacy and classroom newspaper use," Anthony said. "We continued a friendship into retirement, and I will always remember that Norma had an ability to turn heads. "She'd walk into a building or meeting, and everyone - children and adults - anywhere - Harrisburg and New York City - would stop what they were doing and acknowledge her presence. We admired this well-coifed, well-dressed, well-spoken woman. She was important." Gotwalt was a member and/or chairwoman of countless organizations including being a member of the Harrisburg Area Community College Foundation and a member of the executive committee of the Women's Fund of the Harrisburg Foundation for Enhancing Communities. "Norma has been a friend and mentor for more than 30 years. I learned a lot from her. We volunteered together. Her contribution to the community was enormous," said David Morrison. She was past president of the Girls Club, Children's Play Room, and the Art Association, all of Harrisburg, National Women's Educational Caucus, American Association of School Administrators, and the Harrisburg-Hershey Zonta Club, Zonta International. "Norma Gotwalt was always a staunch supporter of The Art Association of Harrisburg, especially encouraging to young students. She contributed scholarships to young art students at our Art School Annual Exhibition, and was always generous in contributing towards capital projects for the historic AAH building. She was also a good personal friend, and will be sorely missed," said Carrie Wissler-Thomas of Harrisburg and president of the Art Association of Harrisburg. Surviving are a nephew, David Roush (Sherry), of Northumberland; two nieces, Sharon Smith (Merle), of Beaver Springs; and Lisa Dieck (David), of Newport News, Va.; and several grandnieces and grandnephews. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. March 25 at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Camp Hill. Visitation begins at 10 a.m. Other comments from her guest book: "Ms. Gotwalt was my first principal at Woodward Elementary School. She was still involved with the district when I became a teacher. She was always a role model in so many ways." -- Suzette Lutz of Harrisburg "I distinctively remember her as my fourth-grade teacher at Cameron Elementary School on Green Street and I believe as a principal at Boas school at Green and Forster streets, fifth and sixths grades. Reading all about her life she was a wonderful class act. I'm sure she will be terribly missed. Rest in peace dear lady. Heaven has acquired another angel today." -- Paul Mondo, Mount Union "An incredible and loving person has moved into God's home. Norma gave me an opportunity when I needed it the most. I would not be where I am today if she had not intervened. Her passion for education, the arts and the children of Harrisburg will always stay with me." -- Rich Askey, Etters "Norma was my principal at Marshall Elementary School. We later met when the company I work for built her home. She was a beautiful, kind, compassionate woman and I will miss her very much. She accomplished so much in her life and I'm proud to have been her friend!" -- Shelly Lotz, Enola "Norma was always a gracious and generous person. She was supportive of my work with inner city school students and gave me fine encouragement. She was one of our community's finest members!" -- Bob Hostetter, Harrisburg "Norma was a truly dedicated educator, a mentor to so many. She will be remembered with both fondness and respect. It was a privilege to have known her." -- Nancy Valdez, Harrisburg "Norma was a true 'lady' and did so much for our community. She will leave a lasting memory." -- Mitzi Jones, Camp Hill "Norma was my mentor when I was a student teacher in the Harrisburg SD. We stayed friends long after I left the district. She was bright, funny and dedicated. A life well-lived." Diane Velozo, Maryland More: 'I thank God for his priestly life' A former bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, who served most recently as cardinal in the Baltimore diocese, has died at age 86, according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Cardinal William Keeler was the seventh bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, serving in that capacity from 1984 to 1989. He served in Baltimore first as archbishop, and then elevated to cardinal 1994 by Pope John Paul II in a mass at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. Keeler was involved in a crash in 2006 that also took the life of Father Bernard Quinn of the Diocese of Harrisburg. When he retired in 2007, he had 51 years of active ministry, including 33 years in the Harrisburg diocese and 18 years in Baltimore. Keeler, a native of Lebanon, had a reputation for forging friendships with Protestant and Jewish clergy. "When I became a bishop, I took the motto, 'Doing the work of an evangelist,' from Paul's writing to Timothy," he said in a 1989 interview. "Anytime there is an opportunity to preach the word of God and reflect on it with others, that's a source of refreshment to me." Here's what The Patriot-News reported about Keeler upon his retirement in 2007: During his ministry as bishop, he forged collaborative ecumenical and interfaith statements on ecumenical marriage guidelines, cohabitation, premarital sex and abortion. The historic statement on cohabitation involved 11 leaders of area denominations representing more than 800,000 members in Lutheran, United Methodist, Church of God, Orthodox, Episcopal, Southern Baptist, United Church of Christ and Church of the Brethren churches. "To my knowledge, this is in the only place in the United States where what we hold in common, we have been able to say in common before the public," Keeler said then. Local Lutherans, Episcopalians and Roman Catholic bishops signed guidelines in 1988 for celebrating mixed marriages. Those guidelines represented one of few agreements among three faiths. That led to a covenant in 1993 among those faiths that calls for prayer, worship and study. "I think each member of the clergy has an obligation to pay some civic dues by giving support to those activities in the wider community that uphold decency, principles of fair play, upholds human rights and freedoms," Keeler said when he was selected for the Baltimore post. "I found here many others who were interested in collaborating in this kind of work." Even though Keeler walked among popes, presidents and cardinals (before he became one in 1994), Keeler felt that he was doing the work of the Lord as a priest. "A bishop's work is the same as a priest," he said before he left for Baltimore. Keeler was involved in consultations between his church and Lutheran and Orthodox churches. During Pope John Paul II's 1987 visit to the United States, Keeler organized an ecumenical meeting of 27 leaders of American Christian churches in Columbia, S.C., and a meeting with Jewish leaders in Miami. When the pope was in Miami, Keeler invited area Jewish clergy and leaders for breakfast and to watch a conversation between the pope and Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, then honorary president of the Synagogue Council of America, at the diocesan headquarters in Lower Paxton Twp. The next year the rabbi and bishop discussed Catholic and Jewish relations at Beth El Temple in Harrisburg. More than 2,500 religious, civic and governmental leaders attended a farewell event for Keeler. More than 600 religious leaders, leaders of three branches of state government, local government officials and bar association officials attended the inaugural Red Mass in 1989. Leaders of the state House and Senate delayed their opening that day so members could attend, and the Commonwealth Court opening was moved to avoid a conflict. Because of his close association with Pope John Paul II, Keeler often afforded Harrisburg faithful a front-row seat to events happening in the Vatican. He logged many frequent flier miles between here and Rome. At one point, in 1989, he made three trips in five months for various reasons. While secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, he was the only bishop among 36 cardinals and archbishops of metropolitan dioceses summoned by the pope to discuss tensions between the U.S. Catholic Church and the Vatican. In 1987, Keeler clarified public remarks made by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) that had put a strain in relations between Catholics and Jews. One day in 1987, he discussed chemical dependency during a meeting of about 500 senior citizens; talked about acts of hatred and violence during a 1989 baccalaureate address at Susquehanna University, a Lutheran-related college, and spoke during 1988's Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the First Christian Church in Lemoyne. When someone spray-painted anti-Jewish slurs on the walls of Kesher Israel Synagogue in 1988, Keeler spoke at a "Rally Against Hatred" that was attended by 1,000 Christians and Jews at the synagogue. For the first time in its 200-year history, the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church greeted a Roman Catholic archbishop as part of its annual business sessions when Keeler was honored in 1989. When more than 200 area residents attended the National Summit Mobilization of Soviet Jews in Washington, Keeler, then chairman of the ecumenical and interreligious affairs for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, was one of the speakers. During a welcome to area Lutherans to St. Patrick Cathedral in October 1987 for the installation ceremony for the Rev. Guy S. Edmiston as Lutheran bishop, Keeler reflected about the time he spoke to four Lutheran congregations on St. Patrick's Day 16 years earlier. He wondered what the founding sons and daughters of the diocese would think about the Lutherans now in their cathedral. "I thank God we have been able to travel so far and rejoice in the fundamentals of the Gospel," he said. Highlights: Avtec Inc. and Harris have agreed to work together and provide LMR customers with more choices in dispatch solutions Avtec is the leading independent console of choice for Harris DMR radio systems, powered by Tait The Harris EnableLocation application powered by Tait and Avtec Scout consoles, will be shown during IWCE 2017 LEXINGTON, S.C., March 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avtec Inc., the leading independent provider of dispatch consoles, and Harris Corporation's Public Safety and Professional Communications (PSPC) business, have signed an agreement giving Harris the ability to resell Avtec Scout consoles in North America. The agreement provides Harris with the opportunity to leverage Avtec technology and provide public safety, energy, government, and business clients with an integrated communications ecosystem. This strategic alliance with Harris allows Avtec to respond to increased market demand for Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) technology and gives our client base more choices, said Avtec President Kevin Williams. This agreement formalizes our commitment to provide clients with a proven end-to-end communications solution. Avtec has a long history of supporting open standards, and was the first console company to join the Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) Association. It is also an active member of the P25 Technology Interest Group (PTIG). Avtec collaborates with leading Land Mobile Radio (LMR) manufacturers on the protocols that define the standards for interfacing with P25 and DMR standards-based networks. Investing in dispatch solutions built on open standards such as DMR and P25 provides customers with the freedom to choose the best communications solution for their organization, said Avtec Director of Strategic Partnerships Michael Ridge. Clients with an Avtec Scout console system can operate legacy analog and digital mobile radios on the same network. This allows them to migrate at their own pace based on budget or timing. Leveraging open standards allows Avtec to integrate other technologies such as GPS data, automatic vehicle location (AVL), mapping, and texting into its Scout dispatch console system. The Harris EnableLocation application, powered by Tait, builds on Avtecs Scout console technology to deliver Radio over IP (RoIP) connectivity through Harris trunked networks. This integrated solution enables public safety and utility professionals to track personnel and vehicle location for faster, more informed decisions in emergency situations, said Harris Systems Infrastructure and Consoles Product Line Manager Jeremy Elder. Learn more about this exciting, new strategic alliance by visiting booths #635 (Avtec) and #1329 (Harris) at IWCE 2017 or www.avtecinc.com/harris. Representatives from Harris and Avtec will be available to provide demonstrations. About Avtec, Inc. Avtec Inc. provides pure Internet Protocol (IP) dispatch console solutions for the public safety, energy, transportation, business and industry, and government markets. For more than 35 years, customers have chosen Avtecs award-winning technology for their mission-critical dispatch centers. There are thousands of Scout Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) consoles installed worldwide. Visit www.avtecinc.com to learn more. shawn walker.jpg Shawn Walker, left, is on trial for the 2015 slaying of Eric Rivers in Harrisburg. Shawn Walker was out for "street justice" when he shot Eric Rivers to death on a Harrisburg street early on July 12, 2015, a Dauphin County prosecutor argued Thursday. He intended to kill Rivers from the moment he grabbed his pistol after his adult daughters told him Rivers had assaulted them at a party right around the corner from Walker's home on Berryhill Street, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle said. "This is a person who took a gun to a fistfight," Gettle told the jury in her closing argument. "He was angry. And rather than calling the police, calling 911, he took the law into his own hands." For that, Gettle said, Walker deserves to be convicted of first-degree murder and sent to prison for life. Yet Chief Deputy Public Defender Deanna Muller argued that Walker, 50, shot the 44-year-old Rivers three times in the chest in self-defense during the confrontation in the 400 block of Crescent Street. Walker was afraid when he pulled the trigger, she said. Muller said the fact that no one else tried to intervene to stop the 6-foot-5, 350-pound Rivers from fighting with Walker's four daughters shows how intimidating Rivers was. And she stressed that Rivers' blood-alcohol level was logged at .22 percent after the shooting. "He wasn't just drunk," Muller said. "He was really drunk." She claimed Walker fired when Rivers attacked him. Muller asked the jurors to imagine the fear Walker supposedly experienced as he went to face the man who had beaten his girls. "What's he supposed to do? Stand in his living room? Call 911? See what happens?" Muller asked. At most, she said, Rivers' slaying amounted to manslaughter, but there's plenty of reasonable doubt to merit a complete acquittal. In pushing for the murder conviction, Gettle said Walker's own actions after the killing show he knew he had committed a crime. Instead of staying to talk to police, Walker fled and was eventually apprehended in North Carolina, the prosecutor noted. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you're going to be taking a gun to a situation, you need to call the police," Gettle said. "This is not the OK Corral. This is not the Wild West. We're beyond that...We are a civilized society." One woman was killed and another person was injured in a two-vehicle crash in Lebanon County Thursday afternoon, according to a lancasteronline report. Anna Marie Berry, 91, of the Gretna Springs retirement community in West Cornwall Township, died in the crash that was reported along Route 72 in Cornwall, just north of the Lancaster County line, at about 1:15 p.m. Berry was exiting a Speedway gas station in a Chevrolet Malibu when she crossed into the path of a Hyundai minivan heading south, police said. The two vehicles collided and Berry was pronounced dead at the scene, the report said. The driver of the minivan, Chin Hui Stoner, 60, of West Hempfield Township, was rushed to Hershey Medical Center with unspecified injuries. Route 72 was closed in both directions for about 90 minutes following the crash. WILLIAMSPORT -- A former bank employee who reneged on her agreement to plead guilty is now facing additional charges as the result of an indictment. Jolene Marie Edwards, 38, of Lock Haven, was scheduled to plead guilty on March 6 to a charge of interstate transportation of stolen property but she left the courtroom of U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann without doing so. A grand jury Thursday indicted her on that charge and counts of bank fraud and theft by a bank employee stemming from the alleged misuse of $52,222 in proceeds from a customer's certificate of deposit. She is accused of inducing a customer at Jersey Shore State Bank's Jersey Shore office in June 2012 to allow her to transfer funds from his certificate of deposit into a M&T Bank CD in her name so he would qualify for health care coverage. Edwards is accused also of inducing the customer to execute a power of attorney name her as sole agent to handle his affairs and to execute his will that named her the sole heir. Instead of the transferring the money, she withdrew $6,000 from his account, purchased a $5,482 Jersey Shore State Bank cashier's check and used it to repay a loan from her husband's retirement account, the charges allege. She is accused of withdrawing another $46,000 from the customer's account on Aug. 14, 2012, and placing the money in a M&T Bank account she had just opened. Between that Aug. 21 and Sept. 25, she spent $45,947 of that money on personal credit card bills, to pay debts and make purchases for herself and family, the indictment charges. Edwards is alleged to have made two $500 payments to the customer to deceive him into thinking she had opened a CD in his name. When the customer in November 2014 asked her to close the M&T CD account, she falsely told him it had a five-year term and there were delays closing it out. She is accused of falsely telling Jersey Shore bank officials when questioned that she was holding the $52,000 at home. Edwards in late November or early December 2014 borrowed $45,000 from two friends and withdrew funds from her husband's retirement and her check accounts to come up with the $52,000, the indictment states. She is accused of initially lying to the FBI on March 17, 2015, about the money but then admitted she had spent most of it for personal use, the charges state. The interstate transportation charge accuses her of electronically transferring $7,000 on Aug. 29, 2012, $6,500 on Sept. 5, 2012, and $5,900 also on Sept. 5 to credit card accounts at banks in Delaware, Connecticut and Texas, respectively. The original charge against Edwards, filed in February by criminal information, carried a 10-year-maximum but the plea agreement called for a lesser term within the guideline range. The new charges carry a 30-year maximum. Richard Soto has made no secret of his criminal history. He has convictions for retail theft and dealing heroin, and recently served eight years in prison. But he also has a history of working for the betterment of the community, he says, and now he wants to put his efforts into serving on the Harrisburg School Board. That's why he filed petitions to secure a spot on the May 16 primary ballot as one of nine candidates seeking five open school board seats. Richard Soto The Dauphin County district attorney's office, however, on Wednesday told Soto in no uncertain terms that he should remove his name from the ballot or risk a perjury charge. The state Constitution bars ex-felons from serving in any "office of trust." Soto defied the district attorney's order and did not remove his name from the ballot by Wednesday's deadline. That means his name will appear on the May 16 Democratic primary ballot. But there's no chance that he will serve on the school board, according to First Assistant District Attorney Fran Chardo. If Soto wins in the primary, he could withdraw before the general election in the fall. But if Soto proceeds, and wins in the general election, Chardo said he would seek to remove Soto, and he might pursue a perjury charge against him to boot. "Once it's brought to your attention, you're under the obligation to fix it," Chardo said of his request for Soto to withdraw. "That would be a factor in our decision whether a prosecution would be in the public interest." The nominating petition forms contain a section asking candidates if they are "qualified" for the office. Soto checked the box and said he was qualified. But Soto is not qualified, Chardo said, according to the state's Constitution, so that could potentially represent perjury. While Soto could argue that he did not interpret "qualified" to mean no criminal convictions, Chardo said he could argue that Soto did know since the same issue was raised when he tried to unseat House Rep. Patty Kim last year. Chardo said Kim didn't challenge Soto's candidacy and no one brought it to his attention, so that's why he didn't ask Soto to remove his name from the ballot last year. After Soto's school board campaign was brought to Chardo's attention, Chardo said he contacted Soto this week to explain the law, even providing a Supreme Court ruling that decided all felons fall under the ban. "Lots of states allow felons to run for office," Chardo said. "Pennsylvania isn't one of them." But Soto said it didn't feel right to withdraw when all he was trying to do was help the children of the community. "I would feel like I'm selling my community out," he said. "Part of why I ran against Patty Kim was just to inspire young people from the neighborhoods that they could do this too. Let's be a part of the solution." Soto said people should be allowed to vote for the candidate of their choice. "I do have a right to run for office," he said. "Why are they coming after me?...To me it's discrimination." Chardo said the action against Soto was not personal and did not stem from a complaint by an opponent in the school board race. "He's a felon so he's ineligible," Chardo said. "Our office has an obligation to file to remove him." Chardo said he has previously filed about a dozen similar removals for office, including most recently, the removal of a Conewago Township supervisor who had been convicted of stealing a dozen of his neighbor's sheep. Corrina Mehiel.png Corrina Mehiel, 34, former executive director of Harrisburg-based nonprofit arts organization Danzante, was found bound and stabbed to death in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. (Facebook ) The former executive director of a Harrisburg-based nonprofit arts organization was found bound and stabbed to death in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. The body of Corrina Mehiel, 34, was discovered in a basement apartment in the 600 block of 14th Street NE at about 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to an nbcwashington.com report. Mehiel, who was executive director of Harrisburg nonprofit Danzante from 2008-10, was an artist and teacher at the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design in Washington, D.C. She was last seen at the school Sunday night, and she had spoken with her father by phone the same night, her stepmother said Wednesday, according to the report. Police said they found no signs of forced entry in Mehiel's apartment. Her vehicle also was missing. Police did not have a suspect in custody Wednesday night. Mehiel hailed from Burnsville, North Carolina, and was living in D.C. temporarily, the report said. She specialized in community engagement art, and was working with the artist Mel Chin, according to the report. No additional information was immediately available. A former Utz Quality Foods Inc. vendor will spend three years in federal prison after he was sentenced for his role stealing more $1.4 million from the Hanover-based snack company. Jonathan Haas, 45, of Easton, must repay $925,146 in restitution to Utz and $500,000 in restitution to Chubb Insurance, the insurance company for Utz, in addition to prison time. The former owner and operator of Haas packaging and Design in Bethlehem has already paid $100,000 towards restitution, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Bruce Brandler's office. Haas Packaging and Design was a vendor that produced shelving and packaging products for Utz between January, 2007 and August, 2014. Haas and his co-conspirator, Kevin Myers, 38, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in July. Myers was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison and also ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution. Myers and Haas conspired to submit about 83 fake invoices and 43 false purchase orders to Utz for products the company never received, the U.S. attorney's office said. After Myers approved fake payment invoices submitted by Haas, he would get a kickback from Haas. Haas received about $1.4 million through the fake invoices and kicked back about $651,000 of it to Myers, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Myers and Haas attempted to conceal some of the kickbacks to Myers as payments for fake consulting services. The payments were made with checks payable to "Myers Packaging Consulting," a paper company created by Myers. The president of a well-known funeral home in Lower Paxton Township has been charged with indecent assault and is due to appear in court Friday morning in hopes of being accepted into a state program that could expunge the charge from his record. Dale A. Auer, 70, president of Zimmerman-Auer Funeral Home Inc., will go before Dauphin County Judge William Tully at in the morning to request acceptance into Pennsylvania's Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, commonly referred to as ARD. The hearing likely will be continued, however, to April 14, at the request of Auer's attorney, Jordan Cunningham. Cunningham said he asked Tully to postpone the proceeding due to a recent knew operation he underwent. He said he might not know until Friday morning whether it would be postponed. Auer was charged with indecent assault following an incident that reportedly occurred Sept. 16 at the funeral home on Jonestown Road. In charging documents filed on Sept. 28, police contend that Auer intentionally touched the breast of the victim under her shirt without her permission. A preliminary hearing took place in November. Cunningham said he and the Dauphin County district attorney's office reached an agreement, with input from the victim, which permitted Auer to request acceptance into ARD, a program only available to first-time offenders. Cunningham said he revealed evidence in the case, as did the victim. "There was an event that occurred. (The victim) has her version of how it occurred. (Auer) has his version of how it occurred," Cunningham said. "I am very sensitive to people who believe they have been assaulted in any way. What one person perceives as intruding into personal territory, another may not perceive it as being an intrusion." jose ferrufino.png Jose Santos Ferrufino (Lancaster County Prison) State police in Lancaster County have arrested a person of interest in a recent homicide, who authorities say threatened to kill the victim three months prior. The death of Hugo Hernandez Garcia has been deemed a homicide and police have a person of interest in custody, Jose Santos Ferrufino. Hernandez Garcia's death had been characterized as "suspicious," according to prior reports. Ferrufino is not currently charged with criminal homicide related to Hernandez Garcia's death at this time. LNP reported that Hernandez Garcia was renting the home and was a kind person who enjoyed cats. Hugo Hernandez Garcia was found dead at around 2:45 a.m. March 22 on the 100 block of Pennsy Road in Providence Township. Hernandez Garcia was found dead at around 2:45 a.m. March 22 in a home on the 100 block of Pennsy Road in Providence Township. Officers interviewed a woman who told police she was with Garcia Hernandez during an incident Dec. 25 where Ferrufino threatened the decedent and three other people, one of whom was a 5-year-old child. The woman said Ferrufino came to the home in a white pickup truck, got out of the car and called one of the victims in the home. Ferrufino later forced entry in the home and pulled a very small, possibly black pistol from his waistband, pointing the gun at Hernandez Garcia, according to charging documents in the Dec. 25 incident. "I don't care about killing you," Ferrufino reportedly told Hernandez Garcia. When another victim stepped in between the men, Ferrufino said "look if you were in El Salvador you'd be dead, I would have shot you," according to charging documents. Ferrufino is charged with felony burglary and carrying a firearm without a license. He is also charged with two counts of terroristic threats, four counts of simple assault, four counts of recklessly endangering another person and endangering the welfare of a child. Brett Hambright, a spokesman with the Lancaster County district attorney's office, said Ferrufino was arrested for December's incident Wednesday night and was arraigned Thursday morning. Bail was set at $500,000. Hambright said given the history and charges from the previous incident, Ferrufino is a person of interest in the homicide investigation. Hambright said authorities continue to investigate the homicide and have not limited the investigation to Ferrufino. He stressed that Ferrufino is presumed innocent of filed charges as well as related to Hernandez Garcia's death. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact state police at 717-299-7650. JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli police on Thursday arrested a 19-year-old Israeli Jewish man as the primary suspect in a string of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers and other institutions in the U.S., marking a potential breakthrough in a case that stoked fears across the United States. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld described the suspect as a hacker, but said his motives were still unclear. Israeli media identified him as an American-Israeli dual citizen and said he had been found unfit for compulsory service in the Israeli military. "He's the guy who was behind the JCC threats," Rosenfeld said, referring to the dozens of anonymous threats phoned in to Jewish community centers in the U.S. over the past two months. Jewish community centers in Harrisburg and York were among those against whom threats were made. It was not known if the suspect was specifically involved in those threats. The Anti-Defamation League says there have been more than 120 bomb threats against U.S. Jewish community centers and day schools in the U.S. since Jan. 9. Those threats led to evacuations of the buildings, upset Jewish communities and raised fears of rising anti-Semitism. The threats were accompanied by acts of vandalism on several Jewish cemeteries. The threats led to criticism of the White House for not speaking out fast enough. Last month, the White House denounced the threats and rejected "anti-Semitic and hateful threats in the strongest terms." Rosenfeld said the suspect allegedly placed dozens of threatening phone calls to public venues, synagogues and community buildings in the U.S., New Zealand and Australia. He also placed a threat to Delta Airlines, causing a flight in February 2015 to make an emergency landing. Rosenfeld said the man, from the south of Israel, used advanced technologies to mask the origin of his calls and communications to synagogues, community buildings and public venues. He said police searched his house Thursday morning and discovered antennas and satellite equipment. "He didn't use regular phone lines. He used different computer systems so he couldn't be backtracked," Rosenfeld said. After an intensive investigation in cooperation with FBI representatives who arrived in Israel, as well as other police organizations from various countries, technology was used to track down the suspect who had made the threats around the world, Rosenfeld said. In Washington, the FBI confirmed the arrest but had no other comment. NEW YORK, March 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, reminds investors in JBS S.A. (JBS or the Company) (OTC:JBSAY) of the May 22, 2017 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action lawsuit filed against the Company and certain officers. The lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of all those who purchased JBS American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) between June 2, 2015 and March 17, 2017 (the Class Period). The case, LEONFORTE HOLDINGS LTD. v. JBS S.A. et al, No. 2:17-cv-01288 was filed on March 22, 2017, and has been assigned to Judge Legrome D. Davis. The lawsuit focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose that: (1) JBS executives bribed regulators and politicians to subvert food inspections of its plants and overlook unsanitary practices; (2) as a result, the Companys statements about its business, operations and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable bases. Specifically, on March 17, 2017, Reuters published a report revealing that Brazilian federal police raided JBS, among others, following a two-year investigation into alleged bribery of regulators regarding the inspections of their facilities. The investigation, known as Operation Weak Flesh, exposed approximately 40 cases of meatpackers who bribed inspectors and politicians to overlook unsanitary procedures. It was reported that Brazilian police arrested two JBS employees, and 20 public officials. On this news, JBS ADRs fell from a closing price of $7.67 on March 16, 2017 to a closing price of $6.96 on March 17, 2017a $0.71 or a 9.26% drop. Request more information now by clicking here: www.faruqilaw.com/JBSAY. There is no cost or obligation to you. Take Action If you invested in JBS ADRs between June 2, 2015 and March 17, 2017 and would like to discuss your legal rights, visit www.faruqilaw.com/JBSAY. You can also contact us by calling Richard Gonnello toll free at 877-247-4292 or at 212-983-9330 or by sending an e-mail to rgonnello@faruqilaw.com. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding JBS conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others. The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class that is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner. English French OTTAWA, March 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Colleges and institutes are very pleased to see a new federal budget focused on lifelong learning for all Canadians, signaling the governments commitment to skills, innovation and inclusive economic growth. This will strengthen a Canadian economy that is evolving quickly in response to new technologies and untapped potential in a number of sectors, redefining innovation and employment right across the country. With new funding for skills training, reskilling, work-integrated learning opportunities, and social innovation, colleges and institutes are very pleased to see so many initiatives that respond to their recommendations. Expanded access to grants for part-time students and those with dependent children, together with new and renewed support for Indigenous learners and residents of the three territories, will provide many more Canadians with a path to meaningful employment. Widely recognized for their accessibility and customized support to learners, colleges and institutes welcome the Budgets new initiatives to improve access to education for underrepresented populations. Colleges and institutes welcome the creation of the new organization to support skills development recommended by the Advisory Council on Economic Growth. The extensive experience of colleges and institutes with over 8,000 programs and a wide variety of credentials in responding to the changing needs of students and employers makes them important contributors to new and innovative approaches to skills development. This budget addresses the very real needs of the learners and employers that colleges and institutes work with every day, says CICan President and CEO, Denise Amyot. Canadians count on colleges and institutes to make their communities more prosperous and provide the skills needed to adapt to the changing labour market. This budgets new funding and support will help our members provide lifelong learning to all Canadians. The creation of Innovation Canada is a welcome step towards making the programs that support business simpler and more accessible. Fueling innovation is fundamental to Canadas future prosperity and colleges and institutes have a proven approach to partnered innovation, based on close collaboration with Canadian small and mediumsized enterprises. This has helped businesses across the country find innovative solutions to everyday challenges, driving their success and creating jobs. Colleges and Institutes look forward to the recommendations of the Fundamental Science Review and in the meantime, are thrilled the government has seen fit to renew the Community and College Social Innovation fund. The positive social outcomes generated by this program are just one more way colleges and institutes support Canadian prosperity. Colleges and Institutes Canada is the national and international voice of Canadas publicly-supported colleges, institutes, cegeps and polytechnics. Its members offer over 8000 programs, working with industry and social sectors to train 1.5 million learners of all ages and backgrounds at campuses serving over 3,000 urban, rural and remote communities in Canada. CICan and its members are committed to driving Canadian prosperity by being global leaders in applied education and partnered innovation. For more information: Julien Abord-Babin Senior Strategic Communications Officer Colleges and Institutes Canada jabord-babin@collegesinstitutes.ca Tel. : 613-746-2222 ext. 3131 Twitter : @CollegeCan Firefighters battle hotspots after a fire damaged St. Thomas Baptist Church in North Preston, N.S. on Wednesday, March 22, 2017. Officials say 10 trucks responded to the blaze that was contained to the rear of the structure. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan FILE - In this Jan. 17, 2015 file photo, Belgian para-commandos patrol near a synagogue in the center of Antwerp, Belgium. Belgian authorities on Thursday, March said they have raised security in the port of Antwerp after a car with French license plates drove at high speed through a busy shopping street, forcing pedestrians to jump out of the way. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) English French Valneva Announces Publication of its Registration Document Lyon (France), March 23, 2017 - Valneva SE ("Valneva" or "the Company"), a fully integrated, commercial stage biotech company focused on developing innovative lifesaving vaccines, announces today the publication of its 2016 Registration Document ("Document de Reference"), filed with the French Financial Market Authority ("Autorite des Marches Financiers") under the filing number D.17-0205 on March 22, 2017. Valneva's 2016 Registration Document includes the Company's 2016 Annual Financial Report, notably comprising: the Separate Financial Statements (including the amount of fees paid to the Statutory Auditors); the Consolidated Financial Statements; the Report by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board on the preparation and organization conditions of the Supervisory Board and the internal control procedures implemented by the Company, together with the corresponding Auditors' Report. In addition, the 2016 Registration Document contains the Company's 2016 Management Report, including a description of Valneva's share buy-back program and the Group's Corporate Social Responsibility Report. It is available on the Company's corporate website ( www.valneva.com/en/investors-media/registration-document ) and on the AMF website (www.amf-france.org). A hard copy of the document may be obtained from the Company, free of charge, upon request at the following address: 6 rue Alain Bombard, 44800 Saint-Herblain, France. About Valneva SE Valneva is a fully integrated, commercial stage biotech company focused on developing innovative lifesaving vaccines. The Company seeks financial returns through focused R&D investments in promising product candidates and growing financial contributions from commercial products, striving towards financial self-sustainability. Valneva's portfolio includes two commercial vaccines for travelers: IXIARO/JESPECT indicated for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis and DUKORAL indicated for the prevention of cholera and, in some countries, prevention of diarrhea caused by ETEC. The Company has proprietary vaccines in development including candidates against Clostridium difficile and Lyme Borreliosis. A variety of partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies complement the Company's value proposition and include vaccines being developed using Valneva's innovative and validated technology platforms (EB66 vaccine production cell line, IC31 adjuvant). Valneva is listed on Euronext-Paris and the Vienna stock exchange and has operations in France, Austria, Great Britain, Sweden, Canada and the US with over 400 employees. More information is available at www.valneva.com. Here, there, everywhere why car washes seem to be on every corner Gas Natural to seek from Colombia at least $1 bln over Electricaribe MADRID Petroleumworld.com 03 23 2017 Spain's Gas Natural said on Wednesday it would seek at least $1 billion in compensation in Colombia after the government ordered the liquidation of the affiliate saying it was failing to provide the services required. Gas Natural has a 85 percent stake in Electricaribe and has asked the Colombian government for a way to continue trading in the country. The company took the appeal to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), calling for Electricaribe to be returned or the payment of at least $1 billion, according to a preliminary valuation. Philadelphia is ranked amongst the top 50 most dog-friendly cities in America. This comes as no surprise since the town is home to countless beautifully maintained parks for pets to enjoy. Were breaking down the best dog parks in Philly With two months until the primary election, seven Democrats on the ballot, and no clear frontrunner in the District Attorneys race, Larry Krasner doesnt have time for a lengthy stump speech, nor does he have time to pretend that this isnt him against the world. Im the most progressive candidate. No one disputes that, Krasner told a mixed-age crowd of 15 at East Kensingtons hipster-friendly Martha Bar last week. In fact, they all run away from my progressive ways. The 45-minute meet-and-greet sounded like a Bernie Sanders remix of The Wire and The New Jim Crow, in which Krasner peppered his stories of judicial injustice with takeaway lines like this whole notion that safety and freedom are alternatives is bullshit. Krasner touts his credentials as a public defender and civil rights attorney who has taken on police unions and defended Black Lives Matter (and Occupy Philly) activists in court. His platform includes promises to stop the death penalty, work to end mass incarceration and protect First Amendment rights, to name a few. But as Philadelphia Magazine recently noted, the packed primary race has taken an unexpected shift to the left. Each Democratic candidate has at least a few policies that could be considered reform even if its a commitment to not accept gifts, which caused the latest scandal in current DA Seth Williams tenure. At Martha, Krasner noted that all the candidates want to call themselves progressives now, so much that the label often serves as a sound bite rather than a policy position. Krasner was one of two candidates to criticize the powerful police unions recent endorsement of DA candidate Rich Negrin. In the past, he has battled with Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 President John McNesby a longtime defender of crooked police officers and a critic of Black Lives Matter protesters. Of course, Krasner isnt the only candidate with progressive policy proposals, even if he is the only one touting them as such. Joe Khan, a former assistant district attorney whos now looking to take the reigns of the department, shared some of Krasners same words for the police union. I dont care about labels, Khan said of all the progressive talk in the race. Labels wont keep our citizens safe and they wont improve our criminal justice system. Larry is a good man and we are committed to many of the same issues and causes. Both Khan and Krasner want to do away with the citys cash bail system entirely, as does candidate Michael Untermeyer. Both promise to defend Phillys sanctuary city status alongside Mayor Jim Kenney. In addition, both are talking big game about treating addiction as a medical condition, not a crime. What separates us is that Ive been on the front lines doing the hard work of prosecuting powerful politicians, cops and CEOs who crossed the line, as well as sexual predators, scammers, and gangsters, Khan said. It was as a prosecutor that I exonerated the innocent, agreed to expungements, and helped returning citizens with their reentry from prison. But the progressive insurgency in the DAs race isnt about an ideological foe so much as, in Krasners eyes at least, a chance for meaningful unity among a wide range of legislative and law enforcement leaders. We actually have pretty progressive police commissioner, Krasner said of top cop Richard Ross. We gotta work a little bit on the stop and frisk, but hes been very much in favor or accurate, scientific, modern methodology. You have a mayor who, when hes not doing the bidding of John McNesby on stop and frisk and breaking his promises, is otherwise progressive. You have a city council with several members who are progressive. You have a state attorney general who looks pretty progressive. And you have a governor whose first two acts when he came in were medical marijuana and a moratorium on the death penalty. Holy cow, right? Which candidate would work best with the current leadership? That will likely become clear as bigger endorsements are divvied out to candidates in the next month. TWITTER: @MAXMMARIN The Company has today offered its bondholders in the bond issue ISIN NO 001 068253.7 to buy back in full their nominal outstanding amount at a price equivalent to 70% of the par value (the "Bond Buy-Back"). The Bond Buy-Back offer period commences at 09:00 CET on 23 March 2017 and will be closed at 16:00 CET on 28 March 2017. The result of the Bond Buy-Back will be announced on 29 March 2017. Please find attached the buy-back offer and the bondholder offer form. Contact: Hege Veiseth, EMGS Chief Financial Officer, +47 992 16 743 Important information: The Buy-Back offer and any acceptances thereof are subject to Norwegian law, with Oslo District Court as the agreed legal venue. The Buy-Back offer is not directed to persons in any jurisdiction where the offer would be in violation of applicable laws or whose acceptance of the offer requires that (i) further documents are issued or filed in order for the Buy-Back offer to comply with local law or (ii) registration or other measures are taken pursuant to local law. No document or material relating to the offer may be distributed in or into any country where such distribution or offering requires any of the aforementioned measures to be taken or would be in conflict with any law or regulation of such country. Each Bondholder is responsible for any taxes as a consequence of accepting or not accepting the Buy-Back offer, and is further responsible for any other effects of accepting or not accepting the Buy-Back offer. The Issuer assumes no responsibility for (i) any tax liability resulting from the Bondholder accepting or not accepting the Buy-Back offer, or (ii) any other effects of accepting or not accepting the Buy-Back offer. About EMGS EMGS, the marine EM market leader, uses its proprietary electromagnetic (EM) technology to support oil and gas companies in their search for offshore hydrocarbons. EMGS supports each stage in the workflow, from survey design and data acquisition to processing and interpretation. The Company's services enable the integration of EM data with seismic and other geophysical and geological information to give explorationists a clearer and more complete understanding of the subsurface. This improves exploration efficiency and reduces risks and the finding costs per barrel. EMGS operates on a worldwide basis with main offices in Trondheim, Oslo, Houston, Rio de Janeiro and Kuala Lumpur. For more information, visit www.emgs.com This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. LUNENBURG, Nova Scotia, March 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stellar Investments Inc. of Nova Scotia, has formed a new company, VEGA Direct Inc., a brand aimed at being a leader in the Canadian hospitality and catering sector. Stellar is proud to announce a new partnership between VEGA Direct and Erwin Muller Group, a global provider of hotel and catering supplies. This partnership gives Erwin Muller Group, a prominent European B2B mail order company, the opportunity to introduce the VEGA and Jobeline brands into the Canadian marketplace. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/22354331-8133-4249-9a46-1560098e549d. Erwin Muller Group is Germany's market leader in the B2B mail order hotel, restaurant, and catering supply business. Erwin Muller Group was established in 1987, is 100% family owned, and had turnover of 150 million euros in 2015. Employing 720 people throughout Europe, the company operates 8 subsidiaries and features over 40,000 products for the HORECA industry. "E.M. Group is the market leader in the mail order business for HORECA supplies in Europe, and sells its products into almost 100 countries all over the world as a single source solution to our customers. In Europe, nearly every hospitality business knows one of our brands: VEGA, Jobeline, Pulsiva, Poggemeier, Erwin M, and Hotelwaesche," said Harald Steininger, Director of International Sales. "We are excited to introduce the VEGA and Jobeline brands into Canada. The products are high quality, stylish, and competitively priced," said Tim Reibling, CEO for VEGA Direct. "We're confident Canadians will embrace the brands." The Erwin Muller Group and VEGA Direct Inc. partnership is a strategic partnership to import, market, and sell direct the VEGA and Jobeline brands within Canada. VEGA is known as a luxury collection of high-quality European hospitality wares primarily marketed through mail order catalogs in over 100 countries worldwide. Jobeline is a fashionable clothing line for hospitality workers, combining up-to-date colors and cuts for the highest-quality look for professional wear in kitchens, laundry, service, and reception. The VEGA and Jobeline brands have a well-known industry presence throughout Europe. About VEGA Direct Inc. VEGA Direct Inc. provides high-quality hospitality supplies and products sourced from E.M. Group. The company philosophy is based on the delivery of outstanding customer service for all buyers. Buyers receive product consultations and careful compilations of product ranges. Hospitality buyers are invited to request a copy of the 2017 catalog at http://www.VegaDirect.ca. About Erwin Muller Group The Erwin Muller Group, founded in 1987, is a global B2B mail order company for the hotel, restaurant, and catering industry. The brands VEGA, Jobeline, Erwin M, Poggemeier, Pulsiva and Lusini are market leaders in Europe. The Erwin Muller Group became the leading mail-order company for catering equipment in Europe within 25 years of inception. Headquartered in Wertingen in Bavaria and at eight other locations in Europe, they are considered to be industry pioneers in serving B2B customers from the hospitality and hospitality sector with products and services. Before you go for an elective procedure, ask doctors for their infection rates, or look up the hospital's track record. "If I was getting my knee done, and I asked my orthopod, 'What's your infection rate?' and he says 'I don't know,' I might be thinking about maybe seeing somebody else," Davis says. Hospital-wide infection rates are available at www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare. More detailed data on Pennsylvania hospitals can be found at www.health.pa.gov and in New Jersey at web.doh.state.nj.us/apps2/hpr/. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada Carbon Inc. (the Company) (TSX-V:CCB), (FF:U7N1) is pleased to report that the Municipal Council of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge (GSLR), Quebec has completed a thorough review of their role in the CPTAQ process with respect to Canada Carbons plans to develop its flagship 100% owned Miller Graphite and Marble Project located 80 kilometres (km) west of Montreal. GSLR Council also held two public meetings to consult local citizens, and to discuss the regulatory and technical aspects of the development proposal. Municipal Council unanimously resolved on March 14th, 2017 to support Canada Carbons application submitted to the Commission de Protection du Territoire Agricole du Quebec (CPTAQ) to designate the Project site as land approved for non-agricultural uses. Canada Carbon has established a dedicated page on its website to host final environmental and other assessment reports, which will be updated as new information becomes available. The Miller Project Reports page can be accessed from the website home page, or by opening this link: https://www.canadacarbon.com/miller-project-reports. The Company will provide periodic updates via newspaper ads and flyers delivered to GSLR residents, and will hold further public meetings from time to time as the results of the Project feasibility study are made public and the quarry and mine permit applications are considered. CANADA CARBON INC. R. Bruce Duncan CEO and Director Contact Information E-mail inquiries: info@canadacarbon.com P: (604) 685-6375 F: (604) 909-1163 Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect managements current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect managements current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com). GAHANNA, Ohio, March 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Heartland BancCorp (the company and the bank) (OTCQB:HLAN), today announced it is partnering with Columbus State Community College and the Community Bankers Association of Ohio to create a Certificate of Banking Fundamentals program. This partnership is designed to train the next generation of community bankers. To help facilitate the program, Columbus State will help prepare students for a career in banking through targeted training in courses such as Principles of Business, Customer Service and Sales, Personal Finance, Negotiation, Principles of Banking, Business Ethics and more. After completing the Certificate of Banking Fundamentals program, which includes 28 hours of online and/or in-class coursework, students will be eligible to participate in on-site internships at participating central Ohio financial institutions. The internships will train students to have a successful start in a Client Service Representative, Universal Banker, or other retail/commercial positions. Industry support for this type of certification continues to climb, according to Aza Bittinger, Jr., Senior Vice President of the Community Bankers Association of Ohio. The certification program at Columbus State is a tremendous opportunity for students to take a step toward, and current bank professionals to take a step forward, in the development of their career path. Bittinger continued, We are especially pleased with the community bank outreach the next generation of bankers will be exposed to, which is in line with our focus on supporting the future of community banking. CBAO is proud to be a contributor in moving this program forward. Together with our banking partners, we are addressing the growing demand for qualified customer relations employees, said Carmen Daniels, Chairperson of Business Programs at Columbus State. This certificate creates a direct path for students to enter the banking industry. Heartland Bank CEO, G. Scott McComb, adds, "By working with such a strong and flexible partner as Columbus State, we have been able to craft an educational opportunity that will prepare aspiring youth who want to pursue career in banking, without breaking the bank. As Heartland continues to expand, were going to seek potential candidates who possess the skill set achieved in this program." For more information about the Certificate of Banking Fundamentals program, please visit http://www.cscc.edu/academics/departments/finance/fundamentals-of-banking.shtml or call (614) 287-5353. About Heartland BancCorp Heartland BancCorp is a registered Ohio bank holding company and the parent of Heartland Bank, which operates thirteen full-service, banking offices. Heartland Bank, founded in 1911, provides full-service commercial, small business, and consumer banking services; alternative investment services; insurance services; and other financial products and services. Heartland Bank is a member of the Federal Reserve, a member of the FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender. Heartland BancCorp is currently quoted on the OTC Markets (OTCQB) under the symbol HLAN. Learn more about Heartland Bank at HeartlandBank.com. In May 2016, Heartland was ranked #77 on the American Banker magazines list of Top 200 Publicly Traded Community Banks and Thrifts based on three-year average return on equity (ROE) as of 12/31/15. Safe Harbor Statement This release contains forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views of future events and operations. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the Company as of the date of this release. It is important to note that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the ability of the Company to implement its strategy and expand its lending operations. FORM 8.3 PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code") 1. KEY INFORMATION (a) Full name of discloser: Jupiter Asset Management Ltd (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a): The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/ offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Deutsche Boerse AG (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held /dealing undertaken: For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 22nd March 2017 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer? If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" Yes London Stock Exchange Group PLC 2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security. (a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any) Class of relevant security: Tendered Ordinary Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 5,813,572 3.11 (2) Cash-settled derivatives: (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell: TOTAL: 5,813,572 3.11 All interests and all short positions should be disclosed. Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions). (b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options) Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: None Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages: None 3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in. The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated. (a) Purchases and sales Class of relevant security Purchase/sale Number of securities Price per unit Ordinary - Tender Sell 1,700 EUR 79.6262 Ordinary - Tender Sell 100,000 EUR 80.1999 Ordinary - Tender Sell 11,659 EUR 79.5541 (b) Cash-settled derivative transactions Class of relevant security Product description e.g. CFD Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit None (c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options) (i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit None (ii) Exercise Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit None (d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities) Class of relevant security Nature of dealing e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable) None 4. OTHER INFORMATION (a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer: Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" None (b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to: (i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or (ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced: If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" None (c) Attachments Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO Date of disclosure: 23rd March 2017 Contact name: Nabeel Ashraf Telephone number: 0203 817 1407 Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service and must also be emailed to the Takeover Panel at monitoring@disclosure.org.uk. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129. The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk. Visiting Kong Skull Island For The First Time in Vietnam For those who have not watched Kong: Skull Island, we recommend you please do. We enjoyed the movie very much and it is different from the other King Kong movies you have watched before. The story revolves on the adventure in Skull Island. The movie is very enjoyable and the view is spectacular. Where is Kong: Skull Island is filmed? This is the interesting part of the movie. Most of the film is shot in Vietnam. Yes, Vietnam. When we watched the movie, we remember some of the places in that movie. We visited Skull Island before and it is Halong Bay Vietnam. Of course, there are also other places in Vietnam filmed for the movie such as Quang Binh, Phong Nha and Ninh Binh. We visited Halong Bay in late 2012, the pictures here are taken at that time. It was winter and misty and cold. The beauty of Halong Bay is it is near Malaysia and it is only a few hours bus ride from Hanoi. Flying from Malaysia to Hanoi and getting a day tour or package 2 days 1 night tour to Halong Bay is not expensive either. Halong Bay has always been one of the top tourist destinations for Vietnam for years. We recommend at least one night stay in Halong Bay or more. At night, the sea is calmed and you get to meet many other travellers around the world. What we like is to explore the caves in some of the islands in Halong Bay. Kayaking around Halong Bay to experience and feel the beauty of the area. Mesmerised by the natural beauty of Halong Bay. If you plan to visit the scenery like you seen in Kong: Skull Island the movie, Halong Bay is one of the places you should visit. Watch the movie if you have not and there is a secret ending at the last end of the credits. Wilson Ng A Father and traveler who enjoys to eat, shop, travel and taking pictures with Samsung S22 Ultra and Sony ZV-1. Im a full time blogger, youtuber and father for two. I used to travel around 17 International trips per year but now staying at home. Remember to follow us at www.instagram.com/placesandfoods and www.youtube.com/placesandfoods. For advertisements or features, contact me at [email protected] See author's posts The precedent On April 12, 1981, astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen climbed aboard space shuttle Columbia and blasted off on a 2-day shakedown cruise. Beyond a series of glide tests, the shuttle had never flown. I contacted Crippen to ask about the mission, and get his perspective on the risks involved in flying astronauts on a new vehicle. He declined to be interviewed, saying he preferred to let NASA conduct its feasibility study first. He did, however, tell me he thought flying SLS and Orion without a crew first seemed like "a good idea." Prior to Columbia, NASA flew its rockets without people first for a very simple reason: they used to blow up a lot more. The first two Mercury flights of Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom in 1961 were brief suborbital jaunts atop the Army's Redstone booster. For John Glenn's orbital flight, NASA switched to the more powerful Atlas rocket. The very first time Glenn showed up to watch an Atlas test flight, the mission ended in disaster shortly after liftoff. "That wasn't a confidence builder," Glenn later said. By the time the shuttle flew, NASA had a better track record, and computer simulations were able to more accurately predict a vehicle's performance, giving engineers a higher certainty things would go right on launch day. Mike Neufeld, a senior curator in the space history department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, said it was decided relatively early in the shuttle's development cycle that a pilot would have to be in the cockpit to fly the shuttle during landing. And there was no shortage of astronauts ready to give it a try. "NASA picked test pilots for Mercury, and soon after they arrived, they said, 'Hey, we're not going to just be passengers on these things,'" he told me. "So that's really embedded in the history of the U.S. human spaceflight program." This was a stark contrast, he said, with the Soviet Union's space program. "The first class of cosmonauts were these 25-year-old kids who just ordinary jet pilots taken from the Soviet Air Force," said Neufeld. Soviet spacecraft were highly automated, and this mentality extended all the way to Buran, the legendary Soviet shuttle clone that only made a single test flightan automated one. NASA astronauts continue to play a large role in the development and operations of their spacecraft. But since the shuttle days, the agency has returned to its automated roots. Orion can fly without a crew; as can upcoming commercial vehicles like Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon. Heritage technologies If NASA does put a crew on the first SLS mission, it would probably be a lot safer than Columbia's flight. Most SLS components are shuttle-derived. The core stage is essentially a shuttle external fuel tank with four shuttle main engines mounted at the bottom. All four of the engines slated for the first SLS flight have already carried shuttles into space. The SLS side-mounted solid rocket boosters are effectively shuttle boosters with extra propellant segments. Orion has already flown once. In December 2014, a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket blasted an Orion capsule to an altitude of 5,800 kilometers, subjecting it to a high-velocity atmospheric reentry meant to simulate a lunar return. Orion's European-built service module is based on the Automated Transfer Vehicle, which is used by the European Space Agency to ferry cargo to the International Space Station. The biggest question mark may be the rocket's upper stage. The first SLS flight will use a Delta IV upper stagethe same used for the 2014 Orion test flightcalled the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or, ICPS. The second SLS flightmeant to be the first crewed flight, no earlier than 2021will use the under-construction Exploration Upper Stage, or EUS. Both stages use Aerojet Rocketdyne RL-10 engines. But the ICPS only has one engine; the EUS will have four. This presents NASA with a bit of a paradox: the ICPS has flown; the EUS has not. But the ICPS was never meant to carry humans, whereas the EUS is being built with humans in mind from the start. Deciding which coniguration is safer, then, is hard to judge. (In 2015, NASA said the ICPS could be human-rated at a cost of $150 million.) If anything goes wrong during the initial climb to orbit, Orion is equipped with a traditional escape tower that would pull the capsule away from SLS. The space shuttle, on the other hand, relied on a risky return-to-launch-site abort scenario that involved ditching the solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank, turning the shuttle around, and gliding back to Kennedy Space Center. "There's a very limited set of circumstances in which that would have worked," Neufeld said. "And obviously, the orbiter had to stay intact." NASA actually considered testing this abort mode on Columbia's first flight, before ultimately deciding flying all the way to orbit was safer. Finnish English Stock Exchange Release Talvivaara Mining Company Plc 23 March 2017 Status of Talvivaara's corporate reorganization Talvivaara Mining Company Plc ("Talvivaara" or the "Company") has today been informed by the administrator of its corporate reorganization proceedings (the "Administrator") that the District Court of Espoo has requested the Company to give a response in the matter concerning the confirmation request filed to the District Court by the Administrator on 6 March 2017. Concurrently, the Company was notified that Finnvera Plc, Nordea Bank AB (Publ.), Finnish branch, Danske Bank Plc, OP Corporate Bank Plc and Svenska Handelsbanken AB, Finnish branch have given a response to the District Court where they have objected the confirmation of the restructuring programme, requesting the cessation of the corporate reorganization proceedings and placing the Company in bankruptcy. The Company has also been informed that the representative of the Company's bond holders has filed a response supporting the confirmation of the restructuring programme. The Company and the Administrator will give their responses to the District Court of Espoo in due course. The Company's and Administrator's view is that the Company has fulfilled the special conditions set for the entry into force of the restructuring programme, as they were approved by the creditors in the creditors' voting procedure. The Company anticipates the District Court of Espoo to announce its decision in the matter in the next few weeks. Enquiries Talvivaara Mining Company Plc Tel +358 20 7129 800 Pekka Pera, CEO Pekka Erkinheimo, Deputy CEO Castren & Snellman Attorneys Ltd Tel +358 20 7765765 Administrator Pekka Jaatinen, Attorney-at-Law Attachments: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/01338e4f-4a6b-46c4-b57c-0cabf927d486 An apparent attack outside Parliament plunged London into turmoil on Wednesday, leaving at least four people including a police officer dead and 20 injured, and prompting the hasty evacuation of the prime minister in a confusing swirl of violence that traumatized the seat of British power, reports the New York Times. The police said they were treating the attack as terrorism, which appeared to make it the most serious such assault in London since the deadly subway bombings more than a decade ago. The attack unfolded around 2:40 p.m., Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said at a news conference. The driver of a large vehicle mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, which leads to Parliament, killing two people and injuring others, before crashing into a railing. After the crash, at least one man left the vehicle and approached Parliament, where he stabbed an armed police officer to death and was fatally shot by the police. Tobias Ellwood, a minister in the Foreign Office, tried to save the life of the stabbed police officer by giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but the officer died. "A full counterterrorism investigation is underway," Cmdr. B. J. Harrington of the Metropolitan Police said at a brief news conference. Commander Harrington said that the police knew of "a number of casualties, including police officers," but that he could not confirm a precise figure. At least three police officers were among the 20 people injured. Anya Lester and three other Las Vegas (NV) Metropolitan Police Department forensic scientists are working around the clock to help solve crimes in bulk. They work in an office building with a laboratory and a makeshift gun range, connecting cartridge cases from impounded guns to open criminal cases, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. And at a time when violent crime is climbing in the Las Vegas Valley, they are working more than ever. The cartridge cases which are essentially a bullet's container are filled with gunpowder, and when they're fired and ejected, the cases are marked up with a pattern unique to the gun used. The patterns are what Lester is looking for. "This is the first time since I've been here where it's actually been one of the most popular requests that we've had," said Kim Murga, who heads the Metro laboratory where Lester works. "And DNA has taken kind of a back seat." The technology isn't new. The sheriff's support is. "From a strategic perspective, it gives you a more holistic perspective," said Matt McCarthy, deputy chief of Metro's investigative services, which oversees homicides and robberies. Instead of isolating an investigation to one street corner, the cartridge cases may connect crimes miles away. "It allows an investigator to ask more questions," he said. The main tool scientists like Lester use to make these connections is a federal database, called NIBIN, or National Integrated Ballistic Information Network. Impounded guns are fired. Ejected cartridge cases are collected, then scientists like Lester input the samples into the database. Cases from crime scenes are compared. "It's kind of like Match.com," Murga said. Once the system identifies possible hits, the scientists put the cartridge cases under a comparison microscope before officially determining a possible match. "People are really excited about it because it is actually hooking these smaller crimes to larger crimes and providing leads for the investigators," Lester said. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print MSNBCs Chris Matthews issued a brutal takedown of Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying that Donald Trump is more concerned about covering up the devastating Russian scandal than he is about an increasingly dangerous North Korea. Matthews said that the president clearly intent on shifting attention from anything that connects him and his people to Moscow. Video: Matthews said Trumps crazy tweets about Barack Obama wiretapping Trump Tower were just the beginning of the presidents distraction campaign: Today, [Trump] lapped up word that a friendly congressman (Devin Nunes) had said that trump or some of his people have been picked up in government surveillance during the transition period. Well, this continued campaign of distraction makes sense when you see what the Associated Press uncovered just today. Remember all those denials by Trump and his campaign chairman Paul Manafort that neither of them had any dealings with Russia? Remember? Well today, the AP reported that Manafort was deep into Russia $10 million a year deep. Thats the yearly fee he was drawing from a close Putin associate Ill say it again: This Russian connection just keeps building and every time it builds and expands, you have to wonder if Trump himself isnt worried about whats swirling around under the covers even more than whats happening over in Pyongyang with that murderous child and his nuclear bombs. Trumps behavior since taking office and even well before he even announced a candidacy for president shows that he only cares about one thing: protecting his image and distracting from any news that may tarnish it. As his administration continues to drown in the Russia scandal, this is becoming more apparent as Trumps behavior (and tweets) become more unhinged. Distraction is the presidents go-to strategy. Trump isnt interested in maintaining an iota of credibility or even pretending that he cares about the solving challenges facing the country. Instead, he will say and do whatever it takes to divert attention from the growing list of scandals taking down his administration. The American people and the world are certainly worried about, as Matthews mentioned, the dangerous child playing with nuclear weapons in North Korea but here in the United States, we have our own childish president putting the world at risk with his unstable behavior. Finnish English The Annual General Meeting of the Delegation of Shareholders for the funds managed by Seligson & Co Fund Management Company, held on 23 March 2017, has chosen Authorized Public Accountant Kukka Lehtimaki as the auditor of the fund. Authorized Public Accountant Mikko Kylliainen will carry on as the deputy auditor of the fund. The auditors and deputy auditors chosen by the Annual General Meeting of the Fund Management Company were announced by a stock exchange notice on 7.3.2017. Further information: Mari Rautanen email: mari.rautanen@seligson.fi Phone +358 (0)9 6817 8224 Seligson & Co Fund Management Company Plc Ari Kaaro Managing Director email: ari.kaaro@seligson.fi Phone +358 (0)9 6817 8217 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print During an interview with MSNBCs Andrea Mitchell, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) asked the one question that will bring down the Trump presidency. Sanders asked, What do the Russians have on Trump? Video: Sanders said: Here is the reality, and the American people understand that there are key people in Trumps campaign who had very very close ties with Putins operation, and I think weve got to ask ourselves a very very simple question. How does it happen when you have a gentleman, a person, a leader like Putin who is moving his country in a very authoritarian direction, is not a great respecter of democracy, has engaged in a very imperialistic foreign policy. How does it happen that we had a candidate and a president who had nothing but nice things to say about Mr. Putin? That sounds pretty strange. And the question that a lot of people are asking, you dont have to get into the classified information to raise this question is, what do, if anything, the Russians have on Mr. Trump? What we do know, I believe we know is true is that Trump needed financial help for some of his business efforts, and it appears, and I cant be definitive about this, that he got some help from the Russian oligarchs in Russia. Do they have something on him, which is veering him towards a pro-Russian foreign policy at the expense of American interests? Those are the questions that have got to be discussed. The reality that Sen. Sanders was talking about is the fact that Trumps Russia tainted presidency hangs over him and the Republican Party like a dark cloud every single day. It is a simple question that the American people deserve to have answered, and it is also the question that could bring down the Trump presidency, and Republicans that conspired with this president to hide his secrets. 25 2021 - 200 ! . ( ) , Cookies . cookies. More than 560,000 South Carolina voted early this year, a total that easily surpassed the number of votes cast ahead of the state's 2018 midterm elections. Read moreHuge early voting turnout should ease pain at polls. Here's what to know about Election Day in SC. NEW YORK, March 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Attorney Advertising-- Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC reminds investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD or the Company) (NYSE:TD) and certain of its officers, and is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased TD securities between December 3, 2015 through March 9, 2017, both dates inclusive (the Class Period"). Investors are encouraged to learn more about this case by visiting the firms site: http://www.bgandg.com/td. This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act). The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose that: (1) TDs wealth asset growth and increased fee-based revenue was spurred by a performance management system that steered its employees into breaking the law at their customers expense in order to meet sales targets; (2) TD illegitimately increased customers lines of credit and overdraft protection amounts without their knowledge; (3) TD illegitimately upgraded customers to higher-fee accounts without informing them; (4) TD lied to customers as to the risk of its products; and (5) consequently, defendants statements about TDs business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. On March 10, 2017, CBC News reported about the pressures put on TD Bank branch employees to sign up customers for products they didnt need. The report said that current and former TD employees described a pressure cooker environment that has zero focus on ethics. Following this news, TD stock dropped during intraday trading on March 10, 2017. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint you can visit the firms site: http://www.bgandg.com/td or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Investor Relations Analyst, Yael Hurwitz of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484. You have until May 11, 2017 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firms expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. The Men's Center in Mount Pleasant seeks to provide a comfortable place for men to address health concerns that doesn't feel like a trip to the doctor's office, while getting the help they need for things like erectile dysfunction. Read morePutting men in their place: Men's Center focuses on male health issues Columbia Bureau Chief Shain is Columbia Bureau Chief for The Post and Courier. He was editor of Free Times and was a reporter and editor at The State, The Charlotte Observer and The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News. The oft-told story of a frog perishing in a pot as the water slowly warms and then cooks him is not actually based in fact; the metaphor persists because it describes something that is true: We are less aware of change that occurs gradually than when it happens all at once. Read moreEditorial: Referendums based on slow evolution: Berkeley, Dorchester aren't so rural anymore The Post and Courier provides a forum for our readers to share their opinions, and to hold up a mirror to our community. Publication does not imply endorsement by the newspaper; the editorial staff attempts to select a representative sample of letters because we believe its important to let our readers see the range of opinions their neighbors submit for publication. Finnish English Municipality Finance Plc Media Release 23 March, 2017 at 4:15pm (EET) Municipality Finance Plc financial calendar in 2017 The half year report of Municipality Finance Plc for the reporting period 1 January - 30 June 2017 will be published on Wednesday 9 August, 2017. MUNICIPALITY FINANCE PLC Marjo Tomminen Executive Vice President, Finance, CFO Tel. +358 50 3861 764 Measured by the group's balance sheet, Municipality Finance Plc (MuniFin) is Finland's second largest credit institution. The company is owned by Finnish municipalities, the public sector pension fund Keva and the Republic of Finland. MuniFin is an integral part of the Finnish public economy. MuniFin's balance sheet totals approximately EUR 34 billion. Funding for the company is primarily obtained through the international capital markets. MuniFin's funding is guaranteed by the Municipal Guarantee Board. MuniFin's mission is to ensure competitive funding for local government investments and state-subsidised social housing production in all market conditions. The company's customers are Finnish municipalities, municipal federations, municipally controlled companies and non-profit housing corporations. The customers use financing solutions provided by MuniFin to finance social and non-profit targets such as day care centres, schools, housing, hospitals and other municipal investments. The Municipality Finance Group also includes the subsidiary company, Financial Advisory Services Inspira Ltd. South Carolina voters head to the polls Nov. 8, casting ballots in midterm elections that will not only determine the state's next governor but will also act as the first major referendum on the Biden era. Read moreYour voter guide to top races, key issues in South Carolina's 2022 midterm elections Rochester's Ethical Practices Board wants more information before making a decision on complaint filed against Rochester City Council member Michael Wojcik. Board member Robyn Munsch said the information in the 18-page complaint filed by Bari Amadio, CEO of the Greater Rochester Arts and Cultural Trust , makes coming to a decision difficult to reach. Board Chairwoman Audrey Ericksen said she also remained undecided regarding the merits of the complaint. "For myself, I'm not convinced either, and I don't think I have enough information," she said. Board member Regina Mustafa, however, said uncertainty stemming from the complaint gives reason for making a decision. ADVERTISEMENT "In the past, when we have not seen a clear violation, we've dismissed it," she said, Amadio's complaint claims Wojcik used his office to intimidate, libel and defame her while seeking an early copy of a master plan dealing with public art in the city. Munsch and Ericksen asked for an independent investigation, while Mustafa opposed the move. Following the meeting, Amadio and Wojcik noted they support the decision to seek further information. "I am pleased with the decision of the ethics board in that they feel further investigation is warranted," Amadio said. Wojcik said it shows no one on the board saw a clear violation of the city's ethics policy. City Attorney Terry Adkins said the investigation by a contracted Minneapolis attorney would likely take at least a month. The board is set to meet next at 1:15 p.m. April 26 in room 104 of City Hall. If the investigation is not complete by the next meeting, Ericksen and Munsch could be left out of the ruling, since their board terms expire April 30. Munsch is eligible for reappointment, but Ericksen is not. ADVERTISEMENT Adkins said seven people have already applied to fill the three seats to be filled May 1. He said at least one more person is considering an application, noting the deadline is March 31. In other business, the board: Decided to ask the city council to consider increasing its size to seven members and altering the ordinance to allow for temporary members in case recusals make it difficult to make decisions. Board member Kay Batchelder recused herself from Wednesday's discussion of Amadio's complaint, which cited potential conflicts of interest for Batchelder and Mustafa, who supported Wojcik's 2016 city council re-election campaign. Rochester Ethical Practices Board taking up complaint GRANGER Linda O'Connor always knew her relative Don Wilken was a generous man, but it wasn't until after he died that she learned just how generous. Shortly before his death, Wilken bought a $3 lottery ticket at a gas station in Lime Springs, Iowa. To the farmer's amazement, he won the top prize $30,000. The 91-year-old wasted no time cashing in his winning ticket and donating all of the money to local organizations. Three weeks after claiming the money, Wilken passed away. "I was just so happy that he got that much enjoyment shortly before he died. It was just the Lord had this moment of joy for him and let him revel in it and then said, 'Now it's your time,'" O'Connor said. Wilken was born on Jan. 16, 1926, in York Township in Fillmore County. In 1939, he moved to Granger, where his family ran the local grocery story. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and was deployed to the Philippine Islands and Japan. After the war, he returned to Minnesota to farm. A lifelong bachelor, Wilken was active in St. Matthew's Lutheran Church. He also loved kids, O'Connor said. During the "noisy collection" at church when kids would collect coins from parishioners, they always made a beeline for Wilken. His farm was also a popular Halloween stop. ADVERTISEMENT "His was the first place kids wanted to stop because have gave the full-size candy bar," she said. Wilken's close friend Marjorie Ivers said he loved to visit over coffee. He stopped at the mill in Granger almost every day, often bringing along treats. He also made stops in Harmony, Cresco and Lime Springs. "He was very generous and always smiling. He talked to every everyone," Ivers said. She recalls the day Wilken discovered he had won the lottery. Initially, he thought he'd won $3,000. Later, he realized it was actually $30,000. The odds of winning that prize are 1 in 120,211, according to the Iowa Lottery. "He was shocked," Ivers said. Wilken decided to act fast, telling Ivers, "At my age, I'm going to get (the money) right away." On Feb. 6, he claimed his prize and got to work donating the money. Ivers never asked him his plans for donating the cash. "I figured it was his money and he could do with it what he wanted with it," she said. Wilken died on Feb. 28 three weeks after picking up his lottery winnings. A bouquet from one of the grateful recipients of Wilken's money was on display and that is when O'Connor found out about Wilken's lottery luck. ADVERTISEMENT His funeral service attracted a big crowd, with several people who had moved away returning to say a final goodbye to the farmer. "The church was full," O'Connor said. "That is quite a testament to a man who never married, never had his own kids." ST. PAUL Business owners, farmers and retirees are among those who would see their taxes cut under a $1.35 billion proposal being pushed by Minnesota House Republicans. "We have a $1.6 billion surplus. It's time to provide Minnesotans with long overdue tax relief," House Taxes Committee Chairman Greg Davids told reporters on Wednesday. The single biggest item in the bill is a $270 million reduction of the state tax on Social Security income over the next two years. In Minnesota, married couples who make less than $32,000 per year are not taxed on their Social Security benefits. Davids' bill seeks to double the income threshold for taxing those benefits. Also included in the bill is a $203 million property tax cut for businesses. The measure would exempt businesses from paying the statewide property tax on the first $200,000 in property value. It also blocks the tax from going up in the future by preventing automatic increases. The proposal also includes a first-in-the-nation tax credit for college graduates paying off student loan debt and $35 million in cuts to help families paying for child care costs. ADVERTISEMENT Two Southeast Minnesota lawmakers played a key role in crafting the tax cut measure Davids, of Preston, and Rep. Steve Drazkowski, of Mazeppa. Drazkowski is chairman of the House property tax committee. Included in the tax bill is a measure Drazkowski pushed that would cut in half the amount of taxes farmers living in school districts with construction levies would have to pay on farmland. "They are just being suffocated by these referendums," Drazkowski said. Minnesota Senate Republicans are pushing their own $900 million tax cut package. The majority of those dollars would go towards cutting the state's lowest income-tax rate. In order for any of these tax provisions to become law, they have to win the signature of DFL Gov. Mark Dayton. On Wednesday, the governor expressed serious concerns about Republicans' proposals to pass big tax cuts. He said he is especially worried given all of the uncertainty over how the repeal of the Affordable Care Act might impact Minnesota's budget. "We've worked so hard to re-establish fiscal integrity and fiscal stability for state government, and I'm not going to see that sacrificed for short-term partisan gain," Dayton said. Davids said he remains optimistic that lawmakers and the governor can reach a deal on tax cuts. The Preston Republican even came up with his own theme song for the tax bill with lyrics set to the Beatles' song "Come Together." Davids told reporters he didn't bother trying to roll back a 2013 tax increase on the state's highest income earners that Dayton favored because he knew that would go nowhere. "Why go out, spin your wheels on something that's not going to pass? I want to work with the possible and not the impossible," Davids said. "I don't want to waste my time on something that's not going to happen." ST. PAUL Officials with the U.S. Justice Department are considering reassigning judges from around the country to the immigration court in Bloomington. The Twin Cities immigration court is experiencing an extreme backlog of cases about 5,300, which is a record high. About 150 of those cases involve people who are being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. One of the court's three judges retired last year, and three of its five courtrooms are sitting empty. A recent Reuters report said the possible reassignments would be temporary and are intended to speed up deportations of immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally and who have been charged with crimes. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review confirmed with MPR News that the agency might dispatch judges to Bloomington and 11 other cities. But she said the plans still are preliminary. Law professor Linus Chan, director of the Detainee Rights Clinic at the University of Minnesota, said he's not sure the extra judges will help accelerate the cases. That's because a lack of legal representation among the immigrants may be causing delays. ADVERTISEMENT "For some, the length of time is caused by people desperately trying to find lawyers to help and represent them, and then go forward on their case," Chan said. "So in some respects, having more judges may not really fix the issue." The Twin Cities court serves Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Immigrants on average were in the queue for more than 600 days, according to the most recent figures compiled by Syracuse University. Beginning on Monday, immigration judges were redeployed to 10 locations, including Chicago and several cities near the U.S.-Mexico border. The transfers come after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Jan. 25 calling for beefed-up immigration enforcement and deportations. Trump long has promised to prioritize deporting criminals, and his order broadens who would be eligible for removal. For example, someone who has been charged with a crime, but not convicted, could be considered a criminal. In addition to Bloomington, other cities that could receive the extra judges include New York; Los Angeles; Miami; New Orleans; San Francisco; Baltimore; Phoenix; El Paso and Harlingen, Texas; Imperial, Calif.; Omaha, Neb. Chuck Schumer announced this morning that Senate Democrats will filibuster the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. This seems like an odd decision, as Senate Republicans will no doubt follow the lead of Harry Reid and Schumer himself, by ending the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. Gorsuch will be confirmed, and the filibuster will have been abolished in a context that is good for Republicanson behalf of a nominee who is not controversial. A Rasmussen survey published yesterday found that voters dont think much of the Democrats opposition to Gorsuch: Voters remain confident that Judge Neil Gorsuch will be approved for the Supreme Court and think he deserves it more than President Obamas nominees did at this stage of the process. Opposition to Gorsuch is seen as driven more by politics than concerns about his judicial thinking. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 49% of Likely U.S. Voters believe opposition to President Trumps first Supreme Court nominee is due mostly to partisan politics. Thirty-five percent (35%) disagree and say that opposition is based more on honest differences of opinion. It seems odd, too, that Schumer didnt even wait until the hearing on Gursuchs nomination has been concluded to announce the Democrats filibuster. This would appear to support the view that the decision is political and has little to do with the merits of Gorsuchs nomination. I dont know how to explain Schumers announcement, except as evidence that 1) Senate Democrats perceive that they need to cater to the partys hysterical base, and 2) they are convinced that the filibuster, as to Supreme Court nominees, is dead in any event. PAUL ADDS: I agree that these are the two most plausible explanations for Schumers announcement. However, the announcement isnt inconsistent with the Democrats trying to make a deal whereby they eventually back away from the filibuster in exchange for promises about how the Senate will proceed on the next Trump nominee. I think all of us agree that Senate Republicans would be crazy to make such a deal, and I think its unlikely that such a deal will occur. French English Paris, March 23, 2017 LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton announces the availability of its 2016 Reference Document, in accordance with applicable regulations. The French version of this document was filed with the "Autorite des Marches Financiers" (AMF) on March 22, 2017. The English translation of this document may be consulted in the Documentation section of the Company's website (www.lvmh.com). This document includes in particular: - the annual financial report; - the reports of the Chairman of the Board of Directors and of auditors on the preparation and organisation of the Board of Directors' work and on internal control procedures; - the statement of auditors' fees; - the description of the stock repurchase program. Reporter/commentator Brendan Kirby has watched enough of the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing to identify the Five dumbest questions put to Gorsuch. Kirbys report is current as of 10:19 a.m. yesterday, so it may not be his last word on the subject. However, each of Kirbys winners is deserving of recognition in its own right. Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar (with one) and Al Franken (with two) account for three of the five dumbest questions. Hey, Minnesota, were number one! Kirby doesnt say it, but I will. The competition for recognition was stiff. Each of the Democratic members contributed questions that deserved to be ranked among the winners. This is one contest in which the concept of the participation trophy makes perfect sense. Kirbys frame of reference excludes the members statements and monologues. Here Senator Leahy really came into his own, though again the competition for recognition would be intense. While Republicans may deserve their designation as the stupid party, the Senates Democratic crew is long on guile but not exactly full of intellectual heavyweights. The video above captures Senator Klobuchars crude effort to disparage the doctrine of originalism. She seems not to understand that the masculine pronoun includes the feminine and to assert tacitly that the Constitution by originalist lights may prohibit a female president. That seems to be the gist of the question recognized by Kirby for its stupidity: The questioner: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). The issue: Klobuchar pressed Gorsuch about his views on originalism, a concept in which judges adhere to the strict meaning of the Constitution when it was written. The question: So when the Constitution refers, like, 30-some times to his or he when describing the president of the United States, you would see that as, well back then, they thought a woman actually could be president of the United States even though women couldnt vote? The answer: Im not looking to take us back to quill pens and horses Of course women can be president of the United States. Im the father of two daughters. And I hope one of them turns out to be president. In response to a similar question about the Air Force, which did not exist at the time of the Constitutional convention, he said, Senator, I think the generals of the Air Force can rest easy. The founders recognized the natural equality of rights among men and women. When they asserted that all men are created equal shocker! men meant mankind or human beings and included women. Politico reports that a group of Senate Democrats is beginning to explore trying to extract concessions from Republicans in return for allowing Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch to be confirmed. What concessions? The deal Democrats would be most likely to pursue. . .would be to allow confirmation of Gorsuch in exchange for a commitment from Republicans not to kill the filibuster for a subsequent vacancy during President Donald Trumps term. The next high court opening could alter the balance of the court, and some Democrats privately argue that fight will be far more consequential than the current one. (Emphasis added) The problem, of course, is that Democrats cant stop Judge Gorsuch from being confirmed. Therefore, it makes no sense to speak of them allowing his confirmation. All they can hope to allow is his confirmation without a filibuster and without the need to abolish that instrument via the nuclear option. Thus, the Democrats are in serious trouble. A filibuster over Gorsuch would very likely lead to the nuclear option, thereby clearing the way for easy confirmation of President Trumps next nominee, the fight over whom will be, as Politico says, far more consequential. A filibuster would also place in jeopardy Red State Democrats facing reelection next year. If they back it, they may well be vulnerable to a Republican opponent, especially now that Gorsuch has done so well at his confirmation hearing. If they dont back it, they might well be vulnerable to a primary challenge from the left. In other words, the Gorsuch confirmation battle is breaking perfectly for the Republicans. This means Democrats must be delusional to think they can make a deal, right? Thats what Leonard Leo, who advises President Trump on judicial nominations, says. But a deal may not be out of the question. Republicans need 50 votes to do away with the filibuster. Given the quality of the current nominee, they should be able to get the 50 if necessary to confirm Gorsuch. If, however, the Democrats offer a deal in which they eschew filibustering this time around, they can argue to squishy Republicans that the nuclear option isnt necessary to confirm Gorsuch. All thats necessary is an agreement to retain the filibuster for future use. Its a terrible argument from a GOP perspective because the Democrats would then have carte blanche to filibuster the next nominee, including a highly qualified conservative like Gorsuch. And the Democrats undoubtedly would exercise that option. But Senate traditionalists in the GOP ranks have a fondness for the filibuster. Some might even be naive enough to think Democrats will permit Republicans to use it when, one day, the shoe is on the other foot. So its conceivable that Democrats could lure moderates Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski plus one or two traditionalist like Lindsey Graham into a gang reminiscent of the Gang of 14 that struck a deal on judicial nominees when George W. Bush was president. The new gang would force the Democrats deal through. Likely? No. Impossible? No. NOTE: Steve has a similar take on this matter in the post below. The Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, has condemned the actions of aviation unionists who staged a protest at the headquarters of Arik Air Thursday. Jude Nwauzor, AMCONs Head of Corporate Communications, while speaking during a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES Thursday, said the disruption of activities at the airlines headquarters was uncalled for. Aviation unions had in the early hours of Thursday shut down the operations of Arik Air. The unions, which include the National Union of Air Transport Employees, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, on Wednesday threatened to ground the airline following Arik managements alleged failure to reinstate its sacked members. The protesters also disclosed that the shutdown was because of the airlines breach of the rights of workers and its indebtedness to aviation parastatals. Olayinka Abioye, General Secretary of NUATE, told PREMIUM TIMES that the takeover of Arik airline by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, has worsened the crisis facing the airline. In fact, taking over of Arik by AMCON has seemingly worsened the situation because we expected that immediately AMCON came, they would do an appraisal of issues and find out how to resolve them, he said. But Mr. Nwauzor, in his reaction, said the union member were not representing staff of the airline, noting that staff of Arik air had made it known that they were not interested in the unions activities. The staff said they are not interested in the union but they want to coax them. You will notice that even at the protest ground, there are staff members who were expressing their displeasure at what was going on, he said. The position of AMCON isnt different from that of the management of Arik. The airline is not grounded as airplanes are operating as scheduled. Operation is disrupted at the entrance of the airlines headquarters but it doesnt mean work isnt going on inside the building, he added. The unions are just constituting nuisance and disturbing public peace. The AMCON spokesperson, however, did not comment on other demands by the union leaders. On February 9, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria took over Arik as a result of the airlines bad debt to the company and other creditors. AMCON, thereafter, appointed Roy Ilegbodu as manager of the airline and Oluseye Opasanya as the airlines receiver manager. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Zambian government on Thursday threatened to deal with fake mushrooming churches amid calls to curb fake churches and mercenary clergymen. Godfridah Sumaili, Minister of National Guidance and Religious Affair, said no church would be registered without clearance from her ministry. In a ministerial statement delivered in parliament, the minister said a legal instrument would soon be announced that would compel all churches to be registered under the Registrar of Societies. According to Ms. Sumaili, currently some churches hide under the guise of companies by registering under the Patents and Companies Registration Agency. This scrutiny will be extended to foreign mission. Foreigners who come into the country for missionary work will be subjected to this same scrutiny before travel visas are issued for them to travel to Zambia for their missionary work to avoid fake people, she said. Ms. Sumaili said that the government was concerned with the mushrooming of churches and fake church leaders who were deceiving people. There has to be a minimum standard for churches in the country. The ministry is also working with the existing church organisations to empower them so that they can regulate these churches, she added. Report says the conduct of some churches and clerics has been a source of concern in Zambia for some time, with stakeholders calling on the government to come up with regulatory measures. Some churches and their leaders have been accused of taking advantage of the gullibility of people to make quick money on the pretext that they were able to end all their problems. News headlines of clerics engaging in illegal and clandestine activities in the name of the church are common in this nation, where about 87 per cent of the people are Christians. Meanwhile, some clerics were reportedly demanding for money and sexual favours in exchange for miracles to change peoples lives. Recently, the Council of Churches in Zambia, one of the church mother bodies, called on the government to protect citizens from unscrupulous individuals pretending to have powers to deal with peoples problems. The organisation urged the government to come up with measures to control the operation of churches in the country, saying the conduct of some churches was tarnishing the image of the church. (Xinhua/NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook An Afghan police officer opened fire on his colleagues, killing nine of them, at a checkpoint in northern Afghanistan, a police spokesperson, Mahfoozullah Akbari, said on Thursday. He said that the assailant, who may have been linked with the Taliban, fled after taking weapons and other equipment. The commander of the post, Mohammad Gul, was not at the checkpoint at the time the incident occurred. The attacker reportedly set fire to the bodies before escaping. The Taliban said it was behind the attack, in a message on Telegram, but denied setting fire to the bodies. (dpa/NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook Dear Editor, I am a Nigerian citizen studying and resident with my family in the United Kingdom. I write to use your medium to let the management of Arik Airlines know the plight of passengers who paid for tickets to fly the airline before the cancellation of their long haul flights. I paid for three tickets for my wife, son and I to travel to Lagos from London Heathrow. I also paid for another return from Lagos to Johannesburg within the same period. The cost for all the tickets is about 1,450. We were to travel on 23 February 2017 to join my parents to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in Agbor on February 25, 2017. Shortly before our departure date, I received an email as well as a text message from Arik informing me of the cancellation of the flight to Lagos. I wrote Arik an email requesting a refund to enable us book tickets on another airline even though we had lost the advantage of early booking and now had to pay for tickets at a much higher price. I was advised to contact Ariks refund unit. I have done so for so many times that I have now lost count. Because we had to be present to celebrate with my parents I had to borrow money to pay for a fresh set of tickets with Ethiopian Airlines hoping that Arik will refund me. No one at Arik is responding to me. This is so bad as I feel cheated. Who does this in the business world of today? Why should Arik receive payments and offer no service and refuse to refund the money collected from passengers? Please can the management of Arik refund me? I am a self-funded PhD student here without any government support and I need my money back. Thank you for your help. Best wishes, Augustine Arimoro Share this: Twitter Facebook Aviation unions on Thursday shut down Arik Air, the largest airline in Nigeria. The unions, which include the National Union of Air Transport Employees, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, on Wednesdy threatened to shut down the airline following Arik managements failure to reinstate its sacked members. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria on February 9 took over Arik as a result of the airlines bad debt to the company and other creditors. AMCON had thereafter appointed Roy Ilegbodu as manager of the airline. But Olayinka Abioye, General Secretary, NUATE, while speakng on Wednesday in Lagos, accused the new management of intolerance to unionism. Mr. Abioye alleged that the new management, through a recent circular, warned the workers not to join the unions in the industry and had refused to address all the pending issues affecting the workers. Staff of the airline on Thursday shut down its operations, as the entrance of the airlines office at the Lagos airport was barricaded. We will resist all forms of intimidation, a staff of the airline told PREMIUM TIMES. Details later Share this: Twitter Facebook The National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, says the takeover of Arik airline by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, has worsened the crisis facing the airline. Olayinka Abioye, General Secretary of NUATE, made this known to PREMIUM TIMES in an exclusive interview during the shutdown of the airlines headquarters at the Lagos airport on Thursday. Aviation unions had in the early hours of Thursday shut down the operations of Arik Air. The unions, which include NUATE, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, on Wednesday threatened to ground the airline following Arik managements failure to reinstate its sacked members. The protesters also disclosed that the shutdown was because of the airlines breach of the rights of workers and its indebtedness to aviation parastatals. According to the protesters, Arik Airs bad debt had crippled the operational capacities of the parastatals. On February 9, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria took over Arik as a result of the airlines bad debt to the company and other creditors. AMCON, thereafter, appointed Roy Ilegbodu as manager of the airline and Oluseye Opasanya as the airlines receiver manager. The new management accused the previous management of Arik of mismanaging the airline, asking for patience of workers and creditors to reposition the airline. But Mr. Abioye, while speaking with PREMIUM TIMES at the protest ground Thursday, alleged that the take-over of Arik by AMCON had worsened the crisis rocking Nigerias largest airline. In fact, taking over of Arik by AMCON has seemingly worsened the situation because we expected that immediately AMCON came, they would do an appraisal of issues and find out how to resolve them, he said. Unfortunately, the receiver manager that AMCON brought in has crippled every avenue of social dialogue between the executives of the workers and Arik Management because what he has exhibited so far is unbridled arrogance and portrayal of himself as the owner and de facto financier of Arik. He has also gone further to rubbish the law which guarantees the right of workers to freedom of association freedom to join unions, Mr. Abioye added. In December, the union had shut down the operations of the airline, in protest against the non-payment of salaries and other concerns. It however reached an agreement with the management, following the intervention of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA. When probed on Thursday about the outcome of the resolution reached then, Mr. Abioye said the agreements reached in December had been breached by Arik Airs management. What happened in December was a shut down like this over seven months salaries and allowances and the government intervened through the NCAA. But as I speak to you, those agreements were breached by Arik Management and that is one reason why this industrial action is taking place, he said. Commenting further, the union leader called on the federal government to sack the airlines receiver manager, adding the airline should also pay its outstanding debts owed aviation agencies. The demand of the union is that this airline will remain closed until the federal government removes the receiver manager and appoints a new one who is ready to talk to people. We want our money that is being owed FAAN, NAMA, NCAA and others paid; money which has crippled those parastatals from performing their responsibilities to the optimum, he said. Mr. Abioye also disclosed that the management of the airline had yet to respond to their demands, adding that an official who claimed to be the chief security officer of AMCON had come out to threaten the protesters. They brought in policemen from outside to threaten us, but we will remain here until for as long as it takes us to remain here he said. PREMIUM TIMES efforts to speak with the management of Arik Air proved abortive. Staff of the airline who spoke under strict condition of anonymity, however, confirmed that they had not been paid since December. While speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, Igene Paul, NUATE Lagos State council representative, also alleged that Arik has organised a rebel group to counter the union, in a bid to scuttle the protest. If there is crisis here, we will not be held responsible. Staff who sabotage should be careful. We will not tolerate any nonsense from these people, he said. We will stay here till one week, we are not going to leave herewe will be here from morning till dawn. When contacted on Thursday, Jude Nwauzor, AMCONs Head of Corporate Communications, did not respond to calls by our correspondent. He also did not respond to text message sent to his mobile. Share this: Twitter Facebook Civil society groups and economic experts have expressed different opinions on the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, NERGP, unveiled a fortnight ago by the Federal Government. Some who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES commended government for finally giving the country a plan for the economy, but others pointed out inadequacies in the plan, including the absence of timelines, legal backing and performance monitoring indicators. The lead director, Centre for Social Justice, CENSOJ, Eze Onyekpere, said the NERGP was a welcome development that government was finally proposing a plan for the economy. We have been saying we needed a plan for the recovery of the economy since the first day this government came into office. That they have finally given the country a plan is a good development, Mr. Onyekpere said. However, he said the real challenge was whether the recommendations and policy issues in the plan were realistic, considering the short time frame, or whether the policies were not too ambitious in their targets. The Chief Executive Officer, Global Analytics Consult Limited, Tope Fasua, thought the plan was timely, and its intentions great, but said it is unwieldy and has an ending like another budget statement seeking to cover all sectors. Mr. Fasua said by now government ought to have developed killer apps that go directly to unlock aspects of the economy, arguing that a strategic plan should be sharp and specific, leaving the annual budgets and MTEF (medium term expenditure framework) to deal with the rest of the issues. Nigeria needs a plan that will boost labour productivity, get the youth engaged, and ensure economic sustainability, he said. Given the way artificial intelligence is replacing people at work these days, he said government, through the plan, appears not to have given serious thought to the problem yet. Besides, Mr. Fasua said he was uncomfortable with some of the figures used in the plan, like unemployment statistic at 16 per cent, which he said tended to understate the situation. If we are talking about youth employment being the greatest issue, why are we not talking of post-secondary unemployment, which is about 70 per cent? he asked. The Managing Director, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Johnson Chukwu, criticized the plan for lacking in specifics, particularly on timelines and how the various policies and targets would be realized. Mr. Chukwu said government should take ownership of the plan, by allowing the office of the Vice President to take responsibility for its full implementation. He said the view that the private sector would be involved in the implementation of policies was vague, as nobody stated exactly in the plan how that would be achieved. Also, Mr. Chukwu spoke about the proposed sale of public asset, without any mention of the asset to be affected and defined criteria, to know which asset would meet the criteria and how those asset would be sold. Apart from the absence of clear timelines on policies and programmes to help monitor progress, Mr. Chukwu said aspirations, like making the country self-sufficient in fuel supply, did not address the how question. Is the government going to build new refineries or revamp the existing ones to realize its domestic fuel sufficiency aspiration? he asked. For the Chief Consultant, B. Adedipe Associates Limited, Biodun Adedipe, the plan has passed the test of a strategic plan, by providing answers to the five issues often associated with the countrys past planning effort. He identified the issues to include: Where we are and how we got there. Where we are going. How we intend to get there. How do we organize and control activities? And, what we need to get there. Mr. Adedipe was of the view that the weak area of performance measurement in previous plans was strongly addressed in the NERGP. However, to strengthen governance, he said he would love to see performance management reflected not only defined, clear and measurable deliverables for every ministry, department and agency of government, but for same to become targets by which every minister and public office holder would be measured. By measuring performance every quarter, Mr. Adedipe pointed out, it would translate to 48 scores in four years of the NERGP (2017-2020). He set his performance measuring ranges as 80 to 100 per cent for excellent (green mark), 60 to 79.99 per cent as good (amber mark), and below 60 per cent unacceptable (red mark). Any political and accounting officer who scored three consecutive red marks should be redeployed or replaced, Mr. Adedipe suggested. With such an approach, a strong message will gradually and steadily shift focus from politics and political patronage to true governance. If the right metrics are measured and the scorecards will count, Nigeria may begin to emerge from the rhetoric to actual greatness, he said. He warned against branding the plan as Buharis, rather a Nigerian plan, saying he was confident that if well executed from the outset, most of the countrys interest groups would buy in and take ownership. For political economist and CEO of Economic Associates Limited, Ayo Teriba, the Federal Government has no plan, but a set of objectives. He warned Nigerians not to take the plan too seriously, without asking when work on the policies and programmes would be done. The biggest shortcoming of the plan, Mr. Teriba explained, was the absence of sufficient crisis response mechanism, as it was based on the strategic implementation plan, SIP, earlier approved to take care of the short-term fiscal issues in the 2016 budget. Basing the NERGP on the SIP obstructs the ability of government to respond to crisis, he said. The plan was caught between what the government had intended to do with the SIP before the economic crisis (recession and devaluation) in the first half of 2016 and what it wants to do between now and 2020. In trying to fashion a policy direction, government should be realistic enough to do away with all those ideas, do a diagnostic of what brought the country to that point and come up with a crisis response strategy, he said. Most of the policies and programmes, he noted, had 2020 as target, arguing that this amounted to a mere wishful thinking, mere projections without any proposal to take any action any time by anybody. There is no indication who would do what and when? The plan is silent on timelines. A plan should be a sequence of actions that follow up on each other towards an objective. Anybody taking the plan too seriously, without asking when work would be done, by who, is in a dreamland, he said. Mr. Teriba also criticised the absence of an enabling law backing the plan, pointing out that this makes it look like a joke. If government cannot implement an annual budget without an enabling law, how would you think the NERGP would be implemented without a law backing it up? The plan is a joke. The Federal Government has no plan, but a set of objectives, he said. On the way forward, Mr. Teriba said government must propose what and how it would do for the crisis in the economy to end, by taking steps to repeal certain existing laws, while new ones were enacted. The National Planning Commission cannot sit down and write something and call it a plan without a legal backing. That is not how countries are run. Thats a big weakness in the NERGP, he observed. Part of his recommendations are that the foreign exchange crisis, which was one of the main problems that drove the country into recession, must be addressed by the plan. He faulted the countrys over-dependence on exports, saying the reason the fall in global oil prices brought the countrys economy to its knees was because the country depended too much on exports, to the exclusion of foreign investment. Nigeria needs to look beyond exports of any type and bring more investments to the economy, like what is happening in India and China. The greatest unease about the plan is the mindset that government will do everything in terms of providing infrastructure. Nigeria must open up infrastructure currently under government monopoly, so that foreign investment can come in. The best way is that it will be a public-private sector partnership. We have to move beyond PPP. Open up the sectors for private investment, to ensure sustainable economic growth, he said. Share this: Twitter Facebook VANCOUVER, B.C., March 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NRG Metals Inc. (NRG or the Company) (TSX-V:NGZ), (OTC Pink:GPOFF), (Frankfurt:OGPN), is pleased to announce that management has recently completed a drill tender process for the first exploration phase at the Carachi Pampa Lithium Project, located in Catamarca, Argentina. Several groups were interviewed and a short list has been completed, for a firm bid upon receipt of drill permits. The permitting process is well underway and the Company expects a response shortly to its filing of the required Environmental Assessment. As the project has been recently expanded from 6,387 hectares to 29,182 hectares, the Company will complete an additional Vertical Electric Sounding (V.E.S.) geophysical survey over newly optioned areas of interest. The intent of the program will be to confirm and potentially expand the recently identified zone of interest, which is characterized by very low resistivity values interpreted to represent a buried salar deposit of a highly conductive saline brine zone. Further information is available within the recently completed NI 43-101 Technical Report on the project, available at the company website at www.nrgmetalsinc.com/projects/carachi-pampas-project. The project is situated 40 kilometers south of the town of Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca, at approximately 3,000 meters elevation. This region of Argentina is host to the Hombre Muerto Salar where F.M.C. is producing approximately 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent per year, as well as Galaxy Resources large development stage Sal de Vida Lithium Project. There is a provincial road within ten kilometers of the project, and full support services are located nearby. During the past four weeks, key exploration management have also completed a reconnaissance program on several other lithium opportunities. The Company is also negotiating on additional project areas and expects further news in the near future. Option Plan Reverting to a 10% Rolling Plan The company announces that it has granted incentive stock options to purchase up to 5.0 million common shares at an exercise price of $0.15 per share for a period of five years to its directors, officers and consultants, in accordance with the provisions of its stock option plan. Although the shareholders of the Company recently approved the adoption of a 20% fixed stock option plan, the Company has decided to revert back to its former 10% rolling stock option plan, in order to minimize further dilution. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, Adrian Hobkirk, President, CEO and Director T: 714.316.3272 E: ahobkirk@nrgmetalsinc.com W: www.nrgmetalsinc.com The preparation of this press release was supervised by Mr. William Feyerabend, a Certified Professional Geologist and a member of the American Institute of Professional Geologists, and a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Feyerabend approves the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this press release. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed the content of this news release and therefore does not accept responsibility or liability for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release. This news release contains certain forward- looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes forward- looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements. The transaction described in this news release is subject to a variety of conditions and risks which include but are not limited to: regulatory approval, shareholder approval, market conditions, legal due diligence for claim validity, financing, political risk, security risks at the property locations and other risks. As such, the reader is cautioned that there can be no guarantee that this transaction will complete as described in this news release. We seek safe harbor. The Senate has confirmed 45 persons as non-career ambassadors following their nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari. Senators, however, declined to confirm two other nominees. The decisions followed the report presented by Monsurat Sunmonu (APC-Oyo), chairperson of the committee on foreign affairs, which had screened the 47 nominees. In line with the recommendation of the committee, the Senate rejected the nominations of Sylvanus Nsofor, a retried judge from Imo State; and Jacob Daodu, from Ondo State. Mr. Nsofor, during his screening, refused to recite the national anthem and questioned the Senators reason for asking him for the recital. According to Mrs. Sunmonu, the 82-year-old judge pushed back a question on his suitability for the job of an envoy based on his age. Mrs. Sunmonu quoted the nominee as saying the Senate should ask Zimbabwes President Robert Mugabe how he was leading his country despite his very advanced age. Mr. Daodu was said to have been dropped because of a negative report from the State Security Service that indicted him for corruption. Apart from Messrs. Nsofor and Daodu, the other 45 nominees were cleared and confirmed by the Senate. Share this: Twitter Facebook Less than 24 hours after he told senators investigating him and others for alleged fraud that he would not appear before them, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has made a U-turn. Mr. Lawal was summoned by the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on Humanitarian Crisis in North-East which had earlier indicted him for his role in a N230 million grass-cutting scandal. Following his indictment, the Senate had called for his removal by President Muhammadu Buhari. However, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, on January 24 read a letter from President Muhammadu Buhari stating that Mr. Lawal was not given fair hearing at first hearing, thus leading to the new invitation. Mr. Lawal and the Managing Director of a company he established, Rholavision, were asked to appear before the Senate committee today, Thursday, in a public hearing. However, on Wednesday, the SGF wrote to the Senate, saying he would not appear as he had filed a case in court against his invitation. Your letter of invitation to appear before the above committee refers. I wish to kindly request that you draw the attention of the other members of the committee that I will not be able to appear before the committee primarily because I have gone to court to challenge the invitation among others. Please find attached the court documents, Mr. Lawal was quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria as saying in the letter. Rholavision also wrote to the Senate committee that its managing director would not appear as he was bereaved having recently lost a close person. Based on the decision of the two invitees, the Senate committee postponed the hearing to a new date yet to be fixed. However, on Thursday, Mr. Lawal again wrote the Senate committee, asking it to reschedule the public hearing to enable him attend. In the letter dated March 22, he said he could not honour the Thursday invitation due to an engagement, the News Agency of Nigeria reports. Rholavision was incorporated as an IT firm by Mr. Lawal in 1990, he had confirmed. The company was found by the Senate to have handled a N233 million bush-clearing contract in the north-east in 2016. While money was paid for the contract, the work was not done, the senators said. The Senate alleged that as at the time the contract was awarded in March 2016, Mr. Lawal was still a director in the company and that he only resigned in September of that year. Even so, as at the time of presenting the interim report, the Senate said Mr. Lawal is the signatory to the companys account. Mr. Lawals directorship of Rholavision while being a public official contravened Nigerias code of conduct for public officials as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, the Senate said. Mr. Lawal has, however, insisted he resigned from Rholavision after he was appointed SGF in 2015, before the company got involved in the controversial north-east contract. Share this: Twitter Facebook A Lagos State High Court in Igbosere on Thursday found Ezekiel Eloka and Echezona Nwabufor guilty of the murder of a postgraduate student, Cynthia Osokogu, who they lured from Nasarawa to Lagos before strangling her to death at a hotel in Festac Town, Lagos, in 2012. Justice Olabisi Akinlade declared that after carefully analysing the evidence presented before the court, testimonies of prosecution witnesses, and confessional statements the deceased made to the police, she was left with no doubt that the accused killed Ms. Osokogu. She also found them guilty of the second charge of committing felony by stealing her Blackberry phone saying the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused intended and in fact took the life of the deceased in the process of stealing her phone and belongings. She also found the duo guilty of the first and third charge conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to steal. Ms. Osokogu who met Mr. Eloka on Facebook was lured to Lagos and murdered on July 22, 2012, at Cosmilla Hotel, Lakeview Estate, Festac Town. Orji Osita, a pharmacist, was discharged of the charge of recklessness and negligence for selling prescription drugs without prescription which the accused used in drugging the deceased. The court is still in session. More details will be provided later. Share this: Twitter Facebook A Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, on Thursday sentenced Okwumo Nwabuzor and his nephew, Olisaeloka Ezike, to death by hanging for killing a postgraduate student, Cynthia Osokogu whom they lured from Nasarawa to Lagos before strangling her in an hotel in Festac Town in 2012. While delivering the judgement in the case that lasted four yours, the visibly angry judge, Olabisi Akinlade, said the accused deserved the sentence as they were not remorseful of their action, and were telling the court lies after offering confessional statements to the police. Justice is not only for the victim but for the society at large, she said. The law says anyone found guilty of committing murder shall be sentenced to death. This court is not in a position to change the provision of the law. The judge also found the duo guilty on three other counts and sentenced them to a total of 20 years imprisonment each. They were sentenced to 14 years in jail for conspiracy to commit murder, three years for conspiracy to commit felony by stealing, and three years for stealing a Blackberry phone. Ms. Osokogu, 25, was lured to Lagos by Mr. Nwanbufor, 37, whom she met on Facebook. The court said Mr. Nwanbufor drugged and murdered her in Cosmilla Hotel, Lakeview Estate, Festac Town with the assistance of his nephew, Mr. Ezike, 27. Two others, Orji Osita, a pharmacist who sold Ropynol, the drug used on the deceased, and Ezike Nonso, the brother of the second defendant, were charged with reckless and negligent act, and with possession of stolen property. The judge acquitted and discharged Messrs. Osita and Nonso. While delivering the judgement, Mrs. Akinlade said she relied on the evidence and testimonies provided by the prosecution. She said having carefully analysed the evidence and testimonies before the court, the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Messrs. Nwabufor and Ezike murdered Ms. Osokogu. The evidence of the prosecution remained uncontroverted and relies mainly on the testimonies of witnesses and evidence, she said. She recounted in graphic details how the deceased was lured by the convicts who promised to help her buy goods at cheap prices in Lagos. After she arrived Lagos, she was lodged in the hotel where she was drugged, chained and her gagged with a sellotape. Her hands were also tied behind her back with the sellotape. Following the testimony of the pathologist who conducted an autopsy on Ms. Osokogu, the court ruled that she died of asphyxiation caused by the blocking of her airways with cloth materials held in place by sellotape. Though the convicts pleaded not guilty and tried to withdraw the confessional statement they made to the police, claiming they were made under duress, the court admitted the statements they were corroborated by the testimonies of the witnesses and the evidence provided by the police. The judge said the fact that the police produced a video footage of the convicts making the confessional statement also helped in countering the claim by the convicts that they made the statement under duress. The court was satisfied that the confessional statements were not given under duress and admitted them in evidence. A confession is sufficient to gain conviction, she said. The confessional statement of the accused is consistent with the state of the body and consistent to the medical evidence. I shall act on it accordingly, she said. The judge specifically thanked the Area E police division in Festac Town, and particularly Joseph Edo, a police inspector who apprehended the accused, for a thorough investigation. The judge also dismissed the claim by Mr. Nwabufor that Ms. Osokogu was his fiancee and was going to introduce him to her father, saying that under cross-examination he could not tell the deceaseds birthday, the name of her mother, a home town or in fact anything about her. It is very clear that the first defendant is untruthful and deceived the court, she said. In sentencing both men to death by hanging, the judge said it was no longer relevant to know who, between the two, actually killed Ms. Osokogu. The second defendant acted in consent with the first defendant and will bear the consequences of their action irrespective of whoever committed the offence. The accused persons displayed no emotion after the sentence was read. They hid their faces from journalists who were trying to photograph them, and were quickly led away from the court room into the waiting Black Maria outside the court premises. Share this: Twitter Facebook The House of Representatives on Thursday condemned the aviation operations at the Kaduna International Airport. The lawmakers said the airport lacked safety standards for both domestic and international flights. The condemnation is coming barely a month after the lawmakers passed a resolution supporting the Kaduna Airport to serve as an alternative while repairs are going on at the Abuja airport. Speaking at the plenary on Thursday, the Chairman, Committee on Media Loan, Aids and Debt Management Adeyinka Ajayi (Osun APC) told the House that safety standards are not being adhered to at the airport. God forbid that an aircraft drops from the skies due to our own errors. This is what we should not pray to happen, it can happen to anyone Mr. Ajayi said. Mr. Ajayi also said aircraft manoeuvring and parking space is inadequate to accommodate the high number of aircraft now operating at the airport. He shared his personal experience where he witnessed aviation fuel being discharged from haulage trucks into an aircraft without purifying the fuel. Also contributing, the Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs Nnenna Ukeje (Imo PDP) noted that the space provided for passengers and parking of aircrafts was inadequate and could lead to accidents. The lives of passengers and aircraft are being exposed to danger at the Kaduna airport, Mrs. Ukeje said. She said she recalled how she spent several hours after landing at the airport trying to access her luggage. Mrs. Ukeje added that The Kaduna airport experiment has obviously failed. Another lawmaker, Hassan Saleh (Kano APC), said the airport is a total disappointment, adding that an awaiting disaster is eminent. Security in the airport is very poor, you can obviously see that security personnel are being overwhelmed by the crowd, Mr. Hassan said. The Abuja airport closure is in its third week, according to the original work plan by the Federal Government. The airport will remain closed for six weeks. Of the foreign airlines that flew from Abuja airport, only Ethiopian airline is currently operating at the Kaduna airport, with others choosing to stay away despite government appeals. The Abuja airport was closed to allow the repair of its only runway. The government opted to divert flights to Kaduna saying it was the best option despite criticisms from Nigerian engineers, aviation workers and others who argued that the Abuja airport runway could still be used while being repaired. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has announced the introduction of a liberalised online Visa on Arrival (VOA) facility to the public, especially foreign investors willing to invest in Nigeria. The Comptroller-General of the NIS, Muhammad Babandede, made the announcement on Thursday in Abuja. Mr. Babandede said the measure was part of the resolution of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) aimed at attracting foreign investors to the country. As a critical member of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), the NIS has automated its visa application and processing services at all entry points. This is to ensure that all genuine requests for Visa on Arrival facility from any part of the world are processed and issued within 48 hours (two working days), he said. He explained that the online VOA application and processing facility is a product of robust visa reforms regime intended to bring Nigeria in tandem with global best practices and attract Foreign Direct Investors and skilled professionals into the country. The controller-general said the new process was designed to eliminate all unnecessary bureaucratic visa processing procedures in Nigerian Missions abroad. He said it was also to serve the interests of would-be visitors from countries where Nigeria does not have a Mission. He said that a dedicated e-mail address oa@nigeriaimmigration.gov.ng had been deployed where visa applicants, their representatives or companies could forward their requests and details. Mr. Babandede said that applicants were advised to use functional e-mail addresses where copies of approval letter shall be forwarded upon a successful process and payment. Applicants are, however, to note that successful payment online is not an approval and should not proceed to Nigeria until you have received Visa on Arrival Approval letter duly issued by the NIS Headquarters, Abuja, he added. He said that a VOA desk had been opened at all international airports in the country where visas would be issued upon the presentation of all the necessary travel documents and evidence of visa payment. The NIS boss expressed optimism that the VOA process and the introduction of the harmonised arrival and departure cards would go a long way in attracting investors to the country. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Hadiza Usman, has denied any investigation of the agency by the Presidency. In a statement signed by the NPA boss on Thursday, Ms. Usman said she had nothing to hide, and was ready for probe. The NPA boss said she would not bend in her resolve to rid the agency of corruption, adding that there was no meeting between her and any APC Chieftain. Ms. Usman was reacting to reports that the presidency has ordered an investigation into the financial dealings of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, over allegation of fraud. My attention has been drawn to malicious lies being bandied around by a Prince Henry Nwazuruahu on my person, Ms. Usman said. I wish to challenge him to bring up evidence on any such meeting with any APC Chieftain and any monies being given. I wish to challenge him to provide the authorship to this report whom I shall file a suit against in the court of law for defamation of character, the NPA boss added. Ms. Usman said in the last few days, she had faced a barrage of malicious lies directed against her in the media, saying she will not budge on her position on compliance with Federal Government of Nigeria policies. I will not bow on my stance to rid the NPA of corrupt practices, she added. I will not be cowed or intimidated into conforming to corrupt practices of cheating the Federal government of its revenues. I have been issued with death threats and veiled messages conveying that my life is at risk because of the stance I have taken. No false media attacks or threats to my life will stand in the way of my doing the right thing, she said. She affirmed that the agency had not received any notification by the presidency of an investigation, saying the agency is open to any of such investigation as it has nothing to hide. Ms. Usman was appointed Managing Director of the NPA in July 2016. Share this: Twitter Facebook The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, says it has uncovered new tricks by drug trafficking cartels to circumvent security checks. A suspected drug trafficker, Roland Chukwudi, 37, who was apprehended for importing 2.045 kilogramme of heroin from Nairobi, Kenya, was found in possession of a fake travel ticket indicating that he was coming from China, the NDLEA said in a statement on Thursday. Another suspect, Maduka Nnaemeka, 39, was also caught attempting to export 1.555kg of cocaine to Dubai. Preliminary investigation by the anti-narcotic agency revealed that Mr. Chukwudi deliberately replaced his ticket with a fake one showing that he was coming from China instead of Nairobi. The agency said this was intended to place him on a low risk profile but his expectations were dashed as the heroin concealed inside his luggage was detected during screening of passengers on an Ethiopian Airline flight. Ahmadu Garba, NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, while explaining reasons for the falsification of the ticket, said that drugs are more expensive in Asia. The suspect wanted to distract the attention of officers by presenting himself as coming from China while he actually took off from Nairobi, said Mr. Garba. This is because, it is economically unwise to bring narcotics from China where the price is far higher than here in Nigeria. Mr. Chukwudi, a trader in Onitsha, who is married with three children, said his friend introduced him into drug trafficking. This was the plan of my friend who introduced me into drug trafficking, Mr. Chukwudi said. I sell clothes in Onitsha but my business is as good as dead due to the economic recession. My friend that I contacted for financial assistance requested that I bring a bag containing heroin from Nairobi. The fake ticket was the plan of my friend who assured me that I will never be caught. Mr. Nnaemeka, an automobile parts dealer based in Aba, said family problems pushed him into drug trafficking. I lost goods worth N4 million few years ago and since then my life has been a shadow of itself, said the father of two. I smuggled the drug for the sum of N200,000 to solve family problem. Muhammad Abdallah, the NDLEA Chairman, assured that the agency would continue to work hard and remain vigilant in her counter-narcotics mission. We are always ahead of drug barons because of our commitment to training and security vigilance in detecting and nipping every subterfuge in the bud, he said. The agency will continue to sustain its dominance over drug cartels. The agency said the suspects, who are from Anambra State, would soon be charged to court. Share this: Twitter Facebook Worried by misapplication of the federal character principle, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, said on Thursday that the principle should be based strictly on merit rather than on ethnicity. Mr. Sanusi spoke at the 10th memorial lecture of Kehinde Sofola with the theme: The Role of the Legal Profession in Nation Building: the Nigerian Context. The emir, who chaired the lecture, said the government should only ensure that representatives of the people in political, legal, or economic institutions in the country were drawn from suitably qualified individuals and not on ethnic considerations. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Character Commission Act was promulgated in 1995 and later fused into the 1999 Constitution in the wake of agitations for fair share of political positions across the country. In the guiding principles and formula for the distribution of all cadres of posts across the country, the Act stipulates in its Part 1 that (1) Each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory shall be equitably represented in all national institutions and in public enterprises and organisations. (2) The best and the most competent persons shall be recruited from each state of the federation to fill positions reserved for the indigenes of the FCT. It was introduced to promote national unity and foster national loyalty instead of regional interests and eventually give every Nigerian a sense of belonging no matter anyones religion, language or ethnic group. Mr. Sanusi said: The issue of federal character should not be an excuse for nepotism; it should be based strictly on merit and not on family or ethnic sentiments. According to him, a true application of the federal character principle will help to preserve the rule of law in the country. As we live today, we must understand that it is our duty to respect the various institutions of our country. We cannot sit and watch as spectators as our institutions are being destroyed; to be a true Nigerian we must learn to look at our leadership and tell them where they are going wrong, Mr. Sanusi said. On human rights and liberty, the emir stressed the need for the society to pay attention to child rights. No religion permits infringement on the rights of any child. You find children in the streets hawking when they should be in school while some female children are even forced into marriage. Even the Sharia Law requires you to first seek the consent of your female child before giving her out in marriage and so the rule of law expects us to be law abiding, he said. Mr. Sanusi also urged leaders at all levels to obey the rule of law rather than being intoxicated with power, saying power is transient. As leaders, he said, they should perform their duties diligently for the benefit and common good of the people in accordance to the laws of the country. A rights lawyer, Femi Falana, a discussant at the lecture, called on lawyers to abide by the rule of law and shun every form of corrupt practices in court and in public life. According to Mr. Falana, the rule of law demands that the country is governed by law and the constitution. He appealed to leaders to ensure that the rights and liberties of the citizenry were protected, adding this can only be done by adherence to the law. Mr. Falana condemned corrupt practices by judicial and political officers and urged citizens to stand up and fight corruption. NAN also reports that the lecture was attended by the Edo governor, Godwin Obaseki, a political activist, Junaid Muhammed, Justice Bimbo Obaseki-Adejumo and senior lawyers. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook A prosecution witness, Nuhu Dalhatu, on Thursday told a Federal High Court, Abuja, that about N800 million used for the construction of a shopping mall linked to Alex Badeh, a former Chief of Air Staff, was traced to the Nigeria Air Force, NAFs account. Mr. Badeh is standing trial along Iyalikam Nigeria Limited on a 10-count charge bordering on money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption to the tune of N3.97 billion brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. While being led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, Mr. Dalhatu, a forensic analyst with the EFCC, told the court that investigations were carried out on a number of properties, linked to Mr. Badeh, one of which was the shopping mall located at 2, Oda Crescent. I was asked to investigate the procurement scam that was linked to the Office of National Security Adviser, ONSA, and Nigeria Air Force arms procurement contracts, he said. Mr. Dalhatu, who is the 17th prosecution witness, told the court that the property located at 19, Kumasi Crescent, was linked to his son. According to him, his son was invited for interrogation, during which it was discovered that the property was bought at about N260 million through a former NAF Director of Finance. We were assigned five properties to investigate, including 19, Kumasi Crescent, Wuse 2; 6, Ogun River, Maitama; 2, Nelson Mandela Street, Asokoro; 2, Oda Crescent, off Adis Ababa Crescent, Wuse 2 and a plaza on Ahmadu Bello, Garki 2, he said. In the course of investigation, we found out that the property located at 2, Oda Crescent, was a five floor mall, under construction, he said. He explained further that: The construction company (Rytebuilders Technologies Limited) was invited, and we requested for its project account. Upon analysis of the Zenith Bank account of the company, we discovered that about N800 million out of the N1.2 billion total turnover, was from the NAF106B and NAF camp accounts from the Mogadishu Barracks, and it was authorized by E.A. Abu and Air Commodore Seyi. According to him, both of them were invited for questioning and they both admitted that: For a period of seven months, N200 million from the account was transferred to Badeh. Further hearing in the matter continues on May 2, 3 and 4, 2017. Share this: Twitter Facebook TAMPA BAY, Fla., March 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 360 Advanced, a leader in IT compliance and assurance services nationwide, is advising healthcare providers and their consumer data management vendors to move quickly to participate in the HITRUST CSF Assurance assessment process because the initial deadline for compliance is set for this summer. The HITRUST examination and assurance process can take six months or more to complete successfully, so it would be wise for healthcare providers and their related service organizations managing consumer data to schedule their HITRUST CSF assessment as soon as possible, advises Eric Ratcliffe, Director at 360 Advanced, which provides data security compliance services to clients in more than 30 U.S. states, Europe, South and Central America and the Pacific Rim. The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) announced the expansion of the healthcare industrys use of the CSF Assurance program in June, 2015, in support of efforts to efficiently and effectively manage the third-party assurance process. The Alliance said at that time that healthcare organizations would begin requiring their business associates within the healthcare industry to obtain HITRUST CSF Certification within the following 24 months. A growing number of healthcare organizations, including Anthem, Health Care Services Corp., Highmark, Humana, and UnitedHealth Group will now be requiring their business associates to obtain CSF Certification as a means of demonstrating effective security and privacy practices aligned with the requirements of the health industry, according to HITRUST. A HITRUST spokesman told 360 Advanced that the major healthcare organizations are phasing in the requirement for certification, with some enforcing the summer deadline requirement more aggressively than others. ABOUT 360 ADVANCED An Authorized HITRUST CSF Assessor, 360 Advanceds services are provided, but not limited to, the following industries: Title Services, Hosted and Managed IT, Data Center and Colocation, Software as a Service (SaaS), Healthcare, Financial Services, Insurance, HR | Payroll | PEO, Legal and Collections, Bulk Mail Printing and Distribution, Background Screening, Business Process Outsourcing and Marketing. Services provided by 360 Advanced include HITRUST CSF, SOC 1 (SSAE 16), SOC 2, SOC 3, PCI DSS, HIPAA Security/HITECH, Microsoft Vendor Policy and other security and compliance services. For an initial consultation, please contact Eric Ratcliffe at eratcliffe@360advanced.com. Dominic Offiong, 54, had one thing in mind when he relocated to the United States of America, USA in 1998. Although he was looking for greener pastures, he promised himself he would one day return home to settle down. As a medical doctor, his dream had always been to build a world-class hospital in Nigeria where he would continue his medical practice after his sojourn in America. So, after a brief spell in the U.S., he started thinking of home. But his problem was how to get a trustworthy person in Nigeria to help him take custody of monies he planned to start sending to establish businesses and buy properties in Nigeria. Then his cousin, Effiong, an architect who is also based in the U.S., introduced one Doris Akpabio as a relation from the same village in Akwa Ibom State who fits the bill. Thinking he was in safe hands, Mr. Offiong started discussions with Ms. Akpabio who boasted that she was quite familiar with the property market in the country, especially in Abuja where she resides. That was exactly the kind of person he was looking for. Without any suspicion, he started making fund transfers into her account. Then she started buying properties for him and sending him receipts. To compensate her for her efforts, he was also paying her commission on every purchase. But unknown to Mr. Offiong, she had registered a real estate firm and was issuing receipts in the name of her companies. She was ripping him off handsomely. She bought me House No 4, Road 112 in EFAB Estate at the cost of N20 million, then another property, House No 29, 1st Avenue in Lokogoma at the cost of N2 million. She also bought me another house at Karu Estate No 268 FHA Phase 1. I gave her N15 million for the purchase but I later discovered that she actually paid N14million. I paid her commission as agreed on all the property between five and 10 per cent depending on what she agreed on. She later told me that there is a very reputable construction company in Abuja that could help me buy some lands. The first company was Eff and Garrett Nigeria Limited and the second company was Pearl Heritage. I gave her N20 million to buy a plot for my proposed Hospital, Rapha Rophe. She told me that the plot was in Maitama Extension. Then, subsequently, I gave her money for two more plots that were supposed to be close to the hospital plot to be used as quarters for the hospital at the cost of N10 million and N8 million, respectively. I paid her commission for these purchases, he narrated The bubble burst for Ms. Akpabio when the medical doctor came back to Nigeria unannounced. When I came back to Nigeria one time, I tried to locate one of the companies, Pearl Heritage, at the address on the document only to find out that it was a fictitious address. When I confronted her, she told me that they had moved. Doris Akpabio also told me that the Police Service Commission was selling land. The plots were supposed to be at N1 million each. I gave her N10 million to buy 10 plots. I kept asking her for the documents but she told me that they were not ready. I later discovered that the plots were actually sold for N650, 000, he added. But that was not the end of the business between them as she also sold another dummy to the unsuspecting doctor. She also told me that the Police Service Commission was helping the staff to buy duplexes with a guaranteed loan, that the money will be discounted from their salaries. She said outsiders can also buy but they would have to pay outright. The cost of 3 bedroom duplex was N22.2 million and N24 million each with a five per cent agency fee as well as another five percent legal fee. I sent N26.4 million to Doris Akpabio through my nephew, Raphael Asuquo, in November 2014. She had told me that she had collected her unit. But after paying the money, my unit was not forthcoming. She kept telling me that they were putting finishing touches. The unit was supposed to be at Apo. When I kept pressurizing her, she told me that she was waiting for the swearing in of President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari. After the president was sworn in, she told me they were waiting for the swearing of the ministers. After failing to provide the duplexes or refund the money paid for their purchase despite threat of a legal action in June 25, 2015, she turned off all her mobile phone numbers. It was then that Mr. Offiong realised that he had been duped even as he discovered that the lady bought only seven plots for him from the Police Service Commission land as against 10 he paid for while the actual selling price was N650, 000 instead of the N1 million he paid for each of the plots. That was the beginning of his undoing as Ms. Akpabio, a former staff of Police Service Commission, taught him lessons in betrayal. He had remitted over N100 million to her account and was hoping to come back home to start a new life. But all his dreams were shattered by Ms. Akpabio, now at large. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, is already on the trail of Mrs. Akpabio who after fleecing the innocent medical doctor allegedly resigned from the Police Service Commission and relocated to the United States of America. The ICPC involvement followed a petition by Mr. Offiong. Remittances by Nigerians in diaspora Mr. Offiong is just one of the over 17 million Nigerians in The Diaspora who send money home annually for various reasons. The total remittances by such Nigerians ranks second to the proceeds from petroleum as foreign exchange earners. United Kingdom and United States of America are said to have over two million Nigerians each. According to the World Banks Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016, remittances from Nigerians living abroad hit $20.77 billion in 2015, making Nigeria the sixth largest recipient of remittances in the world. The report says remittances to Nigeria rose every year over the last decade from $16.93 billion in 2006 to $20.83 billion in 2014. And in 2016, remittances by Nigerians abroad were over $35 billion. This was the highest in Africa and the third largest in the world. The top two sources for Nigerian diaspora remittances in 2015 were the United States ($5.7 billion) and the United Kingdom ($3.7 billion). Between 2011 and 2014, Nigerians in the Diaspora had remitted $63.17 billion (N10.35 trillion) into the country. Analysis of remittances showed that $11 billion (N1.8 trillion) was remitted in 2011, $21 billion (N3.44 trillion) in 2012, $20.77 billion (N3.40 trillion) in 2013 and $10.40 billion (N1.7 trillion) in the first half of 2014. The global top ten remittance recipients this year were India ($72.2 billion), China ($63.9 billion), the Philippines ($29.7 billion), Mexico ($25.7 billion), France ($24.6 billion), Nigeria ($20.77 billion), the Arab Republic of Egypt ($20.4 billion), Pakistan ($20.1 billion), Germany ($17.5 billion), and Bangladesh ($15.8 billion). Nigeria tops the top ten remittance recipients in Africa with $20.77 billion, followed by Ghana ($2.0 billion), Senegal ($1.6 billion), Kenya ($1.6 billion), South Africa ($1.0 billion), Uganda ($0.9 billion), Mali ($0.9 billion), Ethiopia ($0.6 billion), Liberia ($0.5 billion), and Sudan ($0.5 billion). Total international remittances sent by migrants to their families in their home countries was projected to reach $601 billion in 2015, with developing countries receiving $441 billion, the Factbook said. The United States was the largest source of remittances in the world, with outflows reaching $56 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia where $37 billion was remitted from, and Russia at $33 billion. At more than three times the size of development aid, international migrants remittances provide a lifeline for millions of households in developing countries, said Dilip Ratha, co-author of the Factbook. In addition, migrants hold more than $500 billion in annual savings. Together, remittances and migrant savings offer a substantial source of financing for development projects that can improve lives and livelihoods in developing countries, said Ratha. Tapping into remittances from abroad Notwithstanding the fact that the Federal Government of Nigeria does not have accurate data on the population of its citizens abroad, experts believe if the remittances of Nigerians in The Diaspora are fully harnessed, it could boost the Nigerian economy particularly in the face of dwindling oil incomes and prevailing economic recession. Put together, remittances in 2015 and 2016 to Nigeria $21 billion and $35 billion respectively are far more than Nigerias external reserves, which still fluctuates between $27 billion and $30 billion dollars currently. Presently, the Nigerian government is looking at the potential of generating $10 billion annually into the economy through a proposed project for Nigerians abroad. According to the World Bank, some of the money sent home by Nigerians in the Diaspora is going into informal socio-economic development activities like payment for services like health, housing, business start-ups and education. A report from the Banks Population Reference Bureau said most of the money sub-Saharan migrant workers send home is spent on education, health care, buying land, building houses, starting business or improving farms. In the wake of the dwindling foreign exchange earnings, findings by theicirnigeria.org show that the federal government commissioned five consultants to find alternative means of forex. The consultants, it was gathered, advised government to look into how to benefit from remittances by Nigerians abroad. Remittances from Nigerians in The Diaspora however have always ended in wrong hands and get diverted into purposes not intended. Corroborating this, Nta Ekpo, Chairman, ICPC who is currently championing the cause of Nigerians in the Diaspora, said when some Nigerians abroad send money home for development activities, their families or friends divert the money and when they come back home, the families engage in all manner of activities, including conniving with kidnappers, in order to silence them. Mr. Ekpo was in Germany in 2016 when Nigerians living there invited him to talk on corruption and what he learnt has led to an initiative that not only fights corruption but also guarantees that Nigerians abroad can invest in their home economy and significantly help turn around the economy. He said, But before I got there, I did a lot of research about them and I discovered they had two major problems. One is the problem of remittance, when they send money home it is diverted; two, their families create artificial security challenges for them when they come back home. They organise kidnappers to kidnap them. After the interaction, the ICPC chairman signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with Nigerians in Germany on how the ICPC could help them secure their remittances and send money home seamlessly. My form of anti-corruption at ICPC is a preventive approach. Anti-corruption agencies today run after 80 per cent of the population who are corrupt but with my preventive approach, I believe we should just be running after 20 per cent when the 80 per cent are doing the right thing he said. He explained that the Commission could help those interested in real estate source for developers and also help them search for credible business partners. In return, he said those in Diaspora must help blow the whistle on Nigerians engaging in money laundering. The Diaspora City But when the ICPC Chairman returned to Nigeria, he took actions to back up his MoU with the Nigerians in the Diaspora. When I came back, I spoke to the Managing Director of Federal Housing Authority, FHA, Mohammed Al-amin. I said in 2015, $21 billion was remitted to Nigeria by Nigerians and $35 billion in 2016. Nigeria external reserve is just $27 billion. So if these people are bringing such money, why do you toy with them? What can we do to encourage them? he said. His suggestion has given birth to a proposed Diaspora City that is designed by FHA to provide a secure and sustainable home ownership for Nigerians that are living and working outside the country as well as for workers of Nigerian Diplomatic Mission. According to the FHA boss, the Diaspora City is also aimed at providing yet another non-oil window for the sustainable flow of forex of at least $10 billion annually to the Nigerian economy. The project is expected to gulp a total of $630 million (N236billion). For Mr. Al-Amin, the project would secure the hard earnings of Nigerians living and working abroad. Out of five, there is hardly one Nigerian in The Diaspora that has not fallen victim of remittances into wrong hands, he said. Citing Ethiopian example, he said Addis Ababa economy was largely dependent on foreign exchange remittances from its Diaspora citizens. Between 1990 and 2000, as much as 30 per cent of the countrys forex was attributable to Diaspora remittances. With the creation of the Ethiopian Diaspora Housing Programme in 2002 to date, the remittances have doubled from the erstwhile 30 percent to the current 61 percent of forex. While expressing optimism in the success of the Nigerian Diaspora Housing Programme, NIDHOP, he noted that 30 per cent of general physicians in America are Nigerians. Many people believe that Nigerians abroad would send home much more than they currently do if there are safe means of investing money at home. $35 billion remittance is just a childs play, when we feel we are part of the system, when we feel we have a stake in Nigeria it could be far higher, said Kenneth Gbandi, Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora, NIDO, Europe chapter. The Office of the Vice President has already keyed into the project serving as facilitators and ICPC as promoters while FHA serves as the developers and owners, and Nigerians in Diaspora as the beneficiaries. Mr. Al-Amin disclosed that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has promised to facilitate a quick land allocation of 200 to 1000 hectare of land by the Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA, in favourable locations for the pilot project in Abuja. He added that Mr. Osinbajo promised to facilitate free and secured remittances of installment payments from diaspora off takers through a specialised account to be approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN; and to facilitate land allocation to the FHA in other states where the project will be replicated. Phase 1 of the project will kick off in Abuja, Benin city, Port Harcourt and Lagos in 2017. These cities, according to him, are believed to have the highest numbers of citizens abroad. The phase 11 will be sited in Enugu, Asaba, Ibadan and Otta in 2018. A total of 200 hectares of land is proposed for the pilot project sites to be developed in communities and replicated, beginning from 50 hectares of land. It is expected that the city would have independent power supply and sewage treatment plants to be designed and developed by Nigerian professionals abroad. There are three funding models designed for the project already. There is beneficiary funding model which allows Nigerians in The Diaspora to make staggered payment for the houses and developer financier model which rests the funding on FHA as well as Government Intervention Loan which may come in form of a loan. A 15-member committee comprising all relevant people and agencies and which is headed by the Managing Director of FHA is working to perfect the takeoff of the project and other technicalities. On the feasibility of the project, Mr. Gbandi said it is extremely important to market the project among members of his association. One of the reasons we had the MoU with the ICPC Chairman is that we have been burnt over and over again. It was very important to market this project; it is extremely important, he said. NIDO, according to him, is made up of four continental chapters. We have NIDO Europe, America, Asia and Africa and Azerbaijan which is just coming on board and is run by a chairperson for each chapter, he said. It is a massive network; let it be on record that Nigerians in Diaspora is the official contact network of Nigerian federal government and the largest network of global Nigerian professionals in history. The idea that is going to live far after our chairman has left the service. I said that to him this afternoon, you will live in the memories of the diaspora if this project becomes a reality. If the governments plan goes through, it may the beginning of the end for diaspora remittances going down the drain. This story was first published by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. We have their permission to republish. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said the latest fracas in South Africa, in which two Nigerians were involved, was not a xenophobic attack. The ministry in a statement by its spokesperson, Clement Aduku, in Abuja, said that there was no reported loss of live during the incident. It expressed concern that the incident came barely few days when both Nigerian and South African Governments successfully proffered solution to xenophobic attacks against foreigners in South Africa. It said that contrary to media reports, the latest incident was a scuffle that took place on March 14, 2017 in a motor park in Polokwane in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. According to the statement, during the scuffle, two Nigerians were injured, one of who has already been discharged from the hospital and the other receiving treatment. The Ministry has received no report of casualty or death of any Nigerian in this latest altercation though some properties were reportedly destroyed in the ensuing escalation. From all indications, the recent incident does not constitute xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, the ministry said. It assured that Nigerias Acting High Commissioner in South Africa, Martin Cobham, was working in close partnership with the Consul-General in Johannesburg, Godwin Adama, to resolve the issues. It said that the two envoys were in liaison with the leadership of the Nigerian community and relevant officials of the South African Government to ensure that the situation did not escalate. Meanwhile, the ministry calls on the South African authorities to continue to take firm measures to maintain law and order, including the security of lives and property in the country. They should ensure that Nigerians and other foreigners in South Africa continue to go about their normal businesses without let or hindrance, the spokesperson said. The Nigeria Union in South Africa had said on Tuesday that five Nigerians were attacked in Polokwane, Limpopo Province. Collin Mgbo, Secretary of the Union in the Province, told the News Agency of Nigeria on telephone from Polokwane that three of the five Nigerians attacked were in critical condition in the hospital. I received a call that a Nigerian was attacked at Ivy Park in Polokwane on March 15. I got to the scene and saw that the Nigerian was almost dead, his house was looted and burnt, he said. Mr. Mgbo said another Nigerian was also attacked in the same neighbourhood same day and that while he got to the scene, the mob left the wounded man and descended on him. They left the wounded Nigerian and faced me. They destroyed my car and I managed to escape and ran to a police station, he said. The secretary added that three Nigerians, including the owner of a mechanics garage, were attacked at Moledji, near Polokwane. Their shops and houses were looted, vandalised and destroyed. The local chapter of the union has reported these attacks to the South African police, Nigerian mission and national secretariat of our union. Our national secretariat is on top of the situation. As we speak, three Nigerians in the hospital are in critical condition and I do not know if they will survive because of the severity of the attack, he said. Mr. Mgbo urged the Federal Government to persuade its South African counterpart to ensure the safety of Nigerians in their country. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook The Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, PTCIJ, has launched a Primary Health Care tracker as part of its strategic vision of employing civic technology solution to address health care provision in Nigeria. The tracker, named PHC Tracker,seeks to bring service delivery in the health sector within the purview of the people in a way to give substance to accountability of citizens over government policies in the sector. The PHC Tracker will enable citizens and journalists track and report on healthcare service delivery and project implementation in the country. The Chief Executive of the Centre, Dapo Olorunyomi, said, This way, capital projects will be better tracked to promote citizen participation as veritable mechanisms, not only for the monitoring of service delivery, but also for improving access to healthcare service across the country. He added that the application promises to revolutionize healthcare delivery in the country by empowering citizens and delivering content to them in a responsive and mobile friendly environment. The tracker is the innovative outcome of a collaboration between the PTCIJ and Code for Nigeria with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, BMGF. This technological innovation is in line with PTCIJ`s strategic mission to use civic technology to help solve critical social and development issues in Nigeria. Commenting on the PHC Tracker, Joshua Olufemi, the programme director of the centre, encouraged citizens to fully interact with the appas this will allow them to express their candid views on the state of the health care and of public health institutions across the country. Speaking further, he advised health personnel to also use the app to make reports without any fear of victimisation or punishment because reports will remain anonymous except otherwise permitted by the citizen. The tracker is embedded with a geo-location tracking system which points to the exact location of a health facility which makes it possible for independent verification visit without recourse to the person who made the report. As a cardinal objective of the tracker, contracts awarded by government will be fully monitored by citizens for better service delivery. Mr. Olufemi encouraged stakeholders in the health sector to seek collaboration with the PTCIJ as a way of making the tracker realise its greatest potentials that can greatly benefit all sectors and players in the health sector. The tracker can be accessed onwww.phc.ptcij.org and can work with any type of smartphone. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Supreme Court has fixed May 4 for the continuation of hearing in appeals concerning the ongoing leadership crisis of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The apex court gave the date on Thursday, after listening to counsels arguments in the appeals challenging the February 17judgement of the Appeal Court which confirmed former Borno State governor, Ali Sheriff, as leader of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party. Mr. Sheriffs challenger for leadership of the party, Ahmed Makarfi, had approached the Supreme Court after the ruling by the Port Harcourt Division of appellate court, starting the final phase of the judicial battle for the PDP leadership that has lasted almost a year. The judicial struggle began on May, 17 2016 when a Lagos Division of the Federal High Court ordered the party to suspend its national convention earlier scheduled to hold on May 21 that year. Contrary to that order, however, the PDP held its convention, amidst conflicting information from the Makarfi and Sheriff led factions of the party, respectively, regarding the said convention. During the convention on May 21, Mr. Makarfi was elected leader of the caretaker committee of the party. Shortly after that convention, however, loyalist of the Sheriff faction filed a motion before the Federal High Court, FHC, in Lagos, challenging the emergence of Mr. Makarfi as leader of the party. Consequently on May 24, the court presided by Justice Ibrahim Buba nullified the emergence of the Makarfi-led leadership of the party, and reinstated Mr. Sheriff as leader of the party After that judgement, other judgements emanating from separate divisions of the FHC, gave controversial rulings on the convention. In February, however, the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt announced Mr. Sheriff leader of the party, paving the way for the suit at the Supreme Court. On Thursday, at the commencement of hearing in Mr. Makarfis application, the counsel representing the Sheriff faction, Akin Olujimi, said his client (PDP) was not aware of any application, challenging the emergence of the current leadership of the party. He, however, prayed the court to set aside the application, stressing that the appropriate authorities to have made the said application have not decided to appeal. The counsel representing the second defendant in Mr. Sheriffs appeal aligned with Mr. Olijimis submission. The counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, said his client, the National Secretary of the party from Mr. Sheriffs faction, Wale Oladipo, would want the court to set aside the application made by Mr. Makarfis counsel, Kanu Agabi, stressing that the appellant had no authorisation to have made the said application. He also prayed the court to determine the application by the Sheriff faction, before hearing the main appeal by the faction led by Mr. Makarfi. In his response, Mr. Agabi, a former attorney general of Nigeria, said the respondents should make the submissions written. Mr. Olujimi had prayed the court to allow them make their submissions within a period of 21 days. So, after hearing the arguments of counsel, the panel of five justices, led by Mohammed Tanko, adjourned to May 4 for hearing of the appeals by the Sheriff-led faction. Share this: Twitter Facebook Two weeks after 171 Nigerians voluntarily returned home from Libya, 155 others followed suit on Thursday aboard a chartered Nouvel Air aircraft with registration number TS-1NB. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the aircraft landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at about 6.00 p.m. Like the initial group which returned on March 7 after being stranded in Libya while enroute Europe, the returnees were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Nigerian Embassy in Libya. They were received at the Hajj Camp area of the airport by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police. Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) were also on ground to receive them. Addressing journalists, Onimode Bandele, Director, Search and Rescue, NEMA, said various agencies were on ground to welcome the returnees. We are here to welcome our nationals who have signified their intention to come back home from Libya. The returnees are being assisted back home by IOM, having being negotiated out of detention centres in Libya for various immigration offences. We had three medical cases on board; one is paralysis, the other one is a psychiatric problem, while the third is a minor injury which has been taken care of with the effort of the IOM doctors and the Port Health Authority, he said. Mr. Bandele said that the Nigerians had gone to Libya in search of greener pastures, which unfortunately turned out to be a terrible experience for them. The NEMA official disclosed that the exercise had been in existence since 2001, adding that about 7000 Nigerians had been assisted by IOM to return home from various countries. Between March 2016 to December 2016, IOM assisted 867 Nigerians back home. Between February 2017 till date, we have had 654 Nigerians. This means that between March 2016 to March 23, 2017, IOM had assisted 1521 Nigerians that have voluntarily returned to the country. This exercise we are doing here is to ensure that they are well received and we are also in touch with their respective state governments. They (state governments) will definitely take ownership of these voluntary returnees, he said. The returnees were profiled by immigration authorities and were each given N19, 695 for transportation to their respective states. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook The pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has vowed to resist what it termed the undue deployment of federal might, in settling ethnic scores occasioned by the resent clashes between the Hausa community and Yoruba indigenes in Ile Ife. A press statement by the groups publicity secretary, Yinka Odumakin, on Wednesday noted that the position of Afenifere followed the illegal, unconstitutional and sectional parade of 21 Ife indigenes over the recent clashes between the host community and Arewa settlers. As a first step in this regard, we have assembled a powerful team of lawyers to enforce the fundamental human rights of the 21 abducted Yoruba persons, the Afenifere said. The group pointed out that the investigation and trial of suspects under the present circumstances should by known law, take place at the scene of the crime. Afenifere expressed appreciation to the lawyers of Yoruba extraction who had taken up the challenge pro bono. The legal team will challenge this subversion of due process while political pressure continues on why two communities would be involved in a fight and only members of one community put on trial by a police whose leadership is of the same ethnic group with the other party in conflict, Mr. Odumakin said. We restate the fact that the Arewa group started the killings in Ile-Ife by killing a Yoruba young man. This is clearly missing in the skewed report by the police. We appeal to our people to be calm while we pursue the legal angle to this challenge to our pride as a people as the first step. Another pan-Yoruba group, the Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG, had earlier condemned the report of the police on the Ife crisis, accusing the police of a lopsided investigation. The ARG said the police had recreated the Ife clash as an ethic one, while arresting for prosecution only persons from the Yoruba extraction. It called on the Osun State Government to constitute a commission of enquiry to investigate the matter and unravel the remote causes of the crisis. The police has, however, denied the allegations, saying it was thorough in its investigation, and its findings were based on facts. The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, told PREMIUM TIMES that the report was not biased and those found culpable were those who actually participated in the act of violence during the crisis. He urged those with misgivings to approach the courts as that was the only appropriate means to declare innocence. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has accused the police of showing ethnic bias in their handling of the investigation into the recent crisis in Ile Ife which claimed the lives of not less than 40 persons. It appears that the police have so far demonstrated ethnic bias in its investigation and this is not good for the unity of Nigeria and its people, the governor said in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka. Mr. Fayose however, condemned the killing of innocent people and destruction of properties in Ile-Ife. Whether committed by Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa or any tribe, crime is crime and it must be treated as such. However, the handling of crime must be without ethnic bias, he said. In a clash involving the people of Ile-Ife, who are Yorubas and Hausa, who are settlers in the ancient town, only Yorubas were arrested, taken to Abuja and paraded before the press. Governor Fayose said there was no way the police could convince Nigerians that only the 20 Yorubas that were paraded in Abuja were involved in the crisis. He expressed concern that the same police that intervened promptly in the Ile-Ife crisis, made arrests and paraded 20 people as alleged masterminds of the mayhem, had been unable to arrest and parade killer Fulani herdsmen accused of killing in different communities. If there was a clash between Yoruba people and Hausas in Ile-Ife, are the police now saying that only the Yorubas took part in the crisis? queried Mr. Fayose. Both Yorubas and Hausa were attacked. Properties belonging to both Yorubas and Hausas were destroyed. Are the police saying that those 20 Yorubas that they paraded in Abuja were the ones who attacked the Yoruba people that were also victims of the crisis and destroyed those houses belonging to the indigenes of Ile-Ife that were destroyed? In my own opinion, the investigation so far conducted by the police was done with ethnic bias and I demand (for) thorough investigation that is devoid of ethnic sentiments. He called on the Osun State Government to set up a judicial panel of inquiry to ascertain the remote and immediate causes of the crisis, as well as identify the masterminds of the crisis so as to forestall future occurrence. Most importantly, security agencies in the country must treat all crimes as the same, irrespective of those perpetrating them, he counselled. As it appears, crimes committed by Fulani herdsmen against other Nigerians are not being treated as crimes that should be given attention by the security agencies and this is worrisome. Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, had earlier maintained that the investigation by the police of the Ile Ife crisis was thorough and devoid of ethnic biases. He said those culpable would avail themselves of the courts to prove their innocence in the matter. Share this: Twitter Facebook A woman and man, both in their mid 20s, were arrested March 15 during a traffic stop in Dearborn after a background check revealed that both had outstanding warrants for their arrests. Police were initially called to the Post Bar, 22065 Michigan Ave., on a report of a fight. When officers arrived, it was determined that a customer was refusing the leave the bar, which caused a verbal altercation between him and employees. Employees told police that the customer left the bar before police arrived. While patrolling the area, officers pulled over a Pontiac Sunfire for having a burned out brake light. The driver and two passengers inside the car told police that they had been at the bar that evening, but did not cause the altercation with the employees. A background check showed that the woman passenger had two warrants out of Dearborn for receiving and concealing stolen property and public order crimes, as well as a warrant out of Livonia for retail fraud. She first gave police a fake name, but after searching the car, officers found her wallet with a Michigan identification card inside. The male passenger had two warrants out of Dearborn for receiving and concealing stolen property and public order crimes. Lithuanian English Telsiai, Lithuania, 2017-03-23 16:20 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On JSC "Zemaitijos pienas" Board's initiative and decision, JSC "Zemaitijos pienas" (registered office Sedos str. 35, Telsiai, Company code 180240752) ordinary general meeting of shareholders is being called on April 14th, 2017. Meeting place - Public company "Telsiai district business incubator", meeting hall, address Sedos 34A, Telsiai. Meeting starts at 12:00 PM (registration starts at 11:00 PM, registration place - Public company "Telsiai district business incubator", meeting hall, address Sedos 34A, Telsiai). Meeting accounting day - April 07th, 2017 (only those persons have the right to participate and vote at the general meeting of shareholders, who will be the Company's shareholders at the end of the general meeting of shareholders accounting day, or their authorized persons, or persons, with whom an agreement of voting right transfer is concluded). Rights accounting day - May 02th, 2017 (shareholders will use shareholders' property rights, arising from decisions adopted during the general meeting of shareholders, in proportion to the number of shares they have at the end of rights accounting day). Meeting agenda: Organisational issues of the General Meeting of Shareholders; The audit findings and the presentation of the consolidated annual report 2016 of the Company; Approval of the Companys annual consolidated financial statements 2016; Approval of the 2016 profit / loss distribution of the Company; Determination of the budget for the members of collegial bodies of the Company for the activities carried out in the Company; Regarding the election of the members of the audit committee of the Company; Regarding determination of the terms, conditions and procedure of acquisition of own shares. The financial report for the year 2015 has been assessed and revised, and is published (submitted) together with the financial statements for the year 2016. The Company does not provide a possibility to participate and vote at the meeting by electronic means of communication. Decision drafts regarding the meeting agenda issues, documents, that are going to be presented for general meeting of shareholders, and information, related to execution of shareholders rights are going to be announced no later than 21 days before the meeting, in accordance to the legislation. Shareholders, whose shares give them no less than 1/20 of all votes, can propose to supplement meeting agenda, providing a shareholder's meeting decision draft along with every proposed additional issue or, if the decision is unnecessary to be made, explanation. Proposals to supplement the agenda shall be delivered in writing or by email. Proposals in writing shall be delivered to the secretary's office during working hours or sent by registered mail to address: JSC "Zemaitijos pienas", Sedos str. 35, Telsiai. Proposals by email shall be delivered by sending them by email info@zpienas.lt, proposals should be submitted no later than in time limits indicated in the Law of limited liability companies of the Republic of Lithuania. Proposals to supplement the agenda with additional issues shall be submitted according to procedures and conditions of the Law of limited liability companies of the Republic of Lithuania. Shareholders have the right to submit questions for the Company, related to meeting agenda issues. Shareholders can submit questions by email info@zpienas.lt, no later than 3 working days before the meeting. Company will answer the questions by email until the meeting. In registration to attend the meeting, shareholders or their authorized persons shall provide an identity document. Persons authorized by shareholders shall provide a power of attorney according to the laws. Power of attorney granted by natural person must be certified by the lawyer. Power of attorney issued in a foreign country must be translated into Lithuanian and legalized according to the laws. Authorized person can be authorized by more than one shareholder and vote differently according to each shareholders' orders. The Company does not establish a special form of power of attorney. A shareholder holding shares of the Company, acquired on its own name but on behalf of other persons, before voting at the general meeting of shareholders shall disclose to the Company final customer's identity, the number of shares, which are used to vote and the content of voting instructions provided to him or any other explanation regarding participation and voting at the general meeting of shareholders agreed with the client. A shareholder may vote with the votes granted by the corresponding part of shares differently from the votes granted by other corresponding shares. Shareholder or his authorized person can vote in advance in writing by filling in the general voting bulletin. General voting bulletin form will be published no later than 21 day before the meeting. Under the request of shareholder, the Company sends the general voting bulletin by registered mail or delivers it personally upon signature no later than 10 days before the meeting. Filled general voting bulletin shall be signed by the shareholder or his authorized person and provide the documents supporting the power of attorney. If the general voting bulletin is signed by the shareholder's authorized person, the document confirming the right to vote shall be submitted along with it. Filled general voting bulletin along with supplement documents (if necessary) shall be submitted to the Company by sending registered mail to the secretary's office, by address JSC "Zemaitijos pienas", Sedos str. 35, Telsiai no later than the last working day before the meeting. Decision drafts of the general meeting of shareholders and other information are going to be announced in accordance to the legislation. For most of us, home wherever we make it is a safe place, or at least it should be. Its a place of comfort and solace, where we can re-energize ourselves. But what happens when the home we have chosen turns on us? April Smiths stand-alone thriller Home Sweet Home tackles the question of home, loyalty, fear-mongering and politics in an elegantly designed plot. While a 1985 murder ignites the story, the heart of Home Sweet Home is a tale of a family that begins during the 1950s and continues for decades. Cal and Betsy Kusek, along with their children, 4-year-old Jo and infant Lance, have left New York City for a new life in Rapid City, South Dakota. Cal, an attorney who was a pilot during WWII, and Betsy, a nurse, are worried about what they see as the conformity of New York during the 1950s and the hatred being spread by McCarthyism. While Cals Army buddy and his parents welcome the couple, the Kuseks also find McCarthyism is just as rampant on the plains, as is the fear of communism. Settling in is at first difficult for the Kuseks. Being fierce Democrats among Republicans makes them outcasts at first. But their hard work, enthusiasm and desire to make South Dakota their home soon win over the area residents. Cal serves three terms in the state Assembly and is known as one of the most popular legislators. But when he runs for U.S. Senate, Betsys brief membership in the Communist Party before she was married comes out and the entire family becomes pariahs to former friends. Hatred of communism and the Kuseks arrival are blamed for everything that goes wrong in the area, from failed crops to an economic downtown. Home Sweet Home captures the nuances of the open plains, the beauty of South Dakota as well as its unforgiving weather an insightful metaphor for the Kuseks neighbors. The burly and powerful wind that owned the prairie, that took away all boundaries ... stripped you of past and future. Spanning decades from the 1950s to 1985, the compelling plot delves into the changes in attitudes and beliefs as well as how fear can make rational people believe in the irrational. Hate that scares people into hating more, says one character. These flashbacks elevate Home Sweet Home, illustrating how a collision course of hate and fear can fester through the generations. MILLVILLE Lloyd Rudley wasnt impaired by drugs or alcohol when his car crashed head-on into a State Police cruiser Dec. 5, killing himself and state Trooper Frankie Williams, according to a toxicology report released by the state Attorney Generals Office. Williams, 31, was on his way to investigate reports of an erratically driven vehicle on the highway when Rudleys car, traveling in the wrong lane, crashed into the state troopers patrol car at milepost 22.2 on Route 55. Rudleys longtime family friend Kristi Schaller said Thursday she was relieved, but not surprised, that the toxicology report showed no indication of drugs or alcohol in the 61-year-old Philadelphia doctor, who was a Vineland High School graduate. Thats what I said from the beginning, Schaller said. Id bet my life you wouldnt have found drugs or alcohol in his body. An autopsy report released by the office Thursday lists the cause of death for Rudley as blunt impact injuries to the head, torso and extremities. The autopsy also found evidence of coronary and aortic atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a disease in which plaque builds up inside arteries, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Heart, Blood & Lung Institute. That plaque hardens over time, narrowing the arteries. Atherosclerosis can lead to serious problems, including heart attack, stroke or even death, according to the institute. The toxicology and autopsy reports list no reasons as to why Rudley crashed into Williams vehicle. State officials declined to comment on the reports. Asked Thursday if Rudley had a heart condition, Schaller, a Pittsgrove Township, Salem County, resident and a longtime friend of Rudley, said, Not that I know of. Maybe he didnt even know, Schaller said. Schaller said shes always felt the accident resulted from Rudleys diabetes. Schaller said earlier that she and her brother found Rudley unconscious about three years ago on the floor of a house he owned at English and Upper Neck roads in Pittsgrove Township. Rudley was treated for diabetes and seemed fine when she saw him on Thanksgiving, she said. Tapes of cellphone calls to Cumberland Countys emergency dispatch center revealed a growing sense of alarm from motorists about a car being driven erratically in the southbound lanes of Route 55. Motorists reported a possible drunken driver swerving on the highway, a person who resembled an elderly woman driving wildly with one flat tire, and traffic that slowed to about 20 mph because a vehicle was all over the road. Williams, assigned to the State Police barracks in Port Norris, Commercial Township, was dispatched to investigate with another trooper. Both were heading north when Rudleys car hit Williams cruiser shortly before 7 p.m. State Police have not said whether Rudley was the person whose driving prompted the 911 calls. They have said Rudleys Toyota Corolla matched witnesses description of the car being driven erratically in the southbound lanes. What the Hard Rock purchase of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort means to Atlantic City, a look at Wheaton pottery, a local pinball wizard, dining at our White House, and the arts come out in Atlantic City are featured on the latest episode of -30-, The Press of Atlantic Citys television show, which airs 7:30 p.m. Thursday on Stockton Universitys channel. Heres the lineup for this weeks show: The recent purchase of the Taj Mahal Casino by Hard Rock is a big deal in Atlantic City. Will a new casino add needed jobs and bring some life to a section of the Boardwalk that has seen several casinos close? Press reporters Christian Hetrick and Nicholas Huba examine the sale and what it means to South Jersey. What may be a hidden gem at the arts center in Millville, Wheaton Arts pottery studio is preparing for warmer weather by building a new kiln, spinning dozens of mugs each day and offering classes and demonstrations to the general public. Features reporter Max Reil gives us a look at what an average day at the pottery studio entails. Having dinner at the White House is a special event if youre in Washington D.C. or Atlantic City. In Atlantic City it means cheese steaks from a sandwich shop with a customer list that includes Frank Sinatra and The Beatles, just to name a few. Photographer Viviana Pernot takes us inside the White House of Atlantic City to see what makes it so special. Ken Rossi, of Somers Point, may not consider himself a pinball wizard, but with 17 pinball machines in his garage he attracts enthusiasts from all over New Jersey to play in his South Jersey Pinball League. Reporter Vincent jackson and photographer Viviana Pernot show us that, for some, the arcade game is serious business. Every winter, At The Shore sponsors a thriving wine and art event at the Noyes Arts Garage that is truly one of the most looked-forward to events of the year. At The Shore Editor Pamela Dollak and photographer Viviana Pernot show us why this event is so good not just for the arts scene, but for Atlantic City as a whole. Each week, -30- explores the stories behind the regions major events and newsmakers. The show is produced by Press staffers working with Stockton students and airs on Stocktons public access Channel 9. Most residents of Atlantic County can watch Channel 9 through Comcast cable. Segments can be watched anytime at PressofAC.com/30. New episodes run each Thursday and are re-aired at 10:30 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays and 5 p.m. Tuesdays. British police say five people died in the terror attack outside Parliament. Counter-terrorism chief Mark Rowley said one policeman, three civilians and the attacker died. He said a further 40 people were wounded. The assailant has not been identified. Rowley said police think they know the identity of the man but would not reveal details. He said Islamic extremism is suspected in the attack. He said extra armed police would be on the streets in the coming days to reassure the public, and hundreds of police officers are working on the case. He identified the police officer who died as Keith Palmer, 48. LONDON (AP) A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage at the heart of Britain's seat of power Wednesday, mowing down pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing an armed police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Four people were killed, including the attacker, and about 20 others were injured. Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down as the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament and just yards (meters) from entrances to the building itself. He died, as did two pedestrians on the bridge, and the police officer. A doctor who treated the wounded said some had "catastrophic" injuries. In the House of Commons, deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle announced that the sitting was being suspended and told lawmakers not to leave. Police said they were treating the attacks as a terrorist incident and had launched a full counterterrorism investigation. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. "We are satisfied at this stage that it looks like there was only on attacker," said Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley. "But it would be foolish to be overconfident early on." The threat level for international terrorism in the U.K. was already listed at severe, meaning an attack is "highly likely." Wednesday was the anniversary of suicide bombings in the Brussels airport and subway that killed 32 people, and the latest events echoed recent vehicle attacks in Berlin and Nice, France. As lawmakers were voting inside Parliament, many reported hearing the sound of gunshots. Parliament was locked down for two hours, and adjoining Westminster subway station was shuttered. Conservative parliamentarian Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was killed in the Bali terror attack in 2002, performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the police officer who was stabbed and later died. About 10 yards away from the police officer was the attacker who was shot dead by police after scaling the security wall toward the Parliament's grounds. Ellwood, who served in the British military and served in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Kuwait and Cyprus, applied pressure to the police officer's multiple lacerations. Photographs showed Ellwood's bloodied hands and face from the police officer's wounds while the alleged attacker was seen nearby. Ellwood has been an undersecretary at the Foreign Office since 2014, covering the Middle East and Africa. After leaving a trail of destruction on the bridge in a gray SUV, the attacker managed to get through tall iron gates and into Parliament's New Palace Yard, a cobbled courtyard in the shadow of the Big Ben clock tower. Just yards to the right is the entrance to 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the parliamentary complex, busy with visitors and school groups. Beyond that, a corridor leads to the building's Central Lobby, flanked by House of Commons and House of Lords chambers. Prime Minister Theresa May was among lawmakers near the Commons at the time of the attack, and was quickly ushered away by security officers and driven back to Downing St. To get that far, the attacker would have had to evade the armed officers who patrol the Parliament complex in pairs, as well as Parliament's own security staff, who don't carry guns. The attack unfolded within sight of some of the city's most famous tourist sites, including the London Eye, a large Ferris wheel with pods that overlook the capital. It stopped rotating and footage showed the pods full as viewers watched police and medical crews on the bridge, which has at its north end Big Ben and Parliament, two iconic symbols. "The whole length of the bridge there were people on the ground," witness Richard Tice told Sky News. The London Ambulance Service said it had treated at least 10 people on the bridge, and British port officials said a woman was pulled from the River Thames, injured but alive. Dr. Colleen Anderson of St. Thomas' Hospital said a female pedestrian died and around a dozen people were hurt. "There were some with minor injuries, some catastrophic. Some had injuries they could walk away from or who have life-changing injuries," she said. The French Foreign Ministry said that three students on a school trip from Saint-Joseph in the Brittany town of Concarneau were among the injured. French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve offered support to the British and to "the French students wounded, their families and their schoolmates." London is a common destination for French school trips. Witness Rick Longley told the Press Association that he heard a bang and saw a car plow into pedestrians and come to a crashing stop. Images from the scene showed pedestrians sprawled on the ground, with blood streaming from a woman surrounded by a scattering of postcards. "They were just laying there and then the whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben," he said. "A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. I have never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw." At Parliament, a body was seen lying in the yard. It wasn't clear if it was the attacker. Dennis Burns, who was just entering Parliament for a meeting, told the Press Association he heard a radio message saying an officer had been stabbed. Police and security rushed outside as he was going in. "When I got inside I was wondering what the hell was going on and I saw dozens of panicked people running down the street," he said. "The first stream was around 30 people and the second stream was 70 people. It looked like they were running for their lives." Daily Mail journalist Quentin Letts said he saw a man in black attack a police officer outside Parliament before being shot two or three times as he tried to storm into the House of Commons. "He had something in his hand, it looked like a stick of some sort, and he was challenged by a couple of policemen in yellow jackets," Letts told the BBC. "And one of the yellow-jacketed policemen fell down and we could see the man in black moving his arm in a way that suggested he was stabbing or striking the yellow-jacketed policeman." Lett said the other officer ran to get help and the man in black ran toward the entrance. "As this attacker was running towards the entrance two plain-clothed guys with guns shouted at him what sounded like a warning, he ignored it and they shot two or three times and he fell," he said. London has often been the target of terrorist attacks, from IRA campaigns in the 1970s and 80s to more recent Islamist plots. On July 7, 2005, four Al-Qaida-inspired British bombers blew themselves up on three subway trains and a bus in London, killing 52 people. British security forces say they have thwarted some 13 terror plots over the past four years, but in recent years the U.K. has largely been spared major international terror attacks such as the ones seen in Belgium and France. Last year, a far-right supporter shot and killed British lawmaker Jo Cox, who had campaigned for the U.K. to remain in the European Union. Prior to that, an attacker claiming to be motivated by Syria stabbed three people at a London subway station. The most gruesome recent attack occurred in 2013 when two Muslim converts of Nigerian descent attacked Lee Rigby, a British Army soldier who was walking down the street. The men ran Rigby down with their vehicle and then used a cleaver to hack him to death as bystanders watched in horror. ___ Paisley Dodds, Sophie Berman, Gregory Katz and Rob Harris in London and Lori Hinnant in Paris, contributed to this report. English Finnish Nokia Corporation Stock Exchange Release March 23, 2017 at 17:40 (CET +1) Nokia has filed its annual Form 20-F for 2016 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and published its "Nokia in 2016" annual report Espoo, Finland - Nokia has today filed its annual Form 20-F for 2016 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, Nokia has published its "Nokia in 2016" annual report, which includes audited financial statements, the annual review by the Board of Directors and Nokia's corporate governance statement. The Form 20-F and "Nokia in 2016" reports will be available in PDF format at http://www.nokia.com/en_int/investors/results-and-reports, along with Nokia's past quarterly and annual financial reports. Shareholders may request a hard copy of the reports free of charge through Nokia's website. The corporate governance statement is available also at http://www.nokia.com/en_int/investors/corporate-governance . About Nokia Nokia is a global leader innovating the technologies at the heart of our connected world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry's most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing. From the enabling infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things, to emerging applications in virtual reality and digital health, we are shaping the future of technology to transform the human experience. www.nokia.com Media Enquiries: Nokia Communications Tel. +358 (0) 10 448 4900 Email: press.services@nokia.com HAMILTON TOWNSHIP A fire destroyed a Cedar Street couples home Wednesday. No one was hurt, but they were looking for their cat. Betty Kobelo was home talking with a friend on the phone about 3 p.m. When she hung up, she said, she heard a noise from a converted den in the front of her home. I opened the door, and I saw smoke, she said. I opened it wider and I saw flames up in the window. By then, a neighbor who noticed the fire ran over to make sure she got out safely, she said. It went up so fast, she said. We came out and within 10 minutes it was engulfed. The couple, who have lived there for more than 45 years, recently replaced the homes siding and installed solar panels. We did that two months ago, Frank Kobel said. Lauerdale Volunteer Fire Company Chief Christopher Tilley said at least 10 companies responded to the fire, which was under investigation. ATLANTIC CITY A city man was charged with aggravated assault following the stabbing of another man during a fight earlier this month, police said. Joseph Suarez, 31, was charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon, according to a statement issued Thursday. Police said Jermaine Stanley, 29, was found stabbed at 4:09 a.m. March 19 following a fight between two men in the area of Iowa and Pacific avenues. Stanley was taken AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus, with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Stanley was fighting with another man when he was stabbed, police said. An investigation by detective Roberto Matos led to criminal charges against Suarez and a warrant was issued for his arrest. On Wednesday, Sgt. Daniel Corcoran arrested Suarez in the south block of Florida Avenue. Suarez was sent to the Atlantic County jail in Mays Landing. Anyone with information about this incident or any others can call the Atlantic City Police Department Criminal Investigations Section at 609-347-5766. Information can be texted to tip411 (847411). Begin the text with ACPD. All texts are anonymous. A former Miss New Jersey was killed in a crash on Route 55 this year. So was a prison inmate being transported in a van. Earlier this month, a Philadelphia resident collided with a state trooper, a double-fatal that rocked the law-enforcement community. State Police records show fatalities on the highway increased almost annually from 2012, when no deaths were reported, to 11 so far this year. Yet the numbers for the four-lane highway that heads through Cumberland, Salem and Gloucester counties seem contradictory, too. State Department of Transportation records indicate Route 55 crash rates from 2005 to 2014 are among the lowest of the roads for which DOT keeps records. Only once, in 2014, the last year for which full statistics were available, did the crash rate exceed 1 crash for every million vehicle miles. The crash rates for some other roads are two and three times higher. Officials with the State Police, DOT and state Division of Highway Traffic Safety all declined to say what might be a significant cause of the accidents on Route 55. But Rudy Danna, who owns Rulyns Towing in Bridgeton, believes he has an explanation. Danna has towed cars involved in fatal and nonfatal accidents on Route 55 since its first section opened in 1969. My opinion is that 90 percent of it is speed, said Danna, who said he based that opinion on the condition of the accident vehicles hes towed. The speed limit is 55. The (drivers) run 85 mph like its nothing. Danna isnt alone in reaching that conclusion for the relatively straight highway. The road just may be built for speed, they said. Unlike other roadways (in the region), youre talking about a much higher speed of traffic along Route 55, said Jennifer Marandino, acting executive director of the South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization. When you do have a crash, its more likely to be catastrophic because of how fast vehicles are traveling. Over 1,000 come to Boardwalk Hall to say goodbye to a "special man" New Jersey state trooper Frankie Williams will be remembered during funeral services at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Monday. The organization promotes safety measures on roads throughout South Jersey. Jenna Chernitz of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, which also promotes roadway safety, said while the organization doesnt monitor motor vehicle traffic, Route 55s design likely encourages speeding. The only way to really determine a common thread for accidents along Route 55 would likely involve a comprehensive study of years worth of accident reports, she said. Route 55 has seen some violent crashes over the years. On Dec. 5., 61-year-old Philadelphia resident Lloyd Rudleys car crossed the median and collided head-on at milepost 22.2 with a State Police patrol vehicle driven by State Trooper Frankie Williams. Williams, 31, of Egg Harbor Township, and Rudley both died in a crash one veteran Millville police officer called one of the most horrific collisions hes ever seen. The cause is under investigation. In January, a Bayside State Prison inmate died after the state Department of Corrections van in which he was being transported struck the back of a flatbed truck that was carrying a commercial vehicle near milepost 25. Excessive speed was considered a possible reason for the accident. Cara McCollum, 24, Miss New Jersey 2013 and a South Jersey radio and television personality, died from injuries suffered Feb. 15 when her Ford Mustang spun off the side of the northbound lanes in Salem County and hit several trees. Not all the serious accidents on Route 55 involved fatalities. In July 2014, six people were injured when a tractor-trailer heading south and carrying an amusement ride to the Cumberland County Fair overturned as it pulled onto Sherman Avenue in Vineland at Exit 29. Route 55 was originally proposed as a toll road that would run from the Walt Whitman Bridge in Gloucester City, Camden County, to Cape May. But the road was never extended into Cape May County. It ends at Route 47 in Port Elizabeth in Maurice River Township. STONE HARBOR Thirty-seven Japanese black pine trees will be removed from south-end dunes, despite some Avalon objectors who say the move is more about home values than the environment. At its Tuesday meeting, Borough Council voted 5-1 to approve a resolution to remove the pine trees and replace them with indigenous species between 115th and 118th streets. Councilwoman Joan Kramar was the sole dissenter. Several residents from Avalon, where a similar project to remove 240 black pine trees took place in the fall, have objected to removing what they deem as 37 healthy trees. Stone Harbor officials say the plan will remove nonindigenous, invasive species to protect the dunes. Its about allowing the oceanfront homeowners to cut down anything that obstructs their view. Its being done under the guise of environmentalism, said Martha Wright, of Avalon. Councilwoman Josee Rich, who voted in favor of the resolution, said she is not interested in raising property values but rather managing invasive species and protecting the dunes. They are not doing the dunes any good, and they have beetles, Rich said of southern pine beetles, which can kill Japanese black pines. Rich referred to Avalons determination southern pine beetles exist there, which prompted the neighboring borough to take action. That evidence was disputed at the time. Rich confirmed it was homeowners who initiated the dune vegetation management plan by hiring Lomax Consulting Group but said it is the boroughs designated consultant to perform the work. Joseph Lomax, of Lomax Consulting, declined to comment on the tree removal or dune management plan. Stone Harbor has taken several years to investigate the issue. Borough Council commissioned a dune vegetation management plan in 2012 that was completed in June 2015 by Lomax, Rich said. We realized it was time to look to the future, and one of the most important things that we need to do for the future is to have a good practice to manage some of the invasive species that we have, Rich said. The plan, which is posted on the borough website, says Japanese black pines were planted after the March 1962 noreaster to stabilize dunes, out-compete native species and leave combustible pine cones and needles, creating a fire hazard. It also said they created an unacceptable visual barrier impacting the value of the waterfront properties. The plan stipulates homeowners adjacent to the dunes can hire Lomax to examine the area by their homes and develop a plan for consideration by Borough Council. State Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Hajna said Stone Harbor does not need permits to remove the trees if it is not removing the root or excavating the dune. He said the DEP has not taken a position on removing Japanese black pines. Its really a local decision, Hajna said. We always encourage native vegetation, and we do have a lot of invasive species issues that we deal with in our forest, in our beaches, grasslands. In terms of a fire hazard, Hajna said pine trees raise fire hazards due to their needles and soft wood. LAKEWOOD Officials are searching for a fugitive in Ocean County who was found guilty this week of leading a drug-trafficking network, officials said. Daryel Rawls, 36, of Lakewood, was convicted Wednesday on charges including leading a narcotics trafficking network, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin, possession with intent to distribute heroin and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato announced. After what began in 2010 as a wiretap case across counties called Operation Baked Zito, 13 people were charged and Rawls was found managing and organizing a heroin distribution ring, the Ocean County Prosecutors Office said in a news release. Rawls was arrested on Oct. 17, 2010, with more than 1,000 bags of heroin and 26 grams of powder cocaine, the release said. The state called several co-defendants to testify against Rawls during the trial, as well as officials from the Ocean County Prosecutors Office, Ocean County Sheriffs Department and New Jersey State Police. The Ocean County Prosecutors Office is working with the U.S. Marshals to find Rawls, the release said. Rawls was held at the state Department of Corrections for previous drug charges before this arrest and was released in July, according to Department of Corrections charges. Anyone with information on where he might be should call the Prosecutors Office at 732-929-2027. When Gov. Christie, in his budget message, called on the Legislature to act on three major new policy initiatives tapping the capital reserves of Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield, redirecting revenue from the state lottery to the public pension system, and devising a new education funding formula he came down on the wrong side of history. Traditionally, in gubernatorial and legislative election years, the Legislature shelters in place, acting only on those issues which cannot wait while avoiding far-reaching, high-impact recommendations, such as those offered by Christie. Absent an emergency, this year will be no different. As the June primary draws closer and both parties concentrate on selecting their gubernatorial candidates, attention will shift to political matters rather than policy issues and, once the summer recess concludes, the singular focus will be on the November general election. As for Christies Big Three proposals, consider: Tapping into the capital reserves of Horizon Blue Cross/ Blue Shield for an undisclosed amount (widely reported, however, to be $300 million) to help fund treatment and rehabilitation programs for those addicted to opioids. The insurers opposition is solid and its clients do not look favorably upon diverting money from their coverage to treat addicts. The Legislature will heed the wishes of both the insurer and the insured an easy call. Re-directing nearly $1 billion in state lottery proceeds to shore up the financially struggling public pension system would require a constitutional amendment. The funds have been dedicated since the lottery was created in 1970 to state institutions and education. Christie omitted any suggestions for replacing the money the current beneficiaries receive should the reallocation to the pension fund be approved. The earliest a constitutional amendment could be placed on the ballot is in November, necessitating legislative action by early summer. While the recommendation was one of the few surprises in the budget message, its a non-starter. A challenge to the Legislature to devise a new formula for state aid to K-12 education within 100 days by the first week of June. He abandoned his own fairness formula idea, calling on the Legislature to work with him to produce an alternative funding mechanism. This proposal is even less of a starter than the lottery scheme. Democrats are concerned, moreover, that a debate over school funding would lead inevitably to renewed and heightened criticism of the inequities in the current formula that benefit mainly urban districts the traditional source of party strength. Discussing the possibility of reducing state aid to those areas in an election year has some legislators contemplating a suicide watch. Its altogether plausible that Christie knew his recommendations would fall flat, partly because of the historical precedent of playing it safe during an election year, but more so because of the rising level of optimism among Democrats that the November election will produce a Democratic governor while retaining and possibly building upon their majorities in the Legislature. Convinced that total control of the executive and legislative branches is in reach, Democrats are not inclined to deliver anything resembling a victory to Christie. Cooperating with the governor on anything but the most innocuous of proposals would do nothing to advance the Democrats goals for November. Their campaigns will feature Christie in the most unflattering light not surprising, certainly, for a governor whose public standing remains below 20 per cent. Former Goldman Sachs executive Phil Murphy, the decided favorite in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, has maintained a steady drumbeat of criticism of the governor, a strategy that would be undercut by any actions by legislative Democrats to acquiesce in Christies agenda. A Murphy landslide, combined with the low regard in which Christie and the Republican Party are held, could lead to Democrats strengthening their majorities in both houses, brightening the outlook for enactment of a flurry of programs from increasing the minimum wage to restoring the income tax surcharge on the wealthy. In a be careful what you wish for warning, a unified government under Democratic control would also place responsibility squarely in their hands for addressing two of the most intractable problems the state faces: Developing a new school aid formula and starting the process of erasing the massive unfunded liability in the pension system. Christie may have come down on the wrong side of history and the Democrats may have made a political decision in response. The more things change .... Carl Golden, of Burlington Township, is a senior contributing analyst with the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University. School funding, reform Regarding the March 4 story, Sweeney wants new school-funding plan for 2017-18: The article baffles me. Even if Hammontons school district is allotted (just) $11,149 per student (2015-16 amount), with a class size of just 20 students the total per classroom is $222,980. That seems like plenty of money to educate New Jersey students. I think we so desperately need charter schools. In addition, a few years ago the state made a superintendent of schools for each county, on the premise that would eliminate the need for a superintendent in every school district. Now there is just another layer of bureaucracy. Pat Colna Sea Isle City Less war, more options needed for students Regarding the Feb. 16 story, Pleasantville students gather to march for education: I was stunned to read that the marchs theme was Education: This means war. How unprofessional and disrespectful to teachers, students, parents and the city to associate war and education. To unite students to participate and carry signs was appalling. I worked in an urban school district for 15 years, giving and receiving respect from my special education students. Students in urban schools often come from divided families. My job as an educator was multi-faceted and I listened, cared and tried to understand their needs first before I engaged in the educational process. It is not any students job to demand better education for it must be given, and minus the outrageous and irresponsible term war. For many years education has left at-risk and special-ed students in the dark by not providing, beginning in middle school, for those not interested or capable academically of going to college. No exploratory vocational or job skills classes are offered. Responsible education must be realistic and include exposure to skills and opportunities for non-college bound students. I am embarrassed that a principal would shamefully use Education: This means war to show young students her message. War is a term I choose never to introduce to students as a positive. This principal needs direct clarification and will receive my prayers. Mindy Bancheri Atlantic City Iraq war argues against more defense spending I recently read of Rep. Frank LoBiondos support for President Trumps budget increase by $53 billion for defense. After Iraq war blunders, which he enthusiastically supported, that caused thousands of U.S. troops loss of life, left scores of young men and women without limbs and future, caused more than 400,000 innocent Iraqis deaths and created the present refugee crisis, yes, after all these, how can he still sing the same jingoistic, war-mongering songs? The nation spends about $600 billion a year on defense, close to the total the rest of the nations spend. We have enough nuclear arsenal to destroy the world at least 30 times over. Why does LoBiondo think the nation needs more of the same? His district is suffering from serious economic problems, high unemployment, high rate of foreclosures. Instead of supporting more unnecessary waste on defense, he should should concentrate on fixing the crumbling infrastructure, providing affordable health care for all, protecting the environment and providing safe drinking water and breathable air, improving education. He should stop waving the flag with tired jingoistic phrases and show real concern for constituents problems. Lou Tinel Ventnor SAN FRANCISCO, March 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zephyr Real Estate has again received the LeadingRE 2017 Website Quality Certification (WQC) designation. This distinguished certification was created by Leading Real Estate Companies of the World (LeadingRE) to help member organizations elevate their website to the highest standards. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/61cbb3fc-14f3-42d5-8302-a67d02c87392 Websites are evaluated in eight major categories, which include usability, mobile responsiveness, interactivity, design, customer service and performance. Zephyr rated an overall 8.06 (of 10) with very high scores in usability and design. Websites are judged by Virtual Results, LLC, an independent real estate internet and social marketing firm. LeadingRE is comprised of the worlds preeminent residential brokerages representing over 55 countries, 550 firms and 128,000 associates. The by-invitation-only network maintains the highest standards in the industry and is dedicated to excellence in performance and experience. Established in 1997, LeadingRE is powerful international presence in the industry. Zephyrs website has been winning awards for years from many well-known institutions including Interactive Media Awards, Web Marketing Association and, most recently, from PropertySpark, who listed Zephyrs website in the Top 20 Best Brokerage Websites nationally. Our website is a high priority, and we are constantly evaluating, reviewing and testing to ensure that our customers and colleagues are able to easily access all the information they need, commented Melody Foster, Zephyrs Vice President of Marketing. We are pleased to receive this certification of the high degree of integrity demanded by LeadingRE. About Zephyr Real Estate Founded in 1978, Zephyr Real Estate is San Francisco's largest independent real estate firm with nearly $2.3 billion in gross sales and a current roster of more than 300 full-time agents. Zephyrs highly-visited website has earned two web design awards, including the prestigious Interactive Media Award. Zephyr Real Estate is a member of the international relocation network, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World; the luxury real estate network, Who's Who in Luxury Real Estate; global luxury affiliate, Mayfair International; and local luxury marketing association, the Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco. Zephyr has six offices in San Francisco, a brand new office in Greenbrae, and two brokerage affiliates in Sonoma County, all strategically positioned to serve a large customer base throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit www.ZephyrRE.com. Press Release Beijing, Daejeon, London, Nice, Paris, Princeton, 23 March 2017 EDHEC-Risk Institute, KAIST, Princeton, and Tsinghua University to host a series of annual rotational conferences on FinTech starting in Princeton on 26 April 2017 EDHEC-Risk Institute, KAIST, Princeton, and Tsinghua University are partnering for the first time and are pleased to announce the launch of a series of rotational conferences on financial technologies. This forum will facilitate discussion among all interested parties (academics, practitioners, and regulators) from around the world. In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, every aspect of our lives is rapidly changing. What were once perceived as topics of science fiction including artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, the Internet of Things, and quantum computing are now being deployed in the real world, with a speed and on a scale we have never seen. Thanks to the vast amount of data, increased computing power and newly developed technologies, the tasks that only human beings could do are now beautifully and efficiently conducted by machines. Without question, many industries will face unprecedented fundamental changes from daily operations to the whole value chain. The wealth management industry is no exception. For instance, just like a self-driving car, many tasks in the financial industry that have been traditionally conducted only by human beings can be automatically done by machines. This opens up a completely new possibility in the provision of financial services, particularly customised wealth management services, which have traditionally been aimed at institutions and rich individuals. This is the due to the fact that these services are provided in a very labour intensive manner. Given the nature of financial services, the workforce has to be well-trained, and thus the services provided are inevitably expensive. Only institutions and high-net-worth individuals could afford such expensive services, and most of the worlds population cannot get access to professionals. Certainly, this will change. With the newly introduced technologies, the cost of financial services could decrease significantly, which will ultimately allow every individual to afford customised wealth management services. This change allows the asset management industry to provide services to the long-tail the general public without a significant amount of financial assets. From the business perspective, this means that the industry will have a completely new yet enormous market customised wealth management for the not-so-rich. Importantly, with the rise of defined contribution pension plans around the world, customised wealth management services for the general population is becoming a necessity, one that could only be accomplished with technological innovations. In response to the imminent changes, EDHEC-Risk Institute, KAIST, Princeton, and Tsinghua University will host a series of rotational conferences on financial technologies, offering a forum to facilitate discussion among all interested parties from around the world, including academics, practitioners, and regulators. The conference will take place annually, beginning on 26 April 2017 with the Four-University Rotating FinTech Conference: Wealth Management Systems for Individual Investors on the Princeton Campus, jointly organised by EDHEC-Risk Institute and Princeton Universitys ORFE department. Leading experts from the US, Asia, and Europe will be featured at the conference, including Andrew Yao (Turing Award recipient and founder of IIIS FinTech Center at Tsinghua University), John Bogle (Founder of The Vanguard Group, and President of the Bogle Financial Markets Research Center), Woo Chang Kim (Associate Professor at KAIST), Lionel Martellini (Director of EDHEC-Risk Institute), John Mashey (Bell Labs/Silicon Valley Computer Scientist/Corporate Executive), and John Mulvey (Professor and founding member of the Bendheim Center for Finance at Princeton University): Mass-Customisation of Goal-Based Investment Solutions: The New Frontier in Digital Wealth Management Services Goal-Based Investment via Multi-Stage Stochastic Goal Programming for Robo-Advisor Services Big Data Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Applying Machine Learning Concepts for Asset Allocation and ALM FinTech: Drawing Strengths from Computing Theories Savings and Investing to Achieve Retirement Goals: An Update Given Current Market Assumptions The Rise of Robo-Advisors: A Threat or an Opportunity for the Wealth Management Industry? The conference will include the participation of official partner SAMSUNG Asset Management. Contact: For more information or to get a press pass for the conference, please contact: Maud Gauchon Tel.: +33 493 187 887 E-mail: maud.gauchon@edhec-risk.com To visit our web site: www.edhec-risk.com About EDHEC-Risk Institute Founded in 1906, EDHEC Business School offers management education at undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate and executive levels. Holding the AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS accreditations and regularly ranked among Europes leading institutions, EDHEC Business School delivers degree courses to over 6,500 students from the world over and trains 10,000 professionals yearly through executive courses and research events. The Schools Research for Business policy focuses on issues that correspond to genuine industry and community expectations. Part of EDHEC Business School and established in 2001, EDHEC-Risk Institute has become the premier academic centre for industry-relevant financial research. In partnership with large financial institutions, its team of close to 50 permanent professors, engineers, and support staff, and 38 research associates and affiliate professors, implements 6 research programmes and 10 research chairs focusing on asset allocation and risk management and has developed an ambitious portfolio of research and educational initiatives in the domain of investment solutions for institutional and individual investors. EDHEC-Risk Institute also has highly significant executive education activities for professionals. In partnership with CFA Institute, it has developed advanced seminars based on its research which are available to CFA charterholders and have been taking place since 2008 in New York, Singapore and London. In 2012, EDHEC-Risk Institute signed two strategic partnership agreements, with the Operations Research and Financial Engineering department of Princeton University to set up a joint research programme in the area of asset-liability management for institutions and individuals, and with Yale School of Management to set up joint certified executive training courses in North America and Europe in the area of risk and investment management. About KAIST KAIST, a research university established in 1971, has served as the gateway to advanced science, technology, and innovation for Korea. To meet the growing demand for young, competent global leaders, KAIST has developed itself as a global arena for interdisciplinary education and research opportunities. With 1,112 faculty members working with 11,176 students, KAIST focuses on creating an atmosphere for interdisciplinary communication and collaboration for its academic units in all of its four campuses in Daejeon and Seoul to stimulate the innovative leadership and entrepreneurship needed to develop technology for the advancement of the world and for sustainable economic growth. KAIST also endeavours to strengthen its network to provide its constituents with collaboration opportunities with prominent partners from academia and industry. KAIST will continue to foster innovation and creativity for the future generation of global leaders; students who are no longer bound by the limits of specific disciplines, departments or the national borders and are dedicated to research excellence for the betterment of all mankind. The KAIST Center for Wealth Management Technologies (KAIST WMT Center) was founded in 2016, to foster the interdisciplinary research for wealth management technologies. Under the core agenda of enabling customized wealth management service for everyone, the center is conducting various researches to provide innovative technologies which can ultimately shift the high cost service structure of wealth management industry into scalable and affordable one. Currently, the center has 11 members from academia, industry, and regulatory agencies. About Princeton University ORFE department and the Bendheim Center for Finance About PRINCETON University ORFE is the intersection of five core disciplines: financial mathematics, operations research, optimization, probability theory, and statistics. Research in the Department ranges from the mathematical foundations of these fields to the development of state-of-the-art methodology for solving complex problems that arise in important real-world applications in engineering and the sciences. ORFE students obtain a strong quantitative and interdisciplinary training, and acquire the skills to become leaders in academia and industry. The Bendheim Center for Finance was established in 1998 to encourage interdisciplinary research in finance, primarily from a quantitative or mathematical perspective. The research activities of the center are directed toward the study of financial markets and asset prices, the financial structure of firms, banks and other financial intermediaries, and the linkages between financial economics and other fields, such as engineering, operations research, mathematics, computer science, psychology and public policy. About Tsinghua University Advancing a tradition of academic excellence, Tsinghua University is a pacesetter for innovation in China. It has become a leading world university in just over 100 years. Tsinghua University excels in its fundamental task of high-level personnel training, and also serves as an indispensable base for China's scientific and technological innovation. It is among the most selective universities in the Asia-Pacific region, and a trusted global partner for researchers and academics. Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (IIIS) was established at Tsinghua University in 2010. The Institute aims to become one of the leading research centers on interdisciplinary information sciences in the world, as well as to offer an attractive environment for top quality research and education in computer science and quantum information science in China. Its special undergraduate program, nicknamed by its students as the Yao Class, has become an international brand for excellence in undergraduate computer science education. 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. Dublin, March 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "North American Rental Air Compressor Market 2017" report to their offering. This study focusses on the North American rental air compressor market with geographical coverage of Canada and the United States of America. For purposes of this research, compressed air rental includes both Oil Free and Oil Flooded units. Furthermore, the study is segmented between Class 0 & Class 1 and also includes. Between Oil Flooded and Oil Free units, VerifyMarkets further segments the the market by horsepower, pressure range, end-user, fuel-type and whether units are true Oil Free or Instrument Quality (IQ). The focal point of the analysis remains rental compressors in North America only and does include any other rental equipment products. The total revenue provided in the study is solely the revenue generated from the rental business and does not include any peripheral costs or supplementary materials costs. The scope of this study does not include sales or refurbishment of this equipment. This study only focuses on equipment rented out to customers for use. The scope of the study is limited to the United States and Canada.The base year for the study is 2016. This report captures the following information about the North America Rental Air CompressorEquipment Market: Market Size, Growth Rate, Revenue Forecast (2016-2023) Growth Drivers & Restraints Market Challenges Market Trends Technology Trends Market Landscape Competitive Landscape Market Share by Revenue for Competitor, Equipment Type, End-user for both Oil Free and Oil Flooded equipment Strategic Recommendations Quotes by Key Industry Participants Companies Featured: Aggreko Air Equipment Rental Atlas Copco Rentals Blueline Brehob Capital Machinery Systems Caterpillar Griffith Air Tool Herc Rentals Ingersoll Rand / Trane Rental Services Neff Rental Sunbelt Rentals Sunstate Rentals United Rentals Wistar United Rentals Sunbelt Rentals Key Topics Covered: I. Scope of Research/Definitions a. Market Definitions b. Emissions Concerns Tier System c. Executive Summary II. Market Landscape a. Market Drivers b. Market Restraints c. Market Challenges d. Market Trends e. Technology Trends f. Donald Trump Presidency III. Market Data. a. North American Oil-free Rental Air Compressor Market Revenue Forecast (2016-2023) b. North American Oil-Flooded Rental Air Compressor Market Revenue Forecast (2016-2023) c. North American Total Rental Air Compressor Market Revenue Forecast (2016-2023). d. Class 0 vs. Class 1 - Oil Free, Oil Flooded & Instrument Quality Market Split (2016) e. Oil Free Rental Air Compressor Market Share Split by Rental Provider (2016) f. Oil Flooded Rental Air Compressor Market Share Split by Rental Provider (2016) g. Market Share by Region: USA & Canada (North America) h. Total Rental Air Compressor Market Share by Product/Fuel Type (North America) i. Market Share by Horsepower Range: Oil-free Air Compressors j. Market Share by Pressure: Oil-free Air Compressors k. Oil Free Rental Air Compressor Market Split by End-User Vertical. l. Oil Flooded Rental Air Compressor Market Split by End-User Vertical m. Market Share by Horsepower Range: Oil-Flooded Air Compressors n. Market Share by Pressure: Oil-Flooded Air Compressors o. Quote on Future Oil Free Air Compressor Opportunity p. Quote on Oil Flooded Rental Strategy q. Quote on Competing with Major Rental Companies r. Quote on Rental Air Compressor Lifecycle For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/cqv6lq/north_american CLEARWATER, Fla., March 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- An article in the 2013 Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) reporting that the number of retirement-age Americans taking at least three psychiatric drugs more than doubled between 2004 and 2013, even though almost half of them had no mental health diagnosis on record, prompted the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) Florida to call for an investigation into the dangerous phenomena is known as polypharmacy. Since it was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, CCHR has been exposing such abuses in the name of mental health. CCHR Florida is now calling for Florida Department of Elder Affairs to investigate the alarming rise in older adults who are prescribed psychotropic drugs. Diane Stein, President of CCHR Florida said, Polypharmacy, the concurrent use of multiple medications, has doubled in the last decade among retirement-age Americans despite warnings from geriatric medical organizations. Ms. Stein also said that office visits resulting in this type of multiple pharmaceutical prescription rose from 1.5 million in 2004 to 3.68 million in 2013 with rural areas showing the greatest increase. CCHR Florida further reports that not only does the rate of psychiatric drug prescription increase sharply with age, community-dwelling older adults are 7 to 18 times more likely to be on psychotropic drugs compared to their middle-aged counterparts. The statistics are even worse for those diagnosed with dementia. According to the Office of the Inspector General, 304,983 elderly nursing home residents in the U.S. were given dangerous and often deadly antipsychotic drugs, of which 88% were prescribed off-label for dementia. These are dangerous drugs and the Food & Drug Administration has made it known with a black box warning that the use of anti-psychotics with elderly suffering from dementia increases their risk of death, continued Diane Stein. It is time that the psychiatric abuse of our seniors is investigated and those responsible held accountable. In addition to calling for an investigation, CCHR is asking Floridians to call or write their state Senator or House Representative to demand that non-psychiatric, medical solutions and humane treatment programs are established and funded for the benefit of elders in Florida. To find out more about what is being done to protect the rights of the elderly, please visit the website at, www.cchrflorida.org or call 727-442-8820. About CCHR: Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHRs mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world. In March 1969, he said, Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the free world tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of mental health. For more information visit, www.cchrflorida.org DUBLIN, Mar 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Automobile Industry Forecast to 2021: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan" report to their offering. South Asian countries in the report include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. According to CRI's analysis, significant gaps remain in population and economic development among South Asian countries. By the end of 2016, the population in South Asia had exceeded 1.7 billion. India has the largest population of over 1.3 billion, while Bhutan has the smallest population of less than 1 million. In general, the economic development remains at a low level. In 2016, Sri Lanka had the largest GDP per capita among South Asian countries, which was about USD 4,000. In comparison, Nepal had the lowest GDP per capita of less than USD 800 in 2016. Due to poor economic development, the minimum wage was lower than USD 100 per month in 2017 in South Asia. Sri Lanka has the lowest minimum wage, which was only USD 60 per month. According to CRI's analysis, South Asian countries vary greatly in terms of automobile manufacturing and market demand. India has become the most developed country in South Asia in automobile manufacturing. Apart from two domestic brands, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, some leading automobile manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota, General Motors, Ford, BMW, Benz, Volkswagen and Hyundai have built factories in India. There are also a considerable number of automobile accessory manufacturers in India. In 2016, the production volume of automobiles was over 4 million in India; the sales volume exceeded 3 million. Meanwhile, India also exported hundreds of thousands of automobiles. CRI's analysis shows that vehicle manufacturing industry in Pakistan has formed a certain scale but it still has to import a certain number of cars every year. Nepal has only one automobile assembly plant with a small scale, HULAS. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan do not have automobile manufacturing. Therefore, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan are entirely dependent on import. It is predicted that though the economic development remains at a low level in South Asian Region, but it still has huge growth potential. Due to low labor cost, it is expected that the automobile accessory and vehicle manufacturing will develop fast in South Asian Region over the next few years. With the economic development, the market demand for automobiles will rise rapidly in South Asia. Readers Can Obtain the Following Information or More Through This Report: - Development Environment of Automobile Industry in South Asia - Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in South Asia - Status of Automobile Manufacturing in South Asia - Analysis on Market Demand for Automobiles in South Asia - Major Competitors of Automobile Industry in South Asia Unfavorable Factors and Driving Forces of Automobile Industry in South Asia, 2017-2021 -Forecast on Supply and Demand of Automobile Industry in South Asia, 2017-2021 -Investment Opportunities in Automobile Industry in South Asia Key Topics Covered: 1 Analysis of Automobile Industry in India 1.1 Development Environment of Automobile Industry in India 1.1.1 Geography 1.1.2 Population 1.1.3 Economy 1.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in India 1.2 Operation Status of Automobile Industry in India, 2015-2016 1.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in India 1.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in India 1.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in India 1.3 Major Automobile Manufacturers in India 1.3.1 Suzuki 1.3.2 Hyundai 1.3.3 Honda 1.3.4 Toyota 1.3.5 General Motors 1.3.6 Ford 1.3.7 Renault-Nissan 1.3.8 BMW 1.3.9 Benz 1.3.10 Volkswagen 1.3.11 Tata Motors 1.3.12 Mahindra & Mahindra 2 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Pakistan 2.1 Development Environment of Automobile Industry in Pakistan 2.1.1 Geography 2.1.2 Population 2.1.3 Economy 2.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Pakistan 2.2 Operation Status of Automobile Industry in Pakistan 2.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Pakistan 2.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Pakistan 2.3 Major Automobile Manufacturers in Pakistan 2.3.1 Suzuki 2.3.2 Toyota 2.3.3 HINO 2.3.4 Nissan 2.3.5 Honda 3 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Bangladesh 3.1 Development Environment of Automobile Industry in Bangladesh 3.1.1 Geography 3.1.2 Population 3.1.3 Economy 3.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Bangladesh 3.2 Operation Status of Automobile Industry in Bangladesh, 2015-2016 3.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Bangladesh 3.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Bangladesh 3.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Bangladesh 4 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Sri Lanka 4.1 Development Environment of Automobile Industry in Sri Lanka 4.1.1 Geography 4.1.2 Population 4.1.3 Economy 4.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing 4.2 Operation Status of Automobile Industry, 2005-2015 4.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Sri Lanka 4.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Sri Lanka 4.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Sri Lanka 5 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Nepal 5.1 Development Environment of Automobile Industry in Nepal 5.1.1 Geography 5.1.2 Population 5.1.3 Economy 5.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Nepal 5.2 Operation Status of Automobile Industry in Nepal, 2005-2015 5.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Nepal 5.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Nepal 5.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Nepal 5.3 Major Automobile Manufacturers (HULAS) in Nepal 6 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Bhutan 6.1 Development Environment of Automobile Industry in Bhutan 6.1.1 Geography 6.1.2 Population 6.1.3 Economy 6.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Bhutan 6.2 Operation Status of Automobile Industry in Bhutan, 2005-2016 6.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Bhutan 6.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Bhutan 6.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Bhutan 7 Forecast on Automobile Industry in South Asia, 2017-2021 7.1 Factors Influencing the Development of Automobile Industry in South Asia, 2017-2021 7.1.1 Driving Forces of Automobile Industry in South Asia 7.1.2 Unfavorable Factors in Automobile Industry in South Asia 7.2 Forecast on Supply of Automobile Industry in South Asia, 2017-2021 7.3 Forecast on Market Demand for Automobiles in South Asia, 2017-2021 7.4 Recommendations on Development and Investment in Automobile Industry in South Asia, 2017-2021 Selected Charts: Chart India's GDP Per Capita, 2011-2016 Chart Minimum Wages in India, 2011-2017 Chart Production Volume of Automobile in India, 2005- 2016 Chart Sales Volume of Automobile in India, 2005- 2016 Chart Import and Export Volume of Automobile in India, 2005-2016 Chart Pakistan's GDP per Capita, 2011-2016 Chart Minimum Wages in Pakistan, 2011-2017 Chart Production Volume of Vehicles in Pakistan, 2007-2016 Chart Sales Volume of Automobile in Pakistan, 2005-2016 Chart Bangladesh's GDP per Capita, 2011- 2016 Chart Minimum wages in Bangladesh, 2011-2017 Chart Sales Volume of Automobile in Bangladesh, 2005- 2016 Chart Sri Lanka's GDP per Capita, 2011-2016 Chart Sales Volume of Automobile in Sri Lanka, 2005-2016 Chart Nepal's GDP Per Capita, 2011-2016 Chart Minimum Wages in Nepal, 2011-2017 Chart Sales Volume of Automobile in the Nepal, 2005- 2016 Chart Bhutan's GDP per Capita, 2011-2016 Chart Daily Minimum Wage in Bhutan, 2011-2017 Chart Forecast on Production Volume of Automobile in South Asia, 2017-2021 Chart Forecast on Sales volume of Automobile in South Asia, 2017-2021 Companies Mentioned - Benz - BMW - Ford - General Motors - HINO - Honda - Hyundai - Mahindra & Mahindra - Nissan - Renault-Nissan - Suzuki - Tata Motors - Toyota - Volkswagen For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8f84jd/automobile About Research and Markets Research and Markets is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com SOURCE Research and Markets VALLEY COTTAGE, New York, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Seeking professional medical help for curing cold, cough or sore throat is become a rare practice, let alone getting admitted in a hospital. Prevalence of cold, cough and sore throat problems through the ages has made people more independent in terms of treating them. In the years to come, effective home remedies will continue to gain traction and people will be taking care of their cold or sore throat through such easy-to-treat remedies. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161020/430874LOGO ) Future Market Insights' latest report delivers such discernments that are expected to leave a considerable imprint on the global market for cold, cough & sore throat remedies. Based on the report, the global cold, cough & sore throat remedies market is presently valued at US$ 32.4 Bn, and is anticipated to incur sluggish growth at 3.2% CAGR to bring in just over US$ 45.4 Bn by the end of 2026. The report distinctly indicates that rising adoption of self-medication practices and effective home remedies is restraining the market's overall growth. Request a Sample Report with Table of Contents: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1292 In the report, titled "Cold, Cough and Sore Throat Remedies Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026," affordability of OTC drugs, rising economic burden of respiratory diseases, availability of medications in variable dosages, and fast & instant relief delivered through such cold, cough & sore throat remedies are driving the market's growth. Nevertheless, the demand for cold, cough & sore throat remedies is less likely to soar at a healthy rate. Product Recalls & Low Entry of New Players Impacting the Market's Growth Firstly, the global cold, cough & sore throat remedies market is projected to witness umpteen product recalls. Global leaders in pharmaceuticals industry such as Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., Bayer AG, GlaxoSmithKline plc., and Reckitt Benckiser Group plc are key players in the global market for cold, cough & sore throat remedies. Despite, there are several newly-launched products that have been recalled after FDA's censure. Besides, even consumer goods behemoths such as Procter & Gamble Co. and Johnson & Johnson Services Inc. are partaking in the market's growth. This has resulted in a lowering entry of emerging drug makers, which has further distorted the market's growth. Other leading manufacturers of cold, cough & sore throat remedies include AstraZeneca plc, Prestige Brands Inc., and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Preview Analysis on Cold, Cough And Sore Throat Remedies Market Segmentation By Distribution Channel - Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies, Drug Stores, Supermarket/ Hypermarkets, E-Commerce/ Online Pharmacies; By Dosage Type - Oral Syrup, Tablets/Pills, Lozenges, Nasal Drops, Others; By Drug Type - Antihistamines, Expectorants, Bronchodilators, Decongestants, Antibiotics, Others: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/cold-cough-sore-throat-remedies-market The report highlights how Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region will remain the largest market for cold, cough & sore throat remedies. The region's proximity to environmental pollution makes its residents more prone to respiratory diseases. With over 30% stake in global revenues, the APEJ cold, cough & sore throat remedies market will global dominate through 2026. North America and Europe will also remain at the forefront, by collectively accounting for nearly half of the global revenues throughout the forecast period. Speak with Analysis on any Report Related Queries: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1292 The report further reveals that in 2017 and beyond, the demand for antihistamine drugs, expectorants and decongestants will remain considerably high as these revenues from sales of these drugs will showcase growth at more than 3% CAGR. Tablets or pills and nasal drops will also dominate as dosage types, accounting for over 40% share of market value through 2026. The report also predicts retail pharmacies & drug stores as the largest distribution channels for cold, cough & sore throat remedies. Together, these channels will bring in nearly US$ 30 Bn by the end of 2026. More from FMI's Cutting-edge Intelligence: Paediatric Vaccine Market Segmentation By Technology - Live Or Attenuated Vaccine, Inactivated Or Killed Vaccine, Toxoid Vaccine, Conjugate Vaccine and Subunit Vaccine; By Indication - Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, DTP Vaccine, Influenza, Meningococcal Vaccine, Polio Vaccine, Rotavirus Vaccine, MMR Vaccine and Varicella Virus Vaccine; By End User - Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies and Institutional Health Centres; By Vaccine Type - Monovalent Vaccines and Multivalent Vaccines: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/pediatric-vaccines-market Segmentation By Technology - Live Or Attenuated Vaccine, Inactivated Or Killed Vaccine, Toxoid Vaccine, Conjugate Vaccine and Subunit Vaccine; By Indication - Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, DTP Vaccine, Influenza, Meningococcal Vaccine, Polio Vaccine, Rotavirus Vaccine, MMR Vaccine and Varicella Virus Vaccine; By End User - Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies and Institutional Health Centres; By Vaccine Type - Monovalent Vaccines and Multivalent Vaccines: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/pediatric-vaccines-market Proteinase K Market Segmentation By Form - Lyophilized Powder Form and Liquid Form; By Application - Isolation & Purification Of Genomic DNA & RNA, In Situ Hybridization, Mitochondria Isolation and Enzyme Removal; By End User - Contract Research, Organization, Academic Institutes, Biotechnology, Companies and Diagnostic Laboratories: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/proteinase-k-market Segmentation By Form - Lyophilized Powder Form and Liquid Form; By Application - Isolation & Purification Of Genomic DNA & RNA, In Situ Hybridization, Mitochondria Isolation and Enzyme Removal; By End User - Contract Research, Organization, Academic Institutes, Biotechnology, Companies and Diagnostic Laboratories: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/proteinase-k-market Pharmacy Automation Systems Market Segmentation By Product - Medication Dispensing Cabinets, Packaging and Labelling System, IV Pharmacy, Robotic Dispensing System, Carousel Storage Systems and Tablet Splitters; By Application - Drug Dispensing & Packaging, Drug Storage and Inventory Management; By End-User - Hospital Pharmacies, Clinic Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies, Mail Order Pharmacies and Pharmaceutical SMEs: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/global-pharmacy-automation-system-market About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights and an aerial view of the competitive framework and future market trends. Browse More Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and Medical devices Market Insights Contact Us 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 T (UK): +44-(0)-20-7692-8790 Sales: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Press Office: Press@futuremrketinsights.com Website: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com SOURCE Future Market Insights SAN FRANCISCO, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The global dermatology devices market is expected to reach a value of USD 25.7 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Dermatology devices are expected to grow at a faster rate due to rising concern amongst people regarding esthetics. This has led to rising awareness about various types of esthetic procedures used for treating hair - and skin-related disorders. Primarily, women suffer from these disorders. Hence, they are considered as the highest revenue generators for the market. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150105/723757 ) Incidence of skin disorders is continuously rising amongst people owing to their irregular lifestyle and food habits. Skin disorders such as psoriasis, acne, eczema, and skin lesions are some of the common skin ailments amongst people. Melanoma is a life-threatening skin cancer, which often results due to these skin disorders. Dermatology diagnostic devices help in the early diagnosis of such deadly cancerous diseases. Obesity has become one of the major issues for both the male and female population. Hence, fat removal procedures are being highly adopted. Liposuction is considered as an effective treatment for obese people. Moreover, the geriatric population is also highly concerned about their esthetic appearance. In order to enhance their esthetic appeal, they go for skin tightening and wrinkle removal procedures. In addition, technological advancements in laser treatments are continuously growing for dermatology devices market, which is making it a lucrative field for people concerned with esthetics. Browse full research report with TOC on "Dermatology Devices Market Analysis By Type (Imaging, Dermatoscopes, Light Therapy, Lasers, Liposuction), By Application (Skin Cancer, Hair Removal, Acne, Wrinkle Removal, Fat Removal, Pigmented Lesion Removal), And Segment Forecasts, 2014 - 2025" at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/dermatology-devices-market Further key findings from the report suggest: Imaging devices dominated the market in 2015 due to high incidence of skin cancer and technological advancements in related products Light therapy devices held the largest market share in 2015 due to its wide usability by dermatologists for skin lesion treatment Skin cancer diagnosis was the highest revenue generator segment in 2015 owing to the high prevalence of skin cancer, particularly, melanoma Vascular and pigmented lesion removal dominated the market in 2015 due to the high susceptibility of vascular lesion leading to skin tumor Acne, psoriasis, and tattoo removal is expected to gain lucrative growth over the forecast period due to growing number of people experiencing acne related problems North America dominated in 2015 owing to the high penetration of light therapy and laser-based instruments in the field of dermatology devices and skin rejuvenation dominated in 2015 owing to the high penetration of light therapy and laser-based instruments in the field of dermatology devices and skin rejuvenation Some of the key companies include Cynosure, Inc., LUMENIS, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., Alma Lasers, Ltd., Cutera, Inc., Syneron Medical Ltd., and Avita Medical Ltd. Browse related reports by Grand View Research: Surgical Incision Closure Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/surgical-incision-closure-market Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Devices Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/gastrointestinal-endoscopic-devices-market Contrast Agent Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/contrast-agent-market Fetal Monitoring - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/fetal-monitoring-analysis-market Grand View Research has segmented the dermatology devices market on the basis of diagnostic devices (type and application), treatment devices (type and application), and region: Dermatology Devices Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Diagnostic Devices Treatment Devices Dermatology Diagnostic Devices Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Imaging Devices Dermatoscopes Microscopes Dermatology Diagnostic Devices Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 -2025) Skin Cancer Diagnosis Others Dermatology Treatment Devices Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Light Therapy Devices Lasers Electrosurgical Equipment Liposuction Devices Microdermabrasion Devices Cryotherapy Devices Dermatology Treatment Devices Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 -2025) Hair Removal Skin Rejuvenation Acne, Psoriasis, and Tattoo Removal Wrinkle Removal and Skin Resurfacing Body Contouring and Fat Removal Vascular and Pigmented Lesion Removal Others Dermatology Devices End-Use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Hospitals Clinics Others Dermatology Devices Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany UK Asia Pacific China India Latin America Brazil Mexico MEA South Africa Read Our Blog: Increasing number of esthetic procedures is driving the dermatology devices market About Grand View Research Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare. Contact: Sherry James Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Grand View Research, Inc Phone: 1-415-349-0058 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com Web: http://www.grandviewresearch.com SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc. HANNOVER, Germany, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Deutsche Telekom announced at Cebit earlier this week that it has entered a strategic partnership with Radiflow to collaborate in the field of securing industrial networks. Radiflow was chosen by T-Systems, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, after a thorough evaluation of ICS/SCADA security vendors. Deutsche Telekom's move to expand into securing the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) stemmed from the increasing importance of securing industrial systems and critical infrastructures, as they become more and more interconnected. Telekom Security, a new business unit within Deutsche Telekom, now offers Industrial Network Protect Pro (INPP), a distributed firewall for industrial networks based on Radiflow's portfolio. With INPP, companies can subdivide their networks into protected zones, and subsequently monitor and control data flows between these zones. Radiflow's secure gateways are especially optimized for remote sites, in which they serve both as distributed attack detection sensors for its central Industrial IDS (iSID), and as access protection devices. "We're honored to partner with Telekom Security and glad that we were able to convince Deutsche Telekom of the value of our innovative, best-in-class technology in protecting industrial networks," said Ilan Barda, CEO of Radiflow. Dirk Backofen, Head of Telekom Security, added, "Radiflow enables Telekom Security's customers to expand their use of digitized infrastructure in their industrial applications while maintaining their operational resilience. With Radiflow's expertise, the strategic partnership enables Telekom Security to offer a mature, field-proven solution." About Radiflow Radiflow is a leading provider of cyber security for critical infrastructure networks. The Radiflow solution provides operators visibility and control of their OT network; including both non-intrusive Industrial IDS to monitor real-time networks and security gateways to secure access to devices in critical zones. Radiflow was founded in 2010 as part of the RAD group, a family of ICT vendors with over $1Bn in annual revenues. Since 2012 Radiflow has sold more than 10,000 systems used by major utilities world-wide and validated by leading research labs in the US. Contact: Amit Slutzky Amit_s@radiflow.com Tel: +972-507547607 SOURCE Radiflow French English Proposed combination of Essilor and Luxottica progressing Signature of the contribution agreements Structuring of EssilorLuxottica Adoption of the future governance of Essilor International PDF Version of the news release Charenton-le-Pont, France (March 23, 2017 - 5:45 pm) - Having obtained the favorable opinions of the employee representative bodies on the proposed combination with Luxottica announced on January 16, 2017, and with the overwhelming support of Valoptec Association, an organization that brings together most of Essilor's employee shareholders (accounting for approximately 8% of the share capital), Essilor International has taken another step towards the finalization of the transaction. As such, at its meeting of March 22, 2017, the Board of Directors of Essilor International approved: 1. The signing of the draft contribution agreements relating to: the transfer by Essilor International of substantially all of its activities and shareholdings to its fully-owned subsidiary, Delamare Sovra, to be renamed Essilor International; the contribution by Delfin of all its shares in Luxottica (62.55%) in exchange for new shares issued by Essilor, based on an exchange ratio of 0.461 Essilor share for one Luxottica share. BNP Paribas conducted an appraisal of this contribution and issued a fairness opinion. 2. The filing and registration with the Autorite des Marches Financiers, by April 10, 2017 at the latest, of the information document (Document E) describing the rationale for the transaction as well as the main principles of the Combination Agreement, namely: the creation of a global integrated player via the combination of two complementary players, as part of a partnership approach based on an equal structuring between the two parties. In accordance with what was announced on January 16, 2017, Essilor, the acquirer of the Luxottica shares and to be renamed EssilorLuxottica, will be listed on Euronext Paris and will retain its registered office in France. The management structures and teams - in particular financial - of the new combined entity will be based in France. 3. Draft resolutions relating to the proposed combination of Essilor International and Luxottica to be submitted for the approval of the General Shareholders' Meeting of May 11, 2017 and in particular the names of the directors who would, subject to shareholder approval, sit on the Board of Directors of EssilorLuxottica as of the closing date of the Luxottica share contribution, namely: Eight members appointed by Delfin: Leonardo Del VECCHIO, Executive Chairman and CEO of EssilorLuxottica; Three directors representative of Delfin: Romolo BARDIN, Giovanni GIALLOMBARDO and Francesco MILLERI; Four additional directors: Rafaella MAZZOLI, Gianni MION, Lucia MORSELLI and Cristina SCOCCHIA. Eight members appointed by Essilor Interational: Hubert SAGNIERES, Executive Vice-Chairman and Deputy CEO of EssilorLuxottica; Juliette FAVRE, Employee Shareholder Representative and Chairman of Valoptec Association; Four directors from the current Board of Directors of Essilor: Henrietta FORE, Bernard HOURS, Annette MESSEMER and Olivier PECOUX; Two directors representing employees who will be appointed by the Works Council by the end of October 2017. 4. Changes to Essilor International's governance at the close of the General Shareholders' Meeting of May 11, 2017 (subject to Shareholders' approval) with the appointments of: Jeannette WONG, a DBS Group Executive, appointed on a provisional basis to the Board of Directors of Essilor International as from March 22, 2017, with her appointment to be submitted for ratification by the General Shareholders' Meeting, to replace Benoit BAZIN who expressed his wish to have his term of office as Director terminated. The Board of Directors would like to thank him for his significant contribution over the past 8 years; Laurent VACHEROT, President and Chief Operating Officer of Essilor since December 6, 2016. Subject to shareholder approval, following the General Shareholders' Meeting of May 11, 2017 the Board of Directors of Essilor International will consist of the following members: Hubert SAGNIERES, Chairman and CEO of Essilor International (2) Philippe ALFROID, Non-independent Director ( ) Antoine BERNARD DE SAINT-AFFRIQUE, Independent Director Maureen CAVANAGH, Director representing employee shareholders Juliette FAVRE, Director representing employee shareholders (2) Henrietta FORE, Independent Director Louise FRECHETTE, Independent Director Yi HE, Director representing employee shareholders (2) Frank HENRIONNET, Director representing employees Bernard HOURS, Independent Director Annette MESSEMER, Independent Director Marc ONETTO, Independent Director Olivier PECOUX, Non-independent Director Laurent VACHEROT, President and Chief Operating Officer of Essilor International ( ) Jeanette WONG, Independent Director(3) Composition of the Board of Directors of the new Essilor International (formerly Delamare Sovra) as of the closing date of the Luxottica share contribution: The composition of the Board of Directors would be identical to the above, with the Director representing employees being selected from among the two Directors representing employees sitting on the EssilorLuxottica Board of Directors. Next steps (also see Appendices): Essilor International will hold two Shareholders' Meetings (Special Meeting of holders of shares with double voting rights attached and Combined General Shareholders' Meeting) on May 11, 2017. In addition, discussions concerning the notification process of the transaction to anti-trust authorities are progressing. About Essilor The world's leading ophthalmic optics company, Essilor designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of lenses to improve and protect eyesight. Its mission is to improve lives by improving sight. To support this mission, Essilor allocates more than 200 million to research and innovation every year, in a commitment to continuously bring new, more effective products to market. Its flagship brands are Varilux, Crizal, Transitions, EyezenTM, Xperio, Foster Grant, BolonTM and Costa. It also develops and markets equipment, instruments and services for eyecare professionals. Essilor reported consolidated revenue of more than 7.1 billion in 2016 and employs 64,000 people worldwide. It markets its products in more than 100 countries and has 33 plants, 490 prescription laboratories and edging facilities, as well as 5 research and development centers around the world. For more information, please visit www.essilor.com. The Essilor share trades on the Euronext Paris market and is included in the Euro Stoxx 50 and CAC 40 indices. Codes and symbols: ISIN: FR0000121667; Reuters: ESSI.PA; Bloomberg: EI:FP. CONTACTS Investor Relations Veronique Gillet - Sebastien Leroy Ariel Bauer - Alex Kleban Tel: +33 (0)1 49 77 42 16 Corporate Communications Lucia Dumas Tel: +33 (0)1 49 77 45 02 Media Relations Mailis Thiercelin Tel: +33 (0)1 49 77 45 02 Appendices Calendar items At the latest March 24, 2017 Publication of the contribution agreement between Essilor International and Delfin relating to the contribution of Luxottica shares by Delfin March 29, 2017 Publication of the contribution agreement between Essilor International and Delamare Sovra relating to the hive down of the activities of Essilor International to Delamare Sovra Publication of the draft resolutions submitted to the Shareholders' Meetings to be held on May 11, 2017 At the latest April 10, 2017 Filing of Document E to the AMF End of April 2017 General Meetings of bond holders to approve (i) the proposed hive-down of assets and liabilities related to the operating activities of Essilor International to its subsidiary Delamare Sovra and resulting treatment of their bonds, (ii) the change in the corporate purpose of Essilor International May 11, 2017 (9am CEST) Special Meeting of holders of shares with double voting rights attached in relation to the cancellation of double voting rights May 11, 2017 (10.45am CEST) Combined General Shareholders' Meeting to approve a series of resolutions notably for the purpose of: authorizing (subject to conditions precedent): the asset transfer transactions, the delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to decide on the share capital increase as consideration for shares contributed under a public exchange offer which will be initiated, in accordance with Italian law, by Essilor International in relation to the company Luxottica, amending the Bylaws of Essilor International, appointing the 14( ) directors who will sit on the Board of Directors of EssilorLuxottica After May 11, 2017 Closing of the transaction is expected during the second half of 2017, subject to the fulfilment of the conditions precedent (authorizations by the authorities concerned), and would be followed by the mandatory public exchange offer initiated by EssilorLuxottica regarding all the shares issued by Luxottica that will remain outstanding Profile of the new Directors Jeanette WONG is a DBS Group Executive responsible for Institutional Banking, which encompasses Corporate Banking, Global Transactions Services, Strategic Advisory, and Mergers and Acquisitions. From 2003 to 2008, she served as Chief Financial Officer of the DBS Group. Prior to joining DBS Bank, Jeanette WONG was at JP Morgan for 16 years. During her tenure at JP Morgan, she had regional responsibilities for the global markets and emerging markets sales and trading business in Asia and was also JP Morgan's head for Singapore from 1997 to 2002. Jeanette WONG began her career in 1982 at Banque Paribas and then moved to Citibank from 1984 to 1986 before joining JP Morgan in 1986. Laurent VACHEROT has been Essilor International's President and Chief Operating Officer since December 6, 2016, after having served as Chief Operating Officer since 2010. Laurent Vacherot joined Essilor in 1991 as Senior Vice President, Business Analysis. He managed the business in Canada and then the United States before becoming Chief Financial Officer in 2007; during his tenure as Essilor's Chief Operating Officer in 2010, he was responsible for the Information & Technology Department, Investor Relations and the Latin America region. The Equipment and Instruments Divisions have reported to him since 2011. Since his appointment as President and Chief Operating Officer, he has been supervising all the operational managers, who report directly to him. Laurent VACHEROT graduated from "Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications de Paris". Disclaimers Forward Looking Statements This communication includes forward-looking statements, including forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the proposed business combination between Essilor and Luxottica (including the benefits, results, effects and timing of a transaction), all statements regarding Essilor's (and Essilor's and Luxottica's combined) expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, dividends, financing plans, business strategy, budgets, capital expenditures, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management, and statements containing the words such as "anticipate," "approximate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "project," "could," "would," "should," "will," "intend," "may," "potential," "upside," and other similar expressions. Statements in this communication concerning the business outlook or future economic performance, anticipated profitability, revenues, expenses, dividends or other financial items, and product or services line growth of Essilor (and the combined businesses of Essilor and Luxottica), together with other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements that are estimates reflecting the best judgment of Essilor based upon currently available information. Such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and stockholders and other potential investors must recognize that actual results may differ materially from Essilor's expectations as a result of a variety of factors. Such forward-looking statements are based upon management's current expectations and are subject to a significant business, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are unknown and many of which Essilor and Luxottica are unable to predict or control. Such factors may cause Essilor's actual results, performance or plans with respect to the combined Essilor and Luxottica group to differ materially from any future results, performance or plans expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk factors discussed or identified in public filings that have been, or will be, made by Essilor and/or Luxottica with the French Autorite des marches financiers (the "AMF") and/or the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") from time to time. Essilor cautions investors that any forward-looking statements made by Essilor are not guarantees of future performance. Essilor disclaims any obligation to update any such factors or to announce publicly the results of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments. Important Additional Information This communication does not constitute or form a part of any offer to sell or exchange or the solicitation of an offer to buy or exchange any securities. These statements should not be considered as a recommendation that any person should (or should not) subscribe for, purchase or exchange any securities. In connection with the proposed transaction, Essilor intends to file (i) with the AMF, a prospectus and other relevant documents in connection with the listing of its shares to be issued as consideration for the contribution by Delfin of its Luxottica shares, (ii) with the Italian CONSOB, a prospectus and other relevant documents in connection with the public exchange offer for Luxottica shares, and (iii) with the SEC important documents related to the proposed transaction including a registration statement on Form F-4 that will contain a prospectus related to the proposed transaction, a tender offer statement on Schedule TO and other relevant documents. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO CAREFULLY READ ALL RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE AMF, THE CONSOB AND THE SEC, INCLUDING THE PROSPECTUS WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE, BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and security holders may obtain free of charge a copy of the prospectus as well as other documents filed with the relevant authorities (when they are available) at the AMF's website, www.amf-france.org , the CONSOB's website, www.consob.it , and the SEC's website, www.sec.gov . The prospectus, registration statement and other documents relating thereto, when filed, may also be obtained free of charge from Essilor's website at www.essilor.com or by contacting Essilor's Investor Relations team at +33(0) 1 49 77 42 16 / invest@essilor.com . Special K U.N. Foundation's Girl Up program team up to educate women about that strength gap BATTLE CREEK, Michigan, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Girls and women around the world view inner strength as important as happiness and those two qualities are nearly two times more significant than physical beauty and wealth. Yet, eight out of 10 women feel they have not reached their full potential, according to new global research conducted and published by Special K.1 This startling statistic represents the "strength gap" recognized as the difference between how strong women feel (from the inside out) vs. how strong she could be, or her potential. In a time where women are seemingly at their strongest with 77 percent feeling they possess inner strength leading global companies, increasingly occupying boards, and bringing new dimensions to gender roles in and out of homes worldwide three quarters still wish they possessed even greater reserves. Following International Women's Day on March 8, Special K is taking a stance as a leader in the food and nutrition space an area that has a significant impact on girls and women's sense of self by announcing its commitment to educating young women about this gap through a partnership with the United Nations Foundation's Girl Up campaign. Special K's report, "The New Face of Strength," reveals that many women feel the factors contributing to women's inner strength are within their control such as nutrition, fitness, a sense of community and mental and emotional wellbeing. In fact, 68 percent of women surveyed cited food as important in fueling inner strength. "Inner strength is as important as happiness to women around the world and nearly two times more significant than physical beauty and wealth," said Doug VandeVelde, Senior Vice President at Kellogg Company. "We are committed to better understanding what defines inner strength, what it means for women today and the vital role nutrition plays in unlocking a woman's inner strength. Through our partnership with Girl Up in 2017, we'll provide key nutrition education for 500,000 girls and young women to help guide them toward their full potential." Special K + Girl Up A movement within the United Nations Foundation, Girl Up is led by girls and for girls, with the mission of uniting girls and empowering them to take action on behalf of the hardest-to-reach girls in places around the world where it's hardest to be a girl. "We have nearly half a million advocates raising awareness, engaging and educating girls to change the world," said Anna Blue, deputy director of Girl Up. "We're thrilled to join forces with Special K to further our mission of inspiring girls and women to learn about their inner strength to make change for girls around the world." It is within every girl and woman to reach their maximum potential in all aspects of life. Customized nutrition workshops and digital programs made available by Special K and Girl Up are critical resources to ensure young women around the world have the tools they need to live life at full strength, and they provide a way for the communities associated with both organizations to help build and support female empowerment. The New Face of Strength A number of findings detailed in "The New Face of Strength" attest to the importance of inner strength among women, including: The stronger a woman feels, the more confident and motivated she is which, in turn, impacts her positivity and proactivity. Nine out of 10 women consider inner strength to be key to success, just ahead of intellect. 80 percent of women feel stronger when helping others, contributing to a chain of strength yet only 57 percent say they have received support from another woman. For example, 84 percent of women in the US, 79 percent of women in the UK, 83 percent of women in Australia , 86 percent of women in Canada , 89 percent of women in Mexico and 79 percent of women in France say they feel stronger when helping others. Inner strength is complex and multidimensional, and it varies by situation 79 percent of women view determination as an important attribute in a professional space, yet only 59 percent view the trait as important when parenting. Inner strength is viewed as an inherently female trait or need 62 percent say that inner strength is most needed by women, with 9 percent feeling it is most needed by men. We know nutrition contributes to the inner strength gap as 92 percent of women believe that food plays a vital role in how strong they feel. Visit StrongFeedsStrong.com to learn more about the strength gap and share your story with #StrongFeedsStrong. About Kellogg Company At Kellogg Company (NYSE: K), we strive to make foods people love. This includes our beloved brands Kellogg's, Keebler, Special K, Pringles, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, Pop-Tarts, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Cheez-It, Eggo, Mini-Wheats and more that nourish families so they can flourish and thrive. With 2015 sales of $13.5 billion and more than 1,600 foods, Kellogg is the world's leading cereal company; second largest producer of cookies, crackers and savory snacks; and a leading North American frozen foods company. Through our Breakfasts for Better DaysTM global hunger initiative, we've provided more than 1.4 billion servings of cereal and snacks to children and families in need around the world. To learn more, visit www.kelloggcompany.com or follow us on Twitter @KelloggCompany, YouTube and on Social K. About Girl Up Girl Up, the United Nations Foundation's adolescent girl campaign, supports the empowerment of girls everywhere. Since its launch in 2010, the campaign has funded UN programs that promote the health, safety, education, and leadership of girls in developing countries and built a community of nearly half a million passionate advocates including Girl Up Global Advocates Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan and Latin American business leader Angelica Fuentes. Our youth leaders, representing more than 1400 Girl Up Clubs in 85 countries, stand up, speak up, and rise up to support the hardest to reach girls living in places where it is hardest to be a girl. Learn more at GirlUp.org. About the United Nations Foundation The United Nations Foundation builds public-private partnerships to address the world's most pressing problems, and broadens support for the United Nations through advocacy and public outreach. Through innovative campaigns and initiatives, the Foundation connects people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. The Foundation was created in 1998 as a U.S. public charity by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner and now is supported by philanthropic, corporate, government, and individual donors. Learn more at: www.unfoundation.org. _________________________________ 1 On behalf of Special K, Edelman Intelligence surveyed over 6,000 women across Australia, Canada, France, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. Women aged 21-55 were spoken to via a quantitative online survey fielded between December 2015 and January 2016. Each market sample was nationally representative of the online population. Related Links http://www.kelloggcompany.com SOURCE Kellogg Company JAKARTA, Indonesia and SINGAPORE, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Embarking to effectively support corporations with ground-breaking HR technology and operative services, Singapore-headquartered Excelity Global Solutions and Jakarta-based Cekindo today announced their partnership for Indonesia. Being the largest economy in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is an exciting market to serve with a variety of industries, from MNCs to SMEs. More than 98 percent of Indonesian companies are categorized as SMEs, which account for 58.1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). With a strong emphasis on digitization and boosting sustenance from the Indonesian government, Excelity Global Solutions, the largest Asia-based payroll service provider, looks at its partnership with Cekindo to be able bridge the effectiveness for companies in being able to quickly streamline their HR & Payroll process through outsourcing and/or technology adoption. Excelity Global processes more than 1.2 million payslips per month in 19 countries across Asia Pacific. Commenting on this partnership, Aju Murjani, Managing Director, ASEAN, Excelity Global Solutions, said, "It's time for Indonesian corporations to effectively focus on strategic initiatives and with this partnership, I believe it's a partnership that fulfills mutual ambitions. Cekindo's dedicated team, with a deep understanding of the market and vision to disrupt the market, is a natural fit for us." Ing. Michal Wasserbauer, Principal Consultant, Cekindo Bisnis Group, said, "Excelity is the largest Asia-based payroll provider with excellent payroll cloud solution which is tailor-made for Indonesia market. We believe that cooperation with Excelity will be another important milestone for both of our companies which bring a lot of new benefits for our current and future payroll clients." About Cekindo Bisnis Grup Cekindo is one of the leading Market Entry Consulting firm in Indonesia providing full-range of market-entry and corporate secretarial services including Payroll Solution for several hundreds of clients every year from small and medium enterprises to large and multinational companies which also includes Fortune 500 companies. About Excelity Global Solutions The Singapore-headquartered Excelity Global Solutions, the largest Asia-based payroll outsourcing business, was founded in 1997. Excelity is a pioneer in payroll outsourcing, operating its proprietary platform in 19 countries across Asia Pacific with delivery centers in India, Singapore, China and Philippines. Serving over 1.2 million payslips monthly, delivered through managed services, also offers HCM offerings in SaaS and PaaS models. Media Contact: Pragati Puri pragati@80-db.com +91-991077062 SOURCE Excelity Global VALLETTA, Malta, Mar 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At exercise of the Employee Incentive Plan that was introduced for all employees in January 2014, where employees could choose between a cash bonus of GBP 3,000 or the equivalent value in performance share rights, the full value has vested and 107,004 share awards were exercised using 107,004 SDRs from Kindred Group's buy-back programme. Following this exercise, 2,478,262 SDRs from the Share buy-back programmes continue to be held by the Kindred Group. The total amount of shares outstanding in Kindred Group plc is 230,126,200 ordinary shares with a par value of GBP 0.000625. For more information: Inga Lundberg Investor Relations Tel: +44-788-799-6116 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/kindred-group/r/exercise-of-employee-incentive-plan-in-kindred-group-plc,c2221244 The following files are available for download: SOURCE Kindred Group HANOVER, Germany, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At CeBIT 2017, Huawei and Frequentis, a leading global supplier of communication and information solutions for safety-critical industries signed a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) for the joint development of an open ecosystem for public safety solutions, in a move set to usher in safer cities. In the face of mounting public security threats, Huawei is committed to joining forces with leading industry partners to develop a vibrant, robust, and open Safe City ecosystem. The partnership between Huawei and Frequentis is aimed at fostering a flourishing public safety ecosystem, which will ultimately translate into greater levels of safety for citizens, while unlocking efficiencies through innovation for companies operating in the public safety industry. The partnership will span the EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America regions. Under the partnership, Huawei and Frequentis will work together to develop a Next Generation Dispatching Solution for Command and Control centres. By supporting features such as seamless integration of consultation and surveillance systems across different agencies, real time voice and data transmission services, the joint solution will help public security agencies achieve greater efficiency, while reducing their total cost of ownership for mission-critical IT investments. The tie-up between the two companies is the latest in a long series of partnerships pursued by Huaiwei aimed at bringing the concept of Safe Cities to life by facilitating collaborative innovations. "By working together with Frequentis, Huawei aims to build joint innovation ecosystems, drive digital transformation, enable public safety industrial revolution," said Xiaoke Li, Vice President of Huawei of West Europe Enterprise, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. "Huawei is looking to allocate more resources to collaborations with industrial partners to provide more powerful and cost-efficient public safety solutions." The MOU signed by Huawei and Frequentis outlines the cooperation areas between the two companies. Both will work together on the design, development, validation and packaging of Safe City offerings. Frequentis has already set up a demo environment in the Huawei OpenLab in Munich. "Frequentis is looking forward to combining its skill sets and innovative product portfolio with those of Huawei in order to provide improved safety-critical solutions representing a true Evergreen Control Centre offering -- to benefit customers worldwide to save lives, protect properties, and maintain public order and safety," said Johann Schweiger, Director Global Sales, Frequentis AG. In addition to this partnership, both companies have agreed to initiate a series of cooperation projects worldwide, with a view to enhancing public safety through innovative safe city solutions. About Huawei Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com. Media Contact: Selina Xing +86-755-8924-7615 Xingziyue@huawei.com Related Links http://www.huawei.com SOURCE Huawei SONIPAT, India, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee recently inaugurated an international conference on 'Universities of the Future: Knowledge Innovation and Responsibility', a 3-day forum that sought to examine the future of Indian universities in the 21st century. Organized by International Institute for Higher Education Research and Capacity Building (IIHEd) of O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) India, the forum was held from 18th to 20th March, 2017. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/481213/O_P__Jindal___Universities_of_the_Future.jpg ) Speaking at the forum, President Mukherjee called on universities and institutions of the country for creating a higher education roadmap that focusses on critical elements of research, knowledge creation, institutional excellence and global benchmarking. President Mukherjee also emphasized that the education system should take on the challenge of tapping the 'demographic dividend' while also pitching for a stronger industry-academia partnership. "Knowledge mobilization through quality higher education is pivotal to the socio-economic development of a nation. Innovation and futuristic universities are the driving force behind this," he said. Mr. Naveen Jindal, Chancellor, JGU, said, "The universities of the future will be the pillars of growth and development of our nation. They must be transformed into sites of active learning and research which can act as launch pads for innovation and path breaking ideas." Chancellor Jindal announced the launch of the Jindal School of Journalism and Communication (JSJC) the 6th interdisciplinary school of JGU, which will offer opportunities for education, research and capacity building in media and communication studies. JGU Founding Vice-Chancellor, Prof (Dr) C Raj Kumar, said, "India does not have a single university in the top 25 Asian universities while China has 5 universities in those rankings, besides Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and other countries. We need to introspect and think about the future of universities which will enable and empower us to contribute towards institution building for nation building." "I have always maintained that while Make in India is important for developing business and advancing economic opportunities, the future of India will depend upon the making of India through academic institutions and universities," he said. The conference was a culmination of a range of ideas and perspectives that will help shape India's aspirations of building world-class universities through comparative and international dimensions. The forum recognized that while individual scholars have reached global excellence, the Indian university, as an institution requires essential reforms to acquire international status. Media contact Kakul Rizvi krizvi@jgu.edu.in SOURCE O.P. Jindal Global University DUBAI, UAE, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Jetex is proud to be the handling partner of Swiss luxury watchmaker and aviation chronograph specialist, Breitling, during the UAE leg of the Breitling DC-3 World Tour. The flagship Jetex FBO Terminal, located at Al Maktoum International Airport, plays host to the Breitling DC-3 from the 21st to 24th March, 2017. Jetex will provide a full range of ground support services for the aircraft and crew during its four-day stop in Dubai. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/481384/Jetex_Breitling_DC_3.jpg ) "We are delighted to be a part of history in the making as the Breitling DC-3 establishes itself as the oldest plane to circumnavigate the globe. This partnership underlines our shared commitment and passion for the aviation industry, and the Jetex promise of delivering the highest standards of service," said Adel Mardini, CEO and President of Jetex. Commenting on the DC-3 world tour, Aed Adwan, Breitling Middle East, said: "As a privileged partner of aviation, Breitling has demonstrated its commitment to safeguarding aeronautical heritage by supporting the restoration of legendary aircraft such as the Douglas DC-3, which is making an historic stop in Dubai on this record-breaking world tour." The Jetex FBO Terminal will provide ground handling, aircraft fueling and trip planning services throughout the event. Featuring a 1,500m2 lounge, this unique facility shatters expectations by bringing upscale contemporary interior design and 5-star hospitality to the aviation arena. On-site customs and immigration and VIP ground transfer services will serve to further enhance the experience for Breitling's passengers and crew. Catering specifically to private, business and government VIP travelers, the terminal operates 24/7 and offers round-the-clock customs clearance. It is the largest facility in Jetex's global portfolio, and has the distinction of being the first IS-BAH certified FBO in Dubai. For more information on the Jetex FBO Terminal at Dubai South, contact +971-4-212-4900 or email fbo-dwc@jetex.com . ABOUT JETEX A global leader in executive aviation, Jetex is recognized for delivering flexible, best-in-class trip support solutions to customers worldwide. Jetex provides exceptional FBOs, aircraft fueling, ground handling and global trip planning. The company caters to an elite clientele including owners and operators of business jets for corporate, commercial and personal air travel. To find out how you can benefit from Jetex's award-winning services, visit jetex.com today. Jetex Global Headquarters : Jetex FBO Terminal Dubai South PO Box: 54698 E: fbo-dwc@jetex.com T: +971-4-212-4900 SOURCE Jetex FRANKFURT, Germany, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- - With Photo Lifestyle hotel brand takes comfort food to international excellence Gastronomic innovation and the creation of top-quality, yet unpretentious dining experiences are themes that fuel the passion of pentahotels' new Executive Chef, John King. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/481793/pentahotels_first_Executive_Chef.jpg ) The neighbourhood lifestyle hotel brand aspires to challenge conventions in the world of hospitality. One of the biggest challenges for its new Executive Chef will be to create a globally adaptable dining concept that fits the brand philosophy. While comfort food and regional classics are the mainstays of this strategy, the master chef also has to be the guardian of quality and authenticity. pentahotels has found the right man for the job in John King, a long-standing member of the company. A Brit who has been conjuring up his magic in pentahotel kitchens since 2009, he arrived with an exceptional, international background in the high-end culinary world, including Burj Al Arab in Dubai, The Little Nell Hotel in Aspen, Colorado, The Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland, The Savoy in London, and Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane in London. John King is renowned for developing highly-acclaimed dining concepts and recipes - sprinkled with the distinctive penta-style. In his role as the head of penta-kitchens, John King is also responsible for establishing supplier networks, defining training standards and keeping a keen eye on ongoing quality control. pentahotels' Managing Director, Alastair Thomann, holds John King in high regard, commenting: "John's work has been excellent over the last eight years and has made a major impact on the kitchens in all of our locations. I am convinced that John will fill the position as our first Executive Chef perfectly, and continue to delight our guests with his special line in good, honest comfort food." pentahotels represents a new generation of hotels. Known for its unique interior design and "neighbourhood" feel, the lifestyle brand stands for true innovation in the industry's four-star segment. With 27 hotels across seven countries over two continents, pentahotels offers individual and business travellers comfort and style in a relaxed atmosphere. The hallmark of the hotel chain is the pentalounge - a combination of lounge, bar, cafe and reception - that stands out with its "living room" look and feel. For further information and bookings, please visit http://www.pentahotels.com. Follow us on facebook.com/pentahotels for our latest news. Media Contacts: media consulta International Holding AG On behalf of pentahotels Sandra Bumbar-Malchow Phone: +49(0)30-65-000-320 E-mail: press.pentahotels@mcgroup.com Global Marketing & Communications Department pentahotels Max Siegers Phone: +49(0)69-256699-750 E-mail: communications@pentahotels.com Note to Editors: A pictures accompanying this release is available through the PA Photowire. It can be downloaded from http://www.pa-mediapoint.press.net or viewed at http://www.mediapoint.press.net or http://www.prnewswire.co.uk. SOURCE Pentahotels LONDON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Norwegian Reward members can now earn CashPoints when purchasing airport lounge access on Lounge Pass website Norwegian, the world's sixth largest low-cost carrier, has partnered with Collinson Group, experts in customer loyalty and owners of Lounge Pass, to allow members of the airline's loyalty programme to save costs on flights when purchasing airport lounge access. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151026/280732LOGO ) (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/479670/Norwegian_Airlines_Lounge.jpg ) Norwegian Reward, the award-winning loyalty programme, is now giving its five million global members a way to earn CashPoints when purchasing airport lounge access at LoungePass.com. CashPoints can be used as full or partial payment for Norwegian flights without restriction and can be spent on items such as checked baggage and seat reservations. Brede Huser, Senior Vice President of Norwegian Reward, said, "Our five million Norwegian Reward members can now gain convenient access to Lounge Pass's network of 426 airport lounges in 265 airports worldwide, including 148 across Europe. Not only will it improve our members' airport experience but they can also earn more CashPoints that can make future travel with Norwegian even more affordable. Collinson Group is one of the most recognised and experienced companies in travel and customer loyalty and we look forward to taking off our new partnership that will ultimately benefit all Norwegian Reward members." Errol McGlothan, General Manager, Lifestyle Benefits, Collinson Group, commented, "Collinson Group continually explores ways to innovate and deliver solutions that will help forward-thinking airlines drive customer loyalty and ancillary revenues. Our research has revealed that a wide range of rewards and offers, including lounge access, was the most important aspect of a loyalty programme to their members. We are delighted to be able to support travellers who prefer to fly with a low-cost carrier, and who also desire a rewarding and enhanced airport experience." "We are very pleased to partner with Norwegian and provide Norwegian Reward members with a streamlined, efficient and accessible way to book a VIP airport lounge experience online and earn CashPoints in the process. As Lounge Pass's network of 426 VIP airport lounges continues to grow, we look forward to Norwegian Reward members enjoying lounge access at all the top travel destinations around the world", he concluded. Norwegian Reward members earn CashPoints in a number of ways including when booking Norwegian flights, hotel rooms and car rental with partner organisations. Norwegian Reward is one of the most generous loyalty programmes in the skies, with almost 700,000 UK passengers signed up to the programme, which is free to join. Through this new partnership with Collinson Group, members of Norwegian Reward can earn CashPoints on a wider range of airport lounges in addition to those at Gatwick, Heathrow, Edinburgh and Birmingham airports in the UK. http://www.brands2life.com SOURCE Collinson Group DUBLIN, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The new research portal has an extensive collection of company research on the State Grid Corporation, including in-depth analysis of their current market position and future outlook within the electric power industry. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349511LOGO ) State Grid is the largest electric utility company in the world. It is state-owned and transmits and distributes power in China. In December, the company announced plans to build more charging facilities and expand public fast-charge networks for electric vehicles. This includes building 10,000 charging stations and 120,000 charging poles by 2020. According to the China EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Market report, China produced 517,000 new energy vehicles in 2016, surging by 51.7% from a year earlier. Driven by rapid the development of new energy vehicles, the supporting facilities like charging station and charging piles also flourished. Charging station ownership in China increased from 76 in 2010 to 5,600 in 2016 at a CAGR of 104.8%. "The portal is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking information on State Grid and their activities in various industries. It provides quick, and easy access to information on their performance as a company and their overall impact on the market," says Ross Glover, CEO of Research and Markets. For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/companies/state-grid-corporation-of-china?cid=kvndl7 About Research and Markets Research and Markets is the world's leading market research store. With more than 1.5 million research resources, we deliver the largest collection of business information products on the market. We offer the most in-depth market analysis across a multitude of industries. Our products provide clients with an unrivalled understanding of their chosen market. No matter how specialist your field, we have the insights and market data to help you make efficient and effective decisions. Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T. Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets BERGEN, Norway, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Skandiabanken aims to strengthen the private savings division by offering robo-advisory services, simplified, and with transparent pricing. On Friday the 17th of March, Skandiabanken entered an agreement to purchase 39.9% of the shares in Quantfolio AS. The investment represents an important step in the banks ongoing work to further strengthen and facilitate user-friendly digital saving options for the private market. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/481794/Quantfolio_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/481795/Quantfolio_Photo.jpg ) "We believe the next fintech revolution will take place in the digital savings and asset management market, and we wish to strengthen our position in this market with this move," said Christoffer Herns, CDO Skandiabanken ASA. "The acquisition of the shares is the first step towards providing our customers with simple and automated saving advice tailor made for each individual, through a user-friendly robo-advisory service. As a challenger bank, we wish to open up and innovate together with a wide range of strategic partners, within both the fintech community and elsewhere. This is just the beginning." CSO Jan Age Skaathun said that "Skandiabanken is an innovative and forward thinking bank with great vision as to how technology can revolutionize a stagnant savings industry and provide their customers with a brand new, dynamic and cost efficient savings platform. Quantfolio is proud to be partaking in realizing this vision." "Also in the future we shall be the bank with the most satisfied customers - to achieve that we have to challenge both ourselves and the market, and dare to explore new possibilities. Private savings is an important area for the bank, and going forward we will launch several new products in this segment. Emphasis will be on user friendliness, transparency and competitive pricing." Herns added that "The first step on the way is to challenge ourselves in a field of business that is changing rapidly, is to enter a partnership with innovative entrepreneurs that dare to look twice on existing business models to maximize customer value." Digital savings and asset management is one of the arenas in which Norwegian fintech companies has a large potential to succeed beyond our national borders, and Skandiabanken aims to take a part in this. As a major shareholder in Quantfolio we will utilize the competence and know-how that is present in the company as part of our increased focus on long term savings, but also by adding required competence and act as a professional financial owner for Quantfolio to succeed both in parthership with Skandiabanken, and also as a stand-alone fintech company. About Skandiabanken ASA In April 2000, Skandiabanken was launched as the first pure digital bank in Norway. Today, the Bank offers a comprehensive range of financial products and services to individuals and households in Norway within payments and card services, deposit-based savings, investment products, long-term loans and short-term loans. The Bank has no branches and all products and services are offered directly through the digital platform, which is available on a broad range of user devices. By the end of 2016, Skandiabanken had 388,614 account customers with a balance, and total assets of NOK 71.2 billion. For more information, see http://www.skandiabanken.no About Quantfolio Fintech company founded in Bergen, Norway. The company has developed a machine learning software for selecting the best savings products through a quantitative approach. By applying AI and algorithms on historical financial data, we offer consulting and development for banks who wish to implement dynamic portfolios which regularly chooses the best products for their customers. In Norway, Quantfolio has an exclusive partnership with Skandiabanken. For more information, see http://www.quantfol.io/robo-norway Contacts Skandiabanken ASA: Christoffer Herns - Chief Digital Officer +47-916-92-852 Contacts Quantfolio: Jan Age Skaathun - Chief Sales Director +47-941-68-940 SOURCE Quantfolio French English French public limited company (societe anonyme) with share capital of 1,474,964,950.00 Registered office: 1 cours Ferdinand de Lesseps, F-92500 Rueil Malmaison 552 037 806 RCS Nanterre www.vinci.com _____________________________________________________ Description of the 2017-2018 treasury share buy-back programme submitted by the Board of Directors for the approval of the Combined General Meeting of Shareholders of 20 April 2017 _________________________________________________________________________ I-Summary The shares concerned by the 2017-2018 buy-back programme are VINCI shares listed for trading in the A Compartment of the regulated market of NYSE Euronext in Paris under ISIN code FR0000125486. The programme offers the possibility of purchasing shares up to a maximum of 10% of the number of shares making up the Company's share capital over a period of eighteen months from 20 April 2017 to 19 October 2018 (see duration of programme below). This limit is based on the number of shares making up the share capital at the time of the purchases. Since the programme provides for the possibility of using derivatives in performing it, the treasury shares that the Company could purchase through the exercise of the share purchase options that it may have bought previously will be included in the calculation of the maximum number of shares authorised over the eighteen-month duration of the programme, at the time of the purchase of these share purchase options, and not at the time of their exercise, if any. Maximum purchase price : 90. Maximum amount of purchases authorised : 2 billion. The purchase cost of any derivatives used by the Company in connection with the programme shall be recognised in the maximum amount authorised at the time they are put in place. The amount relating to the price of any treasury shares acquired through the exercise of share purchase options shall only be recognised at the time of their exercise. Additional amounts that may be allocated to the liquidity agreement shall be recognised in the maximum amount of purchases authorised. Objectives : (1) delivery of shares pursuant to the exercise of the rights attached to securities giving access to the share capital, (2) transfers of shares for payment or exchange purposes, in particular in connection with transactions involving external growth, (3) disposals or transfers of Company shares to eligible employees and/or company officers of VINCI Group companies in the context of savings plans or any share ownership plan governed by French or foreign law, share and/or share purchase option allocation plans, (4) ensuring market liquidity under a liquidity agreement that complies with a code of ethics recognised by the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF, the French financial markets regulator) and entrusted to an investment service provider acting independently, (5) cancellation of shares and (6) implementation of any market practice, any objective or any transaction that would be accepted under laws or regulations in force or by the AMF with respect to share buy-back programmes. Duration of the programme : eighteen months from the approval of the Combined Shareholders' General Meeting of 20 April 2017, i.e. until 19 October 2018. II-Objectives of the 2017-2018 share buy-back programme: use of shares purchased VINCI wishes to implement a new share buy-back programme with the objectives described below. 1. Fulfilment of obligations to transfer or exchange shares pursuant to the exercise of the rights attached to securities giving access to the Company's share capital. 2. Transfers of shares for payment or exchange purposes, in particular in connection with transactions involving external growth. 3. Disposals or transfers of Company shares to eligible employees and/or company officers of VINCI Group companies in the context of savings plans or any share ownership plan governed by French or foreign law, share and/or share purchase option allocation plans, including disposals to any approved service provider appointed to design, implement and manage any UCITS or similar employee savings structure on behalf of the VINCI Group, and pledges of shares as guarantees under employee savings plans. 4. Market-making through a liquidity agreement that complies with a code of ethics recognised by the AMF and entrusted to an investment service provider acting independently. 5. Cancellation, as part of the Company's financial policy, of the shares thus purchased, subject to the adoption of the twelfth resolution of the 20 April 2017 Shareholders' General Meeting. 6. Implementation of any market practice, any objective or any transaction that would be accepted under laws or regulations in force or by the AMF with respect to share buy-back programmes. The shares purchased and retained by VINCI shall not carry any voting rights and shall not give right to the payment of dividends. The Company reserves the right to use derivatives in implementing this new programme. Furthermore, in compliance with the applicable legal and regulatory provisions, including those relating to stock exchange disclosure requirements, it reserves the right to carry out authorised reallocations of shares purchased in view of one of the programme's objectives to one or more of its other objectives, or to sell them on-market or off-market through an investment service provider acting independently. III-Legal framework This programme is within the framework of the provisions of Articles L.225-209 and L.225-210 to L.225-212 of the French Commercial Code and shall be submitted on 20 April 2017 to VINCI's Shareholders' General Meeting, acting in accordance with the quorum and majority requirements for ordinary (eighth resolution) and extraordinary (twelfth resolution) shareholders' meetings: Eighth resolution Renewal of the authorisation of the Board of Directors in view of the purchase by the Company of its own shares The Shareholders' General Meeting, having taken note of (a) the Report of the Board of Directors and (b) the description of the new 2017-2018 share buy-back programme, in accordance with the provisions of Article L.225-209 of the French Commercial Code as well as European regulation 596/2014 of 16 April 2014 on market abuse, authorises the Board of Directors, with the ability to sub-delegate such powers, within the limits provided for by law and regulations, on one or more occasions, on the stock market or otherwise, including by blocks of shares or through the use of options or derivatives, to purchase the Company's shares for the conduct of the following: 1. transfer or exchange of shares upon the exercise of the rights attached to securities giving access to the Company's share capital; 2. retention and future delivery for payment or exchange purposes in connection with transactions involving external growth; 3. disposal or transfer of Company shares to eligible employees and/or company officers of VINCI Group companies in the context of savings plans or any share ownership plan governed by French or foreign law, share and/or share purchase option allocation plans, including disposal to any approved service provider appointed for the design, implementation and management of any employee savings UCITS or similar structure on behalf of the VINCI Group, and pledge of shares as guarantee under employee savings plans; 4. ensuring market liquidity within the framework of a liquidity agreement that complies with a code of ethics recognised by the Autorite des Marches Financiers and entrusted to an investment service provider acting independently; 5. cancellation, as part of the Company's financial policy, of the shares thus purchased, subject to the adoption of the twelfth resolution hereunder; 6. implementation of any market practice, any objective or any transaction that may be accepted by laws or regulations or in force or by the Autorite des Marches Financiers in respect of share buy-back programmes. The maximum purchase price per share is set at 90. The maximum number of shares purchased by virtue of this authorisation shall not exceed 10% of the share capital. This limit is calculated at the time of the purchases and the maximum amount of shares thus purchased shall not exceed 2 billion. The share purchase price shall be adjusted by the Board of Directors in the event of transactions involving the Company's capital in compliance with the conditions provided for by the applicable regulations. In particular, in the event of a capital increase through the capitalisation of reserves and the allotment of performance shares, the price specified above shall be adjusted by a multiplier equal to the ratio of the number of shares making up the share capital before the transaction to the number of shares after the transaction. The acquisition, disposal, transfer, allotment or exchange of these shares may be carried out by any means that are authorised or that may become authorised by regulations in force, either on-market or off-market, including block transactions or through the use of derivatives, in particular through share purchase options in accordance with the regulations in force. There is no restriction on the proportion of the share buy-back programme that may be carried out through block transactions. These transactions may be carried out at any time in compliance with the current regulations, except during a public offer period. The Shareholders' General Meeting grants full powers to the Board of Directors, including the ability to delegate such powers, so that, in compliance with the applicable legal and regulatory provisions, including those on stock exchange disclosure requirements, it may proceed with the authorised reallocations of the shares purchased in view of one of the programme's objectives to one or more of its other objectives, or sell them on-market or off-market, it being specified that these reallocations and disposals may concern shares purchased pursuant to previously authorised share buy-back programmes. The Shareholders' General Meeting grants full powers to the Board of Directors, including the ability to delegate such powers, for the purpose of placing stock market orders, signing any deed of purchase, sale or transfer, entering into any agreement, carrying out any necessary adjustments, making all declarations and completing all formalities. This authorisation is granted for a period of eighteen months from the date of this Shareholders' General Meeting. It renders ineffective and replaces the authorisation granted by the Shareholders' General Meeting on 19 April 2016 in its sixth resolution. Twelfth resolution Renewal of the authorisation granted to the Board of Directors in view of the reduction of the share capital through cancellation of VINCI shares held in treasury The Shareholders' General Meeting, voting under the quorum and majority conditions required for Extraordinary General Shareholders' Meetings, having considered the Report of the Board of Directors and the Special Report of the Statutory Auditors, in accordance with the provisions of Article L.225-209 of the French Commercial Code, authorises the Board of Directors to cancel, at its sole discretion, on one or more occasions, within the limit of 10% of the number of shares making up the share capital on the date when the Board of Directors takes a decision to cancel and over successive periods of twenty-four months for the determination of this limit, the shares purchased by virtue of the authorisations granted to the Company to purchase its own shares, and to proceed with a reduction in share capital equivalent to that amount. The Shareholders' General Meeting establishes the validity of this authorisation for a period of twenty-six months from the date of the present meeting and grants full powers to the Board of Directors, including the powers to delegate such powers, to take all decisions necessary for the cancellation of shares and reduction of the share capital, to recognise the difference between the purchase price and the nominal value of the shares in the reserve account of its choice, including the account for "share premiums arising on contributions or mergers", to perform all actions, formalities or declarations to finalise the reductions in capital that may be carried out by virtue of this authorisation, and to amend the Company's Articles of Association accordingly. This authorisation renders ineffective and replaces the authorisation granted by the Shareholders' General Meeting on 19 April 2016 in its ninth resolution. IV-Arrangements Maximum proportion of the share capital that may be acquired and maximum amount payable by VINCI The maximum proportion of the share capital that VINCI may acquire is 10% of the share capital on the date of the Combined Shareholders' General Meeting. However, in the event of a change in the share capital after that date, the authorisation granted by the General Meeting would apply to 10% of the new share capital. The maximum purchase price per share is set at 90. The maximum total amount of capital that may be allocated to share purchases by virtue of this programme amounts to 2 billion. This maximum amount shall apply for all transactions carried out from 20 April 2017 over the duration of the programme: purchases of treasury shares, acquisitions of derivatives on treasury shares, treasury share subscriptions through the exercise of derivatives previously put in place, additional amounts that may be allocated to the liquidity agreement. The Company reserves the right to use the entire programme. VINCI shall ensure that it does not directly or indirectly exceed the buy-back ceiling of 10% of the share capital authorised by the Shareholders' General Meeting over the programme's eighteen-month term. It shall furthermore ensure that it does not own at any time, directly or indirectly, more than 10% of its share capital. Moreover, the share buy-back programme shall not have any significant impact on VINCI's free float, which amounted to 80.9% of the share capital on 31 December 2016 and 80.7% at 28 February 2017. The amount of the Company's available reserves, which amounted to 24,999 million at 31 December 2016, is, as required by law, higher than the amount of the share buy-back programme. Share buy-back arrangements Shares may be purchased fully or partly by any means that are authorised or that may become authorised by regulations in force, either on-market or off-market, including block transactions or through the use of derivatives, including through share purchase options in accordance with regulations in force. The Company shall be careful not to increase the volatility of its share price if it uses derivatives. These transactions may be carried out at any time in compliance with the current regulations, except during a public offer period. The proposed authorisation submitted to the General Meeting does not restrict the proportion of the programme that may be carried out through the acquisition of blocks of shares. 3. Duration and timeframe of the share purchase and cancellation programme Share purchases may be carried out over a period of eighteen months following the date of the General Meeting, i.e. from 20 April 2017 until 19 October 2018. Pursuant to paragraph 4 of Article L.225-209 of the French Commercial Code, the shares purchased can only be cancelled up to a limit of 10% of the share capital over successive rolling periods of twenty-four months. 4. Use of derivatives VINCI reserves the right to use derivatives for the implementation of this programme in order to cover, under current regulations, option positions that it has taken separately (such as share subscription or purchase options granted or issued debt securities giving access to the share capital). Information on the use of derivatives on treasury shares is systematically provided to the Board of Directors. V- Breakdown by objective of treasury shares at 31 December 2016 and 28 February 2017 in respect of the execution of the current 2016-2017 share buy-back programme and previous programmes Objectives Number of treasury shares at 31 December 2016 and percentage of the share capital Number of treasury shares at 28 February 2017 and percentage of the share capital Shares to be delivered for payment or exchange purposes in connection with transactions involving external growth 29,162,955 4.95% 29,162,955 4.94% Shares to cover performance share plans and/or long-term incentive plans 4,503,216 0.76% 4,499,458 0.76% Shares to be allocated in connection with employee share ownership plans 1,019,183 0.17% 1,019,233 0.17% Shares to be cancelled 0 0% 1,435,522 0.24% Total 34,685,354 5.89% 36,117,168 6.12% VI- Open positions on derivatives Open positions at 23 March 2017, date of publication of this document Open long positions Open short positions Call options purchased Forward purchases Call options sold Forward sales Number of shares - - - - Maximum average maturity - - - - Average exercise price - - - - Board of Directors of VINCI and, by delegation of the Board of Directors, ________________________ Xavier Huillard Chairman and Chief Executive Officer 23 March 2017 MADRID, March 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Telepizza has entered into a Joint Venture Agreement with Forty ' s Pizza, the leading pizza delivery company in the Czech Republic Th e new joint venture company will be led by Mr. Jakub Slezar founder of Forty ' s Pizza Telepizza currently own s 1,3 89 stores worldwide , consisting of 4 54 own ed and 935 franchised or master franchised stores Telepizza now has 10 stores and expects to more than double the market in the next 3 years in Czech Republic Telepizza, the world's largest pizza delivery company outside of the USA, has recently embarked on a joint venture with Forty's Pizza, the Czech Republic's leading pizza delivery company. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150317/735407-a ) (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/481777/Pablo_Juantegui_Jakub_Slezar.jpg ) Agreements with leading businesses in key markets is a vital part of Telepizza's ambitious plans for rapid international growth alongside innovation, JVCs and organic store rollouts, which aim to double the market over the next 3 years. The new joint venture company will be led by founder of Forty's Pizza, Mr. Jakub Slezar. Telepizza President of International, Giorgio Minardi, comments, "We are delighted with the new JVC with Forty's Pizza as it marks another step towards achieving our ambitious expansion plans.The Czech Republic represents a fantastic opportunity for us to leverage our growing franchising business in Central Europe and help build momentum as an internationally recognised brand." Owner and founder of Forty's Pizza, Mr. Jakub Slezar comments, "With its strong heritage and focus on quality, the Telepizza brand is a perfect match for us. We are delighted to have joined such a great organisation and are looking forward to using our extensive local knowledge to help grow the Telepizza business in the Czech Republic." Telepizza currently operates in more than 20 countries and posted 517 million in chain sales and 63.6 million in EBITDA in 2016. With ambition for further business growth through ongoing investment, Telepizza is continuously looking for potential JVC and master franchisees that seek to join this incredible opportunity. About Telepizza Telepizza is the world's largest pizza delivery company outside of the USA. Headquartered in Madrid, the company offers a variety of pizza and complementary products that combine consistent flavours across countries with a focus on local adaptation and innovation in the markets where it operates. Telepizza operates in more than 20 countries with its own brand throughout Europe (Spain, Portugal and Poland), Latin America and other regions mostly through master franchise agreements. As of March 2017, the company had a network of 1,389 stores (454owned stores and 935 franchised and master franchised stores) and employs a vertically-integrated business model throughout seven dough production facilities. In 2016, the Group posted 517 million in chain sales and 63.6 million in EBITDA. MEDIA CONTACTS: Telepizza: +34-91-6576200 Miguel Justribo miguel.justribo@telepizza.com SOURCE Telepizza NORTH READING, Massachusetts, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TraceLink Inc., the World's Largest Track and Trace Network for connecting the Life Sciences supply chain and eliminating counterfeit prescription drugs from the global marketplace, today announced an agreement with Advanco to resell ARC Suite software, an industry-leading software solution that integrates packaging lines and enterprise serialization repositories. The agreement with Advanco, an international provider of solution integrations for item level serialization, will provide pharmaceutical and contract manufacturing companies with competitive pricing and purchasing flexibility to utilize multiple line management systems while simplifying integration with the TraceLink Life Sciences Cloud at the enterprise and network level for serialization. As the leading provider for enterprise and network system Levels 4 and 5, TraceLink will offer the Advanco ARC Suite software to customers looking for a consistent global site server solution that is independent of the Line Management System (LMS). ARC Suite will streamline their integration across all LMS solutions and remove any restrictions associated with purchasing from multiple line vendors resulting from implementing a proprietary Site Server. This simplified, interoperable approach through TraceLink and Advanco will allow manufacturers to leverage any combination of line management solutions while improving procurement and deployment flexibility. "Pharmaceutical and contract manufacturers continue to face a number of challenges in synchronizing multiple interconnected packaging levels in order to comply with serialization regulations. TraceLink and Advanco recognized the need to provide a flexible option for the industry to cut down on time-consuming and costly integrations between line management and enterprise systems and efficiently comply with serialization regulations," said Shabbir Dahod, president and CEO of TraceLink. "TraceLink is partnering with the industry's leading companies, such as Advanco, to deliver flexible, scalable solutions, quality implementation services and proven production integrations to its customers. These partnerships supplement our ongoing and active involvement with interoperability standards and industry workgroups such as Open-SCS and GS1, which demonstrate TraceLink's commitment to work collaboratively with industry to reduce risk and ensure optimal compliance for all members of the pharmaceutical supply chain." Olgun Yenersoy, founder and CEO of Advanco added, "TraceLink is the global leader in serialization and track and trace at the enterprise level because its proven Life Sciences Cloud serialization platform enables more than 500 pharmaceutical manufacturers, CMOs, distributors, 3PLs and dispensers to exchange data with over 248,000 supply chain partners. The TraceLink and Advanco integration offers true simplicity in system integration and will help facilitate smoother deployment of serialization solutions for all packaging levels. We look forward to continuing this partnership with TraceLink and working collaboratively to help the industry achieve compliance in the EU, US and other global markets." "The partnership between TraceLink and Advanco gives us increased flexibility, particularly for our customers that need options for leveraging different line management strategies, ranging from a single system to several large line management systems. Seamless integration is a core component to success for serialization and an integral factor for pharmaceutical manufacturers to achieve compliance on time," said Eric Tjoa, CEO of Tjoapack. "As a customer of both TraceLink and Advanco, we're able to offer easy integration across all line levels, well ahead of the U.S. and EU deadlines, while continuing to guarantee the highest quality of services for our customer base. We are thrilled about this partnership and will be discussing the benefits of simplified line-level integration with both companies at our upcoming serialization event on March 30 at Tjoapack headquarters." In addition, customers who purchase ARC Suite by Advanco from TraceLink will be able to rely on TraceLink's global customer success team for implementation assistance and ongoing technical support, further streamlining the user experience by coordinating support resources through TraceLink. To learn more about TraceLink's partnership with Advanco and ARC Suite, please visit www.tracelink.com About Advanco Founded in 1981, for the last 36 years Advanco has been working as a system integrator in diverse industry such as pharmaceutical, food, manufacturing, luxury goods, aeronautics, chemical and the automotive. Our experience in Pharma Packaging Serialization, starting with Turkish Track and Trace program, since 2009 is based on monitoring of supply chain events, traceability, and compliance with legislations that are vital for competitive advantage. Focused on the site execution management (Level 3) solution, the role of Advanco is to help its clients to be ready on time by harmonizing their businesses with existing/new regulations. Our mission is to contribute to continuously optimize the efficiency of the operations through "Serialized Plant Execution Management" for both production and distribution at the plant level. About TraceLink TraceLink is the World's Largest Track and Trace Network for connecting the Life Sciences supply chain and eliminating counterfeit prescription drugs from the global marketplace. Leading businesses trust the TraceLink Life Sciences Cloud to deliver complete global connectivity, visibility and traceability of pharmaceuticals from ingredient to patient. A single point and click connection to the Life Sciences Cloud creates a supply chain control tower that delivers the information, insight and collaboration needed to improve performance and reduce risk across global supply, manufacturing and distribution operations. A winner of numerous industry awards including Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 (ranked number 149 in 2016), the Amazon AWS Global Start-Up Challenge Grand Prize, and the Edison Award for Innovation in Health Management, the Life Sciences Cloud is used by businesses across the globe to meet strategic goals in ensuring global compliance, fighting drug counterfeiting, improving on-time and in-full delivery, protecting product quality and reducing operational cost. For more information on TraceLink and our solutions, visit www.tracelink.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. TraceLink is funded by Goldman Sachs, FirstMark Capital, Volition Capital and F-Prime Capital. Related Links http://www.tracelink.com SOURCE TraceLink DURHAM, N.C., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- 410 Medical, Inc., a medical device company focused on developing innovative technologies for the resuscitation of critically ill patients, today announced it has closed an initial investment of $3.3 million as part of its Series A financing led by Bios Partners, a private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. Last month, 410 Medical officially launched the LifeFlow Rapid Infuser, an intuitive device that allows for the rapid delivery of fluids for patients with sepsis or other critical conditions. "We are very pleased to close this round of financing and are encouraged by the confidence demonstrated by our investors, including Sovereign's Capital and Bios Partners who led the round," said Kyle Chenet, Chief Executive Officer at 410 Medical. "This new investment will further support our commercialization of the LifeFlow within hospitals and expand our reach to EMS and other areas where this device could have an extraordinary impact." The Company conducted a limited market release of LifeFlow in November 2016 through an early evaluation program, which yielded extremely positive results and feedback. Based on the success of this program, 410 Medical is expanding LifeFlow's release to hospitals and emergency medical services (EMS) organizations nationwide. "As an early investor in 410 Medical, we are excited to see the significant progress that the 410 team has made." said Luke Roush, Chairman of 410 Medical's Board of Directors and Managing Principle at California-based Sovereign's Capital. "LifeFlow has received a very positive response from clinicians, hospitals, and investors. Sovereign's Capital is honored to participate in this round of financing and be part of this great team." Severe sepsis affects over 1 million adults and children each year in the US. It is the most frequent cause of death in hospitalized patients and the leading killer of children worldwide. Early, rapid delivery of fluid is a life-saving therapy, yet medical providers often face difficulty delivering fluids efficiently using existing methods and technologies. About 410 Medical, Inc. Founded in 2013, 410 Medical is a medical device company dedicated to developing innovative products that enable frontline medical providers to improve care for critically ill patients. 410 Medical's first product, LifeFlow, is designed to enhance the speed and efficiency of fluid resuscitation, improving care for patients with life-threatening illnesses such as sepsis and shock. LifeFlow was cleared by the FDA for human use in 2016. For more information, visit www.410medical.com. About Bios Partners Bios Partners is a venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. Founded in 2014 and based in Fort Worth, TX, the firm utilizes an experienced team of industry professionals to actively collaborate with its investment portfolio companies and enhance stakeholder value. The investment in 410 Medical, Inc. is one of seven new investments made through the firm's recently closed Bios Fund I. SOURCE 410 Medical, Inc. Related Links http://www.410medical.com GREENVILLE, S.C., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Scio Diamond Technology Corporation (OTCPINK: SCIO) learned after the markets closed on Wednesday March 22, 2017, that the Department of Justice, through its District of Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office, had announced a federal indictment charging former Scio Diamond Technology Corporation (Scio Diamond) Board of Directors Chairman, Edward S. Adams, with "orchestrating an elaborate fraud scheme to embezzle millions of dollars of investors' funds." The indictment alleges the activity happened between 2006 and 2013. Scio Diamond's current Board of Directors and management team have been cooperating with the Department of Justice in its investigation. Adams has had no involvement with Scio Diamond or the new Board of Directors since the conclusion of the successful 'Save Scio' proxy battle on June 23, 2014. Scio Diamond has also been cooperating with a related Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. Company records indicate that Adams and his former law partner and former Scio Diamond Board of Directors member, Michael Monahan have liquidated a majority of their personal interests in the Company. Given the downward pressure the sale of Adams' and Monahan's stock holdings have had on the market for the Company's stock, the Company will be seeking all available remedies to preclude Messrs. Adams and Monahan's future sales of shares. In light of these allegations, Scio Diamond is also hopeful these proceedings will result in restitutions to the Company for the benefit of all shareholders. Scio Diamond, formerly Apollo Diamond Inc., is a pioneer in the growth of white, near white, pink and other fancy colored diamonds for the gemstone and jewelry industries. While the Company has yet to achieve profitability, recent Company activities leveraging its patented technology have led to significant month-to-month sales improvements and advancements in the quality and quantity of finished goods available. The Company anticipates that additional information on these recent developments will be available for announcement in the coming weeks. About Scio Diamond Scio Diamond employs a patent-protected chemical vapor deposition process to produce high-quality, single-crystal near colorless and fancy-colored diamonds for the jewelry market in a controlled laboratory setting. Lab-grown diamonds are chemically, physically and optically identical to "earth-mined" diamonds. Scio's technology offers the flexibility to produce lab-grown diamonds in size, color and quality combinations that are rare in earth-mined diamonds. Scio also delivers diamond materials for advanced industrial, medical and semiconductor applications. For more information, please visit www.sciodiamond.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Scio to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements, which involve assumptions and describe future plans, strategies and expectations of the Company, are generally identifiable by use of the words "may," "will," "should," "could," "would," "forecast," "potential," "continue," "contemplate," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "intend," or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that may be incorrect, and there can be no assurance that these projections included in these forward-looking statements will come to pass. Actual results of the Company could differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Except as required by applicable laws, the Company has no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason, even if new information becomes available or other events occur in the future. SOURCE Scio Diamond Technology Corporation Related Links http://www.sciodiamond.com CHICAGO, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Advantage Futures continues focus to expand global presence with clients throughout the U.S. and in 58 additional countries, territories or jurisdictions. Advantage staff travel the globe to develop, support and maintain important relationships with current and prospective clients. Representatives plan extensive international travel this year to diverse locales including Cork, Delhi, Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, Kolkata, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm as well as other cities. Domestic travel includes dozens of trips crisscrossing the United States. "Advantage's increasingly global client base reflects the success of our travel commitment. Regular travel to Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions provides a personal touch valued by our international clients," said Bill Harrington, Executive Vice President, Business Development Manager. "We invest time, effort and resources to strengthen these important relationships." "I travel with a team of professionals hired specifically to service Advantage's European clients. In the last six months, we visited London, Dublin, Riga and Paris. Face-to-face meetings are critical to serve our international clients and explore new business opportunities," added Mike O'Malley, Executive Vice President, Business Development. The Advantage Global Execution Desk provides clients market access and a backup plan to supplement their trading. Overnight operations, risk and technology support teams enable clients worldwide to trade with confidence knowing Advantage is available for them around the clock. Advantage offers electronic trading access to major futures exchanges worldwide, including: CME Group, Eurex, ICE EU, ICE US, NFX, CFE, KCBOT, MGEX, Montreal, DME, ASX, SGX, HKFE, TOCOM, OSE, TFX and BMD. About Advantage Futures: Advantage Futures ranks among the high volume clearing firms in the industryprocessing 252 million contracts in 2016 and recently surpassing 3.7 billion contracts processed since inception in 2003. Advantage continues to expand its diverse client base by striving to deliver the highest level of client service. Our exceptional technology support, experienced risk management and responsive back office operations combine to provide comprehensive, technology-driven clearing and execution services over robust and redundant network infrastructure. Follow Advantage Futures on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Click here to see our worldwide presence. SOURCE Advantage Futures Related Links http://www.advantagefutures.com SAO PAULO, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CENTRO DE IMAGEM DIAGNOSTICOS S.A. (" Company "), in accordance with article 157, paragraph 4 of Law 6,404/76 and Instruction 358/02 of the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), hereby informs its shareholders and the market in general that it entered yesterday, as a buyer jointly with its subsidiary Centro de Diagnosticos por Imagem Ltda. (" CDI "), into an agreement for the acquisition of 100% interest in RADIOLOGISTAS ASSOCIADOS LTDA. (" Partnership " and " Acquisition "). The acquired business, operating under the brand "Multiscan Imagem e Diagnostico" (" Multiscan "), is a market leader in diagnostics imaging in the Espirito Santo state, having 4 PSCs, 8 MRIs and a complete range of diagnostics imaging equipment. Between 2014 and 2016, Multiscan has grown 18% per year. For 2017, we expect R$ 43 million in net revenue, R$ 15 million in EBITDA and R$ 10 million in net revenue (before synergies). With the acquisition, Alliar will become the largest diagnostics center in the state of Espirito Santo, strengthening the company's leadership position in imaging diagnostics and building a solid platform for clinical analysis expansion. Multiscan's enterprise value was set at R$ 104 million (6.9x 2017 EV/EBITDA), already including the reimbursement of investments on two recently opened PSCs (R$ 10 million), with its equity value being close to R$ 92 million (9.2x 2017 P/E). R$ 6 million will be paid using Alliar's treasury shares, and R$ 86 million will be paid in cash, 50% on the closing date, 25% in 12 months and 25% in 5 years. The Acquisition was approved by the Company's Board of Directors on March 20, 2017, and the information of Appendix 30-XXXVI, from Instruction 480/09 of the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), is included on Appendix I, attached to the meeting minute, available on the Company website and on the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission website, on http://ri.alliar.com and www.cvm.gov.br, respectively. For Further Information: ir.alliar.com CONTACT INVESTOR RELATIONS TEAM Carlos Araujo | IRO Francisco de Paula| IR Manager Tel.: +55 11 4369 1387 E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE Alliar Related Links http://ir.alliar.com LOS ANGELES, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AllOver Media, LLC (AOM), a portfolio company of Audax Private Equity and the largest alternative out-of-home advertising platform in the United States, today announced the appointment of Bill Corvalan as VP West Coast Brand Partnerships for AllOver Media. Bill Corvalan "After a thorough and competitive selection process, I'm proud that Bill has decided to join AOM during this exciting growth period for both AOM and for the out-of-home industry. Bill is multi-media expert that has vast experience working in concert with national brands to bring their strategies to life," said Jeff Griffing, CEO of AllOver Media. "I'm thrilled to join AllOver Media team as they continue their rapid growth," said Corvalan. "Being able to help build advertiser brands with all the different out-of-home assets available to AOM customers is energizing. With most ad mediums in decline, it's refreshing to discuss marketing solutions on platforms that have growing audiences and viewership." Prior to joining the AOM team, Corvalan was the Managing Director, Brand Partnerships at Billboard-The Hollywood Reporter Media Group where he oversaw the multiplatform media sales efforts for the west coast. With over 16 years of experience, Corvalan is a multimedia expert in print, digital, mobile, social, experiential, and radio selling. He has worked with top clients such as T-Mobile, Toyota, Hyundai, Lexus, Amazon, Universal Pictures, Red Bull, Best Buy, Gatorade, and Proctor & Gamble. ABOUT ALLOVER MEDIA AllOver Media (AOM), founded in 2002, is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., and is the largest alternative out-of-home advertising platform in the U.S. AOM works with a wide range of clients from Fortune 500 to regional and local companies by promoting products within captive media formats and engaging consumers on an everyday basis. AOM is the only out-of-home company that can provide coverage in virtually every DMA in the U.S. For more information, visit the AOM website at www.allovermedia.com. Contact: Jeff Griffing Chief Executive Officer AllOver Media 763.762.2080 [email protected] SOURCE AllOver Media Related Links http://www.allovermedia.com PHOENIX, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alpine 4 (OTCQB: ALPP) Quality Circuit Assembly (QCA) has been awarded a 3 year-year production contract from a French Aerospace parts manufacturer to serve the needs of the one of the world's largest commercial airlines. The award was the culmination of the Department of National Defense new procurement process that included industry engagement and an open competition for airliner components. The contract covers many operating systems the Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-900ER and 747-400. QCA has provided manufacturing support to their customers around the world since 1988. "QCA continues to be the boutique manufacturer for specialty small production run assemblies. It can quick turn a product in 3-5 working days. We are humbled that this new contract will continue our long tradition of excellence in supporting the aerospace industry," said Terry W. Protto, Vice President of Portfolio Management of Alpine4 Technologies, QCA's parent company. With the award of this contract, QCA continues to maintain its industry-leading market share, delivering all-encompassing PCBA, Cable and Harness and Box Build products and services to customers around the world. About Alpine 4 Technologies Ltd. Alpine 4 is a publicly held enterprise with business-related endeavors in Automotive Technologies, Electronics Manufacturing, Software and Data Technologies. Four principles at the core of our business are: Synergy. Innovation. Drive. Excellence. At Alpine 4, we believe synergistic innovation drives excellence. By anchoring these words to our combined experience and capabilities, we are able to aggressively pursue opportunities within and across vertical markets. We deliver solutions that not only drive industry standards, but increase value for our shareholders. Contact: Ian Kantrowitz, Director of Investor Relations [email protected] Forward-Looking Statements: The information disclosed in this press release is made as of the date hereof and reflects Alpine 4 most current assessment of its historical financial performance. Actual financial results filed with the SEC may differ from those contained herein due to timing delays between the date of this release and confirmation of final audit results. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements including, without limitation, the risks, uncertainties, including the uncertainties surrounding the current market volatility, and other factors the Company identifies from time to time in its filings with the SEC. Although Alpine 4 believes that the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of those assumptions could prove to be inaccurate and, as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions also could be incorrect. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made as of the date hereof, and Alpine 4 disclaims any intention or obligation to update the forward-looking statements for subsequent events. SOURCE Alpine 4 Technologies Ltd. AGOURA HILLS, Calif., March 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH) (the "Company") today announced that it has priced an underwritten public offering of 11,000,000 of its Class A common shares of beneficial interest, $0.01 par value per share, for expected gross proceeds of approximately $251 million. The Company also granted to the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,650,000 Class A common shares at the public offering price. The offering is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close on or about March 28, 2017. Concurrently with the completion of the offering, the Company's Chairman of the Board of Trustees, B. Wayne Hughes, will purchase $50 million of the Company's Class A common shares in a private placement at the public offering price, bringing the total expected gross proceeds from the offering and the concurrent private placement to approximately $301 million. The Company will contribute the net proceeds from the offering and the concurrent private placement to its operating partnership in exchange for Class A partnership units. The operating partnership intends to use the net proceeds received from the Company's contribution, together with cash on hand and other borrowings under its credit facilities, to repay in full the outstanding indebtedness of approximately $456.1 million as of December 31, 2016 under the Company's 2014-SFR1 securitization loan. In connection with repayment of the securitization loan, the Company has given notice to the lender that it will repay the loan in full on the next regular payment date of April 7, 2017. J.P. Morgan is acting as the sole underwriter for the offering. The offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and only by means of a prospectus and prospectus supplement. Copies of the final prospectus supplement, when available, may be obtained by visiting EDGAR on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attention: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, telephone: (866) 803-9204. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful before registration or qualification thereof under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. About American Homes 4 Rent American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH) is a leader in the single-family home rental industry and "American Homes 4 Rent" is fast becoming a nationally recognized brand for rental homes, known for high quality, good value and tenant satisfaction. We are an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust, or REIT, focused on acquiring, renovating, leasing, and operating attractive, single-family homes as rental properties. As of December 31, 2016, we owned approximately 48,422 single-family properties, in selected submarkets in 22 states. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements relate to beliefs, expectations or intentions and similar statements concerning matters that are not of historical fact and are generally accompanied by words such as "estimate," "project," "predict," "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "potential," "plan," "goal" or other words that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. These forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to complete the offering and the concurrent private placement and the intended use of net proceeds. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations and assumptions about future events. While the Company's management considers these expectations to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control. These and other important factors, including "Risk Factors" disclosed in, or incorporated by reference into, the prospectus from the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and in the Company's subsequent filings with the SEC, may cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from anticipated results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Contact: American Homes 4 Rent Investor Relations Phone: (855) 794-2447 Email: [email protected] SOURCE American Homes 4 Rent Related Links https://www.americanhomes4rent.com WASHINGTON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- New research out today shows that while many Americans were active on social media on policy and political issues, both prior to and after President Trump's Inauguration, many refrained from contributing content because the tone of social media was "too toxic or negative" or that they were "tired of hearing about the Presidential election." The recent Finn Futures nationwide survey of 1,000 American adults gauged social media use leading up to and during the election, as well as attitudes about how social media impacts public policy decisions and voting decisions. The majority of respondents (52 percent) said social media had some impact on their voting decision, with Democrats (28 percent) most likely to say that social media significantly impacted on their vote (compared to 14 percent of Republicans). Social Media Impact on Policy Outcomes Nearly 80 percent of respondents believe that social media has at least some impact on public policy outcomes, including gun control, immigration and trade. College aged respondents (53 percent), Democrats (32 percent) and Independents (31 percent) were most likely to say that social media has a "significant" impact. However, respondents were split on whether social media's impact on informing the public on policy issues is positive: nearly half said it was, while one-third believe it is negative. "As members of Congress continue to hear from their constituents and policy advocates on many new communications platforms, social media is playing a bigger role in shaping public policy," said Jessica Ross, Managing Partner, Finn Partners, Public Affairs. "Increasingly, we are seeing policy protests organized on social media. The immediacy, transparency and sharability of social media means that members of Congress must be prepared to respond in-kind in an increasingly digital way." Politics and Social Media Over half of respondents, 57 percent, shared their political opinions and feelings via social media at least sometimes, and nearly 30 percent of respondents took a break from social media during the presidential election cycle. When asked why they stepped back, many of them said that the "tone of social media was too toxic or negative" (54 percent). This feeling of negativity of news around the election was even true across political parties (64 percent Republicans vs 54 percent Democrats). Respondents also said they were "tired of hearing about the Presidential election" (48 percent). "It is not surprising that one-third of people surveyed took a break from social media during the election, citing the 'toxic online environment,'" said Ross. "What is surprising is the number of people who didn't take a break. We are interested in further understanding the current state of news and digital platforms and how this fuels near constant engagement and interest in bad or negative newsthe car-wreck effect where you can't look away." About the Survey The Finn Futures survey, sponsored by global public relations firm Finn Partners, was conducted online in January 2017 among a representative sample of 1,000 Americans, and is part of an ongoing initiative by the company to assess attitudes, beliefs and behaviors in public affairs and other areas of critical importance to consumers. The data was weighed slightly to ensure it was representative of the U.S. adult population. Full results of the survey are available by contacting [email protected]. About Finn Partners, Inc. Finn Partners specializes in a full spectrum of public relations and corporate affairs services, including digital and social media. Headquartered in New York City, the company has approximately 550 employees, with offices in Chicago, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Jerusalem, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Nashville, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Washington D.C., and offers additional international capabilities through its own global network and PROI Worldwide. Follow us on Twitter @finnpartners. CONTACT: Christina Saull Vice President, Public Affairs (202) 667-0901 [email protected] SOURCE Finn Partners Related Links http://www.finnpartners.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MGX Minerals Inc. (MGX or the Company) (CSE:XMG) (FKT:1MG) (OTC:MGXMF) is pleased to announce it has entered into a Joint Operating Agreement (the Agreement) with a private vendor to act as operator and acquire a 75% working interest in certain underlying Oil and Gas Leases (the Leases) located contiguous to the Companys Lisbon Valley petrolithium project. The Leases cover portions of San Juan County, Utah and San Miguel County, Colorado and will provide access to the brine-bearing aquifer systems within the Lisbon Valley area of the Paradox Basin. Preparations to permit the Petrolithium #1 borehole well will commence upon closing of the Agreement. The Company plans to conduct well-sampling and collect seismic data to advance hydrogeological understanding within the Pennsylvanian-age Paradox Formation, which consists of a thick (>3,667 meters) evaporite sequence. The most active period of subsidence extended from mid-Pennsylvanian to Late Triassic time. Thick cyclic accumulations of salt were deposited early and influenced by irregular and episodic movements of the faults, resulting in salt redistribution and flexure of the overlying rock. As a result, there are a large number of identified clastic zones. Agreement Terms To earn a 75% working interest, MGX will make payments totaling US$2,000,000 on or before September 1, 2018. The Company can choose to accelerate payments and issue consideration totaling $1,700,000 on or before September 1, 2017, in which case the vendor will waive any additional payments due. MGX has granted the vendor a Carry Period (Carry Period) in which MGX shall be responsible for 100% of all expenses incurred. The Carry Period shall be considered satisfied once MGX has made all required payments or drilled at least one well on the Leases on or before February 28, 2020. Upon satisfying these conditions MGX shall earn an undivided 75% working interest in the Leases and the vendor shall be responsible to contribute proportionate expenses equal to their interest in the Leases. Overview of Lisbon Valley Oilfield The oil and gas leases are proximate to the Company's Lisbon Valley Lithium Project which overlies the Lisbon Valley oil and gas field located approximately 40 miles southeast of Moab, Utah in the salt anticline belt on the southwest edge of the Paradox Basin in San Juan county. Historic lithium brine content has been reported as high as 730 parts per million lithium (Superior Oil 88-21P) at Lisbon Valley. The region is home to the former Rio Algom uranium mill facility, an active copper mine operated by Lisbon Valley Mining Company, and a natural gas processing plant. Qualified Person The technical portions of this press release were prepared and reviewed by Andris Kikauka (P. Geo.), Vice President of Exploration for MGX Minerals. Mr. Kikauka is a non-independent Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument (N.I.) 43-101 Standards. About MGX Minerals MGX Minerals (CSE:XMG) is a diversified Canadian mining company engaged in the development of large-scale industrial mineral portfolios in western Canada and the United States. The Company operates lithium, magnesium and silicon projects throughout British Columbia and Alberta as well as petrolithium exploration in Utah. Learn more at www.mgxminerals.com. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements including the completion of the rights offering (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "potentially" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. "Annette has an industry-wide reputation for creating long-term sustainable growth by fostering innovation and taking a customer-led approach," said Jay Nadler, CEO of Clarivate Analytics. "I'm delighted that she is joining our Board at a critical time as we accelerate investment and growth as an independent company." Thomas currently serves as a Trustee and board member of The Yale Corporation, the governing board and policy-making body for Yale University. Thomas's career spans nearly 25 years in scientific and educational publishingshe began her career as a cell biology editor for Nature, before being appointed Managing Director of Nature Publishing Group, followed by Chief Executive of Macmillan Publishers Ltd. and then Chief Executive of Macmillan Science and Education. For over 15 years, she was at the helm of Nature, transforming it from a handful of scientific, print-based magazines into one of the most highly regarded, digitally-focused research information groups in the world. During her tenure at Nature and Macmillan, Thomas expanded the group globally and diversified the business. An early advocate of open access, she drove Nature's developments in this area, including creating a separate, open access-dedicated business division to accelerate the growth of Nature Communications, Scientific Reports and the Nature Partner Journals program. In 2010, she created Digital Science in order to harness the power of data and technology-enabled tools to improve workflows and outcomes for researchers, institutions, funders and publishers. She later oversaw the successful transition of the Macmillan businesses into Springer Nature when the company was created, following a merger between Macmillan and Springer in 2015. As Chief Scientific Officer and global head of Springer Nature's research business, Thomas set the strategic roadmap for the new company. "Clarivate Analytics and its predecessor companies, has been a leader across the entire information services landscape for decades and I am honored to join the Board," Thomas said. "It is a very exciting time in the industry and it will be a pleasure working with this exceptional team, who are passionate and committed to taking innovative approaches to solving customers' most pressing needs. I am looking forward to sharing my experiences and contributing to the future direction and growth of this global leader." Thomas started her career as a scientist, receiving undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Biochemistry, Biophysics and Cell Biology from Harvard and Yale Universities. She has also served as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and on the Board of Creative Commons. She has been awarded the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize for exceptional women in publishing and is a recipient of the Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal awarded by Yale's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Clarivate Analytics Clarivate Analytics accelerates the pace of innovation by providing trusted insights and analytics to customers around the world, enabling them to discover, protect and commercialize new ideas faster. Formerly the Intellectual Property and Science business of Thomson Reuters, we own and operate a collection of leading subscription-based businesses focused on scientific and academic research, patent analytics and regulatory standards, pharmaceutical and biotech intelligence, trademark protection, domain brand protection and intellectual property management. Clarivate Analytics is now an independent company with over 4,000 employees, operating in more than 100 countries and owns wellknown brands that include Web of Science, Cortellis, Thomson Innovation, Derwent World Patents Index, CompuMark, MarkMonitor and Techstreet, among others. For more information, please visit clarivate.com. Media Contact: Heidi Siegel Clarivate Analytics Director, External Relations +1 215 823 5646 (o) +1 215 356 4504 (m) [email protected] SOURCE Clarivate Analytics Related Links http://clarivate.com WASHINGTON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, members of the American Trucking Associations, along with a contingent of America's Road Team Captains ATA's group of elite professional drivers visited the White House for a conversation about issues affecting the trucking industry, including health care. American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation's freight.Trucking Moves America Forward. (PRNewsFoto/American Trucking Associations) (PRNewsFoto/American Trucking Associations) "Trucking is the backbone of the nation's economy. We employ 1 in 16 people in the U.S. Driving a truck is the top job in 29 states. Trucking moves 70% of the nation's freight and 56% of GDP. To grow our economy, we need to take care of the people that move America forward," said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. "The Affordable Care Act is just plain unaffordable. Replacing this law will help trucking employees, their families and our customers by lowering insurance costs, decrease mandates, liabilities and administrative burdens, and provide access to quality care and patient choice." "The 7.3 million people who work in the trucking industry of which 3.5 million are professional truck drivers have a common thread to be safe and dependable and that requires a healthy professional behind the wheel," ATA Chairman Kevin Burch, president of Jet Express Inc., said. "One thing for certain the professional men and women drivers in America are proud of hauling America's freight. We are here to tell you Mr. President, that the trucking industry will support you as you work towards solving America's health care challenges. In addition, we look forward to working with you on improving our workplace, which is our highways." "Truck drivers are in all 50 states every single day. As a driver, we feel the weight of the numerous regulations placed on us, as well as our companies and those that we serve," said America's Road Team Captain Don Logan, a professional truck driver with FedEx Freight, from Eskridge, Kan. "We proudly stand with you in your effort to improve the current healthcare law making it easier for us to make a living and serve America." Burch and Logan were joined by a number of trucking executives: Jim Burg, president and CEO, James Burg Trucking Co., Warren, Mich.; David Congdon, CEO, Old Dominion Freight Line, Thomasville, N.C.; Mike Ducker, president and CEO, FedEx Freight, Memphis, Tenn.; Eric Fuller, CEO, U.S. Xpress Inc., Chattanooga, Tenn.; Neal Kedzie, president, Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association, Madison, Wisc.; Rich McArdle, president, UPS Freight, Richmond, Va.; Dennis Nash, CEO, Kenan Advantage Group, North Canton, Ohio; Tonn Ostergard, president and CEO, Crete Carrier Corp., Lincoln, Neb., and John Smith, chairman, CRST International Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In addition, ATA was privileged to bring its Image Truck Interstate One and a trailer provided by Jet Express featuring Trucking Moves America Forward imaging, hauled by ATA's Share the Road Truck. These trucks are being driven and escorted by 12 professional drivers with a combined 319 years of driving experience and 29.4 million accident-free miles: Steve Fields, Independence, Mo., (YRC Freight); Ralph Garcia, Albuquerque, N.M., (ABF Freight System); David Green, Hot Springs, Ark., (Werner Enterprises); Rhonda Hartman, Des Moines, Iowa, (Old Dominion Freight Line); John Lex, Monroe, Ga., (Walmart Transportation); David Livingston, Springfield, Ga., (TCW Inc.); Don Logan, Eskridge, Kan., (FedEx Freight); Charlton Paul Jr., Chester, N.Y., (UPS Freight); Russell Simpson, South Vienna, Ohio, (Holland Inc.); Todd Stine, Altoona, Pa., (Carbon Express); Barney Earl Taylor, Orlando, Fla., (Penske) and Derrick Whittle, Fieldale, Va., (Cargo Transporters Inc.). Photos and video of the event will be available upon request, or via ATA's Facebook, YouTube and Twitter feeds. American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation's freight. Follow ATA on Twitter or on Facebook. Trucking Moves America Forward SOURCE American Trucking Associations Related Links http://www.trucking.org BLOOMING PRAIRIE, Minn., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bandit Big Rig Series driver Chris Kikelhan knows all about racing, but he still considers himself just a normal guy. "Being a small fleet owner and participating in the Bandit Series gives me a chance to enjoy something competitive in the same field as I work in everyday," Kikelhan said. Bandit Big Rig Series Kikelhan drove the #01 Sundance truck to victory at Hickory Motor Speedway last fall, and he'll never forget the feeling. "People waited around long after the race," Kikelhan said. "We were standing over by the fence and they're trying to call me over for an autograph! It was crazy. I'm just an Average Joe having a blast." Kikelhan is one of several small fleet owners participating in the Bandit Big Rig Series. Allen Boles owns and operates Jupiter Enterprises out of North Carolina, but he also drives the #3 Volvo in the Bandit Series. "It's unreal. The fans treat us like stars, but we're just out there having fun," Boles said. "It's pretty cheap, too. If you've got an old truck lying around, all you have to do is throw a cage in it, weld some bumpers on and put a fuel cell on the back. Turn the key and have a great time." "There's also a $50,000 purse for each race, so you've got a great opportunity to win some of your investment back," Kikelhan said. "Win a couple features and you're probably out ahead!" For a look at the 2017 schedule, visit the Bandit website at http://www.banditseries.com. About Bandit Big Rig Series The Bandit Big Rig Series returns big rig tractor truck racing to the short track in the United States. The series was designed to be affordable and accessible for anyone wishing to put together a race team. For additional information please contact Brian Madsen at (507) 676-6627, email [email protected], and visit www.banditseries.com. Media Contact: Craig Kruckeberg Bandit Big Rig Series (612) 360-9936 [email protected] SOURCE Bandit Big Rig Series Related Links http://www.banditseries.com "Indiana has a robust, diverse life sciences ecosystem that is well known and championed here at home, but is not known outside of the state. Pulling together the BioIndiana Map was the perfect way for us to showcase many of the life sciences companies and academic institutions that contribute to the state's strength in life sciences. We were honored to present a copy of the BioIndiana Map to former Indiana Governor and now Vice President Mike Pence as a thank you for his strong support of the life sciences industry," remarked David Broecker, President and CEO of Indiana Biosciences Research Institute. For over 30 years, BioSpace Hotbed Maps have highlighted thriving clusters of the life science industry, helping to attract investment, talent and additional resources to specific geographic areas in the United States and Canada. "The iconic BioSpace Hotbed Maps have been defining the life sciences industry for decades and we are excited to be able to showcase so many innovative companies in the state of Indiana with this new map," said Josh Goodwin, Managing Director, BioSpace. About BioSpace BioSpace champions the life sciences industry as a digital hub for news and careers. Since 1985, we have provided essential insights, opportunities and tools to connect the innovative organizations and talented professionals who advance health and quality of life across the globe. BioSpace is a service of DHI Group Inc. Related Links BioIndiana Website | BioIndiana Video | Download the BioIndiana Hotbed Map | BioSpace Hotbed Maps Press Contact: Angela Ponulak Director of Marketing, BioSpace [email protected] 515-313-2064 SOURCE BioSpace PLYMOUTH, Minn., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Travel Leaders Corporate officially announced its "Traveler Scorecard." Based on 15 proprietary attributes, the Traveler Scorecard provides the ability to assign an easy numerical grade to each individual business traveler based on their travel habits and potential savings opportunities, over a period of time. The Traveler Scorecard can then summarize those individual traveler scores by business unit, division, department, and any other attributes important for top-down visibility. By grading and ranking travel behaviors, companies have greater insights into travel policy compliance and can clearly identify opportunities for increased efficiencies that can drive potential cost-savings. "Through Travel Leader Corporate's Consulting & Analytics offering, we quickly realized that many corporate clients strongly desire expertise in interpreting data on their business travelers' habits. They have also expressed the need to more easily assist their employees in adhering to the organization's corporate travel policy," said Gabe Rizzi, President of Travel Leaders Corporate. "Our Traveler Scorecard gives both the procurement and compliance departments the means to identify gaps in employees' travel choices compared to a company's policy and potential opportunities to save money on their travel spend." Travel Leaders Corporate's Traveler Scorecard uses a proprietary formula to rank each business traveler on a scale from 0 to 100 total points. Based on the savings potential surrounding the 15 behavioral attributes, Travel Leaders Corporate's consultants use the assigned "grade" to make recommendations for how the company can effect behavioral change and consider options to incentivize employees to more closely adhere to the corporate travel policy when booking their travel. According to Rizzi, one example would be advanced purchase for air travel, which has the potential for making a major difference in costs, as there is frequently a considerable price gap between buying a plane ticket a week ahead of a trip versus a month ahead. The Traveler Scorecard may assign a lower grade to individuals who regularly purchase airline tickets close to their travel dates. The information is then provided to corporate clients along with solutions offered to increase the travelers' compliance. "Our clients don't just want data, they want a partner who can actively assist them in moving the needle on changing employee behavior. In addition to our Duty of Care responsibilities, our client partnerships are equally focused on investment and savings strategies," added Rizzi. "To be able to combine business travel data with sophisticated behavioral analytics is something that's highly valued and not widely available. From many streams of data, Travel Leaders Corporate creates an easy-to-understand, proprietary Traveler Scorecard." Travel Leaders Corporate's Consulting & Analytics team follows a custom process based on each client's individual needs: Data Integration: Integrating clients' travel expenses, credit cards, agencies, and other systems into Travel Leaders Corporate's secure data mart. During this phase, contracts are analyzed to categorize existing travel agreements into a user-friendly data room. Integrating clients' travel expenses, credit cards, agencies, and other systems into Travel Leaders Corporate's secure data mart. During this phase, contracts are analyzed to categorize existing travel agreements into a user-friendly data room. Advanced Analytics: A client-dedicated financial analyst utilizes the data to build a comprehensive analytics dashboard that easily identifies vendor targets and travel policy modifications. Clients are provided access to a site that combines advanced storyboarding capabilities with fully interactive dashboards. A client-dedicated financial analyst utilizes the data to build a comprehensive analytics dashboard that easily identifies vendor targets and travel policy modifications. Clients are provided access to a site that combines advanced storyboarding capabilities with fully interactive dashboards. Insights and Execution: Capitalizing on the full scope of a client's travel data, Travel Leaders Corporate provides a comprehensive savings guidance plan including: ideal strategies, identifying key behavioral attributes of clients' travelers and improving adoption rates of new travel policies, increase visibility, and target savings to drive hard dollar ROI. For more information on the Traveler Scorecard or Travel Leaders Corporate's Consulting & Analytics as part of its personalized service and cutting-edge corporate business travel solutions that provide a complete travel enrichment experience, email [email protected] or call 877-404-4173. Travel Leaders Corporate is part of Travel Leaders Group, which is the highest ranking American travel management company in Business Travel News' Business Travel Survey 2016, and has annual sales of nearly $21 billion. Travel Leaders Corporate's three service offerings Travel Fulfillment, Travel Consulting and Meetings Management which can be used independently or combined for maximum results. At Travel Leaders Corporate, each client is served by a dedicated team of U.S.-based agents assigned to each account. With a reputation built on reliability and a commitment to excellence, Travel Leaders Corporate offers its clients industry-leading products and services, and continuously seeks higher levels of performance. Headquartered in Plymouth, MN, and with employees in more than 120 cities across the United States, Travel Leaders Corporate is a forward-thinking, innovative company with a focus on continually improving the customer experience. www.tlcorporate.com SOURCE Travel Leaders Corporate Related Links http://www.tlcorporate.com/ NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, a momentous survey of art from across the United States, will be on view at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts from May 26 through September 10, 2017. The project, organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, provides a vivid snapshot of contemporary work from diverse studios and creative communities today. It is the culmination of an ambitious year-long process in which Crystal Bridges' curatorial team logged more than 100,000 miles, crisscrossing the country to visit nearly a thousand artists in rural communities, small towns, and urban centers. From the original exhibition presented in 2014 at Crystal Bridges, the Frist Center will present works by forty-five of the artists, grouped thematically to demonstrate connections between artists and ideas across the country. The exhibition curators considered factors of quality and originality in selecting artworks, and included artists with an impressive diversity of worldviews, styles, and mediums. They sought out compelling works from under-recognized artists and locales that are also accessible to broad audiences. "The exhibition is particularly rich in art that responds to place, conveys personal and familial experience, and communicates the artists' concerns with issues of the environment, the economy, gender, race, and identity," says Frist Center Chief Curator Mark Scala. Racial tension, economic inequity, and the urban-rural political split are common themes found in the exhibition. Shaker (2013), a sculpture by Bob Trotman of Casar, North Carolina, suggests a corrupt system from which one cannot escape. Houston artist Vincent Valdez's painting The Strangest Fruit (2013) reminds viewers that cycles of racial violence recur even today. Ialu (2011), a stunning kinetic sculpture by Knoxville sculptor John Douglas Powers, examines humanity's sometimes fraught relationship with nature. Family and community have long been thought of as central to American identity, even as they have undergone dramatic changes in the twenty-first century. Pittsburgh artist Vanessa German addresses childhood vulnerability by creating what she calls "power dolls"mixed-media sculptures that echo West African ritualistic figures meant for magical protection and spiritual guidance. Video art is particularly well represented in State of the Art. Among the most spiritually transporting is Kora (2012), which documents a journey to Mount Kailash in Tibet by Jawshing Arthur Liou, a Taiwan-born artist now based in Bloomington, Indiana, who sought solace after the death of his daughter. "No single exhibition can provide a true sense of a nation's artthe aesthetic variety is too vast for any cohesive context to emerge," says Scala. "Yet State of the Art begins the process of mining the abundant creativity that exists across the United States. As a national selfie, it is impressionistic and incomplete, but endlessly open to and brimming with possibility." State of the Art opened to remarkable national attention, including a feature on CBS Sunday Morning, placing the exhibition at the forefront of an ongoing discussion about art in America. Accolades include a 2015 Excellence in Exhibition Award from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). Exhibition Credit This exhibition was organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Sponsor Acknowledgment Platinum Sponsor: HCA Foundation on behalf of HCA/TriStar Health Hospitality Sponsor: Union Station Hotel This exhibition is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. About the Frist Center Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit art exhibition center dedicated to presenting and originating high-quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach activities. Located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., the Frist Center offers the finest visual art from local, regional, national, and international sources in exhibitions that inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways. Additional information is available by calling 615.244.3340 or by visiting fristcenter.org. SOURCE Frist Center for the Visual Arts Related Links http://www.fristcenter.org SYOSSET, N.Y., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CEO Connection is accepting nominations for the 2017 Most Influential Women of the Mid-Market List. This list recognizes top female executives who are influencing change, innovation and standards for excellence. They are influencers, innovators and pioneers driven to succeed and challenging others to do the same. The deadline to submit a nomination is Saturday, April 15, 2017. More information, including the nomination form, is available at www.midmarketconvention.com/influential-women/. This list is designed to bring awareness to an underrepresented group within the mid-market and highlight the top 25 Most Influential Women today. Updated annually, the Most Influential Women of the Mid-Market list ranks honorees based on four metrics: annual revenue, number of employees, community involvement and first impression on social media. Nominations are accepted from the community at large. Self-nominations are also welcome. Qualified nominees are presented to a selection committee composed of business leaders, academia and the media, who will review nominees based on their influence within their industry and beyond. Comprised of nearly 20,000 publicly and privately held companies with annual revenue between $100 million and $3 billion, the mid-market represents an integral segment of the U.S. economy, employing more than 30 million people and generating approximately $10 trillion of the $30 trillion of annual gross receipts. Members of the 2017 Most Influential Women of the Mid-Market will be announced this spring and recognized at the annual CEO Connection Mid-Market Convention held in conjunction with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania Sept. 24-27. For more information and to register for the convention, visit www.midmarketconvention.com/registration. ABOUT CEO CONNECTION: CEO Connection is the only membership organization in the world reserved exclusively for CEOs of mid-market companies companies with between $100 million and $3 billion in annual revenue. Our mission is to help mid-market CEOs and their companies succeed. We accomplish this by connecting them to each other; connecting them to people, information and resources to which they would otherwise not have access; and promoting the interests, welfare and perspective of the mid-market. Members are C-level executives with responsibility for all or significant portions of their respective company. They represent a wide variety of businesses across a broad geographic spectrum. Collectively mid-market companies account for $10 trillion of the $30 trillion annual U.S. private sector gross receipts. Inspired by C-level Wharton executives, CEO Connection began in 2005 and has evolved into a dynamic community with wide-ranging benefits uniquely designed to help the mid-market CEO and champion the mid-market perspective. For more information, visit www.ceoconnection.com. Stay connected on Twitter: @CEOConnection and LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-connection MEDIA CONTACT: Erin Allen, [email protected], 800-244-4719, ext. 501 SOURCE CEO Connection Related Links http://www.ceoconnection.com "This launch is the product of a robust stakeholder engagement process that CH2M initiated two years ago with the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB)," said Chritton. "We are thrilled to see this organization become a reality and are looking forward to substantive collaboration with our industry peers and others to effect positive change for workers, companies and our clients around the world." Verite was pleased to see that Building Responsibly focuses on three key industry issues that affect workers company recruitment practices, working and living conditions, and subcontractor and supply chain management. The group's founding member firms (CH2M, Amec Foster Wheeler, Bechtel, Fluor, Multiplex and Vinci) have committed to policies and programs to respect the rights and improve the welfare of workers within their operations and supply chains. Building Responsibly will enable companies to further advance their programs by sharing best practices, agreeing on common approaches and standards, developing tools and engaging clients, civil society, governments and international organizations. Companies will be able to align with regulations and stakeholder expectations while increasing productivity and fostering a better environment for workers. Membership of Building Responsibly is open to engineering and construction companies that are committed to respecting the rights and welfare of workers. Building Responsibly will be facilitated by BSR (Business for Social Responsibility) with support from Humanity United. BSR Managing Director Margaret Jungk commented, "Demonstrating the respect for human rights in operations and supply chains will become a minimum requirement to win work in the future. Companies will be able to align their activities and benefit from their collective knowledge and capacity on this issue." "Humanity United believes companies play a vital role in protecting workers in their supply chains," said Catherine Chen, Humanity United's Director of Investments. "We are pleased to support the formation of Building Responsibly to harness the engineering and construction sector's ingenuity to promote and uphold the rights and welfare of workers." CH2M and the other founding member companies held the first General Assembly meeting for Building Responsibly on February 27, followed by a multi-stakeholder launch on February 28 in London. About CH2M CH2M leads the professional services industry delivering sustainable solutions benefiting societal, environmental and economic outcomes with the development of infrastructure and industry. In this way, CH2Mers make a positive difference providing consulting, design, engineering and management services for clients in water; environment and nuclear; transportation; energy and industrial markets, from iconic infrastructure to global programs like the Olympic Games. Ranked among the World's Most Ethical Companies and top firms in environmental consulting and program management, CH2M in 2016 became the first professional services firm honored with the World Environment Center Gold Medal Award for efforts advancing sustainable development. Connect with CH2M at www.ch2m.com; LinkedIn; Twitter; and Facebook. Contact: Marie Gettel-Gilmartin CH2M, Corporate Marketing & Communications 503.736.4254 office [email protected] SOURCE CH2M Related Links http://www.ch2m.com OKLAHOMA CITY, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lawmakers in the state House have unanimously given their approval to a bill that could save Oklahomans money on their homeowners insurance. House Bill 1720 provides discounts for building resilient homes. Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John D. Doak is excited to see the progression of the bill which encourages use of the latest technology to reduce the impact of tornadoes on lives and property. "Thanks to bipartisan support, our representatives worked as a team to pass this legislation that puts Oklahomans first," Commissioner Doak said. "This bill would empower homeowners to prepare for the next big storm and require insurers to factor storm-resistant construction into their rates. Having structurally stronger homes is a major step in reducing the damage and corresponding insurance claims from storms, and that's why I also expect this bill to pass in the Senate." Rep. Mark McBride and Rep. Lewis Moore co-authored HB 1720. If a homeowner retrofits or builds a new home to certain specified standards, the bill would require his or her insurance company to factor the more resilient construction into the insurance premium for the home based on the insurance company's own actuarial analysis. "I'm proud that our fellow representatives see the value in this bill," Rep. McBride said. "Oklahomans will see the advantage of having a stronger home with more affordable insurance rates, higher resale value and a home that can withstand up to an EF-2 tornado." "Oklahomans know how to respond when there is a disaster," said Rep. Moore. "But what if we could spare the heartache of a family who just lost their home in a tornado? Resilient construction just makes sense for our state, and I look forward to continuing to work with the insurance industry and Commissioner Doak on this important issue." HB 1720 now heads to the Senate. Sen. John Sparks is the Senate author on this legislation. The bill does not mandate building codes or standards. It uses the FORTIFIED construction standards set by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) or the recently-adopted building code for the City of Moore as the designated standards. For more information, contact: Kelly Dexter 405-522-0683 [email protected] SOURCE Oklahoma Insurance Department Related Links http://www.oid.ok.gov ATLANTA, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Commissions Inc (CINC), the #1 real estate tech solution powering elite teams, has been recognized as one of Atlanta's Top Workplaces in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's (AJC) 6th annual rankings of 150 small, midsize and large companies. CINC has been included in the AJC's Top Workplaces list of honorees for two consecutive years, with the 2017 award marking a milestone for the brand. This year CINC advanced into the top 10 workplaces with a 9th place ranking, also moving from the small to the midsize category following a year of tremendous growth. "We are honored to be recognized as one of Atlanta's top places to work for the second year in a row," said Jason Hoback, President of CINC. "Our employees are at the heart of everything that we do here, and as such a 9th place ranking in the prestigious AJC competition really affirms our commitment to our culture and our people." Per the AJC, the award is based strictly on employee feedback, highlighting those employers who have invested as much in their employees' well-being as they have in tangible perks, earning the loyalty and affection of their employees in the process. The Top Workplaces lists are based solely on the results of an employee feedback survey administered by WorkplaceDynamics, LLC, a leading research firm that specializes in organizational health and workplace improvement. 2017 winners were announced on March 21 via a celebratory soiree at The Georgia Aquarium's Oceans Ballroom. The 2017 AJC Top Places to Work award joins a growing list of accolades for CINC, including three consecutive Atlanta Business Chronicle's (ABC) Pacesetter award wins, two appearances on the Atlanta Chapter of The Association for Corporate Growth's (ACG) Georgia Fast 40 list, as well as a spot on Deloitte's 2016 Technology Fast 500 honorees. CINC was also announced as one of the Top 40 Innovative Technology Companies in Georgia by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) in 2016. About Commissions Inc (CINC) Founded in Marietta, Georgia in 2011, CINC (Commissions Inc.) is the leading provider of web-based real estate marketing and CRM software for elite agents and teams across North America. The solution includes a consumer website that integrates with local MLS data, a complete CRM platform that allows real estate agents to nurture clients and monitor their business, and access to three mobile apps (CINC Agent App, Houses.net, Open Houses by CINC). Built with the support and input of some of North America's top brokers, CINC powers the business for thousands of agents and connects them with millions of consumers every month. Press Contact: Brandy Commodore Marketing and Communications Manager [email protected] 855-259-7277 SOURCE CINC (Commissions Inc) Related Links https://www.commissionsinc.com Almere, The Netherlands March 23, 2017 ASM International N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) today announces the nomination of Stefanie Kahle-Galonske for appointment to its Supervisory Board. Taking due account of the profile of the Supervisory Board, the Supervisory Board proposes to appoint Stefanie Kahle-Galonske as a member of the Supervisory Board for a term of four years during the Annual General Meeting of May 22, 2017. Mrs. Kahle-Galonske is currently Chief Financial Officer at Egon Zehnder, the Swiss-based privately held executive search and leadership consultancy firm. Before that she was Chief Financial Officer at Markem Imaje AG (part of Dover Corporation), a global manufacturer of industrial printers and consumables for the packaging sector. Mrs. Kahle-Galonske has extensive knowledge of the semiconductor industry thanks to her experience over many years in different roles at NXP Semiconductors, where she served as Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of several business units. She also was a non-executive board member of Micronas Semiconductors in Switzerland and Nu-Tune Singapore. Jan Lobbezoo, Chairman of the Supervisory Board commented: "I am very pleased to announce the proposed appointment of Stefanie Kahle-Galonske to the Supervisory Board. She has a very solid financial and management background and will bring extensive financial, business and industry knowledge to the Company." About ASM International ASM International NV, headquartered in Almere, the Netherlands, its subsidiaries and participations design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International, its subsidiaries and participations provide production solutions for wafer processing (Front-end segment) as well as for assembly & packaging and surface mount technology (Back-end segment) through facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock trades on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASMI's website at www.asm.com . Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: All matters discussed in this press release, except for any historical data, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, economic conditions and trends in the semiconductor industry generally and the timing of the industry cycles specifically, currency fluctuations, corporate transactions, financing and liquidity matters, the success of restructurings, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, litigation involving intellectual property, shareholders or other issues, commercial and economic disruption due to natural disasters, terrorist activity, armed conflict or political instability, epidemics and other risks indicated in the Company's reports and financial statements. The Company assumes no obligation nor intends to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future developments or circumstances. CONTACT Investor contact: Victor Bareno T: +31 88 100 8500 E: victor.bareno@asm.com Media contact: Ian Bickerton T: +31 625 018 512 LOUISVILLE, Ky., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Janet Tyre, the Director of Housekeeping at the Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport, was recognized for her achievements at the Louisville Business First "Second Act" awards at a breakfast this morning at The Henry Clay. Janet was serving as an office manager for a restoration company when she decided to make a career shift, relying on a "giant leap of faith and encouragement from friends and family" to transition to her hospitality career with the Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport. "The best piece of advice I ever received was from my mom, and she said to me, 'You can go anywhere you want to go, and you can be anything you want to be, just don't ever give up on your dreams,'" Janet said. A graduate of the University of Louisville, Janet is known among her colleagues for celebrating her team and creating events and ideas to lift the morale of her staff and celebrate their hard work. Janet is a member of the corporate Crowne Plaza "Brand Champion Team," serves as a member on the safety committee and has been a certified hospitality supervisor since 2014. "Janet is confident in herself and what she has to bring to the table. She is not afraid to stand for things that she believes in and voice her opinion. When met with a challenge or obstacle, Janet will find a way to overcome it for the benefit of her team and the entire Crowne Plaza organization," said Scott Shoenberger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Al J. Schneider Company, parent company of the Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport. About the Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport: The Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport offers 588 guest rooms including 420 double queen rooms and 34 suites. The hotel boasts 50,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, including 24 meeting rooms, two ballrooms, an executive boardroom and an exhibit hall. The Blue Horse Restaurant and Bar is located at the Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport. The hotel features an indoor/outdoor pool, fitness center and business center. It is just two minutes from Louisville International Airport and across the street from the Kentucky Exposition Center. Reservations may be made by calling 800-633-8723 or at www.cplouisville.com. SOURCE Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport Related Links http://www.cplouisville.com FALLS CHURCH, Va., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CSRA Inc. (NYSE: CSRA) today announced that it has secured a $39 million contract with the Department of the Navy to continue supporting its worldwide public communication and media support services program. "Thanks to the hard work of our Defense Group team, CSRA will continue to provide superior service and expertise to our customers in the Navy's Office of Community Outreach," said Executive Vice President Ken Deutsch, head of CSRA's Defense Group. "While successfully supporting the Department of the Navy on this contract for the past eight years, CSRA has become an invaluable resource for the Chief of Information (CHINFO) to execute media relations, as well as community and executive outreach to key audiences worldwide." CSRA has supported the Navy in this mission since the inception of the original contract in 2009. By securing the re-compete of the contract, CSRA will continue to provide exclusive support to Navy Public Affairs in its outreach, media relations, and monitoring the effectiveness of the Navy's outreach and communications efforts. About CSRA Inc. CSRA (NYSE: CSRA) solves our nation's hardest mission problems as a bridge from mission and enterprise IT to Next Gen, from government to technology partners, and from agency to agency. CSRA is tomorrow's thinking, today. For our customers, our partners, and ultimately, all the people our mission touches, CSRA is realizing the promise of technology to change the world through next-generation thinking and meaningful results. CSRA is driving towards achieving sustainable, industry-leading organic growth across federal and state/local markets through customer intimacy, rapid innovation and outcome-based experience. CSRA has over 18,000 employees and is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia. To learn more about CSRA, visit www.csra.com. Think Next. Now. Forward-looking Statements All statements in this press release and in all future press releases that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements represent CSRA's intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs, including statements about the effects of the program on our business and our ability to enhance mission capabilities of our customers. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of CSRA. These factors could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements. For a written description of these factors, see the sections titled "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in CSRA's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any updating information in subsequent SEC filings. CSRA disclaims any intention or obligation to update these forward-looking statements whether as a result of subsequent event or otherwise. SOURCE CSRA Inc. Related Links http://www.csra.com BOSTON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Leader in Automated Machine Learning, DataRobot, today announced the first close in its Series C financing. This secures an additional $54 million, bringing total funding to $111 million. A significant but undisclosed amount of additional funding is expected in an imminent second close of the round. Jeremy Achin, CEO and Co-Founder of DataRobot, sets out the company's value proposition and the opportunity the funding provides: "The number of AI and machine learning (ML) solutions being generated by all the data scientists in the the world is not even making a dent in the massive demand for these solutions, and this deficit is growing rapidly as executives across the globe--in all verticals--realize that an AI-driven organization is now a necessity. It is now obvious that the only way to meet this demand is to automate the development of AI and ML solutions by teaching machines to do most of the work. This is exactly what we've been doing for the last 4.5 years. While DataRobot [software] can already solve many of the world's AI and ML problems on its own, there are still many things we need to "teach it." With this new capital we will double the size of our world-class data science and engineering organizations which will accelerate our ability to teach DataRobot to be faster and better at solving a wider variety of AI and ML problems." Global venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) led the round, making this their third investment in DataRobot. "As a result of DataRobot's continued growth and the enthusiastic market response to its AI machine learning platform, we are substantially increasing our commitment," said Tony Florence, NEA General Partner and DataRobot Board Member. "Our confidence is buoyed by their data science-like approach to their own development. They are not only the best product for the market but have defined the category. Their high-caliber and extremely dedicated workforce is productizing AI technologies that deliver significant competitive advantages to their users." DataRobot brings data science to the masses. What were previously costly initiatives that only a data scientist could design or interpret are now, with automated machine learning, viable for the mainstream market. Industries such as insurance, banking, healthcare, and fintech, among others, are finding that the DataRobot platform democratizes predictive insights across their enterprise. "DataRobot empowers our business executives and analysts, allowing us to better serve our customers. Executive training from DataRobot University has helped our business leaders identify opportunities where AI can impact the business, while the automation platform enables analysts with little or no data science experience to successfully execute on those opportunities. This represents the true democratization of AI and machine learning," said Joe Saijo, Managing Director, Recruit Strategic Partners Inc. Recruit is the largest HR and Media company in Japan and among the largest in the world. The new investment in the company will fund three prongs of growth, solidifying DataRobot's position as market leader. First, DataRobot will double the size of its research and development team to accelerate time-to-market for new features and capabilities. Additionally, the company will expand its global footprint to better support the fast-growing international base of DataRobot customers. And finally, the funding will bring increased support and expansion for global channel and technology partners, including Cloudera, Alteryx, global systems integrators, analytics solution providers, and value-added resellers (VAR). "Until now, Artificial Intelligence was no more than a vague promise for business applications. General advances in technology, and automated machine learning in particular, have put these opportunities in reach of all enterprises, including those with no previous AI experience," said Tom Davenport, President's Distinguished Professor of IT and Management, Babson College. About DataRobot DataRobot offers an enterprise machine learning platform that empowers users of all skill levels to make better predictions faster. Incorporating a library of hundreds of the most powerful open source machine learning algorithms, the DataRobot platform automates, trains and evaluates predictive models in parallel, delivering more accurate predictions at scale. DataRobot provides the fastest path to data science success for organizations of all sizes. For more information, visit www.datarobot.com. SOURCE DataRobot Related Links http://www.datarobot.com UTRECHT, Netherlands and SOLNA, Sweden, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Diebold Nixdorf (NYSE: DBD) has formed a strategic partnership with Swedish software company Datema Retail for mobile self-scanning solutions as part of its strategy to drive connected commerce in the retail market. With the mobile self-scanning solutions of Datema Retail, Diebold Nixdorf is adding a key component to its TPiSHOP self-scanning software solution that enables an enhanced personalized shopping experience. The mobile self-scanning software can be easily integrated into the point-of-sale (POS) and back-end components of Diebold Nixdorf's TP Application Suite as well as into retailers' customer loyalty programs running on Diebold Nixdorf's software platform. Datema Retails solution offers consumers multiple benefits that will enhance the shopping experience and make it more personal. An example is the ability to retrieve the customer's pre-made shopping lists from the retailer's e-commerce system when arriving to the store, prioritized in the correct shopping order. With a smartphone or hand-held scanner provided by the retailer, the consumer can receive loyalty promotions, information about scanned items, be guided and interact while they walk through the store and scan products themselves. At checkout, all they need to do is pay. For retailers, the benefits are in-depth information about customers' shopping behavior, more input into customer loyalty programs and greater flexibility to deploy staff. "This partnership gives us an opportunity to expand our self-scanning portfolio to include a proven solution that both retailers and consumers accept. We can now offer the extremely popular option to customers worldwide," said Thomas Fell, Diebold Nixdorf senior vice president, retail. "Our primary goal is to provide the most innovative technologies to our retail customers as we continue to accelerate the growth of our retail business globally and shape the future of consumer transactions." Datema Retail has been operating in Scandinavia for more than 30 years. Its mobile self-scanning solution is deployed by several leading retailers in the Nordic region. The international cooperation will help Datema Retail expand its market presence. "We look forward to working with Diebold Nixdorf, a prestigious global partner. Together, we will help retailers enhance the consumer experience," said Mikis Samaras, head of international sales, Datema. About Datema Retail Datema Retail develops software for mobile scanning and cross-channel services like Click & Collect. The company draws on more than 30 years of experience in providing solutions that increase customer loyalty and improve customer service. Headquartered in Solna, Sweden, Datema Retail is part of the Datema Group, a company that has installed mobility, ERP, integration and similar solutions for over 600 large companies around the globe. About Diebold Nixdorf Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD) is a world leader in enabling connected commerce for millions of consumers each day across the financial and retail industries. Its software-defined solutions bridge the physical and digital worlds of cash and consumer transactions conveniently, securely and efficiently. As an innovation partner for nearly all of the world's top 100 financial institutions and a majority of the top 25 global retailers, Diebold Nixdorf delivers unparalleled services and technology that are essential to evolve in an 'always on' and changing consumer landscape. Diebold Nixdorf has a presence in more than 130 countries with approximately 25,000 employees worldwide. The organization maintains corporate offices in North Canton, Ohio, USA and Paderborn, Germany. Shares are traded on the New York and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges under the symbol 'DBD'. Visit www.DieboldNixdorf.com for more information. SOURCE Diebold Nixdorf Related Links http://www.DieboldNixdorf.com MT. LAUREL, N.J., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Trial attorney Michael F. Barrett, of Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky, P.C., says the controversy surrounding the Osteo Relief Institute Jersey Shore stirs memories of the devastating 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak, which directly impacted numerous New Jersey residents. Attorney Barrett, who represented more than 30 patients from that outbreak, believes all patients of Osteo Relief's Wall Township facility should seek other medical opinions regarding their care and also contact, as a precaution, the state's special healthcare hotline (1-866-448-2432). "It is concerning whenever one patient contracts septic arthritis following an injection intended to relieve chronic knee pain," says Mr. Barrett, "but when the state reports that more than 30 patients of Osteo Relief contracted septic arthritis, it calls into question the facility's infection control policies and practices and certainly justifies the health department's actions." He noted that the center reportedly voluntarily closed for a period, sent infection-notification letters to possibly affected patients, and then has apparently reopened. Mr. Barrett says he is hopeful that the state's intervention will effectively limit the outbreak, unlike what occurred nationally in 2012 when hundreds of the 14,000 patients across 20 states contracted fungal meningitis due to contaminated steroid injections prepared by the New England Compounding Center and administered by health care providers. The tainted shots, some containing mold traced to the manufacturer, were linked to 64 deaths.. Barrett was among the leadership team of trial lawyers that represented the plaintiffs in personal injury claims that resulted in a settlement with the defendants, including 'pain centers', where patients received their injections, of $200 million. Focusing his national practice on a wide range of cases involving catastrophic medical error and medical device defects, Mr. Barrett is available to discuss this matter and associated legal issues. His office does not presently represent any current or former patients of Osteo Relief Jersey Shore. SOURCE Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett, & Bendesky, P.C. Prasad joins WGU with nearly two decades of experience in professorship and years in university administration. Prior to joining WGU, he served as Dean of the College of Business and Public Policy at the University of Alaska Anchorage. In leading the largest College of Business in the state of Alaska, Prasad helped build a dynamic group of faculty and staff to deliver the highest quality teaching, research, and service to advance the well-being and prosperity of the state. Before becoming Dean, Prasad was Professor of Business Administration at the University of Alaska Anchorage. In his professional life, Prasad has been a dedicated educator, frequently honored by students, peers, and alumni for the quality of his teaching and student advising. As a researcher and scholar, he has contributed chapters to numerous books and published articles in notable journals such as Business and Politics, Governance, and The Journal of Business Ethics. Prasad completed his baccalaureate and master's degrees at the University of Michigan and University of Illinois, respectively, before completing his Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky. "We are pleased to have Dr. Prasad lead our largest college and are confident that his leadership and experience will be invaluable to us as we continue to provide high-quality business education," said WGU Provost Dr. David Leasure. WGU is a member of AACSB Internationalthe Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the world's premier business education network. Designed to prepare students for real-world professional situations, WGU's College of Business offers core business degree programs including B.S. Business Management, B.S. Accounting, and multiple MBAs. About WGU Established in 1997 by 19 U.S. governors with a mission to expand access to high-quality, affordable higher education, online, nonprofit WGU now serves 80,000 students nationwide and has more than 79,000 graduates in all 50 states. Driving innovation as the nation's leading competency-based university, WGU has been recognized by the White House, state leaders, employers, and students as a model that works in postsecondary education. In just 20 years, the university has become a leading influence in changing the lives of individuals and families, and preparing the workforce needed in today's rapidly evolving economy. WGU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, has been named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies, and was featured on NPR, NBC Nightly News, CNN, and in The New York Times. Learn more at www.wgu.edu. Follow WGU: http://www.facebook.com/wgu.edu http://www.linkedin.com/companies/western-governors-university http://twitter.com/wgu http://www.youtube.com/WesternGovernorsUniv http://google.com/+wgu http://news.wgu.edu/news/news.xml Contact for media inquiries: Joan Mitchell VP of Public Relations 801-428-5463 [email protected] Contact for enrollment information: 866-225-5948 wgu.edu SOURCE Western Governors University Related Links http://www.wgu.edu (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130417/608168 ) Our valuation is unchanged at $192m, which is equal to ($9.24 per ADR) on an undiluted basis or $6.37/ADR after accounting for dilution from options, warrants and convertible notes. Guidance is that the cash balance of $12.6m at 31 December will be sufficient to fund operations through Q1 CY18, excluding any milestone payments from partners Novartis and GSK. Milestone revenue (we model ~$7m in FY18) would extend the cash runway. Click here to view the full report. All reports published by Edison are available to download free of charge from its website http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.com About Edison: Edison is an investment research and advisory company, with offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and AsiaPac. The heart of Edison is our world-renowned equity research platform and deep multi-sector expertise. At Edison Investment Research, our research is widely read by international investors, advisers and stakeholders. Edison Advisors leverages our core research platform to provide differentiated services including investor relations and strategic consulting. Edison is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Edison is not an adviser or broker-dealer and does not provide investment advice. Edison's reports are not solicitations to buy or sell any securities. Contact details: Learn more at http://www.edisongroup.com and connect with Edison on: LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/company/edison-investment-research Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Edison_Inv_Res YouTube http://www.youtube.com/edisonitv Google+ https://plus.google.com/105425025202328783163/posts For more information please contact: Dennis Hulme Edison Investment Research +61(0)2-9258-1161 Dr Susie Jana Edison Investment Research +44(0)20-3077-5700 [email protected] SOURCE Edison Investment Research GENEVA, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Essam and Dalal Obaid Foundation (EDOF), which has a strategic partnership with CNN to support the CNN Freedom Project and its March 14 #MyFreedomDay Initiative, is pleased to congratulate CNN and the Freedom Project Team on a highly successful event. #MyFreedomDay involved a wide array of activities aimed at calling attention to the continuing problem of modern-day slavery. The activities included students from hundreds of schools on six continents making anti-slavery signs and sharing them on social media; activists, journalists, and NGOs facilitating and broadcasting anti-slavery messages and conversations; and celebrities like Usain Bolt and Simone Biles posting videos on what freedom means to them. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470758/EDOF_2017_Logo.jpg ) "To see the massive global scope of the #MyFreedomDay's March 14 events is deeply inspiring," said EDOF's CEO, Dr. Nawaf Obaid. "We chose to provide support to CNN for its Freedom Project not only because we believe contemporary human trafficking is a major problem that must be stopped in our lifetime, but because CNN has such an excellent track record of engaging a worldwide audience in its advocacy events. #MyFreedomDay far exceeded our expectations and we could not be happier with the results." While the #MyFreedomDay Initiative was supported by CNN's large TV network, it was on social media and the Internet that the event really flowered. On the day of the event, there were more than 10,000 posts to the #MyFreedomDay hashtag in a digital conversation that extended across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Youtube. Over 160 million Facebook timelines were reached with the #MyFreedomDay message, which doesn't even include non-CNN or private Facebook accounts. Tweets were posted to the hashtag from over 100 countries, and #MyFreedomDay trended on Twitter in Nigeria, the UAE, the Philippines, the UK, and the US. Freedom Project videos were watched more than 5 million times and the Freedom project stories had 4.3 million page views, with around 400,000 people viewing the #MyFreedomDay Snapchat story and more than 2,600 #MyFreedomDay posts on Instagram. While most of the above activity came from the hundreds of schools participating in #MyFreedomDay, there was also a lot of sharing and messaging from anti-slavery activists, NGOs, journalists, and celebrities. The Global Slavery Index, Stop the Traffik, The Freedom Fund, and numerous other anti-slavery NGOs got involved as well. As Tarek Obaid, EDOF Founder & President, points out, "This wrap-up, like #MyFreedomDay itself, shows how profoundly committed the CNN network is to the Freedom Project's success and to the positive impact it can bring in the fight against human trafficking. And this is a commitment EDOF shares with them. It is totally unacceptable that slavery still exists in our world, yet to see so many young people, activists, and renowned public figures expressing their resistance to it, one begins to have hope for ending it." #MyFreedomDay was carried out by the CNN Freedom Project. The Freedom Project's mission is to amplify the voices of the victims of modern-day slavery, highlight success stories, and help unravel the tangle of criminal enterprises trading in human life. EDOF joined the CNN Freedom Project in order to support this vision, to raise awareness of what credible organizations are doing to end human trafficking, and to increase global awareness about the problem among the business community. The Essam and Dalal Obaid Foundation was started in 2014 by the sons of Essam and Dalal Obaid in order to carry on their parents' humanitarian spirits. It is a global non-profit organization that supports medical research and care as well as the efforts of state and non-state entities in fostering peace and dialogue among people. EDOF's goal is to make a difference in improving the lives of people everywhere as it joins the daily effort of its fellow advocates to raise awareness, educate, and build bridges. More information about the EDOF and the CNN Freedom Project can be found at www.edof.org/en/partnerships/cnnfreedomproject Media Contact: Christelle Marquette Tel: +41-22-818-61-20 [email protected] SOURCE EDOF WOODBRIDGE, N.J., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A. is pleased to announce that the Middlesex County Bar Association has selected Edward T. Kole as the recipient of the 2017 Robert Cirafesi Chancery Practice Award and Joseph J. Russell, Jr. as the recipient of the 2017 Young Lawyers Award. The awards were presented to Mr. Kole and Mr. Russell on March 22nd during the association's 12th Annual Practice Area Awards Dinner. The Robert Cirafesi Chancery Practice Award recognizes Mr. Kole for his exceptional contributions to the legal profession spanning his nearly 30 year career. Mr. Kole exemplifies the principles by which Robert Cirafesi practiced law, including: careful and detailed client representation; endeavors to resolve issues on a fair and reasonable basis both before and after litigation; promotion of respect and courtesy for the bench and fellow members of the Bar; and care for the highest standards of integrity and professionalism. Mr. Kole chairs the Commercial Litigation department at Wilentz and focuses his practice in complex corporate and commercial litigation. He is an accomplished business litigator and trial lawyer, having handled commercial disputes on behalf of public and private companies in New Jersey and across the nation. In addition to the relationships he forges and maintains with each of his individual business clients, Mr. Kole is well known and regarded among the New Jersey state and federal judiciary as a result of his experience in the courtroom and his leadership positions within the Federal and New Jersey Bar Associations. The Young Lawyer Award recognizes Mr. Russell for his commitment and devotion to his community. He has dedicated substantial time and energy to raising money and awareness for LADACIN Network Lifetime Assistance for Developmental and Challenging Individual Needs. Mr. Russell founded and organizes an annual Polar Bear Plunge for LADACIN and since 2009, has raised $800,000.00 for the network. In addition to his substantial involvement with LADACIN Network, Mr. Russell also serves on the Board for the Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus. Mr. Russell is the chair of the Matrimonial department at Wilentz, where he maintains a full service family law practice. His diverse client base demonstrates the depth of his practice from business owners to celebrities. Mr. Russell regularly appears in the Family Part, possessing a comprehensive knowledge of the courts and close relations with opposing counsel. In addition to having been appointed to serve on the Family Law Executive Committee to the New Jersey State Bar Association, Mr. Russell also serves on those committees in Ocean and Monmouth Counties, as well as an Early Settlement Panelist in Monmouth and Middlesex Counties. Mr. Russell is also certified as a R. 1:40 Qualified Mediator, where he conducts both private and court appointed mediations. About Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A. Established in 1919, the full-service law firm of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A. has four offices throughout New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The breadth of our practice and regional concentration combines to deliver proactive results-driven solutions to the dynamic and complex legal issues our clients face. For more information about Wilentz, visit http://www.wilentz.com or call 1-855-WILENTZ. CONTACT: Lisa McDonald, 1-732-855-6183, [email protected] SOURCE Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A. Related Links http://www.wilentz.com SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The inaugural Advanced Design & Manufacturing (ADM) Cleveland, Northeast Ohio's only comprehensive design and manufacturing event, will feature a vibrant expo floor packed with leading suppliers across multiple industries, presentations from some of the most innovative minds in advanced manufacturing, exciting attractions, and opportunities to make meaningful connections. Educational conference content, available to all registered visitors, delves into emerging technologies and concept-to-market for the medical device industry, lightweighting for the automotive industry, and smart manufacturing. ADM Cleveland will bring five established industry events together into one unparalleled business and learning experience. The well-known Automation Technology Expo (ATX), Design & Manufacturing (D&M), Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M), Pack, PLASTEC, and shows will be transformed into zones on the ADM Cleveland expo floor, giving visitors access to a broad range of industry verticals, including automotive, medtech, and aerospace. ADM Cleveland takes place March 29-30. For more information about ADM Cleveland, please visit: admcleveland.com While at the show, check out the Keynote featuring Tesla Inc. CTO and Co-Founder JB Straubel; hang out with Team Moebius's 250-lb. full body spinner robot from the hit television series BattleBots; meet leading exhibitors; join Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry (MD+DI) and Design News media brands for expert-guided expo tours; gamify your show experience with the Passport Program and enjoy a Lunch & Learn titled, "Getting to Market Quickly Without Compromising Your Design," presented by Xcentric Mold. "The upgraded content and networking opportunities UBM introduced in 2017 offer attendees the opportunity to experience new ideas, create relationships, and explore possibilities that will take manufacturing to the next level," said Nina Brown, Vice President, Events, UBM. "It has been a banner year for UBM live content, which supports these experiences, beginning in Anaheim with insight from award-winning television personality and special effects master Jamie Hyneman and continuing at ADM Cleveland with Automotive visionary JB Straubel." The ADM Cleveland expo floor features exhibitors serving a range of industries and sectors, including automotive, robotics, packaging, plastics, electronics, medical technology and more. Presentations on the expo floor take place at Center Stage, while focused Innovation Tours will lead attendees through the show floor focusing on key themes at the forefront of the industry. A Welcome Reception sponsored by Allied Electronics, Passport Program, Speed Networking and Meetup events will aid in connecting attendees and exhibitors alike in a relaxed, fun environment. Meetups, a new UBM initiative New for the inaugural ADM Cleveland event are two topic-focused meetup initiatives in partnership with UBM. The first, Open Source Artificial Intelligence for Manufacturing, a Machine Intelligence meetup, will be held on Wednesday, March 29th at 2:30 p.m. and will feature a demonstration, tutorial and chat-ops session on the use of human-Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Manufacturing. The second, Designing the conversation around Medical Devices, a MedDevCLE meetup, will begin on Wednesday, March 29th at 3:00 p.m. Join the discussion and hear what top local Ohio doctors have to say when it comes to clinician and engineer communication when designing a device. Center Stage Center Stage is the hub for live content on the expo floor and offers a diverse program of free presentations each day highlighting diverse and fascinating topics. Visit Center Stage to see Team Moebius's 250-lb. full body spinner robot from the hit television series BattleBots; learn how the Wolverine character from Marvel's X-Men inspired a self-healing material for robots and electronic devices; and compete in the 45-Minute Packaging Challenge. Throughout the two-day show, Center Stage is the place to hear industry leaders discuss important developments and trends, participate in interactive activities, and learn more about a specific topic within the industry, such as bioprinting, packaging for e-commerce, and metal additive manufacturing. To see the full Center Stage Schedule, please visit: schedule.admcleveland.com/session-type/center-stage-free Innovation Tours Join an industry expert for a guided tour of the show floor. Each tour will focus on a key theme driving the industry and provide insight that can be used back at the office. Tour topics for ADM Cleveland include medtech innovation, led by MD+DI Magazine, and machinery and devices enabling smart manufacturing, guided by Design News Magazine. For more information about the innovation tours, please visit: schedule.admcleveland.com/session-type/innovation-tour-free Speed Networking UBM's Speed Networking events make matches in minutes with one-on-ones that become win-wins. This event gathers professionals from all manufacturing verticals and connects them for five-minute, informal sessions where relationships are created. From engineers and executives to suppliers and key decision makers, sit across the table and meet the match that will take your business to the next level. To see the full Speed Networking schedule, please visit: schedule.admcleveland.com/session-type/speed-networking-free Free Conference Content In conjunction with an exciting expo floor, ADM Cleveland includes a full conference program of more than 25 hours of free content included with an Expo Pass. The Cleveland Conference Series offers an open-door environment with the flexibility to build your own session schedule across three separate conferences, each focusing on an industry area significant to Northeast Ohio: automotive, medtech, and smart manufacturing. Highlights include: driving the future of automotive design with lightweighting; the pulse of medical technology and the future of the next big device; and upping the IQ of the factory floor with Smart Manufacturing. Conference speakers for the 2017 Cleveland event hail from such organizations as Case Western Reserve University Robotics Lab, The Cleveland Clinic, Design News, Devicix, Honda of America Manufacturing, Jergens, Inc., MAGNET, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, The Ohio State University, Proto Labs, Siemens Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software, U.S. Steel, and Universal Robots. For the full conference schedule, please visit: admcleveland.com/education ADM Cleveland event continues to grow with the support of key sponsors, exhibitors, suppliers and major Ohio manufacturing associations including: Absolute Haitan, Allied Electronics, American Ring & Tool Company, BioEnterprise, BioOhio, C&J Industries, Chevron Lubricants, Cincinnati Test Systems Inc., KHK USA, Inc., MAGNET, Maruka, Norman Noble, Penn State Behrend, Proto Labs, Qosina, Rotor Clip Company, RSW Technologies, Schneider Electric, Siemens Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software, Stratasys, TeamNEO, and Xcentric Mold, among others. Follow us on social: @AdvMfgExpos, Facebook To learn more about ADM Cleveland, please visit: admcleveland.com About Advanced Manufacturing Expos & Conferences UBM's Advanced Manufacturing portfolio is the leading B-to-B event producer, publisher, and digital media business for the world's $3 trillion advanced, technology-based manufacturing industry. Our print and electronic products deliver trusted information to the advanced manufacturing market and leverage our proprietary 1.3 million name database to connect suppliers with buyers and purchase influencers. We produce more than 50 events and conferences in a dozen countries, connecting manufacturing professionals from around the globe. The Advanced Manufacturing portfolio is organised by UBM plc. UBM is the largest pure-play B2B Events organiser in the world. Our 3,750+ people, based in more than 20 countries, serve more than 50 different sectors. Our deep knowledge and passion for these sectors allow us to create valuable experiences which enable our customers to succeed. Please visit www.ubm.com for the latest news and information about UBM. About UBM UBM plc is the largest pure-play B2B Events organiser in the world. In an increasingly digital world, the value of connecting on a meaningful, human level has never been more important. At UBM, our deep knowledge and passion for the industry sectors we serve allow us to create valuable experiences where people can succeed. At our events people build relationships, close deals and grow their businesses. Our 3,750+ people, based in more than 20 countries, serve more than 50 different sectors from fashion to pharmaceutical ingredients. These global networks, skilled, passionate people and market-leading events provide exciting opportunities for business people to achieve their ambitions. For more information, go to www.ubm.com; for UBM corporate news, follow us on Twitter at @UBM, UBM Plc LinkedIn SOURCE UBM Americas Related Links http://www.ubm.com/ VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Mar 23, 2017) - DuSolo Fertilizers Inc. (TSX VENTURE:DSF) ("DuSolo" or "the Company") is very pleased to announce the completion of a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") of the Company's Direct Application Natural Fertilizer ("DANF") Santiago Project (the "DANF PEA"). The DANF PEA was prepared by the independent consultants GE21 Ltda. Giles Baynham, CEO of DuSolo, noted "We are very pleased to complete this DANF PEA and announce the results. Whilst we have been producing and selling DANF since 2015, this is the first Technical Report which demonstrates the positive economic potential of Santiago, and the Company believes it is the start of demonstrating the longer-term and higher value potential of the Company's assets in Brazil which will be the Company's aim throughout the course of 2017. We are now working on a separate PEA for the acid granulated DANF product (the "AG DANF PEA"), as well as exploration of the Amaury Concession. Market and product development is underway, as recommended by our market consultants, to achieve the DANF prices in the Upside Case." The DANF PEA is the first stage of the Company's strategy to demonstrate the economic potential of the Company's mineral resources based on the phosphate ("P 2 O 5 ") deposits at its BonFim Project in Brazil. The Santiago deposit within the Bonfim area currently extracts phosphate rock which is processed into two DANF products grading 12% and 15% P 2 O 5 at the Campos Belos Plant. The second stage of this strategy is to further improve its economic viability through the potential production of an Acid Granulated Phosphate Fertilizer, which combines 15% DANF with sulphuric acid to improve the agronomic performance of the DANF. This granulated product is expected to increase the market available to the Company, and yield higher selling prices due to improved solubility and agronomic performance based on a market study completed by Agroconsult. With the positive results of the DANF PEA, the Company has commenced the second stage of the strategy to produce the AG DANF PEA which is targeted for completion in the second half of 2017. DANF PEA HIGHLIGHTS Indicated Resources of 1.16Mt at 8.23% P 2 O 5 , including 0.29Mt at 14.78% P 2 O 5 O , including 0.29Mt at 14.78% P O Inferred Resources of 2.70Mt at 8.58% P 2 O 5 , including 0.82Mt at 14.72% P 2 O 5 O , including 0.82Mt at 14.72% P O Life of Mine ("LOM") 12.5 years LOM Production of 543Kt of 12% DANF and 635Kt of 15% DANF Post-tax NPV (10%) of US$13.0m Zero Initial Capital (already operating) Operating Costs (Mine, Plant, G&A) of US$18.47/t Upside Case NPV(10%) of US$30.3m based on Agroconsult Consultoria e Projetos ("Agroconsult") DANF Prices Note that the DANF PEA is preliminary in nature as it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability, and as such there is no certainty that the preliminary assessment and economics will be realized. A NI43-101 technical report for the DANF PEA will be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and posted on DuSolo's website (www.dusolo.com) within 45 days. The Company is not basing its production decision on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability, as a result there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with its production decision. GEOLOGY & MINERAL RESOURCES The Bonfim Project, within which the Santiago Project lies, is within a large package of rocks along the western edge of the Sao Francisco craton and immediately east of the Brasilia fold belt in central Brazil (Mendonca and Campos, 2012; Da Rocha Araujo et al., 1992). Within this area, rocks of the base of the Bambui Group can be found that are associated with the Sete Lagoas Formation, which is host to the phosphate mineralization. It includes the pelitic, carbonatic and phosphatic rocks that overlie the granitic rocks of the Aurumina Suite. The Sete Lagoas Formation can be found in the majority of the area and is distributed to the east of the granitic basement. Mineral exploration work and exploratory drilling was intensified since the March 7, 2014 Technical Report which included the Amaury and Bonfim Concessions. Re-interpretations were undertaken and - because of the various types of mineralization present, which display a large range of phosphate concentrations - the mineralization was separated into two principal groups: high grade (HG) and low grade (LG). The Mineral Resource Estimate for the Santiago Project was updated for this DANF PEA utilising recent drilling and exploration results, including a better understanding of the mineralization types and zoning, and of the continuity of grades and mineralization based on the extraction of around 100,000 tonnes since late 2014 from the Santiago Project. Table 1 Mineral Resource Table - Phosphate Indicated and Inferred Resources Resource Type Tonnes (Mt) P 2 O 5 % CaO% MgO% SiO 2 % Al 2 O 3 % LOI% Indicated HG* 0.29 14.78 20.49 1.02 41.53 8.44 4.08 LG* 0.87 6.08 7.92 1.22 58.79 9.96 3.90 Total Indicated 1.16 8.23 11.03 1.17 54.52 9.59 3.94 Inferred HG* 0.82 14.72 20.92 0.97 42.62 7.95 4.22 LG* 1.88 5.89 7.83 1.48 58.39 10.73 4.43 Total Inferred 2.70 8.58 11.82 1.32 53.59 9.88 4.37 High Grade Mineralization (HG): P 2 O 5 >= 10%, Low Grade Mineralization (LG): P 2 O 5 >= 3% and <10% Mineral Resources are based on dry tonnes. EXPLORATION POTENTIAL Mineralization at Santiago remains open along the NW-SE trend, with a number of samples of outcropping phosphorite grading between 7.5% to 23.3% P 2 O 5 . The potential area is some 3 times the size of the current area considered in this DANF PEA and GE21 estimated an exploratory potential of 5 million tonnes to 14 million tonnes with the P 2 O 5 grade varying between 4% and 18%. The potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature, there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource in the future. MINERAL PROCESSING & METALLURGICAL TESTING The material is placed in the run-of-mine ("ROM") patio area, stockpiled and blended in such a way so as to guarantee a constant feed grade for the beneficiation process. The processing route consists of crushing, screening and grinding, as shown in figure 1. To view Figure 1, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/DuSolo-Fig1.pdf. All of the material that is obtained from mining is transformed into the final product, which generates products that have greater or lesser value, depending on the phosphate concentration. Therefore, tailings are not produced during ore processing, and the recovery of material during the process is 100%. For internal quality control purposes, the company maintains its own laboratory, with equipment that serves to analyze certain characteristics of the product such as particle size, comminution, sample preparation and a spectrophotometer for determining the concentration of P 2 O 5 . Table 2 Summary of Production Material Mass wet basis(Kt)1 P 2 O 5 (%) Mining products Type P 2 O 5 12% 543 11.90 P 2 O 5 15% 635 15.24 Total 1 178 13.70 Waste Rock 865 n/a Material Stockpiled for Potential Future Beneficiation 1 080 7.15 Strip Ratio2 1.56 Strip Ratio3 0.37 1Wet tonnes contain 12% moisture, both as ROM and as product; 2Considers the material stockpiled for Potential Future Beneficiation as waste rock; 3Considers the material stockpiled for Potential Future Beneficiation as product.; Note that the DANF PEA is preliminary in nature as it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability, and as such there is no certainty that the preliminary assessment and economics will be realized. CAPITAL & OPERATING COSTS As the Santiago Project and the Campos Belos plant are already extracting and processing phosphate rock, there is no additional capital requirement for the Project. Sustaining capital over the LOM is minimal and included in the maintenance costs. The Company estimates the existing capital equipment (primary crusher, hammer mills) have a capacity of c.280,000 tonnes per annum and the projected DANF PEA production of 100,000 tonnes per annum is approximately 35% of the actual installed capacity, resulting in reduced operating hours and general wear. Mobile equipment such as trucks, water trucks and front-end loader and excavator are all supplied on a contract basis. The Company maintains insurance for its assets which includes the Campos Belos plant. Operating costs are based on actual costs incurred by the Company, using the 2016 actual mining and processing costs. Fixed costs have been adjusted for the increase to 100,000 tonnes per annum. Table 3 Operating Costs Item Cost Unit Mine Ore 2.88 US$/t ROM Waste Rock 0.97 Transport & Road Maintenance 6.17 Plant 5.11 G&A 3.34 Total 18.47 A trade-off study to assess the impact of relocating the Campos Belos Plant to the Santiago Project and significantly reducing transport costs is currently being prepared. Taxes are included in the PEA cashflow analysis as follows: Royalties - 3.0% of revenue Taxes - 29.8% of EBIT The Company has significant tax losses available to be applied to future income in Brazil which have not been included in the DANF PEA analysis. DANF MARKET REPORT & PRICES This DANF PEA has assumed the following prices for the DANF products, based on the prices in 2016 and currently being received for the following products: DANF 12% P 2 O 5 - US$31/t DANF 15% P 2 O 5 - US$56/t Agroconsult provided a market study for the DANF products that DuSolo intends to produce. Assuming an average LOM production of 50,000tonnes per year for each product, Agroconsult's analysis suggests the following prices can be achieved: DANF 12% P 2 O 5 - US$76.4/t DANF 15% P 2 O 5 - US$93.7/t These prices are higher than currently achieved, but Agroconsult notes that with the correct strategy of market and price development and branding these higher prices could be achieved. GE21 have prepared an upside case model using the higher Agroconsult prices, and assuming an increase in marketing and selling costs of US$1,11 per tonne (approximately 50% increase in G&A). This results in an increase of the net present value to US$30,28million. GE21 recommends that management maintain its focus on marketing and sales prices, as this could provide significant improvements in the Santiago Project returns for limited increases in operating costs. QUALIFIED PERSONS The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Porfirio Cabaleiro Rodriguez and Mr. Bernardo Viana, both Managing Partners of GE21 Consultoria Mineral, in compliance with the standards of disclosure as set out in NI43-101. Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Viana are "independent qualified persons" for the purposes of NI43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators. On behalf of DuSolo Fertilizers Inc. Giles Baynham, Chief Executive Officer and Director FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information", within the meaning of Canadian legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur", "be achieved" or "has the potential to". Forward looking statements contained in this press release may include statements regarding the future operating or financial performance of DuSolo which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may not prove to be accurate. Actual results and outcomes may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: market conditions and other risk factors listed from time to time in our reports filed with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and DuSolo disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. For more information please refer to the technical report filed on SEDAR and titled "Bomfim Agro-Mineral Phosphate Project, Technical Report and Initial Resource Estimate Tocabtins and Goias States, Brazil," filed on March 5, 2014, effective December 31, 2013, and amended on February 6, 2015. The resource estimate was signed off by Mr. Porfirio Cabaleiro Rodriguez an Associate Consultant of Coffey Consultoria e Servicos Ltda., and was prepared in compliance with the standards of disclosure as set out in NI43-101. Mr. Rodriguez is an "independent qualified person" for the purposes of NI43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators. Disclosure - The Company's decision to produce DANF, its DANF production targets and cash flow projections were not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability. Without a technical report demonstrating economic and technical viability, there is uncertainty as to whether the Company will be able to economically produce DANF in a long run and as to whether the Company will be confronted with any unforeseen technical impediments. Similarly, the Company has not completed a preliminary economic assessment before making production and project expansion decisions. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange Inc.) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. DuSolo Fertilizers Inc. (604) 484 7122 ir@dusolo.com The event raised funds for the Heart Association's national Go Red For Women initiative, an effort that advocates for more research and swifter action for women's heart health through coordinated educational programming, fundraising and events annually. While more commonly associated with men, heart disease is the number one killer of women, causing one in three deaths each year (approximately one woman every minute). "We are grateful for our partnership with FS Investments," says Laura Hollot, Executive Director of the American Heart Association Philadelphia office. "Sponsors and community partners like FS Investments contribute to the success of Go Red For Women, and help AHA with our ultimate goal of raising awareness and funds towards eradicating heart disease." This year's Navy Yard Goes Red event featured a panel discussion of female executives from Philadelphia's Navy Yard business community, moderated by NBC10's Rosemary Connors. Panelists included: Dawn Zier, CEO of Nutrisystem & Go Red For Women Chair, Lisa Detwiler, Chief Compliance Officer of FS Investments, Wendy McDevitt, Chief Talent Ambassador of Urban Outfitters, Inc., and Donna Allie, Founder & CEO of Team Clean. Participants shared key moments in their journeys to success, and helped raise awareness about the importance of women's heart health. "Throughout one's career, there are times when things don't go exactly as planned," explains Dawn Zier, CEO of Nutrisystem & Go Red For Women Chair. "I have learned that one's reaction to these challenges is what really defines us as leaders," Zier continued. "Ultimately it comes down to one's self confidence, self-respect and ability to deal with change. Navy Yard Goes Red was a great opportunity to share these experiences with others." The partnership between the Heart Association and FS Investments stems from a shared commitment to health, both financial and physical. "At FS Investments, we're big believers in helping people develop disciplined financial and physical habits so they can lead long, fulfilling and healthy lives," says Michael Forman, Chairman and CEO of FS Investments. "We're proud to partner with the American Heart Association to bring awareness to the importance of both heart health and financial wellness." About FS Investments: FS Investments is a leading asset manager dedicated to helping individuals, financial professionals and institutions design better portfolios. The firm provides access to alternative sources of income and growth through funds managed in partnership with top institutional investment advisers. It focuses on setting industry standards for investor protection, education and transparency. FS Investments is headquartered in Philadelphia with offices in Orlando and Washington, DC. The firm currently manages six funds with over $19 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2016. Its affiliated broker-dealer, FS Investment Solutions, LLC (member FINRA/SIPC), distributes its offerings. About FS Foundation: The FS Foundation is the philanthropic arm of FS Investments. It aims to positively impact communities through championing civic leadership, volunteerism and philanthropy at all levels of the firm. FS Foundation programs include an employee service initiative that offers monthly opportunities to volunteer with non-profit partners, a charitable giving matching program and a disaster relief matching program. Visit www.fsinvestments.com/about/fs-foundation to learn more. About AHA: The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke- the two leading causes of death in the world. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit heart.org or call any of our offices around the country. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter SOURCE FS Investments; American Heart Association Related Links http://www.fsinvestments.com FT. COLLINS, Colo., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kilimanjaro Treasure Quest is a global travel competition taking place in Arusha, Tanzania. Twenty (20) teams of two (2) will compete against each other to be the first to find the $25,000 Ultimate Treasure. The dates of October 8 - October 27, 2017 have been set for the annual Kilimanjaro Treasure Quest, sponsored by Hardcore Travel and charity partner, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. All globetrotting, competitive adventurers can now submit their applications. This global event will crown a winning team with the ultimate treasure: a $25,000 cash prize. The event includes the amazing 3-day Treasure Quest competition in Arusha, Tanzania, 4 days of breathtaking, private and guided safaris to the world famous Tanzanian Ngorongoro Crater and Kenya's Chuyulu Hills. After staying at Campi Ya Kanzi, the Conde Nast and Travel + Leisures award-winning ecolodge, spending some time being culturally immersed amongst the Maasai, each participant will spend 7 days attempting to conquer the majestic Mt. Kilimanjaro as a platform to raise funds for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. Greg Hughes describes the 3-day competition as "a cultural scavenger hunt, unique and competitive team and individual challenges, and a treasure hunt all rolled into one." Each two-person team will compete and attempt to be the first team to decipher the clues and find the hidden $25,000 Ultimate Treasure. Participants are encouraged to raise additional support, separate from their $12,600 trip fee, for our charity partner, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. As an incentive, the top three fundraising teams will win a "Treasure Pass", a major game-changer that gets their team closer to the ultimate treasure on the final day of competition. One hundred percent of everything raised from each participant will go towards protecting the legendary ecosystems and astounding biodiversity of East Africa through conservation that directly benefits local Maasai communities. MWCT, founded by Luca Belpietro, Founder of Campi ya Kanzi and MWCT based in Kenya, with offices in the U.S.is a non-profit organization and strategic partnership between professional conservationists, like U.S. Board President Edward Norton and dynamic Maasai leaders, to show that the Maasai community can thrive, not just survive, by managing their ecosystem wisely. MWCT's efforts are focused on the Maasai communities and landscapes of Kenya's Chyulu Hills, within the world-famous Amboseli-Tsavo Ecosystem. Hardcore Travel's goal is to raise $40,000 and increase awareness about an organization that is making a massive impact in the wilderness, wildlife, and cultural heritage of the Maasai. For a chance to compete and participate for FREE in the 2017 Kilimanjaro Treasure Quest event, visit our Crowdrise Campaign (Crowdrise search "Kilimanjaro Treasure Quest"). Single travelers are welcome to apply. Please contact Hardcore Travel at 970-829-8728 or apply online @ Hardcoretravel.com. Contact and Media inquiries: Greg Hughes or Scott Kenyon @ 970-829-8728, or email [email protected]. Related Files KTQ2017eventfactsheet!.pdf Related Images image1.png image2.png image3.jpg Related Links Hardcoretravel Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcq4_pteuhE This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com. SOURCE Hardcore Travel Related Links http://www.crowdrise.com/kilimanjarotreasurequest CHICAGO and TAMPA, Fla., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Harmony Health Plan, Inc., a subsidiary of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG), and Christie Clinic, a physician-owned, multi-specialty medical practice in central Illinois, today announced an agreement that gives in-network coverage to WellCare's Medicare Advantage members in Illinois. The agreement provides access to services at more than 20 Christie Clinic locations in Champaign, Vermilion and Douglas counties. Through more than 40 departments and 35 specialties, WellCare members will have access to nearly every aspect of health care. "Harmony Health Plan and Christie Clinic share a commitment to delivering quality care and positive health outcomes for our Medicare members," said Dr. Robert Hilliard, Jr., Illinois state president. "Christie Clinic offers a strong network of qualified physicians and a high level of quality care that will help our members live better, healthier lives." "Christie Clinic is thrilled to partner with WellCare and is committed to delivering high-quality, personalized health care services to WellCare's Medicare Advantage members," said Anni McClellan, Christie Clinic chief financial officer. As of Dec. 31, 2016, WellCare and Harmony Health Plan serve approximately 209,000 members in Illinois, including 166,000 Medicaid members, 16,000 Medicare Advantage plan members and 27,000 Medicare Prescription Drug Plan members. WellCare (HMO) is a Medicare Advantage organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in WellCare (HMO) depends on contract renewal. The provider network may change at any time. You will receive notice when necessary. About WellCare Health Plans, Inc. Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) focuses exclusively on providing government-sponsored managed care services, primarily through Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, to families, children, seniors and individuals with complex medical needs. WellCare serves approximately 3.9 million members nationwide as of Dec. 31, 2016. For more information about WellCare, please visit the company's website at www.wellcare.com or view the company's videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/WellCareHealthPlan. SOURCE WellCare Health Plans, Inc. Related Links http://www.wellcare.com Over the course of three weeks in February-March 2017, four urban Montreal artists worked together to create the mural that celebrates the 150th anniversary of Canada and the 375th of the City of Montreal, and marks a renewal under way at CSL. The Sea Keeper/Gardien des eaux was conceived by Montreal urban artist Beyung and created with artists FONKi, Ankh One, and Benny Wilding of the A'shop art collective. Painting an original work-of-art of this scale on a ship was a first for the artists, a first for CSL and a first for a Canadian commercial vessel. CSL chose CSL St-Laurent to host the tribute to Montreal and Canada because her name honours the St. Lawrence River, and her state-of-the-art technology and seamanship represent the new generation of high-performing, environmentally-responsible cargo vessels. Built in 2014, CSL St-Laurent is a 36,363 DWT state-of-the-art bulk carrier. The vessel's arrival in the Port of Montreal in February 2015 marked the final step in CSL's Trillium Class newbuild program that produced a total of 11 state-of-the-art self-unloaders and bulk carriers for CSL's Canadian and Americas fleets. On March 20th, 2017, CSL St-Laurent adorned with The Sea Keeper was the first ship to transit the St. Lambert lock, marking the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The CSL Group is the largest owner and operator of self-unloading ships in the world. Headquartered in Montreal with divisions operating throughout the Americas, Australia, Europe and Asia, CSL delivers more than 76 million tonnes of cargo annually for customers in the construction, steel, energy and agri-food sectors. SOURCE The CSL Group Inc. Related Links http://www.cslships.com/en LONDON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- International Game Technology PLC (NYSE:IGT) has announced that its subsidiary, IGT Global Services Limited (with International Game Technology PLC, hereinafter "IGT") has signed an agreement with the New Zealand Lotteries Commission ("Lotto NZ") to provide a Remote Game Server (RGS) system and Instant Win content to the New Zealand market. IGT, as legacy GTECH, has provided lottery equipment and services to Lotto NZ since the lottery's inception in 1987. "IGT and Lotto NZ have worked together successfully for approximately 30 years, and this agreement demonstrates the customer's continued trust in our ability to deliver industry-leading solutions and content that will responsibly increase lottery sales and continue generating funds for good causes," said Declan Harkin, IGT Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, International. This new agreement, which is the result of a competitive procurement, is for an initial term of five years from the go-live date of the RGS, with an additional two-year extension at Lotto NZ's option, as well as an additional extension option upon the agreement of both parties. Under this agreement, IGT will provide interactive Instant Win games hosted by its award-winning RGS system. Designed to operate securely while supporting engaging play experiences and third-party content, IGT RGS is optimized for a seamless player experience on both mobile and desktop. It will enable Lotto NZ to leverage IGT's vast gaming content library, as well as to quickly and easily integrate game content from third-party developers, offering players more innovative, entertaining games through Lotto NZ's successful MyLotto interactive site. In addition to this agreement, IGT continues to provide Lotto NZ with its lottery central system, terminal system, and ticket scan devices, as well as central system and terminal maintenance, game development, and software support under the Master Services Agreement signed in 2012 that has an initial term of eight years, subject to an extension of up to four years at Lotto NZ's option. During the 2015/16 fiscal year, Lotto NZ reported a transfer of $204 million NZD into community initiatives throughout the country, including sports, arts, and film initiatives. About IGT IGT (NYSE:IGT) is the global leader in gaming. We enable players to experience their favorite games across all channels and regulated segments, from Gaming Machines and Lotteries to Interactive and Social Gaming. Leveraging a wealth of premium content, substantial investment in innovation, in-depth customer intelligence, operational expertise and leading-edge technology, our gaming solutions anticipate the demands of consumers wherever they decide to play. We have a well-established local presence and relationships with governments and regulators in more than 100 countries around the world, and create value by adhering to the highest standards of service, integrity, and responsibility. IGT has over 12,000 employees. For more information, please visit www.IGT.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements (including within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning International Game Technology PLC and other matters. These statements may discuss goals, intentions and expectations as to future plans, trends, events, dividends, results of operations or financial condition, or otherwise, based on current beliefs of the management of International Game Technology PLC as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, such management. Forward-looking statements may be accompanied by words such as "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "could," "would," "should," "shall," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "future," "guidance," "intend," "may," "will," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project" or the negative or other variations of them. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside International Game Technology PLC's control. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially from those predicted in the forward-looking statements and from past results, performance or achievements. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include (but are not limited to) the possibility that the businesses of International Game Technology (Nevada) and GTECH S.p.A. will not be integrated successfully, or that the combined companies will not realize estimated cost savings, synergies, growth or other anticipated benefits or that such benefits may take longer to realize than expected; unanticipated costs of integration of International Game Technology (Nevada) and GTECH S.p.A.; the possibility that International Game Technology PLC will be unable to pay future dividends to shareholders or that the amount of such dividends may be less than anticipated; the possibility that International Game Technology PLC may not obtain its anticipated financial results in one or more future periods; reductions in customer spending; a slowdown in customer payments and changes in customer demand for products and services as a result of changing economic conditions or otherwise; unanticipated changes relating to competitive factors in the industries in which International Game Technology PLC operates; International Game Technology PLC's ability to hire and retain key personnel; the impact of the consummation of the business combination on relationships with third parties, including customers, employees and competitors; International Game Technology PLC's ability to attract new customers and retain existing customers in the manner anticipated; reliance on and integration of information technology systems; changes in legislation or governmental regulations affecting International Game Technology PLC, including as a consequence of the announced withdrawal of the U.K. from the EU; international, national or local economic, social or political conditions that could adversely affect International Game Technology PLC or its customers; conditions in the credit markets; changes in the top management team; risks associated with assumptions International Game Technology PLC makes in connection with its critical accounting estimates; the resolution of pending and potential future legal, regulatory or tax proceedings and investigations; and International Game Technology PLC's international operations, which are subject to the risks of currency fluctuations and foreign exchange controls. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties that affect International Game Technology PLC's business, including those described in International Game Technology PLC's annual report on Form 20-F for the financial year ended December 31, 2015 and other documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which are available on the SEC website at www.sec.gov and on the investor relations section of International Game Technology PLC's website at www.IGT.com. Except as required under applicable law, International Game Technology PLC does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements. Nothing in this news release is intended, or is to be construed, as a profit forecast or to be interpreted to mean that earnings per International Game Technology PLC share for the current or any future financial years will necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings per International Game Technology PLC share, as applicable. All forward-looking statements contained in this news release are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to International Game Technology PLC, or persons acting on its behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Contact: Robert K. Vincent, Corporate Communications, toll-free in U.S./Canada (844) IGT-7452; outside U.S./Canada (401) 392-7452 James Hurley, Investor Relations, (401) 392-7190 Simone Cantagallo, (+39) 06 51899030; for Italian media inquiries SOURCE IGT Related Links http://www.igt.com SUGAR LAND, Texas, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) is pleased to be presenting a complimentary online webinar focusing on global spending in the Chemical Processing Industry. The webinar will be held March 29 at 9:00 a.m. CDT (10:00 a.m. EDT). Industrial Info is tracking more than $916 billion in active Chemical Processing projects throughout the world. There are a record number of ethylene unit additions proposed globally, equaling more than 198 billion pounds of new capacity over the next decade. Learn where this new capacity is being proposed and which downstream markets will benefit the most. Join Industrial Info's industry experts as they discuss what's impacting spending now in the Chemicals sector, and what to expect in the future. The webinar will cover several topics on the Chemical Processing Industry, including: Summaries of planned petrochemical capacity additions Future spending outlined by world region A focus on key market drivers influencing future spending Capital spending by project type (expansions, additions, etc.) The webinar is entirely complimentary, and participants will receive a link for "on demand" viewing after the presentation. Make sure to RSVP today! Browse other industrial news stories at www.industrialinfo.com. Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the www.industrialinfo.com "Contact Us" page. Brian Ford (713) 980-9393 SOURCE Industrial Info Resources, Inc. Related Links http://www.industrialinfo.com SAN FRANCISCO, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Invitae Corporation (NYSE: NVTA), one of the fastest growing genetic information companies, today announced it has expanded the menu of tests offered as part of its ongoing proactive genetic testing pilot program. The announcement was made during the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting in Phoenix, where Invitae researchers also presented findings from the company's growing body of experience on the use of proactive testing. "Interest in using genetic information to make better health decisions is growing among patients and physicians alike. Proactive genetic testing for healthy adults can be done responsibly if it is based on proven research and focuses on actionable, useful results delivered in a clinical context, with physician guidance throughout the process," said Robert Nussbaum, MD, chief medical officer of Invitae. "Genetic information can identify disease risk, impact screening decisions, and may lead to the earlier detection and prevention of disease. Our work with our pilot sites is showing how proactive screening can serve as a useful tool at the primary care level." The Invitae Genetic Health Screen tests are intended for use by patients who do not meet diagnostic criteria for genetic testing but who wish to use genetic information to help guide their health decisions. The tests can only be ordered by a physician and provide diagnostic-grade genetic analysis from board-certified medical geneticists in a proactive test. The program has been available at select clinical pilot test sites for more than a year, with the addition of further sites underway throughout 2017. Based on feedback from pilot sites and evaluation of new data, the original menu offered in the program has been expanded to include additional genes linked to cancer, cardiovascular conditions and other genetic disorders. The panel now provides information on 139 medically actionable genes, and the company also offers sub-panels focused only on cardiovascular conditions or cancer to give patients options for gathering genetic information that can inform health decisions, such as increased screenings or treatment choices. Presentations at the ACMG meeting outlined the research behind choosing the genes going into the panel, as well as data on attitudes and responses among people who participate in proactive testing, as well as the prevalence of actionable variants among otherwise healthy patients. In addition, Invitae researchers presented a case report of a 43-year-old female adoptee who participated in the program because she did not have access to a complete family health history. The limited information she had concerning biological relatives suggested a history of breast cancer, and she was interested in using genetic testing to evaluate her risk of breast and ovarian cancer and other inherited diseases. The results for this individual showed the presence of two pathogenic variants, one each in the BRCA2 and CHEK2 genes, indicating she is at significantly increased risk for cancer. As a result of participation in the proactive testing program, the patient was able to choose to take appropriate screening steps that may have otherwise been missed. "When a family history is present, one must consider a hereditary disorder caused by pathogenic variants with high penetrance; the inverse, however, is not true. The absence of family history may reflect small family size, transmission of variants that predispose to breast and ovarian cancer through male relatives, or lack of knowledge about the health of more distant, geographically dispersed relatives, and is therefore not sufficient to rule out the presence of potentially pathogenic variants," said Dr. Nussbaum. "Proactive genetic testing has the potential to uncover increased risk for many patients, allowing them to take a proactive approach to monitoring their health." The proactive screening research presented by Invitae at ACMG is as follows: Poster #575 : Attitudes of Healthy Early Adopters Toward Personal Genome Sequencing: Observations from the PeopleSeq Consortium | Presented by Edward Esplin , MD, PhD, Invitae : Attitudes of Healthy Early Adopters Toward Personal Genome Sequencing: Observations from the PeopleSeq Consortium | Presented by , MD, PhD, Invitae Poster #726 : The Benefit of a Medically Actionable Genetic Screening Panel in Healthy Individuals: A Case Report | Presented by Eden Haverfield , PhD, Invitae : The Benefit of a Medically Actionable Genetic Screening Panel in Healthy Individuals: A Case Report | Presented by , PhD, Invitae Poster #734 : Genetic Information for Healthy Individuals: Developing a Medically Actionable Genetic Screening Panel | Presented by Eden Haverfield , PhD, Invitae : Genetic Information for Healthy Individuals: Developing a Medically Actionable Genetic Screening Panel | Presented by , PhD, Invitae Poster #797: Potential of Predispositional Genetic Screening for Dominant Actionable Disorders: Prevalence of Genomic Variants in 16,000 Unaffected Individuals | Presented by Edward Esplin , MD, PhD, Invitae For more information on genetic testing with Invitae, visit invitae.com. About Invitae Invitae Corporation's (NYSE: NVTA) mission is to bring comprehensive genetic information into mainstream medical practice to improve the quality of healthcare for billions of people. Invitae's goal is to aggregate most of the world's genetic tests into a single service with higher quality, faster turnaround time, and lower price than many single-gene and panel tests today. The company currently provides a diagnostic service comprising hundreds of genes for a variety of genetic disorders associated with oncology, cardiology, neurology, pediatrics, and other rare disease areas. Additionally, the company has created a Genome Network to connect patients, clinicians, advocacy organizations, researchers, and drug developers to accelerate the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of hereditary disease. For more information, visit our website at invitae.com. Safe Harbor Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to the potential benefits of proactive genetic testing; and that the company has additional clinical pilot tests sites underway throughout 2017. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: risks associated with the company's ability to use rapidly changing genetic data to interpret test results accurately and consistently; the company's ability to develop tests to keep pace with rapidly changing technology and new and increasing amounts of scientific data; laws and regulations applicable to the company's business; the company's ability to develop and commercialize new tests and expand into new markets; and the other risks set forth in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risks set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and Invitae Corporation disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. NOTE: Invitae and the Invitae logo are trademarks of Invitae Corporation. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. Contact: Laura D'Angelo [email protected] 314-920-0617 SOURCE Invitae Corporation Related Links http://invitae.com SEATTLE, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kineta, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the translational development of novel therapies in immuno-oncology, today announced the discovery and characterization of several "hit to lead" small molecule compounds that activate interferon response factor 3 (IRF3) via RIG-I like receptor (RLR) pathways and demonstrate immune-mediated tumor regression in a murine colon carcinoma mouse model. Furthermore, mice in the study who demonstrated complete tumor regression to initial drug treatment were resistant to tumor re-challenge confirming an adaptive immune response in these animals. The findings were presented on March 22nd at the Keystone Symposia on Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy: Taking a Place in Mainstream Oncology conference. "Tumors exist in an immuno-suppressive environment and have many strategies of immune evasion. Kineta's RLR agonists redirect the immune system to break tumor tolerance and elicit novel antigen-specific T-cell responses", said Shawn Iadonato, CEO of Kineta. "These data are groundbreaking in cancer immuno-therapy as we successfully established tumor immunity in mice that had complete regression to an initial tumor." In this study, Kineta's novel small molecule compounds demonstrated two immunomodulatory activities. First, they stimulate the RLR/IRF3 pathway in myeloid cells to induce the secretion of inflammatory chemokines/cytokines by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and dendritic cells. Second, they induce immunogenic cell death in the CT26 colon carcinoma model. Inducing ICD in tumor cells results in the release of danger signals including ATP, HMGB1, and calreticulin that ultimately enhance immune recognition of the tumor. "When ICD is elicited in tumor cells, they activate 'kill-me' markers such as ATP, HMGB1 and calreticulin. The immune system recognizes these markers and initiates an anti-tumor response", said Kristin Bedard, VP Research and Development at Kineta. "In turning a cold tumor hot, we believe that Kineta's RLR agonists can work in synergy with other immuno-therapies like checkpoint inhibitors to potentially enhance efficacy and patient survival." Kineta, Inc. is an emerging and sustainable biotech company that fills a void in the biopharmaceutical industry by efficiently advancing therapies from discovery to clinical proof of concept. We actively collaborate with a broad array of private, government and industry partners to advance our innovative research in chronic pain, immuno-oncology and infectious diseases. Kineta has established and is expanding on a diverse pipeline of novel life improving therapies that address critical unmet patient needs. For more information on Kineta, Inc. visit our website, www.Kinetabio.com NOTICE: This document contains certain forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding Kineta's plans for pre-clinical and clinical studies, regulatory filings, and anticipated drug effects in human subjects. You are cautioned that such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties inherent in Kineta's business which could significantly affect expected results, including without limitation progress of drug development, ability to raise capital to fund drug development, clinical testing and regulatory approval, developments in raw material and personnel costs, and legislative, fiscal, and other regulatory measures. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and Kineta undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the issuance of this press release. Contact Jacques Bouchy [email protected] (206) 378-0400 SOURCE Kineta, Inc. Related Links http://www.kinetabio.com DURHAM, N.C., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- KNOW Bio, LLC, a leading innovator in healthcare, today announced that Life Care Medical Device CEO Richard J. Prati has joined the company's board of directors. "Richard has strong qualities in identifying companies with unique technologies," said Neal Hunter, Chairman of KNOW Bio, LLC. "His business acumen, especially in the areas of health care devices and creating business opportunities, will be a powerful addition to our Board." Prati has more than 25 years of proven leadership and operational execution with a wide range of emerging and established public and private entities. He has expertise in industries ranging from health care, biotech, medical devices, conglomerates, retail, industrials, information technology and semiconductors. "I've long admired what Neal and his team at KNOW Bio are doing with nitric oxide to address a host of diseases and ailments," said Prati. "The idea that many of the complications of these diseases, including cystic fibrosis, could someday become a thing of the past is very exciting, which is why I am looking forward to my role with the company." In addition to his position at Life Care, Prati co-founded medical technology start-up Singular Medical Technologies and serves as Chairman. He also recently served as Vice Chairman of PVG Asset Management, a fund family with nearly $1 billion in assets and is a board member and early-stage investor of the privately-held Centennial Brands company. In 2002, he co-founded American Technology Research, an independent research broker/dealer. He earned his MBA from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester and his B.S in Economics from Vanderbilt University. About KNOW Bio KNOW Bio, LLC was created to develop and optimize the company's proprietary and versatile nitric oxide platform. The technology can be delivered as a drug in a variety of doses and release time frames, which makes the therapeutic areas that will likely be impacted by this platform immense. Forward-looking Statements Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: reliance on key personnel; the early stage of our business; risks associated with the drug development process; competition; and other risks described in other Company press releases and presentations. KNOW Bio assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Contact Info: Ray Young Razor Sharp PR (512) 633-6855 [email protected] SOURCE KNOW Bio, LLC BALTIMORE, Md., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Protenus, the world's leader in proactive patient privacy analytics, gathered representatives from top healthcare organizations to form the Privacy and Analytics (Pandas) community. These professionals will discuss how data analytics and artificial intelligence will foster more efficient and effective HIPAA compliance and health data security. The first-of-its-kind, two-day event is a forum for privacy professionals to learn from peer organizations' experiences, exchange best practices, and use their collective expertise to advance standards for protecting patient privacy. Pandas brings together privacy and compliance officers from leading healthcare organizations like Johns Hopkins Health System, Yale New Haven Health System, Inova Health System, Penn Medicine, Presence Health, HealthShare Exchange for Southern Pennsylvania (HSX), Excela Health, Health and Human Services (HHS), Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients (CRISP), and several others. "The Pandas community will no doubt move our industry forward as it grapples with how to effectively protect patient privacy," stated Nick Culbertson, Co-founder, COO & President of Protenus. "The insight and collective wisdom represented in the room today will shape the way healthcare thinks about using data analytics and artificial intelligence to support privacy teams." Hosted at Protenus HQ and the Johns Hopkins Medical Center campus, each day of Pandas will kick off with a keynote presentation delivered by accomplished privacy experts in healthcare. The first keynote address, "Why Privacy Needs Advanced Analytics" will be given by John Steiner, Esq., healthcare attorney and compliance professional: served as Chief Privacy Officer for the Cleveland Clinic, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and Senior Counsel for the American Hospital Association. "Health data security and patient privacy is increasingly important to health systems," stated Steiner. "This event couldn't come at a better time. We need real, candid conversation about how technological advances can enhance patient trust in the organizations where they seek care." Day two's keynote, "Privacy and Analytics," will be presented by Don Bradfield, Esq., Senior Counsel, Privacy Office at Johns Hopkins Health System. "Our privacy team made significant strides through the use of advanced analytics in its efforts to help protect patient privacy. With accurate and timely information, we can do our job more effectively" noted Bradfield. Pandas is the first of many events that bring together healthcare leaders focused on using advanced analytics to eliminate threats to patient data. The Pandas community will return focus to providing the best patient care possible, rather than the unknown risks that jeopardize their patients' sensitive data. Sign up to receive notifications about future events from Protenus. About Protenus Protenus protects patient privacy in the electronic health record (EHR) for top-ranked hospitals, using the latest big data techniques and Protenus-led advances in data science, machine learning, visualization, and engineering. Founded by former medical school students, the Protenus platform uniquely understands the clinical behavior and context of each person accessing patient data to determine the appropriateness of each action, elevating only true threats to patient privacy. Protenus and its partner hospitals are fundamentally improving the way hospitals protect their patient datafurther ensuring trust in healthcare. Learn more at Protenus.com and follow us on Twitter @Protenus. Contact: Kira Caban Senior Marketing Manager [email protected] 410-913-0274 This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Protenus Related Links http://Protenus.com MIRAMAR, Fla., March 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Association Services of Florida, an Associa company, proudly welcomes Andrew Reina as its new director of operations. Reina will oversee employee development, operational optimization efforts and process improvements, as well as customer service initiatives in this new role. "Andrew is a seasoned association management professional with exceptional expertise in all areas of business operations," said Association Services of Florida President Marc Rodriguez, LCAM, CMCA, AMS. "His consistent track record of improving customer satisfaction, reducing expenses and streamlining processes for greater efficiency will help the ASF team continue to serve our homeowners with industry-leading customer service, while helping us grow our portfolio in the area." Reina arrives at Associa after nearly nine years as a property manager for KW Property Management and Consulting. In this role he directed the grand opening and all ensuing day-to-day aspects of property management for a 120-unit boutique residence on the bay. Reina supervised the concierge, maintenance, front desk, security, receiving, landscaping and pool personnel, while managing A/P and A/R functions and CAM accounting reports. Prior to KW, Reina was an assistant property manager with The Continental Group where he helped open and oversee the on-going property management of a 200-unit high rise. In addition to providing input on various monthly and weekly management reports, he worked regularly with residents on issue resolution. Reina holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration (finance) from the University of Miami and holds the Florida Community Association Manager License (LCAM) and Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA) designations. He is also an active member of the Community Associations Institute (CAI). Building and managing successful communities for more than 37 years, Associa is the worldwide leader in community management with over 10,000 employees operating more than 180 branch offices in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Based in Dallas, Texas, our industry expertise, financial strength and innovation meet the unique needs of clients across the world with customized services and solutions designed to help communities achieve their vision. To learn more about Associa and its charitable organization, Associa Cares, go to www.associaonline.com or www.associacares.com. Stay Connected: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/associa Twitter: https://twitter.com/associa LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/associa Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/associa/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/associamarketing Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Associaonline/ BOSTON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To help large contractors and property owners and the brokers who serve them better manage property risk, Liberty Mutual has launched Premier Protector Builder's Risk. The new Premier Protector Builder's Risk policy helps eliminate uncertainties and inconsistencies through an intuitive structure. And because many of the coverages available in the new product are options, brokers and customers can work with Liberty Mutual's dedicated inland marine underwriters to tailor each policy to their specific needs. "Flexibility and simplicity are at the heart of our new builder's risk product," notes Daniel Feige, division underwriting manager, Inland Marine, Liberty Mutual. "It allows brokers and customers to quickly and easily tailor coverage for a single construction project, or to develop a master program protecting an entire portfolio with coverage terms that allow for the natural ebb and flow of individual projects. The new product continues our drive to be more comprehensive and solution oriented for our broker partners and their policyholders." Beyond ease of use and broad coverages, the policy is supported by Liberty Mutual's dedicated inland marine claims management professionals, as well as its property risk engineers, who help lower the total cost of risk by working to provide information which the policyholder can use to prevent the accidents that cause claims. Liberty Mutual's new Premier Protector Builder's Risk coverage which is best suited to projects with total insured values greater than $50 million features: Available limits up to $500 million per project, and up to $200 million for shared and layered per project, and up to for shared and layered Coverage for Named Storm, Earth Movement and Flood Delay in Completion (Time Element), with Income Cover for owned projects Master Builder's Risk by endorsement with Extension of Term endorsement to see projects through to completion More information on the new Premier Protector Builder's Risk is available at https://business.libertymutualgroup.com/business-insurance/coverages/inland-marine-insurance-policy?extcmp=pr_buildrisk. About Liberty Mutual Insurance Liberty Mutual Insurance helps people preserve and protect what they earn, build, own and cherish. Keeping this promise means we are there when our policyholders throughout the world need us most. In business since 1912, and headquartered in Boston, Mass., today Liberty Mutual is a diversified insurer with operations in 30 countries and economies around the world. We are the fifth largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2015 direct written premium data as reported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. We also rank 73rd on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2015 revenue. As of December 31, 2016, Liberty Mutual had $38.3 billion in annual consolidated revenue. Liberty employs more than 50,000 people in over 800 offices throughout the world. We offer a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, accident & health, commercial automobile, general liability, property, surety, workers compensation, group disability, group life, specialty lines, reinsurance, individual life and annuity products. You can learn more about us by visiting www.libertymutualinsurance.com. Contact: Richard Angevine Office: 617-574-6638 Mobile: 617-833-0926 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Liberty Mutual Insurance Related Links http://www.libertymutualinsurance.com LinearHub is a startup company known for its development of Roundee (roundee.io), a video conferencing service for Slack (corporate collaboration platform) users. At Enterprise Connect 2017, LinearHub will be showcasing its solution under the theme titled "The Importance of Records (originally titled "The palest ink is better than the best memory.")", which will spotlight an upgraded version of Roundee, complete with several enhanced functions, such as simultaneous editing of minutes, meeting videos, and transcripts. The "Minutes" function of Roundee enables real-time editing and write-ups of meeting content while the meeting/video conference is actually taking place, which not only saves time by eliminating the need to write up a meeting's minutes post meeting, but also helps improve corporate communication for quicker and more efficient decision-making. The "Meeting Video" and "Transcript" functions help users conveniently share, save, and search video conference content after meetings -- this allows video conferencing to not only serve as a real-time communications tool but also a knowledge-based tool. LinearHub's Roundee focuses heavily on the provision of comprehensive services and has already begun to carve out a solid niche for LinearHub in the intensely competitive unified communications market. The service's "Minutes" and "Transcript" functions, in particular, are not offered by other companies and help users achieve a level of meeting productivity and efficiency that cannot yet be attained through other video conferencing services. Roundee seeks to attract buyers and companies that are looking for the optimum team communication solution. LinearHub is a member company of the K-ICT Born2Global Centre and an incubation company of the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation and Korea Telecommunications Operators Association. Since its inception, the company has been selected as a K-Global 300 company by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning (2015) and has been named a "Red Herring Global Top 100 Technology Venture Company" (November 2016) by Red Herring, a global IT magazine that has selected the top 100 most promising Asian, North American, and European companies in various fields each year since 1996. From among 1,000 companies in 40 countries around the world, the 2016 Red Herring Global Top 100 Technology Venture Company award was granted to startups who have introduced the most innovative technologies and business models this year. This year at Enterprise Connect 2017, LinearHub, which continues to be recognized in the international arena for its growth potential, will stand alongside foreign conglomerates as it proudly demonstrates its advanced technology. LinearHub CEO Kim Sunghyuk is also one of the founders of Serome Technology, one of the first companies in South Korea to feature diverse Internet-based communications technology (Internet phones, etc.), and Nable Communications, a company that has been listed on the KOSDAQ since 2012. LinearHub CEO Kim commented on the company's upcoming participation in Enterprise Connect 2017, saying, "We hope to introduce Roundee to a diverse range of potential clients at this year's event and will be making use of diverse channels to introduce Roundee to markets throughout the world." For more detailed information on the LinearHub, please check out https://roundee.io/. Contact Person: LinearHub: Yeonwoo Nam / [email protected] K-ICT Born2Global Centre: Jina Lee / [email protected] SOURCE K-ICT Born2Global Centre Related Links http://https://roundee.io/ ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., March 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, March 22, 2017, a man drove into a crowd and stabbed an armed officer outside the London Houses of Parliament. Travel insurance comparison site, Squaremouth, explains travel insurance coverage for concerned travelers. As of March 22, the attack has not been declared an act of terrorism by the U.S. Department of State - this is required in order for this event to be covered under travel insurance policies. If the attack is declared an act of terrorism, insured travelers may have the following coverage: Reimbursement for the Cost of Their Trip Travelers can be reimbursed for 100% of their trip cost under the Trip Cancellation benefit if they meet the following requirements: They must be departing within 7-30 days of the attack, depending on the policy They must be traveling to London or a nearby city or a nearby city They must have purchased their policy prior to March 22, 2017 Transportation Home Travelers currently in London can be covered to return home early under Trip Interruption. This benefit reimburses unused trip expenses and additional transportation expenses incurred to return home. If the attack is not declared an act of terrorism, the standard Trip Cancellation benefit will not be triggered. However, there is one benefit that insured travelers may be eligible for: Cancel For Any Reason Cancel For Any Reason is an optional upgrade that must be purchased within 14-30 days of the traveler's initial trip deposit date. This benefit allows travelers to cancel for reasons otherwise excluded. To cancel a trip under this benefit, travelers must cancel their trip in its entirety at least 2-3 days before their scheduled departure date, and can be reimbursed up to 75% of their trip cost. Travelers concerned about future attacks can still buy a policy for an upcoming trip to London, but policies purchased after March 22 will not include coverage for this attack. Squaremouth launched the London Parliament Attack and Travel Insurance Information Center to keep travelers informed about coverage for this attack. This resource will be regularly updated as more information becomes available. ABOUT SQUAREMOUTH Squaremouth compares travel insurance policies from every major travel insurance provider in the United States. Using Squaremouth's comparison engine and third-party customer reviews, travelers can research and compare insurance products side-by-side. More information can be found at www.squaremouth.com. Available Topic Expert: Megan Singh [email protected] SOURCE Squaremouth Related Links http://www.squaremouth.com "For our customers, Lord & Taylor has always been about the dress," said Liz Rodbell, President, Lord & Taylor and Hudson's Bay. "Dresses are the core of Lord & Taylor's DNA and the launch of The Dress Address provides a tremendous opportunity to offer customers the most fabulous assortment of dresses." The Gallery is an elevated shopping experience complete with its own branding, exclusive packaging, complimentary alterations, luxurious robes and other elements appealing to new and existing clientele. Spacious personal shopping suites have been designed to integrate a social shopping environment, accommodating small parties. Set apart in a private alcove, The Gallery includes luxury dresses from iconic designers such as Oscar de la Renta, Marchesa, Naeem Khan, Zuhair Murad, Temperley London, Antonio Berardi, Luisa Beccaria, Reem Acra and Preen by Thorton Bregazzi, amongst others. The dress floor exhibits a rotating pop-up shop that launches with one-of-a-kind vintage designer dresses curated by Cameron Silver, Co-Founder of Decades. Shop concepts will be updated quarterly. Paper Crown, designed by Lauren Conrad will be the next installment. A concierge dedicated to guest services is also stationed on-site, greeting customers and connecting them with specialized personal stylists who can help with all shopping needs ranging from the perfect date night look to suggestions for wedding guests and beyond. A series of custom screen walls help zone the floor into various atmospheres that accommodate a diverse range of dresses for every occasion. The impressive space boasts over 35 luxurious fitting rooms equipped with new and updated fixtures including call buttons, selfie sticks and illuminated mirrors that feature adjustable mood settings for day, home, office and night. Exclusive styles and emerging and established brands such as, Badgley Mischka, Calvin Klein, Carmen Marc Valvo, Karl Lagerfeld Paris, Paper Crown, Rachel Rachel Roy, Rachel Zoe, Tadashi Shoji and WAYF are also available. ABOUT LORD & TAYLOR Founded in 1826, Lord & Taylor is the oldest department store in the United States and one of the country's premier retailers. It has built its reputation on offering high-quality fashion apparel and accessories, exciting store environments, and seamless service. Lord & Taylor operates 50 full-line locations primarily in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic U.S., and lordandtaylor.com. It is part of the Hudson's Bay Company brand portfolio. For more information, please contact Lord & Taylor public relations: Jaclyn Weissman 646.946.8597 [email protected] SOURCE Lord & Taylor Related Links http://www.lordandtaylor.com MOORESVILLE, N.C., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Executives and specialists with Madvapes, a leading retailer of vaping products and producer of premium e-liquids, traveled to Washington DC in early January to meet with the FDA. In preparation of our meeting with the FDA, Madvapes submitted over 1,000 pages of documentation to seek clarity on the FDA's ruling, guidelines, testing procedures and protocols as well as provided proposed solutions for streamlined, testing, data collection and collaboration. While in Washington DC, Madvapes also met with the Legislative Directors of members of Congress whom represent districts where Madvapes has facilities: Congressman Robert Pittenger, North Carolina District 9 Congressman Patrick Henry, North Carolina District 10 Congressman Mark Meadows, North Carolina District 11 Congressman Tom Rice, South Carolina District 7 Topics discussed included the economic impact that vaping has, tax revenue generated and the impact FDA Deeming Regulations will have on the industry. In North Carolina alone Madvapes employs over 200 full time and part time associates. Madvapes has always been a proponent for responsible regulation and adopted age verification years ahead of the FDA ruling last year. Madvapes looks forward to working with the FDA and members of Congress to craft commonsense regulations of the vaping industry. Madvapes' mission is to help those seeking an alternative to Tobacco with products, education and services, it caters to consumers new to vaping as well as seasoned vaping enthusiasts. Madvapes carries a comprehensive range of vaping products and e-liquids in its stores which are located across the Eastern United States and TX. About Madvapes Madvapes is a Mooresville, NC based corporation, distributes e-liquids, vaping mods, parts and accessories. Madvapes has one of the largest retail footprints in the U.S., including a franchise offering, and has a growing European footprint. Established in 2009 and a leading authority in Vaping Products, Madvapes is an advocate for consumer product education, safety, and regulatory governance. For more information, please visit: Madvapes.com. SOURCE Madvapes Related Links http://madvapes.com WASHINGTON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Maricopa County, Ariz., replaced Harris County, Texas, as the county with the nation's highest annual population growth, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released today. Harris County was the largest numeric gainer for eight years in a row. Maricopa County gained 81,360 people between July 1, 2015 and July 1, 2016, or about 222 people per day, while the nation's second-largest population gainer, Harris County, gained 56,587 people, or about 155 people per day on average. 2016 population estimates and components of change for the nation's metro areas and counties. Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, primarily grew through the addition of 43,189 residents from net domestic migration, a measure of how many people move to or from an area versus other parts of the United States. The county also added 25,428 people from natural increase (more births than deaths) and 10,188 people from net international migration. Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, saw changes in net domestic migration, going from a net gain of more than 17,000 to a net loss of more than 16,000. Despite this, Harris County had the second largest gain in population due to high natural increase (46,412) and net international migration (27,922). "In the early 2000s, Maricopa County was in the top one or two counties by numeric growth. From 2009-2011, Maricopa County saw much lower net migration than in the years before or after, which caused the county to drop out of the top population-gaining counties," explained Peter Borsella, a demographer in the Census Bureau's population division. "While net international migration has not reached prior levels, net domestic migration and natural increase have continued to rise, making Maricopa County this year's largest numeric gainer." In addition, Maricopa grew the fastest among the top 10 largest counties at 1.95 percent, an increase from 1.90 percent from the previous year. Harris County remained the third-largest county with 4.6 million people, and Maricopa County remained the fourth-largest county with 4.2 million people. Los Angeles County and Cook County, Ill., remained the largest and second-largest counties, respectively. The statistics released today provide population estimates and components of change for our nation's 382 metropolitan statistical areas, 551 micropolitan statistical areas, and 3,142 counties, as well as Puerto Rico's metropolitan statistical areas, micropolitan statistical areas and municipios. Find more highlights from this year's release below and local-level statistics on census.gov. In the coming months, the Census Bureau will release 2016 population estimates for cities and towns, as well as national, state and county population estimates by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin. Some High-Population Counties or County-Equivalents Continued to Experience Population Loss These notable high-population counties continued to see population loss: Cook County, Ill. ( Chicago ): -21,324. ( ): -21,324. Wayne County, Mich. ( Detroit ): -7,696. ( ): -7,696. Baltimore city, Md.: -6,738. Baltimore city saw an increase in population loss this year primarily due to a doubling of its net domestic out-migration. Fastest-Growing Areas in Utah Three of the 20 fastest-growing metro areas between 2015 and 2016 were located either partially or completely in Utah (St. George, Utah; Provo-Orem, Utah; and Logan, Utah-Idaho). Provo - Orem, Utah , and Logan, Utah - Idaho , saw natural increase as a larger component of growth than either net international migration or net domestic migration, while St. George, Utah , saw net domestic migration as a larger component of growth than either net international migration or natural increase. - , and - , saw natural increase as a larger component of growth than either net international migration or net domestic migration, while , saw net domestic migration as a larger component of growth than either net international migration or natural increase. Also, San Juan County, Utah , was the fastest-growing county in the United States among counties with populations of 10,000 or more in 2015. It grew by 7.6 percent. Second-Fastest-Growing U.S. County in 2015 Fell to 2,858th in 2016 North Dakota counties no longer top the list of fastest-growing counties by percentage change. McKenzie County fell from second-fastest growing by percentage change to 2,858th. fell from second-fastest growing by percentage change to 2,858th. Williams County fell from third to 3,105th. fell from third to 3,105th. Mountrail County fell from sixth to 2,375th. fell from sixth to 2,375th. Stark County fell from eighth to 3,103rd. All of these counties lost population due to people moving away to other parts of the United States (negative net domestic migration). Formerly fast-growing North Dakota counties have been replaced in the top 10 by counties in Iowa, Oregon and Washington. Other top 10 counties once again are in Utah, Texas and Florida. County Highlights Eight of the 10 counties with the most natural decrease (more deaths than births) were in Florida . Four of the top 10 counties with the most natural increase were in California , and 3 of the 10 were in Texas . . Four of the top 10 counties with the most natural increase were in , and 3 of the 10 were in . St. Louis County, Mo. , dropped below 1 million for the first time since 2011, largely due to a rise in net domestic out-migration. , dropped below 1 million for the first time since 2011, largely due to a rise in net domestic out-migration. Three counties reached a population milestone of 100,000 or higher: Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska ; Highlands County, Fla. , and Carver County, Minn. ; , and Pasco County, Fla. , reached a population of 500,000, and Tarrant County, Texas , reached 2 million. Metropolitan Statistical Area Highlights The nation's 382 metro areas contained approximately 277.1 million people in 2016, representing approximately 86 percent of the nation's population. This was an increase of approximately 2.3 million people from 2015. For the fourth year in a row, The Villages, Fla. , a metro area west of the Orlando - Kissimmee - Sanford, Fla. , metro area, was the nation's fastest-growing metro area, with a 4.3 percent population increase between 2015 and 2016. , a metro area west of the - - , metro area, was the nation's fastest-growing metro area, with a 4.3 percent population increase between 2015 and 2016. The Dallas-Fort Worth - Arlington, Texas , and Houston - The Woodlands - Sugar Land, Texas , metro areas were the two largest numeric-gaining metro areas between 2015 and 2016, increasing by more than 100,000 each. - , and - - , metro areas were the two largest numeric-gaining metro areas between 2015 and 2016, increasing by more than 100,000 each. Four metro areas were among both the 25 fastest growing and the 25 largest numeric gaining between 2015 and 2016: Austin-Round Rock , Texas; Raleigh, N.C. ; Orlando - Kissimmee - Sanford, Fla. ; and Las Vegas - Henderson -Paradise, Nev. For all four areas, net domestic migration was a larger component of change than either net international migration or natural increase , Texas; ; - - ; and - -Paradise, Nev. For all four areas, net domestic migration was a larger component of change than either net international migration or natural increase Among the 10 largest metro areas, the Chicago - Naperville - Elgin, Ill. -Ind.-Wis., metro area was the only metro area that did not grow in population between 2015 and 2016. Micropolitan Statistical Area Highlights The nation's 551 micro areas contained approximately 27.7 million people in 2016, representing approximately nine percent of the nation's population. This is an increase of approximately 16,000 people from 2015. Micro areas in the West grew the most. Heber , Utah , was the fastest-growing micro area, with an increase of 4.7 percent between 2015 and 2016. The five fastest-growing micro areas were in the West: Heber , Utah ; Prineville, Ore. ; Ellensburg, Wash. ; Bozeman, Mont. ; and Cedar City, Utah . Among these five areas, net domestic migration was a larger component of change than either net international migration or natural increase. Bozeman, Mont. , had the largest numeric gain among micro areas between 2015 and 2016, increasing by approximately 3,800 people. Four of the five largest numeric-gaining micro areas between 2015 and 2016 were in the West: Bozeman, Mont. ; Hilo, Hawaii ; Kalispell, Mont. ; and Oak Harbor, Wash. Puerto Rico Overall, Puerto Rico's population has been decreasing since 2010. The Commonwealth total resident population decreased by 314,850 (or 8.4 percent) since 2010 to 3,411,307 on July 1, 2016 . population has been decreasing since 2010. The Commonwealth total resident population decreased by 314,850 (or 8.4 percent) since 2010 to 3,411,307 on . San Juan experienced the largest numeric decrease in population of any municipio, losing 8,497 residents between July 1, 2015 and July 1, 2016 , followed by Bayamon (-4,448 residents) and Ponce (-3,748 residents). experienced the largest numeric decrease in population of any municipio, losing 8,497 residents between and , followed by Bayamon (-4,448 residents) and Ponce (-3,748 residents). Of Puerto Rico's 78 municipios, only Gurabo experienced growth between July 1, 2015 , and July 1, 2016 , gaining 56 residents (an increase of 0.1 percent). 78 municipios, only Gurabo experienced growth between , and , gaining 56 residents (an increase of 0.1 percent). All other municipios experienced a decline in population. The fastest-declining municipios were Penuelas, Lares and Guanica, featuring a decline of 2.7 percent each. To find where people are leaving from and moving to, visit Census Flows Mapper. The Census Bureau develops county, metro area and micro area population estimates by measuring population change since the most recent census. The Census Bureau uses births, deaths, administrative records and survey data to develop estimates of population. For more detail regarding the methodology, see www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/technical-documentation/methodology.html. The Office of Management and Budget's statistical area delineations (for metro and micro areas) are those issued by that agency in July 2015. Metro areas contain at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, and micro areas contain at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 (but less than 50,000) population. Both metro and micro areas consist of one or more whole counties or county equivalents. Some metro and micro area titles may be abbreviated in the text of the news release. Full titles are shown in the tables. Press Kit Virginia Hyer Amy Newcomb Graphic | JPG | PDF | Public Information Office 301-763-3030 / [email protected] census.gov Connect with us on Social media Top 10 Largest-Gaining Counties (Numeric Change): July 1, 2015 to July 1, 2016 County Population Numeric Change Percent Change Births Deaths Domestic Migration International Migration Maricopa County, Arizona 4,242,997 81,360 1.95 56,073 30,645 43,189 10,188 Harris County, Texas 4,589,928 56,587 1.25 73,072 26,660 -16,225 27,922 Clark County, Nevada 2,155,664 46,375 2.20 27,352 16,501 27,735 6,566 King County, Washington 2,149,970 35,714 1.69 25,905 13,580 8,511 15,500 Tarrant County, Texas 2,016,872 35,462 1.79 28,682 12,903 13,411 6,348 Riverside County, California 2,387,741 34,849 1.48 30,845 17,092 16,961 3,099 Bexar County, Texas 1,928,680 33,198 1.75 28,283 13,458 13,077 5,361 Orange County, Florida 1,314,367 29,503 2.30 16,721 8,198 10,083 11,078 Dallas County, Texas 2,574,984 29,209 1.15 40,063 16,407 -6,193 12,133 Hillsborough County, Florida 1,376,238 29,161 2.16 17,345 11,179 14,806 7,774 Top 10 Fastest-Growing Counties (Percent Change, Counties With a Population of 10,000 or More): July 1, 2015 to July 1, 2016 County Population Numeric Change Percent Change Births Deaths Domestic Migration International Migration San Juan County, Utah 16,895 1,188 7.56 240 112 1,038 13 Kendall County, Texas 42,540 2,088 5.16 391 389 1,844 77 Hays County, Texas 204,470 9,896 5.09 2,553 1,011 7,932 171 Wasatch County, Utah 30,528 1,363 4.67 475 126 891 77 Dallas County, Iowa 84,516 3,739 4.63 1,268 433 2,500 296 Comal County, Texas 134,788 5,675 4.40 1,597 1,085 4,760 109 Sumter County, Florida 123,996 5,114 4.30 501 1,742 4,873 55 Crook County, Oregon 22,570 923 4.26 240 236 886 7 Juab County, Utah 11,010 444 4.20 185 74 319 -1 Kittitas County, Washington 44,866 1,809 4.20 391 286 1,563 72 Top 10 Largest-Declining Counties or County Equivalents (Numeric Change): July 1, 2015 to July 1, 2016 County Population Numeric Change Percent Change Births Deaths Domestic Migration International Migration Cook County, Illinois 5,203,499 -21,324 -0.41 68,049 42,297 -66,244 18,434 Wayne County, Michigan 1,749,366 -7,696 -0.44 23,209 18,231 -17,346 4,279 Baltimore city, Maryland 614,664 -6,738 -1.08 8,654 6,871 -11,008 2,195 Cuyahoga County, Ohio 1,249,352 -5,673 -0.45 14,941 13,563 -10,122 3,402 Suffolk County, New York 1,492,583 -5,320 -0.36 15,446 12,793 -11,278 4,327 Milwaukee County, Wisconsin 951,448 -4,866 -0.51 13,675 8,176 -13,186 2,505 Allegheny County, Pennsylvania 1,225,365 -3,933 -0.32 13,193 13,995 -5,821 3,479 San Juan County, New Mexico 115,079 -3,622 -3.05 1,703 1,026 -4,341 42 St. Louis City, Missouri 311,404 -3,471 -1.10 4,547 3,070 -6,189 981 Jefferson County, New York 114,006 -3,254 -2.78 2,000 945 -4,674 345 Top 25 Fastest-Growing Metro Areas (Percent Change): July 1, 2015 to July 1, 2016 Rank by Percent Change Metro Area 2015 Population 2016 Population Numeric Change Percent Change Natural Increase Births Deaths Net Migration Domestic Migration International Migration 1 The Villages, FL 118,882 123,996 5,114 4.3 -1,241 501 1,742 4,928 4,873 55 2 Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC 432,493 449,295 16,802 3.9 -488 4,214 4,702 15,308 14,881 427 3 Bend-Redmond, OR 174,942 181,307 6,365 3.6 398 1,853 1,455 5,698 5,695 3 4 Greeley, CO 285,053 294,932 9,879 3.5 2,381 4,106 1,725 7,300 6,991 309 5 Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL 700,285 722,336 22,051 3.1 -658 6,666 7,324 20,780 17,769 3,011 6 St. George, UT 155,450 160,245 4,795 3.1 1,026 2,232 1,206 3,285 3,267 18 7 Provo-Orem, UT 585,362 603,309 17,947 3.1 10,004 12,347 2,343 7,765 6,893 872 8 Punta Gorda, FL 173,194 178,465 5,271 3.0 -1,614 1,044 2,658 6,154 5,800 354 9 Austin-Round Rock, TX 1,998,104 2,056,405 58,301 2.9 17,071 27,375 10,304 40,273 33,395 6,878 10 North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL 768,013 788,457 20,444 2.7 -3,227 6,545 9,772 21,138 18,913 2,225 11 Coeur d'Alene, ID 150,364 154,311 3,947 2.6 480 1,834 1,354 3,169 3,123 46 12 Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL 649,425 666,149 16,724 2.6 892 7,678 6,786 15,061 12,152 2,909 13 Sebastian-Vero Beach, FL 147,792 151,563 3,771 2.6 -766 1,284 2,050 3,828 3,530 298 14 Raleigh, NC 1,271,381 1,302,946 31,565 2.5 8,414 15,893 7,479 22,607 18,510 4,097 15 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL 2,382,132 2,441,257 59,125 2.5 10,798 28,849 18,051 46,922 29,441 17,481 16 Port St. Lucie, FL 454,111 465,208 11,097 2.4 -890 4,357 5,247 10,724 9,759 965 17 Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, FL 356,570 365,136 8,566 2.4 -220 3,270 3,490 7,434 5,292 2,142 18 Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL 203,690 208,563 4,873 2.4 161 2,274 2,113 4,289 4,046 243 19 Boise City, ID 675,777 691,423 15,646 2.3 4,157 8,753 4,596 10,757 9,950 807 20 Logan, UT-ID 133,093 136,159 3,066 2.3 1,991 2,578 587 1,052 728 324 21 Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL 623,378 637,674 14,296 2.3 -2,437 5,714 8,151 15,419 13,981 1,438 22 Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO 513,449 525,032 11,583 2.3 3,660 7,266 3,606 7,845 6,564 1,281 23 Olympia-Tumwater, WA 269,183 275,222 6,039 2.2 1,000 3,172 2,172 4,725 4,060 665 24 Charleston-North Charleston, SC 744,603 761,155 16,552 2.2 3,710 9,662 5,952 12,377 11,471 906 25 Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV 2,109,289 2,155,664 46,375 2.2 10,851 27,352 16,501 34,301 27,735 6,566 SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau Related Links http://www.census.gov WINNIPEG, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Medicure Inc. ("Medicure" or the "Company") (TSXV:MPH, OTC:MCUJF), a leading Canadian specialty pharmaceutical company, is pleased to announce that its majority-owned subsidiary, Apicore Inc., has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Company's abbreviated new drug application ("ANDA") for tetrabenazine tablets in the 12.5 mg and 25 mg strengths. The newly approved product is a generic equivalent of the branded product Xenazine sold in the United States by Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Xenazine is indicated to treat the involuntary movements (chorea) of Huntington's disease. Development of tetrabenazine was done in partnership with TAGI Pharma Inc., which recently launched the product commercially. Medicure currently owns approximately 61% of Apicore on a fully diluted basis, and continues to have option rights until July 3, 2017 to acquire additional shares in Apicore. About Apicore Apicore is a private, New Jersey based developer and manufacturer of specialty Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients ("APIs") and pharmaceuticals, including over 15 Abbreviated New Drug Applications ("ANDAs"), one of which, is partnered with Medicure. Apicore manufactures over 100 different API's, including over 35 for which Drug Master Files have been submitted to the FDA and 16 that are approved for commercial sale in the U.S. by customers of Apicore. Apicore specializes in the manufacture of difficult to synthesize, high value and other niche API's for many U.S. and international generic and branded pharmaceutical companies. Apicore has two FDA-approved facilities. In the U.S., the Somerset, New Jersey facility can produce a few grams up to 200 kg volumes and in India, the Vadodara, Gujarat facility can produce a few kilograms up to 60 metric tons yearly. Both facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art analytical and research capabilities. For more information, please visit Apicore online at www.apicore.com. About Medicure Medicure is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for the U.S. hospital market. The primary focus of the Company and its subsidiaries is the marketing and distribution of AGGRASTAT (tirofiban hydrochloride) in the United States, where it is sold through the Company's U.S. subsidiary, Medicure Pharma, Inc. For more information on Medicure please visit www.medicure.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Information: Statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "believes", "may", "plans", "will", "estimates", "continues", "anticipates", "intends", "expects" and similar expressions, may constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. federal securities laws (such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are hereinafter collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements, including the potential for Apicore's revenue and value to increase, and Medicure to secure and advance new products are based on the current assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management of the Company made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors which the Company believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances. Inherent in forward-looking statements are known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors beyond the Company's ability to predict or control that may cause the actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, and as such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include, among others, the Company's future product revenues, stage of development, additional capital requirements, risks associated with the completion and timing of clinical trials and obtaining regulatory approval to market the Company's products, the ability to protect its intellectual property, dependence upon collaborative partners, changes in government regulation or regulatory approval processes, and rapid technological change in the industry. Such statements are based on a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to, assumptions about: general business and economic conditions; the impact of changes in Canadian-US dollar and other foreign exchange rates on the Company's revenues, costs and results; the timing of the receipt of regulatory and governmental approvals for the Company's research and development projects; the availability of financing for the Company's commercial operations and/or research and development projects, or the availability of financing on reasonable terms; results of current and future clinical trials; the uncertainties associated with the acceptance and demand for new products and market competition. The foregoing list of important factors and assumptions is not exhaustive. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements or the foregoing list of factors, other than as may be required by applicable legislation. Additional discussion regarding the risks and uncertainties relating to the Company and its business can be found in the Company's other filings with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities or the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and in the "Risk Factors" section of its Form 20F for the year ended December 31, 2015. AGGRASTAT (tirofiban hydrochloride) is a registered trademark of Medicure International, Inc SOURCE Medicure Inc. Related Links http://www.medicure.com/ NEW YORK, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MetTel, a fast-growing communications solution provider for businesses, has recruited channel veteran Bryan Hagedon to expand the company's business partner channel in the US West region. Hagedon will be based in Southern California where he will focus on building new relationships with Master Agents, Managed Service Providers, and Value Added Resellers to extend MetTel's advanced solutions footprint. Prior to MetTel, Hagedon held channel-facing leadership roles including Head of Enterprise Mobility for Ingram Micro, Vice President of Sales for Leap Wireless, and business development for Clearwire. Hagedon has been a vanguard of the rapid industry shift to connected end points spurred by open software platforms and affordable devices and has provided channel consulting and operational leadership for five early-stage technology startups. "Bryan expands our high-touch presence to the West Coast," said Dave Mitchell, vice president of Channel Sales for MetTel. "Through Bryan and our team behind him, agents should expect to take advantage of the resources our operational and sales support structure bring to bear on their behalf. We enable partners to focus on new revenue generation opportunities while MetTel takes on much of the heavy lifting in both the Sales and Support roles." With a focus on driving sales for MetTel's agents, Hagedon will actively leverage his mobility experience to support Partner deals. "I'm thrilled to join MetTel during a period of accelerating growth," said Hagedon. "The company has deep roots as a member of the channel and is providing proven solution bundles in mobility, Internet of Things, healthcare, and cloud services among other categories." MetTel's success is attributable to its aggregated network that encompasses all major carriers and grants customers the broadest range of coverage and technology through a single point of contact. With an extensive portfolio ranging from traditional voice to advanced communications, cloud, mobility, IoT and managed IT services, MetTel delivers through its customer portal the flexibility and transparency needed to support businesses on their own terms. MetTel will be at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, which takes place at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas from April 10-13. To meet with MetTel at the event and discuss their channel partner strategy as well as how growth technologies such as SD-WAN, cloud computing, IoT and business mobility are providing value for partners, please use any of the contact details listed below to schedule a meeting. About MetTel MetTel is a leading global provider of integrated digital communications solutions for enterprise customers. By converging all communications over a proprietary network, MetTel enables enterprise companies to easily deploy and manage technology-driven voice, data, wireless and cloud solutions worldwide. MetTel's comprehensive portfolio of customer solutions boosts enterprise productivity, reduces costs and simplifies operations. Combining customized and managed communication solutions with a powerful platform of cloud-based software, the company's MetTel Portal enables customers to manage their inventory, usage, spend and repairs from one simple, user-friendly interface. For more information visit www.mettel.net, follow us on Twitter (@OneMetTel) and on LinkedIn, or call us directly at 877.963.8663. SOURCE MetTel Related Links http://www.mettel.net NEW YORK, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE: GHL), a leading independent investment bank, announced today that Michael Nessim has agreed to join the Firm as a Managing Director, based in Toronto. He will focus primarily on the mining and power and utility industries, and will also have responsibilities for clients in other sectors. Mr. Nessim has 15 years of investment banking experience in Canada. He will be joining Greenhill from Goldman Sachs where he led the Canadian investment banking effort for clients in the mining and power and utility sectors, and managed relationships with clients in a diverse range of industries. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs in 2011, he worked at CIBC World Markets where he was an Executive Director in the Office of the CEO and a Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions group. Scott L. Bok, Chief Executive Officer of Greenhill, said, "We are delighted to have Michael Nessim join our Firm. Michael is a very talented and accomplished banker who will enhance our Canadian business and further expand our presence in the mining and power and utility industries. Michael is our third senior level addition in Canada in the past nine months, and we are very excited about Greenhill's prospects in the Canadian market." Steve Mayer, President of Greenhill Canada, said, "Michael and I worked together for five years at Goldman Sachs, and I am very pleased to have him join our team. Canadian clients appreciate Greenhill's exclusive focus on M&A, our global platform and deep industry expertise. With Michael's arrival, we will be able to develop meaningful relationships with an expanded number of Canadian companies." Greenhill & Co., Inc. is a leading independent investment bank entirely focused on providing financial advice on significant mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, financings and capital raising to corporations, partnerships, institutions and governments globally. It acts for clients located throughout the world from its offices in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Melbourne, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto. Contact: David M. Trone Director of Investor Relations Greenhill & Co., Inc. (212) 389-1800 SOURCE Greenhill & Co., Inc. "The patient experience begins long before a patient arrives at a physician's office," said Deborah Vancleave, Vice President of Revenue Cycle at Mosaic Life Care. "The state-of-the-art technology from AccuReg will help us to transform that experience by creating a single, streamlined registration process that is faster for patients, easier for clinicians and more efficient for the hospital." "We are extremely pleased to help support the vision and the goals of Mosaic Life Care," said Paul Shorrosh, founder and CEO of AccuReg. "Mosaic has earned a well-deserved reputation as a leader for its high standards of quality of care. AccuReg will help support Mosaic's mission by improving patient satisfaction, decreasing payer denials and bad debt, and assisting patients by accepting payments at the point of service." Mosaic has chosen to implement AccuReg's entire solution suite, including Quality Assurance, Eligibility Verification, Authorization Manager, Medical Necessity, Advance Beneficiary Notice, Payment Estimation, POS Collections, Payment Processing and a Payment Portal. In addition, AccuReg's Integrated Intelligence will help Mosaic identify problem accounts prior to becoming a denial and automatically provide hospital staff with the scripting and workflow to address the issues in real time. The Front-End RCM Transformation Project is expected to be complete in June of 2017. About Mosaic Life Care Mosaic Life Care is a physician-led organization delivering a new kind of health care. To help patients become the healthiest version of themselves, Mosaic Life Care is dedicated to not only treating people when they are sick, but also keeping them healthy. Mosaic Life Care is a past recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and was the first in Missouri to belong to the Mayo Clinic Care Network. In 2017, Mosaic Life Care was named one of the 100 Top Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics and earned the highest rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in its 2016 Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating. About AccuReg AccuReg has been delivering revenue cycle and patient access innovation to the healthcare industry for more than a decade. Known throughout the healthcare industry as the company that built the top-ranked QA engine AccuReg's technology solutions for the Patient Access Experience, Denials Prevention, POS Collections and Financial Assistance Screening now include Integrated Intelligence. A state-of-the-art dynamic rules engine and predictive analytics wrap around the entire registration process to identify errors in real time and constantly recalibrates itself to address changing payer rules. For more information, visit www.AccuRegSoftware.com or call 866-872-7498. SOURCE AccuReg Related Links http://www.accuregsoftware.com EL SEGUNDO, Calif., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- NC4, the leading supplier of cyber threat sharing solutions, announced today the general availability of CTX/Soltra Edge 2.10. The CTX/Soltra Edge solutions enable two-way sharing capabilities with DHS AIS in support of our nation's stance around cyber information sharing, and the new release introduces multiple licensing options that will further improve the cyber defense of communities and companies who share threat intelligence. CTX/Soltra Edge 2.10 brings all the powerful capabilities that have come to make Soltra Edge the most widely used Cyber Threat Communications Platform for two-way sharing of cybersecurity information. Users will be delighted with the new capabilities in this release, including support for the FedGov feed to enable US Government threat sharing, password hashing that aligns to current best practices, an enhanced upgrade experience for release 2.10 and all future releases, and backup and restore scripts to better manage data. These new features in combination with all the existing capabilities, truly make the CTX/Soltra Edge solution the next generation Cyber Threat Communications Platform in cyber defense. Recognizing that one-size does not fit all, CTX/Soltra Edge has a number of different licensing options CTX/Soltra Edge Enterprise is for organizations who operate multiple SOCs and/or that have a need to aggregate data across multiple sub-organizations, suppliers, partners, etc. Its flexibility enables it to also be scaled for ISAOs, ISACs, and CERTS that have a need for segregation of separation of duties in order to comply with major compliance initiatives such as NIST 800-53, ISP 27001/2, etc. The Enterprise version includes multiple instances of CTX/Soltra Edge as well as additional options available a la carte. is for organizations who operate multiple SOCs and/or that have a need to aggregate data across multiple sub-organizations, suppliers, partners, etc. Its flexibility enables it to also be scaled for ISAOs, ISACs, and CERTS that have a need for segregation of separation of duties in order to comply with major compliance initiatives such as NIST 800-53, ISP 27001/2, etc. The Enterprise version includes multiple instances of CTX/Soltra Edge as well as additional options available a la carte. CTX/Soltra Edge Standard is for small security teams or an individual with a need for Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI)-driven cyber defenses. The Standard version enables users to send and receive threat intelligence from any number of sources. is for small security teams or an individual with a need for Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI)-driven cyber defenses. The Standard version enables users to send and receive threat intelligence from any number of sources. CTX/Soltra Edge LE this free version is for receiving information and staying current with threat intelligence. The LE version provides users with the ability to consume incoming threat feeds, including those from Department of Homeland Security Automated Information Sharing (AIS) program. "We are pleased to be launching a new licensing model for our CTX/Soltra Edge solutions that will fit a variety of different customer needs," remarked George Johnson, NC4 Vice President of Cyber Strategy. "These solutions not only provide great benefits for cyber threat intelligence sharing today, but they also provide a solid foundation for our future cyber solutions." CTX/Soltra Edge is available for download and a free 90-day trial. To download the latest version of CTX/Soltra Edge, please visit Soltra.com. NC4 is also offering a new pricing promotion for CTX/Soltra Edge Standard which will discount the price of $15,000/year to $11,000 for the first year if purchased before August 15, 2017. Coming Events FS-ISAC Summit: NC4 will be participating in a General Session at the FS-ISAC Annual Summit from April 30th - May 3rd in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. FIRST: NC4 will be exhibiting at the FIRST Annual Conference being held June 11 -16 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. FIRST aims to foster cooperation and coordination in incident prevention, to stimulate rapid reaction to incidents, and to promote information sharing among members and the community at large. About NC4 NC4 delivers safety and security solutions for both business and government organizations. We revolutionize how organizations and communities collect, manage, share and disseminate information to reduce cyber threats, fight crime, mitigate risks, and manage incidents. NC4 also provides cyber threat sharing solutions both through secure collaboration services and recently (via Soltra Edge), through automated, structured, and standardized (STIX/TAXII) mechanisms. NC4 solutions are used by private sector companies involved in financial services, high-tech, insurance, manufacturing, aerospace and defense, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, as well as other industries. In the public sector, NC4 solutions are used by federal, state and local agencies in homeland security, emergency management and law enforcement disciplines. NC4 takes a comprehensive and integrated approach to safety and security by providing: cyber threat exchanges that drive the development of a sharing culture and circles of trust; global security and travel intelligence, analysis, traveler tracking, and relevant real time threat alerting to mitigate enterprise risks and a common operating picture for fighting crime and managing emergencies. For information about NC4, visit www.NC4.com or call toll free, 1-877-624-4999 SOURCE NC4 Related Links http://www.nc4.com VANCOUVER, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Nevsun Resources Ltd. (TSX: NSU) (NYSE MKT: NSU) ("Nevsun" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the updated mineral resource estimates effective December 31, 2016, for the Bisha, Harena and Asheli deposits in Eritrea. These updated resources form the first part of the annual year end mineral resource and mineral reserve statement for 2016. The updated mineral reserve estimate, currently in-progress, should be released in late May or early June 2017. Highlights Increased Harena Inferred resources by nearly 130% to 25 million tonnes grading 0.93% copper, 4.76% zinc, 0.8 g/t gold and 31 g/t silver Harena remains open with further drilling ongoing in 2017 Maiden Inferred resource for Asheli totalling 2.4 million tonnes grading 1.86% copper, 8.59% zinc, 0.4 g/t gold, and 30 g/t silver Additional targets immediately along strike of Asheli presently being evaluated Increased Bisha district Inferred resources by over 100% to 31 million tonnes containing 667 million pounds copper, 3.3 billion pounds zinc, 780 thousand ounces gold, and 30 million ounces silver Measured and Indicated resources of 38 million tonnes containing 869 million pounds copper, 3.5 billion pounds zinc, 710 thousand ounces gold and 41 million ounces silver Cliff Davis, Nevsun CEO, commented, "Our 2016 regional exploration program built on 2015 successes adding over 1.1 billion copper equivalent pounds of inferred resources. Harena, in particular, continues to increase in size and has growing underground mining potential to extend the mine life at Bisha. Our exploration drilling was also successful in defining a new massive sulphide resource at Asheli, further highlighting the prospectivity of the Bisha District to host additional resources." Mr. Davis went on to say, "Nevsun, alongside our Eritrean partner, ENAMCO, continues to invest in regional exploration at Bisha with the ongoing objective to significantly increase the mine life of our operation." Tables 1.1 to 1.7 containing the complete mineral resource estimates for each deposit are appended at the end of this release. Copper equivalent is calculated by dividing contained zinc by 2.5 and adding to contained copper. For the Timok project in Serbia, resources are the same as previously disclosed in the 2016 Preliminary Economic Assessment and will be updated when the Upper Zone project pre-feasibility study is published in September 2017. Harena In 2016, 6,080 metres of new drilling was completed at Harena continuing to extend the deposit to depth where it remains open. The inferred resource at Harena grew to over 25 million tonnes from 11 million tonnes the year earlier, for an additional 162 million pounds of copper, 1,668 million pounds of zinc, 280 thousand ounces of gold and 10.2 million ounces of silver. New metallurgical testing found the expected recovery for zinc to be 85%, an improvement on the previous recoveries of 72% after testing with a more representative set of material. Drilling continues at Harena in an effort to expand the deposit to depth. Asheli Asheli was discovered in June 2015 by Bisha as part of the Regional Exploration Program. In 2016, 12,918 metres of drilling was completed in 28 holes resulting in the definition of a new inferred resource of 2.4 million tonnes containing 98 million pounds of copper and 455 million pounds of zinc. Importantly, Asheli's average grade of 1.9% copper and 8.6% zinc is higher than either Harena or Bisha's primary sulphide grade. Drilling continues in the Asheli area following up on encouraging mineralization recently discovered 200 metres north of the main deposit. Bisha At Bisha, 11,770 metres of drilling in 21 holes was completed in 2016 testing the deposit below the proposed ultimate pit. This work has determined the down dip extent of the deposit. Considerable additional diamond drill core and reverse circulation drilling for production and metallurgical test work was also completed which has improved our understanding of the zonation, composition and recovery of the various ore types. Measured and Indicated resources including stockpiles at Bisha now stand at 23.4 million tonnes containing 529 million pounds of copper, 2,836 million pounds of zinc, 560 thousand ounces of gold and 34 million ounces of silver, a small decrease mostly due to mining depletion. Qualified Persons Statement All mineral resource estimates in this report have been prepared by the Qualified Persons described below in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum's Classification System (CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves 2010). The information in this press release that relates to mineral resources was prepared by Phil Jankowski, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Jankowski has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this press release for his relevant sections. Peter Manojlovic, P.Geo., and Frazer Bourchier, P.Eng., are Nevsun's designated Qualified Persons and have reviewed and approved the contents of this press release. A Quality Assurance/Quality Control program was part of the sampling program for the Bisha work. Certified reference material (standards), duplicates and blank samples are systematically inserted into the flow of drill samples and results analyzed on a batch by batch basis. This program includes a chain of custody whereby diamond drill core samples are initially crushed and sub-sampled at the Bisha Mine sample preparation facility and pulverized and analyzed by Genalysis in Perth, Australia. Multi-element analysis is completed using ICP-AES methods; gold is analyzed by fire assay with AAS finish. Reverse circulation drill samples are processed at the Bisha Mine on-site laboratory, which is a member of the SGS group. Multi-element analysis is completed using ICP-OES methods with gold also analyzed by fire assay. Cautionary Notes to Investors - Resource Estimates In accordance with applicable Canadian securities regulatory requirements, all mineral resource estimates of the Company disclosed or incorporated by reference in this news release have been prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, classified in accordance with Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum's "CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves Definitions and Guidelines" (the "CIM Guidelines"). The definitions of mineral reserves and mineral resources are set out in our disclosure of our mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates in our Annual Information Form. The Company uses the terms "mineral resources", "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources". While those terms are recognized by Canadian securities regulatory authorities, they are not recognized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and the SEC does not permit U.S. companies to disclose resources in their filings with the SEC. Pursuant to the CIM Guidelines, mineral resources have a higher degree of uncertainty than mineral reserves as to their existence as well as their economic and legal feasibility. Inferred mineral resources, when compared with measured or indicated mineral resources, have the least certainty as to their existence, and it cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will be upgraded to an indicated or measured mineral resource as a result of continued exploration. Pursuant to NI 43-101, inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of any economic analysis, including any feasibility study. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of a mineral resource exists, will ever be converted into a mineral reserve, or is or will ever be economically or legally mineable or recovered. About Nevsun Resources Ltd. Nevsun Resources Ltd. is the 100% owner of the high-grade copper-gold Timok Upper Zone in Serbia and 60% owner of the high-grade copper-zinc Bisha Mine in Eritrea. Nevsun is well positioned with a strong debt-free balance sheet to grow shareholder value through advancing the Timok project to production. Forward Looking Statements The above contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "hopes", "intends", "estimated", "potential", "possible" and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions or results "will", "may", "could" or "should" occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are statements concerning the Company's current beliefs, plans and expectations about the future, including but not limited to statements and information made concerning: statements relating to the business, prospects and future activities of, and developments related to the Company, anticipated dividends, goals, strategies, future growth, planned future acquisitions and explorations activities, the adequacy of financial resources and other events or conditions that may occur in the future, and are inherently uncertain. The actual achievements of the Company or other future events or conditions may differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, without limitation, the risks that: (i) any of the assumptions in the historical resource estimates turn out to be incorrect, incomplete, or flawed in any respect; (ii) the methodologies and models used to prepare the resource and reserve estimates either underestimate or overestimate the resources or reserves due to hidden or unknown conditions, (iii) exploration activities or the mine operations are disrupted or suspended due to acts of god, internal conflicts in the country of Eritrea or Serbia, unforeseen government actions or other events; (iv) the Company experiences the loss of key personnel; (v) the Company's operations or exploration activities are adversely affected by other political or military, or terrorist activities; (vi) the Company becomes involved in any material disputes with any of its key business partners, suppliers or customers; (vii) the Company is subjected to any hostile takeover or other unsolicited attempts to acquire control of the Company; (viii) the Company is subject to any adverse ruling in any of the pending litigation to which it is a party; (ix) the timing and success of improving the quality of the copper circuit product by resolving the metallurgical challenges from the variable ore materials being processed to produce concentrate from the copper circuit; * the effect on resource or reserve estimates due to the possible inability to resolve the metallurgical challenges on the variable ore materials being processed on a timely basis or at all; and other risks are more fully described in the Company's Annual Information Form for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, which are incorporated herein by reference. The Company's forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made and the Company assumes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements in the future, except as required by law. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. Further information concerning risks and uncertainties associated with these forward-looking statements and our business can be found in our Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2016, which is available on the Company's website (www.nevsun.com), filed under our profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on EDGAR (www.sec.gov) under cover of Form 40-F. NEVSUN RESOURCES LTD. "Cliff T. Davis" Cliff T. Davis President & Chief Executive Officer NSU 17-06.doc Mineral Resources The below reported Mineral Resources for Bisha and Harena are inclusive of Mineral Reserves which will be reported later. Table 1.1: Consolidated Bisha, Harena, Northwest, Hambok and Asheli Mineral Resource as at 31 December 2016. (Phil Jankowski, MAusIMM (CP), (BMSC)) Measured Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Oxide 10 40 8.4 10 1 Supergene 30 2.97 30 0.6 2,000 30 1 Boundary 10 5.57 1.24 54 0.6 1,000 <1000 20 <1 Primary 1,250 1.02 6.62 42 0.8 28,000 183,000 1,690 31 Total Measured 1,300 31,000 183,000 1,740 33 Indicated Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Supergene 1,130 1.45 10 0.3 36,000 360 11 Boundary 60 1.34 1.85 24 0.5 2,000 2,000 40 1 Primary 32,480 1.00 4.24 33 0.5 715,000 3,038,000 34,240 547 Total Indicated 33,660 753,000 3,040,000 34,650 559 Total Measured and Indicated (including stockpiles) 37,800 869,000 3,451,000 41,250 710 Inferred Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Oxide 650 19 2.9 390 59 Supergene 880 1.19 4 0.4 23,000 100 12 Primary 28,900 0.99 5.21 31 0.8 634,000 3,318,000 28,870 700 Total Inferred 30,430 657,000 3,318,000 29,370 770 Total Inferred (including stockpiles) 30,940 667,000 3,318,000 29,900 780 Notes to be read in conjunction with the Resource table above: (1) Tonnage is rounded to the nearest 10,000 tonnes and grades are rounded to two decimal places for copper and zinc, one decimal place for gold, and zero decimal places for silver. Contained metal for copper and zinc are rounded to the nearest million pounds. Contained metal for silver is rounded to the nearest 10,000 ounces and gold is rounded to the nearest 1,000 ounces. (2) Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade and contained metal content. (3) Consolidated Resource Table includes all surface stockpiles (4) Tonnage and grade measurements are in metrics units. Contained gold and silver ounces are reported as troy ounces, contained copper and zinc as avoirdupois pounds. (5) Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Table 1.2: Stockpile Mineral Resource as at 31 December 2016 (Phil Jankowski, MAusIMM (CP), (BMSC)) Measured (Stockpiles) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Oxide 320 172 5.1 1,750 51 Supergene 40 2.33 38 0.7 2,000 40 1 Boundary 2,290 1.56 4.13 39 0.8 79,000 208,000 2,830 61 Primary 200 0.74 4.5 36 0.7 3,000 20,000 230 5 Total Measured 2,840 84,000 228,000 4,850 118 Inferred (Stockpiles) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Oxide-Au 210 70 1.2 480 8 Oxide-Cu 300 1.45 6 0.2 10,000 60 2 Total Inferred 510 10,000 540 10 Notes to be read in conjunction with the Resource table above: (1) Measured Oxide comprises Bisha LTS (Long Term Stockpile) and Harena MOP stockpiles. (2) Measured Supergene comprises Bisha LTS stockpiles. (3) Measured Boundary comprises Bisha ROM, River Bed and LTS Boundary Ore that has been stockpiled during the mining of the Primary ore; processing of Boundary to date has produced a Bulk Cu-Zn Concentrate using a 10% blend of Boundary Ore with primary ore from the Bisha mine to the process plant. (4) Measured Primary comprises Bisha ROM and Crushed Ore stockpiles. (5) Inferred Oxide comprises River Bed Pyrite Sand, North Dump and Bisha LTS Hangingwall Copper Ore; further metallurgical studies are required to finalize a metallurgical treatment flowsheet for this material. (6) Stockpiles are estimated by multiplying their surveyed volumes with a loose density derived by factoring their measured insitu density by an appropriate swell factor. Grades are taken from their insitu grade as estimated by close spaced grade control drilling. Tonnage is rounded to the nearest 10,000 tonnes and grades are rounded to two decimal places for copper and zinc, one decimal place for gold, and zero decimal places for silver. Contained metal for copper and zinc are rounded to the nearest million pounds. Contained metal for silver is rounded to the nearest 10,000 ounces and gold is rounded to the nearest 1,000 ounces. (7) Rounding may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade and contained metal content. (8) Tonnage and grade measurements are in metrics units. Contained gold and silver ounces are reported as troy ounces, contained copper and zinc pounds as imperial pounds. Table 1.3: Bisha Mineral Resource as at 31 December 2016. (Phil Jankowski, MAusIMM (CP), (BMSC)) Measured (Open Pit) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Oxide 10 40 8.4 10 1 Supergene 30 2.97 30 0.6 2,000 30 1 Boundary 10 5.57 1.24 54 0.6 1,000 <1000 20 <1 Primary 1,250 1.02 6.62 42 0.8 28,000 183,000 1,690 31 Total OP Measured 1,300 31,000 183,000 1,740 33 Indicated (Open Pit) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Supergene 110 1.33 10 0.4 3,000 40 1 Boundary 60 1.34 1.85 24 0.5 2,000 2,000 40 1 Primary 19,140 0.97 5.74 45 0.7 409,000 2,422,000 27,410 412 Total OP Indicated 19,310 414,000 2,424,000 27,490 414 Total OP Measured and Indicated 20,600 446,000 2,608,000 29,230 448 Inferred (Open Pit) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Oxide 10 25 1.6 10 <1 Supergene 780 1.23 1 0.1 21,000 30 2 Total OP Inferred 790 21,000 <1000 40 2 Inferred (Underground) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Primary 1,460 0.73 7.44 43 0.9 24,000 240,000 2,020 42 Total UG Inferred 1,460 0.73 7.44 43 0.9 24,000 240,000 2,020 42 Total Inferred 2,250 45,000 240,000 2,060 44 Notes to be read in conjunction with the Resource table above: (1) Mineral Resources are defined within an optimal Lerch-Grossman (LG) Pit Shell, generated using metal prices for copper, zinc, gold and silver of $3.00lb, $1.20/lb, $1,265/oz and $21/oz respectively using blocks of all Resource categories. The mining cost and total ore based cost (process, G&A and stockpile rehandle) applied was approximately 10-15% below the long term view on costs. Overall pit slopes varied from 38 to 44. NSR cut-off ($US/t) used were: $37.50 for Oxide Phase, $37.00 for Supergene and $35.00 for Primary Phase. (2) Tonnage is rounded to the nearest 10,000 tonnes and grades are rounded to two decimal places for copper and zinc, one decimal place for gold, and zero decimal places for silver. Contained metal for copper and zinc are rounded to the nearest million pounds. Contained metal for silver is rounded to the nearest 10,000 ounces and gold is rounded to the nearest 1,000 ounces. (3) Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade and contained metal content. (4) Tonnage and grade measurements are in metrics units. Contained gold and silver ounces are reported as troy ounces, contained copper and zinc as avoirdupois pounds. (5) The Underground resource was derived by defining a shape around contiguous blocks with an NSR > $100/t outside the optimized resource pit shell. The $100 NSR cutoff represents the processing cost plus approximately $60/t mining cost. (6) Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Table 1.4: Harena Mineral Resource as at 31 December 2016. (Phil Jankowski, MAusIMM (CP), (BMSC)) Indicated (Open Pit) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Primary 3,950 0.87 3.16 28 0.6 76,000 274,000 3,520 74 Total OP Indicated 3,950 76,000 274,000 3,520 74 Inferred (Open Pit) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Oxide 120 20 2.0 70 8 Primary 1,920 0.87 2.49 40 1.0 37,000 105,000 2,450 63 Total OP Inferred 2,040 37,000 105,000 2,530 71 Inferred (Underground) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Total UG Inferred 23,020 0.93 4.96 30 0.8 473,000 2,515,000 22,050 558 Total Inferred 25,060 510,000 2,620,000 24,580 628 Notes to be read in conjunction with the Resource table above: (1) Mineral Resources are defined within an optimal Lerchs-Grossman (LG) pit shell, generated using metal prices for copper, zinc, gold and silver of $3.00/lb, $1.20/lb, $1,265/oz and $21/oz respectively using blocks of all Resource categories. The mining cost and total ore based cost (process, G&A and stockpile rehandle) applied was approximately 10% below the long term view on costs with appropriate ore haulage costs for each satellite deposit. Overall pit slopes varied from 29 deg to 35.5 deg. NSR cut-offs ($US/t) used were $40.00 for Oxide and $41.00 for Primary. (2) Net Smelter Return values were calculated for each block using all resource categories, metal prices, recoveries, appropriate smelter terms and downstream costs. Metallurgical recoveries, supported by metallurgical test work, were applied as follows: Oxide zone: a recovery of 75% and 22% were applied for gold and silver respectively; and Primary zone; recoveries to copper concentrate of 85%, 36% and 29% were applied for copper, gold and silver respectively. A zinc recovery to zinc concentrate of 85% was applied. (3) Mineral Resources are reported within the pit shell generated using the specified commodity prices, using NSR block grade cut-off derived as above. Tonnage is rounded to the nearest 10,000 tonnes and grades are rounded to two decimal places for copper and zinc, one decimal place for gold, and zero decimal places for silver. Contained metal for copper and zinc are rounded to the nearest million pounds. Contained metal for silver is rounded to the nearest 10,000 ounces and gold is rounded to the nearest 1,000 ounces. (4) Rounding may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade and contained metal content. (5) Tonnage and grade measurements are in metrics units. Contained gold and silver ounces are reported as troy ounces, contained copper and zinc pounds as imperial pounds. (6) Underground Inferred Resources were derived by selecting contiguous blocks outside the optimized resource pit shell, with an NSR cutoff of $100, which represents the processing cost plus approximately $60/t mining cost. (7) Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Table 1.5: Northwest Mineral Resource as at 31 December 2016. (Phil Jankowski, MAusIMM (CP), (BMSC)) Indicated (Open Pit) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Oxide Supergene 1,020 1.47 10 0.2 33,150 330 10 Primary 2,530 1.04 1.08 13 0.3 58,020 60,250 1,050 20 Total Indicated 3,550 91,170 60,250 1,380 30 Inferred (Open Pit) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Oxide 500 18 3.7 300 50 Supergene 100 0.8 19 3.7 2,000 70 10 Primary 100 0.9 0.9 15 2.9 2,400 2,400 60 10 Total Inferred 700 4,400 2,400 430 70 Notes to be read in conjunction with the Resource tables for Northwest above: (1) No change has occurred Northwest since 2014 which used metal prices for copper, zinc, gold and silver of $3.35/lb, $1.05/lb, $1,350/oz and $23/oz, respectively. Mineral Resources are defined within an optimal Lerchs-Grossman (LG) Pit Shell. The mining cost and total ore based cost (process, G&A and stockpile rehandle) applied was approximately 10% below the long term view on costs with appropriate ore haulage costs for each satellite deposit. Overall pit slopes varied from 39 to 45 for Northwest . NSR cut-off ($US/t) used were: $40.70 for Oxide Phase, $39.70 for Supergene and Primary Phase. (2) Net Smelter Return values were calculated for each block using all resource categories, metal prices, recoveries, appropriate smelter terms and downstream costs. Metallurgical recoveries, supported by metallurgical test work, were applied as follows: a. Oxide Phase; recoveries of 88% and 22% were applied to gold and silver respectively. b. Supergene Phase; recoveries of 87%, 46% and 50% were applied for copper, gold and silver respectively. Zinc has not been assigned a recovery as the values are isolated on the fringes of the deposit. c. Primary Phase; recoveries to copper concentrate of 87%, 36% and 29% were applied for copper, gold and silver respectively. Recoveries to zinc concentrate of 81%, 36% and 29% were applied for zinc, gold and silver respectively. (3) Mineral Resources are reported within the pit shell generated using the specified commodity prices, using NSR block grade cut-off derived as above. Tonnage is rounded to the nearest 10,000 tonnes and grades are rounded to two decimal places for copper and zinc, one decimal place for gold and zero decimal places for silver. Tonnages and grades for the Inferred category are further rounded reflecting the uncertainty that attaches to this category. Contained metal for copper and zinc are rounded to the nearest ten thousand pounds. (4) Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade and contained metal content. (5) Tonnage and grade measurements are in metrics units. Contained gold and silver ounces are reported as troy ounces, contained copper and zinc pounds as imperial pounds. Table 1.6: Hambok Mineral Resource as at 31 December 2016. (Phil Jankowski, MAusIMM (CP), (BMSC)) Indicated (Open Pit) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Oxide Primary 6,860 1.14 1.86 10 0.2 172,370 281,240 2,260 40 Total Indicated 6,860 172,370 281,240 2,260 40 Inferred (Open Pit) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Oxide 20 17 1.5 10 1 Primary 2 0.9 0.2 8 0.2 30 10 0 0 Total Inferred 22 30 10 10 1 Notes to be read in conjunction with the Resource tables for Hambok above: (1) No change has occurred to Hambok since 2014 which used metal prices for copper, zinc, gold and silver of $3.35/lb, $1.05/lb, $1,350/oz and $23/oz, respectively. Mineral Resources are defined within an optimal Lerchs-Grossman (LG) Pit Shell. The mining cost and total ore based cost (process, G&A and stockpile rehandle) applied was approximately 10% below the long term view on costs with appropriate ore haulage costs for each satellite deposit. Overall pit slopes was 40 overall for Hambok (preliminary assessment). NSR cut-off ($US/t) used were: $44.45 for Oxide Phase and $43.45 for Primary Phase. (2) Net Smelter Return values were calculated for each block using all resource categories, metal prices, recoveries, appropriate smelter terms and downstream costs. Metallurgical recoveries, supported by metallurgical test work, were applied as follows: a. Oxide Phase; recoveries of 88% and 22% were applied to gold and silver respectively. b. Primary Phase; recoveries to copper concentrate of 88%, 87%, 36% and 29% were applied for copper, zinc, gold and silver respectively. Preliminary metallurgical characterization studies, but not full testing, have been completed for Hambok. (3) Mineral Resources are reported within the pit shell generated using the specified commodity prices, using NSR block grade cut-off derived as above. Tonnage is rounded to the nearest 10,000 tonnes and grades are rounded to two decimal places for copper and zinc, one decimal place for gold and zero decimal places for silver. Contained metal for copper and zinc are rounded to the nearest ten thousand pounds. (4) Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade and contained metal content. (5) Tonnage and grade measurements are in metrics units. Contained gold and silver ounces are reported as troy ounces, contained copper and zinc pounds as imperial pounds. Table 1.7: Asheli Mineral Resource as at 31 December 2016. (Phil Jankowski, MAusIMM (CP), (BMSC)) Inferred (Underground) Contained Metal Tonnes Copper Zinc Silver Gold Cu Zn Ag Au Domain (`000s) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ('000 lbs) ('000 lbs) ('000 Oz) ('000 Oz) Primary 2,400 1.86 8.59 30 0.4 98,400 455,000 2,320 31 Total Inferred 2,400 1.86 8.59 30 0.4 98,400 455,000 2,320 31 Notes to be read in conjunction with the Resource table above: (1) Mineral Resources are defined within an interpreted massive sulphide body. No cutoffs have been applied due to the dimensions and continuity of the mineralisation, and the low confidence in the local grade estimate as reflected in the resource classification. (2) Tonnage is rounded to the nearest 10,000 tonnes and grades are rounded to two decimal places for copper and zinc, one decimal place for gold, and zero decimal places for silver. Contained metal for copper and zinc are rounded to the nearest million pounds. Contained metal for silver is rounded to the nearest 10,000 ounces and gold is rounded to the nearest 1,000 ounces. (3) Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade and contained metal content. (4) Tonnage and grade measurements are in metrics units. Contained gold and silver ounces are reported as troy ounces, contained copper and zinc as avoirdupois pounds. (5) An open pit optimisation failed to produce any optimal pit. The resource is being considered as having potential for underground mining. (6) Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. SOURCE Nevsun Resources Ltd. Author, marketing strategist, and entrepreneur Courtney R. Rhodes has channeled her 20+ years of sales and marketing expertise into relatable strategies that will motivate you to harness your most valuable asset -- you! -- and show you how to take your dream from vision to victory. In Make Your Mark, readers will learn: What your personal brand is and why it matters Embracing your authenticity to build your 'on-purpose' brand Effective communication skills for a positive lasting impact How to build and engage your network through social media platforms Designing a personal image that aligns with your brand story "I have always believed that we innately hold the power to change our lives," says Rhodes. "Much of that power lies in understanding our personal brand essentially our authentic selves and how to present our brand to the world. I wrote 'Make Your Mark' because I've witnessed firsthand how just a few smart changes to your communication skills, relationships and overall image can significantly impact your career, goals and, ultimately, your life." Make Your Mark: Personal Branding Through 'On-Purpose' Living is now available on Amazon.com and www.CourtneyRRhodes.com. To book Courtney for interviews or speaking engagements on personal branding, entrepreneurship, women's empowerment or professional development, contact [email protected]. Follow Courtney on Twitter @thebrandista and Instagram at @thebrandista. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Courtney R. Rhodes is a brand building and marketing consultant. She is founder of TheBrandistaGuide.com, an informational blog that shares personal branding, style, career and lifestyle content for women; and CourtneyRRhodes.com her business blog. She's a seasoned media sales and brand marketing professional who has worked for some of the country's largest media companies. She's served as a committee member for Ford Motor Company's Immersion Program, she's been recognized by the Atlantan magazine as one of "Atlanta's Women of Power & Influence," she's a repeat presenter for South Carolina's Victims Advocacy Week, and serves on the National Black Arts Festival- Gala Committee. Courtney was the brand manager of Art Is Love, Love Is an Art, a coffee table book dedicated to the art of Anthony Liggins. The book went on to win the 2014 GDUSA American Graphic Design Award. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications from Morgan State University, a Master of Arts degree in publications design from the University of Baltimore, and she's a graduate of the Small Business Administration's Women Entrepreneurship of Baltimore Program. Brandista Press: Amber Sumrall [email protected] SOURCE Courtney R. Rhodes Related Links http://www.thebrandistaguide.com Jeanine Raquet has joined the organization as Executive Vice President, Insurance Operations and Distribution . Raquet has 32 years of experience as an accomplished leader within all areas of the insurance business including financial services, sales, agency operations, product and distribution functions. She was most recently with Allstate Insurance Company. Thomas White has joined ACG as Senior Vice President, Financial Services Banking and Life Insurance. White previously held senior leadership roles in the US and abroad for Zurich Insurance Group and was CEO of Zurich's Farmers Life managing more than 1,000 employees and $1 billion in revenues. Gene Boehm has joined the organization as Vice President, Strategy and Direct Insurance and Sales Operations. Boehm joins ACG from PriceWaterhouseCoopers where he led teams engaged in customer segmentation and multi-product direct and retail distribution strategy. All three new executives will report directly to Richardson. "These new leaders will help us build on our historic success and support the implementation of member-centric initiatives that will enhance and strengthen the products and benefits we provide," said Richardson. "They bring a wealth of experience that, along with the rest of our senior management team, will ensure we are providing our members with innovative solutions, advocacy and benefits whenever and wherever they need them." Richardson also announced the following promotions as part of the reorganization: Shohreh Abedi was promoted to Executive Vice President Chief Operations Technology Officer and Membership Experience. John Bruno was promoted to Executive Vice President General Counsel, Secretary, and Chief Human Resources Officer. Sean Maloney was promoted to Executive Vice President Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, Finance and Investments. Ro Katrak was promoted to Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations. Ro has recently joined The Auto Club Group from Farmers Insurance Group where he led the company's entry into additional Eastern USA States. Brad Roeber was promoted to Senior Vice President Chief Operating Officer, Meemic Insurance Company and Fremont Insurance Company. Todd Dixon was promoted to Vice President, Auto Club Insurance Company of Florida (ACICF) and Auto Club South Insurance Company (ACSIC) IT and Operations. ACICF and ACSIC are affiliates of ACG. Marcia Hannewald was promoted to Vice President Assistant Corporate Secretary and Corporate Counsel. Michael Tetrick was promoted to Vice President, IT Shared Services. Megan Williams was promoted to Vice President, Human Resources and Talent Management. *photos available upon request About The Auto Club Group The Auto Club Group (ACG) is the second largest AAA club in North America with headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. ACG and its affiliates provide membership, travel, insurance and financial services offerings to more than 9 million members across eleven states and two U.S. territories including Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; most of Illinois and Minnesota; and a portion of Indiana. ACG belongs to the national AAA federation with more than 57 million members in the United States and Canada and whose mission includes protecting and advancing freedom of mobility and improving traffic safety. SOURCE AAA - The Auto Club Group Related Links http://www.aaasouth.com SAN FRANCISCO, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Healthcare Performance Information System (CHPI) has launched a new website, CAqualityratings.org, a free resource for consumers to search ratings on more than 10,000 physicians across California. Each physician received a rating of one to four stars on measures in their area of specialty. "Access to physician information will help equip California consumers with the tools they need to make good health choices and be effective advocates for their own care," said Liz Helms, president and CEO, California Chronic Care Coalition and CHPI board member. "CAqualityratings.org is a first-of-its kind consumer resource that can empower the consumer's ability to talk with their physician and compare how other providers are rated throughout California." Data on more than 10 million patients was analyzed to create the ratings, which measure how well physicians and practice sites provided recommended medical tests and procedures for patients with certain healthcare conditions. Consumers can use the performance ratings to answer questions, such as: Are physicians meeting the highest standards for ensuring their patients are regularly screened for breast cancer? How often do physicians monitor the medications their patients are taking? How often do physicians provide recommended treatments (especially for those with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure)? "These ratings are based on physician-led methodology to help drive further improvements in California's healthcare system," said Parag Agnihotri, MD, medical director, Continuum of Care, Sharp Rees Stealy Medical Group and chair, CHPI Physician Advisory Group. "The goal is to empower patients to have a conversation with their physician to increase communications and build trust improving the overall care experience." CAqualityratings.org is searchable by physician name, medical specialty and location to help consumers to learn more about their current physician, or assist them to find one that is right for them. All rating methodology was developed by a physician-led advisory group and only uses objective, statistically reliable data from health insurance organizations. Data for CAqualityratings.org was provided by Anthem Blue Cross of California, Blue Shield of California, UnitedHealthcare of California, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS has certified CHPI's methods to rate physicians, the process for physicians to review and correct their results, and plans to publish ratings for the public one of only 16 programs nationwide to receive this designation. For more information about third-party data use requests, or if you are a health plan interested in joining the collaborative, visit chpis.org. ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA HEALTHCARE PERFORMANCE INFORMATION SYSTEM The California Healthcare Performance Information System is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, public benefit corporation with operations and methods informed by input from industry experts and stakeholders including healthcare purchasers, consumers, providers, and health plans. This collaborative works to provide trustworthy information to help the public and healthcare purchasers find high-quality, high-value health care. For more information, visit chpis.org. SOURCE California Healthcare Performance Information System Related Links http://chpis.org/ LONDON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Noble Corporation plc (NYSE: NE) today announced that its report of drilling rig status and contract information has been updated as of March 23, 2017. The report, titled "Fleet Status Report," can be found on the Company's Website www.noblecorp.com, under the "Investor Relations" section of the Website. About Noble Corporation plc Noble is a leading offshore drilling contractor for the oil and gas industry. The Company owns and operates one of the most modern, versatile and technically advanced fleets in the offshore drilling industry. Noble performs, through its subsidiaries, contract drilling services with a fleet of 28 offshore drilling units, consisting of 14 drillships and semisubmersibles and 14 jackups, focused largely on ultra-deepwater and high-specification jackup drilling opportunities in both established and emerging regions worldwide. Noble is a public limited company registered in England and Wales with company number 08354954 and registered office at Devonshire House, 1 Mayfair Place, London, W1J 8AJ England. Additional information on Noble is available at www.noblecorp.com. SOURCE Noble Corporation Related Links http://www.noblecorp.com NEW YORK, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Oak Hill Capital Partners ("Oak Hill") announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. ("Checkers" or "the Company") from Sentinel Capital Partners ("Sentinel"). Operating under the Checkers and Rally's banners, the Company is one of the nation's leading operators and franchisors of drive-thru hamburger quick-service restaurants ("QSR"). Consistent with Oak Hill's philosophy of alignment of interests, Oak Hill is investing in partnership with Checkers management. The aggregate value of the transaction is approximately $525 million. Founded in 1986, Checkers has over 840 locations in 29 states and the District of Columbia. Checkers differentiates itself from competitors with its singular focus on delivering high-quality, craveable meals at exceptional values. The Company, together with its outstanding franchisees, offers a distinctive menu focused on bold, innovative products that are delivered to guests with category-leading value. Kevin Mailender, Partner at Oak Hill, said, "Checkers is a unique concept that is outpacing the growing QSR industry. The Company has been able to win share in this large, stable industry through its differentiated value proposition and attractive franchised business model. With a proven brand, a loyal customer following, and strong unit-level economics, we are confident that the business will capitalize on its large whitespace opportunity for new units. We are excited to partner with CEO Rick Silva and his talented management team to support the Company through its next phase of accelerated growth." Rick Silva, President and CEO of Checkers, commented, "We are delivering record growth at Checkers and Rally's, and our franchisees, operators, and employees are more excited than ever about our future. Oak Hill Capital Partners is a perfect partner to help us further accelerate our growth. This is extremely positive for our brand." Tyler Wolfram, Managing Partner at Oak Hill, added, "We believe Checkers is well-positioned to continue its long history of consistent growth. We have tremendous respect for Checkers' heritage, its iconic brand, and its fine leadership team. This transaction is consistent with Oak Hill's longstanding theme-based investment philosophy and systematized approach to value creation, and it builds upon our thirty year history of investing behind leading businesses and management teams." The transaction, which is subject to HSR approval and other customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017. Additional financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Piper Jaffray and North Point Advisors acted as financial advisors to the Company in the transaction. Kirkland & Ellis, LLP is serving as legal counsel to the Company. Jefferies LLC acted as financial advisor to Oak Hill in the transaction. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is serving as legal counsel to Oak Hill. About Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. Based in Tampa, Fla., Checkers & Rally's Restaurants, Inc., an iconic and innovative drive-thru restaurant chain known for its "Crazy Good Food," exceptional value and people-first attitude, operates and franchises both Checkers and Rally's restaurants. With more than 840 restaurants and room to grow, Checkers & Rally's is a proven brand with flexible building formats that is aggressively expanding across the country. In recent years, the brand has been awarded several of the industry's most prestigious awards including: No. 1 Restaurant Franchise in Franchise Business Review's Top 50 Multi-Unit Franchises for 2015, Top 500 by Entrepreneur Magazine, and Best Drive-Thru in America by QSR Magazine. About Oak Hill Capital Partners Oak Hill is a private equity firm managing funds with more than $10.0 billion of initial capital commitments since inception from leading entrepreneurs, endowments, foundations, corporations, pension funds, and global financial institutions. Over the past 30 years, the professionals at Oak Hill and its predecessors have invested in 82 significant private equity transactions across broad segments of the U.S. and global economies. Oak Hill applies an industry-focused, theme-based approach to investing in the following sectors: Consumer, Retail & Distribution; Industrials; Media & Communications; and Services. Oak Hill works actively in partnership with management to implement strategic and operational initiatives to create franchise value. Forward-Looking Statements Statements included herein may constitute "forward-looking statements", which relate to future events, the future performance, or financial condition of Checkers following the acquisition of Checkers by Oak Hill. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, condition, or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results and condition may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors. Oak Hill Capital Partners Media Contact: Kekst & Company Jeremy Fielding / Aduke Thelwell +1 (212) 521-4800 / +1 (212) 521-4837 SOURCE Oak Hill Capital Partners To mark its 20th anniversary, SECCA is hosting several events planned during an exhibit from April 20 to Aug. 27 organized by Whittington and SECCA Installation Manager Cliff Dossel and SECCA curator Cora Fisher. The 20 Years of Art-o-mat Retrospective Exhibit includes a media preview on April 18, opening night reception on April 20 and an Art-o-mat Collector's Swap Meet on June 10. That's where avid collectors can meet up to exchange art pieces, including many unique and rare pieces. Whittington began Art-o-mat in the same town where tobacco was once king. Originally conceived as a pop-up art installation, it now features an international network of more than 300 artists creating original pieces of art for the machines. The machines have been on display at such art institutions as the Smithsonian American Art Museum of Art and the Andy Warhol Museum. Whittington explains, " Part of the allure is the thrill of discovery. The placards describe the contents but you don't discover the art until you hold it in your hand." As an ode to its populist roots, Art-o-mat art blocks are priced at just $5 so the art is accessible to everyone. About SECCA The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, N.C. seeks to enhance perspectives, inspire community and ignite new ideas at the intersection of art and its visitors. SECCA is an affiliate of the North Carolina Museum of Art, a division of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. SECCA receives operational funding from The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. Additional funding is provided by the James G. Hanes Memorial Fund. Media contact: Debbie Foster Fuchs Director of Marketing and Public Relations, SECCA [email protected] 336.725.1904 www.secca.org SOURCE Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art Related Links http://www.secca.org NEW YORK, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. ("Oppenheimer") a unit of Oppenheimer Holdings (NYSE: OPY), recently hosted its 27th Annual Healthcare Conference in New York City on March 21 and 22, 2017. The two-day conference brought together leading public and private companies across major sectors of the healthcare industry, including Cigna Corporation; Amgen, Inc.; Humana, Inc.; Teladoc, Inc.; and Centene Corp. The event provided investors the opportunity to meet with more than 100 company management teams in one-on-one settings and small group meetings. Key panels included an interactive discussion on the issues with healthcare accessibility, cost and convenience; a discussion with noted biologists and biotech innovators on new areas of cancer science that could enter the market this year, and an interactive panel on genomics, gene regulation and gene editing. The conference featured Oppenheimer's Senior Research Analysts who offered guidance on many aspects of the healthcare sector, including the following: Derek Archila , Executive Director and Senior Analyst covering Bio & Specialty Pharmaceuticals , Executive Director and Senior Analyst covering Bio & Specialty Pharmaceuticals Leah Cann , Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering Biotechnology , Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering Biotechnology Steve Lichtman , Managing Director and Senior Analyst for Medical Devices , Managing Director and Senior Analyst for Medical Devices Mohan Naidu , Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering the Healthcare Information Technology (HCIT) sector , Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering the Healthcare Information Technology (HCIT) sector Jay Olson , Executive Director and Senior Analyst covering Biotechnology , Executive Director and Senior Analyst covering Biotechnology Hartaj Singh , Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering Biotechnology , Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering Biotechnology Mike Wiederhorn , Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering Healthcare Providers and Services "This is a very dynamic time in the healthcare sector, from the current debate on the fate of the ACA and drug pricing to the exciting innovations being created in the laboratories. Our conference is especially timely and allows investors to delve into these issues and evaluate their outlook on the stocks for the foreseeable future," said Erica L. Moffett, Managing Director and Associate Director of Research at Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer's next conference will be the 12th Annual Industrial Growth Conference, which will be held May 9-10, 2017 in New York City. The 2017 Emerging Growth Conference will also be held in New York City on May 16, 2017. Both meetings will provide opportunities for investors to meet a cross section of management teams across a number of different business models. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. (Oppenheimer), a principal subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (OPY on the New York Stock Exchange), and its affiliates provide a full range of wealth management, securities brokerage and investment banking services to high-net-worth individuals, families, corporate executives, local governments, businesses and institutions. SOURCE Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. New N320K, N315K and N310K models are the latest additions to Panasonic's line of high-efficiency solar panels designed for residential applications. Aesthetically remodeled to blend in seamlessly with most rooftops. Highest level conversion efficiency among black panels available in the market. Backed by Panasonic's 15 year product warranty. Designed to operate at high-efficiency even in high temperatures. Panasonic Eco Solutions North America today introduced three new photovoltaic module HIT: the N320K, N315K and N310K. These new models are able to produce 320, 315, and 310 watts of power, respectively, and are a continuation of Panasonic's line of high-efficiency residential solar panels. Boasting module efficiency of 19.1% with a sleek all-black appearance, the panels are a perfect fit for most any residential setting. The new black panels are backed by Panasonic's track record as an industry leader in reliability within the renewable energy field. Designed to offer optimal efficiency and stylish aesthetics, the HIT N320K, N315K and N310K photovoltaic modules will blend in seamlessly with most rooftops and begin cutting electricity bills for customers from the moment that they're installed and start to operate. "Panasonic has been innovating and reimagining the amorphous silicon cell since we pioneered the technology over forty years ago," said Dan Silver, President, Panasonic Eco Solutions North America. "This addition to our industry-leading line of solar panels is the latest improvement in our array of renewable energy products. The new black panels combine the engineering expertise and high efficiency Panasonic is known for with an attractive but inconspicuous design that will yield huge savings for consumers." The N320K produces 23% more power for consumers than traditional panels, and feature the highest level of efficiency among other black panels available in the market today. These new all-black solar panels are designed to maintain optimal performance even in high temperatures and vastly increase savings for the consumer. Panasonic's trademark amorphous silicon layers and pyramid cell structure allow for the panel to absorb light at multiple angles so that the panel is maximizing generation at all times of the day. The unique water drainage frame quickly removes water from the panel and prevents the buildup of any serious precipitation. Panasonic's robust manufacturing process also provides installers and consumers additional value through an extended product warranty of 15 years. Panasonic's test criteria are among the highest in the in the industry, ensuring long-term safe operation over many years. For more information about Panasonic solar technology, please visit business.panasonic.com/solarpanels About Panasonic Eco Solutions North America Based in Newark, NJ, Panasonic Eco Solutions North America is a division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation. The company provides a full range of energy-efficient building solutions, assembly tools, construction tools, heating & air conditioning, lighting controls and ventilation products for professional and industrial use. Newark, NJ-based Panasonic Corporation of North America is a leading technology partner and integrator to businesses, government agencies and consumers across the region. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic was featured in Fortune Magazine's 2016 ranking of 50 companies that are changing the world and doing well by doing good. Specifically cited were its smart and sustainable technologies, including its contributions to smart cities and the electric vehicle revolution. Learn more about Panasonic at us.panasonic.com/news. SOURCE Panasonic Eco Solutions North America Related Links http://us.panasonic.com/news NEW YORK, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The following feature package is a roundup of feature stories dealing with Personal Finance, Taxes and is appropriate for special sections and for general use. For each story included in this package, you will find the first paragraph of the feature release below, as well as its headline linked to the full text. This is the latest in a series of topical feature packages PRN will carry as part of its regular Feature News Service. Coming up in 2017 are features on: Package Name Slug Distribution Date Springtime, Easter & Passover Spring March 30 Home & Garden II Home April 6 Consumer Issues & Trends Consumer April 13 Earth Day Earth April 20 Education II, Graduation Education April 27 Personal Finance, Taxes Feature Package 1. Volunteer Awareness Day Income Tax Assistance Helps Americans Claim The Earned Income Credit CHICAGO, March 15, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Center for Economic Progress (CEP) is one of over 12,000 Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs across the country that the Internal Revenue Service relies on to help people file their taxes free of charge every year. March 15, 2017, midway through the tax filing season, marks national VITA Awareness Day. 2. NRMLA Explains Home Equity in Advance of Financial Literacy Month WASHINGTON, March 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For many homeowners, the equity they have built up in their home is their largest financial asset, typically comprising more than half of their net worth. Yet confusion persists about how to measure home equity and the tools available for incorporating it into an overall personal financial management strategy. If you would like a copy of the complete schedule, or if you would care to comment, please email [email protected]. We welcome suggestions. Copies of previous packages are available for the media. Feature packages and feature photos are also available on the PR Newswire Web site, http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/feature-news-latest-news. Photos that accompany releases are available via the PRN Multimedia Desk, 800-317-7677, or via the PR Newswire Photo Archive. Select photos are available via AP PhotoExpress and AP Images. SOURCE PR Newswire Association LLC Related Links http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/feature-news-latest-news NEW YORK, March 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area. You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network it's easy and free! Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform EXPERT ALERTS Trump's Revised Travel Ban Under Scrutiny by U.S. Federal Courts Impact of New 'Sesame Street' Character With Autism MEDIA JOBS Product Liability Reporter - Reuters Deputy Editor - AccountingWEB Senior Communication Strategist Southern Poverty Law Center OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES Media Pushing Back on White House Press Ban Freelancers: How to Avoid Costly Mistakes at Tax Time Blog Profiles: Plant Blogs ------------------------------------------------------------------- EXPERT ALERTS: Trump's Revised Travel Ban Under Scrutiny by U.S. Federal Courts James Goodnow Political & Legal Commentator Fennemore Craig With Trump's revised travel ban under scrutiny by U.S. Federal courts, Goodnow is available to provide expert legal and political commentary: "After the DOJ's first loss, Trump tweeted in all caps, "SEE YOU IN COURT" -- suggesting to most that an appeal was likely. Although that initially didn't happen because the DOJ abandoned the first appellate case, it looks like Trump's tweet may end up being right after all." Goodnow has produced in-depth analysis on the revised travel ban that can be accessed here: https://lambergoodnow.com/hub/trumps-immigration-whats-next/ ProfNet Profile: http://www.profnetconnect.com/james.goodnow Bio: https://lambergoodnow.com/legalcommentator/ Contact: Terence J. Murnin, [email protected] Impact of New 'Sesame Street' Character With Autism Robin LaBarbera Director of Special Education Biola University Dr. LaBarbera is available to discuss the new "Sesame Street" character Julia, a Muppet with autism, and the impact this will have on how children view others they meet who may be "different": "I think that anything we can do to bring awareness to autism is a win-win. Children can sometimes be afraid of what is 'different,' and showing them, in relevant ways, that different is 'okay' and nothing to be afraid of will bring awareness and sensitivity. I might question whether the characteristics of autism are portrayed in a realistic manner through the puppet, but I read that the puppeteer has a son with autism, so I have confidence that the character will be portrayed appropriately." Dr. LaBarbera, professor and director of special education at Biola University in Los Angeles, is an expert on autism spectrum disorder. She has conducted numerous local and international presentations (most recently, two trips to Lebanon and two to Vietnam), has published articles related to the education of students with learning difficulties, and co-authored curriculum for English Language Development in Latin American countries. Dr. LaBarbera has two Bachelor's degrees in Business Administration/Marketing and Criminal Justice, two Master's degrees in Education and Special Education/Autism, and a Ph.D. in Educational Studies. Her dissertation focused on psychological variables that affect the college completion rate for individuals with learning disabilities. She is currently earning her School Psychology (PPS) credential as well. Website: www.biola.edu Contact: Jenna Loumagne, [email protected] **************** MEDIA JOBS: Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/ Product Liability Reporter - Reuters Deputy Editor - AccountingWEB Senior Communication Strategist Southern Poverty Law Center ***************** OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES: Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line. MEDIA PUSHING BACK ON WHITE HOUSE PRESS BAN. You know that person, the one who holds the key to access -- the "him" or "her" who stands in your way to talking with their principal. When it comes to covering government officials, press secretaries and communications officers are the gatekeepers. They sit in on your interviews, and sometimes you're lucky enough to be handed a cool story. And while access control isn't new, the manner and tone in which it's being carried out in today's White House is different. Media agencies are taking notice: http://bit.ly/2nRoIDY FREELANCERS: HERE'S HOW TO AVOID COSTLY MISTAKES AT TAX TIME. To the outside world, it would appear freelancing offers many advantages. You get to be your own boss, set your schedule, manage responsibilities, and submit work in a timely manner. But the reality is there's a ton of discipline that goes along with this lifestyle, and at no other time is this more apparent than tax season. We spoke with some professionals about what freelancers must remember to avoid costly mistakes come April 15 : http://bit.ly/2mszGTk : http://bit.ly/2mszGTk BLOG PROFILES: PLANT BLOGS. Each week, PR Newswire's Audience Relations team selects an industry/subject and looks at a handful of sites that do a good job with promoting and contributing to the topic. This week, the team looks at plant blogs: http://prn.to/2mMXJsa **************** PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire. SOURCE ProfNet Related Links http://www.profnet.com IRVINE, Calif., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Proove Biosciences, Inc. announces that its founder and Chief Executive Officer, Brian Meshkin, will join other C-level executives and experts as a panelist and moderator at the 8th Annual Life Sciences CEO Forum sponsored by Q1 Productions this week, March 23-24, 2017 in San Diego, California. On Friday morning, Brian Meshkin will moderate a panel entitled, "Delivering on the Promise of Precision Medicine: Analysis of Impact on the Life Science Industry." This panel will include distinguished participants, including Dr. Thierry Dervieux, Chief Scientific Officer of Exagen Diagnostics; Brady Davis, Chief Strategy Officer for DNA Nexus; and Alex Dickinson, Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Illumina. On this panel, experts will discuss how government research efforts are shaping discoveries related to therapeutic biomarkers and diagnostics, how these technologies can influence research and clinical care, and the regulatory and reimbursement challenges. On Friday afternoon, Meshkin will participate on a panel entitled, "The Convergence of Technology & Healthcare." This panel will be led by venture capitalist Luke Lee, a principal at Asset Management Ventures, and include healthcare attorney, Stephanie Trunk, Esq. from Arent Fox LLP; Chase Hensel, Co-Founder and CEO of digital therapeutics company Welkin Health; and Felix Frueh, CEO of Intellos Health. In this panel, experts will discuss digital health trends, the impact of collecting data and how to use it, legal implications, and experiences from market utilization. "It's an honor to participate in such an exclusive event which brings together leaders in the field. Proove is strongly positioned as the leader in precision medicine for pain. Every day, we demonstrate the positive impact of technology as clinicians 'proove' the diagnosis and treatment of patients in pain using our technology to provide better outcomes. In the pathway of progress, there are always skeptics and naysayers to step over, and so it's refreshing to hear the insights and experiences from my peers in the arena. Hopefully, I can share what we've learned from our success and failures to help others who are trying to make a positive impact in healthcare," explains Proove CEO Brian Meshkin. About Proove Biosciences: Proove Biosciences is the leader in precision medicine for the condition that lies at the nexus of health pain. Proove delivers precision medicine solutions for the nation's most prevalent and expensive health condition by investing heavily in research that has won awards from leading medical societies and been published in peer-reviewed journals. Discovered by NIH-funded scientists, Proove has translated into clinical practice the genetic variants and phenotypic factors contributing to pain sensitivity and chronic pain risk. Proove's medical advisory board is led by those NIH-funded researchers and the company has licensed some of its technology from leading academic centers, such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Utah, and other institutions. Positioned as The Healthcare Decision Company, Proove's patented technology platform combines genetic, clinical, environmental and lifestyle information to help clinicians better evaluate pain sensitivity, assess risk for opioid use disorder, predict therapeutic response to pain medications, and assess drug metabolism for the many medications used in chronic pain patients. Based in Irvine, California, Proove has been recognized on the Inc. 500 and the Deloitte Technology Fast500 as one of the fastest growing companies in North America. For more information, please visit www.proove.com or call toll free 855-PROOVE-BIO (855-776-6832). SOURCE Proove Biosciences, Inc. Related Links http://www.proove.com The contract reflects a multi-year production task to update, procure, assemble and test launch control and arresting control hardware. For more than a decade, QNA has supported GA and the U.S. Navy by providing the hardware and software for the EMALS Launch Control System, as well as control hardware and software for the AAG system, both of which were developed for and installed on the Pre-Commissioning Unit Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). "We're pleased to once again have the opportunity to produce Launch and Recovery control equipment for another Aircraft Carrier and appreciate the efforts of General Atomics in working with us to complete contract negotiations. EMALS and AAG will provide the U.S. Navy with superior technology that will increase reliability, improve operational efficiencies and significantly decrease lifecycle costs," said Andrew Courier, Director of Maritime Systems at QNA. Development and production of the hardware and software will be done in QNA's Waltham, Massachusetts facility. About QinetiQ North America QinetiQ North America (QNA) is a subsidiary of QinetiQ Group plc, the FTSE250 company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:QQ.L). QNA delivers world-class technology and revolutionary products to the defense, security, commercial, utility and transportation markets. Customers rely on QNA products to increase situational awareness, aid in personal safety, enhance security and streamline operations. QNA products include unmanned systems, military protection, power sensors and control systems and transportation safety solutions. QNA is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts and operates as the US arm of QinetiQ Group's Global Products division. For more information, visit www.qinetiq-na.com. SOURCE QinetiQ North America Related Links http://www.qinetiq-na.com DUBLIN, Mar. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Sedimentation and Centrifugation Market 2017-2021" report to their offering. The global sedimentation and centrifugation market to grow at a CAGR of 6.6% during the period 2017-2021. The report, Global Sedimentation And Centrifugation Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the Key vendors operating in this market. One trend in market is next generation centrifuges. With intense investments by companies in R&D and growing technological advances, the demand for next-generation centrifuges is high. Iran's next generation centrifuges are 15-16 times more powerful than their first-generation centrifuges. These centrifuges were mainly developed for nuclear infrastructure. Iran signed a nuclear agreement with Russia in 2015 to conduct R&D with uranium for advanced centrifuges. This is a 10-years deal, which has been made by Iran and has planned to use IR-4, IR-5, IR-6, and IR-8 centrifuges. With the help of these next generation advanced centrifuges, uranium enrichment will be completed successfully. According to the report, one driver in market is increasing demand from process industries. Process industries such as food and beverage, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and pulp and paper require sedimentation and centrifugation equipment for completing the production process with the respective raw materials to achieve the end-product. For instance, in the food and beverage industry, a centrifuge is used to separate cream from milk. India is ranked as the leading country in terms of production of milk, which constituted about 18.5% of the world's milk production in 2015-2016. The integrated system of collecting, transporting, processing, and distributing the milk to the respective end-user is the main reason for the boom in the dairy sector in India. With increased milk production, subsequent growth of milk products has also increased. Key vendors GEA Alfa Laval ANDRITZ Thermo Fisher Scientific Other Prominent Vendors Beckman Coulter Eppendorf Evoqua Water Technologies Ferrum Flottweg FLSmidth Gruppo Pieralisi Helmer Scientific Others Key Topics Covered: PART 01: Executive summary PART 02: Scope of the report PART 03: Market research methodology PART 04: Introduction PART 05: Market landscape PART 06: Market segmentation by product PART 07: Geographical segmentation PART 08: Market drivers PART 09: Market challenges PART 10: Impact of drivers and challenges PART 11: Market trends PART 12: Vendor landscape PART 13: Key vendor analysis PART 14: Appendix For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/ps9625/global Media Contact: Laura Wood, Senior Manager w [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com CHICAGO, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The law firm of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. has launched a new online feature that is aimed at inspiring Chicago area residents to get involved in their communities. The Community Spotlight provides a wealth of information to Cook County and Lake County residents about opportunities to volunteer, serve as a sponsor and explore other ways to lend a helping hand to their neighbors. Currently, the site shines a "spotlight" on food pantries in Lake County. Although the food pantries welcome monetary and food donations, they also have a need for volunteers, the site notes. "One of the best ways to show support for your community and build long-lasting friendships is to serve as a volunteer," the firm tells visitors to the site, which features links to the Chicago Cares and Volunteer Match networks. "You will find that giving even just a few hours of your time can be a highly rewarding experience." Visitors to the "Community Spotlight" can also: Check out a calendar of local events Learn about the law firm's participation in community activities such as the Lake County Bar Association's "Ask a Lawyer" event Find information about organizations that the firm works with such as The Michael Matters Foundation, Prairie State Legal Services and Concussion Legacy Foundation. Additionally, visitors can fill out an online form and connect with the law firm about their own community service projects. About Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. The personal injury lawyers of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. have decades of experience with helping clients in a wide range of cases, including car accidents, medical malpractice and wrongful death. Legal peers recently chose 12 of the firm's attorneys for inclusion in Illinois Super Lawyers, a distinction shared by less than 5 percent of the state's lawyers. To learn more about Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., which has offices in Chicago and Waukegan, call (312) 372-1227 or use the firm's online contact form. This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com. SOURCE Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. "Joan Fusco has made significant contributions to our organization over the years in facilitating our continued growth and expansion initiatives. We are excited that she will continue to guide our organization as we move forward," said Don Savoy, President and CEO of Savoy. Fusco will act as the internal point person for regulatory compliance education and training, providing her valuable knowledge base as a resource for communication materials including broker and employer-related guides. Additionally, Fusco will continue her role as Director of Savoy's six continuing education schools. With over 30 years' experience in the health insurance industry, Fusco brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to Savoy in the areas of federal and state regulatory compliance, employee benefits and continuing education for health and life insurance producers. During her 15-year tenure at Savoy, Fusco most recently held the position of Director, Research and Education. Fusco holds Health Insurance Associate (HIA), Professional, Academy for Healthcare Management (PAHM) and Registered Health Underwriter (RHU) designations and is Affordable Care Act (ACA) Certified from the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) and the American College. As a well-known expert for regulatory and legislative compliance, Fusco serves NAHU as an appointed member of the General Agency Principals Council, the Professional Development and Compliance Corner and the Employer Based Work Group and as the Professional Development Liaison to the Legislative Council. Fusco also serves as the New Jersey Chair for the Life and Health Commissioner Advisory Board. About SAVOY Savoy is an innovative benefits consulting firm and regional general agency. With over 30 years' experience, Savoy's strategic partnerships bring continued growth to brokers, carriers and vendors. Savoy tactically provides best-in-class products and services including comprehensive health and specialty benefits, compliance, HR services, technology solutions, research, education and other employer-related services. SOURCE Savoy Related Links http://www.savoyassociates.com WASHINGTON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Small Business Administration and South Africa's Ministry of Small Business Development and Global Entrepreneurship Network recently co-hosted the third annual Global Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) Ministerial during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Johannesburg, South Africa. SBA Deputy Associate Administrator for the Office of International Trade, Eugene Cornelius, led the SBA delegation and moderated a roundtable on ways to decrease regulatory burdens on small businesses at home and abroad. The ministerial provided a forum for dialogue among SBA's global counterparts to share national strategies and program ideas aimed at increasing job creation and economic growth. This year's dialogue focused on three key pillars: governing with small businesses in mind, inclusive entrepreneurship, and innovation and digital disruption. Participating dignitaries discussed how innovation and decreasing regulatory burdens on small businesses can assist in new job creation. Thirty-two nations and international organizations from across the world were represented at the conference featuring agency leaders and other senior officials responsible for small business and entrepreneurship policy. About the Global Entrepreneurship The GEC is an inter-disciplinary gathering of start-up champions from more than 150 countries and attracts over 4000 delegates. These delegates represent distinct components of their entrepreneurial ecosystems and are focused on how best to help entrepreneurs start and scale new companies. About the U.S. Small Business Administration The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 and since January 13, 2012, has served as a Cabinet-level agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, the SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. Contact: David J. Hall (202) 205-6697 Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Blogs Release Number: 17-15 SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration Related Links http://www.sba.gov NEW YORK, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney Advertising -- Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC notifies investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against JBS S.A. ("JBS" or the "Company") (OTCMKT: JBSAY) and certain of its officers, on behalf of shareholders who purchased JBS American Depositary Receipts between June 2, 2015 and March 17, 2017, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm's site: http://www.bgandg.com/jbs. This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements and failed to disclose that: (1) JBS executives bribed regulators and politicians to subvert food inspections of its plants and overlook unsanitary practices such as processing rotten meat and running plants with traces of salmonella; and (2) consequently, defendants' statements about JBS's business, operations and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. On March 17, 2017, several news sources reported that Brazilian federal police raided JBS offices and other meatpackers after a two-year investigation of regulators alleged bribery to regarding the inspections of their facilities. The investigation, known as "Operation Weak Flesh," exposed roughly 40 cases of meatpackers who bribed inspectors and politicians to overlook unsanitary procedures such as processing rotten meat and running plants with traces of salmonella. Brazilian police arrested two JBS employees, and 20 public officials. JBS said in a securities filing that three of its facilities and one of its employees were targeted in the probe. Following this news, JBS stock dropped $0.71 per share or over 9.2% to close at $6.96 per share on March 17, 2017. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint you can visit the firm's site: http://www.bgandg.com/jbs or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Investor Relations Analyst, Yael Hurwitz of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484. If you suffered a loss in JBS you have until May 22, 2017 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firm's expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Contact: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC Peretz Bronstein or Yael Hurwitz 212-697-6484 | [email protected] SOURCE Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC Related Links http://www.bgandg.com From ranch to table, the family team at Double R Ranch, named after founder Robert Rebholtz Sr., is involved in every step of the beef lifecycle, including ranching, cattle feeding, and beef processing. Their 70,000-acre ranch in Loomis, Washington, is the home for the breeding herd of Double R Ranch and Snake River Farms, where the heart of their core values is focused on improving livestock, preserving resources, and raising the highest quality cattle in the Northwest. "I believe Double R Ranch is the finest premium beef available on the market today, hand-selected to include only the highest levels of marbling on the USDA grading scale," said Corporate Executive Chef Matt King. "Through this partnership with Agri Beef and the Rebholtz family of Double R Ranch, we have furthered our commitment to the tradition of ranching with like-minded collaborators and support of sustainable farming practices. At Double R Ranch, sustainability, total quality, animal well-being and social responsibility is a way of life, and we are excited to share their story, seasoned to perfection, through the steakhouse experience at Smith & Wollensky." At Double R Ranch, the mild climate, open spaces, and the abundance of natural resources available in the Pacific Northwest ensures that cattle are healthy and comfortable, as healthy cattle are essential to producing the highest quality of beef. The temperate climate also increases access to a diverse range of sustainable and renewable feed ingredients so cattle are nutritiously fed, formulated from a mix of alfalfa, hay, grains, potato and corn, as well as vitamins and minerals custom formulated by a professional cattle nutritionist. These rich elements combined with Double R Ranch's dedication to applying the most advanced quality practices and food safety measures from ranch to table allow the team to deliver consistently bold and delicious premium beef, always tender, juicy and packed with flavor. "The extraordinary care, pride and passion that Double R Ranch demonstrates from start to finish in their production process is one of the many reasons that they are highly respected by chefs, restaurateurs and food industry professionals," adds Matt King. "Ranching culture and a great appreciation for the land is deeply ingrained into the family, where the process of raising cattle is enhanced by family pride and decades of stewardship. They work tirelessly to raise the finest cattle in the country and produce exceptional beef, so chefs like myself can share this experience with our discerning guests who regularly visit Smith & Wollensky with a thirst for the best steaks in town. We are confident that our guests will agree that Double R Ranch is a truly remarkable beef that delivers the consistency and quality they've come to expect from our family of restaurants." Smith & Wollensky will feature Double R Ranch USDA prime steaks and signature filets, further enhanced through in-house aging for 28 days, as well as Snake River Farms' American Wagyu Beef at Smith & Wollensky locations in the following cities: Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Houston, Las Vegas and Miami Beach. Smith & Wollensky is the only national brand of steakhouses to offer Double R Ranch. For further details about Double R Ranch and Agri Beef's production practices, visit www.agribeef.com. Link to photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zdo4kj7p1gty6tk/AACpj1IRB9P8xAgTXIoH8KCFa?dl=0 To learn more about the Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group, visit www.smithandwollensky.com and www.wollenskysgrill.com. Media Contacts Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group Kim Lapine Senior Vice President of Marketing [email protected] Allied Integrated Marketing Ken Langdon / Rosalind Congleton [email protected] / [email protected] About The Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group, Inc. Since its establishment in 1977 as America's classic steakhouse, Smith & Wollensky has been committed to delivering unparalleled hospitality and the best USDA Prime steaks, dry-aged for tenderness and flavor and hand cut on site daily. Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group is headquartered in Boston, Mass., and owns and operates seven iconic Smith & Wollensky locations in the US: Miami Beach; Chicago; Las Vegas; Columbus, Ohio; Houston; and two restaurants in Boston. The first international location is now open in London. The acclaimed wine list, rich ambiance and exceptional service are designed to provide guests with a truly memorable steakhouse experience. Smith & Wollensky has received numerous local and national awards, including the "Grand Award of Excellence" from WINE SPECTATOR and the "Award of Excellence" from Distinguished Restaurants of North America. Follow Smith & Wollensky on Twitter at twitter.com/smithwollensky and Wollensky's Grill at twitter.com/wollenskysgrill. About Double R Ranch Double R Ranch is widely recognized as the premier beef brand in the Northwest. Our beef is hand selected to include only USDA Choice and higher levels of marbling. Our commitment to exceptional quality results in unsurpassed flavor and tenderness. Located in the pristine Okanogan region of Washington State, the 'Double R Ranch' itself sits on 70,000 pristine acres and represents the 'Heart and Soul' of the brand. The ranch is named after our founder, Robert Rebholtz, Sr. Beginning as ranchers themselves, the Rebholtz family takes great pride in leading by example when raising the cattle that ultimately carry the Double R Ranch brand name. Double R Ranch is an integral part of sustainable beef production that supports numerous family farms and ranches throughout the Pacific Northwest. SOURCE Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group, Inc. Related Links http://www.smithandwollensky.com LONDON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Research from UK Innovation Hub and Tech City UK reveals what startups really want from their investors - highly rating trust, understanding of the company vision, and access to a large network of further investors New board members, free office space and support when hiring, are the least important factors when looking at early-stage investment options The UK Innovation Hub is a new startup programme from Innogy, investing into early-stage energy tech companies across a range of sectors including Big Data, Machine Economy and Urban Solutions. A new survey has today revealed the true investment needs of the UK's early-stage startups. The research conducted by UK Innovation Hub and Tech City UK showed that the most important factor for companies considering raising external investment was personal chemistry and trust with the investor. The UK Innovation Hub, a new startup programme from Innogy the Germany-based energy company, is focussed on investing into early-stage startups. Together with Tech City UK, the government-backed initiative to support the growth of the country's digital startups, and community partners Seedcamp and 500 Startups, both early-stage investors, the survey highlights what UK startups really want, creating it's own Hierarchy of Needs. Key findings included: Fulfillment: Access to a wide network of investors is the most important higher level need - three-fifths say this is key. Reflecting the importance of the personal relationship, over three-fifths would also value an investor who provides informal guidance and coaching. Psychological: Personal chemistry emerges as perhaps the critical factor - there is near consensus from founders that the ideal investor will be someone they like and trust, and who is in tune with their product and vision. Basic: The priority hygiene factors relate to the ease of onboarding and reassurance that the investor has a strong track record . A low maintenance relationship is also important for over two-fifths of founders. Thomas Birr, SVP, Innovation & Business Transformation at Innogy, commented: "With a huge array of different startup programmes and investment options available, we wanted to get to the heart of what really matters to Founders when considering funding. With the majority looking to Angels and VC's for funding, and just over two-fifths looking to accelerator programmes, finding someone they liked or trusted with an understanding of their product and vision, was incredibly important. Access to further funding and a great track record were also key considerations, while the add ons many programmes provide - such as free office space and pitch training - were a low priority." Birr continued: "At the Innovation Hub we're eager to challenge convention and develop dynamic partnerships that advance the ambition of our founders. This research has provided us with a guide to ensure we can work with our future investments in the best way possible - as determined by them." Other findings include: Future Investment Channels The majority of aspiring founders would turn to angel investors (66 per cent) or VC's (54 per cent). Only 4 per cent would consider a P2P loan and 14 per cent would consider a bank loan. 43 per cent would turn to a strategic investor and 39 per cent would consider an accelerator programme. Where Will The Money Go Customer acquisition (27 per cent) and product development (26 per cent) were the two key stand out uses of investment, followed by talent (19 per cent). Talent Pinchpoints Programming skills are in demand. Front end and back end developers are the most challenging hires for new businesses (47 per cent). This was followed by other product related roles, UI/UX designer (29 per cent), mobile applications developer (24 per cent) and product (24 per cent). Investment Information Sources 63 per cent use word of mouth to find out about investors A majority rely on Angel List (57 per cent) TechCrunch (51 per cent) and Crunchbase (50 per cent) Topics of Interest Two topics hold particular appeal for founders - learning more about other startups in their space (68 per cent) and information on new funds (65 per cent). Advice from investors is also of interest to a majority of founders (57 per cent). Legal information was the topic with the least interest (20 per cent). The survey of 164 startup companies across the UK took place from January till March 2017. Of the respondents, three quarters have global ambitions, while 44 per cent believe they have the potential to become a billion dollar company. While the startups were bullish about their growth ambitions, over two-thirds were pre-revenue in the last financial year. 36 per cent have already raised funding, with a majority funded by family and friends or a pre-seed programme. Only 9 per cent of funded businesses had received a Series A equivalent investment. Gerard Grech, CEO of Tech City UK, added : "As the UK's digital startups have continued to develop over the past decade, we've seen a huge support network of investors develop alongside them. From crowdfunding to accelerators, and angels to large VC's, there is a huge array of options out there for Founders to consider. Our Future Fifty, Upscale and Northern Star programmes are filled with role models for these early-stage Founders to look to. It's no surprise that this survey has highlighted the global ambitions of our next generation of companies, who have developed in the shadow of some of the UK's leading unicorns. It's reassuring to see that with so many options before them, they consider personal relationships, trust and previous success to be key when considering an investor." Tech City UK's Tech Nation 2017 survey found that just over half (51 per cent) of business founders or CEOs cited lack of supply of skilled workers as a challenge, whilst just over two fifths (42 per cent) mentioned access to finance. In this survey, however, access to capital emerges as the number one growth challenge for entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs. Nine in ten say this is a challenge, some way ahead of marketing, sales and access to talent. With the majority of survey participants being early stage businesses where they perform all the important tasks with the help of a small team, cash flow and sales are pivotal, while the challenges of growing a larger team are some way off. Carlos Espinal, Partner at Seedcamp, commented: "At Seedcamp, we've been supporting European entrepreneurial talent for the past ten years through our community of support, global network of reach and efficient access to capital. We know how critical it is to build a strong and functional relationship between investor and founder at the earliest stage and are proud to have supported over 250 companies who've gone on to raise significant follow-on funding and scale valuable, global businesses." "When looking for investment, it's critical to identify your point of need (in excess of capital) and ensure the investor or fund you're approaching is the right fit; they understand your stage of development, invest at the right stage for you and have a proven background to support you. We are incredibly proud to have built strong relationships with the founders we've backed over the past ten years and in a time of crisis or when looking for advice or counsel, our founders know they can talk openly with us. It's certainly not a case of investor injects capital and then the relationship ends. It's critical that both founder and investor feel they have a fair deal that will allow them to work together for a long time after the investment is complete." Matt Lerner, Venture Partner at 500 Startups, added: "These founders are dead-on. Taking money from a VC is like a ten-year marriage. It really has to come down to trust and chemistry. That's why it's great to reference check your VCs before you take their money. My old roommate used to say 'I only trust God and my Mom. And with my Mom, I cut the cards.'" Just over half of survey participants (54 per cent) were based in London, while 12 per cent were located elsewhere in Southern England and 20 per cent were from the Midlands or Northern England. Men outnumber women by almost four to one in our sample, which is broadly representative of the profile of tech founders in the UK. Over half (52 per cent) are under 36 years old. UK Innovation Hub is welcoming applications for startups on an ongoing basis. Already running in Berlin, Tel Aviv and Silicon Valley, the UK Innovation Hub will be investing in developing partnerships across three key stages of growth, pre-Seed, Seed and series A. The team, backed by Innogy, will invest into five core areas; Machine Economy - Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence or Blockchain-based decentralized business models for a machine powered real people serving economy Mobility; Manufacturing; Energy; Finance Smart & Connected - Areas of innovation that can change the way we live Safety & Security; Connected Business; Independent Living; Contextual Learning & Behaviour Urban Solutions - Creating solutions that improve the quality of life and work in European megacities Citizen Services; Urban Mobility; Urban Energy Systems Disruptive Digital - Identifying and fostering new digital business models with the potential to revolutionise the traditional energy world Energy Generation; Trading; Grid; Retail Big Data - Maximise the benefits of big data to fuel innovation for customers and Innogy Asset Operations; Consumer Lifestyle; Game Changing Technologies; Privacy & Trust Thomas Birr, SVP, Innovation & Business Transformation at Innogy, said: "We're excited to open in the UK and to work alongside brilliant startups developing products and services that could make a huge impact. We believe there is a great opportunity to support more startups across the country and work with them closely to support them as they scale to find product market fit and accelerate their customer acquisition." For more information on the survey findings go to: http://innogy.techcityuk.com/ For more information on UK Innovation Hub go to: https://www.ukinnovationhub.com/ Notes to Editors Press Contact: CEW Communications for UK Innovation Hub Cathy White, Founder and Director [email protected] @cathywhite10 Press Kit: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-F66bhJnenodU9zVTk0YjZOWWs SOURCE UK Innovation Hub and Tech City UK Policy makers have been considering imposing additional income and payroll taxes on employees and payroll taxes on employers. These taxes would apply to at least a portion of health insurance premiums. Recent drafts of the ACA repeal and replace legislation now moving through Congress included such a tax. The current version of the bill does not, but there are concerns Congress might resurrect the tax in pursuit of additional revenue. More than 177 million Americans receive health insurance through an employer, and employers pay more than $668 billion annually to insure their employees. Under current tax law, those benefits are provided without employers or employees paying any income or payroll taxes on them. Some lawmakers and think tanks argue that taxing group health plans will drive down overall health costs because it will decrease consumer demand for healthcare. They also argue that employers - if they reduce benefits to avoid the tax - will increase wages to make up for the reduction in health benefits. The Lockton survey results do not support those arguments. Here are the key findings: Three quarters of respondents said they would definitely reduce benefits or consider it, to avoid triggering new taxes on health benefits. Nearly 90 percent indicated they would avoid increasing benefits if it meant triggering a tax. Taxing health insurance is unlikely to lead to higher wages. Of more than 800 Lockton survey respondents, the majority said they would definitely or probably not increase wages as a result. Only 6 percent said they would increase wages to make up for a reduction in benefits. "With healthcare costs steadily rising, this survey indicates that taxing employer-provided benefits would cause millions of American workers and their families to take it on the chin," said Bob Reiff, President of Lockton Benefit Group. "They'd suffer either through a shift in healthcare expenses, like higher deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs, or they would pay higher taxes. Taxing families on their group health insurance seems inconsistent with sound and effective policy." Nor is taxing health insurance likely to reduce consumption. An analysis of Lockton clients' claims data shows 82 percent of claims costs are incurred by just 13 percent of members, typically those with acute or chronic illnesses. "If, as the think tanks say, Americans consume too much healthcare, it's not because employer-provided health insurance is overly generous," said Reiff. "It's because our nation is facing a health crisis, and employers through wellness programs tied to their health insurance plans are the only group systematically addressing the problem." More than 80 percent of employers offer some type of wellness program that helps manage population health and increase the efficiency of healthcare delivery. Lockton is the world's largest privately held insurance broker, and has been monitoring changing healthcare policy on behalf of its employer-clients. More information on the employer survey results can be found at http://www.lockton.com/Resource_/PageResource/MKT/Compliance/HRAP_Survey_Results_flyer.pdf. About Lockton More than 6,000 professionals at Lockton provide 50,000 clients around the world with risk management, insurance, and employee benefits consulting services that improve their businesses. From its founding in 1966 in Kansas City, Missouri, Lockton has attracted entrepreneurial professionals who have driven its growth to become the largest privately held, independent insurance broker in the world and 9th largest overall. For eight consecutive years, Business Insurance has recognized Lockton as a "Best Place to Work in Insurance." To see the latest insights from Lockton's employee benefits experts, check the Lockton Health Reform Blog, the Lockton Health Risk Solutions Blog, the Lockton Benefits Communications Blog or the Lockton HR Technology Blog. SOURCE Lockton Related Links http://www.lockton.com Smoking cocktails to capture layers of flavor is a growing culinary trend 1 . Flame not only adds a unique presentation, but elevates the textures, aromas and taste of ingredients including spices, fruits and herbs. As head bartender at Arbella , Eric Trousdale knows how to bring the heat. His torch-wielding cocktail recipes include an Arbella favorite, the Chicago Fire Extinguisher, and the Laguna Salada, created in honor of National Cocktail Day and named after a famous dried lake in the Mexican dessert. "Incorporating flame is one of the most inspiring cocktail techniques to try because of the drama and dimension it adds," said Trousdale. "Just as an artist creates with a paintbrush, a bartender uses fire to enhance the flavor profile of a drink while creating an engaging experience. A torch is my go-to tool to bring these creations to life." Impress friends with one, or both, of Trousdale's smoked cocktails. Try your hand at the Laguna Salada using a Bernzomatic TS4000 High Heat Torch and cedar plank to create smoky flavor. Or step up your cocktail game ever further by picking up a bartender's Smoking Gun and Bernzomatic ST2200 Detail Torch, all great tools to add to your personal bar. LAGUNA SALADA Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. Silver tequila 1/2 oz. Cynar 1/2 oz. Simple syrup 1/2 oz. Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice Tools: Cedar plank for smoking Bernzomatic TS4000 High Heat Torch Light a spot on a cedar plank using the torch until the wood is smoking. Capture the smoke with an upturned Nick & Nora martini glass on the plank. Build all ingredients over ice, shake well. Turn over the smoked glass and strain the cocktail into the glass. The glass should maintain a hint of the smoke flavor and scent. CHICAGO FIRE EXTINGUSHER Ingredients: 2 oz. Scotch 1/2 oz. Luxardo Abano 1/2 oz. Fugit Creme de Noyaux 2 dash Angostura bitters Tools: Bartender's smoking gun Handful cherry wood chips Bernzomatic ST2200 Detail Torch Build all ingredients over ice, stir, and strain into a small circular globe or mason jar. Place cherry wood chips into the compartment of the smoke gun and light with the torch. Place the end of the smoke gun's tube into the circular globe vessel (or mason jar), fill with smoke and top with a cork or lid to capture the smoke inside. On the side, place a big ice cube into a double rocks glass, uncork the globe and pour over ice. Bernzomatic is dedicated to inspiring people to find their fire, whether it be in the kitchen, the workshop or the great outdoors. Discover more ideas for using a torch in unique ways at www.Bernzomatic.com. About Arbella and Eric Trousdale Located at 112 W. Grand Ave., Arbella (pronounced Ar-bey-ah) is a globally inspired cocktail lounge that infuses the world of cocktails with art and music. Arbella is open Monday-Friday and Sunday from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m. and Saturday from 5 p.m. until 3 a.m. Arbella has weekly music activations, like the cocktail menu, that take inspiration from the global stage. To stay up to date on news, please follow Arbella's Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. Eric Trousdale is the head bartender at Arbella and has over a decade of experience in the restaurant and bar industry. Trousdale firmly believes in the equal importance of high quality product and presentation as well as creating an enjoyable, organic guest experience. Most recently leading the bar program at Tanta Chicago, Trousdale continues to share his dedication to the care and creativity put into creating each cocktail. About Bernzomatic Bernzomatic, a Worthington Industries brand, has been the leader in the blowtorch category since 1876. With a passion for craftsmanship and creation, Bernzomatic believes in providing the right tools and inspiration to take on projects and redefine what you can achieve. Bernzomatic products set the standard in safety, durability and performance, and include handheld torches, fuel cylinders, butane lighters and project accessories that can be used on the job site, in the home and in the hands of those with a desire to create. Find your fire at www.Bernzomatic.com. 1 Food & Drink Resources, 2016 MEDIA CONTACT Maureen Murray 312-396-4390 [email protected] SOURCE Bernzomatic Related Links http://www.bernzomatic.com/ The Tory Burch Collins hybrid smartwatch is the ultimate convergence of Tory Burch design and wearable technology, bringing together the elegance and simplicity of an analog watch with the capabilities of a world-class activity tracker. With the ability to sync to a smartphone via Bluetooth and a dedicated app, compatible with iPhone and Android phones, the new line offers the following features: Precision timekeeping: automatically changes time zones when you're traveling automatically changes time zones when you're traveling Second time zone: easily and accurately converts the hour easily and accurately converts the hour Notification technology : discreetly indicates when you have a phone call, text or email : discreetly indicates when you have a phone call, text or email Activity tracking: automatically tracks and monitors daily activities, including custom goals automatically tracks and monitors daily activities, including custom goals Sleep tracking: tracks the length and quality of sleep with the Tory Burch Collins hybrid smartwatch app tracks the length and quality of sleep with the Tory Burch Collins hybrid smartwatch app Link Technology: allows you to seamlessly connect with your smartphone to access and control your music as well as take photos wirelessly; enables you to find your phone with the tap of a button allows you to seamlessly connect with your smartphone to access and control your music as well as take photos wirelessly; enables you to find your phone with the tap of a button No charging: coin cell batteries enable extended use without the need to recharge The Tory Burch Collins hybrid smartwatch line will be available in select Tory Burch boutiques, on toryburch.com and at select department stores beginning Holiday 2017. ABOUT TORY BURCH Tory Burch is an American lifestyle brand that embodies the personal style and sensibility of its Chairman, CEO and Designer, Tory Burch. Launched in February 2004, the collection includes ready-to-wear, shoes, handbags, accessories, watches, home and beauty. There are more than 190 Tory Burch boutiques across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, and the brand is available at over 3,000 department and specialty stores worldwide and toryburch.com. SOURCE Tory Burch Related Links https://www.toryburch.com DETROIT, March 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan will support training and professional development for Detroit changemakers tackling economic and neighborhood revitalization with $245,000 from the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The programs will focus specifically on capacity building and professional development to encourage organizational growth and economic vitality. In their third round of funding to the capacity building program, the Knight Foundation will invest $150,000, adding to its previous $515,000 in support, to fund talent and leadership development across ten Detroit-based organizations supporting urban growth. The Fisher Foundation is looking to strengthen and empower individuals and organizations specifically in the Brightmoor neighborhood by investing $100,000 in 28 community organizations. Funding from the Fisher Foundation and Knight Foundation will provide grants to aid in capacity training for Detroit community leaders overseeing a myriad of community-focused industries, including arts and humanities, economic development, environmental and urban affairs, and early childhood education. The grants will be entirely concentrated on talent development that supports business and leadership training, as well as providing the opportunity to connect and engage with similar civic leaders; together sharing challenges and solutions along the way. The Community Foundation will administer and manage the professional development programs grants. "We are thrilled to be joining the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's efforts to invest in Detroit's for-impact leadership through investing in these critical leaders and their personal development plans," says Doug Bitonti Stewart, Executive Director at the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation. "In partnership with the neighborhood based leaders of Brightmoor, the Fisher Foundation is ready to replicate the success both the Community Foundation and Knight Foundation have achieved throughout Detroit, specifically targeting the social impact leaders in this vital neighborhood." Additional Brightmoor neighborhood organizations that were awarded grants from the Community Foundation with support from the Max & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation through the "Supporting Brightmoor Leaders Program" include: Brightmoor Alliance, Brightmoor Artisans Collective, Brightmoor Maker Space, Brightmoor Redford Aldersgate, Children of the Rising Sun Empowerment Center, City Covenant Church, City Year Detroit, Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance, Crystal Swann Child Care, Development Centers, Don Bosco Hall, Everybody Ready, Greening of Detroit, Kristy's Early Childhood Development Centers, Leland Community Affairs, Michigan Community Resources, Neighbors Building Brightmoor, Sidewalk Detroit, St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat Center, Urban Links Village, Village of Shiny Stars, Voices for Earth Justice, and a cohort training for four block clubs. "Ensuring that leaders who care about the community have the skills and resources they need to advance its growth is essential to the success of our city. The organizations that will benefit from this program strive to foster neighborhood connections, expand opportunities for Detroiters and increase civic engagementby making them stronger we can help advance these goals," says Katy Locker, Knight Foundation program director for Detroit. Starting after Detroit emerged from bankruptcy in 2014, the "Nonprofit Capacity Training" grants from the Community Foundation and Knight Foundation strive to invest in talent at organizations engaged in strengthening communities. The Detroit-based organizations receiving the third round of "Nonprofit Capacity Training" grants include: Allied Media Projects, College for Creative Studies, Community Development Advocates of Detroit, Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, Focus:HOPE, Global Detroit, Jefferson East Inc., Michigan Community Resources, M.O.S.E.S., and Southwest Solutions. The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Max & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, and Knight Foundation will be holding a press conference on March 22, 2017, announcing the latest round of grants for the "Supporting Brightmoor Leaders Program" at Motor City Java and Tea House, 17336 Lahser Road, Detroit, from 1:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. We invest in journalism, in the arts, and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. Our goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which we believe are essential for a healthy democracy. For more, visit knightfoundation.org. Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation works to enrich humanity by strengthening and empowering children and families in need. In the Jewish tradition of justice (tzedakah), the Foundation works to repair the world (tikkun olam) in partnership with organizations and volunteers who share our mission. For more information, visit http://mmfisher.org/. The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is a full-service philanthropic organization leading the way to positive change in our region. As a permanent community endowment built by gifts from thousands of individuals and organizations, the Foundation supports a wide variety of activities benefiting education, arts and culture, health, human services, community development and civic affairs. Since its inception, the Foundation has distributed more than $800 million through more than 55,000 grants to nonprofit organizations throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, St. Clair, and Livingston counties. For more information, please visit www.cfsem.org. SOURCE Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan Related Links http://www.cfsem.org AUSTIN, Texas, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hayes Software Systems, the leader in inventory control software and services for the K-12 education market, announced its recent acquisition by Transition Capital Partners ("TCP") effective February 28, 2017. Mike Hayes, the company's former Chairman, will transition to a consultative role while Matt Winebright remains as the President and CEO. Incorporated in 1990, Hayes provides SaaS software and service solutions designed to educate school districts on how to best manage their inventories. Now serving 31 of the largest 100 school districts in the country, this investment by TCP propels the continued momentum for Hayes. "When my father and I started this company, our goal was to create a product that continued to have an ever-increasing impact on education," said Mike Hayes. "As our business has grown, so have our aspirations. TCP not only brings strong experience and background to Hayes, but they also offer support of the organization's growth. I'm thrilled for TCP to step in as owners and I look forward to seeing the company's continued success." Hayes' corporate office will stay in Austin, TX and the core focus will continue to be on the K-12 market. "The synergy I've already felt with TCP has been a fantastic match to our company culture as well as future goals," said Matt Winebright. "They believe in what we're doing, appreciate how much we value our customers, and are excited about the innovativeness we display in the area of inventory management. Having their guidance, backing, and support as we continue to break new ground will be incredibly valuable." TCP has successfully invested in more than 40 middle market companies, spanning a diverse array of industries, including education. "Hayes' commitment to its customers and its products, as well as their focus on K-12 has helped set a standard in how critical effective inventory management is for school districts across the country," commented Andy Foskey, TCP Managing Partner. "TCP is very excited to partner with Hayes and support the continued advancement of the already robust product offering, ensuring they continue to offer the best products and services for their customers." Plexus Capital supported TCP's acquisition of Hayes by providing mezzanine debt and a minority equity investment. About Hayes Software Systems By offering SaaS software and services tailor-made for the unique needs of education professionals for over 25 years, Hayes has helped over 7,000 schools across the country implement inventory control solutions. Today, the company has customers in 32 states and serves district-wide deployments in 31 of the largest 100 school districts in the country. Hayes specializes in inventory automation solutions and consulting services to support K-12 instructional technology and instructional material accountability. While primarily servicing K-12 school systems, Hayes also has customers in higher education, state agencies, and government entities. For more information, visit www.hayessoft.com About TCP Transition Capital Partners ("TCP") is a Dallas, TX based, family office funded, private investment firm. Founded in 1993, TCP has successfully invested in over 40 lower middle market companies spanning a diverse array of industries. TCP is affiliated with the Patterson Thoma Family Office. TCP partners with management teams to build sustainable value in businesses over the long-term, without the artificial constraints fundraising cycles create for traditional private equity funds. With more than twenty years of proven success, we have a long track record of collaborating with our partners to accelerate the growth of lower middle market companies. To learn more, visit www.tcplp.com About Plexus With offices in Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, Plexus has raised $950 million across four funds and supports a wide variety of transaction structures including acquisitions, buyouts, recapitalizations, and growth capital. Since 2005, Plexus has invested over $622 million in more than 80 companies. Plexus's transaction experience has resulted in active working relationships with numerous third party due diligence providers, ensuring a smooth and efficient transaction process for management and the Company. Plexus is a value-add, long-term, patient investor who is committed to excellence in everything they do. Contact Sara Arthrell, Hayes Software Director of Marketing, [email protected] and Jason Faucett, TCP Managing Director, [email protected] This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Hayes Software Systems Related Links http://www.hayessoft.com OAK BROOK, Ill., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS) will host a live audio Webcast of its first quarter earnings results conference call on Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 8:30 a.m. ET. Management will discuss the results for the first quarter and its outlook for the balance of 2017. An earnings release will be issued before the market opens on the same date. The Webcast will last approximately one hour and will be accessible by visiting http://www.treehousefoods.com and by clicking on "Investor Relations," "Investor Overview." In order to listen to the Webcast, users will need to have installed either Real Player or Windows Media Player software, which can be detected and downloaded by visiting the site. A Webcast replay will be available for one year following the event within the "Investor Relations," "Earnings Call Archives" section of the Company's website. ABOUT TREEHOUSE FOODS TreeHouse Foods, Inc. is a manufacturer of packaged foods and beverages with more than 50 manufacturing facilities across the United States, Canada and Italy that focuses primarily on private label products for both retail grocery and food away from home customers. We manufacture shelf stable, refrigerated, frozen and fresh products, including beverages and beverage enhancers (single serve beverages, coffees, teas, creamers, powdered beverages and smoothies); meals (cereal, pasta, macaroni and cheese and side dishes); retail bakery (refrigerated and frozen dough, cookies and crackers); condiments (pourable and spoonable dressing, dips, pickles, soups and sauces) and healthy snacks (nuts, trail mix, bars, dried fruits and vegetables). We have a comprehensive offering of packaging formats and flavor profiles, and we also offer natural, organic and preservative free ingredients in many categories. Our strategy is to be the leading supplier of private label food and beverage products by providing the best balance of quality and cost to our customers. Additional information, including TreeHouse's most recent statements on Forms 10-Q and 10-K, may be found at TreeHouse Foods' website, http://www.treehousefoods.com. SOURCE TreeHouse Foods, Inc. Related Links http://www.treehousefoods.com WASHINGTON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An innovative survey from the University of Maryland's Program for Public Consultation (PPC) reveals significant differences between the budget proposed in the Trump administration's "Budget Blueprint" for 2018 and what the public recommends. The findings were released today by Voice Of the People. For the top ten areas, the gaps between the spending proposals of the majority of the public and those of the Trump administration total $139.6 billion. For Republicans these gaps are narrower totaling $86.9 billion, while for Democrats the total is $188.5 billion. "The gaps between the public's proposed budget and the Trump administration's budget are quite substantial," said PPC Director Steven Kull, who directed the survey, "especially when it comes to military spending." Working on-line, a representative sample of more than 1800 registered voters were presented the authorized Federal budget for 2017, broken into 31 line items, and given the opportunity to make changes for 2018 as they saw fit, getting feedback as they went along about the impact of their choices on the budget deficit. The ten major gaps between the majority position of the public and the Trump Budget Blueprint include: Military Spending $94.4 billion: By far the biggest gap is for the three components of military spending. Overall the Trump administration favors a $53.4 billion increase while the public favors a $41 billion cut a $94.4 billion gap. For the base Pentagon budget, the Trump blueprint proposes a ten percent increase of $52 billion, while the majority of voters propose a five percent cut of $26 billion. For operations in in Afghanistan and against the Islamic State in Iraq, the administration wants to keep the current levels of $65 billion, however the public wants to see this cut back by $15 billion. For nuclear weapons, Trump calls for a seven percent buildup of $1.4 billion, while the public does not support an increase. The gap between Trump's military spending levels and those preferred by a majority of Republicans is smaller at $58.4 billion. A majority of Republicans favor no increase in the base budget, no increase in nuclear weapons spending and a $5 billion cut for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Democrats favor a $76 billion cut for the base budget, $15 billion for Afghanistan and Iraq and no increase for nuclear weaponsa $144.4 billion gap with Trump's budget. Education $9 billion: For the Department of Education, overall the Trump administration makes a 13 percent reduction of $9 billion. The public overall does not make any changes to education. Republicans make a $9 billion cut ($5 billion for K-12, $4 billion for higher education), while Democrats make an increase of $3 billion ($2 billion for special education and $1 billion for higher education). Veterans Affairs $7.9 billion: For Veterans Affairs, Trump proposes a 4.5 percent increase of $7.9 billion (covering both mandatory and discretionary spending). But the public overall and neither Republicans nor Democrats want to see any increase. Public Housing $6.2 billion: For public housing, the Trump administration calls for a 13 percent cut of $6.2 billion. The public overall and the Democrats do not make a change, though a majority of Republicans call for a six percent cut of $3 billion. State Department and AID $6.1 billion: For spending on the State Department and the Agency for International Development the administration seeks a 28 percent cut of $10.1 billion from the core spending of $36 billion. The public agrees that there should be a cut, but only an 11 percent cut of $4 billion. A majority of Democrats do not make any cuts, but Republicans do cut $10 billion in line with the president's plan. Medical Research $5.8 billion: For spending on medical research the Trump administration favors a 17 percent cut of $5.8 billion for the National Institute of Health. The public overall and Democrats do not support any change, while Republicans are largely in line with the Trump administration, favoring a $5 billion cut. Homeland Security $4.8 billion: For Homeland Security the Trump administration wants a 7 percent increase of $2.8 billion, in part to make a down payment on the border wall with Mexico. The public overall and Democrats cut $2 billion. Republicans do not favor any change up or down, though "border protection" is mentioned as one of the activities in this category. Space Program $3.9 billion: The Trump administration only trims $100 million from the space program. However the public wants a $2 billion cut, though Republicans cut $4 billion and Democrats do not support a change. Pollution Control $2.6 billion: For spending on the Environmental Protection Agency, the Trump administration favors a 31 percent cut of $2.6 billion, while the public overall does not favor any change for pollution control. A majority of Republicans favors an 11 percent cut of $1 billion, while Democrats favor an 11 percent increase of $1 billion. Mass Transit $2 billion: The Trump administration calls for a $2 billion cut to Amtrak while the public overall does not favor any change in spending on mass transit. Republicans favor a $1 billion cut to mass transit, while Democrats favor a $1 billion increase. The survey was fielded March 8-16 with a national probability-based sample of 1,817 registered voters, provided by Nielsen Scarborough from its sample of respondents, recruited by mail and telephone using a random sample of households. The margin of error was +/-2.3 percent. The full report, which includes additional spending items and proposals for revenues, will be forthcoming in the next weeks. A full chart of these spending recommendations with party breakdowns can be seen at: http://www.publicconsultation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Comparing-Budgets.pdf Contact: Rich Robinson 202-232-7500 or [email protected] SOURCE Voice Of the People Related Links http://www.vop.org JERUSALEM, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama-Hacohen is escorting a delegation of ambassadors to UNESCO on a trip to Israel, organized by AJC Project Interchange. "We appreciate and thank each ambassador for taking the time to experience first-hand Israel's dynamism as well as the serious security challenges this small UN member state continues to confront in the tumultuous Middle East," said AJC CEO David Harris. "The more one knows about Israel, the more one understands, and that is why this five-day visit is so important." The visit is a first for UNESCO ambassadors and follows similar trips by UN ambassadors, organized by AJC Project Interchange with the Israeli Mission to the UN. To provide a deeper understanding of the geopolitical and security challenges Israel faces, the UNESCO ambassadors are traveling throughout Israel, including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and the Gaza border. In Jerusalem, the ambassadors toured the Old City of Jerusalem, visited the Temple Mount, met with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and learned about the city's diversity, efforts to protect the Christian, Jewish and Muslim holy sites, and assure religious freedom. They met with Israeli officials and academic experts, as well as with Israelis representative of the country's diverse population. The delegation also traveled to Ramallah, met with Palestinian government officials and discussed co-existence opportunities, including a joint Japanese-Jordanian-Palestinian-Israeli industry park. Both in Israel and in Ramallah, the ambassadors discussed with officials current challenges to advancing the peace process. The first-ever visit of UNESCO ambassadors follows last December's visit by a delegation of 14 ambassadors to the UN. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon escorted that group with AJC Project Interchange. It marked the fifth time that AJC (American Jewish Committee) brought a group of UN Ambassadors to Israel. SOURCE American Jewish Committee Related Links http://www.ajc.org LONDON, MOSCOW and WASHINGTON, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Joint Event Being Held Today in Washington DC With Nuclear Threat Initiative The International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe ("The Luxembourg Forum") today warns that the US & Europe are at imminent risk of a deadly nuclear attack from rogue states, such as North Korea, and terror groups, such as ISIS. As international tensions about North Korea's weapon capabilities escalate in the aftermath of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's stark warning of the potential for military action, and fears mount about whether Iran will comply with the terms of the nuclear deal it signed last year, global experts on nuclear proliferation gathered in Washington DC today (23 March) to warn of the risk of catastrophic terrorism from rogue states and radical terror groups. At an event today at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC, The Luxembourg Forum together with the Nuclear Threat Initiative will launch their latest publication 'Preventing the Crisis of the Nuclear Arms Control and Catastrophic Terrorism'. The book analyses the current global threats posed by nuclear proliferation and makes recommendations as to how to mitigate the threats. Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the Luxembourg Forum, warned that "global powers led by Russia and the US must urgently resume talks with the goal of preventing further nuclear and long-range missile tests against the growing threat of nuclear terrorism, in whatever form it may take, ranging from the detonation of a 'dirty' bomb by a terror group or the destruction of a nuclear facility to a full-fledged nuclear attack." Coming amid deadlock in the attempts for nuclear disarmament and as North Korea increases its nuclear capability, speakers will reflect on how developments shine a light on the impotence of the great powers, especially the US and Russia, and the UN Security Council coming together to foster effective dialogue. According to Dr. Moshe Kantor, "North Korea continues to violate numerous UN Security Council Resolutions in proceeding with its singular nuclear and missile testing program. North Korea's actions risk further provoking both its southern neighbour, Japan, and the US to expand their anti-missile defence systems, a move opposed by Russia and China. "Escalating tensions could potentially result in a domino effect, as shown by the latest proposals from the South Korean parliament for the country to create its own nuclear weapon, an idea that has long been debated by South Korean experts and officials. If such suggestions gain traction, other nuclear states could materialise, and the collapse of the entire nuclear non-proliferation regime would then be inevitable." Dr. Moshe Kantor also calls on the international community to do all in their power to ensure the full implementation of the agreements by all parties with regard to the Iranian nuclear program. Sharing his vision for a rapprochement of bilateral relations and cooperation between leading nuclear powers the USA and Russia, Dr. Moshe Kantor stresses the parties "should pursue a constructive dialogue aimed at Iran remaining a nuclear weapon-free state and ensuring it does not resume its questionable activities in the nuclear field." Speakers at today's event include Luxembourg President Dr Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, General Vladimir Dvorkin, Alexey Arbatov, Des Browne, Joan Rohlfing, Page Stoutland and Andrew Bienlawski. Full biographical detail can be found below. Notes to Editors The International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe was established by decision of the International Conference on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, held 24-25 May 2007 in Luxembourg. The Advisory Council comprises 49 of the most authoritative and best-known international experts from 14 different countries. The Forum is one of the most representative non-governmental organizations to bring together leading international experts in the field of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and arms reduction and limitation. The President of the Forum is Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor. The main bodies of the Forum are: the International Advisory Council and the Supervisory Council. The main tasks of the Forum are to analyze threats of proliferation of nuclear weaponry and to draw up specific proposals and recommendations as to further ways of reducing nuclear weapons, strengthening nuclear and missile non-proliferation regimes, preventing attempts to acquire nuclear weapons and technologies by unstable regimes and terrorist organizations and of resolving regional nuclear crises. Amongst participants at the presentation at the event were well-known international experts as Viatcheslav KANTOR, President of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe; Vladimir DVORKIN, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Luxembourg Forum, Center for International Security, Principal Researcher, Institute for World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), formerly Director of Scientific Research Institute #4, Russian Federation Defense Ministry; Joan ROHLFING, President and Chief Operating Officer of the NTI, member of the US State Department Advisory Board on Military Threat Reduction, member of the International Relations Board; Des BROWNE, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, founder and member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (TLG) and formerly UK Minister of Defense; PAGE STOUTLAND, Vice President, NTI Scientific and Technical Affairs; Robert BERLS, NTI Senior Advisor on Russia and Eurasia; Andrew BIENIAWSKI, Vice President, NTI Material Security and Minimization; Alexey ARBATOV, Deputy Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Luxembourg Forum, Head of the IMEMO RAS Centre for International Security, RAS Academician and other individuals. For media enquiries: Marc Cohen / Shari Ryness / Kate Turner, The PR Office Email: [email protected] Tel: +44-20-7284-6969 SOURCE The International Luxembourg Forum SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vixxo, a national leader in facility and asset management solutions, is celebrating its one-year anniversary with more than 800 associates aligned around its mission to reinvent the facilities industry and establishing its presence as one of Arizona's fastest growing companies. Vixxo blazed new trails in asset management and data analytics in 2016 and is positioned for continued expansion throughout 2017. In 2016, Vixxo emerged as a result of two industry leaders joining forces, FM Facility Maintenance and First Service Networks and their subsidiaries. During the first year, Vixxo claimed its eighth-year on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America list, was named a top 40 company to watch in 2017 by Arizona Commercial Real Estate and its CTO, Gint Grabauskas was named a Computerworld Premier 100 Technology Leader. Vixxo's continuous growth is the result of a vision focused on leading the next generation of facilities management and having the driven and diverse talent to realize their goals. During the past year, Vixxo hired nearly 350 associates and had 80 internal promotions, with plans to hire 400 additional associates nationwide in 2017. "When we launched as Vixxo one year ago, we set ourselves up to the challenge of redefining the industry," said Vixxo CEO Jim Reavey. "One year later, we are proud to see this change happening. More importantly, our mission of enhancing how facility management works has just begun." Another 2016 milestone for Vixxo was rolling out its Asset Tagging Program. Asset tagging enables Vixxo to accurately identify, catalog and maintain robust maintenance protocols on critical pieces of equipment at the world's largest restaurant, retail, convenience and grocery stores nationwide. Clients working with Vixxo represent more than 150 of the world's most recognizable brands, including Starbucks, 7-Eleven and Michaels. Vixxo, based out of Scottsdale, Ariz., maintains a network of 150,000 service providers and serves more than 65,000+ client locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. Fusion, the technology platform powering Vixxo, allows businesses to make more informed decisions, saving an average of 14 percent on annual facility spend. Vixxo is the first in the facility management industry to give customers guaranteed savings and peace of mind that the local service providers completing the work on their assets meet Vixxo standards and finish the job promptly at a fair and reasonable cost. MEDIA CONTACT Jessica Pridonoff, LAVIDGE [email protected] (480) 998-2600 ext. 577 SOURCE Vixxo Related Links http://www.vixxo.com If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Hyderabad, March 19 : CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri on Sunday said that by making Yogi Adityanath the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the BJP and its ideological parent the RSS have sent out a clear message that "they want to transform India into a Hindu Rashtra". It is also a clear message by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that the backward classes, minorities and other oppressed sections of society "will have to accept upper caste leadership", the Communist Party of India-Marxist leader said at a public rally here. He also accused Yogi Adityanath of always speaking against the Muslim and the Dalits. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Yogi Adityanath was earlier accused of inciting communal tensions. "He has always been the symbol of communal violence, riots, intolerance and hatred," Vijayan said. "One cannot forget the fact that he has gone to the extreme of comparing Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan with Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed. He also tarnished the image of socio-cultural leaders ranging from Aamir Khan to Mother Teresa and also asked those reluctant to do 'suryanamaskar' to go to Pakistan." Vijayan said that at a time when the Ayodhya Ram temple issue was relegated to the background of Indian politics, Adityanath triggered a venomous communal campaign to bring it to the centre of BJP agenda. "By making a person having criminal background the Chief Minister of the largest state, the message the BJP sends to the nation is that they will continue to try to capture power by resorting to communal riots," the Chief Minister said. He said only a party with sheer contempt for secularism and democracy can elevate such person as the Chief Minister. Washington, March 20 : Republicans have made a pitch for their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare ahead of a critical vote this week, a media report said. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Sunday expressed confidence about the prospects of passing the Republican healthcare plan, called the American Health Care Act, The Hill magazine said in the report. Other Republicans, however, voiced concerns about the plan, with Senator Rand Paul predicting it would not pass through Congress. Later on Sunday, Ryan told Fox News that he was optimistic about the chances of passing the plan. "We feel very good where we are," Ryan said, adding "We're still having conversations with our members. We're making fine-tuning improvements to the bill to reflect people's concerns, to reflect people's improvements." But Ryan admitted that there were improvements to be made to the bill until it is brought to the floor. The Republicans are not "doing this behind the scenes and just bringing some bill to the floor and making people vote for it." "We're listening to the people," he added. Meanwhile, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney slammed the ObamaCare saying one of the key points of the Republicans' plan is that it is going to "encourage more competition". That, he said, would lower the costs for everyone. "The Affordable Care Act wasn't really ObamaCare. It wasn't really the Affordable Care Act. It was the Affordable Coverage Act," Mulvaney told CBS News on Sunday night. "And those people that you just described could afford to buy insurance, but they couldn't afford to go to the doctor because the deductibles were so high." The Trump administration and House Republican leaders are making two significant changes to the ObamaCare replacement bill ahead of an expected vote on Thursday. The bill, unveiled earlier this month, is now being considered by two congressional committees ahead of its passage through the House and Senate. New Delhi, March 20 : The Congress on Monday demanded a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the conduct of Goa Governor Mridula Sinha in relation to the invitation to the BJP to form the government in the state. Governor Sinha invited the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the post-poll government in the state despite the Congress emerging as the single-largest party in the assembly, Congress members said. Raising the matter in the upper house, Congress senior leader Digvijay Singh said that the matter should be discussed as he had already submitted substantive motion on it. "As suggested, I have submitted substantive motion (on it)," he told Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien. Kurien then told him that the matter was being "examined" by the Chairman and he would be informed about it. To this, Singh said: "This is well taken. I understand. But the urgency (of the matter) is lost". "We request you to kindly look into it. The role of Governor is totally unjustified and has gone against the Constitution and democracy," said the Congress leader, who as the Congress General Secretary was in charge of the party affairs in Goa. Singh said that it has been a practice that in case of fractured mandate, the single-largest party is called to form the government. "It's a murder of democracy," he added. To this, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reacted sharply and urged the Chair to get the term "murder of democracy" expunged from the record of the Rajya Sabha proceedings. The Congress was supported by Janata Dal-United and the Communist Party of India-Marxist on the issue. Speaking on the issue, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said that it should be taken up for discussion after lunch. Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that since the matter was with the Chairman, it should be left to him to decide about it. New Delhi, March 20 : Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh on Monday said the state government will take legal opinion on whether his minister Navjot Singh Sidhu can continue to work on TV. "We will have to ask our Advocate General to give us an opinion... whether a person who is a minister can do what he wants to do. It will depend entirely on what legal position is," Amarinder Singh said in an interview on India Today TV. He was responding to a question on Sidhu's decision to continue working on TV even after becoming a minister in the state. He said he will continue to be part of the popular TV programme, "The Kapil Sharma Show". Speaking on his relationship with Sidhu, the Chief Minister said: "I have always had a very warm relationship with him and his family. They are Patiala family. The families have known each other a long time. "It is only in the political field we have been rivals in last couple of years." "I am sure we will get on well... he has given me a lot of respect, I don't expect any problems from him at all," he added. Washington, March 21 : House Republican leaders unveiled a set of changes to modify their ObamaCare or Affordable Care Act replacement bill, as they seek to win more votes for the legislation, a media report said. The changes issued on Monday night mark efforts by Republican leaders and the White House to appease both conservatives and moderates who have expressed reservations about the legislation called the American Health Care Act, CNN said in the report. Many of the changes would make additional revisions to Medicaid -- a programme that has provided coverage to more than 10 million people in 31 states -- that were pushed by conservative members. One addition would give states the option of requiring able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work, participate in job training programmes or do community service. The revised legislation would also allow states to opt to receive federal Medicaid funding as a block grant for the adults and children in their programme. The current bill calls for giving states a set amount of money per enrollee, known as a per capita cap system. Funding for elderly and disabled participants would be based on enrollment. Another alteration would immediately prevent states from expanding Medicaid. Under the first version of the legislation, enhanced funding for Medicaid would be repealed as of January 1, 2020, but nothing barred states from expanding the programme before that, the CNN report added. The legislation will be taken up on Wednesday by the House Rules Committee and set to be voted on by the House on Thursday -- the seven-year anniversary of former President Barack Obama signing the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Monday night: "With the President's leadership and support for this historic legislation, we are now one step closer to keeping our promise to the American people and ending the Obamacare nightmare." "With this amendment, we accelerate tax relief, give states additional options to spend health care dollars how they choose, strengthen what were already substantial pro-life protections, and ensure there are necessary resources to help older Americans and the disabled," The Hill magazine quoted Ryan as saying. On Tuesday morning, the President will visit Capitol Hill in an attempt to seal House Republican support for the plan. New Delhi, March 21 : In a bid to enhance cooperation in countering security challenges, the national security chiefs of the Bimstec countries held their first meeting here on Tuesday. "Strengthening cooperation to counter security challenges," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. "First Meeting of National Security Chiefs of Bimstec countries held in New Delhi today," he said. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) is a regional bloc comprising Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. With the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) regional group increasingly becoming ineffective mainly due to non-cooperation by Pakistan on several issues, India has been giving more importance to the Bimstec regional grouping in recent times. Last year, as the host of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit, India also organised a Bimstec outreach meeting on the sidelines in Goa. 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. Shillong, March 20 : The Meghalaya assembly on Monday summoned a top municipal officer to appear at the Bar of the House on March 23 after he was found guilty of breaching the privilege of an Independent legislator, John Leslee K. Sangma. Zenithsky J. Sangma, the Chief Executive Officer of Tura Municipal Board, was summoned after the house adopted a report of the Privilege Committee tabled by Independent legislator, Saleng A. Sangma, who is also the Chairman of the committee. "I have carefully perused the report of privileges committee presented in the house on March 16 and have found that the committee after strenuous exercise and deliberation has come to an irresistible conclusion that Zenithsky J. Sangma is guilty of committing breach of privilege of John Leslee and the house," Assembly Speaker Abu Taher Mondal told the legislators. Mondal said a warrant will be issued with a direction to the departments concerned and to bring Zenithsky to the house on March 23 as provided under Rule 171 and Rule 172 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the assembly. Zenithsky will be the second person to appear at the Bar of the House after Prof. Kapila Chatterjee, who was the Editor, Publisher and Printer of Young-India, an English weekly for publishing a libellous news item, "The bark of ignorant mischievous politicians", and an equally defamatory editorial, "Privileges of legislators and assemblies". Chatterjee appeared at the Bar of the House on April 4, 1973 and later withdrew it by bowing to the Speaker's chair and to the two sides of the house. In its report, the committee unanimously recommended summoning and reprimanding the municipality officer in the house. "He (Zenithsky) has to tender his apology in the house, failing which strong disciplinary action may be taken including termination of his service," the Privileges Committee report stated. "The punishment proposed by the committee to be meted out to him should also serve as a deterrent to other erring officials while discharging their duties," the report said. The municipal officer had filed "concocted" FIRs against the Independent legislator and summoned him to appear before the Tura Police Station. "Summoning a member to the police station without proper justification is a breach of privilege of the member. Issuing press statements against the elected legislator has crossed all limits of decency and shown contempt for his superiors and for the established rules and procedures which is highly unbecoming of an officer," the report stated. On February 19, 2015, Zenithsky had filed a first information report against the Independent legislator accusing him of preventing and obstructing the enforcement staff of the Tura Municipal Board on official duty and inciting mob violence. Hyderabad, March 21 : Virtually ruling out an out-of-court settlement of the Ayodhya dispute as suggested by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, MP Asaduddin Owaisi said the case was about title. "Please remember Babri Masjid case is about title which the Allahabad High Court wrongly decided as a Partnership case. Hence the appeal in apex court," he tweeted. Owaisi is a member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), which had challenged in the Supreme Court the 2010 verdict of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court directing that the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmbhoomi disputed site be divided into three parts. The court had directed that the 2.77-acre disputed land be divided in three parts - two parts to Hindu organisations and the remaining to the Muslims. The AIMPB, the apex body of Indian Muslims, termed the High Court verdict as "unacceptable", saying it was based on faith and not on evidence. Describing the judgement as "strange and surprising" the Supreme Court had on May 9, 2011 stayed it. The Supreme Court on Tuesday suggested out-of-court settlement while hearing an appeal by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy for construction of the Ram temple. Owaisi hoped that the Supreme Court would decide the other cases pending since the demolition of Babri Msjid in 1992. "I hope Supreme Court decides the contempt petition pending since 1992," he tweeted. "Waiting to hear about whether conspiracy charges will be held against (BJP leaders L.K.) Advani, (Murli Manohar) Joshi, Uma Bharati in Babri demolition case." New Delhi, March 21 : India is hosting the 23rd Conference of Auditors General of Commonwealth nations and nine British overseas territories here, starting Tuesday, to discuss the role of technology in public audit. The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is hosting the conference which is scheduled to be held from March 21-23, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. This is the first time that India is hosting the conference. With the theme 'Fostering Partnerships for Capacity Development in Public Audit', the conference will discuss leveraging technology in public audit and environment audit, it said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will address the conference here on Wednesday. The conference will see the participation of 52 Commonwealth countries besides the British overseas territories. About 80 delegates from 37 countries are expected to participate in it. The auditing organisations in these countries come together every three years to discuss the major challenges before them. The last such conference was held in Malta in 2014. The CAG heads the International Working Group on Information System Audits and provides technical assistance to various audit institutions of other countries. On information technology and environment audits, the CAG has its own international training centres in Noida and Jaipur, respectively, where auditors from all over the world are trained in specialised aspects of public auditing. New Delhi, March 21 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Tuesday and discussed several issues related to the state. The hour-long meeting between the two leaders was held at Parliament House. Precise details of what they discussed were not known but informed sources told IANS that both leaders discussed development related issues. After meeting Modi, Yogi Adityanath didn't speak to the media and left for Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence. Earlier, he called on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Adityanath, who arrived in Delhi earlier in the day, will also meet President Pranab Mukherjee, BJP President Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and veteran party leader L.K. Advani. During his meeting with Shah, Adityanath is likely to discuss portfolio distribution in his ministry. Adityanath was sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday after the Bharatiya Janata Party was swept to power in the state. Agartala, March 21 : During the upcoming visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India, the two countries will sign an agreement for supply of additional 60 MW of electricity to the neighbouring country from Tripura, a top official said here on Tuesday. Hasina is scheduled to visit New Delhi from April 7 to 10. "Officials of India and Bangladesh governments met in Dhaka on March 17 and finalised the technical and other issues to supply extra 60 mw electricity to that country from Tripura," the Indian official told IANS. He said: "During Sheikh Hasina's visit, the Bangladesh and Indian government officials will sign an agreement in this regard and immediately after that the supply of additional power (to Bangladesh) will begin." The official said that four Indian officials from the NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN), Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd and the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh held meeting in Dhaka with the top officials of Bangladesh Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and Bangladesh Power Development Board and finalised power tariff and other technical details. The NVVN is a subsidiary of state owned National Thermal Power Corporation. Tripura has been supplying 100 MW of electricity to Bangladesh since March 23, 2016, in addition to the 500 MW the country is receiving from West Bengal since 2013. "Bangladesh has sought 100 MW electricity from India to solve its power crisis in the eastern part of the country. As Tripura government was ready to provide additional 100 MW power to Bangladesh, the Indian government recently informed this to Bangladesh governemnt accordingly," Tripura Power and Transport Minister Manik Dey told IANS. "However, Bangladesh has to develop its infrastructure on their side to receive additional power. Considering their technical feasibility now, they take 60 MW electricity after developing transmission facilities on their side," he added. "During my visit to Bangladesh in February last year, (Bangladesh Prime Minister) Sheikh Hasina requested us to provide additional 100 MW electricity and I instantly agreed. I had requested her to approach the Indian government on the matter," the minister said. "Although currently we are supposed to supply 100 MW of power, sometimes Bangladesh takes 110 MW to 115 MW power to meet their requirements." A 47-km double circuit transmission line was erected, linking the power grid at Surjyamaninagar in western Tripura to the Comilla power grid in eastern Bangladesh, to supply electricity to the neighbouring country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina along with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on March 23, 2016, launched the supply of 100 MW power through video-conferencing from their offices in New Delhi, Dhaka and Agartala. The minister said that Tripura had already become a power-surplus state. "If we supply additional power to Bangladesh we will be able to earn extra revenue." During his visit to Dhaka on June 6-7 in 2015, Prime Minister Modi had discussed with Hasina power supply possibility from Tripura. Modi had declared that India would eventually enhance the power supply to Bangladesh to 1,100 MW. Colombo, March 21 : Sri Lankan authorities on Tuesday arrested 10 Indian fishermen for poaching in its territorial waters. The authorities also seized one trawler used by the fishermen in the waters south of Delft Island, Xinhua news agency reported. The arrests came a day after Sri Lankan Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera announced that authorities will continue arresting Indian fishermen if they do not stop illegal poaching. Amaraweera said the government was also looking at resolving the fishing dispute in a diplomatic manner and talks would be held next month. Fishermen in India's Tamil Nadu state had issued an ultimatum to address the dispute, failing which they said the situation may spiral out of control. The warning was issued after a Tamil Nadu fisherman was killed earlier this month by the Sri Lanka Navy. New Delhi, March 21 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the amicable settlement of the Ayodhya Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute was a better course than on insisting on judicial pronouncement. A bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said this as BJP leader Subramanian Swamy urged it to constitute a bench to hear a batch of petitions challenging a 2010 Allahabad High Court order. The 2010 order said that there should be a partition of the Ayodhya land between the parties to the dispute. Saying that negotiated settlement between the parties to the dispute was the best course, Chief Justice Khehar offered to act as a mediator provided that he would not hear the matter on the judicial side. Pointing towards Justice Kaul, the Chief Justice said that he too could mediate. Justice Khehar told Swamy: "Any person of your choice. You want me to mediate (but) I will not hear (on judicial side). You want my brother (Judge). There are issues. You all sit together across the table and decide." New Delhi, March 21 : In a bid to enhance cooperation in countering security challenges in the Bay of Bengal region, the national security chiefs of the Bimstec countries held their first meeting here on Tuesday. "The meeting noted that Bimstec member-states face common security challenges and underlined the necessity of addressing traditional and non-traditional security challenges to harness economic prosperity and human security in the region," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement after the meeting. "The meeting underscored the importance of recognising the Bay of Bengal as common security space and agreed to work out collective strategies for common responses," it stated. "Given that terrorism continues to remain the single most significant threat to peace and stability in the Bay of Bengal region, the Meeting recognised the need for urgent measures to counter and prevent the spread of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation and decided to take concrete measures to enhance cooperation and coordination among their law enforcement, intelligence and security organisations and enhance capacity building." The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) is a regional grouping of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. With the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) regional group increasingly becoming ineffective mainly due to non-cooperation by Pakistan on several issues, India has been giving more importance to the Bimstec regional grouping in recent times. Tuesday's meeting was in pursuance of the decisions taken at the Bimstec Leaders' Retreat held in Goa in October last year on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit. The meeting on Tuesday was chaired by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and was attended by Major General (Retd.) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, Defence and Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh; Sonam Topgay, Secretary in the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs of Bhutan; Thaung Tun, National Security Advisor of Myanmar; Singha Bahadur Shrestha, Inspector General of Armed Police Force of Nepal; Brig. M.D.U.V Gunatilake, Director of Military Intelligence of Sri Lanka; Vera Urairat, Deputy Secretary General of the National Security Council of Thailand; and Sumith Nakandala, Secretary General of Bimstec. According to the External Affairs Ministry statement, the Bimstec member-states were also invited for a Conference on Counter Radicalisation to be hosted by India. "Noting with concern the emerging trends in cyber space that have security implications, the meeting decided to deepen cooperation among the respective cyber institutions through a joint forum on cyber security," it stated. "The meeting emphasised the importance of maritime security in view of the significance of the Bay of Bengal for the well-being, prosperity, security and socio-economic development in the Bimstec member-states and decided to examine ways to further strengthen maritime security cooperation, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR)." The participants also discussed ways and means of harnessing emerging space technologies for addressing security challenges. They reviewed the progress made in the Bimstec Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes and its sub-groups, and decided that Bimstec National Security Chiefs or Advisors will oversee implementation of their work. "The meeting decided to establish a Track 1.5 Bimstec Security Dialogue Forum to promote and encourage security dialogue among Bimstec strategic community," the statement said. "In view of the inter-linkages between the Himalayan and the Bay of Bengal ecological systems, the meeting considered setting up of a Bimstec Himalayan Science Council to bring together scientific institutions to study the health of the ecological systems and their impact on human security," the MEA statement said. India also made an offer of 100 scholarships towards capacity building in security-related sectors. Kolkata, March 21 : A police complaint has been lodged against eminent Bengali poet Srijato Bandyopadhay for posting a 12-line poem on social media that allegedly hurts "Hindu religious beliefs". Expressing shock over the complaint, the poet said it only showed India is in the "grip of rising intolerance". The complainant Arnab Sarkar filed a general diary complaint at the Cyber Crime Police Station of northern West Bengal's Siliguri Police Commissionerate on Monday night, demanding Srijato's arrest and exemplary punishment for the post. "I challenge all intellectuals to also write about the dark sides of other religions," said Sarkar, a resident of Siliguri in Darjeeling district. A police officer said the higher authorities were being consulted on the complaint. "A general diary has been lodged in this issue. We are in conversation with the higher authorities regarding the complaint. We might get in touch with the Cyber Crime Department of the Kolkata Police for further investigation," said Arindam Sarkar, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Siliguri. The poem titled "Abhishaap" ("Curse" in English) was posted on Facebook on March 19, the day Yogi Adityanath was sworn in as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. "It is very shocking. This is happening everywhere. Entire country is in the grip of intolerance. And it is growing," Srijato said, referring to the complaints filed against actor Kamal Haasan for his alleged derogatory remarks on Indian epic 'Mahabharata'. The poem has generated a lot of reaction on social media, most of which were directed against the metaphoric use of words "condom" and "trishul" (trident) in the last line. The introductory stanza sees the use of the word 'yogi'. Till Tuesday afternoon, the post (poem) received 7,000 'likes', as many as 1,510 shares and as many comments. New Delhi, March 21 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged member states of the Bimstec regional bloc to fight common security threats such as terrorism, extremism and radicalisation together. He said this when the national security chiefs of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) nations called on him here. The Bimstec comprises Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. "PM called upon Bimstec member states to come together to counter common security threats such as terrorism, extremism, and radicalisation, and drugs, arms and human trafficking and natural disasters," the Prime Minister's Office tweeted. "PM said Bimstec states should work to address non-traditional security threats, such as in domain of cyber security and in maritime domain," it said. Earlier on Tuesday, in a bid to enhance cooperation in countering security challenges in the Bay of Bengal region, the national security chiefs of the Bimstec countries held their first meeting here. With the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) regional group increasingly becoming ineffective mainly due to non-cooperation by Pakistan on several issues, India has been giving more importance to the Bimstec regional grouping in recent times. Tuesday's meeting was in pursuance of the decisions taken at the Bimstec Leaders' Retreat held in Goa in October last year on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit. The meeting on Tuesday was chaired by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and was attended by Major General (Retd.) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, Defence and Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh; Sonam Topgay, Secretary in the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs of Bhutan; Thaung Tun, National Security Advisor of Myanmar; Singha Bahadur Shrestha, Inspector General of Armed Police Force of Nepal; Brig. M.D.U.V Gunatilake, Director of Military Intelligence of Sri Lanka; Vera Urairat, Deputy Secretary General of the National Security Council of Thailand; and Sumith Nakandala, Secretary General of Bimstec. According to the Prime Minister's Office, the national security chiefs appreciated Modi's vision for Bimstec. "They thanked the PM for hosting the first ever meeting of the national security chiefs of the member states in India," it said in a separate tweet. New Delhi, March 21 : Vowing to work for the all-round development of Uttar Pradesh, new Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday that his priorities will be to rid the state of corruption and communal riots. "We will work to make the state free of corruption, rowdyism and hooliganism. We will present a developmental model which will prevent distress migration of youths for jobs," he said. Adiyanath, a long-time BJP member of Parliament from Gorakhpur, told the Lok Sabha that he will curb anti-social elements in the country's most populous state. The leader also took a dig at the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance in his state, saying he came between the two to defeat it in the just-concluded assembly elections. Adityanath, who took oath on Sunday, was in Delhi on Tuesday to meet President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several union ministers and BJP leaders. He claimed credit for bringing about changes in Gorakhpur which, he said, did not enjoy a positive image among the people earlier. Now, he said, no trader in Gorakhpur pays "goonda tax", the town does not witness abductions and there are no communal riots in eastern Uttar Pradesh. "We will be successful in brining the same situation in Uttar Pradesh." Taking a dig at the SP-Congress alliance, Adityanath said: "I am one year younger to Rahul Gandhi and a year older to Akhilesh Yadav. Since I came between them, it was the reason for the alliance's defeat in Uttar Pradesh." The BJP won 312 of the 403 assembly seats in the February-March elections. The Chief Minister also accused the earlier UP government of not utilising most funds allocated by the central government and vowed to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slogan of 'sabka saath-sabka vikas'. Thanking Modi for giving him a chance to serve the state, Adityanath said he will try to lead its growth story. Adityanath met Modi and discussed several issues related to the state. The hour-long meeting was held at Parliament House. The precise details of what they discussed were not known but informed sources told IANS that both discussed development-related issues. After the meeting, Yogi Adityanath didn't speak to the media and left for Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence. Earlier, he called on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. In his meeting with Rajnath Singh, Adityanath discussed law and order in Uttar Pradesh and sought his support. Rajnath is a former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and presently MP from Lucknow. Adityanath also met President Pranab Mukherjee, BJP President Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and party veteran L.K. Advani. During his meeting with Shah, Adityanath is learnt to have discussed portfolio distribution in his ministry. BJP sources said Adityanath wants to keep Home Department with his himself while his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya is trying to get the portfolio. They said Adityanath is likely to announce the portfolio by Thursday. Besides two Deputy Chief Ministers, his council of ministers has 22 other Cabinet ministers, nine Ministers of State with independent charge and 13 Ministers of State. Las Vegas, March 22 : Claiming it is "creating magic in the clouds" top officials of creatives company Adobe launched its Experience Cloud, bringing together digital intelligence and machine learning to provide customers with what they called was a complete solution for their digital needs. Integrating its advertising, marketing and analytics with back-up from documentation and creatives -- now completely available on the Cloud -- Adobe's Chariman, President and CEO, Shantanu Narayen, said that this will provide their clients enormous advantage since it would be leveraging Adobe's Sensei - the machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities. Cloud computing is service offered by technology companies for all the software needs of their clients who access them through the internet or leased lines. Companies can avail of these services by paying a fee, thus avoiding setting up computer networks inhouse. "For creating this magic in the clouds we have taken the best learning from various areas, including artificial intelligence, and adopted it for the needs of companies both big and small," Narayen told thousands of company officials, industry analysts and representatives of partner companies here on Tuesday while launching the Experience Cloud. Adobe is best known for its Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat Reader - the pictures editor, designing software and portable document writer. The company says it now has hundreds of products offered on the Cloud. He said the interest associated for the company's product in sophisticated and emerging markets "is profound" adding that in Asia, Adobe has a very large number of clients, including multinational companies. "Our biggest journey has been to make the customer feel he is in charge and that he is getting transparent service," Narayen later told reporters and industry analysts in a question and answer session. In response to a question on security of data where governments seek on its citizens, Narayen said they were working with others like Microsoft to arrive at a common approach, which the tech giant was working on regarding its global network of data centres called Azure. Narayen also ruled out setting up Cloud infrastructure in the future, saying their's was essentially a software company which could access large computer banks from companies which specialise in such businesses. Brad Rancher, the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Digitial Marketing said: "Experience Cloud gives customers everything they need for a well-designed, personal and consistent experience." Later, on the sidelines of the Adobe's Summit conference, the Managing Director of South Asia, Kulmeet Bawa, said that India was a very important market for the San Jose, California-based multinational and that Indian operations were the second largest outside the US. He said much of the intellectual property of the company had lately been developed in India. "We have one-third of Adobe's staff strength sitting in India, that is around 4,200 out of 14,000 globally," Bawa told IANS. He said even for R&D, almost one-third operated from India and many products were built out of the country, including the illustrator - in two places, Gurugram and Bengaluru. He said the key differentiator of Adobe was that it provided complete digital solutions to customers on the cloud and hand-held them throughout the relationship. "For a fee, we set up everything that a client may need for any digital work. Earlier, a company would need to set up the infrastructure, hire staff to man it and buy new updates. We do all that without the attendant hassle for them and they love it," Bawa said. He also said that India was the fastest growing country in Adobe's portfolio and many of the best names in online retail, telecom, airlines and banking were its clients. "When we look at a vertical, we first aim at the top companies and after they feel satisfied, getting other clients is not so difficult." Bawa said that there was widespread acceptance of what was on offer on the Cloud. The concern of yesteryears - security of data - is vanishing, as Adobe and other companies deliver reliable and secure cloud services. The fast-moving changes in technology has made data much safer than before, he said. (The writer is in Las Vegas at the invitation of Adobe. He can be reached at hardev.sanotra@ians.in) Mumbai, March 22 : Despite a strong rap by the Bombay High Court, around 3,000 resident doctors in government hospitals in Maharashtra continued their mass casual leave agitation for the third day on Wednesday. Health care services for the poor were hit significantly across the state as the medicos' agitation threatened to escalate with other government doctors expressing support and the state hitting back by serving show-cause notices to the resident doctors, officials of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) said. In a stern warning, Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan said if the resident doctors failed to resume duties by Wednesday evening, they could face disciplinary action. Boosting the agitating doctors' cause, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Wednesday expressed support to the resident doctors' demand for implementation of the Violence Against Doctors Act, 2010, and adequate security provisions for them as per the high court directives. IMA President Sagar Mundada said its 45,000 member-doctors in Maharashtra and over 200,000 in India also oppose any punitive action against the agitating resident medicos. Late on Tuesday evening, MARD office-bearers said the association members would resume duties later Tuesday night or by Wednesday morning after the Bombay High Court rapped them for the continuing mass casual leave agitation. But MARD office-barers' expectations were belied as the resident doctors continued their agitation for the third day. Hearing a PIL on Tuesday, Bombay High Court Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice G.S. Kulkarni made strong observations on the resident doctors and asked them to join duties, failing which the government was free to take action against them. "We have always obeyed the court orders and are appealing to all the resident doctors to report back for duties as soon as possible," a MARD spokesperson told IANS after the court observations. The MARD agitation to protest frequent attacks on resident doctors by relatives of aggrieved patients, resulted in major disruptions in health-care at government hospitals, hundreds of scheduled surgeries were postponed and winding queues of poor patients witnessed outside the hospitals. MARD President Yashowardhan Kabra said the sudden spate of attacks on medicos has left them shattered and "it is difficult to work under such life-threatening conditions". In Mumbai, the government hospitals hit were KEM, Sion LTMG, Nair and Sir JJ Group, where a large number of resident doctors work. Mumbai, March 22 : The three-day mass Casual Leave by resident doctors in Maharashtra's government hospital escalated with 40,000 medicos of the Indian Medical Association joining their protest on Wednesday. The state government meanwhile served an ultimatum till 8 p.m. of Wednesday asking doctors to resume duties failing which they could face a six-month pay cut. "We have given them the final ultimatum," Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan told the media. Individual hospitals in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra also initiated their own action of slapping show-cause or suspension notices on the agitating medicos. According to a spokesperson for the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), suspension notices were served on 370 resident doctors in Nagpur and 114 in Solapur. The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation served notices to around 500 doctors asking them to resume work as per the Bombay High Court directive immediately or face acton. IMA President Ashok Tamble said that from Wednesday, all the 40,000 member doctors would strike work in government hospitals across the state, but only essential or emergency medical services shall be maintained. Boosting the agitating doctors' cause, the IMA extended support to the medicos' demand for implementation of the Violence Against Doctors Act, 2010 and adequate provisions for their security as per court directives. Expressing support to MARD from New Delhi, the AIIMS Resident Doctors Association said that instead of providing security to the medicos, the government was threatening to cut salaries and evict them from hostels. "We resident doctors of AIIMS are forced to work with helmets in Emergency as we don't want to lose our vision and life as well as our hard earned degrees," the Association said in a statement. He said there was no discussion on compensation for the doctors who were beaten. Despite a strong rap by the Bombay High Court on Tuesday, MARD made it clear that the agitation would continue till the government ensured security in hospitals against violence by patients' relatives. IMA Youth President Sagar Mundada said its 45,000 member-doctors in Maharashtra and over 200,000 in India also oppose any punitive action against the agitating resident medicos. Bombay High Court Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice G.S. Kulkarni made strong observations on the doctors and asked them to join duties, failing which the government was free to act against them. The MARD agitation against frequent attacks on resident doctors by relatives of patients led to major disruptions in government hospitals. Hundreds of scheduled surgeries were postponed and snaky queues of poor patients were seen outside the hospitals. In Mumbai, the government hospitals hit were KEM, Sion LTMG, Nair and Sir JJ Group. New Delhi, March 22 : BSP leader Satish Chandra Misra on Wednesday said the "basic structure of the Constitution has been tinkered with" by introducing Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Participating in a discussion on electoral reforms in the upper house, Misra referred to the 2001 Supreme Court judgment in the Union of India versus Association for Democratic Reforms case. The apex court observed: "Under our Constitution, Article 19(1)(a) provides for freedom of speech and expression. Voters' speech or expression in case of election would include casting of votes, that is to say, voter speaks out or expresses by casting vote." He also referred to a 1978 Supreme Court judgment in Mohinder Singh Gill versus Chief Election Commissioner where the court observed that "with the end of poll, the whole election is not over. Ballots have to assembled." Mishra said: "The amendment to the Act (Representation of People Act, 1951) to bring in EVMs is ultra vires. "We have committed this mistake, Parliament has committed this mistake. We have tinkered with the basic structure of Constitution and Article 19(1)A of Constitution by introducing voting machines." Misra said today anything electronic can be hacked and the EVMs were no exception. "If even one per cent of tinkering (with votes polled) is possible, it is not a free and fair election." Advocating the mandatory use of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) devices with EVMs, the BSP leader expressed surprise that of 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh, VVAPTs were used only in 20 seats in the latest elections. "Even this system of voters not being able to collect VVPAT slips is not perfect. Most people in our country are not literate or well educated. They cannot quickly read what is on the VVPAT slip. Hence, they should be allowed to collect it and put it in a box themselves after they are satisfied," he said. Misra said that while advanced countries like Japan and Germany are not relying on EVMs for elections, India was insisting on using them. On the anti-defection law, Misra said any elected member who defects to another party must be made to resign from his seat and recontest elections on his new party's symbol. The Bahujan Samaj Party has blamed EVMs for its rout in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election. New Delhi, March 22 : Former Congress leader S.M. Krishna on Wednesday joined the BJP, calling it "very important stop in my onward journey". The former Karnataka Chief Minister heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying "a great India is emerging under his leadership". Krishna formally became a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party President Amit Shah. He left the Congress earlier, saying he was feeling neglected. "It has been a great journey and I have landed at very important stop in my onward journey in the nation's service. I am feeling grateful on joining the BJP. Now, a great India is emerging under the Prime Minister's leadership, ably supported by Amit Shah," he told the media here. Referring to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Krishna said he had been "associated with the great leadership of the BJP" when he was the Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1999 to 2004. Krishna was also the Indian External Affairs Minister. The development could help strengthen BJP election campaign for the Karnataka assembly elections due next year. The BJP has been struggling to make inroads in south Karnataka, where Krishna is an influential leader among the dominant Vokkaliga community. Speaking on the occasion, Shah called Krishna "an asset for the country". "He has played various important roles in his long public life. He served in various capacities, be it MLA, MP or Chief Minister or External Affairs Minister or Governor. His entry (into BJP) will increase our power in Karnataka," Shah said. Shah said Krishna's decision to join the party was in tune with the country's ongoing transformation and BJP's increasing acceptance across India. Three Union Ministers from Karnataka - Ananth Kumar, Sadananda Gowda and Ramesh Jigajinagi- - were among those present. Washington, March 23 : US President Donald Trump and House Republicans are still scrambling to reach a deal on legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare ahead of a vote on Thursday, the media reported. House Speaker Paul Ryan held a long meeting on Wednesday night with moderate Republicans. During the meeting, Republican Representative Charlie Dent, the leader of a moderate group, slammed the bill spearheaded by Ryan and Trump. The vote count for the bill is "tight", CNN reported. As of Wednesday night, 24 House Republicans have flat-out said they will vote against the bill called the American Health Care Act, while four more have indicated they were likely to oppose it. However, the Freedom Caucus -- a conservative Republican faction -- is sounding more optimistic than ever after talking with Trump and the party leaders. Trump was personally calling individual members of the Freedom Caucus on Wednesday evening as a possible deal emerged. Trump is not at all involved in the details, a presidential aide told CNN. "Either (he) doesn't know, doesn't care or both," an aide told CNN. But he is very involved in the sale now, and "appears energised by that". On Monday, House Republicans unveiled a set of changes to modify the bill, as a last minute effort to win more votes for the legislation. Many of the changes would make additional revisions to Medicaid -- a programme that has provided coverage to more than 10 million people in 31 states -- that was pushed by conservative members. Another alteration would immediately prevent states from expanding Medicaid. Trump and Ryan must get 216 Republicans on board and can afford only 21 defections, if no Democrat joins them. Trump has been meeting with lawmakers at the White House to press for votes, but shied away from a public display of confidence. Asked if he plans to keep trying on health care if the House bill fails, the President said: "We'll see what happens", CNN reported. Trump has warned of big losses at the ballot box if Republicans fail to repeal and replace Obamacare, and the White House insists there is no alternative legislation or plan if they fail. "There is no Plan B. There's Plan A and Plan A," said White House press secretary Sean Spicer. "We're going to get this done". Bogota, March 23 : Trials against former guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for 900 crimes including homicide, forced disappearance have begun, said the prosecutor's office. The trials began in the Justice and Peace Chamber of the Superior Tribunal of Bogota, Efe news reported on Wednesday. Leonardo Cabana, a prosecutor from the Office of the Attorney General, said the 179 former FARC guerrillas being questioned have accepted the Justice and Peace Law of Colombia, or Law 975, of 2005. This law sets out alternative sentences of five to eight years imprisonment for those responsible for serious crimes. The former guerrillas are being questioned over attacks on the Miraflores military base in Guaviare, the municipalities of Mitu and Puerto Lleras, and villages of El Billar and Puerto Rico, the prosecution said in a statement. They are also accused of several other crimes, including kidnappings. Under the peace agreement signed between the government and the FARC on November 24, the Senate of Colombia approved the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). The JEP will investigate, sentence and punish those responsible for the most serious crimes, such as genocide, kidnapping, forced disappearance, torture, forced displacement, sexual violence, forced prostitution and sexual slavery. Las Vegas, March 23 : Adobe and Microsoft are jointly working on artificial intelligence (AI) to offer better products and provide customers more automated, intelligence-based experiences, a top Adobe official said here. Brad Rencher, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Marketing, of Adobe said the two tech giants were working on standard data models and sharing of core libraries between Adobe's Sensei and Microsoft's Cortana, both based on artificial intelligence. Cortana is a search tool which can verbally provide answers to search queries and Sensei - a set of intelligent services from Adobe - integrates the advertising, marketing and analytics products offered on Cloud with back up of creatives and documentation. Rencher, who was talking to a group of journalists here at the Adobe's annual Summit, said the joint research and development would combine the specific domain capabilities of Sensei with the wider core data platform of Cortana, thus building a service. Adobe products can now use data from Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Azure into Sensei for intelligent machine learning. Sensei will soon enter into Microsoft tools. Rencher, however, said no discussion had taken place on how to monetise the collaboration. Talking of Adobe's presence in India, Rencher said that it was the fastest growing market and they have had a very substantial amount of the company's research taking place in India, including on Sensei. Rencher said large Indian companies are rapidly adopting Adobe's products and Cloud offerings. "Reliance Industries was looking at how to integrate data across all its various divisions and Adobe had helped a very old newspaper, Malayala Manorama, to completely digitise its functions across the board," noted Rencher. Despite the enormous amount of research taking place on AI, he said he did not believe that it could replace the creative side of human beings. "What AI can do is reduce the time taken in intelligent data crunching and sometimes understanding what went wrong very quickly," Rencher added. "By cutting six months of manual research to, say two minutes, it adds huge amount of strength to the creative aspects of human beings," he noted. (The writer is in Las Vegas at the invitation of Adobe. He can be reached at hardev.sanotra@ians.in) Islamabad, March 23 : Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday offered a dialogue with India to peacefully resolve the Kashmir dispute. Hussain addressed a military parade here on a the occasion of Republic Day, Xinhua news agency reported. He slammed India for what he said were its "irresponsible actions and violation of the ceasefire" which he claimed posed threats to Pakistan's security. "We are ready for a dialogue with India to find out a solution to the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions," he said. He reiterated that Pakistan will continue moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their right to self-determination. The President also urged the international community to play its role for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Pakistan, he said, had no "aggressive designs" against any country but maintained minimum deterrence for regional peace and stability. Pakistan had been fighting the war on terror for years and that the armed forces and other law enforcement had made huge sacrifices. "Pakistan is now much secure than the past because of the unprecedented sacrifices of our armed forces and the people." We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today Kabul, March 23 : Nine police personnel were killed on Thursday in an attack in Afghanistan's Kunduz province, a security official said. "A police official apparently affiliated with the Taliban group gunned down the victims at a checkpoint near Kunduz city and escaped," the official told Xinhua news agency. Patna, March 23 : Although from three different countries, Mahima Shrestha, Sadia Farhat and Rukmini Devi have something in common -- they are fighting for their own empowerment in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) countries of Nepal, Bangladesh and India. They are among millions of women in the HKH region whose empowerment will help achieve sustainable development, experts say. Shrestha has been fighting for land rights in her village near Kathmandu; Sadia has been fighting to send her daughters to school in a village in Bangladesh; Rukmini has been fighting for an equal wage as a farm labourer in a village in Bihar bordering Nepal. Their fight is not only for gender equality; it also reflects their hunger for empowerment as a means of ensuring sustainable development. According to a new research paper, based on a field study by two experts of the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), sustainable development will not be possible without girls and women fully realising their rights in all spheres of life. "Millions of women have been left behind, and gender inequality remains a serious concern at multiple levels and in many different forms. The issue is more serious in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, where the gender gap and gender inequality are very high," Kamala Gurung and Golam Rasul, the two experts, said. They said that in the HKH in particular, universally discriminatory barriers include laws, traditions and issues of access which bar women from owning and inheriting land in many societies. In the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, for instance, one-fifth of the female population cannot inherit property, and virtually none of the Mro and Khyang communities can. In neighbouring Nepal, the government is trying to encourage land ownership for women through an incentive in the form of tax reductions for land registered in the name of a woman. However, in spite of this policy, the pace at which the share of land owned by women is increasing in Nepal is very slow. Government data based on land ownership certificates from 2011 show that women have limited land ownership, ranging from 8 to 10 percent. This averages to less than 0.1 hectares of land per woman per holding. What must be taken into account here is that the absence of claims to property can not only muffle the voices of women but also make it harder for them to enter and flourish in commercial, economic and even certain social activities. "An important lesson learnt from several decades of gender research is that although gender relations play a critical role in the management of natural resources, women tend to be systematically disadvantaged in terms of access to resources, and decision-making," the experts said. According to data from the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN), one of the most successful development initiatives in the country, women's participation as decision-makers on the executive committees of community forest user groups (CFUGs), averaged only 25 per cent in 2012. The numbers clearly indicate that the road to achieving women's empowerment and gender equality in a manner that prioritises the well-being of both men and women remains a long and challenging one. Achieving greater equality between men and women will require a transformation in power relations between them and the breaking of structural barriers impeding progress in this area. Sustainable Development Goal 5, which seeks gender equality and empowerment for all women, offers an opportunity to embed gender equality into transformative approaches to sustainable development. "Prioritising investment in the empowerment of girls and women in the HKH is not only a direct path towards gender equality, poverty reduction and inclusive economic growth, it also ensures that nobody is left behind," the experts said. An enabling environmental and transformative policy is crucial to ensuring sustainable development and the social and economic empowerment of women. This would also help accelerate the implementation of existing commitments in the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (for women's rights) and support conscious efforts being made to meet SDG 5, they added. (Imran Khan can be contacted at imran.k@ians.in) Ranchi, March 23 : Jharkhand BJP legislator Sanjiv Singh has been named in the murder of former Deputy Mayor of Dhanbad Neeraj Singh and an FIR filed against him, the state police said. The First Information Report (FIR) was lodged by Abhishek Singh, brother of the late Neeraj Singh, against five persons, including BJP lawmaker Sanjiv Singh, according to a police officer here. The Jharkhand government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the killing. A deadly showdown ensued in Dhanbad on Tuesday in which Dhanbad's former Deputy Mayor Neeraj Singh and three other people traveling with him in a vehicle were gunned down. The shootout is suspected to be a fallout of a gang war. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has been deployed in the city for security reasons. According to the post-mortem examination report, more than 20 bullets were pumped into Neeraj Singh. He was cremated on Wednesday. The supporters of Neeraj Singh have called for a shutdown on Thursday in Dhanbad. Shops and schools were closed. The Jharkhand Congress has demanded a CBI probe in the murder. Police sources say that the murder may be the outcome of a family feud. Neeraj Singh belonged to a family of coal mafia Suraj Deo Singh. -- With inputs from IANS New Delhi, March 23 : Role of the media once again came under scrutiny in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday with members from across parties criticising it for not reporting positive aspect of parliamentary proceedings. The issue was raised by Naresh Agrawal of the Samajwadi Party (SP) soon after the house met for the day's business. "Yesterday (Wednesday) Sharad Yadavji had talked about media being Fourth Pillar of democracy and its role but nothing was reported about it," he said. Agrawal was then supported by Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), who said that "whatever I had said was buried in the four walls of the house". Anand Sharma of the Congress also expressed concern over the issue and said that the media must play a role in sensitising public on issues of national importance. "No constructive work of the house finds a place in the media," he alleged. To pacify the members, Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien said that the issue could only be discussed in the house under proper motion. He also gave examples how unusual stuff finds place in newspapers, saying "if a dog bites a man it's no news, but if a man bites the dog it's a news". "Media is the Fourth Pillar of Indian Democracy and honest reporting is required for the sake of it," Kurien said. On Wednesday, Sharad Yadav said media organisations in the country were in the clutches of businessmen and "journalists are not free to report the truth". "The journalists cannot write the way they want to, and are being directed by their financiers," he said, adding that this trend is badly affecting democracy in India. The JD(U) leader said businessmen have got hold of the Indian media to further their agenda and interests. "It should be checked and stopped." Ranchi, March 23 : The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday demanded that illegal slaughter houses flourishing in Jharkhand should be closed and sealed in line with neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. "We also demand that beef should be banned in line with Maharashtra," said Pramod Mishra, Bihar and Jharkhand VHP head to IANS. "Both Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are BJP-ruled states. But their Chief Ministers are functioning differently. In Jharkhand, cow slaughter has been banned since 2005, but it has not been implemented effectively," Mishra told IANS. He also said: "BJP president Amit Shah has fulfilled his promise in Uttar Pradesh by ensuring closure of illegal slaughter houses. When will the abattoirs in Jharkhand be closed? When will the cattle smuggling stop in Jharkhand?" "In Jharkhand cattle smuggling worth more than Rs 300 crore is taking place. The cattle of the state are smuggled to Bangladesh," Mishra said. The Raghubar Das-led-Bharatiya Janata Party government in Jharkhand is indifferent to all these activities, he said. He alleged there is rampant slaughter of cattle, including cows, in the state. New Delhi, March 23 : Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad on Thursday assaulted an Air India official with a slipper here after he was forced to travel economy class though he had an open business class ticket. A defiant Gaikwad admitting to beating the unnamed airline staffer "25 times" with his slipper after accusing the latter of misbehaving with him after the flight landed in Delhi. The incident happened when flight AI852 from Pune reached Delhi around 10.30 a.m. Apparently nursing a grouse, Gaikwad - who represents Osmanabad in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha - refused to get off the flight, causing inconvenience to other passengers and crew on board. Air India sent some officials to enquire what the matter was and learnt that the Shiv Sena leader was upset he had to travel economy class though he held an open executive class ticket. When they requested him to get up and deboard, Gaikwad reportedly flared up and assaulted a staffer with his slipper, official sources said. As news of the attack spread, condemnation poured in. Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said: "Such acts need to be condemned. No one can condone this, no one can support this." The minister said if the MP had a grievance, he should have simply written to the airline. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) demanded that Gaikwad should be sacked from Parliament. Gaikwad was also trolled on social media for his unruly conduct and some people asked the Shiv Sena to take action against him. The MP accused the Air India staffer of abusing him. "He said he will complain to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi," he told the media. "What Modi? I am from Shiv Sena, not BJP." He added he had lodged a complaint with Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Later, Gaikwad deboarded the flight. The sources said the flight was operated by an old ATR aircraft which has only economy class configuration. So he could not have been allotted a business class seat. Colombo, March 23 : At least 16 Indian fishermen were arrested by Sri Lankan Navy for poaching in the country's waters. They were arrested on Wednesday at two locations, Xinhua news agency cited the Sri Lankan Navy as saying. Two fishing trawlers were also seized in the seas northwest of Analathivu Island and the area north of Mannar, an official statement said. Sri Lankan Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has said Indian fishermen will continue to be arrested if they poach in the island nation's waters. Amaraweera said the government was seeking to resolve the Indo-Lanka fishing dispute in a diplomatic manner and talks would be held regarding this next month. A Tamil Nadu fisherman was killed earlier this month, allegedly by the Sri Lanka Navy. But Colombo says its Navy was not involved in the incident. Kathmandu, March 23 : Chinese Defence Minister General Chang Wanquan arrived here on Thursday on a three-day official visit. This is the first high-profile visit from China to Nepal after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal took office last August. China and Nepal are next month conduction joint military drills the dates of which will be announced during Chang's stay, officials said. Leading a 19-member delegation, Chang arrived in Nepal on the invitation of his Nepali counterpart Defence Minister Bal Krishna Khand after concluding his Sri Lanka visit. Khand, other senior officials of Nepal's Defence Ministry and Nepal Army personnel welcomed the Chinese Minister upon his arrival. General Chang is also scheduled to meet President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Nepal Army Chief General Rajendra Chhetri on Friday. He is also slated to visit the earthquake-damaged heritage sites and monuments at the Basantapur Durbar area in Kathmandu. Srinagar, March 23 : Stone pelting youths clashed with security forces on Thursday in this summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir against what they called "nocturnal raids" in Soura area of Srinagar. The youths flung stones in Anchar area, police said. "Security forces handled the mob with restraint using tear smoke," a police officer said in Srinagar. Locals said the protests were carried out against night time raids by the security forces. The area had witnessed violent clashes last year in which a senior police officer had sustained serious injuries. Locals had last year also alleged that youths were unable to sleep in their homes fearing arrest by the security forces on the lookout for suspected militants and their supporters. New Delhi, March 23 : The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred hearing on a CBI plea seeking restoration of criminal conspiracy charge against senior BJP leaders in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case, asking the parties to file written submission focusing on issues to be adjudicated. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought the restoration of the charge against senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Union Minister Uma Bharti, Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh and others. The investigating agency has challenged the May 2010 Allahabad High Court decision absolving Advani and others of the charge of criminal conspiracy that led to the razing of the 16th century mosque in Ayodhya of Uttar Pradesh on December 6, 1992. Asking the CBI, senior BJP leaders and other petitioner Haji Mahboob Ahmed to file written submissions focusing on the issue to be adjudicated by the court, the bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman adjourned the hearing for two weeks after senior counsel K.K. Venugopal appealing for Advani told the bench that he was busy in the hearing of another case. The court fixed April 6 as the next date of hearing. The top court had on March 31, 2015, issued notices to Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh and others on the plea by CBI. London, March 23 : A day after a terror attack in the heart of London left four people dead, police on Thursday identified the lone attacker as a British-born and said eight suspects had been arrested. Seven of the persons wounded in the Wednesday attack near Parliament were in critical condition, authorities said. Twenty-nine were discharged from hospitals. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. It said the attacker was "a soldier ... executing the operation in response to calls to target citizens of coalition nations". Mark Rowley, Acting Deputy Commissioner and head of Counter-Terrorism unit, said the dead included Aysha Frade, a woman who worked at a London college, an unnamed man in his 50s, police officer Keith Palmer and the attacker himself. At least 40 people were hit on the iconic and crowded Westminster Bridge when the attacker drove a car along the pavement, knocking down unsuspecting pedestrians before crashing into a fence below Big Ben. He then stabbed the unarmed Palmer on the grounds of Parliament before being shot dead. Speaking in Parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May said the attacker was investigated some years ago over violent extremism but had been a "peripheral figure". "He was not part of the current intelligence picture," she said. May paid tribute to Palmer: "He was every inch a hero and his actions will never be forgotten." She told MPs, many of whom had been caught up in the commotion: "We will never waver in the face of terrorism." Rowley said hundreds of detectives worked through the night and searched six addresses, the BBC reported. Inquiries were held in London, Birmingham and other parts of the country. "This attacker was inspired by international terrorism ... Islamist terrorism," Rowley said. May said 12 Britons were admitted to hospital. Other victims included four South Koreans, three French children, two Romanians and Greeks each and one each German, Pole, Irish, Chinese, Italian and American. One woman fell into the Thames from the bridge but was alive. Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday joined world leaders to denounce the killings. Mukherjee said India stood by the United Kingdom and that "terrorism must be met through collective action by the international community". Modi added: "Deeply saddened... Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. At this difficult moment India stands with the UK in the fight against terrorism." Flags were lowered to half mast over Downing Street. The US, France and the European Union strongly condemned the attack. President Donald Trump spoke with Theresa May and applauded the quick response of British authorities. Witness Jayne Wilkinson said: "We were taking photos of Big Ben and we saw all the people running towards us. Then there was an Asian guy in about his 40s carrying a knife about seven or eight inches long. "And then there were three shots fired, and then we crossed the road and looked over. The man was on the floor with blood. According to Rowley, more police officers would be deployed on the streets of London. Officers' leave have been cancelled and duty hours extended. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said the security at Parliament would be reviewed. MPs held a minute's silence before Parliament continued business as normal. Asked about the mood of the city, Fallon said: "London is getting back to normal. They've seen terrorism like this before and they are not going to let it triumph." New Delhi, March 23 : Following Wednesday's terror attack in the heart of London that killed four people, British High Commissioner to India Dominic Asquith asserted on Thursday that the British capital remains an open place. "My message to Indians is that London remains an open place and will continue to welcome them," Asquith said in an interview to Karan Thapar on India Today TV channel. Pointing out that around 300 languages are spoken in London, he said that it is "one of the most cosmopolitan cities" in the world. Two members of the public -- a woman in her 40s and and a man in his 50s -- were killed when the lone attacker, who has yet not been identified, ran over pedestrians on the iconic Westminster Bridge. The attacker, who then stabbed to death unarmed police officer Keith Palmer on the grounds of the Parliament, was later shot dead. BBC reported on Thursday that the Islamic State terror outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack. Asquith said that "we do not believe more attacks will take place". "People are going around doing their business of daily life," he said. New Delhi, March 23 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought a written response from the city police on a plea by arrested former legislator Rambeer Shokeen, challenging a trial court order to dismiss his bail application. Justice Vipin Sanghi listed the matter for April 20. The former Delhi legislator -- arrested in November 2016 from outer Delhi under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act on charge of running an organised crime syndicate -- alleged he has been kept in custody beyond the stipulated 90 days of filing of the charge sheet. The other accused in the case includes jailed gangster Neeraj Bawana, Pankaj Sehrawat and others. Bawana was arrested on April 7, 2015, from west Delhi's Mundka area. Police said in its charge sheet that all the accused were running a crime syndicate involved in extortions and murders, land grab, and settling property disputes. Police described Bawana as a "symbol of lawlessness" and "kingpin" of the racket, and Shokeen as a "political face" of the syndicate. Shokeen was found using the clout of these criminals to contest assembly elections in Delhi to "further his political ambitions and gaining pecuniary benefits", police said. New Delhi, March 23 : Union Minister Subhash Bhamre on Thursday said digitalisation of forces is one of the top priorities of the government, an official said. The government intends to create high capacity information network for the Digital Army based on state-of-the-art technologies of the Indian armed forces, the minister said. Talking on the urgent need for a robust, secure, high capacity data networks for Operational Commanders, Bhamre said: "They are also a critical facet of the force modernisation plans of the Indian Army, which will further form a fulcrum for tri-services integration in times to come." He was delivering the inaugural address at DEFCOM INDIA 2017, with the theme 'Infrastructure and Skilled Human Resource for Digital Army', organised jointly by the Corps of Signals of the Indian Army and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a statement said. Emphasising on the need for indigenous capabilities in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the defence sector, he said that from a security point of view India need to have indigenous solutions for the Digital Army. These initiatives are expected to give a major fillip to the 'Make in India' programme. Speaking on the occasion, Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat said that armed forces are imbibing technologies in a manner that will keep pace with the changing technologies before they become obsolete. "But for that to happen, it is important that we are able to identify the correct type of technology and equipment that is to be inducted into the armed forces," he said. He also asked for the rapid digitalization of the military system and ruggedization of the army's communication systems. The event was also addressed by Signal Officer-in-Chief Lt. Gen. Ashish Ranjan Prasad and CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee. New Delhi, March 23 : Dismissing allegations of misuse of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), levelled by some opposition leaders after the elections in five states, Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said EVMs don't make or break fortunes, but voters do. "EVMs don't make or break fortune. Voters do," Prasad said, while replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha over electoral reforms that began on Wednesday. "When we (BJP) lost elections in Bihar, and Delhi, the EVMs were fine. But now that we have won (in Uttar Pradesh), the EVMs are faulty. What kind of standard is this?" Prasad asked the opposition leaders. "If we were powerful enough to effect changes in EVMs, we could have done this in Bihar, and certainly in Delhi, to win assembly elections," he added. The Minister, from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said all parties must learn to respect the public mandate. Prasad said that EVMs have passed many a scrutiny since their introduction in the year 2000. "An EVM has several advantages over paper ballots. There are no invalid votes in an EVM. Between 1962 and 1999 elections, the number of invalid votes in many cases used to be higher than the margin of victory," Prasad said. He said the use of EVMs has made booth capturing near impossible as not more than five votes can be cast in a minute in an EVM. Clearing doubts over manufacturing of EVMs, Prasad said that EVMs are manufactured exclusively by two state-owned firms in India -- Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd -- for security reasons. He said the logic given by some members that voting machines are not used by several advanced countries does not hold water as the so-called advanced countries may not always be right in every respect. "Why didn't you ask as to why we are using Aadhar, which was initiated by the UPA government, though it is not being used by many countries including England and Japan? When would we stop seeing ourselves as inferior to them?" he said. On the issue of procuring voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, Prasad said they would be brought in a phased manner. "The issues of logistics, storage, safety and security of VVPAT machines need to be sorted out first. And these machines can only be manufactured by state-owned companies not outsiders. Funding it is just one part of the entire issue," he said. However, the Minister did not clarify as to why the government has not released Rs 3,100 crore in the last three years as demanded by the Election Commission for purchasing VVPAT machines. On the issue of paid news, the Minister said this is one issue that needs to be looked into. He said the government is currently not considering to introduce proportional representation as this "may not reflect true mandate of the states or the country". On state funding of political parties, Prasad said the idea was not feasible in the current scenario. However, at the end of the reply, the entire opposition walked out of the House saying they were not satisfied with the Minister's reply. They also accused Prasad of "misleading" the House over the issue. "We are not satisfied with the government's reply. We are walking out," Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said before the entire opposition staged a walk out from the House. Shillong, March 23 : A senior Meghalaya official was on Thursday reprimanded before the 60-member state assembly for breaching the privilege of an Independent legislator, John Leslee K. Sangma. "I openly and sincerely apologise to the Independent member, members of the Privilege Committee and members of the House," Zenithsky J. Sangma, who stood at the Bar of the House, said. Before Zenithksy was produced at the Bar of the House, opposition National People's Party legislator James K. Sangma, who staged a walkout from the House, said: "On a matter of principle, I do not agree with the method of reprimanding the officer and I do not wish to be part of this proceeding. I would like to excuse myself from the proceeding." However, Speaker Abu Taher Mondal disallowed the NPP legislator to discuss the matter, saying: "It is too late now since the House has already adopted the report and summoned him." The assembly on Monday had adopted a report of the Privilege Committee tabled by Independent legislator Saleng A. Sangma, who is also the Chairman of the Committee. In its report, the Committee had unanimously recommended summoning and reprimanding Zenithsky in the House and asking him to tender his apology in the assembly, failing which strong disciplinary action might be taken, including termination of his service. After the Meghalaya official tendered his apology, Speaker Abu Taher Mondal sought the opinion of the House on whether the case against Zenithsky should be dropped. Giving his opinion, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said: "It is for the first time I am having this kind of experience of having a government officer reprimanded before the House. Let this incident be an example for all concerned to understand the power with which members are vested within the spirit of democracy." Mukul, a veteran Congress legislator, who in the past had been a member of the Privilege Committee, recalled: "If an issue of breach of privilege was brought before the Committee, the persons served with such notice always responded. This was the first instance after long time." "It is definitely unprecedented. Since the officer concerned has apologised, we don't need to proceed further and drop the case," the Chief Minister said. Before withdrawing the case, the Speaker asked Zenithsky to bow his head to the Speaker's chair and to the two sides of the House. Zenithsky was the third person who appeared at the Bar of the House after Prosperly Chandra Chyne and Prof. Kapila Chatterjee in the Meghalaya assembly. Chyne was reprimanded by the assembly on April 2, 1973 for criticising then Speaker R.S. Lyngdoh's ruling and casting aspersions on the members of the House. Two days later, Chatterjee was censured for publishing a libellous news item, "The bark of ignorant mischievous politicians", and an equally defamatory editorial, "Privileges of legislators and assemblies" in Young-India, an English weekly. Patna, March 23 : The opposition BJP on Thursday demanded that illegal slaughter houses flourishing in Bihar should be closed in line with the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh. Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar raised this issue in the state assembly to demand immediate closure of illegal slaughter houses in Bihar and asked for the cancellation of licences of all slaughter houses in the state. "We have demanded closing down of illegal slaughter houses and cancellation of licences issued for these in the state," Prem Kumar told media here. He said the BJP is keen on a beef-free Bihar to ensure protection of cows. "Bihar should ban beef in line with Maharashtra." But Bihar Animal Husbandry Minister Awadhesh Kumar Singh rejected the BJP's demand by saying that there are no illegal slaughter houses in the state. "BJP leaders should talk about development instead of playing politics of slaughter houses," he said. According to officials, cow slaughter is banned in Bihar as per a 1955 law. But it continues unabated due to a flaw in the law that permits killing of a cow, buffalo or bull that is more than 15 years old or diseased. The violation of this provision invites a maximum jail term of six months and a fine of Rs 1,000. In the 2015 Bihar assembly polls, BJP's top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, tried to play the beef issue during their campaign to polarise voters, but the appeal failed to move them. Paris, March 23 : French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Thursday warned that the terror risk remained "extremely high" and pledged full government mobilisation to ensure safety at home. "The (terror) threat on French territory is extremely high and justifies the state of emergency's extension until July 15," Xinhua news agency quoted Cazeneuve as saying. "The attack in London, like the one that was avoided at Orly airport last Saturday, demonstrated the need for greater vigilance. "The government is fully mobilised until the last minute of (its governing period). Everyone is acting to increase the protection of France," he added. Following the latest Westminster Bridge attack in London which left four persons dead -- including the lone attacker -- and scores injured, Cazeneuve expressed "compassion, friendship and unwavering solidarity" with Britain. At least 230 people have been killed in terrorist attacks in France since 2015, with 17 attacks being foiled in 2016 and five since the beginning of this year, according to Cazeneuve. Hyderabad, March 23 : A city court on Thursday granted conditional bail to former RSS worker Swami Aseemanand in the 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb blast case. The Fourth Metropolitan Sessions court directed him to furnish two sureties of Rs 50,000 each and not to leave Hyderabad without prior permission. Nine persons were killed in the blast during Friday prayers at the historic mosque on May 18, 2007. Five persons were killed in subsequent police firing near the mosque after protests broke out after the blast. Jatin Chatterjee aka Swami Aseemanand was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2010. Earlier associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he is considered an ideologue of Abhinav Bharat, an extremist organisation involved in Malegaon and Ajmer blasts. On March 8, a National Investigation Agency Special Court in Jaipur in Rajasthan held three persons guilty in the 2007 Ajmer blast case, but acquitted Aseemanand and six others. Two of the three convicts were handed life imprisonment. One convict has since died. Three persons were killed and at least 15 others injured when a bomb exploded on October 11, 2007, inside the shrine of Sufi saint Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer. Mumbai, March 23 : Shiv Sena's Osmanabad MP Ravindra Gaikwad was on Thursday booked in two cases for assaulting an Air India staffer and delaying a scheduled flight. An Air India spokesperson said two separate first information reports (FIRs) were lodged against Gaikwad, with one being for abusing and assaulting an AI staffer with slippers and "attempting to throw him out of the aircraft" -- in which he was prevented by other staff present. The second FIR is for delaying a scheduled New Delhi-Goa flight with 115 passengers, owing to his behaviour on board. Both FIRs have been lodged with the Delhi Police. The AI is also examining the possibility of creating a 'no fly' list of unruly passengers on the lines of other airlines, the spokesperson said. Explaining their version of the incident following an enquiry, AI said Gaikwad travelled from Pune to New Delhi by flight AI852, which landed in Delhi at 9.35 a.m. The aircraft was later scheduled to fly to Goa at 10.55 a.m. After landing in New Delhi, all passengers disembarked, except Gaikwad. Enquiries revealed that the MP held an open business-class ticket, but wanted to travel on this flight that is a regular all-economy service and his aide was informed accordingly by the Pune Airport Manager. However, since Gaikwad insisted on taking that flight he was allotted a seat in the first row as there was no business-class configuration on it. At New Delhi airport, the MP refused to step out for almost an hour, even as 115 Goa-bound passengers waited to board the flight. "While the staff requested the MP to deboard, he became abusive and started hitting the AI employee with slippers. Gaikwad also tried to throw him out of the aircraft but was stopped by other AI staff," the spokesperson said. While the national carrier lodged the two FIRs against Gaikwad, the Shiv Sena has not reacted so far. -- With inputs from IANS New Delhi, March 23 : The BJP-led central government rejected the charge that it was trying to end reservation for SCs and STs, as the Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2017, that seeks to modify the list of Scheduled Castes in Odisha. The Bill, introduced by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot, also seeks to amend the Constitution (Pondicherry) Scheduled Castes Order, 1964 to change the name of the Union Territory from Pondicherry to Puducherry in the Order. Replying to a debate on the bill, Gehlot said the bill is one step further as part of the government's resolve for welfare and upliftment of the people belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. "The government has adopted the approach of equality, coordination and dialogue to ensure social harmony. The laws relating to check atrocities against Dalits have in fact been made stringent," Gehlot said. The Minister accused the Congress party of treating the weaker sections of society as "vote banks". Gehlot rejected the charge that the BJP-led central government was trying to end reservation for SCs and STs. "The government supports the current system of reservation and it will continue," Gehlot said. Earlier, supporting the bill, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge stressed that benefits of the Bill should reach the needy without any political bias. "Generally, political parties consider the inclusion of Scheduled Castes for their benefit. Be it any government, every one has focused on political consideration while including a particular community into SC or ST list," Kharge said. "This should not be done. The inclusion should be purely on basis of merit. We must see the economic and social status of the particular community," he added. Kharge urged the government to consider his request deeply and seriously so that the benefits could reach the needy communities. Bengaluru, March 23 : Two thieves were arrested in Mangaluru for allegedly robbing a service revolver from a head constable in Bengaluru north a month ago, a top police official said on Thursday. "Accused Dhanush, 19, and Vijay, 21, from Surathkal in Dakshina Kannada district were arrested under Section 379 of the IPC after they admitted to robbing a revolver from Head Constable Narasimha Murthy in Yelahanka suburb on February 23," Bengaluru Police Commissioner Praveen Sood told reporters here. Surathkal is 12 km from Mangaluru and 340 km from Bengaluru on the west coast. "The duo stole the revolver and Rs 6,500 in cash from Murthy, who was lying unconscious on a road in the city's northern suburb after attending to nature's call. They confessed during interrogation to not knowing that Murthy was a policeman as he was in plainclothes then," Sood said. Murthy was posted as a gunman to Janata Dal-Secular lawmaker P. Muniswamappa at Devanahalli near Yelahanka on the city's outskirts since the past three years. Police also recovered 16 mobile phones from the duo who came to Bengaluru from Surathkal and stayed in a lodge at Yeshwanthpur in the city's north suburb. "Investigation revealed that the accused, habitual thieves in Mangaluru, came to Bengaluru on a motorbike with an intention to rob people in and around the city," added Sood. New Delhi, March 23 : Its personnel have ventured to a depth of 40 meters below sea level and the an Indian Navy team is all set to once again scale the world's highest peak at 8,848 meters, with an expedition to Mt. Everest being flagged off by Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on Thursday. The 24-member team will follow in the footsteps of an Indian Navy expedition that reached the summit 13 years ago in 2004. The team has been drawn from personnel serving on the nuclear submarine INS Chakra and the destroyer INS Chennai, from the flying arm and from the Maricos (Marine Commandos). The expedition is named "Sagartal se Sagarmatha" which translates into "From the seabed to Mt. Everest", Sagarmatha being the Nepalese name of Mt. Everest. The ice axe that the team will plant on the summit has also been under the sea, with a team of divers taking it 40 meters below sealevel off Karwar in the Indian Ocean. "In 2004, the expedition was flagged off from a submarine. This time as well we wanted an element of sea. So we took the ice axe to the sea bed," the team leader, Commander Sanjay Kulkarni, said. The team of divers included Commander Kulkarni, Commander Chaitanya and Lt. Commander Vinit, all part of the expedition. Master Chief Petty Officer Vikas Kumar, who scaled Mt. Everest in 2004 is again part of the team and also hopes to reach the summit. Kumar, who was a part of Indian Navy teams that traversed the North Pole and the South Pole, said conquering the "Third Pole", Mt. Everest is the toughest. "The lack of oxygen is a big challenge. Expedition to North Pole and South Pole were very challenging but Mt. Everest is the ultimate challenging," Kumar told IANS. "I am confident we will scale the Mt. Everest," he said. The selection of the team started long back, with initially 100 members being shortlisted. The number finally scaled down to 24, 18 members in teams of nine each who would scale the summit, and six members in the support team who would be at the base. The training for the team has been on for almost two years now, including acclimatisation in Ladakh in December 2016. The team would be taking the original route that was used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. The team would be leaving on March 29 for Nepal, is likely to attempt climbing the peak from May 11 to 18, with a second window of May 20-29. The team would start back for India at the end of May or early June. Kolkata, March 23 : In a veiled attack on the BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said a certain party "engaged in saffronisation" is threatening Bengali poet Srijato Bandyopadhyay who is courting controversy over a poem that allegedly hurt Hindu religious sentiments. Banerjee said she will ensure the writer is protected. Throwing her weight behind Srijato, the Trinamool Congress supremo said: "A particular party, engaged in saffronisation, is giving threats to Srijato on social media. It is unfortunate. It is a political poem. I will take care that he faces no problem. Let him write poems." Terming Srijato's penmanship as his democratic right, Banerjee said she has sought a report from the police over the issue. "Srijato wrote a poem. It is his democratic right. I have told police to submit a report to me," Banerjee told TV channel ABP Ananda in an interview. A police complaint was lodged against Srijato for posting a 12-line poem titled "Abhishaap" ("Curse") that was posted on Facebook on March 19, the day Yogi Adityanath was sworn in as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. The complainant Arnab Sarkar (said to be a member of Hindu right wing group) filed a general diary complaint at the Cyber Crime Police Station of northern West Bengal's Siliguri Police Commissionerate on Monday night, demanding Srijato's arrest and exemplary punishment for the post. On Thursday evening, Srijato and his wife Durba, lodged a complaint with the Kolkata Police cyber cell for receiving obscene messages on Facebook Messenger. They said they are also receiving "con calls" from unknown numbers. A case has been lodged under IT act 67 and IPC 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) on the basis of his complaint. They have been provided with a bodyguard from the special branch of Kolkata Police for security. "Necessary steps will be taken for the poet's security," Joint Commissioner of Police (Headquarters), Supratim Sarkar said. Agartala, March 23 : Ahead of the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India early next month, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Thursday urged the Centre to resolve all disputes and issues pending with the neighbouring country. "Resolve the disputes and issues pending with Bangladesh. Unless we settle the pending disputes and issues with our good neighbours like Bangladesh, how will we improve our (bilateral) relations," Sarkar said while addressing a summit on integrating BIMSTEC. During Sheikh Hasina's scheduled visit to India from April 7, many bilateral issues are expected to be discussed. "In view of her visit, I have sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on various issues concerning northeast India. I will not disclose these issues now," said Sarkar. The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), in association with Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), organised the summit to commemorate the 20th year of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation). BIMSTEC is an international organisation involving a group of countries in South Asia and South-East Asia. These countries are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. Emphasising on improving rail, road, air, and telecommunication connectivity, Sarkar said underconstruction Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project (KMTTP) would prove a great boon for the region. "Besides trade and economic activities, sports, cultural, educational and tourism related activities must be undertaken with the neighbours for all-round betterment of the region's people," the Chief Minister added. The KMTTP in Myanmar is being administered by Ministry of External Affairs with a view to facilitate connectivity between mainland India and northeast India through maritime shipping, inland waterways and roads of Myanmar. MEA Joint Secretary (BIMSTEC and SAARC) Prashant Agrawal told the summit: "The link between the northeastern states of India and Myanmar will pave the way for enhanced trade and commerce across the border and enable cultural and social integration at the regional level once the KMTTP is completed." "People-centric initiative, livelihood matters are vital and these must be dealt with on priority. In the 'Act-East' policy, neighbourhood is first," the MEA official added. Experts, scholars, thinkers, policy makers and administrators from Japan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand and Myanmar and representatives from various international bodies took part in the daylong BIMSTEC summit, fourth of its kind in northeast India. ICC's Joint Director Bodhisattwa Mukherjee said: "In the last five years, BIMSTEC member-states have been able to sustain an average 6.5 per cent economic growth trajectory despite global financial meltdown." Dhaka, March 23 : Bangladesh has signed an agreement with India to formally join New Delhi's 'South Asia Satellite' initiative, through which the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch a communication satellite for serving the South Asia region. The agreement was inked by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood and Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Thursday, bdnews24 reported. The High Commission said Bangladesh has now formally agreed to join the 'South Asia Satellite', an initiative of the Indian government. India, through ISRO, will launch a 2 ton class communication satellite with 12 Ku band transponders (36 Mhz each) using ISRO's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV Mk-II) for serving the South Asia region. The applications proposed under the satellite system include tele-education, tele-medicine and inter-government networks, emergency communication for disaster situations, television broadcast and DTH television services. There is a potential for each participating country to use a dedicated transponder with capacity of 36 to 54 Mhz for its own internal use. Each country would be responsible for content generation and its use, the High Commission said in a statement. All South Asian countries, except Pakistan, will be part of this unique project binding the region in "a cooperative and collaborative endeavor for the benefit of the people of the participating countries". Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier announced the launching of the satellite during the 2014 SAARC Summit in Kathmandu as a "gift to India's neighbours". "This satellite is a reflection of India's commitment to the development of the South Asian region and an expression to share its expertise and technology for the benefit of the region," the High Commission said. The inking of the agreement comes ahead of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India next month. Srinagar, March 23 : National Conference (NC) President and candidate for Srinagar Lok Sabha by-poll in Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said that the detention of separatist leaders will precipitate an already volatile situation in Kashmir. Abdullah was addressing an election meeting in north Kashmir's Ganderbal district, organised jointly by the NC and the Congress. He is the joint candidate of the two parties against ruling PDP's Nazir Ahmad Khan from the seat. Abdullah said New Delhi could not unilaterally address the problems of the Kashmiri people, as everybody including the separatists had to be taken on board to address these problems. Criticising the state government's decision, which has placed all senior separatist leaders either under house arrest or in preventive custody, the NC leader said the decision would only precipitate an already volatile situation here. Abdullah alleged that the crackdown against separatist leaders had been done at the behest of the central government. He said the decision not to allow separatist leaders to attend the function at Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, to which the separatists had been invited, would only aggregate the situation in the Valley. "Kashmiris have never succumbed to pressure as they have always fought for their honour and dignity," he said. The NC President said he had cautioned the people about the alleged dubious designs of the PDP when he fought the last parliamentary election from Srinagar in 2014, which he had lost. "I am cautioning you again this time against treacherous role of the PDP that is an ally of such forces who are persecuting Muslims across the country by painting them as anti-nationals," he said. Jammu, March 23 : Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu was on Thursday appointed as Chairman of the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers of North Zone, an official statement here said. "According to a communique issued by the Inter-State Council Secretariat here, Drabu will be heading the Empowered Committee of the Finance Ministers of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir," it said. A professional economist with a doctorate in Economics, Drabu is credited with initiating radical reforms to bring systemic changes in the fiscal management of J&K, the statement said. "Before joining politics, Drabu has been involved with national economic policy making in India for seven years at the highest level, including in the Planning Commission, Finance Commission and the Economic Advisory Council of the Prime Minister," it said. Drabu worked as the Economic Advisor to the Government of J&K for seven years. He also headed J&K Bank as Chairman and Chief Executive for five years. "Drabu has been advising a clutch of top Indian corporates on the macroeconomic situation, emerging businesses and risk management. He has expertise in macro and monetary policy, banking and finance operations, fund management, corporate advisory and business journalism. "Besides serving as national editor of Business Standard, Drabu has been a regular commentator on economic issues and used to write a fortnightly column for Wall Street Journal partner in India, the business daily, Mint," the statement read. New Delhi, March 23 : Over 20,000 resident doctors in the national capital on Thursday went on mass casual leave in solidarity with their Maharashtra counterparts, leading to postponement of over 800 surgeries across Delhi government and civic body-run hospitals, and also left thousands of patients in the lurch with OPD functions hit. Resident doctors in Delhi went on mass casual leave in solidarity with a similar move by their Maharashtra counterparts over rising cases of assault on doctors by patients' kin. According to hospital staff, due to resident doctors remaining absent from their duties the OPD registration counters were shut in several government hospitals after 10 a.m., instead of the usual time 1 p.m., compelling patients to return. "At Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) the OPD card counters were shut immediately after the resident doctors went off their duties as part of mass casual leave. Many patients had no idea initially and kept standing in the queue," said Sanjana Rawat, a nurse at LHMC. There are 38 hospitals under the Delhi government. Resident doctors in hospitals under the central government, except the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, were also part of the protest. Delhi government hospitals every day witness nearly 1,600 pre-scheduled surgeries and over 200 emergency ones. Patients in several other government hospitals such as Lal Bahadur Sastri Hospital, Dadadev Mother and Child Hospital and G.B. Pant were affected as only the emergency departments were functional and even the normal medicine OPD remained partially operational. "Nearly 60 per cent of patients at Dadadev Mother and Child hospital could not get doctors consultation or treatment due to the protest. However, the emergency cases were somehow treated as resident doctors having duty in emergency department were not part of the protest," said Nirupam Ghosh, associated with the administration wing of Dadadev Mother and Child hospital. Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) -- under whose banner the protest was being held in Delhi -- said of the 5,400 OPD cards registered in Delhi government hospitals on Thursday only 25 per cent of patients could consult doctors. The resident doctors have also threatened to go on a pan India strike soon if the government fails to ensure them a safe atmosphere to perform their duties. "This mass casual leave was just an indication of what we can do to ensure our safety. If the health ministry does not take necessary steps to stop assault on doctors we will go on pan India strike," said Pankaj Solanki, President FORDA, told IANS. Several private hospitals also came out in support of the protest by resident doctors. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Chairman D.S Rana said that in solidarity with the "concerns of safety of doctors" the general and private OPDs of the hospital will not function on Friday. The inpatient as well as emergency services will function normally. City-based Fortis condemned the rising cases of assault on doctors, but added the hospital will continue to function normally. "A safe and secure work environment is the basic requirement for care givers to provide best possible medical care to patients. We at Fortis Healthcare are firmly committed to our patients, and our medical services remain unhampered as our doctors continue to serve the community, as always," a statement said. As part of the protest, resident doctors have also decided to sport black arm bands on March 24 during work. New Delhi, March 23 : Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal on Thursday advised Delhi Police to evolve with the technology for proper upkeep of records and for random checks of existing systems. Baijal also directed the police to widely publicise its "One Touch Away" app to spread awareness about the app among masses, so that people could utilise its services optimally. The directions were issued at a meeting organised to review the use of technology by Delhi Police. Delhi's Principal Home Secretary and the Delhi Police Commissioner attended the meeting along with other senior officials. "The Lt. Governor asked Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik to regularly test-check the systems in place, utilise various apps in operation optimally and keep on digitising services offered to the people of Delhi," a statement from the LG's Office said. Bengaluru, March 23 : About 10,000 childcare workers (Anganwadis) and their helpers in Karnataka called off their four-day agitation on Thursday after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah assured them of a wage hike soon. "We have called off our agitation on the Chief Minister's assurance that his government will increase our wages," Karnataka State Anganwadi Workers' Association President S. Varalakshmi told reporters here. The women workers from across the state have been on a sit-in protest for wage hike at the Freedom Park in the city centre since Monday. "The Chief Minister agreed to meet us on April 10 here to discuss the quantum of wage hike. If he goes back on his assurance, we will lay siege to his residence here," Varalakshmi warned. Agreeing to consider their demands, Siddaramaiah on Tuesday appealed to the Anganwadis to call off their protest and called for a meeting with their leaders on April 19, which has now been advanced to April 10. Around 1.2-lakh Anganwadis and helpers take care of about 60-lakh children, pregnant women and nursing mothers at 65,911 centres across the state for early childhood care and development under the Central Government's Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) scheme. As per ICDS guidelines, an Anganwadi is given Rs 3,000 and her helper Rs 1,500 per month as honorarium, with the central and the state governments sharing the cost on 60:40 per cent basis since 2015-16 as against 90:10 per cent basis since the scheme was launched in 1975. Though the central government did not increase its honorarium since 2011-12, the state government had enhanced it by Rs 500 for Anganwadis and Rs 250 for helpers per month from 2013-14 to 2015-16. Varalakshmi, however, claimed that their counterparts in the neighbouring states of Goa, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu were being paid Rs 10,000-Rs 14,000 per month. New Delhi, March 23 : Indian Navy's all-women team is likely to set sail for journey around the world in June, Vice Admiral R. Hari Kumar said on Thursday. Commander Abhilash Tomy, who did a solo circumnavigation of the world on a sailboat, will also be going on a solo circumnavigation by air in June or July, the Vice Admiral said. The two events come at a time when the Navy's team is set to scale Mt. Everest, the highest peak in the world. Vice Admiral Kumar said the six-member all-woman team, led by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, is expected to take around eight months to complete the journey. Commander Tomy is likely to take around three months to circumnavigate the earth by air. The all-women crew will be making their circumnavigation on INSV Tarini, the sailboat recetly inducted in the Navy. The team has already sailed INSV Mhadei to Visakhapatnam from Goa for the International Fleet Review 2016 and thereafter to Mauritius and back. Following that, they sailed the boat on a grueling voyage to Cape Town in December 2016. INSV Tarini is skippered by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi and crew members include Lieutenant Commander Pratibha Jamwal, Lieutenant Aishwarya Boddapati, Lieutenant Patarapalli Swathi, Lieutenant Vijaya Devi and Lieutenant Payal Gupta. Hyderabad, March 23 : Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y.S. Chowdary on Thursday called for finding ways and means to help farmers increase their income levels and reduce the cost of living. He was speaking here at the inauguration of India's first "Rural Innovators Startup Conclave 2017" (RISC). The National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) is organising the two-day event to build capacities and promote fresh talent by giving them a platform to display their innovations. The minister said that the NIRDPR could play a major role in capacity building and help farmers get educated in fundamental financial literacy and cost accountancy. W.R. Reddy, Director General, NIRDPR, noted that this was the first of its kind platform to connect all institutes and agencies promoting innovation and start-up culture to look at the rural landscape. "RISC will be an annual feature that can handhold and mentor the innovators and connect the startups with funding agencies. We believe rural development can be accelerated by infusion of technology tapping the creative minds of the youth across the country," he said. The organisers pointed out that Indian start-ups were mostly IT-based and cater to urban services and that innovation and technology diffusion for rural development was the need of the hour. "Other important stakeholders who act as support systems to rural innovators are still evolving. There is a need to develop and nurture mentors, angel investors, faculty, corporates, media so that they play a much more active role in contributing to the ecosystem." On the second day of the conclave, the start-ups will received the awards in six areas -- agriculture and allied, green energy technologies, drinking water, health and sanitation, waste to wealth, sustainable housing and other livelihoods. Dhaka, March 24 : A fire broke out at 31-story building of Bangladesh's central bank in capital Dhaka's central Motijheel business district on Thursday night, a fireman said. Xinhua news agency quoted the fire department official as saying that as many as 14 fire-fighting units were striving to put out the blaze that broke out on Thursday night at about 9.45 p.m. local time on the Bangladesh Bank's (BB) 13th floor. The blaze also reportedly spread out to 12th and 14th floors of the building. TV footage showed huge thick black smoke billowed from the large complex into the air. The fire drew thousands of onlookers. There was no loss of life immediately so far. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. The BB building rises to a height of 115 metres (377 ft) and has 31 floors. It houses the headquarters of the BB. It is one of the earliest high-rises of Bangladesh. Talking Fingers Inc., 830 Rincon Way, San Rafael, CA 94903 This is technology at its best. Talking Fingers Inc. joins with Clever Inc. to make it easy and fun to learn to read, by merging its evidence-based early literacy software with Clevers single sign-on solution for schools. Clever will enable Talking Fingers software to be more easily and quickly accessible to schools and districts with licenses for 100 or more students. Clevers single sign-on solution syncs with a school or districts student information system to provide a seamless experience for school district administrators, teachers, and students alike, saving precious time and resources. Now that Congress has passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requiring school improvement plans to include evidencebased programs, the Talking Fingers programs (all funded by the National Institute of Child Health and subjected to rigorous research), will be in even greater demand as schools look for Clever-enabled programs. This is technology at its best, said Dr. Jeannine Herron, founder and CEO of Talking Fingers. Because our focus is early literacy software for grades PreK- 4. Were particularly excited about Clever Badges, she added. The badges make it easy and fun for younger students to log in to our web-delivered supplementary curriculum. Were also thrilled about this partnership because the staff at Clever is as passionate about educational software and respectful of its history as we are. We only wish theyd been around when we first launched the online version of our flagship software, Read, Write & Type, in 2007. Its our job to make learning easier through technology and educational apps, and we are honored to add Talking Fingers to our roster, said Clever CEO and co-founder Tyler Busmeny. About Dr. Jeannine Herron and Talking Fingers: Jeannine Herron is a research neuropsychologist who became interested in reading-related research in 1965 when she was co-founder and program director of the first Head-Start program in the nationthe Child Development Group of Mississippi, serving 5,000 children. She received her PhD. from Tulane Medical School and went on to do extensive neuroscience research in brain organization and dyslexia at the University of California, San Francisco. For more than 25 years, Dr. Herron and her company, Talking Fingers, have designed, developed and researched early reading and spelling software, Read, Write & Type (for grades K-2) and Wordy Qwerty (for grades 2-4), with grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Voice-over help in nine languages makes Read, Write & Type an easily accessed online product for students learning English as a second language. Another grant from NICHD funded a collaboration on a product called SmartCycle, licensed to Fisher-Price, which became their "Toy of the Year" in 2008. Talking Fingers programs are based on a simple idea: text is speech made visible! We use our mouths to talk, to make the sounds of words. We use our fingers (with a pencil or keyboard) to represent those sounds on paper. When children learn to link speech sounds with letters, they can write any word they can say. Their fingers are "talking!" For more information, visit http://www.talkingfingers.com About Clever: Clever was founded in 2012 by educators and technologists who knew that widely available educational apps could improve both teaching and learning, but that tools to deploy and secure the applications were simply unavailable. Today, almost half of the K-12 schools in the U.S. trust Clever to secure their student data as they adopt learning apps in the classroom. In 2014, Clever won the Crystal Clear award by the Digital Innovation Learning Awards. It is also the trusted provider of the American Federation of Teachers, who uses Clever to secure its own Share my Lesson platform with its teacher members. Backed by Sequoia Capital, Light speed Partners, Peter Thiels Founders Fund, and GSV Capital, Clever currently has 100 employees and is based in San Francisco, CA. For more information visit http://www.clever.com A clean start: cost effective data center DDoS protection SNAPI Guard thinks globally and acts locally, featuring fully managed specialised DDoS expertise, cloud-based software and regionally-based data center nodes. Small companies are more vulnerable to cybercriminal attacks, a new study reveals, and there arent enough qualified people to fight back. Cybersecurity issues are in the headlines every day as websites and databases are hacked, and (DDoS) attacks increase in size and frequency. The challenge is the lack of trained cybersecurity professionals and the massive computing resources required. Much work is being done to increase the number of these security experts, but theres still a shortfall. Through SNAPI Guards Managed Security Service Provider partner program, the company works with Managed Service Providers (MSPs) supplementing their teams and complementing that closeness to customers that MSPs enjoy. SNAPI Guard offers fully managed Secure Internet Link, Always-On Protection, Hybrid and DDoS scrubbing solutions to MSPs. Its a concept designed to help compensate for the lack of qualified staff and expertise and budget constraints. The recent eighth Global Information Security Workforce Study (GISWS) Global Information Security Workforce Study found the world will face a shortfall of 1.8 million cybersecurity workers by 2022. More alarmingly, SMEs are particularly vulnerable, as only 23 percent of cyber professionals work for companies with fewer than 500 employees. Other surveys by four separate entities consistently found that 80 percent of IT executives and managers at a wide range of organizations think there is a shortage of cybersecurity professionals. If there arent enough qualified people, SMEs just cant keep up, says Michael Tememe, President of SNAPI Guard. So they have to get smarter and adopt the approach that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, from The Art of War, by the ancient military strategist Sun Tzu. At SNAPI Guard we are the enemy of the cybercriminals and their ilk and thus the friend and staunch protector of our clients. The US Presidents Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity strongly recommended increasing efforts on training security experts and training 100,000 hackers to protect the US. Even if we are able to reverse this trend and train cybersecurity experts, this workforce will be a very expensive workforce that most SMEs wont be able to afford. DDoS attacks are sophisticated and multi-layered (Volumetric, Application, Combination/Hybrid) and can often be a smokescreen for other data exfiltrations including extortion, customer data theft, loss of IP and financial theft. To mitigate an average DDoS attack, it takes more than five IT workers and can take months to resolve fully. SMEs usually do not have that kind of IT manpower internally and are then forced to hire costly consultants or costly software services and hardware. Tememe says SNAPI Guard thinks globally and acts locally, featuring fully managed specialized DDoS expertise, cloud-based software and regionally based data center nodes to enable MSPs, hosting companies, data centers, carriers, content and cloud providers, companies and organizations to effectively protect themselves without the costs of undertaking all the work themselves. We do the heavy lifting for them, he says. Its that simple. Security is our business, so we stay up to date on the threats, in a way SMEs cant. To do this, Tememe says, SNAPI Guard has established Canadas largest DDoS protection scrubbing center in Montreal and Toronto, with a vigorous expansion plan into other data centers in the U.S.A. SNAPI Guard is dedicated to delivering cost-efficient, responsive and scalable cybersecurity and web application protection to address the continued demand in the Canadian and U.S.A. market, says Tememe. SNAPI Guard is increasing its presence across the high-growth cybersecurity market in Canada and the U.S.A. Were the first managed security service provider (MSSP) to provide complete cyber protection to internet-facing companies, at a fraction of the traditional cost, while respecting the customers country data privacy laws. Its not a matter of if a cyberattack is coming, it is a matter of when. The inherent legal liabilities are a serious issue, and both C-suite executives and boards of directors have taken notice. The support for growth in cybersecurity staffing and providers with deep expertise and computing power is there; the shortfall is in the supply of qualified and affordable candidates. With limited resources, we have to think smarter, work smarter and collaborate more, says Tememe. It can be done. It is being done. We are doing it. Click here to receive more information on the SNAPI Guard MSSP Partner Program. Join a community of Hosting and Managed Service Providers that have partnered with SNAPI Guard to increase their value to customers and build new recurring revenue streams. About SNAPI Guard SNAPI Guard offers cutting-edge and affordable protection to internet-facing companies. SNAPI Guard mitigates large DDoS attacks that flood the Internet pipe and flush protocol-based attacks (bad traffic) before they reach your site. Only clean traffic reaches your servers, ensuring your continued operations and protecting your hardware, software and network infrastructure investment. SNAPI Guards next generation web application firewall identifies malicious traffic in real time using deep packet inspection, and implements rule and policy enforcement to protect your website and applications from misuse of legitimate web transactions, sensitive data leakage, web defacements and denial of service such as HTTP floods. http://www.snapiguard.com For more information contact: Michael Tememe, President of SNAPI Guard, 1 844-557-6274, info(at)snapiguard(dot)com. Media contact: Howard Oliver, What If What Next Tech PR, 416-568-5254, holiver(at)whatifwhatnext(dot)com. FreshGrade The NSBA is one of the most prestigious education organizations in North America, and we look forward to participating in their 2017 conference. FreshGrade announced today that the company has been chosen to participate in the 2017 National School Boards Association (NSBA) Technology Innovation Showcase. A panel of former 20 to Watch educators chosen by NSBA made the selection of the participants in the showcase. FreshGrade was one of only six companies chosen. Recognition of this achievement will take place during NSBAs annual conference in Denver, March 25-27, 2017. FreshGrade president Chris Besse will participate as a panel member in the Technology Innovation Showcase Workshop, which will be facilitated by NSBA, on Saturday, March 25. This workshop will highlight the growth in innovation in the education sector and will give FreshGrade an opportunity to address how their solutions align with that growth. FreshGrade will also have a presence in the Technology Innovation Showcase Area in the NSBA Exhibition, where team members will be on hand to answer questions about FreshGrades innovative classroom portfolio solution. Its an honor to be chosen to participate in such an important education industry showcase, said FreshGrade president and COO Chris Besse. The NSBA is one of the most prestigious education organizations in North America, and we look forward to participating in their 2017 conference. The conference will attract over 5,000 school board members and superintendents from across the US and Canada. This recognition program will showcase FreshGrade and the other participating companies, as well as educate school board members and district leaders about the ways in which innovative solutions are changing all aspects of education. In addition to having a presence at the exhibition, FreshGrade will take part in a 60-minute NSBA-hosted Innovation Webinar later in 2017. Were looking forward to all the opportunities that will open up as a result of being chosen by NSBA for this showcase, said Besse. Its a great way for us to spread our message about how we are improving student outcomes and teacher and parent participation in schools throughout the United States and Canada. The NetSource acquisition underscores our strategy to acquire IT Solution Providers that expand our Premise Infrastructure, Cloud Services and Business Applications practices. Venture Technologies, headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi, announced today that they have acquired NetSource Communications, Inc. Venture Technologies is a premier IT Solutions Provider delivering best-in-class Premise Infrastructure Solutions, Collaboration Solutions, Cloud and Business Applications to commercial and public sector organizations throughout the United States and abroad. Specializing in custom hybrid environments, NetSource is a custom cloud hosting solution provider offering colocation, dedicated hosting, cloud services, and fully managed hosting services and data recovery for organizations in the Chicagoland area and across the country. We are excited about the addition of NetSource to the growing Venture family. With NetSources Chicago-area based SSAE16 & SAS70 Type 2, SOC1, SOC2 certified data center, we extend our cloud footprint to four Venture-owned facilities, strategically positioned in diverse U.S. geographies. This will enhance our portfolio of VTCloud Services with increased flexibility in designing customized cloud solutions to meet the unique critical needs of our expanding client base. The NetSource acquisition underscores our strategy to acquire IT Solution Providers that expand our core Premise Infrastructure, Cloud Services and Business Applications practices, said Gerard Gibert, CEO of Venture Technologies. "We feel that Venture Technologies will only strengthen NetSource's enterprise hosting solutions and provide our clients with new geographic diversity options." said Craig Neidel, Head of Sales, NetSource Communications, Inc. The acquisition and continued consolidation strategy is supported by FlatWorld Capital, a New York-based private equity group that specializes in funding and advising middle-market companies. Jeff Valenty, managing partner for FlatWorld Capital, commented on the acquisition, NetSource presents a compelling addition to Venture Technologies' ongoing acquisition strategy. FlatWorld Capital is excited to continue to work with the growing Venture team to capitalize upon the incredible opportunities for continued acquisitions in the IT solutions and cloud services industry. About Venture Technologies Venture Technologies is an IT Solutions Provider that delivers Premise Infrastructure Solutions, Collaboration Solutions, Cloud Services and Business Application Solutions to both private and public sector organizations. Founded in 1986, the company operates locations in Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Venture also owns and operates certified Data Centers (VTCloud) in Jackson, Mississippi, Englewood, Colorado, and Casper, Wyoming from which it produces a comprehensive suite of cloud services to thousands of domestic and international customers. Visit http://www.ventech.com for more information. About NetSource Communications Based in Naperville, Illinois (30 miles west of Chicago), NetSource Communications provides a range of Internet hosting services to over 600 small and medium-sized businesses from its state-of-the-art data center. The Companys reputation for outstanding professionalism and customer service are driving steady growth within existing verticals and into new ones. In addition, NetSources geographic location provides the Company and its clients with access to Chicagos most reliable power service. This is a significant advantage as most clients depend on NetSources Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) hosting to run their critical business operations, and a growing number are turning to the company to meet their needs for managed services, disaster recovery and security. For more information visit http://www.netsource.com. About FlatWorld Capital FlatWorld Capital is a global private equity investment firm led by a team of entrepreneurial investment professionals with over eight decades of experience in finding and structuring innovative and creative capital solutions. Visit http://www.flatworldcapital.com for more information. Dr. Christopher Bogart, 2017 Community Service Award honoree To be chosen to receive this award is an honor and a high point in my career. Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities (SKLD) will hold its annual benefit, Celebrating Kids Strengths, at 7:00 pm on Friday, April 21 at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, CT. Disability attorney and ADHD motivational speaker Robert Tudisco will be the Master of Ceremonies. Simon Teakle of Simon Teakle Fine Jewelry & Objects in Greenwich, CT will serve as auctioneer. At this years event, SKLD will honor Dr. Christopher Bogart, founder and executive director of The Southfield Center for Development in Darien, CT, with its 2017 Community Service Award. Christopher M. Bogart, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked in both the private and public sectors for the past twenty years. Along with work at The Southfield Center, he provides program consultations to local schools, as well as supervision to doctoral students in psychology. In addition, Dr. Bogart serves as the School Psychologist at the New Canaan Country School. Dr. Bogart received his undergraduate training at Georgetown University and received his doctoral degree from The American University. Dr. Bogart has served as staff psychologist at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City and Director of Psychology at the Rockland Childrens Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg, New York. While serving as director at Rockland, Dr. Bogart organized and administered an externship training program for clinical psychology and social work graduate students, and he devised a hospital-wide behavior modification program for children. He has also conducted research studies in ADHD, social skills training, and depression in children. In 2010, Dr. Bogart founded The Southfield Center for Development, a family-centered, interdisciplinary practice providing an integrated approach to learning, emotional, and behavior issues. The Southfield Center offers more than 30 skilled practitioners in specialty areas such as therapy and tutoring who work together to address a wide spectrum of needs for children, adolescents, and families. For the past 17 years, I have been fortunate to rely on Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities as a resource for the children and families that Ive worked with, says Dr. Bogart. To be chosen to receive this award is an honor and a high point in my career. The Fred J. Epstein Youth Achievement Awards will also be presented to student winners, hailing from across the United States. The major award is for $1,000. The Youth Achievement Awards recognize the strengths and accomplishments of young people with learning disabilities and/or ADHD despite their struggles in school. The evenings gala will feature a cocktail reception, silent and live auctions, including a wine auction, in addition to the awards program. It will also showcase the outstanding achievements of the seven 2017 Fred J. Epstein Youth Achievement Award winners. Auction items include a vacation package to Walt Disney World in Orlando, 9th row tickets to the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium, tickets to the hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, and a weekend at a beautiful home in Stratton, Vermont. Gala tickets at $200, $250 and $500 are available at the SKLD website. The Pinnacle Sponsor for the Benefit Gala is the Southfield Center for Development in Darien, CT a family-centered, interdisciplinary practice dedicated to providing comprehensive evaluation and care with an integrated solution to the needs of children and adolescents. The Summit Sponsor, Lindamood-Bell Learning Center in Darien, CT, provides research-based instruction in reading, comprehension, and literacy processing. Additional sponsors include Affinion Group, Eagle Hill School Greenwich, the Tarrytown, NY-based law firm Barger & Gaines, and Winston Prep. About Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities, Inc. Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities, Inc. is a Westport, CT-based nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the parents of children with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit disorders (ADHD) via its educational programs, award-winning website and blog, and free e-newsletter at http://www.SmartKidswithLD.org. The organization also educates the public about these childrens gifts and talents. Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy and Anne Ford are Honorary Board members and Henry Winkler, Golden Globe award-winning actor, director and author, serves as the organizations Honorary Chairman. For more information, visit http://www.SmartKidswithLD.org. Job Loop Weve focused on bridging the divide between employers and job seekers. Hiring app, Job Loop, is now available on iOS and Android. Job Loop connects employers with hourly employees quickly and efficiently through a streamlined user interface. By researching and refining the way prospective employees seek hourly positions, Job Loop has created an app with a new approach to the hourly hiring process. Employers simply post their positions details, and job seekers swipe through a queue of potential positions applicable to them. Its an elegant alternative to wading through online classified sites. Weve focused on bridging the divide between employers and job seekers, says Patrick Smith, Founder. We took the most common complaints from employers and employees and addressed them head on with Job Loop. The most common complaint of companies seeking help is the fact their job listings are often obscured by unrelated ads or posts. Job Loops specialized algorithms ensure that no job listing is lost in the noise of classified ads or spam. But Job Loop is more than just an app. Its a dedicated platform for filling hourly positions. An online portal allows employers to easily keep track of applicants and their resumes, all in one place. The result is a powerful mobile solution that redefines finding good help. You can find Job Loop on Apples App Store and Google Play. For more information about the platform, visit http://www.thejobloop.com. Job Loop was developed by Zco Corporation, one of the largest app developers in the world. About Job Loop Job Loop was founded with the intention of streamlining the hiring process. The company is dedicated to enabling employers to easily find qualified candidates, while making the job search easier for prospective employees. The result is a new approach to hiring. About The Developer Zco Corporation is one of the largest custom developers in the world. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Nashua, New Hampshire, Zco has served Fortune 20 companies to small businesses for over 20 years. Its services include mobile and enterprise app development, 3D animation and games, augmented reality, and custom software. In addition to Zcos work for hire, it has an iOS and Android based public safety product, PublicEye. To learn more, visit http://www.zco.com. #### If you are interested in more information about Job Loop, please contact Kyle Mallinger at kyle.mallinger(at)zco(dot)com. Ofinno Our passion is bringing teams of PhD experts to innovate the next generation of mobile wireless communication technologies. Our team provides innovative solutions to new problems. Ofinno Technologies, LLC, an innovator of wireless communications technologies, today announced the availability of a standard essential Vehicle Transmission System patent portfolio through TransactionsIP. The Vehicle Transmission System patent portfolio contains two issued US patents and one US application for the secure collection and communication of automobile sensor data. Sensors monitor automobile conditions such as speed, brake action, traveled distance, and location. The collected data is protected by encryption and automatically uploaded to a server using a cellular network after the occurrence of an event. The uploaded automobile data is used to enhance awareness of the automobiles actions. Our passion is bringing teams of PhD experts to innovate the next generation of mobile wireless communication technologies, said Esmael Dinan, Ofinnos Chief Executive Officer. Our team provides innovative solutions to new problems. This portfolio addresses problems in the new field of Vehicle to Network communications essential to autonomous vehicle systems. This portfolio is standard essential to vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications standardized in the LTE-Advanced Pro technology standard. This is the standard that automobile and cellular communications industries have agreed to use when equipping automobiles to communicate with each other and the world. Ofinno never stops innovating. We believe our vehicle to network and infrastructure technologies are so innovative that they are going to change the way autonomous vehicles communicate through mobile wireless network, stated David Grossman, Vice President of Intellectual Property. Ofinno is always looking forward to what is coming next, and is creating solutions for the challenges in the mobile communications industry. We are committed to helping the communication industry by making this portfolio available for sale or licensing. The portfolio is offered for sale by TransactionsIP a leading intellectual property patent brokerage and consulting firm. It is my pleasure to represent and work with Ofinno Technologies team. Their expertise in wireless communications and patent innovations has been excellent. We have collectively sold four portfolios in the past three years, said Rich Ehrlickman, President and CEO of TransactionIP. What has allowed us to be very successful is the patent quality that Ofinno Technologies team has been able to provide. A list of Ofinnos patents can be found here. About Ofinno: Ofinno develops wireless technologies that address some of the most important technological issues in todays modern life. Our wireless technology innovators create new technologies that have an astounding 67% utilization rate, producing tangible results for both wireless device users and carriers alike. At Ofinno, the people inventing the technologies are also the people in charge of the entire process, from the idea, through design, right up until the technology is sold. Ofinnos research focuses on fundamental issues such as improving LTE-Advanced performance, Mission Critical Services, Inter-Band Carrier Aggregation, New Radio for 5G, V2X, IoT, and Power Management. Our team of scientists and engineers seek to empower mobile device users, and the carriers that serve them, through cutting edge network performance innovations. Ofinno is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. For more information, visit http://www.Ofinno.com. Richard Dowling, pianist Richard Dowling's mastery of the Joplin rags invokes a tenderness that charms us and a technical command that inspires our admiration. Max Morath, veteran ragtime pianist, composer, actor and author New York pianist, Steinway Artist and Piatigorsky Foundation artist Richard Dowling is to perform an unprecedented two-concert cycle of the complete piano works of American composer Scott Joplin in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Saturday afternoon and evening, April 1, 2017, exactly one hundred years to the day Joplin died in New York. Mr. Dowling is the first pianist in history to perform the complete cycle of Joplins piano works in public. Dowling will offer a variety of Joplin's 53 rags, waltzes, marches and cakewalks on each of his two programs: 27 works on the Part 1 recital at 2:00 PM followed by 26 works and a special Joplin encore on the Part 2 recital at 7:00 PM. The concerts are part of a two year-long celebration of the life and works of Scott Joplin (1868-1917), known as the "King of Ragtime Writers" with Dowling touring his music throughout the United States. 2018 also marks the sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary of Joplins birth. For more info, please visit http://www.richard-dowling.com/joplin. Dowlings tour encompasses over 60 recitals nationwide, including the San Francisco Bay Area, New Orleans, Houston, Austin, New York, Cape Cod, the Scott Joplin Festival and the Newport Music Festival. On April 1, 2017, Rivermont Records will release Dowlings 3-CD set of the complete solo piano works of Joplin recorded on a magnificent Hamburg Steinway concert grand piano. WFMT in Chicago and WWNO in New Orleans have both recently conducted radio interviews with Dowling about his Joplin project. Richard Dowling earned degrees from Yale University and the University of Texas at Austin, including a doctorate in music. Among his teachers was the renowned concert pianist Abbey Simon. The New York Times has described Dowling as an especially impressive, fine pianist. He made his orchestral debut at age eighteen, performing Beethovens Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra. A New Yorker since 1990, Dowling has often performed at venues throughout the city including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, 92nd St. Y, The Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center, the Brooklyn Conservatory, and The Metropolitan Museum among others. Dowling has performed for over two decades the works of Chopin, Ravel, Beethoven, and Gershwin, and has published critical performing sheet music editions of the works of Ravel, Faure, Debussy, Mendelssohn, Gershwin, Hummel, and Zez Confrey. Dowling has a special affinity for French music, art and culture. He studied at the Conservatoire in Nice, received the Grand Prix from the French Piano Institute, and made his formal recital debut in Paris at the Salle Cortot. In recognition of his dedication to French musical art, Mr. Dowling was inducted as a Chevalier of the renowned Company of Musketeers of Armagnac (an honor society founded in the 17th century by D'Artagnan). He is one of only a few Americans granted that distinction. Dowling also often performs under the auspices of the Piatigorsky Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing live classical music to underserved audiences across America. He performs both as a soloist and in collaboration with cellist Evan Drachman (grandson of cellist Gregor Piatigorsky) and other Piatigorsky Artists. Since 1994 he has performed well over 1,000 recitals nationwide through the foundation. Dowling is a regular featured headliner at the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri, at the West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento, and at the Juneau Jazz & Classics Festival in Alaska. In 2001, Dowling released "Sweet and Low-Down," an all-Gershwin CD on the Klavier Records label. American Record Guides 2002 edition reviewed it: The young pianist Richard Dowling dances through 29 Gershwin numbers with exuberance and a natural feel for rubato. He plays with what Gershwin called the stenciled stylefast, upbeat, and snappy. Dowlings inspiration is Gershwins own style, which eschews heaviness and sentimentality. The recording has a dry sparkle perfect for Dowlings no-nonsense playing. In 2004, Klavier Records issued Dowlings "Worlds Greatest Piano Rags," a compilation including compositions by Artie Matthews, Joseph Lamb, James Scott, Zez Confrey, and Scott Joplin. William Bolcoms Graceful Ghost Rag (composed in 1970) is particularly gorgeous, and Dowling handles its jazz harmonies with sensitivity and aplomb. Donald Vroon wrote in the July 2004 ARG , Dowling plays with tremendous zip and zest.... I am sure he is the best ragtime pianist I have ever heard. The upcoming new 3-CD set on Rivermont Records, The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin, will include a spectacular 72-page full-color booklet with detailed liner notes by Joplin scholar and musicologist Bryan S. Wright, Ph.D. and images of newly-restored original sheet music cover art for all of Joplins published piano works. Dowling recorded the Joplin piano repertoire as written without improvisational flourishes, exactly as Scott Joplin wished. He strove to make his performances of the written music as authentic and expressive as possible. Dowling says, My goal was to reveal Joplins sophisticated use of inner voice leadings and bass line progressions, to delineate his phrasing, to balance melody and accompaniment appropriately, to observe his dynamics, accents, and other indications, and above all, to use the Hamburg Steinways exquisite tone to give Joplins works the polished luster they deserve...all the expressive things we strive for in classical music that allow the music to engage our emotions to the fullest extent and to speak to our hearts. I wanted to bring out Joplins essence as a composer. I look forward to revealing the significance of Joplin as a composer and trailblazer of a musical style and genre that ushered syncopation into a new century and was the genesis for our American popular music. Without Joplin there would be no Lady Gaga or Beyonce today. Richard Dowling is represented exclusively by Parker Artists, a prominent classical music management company in New York. For more information and press inquiries, please contact Lea Saslav, LS Communications, at 415-235-6149 or visit http://www.richard-dowling/joplin. Mode Media Japan, a joint venture with the advertising agencies Dentsu and ADK (WPP), magazine publishers Shogakukan, Shueisha, and Nikkei BP with Mizuho Capital, today announced that its shareholders have unanimously elected its founder Samir Arora as the Executive Chairman of the Board, along with its CEO Yusuke Akiba, Ernie Cicogna and Minako Matsushita as Directors and additionally have appointed Yusuke Akiba as its CEO and Minako Matsushita as its first CFO. The combination of the purchase of Mode Media Japan business by investment group company Montaro and the return of its founder Samir Arora working with the team led by Yusuke Akiba and Minako Matsushita has quickly restored Mode to the become the leading digital media company in Japan. I am honored to be appointed to continue as the CEO of Mode Media Japan and be elected as the representative director, said Yusuke Akiba, I am looking forward to helping build an great digital media company. It was humbling to be asked by the Mode Media Japan Team to return to manage an urgent turnaround of the company, said Samir Arora. You cannot imagine how proud I am of our employees and the support of our partners and publishers that in 6 weeks we were able to save, stabilize and transform the company to build a new thriving business. As a result of this turnaround, Mode Media Japan will continue its operations and operate the Mode, Glam, Brash, Tend and Mode Studios business in Japan. In addition, Mode Media Japan will become an affiliate within a new global media company that is being created based in the US, Europe and Japan to innovate the next generation media platform. Prior to Mode Media Japan, Yusuke Akiba was the CEO of Aegis Media Japan/Dentsu Aegis Network, where he oversaw all of the Aegis companies including Carat, Vizeum, SPI, iPropspect and Isobar, and earlier was the CEO of Carat Japan. About Mode Media Japan Mode Media Japan was founded in February 2008 initially as Glam Media Japan, as a subsidiary of Glam Media Corporation by its founder Samir Arora, Chairman & CEO and Director Ernie Cicogna, CFO & Head of Internationalto reach digital consumers across Japan and Asia-Pacific, including South Korea, China, and Southeast Asia. In 2009, it formed a joint venture with Dentsu, ADK (WPP), Shogagukan, Shueisha, and Nikkei BP with Mizuho Capital. In January 2017, Mode Media announced that the investment company Montaro purchased all the shares and business from Mode Media Inc. LLC. Mode Media Japan is the #1 Lifestyle and Womens Digital Media Company in Japan and the leader in Womens Style, Fashion, Beauty, Parenting, Teens and Mens Lifestyle categories. It operates Mode web sites Glam.jp, Tend.jp and Brash.jp. Mode Japan launched Mode Studios for original videos and digital series in 2016. Mode Media Japan reaches a coveted premium audience of women, millennials, men and teens with over 30 Millions active users a month in Japan, bringing together the key influencers, journalists, bloggers, publishers, and video producers creating content on Mode Media Japans owned & operated curated content platform sites and on the creators blogs, sites, social platforms and channels. It works with top global brand advertisers such as P&G, Unilever, LVMH, Lenovo, H&M, BMW, Chanel, Shiseido, Fiat, Air France, and Estee lauder providing engaging ads, content, videos and social amplification to consumers. 2017 Mode Media Japan Corporation. All rights reserved. # # # Information: Mode Media Japan Corporation Mode Media Japan: http://www.ModeMedia.jp/ Glam: http://www.Glam.jp/ Tend: http://www.Tend.jp/ Brash: http://www.Brash.jp/ Contact: Montaro press(at)montaro(dot)com Mode Media Japan Yusuke Akiba press(at)modemedia(dot)jp China, Hong Kong and South Korea are amongst 15 countries that have the most billionaires globally, yet they offer the fewest number of charter jets per billionaire in Asia. Sluggish development of an aircraft sharing culture, a shortage of talent as well as challenging and diverse business aviation regulations have contributed to the current situation, says LVOYAGE, the Hong Kong-based private jet charter company that conducted the research. Chartered private jets are booked by corporate users and private individuals to fly direct to their desired destinations, saving as much as 15 hours in reaching less developed locations in Asia. L'VOYAGE conducted this research to identify Asian markets with the most billionaires that are better served by charter jet providers, using the pool of ultra-rich as a proxy for potential users. Highlights of the LVOYAGE 2017 Regional Charter Jets for Asia Pacific Billionaires research include: 1. Greater Chinas 609 billionaires have a total of just 70 charter private jets to choose from, compared to the 552 billionaires in the United States who can choose from over 2,600 private aircrafts. That comes to 4.7 charter jets per billionaire in the US, compared to 0.1 in Greater China. 2. Hong Kongs 72 billionaires have to jostle for 13 private charter aircrafts and face the challenges of landing slots and parking. Fortunately, they can take off from Shenzhens Baoan International Airport when the citys only private jet terminal is overbooked. 3. Australian billionaires are the luckiest, with two charter jets available for every ultra rich person. Australias charter jet sector has grown mainly as a result of demand from users in the mining and tourism industries. 4. Singapore ranks second in terms of convenience, with one charter jet available for every billionaire. Singapores government has been investing in the infrastructure needed to support the industry and is currently the regions most active aircraft leasing hub. The LVOYAGE research shows that North Asias charter jet industry lags behind in aircraft options for each homegrown billionaire, compared to their South East Asian counterparts in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. Subsequently, the well-heeled in Japan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea are often hard pressed to book private jets during peak holiday seasons in Asia. LVOYAGE says that the situation in Greater China is set to improve, thanks to government support. Greater China has the fastest number of billionaires in the world, up 41 from 568 in 2016 and its charter jet industry is catching up as well. In March 2017, the Civil Aviation Administration of China abolished the need for government approvals on the purchase and registration of new or pre-owned private jets, as part of its general aviation development efforts under Chinas 13th Five-Year Plan. It also plans to build over 500 airports by 2020 and boost the operating environment for general aviation. By April 2017, Hong Kong will be legislating a new tax regime designed to appeal to commercial aircraft leasing companies. Such measures should also help expedite business aircraft leasing and spare demand for locally registered aircrafts for charter, said LVOYAGE founder and chairman, Diana Chou. NOTE TO EDITORS: Please download the attached press release for the full tabulated "LVOYAGE 2017 Regional Charter Jets for Asia Pacific Billionaires" research results. About LVOYAGE http://www.lvoyage.aero LVOYAGE is a bespoke private jet chartering company based in Hong Kong with a long heritage in serving discerning corporate travelers and jet-setters. Part of a specialist business aviation group that began in 1999, LVOYAGE offers unrivalled access to aircraft options and landing destinations, coupled with highly personalised hospitality. LVOYAGE is also the first Wyvern approved broker in Asia, making its safety intelligence of the highest accredited standards within the region. Dr Steven Wang receives the Good Housekeeping Seal at the Good Housekeeping Institute "On behalf of everyone at Dr Wang Skincare, I am honored to accept this award." Steven Wang, MD "We are just thrilled to see our three years of research has yielded an effective product that will help people with eczema and other skin conditions." The founders of Dr. Wang Herbal Skincare, a developer of herbal-based and non-steroidal skincare products, was awarded as winners of American Dreams & Good Housekeeping Seal Initiative, a nationwide search for passionate entrepreneur with innovation products. This competition was hosted jointly by HSN and Good Housekeeping. Steven Wang, MD., a renowned dermatologist and medical researcher, and his father, Gui Wang, Lac a specialist in Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncturist for over 35 years, created the Eczema Ointment to help people with eczema and other itchy skin conditions. After 3 years of research, the duo was successful in creating this herbal-based, gentle balm that helps protect skin from irritation, promotes hydration and soothes itch. The product has no steroids. The Dr. Wang Eczema Ointment retails for $29.99. Dr. Wang Eczema Ointment was chosen after a rigorous review by a knowledgeable panel of judges from both HSN and Good Housekeeping Institute. There were hundreds of contestants who submitted their inventions. The Eczema Ointment was selected as one of the nine finalists, and appeared on HSN last December. During the December HSN appearance, Dr. Wang Eczema Ointments sold out in minutes, which demonstrated the strong demand and efficacy for this product. Following that successful debut on HSN, Dr. Wang Eczema Ointment was tested independently by the Good Housekeeping Institute, where the researchers recruited eczema suffers to use the product. After 4 weeks of trial, there was strong consensus that the product worked in helping people with eczema and other skin conditions with itchy, dry, irritated and cracked skin. There are over 130 million Americans with eczema and sensitive skin who struggle with constant itchy and unsightly rashes. Many are looking for alternative solutions to attain healthier skin. Dr. Wang and his team embrace the holistic approach to provide relief for people with sensitive skin conditions. Their unique formula provides steroid-free, hydrating relief. Eight proprietary herbs with anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties are used to calm the frequent inflammation seen in eczema and other skin conditions. In addition, the ointment features natural oils, ceramides, shea butter, beeswax and hectorite to help rebuild the damaged and irritated skin barrier. About Dr. Wang Skincare, LLC: Dr. Wang Skincare, LLC, is a skincare company based in Chatham, New Jersey. Founded by a father-and-son team, the company formulates novel skin care products by combining the power of Eastern botanicals with the rigor of Western sciences. To learn more about their breakthrough, natural, herbal and non-steroidal products for people with eczema and other skin conditions visit: http://www.drwangskincare.com/ Pfister Energy was chosen by Howard County Public Schools to help create the first net zero energy school in Maryland, Wilde Lake Middle School. To achieve net zero energy, a building is designed efficiently to reduce energy usage, then utilizes renewable energy to produce enough energy to meet its annual consumption requirements. With Howard Countys goals in mind, Pfister Energy designed, engineered, and constructed rooftop and ground mounted solar systems, placing each panel at optimum tilt for maximum sun absorption and output. William Cole, President of Pfister Energy of Baltimore noted, Pfister Energy presented unique qualifications, bringing over 10 years of commercial solar experience that evolved from a 100 year old commercial roofing company. Our expertise in roof integrated solar as well as our experience in ground mounted solar was the winning combination that Howard County was looking for. The new solar arrays are expected to produce over 826,000 kWh in the first year and more than 19 million kWh over a 25-year period. Wilde Lake Middle Schools solar system was specifically designed to work with additional renewable and energy management solutions (natural daylighting, geo thermal, lighting and building controls) creating a stackable energy approach that will offset power consumed onsite and therefore, eliminate the need to buy electricity from the grid. The new school is nearly 30,000 square feet larger, expected to house 49% more students, and use 50% less energy than the old location. Mr. Cole concluded, Statistics show the buildings sector is the primary energy consumer in the U.S. With growing concerns about the stability of our energy grid, fluctuating energy prices, and the impact on our environment, targeting this sector for net zero energy design is the key to minimizing the nations energy requirements. We are honored to have been chosen to work on the Wilde Lake Middle School project and are eager to share their story to educate and inspire others. About Pfister Energy, Inc.: Founded in 2005, Pfister Energy provides turnkey renewable energy systems for commercial, industrial and institutional facilities, with an emphasis on building-integrated applications. Pfister develops innovative power solutions and energy efficiency measures for clients across a number of industries. The companys services include the design, procurement, installation, commissioning and maintenance of photovoltaics, solar thermal, LED lighting, natural daylighting, wind power, solar lighting, green roofing, geothermal, rainwater harvesting and fuel cell systems. As a total solutions provider, Pfister Energy offers customized alternative energy systems and assists clients with financing and implementing the latest renewable and energy efficient technologies. News, analysis, and archives on the grassroots in Haiti. Nouvel, analiz, ak achiv sou baz yo an AYITI. Noticias, analisis y archivos sobre el pueblo de Haiti. The new Cellular Sales store in Mount Prospect is the company's second Chicagoland opening in 2017. We have seen tremendous engagement with our customers in this area, so we hope that the expansion into Mount Prospect will provide a more convenient shopping experience for them. Cellular Sales, the nations largest Verizon premium retailer, is increasing locations in Chicagoland with a new location in Mount Prospect. The new store, which opened March 1, is located at 905 E. Rand Rd., in Mount Prospect. The store is located on the southwest side of E. Rand Rd. directly in front of the Marshalls and Adventure Playland plaza. This is the second new Chicagoland Cellular Sales store in 2017, following the January opening of a new location in Old Irving Park. We are very excited to add locations in Chicago, said Cellular Sales Regional Director Greg Karnes. We have seen tremendous engagement with our customers in this area, so we hope that the expansion into Mount Prospect will provide a more convenient shopping experience for them. Cellular Sales has seen incredible growth from its start in Knoxville, Tenn. Due to its rapid growth, the company has been named to Inc. Magazines Inc. 5000 list as one of the nations fastest-growing privately owned retailers eight times. The company attributes the remarkable growth to Cellular Sales emphasis on customer service, keeping that value as a priority in daily customer interactions. We have built quite a customer base here in Illinois so we couldnt fathom not taking the opportunity to move into Mount Prospect, Regional Director Robert Vanwey, Jr. said. Our goal is to become the primary contact for this communitys wireless needs while also upholding our focus on exemplary customer service. Cellular Sales seeks to hire motivated sales professionals with a passion for customer service to work at its Mount Prospect store. Those interested in applying for jobs at Cellular Sales in Mount Prospect may contact Cellular Sales Recruiter Tyler Kirk at (812) 621-1699 or Tyler.Kirk(at)cellularsales(dot)com. About Cellular Sales Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., Cellular Sales was founded in 1993 and has been named by Inc. Magazine as one of the nations fastest-growing privately owned retailers for eight of the past nine years. The company currently employs nearly 4,500 people and operates approximately 600 stores nationwide. Job seekers may visit jobs.cellularsales.com. For more information on the company, visit cellularsales.com. ### ZS3 Ultrasound System With the ability to scan in a patients individual barcode, all ultrasound procedures and patient data are tracked throughout the entire exam creating billing information immediately upon the completion of the exam. Mindray, a developer of next generation ultrasound technology, will feature a significant new upgrade for its ZONARE ZS3 ultrasound system at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) congress being held in Orlando March 25 29, 2017. The new upgrade enables barcode-to-billing workflow for simplified billing, asset management and transducer specific tracking for greater level of disinfection management. The new upgrade also provides improved contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), in support of this growing imaging technique as well. Using our patented ZONE Sonography Technology (ZST) to develop this newest upgrade, we are able to create spatially compounded B-mode images using acoustic data from a single transmitted wave compared with conventional compounding methods which require multiple transmissions, said Glen McLaughlin, PhD, chief product officer, Mindray. In addition, this upgrade enables the clinician to simplify billing by providing barcode-to-billing workflow. It also can provide greater asset management to help optimize system usage by offering automated exam volume reports for each individual system." The CEUS image optimization advancement uses a recently developed digital synthetic spatial compounding (DSSC) technology. DSSC could be especially useful with CEUS imaging as the system is able to interrogate the region of interest with just one acoustic wavefront, significantly reducing the destruction of micro-bubbles. The systems software then rapidly processes the received echo information, resulting in enhanced image clarity due to greater retention of micro-bubble volume. With the ability to scan in a patients individual barcode, all ultrasound procedures and patient data are tracked throughout the entire exam creating billing information immediately upon the completion of the exam. This offers a significant workflow enhancement and helps avoid lost revenue data, which can impact revenue outcomes. The asset tracking capability lets the department administrator know exactly how many exams are being performed on each individual system. This aids in ensuring optimal use of every system throughout the department or facility and enhances asset management. Finally, the transducer specific tracking can provide a new level of patient safety monitoring. Working with a leading healthcare provider which owns multiple ZS3 systems, Mindray engineers at our Innovation Center in Silicon Valley placed a microchip within each transducer for all of these systems, said McLaughlin. When the patients information is scanned into their electronic health record (EHR), the system automatically transmits the identity of the clinician conducting the procedure along with the serial number of the transducer being used into that patients EHR. This enables transducer specific tracking used on each individual patient. Should any issues arise, the transducer can be identified and examined for possible cause. Transducer specific tracking can help support the Joint Commissions high level of disinfection protocol. Our customer is implementing this new technology throughout its facilities as one of its many gold standards in patient care, said McLaughlin. We believe this practice will eventually be required in every U.S. point-of-care environment within the next couple of years. Upgrades such as this highlight the power of ZST as it continues to add new capabilities which support better workflow and excellence in patient care. About Mindray Mindray is a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices worldwide. Its global headquarters are located in Shenzhen, China, North American headquarters in Mahwah, New Jersey, a technology innovation center (formerly ZONARE) in Silicon Valley, California and multiple sales offices in major international markets. From the main manufacturing and engineering base in China, the company supplies, through a worldwide distribution network, a broad range of products across three primary business segments, which include patient monitoring and life support, in-vitro diagnostics and medical imaging systems. For more information, please visit http://www.mindray.com Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation (San Rafael, CA) is introducing a higher resolution detector material to address demanding requirements of space-based astronomy missions. The new detectors, made possible by recent advancements in crystal growing techniques and next-generation silicon photomultipliers (SiPM), provide enhanced analytical capability while preserving a compact size and low power constraint, long considered the holy grail in devices engineered for space exploration. The high resolution CeBr3 detectors are coupled with silicon photomultipliers in a strategic array pattern to allow detection of gamma rays with high stopping power and resolution several times better than traditional NaI detectors. We customize each array for the application, comments Juan Espinoza, a Senior Product Manager for Berkeley. Size, power limits, number or modules, array orientation, and even the mechanical mounting requirements are carefully considered for each assembly. Recent industry advancements in Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) technology are producing low voltage option with a small footprint. SiPMs are mechanically compact and often combined into matrices or used for partial coverage of a scintillation crystal's surface. In addition to their compact size, SiPMs are immune to magnetic fields and can be operated in temperatures up to 60 C. CeBr3 scintillation crystals are characterized by their high resolution (~4% FWHM at 662 keV), fast decay time, and low intrinsic background properties. With a background count of <0.001 c/cc/s in the AC-227 complex, CeBr3 presents a distinct advantage over other high resolution scintillators which suffer from this characteristic. Advances in technology and the progressive reduction in costs will lead to SiPMs being increasingly considered as an alternative to the traditional readout of scintillators by Photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs), comments Espinoza. We can now reach equal or better energy resolution for large volume scintillators using SiPMs as well. When asked about the contributions of CeBr3 to research in astronomy, company President David Brown proclaimed While our focus is quite different from our friends at Space-X, I think the idea of contributing to mans exploits into the stars resonates with the childhood wonder rooted in all men of my generation by NASAs early missions. About the Company Berkeley Nucleonics has supported the toughest requirements of the Nuclear R&D community for over 50 years. BNCs signal source electronics and isotope identification systems can be found deployed at every major lab and agency in the U.S. and across the world. In partnership with Scionix Holland, BNC also delivers a broad range of scintillation detection instruments with associated front-end electronics. Electronics can be integrated into the detector assembly or provided in plug-on configurations. Applications for the Berkeley Nucleonics / Scionix detector systems include: Medical, Health Physics, Military, Homeland Security, High and Low Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Geology and Mineral Exploration, Oil Industry, High Altitude and Space Science. Funding Wonder Funding Wonders crowdfunding marketplace was created to present franchise investments like Dental Fix RX to private investors. Funding Wonder Crowd, LLC, the operator of an online lending crowdfunding portal focused on small business loans, has posted a loan offering for the first business seeking debt financing on its lending marketplace. Funding Wonder was recently approved by FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) as a licensed Regulation Crowdfunding Portal. Anyone aged 18 or older can invest in a private debt securities offered on the Funding Wonder marketplace subject to certain investment limits. Annapolis, Maryland entrepreneur Ryan Clark is a Dental Fix Rx franchisee, and the first to begin to secure financing through the franchises partnership with Funding Wonder. Dental Fix RX is a fast-growing mobile dental equipment repair service franchise that delivers immediate, on-demand equipment service, hand-piece repairs and cost-effective consumable products through its network of trained franchise professionals. Clark will be providing dental equipment repair services to dental practices throughout the Annapolis market. The funds raised will support the launch of his new Dental Fix Rx business, helping cover costs of training and buildout of his specially designed mobile service center van which allows him to service customers onsite. Funding Wonders crowdfunding marketplace was created to present franchise investments like the Dental Fix RX franchisees to private investors, said Alan McGlade, COO of Funding Wonder. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and Crowdfunding Portals like Funding Wonder offer an alternative source to access capital that we hope will help them thrive. Financing through Dental Fix RX relationship with Funding Wonder is available to franchisees with $25,000 in liquid capital and a 670 credit score. The funding helps franchisees begin operations by covering several aspects imperative to launching a Dental Fix RX franchise including the franchise fee, van buildout, working capital, training and training-related travel costs. About Funding Wonder FUNDING WONDER is an online Social Lending Community. It connects established small businesses looking for loans with investors seeking an asset class that returns principal and interest through monthly payments. Florence Chu I believe by providing the best quality and top notch customer service I will earn the trust and respect of local customers, as well as their repeat business - Florence Chu Creative Colors International, the nations leading on-site repair and restoration franchise, launched its newest location on Monday, March 6, 2017 in Californias Silicon Valley. This is big news as more local business owners and cost-conscious residents than ever before are seeking out alternatives to astronomical upholstering charges and replacement fees associated with damaged possessions composed of leather, vinyl, plastic and fabric. For Florence Chu, 53, owning her own business right here in the San Jose area with Creative Colors International (CCI) is just one step closer to living the American Dream. The former corporate accountant emigrated from Hong Kong when she was 13 and quickly adapted to life in America attending both high school and college in the states. She is excited to be her own boss and bring the innovative CCI franchise to Silicon Valley. She and her husband, Joe, who will eventually join his wife in the new business, wanted more time with their two children and feel that CCI offers them that opportunity. Through Creative Colors Internationals revolutionary products and restoration techniques, Florence says she can help local customers save up to 90% in replacement fees by repairing worn and/or damaged materials. I believe by providing the best quality and top notch customer service I will earn their trust and respect, as well as their repeat business, Florence says. And by repairing instead of replacing a worn item, I am reducing waste and helping the greater San Jose area earn its name as the green city. The statistics suggest that repairing and restoring, as opposed to upholstering and replacing, can save local business owners and residents hundreds of dollars on any damaged item. For example, the costs associated with upholstering any type of seat can be very steep, ranging anywhere from $120 to $450 per cushion. And according to Terri Sniegolski, Creative Colors Internationals CEO, the commitment shared by all franchisees to help customers save money, and deliver on the companys We Can Fix That philosophy, has been the key catalyst for the companys expansion to 74 locations in 27 states with 130+ mobile units since its initial inception in 1980. Were excited to open our next Creative Colors location in San Jose because we know Florence Chu shares the same We Can Fix That attitude our other successful franchisees possess, said Sniegolski. We are thrilled about our expansion in the San Jose area because we know the local business owners and customers in the community will be eager to repair and restore their possessions at a fraction of the cost. Serving the automotive, commercial and furniture industries, Creative Colors International offers affordable solutions for tears, holes, scuffs, scratches and other types of damage found on leather, vinyl, plastic or fabric through on-site repair, restoration, cleaning, dyeing and protection. For local residents, this means Creative Colors International can repair auto interiors, leather furniture, RV flooring, and boat vinyl, among other things. Additionally, for business owners, Creative Colors International can repair any upholstery found in critical locations around the company, such as waiting rooms, examination rooms, restaurant booths, hotel rooms, and theater seating, among others. For more information on Chu and her Creative Colors International location, please visit http://www.WeCanFixThat.com/SiliconValley. About Creative Colors International Launched in 1991, the Creative Colors International (CCI) franchise system was created through its affiliate, J&Js Creative Colors, the original industry leader in refurbishment techniques and systems. Today, both companies continue to be family-owned and operated by the second generation. Catering to the abundance of upholstered items in every home, business and vehicle, CCI is the ultimate in on-site repair, restoration, cleaning, protection, and dyeing of leather, vinyl, plastic and fabric. Through proprietary technology, CCI restores damaged material at a fraction of replacement costs, saving customers up to 90 percent. CCI repairs are stronger than the original area and are nearly invisible to the naked eye. In the Automotive, Furniture and Commercial Markets, CCI offers on-site repair and restoration to all types of leather, vinyl, fabric, plastic and carpeting by repairing and redyeing holes, cuts, tears, burns, scrapes, fading and discoloration. For more information on CCIs services and franchise opportunities, visit http://www.wecanfixthat.com. The Town of Washington Joins the Empire State Purchasing Group We think the bid library will really help us save time in drafting more effective bids and access specifications. Today, Town of Washington announces it has joined the Empire State Purchasing Group, a regional purchasing community by BidNet. Local government agencies throughout New York utilize the purchasing group for bid and vendor management. Town of Washington invites all potential vendors to register online with the Empire State Purchasing Group to access its upcoming solicitations. The Town of Washington joins the Empire State Purchasing Group and the community of 204 participating local government agencies located throughout New York. Along with a variety of bid and vendor management solutions, Town of Washington gains access to a bid library to help with bid creation, a shared pool of vendors, and association with like-minded purchasing professionals in the area. Collaboration is important to us, says Mary Alex , Town Clerk of Town of Washington. We think the bid library will really help us save time in drafting more effective bids and access specifications, Alex continued. Plus it makes it easier for our vendors to access our bids. Vendors interested in doing business with Town of Washington and other nearby government agencies are encouraged to register at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/new-york. Benefits of joining the Empire State Purchasing Group include: Centralized location for bids from all 205 participating agencies Bid alerts customized to the vendors products or services Reliable and timely delivery of notifications, addendums and documents Advanced notice of Term Contract expiration E-Bid and E-Quote Submission The Empire State Purchasing Group is one of BidNets regional purchasing groups throughout the country. It provides Town of Washington a bid and vendor management solution, document and addendum distribution, and tracking of all activity throughout the procurement process. About Town of Washington: The Town of Washington is located in Dutchess County in the scenic Hudson Valley region. With a population of 4,742 people, this quaint town provides a comfortable lifestyle for its residents as well as access to great education and experiences. About Empire State Purchasing Group: Empire State Purchasing Group is a part of BidNets regional purchasing groups available at no cost to local government agencies. With years of input from Procurement Professionals, BidNet specifically developed the bid system to fill the need for a robust bid and supplier management solution for local government agencies. BidNet runs regional purchasing groups throughout the country used by over 1,100 local government agencies. To learn more about the features and module available to government agencies, please visit http://www.SourceSuite.com Vertafore, the leader in modern insurance technology, announced the company has achieved full certification of the ID Federation SignOn OnceSM solution to address the industry-wide credential management concerns faced by agencies and carriers. SignOn Once enables one identity to replace multiple IDs and passwords for insurance system users, ensuring secure and real-time transactions. Vertafore, a founding member of the non-profit ID Federation organization, is the only agency management system provider currently certified to offer SignOn Once to customers. From the beginning of this journey in 2014, Vertafore has been a trusted advisor and partner to the ID Federation, said Steve Aronson, president of Aronson Insurance and director of ID Federation. The culmination of this work has led to a great result today, with Vertafores certification, our SignOn Once solution can be a resource for more than 25,000 Vertafore customers. Insurance professionals consistently rank password management as the number one pain-point in day-to-day operations, citing lost productivity and security risks due to the hundreds of access credentials required for daily tasks. SignOn Once removes the barriers to efficient communication by providing an easy-to-use and secure way of limiting ID and password proliferation, simultaneously streamlining account management processes and securing information and records. Carriers participating in SignOn Once also have a competitive advantage, increasing the likelihood of carrier of choice status with agency partners. Our partnership with the ID Federation enables our customers to make faster, easier, more secure transactions, which ultimately improves customer service and closes more sales its a great win for the industry, said Bruce Winterburn, VP of Industry Relations for Vertafore. In particular, our carrier customers rely on our solutions to improve business processes and strengthen agency connections, and our SignOn Once certification helps us deliver on that promise. More information about Vertafores SignOn Once certification will be shared at the Vertafore Connectivity Forum, a series of sessions that will help carriers stand out and become a leading agency partner. The Vertafore Connectivity Forum will be held at NetVU17, the insurance industrys largest user conference, starting at 1:45 p.m. in room 106A-C. Highlights include: Sircon Connected Compliance Learn about Sircon Connected Compliance and why it is the best option for establishing and maintaining compliant selling and servicing relationships. Leveraging ReferenceConnect to Become a Carrier of Choice Understand how to improve information flow as a carrier of choice for agency partners. Features include appetite guides and market availability, required and conditional forms, and endorsements. Vertafore Rating Road Map This session will give a broad overview of the direction of the PL Rating, FSC Rater, and QQWebRater products, as well as some of the new upcoming releases to offer customers an embedded rating experience vs. an integrated one. Vertafore Connectivity Updates Connectivity between Vertafore agency management systems and carriers is a top priority. Topics will include TransactNOW, updates on ID Federation, and an intro to the new Book Roll capabilities. Connectivity Panel: Expert Agent Feedback Find out what some of the industrys most enlightened and progressive agents are doing with information and technology as well as what is needed and expected from their carrier partners in order to stay relevant in the ever-changing digital marketplace. Leading carriers are re-inventing how they pursue new business. Vertafore has forged key partnerships, such as with the ID Federation, and developed industry-acclaimed technology with carriers in mind. These cutting-edge solutions enable carriers to make informed decisions and strengthen connectivity with agencies their number one distribution channel. To learn more about how Vertafores technology leadership solves industry challenges, visit http://www.vertafore.com/Solutions/Carriers. About Vertafore Vertafore offers the broadest and most adaptable technology solutions to better prepare the insurance industry for digital disruption. The Vertafore product line is built on a platform, empowering customers and other solution providers to adapt and thrive as the market changes. Vertafores platform features fast innovation, partnerships with the best technology companies, and customizable solutions to help companies remain independent during a time of industry disruption. As the leader in modern insurance technology with the largest customer base in the industry, Vertafore connects every point of the distribution channel, from agencies and carriers to MGAs, MGUs, and state governments. For more information about Vertafore, visit http://www.vertafore.com, read the companys blog, and follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 2017 Vertafore, Inc. All rights reserved. Vertafore, Sircon, TransactNOW, FSC Rater, QQWebrater, ReferenceConnect and the Vertafore logo are trademarks of Vertafore and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Costly samples can be destroyed by a power outage. The IoT capability of the Incufridge can alert the user over the internet that the door was left open or that the temperature has been changed The IoT (Internet of Things) is revolutionizing the way the world operates. Devices with internet and WiFi connectivity are making a huge impact on businesses and individual consumers alike. Laboratories can maximize their profit margin by increasing throughput. McKinsey Global Institute estimates the IoT will have a value anywhere from $4 trillion to $11 trillion dollars by the year 2025. McKinsey expects the IoT to have the biggest affect on the manufacturing and operations sector, but one overlooked area the IoT will have huge implications on is the life science and biotech field, particularly with chilling incubators, like the Revolutionary Science Incufridge. Revolutionary Science has recently rolled out their new Incufridge line of chilling incubators that will come equipped with Ethernet, USB, and Wi-Fi connectivity. Researchers can now take comfort in knowing that their samples are safely, and securely stored, anytime, anywhere. The broad temperature range allows the Incufridge Chilling Incubator to heat and cool to specific temperatures. Need to change the temperature in a span of 1 degree Celsius to 75 degrees Celsius from halfway around the world? Not a problem. Revolutionary Science uses the IoT to remotely control and monitor the temperature of its Incufridge. Alert notifications can be sent over Wi-Fi or Ethernet if the door is opened or the temperature falls out of range. Costly samples can be destroyed by a power outage. The IoT capability of the Incufridge can alert the user over the internet that the door was left open or that the temperature has been changed. states Isaac Erickson, the Chief Technology Officer at Revolutionary Science. It has also been recognized for its superb ability to handle scientific applications like, Protein Crystalography, growing C. Elegan worms, bacterial reactions, BOD testing and even growing extremophiles. Matt Lannoo of Revolutionary Science said, As seen in the product's promotional video, the stainless steel lined Incufridge Pro comes in multiple sizes and not only has IoT capability, but is the only chilling incubator that has a color touch screen and a keyed lock for sample security.. A valid concern researchers have is about the security of their data. EMC Corporation estimates that data loss and down time account for $1.7 trillion dollars lost globally. In 2014, hackers breached Yahoo corporation resulting in a loss of 32 million user accounts. Anthem Inc. lost 80 million users name, DOB, SSN, and other account info to hackers in 2015. With such a large threat to profit looming from data loss, companies are spending more on data security now, than ever before. Cybersecurity Ventures believes that the cybersecurity industry will be worth $120 billion dollars in 2017, growing to $1 trillion dollars through 2021. Researchers frequently generate sensitive data that needs to be carefully handled. A data loss for researchers could result in days, months, or years worth of wasted work. With Revolutionary Sciences Incufridge, data remains secure. The Ethernet and Wi-Fi can easily be turned off or be configured to be accessible only on an internal network. Peace of mind and greater work efficiency are included, free of charge. About Revolutionary Science: In 1999, Revolutionary Science was founded after the birth of the company's first micro centrifuge. Years later, Revolutionary Science has become a leader in the design and manufacturing of chilling incubators, centrifuges, autoclaves, automated cell and colony counters and laboratory water baths. Registered with the FDA and ISO, Revolutionary Science is a Minnesotan company dedicated to the manufacturing of precision life science, sterilization, and biotechnology equipment in the USA. With more than 340 mammal species of all sizes, from endangered mountain gorillas to tree climbing lions, Uganda is a unique destination offering a diverse range of wildlife activities that bring travelers face to face with some of the most majestic animals on the planet. A number of organizations have curated exclusive wildlife encounters where visitors can tag along with researchers and conservationists, or accompany experts into the bush. Ideal for those seeking hands-on encounters with the countrys wildlife from a scientific point of view, the Uganda Tourism Board invites travelers to experience these immersive adventures: GORILLA HABITUATION EXPERIENCE IN BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK For the adventure of a lifetime, primate lovers can go beyond the traditional gorilla trek with an all-day habituation experience only offered in the Rushaga Area of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. During this one-of-a-kind experience introduced in 2016, travelers join researchers, trackers, rangers, and conservationists to locate and spend time with a gorilla family that is being trained to get used to human presence, a process that takes about two years. Setting this four-hour experience apart from the conventional trek is its intensity, as groups follow gorillas through the lush rainforest, and its intimate set-up, as groups are limited to four visitors. Traditional gorilla trekking allows up to eight visitors in each group who spend one hour with the gorilla family once it is located. Permits for the gorilla habituation experience are US$1,500 per person and should be reserved in advance by emailing the Uganda Wildlife Authority at info(at)ugandawildlife.org or through qualified tour operators and travel agents. Regular gorilla trekking permits are US $450 per person in April, May, and November and US $600 per person all other months. They can be booked in the same manner as the habituation experience. CHIMPANZEE HABITUATION EXPERIENCE Travelers can channel their inner Jane Goodall by spending a full day with chimps in their natural habitat while helping Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers habituate them for human observation. Similar to the gorilla habituation experience, small groups of no more than four guests and a ranger take chimpanzee trekking up a notch, spending all day in the forests of Kibale National Park and Budongo Forest in Murchison Falls National Park. Groups arrive as the chimps awake from their nests at dawn, follow these fast moving primates throughout the forest, and end the day as these primates build their new nests for the next day. The habituation experience is best in March, April, May, and November when fewer tourists are in the parks. Permits for the chimpanzee habituation experience are US$200 per person and should be reserved in advance by emailing the Uganda Wildlife Authority at info(at)ugandawildlife.org or through qualified tour operators and travel agents. Regular chimp trekking permits are US $100 per person in April, May, and November and US $150 per person all other months. They can be booked in the same manner as the habituation experience. LION TRACKING SAFARI IN QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL PARK Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of Ugandas three national parks where Africas big cats can be found roaming the savanna. However, as the human populations surrounding the national parks continue to increase, the countrys lion population has been jeopardized by human-wildlife conflict due to agricultural encroachment. The Uganda Carnivore Program is one organization dedicated to the monitoring, research, and conservation of these predators. Travelers interested in learning more about their work can take part in a predator tracking providing an up-close look at Ugandas majestic lions while directly supporting conservation efforts. During the early morning safari, participants will locate lions off the beaten path with an experienced predator tracking research team led by wildlife veterinarian Dr. Ludwig Siefert. The lion tracking safari is US$50 per person payable to the Uganda Wildlife Authority. A US$10 donation is also requested per participant and will directly support community conservation in the area surrounding the park. The lion tracking safari can be booked in Queen Elizabeth National Park at the Uganda Wildlife Authority visitors centers on Mweya Peninsula and Queens Pavilion or through qualified tour operators and travel agents. CAREGIVER FOR A DAY AT NGAMBA ISLAND CHIMPANZEE SANCTUARY Many of Ugandas chimps call the forests home, but those who are not part of a family in the wild receive extra TLC at Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Located off the shore of Entebbe in Lake Victoria, Ngamba Island is home to more than 40 orphaned chimpanzees rescued from areas throughout Uganda. Participants experience what it is like to be a caregiver as they take part in two feedings and assist staff with everything from medical checkups, to research and monitoring, preparing holding areas, and more. Not only does this full-day experience bring visitors up close and personal with these playful primates, but it also provides the opportunity to engage in chimp conservation as proceeds support their continued care. The Caregiver For a Day Experience is US$100 per person and takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations can be made by emailing reservations(at)ngambaisland.org or through qualified tour operators and travel agents. Editor Note: High-res images can be downloaded here. ABOUT UGANDA Known as the Pearl of Africa, Uganda is located in East Africa and offers some of the continents most diverse wildlife viewing, dramatic landscapes, and immersive cultural experiences. Uganda is home to more than half the worlds population of endangered mountain gorillas, and trekking to observe these gentle giants in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is one of the worlds top bucket list travel activities. Safari opportunities abound in savanna, forest, and wetland settings throughout 10 national parks, where visitors can come face to face with The Big Five lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and buffalo as well as giraffe, zebra, chimpanzee, hippopotamus, crocodile, and more than half of all bird species found in Africa. Among Ugandas extraordinary natural attractions are the snow-capped Rwenzori Mountains; expansive Lake Victoria, which forms the source of the Nile River; and Murchison Falls National Park. Air service to Ugandas Entebbe International Airport is available on carriers including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Etihad Airways, South African Airways, EgyptAir and Ethiopian Airlines. For more information, please visit http://www.visituganda.com. Media Contact: Ashley Norman PHG Consulting anorman(at)phgconsulting.com 646.465.9775 MW Andreas Wickhoff MW "I look forward to the diversity of the vintages but also the homogeneity of the vineyard character sites and most importantly, of holding such a tasting of Heiligenstein at this capacity for the very first time in Italy", says MW Andreas Wickhoff During Vinitaly, the second day of the Vinitaly International Academy seminars introduces wine professionals to one of the most long-standing grapes of Austria, the Riesling of Heiligenstein, and to one of its foremost producers, the Weingut Brundlmayer situated approximately 70 km north-west of Vienna. The seminar entitled A 21-year journey with the Austrian Riesling of Heiligenstein and the Weingut Brundlmayer is a vertical tasting which will take place on Monday 10 April at 10am in the new Vinitaly International multifunctional space wine2digital, in the PalaExpo of Veronafiere. The VIA seminar, convened by Weingut Brundlmayer general manager and MW Andreas Wickhoff and by VIA Scientific Director Ian DAgata, feature a sampling of the Riesling of Heiligenstein across 8 vintages from 1994 to 2015. This fascinating vertical tasting will cover specifically the 1994, 1995, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2014, and 2015 vintages, allowing seminar attendees to experience the evolution of flavor in one of the most distinctive white grape varieties that gives birth to wines with a great aging potential. The seminar will be a unique event in its kind, being the first vertical tasting of Heiligenstein to be held at such scale in Italy. Wickhoff, who is also the third Master of Wine for Austria, explains: We only make these special Heiligenstein verticals once in a while since the stocks from the older vintages come from the family reserve, stocked in a 700-year old Vinothek in the winery. A clear focus on one vineyard, in this case the most famous and historic vineyard site in the Kamptal and certainly among the top 3 terroirs for Austrian Riesling, makes this tasting also unique. I look forward to the diversity of the vintages but also the homogeneity of the vineyard character sites and most importantly, of holding such a tasting of Heiligenstein at this capacity for the very first time in Italy. I am anxious to get some feedback from the participants about the wines! It is the great geologic diversity of notable cru like the Heiligenstein, the Steinmassel, and the Berg-Vogelsang to contribute to a number of wines which age incredibly well. On the Heiligenstein, Wickhoff states: There are many very unique components to the Heiligenstein (aspect, overall topography, history, biodiversity.) but probably the one which stands out is the truly unique soil type of the Zobinger Heiligenstein which is called Zobinger Perm, a volcanic desert sandstone which dates back to the Perm period270-250 million years of agelending the wines from this cru a particular smokiness and spiciness. DAgata further explains: One of Austria's two or three best wine domaines, a master of Gruner Veltliner and Riesling but of other varieties as well, we are especially lucky to be able to sit through and taste a vertical of Rieslings from the famous Heiligenstein site, which will show just how great Austrian Riesling wines can be in their complex minerality, savory texture and floral personalities. Austria is generally renowned for the grandeur of its alpine landscape, for Viennas buzzing coffee houses, opera houses and classical music scene. However, recently rising to international acclaim is also Austrian wine. Often deemed as the Austrian wine wonder, Austrian wines have been celebrated by wine journalists and experts due to their superb quality and their thousand-year-old relationship with the territory. The Brundlmayer Winery is a prime example of the growing success experienced by Austrian wine producers on the international market. Located in Langenlois in the Lower Austrian Kamp Valley upstream along the Blue Danube, the Weingut Brundlmayer is considered one of the two or three best wineries in Austria. It has proven to be a benchmark for fine Gruner Veltliner and Riesling from the Kamptal over the past decades. Willi Brundlmayer has been awarded important domestic and international recognitions testifying to the high quality of their wines, which are prized in numerous guide books and sought-after by collectors all over the world. Wickhoff notes: At Brundlmayer, the orchestration of great wines is aspired to be in the most diverse instrumental constellations. The simple varietal wines deliver crystal-clear interpretations of the grape and its origin. The interplay of soil with the fruit of the grape is the focal point of the classic single vineyard Erste Lagen wines. And the complex reserves from the famous vineyards resound with all the resources of the terroir in the most profuse sense of the word. The seminar on the Riesling of Heiligenstein and the Brundlmayer winery on Monday 10 April at wine2digital aligns with VIAs educational priorities, which include not only the promotion of Italian wine at home and abroad, but also the training and education of specialists about prestigious international wines. About: Veronafiere is the leading organizer of trade shows in Italy including Vinitaly (http://www.vinitaly.com), the largest wine and spirits fair in the world. During its 50th edition Vinitaly counted more than 4,100 exhibitors on a 100,000+ square meter area and 130,000 visitors from 140 different countries. The next edition of the fair will take place on 9 - 12 April 2017. The premier event to Vinitaly, OperaWine (http://www.operawine.it) Finest Italian Wines: 100 Great Producers, will unite international wine professionals on April 8th in the heart of Verona, offering them the unique opportunity to discover and taste the wines of the 100 Best Italian Producers, as selected by Wine Spectator. Since 1998 Vinitaly International travels to several countries such as Russia, China, USA and Hong Kong thanks to its strategic arm abroad, Vinitaly International. In February 2014 Vinitaly International launched an educational project, the Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) with the aim of divulging and broadcasting the excellence and diversity of Italian wine around the globe. VIA this year launched the second edition of its Certification Course and today counts 55 Italian Wine Ambassadors and 6 Italian Wine Experts. We know the importance of engaging more students in science, technology, engineering and math to generate tomorrows STEM-ready workforce in aviation. The National Flight Academy (NFA) is proud to announce Delta Air Lines as its sponsor of the Quarterdeck entrance for the next five years. Delta Air Lines logo is displayed on the Quarterdeck of the National Flight Academy, where it will be viewed by more than 10,000 students, parents and visitors each year. In addition, for the fourth consecutive year, Delta Air Lines the Official Airline of the National Flight Academy, is sponsoring enrollment for hundreds of students in the NFAs AMBITION program. This year more than 400 students will attend in June 2017, more than the previous three years combined. Attendees consist of children and grandchildren of Delta employees and students from Deltas community partners, including organizations like Junior Achievement, Aviation high schools and 100 Black Men of America chapters, who select children to represent their respective organizations. Just like the NFA, Delta is committed to igniting an educational spark in students, said Capt. Steve Dickson, senior vice president of flight operations for Delta Air Lines. We know the importance of engaging more students in science, technology, engineering and math to generate tomorrows STEM-ready workforce in aviation. We are very proud to share this common goal with the NFA as we invest in the next generation through this one-of-a-kind immersive program, Dickson furthered. This year, students ranging from 7th 12th grades will come from all over the United States, Latin America and Mexico to participate in the NFAs renowned AMBITION program an interactive, fun-filled, aviation-themed experience. Attendees, or AMBITION Experimental Pilots (AXPs), live aboard AMBITION, a state-of-the art program housed onboard a 102,000-square-foot virtual aircraft carrier. The aviation-based adventure weaves STEM learning objectives with important 21st century skills including critical thinking, problem solving, leadership development and effective communication. AXPs plan missions with ultramodern and advanced technology as well as learn to fly in networked aircraft, eat on mess decks, sleep in staterooms and receive mission briefings in six fully-electronic ready rooms. Additionally, they experience different areas aboard the virtual carrier, including the Mess Deck, Join Intelligence Center, Joint Operations Center, Berthing Spaces and Hangar Bay. Delta is a great example of a company investing in an innovative program that will positively affect the future of young people, said retired Marine Lt. Gen. Duane Thiessen, president of the National Flight Academy. Together, we are able to have a positive impact on a large group of students. Steve Hayes, president of Visit Pensacola, welcomes first-time and returning visitors brought by Delta Air Lines to the Pensacola Bay Area. We applaud Delta and the NFA's commitment to inspiring children's interest in STEM, and we encourage these students and their families to take full advantage while here of everything else Pensacola has to offer our history, culture, top-ranked beaches and, of course, the National Naval Aviation Museum, which brings in almost one million visitors per year," said Hayes. # About the National Flight Academy The National Flight Academy, located in Pensacola, Fla., aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, is designed to address the serious concerns of declining Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills and standards in our country. The Academys mission is to inspire students who subsequently return to their parent schools and seek out the more challenging courses in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The NFA is a self-supporting, tuition-based educational program. We welcome support from individuals, corporations and foundations for both our scholarship program and general operation funds. For more information about the National Flight Academy, visit http://www.nationalflightacademy.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. About Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines serves more than 180 million customers each year. In 2017, Delta was named to Fortunes top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired airline for the sixth time in seven years. Additionally, Delta has ranked No.1 in the Business Travel News Annual Airline survey for an unprecedented six consecutive years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 323 destinations in 57 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs more than 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 800 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industrys leading transatlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with key hubs and markets including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK and LaGuardia, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport facilities, global products and services, and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on the Delta News Hub, as well as delta.com, Twitter @DeltaNewsHub, Google.com/+Delta, and Facebook.com/delta. ## Please contact Malerie Shelton, Director of Marketing & Public Relations, via email at mshelton@navalaviationmuseum.org for more information. ### We remain steadfast in our focus to increase agent productivity and recruit the best real estate professionals in the market. We have a great momentum and the results are evident. Leading local brokerage Realty Executives Phoenix has added 260 new agents to their growing firm through the acquisitions of RedBrick Realty and Show Appeal Realty. These acquisitions are part of the firms aggressive expansion plan, which continues to gain strength. We remain steadfast in our focus to increase agent productivity and recruit the best real estate professionals in the market. We have a great momentum and the results are evident, says Realty Executives co-owner Joel Moyes. While growth is certainly important, the quality of companies like Show Appeal Realty and RedBrick Realty choosing to align with our brand is what means the most. The franchise also stands to gain major players Doug Hopkins and Brandon Hunt. Hopkins, owner of Red Brick Realty, is well-known for the Discovery Channel show Property Wars and is one of the top 25 real estate agents in Arizona. Hunt, founder of Show Appeal Realty, is an investor and team lead of Rezamp, one of the most prolific real estate teams in the Valley. For 50 years, Realty Executives has been associated with professionalism and achievement in the industry. We are proud to continue to add Executives to our family, and provide the support and services they need to represent their clients and grow their business, said Mary Frances Coleman, CEO of Realty Executives Phoenix. Last year, Realty Executives Phoenix added over 300 new agents to their roster, expanding to 30 offices throughout the state, and closing almost $3 billion in sales. Their growth is in line with Realty Executives Internationals expansion plan, with the franchisor expecting to grow to 25,000 to 30,000 agents within the next few years. The aggressive expansion plan includes acquisition of both franchisors and largescale brokerages in the US and beyond. About Realty Executives Intl. Svcs. LLC Established in 1965, Realty Executives International is one of the largest and most established real estate franchise systems in the world today, with over 8,000 agents and 500 offices globally. The company offers disruptive, flexible pricing models for unrivaled mobile technology, business tools, training and service while providing protected territories to qualified franchisees worldwide. The Scottsdale-based, privately held company has been ranked as a leader in the real estate industry by publications like Entrepreneur, Success and Inc. magazines. For additional company information visit http://www.RealtyExecutives.com. Spring break is a time when the "Family Emergency Scam" becomes more prevalent. While your children or grandchildren are having fun on spring break, scammers contact you trying to scare you into believing your loved ones are in trouble and need your help immediately! BBB Serving Central Indiana is warning parents and grandparents about this scheme as scammers know that many older teens head for fun in the sun this time of year. Here is how the scam works: You receive a call from an authority claiming to be the police, lawyer, or a hospital representative. They state your child or grandchild is in serious trouble as they have been arrested, mugged, or are in the hospital. The loved one is in desperate need of money to post bail, receive medical treatment, or avoid jail time. Sometimes the callers attempt to impersonate the child, saying they sound different because of their injuries or because they have a cold. The scammer also asks that you not tell anyone else (mom, dad, or another guardian) because they "would be in so much trouble." You are told to wire transfer money right away to avoid a night in jail or to pay for the medical bill, lawyers fees, fix a car, etc. Panic sets in because you believe your loved one is in jeopardy and send the money. The scammers now have your money, and you realize that nothing ever really happened to your child or grandchildren. BBB Serving Central Indiana offers the following tips for avoiding this type of scam: Remain Calm: Scammers rely on you becoming emotional and making a quick decision. Dont give into high-pressure tactics about needing to act immediately. Let the caller know you will call them back. If you are suspicious of the call let the caller know that you will call them right back and hang up! Contact your loved one through a phone number you know to be theirs. If there are still questions, contact other family members to discuss the situation and find out more information. Ask Questions: But make certain not to reveal too much personal information. If a caller says "It's me, Grandma!" don't respond with a name, instead let the caller explain who he or she is. Create a Family Password: Some families have an emergency password that only the family knows. Do Not Wire Money: Wiring money is nearly impossible to trace. If you are asked to wire transfer money inquire why they do not accept other forms of payment. Know Travel Plans: Have your children checking in periodically, even if it only to send a text. Know where they are traveling and how to get reach them. For more information, please contact BBB at info(at)indybbb.org or 1-866-463-9222. About BBB Serving Central Indiana ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2015, people turned to BBB more than 172 million times for BBB Business Reviews on more than 5.3 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at bbb.org. The Council of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for the local, independent BBBs in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as home to its national and international programs on dispute resolution, advertising review, and industry self-regulation. BBB Serving Central Indiana was founded in 1916 and serves 46 counties in Central Indiana Our goal of putting advanced forecasting capabilities via machine learning in the hands of decision makers is happening. Big Squid, a leader in predictive analytics and machine learning with their Predictive Toolkit software platform, has successfully closed $3 million in seed funding, led by Silverton Partners and Kickstart Seed Fund. Our goal of putting advanced forecasting capabilities via machine learning in the hands of decision makers is happening, said Chris Knoch, CEO of Big Squid. Our customers can make smarter decisions with their data, faster. There is a sea change going on in the way businesses use their data, and this news further affirms the markets desire to see it happen." He continued, We are truly excited to add Kickstart and Silverton to our team. Kickstart is the premier seed fund in Utah and has an incredible track record of picking innovative solutions out of the Silicon Slopes. Ive known Mike Dodd for years; the expertise he and Silverton bring to the table is game changing. We could not be happier with our new team. Big Squids Predictive Toolkit puts the power of predictive analytics in the hands of the business user and decision maker, allowing the organization to gain insight on future trends and project with greater certainty. With Predictive Toolkit, organizations can construct predictive models in three easy steps, explore different what if scenarios and allow them to forecast key business metrics to make smarter decisions faster. Big Squid is supercharging business intelligence tools by making predictive analytics accessible to the business user, said Dalton Wright, Partner at Kickstart Fund. This round of funding will help accelerate the adoption of Big Squids Predictive Toolkit in the enterprise. Big Squid specializes in all aspects of Business Intelligence, Data Sciences, and Predictive Analytics. With more than 400 strategic implementations under their belt, Big Squid develops and implements innovative data science solutions that enable business users to identify and answer their key business questions faster. Having worked with Chris at Omniture, I couldnt be more excited to invest alongside him and his team. Their approach to predictive analytics and A.I. has shown to be unique and very differentiated, said Mike Dodd, General Partner at Silverton Partners. Big Squids early customer traction and product market fit are evidence of the large opportunity in front of them. The funding marks an exciting and transformative period for Big Squid as it welcomes Dalton Wright (Kickstart Seed Fund), and Mike Dodd (Silverton Partners) to its Board of Directors. Domo, provider of The Business Cloud the worlds first platform for business optimization, will remain an investor in the organization. To learn more about Big Squids Predictive Software Platform and Data Consulting services please visit http://www.bigsquid.com About Big Squid: Big Squid specializes in all aspects of Business Intelligence, Data Sciences, and Predictive Analytics. The company is a Premier Domo Partner that develops and implements innovative solutions that assist business users in identifying their key business questions, and has successfully engaged over 400 customers on strategic Domo deployments. For more information, visit http://www.bigsquid.com. About Silverton Partners: Silverton Partners is an early stage venture capital firm based in Austin, Texas. Silverton collaborates with exceptional entrepreneurs who are committed to attacking growth markets with proprietary products or services. The principals of Silverton Partners have over five decades of venture experience, having been the start-up investors in Tivoli Systems (IPO), Silicon Labs (IPO), Motive Communications (IPO), Waveset (acquired by Sun Microsystems) and BlackLocus (acquired by The Home Depot). More information on Silverton Partners can be found at http://www.silvertonpartners.com About Kickstart Seed Fund: Kickstart Seed Fund is a seed stage venture capital firm based in Salt Lake City, UT. Kickstart Seed Fund's mission is to kickstart the best companies in Utah and the Mountain West by providing smart capital, a connected community and expert guidance. Since raising its first fund in 2008, Kickstart has invested in more than 60 companies. For more information, visit http://www.kickstartfund.com If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Melissa Kirkeide, Director of Marketing at Big Squid, Inc. - 312.662.3585 or email at mmorsi(at)bigsquid.com Fraudsters and other criminals use the internet to take advantage of consumers by creating scams to trick them into giving out their personal information, which can lead to identity theft. There are different types of online scams that criminals use to defraud millions of consumers. They use tricks and technology to convince consumers to send money or give out their personal information. In an effort to help consumers avoid these scams, national nonprofit American Consumer Credit Counseling describes different types of scams and what they might look like. Each year millions of consumers fall victim to online scams, said Steve Trumble, President and CEO of American Consumer Credit Counseling, which is based in Newton, MA. Fraudsters and other criminals use the internet to take advantage of consumers by creating scams to trick them into giving out their personal information, which can lead to identity theft. Its important that consumers know what to look for so they can protect their financial security. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of reported U.S. data breaches in 2016 hit a record high of 1,093 40 percent higher than the 780 reported in 2015. The business sector was the leading target with 45 percent of the overall data breaches followed by healthcare/medical industry (35 percent), education sector (9 percent), government/military (7 percent) and banking/credit/financial sector (5 percent). For the eighth year in a row hacking/skimming/phishing topped the list for types of occurrences, accounting for about 56 percent of the breach attacks. American Consumer Credit Counseling provides consumers with different types of online scams (http://www.consumercredit.com/financial-education/identity-theft/scams/) and what they might look like. 1. AUTOMATIC DEBIT SCAMS (http://www.consumercredit.com/financial-education/identity-theft/scams/automatic-debit-scams/) Fraudulent telemarketers have found yet another way to steal consumers money from their checking account in the form of unauthorized debits (withdrawals). In this type of scam consumers will either get a postcard or a telephone call saying they have won a free prize or can qualify for a major credit card, regardless of past credit problems. Near the end of the sales pitch, the telemarketer may ask the consumer to get one of their checks and read off the numbers at the bottom. Once they have the checking account information it is put on a demand draft. Unlike a check, the draft does not require the consumers signature, so when it is received by the bank, the amount is taken directly from the consumers account and put into the telemarketers account. 2. FAKE CREDIT REPORT SITES (http://www.consumercredit.com/financial-education/identity-theft/scams/fake-credit-report-sites-cashing-in-on-your-personal-information/) Consumers may have seen Web sites or received unsolicited emails offering credit reports, sometimes for free. Be aware that some of these online operators may not actually provide credit reports, but may be using these sites as a way to capture the consumers personal information. From there, they may sell their information to others who may use it commit fraud, including identity theft. 3. HOAX TARGETS ELDERLY (http://www.consumercredit.com/financial-education/identity-theft/scams/hoax-targets-elderly-african-americans/) Flyers with instructions, such as Claim $5,000 in Social Security Reimbursements, are attempts to trick people into revealing personal identifying information that could, in turn, cost them money or damage their credit ratings. 4. PRETEXTING: PERSONAL INFORMATION REVEALED (http://www.consumercredit.com/financial-education/identity-theft/scams/pretexting-your-personal-information-revealed/) When consumers list their personal assets, they often think of their home, car, savings and investments. But what about Social Security number (SSN), telephone records and bank and credit card account numbers? To people known as pretexters, that information is also a personal asset. Pretexters use a variety of tactics to get your personal information. For example, a pretexter may call, claim hes from a survey firm, and ask the consumer a few questions. When the pretexter has the information he wants, he uses it to call the consumers financial institution and pretends to be the consumer or someone with authorized access to your account. 5. SECURED CREDIT CARD MARKETING SCAMS (http://www.consumercredit.com/financial-education/identity-theft/scams/secured-credit-card-marketing-scams/) Beware: while secured credit cards can be an effective way to build or re-establish credit history, some marketers of secured cards make deceptive advertising claims to entice consumers to respond to their ads. The ads may offer unsecured credit cards, secured credit cards, or not specify a card type. The ads usually lead consumers to believe they can get a card simply by calling the number listed. ACCC is a 501(c)3 organization that provides free credit counseling, bankruptcy counseling, and housing counseling to consumers nationwide in need of financial literacy education and money management. For more information, contact ACCC: For credit counseling, call 800-769-3571 For bankruptcy counseling, call 866-826-6924 For housing counseling, call 866-826-7180 Or visit us online at http://www.ConsumerCredit.com About American Consumer Credit Counseling American Consumer Credit Counseling (ACCC) is a nonprofit credit counseling 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to empowering consumers to achieve financial management through credit counseling, debt management, bankruptcy counseling, housing counseling, student loan counseling and financial education concerning debt solutions. In order to help consumers reach their goal of debt relief, ACCC provides a range of free consumer personal finance resources on a variety of topics including budgeting, credit and debt management, student loan assistance, youth and money, homeownership, identity theft, senior living and retirement. Consumers can use ACCCs worksheets, videos, calculators, and blog articles to make the best possible decisions regarding their financial future. ACCC holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and is a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC). For more information or to access free financial education resources, log on to ConsumerCredit.com or visit http://www.consumercredit.com/financial-education.aspx A recent report from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) advocates for a higher bar for entry into teacher preparation programs. The NCTQ report suggests, based on a review of GPA and SAT/ACT requirements at 221 institutions in 25 states, that boosting entry requirements would significantly improve teacher quality in the U.S. It argues that this higher bar should be set by states, by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), and by the higher-education institutions themselves. However, the reports foundational claims are poorly supported, making its recommendations highly problematic. The report, Within Our Grasp: Achieving Higher Admissions Standards in Teacher Prep, was reviewed by a group of scholars and practitioners who are members of Project TEER (Teacher Education and Education Reform). The team was led by Marilyn Cochran-Smith, the Cawthorne Professor of Teacher Education for Urban Schools at Boston College, along with Megina Baker, Wen-Chia Chang, M. Beatriz Fernandez, & Elizabeth Stringer Keefe. The review is published by the Think Twice Think Tank Review Project at the National Education Policy Center, housed at University of Colorado Boulders School of Education. The reviewers explain that the report does not provide the needed supports for its assertions or recommendations. It makes multiple unsupported and unfounded claims about the impact on teacher diversity of raising admissions requirements for teacher candidates, about public perceptions of teaching and teacher education, and about attracting more academically able teacher candidates. Each claim is based on one or two cherry-picked citations while ignoring the substantial body of research that either provides conflicting evidence or shows that the issues are much more complex and nuanced than the report suggests. Ultimately, the reviewers conclude, the report offers little guidance for policymakers or institutions. Find the review by Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Megina Baker, Wen-Chia Chang, M. Beatriz Fernandez, & Elizabeth Stringer Keefe at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-admissions Find Within Our Grasp: Achieving Higher Admissions Standards in Teacher Prep, by Kate Walsh, Nithya Joseph, & Autumn Lewis, published by the National Council on Teacher Quality, at: http://www.nctq.org/dmsView/Admissions_Yearbook_Report Find Documents: Press Release: nepc.info/node/8550 NEPC Review: nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-admissions Report Reviewed: http://www.nctq.org/dmsView/Admissions_Yearbook_Report The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) Think Twice Think Tank Review Project (http://thinktankreview.org) provides the public, policymakers, and the press with timely, academically sound reviews of selected publications. The project is made possible in part by support provided by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice: http://www.greatlakescenter.org The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: http://nepc.colorado.edu Robert Niehaus, Chairman and Founder of GCP Capital Partners LLC Cantaloupe Systems is a proven leader and innovator in providing the right set of solutions that focus on customer success success defined as easier to manage, actionable data for simple decision making, and effortless ways to make more money." Cantaloupe Systems, the vending industrys premier provider of cloud-based, mobile technologies that deliver an integrated end-to-end vending and payments solution, announced today that Robert Niehaus, Chairman and Founder of GCP Capital Partners LLC, has joined its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Mr. Niehaus has a diverse background in the financial sector, and will assist the company with his expertise in strategic growth strategies, especially in the high demand cashless payments arena. Bob has lead a private equity investment firm since 2000 and has made several financial technology investments in the merchant and payments space, including Complete Merchant Solutions, Heartland Payment Systems and TransFast, said Mandeep Arora CEO and co-founder at Cantaloupe Systems. His deep knowledge of the payments sector and expertise in growing into new markets, mirrors well with our growth strategies in 2017. We are excited to welcome him onto the Board of Directors team. Prior to Mr. Niehaus joining Greenhill Capital Partners LLC, which GCP Capital Partners became the successor firm to, Mr. Niehaus spent 17 years at Morgan Stanley & Co., where he was a Managing Director in the merchant banking department from 1990-1999. Mr. Niehaus is also Chairman of Iridium Communications Inc. and is a director of several private GCP portfolio companies. One of his strong passions is his work and services as a Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), where he also serves as the Chair of CFFs Investment Committee, which oversees a $3.9 billion endowment. Cantaloupe Systems is a proven leader and innovator in providing the right set of solutions that focus on customer success success defined as easier to manage, actionable data for simple decision making, and effortless ways to make more money, commented Mr. Niehaus. I am excited to serve as a strategic advisor for Cantaloupe as they continue to leverage their unique logistics tools with cashless enablement technologies to better the industry, operator, and overall consumer experience. eCreations Gives Having an effective website and a strong online presence is essential for any organization, but for a non-profit it is critical. eCreations, a Phoenix-based web services company, aims to create positive community change with a new grant program dedicated to helping local non-profit organizations. Today the company announced it will fund up to $10,000 this Spring via services grants that will be awarded to two Phoenix-based 501(c)3 non-profit organizations. The organization must exist to make a profound contribution to the community and its residents. The application deadline is April 15, 2017. Grant award recipients will be contacted and announced to the public by May 1, 2017. The purpose of eCreations in-kind grant program is to provide services to small and mid-sized charities that are doing good in the community, by helping them increase awareness of their cause and boost funding sources through a comprehensive digital strategy and/or development services. Having an effective website and a strong online presence is essential for any organization, but for a non-profit it is critical, explains Steve Tamulewicz, eCreations owner. Many organizations want to improve their websites, but dont always have the resources or the ability to do it without a little help. Through our eCreations Gives program, we are looking to grant two non-profit organizations with reliable web development services so they can improve their online presence, not only to increase awareness of their mission, but also to raise more money to support their cause. Specifically, eCreations will select two worthy charitable organizations and provide a services grant, valued at up to $5,000 that may include, but is not limited to, website redesign, eCommerce solutions, search engine optimization, online marketing, social media consulting, and content marketing. eCreations will work closely with each of the selected non-profit organizations to determine the best project strategy to help them build, expand, improve and sustain the organizations mission and online reputation. The Initial Application and Grant Guidelines Document can be accessed on the eCreations website at ecreations.net/grant. Applicants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with eCreations and its menu of services. Qualified candidates will be moved into consideration by its selection committee, and additional documentation may be requested. The program will be the only PhD in Nursing in the Hudson Valley. Pace Universitys College of Health Professions in New York is launching a new PhD in Nursing program in the fall on Paces Pleasantville campus. Slated to be the only PhD in Nursing program from New York City to Binghamton, students in the program will join faculty to tackle the root causes of health problems identified as social determinants of health. Following the World Health Organization, the emphasis is on reducing social disparities in health; organizing health services around peoples needs and expectations; integrating health into all sectors; pursuing collaborative models of policy dialogue and increasing stakeholder participation. Keville Frederickson, EdD, RN, FAAN, is the PhD program project leader and a professor at the Lienhard School of Nursing in the College of Health Professions at Pace. This is an exceptional milestone for the College Health Professions as the first PhD, said Frederickson. The program will be the only PhD in Nursing in the Hudson Valley. Our graduates will be prepared as nurse leaders, scientists, policy makers, and innovators in health care. Their research will focus on primary health care, a people centered approach to health that makes prevention as important as cure. As dean of the College of Health Professions and the Lienhard School of Nursing, I could not be more pleased to see this excellent program approved, said Harriet R. Feldman, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dean of Paces College of Health Professions. The continuing shortage of nurse scientists and faculty has become a barrier to extending important research in primary health care and teaching beginning and advanced practice professional nurses of the future. We at Pace University are hoping to make a difference by offering our program in the Hudson Valley, enabling nurses in the region the opportunity to continue their education with a research doctoral degree. Our goal with the PhD in Nursing is to prepare nurses for the future who are able to tackle the complex problems facing the health care system and the population of New York State with a focus on the Hudson Valley region, said Frederickson. To learn more about the program or to apply for fall, visit http://www.pace.edu/phdnursing. About Pace University: Since 1906, Pace has educated thinking professionals by providing high quality education for the professions on a firm base of liberal learning amid the advantages of the New York metropolitan area. A private university, Pace has campuses in Lower Manhattan and Westchester County, NY, enrolling nearly 13,000 students in bachelors, masters, and doctoral programs in its Lubin School of Business, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, College of Health Professions, School of Education, Elisabeth Haub School of Law, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. http://www.pace.edu. Louis Nicholson Visit fewer places and spend more time in each for a truly rewarding experience A lot has changed since ExpertFlyer first spoke with author and travel expert Louise Nicholson in 2015 about all the wonders of India (ExpertFlyer Hot Topic). The most notable change, however, is the drastic improvement in the countrys transportation infrastructure and hospitality amenities that have expanded the possibilities in an already expansive country. With an unwavering love and appreciation for a country with vast and unique cultural attractions, history and a landscape covering 1.2 million square miles and home to more than 1.2 billion people, Nicholsons mantra is consistent: Less is more when visiting India. Visit fewer places and spend more time in each for a truly rewarding experience. While Mumbai, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Nagaur, and New Delhi remain highly recommended destinations, a new crop of fascinating locations are now easily accessible to millions of travelers. ExpertFlyer caught up with Ms. Nicholson following a tour through Central India to discuss some of these newly-uncovered gems. Thanks to Indias manic road building and improvements in local accommodations, I have a few new favorite destinations in India, explains Louise Nicholson, a trained art historian, India travel expert, tour guide and author of more than 25 books, including the National Geographic Guides to India. While Mumbai, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Ajanta/Ellora are still among my favorites, historic cities in Central India are now readily accessible to tourists and absolutely worth consideration when planning your next trip. Champaner, Mandu, and Chanderi are a few cities in Central India where stunning, medieval buildings nestled in beautiful rural settings are populated with only a few tourists, at least for now. Nicholson shared other hot trends in India during her conversation with ExpertFlyer. She noted that a number of heritage hotels in off-beat places are popping up throughout India and offer a fantastic departure from traditional hotels. Nicholson also included the cities of Pondicherry near Chennai and Ahmedabad in western India as new destinations that should be considered. India is certainly one of the most interesting cultures in the world and continues to increase in popularity among travelers all over the world, says Chris Lopinto, president and co-founder of ExpertFlyer. Louise Nicholson is one of the foremost experts on tourism in India and Im happy we were able to catch up with her again to learn about some of the new and exciting destinations to share with our readers. To watch the full interview with Louise Nicholson, visit ExpertFlyers blog. About ExpertFlyer.com Each month, ExpertFlyer's One-on-One blog goes face-to-face with the travel industry's leading decision makers to discuss and address topics relevant to many of today's business and frequent travelers. ExpertFlyer.com was conceived and created by an eclectic team consisting of a veteran elite tier frequent flyer, an airline captain and corporate travel manager, and information technology professionals to deliver a 24/7 real time powerful air travel information service. The company provides its subscribers and corporate travel managers alike with a complete, concise and efficient way to access the ever-changing details of worldwide air travel information. For more information, please visit expertflyer.com. Stuck in the middle seat again? Download the free Seat Alerts app from ExpertFlyer and get the window or aisle seat without hassle or frustration. Scott Crivelli - Partner, The Carlson Law Firm The best thing about qualifying as a member of this elite group is that it really demonstrates our ability to help our clients greatly. The Carlson Law Firm is pleased to announce that Scott Crivelli has been certified as a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. The Million Dollar Advocates Forum is recognized as one of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the United States. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts, awards and settlements. Less than 1% of U.S. lawyers are members. The best thing about qualifying as a member of this elite group is that it really demonstrates our ability to help our clients greatly, and make their lives better in the process, said Crivelli. Each member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum has demonstrated, in an objective and tangible way, their ability to accomplish superior results in complex cases. Crivelli is not only a graduate of the Indiana University School of Law, where he majored in Health Care Law, but he is also a veteran of the United States Army. Crivelli is based out of Killeen, Texas, where he practices Personal Injury Law. For more information on The Carlson Law Firm, please visit http://www.carlsonattorneys.com. The world's first custom fit sandals, digitally mapped from your smartphone In an industry dominated by mass produced products and offshore supply chains, were proud to offer one-off custom products at scale. Today Wiivv launched a Kickstarter Campaign for Wiivv Custom Fit Sandals, the world's first custom sandal designed and 3D printed to fit the unique contours of feet, giving the wearer biomechanical support and unparalleled comfort. The company aims to transform the made-to-measure footwear market with their software and direct-to-consumer model. The $95 sandal is available on Kickstarter to residents of USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. Big footwear brands still dont grasp the fact that 14 billion unique feet need 14 billion unique solutions, said Wiivv CEO and Co-Founder Shamil Hargovan. In an industry dominated by mass produced products and offshore supply chains, were proud to offer one-off custom products at scale. Wiivv makes every shoe custom for true comfort and improved biomechanics. The process begins with the award-winning Wiivv mobile app for iOS or Android. Users follow the simple instructions to take four photo measurements of their feet. More than 200 data points on each foot are digitally mapped and processed with computer vision software. This data is used to determine optimal strap placement and 3D printed arch support for each specific foot. The sandals can also be personalized with various arch colors and interchangeable straps. Customers receive their unique and customized sandals, which are 3D printed and assembled in San Diego, at their doorstep within seven days. This is the third 3D technology footwear product from Wiivv in 12 months. Their first Kickstarter campaign for BASE Custom Insoles broke records in three different Kickstarter categories and it remains the most successful 3D printed product in crowdfunding history. Since launching commercially in January 2016, the company has raised Series A funding, shipped over 10,000 custom insoles, and acquired eSoles, a U.S. provider of modular customizable footbeds - the deal which gave Wiivv over 50,000 3D foot scans. After the success of our insoles, Kickstarter backers started requesting a sandal, said Co-Founder Louis-Victor Jadavji. Flip flops are part of our summer uniform, yet traditional models are detrimental to foot biomechanics. The general market wasnt addressing this issue, so we decided to tackle it head on. Features of Wiivv Custom-Fit Sandals: Custom-fit 3D printed arch for optimal support 100% recyclable, triple-density supportive foam footbed Custom toe thong placement and bio-engineered toe grips for comfort No rub, ultra-padded toe thong Adjustable, interchangeable straps hold feet in place Deep heel cups stabilize and absorb shock The personalization of Wiivv eliminates over-pronation, toe scrunch, and foot fatigue without compromising style, continued Hargovan. Were passionate believers in bringing the highest-quality, truly functional and uncompromisingly stylish custom products to people at an affordable price. Wiivvs crowdfunding campaign runs from March 23 - April 22, 2017. For a full rundown of the pledge levels visit their Kickstarter page. Media wishing to interview their personnel should contact PR agent, Borjana Slipicevic at +1 778 858 2595. About Wiivv Wiivv Wearables Inc. (Wiivv) is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada and has a manufacturing R&D center in San Diego, California. Its growing team of 30 is made up of computer engineering, product design, mechatronics, and biomechanics experts who are passionate about creating 3D printed footwear, orthopaedics and wearables, accessible to everyone from a smartphone. Media Contact Borjana Slipicevic Proper Propaganda +1 778 858 2595 borjana(at)properpropaganda.net The Delta Dental Community Care Foundation today announced a $25,000 grant to the 2017 Florida Mission of Mercy, a program of the Florida Dental Association Foundation. This years Florida Mission of Mercy will be held March 24 and 25 at Woodham Middle School, located at 150 E. Burgess Road in Pensacola. Dentists, hygienists, dental assistants and community activists, all of whom are volunteering their time, will provide free dental treatment to the region's underserved and low-income population. "Florida's annual Mission of Mercy event provides important oral health care to many in need who would otherwise go without care due to financial barriers," said Ken Yale, DDS, senior vice president and chief clinical officer for Delta Dental. "As a past sponsor, we are delighted to once again contribute toward such a worthy cause." While the Florida Mission of Mercy provides much-needed relief to thousands, the high volume of patients participating in this program also highlights the critical need to improve oral health in Florida, said Bob Payne, DDS, president of the Florida Dental Association Foundation. For more information about this years Florida Mission of Mercy event in Pensacola, visit floridadental.org/foundation/programs/mission-of-mercy. About the Delta Dental Community Care Foundation The Delta Dental Community Care Foundation provides approximately $4 million in annual grants to nonprofit community clinics and health care programs, striving to improve oral health for underserved children and adults through treatment and education. It is the philanthropic branch of Delta Dental Insurance Company and its affiliates which together provide dental benefits to 34.5 million people in 15 states plus the District of Columbia. The affiliated companies, which include Delta Dental of California, Delta Dental of New York, Inc., and Delta Dental of Pennsylvania, are part of the Delta Dental Plans Association, whose member companies collectively cover 73 million people nationwide. About the Florida Dental Association Foundation The Florida Dental Association Foundation (FDA Foundation) is the charitable arm of the Florida Dental Association (FDA), a statewide association representing Florida-licensed dentists. The mission of the FDA Foundation is to promote dental health for all Floridians. To learn more, visit floridadental.org/foundation. ## Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Cero produces clean, uniform, and ultra-thin lines for maximum light filled spaces that connect the interior to the exterior. NanaWall Systems CEO Ebrahim Nana, whose revolutionary opening glass wall systems transformed home design more than 30 years ago, has been honored as one of Hanley Wood's HIVE 100 Innovators Award winnersa list of housings most innovative 100 people. The media companys Housing, Innovation, Vision and Economics (HIVE) list salutes innovators who show housings future through their achievements across five disciplines: business management, design, finance and products. Being recognized by Hanley Wood is truly an honor, said Nana. We are proud to have introduced opening glass wall systems to the industry in 1986, and will continue to innovate and pioneer the category with new products that build upon more than 25 award-winning glass wall systems. Tweet This: CEO of @NanaWall awarded @hanleywood's #HIVE 100 Innovators Award for housings most innovative 100 people http://bit.ly/2iuUC6T #nanawall NanaWall products have the potential to change the way that owners design their homes and interact with their living space, allowing them to transform the structure and design of their home, says Hanley Wood in its publication of the honorees. During the companys 30-year history, NanaWall achieved a number of major milestones, including: 1986: Perceiving an unmet need for flexible solutions to large architectural openings, the founders of Nana Wall Systems delivered their first wood-framed, opening glass wall in 1986. 1996: NanaWall Systems entered into partnership with Solarlux of Germany, the world leader in operable glass wall technology. Together, the companies have installed more than 1 million panels worldwide. 2005: Established its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Richmond, California, which has earned ISO 9001 recognition for its quality management system. 2012: The Richmond manufacturing facility produced its 5,000th job. During its 30th anniversary, NanaWall also debuted these proprietary products: Cero: An entirely new category of glass walls, cero is a minimal framed floor-to-ceiling sliding glass wall system. Cero provides a minimalistic design with its large panels and thin profiles backed by NanaWalls credible engineering, rigorous testing and flawless performance. ClimaCLEAR: The only frameless all-glass individual panel sliding system specifically engineered for transparent weather protection. With this introduction, NanaWall Systems now offers the most frameless glass wall systems in the industry. Shades: NanaWall continues to expand the category by introducing the first integrated shade solution for operable glass wall panels. NanaWall Shades, designed specifically for NanaWall, are custom fitted to each panel and provide ultimate control of sun exposure and homeowner privacy, without losing the aesthetic of the NanaWall. For more information about NanaWall Systems and its products, please visit nanawall.com. About NanaWall Systems Celebrating its 30th anniversary, NanaWall Systems redefined the category of opening glass wall systems. During its 30-plus years in business, the company has earned the trust of architects, builders, design professionals and homeowners as a custom solution for re-imagining how buildings, people and the elements interact. By combining precision engineering and outstanding design options throughout more than 25 unique award-winning systems, NanaWall Systems advances design possibilities beyond the conventional for almost any space. NanaWall Systems is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, with 24 showroom and design studio locations across North America. AvenueWest Phoenix CCHP - Certified Corporate Housing Professional designation allows business travelers to know what quality and service they are getting with their monthly rentals. In todays confusing world of shared rentals and inflatable airbeds, business travelers should rely on professionally managed furnished monthly corporate housing rentals and choose to work with providers who are certified to best meet their lodging needs. With all of the different on-line residential booking platforms, it is difficult for the professional traveler to trust the quality and service of their corporate housing rental. When you are traveling for business on a long-term assignment, being relocated with your family across the country, or needing an alternative home due to an insurance claim, you cant afford taking the chance that your monthly rental may not work out. Business travelers need to be able to qualify in advance what they are actually getting. AvenueWest Managed Corporate Housing was founded in 1999 to provide exclusive fully furnished and fully managed private residences available for the professional in need of monthly lodging. So it was no surprise that when CHPA, The Corporate Housing Providers Association, started offering an industry designation, AvenueWest supported this certification as a paramount tool for communicating industry standards. Kimberly Smith, the founding broker of AvenueWest Managed Corporate housing says, The CCHP, Certified Corporate Housing Professional, is key to distinguishing the professionalism and quality provided by the industry and allows us as professionals to not be inadvertently lumped into the shared economy. Today, it is with great pride, that AvenueWest Global Franchise announces 3 AvenueWest offices now have key leaders with the CCHP certification. Meghan Vost, Deb Salek and Janine Low are all now a part of the 2017 group of CCHPs that were announced last week after successfully passing the long testing session offered this year at the CHPA Annual Conference in Huntington Beach, CA. Meghan Vost, the owner of AvenueWest Phoenix, is a long term real estate executive who has built a successful corporate housing real estate management company in Phoenix, Arizona. After over 10 years in the real estate and real estate franchising business, Meghan saw the unique opportunity of developing her own real estate business around the AvenueWest Managed Corporate Housing franchise model. Meghan, now a 3 year veteran of the corporate housing industry, was also a featured speaker at the recent CHPA Annual Conference. Deb Salek, the Owner/Broker of AvenueWest Northern Colorado located in Fort Collins, CO, started as a RE/MAX Realtor focusing on the relocation industry but found the 24/7 demands of traditional real estate sales didnt match her personal philosophy of spending quality time with her young children, and started looking for a new alternative. Today, Deb and her husband Todd, have successfully grown AvenueWest Northern Colorado as a real estate brokerage specializing in managed corporate housing into the largest locally based corporate housing provider servicing Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley in Northern Colorado. Janine Low, joined AvenueWest in 2008 just out of college and has worked through the ranks. Today, Janine works at AvenueWest Global Franchise supporting the operations, development and expansion of the AvenueWest Managed Corporate Housing brand. AvenueWests Founder, Kimberly Smith, also talks about the value of the CCHP designation in her book, Idiots Guide: Making Money with Rental Properties. She writes, This designation from the Corporate Housing Providers Association (CHPA) exemplifies competence and professionalism in the corporate housing industry and has practical application and operational knowledge in operations, financial management, and sales and marketing. In todays sharing economy, business travelers need to check that the corporate housing provider is a true industry expert who will conduct themselves knowledgeably and professionally. The CCHP designation truly sets the individual providing the corporate housing services apart from the rest, ensuring a seamless transaction between the business traveler and the corporate housing professional. Todays business travelers can rest assured that they received the best end products and services from a vetted corporate housing company. About AvenueWest Global Franchise: Established in 2010, AvenueWest Global Franchise grew from the desire to expand the business opportunity and corporate housing excellence achieved through the AvenueWest Managed Corporate Housing program that was founded in 1999. Currently AvenueWest Global Franchise has 8 offices located in Atlanta GA, Boston MA, Colorado Springs CO, Dallas TX, Denver CO, Fort Collins CO, Phoenix AZ, and San Francisco CA. For franchise information and opportunities go to: http://www.AvenueWest.com. Momentum is building in Congress, as among employers, as leaders step-up to solve America's student debt crisis. Peanut Butter CEO, David Aronson, heralds the leadership of Congressmen Patrick Meehan (PA-07) and Suzane DelBene (WA-01), both members of the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, for introducing the bipartisan HELP for Students and Parents Act (H.R. 1656). The federal legislation encourages private employers to offer tax-free contributions to their employees student debt obligations and/or towards 529 savings plans. The Congressmen announced the introduction of their bill in Washington, D.C. late yesterday. Americas student debt problem is growing at nearly $3,000 per second -- there is no time to waste in encouraging all employers to become part of a solution, Peanut Butter CEO David Aronson said. As members of the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax related issues, Congressmen Meehan and DelBene are powerful allies in moving forward the notion of incentivizing employers to participate in paying employees student loan debt. Peanut Butter and its CEO David Aronson have been active in building momentum in Congress for this issue. Aronson worked closely with then-Congressman Robert Dold of Illinois to help craft legislation similar to this bill last term of Congress. Aronson also worked with Congressmen Rodney Davis (IL-13) and Scott Peters (CA-52) to support the introduction of Employer Participation in Student Loan Assistance Act (H.R. 795) this term, which also aligns incentives for more employers to provide student debt assistance. The Employer Participation in Student Loan Assistance Act already has 47 bipartisan cosponsors, more than 10% of the U.S. House, just weeks after its introduction. Momentum is building as more leaders in Congress recognize that student debt is a critical issue facing their constituents and the federal treasury, said Aronson. Leading employers around the country are partnering with Peanut Butter to provide student loan assistance programs that help employees tackle student debt. Both Representative Meehan's Help for Students and Parents Act and Representative Davis Employer Participation in Student Loan Assistance Act will provide important structure to align the interests of employers, citizens, and federal government in resolving America's student debt crisis." According to Rep. Meehans Press Release, the HELP for Students and Parents Act, modernizes how the tax code treats employer contributions towards student loan repayment, supports young workers who want this benefit, and encourages employers to adapt their employee benefit offerings to meet the financial goals of todays workers. -- Student Loan Repayment. The bill excludes from income the amount (not to exceed $5,250) that an employer contributes toward an employees student debt repayment and provides a tax credit to employers based on 50 percent the amount contributed toward an employees student debt repayment. -- College Savings. The bill excludes from income the amount (not to exceed $5,250) that an employer contributes to a college savings account that an employee sets up for their child and provides a tax credit to employers based on 50 percent of the amount contributed. ### About Peanut Butter Peanut Butter helps companies attract and retain talent by offering student loan assistance as an employee benefit. Experts in benefits administration, Peanut Butter's team and technology provide employees access to information and decision support tools to better manage their debt, and facilitate employer contributions toward employee student loans. Peanut Butter supports large, mid-sized, and small employers coast-to-coast and has been recognized as an innovator by the Young Presidents' Organization, Tech In Motion, and Tech.co. Learn more at http://getpeanutbutter.com ChenMed operates 39 dedicated medical practices serving seniors in six states. .. fully committed to providing the personalized service that's vital to helping seniors enjoy more healthy days. ChenMed, a privately owned medical, management and technology company transforming healthcare for seniors, today announced rapid completion of the strategic executive team expansion needed to further optimize growth and performance. We are pleased to announce several notable additions to the ChenMed executive team, says Christopher Chen, MD, ChenMed Chief Executive Officer. George Wheeler and Donald Trexler round-out our six-person Market President team established during the past 12 months. Plus, Jim Whitling and Gaurov Dayal, MD, each bring highly relevant experience to their respective new roles as Chief of Human Resources, and as EVP, Chief of Strategy and Growth. George Wheeler, Market President for JenCare Senior Medical Center in Virginia, joins ChenMed following years of distinguished service as Vice President, Managed Care and Contracting for the $3.5 billion Bon Secours Health System. He now has full P&L responsibility for the integrated medical practice that presently operates eight Virginia centers serving seniors living with multiple major and chronic health challenges. Donald Trexler, Market President for JenCare Louisiana similarly oversees the operation of four JenCare centers providing best-in-class care to New Orleans seniors. He joins ChenMed after effectively leading five different healthcare companies as CEO during the past two decades (Acadia General Hospital; Cypress Point Surgical Hospital; Baton Rouge Radiology Group; Southern California Orthopaedic Institute; Bienville Orthopaedic Specialists). Both George and Don report directly to ChenMed President Jeffrey Kang, MD. Like their Market President peers (Jason Barker, South Florida; Frank Mancuso, Chicago; Thomas Davis, Atlanta; Dennis Skrajewski, Kentucky), they are responsible for improving health outcomes and patient satisfaction from the industry-leading levels already being achieved in their markets. George is based in Richmond, and Don is based in New Orleans. Seniors in Louisiana and Virginia are truly blessed to have Don and George leading exceptional JenCare teams that are fully committed to providing the personalized service thats vital to helping seniors enjoy more healthy days, notes Dr. Jeff Kang, ChenMed President. Prior to his tenure at Bon Secours Health System, George distinguished himself as Vice President and General Manager for Universal American; and as Market President, Kansas and Missouri, for Humana Inc. He also invested 17 years with Coventry Health Care, Inc., starting as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for its Southern Health Services company, and rising to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer Coventry Health of Kansas. Each of the hospitals and medical groups that Don led as CEO significantly improved profitability and patient satisfaction levels. Don also provided expert counsel to multiple regional and national healthcare clients as a principal in an independent consulting agency. ChenMed Chief of Human Resources Jim Whitling now oversees all HR-related support for ChenMed. Reporting to Dr. Chen, Jim brings almost two decades of experience as strategic advisor on all organizational and people-related matters to C-suite level executives at Alcon, a $6B division of Novartis, that specializes in eye-care related medical devices and pharmaceuticals (based in Fort Worth, Texas). As VP, Head of HR, Jim most recently supported the $3.5B commercial operations in the U.S. and Canada. In previous roles, he led the HR function for the Europe, Africa & Middle East region and the Global Manufacturing & Quality Assurance groups across all regions for 26 sites and 10,000 associates. Years of double-digit growth and the absolute priority to effectively nurture our culture of servant leaders, make Jim an excellent choice to oversee Organizational Development, Talent Acquisition, Clinician Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development, Compensation and Benefits, Employment Compliance, and all HR-related support functions for ChenMed, adds Dr. Chen. ChenMed EVP, Chief of Strategic Growth Gaurov, Dayal, MD, ChenMed EVP and Chief of Strategic Growth, will help identify and advance fertile business development opportunities enterprise wide for the ChenMed family of companies, and help further enhance the companys already strong relationships with a variety of health plans. Gaurov is an innovative and operationally focused leader with experience in population health, physician group operations, health plan operations, hospital operations and pharmacy benefits management operations, explains Dr. Chen to whom Dr. Dayal also reports directly. An authority on helping health organizations successfully make the journey from volume to value-based care, Gaurovs clinic expertise is reinforced by the business and actuarial expertise needed to continually enhance technologies and clinical workflows to manage patient populations effectively. In his previous role as Senior Vice President, Health Care System Solutions and Strategy for Lumeris, Inc., Gaurov helped large health care systems and provider groups create and sustain meaningful payer-provider partnerships focused on value based care and centered around primary care physician engagement. As President of Health Care Delivery, Finance and Integration for SSM Health Care/Dean Health System, Gaurov was operationally responsible for the $1.86B Dean Health Plan covering 400,000 lives; and for Navitus, a fully owned transparent pass through pharmacy benefit management company operating in 38 states and serving 4.2 million members. Gaurov also served as interim CEO for three Wisconsin hospitals, and was directly responsible for overseeing the post-merger integration for two companies he helped acquire. About ChenMed ChenMed is a privately owned medical, management and technology company working to positively change American healthcare for the neediest populations. Led and inspired by ChenMed Chairman and founder James Chen, MD, PhD, the companys medical practice model has been serving low-to-moderate-income seniors with multiple complex chronic conditions for some 30 years. ChenMed, which has grown by more than 420% since 2013, operates 39 dedicated medical centers in nine U.S. markets. The innovative company simultaneously provides operational support and risk focused end-to-end technologies to also help many independent medical practices deliver superior outcomes for seniors with Medicare Advantage. Coalatree recently launched their second Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for its newest outdoor product, the revolutionary Trailhead Adventure Pant. The project funded in less than 8 hours and with more than 30 days left its already at a remarkable 170,000K and on track to hit over a half a million. That is 150,000K more than the current record holder! The first iteration of The Trailheads was released in 2014 and given rave reviews from media sources like Outside Mag, and Climbing Mag. The first generation sold through global retailers including Backcountry.com, Swell, Urban Outfitters, and Amazon. They were a huge success, selling out in both reseller marketplaces and Coalatrees own online store. But, the dedicated Coalatree team, led by Founder Charlie Bessey, knew the Trailheads could be even better. Over the next three years, Bessey and his team poured over features, capabilities, and design. Ultimately creating the newest and best rendition of the Trailhead pant they possibly could. The Trailheads feature a patent pending multi-purpose waterproof technical fabric, reinforced seams, and countless other upgrades. We created the Trailhead pants to change how people interact with their clothing. Not just your average outdoor or work pant, but a pant that can always be ready to go with you. Bessey said, Something that could be used not just by the avid traveler or outdoor adventurer, but by moms and people from all walks of life. Designed in Salt Lake City, The Trailheads will be crafted from a patent-pending waterproofed spandex nylon rip stop fabric sourced from the blue sign approved, eco-friendly factory in Taiwan. Funding product runs is an expensive undertaking which led Coalatree to turn to crowdfunding opportunities. We love Kickstarter, It gives us an opportunity to make the highest quality goods we can without dealing with retail markups. Its really a win, win for developers and consumers said Bessey. Link to Kickstarter campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coalatree/trail-head-20-the-ultimate-packable-technical-pant?ref=598qol About Coalatree Coalatree, founded in 2010, is dedicated to inspiring sustainability and self-reliance - one grow-bag, one recycled t-shirt, and one community at a time. Sourcing only the finest sustainable materials from throughout the world, Coalatreecrafts products from organic and recycled materials. Check out Coalatree products and mission on the Website, Facebook, Instagram, or call +1-385-557-4281. ### Sarah Brodersen Senior Public Relations Account Executive ChicExecs Brand Development 820 Los Vallecitos Blvd. Ste A-C San Marcos, CA, 92069 T: 760.429.6702 C: 310.210.0841 http://www.chicexecs.com sarah(at)chicexecs(dot)com Stevens Names Dr. Jean Zu as Dean of the Schaefer School of Engineering & Science I am honored and excited to join the Stevens community as Dean of the Schaefer School of Engineering & Science. Dr. Jean Zu Christophe Pierre, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Stevens Institute of Technology announced that Jean Zu, Ph.D., P.Eng., an accomplished scholar of mechanical vibrations and dynamics, and mechatronics, has been named the new dean of the Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering & Science (SES) at the university following an international search. Zu, currently chair of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto, will begin her appointment at Stevens on May 1, 2017. I am thrilled that Dr. Zu will join the Stevens senior academic leadership, said Dr. Pierre. "As an accomplished academic administrator and a leading scholar in her field, she is poised to nurture the growth of SES and inspire collaboration across all four schools of Stevens. I am confident that her vision, experience, drive and commitment to excellence will position her to build upon the excellent work of our faculty, staff and students and raise the profile of the school to its full potential. Zus research interests reside in mechanical vibrations, dynamic analysis, design and mechatronics of various mechanical systems. She has successfully collaborated with many different companies on research projects with a focus on automotive applications. Zu recently extended her research to biomedical instruments and vibration-based energy harvesting. She published over 300 refereed papers, including 160 journal papers, and attracted numerous grants and contracts from government and industry to support her research. I am honored and excited to join the Stevens community as Dean of the Schaefer School of Engineering & Science, Zu said in a statement. I am deeply impressed by Stevens and the schools upward trajectory, momentum and student-centric, technological innovation focused culture. I look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues to develop new innovative interdisciplinary research and programmatic opportunities. With its world-class faculty, impressive students, newly-planned research facilities and premier location proximate to New York City, SES is poised to continue on its track of excellence. Zu graduated with B.S. and M.S. degrees from Tsinghua University in China. After two years of working as a lecturer and researcher at Tsinghua University, she traveled to Canada and obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba. Zu joined the University of Torontos Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in 1994, and was soon promoted to associate professor in 1999, and to full professor in 2004. Zu has served as Chair, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering since July 2009. Zus contributions to her profession outside of the university are extensive. She served as the president of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) from 2012 to 2014, and is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineering (CSME). She served as president of the CSME from 2006 to 2008, on the Grant Selection Committee of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) from 2004 to 2007, and served as the associate editor of the ASME Journal of Vibrations and Acoustics from 2007 to 2013. She has worked extensively to raise both awareness and funding for engineering programs at the University of Toronto and across Canada. As dean of SES, Zu will oversee a school with more than 170 faculty members. The school has been operating under the leadership of interim dean, Keith Sheppard. Stevens was the first school of mechanical engineering in the nation, and today SES provides a multi-disciplinary, design-based education rooted in technology and the applied sciences. The schools eight departments serve both undergraduate and graduate students and offer more than 50 academic programs and majors. About Stevens Institute of Technology Stevens Institute of Technology, The Innovation University, is a premier, private research university situated in Hoboken, N.J. overlooking the Manhattan skyline. Founded in 1870, technological innovation has been the hallmark and legacy of Stevens education and research programs for 147 years. Within the universitys three schools and one college, 6,600 undergraduate and graduate students collaborate with more than 300 full-time faculty members in an interdisciplinary, student-centric, entrepreneurial environment to advance the frontiers of science and leverage technology to confront global challenges. Stevens is home to three national research centers of excellence, as well as joint research programs focused on critical industries such as healthcare, energy, finance, defense, maritime security, STEM education and coastal sustainability. The university is consistently ranked among the nations elite for return on investment for students, career services programs and mid-career salaries of alumni. Stevens is in the midst of a 10-year strategic plan, The Future. Ours to Create., designed to further extend the Stevens legacy to create a forward-looking and far-reaching institution with global impact. The Association for Talent Development (ATD) will hold its 2017 International Conference & Exposition on May 21-24, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference is the premier international event for trainers and everyone working in the talent development profession. ATD 2017 is anchored by three general sessions featuring Mark and Scott Kelly, NASA astronauts and retired U.S. Navy Captains, Dr. Kelly McGonigal, a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University, and Dr. Ronan Tynan, who, as an Irish Tenor, Paralympic Champion, and M.D., has been described as a modern-day Renaissance-man. These three dynamic speakers will share their stories and perspectives on leadership, conquering stress, and living life to the fullest. Learning opportunities at this conference are abundant. There are more than 300 networking and education sessions content tracks that include career development, learning technologies, global human resource development, learning measurement and analytics, human capital, management, instructional design, science of learning, leadership development, and training delivery industry tracks that include government, healthcare, higher education, and sales enablement simultaneous interpretation for several sessions in Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese. Attendees can build their own schedule and manage it in the conference app. Recordings for select sessions will be available for 90 days following the end of the conference to full conference attendees. ATD 2017 offers the worlds largest EXPO dedicated to the talent development field. More than 400 world class suppliers with the latest tools and resources will be on hand to share and showcase their expertise. For more information about the ATD 2017 International Conference & Exposition, visit http://www.atdconference.org. Follow the conference conversation on Twitter with #ATD2017. About ATD The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is the worlds largest professional membership organization supporting those who develop the knowledge and skills of employees, improve performance, and help to achieve results for the organizations they serve. Originally established in 1943, the association was previously known as the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). ATDs members come from more than 120 countries and work in public and private organizations in every industry sector. ATD supports talent development professionals who gather locally in volunteer-led U.S. chapters and international member networks, and with international strategic partners. For more information, visit http://www.td.org. Attorney Andrew Barovick, a founding partner of Alegria & Barovick LLP, recently presided over a New York State Bar Association-sponsored New York State high school mock trial, organized by the Westchester Bar Association, and an American Bar Association Law Student Division moot court. I like to encourage students to keep working towards their goals in pursuing a law career, since it is not commonly encouraged anymore, said Barovick, a member of the Westchester and American Bar Associations. Law schools from all over the country compete in the American Bar Association Law Student Division National Appellate Advocacy Competition. Moot court competitors participate in a hypothetical appeal to the United States Supreme Court. The competition involves writing a brief as either respondent or petitioner and then arguing the case in front of the moot court. The New York State Bar Association mock trial was heard in front of a judge and jury and included direct and cross-examination of witnesses, as well as opening and closing statements. The students had mastered a lot of material, concluded Barovick, who in the past taught trial advocacy at Cardozo School of Laws annual Intensive Trial Advocacy Program. It was gratifying to share the benefit of my experience with the young participants who are just starting out. About Alegria & Barovick LLP Attorneys Andrew Barovick and Anselmo Alegria are the principals of Alegria & Barovick LLP, a New York litigation firm whose areas of practice include Social Security disability law, medical malpractice and personal injury. For more information, please call (914) 761-1133, or visit http://www.alegriabarovicklaw.com. About the NALA The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361. Georgia personal injury attorney Briant Mildenhall was recently honored by two of the most respected attorney recognition magazines, Georgia Trend and Super Lawyers. Georgia Trend named Mildenhall one of the states Legal Elite, a distinction based entirely on the voting of other lawyers. Super Lawyers selected him to its list of Rising Stars for the fifth consecutive year, an honor reserved for 2.5% of Georgia attorneys under the age of forty or practicing less than 10 years. Robert N. Katz, Mildenhalls law partner, is not surprised by the recognition his colleague is getting, especially from other members of the Bar. Briant brings a unique combination of skill and commitment to each clients case, said Katz. He is also a very compassionate and empathetic person, which helps clients facing extraordinary challenges to move forward with a positive outlook. In addition to his most recent honors, Mildenhall holds an AV Rating from Martindale-Hubbell as well as a 10.0/10.0 rating from Avvo. He also recently became the Chairperson of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society Atlanta Chapter, an organization that promotes fairness and virtue upon the rule of law through public service and professional excellence. About Katz Wright Fleming Dodson & Mildenhall, LLC: The lawyers at KWFDM bring over 115 years of combined experience to each clients matter. The firms legal team represents individuals and families in car, truck, and motorcycle accident cases, as well as premises liability and malicious prosecution claims. With law offices located in Atlanta and Decatur, GA the firm is able to serve clients across the United States. I am honored to be chosen as a Connecticut Technology Council Women of Innovation finalist. Ellen Matloff, president and CEO of My Gene Counsel, LLC, was recently selected by the Connecticut Technology Council (CTC) as a 2017 Women of Innovation finalist. Matloff will be among several women to be honored at CTCs thirteenth annual Women of Innovation Awards Dinner. The dinner recognizes women accomplished in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), along with those involved in volunteer activities in their communities. Matloff is the founder and former director of the Cancer Genetic Counseling Program at Yale School of Medicine and has authored more than 50 scientific publications in the field. She is also an established educator, lecturer and media spokesperson and has received national awards for her ongoing patient advocacy efforts. An outspoken patient advocate in many areas, Matloff was a plaintiff in the 2013 Supreme Court case, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, (frequently referred to as the BRCA case). This courts decision has led to drastically lower prices of genetic testing, making it possible for more patients to afford this technology. The Women of Innovation finalists were selected by a panel of judges from more than 200 leading Connecticut women, all nominated by peers, colleagues, guidance counselors or teachers. Matloff was chosen in the Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership category, in recognition of her success in transferring her passion for patient-friendly and affordable genetic counseling from the halls of academia to the world of commerce by founding the technology startup known as My Gene Counsel. Matloff created the company, My Gene Counsel, and its associated digital tools for use in parallel with genetic testing to help ensure that results are used accurately and effectively. I am honored to be chosen as a Connecticut Technology Council Women of Innovation finalist, said Matloff. The work that the CTC does in raising the awareness and profile of Connecticut-based technology, innovation, and commerce is vital to Connecticut and has been indispensable in helping to propel our company forward. Our team at My Gene Counsel remains committed to bringing the value of genetic counseling to doctors and patients around the world and we are on the verge of exciting breakthroughs in genomic science. The 2017 Women of Innovation Awards dinner will be held at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington, Conn. on the March 29, 2017. About My Gene Counsel, LLC My Gene Counsel, a Connecticut-based technology company, has developed a secure digital genetic counseling platform that links patients and their clinicians to updating streams of information tied to their genetic test results. To learn more, visit http://www.mygenecounsel.com. Cookies What are cookies ? How do we use cookies? How to control cookies? Managing cookies in your browser see what cookies you have got and delete them on an individual basis block third party cookies block cookies from particular sites block all cookies from being set delete all cookies when you close your browser X A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. Cookies are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.Website use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google") to help analyse the use of this website. For this purpose, Google Analytics uses"cookies", which are text files placed on your computer.The information generated by the cookies about your use of this website - standard internet log information (including your IP address) and visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form - will be transmitted to and stored by Google including on servers in the United States. Google will anonymize the information sent by removing the last octet of your IP address prior to its storage.According to Google Analytics terms of service, Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website and compiling reports on website activity.We not use, and not allow any third party to use the statistical analytics tool to track or to collect any personally identifiable information of visitors to this site. Google may transfer the information collected by Google Analytics to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google`s behalf.According to Google Analytics terms of service, Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.You may refuse the use of Google Analytics cookies by downloading and installing Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. The add-on communicates with the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js) to indicate that information about the website visit should not be sent to Google Analytics.Cookies are also used to record if you have agreed (or not) to our use of cookies on this site, so that you are not asked the question every time you visit the site.You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish. You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed.Most browsers allow you to:If you chose to delete cookies, you should be aware that any preferences will be lost. Also, if you block cookies completely many websites (including ours) will not work properly and webcasts will not work at all. For these reasons, we do not recommend turning cookies off when using our webcasting services. Preparing to cut the Rolls-Royce dedication ribbon are, from left: Adjutant General of the Indiana National Guard Mag. Gen. Courtney Carr,; Purdue Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships Suresh Garimella; West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis; Purdue University President Mitch Daniels; Rolls-Royce North America President Marion Blakey; Indiana Sen. Brandt Hershman; Rolls-Royce Executive Vice President Warrick Matthews; Rolls-Royce Director of Engineering and Technology Chris Barkey; and Purdue Research Foundation President Dan Hasler. More than 250 people attended the dedication of the Purdue Research Park Aerospace District where Rolls-Royce became the first company to move into a 55,000-square-foot center. Rolls-Royce will conduct research and development for jet engine components in the facility. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Rolls-Royce has officially moved into the Purdue Technology Center Aerospace, a 55,000-square-foot facility in West Lafayette, where the company will conduct research and development for jet engine components. More than 250 people attended the Thursday (March 23) dedication celebration for the first building in the 980-acre Purdue Research Park Aerospace District Located at 1801 Newman Road, West Lafayette, Indiana. We are proud of our long-standing partnership with Purdue University and are excited to take it to the next level as the first business to locate at the new Purdue Research Park Aerospace District, said Rolls-Royce North America President and CEO Marion Blakey. This expanded collaboration will help us develop new and critical capabilities for our customers around the world who are seeking quieter, cleaner and more powerful engines. The new research facility will further assist Rolls-Royce in: * Designing, developing and testing jet engine components. * Collaborating with Purdue researchers through corporate partnerships. * Recruiting future talent of Purdue student interns and graduates. It is highly appropriate that the first company to move into the Purdue aerospace district would be Rolls-Royce, an international leader in aerospace research and development, said Purdue President Mitch Daniels. Rolls-Royce and Purdue have a long history of collaboration that has proven positive for Rolls-Royce, for Purdue and for the students at Purdue. In 2016, Purdue and Rolls-Royce announced a $33 million jet-engine research and development program to create next-generation aircraft propulsion systems. Purdue undergraduate and graduate students benefit from the Rolls-Royce relationship as well. The company employs more than 600 Purdue graduates, sponsors four Rolls-Royce Fellows and provides research funding for 20 graduate research assistants. We cannot emphasize enough how important the dedication of the Purdue Research Park Aerospace District is and what it means long term for West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County and the state of Indiana, said Sen. Brandt Hershman. Rolls-Royce and Purdue are together enhancing each others strengths in education, research, technology and economic development, and Indiana residents are the recipients of this endeavor. Earlier Thursday, an MV-22 Osprey, an aircraft that is able to do a vertical takeoff and landing yet fly like a jet, was on public display at the Purdue University Airport for community members and visitors to view and walk through. More than 1,500 people attended that event. The MV-22 Osprey that was on display at Purdue is operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One, the Washington, D.C. unit that serves the president of the United States. Rolls-Royce designed, engineered and manufactured the AE 1007C engines that power the Osprey at the companys facilities in Indianapolis. The aerospace district is part of the $1 billion Purdue Innovation District, a partnership between the Purdue Research Foundation and Browning Investments LLC to create an environment for educational, economic, cultural, community and real estate while developing 450 acres at the west end of the Purdue University campus. The $120 million State Street Project will provide critical infrastructure to support and enhance the improvements throughout the Purdue campus and community. It is a great time to be part of the growth and development of West Lafayette and the Greater Lafayette Area, said West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis. The collaborations and strength of the partnership among so many different entities like Purdue and Rolls-Royce is showing real, permanent advancement at many, many levels. The Purdue Research Park Aerospace District is open to other companies interested in aerospace and aviation development. Rolls-Royce was an idea that became a possibility, then a project, and now a fully operational research and development facility, said Dan Hasler, Purdue Research Foundation president and chief entrepreneurial officer. It really is just the beginning because the 980-acre district is truly a land of opportunity. I anticipate that we will have many such wonderful celebrations in the future. The Purdue Research Park Aerospace District encompasses the Purdue University Airport, Purdue Aviation, Mach 6 Quiet Flow Ludwieg Tube Wind Tunnel and the Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories. The site is an Indiana Certified Technology Park by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Visit Purdue Aerospace District or State Street Project for information on these enterprises or Purdue aerospace video for a view of aviation at Purdue. About Rolls-Royce Indianapolis For more than 100 years, Rolls-Royce and its predecessor companies have been engineering, designing and manufacturing advanced technology in the city of Indianapolis. Today, Rolls-Royce employs 4,000 people in Indianapolis, with 1,050 working in production and nearly 1,400 engineers. Engines designed, assembled and tested at Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis power U.S. Department of Defense aircraft, civil helicopters, regional and business jets, and power systems for U.S. Naval vessels. These include the F-35B Lightning II; C-130J Super Hercules; MV-22 Osprey; Global Hawk and Triton UAVs; Citation X; various commercial helicopters and the new US Navy Ship-to-Shore Connector. About Purdue Research Foundation The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Established in 1930, the foundation accepts gifts; administers trusts; funds scholarships and grants; acquires property; protects Purdue's intellectual property; and promotes entrepreneurial activities on behalf of Purdue. The foundation manages the Purdue Foundry, Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization, Purdue Research Park and Purdue Technology Centers. The foundation received the 2014 Incubator Network of the Year from the National Business Incubation Association for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org. Media contacts: Cynthia Sequin, 765-588-3340, casequin@prf.org Joel Reuter, Rolls-Royce, 317-410-1000, joel.reuter@rolls-royce.com Source: David Waggoner, 317-230-4337, david.r.waggoner@rolls-royce.co Today is Thursday, March 23, the 80th day of 2017. There are 283 days left in the year. 1867 150 years ago: Capt T.J. Buford found a lady's dress pattern on the sidewalk cut out and ready to make. The owner may claim it at this office. 1892 125 years ago: The Rock Island branch of the Tri-City Travelers Assn. established its headquarters in the Mitchell and Lynde building. 1917 100 years ago: A roof fire caused damage to a double house occupied by A.R. Cline and Samuel Langert. 1942 75 years ago: Dr. Edward Fry Bartholomew, retired professor of Augustana College, was honored at an open house on his 96th birthday. 1967 50 years ago: For the 34th year, all entries in the 1967 Indianapolis 500 race will depend on Bear Manufacturing Company service technicians for all wheel alignment, wheel balancing and frame straightening prior to the race. The famous Bear Service Center will open officially in Gasoline Alley at the Speedway on April 29 and will be open throughout May offering free service to all drivers and mechanics. 1991 25 years ago: A push is on to drastically expand the lighted boat parade scheduled this year for the Fourth of July. The Quad City Venetian Night lighted Boat Parade Committee is working to expand the parade to 40 boats, almost double the number of boats in previous parades. ABOARD THE USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH (AP) American sailors watched as the first Revolutionary Guard vessels appeared on the horizon of the Strait of Hormuz, beginning a daylong face-off that has become familiar to both Iranian paramilitary and U.S. naval forces that pass through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. But these routine, if tense encounters may soon grow even more perilous. President Donald Trump has warned that Iranian forces will be blown out of the water if they challenge U.S. naval vessels, while American commanders describe the Guard as increasingly behaving unprofessionally with rocket launches and provocative actions. Iranian hard-liners, still smarting over the nuclear detente with the West, may see a military confrontation as a way to derail moderate President Hassan Rouhani heading into the country's May presidential election. What happens next could hinge on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a third of all oil trade by sea passes. "What reason were they to be in an international corridor, other than to harass us?" Rear Adm. Kenneth Whitesell, commander of Carrier Strike Group 2, said of the Iranian actions. "Was today the day they were going to come out and potentially deploy kinetic actions against us?" Whitesell oversees the strike group that has the USS George H.W. Bush at its heart. The Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered carrier left her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, on Jan. 21 Trump's first full day in office. Its passage through the strait closes a roughly three-month gap in which America had no aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. A similar gap happened in the fall of 2015 the first for the U.S. since 2007. Its overall mission is providing a base for airstrikes against the Islamic State group. The ship's contingent of F-18 fighter jets began bombing the extremists in February as the vessel transited through the Mediterranean Sea. But serving as a counterbalance to Iran and assuring America's Gulf Arab allies in the region also remains vital, Whitesell said. While acknowledging that Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis have strong suspicions about Iran, he said there hadn't been any change in his orders in how to deal with the Islamic Republic. "The political aspect of the United States has kind of been in our wake," the rear admiral said. Threats, however, remain. After a Saudi naval vessel came under attack from a purported "drone" boat off the coast of war-torn Yemen, in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea, U.S. vessels in this strike group changed their routine to protect themselves while passing, said Capt. Will Pennington, the commanding officer of the Bush. "Some of our escort ships arrived in advance of us and provided security in that Bab al-Mandeb and a few lagged a few days behind so our coverage of that area was extended," Pennington said. "That same threat could exist here in the Strait of Hormuz or any other strait." Small vessel attacks also include the October 2000 boat-borne bombing by al-Qaida on the USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors while the ship was refueling in Yemen's Aden harbor. The worry grows for U.S. officials as the Navy recorded 35 instances of what it describes as "unsafe and/or unprofessional" interactions with Iranians forces in 2016, compared to 23 in 2015. Before this week, there had been six, said Lt. Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for the U.S. 5th Fleet, based on the nearby island of Bahrain. Of the incidents last year, the worst involved Iranian forces capturing 10 U.S. sailors and holding them overnight. It became a propaganda coup for Iran's hard-liners, as Iranian state television repeatedly aired footage of the Americans on their knees, their hands on their heads. Iranian forces view the American presence in the Gulf and especially the Strait of Hormuz as a provocation by itself. They in turn have accused the U.S. Navy of unprofessional behavior. At dawn on Tuesday, the Bush and its strike force entered the strait, which at its narrowest point is 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide, in the waters between Iran and Oman. A Rihanna song playing over a loudspeaker on the deck was quickly cut off at the first sighting of Iranian vessels. Iranian authorities demanded the Americans leave the area, though both the U.S. Navy and a nearby Omani warship said the strike group was in Omani waters. The Iranians had speedboats and other craft, several displaying the Kalashnikov-rifle emblem of the Revolutionary Guard. U.S. helicopters circled overhead as some of the Iranians used telephoto lens and video cameras to film the carrier while international journalists invited onboard the Bush filmed them. On the bridge, a sailor called out: "There's nine. Reports of weapons being loaded." But the Iranians merely stood alongside their machine guns, coming at their closest some 860 meters (940 yards) from the carrier as armed American sailors kept watch. Hours later, the carrier exited the strait and entered the waters of the Persian Gulf, leaving the Iranians behind. Still, Whitesell rated the day's danger a 7.5 out of 10, due to fog and other issues compounding the possible threat the Iranian vessels posed. "They had every one of those weapons manned and we also have video data that they were arming every one of those weapons," he told journalists. Minutes later, Whitesell excused himself to return to the bridge. More Revolutionary Guard boats had emerged from the fog. ___ Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap . His work can be found at http://apne.ws/2galNpz . Go To The Polls And Pull The Lever We hope everyone turns out to pull the lever next Tuesday (Nov. 8). Actually, new voters wont know what we are talking about, as the... Letters To The Editor Street Closure Dangers Neighbors, Friends, Citizens of NYC/QUEENS: Many may not know that NYC has decided to close off miles of streets to cars in... When Jacinda Ardern was rattling off the things that matter most to all of us incredible Kiwis - it rang a little hollow when held up against Labours record. 6 hours ago The two-car articulated trains were built at Stadlers plant in Bussnang, Switzerland, and began their journey to the United States last month, arriving in Texas through the port of Galveston. The trains will go through five-to-six months of testing before entering service on the 51km line from Downtown to Leander, supplementing the fleet of six Stadler GTW sets introduced when the line opened in March 2010. The $US 28m order for additional trains was funded through a $US 50m grant from Texas Department of Transportation, which also includes $US 22m for infrastructure enhancements. This is being used to fund the construction of additional passing loops and the expansion of the Downtown terminus, which will enable the half-hourly peak service to be doubled from next year. China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) has contracted with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build 64 new subway cars for the Metro Red and Purple Lines. Metro in a Notice To Proceed said that the HR4000 heavy rail vehicles will replace older equipment on routes between downtown Los Angeles, the Mid-Wilshire District and North Hollywood, the Los Cerritos News reported. Also, 34 of the new cars will be routed to the Purple Line to transit the four-mile extension from the Mid-Wilshire District to Beverly Hills, set to open in 2023. The first pilot vehicle is slated for delivery in the spring of 2020, with the base order of 64 cars due in September 2021. The deal includes five options by Metro to purchase an additional 218 cars. The total contract is valued at as much as $647 million. The contract is expected to create approximately 50 local jobs. A new facility will be purchased in the L.A. area to manufacture major components for propulsion, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting systems. The carsexterior shell will be manufactured at CRRCs facility in Changchun, China, and final assembly will be done in Springfield, Mass. The contract exceeds the federal governments Buy America provisions, which require 60% of component parts be American-made. Welcome to Railway Gazette. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of these cookies. You can learn more about the cookies we use here. OK Grand Rapidians took to the streets for the annual Cesar E. Chavez Social Justice March, calling for the respect, dignity and protection of all immigrants and emphasizing the driving force that migrant and seasonal farm workers play in the economy of West Michigan and the country. Lupe Ramos-Montigny, right. Dr. Juan Olivarez, Lupe Ramos-Montigny, and Dr. Steven Ender Lupe Ramos-Montigny remembers three summers of her childhood, seasons now decades ago, like they were yesterday: the months when she would travel with her parents, Ysidro and Maria, and seven of her nine siblings from her hometown of Weslaco, Texas north to Michigan. There, Ramos-Montigny, now a Grand Rapidian who serves on the State Board of Education, would spend the 10th, 11th and 12th summers of her life harvesting beets in a town at the tip of the Mitten States thumb, Caseville, and picking cherries in Old Mission Peninsula, a region just north of Traverse City.She remembers the temporary housing for the workers, the places without running water or electricity, the long days under the hot summer sun, and the little, but much-needed, pay given to her father, who ran a filling station in Texas when he wasnt working in Michigan. She remembers the tiny towns, the beauty of the land (the kind of beauty that inspired her to return to Michigan after she graduated from college), the rural roads her father traversed with ease. (How did he know where to go? We were in these tiny towns, rural places. I have no idea, she says.)The Old Mission Peninsula is beautiful, plain beautiful, Ramos-Montigny says. I always wanted to come back because its so beautiful. So I came as a teacher; I came to teach the children of migrant farm workers here after college.One of thousands of seasonal farm workers who drive the economy in Michigan , and one of millions of seasonal, and migrant, farm workers who support the United States now $28 billion fruit and vegetable industry, Ramos-Montigny has forever appreciated, and been inspired by, this community of laborers: the people from throughout the United States, Mexico and other countries who spend exhausting days harvesting the produce that ends up in grocery stores and restaurants around the country. These are the people who feed an entire country.We take everything for granted: you go to Meijer, and theres a lot of produce, whether it be frozen, canned or fresh, says Ramos-Montigny. Lets say, someday, you go and theres no produce. Youll say, Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? Many people say, Oh, these people, these farm workers, are taking our jobs, but they dont know what theyre saying. Its very difficult to harvest; youre bending down all day. Its hard work. Other people wont take these jobs. The farm owners, the growers, they do not want to get rid of the farm workers. The economy altogether will go down.Ramos-Montigny knows the sacrifices the farm workers make; she understands the recognition they deserve, but do not receive; she knows the people in the fields, the ones like her father, who was born in Mexico and who had to leave school after the third grade to help his family. Hed go on to educate himself by listening to the radio, Ramos-Montigny explains, and would become a civic leader who would put his daughters and sons through college so they could go on to become educators, nurses and other professions. Ramos-Montigny received her Masters in bilingual education from Grand Valley State University and worked in Michigans public schools for 36 years, with most of her professional career being dedicated to the Grand Rapids Public Schools.They were such strong role models, says Ramos-Montigny, whose respect and admiration for the farm worker community would propel her to get involved as the chairperson of the local Committee to Honor Cesar E. Chavez , a migrant worker who became a leading champion for farm workers rights and founded the United Farm Workers of America. A local community and collegiate collaborative founded in 2000, the Committee to Honor Cesar E. Chavez aims to promote awareness and educational opportunities in West Michigans Latinx communities, including by holding the annual Cesar E. Chavez Social Justice day of activities. This year, the events, including a march and a community gathering, took place on Thursday, March 16.Everybody was so happy, and everybodys spirits were so high, Ramos-Montigny says of Thursdays march that ran along Grandville Avenue and concluded with a community gathering at The Potters House . Everybody was so united; it made me feel really, really good. It was a day of pride in who we are as Hispanics, as farm workers, as followers of Cesar Chavez.It didnt matter if you were there as a farm worker or lawyer or police chief, we were all working towards respect, dignity and protection of all immigrants, she continues. This was unity in the community. We had elected officials, presidents of colleges, police chiefs It was an emotional time. It was therapy for many people because of all the negative things that are being said. It was refreshing; it was emotional; it was a cleansing.Si, se puede! Si, se puede! Si, se puede! the children from Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School yell at Thursdays march, gleefully outstretching their arms to wave at the hundreds of people making their way past them on Grandville Avenue: a crowd made up of farm workers, immigrant rights activists, students, educators, politicians, and other community leaders.Already energized by the 17th annual Cesar E. Chavez Social Justice March, the crowd echoes the childrens chants as they proudly wave flags from places like Mexico, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba, Argentina, and elsewhere: Si, se puede! Si, se puede! Si, se puede!These words a Spanish phrase that essentially translates to yes, one can are the motto of the United Farm Workers that Chavez and UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta came up with while Chavez embarked on a 25-day Fast for Love in 1972 after the Arizona state legislature passed a bill that denied farm workers the right to strike during harvest seasons. Since then, si, se puede has gone on to become the rallying cry for social justice among labor unions, civil rights organizations and immigrants rights activists. Plus, former U.S. President Barack Obama used a variation of it, Yes, we can, throughout his political campaigns, beginning with his 2004 bid for the U.S. Senate.Now, at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has demonized Mexico and Mexicans , consistently employed anti-immigrant and anti-refugee rhetoric, and implemented policies that could target millions of people living in the U.S. for deportation, this phrase holds increased weight for immigrants and immigrants rights advocates in our community and across the country.Two days ago, I signed a letter to Trump , along with hundreds of other college presidents, regarding the 750,000 Dreamers in our colleges and universities who are being threatened, Aquinas College President Dr. Juan Olivarez says at the community gathering following the march. The Dreamers to whom Olivarez is referring are young undocumented immigrants who are protected from being deported under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals , or DACA. The Trump administration has reportedly been eyeing ways to eliminate this protection.These bright and talented young people are working, are studying at colleges and universities, or have enlisted in the armed services, the letter reads . Because they now have work permits, they are making immediate contributions to our society and our economy. They are paying taxes, receiving drivers licenses, and buying cars and first homes, all of which generates revenue for federal, state, and local governments. They are ineligible for federal means-tested welfare benefits, Pell Grants, and federal student loans, as well as health care tax subsidies.Unfortunately, many of these young people now live in fear that the program will be rolled back or revoked, the letter continues. In order to lift this cloud of fear, we ask that you commit to allowing these productive and high-achieving individuals to continue to work and study while your administration and Congress arrive at a permanent solution.Despite the deportation fears facing immigrants throughout our country, the words that were repeatedly shouted throughout the march: si, se puede, are a powerful rebuke of the Trump administration, and a reminder of the strong and resilient Latinx, Hispanic and immigrant communities throughout the country, including here in Grand Rapids We were recognizing and dedicating the day to a Day Without Immigrants, a cause thats affecting our community, especially our farm workers, Ramos-Montigny says, referring to the Day Without Immigrants, a protest and boycott that took place on Feb. 16 to demonstrate the crucial role immigrants play in our economy, as well as to protest Trumps plans to build a wall along the Mexican border and mass deportations. Residents across the country participated, including people who marched in Grand Rapids and Wyoming There are many undocumented farm workers, Ramos-Montigny continues, referring to the estimated 1.2 million to 1.75 million undocumented farm workers in the United States. If they go, the crops will rot in the fields. They play a vital role in our economy and the American way of life.While many of the themes of the day's event have remained the same over the years, Thursday's gathering was dramatically different than the first march in Grand Rapids 17 years ago. At that time, the parade had a humble start, Ramos-Montigny explains.The first march was on the sidewalk; we didnt have a permit, but we knew we wanted to march, she says. Before that, we had been going to Saginaw to have a Cesar Chavez day over there, but then we spoke to the city about having it here, and they said, Absolutely, yes.Since then, the march has gone on to draw hundreds of people each year, with such officials as Olivarez, the Aquinas College president; Grand Rapids Community College President Steven Ender; Grand Valley State University Vice President Jesse Bernal; Grand Rapids Public Schools Superintendent Teresa Weatherall-Neal; Grand Rapids Police Chief David Rahinsky, and various elected officials attending the event last week.Additionally, the event garners major support from community partners throughout the city and region, including Ferris State University, Fifth Third Bank, the Grand Rapids Public Museum, Aquinas College, Davenport University, Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., Calvin College, GRCC, the City High School Chorale, Fountain Street Church, Innovation Centrals JROTC, La Tremenda de Michigan, Lazo Cultural Newspaper, United Methodist Women, and WKTV.Taking place along a nearly one-mile stretch of Grandville Avenue (which also bears the name Cesar E. Chavez Way), from the Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities to The Potters House School, the procession takes marchers into the heart of the citys Latinx community. Latinx individuals make up about 16 percent of Grand Rapids, according to the latest U.S. Census numbers, and that number continues to rise as does the number of Latinx businesses.As individuals processed past places like the Hispanic Center of West Michigan Tacos El Cunado , and Rodriguez Supermarket , many store employees and patrons came out to cheer on the marchers. Photo-snapping parents place cheering children on their shoulders, as the youngest to the oldest participants wave flags, laugh, and link arms with fellow community members. This is no small thing, this show of solidarity: in the face of constant adversity, it is bravery. It is emblematic of the signs drawn by the Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School students: Stand united, change the world to be a better place, somos unidos. And, of course, si, se puede!Following the march, the crowd assembled in The Potters House building for the Cesar E. Chavez Community Gathering, which honored two college presidents, Olivarez, of Aquinas, and Ender, of GRCC, for their commitment to providing scholarships to Hispanic students. The Committee to Honor Cesar E. Chavez has in recent years worked with Aquinas and GRCC, as well as other colleges in the region, to honor Chavez by providing annual scholarship to the sons and daughters of farm workers in the community. Last year, the committee awarded five $1,000 scholarships to students.The committee began its scholarship program at GRCC, where it provides six $1,000 scholarships, and it has given seven scholarships at Grand Valley State University, where they are about halfway through raising money for a $200,000 scholarship endowment. Five years ago, the committee worked with Davenport University to start the four-year "Si, se puede Cesar E. Chavez Scholarship," and Aquinas launched its four-year Chavez scholarship program last year.We think its very, very important to raise up all the students, Ramos-Montigny says.Olivarez, who began his career in education as a teacher in the Grandville area 45 years ago, stresses during the community gathering that Cesar Chavez knew unity meant respecting every individual. There are three levels of unity: acceptance, agreement, and really the best way to unity is through alignment, he continues. It is with this alignment that we will create change and create social justice for all.As Olivarez did, Ender speaks of deep concerns regarding the Trump administrations impact on students, and society in general. I traveled to Mexico last year, and, for the first time traveling there, I felt shame, Ender says. I am a patriot; I love the United States of America so to be ashamed at the present moment is quite troubling.But Im not going to feel shame in my city of Grand Rapids, he continues. I can do something in my role in the city of Grand Rapids, and I can certainly do something with the federal situation four years from now.This article is part of Michigan Nightlight, a series of stories about the programs and people that positively impact the lives of Michigan kids. It is made possible with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Read more in the series here Photography by Kristina Bird of Bird + Bird Studio Russian court to issue judgment on police officers charged with abuse against detainees MOSCOW, March 23 (RAPSI) The Verkh-Isetsky District Court of the city of Yekaterinburg is to announce its sentence in a criminal case against police officers, who are charged with beating detainees, on March 27, RIA Novosti reports on Thursday. The criminal case was launched against five police officers of the Sverdlovsk Region, who allegedly had used violence against detainees trying to extort confessions from their victims. According to investigators, the officers of the Zarechny police precinct were beating, strangling, and using other similar methods against detainees. Earlier, it had been reported that all judges of the Beloyarsky District Court of the Sverdlovsk Region have abstained from this case prompting its transfer to another court. Hearings in $36.7 mln lawsuit of Roscosmos against Khrunichev Space Center set for April MOSCOW, March 23 (RAPSI) The Moscow Commercial Court has postponed preliminary hearings in a dispute between Roscosmos and Khrunichev Space Research Center over the recovery of 2.2 billion rubles ($36.7 million) until April 21, RAPSI learnt in the court on Thursday. The court records show that yet another Roscosmos claim against Khrunichev amounting to 33.6 million rubles (about $560,000 at the current exchange rate) is pending. In January 2016, Roscosmos filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Commercial Court demanding 3.2 billion rubles (about $54 mln) from the Khrunichev Space Center which is responsible for the development of Proton and Angara space rockets. In November, parties claimed that they may settle the dispute. Last September, the Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow gave former Khrunichev Centers Deputy Director General in charge of Economics Alexander Ostroverkh a five-year suspended sentence for embezzling 285 million rubles ($4.5 million). Ostroverkh admitted his guilt in full and cooperated with investigators, so he was the first person sentenced in this case. In December 2016, the Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow began hearings in a criminal case against other high-ranking managers of the center over embezzlement of 360 million rubles (about $6 mln). Vladimir Nesterov, former director general of the space center, was charged in this case. Investigators believe that Nesterov created a criminal group to embezzle government funds from the center in 2007. It included Mikhail Yakushin, the centers chief accountant, Dmitry Dyakonov, head of the Ekopravo economic and legal consultancy, and several other unidentified persons. The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center is one of the country's leading space enterprises. Currently the research centers main priority is construction of Proton and Angara space rockets. In 2014, it was revealed that enterprise faced financial troubles. Russian ex-lawmaker Voronenkov shot dead in Kiev MOSCOW, March 23 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) Former lawmaker of the Russian State Duma Denis Voronenkov had been shot dead in the central part of Ukrainian capital Kiev, Dmitry Belotserkovets, a member of the Ukrainian parliament wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday. The Ukraines Interior Ministry has also issued a statement about the incident noting that one man was killed and his bodyguard wounded in the shoot-out. The police say that the guard was able to open fire in response and wounded the attacker, who is now in a hospital under police protection. The incident took place just outside the Premier Palace Hotel in downtown Kiev around 11.25 am local time. Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yury Lutsenko told journalists that the assailant was hospitalized. He added that there are two potential motives for murder: either it was related to Voronenkovs role as witness in a case against ex-president of Ukraine Yanukovych or to former MPs investigations into smuggling cases. Later, press-secretary of the Prosecutor General, Larisa Sargan, wrote on her Twitter account that the assailant died in the hospital. Voronenkov, a former member of the Communist Party, moved to Ukraine last October together with his wife Maria Maksakova, also an ex-lawmaker, and was granted Ukrainian citizenship in December 2016. In Russia, Voronenkov faced numerous criminal charges, among them of fraud, and was arrested in absentia by a Moscow court; his name was put on the Russias federal wanted list. Investigators believe that in August 2010 through June 2011 Voronenkov assisted a group of accomplices in defrauding an owner of a building in Moscow of his property and its illegal sale. Voronenkov allegedly was paid over $1,2 million for his role in the fraud. According to the press service of the Russian Investigative Committee, it was established that Voronenkov ensured the financing of the criminal activities and gave instructions to the accomplices. He also allegedly laundered the criminal proceeds and distributed the money among other participants in the fraud. TOLOnews.com, March 22, 2017 By Nematullah Ahmadi (Photo: TOLOnews.com) (Photo: TOLOnews.com) Badakhshan residents have slammed local police for not having arrested the man who allegedly raped a seven-year-old Faizabad girl earlier this week. The incident reportedly took place on Monday when the suspect raped the child in her home. The man allegedly entered the girls house while she was home alone and then tied her up and raped her. He (the suspect) came to our house and tied my hands and feet, then I dont remember anything, the girl said. Doctors at the Badakhshan central hospital confirmed that medical tests had been carried out on the girl and that she had been raped. Two days ago a girl was brought to the hospital and when we saw her she had already lost a lot of blood. We carried out medical tests and found she had been raped, said Hajera Baharistani, the head of the gynecology unit at the Badakhshan hospital. Doctors said the victim had undergone surgery but was recovering. They said however, that the trauma had affected her psychologically. She is a lot better now compared to two days ago but mentally she is not in a good condition. When we go close to her she screams, Hajera said. Badakhshan residents criticized police for not having arrested the suspect yet. When we were informed about the girl we started our investigations and we found that one of her relatives was involved and soon we will arrest the suspect, said Sayed Mahruddin Anwari, Badakhshans CID head. Unwanted Fukumoto to be Rejected by Democrats? CSM: But in a profoundly ethnically diverse state that turned deep blue during the Obama years, Hawaiian Democrats are wary of Republicans seeking to join their ranks. That might mean her past votes against same-sex marriage bills, for instance which she says reflected the will of her constituents rather than her own beliefs could force her to make a go of it as an independent, rather than a Democrat. AP: Hawaii Democratic Party leader Tim Vandeveer says some Democrats are wary of accepting Fukumoto because of her votes on civil (gay) rights and women's issues. read Unwanted Fukumoto: This is the Peak of My Political Career TO: from District 36. Out of the 477 who wrote, called, or emailed, 123 said she should leave, 220 said they didnt care, 111 said she should stay, and 19 said she should stay but they would still support her if she switched. In other words, 75 percent of her constituents were okay with her leaving. Fukumotos acceptance by the Democrats isnt certain. She must request membership and answer for her socially conservative record, which includes voting no on same-sex marriage in 2013. She will also be transitioning from a prominent position in a small caucus to a rank-and-file position in a very crowded one. She had been planning to run for higher office as a Republican, but as a Democrat, she will have to line up behind more senior members. This could be the peak of my political career, she said. read Downhill * * * * * Fukumoto? Some Democrats Urge Rep Marilyn Lee to Get Out of the Way CB: top Democrats welcomed Fukumotos party change. Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui said in a statement, Its clear that this was a decision she did not come by lightly, and that she believes this decision is not only best for her, but also in the best interest of her constituents. He added, Going forward, I believe that Representative Fukumoto will continue to ably serve her constituents and the State of Hawaii with great respect and independent thinking. Meantime, two state senators whose districts include the Mililani area, issued a joint statement welcoming Fukumoto and urging the Democratic Party to allow her in the tent. We applaud her efforts to reach out to her constituents who reside in both parts of Mililani that we represent, and understand that she wants to do whatever she can to carry out her legislative work in the best interests of our communitys residents, said Sens. Michelle Kidani and Donovan Dela Cruz. We agree that as a member of the majority party, Representative Fukumoto will better be able to work more effectively on a legislative agenda that meets real needs with available resources and that is supportive of Hawaiis people. . read Will Marilyn Lee Step Aside? * * * * * Rep. Beth Fukumoto's Media Statement & Resignation Letter from the Republican Party News Release from Office of Rep Fukumoto, March 22, 2017 HONOLULU, HI March 22, 2017 After nearly two months of receiving constituent feedback and personal reflection, I am announcing today that I am resigning from the Republican Party and seeking membership in the Democratic Party. When I joined the Republican Party eight years ago, I did so with a group of people my age who were full of hope, ideas and energy. We saw an opportunity to take a political party that was broken, in a political system that seemed rigged, and even the playing field. To us, Democrats represented the status quo, and what we knew was that the status quo was allowing the place that we called home to become so expensive that it was no longer affordable to local families. It seemed like the Democrats in control werent concerned with Hawaiis high cost of living, growing income inequality, our lack of high-wage jobs or our housing crisis. After serving at the State Capitol, I discovered that it wasnt just me and my Republican friends trying to change the status quo. There were good Democrats trying to change things too. So we started working together. But, in doing so, I ran into Republican partisanship that insisted I stop working with Democrats even when it clearly benefitted our community. The issues that Ive had with the Republican Party are well-documented and to reiterate them now would be adding fuel to a fire that doesnt need to keep burning. Its enough to say that my friends and I were wrong to think that a failing party could be changed just because we had the will to change it. In the process of trying to make a party that spoke about issues that our communities cared about in a way that Hawaiis voters wanted to listen to, my friends and I uncovered louder and more powerful voices that fought divergence, difference and diversity at every step. This election, those voices won. Ive served at every level of the Hawaii Republican Party from envelope stuffer to party chair. And, Ive worked for Republicans in the Legislature as their file clerk and their Minority Leader. I believe that when you pick a team leaving that team should be a last resort even when you doubt whether you should've ever been on that team in the first place. I did everything I could think of to fight for a better Republican Party. I even spoke out against the President. In the coming days, I will be talking to Democrats in my district and in the larger Democratic Party as I seek membership in their organization. Ultimately, it will be up to Democrats to decide if they want to accept me or not, but I want to assure my constituents that I will continue to uphold the convictions I have always demonstrated, regardless of my political affiliation. In serving my district at the Legislature, Ive found significant common ground with my Democratic colleagues. Enough common ground that I believe that we can fit comfortably in the same tent. For me, I think the Democratic Party of Hawaii allows enough diversity of opinion that the values and ideas that Ive always held can find a home there. Democrats that want to change the status quo in Hawaii are still fighting to do it, and I want to help them. PDF: Rep. Fukumotos Resignation Letter to the Republican Party * * * * * Republican Party loses moderate leader, dooms Party with its narrow focus News Release from Rep Cynthia Thielen, March 22, 2017 With the coup-like ousting of Republican Minority House Leader Beth Fukumoto by three-and-a-half members of its then-six representatives, the tiny partys brand is further weakened and its relevance to the wider, diverse constituency looks bleak. The GOP is reduced to five elected Republican officials in Hawaii, all in the House of Representatives because none were elected into the Senate. Fukumoto, a Generation Y woman, and Representative Cynthia Thielen, who joined the party in 1951, operated from the premise of teamwork, mutual respect with Democratic colleagues, inclusion and unification as did the original GOP. The GOP Platform of 1956 clearly states in reference to Republican President Dwight Eisenhower: In all those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human. In all those things which deal with peoples money, economy or form of government, be conservative. Also in that platform of 60-plus years ago is GOP Senator Barry Goldwaters support for gays in the military. True Republican leaders dont promote a morphed, narrow version of the original Republican Party as fundamentalists or practitioners of a me-first attitude and a my-way-or-the-highway mentality, Thielen said. I am saddened and dismayed when there are power struggles by self-serving politicians and when the greater good of my party as it was originally founded is sacrificed by a few modern-day evangelists. Thielen vows to remain with the GOP and fight for a moderate party. After her recent speech defending Fukumoto and upholding the genuine Republican Party was carried by global news sources, Thielen received bipartisan support, gratitude and encouragement from thousands of people worldwide. Meanwhile, Fukumoto will continue advocating for equality and social justice. Astute leaders and I recognize the hope, inspiration and humanity that is in Beths makeup. As a State servant, she fights for the equality of all, choosing not to use her publicly funded position to parcel out rights discriminately, Thielen said. Thielen, who has held public office longer than anyone in Hawaiis current GOP and defeated her right-wing Republican-primary opponent by a landslide in the last two elections, was honored to mentor fellow moderate Fukumoto. Both womens success resulted from wisely built relationships and finding common ground with colleagues and kamaaina of all parties. Representatives Gene Ward, Bob McDermott and Andria Tupola led the vote of 3 to 2 to replace Fukumoto with Tupola on February 1 11 days after she and Thielen participated in the worldwide Womens March for equality and human rights. Rep Lauren Matsumoto chose not to vote. ### HAWAII STATE GOP CHAIR'S STATEMENT ON REP. BETH FUKUMOTO'S RESIGNATION FROM THE HAWAII REPUBLICAN PARTY News Release from Hawaii Republican Party HONOLULU (March 22, 2017) - GOP State Chair Fritz Rohlfing released the following statement regarding the resignation of District 36 State House Rep. Beth Fukumoto from the Hawaii Republican Party: "Rep. Fukumoto's decision to abandon the Hawaii Republican Party is unfortunate." "We are a thriving and inclusive Party. Our deep commitment to national security and economic growth will only help the citizens of Hawaii during the coming years." "I am extremely proud of how our Party welcomes and fosters voices from every background and I look forward to electing more Republicans in Hawaii as we move forward." "Rep. Fukumoto was elected as a Republican just over 4 months ago by the voters in her Mililani district. She should have resigned her legislative seat first so the Party could have recommended to the Governor several qualified Republicans from whom he could choose to fill the vacancy." # # # Bonus Read: Who Interned Fukumoto's Grandfather? NBC: Hawaii Republican Leader Rep. Beth Fukumoto Officially Resigns From GOP AP: Hawaii Republican resigns from party after criticizing Trump RS: Hawaii GOP Rep resigns from failing party citing racist and sexist bullying R: Hawaii lawmaker resigns from Republican Party to join Democrats SA: Fukumoto says she is leaving Hawaii GOP Stuff, March 23, 2017 By Dileepa Fonseka Former Defence Minister Wayne Mapp has called the killing of civilians in an Afghanistan raid involving the New Zealand SAS "an accident", and said soldiers had not committed a war crime. Authors Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson launched their book, Hit and Run, on Tuesday night, which alleges that elite New Zealand troops in Afghanistan were involved in a botched raid which killed six civilians, including a 3-year-old girl, in two isolated villages. Mapp backed the initial raid, saying that the team had been attacked "from that general direction" for years, and that soldiers thought they were under "mortal threat". Mapp said he first heard about the death of a three-year-old girl in 2014 while watching a programme on Maori TV. Nov. 3, 2016: 30 civilians were killed and 25 wounded in a NATO airstrike in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Most of the casualties were women and children as young as three months old. Kunduz civilians told Al Jazeera the death toll was even higher than the figure given by officials. (Photo: Hambastagi.org) Nov. 3, 2016: 30 civilians were killed and 25 wounded in a NATO airstrike in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Most of the casualties were women and children as young as three months old. Kunduz civilians told Al Jazeera the death toll was even higher than the figure given by officials. (Photo: Hambastagi.org) "I suppose that fundamentally in myself, it made me think ... I am certain, I know in fact, it would weigh heavy on the conscience of anyone, including our soldiers. "I mean, it was an accident. No-one in the New Zealand Defence Force goes and does these things deliberately. They undertook their actions because they thought they were under attack." Mapp added that the actions of the soldiers did not meet the threshold of a war crime. "If a soldier has an honest and reasonable belief they're being attacked they're entitled to defend themselves." He said that it was obvious that mistakes could be made in the battlefield, but there was no "malice". "In all combat operations you have limited information and you have to make decisions quickly - that's an imperative on any commander or military officer." Mapp said although he had been interviewed by Stephenson ahead of the book's release, he was unaware that he was writing a book with Hager. "I wasn't aware that Nicky Hager was writing a book. "I knew the level of knowledge [Stephenson] had, which was extensive," he said. "I was aware that people were making enquiries about it." Mapp said he had not read the book. On Wednesday evening in Nelson, Hager said that Mapp's admission that there had been civilian deaths meant the material in the book was "completely right", despite New Zealand Defence Force saying they stood by their statement made in 2011. "Already that's a [litany] of denials in the face of so much factual information is crumbling down. And so we all need to decide where we stand on that." After Mapp's admission that the child's death was an accident, NZDF reiterated their original statement that after the operation, allegations of civilian casualties were made. "These were investigated by a joint Afghan Ministry of Defence, Ministry of the Interior and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) assessment team, in accordance with ISAF procedures. "The investigation concluded that the allegations of civilian casualties were unfounded. "The NZDF does not undertake investigations or inquiries into the actions of forces from other nations. That was the role of the joint Afghan-ISAF investigation. "The NZDF is confident that New Zealand personnel conducted themselves in accordance with the applicable rules of engagement." The Supreme Leader's two New Year's speeches provide a valuable look at the regime's internal dynamics as it attempts to balance economic concerns, electoral maneuvers, regional pan-Shiite issues, and the nascent policies of a new American administration. On March 21, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered his annual Nowruz speech in the holy city of Mashhad, his most important public address of the year. In addition to setting the stage for the country's upcoming presidential election, his remarks focused on domestic economic issues as usual, but without much of the anti-American belligerence that has colored past New Year's speeches. FROM THE AIRWAVES TO THE SHRINE Since becoming Supreme Leader in 1989, Khamenei has delivered two Nowruz speeches every year. The first is a recorded address known as his "Nowruz message," which is traditionally broadcast on state television and radio immediately after the vernal equinox (March 20 this year). He usually speaks about fifteen minutes while sitting in a chair alone in a room -- an understated contrast to his subsequent public speech before massive crowds in a Mashhad shrine. In his third year as Supreme Leader, Khamenei added a new permanent component to his Nowruz messages: labeling them with short motto-like phrases. While these labels have occasionally honored historical figures, they usually emphasize ideologically loaded economic themes, whether directly or indirectly. This practice is Khamenei's way of clarifying his economic expectations in the hope of encouraging officials and citizens to better meet them, highlighting his fixation on the country's increasingly ailing economy. The motto for this year's televised Nowruz message was "Resistance Economy: Production and Employment," invoking his oft-stated policy of circumventing international sanctions by adjusting Iran's economic practices. The address itself bluntly accused President Hassan Rouhani's government of failing to bring its economic policies in line with the expectations of the Supreme Leader or the people: "Most of the current bitterness and difficulties are related to people's economic problems." Khamenei did not say a word on the P5+1 nuclear deal or Iran's relations with the West. In sharp contrast, President Rouhani's own New Year's message trumpeted his government's successful economic record. He called the recent economic growth and the decline in Iran's unemployment rate "unprecedented" in the past twenty-five years. He did not mention any problems in that regard, instead emphasizing issues such as the "positive role of the resistance economy," the government's ongoing implementation of the nuclear deal, Iran's increasing proportion of non-oil exports over imports in the past two years, and Tehran's successful "petrol diplomacy," which in his view has allowed the country to regain its previous stature in global oil and gas production. WHY MASHHAD? Khamenei's second Nowruz address is typically a public speech delivered before a massive crowd at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad. This annual trip plays a ritual role in maintaining his legitimacy as Iran's Supreme Leader, as "the leader of the Muslim world" (according to state propaganda), and as head of the regional Shiite community. Iranian rulers have long defined themselves in the latter terms as part of their self-described politico-religious role of protecting all Shiites at home and abroad -- a task that includes safeguarding the frontiers of any Shiite territory (e.g., that of the affiliated Alawite regime in Syria). Mashhad is not the main seat of the global Shiite clergy (that title goes to Qom), but it is the holiest Iranian locale for Shiites because it contains the shrine of the all-important eighth Imam, Ali Reza. Against that backdrop, Khamenei's decision to make Mashhad the site of this major annual address -- and thus the symbolic seat for his national and transnational leadership -- seems well calculated. For the most part, his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini never ventured much outside Tehran following the 1979 revolution, nor made any official stays at sacred sites. Yet Khamenei lacks the charisma and natural legitimacy inherent in being the Islamic Republic's founder, so regularly associating himself with Iran's holiest city is the next best thing. Indeed, selecting such a place and time for the year's biggest speech is anything but accidental. Every year, Mashhad receives hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign pilgrims around Nowruz for religious and recreational reasons. On March 20, Iranian tourism spokesman Mehdi Firouzan stated that more than 1.5 million pilgrims had traveled there for the 2017 holiday. For Khamenei -- who is very sensitive about the number and type of people who receive him during official visits anywhere in the country -- Nowruz in Mashhad is matchless because it guarantees him a massive crowd (albeit one that is not really there for his sake). It also allows the regime to carefully plan his costly annual trip in an almost theatrical way, making it look purely spontaneous while at the same time reflecting an air of almost regal grandeur absent from other speeches (this differs from his usual program when visiting other cities, where local officials encourage or force screaming crowds to run after his car when he arrives, essentially transforming the welcoming ceremony into a wild public carnival). For both symbolic and logistical reasons, then, he has consistently scheduled the speech for the first day of the New Year (March 20 or 21) since 1997. WHAT DID HE SAY? Given the prominence of Khamenei's Mashhad address, he generally uses it to spell out his most pressing concerns and criticisms. Compared to his 2016 speech, this year's address was shorter in length and much lighter in content, though a good portion of its importance lies in what was left unsaid. Last year's speech began with the economy, including Khamenei's usual advice for improving people's living conditions, becoming more self-reliant, and the like. Yet he quickly shifted to the nuclear deal, downplaying the effectiveness of diplomatic negotiations with America while warning listeners not to stray from the regime's ideological principles and policies. He then provided an extensive account of Washington's supposed propensity for cheating on agreements and breaking promises, outlining in detail how it purportedly did so on the nuclear deal's terms. Indeed, the long anti-American portion of speech defiantly bashed the United States with inflammatory rhetoric, repeatedly called it the "enemy," encouraged listeners to avoid overestimating American power, and counseled them on how to resist and neutralize U.S. economic pressure. This year, Khamenei likewise began by focusing on economic issues, calling them "the country's top-priority problem" and providing his familiar suggestions on the matter. Yet this week's speech diverged sharply from last year's on two fronts. First, Khamenei spent a fair amount of time discussing Iran's imminent presidential election, currently scheduled for mid-May. This included heavy criticism of those citizens who took to the streets in protest of the rigged 2009 election. After his typical exhortation to boost turnout ("Enthusiastic participation of all eligible voters in the election will add to Iran's pride, authority, and credentials"), he offered a clear warning against any new unrest: "I never intervened in an election, and I do not tell people who they should or should not vote for, but if some individuals decide to stand against...the people's vote by making trouble, I will intervene and confront them." Second, and most important, the Supreme Leader said little about domestic or foreign "enemies of the revolution," and nothing about America. Similar to his televised March 20 message, the March 21 address was one of the mildest in the history of Khamenei's Mashhad speeches, marked by a striking lack of threatening, defiant, or harsh rhetoric against such enemies. His decision to refrain from saying even a word about two of his favorite topics, America and the nuclear deal, is quite meaningful. Contrary to concerns that President Trump's harsher tone toward Iran would spur the regime to become more belligerent, Khamenei's keynote address of the year was silent about the United States. Similarly, the speech is at least an initial sign that a firmer U.S. stance may not embolden the hardliners too dramatically or undermine the reformists. At the very least, Khamenei did not appear to boost the prospects of those hardliners opposing Rouhani in the election, and the president seems well positioned to win a second term. For six months in 2016, North Korea regularly conducted theater missile testing, establishing a pattern before it stopped in late October. Pyongyang then launched one more ballistic missile on Feb. 12 -- one day before Kim Jong Nam, half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was murdered in Malaysia -- and four more on March 6. Much of the national security community suspects North Korea of being responsible for the nerve agent attack carried out by two women, both of whom have been charged with murder. Pyongyang continues to suggest that a heart attack was to blame. What would lead North Korea to carry out two frightening provocations just a day apart, and to follow up with another provocation less than a month later? Like most developments involving the Hermit Kingdom, it is impossible to know. But the nearly four-month break between missile launches may have more to do with the political crisis in South Korea than anything else. North Korea probably took a break from launching missiles in large part to keep the Korean media focused on the failures of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached in December on charges of corruption. Parks impeachment, which was upheld earlier this month, opens the door for a friendlier, more dovish leader in Seoul. The current slate of progressive candidates have suggested that they would treat North Korea far more favorably than their conservative predecessors have, but continued missile tests could create a political atmosphere more conducive to South Koreas conservatives. Challenged by a tweet? The Feb. 12 missile launch may have been a response to a tweet the North Korean regime took as a challenge. During his Jan. 1 speech to the North Korean people, leader Kim Jong Un threatened to test launch an intercontinental ballistic missile in 2017. The next day, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted, It wont happen! Several days after the launch, North Korean media reported that the test was a preliminary shot toward the development of a North Korean ICBM. North Korean media taunted Trump by saying that despite his tweet he had put forth no specific plan yet to put a brake on the action of North Korea. So the missile launch was apparently a response to, and a test of, Trump. The message Kim wanted to send to his senior elites: He had achieved a great victory by standing up to Trump. Additionally, North Korea has made several efforts to shape perceptions of the threat posed by the missile. Fired on a lofted trajectory that limited its flight to about 310 miles downrange, it looked more like a Scud-class missile of the type that North Korea has tested many times rather than what the missile in fact is -- one with a range of several thousand miles that could threaten Japan and especially China. The missile uses solid fuel, which allows it to be launched with little or no warning. It was also fired from a new, far more mobile launcher, making it far more difficult to detect and destroy the missiles location, as former Secretaries of Defense Ashton Carter and William Perry recommended in 2006. And so Kim Jong Un could claim another victory by saying he had developed new approaches for blunting U.S. defenses. Murder in Malaysia Kim had apparently feared for many years that his older half-brother posed a threat to his leadership and survival. As their fathers health was failing in 2011, Kim Jong Un reportedly began killing senior elites in North Korea who had established a relationship with Kim Jong Nam, a process that was said to have largely concluded as of 2012. Lacking a constituency inside North Korea, the familial outcast posed little direct threat to Kim Jong Un. Nevertheless, the young North Korean dictator may have worried that his own defiance of Chinese influence could tempt Beijing to impose a regime change on North Korea in favor of his exiled half-brother. Geography likely influenced the timing of the attack on Kim Jong Nam. The North Korean leader would not have wanted to offend China by having him attacked in Macau, where he lived. Kim Jong Nams trip to Malaysia created a viable assassination opportunity, and death by the lethal nerve agent VX. The message of the four-missile launch After North Korea launched four more missiles out to a range of about 1,000 kilometers (about 620 miles) in March, it claimed the launches were in response to the threat posed to North Korea by the Key Resolve exercise, one of the two major exercises conducted annually by the United States and South Korea. North Korea said it launched the missiles targeting U.S. military bases in Japan. Yet if North Korea was upset at the South, why target Japan? Much of South Korea is only 300 to 500 kilometers from North Korea, so why didnt Pyongyang fire missiles with such a range? If North Korea fired with that range, its missile threat would be clearly directed against South Korea, which could then undercut any leverage it may have on the impending South Korean presidential election. But in firing these missiles to 1,000 kilometers, was the North Korean threat directed at China? Officials in Pyongyang were undoubtedly furious at Chinas Feb. 18 cutoff of North Korean coal imports, and North Korean missiles with a 1,000-kilometer range could reach about half of Chinas largest cities. And perhaps to make the message even clearer, North Korea fired the missiles during the fifth session of the Chinese National People's Congress. Chinas next move China banned coal purchases from North Korea after the February missile launch and assassination, without clarifying the degree to which these two North Korean provocations led to the Chinese sanctions. But if Malaysia confirms that North Korea is responsible for the murder of Kim Jong Nam, that -- along with the possibly anti-China missile launches on March 6 -- may force Beijing to take further action to punish North Korea. China will want to show the North that it will pay a high price for its provocations -- perhaps making North Korea think long and hard before taking such actions in the future. Property details: ESCAPE TO GODS COUNTRY AND OWN A PIECE OF PARADISE IN THE NORTHERN MAINE WOODS. This huge 46.90 +/- acre tract of recreational and hunting land is located in Eagle Lake Maine. A Pristine rural town in the center of Aroostook county. Lot comes with a 50' R.O.W. which is on a private road. Lot sits high and dry with beautiful views of the valley. You have 858' of water frontage on Brown brook which also serves as the boundary line for this lot. There is moose, deer and black bear in this area, a g... Price: $ 350 Seller State of Residence: Maine Property Address: Settlement Road Van Buren Type: Recreational, Acreage Zoning: Mixed Location: 047**, Eagle Lake, Maine You will be redirected to eBay Nearby Mixed Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 03/22/2017 ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. and American Ninja Warrior will be back on NBC in no time.NBC has announced Season 12 of , hosted by Tyra Banks , will premiere Tuesday, May 30 from 8-10PM ET/PT.And Season 6 of American Ninja Warrior, hosted by The New Celebrity Apprentice winner Matt Iseman , will debut Monday, June 12 from 8-10PM ET/PT.will return after crowning 13-year-old singing sensation Grace VanderWaal the winner of its $1 million prize last summer. Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel will resume their roles on the judging panel, but there will be a whole new dynamic with the addition of Banks, who hosted America's Next Top Model for years. Banks will be replacing the series' longtime host Nick Cannon 's live shows will begin Tuesday, August 15 from 8-10 PM ET/PT, and the live twelfth-season results will start airing on Wednesday, August 16 from 8-9PM ET/PT.has reigned as the No. 1 most-watched summer reality series for all of its 11 seasons on TV.As for American Ninja Warrior, in addition to Iseman's return, Akbar Gbajabiamila and co-host Kristine Leahy will also be back.The competition reality series follows competitors as they tackle a series of challenging obstacle courses in both city qualifying and city finals rounds across the country. Those that successfully complete the finals course in their designated region move on to the national finals round held in Las Vegas.Once in the finals, the competitors must face a daunting four-stage course modeled after Mount Midoriyama course in Japan. Per usual, the winner will take home a grand prize of $1 million.Season 6 of American Ninja Warrior will film in Los Angeles, CA; San Antonio, TX; Daytona Beach, FL; Kansas City, MO; Cleveland, OH; and Denver, CO, before heading to Las Vegas.Last year, American Ninja Warrior delivered its most-watched season ever, averaging 7.2 million viewers, according to the network.NBC also previously revealed World of Dance starring Derek Hough , Ne-Yo and Jenna Dewan Tatum will premiere Monday, May 8 from 10-11PM ET/PT with The Voice broadcast as its lead-in.The show will move to 10PM ET/PT on Tuesday nights beginning May 30, with as its lead-in. , We're sorry, this article is not currently available Former Montanan Ed Towe, who died in 2012 just shy of his 98th birthday, was among the top antique Ford collectors in the world. At one time, he owned 300 antique cars, most of them Fords. His prized collection, The Towe Antique Ford Collection (in Deer Lodge) was the largest, most complete Ford collection in the world, according to the Montana Auto Museum in Deer Lodge. Part of his vast collection was also housed in Sacramento at what was the Towe Ford Museum. Collecting Fords was a passion that apparently got sparked when Towe ran a Ford garage in Paullina, Iowa, in 1937. He took quite an interest in Fords at that point, said his son Tom, an attorney in Billings. Later, Towe would work as an engineer, a farmer and then a bank owner and commodities dealer. After he purchased a bank in Circle, Montana, he bought an old Model T back in 1952 and started working on it, and there was no turning back. His Ford passion grew over the decades and took him to the far reaches of South America, where he traveled three different times to buy antique Fords and drive them back to Montana. When asked, Why Fords? he used to reply, Ford or cant afford, a slogan that captured the automakers goal to make cars cheap enough for the rural farmer, said Eds son, Andy, in a 1996 news article. The combination of affordability and reliability literally unsaddled the West, said Andy. It was a run-in with the IRS that unseated Towes Auto Museum, bringing it to a screeching halt. An auction of 125 cars in his collection in 1997 went to pay off $4.7 million he owed in back taxes, according to news articles. However, thanks to a generous Deer Lodge businessman and other local buyers, some of Towes most prized autos can still be seen at the Montana Auto Museum in Deer Lodge. He had an example of every model Ford made from 1903 to the 1950s, said Tom. Those who knew him While en route to the Chickasha Swap Meet in Oklahoma, Helena auto aficionado Stan Howe said he bought his first Ford when he was 13, when he was living on the family ranch in Westmore. Towe owned the bank in Baker, said Howe. He was well known because he had a lot of old cars and a car collection in Circle. The whole basement of the Circle bank was full of antique cars. This collection would later move to the Montana Historical Society for years and eventually to Deer Lodge. Howe credits Towe and some friends of his with starting the first Montana 500 Endurance Run in 1961, to give Model T owners a chance to get together and show off their cars in a timed endurance race. It still runs today. This year, on June 18 and 19, its out of Missoulas Expo Parkway. He had every model Ford ever built, Howe said. The rarest was a Model K, which was a big, 6-cylinder car. Few are known to exist and only a few run. They got his running. Ed was a brilliant man, added Howe, very smart, very close with a penny. Howe, when he was in his 20s, approached Towe to ask him for a bank loan. After my father died, I wanted to go back to college. I wanted $400. Towe told him, You cant go to college on $400. He then put $750 in Howes account and said to let him know if he needed more and to pay it back when he got on his feet. While not everyone was a fan of Towe, his reputation was that he was very fair, said Howe. And he did expect people to be honest and pay him back. Collection auctioned It was a sad day that Ed lost his collection, said Shana Moore, longtime employee at the Deer Lodge museums. I just thought the world of him. In fact, she now lives in Towes former Deer Lodge home, which she purchased from him. She recalls 5,000 people showing up for the auction of about 125 cars, which was in 1997. While Ed had a reputation as being frugal, he could also be generous. His mechanic (Lewis Rector) and his wife lived in an apartment in his basement, said Moore. He took care of his people. And he took fastidious care of his cars. Moore recalls seeing him pull over one of his antique cars just to wipe a few bugs off it. He was a very small man, but he had a huge impact on my life, she said. He was a very smart man and a very honest human being. Auto adventures He was very knowledgeable, said Tom Towe. He knew all the early models ... and could tell if it was original. He was also a pretty good mechanic, which came in handy on his long road trips in vintage autos. Tom recalls telling his dad about seeing a lot of antique Fords when Tom was in South America, such as Model A Ford taxicabs still operating in Buenos Aires back in the 1960s. Well, this whetted Towes appetite to travel. In 1966, while on a tour bus in Paysandu, Uruguay, he saw someone with a rare 1934 four-cylinder Ford at a gas station. As soon as the tour bus pulled into the hotel, he walked back to see if he could find the car and bought it on the spot. He drove it from Paysandu, Uruguay, up the Pan American Highway to Circle, Montana. And we still have that car, said Tom. About 10 years later, he drove another one back. And another 10-years after that, he drove a third one back. He wrote a booklet about each trip. I would get up in the morning and I had no idea what would happen that day, whether the car would break down or there would be some other problem, where he would end up that night, said Tom quoting his dad. It was a huge adventure. And he just loved it, Tom laughed. He was really devoted to Fords, said Tom. When his dads collection was sold, cars went all over the United States and as far away as Japan and the Netherlands. Theres never been a museum with as complete a collection. Auchan and another French retailer, Carrefour, exited India in 2014 About three years after it exited the Indian market, French retailing major Auchan Group is keen to return if the government allows food plus in foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail, official sources said. Executives of the company recently met senior officials of the ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI) and expressed interest in coming to India, in case the FDI norms are relaxed, the sources said. Auchan and another French retailer, Carrefour, exited India in 2014. The government opened in February last year the food trading sector to foreign investment, with up to 100 per cent FDI, drawing little interest from international retail players who said just having food only stores was not a viable option. Officials from Auchan are among several companies that have had discussions with various ministries, recently. The company made an exit from India but is now evaluating a re-entry. However, they want to be sure of the policies before investing in the country, said a senior government official. Of the Rs 30 lakh crore retail pie in India, food constitutes Rs 4 lakh crore. Auchan ended its partnership with Max Hypermarket India, part of the Dubai-based Landmark Group, in 2014. The split was on account of the difficulty in complying with Indias foreign investment rules and strategic differences between the partners. The company did not respond to an e-mail sent by Business Standard. Max and Auchan entered a licensing agreement in August 2012 under which Max Hypermarket would operate the Auchan Hypermarket chain in India. Before exiting India, the French retailer had 13 hypermarkets spread over 639,000 square feet in Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Gurugram, Mangaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi and Pune. Auchan has a hypermarket chain network of about 600 in 12 countries in central and northern Europe, Russia, and China. The company has a euro 44.4-billion turnover. Industry insiders said while Auchan might be having preliminary talks, none of the international players would take any concrete steps before the government clarifies its rules on FDI in retail and food plus component. Also, the government is talking about allowing just Made in India products at the stores, and retailers have concerns about that as well. The percentage of food plus needs to be decided first. It would not make sense for any of us to start retail chains if it is less than 25 per cent. We cannot just sell food products while the big Indian retailer next door is selling everything, from a pack of biscuits to flat-screen televisions. To begin with, at least some fast-moving consumer goods and kitchen products should be allowed at our stores, said a senior official of an international retail chain. Sources said the government plans to ease FDI rules in multi-brand retail sector and allow food retailers to sell 25 per cent of non-food items. Experts, however, believe that instead of tweaking the present policy, a brand new FDI in retail policy should be introduced. A brand new policy is the only way to go ahead. Till then, many of the large retail chains of the world might check out of India, said Arvind Singhal, chairman and managing director of Technopak. After a group of young hackers beat companies that claim to spend a bomb on cyber security, Karan Choudhury reports on just how easy it is to exploit digital wallets. IMAGE: Experts warn that the digital wallets sector is unregulated; there are no minimum parameters to follow. Photograph: Reuters. Like most other millennials, 23-year-old Sunny Nehra from the small town of Jind in Haryana, dreamt of the high life. From a humble, middle class family, he had only three things going for him -- a sharp mind, good at computer coding, and a fast laptop. He allegedly made full use of both. In January, Delhi Police arrested Nehra from the deluxe suite of a five-star hotel, and then three other hackers. They are charged with duping e-commerce and payments companies of almost Rs 1 crore, exposing how vulnerable these new-age tech companies are to attacks. While these companies claim to be spending a bomb on cyber security, the hackers managed to beat the system with no more than a few high-powered laptops. This apparent gang of 'digital shoplifters' had apparently developed expertise in digitally emptying promotional e-vouchers, exploiting the security vulnerabilities of famous e-commerce websites. And using the proceeds for a luxurious life. According to the police, an e-commerce firm named Voucha Gram India Pvt Ltd, which has an online website, gyftr.com, alleged this was hacked and e-vouchers worth about Rs 1 crore were digitally stolen. This was after the hacking of an online payments gateway called 'PayU'. "The complainant had provided voluminous data, requiring careful analysis. This data had been procured from various e-merchant firms. The analysis revealed e-vouchers which were digitally shoplifted belonged to companies like MakeMyTrip, Amazon, Flipkart, Big Bazar, Reliance Digital, Myntra.com, Yatra.com, Dominos Pizzas, Prestige, Titan, Provogue, Shoppers Stop and other online shopping companies. The total financial loss to the complainant was assessed to be about Rs 92 lakh," said Ishwar Singh, deputy commissioner of police (south). The police sought data from PayU, Amazon, Flipkart, Reliance Digital, etc. Soon, a detailed analysis of the logs revealed the primary suspect, using this digital money equivalent to fund a lavish lifestyle. "One of his hacker friends informed him that PayU, a leading payment gateway, was suffering from vulnerability and could be tested for data tampering. He started testing it and soon discovered that it was allowing 'change in parameters on the processing page', which is data tampering," Singh added. PayU says their payment gateway is PCI-DSS compliant, at par with industry standards on data security. "PayU protects transaction data integrity by way of check-summing important transaction data exchanged between merchant, PayU and bank. When merchants send data to PayU, they are expected to send a check-sum of the data in the transaction request. The check-sum is recomputed by PayU from source data and compared with that sent by the merchant. "If these don't match, the transaction request is deemed tampered with and failed. "A similar activity is expected during the transaction response, wherein the merchant must recompute the check-sum on the response raw data and compare the result with the check-sum sent by PayU, and dishonour the transaction in case of any discrepancy. "In this case, the merchant did not implement the response check-sum test. In such cases, tampering of response data by malicious users will occur, resulting in the merchant facing the repercussions," said Prashant Susarla, technical head at PayU India. Nehra was allegedly staying at Leela Ambience, Gurgaon. A raid was conducted and he was taken into custody. Based on his interrogation, the other three were arrested. "This is a classical case of exploitation of data. Digital wallets and mobile wallets are extremely unsafe. There are only a couple of Reserve Bank notifications on it. The sector is unregulated; there are no minimum parameters to follow. A majority of the service providers do not focus on cyber security," said Pavan Duggal, an advocate who specialises in the area of cyber and e-commerce law. The hiss of a man's broom is heard outside the building he calls home. The man clearing the sidewalk in front of the Willis Cruse Living Facility on a sunny March afternoon is meticulous in his work. The 14 military veterans who live in the Leslie Avenue building on Helenas Westside have daily chores to help them keep busy. Since 2012, the Montana Veterans Foundation has provided veterans with housing at this site, but those days may be numbered. The home is for sale. Mike Hampson, the foundations president, blames the Veterans Administration for the financial challenges that are forcing the sale of the home. A reduction by the Veterans Administration in the number of beds from 12 to eight is part of the problem, as each bed is worth $41.98 a day, he explained. Hampton attributes the reduction in the number of beds to a shift in the service model offered by the Veterans Administration that he said calls for placing veterans in apartments without assistance from the middle men, such as the Montana Veterans Foundation. The problem with this approach, he explained, is it doesnt provide veterans with the support services to get them on their feet such as job training, budgeting and other life skills that facilities like the Willis Cruse home offer. Further hindering the homes ability to make its roughly $1,100 monthly mortgage payment -- this doesnt include utilities -- is a Veterans Administration requirement to provide 24-hour staffing, he added. Hampson sees no choice but to sell the building that was once a community grocery store before it provided office space and eventually became the Willis Cruse facility for veterans. Two potential buyers are interested, he said. Options for its future could include being rented to Carroll College students or converted into housing for Helenas aging population. Despite having to sell the building, Hampson said he is hoping talks with a nonprofit organization that he declined to identify will result in the Montana Veterans Foundation being able to acquire another building for veterans housing. If those talks fail, he explained, the veterans who live there will be homeless again. Randy Wall, 64, is originally from Montanas Bitterroot Valley and a Willis Cruse home resident. I was of the last 17 that got drafted in 72, he said as he sat in the homes office and told his story. Wall, whose face is creased with lines and framed with gray hair, spent two years in the Army. Now 64, hes retired. His last job was as a cook here in Helena. I lost my apartment and these folks were gracious enough to bring me in and give me the help that I needed, he said. The Willis Cruse home, he explained, is important to him. It gives me the support I need, some structure that I didnt have, the respect that they have for everybody that means a lot to me. Comfortable furniture allows the veterans to sit in the living room area and watch television or talk or use a pair of computers. Cruse, the homes therapy dog, stands at a convenient height for a seated man to reach for a pet. He makes his rounds visiting with those who are in the house on this day. He stops by to see a couple of men who sit on a deck off the back of the house beneath a flagpole where the American flag flutters in the breeze thats sweet with the smell of tobacco. The two men talk softly. A packet of cigarettes and a lighter, a mug of coffee and pen and paper sit on a table between them. Five refrigerators share space in the kitchen, where a movie on a small television has the attention of one of the veterans who sits at a table. Home Depot, Lowes and Sears have all helped provide jobs for veterans who have stayed at the Willis Cruse home, Hampson said. The YMCA has given them access to its services too. Wall said he feels comfortable living in the home that Hampson said provides transitional housing and isnt a shelter. People can stay for up to two years, but only two of the more than 800 veterans who have lived there in the past 20 years stayed that long. Medical reasons, Hampson said, kept them there. If the home closes and the foundation isnt able to obtain another building to offer housing for veterans, Wall will face an uncertain future. He would have to leave Helena and may well go to Missoula, which is his first choice, but he isnt sure. Its a lot of ups and downs emotionally and mentally, he said. You look toward the future a little bit, but basically youve got to take it day by day. Hampson, 67, was one of the foundations founding board members. In his 20 years with the organization, hes been either its president or vice president. Hes also a 32-year Army veteran with a 100 percent disability. The reduction in the number of beds by the Veterans Administration came after a fire closed the home for eight months, Hampson said, and residents were housed in two rented houses. Renovating the home cost about $200,000 money that could have been used to pay off the mortgage, he noted. Since the reduction seven months ago in the number of beds eligible for reimbursement and then the requirement for 24-hour staffing, Hampson has turned to the states congressional delegation for help. (Former U.S. Rep. Ryan) Zinke was working on it, but hes got a new job. That was bad for me, Hampson said. Zinke was recently confirmed as secretary of the Interior. Both U.S. Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont, and Jon Tester, D-Mont., were contacted and Daines responded, Hampson said. I havent heard anything from Tester, he continued and added, Usually Testers pretty good. The governments got so much red tape that one person cant do it, no matter what they say politically, Wall said. Restoring the number of beds eligible for Veterans Administration reimbursement would help, Hampson said. That would help. That would help the veteran. Wall too has concerns with how the Veterans Administration operates and said, The right hand doesnt know what the left hands doing. The Veterans Administration will determine if the home can be kept open, Hampson said. The sound of broom bristles scraping concrete continues outside the building as Hampson talks. Its just my hope that we can keep going, he said. Hampson sees both the veterans and the community benefiting from the home. "You don't have veterans sleeping in their cars or under bridges or city parks. That's a safety issue for the community and for them," he said. I want a nice, safe place for them to stay. Till date, the government has purchased a little over a million tonnes of pulses from farmers, of which about 600,000 tonnes is from domestic procurement; the rest is through import The finance ministry has asked the NITI Aayog and the department of consumer affairs to frame a comprehensive pricing policy for liquidation of its over 500,000-tonne buffer stock of pulses. That apart, it has also been decided by a Price Stabilisation Fund Committee to continue procurement of tur or arhar (split red gram) till April 15 in view of a bumper harvest. That for urad (black gram) and moong (green gram) won't be continued, except in areas where purchase coupons have already been issued to farmers. The government has also decided to start purchasing chana (chickpeas) and masur (red lentils) till July. Till date, the government has purchased a little over a million tonnes (mt) of pulses from farmers, of which about 600,000 tonnes is from domestic procurement; the rest is through import. The plan is for a buffer stock of two mt, for use to keep a lid on prices when there is a shortage. The government has also decided to dispose of nearly 100,000 tonnes from its buffer as a one-time measure, ahead of the new procurement season. Officials said the need for a comprehensive pricing policy, covering both procurement and disbursement, was felt to keep the subsidy burden at a minimum. The government already bears a subsidy of Rs 140,000 crore a year on procurement, storage and distribution of foodgrain. "The pricing policy should be based on the twin goal of ensuring an adequate price to farmers for the crop and making available the pulses at affordable rates to consumers," officials said. Officials said the decision to take NITI Aayog's help for a comprehensive pricing policy was taken at a meeting of the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) Management Committee. This has been formed to monitor procurement and distribution of key essential commodities and also operate the over Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) PSF. The panel also approved a request from the Maharashtra government to hire private godowns for storing of pulses and to allow local authorities to purchase sacks from the market, after the ministry of textiles expressed its inability to supply these. The shortage of these has been a problem in that state, one of the biggest growers of pulses. India, Vietnam both retreat The tit-for-tat ban on farm products between India and Vietnam has ended with the government here having withdrawn the ban on import of coffee beans, bamboo, black pepper and cinnamon from that country. Earlier this month, Vietnam had banned the import of five agricultural items from India, on the grounds that they did not meet their phytosanitary norms. India then banned the import of the four items mentioned, saying these norms were also violated by Vietnam. Both countries have since decided to drop the charges, after strong opposition from coffee and spices exporters. Photograph: Rupak De Choudhuri/Reuters Auto majors face dip in exports due to credit squeeze in Lanka, Nepal Maruti Suzuki, Renault, Nissan and Bajaj Auto are facing the effects of a credit squeeze by banks in the neighbouring markets of Sri Lanka and Nepal. Sri Lanka has imposed restrictions on the extent of bank funding for automobile purchases to control forex outgo. Earlier, banks in the island could fund up to 70 per cent of the value of an automobile but that has been lowered to 25 per cent of the value of three-wheelers and 50 per cent for cars. Banks can fund up to 90 per cent of the value of commercial vehicles. Nepal has imposed identical restrictions on funding of cars. Sri Lanka had in November raised the customs duty on cars, two-wheelers and three-wheelers. The duty structure has changed from being based on the import price to being based on engine capacity. This results in an increased duty incidence of 30-40 per cent for motorcycles and 15 per cent for three-wheelers. The combined effect of higher duties and financial restrictions has affected the three-wheeler industry. The impact on the motorcycle makers has been less severe, said S Ravikumar, president, business development, at Bajaj Auto. Sri Lanka ranks among the companys top 10 markets worldwide. Bajaj has been the market leader in Sri Lanka for several years in motorcycles and three-wheelers with overwhelming market shares of 70 and 90 per cent, respectively, Ravikumar added. The Sri Lankan two-wheeler market is estimated to be 250,000-300,000 vehicles a year. The island over one million three-wheelers and the government wants to control their growth. Sri Lanka was until recently the biggest export destination for Indias biggest car maker, Maruti Suzuki. Sri Lanka and Nepal are important export markets. There may be some short-term impact from the recent measures. We are studying the developments closely. We will take corrective measures to minimise this impact. Overall, we are on course to meet our target for exports this year, said a Maruti spokesperson. Maruti is estimated to be selling about 6,000-7,000 cars a year in the island nation. The countrys annual demand is estimated at 50,000 vehicles but the market shrunk significantly in 2016. Renault and its alliance partner Nissan last year started exporting India-made cars to Sri Lanka. However, this has upset their strategy. Sumit Sawhney, country chief executive and managing director at Renault India, said the Sri Lankan market had a high growth potential. In the last few years, we have seen a drop in industry volumes due to various regulatory changes. The recent actions impact the consumers purchasing power, he said. Renault, which entered the neighbouring market last June, shipped around 4,500 Kwids until December. Photograph: B Mathur/Reuters 'Muslims are depressed and disillusioned.' 'The safety valve is that we still have a multicultural mosaic in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.' At the height of the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, journalist and author Saeed Naqvi posed a question to a packed audience at Allahabad University. 'Have the Hindus in this audience ever seen the inside of a Muslim home?' he asked. None of them had. The response was similar when he asked if any Muslim in the audience had ever seen the inside of a Hindu home. 'At that moment, a truth hit me. We have lived in a state of uninstitutionalised apartheid for decades, even centuries,' Naqvi says in his latest book, Being The Other: The Muslim In India. Naqvi spoke to Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf. You can buy Being The Other: The Muslim In India HERE You have raised disturbing questions about Hindu-Muslim relations in your book. Do you think the future of Hindu-Muslim relations is very bleak in India? Not at all! In fact, in my book, what I have tried to do -- I hope I have succeeded in trying to do that -- is to urge people to take a look at history retrospectively once again. Certain truths, which became cliches over time, have been handed down to us. Since 1947, we have been trapped in those beliefs. We need to re-examine what really happened between 1942 and 1947. It has been done several times, but now we have some more material in the form of transfer of power documents (from Britain to India and Pakistan) that Professor Nicolas Mansaergh and his battery of historians has put together in 12 volumes in a library in Britain. We may be able to diagnose the mistakes, find out who made them and assess whether reappraisal can be done. That's because optimism is only possible if we know what the malaise has been. The way things are going is not perfect. Things have been going downhill since the 1990s. If we let this continue, we will inexorably be moving towards catastrophe. Why do you want to go back in time to have a relook at Hindu-Muslim relations? Because this will not end! You will continue to be invited to eat cow dung with urine paste. Mohammed Akhlaqs will continue to be killed and a huge manthan (churning) will be on with Dalits and others getting into it. This country will not be at peace unless we diagnose what has gone wrong. Let me not impose simplicity on a very complex situation. I have arrived at a diagnostic model. In 1947, we trapped ourselves in a triangle. Imagine a triangle and New Delhi-Srinagar, India-Pakistan, Hindu-Muslim as its three angles. If you want to settle Kashmir, you cannot simply do it on your own. You have to bring in Pakistan. When that happens the Hindu-Muslim temperature in India will come down, which is what you want, but the politicians don't. That is the trap. Today, Kashmir is in focus and people are coming out with solutions -- the usual solutions that we have had for the last 50 years. Those will not work. Is there a political body looking at things holistically? No, there is nobody and they will not. So who will? Give us that space for sensible debate so that views can be considered by everybody in that public arena. It means newspaper columns, television, social media and seminars. Everything has shrunk; debates have shrunk. Solutions will come through when the nation is engaged in a debate on these issues and then politicians will begin to respond. Where is the free press? Today, the politicians and businessman have muzzled the media. Commercial interests now play a big role. Today, you see a battle going on between (television anchors) Barkha Dutt and Arnab Goswami; where is the space for sensible debate? I am not asking anyone to stop Arnab or Barkha, but let there be a sensible public service media. That will be the beginning. You made a startling revelation in your book that Indians were never taught about the massacres of Muslims in Jammu who were 61 per cent of the population. Do you feel Indian politicians of that time cheated the Kashmiris by talking about secularism? The whole project looked suspect from the beginning. Remember, I am from Awadh; my village is Mustafabad. My uncle was the first Congress MLA from Rae Bareli. All the business of the Nehru-Gandhi parivar, the owners of Rae Bareli, is invented history. I come from there. What was my culture there? My grandmother and my mother wore a sari; we were part of Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb. Jawaharlal Nehru was an icon. We could never call him Jawaharlal by his name, but Panditji. He had to be Pandit Nehru. That is how we respected him and therefore we placed all our eggs in his basket. We never expected the rest of the Congressmen to look after Muslim interests. All along we were told that there will not be a Partition, but it happened suddenly. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad wrote then that if Partition were to happen what will remain in India will be an 'unadulterated Hindu State.' Was he right or was he exaggerating? After the Akhlaq incident? After Babri Masjid? After the riots kept happening and the police stood their ground... Who was right? A lot of your anger seems emerge in your book... I do not think it is anger. In fact, I am moderating and saying that, look this is a wonderful country. I personally had a ball in this country. I have travelled to 110 countries; I have written for every newspaper possible. Whichever Indian prime minister went to Bangladesh or Pakistan, I was always invited to accompany them. I was personally not affected, but then I have to look at the situation around me. I cannot be selfish. What is happening in Gujarat? Muzaffarnagar? All these things are very disturbing images. Unless we look at the very beginning, we will continue to fool ourselves. Don't forget that there are 180 million Muslims in this country, a little more than the population of Pakistan. You already have the Rajinder Sachar Committee report that states that Muslims are below the Dalits. But the prevailing impression these days is that the Muslims were appeased by the Congress? If they appeased the Muslims, the consequences of that appeasement are there to be seen in the Sachar committee report. Look at the Justice B N Srikrishna report on the Mumbai riots of 1992-1993. The politicians' names are there (in the report), but they have been brushed under the carpet. Your book gave me the impression that by making a secular argument, Nehru fooled the Muslims who stayed back in India after Partition. I didn't say that. But that is what I felt after reading your book... Some feel this way. Mikhail Gorbachev wanted to reform Communism. He lost control. He did not realise that his successors were thinking differently. The result was the USSR's liquidation. Nehru was a remarkable man and we adored him. His successor Lal Bahadur Shashtri went to war with Pakistan, but also turned to the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) leader Guru Golwalkar for a civil defence treaty. Today, the biggest statue of Sardar Patel in the country has been not been conceived by the Congress party, but by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat. Rajeshwar Dayal, the first home secretary, discovered that Gobind Ballabh Pant was soft on Golwalkar. It is there in his book, A Life of Our Times. Other than Nehru, there were not many people in the Congress Working Committee who looked at Indian Muslims with sympathy. Considering Nehru was a very clever and intelligent man, did he not know that there was nobody around him who would carry this community? It was a two-way mistake. Our elders erred by placing all our eggs in Nehru's basket and the latter made the mistake of giving us the impression that he could somehow carry through a secular India. The Babri Masjid demolition did not happen today; the Mumbai riots did not happen under the BJP's (Bharatiya Janata Party) watch. Do you think young Muslims are disillusioned with India today? Muslims are depressed and disillusioned. They look at the world differently. There are two different tectonic plates moving parallel. One is represented in the Urdu press and another in the Hindi press. The safety valve is that we still have a multicultural mosaic in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. Is this the reason why some young Muslims are joining Islamic State? This is absolutely cock-and-bull. How many Muslims in India have joined IS? Only 50 out of 180 million Muslims. How many have joined in England and America? In fact, the war on terror has been counter-productive. There is a chapter on this in my book, which is worth reading. After the Soviet Union collapsed, the West thought they had to target something else. Have you heard of any form of terror around before that? Suddenly, the entire Muslim world became bad. They became terrorists. You go and destroy a civilisation like Iraq and you destroy Libya. And you think people who have lost their homes and families will sit back? The war on terror has created the biggest migration and exodus in history since biblical times. Nothing that of sort has happened in India; here the story is of slow death. When the Allies were bombing Afghanistan in October 2001, Modi was not even chief minister of Gujarat. He is the first leader who took total advantage of the anti-Muslim atmosphere in the world in the guise on the war on terror. He thought, at that moment, there was global legitimacy on that kind of posture. Anything that would happen in Gujarat would therefore have to be muscled and it was. You wrote that Muslims are squeezed in a mythical communally charged past glory versus an India of rational enlightenment that is gentler and egalitarian. What does the future beholds for them in India? Muslims across the world at the moment are in a trap. They have to come out of the clutches of the clergy. And politicians in India won't let that happen because they negotiate the terms of the Muslim vote with the clergy. IMAGE: Muslims attend Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Taj Mahal mosque in Agra. Photograph: Pawan Kumar/Reuters DON'T MISS reading the features in the RELATED LINKS below... 'The cadres who die for the party are from the backward and scheduled caste communities while the leaders and those who enjoy power are from the forward community.' 'When this is the reality, who will stay with them?' Vellapally Natesan was the first leader in Kerala to reach out to the Bharatiya Janata Party. With the backing of Natesan, general secretary of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam -- that represents a section of the Ezhava community who comprise 20 per cent of Kerala's Hindus -- the BJP became an acceptable ally in the state. During the Kerala assembly election, the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena -- a political party Natesan founded -- struck an alliance with the BJP and fought the polls as part of the National Democratic Alliance. The BJP opened its account for the first time in the Kerala assembly and its vote share increased to 15 per cent. In the months that followed, differences started cropping up between Natesan and the BJP. To pacify him, the BJP appointed Natesan's son Thushar as NDA convenor, but that doesn't seem to have appeased the SNDP chief. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha by-election in Malappuram, Natesan once again expressed his displeasure at the state BJP. Newspaper reports said he had threatened to quit the NDA which he denies in this interview with Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier. Two days ago, you said that because the BJP did not show any political decency, you had decided to leave the NDA. What exactly did the BJP do now to make you take such a decision? I didn't say that we would leave the NDA. You have to understand that the BDJS is a political party while the SNDP is a social organisation. I have a responsibility towards the SNDP also. Why I said that the BJP did not show any political decency was when more than 175 political posts were filled, not a single post was given to the backward community. I remember you telling me last year that you were displeased with the BJP for not keeping the promises they had made before the elections. You mean, the BJP did not adhere to its promises? At that time, I was complaining about them not keeping its promises. Now what they did was they gave all the posts to the forward community -- the savarnas. What you have to understand is while the negotiations were going on before the assembly elections, the BJP made many offers to the BDJS. At one SNDP meeting, many BDJS members asked me, what happened to the offers the BJP had made? All these people had worked hard for the NDA, but none of the promises were kept. They had put in a lot of hard work expecting something in return. Naturally, they were upset. It was with the BDJS' help that the BJP's vote share rose from 5% to 15%. Should they not be rewarding those who toiled hard for achieving this? All those in the BJP went away with what they wanted, leaving our members in the lurch. Though there are many allies in the NDA which represent the backward communities, nothing was given to us. Every single post was given to the forward community, completely ignoring us. You feel the BJP in Kerala is following a savarna attitude? Absolutely. When the party ignores the backward communities completely, how can you say that their attitude is not savarna? The BJP vote share rose from 5% to 15% in Kerala only because of the support given by the BDJS, but they now act as if they earned it on their own. Alone, the BJP in Kerala has absolutely no support from the people; the party is a big zero here. After the elections, when you give away political posts, are they not bound to give something to their alliance partners also? That's why I said they didn't show any political decency. You spoke about this openly at the NDA's Kozhikode convention in front of Amit Shah and Narendra Modi. They had promised to keep the promises they made... Nothing happened although they made the promises. The prime minister gave his word that the central university (in Kozhikode) would be named after Gurudev (Sree Narayana Guru). Even that has not been done even today. Who do you blame for all this: Amit Shah and Narendra Modi or local BJP leaders? I blame the local leaders here; they are playing foul in all this. Otherwise, how would they grab all the political seats for themselves? If they understood the meaning of alliance dharma, they would not have behaved like this. They have no maturity to take the alliance partners with them. They have so many groups here in Kerala and they are fighting among themselves all the time. They fight for the seats they are sure to lose. When they fight among themselves, how can they think of alliance partners? I would say the working of the local BJP is an utter failure. Did you tell Amit Shah that if the local BJP leaders behaved this way, there would not be an NDA here? Why should I go to Delhi and tell them all this? If they want, let them find out and rectify the problems. You had said that after the elections, the BDJS was treated like an untouchable. Do you still feel that way? Yes, I still feel the same. The local BJP has a savarna attitude. The results of their actions show untouchability. It is quite evident in the political postings. In fact, those who were against us started ridiculing us for joining hands with the BJP asking, what did you get in return? Why does everyone work in politics? To share power. If power is not shared with members, the relationship sours. Do you feel the BJP has become arrogant after the mandate the party got in UP? Definitely. It's the victory of the central BJP, but the local leaders act arrogant as if the victory is theirs. On the other hand, they have not done or achieved anything in Kerala that is worth feeling proud or arrogant about. They can only bask in the reflected glory of Narendra Modi's achievements as they haven't been able to do anything in Kerala that is worth talking about. You said the other day that the BJP would suffer a huge defeat in the Malappuram by-election... Yes, they will suffer badly. Who is contesting there? (Indian Union Muslim League leader P K) Kunjalikutty who is more popular than E Ahamed (the IUML MP whose death on February 1 caused the by-election). He will get the votes of not just the Muslims, but from others too. Because the Communist party is working really hard, a lot of Hindu votes will go to the Communists. The party that is going to suffer badly is the BJP. I don't think it will get the number of votes it got in the assembly elections. It is said Amit Shah's next target after the UP elections is the south. Do you think the BJP can have a foothold in Kerala? It will be very difficult. Both Amit Shah and Narendra Modi have a very good image nationally, but strong local leaders are also necessary for a party to grow. Local BJP leaders only know to act arrogant because of the success and acceptance Amit Shah and Narendra Modi have. They have not been able to get public acceptance here yet and that is because their lenience is only towards the forward community which form only 14% to 15%. They have no strong leadership here; the local leaders have no vision. If you look at the BJP leaders in the districts, you will see that out of the 15 districts, 13 have leaders from the forward community. The cadres who die for the party are from the backward and scheduled caste communities while the leaders and those who enjoy power are from the forward community. When this is the reality, who will stay with them? If the BJP has some growth here in Kerala, it is not because of their activities; it's only because of the violent activities of the Marxist party. The BJP has no power here in Kerala to create a political space. They make noise because some poor fellows from the backward community lose their lives in the fight between the RSS and the Marxists. It was reported that you were moving towards the LDF (Left Democratic Front)... You cannot predict anything in politics. It all depends on the decisions taken by the leaders. What kind of political equations will emerge during the next elections, nobody can predict right now. Nothing is permanent in politics; today's enemy can be your friend tomorrow. So, you will not leave the NDA now? I never said that I would leave NDA now. What I said was that the BJP's attitude was not acceptable. There was not even an NDA committee in Kerala till then (the NDA meeting in Kozhikode). After the elections, everybody went their way. There was no cooperation among the members. Anyway, after we protested, a committee has been formed, not only at the state level, but at the district level too. Anyway, together we were able to send one MLA (the BJP's O Rajagopal) when some people said that we had to take a visitor's pass to enter the assembly. We have a vote share of 15% also. The NDA's future depends on how the BJP behaves. You have to wait and see what happens next. But I can say one thing: Unless the BJP's central leadership intervenes, the NDA in Kerala will collapse; it will have no future in this state. More INTERESTING features in the RELATED LINKS below... IMAGES: TOP: Vellapally Natesan flanked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah. BOTTOM: Vellapally Natesan addresses the media. The Bombay high court on Thursday asked striking resident doctors in Maharashtra to resume work immediately while Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis appealed to them to call of the four-day stir, assuring security in hospitals. IMAGE: Nearly 4,000 resident doctors have gone off work since Monday demanding better security for them at state-run hospitals. Photograph: Arun Patil In Delhi, Union Health Minister J P Nadda asked states to take measures to improve security of doctors. After the HCs direction and the CMs appeal, the representatives of the protesting doctors went into a huddle to discuss the directive and the steps to be taken thereof. According to Dr Sagar Mundada, the chairman of the Indian Medical Associations youth wing, a decision on the matter will be taken soon. Nearly 4,000 resident doctors have been striking since Monday, demanding enhanced security in the wake of a string of attacks on doctors by patients relatives at government hospitals across the state. The protests have been hampering the services of out-patient departments in various hospitals. The HC asked the doctors to get back to work and resolve their issues and demands amicably with the government. A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice G S Kulkarni gave the directive while hearing a petition filed by activist Afak Mandaviya seeking action against the protesting doctors. The HC also directed the government and management of various hospitals not to take any punitive action against the doctors who were served notice on Wednesday for not resuming their duties. The doctors will have to first go and resume their duty. All other issues can be amicably sorted out gradually, Chief Justice Chellur said. We understand that the doctors are working in strained and horrible conditions sometimes, but we request them to resume work immediately, she said. IMAGE: The strike has severely affected patients as OPDs at most state-run hospitals bear a deserted look. The resident doctors have gone on strike since Monday, crippling the health care in the state. Photograph: PTI Photo Chief Minister Fadnavis, while making a statement in the state legislative assembly on the ongoing strike and its fallout on the public healthcare system, urged the doctors to follow their professional ethics by serving the people. Because of the acts of a few irresponsible people of attacking doctors, it is not right to deny the poor their right to access to the medical facilities. I appeal to the doctors and their organisations to call off the strike and return to work, he said. The government had spoken to representatives of the striking doctors and accepted all their demands, he said. The state has enacted special laws to protect doctors. The quantum of punishment has been increased and attacks on doctors made a non-bailable offence, the CM said. State Advocate General Rohit Deo informed the high court on Thursday that the government has decided to deploy an additional 1,100 armed police personnel from Maharashtra State Security Corporation in all state and civic-run hospitals. The first lot of 500 police personnel will be deployed at hospitals in Mumbai on April 5. The remaining 600 will be deployed at hospitals across the state by April 30, he said. This will be in addition to the already deployed policemen at the hospitals, Deo said. The court accepted this statement and asked the doctors to resume work. You (doctors) resume work and see if everything is done as assured by the government. We will hear the matter every fortnight and supervise the issue, the judges said. Fadnavis, while appealing to the doctors to resume work, said, The laws need continuous upgradation and the government is open to discussion. We will try to see that attacks on doctors do not happen and if it happens the perpetrators will be punished severely, the CM said. IMAGE: text here. Photograph: text here. IMAGE: Resident doctors protest at Azad Maidan demanding security after a intern was assaulted by patients relatives in Mumbai. Photograph: Shashank Parade/PTI Photo State Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan had earlier warned the protesting resident doctors that they would lose six months pay and face suspension if they did not resume work by 8 pm on Wednesday. However, the doctors continued with their protest. The Indian Medical Association -- which has some 40,000 members in Maharashtra -- had on Wednesday extended support to the agitation. The protest also got support from various other organisations of medical consultants, orthopaedics, general practitioners, Mumbai Obstetric and Gynaecological Society, Association of Surgeons of India-Mumbai chapter, among others. A representative of the protesting doctors earlier said, The resident doctors also need armed security personnel at sensitive places on the hospital premises. There should be an alarm system so that the doctors can call the security. The pass system, commonly practised in private hospitals, should be implemented to restrict the number of relatives visiting a patient, he said. There is also a need to make the attack on doctors a non-bailable offence and cases should be heard before fast track courts. These are our demands and we are not asking for the moon, still the state is not addressing it on priority, he said. Even as the protest continued, a paediatrician was attacked by a patients relatives at Mumbais Sion Hospital. It was the second such case at the hospital in the past four days. A police complaint has been registered against three women, who allegedly assaulted the senior paediatric. The noted publisher of Hindu religious and spiritual texts, which has seen tough times in the recent past, hopes the new UP CMs spiritual background will boost sales. Virendra Singh Rawat/Business Standard reports Gorakhpur residents are celebrating that their Member of Parliament, Yogi Adityanath, has been made chief minister. An entity in the area is also hoping to ride the wave, to turn the page. The base of Uttar Pradeshs new chief minister is also home to Gita Press, a well-known publisher of Hindu religious, cultural and spiritual texts. With a legacy of 95 years, it has clocked an estimated sale of 580 million books, including the Shrimad Bhagwad Gita and the Ramcharitmanas. Gita Press Trust Board chief Radhey Shyam Khemka expressed confidence that Adityanaths spiritual background, his Gorakhpur connection and ascetic lifestyle would help inculcate moral and cultural values among youth, translating into more demand for such texts. It is lamentable that the current generation lacks insight about our ancient culture and religion. They have not been provided with such an environment or been informed as part of their curriculum, he said. Khemka said the appointment of Adityanath as chief minister was expected to generate more interest in traditional culture. This would increase their thirst for information about relevant topics, and could boost sales. In 2015, Gita Press had a workers strike over issues of pay, workers suspension and termination. The trouble had erupted when the management had suspended 12 staffers and terminated the services of some contractual employees in August 2015, after charging them with indiscipline and assault on an official. The workers had proceeded on strike, demanding revocation of suspension and termination. Talks between the management and the striking workers had failed to resolve the deadlock. Adityanath had then intervened to resolve the issue. There are no labour issues trumping now and the 450-odd employees, including 200 permanent staffers, are all working in harmony, Khemka said. He is also editor of Kalyan, a spiritual magazine published by Gita Press. Gita Press does its printing in Gorakhpur but the editorial team of 15-20 is based in Varanasi. It is a unit of Gobind Bhawan Karyalaya, registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (governed by the West Bengal Societies Act, 1960). The entity started with publications in Hindi and Sanskrit and now publishes books in English, Urdu, Telugu, Odia, Bangla, Tamil, Marathi and Punjabi, among others. Khemka was a nominated member of a committee constituted by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for propagation and popularisation of Hindi and non-English languages. Image: UP CM Yogi Adityanath. Photograph: Nand Kumar/PTI Photo They were asked to take shelter inside as an attacker mowed into a crowd of people on Westminster bridge and then, knife in hand, charged the building's guards. However, British Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood rushed out to the aid of a stabbed police officer. The minister, who was formerly a British Army officer, tried to save the mans life but he tragically died after being stabbed outside one of the gates to the Houses of Parliament. The Tory MP was seen with blood on his mouth and clothes as he tried to stem the blood flow by applying pressure to the wounds. The former soldier is no stranger to terrorism -- he lost his brother Jonathan, a teacher, in the Bali terrorist bombings in 2002, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians and 27 Brits. Speaking just hours after the attack, Ellwood described the incident as a huge tragedy. I am a witness, I was the last one on the scene before he died so I am not allowed to say anything, he told UK tabloid The Sun. It is now murder, I was on the scene and as soon as I realised what was going on I headed towards it. Im not allowed to say anything, Ill get into trouble. It's very sad, he added. Touched by Ellwoods remarkable story, his fellow MPs and others have praised his heroic actions. Tory MP Stuart Andrew said: Your natural instinct when you see something as horrific as that is probably to protect yourself. I think to actually jump in there and help is quite fantastic of him. Horrible episodes like this really do bring out people who are heroes. Hes always been a selfless character. That is his nature. Image: British Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood gave the cop mouth-to-mouth and administered CPR to the injured cop. Photograph: @_LSGUK/Twitter IMAGE: Chinese troops march as they take part in Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad. Photograph: Faisal Mahmood/Reuters Raking up the Kashmir issue as an unfinished agenda of partition, Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday accused India of jeopardising regional peace through consistent ceasefire violations. Speaking at the annual Republic Day military parade attended for the first time by troops from China and Saudi Arabia, Hussain said: Pakistan is ready for dialogue with India and wants resolution of the Kashmir dispute, which is the unfinished agenda of the partition. We want peace and friendship with the whole world specially the neighbours. But Indias irresponsible attitude and consistent violations of Line of Control and Working Boundary have jeopardised peace of the region, he said at the annual parade during which Pakistans indigenously-developed missiles and air-defence systems were showcased. IMAGE: Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attends the Pakistan Day military parade. Photograph: Faisal Mahmood/Reuters Hussain said Pakistans defence was impregnable and its nuclear capabilities were meant to ensure global and regional peace, adding the country was strong emerging economy in the region. The parade was for the first time attended by Chinese and Saudi troops, apart from military band Meher from Turkey. Pakistan showcased its military capabilities during the parade with F-16s, JF-17 thunders, Mirage, AWACs, P3-C Orion and F-7 presenting salute to Hussain, the events chief guest. Apart from Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, federal ministers, politicians, diplomats, chairman joint chiefs of staff committee and services chiefs attended the parade. IMAGE: Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain inspects the troops during parade. Photograph: Faisal Mahmood/Reuters Regiments of the Pakistans three forces, Rangers, Police, and Commandos marched during the military parade. Special security arrangements were put in place to avert any untoward incident. Mobile telephone services were suspended and roads leading to the venue were heavily guarded. The Republic Day marks the adoption of the historic Lahore Resolution in 1940 that spurred efforts to create a separate homeland for Muslims of South Asia. Dismissing the role of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy as negotiator for the Ram temple issue, the main parties to the case on Thursday demanded setting up a panel of Supreme Court judges to initiate the talks in the vexed matter. The Supreme Court had on Tuesday suggested an out-of-court settlement of the lingering Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya, observing that issues of "religion and sentiments" can be best resolved through talks. Swamy was asked by the apex court to consult the parties and inform it about their decision on amicable resolution of the matter on March 31. Mahant Ram Das, chief priest of Nirmohi Akhara and the main claimant to the title over the disputed land, reacted sharply over Swamy's appointment as the "mediator" in the case. "Negotiation talks must be done under the Constitutional framework and no political interference should be allowed. Swami is a political man. The Supreme Court must constitute a panel of retired judges or serving judges to initiate the talks with parties concerned. We do not want any political interference," he said. Swami Chakrapani, president of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, also questioned the involvement of Swamy in the matter. "The Supreme Court must form a panel of judges to negotiate. No politicians should to allowed to interfere in this sensitive issue. The negotiation should have only one agenda that no party should feel defeated," he said. Khaliq Ahmad Khan from Maulana Mahfuzurrahma said, "Swamy is an interested party in the case. How can talks be held with someone, who is himself party to the case?" "The negotiations can be done with a person who is 'neutral' and has knowledge of the case and the legal framework. It would be better if the Supreme Court constitute a panel of retired or serving judges to initiate the talks. The negotiation process held in the past must also be reviewed," he added. Meanwhile, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Triloki Nath Pandey from Ram Lalla, refused to comment on the role of Swamy in the negotiation. "We are ready to talk on this issue, but we will not allow any Masjid (mosque) to be built near the Ram Mandir. If Muslims are giving up their claim over the disputed land, they are welcome for talks," he said. Iqbal Ansari, son of Hasim Ansari (deceased main litigant in the case) and now a party to the case in place of his father, said, "We believe in the authority of the Supreme Court. Involvement of politicians like Subramanian Swamy will take the talks in negative direction." The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court had in 2010 ruled for a three-way division of the disputed 2.77 acre plot where the Babri Masjid stood before its demolition. The three-judge bench, by a 2:1 majority, had said the land be partitioned equally among three parties, Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. Police said that the attacker, 52-year-old Khalid Masood, had been known to MI5 but was considered to be a peripheral figure. IMAGE: Armed police officers patrol outside Westminster underground station. Photograph: Darren Staples/Reuters The Islamic State on Thursday claimed responsibility for a brazen terror attack on the United Kingdom Parliament that killed four people, including the British-born attacker who was known to British secret services, even as eight people were arrested in raids across London and Birmingham. Three people were killed and 40 injured when the 52-year old attacker, identified as Khalid Masood, on Wednesday mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed to death a police officer outside parliament complex in the heart of Westminster before being shot dead by Scotland Yard. Masood, who was born in Kent and had previously been convicted of violent offences, had been known to MI5 but was considered to be a peripheral figure. He was known by a number of aliases and had been living in the West Midlands recently. Prime Minister Theresa May said that the attacker was British born and he was once investigated in relation to concerns about violent extremism few years ago. "We are not afraid. An act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today we meet as normal," May told sombre-looking lawmakers in the packed House of Commons which reopened on Thursday with a minute's silence a day after the attack. IMAGE: Forensic officers search the road on their hands and knees next to Westminster Abbey. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters "It is still believed that this attacker acted alone, and the police have no reason to believe there are imminent further attacks on the public. His identity is known to the police and MI5, and when operational considerations allow, he will be publicly identified. Our working assumption is that the attacker was inspired by Islamist ideology," May said. Soon after her speech, the Islamic State on its propaganda news agency 'Amaq' claimed responsibility, saying a "soldier of the Caliphate" carried out the attack on the British Parliament. "The operation was carried out in response to calls to target coalition countries," it said in a statement. Police that said Masood had previous convictions for a number of violent offences. He was arrested in the past for causing grievous bodily harm, but not in relation to terror charges. His first conviction was in 1983 for criminal damage and his last conviction was in December 2003 for possession of a knife, Metropolitan Police said. "Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack. However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences," a Scotland Yard statement said. IMAGE: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks in Parliament after an attack in Westminster. Photograph: Parliament TV/Handout via Reuters In her speech, Prime Minister May said that eight people have been arrested during raids across London and Birmingham following the attack on the Palace of Westminster in London, which houses Britain's Parliament and the iconic Big Ben. In a message to the police, British Queen Elizabeth II said, "My thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's awful violence." May said the threat level to the UK has been set at 'severe' -- meaning an attack is highly likely -- for some time. This is the second highest threat level. The highest level 'critical' means there is specific intelligence that an attack is imminent. Giving details known about the attack, May said a single attacker drove his vehicle at speed into innocent pedestrians who were crossing Westminster Bridge, killing two people and injuring around 40 more, of which 29 were hospitalised. The attacker then left the vehicle and approached a police officer at Carriage Gates of Parliament, attacking him with a large knife, before he was shot dead by an officer. In addition to 12 Britons admitted to hospital, the injured include three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Irish, one Chinese, one Italian, one American and two Greeks. "There was no prior intelligence of attacker's intent -- or of the plot. Intensive investigations continue," May said. IMAGE: Armed police officers patrol outside New Scotland Yard the morning after an attack by a man driving a car and wielding a knife left five people dead and dozens injured,. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters She also paid tribute to the security services and the police officer who lost his life in the attack. "Yesterday we saw the worst of humanity, but we will remember the best. We will remember the extraordinary efforts to save the life of Police Constable Keith Palmer. He was every inch a hero," she said. Scotland Yard Acting Deputy Commissioner and Head of Counter Terrorism Mark Rowley said the investigation was at a critical stage and the identity of the attacker was not being released as the ongoing investigation tries to piece together the suspect's "motivations, his preparation and associates". He urged the public to use their instincts and report anything suspicious, saying the Met Police will be working round the clock and all annual leave has been cancelled. IMAGE: The union flag flies over Parliament at half-mast the morning after the attack. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters "We must not allow terrorists to create discord, distrust and fear. The police stand with all communities," Rowley said. Overnight, West Midland Police officers stormed a second-floor flat in the city believed to be the residence of the knife-wielding attacker and led away people in handcuffs. It has also emerged that the car used in the attack was reportedly hired from Solihull area of Birmingham. The flag at New Scotland Yard premises in London is flying at half-mast following the attack, which claimed the life of one of their officers who was on guard at Parliament. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan today invited all Londoners and visitors to the capital to a candlelit vigil in Trafalgar Square to show solidarity with the victims of the attack. Several people gave emotional testimony Thursday against a bill that would put an initiative on the ballot next year to require people to use the bathroom or locker room that is associated with the gender listed on their birth certificate. House Bill 609 is carried by Rep. Carl Glimm, R-Kila. The bill would put an initiative on the ballot in November. If that initiative passed, it would allow a person using a bathroom or locker room to sue a the governmental agency, such as a school or county, that didn't take reasonable steps to prohibit a member of the opposite sex from using the facility. Standing before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Kael Fry asked the committee to look at his broad shoulders and bearded face. Do I look like I belong in women's bathrooms? Thats exactly what this bill would do, the Livingston resident said. Fry told the committee that while his birth certificate says he was born a female, he looked more like a man even before he started taking testosterone a decade ago and even before starting to take testosterone he was asked to leave a locker room where he was washing his hands. If this bill passes, then there really would be a man in the women's restroom but I would be required by law to be there, Fry said. Glimm told the committee he was bringing the bill to ensure the rights of all Montanans. The privacy, safety and dignity of all Montanans must be protected, Glimm said. A high school girl should not be forced to shower next to a boy and a boy should not have to shower next to a girl. Those who spoke in support of the bill said girls and women must be protected. Kendal Hinkle, who graduated from Montana State University in 2015, said that she once encountered a man in the shower at her dorm and it made her uncomfortable. If we do not establish an act such as House Bill 609 in Montana there will be more males taking advantage of this. In opposition to the bill, Kelly Lynch, with the Montana League of Cities and Towns, said the legislation would put an impossible burden on municipalities to police their facilties and determine the gender of people. Were really at a loss of how to enforce it. She also pointed out she has a disabled son who she has taken into the womens restroom and said not allowing her to do so would be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Ken Fichtler, head of economic development for the state, told the committee that the bill would be bad for Montanas economy, referencing actions in North Carolina after that passed a similar law. It erased $630 million from the states economy and cost North Carolina an incalculable amount from other businesses and stuff that would have come to the state. Companies like PayPal and Deutsche bank terminated plans to expand there, and the NBA and NCAA pulled out of planned events, he said. As the Yogi Adityanath Yogi government goes after mechanised slaughterhouses, meat producers in Uttar Pradesh say the action conflicts with the Centre's policy of encouraging the meat industry and are considering going to court against it. "The Centre has been encouraging the meat industry and the food processing ministry too provides aid of upto 50 per cent to support them. But the UP government has ordered a ban on all mechanised slaughter houses," a senior functionary of the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association said. "It is in contravention to the central government policy", the functionary, who wished not to be named, said. He said that Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly 50 per cent of India's total meat exports and such a decision would affect the livelihood 25 lakh people directly or indirectly. The association "supports banning illegal abattoirs" but opposes the move to shut down all the mechanised ones, he said. If the state government brings an ordinance in this regard, the Association would approach the court, he said. "We are keeping a close watch on the developments and will wait. An organised industry should not be dealt with in this manner," he said. In the past three months the industry has suffered huge losses due to demonetisation and the closure of mechanised slaughter houses will add to the woes, he added. As per estimates, the country exports meat products worth Rs 26,685 crore annually and with the closure of slaughter houses in UP it will come down to half, the association functionary lamented. In its pre-poll manifesto, the BJP had said that if voted to power, it would shut all the illegal slaughterhouses and impose a blanket ban on mechanised abattoirs. And immediately after assuming office, Adityanath government has gone after such abattoirs with full gusto. IMAGE: People sitting outside a slaughterhouse that was sealed by the authorities for illegal functioning, in Allahabad. Photograph: PTI Photo The party desperate to retain power in the state will also prepare dossiers on opposition MLAs to assess the winability of prospective party nominees. Desperate to retain Karnataka, the only big state left with it, the Congress has started evaluating the performance of the partys 128 lawmakers to prepare for the assembly polls next year. All 225 assembly constituencies in Karnataka will go to polls in March-April 2018. Party observers have been deputed to give feedback on the functioning of sitting Congress legislators and also prepare dossiers on the performance of opposition members of legislative assembly, including 40 each of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal-Secular. This exercise will help party managers know the strength or weakness of the opposition leaders while assessing the winability of the prospective party nominees for the next assembly polls. The Congress, which wrested back Karnataka from the BJP in the 2013 assembly polls largely on corruption charges against former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and his successor D Sadananda Gowda, faces an aggressive saffron party ahead of the 2018 battle. The Congress is banking on the work done by K Siddaramaiahs government over the past four years. But sources say effectively countering the BJPs propaganda against him is the biggest challenge before the state unit. This will require a massive campaign to reach out to the voters. We have to explain to them the promises that we have fulfilled, says a senior Karnataka Congress leader. In Congresss assessment, Siddaramaiah has done reasonably well in rural areas. But a lot of corrective actions are needed to fight negative perception among the rural voters. Scandals involving an expensive watch as gift, sex tapes, an irrigation scam, the sacking of 14 ministers and the molestation of women by New Year revellers in Bengaluru have shown the administration and the chief minister in poor light. Senior leader S M Krishna joining the BJP was another setback for the Congress as the Vokkaliga leader served the grand old party for around 55 years. Krishna had a sizeable fan following among the urban voters, especially in Bengaluru. We gave him everything from zilla parishad to external affairs ministry and the post of governor, says a miffed AICC functionary, on Krishnas exit. Incidentally, Yeddyurappa was responsible for roping in Krishna after approval from BJP chief Amit Shah. World leaders voiced solidarity with the United Kingdom after the deadly attack near the Houses of Parliament. IMAGE: The building of the city hall in Tel Aviv's Rabin square in Israel is illuminated in solidarity with Britain for the attack on Westminster Bridge in London. Photograph: Nir Elias/Reuters French President Francois Hollande expressed his solidarity with the British people, saying terrorism concerns us all and France knows how the British people are suffering today. I want to say for Germany and its citizens: we stand firmly and resolutely by Great Britains side in the fight against all forms of terrorism, said Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel. US President Donald Trump spoke by phone to British Prime Minister Theresa May to offer his condolences and to praise the effective response of UK security services. Trump pledged the full co-operation and support of the American government in bringing those responsible for the attack to justice, the White House said in a statement. Saying his thoughts were with London tonight, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker recalled it was the first anniversary of the Brussels attacks. Today marks one year since the people of Brussels and Belgium suffered a similar pain and felt the support of your sympathy and solidarity, he said in a statement. At this emotional time, we at the European Commission can only send that sympathy back twofold. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement that it was an attack on democracies around the world and Canadians stood united with the British people in the fight against terrorism. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull strongly condemned the UK Parliament terror attack describing it as an attack on parliaments, freedom and democracy everywhere. Australias heartfelt sympathy and resolute solidarity is with the people of the UK with whom we stand today as we always have in freedoms cause. Staunch allies in the war against terrorism, Turnbull said in a statement. The attack on the British Parliament is an attack on parliaments, freedom and democracy everywhere, he said adding that Westminster is rightly known as the mother of parliaments. We send our condolences, especially to the families of the victims, those injured, including a police officer murdered by the terrorist as he attempted to enter the Houses of Parliament, Turnbull said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the victims of the London terror attacks. Taking to Twitter, the PM wrote, "Deeply saddened by the terror attack in London. Our thoughts & prayers are with the victims and their families. At this difficult moment, India stands with UK in the fight against terrorism." A Montana lawmaker wants to get rid of the Board of Environmental Review, calling it redundant and saying its workload could be handled better by professionals at the Department of Environmental Quality. But those opposed to the idea say it removes a layer of public involvement in rulemaking and forces people who have a dispute with DEQ decisions to appeal to an agency they might not trust. The board and Department of Environmental Quality were created during the 1995 Legislative session. The board has authority over the following DEQ programs, meaning its seven members have the power to write rules and/or hear appeals of the agencys decisions concerning: air quality, water quality, public water supply/public sewage system, mined land reclamation, major facility siting, mega-landfill siting, hazardous waste, solid waste, junk vehicles, underground storage tanks and radioactive materials. Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, argued the 365 employees at DEQ are experts in all those fields and better suited to write rules and review appeals than the board. They do the work, theyre professionals, Ankney said in support of his Senate Bill 337. We dont need a (seven)-member board that meets every two months to approve the work that professionals are doing. Under the bill, DEQ would write its own rules and still hold a public comment period to have people weigh in. In cases of disputes over department decisions, the director said appeals would be sent to him and he would assign a hearings officer. The Board of Environmental Review costs an average of $18,954 to operate each year. The department said it could absorb all the rulemaking work under its existing staff, but it's unclear how much it would cost to hire a hearings officer for appeals. Those who spoke in support of the bill included a former director of the Department of Natural Resources as well as those involved in the industries DEQ regulates. Leo Berry, who was a former director of the Department of Natural Resources and commissioner of state lands, said he handled many appeals when he led the department and that system worked fine. I think the time has passed where you had all these boards and commissions, he said. I think the system will function just fine without the board. Bud Clinch, executive director of the Montana Coal Council, said he made two high-profile decisions when he was state commissioner of lands in the mid-1990s and those were appealed to District Courts, something he said would work for appeals now. When you contemplate the complexity of the issues, there is no way that a part-time citizen board can ever engage to the level necessary to understand those issues and really make technically defensible decision(s). The complexity of things today have far outgrown the ability of a seven-person citizen board to competently handle this issue. In opposition, Montana Environmental Information Center deputy director and lead lobbyist Anne Hedges said the bill would make DEQ both judge and jury. Youre giving the agency complete power and I think thats misguided. Hedges questioned why Ankney brought the bill two-thirds of the way through the session and a week before the deadline to introduce bills. While she said there may be merit to eliminating involvement of the board in certain circumstances, its something that should be studied by lawmakers before the 2019 session. This is a shotgun approach to what may be conversation that could be done in the interim, she said. Director Tom Livers, who did not take a stance on the bill, said that the public would lose one more level of input when it comes to rulemaking and that agency legal services could handle appeals, or they could be contracted out -- something hed prefer because of concerns over conflicts of interest. Sen. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena, asked Livers if it was appropriate for DEQ to be the arbiter of decisions the department makes. Liver said he didn't have an answer but could see benefits to each approach. I trust my ability to do that but I realize this has to be looked at irrespective of who is in the job. Sen. Mike Phillips, D-Bozeman, asked Ankney why he singled out the Board of Environmental Review, noting some who testified questioned the need for other state boards, of which there are roughly 160. Is it making a litmus test for boards going forward? Should we just get rid of them all? A county commissioner who drove more than 400 miles to testify told lawmakers Thursday a vote-by-mail election to fill Montana's vacant U.S. House seat would save his rural county money and alleviate concerns over a lack of election judges. "It's convenient for people and saving us a pile of money," Gary MacDonald, a commissioner for Roosevelt County, told the House Judiciary Committee in a hearing where feelings ran so hot that the room briefly was cleared. How Montana conducts its election to replace former U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, who resigned at the start of the year to become Secretary of the Interior, has come under the national spotlight after Gov. Steve Bullock set the election for May 25. Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, brought a bill to conduct the election by mail in an effort to save counties money. His proposal would allow counties to automatically send absentee ballots to all registered voters. Ballots could still be cast at the county courthouse in the 29 days leading up to the election as well as on Election Day. Satellite offices on reservations would remain open. Montana Republican Party chairman and state Rep. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, sent a letter to party members last month saying a mail-in election would "give the Democrats an inherent advantage." Essmann's letter brought Montana under the national spotlight, with a spot on the Rachel Maddow Show featuring the state. Thursday's hearing on the bill went off the rails before proponents could finish testifying. House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Alan Doane, R-Bloomfield, limited the time for testimony as is allowed by legislative rules. When that passed, he directed the remaining supporters of SB305 to simply state their name and hometown for the record. But when Carole Mackin of Helena stepped to the lectern, she read her testimony, too. Doane gaveled her down. She refused to leave unless escorted out, saying a police officer would have to remove her. Dozens of people in the hallway crowded a TV monitor showing the room a few feet away. Doane asked people to clear the room, and Mackin held her ground until the officer walked her to the door. When she stepped into the hallway, supporters cheered. As Doane chastised committee members for encouraging the interruptions, supporters some lifting signs started to chant "SB305. Keep it alive." They stopped under direction from a sergeant at arms. Several people who came to testify were county commissioners from around the state and told the committee how long they had traveled to Helena, with some driving several hours and hundreds of miles like MacDonald. Before the committee had stalled, Rep. Ellie Hill Smith, D-Missoula, called for a vote to allow for more time for testimony, but the committee voted it down on party lines. Hill Smith was also not allowed to ask a final question of a proponent of the bill before the committee ended. Democrats from the committee have spoken out against time limits on testimony over the last couple months, although Smith's motion was the first effort to extend speaking time. She accused Doane of scheduling several controversial bills on the same day as a way to limit time for testimony. Mackin, standing in the hallway, said she understands the need for legislative rules that allow committee chairs to set time limits on testimony but said it should be "used judiciously," unlike the current common practice. Asked when it would be appropriate to cut off public testimony, she said with a chuckle: "When they don't have me in front of them." Mackin, a writer and retired geochemist who has worked as an election judge, has testified frequently before the Legislature on bills about the election process. She planned to ask the committee to support the bill as something that "holds down the cost of government." Members of the public were later let back in to finish testimony. Most did as directed, simply stating their name and hometown, though Eric Stern, a chief adviser to Gov. Steve Bullock, briefly violated Doane's order to say, "Some of these people drove three or four hours. It's outrageous." The committee took no action on the bill Thursday. Proponents included county commissioners who said they were struggling to afford the election on tight budgets and would struggle to find polling places and election judges. Sally Hollis, Butte-Silver Bow clerk and recorder, in an editorial written for The Montana Standard and published Feb. 22, echoed support for the bill by the Association of Clerk and Recorders and Election Administrators. "Mail ballot elections are safe, secure, cost effective, and work just as an absentee ballot would. The mail ballot bill still provides local governing bodies the option of conducting the election by mail or by polling place," she wrote. Blaine County Commissioner Frank DePriest said his county has cut $600,000 out of its budget this year and frozen wages. He said they anticipate spending $20,000 on the election, but voting by mail could save $8,000 to $10,000. Secretary of State Corey Stapleton, who took office in January, took his first public position on the bill Thursday in opposing it. He argued a vote-by-mail election would open Montana up to accusations of fraud and that the tight timeline of the election makes it difficult. "We are not here to run the cheapest elections. We are here to run the best elections," he said. "The whole country is watching Montana run our special election, and you would think from the line of proponents to the bill we can't live without this idea we've never done before. Let's run an election the same as we did in November." Several people who live on Montana's Indian reservations said the bill could limit their access to voting because many people in their communities don't have mailboxes at their homes. George Real Bird III, a Big Horn County commissioner and Crow tribal member, said his community would not have as good access to voting if the election was held by mail. "We don't have mailboxes at our homes like many of you do in Billings or Missoula. My biggest question was, 'How am I going to get the most people to the polls in my area?' And for me that's a poll(ing place)." Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Kyrgyzstan: Impunity for body snatching officials Publisher Forum 18 Author Mushfig Bayram Publication Date 22 March 2017 Cite as Forum 18, Kyrgyzstan: Impunity for body snatching officials , 22 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58d3cafe4.html [accessed 7 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Out of around 70 people in mobs incited by officials who twice exhumed a deceased Protestant's body in Kyrgyzstan, only four were given suspended sentences. None were given the jail sentences of between three and five years the law requires. No officials were tried. Russia: Jehovah's Witness activity largely halted Publisher Forum 18 Author Victoria Arnold Publication Date 21 March 2017 Cite as Forum 18, Russia: Jehovah's Witness activity largely halted, 21 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58d3cb6f4.html [accessed 7 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Russia has summarily suspended most Jehovah's Witness activities. UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai told Forum 18: "The Russian government is claiming that the Jehovah's Witnesses are an extremist group, but in fact it's their move to ban them outright that appears to be extreme." Focus on Justice, Protecting Civilians in ISIS Fight Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 21 March 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Focus on Justice, Protecting Civilians in ISIS Fight, 21 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58d3d44a4.html [accessed 7 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Members of the Global Coalition against Daesh (another name for the Islamic State) meeting in Washington, DC, on March 22 should make protecting civilians and justice for victims priorities in their ongoing battle against the group, Human Rights Watch said today in a memorandum to the participants. Based on violations documented, Human Rights Watch highlighted five key areas that coalition members need to improve in their conduct of operations. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will host the foreign ministers of the Global Coalition working to defeat the Islamic State (also known as ISIS). It will be the first meeting of the full coalition, now at 68 members, since December 2014. The aim of the meeting, according to a coalition press release, is "to accelerate international efforts to defeat Daesh in the remaining areas it holds in Iraq and Syria and maximize pressure on its branches, affiliates, and networks." ISIS has carried out war crimes and atrocities amounting to crimes against humanity, including systematic rape. "In fighting ISIS, coalition members should not lose sight of the fact that their aim should not just be to retake territory but to make sure they take all precautions to protect the people still living in these areas," said Nadim Houry, terrorism and counterterrorism director at Human Rights Watch. "A victory against ISIS that does not address the security needs of civilians and leaves them at the mercy of revenge attacks will ring hollow." Human Rights Watch urges coalition members to make the following commitments: Take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties and investigate potentially unlawful strikes: Given the discrepancy in reporting of the various coalition members, the coalition should establish baseline public reporting and investigation standards for all coalition members. Cease support for any abusive groups: Human Rights Watch has documented widespread violations by ground forces battling ISIS. These violations include summary executions, beatings, and torture of men in custody, as well as arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances, destruction of civilian objects, use of child soldiers, and mutilation of corpses. Despite these reports, the coalition has yet to develop procedures for robust vetting and investigations of allegations of abuse by local partners. Provide safe passage to fleeing civilians and provide sufficient support to displaced people: Aid agencies are bracing for the possibility that an additional 300,000-320,000 civilians may flee in coming weeks from western parts of Mosul during the Iraq operation. People fleeing have reported grave dangers in trying to escape. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq has reported that aid agencies are operating "at their limit." Aid workers have expressed similar concerns regarding any future offensive on Raqqa in Syria. Coalition members should ensure that there is a clear and coordinated plan for civilians to flee areas of fighting for safety and to get the aid they need once they have reached safety. Clear commitment to justice for victims: There has been considerable media attention surrounding the grave crimes committed by ISIS in violation of international law, but few concrete plans to provide justice for these crimes. Many ISIS victims are left without any access to justice or assistance. Coalition members should make justice a key pillar in its fight against ISIS by adopting concrete measures to assist victims, collect and preserve evidence, and support efforts to investigate and prosecute serious crimes. Beyond the crimes that ISIS has committed, other actors who have committed grave crimes should also be held to account. Increase efforts to survey and clear landmines and explosive remnants of war: Improvised mines laid by ISIS have killed and injured hundreds of civilians returning to their homes, including children. UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) officials have estimated that it could cost $50 million to remove mines, which are often referred to as victim-activated improvised explosive devices or booby traps, from in and around the Iraqi city of Mosul. In Syria, UNMAS estimates that more than 6.3 million people including 2 million children live in contaminated areas after nearly six years of war. Mine clearance efforts should be a priority to ensure the safe return of civilians. "What happens after ISIS is defeated is in many ways as important as the actual defeat of ISIS," Houry said. "The coalition will not be able to say, 'Mission Accomplished' without addressing justice, governance, and displacement." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Bangladesh: Immediately Suspend Imminent Executions Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 21 March 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Bangladesh: Immediately Suspend Imminent Executions, 21 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58d3d48e4.html [accessed 7 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The Bangladesh government should immediately halt the imminent execution of three men convicted of a May 2004 grenade attack, which targeted the then British High Commissioner, Anwar Choudhury. Chowdhury survived the attack that took place outside the Hazrat Shahjalal shrine in Sylhet district, but was among dozens injured by the blasts. Three police officers were killed. On March 19, 2017, the country's apex court rejected the final review application of the three men on death row, all alleged members of the banned militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad (HuJI). The three men are: Mufti Abdul Hannan, HuJI founder, and two activists in the group, Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul and Delwar Hossain Ripon. "Criminals need to be punished, but Bangladesh is moving in the wrong direction by invoking the death penalty," said Brad Adams, Asia director. "Bangladesh should instead initiate an immediate moratorium on capital punishment because it is inherently cruel and irreversible, and should never be used, regardless of the crime." The evidence against the three men is primarily based on their confessions, statements that magistrates say were freely given in front of them but that the men have said were forcibly extracted through torture in police custody. Human Rights Watch has previously documented numerous cases of torture to coerce confessions, and due process violations in the Bangladesh criminal justice system that have made it difficult for defendants to receive a fair trial, including in capital cases. Noting that "custodial torture has become a persistent trend in Bangladesh," the country's National Human Rights Commission recently said that, "Indiscriminate order of remand for extracting confessions immensely contributes to a culture of custodial torture." Court documents show that Hannan had spent 77 days, and Bipul and Ripon 40 days each, in police custody prior to giving their confessions. During this time and throughout their interrogation, the accused were not provided access to any legal representation. All three confessions were made during this period. Bangladesh courts have accepted allegations in previous cases that torture takes place in police custody, and local, and international human rights organizations contend that the practice is widespread. Nevertheless, the appeals court stated that, "These confessions are natural, voluntary, inculpatory, and corroborative to each other," and were not "procured from them by means of coercion, duress, or torture." The United Nations Human Rights Committee, which interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bangladesh is a signatory, has stated that there must be no "direct or indirect physical or undue psychological pressure from the investigating authorities on the accused, with a view to obtaining a confession of guilt. That all three convictions are based on interrogations without a lawyer present strongly suggests that they violated article 14 of the ICCPR on the right to a fair trial. Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all countries and under all circumstances. Capital punishment is unique in its cruelty and finality, and it is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error. A majority of countries in the world have abolished the practice. In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly called on countries to establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, progressively restrict the practice, and reduce the offenses for which it might be imposed, all with the view toward its eventual abolition. "Delivering justice requires adhering to the highest standards, particularly when a life is at stake, and there can be no room for doubts or mistakes," Adams said. "Human Rights Watch has long supported justice and accountability for militant attacks, but we have also stated repeatedly that these trials have to meet international fair trial standards, and call upon Bangladesh to reject the death penalty." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch After Republicans dropped the proposal to expand the Montana Historical Society from a state infrastructure package, a lawmaker introduced a contentious bill requiring the museum to fund the project by selling pieces from their collection. House Bill 594, carried by Rep. Dennis Lenz, R-Billings, would require the Montana Historical Societys Board of Trustees to sell objects that do not possess outstanding historical value relative to Montana, do not display exceptional qualities of Montanas history worth preserving, or do not tell the story of Montana. The proceeds, which could not exceed $50 million, would fund the construction of the Montana Heritage Center.